#as a kid i used to think if I got three wishes from a genie or something | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

har-rison-s · 3 months

Text

mask & seek: 15

batman x fem!reader

based on: Hello! May I request Battinson x SpiderWoman!Reader fic where she’s from the MCU but then she ends up in Battinson’s universe and meets him? Maybe he doesn’t trust her at first but once she saves him from something, he relents then begins to trust her and maybe then a relationship ensues??

author's note: hey all :) mask & seek is forreal back this time. i think this is my favourite series ever, sooooo.... i really want to like actually finish it. there's not a lot left honestly, but don't worry, no spoilers. i hope you guys are still tuning into this, i know it's been like..... more than a year since i published 14, and almost two years since i started mask & seek too.... wow. that's insane. so! bruce and y/n are so cute in this. happy reading <3

main masterlist

bruce wayne masterlist

part fourteen

word count: 4.7k

warnings: little bit of smut towards the end, it's pretty short, some anxieties, self-doubting

gif credit goes to author! (i know it's neil but i needed a sorta domestic bruce gif and there are none!!! i cannot find them!!)

“okay, here goes,” y/n mutters with a heavy heart and a chest that seems to have grown ten times its usual weight. she sticks the porta filter back into its place in the coffee machine and faces vanessa with a heavy sigh. everything is heavy as of now, most of all - her own heart. vanessa meets y/n’s dark eyes with her bright ones, “i... will be quitting this job soon.” y/n finally tells her.

immediately she thinks her voice was too quiet, too unsure, too dark even, maybe? and maybe she uttered the words too fast. but really, no matter what voice she uses or how she says it, the news stay the same, and they still break vanessa’s heart. her eyes grow wide and her mouth hangs slightly agape. “what? you’re leaving?” she asks in nearly a whisper, shock and sadness all over her features. y/n can do nothing else but nod. “why? are you going somewhere? did something bad happen yesterday or something?”

“no, no, no, not at all,” y/n answers with a shake of her head. god, does she tell her the truth? it’s been a only a few days since that faithful night and morning that were followed by this decision being made, officially. it’s been hard for y/n to muster the courage to tell her co-workers, much less her boss, about leaving this job, but it’s also been killing her not to tell them. so here she is, choosing vanessa as the first person she tells. mainly because vanessa has become sort-of her best friend, and she trusts her the most, “i, uh... i got a really good job offer. it’s something completely different, but actually in the field or, value margin, that i wanna work in, and have wanted to for... a while. basically since i was a kid.”

“not a team of crazy scientists, i hope?” vanessa asks, now her face changing to doubt. it makes y/n laugh, and she does so while shaking her head. “okay, what is it, then? some genie came up to you and offered you three wishes, one of them being getting your childhood dream job?” vanessa gets more casual and closer again. y/n chuckles again.

“something similar to that,” y/n nods along, “only the genie is a man who happens to have very, you know, thick pockets,” y/n wiggles her eyebrows, and vanessa laughs, “he’s honestly the kind of man who’d fulfil more than three of my wishes, he’s made that quite clear.”

vanessa grows an ear-to-ear wide grin and gives y/n a wicked look. “is this about bruce wayne coming to visit you here those days back?” she asks and steps even closer to y/n, so their conversation would get more private in the café with nearly all full tables, “did you guys work it out? and how do you even know him? he’s a very hard man to catch outside his enormous house, much less to meet.”

now, bruce had predicted that this kind of question would come up for both of them, and that they couldn’t just dodge it. he also predicted that people would want a clear status of their relationship, to know how the business would really work and how it came to work at all. his and y/n’s conversation about it came to start on something like...

“i don’t want to be a faceless fling of yours in the eyes of the media and public,” y/n admits with a frown on her face, and bruce looks to her.

“well, you’d be the first one to have that title,” bruce faintly jokes. y/n gives him a curious look, still thinking that it sounds kind of impossible, “at least we’re the same age. they’ll take you somewhat seriously.”

“somewhat seriously?” she echoes, now turning to face him completely, one leg bent at the knee before her, on which she lazily splays her arm. bruce shakes his head.

“trust me, i know this so-called industry,” he clarifies, “the press love the old billionaires and their young fling-of-the-months.” bruce says and has a dark-humoured chuckle. it’s sad, really, that old men go after much more younger women, and that the press make all their money off it. bruce knows that. he’d never want to be that kind of man, and he’d never wish that fate upon any girl. “what do you want to be to the public?” bruce asks y/n as he looks to her again, his shoulders hunched forward.

she shrugs. “don’t want to lie about anything that i am, or what we are,” she says truthfully, “but then again – tell the truth, and they find a way to make up lies, anyway.” y/n chuckles and shrugs her shoulders, looking thoughtfully out of the window.

bruce wears a faint smile on his face. “how does being my wife sound to you?” he asks her in a soft tone. that question, though it’s just a casual one mentioning an option for their title, makes y/n look at bruce again. she smiles, too, her head tilted to the side as it’s resting on her knee now.

“for the papers or... in actuality?” she clarifies. bruce smiles wider. he wouldn’t mind having her as his wife, though we all know that’s an understatement, but he needs her consent, of course. he already feels closest to her now, sitting with her in her apartment, and he felt close to her and with her when she was at his mansion. marriage is only a document, two rings and a ceremony. he doesn’t need that to know that he loves her, to have proof that they’ll want and belong to each other forever.

so bruce shrugs for an answer. “whichever one you want.” he answers truthfully. it’s really all up to her. it’s her image to society, after all. and yes, of course, the medias and public change it to what they want it to be, but at the end of the day, she is the foundation of herself and how she is viewed. y/n smiles again, this time with a hum.

“neither, to be honest,” she answers and turns her gaze back to the window, “i’m not ready to be someone’s wife. not because i’d be scared of commitment or anything, no. i feel you and me have committed for quite some time now,” y/n says and they both chuckle, knowing it’s true, “no, it’s just that the word has so much meaning, so much... weight and unnecessary stigma around it, you know. like, you tell a person that you’re someone’s wife, and in their eyes you’re already pregnant, have two cars, a cul-de-sac and its garage full of washing machines, fridges and driers.” bruce laughs further. “plus, being a wife is just a legal paper and title. i could be your wife in my head, if i liked the title, without any legal, official papers.” bruce has quieted down, and just smiles now. it kills him to realise more and more, with each day and each new conversation with her, just how similar they are. they both see marriage the same way. “i wouldn’t say no if you proposed at any point in the future, though,” y/n clarifies and bruce chuckles again, like a school boy, “just making sure you heard me.”

“i hear you,” he confirms with a nod and that smile still on his face, “how double standard of me to not need to worry about my title. what if i wanted to be your husband or your fling of the month?” he suggests, and that makes y/n laugh loudly. she hops off the window sill, only wearing one of her huge thrifted sweaters and a pair of pajama shorts, and still giggling, tiptoes her way over to bruce, her thin socks touching the wooden floor of her apartment. he watches her all the way of doing so, and now that she’s comfortably sitting close next to him on the sofa, his eyes take on a more private gaze at her. she makes one of her beautiful smiles at him and breathes a short sigh. “what about you being my... girlfriend?” bruce now suggests, his voice a bit quieter.

y/n’s smile grows even wider, and her mushed cheeks are complimented by a deep crimson blush. she smiles so wide her eyes are barely visible, but the small portion of them still visible shine with the few tears gathered in them. just pure happy tears, nothing else. she shrugs her shoulders and then moves closer to bruce. his body grows immediately aware of the proximity. “well, my only condition would be...” y/n starts to say, and sighs quickly again, “that you’ll be my boyfriend.” she says. and she thinks god, there must be more age appropriate terms for boyfriend and girlfriend for people their age, something between boyfriend and husband, and girlfriend and wife. partner seems too formal, as well. she feels too young saying saying boyfriend, and too old saying partner. but, she guesses, since they’re just playing with these terms, also the ones the medias like to use, there’s no harm in saying boyfriend and girlfriend.

bruce cracks a wide smile at that, something only y/n gets to see and even she rarely does, and his pale cheeks blush a rose pink for a moment, too. on the rare occasion y/n sees him blush, she always takes note of how the rose pink brings out the soft brown of his eyes, and the gentleness of his eyes altogether. they’re usually dark, filled with emotion to the brim, and encircled by that dark matter he uses. but his eyes are gentle, as is he. the light brown irises look up into y/n’s eyes with care and ease, and a smile still faintly displays itself on bruce’s lips, “i think that’s a good deal.” he says in a voice deep and soft.

y/n smiles wide again and gets the closest to him that she can. legs entangled, y/n partly laying in his lap, faces close but hands still withdrawn from each other. “yeah?” she asks him in a faint whisper, and now her hand glides over the side of bruce’s face, like he’s often done to her, and she adores it. she only expects more of that in the future.

his eyelids flicker as he looks up at her, and any expression except adoration and submission fades away from his features. bruce only gives her a nod in response and y/n smiles. the world goes completely quiet as she presses her lips down onto his. only their inhaling of breath can be heard as bruce encircles her waist with his arms and pulls her body impossibly closer to his own. y/n holds both sides of his face now, continuing to kiss him—still hoping she’s good at it—and draws in breaths through her nose because the event and sensation of kissing bruce is drawing out all air and suffocating her in the best way possible.

“we, uh...” y/n’s mind fogs a bit from that memory, but only pleasantly so, “we met through friends in the justice department.” she tells her, hoping it’ll be enough. she and bruce planned out a small cover story for them to use, involving an old friend of bruce’s in the justice department, who happens to be on vacation right now.

“oh, you never told me you had friends there!” vanessa muses. “tell me exactly how you met, i need all the details.”

y/n chuckles, and hopes the nervousness in her chuckle doesn’t appear too strong. “it’s nothing romantic, i promise,” she tells vanessa, “they visited me here on a closing shift after some dinner they’d had, and bruce happened to be with them.” y/n says, but she knows she’s gotta do better than that. funny, how her whole life here in gotham has been built on lies she’s told, and she’s suddenly nervous to lie. maybe it’s because she has to lie to vanessa. but she’s done that before, too. “he told me recently that i struck him in the first moment he saw me. i do remember how awkward he was when he tried to order a drink.” y/n says and makes a small laugh again, but this time it’s genuine because she knows how awkward bruce, in truth, can get sometimes.

“i don’t care what you say, to me that is romantic,” vanessa replies. y/n shakes her head. the reason why she hates to be lying right now could be that the circumstances of how they met are much better than this made-up story. much more special, “wish i could have been there to see it.” vanessa admits. y/n doesn’t like the light this cover story paints her in, either. rich business man falls for the woman serving him. in her eyes that feels very weird for some reason. maybe it’s her feminist character that finds it weird.

but judging by vanessa’s face, the cover story and y/n’s acting are natural and convincing enough. y/n wishes she could spill the truth to vanessa, because god knows she trusts her, but she can’t tell her the truth. it would jepordise everything. “you would have got second-hand embarrassment, v,” y/n tells her and both women laugh.

“so, what, are you gonna be working for wayne enterprises now?” vanessa clarifies.

“sort of,” y/n answers with a shrug, “you’ll see. but don’t tell anyone else yet. and don’t tell anyone outside of work, ever. they’ll be all over you, and i do want us to make our relationship public, not anyone else.”

“yeah, yeah, you and I both know how tabloids work around here,” vanessa answers, “even though i’d love to tell everyone, i promise you on sebbie’s life that i won’t tell a soul.” she promises y/n on her cat’s life and does a cross over her heart. y/n chuckles at the superstition element. “you’ll have to deal with them a lot, though. i’m sorry for that.”

“yeah, thanks,” y/n replies quietly, taking that vanessa has mentioned the thing she’s most afraid of. she guesses vanessa knows the character assassination women face in gotham if they’re on any tabloid or news banner. y/n is in for a big portion of that—people don’t take too kindly to women who work in the same company for their male partners or spouses. it’ll be even worse for y/n perhaps, because she’ll be getting a job at wayne enterprises because she’s in a relationship with bruce. there’s nothing wrong with it, and it was bruce’s idea. god knows what kind of speculations will spiral out of that fact...

y/n feels bruce’s tongue against her own as he brushes his hands underneath her sweater now, petting her waist gently. the image of his large calloused hands on her bare skin already entices y/n more, her sharply inhaling breath through her nose. it feels difficult to breathe now, her fingers digging into the skin of his face. bruce softly groans at the feeling, and an almost animalistic shiver sends his hands to the back of y/n’s thighs and pulls them closer to his crotch, positioning her legs on either side of his body.

the pair nearly fall over from the impact, but y/n steadies them both with ease that her instincts provide, and they only interrupt their kissing with laughter over their slight clumsiness. she really has me feeling like a teenager, bruce thinks to himself before kissing her once more. they melt into each other so easily you’d think they were two pieces of butter on a hot pan. y/n is just about ready to eat him up, she feels this insatiable urge to touch him and kiss him all over, for as long as she has breath.

and when she’s reaching into his sweatpants and adjusting him up with her entrance, panties slid to the side, it’s almost like they sync up completely. the final transaction, the closest they can get, yet they still want more. they’re messy, panting, giggling, hands trembling as they hold onto each other and y/n rocks her hips on bruce’s length. he thinks this must be heaven – her on top of him, her chest in his face, her hands in his hair. he loves her on top of him, always did when she used to patch him up, clean his face, all those times. now their relationship has been turned around and this intimate position they’ve been in before has gained a different turn, too, one bruce was secretly thinking of beforehand.

“you’re so perfect,” he breathes against her skin, laying hot kisses across her chest, her sweater now pushed up, barely covering anything. y/n gasps at bruce’s lips on her breasts, mewls softly, and feels herself so close to release already. she pulls her sweater off over her head, it being in the way, and lets bruce pull her closer, smothering her chest with kisses, arms around her holding her securely.

“fuck, i’m close, bruce,” she tells him in a heave of breath and bruce nods in response. it might be his familiarity with her body, and it might be her spidey-sense growing on him, but he could tell she was close before she uttered the words herself.

“i know, i’ve got you,” he tells her quietly and keeps his hands supportingly on her back. y/n looks into his eyes, her hand now on his cheek.

“you f-feel so good inside me.” she whines and arches her back, hair messy in the air, complete surrender to her feelings.

bruce feels himself twitch inside of her at the words, and he doesn’t resist the groan coming out from between his lips. he grips one of her thighs in his hand, one palm completely capable of covering it, and sees the bump he’s made in her, completely visible to him. “fuck,” he moans out and takes one of her hands in his, guiding it down to the bump, looking into y/n’s eyes as he does. y/n feels the phenomena there and gives him a tired smile, her cheeks sweaty and shining from it in the half-dark.

“you’re so big, bruce, no wonder,” she compliments him and it makes them both chuckle quietly, though the praise once again goes straight to bruce’s hardness inside of her, “ah, fuck—” she starts to say, but can’t even finish her sentence, whatever it might have been, because her orgasm has taken hold of her and is washing through her entire body like an intense wave. bruce completely succumbs to her, feeling himself unloading inside of her, too, nearly in unison with her milking him in all his length.

he tries to watch her face as she comes, not wanting to miss the sight of it, and he manages through his eyes filled with euphoria to catch the look of her. eyebrows scrunched, cheeks glistening with sweat, breasts on display for him, hair falling over her arched back. that is until she crumbles on top of him, her head resting on his shoulder and her hands gripping the back of the sofa. she pants heavily into his ear as he does the same, both of them grounding themselves back to reality. “you’re incredible, y/n,” bruce tells her and y/n smiles in response.

she easily hops off him and finds her sweater on the floor and puts it on before sitting back down next to him. bruce stuffs himself back into his sweats and runs a hand through his hair. she turns her head to look at bruce and they smile at each other. “you’re not so bad yourself,” she tells him and kisses his lips gently. she circles her arms around his neck and they rest their foreheads together, “i could never get tired of this. physically, i mean. i think my stamina is through the roof,” y/n admits, making bruce chuckle, and she enjoys feeling the rumble of his laughter.

“i’ll try to keep up,” he promises and glances into her eyes, this time he’s made her laugh. with her he comes to realize how much he’s capable of. he can make her laugh, he can make her smile, he can make her blush, he can make her reach ecstasy-level orgasms. all of these are honours he holds dear to his heart, “i could never get tired of you.” he tells her quietly.

“me, neither, of you,” y/n responds, then averts her eyes from bruce’s briefly, “what if i can’t take it? the press, the job? what if i’m not... good enough? classy enough?” she lets her anxieties wonder. it breaks bruce’s heart that she feels this way.

“you’re more than good enough,” he assures her, “the press may want to say horrible things about you, and i know it’s easy to give into hate and... critique, but...” bruce shakes his head, “you’re the amazing spider-woman, without the suit and powers, too.” he makes a smile at her and y/n gives a weak one back. “you’re going to be so great at this, i already know it. and don’t be afraid to ask for help—me and alfred will be supporting you every step of the way.”

y/n sniffles quietly, but gives bruce a nod. she leans against the back of the sofa, letting go of bruce, and his skin misses her touch immediately. she rubs her eyes and sighs. “i’ve wanted to do something like this, be someone who can make a real change, all my life, since i was a little kid,” she tells him, “and everything that happened throughout growing up just made me want to do it more. and now you’ve given me this amazing opportunity to finally do something like it, and it scares me,” she turns her head to look at him again. bruce nods, understanding, and splays an arm over her frame, “i can never thank you enough for doing this for me. i’m really grateful for it. i’m just scared i won’t be any good at it.”

“you will be,” bruce tells her, “i never expected this kind of... role would fall on me. i did know, of course, that i would have to follow in my father’s footsteps, and i was more than happy to, but doing it alone, especially when there’s so much pressure about it, and relentless work, never made me like it.” he shook his head. “i know i still want to help people, i always have, and being batman was my way of doing it, but... you’ve made me realize it’s never going to be enough. yes, i can make people fear me, but there’s always going to be someone not so afraid.” he makes a pause to clear his throat. “you remember that brothel we went to on our first night together?” he asks and y/n nods along. “we’re never gonna stop more of those being made by just... doing what we do on our night shifts. crime and corruption in gotham are like diseases. we gotta do more.” he says and y/n nods again.

“i’m glad you see it now, too,” she tells him and runs a hand through his hair, “we will do more. but i can’t do it without you.” she says and makes a sad smile. bruce holds her moving hand in his and lays a kiss on the top of her palm.

“you won’t,” he promises, “you won’t be alone. i’ll go to every interview, every event, anything with you.” so you won’t be alone, like i was, in this business.

y/n chuckles. “really?”

“yeah, i promise,” bruce says with a smile and that’s what makes her believe him. she nods, “i’ll take care of you.” she presses their intertwined hands against his cheek.

“we’ll take care of each other,” she corrects him, and bruce nods, lips once again on her hand, “thank you for this. and for believing in me.” she makes a smile at him and curls herself closer to bruce. he nods at her. he’ll always believe in her. ever since that first night she took him to her apartment, he has put tremendous faith in her and she has always proved worth it. she has never disappointed him. she’s only ever surprised him and hurt him when she fled the manor that night. but never disappoint him. she should have ‘exceeds expectations’ written in her resume, in her passport.

“always,” bruce says and kisses her lips.

“uh, vanessa,” y/n calls for her attention again, and vanessa turns to her with welcoming eyes, “can you promise me that... you won’t say anything the press want you to say? no matter how much money they’re offering.” she requests shyly, hoping this won’t close vanessa off to her. but her friend-colleague nods.

“of course,” she says, “i would never do that to you, man, come on,” she bumps y/n’s shoulder and they both laugh, “no amount of money could make me want to lie about you.”

“thanks so much. i’d never assume otherwise, you know, just had to make sure.” y/n says timidly and rubs her hands together. “i’ll hand in my resignation tomorrow. a month’s notice.” she tells her and vanessa nods with a smile, though she also sighs sadly.

“only a month with you left,” she says and makes a playful frown. y/n shakes her head, “it’s gonna be weird here without you.”

“i know,” y/n says in an aching voice, “it’s gonna be so strange not working here. but i’ll come here for coffee, i promise you that.”

vanessa smiles. “it’ll always be on the house,” she says and does a salute. it makes them both giggle again, but the bell ringing at the entrance door alerts them of a new customer and their laughter dies down a little.

“that won’t go unnoticed, v,” y/n tells her as she takes her post behind the cash register. vanessa raises an eyebrow at her, “if i’m ever invited to a gala and i can take a plus one, it’s gonna be you.” y/n smiles at vanessa and she nearly bursts at the proposition.

“are you serious? but won’t mr wayne be your plus one?” she makes sure, but y/n shakes her head.

“no, he gets his own invites. we could go as three, and i wouldn’t wanna go with anybody else, anyway,” she admits.

“ah, just imagine – us getting ready together to go a gala! what a dream,” vanessa ties her apron around her waist again and passes y/n to stand behind the coffee machine, “your life’s definitely getting better.”

that statement sort of stops y/n in her tracks. her life is getting better, that’s true, she just hadn’t admitted that to herself yet. probably because she feels she doesn’t deserve it, isn’t worthy of such good circumstances. a great relationship, a job she’s wanted to do since she was a kid, a job in helping countless people in peril, poverty, hunger and everything else that’s eating gotham up from inside. but she doesn’t let herself enjoy it. well, truthfully, it hasn’t happened yet, and she’s already hesitant towards it.

being scared of the job is one thing – how good is she gonna be at it? how will everyone else at wayne enterprises like her? how will the media take her work? how will the people of gotham embrace her? but another thing is feeling like she doesn’t deserve it. she doesn’t come from upper class, she wasn’t born into money like bruce was. she comes from a different universe altogether.

but shouldn’t an advocate for people who can’t defend or support themselves be someone exactly like them? maybe y/n should tell her story to the whole of gotham, about her hardships growing up, about her mother’s hardships – not the whole story in details, but just enough that would make people see that she’s just like them, no different, and wants to help. because she knows how she can help. she knows exactly what these people need because she’s been one of them. who better to protect and vouch for them than someone who comes from the same gutter? that would be a great article headline for the press, y/n thinks.

permanent tag-list: @gabiatthedisco @v0idbella @works-of-fanfiction @ur-gunna-h8-ths @betweenloveandfire @but-legendsneverdie @deardeacy @thewinchesterchronicles @mavieesttriste16 @intrrverted @the-freak-cassie-131 @xoxobabydolls @corallyink

series taglist: @blue-aconite @captainbarnesevans @chiliiscereal @miniflower93 @scorpio-echo @faithsreviews @buckysjuicyplums @legendaryfishdreamexpert @eucalyptrus @matchesarelit @daphne-bloom @aestheticpisces @baybay123455 @measure-in-pain @spookysins @calumspupils @prettygirlpattinson @johnisonlysleeping @bedshrooms @mischiefmanaged71 @is-this-a-febreze-commercial @siriuslydestiny @strawberriebabbles @katemusic @angelicadiabolus @musamusing @fatherfigured @tojisprincess @eriklensherrschild @uraritychain @philiasoul @violetsthought @srryxmate @frozenhuntress67 @underdarkcityskies @brthofafish @mistasbae @uncle-eggy @daryldixonstorm @tshuuls @alderaansleias @brightjimini @xmalereader @bigchungusdrinksspritecranberry @22carolina08 (i’m sorry if someone’s @/s aren’t working, idk why!!)

if anyone wants a tag next time, please let me know :)

#bruce wayne x reader #bruce wayne x fem!reader #battinson smut #battinson #battinson x fem!reader #mask & seek #batman series #the batman fanfic #har-rison-s writes #har-rison-s work #har-rison-s writes batman #battinson x oc #mask & seek series #bruce wayne fanfic #bruce wayne fan fiction

67 notes · View notes

jq37 · 2 months

Note

-You got the timeline of Lucy's death off by a year. She died at the end of Sophomore year. I wonder if the Grinders were trying to keep up with the Bad Kids by also bringing back a god from nameless oblivion.

-I have my own spin on why Ivy's not as good as Aelwynn. Ivy's a too realistically mean bitch, Aelwynn's a CRAZY bitch. One's way more entertaining than the other. Also Ivy's dollar store Garthy O'Brien accent is very off-putting. Stop sounding like a much cooler character, you high school hot girl cliche.

-Is Henry having Gorgug do all three Artificer years at once or one at a time? Cause one's a very logical way to go about it and the other's really not. You know, hyperfocus on finishing Freshman then Sophomore year and then play catch-up on the Junior year material. The smart way to do it. Or is Gorgug having to do Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced course material simultaneously? Cause that's a very dumb way to do it. Whichever way, Gorgug's nailing it, but that second one isn't sustainable.

-At first Fig's whole crisis about her lack of passion for being a Bard struck me as manufactured drama, but I've let it sink in and come to a different take on it. Fig's whole Rebel Punk Girl deal so far was obviously a reaction to the divorce and her life/family kinda falling apart. But now, things are REALLY great for her. Great family, great friends, great girlfriend. Her personal life is goals. So, how much is all that positive change affecting her? Is she over her Punk phase and moving on to something else? Season's not over, let's find out.

-Adaine's starting to use magic means and her connections to make money and I respect it.....BASRAR'S A GENIE! That just sank in right now as I'm typing this. But Brennan's no dummy. He probably set like a hard limit on the value of his wishes to close off that easy solution, but maybe he got sloppy and forgot to do that. Fingers crossed.

-I still don't think Fabian deserves Mazey after his behavior of late, but I'm still pretty into that ship, so whatever happens happens.

-Not much to say about Kristen and Riz. Especially Riz since he's been taking a narrative backseat so far this season. Hopefully that'll change soon. Still, Hi Riz, Hi Kristen :)

Holy shit, this one ran really long. My gift to you, I suppose.

Sorry this is late! Things are crazy! Luckily it's all still relevant. Let me go through point by point.

If I said something other than that then it was a typo! I'll check and edit when I have a chance. But I think the point I was making was that it would make sense that the Rat Grinders never got more ambitious if Lucy had died the first week of school like Kristen and Gorgug. It makes less sense that they wouldn't ever leave the starting area with no dramatic incident to keep them skittish and that happened in Sophomore Year, not right away. And it def feels like they're copying the Bad Kids. The question is whether it's to just score some extra points or if there are also ulterior motives.

That's also an excellent point! The ideal bitch character is, to quote Heathers, a "mythic bitch". You want her so crazy she doesn't feel real. You want her doing full ass crimes. Ivy is just like, the run of the mill racist bitch you went to high school with. Too close to home. Not fun at all. The only thing it pings for me is disgust. And Garthy is WAY cooler than her. I hope the Bad Kids grind her into dust.

There is a split between D&D mechanics and actual in game reality sometimes and I really hope Brennan is just making Zac roll them simultaneously for mechanics reasons and in reality Gorgug is just taking all three years back to back to back and not simultaneously because it would be, as you said, and INSANE way to structure learning.

I'm kinda curious about where exactly the disconnect is for her because it's not like she needs to even be a musician to be a bard. There are so many different subclasses. Did she get into music just to let out her aggression and now that she doesn't feel so angsty, it's not flowing as well? Would she be feeling this way if she didn't have pressure to put out an album? It's not like she lost her creative spirit in a broad sense--who else but Fig could come up with Wanda Childa? But yeah, it'll be interesting to see where she lands, especially since she has this other stuff in her life going on too that needs to be resolved (curse stuff) and also she is literally the archdevil of rebellion currently which will be hard to pull off is she doesn't feel a connection to it. Which I honestly think she still does because if she didn't, the stuff with Cass wouldn't be working as well (the whole doubt/rebellion tag team and her successful prayer). Anyway, I just think she's in a transitional period. As you said, let's find out where this goes.

-Adaine's starting to use magic means and her connections to make money and I respect it…..BASRAR'S A GENIE! That just sank in right now as I'm typing this. But Brennan's no dummy. He probably set like a hard limit on the value of his wishes to close off that easy solution, but maybe he got sloppy and forgot to do that. Fingers crossed.

There is no way Brennan is gonna let them Basrar-Ex-Machina their way out of their problems without some truly insane rolls but, in character, it wouldn't be out of pocket to ask. Especially since she's the reason he can grant more than just ice cream wishes. But yeah, good on her for using her jacket as a side hustle and I really hope her charging for visions because you know those Falinel elves are sitting on piles of ancestral cash.

-I still don't think Fabian deserves Mazey after his behavior of late, but I'm still pretty into that ship, so whatever happens happens.

I'm not overly invested in Fabian's love life but it is really funny watching him flail so badly in this department even though he's objectively really cool according to the dice. If I was friends with Mazey though I'd be like, "Girl, are you sure?" Just a bit too much of the rich boy arrogance for my tastes.

-Not much to say about Kristen and Riz. Especially Riz since he's been taking a narrative backseat so far this season. Hopefully that'll change soon. Still, Hi Riz, Hi Kristen :)

Kristen is Going Through It and Riz has been great support so they deserve a bit of a break, especially because I feel like things are gonna pop off for them pretty quick.

OK, that's it! I have to lesson plan! I will hopefully have some time to so some recapping soon!

#asks #farmer 10 #dimension 20 #fantasy high #it will prob be a mini recap #but I want to try to get it out on time #half battle so should be doable

19 notes · View notes

deepseacityunderground · 3 months

Text

i did a pokeymon tierlist that took me three hours to do ;-;

i put it and explainations under a cut because its so big lmao. if you want it to not be blurry then open it seperately in desktop idk

lesbian tier: self explainatory (ill explain why i like them so much later)

my babies: good designs, sentimental, AND i like fighting with them

sentimental tier: various favs across the years, theyre more individuals than species to me because of my memories with these guys.

i wish pokemon were real: for pokemon that make me say "i wish pokemon were real"

ebic: i like them lots and i like to have them on my team

the funny little creatures: i smile when i see them and i like them

intriguing: hmm there is something here... but i'm not quite getting it maybe?

not rlly interested: this one is self explainatory... if ur fav is here im sorry :( im sure these guys are cool i just dont rlly think about them ever

fucked up: i dont like seeing them they make me uncomfortable

scyther was my first partner in my first pokemon game :) it was diamond. i overtrained scyther way too much and he (because it was a boy scyther) would do that thing where he doesnt listen in battle so i build his entire moveset around it. he was lost when i transferred him to heartgold and then dropped heartgold in some water. rip scyther always in my heart

togekiss was my friend alongside scyther. she was the first pokemon i ever trained up to lv.100. she was also a victim of the heartgold incident. rip togekiss always in my heart.

absol was the only one from my initial gamebeating diamond team to survive the incident. she was transferred over to my copy of platinum and after i ended up losing diamond, remained there happily. i dont want to transfer her to bank or home because i think itd be like moving an old cat to a new house. i dont want to upset her at her old age. also absol's design fucks. emo fringe lynx. absol is what sparked my emotions about dark types. also i played pmd1 as a kid.

gengar is gengar. also i played pmd1 as a kid and read a copious amount of fanfic focused around pmd1 gengar (everyone go read pmd victory fire now it doesnt even matter that its on forever hiatus and ended with a cliffhanger go read it)

the tentacool variations are here purely out of sentimentality. when i was much younger, id let my little sister borrow my copies of the gen 4 pokemon games. she was really young and didnt really care about rpgs in general at the time, so shed always just explore and catch random pokemon instead of actually playing the games. one time, after i got the games back from her, i looked in my pc and saw like. two full boxes of tentacool and tentacruel that shed caught. and they've all got nose themed nicknames like "nosey" or "nosenose" and other stuff like that. so apparently she was surfing about and saw a tentacool for the first time and was just. obsessed with how they looked and thought they looked like big noses (with the red spots being like nostrils i think) and just decided to catch loads and loads of them because she liked them so much. so it became an inside joke between us. i dont really have much in common with my sister anymore and our relationship is pretty cold rn but pokemon is the one thing we still hold in common. and ill always associate tentacool with her.

we all know why grovyle is where he is. same with dusknoir. theyre also good designs.

i really dont like enamourus because its fucked up how they designed three big buff genie men and then made one that was pink and skinny. awful. makes me angry. if they were buff theyd be one of my favs tho.

i really dont like the pla designs for dialga and palkia... theyve already both got very busy designs and i think these forms are Too Busy. i really wanted to like them but well... i look at giratinas two forms and cry over what could have been.

i dont like the tumblr sexyman lizard.

a lot of pokemon are in higher tiers cus theyre based on animals i like... i like a lot of cat pokemon for this reason. also i like the litten line cus it fucks. and my litten in sumo was a female and i like the idea of big buff wrester catgirl :3 incineroar is a really good design and shes big and strong... whats not to love.

also, i generally like a lot of designs which other pokemon fans dislike... i especially love more humanoid/furry "feminine" designs like primarina, lilligant, gardevoir, lopunny, tsareena, etc etc... i really dislike how a lot of these designs are just seen as like sexygirl designs by the community... sadly porn will exist of everything but these pokemon are also creatures. theyre animals. they may look a bit like a girl but they are still magic animals. like one time in moon i had a whole team of grass girlies and it was just fun to hang out with my funny grass lady creatures.

i like giratina because theyre a big ass antimatter caterpillar. drawing giratina helped me draw antropomorphic caterpillars actually. i like their big ass legs.

all eeveelutions are CATS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

the lunar duo are my ultimate fav pokemon forever as a team for a big mix of all the other reasons. partly its sentimentality, cus i really liked them as a kid and i would always chill on fullmoon island in my copy of platinum and just listen to the music, i also always tried to do the void glitch to get darkrai but i always fucked up and never quite saw her! (i couldnt do the event cus living in shitty rural region reasons) i also liked battling with them in oras :3 i think their designs are very well done. they remind me of the "swan" series by hilma af klimt specifically, which is a series i really liked on its own. i dont think that was intentional, but i was looking at the work about a year or so ago for an essay and i sorta realized how well the overall color palette of that series matches the pair and cresselia specifically, because shes based on a swan ofc. and ofc darkrai is also birdlike but in a more abstract way. she actually reminds me a bit of the skeletons of one of those really fucked up breed pigeons with the receeded necks and huge fantails and tiny beaks and weird spindly legs. i also really like how unabashedly edgy darkrai's design is... i feel a lot of nostalgia for edgy character designs from the mid 2000s which were edgy in a very un-selfaware way (another reason why i like absol specifically and also like. so many ghost and dark types) and as an angsty kid i always used to gravitate towards those designs lol. i also think its kinda romantic, the idea of a creature which kills others simply by being around them, a typhoid mary type creature, which isolates itself due to that, with its only friend also being the only creature that negates its negative affects. and also that creature killed a kid in america (fucked up). thats how i interpret their relationship. anyway ive been having lots of thoughts about them for like over 15 years.

this is unrelated but its kinda annoying when ppl use gendered pronouns for genderless pokemon... its not gonna ruin my days its just. funny lol (ignore that i have used she/her for darkrai throughout this entire comment... when i do it, its ok <3) one of the sad flaws of the pmd series imo bcus the mainline games dont do that at all.

in general i think my likes and dislikes are more dictated by character design/sentimentality as opposed to ability in battle or fanservice or competitive meta ... this is just part of being a longtime fan who doesnt rlly keep up with the community anymore methinks. im kinda beating myself up for not putting more complex thought into this buuut also i wanna be true to myself yknow... but then again this community sucks so i feel like im gonna be attacked for putting idk wingull too low or something lol

#please dont hate me if i put your fav low... this is just my personal opinion!#all creatures are wonderful in their own way <3 <3 <3

11 notes · View notes

vikenticomeshome · 1 month

Text

The 2005 Cyberchase Online Contest

Alright, I wanted to share the content that I have managed to archive from "The 2005 Cyberchase Online Contest". This wasn't the first time that Cyberchase had done a contest like this. They did one earlier in 2004, and I may make a post showing the archives from that one. However, I think the 2005 contest was more interesting, as they made a special web comic where the kid's have a mystery for the contestants to solve.

We can start with the front page, featuring Harry.

And now, we have Bianca here to tell us about how the contest worked.

Before we get to the comic, here's the prizes. Cyberchase tended to partner up with Intel, and the Grand Prize Winner received one laptop for themselves, as well as one laptop for their school or community education group.

Other prizes included DVDs of the show, one of the CD-ROM games, a book, which was presumably the singular chapter book "The Search for the Power Orb", a backpack, and other school supplies. I am very curious about the "Cyberchase magazine" mentioned for the second prize winners. I've never seen an official magazine from the show.

And now, we get to the web comic, which contains the mystery that needed to be solved. Given that this was produced specifically for the contest and is no longer available on the website or Internet Archive, I don't feel bad about reposting it. I will also transcribe it.

Motherboard: Hacker alert!

The kids arrive in Castleblanca

Digit: Bad news, Earthlies! The key to Castleblanca's power station is missing!

Motherboard: Hacker ... stole it ... left a note.

Digit: Here it is!

From the Desk of The Hacker

Ha ha, kiddies! I knew Motherboard would call you. The key is mine and you'll never find it! It is safely hidden with my trusty hekper who has worked with me before. Too bad he can't do magic. Oh well, no one is perfect... except me! Soon I will have all of Castleblanca's spooky power. Then I will use it to scare all of Cyberspace into my control!

The Hacker

Jackie: Oh no! This is terrible!

Matt: Who could Hacker's helper be?

Nezzie: We've got to find out and get that key!

Digit: Hey! I heard some strange creatures were seen over near the power station.

Matt: Stranger than Dracula and Frankenstein?

Digit: Yeah! Wicked, Warren and Baskerville were all seen there sometime today.

Jackie: Then one of them must be Hacker's helper.

Inez: Great! Now we've got some suspects.

Matt: Wish we had more information...

Inez: Wait! We do. Look at Hacker's note again.

Matt: You're right! There are some clues in there!

From The Hacker's Note The key is mine and you'll never find it! It is safely hidden with my trusty helper who has worked with me before. Too bad he can't do magic.

Jackie: I see what you mean...

Nezzie: We can keep track of what we know with a chart!

Matt: All we have to do is check each box where we know a fact is true.

Jackie: And the person with all three boxes checked has the key!

Inez: Check out the CyberSquad Files for more clues!

CYBERSQUAD FILES: Here's what the CyberSquad knows about the suspects.

Wicked

Fact 1: Witch

Fact 2: Dated Hacker

Fact 3: Cast The Speel of the Mean Green so Hacker could disable Motherboard.

Warren

Fact 1: Genie

Fact 2: His mom is the Lunch Lady

Fact 3: Tried to take the Encryptor Chip from Hacker

Baskerville

Fact 1: Henchman

Fact 2: Is evil and cheap

Fact 3: Briefly employed by Hacker back when he was looking for the Lucky Charms of Cyberspace

Motherboard: Have you figured it out? Here's what to do once you've solved the mystery!

Important!

You must be under the age of 16 to enter.

Entries must be postmarked by November 4th, 2005.

How to enter:

Print out the entry form. Get to it by clicking below.

Fill in the form. Be sure to write the name of Hacker's helper who has the key!

Have your parent or legal guardian read and sign the entry form. We can't accept your entry unless you have their permission and signature.

This is the end of the comic. Here is the entry form that the contestant was to fill out.

The contest is long over, so let's look at the solution.

Inez: So who did it?

Jackie: It was Baskerville

Unfortunately, this is where the comic ends. We don't get to see Nezzie smash Baskerville's kneecaps to get the key back.

Okay, I'm going to post the page showing the winners. I thought about whether I wanted to do this for awhile. This information has been publicly available online for almost 20 years now, and the parents of the children agreed to allow the information to be made available online. Therefore, this is not doxxing, and it does not violate Tumblr TOS. All we get are first names, their city/town, and the station that they watched PBS on back then, so there isn't enough information to personally identify anyone anyway. If they had given last names or more detailed addresses, then I would have blanked those out.

Congratulations to Claudio from Newark, NJ, who watched Cyberchase through WNET, New Work, for being the Grand Prize Winner!

Congratulations to the selection of First Prize Winners.

Anshika from Glenedale, CA, (KCET, Los Angeles)

Brett from Pottstown, PA, (WHYY, Philadelphia)

Alisha from Wayne, NJ, (WNET, New York)

Taylor from Plano, TX, (KERA, Dallas)

Jared from Florissant, MO, (KETC, St Louis)

Seth from Clio, MI, (WKAR, East Lansing)

Eden from Port Charlotte, FL, (WGCU, Fort Myers)

Taylor from Cincinnati, OH, (CET, Cincinnati)

Laura from Parker, CO, (KRMA, Denver)

Naomi from Fort Worth, TX, (KERA, Dallas)

They didn't list the 350 Second Prize Winners.

Alright, so what do I think of this comic and contest? Again, I wish we had more a conclusion to the story, where Matt, Jackie, and Inez recover the stolen key from Baskerville. However, I kind of understand why they didn't do that. I believe this comic was pieced together from pre-existing assets. If so, they wouldn't really have assets for the kids confronting Baskerville.

I've seen DVD cover art featuring an instance of Inez looking over her left shoulder while holding up the treasure map from Season 2 Episode 5 "All the Right Angles". It looks like the same source image was used to have her holding up the note from The Hacker. I've also seen some of these images of Matt and Jackie used in other official comics and materials like the character bios.

I like that The Hacker has his own green stationery with his face on it. It is also true to the character for him to get into gloating and give away crucial information that allows the kids to foil his plans.

I may make a post about the 2004 contest as well, though that one didn't have a web comic produced for it, so it's not as interesting to me.

#cartoon #cyberchase #inez #2000s #jackie #matt #nostalgia #pbs kids #digit #2000s childhood #seriously what was the Cyberchase magazine?#I have to know #longpost #web comic #archived web content

6 notes · View notes

everythingsinred · 1 year

Text

Let's Talk About NatsuMikan: Mikan (pt. 7)

It's been a while, I know. I was just sooooo lazy. I was writing this essay, but posting seemed like so much work so I procrastinated. Oh well, I'm posting now and that's all that matters. In a year, when someone reads this, they won't be aware of the posting gap at all! Let's forgive Anya for this little mistake.

AnYWAY, the culture fest has finally arrived at Alice Academy and Mikan is looking forward to having fun with friends. Unfortunately, she's already run into trouble since Natsume got her genie lamp and now she has to fulfill three of his wishes, which are sure to be sadistic and terrible in nature.

<- Prev Next ->

Chapter Twenty

And of course he starts the tormenting right away, deciding to have her follow him around the festival so she can carry his stuff. Because of Ruka’s kindness, Natsume was convinced to give her the afternoon off to spend with her besties Hotaru and Yuu, but for now, she is his gopher.

I love these little panels because they're easily overlooked but do a great job of revealing the characters' basic personalities.

The technical area is amazing, and Mikan is quickly taken with it, oohing and ahhing over everything she sees. Mikan is still an alice newb, new to an exciting world that is pretty normal to the rest of them. Dancing vegetables and singing flowers are a nice touch to any Alice, but to Mikan they’re all magic. Part of what makes Mikan so entrancing is not just her cheerfulness, but the fact that she is Alice in Wonderland (I’ll eventually get tired of saying this, but for now it’s just delightful to me). She is naturally childish, on account of being a child, but she’s also seeing most of these things for the first time, and so everything is sparkly and new. Such excitement can easily be contagious.

But to some people it’s just irritating.

Natsume the impatient jerk flings some biscuit in her mouth that makes her bawk like a chicken whenever she speaks. So Mikan is quiet for a while, dreading the biscuit. That is until she sees Hotaru’s attraction, a special all about her and her amazing robots. Mikan tries to rush to her but is just beaten down. The presentation commences and ends and Hotaru emerges from her creation, instantly surrounded by fans and sponsors.

Mikan is struck with Hotaru’s dazzling future. The technical class is composed of artistic and creative types, people who clearly know what they want to do for the rest of their lives. They all have plans and goals and passions, and Mikan admires that. She assures herself that she too has goals for the future, but her goals are limited to better training her alice and seeing Jii-chan again, so she doesn’t feel that much better. She has no idea what she’d wanna do after graduating.

Whenever Mikan is different from others, she gets self-conscious, no matter what it is she's "lacking."

So she turns to her companions, just to check if maybe she isn’t alone. Sumire quickly responds that she’d want to use her alice for criminal investigations or government work (narc). Ruka has a dream, but he’s uninterested in sharing. But the point is that he has a dream, and that’s more than Mikan can say.

Natsume is her last hope, but he’s not even paying attention!

I love to imagine Natsume and Mikan actually chatting in their teens, two losers who have no plans for what they're gonna do after graduating. And because she's not alone, it won't feel so scary not to know.

Okay, but honestly, I’m gonna derail here because although Mikan certainly isn’t thinking this, I am. Mikan and Natsume may be opposites in many ways, but they have more similarities than differences. All of the people around them have potential and clear futures, but they’re the two kids left in the lurch, though for different reasons. Natsume can’t imagine his future because he’s sure he doesn’t have much time left; Mikan can’t imagine her future because it’s a daunting prospect. But they’re both in the same boat of having nothing but blank pages ahead. I don’t only ship NatsuMikan because they’re marked by the academy and are partners, or because of the “fated pair” thing. It’s not all about Natsume’s ceaseless devotion. They have much in common, and that will end up being a driving force for Mikan’s journey falling in love with him. No, they don’t have a heart-to-heart here where they bond over being lost and future-less losers. But they still are, together and alike in this way. God, I love them.

Anyway, Mikan feels hopeless. They’re just kids but Alices are mature. They know everything about life, it seems, their futures paved out for them already. And Sumire points out that Ruka is a triple star too, just like Hotaru and Yuu, and Mikan is impressed once again. The people around her are so amazing, with so many talents and abilities, and apparently Ruka is too, just like her besties. (She is, in comparison, useless and unimpressive.)

But Ruka dismisses the accomplishment, saying that it had nothing to do with his actual ability, like it was for the other triples in their class. But before Ruka can say more, Natsume shows up again, interrupting rudely to complain about being hungry.

This panel does a great job of establishing that Mikan is actually the weird one for finding this pie entrancing. Not only Natsume and Ruka but the student in the corner are very put off by Anna's bizarre creations. No, it doesn't look edible.

So they move on to the cafe where Anna is working with her senpai Miruku. Anna’s alice is not simply that she can cook or bake, but that whatever she cooks or bakes ends up being a little weird. Mikan, an excitable girl, loves that she’s about to eat something crazy, but the boys are less enthused. Anna brings over a delicious-looking pie unlike anything Mikan has ever seen and she gushes over the colors and textures. Mikan is ready to dig in, until Natsume dumps the pot of tea over the whole table.

Natsume is an insufferable menace. All he ever does is ruin things, wherever he goes.

Mikan is on her feet, already scolding him. When he bluntly states that the pie was terrible, he seems uninterested in the fact that he says it in front of Anna. Mikan demands he apologize to Anna, but he just walks away. Mikan watches him leave as she trembles with rage. This is a whole new low for him. He’s not just a jerk; he’s sadistic, somehow finding pleasure in hurting other people for no reason at all. Good for Anna that Miruku shows up to comfort her. Except that Miruku notices that the flour must have expired because there’s a rotten scoundrel in the filling.

Miruku suggests that Natsume dumped the tea over the pie for this very reason, to keep them from eating the pie themselves.

Mikan and Ruka leave but Mikan is unsatisfied by that explanation. There must have been some other, normal way to keep them from eating the pie. But Ruka--the irritating Natsume apologist--pipes up that Natsume did that so they wouldn’t eat the pie. If Natsume had said something around all those customers, it would have reflected poorly on Anna and she could’ve ended up in trouble. Natsume did what he could to avoid that outcome.

You can't cancel Natsume without cancelling Ruka too. When are Natsume haters going to finally understand that Ruka is his bigGEST defender?

But that sounds like blatant apologism, so Mikan is skeptical, wondering if Natsume would really think that much about other people. After all, what Mikan knows about Natsume is that he may have a sad life, but he’s still a jerk in almost every way. He’s given her very few reasons to believe that other people’s feelings are something he ever considers, let alone prioritizes in such a selfless way. We might know from his POV that even his instances of cruelty are often inspired by selflessness, but from Mikan’s eyes, nothing about his actions suggests a martyr complex or a compassionate person.

But Ruka insists that she’s wrong, that Natsume is actually kind. He’s mysterious, and has done many morally dubious things, but at the end of the day, he would do anything for his friends, and will always quietly help somebody, even if it means he gets hurt.

Natsume is a mystery. He is a confusing mess, a puzzle with a million pieces and half of them are hidden. Nobody seems to be able to shed some insight into what makes him tick. But there is one person who knows him better than anybody: Ruka. And Ruka is telling her now that there’s more to Natsume than what she’s seen so far.

And when she thinks back on what happened with Reo, she understands where he’s coming from too. Natsume was willing to take on Reo’s attention in order to distract him from singling out Mikan or Sumire. He was a hair’s breadth away from blowing himself up to help them get away. So she is starting to see what Ruka is talking about. This conversation is important, not just because it helps us as readers understand Natsume better, but because it helps Mikan get him better. Because of this chat, she will keep Ruka’s words in mind when she evaluates Natsume’s behavior in the future, looking deeper at his actions instead of just assuming the worst, which is what he wants.

The parallels exist but don't fall for the easy propaganda that Mikan and Ruka or Natsume and Hotaru are the same. It makes life (and relationships) super boring.

Mikan still calls Ruka out for his apologist behavior, for defending Natsume so desperately, which means he must love him a lot. Mikan connects Natsume with Hotaru, deducing that they have a lot in common. Hotaru is also cold on the surface, but kind when it matters. Especially after the events of the first chapter, Mikan has appreciated the more subtle parts of Hotaru’s personality. And she shows that off now, smiling and boasting her love. In that way, she and Ruka are similar too, being so devoted to their best friends.

Ruka seems touched, so he finally opens up about what she had asked before, about his dream, which is to be a vet and live with Natsume, somewhere surrounded by animals but not by people, where they can live in peace unbothered. A misanthropic paradise.

Mikan beams. She’s still not happy about her lack of goals, but she can’t be dismayed by his dream because she can see it took him courage to open up about it. So she doesn’t make it about herself. Instead, she smiles and promises him that his dream will come true. Now that she’s calmed down and is in better spirits, and understands her class nemesis a little better, she’s ready to go find Natsume.

I don't like the whole "Mikan has a favorite person" nonsense because real people are capable are loving a lot of people. I don't ship Mikan and Ruka romantically but I will fight you to the death over the fact that she loves him so much, platonically.

Her friendship with Ruka is deeply important on several counts. On a NatsuMikan level, Ruka is the only person who is able to divulge information about Natsume, since the boy himself isn’t about to open up any time soon. Ruka is desperate to defend and protect Natsume, even just in regards to his reputation. More often than not, the important details that Mikan learns about Natsume she learns through Ruka making the choice to share them with her.

But their relationship is deeper than that too. They’re united through their devotion to their friends and through their ability to see deeper into people’s personalities, able to analyze how their loved ones behave to see their motives and intentions, even if they try to hide them. Mikan and Ruka understand each other in a lot of key ways, and this is just the start of a friendship where they will help each other be stronger.

Chapter Twenty-One

Mikan realizes that she hasn’t visited Yuu yet! She manipulates Ruka into letting Natsume take them to the latent area. Again, she gets worked up about the amazing things surrounding her, and again is intimidated into silence by Natsume the jerk before she can run off to random attractions. So they head straight for the haunted mansion.

Reread GA and pay excruciating attention to small things because this is one of my favorite two panels in the whole arc. NatsuMikan are so similar! They get distracted by the same nonsense and have the same reaction! Cute Ruka is focused on his little map, but Natsume and Mikan's attention is easily diverted by Koko's attraction. It's the little things, you know?

Yuu lets them in ahead of the line. Mikan has a complicated relationship with ghosts, so she puts on airs--as she is prone to do--that she is totally fine. She instantly drops those airs when the doors slam. Suddenly it’s all too scary and the boys are leaving her behind, which is unacceptable. She latches onto Ruka--the nicer of the two. After all, Natsume is being very mean about her fear. He for sure wouldn’t let her cling to him. And she’s just had a nice, heartfelt chat with Ruka. He feels safer.

They’re finally chased by a crawling hag and all three of them book it through the maze, and cruel fate sees to it that Yuu passes out and breaks the electricity, leaving Natsume and Mikan stuck in a room, with Ruka chasing after his rabbit.

Mikan is calling for help, but Natsume tells her it’s no use. So they should climb the wall next! But his ankle is twisted. Dang. Well, he could at least make a fire so it’s not so dark--but of course he sets an evil, scary fire. There really is no winning with this guy.

Though Mikan feels guilty because she’s the reason his ankle is twisted, she still gets annoyed when he suggests breaking down the wall in order to escape. That’s also unacceptable, because the latent students worked hard on their attraction and it would be cruel to break it. Natsume’s not really coming off as nice right now, even though Ruka insisted he was capable of it.

But he gives in. Which means they have to sit there. In the dark. Trapped alone. With the ghosts.

Natsume "hugged" Mikan at the SA event. Mikan "hugs" Natsume at the haunted house. It's the little things. uwu

Mikan is very scared of every noise, so she clings to Natsume, the only person around to cling to. And that’s unfortunate because he is using her fear for his own entertainment. He refuses to hold her hand or comfort her and instead lies about seeing the faces on the wall move. She scolds him for being a jerk, which reminds her that he’s always a jerk, except that Ruka told her he’s not always a jerk.

So Mikan apologizes to him about Anna, because she had misunderstood his intentions. But Natsume doesn’t care and doesn’t even seem to know what she’s talking about, which hints that maybe Ruka is insane for being friends with this person.

The text circled says, "Completely forgot about being scared." This chapter introduces two aspects of Mikan's feelings about Natsume: he makes her self-conscious, but he also helps her completely forget about her problems. This is consistent.

Mikan muses on her current unpleasant situation. Natsume is difficult to deal with and to talk to. He isn’t chatty. He isn’t nice. He ignores her most of the time and when he’s not ignoring her, he’s making fun of her. This is the first time she’s alone with him that isn’t a life-or-death situation, and it’s weird. She states clearly--in her mind--that she doesn’t hate Natsume anymore, but that she still doesn’t know how to talk to him, and that she feels self-conscious around him.

Natsume is in fact one of the few people who makes Mikan feel self-conscious. She’s usually confident and bold, but with him, she gets insecure. I’ll talk more about this insecurity and expand on it later on, but it’s not a typical experience for her (with other people, that is), which is why it stands out. He’s different from other people. She’s stuck between wanting to be friends with him and understanding what Ruka sees in him and the facts that he’s clearly presenting her with. She doesn’t know what to think or how to act around him, so it makes her nervous. For now, it’s certainly his fault. Though she has tough skin and fights back just as hard whenever he insults her, there’s also the question of small talk. How is she supposed to talk if he just shoots down every conversation?

Does Natsume even know how to have fun? Because, now that she thinks of it, Natsume doesn’t ever look like he’s having fun. He never laughs or even smiles. She realizes she’d never actually asked him about those rumors she’d heard. People are always talking about him, but she’s never heard anything directly from the horse’s mouth.

While Mikan is sitting here, quietly, she’s figuring things out about him for herself and by herself. He’s not sharing anything. But she’s intuitive and emotionally intelligent enough to come to conclusions on her own. She figures that he’s probably not having fun because his mind is in a different place than the rest of them.

AND OH MY GOD GUYS DYGFHDSFGDHSF

Like I beat to death in my other essay, Natsume is a mystery to most people. He’s not close to people, but he’s surrounded by admirers and fans. Besides Ruka, nobody seems to get that Natsume’s demeanor is a mask. He’s not snarky and cold because he wants to be. And Mikan can see that. She’s been able to see it since the culture fest was first announced, that he’s lying when he says the festival is lame and pathetic. The festival is awesome, actually, and Natsume must agree, because who wouldn’t? But Natsume can’t participate the way the others can. And despite all the fun and excitement of the festival, he’s still not smiling. There must be something else going on, something getting in the way. She figures it out--that he’s lonely and miserable, trapped in turmoil. And she wants to help him, to make him happy for once. If his life is difficult, then he needs something to make him smile.

How else does one combat this sort of problem than with jokes?

Mikan wants to mold her relationship with Natsume into something she's more comfortable with, but eventually the nature of their relationship will develop into something that she gets comfortable with and that will even bring her comfort.

But he doesn’t laugh. Figures that the one second Mikan actually talks to him, he ruins things again. Now he’s a jerk again and they bicker until he kicks up her skirt.

By the time they’re finally rescued, Mikan is attacking Natsume to punish him for what he did to her. The people who have found them are all shocked at what they see, but it takes Mikan a moment to register what exactly they think they saw. She quickly denies that they were doing anything other than fighting, but then stupid Natsume has to open his mouth again, accusing her of jumping him.

Natsume smiles a little, amused by their bickering, but Mikan is no longer interested in making him laugh.

This chapter is huge for Mikan’s musings on Natsume’s character. In the anime, Natsume demonstrates some of the selfless behavior Ruka told her about earlier. She has evidence now and can see that Ruka was right. However, in the manga, Natsume did not shield her with his body. He did not hide his twisted ankle. No, he was open about his injury and did nothing noble. He was just stuck there with her. Mikan doesn’t end the chapter having figured anything out for sure about Natsume. The thing is: Natsume is an enigma to her. He is simply incomprehensible and nothing he does ever makes any sense.

The anime had less time to work out the characters and relationships. Natsume had to be established as selfless and kind both to the audience and to Mikan in a timely manner, which is why he's such a hero in this episode. But here, in the manga, Mikan looks really hard at his behavior because she wants to see what Ruka keeps assuring her is there. But there really isn't any outstanding evidence because Natsume doesn't want her to see it. If there was some beautiful, noble action here, then Mikan would be justified in pursuing this friendship and in getting to know him better. He'd be giving her a reason to like him. Manga!Natsume does not do this. Like I said in the first part of this Mikan essay, she falls in love with him against his will and despite his every flaw. Natsume was, for the most part, insufferable today. She will continue hanging out with him because she has to, because she can't help but feel like he's hiding something.

I just think they're neat.

But she wants to figure him out. And she’s working very hard at it, which is admirable, because he hasn’t really given her a reason to. Ruka told her that there’s kindness there, hidden under a veneer of cruelty. She is sure now that if she looks closer, eventually she will see it too. NatsuMikan wouldn’t work if she wasn’t willing to try, because he has already given up on his end.

And one more thing, we see a glimpse of one of my favorite aspects of NatsuMikan, and that’s Natsume’s tendency to distract Mikan from her problems. To be fair, he’s not really doing that here on purpose. But Mikan is so preoccupied with thinking about Natsume that she forgot entirely about being scared. By the time she’s finally rescued, she hasn’t been scared for a while. I’ll discuss this in more depth later, but for now I’ll reiterate that Natsume and Mikan have way more similarities than differences.

Chapter Twenty-Two

This chapter isn’t really about Mikan at all. I’ll discuss what I can, but it will be pretty limited. Y’all might know that I’m a big fan of Hotaru and Subaru’s sibling bond, and it’s one of my favorite parts of the manga. But this is a Mikan essay, specifically regarding NatsuMikan. I’ll analyze the parts that are about Mikan, but I’ll be brief. Know that this is killing me.

Mikan has her afternoon off and is excited to spend it with her besties and away from Natsume (on Mikan’s end, we haven’t fully vacated the enemies stage of enemies to lovers). But Hotaru is strangely distant for most of their time together. Mikan takes it personally. She’s been looking forward to this part of her day, so how come Hotaru isn’t having as much fun as she is? But Hotaru is distracted by something else.

The scans situation here is tragic. What matters is that Mikan starts the chapter by making Hotaru's distraction about her.

Their little outing is interrupted by an accident at an attraction. They watch the chaos as one of the Principal students--Subaru--arrives to use his healing and pain alices. Mikan is, as always, impressed by this mysterious person, but not nearly as much as Hotaru, who walks right up to him. She is not intimidated. She does not back down when his assistant tells her to. She just stares at him and he stares back.

And Mikan realizes that Hotaru has been keeping a secret from her: Subaru is her older brother. And she never thought to mention it? Mikan is supposed to be Hotaru’s best friend, but there’s parts of her that remain a stubborn mystery. To make matters worse, the Imai siblings don’t even act like siblings. They are cold and detached. They talk more like they’re at a business meeting than that they’re meeting their family member for the first time.

Mikan continues to make Hotaru's issue about her. And I continue to cry about the scans.

When the encounter ends, Mikan doesn’t complain about Hotaru not telling her. So far, she's been very betrayed that Hotaru would, first, be distracted for the short time they actually spend together during the festival, and second, that she would keep such a huge secret from her. She could very easily start complaining and whining. But that’s not important, because Hotaru is clearly upset. She is saddened by the fate of her brother, who has spent so much of his life in this institution that he’s forgotten his humanity. She wonders if she will become like that and Mikan quickly denies it. Hotaru is different! Just like Ruka is desperate to defend Natsume against anybody who says a bad word against him, Mikan will defend Hotaru, especially when the person underestimating her is Hotaru herself. How could Mikan continue to make this about herself when someone is going through something so hard?

The chapter ends happily, with Hotaru realizing she can’t lose her humanity when she has Yuu and especially Mikan by her side.

Mikan wants to comfort Hotaru. She rarely sees Hotaru upset or unhappy. She can figure out for herself that Hotaru didn’t tell her about her brother because of those insecurities she was keeping to herself. She knows that what Hotaru needs now is comfort and she’s willing to give it. Even though she’d initially been hurt that Hotaru would hide something from her, she’s able not just to set the matter aside for later, but to completely dismiss it. She understands, so it doesn’t hurt anymore. What hurts now is that Hotaru is hurt. She’s emotionally intelligent enough to know that this moment isn’t about her, and she shouldn’t try to make it about her. It’s about Hotaru.

Maybe the reason why Mikan and Hotaru feels a little lackluster to me is because people never mention Yuu with them. I LOVE this trio to death but they get so little love as a group! But they all love each other... that keeps me going.

Mikan is such a sweet friend. I love her.

Conclusion

I'd add one more chapter but the next two chapters are a unit so... I'll just have to save that for tomorrow.

"Tomorrow?" you may ask. "But, Anya, you've been so flakkyyy." Yes, I have been. And that's because Mikan's essays are annoying to format. There's no (realistic) limit to how many images I can include in any post anymore which means that I'm including way more. They take me much longer than Natsume's did. And so I decided to change my posting schedule! I need to have a schedule because if I don't, I'll simply never post and that would be terrible. So instead of posting on weekdays, I'll post on the three day weekend, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. That way I have more time to write Mikan's essays (which are harder than Natsume's) as well as more time to format the longer posts.

Also it'll give you guys more time to read these monstrosities. I know they're long and tedious. I'm sorry.

Anyway, today we discussed the second part of the tri-part culture fest. There's one more left, which I will post tomorrow. We can look forward to a shocking development in Mikan's feelings in the next and final part of the culture fest. Very exciting! So stay tuned!

<- Prev Next ->

6 notes · View notes

garbagefarm · 1 year

Text

Mutucule Farm (#11)

2023-03-03, session #11 of Mutucule Farm!

cast:

me (@mothmute, special friend: Pierre, ugh)

Belle (@snacco, special friend: Evelyn)

Cam (@amanitaspore, special friend: Elliott)

Erin (@salamand3rin, special friend: Caroline)

Highlights include, but are not limited to:

Pre-session, Belle threatens to keep running counts of deep sighs and times I stop to take notes

I realized that my naming scheme for the chickens was flawed, so I was prepared to sell ‘em and start over fresh until somebody pointed out I could rename them

Previously: Catbird, Bluejay, Heron, and Grackle

Now: Oviraptor, Gallimimus, Baryonyx, and Iguanodon

when we get dinosaurs, we can use the old naming scheme for them

I now have two lists of notes for stardew, “bird names” and “dino names”, and they’d probably confuse some people

Cam is scared of his teeth. Everybody is scared of Cam’s teeth......

Wizard wants void essence. We have plenty, but I go to the mines to collect some fresh. I get stuck at 3, even though I murdered them for their void essence fair and square!

(squares: the most impartial shape)

diagnosed with a terminal case of the tired sleepy

I get level 3 farming! this is a mystery to me, as I haven’t been picking crops. I think this is from petting my birds? (after looking at the wiki, this is likely correct)

Willy supplies us with Copper Pans. I immediately put it on my head, and everybody makes fun of me because they think it looks terrible. They are correct.

Fella’s got the scoop!! (see gallery)

gotta find a flattering angle, maybe use a filter...

Belle wants to fry an egg for The Spirits, and takes more than I’d agreed to >:(

I delve into the mines and get SLAIN BY A SLIME due to Dungeon Floors

It took all my bombs!!!

due to unrelated internet connectivity problems, we restart the day, phew!

Junimos fixing the bus!

Hangin’ out with the boys, the power of ritualistic dance

talkin’ about the wizard bundle. the wundle.

I visit the desert, and couldn’t resist the skull

Erin gets peer-pressured into accepting a cactus seed for her garden pot

Struggling to remember what we were doing, like if the guy from Memento (2000) was playing Stardew Valley

I delve into the mines and get SLAIN BY A SLIME due to Dungeon Floors! Again!!

It took all my bombs!!! Again!!!!

soooo we’re gonna restart this day too, right? haha jk... unless? 😳

(We do not)

Night market is here!!

I pick up a red cabbage for the bundle

I snipe all three original Lupini paintings!

(Erin accuses one of them of being derivative...)

Everybody going to the mermaid show!!

Cam does not want coffee this late at night

Linus memorializing his old friend, the glittering boulder. He’s happy for it moving on.

Linus caught me digging through the trash, and ... Linus is impressed! He even asked if I found anything good!

Erin didn’t make it to bed......

Belle was a Dinosaur Kid (and supplied the bird names, thanks Belle!)

“a lot of them don’t exist anymore, but we had iguanodons”

I thought iguanodons were extinct....

Train!! aaand it’s a passenger train, no loot

Erin wishes we could pull a train heist

Erin gifts me a bunch of cherry bombs to replace some of the bombs I lost in the mines and I am left speechless by this touching gift

Cam already gave me a sword, Belle has catching up to do

My first large egg!

“your first legg!” no, not really

Genie shoes?

putting aside the implications of Stardew Valley’s world containing not just mythological genies but ones real enough to have shoes,

do genies ... wear shoes??

I mean I guess not, that’s how I found ‘em

Winter star “special friend” announcements!!

(list up in the cast)

... goddammit, I got this guy again?? ugh fine this time I’ll get him something he likes. fried calamari, ready to go.

RIP Belle, dead in the mines

Somebody’s been doing something in the greenhouse, but nobody remembers what. Erin’s taking care of it, guess we’ll find out eventually

Surprise, building another barn!! Hog barn!! (someday)

“I’m looking for a hog time, not a long time, if you know what I mean”

“You have a secret note! you should eat it!”

speculating on cask-aged mayonnaise

I realize I’ve been slacking on the romance!!

google dot com “where is penny”

she’s at the playground with the kids

Jas confesses to feeding cows crawdads. They loved it??

Belle announces she has Pompkin. everybody piles in.

next day, the spirits are very displeased. maybe they’re prudes??

We’ve got an ongoing special order to get hardwood for Robin, and then she mails us a request for even more hardwood (that doesn’t count towards the special order)

Belle accuses Erin of illegally parking her horse!

“are you a cop??” “no!” “that sounds like a cop-out”

forgot to mention, I’ve been growing winter seeds to try and keep leveling my foraging.

I ask Belle and Erin to keep watering my horrible winter seeds while I upgrade my watering can

We all take a trip to the desert for a photo-op (see gallery)

I found a golden r’lic! We should start a religion!

I discover a fascinating trick with my terrible hat, which promptly cracks everybody up. (see gallery)

Erin supplies us with greenhouse-fresh strawberries :’)

telling everybody, “I would kill for [my chickens], nevermind that I was gonna sell ‘em.”

End-of-session non-canon day

Erin sells Baphomet!! no!!!

TO-DO:

upgrade barns until pigs arrive

winter star gifts!

pick up my watering can!

backpack upgrades for everybody, whoops

more tool upgrades??

romance???

fruit trees???

(link to photo gallery post, since this was getting pretty long)

#stardew valley #mutucule farm

2 notes · View notes

mirrorthoughts · 2 years

Note

Writer Ask: 4, 12, & 19!

Thanks for asking ❤️❤️❤️

I‘m gonna put the answers under a readmore :3

The questions are:

4. What’s a word that makes you go absolutely feral?

12. If a genie offered you three writing wishes, what would they be? Btw if you wish for more wishes the genie turns all your current WIPs into Lorem Ipsum, I don’t make the rules

19. Tell me a story about your writing journey. When did you start? Why did you start? Were there bumps along the way? Where are you now and where are you going?

4. What’s a word that makes you go absolutely feral?

In a negative sense? Orbs. Especially the adjective heavy ones. I think the why is not a mystery...

12. If a genie offered you three writing wishes, what would they be? Btw if you wish for more wishes the genie turns all your current WIPs into Lorem Ipsum, I don’t make the rules

I actually would try to use the wishes to stop our clusterfuck of a world burning...

Something about getting the wealth of the rich distributed under the rest of the population, helping to stop the climate change and getting every business owner and politician in the world 1. a fucking conscience and empathy and 2. The knowledge on how to do better for the environment, the society and their community. I think I would be very happy with that.

19. Tell me a story about your writing journey. When did you start? Why did you start? Were there bumps along the way? Where are you now and where are you going?

I actually don't know exactly when I started writing. But I do have the few pages of the start of my first story (an original one) printed out in a folder at home. Though I'm not sure if I wrote that one first or if I first got into writing RPGs. (and the "second" story I wrote was actually around the same time I think 😂 It was an Vision of Escaflowne Fanfic).

Anyway. At the time I wanted adventures. And I was one of those kids (TM) that always had their nose in a book (rly my parents house doesnt have a floor where there are no books. the floor that comes closest to it is the ground floor with the kitchen bc there are 'only' cook books there 😂 Everywhere else we always had shelves full of books so I came by my love for stories honestly 😂).

I wanted to have a prophecy and because elves and elvish were cool (now that I think about it, it might have been around when the first Lord of the Rings movie came out 😂) I of course wanted to have my own.

So I worked on that prophecy (because I thought it would be cool as a kind of poem at the start of the "book") and "translated" that poem into a fantasy language (that mostly consisted of me making up a new word for each word of the poem because I still riddled over how to make someting gramatically coherent out of it 😂).

And when I had that prophecy (of course properly vague) I started to write the story. Which in the end consisted of I think either half a page or a page of text until I stopped writing and... didn't know how to go on 😂 because I had my hero who woke up because she was called (I think by her mum) and they talked and I had *absolutely no idea* where I actually wanted her to go. Or who she would need to fight. Or what even was the evil in the world. Or anything else really 😂

And that's how I discovered that writing an actual fantasy story that's not anchored in reality was way out of my league 😂

(For the record, the Vision of Escaflowne story was a self insert which went on for a while until I wanted to divert too much from the original plotline and again didn't know where to go. Especially at the start of my journey I had a very hard time to come up with "something new" in the sense of thinking outside of the boundaries of a scene I had in my head or story I wanted to transform into something of myself. I actually still have that problem though by now I know how to work with it.

By now that "workaround" is actually one of my biggest strengths. I'm very good at knitting different ideas together and explain or transform away non-fitting parts - wherever those ideas may come from)

#ask game answers #teenwerewoofs #sei's brain bubbles #sei‘s writing process #i forgot to tag this 😂

5 notes · View notes

pennywaltzy · 2 years

Note

Weird Questions for Writers -- 12, 13, 18 (I'll be nice -- you choose the passage)

12. If a genie offered you three writing wishes, what would they be? Btw if you wish for more wishes the genie turns all your current WIPs into Lorem Ipsum, I don’t make the rules. The ability to think my words onto a Libre Office document, the ability to remember to use the Oxford comma when appropriate, and the ability to instantly proofread my own work/works I'm asked to beta.

13. What is a subject matter that is incredibly difficult for you write about? What is easy? Most stuff surrounding pregnancy/motherhood the first few months someone is a mom. I had undiagnosed postpartum depression for a long time so the first...two and a half years my kid was alive are kind of a blur. But most other relationship stuff is pretty easy to write, even though I've had one short functional relationship in my entire life.

18. Choose a passage from your writing. Tell me about the backstory of this moment. How you came up with it, how it changed from start to end. Spicy addition: Questioner provides the passage. You know how hard this is to pick something? I have thousands of fics. I don't even remember writing all of them. That being said, I do remember most of the stuff that has to do with "Sway" and I know that's your favorite fic of mine, so...

“I’ll run the tests Mycroft wanted me to run on your blood, but I think you’ll pass them with flying colors.”

He nodded, not wanting to speak. It was only a matter of time before she realized that there was something different about him, which in turn meant that Mycroft would know it, which meant this entire deal the man had offered could be scrapped. But then he had to know something, and so he cleared his throat as she began to leave. She paused and turned to look at him. “What will you do if you find something...unusual?” he asked quietly.

“Well, that depends on what I find,” she said slowly. “If it’s something that poses a threat to the populace I’ll tell Mycroft and he can inform his superiors and they can make a decision from there.”

“And if it isn’t?” he asked.

“Am I going to find something unusual?” she asked, tilting her head. “Because I’m assuming it’s going to be unusual. I mean, you’re from the future, you were frozen and you survived a horrific crash. I assumed the human race had evolved however far in the future you’re from. So as long as there aren’t any diseases in your blood that is going to wreak havoc on the world I’m going to clear you for being allowed to leave. I don’t expect to see normal results, and I’ve told Mycroft that. He’ll trust my judgment.”

He blinked slightly. That was something he hadn’t expected. “Thank you for telling me the truth,” he said.

She shifted her hold on the case. “I try my best to always do that. I had to keep a secret for two years and it was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I don’t lie unless I absolutely have to now.”

“Then answer another question for me,” he said.

“All right,” she said with a nod.

“Can I trust Mycroft Holmes to give me my freedom?”

She was quiet for a moment. “I think you can trust him with that. He’s the type of man who will lie when he has to, but if he makes you a promise in the interest of the greater good he’ll keep it. He really wants whatever knowledge you have in your head and offering you a deal for you to willingly cooperate would be much more expedient in getting that knowledge than torture.”

“He would resort to torture?” Khan asked, mildly surprised.

“If you ever get the chance to meet Sherlock, ask him about what his brother did to James Moriarty in his quest to get answers. I think he learned it didn’t work very well, and he doesn’t seem to be the type to repeat mistakes.”

(I know, it's a rather long passage, my apologies, but at least I got to put it under a readmore!)

Basically, this whole passage exists to show that Molly is someone Khan can trust. She has no reason to lie to him about Mycroft's offer, she's open about already expecting to find something unusual in the bloodwork...because she's open and honest with him, and he can tell it's not just a facade, he gives his ultimatum that he stay with Molly and that sets the whole rest of the plot into motion.

This was basically the first draft; I had a beta for this fic (the amazing @renniejoy) who went over it and offered a few thoughts on the wording I used, but not much on this section. So it came from my head to paper without much changing, in the end.

Weird Questions for Writers

#answering asks!#my stuff #my thoughts #fanfic #fanfiction

3 notes · View notes

dragon-wisteria · 8 months

Note

Arrow: 1, 25

Wren: 8, 18

Felicity: 13, 15

All three: group situations: 5, 22

Arrow

1. Your character is being offered three wishes by a genie. The usual rules reply. What do they wish for?

his sister back

his sister back omg stop deliberately minsinterpreting his wishes

25. Your character has been invited to a party. Someone who they love but rarely get to see will be there, but so will their worst enemy. Do they accept the invitation? Do they succeed in meeting their loved one, and avoiding their enemy? What happens?

He would accept, and he would suceed in meeting his loved one, but then would get too distracted by them to successfully avoid his enemy. (in other words, basically what happens in episode 16)

Wren

8. If your character got to travel to another world, what world would they choose?

If she was somehow aware of the same fictional worlds as I am, she would absolutely be picking Narnia. In general terms I think she would be very into the idea of a world where animals can talk.

18. Quick! Your character has to accurately sing or recite something from memory! They only have one chance - what do they pick, and do they succeed?

She would definitely pick a nursery rhyme. Something more or less equivalent to 'mary had a little lamb'. I think she'd succeed!

Felicity

13. Your character has been locked in a room and will only be let out if they either sit still and silent for a whole hour, or make constant noise for a whole hour. The room is empty of anything other than a simple plastic chair. Which option do they choose, and what strategy do they use to succeed?

She chooses to make noise! She launches herself off a wall and bounces around the room like the windows logo on steroids.

15. Your character is doing a sponsored challenge to raise money for charity. What kind of challenge do they do?

First, she disguises herself as a normal human girl gathering sponsorships for a marathon. Everyone over-commits to how much money they will give her per mile she runs - a little girl isn't going to make it that far, right? Challenge day comes round and she immediately speed-runs fifty miles in under an hour. Profit.

Group Situations

5. One of your characters has been arrested for a crime they didn't commit. How do the other characters get them out of this predicament?

Felicity's been arrested! Arrow and Wren create an over ambitious prison break plan, which is interupted by Felicity, who just. turned into a rabbit and wriggled out through the bars.

22. Your characters have somehow travelled 200 years into the past! What time period have they ended up in? Do they enjoy visiting this time period? What do your characters get up to? Are there any historical figures they want to meet?

200 years ago for them is probably right after the dismantling of the Cardonian Empire.

Arrow excitedly decides he'd like to meet King Wolf-Slayer, and Felicity, who was not paying attention to the mortal realm during this time period, agrees to help out with this. From the kids' perspective this is a fun and exciting visit to an important historical moment.

Meanwhile Felicity is stressed out of her mind trying to make sure they don't get murdered in the attempted coup that happens while they're visiting.

Thanks for the ask!

(current ask game)

#that last one is based around historical events that i've only loosely drafted out #but it was fun to think about!#my characters #the poppy court #asks

0 notes

bernardineshen · 1 year

Text

My Time Machine

Meeting you is like finding a time machine. I never thought I'd like to manipulate time as much as I like to do when I'm with you. And when they ask for superpowers, this would probably be my best bet. I say, "no regrets," but sometimes I wish I could go back to days I just lie on your bed just so I won't miss your scent. I say, "seize the moment," but sometimes, I just want to slow down moments with you so that it'll never be too short or too fast. I say, "live in the present," but sometimes, I worry for our future too much that I start to overthink. I say, "whatever will be will be," but sometimes, I plan for us just because you never do. I say, "one step at a time," but sometimes, I take multiple steps just because you wouldn't do it for us. I wonder if it's just the three-year age gap... I bet that the time machine could rewind my birth for us just so I could live in your year.

You say, you like me for being chill. I like that version of me too, you know. I just can't understand how your lips make me want to drink a pill. And you'll say, "let's see," when all I want to hear is "I want to see you." And you'll say, "I'm busy next week," when it should have been, "I'll make time for you." I know your friends would never hear that from you. So, sometimes, I wonder, is it better if I'm only one of your friends too?

I keep saying, "it is what it is," but if genie would give me three wishes, I know that I'd definitely manipulate time for you. But sometimes, I wonder if I manipulate myself too--into believing that this is still worth it. I wonder if you would do these things for me too. Because I definitely know what I want and I know there are many others who would do them for me--but I'll keep choosing you even if I'm not sure if you're even sure of me. So, I keep saying, "it is what it is," even if that means your answer would be, "no," or "maybe," or worse is "I actually don't know, boo". I wonder if I were you and you are me, would you stay too?

And they say, "time will fast forward once you see the one". And I guess I'd like to fast forward the time too but not for their same reasons of walking the isle or counting kids and skipping all the bad moments. Because I definitely know that I'm willing to undergo every bad seconds as long as I'm with you. Perhaps, I want to fast forward the time because I want to see if your answer will ever change. I wonder if your "almost" would become a "sure thing" or if all of these is just a lesson we should be receiving. So, I wonder if I could finally be your "yes" or if all of these is just a filler in the gap of your future "yes". I wonder if we could be each other's "worth the wait," or if all of these is just another, "for character development," preparing us for the real deal. Because if this is all for preparation, I guess I did my part of being patient. Should I delay something I already know the ending to?

You say, "It's just bad timing. You know my past and I thought I know what I want. I'm still young while you got things figured out. Who knows? Maybe, I'll be ready tomorrow or next week or next month. But for now, I want to take my time. I know it's unfair for me to keep you and it's also unfair for me to rush. I'm not yet prepared but I'm sure I want you.". And I guess, it's my fault for hearing it as "Stay".

So maybe, when they tell you, "I don't think I deserve you," we should believe them too.

1 note · View note

junkratsadstuck · 2 years

Text

wwdits season 4 leak transcript under the cut (spoilers, obviously)

EDIT: this post is outdated!!! see more below cut

EDIT: kyrilu has located the sides for these scenes! i got a few things wrong when determining who was speaking so i encourage yall to check it out and download a copy in case it gets taken down: https://kyrilu.tumblr.com/post/682188753101553664/risking-another-takedown-notice-my-beloved

ORIGINAL POST:

encouraging you all to download the video / this transcript if you want em just in case it gets taken down for copyright!!! because i have seen stuff like this get taken down before!!!

anyways the video is here >>> https://vimeo.com/594373284

this is my best interpretation of what's going on - the only character onscreen is the Dijnn and the offscreen characters all have the same voice, so if it's not a line by the Dijnn I'm just making my best guess as to who's talking.

— Scene One — Nandor: So how does this work? How many wishes can you grant me? So is it three, or… Dijnn: Maybe more, maybe fewer. Do you wish to know? Nandor: Well yeah, or else I wouldn’t have asked, so…. Guillermo: Careful master, this is how they get you! Nandor: Shush! Yes, I wish to know how many wishes. Dijnn: Twenty-three. But you just used one, so you have twenty-two left. Nandor: I had thirty-seven wives, and one of them I specifically remember I really loved… I just can’t remember which one. Dijnn: Okay, what was her name? Nandor: Uh… I don’t remember her name, but I do remember that she had long dark hair, I think. Dijnn: Twenty-eight of them had long dark hair. Nandor: Huh. Was there a Becky? Dijnn: No. Nandor: How about a Delal? I think he had a fun handlebar mustache. Dijnn: There were three Dalals. Nandor: (To self: You kidding me?…) You know what? Just bring back all of them and we’ll figure it out. Dijnn: Is this your wish? Nandor: This is my wish. I wish for you to bring back all thirty-seven of my dead wives.

— Scene Two — Laszlo: So, are we clear on placement? Dijnn: Yes, noted, it should be in the usual place between the legs. Laszlo: Yes, and not in a separate container such as a jar or a briefcase, or on my chin. Dijnn: Writing Nor… On… Chin… . Done. Stipulated. Nadja: As far as size goes, it should not be so big as it crushes me. Dijnn: What about a mouse? Laszlo: For a penis? No, I don't think so, genie trickster. Nadja: I think he means, “Should the new member be large enough to crush a mouse?” Dijnn: That is exactly what I meant. Laszlo: Huh. A dick so big you could crush a mouse? Yes, don’t mind if I do. … Okay, read that back, please. Dijnn: No substitution of whale or other species penis. Party in possession of the new penis… Laszlo: That’s me. Dijnn: …should be able to comfortably perform physical activities such as walking, running, skipping, crossing legs, et cetera. Should not require purchase of new clothes… Are you sure about that one? Laszlo: Why do you ask? Dijnn: Ninety percent of my business is penis enlargements. Laszlo: That many? Really? Dijnn: Yup. And our clients do NOT mind buying new clothes. Laszlo: Alright. Fine, strike it out. Dijnn: Very well. It has been struck Nadja: Darling, I hate to interrupt your business, but I know that you wish to see Richie Suck at the club? Laszlo: Almost done, my morning star. Dijnn: Richie Suck the rap artist? My cousin granted him wishes to get five mics in the source. Huh, small world. Okay, you guys wanted to circle back about concerns about the balls?

— Scene Three — Dijnn: Okay master, your wish is… Guillermo: Hey, whoa, wait. You can’t give him the world’s largest penis by making everyone else’s penis smaller. Nandor: Oh wow. Very good catch, Guillermo. Dijnn: Shit. Well done, familiar. I was moments away from giving all the men in the world besides Nandor a micro-wang. Nandor: Why would you do such a thing? Dijnn: It’s part of the job, I guess. Y’know, I teach lessons in desire, greed, et cetera… by fucking with the wishes from these so-called masters, but you two bested me. Familiar’s got a shrewd and incisive mind for penis stuff. Nandor: Thank you, Guillermo. I appreciate your help and every time I use my new big dick I will think of all… and all you have done for me. Dijnn: Indeed. So is this your wish? Nandor: This is my wish. Dijnn: Wish granted. Magical hand gesture Nandor: Holy shit! That’ll do, pig! Guillermo, come look at this unit! Dijnn: It’s only about twenty percent bigger than what you already had. Guillermo?: No kidding. I’ll be damned. Dijnn: I’m surprised you wanted more, but yeah, it turned out really beautiful if I do say so myself.

#wwdits #wwdits leak #wwdits s4 #wwdits s4 leak #what we do in the shadows #wwdits spoilers #mpp

146 notes · View notes

nobodyfamousposts · 3 years

Text

My-Crack-Ulous: FOP Crossover

*Coughs* Ahem.

Fairly Odd Parents.

Oh, but not what you think! We’re not getting Cosmo and Wanda for a sad Marinette or Adrien. Oh, no...that would be easy.

No, no. Instead, we’re getting Norm the Genie.

Norm the Genie who wants to be free of his lamp but needs a magical stooge to trap in his place and, hey! Kwamis are magic, aren’t they? Not that he knows much about them since they predate the known universe and even Norm isn’t that old, but still!

So somehow Norm’s lamp ends up in Paris. And just happens to end up in Lila’s hands.

Lila, of course, tries to use it to her advantage.

It goes about as well as you should expect...

____________________

It took a few years before Norm’s lamp found itself back in the human world. And of course, it was only a matter of time before it ended up in someone’s hands.

Granted, he hadn’t expected to end up in Paris, France.

Or for his new beneficiary to wear an incredibly unfashionable jacket and have sausages in her hair.

Oh wait, that was her hair. As sausages. Gross.

“So you’re a genie?” She asked.

Norm had to avoid rolling his eyes.

Teenagers. They thought they were so special, so smart. That if something were to happen to them, that it was only for good and because they deserved it somehow. And for how smart they liked to think they were, none of them ever really questioned what the catch was. Or if their wishes were something they should make at all.

This one was no different.

“And you can grant me any wish?”

“Yep.”

“ANY wish?”

“I just said for the seventh time, yes. Any wish. Three of them. Rule-free.”

Not that she knew what Da Rules were, but meh. Details.

“Then I get sucked back into the lamp.”

Of course, he didn’t mention his propensity to twist the wishes for fun. Seriously, if these people were stupid enough to just take advantage of his powers without considering consequences. Or the complete lunacy of just expecting a magical creature to grant them whatever they wanted for no reason just because they ask for it.

Seriously, these chumps never learn.

Now all that remained was for this latest chump to start and he can begin his fun of finding the best ways to twist her wishes for entertainment…

Lila smirked.

“Well then…I wish for Ladybug to be beaten and forced to bow before me!”

Pause.

Norm raised an eyebrow.

“Wait—seriously?”

He shrugged.

“Okay.”

Suddenly, there was a POOF!

And when Lila blinked, there before her was the image of red with black spots.

Ladybug.

By which is meant the lowercase insect “ladybug” kind instead of the uppercase superhero “Ladybug” kind, much to Lila’s disappointment.

As if to further insult her, the bug proceeded to point in her direction, in a facsimile of a bow.

Lila stared.

Norm sighed.

“Ya know, kid, normally people don’t make it this easy. I barely even had to do anything. I feel kind of cheated.”

“WHAT IS THIS?!” Lila demanded, gesturing to the insect.

“It’s your wish. Duh. I mean, I knew people made stupid first wishes but...wow. This is actually worse than the sandwich.”

She wasn't even going to ask.

“My wish was about Ladybug! Not just a normal ladybug! I’m talking about the superhero, Ladybug!”

Norm shrugged. “Well you should have been more specific.”

She practically growled. “Who else would I be talking about?!”

Norm, for his part, was less than impressed.

“I’ve been in a lamp. How should I know?”

Lila huffed before storming over to her computer and turning it to face Norm, showing a picture of a heroine in a red leotard with black spots in mid-swing between buildings.

“THIS is Ladybug. A magical do-gooder who protects the city from Hawk Moth. I want to see her destroyed. Brought low in every way that matters and forced to beg me for mercy.”

“I see.” Norm said, not really getting it at all.

Kids these days, was he right?

“So grant my wish.” She demanded. “I wish for Ladybug, the superhero, to be beaten and kneeling before me.”

Upping it, wasn’t she?

He shrugged. “Fine.”

POOF!

Some distance away, in the middle of an akuma fight, an injured Ladybug was sent flying back into a delivery van full of discarded papers to be shredded for recycling, scattering the papers around her. Winded, she fell into a kneeling position. It just so happened that one of the many papers that on the ground right in front of her was a poster of Lila from one of her photo shoots with Adrien.

Ladybug took no notice of this, being much more concerned with the akuma attack. She quickly pushed herself up and leapt back into the fray.

Lila and Norm watched this on a television from the safety of her apartment some distance away.

“What the hell was that?!” Lila demanded, spinning on Norm.

“Your wish.” He answered bluntly. “She’s beaten. She kneeled.”

“But not to me!”

“Technically, she did.” He corrected her, gesturing to the TV where the now rumpled and sad-looking poster of her image rested where Ladybug had once been. It seemed the hero had even stepped on it once as she took off. Norm bit down the smirk at the unintended irony.

Lila glared at him.

Then she seemed to realize something as she suddenly gained a thoughtful look.

“Can I wish for more wishes?”

Oh, NOW she starts asking smart questions.

Norm stared at her, considering.

He should lie.

He really should lie and say she couldn’t.

From what he’s seen of her so far, this girl seemed a few wires short of a Crock-pot, and speaking of, he was starting to get some flashbacks. His previous time working with Crocker reminded him full well why it was a bad idea to let the humans know they could wish for additional wishes. Plus this girl was already giving him the feeling that the sooner he was away from her, the better.

…but he had spent years as a urinal cake and given what Lila had told him about magical-based superheroes, well, how could he turn away from an opportunity?

“Sure.” He finally answered, much to Lila’s glee.

“Then I wish for three more wishes!” She exclaimed. “And for my first wish, I wish that Ladybug—the superhero Ladybug whom you just saw would be forced to kneel before myself—the me that is right here before you.”

Lila smirked, figuring that it was specific enough that there was no way this could be turned against her.

How little she knew.

The POOF of Norm’s magic was immediately drowned out by complete chaos as something came crashing through the wall and into Lila’s bedroom.

Lila screamed as she was blown back, and covered her face in a limited ability to protect herself from further onslaught.

Coughing could be heard, but it wasn’t just Lila. She dared to peek through her hands and…

Of all people, it was Ladybug crouched on the floor of her room, coughing and waving away the dust and debris.

And sure enough, her position of trying to regain her bearings had her turned in Lila’s directions, head bowed and on her knees. Just as Lila had asked for.

But not in the way she had wanted.

Norm had conveniently vanished from sight, so there was no one else for Ladybug to see besides Lila. Realizing where she was and who she was in front of, Ladybug couldn’t hide her initial scowl before she was able to mask the expression and focus in on the task at hand.

“My apologies, civilian.” She bit out. “Akuma attack. Just stay here and stay safe for now. This won’t take much longer.”

And without another word, she shakily got to her feet and turned back to the attack.

Given Ladybug’s state, Lila could have been in a perfect position to try to interfere. Grab her. Maybe even get her earrings.

But the crash had sent Lila herself falling back, and she was even more unsteady than Ladybug.

She tried to push herself up, but realized that in the chaos, some debris had landed on her leg, preventing her from moving.

Of all the rotten luck!

Ladybug left without further ado and Lila was stuck in her room with a hole in her wall and no way to move from her spot on the floor.

Conveniently, Norm reappeared once she was alone.

“Soooo…just a suggestion, kid, but maybe you should try wishing for something else. Something that doesn’t involve superhero ladybugs.”

“Shut up.” She groused as she struggled to push the broken bits of her desk off her leg and grunting in pain.

Norm, of course, did not shut up.

“I take it you want to use your second wish to restore your room? And your third to wish for more wishes?” He asked, but it was clear he wasn’t actually asking.

“Yes!”

The sooner the better.

With another POOF, her room was restored and her leg, while still injured, was no longer pinned. Cautiously, she rose to her feet, hanging onto her bed for stability.

As if to further mock her, it seemed that Ladybug had successfully defeated the akuma as the Miraculous Cure swept through the area, restoring everything else.

Norm blinked in surprise.

“Huh. Didn’t know that could happen. Well, that was a waste of a wish, huh?”

Lila twitched.

__________________

“Okay. Okay.”

She had thought about this long and hard.

Much to her frustration, it seemed wishing anything against Ladybug directly was doomed to failure. Lila attributed it to Ladybug’s magic and natural luck. There could be no other reason for it. Lila’s phrasing and intentions had been fool-proof.

Norm’s smirks and passive aggressive comments didn’t mean a thing.

As such, Lila reluctantly turned her focus away from her arch nemesis to the more civilian side of things and decided to target someone who had no such protection.

The only one to figure out she was a liar: Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

She didn’t know how the other girl knew so quickly. Or what led her to the truth.

And Lila didn’t particularly care.

Marinette was just another thorn in her side. Not nearly as irritating as Ladybug, but still enough to want her gone. And since Lila had a genie and three more wishes to use to her advantage, it seemed Marinette would serve as the perfect way to test it.

And so, Lila made the first of her next three wishes.

“I wish that Marinette Dupain-Cheng was forced to leave Francois Dupont.”

A bit on the extreme side, admittedly. If she was being honest, Lila would have preferred to keep Marinette around and wish her to be miserable in some other way instead. But she had the power of a genie at her command and given Marinette’s annoyingly clever and intrusive nature, it would likely only be a matter of time before she caught on to Lila’s new advantage and tried something to relieve her of it.

So the brat had to go.

And oh, what a wonderful scene it was when two serious and official looking men stepped into the classroom to ask for Marinette to go with them to the Principal’s office. The goody-goody left the room looking scared. Everyone whispered and looked to each other in confusion, questioning why and what happened. Who were those men and what could they want with Marinette?

Lila practically felt downright giddy at the sight! She couldn’t wait to see the other girl in tears!

It was almost two hours later when Marinette was brought back to the room by Principal Damocles. Both looked pale and fatigued. But Marinette in particular looked almost tearful.

“Pardon us, Ms. Bustier, but Marinette is just here to gather her things.”

Lila had to hold herself back from grinning and instead put on a fake look of concern.

“Oh no! Marinette, are you all right?”

"Girl, what happened?" Alya asked, worriedly.

“What did those guys want?” Adrien questioned in concern.

Marinette shook her head. "I'm being transferred.”

Here, Lila did smirk even as everyone else around her gasped in dismay.

Damocles patted Marinette’s shoulder, his fatigue giving way to cheer. “Those gentlemen were representatives of one of the most highly acclaimed private art schools in Paris, and they came to interview Marinette for a place in their program!”

"WHAT?!"

Any smirk Lila did show immediately dropped.

“They saw my hat at the fashion show and other designs from my website, and once they heard that I was complimented by Audrey Bourgeois, they decided to offer me a scholarship to come to their school." Marinette explained, looking a mix of excited and anxious.

“That’s wonderful!”

“You deserve it, Marinette!”

“That’s right! It’s a great honor!” Damocles continued. “Of course, they were rather insistent about arranging the transfer, but it’s early enough in the school year and—”

Lila didn’t pay any attention to anything further of Damocles’s prattling and barely even noticed the way everyone else in the classroom cheered and showered Marinette in congratulations and praise.

Nobody paid much attention to Lila for the rest of the school day. Which was just as well, as it allowed her to skip out and storm back home.

Where she found Norm. Sunbathing on her balcony. And messing with her laptop.

He only noticed she was there when she slammed the door open.

“What?” He snarked. “Not what you wanted?”

“Undo it. NOW.”

“You sure?” He asked. “I mean, she’ll still be gone. There’ll be no one to call out your depressingly obvious lies. And with her not being around as much, your little followers are bound to lose touch with her over time and be all yours to screw with.”

“The point is for her to be miserable! UNDO IT!”

The next day, it was with some disappointment as Marinette informed her classmates that while the school had wanted her, the school only had limited slots and apparently the men who came to interview her hadn't been aware the vacancy had already been filled.

"It was still a bit too early for me to start there anyway." Marinette added. "I double checked, and they're a fully fledged lycee. They were apparently figuring I could skip ahead a grade and start there sooner."

"Weird."

"But impressive!"

"Yeah, you totally deserve it, dudette!"

"You'll just have to try for next year." Alya said, moving to wrap an arm around Marinette’s shoulder. “But I’m glad you’ll be with us for a while longer.”

Marinette smiled back, happy and relieved. “Yeah!”

Lila glared at the happy group from around a corner.

So this fell through. But next time would work.

She was smarter than some shut-in genie. She was bound to find a way to make a wish that would give her exactly what she wanted.

And when she did…

Lila smirked.

Ladybug would be as good as gone.

#ml fic #ml crossover #fairly odd parents #lila sucks #ladybug #marinette dupain cheng #be careful what you wish for #lila is not careful #my-crack-ulous

686 notes · View notes

shakirawastaken · 3 years

Text

A Whole New World: chapter 5

they’re out of the cave! half of this was written when I was half asleep, so i apologize in advance :’)

enjoy !

the first wish

masterlist | previous | next

“So you’re a genie?” Wilbur asked hesitantly, still obviously very scared of the man? in front of him.

“Uh, yeah, I just said that.” Tommy said, making it sound like the obvious.

“Got it.” Wilbur said, nodding as if that solved all his problems in the world.

“So, get on with it! What’s your first wish?” Tommy asked quickly, seeming like he wanted to bring this interaction to a close. “I think we would both appreciate it if you wished us out of this cave, I haven’t seen the sun in ages.” Tommy sarcastically sobbed out. “I know my skin looks pale, sky blue, it’s supposed to be navy blue! I need to tan, man!”

“I’m sorry, did you just say wish?” Wilbur asked bewildered.

“Uh, yes, keep up with the program big man! Do you not know what you got sent down here for?” Tommy asked, a little bit softer now as he realized the ragged man in front of him was indeed, clueless.

“All I got told was to get that stupid lamp.” Wilbur said dumbly, feeling a little bit humiliated at his lack of knowledge at the moment in time.

“Hmmm,” Tommy said, thinking. He sat, no, hovered, above a rock and put a fist up to his chin. “I guess I could give you a crash course in the rules.” he decided, standing up and stretching out.

“Go on,” Wilbur said, waving a hand out to see what Tommy would do.

“I’m going, calm down mate.” Tommy told him back, rolling his eyes slightly. Suddenly, he snapped his fingers and a little blackboard started to float in front of him. Wilbur widened his eyes and stared at the board. Did it just come out of nowhere? This kid really was magic, he decided and waited for whatever the kid would do next. Next, a piece of chalk appeared out of nowhere and started sipping and zooming across the blackboard.

“As we’ve covered, I’m a genie. Magical being with lots of cool magic power In fact, I’m the most powerful being in the universe,.” Tommy started to lecture, as Wilbur sat down on a rock, carpet zooming up to rest next to him.

“I live in that so called ‘stupid lamp’ that you were sent down here to get. Now, you may be asking ‘oh but Tommy why is your lamp so important?’ The lamp isn’t important, it's me. See, when you rubbed the lamp, you became my master. I don’t like that word, maybe you can call me your friend or companion, neighbor maybe?, mentor, oo what about-”

“Okay, don’t call myself your master, moving on?” Wilbur interrupted, trying to get the genie back on track.

“Right, sorry.” Tommy apologized and quickly continued on. “Anyways, when someone becomes a genie’s master,” he looked at Wilbur pointedly, “they get 3 wishes from the genie. You get 3 wishes from me. 3 wishes for anything you’ve ever wanted.”

“Anything?” Wilbur asked in awe, mind racing with all the possibilities he could go through. He could wish for a home, for money, for his mother to come back to life, maybe even to get the princess and him together. That would be a wish well spent, he decided.

“Well, almost anything.” Tommy admitted “there are three rules in regards to what you can wish for.” Wilbur nodded in understanding, that made sense. Sadly, everything in life had rules.

“Rule number one!” Tommy exclaimed, “I can’t kill anyone. So don’t bother asking me, I can’t and won’t do it.” The chalk quickly drew a skull on the board with a do not enter sign over it, making the message clear.

“Rule number two! I can’t make two people fall in love. So if you have that special someone, and I know you do, don’t bother. Love is already a magical thing, I don’t want to meddle with it.” Tommy relayed to Wilbur as pink sparkles suddenly burst around the cave at the mention of love, once again underlining the message. Wilbur scowled at the genie, disappointed. There goes that wish.

“Rule number three! I can’t bring back people from the dead. It’s nasty .Also, don’t ask for more wishes. You have three, that’s enough.” Tommy finished, waving his hand to make the chalkboard disappear.

“Huh,” Wilbur said, not sure what else to say. “Why do you give people these wishes? I’m sure it's not willingly.”

“You’re right about that one,” Tommy said, knocking the two bracelets on his wrists together. “I’m stuck with this freaking lamp until I get set free.”

“Can’t you just set yourself free?” Wilbur asked. If Tommy was magic, the most powerful being in the universe, then shouldn’t he just be able to snap his fingers and make the bracelet disappear.

“PBAHAHAHAH” Tommy burst out laughing for the second time that night. Wilbur had come to learn that this kid’s laugh is very loud. “No, I can’t just free myself. I would’ve already done that if I could. The thing is that my master had to use their wishes to set me free.”

“Oh,”

“Yeah, oh.”

Wilbur sighed, and tried to change the subject away from this topic. “So, how do I use one of my wishes?”

Tommy perked up at the change in topic. “You basically have to rub the lamp and say ‘Tommy, I wish for…’ and then say your wish. But you have to be doing all of those things. Some advice, you could get us out of this cave with a wish.”

Wilbur nodded, “okay, so I take the lamp.” he picked it up from the ground. He waited for Tommy to turn around or look away for a second before passing the lamp to Friend, who then hid it.

“Tommy, I wish for all of us to get out of this cave!”

Tommy turned back around and grinned. He grew in size and bellowed “Here we go!!”

With a couple of gestures with his hand, carpet had started hovering in front of Wilbur and Friend, and an opening to the cave had been made.

“Please keep your hands and feet inside the ride at all times,” Tommy said, grinning as he pushed Wilbur onto the carpet gently. “Out of the cave we go!” Carpet reared up and zoomed towards the hole in the exit, doing a few tricks here and there. Once it zoomed out, Tommy snapped his fingers to close the entrance to the cave and carpet landed, no, crashed onto the sand. Wilbur tumbled out onto the hot sand and sighed, glad he was out of that cave.

Tommy floated above the sand, glancing around at the outside world. “Wow, this is nice. Been a while since I came out here.” he said.

“How long?” Wilbur asked out of curiosity.

“10 thousand years.” Tommy said as if that was the simplest thing ever. “10 thousand!” Wilbur muttered softly, wondering how this kid was even sane after spending that much time in the lamp.

“So, what’s your next wish, man?” Tommy asked, finally shrinking down and turning to Wilbur.

“I have no clue,” Wilbur said.

“Take your time,” Tommy said, wanting to savor as much of the outside world as he can in the time he would be out of the lamp. “In the meantime,” he said, snapping his fingers. “We can rest here.” A little gazebo popped up out of nowhere with tables and chairs with loads of food on the table.

Wilbur sat in one of the chairs and placed his head in his hands, thinking. What is something he could want. Money? It’d all be gone eventually. Power? No, I don’t think so. Food? He would eat it all and then be back where he started. Love? Well, there was the princess, but Tommy can’t make two people fall in love. Plus, the princess would never fall in love with him, a “street rat.” But, she might fall in love with a-

“Prince.” Wilbur said suddenly, standing up from his chair and startling Tommy who was busy eating grapes from the vine, and basically living the life.

“What?” Tommy asked, raising an eyebrow, staring at the boy.

“Yes, I can use one of my wishes to make the princess fall in love with me and then the second one for whatever problem may come along the way and then I can use the other one to set you free! It’s perfect!”

“Yes, but I can’t make two people fall in love.” Tommy said, reminding the man of his lecture down in the cave.

“Yes, but the princess can only marry a prince. So if you make me a prince, then the problem is solved !” Wilbur exclaimed, proud of himself for coming up with this solution.

“You want me to make you a prince?” Tommy asked, “I could just,” he snapped his fingers and some dude in royal clothes appeared to the side of them. “Make you a prince.”

“No, no,” Wilbur said, waving his hands in front of him.

“Be very specific with your words.” Tommy told him, “Also, you only have two wishes left.” he said smugly, thinking he caught the fault in Wilbur’s words.

“No, you said I have to be rubbing the lamp to make a wish. I never rubbed the lamp in the cave. I gave it to Friend.”

Tommy turned to the monkey and cocked his head. “Is this true?” The monkey shrugged, unable to communicate in any other way. “I’m keeping an eye on you, the both of you,” Tommy threatened as Wilbur smirked at the child, satisfied.

“Get on with your wish mate,” Tommy said, and tossed Wilbur the lamp.

“Okay,” Wilbur took a deep breath, “Tommy, I wish for you to turn me into a prince.” he said as he rubbed the lamp.

“I never thought you’d ask!” Tommy said smirking, “Here we go!!!!”

ty for reading <3

a whole new world taglist (open!): @uwucorpse @etheriaaly @glitterydigitalart @saturnhas82moons @nayxd10 @bergandysam @aikochan4859 @theblueblub @i-am-scared-and-useless-bisexual

general dsmp taglist (open!): @joyfullymulti

69 notes · View notes

dat-town · 3 years

Text

wish you were here

Characters: Mark Lee & you

Setting: wish dragon au (and a bit of aladdin because mark even has a tiger in their garden like jasmine did. don’t ask why, just blame the regular mv), childhood best friends to lovers (at least there’s potential?)

Genre: fluff and humour

Warnings: mentions of a sick animal and a wild animal kept as a pet in a huge garden (just like jasmine’s tiger, it’s very tamed)

Summary: A magical teapot, a dragon that wants everyone to be happy and an old friendship being revived. Oh yeah, have I told you that you have 3 wishes?

Words: 6.4k

For @restlessmaknae 💕

When your mother told you you got delivery to your childhood home, you certainly did not expect this: a brown box as big as a small watermelon with your old Canadian address and MARK LEE scrabbled next to your name as another recipient but no sender. Not to mention, the first stamp on the thing was dating back to the early 2010s. Where the hell was this package for 10 years? And what would you and your old neighbour slash best friend have gotten together?

Okay, first things first:

You and this clumsy, kind of cute kid, Mark had been quite tight while growing up. You were born in the same year, only a month apart, and his family lived in the house next to yours in the suburbs of Vancouver, so it was kind of natural. You two might have been against the world kind of comrades, playing hide and seek when you were six and wondering about whether time travelling was possible through black holes at twelve. But no matter how close you used to be, you fell out of touch when Mark's family moved to the other end of the world, back to Korea, their roots when you were fourteen. You slowly forgot about him, and started university in the city, moving away from home, so nothing really reminded you of him ⎼ and your stupid, big fat crush on him that you had no courage to tell him about in middle school ⎼, nothing until this box.

You put the delivered package on your kitchen table while you make some dinner for yourself out of what you have gotten during grocery shopping earlier just before you picked up the mysterious stuff at the post office. You eye it suspiciously over your pasta, really not wrapping your mind about what it could be but instead of annoying yourself with this pointless curiosity, you put your fork down and stand up to open it. It’s a struggle at first, the box being secured with multiple adhesive tapes over the years but when you finally get rid of all that and can look inside of it, an intense feeling rushes through you… immerse disappointment.

“A teapot? For real? What were we thinking?” you furrow your brows taking the small, green and pretty old teapot into your hands. It looks like a piece of a traditional Asian set with its jade colour and dragon pattern. It couldn’t have been in a much better shape 10 years ago either seeing how wayworn it is but still, you expected something more… exciting? Something funny that might or might not give you an excuse to look up Mark Lee on the internet and message him for the sake of old times. But how lame it would be to befriend him on Facebook only to tell him that you got delivered a teapot under both your names. Hah, you would rather not embarrass yourself like that.

You shoot one last glance at the teapot before leaving it on your counter and going back to your food, you successfully forget about the whole ordeal. You carry your life on with only one small difference: Mark Lee back on your mind after long, long years.

It was just a small crush, you tell yourself, sighing as you look into the mirror, absentmindedly wondering how he’s doing. Does he think of you sometimes as well? Did he go to music college like he has always wanted? Is he happy? You wish he was even if he’s half a world away and with that thought you think it’s time to go to sleep despite the upcoming weekend days. You don’t want to mess up your sleep schedule over some boy but as soon as you pull the blanket over your chest and close your eyes, something explodes in your kitchen.

You jump out of bed faster than lightning, in slight panic over the fact that your neighbours will hate you for bothering them late at night and your landlord would kill you if you managed to blow up your microwave. But the sight that welcomes you is like no other that you imagined. The whole room is covered in thick pink glittery smoke. Like your worst Barbie nightmare.

“What the⎼” you cough, waving your hands to clear the air and once it dissolves into nothingness with its weirdly cotton candy smell, there’s a boy in the middle of it all, sitting cross legged on your kitchen counter so casually as if he owned the place. His pink-ish purple hair hangs into his eyes and he seems to find your coffee machine strangely interesting. You grab the first thing you can ⎼ a blender ⎼ and hold it up in defensive before yelling at the boy: “Who the hell are you and what are you doing in my apartment?”

The stranger’s mouth pulls up in a charming smile, his eyes sparkle as he turns his attention to you, hopping off the counter. He’s all thin and long limbs, so you hate how you hate to look up at him as he walks towards you before bowing ceremoniously.

“Hello, sorry for the sudden appearance, I just couldn’t wait any longer! I’ve been stuck in that teapot waaay too long. I didn’t mean to be rude or anything. My name is Taeyong, I’m a wish dragon and you’re my new owner,” he smiles and what he says makes absolutely no sense.

“A wish dragon?” you mumble in shock, looking around to see if this is just another prank of Johnny. You wouldn’t be surprised to see him jump out from under one of the cupboards. Or maybe you just fell asleep and you’re dreaming. Yeah, that seems like a realistic scenario.

“Ah, yes! I know I don’t look like it but modern times require modern solutions. Most people freak out because of my dragon form, so human it is,” the boy who seems only a few years older than you grins as he’s chatting and you have to give it to him, he takes this role pretty seriously. “You have three wishes as my owner. You can ask for anything as long as it’s not about death or love.”

So you got yourself someone who thinks he’s basically a genie? Oh gosh, is he that drunk?

“Aha, very funny. I’m too tired for this prank, so I would appreciate it if you left the same way you came...” you point towards your window because there’s no way he came through the door. Putting down your blender because the guy looks pretty harmless despite his crazy blabbering, you move to go back to your bedroom.

“No, no, no, I can’t do that,” the boy, Taeyong as he introduced himself, appears in front of you within a second and grabs your shoulder as if he could shake some sense into you. He looks pretty desperate. “I can only get a new owner if I fulfill all wishes of yours. It was super stuffy in that box the last decade, you know.”

At that excuse you let out a laugh.

“You don’t even fit it the⎼”

“You were saying?” Taeyong is suddenly nowhere near ahead of you but instead a small creature, supposedly a dragon, in the size of your palm flies in front of your eye level. “It’s magic!”

Okay, now that sight makes you feel like it’s you who is drunk. Or worse.

“Am I dead?” you have to ask in a small, uncertain voice, trying to think back what could have happened. Maybe that explosion literally blew your apartment up? But it hurts when you pinch your arm and turning back into his human form, Taeyong wants to prove the very same thing. Not the hurting but the not dead part, obviously.

“No, you’re very much alive and a happy owner of a wish dragon. Not permanently, of course, but still,” he tells you as he drags you onto your couch in the living room. As if sitting down could help processing all this.

So you have a wish dragon in your home, a magical creature that can casually switch between its dragon and human form and he says you should wish for three things, so he could leave and you could go back to your old, boring life without magic and things that scare you to death at 11PM.

“Can I ask… why? Why me? I’m not really owner-material,” you whisper because heck yeah, you even managed to kill your cactus before. Taeyong purses his lips as he sits down, a hand at his chin.

“Well, it’s unusual indeed to have a peasant girl, no offence, as my owner but as far as I know, you and your friend asked for a sign that magic was real.”

Oh, you remember that, being so obsessed with shooting stars and other stuff like that, you two used Mark’s brother’s computer to browse the internet, trying to find evidence about all that. You were kids wanting to believe in a world beyond the one you knew. But...

“That was like 10 years ago,” you furrow your eyebrows, not getting the timing.

“Well, sorry, you weren’t put on the top of the Heaven wish list and the shipping from Shanghai to Vancouver isn’t the fastest either,” Taeyong shrugs as if it was supposed to be natural. As if that was the most unbelievable thing. Well, delivery services are sometimes a pain in the ass, that’s true but getting a wish delivered by Heaven was something you would have never thought of and it all drains down on you. Strangest realisation of your life.

“So… it’s all real,” you whisper ahead of yourself: magic, dragons and all that. You could basically see your old best friend’s I told you so smile and let out a soft chuckle. “I wish Mark could meet with you, too.”

At that the guy ahead of you claps his hands and rubs them together, creating the same purple smoke from before. You look at him alarmed.

“Your wish, my command,” Taeyong grins and lifts his hands and before you could make a sound of protest because gosh, you didn’t mean it literally, you feel the ground move under your feet and you’re falling, into the darkness but despite shutting your eyes automatically, fearing the impact of the crash, nothing comes. Only the smell of soy sauce in the air and warm sunshine on your skin… Wait, what?

Your eyelids fly open and you notice in shock that you’re not in your flat anymore, ready to sleep. Instead, you stand in the middle of a goddamn street somewhere in Korea based on the signs still in your PJ shorts and tee. Oh my gosh! You hide in an alley right away and yank the seemingly proud Taeyong with you.

“I didn’t tell you that I meant right now! I can’t meet Mark in my PJs and I need my phone and wallet to function anyways. Not to mention, I don’t speak Korean at all...” you ramble panicking, the realisation that you’re indeed on the other side of the Earth due to some magic is yet to register. But the awkwardness from the stares you have just gotten has already turned you bashful.

Listening to you, the wish dragon seems sheepish and slightly embarrassed as he scratched his nape, his colourful hair falling into his cast down eyes.

“Oh… sorry. I got so excited over the wish that I didn’t think about it! It’s been a while since I did teleport magic but hey, I still have it in me. Anyways, sorry. Phone and wallet, you said? Here you go,” he pulls out something from his pants which magically seems to be indeed your belongings. That definitely makes things earlier.

“Uhm, thanks. Where are we exactly?”

“Ah, well you mentioned your friend Mark Lee, so we’re here. Well, one bell away because I did remember that it’s rude to intrude other’s houses without permission first,” oh now, you know, you snicker internally and gulp because hell, even if you wanted to see Mark, you wouldn’t have thought that the meeting would come so soon. You didn’t have enough time to prepare yourself mentally.

“So… you’re telling me that this… is where Mark lives?” you point at the impressive apartment complex on the corner of the street but Taeyong shakes his head.

“Nope, This is where your Mark lives,” he says and before you could object about the ‘your’ part, the dragon points at the other side of the road at a luxurious house with a huge garden, basically a palace. Seeing the beautiful fountain, the modern and yet traditional Korean style building beyond the fences makes your jaw drop.

“Hahaha, alright for a magic dragon you must have made a mistake. There’s no way the Mark Lee I know lives here,” you look back at Taeyong finding it funny that the kid who used to wore his favourite tees until his mother basically threw them out would live at such a place.

“Mark Lee, korean name Minhyung, supposed to be 22 years old internationally soon. Bad eyesight, contagious laugh, clumsy but has surprisingly good reflexes, gets embarrassed easily. Sound familiar?” Taeyong crooks a brow at you as he reads the information off from a parchment he just took out of his pants. Everything he listed is just so Mark that you’re left in disbelief.

“Uuh… that sounds about right.”

“His father hit it big in 2016 with a tech company, their net worth has too many zeros to count,” Taeyong explains, seeing how surprised you were over the fact that he lived a lavish life like this. Not that he doesn’t deserve it! Mark is such a sweetheart, so of course, you would only want the best for him but as if half the world wasn’t enough, now you have another huge gap between you.

“Gosh, I really can’t believe this. How am I supposed to just ring the bell and say hello after so much time?” you sighed with your head in your hands. “Argh, I need to buy some clothes and change.”

Taeyong approves the idea based on how enthusiastically he hollers, you wonder why nobody on the street seems to pay no attention to him. Maybe only you see him, just more reason for you to be crazy.

“Good idea because we’re having dinner with Mark!”

“What?” you look up in shock, not following through. Taeyong grins down at you, flashing a giddy smile and with a twirl he’s changed from his baggy, casual clothes to something more chic but still laidback.

“Your wish was him meeting me, so I arranged everything. I can't meet him without you and the teapot there, you know,” he explains as if it was supposed to be obvious. You aren't ready yet though.

“You just want to eat all the fancy delicious food he has,” you squint at him suspiciously and the dragon stays silent, so you must be right. He laughs nervously.

“Maybe, but can you blame me? I haven’t had a feast since a literal decade!” he hollers and somehow you really cannot find it in yourself to be angry at him. You are in Seoul for god's sake after all and magic is real, you can put up with the inconvenience of buying clothes and making yourself look decent before dumping all this surprise on Mark.

An hour later you stand in front of the gates of the Lee mansion and nervously you wipe your sweating hands into your dress. You can totally do this, you just say hi to an old friend, it's not like you're afraid he wouldn't remember you, hah, of course not–

"Y/N!"

You whip your head at the call of your name to the source of that all too familiar voice. Sure it's deeper than you remember but there's no mistake in whose it is. Plus, who else would call your name in South Korea of all places.

"Mark, hey!" you wave the boy who just got out of one of the fanciest cars you've ever seen in your life. And yet, despite the Prada suit and expensive shoes, styled hair and Swiss watch on wrist, Mark Lee still has that goofy little smile and the doe eyes that used to make you weak in the knees. Hah, who are you kidding? They still do.

"Oh my god, dude, you… you got pretty," Mark jogs up to you and having no filter like always he blabbers immediately only to stutter as his ears turn red. It was so him talking before thinking, so you didn’t really mean to dwell on his words. Although you felt your cheeks dusted with pink soon enough. "I mean, it's really good to see you! I was so surprised to see your name in my calendar for today's dinner! You should have told me you were coming to Korea, I would have picked you up at the airport."

His calendar? Ah, of course, he must have been busy and all that. You wouldn’t have been surprised to see an assistant run after him at this point, so you wonder how your wish dragon magically put you onto his list of important people to meet. Gosh, it was so weird.

"Ah, I have a funny story about that…" you chuckled to yourself but before you could have get out anything, even a please, can we go to a more private place? Mark’s eyes zero on the guy next to you and his eyes grow comically wide.

"And uhm, who is your friend?" he points at Taeyong who waves him in exchange with a kilowatt smile. He looks back at you with his mouth agapé. "Oh my god, you came to invite me to your wedding?"

He says oh my god way too many times for an eloquent rich kid, he really is the Mark Lee you knew.

"No, never! I mean, of course, I would invite you but Taeyong and I– I literally met him on my way here," you explain hastily cursing yourself for the silly lie. You came to tell him the news not to try to make it believable.

“I heard there’s food,” the wish dragon pipes in very helpful and you shoot him a disapproving glance he doesn’t notice. Luckily, Mark doesn’t seem to mind.

“Oh, yeah, of course, dinner! Come on in, let’s get you two settled,” he grins albeit a bit awkwardly as he leads you through the gate after opening it with his card.

On the way through the very, very, very big garden, he’s chattering about how he misses the Vancouver weather, especially on humid, hot days like this and talks about how he thinks the fountain in their yard is a bit too much but his mom loved it and then before you know it, you sit by a huge dining table with fine food in front of you. Suddenly you can’t decide whether you're grateful for Taeyong’s shameless presence – he digs into the jjigae right away – because at least the situation isn’t awkward because of your silence or you’re annoyed by it because you must seem like a weirdo because of him. That’s why you decide to rip off the bandage and tell Mark as soon as the last maid has disappeared too.

“Okay, so actually I came here because I have a surprise,” you speak up, probably too serious because the boy almost chokes on his food due to how fast he turns his head towards you.

“More surprise?” he coughs out and you offer him a glass of water which he takes with a smile.

“You literally won’t believe this one!” you assure him and wait until he gulps down the drink. Only then you point to Taeyong and tell him that your childhood wish has come true.

Mark almost falls off his chair this time.

Not after you tell him that though. He laughs at that with that wheezing laugh of his as if you told the joke of the century then pats you on the shoulder murmuring That was a good one, bro and turning back to his food. But then you look at the magic dragon pointedly and Taeyong puts down his chopsticks with an exaggerated sign. Then he flexes his magic: turning into his dragon form among additional sparkles and Mark suddenly looks like he’s about to faint. He reaches out to tap on your shoulder while not taking his eyes off the wish dragon.

“Am I dreaming?” he whispers and honestly, you totally get his reaction while Taeyong mumbles something about ‘people these days not believing in dragons’ as he shows off all the things he could do: gift riches, make one stronger than they are, giving skills of whatever one wants. He starts rambling about how this one Chinese emperor became wealthy thanks to this, how that one actor in martial arts and all this before changing back to his human form and he continues eating his pasta like nothing ever happened.

“I can do this all day,” he shrugs as if he didn’t just perform the coolest magic tricks.

“This… this is the best thing ever!” Mark exclaims with those sparkles in his eyes you missed so much. He was always so excited about new things and it automatically makes you smile how he bombards Taeyong with million questions like: ‘So you are the wish dragon that grants wishes?’ or asking him about his scales, his unique color, how it feels to live in such a small teapot, how old he is and the dragon glows under all the attention. Can’t blame him but Mark has always been so curious about the world, it’s endearing.

“So your first wish was to meet me?” he turns to you after long minutes of interrogating Taeyong and suddenly, under the spotlight you don’t know what to do with yourself. You can feel yourself blushing because you didn’t necessarily mean to wish for that but it’s not like you’re regretting it, it’s just… you don’t want him to misunderstand.

“I thought you should meet him, too, after all the package was delivered for the two of us,” you look down, trying to sound nonchalant while picking your food, avoiding Mark’s gaze. No matter how open armed he welcomed you, you still aren’t convinced that it’s okay to be here because the more time you spend with him, the more you would like to stay a part of his life. “It’s just… I wasn’t really sure we could ever meet again. We didn’t keep contact after you left.”

With dropped shoulders, you try not to sound too downhearted because of what happened because you know all too well, it wasn’t his fault, it was a family decision and look at him, it did good for him! He seems happy, they live in a practically mansion but most importantly, he didn’t seem to change with the wealth. He might wear expensive clothes but under it all he’s still the boy with the most loveable smile.

“I… I was thinking about you a lot, I just thought you forgot about me,” Mark admits with a sheepish smile, tucking his hair behind his ear shyly. He really still is the same and it’s playing silly little games with your heart. If this was a cheesy Disney movie, a slow bgm would start to play as you look into each other but your moment is broken when Taeyong accidentally kicks into his chair as he stands up. At first he looks alarmed but then giggles.

“I will just… go. Don’t mind me,” he disappears like smoke with a wink, leaving you two alone at which Mark lets out a woah. You chuckle at his cute reaction, heart doing somersaults in your chest.

You thought it would be awkward, just the two of you alone after long years but Mark has this thing that he makes people feel comfortable around him, so it’s actually quite nice. You catch up on everything and anything that comes to your mind: old neighbours, studies, friends, what are you doing now and what would you like to do, too.

After finishing the delicious dinner, Mark offers a home tour which you would never refuse and you jaw drops at the huge crystal chandelier in their living room as well as their swimming pool but your favourite place in the whole mansion is Mark’s room because it’s just so him. You can’t describe it well but the moment you step inside, it feels like home. It’s cozy to the point it makes you want to cuddle a pillow. It has colours of pastels, a synthesizer here, a guitar there, posters of singers framed on his wall and vinyl records hanging down. His window has a view of sunset and Namsan above their green garden and although you haven’t been in Seoul before, you’re pretty sure it’s your favourite place in the whole damn city, too.

“Wait, there’s someone I would like you to meet,” Mark suddenly exclaims while you’re looking through his pictures and he pulls you out of his room, out of the house, into the garden: You giggle all the way as he’s being so secretive about it but then your steps halt unexpectedly and the hand you have in Mark’s yanks him back.

“Mark… why is there a tiger in your garden in the middle of Seoul?” you ask as quietly and as immobile as you can. You don’t want to attract the sleeping animal’s attention to yourself. But to your biggest surprise, the boy just laughs, his thumb caressing your skin soothingly.

“She’s Jasmine and she won’t hurt you,” he reassures you but needless to say, you’re not too calm and you’re pulled close to the wild animal that lifts its huge head towards you lazily. “She was abandoned by her mother as a cub and she was outcast in the zoo because she’s a bit sick, so she has always been weaker than her siblings. Dad made a donation and we have raised her since she was young.”

You hiss when Mark reaches out without fear but the tiger basically purrs as he strokes down his fur at the neck. You watch in awe as this big wild animal becomes a soft cat under the hands of Mark Lee. When the boy encourages you to pat her too, you hesitate but he promises you that it’s gonna be alright and you take a leap of faith.

“What’s her sickness?” you wonder aloud as your fingers get lost in the soft fur of the tiger. You hope she’s not in a lot of pain.

“It’s an immune system thing, not sure what exactly but she wouldn’t have survived this long in the wild,” the boy tells you and his mouth curls up in a smile when Jasmine licks your hand. It seems like you’re tiger-approved. You look into its warm brown eyes and your heart churns at the thought of her condition.

Mark tells you stories of Jasmine, about that one time she crashed his birthday cake or how much she likes to swim with him in their pool during summer and gosh, you could listen to him go on and on forever. You’re only reminded of the reality, that all this is just a possible one-time thing, a weekend getaway with magic when Taeyong shows up in swimwear, ready to crash in said pool.

“I guess he might have been bored in that teapot,” Mark laughs, not minding at all. He even offers you to join but you have a better idea.

“Taeyong, I have my second wish!” you call out for the wish dragon who’s suddenly much more excited about that than the water. He’s beside you in a moment, beaming and curious. You glance at Mark with a soft smile before looking at your personal genie confidently.

“I wish Jasmine would be healthy,” you whisper, playing with the tiger’s furry ears which she seems to enjoy. You were a little bit afraid the dragon would say it’s not possible, that he can’t cure sickness but to your relief, he just grins.

“Your wish, my command,” he nods and puts a hand over the animal. Nothing but a smoke of purple signals the magic being done but you believe in it and so does Mark by the looks of it. He reaches out for your hand and squeezes it gently.

“Thank you,” he smiles and you smile back. He used to be your best friend after all, it’s the least you can do for him.

Mark convinces you to stay the weekend and there’s no way you could tell no to him, not when he clears his schedule just for you. He never complains about how busy he must be working for his father’s business while being a music major at a local university. All he ever talks about is the places he wishes to show you and he takes you around Seoul as if he was your certificated tour guide. It’s lovely how enthusiastic he is about it while what really matters to you is the time you spend together. He makes sure you two take a million photos to remember by, Taeyong posing on half of them since he joins you on your little trips and sometimes it’s just the two of you watching the wish dragon being genuinely in awe by modern technology, 10 years is a long time after all.

On the last day before you have to go back to Vancouver (thanks to Taeyong’s kind offer to take you the same way you came back since he misunderstood you, you don’t have to sit through a 10+ hours flight and you have more time), Mark not only tries to make you breakfast despite having an in-house chef (his eggs are ugly as heck but you appreciate his efforts and can’t help but coo at his dreamy smile under that grey hoodie when you tell him it tastes yummy) but he also introduces you to his friends in Korea. Of course, they tease you (mostly Mark) about where he has been hiding you but it’s all chill and fun you’re not quite ready to say goodbye. But you should go because the more you stay, the more you don’t want to leave. You’re lucky enough for this chance to reunite with Mark but all good things end eventually.

“Let’s not disappear from each other’s life again, okay?” the boy grins at you as you’re ready to go, Taeyong already working on his magic.

“Yeah, let’s not,” you agree easily, looking forward to your video chatting and constant texting even if it’s from the two opposite ends of the Earth with a terrible time zone difference.

You glance at the wish dragon who’s drumming with his fingers while pursing his lips as if he was waiting for something and you let out a huff before working up the courage to actually do something about these feelings inside of you. You might have regretted not confessing in middle school, you have spent years wondering about the what ifs, so you don’t want to make the same mistake twice but still, you want to give Mark a chance to ignore it all if he wants to. So you step forward and wrap your hands around him as you hug him close. It’s obvious that your action takes him aback, he suddenly doesn’t know what to do with his hands and his body tenses under you but it all melts as you say those words that have been threatening to fall from your lips all this time:

“I have missed you.” you confess, honest and based on the hitch in his breathing, Mark must be surprised. You can’t blame him though, you just wanted him to know. You step back with a weary smile, his big Bambi eyes on you but before he could say anything you nod at Taeyong and you feel yourself falling, purple fog pulling you in. A few moments later you’re back in Vancouver, in your apartment, without him.

The first few days pass in a blurr, you can still barely believe what just happened. Your weekend with Mark feels like a too good dream but Mark kept his side of promise and texted you almost immediately as you left. He sends you selfies, songs that remind him of you and you talk about your days like you never did before. Still, it feels like you’re dancing around certain topics which are basically the elephant in the room and maybe that’s why Taeyong tries to cheer you up in his own way. Though, he soon realizes that you not being happy isn’t the problem, you are happy, you just… miss Mark more than you ever did.

“Enough of moping, you still have a wish left!” Taeyong exclaims, throwing himself onto your bed. “Come on, close your eyes, imagine what you want the most in the world and make a wish!" he singsongs. However, before you could even just indulge him, your phone pings with a new notification.

fullsun00 tagged you in their post!

You click on it right away, wondering what Mark’s friend Donghyuck is doing online at 1AM. The uploaded post turns out to be a photo of you and Mark when you all hang out near Han river. You were too busy at the time laughing at how the boy almost lost his whole scoop of ice cream before he could have had a single bite to notice his smile while looking at you. Based on his caption Donghyuck apparently wasn’t.

fullsun00: just old friends, they say. friends my ass @buttercupyn @onyourm__ark

You click your tongue wondering what Mark thinks of the callout but you press like on the post anyways. You put your phone aside before you could see how his other friends join the teasing in the comment section.

“Actually, I do have my third wish,” you speak up as you turn to Taeyong before he could make a remark on your tinted cheeks.

You’ve been thinking a lot about it during the past days. You could wish for anything but you’re at a point of your life where no riches or fame would make you happier because you’re happy enough just the way it is. It might not be perfect but you don’t want to be selfish and you want to make decisions you won’t regret: like catching up with Mark, curing his tiger and bringing happiness into the life of somebody who only ever served other people in his life.

“Ooh, what is it?” Taeyong claps, giddy as if he was waiting for this to happen. He probably did.

“I wish you would go on a vacation and enjoy life,” you tell him but unlike his usual reaction, this time the dragon’s smile fades and he blinks at you, confused.

“You could ask for anything in the world and that’s what you want? Are you sure?” he furrows his brows, not quite believing your words but you just smile, knowingly.

“Yes, Taeyong, I’m sure.”

“Your wish, my command,” he bows with his hands put together and with a twirl suddenly he’s in a Hawaiian shirt and sunglasses, looking as ready for a holiday as one can be. You chuckle and tell him to just go, you’ll be fine.

You’re fine, you really are. Life goes on, you study and work, you laugh with your friends, you video call with Mark regularly and his friends are regulars on your social media, too. It’s just sometimes the feeling of missing something hits you harder than other days. Especially when you’re looking through the pictures you have from your Seoul weekend.

“I wish you were here,” you whisper ahead of you at one particularly good photo of Mark and the sunset, smiling at you behind the camera. You miss his smile, the cute wrinkles around his eyes when he crunches his nose, the sound of his laughter, his hand on your wrist… you miss him.

Ding-dong.

You stand up startled at the sound of your flat’s bell, running to the door to open it even though you have no idea who it could be so early on a Saturday morning. Not having a better idea, you expect it to be either a neighbour of your landlord but on the other side of your doorstep stands a boy who you thought was a continent away. He’s dressed semi-casually this time, his shirt tucked in his jeans, hair lightly falling onto his forehead and a nervous smile on his thin lips.

“Mark! But I⎼ I don’t even have more wishes,” you blink, taken aback, looking around to look for Taeyong in case he came back. But your behaviour just manages to confuse Mark instead.

“What?”

“I just wished you were here,” you blurt out without thinking, your words only processing later in your brain and it’s then when heat creeps onto your cheeks. Mark tries to but can’t really hide his growing smile at that.

“Really? I’m glad then. I just took my new private plane on a test drive,” he says bashfully, a silly excuse for real.

“All the way to Vancouver?” you tease, watching Mark fumble with the hem of his shirt. Your heart beats overtime just because of the fact that he’s there.

“Well, what can I say? I did miss the weather here,” he plays along with a shrug but he’s more serious when he looks deep into your eye and adds: “And you left without letting me answer.”

Oh yes, you did. You were kind of afraid of his reaction but seeing how he was ready to travel across the world just to see you, maybe there’s no reason for you to be so afraid. It feels like deja vu but a reversed one in a way as Mark gently pulls you into a hug, his lips grazing your hair with a whisper that makes your heart skip a beat: “I have missed you too.”

You really wouldn’t wish for anything more.

#nct scenarios #nct imagines #nct x reader #mark lee x reader #mark lee x you #stories

59 notes · View notes

peachbear88 · 3 years

Text

A Whole New World (Pt 3)

A/N: So I have another idea for a oneshot or maybe series. "Forbidden Love". I think the name might already have been used but THIS IS THE PERFECT NAME FOR THE NEXT STORY AHHHHHHH! Anyways, back to the actual story at hand.

-----------

You sit down cautiously in the leather seat in front of you, almost sighing. The chair is much more comfortable then you thought.

"So... what do you want from me?" You ask timidly, shifting uncomfortably in your seat as his gaze sears into you.

"Why do you think I want something from you?" He asks and you meet his eyes, noticing the amused glint in them.

"Because you didn't hand me over to the police and instead, brought me here." You gesture to the spacious, glamorous office. He chuckles, standing up to look out the massive floor to ceiling window.

"Touchè." You fidget nervously, waiting for him to continue. "I saw you paying a visit to the youngest Maximoff." Your breath hitches in your throat as he turns to look at you. "Very skilled, the whole, swinging from the tree branch." You flush and he smirks. "Young love. I presume you'd like her hand in marriage as well." Your face turns an even brighter shade of red and he chuckles. Not a genuine, hearty chuckle but a cold, dark laugh.

"She has to marry someone that benefits the company though." You pause, letting the smallest sliver of hope leak into your speech. "Right?"

Loki laughs cruelly, crushing the liquid hope you had.

"Correct. But. I can help you." You look up into his icy green eyes and he smirks. "I can make you rich enough to qualify for her hand in marriage. Powerful enough." You lean forward eagerly but he leans back, knowing fully well he had you wrapped around his little finger. "Nothing comes for free though."

You reach into your pocket, pulling out the brooch and examining it. You take a deep breath, steeling your resolve before turning back to him.

"What would I have to do?"

-----------

"All I need is for you to go into that cave and fetch me an object. A simple oil lamp to be specific." You arch an eyebrow.

"Easy peasey." He stops you, pulling you back from the mouth of the cavern.

"Not so fast. You cannot touch any of the treasures in there, no matter how tempted. And trust me, you will be tempted." You gulp, noting the ominous tone in his voice.

"Got it. How hard could it really be?" You mutter, slowly inching down the cavern. A pebble slips, sending you tumbling down the semi-smooth stone slide. You scream as you fall, hitting the bottom of the slide with a grunt. "Didn't see that coming." Dusting yourself off, you slink through the dark, ominous cave. The further you descend into the cave, the more tempting the mounds of gold and jewels become. The cavern expands, leading into a massive area, dozens of tall, sharp pillars looming above you. Dead in the center, perched upon the tallest pillar is the desired lamp. You smile, stepping towards the pillar only to be upended by a small gem. You go flying, squeezing your eyes shut as you prepare yourself for the harsh impact but it never comes. Instead, you find yourself on a fluffy carpet. It ripples beneath you, and for a moment, you fear the whole cave is coming apart. Then the carpet pushes you off it and you shriek. The carpet, the carpet that just caught you is moving. You examine it curiously, pacing around it.

"A frickin' magic carpet." You exclaim as it watches you inspect it, impatiently gesturing towards the giant slab of stone crushing it. You scratch your chin before slipping your fingers between a small gap under the rock. "Alright, here we go." You grunt, heaving the rock. The carpet tugs and the moment the stone lifts a little, the carpet zips out, dipping and whirling around the cavern, sending gold cascading everywhere. Eventually, it calms down, circling around you and patting your shoulders enthusiastically. "Not a problem bud." You return your attention to the towering pillar in front of you. "Alright. Let's do this."

You pull yourself up, following the pre-set trail you had created for yourself as you grip another sharp handhold. A bit of blood trickles down from a thin cut on your palm and you grimace before continuing your steep climb. Your muscles are on fire, the thin cut on your hand tearing wider and wider every second. With one final pull, you reach the top of the pillar, the dusty lamp shining right back at you. Not wasting a second, you grab the lamp and slowly lower yourself down to where the carpet stands, watching you with anticipation.

"All right! Now to get out of here..." You dust of your thin, ragged pants, leaving a thick line of blood smeared on the fabric. After a few moments, you locate the tunnel you came from and make your way up the steep slope. Your footsteps echo off the large cave as you reach the large stone slide. A gem next to your foot catches your eye and you lean down, examining it. The carpet frantically waves at you, even slapping you but you push it away, picking up the gem. "No one's going to notice one small gem missing. I could go without stealing for a whole month without this gem." You shrug before slipping it into your pocket. The effect is instantaneous, a roaring voice echoing through the cave.

"You have touched the forbidden treasure. Now, you will never again see the light of day!" Molten lava spews forth from the cracks in the cavern, rapidly covering the stone. You jump up, leaping from stone to stone, clambering up the rocky slide. At the mouth of the cave, Loki stands, watching you frantically scale the rocky wall, unable to find the strength to pull yourself up the last bit of the wall.

"A little help would be nice!" You cry and Loki peers down at you, golden staff in hand.

"Give me the lamp first." He sneers and you resist.

"No. Your hand first!" He leans closer to you and his once handsome features contort into an angry scowl.

"Give me the lamp first." He repeats and you relent, reaching into your pocket and handing him the lamp. He examines it greedily while you cling onto the rock face.

"Now your hand!" He looks back down at you, all the kindness from before gone.

"How about my foot?" Your eyes widen as he raises his foot and steps on your hand, squishing it. You cry out in pain as he relentlessly twists his foot, agonizing pain shooting up your arm. Unable to hold on any longer, you fall, the sweltering heat radiating against your body before you hit a soft surface, soaring up into the air. Prying your eyes open, you look down to see carpet, speeding towards the entrance of the cave where Loki stands, still entranced by the lamp. The carpet speeds up and you reach out, snatching the lamp from Loki's hands. Loki roars in anger, pushing you backwards with the butt of his staff as the cave crumbles. Rocks tumble down, covering the entrance as you fly backwards towards a certain doom. Right at the last moment, carpet catches you and the two of you go tumbling back down into the darkness of the cave.

--------------

"Ugh..." You groan, your eyes fluttering open. You're greeted by a brightly colored carpet hovering above you. "Hi." You mutter, pushing yourself into a sitting position. The lamp is still tightly clutched in your hand and you stare at it, wondering what that man could've possibly wanted from such a dusty relic. You sigh, rubbing the back of your neck before returning your attention to the carpet. "Well, you know any way out of here buddy?" The carpet makes exaggerated gestures with it's golden tassels at the lamp. You hold up the lamp, confused. "This old thing?" The carpet nods vigorously (at least you think it's nodding) and you shrug. "What's the worst that could happen." You take a deep breath, slowly rubbing at the lamp with your injured hand, blood smearing over the dusty brass surface. Slowly but surely, a thick blue fog spirals out of the lamp, revealing a massive blue figure. You stumble backwards, still clinging onto the lamp.

"Oh great one who summons me, terrible one who commands me, I stand by my oath, loyalty to wishes three." The figure roars. Your mouth opens but nothing comes out, just a pathetic little whimper.

"Eh..."

He clears his throat, peering down into the darkness.

"I said, 'Oh great...'" His eyes land on you. "Excuse, me, dude, where's your boss?" You stand there, gaping as he waves his massive blue hands in front of your face. "Help me out here, where's your boss? If I was just gonna talk to myself, I could've stayed in the lamp."

"Eh... Uh...." You gulp as he stares at you impatiently.

"Hellooooooooo!"

"I uh.... I'm talking to uh.... Smoking blue giant?"

"No! BRRRRRRRRR." He hums out, shrinking down and swirling around you. "I am not a giant, I am a genie. There is a difference." He retorts, waving his finger in front of you. "Giants are not real." He reclines back, leaving you frozen in shock. "Where's your boss?"

"Uh, my boss?"

He sighs.

"Look, kid, I've been doing this a long time, all right? There's always a guy, you know..." You watch his hands, noting how he uses them to gesture with every word he utters. "He's cheated somebody, or buried somebody." He explains, teleporting behind you and floating around. "I mean, you get my point. Where's that guy?" You nod in understanding.

"I know that guy. He's outside." The genie's face lights up.

"So, it's just you and me down here?" A telescope appears in his hand with a blue puff and he scans the cave through it, his brown eye bulging out from the glass. You nod, unable to form coherent words. "So you rubbed the lamp?"

"Uh-huh." He scratches his goatee.

"Huh. Do you mind if I just, you know, stretch it out over here?" He asks, already floating away from you. You look around the cave, searching for another being that the genie could possibly be asking.

"Uh, are you asking me?" He groans as he stretches out.

"Yeah, you're my master." You laugh dryly, swallowing.

"Yeah no, you look like you should be my master."

The genie shrugs, looking you up and down.

"Yeah, but that's not quite how it works." You stare at the lamp, mystified.

"How long have you been in here?"

"'Bout a thousand years." You stare at him skeptically.

"A thousand years?"

"A ThoUSanD YeARs." He mocks you, sitting down on a rock. "Is it just me or does everything surprise you?" You don't answer and he sighs, floating towards you. "So you really don't know who I am. Genie, wishes, lamp, none of that ringing a bell?" You don't respond and he looks taken aback. "Wow. Well, that's a first." He teleports a few feet away, snapping his fingers. "Monkey!" A small, frail looking monkey appears with cymbals and a band drum attached to it's back. It starts clapping the cymbals together rhythmically and blowing into a small kazoo. You stare at the monkey and the genie brushes you off. "Oh, don't worry 'bout him, he's fine." The genie starts clapping along before bursting into song.

"Well, Ali Baba, he had them 40 thieves,"

"Scheherazade had a thousand tales."

"But master, you're in luck,"

"Because up your sleeves, you got a genie that never fails!"

He finishes with jazz hands, the monkey's kazoo dying off with a slight squeak. You look at the carpet apprehensively only to see it clapping it's stray threads off.

"Whoo!" The genie exclaims, zooming around. "I'm the best." You stare at him, unbelieving. He sighs.

"Not enough, huh?" You don't reply. "I'm kidding, watch this."

A beam of blue light shoots out of his finger tip, hitting the monkey, who goes flying. The monkey lands on a tall pile of rock, behind a drum set. A jazzy upbeat tune fills the dark cavern.

"Here I go!"

"Uh! Ooh! Whoo!"

"Back up!"

The carpet disappears, reappearing on another tall pile of rock, shaking a pair of maracas rhythmically.

"Uh-oh! Watch out!"

He scats and a trumpet appears in the monkey's mouth, blasting out a high note.

"You done wound me up!"

"'Bout to show you what I'm workin' with. Uh!"

"Well, Ali Baba he had them 40 thieves,"

"Scheherazade had a thousand tales!"

"But, master, you're in luck because up your sleeves,"

"You got a brand of magic never fails."

The genie appears behind you, the golden shackles on his forearms glowing with power.

"You got some power in your corner now,"

"Heavy ammunition in your camp!"

His arms turn into golden cannons that fire bright blue blasts to emphasize his point.

"You got some punch, pizzazz,"

"Yahoo, and how?"

"All you gotta do is rub that lamp,"

"And then I'll say,"

"Missus, man what's your name, whatever, what will your pleasure be?"

"Let me take your order I'll jot it down,"

"You ain't never had a friend like me."

He picks you up and plops you into an elegant restaurant where a menu is thrown in front of you.

"Life is your restaurant and I'm your maître d'."

"Come whisper to me whatever it is you want,"

"You ain't never had a friend like me!"

"We pride ourselves on service!"

"You the boss, the king, the shah!"

"Say what you wish, it's yours, true dish!"

"How 'bout a lil more paprikash?"

You disappear behind mounds of the Sokovian delicacy, reappearing between racks of clothing.

"Have some of column A,"

"Try all of column B."

Blue strings attach themselves to your arms and you find yourself being whirled around, dancing, but from your point of view, you look like a flailing chicken.

"I'm in the mood to help you dude,"

"You ain't never had a friend like me."

He starts scatting as he pulls you around like a puppet.

"Can your friends do this?"

You point to a clone of the genie, who's standing on his head, his lower half spinning around like a disco ball.

"Can your friends do that?"

You point the other way to another clone of the genie who is whirling around a magic lasso.

"Can your friends pull this,"

"Outta they lil hat?"

He reaches into a top hat and slowly pulls out the magic carpet.

"Can your friends go,"

He starts beatboxing, bright flares shooting illuminating the cave.

"I'm the genie, of the lamp, I can sing rap dance if you give me a chance."

A couch appears behind you and you fall backwards, landing on the plush cushions.

"Don't sit there buggy eyed,"

"I'm here to answer all your mid-day prayers."

"You got me bona fide,"

"Certified,"

"You got a genie for your charged affairs."

He slaps a certificate into your hands and the couch zooms forward at light speed, throwing you off. You wave your arms desperately, attempting to balance yourself as you teeter precariously above a pit of molten magma. The genie pulls you back by the hook of your jacket.

"I got a powerful urge,"

"To help you out,"

"So whatcha wish,"

"I really wanna know."

"You got a list that's 3 miles long no doubt."

"All you gotta do is rub like so."

The lamp goes flying into your hands as the genie appears next to you.

"Missus?"

"Y/N." You reply.

"Yes!"

“One wish or two or three?"

"Well, I'm on the job, you big nabob,"

"You ain't never had a friend,"

"Never had a friend."

"You ain't never had a friend,"

"Never had a friend."

"You ain't never."

"Had a."

"Friend."

"Like."

"Me!"

He scats as fireworks go off, lighting the cave up in blue, red, green, gold and purple.

"You ain't never had a friend like me."

The scene fades and you stand there, still trying to comprehend the turn of events. The genie's large blue face appears in front of you.

"You can clap now." He smirks, imitating a mic drop. You raise your hands slowly to clap and he immediately stops you. "No, no no, please, please. You can thank me outside. In the sun. When you wish us out." You smile numbly before shaking your head.

"Wait so.... how does it work?" The genie's face drops into disbelief.

"You're.... You're kidding right?" He sputters, shrinking back down to a normal size. "The- The whole song was the- The instructions!" He grabs your hand, sighing. "Obviously you can't dance and listen at the same time. "So here's the basics." The lamp appears in his hand and he mimes rubbing it. "Step one, rub the lamp." A second head appears on his body. "Step 2, say what you want." A third head appears. "Step 3." The other two heads disappear as you continue walking hand in hand with the genie. "There is no step 3! See, it's that easy!" He waves his hand. "You get three wishes.They must begin with you rubbing the lamp and saying 'I wish' got it?" You nod slowly.

"I think so...." He smiles.

"Great! A few more rules. You can't wish for more wishes, 3 is enough. I can't make anybody love anybody." Pink hearts float around his head. "Or bring anybody back from the dead." Papyrus wraps around him, muffling his speech and giving it an eerie feeling. "Feel free to interrupt me anytime you don't understand." You give a sigh of relief, opening your mouth to ask a question but he immediately cuts you off. "I'm kidding, don't ever interrupt me, no matter what." You close your mouth. "Now, I usually don't have to go through all this because by the time the guy." He emphasizes 'the guy' with little quotation marks. "Gets to me, he already knows what he wants and it generally has to do with," He clears his throat expanding to a large size, a red glow hugging his blue skin. "Tons of money and power! Mwahahahaha!" He exclaims evilly, money raining down from the roof of the cave. He shrinks back down into his normal size. "Do me a favor, do not drink from that cup. I promise you, there is not enough money or power on Earth for you to be satisfied. Good? Well, what's your first wish?" You scratch your chin thoughtfully.

"Well, I have to think about it. I mean, if there are only 3," The genie scoffs in disbelief. "I mean, why are there only 3 anyways?" He cuts you off, waving his hands about.

"I don't know! Who cares?" You smirk, approaching him.

"You don't know? I thought you were all knowing."

"That's 'cause you don't listen. I never said I was all knowing, I said I was all powerful." He quips. "The most powerful being in the universe." He sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose with his fingers. "Look, whatever I don't know, I know I can learn it. Outside in the sun. Why are you playing hard to wish?" He exclaims exasperatedly. "Give us some sun!" You relent, smiling and placing the lamp behind you.

"All right Genie. I wish for you to get us out of this cave."

"Boom! Booyah!" The genie zooms around excitedly. "She has made her first wish!" He reappears in a flight attendant uniform holding a safety brochure. "Thank you for choosing Genie Airlines. Please don't forget to tip your genie on the way out!" 3 more genies appear behind him in similar uniform, waving at you. "Hold yourself kid!" He whirls around you, bright blue fog enveloping you until you finally reappear outside on the outskirts of Sokovia.

"Whoa." You mutter, nauseated at the sudden movement. The carpet does a flip, soaring off into the air. "Why is the monkey still here?" You gesture to the little frail monkey next to you.

"Oh. Uh, consider it a gift." You shrug, picking the monkey up and depositing it on your shoulder. He snaps and the two of you are sitting under a makeshift tent, a chess board between the two of you. You gulp, holding your head. "Can you warn me before you do that?" He waves you off.

"You'll get used to it. So, have you decided what you're going to wish for?" He bites into an apple. You shrug.

"Nope. Haven't really thought about it." The genie laughs, depositing the apple on the chess board.

"Wow. You really are not that guy." You sit up in the woven tanning chair, watching the genie.

"So what would you wish for." The genie examines you thoughtfully before staring back at Sokovia.

"Easy. I would wish to be free." He raps his knuckles against the golden bands on his forearms. "To not have to say," Poof! He reappears in front of you in a waiter's uniform. "How may I help you?" Poof! He reappears in the chair beside you in his normal outfit. "Freedom. I wish to be human." You look at him curiously.

"Why don't you just set yourself free?" He laughs derisively, clapping.

"Only way I can be set free is if the owner of the lamp uses one of their wishes to set me free. The last time that happened was like, the fourth of Never-ary."

"I'll do it." You volunteer. "I've got 3 right?"

"Actually, 2. You used one to get out of the cave." The genie corrects and you smirk.

"DId I? Or did you? I thought I had to be rubbing the lamp."

"Okay little street-girl. Let's rewind the tape." He imitates a cassette tape rewinding. He examines the playback. "Okay! I see what you did there." You smile at him.

"At least now I can use my last wish to set you free." He leans forward in his woven tanning chair..

"See this is the thing. The more you have, the more you want." You look out at Sokovia.

"That's not me." The genie hums skeptically.

"We'll see about that."

"But... There is something." You sigh and the genie instantly notices the lovesick expression on your face.

"Oh! Seen that look before." With a blue puff, he appears in front of you, lying on his stomach, his chin resting on his hands. "Who's the guy?" You don't look at him.

"It's.... It's a girl." He smiles at you supportively.

"Well, I can't make anyone fall in love with anyone." You quickly shake your head.

"No, no. We had a connection." He quirks an eyebrow at you.

"Alright, alright."

"She's smart, kind, incredibly beautiful. But she has to marry- Hold on, can you make me rich?" The genie teleports back to his chair.

"Kid, there is a lot of gray area in 'Make me rich'." He snaps his fingers and a rich business man in a stylish black suit appears a few feet away. "I could just make you rich." You immediately backpedal, shaking your head.

"No, no, no." The genie nods.

"Right 'cause then you'd be stuck with this guy. Be specific with your words. The key is in the detail." He advises and you nod. "Which I don't really understand because if she already likes you, why change?"

You shrug.

"I told you, she has to marry someone that benefits her family's business." The genie stands up, fiddling with his fingers.

"Alright, I can do that. An official wish this time, for those of us that are counting." You clear your throat nervously.

"Genie, I wish..." He snaps his fingers, pointing at the lamp. "Oh right! Sorry." You pick up the lamp, rubbing it. "All right. Genie..." He raises his hands in mock surrender.

"Don't hurt em Genie."

"I wish... to become rich." You squeeze your eyes shut, preparing for the worst. The genie smiles, waving his hands.

"Back up kid, I need some room to work. I'm gonna fabulize you."

-------------

Taglist: @username23345 @musicinourlips @gingerbreadcookieforlife @xxxtwilightaxelxxx @trikruismybitch @ima-gi--na-tion @nicole-rayleigh-hot

#wanda maximoff x reader #wanda maximoff fluff #wanda maximoff angst #marvel au #avengers #wanda maximoff #wanda angst #wanda fluff

61 notes · View notes

thecagedsong · 3 years

Text

Forgotten Light Chapter 16: Djinni

A/N: Posting this now so I don’t accidentally go back on my word and post the Tess chapter. Seth is up to Shenanagains of the life-threatening sort, just as he ought to be. Baby tries so hard.

1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10 / 11 / 12 / 13 / 14 / 15 / 16

Chapter 15: Djinni

Unfortunately, they could not leave that afternoon to investigate the poisoned pool like was planned, as the Triclops didn’t give them an opportunity. It spent the whole afternoon and evening swinging an uprooted tree back and forth around the confines of their little sanctuary.

“All right,” Seth said, that night, “Need a new plan.”

“The plan is to get some sleep and try again in the morning. This island is big, he’ll go somewhere else eventually,” Warren said, rubbing his eyes, “You’re on Fablehaven’s timezone, right? No way you aren’t exhausted.”

“But the longer we wait to get a good look at the pool, the more likely we lose our clues,” Seth pleaded.

“Believe us Seth,” Vanessa said, “We know and we don’t like this. If it is still there in the morning, we’ll change the plan so that Warren and I act as decoys, luring the triclops away so your group can investigate. Preserves are too dangerous at night if it can be avoided.”

“Maybe too dangerous for you,” Seth scoffed.

“I understand your frustration,” Vanessa said, “I love Kendra too, and at least she knows that you are her brother. I will not face her having lost her brother, the only one she knows even a little bit, to preventable dangers. Sleep. I have potions for you if you need it.”

Seth looked behind her to Warren, who gave him a warning look that his arguing was at an end. He looked back at Vanessa’s dark eyes and firm set features.

“Fine,” Seth said. “I’ll take a sleeping potion, but not one that knocks me out completely.”

“More of a drowsy solution, I promise,” Vanessa said, going to her dufflebag. She mixed some powders and fruit juice, and held it out, “It will not work right away, so you can get back to your room, even if you drink it now.”

Seth tilted his head, “Hey, if you controlled me in my sleep, could you use my shadowcharmer abilities? Shadewalking, speaking to the undead, that kind of stuff?”

Vanessa didn’t answer until he drank the potion, then said, “I do not know. I have controlled wizards and felt their magical cores, but without their knowledge of spellcraft, I was unable to use their magic. Magic is not for the use of mortals. The best comparison would have been controlling Kendra, but her mind was protected, and I could not seize her. I would have to re-bite you and attempt, as Bracken broke off our previous connection. I could not attempt to guess, Seth, and I won’t experiment with you. If your abilities are needed, I trust you to use them well, as I hope you trust me to keep you safe during the attempt.”

“That’s actually really touching, I’m touched Vanessa,” Seth said, holding a hand over his heart, “I must be the most unique thing you aren’t interested in biting.”

Vanessa rolled her eyes, “I have bitten creatures of the dark, and they all taste nasty. Creature of the shadows, and teenage boy? That is a very easy pass.”

“You actually taste people when you bite them?” Seth asked, “Who tasted the best? Was it Kendra? I bet it was Kendra. I bit her once when we were kids.”

“And we’re done with that conversation,” Warren said, stopping Vanessa from answering. “Forever. Off to bed before the drowsy hits, scoot.”

“What? You don’t want to know if you tasted better or worse than—” Vanessa started teasing, and Seth was quick to back out of that conversation. Fourteen years old, and he did not need to know biting preferences for Vanessa, and how her boyfriend ranked.

Seth fell asleep, and woke up to the moon hitting his face, almost blinding. He felt refreshed and awake, not a hint of drowsy. It was rare he woke up like this, normally Kendra was awake first. Seth sat up. Or, he tried too, but sleeping in a hammock made sitting up a test of abdominal muscles. He rolled out of his hammock, took note that Tanu was sleeping across from him, Calvin wrapped up in a handkerchief for a blanket on the windowsill, and Seth quietly made his way out of the hut.

He wandered until he realized that the whispers of the undead were getting louder. Then he walked with a purpose up spiral stairs and across rope bridges he stopped before a door carved into what had to be the biggest tree in existence. It felt like the Blackwell, though a little less desperate. Instead of suffering pleas, there were questions about directions.

Left here, and again…or was it right?

A thousand repetitions of this circle should get me out…

Does wandering endlessly truly break up the monotony of eternal existence?

“I see…this is what it means to be a shadow charmer,” Savani’s voice broke his listening, and he saw the woman step onto the platform behind him.

“Yep, walking around in the middle of the night to figure out where the undead are,” Seth said. “And your excuse?”

Savani held up a bracelet of three large shells and several smaller shells, “We have three caretaker homes at this preserve, each designed to better weather certain seasons. This is the winter quarter, even though I should have welcomed you in the spring mansion. This bracelet alerts me whenever someone or something approaches one of the prisons at any of the homes, and will transport me to interfere. I assume you were not planning on releasing these entities.”

“No, just wanted to know where they are,” Seth said, looking back at the door, “They sound different than most of the undead. Like they’re…wandering. They think they are going somewhere.”

“The spirits here are trapped by a maze, just as much as they are by the barrier,” Savani said. “My people learned how to draw unwanted entities into certain designs, tricking them into wandering those corridors rather than through the village. It is a complicated magic, but one that does not require a wizard if you have the right blood and soul.”

“So like, at least they get puzzle books with their prison sentence, I approve,” Seth said, “They sound a little less miserable than the undead usually do.”

“Are you familiar with Djinni?” Savani asked.

“Genies?” Seth said, the name sounding familiar, “A little. My other Grandma tried to make a deal with one, it got to ask her three questions she had to answer truthfully. When she refused to answer one, the Genie turned her into a chicken.”

“I lost one of my staff to similar circumstances concerning the Djinni that rests just inside this door. A spirit that wandered here from the mainland; they were not so easily trapped by our mazes, but fell remarkably easily to four walls,” she said, thinking, “My sister, Alma, engaged in the question game, three for three, taking turns, and learned that the sunset pearl had been taken off the preserve before Djinni asked how to unweave spirit mazes and she refused to answer.”

“They only know about stuff inside the preserve right?” Seth asked.

“Only when asked can she gain access to her sight, which extends to past and a little into the future,” Savani said. “My sister’s remaining questions that she could not ask were about who took the sunset pearl, and the location of the Weki flute that soothes the triclops.”

“I can go in and ask her,” Seth volunteered.

Savani laughed, “I could never ask you to go in with so little preparation!”

“Seems to me everyone fails at the game because they had too much preparation,” Seth said. “You need to let your non-local idiot walk in with absolutely no preparation. I don’t know anything about this preserve or what might free her. Sure I know some secrets, but nothing that would help her get free. And it’s just information. She can’t ask me to do things for her, right?”

“The young always risk their lives for so little,” Savani said, shaking her with a quiet laugh. “Even if I were willing to lose another ally to that monster after losing my sister, something I’m sure you understand, none of your protectors would let you go over them.”

“That’s why we do it here and now,” Seth said, “I’ve negotiated with tougher customers than this. I’ve talked down both the Totem Wall and the Singing Sisters. And I convinced a centaur to let me ride on his back. I’m pretty talented at walking away from these things.”

“That is impressive,” Savani said, “But even with those dangerous consultations in your past, our situation is not so risky. And wandering towards the most secure prison at night alone does not convince me that you have the discipline to converse with this creature. Any word out of your mouth that is not the answer the answer to her question after you enter her chamber is a lie and gives her freedom to leave. You strike me as the sarcastic sort, and that will get you killed.”

“Yeah, some of my wraith friends didn’t get my jokes either,” Seth said, remembering Whiner. “I suppose knock-knock jokes are out?”

“Most definitely,” Savani said, “You are refreshing to speak to. Much like Warren, but less burdened. Does the chill of this dungeon not bother you?”

“Chill?” Seth asked, looking around, “It’s been ridiculously hot since we got here. It finally feels nice.”

“The unnatural dread make many fail to converse with the Djinni,” Savani said thoughtfully. “After speaking, I am a bit more inclined to let you try with the Djinni, and hold back my assent almost solely on the rifts I do not wish to cause with the rest of our allies. Should the triclops still haunt us when they awake, I will allow you to present this plan as an option to them.”

“Sounds like permission to me,” Seth said. He spun and grasped the door handle. In that touch, he found himself on the opposite side of door. Apparently just touching the doorknob was enough to get a mortal inside the prison, though he was willing to bet it would take the caretaker to get out. There was a single door to his right, and beyond that a spiral staircase covered with woven mats of crazy designs. He felt the presence of wraiths and the undead just before him, and it took a bit to figure out that they were trapped inside the mats.

Then a phantom stumbled up the stairs, and he realized not all of them were trapped in mats. Just to his left was a door with another handle and no hinges.

Expecting it this time, Seth reached out and grasped the handle.

“Oh? Two visitors so close together after a century of silence,” the Djinni said. “A baby shadow charmer, no less. I assume you are here to play my riddle game like that last one.”

The Djinni was surprisingly pretty. Usually Kendra got the pretty ones, and he got the cool ones who were half skeleton half putrid guts. The flowing pink dress threw him for a second. But she had white skin, red eyes, and choppy blue hair. Her skin was smooth, except for the bags under her eyes, and her hair looked like it could use a good washing.

Seth nodded to the Djinni’s question.

Then he breathed in, and a hand came up over his mouth to stop him from gagging. His eyes left the Djinni to the ground next to her, covered partially by her cloak. For some reason, when Savani said her sister had been killed by the Djinni, he had never imagined what had happened to her sister’s body. This wasn’t like the zombie farm, or even when Coulter died in his arms. The body was weeks decayed. Skin and organs were liquifying and leeking over the floor, bones starting to jut out on the ribcage and he could only be glad he couldn’t see Savanni’s sister’s face.

“I have a fondness for little adventurers,” the Djinni said with a rosy smile, watching him watch the body. She even threw in a casual caress of her last victim. “I will recite the rules for you if you nod now.”

Seth nodded, suddenly regretting everything. He made himself focus on the Djinni.

“Very well, my rules are simple,” she said, standing up but still leaning against the wall of her prison cell, “You may only speak the answers to my questions and questions of your own. You have as much time as you need to answer. Should you speak else, I may extract a price from you for disturbing me, and as you can see, it includes killing you. Should you speak a lie, I am freed from my prison and will enjoy wrecking the meager protections left to this house on my way out. My sight it limited to this preserve, but it extends to everywhere in this preserve and all the way through the past, and twenty-eight days into the future. You may indicate you are unsatisfied with my answer, but may not ask follow-up questions, I can do the same. Upon being satisfied with my final answer, you will be teleported out of my diminutive abode. Nod if you are ready to begin, little adventurer.”

Simple rules. Follow the rules, and they can’t touch you. He would just have to think through his answers before speaking. Despite what Kendra says, he can think before talking. At least, that’s what Kendra used to say, and probably wouldn’t take long to say again. Seth nodded and made himself remove his hands and accept the smell. The smell wasn’t worse than the zombie farm, even if the body was.

“Then I, Skamboli, ask this for my first question: what are the ways out of my confinement that you know about?” she asked.

Seth thought for a minute, going over each way he thought might work.

“I only know a few,” Seth said slowly, “if I tell a lie, you are free. I assume that if the caretaker released you, you could go free. I don’t know for sure, but I assume if someone busted down your door from the outside, you would probably be freed. Burned the tree prison down, though you might die that way. And…a trained shadow charmer, not me, could probably unlock your door. People have told me that once I learn control over my powers, I can undo locks, but I don’t know how yet.”

Skamboli waited, but nothing happened. “Very honest, I approve. Though a wiser adventurer would not volunteer information about their weaknesses. You may ask your first question.”

Better ask Savani’s questions first. “Who took the sunset pearl?”

Her red eyes flashed white for a second then went back to red. “The dark unicorn goes by many names, but you know him as Ronodin. He stole the pearl on his first visit to this sanctuary.”

That was bad and good. Bad, because Ronodin likely put it where he was keeping Kendra, on the Phantom Island, but good because it narrowed their goals and they were already working on getting to the Phantom Isle anyway. Maybe he could use the horn to send a message to Bracken to pick up the pearl on his way out with Kendra?

Seth nodded at the Djinni, hopefully indicating he was satisfied with her answer. Not looking at the body. She never said he could verbally say if he was satisfied, just dis-satisfied, and didn’t want to risk it. He didn’t want to talk more than he had to.

“Is there any questions I could ask that you would be unwilling to answer?” Skamboli said. This was the question that left grandma laying eggs for months.

Again, Seth thought carefully.

“Plenty of things I wouldn’t want to answer,” Seth decided, “Embarrassing moments, secrets about our plans against the dragons in the upcoming dragon war that I promised not to share, too much information about my friends and family. Secrets that would result in my death if I shared them with you due to other promises I have made. Really don’t want to share that one, it wouldn’t benefit you at all and would end up with me dead. That one is about my dealings with the Singing Sisters, and wouldn’t interest you at all, so please don’t ask that one. But I would share any of it, if you asked, because I need to take the answers to my questions back to my friends.”

Skamboli waited, then nodded at Seth. Seth hesitated for a moment, because the name of the flute Savani mentioned five minutes ago was already lost from his head. He needed a minute to carefully pick his words.

“Where is the magic flute that can soothe the currently rampaging triclops?” Seth asked at last.

Again, her eyes flashed a blinding white.

“The Weki flute is buried amongst the treasure of the Fairy Queen’s shrine on this island,” Skamboli said.

Uggh, normally they left the fairy shrine stuff to Kendra, though the Fairy King might let him take something from there. Or maybe getting Fairy Struck Tess to ask would be better. Still, much better news than the flute being lost forever. Seth nodded.

“What would convince you to free me from my prison, little adventurer?” she asked, sounding tired.

Seth had not expected that question. What would convince him to free a dangerous being? He took longer to think through his answer to this one than any other. The smell and taste of the last life she had taken all around him, so much worse than the zombie farm.

“A sincere and binding promise to never hurt another sentient being again,” Seth said, at last, and his eyes finally went back to the body. He saw the swollen, distorted face of Savani’s sister, and knew he wouldn’t ever forget it. “But from everything I know, that is against your very nature and an impossible promise to keep.” He looked away and back at her, “Still, if you were able to convince me you’d do that? I’d do my best to help you. I would do my best to convince Savani that you won’t attack her, help find a nice new lair for you somewhere on this preserve. You could have been a lot meaner, a lot stricter and done more to trip me up, but you didn’t, which makes me like you. I have been double crossed a lot in my life though, so I refuse to free you on anything less than a perfect, binding promise.”

Skamboli waited, then nodded, a small smile on her lips. Now it was time for the real reason he had jumped into this encounter, the information that would make it all worth it. He thought over his question a couple of times, looking for loopholes or ways to get more information out of it, and asked.

“Where will my sister Kendra be on the preserve in the next twenty-eight days?”

Again, her eyes flashed white, though this time they softened slowly back to their red. “The future is not certain, but many futures show Kendra at this preserve in 77 hours and making her way to the sacred pool. She will venture into the domain of a wraith, then leave. It grows hazier, but Kendra will also visit the Bridge Cove, then Baga Lao sometime after that. Leaving Baga Lao, she does not return within the time of my sight.”

Kendra. Here. Seth almost said something, almost said thank you, then stopped himself with a snap of his jaw. He nodded.

“That concludes my little game. Congrats, you are the first to pass without retribution in a while. You are right, I cannot promise not to harm in exchange for my freedom. Still, this has been quite entertaining, and in Jighandi even. You have goodness in you, little adventurer, try not to die too quickly on this preserve.”

Seth was transported out. Savani was standing in the little hallway, arms folded, when he appeared. She grabbed him by the shoulder and turned him towards the exit

Savani forcibly shoved him out of the prison, where Grandma was waiting for him.

“So, good news, I wisely used my resources and found out vital information on where Kendra is going to be, as well as the sunset pearl and the flute to stop the triclops” Seth said. “Bad news, I’m going to throw up.”

Seth rushed to the edge of the platform and started heaving, losing the dinner he had eaten.

“I understand now what Ruth and Stan warned me when letting you out of my sight,” Grandma Larsen said, putting a hand on his back. “Of all the trouble I was watching out for, you purposefully going to chat up a djinni never even crossed my mind.”

Tears leaked out of his eyes as he threw up some more. It was horrible, he’d thought that after everything, after regularly conversing with the undead for years, after seeing so many people die, he would never loose his stomach over something like a dead body. But the smell…

…he gagged some more, even though there was nothing left. He was sticky and gross and the humidity made it feel like the vomit was sticking to him more than he knew it was. Eventually a glass of water was offered, and he used it to rinse his mouth. He nodded his thanks at Savani, and accepted the wet towel as well.

His breathing evened out and he said, “For Kendra. I did it for Kendra.”

“Seth, you are part of a team now,” Grandma said, “And you aren’t leading things here like you were back at Wyrmroost. We work together, or not at all. Savani told you she didn’t want you to speak to the Djinni, and you disregarded her. This is her home, hers to protect, and you violated that trust. How is what you did any different than Knox going into the dungeons with Tess to check out the barrel?”

“Savani said the only reason she didn’t want me to talk to the Djinni was that she worried about setting off everyone’s ‘protect Seth’ sensors,” Seth said, not looking her in the eye, “I thought I figured it out, but you’re right, I didn’t know, I wasn’t ready. It’s what I thought I had to do, and I’m sorry.” Savani’s sister’s body flashed in his mind again, the way Skamboli stroked sagging flesh, and he pressed his face into the towel.

He was stronger and braver than this. He was. He had proved it over and over, and he’d seen people die. He’d seen his sister poison herself into a frothing, empty shell. He’d seen battle wounds from the battle of Zzyzx.

This shouldn’t be worse than that, but it was.

Grandma sighed and rubbed his back. “What happened? Tell me.”

“It’s nothing,” Seth said, pulling himself to his feet. “Nothing I haven’t seen before. It just…I wasn’t prepared. I promise I won’t act on my own again.”

“That is not the answer to my question,” Grandma scolded, standing as well, “I don’t care about how Ruth and Stan let you run about and keep secrets, and I don’t care about what you’ve seen before. We are going to confront a demon for training tomorrow, and you have been unsettled and you have been reckless, so we are going to talk until I trust that you can handle what’s going to happen.”

“It doesn’t matter if I talk about it or not,” Seth said, “We need to get me trained so I can get to the Phantom Isle, and we need to do it fast. I can handle a demon, I won’t lose it like that again.”

“Seth, Honey,” Grandma said, and she pulled him into a hug he resisted, “Even those of us who have done dangerous missions on magical preserves our entire lives need people to talk to. People to trust. Time to break down. Mortals aren’t meant for the kind of exposure you and your sister have been through. Special abilities or not. Talk to me.”

“It’s nothing, I mean it,” Seth said, and his eyes found Savani over Grandma’s shoulders, who had been watching patiently the entire time. “It wasn’t worse than seeing Kendra’s stingbulb kill herself, and I got through that, so I’m okay.”

“Shadow charmers have a reputation,” Savani said quietly, “Of moving and operating in the dark, with demons who seal their secrets sworn in blood. I would recommend letting things come to light, if you can. If you are trying to spare me, I think I have guessed what unsettled you. I had hoped this Djinni to favor the clean and quick kill, but we knew the consequences.”

“I’m sorry,” Seth said, hoping she understood the extent of his apology.

“Ahh,” Grandma said releasing him, “Death. You have dealt far too much with loved ones and friends dying for your age, and you have dealt much with those long dead, the process in between is…unpleasant, unsettling.”

“It smelled really bad,” Seth admitted, closing his eyes and seeing the body all over again. “Worse than the zombie farm. I don’t know how I breathed, much less talked. It was just…everywhere in that small cell. I won’t try something like that again, not without a lot more preparation and talking it out with everyone.”

Savani said nothing for a long moment, “You make raising my own son look easy, Seth Sorenson. I believe your sincere desires, though it will take a while for me to trust your restraint. Gloria, remain by Seth’s side for the remainder of his stay here. He does not understand our magic, and while that saved him from knowing anything that could help the Djinni, it also made him dangerous to the integrity of the Woven Prison.”

“That is acceptable,” Grandma said.

Savani sighed, and shook her head, “That being said, the information you gathered is invaluable and I am also in your debt for asking. I was listening at the door and recorded everything. We will work on securing the flute, preparing for Ronodin’s return, and locating the Sunset Pearl. We will have much to discuss when the rest of our companions awake.”

Grandma nodded, “I agree, come Seth. There is still three hours until dawn, and we need what rest we can, even if sleep is gone. You will be sleeping in my room from now on.”

Seth winced, but it was hardly the worst punishment he could have gotten. Probably better than he should have gotten. The women turned to leave.

Seth went to the room his Grandmother had been using, to laid down in the second bed, while Grandma Larsen curled up in hers. No more hammock after tonight. He thought he had been past his impulse issues. He had been careful at Wyrmroost to not take unnecessary risks, to consult Kendra in most things, and he had felt good. Like he had learned his lesson and finally grown into someone worth trusting with important stuff.

Now it felt like he was back to square one. Back to being the dumb kid that captured fairies overnight and trusted demons.

Seth missed his sister.

#Forgotten Light #Fablehaven #Dragonwatch #Seth Sorenson #Finally I don't start a chapter with a handwritten note #baby seth #tw: gore #I guess #graphic description of a decaying body

17 notes · View notes