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#I dunno how many of these I'll be able to make the next two days or so- my nephews are sleeping over here and I'll be busy
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Jeremiah Fisher | tsitp 1.07
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bropunzeling · 1 month
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Mattdrai 15
things you said with too many miles between us
February is turn-your-breath-into-clouds cold, geologic-layers-of-ice cold, scrape-your-throat-raw cold. Leon spends his days keeping his time outside as short as possible, running from house to car to rink and back, wrapped up in layers, wincing every time he inhales too hard. He spends his nights looking at vacation spots -- Bali, the Bahamas, Barcelona. Looks at hotel rooms for two and dreams of being warmed through.
"So, what's the weather like there?" he asks as he lies on his back and tries to catch his breath. His hand is sticky; he wipes it on his stomach, but that only makes the situation worse.
"Nice. Sunny," Matthew says. He has a slight lisp that gets more pronounced after he’s come. Leon likes the way he can make Matthew’s tongue stumble. "You jealous?"
Leon hums. Refuses to admit to anything.
"Can't blame you if you are," Matthew says. "Gotta say, being able to wear shorts in February is a big perk."
Leon closes his eyes and imagines they’re talking while facing each other, heads on separate pillows. Close enough to feel the heat of each other's breath as they speak, the way they were in November. In November, he had traced the line of Matthew’s arm, fingers marking a trail from the round of Matthew’s shoulder to the crook of his elbow to the bend of his wrist. Up and down, over and over. He'd wondered if it tickled, but Matthew hadn't made him stop.
"I'll definitely take it over freezing every time I go outside. How the fuck are you not a popsicle? A Draisaitl-sicle. A Drai-sicle?"
"You sound stupid," Leon mumbles.
"You sound stupid," Matthew retorts. "Seriously though, have you frozen to death yet?"
"It's fine," Leon says. "Or -- you know."
It's Matthew’s turn to hum.
If they were in the same place right now, here is what Leon would do: roll over on the bed. Dig his chin into Matthew’s shoulder. Rub his cold hands all along Matthew’s sides, refusing to let Matthew squirm away. Wait for their chests to move in time, breaths coming together. Ignore the tackiness of the skin and the sweat cooling between his shoulderblades and in the backs of his knees, ignore how greasy his hair feels. Stay there, plastering himself to Matthew like a barnacle, holding on the way he didn't a year ago, back before he knew Matthew would be going beyond his reach. He can picture it so clearly, how it would happen in Bali, Barcelona, in Matthew’s bedroom.
If he did that, he thinks Matthew might let him.
"Do you have any plans for the summer?" Leon asks, words escaping before he has a chance to think them over.
Matthew makes an inquisitive noise, tinny through the phone speakers. "What?"
"Plans," Leon repeats. "For the summer."
"I dunno. There’s the wedding, training, you know. All that," Matthew says. "Why?"
Leon opens his eyes. Looks at the empty pillow next to his own, the half of the bed where Matthew could fit. Thinks of blue skies, long summer days, spending his nights skin to skin with someone else.
"I'd like to see you," Leon admits. "I want to see you."
A pause. Leon’s breath freezes in his throat.
Then, "Oh," Matthew says; "oh," and, "yeah, okay," and, "I'd like that. I'd like that too."
Leon lets out that breath. His cheeks are warm.
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wheels-of-despair · 5 months
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Enough | A Make Up Story | Tom Grant x You | Series Masterlist
Chapter 3: The Emptiest of Threats Words: 2k
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You woke before Tom did the next morning.
Well, gave up on trying to sleep. Every time you closed your eyes, you saw her. And the redhead. Tom tossed and turned most of the night, but his snores indicated that at least one of you got a little sleep.
You crept out of bed and to the tiny bathroom, trying to avoid catching your own bloodshot eyes in the mirror, then wandered into the kitchen. With a glance toward the sleeping stranger you'd just shared a bed with, you begin pulling out the necessary ingredients for a Virgin Mary. Jade had drank herself into many a stupor, and claimed this was the only cure.
After making sure you didn't sleep alone in your car, entertaining you with banter and making you dinner, easing Tom's self-inflicted suffering was surely the least you could do. Once the drink was mixed, you stuck it in the fridge and waited for him to wake up.
You sat at the kitchen table and stared blankly out the window. Maybe this was exactly what you needed: To see that Jade would never belong to you. No matter how much you loved her, or how desperate you were to make her love you back… she was still Jade. She would never be satisfied just… being. She always needed to try something new, or go somewhere she'd never been before, or be with someone different. She would always get bored with you after a week or two.
You could tell yourself these things all day long, but that didn't make them hurt any less.
And poor Tom. Been with his girl for three years, he'd said, and she was under Jade's spell in a week. You couldn't blame the girl; it had happened to you too. There was something mystical about Jade, and you didn't think you'd ever understand it.
A groan from the bedroom interrupts your miserable thoughts. You turn your head and fight back a smile when you see him clutching his head with both hands. Time to let the Virgin Mary do the Lord's work.
You shake two aspirin from the fresh bottle you'd bought just for her into your hand and fetch the cup from the tiny fridge, padding quietly toward him. You fight your instinct to sit on the edge of the bed; it's how you delivered Jade her morning mix.
"Here," you offer, leaning over to offer him the cup from a safe distance. He unscrunches one eye.
"Wha's that?"
"Aspirin and a Virgin Mary."
"Don't want it."
"It'll make you feel better."
"Don't wanna feel better."
"Well I want you to, and since I could totally take you right now, you better sit up and drink this damn thing before I make you."
To your surprise, he listens. It was the emptiest of threats. He sits up, holds out his hands, and accepts your offerings. He pops the pills in his mouth, chugs the drink, and finishes with a dramatic gag. If you weren't so emotionally drained, you'd probably laugh at him.
"Go get cleaned up, I'll make you breakfast."
He mumbles something - the only thing you can make out is the word "bossy" - but he does get up and stumble his way toward the bathroom.
It's nearly lunchtime, so you have a repeat of last night's late dinner waiting for him when he comes back out. A few wet curls cling to his forehead from where he'd splashed water on his face. He sits across from you, and you share a silent meal. When you finish, neither of you moves to get up.
"What will you do now?" he asks.
"Go home, I guess," you shrug. "What about you?"
He sighs and looks down at his hands. "Dunno. Don't really wanna quit my job to avoid her, but like… if I have to see them together every day, I'm gonna have to go drown myself."
"Don't do that."
"Do what?" he asks, leaning back and crossing his arms.
"You know what." You mirror his position. A staring contest ensues, and he finally concedes by standing.
"You ready to go rescue your car?"
"Yeah."
"C'mon."
You grab your bag and walk to the door. He gestures to the grocery bag on the counter.
"Eat it, toss it, I don't care." Like you'd ever be able to eat any of her favorite things again. You step outside into the sunshine, ready to try leaving this place behind… again.
Tom follows you out the door. You walk side by side down the path toward the office, eyes constantly scanning around you, watching for them.
Miraculously, you make it to the office unnoticed, Tom grabs the keys, and you hop into the little truck without having to speak to anyone. The ride to your car is silent. You just want this to be over with. You'll probably even welcome the dazzling mediocrity of home after this ordeal.
"Can I help?" you ask when Tom stops behind your car.
"Nah, sit tight, I got it." He gets out and pulls a chain off the back of the truck, walks toward your car, and ducks out of sight. A minute later, he's back in the truck. He puts it in reverse and revs it, and although your little monster puts up a fight, it eventually gives in and pops back up out of the ditch and onto the road.
"Thank you," you tell Tom, genuinely grateful for everything he's done for you in the last 12 hours.
"Don't worry about it," he grins. He gets out to walk you to your car… where a dark trail of liquid leads from the front end to the piece of metal still in the ditch.
"Fuck me," you groan.
Tom blows his cheeks full of air and lets it out slowly. "Yeah, that's not good."
"You don't say," you deadpan.
"Calm down, I know a guy."
"A guy who works on weekends?" He scrunches his nose in a wince.
You close your eyes and pinch the bridge of your nose, letting out a long and exasperated breath until you hear the squealing brakes of an approaching car.
"Hey, mate!" Tom calls to the slowing vehicle. You stand awkwardly next to your car while he talks to the driver - a bearded twenty-something - and force a tense smile when he looks over at you. The guy pulls away a minute later, and Tom returns to your side with a smile.
"That's Kyle. He works with me. He's gonna call the auto shop for us and find out if someone can come get it today. If he can't reach anybody, he'll ask Kai to come help."
Great. Asking for help from Kai, the glare-y one. You close your eyes, lean your head back, and extend your arms.
"The fuck are you doing?"
"Waiting for a lightning strike to finish me off," you explain. "Right here, God! Let's just get this over with!"
Tom chuckles. "Come on, you're alright." He lightly slaps your open palm to get your attention, and you look at him with cynical eyes. He tilts his head toward the other side of the road and begins walking across. With a sigh of defeat, you follow him, climb the small rise, and sit next to him in the grass.
"You don't have to stay with me," you tell him quietly, absentmindedly playing with a fray on your jeans. "I'm sure you have better things to do. I'll wait for the guy, get him to take me into town, ride out the rest of my vacation in the cheapest motel I can find. Hopefully the junk bucket gets glued back together before I'm expected back at work."
"What do you do?"
"On paper, I'm an office aide. Which is workplace jargon for 'we're too cheap to hire separate secretaries, so you get to take orders from everyone'."
"You like it?"
"Nope."
"Why do you do it if you don't like it?"
"Does anybody actually like their job?"
"I do," he shrugs. "I know it's not like… what most people dream of. But I like it. I like fixing things. Stuff where you can see results. Give people a home away from home. And the hours are nice. I can take off to go surfing sometimes."
You smile at the almost dazed look on his face.
"My parents think I'm mad," he continues. "Should've worked harder in school, gone to uni, become something respectable they can brag about. But I like it here. Been coming here since I was a kid. Used to pitch a fit when it was time to leave. Wanted to stay here forever. That's why I asked Ru…"
Tom's face hardens. After a moment of unbearable silence, you can't help yourself.
"I think it's nice to know what you want. I envy you for that."
"You never wanted anything?" He picks a blade of grass and twists it in his fingers.
"All I ever wanted was Jade." It comes out so quietly, you think the wind may have blown it away.
Tom heaves a sigh and looks at you. "We're fuckin' pathetic, aren't we?"
You burst out laughing at the same time.
You spent the next hour talking nonstop about everything and nothing as you waited for help to arrive.
Tom was a great guy. He was smart, and funny, and without him, you would've spent this time spiraling further into your pit of despair. The discussion flowed easily from one topic to the next, not another awkward silence in sight. You suspected he was trying to keep himself from thinking about a certain someone as well, but you were grateful for the conversation and the company nonetheless.
You were wiping away tears of laughter and holding your aching sides over a story about his very first surfing lesson when the tow truck puttered to a stop in front of you.
The guy - Doug, he'd grunted when you introduced yourself - had your car hooked up and ready to go in minutes. You pick your bag up and turn to Tom.
"Well, Tom… whenever I think of the worst day of my life, I'll always think of you."
He grins.
"Really, though. Thank you for everything. It was nice to not be alone through… this." You can feel yourself welling up at the thought of the crushing reality you'd soon have to face, and try to blink away the tears. Doug gets back in his truck and slams his door. "I should go." You look at Tom fondly, trying to burn his kind face into your memory. "Bye, Tom." He's really not gonna say anything? Okay, Tom. You take a step toward the truck.
"What if you didn't?" he says in a rush.
You stop in your tracks, then slowly turn back to face him.
"What if I didn't what?"
"Go."
"Kinda have to, Tom." He shakes his head.
"Don't waste your money on a shitty motel. They're still charging summer rates. Stay with me. No charge. I'll take you to get your car when it's ready."
"Tom, you've already done too much for me, I couldn't possibly ask you for more."
"You didn't ask, I offered."
You hesitate.
"Stay," he says. The look in his eyes - almost pleading? - stabs you in the heart like a dagger. Is this what you looked like when you were silently begging Jade to keep you?
"Are you sure?"
He nods.
And after a moment of stunned silence, so do you.
"Thanks, mate," Tom says to Doug. "Just call the office and ask for me, yeah?"
The gruff man in the truck acknowledges the dismissal with a grunt, and drives off with your hunk of junk.
You both stand in the road and watch the truck until it turns a corner and putters out of sight, then turn to face each other.
"Well…" you both begin at the same time, laughing instead of continuing your sentences.
"Back to hell we go?" you joke.
"Guess so," he smiles.
You close your eyes and stick out your arms again. "Okay, God! If you're gonna do it, please do it before I have to pay the mechanic's bill!"
Tom laughs, grabbing your bag and pushing you toward his work truck. "Move it, drama queen."
"You love it," you grin, climbing into the cab.
Tom neither confirms nor denies this as he starts the truck with a smirk and begins the process of turning around.
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meganechan05 · 7 months
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...My Writer Brain is the worst... ( ;∀;)
The Choice Made That Day
Rita/Morfonia (+HimeRita Friendship)
Description: A choice was made. But what was the cost?
Spoilers for King-Ohger Episode 28. Based off of Episode 29's Preview. Angst; Hurt/Comfort; Hurt/No Comfort
[Would I put this on AO3? ...I dunno. I kinda don't want to bc it's painful and i already added 2 Angsty chapters to the J&B collection today...]
Gloved hands placed the crown on her head. "I'll leave Gokkan to you, Morfonia."
She shook her head as her King started to walking away. "Wait... Wait! Rita! Don't go!"
Morfonia reached for the air in front of her as she sat up in her bed, only to find herself in her room.
She grabbed her glasses and got out of bed, running out into the halls of Zaiban Castle.
"Ah. Supreme Justice."
She ignored the calls. She's not Supreme Justice. She's not.
She ran towards the end of a hallway, opening the door. "Rita?!"
She stopped when all she found was what once was Rita Kaniska's personal office. Cleared of books and documents as all that was left was the furniture. The only sign that it was once the former King's office was the large Moffun plush seated on the sofa, gazing back towards the new King.
Take care of Moffun for me, okay?
She walked over to the large plush, taking a seat next to it before burying her face in its soft fur. Tears began to stain it as she cried.
"You idiot..."
~
Rita gazed up at the ceiling of the abandoned warehouse, swinging on the webbed hammock. They were surprised at how comfortable it was and felt grateful of Jeramie to make one for all of the former Kings. Not exactly the first time they slept on anything but their own bed. Something they were often chastised for.
Mou! You need to sleep better or it'll be more work for me!
They felt their heart clench at the reminder of Morfonia. They couldn't help but to wonder if she's okay. Sure, Gokkan was fine the past few years, but only because there wasn't an enemy to fight and no danger coming to the planet and the people.
Morfonia can defend herself, but she wasn't a fighter. Rita knew she could take on Gokkan's Neutrality, but to fight to protect the people would be hard for her. Especially now when the former Kings were forced to take the Calibers with them by orders of the new Kings. Without the power of the Shugods, the new Kings wouldn't be able to defend themselves like they can.
"Oi. Former Judge. Mind coming down?"
They craned their neck to look down to find Yanma and Himeno.
"We need to discuss some plans and need a mediator," Himeno said," You're still holding onto that impartiality, aren't you?"
Rita sighed before climbing down, grabbing a web twisted into a rope to slide down to the ground level. They stuffed the small Moffun they had into their jacket before joining the others.
"We left our countries to them to protect everyone! We can't just have whoever joins us fight our people!" Gira argued," Fight each other, especially!"
"Not like we have a choice. They're good, but not enough to stop a war if our people begin acting out against each other," Yanma muttered," Having those bugs up there interfere only makes it harder."
"Well we have to do something," Jeramie said," It took over two years for humans to accept Bugnarok as fellow people, but we know there are some that are against us. I cannot allow a war between two sides again."
"Kaguragi. You still have spies loyal to you, right?" Himeno asked.
"Whatever shall you mean?" Kaguragi asked, feigning innocence.
"We have no time for deceptions," Rita said," We need the truth for the sake of our people whether it's for our countries or others'."
Kaguragi sighed, hearing the anger in the Judge's voice. "While they are loyal to me, they are also loyal to the throne. Kuroda can't do anything for me now that I've made him Lord and everyone answers to him. But they have told me there are many all over the globe willing to help us take down the Galactinsects as a Resistance."
Rita's hold on their Caliber tightened. "Resistance?"
"Only be name so far depending on development. Especially if the enemy has someone with a mind-controlling ability that caused this mess."
"That's true. They were all controlled so the enemy will attempt that once again," Himeno said," They're playing with this planet like a game. What knows what that monster will do?"
Rita felt their heart clenching again.
"Then Gokkan needs to be a priority," they said.
"Heh?" "What?"
"Surprised to hear you say that, Former Supreme Justice," Jeramie said," May I inquire your reasoning?"
Rita tightly held their Caliber. "While all countries have their role in maintaining peace between the people, everything must be overlooked by international law to maintain fairness. If they take over Gokkan first, there's a high chance in chaos. Unfit people becoming rulers, regulations that show bias. Even a possible war."
"That's true. Taking down the country that keeps trouble out of each other's streets and protecting everyone would only make things harder for the others to control," Gira said," I think Morfonia once said that everyone there is a criminal or once was. If they were manipulated into a prison break or something, it could mean a lot of trouble."
"But we can't exactly barge right in," Yanma said," Gokkan's an impenetrable fortress in the middle of nowhere. And we obviously can't rely on the Shugods to fly us in." He looked to Rita. "You know it best. But how we get there will take time."
Rita kept their gaze to the ground, knowing he's right. "I'll figure something out. Our main concern requires resources."
The meeting continued on, discussing priorities and positioning spies should they be able to recruit any. Rita tried not to zone out, their mind wandering back to Gokkan.
They went back to their hammock once finished, needing space. They grabbed onto the rope when a hand rested on their shoulder. "What?"
"You miss her, don't you?"
"That doesn't matter."
"I think it does."
They were pulled into a turn, facing Himeno. "That's not part of the discussion," they said, their tone warning her to leave them alone.
"You're not King anymore. Which means you shouldn't hold yourself to Absolute Neutrality. While you're right about the world falling into further chaos without Gokkan's laws and regulations, we all know very well who their main target would be. If everyone in Gokkan are convicts or ex-convicts under your rule, then-"
She was cut off by a stressed yell from Rita.
Rita knew she was right. They knew everyone in Gokkan hated them. All Gokkan Kings were hated. That was why they were worried now that the title has officially been passed down.
They knew criminals wouldn't find their sentences just even if it was. They would take any opportunity to take down the Kings when they had the chance.
Rita knew ever since they took the throne. Of the horrors they faced. Of those who would attempt to attack them in and out of court had those working for them didn't interfere or they didn't train for such moments.
Morfonia wasn't ready for that. She wasn't ready for the true horror of being the Supreme Justice.
But they couldn't say anything. They didn't have a right to. Not anymore. Especially now when all of the former Kings were sent into exile after stepping down.
They felt a pair of arms around them, accompanied by faint floral perfume.
"It's okay to be worried for her. It's okay to cry for her, too, Rita. That's why we agreed on protecting Gokkan first. Morfonia will understand... I promise... So don't hold back for her sake."
Rita felt their body trembling at her words. Like a dam bursting after seventeen years of bottling up their emotions to be the strong King Gokkan needed to stay afloat.
They crumpled to their knees as Himeno held them, tears running down their face but unable to let out a sob. Their hands tightly held Himeno's arms to keep themself grounded as they shook.
All that could be heard in that building were the faint sniffles from the judge. No one willing to stop them.
No one wanted them to for their sake.
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sacredsanguine · 4 months
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voicemails: a vignette (modern marvels. joesme, modern mafia au.)
"Hey, angel - hope you've had a good day. I just wanted to let you know I won't be able to call tonight, some last minute business came up for after the after-party." A sigh crinkles over the low latency of the voice-mail message. "But there's a redeye back home - set dress in five! Music! - so I'll catch that and see you first thing tomorrow. Give Ember a kiss for me. Love you. I'll see you real soon."
Sharp tone. One and a half seconds.
"End of message. To replay this message, press one. To mark for deletion, press seven. To return the message sender's call, press -"
---
Faint strains of Borodin colour an irritated voice, strings barely scratching through a low but imperative timbre. To quote an old interviewer: a voice as smoky as his hair, glistening with the same elegant sheen of well-wielded pomade and good taste. There is something of the Old Country's spirit in him, a keen spark burning through the adornments of his adopted country.
"Have some faith, dear boy. My family knows its capabilities - if she could not return, she would not be an Etoni. You see? Exactly. Yes - of course, very understandable. Please, feel free to stay there, much more convenient than going back and forth. Taran has also been...struggling with the sudden circumstances. The two of you would be of solace to each other, I hope."
The phone clicks onto its receiver. A second, crystalline voice echoes from a previously silent corner of the room: "Solace?"
"He is a deeply faithful boy." Clink: metal on porcelain. "Perhaps enough to make up for the wayward girl."
"Perhaps."
---
"There are no new messages. Previously saved message: Hey, angel - hope you've had a good day. I just wanted to let you know I won't be able to call to -"
Click. Dial. Ring. Ring. Ring.
"Sorry, the number you've dialed is disconnected or not in service." Click. Click. Dial. Ring. "Hi, you've just missed me. Leave a message after the tone and I'll be in touch."
Beep. Pause. Long breath. Click.
---
"Kitten, pick the fuck up." Car engines idling through thick glass pane. Ambient music; the scream of milk frothing. Click - metallic, alarm - cash register.
"The longer you take, the more rounds of chess I have to play with subpar pieces. Do not prove my parents right. Do not prove me wrong. Jesus."
---
Refrigerator hum. Click. Beep.
"Look, wherever you are, please just come back. Mom and Dad are losing their shit again. Please come back."
Pause.
"End of message. You have one new message and one saved message."
Whir.
"It's Kristi calling for Esme - I left a few messages on your cell. Call me back as soon as possible. We need to discuss the next show."
"End of message. You have no new messages and one saved message."
Whir.
"Saved message: It's me. He's saving this on the apartment voicemail in case you came here before any of us found you." Static silence. "We're looking. I'm looking."
Long silence. Beep.
"There are no more messages. To return to the main menu, press one. To play saved messages, press two. To hear or record a voicemail inbox greeting, press three. For more options, press seven. If you are done, you may hang up."
---
Ragged breathing. Ruptured lung - new tissue too thin. Pain or death: easy choice. Not new at all.
"Christ. She still going?"
"Mhm. Think we can set a new record. Broken at least five today - how many are there total, again? Go for a strike."
"Ha! Shit, I dunno."
"Bet she does. Hey, pretty girl - how many bones you got?"
One finger - bruised, swollen, caked with old blood - rasps up from the thick bundle of rope attaching wrist to wood. "Go fuck yourself."
Crack. "Bitch. Not so pretty now, huh."
Crack. Crack. Crunch. Buzz.
"Aww, that's cute. Who's Italian Delivery Slash Takeout? They've been calling for days. You must be a real loyal customer."
---
"Delivery for Joel Ryder."
Thud.
---
"Oh, Lord."
---
Click click click. Metallic. Bated breath. Shallow hurts less; no anticipation. Slice.
---
"Put the knife down. Now. Don't make this harder on yourself."
Click. Click. Metallic. Slide.
---
Cardboard unfolding: thick, stiff crinkle. Wet splash. One finger, severed. Gold chain unraveling - imprint of cross over two joints. Charm falls. Bubble wrap rustles. Black fur - crusty, dark - flakes.
Click. Whirr.
"Hey, angel - I just wanted to let you know -- whirr - Hey, angel - I just wanted to let you know -"
Paper unfolding. Soggy scrawl. "She's not so sweet without her heart. Five million alone at the airport, tomorrow 8 pm."
---
"Do not negotiate with them, boy. We have it handled."
Click. Clink.
"His disappointment will be dangerous."
"Ours isn't already?"
---
Slow, steady slide. Slice. Squelch. Sternum separates, silver flashes. Keloids bulge, swell like bark fungi after rain; clench.
The size of a pomegranate, glistening red and fatty, pink-streaked white. Silver flashes. Scream. Severed hand over snipped heart. They wet the stamp with the sweat off her neck.
---
"Hi, package for you. Yeah, it says to sign for it."
Scribble.
"Thanks! Enjoy."
Pause. Study. Slice. Unfold. Gasp. Thud.
Heart, one ventricle slashed, folded into the gentle grasp of a hand missing one finger. Fresh. Slowly oozing. Chipped nail polish: glossy sheer gold.
Laminated paper. Blood streaks over plastic, black twelve point serif. Left the ring finger for you, if you still want it. Fido says thank you for the delicious dinner. She didn't go down quick.
---
"Fucking bitch is right."
Spit. Cold eyes roll back. Viscera underfoot: squelching. Stolen jacket rustles. Cold metal on mangled muscle, burst blood vessels under skin like poison nebulae. Two shots; all business. Broken nails on tempered glass screen; quick taps.
Tap tap tap. Ring. Ring. Beep.
"Oh ye of little faith. I want steak and soft-serve when I get back."
Tap. Heartbeat of hesitation. Sharp crack. Plastic snaps. Tap tap tap. Ring. Ring.
"Hi, this is Courtney at--"
"Tell the angels there's a sinner crawling out of hell to get back to heaven."
Beep. Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.
Footsteps fading fast.
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bard-llama · 5 months
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20 Question Fic Writer Game
Thanks for tagging me @chickiefoo!
How many works do you have on AO3? Today, 450. Probably will go up in the next few days, though, because I enjoy posting daily when I can and I have some new content (vs new chapters to published stuff)
What is your AO3 word count? 2,177,884 🤯🤯🤯
What fandoms do you write for? Primarily, I write for the Witcher, but I spent the last year writing for Avatar, the Last Airbender. Honestly, I've written for a number of fandoms, but most of it was when I first got an AO3 account in high school and college, before I stopped writing for several years. The Witcher got me back into it, and since then, it's only been that and atla. And maybe possibly the DND movie a little bit, but I don't actually have any words on paper, so I don't think it counts.
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What are your top five fics by kudos? 1. Fire and Water (atla) 2. A Second Chance at Family (atla) 3. Five Times Geralt Frotted Against Jaskier's Ass and One Time He Fucked It (TWN) 4. 5 Dinners with the Lioness (Plus 1 with the Lion Cub) (TWN) 5. Death Rites (atla) Kinda funny that I have more Witcher Video Game (esp Iorveth/Roche) fics than any others and yet none make the top 5, but honestly, I think it's just because atla and TWN have bigger fandoms with more people. And technically, I do mostly write a rare pair... (they have 744 works now... but 146 of those are mine...)
Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? I try to, but honestly, I get overwhelmed really easily and I figure people would prefer if I focus my effort on writing vs trying to respond if it's a choice between the two, so...
What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Hmmm. See, the thing is, endings are.... not something I get to that often. But the first thing that came to mind was an atla fic where Zuko gets his hands chopped off and his feet fucked up and then has to learn how to recover. In general, though, I have to write endings that are at least hopeful, if not necessarily happy.
What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Uh. I don't even know how to measure this???? Maybe Bitter Victories (Witcher)? That one starts out really angsty, but ends in the afterlife with a happily ever after (but like, kind of a bittersweet one bc they're alone in their afterlife, all their friends still alive).
Do you get hate on fics? Unfortunately, I had a fic fairly recently that I really did get a lot and that was rough. But also, when I mentioned it in the author's notes, people were really, really sweet and supportive in response. So if you get hate: delete it and seek out validation from people, because you deserve to know that the hate is bullshit. And also, the back button exists and if you're old enough to be on the internet, you're old enough to know how to use it.
Do you write smut? If so, what kind? I have 103 Explicit fics on AO3, so... yeah. Um. The kinky kind???
Do you write crossovers? Not really? Well, I guess it depends on how you define it. I do a lot of like, crossovers between different Witcher mediums - but it's all still the same universe. I dunno that I'd ever branch into doing a whole different universe (though, just saying, Ciri's power was made for universe hopping).
Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not to my knowledge. I hope not?
Have you ever had a fic translated? Yes! It's so cool! I had a fic get translated into Russian.
Have you ever cowritten a fic before? Not really. When I was 9 or 10, my bestie and I would write together, but honestly, I like having full control over everything and my muse is unpredictable. It's best to just work alone than to have someone waiting on something I can't promise I'll deliver. That said, my process really depends on being able to talk through and brainstorm ideas with other people. It's very much collaborative, but I - or rather, my muse - has ultimate control.
What's your all-time favourite ship? Probably Iorveth/Roche (Witcher)? I mean, I've written an awful lot of them and they're the kind of characters where even if the story isn't about them, there's still a regard between them, you know?
What's a WIP you'd like to finish but doubt you ever will? I like to believe that I will one day finish ALL my WiPs... as much of a pipe dream as that sometimes seems... (I have over 300 WiPs)
What are your writing strengths? I think I'm pretty good at character voice? And I'm decent at porn. Uh, I guess my muse is really inventive, too? And I certainly have no shortage of ideas.
What are your writing weaknesses? Description is definitely the biggest one. I am not a visual person AT ALL and so I don't really think to describe the scene much??? And I really can only give details if I've actually like, built out the floorplan or made the character design or something. There's a reason I build a lot of settings and characters in the Sims.
Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic? I mean, I've done it, I think it can be important for a scene - but I also think it's important for the reader to know what's being said, so I usually put it in brackets next to the other language, so you don't have to jump to footnotes or something.
First fandom you wrote for? BBC Merlin, I think
Favourite fic you've ever written? You expect me to choose ONE!?!?!?! (Honestly, it depends on my mood.)
This was fun! Tagging @lutes-and-dandelions, @moonlights-ordinance, @miahclone, @fantom-flower, @useless-empty-brain, anyone else who wants to???
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hospitalterrorizer · 5 months
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diary48
10/25-30/2023
wednesday - monday
i know i actually missed a bunch of days but i will try to put many thoughts about them here.
i figured since keeping my diary went so bad last time, i just wouldn't try w/ it this time because my gf would be really busy and we had someone else in the hotel with us this, time, her mom. her mom was kind of difficult for me to deal with, in the hotel at least. most of the time she was pretty pleasant or like, at least nice. the first day was good until we all went to bed and like, she started snoring. i figure i'll have the video uploaded to dropbox tomorrow off my phone and i'll be able to post that here, along w/ more selfies or whatever. anyways, the snoring was intolerable and i slept for maybe 2 hours that day. the next, i got maybe 3 hours, the day after i slept in like, these twenty minute spurts i think, three days, saturday was similar too, just miserable, weirdly coming in and out of dreams, awoken by nightmares and just incapable of dealing, feeling exhausted perpetually and tired, and so exhausted i couldn't even be grouchy or whatever, i was just like, i dunno, sapped. i guess i'm normally not grouchy when i'm tired, i just get really sensitive when someone starts being mean to me, which made all the people in arizona so much worse probably because i could tell they were staring and like, i know looks of ire/hate/whatever, and i dunno, maybe the people who look like they want to hatefuck me. they're rarer, i think most people there, honestly most, were pretty disturbed by me. not a surprise cuz that state hates anyone who has something strange happening with their gender. i guess i made it harder on myself, i could have just let myself look like how i was born but i don't like doing that and knowing i might have to makes me really unhappy. i just want to be myself but i guess everyone suffers consequences for being alive, getting stared at is maybe on the less bad end, well it definitely is, but it really fucks with you honestly, i think. like, what can you do, i stare back, usually they stop, arizona is the first place people really didn't look away. i remember a guy in the hotel lobby during free breakfast, he kept staring, i was standing still, looking at him while i threw my food away, he didn't quit it until at least 40 seconds of staring took place. it's like they think they let you win if they act polite. another instance, walking to get lunch with my gf, these 3 or 4 men at this table outside did not stop looking, i locked eyes with one directly facing me and nearest, and he just began muttering under his breath, and finally looked away out of some kind of total frustration. women were doing this too, from across the street, all that. families, children (which is more whatever, it only sucks when it feels like/seems like the parents think it's good that their kids stare so it dissuades anyone from being a freak (and also, exposing their kid to someone they think is bad so that way they know what bad people look like or whatever)). i spent a lot of the trip around college aged people, which would make you think this wasn't what happened most of the time, but really, these college people did it constantly, they also talked about doing drugs/drinking and teaching kids at church. a really weird/evil campus. two superchristians asked me some questions, and they weren't bad at all. that's still shocking to me. they obviously wanted me to convert and that probably comes with a stop being weird desire but they at least talked to me like they would anyone else.
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me w/ a candy fag in my axes femme dress. i don't think i looked that ugly! i don't know. maybe i was super ugly outside of the very flattering/nice bathroom mirror. i really need a mirror like that in the apartment. i took a bunch of selfies in it so i can just have pix of my face in good lighting so i don't think too badly of myself.
not being able to work out fully sucked too, by the by.
also, first day, i realized how good my psp is as a mp3 player, and it also has a visualizer, which gave me the idea to use that for the album somehow, that'll be really exciting when i get that goinggg.
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asu is one of the weirdest places i've ever been, i don't have many photos of it on my computer now, but the place felt super evil. for one, walking into some of the buildings, my gf and i saw all these vr headsets hooked up to a wall in this really menacing way, they hung as ghosts or skeletons in tombs, with that raytheon sheen to them, something really evil. it made me think of things james ferraro is into right now, and his video game, and the store ultimate electronic, ancient and lost to time certainly. beyond the bizarrely super tech-forward aspect of this campus (it is hugely a part of the culture there it seems, arizona i think wants to bring in startups to boost its local economy + they really would love to have that clout at asu (which they seem to be getting, proving themselves as great lapdogs for capital 10 years in a row now receiving #1 in many terms such as innovation, globlal impact, sustainability)), the place had like 7 churches attached to it. what else, i dunno, the architecture was nice and then very suddenly there were these hudson-yards esque growths, weird neoliberal light installations (raytheon sheen, smooth, rgb lightcycles, huge, inoffensive and basically pretty at some angles, recalling a jellyfish in the night, at others, bringing to mind yoga studio moodlighting as imagined by wal-mart led lightbulbs), and so on. the people on campus, even at night, as activity died, stared and were very weird. uptight stem people it feels like, mostly. on campus though i did see some very nice art, which i will probably get to post w/ names tomorrow. my gf's conference put these on at the school as well, so it was really not related to asu, which feels good i think. i like that stuff, and i'm glad that can stick with me, one woman's work (audrey robinovitz) i saw was some textile stuff she did, really lovely grading on the values in it, supposedly she's weird on twitter but i quite like her visual art (she also had a poem there which sucked but whateverrrr). and jessica tucker created these:
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i love them, trapped in plastic, expressing and deformed, part of your communication becoming the ways you are failing to cross the gap, the way you're stuck in the uncanny forever sometimes, the way mania feels when you can't fully communicate with your body, all that kind of stuff. also looks like people stuck in their own reflections in water, not staring at themselves for pleasure but operating from way down there, that history of having been reflected all that instantiates them. whatever. you get it, i like it, i think it is communicating something to me. i'll try and say more about the other works i saw tomorrow when i post them, put thoughts to text as i think these things probably deserve.
i also took some rather sexual photos of these birch trees on the campus, hopefully i can use them but they struck me as reminiscent of hans bellmer and so it felt necessary to take these photos.
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and here are some other eerie things i found/shot:
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i also did go to one aquarium in a mall, a regular aquarium, and a zoo. i quite liked these, but my gf's mom spent much of these trips saying how she'd gone to better places, and i know she paid and stuff, but it honestly felt pretty rude, i dunno. i never got out a lot, the only really cool places like that i've been are the san diego zoo, which got cut short because i think i was being stupid as a kid, the monterey bay aquarium (i think one of the happiest moments of my life, which is very sad i suppose, but i really adored seeing all those fish just doing things) and the aquarium in chicago, the shed or whatever, i dunno its name, that one was really beautiful too, great creatures on display and a great view of the lake through a huge window. the zoo made me kind of sad, because we saw some animals who seemed pretty unhappy, the jungle cats, a leopard who was pacing as humans do when in stress, a very abnormal behavior, i think, and a sick cat. i didn't take many photos at these, just cuz i wanted to be in the moment for it, i like seeing them do things.
as far as special displays go, i did get to see some batfish, which i don't believe i've ever seen, and i also saw some flounder, a very crazy thing to see, their eyes really are so baffling and surreal, they should not be alive it feels like.
in the zoo, all the reptiles and snakes especially were kept up front and very visible, which was wild to me, i saw some of them moving their funny heads around, they really are such cute and strange creatures. it was also great seeing lizards, i love them, i recognized many from the wild but it was still very fun. also in the reptile enclosure, apparently a family i didn't see was staring at me more than the animals, very annoying! on the other end of that, we all got to see some prairie dogs just chilling, which was very cute/fun. my gf and her mom say they were the highlight of the trip when it comes to animals.
some pics of the 2 aquariums, i wonder if i'll find a way to use these:
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and from the mall:
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fun and old style of ornamentation in arizona mills.
as far as daytrip stuff, the last thing we really did was today, when we went to this pumpkin patch thing, it was cute, i felt like i was in the illbleed worm level so i felt pretty happy, the haunted and weird autumnal atmospheres really speak to me so when i got to experience that kind of thing in the corn maze/ the pumpkin patch that was full of rotting pumpkins that kids have kicked open, i really enjoyed myself. it feels like a deep thing in me, that's attracted to all that stuff. the carny/fairground stuff, the gentle abjection of it. we also saw some goats, that was cute. we also saw a really insane food truck that has the q anon shaman as a skeleton as its logo on it:
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people here were of course very weird too, but not so bad, worse than vegas but not as bad as phoenix it felt like. but, one woman saw me holding a huge pumpkin and she said: you need two!! and held one of her smaller pumpkins up to her breast, and laughed, and i laughed, and she said: i've been looking all day for another! it's the perfect gag. and she went off still looking. she treated me like a human i think, so she is kind of a hero to me, sincerely, i hope she found her other pumpkin for her photo.
we also did some other stuff ofc, through the days, my gf's mom really wanted to go to this huge hunting store, we went to that, i played a shooting game in it and scored 970 points-ish, my gf got 350-ish. my gf's mom got disturbed that i looked at the guns a lot but it's really a fascinating place. these stores are where men go to waste money how they think their wives waste money on clothes, thousand dollar accessories, maybe biting the bullet on something way more expenisve (keeping the typo) , the displays and sale tactics are the same, and just as well, this is the american male fantasy, or at least one of them, the rural king of his land, and the way weapons are represented and which ones are sold, really can communicate a lot. overall it's crazy and fascinating, it's why i like looking in bass pro shops, at the people and the things they buy, and the things they deem fun diversions in their stores (for instance all the weird old candy they sell in these hunting superstores). anyways, as you expect, the base is hugely reactionary and everyone there found me kind of freakish except this grandma who just didn't realize, and when she did, she just smiled. here's a sticker i saw in the parking lot on a car there:
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no pain, no gain, shut up and.
so anyways, one final anecdote:
my gf's mom loving bill maher made us watch him and it was so shocking how stupid he is and bad his show is that i started making jokes about it with my gf and she got so mad she just silently shut the tv off and watched the real housewives on her phone. because i said bill maher needs a guy to tell him when to piss over an earpiece.
soooooooooooo,
byebye!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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robinruns · 2 years
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I'm not entirely sure how it's possible to have so many, and so few, thoughts in your head at the same time, but here we are. I don't think I'm going to be able to string them together in any coherent way, so I'll put them under a cut. I feel like I can make less sense then lol
I have no idea what day it is. Going back to work next week is going to be damn near fucking impossible. How am I supposed to want to work when I've had a taste of fucking around and doing nothing? Like ?!?!?!?! When can I please start my influencer life? I'm less than half joking.
I still lowkey can't believe I ran into my friend Shannon last night. We met in line for the Jimmy Eat World concert in 2019. She's from here, and I dunno, I just didn't even think about it until I was standing there and saw her. I thought it would be awkward and she wouldn't want to talk to me, but she did! She was really excited and she split the setlist that she got with me. I also got one of Tom's picks! I also almost got a shirt THAT I PAID FOR stolen from me by a drunk jerk! It was really bizarre! I got in his face and shouted at him and shoved him! Fuckin asshole!
Random guy walking down the street complimented my nails while I was waiting in line. That was kinda neat.
I am waiting for Maria to get here. I am also waiting for it to be 9 am so I can go walk a mile for my running challenge group. I really wish I didn't have to, but at least I don't have to run it?
*plot twist, i went to the gym, it's now nearly 10 am*
I really do need to start taking better care of myself. After this week is over. Right? That sounds good. I keep putting it off, but I really do need to get serious. I have 8 and a half weeks until my half marathon and this is the least prepared I have ever felt. I dunno if I need to reevaluate my running goals or what for 2023, maybe take a break, idk, but like, there is a disconnect that I'm not cool with. Getting up to run used to just be the thing I did every day and it was enjoyable and good and made me feel good. Now it's like oh god I gotta go do that and it's gonna be hard and it's gonna suck uuughhhh. And then I do do it and it's fine, but the getting started has become overwhelming.
I only have about an hour left in this room. I kinda love this room. It's quiet. I've been sitting in quiet all morning and I love it. When I'm at my apartment it's never quiet. Kyle has like at least two sources of noise going at all times, and he's never not in the apartment. I'm gonna miss the quiet lol
I need to find some coffee or something. I've drank all the water. I've drank all the coffee. I need more of both. Now.
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puregrief · 1 year
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I'll watch modern family next then did u check out Rebecca?
as for my type I think we share a lot of similarities but I'll elaborate more, i'll start with personality
someone who isn't judgmental nor self-righteous, so I can be myself with them,
someone whose okay with being silly, sometimes I like to have fun in the dumbest silliest way possible and that's okay, so what if I took 10 pictures of myself with a cardbox on my head and laughed at them for 10 minutes straight, I asked my friends to take pictures with me but hey all said I was being silly, I like having fun and I wanna be with someone who likes to have fun as well.
being openminded is a given but also someone who has an imagination, someone whose smart and quirky.
funny and dirty minded obviously
we don't have to agree on every single thing, on the contrary someone who I would enjoy my disagreements with them, curious and fun debates and conversations, they say that creative tension makes beautiful music.
someone who would tolerate and appreciate my taste in music which changes drastically depending on my mood cuz one day I'll be listening to Bach and Mozart and the next day I'll be listening to الشيخ امام و شفيقة, and in a couple of hours I'll be listening to Queen and the white stripes, you never know what's coming next
someone who wouldn't be annoyed when I shower them with affection 24/7 or send them messages even when they're asleep just because I always feel like sharing everything and every moment with them or when I flirt with them nonstop, etc. also someone who would do the same for me as well, to genuinely care and show their love, u know
loves animals cuz duuuh, animals rock, I am quite fond of reptiles, I find them fascinating, but I also love all wildlife, except mosquitoes, fuck those guys, they're a fucking misstep in evolution.
gotta love dancing and singing, doesn't have to be good at either, just love em, I've always wanted to go on a karaoke date and sing a song/songs with my partner
this is a weird one but someone who likes listening to stories and things that might not make sense, I can't quite explain it but I'll give u an example, I'm sure u heard Damietta and Port Said accent before right? imagine a story about old greek and norse gods narrated in this accent with Damiettan thuggish young man as the main character, I came up with this story and only ever told it to one person, may they burn where they're sitting now, anyhow, this is something I wanna be able to share with my significant other, and many other things that may seem like random gibberish but actually makes sense in my head
someone who knows how to communicate, someone I can show my vulnerabilities to without regretting it.
confidence is a huge turn on for me
I think I'm describing my dreams rather than my type lol as for physically it's hard to say
I feel attracted a lot to women with darker skin, my childhood crush was rihanna so that tells you something.
I like tall women, don't judge
glasses are super sexy.
black eyes, O' lord have mercy
I dunno if this one is physical or not but some girls here have this egyptian version of the Beverly hills accent, u know what I'm talking about? that's a no no no for me.
but character and personality come first in all cases.
apologies for the late reply I was doing the dishes.
also if u see any grammatical/spelling mistakes just pretend like u don't see them lol, in one ask I sent u I wrote "bitch-slappeded" lol, sometimes I think faster than my fingers can write or I think of two different things to write at the same time and end up messing it up.
jokes about suicide and death are a big NO, suicide is nothing to laugh at and death is something sacred let me tell u a joke that you probably heard before, tell me have you ever heard of a reverse exorcism?
I wrote a lot and hopefully it's not too much
Enjoy the show! ❤️ Apparently there is more than one Rebecca, which one do you mean?Update: my dumbass looked up "Rebecca from Pirates Of The Caribbean" instead of Ted Lasso, I'm so sorry!😭 She's hot and tall! Love that for you!
Your type seems quite awesome! They seem like they'd be fun to be around and a great partner! ❤️ Don't know about the reptiles part 'cause fuck no 🤢 but the rest is good! I actually totally get what you mean by telling a story with an accent and how silly but great to share that can be, I do the same thing as well!
Rihanna is HOT!🥵 And Zendaya too!
Ohhhh you mean فتيات التجمع الخامس والشيخ زايد؟😃 hahaha! Leeeh keda tayipp begad! Elmawdo3 lazeez khalis ya3ni fahim asdi? Eno ana baheb atkalm keda and that's just who I am you know? I swear to god begad mosh ba3raf atkalem in any other way khalisssss!😣😩 That's not fair begad wallahiii leh ehna no no no?🥺😫 Mosh fair btw w I think this is kinda racist bardo 3la fekra!😒
Yeah no I have no idea what you mean by Beverly Hills girls, I'm at loss here! 🤷🏻‍♀️
You're good, don't worry ❤️ and sorry if I'm not giving back the same energy, I'm exhausted and I need a break.
Ohhhh boy, that's a dark one! Yes I know it and I feel bad laughing at it😭 that poor child!
Take care! ❤️
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keiths3dart · 2 years
Text
It's a little Genesis of MarshField pic series with accompanying Fic.
"How can I ever live this down?"
Kate had asked herself this question so many times. Had screamed it over and over to herself as she had cried herself into a fitful sleep for so many nights.
That video. That night. The night she couldn't clearly remember. That night she wasn't herself. Drunken, disinhibited, behaving like a hussy, kissing boys (eugh!). And later even more unclear. Bright lights and a cold floor. Not being able to move. Then waking to a fuzzy, dirty feeling. None of that the merest shadow on her heart compared to the knife through it that Victoria's phone video posted to the internet had been.
"Kate, it's going to be ok"
That would be Max. Her dorm-mate and friend. Maybe her closest friend. Sure, Max seemed and acted so wrapped up in herself and Sure Kate spent more social time with Alyssa and Stella but, when it actually came down to it. The times she spoke to Max, the time they spent together. It felt more, real somehow. And Max was with her now, as she opened herself up about the awful turmoil in her heart.
Max reached out to softly touch Kate's trembling shoulder.
"It'll all blow over, the bitch queen will find something else to brag about. That wasn't you Kate. Anyone who knows you knows you're not like that. You're the sweetest person I've ever known"
"Max, my parents saw that! People from my CHURCH saw that!"
Kate's body was wracked by more sobs and Max put her arm around her friend. If Kate found this comforting it went against the evidence of the sudden quickening of her pulse.
"They're so ashamed of me, I'm so ashamed of me. I've ruined everything"
"Kate I.."
But Max didn't have the words. Maybe in movies people always seemed to have the right words to say in the most difficult of situations. But not in real life. Max knew what sort of person Kate was and had told her. Several times. Had said all she could to no avail. Kate was inconsolable.
"I don't know what to do Max" Kate said curling up into a foetal position. "Maybe I'll just go to sleep and never wake up again".
Max looked sadly across at Kate. Not knowing what else to do she lay down next to her.
"Don't say that Kate, you have people who love you"
"I'm not one of them"
"You should Kate. You are a wonderful woman. So kind, and funny, and beautiful. Inside and out"
Max nuzzled up to Kate, holding her close. Close enough to feel the rise and fall of her chest, the beating of her heart, and to smell her perfume.
Kate felt the closeness of her friend. Felt how it comforted her. But filled her with a slight thrill she did not expect, and didn't immediately welcome.
"Max?"
"What is it Kate"
"Will you stay with me?"
"Of course. For as long as you need me"
"I mean like this. I know it's wrong. Two friends. Two girls. Lying together. But you make me feel that bit safer Max"
"Kate, I'll never leave you. All I want is to make you feel better"
And so they slept, entwined in each others arms until the break of day.
Morning came. The two girls lay on the bed and talked.
"Max?"
"Yes Kate?"
"Thank you for last night. For the first time in forever I felt safe, and loved"
"Yeah, it was kinda nice".
"I kinda felt funny Max. Feeling your touch, it was.. strangely thrilling"
"Me too Kate. When I could feel your heart beating I felt like there was nowhere else in the world I'd rather be. I woke up in the night and found you'd cupped my breast in your hand. And I really didn't want to move it. I'm just sorry it's so small."
Kate went bright red for a moment, then flashed an impish smile. The first smile Max had seen from her in a long time.
"That's ok Max, I've got small hands".
Max laughed, and gave Kate a dig in the ribs.
"Kate Marsh!"
Kate looked thoughtful.
"Max? Are we.. gay?"
"Ummm, I don't know. Would it be such a bad thing? If we were?"
"I dunno Max, my faith says yes, my heart says no, my head.. is conflicted"
"Kate. Whatever is happening with us, I want you to know that I like it. I want it. But I'm putting you in the driving seat. I'll be whatever I need to be to make you happy"
Kate turned to Max, uncertainty in her eyes, and a slight sadness.
"I don't know how something I've been told is wrong can feel so right. So natural. I don't know where this path will lead, but I'll walk it because I'll be walking it with you."
Kate looked down, bit her bottom lip thoughtfully then looked to Max again.
"Max, will you kiss me?"
"If you're sure?"
"Yeah, I'm sure."
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iamwestiec · 3 years
Text
June 17: Chengxian 💜🖤💕
childhood friends to lovers/QPPs, ace Jiang Cheng, bi & aro Wei Wuxian, modern AU
(A/N: If you're wondering about a certain other someone, he will have a wonderful, full life of his own in Suzhou in this AU but is not in this story. 💙 There are some brief mentions of offscreen ace-antagonism, not by anyone we know.)
Read on ao3
Jiang Cheng had been Wei Ying's best friend in the whole world for his entire life.
Okay. Well, not quite his entire life, but certainly since Wei Ying’s parents moved to California when he was little little, which was about as far back as Wei Ying could remember anyway. Wei Ying’s baba and Jiang Cheng’s baba had grown up in Wuhan together and been best friends when they were kids, so naturally, when Wei Ying’s family moved into the same neighborhood as the Jiangs, it made perfect sense for Wei Ying and Jiang Cheng to become best friends too.
It was Jiang Cheng who had taught Wei Ying that he didn't have to be afraid of dogs, by introducing him to Princess, Jasmine, and Lil' Love. Lil' Love lived up to her name, coming and quietly sitting in all her fluffy glory on Wei Ying’s lap every time he went over to play.
It was also Jiang Cheng who Wei Ying got drunk with for the first time. They snuck booze from the cabinet where Wei Ying’s parents kept it and laughed at the faces each other made with every shot until they stopped tasting the harsh burn, and then laughing more just because.
(Wei Ying’s mom had not laughed, not at the time, when the two teens had been sick as anything the next morning, but instead made them a gloriously greasy late breakfast and gave them lots of advice about proper hydration.
Then she told Jiang Cheng’s mom and let her scold them.)
It was Jiang Cheng who came out first, their first semester in college, when he told Wei Ying he didn't think he wanted to have sex with anyone, ever, and asked if Wei Ying thought that meant no one would ever want to date him. Wei Ying hugged him tight and told him he didn't know about everyone out there, but he knew Jiang Cheng was the best guy in the world and would be an awesome boyfriend, and he'd fight anyone who said differently.
Jiang Cheng found a group on campus for third culture LBGT kids, and Wei Ying went with him, as a supportive ally.
Which was how Wei Ying figured out that he was not just a supportive ally.
In listening to the others talk about orientation and identity and attraction and cultural expectations, Wei Ying realized that what he'd always assumed was normal—finding all kinds of people physically attractive, regardless of their gender—was actually his bisexuality. So that was kind of cool.
"So yeah, now we can be queer together!" Wei Ying said, when he excitedly shared his newfound realization with Jiang Cheng.
Jiang Cheng snorted. "Yeah, 'all' and 'nothing,'" he joked.
It was Jiang Cheng who'd helped him practice what to say to his parents when he wanted to change his major at the end of sophomore year, and Jiang Cheng who reminded him to eat and sleep and "take a fucking break, Wei Ying," those next couple semesters when he took way too many hours so he wouldn't have to rack up a whole extra year's worth of student loans to finish his new degree plan.
It was Jiang Cheng who graduated first, on a gorgeous blue-skyed sunny day in May, and Jiang Cheng who suggested Wei Ying keep living with him at his new apartment, so he wouldn't have to try to find a one-semester lease until he finished in December.
(They renewed the lease together every time.)
Jiang Cheng ribbed him playfully each time Wei Ying met someone new, but he was always there each times things fizzled out after a few months for reasons that never quite made sense to Wei Ying.
Jiang Cheng occasionally dated too, and Wei Ying was glad he never did have to fight anybody—though he did drive Jiang Cheng to the emergency room the time he came home with split knuckles from punching a guy who, "seemed to think I didn't know my own mind about certain things."
But dating sucked for everybody, right? It wasn't like Wei Ying or Jiang Cheng were in any hurry to settle down and do the whole spouse and kids thing or whatever. Wei Ying tried to imagine it and just... couldn't, though the image of Jiang Cheng with a baby was admittedly pretty cute.
~
It was not Jiang Cheng, but Jiang Yanli, a few months after she proposed to her girlfriend and they started planning their wedding, who Wei Ying finally asked, "Yanli-jie, how does a person decide someone else is their person?"
Jiang Yanli looked across the room to where Jiang Cheng was showing her soon-to-be-wife how to put side spin on a billiards ball and smiled. "I think you just know," she said. "You meet someone and you get to know them, spend time together, then one day you realize you love them and want to build the rest of your life with them."
Wei Ying wrinkled his nose. "I dunno if it works that way for me. Just some random person? I've never met anyone I can imagine wanting to live with all the time. Well, besides—huh..." he cut off suddenly and darted a look over at Jiang Yanli, who just calmly sipped her drink.
"Have you ever told him that?" she asked, after a moment where Wei Ying reassessed his entire life and dating history. "I think he might appreciate hearing it."
"I... huh. Yanli-jie, you're kinda blowing my mind here," he complained.
"I gathered," she said wryly, before fixing him with a smile that made all the hair on the back of his neck stand up. "Of course, I trust," she told him, "that I do not need to explain to you of all people how very dearly I hold my didi's happiness and well-being."
He swallowed and raised three fingers in the salute he'd used ever since the summer that—hah—he and Jiang Cheng had decided as kids that they would make their own oath of brotherhood like the heroes of their favorite show. "I, Wei Ying, swear to you that I would kick my own ass before I did anything to hurt him."
Jiang Yanli leaned over to knock her shoulder against his and nodded. "That's what I thought."
~
Turned out, dating Jiang Cheng didn't suck at all.
It felt easy in a way Wei Ying’s past dates never had, less like trying to keep up with a game whose rules everybody knew except him, more like... well, like spending time with his best friend in the whole world, but on purpose. There was also a tension in the back of Wei Ying’s mind that seemed to have lifted, though he couldn't quite pinpoint what it was that had gone.
It was Jiang Cheng who helped him figure it out.
"I think it's that now I'm able to count on this. On us," he said, when Wei Ying brought it up. "Before, whenever you went out with someone new, I wondered if this would be the time you'd find someone to fall in love with and leave me behind."
"Aww, Chengcheng! I would never!"
Jiang Cheng huffed and rolled his eyes, but his cheeks were pink. "Well, I know that now," he said, a pleased little smile breaking through his attempts at a scowl.
"As long as you're sure—" Wei Ying began, still getting used to thinking about himself with the word "aromantic." Still a so very sure that Jiang Cheng deserved to be fallen in love with.
"Hey!" Jiang Cheng cut him off. "None of that. I know you. And I know you don't see it this way, but I personally think it's pretty damn romantic that you choose to love me, on purpose."
"I simply have exquisite taste in life partners," Wei Ying sniffed, embarassed the way he always got when Jiang Cheng declared something he'd done "romantic."
"You do," Jiang Cheng agreed. "Someone told me a long time ago I was the best guy in the world and would make an awesome boyfriend, and that he would fight anyone who said differently."
Wei Ying laughed. "That's you and your sister I've promised to kick my own ass if I ever break your heart, then. Guess I'll just have to keep you forever."
"Damn right, you will," Jiang Cheng agreed, grinning smug and happy and breathtakingly beautiful. Wei Ying leaned across the couch to give him a sweet, closed-mouth kiss—the kind Jiang Cheng had shyly admitted he actually did like, a lot—and smiled too, at how lucky he'd gotten to be with his best friend in the whole world for his entire life.
🖤💜
Today's (extremely long!) thread was inspired by this WONDERFUL art of ace Jiang Cheng and bi & aro Wei Ying! Go give Midori some love on Twitter!
I spent a nonzero amount of time googling to double check when various terms and flags came into vogue, so if you're wondering, WWX & JC were in college in the early 2000s, before the ace and aro flags were designed. By the time they get themselves figured out, they can get their cute wristbands.
...which, yes, means these dingdongs spent about a solid decade living together before realizing that was what they wanted to do forever. 😉
This also means Jiang Yanli and her unnamed wife here are getting married between when California started recognizing same-sex marriages in 2008 and the Obergefell v. Hodges ruling in 2015! THIS SHIT'S RECENT!!!
Happy Pride, thank you for reading, check out more LGBTQIA+ sweetness on my #PrideMonthSnippets Masterpost!
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muffindaddystyles · 3 years
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Hearth.
A/N: I dunno if I've got any desi/brown/poc readers but if you're reading this I love you so much and you (us) deserve the same validation and representation others get.
Here's a blurb as to what it feels like celebrating Eid with Harry! Enjoy!
Warning: none — just loads of fluff.
More Inspos, Masterlist, Let's Talk
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The night's pretty with murky clouds and thick layer of moon's brightness as Y/N cleans her flat, from scrubbing her Persian rugs to deep cleansing her vases back from her homeland. The flame evaporating from her candles scented like springs of Kashmir, flickers from her blowing sheer curtains due to the zephyr flurring outside.
She feels content, at peace waiting for Harry who promised that he'll be at her place by 11. He always comes an hour early helping her in setting the table before the iftari, they've been doing it together since the start of ramdan until today when he texted her he's busy along with a sad smiley.
It was fun. He fasted with her once or twice and would make sure she's hydrated enough once they break it, his love for rooh-afzah (it's a drink red in color made from essence of roses and some sweet herbs) will never fail to make her giggle as he'd demand for more after gulping two glasses already.
Then showing her his tummy along with his food pregnant jokes.
Her classes are online so it gave her time to experiment some cooking. They'd make samosas together and she always had an urge to hold back her cooes as his tongue used to poke out in concentration everytime his diligent fingers folded the samosa sheets skillfully.
"Did a pretty go'job here, innit?" He'd grin raising it like a summat trophy.
The moment he used to leave her flat (ofcourse after giving a tight hug before doing so) they both missed eachother terribly, y/n doesn't like the way her home falls into an abyss without his presence.
He's like a sunshine that warms her insides up.
The whistle of kettle and several raps of knocks on her door drags her from her fond memories of them together, she slings her feet down from the coffee table rushing to open it.
"Angel."
Harry says breathlessly prolly because he climbed three flight of stairs to get to her or that he's utterly flustered.
Her eyes remain struck at the thingies piled in his arms, a box of chocolates, many brown bags and stems of freshly blood ripped roses tucked between his knuckles.
He bought all of these gifts for her.
To make her feel like home.
To be her home.
What the fuck, nobody has ever done that for her —-- she just mighty cry.
Her mouths gupples like a fish too overwhelmed to react her emotions out and he gives her a sweet smile kicking the door shut with his feet -- gestures her to wait when she almost jumps like a cub to hug him and puts everything on the sofa knowing the things inside them's too delicate.
"C'mere, baby." He grins and she doesn't waste a moment falling in his embrace. Her cheeks smashes against his taught chest and she fists the hem of his shirt smiling too hard for her own sake as he sways them with his own rosy cheek squished against her temple.
"I love you so much, thank you." She murmurs gazing up at him with glinting eyes -- arms still lopped around his waist and his chin doubles adorably as he gives her his signature bunny grin kissing the tip of her nose, "Love you too bubba ... don't want ya homesick, at alllll."
The aggressive whistle of kettle parts them away, "Cuppa cha? Then we'll unwrap these pleasanteris." She points at the paper bags.
He nods flopping onto the floor cushions beside the large oak window of the balcony where they could bathe in moonlight.
"Thank you." He quips, kissing her fingertips while slipping his fingers under the handle of mug and takes it from her as she sits infront of him. He admires her for a second —- fawning over how she's looking so soft and cuddle-able wearing a baggy mauve kurta and some mismatched shalwar.
The tearing open of the stuffing tissue brings him back to focus --- this, he wanted to see this happiness dance over her features as she clutches the ethnic traditional dress he bought for her infront of her and when lifts it down he's met by overly excited eyes.
It's ethereal with golden details, handmade wire work and sheer fabric.
"It's gorgeous, pups." She squeezes his hand and he takes the sip of his cha smiling against the rim of the mug shyly, "Wasn't s' sure -- Sarah helped me in collecting stuff." Sarah's Y/N's bestfriend who was the only desi/brown in her filming class.
"No wonder she was being a lil sneak." Y/N chuckles already rummaging for what comes next.
He wanted to make sure he gets her everything they do traditionally in her culture and ate Sara's ears off to help him buy the most special thing and it's right there creating sweet noise when they touch eachother, dangling from her fingers.
"Churiyan .... " She whispers bitting down a smile. She loves glass bangles. Their colourfulness cheers her mood up and she'd always go with her Nani a night prior eid to select the most flamboyant pair of them from a bazar (market).
"This -— " She gestures to the gifts scattered around them, " —-- all of this and you, means alot to me." She sighs giving him a wet smile and he smoothes his thumb against her cheek like she's the most fragile thing to exist.
He watches her in a tad confusion when she stands up with a giggly squeal putting everything away and comes back with a tube of henna in her hand.
"It's chand raat t'night 'cos tommorrow is eid -- usually I spend it with Sarah and we apply henna to eachother, we're horrible at it honestly but now she isn't here 'm gonna bite yours ears —-" He cuts her off. Ushering her to sit back on her spot. He couldn't be more glad to spend all of his time with her whether it's just watching her make designs on her hand with henna.
"Your cha's waftin'." He shakes his head bringing it to her lips, "It's hot." She tells him drawing a circle on her palm and filling it with beautiful darkness of henna.
"Okie then ... " He blows at the hot beverage to cool it down and again brings it to her lips, "Now." He croons softly to her. She holds his wrist taking a sip from it -- he tucks the strand of her hair back and she smiles up at him making him chuckle when she takes a huge sigh as if her soul just woke up.
"What do we d'tommorrow?" He asks. Knowing most of the time they went to Zayn's house on Eids his mother used to fill the whole table with delicious dishes and the whole day was spent having fun.
"We do nothing but have loads of nice time -- I already made a dessert 'cos I know I'll be too lazy in the mornin', and invited your friends if that's okay?" She glances up at him done with her left palm.
"Perfect then," He nods, "D'ya need help with the other one?" He asks grabbing her right hand and the tube of henna from her.
"Yes, please." She shows him her hand covered with with henna and since it's wet she could do one thing wait or let him do it. The second options sounds more good.
"Not on me if it gets messed up." He warns her nonchalantly following the same pattern of her left hand. Stealing glances of her attractive face every now and then, dotting her moles with his intense gaze, he just thinks her brown eyes look more intricate – it's specks as if the forests soil on the first rains when they dilate with her racing heartbeat.
They're like an open book to him and at the same time mysteriously dark that he feels like burning a match to melt in them.
"You did it way better than me," She snorts examining it closely and turns the other way round to lay down on the carpeted floor and rest her head in his lap. He wipes his own hands watching the dark henna leaving a swipe of color on his fingertips.
He pets her hair, dimples milking into his cheeks when she raises her both hands infront of him -- blocking the moonlight that's falling on her, "When I was small I always used to end up getting it on my face and lemme tell ya. Having a yellow blotch isn't even a tiny bit fascinating on the only day you could dress up fancy."
His chest rumbles with giggles and he brings her hands closer to her lips blowing raspberries at them to get them dry early.
Comfortable silence envelopes them in to the point where they could hear crickets singing outside and moonlight sparkling on their skin —- she breaks it cuddling up into his chest.
"I really appreciate this, Harry." Her voice hushed whisper and her cherry stained lips couldn't resist but to patch kisses where his heart lays and she could sense it kicking a pace, "The fact that you did so much just for me -- is beyond my thought. I really feel like home." He let her speak. Squeezing her shoulders to convey the fierceness of his emotions he holds for her. His silken lips pressed to her temple and his eyelids flutters with each spurt of breath she inhales.
"I'll keep making you feel like home, till the day you'll allow me." Today. He for actually felt that his home was never a building or the luxurious furniture adorned inside it, but her. It's always gonna be her.
Because the moment he gets lost in those eyes all he come across is their shared laughter, their moments spent on this balcony right outside sipping onto their chas and watching the city wake up infront of their eyes, going to places he has never been to before, doing things he never thought he'd do in hundered years —- he isn't a big fan of spices but he still pretends like a big boi infront of her while eating pani puri she's oh so obsessed with.
The times she was never embarrassed to introduce him to her community or her friends, and getting soaked into rains even though they could've just used his car, having days planned to make him try new desi dishes, going to buy candles of many scent and shapes with him but then never feeling like leaving the store until he warns her that he'll throw her on his shoulder infront of everyone.
Going to Turkish markets together. He's a bread lover and so all this time he doesn't feel like leaving the shops filled with different kiln and tandoori breads. Eating Simit and drinking black tea in the amardu cups sitting outside the cafe –- he likes it with cheese while she might sound bland she just likes a bit of butter.
Them deciding for hours and hours which Persian rug to buy -- but never buying it apologising to the shop keeper.
Giving eachother head massages from the organic rosemary Morrocon oil that one of her friend gifted her, (Y/N) thinks she's one hell of a masseuse but Harry thinks otherwise —- though he would never ever break her heart so it's better keeping it a secret.
His nose creates a purring sound while he sleeps leaning against the wall, he doesn't even remember when he fell into the deep slumber with his large hand still wrapped around her wrist in a protective manner to keep her from moving.
It's cute.
Though when she stirs to regain consciousness with the birds chirping outside she feels remorseful finding him sleeping in such an uncomfy position just because of her and he wakes up with a loud wheeze —- blinking rapidly to see what just happened only to visibly relax back when she shushes him gently.
"Baby .... shit." He grogs out, knuckling at his eyes pointing at her jaw which's covered into a orangish streak, "Don't tell me." She groans bumping her head against his bicep.
A moment later they burst into fits of hoarse giggles and chuckles. She'd try to suck in air to not to snort and would do it nonetheless driving them more into belly aching laughter.
"Eid Mubarak, I guess?" He cackles loudly. Dimple coveting in to his velvet of skin. Rubs the tip of his nose against her's affectionately and swoons her in his arms to hug her warmly.
"Now -— go 'n dress up, c'mon." He cups the nape of her neck playing with the baby hair there and she whines smushing her face against his chest, "No. Lemme sleep some more."
"Heyyy none of that, c'mon sleepy girl you'll regret it later." He boops her nose smiling down at her fondly and she grumbles mumbling something in between you're so annoying or you're being so much like my mum.
He waits for her laying on the sofa with his arms folded and eyes closed. Prolly took a mini version of nap only to perk his head up grabbing the back of sofa when she returns with wet hair, soft clean face and lips tinted cherry wearing the dress and bangles he bought for her.
An enchantress from head to toe, he wouldn't even complain if she bewitches him.
He needs someone to pinch his bum because he thinks his eyelids might have struck. He takes a dramatic breather mischievously, pupils dilated cutesly and heart shaped lips parted with the sweet loving words in praise of her beauty burning at the tip of his tongue.
His fawning gives her butterflies. Expanding her chest with warmth and she does a three-sixty when he spindles his nimble in the air demanding her to show herself from every angle.
Her head falls back. An echo of happy giggles resonating in the room when he smacks his hand against his chest and flops into heaps of sofa cushions.
"You're fuckin' beautiful, a total knockout." He walks towards her with his hands spread open and takes her's to kiss the inside of her palms, "So are you." Her voice small with shyness. He sits on her on sofa and stays beside her with his chin perched upon his knuckles staring at her like she hung the moon -- as if she's a prayer come true.
"Did you get me ready to d'nothing?" She turns towards him. The curled up fringes kissing the apples of her cheeks same as his fingertips are dying to do so.
"I might sound selfish but it was a trap to get you ready early so I could admire you till everyone squeeze between us ... " He smirks and she huffs sinking deeper into the sofa throwing her limbs in air and his breath hitches when her bangles clanks together producing a beautiful noise.
"Harry!!" She whines.
"Okie, time to fill some grumpy kitten's tummy." He announces standing up to head to kitchen and she shakes her head with a silly smile trailing behind him.
All she knows is that. This Eid she'll have the best time of her life, as she could already feel his energy and love radiating in every corner of her home.
.
@harryforvogue idk why but everytime I'd sit to write this blurb you'd pop in my mind, hope so you're not hiccuping wildly.
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rogue-durin-16 · 3 years
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FIREWORKS AND STREAMERS
Request: I have been insecure about my curly hair lately and was wondering if you can you write something with one of the weasley twins where the reader is insecure about her curly hair and one of the twins makes her feel better.
Pairing: Fred Weasley x Hufflepuff!Reader
Genre: fluff
Tags:
Requested by: @wildcat1434
Fred Weasley: @whiskeyn-rain @lumos-solemn
Permanent taglist: @elia-the-bibliophile @randomparanoid @karlthecat15722 @thebutchersdaughtersblog
Warnings: none
A/N: So like, incoming fluff bc this idea was cute and sometimes I do be needing fluff, that's about it, enjoy <3
Rogue-durin-16 masterlist
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The relationship between me and my hair had always been... Bumpy, you could say.
There were periods in which I would find it quite lovely; during those times I would let my curls free, showing them off with a proud demeanor, knowing my hair was unique. Those times began to turn less and less usual since the middle of third year, though they were still there.
However, after the summer prior to my sixth year, those moments had banished; I only wished to hide my hair, and my friends ended up noticing. They told me surely there would be a spell or potion able to change my hair.
As if they had summoned it, the next day in Transfiguration, Professor McGonagall introduced us to what seemed like my salvation; Crinus Muto, an advanced spell that modified the caster's hair with no restrictions.
My best friend advised me against using it, claiming it wouldn't help my insecurity— if only, it would worsen it.
I really wanted to do as she had told me and completely dismiss the spell's existence, but two nights after I had a big mental breakdown about it, caused by the most stupid thing ever.
"Is Weasley staring at you or am I blind?" One of my friends whispered, her eyes trained on the Gryffindor table.
I didn't even bother to look up, not wanting to know whether it was true or not, before responding with a quiet "You're blind."
"I mean, it's hard to tell with two rows of students between us but," She nudged me, urging me to avert my gaze from my dinner and redirect it to Fred. "it kinda looks like he's... staring."
Curiosity killed the cat, I guess. My eyes finally left my plate and were, in fact, met with Fred's brown ones. As soon as they met, though, he looked away, pretending to be focused on his food, just like I had been doing seconds ago.
"Of course he's staring." Hannah Abbot, who sat right in front of my friend, commented with her mouth full. "Have you seen your hair?" She swallowed her food, looking me up and down before adding, "No offense, but it's an absolute mess." My eyes opened widely in shock at her bluntness. "You should take care of it, really."
"Has someone ever told you you're an ill-mannered bitch, Hannah?" I heard my friend talking back at the younger girl while I got up and started to make my way out of the Great Hall.
Of course, I didn't see Fred shooting up and attempting to go after me; ultimately he decided to stay in his place, since he saw my friend walking out too.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
I was very aware of all the pair of eyes that had been laid on me the very moment I entered the greenhouse where we would be doing the Herbology tasks.
When I had met my friends at the Hufflepuff common room that morning, I had received divided opinions about my straight hair. At first I had been very convinced that it looked way better than my curly hair, but seeing my friends' reaction, I wasn't that confident about it anymore.
I didn't have time to undo the spell before class, so I decided to go along with it and see how the day unfolded.
I took a deep breath, my eyes trained on the ground as I made my way to an empty seat; maybe there weren't that many people staring, maybe it was just my anxiety.
I finally gathered the courage and looked up, nervously scanning the glasshouse so I could shake off my fears.
There was only a couple of my peers staring, which would have put me at ease, if one of them wasn't Fred Weasley.
On top of it, of course, he wasn't even trying to be subtle, it was almost as if he wanted me to notice his judging eyes; I could feel his gaze on me for the entire class.
The instant Professor Sprout dismissed us, I shoved everything in my bag and left the greenhouse, thanking a couple of Gryffindors who complimented my hair on my way out.
Again, I didn't notice Fred leaving the class as soon as he could to run after me.
I threw my bag against a tree near the lake shore and, as I fell against it, I heard someone jogging in my direction.
"In a hurry to sit by the lake, Y/l/n?" I followed the tall ginger with my eyes while he circled me and sat down by me. "You alright?"
"I just needed a break from... People." I vaguely explained, focusing on the water instead of on the boy besides me.
"Understandable." He hesitated for a second before adding, "Do you want me to leave?"
"No, it's fine." I surprised myself at how calmed and collected I sounded, as if I wasn't chatting with my crush.
"What happened to your hair?" His genuinely curious inquiry took me aback, and I struggled to find something to answer.
"Why?" My heartbeat picked up, anxiety inundating me once more. "You don't like it?"
"It looks weird." Fred looked at me up and down with a grimace. "You don't... Look like yourself." I was about to enter fight or flight mode, but he seemed to notice, and panic made its way to his face. "But it doesn't matter what I think," he was quick to add, his eyes wide open as if he knew he had said something he should have not. "I mean— I think it shouldn't matter, if you like it, that's great— I mean, you don't need my opinion about that either!"
"Calm down, I understand." I tried to reassure him, before his rambling drove the both of us crazy. "Can I tell you a secret?" He nodded with pursed lips, surely afraid he would fuck up if he spoke again. "I've been very insecure about my hair lately— like, very." I sighed. "My best friend told me not to straighten it, but last night I got a not so nice comment and—"
"So that's why you left?" I nodded, tugging my sleeves. Fred went silent for a moment, and then cleared his throat and scooted closer to me. "I know this won't do much, but I really love your hair. Kinda reminds me of fireworks and streamers." He gestured around his own head, mimicking the fireworks' movement. "Dunno I think is fun and pretty awesome." I raised my brows at him in surprise. "Like you."
"Aw, that's very sweet." He offered me a sheepish smile as I felt my cheeks blushing. "It does a lot, actually." I confessed, fidgeting with my rings. "I guess I kinda needed to hear something positive about my hair."
"Well, whenever you need to hear something positive about your hair," he pointed at himself. "I'm your man." He winked at me and I let out a chuckle. "I can also tell you positive things about you in general, but that has a price."
"And what is it?"
"You'll have to let me buy you a drink at The Three Broomsticks this Saturday." I tried not to let panic slip through my recently eased demeanor; was he asking me on a date? "And give me a kiss after." He wiggled his brows at me and my face turned red. "the kiss is negotiable."
I casted my gaze down, fixing it on my shoes, not sure of what I was supposed to say at that. His foot tapping mine snapped me out of my thoughts.
"So?" My eyes traveled to him once more, only to find his studying me already. "What do you say, Y/l/n?"
"Well," I shrugged, trying in vain to play nonchalant. "Seems like an affordable price, so it's fine by me."
"I'll pick you up after lunch, yeah?" Before I could agree, he gasped, his eyes going wide. "I'm a genius."
"Come again?" I frowned, confused as his sudden frantic behavior.
"Don't mind me, love." He jumped up and jogged towards the castle, leaving me puzzled in there. I was about to grab a book from my bag when Fred rushed back, crouched down and pecked my cheek. "Your hair's amazing." He assured me. "See you!" My fingertips graced my now flushed cheek as he headed off.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
I was finishing my lunch when two towering redheads entered the Hall running; while George, slowed down, Fred made a beeline to the Hufflepuff table, his casual clothes already on.
"Ready?" He asked breathless.
"Yeah— you didn't have lunch, did you?" I pointed out, getting up to stand in front of him.
"No, but I'll eat something later—" his eyes roamed over my carefully picked outfit before stating, "You look... very pretty."
"Why, thank you." I offered him a smile and looked over my shoulder at the Gryffindor table, where his friends were very attentive to all we did. "You sure you don't wanna eat something?"
"Hundred percent." He tilted his head towards the gates. "shall we?" He prompted to walk before him, and it was then that I realized he had his hands behind his back. Once we were out in the yard, he tugged my hand and made me turn to him. "I made something for you."
"You didn't have to." Was the first thing that came to my mind when I heard his words. Then the wording dawned on me; he didn't get me something, he made me something. "What is it?"
"So, you know that I told you your hair reminded me of fireworks and streamers?" I nodded, not quite knowing where he was going with that. "Well—" he then showed me what his back was hiding; a delicate, tiny firecracker with my name written on the side. "George helped me so I could finish it on time."
"I'm—" at my loss of words, I could only let out a happy laugh. "This is so cute— am I supposed to ignite it?"
"Duh!" I gently pushed his shoulder in response to his teasing. "Do you know how to do it?"
"I've seen you do it plenty of times." I admitted, grabbing the firecracker with one hand and my wand with the other; it looked so pretty, it was a pity I'd have to ruin it.
With a brief firemaking spell, the firecracker set off. Fred pulled me back slightly before it happened, though.
I was in awe at the beautiful fireworks before us, which looked like a color-changing, expanding version of my hair.
When the colors died out, I turned to Fred, whose attention was already on me, awaiting for a reaction. Surely, he was not expecting the kiss he got, but he didn't complain either; while my hands rested on his chest, his traveled to cup my cheeks before I could pull away.
"So you liked it?" He questioned quietly against my lips.
"I loved it." I whispered back with a wide smile. "You're a sweetheart." I pecked his lips before retreating. Holding his hand in mines, I made my way back into the castle. "We're not leaving until you have lunch."
"You are a sweetheart." He responded, following my lead without offering resistance. "By the way, your hair looks gorgeous." The corners of my lips twisted into a bigger smile at the sweet words he spoke only for me to hear as we went back into the Great Hall.
Maybe my hair wasn't that bad after all.
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eryiss · 3 years
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Ship: Freed x Laxus
Rating: Teen
Prompt: Demon in Disguise x Angel Undercover
Summary: Being a demon was boring, particularly in peacetime. For Freed, passing the time consisted of sneaking into nightclubs and forcing men off the moral path. Thankfully, the angel with beautiful wings and almost rigid set of morals was always there to make things interesting.
Notes: This is Day Two of Fraxus Week, hosted by @fuckyeahfraxus. Be sure to look at their blog, I'm sure there's lot of other great Fraxus content on there for the event already.
Links: Event Masterlist ||| Archive of Our Own, Fanfiction
Off The Moral Path
Year: 2025
Location: Paris, France
"Come now, Darling," Freed purred, gently stroking the raven-haired beauty on the cheek. "You know you want to."
To think he'd come to this. Freed Justine – Albion the Slayer, Absolute Shadow, The Nightmares of Angels – resorted to flirting with men in a bar. It was humiliating. He was a soldier, a demonic mage whose power was the stuff of legends, and by rights everyone in the damned club should be bowing for him, on their knees and begging for his mercy. He would have been kind to them, were they giving him the respect he was owed, and perhaps he would have made their night more interesting with a display of his power.
But he couldn't. The war between demons and angels had long since ended, humans had forgotten about the battles and all the people who had been part of it, and as such they didn't know him. To them, Freed was nothing but another human. Better looking of course, but otherwise no different.
Frankly, it was boring.
War between unkillable forces was fun. You didn't have to worry about being hurt, because you couldn't be, and a demon didn't care for guilt. It was simply posturing, and it had allowed Freed to show off the magic that he'd been slowly building from his creation. He was explosively powerful, and he'd sent many of the enemy forces back to heaven time and time again. It was fun seeing them disintegrate as they screamed, but now that was gone.
Technically speaking, he shouldn't have even been in the nightclub at all. Earth was off limits, but he was hardly doing anything too bad. He wasn't poisoning a water system, or luring a man to his death. He was just having a little fun. Nobody could begrudge him a little magically fuelled flirting.
Well, one angel might. But he hadn't arrived yet.
"I dunno," The raven-haired man shrugged, swirling his drink absently.
"I do. You want to do it and you know it," Freed smirked, and his eyes glowed red for a moment. He placed his hand on the mans exposed forearm, and magic flared in his next words. "I'll do it if you will. And you've got nothing to be ashamed of."
A lie, but a fun one.
"You know what," The man said, confidence in his words now. "You're right."
The man was standing up a moment later, walking towards the raised stage with a pole attached to it, removing his shirt. Hm, if the sounds of the cheering at the sight were reflective of the mood, Freed had been right about him having nothing to be ashamed of. It was good guess; Freed really had no idea what a human saw as attractive anymore.
Freed watched from the bar, drinking his wine with a smirk as the man began to gyrate over the pole. Men and women alike cheered, and Freed liked to think that he had done his good deed for the day. Of course, the dancing man might disagree when the spell wore off, but that was hardly a problem.
He'd dispel his magic as the man was dancing. It would be fun to see him crumple.
"The hell are you doing?" A loud rumbling voice came from behind, and Freed smirked.
Right on time.
"What does it look like, my dear," Freed said, not looking towards the angel looming over him. "Exercising my Devil given right to annoy you. Is it working?"
"Take the spell off him," The angel demanded. "Now."
"During his dance. Imagine the embarrassment, it would be debilitatingly humiliating," Freed laughed quietly. "Would he be able to look himself in the mirror? Would he be allowed back out of his home? Would he cry? Rather cruel, aren't you angel?"
"Shut it, devil," The angel growled.
"So rude," Freed tutted while grinning. When a hand planted itself firmly on his shoulder, Freed turned to look to the man. "Good evening, Laxus."
It was always disheartening to see Laxus disguised as a human. He was good looking in their terms, with broad shoulders, a thin waist, handsomely rugged features, and a damn cocky smirk when he used it. But Freed always missed seeing his wings. They were long stretching, tinged and scarred by lightning, with feathers so soft that Freed couldn't decide whether he wanted to stroke them or to pluck them out to see the man scream. He was a magnificent beast of an angel – the counterpart to Freed's demon – and very fun to annoy.
"Hypnosis on humans is fucking illegal," Laxus growled.
"Then it's good that I didn't use it," Freed dismissed, placing the wine on the bartop. "I only lowered his inhibitions. He's lost all doubt and regret, and he's simply doing what he wants to do. Hardly a war crime."
"Tell him that when the police come," Laxus murmured, and Freed laughed. Would the man be arrested before he was naked? Freed hoped not; human anatomy always made him chuckle. "You ain't supposed to be on earth. The hell is wrong with you?"
"You're here," Freed retorted, ignoring the question. "Won't you get in trouble too, angel?"
"I'm only here because I knew you were pulling this shit," Laxus whispered harshly, hand on Freed's shoulder tightening. "And I wanted to get you to cut it the hell out before," he jutted his chin up, "they figure out what you're doing."
"But the danger is half the fun," Freed smirked.
Laxus said nothing else, instead surrounding them both with a wave of angelic magic. As was natural for a demon, the overall holiness of the gesture sent a shooting of pain over Freed, but he grit his teeth and allowed the spell to take effect. A moment later, he was teleported to a blank, bland, nothing room nestled in the middle of limbo.
This was always how his little dance with Laxus went. Freed would sneak down to earth, annoy, and torment a human in a way with very few long-lasting consequences so that he could get a fill of fun, Laxus would somehow be informed of what Freed had done and would stop him before any other heavenly figures realised what he was doing, and he would be teleported away. It had happened hundreds of times, and always ended with Laxus yelling at him for his stupidity but never actually doing anything to stop him.
His face would soon be angry, and his wings would be spasming and flickering. Anger was a good look on the man.
But, truly, this dance was getting boring. They were all-powerful beings, opponents by very nature, who had met in the middle of battel and had underwent fights that would be studied for history in years to come. They shouldn't have gotten stuck in a rut. It was almost insulting.
"Why don't you leave me alone?" Freed asked before Laxus could begin shouting.
"What?" The angel asked, taken unaware.
"Well, I understand that your side likes to preach forgiveness and repentance and so on, so perhaps I can understand you trying to stop me the first ten or so times, but we've been doing this for years now," Freed smirked, leaning forward and leaning against a white table. He looked up at Laxus from under his lashes, flirtatious and smirking. "I'm not changing my ways, and you know it. So why not leave me to get killed by your darling overlords?"
Laxus tensed his jaw, grit his teeth, and let his wings shoot out from his back. What a lovely sight. Freed quickly removed his own human disguise, horns cracking from his skull and eyes turning a red and purple swirl.
"Everyone can improve," Laxus retorted. "I think that, given-"
"I've known you for centuries, Laxus, I know when you're parroting that ridiculous heavenly mantra," Freed cut off the argument before it could be made. "I want to know why you, angel supreme Laxus Dreyar, is being ever so kind to me so often."
He said nothing, and Freed grinned.
"May I offer my thoughts, since you don't seem to want to answer," Freed continued. "I think we're more alike than you think. You and I, you see, we're fighters. You can claim pacifism all you want, but I know you loved every moment of engagement. Showing off your power, proving yourself to be an overwhelming force of nature, it was everything you ever wanted. And then it was taken away from you, and you were at a loss of what you could do. Everything was peaceful and there was nobody to do battle with. Nobody to impress. Nobody but me."
"That ain't what happened," Laxus grunted. He walked towards a door Freed assumed would take him back to heaven, and Freed quickly intercepted.
"It's exactly what happened. I'm your opponent, in this little game we've created for ourselves," Freed smirked, took a single step forward so he was in Laxus' space and yet not quite touching him. "It was fun, as games go, but I think we should move past it. Flip the board and do something a little more," he smirked, and raked his claws over Laxus chest before hissing, "tactile."
Laxus' face held an expression Freed was familiar with. He was on the brink of doing something he wanted to do more than anything, but knew it was wrong. A look that, on humans, brought Freed a giddy thrill.
Seeing it on Laxus was euphoria.
The angel swallowed slightly, looking over Freed's face, his claws, his horns and then back to his face again. His eyes were dilated just a little, body tensing and muscles hardening as if he was trying to steel his resolve. He was so close to breaking, and making both of their lives both more pleasurable and much more interesting. He just needed a nudge. Freed was happy to oblige.
"That was the problem with the war, I feel," He purred, voice like silk and seductive. "Place men of unsurmountable power together and make them fight. It fuels passion. We were purpose built to feel strongly about one another. To obsess over one another. To rely on one another," He raised his hand and dug his claws into Laxus' jaw. "What did they think would happen when we could no longer fight? Falling for each other was inevitable."
"I ain't fallen, not for you," Laxus murmured as he leant close to Freed, tenseness giving way. He was even smiling, ever so slightly, and that was all the encouragement that he needed.
"Aren't you?" Freed grinned, stroking Laxus' cheek and loving the restrained mewling that bubbled in the angel's throat.
"No," Laxus murmured, bringing his lips closer to Freed, and his grin was just as unhindered as Freed's.
"Well," Freed purred, pressing into Laxus' chest. "Put your money where your mouth is then."
He closed the gap between them, and two millenniums of tension exploded to life in a slow, tender kiss. The mixture of magics gave their kiss a burning, fizzing sensation that spurred them both on. The contrast of their bodies stung and felt fantastic, addictively peculiar and driving them to kiss harder.
Laxus' wings outstretched behind him, then wrapped around them both. The comforting feathers tingled at Freed's back, and he leant against the man with a smirk as they pulled apart. Laxus was smiling at him, not a lingering sense of doubt in sight, and Freed grinned.
As fun as it would have been to taint an angel, bring him to his knees and make him turn his back on his culture, Freed had truly believed his words. They were fated to be together; it only made sense. Freed had broken countless rules set after the war, and he should have been struck down by lightning or burned at the stake for his crimes. Even with Laxus looking over him, the powers of fate were more powerful, and breaking of the rules came with immediate punishment. He hadn't been killed, despite his flagrant disregard of the rules. There was a reason for that, and he liked to think he'd been saved for Laxus. The fact Laxus had showed no regret, nor no fear about what he had done, seemed to suggest Laxus agreed with the sentiment.
Now, Freed was in a new game, a much more fun one. A game where it wasn't simply a demon fighting against an angel. No, this game had only one side. A flirtatious demon with an abhorrence for boredom, and his darling, virtuous fallen angel. Who would dare oppose them?
Le Parisien – 02.11.2025
Une Célébrité Populaire Prise Dans Le Scandale De La Nudité En Public.
Hier soir, le chanteur et danseur populaire Grey Fullbuster a été arrêté à Paris. Les rapports ont affirmé que, dans une démonstration de confiance ivre, il est monté au sommet d'une scène dans la discothèque Devil's Door, et a commencé à enlever tous ses vêtements et à danser contre un poteau. Les réactions à la situation vont du dégoût moral au plaisir divertissant. Dans une déclaration faite par le manager du chanteur, Fullbuster a affirmé que "Le diable m'a fait le faire".
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degenerate-otaku · 3 years
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Another one shot of Future Gohan and Trunks for yall
https://m.fanfiction.net/s/13896221/1/Before-the-Rain
(Links in case you prefer)
In the times that had followed the androids' destruction, younger generations were highly protected, as they were the earth's only hope. The government set up an initiative to get more children out of dangerous cities that housed gangs and violence.
Children and any family they had would move to countryside camps, wherein they would receive food, safety and education in return for doing manual labour such as farming and sewing, as well as taking care of the sick.
Trunks somewhat hated this, as it meant that many children in West City, including his own friends often moved away when things got too difficult, leaving him isolated, in terms of having friends his own age.
Sure, sometimes he'd visit, taking the underground railway system, or by hopping on the nimbus, or even flying when he had learnt to do so, but it felt like an arduous task.
However, when Gohan decided to volunteer as a teacher, Trunks thought it would be a good idea to attend full time, as the pair could go together. Trunks was surprised when the day before Gohan revealed he was rather nervous about it.
“C'mon, you're an amazing teacher to me, so I'm sure you'll be able to teach more kids!” Trunks reassured him, snuggling into bed. He always loved when Gohan would stay over at his house, it was so comforting to know he was right there beside him.
“Yeah...but that's you...and I've known you since you were born...and there's a lot of kids!” Gohan hung up his smart looking outfit, which Trunks remarked as being nerdy, on a hanger, before sitting on the edge of the bed.
“Trust me, they aren't as annoying as me. You'll be fine...Good night.” Trunks smiled at him before switching off his light and pretending to be asleep before Gohan could worry further.
Gohan sighed and tucked the boy in a little more before heading to sleep himself.
The next day, the pair flew to the makeshift school building, and landed away from sight before coming in together.
To keep Gohan distracted from his nerves, which Trunks viewed as highly irrational, considering Gohan was also "The Golden Warrior", he inquired,
“Doesn't your mom cook for the kids here a lot? My friends said that a lady called Miss Son is the most amazing lunch lady ever.”
“Huh? Oh...yeah,” Gohan laughed, lifting his head from the book held in his hands.
“I mean...she's used to cooking in massive quantities for me and for when my dad was around...it's a chance for her to share her...motherly-ness.” He smiled, then stopped at the door, listening to the sound of children chattering inside.
“You can do this!” Trunks grinned, taking his bag off his shoulder as he stepped in, Gohan following, the class immediately silenced, intrigued by the smart young man, that was clearly strong looking, his muscles bulging even in his clothes.
“Uh...Good morning class!” He began, picking up a pen and writing his name on the board.
“My name is Mr Son...and I will be your new teacher!” He smiled politely, awaiting a response.
“Oh my god, are you married to the lunch lady?!” A girl exclaimed.
Gohan frantically shook his head, “N-no, she's my mom!” His face had gone red as the class giggled, but he soon regained composure, laughing it off.
“Gosh, she cooks like that for you all the time?!” Another kid chimed in and he scratched the back of his head,
“Yeah...I guess so! I just hope she doesn't come in and embarrass me!” He answered.
Trunks gazed up at him from where he was sitting. He was glad to see his best friend adapting so well to his new job.
“Alright! Our first task is going to be a written task, which I'll get you to read aloud at the end.” He instructed them, handing out some paper, taking a look at every one of his new students.
“I want you all to write about what you did during your summer. Which programs did you volunteer in? Did you visit anywhere?”
He returned to his position at the front and passionately spoke, “I really wanna know about you guys! Oh...maybe I should take the register to learn your names...tell me if I mispronounce any!”
Gohan sat down, getting out the list of names and calling them out, one by one, receiving a pleasant "Good morning, Mr Son“ each time. It was strange to hear Trunks call him that, and by the sound of it, the title was strange for the boy to speak aloud too. The two just had to pretend as if they didn't know each other, Gohan made it a priority not to show favouritism towards him, but he knew it would be difficult.
He loved that boy unconditionally.
”Sir, how long do we have?“ A girl named Cherri, who he knew to be Trunks' friend that used to live not far from Capsule Corp, asked.
”Oh...right, I forgot to tell you that! Uh...you have until half past.“ He answered, before scribbling down more lesson ideas in his book.
The truth was that he had no clue about what he was doing. He was planning his lessons as he went along.
The time passed quickly, and Gohan decided to pick out random students to read out what they had wrote. A few passed, and he made some notes about them in his book.
”Alright, last but not least is Trunks.“ Gohan called out to him, snapping the boy out of a daydream.
”Oh, ok...“ He reluctantly stood and read from the paper, ”Last summer, I mostly stayed at home, played video games and studied. I went to the beach with my mom a few times....uhh I watched TV and...uh yeah.“ He sat back down.
”...that's it? That's all you wrote?“ Gohan glared at his student, hoping he had a good response.
”Yeah.“ Trunks replied, thinking nothing of it.
”Trunks, you had half an hour and you wrote 3 sentences.“ Gohan sounded stern and the class silently watched.
”Well, you already know what I did last summer, Gohan-“ Trunks gasped and the class was confused.
”Wait, is he your brother?“ The boy next to Trunks, who was also his good friend asked and the whole class started chatting.
Gohan cleared his throat and sighed,
”Yes...well...I am very close to Trunks, our families are too...but this does not mean I favour him over any of you.“ He calmed the situation, then spoke directly to Trunks,
”I need you to show the same level of respect to me as everyone else in here, too, ok? It is the morning of the first day, so I will let this slide, but please give more effort.“
Trunks nodded, but rolled his eyes, slumping back in his chair, when Gohan turned to the whiteboard and wrote down the title of the next lesson, before collecting in the students' essays and handing out exercise books.
The next lesson would be a boring maths lesson, which Trunks sat through. He was ahead of his peers in scientific and mathematical subjects, thanks to his master's teaching, so sitting through a recap of something he found so simple was like watching paint dry.
Whenever Trunks raised his hand, he felt like Gohan always asked someone else. He didn't like being ignored.
He knew the answers to everything, it was incredibly annoying to hear someone who clearly didn't know something harder than expanding brackets in algebra, try to solve the equation on the board that Trunks could do in his head.
Gohan was encouraging and made sure the students felt no shame in making mistakes.
”Alright, Cherri, so now you need to get the unknowns on one side of the equation.“ Gohan advised her, writing on the board the step she just explained with his help.
The girl stammered, her face going a little red from the attention.
”The answer is 4!“ Trunks, finally fed up, called out the answer.
”Well, yes, that is correct, but I wasn't asking you, I was asking Cherri.“ Gohan put down his pen and his serious tone returned.
”She obviously didn't know!“ Trunks folded his arms, determined to not apologise for doing what he thought was right.
”It's rude to interrupt, regardless.“ Gohan told him, before moving on.
Finally, it was time for break and when Trunks decided he was going to talk to Gohan, he was surprised to find girls in his class talking to him instead, asking him tons of questions.
”So, you work out?“ One asked, taking a look at his arms.
”Of course he does, just look at him!“ Her friend cut in and Gohan blushed and nodded, explaining his reasons, which Trunks knew to be false.
”Oh, hey, Trunks!“ Gohan spotted him and took his opportunity to get out of that conversation.
”I wanted to have a chat about before.“ He approached his pupil, who was causing him some concern.
”Oh...same.“ Trunks fiddled with the sleeves of his jumper, something he always did when he was nervous, which Gohan took notice of.
”Why did you feel like you could do that?“ Gohan's voice was calm; it always made Trunks feel more at ease.
”I dunno...it just felt like...you were ignoring me. I just got a bit fed up...because I already knew the stuff and you weren't asking me.“ The teen shrugged his shoulders, not meeting his eye.
”Trunks,“ Gohan placed his hand on his shoulder, making the boy glance up at him.
”I just want to know what the others know. I know you're able to do this, but most of them aren't.“
Gohan did make sense, but Trunks was stubborn. His mother said it was a trait of his father, though she was stubborn too.
”I spend a lot of time with you...and I love spending time with you...but it's not fair to give you all my focus...
You know I really love you, right?“
That was enough to make Trunks smile.
”I know...thanks, Gohan...I mean Mr Son.“ Trunks giggled before running off.
Gohan watched as the other kids played together gleefully. It was heartwarming to see them be actual kids and enjoy their disrupted youth. It only made him more determined to fight for their safety and teach them well.
'I might be an even better teacher than you, Mr Piccolo...'
He smirked, hoping Piccolo could hear him somewhere, feeling proud of him.
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deathbydarkelves · 3 years
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I decided to make playlists for Cathala and Tarinne plus explanations for why I chose each song because I entered one of those ADHD fugue states and if I didn't finish this task I would die
Anyway here are the two links (they're youtube playlists because I don't have spotify. I would obviously recommend using an adblocker if you're just gonna watch on youtube) and the explanations for each song are below the cut :) Each playlist is about an hour long.
For Tarinne’s:
1. Foggy Nights: I consider this her theme so putting it first as a sort of intro only makes sense.
2. Here’s a Health to the Company: I think this works as an example of her general disposition. She’s a people person, and always a fan of singing these sorts of songs in taverns, on ships, or what have you. It also kind of feels like a sendoff to soldiers, which I imagine symbolizes her joining the Sentinel Army and quickly thereafter fighting in the Third War.
3. Wartime Prayers: Somewhat self-explanatory, this is symbolizing her seeing war for the first time, but I also included it because the last line transitions SO WELL into the next song.
4. The Hollow: This song is an intro to an album I've never heard so I don't know the context, but I really love it because it sounds like someone praying to their deity and like I mean c'mon. Elune. Tarinne's praying to Elune to guide her through the war. Do I need to elabo-
5. Wave Walker: KILL DEATH MAIM AHAHAHAHA
6. Isil Elun’falo: Just a super rad fan-made night elf song that's basically "wow we sure do love Elune" said in twenty different ways for four and a half minutes. But it ROCKS and I LOVE it.
7. Chewing Cotton Wool: This song is about losing a loved one (I did have to check but yeah that's what it is) and I use it to symbolize Tarinne losing her mom during the war. The last line, which includes the song's title, I especially like. It's referring to how morticians (apparently) put cotton gauze in a corpse's throat and mouth to keep body fluids in and make the face look more natural. So there's a fun fact for you.
8. See U Soon (Song for Dad): Just a short lofi piece to rest a bit, and it was also chosen because the title's in reference to Tarinne growing closer to her dad after losing her mom. She still visits him at his leathers and furs shop in Stormwind fairly often, especially after dangerous adventures. She just wants to make sure he knows she's alright ;-;
9. No Lullaby: Right back into it with a song that I use to represent Tarinne's general feeling of not being able to go home because it's not there anymore. She's felt like this since the end of the Third War, but it's especially strong since the whole Teldrassil thing. But I like the ending, "who said you're on your own," because it contrasts the repeating of "alone" in the rest of the song. And it's kinda like "hey, listen, you're not the only one who feels like she can't go home." I mean that's probably how basically every single night elf feels right now skxnks
10. The Moss: This song juxtaposes classic fairy tales with scientific facts about the world and I love it to BITS. I'm using it here to represent both Tarinne's love for storytelling but also her sort of... part-time historian/archaeologist/conservator career.
11. Rasputin: I just associate this song with her for some reason and this was the best place to put it.
12. Electric Feel: Moving on to focus more on Tarinne's relationship with Cathala now. This is an extremely great and somewhat 😏 song that I also included because the electricity theme is appropriate because Cathala has lightning powers and y'know it's from Tarinne's perspective or whatever.
13. Bedroom Hymns: You know why this is here.
14. Movement: I can't talk about love songs without talking about Hozier, okay. This is just a nice, slower song to relax a bit with.
15. Never Let Me Go: I have an entire goddamn music video in my head with Cathala and Tarinne for this song and it’s very dramatic and emotional and I had to include this song or I’d die. Basically just listen to near the end of this song when she's repeating the title over and over, and imagine the two of them seeing each other at opposite ends of a battlefield after the dust settles and they rush towards each other and fall to their knees holding on as tightly as they can because they got separated early on and each thought the other was dead. Then you'll know how I feel when I listen to this song.
16. Nothing That Has Happened So Far Has Been Anything We Could Control: First of all I love the title, and second of all there's a big section in the middle (1:49 to 2:47) that I like to interpret as the two of them grappling with the fact that they're not really quite sure who or what they're fighting for anymore. Their people, yeah, but there's so many alliances and semi-permanent enemies and only-on-every-other-thursday-enemies all intertwined and the world is just so very confusing and they're trying to make the best of it. Elf school didn’t include international, interracial politics in its curriculum. It did however include how to properly plant trees, and AP calculus (this is a joke).
17. In Dreams: I like to imagine this song is something the two of them would say to each other, as a way of saying “even when everything we know is gone, even when the world ends, I will still be by your side. And if I’m not, don’t fear, for I will find you.” It makes a nice note to end on :)
For Cathala’s:
1. muse: Just a nice lofi intro to get us into things :) I don't see this song as her theme, like I do with Tarinne and the first song in her playlist, but I like it quite a bit. I don't actually really have a theme for Cathala yet, I'm currently going with a version of Way of the Monk from WoW's OST but I'm still looking for something better.
2. Frogs Singing: I included this because it's about just appreciating nature, which works because night elf and also mindfulness and meditation is a whole thing.
3. Tongues: This is a song about feeling distant from your peers which is like Cathala's whole existence! She's this weird mix of two cultures and ultimately she feels out of place regardless of where she is or who she's with. Also the theme with not understanding what people are saying works because the poor woman had to learn Pandaren from scratch and that shit ain't easy. I think blizz said somewhere probably that Common is just a language that EVERYONE knows inherently because Video Game but that's bullshit in my opinion. I'll allow spells that let you understand foreign languages to an extent (Comprehend Languages from D&D lets you understand the LITERAL meaning only, which I like), but every culture and species in the universe knowing Common is silly if you think about it for more than two seconds.
4. Kung Fu Fighting: I'm legally required to include this song. Also I prefer the Kung Fu Panda version, I'm sorry.
5. Harder Better Faster Stronger: I vicariously experience having a great work ethic through Cathala and that's why this song is here because she has 999 Determination and does Too Many push-ups every day or something idk. I was gonna say "every morning" but I have a headcanon that elves only need to sleep every couple of days (sort of a nod to "elves don't need to sleep at all" from D&D, and to explain why NIGHT elves are active at all hours of the day) so that doesn't work.
6. What's Up Danger: This song is Cathala's whole Vibe. Almost zero threat assessment skills in this woman's brain. If it can be punched, she will punch it.
7. Eye for an Eye: Fairly self-explanatory, it's a song about wanting revenge so... yeah. Checked that box. It was this or The Vengeful One by Disturbed but ultimately The Vengeful One's religious symbolism probably makes it fit better as a Tyrande theme lol ("I'm the hand of god, I'm the dark messiah." Did you mean: the Night Warrior)
8. Survivor: Cathala's survived a lot of shit and this could kinda be her making fun of herself for it because "Gods, man! Don't I deserve a break!"
9. Ashes: Really the reason I include this song is the last chunk (2:42 to the end) because holy shit. Listen, if I was gonna include a song with fire motifs, it was gonna be a somber one like this.
10. Into the West: This can kinda represent Cathala just trying to fucking breathe and recover from Teldrassil. Also works because I dunno it has stuff to do with the elves in LotR, I haven't seen those movies in a while. It sounds nice and is melancholy so I included it.
11. Like Real People Do: Cathala loves Tarinne a lot you guys have I ever menti-
12. Into the Wild: Tarinne changed Cathala's world for the better and she's super fucking grateful she has her by her side. Kinda goes without saying but you know.
13. Chasing the Moon: I have a vague music video in my head for this of them falling in love and it's very cute so there's that. Also it's in this specific spot because hey she may be deeply traumatized but she's still got a fair number of things/people in her life that make her happy so :)
14. Follow My Girl: I've got a theme going in my head that while Tarinne is fairly certain of her place in the world, Cathala is still trying to find hers. She outlived all her connections on Pandaria because Elf Lifespans(tm) and the only members of her family still alive are distant relatives she never knew very well.
15. Wish That You Were Here: This works both to represent Cathala on Pandaria feeling super homesick, and for more recently after Teldrassil. Either way, it's a message to her parents and sister.
16. Mr. Fear: She does her damnedest to hide it but she's absolutely terrified something like Teldrassil's gonna happen again! That fear drives her to do everything in her power to protect who and what she can. As long as they're not Forsaken, cause she's still got her biases, that compassion even extends across faction lines. She never really got the whole Alliance/Horde thing anyway. Innocent people shouldn't have to die, regardless of who or what they are.
17. Ordinary Day: Not to get super out there but I think this song works as symbolizing Cathala really trying to hold on to her faith in Elune, but ultimately feeling pretty abandoned. I mean she can clearly see Elune's influence everywhere. But Elune sure ain't doing Cathala any favors as far as she can tell! It also ends the whole playlist on maybe a bit of an uncertain/open-ended note, because this "losing faith" aspect is a new thing with her and will definitely be something she continues to struggle with for a while. On a related note, I should say Tarinne is still very much devout but she gets what Cathala's feeling and doesn't force anything on her, and vice versa. And Cathala wouldn't become atheist, the night elves aren't monotheistic and she still worships all the other deities, it's just specifically Elune she's a little :/ on.
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