#and while i do think he has a long long looooong road ahead when it comes to intimacy
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turns out this note wasn't all i've done for this piece. i was thinking a lot about astarion's perspective slowly shifting when it came to intimacy and sex.
With time, when he saw her splayed naked on top of the sheets, Astarion stopped thinking about all the bodies that he had doomed, or all the people that were careless with him, that hurt him. His mind slipped less and less to the horrid nights when he had forced himself to touch those he'd never wanted, those that sent disgust creeping up his throat. The times he had to fight those thoughts soon dwindled in numbers as something warmer, something kinder replaced them.
When Astarion looked at her, he felt her softness, he remembered those very first times when they had truly touched each other. Not in the wilderness, where they both felt like cornered beasts doing anything to survive. Not the feigned courtesies and honeyed words, even if — unbeknownst to them — there was a hint of honesty hidden in them. Instead, the spawn thought of his first night of true freedom. How hungrily they touched each other after confessing love. How warm Mal's skin felt when he took her — eager, happy — over the remains of his lost life.
Suddenly, it all started to feel different. How sweet desire tasted when it was backed by freedom, by choice. Astarion could, finally, close his eyes without a worry, touch his lover without the fear dancing at the tips of his fingers. For just a brief moment, he simply let go of all the terror that was ever-present for almost two centuries.
#life#the bg3 adventures#astarion#astarion ancunin#tavstarion#astarion x oc#astarion x tav#oc: maleane#maleane/astarion#not sure i'm going to make this into its own thing#so might as well share it#idk i'm just thinking how different the graveyard night was to everything that came before#it's such a shifting moment!#and while i do think he has a long long looooong road ahead when it comes to intimacy#i just like seeing him heal and enjoy things that he genuinely wants
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The short version: We had a serial thief at the flower shop. She’s retired recently and I think that due to Covid she really means it this time.
The long version? hoooo boy, here we go.
This story, and others, are viewable on Tablo
There are rules and there are rules.
In dealing with shoplifting in retail, there are rules on how one engages with a thief. The handbook, if there were one, would consist of a single word.
Don't.
Don't pursue, don't interrogate, don't accuse. Let them take the merchandise, let them get away. Let them return the Cricut machine for an equivalent amount on a gift card to be exchanged once again for drugs.
Let them.
There is no handbook on how to handle Flower Thieves. Prior to working in a flower shop, I never thought that this was a problem.
Life is surprising.
I'm sure some of you have figured that out by now.
The Flower Thief is notorious, and she has a system. There are days when you simply know that she's going to be in.
"Break the heads off the flowers before you throw them away," Grandpa will say. "She's going to be here tonight, I think."
And sure enough, she would be. At 6:45, a quarter til we close- the Thief would announce her arrival. Loudly.
"Heeeeey, baaaaaaby!"
The very first time I encountered the Flower Thief, she came in through the back door.
"Oh Hiiiii, Darlin'- ain't seen your face around here: you must be NEW! I'm Wren, you know- like the bird? Well, Kyle and I have an agreement that I come and work for y'all sometimes. You should take out this trash, it stinks to high heaven. Anyways, nice talkin' to ya, see ya later."
I may only be a little bit psychic, but I've spent enough time around liars to know insincerity when I see it. Kyle, at the time, was the manager of our store and I have it on record that he's tried to throw her out of the building once or twice.
While I was taking out the trash, her pile of purchase became so tall it towered over her. I watched Clark massively undercharge her for the sake of getting her to go away.
She has a pattern.
She comes in during the design classes because she knows that when there's twenty people in the store, there's not enough people to watch her and make sure she's not stealing. "There's a class today," she asks as if it's not literally every Tuesday. "Don't worry I know you all wanna get out of here on time."
The Flower Thief announces her presence in a grand way and then makes her way to the back to grab a trash bag or an empty box and then proceeds to bury any spare parts she finds in the cooler in the trash bag, hiding them under the things that she's actually buying.
After that, she checks the garbage cans for things we might have thrown away that will last another three days and stuffs them underneath her other ill-gotten goods.
Just when you think she's finished, she'll go through her pile of flowers and say: "You know what? I don't need this eucalyptus." And she'll go back into the cooler with it, stuff it in her purse, and walk back to the register.
And when she's all done being sneaky, she asks one of us to come ring her out.
This is the part that no one wants to do. Because ringing out the Flower Thief means haggling with the Flower Thief.
"Oh baaby, you know I don't pay those prices."
"Oh baaaby, I only pay $19 for roses."
"Oh baaaaaaaaaby, those carnations were on special."
She'll talk you down to under $100 with a sob story:
"Oh baaaaby, you know I'm donating this spray to the family. It's for that woman you know- you know the one. She got herself murdered a couple nights ago? Two children and she was pregnant too! Pregnant! Can you believe it? Who murders someone with child? What's the world coming to? So I need a good discount to make sure we treat this family right because they got a looooong road ahead of them."
"Oh baaaaaaby, you know this one's for that car crash over on Cleveland Avenue? I hear he was taking care of his dying father himself, so it's such a shame for him to go first like that."
"Oh baaaaaaaaaaaaaaby, this is for that little boy that shot himself, isn't that sad?"
Thank you, Sister Mary Loquacious.
And you nod because you don't want to come off as an uncaring sociopath. And while you're nodding and adjusting the price for her sad, sad consequence and mulling over how good she is for donating to these people in their time of need, she steals some greens from the trash can and sticks them in her bag.
She hands you crisp $100 bills. You check them and she makes jokes about how she printed them this morning. They're legit. Counterfeiting isn't why she went to prison.
What she went to prison for was drug trafficking.
"Do you need some help," you ask, trying to be a good citizen.
"Oh no, I got it," she insists. "I'll make it in two trips. I'm stronger than I look!"
And don't you dare get caught looking to see what she put in the bag or she will give you one hell of a lecture.
By the time all of this has passed, the class will be over and there will two minutes left in the work day. She's spent thirty-seven minutes in the store. Your register is unbalanced because now you don't have enough small bills to balance it and only have one $100 bill to get you through tomorrow.
And that's why there are rules.
On occasion, a new person will break the rules not knowing that there's rules. One such occasion was when Clair decided to be helpful.
"You know what? I don't need this eucalyptus," Wren said.
"Oh! I'll put it back for you," Clair suggested. And before Wren could protest, it was out of Wren's hands and nowhere near her purse.
It was mentioned to Sage, who only worked for us one summer, that Wren had failed to pay for something and she immediately chased her out into the street.
Wren drives very fast.
If you cross her too many times, she'll make sure you never forget it. One day, she stomped her way in through the front door, angry.
"You ain't treated me better than a damn THIEF," screamed the Flower Thief.
Grandpa, who was helping Blue make a wedding bouquet at the time, departed from the desk. "Beg pardon?"
"A thief! You been treating me like a thief ever since they made you manager and I'm sick of it! I see you bringing in your henchmen, following me in the cooler, chasing me down the street. Treat me with some damn respect."
Words were exchanged. They were not kind. We thought we'd seen the end of her.
But she was back one week later, doing the same damn thing.
So now there are rules.
If you make something and there's an excess of flowers left over from the pack, you have to make something out of the leftovers or she'll pick through them and stuff them in her bag.
If you cannot make something out of them, you must throw them out.
If you throw them out, you must break the heads off first.
The trash cans must be emptied every night before 5:00.
We do not keep trash bags in plain sight.
Break down all empty boxes, or she will use them in place of trash bags.
Do not leave any food or drink where she can find it.
Do not leave any half-used rolls of floral tape where she can find it.
Do not let her know anything about you- lest she use it against you.
If you speak of a Thief, you summon a Thief- speak quietly, and never her name or you invite trouble.
The basic rules one makes when dealing with pests. Or fairy-folk.
There are rules and there are rules and there are rules.
If you want to keep a pest away, you make these sorts of rules. But if you want to get rid of a pest indefinitely, you have to remove their food source. And Wren's food source was her discount.
You start exercising your right to say 'no' to a customer in small ways.
She saw a bunch of carnations in the trash and said:
"Oh baby, these are still good! I'll take them off your hands for you!"
"They've been sitting without water for hours."
"They're still good!"
"They were out in the sun."
"Oh baby, I've been working with flowers for 40 years and I know that these will still be fine for a couple of days!" She picks a bunch of them out of the trash and shoves it in my face. "See, it's still stiff- it's still good!"
"Okay," I said. And before I could stop myself: "Full price."
Her eyes just about popped out of her skull. If it were just a little bit colder, I would have been able to see steam coming out of her ears.
We stared at each other for about a minute, waiting for the other to flinch. She took the bunch away from my face and threw them back into the trash. While she was in the cooler, I took the liberty of snapping the heads off of them and burying them further into the garbage.
And so began a war between the flower shop and the Flower Thief.
She came in: every single night. And each night, she got me.
Again.
"Oh no, baby! These carns are supposed to be 39 cents a stem. I can bring up the email."
"Sure." She brings up the email. "I see that they are 39 cents but... this was for Saturday."
"Yea, and I bought those carns on Saturday and you charged me full price!"
"Saturday."
"Yeah."
"You didn't buy these on Saturday. You bought them Friday."
"Well I didn't know that they'd be on sale, so I need them for that price because I didn't know they'd be on sale."
"The sales are one-day only. I can't adjust a sale from Friday to reflect Saturday's sale... on Sunday."
She made a noise that reminds me somewhat of a cement mixer.
And again.
"I got a bad banner last time, can you print me a new one?" She shows me the banner in question. It's white. The 't' and the 'h' in 'mother' ran together.
"Sure."
"Okay, I need it to say 'Beloved Mother' and I want it in pink."
"Sure."
I print it. I ring her up $5.
"Oh baaaaaaby, no, that one should be free."
"Grandpa said- banners start at $5."
"Oh, but you sold me a bad one last time."
"We haven't sold you a banner in three weeks. How long have y'all had that body sitting in your cooler?"
She grumbled, and paid.
And again.
"I swear you been workin' every night this week! You must be tired," she said, nerves plain in her voice. "When do you get a day off?"
"When the work is done."
"That ain't what I'm askin'. When's your next day off, baby?"
"I stop working when the work is done, Wren."
She narrows her eyes, which is a fun change from them bugging out of her skull like a fruit fly. "You don't ever get any days off?"
"When the work stops, I rest."
And again.
"I'll be in and out, I know y'all want to get out of here on time," she said- announcing her presence to the entire class. She piled her stuff across the register counter and Grandpa began ringing her up.
"Oh baby..."
"No. We're doing away with the discounts."
There are twenty people in the workshop for the class and Grandpa doesn't want to make a scene. She pulls her into the back, and I choose to make my instructions louder to mask the sound of them yelling.
"So you're going to take your hypericum berries and you're going to cut the stem to about ten inches-"
"How can you do this to me?"
"And you're going to slowly fill the vase with these berries to kind of set the shape of the arrangement."
"After all these years and this is how you treat me?"
"Fun fact- you might know hypericum berries as their more common name: St John's Wort! St. John's Wort has been used as a medication for depression prior to modern medicine." You see- I, too, have taken notes from the Chattering Order.
"You can't do this to me," Wren said, stamping her feet like a toddler.
"But I wouldn't recommend eating them. However, they do smell somewhat like baked brown sugar."
Stamp, stamp, stamp.
Wren threw herself into the cooler and began putting a bulk of her flowers back.
"This is robbery," I heard her say to Grandpa at the register.
"Is it now?"
And again.
She came in and immediately reached for a half-empty box of oasis bricks (the green sponge material that we use to hold flowers.) She said few words to me, few at all. She talked to Carrie about how she was going out to the country for awhile, to take care of her nephew's property. She needed to stock up. And oh- don't worry about it, she knows what she's doing. She's part of The Family.
She is in no manner of speaking, a member of The Family that owns this shop. Not even a third cousin.
I saw her beeline for a rose I'd set in the trash. I picked it up, opened my mouth, and bit the head off of it. She stood in the middle of the workshop, absolutely stunned.
Rose petals have the vague texture of arugula, by the way. Slightly sweeter, though. Tough to swallow in one go.
She ran back into the cooler and didn't talk to me.
I began taking down numbers.
27 bricks of oasis. One pack of roses. Ten calla lilies. 1/2 pack of assorted greens.
I punched the numbers in to the register. As if sensing something was amiss, she emerged from the cooler.
"$54? What do I have that's $54?"
"The oasis. They're $2 each."
"Oh no baaaaaby, they're $1."
"I can text Grandpa and ask her."
"... that won't be necessary. Why are you charging me $22.50 for roses? You know my prices by now!"
"22.50 is the price for a pack of roses."
"22.50 is everybody prices."
"Welcome to 'everybody.'"
"I ain't paid a price increase in 7 years!"
"The price of milk went up, Wren. So does everything else."
She was seeing red, I knew it. There's a vein in her forehead that pops out when she's angry and it's the same shape as the river that runs through my home town. She sized me up, as if wondering if she could take me.
I'm 256 pounds of 4H beef, and I have a knife. Try me.
"I'm gonna call Kyle on this."
"Do it." A lifetime of retail has made me immune to 'I'd like to speak to the manager.'
She grumbled and put things back. Carrie offered to watch her, I held up my hand.
"Can you do something for me on these carns? They're the last pack in there and they're lookin' kinda ratty."
"9.50."
"9.50's the regular price."
"Regular price is $14."
"No it ain't."
"Is today. You're taking our last pack and we need those for funerals."
She put them back.
She gave me a credit card. It seemed fake, but it ran. Every time I see here, she's got a different card. Did she print this one this morning, too? At least she stopped trying to sell me on Bitcoin. As you can see, it made her incredibly wealthy.
She gathered her things and left. "Guess I'm getting the rest of my flowers from KROGER!"
There are things you want to say. Like... I hope they enjoy your company just as much as we do. Or: Haven't graced them with your presence in awhile, huh? But at the time, it was better just to watch her leave with her minuscule bunch of flowers. I get a choice in where I loan my voice.
Not here.
Is it over? Nah. She'll be back for another round. But one day she'll finally retire in the way that she's always threatened to. And then? Then it can be as over as it ever will be.
It is shocking to come from a history of retail, where you're not allowed to even hint at the idea of a customer being wrong, where you have to override every single price change to get the scores up, where you have to just let them steal your things and pull the wool over your eyes...
... to flat-out telling someone 'no.'
"No."
It's such a great word.
There are rules and there are rules.
And there are thieves that the rules are made for.
And there are words like 'no.'
And all those things are magic in very human ways.
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Change of Plans (M)
Pairing: Jimin x OC
Genre: Fluffy fluff, smut
Word count: oof 19k
Summary: Jimin returns from a month long trip and wants to take you on a date, but not everything goes as planned.
(A/N): Sheesh this took me like 7 months to finish didn’t it? This was requested a looooong time ago and tbh I struggled with this and might have gotten carried away, but here it is! Enjoy!!
You didn’t get a wink of sleep last night. How could you when your mind was racing with everything you would do with your boyfriend tomorrow? Jimin has come home from his lengthy business trip and promised that he would take you out on a date in the morning, leaving you in suspense like always, so naturally you couldn’t stop imagining what he could possibly have planned. When you woke up, you acknowledged that you hadn’t gotten much sleep, but your energy levels were still as high as ever when you jumped out of bed to get ready for the day. Excitement coursed through your veins at the thought of seeing him again, giving you a buzz 10x better than your normal cup of coffee, and you stood by your front door until you heard his footsteps on your porch, opening the door just as he lifted his hand to knock.
“Chimchim!” You squeal in elation when his face comes into view, both of you breaking into smiles brighter than the rising sun as you jump into his arms, pulling yourself against his chest until no space exists between you.
“Jamjam!” Hearing Jimin’s voice in person after so long makes something flutter in your chest, and you pull him even closer, never wanting to let go. So, you shuffle the two of you back into your house, kicking closed the door with your foot.
“I missed you so much!” You mumble into his shirt, inhaling his scent deeply. It smells softly of the cologne you’d bought for his birthday last year, the one that he wears for special occasions, your favorite. “How was your trip? Was it fun?” Pulling back, Jimin looks down at you lovingly, the corners of his eyes crinkling in genuine happiness as he takes in all of your features. He had been gone for an entire month and contacted you every single day, but for a couple that has never gone longer than 2 days without seeing each other, it feels like it’s been an eternity.
“Ah, it was so nice, I wish you could have seen it. I thought about your beautiful face everywhere I went, but since I couldn’t bring you to all of those places, I just brought you back these.” Lifting a hand, Jimin reveals the bag of goodies he is holding, filled to the brim with souvenirs and small gifts, some of which look expensive as you skim through the various items. But you were never really one for gift giving, even though your boyfriend always spent immense time, energy, and thought into every present he’s ever given.
Placing down the bag, you reattach yourself to him, chin in his chest and eyes peering up at him. “You didn’t have to.” Your smile shines on your whole face and Jimin can’t help but get lost in studying your every feature, almost missing your words and forgetting to respond.
“I did.” He nods. “Some of that stuff is really cool, but it’s just a piece of what I got to experience. I wanted to bring you a part of that.”
“I could think of something else I would appreciate more.”
“Oh yeah? What’s that?”
“Hmm,” Pretending to think, you shift your eyes away from his face for a second before they snap back to meet his. “You still haven’t kissed me yet.” His eyes close into small slits as he gazes down at you, a playful grin on his cheeks as he cranes his head down to connect your lips, pulling his arms tight around you and sweeping you off your feet. The kiss is gentle and passionate, sending sparks through your chest that cause your heartbeat to speed up. When he pulls away, you stand on your toes to follow him, wanting to kiss him for as long as possible to make up for the time you missed. But he somehow manages to get away from you and you pout with a whine.
“Baby, we have a whole day ahead of us. Don’t you wanna see what I planned for us to do today?” Jimin counters with an even cuter pout than you and you cave, heart completely collapsing in its cage at how sweet he looks.
“Okay, fine. Lead the way.” You sigh, moving away from him.
“Are you ready to go?” You confirm with a nod, picking up your purse and phone from the small table near the door and then you’re both heading out toward his car, hand in hand.
“Wait, do you think I need a jacket?” You ask when you’re both seated in his vehicle, seatbelts already in place and buckled.
“It’s a beautiful day, I think you’ll be fine.” Jimin’s smile is reassuring and you think no more about the subject because yes, today is a beautiful day.
Looking out of your passenger window, you observe how everything seems to look so much brighter and more cheerful. The trees are greener, the weather is warmer, the colors are more vivid. Everything just seems... happy. These past few weeks away from your lover have been hell. You felt as though the sky held a dark overcast from the moment he left, bringing in a cold chill and even a few rainy days, which you never minded before. Usually, you loved rainy days, especially ones that you spend with Jimin. Ones where it wasn’t storming but light showers that soak the earth and make you want to stay in the dry warmth of your home. Jimin would come over and the two of you would cuddle, sitting in your bed watching movies or catching up on shows. He’d help you cook dinner or even bake snacks, sometimes holding small competitions to see whose turned out better or who could decorate the best, and you would always laugh the entire time as he cracked jokes or made funny faces at you from across the kitchen. Then you two would slow things down with some warm drinks and blankets and just lay in your bed, holding each other until one of you falls asleep— which was often you— and Jimin would turn off the tv and pull you close until he fell asleep too, waking up early in the mornings to be out of the house for work. He would tip toe around your place, making you breakfast and completing his morning routine with the toiletries and drawer full of clothes he owns at your house, but always managing to wake you up before he creeps through the door when he can’t resist kissing your forehead or cheeks cutely. Your eyes would crack open barely enough to see him and you’d smile, stretching and wishing him a good day at work as he gathers his things and leaves for the day. Those days are the best.
But while he was gone, you felt the fabled gloom that came with rainy days and they weren’t the same. Everything felt icky and you dragged through those days with low energy and even lower spirits. You’re heart was as cloudy as the sky and the only thing that could cheer you up was to call him and listen to his voice as he described to you all the cool things he had seen and done that day. And listening to his enthusiasm raised your energy, but also made you miss him more because you wished you could be with him.
All of that is behind you now though, because Jimin is here with you now and you can’t stop staring at his face as he speaks about all of the adventures he had on his trip. You’re only half listening, but you enjoy his stories anyway because of the expressions he makes when he gets excited or remembers a particularly funny or memorable moment. And you laugh along with him.
“...And it was so cute! Hey- are you listening?” Jimin turns to look at you when he stops at a light, catching you off guard.
“Huh? Yeah, of course.” You were in the middle of detailing the outline of his jawline into the gorgeous length of his neck and Adam’s apple when he catches your attention with his expectant eyes.
“What did I just say then?” He questions, squinting his eyes at you skeptically.
“You were talking about how cute it was?” You try to answer confidently, but your voice betrays you and it comes out as more of a question than a reply.
“What was cute?” Jimin’s interrogation continues and you’re caught. Truthfully, you have no idea what he was talking about, all you know is that he looked damn good saying it. A blush starts to speckle your cheeks and you avert your eyes when you can’t answer him, but Jimin doesn’t look angry, instead he looks amused, and he reaches over to caress the underside of your chin fondly, to which you flinch from ticklishness and swat at his hand. “You’re adorable.”
“S-shut up,” You frown, crossing your arms. “Watch the road, you goofball.” He turns his attention back to the road ahead of him just as the light turns green.
“Anyway, as I was saying, we got to meet a red panda and I took a bunch of photos of it and even got to play with it!” This time you’re listening and your attitude goes away the instant he starts speaking again, the two of you talking about everything random you can think of. Conversations with Jimin always came easily to you, and for that you were thankful.
It feels like you’ve been driving for a while and your legs are starting to cramp, so you figure it’s time to finally ask where the hell he was taking you. Yes, you trust him with everything, but you still wanted to know where you were going. Your curiosity was eating you alive.
“Babe, where are we going?” You ask outright during a dull moment in your conversation.
“You’ll find out soon, were almost there.” Looking around, you don’t recognize anything around you, meaning he’s taking you somewhere you’ve never been before. Sensing your skepticism, Jimin only chuckles and drops a hand onto your thigh, giving it a light squeeze that makes you tense for a split second. “Do you trust me?”
“Yes, I trust you. I’m just-“
“Then have patience, my dear. I planned out everything for today and I want it to be a surprise, so don’t expect me to tell you anything.”
Your eyes squint at him when he flashes you his award winning smile and you struggle to keep a straight face, eventually breaking into a grin of your own. So with that, you shut your mouth and continue to gaze out at the view, watching the landscape wiz by on this bright and sunny day. A few clouds trailed behind you, speckling the sky with pillows of fluffiness, but the path ahead of you was clear, so you roll your window down and enjoy the breeze. Fifteen minutes goes by in a flash and you arrive at a large grassy park surrounding a glistening lake, people scattered around having fun in groups, couples, and families without a care in the world. Stepping out of your boyfriend’s car you’re engulfed by the atmosphere, the smell of flowers and trees immersing you in the joyfulness of your surroundings, and Jimin watches you stand there and take it all in, your small smile subsequently causing one to split his own lips.
Shaking your attention back to him for a moment, he opens the trunk of his car and calls you over, grabbing items that remain hidden from your view until you walk around to stand next to him. Looking inside, you’re surprised with a basket and folded blanket, along with a small cooler, frisbee, and other small games.
“What’s all this?” Immediately you realize your stupid question because it’s so obvious what it’s for, and you face palm yourself in embarrassment, hoping he doesn’t see the blush on your cheeks.
“Why, it’s a picnic, of course!” Jimin responds in a humorous voice, gesturing to the basket. “I packed some good food too. Here, take this.” He hands you the blanket as he grabs all of the other things, refusing your help as he struggles to shut the trunk door and lock the car with his limited hands.
“This place is beautiful, how’d you find it?” You ask, taking the lead as you both walk from the parking lot to the grassy field. Your eyes scan for a spot to set up your things, preferably somewhere without many people, with a good view of the area. The sound of rustling grass beneath your feet is so satisfying and you almost want to walk more just to hear it.
“It’s not too far from where my parents live, actually. We used to come here on nice days like these and my dad would rent out a gazebo so we could barbecue. Sometimes they’d invite our family friends and sometimes it would just be us, but I always had fun.” You hum with a nod, spotting a shaded area somewhat close to the water and guiding Jimin there. “I remember one time my brother brought his girlfriend along with us,” He laughs, shifting the things around in his hands. “She was really shy at first and didn’t say much, but when we finally got her to speak, we couldn’t get her to stop. Turns out she was really pushy and kept cheating at all of the games, plus she was mean to my brother and that didn’t go over well with my mom. They broke up after that.”
Fidgeting again, he loses grip on the items in his arms and drops something, which you quickly bend down and pick up before he can, smiling sweetly at him. Your steps slow when you reach the spot, and you unfold the blanket to spread it on the well-kept grass below. You were far enough from the shading tree that there weren’t sticks and leaves all over the ground and you could avoid falling objects and bugs, yet you still caught the shade just right. It was perfect.
“Let’s sit here.” Turning to him, you watch him survey the area, giving an approving nod after a moment.
“I like it.” He places down his things and smooths out the fabric, grabbing your hand and yanking you down with him as he plops down on the comfortable sheet. You fall forward and land half on top of him, catching yourself with one arm, face just inches away from his. He grins up at you, devious look in his eye before giving you a chaste peck and helping you to a sitting position, both of you giggling the entire time.
“I love it here, it’s so peaceful,” You hum as you listen to the sound of wind rustling the leaves behind you. You take a deep breath, breathing in the fresh air and it relaxes you. Your eyes fall on Jimin, who is already staring at you with twinkling eyes, and you smile, a warmth spreading across your chest. “Do you think your family would have liked me if you’d invited me to one of those barbecues?” His face is soft, just like his voice that blends into the sounds of nature around you.
“They would have loved you, Jamjam.” Now that the initial excitement of seeing each other again has dulled down, he has the chance to actually admire you. Butterflies flutter in his stomach when your face lights up at his words, your eyes holding his until his crease into slits from his smile.
“You should invite them here for a family reunion one day. It would bring up so many great memories.”
“In theory that sounds like a great idea, except I doubt we’ll all be able to agree on a date or time to come here. With my brother moving away for his job and my parents settling into their condo and becoming less active, I don’t think it’ll work out.” Reaching over you, Jimin grabs the basket and pulls it toward him, opening the lid and pulling out containers of food.
“If they love you, they’ll show up. I’m sure all of them will be happy to hear from you since it’s been a while.” You smile up and him, placing a reassuring hand on his thigh.
“You’re right. And it’ll be the perfect chance for them to finally meet you properly.” His eyes sparkle, a hint of mischief in them when he sees your eyes widen for a split second.
“I’ve met your mom before, at the market that one time. Remember?” You hastily bring up, not sure if that’ll even help your cause.
“That doesn’t count, we only talked for like 5 minutes, and she mostly only spoke to me. You haven’t been formally introduced and you still haven’t met my father or brother yet, either.” Your tongue runs over the front of your teeth as you look away from him, unsure why there’s a jittery feeling in the pit of your stomach. Jimin started dating you about 2 years ago and he’s always talked highly of his family. He told you stories of them and described their personalities to the point where you felt like you knew them, yet you didn’t know if they would like you or approve of you being with their son. Your own parents barely approved of your relationship, but Jimin just treats you so well and makes you so happy that it would be a crime for them to break you up. “I’m certain all of them are going so see how amazing you are the instant you meet them.” He grins at you, the scene unfolding in his colorful mind. “My mom will look into those gorgeous eyes of yours and see that wonderful smile that just radiates sincerity, and she’ll fall for you just as hard as I did. Of course, my dad and brother will be pretty much indifferent, but when they see the way we look at each other with so much love, they won’t think twice about you.”
A blush creeps up on your cheeks, the lovely image Jimin paints in your mind making you feel a thousand times better. There’s no way anyone can object to you; you’re head over heels in love with him and he feels that exact same way about you. The conversation shifts to something less heavy and you feel somewhat thankful for that fact. It’s only been less than 10 minutes into your date and he’s already pouring his heart out to you. Not that you’re against that, of course.
Jimin is the type of boyfriend that plans everything to the very last detail, especially his dates with you. He planned out the meticulously made brunch that he packed for you and the snacks that he knew you’d want after. He packed an excess of games and activities just in case you got bored, even though you ended up just watching him play with a Hacky Sack and walking down a stretch of the park, talking about new music, tv shows, movies, anything that’s interested you in the past couple of weeks; and of course he was attentive to every single detail, hanging onto every word you spoke. He brought his sketchbook, for the moment when you’d both sit on the blanket— listening to the people and nature around you, breathing in the fresh air and just being— his hand sketching away the features of your side profile onto a piece of paper as you looked away from him, mind probably swimming in thoughts that he wishes he could read. Drawing you has always been a passion of his, and he felt that it was a more effective way of capturing the moment than a photo of you. It just felt more real.
“Are you drawing me?” When you finally notice, he’s already completed an already insanely real outline of your face shape, and it’s immediately recognizable. He grins at your shocked face, already starting to transfer the look on your face to the drawing beneath him. “Don’t draw that!” You reach for his pencil but he’s quicker, pulling it away and turning his body from you, chuckling quietly to himself.
“You’re the most beautiful subject I could imagine, I couldn’t pass up the perfect opportunity to create even more beautiful art. Although, I have to say, I could never have enough talent to truly capture how much of a masterpiece you are in real life. I can only put down the essence of your beauty, from my perspective.” The corner of your lip lifts slightly as you watch his hand move gracefully across the canvas, creating details from thin air that seem perfectly accurate, even though he’s no longer looking at you. You love when he talks this way, not just about you, but about art and how he views the world in such a creative way. You love him for it, love how he describes you and everything in your lives as something beautiful and inspiring. You guess that’s why he fits into his career so well.
Jimin lightly instructs you to look away from him like before, “if you can” he teasingly adds, so he can complete his work. The two of you sit in silence for as long as he creates, shading your face and outlining in perfect detail every flaw and perfection that makes you who you are. The silence is comfortable, to say the least, and even though you’re not saying anything, it still feels like you’re communicating in a way. See, you have the type of relationship that doesn’t need words, one where you would be perfectly okay no matter if you were speaking or not. Jimin could sit next to you in complete and utter silence for hours and you wouldn’t feel awkward or nervous, neither of you would feel the need to fill the space with voices and side chatter, you could just sit there. You could sit there because you had an understanding. Not many people could grasp that concept very well, and admittedly, you didn’t have the energy to explain it to them. But because of this mutual understanding, you felt like it made your relationship that much stronger.
While he was away, Jimin would video call you everyday to tell you about new experiences he had, people he met, things he tried for the very first time. Sometimes he’d describe the landscape to you, painting vivid pictures in your mind before he even showed you the real ones, making you feel like you experienced it yourself. Most days, you would stay on the phone long after your conversations were over, him either quietly editing photos he’d taken and deciding which ones were the best to publish or sketching something in his sketchbook, maybe an idea or a memory that he’d like to immortalize from when he was away from his camera, like a conversation, or a feeling. And you would be watching something on Netflix, making casual comments about the characters or predictions, or maybe you would just be listening to music— always his playlist since you believed he had better taste than you— but it could be quiet like that for hours and neither of you would mind. Just being in his presence, knowing he was with you even though he was miles away was enough. On particularly long nights, you’d fall asleep while on a call with him, your head always lulled toward the camera, and Jimin would stop everything just to watch you sleep, wishing he could lean through the screen and kiss your forehead and cheeks. He has several screenshots and drawings of your sleeping face, some that are very detailed and some that are just impressions of you, but he kept all of them and they made his month away seem like not such a long time.
Drawing you felt so natural for him and by now he could probably create an entire mural of you from memory. He just couldn’t get enough of you, and quite frankly, he needed this silence to be able to take it all in. To see you physically and just be there with you. It feels as if he’s only been hearing your voice for the past month and now all he wants to do is stare at you.
You’re not sure how long you spend in the park. Over an hour or maybe several, and everything seems to be going just as Jimin planned. He didn’t plan you’re entire day, that would be obsessive, but he did over-prepare like he always tended to do, which is never something to complain about. Jimin’s personality is simple. He’s a thoughtful person that sometimes cares too much about the details, but when he loves, he loves with his whole heart. You don’t think he’s ever hated anyone in his entire life, and if he has it’s probably someone that hurt a person that he loves. Easily stressed out because of his meticulousness, he needs constant praise and validation that he’s doing a good job, that all of his effort is not for naught and that he his appreciated. Of course, he earns it so nobody ever has any problems with that fact about him.
When it comes to you, Jimin won’t settle for anything but the best. He believes you are a queen— no, a goddess— and that you deserve the very best in every situation, which sometimes you feel isn’t true, but you let him do what he wants. He would never expect a perfect day like this to get ruined, everything was going so well, but nature has an odd way of always doing the unexpected.
Laying side by side, you and your boyfriend stare up at the sky, shoulders touching and hands interlocked. You’re cloud gazing, as cliche as it sounds, and you make it a game to see who can find the most objects and animals in the ever morphing sky pillows above you. He’s winning, with his child like imagination and overflowing creativity, but you still try your hardest to best him.
“That does not look like a tiger.” You laugh, squinting at the cloud he’s pointing to.
“Yes it does! See? It even has stripes.” As Jimin makes his testimonial, you turn your head to look at him, no longer focused upward. His side profile is almost as captivating as his front one and once again you’re trap in his hypnotic attractiveness. Just like in the car, you find it hard for you to listen to what he’s saying and he notices immediately. “Hey, you’re not listening again.” He whines, bottom lip jutted out cutely.
“I’m sorry Chim, I just can’t stop staring at you. How are you so...” You can’t find the word to describe him, he’s nothing that you’ve ever encountered before and you don’t even think there’s a word for his level of attractiveness.
“Hot? Sexy? Mind blowingly god-like?” Yes. All of the above. You think to yourself.
“I was going to say adorable.” The scowl of betrayal that crosses his face makes you laugh out loud and you know he hates when you call him that (even though secretly he loves it, but will never admit it). Placing a hand on his cheek, you graze your thumb over his lips, marveling at how plush they are. “But yeah, you’re all of those things too.”
He leans in and your lips meet for a electrifying few seconds, everything seeming to slow down around you. He deepens the kiss with a swipe of his tongue and you let his mouth mold into yours, despite being in a public place where people can clearly see you. The wind whips around you, blowing around fresh green leaves, and it would have been romantic had it not been for the fat drop of water that splatters against your cheek. You pull away from him abruptly, surprised by the wetness and he looks at you as you wipe it away, both of your heads turning toward the sky, which is seemingly still bright.
“Is it raining?” You ask, perplexed for a moment.
“I didn’t feel anythi-“ As if on cue, another big rain drop lands square in the center of Jimin’s forehead, others following and creating a noise around you before you even see the clouds roll in. It’s just out of your line of sight, over the leaves of the tall tree grounded behind you, but the evidence is there, wind picking up a more aggressive pace that rustles the grass surrounding you.
Both of you stand, finally turning around to see the monstrous dark cloud that has been trailing you, a quiet rumble of thunder sounding within its depths. It seems to roll as it travels, shaped almost like an attacking bear that’s almost upon its prey, and you nearly freeze at the sight of it, wondering how you missed it’s black billows that crawl closer to you.
“Oh my god, we need to get out of here.” You state, but Jimin has already jumped into action and is now halfway finished packing up your belongings into the basket. You’re still standing on the blanket when he pulls its corners up.
“Help me fold this.” This prompts you to move and you messily fold it up, uncaring of the grass that clings to its fibers. You gather the basket in your hands and slide on your shoes, not wasting time to tie them as both you and Jimin jog to the car just as the rain gets harder. Throwing everything into the backseat, you jump in the car just in time, barely missing the weather as the sky seemingly opens up and pours down massive water droplets that fall like bullets against the car’s roof. All you can hear is the sound of heavy rain as your date comes to a devastating halt.
“Well, this is unexpected.” You comment, laughing lightly in surprise that you just barely escaped being caught outside in this. “I told you I should have brought a jacket.” You’re joking, but Jimin doesn’t laugh along with you, his eyebrows knit tightly together as he looks out of the window longingly.
“I’m sorry, jagiya. Our date is ruined.” He whispers, as if saying it out loud will make his statement true.
“No, Jimin. It’s not ruined, we can find something else to do.” You immediately reach over to cup his squishy cheeks in your hands, bringing his eyes to yours, round and wide, notably different from the happy little crescents you’re used to seeing on him.
“But it was such a beautiful day. I checked the weather a million times before to make sure today was perfect for you, but it still stormed.” His lip flips upside down like a child, or an adorable puppy, and you have the sudden urge to kiss away all of his disappointment. Jimin has the tendency to worry over things like this, things that he’s done for other people and especially things that are out of his control. He always stresses about their opinions of him or his actions, when in reality, those people never had any expectations for him in the first place, and it’s always his own unreasonably high expectations that make him feel as though he has disappointed someone. He has never even come close to disappointing you in your entire relationship, not a single time, yet somehow you know that’s his biggest fear. Letting you down.
“Hey, look at me.” You try to find his eyes when they drop to the space between you, lowering your head until he looks at you again. “Today was a beautiful day, and we enjoyed it while it lasted. But it doesn’t have to be over if we don’t want it to be. We can have fun somewhere else or even just spend time at home, it doesn’t matter because all that matters is that we spend time together. I didn’t come here just to enjoy the sunshine, I’m only here because you’re here, and I’ll go anywhere you want as long as you’re there with me. Okay?” Your reassuring smile seems to put him at ease and he nods, looking out of the window once more before starting the car with a deep breath.
“Okay then. Change of plans, I guess we’re finding something else to do.” He announces as he pulls out of the parking lot, turning onto the road in the opposite direction of your house.
“That’s the spirit! We can improvise.” You can see how the word sends chills down his spine. Jimin rarely ever does anything on impulse without careful consideration. Improvising and doing things differently than he envisioned in his head usually brings him great discomfort and anxiety, but luckily you’re here to break him out of his spell. He needs to loosen up a little, and you think you’re the perfect person to show him how.
The cars around you appear as a blur as rain cascades down the windows. The windshield wipers are sufficient, but if the rain gets any heavier you aren’t sure what you would do. You squint to see the signs on the roadside, the only legible ones being the illuminated neon signs of store fronts. Jimin drives slowly, attempting to look out with you, but you scold him and tell him to focus on the road, more worried about your safety than finding something to do.
“We could go shopping?” You strain your eyes at a sign that announces a mall of some sort, but the sight discourages you. “Oh, it’s an outdoor mall.” Continuing the search you see more things that pique your interest. “A bookstore?”
“Cute, but we’re not that kind of couple.” Jimin laughs, receiving a nudge on the arm from you.
“Bowling alley?”
“Mm, not really feeling it.”
“A public gym?” This time you’re joking and he gives you a quick but sharp side eye, completely disregarding your comment. “I don’t know babe, what else is there to do around here?” Loading maps on your phone, you search through the area for anything that seems the least bit fun until Jimin makes a sound of realization and speeds up. “What?”
“I know where I wanna go.” There’s a proud grin on his face, one that seems triumphant as if he’s just saved the day and you question him, knowing that you probably won’t get a straight answer, which you don’t. “I remember this area from when my parents used to live around here, I hope it’s still there.”
“What place?” You receive silence as a response and resign to sitting back in your chair and enjoying the ride. If he knows where he’s going, you’ll trust him.
“Thank god it’s still here.” He sighs after pulling into the semi-crowded parking lot. It seems as though you’ve outran the storm and the rain is lighter here, enough for you to see the large sign at the front of the long building.
“Roller skating? But I don’t know how to skate.” After a few moments of consideration, you look at him, uncertainty swimming in your eyes, but he’s beaming and giving you this starry eyed look that you can’t say no to, so you give in. “Do you have an umbrella?”
“No, actually I thought I’d just hold you over my head and use you as cover.” He says with a straight face, but he can’t hold it for long before he’s breaking into a smile and reaching into the back seat. “Of course I have one, I always keep one in my car.”
He exits first, opening the door to open the device before stepping out and walking around the car. Then he takes a detour straight for the entrance, leaving you to scream at him in betrayal before he jogs back over and retrieves you. He’s laughing all the way to the front doors and even allows you to snatch the umbrella when you reach the door, forcing him to walk the last few steps in the rain. Upon entering, Jimin walks ahead of you up to the desk at the front, scanning prices on a large sign. Then he turns to the young man working the desk and smiles, causing a surprised blush to crawl onto the worker’s face.
“We’d like to sign up for skating lessons, please.” The man at the desk nods, ringing up the price on the cash register.
“You’re just in time, the next lesson starts in 10 minutes. For 2?”
“Yup.” Jimin leans on the counter and you catch the worker eyeing him for a moment before glancing at you and blushing when you raise your eyebrows.
“Well, personally I think these lessons are way overpriced, and since you’re so charming, I’ll give you both a discount.” You nearly cackle at the offer. Jimin hasn’t said more than two sentences and he’s already got this boy to fall for him. You guess that’s one of the perks of having a handsome boyfriend. “Lessons start on the left side of the rink, you’ll see ‘em. Have fun!” Jimin smiles happily and pays, thanking the man and taking your hand to lead you through the glass doors into the main area.
The interior of the building is bigger than you originally expect. There’s a pretty big arcade to the left side of the rink sitting in the center, colorful neon and glow-in-the-dark patterns and lights lining practically everything in sight. It’s noisy, the sound of wheels on polished wood echoing throughout the space, and it smells of pizza and a little like feet but it’s tolerable. The rink itself is busy with people of all ages, most of them skating so fast that they only appear as streaks to you and others taking their time or hugging the wall unsteadily. It’s a bit intimidating for your first time there but everyone seems to be having fun, so you try to relax a little. Jimin’s warm hand encircling yours certainly helps too.
“Was he flirting with you?” You laugh, noting the pink that tinges your boyfriend’s cheeks at the mention.
“I think so.” He chuckles in response, both of you walking over to the right side of the room where you see a teenage girl standing behind a counter, surrounded by pairs of roller skates. When the two of you step up, she looks between you, barely concealing the roll of her eyes at the sight. She sighs, standing up a bit straighter to address you with a forced smile.
“What size?” With zero introduction, her words catch you off guard and you blink at her for a moment. “What size shoe do you wear?” She tries again, annoyance creeping into her tone.
Jimin could answer for you, he knows what size you wear, but he lets you speak because this is supposed to be a learning experience. It takes you a minute to remember, looking down at your feet briefly before blurting out a number, to which the girl only sighs.
“We don’t have women’s sizes, what is your size in men’s?”
“I don’t know.”
“Please refer to the chart.” She replies after taking a moment to collect herself. You look down at the counter, finding a conversion chart of shoe sizes and telling her your new size with equal annoyance. Jimin gives her his and then she walks into a back room to retrieve your skates, leaving you at the counter.
“What’s her problem?” You say with furrowed eyebrows, only getting a chuckle and a head shake from your boyfriend. She comes back out and sets the shoes on the counter for you to grab, and as soon as they leave her hands, she turns and exits back into the storage room, probably tired from all the social interaction she was just forced to endure. You take your shoes and you and Jimin walk to a nearby bench, sitting down and sliding off your sneakers.
Looking down, you grimace at the pair of skates you were given. They’re dirty and worn and probably smell terrible— you’re not bold enough to put them anywhere near your nose to find out. Just the thought of hundreds of people’s dirty feet being in them makes you want to vomit and you hesitate to slide them onto your own. Jimin looks up from his lacing his second skate to see your feet still bare.
“Babe, you have to actually wear the shoes in order for us to take the lessons.” He laughs, scooting closer to you to pick up one of yours.
“Ew, but they’re so dirty.” Your nose scrunches in disgust and he just shrugs.
“They’re no dirtier than the floor you’ve got your feet on.”
After bringing up the point, Jimin takes your foot and helps you put on the shoe, lacing them up for you as you work on the other begrudgingly. He ties them tight so they won’t come off and asks you if they’re comfortable, to which you replay that they’re as comfortable as they could be, then he stands and offers his hand to you. The way he stands there perplexed you because it’s as if he doesn’t have wheels on his feet- he’s completely stable. You take his hand and test your feet beneath you wondering if your skates have less resistance than his because you can’t seem to steady yourself.
“To stand up, just put you toe to the ground to help you push off. There’s a rubber stopper there so your foot won’t move.” Taking his advice, you point your toe and attempt to stand, but the moment you put weight on your other foot, the wheels start to roll and you fall back onto the bench with a plop. You frown deeply.
“This isn’t going to work out for me, I’ll just sit here and watch you skate.” Giving up immediately, you relax into the seat, but he refuses to let go of your hand.
“No, I didn’t pay for the lessons for me, they’re for you. I already know how to skate, you’re the one that needs to learn.” He’s smiling and talking through his teeth, giving you a comical look as though he’s willing you to get up with his eyes. But you stare back at him with wide eyes, still not moving until he tries a different tactic. “Jammy,” He whines loudly, shoulders dropping. “I really want you to skate with me. It’ll be so fun!”
“I’m scared.” You complain, palm sweaty in his as you try to work up the nerve to stand again. Various people in your life throughout the years have tried to teach you how to roller skate, but every time you refused. You’ve seen too many people fall on the hard floor and you never wanted to experience that, so the best way to avoid it is to not skate at all. But Jimin has been the one to take you out of your comfort zone throughout your entire relationship, showing you things you’ve never even thought of and sharing most of your first experiences.
“When I was on my trip, I met a group of people that made me try a lot of new things that I wasn’t used to. Some of those things scared me or made me nervous, but they convinced me that everything would be alright and I realized those things weren’t that bad. And I ended up loving most of the experiences I had, and the ones that I didn’t, I was still glad that I tried them. The point is, you don’t know what you’re going to love or be good at until you try it.” He gives you a reassuring grin and you roll your eyes at him, trying hard not to be inspired.
“Are you trying to convince me with a motivational speech?” You ask with narrowed eyes, placing your free hand on the bench for support.
“Maybe.” The smug lift of his lips makes you scoff.
“Well, it worked.” Giving it another try, you use your hand to help you, pulling at Jimin’s as you stumble to a standing position, your body colliding into his. But he catches you and steadies you with his hands on your waist as you wobble.
“I got you.” He whispers just inches from your face, your hands squeezing his shoulders tightly. Your eyes are wide and you stand there in disbelief that you’re actually doing this. The things you do for love.
“This is stupid,” You mumble while Jimin reaches for your hand again, leading you to the wall of the rink so you can hold onto it as you both waddle to the other side to join the class. “Who even invented skating? Like, who said ‘hey let’s put wheels on our feet and roll around instead of walking like a normal person’, and who approved?” You rant, mouth pressed into a thin line as you concentrate on not falling.
“Skating is a lot faster than walking. I think it was a pretty smart idea.” He shrugs, avoiding kids that skate past him and tables and benches lining the ring. “When I was a kid, I used to skate around everywhere, even in the house sometimes, and my mom would get angry and try to force me to take them off. But my grandma would always argue with her because she’s the one that got them for me as a gift and she was glad to see I was actually using them.”
“Seems to me that you were just a bad little kid.” You retort, squeezing his hand when you almost lose your balance.
“I was not! I was just really good at skating and I liked moving fast.”
“You’re good at everything.”
“Well my mom used to take me here all of the time, so I had a lot of experience. You can be good at anything if you practice enough.”
“Oh my god. So what, you’re a life coach now?” You tease, earning a cheeky grin from Jimin.
“Let’s just say I’m pretty wise for my age.”
You finally reach the left side of the rink and spot a group of people standing around chatting. There’s someone wearing a tacky uniform standing toward the center of the group and you assume that the lessons are about to start. You find a spot close to the instructor and listen as she cheerfully greets all of you, welcoming you and listing what she’s going to teach today. She must have said the words “beginners class” a hundred times and you’re starting to feel a bit embarrassed as you look around the group. It’s mostly parents and children, a few teenagers and even fewer adults who also appear to be couples. Looking over, you see Jimin lit up with excitement as he listens attentively. He claims these lessons are for you, but he seems to be getting more out of it than you are. Finally, the lady guides you all onto the rink, which has cleared out a little since you first walked in, and stands in front of the line of people as most of you cling to the wall as you make your way onto the slippery wood. This surface is a lot different than the carpet you were just standing on, and your fear returns as your feet slide in every direction. Jimin laughs quietly beside you, trying to hide it, but you catch him anyway and give him a hard scowl.
The first 10-20 minutes of the lesson was focused on teaching you how to stand properly without falling. It was hard to stand on your own for a while, but with your boyfriend’s help, you got the hang of it eventually. Then she moved on to teaching everyone how to get up after falling, which made your heart drop because you dreaded the thought of busting your ass on this hard ground. This task was a bit harder and even Jimin struggled a bit, but you were even successful with that and were doing surprisingly well. He complimented you on everything you did successfully and you appreciated it, but it wasn’t until the instructor praised you that you truly started to gain confidence. Then it was on to the actual skating part and you practically froze as the instructor demonstrated how to push off and start moving.
“It’s not that hard, Jammy, really.” Jimin reassures, trying to show you in slow motion as everyone was left to try on their own. You were standing in the middle of the rink now, having practically mastered standing still, and your reluctance to move worries him. “C’mon, try it with me.” He takes both of your hands and you panic, wanting to snatch your hands away but scared to death of being left unsupported in the middle of nowhere, so you squeeze him with all your might.
“Jimin!” You shout, suddenly very shaky and wobbly on your own two feet, but he just laughs.
“You can do it! Look, just push off from your toe and glide.”
“I can’t, I can’t!” You squeal, not even paying attention to how the rest of the class is doing around you. Other people are screaming too, equally as nervous as you, but you’re too absorbed in your own plight to notice. Jimin stops moving to allow you to collect yourself. You take a deep breath and try your hardest to keep steady.
“Once you start moving, it’s easy.” He reassures, but you shake your head.
“But what do I do when I start moving?”
“Shift your weight side to side like you’re waddling. Don’t worry, I’ll guide you. I have you.” Looking into his eyes, you see how sincere he is and begin to trust him. Jimin knows what he’s doing, he wouldn’t let you fall. “We can go over to the wall if you want?”
“Yes, please.” You sigh in relief, but you’re unprepared for him to start moving so soon. He moves your hands to his hips and pushes off, pulling you along as he crosses traffic to reach the wall. Your feet don’t move as you roll behind him, shaking and holding on for dear life. With one hand on the wall and the other in Jimin’s, you listen to him with wide eyes as he explains the motion he wants you to copy. His movements are slow and fluid, demonstrating his skill, and he makes it look so easy that you give it a try. But you quickly find out that it’s not as simple as it looks and you stumble for a few steps before letting go of his hand and latching onto the solid ledge of the wall.
“Well,” He gets out after giggling a bit. “That’s a start. Try taking smaller strides.” He grabs your hand again— which feels much sweatier this time— and helps you get started, your feet moving in choppy steps, almost as if you’re trying to walk normally, but instead you end up practically walking in place as the wheels prevent you from making any forward progress. “It’s not walking, it’s gliding. You have to relax and just go with the motions.” Letting your body relax a bit, you let him lead, your feet following his until you fall into the same rhythm and you’re skating fluidly.
“I can’t believe I’m doing it.” You breathe, eyes wide as you concentrate on keeping the same flow. You’re still moving quite slow and your hand is still shadowing the wall, but you’ve got the movement down for the most part as you make your way around the rink.
“I told you that you could. It’s all about staying relaxed. This isn’t so scary, right?”
“No, I’m still terrified, but at least I’m doing it.” He laughs at that, looking at you endearingly as you make laps around. Then he slowly begins to pull you farther and farther away from the wall until just your fingertips are within reach of it. “Wait, where are you going?” You begin to panic, trying to move back toward the edge.
“Going closer to the center. You’re not even using the wall anymore, I think it’s time for the next step. Trust me.” Jimin’s face is soft and caring, encouraging you with a small nod and you take a deep breath before allowing him to pull you into circulation. It’s intimidating, mixing with all of the other skaters who are moving way faster than you. The swerve around you closely, the wind they carry behind them seeming to pull you along faster as they all breeze by. More people have entered the rink, children who are way better than you that show off their skills by dancing to the energetic music as they roll. Teenagers with their friends and dates race around, talking loudly over the speakers and only half paying attention to the people around them, moving with ease and complete composure. And of course there are the skilled adults that demonstrate skills and tricks as they complete their laps, but they’re focused more toward the inside so they can avoid slow skaters like you. Being in the mix makes you want to pick up your pace, so you shuffle your feet faster and Jimin follows gladly, still holding your hand and helping you around the turns.
The class is pretty much over now as everyone in your group is now moving on their own free will, having learned the basics enough to function in the crowd. You look around and see that you’re doing much better than some of the other students that were in your class, given most of them were children. Jimin looks over at you as you make your way around and around, your hair trailing behind in the most beautiful way, a smile gracing your lips as you start to feel more comfortable and confident. Joy sparkles in your eye, as well as a little surprise because it turns out that you are pretty good and this and Jimin was right all along, and he’s just happy that he’s the one that gets to experience this joy with you. Your hands are no longer clammy in his and he’s proud at the courage you’ve shown, despite initially being terrified to even stand up earlier today.
“Have I told you how amazing you look today?” He inquires, still admiring the view he has of you, mentally capturing the image of you.
“Hmm, I don’t think you have...” Glancing over at him, you send him a playful look, squeezing his fingers a little bit tighter.
“Well, you look absolutely gorgeous today- even with those tacky skates on your feet.” Jimin laughs as he drops his eyes to the clunky shoes that he laced extra tight onto the bottom of your legs, their dingy color and appearance ruining the clean outfit you picked out for today, but he finds it cute nonetheless.
“Really? I’m glad cuz I was thinking about bringing back this style.” You drawl, earning a slight cringe from your boyfriend. “Yeah, just like the ‘80s when everyone wore skates everywhere and bought different pairs to match their clothes. I think that look could really make a comeback.” Both of you giggle, locking eyes for a short moment before returning them to the rink in front of you.
“That’s interesting because an hour ago you were just complaining about how stupid of an invention roller skates are.” He points out teasingly with an arch of his brow.
“I can tolerate them in the name of fashion.” There’s a moment of silence between you where you just bask in his presence next to you. Even though there are people all around you and the air is hot, the warmth of his hand is still noticeable enough for your heart to beat just a little bit faster. You don’t need his hand for support anymore, you’ve gotten the hang of it by now and feel more at ease, but you know Jimin doesn’t want to let go and neither do you.
“I can’t wait to teach you all of the cool things I learned how to do when I was a kid here.” He beams, eyes looking upward at the passing ceiling at the memory.
“You sure you remember how to do those things? Aren’t you a little out of practice?” You challenge, knowing that if you provoke him he’ll show you exactly what he can do. And you’re exactly right.
“Want me to show you?” He dares, that look entering his eyes, the look that tells you he’s really to show off and brag. One thing that you find amusing about his personality is how much he craves praise. It’s always been something that amazed you about him, how much different his performance is with a little bit of encouragement and validation. You’ve come to the conclusion that he’d do anything just to hear compliments, which isn’t a bad thing because usually you benefitted from his hard work.
“Show me what ya got, Chim.” He slowly drops your hand, still aware that you might still be wobbly, but you reassure him with a nod and he moves toward the center where you follow him and stand as you watch him practice his moves. He gets into the music immediately, dancing and showing off footwork. There’s a huge cocky grin on his face as he becomes more comfortable, squatting down on one leg and attempting spins with other people who look like professionals. You find this totally sexy, how his hair flutters around his face softly while a confident and almost seductive look plasters across his face as he bites his lip as he passes you. Your eyes follow him around intently, thoroughly impressed as he does increasingly more difficult skills that you see others struggling to master, yet he pulls them off so effortlessly. Of course he’s amazing at this, Jimin is good at almost every form of art, performing arts and visual, not to mention that he himself is a priceless work of art.
Standing there with your jaw slacked, you’re sure you look like an idiot as you nearly drool onto the slippery floors, awed by the display he puts on. He allows himself to play around for a while, recalling all the things he used to spend hours practicing, the other patrons being his only teachers. It’s interesting to see him this way, completely lost in something that he clearly loves and you can tell that he misses this. It reminds you of the way he tends to look at you when you catch him staring, entirely focused and swimming in his thoughts with a content look in his eyes. You make a mental note to bring him back here again soon.
Eventually he rejoins you, slightly sweaty with his hair brushed away from his forehead messily. You run your hands through it out of habit, used to always fixing it due to his own habit. Jimin smiles stupidly at you, waiting for your reaction which takes a while since you’re still processing what you just witnessed.
“Wow, I’m literally speechless,” You let out an airy laugh when you can’t find any words and watch as his eyes disappear completely behind his cheeks. “Why are you so good at everything?” At your whining, he giggles and punches your cheek, reaching for your hand again so you can jump back into the swarm of people that seems to be an ever changing, new faces cycling in and out every few minutes as the building starts to get crowded. “I don’t think I’ll ever be able to do any of that. I’ll settle for simply skating around in circles without all of the theatrics, thanks.”
“I think I can accept that.” He nods, loving how you seem almost completely comfortable on your feet now.
Up and Down by EXID blasts on the speakers and your eyes go wide, practically jumping with the urge to dance along. Others around you dance to the choreography easily, singing along loudly as the pace around you speeds up, so naturally you speed up too, pulled by the current of wind created by their moving bodies. Jimin sticks to his steady pace beside you but you want to move faster, going slightly ahead of him until his tug on your hand becomes too unstable and you release his fingers, moving entirely on your own. It’s easy to lose you in the crowd, he finds, people bobbing and weaving to each other in their excitement and he tries to keep his eye on you. But then the chorus starts and you speed up even more. He easily catches up to you, it’s not hard for him to skate fast, but he isn’t okay with you moving this far ahead of him, especially since you could fall with the slightest bump to your shoulder.
“Jam!” He calls after you, catching up until he’s at your side again. But you’re absorbed in the song and can’t hear him over the loud music and collective voices surrounding you. “Yah, slow down!”
Reaching out for your arm, he just barely misses as someone squeezes their way between you, forcing him to pull back so he doesn’t clothes line them accidentally. Your eyes shine in amazement as you see people in front of you flawlessly complete their variations of the dance, all while still skating forward at intense speeds. You wonder if Jimin can dance like that on wheels and you turn your head to ask him but lock eyes with a stranger instead. You catch a glimpse of him behind you, but you’re too afraid to turn any more because there’s a high chance that you could run into someone, so the next best option is the slow down, you realize with a start that you have no idea how to.
Logically, if you just stop pushing off with your feet and let yourself just ride the momentum, you would eventually slow, but it seems to you that you’re being pulled by an invisible rope, caught in the riptide of air that urges you forward. You could also just swerve over onto the side and wait by the wall so Jimin can rejoin you, but the panic that fills your chest prevents you from thinking straight. Unsure of how to slow yourself, you do the worst thing you could possibly do in skating, you start to lean back on your heels to stop your forward momentum— but you quickly see how terrible of an idea that is when the wheels under your feet keep moving unresisted and your body struggles to stay in balance. Jimin holds his breath and looks on in horror as you flail and stumble clumsily for a few seconds as you fight to remain standing, eventually righting yourself, both of your letting out a sigh of relief. The second your relax, however, you feel yourself become disoriented and you wonder how your legs managed to lift so high off the ground to where they are now eye level with you. You only realize a little too late that your legs aren’t just in the air, but your body is also dropping rapidly to the ground, the realization hitting when your body slams to the floor with a loud, solid thud.
At first, you don’t feel any pain, shock and confusion being the main things running through your mind, as well as the sight of Jimin’s alarmed expression standing over you. But then you feel it— the hot pain that originates in your butt and lower back that spreads up your spine. You lay there, wincing with your eyes closed, feeling the eyes of everyone who skates past. You’ve seen people fall like this before and you have to say, it’s a lot less funny when it happens to you. Admittedly, though, it doesn’t hurt as much as you expected it to, which is why you feared it so much.
“Ohmygod Jammy, are you okay?” Your boyfriend breathes, eyes wide and eyebrows knit tightly together. You stare for a few seconds, moving your limbs to make sure nothing is broken or hurt too bad, and then you do the most unexpected thing, causing his concern to turn into confusion. You laugh.
“Ouch.” You say through chuckles, allowing him to help you up once you push yourself into a sitting position. Both of you roll over to an opening and exit the rink, Jimin immediately escorting you to a bench where he seats you and inspects every inch of you. He doesn’t find anything notable aside from a sore spot on your lower back where your pelvis is.
“I’m so sorry I wasn’t there to catch you,” He apologizes, face reflecting guilt. “I promised I had you and then I didn’t.”
“Hey, don’t worry about it, I’m fine. Promise.” You reassure with a hand on his cheek. “It’s my fault for getting cocky and skating too fast. Though, falling wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.” You took the brunt of the fall on your ass and it cushioned you so that you didn’t hurt yourself.
“Really?” His face softens at your light tone and he relaxes a bit.
“Yeah, but still, 10/10 would not recommend.” At this, he laughs along with you, placing his hand on your knee.
“But you’re okay?” He asks again, serious. When you nod he sighs, looking away. “I think we’re done skating for today. It’s starting to get crowded.” With this, he reaches down to untie your laces, making sure your skates are off before he slips off his own. Both of you walk over to where you left your shoes, feet and legs sore, but it feels good to walk regularly on flat ground. Jimin returns both of your skates, grabbing his umbrella before heading toward the doors with his hand in yours.
The rain has lighted up a little so you make it to the car easily. By now the sun should be setting, but the dark clouds hide the view and makes everything look a murky gray. As Jimin starts the car, your stomach rumbles audibly, making you blush in embarrassment.
“Are you hungry?” He asks, pulling out of the parking lot and onto the main road.
“A little.” You admit, peering out of the window at the passing scenery. Even through the rainy haze everything still looks beautiful.
“Then let’s find somewhere to eat.” The two of you ride for a little while, watching the passing signs for anything that sounds appetizing. You come across an ice cream parlor that just so happens to also be a sit down restaurant, one that looks vintage like the ones you’re used to seeing in movies and tv shows from the ‘50s. Making your way inside, you’re seated and order promptly. There’s not too many people there, the joint at only about half capacity, so you get your food quickly and enjoy the night with easy conversation.
“So, any memories attached to this place?” You quip once you and Jimin have finished your food. He lifts an eyebrow and shakes his head.
“Nope, why do you ask?”
“I don’t know, it just seems like you’re so connected to everything around here,” You shrug, playing with the scraps on your plate. “I just wanted to know if there was a story about this place or something.” A fond smile places itself on his lips as he observes you from across the small table.
“Well, if we’re sticking with the theme, this can be our special place; so now you have a memory in this town too. And we can come back and keep making more memories together for as long as you want.” You thought there was no possible way for you to love him more, but here you are, falling in love with him all over again. Jimin has this way of making your heart flutter uncontrollably with just a few words or a look, and you wonder if you ever have that effect on him.
You order a scoop of ice cream and he gets a large cookies n’ cream milkshake, which you end up sharing when he realizes that it’s bigger than he expected and that he needs help finishing it. He still reaches to steal spoonfuls of your ice cream when you’re not look despite this though. At some point you get ice cream on the corners of your lips and it drips down to your chin as it melts, the white milky substance catching Jimin’s eye. He takes a sharp intake of breath when he sees this, trying hard to control himself as he takes in the sight of your messy face, following your tongue with wrapt attention as it swipes your lips in an attempt to clean them. He snaps out of it when you ask him if there’s anything on your face, your cute and innocent expression making him laugh, and he shakes the dirty thoughts from his mind, reaching across the table to wipe your chin with a napkin.
Eventually, Jimin pays the check and you make your way to the exit, still chatting away and laughing. It looks like the rain is starting to pick up again so Jimin pulls you tight against him as he holds the umbrella and you jog to his car. The warmth of your body against him has his heart pounding in his chest, it feels so comfortable and natural and he almost doesn’t want to let go to open the passenger door for you. Once in the car, he stops to get a good look at you. Your cheeks glow with satisfaction and your eyelids dip a little lower than previously but your eyes hold a glint of happiness that tells him that this day was a success after all. He sighs in contention, turning on the car and handing you the aux.
You notice that you’re heading back in the direction of home and stare out of the window, relaxing into your seat. It’s not too late, but you take the weather as a sign that it’s better to spend the rest of the night inside. You hope Jimin decides to stay at your house tonight because you’re not ready for him to leave you again yet, even if it’s just for a few hours. But for now, you enjoys spending time in this space with him listening to music and humming along. He has a beautiful singing voice— another one of his other many talents— and he serenades you with a few songs upon your request, feeling completely compensated by the adorable smile and blush that is painted across your face the entire time he sings.
“Jimin,” You start, dropping his nickname to catch his attention. He glances over at you, clicking the windshield wipers up to one higher setting. “Thank you for today, I really had fun— even though I busted my ass while skating.” You both giggle, his still a little worried and guilty even after you reassured him a thousand times that you were fine at dinner. “I just want you to know I would have had fun regardless of what we did today. Whether that was just staying in or hanging out at that bookstore over there,” You point as you pass the old bookstore both of you spotted earlier. “All I wanted to do was spend time with you. Our dates don’t need to be perfect and I don’t care if things don’t go according to plan, so please stop worrying about them in the future. I love you, you really don’t have to do much to impress me.”
“I understand,” He states softly, nodding his head. “That doesn’t mean I’m not going to spoil you every chance I get though, so you might as well just get used to that already.”
“I never said I don’t like getting spoiled, don’t think you get off the hook that easily.” Grinning, you lean your head back on the headrest and stare out of the windshield, watching as rain splatters and streams down it.
“Sorry if I freaked you out earlier...” He begins again, hesitant. He continues when you respond with a questioning look. “When I was talking about my family at the park this morning. I don’t want to pressure you to meet them, I just want them to know who I’ve fallen in love with.” Your heart jumps at this but he goes on. “You know, every time my mother called while I was away she asked about you. Asked if you went with me, yelled at me when I told her I didn’t bring you along, complained about how I’ve been “hiding you from them” for too long. I know you’re nervous to meet them, just like how I was nervous to meet your parents, but you have nothing to worry about. My mom already likes you a lot just from how I talk about you. I told her I love you.” Jimin pauses, choosing his next words. “I want to be with you for... a long time. And I know we’re not at that point yet because 2 years isn’t a long time in the grand scheme of things, but I want to get to that point with you. I want you to be a part of my family one day and have our own family together and live happily ever after or somewhere in between if that’s possible. Sorry if this seems like its coming out of nowhere, I was just thinking about it while I was away, when I realized I always want you by my side to experience new things and push each other to step out of our comfort zone. And by the way, I was really proud of you for skating with me today, I know you were afraid.” He seems sheepish as he finishes and you wonder if he’s worried about what you’ll say to all of this, his eyes firmly focused on the road ahead of.
The thing about you is that sometimes it’s hard for you to hear the heavy stuff. Usually you cover up your real reaction to things with humor or try to change to subject, rarely letting on to your true emotions. But with Jimin, you felt completely genuine, like the best version of yourself, as cheesy as that sounds. You can never hide from him,— especially since he’s a person that would jump to the worst conclusions if you don’t speak up— and you don’t want to. He never has a problem pouring out his heart, exposing himself and making himself vulnerable to you. That’s something that you’ve learned to do from him and instead of constantly just reassuring him, you also allow him to reassure you and dispel your own insecurities. He was the first to open up to you at the beginning of your relationship and he continues to be the one who pushes things forward because of his openness. And that’s something you admire about him.
It takes a second for you to reply, a million things that you want to say all rushing to the front at once and your brain needs a second to sort through and prioritize. Your love is biting his lip and gripping the steering wheel tightly, unsure of what your reaction will be. He knows you feel the same way, or at least he thinks he does, yet his heart hasn’t beat this fast since he first confessed his love for you.
“You didn’t freak me out.” You finally say, gently. “I’m sorry if I made it seem like I didn’t want to meet your family, it’s just that sometimes I worry if they’ll like me or not. Their son is the most amazing human I’ve ever met and I feel like they wouldn’t want you to be with an amazingly average person like me.”
“You’re not average though, Jammy. You’re extraordinarily gorgeous and have a unique personality and way of thinking unlike anyone I’ve known. You’re smart, funny, self-aware, and realistic and I need you to ground me. Sometimes I can be a little...”
“Idealistic?”
“Yeah.” He admits, lower his head slightly. “But you’re always there to pull me back to reality while also supporting my dreams and aspirations. You’re the perfect compliment to me and I couldn’t think of anyone better to be with.”
“There are plenty of girls who are better than me though-“
“I don’t want someone “better” than you, I only want you.” His voice and words soothe you like always and it takes you a moment to remember the rest of what you wanted to say to him.
“We want the same things. I want a future with you and everything that you said, don’t ever think otherwise.” The silence that falls over you is a little more tense than usual, but you don’t have the heart to break it with jokes. It’s a thoughtful silence that suggests that you’re both letting the words sink in, fully realizing the meanings and promises you’ve just communicated to each other. This is the first time he’s openly expressed his intentions of having a solid future with you, marriage, kids, and all, and it’s taking a while for you to fully grasp the meaning of it. You’ve thought about it countless times but didn’t want to say anything related to the subject in fear of scaring him away, but now you realize your irrational fear and underestimation of his feelings for you. And he’s underestimated yours as well.
“I’m glad.” He finally says, and the silence turns familiar once more. A relieved smile stretches his lips and causes one to sprout on yours, his hand finding its usual place on your knee as he drives. A few minutes go by before he speaks up again. “Looks like we’re heading back into the storm.”
He’s right, the rain is significantly louder and almost drowns out your music and you can barely see out of the windows from the sheer volume of water crashing down outside of them distorting the view. There are few cars out, probably a sign that you shouldn’t be driving in this weather either.
“Maybe we should pull over?” You suggest, squinting to see anywhere that you could stop.
“That’s probably a good idea, I can’t see anything.” Jimin pulls into the empty lot of a closed shopping center and parks, turning off the engine to save gas. “I think we should wait here until the storm passes or dies down a bit.”
You nod, sitting awkwardly thinking about what you could possibly do during that time. Your phone percentage was getting low so you doubted that you would be able to just listen to music the whole time. You and Jimin could talk more, but then it might feel forced because it’s the only thing you could do right now. And how long would you be sitting here anyway? Right before you open your mouth to ask him for ideas, he reaches into the backseat and pulls out his sketchbook and pencil, immediately starting a new piece without hesitation. You peek over his shoulder curiously to see what he was drawing.
Even though he only had drawn a few lines so far, you were captivated, his confident and sure marks quickly turning into the outline of a person that you recognize without needing him to add details.
“Are you drawing me again?” You ask, already knowing the answer when he smirks.
“Mhm. You’re the best subject there is.” Biting your lips to hold back your smile, you press on.
“What has inspired you this time? Me falling on my ass? Eating ice cream?”
“I’m drawing my point of view from when we were skating; before you fell.” He stays concentrated even as he speaks, outlining the shape of your body and glancing over at you for reference. “I’m really glad that you agreed to skate with me, it made me really happy to see you enjoying something that I’ve loved all my life. And despite what you might think, I think you were actually pretty good. You’re a fast learner.”
You snort, shaking your head but keeping your eyes glued to the paper in front of him. “Well, I think I had a pretty good teacher.” You say, catching his eyes when he looks up.
“Well, I think it’s natural talent.” He retorts easily.
“No, natural talent is your ability to sketch exactly what I looked like at one specific moment that happened hours ago, directly from memory. Baby, that’s incredible.” Not only is Jimin a fast worker, but he also can reproduce an image accurately with few mistakes. It’s amazing watching him work and you quickly find yourself entertained by how much of a resemblance his sketch has to you. He draws your full body as you skate along with your hair fluttering behind you, a wide grin splitting your lips and eyes wide in excitement.
He says nothing more as he slowly brings you to life on the paper, adding your small features and details and then shading and even completing the background. You watch him until he finishes, your eyes trailing the entirety of his work to find all of the small things that he added to enhance its beauty. It’s in more detail than usual and that probably has something to do with the amount of time you two have to kill but you appreciate how he made you look.
“What do you think?” He asks, fishing for compliments as expected. You know he’s 100% confident that this is one of his best works, but you also know how good it will make him feel to hear you say it.
“My butt is not that big in real life, don’t exaggerate.” The shocked expression that comes over his face makes you bite back a chuckle as he looks back down at his work to make sure he didn’t make a mistake.
“False, this is perfectly proportioned. Give yourself credit, you’re pretty thicc. It’s probably what protected you from that fall.” He winks at you and this time you let yourself laugh out loud, slapping his shoulder.
“Shut up.” At this, Jimin puts down his sketchbook and leans closer to you, a mischievous lopsided smirk replacing the cute smile that was there a few seconds ago.
“Make me.” His eyes bore into yours and you catch yourself leaning in closer, eyes locked onto his lips. He licks them when he knows that he’s caught your attention and that causes you to close the distance between you, ignoring the pull of your seatbelt as you join lips with him. His plump lips mold with yours to create an airtight seal as you steal each other’s breath. The kiss isn’t lustful just yet, you both show a little restrain as you feel each other’s lips again in what feels like forever, but when his tongue swipes your bottom lip, you pull away, overcome by emotion suddenly. “What’s wrong?” Taking in your watery eyes, Jimin caresses your cheek and stares at you, fearing that he did something to hurt you somehow. But you just give him a tiny smile and inspect his face, sighing dreamily.
“I just missed you a lot.” You whisper, then pause. “Okay, maybe a little more than a lot.”
He responds by connecting your lips with a small laugh, holding your bottom lip between his and pulling your face closer as a stray tear falls down your cheek and his thumb delicately wipes it away. You unsnap your seatbelt to climb into his lap, forcing him to recline his chair back so that you don’t accidentally bump into the steering wheel and honk the horn. He unbuckles himself too and wraps his arms around your waist, wasting no time in swiping his tongue against your lips again, and this time you let him in, allowing him to open your mouth with his and explore every inch of it with his tongue. You still taste sweet like ice cream and he groans into your mouth, wrestling your tongue as you try to slip it past his lips to no avail. The sound of rain becomes background noise as you get lost in each other’s embrace, your hands coming up to grip onto his shoulders when he pulls you even closer, and the slight friction of his pants against your clothed core is enough to make you groan into him.
“Fuck,” He sighs, hands finding their way underneath your shirt to caress your bare sides. “I almost forgot how addictive your lips can be.” His tongue traces his own and you follow the motions with your eyes, subconsciously rocking your hips into him. A gasp leaves his lips when you rub against him and something clicks in your mind suddenly.
Moving away from him, Jimin watches as you make your way to the back seat, climbing over the middle console clumsily in the limited space. He smacks your ass lightly as you wiggle it next to him and you shoot him a dirty look as you finally slip through to plop down onto the more spacious seats. He returns the drivers seat back to its original position to give you more leg room before climbing after you, slipping through much more gracefully until he’s sitting next to you, and as soon as his bottom hits the cushions your mouth is back on him, swinging your leg over his hips to resume your position in his lap.
“God, I missed this.” He whispers against your lips, nipping you teasingly and soothing the bite with his hot tongue.
“Missed what?” You dare to ask, chest pressing against him until you can feel his nipples through his shirt.
“Missed kissing you,” Jimin murmurs, turning away from your lips to start a path along your jawline and neck. “Missed touching you.” His hands make their way inside your shirt once more and this time he reaches around to unsnap your bra so he can slide his hands under the cups and grope your full chest. “Missed being with you... sexually.”
The shy side of your boyfriend presents itself to you even as his thumbs rub over your nipples, making you arch your back into him. He looks up at you with innocent eyes but you can see the deep desire hidden behind the surface. The brief moment passes when he leans in to continue his trail down your skin, eventually finding that sweet spot on your neck and licking warm stripes against your heated skin. Shaky breaths leave you as he sucks gently, teasing the skin with his teeth until faint marks appear, light enough that he knows they’ll be gone by tomorrow. You interrupt him to snatch your shirt off, throwing it to the car floor along with your bra so that he has a clear view of your body, illuminated by the dim light coming from a street lamp somewhere nearby. He groans, placing pecks across your collarbone as his hands play with the supple flesh of your breasts.
“I missed playing with these and being able to mark your skin.” Your hands travel down his firm chest as he speaks, pulling at the hem of his shirt until he lets you lift it over his head and drop it into the growing pile of your clothes.
“Did you miss my touch as badly as I missed yours?” You ask in a seductive tone, throwing your head back when he attaches his lips onto your perked nipple. Your hands fumble with his belt buckle desperately, a sudden need to get your hands on him coursing through your veins, urging you forward. You pop the button and unzip him, revealing the Calvin Klein briefs he sports, in which you slip a finger into shallowly.
“I missed everything about you.” He breathes between sucks and nips that he continues to deliver to your sensitive chest.
“I bet you did. It must have been so difficult for you,” Pulling the band of his briefs back, you allow your finger to lose grip on them and the elastic snaps back to his skin harshly, causing him to hiss into you with a flinch. “Having to touch yourself all alone, imagining it was me.” Your hand finally slides into his waistband and as soon as your fingers wrap around him he releases a loud groan, your hips bucking in response.
“You have no idea.” Jimin drops his head into your shoulder, hands roaming your bare back.
“Mm, I think I do... I had to do the same thing, remember?” You smirk and it prompts him to bring his hands to your front. You give him a dry pump, already feeling the lubrication of his precum begin to drip down from his head. You can’t even be surprised because your panties are feeling sticky already as well just from a few kisses and nipple play. As if he can sense this, Jimin unbuttons your pants and slides his hand inside without hesitation, feeling your core over the fabric.
“You’re already so wet, baby.” He almost seems shocked behind the cocky look on his face, his fingers rubbing over your clothed slit just to play in the wet spot there.
“Then do something about it.” You challenge, squeezing his length before bringing your hand up to your face to spit in your palm. The way that you stroke over his tip teasingly makes him want to pull his hair out, refusing to go down any farther on his cock, and if you could see him you’re sure his tip would be painted a pretty reddish color. His lip is caught between his teeth as he moves his fingers up, putting pressure on your clit just enough to have your hips canting into his palm for more. You whine, pumping him a bit faster in reward.
“Were you a good girl for me while I was gone?” His voice drops an octave as you mouth at his neck, whimpering softly when he circles your bundle of nerves harder. “Did you think of me while you touched yourself? I thought of you every time.” He admits huskily, looking up to your eyes for your response.
“Y-yes,” You’re panting by now, your wetness saturating through your panties completely as his fingers flick and circle. Giving him a handjob was turning you on more than you’d like to admit, the feeling of his pulse in your palm and the occasional twitch every time you squeezed the head to gather more precum made you drip even more and he could definitely tell.
“How did you touch yourself? Like this?” His eyes are imploring and a wave of heat travels through your body.
“I f-fingered myself and pretended it was you.” Saying these things out loud caused your face to warm up in embarrassment, although you felt no shame from your actions. Your hand down his pants surely didn’t imply innocence and Jimin has already seen most sides of you in bed, but it’s been so long since you’ve confessed this type of thing to him in person.
He wastes no time pulling the crotch of your underwear to the side and slipping his fingers into your heat, dipping them in shallowly at first before plunging two solid digits in to the knuckle. A sharp gasp escapes you before you can catch it, the air coming out in a shaky puff as you try to control yourself. The stretch is nothing compared to his cock, but his fingers are thicker than your own and you can feel the slight sting as he reaches in deeper than you ever could alone. His hand moves at the same pace as yours, you soon realize, giving you incentive to stroke him a little faster as his hips lift up into your fist. You know he has a super sensitive tip and that he doesn’t mind your shallow movements, but you can’t help but reach down with your other hand to grip him at the base, twisting your wrist with every downward pump. Soon both of you are panting, his fingers fucking you faster as you try to keep a steady grip on him.
“I know my baby used at least three fingers,” Jimin murmurs, slipping in a third digit. “Yours hands are so small you could probably handle four, can’t you? How else would you pretend it was my cock?”
You want to speak up but your mouth simply falls open silently when his thumb makes contact with your wet clit again, your walls clamping down on him, so you settle for nodding. He stops your hands by grabbing your wrist, silently telling you to sit back and relax as he goes to work, moving his whole arm to pump into you at a fast pace. He’s sweating, you notice, a single bead sliding down his temple as you feel the space of the car heat up. His free hand returns to your nipples and you hold onto his firm biceps for support when you start to tense up. He finds the perfect spot and rubs his fingertips against the rough patch inside of you, beckoning you with his fingers in that way you love so much. You rock against him in time with his motions, dropping your forehead into the crevice of his neck and moaning into him.
“So good, keep going.” You whimper, feeling your thighs start to tremble slightly on top of his muscular ones. You can sense his smirk as he feels your walls tense up around him, pulsing in regular intervals that makes him throb in his briefs. One of your hands slides up his arm to hold onto the back of his neck, pulling him closer until you can feel his breath ghost past your ear.
“Close already?” He asks, panting almost as hard as you are. He could probably cum right now just from the sight of you losing yourself to him, but he’s determined to fuck you so he forces himself to calm down.
“Oh my god, ba-be,” Your voice breaks when he pushes his fingers all the way inside, his thumb rubbing you hard and fast until you fall apart around him. Broken gasps and moans tumble from you and he watches with hungry eyes as a tremor runs up your body, contorting your face, your fingers digging into his flesh.
“You look delicious.” He pumps his fingers into you a few more times as you come down from your high, head still buried in his neck to rest. In an instant he has you flipped onto the seat cushions, his hands working on yanking down your shorts until you’re left in just your panties. Before you can react, his tongue is licking a thick stripe up your slit, collecting your juices and dipping in to taste your release. The sensitivity makes you whine as he cleans you up, and he takes mercy on you with a triumphant grin while you catch your breath. In the meantime, Jimin wrestles with his tight pants, kicking them off of his legs along with his shoes and boxers until he’s stark naked, then he pulls off your forgotten sneakers before leaning over you and capturing your lips. You feel his cock brush against your lower belly, stiff and hot with arousal, and you moan against him in need just as his hand reaches down to guide himself between your lower lips. His blunt head spreads you apart and he slides I delicately, lubricated by your abundant juices that make his entrance so much smoother.
“Shit,” You choke, loving the way his size splits you open in the best way possible. “I missed your cock.” Your head comes up to look at him, his beautiful face twisted in pleasure with his eyebrows knitted together, teeth biting into his lips, and cheeks flushed with vivid color that you can see even in the dark setting. His chest rises and falls with heavy breaths as he forces his way in deeper past your tight muscles and he thinks he might pass out when he finally reaches your deepest point, balls pressed to your ass and tip kissing your cervix.
“Fuck, I’m going crazy.” He rasps, bending down to pepper kisses along your shoulder and neck. “It’s like I never even stretched you out with my fingers, baby girl— you’re still so fucking tight.”
A deep throbbing begins in your center and you lift your hips in hopes of causing some friction between you, but Jimin has you pinned down with his body weight and you can barely move an inch. Then an idea pops into your mind, a flirtatious smile crossing your lips as you push him away roughly with your hands against his chest, his heartbeat speeding up at your slight show of dominance. You push him back into a sitting position and his length slips free of you, but you’re quick to climb back onto his lap and grab him at the base, your other hand placed over his heart.
“Let me ride you,” You request, sparking a fire in his eyes. “I want to make you feel good. Will you let me do that for you?”
Instead of answering, Jimin brings his hands to your waist, waiting patiently for you to make the first move, and you smile as you tease his head against your lips for a few moments, looking down when it catches your hole. You descend slowly, taking him inch by delicious inch with eye rolling pleasure, but he grips your chin delicately to pull your gaze back up to his face.
“Look at me while you ride my cock. I want to see you.” His voice is a soft tenor that is calm against the harsh sound of rain that slaps against the metal of the car, and if you weren’t looking into his eyes, you might be intimidated by the intensity of the storm that rages outside. Now, however, the only thing you can focus on is the feeling of your hips flush with his and his hard length snug against your sensitive walls. The first lift of your hips has him reeling, the initial drop stealing the breath out of your lungs. You start a moderate pace, traveling all the way up and down his shaft just like he likes it, rolling your hips every so often when you reach the bottom. Your pace gets faster as you go, slick sounds filling your ears as you work up a fervent rhythm, hands gripping the leather on either side of his head as leverage to go harder.
Jimin can’t keep his hands off you, running them up and down your back, grabbing at your ass and pulling at your panties to keep them propped to the side. He can’t contain the groans that tumble out of him as you slam down his length, his body inching farther down on the seat from the force of your thrusting until he’s slumping, feet grounded firmly on the floor to hold steady your bodies. Eyes locked on yours, he can see the hunger in them, the way you’re desperate to bring him pleasure, reading his expression intently when you purposely tighten around him. Your eagerness to please never ceases to amaze him, how you take pleasure in making him feel good as if the need to see him climax overpowers your own need to cum. He can tell how hard you’re trying and see the sweat build up from your skin, and the sight of you just makes this experience so much better for him.
You lean in for another kiss, your hand reaching for his hair as you grind against him to feel the way he rubs all the best spots inside you. You’re a moaning mess above him, but he’s worse, barely having enough air to moan your name which seems to be on repeat in his brain. Each circle of your hips has him letting out a different sound and you don’t remember the last time he was this vocal with you.
“Baby, your pussy feels so good.” He whines into your skin, grabbing your ass to pull your lower half closer to him so that he barely leaves your warmth. Your arms wrap around his neck greedily, fingers tangled in his hair to feel him everywhere. You don’t know how many times you’ve thought about this in the past month— well, not this exact scenario, but something similar— and now that you’re living it, you can’t get enough of him. You want him to consume you, his touch, smell, taste, you just want to wrap yourself in his warmth and never leave, never let him out of your sight and keep him inside you forever. It’s been hard bringing yourself to orgasm while he was gone, the thought of him turning you on beyond belief, but every time you’d get close you would remember that it’s not him touching you, that you were alone, and it made you want him even more. This is real, though. And that thought is what drives you closer to your second high of the night faster than you anticipated.
He can feel you throbbing, can feel you clenching around him already, and Jimin wants nothing more than to bring you another orgasm tonight. Your legs are getting weaker, thrusts shallow and quick, and he helps you by bucking up into you, catching you on the downstroke unexpectedly, making you gasp and double over into him at how deep he hits. You lock eyes with him for a second, both of you surprised until you continue to move on him more vigorously, gripping onto his hair tighter.
“Do that again.” You whisper, and he listens, bouncing you up and down unbelievably fast and pulling loud cries from your lips at each contact. At some point you stop moving, unable to keep up with him as he keeps thrusting, your eyes squeezing shut and heart thumping in your throat as the knot in your stomach builds.
“So fucking wet, baby, you’re dripping down my balls.” Your arousal covers the entirety of his length, his rapid thrusting creating a creamy froth that seeps from you down his length. At his words a shiver crawls up your spine, goosebumps erupting on your skin from the shakiness of his voice because of the force he puts into fucking into you.
“Jimin~” All you can do is rest your weight on him as you whimper and whine, the pleasure becoming too much as the coil tightens in your core.
“Cum all over me, I know you can do it. I want- I need to feel you.” Mouth open and eyes glazed over with lust, your boyfriend stares up at you in awe as you near another climax. It’s in these moments that he thinks you’ve never looked more beautiful, your face showing how completely lost and wrecked you are in pleasure. You claw at his chest, trying to hold on to anything to balance yourself as he pummels you with his extremely talented hips, voice cracking and quaking as the knot inside you finally snaps, throwing you off the edge into mind-blowing ecstasy. “That’s it, let go for me. You look so gorgeous stuffed with my cock like this.”
Everything in your body turns into jelly, your legs going limp on either side of him and your front melting into his. He groans at the feeling of you convulsing around him, his arms coming up to wrap around you tightly when you begin to shake violently in bliss. Riding out the last vestiges of your high, Jimin’s hips move slowly in and out of you, holding onto you sweetly and whispering praises into your ear as you come back to your senses, attempting to sit up enough to look at him. When your eyes meet, he smiles at you, eyes crinkling cutely at how exhausted you look. His smile melts you and you crane your neck to kiss him softly, well aware of the pulsing warmth that’s still lodged inside you. He sits up carefully, moving back a little so that his ass isn’t hanging off the seat anymore. When you pull away from his lips you readjust your position, moving so one of your legs is squatting next to him, giving you more leverage to lift yourself.
At the thought of his unrelieved throbbing erection, your bones return to your body and you mentally prepare yourself to work his orgasm out of him. His skin is hot underneath your palms as you support your weight partly on his chest, rising until just his head rests inside you before slamming yourself down all the way, eliciting a hoarse moan from him. Jimin bites his lip as volume control but it only makes you go harder, wanting to pull as many sounds from him as possible. He penetrates deep and you start to go faster, propping up your other leg to go faster. Labored breathing and the slick sounds of you dripping down his length fill the car, the lewd noises egging you on and making you all the more eager to get him to his end. You can feel his legs tensing beneath you, his impending high apparent on his face that scrunches and furrows at your every movement. He almost looks like he’s in pain, the flushed color of his cheeks getting deeper as more sweat collects on his forehead. The car is hot, the windows fogging up to the point where you can barely see anything out of them, and you feel your own sweat start to slide down your back and between the valley of your breasts.
Jimin’s eyes are locked onto the bouncing flesh before him, your breasts swinging appetizingly as you push yourself to your limits. Your thighs are beginning to burn, but the sting is dampened when he attaches his wet lips to a nipple and sucks gently, his hands squeezing and groping you harshly, causing you to moan. Jimin swears repeatedly, sucking in air through his teeth as you go on, eventually releasing your breasts to encircle your hips with his hands.
“S-slow down,” He stutters with a groan. You slow your hips, moving at a consistent speed on his length, focusing on the tip. “A-ahhh, just like that, baby. I’m close.” Encouraged by his praise, you swivel your hips and clench purposefully every time you near the top, only dropping down halfway down his pole when you feel his muscles start to tighten. His abs flex under your fingertips as you run your hands along his front, dragging your nails against him soft enough to leave behind faint pink lines.
“Are you gonna cum for me? Give me everything you’ve been saving up all month?” You ask, using the most innocent sounding voice you can manage. Arching your back, your chest sticks out farther so that your lover can eye your hardened nipples and perky breasts sitting tantalizingly close to his face. He twitches inside you as his moans grow more intense and higher in pitch, and you can’t help the heat that it sends to your core. “Fill me up, baby, let me feel you fall apart inside me.”
Your voice is all he needs to push him over the edge, whole body flexing as his orgasm overtakes every sense in his body with a call of your name. You drop down on him to make sure nothing spills out onto the seats, moving your panties out of the way to look down at where you’re connected and you can feel his engorged tip swell slightly before spurting hot streaks of semen into your waiting walls, his cock pulsating powerfully as it forces out its juices. You sigh, leaving a mess of kisses and bites on his neck, listening to his jagged breaths that lift your whole body with them. His fingers still cut into your hips and he sits completely still, still straining to get his limbs under control when he can’t seem to stop dumping his load into you. This is possibly one of the longest orgasms he’s ever had and it’s like he’s overwhelmed by just being with you again, stuck at the height of his pleasure with every jet of cum that he pours into you. You wait until you can’t feel him twitching anymore— the spurts now weak and remnants of his high dripping out of you along his softening length— before you connect your lips to his, and he’s coherent enough to reciprocate, introducing his tongue after he’s collected himself enough and wrapping his arms protectively around your body.
“You were amazing, Jam.” He’s back to being the cute, loving boy from earlier and you raise a hand to stroke his full cheeks, unable to resist kissing him again. You never want to get up, never want to leave because this moment is just so sweet and it’s everything to you. Yes, you’re both sweaty and sticky. Yes, you are in the back of his fogged up car and your legs are starting to cramp. But you’re also here with him and he’s holding you in his arms like nothing else matters in the world, and you want this moment to last for as long as possible. When it ends you’ll have a disgusting mixture of both yours and his cum leaking out of you all the way home and it’ll still probably be storming, but for now you’re fine with sitting here and basking in the after sex bliss.
“Oh, I think it stopped raining.” Your attention snaps to the window as you listen for the sounds of aggressive wind and water, but all that’s left is a quiet pitter-patter against the roof.
“Hmm, I guess so.” Jimin’s voice is deep and sleepy, his arms stretching above him and head resting on the back of the leather seats. “We should probably head home.”
“Probably..” You hesitate. “But can’t we just stay here for 2 seconds longer?”
He looks at you wearily, eyes roaming your face until they land on your eyes. “Fine.” You relax, leaning your cheek on his shoulder and wrapping your arms around him. “One, two. Let’s go.” You’re beyond surprised when he begins moving reaching over you for the pile of clothes that lay at your feet.
“That was an expression, I didn’t actually mean 2 seconds!”
“C’mon, we have to get home, it’s late.” He laughs, helping you put on your shirt and bra before slipping on his own shirt. You can feel that he’s limp inside you and the only thing that’s keeping him in is the fact that you’re sitting on his lap, but you don’t want to disconnect from him yet. You love the feeling of being one and you’ve been craving that feeling for a whole month so you’re reluctant to end it. But Jimin lifts you off of him against your will anyways, kissing your nose in apology when you whine and moving your panties back into place before anything can drip out onto his seats. You hand him some napkins that sit in the back of the drivers seat and he cleans himself up, pulling on his briefs and pants while you regretfully do the same, frowning at him when he urges you to make your way to the front of the car.
“You owe me cuddles.” Once you’re back in your correct places, Jimin starts the car, glancing sideways at you with a satisfied smirk on his lips.
“I’ll give you anything you want when we get back.” Starting the car, he blasts the air conditioning for a few seconds to clear up the windshield, a reminder of your little rendezvous. “I’ll take a bath with you, cuddle with you, watch that really corny show you’ve been talking about...”
“Will you stay the night?” Your eyes are wide and imploring as you stare at him, only wanting to have him in your bed when you go to sleep and to be able to wake up next to him in the morning. He smiles, turning onto the empty streets in the light rain.
“Of course I will, anything for you.” Then he pulls off, leaving you grinning like a fool as you watch the shadows of this old town pass by. And you think about how this is another memory you’ve made here together. Maybe you should come back again, on another rainy day, so you can have more happy days like this with the man you love.
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Girl Genius - Looking Back Again
Perhaps surprisingly, Girl Genius is the longest liveblog in the website so far. It’s not what I expected when I started reading it, I admit.
So, I went back and looked at the first recollection I made, after update #100. By then Agatha had been just recognized by the Castle as the Heterodyne, and Gil was just entering the Castle. One hundred updates later, they’re out of the Castle and everything changed. Almost all the characters involved in the story have shown so many sides of themselves, and it’s unlikely we’ll revisit any plot points we have seen so far. Overall this has been a rather enjoyable story, yes.
Still, despite that, I have been feeling maybe my hype for Girl Genius has been reduced somewhat? If I had to guess, it may be because of how long the Castle Heterodyne arcs were. As I mentioned, most of these hundred updates involved them, so that’s a looooong time to be reading it. It got old after a while.
That said, even that part of the story has its good points. Something Girl Genius has a lot of is creativity. One thing doesn’t happen again later, there’s always something new, whether it’s a place, a situation, or even the characters’ reactions. Even though it has been so many years since Girl Genius started, the Foglios keep thinking of zany situations and interesting stuff to show! It makes me curious how they plan the story, haha!
I’d even say my main motivation to continue with the liveblog during those times was that the Foglios set up rather well the biggest plot points, making me wonder when and how they would come into play. Something that’s important in a story is making the reader want more, and that happened to me. I may not have been too invested in the present events, but the future events were something I was looking forward to, so I kept going.
Another positive point is that the pacing for each plot point is good, for the most part. Each minor plot point doesn’t overstay its welcome, and even those that last a tad longer than usual are not too bad, thanks to the originality and the way they’re handled. I have been thinking why exactly the Castle Heterodyne volumes started bothering me, and I determined it wasn’t because of the pacing, it was more because of the static setting.
Maybe I got too spoiled on the first hundred updates. In those Agatha was constantly moving. Then it was technically the same setting, even if it had different parts of the Castle. Oh well. Now Agatha is not there, so she’s again seeing new places. Novelty brings developments!
So what am I hoping to see in the future? It’s a bit hard to say, honestly. The first thing I can think is that the plot about Lucrezia advances a little. That’s happening already, so I don’t have anything else in particular to hope for. I’m going along for the ride! And in the end, isn’t that the best way to enjoy a story like this one?
I think the only specific thing I can think for the future is to find out if Tarvek can be taken out of the Mechanisburg bubble. He’s like...one of the three main characters of Girl Genius. He can’t be left in the time bubble for the rest of Girl Genius! Right? Especially not when Tweedle is around and when people being loyal to Tarvek is a matter that can cause conflict in the story when they oppose to Tweedle’s reign. I wonder if that will be solved anytime soon – if it was. This webcomic is still being updated, as far as I know, maybe to this day Tarvek still is trapped in there.
Now that I think about it, there’s really no way to make the story stale right now, or at least I can’t think of any for the time being, so I have pretty high expectations for everything that’s coming. So let’s go, Foglios! Continue being impressive!
I believe there are around four or maybe five volumes left before I reach present day. That’s still going to take a while. I wonder if I’ll get there before the end of the year.
So, may as well talk about characters now. Compared to last time, where many of the secondary characters were still kind of undeveloped, pretty much everyone has some sort of development now, so there’s stuff to talk about. Let’s give it a try and see what we get.
***
Obviously, Agatha Heterodyne is the first character to deal with. Since the last update, she has fully gotten into her role as the Heterodyne girl, and now isn’t afraid of her family’s shenanigans. They just annoy her a lot, but yes, she accepts her family was a crazy wreck who loved causing trouble. Heck, when she encountered the train, the first thing she did was tell it she was the Heterodyne.
A concern I have, though, is that right now it doesn’t seem like there’s any direction the characterization can take now. She has reached her rightful title and place in the family, and the character herself has kind of reached her peak. As a main character she’s still fun and interesting, but I don’t believe she can develop any further. The Foglios may have gotten to this point too quickly, given there’s still plenty of story ahead. At least she still has goals to strive for, so there’s that. She still has to get rid of Lucrezia in her head, and then stop her. She still has to help Gil and her friends. I suppose any development involving Agatha will have to be by focusing on her goals instead of the characterization, which is okay, although I admit it kind of makes me concerned she may get stale at some point. Hopefully not!
On the other hand, this all means she has grown a lot since her first appearance, so the Foglios have done that right. I praise their work on Agatha.
Gil Wulfenbach still has a lot of road ahead, both in terms of character development and of goals. Agatha continues being his main motivation, but now it’s bringing him a lot of trouble, such as, you know, having his father in his head. I like the thought of this causing conflict. He’s been Agatha’s ally, but now with this it’ll be harder for him to be an effective help.
I wonder if Wulfenbach will be out of commission for long. If he is, then Gil will have to take charge of the empire, or at least of what’s left of it while Tweedle messes things around. I hope to see him turn into someone who, even if he’s not certain about taking the reins of everyone working for Wulfenbach, will do it nonetheless, because I believe he’s capable of doing such a thing. It’s just that the circumstances make it hard for him to be as good as he can be.
Also, will he be Agatha’s husband? I still like Tarvek over him on that regard, really.
Speaking of Tarvek, he’s been rather unlucky during these hundred updates! First he gets trapped half-naked in Castle Heterodyne because he ran away from the hospital with Violetta following him, then he gets sick and turns into the colors of the rainbow, and then he gets stabbed and frozen in time. Not only that, he’s not on the brink of losing the Storm King title to Tweedle, because, you know, he can’t do anything to prevent it because he’s frozen in time. Tarvek just can’t catch a break!
To this point I still can’t believe the Foglios really did this to one of the main characters of the story. They’re not afraid of causing harms to their characters, but I didn’t think they would put him out of commission for so long. What’s more, it’s possible he won’t be freed from the time bubble safe and sound. Gil’s work to extract living stuff from Mechanisburg proves how dangerous it is, and although part of me is sure Tarvek will be just fine, I’m not taking it for granted.
Still, Tarvek still is my favorite character in Girl Genius. Also, he’s firmly on Agatha’s side. It was fun to see him flip-flop from one alignment to the other, I kind of miss the image I had made long ago. Oh well.
So, that covers the main characters. Now let’s try the rest of Agatha’s jolly troop.
So, right now the first person that comes to mind if Zeetha, because she’s been that much of a stalwart friend in the group. She truly has been a companion through thick and thin, even when, you know, it ended with a sword through the gut. While I’m not really her biggest fan, I appreciate a lot everything she has done for Agatha, and I’m certain if she hadn’t been there, Agatha would be in a much worse situation. Or dead. Who knows. I wonder if, once she returns to her city again, she will stay there or not. I can imagine her deciding to stay with Agatha for a long time, because she’s that much of a good friend.
Also, Higgs is such a good pairing for her. He’s one of the few who can keep up with her rather impressive stamina and physical prowess. Good for them!
On the other side of the coin, there’s Moloch because unlike Zeetha, he’s not really itching to stick with Agatha. At first he had no option, because he was trapped in the Castle. Then he had no option because he’s Agatha’s chief minion, even though he was never angling for the job. And now he has no option because he’s trapped in the time bubble. When the bubble is gone I wonder if he will run for the hills at the first chance.
Then again, Moloch has turned out to be a pretty good guy. I’m sure if Agatha needed help, he’d help without much hesitation. I’m sure everything will be just fine even if he decides to leave Agatha’s group. She’ll even lend a hand and help him as much as she can – and as much as he’ll let her, haha.
Krosp is...I don’t know what to think of the cat, really. He’s a valuable asset to the story, and he’s of a lot of help to Agatha. I remember at the start I was rather intrigued by him, but nowadays I’m not. He seems to be remarkably normal and...curiously enough, he blends into the background when it’s about importance to the story and to the events. Like a cat, I guess. Maybe he’s being underutilized, or maybe I just don’t appreciate him enough. I don’t know. It could be said I’m kind of lukewarm about him. I don’t really have any particularly hopeful thoughts about what he’ll do in the story from now on, really. Maybe that’s for the better. Leaves room to be impressed, buuuuut overall I wouldn’t be surprised if, by the time I reach present day, I’m still lukewarm about him.
Which is a shame, because this is a talking cat with the mind of a strategist. That has a lot of potential.
Finally, I believe Violetta has earned her spot in the gang. Good for her! And I have a feeling she likes working for Agatha way more than working with anyone in her family, Tarvek included. Violetta has turned out to be rather useful, and after having her around for so long, I have grown rather fond of her. I like her personality and her skills as a Smoke Knight are invaluable.
I’m looking forward to her first meeting with Tarvek after/if he gets freed from Mechanisburg. That’s bound to be fun, because I fully believe she cares about him despite everything. Besides, it’d do Tarvek some good to see her quickly, because I also think he would be somewhat concerned for her. Maybe not too much because she knows she’s capable and won’t get into more trouble than she can deal with, but yeah.
Overall those are my hopes and thoughts about Agatha’s friends. Now, let’s talk about her foes. Let’s see...
Lucrezia is the big villain, of course, but for quite some time in these hundred updates she felt more like an afterthought. Wulfenbach was the big threat, wanting to capture Agatha and taking questionable actions. Lucrezia, weeeell...she did appear a couple times, but she didn’t last long. Anevka also wasn’t around for long. I’d say Lucrezia’s biggest contribution was to try to take over Zola and failing, which is...kind of depressing, really.
Maybe she’ll have a bigger role from now on. That Agatha is going to Paris to try to find a solution to Mom Dearest being in her head is a good sign, leaving aside that right now there’s a plot about an evil train. Details, details.
Still, as I said, Klaus Wulfenbach was the main antagonist force right now. He’s just very focused in capturing Agatha for the good of Europe, and he even used his own son as a vessel for his mind and placed himself in the center of the time bubble, with consequences that are starting to be very grim. He’s sure he’s taking the right course of action – and in a way he really is, given the Other has to be stopped. It just turns out it’s rather dangerous for Agatha, and therefore it can’t be allowed to happen.
It’s only matter of time before he’s freed. How and when, though, is a mystery. Whether it’ll be before those things getting veeeery slowly into the time bubble reach him is another mystery. Won’t lie, there’s a chance Wulfenbach meets his end, given there’s kind of a copy of him in Gil’s head. The original one may die. Maybe.
The new antagonist right now is Tweedle – I mean, Martellus. At first he didn’t seem like anyone to be too worried about, but it wasn’t long before he showed he was a force they should be afraid of. He has determination, he knows what to do and how to do it, and his attempted murder count includes Tarvek. Who, may I say, would be very dead by now if it wasn’t for Wulfenbach’s time-freezing bomb. If it hadn’t been for that, Tweedle would have succeeded. Not many can really say that, you know!
Must say, he’s the one who interests me the most right now. There’s something about him that makes me look forward to his plans and actions. This is going to be fun; I hope he’s not shunted aside anytime soon.
Lastly, I think talking about Zola may be good, since she was the antagonist for so long. She was fun. Like, she was rather competent in her villainy, and went on to follow her own plans. I wondeeeeer how she will be back, because I doubt her latest appearance was the last of her. She’s too good of a villain to ignore. The thing is, I can’t really think of a way to get her involved again. Maybe when Agatha is close to removing the Other from her head, she’ll swoop by and be into the spotlight once again.
***
So, I think that about covers everything about the characters. I can’t think of any other character I want to talk about right now, really, so I’ll stop here.
Anyway! So, I’m not sure if what’s left of Girl Genius will fill another hundred updates, but I won’t be surprised if it does. Who knooooows! I guess it depends on how much I take into each update, and I don’t have an intention of varying that more than usual. Still, I’m looking forward to Girl Genius’ future. Here we go, for another like four years of updates to be read! Great!
Before I finish the update, there’s something else I wanted to show. I acquired a couple brooches from the Topatoco store because I thought I was far enough into the story I’d be able to roam in without much danger, at least into the pin section because I really like pins.
Yeah. Well-spent money! My favoritism keeps shining through. I’m pleased, these pins are larger than I expected, and they are of good quality. I’m enjoying them a lot.
Thank you very much for reading everything so far, and see you next update!
Next time: next update
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¬ romance headcanons. repost; do not reblog!
name: Jiraiya
nickname: Ero-Sennin, Jira, Raiya, and probably a whole host of others he doesn’t know about.
gender: Cis male
romantic orientation: Yes
sexual orientation: Yes
preferred pet names: He likes anything, really. Anything is fine with him, even if it’s mildly insulting, because someone cared enough to give him it. He’ll try and get creative, funny and oddly specific when thinking of pet names for others. They usually end up being more like titles.
relationship status: Almost always ‘painfully single’ or ‘it’s complicated’
favorite canon ship: Uhhh. The unrequited love towards Tsunade and how he deals with that is something I love, to be honest, as much as I ship them being happy together. I guess that’s as close to a purely canon ship as we get with him!
favorite non-canon ship: Sannin OT3 (though is that not basically canon pff), Jira/Oro and Jira/Tsu. Those are my big ones that I came into this loving, tbh, also give me a Sakumo or someone else similarly aged and male for young man Jiraiya to explore his bisexuality with. Like, gimme. Hit me up with that shit. Even though the Sannin get almost nothing in terms of other shinobi their age!
opinion on true love: He believes it exists, and to be honest he kinda fears it. To him, it’s the sort of unconditional love that will see you do anything for that person, which is scary for someone who lives primarily for himself and has such lofty ideals that he doesn’t want anything to get in the way of. What if the person he loves to that degree is the wrong sort? He’d find it more challenging to stick to his ideals if it came at the detriment of someone he was in love with. But you’ve gotta give him props, because he’d try his best to meet in the middle :P
opinion on love at first sight: Not love, only lust--though in his excitement at seeing someone particularly eye-catching he might think ‘oh wow, I love her!’ (and let’s face it, it’s usually a ‘her’ because he’s weak to an amazing rack). He does, however, believe it’s possible to feel a spark of interest or intrigue that compels one to find out more about a person. He believes that people can naturally gravitate towards each other through some force that can’t be seen or explained.
how ‘romantic’ are they? He finds falling into affectionate, lovey-dovey behaviour very easy, because he lives for that ‘honeymoon period’ (which is pretty much the extent of any relationship he has). He likes to buy gifts for love interests and write little poems/love letters for them, so in that sense he’s quite cheesy in his romance. However, it can sometimes come across as pretty shallow because he goes into a relationship with such an ‘all in good fun’ attitude, not seeking anything serious out of it. When he’s truly fallen for someone his love is a lot more quiet and intense, manifesting in ways such as always keeping an eye out for them/potential threats to them at all times, and pretty much bending over backwards to make sure they’re happy. He's romantic to the degree that when separated from his loved one, the strength of his love can feel like Actual Death crushing down on him, and if it existed in their world he’d probably spend long candlelit hours listening to the entirety of Disintegration by The Cure on repeat and pining while writing poetry. And worst thing is, he’ll enjoy the sheer self-indulgence of being so hopelessly in love. So in short, he’s pathetically romantic :’)
ideal physical traits: Regardless of gender he tends to go for a softer, ‘prettier’ face, but it hasn’t stopped him from making eyes at a handsome manly-man. One preference is long hair over short--on any gender. A huge turn-on for him, again in any gender, is a more shapely hip as opposed to narrow, particularly with a nice dip to the waist. A curving spine with good posture (unlike his own). Smooth skin with minimal hair is a plus. Also... kinda more appearance than bodily trait, but a certain flair in terms of style goes a long way with him.
ideal personality traits: Fun-loving, adventurous, healthily competitive, a sharp sense of humour, passionate about a cause or hobby. Someone who can keep up with him in all his wild impulsiveness and throw aside responsibility, but also rein him in when it’s needed (and possibly even be a little controlling). Somebody with that perfect balance of clinginess/independence. In fact, someone who has a tendency to be cold/aloof can be very appealing to him because it offers him the challenge of getting to their softer centre.
unattractive physical traits: Honestly, just poor grooming/presentation/hygiene. Unloved hair, nails and skin is a turn-off. Other than that he can easily be attracted to a variety of different bodies/faces.
unattractive personality traits: Judgemental, harshly critical (particularly of him), close-minded, resistant to trying new things/taking risks. He’s an optimist though, so he’ll often seek out the attractive traits in people and focus on those.
ideal date: Wine and dine all the way, followed by a nice scenic walk, stargazing (and, date permitting, getting a little frisky somewhere ill-advised).
do they have a type? Not particularly--if he clicks with someone in conversation, chances are he can go from ‘meh’ to ‘would bang’ very quickly.
average relationship length: Ahahaha. Up to six months, I’d say. When he was in his teens he may have had one or two girlfriends for a year or so, but as he gets older he’s on the road too much to hold down anything long term, and to be honest he doesn’t even want to risk trying.
preferred non-sexual intimacy: Use him as a chair. Get in his lap, snuggle into his chest, wrap your arms around his neck. Pet him. Pet each other. Face touches. Share baths (though that may well become sexual). Drink together and get all passionate about interests.
commitment level: Basically nonexistent, without heaps of development. Nothing personal~ (on the other hand, he’s ridiculously committed to his fellow Sannin, in both friendship and if a relationship was to start with either of them. Go fig.)
opinion of public affection: Fun and sexy, with a partner willing to engage. He loves to show off who he has on his arm. Still, the point of anything more than your typical PDA is to keep it clandestine, to see how much they can work each other up in the most subtle of ways. In general, he tries to restrict it to an arm around the waist/shoulders but he often gets ahead of himself--he might need to be told off for being a little too gropey in public. He really couldn’t care less about seeing others’ PDA! Good on them!
past relationships? He’s not had many meaningful ones, just a looooong string of flings, shorter relationships that fizzled and one night stands. When he was a teen, I think he had a couple of girlfriends until he didn’t, probably was in a relationship with the person he lost his virginity to. In his late teens/early twenties, probably didn’t want to be tied down and experimented with men too (especially tempting when he was sent places far from home). During his longer stints away from Konoha (between his return from Ame and Minato’s death, and again between Minato’s death and coming back to Konoha/meeting Naruto), I suspect he may have held a couple of relationships for a few weeks or months here and there, possibly a few willing booty calls at any given time, but things were all so fucked that his heart wasn’t really in them. In short, Pretty Much Nonexistent!
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free! dive to the future episode 7 liveblog/review thing
WHOA, THIS POST IS ACTUALLY ON TIME TODAY. XDDDD
my previous liveblogs: (episode 1) (episode 2) (episode 3) (episode 4) (episode 5) (episode 6)
the crunchyroll link: http://www.crunchyroll.com/free-iwatobi-swim-club/episode-7-a-solitary-medley-775638
i wrote a looooong post for the previous episode. so you can tell that i had a lot of feelings about it. now i'm a bit scared to watch this one. XD what kind of feels will i have this time???...
***
the first scene is makoto coaching some kids <3333333 makoto + kids is so cute!!!!!
"yo" ...such a casual greeting from an evil villain.
haru is working together with the villain???? OH NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!
financial advisor makoto????
whaaaaaat. haru has no negative reaction to this guy who just insulted mackerel???? this villain is brainwashing haru!!!!!!
makoto seems concerned...
"i'm so bored... everyone is getting lots of screentime except me!!!"
looooooool!!!! that is one aggressive baby!!!
I WROTE THAT COMMENT *BEFORE* THE BABY KICKED ASAHI HAHAHAHAHA
i feel like a mysterious evil villain should have some kind of cool getaway car, but he just has a bike??? hmmm maybe he's not really an evil villain after all...
so this is part of the secret plan to somehow become friends with ikuya? i... don't get it. ^__^U but i'm sure haru knows what he's doing (i think)
um, just telling ikuya "your time isn't fast enough" doesn't really help him...
"did you have a fight?" maaaaaaybe
WOW lol he only agreed to go eat with them because hiyori wasn't going!!!!
happy ikuya changing into angry ikuya ;__; ;__; ;__;
idk why but i like how everyone says "slump" in english. XD
"dream?" haru looks so confused lol. oh boy, i remember last season when haru spend sooooo much time trying to figure out what his dream was...
what lies ahead of haru now is... a potato chip?!?!?
makoto laying down the law with a smile. XD
he's not supposed to eat near the pool, but he's eating anyway!!!! this shows that he really is EVIL!!!! you CANNOT TRUST HIM!!!!!!! >=(
ikuya doesn't even want to meet his own brother?? =(
if ikuya doesn't win, will he turn into foam???????
"i just got here... as they say" hahahaha
"even if i did, he says he doesn't want to see me." well, who cares??? go see him anyway, natsuya.
nao seems like such a wise and helpful person. i like him!!
wait what is sousuke doing... he doesn't seem like he's "taking the long road"!!
"don't you think there's something i can do do get more screentime?????"
a wild natsuya appears!!! i love the contrast between asahi's reaction and haru's reaction, haha.
awwww poor haru. he feels like he needs to confess some kind of wrongdoing to natsuya. you could see his face and how bad he felt!! =(
YAAAAaaaaAAAAaaaAAAyyyy congratulations, rin!!!!! ^___^
omg, haru and rin competing again!!!!!! omg omg omg.
baby: *intensely watches swimming competition on tv*
obviously haru is going to kill it.
aaaaaaaaah the animation of haru swimming is just... i love it *___*
haru killed it!!!! =)
i'm a genius... i'm a genius... i'm a genius...
well that was kinda awkward.
"i haven't put up any results i can be proud enough to tell him about." awwww ;__;
"hiyori isn't really a bad guy." uhhhh you were pretty mad at him in the last episode but okay.
"i don't know if he's my friend." does that mean you're more than just friends??? ;)
ikuya thinks that friendship and teammates make him weak. that's depressing =(
"but i'll always think of you as a friend!" noooo don't say that. now ikuya will feel weaker!! XD
hahahahahaha omg, little haru's little face in the flashback. awwwwwww
ikuya's thinking, "uh-oh, too much friendship talk. gotta get up and leave now"
"in the pool, i'm alone. no one's going to save me." there are a a ton of other people in that pool tho
"i have to get stronger. otherwise, i won't be me anymore." because you will be foam????
do you ever have that feeling like it's almost the end of the episode and this episode's been too calm and therefore something bad's about to happen.
"don't say you can do it all alone. you're not alone." that is some super accurate mind-reading skill you've got there, haru. o__O
well that was a nice sweet thing to say, haru. NOW KICK HIS BUTT!!!!!!!! XD
oh of course this stupid episode doesn't let me see haru and ikuya's race. of course. uggghhhhh
"haruka-senpai has evolved!" what is he, a pokemon????!
WAIT, WHAT?!?!?!! DID I JUST SEE IKUYA SMILING IN THE PREVIEW?!?!?!?! WHHHHAAAAAATTTTTT. HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE. o__o
my thoughts on this episode: i want to see the raaaace!!!!! argh, what a cliffhanger!!! i don't want to wait a week to see it. ;__; ummm but anyway, it was refreshing to see asahi talk with ikuya. it seemed like there was going to be a breakthrough... although, ikuya still wasn't really onboard with the whole idea of "friendship" because he thinks it'll make him weak. and the saddest thing was that he didn't want to see his own brother because he felt like he didn't achieve enough things to tell him about???? natsuya seems like the type of person who wouldn't care about that AT ALL. he's so easygoing. come on, ikuya, you should meet up with natsuya. also, so now i realize what haru was doing with the extra training with the "villain." (okay, i guess he's a good guy after all hahaha i figured. but i just thought it was so funny that he kept coming across like a villain.) i think that this race is going to be a turning point for ikuya, somehow. maybe it'll make him feel friendly toward haru again. but what about hiyori, though??? =( i feel so bad for both him and ikuya...
oh, and one more thing. i am soooooo excited to see haru race rin!!!! they haven't seen each other in a while, so that will be a VERY dramatic moment!!!
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Tuesday-Friday, 27-30 October
Tuesday
A rather wet, bleak day and we spent nearly all of it inside. We needed a few things from the supermarket so decided to walk up there, maybe 3-400 metres. No sooner had we started than it rained on us. Undeterred, we kept going and by the time we reached the supermarket, it had almost stopped. We did our shopping and started walking home when the sky opened up again and we were quite damp by the time we reached the van again. At least our things dried out again in front of our little radiator.
We cooked a really big curry, about 3-4 meals we reckon, with lots of chicken and a variety of veges – and it was absolutely scrumptious. Looking forward to more meals from the same pot.
Wednesday
We had another great day today. The weather forecast looked the best we have had – or are likely to have for the next few days so on short notice, Heather cut our lunches and we headed for Dargo in the high country – a long drive, but a place we have enjoyed before.
We barrelled down the Highway but turned off at Lucknow rather than drive through Bairnsdale’s traffic. Heather navigated us through some backroads until we reached the main Dargo Road. It was a beautiful drive through mainly pastoral country with everything green as grass – and there was a very sound reason for that!!! (It was grass!)
We wanted to do a walk about 30 km from Dargo – to a place called the Den of Nargun – sounds scary doesn’t it? The walk was just a tad under 5 km all up, but it was all Grade 3 and we are normally a bit careful about attempting too much that looks too hard. We are so glad we did it though. It was quite challenging in places, very steep and the path was narrow and poorly formed, lots of places where it was simply rocks to crawl over – no handrails and 100 metres to fall if you take a wrong step. We always take our sticks with us and they were certainly needed for this walk. When we reached Woolshed Creek at the base of the cliffs (a tributary to the mighty Mitchell River just ahead of us), we were given the opportunity to detour to the Den of Nargun, a little way upstream. It was a hard rocky climb, but simply beautiful. There was a series of waterfalls cascading into a pool at the bottom and (despite my overexposed pics) it was dark and moody and had a wonderful feel about it.
It also gave us 4 new birds to add to our trip list and 2 of them were lifers for us. Heather saw a different subspecies of Pink Robin in Tassie a few years ago, but I had never seen a Pink Robin, Tassie or Victorian variety. But I saw something fluttering about near us and as I lifted my binoculars, it posed beautifully at the tip of a log less than 10 metres away and we were able to see it really well. I also saw a different subspecies of Olive Whistler from the ones we have seen before - so two more ticks.
The Den of Nargun was a special place for Aboriginal women and men were not prreviously allowed in, but I got in and out quite successfully, perhaps because I was accompanied by an intrepid woman explorer. (It is now a special place for us too!) Crossing the Creek, we walked (and climbed) to where we could see the Mitchell River, passing several more delightful little waterfalls on the way. When we reached the Mitchell River, there was quite a large group of high school white-water rafters camped beside the river – maybe 30 or 40 of them with tents set up and lots of gear laying around everywhere. We couldn’t see much of the river, but there was another access point half a kilometre away and I squeezed through the brush to get there. It is certainly a wild old river with pretty fierce rapids but I couldn’t see much of it for all the bushes that grew right along the bank.
We recrossed the creek and walked up to Deadcock Den, another Aboriginal women’s secret place and another wonderful undercut cascade with a shallow pool and big rocks surrounding it. We saw numerous waterfalls or smaller cascades along the track and the whole area had a really great feel about it. It was quite a steep climb back to the car so we stopped and ate our lunch about halfway up. While we were sitting there, a ranger walked past and stopped to chat for a few minutes. He was giving a talk to the students at the bottom of the hill and was running late so he didn’t talk to us for long. A bit further up the hill was The Bluff: a lookout from which we could see the whole valley. It was perched on the edge of a dramatic cliff and we had seen the rich red rockface as we walked along the valley floor and now we were looking down to where we had been – it was a looooong way down so we had climbed a long way up.
Back in the car, we were pretty exhausted, but after a welcome drink and a short rest, we backtracked a few kilometres to the Dargo Road and completed our itinerary. We didn’t stay long in Dargo, just had a bit of a drive around – and got checked out very comprehensively by the locals, all sitting around outside the pub. Rain was threatening so we headed for the lowlands and it actually rained quite heavily for several kilometres. We checked the fuel prices in Bairnsdale and decided it was worth going into town to top up given that diesel was about 12 cents a litre cheaper than in Orbost.
Thursday
We stayed around home today. We booked and paid for an extension to our stay here and planned out some of the walks and drives we still want to do.
Heather had a tele-health session with her cardiologist in mid-morning and it was all good news, so that is great!
I exchanged our empty gas bottle for a full one and delivered a big bag of recycling to the Information Centre in town – they offered to let us share their bin for our stuff. A big parcel of mail arrived from home and it took a few hours to deal with all of that, but we also hosed down a lot of crap off the van. I got our ladder out and climbed up and pressure-hosed as much as I could off the roof. There is still a lot there, but at least most of it has been loosened and our solar panels have been partially uncovered – more important once we are on the road again.
We had another half-hearted thunderstorm in the afternoon, with a little rain, but not enough to worry about – and it was gone again within a couple of hours. I have to say I love thunderstorms, the wilder the better, but they don’t come often enough. We seem to get more in the bush than the city, although we had some great ones in Sydney, but I just enjoy the rawness of nature doing its thing.
Friday
We went out for a drive after lunch. We drove out through Cabbage Tree Palms and followed the Old Coast Road, bypassing Bemm River, through to Cann River. It was basically a drive with numerous stops to check out and photograph the plants and flowers along the road. It was quite a sunny day and the countryside looked very different from that we have become accustomed to. It was probably not that different, certainly a bit more open in the forest with no middle storey, but I think we just enjoyed the summery feel of the place. It felt very remote (definitely our thing!) but bright and clear with sightlines much more expansive than we have seen lately. It was quite lovely and I had a wonderful feeling of greater lightness and freedom as we drove along. We also finished yet another audio-book and started another as we drove this route.
From Cann River, it was a straight run home on the Highway and it was almost dark by the time we were back, snug in our van.
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The Real World...
It’s been another bonkers week. A Board meeting scheduled for Thursday and a high-profile workshop coming up means a whole bunch of running around and sorting various bits for both events.
Monday was flat-out, but Tuesday found a whole new level of intense. By the time I stumbled out the office with a headache and sore shoulders, I was a little gozzy-eyed. It was going to be a looooong week.
I hurried to the station wondering what joys Thameslink would have in store for us this evening.
My phone buzzes with a message. I don’t usually answer when I’m dashing to the station but it’s Marie. Have I got a moment to chat?
For my foster-crew….always.
Marie wonders if I’ve heard of the little cat that’s been spotted hanging around the local supermarket and skate park? Nope, not heard anything. Turns out she’d had at least 3 people mention it to her and she’d nipped along to see what she could do. A pretty little tortie, friendly but wary and looking a bit rough as well as a little runny around the nose. Marie took along a carrier to try catch her – with the intention of getting her checked over by a vet and scanned for a chip.
And that, she explains, is when she ran into Crazy Cat Guy.
To cut the long story of Crazy Cat Guy short, he hangs around the local supermarket. He looks like a rough sleeper and he’s mentioned ‘pitching his tent’ a few times. I first met him through Oscar, effectively, when Osc was a stray living in the bushes of the supermarket. Richard feeds any cats that wander by and he was furious at me for catching Osc and taking him in. Richard’s feeling is that cats should be allowed to live free and ‘naturally’ ….neutering is ‘not up to humans to decide for the cat’ and they should be left alone to ‘enjoy their families together. Like lions.’ Er…OK, Richard. Trying to talk to him is often pointless but I keep chatting to him, largely to find out about any other waifs and strays that might need rescuing.
So Marie ends up having the same conversation with Richard and going around and around. Marie patiently explaining that she wants to get the cat to safety then get it checked by a vet and scan for a chip. Richard going on about him feeding it and it being no one else’s business but his and wishing people would leave the cats alone.
Marie clears off with the intention of returning when Richard isn’t around.
I say to Marie that I’ll let her know if Richard has disappeared as I pass by the supermarket on the way home.
He hasn’t. And he’s agitated when I approach, going on about everyone bothering the little cat that he’s been feeding and he’s looking after it and folk need to leave it alone.
I’m feigning complete ignorance about the little cat when suddenly I spot a young lass heading towards us with a carrier. Ohmygoodness – EVERYONE knows about this cat and is trying to catch it!
A somewhat heated discussion ensues between Richard, the young gal and myself about getting the cat to safety. During which time, Marie drives by! She was planning another go at catching the cat. Surreptitious gesturing from me has Marie not stopping but slowly turning around and driving away. While the back and forth with Richard and the young lady (it won’t ruin the narrative if I cut to calling her by her name – Eve) is going, on I slink off with “Oooh, I’ll just see if I can find the little cat” and sidled off to the car park to chat to Marie.
I assure her that Eve has a carrier and seems pretty damn determined to catch the cat regardless of what Richard thinks. Marie is pleased but says she’ll head back first thing in the morning to try again in case Eve hasn’t managed to catch the tortie. She heads off and I get back to Eve and Richard and do my best to try, once again, to make Richard understand that the life of a stray or feral cat is horrible. It’s short; it’s rough; it’s repeated pregnancies until too weak to fend for itself, it’s constant fighting for survival – against illness, against other cats, animals and for every scrap of food it can find. I’m also really keen to ensure Richard doesn’t turn aggressive with Eve. She’s a tiny wee thing – feisty, but tiny!
Out the corner of my eye, I spot a lady and her daughter crossing the road from the park. She has a cat in her arms.
“Blimey,” I say, “This is just the most blummin’ popular cat in Flitwick EVER!” and point out the lady to Richard and Eve.
Eve suddenly turns into Usain and BOLTS towards the woman and the cat. A full-on sprint after the woman, carrier bouncing about and all.
A furious Richard starts to follow. He’s got a bad leg so he’s only able to walk after them.
Eve manages to catch up with the lady and convince her to hand the tortie over. By this point, the cat is wriggling wildly so the lady happily agrees. The little tortie is safe in the carrier.
Richard is agitated but starts to back down in the face of, now, 4 people saying the animal needs to see a vet and be checked out. Eve promises again and again to keep Richard up to date. Richard starts to look like he’s heading back to the supermarket and I figure Eve is safe with the lady and her daughter so time to head home.
My step is light and my mood high. All the stress of a crazy day at work completely erased. I burst through the door and greet Freya and Mimi enthusiastically “Oooh, ladies, you wouldn’t BELIEVE what’s just gone on….but the little cat is SAFE! She’s SAFE, girls!!” I quickly send Marie a text and let her know the young lady has successfully rescued the tortie and will take her to the vet the following day. I resolve to track her down via the tattoo and piercing studio t-shirt she’s wearing and try not to come across as too much of a weirdo in order to get an update and, if needed, to offer the tortie a foster space with our branch.
Sean’s round that evening. I’m totally animated, waving my arms around telling him the whole story. Tired? What tired??
Wednesday goes into overdrive and there’s not a moment to spare to email or even call Eve via her workplace. Another long day, I more or less slide out of the building. All the excitement of Tuesday night buried under a to-do list spinning around inside my skull. I get home and try to get some dinner standing in the kitchen whilst checking various Board members onto their flights for Thursday evening. Board meeting is now locked and loaded.
I get a text from Marie. Eve has posted a ‘found’ of the little cat and is keen to find a shelter space. Would I mind getting in touch with Eve as we’d already been chatting? I was all over it like a bad rash. Messaged Eve and after several messages back and forth we’ve got ‘Tammy’ scheduled for dropping off at Marie’s on Thursday evening.
I happy dance all over the kitchen and around the front room. Freya follows curiously; Mimi is hoping there’s a scrunchie-throwing-session in it for her.
Thursday - blissfully working from home as it means I can get an early start on the to-do list and it’s clearing nicely. A brief interruption of getting the total drama-queen that is Oscar over to the vet for his annual MOT. And then straight back into planning for the workshop. The Board Meeting is going ahead without a hitch so now there’s everything else to catch up with – including a goodly couple of hours of the Billing Team and me trying to out-passive-aggressive each other on email. I lose.
I send a text to Alison hoping to catch up on various admin things I want to check with her. But, in the Real World, Alison is spending her afternoon rescuing a stray from Marsh Farm in Luton. List of admin questions can wait. “Is he OK?!” Yes, the 4-month old kitten is now fine – dusty and full of fleas and ticks. But safe.
Billing can go to hell. In the Real World, all that matters is that the kitten is FINE.
6.30pm - I’m keeping an eye on Board Member flights departing on time. Minor delays but so far, so good. Whoop! I make a start on some of the fostering admin that needs sorting. Diarising the chip and neuters for the kittens that have come through the branch. Updating chip details. Drafting an email on the next batch of rehomed cats and rabbits that’ll need their post adoption follow up.
7.30 - Eve collects me and we head over to Marie’s to settle Tammy The Tortie into her new luxury digs. The new pens have only just been signed off by the inspector. They’re LUSH. It’s always lovely catching up with Marie and Eve is just terrific. Between that, cooing over little Tammy and introducing Eve to Marie’s other two fosters, it was 9pm before I got home.
So, jam in feeding my furry crew, watering the garden, replenishing the fish pond and giving it a much-needed treatment. Watching, transfixed, the little toad that’s moved in – so cute! Feeding the Night Creatures. Having a good old play with Mimi who’s been cooped up all day because Oscar is home on the couch with the vapours after the ordeal of being in the cat carrier. It’s well after 11pm before I get round to pulling my dinner together.
I sit on the couch eating way more than I should do and I ponder the frenetic Friday scheduled for the office – it’s do-able. Pah, it’s a walk in the park. I’m back in my Real World. My furries are all home and safe and two cats have been rescued this week. In my Real World, those little cats are sleeping soundly tonight and I’m doing what I hoped to start doing a couple of years back – I’m making a difference. It might be small….but it’s a difference. I’m knackered and I’m aware I’m about to doze off on the couch…again….and utterly happy in my Real World.
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Days 68 to 74
Just to orient ourselves, Day 68 was Monday, 3 July! (And I am posting this on Sunday, 9 July.)
It started with me taking the car in for its 70,000Km service and walking back the 200 metres to the van for breakfast. We did a load of washing in preparation for moving on again on Tuesday (at last – starting to get a little stir-crazy after 9 days propped in Katherine with not a lot of things to do apart from working around the van). I went birding and photographing along the river in the afternoon and the first thing I saw was a small red-bellied black snake crossing the path a metre ahead of me. I took a pic of it, but it was hiding its head in the grass so it just looks like a shiny black rope. We saw a somewhat larger one on Thursday when we were driving so I tossed out the anchor, but it (the snake, not the anchor) also seemed more anxious to slither away than getting its photo taken.
We had had a looooong phone call with Deanne on Sunday, mainly chatting about our overseas travel plans for 2018 – 3 weeks around Ireland in a campervan, a 10-day eco-cruise in the Scottish Isles, 3 weeks campervanning in Scotland, by train to London and on to Istanbul (retracing the Orient Express), then some time in Turkey, a little driving, but mainly training to Beijing (with some stopovers), a mini-tour of China and home again – but everything after Scotland is still subject to negotiation. Deanne and Rob may be in Asia about the same time as us and we hope to cross paths if that happens. It got us quite excited!
It is now almost a week later and I haven’t written anything in all that time – just too busy relaxing I think. It is not always easy finding a block of time to update my blog and it is too hard to do it a couple of sentences at a time.
We are now in Kununurra – and that means that in the last 3 months, we have caravanned in all Australian States and the Northern Territory. That is certainly a first for us. Even when travelling for work, I probably never visited all the States in 3 months and only ever went to the NT on business once or maybe twice. It wasn’t on my Bucket List, but I am happy to tick it nonetheless.
The week has zipped past. Tuesday, we hit the road again and it was a great feeling. Everything seemed brighter and sharper away from Katherine’s ‘Big Smoke’ – the senses seemed more acute and the colours were brighter and the sounds clearer. Love this country! It was the hottest day we have had since leaving home (mid-30s, and the sun burns fiercely when directly overhead so far north) and they have all seemed much the same since then.
We were hassled out of the caravan park in the morning. They had someone parked at the gate early in the morning waiting for our site and the manager sat on his motor-bike almost beside our van to geeing us along while we were packing up. Even though we were off the site by about 10:10am (normal checkout is 10am but many parks won’t let new bookings in until after 2pm), it was a little confronting to have him sitting there for half an hour hurrying us up.
At last, Katherine was behind us and we were on our way to Timber Creek, stopping at the Victoria River Roadhouse at lunchtime. We drove down to the river and walked around the rocks, but it was very hot so we didn’t linger long. Interestingly, we got quite a good view of a grey falcon when driving down to the river and on the way back, it perched and posed beautifully for us in a tree close to the side of the road for us – Sean Dooley, eat your heart out! (For those who don’t know, Sean is a well-known birder, but he has never seen a grey falcon – so frequently asserts that there is no such bird. This was our 7th confirmed sighting, 6 of them really good views!!)
We started a walk at Joe Creek in the Judbarra National Park and saw some spectacular rocky cliffs, but it was simply too hot to do the uphill stretch so we retraced our steps back to the car. Strangely, it seemed at least twice as far back to the car as when heading out – maybe we were dehydrated or something, but it was hard work – but worth it for the spectacle.
An interesting aspect of the day’s drive was the absence of ‘dressed’ anthills. We have seen three varieties of anthills in our travels: more-or-less conical ones, often no more than a metre high (but some are quite high); the ‘magnetic’ ones that align north-south to control the heat in parts of the nest; and some larger dome-shaped blobs, as if a kid had thrown them together by chucking handfuls of mud at them, all lumpy and unsymmetrical. The main ones, and there must be many millions of them, are the first type and all the way up the Stuart Highway and east into Queensland, there are thousands that have been dressed up in shirts, hats, bras, coats, you name it. Some even have pants draped across them (difficult to get the legs in as you may have guessed). Every conceivable outfit and variation seems to be represented – hi-vis vests, hard-hats, crash helmets, uniforms of all sorts, fatigues, bikinis, with sashes, pipes, broom handles for arms, it goes on – and on and on – thousands of them in all states of disrepair. But I saw only one dressed anthill (with just a bra and panties so maybe she was almost undressed) all the way from Katherine to Kununurra.
We arrived at the Timber Creek Caravan Park, just in time to see the croc-feeding they do three times a week. Boooooring…… they dangled some scraps of meat in front of a couple of small freshwater crocs that seemed to have little interest in it, but one had a bit of a go just to keep the crowd happy. What was more interesting was the kite feeding. They tossed small pieces of meat up and the black kites and whistlers dived and lunged to catch them on the wing – before they hit the ground where a hungry dog was enthusiastically lapping up the leftovers. The kids got into the act and enjoyed it and I got a few pics – and gave a little lesson to some of them about how to recognise the various kites. A really interesting thing happened as everyone was heading back to their vans. A barking owl appeared from nowhere and attacked two kites that were perched where it wanted to sit. It won – easily – and then sat and posed for me to take several photos. Remember what I said about how hard it is to see and identify nocturnal birds – that was our third in about a week!
The caravan park was inhabited a large colony of bats with their distinctive odour (and their incessant rowdy bickering) permeating the air throughout the day – but mercifully not at night when they all took off to feed in someone else’s backyard. At night, it was the road-trains that parked immediately outside the park with their motors and freezer units blaring away all night. Most inconsiderate for the tourists trying to get some sleep after a tiring day reading and knitting and chatting and maybe fishing……! We are in a somewhat similar situation at Kununurra, surrounded by screaming bats all day, but fortunately no trucks at night.
We booked a cruise on the Victoria River (NT’s largest and even in the Dry, it is huge). We explored the area during the heat of the day, including a drive to a few river access points and up along the escarpment to some great scenic lookouts and one over the town. Then we boarded an old bus to take us out to where the boat was waiting. We cruised 70km downstream, checking out the crocs and their hundreds of wallabies prey – and some birds – and had a finger-food dinner on a pontoon in the middle of the river before returning just after dark. It was a good cruise and wonderfully cool on the water, but I felt the cruise-captain could have taken a little more time creeping up on some of the wildlife instead of roaring in on it and scaring them away before we got close enough for really good photos. On return to camp, we were still a little peckish to bought some greasies from the pub before watching another DVD.
The next day, we set ourselves a challenge and we are so glad we did. We have numerous 4WD and adventure travelling DVDs with us and we watched one about the Binns Track that runs for over 1000 km over some pretty extreme terrain. We weren’t about to do that, but we did the first 150km of it, including our own bit of extreme terrain. We drove out and down the Bullita Access Track and had lunch at the old Bullita Homestead – a quaint and very interesting old place, amazingly small for what was a working station for over a hundred years, nestled on a beautiful river with a mammoth boab outside. We saw hundreds of boabs that day, from mere saplings to 3000-year-old monsters. The trunks come in an amazing variety of shapes: round, square, bifurcated, trifurcated, quadfurcated, conical, inverted conical, smooth, gnarled, branched, symmetrical and asymmetrical – a most unusual tree and the older ones are quite awe-inspiring. I just love them. They call them the upside-down tree because when they have no leaves (now – in the Dry), their branches look like roots running in all directions and at all angles.
We also called in to Limestone Gorge. It is a limestone gorge (yes, really) that is quite a few kilometres long and the end is accessed by driving down a ‘track’ that is simply large rough river boulders. It is a very dramatic gorge, mainly in blacks and greys with a bit of yellowish-cream in recently broken and unweathered places, but we just took some pics and headed back to the real objective of the day – the Tuwakam Track. It is only 20km long and joins the Bullita road with the Buchanan ‘Highway’, but the guide says to allow 3 hours in good conditions – strictly high clearance 4WDs only. It was a lot of fun and we really only took a bit over 2 hours. Some parts were reasonably good going – I got up to about 20 kph a couple of times – but a lot of it was ungraded rock and I was frequently walking the car over boulders twice the size of watermelons for 100 metres at a time. We crossed a few creeks and creek-beds and some of the entry and exit angles were daunting. Several times, I thought the car would simply not climb such steep exits, but in 4WD low and with a heavy foot, it just ploughed ahead wherever I pointed it. It truly is an amazing vehicle. We saw a few wild donkeys and a snake along the track, but at the time, my focus was more on the track than the wildlife. We met up with a young couple with two little kids doing the Track too – she is a travel writer and writes about travelling in extreme places with kids. We chatted with them for quite a while when we reached the Buchanan – and they headed back to Timber Creek, but we still wanted to go further to Jasper Gorge. That was about 30km further south on the Buchanan and it was VERY different from the Limestone Gorge of the morning. Similar structure with huge rocks and dramatic cliffs, but all in darker, richer reds, maroons and oranges. We walked around exploring for a while, but we had 150km or so, mainly on rough roads, to get back in time for dinner so we set off into the dusk. There was another couple setting up to camp overnight at the Gorge and we thought they would enjoy a nice quiet night on their own under the stars – but we saw quite a lot of cars, including a few hoons, heading down to join them as we headed north again. It was a great day, a real adventure for us, certainly more extreme than anything we have attempted before and we came through without a scratch. The round trip was exactly 300km, well over 200 on dirt roads and despite the Tuwakam Track only being 20km, it was a standout adventure for both of us. Certainly a confidence booster for next time, whatever, wherever and whenever that may be.
Next day, we moved on west again and had planned to stay in the Keep River National Park, touted as a good birdwatching place. We stopped at the Ranger station, ate our lunch and looked at the display there, and I cruised the lagoon at the back, photographing birds and water-lilies – it was quite lovely, but very hot. I also noticed that our caravan was leaking – one of our water tanks was dribbling water. We will have to get it fixed, but it looks like a cracked hose in a very difficult place to reach so I think I will get someone else to do the hard part. One tyre has scrubbed out very badly and we have a couple of other small things to get fixed so hopefully, we can find someone with time to do these things while we are in Kununurra.
We drove through the rest of the National Park looking for a place to camp, but unfortunately, both camp-grounds were fully occupied. The Park was a bit disappointing, not at all what we expected (in our ignorance), hot and dusty with long walks to get to any of the places we wanted to see so with a leaky water tank, we deemed it better to head across the border and stay at Kununurra instead.
We arrived here late afternoon on Friday only to find our first-choice van park full. So was our second choice so we let our fingers do the walking and we eventually managed to get the last site available in a Big Four Discovery Park. Big 4s are my least favourite parks – over $50 a night, jam-packed against everyone else and with more draconian regimentation than anywhere else. They are usually manicured to within an inch of destruction - so don’t dare walk on the grass or do anything much else. As luck would have it, this one doesn’t seem so bad and it certainly hasn’t seen a manicurist for some time. The design is less than optimal, but we are on a good site, a little separated from our neighbours – even if it was almost impossible to reverse into the allocated space. We are not much more than 50 metres from the lake and the facilities are close-by too so we don’t have much to complain about. We have booked some great adventures for during the week so managed to extend our stay until Friday – I just hope we can get our maintenance jobs done before then, because we are heading for the Gibb River Road after that – one of the most iconic trips in outback Aussie travelling folklore.
Yesterday (Saturday) we needed some down-time so we took it very easy, hiding out under the air conditioner for most of the day. We did a couple of small maintenance jobs and a bit of cleaning – and the ‘weekly shopping’ at Coles in the late arvo, but not much else. I did a big review of our birding log – currently 230 for the trip and 41 newies for us – and caught up with several days’ email from when we had no service at all.
Today, we have done the washing and updated our blogs a bit, but very soon, we have to get up to Reception because we are going on a Sunset cruise on Lake Kununurra – with a BBQ dinner at dusk. Incidentally, keeping up with time is a bit difficult. We crossed the border and picked up 90 minutes, but going from the extreme west of one time zone to the extreme east of another means that the difference in ‘solar time’ is more like 3 hours – we are awake by about 5.30, but it is dark again by just after 5 in the afternoon – seems very weird, especially with such short twilights in these latitudes.
I will post this now before our cruise and add some relevant pics in the next day or two.
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