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comehomeducklings · 3 years

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Present [Part 1] (Obsession)

A/N: Please don't copy, redistribute, and/or post my work on this site or any others. This has taken my time and creativity to come up with the story's characters and plot.

Also, I swear my writing gets better. It's a little rough right now but I'm planning on rewriting them.

Tom Riddle's Moodboard

Main Character's Moodboard

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1943 ~ 6th year

No sound above whispers could be heard throughout the great hall. The food on the table hasn't been touched by a single hand. The very thought of eating churning all our stomachs. Not during these times. Our heads turn every now and then, afraid of what might sneak up behind us. The death of Myrtle and others has shaken the entire school. A murderer is among us, trust is such a foreign concept now.

Dark purple eye-bags lay beneath every single student's eyes. No one is allowed to go home for the holidays. They aren't allowing us to leave, we are stuck in this cloud of darkness and uncertainty. No owls are supposed to be sent out. As the head girl, I'm responsible for every student's life and responsibilities. I have to know where everyone is at all times. It gets tiring at times, but necessary nonetheless.

A nightly routine consisted of all my dormmates huddling around each other. No sleep would come to us all night. We wouldn't move from the same spot until light shown from the windows. Our beds are all pressed together in the farthest corner of the room from the door. Our wands never leaving our hands in case of danger. Every little sound made from the outside provoking us. Even to the point of going mad. Potions used to stay awake, slowly wearing off as the morning arose. No sleep, we can't afford that luxury anymore.

I would leave the dorm to wait at the portrait for our assigned house professor to come. They would tell me it was safe for everyone to head to the great hall to get breakfast. As soon as they were done I quickly went to everyone's dormitory to wake them up, if they even slept at all. I would then inform them that it was safe to step out of their dorms. After everyone got situated I would have the students form a line and lead them towards the great hall. 1st-3rd years would occasionally hold the folds of my robes. Fearing that when they blink I would be gone. Leaving them alone to deal with the dangers that lurk in the school.

Not once have I lied about how they are going to be all right. That would be cruel. These students don't seek pathetic nurturing words, they want a protective force watching over them. So many clubs and activities have been canceled. Hogsmede and quidditch proving as a prime example. No one complained though, quidditch players too afraid to even step out of the castle's walls even if they were allowed.

Back to the present, I hold my good friend's hand as she slightly shakes from anxiety. I can see it in her eyes, the doubt of making it alive eating away at her brain. The spark once present in her shiny green eyes being blown out. Amelia, her name being. She's been biting her nails again, to the point where it had bled. This can be backed by the dried-up blood that is present at the tip of her finger's nail.

A booming voice can be heard, "You are now being dismissed to head to class, your houses head girl and boy will be assigning the group you'll be heading off with."

First period has been removed from every perfect and head's schedule. During this time we search the whole castle for any wanders. We make sure everyone is where they are supposed to be. If someone got lost or went to the wrong class we escort them to where they need to be.

After every class, students have a limited amount of time to get to their next lesson. Although, perfects and heads get more time to make sure everyone is where they are needed quickly. Then we hurry to our class after scanning the halls swiftly.

The once safest school of the wizarding world giving birth to the dark ages. More bodies have been found littering the schools. Most of them not found until their ghosts appear before us. Every single one not knowing how they died. Like the murderer is invisible upon meeting the victim. I originally suggested it could have been done by poison. When the bodies were checked, no traces of poison had been traced.

Professors have been waiting for the person who is responsible to slip up, to give us a clue. I don't think that will happen though. The process of these killings has been too thought out and well planned. I wouldn't be surprised if these mass killings have been planned months before, even maybe years. I've been talking to the ghosts to try and gather all details, even the potentially useless ones. When our headmaster made us heads keep tabs on everyone, the killings stopped for a short amount of time. It was like the mastermind was creating a way to best us, to get past the "little inconvenience." It didn't take long for them to find the weak parts in the plan.

What we have got though, is that every single student killed has been a muggle-born. A classic case of an unfair stigma around the poor wizards and witches. They never were able to catch a break. Amelia, one of my close friends in the friend group. She's a muggle-born, hence the shaking of her hands. I've been keeping a closer eye on her, she doesn't leave my side. She comes on my patrols so I can keep her in my sights, with of course the permission of the teachers. There are only two times that I can not watch over her. Those two times are covered by my other friend Devyn, a pure-blood. She also helps keep her safe, not letting her go anywhere by herself. The two times are because she's in two different classes than I am. One of them being a study hall.

~////////////////𓆙////////////////~

"Professor, how will this class help us now? Reading teacups for predictions should be the least of our worries right now," a student at the back of the room exclaims.

"The said predictions could lead us to the future before it happens. Our worries lay exactly what will happen in the future. If anything, this is one of the most important classes we'll take this year," I say, continuing to read the teacup.

"Precisely, thank you. Now go back to studying, I'll be coming around to view your interpretations."

My tea leaves look more like a blob with a cross going through them. A weirdly shaped blob. I already know there is a cross, but what about the blob? I tried shaking it a little, looking at the leaves from different angles. I already crossed off a club, falcon, and the sun. It could be an acorn, but I see a slight hole in the blob.

Could it be...

"A skull that is." I jump at the sudden voice near my ear. My teacup almost falling from my grasp.

"Pardon, a what?"

She points towards two holes in the blob, one of them I just mentioned, "I saw you already found one hole, there's the other. How it's shaped could be a little difficult to see since the cross is through it, but it's there."

The professor takes the cup from my hand and lays it on her desk. Some of my classmates look at me in curiosity, but they soon lose interest and go back to their own tea leaves.

A cross and a skull, that sounds about right to how my school year is going so far. I scan my book to see exactly what they mean.

A skull, danger in your path.

A cross, trials and suffering.

"What d-did you find?" A Hufflepuff boy to my right asks.

I don't want to scare the poor boy, he's already frightened enough as it is. If my future got around to the school, everyone would start being concerned about me. I'll barely get any of my duties done if I didn't already get it taken away for my safety. Last thing I need right now is even more panic.

"Nothing much, the future is still a little foggy."

"That's, um, good. I couldn't really read mine either," he chuckles lightly, almost seemingly forced.

Our professor claps her hands together, "Class is dismissed, read up about your predictions if you haven't already. No homework today."

I gather my books and push in my chair. Right before I could reach the door where other students are waiting, the teacher stops me.

"I'll have to tell the headmaster about this, I shouldn't keep it a secret."

"No, please don't. If you must, only tell Albus. I can't have this messing anything up, I'll become vulnerable."

The professor looks around the room, her eyes wandering franticly. I'm sure I am asking a lot from her. I really need her to keep this a secret.

"Oh alright, you're my best student. I just would hate to see anything happen to you. I'm informing only Albus to see if he can keep an eye on you."

"Thank you so much, I swear I'll be careful." A huge weight is lifted off my shoulders. I can't be worrying about my future when I have to worry about everyone else's.

I leave the classroom and start heading to my next class. Potions have always been one of my favorite classes. Mixing a bunch of toxins into a pot is a specialty of mine. I'm quickly scanning the halls for any wanderers, making sure everyone is at class. My feet take me to Potions in a hurry. I don't want to miss much, trying to make the class as informational as possible.

"You shouldn't be running, you still have 3 minutes of checking the school."

It's always him, I even tried changing routes to avoid him. His idiotic smirk, thinking he actually did something. All he did is waste my time and train of thought.

"I'm allowed to run Riddle, it's not a rule. I already checked the halls I was assigned, did you?" I really have no energy for this.

Tom peers down at me, somehow still wearing that infamous smile. Eyes bright, filled with mischief and knowledge.

"I have, double-checked as well. I'm sure you only checked once. Such irresponsible actions, I still wonder how you nabbed the head-girl spot."

I choose not to answer, not giving in to his baiting. Does he think I'm that stupid? That easily bothered by a simple test of my patience.

"You could have just said you wanted to walk me to class Riddle. No need to be shy with me."

"Shy, a concept I would not know of. Might as well bring you to class, since I'm heading there myself. Wouldn't want you to be in danger, since you consistently prove you can't handle a simple check of the hallways."

"I told you Tom-"

"Once is not enough, you should know that by now," he interrupts me, feigning a sudden serious facade on.

We start heading towards Slughorn's room. I'm a little behind his figure. Mostly looking down to make sure I don't step over his feet and fall. He sometimes walks with me, very confusing if I may say. Hating my skills, probably still hates me. You can often find us arguing if we are ever partners in class together. The usual game we play, how many questions can we get right by the end of class. Last time he won by one point, my sour mood not helping the atmosphere.

"You look rested, more than me at least," I smile tiredly. My whole body slightly sagging forward from exhaustion. He looks as proper as someone could be. His skin is a little pale though, brighter than usual. Almost like he was sick, his eyes look darker too. More sunken in, the shape of his skull more prominent. His looks still annoyingly well presented.

"Yes, you do look rather tired. I see other things have prioritized above your looks."

This man, the audacity of this man. The only reason I'm not at the top of every class. Our number 1 student count being evenly split. I have to bite down on my tongue forcefully to not say anything back. I'm too tired to truly come back with anything witty, so I choose to save myself from the embarrassment. Instead, I slightly step on his robe on the ground causing him to trip up a little.

He quickly sends a warning glare my way and then continues walking. I smile slightly, knowing even if it was petty, it was worth it.

Riddle doesn't even hold the door for me when we walk in. Causing it to slam dangerously close to my face.

"There you two are, I was afraid you weren't going to make it," Slughorn exclaims excitedly. "Turn your textbooks to page 246, we are going to learn how to make a Polyjuice potion!"

I glance at Tom, his eyes only focus on the words before him not realizing my gaze is on him. I wonder if he'll make this a competition as well. Knowing him, as well as me, anything but competition is out of our character. He looks up catching my eyes, I tilt my head. Trying to silently communicate from afar.

His head turns to Slughorn, then back to me. He nods his head and that's all it takes for both of us to come to an understanding. Whoever can answer the most questions, and create the best potion gets bragging rights.

I don't intend to lose.

#tom riddle x oc #tom riddle imagine #tom riddle #tom riddle x reader #lord voldemort #hogwarts #wizard #post wizarding war #enemies to allies #enemies to lovers #angst #oc #poc #Oc is any race #horcrux #moldy voldy

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cutesuki--bakugou · 4 years

Text

Don’t Forget Me

Art in banner done by me.

College Life / Mermaid / Kimi no Na wa (Your Name) inspired AU

It’s all nothing but a dream. A series of dreams that are all too real. That’s all it is. Your soul - or whatever it was - couldn’t possibly be swapping places with a Merman. One, mermaids aren’t real. Two, that’s not even possible! Is it?

Mermaid!Bakugou Katsuki x Fem!Human Reader

Want to start from be beginning? Check the Don’t Forget Me tag.

Genre: Romance / Angst Story

Rating: Explicit | Adult Themes, Interspecies Sex (merman / human), Masturbation, Alcohol, Animal death / hunting (whales, fish, sharks, etc), Cursing, Descriptions of Injuries and Blood

A/N: This is my part for the @bnhabookclub weekly collab event Just Add Water for MerMay! I know there isn’t much going on in this, but it’s just the first chapter to a new multichapter fic. Per the rules of the collab, I used the prompt “That’s just an urban legend”. I’m excited, because I’ve wanted to do a Mer!Bakugou x reader for a LONG time and could never think of anything. But when this theme was announced, I was watching Kimi no Na wa and immediately had this idea. So, full disclosure, the theme of switching bodies in their sleep / forgetting each other is inspired by that movie, but that is all that I take away from it.

Prologue: Stone

Chapter Rating: Teen | Cursing

Words: 1,855

You were doing it again.

How many times had you caught yourself staring at the delicate necklace in your hands? More than you could probably count on all your fingers and toes, and you were sure that number had nearly doubled just in the last week. You really weren’t sure why you were drawn to it so intensely, nor why it gave you such a deep sense of loss and loneliness.

Where had you gotten it from?

You couldn’t remember. In truth, you couldn’t remember getting it at all. As far as you could recollect, it had been around your neck when you woke up one morning, about two months ago. Since then, you refused to go a day without it, even if it didn’t necessarily match your outfit or any particular occasion. You felt so lost without it around your neck, like a part of you was away, off in some distant land or deep within the sea.

Why did you think that?

Of all things, why would you assume that this missing part of you was in the ocean? Was it because of the necklace? Probably. The silver clam shaped pendant that rested in your palm was most likely the culprit to make you think of the sea. But that particular piece of the jewelry wasn’t what kept you so entranced. Set in the middle was a small, perfectly round stone, and its brilliance is what you couldn’t help but stare into. To anyone else, it would just appear to be a small marble, with brilliant deep indigo, swirling turquoise and hints of radiant purples. There were sparkles of twinkling white, like light reflecting off a water's surface, and if you gazed into it long enough, you could have sworn that the colors were mixing and twisting, as if there truly was water inside the stone.

It was so beautiful. Had someone given it to you? Whoever did must have cared about you so deeply to give you something so special. You had asked all your friends and family if they knew anything about how you got it, but no one knew anything. You received some weird looks and uncomfortable responses when you tried to ask them, but that didn’t bother you much, not when you had been dealing with people finding you strange for almost half a year now, anyway.

Why did they find you weird again? You couldn’t remember.

All you knew was that it had to do with this necklace. You had tried to find out what it was made of to try and get any hints on where it may have come from, but each jewelry store or stone expert you took it to, they all had the same response. They just didn’t know. Many offered to buy it from you at varying prices, their interest peaked and their hopes of being the first person to discover a new stone pushing them forward. But you resisted, as just even letting it out of your hands so they could look at it enough to make you nearly burst into tears. You couldn’t let it go and you wouldn’t, either. Not ever. Not for anything.

Because it was precious. It was the only thing that you had that could help to calm this nearly unending sense of longing.

But what was it you were longing for?

Or who?

Why did that always pop up in your mind? There were so many pieces of scattered thoughts that you just couldn’t put together. A person. The sea. Feeling like a piece of you was missing. You wanted these feelings to end, but you knew that they wouldn’t, not until you found what you were searching for.

With a frustrated sigh, you put the necklace back on around your neck, clasping it in place with skilled fingers. Standing from your bed, you shuffled your way towards your desk, lightly running your fingers down along the slender metal chain. Your mind was still in a hazy grip of sleep, barely registering that the electronic clock mostly hidden by books and other stationary read 5:49 AM, though that didn’t really matter. Your mind was racing with the overbearing thoughts, and as you sat down in your squeaky office chair, you were already near breaking out into tears.

The necklace wasn’t the only clue you had. Scattered among the desk were notebooks and papers, though you had refused to touch them for the last few weeks. At first, you had meticulously looked over every page and every written note, trying to do everything you could to learn about who this person was that you were missing. But now they sat on your desk, abandoned in defeat. There were many things in the notes that didn’t make sense to you now, though according to what you had written, you had understood it all at one point.

What you had written.

That was what was the most odd. There were two very distinct handwritings within the notebooks and scribbled on the scrap pieces of paper or sticky notes. Yours was so proper and easy to read, clean and steady. The other was rough with some of the characters almost completely illegible, requiring you to assume what the person writing must have been trying to say. Large and scratchy, it almost resembled the handwriting of a child or what you assume would be someone new to writing on paper. The phrases. The choice of words. All of it was completely different from yours.

It had been another person. Someone sat in your chair, in your room, and wrote these messages to you. At first, you thought that it just had to be a prank. One of your friends was fucking with you. That was the only realistic solution. But none of them talked this way, and if you were honest, they weren’t exactly clever enough to pull off such a big ordeal over months and months.

The way they talked… It was so strange. You just couldn’t wrap your head around it, and if you were honest, you thought that they must have been a little crazy. Yet, you weren’t all that rattled in most of your responses, like you knew what they had been saying to be the truth.

The conversations were so… natural. In fact, most of it was like a diary, with the scratchy handwriting cataloging what had happened that day, how they felt about it, and what they had done.

This school shit that you humans do is so stupid and pointless. Who the fuck needs to know about… what is it called? Calculus? You’re never going to use that shit, I’m not bothering with keeping up with it, fuck that. You always catch up on your own anyway. That bitch Midoriya or whatever gave you some fucking flowers today. I thought about stomping on them and telling him to fuck off, but I just took them and left. You need to tell that prick you’re not into him or this shit will never stop. Also, the way you humans handle courtship is fucked. I didn’t do shit today otherwise. Just stayed in the room. I did find your sketchbook though. You’re getting better, but you still can’t remember us for shit.

Pulling your eyes up from the paper, they immediately landed on the mentioned sketchbook, which was tucked up beneath some schoolbooks. Carefully, you pulled it out, setting it down on the pile of papers to thumb through it.

It had been so long since you had even opened this thing. The feeling of the coarse paper beneath your fingertips brought a small smile to your face, as did seeing all your old sketches and doodles. Though, the smile faded as you reached near the middle of the sketchbook, your eyes tearing up immediately at the contents of the page. The page was completely covered in drawings of what looked to be mermaids, or mermen, to be more accurate. They were mostly faceless and unidentifiable, the sketches geared more towards poses and anatomy. The only thing mostly consistent was the tail. It seemed to be the same over all the drawings, with matching fins and scribbled patterns.

“Mermaids… I’ve never cared to draw them before, why did I…?”

After another turn of the page, you were met with similar things, only this time they had heads and hair, jewelry, pieces of clothing, and even weapons. Only one of the sketches resembled the previous drawings, and his particular features called to you. The feeling of recognition and longing grew fiercer with another turn of the page, which was all nothing but sketches of that particular merman’s head with varying expressions and positions. He was particularly attractive, with slanted piercing eyes and a mass of fluffy spiked hair on his head. He had fin-like ears that were mostly drooped, but flared out on the drawings with a more intense expression, where his mouth was open in a yell or intense fanged snarl.

A small gasp left your lips as a drop of liquid suddenly landed onto the paper, pulling you out of your daze. Crying? Why were you crying? Why did your heart feel like it was about to be ripped from your chest? It wasn’t possible for this to be the man that you had been longing for. You had drawn him as a mermaid! They weren’t real, and there was no way that was possible. He couldn’t even get into your room, let alone sit in your chair and write you letters.

“I’m so ridiculous…” You whispered quietly to yourself, wiping the tears from your flushed cheeks. Had you been blushing? You didn’t even notice. “Mermaids… That’s just an urban legend. A myth. I must have just been in a phase… Maybe I saw a movie or an anime with them, and I got super invested? But then… they’re so…”

Page after page, more sketches followed, some making you giggle while others made your chest ache so badly you thought you would pass out. But then, there was something scribbled onto a page that made your entire body grow cold, stomach twisting into such a tight knot you were sure that you’d vomit.

Save me.

“Save… Save you?” You choked out into the silent room with a trembling voice, more tears cascading down your cheeks as you reached up to grip the pendant around your neck tightly. It was in the familiar scratchy handwriting, though it was more frantic and messy than you had ever seen. Hiccupping, you brought the pendant up to your lips, pressing the stone against them as you struggled to calm yourself.

Save you from what? What the hell happened? Did I save you? Why the hell can’t I remember!

It was then that you felt an odd pulsing against your lips, and as you pulled away in shock, your teary gaze was locked onto the pendant in your hands, which was pulsing slowly with a pale green glow. And with it came a thought, like a soft voice whispering in your ear that you couldn’t ignore.

He’s calling to me…

#bnhabookclub #bakugou #katsuki bakugou #bakugou x reader #bnha #boku no hero academia #my hero academia #bnha imagines #bnha scenarios #personal #collab #fanfiction #bnha writing blog #xreader #mermay #Merman!Bakugou #mermaid au #mer!bakugou

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thestarsociety · 3 years

Text

hey there, hero

Rating: T

Word count: 4.5k

Content warnings: mild blood/injury, likely inaccurate medical procedures

Summary: five times kira greeted bella, and one time bella greeted her back.

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Bella pulled at the edge of her gloves, adjusting her stance on the roof as she observed the Citadel Solutions complex down below. It was walled (which, really, was no surprise, considering the name), but she had found a spot on a building high enough up that she could watch.

Something was happening in there. She knew it.

She had forgone her usual bright blue and yellow attire for a mostly black outfit. After all, Blink, local hero and above-the-board actor, couldn't be caught here. But, Bella was fairly certain she could get in easily with some well-timed teleports. She had a labcoat stashed in her bag that was at least somewhat similar to the garb of the engineers inside. Similar enough, she hoped, that they would let her pass by, once she was in.

She'd spent this stakeout watching the movements in and out, trying to time her entrance so she could get in with the least fuss. She was almost sure she had it. She took a deep breath, and repeated the plan like a mantra. Get in, find what they're up to, disappear. You can do this. You can do this. You can do th—

Boots touched down onto the roof behind her.

"Hey there, hero. What brings you to this fine rooftop?"

Bella startled, instinctively teleporting behind the newcomer. "Wh– who– how did you know I was here?"

The newcomer spun around to face her, tilting her head slightly and crossing her arms. She was slightly taller than Blink, and wearing a sort of armored suit. A hard shell mask covered the bottom half of her face, but her dark eyes were amused. She had warm brown skin, and thick wavy hair that fell past her shoulders, just above the backpack she seemed to be wearing.

Most eye-catching, however, were her gauntlets. They were bulky, covering her entire forearm, and when she moved her hand, Bella could hear the whine of motors.

In short: definitely dangerous.

"Hey, whoah, no need to break out the powers," she said, wiggling her fingers slightly. The motors whined. Bella swallowed. "Anyway, I asked first. So." She stepped towards Bella. "Why are you here?" The mirth drained out of her voice, replaced by a steely seriousness.

"Ah..." Blink floundered for a second. "Just... came up to enjoy the view," she said. It was... a plausible excuse. It wasn't like nobody had ever spent time on top of a building for a view before.

The stranger just looked even more amused. "You sure? 'Cause the locked door would say otherwise," she said, cocking her head towards the door which did, in fact, read "NO EXIT/ENTRY" in large red letters.

"Euhh..." Bella clenched and unclenched her fingers. Purple sparks began to accumulate, swirling around her feet. "I..."

There was a snap, and Bella fell onto her bed.

Quinn spun around from where he was sitting in her chair, a red lollipop in his mouth. "Oh, you're back early. How'd it go?"

Bella covered her face with her hands and groaned.

: : : : : : : : 2 : : : : : : : :

Fighting has never been Bella's strong suit.

She'd gotten better at it, sure, thanks to experience and sparring with Quinn. Her battle strategy didn’t consist of "teleport away from punches and hope for the best” anymore. But she still didn’t like it.

Case in point, feeling like she's totally floundering as she tried to fight a dozen robot drones. She elbowed one that approached behind her, then teleported three feet above one in front of her, letting gravity (and her steel-toed boots) do the work for her. She got into the rhythm of it, kicks and punches and smartly-timed teleports becoming a dance that she weaves and bobs to.

However, she's not a fighter, and when fighting on a rooftop, it turns out that drones sometimes do have a strategy.

Corner her towards the edge of the building.

Every time she tried to fight her way away from the edge, the bots herded her towards it. What they lacked in individual power they made up for in combined might.

Then, the worst happened.

She tripped.

Her scream lodged in her throat as she fell though the air towards the hard ground below. Wind whipped around her, hair flipping into her eyes as she frantically tried to gather her powers, visualizing somewhere safe and grounded and––

The momentum around her stopped as Bella was slammed into by someone flying through the air. Arms circled her knees and back and Bella opened her eyes to see––

Her.

The girl bridal-carrying her grinned, the edges of her dark eyes crinkling. "Well hey there, hero," she said. "Hold onto me. Don't want to drop you." Bella looped her arms around her neck and dared a look down at the ground below. They were. High up. So she kept her gaze on her unlikely savior.

"Why did you—"

"I'm a hero," she said easily. "Heroes don't let pretty girls fall off rooftops." She glanced down at Blink. "Uh, and if they did, they would catch them out of the air."

Bella's breath hitched. Her face flushed, and she was silently happy that her mask covered her cheeks. "Thanks," she mumbled, averting her eyes from her savior's face.

"Your ears are red." Bella could hear the stupid smirk on her face. "Let's get you on solid ground, shall we?"

Before Bella could say anything in reply, the stranger boosted whatever mechanism made her fly, and the wind whipped even faster. Bella buried her head in her shoulder.

When they landed and brushed themselves off, the armored girl turned to Blink. "I feel like we got off on the wrong foot." She extended a hand. "I'm Cavalier."

Blink didn't move. "...As in, arrogant?"

"As in, horse-riding knights." She tapped the Citadel Solutions logo, a horse, on her chest. Blink frowned. Of course she was with Citadel.

"Shouldn't that be Cavalry?"

"The force as a whole is Cavalry. Just one is a Cavalier. Also, c'mon, can you just shake my hand?"

Bella took her gauntleted hand reluctantly. "Blink." she offered.

"Charmed, I'm sure. Can I ask what you were doing? Those bots aren't meant to attack people.” Blink opened her mouth. “Also, would be nice if you didn't disappear on me again. I did just save you."

"I can handle myself," Bella bit back. "I have powers."

Cavalier shrugged. "You were falling pretty fast." She cocked her head. "It wouldn't have anything to do with the Citadel cell tower on that rooftop, hm?"

Bella's breath hitched. It did. Citadel Solutions had recently developed and installed cell tower devices that would monitor and report "suspicious metahuman frequencies". Essentially, anti-meta spyware. Bella and Quinn were intent on destroying them. Her stomach tightened. "I... can't tell you that."

Cavalier started at her flatly. "So, that's a yes."

"Listen, they're horrifyingly unethical!" Blink burst out. "Spying on metahumans? For no reason? It's ridiculous! We aren't inherently dangerous!"

Cavalier cocked her head. "Blink, just last week, a pyrokinetic couldn't control their powers and created thousands of dollars in property damage."

Bella threw her arms up. "I know! I was there! I am extremely familiar with what happened. So familiar, in fact, that I was the one who diffused the situation!"

Cavalier's eyes widened.

Bella continued on her tirade. "So I know that the solution isn't surveillance. Jamie just needed someone to talk to. Someone who knows what it's like. He needed help, not to be stopped by some kind of armed force," she spat.

"Okay, but one situation doesn't cover all of it. Citadel is trying to help people, to make the city better, just like you are."

"The intent behind it doesn't matter. This is going to impact metahumans everywhere. It's not okay."

Cavalier stood for a moment, her jaw opening and closing a couple times. Her eyebrows were furrowed. Finally, she hummed. "Okay. Thanks for not disappearing on me." She turned her back to Blink, getting ready to take off.

Before she left, she looked over her shoulder back at Blink. "I'm... not gonna report this. Just so you know. Thanks for your thoughts."

Her repulsors built to a high whine, and she lifted into the sky.

: : : : : : : : 3 : : : : : : : :

Blink hadn't seen Cavalier all night. They had gotten into a rhythm of patrolling together over the past few months: they worked better as a team than on their own, and games of rooftop tag always made it more fun.

Their first patrol had been awkward, for sure. Blink has never approved of what Citadel does, but when they're not pushing morally dubious tech, Cavalier was helping people. So when Cavalier approached her on one of her regular patrol routes to ask about "pooling their resources" since "I save people, you save people, really, we're on the same side, here," Blink and Signal accepted.

Through these shared patrols, they'd grown much closer. There was something about the late nights spent together that allowed their conversations to flow, to share their thoughts easier. Blink had grown to appreciate Cavalier's humor and wit, and cared about her quite a bit. Through conversations about possible team names (Cavalier was set on 'Starlets', but Bella was partial to 'Moonlighters' and Quinn to 'The Star Society'), things that happened at school (though they were both careful to never mention names), or even Citadel projects, Bella saw Kira as a total person and not just an extension of Citadel. She agreed with a lot of Bella's criticisms of Citadel, and Bella admitted where they did legitimate good.

She knew Kira now. Knew that she was laughed loud and cared louder, that she would quote random lines from things Bella had never heard of, that when she smiled, the edges of her eyes would crinkle.

Nowadays, they would patrol together nearly every night. Quinn would sometimes rib her about "not giving away team secrets," but Bella trusted Kira. Which was strange.

Blink was worried. Cavalier had a tendency to flake off, sometimes, but she would always at least shoot her a message. Today had been radio silence.

She completed her route alone, as the sun set low below the sky and the few stars that weren't obscured by light pollution made their appearance. Once she was done, she went to one of their favorite spots: the top of a building that was taller than all the rest in the area, so they could see everything, but couldn't be seen.

Sure enough, Blink found Cavalier sitting on the edge of the building, her head resting on her knee and her mask set on the ground as she looked over the blinking city lights below. This didn't seem to be her usual vigilant watch. She looked... tired. Contemplative.

"Hey."

Kira looked up at her, her head not moving from its rest on her knee. "Oh. Hey, Blink." She sounded exhausted. Her shoulders were slumped.

"What, no 'hero'?" Blink said, trying to lighten the mood.

Cavalier huffed a little laugh. "You know you're my hero." There was a smile in Kira's voice now, at least.

Bella sat next to her, letting her legs dangle and peeling off her mask. She looked at Kira from the side. She still hadn't moved. Her eyes seemed fixed a million miles away, as the lights of the city reflected in them. Thousands of pinpoints of light: windows, passing cars, neon signs, like stars in a dark sky. The glow brushed the planes of her face, accentuating the shadows beneath her eyes.

"Hey," Bella murmured. "What's up?"

Kira smiled a little. "Us?" Her voice cracked as she spoke.

"I am completely sure you've said that joke before," Bella said softly.

Kira's smile softened. "I think you're right. ...You usually are."

They sat for a while, watching the city. (Really, Kira watched the city while Bella watched Kira, and occasionally the blinking red cell tower.)

"I don't think I can do this. I don't know if I'm made for it." Kira confessed quietly. Her eyes were still fixed on the city.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean," her voice wavered. "I mean, I don't know if I'm a good hero. If I can be a good hero. I know the kind of person my parents want me to be, what Citadel wants me to be, even what you want me to be. But I don't know what I want to be or–– or if I even have the ability become any of those people."

She sniffled.

Bella took a deep breath. "Kira," she said gently. "I've thought a lot of different things about you in the past. You know that. I've made sure that you know that. But something that has always stayed the same is this:" Bella turned so she was facing her. "Kira, you have proven to me a million times over that you are a hero. You're a good hero. No matter how much I've argued and fought with you about Citadel, about the Cavalry, whatever. I know Kira. And Kira is a hero."

Kira tilted her head towards her, and Bella could see stars reflected in the tears pooled in her eyes.

"Listen to me. The only person I want you to be is you. I like you. Whatever kind of hero you end up becoming–– and you are a hero, trust me ––I will want you to be that person. No matter what."

Kira sniffled, her lip quivering. She surged forwards, wrapping her arms around Bella's torso. "Thank you," she said, muffled into her shoulder. Bella held her until her breathing became more even, until her breath stopped shuddering in her ribcage, tracing circles on her back.

When Kira pulled back, their legs still intertwined, she looked up at her, eyes huge. "Thank you. Again. I needed to hear that."

Bella smiled at her. "It's just the truth."

"I– god. You're so good. I think I like you way too much." Kira sniffled. "Also, uh, all that stuff you said, about 'I like you no matter what?' Um. Ditto. Me too. I care about you. You're good people."

"You're good people, too," Bella said. She was sure she was red all over.

"Your ears are red," Kira murmured. "Hey, you ever think we're moving too fast? Like, I'm here spilling my guts about everything and how much I like you, and we've bandaged each other up more times than I can count, but I don't even know your favorite movie or your last name––"

Bella cut off her increasingly panicked ramble, stilling one of her shaking hands at the wrist. "My Neighbor Totoro. Jennifer's Body is a close second. And Vogel."

Kira blinked. "Iron Giant. And Singer-Veturi."

"Listen. We have plenty of time to move slow. Let's get dinner and see a movie. This Friday."

"Is that a date, Vogel?" she said coyly, testing the name out. She blinked up at her through her eyelashes.

Bella smiled, angling her head just as coyly. "If you want it to be."

Kira snorted, and they both broke out into laughter.

"I do," Kira said, without a hint of sarcasm. "I really, really do."

They stared at each other for a moment, grinning, before Kira took the hand that Bella was holding and cupped Bella's cheek. "Hey, can I––"

Bella nodded vigorously. "Please."

Kira leaned forward, and their lips connected.

: : : : : : : : 4 : : : : : : : :

Bella was inches away from slamming her head into her calculus notes when her phone pinged.

"Oh thank god," she mumbled.

Kira Cavalier: hekp'

Kira Cavalier shared a location with you.

Kira Cavalier: please it's serious thifs timr

Bella's heart caught in her throat. She tapped the location into her maps app threw her phone onto her bed, yanked her costume on in record time, and checked for landmarks around Kira's location. Locating a bakery on the street she was familiar with, she grabbed the first-aid kit just in case and teleported onto the roof.

She landed in a three-point-stance, immediately jumping up and looking for any sign of Kira. She grimaced at the familiar sight of a Citadel device on a nearby roof, but no sign of Kira.

"K—" what would she say? Kira? Cavalier? Either could be compromising to her identity. Eventually, she settled on yelling "K?! Are you here?"

Her phone pinged in her pocket.

Kira Cavalier: alleywy

Bella bounded towards an alleyway, leaping across it when she saw no one there. She silently thanked Kira for goading her into playing rooftop tag all those times. She was an expert at traversing rooftops now.

She saw a flash of purple in one of the narrower alleyways. She immediately blinked down. Purple sparks rained around her as she landed. She gasped.

There was a distinct coppery smell in the air. Kira was slumped against the wall, one gauntlet pressed against her side, where red was leaking through, staining her suit and her gauntlet. When she touched down, Kira smiled up at her weakly. "Hey there, hero." She tried to raise a hand to wave, the motors whirring, but she winced and lowered it gingerly.

"Oh my god." Bella dropped to her knees, kneepads slamming onto the concrete. "Why are you covered in blood? What happened? Can you move?"

"Uh, in order:" her voice was strained. "Sexy reasons, I fought some drones, and, uh, no. That's why I called you."

Bella began opening the first-aid kit. "Couldn't you call someone from Citadel? The Cavalry?"

Kira looked her in the eyes. "I was fighting drones, birdie. I was dismantling Citadel property." Before Bella could say something in reply, she continued. "I wiped 'em, don't worry. They won't be too retributive. Citadel won't know."

"That's not..." Bella said softly. "Why?"

Kira closed her eyes. "Milagro. That kid we saved last week. She's a metahuman and she lives here. She would qualify for surveillance. I couldn't..."

Something curled in Bella's chest. "Hey, listen. We're gonna make things right, okay?"

Kira looked at her and smiled. "Okay."

"Let's do this not in an alleyway, okay? I'm gonna teleport you to my room."

Kira sniffed. "Okay."

Bella wrapped her arms around Kira as best as she could, gathered her powers, and they popped in a shower of sparks.

Back in her bedroom, Bella gently placed Kira in her spinny chair. Kira protested weakly. "'M gonna get blood all over your nice chair."

Rooting through the closet, Bella glanced back. "It's fine. Honestly, Quinn will probably be more upset than me."

"Man likes his chairs." Kira said absently, head lolled against the headrest.

Bella peeled her mask off and dragged the larger first-aid bag out from her closet, unzipping it and pulling out the relevant materials. "I think you're gonna need to take off the armor," she said. "Is that possible."

"Mmhmm," she said. "But I think you'll have to help."

She guided her to the release on her mask and pulled it off. Bella set it aside as Kira licked her chapped lips. Bella frowned. "You should drink more water. I'll get you some after, uh." She gestured vaguely.

Kira sniffed. "Thanks."

They went through the process of gingerly removing her armor, Kira typing in the command to release the pressure and Bella peeling it off. Once the armor around her torso was removed, Bella lifted up the tank top above the wound on her side and cleaned it gently with alcohol and cotton. Luckily, it wasn't bad enough that she would need to go to a hospital, but she began securing it closed with butterfly stitches.

"So, how'd this happen? Usually you're a much more capable fighter."

Kira sighed and leaned her head back. "Both me and the drones are Citadel-made," she said bitterly. "My blasters didn't damage them as much as I expected. So they overwhelmed me."

Bella hummed. "We'll have to mod your blasters so they will, hm?"

Kira smiled. "Yeah."

Once the biggest wound was cleaned up, Kira removed the rest of her armor, including her gauntlets, and accepted a change of Bella's clothes. She was bruised elsewhere, but nothing that had to be attended to immediately.

"You should stay here," Bella said. It was selfish. She wanted Kira near her. But she was worried about what would happen if her parents saw her like this. "Tell your parents we're having a sleepover."

Kira shrugged. "They're too busy to notice," she said easily. Bella frowned. Kira just yawned, turning away. "I'm beat. Getting stabbed takes a lot out of you. You coming?" She asked. "Bed's big enough for two."

Bella smiled, filing that away under 'talk about later'. "Yeah. Let me clean up first, and I'll get you some water."

She gathered the bloody cotton and the gross tank top and shoved them into the trash can in the alley. She put the first-aid bag away, and stacked both of their costumes in the closet so prying eyes wouldn't see them.

She blinked downstairs to find her dad. "Hey, Dad, Kira's parents are out of town, so she's sleeping over here."

Her dad looked up from his book. "Oh, has she eaten yet? We have some leftovers we can heat up for her."

Bella nodded. "Yeah, she's asleep upstairs already. She went to bed late last night."

Her dad smiled. "I am never gonna get used to you just teleporting people in and out of here"

Bella rolled her eyes and grinned. "Dad, it has been like eight years since I got these."

"I'm your father! I worry about you! What if you get splinched?"

"Splinching isn't real. Don't worry so much, Dad. I am very responsible." She filled up a glass with water. "Alright, just wanted to let you know that she was over."

"Thanks. You know we like Kira," he said significantly.

Bella coughed. "Thanks, Dad! Goodnight!"

"Night, rabbit!"

Bella returned to her room with the glass. "Your water, my liege."

"Thank you, Sir Vogel." She took the glass and gulped it down, placing it on the nightstand. "Now come to beeeeedd," she said, reaching out her arms.

"Okay, okay!"

: : : : : : : : 5 : : : : : : : :

Bella woke up bleary. So, so, bleary.

She rubbed at one eye, shading a bit of the sun coming through the window. She buried back into the comforter, and rolled over to see Kira on the other side of the bed.

Oh. So last night wasn’t a dream. The injury, patching her up, asking her to stay for the night. Sharing the bed.

Bella sank into the bed and observed Kira as she slept, her chest rising and falling evenly, her lips slightly parted. She looked so different to the girl she'd spoke to on the rooftop months ago. Peaceful. She hoped she'd had even a small part in that.

She still found her just as pretty as she had on that night, though.

Kira began to stir, her eyes screwing shut before blinking open.

"Morning," Bella greeted.

Kira stretched, groaning a little bit. "G'morning." Done with her stretch, she settled on her side, facing Bella and looking into her eyes. She smiled, the edges of her eyes crinkling. "Hey there, hero," she said.

Bella couldn't help but smile back.

"Hey," Kira started.

"Hey," Bella echoed.

"You remember that time we were playing rooftop tag—"

"Oh my god." Bella covered her face with her hands.

"Wait, no, c'mon, you don't get to hide from this," she retorted, laughing. "You were it, and you tried to tag me, and you decided the optimal way to do that was by straddling me."

"Listen, it seemed like a good idea at the time!" she groaned. "And I did get you."

"I wanted to kiss you right then and there," she said, her eyes tracing the lines of Bella's face.

Bella started. "Oh. Yeah. Me too, actually," she said, bringing her hands down from her face.

Kira's eyes widened a little, but the expression was soon replaced with a grin. "Well, it's a good thing we have plenty of time to make up for it."

"Mmhmm. Wait, what are you— be careful––"

Kira hooked a leg over Bella's hip, flipping them so she was straddling Bella's hips and her arms were on either side of her head.

"Oh, you asshole," Bella giggled.

"Hey there, hero," Kira said, grinning down at her.

Bella pulled her down for a kiss.

: : : : : : : : +1 : : : : : : : :

They took Bella. They took Bella.

Tensions between the Moonlighters and Citadel had risen, and an ultimatum was presented: metahumans had to be controlled or neutralized. And Blink was the first meta to go.

Kira was so stupid. She should have seen the signs. The blueprints floating around for metahuman containment, the power-nullifying field generators she thought were purely theoretical. She was too busy living her stupid fantasy life of being a Real Hero, of running around the city with her friends.

She fired indiscriminately, warning everyone to get the hell out of her way. She'd spent hours and hours modding her gauntlet blasters, and now not even the Citadel Blast-Resistant Substance™ could withstand it. She descended into the complex, searching for the containment tubes.

And she found it.

Bella, held in a transparent tube, straps around her torso. Her head was lolled forward. The hum of electronics and the beep of a heart monitor filled the room.

Kira slammed the control panel, keying in the combo to release her.

Bella slumped out of the cell, and Kira caught her in her arms. "Birdie," she said, heart racing. "Hey, it's me, talk to me."

Bella sniffled. "Kira?" She looked up at her. She had a bloody nose that had since dried, the blood showing on her teeth as she grinned at her. Kira took a shallow breath in.

"Well hey there, hero," Bella said, eyes sparkling despite her injuries.

Kira's eyes welled up. "Shut the hell up, you're not funny," she said. "We gotta get out of here. Can you do that?"

"Mmphf. Gimme a second." Her head lolled forward again, and she gripped onto Kira's biceps. Purple sparks began swirling around them, and Kira felt the familiar sensation of teleporting, the mild nausea and rubberband snap.

But they were only about a yard away from the tube. Bella sniffled again. "'M sorry," she said.

"Hey, it's okay, that's fine," Kira said, adjusting Bella so she had one arm around her waist, letting her lean her weight on her.

"We'll fight our way out," she said, her arm blaster whining as it charged up and flashed.

#this is the longest single thing i've written. wtf #it's not. super great? but idk i had a lot of feelings about these two and needed to put them somewhere so. *hands you this*#also artfight friends if you drew literally any scene from this i will owe you my firstborn #my FIRSTBORN OK i am so serious #also im not usually a writer so if there's anything glaringly obvious that could be better lmk #writing #birdsong #kira #bella

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casperki · 4 years

Text

Trust Me • Chapter 2

Summary: I led a quiet little life, surrounded by wonderful people. My daily life consisted of taking care of others. I was happy to lead a simple life, until I became the prisoner of the most powerful man in the kingdom.

Theme: Fluff, Romance, Angst, Policy, Power, Adventure, Middle Age, Soldiers

Pairing: Warrior! Min Yoongi x Caregiver! Original Character

Word count: 1,3k

Warning: language, violence, aggressivity

Disclaimer: Storyline, events and characters are fictitious, I only borrow BTS’ members name and physical appearance. Some events may be inspired by historical ones, but they aren’t accurate. Please keep in mind English isn’t my first language, I still lack vocabulary, I do some mistakes and my sentences may not be as pretty as natives’ speaker ones. Don’t hesitate to correct me and give me some advice, I would be more than happy to improve!

<< Previous chapter

___

He kept me in his arms for few minutes, until I calmed down. My head resting on his torso, I could feel the soft fabric of his tunic against my cheek and appreciate his fragrance. Then he asked me if I was able to walk. Thinking about how miserable I looked like, I gathered what little dignity I had left to stand up and walk by myself.

His hand around my waist to help me to walk, we climbed the stairs and entered a huge room. Everything was so bright it dazzled me.

“Mina! SooJin!�� In an instant, two young girls appeared and bowed at us. “Take care of her. Give her a bath, comb her hair and find a pretty dress for her.”

The girl with braided hair took the place of the General and the smaller girl came on my right side to take my arm and help me to walk. As soon as he was certain I was in good hands, the General left the room.

Mina and SooJin led me to a bathroom. A huge metal bathtub enthroned in the center of the room, candles made a cozy and reassuring atmosphere. Another lady, a bit older than SooJin and Mina, was already busy filling up the bathtub with hot water. The feeling of my dress being untied stopped me analyzing the room and made me step back, looking horrified at the two girls.

“I’m sorry Miss, I didn’t want to scare you.” The smaller girl bowed at me.

I kept my arms close to my chest to protect myself. The lady came slowly in front of me and bowed.

“Miss don’t be afraid. You are safe here.” These women spoke so formally to me it made me confused. “Let me introduce myself, I’m HyeRin.” Then she showed off the girl with braided hair. “Here is SooJin.” And the smaller one “and here is Mina. We are the General’s servants, and yours as well.”

Her tone was so calm and reassuring I let SooJin to delicately untie my corset and Mina to remove the remains of my thorn petticoat. Their gestures were slow, making me feel like being in porcelain. Mina cut the tie that was supposed to keep my hair up.

Once undressed, the girls took my hands to help me to get into the bathtub. The water was hot, at the perfect temperature. I curled up to feel the water on my shoulders and closed my eyes for a while. It felt good and comforting, like a nice gentle and warm hug.

“Miss, I’ll start by soaping your back.” I reopened my eyes at Mina’s voice and lift my back.

They were so polite and formal with me, calling me Miss, even though we were probably the same age. The sight of my arms caught my attention. Except the mud, they were covered by bruises, blue, green, and red spots. Then my wrist, bruised and lacerated. I looked pitiful. Examining my hands, I saw more wounds, earth, and sand under my broken nails. I did not even want to imagine what my face should look like. While SooJin was washing my legs and Mina my arms, I let my mind wander. I tried to remember what and how it happened, how I ended up here.

That face, this long bright blond hair, this dark gaze, I have already met that General before. “No Sir, he won’t go anywhere, he still needs care to recover properly!” I remembered saying this, but I cannot tell in which circumstances. I forced my brain to remember my name and where I was from, in vain. “Here is the prisoner you asked for.” That was what the leader said, the man who ordered to lock me in a cage. The General asked for me then. He was the one who claimed me. He was responsible for my horrible trip through the country, and now he asked his servants to take care of me. I was looking for the meaning of it all.

“Miss, which fragrance do you prefer?”

HyeRin’s question brought me back to the present time. I was standing up, in front of a mirror, wrapped in a towel, HyeRin on my right holding two perfume bottles, while Mina and SooJin were arranging a dress. I looked at the pitiful girl facing the mirror: me. Palpating the face that was supposed to be mine, hollow cheeks, a purple bruise on the chin, a red mark on the left cheekbone, dried lips. I was unrecognisable. I held back my tears.

“I think the floral one will suit you the most.” Said HyeRin with a kind smile.

Once the chiffon dress put on, my hair combed, the floral perfume sprayed on me and my wrists bandaged, SooJin led me to another room, a dining room. The table was set with delicious dishes. SooJin invited me to take a seat before wishing me a good appetite. I stared at the food in front of me. Japchae, kimchi, kimbap, vegetables, even kimchi-jigae and fruits woke up my hunger. The sight and the smell of those delicious dishes remembered me how empty my stomach was. However, I did not move a bit. It was suspicious. What was the aim of this? From taking me across the country in inhuman conditions to giving me a bath, a beautiful dress, a decent appearance and now a sumptuous meal. The General wasn’t known to be a gentle and attentive man but more as an amazing ruthless warrior and fine strategist. What was his strategy then? What did he plan to do with me?

“So, someone told me you were not eating.” I haven’t heard him entering. “I won’t believe you if you tell me you’re not hungry.”

I didn’t look at him, staring at the food and sparkling tableware.

“SooJin! Haven't you found anything better?”

I lifted my eyes to see the General standing before me, pointing at me with his hand holding a glass full of an unknown liquid, probably alcohol. Apparently, I was not to his liking.

“My General, I’m sorry, it was the only dress left.” SooJin answered and bowed.

“Alright, I see, thank you SooJin.” Then she left the room.

“Usually I am the one who fears being poisoned.” The General explained while taking a seat in front of me. “See.” He took chopsticks to show me. “Silver.” He took a radish from a plate to put it in his mouth. “Silver reacts when it comes in contact with a poison.”

I didn’t answer nor move a bit, staring at the kimchi-jigae bowl. The smell through my nostrils made my stomach gurgling. The General chuckled a bit to that sound.

“Moreover, I wouldn’t use poison to kill you. I’m not a coward, I have my honour, I look at the death in the eyes of my opponent.” He calmly said with a smirk.

His last words froze my blood, here I recognised the merciless warrior described by gossips. He also had in his mind the idea to kill me then, I was right.

“You were way more talkative and virulent last time we met!”

To these words I looked at him into his eyes. So, it was not an impression, I have already met him before.

“Wow, what is that furious gaze for?” He laughed and took another sip from his glass.

I have not said a word since I arrived here. What could I tell him? Thank him for his hospitality and curse him for making me go through hell?

“Perhaps, you don’t remember me, don’t you?” He looked at me with a serious face, raising an eyebrow. Everything I knew about him were from the gossips and stories about his battles. This man was already a legend. Half admired; half feared. However, I could not judge by myself yet nor remember what impression he left on me last time we met.

“Alright…” He finished his drink and got up. “Try to eat something and to get some rest, at least. SooJin will show you your bedroom.” He spoke calmly, pausing between his sentences. He took few steps away before stopping and turning back at me. “Also, there is a guard at your door, so you are safe here. Good night damsel.” He tilted his head slightly before leaving.

***

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zen-unknown · 4 years

Text

Creatorverse: Zen’s Backstory

Angsty backstory? Check

Way longer than it probably has to be? Check

Minimal dialog from other people cause I’m afraid of misrepresenting their characters? Check

Alright! this is Zen’s official backstory for @creatorverse! Please enjoy and leave feedback if you have any!

(also a small warning: this contains angst, which specifically includes negative self talk on Zen’s part and some violent fight scenes. if you are not comfortable with this or think it might trigger you, feel free not to read this! Take care of yourselves! <3)

________________________________________________________________

Zen wasn’t really one to put herself out there. It took so long for her to even find any civilization, and by the time she got to one, it didn’t really appeal to her. She had all the materials she needed with her bamboo, so it’s not like she needed to go somewhere to get some. Besides, she didn’t feel like she could fit into any of the communities she found. Everyone already knew each other and had such amazing creations. Throwing in her own thing seemed pointless.

And so she wandered. She went from city to city, and country to country. She’d make a place for herself on the outskirts of wherever she found herself and just…. Watched. She created when inspiration struck her and kept it all to herself. Sure, she always felt a lingering urge to share her creations. To possibly get feedback or just put it out there for the sake of sharing. But she couldn’t bring herself to do it. And so she watched as creators came and went, picking up inspiration wherever she could.

The only thing that really disrupted her routine were the blockheads. They seemed to come whenever she used the CREATE button, and would come after and attack her. Without other creators to help her, she learned how to defend herself on her own. She took what she had learned from other creators and constructed weapons.

The blockheads seemed to be color coded depending on their abilities, which was typically some form of an element. To counter this, she made weapons with their own elemental abilities. If she came across a red blockhead, she’s fight it using a water based weapon. If she encountered a green blockhead, she’d equip a fire based weapon. It went on like this until she had created a small arsenal of elemental based weapons.

As she grew stronger and more experienced on her own, she eventually decided to settle down on the outskirts of Tumlier, where she could easily find inspiration in the cultures and creations of the residents there. She spent some time wandering around the outside of the city, growing as much bamboo as she could and creating a small bamboo forest. She built her home in the center, far away from the chaos of the city. It also gave her an advantage if a blockhead decided to show up.

___Timeskip___

It started out as a normal walk. Zen was lacking motivation and ideas so she figured some time to clear her head would do her good. What she wasn’t expecting was to find someone, or rather, something else in her private bamboo forest. It was in shades of pink and human shaped. At first she thought it might be a creator who somehow wandered into her home. After all, blockheads don’t have any real defining features aside from having her silhouette. She could make out clothes and hair on whatever this was. However, doubt entered her mind upon spotting the familiar rocks balanced evenly on the figure’s head.

She hesitated, but then approached silently. She let herself float just above the ground to avoid making any noise as she made her way through the bamboo and towards the figure. It was standing in a clearing with it’s back to her, seeming to be simply examining a large bamboo pole in front of it. Zen thought over her options, but wasn’t given the chance to act when the person suddenly spoke up.

“You’ve been quite busy, haven’t you?”, the pink figure spokes casually, making Zen tense up. She was sure she hadn’t made any noise while approaching. The figure seemed amused by Zen’s lack of response and chuckled. It turned around to face her, and she froze. This… whatever it was. It resembled her. Not like the others. No, this one had more than just her silhouette. This one had facial features. It had texture and life.

“... you’re another one, aren’t you? A blockhead?”, Zen spoke in as steady a tone as she could manage, but she still faltered slightly. All the other blockheads she had encountered were fairly simple in nature. They came, attacked, and were even color coded. She’s fought and killed a handful of a few types. Red, brown, green, blue. She’s even succeeded with a purple and black! But pink? What could pink mean? And why was it so… alive?

(keep reading if you’re prepared for the angst!~)

“Oh? So you know what we are then? I suppose that makes sense, considering how much trash you consistently produce. But a wonder, do you really know what I am?”, the Pink Zen tilted her head with an eerie smile. Zen’s breath hitched at her counterpart’s choice of words, but didn’t acknowledge it. This is how blockheads always are. She can handle it.

“You are nothing but another obstacle to overcome. Now leave. Or I’ll destroy you just like the rest of your kind.”, Zen glared as bamboo began sprouting around her and she gripped the closest stalk. Without missing a beat, she ripped it out of the ground and pointed the sharp head at the ever smiling blockhead threateningly. Her pink counterpart stared at the end of the bamboo and simply chuckled. She put a hand on her cheek and looked at Zen with half lidded eyes.

“That’s cute. Too bad your little stick won’t be able to do much about me.”, the pink blockhead smirked as Zen gritted her teeth. She moved the rocks on her head to hover around her protectively and glared.

“That’s enough!”, a jet of high pressure water shot out of the bamboo towards the pink entity, while Zen simultaneously shot her arm up, prompting several sharp bamboo shoots to spring from the ground behind and under it. Water collided with bamboo, causing cracks to form in the surface, but not touching the blockhead. Zen raised her guard and grabbed another bamboo pole. Her eyes shot back and forth, looking for the threat frantically. She didn’t know what abilities a pink blockhead might have, and she was getting a very bad feeling about it.

“Quit hiding you coward!”, Zen shouted as she spun around. A familiar chuckle sounded through her bamboo forest as she gripped her bamboo tighter. She wanted to avoid using the CREATE button for this fight if she could, since there was a possibility of it spawning another blockhead.

“Am I the coward though? I think we both know that’s not true~”, the sickeningly sweet voice rang in Zen’s ears as a shiver shot down her spine. She spun and shot a jet of water in the direction the voice came from, snapping several poles of bamboo in the process, but not the blockhead. Zen glared through the bamboo and held up her chosen weapons.

“I don’t want to hear it! Show yourself if you’re so sure about me!”, Zen taunted, getting more worked up than she would like to admit. This thing’s voice was having an affect on her that made her blood run cold and she wanted it gone.

“Don’t get cocky. You have no idea what I’m capable of after all. Just like everyone else… not that you're capable of much anyway. They aren’t missing much.”, the voice chided in a condescending tone. Zen’s eyes widened slightly, starting to understand what it was getting at. Not wanting to appear weak, she forced her glare to harden as she kept a defensive stance and made her way through the bamboo.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”, she stated in false confidence. Almost immediately, the voice burst into laughter, making Zen freeze at how close the voice sounded. She spun on her heels to attack, but froze as her eyes caught those of the blockhead’s. Her pink counterpart floated upside down, arching over her so that their eyes were level.

“Oh I think you do… all those creations you have locked up and hidden from the world. What’s the point? You'll never get over your fear and share them with others. They’d never like the trash you make. You understand that, yet you still continue. You even fought off my fellow blockheads to defend it all. Why?”, piercing pink eyes bore into Zen’s hazel ones as she went completely still. Her mind screamed at her to move. To attack. But she couldn’t move. She couldn’t look away. She was stuck staring into an ocean of sickly pink, listening to her own voice speak the thoughts she’s been pushing away for so long.

“You… you don’t know me. Y-You don’t…”, Zen’s mind unraveled bit by bit as her pink counterpart seemed to glow even brighter. A pink haze entered the edges of Zen’s vision as her grip on the bamboo began to loosen. Pink Zen grinned wider.

“Oh, but I do know you. In fact, I think I know you better than you know yourself. Wouldn’t you agree?”, her eyes flashed pink and Zen could only nod her head slightly. Her eyes were burning and her ears were ringing. Her body relaxed slowly as more and more pink entered her vision, tinting everything she saw with the color. Pink Zen twisted her body so that she was floating on her stomach with her arms crossed under her head.

“That’s right. I do know you better. You don't like creating. You don’t like what you create. That’s why you never share it! Littering is a crime after all. You can’t just dump trash anywhere you want and expect people to praise you~”, Pink Zen hummed. Zen nodded again as her words echoed around her head. It’s trash. All of it. She can’t possibly show anyone. She didn’t enjoy creating. She just did it out of boredom. She hated her creations. They could never compare to try creations. She made trash. Just a mess.

“Hmmm~ I have an idea! All those blockheads you fought off may be gone, but the trash they were connected to isn’t! That doesn’t seem right, now does it? Now, what do you do with trash you don’t like?”, Pink Zen asked in a sing-song tone. Zen’s mouth opened slightly.

“Throw… it out…”, she mumbled in a monotone voice. Pink Zen sighed and scoffed.

“That’s not enough. What if someone sees it in the trash? You can’t risk it! So, what should you do to make sure it’s never seen again?”, she pushed, squinting at Zen expectantly. Without skipping a beat, she responded.

“Destroy it.”, she stated in a harsher tone. The hatred and disgust for the trash she had produced, fueled by Pink Zen’s influence, solidified her decision. It all had to go. All of it. None of it could stay. It didn’t deserve to exist. Pink Zen hummed in satisfaction and nodded.

“That’s right! Now, let’s get to work. You’ve got a lot of garbage to hehe- sort through.”, Pink Zen clapped excitedly and nudged Zen back towards her home in the forest. Zen made no effort to fight back and let her pink counterpart guide the way.

___Timeskip___

Pink Zen was right. There was a lot to go through. Creation after creation was smash, torn, burnt, and in the end, deleted. It took almost a whole day to go through everything. And as the day dragged on, the pink in Zen’s vision began to waver. Her thoughts and emotions clashed as her actions began to falter. Regret, dread, doubt, fear, and anger pulled at her soul from all directions.

And then it ended. Everything was gone. The destroyed pieces never to be seen again, thanks to the DELETE button. As she gazed upon the vast emptiness that was once her beloved creations, Zen spotted something on the ground. She approached it, somewhat trembling from the strain of Pink Zen’s grasp on her mind, and stood over it.

“What is it? Oh, that old thing... Leave it. Let it be a reminder of the trash you create. Now let’s go. I have something for you to do.”, Pink Zen picked up the old stuffed figure of a red panda by a leg.

That’s right. That was her first creation, wasn’t it? She had first woken up in a natural bamboo forest, surrounded by a few red pandas who were sleeping on her. It was her first inspiration. She wanted to remember them, so she made the stuffed animal with whatever she could find. It was so old and worn that most of the fur had been rubbed off, and it wasn’t quite as soft as in the beginning… trash. It’s trash. Trash she needs to destroy. Zen took a few steps forward and reached out for her first creation, but Pink Zen yanked it away.

“Hey! I said no, you hear me? Don’t you dare disobey me!”, Pink Zen shouted angrily, holding the stuffed animal almost protectively out of Zen’s grasp. In response, Zen lunged at her without hesitation. Having been caught off guard, Pink Zen’s hold on her faltered and finally fell away.

Zen’s vision cleared of the pink haze and she blinked. It only took a second before everything came crashing down. Her pupils dilated and tears stung her eyes. Bamboo immediately shot up around them, with Zen pinning Pink Zen to the ground. She grit her teeth and eyed the red panda stuffed animal that was still in Pink Zen’s grasp. She was protecting it, and Zen now knew why.

She shot her hand out and tore the small animal from her pink counterparts grasp. Pink Zen practically rawred in anger and tug back. The two pulled as hard as they could, until a rip was heard. Zen was sent flying back and hit the bamboo behind her. In her hand was the stuffed red panda, but it was missing an arm.

She look up frantically, and stiffened at the sight of Pink Zen gripping a pink bloodied stump where her arm once was. She growled in pain and shot her head up, glaring daggers at Zen. she could already feel her head spinning as Pink Zen’s eyes flared up and she staggered to her feet.

“GIVE THAT TO ME NOW!”, she demanded with venom in her tone. Zen, now having better understanding of how she worked, immediately looked away from her eyes and sprinted away into the forest. A loud, ear piercing screech was heard behind her as she clutched her first creation against her chest. She knew what she had to do. She couldn’t beat this monster in battle, but she could destroy her source. It was the only option she had.

Zen made her way into a clearing and stumbled to a stop. She gasped and trembled as she heard that thing approaching quickly. Tears stung her eyes as she tore a pole of bamboo from the ground and threw the stuffed animal to her feet. She couldn’t wait for the energy for the DELETE button to return. She needed to do this now. Positioning the sharpened bamboo over the chest area and looked up for Pink Zen.

Right on cue, the pink entity came crashing through the bamboo, trailing pink blood all the way. They made eye contact for a moment before Zen pierced the stuffed animal’s chest. Almost simultaneously, a huge hole ripped through Pink Zen’s chest. She screeched in pain, but it soon turned to coughing, then sputtering. She fell forward and landed with a hard thud. Pink blood splatter upward, staining Zen’s face and clothing. Her hands trembled violently as she fell to her knees and choked up.

She felt something wrap around her wrist and looked up in fear. Pink Zen was smiling menacingly up at her as blood smeared on her wrist from her hand.

“Y-you… w-will NEVER be free o-of us. Never… F-forget this…”, her eyes rolled back into her head and her grip on Zen’s wrist slackened. But she smiled regardless. Zen stared down at her, tears streaming down her face as she trembled. She pulled her wrist from the limp, cold grasp and stood up, not bothering to wipe away the blood or tears.

Turning back, she looked down at the now destroyed stuffed red panda. Her first creation. She destroyed her first creation with her own hands. Just like the rest of her creations. She destroyed them all. Everything she had done. Everything she had worked so hard on. All that time and effort and passion, and it was gone. Zen gently picked up the stuffed animal, only for it to practically crumble at her touch. That’s it. Completely destroyed. Oh god, has she done? What does she do now?

“Nonononono….. Please no…”, Zen sobbed quietly as she ran a hand through the destroyed remains of her first creation. She stayed there for hours, letting out the grief she felt until she had no more energy and passed out.

___Timeskip___

“-is that really-”

“-pink-”

“-happened here-”

“-one hell of a fight-”

“She’s waking up!”

Voices and light flooded her senses as Zen stirred slowly. With some effort, she managed to pry her eyes open. When she did, she found two blurry figures standing over her. Immediately panicking, she shot up as bamboo sprouted to life around her, forming a makeshift wall between her and the others. Some shouts were heard as she pushed herself back frantically, her rocks already in the air and ready to shoot at any threats.

“Holy-! Whoa, did you do that without the button? That’s so cool!”, a female voice called out from… above her? Zen looked up and spotted a female with bright golden wings, flying above the bamboo. The blue hoodie and blonde hair told Zen that this was not a blockhead. Wiping her eyes of the residual sleepy blurriness, Zen blinked and looked towards the others.

Aside from the girl with the golden wings, there was another girl with brown hair and black wings, both looking at her in interest. Zen squinted and rubbed her eyes again… no, still there. Cautiously she stood up, using a rod of bamboo for support and eyed the two of them.

“Um… who are you?”, she asked, trying to keep her tone steady. Though that was pretty difficult, having just woken up after… everything that happened. There was a ‘woosh’ sound and the golden winged girl landed on the ground in front of her. Zen had to force herself not to let bamboo sprout in surprise. The girl smiled kindly at Zen and offered a hand.

“I’m Lorel! Back there is Shandy. What’s your name?”, she asked in a friendly tone. Zen glanced down at Lorel’s hand and shook it hesitantly.

“I’m… I’m Zen. What are you doing here?”, she asked rather bluntly, not really meaning too. Lorel smiled while Shandy came around the bamboo to her side.

“We noticed some serious blockhead movement in this area and came to see what was up. And it looks like we were right-”, she pointed her thumb back at the body of the pink blockhead that had caused Zen so much pain. She couldn’t help but stiffen at the sight and look away, gripping her shirt in her hands tightly.

“You beat it, didn’t you? Pink ones are super rare! I’m impressed you were able to win on your own! Oh- uh, no offense! I just meant that-!”, Zen smiled softly at Lorel’s sudden frantic politeness ramble and chuckled softly.

“Don’t worry, i got it… I can’t really say that i- well… won, though…”, Zen trailed off, biting her tongue as the memories resurfaced. She lost everything because of that monster. She couldn’t see this as a win in her eyes.

“Huh? What do you mean? You killed it, didn’t you?”, Shandy asked, gesturing both to the body and to the pink blood that had stained Zen’s skin and clothing. That’s right, she passed out without doing anything about that, didn’t she?

“I… that thing was different from the other blockheads, alright? It got in my head, made me think things I shouldn’t be thinking. I-It made me do things that I-.... It controlled me, but it lost control and I broke free. I couldn’t fight it, so I destroyed the creation it came from.”, Zen tried to summarize it without going into detail. She really didn’t want to relive any of that. Shandy and Lorel exchanged glances and seemed to have a silent agreement.

“Well… seeing as you seem to need a place to stay, and you need to recover after your fight, why don’t you come with us to Creatorverse?”, Lorel offered, moving away from the topic of what happened. Zen paused and raised an eyebrow.

“Creatorverse? What’s that?”, she asked in confusion and slight interest. Shandy and Lorel both seemed to brighten up at these and smiled.

“It's a floating city we made as a sort of rest stop or anyone to take a break from travel and such. And it seriously looks like you could use a break.”, Shandy pointed out semi-jokingly. Zen couldn’t help but let out a low chuckle as she nodded softly in agreement.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right…”, she trailed off and scanned the area. As much as she used to call it home, there was literally nothing left. Just bad memories and grief. Sighing, she nodded firmly and turned back towards Shandy and Lorel.

“Okay. I’ll come with you.”, she said with a bit of confidence. They both smiled and nodded in response. Then they paused and glanced at each other, specifically their wings, and back at Zen.

“The thing is, well, Creatorverse is a floating island… so one of us is gonna have to carry you, if you don’t mind.”, Lorel explained a bit awkwardly. Zen nodded in understanding and gave a lopsided smile.

“Actually, I can take care of that part.”, she said while holding a finger up in a ‘wait’ gesture. She then moved the two largest of her rocks down towards her feet and simply hopped on them. The other two rocks hovered by her arms in case she needed to steady herself, which was highly unlikely but you never know. She moved them up and down in sync a few times before getting the right feel and nodded towards the others.

“Alright. Lead the way.”, she gestured up towards the sky with a patient smile. Shandy simply shrugged and nodded while Lorel seemed to eye the rocks with an impressed expression. And with that, the three took off. Zen looked back with a frown, vowing to herself never to let something like this ever happen again.

________________________________________________________________

AAAAAND DONE! I hope if you made it this far that you enjoyed! This is my first time sharing my writing, so I’d love any feedback I can get!

Shandy belongs to: @shandycandy278

Lorel belongs to: @onlyplatonicirl

Zen belongs to me

#Creatorverse #Creatorverse Writing #Sona backstory #ANGST #Imma just leave this novel here~#creatorverse spoilers

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retroateez · 4 years

Text

Prophecy - Chapter Eleven

Prophecy Masterlist wc;3197

Three days had passed in Wooyoung's company.

And you had to admit, your affections for the Elven mage were growing. Quickly.

The past evenings had consisted mainly of Wooyoung and Yeosang plotting in the tower, while you sat idley by and attempted to help to no avail. It was really beginning to frustrate you now; how the mage would constantly remind you how it was your fault, yet he wouldn't let you help them.

They had both insisted it was 'too dangerous for a young girl to get involved in', as if anything about your lifestyle was remotely safe.

You had argued with Yeosang on the second evening, demanding that they let you get involved, that you might be able to provide something useful. But they had once again dismissed you, telling you that even if they did tell you, you wouldn't understand it anyway.

So you spent your evenings outside, plucking flowers and knotting them together until the sun disappears and the petals become as dark as Wooyoung's hair.

You sigh and throw yourself back down onto the grass, exhaling heavily in irritation.

All you wanted to do was help, to suggest something that could be important. And the fact they won't let you just because you're a girl was ridiculous. If they blamed it on the fact they were more educated on the stars or whatever, you'd probably understand more. But because you're not a male?

Ludicrous.

You lay there, staring up at the sky and stewing in your emotions until finally, your aggravation finally gets the best of you, and you fly upright, charging up the stairs of the tower and bursting into Wooyoung's room, where you find the mage and the astrologer deep in discussion.

"I want to help." you declare, hands on your hips as you watch Yeosang roll his eyes at you.

"Iris, we told yo-"

"I don't care, Yeosang." you snap, Wooyoung's eyes widening a little in shock. "I'm tired of you pushing me aside! I want to help you. Isn't this my fault in the first place?"

"Well yes bu-"

"Then let me help, for goodness sake!"

Yeosang stands frozen, taken aback by your sudden outburst. Were you really that mad at him?

"Okay, fine. You can help." Wooyoung shrugs.

"Wooy-"

"What? She wants to help, let her help."

Wooyoung motions you over to the table littered with parchments, while Yeosang recovers from being interrupted once again. If the mage had known how adamant you were on assisting them, he would've let you.

He had promised himself, the day he found you half-dead on the beach and decided to take you under his wing, that he would do his best to protect you, even if it killed him. He simply couldn't live with himself if he had yet more blood on his hands. But he knew that you were a force to be reckoned with, determined as you were stubborn. Maybe keeping you in the dark would have worse concequences than letting you help.

Yeosang joins the two of you at the table, opting to stay silent as Wooyoung gathers together the diagrams and papers they had been deciphering for hours.

"Yeosang and I have been studying all relevant constellations from the important dates noted in the prophecy," Wooyoung begins, his serious expression constrasted by the way his amethyst eyes light up with passion whenever he talks about the stars. "And the first mentioned date, many, many moons ago, is the first time the Monster in the prophecy attempts to destroy the kingdom."

"Monster?" you echo. "I thought it was just a man?"

"The writings describe him in many ways; monster, beast, man." Yeosang explains. "There's hardly a difference between them."

"Constellation wise," the elf continues. "the single most prevalent form is that of Ara. You are familiar, yes?"

Wooyoung takes your wide-eyed silence in the negative.

"Ara is a constellation named after the altar where the gods formed an alliance before entering war with the Titans."

"Okay.." you trail off, not quite sure how that relates to any of your situation. "And what does that mean for us?"

Wooyoung bites his lip, glancing towards Yeosang before settling his gaze back on you.

"It could possibly indicate a war between Ateez and another kingdom. For what reason, I'm yet to discover."

"A war!?" you shriek, and both Yeosang and Wooyoung place a hand on each of your shoulders to calm you down.

"It's not certain!" Wooyoung tries to reassure you, but he falls on deaf ears.

"I can't fight in a war!" you cry. "I don't know any combat, I don't know any magic! I'm going to die!"

Yeosang grabs you tightly at arms length, leaning down a little to match your line of sight.

"You won't die in a war, Iris!" Yeosang explodes, ignoring the concern on the elven man's face. "We won't let you, I won't let you. Understand?"

You nod, Yeosang's direct (and slightly harshly toned) claim settling your nerves for the time being. Perhaps it's time to pester him again about teaching you some magic.

Yeosang redirects your attention back to the astrologer, who is holding a new set of pictures and messy scrawlings.

"The second constellation I noted was that of Cetus, which was present on a different occasion where the monsterous being turned up to wreak havoc on Ateez. Cetus was also present recently, specifically on the date where you washed up on Yeosang's beach after a nasty storm."

"And what does Cetus have to do with the storm?" you ask.

"In mythology, Cetus was some kind of sea monster," Wooyoung explains, and you have to hide your awe at how much knowledge one person could have. "Typically described as a serpent, whale, shark, what-have-you, Cetus was sent by Poseidon to punish Queen Cassiopeia and her daughter Andromeda for boasting that they were far more beautiful than the Nereids, or sea nymphs."

"So, we think there's a high chance that a sea monster of our own was released during the storm we had not so long ago." Yeosang informs you, you heart sinking as the danger only rises.

"A war and a sea monster?" your voice increases in pitch, your panic once again growing rapidly.

"The monster is probably dead," Wooyoung reasons. "The storm threw you about as it was, it's a miracle you survived, to be honest."

Not wanting to dwell on the fact the astrologer just told you that you shouldn't be alive, you ask him if there's any other constellations of any significance.

"On the same day as the storm, not far from Cetus, I just managed to make out the faintest Libra, just to the north of it. As a result, I took a look at when Libra is next supposed to shine the brightest, and it's predicted to be relatively soon. Within the next month or so."

"That's great," you reply sarcastically. "But what does Libra mean? We aren't all star experts, you know."

Wooyoung blushes deeply, crimson burning his ears as he smiles sheepishly at you.

"Libra represents the scales held by Dike (dai-ki), the goddess of justice and moral order. It could indicate some injustice that will occur between then and now, or something similar. Of course, none of this is absolutely guranteed," Wooyoung reminds you. "I simply read the stars, take their meaning and theorise about what they may mean to us."

"Well, your theories seem pretty realistic to me." you mutter mockingly. "I'm not buying any of this nonsense."

"I haven't been wrong about a single hypothesis yet." Wooyoung's tone turns cold, and his gaze on you narrows. He understands that this might be overwhelming, but it doesn't give you the right to insult his life's work. He devotes every waking moment to this, and he will not let some girl diminish everything he's built up. And sure, he's beginning to warm up to you, finding the way you gently pluck the flowers in his garden and fashion jewellery out of them rather endearing. He'd never admit that to you, or to himself, but slandering the only constant in his life? He won't allow it.

"Besides," he adds on. "You insisted on getting involved, so show some respect, or get out of my house." Wooyoung snarls, violet eyes radiating venomously as he glowers angrily at you.

You shift your stare down to the ground, guilt and embarrasment washing over you like a harsh ocean wave.

"I'm sorry." you squeak, not daring to look up into his piercing, purple eyes.

"I also decided to check the constellations from the night you both arrived." Wooyoung says tightly, dismissing your brief argument and continuing on as smoothly as he good. "The only one that stood out to me was Ursa Major, although I am still unsure of what it means, if anything at all."

"What's Ursa Major?" you question.

"The Big Bear," the astrologer answers immediately. "I doubt either of you are secretly bears, so I'm assuming it has zero relevance."

"I heard a bear at the inn we stayed at the night before we arrived here." You blurt out hurridly, not catching the way Yeosang's eyes roll back into this skull. "Then I dreamt that the bear was attacked... I was worried he died."

"And I told you it was exactly that," Yeosang interrupts you with a huff. "A dream."

Wooyoung glances between the two of you, pouting and scratching the pointed tip of his ear in thought.

"Have you ever considered visiting an oneiromancer?" Wooyoung asks seriously, breaking the silence and causing Yeosang to scoff.

"Oneiromancy is a myth," the mage scowls. "Just a bunch of made-up bullshit in an attempt to earn some coin."

"Is anybody going to explain to me what ironmancy is?" you speak up, crossing your arms in annoyance; why do they always have to talk about subjects you don't understand?

"Oneiromancy (on-eye-ro-man-see)," Wooyoung corrects your pronounciation, stifling a small smile. "Is a form of divination using dreams to predict the future. The divination I do uses the stars, Oneiromancers interpret your dreams."

"So, my dream might actually come true?" you gasp, your eyes flying wide open.

"No." Yeosang growls.

"What's your beef with dream interpreters?" The elf teases the mage, who is leering at him with irritance.

"Nothing." Yeosang replies sternly. "I just think it's a bunch of bullshit."

"One could say the same about your strange plant addiction."

"It's not an addiction! I require an extremely extensive knowledge in order to carry on my work!"

"That sounds like something somebody with an addiction to plants would say."

"Listen here, elf-"

"Uh, guys? I hate to break up your lover's quarrel but... who are they?" you put their arguing to an abrupt halt, collecting their attention to where you're standing before the giant window in Wooyoung's tower.

There's a faint glow, just over the hills behind the astrologer's home. It burns a radiant orange, and all three of you know that it's definitely not the sunset.

"Shit." Wooyoung curses aloud. "They found me."

"Who are they?"

"Bad people, Iris." Yeosang grabs you and yanks you away from the window, motioning to the paper strewn throughout the room. "Pick up what you can, we'll need almost all of it."

The next few minutes are spent frantically stuffing loose parchments into pockets, bags, anything the three of you can find that you can carry. You grab handfuls of diagrams and shove them into the pockets of your trousers, even rolling a few up and tucking them into the soles of your boots.

By the time you've gathered as much of the work you can, you quickly glance out the window to scope out where the bad people are. Every single one of your organs drops to the floor, as you notice the gang of torch-wielders are marching up Wooyoung's front garden, trampling and burning the flowers and ferns you played in just hours before.

"We need to leave. Now."

You quickly scan the room, eyes darting left and right to try and spot something you might've missed. You see it abandoned on Wooyoung's bed, and you dart out rapidly to retrieve it. Clutching it against your chest, you hear the thunderous stamping of the mob charging up the stairs, mirroring the pounding of your heart against your ribcage.

Yeosang bundles you and Wooyoung in his arms, gripping you both tightly as he breathes in deeply. Your nose is pressed against the elf's chest, and in any other situation you would be blushing furiously. But right now, you're terrified for your life. For Yeosang's life, for Wooyoung's life. And in any other situation you would've slapped the elf for the way his arm winds around your waist to shuffle you into their man-made cage. But ironically, you feel safer than you've ever felt in your entire life.

"Close your eyes," Yeosang mumbles. "It's gonna be a harsh landing."

You and Wooyoung screw your eyes shut tightly, and you bunch his shirt up in your hands so there's zero chance of you getting separated.

There's no human words you can summon to describe how it feels to teleport. Both feeling as light a feather, but also feeling like iron weights have been fused to your ankles. You're both present and absent at the same time. Simultaneously existing, yet one inch, one misstep away from disappearing forever. It both passes in a second, and drags on for eternity. Your mere consciousness physically cannot comprehend such an experience.

What you can describe however, is the instant pain that shoots through your body upon impact. Yeosang's teleportation hurling you onto the ground, your arm trapped behind you, bent at an awkward angle, while both you and your poor arm are crushed by Wooyoung's entire frame landing on top of you.

,You could describe it very well, given the chance, but you think a simple 'owch.' will suffice.

"Wooyoung," you grunt and attempt to push him off you using your free hand. "Get off me."

He apologises quickly, rolling onto the grass and standing up. He offers a hand out to you which you accept, brushing the dirt off your clothes. Looking around you, you realise you're in a very familiar garden.

"Hey, Yeosang! We're hom-"

The smell of burning smoke and the sound of crackling flames hits you all in one go, and you're scared to turn around.

"Oh my god..." You hear Wooyoung whisper behind you, and the dread weighs down on you like a tonne of bricks.

Slowly, you turn around and the sight before you twists your stomach into knots.

Yeosang's home- your home- is entirely consumed by raging fire. The blaze has crept up the trunk of the tree, destroying the heart of the house directly. The flames lick at the walls and have already destroyed the majority of the roof. You can see into Yeosang's study, the aqua flourescent room now glowing a fiery orange, plunging the once ocean-like room into the deepest depths of hell.

Yeosang himself is stood in front of you, just off to the side, and looking at his eyes you can see the inferno reflecting in his tears. You've never seen anyone so broken.

"Yeosang, I'm so sorry-" Wooyoung begins to apologise, but the mage cuts him off before he can finish.

"It wasn't them," he cries, voice hoarse and cracking with despair and rage. "It- It wasn't the same people after you."

"Then who was it?" you wonder quietly.

But neither Wooyoung or Yeosang get to answer your question, as the culprits make themselves known. Barreling through the woods surrounding the house, swords drawn, grinning evilly at you. They form a circle around you, forcing the three of your backs to collide as you're stood defenseless.

"Well, well, well." One of them sneers. "Look what the cat dragged in." He slowly walks around you, smirking smugly at the way he's trapped you all. He's got dark, black hair, almost as long as Wooyoung's but styled much more neatly. Parted in the middle and flowing down into soft waves. You'd compare him visually to an angel, but underneath his innocent exterior lies something much, much more sinister.

"What are you doing here, J-"

"Don't even think about speaking my name, mage." The man seethes. "Besides, it's Commander to you."

"Alright, Commander," Yeosang finds the energy within him to mock the stranger, and you can't help but giggle. "Why are you here?"

"You see, it has been brought to my attention that there was magic present in these neck of the woods," The stranger's grin widens wickedly, eyeing the way Yeosang's jaw tightens with fury. "And I'm sure you agree, that simply will not do."

"So your solution was to burn a man's house down?!" Wooyoung bursts angrily, flinching a little when the man's gaze burns into his own.

"Oh? What's this?" He approaches Wooyoung in a fascinated trance, tilting his head slightly as he examines the elven features. He places the tip of his sword against Wooyoung's jaw, exerting just enough pressure to force his head to the side and exposing pointed ears that were raging red in humiliation. "An elf?" His voice raises an octace from excitement, something that chills you to the bone.

"I can do so much worse than burn a man's house down." The stranger's previous, eerily calm demeanour is gone, as he dangerously leans in to Wooyoung's face, teeth gritted and black eyes pulsing with hatred. "Believe me."

You're trembling with fear, the panic running through you that this could be the end of the road for you. This unknown villian turning up out of the blue with his gang of stupid merry men might kill you right this very second and snap shut the book containing the story that is your life. This could be your destined demise.

Yeosang though, has other plans.

In your frightened inner rambling, you don't notice his hand tighten around yours from behind your back. And from your position you certainly don't notice the way brilliant white bolts flash around his pupils, or the yellow sparks that shoot through his arms and neck like lightning during a storm.

"I've had enough of indulging your questions." The stranger sniffs, backing away from Wooyoung with a final, repulsed leer.

"Boys," he meanders back over to where he climbed out of the thicket, holstering his sword at the hip and looking dead into your eyes with a bored expression. "Kill them."

The band of men (you guess there's around eleven of them, but with the anxiety settling in, you could be seeing double) close in on the three of you, like a pack of ravenous wolves stealthily hunting down a tiny, vulnerable rabbit.

You feel the wind rush past your face, the down-swing of a sharp sword being aimed at your face, but it doesn't make contact with you.

Instead, you're momentarily weightless, floating through the stars, the planets and the worlds between you and the furthest reaches of the galaxy.

In the same breath, you make contact with a hard, wooden floor, groaning in pain as the three of you land in a painful, crumpled heap. Nursing your head, you survey the room, jumping out of your skin when a shriek pierces your ears.

"How many times do I have to tell you people to knock?!"

Chapter Twelve

hello,, i just wanted to note that even though i did research for this, i’m nowhere near an expert so, if you happen to work at nasa or something and everything i’ve said is incorrect, no it isn’t <3

#ateez au #ateez #medieval!ateez #hongjoong #seonghwa #mingi #san #yeosang #wooyoung #jongho #yunho #retroateez

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anxiety-ridden-teen · 4 years

Text

THE SWEET SERPENT

Y/n = your name

F/d/f = favourite diner food

F/f/m = favourtie flavour milkshake

H/c = hair colour

Y/n Pov

I walked into the student lounge and sat down on the small couch in the corner pulling out my book 'The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde' I usually sit by myself, I'm kind of like Jughead Jones except I don't have any friends, sad I know but that also means not having to deal with other drama that I already deal with.

I see other people from different clicks join into the student lounge also, the clicks consisted of the jocks, the Southsiders, Cheryl click and Jugheads click Ever since the joining of the Southsiders to Northside High, there have been more fights mostly between some serpents and bulldogs.

I myself don't really care about the whole northside and southside different if I'm being honest I thought the serpents where pretty cool all like a little family taking care of each other.

I take a look at the clock, 1:23 pm, it reads

Its lunch right now, I look around the lounge and my eyes land on a certain tall serpent with a tattoo on his neck and dark eyes, he is looking at me too as I examine him then our eyes meet I quickly tear my eyes away from him and guide them back to my book.

I take a quick glimpse up to the serpent and see him smirking at me, I can feel my blood rush to my cheeks I look back down to my book, then I see a pair of blue sneakers in front of me I lift my head up to see a grinning Reggie his toothy grin scaring me slightly ( Idk what colour his sneakers are so I guessed), he has his bulldog varsity jacket on.

"Hey there Y/n, so I was wondering if you wanna go out sometime?" he looked like he was trying to hide something.

"Really?, umm sure yea" I reply quietly surprised by his offer, he looks me dead in my eyes and lets a chuckle then his chuckle gets louder and he tried to catch his breath, catching the attention of the other is the student lounge "As if weirdo, dear god I didn't think you'd agree so quickly" he continues laughing as my cheeks burn and my eyes water.

'I cannot believe I fell for that's so embarrassing'

I put my book in my bag remembering the page and get out of my seat trying to get past Reggie who is still laughing hysterically at my reaction, I cannot get passed him so I just keep my head down and rub my eye, 'i must seem like such an idiot'

I see a pair of combat boots beside my purple and blue sneakers, I look at the combat boots confused, then I hear a deep voice speak "really? that was a dick move and you mangey bulldogs think we're bad"

I look up to see the tall serpent from earlier glaring at Reggie, he takes a glance at me and a flash of something appears in his eyes till he turns his gaze back to Reggie, what was that in his eyes mabey concern.

"Oh shut it Sweet pea this doesn't have anything thing to do with you" Reggie replies giving a menacing look to sweet pea, that's a weird name, "Ok bulldog wanna go," Sweetpea says as he glares at Reggie crossing his arms over his chest.

"Oh come on are you seriously gonna try and fight me cause I embarrassed some stupid bookworm, oh wait you don't like her do you" He looks at sweet pea questioning while trying to hold in a snigger.

Sp's eyes get filled with resentment and he looks like a bull about to break out of his cage, everyone in the student lounge looking at the confrontation going on between the two boys, I see sweet peas arm raise up in a position to punch Reggie, I panic so I grab his arm.

"What are you doing?" Sweet pea asks me as he shrugs my hand off his arm, ' what am I doing?' I question myself.

I look down at my feet and shake my head, I clutch my bag that is at my feet and simply walk out the student lounge.

I hear the sound of someone walking behind me, I only assume it to be one of the teachers making there way to the teacher's lounge so I dismiss it. That is till someone sets their hand on my shoulder, I halt in my tracks as the person who owns the hand turns my attention towards them.

I see that the person who jas stopped me is Sweet pea, "hey are you okay y/n?", I give him a surprised look not expecting him to know my name.

I simply shrug at sweet pea not trusting my mouth to form propper words, "Look I'm sorry about Reggie he's an ass most of the time" sweet pea announces to me, I nod to sweet pea silently agreeing with him.

"I'm such an idiot for agreeing though I mean who the hell would even want to go out with me?" I ask rhetorically already knowing the answer to the question, sweet pea gives me a questioning look.

"I would" he replies trying to act nonchalantly but failing as there is a small drop in his voice near to end of the statement and his cheeks go red.

I stand there baffled by his response, "really?" Really aiming the question towards myself more than to Sweet pea. 'Does he seriously like me?' I speculate to myself.

"U-umm yeah, I've actually liked you for a while, I saw you the first day we came to the school you had your head in a book, then veronica walked over to you and you looked as if you had been a kid caught with matches, it was rather cute how you reacted, so would you like to go on a date with me, I promise I'm not trying to trick you like that mangey bulldog" he explained growling a bit when he mentioned what Reggie did.

"I don't know, I hardly know you sweet pea" I clarified nervously shuffling placing my weight from one foot to the other, I scratch my arm gazing at sweet pea.

"Well how about I take you to Pops and you can get to know me then, I mean we don't have to if you don't want to" Sweet pea clarified, I take a minute to speculate about my answer until I look too sweet pea and not my head "yea, I like that idea"

I feel sweet pea take my hand as he makes his way outside of the school I question what he is doing until we are in front of what I can assume is his bike, he hands me a spare helmet he has and gets on his bike as he clicks the latch. (I think that's what its called)

He offers me his hand as an invitation to get on his bike, I give him a quizzing look, "what are we doing?" I ask him, he chuckles "Going to Pops" he replies simply as if we aren't just ditching school, "it's a Friday so don't worry it's not like we ate missing much, come on"

I nod my head taking his answer as a good enough reason to leave school, besides in Fridays its not like the teachers actually care what the students are doing, I get onto his bike trying to get comfortable.

He turns it on and the bike goes forward I quickly wrap my arms around his waist, he chuckles "yea that's the best idea to hold on this baby goes fast" he instructs me. He drives off to pops with me clutching onto him for dear life, considering this is the first time I have ever ridden a motorcycle.

~Time skip to when they arrive at Pops~

Sweet pea Pov

I make my way into the diner y/n following close behind me, we enter and the bell above the door jingles I let y/n walk in front of me as I hold the door open for her, Pop Tate gives a smile our way "Well hey there Sweet pea, y/n" he welcomes us.

"Hey Pop"

"Hello Pop"

Y/n and I reply to the elderly man, he gives us a toothy grin and explains "you can sit wherever I don't mind, there's no one else here"

We both nod to him and y/n sits into the booth closes to us and I move to sit across from her. She slips her bag off of her back and sets it under the table, Pop comes over and gives us two menus to chose what we want to eat from and give us two glasses of water also.

(I just realised you hardly ever see anyone with school bags in the school)

"So do you mind if we play twenty questions, just so we can get to know each other?" Y/n shyly asks me as if she's bracing for me to say no or laugh at her. I nod and hum in reply, we both ask each other questions back and forth, till Pop comes over to collect our orders, Y/n orders f/d/f and f/f/m while I order a cheeseburger with fries and a chocolate milkshake.

We continue to ask questions "So, how come you always have your head buried it a book?" I ask y/n, she looks at me as she thinks of her answer then replies "I don't know, I've always liked reading, maybe ita because you read about this amazing adventures or about someone's problems, or maybe its because you're basically transferred into a different world where anything is possible, its sort of like an escape from the world I suppose"

I nod at her answer, waiting for her to ask her question to me considering it's her turn, "Did it hurt, getting your tattoo?" She asks I nod my head "Yea it hurt but I had my two friends talking to me to keep my mind off it, of course, I pretended like I didn't need them because I acted as if it didn't hurt, but if I'm being honest with you if they weren't there I probably would've cried" y/n looks at me shocked processing the information and then laughs at my answer.

'God her laugh is Adorable' I think to myself, Pop Tate brings out our food we both thank him and then eat, we both continue talking about random stuff y/n telling me about the time she was playing on the swings in the park last week when a kid kicked a ball at her and she fell off, feeling embarrassed after I start laughing, while I tell her about the time me and fangs were playing pool and one of the Que balls somehow bounced and hit fangs in the nuts.

We both finished our food and I paid much to y/n's dismay who wanted us to split 50/50 we both said goodbye to Pop Tate, and I walked back to my bike with y/n beside me "So do you think you know me enough to go on a date with me?" I questioned the shy girl beside me, y/n look up at me and smiles "Yea, I had a really fun time thanks sweet pea, but next time we are paying 50/50!" She states to me, I chuckle at her " whatever you say, Princess"

A pink hue covers her cheeks at my nickname I give her, "if you call me princess can I call you sweets because if I'm being honest sweet pea is a mouth full" she laughs a bit at the end of her statement, I nod my head smiling lightly down and the girl "sure you can Princess"

We both get on my bike, y/n holding onto my waist as I make my way to her house dropping her off, she takes a pen out of her pocket and grabs my handwriting her number on my arm with her name above it and a little smiley face, "text me if you want" she gives me a smile and hands me back my spare helmet, I take off my helmet and place the spare in the compartment under the seat, I turn to y/n and smile "I hope to see you tomorrow" I state to her she nods her head "same here"

I get back on my bike and I'm about to put my helmet on when I feel a pair of soft lips on my cheek, I turn to see y/n with a pink hue on her cheeks once again I smirk, "I think you missed" I say smugly pointing to my lips, she smiles and shakes her head, "I'll aim better tomorrow" she replies and turns making her way into her house

Leaving me their grinning, I start my motorbike after I put on my helmet and I make my way back to my trailer thinking about y/n the whole way back.

--------------0-------------

Ok, hi I hope you liked that, you can make a request if you want for a chapter you can either comment it or message your request to me I hope that I can quickly update on this book before my junior cert starts, I may make some shorter than others, anyways I hope you guys liked this so yea.

#sweetpea x reader #sweetpea imagine #sweetpea fanfiction #sweetpea #riverdale fanfiction #riverdale #fanfic #southside serpents #southside #toni topaz #fangs

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purplesurveys · 4 years

Text

609

What has been the most annoying thing about your day so far? I had a blood test done for my dog last Friday and they still haven’t updated me about the availability of the results. They really shouldn’t have said “Wait within the day or tomorrow” if they weren’t going to be able to deliver their promise up to THREE days later because it’s just giving me more anxiety. Is your computer running slow today? (Mine is, and it's annoying!!!!) No. I don’t do a lot of things with mine and it’s especially relaxed now that school’s out for Christmas and the programs I usually have on are now closed. Do you own a romper? Yes, I have a couple. Do you have a smartphone or a dumb phone, or no phone? I have a...smartphone, I guess. What popular social media platforms AREN'T you on? Instagram.

Have you ever spilled nail polish? I don’t think I have, no. What was the last thing you were stressed about? Well, since you got me talking about my dog’s blood test, then that. I’ll also be stressing over my Incomplete marks throughout the holiday break. What does your computer's slow-loading cursor look like? I don’t get it – like what shows up when my laptop kinda lags? It shows me the Mac rainbow pinwheel. Do you prefer Microsoft Word or Pages? I use Google Docs to write class notes and to work on anything acads-related. I used to use Pages, then I realized it didn’t suit me so I moved on to Microsoft OneNote, then it just traumatized me after I tried using it for my notes in Econ class which I barely passed – so I just moved on to GDocs. Would you rather have a trampoline or swimming pool? Swimming pool. I have little use for a trampoline. Are you angry at someone right now? Myself, as always. Do you ever dream of getting revenge? It’s an occasional thought just so I feel satisfied but it never gets into specifics. Do you have the same favorite colors you had when you were a kid? Mmm no. My favorite as a kid was purple, because it was my great-grandma’s favorite and a lot of her stuff was purple. When she passed, I saw it less and less and I phased it out as my favorite color. What do you like to put in your tea? I don’t like tea. What do you like to put in smoothies? There’s one smoothie that I admittedly do like; it’s called the Breakfast Smoothie from Go Salads but I dunno what’s in it so let me look it up real quick – ok so I just checked Zomato, and it consists of apple, banana, cinnamon, oats, coco sugar, chia seeds, greens, and soy milk. I don’t make smoothies myself but if I absolutely had no choice, I’d get that specific kind. Do your stuffed animals have names? I don’t even own any stuffed toys. What was the name of the first porcelien doll you got? I never had one. What would you like to paint on a rock? I’ve never thought about painting on a rock. Do you own any tapestries, and if so, what's on it/them? Nope. Do you sell any products? If so, what? No, I don’t. Am really not the business-y/entrepreneurial type, lmao. If not, do you want to start a business? See above. Have your parents ever crushed your dreams? No, they have always been accepting and supportive. Bonus points to my dad for not laughing in my face when I told him I wanted to be a runway model back when I was 12 because I WOULD HAVE. Do you own anything cheetah print? I have a hand-me-down tank top with a cheetah print but I only wear that around the house. Do you know how to knit? No, I never learned how to. We were taught knitting and crocheting in home ec but I have a very hard time learning if it’s hands-on (which also explains why I can’t do origami), so I was never able to catch up with my classmates and never got to submit final projects either. Have you ever made a collage for your bedroom wall? I did like a lettering thing of a quote made up of cut-up magazine pages when I was in high school, but I’m not sure if that counts as a collage. Do you make DIY projects and gifts? No, because I’m terrible at anything DIY. Would you ever get a tattoo? I would but it would take A LOT of courage, crying, and getting over my fear of needles lmao. Is your computer slow? Nope. The one time it noticeably lagged was when I downloaded The Sims 4 and started playing it. I quickly realized it isn’t a gaming laptop though so I had the program deleted almost immediately. What types of churches do you find really boring? All of them. Would you ever start a small group in your home? Uh, like a cult? No, that’s pretty weird. Do you have an inspiration board? No, I don’t. What do you take when your back hurts? I don’t take anything, I just change my position to one where my back won’t feel as strained. Does your back hurt right now? Not so much at the moment. What color are your nails painted? THEY AREN’TTTTTT Are you wearing a romper? I don’t wear rompers around the house lmao. Do you have a colored teddy bear? Nope. On what day is your local grocery store the busiest? I’m guessing Sunday, since everyone usually goes out on Sundays anyway. What day do you usually go grocery shopping? My mom does hers on the weekends. Do you prefer to shop online or in stores? In stores tbh because I get to see the products before thinking about buying them, but I won’t deny that online shopping is also a lot more convenient. Do you like shopping? Looking through shelves and hangers can be overwhelming for me so no not really, but it does feel good when I’ve already bought everything I want/need haha. Do you own any band t-shirts? Just one.

Do you have an annoying neighbor? They have annoying kids, but no I don’t have issues with the neighbors. Do you have a dream? Sure. Do you own a pair of Lularoe leggings? No. Would you ever wear leggings as pants? I have before. Owls or peacocks? Peacocks, I guess? Lions or horses? Lions. Do you like getting caught in the rain without an umbrella? No. Can you still fit into kid's clothes? Kid’s clothes are hella small so I highly doubt it, but I do have a rather petite figure. Would you rather wear orange or black? Black. Is your kitchen floor black and white checkered? It isn’t. Do you own bar stools? We don’t. Who have you been told you look like? I’ve been told I look and speak like Frankie Pangilinan lmao. I also had a high school classmate who liked telling me I look like Lucy Hale but I haaaaaaardly see the resemblance. What color are your doorknobs? Gold. Do you feel like you are waiting for life to start? Now more than ever, yeah. What devotional do you read, if any? Do you own a bobblehead? Not since I was a kid. What do you make wishes on? Just candles. Do you own pastel-colored jeggings? I don’t own jeggings at all. Are you in physical pain right now? Not anymore since I got my teeth treated. So relieving. Are you in emotional distress right now? Always during the holiday season. What color nail polishes do you think are best for summer? I don’t care. What's the best natural pain reliever? Dogs and good food. Do you like trees? I’m not particularly obsessed but I do care for them, if that’s what you’re asking. Do you own a flashlight? Yeah, I have one in my car that doubles as a taser. What is your city known for? Rice cakes, a waterfall, its resorts, and being on a mountain. What is your state known for? Rizal isn’t particularly known for anything other than being near Metro Manila and large chunks of it being atop a mountain lol. What is your country known for? A murderous president, being in the news for hurricanes and floods, beaches like Palawan and Boracay, and balut, which so many people are pussies about. Do you have a church home? I don’t even know what that means. If the local mailman sent you a facebook friend request, would you accept? No. What's your favorite Paramore song? OMG ARE YOU KIDDING HAVE YOU READ THIS TUMBLR Do you like the song "Fake Happy"? YES Do you tan easily? A bit, yeah. Do you own plaid pants? Nope. What did your first Barbie doll look like? I don’t remember because I didn’t really like playing with Barbies. Do you like scrambled eggs? Love them. They’re my favorite kind of eggs, along with omelets. Have you ever made a recipe you found in a magazine? Nope. Have you ever done a craft that you saw in a magazine? I probably did as a kid. What kind of business would you most like to start? Food, most likely. Are you bitter about anything? Aren’t we all. What is your favorite nail polish color? I don’t caaaaare. What is your favorite color for cars? White. What is your favorite color for bridesmaid dresses? Something muted, like dirty white or cream or beige. I don’t want a lot of flashy colors in my wedding. What is your favorite color in general? Right now it’s pastel pink. Do you look good in black? Yes. Do you ever wear orange? Rarely. Do you have a twin? No. If you had a twin, what would he or she be named? I don’t have a clue.

#survey #surveys

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thorkizilla · 6 years

Note

I am endlessly laughing how much the Russos missed their mark. No one believe Loki's really dead, everyone blames quill that they have to jump on his defense, failed to see that nah we're not gonna feel sorry about purple raisin, everyone is defending Thor, and just about everyone is picking them apart by not using strange' portal to cut Thanos' arm off.

What annoys me so much in IW is the fact that THERE WAS NOTHING formidable about Thanos before the stones. Sure he’s a titan but he looked easy enough to FUCKING DEFEAT. It just shows because they had to hand wavy because plot reasons had HEIMDALL, HULK and Thor be defeated just like that.

I’ve been thinking about this and I’M GONNA HAVE SOME OPINIONS. XD I’m definitely on the side of, “Look, Russos, I know you think Thanos’ logic is great and all that, but it’s really not and the most basic response any of them could have had–setting aside the ‘doubling the resources’ argument–is that people aren’t starving because there’s not enough resources. We have more than enough, but people still go hungry, because the systems set up are designed to fuck them over. You can kill half the people and it’s not going to magically make the leftover half suddenly more willing to share. It’s just going to make things WORSE because now everyone is traumatized and even more fearful.”I believe Thanos believes his motivation, but I'm not sure I believe the Avengers who talked to him face to face wouldn’t know how to have a response to it. (I guess maybe I could believe that they could see it was pointless and are just So Tired that they’re like, you know what, fuck it.) And I can handwave a lot of stuff, like:Thanos was REALLY TOUGH, he kicked the Hulk’s ass with just the one (two?) gem and it didn’t really seem like the Infinity Stones gave him stat boosts, did they? Just that they were really powerful weapons that needed a powerful person to wield them.The “All that for a drop of blood.” moment pointed out pretty well that Thanos was next to impossible to beat, even when they were giving it their all, I can believe that a portal might have just tickled Thanos, not actually cut his arm off, it might not have cut through his skin. Even Thor, as much as I go HELL YEAH about that fight of theirs on Wakanda, got his ass kicked by Thanos the first time around and needed a god-level weapon (the strongest on Asgard, even stronger than Gungnir) to do it. Yes, Thor’s physical strength is god level, but the whole point was that no other weapon would do, he needed one forged on Nidavellir because they were special ones. That’s (part of) why Thanos killed almost all of the Dwarves, because those weapons could have stood in his way, they were that much of a game changer.As much as it does kinda feel like plot armor that Thanos could beat the Hulk, it was also pretty consistently shown that he was physically much more powerful than anyone else we’d seen before.I don’t think he’s necessarily a compelling villain as a character (and I do think IW really missed the mark there) because I care zero amount about exploring his backstory or his mindset, but as a story element that drew everything together, across this really massive series of movies from so many different writers and directors and actors? That I thought was done solidly well. I felt like they made an engaging movie to watch and maybe I have to reach a little make the logic of it work, but most of it, I can get there for.I get that a lot of people really hated it and I’m not trying to say any of them are wrong, because what works for one person isn’t going to work for the next and then vice versa! But I also get that, to a degree, they have to say that the deaths are “real” because otherwise it’s just going to be a PR disaster, even if we all know they’re not leaving Peter Parker and T’Challa dead. They can say that we can “blame” Thor, but I don’t think that narrative is anywhere in the actual movie, it’s pretty clear that Thor was well-treated by IW, his losses were respected and given gravitas. Same for Quill’s reaction when he finds out about Gamora, it’s a complicated moment, but I don’t feel like the film was trying to punish him for it, but instead show a conflicted moment.I realize I’m bending over backwards a little to like the movie, but I find it more fun to enjoy something than to be upset about it. Sometimes we don’t get a choice about how much we hate something or how stupid we find it or how infuriating it is for us! But I’m in a place where I can be a little more zen about it and so I can see that a lot of this stuff works for me, with just a little reaching and, honestly, for a summer popcorn blockbuster movie, I don’t expect anything else. XD

#Anonymous #meta #infinity war spoilers #thanos

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titusreno · 6 years

Text

Chapter 2

Reno

The showers in the Caldegot dorm always run hot. While there’s nowhere at Auxie Mautlin where you can rely on cold water coming out of a tap, what I mean is that the showers in Caldegot are almost permanently near-boiling. It sucks during summer but it’s even worse in the winter, since there’s no air conditioning to keep the air in the bathroom cool. But there’s something nice about standing under a really hot, painful shower when you have gravel scratches all over your back. I rubbed the powdered soap into my hair and felt the places where the blood had clumped.

Titus stood outside the shower, watching me.

“Do you think you’re going to get as big as Fib?” he asked. I looked over at where he was standing, wearing his gym clothes because his orange school uniform always smelled too much for his liking after a full day of classes. The white cotton shorts slipped down under his hipbones as he leaned against the towel rack. His socks folded down around his ankles.

I had pine soap in my eyes and had to close them. “I don’t know,” I said. “I gained fifty pounds this year.”

“You did good today,” Titus said. “I thought I was gonna end up hiding Fib’s contraband and licking his toes or whatever, but you did really good.”

“Thanks,” I said. “I think I need to redo the mask soon. There’s a lot of blood on it.” I leaned my head back into the water and knew my skin was getting red where it hit.

“What do you think Fib would be if he wasn’t a tester? Or I guess if he wasn’t a lab kid.” Titus took off his shirt, and I felt a little fun knot tie itself in my stomach. I like the way his chest looks, the little hairs running down the middle in a line. “Do you think he’d be a soldier?”

“I think I need to get to know him more to know for sure,” I said. I let myself reach out to him, and pull him to me through the water. “I bet he would make a good fireman. He could save a lot of lives.”

Titus kissed me. He was still wearing his shorts and his socks, and I could feel his fluffy black hair getting wet. I kissed him back and pressed my face into his cool neck. The hot water ran over us both.

I felt like I was streaking through the sky like an asteroid, as out-of-control as the ship that brought the worm to Earth.

“I bet he’s a decent person,” I said.

The double match with the Littlests and then my match with Fib was the kind of thing that meant that all the Caldegot kids were going to spend the night getting jumped up and crazy. It’s a good thing. I like parties. I remember when I was a Littlest, and before that when I was in my worktown down in the desert, watching the older kids get ready for parties and then listened to them as they made noise all night long with dancing and screaming and clapping and breaking things. There was a big guy named Jof that was like a big brother to me and I remember listening for his voice above everyone else’s while I tried to fall asleep in the crates they used for beds. Sometimes the dataminers would report houses for parties and there would be a crackdown where a few people were moved around or sent away as punishment, but it never stopped anyone. Here we rarely got stopped either. The kids in Auxie Mautlin come from all over but we all remember the parties in our worktowns and we all do the same things whenever there’s the tiniest little thing to celebrate. Something about piggos I guess. There was a lot of the night left, and the dorm monitor was out in the hallway falling asleep reading something from the ecotablet he had at his desk. The dorm monitors don’t make as much stink about parties as they used to. Titus would say it’s because they know that their worms are growing just like ours and they sympathize. I think it’s just people get used to their jobs and by now they know we aren’t going to do anything really dangerous, for the most part.

Jenny was sitting on her floor doing her makeup when Titus and I went over to her room after I showered. Titus’s cotton shorts were still wet and his other pair was being cleaned, but the air in the dorm was so hot that it was probably good to be wet. Jenny looked up when she felt us at the door. Her roommates, Deck and Haiqa, were laying on their bunks, shirts off, fanning themselves with pieces of paper. Someone had hung a wet towel over the window, where it flapped in the thin little wind coming in distantly from Jamaica Bay. We could hear crickets and frogs outside. I could also hear kids in the Alberto dormitory already clapping and banging on their bunks with cups and feet. I wondered if all the kids running out to the park to grab their contraband stashes would get anyone noticed by the night patrol.

“Want some makeup, king lizard?” Jenny asked. She held out a palette of lip shines and eyebrow filler in a pink plastic container. Jenny never lets anyone touch her makeup or art stuff. I looked at Titus, and he grinned at me.

“Are you sure?”

“Totally. Look, you can even use my beeswax gloss. King for a day or whatever. What color do you want?” She gestured and patted the floor next to her.

I sat down and looked at the little stash of makeup spread over the bed. All of it must have either cost Jenny a lot or she must have worked really hard to steal it. None of us are supposed to wear makeup and even if the dorm monitors don’t care and the instructors don’t care, if one of the care providers catches you then they really lay into you and will usually call for someone to come clear out your room and take all your stuff so they can make sure to get all of it. It seems like bullshit, especially because the staff has to know that everyone does drugs that are way more intense than lipstick. Titus would say it’s because they’re scared of how we look with makeup on. But I guess rules help keep stuff from going totally out the window.

I felt myself being really pulled toward a purple plastic tube with gold lettering on it. I opened the cap. I think I expected it to be purple inside, but it was a bright, deep red. I looked at Jenny again, uncertain. “I just rub it on, right?”

“Gently, or it’ll break,” Jenny said. She took the tube from me and pushed it lightly over my bottom lip, then pressed her lips together and gestured to me. I rubbed my lips together and smiled at her. Titus laughed, and Haiqa did too. I offered the tube of lipstick to Titus. He took it and applied it like he’d done it before, which he might have, or he might have just watched Jenny. It looked beautiful on him. But then I always think Titus looks good. I like the way his ears fold on top, and the length of his eyelashes. I like how small he is, too. It’s not good for him to be so delicate—he would hate to hear me say delicate—but he’s like a princess in a storybook, and I love that.

Haiqa sat up. She’s from the desert out in Oklahoma like I am, so she has a big number tattoo on her lower ribcage. Her number is lower than mine because she’s older. “What I want to know is why I didn’t get lipstick when I beat Deck last week,” she said.

“What, and ruin my roommate dynamic? Get it from someone else. If you both want lipstick now you can have it,” Jenny said. She took the lipstick from Titus and passed it back over her head to Haiqa. “I’m feeling real gracious. A girl got wifed up today and is just feeling very happy and positive.”

“A ring and all?” Titus asked. He was looking at his face in one of Jenny’s little mirrors. His hair hangs in dark ringlets around his face when it’s wet. “Was this after I left?”

Jenny did a little dance with her shoulders that meant whatever had gone down it had been good.

“How did it go with Daylun?” I asked. “I’ve never heard her talk.”

“She’s coming over later. I just knew she was gonna be my girl. Ever since she cut her hair. She looks so good, don’t you think?”

“She’s from Manitoba, right?”

“Yeah, up where it’s cold. I bet that why she’s so big, for the cold.”

“Is that why she doesn’t talk?”

“She just doesn’t talk to boys any, really.”

Deck got out her stash of lizzie from under the bed where it was hidden under a tile and shook the plastic baggie. “Anyone want to trip?”

“What, for free?” Jenny asked. “You said it would cost me three Sharpies last time I asked you.”

“Free tonight, as long as we all dance.”

I take lizzie sometimes, though it isn’t exactly a consistent thing because you never know if it will make you happy or really freaked out. The way it distorts things and makes shapes drip and colors change can mess with you if you’re already anxious. I don’t know why it’s so popular here, except that our lives are maybe uglier than most, and maybe we like things to look different, for better or worse. It does make you a lot happier when it’s a good trip. I took a tab from Deck and put it on my tongue.

“I don’t want any,” Titus said. “But thanks.”

It took a while for all of us to get downstairs and start dancing. Everyone had to put makeup on.

The main floor of the building had tables we could sit at after classes or at night before the lights went out, and during parties the tables were where people stomped to make a beat. Our songs go around in a call and response. Some of them have words and sometimes people yell verses and other times we go back and forth just calling out words or names, the names of our dorms or the places we come from. Jenny started out a call-and-clap that was a tradition from when we were in the worktowns, that everyone knew whether they were from Oklahoma or Manitoba or Montana or the tar sands.

“When-are-we-done-today?”

“In-fifty-years!”

“When-are-we-done-tomorrow?”

“In-a-hundred-years!”

I kept looking at my face and Titus’s in the dark mirror of the windows out into the yard. Titus and I danced in the middle for a while. Even when he isn’t high on anything, Titus dances like he is. He throws his arms in the air and spins on one leg and grabs at people around him to make them dance with him. And they do, even if they don’t talk to him other times. He’s a good dancer.

After a while people started to tire out and drift away, and Titus’s knees started to shake from landing hard on the floor, so we moved to find somewhere to sit. In the stairwell we found Benja and Wein, smoking, and so we all sat with them. Daylun saw us from the bottom of the stairs and came up to kiss Jenny. She didn’t talk to the boys and I realized that maybe what had seemed to be shyness on her part was really just a total indifference to boys. She whispered in Jenny’s ear a lot.

Benja and Wein were talking about worms, which isn’t a great subject when you’re trying to start a party and forget, but something they’d taken was making them open up and talk about dark things. I didn’t want to be rude and leave them.

“What’s crazy to me,” Wein was saying, “is that we might be the very last people left, if they can’t figure out how to stop the worm. We might be the very last people.”

“Not the very last. There’s kids younger.”

“I guess the real last ones are the kids that are around now, the little four year old piggo kids. But in fifteen years we might all be dead—us and the scientists-- and the little kids might all be dying and there’d be nobody to run the piggo labs and no more babies would get born. Human or piggo. I hear the labs are having trouble now because the sows are starting to die.”

“Imagine being a human mom,” Benja said. “Imagine thinking you were going to have more babies and then learning you couldn’t and learning your babies were never going to have babies. Imagine seeing your kids die before you.”

Titus looked at him. “What about our moms?” he asked.

Benja looked at him. “What do you mean?”

“How can you get sad about human moms when you know what happens to our parents?” Titus was the only one not stoned and high, and it showed.

“We don’t have moms,” Benja said. “Not really.”

“They had brains the size of ours,” Titus said. “They had eyes like ours, faces and teeth sort of like ours, hearts and lungs and stuff. And they had babies they never saw grow up, again and again and again.”

“For a human mom it has to be worse than it was for them,” Wein said. “That’s what Benja means, Titus. They didn’t have any other way of being. And they never saw any of us. They can’t miss us the same.”

“At least human moms can still grow babies from embryos in fake wombs,” I said to Benja, trying to interrupt before there was a real argument. “There are lots of embryos.”

“But if everyone has the worm, those babies will get it too as soon as they’re out of the sack,” Wein said. “Even if everyone’s dead by that point, the worms will still be here, waiting.”

“But they’re also making the babies from the DNA on the ship. They’re close now, too. Those babies would have antibodies.” I closed my eyes and pictured a little row of marching green babies in the arms of big square robots. “They could save us. Save the world.”

“They said all that when we were Littlests, too,” Titus said. “They keep saying they’ve made an alien baby with human DNA and used the antibodies in its blood to make a medicine that works, and they tell people that the studies we do are with that medicine. But it never works, does it?”

“It might this next time,” I said. “They have to learn from it every time it doesn’t. So next time it might work.”

Titus looked at me with heavy-lidded eyes and raised his eyebrows. I leaned back to look at the colors dripping down from the ceiling so I didn’t have to meet his eyes. Sometimes I don’t know if Titus went through something really bad in his worktown that he hasn’t ever told me about. He’s tougher than I am in some ways but also weaker. He doesn’t care if he gets beaten in a fight. It’s like he expects to lose, waits for it.

“Titus is right. Ms. W said that the new study would be happening by now,” Benja said. “And it’s not.” He sucked on his joint.

“Maybe they should just make the alien babies and leave it there. Don’t make any medicine out of them. I bet the aliens would do a better job on this planet than humans did,” Titus said. He looked over at Jenny and Daylun, and Daylun smiled at him, though she said nothing.

“We don’t even know what the aliens would eat,” Benja said. “Out past Neptune and whatever. We don’t even know that they have plants like we have plants.”

“They have worms.”

“Hey guys. Guys.” Jenny gestured at the ceiling with a long arm. I could tell she was about to try to change the subject, and I was grateful to her. “Is anyone else getting kind of a paisley situation over by the window or is that just me?”

I traced the colors with a finger. “With me it’s more like little birds,” I told her.

Titus was bored and irritated, I could tell. I pulled him to me with my arms across his chest and he settled against my thigh and closed his eyes.

“Sorry I’m tripping,” I said.

“It’s okay,” he murmured. “I had fun dancing.”

We passed the joint around again, and by the time it came back to me and I offered it to Titus, he was asleep. I made my excuses—as best as I could, because my tongue wasn’t totally working to say real words—and carried him up to his dorm. He half woke up on the way and kissed my cheek. I put him under the sheets even though it was too hot out, and I sat next to him for a while, watching the dark of his hair bob like a cresting wave, letting the light remind me of other things the same color. One thing lizzie does is help reorganize your brain so when you’re coming down you start remembering things you hadn’t thought of in years. I thought of Jof, and the deserts out in Oklahoma, of seeing cows, before the cows all died, standing in feedlots chewing and ambling around like nothing was wrong, like the world wasn’t ending. I remembered their brown eyes.

Eventually I was down completely again and I stood up and walked back to my dorm. Nobody else had returned upstairs yet, so I climbed into my bunk and fell asleep, my face turned toward the window so I could see the distant black skyline against the blue sky across the river. I wondered what it had been like when the whole city lit up at night. In the distance, I could see the lights from Jersey making the clouds yellow. A hundred years ago, I thought, the sky over here would have been bright yellow and starless all night.

In the morning I pulled myself out of bed and looked over to where Benja and Wein were sleeping. They were in the same bunk, Wein’s hand and arm sprawled across Benja’s broad chest. Both were just wearing their shorts. It was already hot in the room and I felt sweat prickling on my brow. I could smell the sweat from the night before radiating through the dormitory, sticking to the fifty-year-old walls. I lay in bed, thinking about how it was good that today was the resting day, so I wouldn’t have to do anything much. I had rolled over and was staring out the window when our door-tag blinked and the intercom buzzed to life above us.

“All Caldegot report to cafeteria by ten-thirty. Full facility assembly at eleven.”

Across from me, I saw Benja and Wein stir and sit up.

“What did it just say?” Wein asked. “Did it say full facility assembly?”

“It has to be a study,” I said. I was bolt upright. “It has to be.”

Wein knocked on the frame of the bed. “Knock on wood,” he said. That’s something Ms. Y does, and we started off joking about it but now we treat it like a ritual that works.

There was a rush for the showers all over the floor after the announcement. I made it into one and rinsed for a couple minutes—just long enough to get the crust out of my eyes, and raced back to my dorm to pull out my rest-day jumpsuit. Everyone else was awake by then, and moving quickly. We jogged down the stairwell together in a great green-suited tide. None of us had put on socks. Our feet in the thin white sneakers rattled against the linoleum and then the cement of the courtyard like a thunderstorm. I found Titus only after we were in line for breakfast. We looked at each other and hugged and didn’t say anything, just walked forward. I know I felt like it would jinx the day to say anything. I don’t know if that’s how Titus felt.

Breakfast was rice and egg substitute with greens and cricketbev. The cafeteria workers were wearing masks like they always did, and refused to talk to us, like policy told them to do, but I could tell we were all looking for something in their eyes as we made our way down the line. I think it’s so hard to read their faces even when their masks are off, but I felt like they radiated a certain energy toward us, like this was the start of a new day.

“I’m sorry for what I said last night,” Titus said to me. “I might have been wrong.”

“I hope you were,” I said.

After breakfast the intercom crackled again and they had us move into the long hall which was only used when they were bussing people somewhere. When we were inside, I realized that they had both us and the Fores on the side near the long garage door, where the buses would pull up. I could tell other people were noticing too, and talking to friends about what it meant. They had never taken such a large sample before—never a sample bigger than the total group of Fores. To take the LetLets meant that it would be a bigger study than we had ever seen. I don’t think any of us had any idea what that could mean. We lapsed into uneasy silence, eventually, waiting for someone to come up to the podium at the front of the hall and tell us what was going on.

“As you may have guessed from the change in schedule,” Ms. A said, “Today is the day that our facility has scheduled for eight hundred participants from group A, B, and C to be transported to a New Jersey laboratory to commence a study.”

There was thunderous applause. Ms. A smiled at us.

“Shortly, we will explain the day’s schedule. You will return to your bunks here tonight, however, as the laboratory does not have housing capacity for this number of participants.”

There was a pause as this sank in. Some of us breathed with relief, because even though we all desperately wanted to be part of a study, we didn’t have any real idea of what it was like to live at a laboratory while they were doing one. If it was anything like worktowns, some of us probably would have taken their chances with a worm rather than live in one. Sometimes I thought Titus was one of those people. I looked at him, next to me in one of the small plastic chairs they set out for assemblies. He looked over at me and gave a little nod.

“This is a new study,” Ms. A continued. “The advances that have been made since last year have been significant. As you may know, embryo growth has been a goal of ours for five years. This year, the scientists at Jersey Technical Labs have managed to push growth to full gestation, and as a result have been able to study better the mechanisms of antibodies.” She paused. “Three large tests performed on sows from January of last year to July of last year completely eliminated tapeworms in the test population over the course of six months. You are the next group we are conducting studies with. If this study confirms the results seen in sows, we can proceed to research and development in the general population.”

We clapped hard. She waited for us to stop before continuing.

“I cannot emphasize enough the importance of your participation. This is the moment we have been waiting for. The moment that you help us save the world.”

We had all heard this before, of course, but we all wanted to believe it. I saw Rustler at the front of the room straining forward in his seat. He looked ready to try to save the world. His blue eyes were fixed on Ms. A like she was going to reach down with a golden baton and touch his forehead with it, turning him into someone ordinary.

We had seen the garage doors roll up before and watched the Fores as they were loaded onto the buses. Now we joined them and followed them up the steps. The buses from Auxie Mautlin are white and have solar panels on the roof. They aren’t labeled on the sides, though the parent corporation’s name is printed on the back over the taillights. The staff who directed each group and house on where to go stood at the end of our rows of chairs, their masks on, muffling their speech. Titus and I weren’t on the same bus. He squeezed my hand before we parted.

I hadn’t left the facility since coming from my worktown. After the bus was full and the doors shut, we waited, silent, inside. There were staff coming along as monitors, seated at the front and the back of the bus, and I think we were all too nervous about upsetting them to make any noise or speak, but our heads all turned to the windows as the bus began to roll over the gravel to the edge of the gates around the facility. It was a sunny day, hot like the day before had been, and while the windows blocked some of the light, the blue sky above the bus and the white light bouncing off the cement illuminated the road like a silver ladder stretching down and across the water.

The highway we took was one of the new ones that go over the old crumbling roads of the city. There are places under it where people live in large neighborhoods with no electricity or water except what they collect from rain or with solar panels. The infrastructure for the core of the city in middle and upper Manhattan has been repaired, just like the new white highways have been built over the flooded zones over the last three decades, but as the bus passed over Brooklyn we could see the way that overgrown trees and marsh grass had covered up much of what had been the city. The people who used to live in the neighborhoods down below had moved to Jersey or moved far into the Bronx. It was possible that many were dead now, because of the worm. The things that were left behind were crumbling slowly into the brackish water that had covered all the low-lying ground. It wasn’t illegal to build in the ruins, and from the bus window I could see that the floating houses at the edge of the water took up more space than they had five years before, when we had come to Auxie Mautlin from the worktowns.

Jersey has grown and gotten more full of people. It’s been a big city for a long time, of course, but even in the years since the last time I saw it, it had become more packed. The buildings stuck next to each other like stalks of bamboo or cane sugar. I could see people on the streets, not wearing masks. We were too far away to see the details of their faces.

The laboratory was a long cement building that looked like an outpost of Auxie Mautlin. At the lab, we were all given white shirts and pants to put on instead of the green rest day jumpsuits. They didn’t have us change behind any kind of partition, just had us take our clothes off in the hall and change in front of each other. We still were quiet, because I think we all felt like this was the time it counted most to show that we understood what was expected of us. They sorted us, I think, by gender and age, and moved us around in the entry hall before leading us in through different doors depending on where they had put us. I couldn’t see Titus.

We were led into a room where a woman without a mask spoke to us. She was wearing a white coat but I wasn’t sure if she was a doctor.

“Good afternoon,” she said. “You all are group C-3. We will be giving you each a bracelet stating your group number and identification code. We are going to perform general physicals on each of you before we move you to the next room to be briefed on the specifics of the study. Feel free to specify your name to your physician in order to increase the ease with which we can identify you in our records.”

We were lined up again and weighed. I had gained two pounds since the last physical I had. I wished it was more. I was the same height as the physician standing with me. He was one of the first human men I’d seen since the worktowns. He didn’t have a mask, and his nose was little and flat. He had me take off my shirt, and he checked the number on the bracelet he gave me against the number on my torso.

“Name?” he asked me.

“Reno,” I said.

“You from Nevada?”

“Originally. The lab. It was a small one. I grew up in Oklahoma.”

“They’ve closed the Nevada lab, now.” He looked at his chart. “No headaches, seizures, and no emaciation, right?” He looked at my chest and stomach.

“Not yet,” I said. “I think it says somewhere in my records that they think I was infected around when I was two or three, because of the water. I don’t think the larvae is in my brain yet.” I wanted to make sure he had all the information.

“Right,” he said. He pressed a cold stethoscope to my chest and listened.

In the room they took us to after the physicals were done, the walls were green. There was a picture of a baby connected to a lot of tubes projected onto one wall. The baby looked strange, but not strange like we look. It wasn’t green, but its skin was a kind of deep mottled purple that made it look like it was dying or dead. As we sat down, still quiet, and waited for someone to speak to us, I looked at it closer and realized that was seemed like horrible bruises were just patterns on its skin. It was connected to a breathing tube. Its eyes were very large, though they were closed, so if they were the bug-eyes I thought of aliens as having I couldn’t see.

The same woman in white appeared again to talk to us. She didn’t introduce herself.

“This trial uses antibodies developed from those present in the extraterrestrial humanoid species we have come to know as La Rosa,” she said. “In the last year, we managed to bring a partially extraterrestrial embryo to full term. We created this embryo from the DNA of the two La Rosa extraterrestrials present at the site of the 2043 crash, though we used human and sheep DNA to fill in certain gaps. This trial has produced the most accurate reconstruction of the La Rosa DNA sequence and resulted in a viable infant, with viable antibodies. Without harming the specimen, we have used these antibodies to create an intravenous medicine that will behave in the host system as an anthelmintic. If it behaves in your intestinal tract and brain as it has behaved in the bodies of pigs, it will drive out the tapeworms from the host body.” She took a deep breath and smiled. “If it is successful, BezFarma will be able to move the drug to human trials.”

We shifted in our seats. She seemed to be waiting on something, so we finally started to clap a little. She clasped her hands.

“This trial will last six months. You will be treated twice a week. This is presumed to be more than sufficient, based on studies in pigs. The treatment involves being connected to an intravenous drip for an hour at a time. The medicine will not harm you, though it may provoke some mild immune reactions and inflammation for the first two weeks.”

An image flashed up on the wall of one of the adult starworms, covered in blood, next to the brain of what I guess was a pig. The brain had holes in it.

“In cases where advanced deterioration has occurred, the brain may not return to normal, though the parasite dies. We are still conducting studies into long-term effects on fertility in pigs. However, in most cases where there is larval development but no maturation, neurocysticercosis disappears almost one hundred percent of the time over the course of two to three months.”

We clapped again, more enthusiastically this time. She grinned at us and took a step back before resuming her presentation. I don’t remember much of what she said after that.

The first day, when they stuck the needle into my arm and I felt the cold shock in my vein, I smiled at the woman with the mask who stood over me.

“Thank you so much,” I told her.

1 note · View note

the-cardboard-constructionist · 7 years

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1-50

Oh boy, here we go.

When you die, what do you want done with your remains? I’ve always said that I wanted to be mummified, but I suppose that’s not really my culture. The other thing I always said when I was a kid is that I wanted my head removed, and shrunken and sent to my best friend who absolutely does not want it. But more realistically speaking, I suppose I’d like to be planted with a tree. A cool tree.

What is the weirdest thing you own? I don’t even know how to answer that. I own a lot of weird things. A small piece of the sidewalk from outside of what used to be Friendly’s. Chapstick that tastes like pickles (that I won’t try). A pepper shaker that was allegedly a murder weapon, although technically my step-mom owns that one.

Have you ever played with a Ouija Board? Nope. If the ghosts/demons want to talk to me, they can find a more creative way.

Do you believe in ghosts? Sometimes. I believe in possibilities.

Have you ever had an encounter with things that go ‘bump in the night’? I mean, there was a while where I was very convinced my English teacher was an actual demon, but I have sense decided that she probably wasn’t. And there was that time I was absolutely entirely convinced that the aliens had landed outside and were now inside my house doing things. I heard a whoosh, and then a landing thud and then a door opening, and I was panicking in a whisper voice on the phone until 5 am when I finally heard them take off again so it was safe to go pee. But that was probably just paranoia.

Do you have a Deja Vu story? Dude, i feel Deja Vu all the time. And then promptly forget about them.

Do you still trick-or-treat? I’m 24, I’m pretty sure I’m not allowed to.

Have you ever had a black cat cross you, and have a streak of bad luck afterwards? I have a black cat walk in front of me often, his name is Minuit and I love him. But no bad luck. Because a cat existing near me is automatically good luck.

Least favorite thing about Halloween? The fact that I am always too lazy to actually do a good costume.

Favorite Serial Killer? Like, objectively this is a weird question. I’ve always been partial to Aileen Wournos but I can’t really tell you why. I’m always interested in our local serial killer, Kendall Francois, who happened to work at the local middle school long before I ever went there. But like, he wasn’t interesting psychologically speaking. Just because I know a lot of people who knew him.

Favorite thing to do in a Graveyard? Look at the names, and imagine the people. I love names.

Favorite Halloween Movie? Halloweentown! And Twitches!

Favorite Ghost Story? Ooooh, this is a good question. I remember as a kid I really liked the stories of ghosts in the White House. Those are fun.

Have you ever contacted a loved one from beyond the grave? Nope

Your biggest fear? I always struggle so much with this question, because there is only one thing I’m consistently afraid of and that’s the movie Cinderella. It’s the fucking cat. He’s terrifying. But my other fears kind of come and go. Like I used to be terrified of spiders, but now I pick them up and study them all the time. But other times, I’m still afraid of them and won’t go near them. Like, it comes and it goes. And I used to be afraid of the dark, but I’m mostly over that now. I used to be afraid of a lot of things. But now… I can never think of much. Heights. But only intermediate heights. Like the height of play ground equipment. Not the height of airplanes, that’s entirely fine. So really, the answer is the movie Cinderella. I’ve never made it all the way through.

Favorite Pumpkin flavored food? Pumpkin muffins! And pumpkin hot chocolate from Starbucks.

Candy corn or Popcorn Balls? candy corn

Trick, or Treat? both, at the same time

Best halloween you ever had? probably that time we dyed Steve’s head red by accident and then it rained and it looked like blood was dripping down, or the year I went trick or treating with that girl who may or may not be a soul sucking demon

Do you go to Corn Mazes ? Not every year, but I had fun when I did.

Haunted Houses? Honestly, I haven’t really been. And I would kind of like to, but at the same time, I have to be really careful because I’m not supposed to let my adrenaline levels get too high.

Do you own any human remains that aren’t your own? I do not.

Have you ever smashed a pumpkin? Probably?

Do you like Apple Cider? God, yes.

Do you live near any ‘spooky’ places? I’m 100% sure I do, but I don’t entirely know what they are. I mean, there’s a building across the street where the lights always flicker. And also, the road I grew up on is like dark and secluded and full of trees and old people and the perfect setting for a horror movie.

Do you ever get goosebumps? Mostly from being cold.

Have you ever seen a dead body apart from a funeral? I saw one being taken out of one of the neighbors house and put into an unmarked van that I hope was the coroner’s But it was more the body back instead of the body.

Have you ever broken into an abandoned house or building? Nah.

Do you believe in Vampires? (not sparkly ones, kids) I don’t not believe in them.

Your scariest memory? Tbh, that alien night I was talking about earlier was terrifying. But also, when my creepy stalker ex showed up outside my class and scared me out of my brain. That was the most anxiety inducing terrifying nonsense ever. That whole week. That whole damn semester.

Ever heard white noise from a turned off tv or radio? Not that I know of. But tbh, I’m oblivious sometimes.

Weirdest Coincidence? For awhile in high school, and even after, every single time something good happened to me, something of the same magnitude but bad would happen to one of my friends.

Have you ever bobbed for apples? I think maybe when I was little?

Ever had your fortune told? Not really, no.

Favorite skin disease? Ummm, this feels like a weird and ablest question.

Do you see figures in your Peripheral vision? Nah, I see cats. Your brain naturally fills in gaps when you can’t see all the points, like a connect the dots. And it tries to put in things that are likely to be there. I have four cats.

Have you ever seen someone die? Not the actual death, but this summer I watched my grandmother as she was getting very close to death, and if I had stayed another day or two, I would have seen it. I didn’t see the moment, but I saw the process of dying.

Have you ever caught something large on fire? Just the oven.

Favorite ‘fictional’ bad guy or monster that you wish was real? Tbh, I’m half temped to say Hannibal because I would love to have him in therapy to discuss that one comment he made about how eating people was going to make time travel happen that like no one ever talks about. But also, that would be a horrible idea.

Do you believe in multiple dimensions or worlds? As usual, I believe in possibilities.

Ever held a Seance? Nope.

Ever made a potion of any sort? that really depends on your definitions there. when I was little, I thought it would be cool to make potions like in Harry Potter and I would take a big “cauldron” and dump a shitload of water and spices and stuff in it

Ever worn ‘funeral attire’ outside of a funeral? that depends again on defintions. like… the last funeral I went to I wore a purple bridesmaids dress.

Have you ever made a blood pact? no

Have you ever worked a spell? no

Do you believe in curses? yes

Ever had an animal or pet see something that you can’t? mostly just the ghosts of bugs they think they can catch

Have you ever gotten lost in the woods at night? Nah, but I did during the day once. I mean, we weren’t really lost. We knew where we were. We just couldn’t figure out how to get back to where we should be.

Have you ever caught a photo of a ghost? Nah, yo uwouldn’t even be able to tell, my pictures are shit

Have you ever played Bloody Mary? nah, I don’t want to die

#Ask Meme #About Nicky

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thatbangtanbloom · 7 years

Text

House of Cards || kth v. jjk [2]

House of Cards

The Prologue | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2

Subtitle: V for Valiant

Characters: Taehyung x Reader x Jungkook

Categories: Fluff, Angst

AU(s):College!AU, Stalker!AU, Best Friends!AU

Sypnosis: Some people see life in black and white, and others see it in brown and blue, but Kim Taehyung only sees it in red and you.

• ° °•○•° °•○•° °•○•° °•○• ° °•○•° °•

Vision deterred,

For a dream deferred,

Falling deeper and deeper into your deception,

He does not mind the distorted perception.

Thursday nights were usually dotted with homework due the next day and you cozied up in the library surrounded by your endless amount of homework. This had been a common occurrence since your freshman year in high school and as years progressed, even as a freshman of college in your first week, this made no difference - and Jungkook knew this. He had often managed to frequent his visits early on when you started it; mainly to bug you for the answers for chemistry class but also just to be around you since the two of you were nearly etched onto one another.

After moving you in with your roommate, Hyejin, Jungkook found himself bothered by how you hadn't cared to text him. Sure, he knew you could have been preoccupied with school work, but Jungkook knew better.

Jungkook curses to himself as he takes long strides to be standing in front of your dorm, clad in gray sweats and his infamous white tee. Often times, Jungkook found himself acting more like an overprotective boyfriend, but he tried his best to put that thought out of his mind. His pouted lips display his disapproval when he meets the beguiling eyes of Hyejin and not your usual blithe ones.

"Jungkook, how nice to see you." Hyejin simpers at Jungkook lashes batting as to further coax him into her presence.

"Hey, can you call Y/n out for me?" Jungkook asks softly, looking over her shoulder to catch a glimpse of you but finds none. Worry adores Jungkook's contours as he turns back to Hyejin.

"She said she went to the library a couple of hours ago," Hyejin mumbles before tightening her grip on the door. "You'll probably find her there."

And with that, Jungkook is left standing alone in the corridor of your dorm house before making his way to the university library.

Theaters and parks were more of Taehyung's ideal places, but libraries would sit well with him as long as he could be with you. The fresh smell of books were welcoming to him as he stared over the top of 'Time Magazine'; watchful eyes gingerly looking over you as you highlighted key portions of the text. Oh, how Taehyung wished that he could approach you - surely you wouldn't mind? You never seemed to mind the raven haired boy who often could be seen at your side.

For the last few years, Taehyung felt his only sense of purpose in observing you. You were, after all, his only source of light in his dark life that consisted of hiding behind corners and stealthily hiding before Jungkook could see him.

The very image of the hot-blooded younger man sends Taehyung clutching the magazine tighter; his jaw subconsciously twitching. Observing you for years had led him to observe Jungkook as well. It dawned Taehyung to think that Jungkook could withstand your presence for so long and not be awestruck - and if he was, he did a damn good job of hiding it.

Oh, but then there also had been the times when he hadn't done such a great job at hiding it and Taehyung had witnessed it unravel each time.

Bringing him out of his thoughts, Taehyung holds his breath when he catches the sight of Jungkook patting your head affectionately and slowly gathering your things. Taehyung clicks his tongue in annoyance at how fast the younger boy acts. How was he able to find himself so comfortable under your gaze? When Taehyung stood in front of you for a mere minute in your dorm just the other day, it sent trembles down his spine and he couldn't even bare to look Hyejin in the eye.

"I'm not done, Jungkook." You whine to your best friend who is presently taking the purple highlighter from your fingers. The drowsiness is evident in your voice.

Jungkook chuckles softly as he ignores your futile pleas. "It's Friday night, babe." He zips your backpack to a close. "You'd live in the library if you could. How about we go catch a movie or to a party?"

"First off, Jungkook, it's Thursday night, not Friday. Secondly, movie, yes. Party? No." You assert in between yawns.

Taehyung breathes a sigh of relief to himself at your sensible actions. You breathed sensibility and that was one trait that Taehyung adored about you. The only potential downside of this trait would be you rejecting him because of it - and that crippled Taehyung to his core at the thought of it. Perhaps that was why he resorted to himself watching you all of the years.

"We can watch the movie at my dorm. Plus, my dorm mates are out." Jungkook wiggled his brows at you.

This was your relationship with Jungkook; him almost always fringing on the balance that was your platonic relationship. Sure, you are attracted to him, but you also had been attracted to many of Jungkook's friends. Plus, you knew Jungkook to be all bark and no bite. Most of the time.

You pushed Jungkook slightly back, a laugh contorting in your throat. "We are not that kind of friends, Jeon Jungkook."

"You should respect me. I'm older than you." Jungkook fakes a wince as he rubs his chest.

"Certainly doesn't feel like it," You cheese this time before yawning once more; displaying your blatant tiredness. Jungkook takes notice to the frequent sighs that escaped you and takes your right hand in his left; his own right gripping around your backpack that he briskly placed everything together in. "You're too good to me, Jungkook." You state the obvious with a small on your face.

Whilst waving goodbye to the librarian, Jungkook chuckles. "I know I am," He swings his arm with yours, fingers interlocking tightly within one another in content.

Only minutes into your walk and just under a mile away from your dorm, the gentle contact from the rain overhead rises as the two of you do your best to duck under storefronts and restaurant awnings to stay dry. The mist from the dew drops causes the two of you to giggle like school children while trying to stay as dry as possible without having to sacrifice any of your belongings in the process. The lighthearted fun leads Jungkook to ask, "Remember the first time we walked home together?"

Chewing on your bottom lip, you shake your head 'no' in disappointment because it was the truth; you hadn't. Quite frankly, you hadn't remembered much prior to when you first met Jungkook in first grade. For as long as you could remember, Jungkook had been by your side – even before the two of you talked (you could not confirm this with facts but was fairly certain of this), Jungkook still was a big part of your life.

"Gosh, Y/N. You don't remember the first time we held hands?" His words left you blushing for once, despite all of the cheesy compliments and vivacious actions, his memory had to be what drawn you the most and how sentimental he could be under all of the playboy vibes that he often exhibited. "You were wearing this white shirt with cute blue shorts with ruffles on them – oh, and your shirt had polka dots." His animated explanation temporarily makes you forget about the current weather. "I don't remember why, it was probably about something little like that Rowoon kid stealing your crayons or something, but you were crying a lot. I gave you my favorite pencil – it was my favorite because it was red and you know how much I loved that color as a kid – oh and-"

Crying? The proposition has you furrowing your brows in confusion. "Crying?"

"Don't focus on the small details, I'm trying to be romantic here." Jungkook shushes you with a joking smile and you laugh back at him. You nod at him as though to tell him to go on. "And I asked if you lived on Ron Street and you said 'no' and I thought that was the weirdest thing ever because, at the time, no one ever went on Ron Street because of Mr. Kim. I wiped your tears with my thumb and you-"

"I asked if we could walk home together since we lived on the same street." You add, the memories now formulating in your mind. "It started raining, like tonight, and we ran all the way home." In the midst of you telling the story, Jungkook had stopped at the red light; left hand gripping your right one with a soft smile.

"Do you want to do that again?" Jungkook beams at you. The small glints of tawny in his chocolate orbs are more vivid than ever and you feel your heart swell just a bit. "I promise I'll give you a head start because you're a girl."

Jungkook, so engrossed in trying to prove his superiority, is sworn speechless when he watches you take off in front of him with a sneer. His brows knit together before he suddenly crosses the empty street, watching as your oversized hoodie (it was honestly Jungkook's from two years ago but you never bothered to return it) flapped in the wind. "Y/N-AH!" Was what he screamed the entire way back to the dorms.

Dark eyes sauntered over your frame as Taehyung watched you speed in front of the cocky teenage boy. Taehyung also adored your adventurous spirit, too. He loved how your eyes lit up when you talked about what you were passionate about; how your voice raises ever so slightly when you were planning to do something lively. Traits that he came to admire led him feeling the most anguish because it was drawn him to you more and more, and one day, he was certain that he would not be able to restrain himself anymore.

Caring eyes peered to Taehyung's own vacant ones; the slightest sliver of a smile on Taehyung's face once he met your own. Tears stain your cheeks and he runs his fingers through his hair to mask the anxiety that ripples through him like a wildfire. "Masterpieces aren't meant to be destroyed; they're to be treated with care; with love; with everything that a father would give to his son." The reference makes Taehyung wince, but you ignore it anyway. "Let me protect you, Taehyung."

"You're only happy when you're drunk." Your lips pressed against Taehyung's ear with a timbre of disappointment. The idea twinges Taehyung's heart in response. "You're overflowing Taehyung – you can't continue on like this forever.... I hope you last, Taehyung." You caress Taehyung's cheek with a strained smile. The pain in your eyes immobilizes Taehyung in an instant and he bites hard on his bottom lip to stay silent. "I don't want to lose you, Tae." You smile softly at him, head lying on his shoulder while toying with his fingers. "I feel so lost without you... Why did you leave me?"

Taehyung gulps hard and he, as he always is in your presence, is left breathless. What could he tell you? How could he make you understand something that he barely understood himself? Taehyung's grip on your hand softens, but he doesn't let go. He could never let go, even if he wanted to.

"I know you aren't happy, living like this." You lean away from him and the loss of contact leaves Taehyung whimpering subconsciously. Could you not see how much he needed you – but that was the thing. You did know. You always knew. "I want to help you – I love you, Taehyung. Can't you see that? But how can I get to you when I'm drowning myself? Does that make sense?"

Once again, Taehyung is left rendered speechless at your profound you are; how breezily you speak your mind to him. How easily you know exactly what he wants to say and when he would say and make your response on that. "But Y/N-"

You straddled Taehyung's lap, your hands encompassing his cheeks. "I'm holding my hand out to you but you're not taking it back – do you like rejecting me? Do you like knowing that I will always be here?" You laugh, clearly in hysterics. "It hurts, Tae, so damn much. I have changed because of you – I have changed because of him. That boy – him, he, can be all of the stars in the universe but that wouldn't matter because I don't want a star. I don't want something that will shine. I want the moon, and that's what you are. We will align, Taehyung, but only if you want us to." You move from his lap, collecting your jacket and this time it's Taehyung's; it'll always be Taehyung's.

"The moon? If I'm the moon, then what are you?"

You swallowed. "You are the moon; and you liked me because I watched you, observed you, learned to love you and accept you for the precious being that you are." Tears stream down your face and Taehyung can feel the ice noose around his heart. "But I? I am what you make of me Tae... and you what you want is the sun."

Empty, desolate, nugatory - all words that swallow Taehyung whole as he jolts up in his own bed. Sweat coats him; on his cheeks, his face, his chest – it envelopes him and he finds himself hyperventilating. Did you mean what you said? Was it honestly okay for him to come to you? To be there for you just as he had always wanted to?

Yes.

And just like Taehyung's sweater, it would always be yes.

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likevxnes · 7 years

Text

if they’re searching for us, they’ll find us side by side

read on AO3 here

i. Where they are now.

This whole battle has gone to shit.

Chuuya curses as he barely manages to hold off an array of bullets. He sees Akutagawa in the corner of his eye, Rashomon splayed out around him, surrounding the boy like a protective, moving cage. He’s not sure where Kouyou and Yasuhara went, but he’s assuming Yasuhara was somewhere less chaotic and more suited to his abilities. The Black Lizard is behind him, and he can hear Hirotsu’s stern voice calling out orders.

Chuuya glares at the chaos that’s in the center of everything, at the ability user who brought the Port Mafia down to its knees. He watches as the ground crumbles beneath the woman’s feet, watches her hair flare out around her as if she were underwater.

Their ammo is running low. Everyone is beginning to get tired. Dazai is nowhere to be found.

They aren't going to make it.

He feels something itch inside of him, something dim and somber. Something tainted. He feels images flicker through his brain, sees purple bruises, hears a child’s laughter, sees an apple in a small hand’s grip, sees Corruption snarling at him, and suddenly everything makes sense.

“Ah,” he mutters to himself, releasing a small chuckle, “I get it, now.”

He begins to take off his gloves. He registers someone calling out to him but decides to ignore it.

“O Grantors of Dark Disgrace,” he says softly, “do not wake me again.”

Immediately, it comes, baring its jaws at him, surrounding him in a menacing murky fog. Everything fades away to a deathly silence.

He lets the darkness take him.

ii. Where they were, part one.

When Chuuya wakes up, in a bed with silk sheets and the smell of flowery perfume, he doesn’t remember a thing.

The doctor’s an older man with black hair and dark eyes, along with a smile that reminded Chuuya of a doll’s. Eerily empty. “What do you remember, boy?”

“Who are you?” Chuuya asks, gripping the blankets piled on his lap, and he's surprised at the scratchy tone of his voice, as if he hadn’t had anything to drink in weeks. “Where am I?”

“Mori Ougai,” the man answers, “I’m a doctor. You’re in a brothel owned by the Port Mafia.”

The pause after the man’s statement makes it feel like the words he said held some sort of significance. But Chuuya just frowns, staring at the man blankly.

He repeats himself. “What do you remember?”

Chuuya thinks, closes his eyes and tries to recall, but the only thing he sees is plain darkness. For some reason, the fact that he can’t remember anything doesn’t seem to send him into a panic. Instead, it makes him feel strangely numb and distant, as if everything happening right now was just a dream.

He tells the truth. “I don’t remember anything.”

The doctor’s eerie smile quickly fades into a frown. “You don’t remember anything? Not even the men who took you?”

He blinks at the man, his fingers beginning to fidget with the blanket he has spread across his lap. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He feels like he has done something wrong, but he doesn’t know what it is.

Mori’s frown deepens. He stands up, and turns away. A girl follows him towards the doorway, and the two of them begin to talk in hushed voices.

He hears the doctor say things like trauma and suppressing unwanted memories to the girl dressed in a kimono that reminds him of pink roses. But the words don’t really mean much to him. Instead, he focuses on the boy sitting at his bedside. He seemed to be about the same age as the girl, a good few years older than Chuuya himself. He wore a hat that covered his blond hair, so light it was almost white, which was twisted back and away from the boy’s face.

“Qui es-tu?” He forces out, throat feeling like sandpaper. The sound of his voice catches the attention of everyone else in the room, and they stare at him with wide eyes. He curls into himself from self-consciousness.

Wordlessly, the boy hands him a glass of water, which Chuuya accepts gratefully. The girl moves to sit next to him.

“Je suis Yasuhara Yoshihiro,” he answers. The look he gives Chuuya is surprisingly kind.

Chuuya glances over at the girl, who seems to catch onto the question hidden in his eyes. “Je suis Ozaki Kouyou. Ou Ane-san.”

“Ane-san…?” He murmurs back, moving to place the glass he has in his hands back on the nightstand next to him. He feels strangely numb. “C’est différent. I’ve never heard of that before.” He feels his self-consciousness rise even more when everyone flinches in shock again. “What did I do?”

“You mean...you don’t notice?” The boy, Yasuhara asks, tilting his head at him. Chuuya frowns, shaking his head. “You’re switching between speaking French and Japanese.”

Chuuya scrunches his eyebrows together in confusion. He blankly stares at his hands, which are now folded neatly in his lap. He studies the ring of bruises that circle across each wrist.

“What is your name?” Kouyou asks, making Chuuya look up to meet her gaze. “Do you remember that?”

“Nakahara Chuuya,” he says, surprised at how strongly and surely the answer comes to him. “My name is Nakahara Chuuya.” He moves to take another sip from the glass of water on the nightstand but accidentally knocks the glass over. Chuuya squeezes his eyes shut, preparing himself for the loud sound of breaking glass.

It never comes.

He hesitantly opens his eyes, only to have them widen in shock at the sight. The glass of water is suspended in midair, hovering off the ground, the water frozen in mid splash.

“Is that you?” Yasuhara asks, voice soft.

At the question, the glass begins to tremble. Drops of water drip down onto the floor. “What?” Chuuya asks shakily, glancing around at the shocked expression Kouyou wears and the look of interest in Mori’s eyes. “I can’t—je ne sais pais—”

“Hey, hey, it’s okay,” Yasuhara murmurs soothingly, “just stay calm. Focus.”

He nods, bites his lip, and tries. He doesn’t understand how he knows what to do. He barely registers the glass moving to place itself gently back onto the nightstand, the water following it and slipping back into the cup.

“Good job,” Yasuhara praises, the same time Kouyou says, “Well done, Chuuya.” His face flushes at the praise, but the frown still stays on his face. He is more confused than ever.

“How interesting,” Mori states, making everyone turn to look at him. He smiles that doll-like smile again. “I’ll leave him to your care, Kouyou-kun. I’m excited to see him fulfill his potential.”

Kouyou smiles back, but it is a different smile than before, one that matches Mori in its emptiness. “I’m sure you are, Mori-sensei.”

Chuuya adapts to his new circumstances well. Though he supposes since he had no memory of any other life than this to begin with, it wasn’t really that difficult.

The girls at the brothel pamper him, rub and squish his cheeks till he whines, giggle at him and stroke his hair. At first glance, some of them seem awfully shallow; but at night, when customers come, Chuuya can see the cunningness and wit in their eyes as they sneak every important piece of information out of a poor fool’s mouth, and he knows about the knives hidden in their sleeves that they use to take out men and women in the confines of the private rooms. Kouyou teaches him things about beauty, about elegance, but also about knives, fists, and blood. She teaches him how to harness his ability. He learns how beauty can be a weapon, here.

He spends a lot of time in Kouyou’s room. Usually, they do things in silence, simply enjoying the other’s presence. Kouyou’s often writing something on her desk, while Chuuya flips through picture books, because he doesn’t know how to read well yet.

“Why am I here?” He often asks, “what happened to me before this?”

It takes lots of attempts before Kouyou gives in and answers him. “You were taken from your country by bad men. Yasuhara saved you. You’re here because this is a better place for you.”

But Chuuya knows the place he’s in isn’t a safe haven. It isn’t necessarily better. He hears whispers of it throughout the brothel, hears Port Mafia and anxious whispers about a Boss. There is something dark here, a black smoke that wafts through the air, that smells like blood and makes it difficult to breathe.

Yasuhara visits infrequently and erratically. Kouyou always asks him how his mission was when he comes, to which he consistently replies with, “A bit too long.” Though his visits are a bit rare, when he comes, he spends the whole day at the brothel, from when Chuuya wakes up to when he goes to sleep. They usually spend the whole day together; Yasuhara speaks french to him, plays with him, trains him. He tells stories of his missions. He lets Chuuya wear his hat. Chuuya finds his respect for the older boy increasing with every visit that comes.

“Yasu-san,” he begins to call him, and the first time he did Kouyou raised an eyebrow at him, making his cheeks flush with heat.

But Yasuhara doesn’t even blink at the nickname. That’s another thing Chuuya likes about him; he takes everything in stride. Nothing seems to throw him off.

When Chuuya wakes up to the sound of commotion happening downstairs, he quickly jumps out of bed and rushes out of his room, almost tripping on his way down the stairs.

“Yasu-san!” He greets excitedly, the coos at his display from the girls making his cheeks heat up.

Yasuhara stops his conversation with Kouyou and turns to smile at him. It’s a small, crooked, one-sided smile; everything about Yasuhara is faint, but impactful. He’s still dressed in his mission clothes, his white coat billowing behind him and white hat resting on his head. “Good morning, Chuuya. Did you sleep well?”

He nods eagerly, and the smile on Yasuhara’s face widens by a margin as he pats Chuuya on the head. “Good.”

“Chuuya,” Kouyou begins, tone stained with scorn, but there’s a hint of a smile on her face, “Yasuhara and I were still talking. Go upstairs and get dressed. You have the whole day to spend with Yasuhara.”

“Yes, ane-san,” he mutters, turning around and running up the stairs. He walks into his room, which had stayed pretty plain the past year he’d been living in it, the only additions being a pile of books and his clothes. He’d just finished brushing his hair when he hears a knock on the door frame.

“I brought breakfast,” Yasuhara says, outer coat now gone, holding up a brown paper bag. The scent of croissants fills the air and Chuuya grins, only to falter at Yasuhara’s stare.

“What is it?” He asks, hands reaching up to his hair, “is my hair sticking up again?”

“No, no,” Yasuhara reassures, “there’s just something missing with your outfit today.”

“Missing?” He questions, frowning at the thought that Yasuhara didn’t like the way he looked.

“Yup,” the older boy says, and the small smile on his face just makes Chuuya more confused. “Close your eyes, mon cher, I can fix it for you.”

He does, because he trusts Yasuhara almost more than anyone, even though the wrinkle between his eyebrows deepens with his confusion. His eyes flash open when he feels something being placed on his head.

“Since you always take mine, I thought it’d be better if I gave you your own.”

Chuuya reaches up to take the object off his head, a smile curving his lips as he sees what it is. He runs his fingers over the hat, playing with the beads attached to the ribbon that wrapped around it. He places it back on his head and beams.

Yasuhara laughs at his expression, kneeling down so he and Chuuya are the same height. “I’m glad you like it. Now, what do you want to do today?”

When Kouyou enters Chuuya’s room, it’s late at night and the boy’s already deep asleep, Yasuhara sitting in a chair right next to his bed. She watches as Yasuhara strokes the boy’s hair away from his face and leans down to place a chaste kiss on his forehead.

“How long are you going to spy on me, Kouyou?”

She just laughs. “As long as you allow me to spy on you,” she replies, moving further into the room. She eyes the hat Chuuya clutches in his hands. “Honestly, I’d rather you not encourage Chuuya to take on your outlandish tastes.” Yasuhara just grins. She sighs. “I’m jealous. Chuuya adores you, and not me, the person who takes care of him every day. It’s only because you don’t see him enough to scold him.”

The faintest smirk appears on Yasuhara’s face. “He loves you, Kouyou.”

She makes dismissive noise. “He may love me, but he’s infatuated with you.”

Yasuhara’s cheeks become stained with light pink. “We trained today,” he says, changing the subject, “he’s getting really strong.”

The statement dampens the earlier carefree mood. Being strong in the Port Mafia only meant more danger. “A bit of a fighting prodigy, isn’t he?” Kouyou comments airily, “He’s two years ahead of my eleven-year-old self.”

The other hums in acknowledgement. “I met Dazai-kun yesterday.”

Kouyou moves to sit at the foot of Chuuya’s bed. She folds her hands on her lap. “What did you think?”

Yasuhara sighs, rubbing his hands on his face. “That this sort of life suits him,” he murmurs. “A big contrast from our Chuuya,” she agrees. “But Chuuya is good at making himself belong in places he shouldn’t.”

“Mori wants the two of them to meet,” the blond informs, his tone oozing disdain.

“I expected so.”

“You’re going to go through with it?”

Kouyou pauses, collecting her thoughts before answering. “Mori may be questionable, but his passion towards the Port Mafia is genuine. He has plans to take us out of the chaos the Boss is causing.”

The boy laughs bitterly. “You mean he’s going to kill him.”

The smile she wears turns sharp. “I mean, he’s going to be the next Boss, so we should tread carefully with him, for now. It will be better for us if we are in his good graces.”

“Tch. We’ll just be playing into his game,” Yasuhara scowls. “But I’ll trust your judgement, Kouyou.”

“As you should,” she replies, standing up. “I’ll be going to bed now. Feel free to stay as long as you like.”

“Goodnight,” Yasuhara says, attention already diverted towards Chuuya as the boy shifts in his sleep.

Kouyou makes her exit, but pauses in front of the doorway. “Are you ever going to give Chuuya his memories back, Yasuhara?”

A crushing silence follows. Kouyou turns her head to see that the other hasn’t moved from his position, but his posture is stiffer and more tense. It reminds her of a wooden doll.

“You found out,” he murmurs, turning his head to look at her. A dark smile spreads across his lips.

She chuckles. “Oh please. I knew almost right away. It wasn’t that hard to piece together considering I know of that ability of yours. And I’m sure Mori’s realized it by now, too. Maybe he knew it right away, but decided to play along and name Chuuya’s memory loss as trauma.”

“You give him too much credit,” the boy chastises.

“Maybe,” she agrees, before shooting back, “but you underestimate him.”

“You don’t understand,” Yasuhara responds, voice raising, “you weren’t there. You didn’t see him being degraded by those scum and then think that it was normal—”

“I’m not angry with you,” Kouyou cuts in, raising her voice to match his. She turns her back towards him again. “I understand why you did what you did. But we can’t keep protecting him anymore.”

And with that, she leaves, the silk of her kimono billowing behind her.

“Chuuya, be a good boy, now.”

“Stop it! Get away from me—”

Yasuhara quickly moves to the commotion, only to freeze at the sight. There was a young boy, with hair the color of fire, struggling against two men, who were grabbing at his clothes. The distinct bruise marks around the boy’s arms and legs makes Yasuhara realize that these men must’ve been part of the human trafficking organization that the Boss has been wanting to take down.

“I don’t want to!” The boy wails before he’s pushed over on his hands and knees.

Yasuhara feels himself move, body preparing itself for combat.

“Leave me alone!” The boy screams, and suddenly the ground beneath them begins to crumble, the men collapsing onto the ground. Yasuhara stumbles, feeling as if the air around him had become more thicker and heavier, pressing down on his shoulders and making it hard to move or breathe.

The boy stands tall, looking eerily calm in the midst of the destruction. His blue eyes harden as the men in front of him begin to struggle to breathe under the oppressive force.

The coldness in the boy’s eyes doesn’t disappear until the men have stopped breathing.

And then suddenly, the boy stumbles back, as if shaken out of his bloodlust. The air immediately feels lighter. “I—I didn’t—” His body begins to shake, and he drops down to his knees, “I didn’t mean to, I’m sorry Papa—”

The boy begins to sob.

Something in Yasuhara breaks.

He moves, quickly catching the boy’s attention, and the boy shies away from him, eyes filled with fear.

“It’s okay,” he says softly, “I won’t hurt you.”

“I didn’t mean it,” the boy repeats, his voice trembling, “I should’ve listened—”

“No,” he cuts in, surprised at the passion in his voice. He inches closer. “You have done nothing wrong.”

His statement makes the boy look at him with wide eyes. “I...haven’t?”

“Not at all,” he reassures and holds out his arms. “Come here, mon cher. I will make everything better.”

The boy does.

Yasuhara wraps his arms around the child and erases everything.

part two

#side by side #TRYING TO USE THIS BLOG MORE NOW #soukoku #bungou stray dogs

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joonotopia · 5 years

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please read this post carefully, and follow what it says.

i am trying to make it as short as possible, because way more often than not, i noticed that people don't bother reading everything carefully. and i'd rather not get annoyed.

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the type.

this is a boy x boy roleplay, preferably advanced literate, but anywhere between it and semi lit is fine. the only thing i am asking for is at least 7 lines. for reference, the most that i ever wrote per reply reached to 10 messages (as amino has the character limit). also keep in mind that these kind of replies may take hours to write, so patience is key with me. if you are a naturally inpatient person, than i am not suitable for you. also, my schedule is packed, so i might not be able to reply for up to a whole week on bad days. bare with me and i'll do the same.

i am not picky when it comes to capitalization, but please try to have an at least average grammar and punctuation. nobody's perfect, english may not be your first language or even your second language, but please, at least know the difference between "your" and "you're" and where to but your commas, because i saw people who " literally typed like this ,and it annoyed me greatly .it is a pet peeve of mine ."

i would prefer the roleplay to be longterm. to not rush the plot too much. personally, i love to describe my character(s)' emotions.

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the plot.

i prefer to talk with the other person about the plot, so we can make sure that we will both like it. a list is welcomed if we are short on ideas.

my personal favorites are the fantasy aus, (as long as they are not the oh so generic ones), but a good old slice of life is also fine. i am also very open to new ideas.

the plots that i won't do are highschool plots, hybrid plots, little space, incest, pedophilia and noncon. they are either wrong, or i simply dislike them. also, i will not put through mentions of eating disorders or self harm. i do not need to explain why. sorry if i sound too harsh or mean.

i have a few plots in mind that, if you are interested, you can look through. keep in mind, that they are not a "must do". they are just here, in case we both are uninspired and/or indecisive and need something quickly.

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the characters.

i exclusively do bts ships, i'm sorry.

i will lay it simple. i can take upon both roles. but every time i join roleplays, i am almost the entire time the dom, so i would prefer to be the sub, at least in the roleplay chats that i make (unless the chat says something else.) so, if i turn down your request to be sub, don't say i didn't mention it.

but if you do play the sub, please. i beg you. do not be that extra shy, innocent and weak character. it annoys me greatly.

for ships, my favorites are yoonseok, namgi, yoonjin and namjin. the ship that i will not do is yoonmin. i simply dislike it. we can do any other ships that i didn't mention.

now, i will put out the members that i play as, note that i prefer to play the hyung line. i will also put how i play them.

yoongi

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not too noticable until the actual part - sub, bottom

seokjin

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depends on the ship

namjoon

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depends on the ship, top

hoseok

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dom, top.

jimin

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depends on the ship

jungkook

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depends on the ship

taehyung

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depends on the ship

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other.

✎please be at least 15.

✎no text talk (eg: ur, lol, smh and so on) unless the characters actually text each other.

✎i understand if you need to suddenly leave unannounced. you can be missing up to a few days, or a week, i don't mind. i would like for you to be the same. if you need to be gone for more, i'd like a small heads up.

✎put an emoji of your choice so i know that you read and agree. i will stop replying if you don't, since i will assume that you didn't read everything. i cannot stress it enough. 𝗣𝗨𝗧 𝗔𝗡 𝗘𝗠𝗢𝗝𝗜.

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plot list. more will be added later, as i find inspiration. some of them aren't written down due to either lack of time, or too much variation that can occur.

note: all plots are mine. if you wish to use them for other rps, please credit me (or in other words, don't claim them as yours). thank you ^^

i will add an emoji to the plots i am personally more interested in doing at the moment, but we don't need to do them.

"we love each other, but we're trapped" echos - leave your lover

muse a and muse b were there for each other through anything, ever since they were kids. they had an indescribable bond. muse a dreamed that they will live together, happily ever after, but dreams don't always come true. muse b has found another, one that muse a ironically set him up with, not expecting the relationship to flourish this much. it seamed as if muse b's relationship was going to be stable, which made muse a's heart ache every time he glanced at their direction. to cope, muse a also started to date - of course, as muse b helped him, just the way muse a did once. muse a eventually found someone nice, sweet and kind. in other circumstances, he would have fallen in love. but his heart ached for someone else. as if it couldn't get more confusing for both of them, muse a and b often ended up in each other's arms, swearing to forget about it, for the sake of their lovers. and so, "one time only" was repeated again, and again, and again. by the end of the night, as they relaxed in each other's hold, the very same sentence was heavy onto muse a's tongue - "we should leave our lovers and be with one another", knowing muse b would never leave their lover. only time will tell if muse a will work his courage, or if muse b will accept it.

variations:

- muse a writes a song to play to muse b, and so, confessing.

- muse b eventually gets engaged, only making things more complicated.

- muse b's lover breaks up with them/cheats on them, making muse b shut down any possible romantic relationships for a while, including the ones he had with muse a.

* - i reccomend listening to the song before picking it, to grasp on the vibe of it better.

"little red string" soulmate au.

each person is born with a soulmate, that you will be able to find ever since you are 5. but, due to the inconvenience that it is manifested with, controversies rose every time. the arguments were so intense, that the world collectively resorted to keep the topic in silence.

how is this little bond so troubled? simple. at 5, one, and only one of the two will be able to see a thin, red string, ever so delicately tied around their left pinky finger, leading up to their soulmate. it never gets tangled, it never gets broken, it never gets untied. no matter what you do to it. the only was in which the second person can see the string is by a kiss.

muse a was born in a fortunate, soulmate family. and, the luck seamed to be on their side, as their son ended up being the one having the string. his parents asked him on his birthday if he had a little red string now, which the child happily confirmed. muse a was excited to see his soulmate, but nothing could prepare hm to be face to face with muse b, the one who he hated the most in their entire kindergarten. and that hate was oh so mutual.

muse a and muse b continued to be in each other's almost daily life, hatred only growing as they reached their adulthood. muse b was a nonbeliever, skeptical of this whole string of faith. muse a, he didn't want to deal with muse b, but he knew that all of their future relationships won't be fully happy. could they overcome this hatred for the sake of a happy relationship?

3. 🎻

"glowing pearl" - pirate + mermaid au.

muse a has been growing up on a ship since he was 8, and running away with one of his elder friends, away from the poverty of their little seaside village life. and so, they embraced the pirate life. muse a was fortunate enough to learn how to read from his mother, and so he helped with the navigation, map reading and negotiations - where violence was not applied.

for the past few months, the rumour of a special kind of oyster, producing natural blue akoya pearls was circling around the market, and the many other ships. they were extremely expensive on land, so the pirates knew they should get their hands on as many as they could, to sell the or to keep them to themselves.

muse b was the son of sea lord. sort of a royal of the merpeople. he was advised by his family to stay away from the surface, as the humans were dangerous - in most of the cases they captured merpeople out if curiosity, or out of desire to steal their different accessories that they decorated their hair, neck, ears, wrists, body with. but muse b didn't care, curiosity won over him, as he swam up.

muse a was looking down at the water when he spotted a person staring right up at him. what truly caught his attention was the much desired pearls, in form of a necklace. but it was such a shame. the mareperson stared up at him with such big, curious eyes. it was truly a shame. such a beautiful face didn't deserve this kind of treatment. will he keep silent, or tell his comrades, which will result in the capture of muse b?

"petal juice" hanahaki au + bts

tw :: mentions of soft gore//death.

'hanahaki, a condition in which an individual coughs flower petals. the flowers range in colors and kind, from simple red rose petals to purple hyacinths. the flowers are growing inside the lungs, on 4 distinct stages. stage one isn't noticable. the plants start to grow inside the lungs, that's when the person starts to cough more and more often. stage two, the person begins to cough small petals. the said person runs out of breath quicker. stage two is one of the lengthiest stages, along with stage three. stage three consists of coughing larger petals, and eventually small blooms, along with blood. the coughing gets more and more violent, and also more often. those episodes are also longer. it is harder to perform any physical task. one of the lengthiest stages, along with stage two. stage four, the terminal stage, is when the person starts coughing out full flowers, and where the suffocation episodes begin. eventually, it culminates with death, as the petals bloom outside of the person's mouth and nostrils, choking them to death. the cause of this disease is one sided love. the time between the stages may vary from person to person. depending on how often and for how long they are in contact with the person they love. the disease can be surgically removed, but with the flowers, all the positive feelings regarding the once loved person is gone too, leaving hatred behind. the natural cure is if the love is returned. if, by any chance, the love is fake and the sick person finds out before they cough two full flowers (usually a year after love is returned, to signify the curing) the disease will relapse, causing in their death in less than a day.' muse a shut his laptop as soon as he finished reading, looking down at the tiny petal in his hand.

fast forward a few years, at the beginning of stage three, muse a cursed himself for ever loving his band mate, muse b. he knew that confessing wasn't an option, being a rising kpop group, only to be openly gay and in love with your team mate in a country as homophobic as korea wasn't an option. but.... all that he could do was wait, wait for something, anything to come. and also keep his illness a secret from the other 6 team mates, including muse b.

5. 🎻

local forest warlock au.

where one or both muses can be witches, specialized on different areas (eg. potions, spells, etc). or one can be a simple villager, or a prince from a nearby kingdom.

in which muse a is tied in commercializing a recreational drug, and simply doesn't want to put his love interest muse b, a piercer/tattoo artist/florist/singer at a local club in danger.

catfish au, but a really soft one. in which muse a is a very, well known singer/rapper/dancer and makes a fan account of himself. only to start getting a little too attached to this fanboy.

bonus!! muse b is also an artist. muse a makes a fan account for muse b, and vice versa.

"when we all fall asleep, where do we go?"

muse a has these strange, reoccurring dreams. they simply feel so real. too real. there is nothing too much out of the ordinary, well, if the normal world had a pink sky and blue ground that is. but, the city was the same. the food was the same. people were, if they were there, the same. the city was empty, with only a few people roaming around. this is where muse a met muse b. "are you dreaming too?" "i suppose."

months passed, in the same dream, muse b and muse a continued to meet. "so can we see each other when we are awake?" "are you sure that you're real?" "i am, are you?" "touche..."

but, after a few more weeks, muse b stopped appearing in muse a's dream. he searched for him in the whole city, yet no sign of him, anywhere. muse a hoped that he could meet muse b again, somewhere. but the city when awake was big, too big for him to search his missed friend. will the search become easier? is muse b still thinking about him?

9. 🎻

"tough love baby"

enemies. whether it be rival bakeries, artists, workers at an office job, kingdoms, mafias, all have one thing in common: the same tension, hateful remarks only to mask away the.... other kind of tension between them. an unlikely pair, yet fun and spicy.

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consulting-celiac-in-the-tardis · 7 years

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A Healthy Chef's Guide to Cooking Gluten Free with Beans?

New blog post! When it comes to beans, people usually fall in one of two categories: they love em' or they hate them. Considering that today is National Bean Day, though, I figured we should celebrate bean lovers...and maybe even convert people in the latter group! Now, beans and I have always had a good relationship, but we didn't start going steady until I began experimenting with more plant-based meals. Suddenly, I realized: black beans aren't the only legumes who know how to party! White beans, kidney beans, chickpeas...the list ran on and on.

As does the list of how you can work beans into your daily diet. The truth is, beans aren't just for side dishes anymore. They can be the star of an entree or even the secret ingredient of dessert. Ready to celebrate National Bean Day in (delicious) style? Here's a healthy chef's guide bean types, their health benefits, and common kitchen uses - plus plenty of drool-worthy gluten free, vegan and paleo recipes along the way. 1. Black Beans You may only know black beans for being a plant based source of protein, but this food packs a bigger nutritional punch than just that. Black beans also offer high doses of fiber, folate, copper, manganese, vitamin B1 and magnesium. Studies have also shown that black beans can reduce inflammation, protect against cancer, improve digestive health and stabilize blood sugar levels. Some common uses for black beans include dishes from Mexican, Brazilian, Dominican, Cuban and Creole cuisines. For instance, you've probably seen black beans inside or served as a side with burritos or tacos, or pureed into a thick soup or dip for chips. To use black beans to the fullest in your own kitchen, you can experiment with recipes like:

Loaded (Sweet) Potato Wedges (V, P): because the only thing better than nachos is nachos using potatoes!

Fudgey Black Bean Zucchini Cookies (V): black beans in cookies? Don't knock it 'til you sink your teeth in these chewy dreams!

Enchilada Stuffed Spaghetti Squash (V, P): which puts a healthy twist on a Mexican favorite.

Black Bean Soup with Cilantro Lime Rice (V): because nothing says "winter comfort food" more than a creamy bowl of soup!

Salmon Black Bean Enchilada Bake: in case you want to add a sea-side touch to your usual enchiladas...

Vegan Gluten Free Black Bean Brownies (V, P): a tasty treat from one of my favorite bloggers.

*V = Vegan, P = Paleo (in terms of the rest of the ingredients being paleo as beans are not part of a "strict" paleo diet)

Nachos, enchiladas, potatoes...whatever they are, they're delish!

Whether you're sneaking black beans into your dessert or diving into dinner, this plant-based protein is always guaranteed to give your taste buds one heck of a fiesta! 2. Chickpeas/Garbanzo Beans Am I the only one whose mind was totally blown when I figured out that chickpeas and garbanzo beans are the same thing? Or that chickpeas actually taste freakin' delicious? Well, even if I'm alone in those surprises, I'm not the only one enjoying the health benefits of chickpeas. Chickpeas are one of the oldest consumed crops in the world, filling people's plates for over 7,500 years. As with black beans, chickpeas are high in fiber and protein. They are also packed with manganese, folate, copper, phosphorus and iron. Studies have also shown that chickpeas help maintain blood sugar levels, aid with satiety and weight loss, improve digestion, balance unhealthy cholesterol levels and reduce hypertension.

That purple sweet potato though...

Historically, chickpeas first appeared in Mediterranean countries before spreading to southern France and Germany. Ancient Romans used chickpeas in everything from broths to roasts to stews. As chickpeas became popular in the Middle East, they also appeared in foods like hummus and falafel. Chickpeas are also unique in that you can use with chickpea flour and aquafaba, or the liquid found in a chickpea can! How can you easily add chickpeas to your diet? Try out recipes like:

Seven Minutes 'Till Heaven Loaded Baked Potatoes (V, P option): any of these beans pair great with a fluffy baked (sweet) potato.

Levantine Socca Pizza (V, P): give pizza a healthy upgrade using chickpea flour.

Maple Ginger Chocolate Chip Cookie Dippers (V): another example that beans can be a secret weapon in baking.

Two Bean Meatless Meatloaf (V): this recipe pairs chickpeas with pinto beans for a vegan alternative to the classic 50's Diner dinner.

Slow Cooker Potato, Chickpea and Beet Greens Curry (V): you can't go wrong with creamy curry. And you know I love beet greens!

3-Ingredient Pumpkin Cookies (V): who knew that aquafaba would result in the fluffiest, lightest cookies ever?

Mexican Crustless Chickpea Quiche (V): if you think you'll never taste quiche again after going vegan...chickpeas have proved you wrong!

2016 was the year that I became addicted to chickpeas...and I think these recipes are plain examples why!

Those cookies!

3. Kidney Beans If you're craving a rainbow for dinner, kidney beans might be your secret weapon: they come in a variety of colors and patterns, including white, black, red, purple, spotted and striped. Besides being rich in protein, kidney beans consist of 78% starch and a good dose of fiber. They also offer high levels of molydenum, folate, iron and copper while helping protect eaters from colon cancer. Be aware, though, that kidney beans are toxic when uncooked or improperly cooked! For people wanting to lower their meat consumption in 2017, kidney beans may become your new best friend. Combine them with a whole grain like brown rice or gluten free pasta for a complete protein. Because kidney beans hold up well when cooked, you'll often see them in simmered dishes or stews. Another bonus? Kidney beans absorb the flavors they're cooked with well. Some of my favorite dishes include:

Lentil Kidney Bean Chili (V): if you're looking for a delicious way to smash the plant-based protein, look no further than this chili!

Gluten Free and Vegan Pizza with Pizzaz (V): beans on pizza? If you have any leftover beans from these other recipes, top them on your next pie for a hit of plant-based protein.

Baked Kidney Bean Brownies (V, P): just hand these out at work, watch people devour them and then reveal their secret ingredient!

The Easiest Gluten Free Green Veggie Soup (V): just add chickpeas at the end of cooking for a protein-packed, creamy addition to your soup!

Vegan Kidney Bean Salad: in case you want to kick of 2017 with a fresh salad, this one is as healthy as it is delicious.

Roasted Kidney Bean and Chickpea Trail Mix (V, P option): trail mix? with beans? Obviously, this recipe has my name all over it!

Kidney beans = 100X more delicious than they sound!

I'll admit, kidney beans aren't my favorite out of the group...but some of these eats have definitely converted me. 4. White/Cannellini Beans To round up this celebration for National Bean Day, here are some facts about white beans that you should know. First of all, one cup boasts around 90 calories - which offer 8% of your needed daily calcium, 7.7% of your needed daily potassium needs and 25% of your needed fiber. White beans also can help prevent skin damage (and skin cancer) and can aid people with Crohn's disease. Like other beans, Cannellini also help people regulate blood sugar, reduce high blood pressure and maintain a healthy weight.

Under all of that pesto goodness...

As the Huffington Post has shown, white beans can appear in a variety of recipes, ranging from dip to plenty of different kinds of soup to chili's to quesadillas. Some of my favorites?

Kale and White Bean Soup: I've always been a sucker for simple, cozy dinners!

Vegan White Bean Slow Cooker Mashed Potatoes: just when you thought mashed potatoes couldn't get any better...

Creamy Gluten and Dairy Free Mac N' Cheese (V, P option): my latest discovery? GF pasta + white beans + a vegan cheese or pesto sauce = heaven!

Stuffed Zucchini Boats (or Balls) (V, P option): for a veggie-packed meal, just add your choice of bean. White beans and pesto are always a tasty match.

Southwest Veggie Burgers with Black Bean and Corn Salsa: these veggie burgers feature white beans, brown rice, one egg and spices. For double bean trouble, add a Southwestern salsa on the side.

Basically, these recipes show that, when it comes to food, white beans are the new black!

Maybe you're already a legume-lover. Maybe in 2017, you're just hoping to lower your meat consumption - which has been shown to not only make people healthier, but also decrease greenhouse gas emissions and lower health care costs. Either way, National Bean Day is the perfect chance to add some beans to your diet.

Make your pizza and eat it too!

Who knows. After you try some of these tasty recipes - or eat a bean brownies and don't even taste the bean - you might even find yourself asking: "Where have you bean all my life?"

What's your favorite type of bean or bean recipe? Do you try to add plant-based protein to your diet? Tell me your thoughts below! via Blogger http://ift.tt/2iIs784

#Blogger #college #celiac #gluten free #coeliac #celiacs #paleo #primal #foodporn #foodart

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