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gurunath9480 · 1 year

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8 little-known benefits of studying in a top CBSE school

The two main boards in India’s educational system are the State boards and the CBSE boards. State administrations determine the curriculum for state boards, hence it differs from state to state. Whereas CBSE is administered by the central government. Students can easily learn anywhere because the CBSE’s curriculum and teaching style are the same in all states and union territories. Here are the 10 little-known benefits of studying in a top CBSE school :

Syllabus structure:

The international curriculum used in CBSE schools enables students to stay current on topics such as science, math, history, geography, and languages while also connecting them to the newest technology. The chapters are interspersed with enjoyable activities to help students relax while learning. Students that use this kind of study method can learn a lot. While reading a chapter or learning, students become more tolerant of a variety of subjects that they might not otherwise find interesting. It gains a worldwide perspective, which distinguishes this curriculum and makes it user-friendly for students.

2. All Round development:

The primary goal of CBSE schools is the holistic development of every student. For the students’ healthy physical and mental development, top CBSE schools not only provide outstanding education but also place a strong emphasis on physical education. Children gain valuable life skills through extracurricular activities, like leadership and time management. Every year, they organize sporting events and cultural programs to empower the students socially, culturally as well as physically.

3. Helpful in Relocation:

The CBSE board is best for students who are eager to learn and explore education. Due to their employment patterns, which allow them to move from one city to another, many parents enroll their children in CBSE board schools. These days, the CBSE is linked with many schools. It becomes quite simple for parents to move locations and effortlessly enroll their kids in different CBSE schools.

4. Grading System:

The CBSE schools have grading schemes for evaluation and assessment. Students in grades 6 through 10 are evaluated on how well they achieve in both academic and extracurricular activities. As a result, the students won’t feel any pressure to achieve high results.

5. Recognition by the Indian Government:

The Indian government has approved the national-level education board known as CBSE. This indicates that the curriculum is prepared according to the standards established by the Indian government for all grade levels.

6. Bright Future:

In India, the board is widely used. Moving from one state to another is thus not problematic. When engaging in commerce or economics, they can select science. The examination schedule is casual and spread out throughout the year because the board is student-focused. The best schools make sure the students have a bright future.

7. Builds Entrepreneurial Skills:

The curriculum till Grade 10 emphasizes co-curricular abilities. Life skills are given the utmost emphasis, and value-based education is the foundation. Students are introduced to practical subjects in grade 11 such as entrepreneurship, business studies, creative writing, etc.

8. Maintaining a proper Teacher-Student Ratio

Top CBSE schools typically limit the number of students in each class. Between 1:6 in the lower grades and 1:15 in the upper years, the teacher-student ratio is about. A small student-to-teacher ratio increases student engagement allows for flexible adjustment to changing demands and maximizes instructor attention.

In Spite of so many benefits, parents ignore them due to their busy schedules and miss out on availing the best for their kids. It is not even their mistake but it always has a long-term impact on their child’s education. Hence parents must not compromise at least when it comes to their child’s future.

Many Schools too lack administration and lack the initiative to reach out to parents and guide them. But there will always be one exception that stands out, takes extra responsibility, and becomes the leader that everyone admires and respects.

One of the best CBSE schools in Bangalore, SOUNDARYA CENTRAL SCHOOL, checks all the above amazing benefits and also helps/guides the parents in not only making the maximum utilization of the benefits but also in taking the right decisions regarding their child’s education & future.

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official-weasley · 3 years

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The Irreplaceable Charlie Weasley: Pt. 4, Ch. 6

PART 4: THE YEAR WHEN EVERYONE HAS A CRUSH Chapter 6 - Weasley vs Blackwood

Charlie

Nothing made me happier these days than eating breakfast in the Great Hall, seeing Nova come in and smiling. I swear my heart skipped a beat the other day when Tonks was telling us how she had to stay behind in Potions because she slipped and pushed a cauldron full of Sleeping Draught off the table and the imitations of Snape's face she was doing made Nova laugh out loud for the first time in 4 months.

I was finally able to sleep and not constantly think about if she is alright, if she is crying alone or if she's waking up Tulip for a shoulder to cry on.

The day Professor Flitwick came to our Care of Magical Creatures class to get Nova was one of the worse in my life. Nobody expected anything to happen to Mr. Blackwood, especially her. When she came out of his room and collapsed to her knees I felt something break in me. She is my best friend and nothing pained me more than seeing her so hurt.

What was even worse was the fact that my family also wasn't handling it well. I haven't seen Mr. Blackwood often as he was in Egypt most of the time and I mourned for Nova, but my parents were shattered, losing one of their best friends. It made it worst for me when I tried relating to them and just thinking of losing Nova sucked all the will to live out of me. Bill shut himself into his dormitory for several days and couldn't look me in the eyes for a week. I knew he was also worried about her, but I also knew that he was mourning as he spent 2 months with him in Egypt. He was practically his role model.

When Nova decided to come back to school, I knew I must do everything to make her feel better no matter how hard I would have to try. She seemed so out of place for weeks. People were staring at her in the corridors, whispering in class and teachers pitying her.

Tulip was doing the best job of all, being her roommate. I would do anything to be there with her but I knew Tulip was taking good care of her, especially when she managed to get her to eat something.

The first time she came down to the Great Hall I thought that I was going to cry. She was so pale, dark circles under her eyes and she seemed skinnier. Her hair that usually shone and was all and all perfect was now everywhere. I was just hoping that the rest of our friends wouldn't make it awkward.

I talked to my parents about what I should do, how I could help her and they told me to give her time and just be there and that's exactly what I did. After Penny couldn't shake her 'I feel so sorry for her' face and people couldn't stop staring, I decided to take her into the Forbidden Forest and see if she would like to read something.

Apparently, I was doing something right as I started reading her favorite book. I could see the life filling her again after weeks and weeks of silence. I then tried to make casual conversation by talking about my day and classes and I didn't feel uncomfortable at all by the fact that she never said anything back.

The day she told me that she wanted to talk was one of the best in months even though we sat in the Forest, me holding her while she was crying and explaining her emotions for hours. I knew she was getting better and that it didn't pain her so much. She was healing.

And now, in February, I am confident to say that she is back to her normal self to the best of her abilities. She even made a joke the other day when Penny was telling us how she proved Snape wrong about a potion ingredient and Nova said that perhaps she could ask Dumbledore for Snape's job. Tonks, of course, seeing Nova smile started impersonating Snape's reaction just to keep her in a good mood.

—

It was a couple of days before Gryffindor would play against Ravenclaw. Nova told me that she was worried as she only started going to practice in January. I couldn't help being conflicted as I wanted as many positive things happening to her as possible.

I was conversing with Barnaby at the Slytherin Table. I was telling him how Nova and I sneaked into the Forbidden Forest in our Second Year and he volunteered to start searching for ways to get inside so he could tag along with us next time.

I saw Nova entering the Great Hall and felt my cheeks burning. After Barnaby gave me a rather confused look, I quickly said goodbye and sat down next to Tulip at the Ravenclaw Table.

“Who was that you were talking with, Charlie?” She asked.

“Oh, that's Barnaby. He's in our Care of Magical Creatures class.” Answered Tonks for me.

“Thank you, Charlie.” Tulip mocked her and Nova giggled.

“He's alright. Loves animals as well even though he can be kind of strange sometimes.” I scratched the top of my head, thinking about moments when the things he said didn't really make sense.

“Loves animals you say?” Grinned Penny and turned to Nova. “I guess you have some competition.”

“Wha-?” Nova put down the box of cereal and seemed disturbed from her thoughts by Penny's sneer.

“Barnaby likes animals, he might steal Charlie away from you.” Penny explained.

“Nobody can steal me away from Nova.” It took me a second, looking into my porridge, to realize what just came out of my mouth as I looked up and saw Tulip wink at me, Penny with a hand over her mouth to prevent herself from saying anything.

“Exactly.” Nova's cheeks were slightly red and for some reason that made me happy.

“Why so in your thoughts, Nova? You alright?” Tonks asked her.

“Yeah, I'm just nervous about our match against Gryffindor.” She looked at me.

“Right, I forgot the game is in a few days!” Exclaimed Penny. “You'll do fine! You'll show those Gryffindors who's the best Quidditch Team!” She shook her shoulders.

“Sitting right here.” I said, acting offended. The girls laughed.

“Charlie, you won last year, it's someone else's turn. Don't be so selfish.” Tulip grinned mischievously.

“Yes, Charlie don't be so selfish.” Nova giggled. “I might just knock you off your broom.” My heart started beating faster as it did every time Nova looked me directly in my eyes.

“Oh, we'll see about that. I'm not going easy on you!” I smirked.

“I wouldn't count on it.” She said, her chin up.

The morning of the match, I woke up rather nervous. It was the first match of the season and it would do us good if we got a head start. But I couldn't help thinking about Nova and how happy it would make her if they won the match. If she would get a chance to catch the Snitch I know she would be thrilled. However, I had to think about my Team, right? Nova and I made a promise that we wouldn't bring our friendship to the pitch but I'm not sure I will be able to keep that promise this time.

Of course, if I let her win, Nova would be furious at me like she has been just a week ago in Care of Magical Creatures when Professor Kettleburn scolded us for putting food bags for a Niffler where the bags for a Porlock were supposed to be. I took the blame even though Nova made the mistake and she made me promise that I won't pity her or give her any privileges just because her dad was gone.

I got dressed and went down for breakfast. I sat down next to Penny and Tonks who were talking to the Quidditch commentator Murphy McNully.

“Morning.” I said, my voice still sleepy.

“Good morning, Sunshine!” Penny was beaming. I knew that she couldn't wait for the match as it gave her a chance to stare at Andre without him realizing, being preoccupied with defending the hoops.

“McNully was just telling us the odds of each Team winning.” Said Tonks, pouring more juice into her glass.

“Oh, yeah? So what's the outcome?” I wasn't particularly interested in hearing him speak as I had plenty of that during Friendlies. Boy, did he talk a lot.

“I think it's about 53,6% chance that Ravenclaw will lose as their Seeker, Nova Blackwood,” he said her name as if we didn't know who she was, “missed quite a lot of practice matches. However, if they succeed with the strategy the team has been planning for weeks, their chances increase by at least 21,9% and...” How was he coming up with these numbers?

Just as I willingly zoned out, I looked at the entrance and saw Nova coming into the Hall with Tulip. I leaned on my hand and stared at her. Her hair was in a ponytail, prepared for the Quidditch match and she was giggling at something Tulip said. It made my lips curve into a smile.

“And if they happened to score 5 goals before the Snitch is caught that would increase their chances, winning against Hufflepuff by 35,1%...” I heard McNully say before I zoned out again when Nova sat next to me, her hand brushing against mine.

“Putting Slytherin in the last place if Hufflepuff would be able to get enough goals or to catch the Snitch at the precise time and...” Does this guy ever stop talking?

Just as I was beginning to zone out again, Nova giggled and I sat up straight. She was looking at McNully, smiling. Why did she giggle? He has been talking for what seemed like a century and I haven't laughed once. At this point, if I didn't know he was so in love with Quidditch I would say that I was 99,8% sure that he wasn't talking about the game at all.

I chuckled at my little joke, oblivious to the fact that everybody heard me. McNully actually stopped talking and they all turned to me. At that moment I hoped that I had enough freckles on my face so that they couldn't see just how red my cheeks got.

“I just remembered something funny.” I said quickly. They were all looking at me, confused, except Nova giggled and that made me feel better.

“Blackwood, come on, let's go!” I turned around and saw Skye and Orion walking towards our table. Nova stood up, lowered her head to my ear, and said “See you on the pitch, Weasley.” She winked at me and walked away. I was now conflicted more than ever, about what to do.

Our Team Captain was going over the strategy we planned to do for the match one more time. It wasn't concerning me much as it did the Chasers but when he turned to me and said “Weasley, we are counting on you for that Snitch.” My heart sank as he pointed at my face.

We heard Madam Hooch's whistle and we flew onto the pitch. As the balls flew up in the air, I tried to forget that my best friend was on the opposite Team and started looking around for the Snitch. I rolled my eyes as McNully started with his percentages again as if they made any sense and decided to fly up high to get a better view of the situation.

Our Captain, Tom, said that if we would be in the lead and have luck scoring, I should wait to catch the Snitch and stall as much as possible so that we get ahead with points for our next two matches.

It was 70 to 30 for Gryffindor and I knew it was time to start looking for the little golden ball. I spotted it at once just under the stands where Ravenclaws were cheering. I flew in that direction, not trying to make it too obvious. However, when I got closer, Nova was already after it. It flew down towards the ground and I leaned forward to catch up to her.

She looked at me for a second and nearly crashed her broom at the ground while I stopped just at the right time. I chuckled and flew after the Snitch that was now flying towards the Gryffindor hoops. This was fun! It was like Nova and I were battling for the little ball, both amused, and for a second everything else disappeared and it was just us, flying around the pitch.

“Blackwood and Weasley are still battling for the Snitch which now has a 65,8% being caught if they make the effort.” Oh, shut up. I had to admit that we weren't trying hard to catch the ball as we were both having too much fun flying around after it.

After about 15 minutes, the score was 110 to 60 for us and I felt bad exchanging looks with my Team Captain as he was glaring at me, furious. I knew it was time to finish the game. I spotted the Snitch near the roof of one of the higher stands and I flew towards it as fast as I could. Nova was coming from the other side and I knew that whoever got to it first would end the game.

I also knew that we could crash by the angle we were both approaching it. Nova's eyes were narrowed, focused on the Snitch and just as I was about to crash into her, I braked and she caught the Snitch. I knew that I would be able to avoid her and get the ball right under her nose but I was hoping that to the rest of the eyes watching us it looked like I didn't have a choice.

The Ravenclaws roared in excitement and McNully forgot that he was supposed to be neutral when he started shouting into the microphone. “We've won! Ravenclaw won 210 to 130! I dare to say there was a 71,2% chance of that turnout...” I heard him say and then I tuned him out.

It wasn't that bad, it was our first match of the season. We still had Slytherins and Hufflepuffs to beat and I was confident we wouldn't have any problems with that. After all, we were only 80 points behind and Ravenclaw could easily get fewer points than us in their other two matches.

We flew off the pitch and I jumped off my broom.

“Weasley! Tent! NOW!” Shouted a voice behind me. I gulped as I turned around and saw Tom violet with rage. I wasn't so confident now that nobody could tell that I let Nova catch the Snitch.

I hurried to the tent and he ordered the rest of the Team to sit down. He then looked at me and came so close that our noses were almost touching. I leaned back a bit.

“WHAT was that, Weasley?” He barked at me. “Do you think this is some sort of a game?” I just shook my head. I knew saying anything would just make him angrier.

“You were flying with that Ravenclaw Seeker as if you were on a date! What took you so long to catch the Snitch? You had plenty of opportunities to snatch it from her!” I blinked as a drop of his saliva hit my eye.

“I was waiting for more points. We did say that we...”

“Waiting for more...” He interrupted me. “You let her catch that ball and you know it!” A vein was beginning to show on his forehead.

“I did not!” I defended myself, even though my voice wasn't very convincing.

“Oh, really?” He was rather calm now, turned to my teammates.

“Then why did you break right in front of the Snitch? You are smart enough to know that you could have flown away with it before crashing into her and you know it!” He wasn't calm anymore.

“It's only the first match, we are going to catch up with them.” Said Ellen, one of our Beaters.

“Oh, shut it!” He turned to her, his furry raising.

“I asked you a few weeks ago if her being Seeker and the fact that her father passed away would be a problem and you said no!” His nose now close to mine again.

“I told you...” I tried to stay as calm as I possibly could as I got angry when he mentioned Nova's dad. “That I didn't do it on purpose.”

It seemed we have started a staring contest as neither of us blinked and my face was turning red as well.

“One more mistake, Weasley...” He finally spoke. “And you're off the team!” He hissed and stormed out of the tent.

“It's okay, Charlie.” Said Marry, the girl who got me on the Team last year.

“We're not mad at you, mate.” John, our Keeper smiled at me.

“The Cap just thought we were going to win all the games this year, but what's the fun in that.” Marry added and they left the tent.

I sat down and was surprised just how unphased I was by the whole thing. I knew I did the right thing and was now hoping that Nova didn't figure it out more than how mad it made Tom.

When I lifted the curtain to get out of the tent, I saw Nova running towards me.

“Charlie, I did it! We won!” Her face beaming. She pulled me into a hug.

“Congratulations, Ravenclaw! You deserve it.” I smiled and returned the hug.

“Did you see me push forward as we almost ran into each other? I was good, don't you think?”

“You were brilliant.” The excitement and happiness on her face made the whole thing worth it and if I regretted it before, I definitely didn't now. The only thing that I remembered from Tom shouting at me at that moment was that he said Nova and I were on a date.

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studentville-struggles · 4 years

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A Double Life

Chapter 5!!

A self-indulgent Daniel Ricciardo fic.

Summary: Returning to old passions results in the start of chaos and living a double life. We say we hate chaos, but the thrill is unlike anything else.

Words: 1,941

Masterlist // Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4

F1 was no joke.

PhD’s were no joke.

You were exhausted. Exhausted didn’t even begin to cover how you felt. Were you dying? Who even knew at this point.

One monday your legs finally gave out as you were walking into university, collapsing from the exhaustion you were fighting. Thankfully you had just made it into your building, the porters quick to call a medic. You actually ended up having to take a couple of days off of lab work and go home and just spend some time sleeping and spending time with your parents. Your supervisors were so worried for your health and the stress you had been putting yourself under they pretty much banned you from the lab for a week.

You still did the workouts you needed to and prepped for races from home. You just did everything on more than five hours sleep. The luxury. It was so damn needed.

Speaking on the phone to Lando one night, the two of you becoming closer friends since being team mates and him checking in more frequently since finding out about you collapsing, you had been joking about how nice sleep was.

“I used to think that being ordinary was boring. Now I’d do anything for a 10 hour nap and a chippy.”

Your little exhaustion moment had scared you a little bit. You’d always managed to do everything. You could have two intense lives and work it. You had felt that for the last three years you mastered juggling a double life. Was it finally coming to crumble around you? Was this it, was the dream over?

You wouldn’t allow it. You couldn’t. Youd fought so hard for this, to have your cake and eat it. It was never meant to be easy and you knew that, this was just one more thing to overcome. Once you had your PhD you would be able to live any life you wanted. You might even be able to sleep seven hours a night on the regular.

You would make this double life work for a little longer, you had to.

Having re-evaluated routines and switching things up so that you could make the most of both lives whilst still being healthy, you were feeling confident, comfortable and it was growing with each race that passed. Sure, not all of the results were what you dreamed off; after all you were yet to tip Lewis off his pedestal, but you were getting there. Getting the car to do your bidding was the first half of the challenge. Now you just needed to do that, but better than every one else on the track.

The other thing to come out of your health scare; especially after some of the drivers have commented on your less deathly appearance was an interesting change in your friendship with a certain Australian.

Sure, you had the big change from thinking he was rude to being caught smiling at his texts, to hanging out in Australia at the start of the season. That you had kind of seen coming; but this? This was unexpected, and you weren’t quite sure what to make of it currently.

After finding out about your little incident, Daniels’ entire energy changed. He was visibly concerned about you, whether you were better now, how you were doing getting everything under control for good. His reaction to discovering the in-depth extremeness of your routine having binged watched your show – he claimed it was a curious interest to occupy his flight but you knew it was to be nosey and you didn’t mind that – was even stranger He had effectively cornered you at the paddock in China with a written out list and spluttering of expletives with the general message of “what the fuck, no wonder you're exhausted.’.

The frequency at which you two texted and chatted was steadily rising as your friendship bloomed but after his discovery of ‘the incident’, it had sky rocketed. Both in general conversation, but also in his concern for you overdoing things. He’s started to make a point, like Lewis often does, to ensure you take a bit of time for you and to relax; so movie and game nights are now a little thing you get when you meet up for a face to face catch up.

The vibes between the two of you were shifting ever so slightly and you weren’t entirely sure where there were setting themselves.

---

You were very lucky in that your family would often come to support you, especially your mum and dad. Albeit your mum couldn’t watch half of the races due to her fear that her little girl was going to be hurt, but she was there every chance she had.

As the season progressed and you were getting some races closer to home, you felt it was about time to invite the main group of people who were yet to see this side of you. Given the intense patience and grace they had given to you, supporting you though everything and allowing your camera crew all access; it was time to invite your boss. Well your other boss. Your supervisor.

Getting back into the swing of things at work in the lab after the Spanish Grand Prix, you felt it was finally time to give back to your lab family.

“I’d like to take you to work next week, and maybe a few others once I check numbers.” Your supervisor knew what ‘work’ meant for you but with more and more people questioning your regular three day weeks, you were starting to feel like letting your two worlds collide a little more.

“Where is work next week? Monaco?”

“Yup. I’ll give my media team a ring and see how many we can take including hotels and go from there”

“Including?!”

“Full VIP, would be rude of me not to.”

A short phone call later, with some rough numbers figured out, you had five full VIP passes at your disposal. Given you rarely have guests at Grand Prix’ they allowed a few extra tickets this time. As one would imagine with a free weekend in Monaco, the academic staff in your research group snapped up those tickets in no time. Of course, with the amount of time spent in your offices and labs, you were safely assuming three of the five had no idea what your job was, though were very curious as to how and why it was taking you to Monaco.

Academic life was no joke. Everyone was busy, everyone had very little free time. Watching sports was only done by super fans really. There weren’t any motorsport super fans in your office and somehow both your show and driving career had still remained unquestioned. How that was true with the camera crew still following you around, you had no idea.

You had sent out a rough, and very vague itinerary, reminding them to be ready to leave work at 6 pm on Wednesday, heading straight to the airport. You had also sent strict dress code instructions- the smarter end of smart casual, knowing that they would likely, if not definitely, be appearing on camera.

With some of your team meeting you at the airport, ready to get your race weekend media started, the confusion of your university colleagues was growing. It peaked as they had you film a short clip to start the weekends media off, it was only a short Instagram story, post hair touch up, to say hi to fans.

“Hey guys, just me taking over the Instagram stories! We’ve just arrived at the airport to head over to Monaco! Can’t wait to see you guys this weekend and I’ve even brought a few colleagues from the university so you’ll be seeing my two worlds collide as well! See you soon!” Waving at the camera, you cut the video. With all thumbs up from your team, you uploaded it to your team Instagram, views piling in almost immediately.

“Rachel what the hell do you do?!”

“Oh you’ll see soon enough, I don’t want to ruin the surprise now.” You teased, surprisingly enjoying the suspense.

Walking up to the private jet having gone through security with ease, the shock was only increasing, though you everyone was feeling very excited for the flight now they saw the plane. Things were fairly calm after this, the journey quick, smooth and you avoided giving too much away.

Arriving at the hotel you sent everyone off to their rooms, giving timings for meeting the next morning. You would be leaving before them to start greeting the media and doing some press conferences before your track walks, and so had arranged for a few cars to be sent for transferring the rest over to the main hub. Once they were all happy with the plans, not that you’d given many details, merely timings, you could head to your room where Daniel had snuck over waiting to reunite.

He had many complaints about spending the evening having your catch up in a hotel when he had a perfectly good home a few minutes away. At some point during the evening, after the food had been demolished, the words said and a crappy Netflix original on the tv, the two of you had fallen asleep. When you woke a couple of hours later, you were awkwardly hunched on the sofa still, somehow having entangled yourself with Daniels body.

Realising that it was far too late to send Daniel home, you both needed sleep if you were to survive the media day, and you couldn’t send him on his way in the small hours of the morning. Trying not to wake him too harshly, you start untangling yourself from the mess of legs. With Daniel starting to stir, you grab his hand, wordlessly pulling him from the sofa, over to the hotel bed.

Still in the silence the middle of the night brings, Daniel shed the majority of his clothing, slipping under the covers in only his underwear, with you following soon after as you quickly change into your sleepwear.

For something so foreign in your friendship, the ease and comfort at which you snuggled together, falling asleep again under the covers, was almost unnerving. Almost. In your sleepy state, you couldn’t recognise that, only time would reveal that.

Having snuck off to begin your media day trackside, you were eager to see your lab colleague's reaction to where they were. It was as you were heading back into McLarens hospitality that you, as well as the whole group, could see the full magnitude of this job and how it differed to the Rachel they were used to seeing in the office.

“You’re a driver?” Shock? Disbelief? You couldn’t quite tell but the reaction was

“Yes”

“What the fuck? But you’re in the lab like 10 hours a day”

“Now you know why I don’t have time to get things done otherwise in my three-day weeks.”

Once the shock wore off, the excitement and initial questions had settled, you set the group up with timings for the day and let them wander round the paddock freely as you headed back to your meetings, promising to see them during the lunch break.

Having your worlds united felt good. It felt as though some of the pressure you hadn’t realised was there from keeping them separate, was melting away. Although the feeling that was beginning to bubble away every time you bumped into Daniel was very close to being a distraction.

You needed to drive; just get in the car and block everything else out.

#studentville-struggles #rachel tries to write #a double life #dr3 #daniel ricciardo #daniel ricciardo imagine #daniel ricciardo fic #daniel ricciardo x reader

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jj-lynn21 · 4 years

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How A Girl Must Live Ch 1

Ch1: A place for singles

Ch 2: Popular, Ch 3 Opening Up ch 4: Dating Ch 5:Family

Ch 6 Violence begets Violence Ch 7 Love Birds Ch 8 The Big Fight

ch 9: The Flash back

Notes: AU Willard Russel. In this story he still went off to the war. Instead of going home, one of the other soldiers offered him a job at a resort in the Catskills Mountains in New York. He has been there five years when the story starts. So, it makes him about twenty-five. The ages of those that come into the resort are 18-21 for females, 18-25 for males. The only warning I could put on this chapter is that it is 1950s so there were some rules for women that most of us would think of as ridiculous now. Our main female character sure thinks they are, but she was raised to go along with society, for the most part. No smut until the last few chapters.

taging: @super-pink-a-palouza @luciferreads @glasglowgrin @loomiz @princessloveme123 @hornyhetero @taintedglass @bohemian-brian @maryan028 @optimisticwagoneagleparty @scxrsgxrd ,@waywardtigersandwich @theskarsgardcult @babyboy-cody @bskarsgardlove92 @bill-skarsgard-owns-my-ass @shenevertricks1831

Thank you so much for the moodboard to start this off @flowers-in-your-hayr

It was spring break 1950 when Samantha Davenport’s father insisted, she needed to find a man. There had already been talk about her amongst his friends that something might not be right about his daughter since she was about to turn 19 and had no male companion. No suiters at the door vying for her attention. So, he sent her to a resort that was known for putting people together. Some even ended up married at the resort surrounded by friends and family.

“Mother, why is Father sending me away like I did something wrong?” Samantha pouted with her arm flung over her chaise lounge dramatically. “I am perfectly happy being single. My friend Tami has a dotting husband and three kids. She ain’t no happier than me.”

“Is not happier.” Her Mother corrected. “I do hope they encourage proper grammar at this resort for young people.”

Samantha rolled her eyes while her Mother’s back was turned. “Won’t I learn that at that God-awful finishing school that starts in the Fall?”

“Do not take the lords name in vain like that young lady,” She slammed the pink suitcase closed. “Your Father knows what is best for this family. Until you are blessed with a husband to help you make correct decisions, you will listen to your Father. Let us get you to the car. Your Father is waiting.”

Samantha huffed and stomped to the car. Her Father was waiting with his legs crossed at the ankles. He tipped his hat to his Ladies. Then he moved around the car to open the front door. “Mother.”

“Thank you, Father,” his wife smiled politely as she got in the car.

He opened the back door. “My beautiful free-spirited little girl.”

“Thank you, Father.” She felt deflated as she got in the car.

The car was quiet, other than the radio playing Elvis, The Platters, Pat Boone, Dean Martin, and other popular crooners of the time. It was a six-hour drive from Summerland, Ohio to the Mountain Lake Resort in Catskills, New York. As she listened to the music she glanced through the brochure for the place.

The rooms looked nice enough. Four girls would room together. Friendships were expected. The boys were roomed in a different part of the building. An elegant dining area was found between the girls' and boys' areas. There was a lake and pool where daily activity would be held. Hiking, crafts, and board games were also organized to have something to interest all guests. The young people had to get involved with a minimum of three events per day. No smoking or drinking by any of the young ladies. The young men would have dedicated times when they would learn to drink and smoke casually.

It seemed unfair having to take part in dumb activities. And the rules were worse than home. Her Father let her go shopping with her girlfriends and drive her own car without a man beside her. At the resort there always had to be a man to escort the ladies on the premises. They were to wait in the morning for a knock on the door at 6am. An escort would be there to bring them to breakfast. They could only speak when spoken to.

A girl would not deny a gentleman's advances. Dating was strongly encouraged. Samantha thought it was absurd to have to entertain morons just so they did not feel bad about themselves. She would not be forced into a relationship to appease her parents. The idea of the man of her dreams being at some camp to get young people married off was ridiculous.

When they pull up to the main building young gentlemen line the walkway. They are all dressed in impressive suits of grey, navy or black with ties. One of them rushes to open the back door. “Welcome to the resort Miss.” He tilted his hat with a smile.

“Sam.” She said with a smirk.

Her Father got out of the car to get her suitcase out of the trunk. “Have an enjoyable time Samantha.”

“I’ll take her suitcase, Sir.” The young man stuck out his hand.

Her Father handed the suitcase over happily. Her Mother waved to her from the car. She had a huge proud smile on her face as if dropping her daughter off at such a place as this was a huge accomplishment.

“Follow me Miss Samantha.” The young man started walking and she followed as instructed. He took her into a communal area. Boys at the tables on the right. Girls at the tables on the left. There were some windows at the far end where she could see tables for two and four set up. “Have a seat, Miss Samantha. This is Miss Pamala, Miss Missy and Miss Flora. They will be your roommates. I will take your suitcase to your room.”

“Thank you,” She croaked softly as she sat down.

The girls in unison giggled as they greeted her with a, “Hello, Samantha.” They all seemed just giddy to be there.

“I can hardly wait to be paired with my future Husband.” Missy squealed.

Pamala chided her. “Now Missy you should date many boys here to find the right one. You date some even more than once to make sure you are compatible.” She giggled.

“What is your strategy for finding a perfect husband, Samantha?” Flora asked. “I am going to play hard to get with all the boys until I choose who I want. Of course, I will make him think he chose me.” She laughs with the rest of them.

“I have no plan.” Samantha’s voice was dull compared to the manic girls around her. “My parents think I can find my heart's desire here. I very much doubt that. But good luck to you three.”

“Just look at all of them over there.” Missy giggled. “The odds are in our favor.”

Samantha rolled her eyes. A couple in their late forties stepped out between the young men and young girls. The man tipped his fedora to the crowd before taking it off to hold to his chest with one hand. His other hand held his wife’s hand. He kissed it politely before letting it go. She curtsied to the room.

“Good evening young people,” The man looked around the room making eye contact with some. “We are the Jones. You may call my wife Mrs. Sally. Please refer to me as Mr. Jones. Ladies are always to be called by their first names with Mrs. In front of it if they are married and Miss before that. All gentlemen here will be referred to as Mr. with their last name after. We do this so our ladies soon to be Wives and Mother’s we hope, will know the name they are to take. And the gentlemen should always know the first name of his possible wife when he is introduced to her.”

His wife kept a smile on her face. She looked at him in adoration as he spoke. She said nothing. She waited for him to allow her to speak.

“We have a few rules.” The room groaned. “There are not many. They are not difficult to follow. You will all be dress in your finest daily. That is suit and tie for the boys. And dresses for the girls. Petticoats are optional but highly recommended. No slang words or curses here. You will always talk properly. Ladies will always be accompanied by a gentleman. My lovely wife will now talk to you about meals.”

“Good evening everyone.” His wife curtsied to everyone again. “Tonight, I helped Chef Joseph cook a chopped steak with baked potatoes for the boys and garden salads for our girls. Well, Mr. Joseph grilled the steaks and potatoes. I just threw together a salad he told me how to make. After tonight's dinner, I know you will all need some rest.

The boys room numbers coincide with the number on their table. Our young ladies will be escorted to their room by one of our male staff members. In the morning at six, girls you will start hearing a knock at the door. You will be ready to come down to breakfast prompting with the young man we send for you. Maybe he will be the one.” She was as giddy as some of the young girls about that comment.

Samantha was already annoyed. It increased when Tab soft drinks were set on her table. She had no problem with her shape and the other girls at the table were varied sizes but that did not mean they all did not deserve a hamburger, fries, and a Milkshake like she would normal have when hanging out with friends. She never drank diet soda like Tab. Her Mother ate salads often. She did sometimes. But usually they all had meat, potatoes, and vegetables.

“I’m sorry, I was babbling on so.” Mrs. Sally apologized looking at her husband. “Is there anything else you need to address, Sir?”

“You did as good as I expected Mrs. Sally.” He gave her shoulder a little squeeze that elated her. “All young girls are not to smoke or drink. It is not lady like. If your husband chooses to let you that is between you and him. Here you will not partake in such things. After the girls are in their rooms to get their beauty sleep any boys who want to partake in an after-dinner smoke and drink may do so under our supervision. That is the only time you will be allowed to do such things. Does everyone understand?”

“Yes Mr. Jones.” The room howled.

“Good, now let’s enjoy our dinner.” He clapped. Women brought out the food on large platters for the young men and bowls for the girls. Samantha was starving. When she took large bites of her salad, the other girls just looked at her like she was insane. They all took small bites. Missy even used a knife to cute hers up. The others followed her lead.

“Do you want your future husband to see you eating like such, such a heathen.” Miss Missy whispered.

Samantha’s mouth hung open for a second. “I down cheeseburgers in front of boys all the time. This is just salad and I am starving. “

“Well, maybe that is the reason you are not happily married by now.” Miss Pamala guessed with a snideness to the remark.

“If the men here only care about how I eat instead of who I am, then I guess I won’t meet anyone this way.” Samantha laughed before taking another huge bite just to annoy the other girls.

When a man was sent to the table to escort Samantha to her room, she went willingly just to get away from the girls she was sitting with for a few minutes. The young man who escorted her walked with his chin up looking ahead without conversing with her at all. She was fine with that. It took her roommates another half hour to finish eating before joining her. She pretended to be asleep in the twin bed on the right of the room closest to the window.

Samantha was restless laying in the bed. Her stomach was growling also. The other girls were sleeping dreaming of their wedding days. She decided to tiptoe to the kitchen to see what she could find. She did not know where the kitchen was, but it had to be somewhere behind the double doors the food was brought from at the dinner.

She walked slow and steady down to the stairwell. She thought the elevator bell would alert someone to her late-night snack walk. She glanced both ways when she opened the stairway door to the main floor. No one was insight. She headed to the dining area thinking she would be free and clear but there were voices from the room.

“One more hand, boys.” A deep voice echoed. “No wilds. Treat your cards like a Lady. Respect them. Gaze at them lovingly. And make sure no one else thinks theirs are better than yours.”

Samantha snuck around them in the shadows as the boys laughed. The voices get muted as she slides into the double doors catching them, so they do not shut loud in the darkness. The kitchen was a sterile silver with a ceiling light in the center. She reached up to pull the string to turn it on. The area only illuminated slightly. There was a window at the fair end so she could she how the lighting would be fine once the sun shone in on the room.

On her toes she reached to open a cupboard to find a snack, a glass or both. She found juice glasses. Then she opened the refrigerator to find more vegetables for salads which she had enough of already. But there was also freshly squeezed orange juice ready for the morning. She poured herself a glass. When she walked out after putting away the juice and shutting the light off, she stopped to hear the guys chatting, smoking cigars, and playing poker.

“I will marry a beautiful girl to make my parents happy,” The one boy was saying. “Then it is off to the army for me to defend this great country.”

“I don’t suggest that young man,” The deeper voiced guy suggested. “You don’t want to see the things I saw. You do not want to be part of that messed up world unless you have to, you dig? I saw a man skinned alive. You do not want to see that kid. I don’t want you to see that.” His voice sounded haunted by the memory.

“Well, I’m going to keep my girl in line just like my Dad does.” Another younger voice chimed in. “Just smack her right in the chops if she sasses, disobeys or...”

Samantha heard a bang on the table that made her gasp audibly and drop her glass shattering it on the floor.

“You should never treat a woman like that,” The deeper voice seethed. “If I see or hear of you laying one hand on these ladies you will be out of here. And If I ever see you or your Father lay a hand on a Lady in my presence that moment will come back to haunt you three-fold.” He gets up. Straightens his tie and turns towards toward the noise. He softens his face smiling. “I’m sorry Miss. I did not mean to startle you. I was just teaching these fellas a few things. Hopefully, they listened.”

She nodded slowly scared she was in much more trouble than the boy he threatened since she broke a rule. “I’m, I just needed a drink. I’ll be going back to my room after cleaning up the glass.”

“The boys will clean up the glass.” He rose out of the chair towering over her.

“Yes, Sir.” She glanced up his entire frame noticing his broad shoulders to his large bright green eyes that caught hers. Then she quickly looked down.

“Isn’t that women’s work.” One of the men complained

The tall slender man glared at the boys, “If a woman is frightened, we help her even if it means cleaning up a mess once in a while.” He looked to Samantha holding out his hand. “I will escort you back to your room Miss.”

“I’m Sam, well Samantha.” She took his hand nervously.

Samantha and the tall guy started walking away as the boys found a broom to sweep up the mess. It took them a few minutes. They also cleaned up the card game and empty beer bottles and the ashtray.

“I’m Mr. Russel.” the tall guy said as he pushed the elevator button. “Willard Russel. Do not worry, I will not say anything about you being out without an escort. You seem like a perfectly capable young lady to get a drink on her own. But please forgive my behavior with Mr. Goodland. I despise those that do not treat women with respect. What floor?”

“Seven.” She murmured. “I’m glad there are more men than my Father that believe that hitting women are wrong, Mr. Russel.”

“You just come to me if any of our boys get out of hand.” He put his arm out for her to get off the elevator first and walked her to her door. “I hope you find an absolutely true love here.” His face lit up when he really smiled.

“Thank you, kindly Mr. Russel,” She smiled back barely realizing she was doing it.

He opened the door she stopped at. She went inside and he closed it quietly behind her.

#fan fiction #willard russel #bill skarsgard #willard and samantha #1950s #how a girl must live #TDATT #the devil all the time

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grapefruitsketches · 4 years

Text

Untamed Spring Fest 2020 - Day 6: Breeze

(honestly, who else could be “breeze” but XXC?)

Part of my Songxiao post-canon fix-it fic series (this is the “XXC Prequel”):

Also available AO3: link

2,883 Words

Songxiao, Xiao Xingchen Centric, hurt/comfort; Post Yi City Arc, I don’t care how XXC survives/is revived, I just know he does/is.

“Say something. Say something. Can’t you say something?” the wind had shifted, the dead stayed silent, and he felt himself shatter, leaving only frozen shards of the disgusting joke he’d turned out to be.

He was moving. More intriguing, though, was that he was. But what was he exactly? He remembered being whole, but this was not that. Whole was light, sounds, smells, taste, touch. Whole could even be without some of those sensations, but he didn’t know what to make of being without any of them.

Yet he knew he was moving, so he knew he was something.

He drifted, musing that this must be what it was like to be like leaves on the breeze. No… not leaves… something else in the breeze. He was… he was…

A memory of cold light piercing the dark, creating dancing shadows through the branches swaying in the breeze. He reached and melded with the answer, which had been floating next to, and now was once again part of, him.

The Moon in the Breeze.

That had been him. But that couldn’t be true now. The breeze couldn’t be moved. The breeze was the one that moved. And certainly his movement right now was not of his own doing. The air around him compressed and he became aware of walls around him which were now contracting, squeezed by some force larger and outside of the world he now occupied.

Zichen.

He felt a rush at that name - he did not have to reach as answers to questions he had forgotten rushed to him from all around. He - whatever he was - grew as the pieces merged together. How could he have forgotten the Gentry despite the Frost?

Zichen had been his first guide in a world totally unfamiliar to him. He had known from their first meeting that he could always count on Song Lan to follow him, wherever the breeze might take him, without that promise ever having to be said aloud. Xiao Xingchen - for with Zichen’s name had come his own - had been able follow trails to any number of disasters, and Zichen would always be close behind him. Xingchen had been prepared to roam the world alone ever since the day he gave his farewells to the mountains he had grown up in, but Zichen had made sure he always had someone by his side.

So it was no surprise, then, that Zichen would be the one sheltering his growing awareness.

He was content. Existing only in the warmth and knowledge that Zichen was by his side, protecting him.

But this contentment wavered. There was something else in here. Something else that, like the other pieces he had merged with, was him. But this other-something was not warm. It was not light. He wanted to retreat from it, hide, remain in this safe bubble he had formed for himself, under Zichen’s protection. But even as the instinct to hide grew, so it became apparent that this was impossible. The darkness drew close, vibrating dangerously, electric, reaching to rejoin the spirit it belonged to. This too, was a part of him. And resistance was only temporary denial.

He let it in.

A shock, like the feeling of removing a slipper to expose the frostbitten foot hiding beneath to the open air.

You couldn’t do anything. You’ve failed miserably. You’re the only one to blame. You asked for all of this!

He felt himself flicker, and it was all he could do to prevent his fragile light of awareness from falling apart once more as his darkness joined the light.

He remembered that the voice was right about him before he had even remembered who the voice belonged to. Its dangerous vibration was now part of him and he trembled violently, almost missing that the movement of the spirit bag - for he now understood where he must be - moved him up, no longer merely the light jostling that came with Zichen’s gait. His trembling softened. Something occurred to him, despite Xue Yang’s echoing voice. Zichen was still alive? Perhaps his failure had destroyed less than he had imagined? But then… why had Fuxue attacked him? The feel of the cold metal, the engraved characters in the sword, were clear in his memory.

He was confused, but a tightening pressure on the spirit bag felt somehow reassuring. Was Zichen… hugging him?

He wanted to sob, he wanted to yell, he wanted, above all, to return Zichen’s embrace. But here he was - useless, trapped in this dispersed form and only grateful that the mercy he was subjected to was of someone who would never hurt him.

But how?

It had been Fuxue that had tried to attack him, before he had let his own Shuanghua finish the job. Zichen would never do that to him, so he had known that his cultivation partner must have been under Xue Yang’s control. And then, Xue Yang had all but told him that he had killed Zichen himself. No matter how hard he tried to break off the part of himself that remembered, Xingchen knew that he had driven Shanghua through the silent form of the one he tried to protect above all, before casually greeting the foe he had thought was a friend. He had soon found out that the silent form had not been a corpse at all. At least, not until Xingchen had intervened.

The pressure placed by the hands on the bag increased. This was… not even forgiveness but…concern? Love? Despite everything, Zichen didn’t even blame him? But… Xiaochen had been everything Xue Yang had accused him of - a stupid, naïve, dumb idiot. He had killed innocents. He should have stayed on the mountain, as his Master had urged. The only one who had deserved Shuanghua’s blade had been himself, and yet… here Zichen still was. Why?

You were trying to do the right thing.

A voice came from another fragment of himself as it joined his core. The voice was Baoshan Sanren’s. He was 8 and he had brought her a baby bird that had fallen from a tree. He had been in the middle of asking her what he should do to help heal it, when it had died in his hands. His Master had sat him down and gently explained that it had died of shock, that it might have been ok if it had been left alone. She explained that once the bird had met the world outside the nest, it couldn’t truly return to its home. Master Baoshan had told him hat sometimes, the best thing we could do was to stand aside, to let nature take its course. Perhaps the bird’s mother would have come back, perhaps not. But, she had said, he should not feel too bad - even though he now held the dead bird’s body in his hands - he had been trying to do the right thing, after all.

He remembered the baby bird. Its shivering form, the odd angle of its wing, its panicked look as it searched for the edges of the nest that were its sole context for the world. Its final shudder, and its sudden stillness.

His Master’s pitying but resigned look had been echoed when, years later, he had decided that he should take the lessons he had learned from her and try to help heal the world with them.

Baoshan Sanren had taken a sip from her tea, the bitter scent one that he had never smelled again once he had left the mountain, and told him that he could not expect hijs actions to heal the world. That there were some things that were best left alone and others that, no matter how he intervened, would stubbornly persist in the damage they caused. He had known of the fights between clans, of the needless bloodshed of innocents that these disputes had caused. He had thought that if he stayed out of it, he could avoid the tragedies that Baoshan Sanren, in her relationship with Lan Yi, or Cangse Sanren, in her relationship with Wei Changze (and by extension, the Jiang clan) had experienced. He had vowed to remain independent.

He had caused the massacre of Baixue Temple anyway.

You were trying to do the right thing.

Of course he knew that - he had pursued Xue Yang, who had, in the absence of clan politics, taken it upon himself to exterminate various minor clans. He had seen the bodies, the remains of whole cities, the families, the children! He had tried to end it. He had only tried to end the murders. Did that relieve him of responsibility for the lives lost in Yi City by his own hand? He must have spoken to some of them - asked for directions, for a good price on potatoes. They had been innocent. His sword, the one he had sworn to use only to do save the world, had ended their innocent lives.

But what was the cause?

He was 10. He had found, hidden behind a panel in the library, a scroll, It had looked like a diary. It outlined a theory on the use of talismans to subdue demons. This was not what had drawn his attention though. Instead, it had been the notes scrawled in the corners, seemingly unrelated to the scroll’s general premise, musing about the relationship between the cultivator and the outcome for the souls they sought to soothe. The comments wondered whether it was the cultivator’s job to put the spirit to rest, whether it was only their job to try to put the spirit to rest, or whether it was merely their job to try and return peace to whatever environment the spirit was aggravating at the time, regardless of the outcome for the spirit itself? What was the original cause of the disruption? The scribbles had underlined this final line several times.

The scroll had been signed Cangse Sanren. Xingchen had wondered why she had cared so much - didn’t it matter just as much if you played a role in disaster as if you had started it? Either way, you could have stopped it.

Only if you knew that was what you were doing.

This voice… it didn’t have a specific source that he could recall. It seemed, instead, to be coming from within. He paused on this thought. What had he known?

He thought back.

He had known that he belonged by Song Lan’s side. He had known that it was his place at Zichen’s side that had led to the massacre at Baixue Temple. He had known that his continued presence by Zichen’s side could only hurt them both, that all he could do to repay Zichen for the harm that he had caused was to give Song Lan his eyes back. He knew that blindness was hardly even a loss compared to what Zichen must have felt, coming back to Baixue Temple to the carefully and conspicuously organized bodies of the people he had grown up with.

Xingchen had also known that he was helping A-Qing - that the two of them would work better as a pair than they could alone. He had known that the man they had found on the banks of the river had needed their help, that he couldn’t survive without them. He understood that this man had suffered, that everyone deserved some kindness, some gentle treatment in their lives. That providing some candy was a small gesture that would mean a lot to this person. He had known - or thought he had known - that Zichen would be better without him. He believed that the best Xingchen could do for this Song Lan, who had shown him so much compassion, only to be repaid in so much tragedy, was to pay his kindness forward, to provide for those who had no one they could rely on.

He had known all this, had acted based on it. So… he felt the bag clench again from outside forces and realized that he had once again become agitated. He leaned into the pressure. Did he truly deserve to suffer when he had been acting only to bring more kindness to the world? What, as Cangse Sanren had asked, had been the cause?

Xiao Xingchen had never been one to deny responsibility. In fact, his reputation in the cultivation world revealed the opposite: he was one who would accept responsibility even where there was little if any connection to his actions. And yet, he was still a man of reason. From here, feeling the affection coming through the gentle touch of Zichen’s hands on the spirit bag, and reflecting on the events leading to the massacre in Yi City, he could not find his misstep. He could not identify a moment where he could have done differently. The man who had set him on the course of bringing tragedy to the City had done so by preying on Xingchen’s drive to save the world, not some secret need to destroy it.

The darkness, that had seemed so huge, so all-encompassing, as it had joined his form, seemed to shrink, made small through the combination of the affection flowing from the pressure on the spirit bag with the growing strength of the light of the essence that made up most of his spirit. It still hurt, it no doubt always would. But it hurt like a bad memory, like a nostalgia for a time before one knew of the bad things in the world. It no longer felt sharp, was no longer a pang of guilt and self-hatred, a feeling that but for him, the world would be a better place.

If he could forgive Xue Yang, one who had committed murders on purpose, as a victim of circumstance, could he not afford himself at least a fraction of the same courtesy? Leaning into the hand he knew was at the walls of the spirit bag, he felt that maybe he could.

It took some time. He could not speak, he could not do much but make himself brighter, or expand slightly. He hoped, he prayed, that Zichen might notice. Eventually, he was able to expand himself to reach every corner of the bag he occupied, to push against the edges of the space he occupied, to brighten, to flicker. He was rewarded for his efforts. He heard a grunt of surprise, then excitement. He understood that the bag had been hugged close to a chest. He heard a whoosh, and understood that he and Zichen were in the air, flying, urgently, somewhere.

There were voices - not Zichen’s, which Xiao Xingchen had not heard since that terrible day at Baixue Temple - but others… was that Wei Wuxian? What had been the cause, that boy’s mother had once asked. Wasn’t Wei Wuxian dead? What did Xingchen know? He was so disconnected from the world. All he knew was that sadness turned to cruelty. Xiao Xingchen had concluded that this had been the cause of his own situation, but he suspected that this might explain many other tragedies. He had resolved himself to avoid this treacherous path, of assuming the worst in others. It could only cause further harm. Perhaps there had been more to Wei Wuxian’s story?

“Good luck.” This was the voice of Lan Wangji, recognizable as a voice Xiao Xingchen had only heard when it had something important to say. What was Zichen up to?

Xiao Xingchen didn’t dare to hope - it was enough to exist by Zichen’s side, was it not? To know he was ok, that he was living the legacies of Xiao Xingchen’s mountain home and Baixue Temple in his own way. But still… Xingchen could not deny it would be nice to feel Zichen’s touch yet again, to ask and know that he let himself feel happy sometimes.

The bag opened, and for the first time in a long time, XIngchen felt himself move along the path of a breeze, along a path of least resistance, to a familiar home inside a form he thought was lost to him forever.

He let out a breath. A true and pure breath of clean air. He had rediscovered the use of fingers, had started rotating his wrists when a weight fell across his now rising and falling chest.

“Zichen” he breathed, happy that that could be the first word to pass his lips after all this time. He felt warmth on his cheeks as the tears he could not cry as he had lingered in the spirit bag were unleashed all at once. He regained feeling in an arm and moved it to embrace, as he had longed to do for so long, the shaking figure draped over him. “Zichen” he repeated, feeling both disbelief and a profound understanding that there was nowhere else he should be right now.

There was much they had to figure out - apologies that would flow both ways, new obstacles they would have to overcome. But for now, Xingchen thought as he held his Zichen’s sobbing shape close to him for the first time in over two decades, this would be enough.

I have ideas for a companion Song Lan piece (probably day 18?) and possibly a joint XXC/SL piece later this month! Let me know if you’re interested, I’ll post them here and on AO3 (same username) :)

#untamed spring fest #the untamed #mdzs #songxiao #xiao xingchen #song lan #apparently I had a lot of songxiao feelings #my writing #songxiao fix it series

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toastie-the-know · 4 years

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The canon bases of RudeAggro!Felix and Apologetic!Dimitri

(Since I actually spent an entire evening doing this, I’m posting it because I don’t want to feel I “lost” all that time haha! I sort of do this kind of stuff for work sometimes, so this is clearly the sad fate of a person who can’t leave their work at work and brings it into their hobbies 😂 )

I’ve read a lot of Dmlx fic (in English), and have seen a lot of art, and there’s a trend I’ve noticed in the characterisations of both Felix and Dimitri that stands out to me: Rude and aggressive Felix, and Apologetic Dimitri. More specifically, Felix being rude/aggressive to Dimitri, and Dimitri apologising to Felix. The characterisations stand out to me only because my hc characterisations are more like “tsundere” Felix, and polite Dimitri. There’s obviously an overlap between “rude/aggressive” and “tsundere”, as well as “apologising” and “polite”, but they are not the same thing, at least from the part of the world I come from (I played with the JP audio on English text). I wanted to figure out if I was missing something from canon, so decided to take a short dive and check out the source material.

This meta isn’t an attack on people’s preferences. Creators of fan works depict characters in a variety of ways for personal reasons, and it’s no one’s business to pass judgement on that. I’m not trying to legitimise my hc, or delegitimise othere people’s hc. All I want to know is whether there is strong canon basis for the characterisations, which I might have missed. I’m also not saying that “unless a characterisation is based off canon 100% it’s not legit”. I don’t believe in that statement. Looking at canon is one way for me to see whether the “RudeAggro Felix”, “Apologetic Dimitri” is more a case of creator extrapolation, or based off something very clearly there in the canon.

So I’m gonna look at three bits of text. 1) The words and expressions used in the support conversations, both JP and EN 2) The tone in the voice acting, both JP and EN in the support conversations, and 3) Dimitri and Felix’s lines in Azure Moon route chapters + in the monastery, but only in the JP (it was easier for me to search the JP text quickly, more effort required for the EN). Of course there’s more you can glean about their characters from other supports etc, but I don’t have that much free time…

Heads up I’m a bilingual and bicultural Japanese/Aussie (have lived in both countries), so I’m pretty confident in my interpretations of the JP text and audio.

Rude and Aggressive Felix

There’s a lot of canon for this characterisation to be based on. Listing the words and expressions Felix uses when talking to Dimitri is pretty aggressive, and is meant to be demeaning if we take it at face value.

Felix insults/expressions of aggression

Support C

その気味の悪い笑顔で話しかけるな。/ Go away. (I would add “Don’t talk to me with that creepy/spooky/grotesque smile of yours.”)

見ているだけで胸糞悪くなる。/ Just looking at your face makes me wanna retch 黙れ。獣は獣らしくしていろ。/ Shut up. And stop walking around on your hind legs. 獣 / beast 猪 / wild boar ならばさっさと失せろ、邪魔だ。話しかけるな、この化け物が。/ Hurry up and get out of my sight. I don’t make a habit of talking to beasts.

Support B

猪 / wild boar 貴様 / an aggressive form of addressing “you” in Japanese, although in this sentence it’s not used aggressively 阿呆が。/ Do you take me for a fool? (I took the Japanese more along the lines of “Are you stupid?”) 腹立たしい……。/Looking at your face is making me angry (No JP equivalent) / Farewell, Your Beastliness.

Support A

獣 / beast (but used in the context of the “the face of a beast vs the face of a man” line) 手が滑って斬りつけないうちに、答えろ。Answer quickly before my hand slips and I cut you in half お前の辛気臭い顔が、癇に障って仕方なかっただけだ / I couldn’t stand the pathetic look on your face.

Stepping out of the Dimitri/Felix support conversations for a bit, we know from Felix’s other interaction he is also rude and aggressive. Calling Dedue “dog” is probably the rudest and most demeaning example we have. Telling Ingrid to go and get married is also pretty rude. So overall we have a lot of evidence that Felix is ok with being abrasive, at best. Intentionally hurtful and malicious at the worst.

So Felix is rude to Dimitri in their support conversations, but the rudeness lessens as the support levels increase. As you can see from the list above, the number of expressions of aggression go down between conversations C and A. Felix doesn’t call Dimitri “boar” once in the A support conversation. The last line “癇に障って仕方なかっただけだ / I couldn’t stand the pathetic look on your face” is a bit tricky, since I think there’s a bit of a divergence between the JP acting and EN acting. The JP is very clearly a "tsundere" intonation, meaning there’s a vibe of “I care but am too embarrassed to admit it”. The EN was a lot less obviously for me, so if you only got the EN there’s a chance that Felix’s “I couldn’t stand the pathetic look on your face” comes across at face value - an actual insult.

Outside the support conversations, Felix uses the words “boar/beast” to describe Dimitri specifically quite often. But the intention behind the use seems to change (from an attack on one’s character to a nickname). Looking at the AM route, lines within each chapter + in the monastery phase, we find he uses the words ten times in total. That’s a descent amount, considering the number of lines he probably has overall (I’m not that dedicated to count all his lines… proper methodology would want me to do that though…). The last two times he uses “boar” it seems more of a nickname rather than as a way to attack Dimitri’s person.

A surprise find was that Dimitri uses “beast” five times overall , in the same contexts that I checked for Felix’s use (AM route, lines within each chapter + in the monastery phase in JP). In all cases he is describing either Imperial soldiers, or the baddies at Remier village. Never in reference to himself (which I thought might come up, but didn’t).So

TLDR; There is canon basis of Felix being rude to Dimitri, but it looks like he mellows out a lot by the end of the game. The JP flags the “tsundere” vibes a lot more than the English.

Apologetic Dimitri

I’m gonna start with the numbers from the chapters + monastery sections first, because these are the bits that clearly form the canon basis of “apologising Dimitri”. But with some interesting twists!

As a quick and dirty measure, I searched for the characters 謝 (to catch 謝る、謝罪 etc), 悪 (to catch 悪いな、悪かった), and すまない. I didn’t search for ごめん/ごめんなさい (gomen/gomennasai) bc I bet you three cups of coffee that you won’t find Dimitri using this expression. ごめん/ごめんなさい is more typical of children and women, or super casual. So Edelgard and Claude might use these, but not Dimitri.

Dimitri apologise a ton in the chapters and monastery sections. For all three words, we have 16 expressions of “sorry” from Dimitri. For comparison, I just checked the first five chapters for Claude. Chapters 1-5 Dimitri apologises 7 times, while Claude apologises once. So yeah, canonically, we find good grounds for Dimitri being a person who apologises often. We’ll see later that in his other supports with Blue Lions characters, he apologies to them also.

Dimitri apologises 6 times after Rodrigue dies in chapter 18. And 4 of these apologies are concerning his behaviour while he was disengaged with the war effort/unwell. These kind of feel a bit different to the “sorry to inconvenience you” type apologies that are more typical of his sorries (see list below)

To Byleth: 4, for being boring (1), for making a weird request (1), for Byleth helping out (2) To Edelgard: 2, once about making Edelgard feel bad bc she thought he was underestimating her, and once about the poor choice of gift he gave her during their childhood. To Lonato: 2, for the general badness of the situation To Claude: 1, (but unclear to me what exactly he’s apologising about) To Dedue: 1, for surprising him To Mercedes: 1 (need to check again To a Kingdom soldier: 1, because the soldier was looking for him To Lonato’s soldier: 1, for the general badness of the situation

Most of these apologies are of the “sorry for being an inconvenience” type. This could be interpreted in a variety of ways ranging from just being polite right through to low self-esteem. Whatever the construal, it does seem objectively that Dimitri says “sorry” a lot more than other male characters who might have as many lines.

Dimitri and apologising to Felix

Dimitri apologising to Felix, we have exactly one example in the chapter conversations. In chapter 18, Dimitri says to Felix “I have no words to apologise adequately” or something along those lines, regarding Rodrigue’s death. (And shortly after, Felix addressed Dimitri by name).

We have zero cases of Dimitri apologising to Felix in the support conversations. For a quick comparison in his other support conversations, Dimitri apologises to Ashe once, Sylvain once, Ingrid once, Annette twice, Mercedes three times (but the expressions he uses are different to the three I mention earlier). Interestingly, Dimitri also doesn’t apologise to Dedue.

These numbers might just be reflecting the fact that Dimitri and Felix’s support conversations aren’t really topics where apologies would be made. Dimitri and Felix’s support conversations aren’t about burdening each other, being a nuisance, or supporting each other. Their support conversations are actually about Felix coming to terms with Dimitri’s dual nature, while Dimitri himself seems seems unbothered by it. (The only place in canon we really see Dimitri using his words to express remorse and discomfort over his dual nature seems to be his A+ support with Mercedes).

Dimitri’s responses to Felix’s rudeness in support C are more like indirect affirmations of Felix’s characterisations of him (“A beast craving blood, am I? I assume you’re speaking of the events two years ago”, “I deny nothing, Felix.”, “Perhaps you’re right.”). Maybe a little bit resigned. There are a handful of sad-faces. It actually seems to me that Dimitri is in general agreement with Felix.

In support B, Dimitri is unbothered by Felix’s abrasiveness. When Felix gives him a hard time, Dimitri tends to push back (“As though I would be careless with something so valuable.”, “Come now, that was so long ago!”). In this entire exchange it’s only Felix who is bothered by something, while Dimitri seems quite oblivious to Felix’s turmoil. The final line in this support is Dimitri saying “What is going on with him…”

Support A Dimitri is quite assertive of himself (“ Do not waste your breath on questions with such obvious answers / 当たり前のことを聞くな”, “ You are wrong/ ……違う”), still a it resigned (“Always so ominous / お前はいつも物騒だな。”), but unlike supports A and B, showing awareness of Felix’s internal state, and thanks Felix.

Dimitri seems generally unbothered by Felix giving him a hard time, and Dimitri does not apologise for his character. Dimitri seemed ok with his dual nature, while it was Felix who was more bothered by it. But by the end of the game, if support A is reached, Felix also comes around to accept the dual nature. Dimitri and Felix aren’t really in an “apologise to each other” relationship, because it seems from Dimitri’s POV, there is nothing about himself that he needs to apologise to Felix for.

So TLDR

There is good canon basis for rude/aggro Felix. There is good canon basis for apologetic Dimitri. Dimitri apologises a lot in canon, but not really Felix. The one time he apologises is concerning Rodrigue’s death. But given that Dimitri does apologise to people often for inconveniencing them, it’s not hard to imagine how Dimitri would apologise to Felix for inconveniencing him in some way.

So I don’t think I missed anything in canon, but fan creators extrapolate these canon bases into various directions. Which is cool! Because isn’t that the fun of doing fan works!

The end.

Links out: JP Text, EN Text

#fe3h meta #dimilix #dimitri alexandre blaiddyd #felix hugo fraldarius

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thebiasrekkers · 4 years

Text

Make It Right [BTS Mafia!AU]

Plot: “It’s always darkest before the dawn…” It’s a dog-eat-dog world in Seoul, South Korea. One has to dwell in the shadows in order to reach for the light. What are you willing to sacrifice in order to feel the sunlight on your face? What will it take to drag you back into darkness? How long will the journey be to make it right?

Rating: NC-17 // NSFW

Genre: Series | Mafia!AU | Crime!AU | Angst | Romance/Fluff

Pairings: Jin x OC | Taehyung/Hoseok x OC | Yoongi/Jungkook x OC

Warnings: Graphic Violence, Heavy Language, Angst, Slow Burn, Smut

Previous Chapters: Prologue 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29

Links: FAQ || BTS Masterlist || Admin E’s AO3 || Admin E’s WP || [ REQUESTS ARE OPEN ]

Word Count: 2,631

Chapter 29: I Need U

“All of the things you said are like a mask. It hides the truth and rips me apart.”

© thebiasrekkers (Admin E). All rights reserved. Reposting/modifying our work is prohibited. Translations are not allowed. Plagiarism/stealing is not tolerated by any means. Legal action will be taken in instances of theft.

The doctor didn’t have to tell her that it was going to hurt. Eden knew full well what this shit was going to feel like. But that wasn’t to say she was any more prepared for it. Raelyn offered to give her something to bite on, or to inject her with some pain killers to help with the process. Eden wanted none of it. The last thing she wanted to be was numb for this. Every sting of discomfort would serve as an imprint across her entire body.

“Are you ready?” asked the doctor as he braced his palm on her shoulder, the other gripping firmly to her wrist.

Eden glared at the wall, a bead of sweat sliding from her temple to her chin. “…do it, Doc.”

She saw Raelyn out of the corner of her eye, standing just to the right of her bed. The doctor looked at the other nurses, receiving swift nods, before he yanked her arm straight up. There was a distinct crack as joints popped and he pushed hard onto her shoulder, another snap issuing soon after.

Her scream ripped through the entire hospital; positive that she just woke the dead.

Tears leaked out of her eyes, streaming down her cheeks. The tips of her fingers buzzed and itched with life, the circulation correcting itself in her arm. Nerves and muscles pulsed and cried; her arm feeling like gelatin. Her other hand went to clasp at her shoulder as the doctor urged her to cradle the limb in her lap. Nurses were already prepped to place her arm into a sling once she was wrapped and a splint was put into place.

She would have been more outraged had it been her right arm.

After making sure that she was okay, the doctor left a nurse with her, as well as Raelyn. Eden felt a cloth touching her brow – presumably the nurse since her friend was glowering down at her. She had to resist the urge to spit onto the ground, reminding herself that she was, in fact, in a hospital. The nurse murmured a few things to Raelyn before handing her the cloth.

Raelyn was less affectionate with tending to her needs.

Eden’s head made a full tilt as Raelyn pressed the cloth to her temple. Her lip curled upward in a half snarl, giving her a side-eye. “Your bedside manner fucking blows,” she said through clenched teeth, feeling her friend half cuff her with the cloth.

“You’re not the first person to say it and you won’t be the last.”

“I’ll be the last if you don’t stop poking my damn head!” Eden snatched the cloth from her with her good arm. “Gimme that!” She wiped the sweat off herself.

Raelyn folded her arms across her chest, scrutinizing her. “How in the hell did you get mixed up with those assholes?”

“Don’t ask me!” she snapped, glaring up at her, “They just fuckin’ followed me, alright? Not like I was startin’ shit!”

As she continued to dab at her nose and forehead, Eden saw her friend mulling over something in her own head. This was the second time they’d both encountered a member of the Jade Fangs while they were together. It was no surprise that they would be curious about Raelyn. She was Hoseok’s ex-girlfriend; the former Hyungsoo-nim. Word would have gotten out that she was seeing Taehyung now, a little lower on the totem pole, but still a prominent member of the Golden Jackals. Or rather, former Golden Jackals.

But it was clear they had their sights on Eden, not her friend. As far as she was concerned, she wasn’t a blip on their radar. It wasn’t like the Jade Fangs weren’t as prominent as the Golden Jackals. Anyone who traveled through Myeongdong or the Mapo District knew whose territory that belonged to. They’d set their sights on Gangnam until it was wrested from their grasp by the Jackals. People who brushed with the underground were aware of all of this.

So why me? Eden couldn’t help thinking, her eyes narrowing, why now?

Her phone buzzed on the table beside her bed and she saw it was a message from Jungkook, saying he was on his way. Eden sighed, casting a sidelong glance to Raelyn as she took a seat beside her. “Did you have to tell Jungkook what happened?”

“Yeah, I did,” she said, her tone matter of fact, “better it be your ass and not mine.”

“Wow,” came Eden’s bland response as she rolled her eyes, “you’re the best friend a girl could ever ask for.”

Raelyn flashed her a shit-eating grin and Eden had to resist the urge to pinch and pull the woman’s cheek. “I know, aren’t I the greatest?”

“I hate you.”

“I love you too,” she said, looking at the EKG monitor with a slightly critical eye, “forreal though? Your blood pressure is elevated. Take a few deep breaths for me?”

Obliging without a fuss, Eden took a deep breath and then exhaled. She did it three more times before her friend was satisfied. Suddenly, Raelyn’s phone rang with life and she answered.

“Oh, Taehyung-ah,” she said, rising from her seat, “…yeah, I’m still at the hospital. But how did you know I’m with Eden? …you’re lying.”

Eden quirked a brow as Raelyn turned to look at her.

“You’re all coming here right now?” She watched her face screw up into a look that she couldn’t quite place. “Look, I know you’re all worried but there’s no need for…wait, what?!”

This time it was Eden’s turn to frown.

“What the hell is going on?”

Raelyn held a finger up at her, signaling to give her a minute, before she turned and dashed out of the room suddenly. Eden stared at the door before scoffing, rolling her head and eyes in sync as she reached for her phone angrily.

“That woman, swear to fuckin’ God,” she muttered, swiping her thumb over her pin number to unlock her phone.

The distinct click of her phone unlocking brought up the apps on her phone. It echoed in time with the door unlatching, but she didn’t bother looking up – thinking it was Raelyn returning from her phone call.

“So, who’s coming to bother me and about what?” she asked, pulling up her work emails.

“You just can’t keep yourself out of trouble, can you?”

Her whole body froze, eyes still locked onto the phone screen. Eden tried to pretend that hearing his voice wouldn’t shake her to the core. Not anymore. But as she lifted her face to look at the door, she mentally cursed the EKG monitor taking note of her heartbeat increasing its tempo.

Yoongi stood in front of the door, dressed in a casual suit with his dark hair slicked back off his forehead. His face betrayed nothing. It never did. But it was his eyes that always gave him away. Eden saw the anger there, but she also knew that it wasn’t directed at her. Not this time. Her lips parted to say something but she found her mouth closing, not sure what she wanted to say.

Eden cleared her throat loudly, shrugging one shoulder before looking back down at her phone. “I can’t help that trouble likes to find me,” she said, her tone light, “it just can’t leave me alone. Like some clingy fuckin’ ex…”

A shadow loomed over her, but before she could shift away or even figure out what was happening, she felt Yoongi’s hand encircling her wrist as she gripped even tighter to her phone. His other hand rested at her hip on the bed while he pulled her hand up and out of her lap – forcing her to lift her head to face him; to lock eyes with him. She struggled against his hold, their faces just inches apart, and she could tell he was holding himself back while she also held back from headbutting him straight on.

“Goddammit, Eden,” he snapped, pulling her arm closer to him, “this isn’t a game!”

She grinned at him, feeling an angry vein pulsing around her neck. “I didn’t realize we were playing a game, Yoongi-ah.” Her tone was sickeningly sweet, her bicep growing taut as she tried to pull from his grasp. “Am I winning yet?”

“You talk about truth and lies,” Yoongi began, his voice shaking slightly as he tried to keep her arm in place, “and what good has the truth been for you, huh? Fucking look at you, Eden!”

“What about it?”

“I may have lied, but I don’t remember you ever getting hurt because of it!”

Eden felt her eyes narrow sharply. “…what’d you say?”

“I kept you away from this shit for a reason and now you see why.”

“You guys are supposed to be legit now,” she said while rolling her eyes, “so I don’t see what the problem is.”

He scoffed. “Don’t play stupid, Eden. We’re barely able to walk after having crawled on the ground. It wasn’t going to be that easy. It isn’t going to be that easy. You know how this shit works better than most people.”

Yoongi released her hand and she yanked it upward, causing her phone to fly from her grasp. It landed on the ground with a loud clatter but neither of them moved to retrieve it. All they could do was stare at each other, the anger dancing around their eyes and sparking between them. Her heart monitor was beeping like a time bomb, but she didn’t care. She wanted to take the chords pressed to her chest and wring his damn neck with them.

Because he was right, and she fucking hated him for it.

The door flew open just as Yoongi got off the bed, making his way to where her phone had been discarded. Raelyn’s eyes were wide as she saw Yoongi. Looking between him and Eden, she frowned and snapped her fingers at him.

“You must have been a goddamn ninja in your past life, Min Yoongi,” she said as he dropped the phone into Eden’s lap, “or I’m going even more fuckin’ blind these days.”

“It might be a little of both, Raelyn,” Yoongi replied casually, brushing past her and heading for the door. He paused, glancing over his shoulder to look at Eden, the sound of hurried footsteps echoing from the hall. “…I’m glad it wasn’t anything major, Eden.”

She sighed, averting her gaze from his as she crossed her legs on the bed. “…whatever, Yoongi-ah.”

Within seconds, she heard three sets of panting breaths and she looked up to see Jungkook, Jimin and Taehyung attempting to squeeze into the doorway at the same time. Yoongi was already gone and she bit her lower lip, her brows knitting together as Jungkook forced his way ahead of the others. Raelyn must have sensed that she didn’t want to be bombarded with twenty questions. The older woman wasted no time ushering out everyone except Jungkook from her room. Jimin and Taehyung protested, but with a quick intake of breath and smack to their heads, they relented and allowed themselves to be shoved out.

Jungkook was immediately at her side, sliding into the chair that Raelyn previously occupied. He grasped her hand in his, his eyes darting over her entire form before resting on her arm that was draped in the sling. He frowned, his other hand moving to sweep some of her hair from her forehead. Eden unconsciously leaned her cheek into his palm.

“Jesus, Noona,” he said, his voice shaking slightly, “are you sure you’re okay?”

She chuckled. “I’m fine,” she said with a shrug, “you should have seen the other guys.”

“...did you really hide razor blades in your hair?”

“Damn straight I did!”

“I’m not sure if I should be afraid or impressed right now.”

Despite her attempt at making the situation light-hearted, she could see the heavy weight falling on Jungkook’s shoulders. Like he’d just realized something and wasn’t willing to speak it out loud. Eden felt her smirk fall, reaching out to flick him on the forehead. He reared back, rubbing at the sore spot with one hand as he groaned in protest.

“H-Hey! What was that for?!”

“For trying to feel guilty about something that is out of your control,” she fired back, “it’s not anyone’s job to protect me around the clock and I can take care of my own damn self. So, don’t go trying to blame yourself for the shit that happened today.”

“Eden Noona…”

“I mean it.” Her eyes narrowed sharply at him. “Do it again and we’re done, got it?”

He didn’t look like he was satisfied with being given an ultimatum, but he had no real reason to go against her. It wasn’t like she was trying to be a bitch. She just didn’t want him worrying about unnecessary things. They were taking the necessary steps to do things the right way. And if what Minhyuk said was true, then the Jade Fangs were going to do everything in their power to drag them down from greatness.

Like fuckin’ crabs in a barrel, she thought bitterly.

Shifting over in the bed, she leaned over to one side of the bed to set her phone back down on the small nightstand. Eden patted the empty space beside her and Jungkook looked at her curiously. She gave him an annoyed expression, tucking some of her hair behind her ear.

“These hospital pillows suck ass.”

The look of realization spread over Jungkook’s features and he shook his head, moving from the chair to climb into the bed beside her. Motioning for her to sit up, she did so and waited for him to settle back onto the pillows. When she felt his hand touching her opposite shoulder did she fall back gently onto his arm, nestling into the crook of his shoulder. His cheek rested on top of her head and he held her other hand against his chest. She took comfort in the feel of his heartbeat, but there was something gnawing at the back of her mind. For once, she was thankful for Jungkook wanting to remain silent for a little while longer – leaving her to her thoughts.

Eden tried to keep the frown from forming at the corners of her mouth, but it was proving fruitless. Because she couldn’t stop thinking about what Yoongi said. Because he wasn’t wrong.

In the years she’d known him, nothing had actually ever happened to her. Because he’d kept her away from all of that. If she chose to walk in the dark, it was only for a short while; never prolonging her stay than what was necessary.

But what was more disturbing was that the boys were now walking in the light. Someone in the Jade Fangs didn’t like that. They didn’t like it at all. And now they were letting them all know that they weren’t just going to sit idly by and watch them bask in the sunshine, leaving them to rot in the shadows alone.

No, she thought, trying to chase away the morbidity of what that suggested, I’m just reading too much into this. Those guys are just a bunch of assholes.

Craning her neck to look up at Jungkook, she smiled when she saw him starting to drift off to sleep.

…they’re not so weak to fall for their stupid little games.

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screamingatanemptyroom · 5 years

Text

I Can’t Eat Love Pt 6

Here is the next part! Please Enjoy!

Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5 linked here

____________________________

The next week was brutal.

Each day I would get up before dawn, moving to my office to get started as soon as possible. Reading, studying, I was trying to learn a lifetime of knowledge at a breakneck pace. I still was piecing together bills and tax documents, working with Hallers to consolidate all the debt I could. Fortunately, as I was still in good standing with the Royal family, the interest and repayment plans were very generous.

I stayed locked in that tiny room, only to pause whenever Hallers brought up a meal, an increasingly worried expression on his face with each passing day.

“Miss, you must sleep!” He broke his professional silence on the fourth day, as he walked in late into the night, finding me reading a chapter on historical government forms while taking notes by candlelight. I glanced up, surprised to see him still dressed up in a proper butler uniform despite the late hour.

“Hallers, I’m sorry, did I wake you? I just have a few more pages… and then there’s still the letters from the Eastern section of Duchy….” I leaned back, rubbing my eyes with a yawn. “You might as well go to bed. I’ll make sure to blow the candle out when I finish.”

He stood his ground, looking determined. “No, Miss.” He picked up the candle, ignoring my squawk of protest. “I cannot let you run yourself into the ground. You cannot save this Duchy in the space of a week.”

“But… I …”

“The work will be waiting for you in the morning. But for now, please, I’m begging you… go to sleep?” He looked so miserable, I found myself nodding without realizing it.

“Fine. I’ll do this in the morning.”

I went off to bed, hiding a smile. When was the last time someone worried about whether or not I slept?

Beyond the work I had to do between lessons and the financial organization, there was still the matter of the corruption within the Duchy to deal with.

“Hallers?” Early in the week, I called him into the office.

He stood at attention, waiting. “Yes, Miss?”

I handed him a paper. “I need you, or someone you would trust with your life, to go into the city. In the Northwest square you will find a man who sits under a blue awning named “Rig.” Hand him this note, and tell him that you will purchase the information requested within for 50 crowns.”

Despite the oddity of the request, Hallers was a professional, his only reaction a single raised eyebrow “Is that all?”

“No.” I sighed. “He will demand at least twice the amount offered. You are to refuse this and tell him that ‘Angel’ sent you.”

“Who is this ‘Angel’, miss?”

“No one.” I laughed. “It’s a code, which only his inner circle know. If you say this, it will allow you to purchase the information I need for that price. He will tell you when you can retrieve it.”

Who would have thought that the knowledge I had earned being one of Rig’s info runners while living on the street would be helpful so quickly? I had hated the man at the time, but even I had to admit that he was the best when it came down to tracking down things others wanted to hide.

“It will be done.” With a short bow, he turned to leave. I called after him.

“Oh, and Hallers?” When he paused, I added, “Postpone any meeting with our men involved in tax collection/counting until after you have what I requested.”

“It will be helpful to you?”

I grinned evilly. “Let’s just say I don’t believe in going into battle without a weapon.”

____________________________

Despite the drastic change in my schedule, my parents remained completely unaware. My Father, relieved that he didn’t have to pretend to care about the paperwork anymore, went riding and hunting, enjoying himself thoroughly. As long as he wasn’t spending money, I was content to let him be. As for my mother… fortunately she had been visiting her family in the South since my reawakening, and was not scheduled to return for another month. I was curious to see my mother, since my last words to her were on her deathbed. Our relationship was strained at best, however, and I need to figure out how to approach her.

The Duke and Duchess may not have been concerned with the abrupt changes I had made in my life, but it had not gone unnoticed by others.

“What’s come over you, Miss?” my maid Angela shook her head, frustrated as she assisted me undressing one evening. “You dress so simply these days. You never go to the Royal palace gardens or visit Lady Edith anymore! Is there something wrong?”

I smiled at her grumbling. In my previous life, whenever I hadn’t been trying to perfect my etiquette lessons, I had wandered the Royal Gardens with Edith, hoping to catch a glimpse of the Prince. It seemed so silly, so empty now.

I shook my head. “Everything is fine. Mrs. Rendler simply increased the difficulty of my etiquette lessons, and I have a lot of work to do to catch up.”

“You don’t have to work so hard, though!” She muttered, putting away my gown. “It’s not as if…” She trailed off, as if realizing what she was about to say.

It’s not as if I’ll ever get to be Queen. Of course, I know that… but how does she? I smiled, the expression cold. “Angela. Are you saying I shouldn’t do my best at preparing to be Queen?”

She panicked slightly, backing away. “No, of course not! I – I just want you to be happy.”

I kept my eyes on her own, appreciating the fear I saw there. “I appreciate the concern.”

I placed the confrontation to the back of my mind, refusing to think it through to its conclusion, but things were stirred up once more by a an unexpected encounter towards the end of the week, the day before my next trip tot the palace. She showed up unannounced, barging into my office, with Hallers trailing behind, a disapproving expression on his face at her intrusion.

“Lenora! What’s going on?!” She was a beautiful girl. Golden hair, light colored eyes, long lashes… she looked as if she had stepped out of a storybook, exactly what I thought a princess should look like.

“Edith.” The name felt wrong to say out loud after so long.

____________________________

“EDITH!” I sobbed, falling to my knees in front of her. “You have to help me!”

She stared at me silently with glassy eyes, a polite smile hiding any deeper emotion.

Exhausted, starving, I reached out a hand towards her.

“Please, mother, father… they’re both gone… I lost my job with the seamstress… someone told them I had stolen something... I don’t know what to do!”

My hand grasped empty air instead of her skirt. She had stepped back out of my reach.

“What do you expect me to do?” Her words were lifeless, she stared at me as if I were an insect, rather than her childhood friend.

I held my grumbling stomach, hating that I looked so pathetic and weak. “Can you talk to the Queen…?”

“She refuses to hear your name.” Edith interrupted, a small gleam in her eye. “She heard the kind of dirty crimes you committed on the street, and says that you are dead to her.”

Dead? Dead. Dead… the word repeated itself in my mind over and over, like a chant. Was that the woman who had called me her daughter, who said she loved me?

“That can’t be true! I’ve not committed any crimes. Why would she… say that? I can’t believe it!”

“Well it’s true.” Edith sighed, looking around as if searching for an excuse to leave. “Was there anything else?”

I looked back at her, lost, confused. I was so hungry. Can you help me find work? Or at least give me something to eat?”

“Sorry,” She didn’t look sorry. “My father has forbidden that I be around you anymore. He’s worried it will effect my reputation as the future Queen.”

“What are you saying?” I stared at my only friend in the world, feeling the shattered remnants of my heart break even further.

“Goodbye, Lenora.” Refusing to look at me anymore, she walked away.

“EDITH!”

____________________________

“I haven’t seen you in days!” Edith smiled brightly, the expression turning my stomach. “I missed you!”

Her act wasn’t extremely convincing this time, to a more experienced eye. Her smile was a little too stiff, her eyes cold and calculating as they looked around the room, trying to determine what I had been up to. Even as she told me she missed me her voice seemed more irritated then sad, as if she were frustrated that I had made her do the work instead of going to her as I usually did.

I returned her smile. “I’ve missed you too!” Standing up from my desk, I reached out, giving her a hug.

I was a much better actress.

“What are you doing? I’ve heard you’ve been locked away in this room for days!” She grabbed my hands, a true look of concern crossing her face.

“Really? Who did you hear it from?”

She balked at that question. “Oh you know… just around.”

“I see.” I looked over at Hallers with a frown, who looked furious. He nodded to me briefly and left, likely to interrogate the staff regarding who had been gossiping about my activities. I let him go, although I already had my own suspicions.

I brought Edith away from my desk and papers, not wishing for her to see any of the Duchy’s financial numbers, and sat us down on some chairs near the fireplace. I didn’t bother ringing for tea, I knew Hallers would have already arranged it.

“What brings you here?” I asked, keeping my voice casual and polite.

Edith laughed. “What nonsense! As if I needed a reason to see my friend. I was hoping we could spend some time together, perhaps walk through the gardens?”

“I see.” I nodded, thinking it over. She wanted to see the prince, I suppose.

“So can we go?”

“Well, not today because I have to finish some work here, or tomorrow because I have to attend my lessons with the Queen.” I noted the angry flash in her eyes at the mention of my royal etiquette lessons, but continued without comment. “Perhaps next week we can walk through the gardens.”

She looked disappointed. “Next week?”

“And perhaps I can arrange for us to have tea with the prince.” I laughed as her demeanor brightened. “Wouldn’t that be fun?!”

“Well, if I wouldn’t be in the way…” She trailed off, watching me slyly.

“Of course not.”

How many times had these conversations happened before? How many times did I unknowingly bring her to see my fiancé, allowing them to grow closer, sealing my own fate. Well, go with my blessing this time, Edith. I don’t want him.

Edith, unaware of my inner thoughts, seemed relieved. “Alright then, that would be fun! I just worry about you, Lenora! Don’t work too hard in this dreary little room! If you don’t go spend as much time with the Prince as possible he might lose interest!” Her hand rested on my arm. I struggled to not fling her off. “Trust me.”

I hid all my feelings deep inside, smiling brightly for her to see. “Of course I trust you.”

#writing #i can't eat love #part 6 #setting up for bigger events #edith arrives #:)

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cookieek · 4 years

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Chapter 8: In which books are read and curses are pondered over

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Epilogue Ao3 Wattpad

Harriet cautiously stepped into the big ballroom, bracing herself for the barrage of noise. There was always a lot of noise whenever her parents decided to hold a ball, hundreds and thousands of people talking, shoes clacking against the Marble floor, glasses tapping against each other, she could go on.

She reached a hand up to scratch at the itchy lace around her neck, but stopped at the glare from her mother.

“You have been absent for two hours now, that’s one hour more than we agreed on,” her mother whispered harshly, as she took a tight hold of Harriet’s hand and dragged her away.

Harriet could not hear exactly what her mother was saying as they walked through the room, her sharp whispers simply joining and becoming indistinguishable with the rest of the noise surrounding both of them, but her body language made it very clear that she was upset.

Harriet felt a bit guilty about the whole thing, she hadn’t really meant to be away from the ball for so long, but she just lost track of time.

She fidgeted with the lace around one of her arms this time, she realised that there was a lot of lace on the dress she had been put in, it was not very comfortable.

Finally, her mother let go of her hand to gesture towards a man who looked very impatient, probably with her. Judging by the way he was dressed he was probably a prince or at least a lord.

He said something she wasn’t able to catch, and then her mother pushed her towards him, he held out his hand. It seemed like he wanted to dance.

Oh no, there was lace on her socks as well.

She took his hand, and he harshly pulled her out into the crowds of people, who immediately moved away to create a perfect circle around her and him. Effectively trapping her.

He bowed, she curtseyed and then they danced. He was a pretty good dancer, and Harriet did her best to hang along, there were thousand people watching after all so she had to. His hands felt cold and uncomfortable on her body, not quite holding on as much as they should be, like he was ready to let her go flying into the crowd at any seconds notice.

She stumbled a bit and tightened her grip on him in fear, he simply smiled a smug condescending grin back at her as he picked up the pace.

The lace inched.

The noise in the room seemed to increase.

She tried her best to keep up with his now faster steps, but found herself stumbling more and more. Her head started to feel dizzy and she wanted to stop, but she could feel the glare of her mother in the back of her neck and so she pushed on.

He picked up the pace more and more, seemingly taking delight in seeing her fumble and stumble as she tried to keep up, his smile growing more and more at each failure she displayed.

She gritted her teeth, determined not to mess up again. And then he loosened his grip on her.

And let go of her.

And she fell, the room breaking out in roaring laughter, almost destroying her eardrums. She tried to drag herself up from the floor, but her head was spinning, and the lace was inching, and the room was so loud, and everyone was looking at her.

She looked up at the man, who was grinning ear to ear, having grown a completely second mouth that was laughing a horrible condescending laughter.

Harriet felt embarrassed, humiliated, but most of all, she felt rage.

Biting back her anger she looked around her at the blob of eyes open wide, staring at her, and mouth laughing uproariously. It surrounded her on all sides, but behind it she could still make out the silhouette of her mother.

She tried to reach out a hand to her, but her mothers eyes opened and glared at her, and then her silhouette disappeared.

Edda spent a few minutes just staring at the ceiling after she woke up, taking in the silence, the sweet sweet silence, as her eyes traced the wood pattern of the planks above her. Seeing those nobelmen and princes yesterday must have awoken a dormant memory in her brain or something.

Fucking pricks.

She took a deep sigh, clenched and unclenched her muscles a bit, and then she rose up from the bed. She didn’t have time or energy to dwell on the past, she had things to do today.

She tried to do her morning routine relatively quietly, since Arthur was still sleeping pretty soundly, she was up pretty early after all. As she brushed her hair she hoped he didn’t have to deal with any weird dreams brought on from yesterday, the encounter did seem to stick to him a bit.

She shook her head a bit, those assholes were certainly going to make being in Hävelösa way more tense than she was hoping for. Part of her wondered if she even had the guts to sleep in the same inn as them one more night, but another part of her were keenly aware that there was no way she would be able to do what she needed to do at the library and then immediately start traveling to Endeslättaren, she would prefer not having to sleep outside more than she needed to.

She put up her hair in a bun, and pulled out an old book from her bag, she needed to get her mind of everything, just for a little while.

Arthur woke up about an hour later than her, and soon enough they where out of the door of the inn and making their way to the library. Thankfully they somehow managed to avoid any run ins with the princess search party on their way there.

She managed to locate the books she searched for in the library pretty quick, well, not all the books she had been hoping to find, but maybe she didn’t need those to break the curse. And if she did need them, then she just had to look for them in the next town.

As she started flipped through the books, she took a notice of Arthur shuffling in his seat, seemingly already a bit restless. It wasn’t like he could take a nap like last time, probably having had a pretty good night sleep.

“If you want, you can help me look through these books for anything helpful?” She tried, holding out the book she found on what she suspected to be the type of fairy that cursed him.

He eyed the book, and smiled a bit awkwardly at her.

“I don’t think I would be able to find anything helpful, Miss Edda, I wouldn’t even know what to look for.” He rubbed the back of his neck a bit.

“Just look for things like weaknesses, or curses and such,” Edda said, holding a scrap of paper and a pen “And then note the page number where it’s mentioned down on this, and then I can take a look at it later.”

Arthur hesitantly took the book, the paper scrap and pen.

“And this will help you?” He said, a bit unsure.

“It will certainly streamline the process of finding anything from the books.” She said with a smile.

He gave her a soft and slightly shaky smile in return as he put the book on the desk and opened it.

They had worked for about twenty minutes, before a curious thought entered Eddas brain, and then wouldn’t, despite her attempts, leave.

“Hey Arthur,” she finally said, putting down the book she was holding. “You said you knew someone who did magic, did they ever try to help with the curse?”

He looked up from the book, and let out a slightly nervous laugh.

“Well yeah, he was also under the curse, until recently. I don’t really know what it was he tried, but he sure did try a whole bunch of things.” He slumped a bit in the chair. “None of them worked, obviously.”

“Obviously,” she said, a bit bummed out over not getting to know exactly what has already been attempted when it came to breaking the curse, but oh well. “So I guess that left you to try to find this mythical, most beautiful woman?”

“Yes,” He said holding his hand up dramatically, “We went from kingdom to kingdom, finding beautiful princesses after princesses.” His hand flopped down. “Not a single one of them were willing to kiss us.”

“Wait, your problem was that you didn’t find anyone willing to kiss you?” She wasn’t sure why she was so surprised, she knew very well that princesses could be absolute judgemental assholes, but part of her could still not quite fathom what he had said.

He looked at her, a bit bewildered. “Yes? Is that, surprising, to you?”

“You really think that? Even as a dwarf?” There was a pinch of pure wonder in his voice, and it was killing her.

“Well, I guess not? Princesses were probably, no definitely, not the best people to ask for those types of favours, but...” she put her head in one of her hands and started observing the books on bookshelves to the right of her as she continued talking. “You look, at least to me, like someone who could get a kiss pretty easily.” Shit, why did she have to continue talking? She already regretted ever bringing the topic up. Why was her face so warm, what the fuck?

“Yea.” Was the only thing she could manage to get out as she wished for the floor to open up and swallow her. "Also you're really sweet." Why was she doing this to herself???!!!

Then she felt two warm hands take a hold of one of hers. She looked over a bit only to get smacked in her face by his warm smile and shining eyes.

“You’re too kind, M’lady.” He said as he lifted her hand up and pressed his soft and warm lips against the back of it. Kissing it.

Edda felt as if a jolt of lightning had shot down her spine, leaving her frozen in shock. One part of her brain screaming at her to remove herself from the situation, only to be shot down by a way bigger part of her brain that wanted to memorise the moment forever. Oh crap, what was going on???!!!

She did her best not to start hyperventilating right in front of him. This was probably something he did to everyone, maybe some sort of weird custom from where he was from! Why else would he kiss her hand???

“Miss Edda?” He asked, sounding concerned, letting go of her hand.

Edda shot up from her seat, trying to laugh casually.

“Oh wow, I think I need to use the restroom, right now, can you watch the books while I’m gone, please and thank you!” And then she walked away the fastest she could, collapsing to the ground the moment she got away from his eyesight.

She held up the hand that he had kissed. She could still feel the heat of his hands and the softness of his lips, and she couldn’t stop thinking about it.

It wasn’t like she had disliked it or anything, she had liked it, but she had liked it too much. It had been too nice, so nice that it had scared her. Why was her mind reacting like this? Why now?

She tugged at her hair in frustration, she just didn’t get it. Was she sick or something? A weird fewer maybe? What else could explain why she was feeling like this, why her heart was beating faster than it ever had before, why her mind filled with thoughts that she knew it never did her any good to entertain.

If his lips had felt so nice on her hand what would it feel like if he…

She had to stop this now.

Nothing good could ever or would ever come from it.

She looked up from her little huddle of misery, and was assaulted by the image of two people kissing, pretty much the last thing she needed to see at the moment. She let out a quiet, but sharp swear as she fumbled back from the image.

It was the cover of a book, put on special display in the bookshelf by the side of a sign saying ‘Recommended by the staff’. Besides it stood a few other recommendations, with titles such as ‘What the heart wants the most’, ‘The sweetest kiss’ and ‘Everlasting touch’.

Edda realised that she had collapsed in the middle of the romance section of the library. The world was playing a foul trick on her today it seemed.

Grimacing, she got up from the floor, throwing a long glare at the books that surrounded her. It wasn't that she hated romance books. They were perfectly fine pieces of literature, that she would read from time to time, but at the moment they inspired only negative feelings in her. The smiling, beautiful people on the covers only serving as a stark reminder of something she would never get to experience, while at the same time giving her false promises to the contrary. Like someone like her ever could really get to feel love.

She shook her head, there was no reason to dwell on things that will never be, she had accepted that she would never get to experience the feeling of love or being loved ages ago. That's just how it was and still is. It wasn't like she needed it anyway, she had gone through life just fine so far without it.

She turned to leave the isle and return to Arthur, the romance books having somehow served as effective dampers on whatever it was that she was experiencing just a few moments prior, but then her eyes caught a book that layd haphazardly on one of the shelves.

'Britta Vitorms runespell collection' the book said.

Edda picked it up from the shelf.

"Well you're not supposed to be here are you?" She said to it as she turned it around in her hand to examine it. Someone had clearly misplaced it.

With a spark of curiosity she opened the book as she started to make her way back to her table. It had been a while since she did some runemagic, maybe there were some neat spells in the book she hadn't heard of before. She took a look over the books table of contents, there were the usual fare, a wide arrangement protection spells, enchantment spells, cosmetic spells. Her eyes widened a bit in interest as she got to what the book called 'everyday practical spells' which for some reason contained 'explosive spells'. The amount of sheer, unadulterated, glee she experienced when reading those words were unimaginable.

"Oh, you're back Miss Edda!"

Edda almost jumped out of her skin, having become completely lost in the book and forgotten about Arthur. She lowered the book to look at him and tried to smile as casually as she could muster.

"Uh, yeah. Let's get back to work." She sat back down on the chair, the memories of what happened a few minutes prior threatening to resurface. She shook her head and forced them back down.

As she put the book she had been holding down on the table Arthur spoke up again.

"Miss Edda? Did me kissing your hand make you uncomfortable?" He sounded so concerned, but it took Edda a few seconds to register the words following 'Kissing' for some reason. She soon snapped out of her daze and laughed awkwardly.

"No it's fine," she said oddly unsure of whether she was lying or not, "You just kinda caught me a bit off guard." She let out a small snort. "People here don't tend to just kiss people on the hand like that out of nowhere."

He laughed a bit with her.

"I'll remember to give you a heads up next time then?" His eyes shifted a bit, "If you're okay with me kissing your hand again of course." He added with a careful smile.

"Yeah that's cool." She said a bit before she was able to fully collect her thoughts. She guessed she was fine with him, doing that, as long as he warned her beforehand. It was probably, just as she said to him, just that she was caught off guard before. Yes, that was why she reacted like that.

Either way they soon returned to looking through the books at the table. Hours passed with minimal progress, the books she had found mostly just talking about how to avoid getting cursed over how to break it. The most she could get in regards of curse breaking was trying to find some sort of loophole in the conditions of the curse, which while interesting, and something she jotted down on her notebook for later, was not the breakthrough she had hoped for.

What she had found in regards to the nature of the curse itself was, a bit more fruitful, but hardly encouraging, as it mostly pointed to being hard magic to break with brute force methods, hence the previous notes on finding loopholes. Edda had at this point put the loophole method in her mental plan B folder, still determined to find a way to overpower the spell. Maybe throwing caution to the wind and trying whatever came to mind to break the curse wasn't that bad of an idea after all…

She shook her head, she had yet to find all she could on the nature of the spell, maybe if she looked hard enough she'll find some known weakness she could exploit, that wasn't about trying to oversmart the curse conditions.

Nevertheless in her frustration her attention was brought back to the rune spell book and soon she found herself flipping through it aimlessly. Maybe it had something on breaking curses? Her eyes were however once again brought to the explosion spells, and a related much more general channelling spell. Due to the nature of the explosion spells it was sort of a necessity to have some way to activate the spell without being in physical contact with it (or the object the spell was on), and that was just what channeling spells were for.

She absentmindedly jotted down the spells in her notebook on a separate page, it wasn't something she immediately needed, probably, but she was also too interested in the spells to just leave them by the wayside.

Returning to the issue at hand, most of the things regarding breaking curses was about cursed artefacts or specifically about dealing with curses done with rune magic. Her eyes lit up a bit as she found a spell 'for those unfortunate to be personally bewitched', the spell itself did not specify any limitations besides not working for curses passed down through generations, which did not seem to be the case when it came to Arthur's curse.

She added it to her newly created list for possible things to try through trial and error, if it had to come to it.

Arthur had left the table to get them something to drink, and as he was away Edda started flipping through the books she had had him go through, just in case he had missed something. She felt kinda bad for doing so, but she reasoned with herself that it was for the greater good. At first she didn't find anything new, which did not help the pit in her stomach, but then her eyes caught something he had missed.

"Transformation curses are often given to those that have given the fairy a high degree of offense? Treat the fairy with their deserved respect and no such curse will come to you. (For any notes on how to show respect for a fairy please refer to p. 34)" It read.

The text made complete sense to Edda, one would be an idiot to not treat magical creatures with respect, and Arthur, sweet as he was, had shown himself to be quite the idiot. He may have been even more of a dumbass than she had thought tough judging by how the text specified it being a 'high degree of offense'. What on earth had he done?

She noted down what she had found in her notebook and kept looking for other things Arthur might have missed, she found a few other snippets, but none of them was really anything helpful.

She leaned back a bit in her chair, stretched her arms and tried to be a bit optimistic. Sure she hadn't quite cracked the code to the curse just yet, but she had learned something new, and this was only the first library out of three.

Yeah, she was probably going to get somewhere with the curse in the next library. At least that's what she tried to tell herself, she had told Arthur that she would be able to break it after all…

She rose up from the chair with a sigh, today really wasn't her day. Nevertheless she started to collect all her notes and clean up the table she and Arthur had been working at.

"Oh! Are we done here, Miss Edda?" Arthur had just come back with two drinks in his hands, looking curiously at what she was doing.

She looked at him and smiled apologetically.

"Yeah, didn't really figure out how to break the curse yet tough." She said, scratching at some imperfections on her arm.

"Oh," he said, clearly a bit disappointed, but then his face brightened up again. "Well there's still two more towns to go, and there's no real hurry." He put the two drinks on the table. "Do you need help cleaning up?"

"Yeah sure, but," she let out a short laugh "It seemed, at least to me, like you wanted to become human pretty soon."

"Of course I want to become human again," he said letting out his own short laugh. "But I figured, you know, that it wasn't something you needed to rush." His eyes shifted a bit all over the place as he spoke, but as he finished he looked up at her with a sweet little smile.

She felt a bit fuzzy, probably just grateful for his kind words, and she smiled back. "Thank you Arthur, I promise that I will do my best to break your curse." She curtseyed at him, with a pinch of both playfulness and seriousness.

"I'm sure you will, M'lady." He said in such a soft voice that Edda almost didn't hear it. As she looked at him she saw the sweetest smile she had ever seen on another person, and she could not help to return it to the best of her abilities.

They just stood and smiled at eachother for a few seconds, before Edda managed to snap out of it.

"So, uh, should we clear the table before or after we drink?" She adverted her eyes from his, hoping she hadn't looked at him too intensely.

"Oh, right!" Arthur said, taking a short pause before he continued. "Let's clear the table first."

And so they did, putting the books back in their shelves, her notes back in her bag and then just enjoying the warm drinks in a comfortable silence. And for the first time that day Edda felt, simply, content.

#fanfiction #fanfic #writing #wayward #Edda #red shoes #red shoes and the seven dwarfs #red shoes and the 7 dwarfs

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splitpush · 4 years

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[ENG] 銀の匙 | Silver Spoon 131 (final chapter)

I’ve loved Gin no Saji for many years. I wanted to provide a roughly-translated manuscript for any other English-speaking fans that are still waiting for the finale to this beautiful manga by Arakawa-sensei. I supplemented my translation using the Chinese scanlation provided here by lumosmoon and typeset by 王少. Page numbers correspond to numbers on the side of the pages in the raw scans.

If anyone is interested in typesetting this translation to the manga, please link this post and credit me under the name “hachiko”, thanks! Enjoy & please excuse any errors.

[page 1~3]

Hachiken: The big blue sky. The gold-coloured lands. A blurry horizon. A smart phone with no signal...

Subtitle: A coming-of-age story built from tears, sweat, and dirt has finally come full-circle in a 32-page finale!!! In this endless field washed in gold... For a boy who was once unable to visualize what would come in the future, who disliked having a dream... His future is beginning to sprout at last.

Hachiken: Where... am I...?

[page 4]

Narrator: The answer is... Russia. [big arrow] Specifically, here. [small arrow points to Ezono]

Subtitle: Even though Hachiken has finally grown up a little... he still gets lost!! A bad sense of direction that transcends international borders.

Hachiken: “If you follow ‘this path’ we’ll see each other...” is what he told me. But are you kidding? This is RUSSIA!!! (text on the road: “THIS PATH”) Brings me back to the memory of that day in the summer of first year, when I had to walk along the path between Mikage Ranch and Komaba Ranch… Even if it’s one road and I won’t get lost, it probably won’t be without incident… Aren’t there bears here in Russia? Tigers? (Also it’s Russia!)

[page 5]

Subtitle: The last chapter of this coming-of-age story opens in the far east of Russia! Accompanied by the low rumbling of thundering machinery, what approaches Hachiken…!?

A familiar person’s back: So you really came, Hachiken!

[page 6]

Hachiken: Komabaaaaaa !!!

Komaba: Hey. You got lost, didn’t you?

Hachiken: Even if I don’t get lost I’d still encounter some kind of trouble!!!

Recap: After graduating from Ooezo Agricultural High School, Hachiken & co. went their separate ways. Now, four years later, his friends have gathered at Aki’s place while she is studying at Chikudai. But Hachiken, also at Chikudai, is nowhere to be found…

[page 7]

Komaba: If… you could see the mountains, you would know how to get your bearings...

Hachiken: Ah-- In our 360-degree visible radius there is not a single hill or ocean, and all I see are fields. I’ve never seen anything like it in Hokkaido.

Komaba: Hachiken, why did you come dressed so formally?

Hachiken: You were the one that told me there was an interesting business proposal!! Please take my business card!

Komaba: In recent years, Amur Oblast has started to do agriculture-related business with the banks in Hokkaido.

Hachiken: Japan-Russia relations?

Komaba: Yup. A joint venture between the Japanese banks and Amur Oblast. How do I say this, I don’t know if Russians are full of heart or simply rough-handed, but the motto they have here is basically: “sow as you please, and reap as you please”.

Hachiken: Oh…

[page 8]

Komaba: Due to the effects of global warming, the eternally frozen fields are now arable. And so a Russian dude casually told me to “do as you please” with this huge piece of land.

Russian dude: So you want to use the land? Sure, provided that you can speak the language, have the work ethic, and drink the vodka with me!

Hachiken: Hoho….

Komaba: So I started using the methods we used commonly in Japan to grow soy on the land. In our first year, the crop yield suddenly increased by 50%.

Hachiken: Just how “do as you please” were these Russians before this!!!

Komaba: We are leading the way carefully. With all the knowledge that we’ve accumulated, we can of course lead carefully.

[page 9]

(Russian) Kid: ICHIRO -- !! Kid: Done work yet? Komaba: Yup. Kid: Then let’s play some baseball! Kid: Teach me how to toss a forkball! Komaba: Tossing a fork requires muscle! Muscle!

Hachiken: I don’t know what they are talking about, but I can tell it’s about muscles…

[page 10]

Komaba (Russian): Your hands are still too small, so let’s try it first with your thumb and forefinger. Don’t push yourself, or you’ll hurt your wrist.

Hachiken: Komaba can speak Russian!

Komaba: It’s thanks to Alexandra-san. If you wanna work here, being able to speak Russian is a huge help.

Hachiken: It would’ve been nice to learn some Russian. I was shocked that nobody spoke English here.

Komaba: And the language of sports is universal!

Exclamations in Russian: Yeah!! Alright!!

[page 11]

Hachiken: How popular is baseball in Russia?

Komaba: It’s not at all. If I was born here, I coulda gone to Koushien. Just tell the kids a couple stories about forkballs and the Carps, and they’re immediately hooked. I said I would teach them how to play and the parents cleared the land into a baseball field.

Hachiken: It’s a Field of Dreams. Like an oversized Ezono.

Komaba: Speaking of Ezono, Sakuragi-sensei went to a lot of trouble to help me secure my place here in Russia.

Hachiken: Same here, it’s all thanks to Sakuragi-sensei that I was able to find network connections for pig-raising.

Hachiken: Komaba, do you have your own ranch here yet?

Komaba: That’s the plan right now. But there’s still a lot here yet to be developed. Setting up a grain loading operation near Vladivostok, establishing shipping routes with Hokkaido, I think these projects are all pretty cool.

[page 12]

Komaba: We can provide Hokkaido with cheaper animal feed, and Hokkaido can provide us with resources and agricultural equipment. A land filled with so much potential, only 1500km away from my hometown. Something this interesting, who wouldn’t wanna try their hand at developing it?

Hachiken: You’re not scared of failure?

Komaba: Nothing will move forward if you don’t even try.

[page 13]

Komaba: Our ancestors were the same when they pioneered Hokkaido. Thinking about it that way gives me courage. (Foul ball!) That being said, the people here won’t sell their land to a foreigner. If I want to have my own ranch here, first I’ll have to take a Russian bride.

Hachiken: Really! Komaba is marrying a Russian girl!

Komaba: What about you? (Kids: Strike out!)

Hachiken: Wat

Komaba: Aren’t you thinking about marrying Aki?

Hachiken: Eh...!! We’re still students...!! And I gotta think about Aki’s feelings too, what kind of nonsense are you spouting!! Even though things have been going well!!

Komaba: Shuddup…

[page 14]

Hachiken: ….“Hachiken Aki” and “Mikage Yuugo”, Which do you think sounds better?

Komaba: “Mikage Yuugo” definitely has a better rhythm to it.

Hachiken: Yeah, I thought so too.

Komaba: Hey, you guys are happy together, that’s all that matters.

Hachiken: Regardless, my pasture-raised pig business hasn’t even taken off yet, so marriage is out of the question right now.

Komaba: As expected, you wanna do everything too properly.

Hachiken: I need to get my accreditation from the university for food hygiene management, then I’ll be able to build my own private processing plant, Hmm, how many years is that going to take… …

[page 15]

Komaba: Just work on getting your pig-raising business up and running successfully for now.

Hachiken: Eh?

(Russian) Kid: Ichiro’s friend, come play with us too! Kid: Isn’t it boring to just watch?

Hachiken: Huh? What’s this, what this? What, me?

Komaba: Go hit a few. They think everyone from Japan is good at baseball.

Hachiken: As if. But I should be able to hit some balls if I’m playing with kids… I can’t make a proper stance wearing these shoes anyway, I’ll just take it ea~sy...

[page 16]

Hachiken: YOU! Hey, what are you playing at!!! As if I’ll be able to hit any of your pitches!!!

Komaba: This is my revenge for the past!

(kids cheering: Ichiro!! Ichiro!!)

Hachiken: You’re totally motioning for a fly-ball, please just let me lose!!

[page 17]

Hachiken: … I wanna go back to Japan… Man at the net: Ball.

Komaba: You’re not going anywhere!

Hachiken: Why did we come all the way to Russia just to play baseball? Man at the net: Ball.

Komaba: I know right. To think that a certain somebody had no~idea what they wanted to do in the future when they were a first-year in high school. Why do you raise pigs?

Hachiken: How should I know!! Why are you asking this!! Also, wasn’t it you that called me over to Russia because you needed me!!

Komaba: Ah, right, right.

(Russian) Kid: It’s a homerun!! Kid: So cool!!

[page 18]

Komaba: Hachiken. Come raise your pigs in Russia.

Hachiken: Hah?

Komaba: Nice-- that’s a strike! I’ve been following Ookawa-san’s social media. Your pigs, the annual yield has been increasing quite steadily.

[page 19]

Komaba: To be able to produce that yield in a cold climate pasture, it’s a testament to how hard you’ve worked. Here in Russia, Despite the demand for meat, there are very few guys out here raising livestock. If you wanna get in on it, now’s the time.

Hachiken: … …You trying to pull a scam here?

Komaba: Does it really sound like that? To tell you the truth, if you want to raise livestock, this place is literally El Dorado.

Hachiken: If it’s that good, get the local people here to do it!

[page 20]

Hachiken: Hyah!! Man at the net: Strike!

Komaba: Didn’t I say just now, that I wanted to create a connection between Russia and Hokkaido. You’ll stay over there in Otaru, and I’ll be here in Vladivostok.

Hachiken: So you’re not a scammer! You’re the mafia!

Komaba: Refuse and I’ll break you.

Hachiken: You have no right to be teaching baseball to these poor Russian kids!!!

Komaba: I am Ichiro of the Far East.

Hachiken: Ichiro wouldn’t do something like this!!

Komaba: I’m kidding about breaking you, but I’m serious about the rest.

Hachiken: Do you have proof that this is even profitable!?

[page 21]

Komaba: Nope.

Hachiken: Oi!!!

Komaba: Although I don’t, I think it’ll be interesting to team-up with Hachiken. Let’s do it together.

Hachiken: Eh!?

[page 22]

Hachiken: Why did the ball just now drop like that!?

Komaba: Yes, that’s three strikes!! My victory!!

Hachiken: Ah~~~ I’m conflicted~~~~~

Komaba: Well, I guess that’s true. You’ve got your own life to live.

Hachiken: I’m really~ So conflicted~~~ … You know, I, made a promise long ago to never be the guy that would deny someone of their dream.

[page 23]

Komaba: Ah ha ha! That’s you, all right.

Hachiken: Also, raising pigs on such a wide area of land could be interesting… !!

Komaba: Then it’s decided.

Hachiken: Don’t just say that!

Komaba: Japan’s large-scale industry and greenhouse vegetable industry players are already making moves here.

Hachiken: Ah-- and there’s already talk going around about “growing vegetables with pig manure”, so we’ll have a finger in that pie too…. …No, wait, wait!

(Russian) Kid: What are they chatting about? Kid: Hurry up and tell us too--

Hachiken: Eh? What? Ah! You want me to get out of the batter box? Sorry, sorry!

[page 24]

Komaba: ?

Kid (Russian): Okay!

Hachiken: Whew-- gesturing successful! Oi, Komaba!!

[page 25]

Hachiken: Let’s go again, we’ll decide it with the next ball!!

Komaba: … Hah?

Hachiken: If I hit it, everything before doesn’t count! Komaba, if you win this one, As GINSAJI’s representative, I’ll consider this opportunity more closely!!

Komaba: Are you supposing that, I’ll go easy on you?

[page 26]

Komaba: … …Of course. How will ya know if ya don’t try.

Hachiken: All right Komaba, gimme your best shot!!

Komaba: Since you’re getting serious now, I’ll have to get serious too!!

[page 27]

Hachiken: Are you kidding me! Can’t you go easy on me just a little!!

Komaba: Shut up!! Next up, forkball!! You’ve been warned!!

Hachiken: Please just throw in a straight line!! Kyaaaaaa--

[page 28]

Student: Sensei-- Actually, I was thinking about starting my own business.

Sakuragi: Eh! What type of work?

Student: I love to cook and eat tomato-based recipes, so I want to use the tomatoes that we’ve been growing at home to start a restaurant! … But, people around me say that starting a business right out of high school is pretty impossible, I should probably wait until I mature a bit more…

Sakuragi: Oh! This tomato is delicious!

Student: Right? The harvest from this year came out just as I imagined it!

Sakuragi: Hm. Starting a business after high school. You may face some difficulties indeed. I understand why the people around you are worried.

[page 29~30]

Sakuragi: And it’s difficult for me to advise you on this as well… -- Is what I would have said a few years back! Among the students that I’ve taught over the years, there once was a guy who was a runaway from the regular high school examination track; he had come to Ezono with zero goals. The minute he set foot on campus, he suffered one hardship after another. He joined the equestrian club after he was invited by a female classmate. Didn’t even have the guts to drop out. He’d never made pizza once, but endeavored to do it in stride. He christened a pig and cared for it with so much love, that when he cooked and ate its meat he bawled his eyes out. During his part-time job, he wasted a ton of milk and bawled his eyes out again. Snuck out of his dorm in the middle of the night and got slapped with toilet duty. Found a dog in the middle of the school and started to take care of it. Couldn’t refuse anybody’s request and overworked himself so hard, He ended up getting sick on the day of the school festival and couldn’t participate. Borrowed money from his friends and bumbled his way onto a ship bound for Russia.

Other teachers: He didn’t board the ship. He didn’t board it.

[page 31]

Sakuragi: He is the record-holder for the lowest score ever recorded at the Interhigh Equestrian tournament. He suddenly decided in December of his 3rd year that he would attempt the university entrance exam. Started dating the girl that he liked but never got her father’s approval.

Students: Wow, just hearing about this guy makes me anxious… Didn’t even get the father’s approval…

(T/N: sorry, I don’t remember their names edits plz) Teacher: Oh, and don’t forget the boarding house explosion incident. Teacher: Right, right!

Students: What a scary guy.

Student: … and this person graduated without any issues?

Sakuragi: He did indeed. Apart from all of the above, he also started his own business while he was a student.

[page 32]

Sakuragi: And he’s the reason why all of you get to have such a leisurely pizza party like this, every year. If you’re interested in hearing more,

Let me tell you the story of the many different seeds that this man has sown.

#gin no saji #silver spoon #manga translation #hachiken yuugo #komaba ichiro #銀の匙 #t #spoilers #silver spoon 131

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kawaiilikat1994 · 6 years

Text

Common Ground

*heavy breathing* Okay, this is the first IT fanfic I’ve ever done, so hhhhhhhhh enjoy? {roughly 2400 words}

@darth-stetter

Chapter One: 38 Days

“Just 38 days,” I told myself as I walked towards the front doors to Derry High School. “38 days until I'm free from this hell hole.” It was our first day back to school after spring break. Kids littered the front lawn, some hanging out in the shade of the trees, some playing catch. Then there were the unlucky few being mercilessly bullied. I ignored them all, though; I didn't have any real friends. It wasn't because I was some socially awkward loser hated by everyone. I just didn't like people enough to invest that much time and energy into a relationship. Despite my general apathetic nature attitude towards people, there were a few people who considered themselves my friend, even if the extent of our relationship was smoking pot and the occasional under-age drinking.

I kept to myself as I followed my normal morning routine: visit my locker, get my English books, grab an apple from the cafeteria, and wait outside the room 'til class started. I was pretty zoned out as I ate through my apple until Gretta, the junior's worst bully walked past.

“Slut!” she yelled before shoving another junior, Bev, into the nearby lockers. There was a loud clank as Bev's bony body slammed against the wall of metal. “Off to suck another dick in the bathroom?” Gretta sneered as her friends snickered beside her.

“Shut the fuck up, you ugly toad.” Gretta and her friends all turned to face me, but the look on my face told them not to mess with me.

“Whatever,” she muttered before pulling her friends away.

“Thank-” Bev started.

“I didn't do it for you,” I interrupted her. “I just hate that stupid bitch.”

“Language.” I turned to my English teacher, Mr. Wilson, who was unlocking the door. “I'd hate to write you up this close to graduation.” I didn't reply, and when I looked back Bev had disappeared. The bell didn't ring for another three minutes, but I was used to being the first kid to class. I took my usual seat in the back left corner and watched as the rest of the class slowly filed in. Mr. Wilson was halfway through roll call when the last student, Vic, walked in.

“Mr. Criss, so nice of you to join us,” Mr. Wilson sarcastically greeted him. He continued with roll as Vic made his way to the last available desk, which happened to be the one next to mine. When Mr. Wilson finished, her sat down his clipboard and leaned back on his desk. “Okay, everyone, listen up. This year the teachers got together and decided to do something different for your senior projects. In each class you'' be paired up with someone and given your task. For this class each pair will be given a historic novel to dissect.” He continued talking as he walked around the room, handing out syllabuses. “This breaks down every task I want you to do, as well as how many points you can earn for each part. Please be aware these stories will not be short or easy; this will be your classwork for the rest of the year.” I quickly scanned the syllabus as most of the class let out a groan. Mr. Wilson clapped his hands together to regain our focus. “Rows 2, 4, and 6: look to your left and say hi to your new partner.”

I gave Vic a once over and said, “Could be worse.” He smirked and gave me a nod. I really didn't mind being paired with Vic. He wasn't the dumbest kid in class, and he kept to himself, too, meaning I didn't find him as annoying as my other classmates. Mr. Wilson held up his clipboard and began assigning each pair a novel.

“Last but not least,” he said, “Vic and April: you get The Great Gatsby.” I let out a sigh and slumped my shoulders. On the one hand, the project should be easy since I'd already the book. “On the other hand, I'd read it at least a dozen times, so I knew I'd be bored out of my mind.

“Fitzgerald, he's not so bad,” said Vic.

“You've read it before?”

“Not this book,” he answered. “I read The Beautiful and the Damned. It was pretty good.”

“No, Lauren,” Mr. Wilson snapped. “You can't switch partners because you think Ivan is gross.” Vic and I both snickered under our breath.

“So what's your phone number?” he asked.

“U-um, what?”

“What's your phone number?” he slowly repeated like I was stupid. “I was thinking we could work on this after school, so I need a way to get a hold of you.”

“Oh, right,” I laughed, mentally face palming. I quickly scribbled my name and number on a piece of paper, but I didn't give it to him right away. “Trade, mine for yours.” Vic quickly copied me, and we traded slips of paper. “It, uh, would be best if we made plans in person, or I called you instead.” Vic's brows came together in confusion, and I quickly looked down. “Just... don't call me. My dad would get super pissed.” That seemed to be a good enough explanation, and he didn't press the issue. We spent the rest of class going over the syllabus and dividing the responsibilities. Before we knew it, the bell rand, signaling the end of class. We quickly made plans to meet up after school before going our separate ways.

In my next class, Calculus, the teacher gave the same speech as before. “Now, I understand this whole 'group project' concept is a little harder to apply to mathematics,” Dr. Harper explained, “so that's why I've turned this into a tutoring project. I've split the class into two groups: those with the higher grades and those who... could use some help. Your final grade will be determined by Person A's ability to increase Person B's final grade.” I was annoyed by this proposal; it meant I'd actually have to be patient with someone. Dr. Harper began calling out the pairs, and my ears perked up when I heard my name. “April Brembly and Patrick Hockstetter.” My face fell into my hands. It was no secret that Patrick had the worst grade in class. Whether it was because he was dumb or just didn't care, I had no idea, but it didn't help that he only attended class half the time. I jumped as Patrick plopped into the desk next to mine, his long legs knocking into mine.

“April,” he said, slowly drawing my name out as he gave me a devious smile. I tried to smile back, but it probably looked like I was wincing. “Oh c'mon, this'll be fun.”

“Look, let's get one thing straight,” I replied with a serious look. “I'm not failing this class because you decided to fuck around.” His head dipped back as he laughed, and I smacked the back of his hand. “I'm not kidding! Don't screw this up for me.” He suddenly grew very serious and gave me a salute.

“Yes sir!” I rolled my eyes as he laughed again. “Lighten up, April. It's not like you won't graduate, even if we failed this class.”

“That's not the point, I snapped. “How did you even make it to this class, anyways?”

“I'm pretty sure the other teachers passed me just so they wouldn't have me in class again,” Patrick answered. “I had Mrs. Tremblay for Algebra three times. I think she started pulling her hair our because of me.” He smiled triumphantly, and I simply shook my head.

“You're awful.”

“Thanks.” He stretched out even more, placing a leg in front and behind my desk, trapping my own in place.

“Do you mind?” I asked, my voice dripping with attitude.

“Not at all,” he answered with that damned smile. I rolled my eyes again and took my assignment sheet from Dr. Harper.

“Great, derivatives,” I sighed. “Does this even look familiar to you? I'm pretty sure you slept through the only class you bothered to show up for.”

“You been keeping tabs on me”? he asked with a wink.

“No,” I blurted, but I could feel my face heating up. He just laughed and leaned forward to read the assignment sheet. His face was so close to my shoulder I could feel his breath running down my arm. I shivered as goosebumps popped up on my skin, and he responded by draping his arm around the back of my chair.

“So, teacher,” he purred in a low voice, “work your magic on me.” I avoided eye contact for the next thirty minutes as I went over all the notes I had. Honestly, I had no idea if he was listening to me at all, but I still rambled on because it was the only way to distract myself from his intense stare. When I finished talking, I held out my pencil and turned the paper towards him. H eyes the sheet for a few seconds before looking back at me.

“What's in it for me?”

“Are you serious?” I groaned.

“You think I give a shit about my grades?” he laughed. “I'm not doing this unless I get something out of it.” His eyes drifted down to my chest, and I casually draped my hand over my cleavage.

“Like what?” I snapped. His fingers brushed against my bare leg, and I jerked away. “Something reasonable.”

“Make out with me,” he answered, staring straight into my eyes.

“First of all-”

“Every day.”

“W-what?” I blurted, wide-eyed.

“You don't make out with me, I don't do the work.” My mind raced as I struggled to think of something to say, and he smiled like a predator looking at cornered prey. “I need the motivation,” he added with a shrug. How bad do you wanna pass?” We silently stared each other down; he knew I couldn't afford to fail.

“Just kissing?” I asked.

“Sure,” he said unconvincingly. After what felt like an eternity the lunch bell rang. Patrick followed me out of the room and draped his arm over my shoulders as we walked down the hallway.

“What are you doing?” I asked in a curt tone, quickly shrugging his arm off.

“Going to meet Henry,” he answered, I remembered Henry's locker was a few down from mine and felt my face heat up again, embarrassed that I thought he was following me on purpose. “You should come hang with us.”

“I'm good, thanks,” I quickly answered. We walked around the corner, and I could instantly feel Henry's gaze on us. My stomach twisted into knots. The infamous bully never paid me any attention.

“C'mon,” Patrick urged as I stopped at my locker. “It beats eating alone.”

“I like eating alone,” I argued. I felt his arm snaking around my waist, and I smacked his hand away.

“I'll give you a free baggie after school,” he coaxed. I glanced up and watched him mimic smoking a joint. My lips began to twist into a smile, and I quickly looked away.

“What do you even do during lunch?” I asked.

“Smoke in Belch's car.”

“Got any menthols?” I closed my locker and looked up again, finding a cocky smile on his face.

“Always.”

“Dude, c'mon!” Henry barked a few feet away. Patrick cupped my shoulder and steered me in his friends' direction. “What's this?” Henry asked, motioning to me.

“April, my new... friend.” I didn't like the sinister tone in his voice, but I smiled anyways.

“You cool?” Henry asked, speaking to me directly.

“I guess,” I casually replied. He looked me and up and down before huffing.

“Let's go.” He led us out of the school and over to student parking where Belch's blue Trans-Am was waiting.

“Ladies first,” Belch said as he held the driver's seat forward. I climbed into the backseat, followed by Patrick and Vic. Henry took the passenger's seat and Belch the driver's. Everyone was quiet as the cigarettes were pulled out and lit up. I took a long drag off the one Patrick gave me, closing my eyes when the wave of nicotine hit me.

“So what's the deal with you two?” Henry finally asked, eyeing Patrick and I in the rear view mirror.

“School project,” I answered before Patrick had a chance to say anything stupid. “Uh, speaking of, I'm gonna be late to the library after school today,” I told Vic. Patrick's hand slid over my thigh, and I clamped my legs together to keep from moving further north.

“Wait, you're partners with Patrick and Vic?” Henry asked.

“What's with the third degree?” I asked back, not bothering to hide my agitation.

“So my mom's gonna be at work all night,” Belch spoke up. “We'll have the whole place to ourselves.”

“April, you down?” Patrick offered.

“Who the fuck said you could invite her?” Henry barked.

“Well, we were gonna work on our project,” Vic added, “So if she just comes with-”

“Whatever,” Henry huffed.

“If you're gonna be a whiny bitch about it, I just won't go,” I threw at him. The other boys stared at me wide-eyed as Henry spun around in his seat.

“What did you say, bitch?!”

“You suddenly can't hear?” I replied, not backing down.

Henry's grip on his headrest tightened as he snarled, “Don't fucking talk to me like that.”

“Then stop treating me like shit!” I snapped. The car was silent as we stared each other down.

“Then prove you're not,” he finally said before slumping back in his seat. Patrick wrapped his arm around my shoulders, as if to comfort me, and I rolled my eyes. Henry was the first to finish his cigarette, and even though he didn't say anything, everyone knew he was impatiently waiting on us to finish. I quickly puffed on my cigarette and tossed it out the window after his. Patrick was the next to finish, followed by Belch, and eventually Vic.

“Meet here after school,” Henry said before getting out of the car. He looked back at me and added, “We'll leave your ass here if you're late.” He didn't wait for the rest of us to exit the car before walking away.

#bowers gang imagine #henry bowers imagine #vic criss imagine #belch huggins imagine #patrick hockstetter imagine #bowers gang x oc

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infiredaf · 6 years

Photo

(gif not mine)

Coincidence: Chapter 6

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5

Coincidence Masterlist

Pairings: V (Taehyung) x reader

Gender: Female

Synopsis: Life for (Y/N) had been, for the most part, normal. She worked, went to college, went to parties, had friends, you know, the basics. However, all of this changed when she started seeing a mysterious, attractive, and most of all dangerous man everywhere after one fatal night that seemed to be just a coincidence.

Genre: Mafia AU

Warnings: Cursing/Swearing

Word Count: 1,956

“So, you’re telling me that this dude threatened you and your boyfriend, which you haven’t told me about you little thot, but because he is in some stupid little gang, you can’t do anything?”

“Mafia, Chae-rin, there’s a difference.”

You stared at Chae-rin from across the table as she sipped her coffee. Chae-rin was one of your best friends. Unfortunately, she had graduated from your uni two years ago, letting you fend for yourself with Jungcock. She had always cared for you like an older sister, hence why you called her straight after the events at Jungkook’s apartment went down.

You couldn’t trust Jungkook anymore, no matter how much you loved his coconut headass, he was involved with V and his mafia, putting you and Jackson at risk.

“And he’s not my boyfriend, we went on one date, that’s all,” you added looking down at the warm coffee in your hands bashfully.

“Honestly, you should’ve called the police a long time ago, (Y/N), I don’t understand why you called me.”

“He’s in the mafia, Chae! What are a bunch of measly cops gonna do with the mafia?” You whisper-yelled, leaning over the table so you could emphasize your point.

You could tell Chae-rin thought you were going crazy. I mean, a poor college student running on two hours of sleep thinking that the mafia is after her, who hasn’t been there?

“Let’s say, hypothetically, that this is all true, what do you expect me to do?”

“Come on, Chae, you got to have something up your sleeve! You’re Chae-rin, the craziest thot that I have ever met,” you waved your hands in the air, attracting the attention of many of the customers in the coffee shop you were at.

Chae-rin looked at you thoughtfully. You prayed to whatever god is watching over you that Chae-rin would help you.

“Fine, I’ll see if I can think of something, but keep in mind when this all goes to shit: you should’ve called the police,” she gave you a warning look, sending shivers down your spine. “Also, try to get more information out of coconut head, will ya? We need every little detail and try to set up a meeting with Jackson so we can get acquainted, he seems valuable.” You nodded your head vigorously, eager to accept any help you can.

After meeting with Chae-rin, you decided to go straight home and call Jackson. You needed Chae-rin’s help desperately.

In all honesty, you weren’t really sure yourself why you had called Chae-rin instead of Jackson first. Something was always off about Chae-rin. She never talked about her family, much less let you meet them. She just seemed kind of isolated from them, but you loved her none the less. Her strangeness just made you gravitate to her, and even if she couldn’t help she could probably just make you a fake passport and send you off to Canada or something.

You sped-walked all the way home, phone in hand, eager to get Jackson involved.

“What’s the rush, doll?” a familiar, deep voice asked you as you turned the corner to your street.

You stopped in your tracks, slowly turning towards the alley where the voice came from.

There he was in all his glory, V. He, once again, was wearing casual clothes, not that it didn’t suit him, but it was still strange. He smirked at your surprised face from where he stood, leaning against the wall of an empty alley.

“I said, what the rush, doll?” he said, stepping towards you.

“I’m going home,” you scowled at him, continuing to walk towards your apartment, V following closely behind.

“Were you with Jackson, even after I told you not to trust him,” he frowned at you, blocking your path.

You ignored him, stepping to the side and moving past him.

You were able to get a good distance between the two of you before V spoke again.

“Jungkook asked me to get you.”

“Why would he ask you when he could very well ask me himself,” you narrowed your eyes.

“He said you were going out and he didn’t want to bother you.”

“So you just graciously volunteered to come pick me up didn’t you,” you frowned at him.

“I thought you were with Jackson. He’s a little devil, he’s using you (Y/N), don’t you see!” he put his arms up in the air waving them at you.

You were shocked, to say the least, why was he so obsessed that you and Jackson are friends? He was a good guy, you couldn’t understand what V meant when he said Jackson was using you. You suspected it was just a little ploy to get you away from Jackson.

“Just come with me, Jungkook wants all to hang out.”

You reluctantly turned around and followed V in the other direction.

“You know, I know you think I’m setting out to get revenge for you helping Jackson escape, but I’m not. I’m trying to help you, Jackson is two-faced. Either way, if he isn’t personally plotting your death, then his leader, JB, is,” V looked straight ahead.

You were confused, if you helped Jackson escape, didn’t that mean you were helpful to them?

“You saw first-hand that JB’s mafia isn’t doing so well at the moment, you saw their weakness. If you let the cat out of the bag, it won’t be looking so good for you,” V said, as if he was reading your mind.

Your heart raced, giving in to V’s warnings for just a split second. What if he was right, just because Jackson acted like your friend didn’t change the fact that he too was in the mafia. Could you really trust him? Then again, could you really trust V?

You were brought out of your trance by V knocking on a door. You hadn’t even realized that you two had arrived at Jungkook’s apartment.

“Hey, (Y/N), what took you so long, too busy sucking dick?”

Ugh, why are you even friends with this coconut bitch?

“I was with Chae-rin, Jungcock, if you must know,” you replied, pushing past him.

You plopped yourself on Jungkook’s couch, reaching for the TV remote.

“Not so fast, before we watch TV we need food!” Jungkook yelled snatching the remote from your hands.

“Then go get some from your kitchen, dumbass,” you retort, leaning for the remote.

However, since Jungkook is a complete dick, and a tall one, as a matter of fact, he held the remote out of your reach.

“How about... I, the great Jeon Jungkook, go out and get some gucci fast food and you two get to know each other!” Jungkook said, quickly throwing the remote on the ground and rushed out the door, car keys in hand.

What. The. Actual. Fuck.

Now you were alone, for the third time since you formally met him, with V.

Jungkook was gonna get his little coconut balls snipped.

“Are you going to try to tell me how Jackson is a two-faced little devil again?” You asked as you picked up the remote from where Jungkook had dropped it.

“Wow, are you psychic?” He replied, sarcasm lacing every word.

“Listen, I know you don’t trust me, but Jackson and his whole crew is bad news,” he continued.

“We’re on the same side, if you don’t trust me, trust Jungkook. He’s on my side after all.”

Your heart stopped. It was true. No matter how much you tried to tell yourself that Jungkook just happened to know V as pure coincidence, it was true. Jungkook was in the mafia.

How could he, your little fetus, be a criminal? Jungkook could be a little pain in the ass sometimes, but he never was violent or criminal-like whatsoever. Your heart raced, making you feel as if it would pop out of your chest. Your breathing rate increased.

“What the fuck. Why is Jungkook working with you!” You yelled at him, not caring if Jungkook’s neighbors heard you.

“What did you do to him!” You shrieked, walking closer to V.

V looked at you stoically, crossing his arms. He and you both knew that you couldn’t possibly do a thing to him. He towered over you and was well built, you could throw a punch at him and he wouldn’t even get a scratch, so you opted to stare at him angrily from across the room.

You jumped at the sound of the doorknob turning.

“Hey, guys, what’s up?” Jungkook walked in, a bag of McDonald’s in hand.

You looked at Jungkook angrily, he had some explaining to do.

“Why did you do it Jungkook, why are you a criminal?”

He stared back at you, realization settling in.

“(Y/N), come on, don’t be like that, it’s not that bad, promise,” he says, setting down the bag.

“What do you mean ‘it’s not that bad’, Jungkook? You could be killed!”

“(Y/N), stop. I know you’re mad because I lied to you, but I need the money, (Y/N)!” His voice raised.

You shook your head, tears filling your eyes. What he could he possibly even need the money for?

You took your bag and ran out of the apartment, and you didn’t stop.

You finally slowed down when you came up to your street. You pulled out your phone and dialed Jackson’s number.

“Hello? (Y/N)?”

“Jackson, I need to talk to you it’s super important,” you said in between breaths.

“How about, I talk first, and you listen?”

“Oh... ok?” You said.

Jackson was acting differently, it scared you.

“I’ve had a nice time with you, (Y/N), I really did, but I think it’s time things change a bit.”

“What?”

“I have a present for you in your apartment, (Y/N).”

You were now jogging up the stairs to your apartment, how in the living hell did he get inside your apartment?

“What is it?” You asked, your voice shaky.

“You were such a nice little toy to keep me company for a bit, but you’ve seen too much, and we can’t have that can we?”

“Jackson stop playing, this isn’t funny, what the fuck?” You were in front of the door, inserting the keys into the keyhole.

“See you soon, (Y/N).”

He hung up just as you managed to open your front door.

You cautiously walked inside, looking around your living room. No sign of a present or gift yet. You walk into your kitchen in hopes of quickly finding a weapon.

You spot a dirty pan in your sink from last night, thank god for your laziness trait. You quickly grabbed it and headed to your room.

Just as you walked in the lights turned on, revealing Jackson’s smirking face.

“Hi, (Y/N), how’s it going?” He said nonchalantly.

“How the fuck did you get in here, Jackson?”

“A man has his ways, but let’s get straight to the point,” he took a step closer.

“I thought we were friends, Jackson.”

“Nah, not really. Honestly, I would’ve just have gotten close enough for some sex, but you’ve got connections to a certain member of BTS, and we can’t have that. You could be telling them crucial information.”

Jackson reached into his pocket and pulled out a long metal object.

A gun.

#bts mafia au #bts #bts v #kim taehyung #kim taehyung x reader #kpop #kpop x reader #kpop fanfic #kpop fanfiction #kpop mafia au #kim taehyung needs to stay in his lane omfg #lolol #mafia au #bts x reader #i need sleep #bts is ruining me #bye

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vividlyinlovewithotome · 6 years

Text

Ikemen Revolution: Ray Blackwell [Walkthrough]

Needs some friend? You know I do so add me with these codes P4VZVCS2Z and P954KFEDT!

Tips:

[1] Log-in everyday to receive items.

[2] Participate on Destiny Duel every time it fully replenish to increase your Intimacy and Lin.

[3] Save up your Gacha Tokens, Tea & Cake,Story Tickets, and Keys by the time you really need it the most on events and such you’ll have no problem achieving those special rewards.

Ikemen Revolution is here! So don’t forget the others~

Jonah Clemence

Part 1

1.04

I lifted my skirts in a curtsey. (Romantic: +4; Dramatic: +4) I stood up straighter. I bit my lower lip.

Part 2

2.04

I love cupcakes! (Romantic: +4; Dramatic: +4) Is it one per person? (Romantic: +4; Dramatic: +2) What, really?! (Romantic: +2; Dramatic: +4)

2.05

Intimacy Check: Needs 100 Intimacy Reward Item: Ray-colored Sapphire Eyes (Beauty: +15)

Part 3

3.03

I didn’t mean to! (Romantic: +4; Dramatic: +2) Yes, I heard everything. (Romantic: +2; Dramatic: +4) I’m so sorry. (Romantic: +4; Dramatic: +4)

3.05

His Side Story: Different Worlds (Needs 1 Key to His Heart)

Part 4

4.03

Aren’t you going to stop them? (Romantic: +4; Dramatic: +4) This is a big deal! This is hardly the time to be impressed!

4.05

Avatar Challenge:

Premium: Pleated Blue Top with Ribbons (Beauty: 60): 300 Magic Crystals Normal: Polka-dot Cocoon Skirt (Beauty: 30): 150 Magic Crystals/ 3000 Lin

Part 5

5.02

I love that idea! (Romantic: +4; Dramatic: +4) I want to compete too! (Romantic: +4; Dramatic: +2) I’m gonna have to clean hard! (Romantic: +2; Dramatic: +4)

5.05

Receive a Letter from Him: Read This

Part 6

6.03

That’s not very many! (Romantic: +2; Dramatic: +4) Can I have two, at least? (Romantic: +4; Dramatic: +4) I’ll have to plan carefully. (Romantic: +4; Dramatic: +2)

Part 7

7.02

That, I can do. (Romantic: +4; Dramatic: +2) Are you sure you don’t need backup? (Romantic: +4; Dramatic: +4) Okay, but please don’t get hurt. (Romantic: +2; Dramatic: +4)

7.05

Intimacy Check: Needs 2500 Intimacy Reward Item: Emerald Necklace (Beauty: +20)

Part 8

8.03

I didn’t expect to be right! You’re easier to read than I thought. (Romantic: +4; Dramatic: +4) Did you pick the first thing that came to mind?

8.05

His side story: Knowing and Understanding

Part 9

9.04

Eat it whenever you feel up to it. (Romantic: +4; Dramatic: +4) It won’t be as tasty as yours, though. All I could do was nod.

Part 10

10.01

You don’t have to laugh that much! (Romantic: +4; Dramatic: +4) Did I say something funny? Ray! C’mon, stop it!

10.05

Avatar Challenge:

Premium: Shiny Golden Locks (Beauty: 80): 400 Magic Crystals Normal: Raven Ponytail (Beauty: 30): 150 Magic Crystals/ 4500 Lin

Part 11

11.04 Fenrir Ray (Romantic: +4; Dramatic: +4) Luka

11.05

Receive a Letter from Him: It’s All Good

Part 12

12.04

I did! I ate your share too. (Romantic: +2; Dramatic: +4) Yes, of course! (Romantic: +4; Dramatic: +2) I did. I ate plenty. (Romantic: +4; Dramatic: +4)

12.05

Intimacy Check: Needs 4000 Intimacy Reward Item: Antique Book (Beauty: +30)

Part 13

13.02

Goodnight, Ray. (Romantic: +2; Dramatic: +4) I’ll leave the milk here for you. (Romantic: +4; Dramatic: +2) I’ll see you tomorrow. (Romantic: +4; Dramatic: +4)

13.05

His side story: The Words I Want to Hear

Part 14

14.03

Don’t do anything stupid. (Romantic: +2; Dramatic: +4) Promise me you’ll come home. (Romantic: +4; Dramatic: +4) I’ll be right here, waiting for you. (Romantic: +4; Dramatic: +2)

Part 15

15.04

What are you doing here? (Romantic: +2; Dramatic: +4) I didn’t think you’d come! (Romantic: +4; Dramatic: +4) I called his name again. (Romantic: +4; Dramatic: +2)

15.05

Avatar Challenge:

Premium: Lacey Headdress & Pumps Set (Beauty: 100): 500 Magic Crystals Normal: Fancy Barrette & Shoes Set (Beauty: 50): 250 Magic Crystals/ 6000 Lin

Part 16

16.01

(Is it Fenrir?) (Romantic: +4; Dramatic: +4) (Sirius? Is that you?) (Romantic: +4; Dramatic: +2) (Luka?) (Romantic: +2; Dramatic: +4)

16.05

Receive a Letter from Him: Needs 110 points

Part 17

17.01

You’re kidding, right? (Romantic: +4; Dramatic: +2) I don’t believe it. (Romantic: +4; Dramatic: +4) Ray wouldn’t do something like that. (Romantic: +2; Dramatic: +4)

17.05

Intimacy Check: Needs 7500 Intimacy Reward Item: Ray’s Pet, Belle (Beauty: +40)

Part 18

18.02

I don’t want to let go yet. (Romantic:+2; Dramatic:+4) I just-- I wanted to hug you. (Romantic:+4; Dramatic:+4) I wouldn’t do this if it wasn’t you. (Romantic: +4; Dramatic: +2)

18.05

His side story: When The Moon Is Full

Part 19

19.04

We did our best, but-- I’m sorry. He’s impossible to catch! (Romantic:+4; Dramatic:+4)

Part 20

20.03

I knew you wouldn’t forget. I haven’t forgotten our deal, either. (Romantic:+4; Dramatic:+4) Thank you, Ray.

20.05

Avatar Challenge:

Premium: Detailed Sapphire Dress (Beauty: 120): 600 Magic Crystals Normal: Sky Blue Chiffon Dress (Beauty: 70): 350 Magic Crystals/ 8500 Lin

Part 21

21.04

He’s just being kind. (Romantic:+2; Dramatic:+4) But it’s a nice lie. (Romantic:+4; Dramatic:+2) Well, I’m glad he lied. (Romantic:+4; Dramatic:+4)

21.05

His side story: Smiling With All My Heart

Part 22

22.01

It’s almost too much. (Romantic:+4; Dramatic:+4) It feels almost like a waste. (Romantic:+2; Dramatic:+4) I wonder why. (Romantic:+4; Dramatic:+2)

22.05

Intimacy Check: Needs 14000 Intimacy Reward Item: Standing Floor Globe (Beauty: +60)

Part 23

23.02

Please, let me thank you properly later. (Romantic:+4; Dramatic:+4) Thank you, Loki. I’m so glad you came.

23.05

Receive a Letter from Him: Needs 158 points

Part 24

24.02

You’re the one who’s always got his back. (Romantic:+2; Dramatic:+4) He’s useless without you. (Romantic:+4; Dramatic:+2) You’re his number one best buddy. (Romantic:+4; Dramatic:+4)

24.05

His side story: Even If We Never Meet Again

Part 25

25.04

I pushed firmly against it. (Romantic:+2; Dramatic:+4) I grabbed the doorknob. (Romantic:+4; Dramatic:+4) I pounded on the door. (Romantic:+4; Dramatic:+2)

25.05

Avatar Challenge:

Premium: Lacey Blue Gown Set (Beauty: 180): 900 Magic Crystals Normal: Navy Blue Ribbon Gown Set (Beauty: 100): 500 Magic Crystals/ 22000 Lin

Part 26

26.01

You can be angry at me if you want. I know it was reckless of me. I couldn’t help myself! I just had to. (Romantic:+4; Dramatic:+4)

Romantic Route

27.01

Welcome back, Ray. (Romantic:+4; Dramatic:+2) We’ve been waiting for you. (Romantic:+4; Dramatic:+4) Good timing. (Romantic:+2; Dramatic:+4)

27.05

Receive a Letter from Him: Needs 190+ points

His side story: You Are My Light

Romantic End Bonus: Ray’s Room Background

**Chapter Ticket x 5, Magic Crystals x 300

Dramatic Route

27.03

I won’t forget. (Romantic:+2; Dramatic:+4) I’ll do my best. (Romantic:+4; Dramatic:+2) Have a little faith in me. (Romantic:+4; Dramatic:+4)

27.05

Receive a Letter from Him: Needs 190+ points

His side story: You Are My Destiny

Dramatic End Bonus: Ray’s Casual Clothes

**Chapter Ticket x 5, Magic Crystals x 300

Both Ending Bonus: Ray’s Plushy

#Ikemen Revolution #cybird #ray blackwell #otome #otome game #walkthrough

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birdiethebibliophile · 6 years

Text

{fic} That Old Sweet Feeling (part 20)

Fandom: The Adventure Zone: Commitment Rating: M Chapter Warnings: Excessive Naruto references Relationship: Nadiya Jones/Mary Word Count: 1,244

Here on AO3. Read the rest: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13 Part 14 Part 15 Part 16 Part 17 Part 18 Part 19

Tagging @someone-called-f1nch, @voidfishkid, @mellowstarscape, and @jumpboy-rembrandt!

Next chapter is beginning of the endgame. Get hyped, people. There’s some plot dump incoming, so brace yourselves.

Chapter Summary: Nadiya gets a fright. Remy spills a secret. Mary Sage gets some sleep.

__________________

To Nadiya’s shock, the bus ride went off without a hitch. Mary Sage nodded off on her shoulder fifteen minutes in, and she nodded off against Mary Sage’s head about thirty minutes after that, though she didn’t stay asleep for very long. Irene and Remy played word and number games for at least two hours of the trip, Remy put his feet up on the window and got yelled at by another passenger, and Irene gave the offending passenger the most chilling look Nadiya had ever seen, her eyes glowing blue-white with godly power.

God, she was really getting attached to these dorks, wasn’t she?

“Okay, should be pretty close,” Remy said, squinting at the paper he got from Addison under the dying light of Nadiya’s keychain penlight. The bus had pulled away, leaving them at the side of the road. Nadiya had always thought San Francisco would be bustling at any time of the night, like New York City, but this part of it was silent as the grave. “Couple streets over, maybe? Damn, it’s dark.”

“Mary, what do you – gah.” Nadiya swore under her breath. “You like fucking Kabuto or something, your glasses –”

Mary Sage’s glasses looked like they were glowing as they reflected the dim light. She snickered. “More Naruto references, Nad? Really? Can’t branch out and say I look like, uh, whatsherface. The ginger chick in Pokémon.”

“Misty,” Nadiya said reflexively, and then groaned as she realized Remy had been watching the entire exchange and vibrating at an ever-increasing speed.

“You watch Pokémon?” he said, and then, in an even higher voice, “and Naruto?”

“When I was in middle school, Remy, Jesus –” She staggered as she was suddenly hit with five feet eight inches of rocket-propelled jump boy throwing his arms around her.

“I watched every episode of Naruto!” he said. “I wanted to be a ninja when I grew up, I still have a leaf village headband somewhere at my brother’s house, I –” He broke off, and the sudden silence was deafening.

“You have a brother?” Mary Sage said.

“Um…” Remy let go of Nadiya and turned around to study the street again. “Yeah. I… yeah.”

“You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to,” Irene said quietly.

“Not out here. Not that –” He jerked around again, eyes wide enough that Nadiya could see the whites all around the dark irises. “Not that I’m ashamed of him or anything like that, it’s just, I don’t –” He took an audible breath and let it out. “I don’t want him mixed up in this shit.” And then, in a lower voice, “He has a kid. Like… a five-year-old. I don’t… want anything to happen to him. To either of them.” Then, “I already fucked up his life enough.”

“Remy –” Irene started.

“Drop it, okay, ‘Rene?” Remy said. “Should be this way…”

The four of them made their way down the street, then Remy led the way to the right down another few streets, and came to a stop at a tall, pale brick building.

“This should be it,” Remy said. “Do we just… go in, or?”

“Knowing Grace, there’s no way we could,” Irene said doubtfully, examining the entrance. “Look, here. There’s a buzzer panel.” She pressed one of the unlabeled buttons.

There were a few tense minutes of silence before the speaker crackled to life and a mumbled voice said, “Yes?”

“Grace?” Irene asked.

“Who is this?” the voice said, a little sharper now.

“Irene.” Irene glanced at her companions. “Irene Baker. I’m here with Remy, Nadiya, and Mary. From… you know. The Fellowship.”

“Oh,” the voice said in a very different tone. “This is Jonesy. Gracie’s asleep. I’ll buzz you up.”

There was a collective sigh of relief as, with a whir, the door unlocked and Remy pushed it open. Inside, it looked like an apartment building, only it looked like it hadn’t been let in a while. All of the numbers on the doors were tarnished, there were no welcome mats to be seen, and even for two in the morning, it was quiet. Nadiya knew from experience that in a complex like this, there would at least be a couple people up and making a ridiculous amount of noise, but there was nothing.

Remy shrugged and started up the stairs, taking them two at a time. When they got to the top floor, there was only one door, so he knocked.

Almost immediately, it opened to show a tall, slim, middle-aged woman with brown skin and a short, choppy brown haircut. She was wearing what could reasonably called pajamas – blue sweatpants and a t-shirt with “I’m an Engeneer Enginere Engenere I’m good with math” on it. She was also casually holding a baseball bat in one hand, hefted and ready for action, but when she saw who it was, she stepped aside to let them in. “Sorry about the dramatics,” she said, closing the door behind Mary Sage and leaning the bat against the wall. “Can’t be too careful these days. Now. What the hell are you four doing here at three in the morning?”

“It’s a long story,” Nadiya said. “It’d be a pain to tell more than once, so can we save it for the morning? We’ve been on a bus for… eight hours, more or less.”

“Holy shit. Yeah, come on, you can talk to Grace in the morning,” Jonesy said, her eyes widening. “We have a couple free rooms still, this place is enormous.”

“Do you have this whole top floor?” Remy said, looking around the large space.

“It was a penthouse suite,” Jonesy explained, picking her way over various pieces of ill-defined equipment. “Technically, we have the whole building, but the lower floors would be a pain to use, so we’re mostly just up here. I wired all the buzzers up here, though.”

“You’ve set this whole place up in a week?” Irene said in amazement.

“I mean, it’s pretty makeshift, but yeah,” Jonesy said with a shrug. “Here, there’s a couple bedrooms down here. I can’t wait to hear what the hell happened to you all, by the way. Not like you could just hop on a plane like we did.”

“We’ll tell you everything tomorrow,” Irene reassured her, stepping into the first bedroom. “Thank you so much, Jonesy, we really appreciate the hospitality.”

“Hey, no prob,” Jonesy said carelessly.

“Oh, hell yes, a bed,” Mary Sage said, going into the next bedroom and flinging herself onto the bed. “Good fucking night, everyone.”

Jonesy laughed quietly and closed the door behind her. “It’s good to see Mary doing so well,” she commented. “Last time I saw her… well.”

“Yeah, she’s… okay-ish, mostly, I think,” Nadiya said hesitantly. “Better. I dunno. Anyways. Good night.” Remy nodded as well, giving Jonesy a small smile, and then they both went into the last two open bedrooms in the hallway.

In the dark, Nadiya took off her rumpled bus clothes and changed into pajamas, something she hadn’t done since the Colorado cabin. With a sigh of relief, she crawled under the covers.

And for the first time since all this fuckery had started, Nadiya Jones slept soundly, safe and exhausted, without a single dream.

Except for one she couldn’t quite remember the next day, but definitely involved orange hair and the smell of chlorine and citrus, and left her feeling happier than she’d felt in weeks.

#taz #taz fanfiction #taz commitment #nadiya jones #irene baker #kardala #mary sage #space cadet #christopher rembrandt #remy #the adventure zone #the adventure zone commitment #taz: c #that old sweet feeling #tosf #mine #it sure picks up from here #this is the last real transition chapter

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