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#I have a bachelor’s and I’m currently getting my masters

ceilidho · 2 months

Note

hi! i’m new here. sending asks feels like barging into your figurative living room so sorry if this is bothersome. i wanted to tell u i enjoy your works so very much. you have a way with words that leaves me so caught up in your storylines but also motivated to try my hand at creating something myself.

not sure if you answered already or if you even felt like sharing so my bad if this is repetitive or invasive but what did you study for your bachelor’s and master’s? also how do you juggle writing with a busy schedule? it seems so insurmountable. lastly do you have any fave books and poems? or any top recommendations? :)

again i am sorry if this is bothersome but i just wanted to impress upon you how taken i am with your writing. its all highly emotive. i wasnt even a COD fan but somehow stumbled across your work and i have fallen down the rabbit hole this past week. i look forward to reading whatever you put out next and hopefully supporting the ko-fi very soon. you have a gift, i hope to see you officially published one day 💫

Hi hi!!! It’s not troublesome at all, don’t worry! I really appreciate anything that gets sent to me, even when I get too overwhelmed to respond.

Thank you so much, I really appreciate that 😭

I went to school for English lit!!! I used to say that it never got put to good use because my current job doesn’t involve it at all, but I guess I do sort of use it for writing fanfics. Juggling stuff is hard! My job is luckily not very busy so I can write a lot on company time lmao and otherwise I write in the evenings or on weekends when I’m not busy.

I’m on mobile right now so I can’t link the previous recommendation lists I’ve made for books, but off the top of my head for poetry - anything by Anne Carson or Frank Bidart, and for fiction, Neil gaiman (so much fun)!

I hope you end up writing something!!! It’s so good for working on your craft and it’s, in my opinion, the best way to connect with people online and make friends!!

#🌺🌺❤️❤️❤️🌷

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myrebelancestorsdiedforme · 3 days

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Brett Ball 🫡 Salute😍✊🏿🙏🏿

It was very early in Brett Ball’s experience as a student-athlete with the women’s basketball team that things did not go her way. She came to South Carolina in the summer of 2011 as a scholarship athlete. But before the season began, she was diagnosed with myocardial non-compaction in the left ventricle— a rare genetic heart condition that made it impossible for her to play basketball.

photos of brett ball as a team member and as a Ph.D. candidate

Years: 2011-15

Position: Team vlogger

Key stats: Ball was diagnosed with a heart condition and never got to play for the Gamecocks, but she stayed on scholarship all four years and helped fans get an inside look at the team through her behind-the-scenes videos.

Degrees: Bachelor’s in criminal justice, UofSC; master’s in integrated communications, University of Mississippi

Current position: Ph.D. student in health communication, University of Florida

“I totally could have just said, ‘I’m leaving, this is not going to work out for me,’ ” says Ball, a Ph.D. student in health communication at the University of Florida. “But Coach Staley honored my scholarship. I was still part of the team. When we would travel, I was there; when we had film, I was there; I still attended practices. I did pretty much everything the team did, except work out and play.

“She still coached me as if I was on the court, but in a different way,” Ball says of Staley. “I had to be on time for practice. I had to be on time for class. She didn’t let me just go about in my own way.

“At first I didn’t like it because I was just so frustrated with not being able to play. I thought, ‘I’m not playing so why do I need to do these things.’ But it still made me feel part of the team because I was held to the same standards.

“I don’t know if she had ever had a player under her wing who didn’t play. What are you going to say to make them feel better? She would say there was nothing she could do to help me play, and the only thing she can do is be a guide and I totally respect that. The best thing she could do was be a support system.”

Staley and the basketball media team came up with an idea that Ball would do videos with her teammates to highlight their many off-the-court talents and build up excitement among fans. The show was called Ballin’ with Brett.

“Our team was pretty dynamic,” says Ball, who graduated from UofSC with a degree in criminal justice. “We could have had our own TV show. We had rappers, comedians, drama queens. We definitely had a team full of personalities.”

Producing and hosting the videos got Ball interested in journalism and communications — an interest she has pursued since her time at South Carolina, earning a master’s in integrated communications from the University of Mississippi in her home state.

“It was as good an experience as I could have had without being able to play ball.”

She expects to complete her dissertation and Ph.D. in May. Her research focus is on mental health among African American female athletes, a subject she knows much about.

“Being nine hours away from home, if you’re not somewhere with resources — and USC had resources from A-to-Z — it can be difficult,” she says. “The school had people there who helped with the stress. We had two Black psychologists in the athletic department and that was really helpful for me. That’s how I got started looking into the mental health of athletes.”

Ball says she talked with her advisers and mentors at UofSC before each major life decision she has made. She says she is uncertain where her Ph.D. will take her, but lessons learned from her time with Staley and the Gamecocks women’s basketball program will never leave her.

“I am really interested in ways to improve the mental health of student-athletes. I want to figure out ways to destigmatize mental health and mental illnesses within the athletic and sports space.

“I want to use my experience with mental health, my experience not being able to play and experience with cases of depression and anxiety and I want to be able to help athletes, even if it is from an academic standpoint, about what Black female student athletes have to go through."

#Brett Ball #dawn staley #south carolina gamecocks #heart condition #scholarship

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starlightkun · 1 year

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❧ word count: 11.9k

❧ warnings: cursing, mentions of death/dead people in the context of him being hades, probably more legal jargon than there should be but i tried to make it as easy to understand as possible i promise, it gets pretty existential at some points but never overtly angsty

❧ genre: fluff, getting together, greek gods/goddesses au, hades jaemin, human reader, nades au, paralegal reader, bit of a ham-fisted persephone allegory, inspired by the gods/goddesses assigned to the work it unit in 2020 for this video, appearances by bestie jeno and coworker yangyang

❧ author’s note: ahhh my first fic back after over a year hiatus!! not super accurate to the original greek myths, i was just havin fun with hades as a concept rather than a strict characterization. i also watched mike flanagan’s ‘midnight mass’ and read john milton’s ‘paradise lost’ during the time i was writing this so get ready for some slight spiritual/religious iconography and overtones. hope y’all enjoy, i had so much fun playing around with my writing in this one!!

❧ spotify playlist

⤷ sequel

The god’s—Jaemin’s—eyes continued to stare you down. It felt like he was looking into your soul. And you wanted him to.

“I didn’t summon you,” you told him cautiously. “Or at least I didn’t try to.”

“Okay, so I’m thinking she could accidentally be pushed into oncoming traffic—”

“And who exactly would be doing this accidental pushing?” You cut Jeno off with a scoff.

Currently, you were laying on your back on your bed, head hanging off the end of it and phone in hand. Your best friend, Lee Jeno, was on the other end of the line, jokingly scheming to get you a job at his workplace. Jeno somehow worked as a legal assistant at the best civil law practice in your city, and you, on the other hand, were unemployed. This was what you got for taking an extra year to get your master’s degree to become a paralegal instead of immediately jumping into the workforce after undergrad.

That was where you and Jeno had met: Intro to Philosophy on your very first day of college as two bright-eyed freshmen with surprisingly similar career goals and the same taste in 00s pop punk bands. Now you were a year and a half past graduating with your bachelor’s, and six months past your master’s. And what had that extra effort gotten you? Many, many interviews that all ended the same way: You’re “an incredible applicant,” but “too educated” for the pay of the position and/or “too inexperienced.”

Jeno, on the other hand, had declined your suggestion to further your education together and instead landed himself a legal assistant job right out of college. So now here you were, living off the remnants of your student loans and savings as you desperately hunted for a paralegal job.

Your best friend’s elaborate plans to get you a job at his firm would typically make you laugh, but this time you couldn’t even muster up a chuckle. Earlier today when you checked your bank accounts during a break from emailing out your résumé, you were confronted with the fact that your savings were running out; you didn’t have enough to even get you to the end of your lease in six months.

“God will, duh,” Jeno said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. His current plan was centered around a junior partner’s paralegal dying of a myriad of mysterious causes, and apparently this time involved divine intervention too.

“Oh, right, of course,” you rolled your eyes.

“I’m serious about the fact that Yejin needs to go, though. I have no clue how she’s still employed. And you would be the perfect fit for Ms. Haseul, she kind of does a little bit of everything, but her main focus is general corporate representation. Wasn’t that what you specialized in for grad school?”

“It is, yes.”

“Then there we go!”

“I appreciate the sentiment, Jeno.”

You sighed. All this talk about a job that you’ll never have was bringing down your spirits. “Anyway, I have half a leftover pizza in the fridge calling my name right now. I’ll talk to you later.”

“Alright, bye, Y/N! I’ll keep my ears peeled for any sign of dissent in the ranks so you can slip your way in!”

“Right, bye.”

Hanging up, another sigh tumbled out of your mouth as you tossed your phone somewhere further up your bed. Truthfully, you weren’t hungry in the slightest, you just wanted to get out of that conversation. You brought your hands to your face to rub circles against your temples and closed your eyes; you were getting a headache. Hanging upside down off the foot of your bed certainly wasn’t helping, but you couldn’t be fucked to move at this point.

A moment of self-pity later and you opened your eyes with all intentions to get up and take your migraine medication, but you froze when you were met by a dark shape. Squinting, it took you a second to process that the shape was someone’s legs and shoes, and you let out a yelp. Startled, you went to twist yourself around to face whoever was in your room, but just managed to fall off your bed instead. You very narrowly avoided snapping your neck, landing on your shoulder instead, eliciting yet another yelp, but this time one of pain.

Scrambling to your feet, you were now face to face with the intruder. It was a man, younger, maybe around your age, donned in all black. Black shoes, black slacks, black suit jacket, and black vest underneath that was buttoned but with a neckline cut plenty low enough to show a good expanse of his chest. He had an eerie beauty to him: his face just bordering on gaunt with pronounced cheekbones, a sharp jawline, and a hint of bags under his eyes as if he had just woken up from a night of restless sleep. But he didn’t seem to have recently awoken, very much alert and well put-together in every other aspect. His black hair was perfectly styled back from his face save for one stray lock towards the middle, and his eyes were so dark they reminded you of black holes, threatening to sweep you away forever into a cold unknown. He had more piercings than you could count in the moment, silver and the odd jewel adorning his ears. The vest showed off four or five separate silver chains around his neck.

“What the hell are you doing in my apartment?” You breathed out, desperately trying to blink away the vertigo from your sudden change in orientation.

The man was between you and the doorway, his body language not indicating that he was blocking your way out intentionally. His hands were tucked in the pockets of his pants as he cocked an eyebrow up at your question. He seemed entirely relaxed and yet the air around you still felt as if it were growing colder by the second.

“I should be asking you that. What the hell am I doing in your apartment?” He repeated your question back to you, amusement in his tone as he studied you from head to toe, then back up.

“What?”

“I was summoned by someone. I’m not summoned often, usually Eros or Aphrodite are at the beck and call of humans.”

The names made your head spin, “Eros? Aphrodite? Like, the Greek gods?”

“Yes, of course.” One of his hands left his pocket, the many rings along his fingers glistening in your ceiling fan lights as he went to push the stray lock of hair back from his face. “Humans are always wishing for love or beauty or fame. Not as often are they wishing for my gifts, or at least not with such an intensity that I’m inclined to entertain those wishes.”

Something about his candor inclined you to ask, “Who are you?”

“I’ve had a couple names. Pluto, and you probably recognize me as Hades. But you can call me Jaemin.”

His words made your heart thunder in your chest once again. You wanted to tell yourself that this guy was crazy, but he sounded so assured and calm that it gave you pause. Not mention that he had just appeared in your home out of nowhere.

“Hades? God of the Underworld? In my apartment?”

“The very same. Please, call me Jaemin. As long as I can call you Y/N.”

“Oh, you know my name already,” you stated weakly.

The god’s—Jaemin’s—eyes continued to stare you down. It felt like he was looking into your soul. And you wanted him to.

“I didn’t summon you,” you told him cautiously. “Or at least I didn’t try to.”

He took a step towards you. “And yet here I am.”

Another step. “I was brought here by a desire, your desire. So, what do you really, really want, Y/N?”

His words dripped off his tongue and wound their way through your mind. “A loved one back from the dead? The death of an enemy? To die yourself? So much money you could never spend it all in one lifetime?”

Another step.

“No, none of those,” you shook your head vigorously, feeling like every sense of yours was alight with his proximity to you. Every sound was deafening, your skin tingled, and the scent of cinnamon and citrus danced around you. One more step and he’d practically be on top of you. “I don’t want any of that.”

Another step. He was right in front of you now, his startlingly cool breath washing over your face as he asked, “Then what do you want?”

“I just—” your hands were clenched into fists at your sides, fingernails digging into your palms as you struggled to find the words. “Want to work at Kim & Moon.”

Jaemin’s head cocked to the side as he studied your face, “Why?”

“It’s the best civil law firm in the city. I know it’s where I belong, if I could just get a job there, I know I’d do well.”

“This job? Does it pay well?”

“I-I don’t know,” you confessed. “Jeno hasn’t ever told me how much he makes, but that’s only part of why I want to work there. If all I cared about was paying my bills, I would’ve taken the first job at any sleazy ambulance chaser’s office I could find. But I’d be wasted on something like that. I’m smart, well-studied, and I’ll be good at what I do. I just know it.”

He chuckled, the sound sending a shiver down your spine.

“Yeah, I like that.”

Then all at once, Jaemin was no longer in front of you, and you felt like you could breathe properly again. He dropped himself onto your bed, settling in to recline leisurely against your headboard, legs crossed at the ankle.

“Alright, I’ll grant your wish,” he declared, slipping one of his rings off to roll it along his knuckles. The silver band caught the light and nearly distracted you from his words.

Pulling yourself out of your momentary trance, you immediately said, “But I didn’t ask you to—”

“Of course you did, or I wouldn’t be here. Do we really have to go through this again?” His eyes were fixed on the ring. “Now do you want that job or not?”

“If I say yes, what do you want in return? I doubt Hades himself is in the business of charity.”

“Smart. There will be an exchange, obviously.”

“Then my answer is no, I don’t want to be selling my soul or something.”

Jaemin suddenly flicked the ring up, watching as it did one, two, three flips in the air before landing in the palm of his hand, “As lovely as I’m sure your soul is, I’m not particularly interested in taking it.”

“Well then what would you want from me?”

“A third of your life.” He said it simply, as if you two were talking about him borrowing a cup of sugar, not your life.

“Wh—”

“Let me finish,” he instructed sternly, firm gaze once again on you. “Spend two-thirds of your year here, then spend the remaining third of it with me.”

“If I take four months off work I won't be able to keep the job you get me.”

“It doesn’t have to be consecutive. Give me your nights and I’ll call it even.”

“Why? Why me? Why would you give me so much for just… hanging out with you?”

He shrugged, “I’m tired of spending all my time with dead people.”

Despite his casual tone, you swore you saw something much sadder flash across his face for a moment. It was gone as soon as you had registered it, making you wonder if you just imagined it. When you remained quiet, chewing on the inside of your cheek in thought, he stood up and crossed the room to once again stop just a mere inch or two in front of you, “Do we have a deal, Y/N?”

A chance to use your degree and skills like you’d always dreamed, just for hanging out with a god every night? It sounded... not quite too good to be true, but definitely too easy. You couldn’t remember Hades being portrayed as a tricksy sort in the myths, and everything Jaemin had done tonight—aside from appearing in your room out of the blue—made you think that you could probably trust him.

“Yeah, sure,” you agreed, looking up from where you had been twiddling your thumbs anxiously to his hauntingly beautiful face. “Do we have to do anything to make the deal official or whatever?”

“What, like a kiss?” He grinned at you mischievously. “Since you asked…”

“Jaemin!” You scoffed, feeling like he was teasing you now.

“You’re the one who brought it up.”

“No I didn’t!”

“Anyway, a handshake will do just fine,” Jaemin held his right hand out in the small space between your bodies.

You took it, feeling the cold from his fingers seep into your own, and gave it one firm shake. Before you could take your hand back, he’d tightened his grip and turned it over. His other hand came up to slip a ring onto your ring finger. It was the same silver band he had been playing with before, and it magically changed size to fit your finger perfectly. Jaemin bowed slightly, bringing your hand up to press a feather-light kiss to the knuckle of the very finger he’d just put the ring on. His lips were cool like the rest of him, but you still felt warm at his actions.

“There,” he straightened back up and let go of your hand finally. “That should do it.”

You looked down at the ring he’d just put on your finger. It was a simple silver band of medium width that reminded you of your father’s wedding band.

“Goodbye for now, Y/N.”

“Yeah—” you cut yourself off when you brought your eyes up to see that Jaemin was gone. Staring at the empty space where he just was, you murmured, “Bye, Jaemin.”

That night you dreamt of a man cloaked in shadows guiding you to a tree, instructing you to pick the golden fruit that was growing on it. You gazed at the fruit, in a daze, mesmerized by their beauty. They were so inviting, the man’s voice soothing, and you lifted a hand up towards one.

You groaned against the bright sunlight streaming in through a crack between your curtains. Directly on your face. You threw your left arm over your eyes to block it out as you continued lying in bed, letting your mind and body wake up gradually.

Memories of last night’s visitor came back to you, and you sighed. Surely it was a dream. A weird, weird dream that your mind conjured up in an attempt to fulfill your wish for a job.

But when you squinted your eyes open and brought your right hand up enough to look at your fingers, the silver band that sat there let you know that it was real. You’d been visited last night, by Hades, who said he’d grant your wish for a job in exchange for a third of your life. And you said yes.

The loud sound of your phone buzzing on your nightstand prompted you to roll over and grab it to look at the caller ID. Lee Jeno.

“Yeah?” You couldn’t even muster up a proper greeting as you picked up, still bogged down by sleep.

“Y/N, great news!”

You glanced at the time on your phone before bringing it back up to your ear, “Jeno, it’s not even 9:30 a.m., why are you calling me? You can’t be on lunch.”

“I know, but as soon as I heard, I had to tell you!”

“Tell me what, exactly?”

“There’s a job opening at the firm! You have to apply!”

That woke you up.

“An opening?” You asked, shooting up into a sitting position.

“Jo Haseul, the junior partner at the firm I’ve been telling you about, her paralegal won the lottery and quit on the spot. No two weeks’ notice, they’re urgently hiring her replacement. I’ll text you the firm administrator’s email for you to send your résumé to!”

“That would be great, thank you, Jeno.”

“Of course!” He said brightly as another phone began ringing in the background. “I’ve got to go now, Ms. Kang is buzzing me.”

“Right, thank you again.”

“Bye!”

“Bye,” you brought your phone down to see he had already ended the call.

As you went to grab your laptop from the foot of your bed to begin drafting that email, your eyes got caught by the silver ring on your hand.

A week later and you were walking into your first day of work at Kim & Moon. The firm administrator, Jeong Jaehyun, was showing you around, and finally stopped his tour in an open-floor plan portion of the office where a grouping of eight desks were. A couple of them were empty, the others filled by various men and women hard at work, and also Lee Jeno.

“Y/N!” Jeno waved at you enthusiastically from where he was on the other side of all the desks, and you lifted your hand to give a small wave back.

“Oh, you know Lee Jeno?” Mr. Jeong asked as he guided you over towards your friend.

“Yes, we were in the same undergrad program.”

“Good, it should be easier to settle in with a familiar face nearby.” The administrator smiled as he gestured to the empty desk behind your friend. The one beside it was occupied by another young man incredibly focused on his screen, headphones in as his fingers flitted over his keyboard and he fervently typed out a court document.

“This is your desk, Ms. Y/L/N. Ms. Jo, your attorney, is on a call right now but she has been informed of your arrival. I’m sure she’ll meet with you when she can. In the meantime, please acquaint yourself with your workspace. Your computer is already logged in, and all of your passwords are on the paper right there. Is there anything you need at the moment?”

“No, no. Thank you so much, Mr. Jeong,” you bowed your head politely to him.

“Of course. Please let me know if there’s anything else I can do for you.” He pointed to the landline sitting on your desk next to the computer monitors, “I have a quick-dial button right next to Reception’s. Buzz me if you need something.”

“I will, thank you.”

And with that, Jeong Jaehyun took his leave of the pod that you were in. You sat in your chair, taking in the sparse supplies on your desk: two computer monitors, keyboard, mouse, a landline phone, a couple pens, and one sheet of paper laid across your keyboard. It was a list of your login credentials for your computer, work email, and the firm’s file management software, along with Mr. Jeong’s extension and quick-dial button name.

You turned back around to where you knew Jeno was already waiting for you. Your friend was practically vibrating with excitement in his own desk chair.

“This is so exciting!” Jeno exclaimed, momentarily drawing the attention of all the other employees in your vicinity before they went back to whatever they were doing. He continued on much quieter, “I told you you’d kill it at your interview.”

“Right,” you nodded, trying not to think about the silver ring on your right hand. “Thanks, Jeno, I’m excited to start.”

“I’ll give you the rundown of everyone at the firm, come here,” he scooted his chair over to make room for you to roll yours up to his desk.

His fingers quickly flitted across his keyboard and mouse to pull up the firm website. Hovering over the tab labeled ‘Our Attorneys,’ you saw a list of names drop down. He clicked on the first one, Kim Chaeyoung. It pulled up a profile, the picture showing a very determined older woman, her arms crossed over her chest as she very resolutely stared down the camera.

“This is Kim Chaeyoung, the ‘Kim’ in Kim & Moon. She’s the most senior attorney at the firm, and mostly does corporate compliance and medical malpractice law. She just stepped down from being managing partner at the end of last year.”

He clicked the next name on the list, Moon Taeil. This time a man was on your screen, a bit older than you, but not by too much. No more than ten or fifteen years for sure, quite young to be a managing partner at such a large firm. His gaze wasn’t quite as intense as Kim Chaeyoung’s, but it held an intelligence and wisdom clearly beyond his years.

“Mrs. Kim stepped down to let this man, Moon Taeil, take over as managing partner. Something about wanting younger blood in charge but…” Jeno looked around the pod before he dropped his voice to a whisper so soft you had to lean in to hear him, “The rumor is that Mrs. Kim is going to announce her retirement at the holiday party at the end of this year.”

“And what sort of law does Mr. Moon do?” You questioned.

“Mostly insurance litigation. He tends to get the nastier incidents though: shootings, stabbings, fires, the odd dog bite.”

You then went through the senior partners before getting to the first of the junior partners on the list.

“And here is Jo Haseul, your attorney. She’s the most senior of the junior partners, and rumors also say that she’s going to be made a senior partner by the end of this year.”

“You love your office gossip, don’t you?”

You studied the woman on screen. She was younger than you had expected, a fierceness in her eyes that both intimidated you and inspired you to follow her wherever she led.

“This isn’t even the juicy stuff, wait until you hear about the affair Mr. Noh supposedly had with his assistant in the 80s,” Jeno scoffed, then turned his attention back to the woman on screen. “Anyway, Ms. Haseul is Mrs. Kim’s protégé. She mostly does general corporate matters, medical malpractice, and the occasional pro bono representation for women in need. Restraining orders, child custody, divorce, whatever comes in the door. If you really want to get to know her, ask about those cases.”

“She sounds incredible.”

“I told you you’d be perfect for each other.” Your friend then pulled up the next junior partner, “This is Kim Doyoung, he’s Mrs. Kim’s son but you’d never be able to tell by how they act around each other. All business. I think he doesn’t want people to assume he only got his position because of his mother, but nobody who has actually spoken to Mrs. Kim would ever think she’d do something like that. She’s got some serious integrity.”

Jeno was about to move on to the next attorney profile, a ‘Qian Kun,’ when you heard a ringing from behind you.

“Oh, that’s you, Y/N!”

You quickly wheeled yourself back over to your desk, picking up your desk phone after the third ring, “Y/L/N Y/N speaking.”

“Ms. Y/L/N,” a woman’s voice was on the other end, and when you glanced at the caller ID, you saw ‘Jo Haseul’ across the screen. “This is Jo Haseul. Please come to my office now.”

“Yes ma’am.”

“I’m down the hall. Ask another assistant if you need help finding it.”

“Will do, thank you.”

She hung up, and you rushed to stand up. Grabbing one of the pens you saw earlier, you frantically scanned for a notepad to write with, but there wasn’t one on hand at your desk. You whipped around to face your friend, “Jeno, do you have a notepad I can use? Ms. Haseul wants to see me.”

“Here,” he handed you a notepad slightly bigger than your hand, spiral-bound at the top.

“Thank you!”

“The attorney offices are down that hall,” he pointed. “And Ms. Haseul’s will be on your left.”

“Got it, thanks!” You hurried in the direction he gestured.

Thankfully, everyone’s names were engraved on metal nameplates on the doors, making it easy to know when you had stopped in front of your attorney’s. Rapping your knuckles against the wood, you waited for a response.

“Come in.”

You entered already bowing, “Y/L/N Y/N, ma’am. It’s an honor to be here and I am very grateful for the opportunity to work with you.”

Jo Haseul appraised you for a moment from where she was sat behind her desk. She then nodded, “It’s nice to meet you. Now please sit, Y/L/N.”

“Yes ma’am,” you quickly sat in the armchair she had gestured to.

After brief introductions, Ms. Haseul gave you the rundown of the kinds of cases she tended to deal with—which generally lined up with what Jeno had told you earlier, her management style, workflow, and an overview of the duties you’ll be expected to fulfill as her paralegal. At the end of it, you left with pages of notes, a stack of papers in your arms, and your first tasks to do for her.

Stopping at your desk, you didn’t even sit as you organized the papers into three stacks: to correct, to file, and to copy. You picked up the last stack of things that Ms. Haseul wanted copies of, then turned to your friend, “Hey, Jeno, where’s the copier?”

The assistant sat at the desk beside yours was the one who spoke up in response, his headphones set aside now, “Oh, I’m going there right now, I’ll show you!”

“Thanks, Yangyang,” Jeno said, then nodded for you to go along with the other man.

Yangyang grabbed his own paper before leading the way out from the desks. He took off in the opposite direction from the offices down a different hallway, “It’s down this hall, first door on the right.” He then opened said door to reveal a room with four large copy machines in it.

“I’m Liu Yangyang, by the way,” your coworker introduced himself, stopping in front of one machine. “I’m Qian Kun and Dong Sicheng’s legal assistant. They’re Ms. Haseul’s associate attorneys that work under her so you and I will overlap quite a bit. Sicheng usually handles corporate matters with Ms. Haseul while Kun does the med mal portion.”

“I’m Y/L/N Y/N. It’s nice to meet you, Yangyang.”

“You too, Y/N. And I’m sure you’ll meet my attorneys at some point today. I apologize in advance, and yes, they are always like that. Kun’s a workaholic who would be here until two in the morning if somebody didn’t send him home, and Sicheng… you are allowed to say no to him, and I encourage it, actually. Booksmart but doesn’t quite get social cues. I’ve seen him accidentally sweet talk his way into having an assistant pick up his dry cleaning before.”

“Wait, seriously?”

“Yeah, I had to intervene to ensure feminism wasn’t set back fifty years,” Yangyang scoffed.

“Women everywhere commend you for your service to the cause, Yangyang,” you nodded solemnly, to which your coworker snickered.

“The dude’s wicked smart but dumber than a box of rocks. Associates, you know?” He shook his head then returned to instructing you about the machine.

After Yangyang had shown you how to use the multipurpose machine—scanning and uploading, printing, copying, faxing—he took the copies that he had made and left you there. Nobody was at the other copiers, making you the only one in the room. You took a deep breath to compose yourself after having so much information thrown at you from all sides. Right now, at this moment, all you needed to do was make a copy.

Putting the first document in where Yangyang had shown you, you’d just started tapping the touchscreen through to the copying option when a dark figure appeared at the edge of your vision. Your head snapped up to look at the man leaning against the wall beside the copy machine you were at.

You hadn’t seen Jaemin since the night you’d made your deal. You’d spent the entire next night anxiously waiting for him to appear, but he never did, and you eventually gave up and fell asleep. He didn’t come any night after that, and you kind of thought he might’ve forgotten about you, or maybe didn’t really want you to hold up your end of the deal. Realized that he could find better company than you.

But here he was, in your workplace, smirk on his face and delight in his tone, “Surprise! I came to visit you on your first day of work. I’m so proud!”

First rolling your eyes at the sarcasm in his words and the fake tear he wiped away, you then fervently glanced towards the door to the copy room, “What are you doing here?”

“I’m checking on my investment,” he answered coolly.

“What, me? You can check on me at my home tonight, not at my job on my first day of work! Somebody could walk in, how would I explain you?”

“Nobody’s coming.”

“The deal was that I would give you my nights. Sun’s still up.”

“Yes, you’re doing just fine,” he nodded as he adjusted his black tie, seeming satisfied with his ‘check in.’ “I’ll see you tonight, Y/N.”

And he was gone in the blink of an eye.

You immediately flopped down onto your couch when you got home that night. That was the most work you’d done in a while; you were tired both physically and mentally. But it was a good sort of tired. You finally had a job.

“Hi, honey, how was work?”

You shot up at the voice, knowing exactly who it was. Jaemin was poised in your armchair, half a smirk already on his lips. He was in all-black again, though a slightly different suit from last time, his slacks and suit jacket had thin dark grey pinstripes, over a black silk dress shirt with the top three buttons open.

“Oh, uh, it was good,” you said.

Silence fell over you two, and you started fidgeting uncomfortably as it dragged on. Finally, you said, “So... what do you want to do?”

“Have you eaten dinner yet?”

“I feel like you already know the answer to that, but no. I just got home.”

“Let’s get dinner then. Where would you like to go?”

“Uhm...” you wracked your brain for some places nearby. “There’s a ramen place down the street. Let me change out of my work clothes first, hold on.”

Re-emerging from your bedroom in more casual clothes, you saw that Jaemin had moved from his spot on your armchair and was instead standing, gazing out the window. And again, for a brief moment, you could’ve sworn he looked... lonely.

“I’m ready,” you announced yourself. It felt wrong to keep looking at him like that.

Jaemin turned around, focusing a dazzling smile on you, “Lead the way, Y/N.”

The place you were thinking of really was just a couple blocks down the street. Mumbling a thanks to Jaemin as he held the door open for you, you were immediately met with a packed restaurant. It was seat-yourself, and you managed to spot a small table for two in the very back corner, right beside the entrance to the kitchen. Guiding Jaemin over to it, you felt your face turn warm as he pulled your chair out for you.

The menu was a singular piece of laminated paper taped to the tabletop, and your eyes skimmed it. You ordered the same thing every time at this point, but it was something to look at other than the god in front of you. Speaking of, he was a god. Did he even need to eat?

“Jaemin.” You said his name as you looked up from the menu.

His eyes flicked up from where they’d also been reading the options, “Hm?”

“Do you even eat, like, normal food?”

“I can if I want to, I just don’t need it to survive like you do.”

“Oh, I see. And do you... like it?”

“Quite.”

It was then that a familiar waiter came up to your table, “Hi, Y/N! It’s been a while. Almost didn’t recognize you at a table instead of the bar.”

Typically, you would come by yourself and sit at the bartop to eat alone alongside all the other solo patrons. You rolled your eyes at the slight jab, “Thank you, Chenle, I feel so welcome.”

“Aw, you know you’re one of my favorite regulars,” the young man snickered.

“Yeah, whatever. Sorry I haven’t been by lately, I didn’t exactly have the funds to eat out.”

“That’s okay. But you’re back, does that mean that you found a job?”

“Yes, I did.”

“Congrats!” He then focused his attention on the man across from you, “Hi, I’m Zhong Chenle.”

You moved to introduce the two before Jaemin could open his mouth, afraid of what he would’ve said. “Chenle, this is Jaemin, a... friend of mine. Jaemin, this is Chenle, he’s a server here.”

“And I’ll be serving you two tonight. So, what can I get you?”

After taking your orders, Chenle took off to put them in. You shifted in your seat awkwardly. What were you and Jaemin even supposed to talk about?

“You usually sit at the bar?” Jaemin questioned.

“I’m not an alcoholic, despite how Chenle made it sound,” you scoffed. “I usually come by myself, and the bar is the quickest place to get your food and get out. And that way I don’t take up any tables that groups can use.”

“I feel honored that you brought me here, then.”

You searched his face for any hint that he was teasing you, but all you found was sincere curiosity. Suddenly feeling uncomfortable, you changed the topic, “So why did you show up tonight? You didn’t come all last week.”

“Well, I had to hold up my end of the deal first.”

“Right, that... makes sense.” Realizing that you hadn’t even thanked him for whatever he’d done for you, you added, “Thank you, Jaemin. For you know, the job.”

“You’re welcome.”

Chenle returned then with a small bottle of soju for each of you, informing you that your food would be ready soon.

“So is it everything you’d dreamed of? Working at Kim & Moon?” Jaemin asked before lifting his bottle to his lips.

“Today was only my first day but... yes. I’ve already learned a lot, was listened to when I spoke, and the partner I work for seems like an incredible woman so far. It’s wonderful.”

“I hope it stays that wonderful for you, Y/N. I’d like to see your eyes light up like this often.”

Looking down at the green bottle in front of you, you twisted your ring around your finger nervously. You didn’t know what to say back, your heart fluttering around in your chest. Jaemin was charming, too charming for your own good, and you sort of felt like you really shouldn’t have expected any less from a god.

“Are you curious?”

You snapped your head up to look at your companion, not even attempting to hide your confusion at his words, “About what?”

“What I did, to get you the job.”

“I mean, I am. I assume you had something to do with Yejin winning the lottery? You’re the god of everything below the Earth, including precious gems, gold, silver. The god of riches, wealth. In the modern day that would translate to how we view wealth and riches now, since I’m not really out here buying my groceries with rubies and gold coins. Right?”

Jaemin’s obsidian eyes practically glittered as he listened to you speak, his lips curling up at one corner before he took another swig of his soju. When you were finished, he set the bottle back onto the table to answer your question, “Hit the nail on the head.”

“Honestly, I’m just glad you did that instead of killing her or something horrible.”

His head jerked back as he looked at you with bewilderment, “Now why would I do that? I’m the god of the dead, not death. If you wanted her dead you’re talking to the wrong deity.”

“I don’t want her dead, that’s my point. That’s what Jeno was joking about on the phone before you showed up; I didn’t want you to get any ideas.”

“I don’t really find it fun to just push people into traffic.”

“So you were listening to—” You cut yourself off as you saw Chenle approaching with your food. Not a conversation to be having in front of your normal human waiter.

After he had left your table again, you returned to what you were saying before, “So you were listening to our conversation.”

“Can’t help myself, I’m nosy when it comes to the humans who summon me,” Jaemin admitted.

“So what does Hades do for fun then?” You asked lightheartedly, slurping at some of your broth.

“While I don’t necessarily enjoy pushing people into traffic, I do find it much more fun to let a human become suddenly awash with money and watch what happens when they eventually lose it all. See what they spend it on, who they spend it on. Themselves mostly, sometimes others, trying to get people to be their friends or lovers simply because of what they’ll buy them. I’ll watch them do what humans do best, use and abuse the gifts that were given to them. And then once they’ve been sucked dry both in their finances and their souls, find out how they try to move on.”

“Is that what you’re doing with me?” You set your spoon down, voice wavering. “Watching and waiting for me to end up like that?”

Jaemin took a pause, shifting forward in his seat before responding, “One of my favorite things about humans is how resilient you are. Always trying to bounce back. It’s fascinating to find out your breaking point, when you have no more bounce left.”

An absolutely devilish smile played across his features as he seemed to take delight in the notion. He didn’t exactly answer your question, but the lack thereof felt like enough.

“Why?”

“Because it’s different for every person, and always further than I think it’ll be. Even after so long, knowing that humans can still surprise me, it’s refreshing. Makes me think that…”

You blinked at him, waiting for him to finish. He was definitely well aware that he had your rapt attention, basking in the drama he had created by pausing. His eyes settled on you firmly, holding eye contact as something softer entered them.

“Maybe you’ll surprise me, too.”

Jaemin came back to your apartment with you after you’d decided you were full. You hadn’t had much of an appetite after that harrowing conversation over dinner, and he’d left you with a lot of thinking to do. It wasn’t every day that you heard a god’s perspective on human lives—on toying with human lives, watching for their eventual breakdown in the aftermath of the ‘gifts’ he gave them. If that’s what it did to them all, it seemed much more like a curse to you.

And you were of course thinking about whether it would happen to you too. You hadn’t wished for riches or wealth directly, definitely not so much that it would have the same effect on your life as winning the lottery. But that didn’t mean that you weren’t worried. And the idea of Jaemin watching you every step of the way, waiting to see when you’d slip up, when you’d meet your breaking point, made you shiver instinctually.

“Are you cold?” Jaemin’s question broke the silence that had been hovering over you two since you started the walk from the restaurant back to your apartment.

“Oh, no, I—”

But he had already shrugged his suit jacket off and laid it over your shoulders. There was no residual body heat in it, but it did help block out some of the breeze blowing past you. You hadn’t noticed the temperature at all, too wrapped up in your own thoughts.

“Thanks,” you muttered, wrapping the jacket tighter around your shoulders. It smelled faintly of spiced citrus.

“No worries.”

Back in your apartment, you wanted nothing more than to lay in bed staring up at your ceiling as you gave yourself over fully to the existential crisis you were descending into. But you still had a god to entertain.

A glance at the change in time on your stovetop clock let you know that you were only a couple hours into your commitment. You hoped he didn’t expect you to stay up all night with him. Leaving Jaemin in your living room once again, you changed into pajamas in your bedroom. If he was going to be with you every night from here on out, you were at least going to be comfy for some of it.

Jaemin was back in the armchair he had appeared in at the beginning of the night, one knee crossed over the other and a book in hand. You paused behind him on your way back into the living room to peer over his shoulder, trying to read the title at the top of the page he was on.

“The Turn of the Screw?” You questioned, walking around him to plop down onto your couch.

“I found it on your shelf,” he gestured to the built-in shelves in the walls around the recess that held your TV. “I hope you don’t mind.”

“Knock yourself out, I haven’t touched it since I had to read it for a ghost literature class like… four years ago.”

“Ghost literature class?” Jaemin lowered the book to rest on his leg while he regarded you with an eyebrow raised. “Did you go to school in the Underworld or something?”

“It was actually called like ‘Ghost Stories and Haunted Fiction of the 19th Century’ or something. The students just called it ghost lit. We read all these spooky stories, including The Turn of the Screw,” you explained, then looked around your living room. “I have a few more of them around here somewhere. Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein— I can’t remember the full reading list, but they’re scattered around.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” He raised the book back up to continue reading intently.

Since he seemed occupied for the moment, you pulled out your phone to distract yourself.

A couple hours later and you let out your first yawn of the night. You’d thought that Jaemin was so enraptured by the book that he wasn’t paying any attention to you. The chuckle he gave from across the room proved you wrong, however. There was definitely nothing funny in that story. You threw him a scowl, but he neither looked up from the book nor said anything.

Shifting in your spot to get comfy again, you returned to the article that you’d been reading on your phone and your guest was quiet once again. Another yawn split your mouth, and the words on your screen swam in your vision as your eyes teared up.

“Tired, Y/N?” Jaemin’s eyes still hadn’t left the book as he continued, “You should go to sleep, early day at work tomorrow, right?”

“And what are you going to do?”

“I thought I’d finish this book, if that’s alright with you. I’ve got about… thirty, forty pages left.”

“Oh, uh, sure,” you were surprised both that he was encouraging you to go to sleep during the time you’d agreed to forfeit to him, and that he wanted to finish the book.

Standing up from the couch, you shuffled into your kitchen to fill up a glass of water. After knocking back your nightly medication, you placed the water on your nightstand and went into your bathroom to do your nighttime routine. You found yourself hovering at the threshold between the hallway that contained your bedroom and bathroom, and the living room. It felt weird to just go to bed with someone else in your home, at least not without saying goodnight to them.

“Uhm,” you cleared your throat.

Jaemin turned to look at you from over the back of the armchair, “Yes, Y/N?”

“I just wanted to…” you felt the words catch in your throat. Pushing through your awkwardness, you twisted the ring around your finger as you forced the words out, “Goodnight, Jaemin.”

“Goodnight, Y/N.” He smiled at you before turning back around to face his book, “See you tomorrow.”

And with that, you retreated into your bedroom for the night, falling asleep almost as soon as your head hit the pillow.

The man of shadows was in your dreams again that night, drawing you to the tree with the golden fruit. His voice once more invited you to partake in picking the fruit, and your hand inched up, up, up, towards one. Your fingers had just wrapped around the fruit, ready to pluck it off the branch, when you woke up.

When you awoke the next morning, you went through the motions of your morning routine, strolling from your bathroom out to your kitchen, toothbrush sticking out of your mouth. You continued brushing your teeth with one hand as you grabbed the freshly popped toast from the toaster to put on a plate. As you went to lean over the kitchen sink to spit the toothpaste foam out of your mouth, your eyes got caught on something in the living room, which the sink overlooked. There was a small black pouch sitting on the coffee table, on the corner closest to the armchair.

After wiping your mouth off, you walked over to your coffee table, intrigue building as you picked up the velvet drawstring pouch. Looking around, you were only greeted by your empty apartment. This wasn’t here last night. Or at least, not before you went to sleep.

Pulling it open, you gently shook the contents out onto your palm. It was a silver bracelet, intricate filigree running along the band that was inlaid with gorgeous green and blue gems.

Jaemin’s words from dinner last night echoed in your head.

‘I do find it much more fun to let a human become suddenly awash with money and watch what happens when they eventually lose it all… It’s fascinating to find out your breaking point…’

A foreboding feeling colored your vision, and you rushed to tuck the bracelet back into the bag and throw it onto the table.

When Jaemin came that night, you were cooking dinner in your kitchen. He appeared there with you, leaning against the counter next to your sink as you were standing over the stovetop.

“Good evening, Y/N,” he greeted you.

“Hello, Jaemin.” You steeled your nerves, giving as nonchalant of a nod as you could towards the living room, “You left something here last night. It’s on the coffee table.”

The god regarded you with a tilted head, and you felt his eyes on your empty wrists, “That was for you.”

“I didn’t ask you for anything like that.”

“I know. It was a gift.”

“The job was plenty, Jaemin.”

He was silent as he continued to watch you cook. After a grueling couple of minutes of absolute silence, his eyes burning into you the whole time, you finally turned to properly look him in the face. Throwing on a smile, you informed him, “Dinner’s ready. Ravioli, would you like some?”

“Yes, please.”

You set two places at your dinner table before plating two portions of the pasta. Jaemin was still in his place next to the sink, observing your movements.

“Go ahead and sit, I’m just going to grab a couple glasses,” you gestured towards the kitchen table.

Without even waiting to see if he’d obey, you bustled over to a cabinet and took out two wine glasses, then grabbed a bottle of white wine you’d been meaning to finish off. When you turned back to the kitchen table, you were pleasantly surprised to see Jaemin waiting there patiently, fidgeting with his silverware. Setting the two glasses down, you noticed that Jaemin’s silverware was in different places than you had put them in when you hastily set the table. The fork was on the left of the plate, the knife and spoon on the right with the knife directly beside the plate and the spoon on the other side of the knife. Yours on the other hand were in the haphazard places atop the napkin that you had put them earlier.

“Apologies for the subpar fork placement,” you said, uncorking the wine to begin pouring it out first for Jaemin.

“Oh, it’s just a habit,” he explained. His tone then turned as teasing as yours had been, “My apologies for making you think your fork placement was anything other than above par.”

You then poured for yourself as you continued the banter, “Yeah, you know, I really pride myself on my utensil arranging skills. My feelings have been gravely wounded. I’ll never recover from this.”

“Then would you consider taking this,” he procured a small black pouch from his pocket, and you had a suspicion as to exactly what was in it, “as repentance, with my sincerest apologies?”

A bitter sigh came out of your mouth at him ruining the perfectly normal moment you were enjoying, “Jaemin, I told you I don’t want any more gifts from you.”

The way you spat out the word ‘gifts’ was apparently a lightbulb moment for him as he set the pouch down on the table and all playfulness dropped from his face. Disinterested in whatever he was going to say to try to convince you to take it, you picked up your fork, using the side of the tongs to cut one of your raviolis in half.

“Y/N…” he said your name almost wistfully, leaning forward towards you earnestly. “I really do just want you to have it. It’s not a test or a ruse, just… a token.”

“A token of what?” You snorted, spearing half of the ravioli that you’d just cut and bringing it up to your mouth.

“My affection?”

You choked momentarily on the pasta in your mouth, chewing and swallowing it as quickly as possible and taking a sip of your wine to wash it down. Jaemin still hadn’t touched his food, utensils undisturbed as he waited for you to collect yourself. When you searched his face for a smirk, a mischievous glint in his eyes, anything to indicate that he was being less than truthful, you found none. You were just met with deep open pools of black in his eyes, his mouth set in seriousness, and his hand once again holding the pouch back out to you.

“Your what?”

“I know you heard me.”

“Yes, and now I’m asking for clarification.”

“I find you fascinating, and not in the morbid kind of way like I described to you last night. I’ve found myself starting to become fond of you, and I wanted to show that to you with a… present.”

“What, like getting your puppy a new chew toy because they’re so darn cute?”

Jaemin chuckled, “Not quite. But still, will you please accept it, Y/N?”

You thought it over for another moment, chewing on the inside of your cheek. He was being sincere, you were sure of it. You’d caught brief glimpses of the kinder side to Jaemin just in the few times you’d met him: when he’d leant you his suit jacket walking home last night, telling you he was hoping you’d continue being in love with your job, the gentlemanly peck he’d left on your fingers the night you’d made your deal. And now, as he patiently awaited your answer.

“Alright,” you agreed, taking the small bag from him. “Thank you, Jaemin.”

“Thank you for letting me give it to you.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

Pulling the bracelet back out of the pouch, you saw that it had a hinge mechanism on it that you couldn’t manage one-handed, and held it out to the god sitting in front of you, “Will you help me put it on?”

“Of course,” he took it, opening the band up with ease.

You held your right hand out towards him, and he brought the open bracelet up around your wrist. But you weren’t watching the way his deft fingers put it on around your wrist, the tips of them brushing over the sensitive skin at your pulse point, leaving coolness behind. You were watching his face as he focused on the task intently, his brows furrowing in concentration then relaxing after the bracelet had clicked shut. A small but tender smile took over his face, his eyes softening as he turned your hand over palm down, thumb running up your ring finger until it reached the silver band that resided there.

Your skin buzzed in the wake of his touch, an electric cold. You could hear your heart thudding in your ears and hoped that he didn’t have supernatural god hearing or something and could hear it too. If he did, he gave no indication of such. He withdrew his hands, leaving you more dazed than you should’ve been at the minimal contact you had. Jerking your hand back to your side of the table, you turned your gaze down at your food, trying to ignore how hot your cheeks were.

A light laugh came from Jaemin, but you couldn’t force your eyes back up to him, knowing that his were already on you.

That night you dreamt once more of the man cast in darkness, leading you to the tree of golden fruit. This time when he encouraged you to pick one, you grasped at the fruit with two hands, pulling it right off the branch with a firm tug.

Just about one month into your… arrangement with Jaemin, you were rooting through your fridge for something to make for dinner when there was suddenly a cool breeze on the back of your neck. Except you were indoors.

Spinning around, you were immediately met with the god extremely close to you, and let out an exasperated sigh, “God damn, Jaemin, are you trying to give me a heart attack?”

“I can’t help it if I make your heart race,” he grinned, the mischievous glint in his eye making your heart pound in a different way that it had been.

“Yeah, because you jumpscared me,” you rolled your eyes, shutting the fridge doors to then lean back against the appliance. “Anyway, it’s not looking like I have anything to make for dinner. You okay with eating out tonight?”

“More than, I was actually hoping you’d let me take you somewhere tonight.”

“Where?”

“My place. You’ve been such a gracious host this whole time, it’s time I repay the favor.”

“Your place, as in... the Underworld?”

“Yeah, why not?” He shrugged nonchalantly, an enticing grin on his features. A grin that invited you to follow its owner to places you’d never been before. “I promise you’ll come back.”

“In one piece?”

“Of course.”

You’d be lying if you said you weren’t intrigued, that you hadn’t tried to picture what the Underworld looked like. All you could come up with was the standard image of hell: flames, pitchforks, eternal torture. But now you were getting an invitation to go there with Hades and come back alive.

“And I’ll be back in time to go to work in the morning?”

“Yes, absolutely.”

“Alright, sure,” you finally acquiesced. “I’d love to, thank you for inviting me.”

Jaemin offered his hand out to you then, and you placed your atop. He gave yours a light squeeze, “Just focus on me, Y/N. Just look in my eyes.”

“Okay?” You agreed despite your tone pitching it up into a question, unsure of why exactly he was asking you to do that.

Nevertheless, you settled your gaze on his eyes, even as he drew you in closer by the light grip on your hand. You gave him an awkward half-smile, unsure of what exactly to do as you just stared him directly in the eye. His dark eyes had a calming effect, however, as you felt your breathing even out and your heartbeat slow. This close to him, and being able to unabashedly look at him, you were entranced by the unearthly quality to his beauty. It should have been disquieting, this spectral vision in front of you, but you just found yourself drawn even closer in body and mind.

Then suddenly everything around you was darker, as if someone had dimmed your kitchen lights. The air was cooler too, and you had the suspicion that you were no longer in your kitchen. But you were still looking at Jaemin, just like you said you would.

He was looking right back at you, unflinchingly, and a fond smile crossed his lips before he announced quietly, “We’re here. You can look.”

And you finally tore your eyes from him to take in your new surroundings. It was dark, just like you’d noted before, as if it were nighttime. The room you were in had black floors, black walls, and at the very tippy top of the black vaulted ceiling, a black wrought iron chandelier with flames glowing... blue? But you couldn’t focus on the flickering up above you as Jaemin’s fingers entwined with yours and he gently tugged you towards the other side of the room.

“Come on, this way.”

It looked like you were maybe in an entrance hall of some sort. It was then that you spotted a large black throne adorned with silver detailing and embellishments at the front of the room. Jaemin kept walking right past it, though, down an adjoining hallway.

Your wide eyes that had been taking everything in turned downwards to your hand that was holding Jaemin’s. His skin was the usual coolness you had come to expect, and your fingertips brushed against the multitudes of rings on his fingers. Seeing the lone silver band on your hand, the one that he was holding, made your face hot for some reason.

You passed through another doorway into a dining room. It contained a large dining table crafted from dark walnut wood, the twelve high-back chairs around it made of the same. A deep red table runner went across the length of the tabletop, matching the upholstery of the chairs. A feast was already laid out, and place settings for two of the seats were prepared.

Jaemin let go of your hand to pull out a chair for you. You thanked him quietly as you sat down, eyes still scanning over the food options. He sat in the chair caddy-corner to yours, at the head of the table.

“Go ahead, Y/N,” Jaemin encouraged you as he reached forward to grab the bottle of wine that had been on the table as well.

“Everything looks... so good,” you said, not sure what to try first.

He uncorked the bottle, pouring the red wine into your glass first, then his. When he put the bottle down, you still hadn’t moved, too overwhelmed with all the delicious-looking choices.

“Do I need to make your plate for you?” He teased, already standing and grabbing your plate.

“This is good, you’ll probably like this one, oh you’re going to love this one, everyone likes that, mmm definitely not that,” he mumbled to himself as he loaded up your plate with food after food.

Your heart did flips as you looked up at him, the simple kindness of his actions making you feel warm despite the coolness of the Underworld.

Jaemin set your plate back down in front of you between your utensils, spoon on the far right, then the knife beside the plate, and the fork on the left. You waited for him to prepare his own plate of food, then finally be seated. When he’d finished scooting his chair up to table, he looked up from what he’d been doing, eyes catching yours, and a small, affectionate smile crossed his lips before he grabbed his wine glass. Then a wide, charismatic grin overtook his features as he held his glass out towards you, and you followed his lead, picking yours up to clink them together.

“To one month of… you and I. Thank you for agreeing to come here tonight, Y/N.”

‘You and I.’ His words both squeezed your chest and made it feel airy, like someone was inflating a balloon inside of it.

“Thank you for hosting tonight, Jaemin. And here’s to one month of…” you took a sharp inhale as you stumbled through your mind for any other word but couldn’t find one in that moment. “Us.”

You saw Jaemin’s pale lips softly, silently repeat the word before pulling into an alluring smirk.

And you each took a sip of the wine before digging into your food and kicking off the discussion. Over your month of dinners and nighttime socializing with Jaemin, you were used to your conversations meandering between the casual catching up of your workday to the serious contemplations of life and the universe. After all, if you were dining with a god, you were going to pick his brain for some philosophical inquiry. But on the days where some of the medical malpractice or domestic pro bono cases had hit you exceptionally hard and you wanted to leave well enough alone, Jaemin let you keep the topics light and surface level, keeping it at office gossip and the like.

Tonight though, with the special venue on your mind, you immediately delved into the existential, “So what are humans to you?”

“How do you mean?” Jaemin arched an eyebrow at your question.

“You’re a god. You’ve lived for thousands of years. You’ve seen millions of humans live and die. Surely, we all just kind of… blur together for you. Seem the same. Inconsequential.”

“No, not at all.”

“You’re just saying that because I’m here,” you teased before returning to your debate. “Most of us live and die without ever leaving a lasting impact on the world. Not that I think that’s necessary for having lived a meaningful or good life, I think that making even one person smile means that someone lived a good life. But in relation to you, a god, surely that makes us all indistinguishable from one another.”

“Is a play bad because it ends? Is a flower no longer beautiful because it will wilt? I think that humans and your lives are so intriguing because they’re finite.” He was as impassioned as ever when getting into your metaphysical dialogues— voice strong with resolve, leaning forward towards you earnestly, brow set just the slightest not with anger but determination, and hair falling into his onyx eyes that looked into yours without hesitation. “An incalculable but unquestionably limited amount of time, one chance, and each of you choose to live differently.”

“You still think that every human life is different from all the others?”

“Of course.” Apparently sensing that he hadn’t convinced you yet, Jaemin continued with an example, “Just look at you and your friend Jeno. Sure, the two of you converged pretty closely in college, but he made the choice to begin his career while you made the choice pursue higher education. Your two lives aren’t the same.”

“There’s also another major difference between the two of us.”

At the imploring tilt of his head, you deadpanned, “Only one of us made a deal with Hades for a third of our life.”

“An astute observation, Y/N,” Jaemin chuckled, relaxing back in his chair now that you’d changed up the tone of the conversation.

When both of your plates and glasses were empty, Jaemin took you by the hand once again to guide you from the dining room, as he apparently wanted to show you something. You emerged onto a patio of some sort, but that wasn’t what you were focused on. In front of you was a tree maybe ten or fifteen feet tall, an elegantly thin and sloping trunk, and along its many branches were round golden fruit the size of your palm. You couldn’t help the soft gasp that came from you as you took in the dazzling sight. Everything about the tree was normal from the texture of the brown bark to the dark green leaves, and even the dappling of the outer shell of the pomegranates that grew on it looked real, aside from the gilded color. It was magical, and you were happy just to know that something so beautiful existed.

“Thank you for showing me this, Jaemin,” you said, turning to look at the god who had stopped beside you.

You thought that he’d be looking at the scenery too, but his eyes were on you. He had a familiar look on his face, a small, tender smile pulling at the corners of his mouth, dark eyes holding a latent warmth like coals after a fire, and you felt tempted to get even closer to indulge in it.

But instead, you steeled your nerves to ask, “Why do you keep looking at me like that?”

Your tone wasn’t as accusatory as your words were, it was a sincerely curious question.

“Like what?” Jaemin was quick to reply with a question of his own, keeping his attitude light but genuine.

“You keep smiling at me with this soft little smile.”

“I keep doing it? When was I doing it before?”

“When we first got here, when you sat down at dinner tonight, and just now, when you brought me out here.” It had made your heart go haywire every time you noticed it, so you were able to list the instances from tonight off the top of your head. But that wasn’t all, there was a reason why it was imprinted into the back of your eyelids like a burned-out LCD screen, “It’s like… like… you want to kiss me.”

“I do,” Jaemin declared, eyes never leaving yours, voice never wavering, so damn sure of himself. Even as you were here in front of him feeling like you were nearly ready to rip your hair out from just a few little smiles from him.

He was always like this. So charming, so smooth, playfully talking around your questions. Pulling you along with him, dancing with you through your conversation. You had to meet him head on, even if it felt like you were going crazy doing so. You did it during your dinners, you could do it now too.

“Is that why you’re smiling at me like that?”

“Do you want me to? Kiss you?” He took a step towards you. For a brief moment he was all you could see, all dark hair, dark eyes, and silver earrings.

“I want to know why you look at me like that.” You stepped back from him, wrapped in the heady smell of his cologne. Cinnamon, bergamot, an earthy scent too maybe? Your head was swimming with it, but you needed to focus on the conversation at hand.

“And I want to know if you want me to kiss you or not.” Another step, once again narrowing the distance between you.

“I asked first, Jaemin,” you poked your pointer finger against his chest as a warning. “An answer for an answer.”

He stayed put, seeming to be fighting a delighted smirk from his face as he looked between your face and the finger you held up defensively between the two of you. Jaemin’s features relaxed as he clasped his hands together behind his back, looking into your eyes earnestly, “All of those times that I’ve been looking at you tonight, I was thinking to myself, ‘It feels like she’s come home.’ You just looked like you belonged here, in my home, with me. It felt like I belonged with you. And that made me want to kiss you. That’s why.”

Of all the answers you had been expecting, that hadn’t quite been one of them. Grand declarations of love were a faraway possibility, sure, you’d seen movies before. That’s not what this was, though. This was both more and less. You hadn’t anticipated for Hades’ answer to be so simple yet all-soul-encompassing as the idea of coming home. While everything tonight had definitely been new and unfamiliar to you, you hadn’t been intimidated or uncomfortable in any way. With Jaemin at your side, you’d been able to take it all in with wonder and an open mind, knowing that you had him right there watching over you.

“I believe you owe me an answer now too, Y/N.” Jaemin’s voice was quiet, low, meant only for you. “Do you want me to kiss you?”

Your gaze fell to the finger you had to his chest, your right hand. It had lost all the force you started with, limp and simply resting against him. You could see the silver ring there, and lower on your arm was the bracelet he’d given you, both pieces of jewelry glinting in the hazy light afforded in the Underworld. You briefly wondered if they had come from here, from deep under the Earth; if they’d come home tonight, too. The god in front of you remained silent, waiting for your response. If there was one thing Jaemin was good at, it was waiting— after he’d given you his final push.

Then you finally looked back up at his face, into the sunken obsidian black that greeted you there. That ever-stubborn lock of raven hair was hanging between his brows, and you had a sudden and smitten urge to fix it. But you had something more important to do in that moment. After all, he’d given you his answer, now you owed him yours. And you’d made up your mind.

Your mouth had barely started forming around your answer before it was captured by Jaemin’s in a kiss that was equal parts tender and ravishing. It felt like he was trying to devour your ‘yes’ right off your tongue and keep it all to himself. Admittedly, your head had started nodding before your vocal cords could work.

If you thought you were swimming in spices and citrus before, you were drowning in them now. Cinnamon, oranges, and… cedar. Your hand that had previously been poking at his chest was now crumpling the collar of his dress shirt, the other hooking a finger in one of the belt loops at the front of his slacks to yank him closer. His own hands were doing their part, too. One cupped your cheek while the other held you by your waist. The sweetest nectar was being dripped into your veins, and you hungrily took more and more with each wanton kiss from Jaemin.

When his lips finally parted from yours, you couldn’t help but steal just one more kiss. He let out a breathy chuckle as he clasped a hand over the one you were grasping at his shirt with to gently pull it off, his thumb then rubbing slow circles into your palm. His hand that had been on your cheek dipped to gently grip your chin, and as he looked at you, you knew exactly what he was thinking.

“I’m home,” you promised.

The shadowy man was back in your dreams that night, and this time the golden fruit was already in your two hands. He was encouraging you to break it open, feed on its juicy flesh that he promises will taste so good.

You woke up before you could follow through on the decision you’d already made.

⤷ series masterlist ⤷ blog masterlist

#i: jaemin #jaemin #na jaemin #nct #nct dream #nct imagine #jaemin imagine #nct dream imagine #nct imagines #nct dream imagines #jaemin imagines #f: obsidian black #s: golden fruit #g: fluff #writing #text #mine #*100

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ouroborus-momento-mori · 2 years

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Authors note - wow! I’m so blown away by the interest in my fic. This is my first attempt at fan fiction and a reader insert so please be gentle. It’s starting off a little slow but I really had to build where the reader is at in her life before we can really dive in. It’ll pick up in the next chapter which should be out before Sunday. Feedback is appreciated. Enjoy!

Corresponding Spotify: Destination Unknown

Link to AO3: Destination Unknown

Word count: 3,865

Find Chapter two - here.

Destination Unknown

Chapter One - The Long Drive

***

In your defence, you never meant to stay on the East Coast for this long. It started with you wanting to make a name for yourself, to get out from underneath your father’s shadow.

Almost a decade ago you moved out to Washington D.C. to start your university education at Georgetown University. One Bachelor of Arts degree and a Masters of Museum Studies later, you had earned your current position as Assistant Curator for Contemporary Military Aviation History at the Smithsonian’s Air and Space Museum.

You had a little help along the way with your father being an Admiral, but most people in this city had at least a little nepotism to help get them where they are.

You had certainly worked for it too, sacrificing countless nights out on the town, friendships, hell even your last relationship or two. All because you were addicted to the drive to do better. Be better. To work with the best. To be the best. To have people know you because of what you’ve accomplished on your own.

Not because of the last name that was gifted to you in your very first hours of existing.

Kazansky.

Your whole life you’ve had to bear the heavy weight of your name, and all the expectations and assumptions that came with it. It was both a blessing and a grievance. You loved your family dearly, but with the weight of your fathers rank and reputation you had grown up feeling smothered by it.

Your whole adolescent life you had felt pressure to enlist and rise through the ranks like your father. Your whole life you had dozens of people reminding you of how alike the two of you were. But that wasn’t what you wanted. It had nearly torn you apart in your senior year, having applied to civilian universities and the Naval Academy with your childhood best friend Bradley.

Ultimately you chose to move across the country to study as a civilian. Washington D.C. was safe enough as it allowed for plenty of visits with your parents when your father was sent for meetings at the nearby Pentagon or the White House. It also allowed for your father to keep close tabs on you, having plenty of connections in the city.

It hurt beyond belief at first to be so far away. But it got better with time. Over the past decade you have successfully built yourself a life of your own. Now at 29 you had an outstanding career, several publications and accreditations to your name, a well loved (albeit small and very expensive) apartment, and a fluffy black cat by the name of Merlin.

A loud sound interrupted your train of thought.

It was like your heart was ripped out of your chest when you heard your phone ringing, the blaring of “Sweet Child O’ Mine” signalling that it was your mother calling. You had been pacing your apartment all morning waiting for this. With a deep soothing breath, you picked up the phone.

“Mom?”

You heard a watery sob. “Oh honey. It’s even worse than we thought.”

You struggled to hold back tears. “How long do they think we have left with him?”

“Dr. Thompson says six months at best.” She inhaled another breath, you could hear her trying to hold back her cries. “Your father and I had a talk last night. We really want you home sometime soon. Now preferably. We just want to hold you again, have a few months with the family all together again. You think you’ll be able to make it?”

You had known this was coming for a while now. This past Christmas your father had started to show some signs of his failing health. Coughing up blood. Trying to hide it. Blaming his hoarse throat on all the talking he does. Or that it was a simple head cold. After urging him to get tests done, you had to pack up and leave sunny California for the East Coast once again.

When you had returned in January you submitted an exhibition proposal to your Director, centering around wanting to tell the unheard stories of contemporary elite naval aviators and their amazing accomplishments. You mainly wanted something that would allow you to move back to the west coast for several months, so you could be close to your family without having to give up your career.

With a couple months worth of check ups and tests on your fathers end, and a series of tweaking and resubmitting proposals and outlines on your end - you finally got the stamp of approval. Not only were they letting you curate your first solo exhibition, but they were also giving you a grant so you could publish a book to correspond with it.

The project would allow you to spend several months with your family. Splitting your time between the nearby naval aviators school for research in their archives and the command bases surrounding town where your family still resides.

“Yes. I’ll be home soon. I just need to get things situated. One of my colleagues will sublease my apartment while I’m gone. I’m taking Merlin with me.” You sighed into the phone, gazing across the apartment.

Merlin was lounging outstretched in the sun, absentmindedly pushing your papers around on your desk. He mewled at you when he noticed your attention. He plopped down and subsequently started pawing at the cupboard where you kept his treats.

“Oh goody… I can’t wait to meet my only grand-fur baby. He looks so soft in all those photos you send of him. I think he would really help your father too. Might soothe him, you know? I think it would do him some good. Petting Merlin and all.” She was rambling. She did this when her anxiety was flaring up.

“Mom. Will you be okay until next week? I’m going to drive home, it would be easier to pack everything into the car.”

“Yes, just get here as soon as you can, okay? I- We need you… Your father needs you here. Just come home soon. We all miss you.”

“I love you, mom. Tell dad and the boys I love them too. I’ll text you when I leave here on Friday.” You took a shuddering breath. “I’ll see you soon.”

“I love you too, honey. Your dad and your brothers do as well. You know that. We’ll see you soon.”

Immediately after your mother hung up you fired off a text to your two brothers, making sure they knew they could call or text you should they need any help. And to make sure they would take all the housework and cooking off your mom’s to do list. She had enough on her plate right now looking after your father.

You fired off a text to your father too, trying to express to him how much you loved him and how you were looking forward to seeing him and spending time with him.

***

You spent the next day packing everything into your old ‘69 baby blue Ford Bronco, a car you had fixed up in high school with your father, his friend (your would-be uncle, really) Pete, and your childhood friend Bradley.

You went into your office too, picking up some last minute essentials and saying farewells to your colleagues. You would be seeing a few of them in a few months when they flew out to collect the objects you’re going to be gathering for your exhibition.

Amelia, one of your best friends and colleagues, had agreed to sublease your apartment while you’re gone. She had recently broken off her engagement to her unfaithful fiancé. You gave her a more than fair price, and offered her the entire place to try to mend her broken heart.

You left a bouquet of flowers, several bottles of wine, a nice bottle of whiskey, an assortment of Ben & Jerry’s in the freezer, and your infamous collection of cheesy RomComs for her to revel with while you were away.

Looking around you tried to spot the little (large) fluff ball that lived (thought he owned) in your apartment with you.

“Pstpstpst… Merlin! Come here, you absolute rascal.” You scooped Merlin up, his black fur flying into the air. He was a massive cat, you were pretty certain he had Maine Coone genetics somewhere in him. You had named him after one of your father’s friends callsign.

Placing Merlin in his carrier and heading to your door, you took one last look around your apartment. You couldn’t quite put your finger on it, but this pit that resided in your stomach made you feel like this was the closing of a chapter for you. You shoved that thought away. No time to think of that now. Your family needed you.

***

You sent off a quick text to your mom, and just like that you were off on a cross country journey.

You silently thanked god your pay was decent, the sheer amount of gas you would need for this trip was stupidly astronomical.

With a few stops across the country to rest at pet friendly motels, you had finally made it to California in just under a week.

You decided to stop first at the US Navy’s Fighter Weapons School, Top Gun (as literally every naval aviator referred to it as in your youth), to drop off your research materials and hordes of guide and reference books.

Laughing gently, you couldn’t stop yourself from gazing at the school instead of the road ahead.

Holy shit, you thought. Where did the time go?

You had spent an absurd amount of time here as a kid growing up. You definitely didn’t have a normal childhood.

Pulling in, you started off loading everything you needed. Merlin started mewling from his carrier.

“You need the litter box, sweetheart? Just a moment, let mommy do this first.” You grumbled trying to haul everything you needed out. Getting frustrated with the weight of it all, you just dropped your boxes on the ground. Poor sweet little Merlin needed your attention. You hooked up his harness and his leash. Carrying him over to the surprisingly green grass next to the parking lot.

“Holy mother of god! Is that you, Kazansky?! The boss man told me you’d be making your way here again. Thought he was fibbing.”

Swirling around you had to lift your hand up to shield your eyes against the blinding sun.

“I really don’t think this is the best place to be letting your scruff-ball of a cat take a shit.” The blurry figure said.

Straining your eyes, you could just barely make out the face that was coming toward you. You could never forget that voice though, considering he was one of the pilots who practically raised you here on base.

“Solomon Bates. How’ve you been?” You couldn’t help the wide grin that stretched across your face. This was the first of many reunions you had to look forward to. Or in some (one) case, dread.

You rushed over, dragging Merlin behind you, to hug the man.

“I’ve been good, kid. Better now that you’re here. Your father has us all worried, not that you should ever tell him that. He’d whoop all our asses if he ever heard such a thing.” You both let out barking laughs. You were thankful for Warlock’s sense of humour.

“I know. Dad won’t let any of us worry over him. His pride is still just as strong as it was when he first started at this Academy, I’m sure of it.”

“Ahh you gotta give the man some credit. He didn’t get to where he is today without having a strong will and sense of who he is. His sense of pride has been well earned. You and your mother will have to use some of that charm you have, get him to rest and take it easy.”

You gave the man a small smile, “We’ll do our best, don't you worry about that.”

“I’ll take your word for it. Now,” He glared down at your cat, then swung his gaze over towards your Bronco. “I’m going to take a guess. You’re gonna need help with those boxes?”

“That would actually be amazing, Bates.” He laughed as he saw you let out a sigh, you let out a small chuckle too. It was a huge relief knowing you wouldn’t have to carry them all on your own.

You placed Merlin back in his carrier, rolling down the windows to let the wind run through the vehicle.

Bates helped you carry in the boxes leading you down the familiar halls you used to haunt as a kid.

You arrived at an all too familiar door. Your father’s old office, the one away from home and his previous office before his time at fleet command.

“You guys never gave this space to some other poor paper-pushing Admiral?” You had to admit, you were quite surprised. You used to spend time here as a kid reading or doodling. Your father would take you into work to hang out with the other naval aviators children.

The kids were almost always taken here when their fathers wanted to give their mothers a well earned break and they simultaneously needed to catch up on some paperwork or reading.

“Nah. Your dad’s always been welcome here, we never wanted him to leave in the first place. This complex has got so many rooms we figured we could leave this one be. Now it's yours for the next, what? Several months or so?”

“Give or take. Hopefully give. I don’t want to wish any time away.” You grimaced. That came out awkward. You still weren’t used to the impending, well… whatever would be coming down the line for you and your family.

“I know, kid. I know.” He nodded. “Now… time to let the old memories come alive, hey?” He flung open the door to your fathers old office and sauntered in.

You took a deep breath before following him in, your eyes scanning the room. Just like you remembered it. There was a grand oak desk to the far left with a leather executive chair at its helm. The rest of the room was occupied by dozens of photos from years long gone, grand bookshelves holding trophies, awards and books. There was also a long oval oak conference table, with several leather chairs seated. Everything was painted in dark moody tones, common to old officers clubs built during the Second World War.

When you were younger and first started getting into history and myths, you would often refer to your father as King (Admiral) Arthur and at his table would be the fabled knights (officers) of the round table.

You and Bates both dropped your boxes onto the large oval table. You would set up your work space at a later date.

You glanced at Bates as he meandered around the office to stop in front of your fathers old desk, picking up a photo that had a layer of dust. He wiped it off with his hand.

“You know… I can still remember this day like it was yesterday.” He hummed a smile, eyes twinkling at you.

You narrowed your eyes, having a sneaking suspicion at what photo he has taken up. You walked over and playfully snatched it out of his hands, glancing down at it for yourself.

Sure enough, you had guessed correctly. The photo was of a young freshman year pair, you and your old friend Bradley. You were both covered in silly string, laughing your asses off at the mess the two of you had caused.

Bates had been the man behind the camera that fateful day, and had taken glee in also capturing your frantic mother in the back of the photo. She had been desperate to clean you both up in time for the family photo, a yearly tradition the entire staff had at the weapons school here.

You smiled and took the photo over to the wall with dozens more, holding it up to the photo with dozens of figures all smiling and dressed in their Sunday best. If you looked closely enough, you could spot both you and Bradley in the front.

Both your white sundress and his white shirt had been stained from the silly string. Just above you was your father, your mother, Bradley’s mother, and your all but blood related uncle Pete “Maverick” Mitchell.

They were all holding in a laugh at how the two of you looked, dishevelled and stained, even after both your mom’s had tried desperately to clean you up for the photo. Still to this day no one had any idea where the two of you had gotten the silly string. That was a secret you and Bradley had pinky sworn to never tell. You always kept your promises.

“You two used to have so much fun together.” Bates mused, smiling to himself, his eyes glazed over in memories.

“Whatever happened to your friendship? You two ever stay in touch after you, uh, picked up and left?” You snapped out of your smile, turning your eyes to look at him.

“That, uh, came out wrong. Sorry” Bates grimaced. No shit, Warlock you thought to yourself.

“We, um, lost touch with each other.” You tried to find a way to phrase it for him. “After he found out he had been rejected from the Naval Academy, I decided to forge my own path. The civilian route. So… I moved to Washington.”

You took a moment to collect your thoughts.

“Bradley… I think he took it hard. The Academy was the only thing he wanted to do after graduation. He didn’t have any other plans. He’s a smart guy, he had all the right grades. He had all the right extra curriculars. Hell, he even had the legacy with Goose being a graduate. It’s always been a mystery to everyone why he got rejected.”

You took a breath, glancing at Bates. He nodded with a soft smile, urging you to continue.

“We saw each other a few times after I left, but it was never, uh, really the same. I guess we just grew apart.” Your mouth twisted around the words awkwardly. You knew why it was never the same, not that you would ever tell Bates this.

How would you ever go about telling, well, anyone that you had hooked up with and lost your virginity to your childhood best friend the night before leaving for the other side of the country for four years? Four years that had now turned into ten.

“I tried to reach out to him after his mother had passed away. It was right when I was finishing my end of term exams… I wasn’t able to make it to the funeral. He never replied to any of my messages or the package and letter I sent him.” Bates was openly looking at you now, he had a neutral expression on his face. You could tell though, he was trying to get a read on what you were feeling.

“I, um. I took it to mean he probably didn’t want to hear from me. After a couple months of trying to reach out to him then, I haven’t spoken to him since. It’s been years now since I’ve seen or heard from him.” You glanced down at your hands, the photo still in them, picking at your nails to avoid his gaze.

“Do you miss him?” Your eyes immediately swung back up to meet his gaze. What?

“What?” You blurt out, having to take a moment to actually speak the phrase.

“Do you miss him? The two of you grew up together. All of us older folk thought your bond was unbreakable. Hell I mean…” He trailed off, glancing back to the photo now forgotten in your hand. He gently took the frame in his putting it on the table, facing the two of you. “To be honest most of us thought the two of you would be married by now, having popped out half a dozen kids.”

Your face was bright red. You felt like you might actually melt into the ground now at this very moment.

Thankfully, Bates let out a barking laugh and slapped the table. “Holy shit, Kazansky. I wish I had a mirror to show you your face right now.”

You laughed along with him, clearly embarrassed.

He took one last look at the old photo, grinning.

“I gotta get back to work now, it’s soon time to head off for the day. Louise is making some kind of stir fry for dinner. She’s on some kind of health kick or another. You’ll have to drop by sometime. I’m sure she’d be thrilled to see you again, and to hear all your sure-to-be swanky tales from the Capitol.” He smiled and nodded to you.

“Here’s the keys to the office. I hope you get at least a fraction of use out of this old office as your old Iceman did. I’m sure with the looks of those books you got there it won’t be an issue for you.” He turned as he was heading out the door, a devious smirk on his face.

“Oh, and don’t ever let me catch you allowing your cat take a shit on my perfect green grass again. Or else I’ll be calling over my favourite drill sergeant to get you to do an asinine amount of pushups, just like any other recruit here would.” He gave you a cheeky wink and then he was off on his way.

You playfully rolled your eyes at his back, your smile returning as you looked down.

You picked up the photo frame one more time, looking to the base of it. On the bottom in your father’s handwriting there was a small written inscription “The fox and her rooster.” You returned the photo to its proper home on your father’s old desk.

You took one last glance around the rooms before leaving and locking the door, heading for the outside once more.

Once arriving at your well loved Ford Bronco, you made sure to check up on Merlin once more. He was happily taking a nap in the warm sun, it was the end of February so the heat hadn’t really started yet.

You sighed as you got into the driver's seat, flipping on the AC and flipping through your CD collection to find what you were looking for. The downside of your vintage beauty was that there was no bluetooth or plug in for your phone. You didn’t mind it though. It added to its charm.

Windows rolled all the way down and your hair thrown up in a claw clip, you put your aviators back on shielding your eyes from the glare of the sun on the road. Popping in your Journeys Frontiers CD, belting your heart out to the music as you started down the drive to the place you once called home. A place where if you’re being honest, your heart still longed for.

I’ll be there soon.

Tag list: @n3ssm0nique @linkedwiththemusic @wonderlandlovelove @serrendiipty @hockeyboysarehot @blossomreed @in-themountains @levylovegood

#bradley bradshaw #top gun rooster #rooster top gun #top gun: maverick #top gun #the fox and the rooster #bradley rooster bradshaw #bradley bradshaw x reader #rooster x reader #reader insert #miles teller #iceman #tom kazansky #Bradley ‘rooster’ Bradshaw X reader

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whiskeynwriting · 10 months

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About Me (:

Hey babies!

I noticed that I don't have a comprehensive "about me" page, so here it is! If you have any questions you'd like me to answer, feel free to send in an ask and I'll post the response here!

"About Me" Tag Games / 1 / 2

Age

I am currently 23 years old! My birthday is in April (:

2. Gender/Pronouns/Sexuality

Female, She/Her/Hers, Bisexual 🏳️‍🌈

3. Social Media

Tumblr - you’re here!

Instagram

Twitter

Etsy

4. Relationship Status I am currently in a four-year relationship with my boyfriend, we'll call him J 🥰

5. Top 3 Comfort Characters

In order, we have...

Agent Daddy Whiskey

Here’s a link to the some Daddy x Babycakes art 🥰🥰🥰

Simon "Ghost" Riley

and Din Djarin

6. Zodiac Signs

Taurus 🌕, Aquarius 🌑, Gemini ⬆️

7. Main Language

English, but I also know Spanish, Arabic, and Irish Gaelic!

8. Pets

I have so many! One dog, two birds, two axolotls, and some fish (:

9. Personality Type

INFJ - Introvert, Intuitive, Feeling, and Judging

10. Hogwarts House

Slytherin 🐍

11. Education

I have a bachelor's degree and am pursuing a master's!

12. Do I write on Ao3?

Yes! I recently joined Ao3 and am in the process of uploading all my current works to the site! Everything is under the same url as my Tumblr! @WhiskeynWriting

13. Tattoos?

I have 2! And I’m planning on getting a third (:

14. Piercings?

I have 10 😝

Favorite...

Color - Blue and Purple! 💙💜

Movie Genre - Horror 🔪

TV Show - Game of Thrones 👑

Season - Fall

Holiday - Samhain

Who Do I Write For?

Any of Pedro Pascal's characters, as well as...

Black Noir, Eddie/Venom, Paz Vizsla, Captain John Price, John "Soap" McTavish, Simon "Ghost" Riley, and König!

#about me #about me page #ask anything you like!#but be respectful and nice #that rule never changes

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girlweepinginstairwell · 1 month

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Hi been following for a while, but saw your stuff about school! I completely understand feeling anxious about the future regarding it, to be honest i feel the same way sometimes! I’m in my mid/late 20s now and only just in the process of getting my Bachelors, i’m a sophomore currently! i work full time as a barista and am part time in school, so a lot of my thoughts are about whether or not it’s worth it to continue on when I can maybe find more productive work elsewhere. Something I find quite comforting is seeing all the others who have given their support to these answers, so thank you for even being vulnerable enough to start these conversations. As for any uncertainty, honestly no one really knows what they’re doing. I have a manager at the shop with a Masters in business of all things, and he is still so uncertain about his future, but regardless just taking things one at a time. I know that an English degree may not be the most lucrative degree for myself but it’s something I love dearly and find important enough for the potential risks. I try to instead focus on other things that make my life whole and beautiful in conjunction with the understanding that things may not be what I hope. The great thing is that we as humans are resilient and i trust so deeply that you will be able to find a way to make it work. many people have degrees they don’t use, and alternatively people without them find their ways into happiness as well. I have friends who went to trade school, or simply worked their ways up chains in unexpected jobs, or followed passions for yoga and became instructors. The whole scope of the future is overwhelming and we will never know it until we are there, for now all that’s required is to know what comes the next day and await the surprises that come

waaah this is SUCH an incredibly sweet message... i have nothing to add... everything you’ve said here resonates and is a comfort... thank u for sharing this and i’m wishing you the best of luck with continuing your degree! i majored in english too and had the best time and though i’m still trying to figure out where to go from here i don’t regret having pursued this field at all :-] 💝 we will take things day by day and everything will be alright!

#asks

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kxowledge · 1 month

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Hi, I have a question on your PhD interviews. I've applied to 2 PhDs in Norway and should hear back this month, so I was wondering how the interviews were structured and how long they were? Also how many people were present for each? Thanks and congrats again on getting the position!!

ooh where did you apply? if you don't mind sharing, feel free to send me a private message - I know some people at a couple of other unis and perhaps I can give you more specific info. thank you so much my dear!! I’ll describe below how it was for me, but it might change uni from uni.

The whole process happens at the department level. The first interview was online with the PhD program coordinator (who does the recruiting for all of the department) and my potential supervisor. My proposal was very much tailored towards this one professor and her expertise, but if there is more than one person who would be interested in supervising you, you’d have both participating in the interviews. Fit with the current professors’ expertise is one of the things they explicitly state as extremely important. I found the interview very relaxed – after a brief introduction from them, I talked about myself (the usual storyline of why you’re applying to a PhD). The rest of the questions were about previous experiences doing research, specifically about my bachelor thesis and my ongoing master thesis (but no questions on previous work experience, even though I have been a RA twice and a TA once; though I had rec letters from the people I worked with in those occasions and they may have spoken to them beforehand). Then, the rest of the questions were related to my research proposal (why is this important, more on the research setting I suggested) and which methodologies I’m familiar with. I was expecting way harder questions - I didn’t even get asked why this university specifically and I wish I had shoehorned that in my first answer tbh. Overall, it felt very chill. However! Getting the interview is the most important step! They only interviewed 15 out of around 300 applicants.

It’s actually possible that they will extend an offer already, without a second interview. The latter is more of a step for those that they need to be more sure about for whatever reason, but usually because they want to see that you understand well your intended methodology. The second interview for me consisted of two parts. For the first part, you’re asked to present a paper that they sent two to three days beforehand. This is (likely) something you haven’t seen before but that is (1) relevant to your proposal and (2) in your intended methodology. These are the two points that they really want to see in the interview, based on the feedback they’ve given me and what I know of my friends’ interviews. You’re given 20 minutes to present i.e. walk through how research was conducted, what the findings are, etc. You’re allowed (and expected) to have a PPT. I put a lot of emphasis on those two points during the presentation and I had two extra slides covering how it was relevant to my proposal, which I pulled up when I got asked about it. After your presentation there are 40 minutes of questions, which are on the paper, the methodology, your research, anything really (I got asked about supervising master students’ thesis). It can, however, last longer than 40 minutes. There are going to be 3 to 4 people in the room: your potential supervisor(s), someone expert in the specific methodology, and someone from admin/HR. They care about making the process fair and having different people involved to avoid favoritism, so there will always be at least 3 people in the room (even if, like in my case, my potential supervisor and the expert in the methodology coincide). The questions are very in-depth, so how difficult the interview will feel depends on how comfortable you are with the paper and the methodology. After this, you’re not done yet! For part two, you have three hours to answer to three questions in written form. These are written by your potential supervisor so they really can be anything, but they will be usually related to the paper and your research. There was some overlap with the questions after the presentation for me.

After all of this ordeal, it is not yet done. If they like you, you’ll get “nominated” (i.e. the email I’ve gotten), but this is not yet an offer! There is yet another committee who will decide who will get in and how many positions to fund. Specifically, the candidates are ranked beforehand and you can either have a “secure” spot or more of a “backup” spot. All of this is not transparent I know this from a friend-of-a-friend, but basically it can still happen that even if you got nominated, you don’t get the position. In some cases, the supervisor might help you find other sources of funding (e.g. an “industry” PhD), but that depends on the supervisor’s connections.

I will also say this: as I am not Norwegian, I found several things about the interview process fairly rude. I know the department and the people I’ll be working with and they’re all brilliant & everyone involved in the process has been very friendly when we actually met, but: they were in my opinion rude when it came to “scheduling” the interviews (i.e. you get told: the interview is at this time, hope it suits you); they’ve gotten my name wrong twice (… not my supervisor thankfully); they told me I would hear by the end of the week or at most by Wed the week after and then didn’t write me for a whole other week (whyyyy); they have also ghosted me once again after the email about the nomination when I asked a question. I would be a bit put off by this if I didn’t know the atmosphere that’s there already.

#replies #hope this helps though i don't know how much of it will apply to you

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sequinsmile-x · 10 months

Text

Sweet Nothing - Chapter 3 - The Hangover

A series of one shots mini fics of our favourite idiots in love to celebrate my birthday, along with all the other July birthdays in the fandom <3

The master list can be found here!

-x-

Hi friends!

Another one of these little mini-fics for you

This one was from anon and the prompt was "Do you feel better now? with the response “Yes, but stop laughing at me.”

On a separate note, your girl is STRESSED about Taylor Swift presale tomorrow so please keep me in your thoughts and pray to the ticket gods xoxo

-x-

Words: 1k

Warnings: Hangover/discussion of alcohol consumption, pregnancy

Read over on Ao3, (ao3 is currently intermittently going in and out of service) or below the cut

Aaron wakes up to the sound of banging, a persistent noise that seems to match the pounding in his head perfectly.

He hears a chuckle from next to him and opens one eye to look up at his fiancee, a bright smile on her face and a sparkle in her eyes that makes him groan. Emily is sitting up in bed with their 13-month-old in her arms, the little girl snuggled against her chest as she joins in on her mother's laughter, even though she didn’t understand what was happening.

“Morning honey,” Emily says, her smile only widening as their eyes meet, “How are you feeling?”

He groans and buries his face in his pillow as the banging sound continues, “What is that noise?”

“That is Jack playing with the tool kit that Roy bought him,” she says, adjusting her hold on their daughter, “I assume he’s found the hammer.”

Aaron rolls onto his back and rubs his eyes, groaning at the bright light in their bedroom, “And you just had to let him play with that this morning?”

“Hey, I took all the batteries out of all the toys that make noise by themselves and hid the controller for the games console,” she says, raising her eyebrows at him, “It’s the best I could do,” she turns her attention to their daughter and tickles her stomach, making the little girl laugh again, “And this is self-inflicted so Daddy should be grateful I even did that, huh, Paisley?”

“Dada!” Paisley screeches out, followed by a laugh that makes Aaron wince, and he groans, rubbing his eyes as if he could scrub the hangover away.

“Remind me why I let Dave talk me into last night.”

“Because it was your bachelor party, baby,” she says, taking pity on him and leaning down to kiss his cheek, grimacing slightly at the smell of scotch and smoke on his skin, “There’s water and aspirin on your nightstand.”

He’s sure he’s never loved her more as he turns his head just enough to see what she’d laid out for him. He sits up and rests against the headboard, taking the pills quickly, grateful for the cool water against his sore throat.

“I don’t remember getting home,” he says, furrowing his brow as he thinks of the night before, everything very hazy after Dave had brought out the second bottle of very expensive scotch and the cigars.

“That doesn’t surprise me,” she replies, smiling at him as he turns to look at her, his stomach flipping for a different reason than his hangover for a second as both his girls look at him with matching, adoring, smiles, “I had to let you in.”

He winces again, “I woke you up? I’m sorry sweetheart.”

She shrugs, “You’re handsy when you’re drunk,” she says, winking at him, “I like it when you’re handsy. Although I think you’ll regret what you said in front of Dave.”

Aaron’s eyes go wide, and she laughs at him again, and he racks his brain to think of what on earth he could have said to his friend, “What did I say?”

“Well, you told him that I like it when I-”

“Not in front of Paise,” he says, covering the little girl's ears and making Emily roll her eyes at him.

“Aaron, she’s 13 months old, she doesn’t know what a blow job is.”

He grumbles, “She’s my daughter, if I have it my way she’ll never know what that is.”

She hums and raises an eyebrow at him, “Go have a shower,” she says, pressing a kiss to his cheek, “You’ll feel better.”

“A cuddle from my little girl will make me feel better,” he replies, and Emily shakes her head.

“Not whilst you smell like a brewery that caught fire next to a cigar factory,” she quips, feeling love for him burst in her chest when he looks genuinely disappointed, “But you can have a kiss.”

“From you too?” He asks, and she laughs again, nodding before he leans in and stamps a kiss to her lips before he kisses Paisley’s forehead and then cheek.

“Do you feel better now?” She asks, openly laughing at him as he stumbles slightly when he stands up, his usual grace lost somewhere between countless measures of scotch the night before.

“Yes,” he mutters, “But stop laughing at me,” he pauses when he makes it to the bathroom door, smiling once again at the sight in front of him, of his daughter sitting in his soon-to-be wife’s lap, “I’ll go shower and then we’ll order in breakfast?”

Emily looks up from Paisley to him, a soft smile on her face, “Sounds perfect.”

“You should be nicer to me you know,” he says, scratching the back of his head whilst he yawns, “It’s your bachelorette party in a few days and I’ll be the one looking after you.”

She shakes her head as he walks into the bathroom, and she responds quietly enough that he doesn’t hear, “Not in the way you’re thinking, honey.”

Aaron groans as he catches sight of himself in the mirror, the lighting of the bathroom doing nothing for his complexion, the dark lines under his eyes brought on by a late night even darker than usual. He’s about to turn around to switch on the shower when something on the counter catches his eye.

At first, he wonders if he’s imagining it, but he steps closer, and his breath catches in his chest as he picks it up, two bright lines staring back at him from the stick in his hand.

“I’ve been feeling off for a couple of days, so I took the test this morning. I didn’t want to tell you until I was sure.”

He turns to see Emily standing in the doorway, Paisley on her hip, her hands buried in the neckline of her mother’s t-shirt, “Em…”

She smiles shakily at him before she turns her attention to the toddler on her hip, “What do you think about being a big sister, sweet girl?”

He walks over and pulls them both into a hug, Emily’s protests that he stinks lost against his t-shirt as she hugs him back anyway.

This, he knew, would go down as one of the best days of his life. Raging hangover and all.

-x-

Tag List:

@ssa-sparks, @lukeclvez, @lyds102, @glockleveledatyourcrotch, @hotchnissenthusiast, @danadeservesadrink, @ssamorganhotchner, @emilyprentissisgod, @notagentprentiss, @freesiasandfics, @emilyshotchniss, @thecharmingart, @paulitalblond, @hancydrewfan, @camille093, @whitecrossgirl, @moonlight-2-6, @rawr-jess, @florenceremingtonthethird, @jareauswife, @ms-black-a, @beebeelank, @aubreyprc, @zipzapboingg, @psychopath-at-heart, @criminalmindsgonewrong, @fionaloover, @kinqslcys, @prentissinred, @ccmattis-22, @denvivale317, @thrindis, @hotchsguccitie, @cmfouatslota77. @alexblakegf, @aliensaurusrex, @prentissxhotch, @emobabeyy, @victoiregranger, @stormyweatherth, @wanderingdreamer009, @ssablackbird, @luhwithah, @lex13cm, @prentiss-theorem, @dont-emily-me, @mrs-ssa-hotch, @jocyycreation, @itsmytimetoodream, @hotchnissgroupie, @controversialpooh, @capsshinyshield, @canuck-eh

Join my tag list here!

#aaron hotchner #emily prentiss #aaron hotchner fanfiction #emily prentiss fanfiction #hotchniss fan fic #hotchniss fanfic #aaron x emily #hotchniss #hotchniss fanfiction #aaron hotchner x emily prentiss

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glass-windows · 4 months

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if you get this, answer w/ three random facts about yourself and send it to the last seven blogs in your notifs. anon or not, doesn’t matter, let’s get to know the person behind the blog !

i haven’t really done any get to know me games or anything so this is super fun, let’s go!

my two truths, one lie facts for icebreaker games are always that i’ve never drank any kind of soda/pop, i’ve met sabrina carpenter five times, and i’ve broken my wrist. i’ll give you a hint, the last one is the lie.

i am currently studying theatre and performance studies for my bachelor’s degree, and i’m planning to get my master’s in new play development with a dramaturgy concentration after i complete undergraduate.

i collect memorabilia from the original broadway and national touring production of legally blonde! my favorite item i have is a factory sealed copy of the signed promotional CD from 2006.

#answered #drowninginredink

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missing-texture · 5 months

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About Me

Hi, I'm Adrian. I’m a friendly, nerdy, music-loving proudly bisexual trans guy from NY. Mid-20s. He/him. 👋☺️

Here’s a pic of me 3 years post-op top surgery, aka my excuse to post a shirtless selfie lol.

I have a bunch of side blogs dedicated to my various niche interests but this is my main blog. I mostly post about music, tech, art, video games, fashion, and queer stuff. Anyone is welcome to follow, though you will get blocked if you give off bad vibes (no bigots or assholes.)

I’m trying to find more blogs to follow so if I randomly followed you, it’s likely because I got recommended to your blog and/or I just think you’re a cutie. ☺️

If you're an ally of trans people and you have the means, check out this post and consider donating to one of the groups mentioned. Thank you!

Read more about my interests and stuff below:

Interests

-Tech 👨‍💻: I'm an aspiring software engineer, currently working a job where I help folks with tech issues while I continue my search for a software engineer job. I recently got my bachelor's degree in computer science, planning to go for my master's. I like all sorts of nerd stuff like web development, retro tech, tech history, and more. I’m skeptical of tech bro-y trends (many AI/web3 projects) and the tech industry in general. Ethics and privacy are important!

-Queer stuff 🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈: I came out as bi and trans in 2015, been on testosterone since 2017 (I do a neat form of T called “testopel”), got top surgery and medical tattooing on my nipples, had my name and gender changed. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out. I like learning about LGBTQ+ history and feel very connected to the community. Pro-kink, anti-exclusion, pro-solidarity.

-Music 🎵: I’m a metalhead/emo/pophead multiclasser. My fave genres are metal, emo, post-hardcore, pop punk, pop, europop, hyperpop, EDM, digital hardcore, dark wave, classical stuff. I love going to concerts and I've been playing the piano since I was a kid.

-Art: I collect pins, patches, stickers, and art. I follow a ton of artists online and enjoy going to conventions for art. I especially love bara. 💪🐻

-Video games: Metal Gear Solid, Red Dead Redemption, Baldur’s Gate 3, The Sims, Super Monkey Ball, Call of Duty, Hitman, Half-Life, Rimworld, Civilization V, Dangan Ronpa, and more. I like hot video game men.

-Movies: Hackers, American Psycho, Ocean’s Eight, Jennifer’s Body, Charlie’s Angels, Elvira, The Devil Wears Prada, Legally Blonde, Die Hard, Sky High, Twilight, the 2002 live action Scooby Doo lol. Anything campy, fun, and spooky/sci-fi/action/girlboss.

-Cowboys 🤠

-Vampires 🧛

-Cats (especially Garfield)

-Bears (the animal and the men)

-Drag

#i've been on tumblr for a while but never made an intro post #so here it is #about me #me #introduction #ftm #trans guy #transgender #bisexual #web developers #software developers #gay #mlm #posts #gay trans man #achillean

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detagen · 5 months

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helloooo mutant lovers ! i am wmuem (wildest mess u’ve ever met) otherwise known as sun ! it’s been so long since i’ve rp’ed on tumblr that i feel i’m legally not allowed to be hip by saying ‘hot minute’ . this is also most definitely a queued intro so if at any point you haven’t gotten bored reading the below or see something that itches your brain feel free to give this a like and i will come hobbling like the lil gremlin i am into ur dms !

if you just want a quick peek into him before getting a face full of tldr feel free to check out these wip pages — powers . profile . plots .

onto the actual introduction, i present to you my boy RYDER HAN in the most inelegant and absolute shortest tldr fashion i could manage !

triggers — evil mistress and her agenda, insinuation of child neglect

born to a honking rich and prominent political family in england, with hidden distasteful views against anomalies. all the wealth came from his father’s side and as for his mother? she was an orphan with no trace of her familial history.

three years into their marriage, she became pregnant with ryder and that was also around the time that it was discovered she was anomaly. from extreme confusion to accusations being thrown around, there wasn’t much that could be done to fix the shattered impression the family had of her despite her never having ever displayed any preternatural abilities nor being aware she had them throughout her entire life.

following ryder’s birth, the family banished her while keeping ryder as the family’s current and sole heir. through ryder’s childhood, his father buried himself in work - unable to face ryder and the reminders he presented of the past.

from the age 10 to 12, his father goes through a slew of different mistresses until one finally seems to stick one day. it seems at this point his father is tired of trying and his grandparents are happy to finally see the same face around whoever it be to stop the heinous rumors going around about his new habits.

the mistress is everything that an evil step-mother would be. she absolutely hates ryder because his existence means that there’s absolutely nothing she could ever truly gain with him being around. through his teenage years, she plots unmentionable instance after instance in trying to get rid/get ryder away from home but she’s never quite successful and with the absent man that ryder’s father is - she never ever faces any repercussions.

at 17 when ryder graduates early from high school, his father’s mistress sees it as her last chance. it was never revealed how she had found out, but she exposes to the family that ryder - like his mother, was an anomaly. this caused enough scandal with the looming threat the mistress held over revealing the truth to the public if ryder wasn’t removed.

for what seemed like the first time in his life, ryder’s father agreed to send him away with emotion in his eyes - guilt.

ryder spends the next two years living quietly in a small apartment his father gives to him. however, his physical removal is only the first step in the mistress’s plan as she continuously sends people after ryder through this time to intimidate and hurt him.

when ryder is about to reach his wit’s end, he’s fortunately found by the scientist who had been sworn into secrecy about the discovery of his mother being an anomaly during her pregnancy with ryder. the scientist offers ryder a new start in south korea if he agrees to allow them to study him for research under biofirm pharmaceuticals.

desperate for a new start, ryder agrees and the next two years ensue with repetitive examinations, tests and studies until they’re able to figure out what ryder’s preternatural abilities are.

after the discovery of his power negation, ryder begins attending sua with the support of the scientist team he works with from biofirm. he gets his bachelor’s in political science, then his masters in biology and chemical engineering. with the amount of money he’s earned from all the testing and research through the years, ryder chooses to go back to school for a doctorate’s degree in law after being offered a scholarship (because why not)?

through all these years studying and being studied, ryder has taken joy in harassing the mistress of his father from countries away. he sees it like a game, triggering her paranoia that one day he’s going to return to claim his place as the rightful inheritor to everything his family has ever built to their name.

PERSONALITY !

ryder’s life wasn’t the worst but it wasn’t perfect either. paired with an absent father and an unknown mother, he was never really raised with parental or familial love. the world he grew in skewed his vision of life and what to expect going into it especially with his father’s mistress always trying to erase him from the picture.

his time in south korea has changed him a lot, however, where ryder was able to begin living independently and be in an environment where people actually listened and considered his thoughts and opinions.

through the years, ryder developed a super outgoing personality. he’s known for being very confident - in fact so confident it really just spells egotistical and cocky in the most subtle manner that it gets passed off as charming for how he well he presents it all.

very big on combative sports as a defense mechanism from his days as a teenager always having to watch his back. once he gained an interest in the sporting rallies at sua was when he began to pick up more offensive combat training considering his power doesn’t exactly give him any physical or power effective abilities to hurt others

CONNECTIONS !

pulgasari and sport rally members

anyone living in the blue dorms?

peers with similar academics or pursuing an academic ryder has already gotten a degree in

#nm:intro #— pinning this for now until i get something official up lol #— so i honestly lost all creative ability trying to pull my muse together after all the brain power i put into understanding powers LOL #— this is my best attempt rnnnn #— of course there are more options for connections my one brain cell is just no recuperating!

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wondrousmay · 1 year

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A little self-introduction:

Hello! My name’s May. I’m from the Southeast Asian region. Used to move around a lot because of my dad’s job so I started learning English when I was young. I have a Bachelor's degree in Political Science, majoring in International Relations and a Master's degree in Arts, majoring in Politics, Media and Performance.

I only recently got back into anime/manga when I stumbled upon Violet Evergarden on Netflix. Before this some of my previous fandoms that shaped my fandom experiences were: Star Wars, The Lord of the Rings, Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Friends, Battlestar Galactica, The Good Place, Parks and Recreation, Person of Interest, Psych, Once Upon A Time and DC Comics/Wonder Woman. I was also into figure skating/ice dance for a while.

My current favourite form of media is anime/manga. I feel like I connect with the stories/characters told in these forms more. I also want to get back into reading novels to improve my vocabulary, grammar and writing skills. My inspiration is to write good meta/analyses posts about my favourite series and characters!

As you can probably tell: I love over-analyzing my favourite media! I love analyzing a story and its themes. Same goes for the characters. I love digging deep into the characters’ psyche, follow their character development and their relationships with other characters. I enjoy shipping but it is not usually my main focus.

Here is my current list of favourite anime and characters (updated in January 2024):

#about me #self introduction #may’s musings

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blughxreader · 1 year

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h hh how are u 21 and doing your masters are you telling me the local child prodigy also writes dorky fanfic in her free time,,,, like I believe u I just want to know how you’re managing all of that like woah

Haha sorry I must have said something incorrectly.

I’m finishing my bachelors and am doing research into masters stuff in my free time. Unfortunately my undergrad is completely unrelated to what I want to do, so I need to write a paper + get some credits to be admitted into a masters program. Hopefully my current internship will shave off some of that trouble.

As for this blog—I literally have to do fun stuff like this for my sanity LOL. I will spiral into depression if I don’t 😅

Andre and Sunny are my emotional support bastards 💖

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luke-hughes43 · 12 days

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Paige is literally me minus I’m so single it hurts….i have a bachelors in kinesiology and am currently getting my masters right now! I’m getting it in Sports Medicine so i can be an Athletic Trainer. Maybe Paige does that and she gets lucky with a job with the Panthers after?

haha, my first major was athletic training/exercise science but now I'm marketing lol and also very very single

but that is very much an option! that def sounds like a good choice for Paige. she'll actually get to nurse mackie back to health.

#paige greene #mackie samoskevich #mackie x paige

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