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badingsm · 6 months

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The Proposal III — She, Her, Romanoff

Warnings: Cursing?

Took me long enough! Sorry!

P.S. TRANSLATIONS AREN'T ACCURATE.

The way to the airport was quite fast for your liking because you planned to take a small nap in the cab, but the said cab driver was reckless yet skilled, dropping you off earlier than you anticipated.

You wandered around with luggage rolling behind you and a carry-on gym bag placed neatly on your shoulders. You decided to go and grab a sandwich at the convenience store while waiting for your boss, slash fiancé (?)—Natasha.

Soon then, you felt a vibration in your pocket, and you didn't have to check it to know that it was Natasha telling you that she had arrived. You trudged towards the entrance door, waiting for her with some coffee cradled in your hand and a biscuit on the other (you were sleep deprived; you deserve some snacks!).

Speaking of biscuits, you almost dropped them on the ground, along with your jaw, when you saw the redhead walking in your direction.

Why, you ask?

Well, she was wearing her usual business attire along with her resting bitch face, but aside from those, she was bringing two large suitcases and a small one, plus her Chanel bag.

"What the-"

"Watch it," She dryly uttered beneath her sunglasses.

"Natasha!" You whispered, looking around as if you were embarrassed. "Do you know where we are going?"

"First, who gave you permission to call me that way?" Natasha squinted her eyes dangerously, but all the fear that you were supposed to feel vanished when she dragged you into this mess. "Second, I know everything about anything."

"Philippines is where we're headed!"

"I know that."

"It's so fucking hot in there, and you're wearing this suit and your suitcases—do you plan on staying there for good?! God!"

"Mind your own business." She furrowed her brows even though she's clenching her jaw in doubt.

And before you could even answer, your names were being called by the speakers.

"This is the final boarding call for passengers Y/n Y/l/n and Natasha Romanoff booked on flight 391 to the Philippines. Please proceed to gate 3 immediately. The final checks are being completed and the captain will order for the doors of the aircraft to close in approximately five minutes time. I repeat. This is the final boarding call for Y/n Y/l/n and Natasha Romanoff. Thank you."

You sighed, "God!"

"Shut up!"

"So these will be the questions the INS will ask us," You muttered beside Natasha, holding the large blue binder. "The good news is I know all the answers to these questions, but you? You only have less than a week to get to know me. So I suggest you start now."

"You know all the answers to these questions about me?" Natasha raised her brow, challenging you, but you were relentless when you nodded with a smirk.

"Scary isn't?"

"A bit." You heard her faint mumble before she cleared her throat, as she felt slightly uncomfortable. "What am I allergic to?"

"Seafoods." You answered easily, "And the full spectrum of human emotion."

"Haha, very funny." She sarcastically replied, "Um, here's a good one; do I have any scars?"

"Yes, many of them." You unsurely muttered, looking away sheepishly, "I heard you talking about them with Mr. Rogers."

"Eavesdropping, huh?" Natasha raised her brow.

"You also have some tattoos," You continued, ignoring her piercing forest green eyes. "Two years ago, your dermatologist called and asked about a Q-switched laser. I googled it and found out that they do, in fact, remove tattoos—but you canceled your appointment."

"сука!"

"What? Are you cursing at me? In a different language? What did you say? What the fuck did I even do-"

"Just. Shut. Up."

"No, I wouldn't just shut up after you-"

"Goddammit!"

"The audacity?! Oh, so you want this-"

Before you could even argue again, you were once again cut off by the speakers.

"We ask that you please fasten your seatbelts at this time and secure all baggage underneath your seat or in the overhead compartments. We also ask that your seats and table trays are in the upright position for take-off."

"Finally," Natasha sighed. "Silence."

"Is that your family?" Natasha's mouth was agape as you looked through the crowd, following her line of sight.

Just then, you saw your name plastered hugely on the tarpaulin, along with your face, which had you covering yourself with the glasses and the cap that you were wearing, suddenly feeling embarrassed.

"Y/n!"

"Mama!" You gasped when you finally hugged her. "Missed you po!"

"Ikaw ba naman kasi! Nagpakalayo-layo ka pa!" (It's your fault! You chose to stay away!) Your mother slightly teared up as she pulled you into another embrace. It's been three years, and as her only daughter, she missed you a lot. "So... who's with you, 'nak?"

"Ah, Natasha." You stepped back, pointing awkwardly towards the redhead. "Mama, Natasha..."

"Nice meeting you, Mrs. Y/l/n!" Natasha pulled out her hand for a formal handshake, but instead, she froze when your mother suddenly pulled her into an embrace too.

"Nice meeting you too, anak! Tara na, panigurado gutom kayo sa byahe!" (Come on now, I'm sure you're both hungry from the travel!) Your mother then turned to you with her warm smile.

"Nasaan si Papa, Ma?" (Where's Papa, Ma?)

"Ah, kilala mo naman yo'n." (Ah, you know your father.) She smiled apologetically. "Busy."

"Hmm.." You tried your best to hide the disappointment from your aura, but Natasha caught through to it all, not saying anything about it just yet. "Did you cook my special request, Ma?"

"Your kare-kare is waiting for you." She chuckled in confirmation, causing you to jump in excitement while riding the car.

"Anak, tulungan mo naman si Ganda, oh," (Go and help Miss Beautiful there.) Your mom whispered when you all finally arrived at your house. It's a decent one, but modern in pattern. "Nahihirapan na ata siya 'nak." (I think she's having a hard time.)

"It's her fault; she wore her stilettos." You mumbled quietly, receiving an elbow from your mother. "Nah, she doesn't want my help. She's a huge activist for feminism."

"Hay, ikaw talagang bata ka!" She shook her head, heading inside first while you got close to Natasha.

"Why are we here? Aren't we supposed to stay at the hotel?" Natasha muttered impatiently when her suitcase wouldn't cooperate.

"Ah, Ganda!" Your mother turned back around, having heard of your conversation, which caused Natasha to smile immediately with her flashing white teeth. "We canceled your reservation. We're a family now; we stay together, okay?"

"Yes, ma'am." Natasha agreed with a nod and a forced smile before dropping it when your mother turned again. Instead, she faced you with a warning in her eyes, "What?!"

"I didn't know!" You defended, grabbing one of her suitcases while holding your other one. "Come on now, I'm hungry."

"Aren't you always?" She questioned with sarcasm lacing on her tone. The two of you finally reached the front door, and just as you opened it, you were immediately bombarded with confetti and balloons popping here and there.

"What is this?" You questioned with a laugh, looking around to see some familiar faces around the room.

"Welcome home!"

One by one, guests began greeting you. Some hugging and some kissing your cheeks, telling you stories about what happened while you were far away from home. Soon then, the last person to approach you was unexpected.

Considering that you both broke up because of your NY ambitions, you stood there, staring at her with unsure feelings, while she smiled at you warmly, causing your heart to skip a beat. You weren't sure why you felt nervous all of a sudden, especially when you finally gathered yourself and called her name again.

"Wanda.."

Taglist: @taliiiaasteria @marvels--slut @freeyanna @mrsromanoff @natsxwife @elenimoris (couldn't tag you for some reason, sorry 😭)

#natasha romanoff #natasha romanoff x fem!reader #natasha romanoff x reader #natasha romanoff fluff #black widow #natasha romanoff x you #black widow x reader #soft natasha romanoff #marvel #the proposal series

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xpao-bearx · 1 year

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"Like A Virgin"

Steven Grant x Fem!Reader/Jake Lockley x Fem!Reader/Marc Spector x Fem!Reader

Read Part 1 HERE

Read Part 2 HERE

Read Part 4 HERE

NOTES: The fact that the idea for this part was already causing me such INTENSE brainrot way before I even finished writing Part 2 (which is pretty funny cuz I actually had a TOTALLY different idea compared to how this part is now, but hey my stoopid brain does what it does) 👁👄👁 Anyhoe, I am SO stoked for this (it also turned out quite long)!! It's finally got ✨️smut✨️ which I know my fellow sluts have been waiting for, BUT it's not the actual sexy sex yet cuz I'm saving that for the last part. Don't worry, it'll definitely be worth it~ ;)

BTW there's a part in this where Steven recites French poetry by Marceline Desbordes-Valmore and I used Google Translate for the English, so if the translation is off then I'm very sorry!

And I just wanna thank y'all sooo much again from the bottom of mah lil black heart, like SERIOUSLY! You lovelies are truly spoiling me with all your sweet comments, likes, and reblogs 😭❤️❤️❤️ And I swear that after the unexpectedly huge success of this fic, it made me fall RIDICULOUSLY HARDER for Oscar ISNACC and I have y'all to blame for dragging me even deeper into DILF Hell Heaven. Like, it's actually a problem when I suddenly feel like giggling and kicking my feet while I'm suffering at work just at the thought of him 😂

I also haven't been this confident and motivated in a while, and this is one of the VERY rare times I'm actually updating pretty quickly without the temptation of slacking off and abandoning it. I love writing and this fic is my baby, and it's just so fucking incredible that you guys are loving what I'm putting out, too, so once more: THANK YOU 🥰

Who knows, maaaybe more Moon Knight fics will come out in the future from me and fingers crossed that Moon Knight Season 2 will be confirmed 🤭

And the tag list has been updated! I also included some readers who I thought wanted to follow this whole series, so if you find yourself tagged despite not asking to be then that's why LMAO xD As always, the tag list is open so don't be shy to ask if you'd like to be added on it! ^_^

TAGS: @autismsupermusicalassassin @ungracefularchimedes @pimosworld @ababynova @sweatyroadcowboyjudge @anapnovo-blog @am-3-thyst @harrys-tittie @zukoisbabee @wiltedwonderland @the-ginger-draws @bitchyglitterfox @readingfan @spidey-3 @minigirl87 @wandasupremacy @simba-will-live-on @wavychelle @thepowerthismanhasoverme @blackholegladiator @kittytiddywinks @literalfkinsimp

Part 3: Like a virgin, touched for the very first time

After the flurry of honesty and an insane whirlwind of emotions, you and Steven finally winded down. It was a bit awkward following that, but he asked (well, sputtered) if you'd like to stay. He immediately apologized, knowing that he was overstepping boundaries and he completely understands if you rejected such a mental idea.

But it was late, and there was absolutely no way he was going to let you go home alone especially with the state you're in. And also...

Well, call him a selfish knob, but he just wanted--needed--to be with you.

But you agreed to stay--enthusiastically so. You both were flustered, though sharing a laugh together had all the tension fade away.

Because, truly, you were right where you were supposed to be.

♡•••🌙•••♡

Steven prepared dinner for the two of you, consisting of five-minute vegan mac and cheese courtesy of his microwave then indulging yourselves with the box of chocolates he brought at the failed date for dessert. It wasn't "grand" by any means, but it was the best you ate in a long time.

All thanks to the cute host... Actually, your gorgeous boyfriend.

Just the thought had you grinning like a doofus, the butterflies in your belly now transforming into fucking birds.

Did that make sense? Hell no, but being with Steven absolutely did.

"Love..." Steven's strong arms encircled around your waist from behind, nuzzling into the crook of your neck. "Make yourself comfortable, yeah? Don't worry, I'll sleep on the couch."

You gasped, affronted, quickly whipping around to face him. "Excuse you, sir, but I have every reason to be worried!" You huffed dramatically. "You are definitely not sleeping on the couch, Steven. And if you still insist that you are, then I'll just join you!"

Steven chuckled, his cheeks glowing pink. He rested his chin atop your head, pulling you closer to him. "The couch is too small for the two of us... So for a good night's sleep, I suppose I have no choice but to share the bed with you, yeah?"

"You say that as if you'd rather not." You pouted playfully, wrapping your arms around him and laying your head against his chest. You can faintly hear the erratic thrum of his heartbeat, matching your own.

"I'm just pulling your leg, sweetheart." He teased, kissing your head.

How the fuck did he ever get so lucky? He thought he was going crazy, that this was all just a dream--but it wasn't. Dreams were never this good. You were right here, right now, in his arms. Wholly accepting him for who he is. Loving him.

And he fucking loved you, too.

"Where's the bathroom, baby?"

Baby. The name made his heart stop for a full second. Heat once again crept up to his cheeks and all the way to the tips of his ears, his voice not coming out as all he could do was just point towards the bathroom as he stared down at you in a completely lovestruck sort of wonder.

You giggled, blushing as well before leaning up on your tiptoes and pecking his nose. "You go relax, Steven. I'll join you soon."

He watched you saunter off, still glued in place and a hand atop his frenzied heart.

He had no idea how in the world he was supposed to relax, especially now that the situation fully hit him like a freight train. But thankfully, he found his legs moving for him and his body taking the liberty of changing into his cozy pyjamas before climbing onto bed.

He put on his ankle restraint and settled down, covering the blanket over him like some posh Victorian duchess as he laid completely stiff. He didn't know how long he stayed like that, lifting his head and squinting every so often at the closed bathroom and your obscure shadow dancing amidst the light peeking through the tiny crack of the door underneath.

And it was so...quiet. Neither Marc nor Jake has uttered a single peep, which was highly unusual. Either one or both of them always had something to say, regardless of whatever Steven was doing and he was the same whenever they were fronting.

But as of the moment, he couldn't even handle speaking with Marc. Not after what he did. Marc and Jake were his family and there was no doubt that he and Marc will eventually make up, but no one was ever allowed to hurt you--especially now that you two were officially together.

Jake, on the other hand... Well, he was known to butt into Steven's business. But Jake always gave him a good push, and he would never actually force Steven to do something if Jake didn't believe he could do it. Truly, Steven owed Jake for technically setting you and him up.

But besides Marc, Steven was more surprised that Jake wasn't yapping away especially when you were involved. It didn't go unnoticed for Steven the way Jake has...changed. Only when you were around, at least. And despite Jake being the stealthiest of them all, Steven could always feel him silently observing you at work deep within the recesses of his mind.

But Steven never said anything. He just understood--accepted--Jake, and he was sure that Jake knew. But Steven didn't mind it; in fact, it made him feel less alone.

After all, how could anyone ever resist you?

He then sighed deeply, shaking his head. Clearly it was no use just laying in his bed like a corpse, so he sat up and threw the blanket off before grabbing a random book from his bedside table and donned his glasses. But his brain was too muddled, heart still not ceasing its turbulent thump as he couldn't even register the words popping out of the worn pages he has read a thousand times.

"So you wear glasses, too, huh?"

He flinched slightly at your voice, seeing you standing at the foot of his bed. You chuckled softly before your eyes landed on his ankle restraint, raising a brow.

"S-Sorry, it's..." He scrambled for something--anything. "I...I know it's a huge red flag, but I have a...sleeping disorder. I promise it ain't for something, um...sexual."

"No need to make excuses, Steven. I don't think it's a red flag."

'And I wouldn't mind if you used it on ME.' You bit back the risqué words that nearly tumbled out your foolish, needy mouth.

Steven only smiled shyly, putting the book away before he gasped when he suddenly felt something plop down on his lap.

Something soft, warm, and lovely.

"Is...is this okay..?" Now it was your turn to be shy, meeting his gaze tentatively.

"More than okay." He breathed, staring up at you with an awed grin. "Gods, Y/N, you're beautiful."

"Thanks, this is my 'I wonder how I didn't pass out from running the most I never thought I could' look." You laughed. But Steven didn't, guilt clouding his features.

He placed his hands on your hips, brows knitting together and jaw squaring. "I really am sorry, Y/N. You didn't have to do that, didn't have to meet me. I would've hated it, but I would've totally understood if you never wanted to see me again. And yet...I was happy when you did come."

"I'm happy, too, Steven." You assured him, one hand on his shoulder while the other combed through his fluffy curls. "And honestly, I would do it again. If you were in, hell, Egypt--I'd still find a way to you, no matter what."

His expression softened, a smile replacing his frown as he leaned forward and laid his head on your chest. "Please do one favour for me, though?" You kept quiet, patiently awaiting his words. "If you ever meet Marc, punch the prick."

"Baby, I can only slap him! No way I'd ever damage your godsent face." You laughed again, little snorts wracking your body that Steven found so damn endearing. Then he looked up, his chin resting in between the pillowy softness of your breasts.

"Love... Call me that again."

"Baby." You obeyed with zero hesitation, and Steven groaned. A deep, rumbly sound that sent tingles all throughout your body. You lightly tugged on his hair, making his head tip back and gaze locking with his pretty brown eyes that have gotten darker, pupils dilated.

"Baby..." Your voice came out as a pathetic whine, your hand on his shoulder holding on for dear life. "Wanna kiss you."

Like a predator pouncing on its prey, Steven swooped up to catch your lips--only for the both of your glasses to bump into each other.

An awkward beat passed between the two of you before you both exploded into riotous laughter. The two of you fell side by side on the bed, giggling so much that tears sprang to your eyes and your stomachs hurt.

Once you two finally calmed down, you exchanged bright smiles and Steven rolled on top of you. His elbows dug into the bed on either side of you, making sure not to bear down his weight on you. He then took off both of your glasses, setting them aside on the bedside table.

"Shall we try again, love?" But Steven didn't wait for your response, crashing his lips with yours.

It was chaste. Feather light. So much better than what you ever imagined it to be like. Steven's lips were unexpectedly soft, but there was a certain firmness in the way he kissed you. Your eyes fluttered shut, slowly wrapping your arms around his neck and pulling him in closer to deepen the kiss.

Steven cradled the side of your face gently, lovingly, as if he was handling glass. Then, experimentally, you nipped on his bottom lip. He gasped sharply, and you slid your tongue inside his mouth.

It was obvious how inexperienced you were, but Steven certainly didn't mind. In fact, it only turned him on even more that you wanted to spend your precious first time with him.

And he was definitely never letting you go.

You moved your tongue uncertainly, small panic brewing inside of you if you were doing it right. All those shows and movies made kissing look so easy; but you were soon snapped out of your thoughts as Steven's tongue tangled with yours, taking the lead as he coaxed you into a lazy, sensual dance.

And that drew a long, beautiful moan out of you. Steven craved more, more, more--wanting to push you to the very limit, a lustful, greedy beast suddenly possessing his body.

But oh, he knew, deep down, that beast has always been there; waiting for the right moment to be released.

Waiting for you.

He then slowly pulled away, a thin string of saliva connecting your tongues. Your entire body was flushed, lips puffy and eyes hazy with anguished yearning as you stared up at him. Your hands reached out, clinging on tightly to his black sweatshirt. Despite being on the bed, you felt as if you were free falling into a bottomless pit.

And you wanted to fall--with Steven.

"Steven..." You murmured, one leg wrapping around his waist. "Are you gonna make love to me?"

"No." His reply was instant, levelling his gaze with yours. "I will, but not tonight, darling. I don't have any condoms."

"I...I don't mind..."

A low purr reverberated from his throat. Fuck, were you even aware of what you were saying? Of the sweet, tempting danger it entailed?

He might as well just tie you up, keep you in his apartment forever. With him. ONLY him.

He shook his head, quickly stamping down such dark, possessive thoughts.

"Love." He emphasized through clenched teeth, and you saw the way his inner conflict flickered in his eyes. "Not tonight, Y/N. But that doesn't mean I can't still please you, yeah?"

He pulled your leg off of his waist then pressed his lips to your ankle, electricity coursing directly to where you desired it most.

He never broke eye contact, his lips slowly trailing down the smooth expanse of your leg before pausing at your crotch. He chuckled deeply, ignoring it as he moved to your stomach.

You mewled desperately, wiggling slightly. "Baby." You pleaded, nearly breathless. "Please... Don't fuckin' tease me."

"M'sorry, pretty girl. Just let me worship you, yeah? You deserve it." He hummed, completely unbothered. "I deserve it."

He pushed up your tank top, your breasts spilling erotically and...fuck, was that a belly button piercing?

"First year of college. It was a completely lucid decision." You giggled at his stunned expression. "Hurt like a bitch, but I've always wanted one."

"Looks like I'm not the only one with secrets, then." He chuckled, kissing your belly with utmost tenderness and your breath getting caught in your throat. His lips languidly traced upwards, reaching your breasts and burying his face in between them and inhaling deeply.

Now he understood why Jake wouldn't shut the hell up about the way you smelled after asking you out.

His left hand groped one of your breasts, breath stuttering at the wonderful plushness. Then he raised his head, eyes locking intently with yours once more as his tongue flicked your pert nipple. You whimpered for more, more, more--back arching as you eagerly offered yourself to him.

And he just as eagerly accepted your gracious offer, mouth latching on to your nipple. You moaned as he sucked and squeezed, his teeth grazing slightly against the sensitive bud, only magnifying the maddening sensations you had no control over yet had the privilege to be a willing victim to.

He pulled away with a resounding 'pop' before giving your other breast equal devoted attention, his right hand making its descent lower, lower, lower--slipping inside your shorts and his chest blazing at the dampness that greeted him.

"Bloody hell..." He grunted, erection straining painfully against his pyjama pants. He glanced down, his much larger hand cupping your entire pussy. "Wanna fucking taste you, angel. Can I? Please, love, I wanna taste your pretty pussy."

"Y-You don't even have to ask..." You squeaked, completely scarlet from head to toe. "Just take me, baby."

Steven grinned wolfishly, a gleam in his eyes that you've never seen before making your heart skip a beat. Without wasting another moment, he practically ripped your shorts off. He groaned as he saw the wet splotch in the middle of your panties, yanking them down your legs before bringing it up to his nose as a shiver ran down his spine at your intoxicating scent.

Your arousal was flowing down to your thighs, eyes glazed over as if in a trance as you watched Steven sniff your panties like a beast in heat. Then he shimmied out of his pants, your eyes widening as his cock stood proudly; thick and veiny, the tip an angry red and leaking with pre-cum. His fist, still clutching on to your panties, wrapped around his cock as he leaned down to meet your pussy.

Instinctively, you snapped your legs shut, hands flying to your face.

"I-I'm sorry!" You sobbed, briskly shaking your head. "I'm sorry, so sorry! I...I can't, Steven..."

You expected him to be furious, and honestly you'd understand if he was. What you didn't expect, however, was him gently removing your hands and tenderly kissing away your tears.

"Hey, hey, it's alright, love." He assured, his hands massaging soothing circles on yours. "What's the matter? You don't want to continue?"

"I-I do, it's just..." You sniffled, blinking away tears and meeting his concerned gaze. "I'm...I'm embarrassed, Steven. It's just... Y-You know it's my first time, and you're doing amazing, it's just...I'm scared I'm not. I...have no idea what the fuck to do, and I'm not even pretty."

"That's not true." His voice was firm, jaw ticking resolutely. His brows furrowed, expression the most serious you've ever seen it. "You're bloody gorgeous, Y/N. I'm the git who doesn't know what the hell you see in me. And don't fret about being inexperienced, love. I'm so happy that you wanna be with me, and if you'd allow me, I wanna spend the rest of my life proving it to you."

You stayed silent, then your lips curved up into a dazzling smile that had Steven utterly weak in the knees. What the hell were you so anxious about, anyway? This was Steven Grant, the man of your wildest dreams. The man you loved.

"I love you, Steven."

Steven froze, tears prickling his eyes. Something between a sob and a chuckle escaped him, positively beaming down at you.

"I love you, too, Y/N."

He then parted your legs, hands quivering slightly. "I love you..." He crouched down, pressing his lips to your inner thigh. "...so fucking much." His tongue darted out, licking the beautiful stretch marks that lined the supple skin of your thighs.

His tongue slowly wandered up, up, up, and you were scarcely breathing once his face was in front of your cunt. His hot breath fanned against your clit; dark, nearly black eyes fixed on yours.

"Quand je vivais tendre et craintive amante..." He recited in French, smiling up at you. "...avec ses feux je peignais ses douleurs."

When I was a tender and fearful lover, with her fires I painted her pains.

You had noticed earlier the French poetry books stacked on Steven's desk, but goddammit you didn't expect he would quote one while he was right in front of your pussy.

You were sure this absolutely sexy menace of a man was trying to murder you.

His thumb then brushed against your clit, making you gasp. He grinned widely, pushing down on your nub as you whimpered and squirmed helplessly.

"Baby..." You begged, tears pouring down your pretty pink cheeks, and there must be something severely wrong with Steven to find it so enticing. "Pretty please... Fuck me with your mouth."

And how could he ever say no to that? He was merely a loyal, desperate slave for his goddess' wishes. For her love.

And so, like a parched man in the desert, he buried his face in your sopping pussy. You yelped, eyes rolling to the back of your head at the sudden--but very much not unwelcomed--intrusion into your deepest, most intimate part.

Steven's groan of appreciation vibrated within your gummy walls, inching ever so deeper, feeling his nose hit a bundle of nerves. Then his tongue licked a long, slow stripe along your mound and up to your clit. You cried out, a broken, pornographic song that echoed throughout Steven's entire flat.

"Gods..." His voice was low, trembling; one hand yet again wrapping around his aching cock, the flimsy fabric of your panties hugging the tip. "You've no idea how much I dreamt of this, Y/N. Waited for this." His other hand settled on your pussy, deft fingers running along your drenched folds. "Such a good girl, tastes so fucking good."

He puckered his lips, kissing your pussy. And the sounds that accompanied were downright filthy, Steven moaning shamelessly, loud squelches and the heady smell of your sex filling the air.

Slowly, carefully, he thrusted a finger inside of you. You keened, your thighs squishing Steven's head and your hands gripping onto his hair. He then added another finger, scissoring his digits and you knew right then and there that you were losing what's barely left of your fucking mind.

You grinded against him, and he bobbed his head zealously in perfect tandem with you. His tongue lapped up and down, up and down, before suddenly driving it inside your hole.

He was rubbing his cock vigorously, watching you, burning this marvelous moment for all eternity into his memories. And as soon as a third finger slipped in, you were fucking gone.

You screamed, finally reaching that peak and falling over it, seeing stars. You gushed around his mouth, and Steven noisily slurped it all up, not daring to leave behind a single drop.

He soon followed, grunting animalistically as his cum sprayed all over your panties. He collapsed against your pussy, in between the heavenly plushness of your thighs, panting raggedly.

Neither of you knew how long you both stayed like that, coming down from your high, until you sliced through the serene silence.

"Wow... Just...wow."

Steven chuckled breathlessly, looking up at you with your wetness glistening on his lips and chin. "Wow, indeed." He then leaned forward, and you gasped as his lips suckled on the skin right next to your clit, claiming you with a dark purple mark.

"You'll be the fucking death of me, Steven Grant." You groaned playfully, pulling on his hair.

He grinned, crawling over your body before moulding your lips together in a passionate liplock. His tongue entwined with yours and you could taste yourself, your brain short circuiting.

He slowly drew away, gently knocking his forehead against yours as his grin grew impossibly bigger.

"I'll make love to you at the Field of Reeds, then."

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raaorqtpbpdy · 18 days

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In Memory of Mom

Danny meets a strange, Spanish-speaking ghost wandering around Casper High. His Spanish isn't great, but he's pretty sure she's looking for her daughter.

For the Prompt: Danny encounters a strange spanish-only speaking ghost looking for Paulina Sanchez. Being a first year Spanish student, he only recognizes the words "mi hija" and hesitantly leads her to Paulina. It's Día de los Muertos, but because Paulina has been trying to fit in at school, and her papa remarried and doesn't want to make his new wife uncomfortable, they've fallen out of the habit of setting up the ofrenda and marigolds, leaving their mom/wife unable to find her way home. Paulina can't see or hear her, but Phantom can [From @dreamwraith]

Disclaimer: I am white, and I do not speak Spanish. It is with deepest regret that I must admit to using Google translate for the Spanish dialogue in this fic. If you notice any errors in the Spanish, or regarding Día de Muertos (which there might very well be, though I did do my research), please feel free to correct me. I can only do my best, and always appreciate the opportunity to do better.

Read also on AO3

[Warnings for past character death, and mentions of culture death]

Danny typically liked to have more than one day to recover after fighting Fright Knight every Halloween. Not to mention the numerous other ghosts who always had to come out on that stupid holiday to cause as much trouble as possible during the period of time when the barrier between the human world and the Ghost Zone was at it's thinnest.

Of course, Danny never got more than one day, but he would have liked to.

Luckily the ghost that showed during lunch period on November second didn't seem to be causing any trouble. In fact, it didn't seem like she was powerful enough to cause trouble, even if she wanted to. No one besides Danny even seemed to notice her, which at least meant she wouldn't be able to cause any serious damage, even if she tried.

She was speaking Spanish as she walked through the halls of Casper High, and turning her head this way and that as if she was looking for something, or someone.

"¿La has visto? ¿Mi hija? ¿Dónde está mi hija? ¿La has visto?" she called out.

Now, Danny was only a first year Spanish student, and furthermore... he missed a lot of classes, so he wasn't sure exactly what she was saying, but he did recognize the words 'mi hija', 'my daughter'. The last time he'd been to Spanish class, Señora Gutierrez had been teaching family terms. Madre, padre, hermana, hermano, hija, hijo, tío, abuela, that kind of thing.

Subtly, he followed her until she walked into a hallway where there weren't any people, and then, with no one to look at him like he was crazy for talking to the air, he spoke to her.

"Excuse me, are you looking for your daughter?" Danny asked.

"¡sí mi hija!" the woman replied excitedly. "¿La conoces? ¿La has visto?"

Danny knew 'sí', that was 'yes', the most basic of basic Spanish. 'sí' and... and... okay, so Danny couldn't remember what 'no' was in Spanish, but he remembered 'sí'. Ancients, he was really gonna have to start showing up to that class more if he wanted to get the foreign language credits he needed to graduate.

"Uh... tu hija," Danny said, completely confident that he was already screwing up the grammar, "¿que es la nombre?"

"No es muy fluido en español, ¿verdad?" The ghost laughed. "Su nombre es Paulina."

"Paulina?" Danny didn't understand any of the rest of what she said, so he focused on the last bit. "Paulina Sanchez?"

"¡Sí!" she confirmed, enthusiastically. "Mi hija. Paulina Sánchez. ¿Tu la conoce?"

Danny nodded, although he'd kinda fallen off the sentence after 'sí'. "Why are you looking for her?"

"Es el Dia de Muertos," she said. "Quiero verla, pero no encuentro la ofrenda."

Danny had no idea to respond to that. The only word he recognized from all of that was 'la', but he couldn't glean a whole sentence from a single 'the', so he just looked at her with an expression that was half a forced, awkward smile and half a grimace.

"Ummmm..."

Was it safe to lead an unknown ghost to an unsuspecting human? Objectively no. Most especially not when the unsuspecting human was the girl Danny had a massive crush on. But... on the other hand, this particular ghost seemed pretty harmless, and she said she was Paulina's mother. So... maybe it was okay?

"How about I'll take you to her," Danny suggested.

The ghost that claimed to be Paulina's mother nodded excitedly and said something else in Spanish that Danny had no hope of translating.

Danny led her to the outdoor table where the A-listers always sat, but Paulina wasn't there. After a little bit of prowling the quad, he found her, at an out of the way table no one ever sat at because the the school custodian always ignored it and it was disgusting.

Paulina had laid her jacket over the bench to sit on, and unfolded a few paper napkins over the surface of the table. She had a handful of sugar cubes, and was poking one with a toothpick for some reason. She hadn't noticed him yet.

As much as he would have liked to go over to her as Danny Fenton and be the hero who let her talk to her mom again, he figured it would probably be suspicious if people knew he could see ghosts others couldn't. A but reluctantly, he looked around to make sure no one could see and transformed into Danny Phantom. The ghost, Paulina's mom, applauded him, like he'd just done a magic trick. To her, it might have seemed that way.

"Thanks," he said, a little sarcastically, and floated over to talk to Paulina.

"Excuse me, Paulina Sanchez?" Danny asked, as if he wasn't sure whether he knew her name or not. "There's a ghost here who wants to speak to you."

Paulina looked up and looked around, then turned back to Danny and raised a perfect eyebrow. She put down the sugar cube she was poking at, and Danny noticed that on her other side, there were two other sugar cubes sculpted into the shape of a skull.

"You mean you?" she asked. "Look, normally, I'd be thrilled, but today isn't really—"

"Oh, no, not me," Danny said. "She has long hair, wearing a nice knee-length dress.... It's kinda hard to describe ghosts in a way that makes them recognizable to people who knew them in life, 'cause colors tend to be different between life-and-death but uh... you and her have the same nose, actually. She says your her daughter? I don't speak Spanish, but I managed to figure out that much."

When he stopped talking, Pauling gave him a flat look.

"Are you messing with me?"

"No," Danny insisted. "She's not a very powerful ghost, so she can't stay in the visible range, but she's here. She wants to talk to you."

"Mamá?" Paulina asked hesitantly. "¿Estás aquí?"

"Sí, hija mía, estoy aquí," Mrs. Sanchez replied. "Estoy muy feliz de verte de nuevo."

Paulina didn't respond for a long moment, apparently waiting. Then, finally, she said, "I don't hear anything."

"I was worried you might say that," Danny said. "I'm gonna have to speak Spanish if you guys want to talk to each other, aren't I?" he sighed deeply. "Alright fine. Apologies in advance because I am gonna absolutely butcher the pronunciations."

"Hija," Mrs. Sanchez said, "volví a verte, pero no había camino para mí. ¿Por qué?"

Danny repeated the words to the best of his ability.

Paulina took a moment to parse them out, with a puzzled expression before finally saying, "Papá se volvió a casar. Su nueva esposa es gringa, así que no le hicimos un ofrenda en casa para que no se sintiera incómoda."

Danny didn't know what any of that meant, obviously, and was grateful he only had to repeat after Paulina's mom, because Paulina herself spoke Spanish very quickly and there was absolutely no way he wouldn't trip over his tongue mimicking her.

"Pero estoy aquí, debe haber una ofrenda."

Danny mimicked her again.

Paulina looked a little embarrassed. "Sí... yo... hice uno en mi casillero para ti. No quería que no pudieras cruzar."

Her mother gasped. Danny really wished he knew what was going on.

"¿Me mostrarás?"

Paulina's expression lit up when Danny repeated that, and she stood, gathering up her jacket and her sugar cubes.

"Vamos," she said. "I mean, follow me."

She led the way through the empty halls and Danny and her mom followed.

"What were you guys talking about?" Danny asked, then immediately realized what he was asking and quickly backtracked. "I mean, never mind, it's probably personal. I was just curious. You don't have to answer that."

"No, it's okay," Paulina said. "See, my mom passed when I was seven, and every year, me and my dad set up an ofrenda for Day of the Dead with her picture so she could visit us. We moved here from Mexico when I was ten, but we kept up the tradition.

"Last winter, though, Dad married my step-mom, and she's white, and doesn't know anything about Mexican traditions or holidays. Dad doesn't want to make her uncomfortable, so ever since they got married, we stopped celebrating most of what we used to back in Mexico, so we didn't put up an ofrenda this year, and Mom was asking why she couldn't find it, so I explained."

"Oh... that's... kinda sad," Danny said. "You just had to give up all your culture because your dad remarried?"

Paulina shrugged. "We had to give up a lot of it already, when we moved to America anyway," she said, as if that made it less sad and not more. "At least Sandra's nice, she's just... a little out of her depth sometimes."

"So... where are you taking us?"

Finally, she stopped in front of her locker and turned the dial with her combination.

"I didn't want mom to not be able to visit me, so... I sort of made my own ofrenda in my locker," Paulina explained sheepishly.

The door swung open to reveal the inside. There was a small magnetic shelf stuck on the back of the locker. On it, there was a small electric candle, some kind of orange flower, a pair of black lace gloves, and a heart-shaped locket. The locket was open and propped up so the picture inside was visible. It was the ghost Danny was trying to help.

Paulina reached in an put a few of the sculpted sugar cubes on the shelf next to the locket. The tiny sugar skulls were perfectly to scale with the tiny picture, but absolutely dwarfed by the flower.

The ghost put her hands to her heart and looked absolutely touched by the tiny display.

"Those were her favorite gloves," Paulina explained. "She always wore them when Dad took her dancing."

"What's the flower?" Danny asked.

"It's a marigold," she replied. "Cempasúchil, in Spanish. They're a traditional decoration for the ofrenda. You're also supposed to leave a trail of their petals from the grave to the ofrenda, but... Mom's grave is in Mexico, and the ofrenda is in my locker so...."

"Ay, esto es hermoso," the ghost said. "Gracias. Amo mucho esto. Te quiero mi hija."

Danny had been to distracted to properly listen, so he wasn't sure how to repeat her words.

"Uh... she says she likes it."

The ghost gave him a look and a light slap that passed right through him.

"A lot, she likes it a lot."

"¡Y te amo!" she added insistently.

"Y te amo, she says," Danny repeated.

"Thank you, Phantom," Paulina said. She leaned forward and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "This means a lot to me."

Danny knew his cheeks were turning bright green, and he cleared his throat awkwardly to make sure his voice wouldn't crack.

"Uh, yeah, no problem," he said. "Don't mention it."

It was then that the bell rang signalling the end of lunch, and Paulina grabbed a couple of books from her locker and headed to class. Her mom followed, even though Paulina couldn't see her.

Danny had to get to class, too. He had Spanish class after lunch, and Ancients knew he didn't need to be missing any more of those.

In class, Señora Gutierrez talked about Dia de los Muertos, and for once, Danny actually sort of knew what she was talking about, thanks to Paulina. Maybe he should ask her to tutor him.

#dp #danny phantom #danny fenton #paulina sanchez #paulina sanchez's mom #dia de los muertos #fic #things i wrote #phic phight #phic phight 24 #spanish

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i-am-bitterly-jittery · 3 months

Text

On Death's Doorstep (pt 39/?)

[<<First],,,,[<Prev],[Next>] [ODD Masterlist]

Word count: 1381

Rating: Teen

Pairings: familial Losleep, past Logan/ofc, minor Karrot Kings & Anxceit

Warnings: dysfunctional family dynamics, past character death, I may have killed the therapist but we’re still managing to work through some feelings, google translate Spanish

~~~START~~~

A lot was happening in a very small amount of time and Remy suspected another move was in her future. Virgil’s dads — who were really nice — had been moved into the building and were now living in Janus’s spare room; Patton's room was still technically Roman’s spare room, but he’d been sleeping downstairs with his grandpas for the past few days. It would make more sense for them to have their own floor, besides Remy had been living in Roman’s room on Roman’s floor essentially all by herself ever since Virgil left.

Not that this really counted as living by herself, Barbra — who she wasn’t comfortable calling grandma just yet — or the twins, or Virgil’s dads were constantly popping in to check on her. Janus hadn’t been around much, and Remy knew they were up to something, but no one would tell her what it was.

She hadn’t seen Logan since the day after Virgil left, and she was perfectly content to go on not seeing him.

But all good things — not that this was very good, it was neutral at best — must come to an end, and when Remy heard at knock at the door, she found that it had been Logan.

“Remy,” Logan inclined his head, making no move to try to step past her into the apartment.

“Logan.” Maybe she was imagining it, but she thought he winced at the use of his name.

“You can’t hate me forever,” Logan stated, a faint undercurrent of anger coloring his voice.

“Wanna bet?” Remy arched an eyebrow and crossed her arms. She had plenty of experience arguing with would-be father figures from arguing with Mike, Logan had no idea what he was in for.

“I did not kill you–”

“You think that’s what I’m mad about?” Remy demanded, cutting him off vehemently.

Logan frowned, attempting to push his glasses further up his nose despite the fact that they had not slipped down even a millimeter.

“I do not see any other reason for your hostility towards me.”

“Estúpido!” Remy hissed, throwing her hands up in frustration. “Completo idiota! Lo siguiente que me vas a decir es que no sabes de dónde vienen los bebés! Eres un genio, te apuesto–”

“El príncipe es estupido!” Logan interjected suddenly, completely derailing Remy’s train of thought as she struggled to figure out what that meant.

“What?”

Logan’s gaze locked on the door hinges as he actually looked embarrassed for the first time since Remy had met him.

“I–” he started, cutting himself off and starting again. “I am ashamed to admit that spoken languages have never been my strong suit, and even when I was living with your mother I never reached a level of fluency required to understand native speakers when they truly got going.”

“…so you told me that the prince is stupid?�� Remy asked. Surely there was something she was missing that would make this whole interaction make sense, she just couldn’t see what it was.

“Yes,” Logan agreed and refused to elaborate further.

The two of them stood in awkward silence for a moment before Remy decided to bite the bullet.

“So what happened?” She asked. “Between you and mom, I mean.”

“Your mother, as you likely know, does not like superpowers,” Logan started slowly.

Remy nodded, her mom had never said as much — not to her anyway — but over the years she’d gotten the sense that Remy’s powers stressed her mom out quite a bit. The manner of Remy’s death probably hurt her almost as much as her actual death.

“I was well aware of that while I was dating her, but as I had no intentions of becoming either a hero or a villain, I thought… perhaps I could be an exception.” Logan was clearly deeply uncomfortable with this conversation by the way he was twitching and shifting, but he continued. “I did not tell her that I had powers. One day, a month before your third birthday, she found me using my technokinesis in my workshop. She decided to leave and take you with her.”

“And what?” Remy demanded. “You just let her go? You didn’t want me?”

“Of course I wanted you!” Logan snapped. “But your mother wanted nothing to do with me! She threatened to turn me in to the authorities should I ever try to contact her or you again.”

“For having powers?” Remy asked. “That’s not a crime.”

“For selling my technology to supervillains.”

“Oh.”

All the fight drained out of Remy then, she was still angry, but she couldn’t exactly be upset at Logan for leaving if her mom had been the one to leave him.

“Technokinesis sounds cool,” She said eventually, grimacing at the way Logan lit up at the clear opening.

“Thank you. Successful inventions do require a knowledge base to build off of, but just allowing the technology to control itself does allow for some interesting experimentation. If you don’t mind me saying, I have noticed that you’ve added some interesting technology of your own to your repertoire.”

Remy shifted in embarrassment. “Yeah well… I just reverse engineered some shit I stole off of Gemini, which… were yours, weren’t they?”

“It was indeed my ‘shit’ that you got from Roman and Remus,” Logan preened. “I have been very impressed with your engineering talents; your ability to recreate and improve upon unfamiliar technology is astounding!”

“Uh, thanks,” Remy mumbled, not quite used to this level of excitement or encouragement from a parental figure. “Is that what you wanted to talk about? My ‘engineering talents’?”

“Ah, no,” Logan shifted from excited to almost embarrassed quickly. “I– I am aware that you are uncomfortable in my presence as I am your absentee father, as it were, and a supervillain, but I would like you to move in with me. On the top floor.”

Remy narrowed her eyes. “Why?”

“For many reasons,” Logan replied, slipping into teacher-mode. “For one, you are a minor, and living by yourself would supply you with undue amounts of stress–”

“I’m seventeen,” Remy objected. “And I’m hardly living by myself.”

“For another thing,” Logan continued, heedlessly. “Janus has informed me that living with their pseudo in-laws is ‘incredibly awkward’, and moving the Flores-Sanderses and Patton to their own floor would benefit everyone involved immensely. And finally, I cannot live with my mother anymore, she is driving me up the wall, so to speak.”

“Babs?” Remy asked. “What’s wrong with Babs?”

Logan’s eyebrows twitched every time Remy called his mom “Babs”, but he declined to comment on the use of the nickname. “As I’m sure you are aware by now, my mother is clairvoyant. I do not appreciate my every thought being taken as an invitation to have a conversation. I love my mother very much, but living with her is an exhausting exercise in control.”

Remy couldn’t help the way her lips twitched into a smirk.

“It is not funny!” Logan snapped. “I am a grown man, I do not need my mother weighing in on my dietary decisions!”

“That’s rough, buddy,” Remy deadpanned.

“Do not think I don’t recognize an Avatar quote when I hear one, my brother was quite a fan of cartoons and he was very insistent that I watch that particular one with him. He said I was very much like Sokka and was adamant that there were many important lessons to be learned from the program.”

“He sounds smart,” Remy commented, well aware that the twins claimed Logan was reluctant to talk about Emile Picani.

“He was very smart,” Logan agreed with a far off look in his eyes. “His methods were unconventional, but effective nonetheless. He would have been an exceptional therapist, or anything else he set his mind to.”

Remy shifted uncomfortably, she knew what was coming, but she still couldn’t quite believe it when the words slipped past her lips. “I’ll move in with you.”

“…really?” Logan asked incredulously. “You do not need to decide right away.”

“No I– I’m sure. After all, someone needs to save you from living with your mom well into your seventies.”

“I am not in my seventies,” Logan frowned.

“Not yet,” Remy teased, relishing the way Logan’s frown deepened.

He wasn’t ‘dad’, not yet, but so far, he was a vast improvement on Mike.

~~~END~~~

It’s been three months since the last time I posted a chapter 😅 I had a two-ish month writing slump that I’ve finally managed to work through, plus

It’s the TWO YEAR anniversary of ODD!!!

ODD taglist:

@royalty-of-all-things-snuggly @pixelated-pineapple @arsonic-knight @misunderstood-shadowling @lost-in-thought-20 @remy-the-lemon-berry @jinxcrafter @apinkline2715 @gothfoxx @donutsarepartybagels @xoaningout @meganmoneky14 @lunatatic

#ts sanders sides #sanders sides #logan sanders #remy sanders #on death’s doorstep #superhero au #thursday writes #my writing #sanders sides fanfiction

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beautifulpersonpeach · 1 year

Note

Hi, I know you're resting now, I wanted to share my opinion about the album. I noticed that there are five tracks in Face and they are so similar to the 5 stages of acceptance. What do you think about it? Perhaps my question is incoherent, I am writing it through a google translate.

Ask 2: FACCE IS SAURRR GOOODD!! 😭😭😭 WHEN IS THE REVIEW BPP?

Ask 3: Which remix is your fav?? I think beans and toast won this won

Ask 4: Bpp Imma need to go to SK and hold Jm hostage…I need him to make more music…Im going crazy Hes not my bias or my bias wrecker but hes wrecked me…I cant believe that he made my soty my aoty…I just wish the album had more songs…Like crazy is crazy good!!!!

Ask 5: BPP, hi!

I was hoping JM would show us a bit of his true self in his new album. And did he, huh? That MV and song reeks of homosexuality. I know it's simething ARMYs do not talk about. But... What do you think?

Ask 6: So did Jimin really end kpop for you BPP? Which song is you’re favourite? ☺️ He’s blown my mind at least. It’s Instant AOTY for me!!!!!! I hope Like Crazy is promoted really harf because I think it has really good potential It’s my favorite in the album ☺️

***

Hi Anon(s),

Before we get into it...

...I have a bone to pick with Jimin.

I don’t understand what Jimin thinks he’s doing not putting Letter on Apple Music or Spotify. Like, why does he think that’s a good idea? Does anybody know? This song is so perfect - Jimin's lush vocals harmonizing with Jung Kook's is beautiful - Letter needs to be available on as many platforms as possible. See, these are the kind of choices the tannies make that just causes me to laugh because yeah these hidden songs are 'gifts to fans' but it's also a crime against all that is good and honest in this world to keep it off channels those fans will gladly pay for? The fact Ddaeng is still stuck in Soundcloud purgatory is reason enough to kidnap Bang PD's nephew and sell him to the mafia, far as I'm concerned. The only reasons I haven't done it yet because kidnapping is illegal in my country, the Cosa Nostra require a blood oath, and Jin wouldn't like delays to his game update.

Letter is Promise all grown up, a little wiser and more developed, and I hope in every subsequent album Jimin releases for the rest of his career, that there is a version of Promise, a song that feels like Jimin - comforting, easy, warm, simple, and beautiful. Listening to it I'm so thankful Jimin exists. (Yes Jimin, I'm that fan who is simply happy you're alive - Pixid reference, so for anyone who hasn't watched it yet I've linked it here).

FACE is a solid 8.1 / 10.

(Are you streaming?)

It's a great thing Jimin has been so forthcoming in talking about the process and his reasons for making the album, the songs on it, as well as how he had key input on the choreography. I strongly suggest everyone watch his live (linked here - I should probably also mention the English subs aren't up yet, just FYI). Jimin has been very clear about what he's communicating in FACE so I won't tarry on it.

My favourite songs in order of least to most:

5) Like Crazy

4) Face Off

3) Letter

2) Alone

1) Set Me Free Pt 2

Something about each song in reverse order with the exception of Letter - for Letter, see mafia case above.

Set Me Free Pt 2

This is the best song on the album.

Alone

There are two reasons why SMF Pt 2 comes out on top over Alone though Alone in many ways is the superior song. (1) The production (including the use of autotune) in SMF Pt 2 is incredible, and (2) because Alone ends on too disturbing a note for me to dwell on, knowing that it has come from Jimin.

Everything about Alone is perfect. The way the song begins with piano, then guitar, and then drums. Jimin’s voice. That man’s voice seriously fucks with my head. It’s the way I feel every time Yoongi twitches his voice when he’s being particularly nasty. Or anytime I hear Joon’s adlibs in a song. Or what happens in my head every time Hoseok slathers his vocal inflections with grit. I don’t know if I’m making sense, but what I mean to say is that Jimin’s voice during the entire song feels like a gift. It draws you in. And then you hear what he’s singing about...

It’s heartbreaking.

I can’t abide the thought that this is something Jimin went through recently, and that I relate in a very personal way. The emotions expressed in Alone feel too raw, too scary, and too real, and while that could point to a worrying state of mind in its author, I think Jimin’s idiosyncratic bluntness and clarity of speech in Alone shows the state of someone who still reflects often, is self-aware and also resilient.

Still, it’s a sad song to hear, an even sadder one to sing, but it is one of the most powerful and beautiful songs I’ve ever heard.

(He's a problem)

Face Off

I appreciate the vision Jimin had for this song. Starting with the gag of him playing the Flea Waltz in the intro - the song the members have teased Jimin with repeatedly by saying it's the only song Jimin knows how to play on the piano - Jimin used that common (good-natured) taunt and then weaponized it in a song putting those who have crossed him in their place. It's clear by the second verse when Jimin raps that he's pushing himself to express what he means in as many ways as possible. He's challenging himself and sending a message, and that I can respect.

Anon in ask 1 who talked about the album showing the five stages of grief, I agree sort of. If we were to assign a response to each song, I'd say...

Face Off is Anger

Like Crazy - Denial (though bargaining works too)

Alone - Depression

Letter - Acceptance

(PJM2 will be madness)

Like Crazy

This is my least favourite song on the album because it never really develops, but it's also not supposed to. Jimin has said he wanted to express a dreamlike state in Like Crazy, and he does that impeccably well. The song leans into its 80s groove, heavy padded synths, something reminiscent of if Foster The People and The Weeknd made a song together. The thing about dreamlike states is that they lull your mind, and one easy way to create that effect is repetition and monotony. Think about why someone trying to hypnotize someone else tries to keep their voice steady, calm, and monotone. So, many times listening to Like Crazy I wanted the song to go somewhere, to become fuller or less predictable, but that would kill the trance so it didn't. While it's not my preference, I can appreciate Jimin's commitment to the idea of the song.

It's a great track even then. I sometimes listen to it right after Big Man, Little Dignity by Paramore.

Speaking of Like Crazy, there's been much ado about about Jimin's sexuality, queer-coding, etc in the song and so Anon in ask 5, I see where you're coming from.

Jimin is queer. I don't know what else there is to say about it or why even the mere possibility of Jimin being queer should generate the amount of fuss/discourse it does. It's possible I'm wrong of course, but like you Anon I don't think I saw Jimin even stand straight once during the entire MV. There’s not a single straight thing about this guy.

For the sticklers, perhaps the more diplomatic way of saying it is, 'many of us strongly suspect Jimin is queer.'

(What a stunner)

Jimin seems very pleased with his first album and this is my favourite thing about the last few weeks. Watching him for the last nine years, it's gratifying to see how he has fully embraced himself, his limitations, his pride, his vices, his virtues... Jimin is a strong tenacious person and in making this album, he turned that intensity inwards, towards learning to love himself. The result is five great tracks, and I'm eager to see what more he will show us in the future.

#Anon in ask 3 my favourite remix is the UK Garage one #so you and me both #I always thought JK would be the first to wreck my bias list #then Jimin dropped SMF Pt 2 and he's come very close #but he's still got some ways to grow and improve #still #FACE is such an experience #I'm thankful for Jimin #jimin #park jimin #jimin FACE

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soosthesoul · 1 year

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spoilers for part 2 murim arc +++

while i understand that the common take on sui is that by far he's more or less a flat character that the author doesn't really know what to do with and hence uses him as more or less of a laugh track — and while i think that's hilarious, i also think there's deefinitely a little more to it from where that came from.

i also desperately want you to keep in mind that almost everything that kim roksoo - now cale has learnt is directly from his experiences at team 1 under soohyuk - now sui's wing. we know this from the test at the sealed god's temple where cale had tried to communicate with his gang via sgt!krs using the cintamani. that poor boy was so awkward.. my sgrungly crimblo...

let's start with how he's introduced! he finds cale in orsena's duchy and they essentially just have a staring contest for a while before sui joins the party. i.. i am not going to lie, while i was a tiny bit disappointed that they didn't have an emotional reunion, a little reflection on their situation and dimensions as characters made me quickly realise that it was no time or position to have a touching re-contact with each other.

mainly, i think this is because sui khan is guilty. he lives with the guilt of leaving cale behind, and he lives with the guilt of knowing that he eventually has to ask for cale's help regarding his own bird clan — as briefly touched upon in one of the earlier chapters.

his existence in xiaolen was barely there, he'd mostly spent his time with the kids, and volunteered to go spying without even having to be asked — while this may be perceived with the idea that lee soo hyuk prided himself in his abilities of stealth, it's also...

"our little sui wanted some air." maybe i'm looking too deep into this, but it seems that even cale picks up on the fact that sui is restless and uneasy for whatever reason and used it to jab at him as a joke.

skipping forward to when cale had to choose a party for his trip to jungwon, he more or less truly did not require sui's presence there besides for the fact of moral support.

and i think.. sui picked up on that, because he suddenly has this air of mischief to him, and while i definitely don't think that he's by any means faking his laughter, i also think he's genuinely masking his worries, concern and guilt by throwing lighthearted jokes to jab at himself and at cale, more or less as a silent apology of sorts.

he's also mentioned to be by cale's side much more often, whether or not this is because cale is in the body of the weak kim roksoo, nobody really knows. but i think cale thinks that's the real reason.

and while i seriously might be looking too deeply into things; these three instances 100% stood out to me.

(forgive me for the off-quote as i am going off of angie's summaries + poor machine translation via google lens)

1. when the emperor of jungwon had asked cale his name, it's specifically mentioned that he glances at sui who nods his head to encourage him. cale then smiles and states that his name is cale henituse

2. when the whole gag of sui making up murim versions of the entire team's names were going on, it's mentioned that cale had originally thought sui was going to give cale the name "kim roksoo", and its further mentioned that sui paused before saying gae-il (as a joke) then settling with hae-il instead.

3. after that whole exchange is over, they'd joked around with each other, "young master kim", "noble warrior lee". further proceeding past this instance, cale's little shit switch finally turns on and he monologues about how he begins to ignore sui's comments and even contemplates if he should call sui "young warrior lee" instead.

now, don't look at me like i'm crazy, please!! cause i'm well aware these are more or less the most normal instances to mankind that yrh may have just put in here to keep the mood lighthearted. but since when has yrh ever written fluff without the underlying gut-wrenching angst? keke

i seriously think this exchange between the two is their whole "reunion" talk, between two clearly emotionally distanced men, between them who were once best friends, but are now still finding the middle ground to interact with each other. their care and trust in each other remains the same, perhaps has even grown greatly, but in order to avoid accidentally doing damage, they try to find their own little safespace in the dynamics they've created with each other in earth 1 before lee soo hyuk had passed on.

i think sui definitely is bottling up a lot of things he'd rather not say to his dongsaeng who is still definitely struggling and has his plate full with the concerns of his own family and other dimensions. i think sui will finally get the push he needs soon, and i think that rereading part 2 with sui's inevitable arc in mind will be a juicy heartbreaker due to all the subtle and nuanced instances the author littered here and there.

while i agree that murim arc is most certainly sort of dragging on in the last 5 or so chapters, i still really really enjoy the direction part 2 is going in, and am eagerly waiting for more. choi jungsoo's appearance is going to break me in 10 halves, i'm most certainly not ready.

here's to manifesting soos reunion on monday chapter 900! here's to law of the hunt already reaching a 100 chapters!!

tl;dr - sui is a pro at masking. the soos.. definitely need closure, and the foreshadowing of it happening soon is driving me insane enough to theorise about it!!

#i cant believe the soos are making me write those theory posts that i detest reading..#trash of the count's family #lout of the count’s family #tcf lee soo hyuk #cale henituse #tcf #tcf choi jung soo #lee soo hyuk #tcf spoilers #tcf part 2

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writercole · 9 months

Text

Off My Mind

Summary: The past comes back to haunt Jake. Words: 1526 Warnings: angst, TGM spoilers, MLM. A/N: If you don't ship Hangster, skip this, too. No beta. Mistakes are mine. A/N 2: I'm working on finding a replacement for google docs and it seems that I have some searching to do to be able to comfortably share my docs with betas. I'll figure it out at some point.

Part of my A to Z Song Challenge filling O - Off My Mind by Radio Company.

Part 1

I do not consent to having my works translated, reposted, fed into ai, or otherwise taken. This is my intellectual property using characters owned by another. As I am not profiting off of this work, this is entirely legal and falls under free use.

“Bradshaw!” Jake heard Phoenix yell and his heart jumped to his throat. There was no way he was here. No way that his ex boyfriend, the one he fell in love with only to be crushed when Bradley walked away, got recalled too. He turned towards the door and nearly burst into tears. It was him.

Jake composed himself as Bradley spoke to Phoenix, putting on his normal facade, becoming aloof, indifferent. “Bradshaw, as I live and breathe.”

“Hangman,” Bradley replied his head held high, “you look...good.”

This mother fucker. “I am good, Rooster,” Jake snarked as he took the pool cue from that kid Bob and made the shot. “I’m very good. In fact, I am too good to be true.”

This is not going to end well. Jake continued to banter back and forth with that new guy, Payback, as he took shots on the billiard table.

“The only place you’ll lead anyone is an early grave,” Bradshaw spat.

Jake struggled to keep the grin on his face as he was dying inside, screaming at Bradshaw about how he only did that to save his ass, to keep him alive, because he knew the minute Bradshaw touched down in enemy territory, that plane would have been blown to bits and Rooster would have been no more.

“Anyone that follows you is just going to run out of fuel,” Jake retorted as he rounded the corner of the table to stand in front of his ex. “But that’s just you, ain’t it, Rooster? Snug on that perch, waiting for just the right moment...that never comes.”

I told you that I loved you and you still wouldn’t admit it.

Jake couldn’t take it anymore, not the way that Bradshaw glanced at his lips, not the proximity to the man he loved – still loves – none of it. He headed back to the dorms.

At a quarter past three, a knock echoed through the quiet of Jake’s room. He stood from the chair he had been reading in and turned the knob, surprised to find Bradley standing there.

“I never said -”

“You never had to,” Jake interrupted, tugging him into the room and shutting the door quietly. Within an instant, Jake’s lips were pressed to Bradley’s, pulling him further inside and towards the bed.

“I’m sorry,” Bradley gasped as Jake trailed kisses down his neck.

“Shut up,” Jake muttered as his hand slid under Bradley’s shirt, palm flattening against his abs. It was probably a bad idea to take his ex back into his bed just before a mission they barely had time to prepare for. But Jake didn’t care. The ecstasy of having his beloved under him once again drowned out the voice that kept saying this was going to end in disaster.

While Jake woke up alone, he didn’t let it get to him. He kept up the appearance of his hard exterior, covering his aching heart and the way that Bradley stayed in his head all day long.

Everything he was yearned for the man that left, desperate for his other half. When he saw the name on the wall, standing next to their Captain, he felt something click into place about Bradley. With further research, it became apparent how Bradley ended up the way he was, afraid of love and afraid of being with anyone who might count on him coming home.

Tensions came to a head when Bradley was contradicting the way he was instructed to fly the mission.

“You still don’t get it, do you?” Jake drawled, turning his head to the side slightly to look at his ex from his peripherals. “A man flies like Maverick, here, or a man does not return.” I know your dad died but you can’t let that make you freeze. It will kill you.

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“I can’t be the only one who knows.” I know I’m not the only one who knows but I’m the only one who will call you on your shit. Please, back out.

Rooster bolted from his seat and chairs scraped as the entire squadron jumped up, half to hold Rooster back, half to grab Jake.

“You son of a bitch!” The scars of my heroics are etched on his face. The scars of his leaving are etched on my heart. I can’t bear to lose you again.

“He’s not cut out for this mission.” He’s too in his head about this, Maverick. Don’t choose him.

“You know I’m right.” Step up or step out.

Jake sat in his room, sleep evading him as he replayed the events from the classroom that day. Had he gone too far? Had he pushed the envelope too far? He just wanted Bradley safe. A knock echoed through the quiet again, breaking Jake’s thoughts and furrowing his brow. There’s no way anything good could be coming from that knock.

He stood and crossed the room in his boxers, surprised to find Bradley standing there, drenched in sweat, sleeplessness etched on his face. “You were right,” Bradley croaked as he pushed by Jake.

“No, I wasn’t, Brad. I crossed the line.”

“You did. But you were still right.” Bradley paced between Jake and the bed, his hands on his hips as he panted. “I am not ready for this mission. I wasn’t ready for the first one. I wasn’t ready for the feelings I had for you to reawaken as soon as I saw you in The Hard Deck.”

Here it comes. The end. The part where he says he’s done with me, Jake thought, keeping his mouth shut but swallowing hard.

“It wasn’t over for me. It’s still not over for me. And I cannot get you out of my head,” Bradley confessed. “I’ve been in love with you probably since that day on the plane. And I shouldn’t have walked out on you.”

“But you did,” Jake sighed.

“But I won’t do it again. I love you, Jake, and it’s probably too late but -”

Bradley was interrupted when Jake crossed the space between them in two strides and crashed their lips together. Jake could taste the sweat on his lips and the alcohol on his tongue and he thought nothing could be better.

The mission was pushed up. They loaded onto the carrier. Maverick chose Rooster as his wing man. And Jake’s heart sank. He had to do something, he had to speak up. But he was rooted to the spot, cast aside as the spare. They were dismissed to prepare. Cast aside again. Rooster deserves this but I’m so scared of losing whatever I have of him.

Jake stood next to his jet, his attention on Bradley across the carrier as he headed his own plane. Say something, anything.

Jake walked up and stood near Bradley. “You give ‘em hell.” Come back to me. I need you. I love you.

Nothing.

Jake slinked away, back to his aircraft, ready to sit aside and watch, listening intently to the calls over the comms, cheering when everything went according to plan, swearing when enemy fighters began to appear.

“Dagger 1 is hit.”

Jake’s heart sank. He knew what it meant for Bradley to watch Maverick go down. “Dagger Spare requesting to launch and provide cover.” Please let me go. Please.

“Negative, Spare.”

You don’t understand. I have to save him.

“Dagger 2 is hit.”

No. No, I can’t do this again. I cannot lose him again.

“Rooster’s E-SAT is working. He’s in an F14.”

Hondo, please, help me. Jake stared at the man on the deck who nodded and began scrambling the deck over the sounds of rejection from the admirals in the tower. He tuned them out. All he could think about was saving Bradley, getting him back on the deck.

“Come on, come on,” he coaxed his jet as he flew as fast as he could, passing under the F14 and the pursuer. He whipped his plane around and took out the enemy, the missile taking out the rocket heading for the men in the ancient jet.

“Good afternoon, ladies and gentleman,” he drawled through the mic as he pulled up along side of the jet, “this is your savior speaking.” I couldn’t let you die. I need you.

He could see the relief on Rooster’s face, the tap on the canopy. “Hangman, you look good.”

“I am good, Rooster.” You’re alive. You’re okay. I could fly without wings. “See you back on deck.”

Jake stood aside as the entire flight crew cheered on Bradley and Maverick. Phoenix and Bob had extended their hands to him when he landed, thanking him for defying orders to go and save their friend. Admitting that they may have misjudged him. He had patience. He would wait until he could get face to face.

He stood in front of Bradley, lifting his arm at his elbow to shake hands with him, a small smile on his face. Rooster did the same, barely two feet from each other. Another smile.

A raise of Jake’s eyebrows. Are we okay?

A smirk and almost imperceptible nod from Bradley. More than. I love you.

#writercole #part 2 #song fic #a to z challenge #hangster #hangman #rooster #jake hangman seresin #hangman seresin #rooster bradshaw #bradley rooster bradshaw #rooster x hangman

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doubleddenden · 2 months

Text

Decided to try something different with a schedule I make for my friends in a discord server I'm in.

Going forward, I'll be posting my Toonami Schedules on my blog as well, and my DD ScheDDules too. That's just a little silly schedule I make.

Oh, the "meDDia" section is something I usually do when there's a rerun. In our server, I kinda have free reign over this part, so usually I'll look up a funny video that kinda fits the theming. This go around, since I'm feeling the love for DBZ again, I thought it'd be fun to try some fresh DB content we haven't gotten on the actual Toonami block. I decided to post ep 1 and 2 here since this is my first blog post of the schedule.

youtube

The graphic is definitely new for me. I found a font matching the Toonami font online, found the old Toonami emblem/logo, and from there I googled space pictures and did renders and edits in paint.net to get the result you see above. Thinking about changing the colors and doing a little more editing, but not too bad for my first attempt at one of these, right?

Some QA and disclaimers below:

"Why do this?"

I'm not really sure tbh. This kinda became my role in the server I'm in. I try to keep on top of the schedule and changes so everyone else can be informed or make other plans if they like. I wasn't the first to do this in my server, nor am I the only one able to do this, I just... I dunno, kinda did it so the others can catch a break? Life's tough and I like being relied on. I'm the schedule guy now

"Tf is the DD Schedule?"

Well, I am DD. The DD Schedule kinda started just as a little joke a year or two ago, again, I just kinda joke and shoot the shit. Some of my friends get upset with me if I forget or don't do the silly schedule, so I reckon if it makes them happy, I do it.

Sometimes it's good for recap. Sometimes not. Depends on the mood. It's just harmless fun and I like being silly.

"Why the inaccurate Japanese?"

Since Ninja Kamui is subbed, I basically just run my original Ninja Kamui bit through Deepl since I was told it is slightly more accurate than Google translate. No harm was meant if it comes off wrong. In other words, Sub is basically the same as Dub but slight differences.

"What are the numbers and projected end dates?"

Something different I decided to do with this schedule is to keep count of episodes and a possible end date for the season or series on Toonami. The Projected End Dates- PED- is subject to change for marathons that may happen. In fact, I'm pretty sure we're due for a Ninja Kamui marathon or 2 for when the series ends its current run, as they tend to do other originals.

"Why the graphics?"

Dunno, thought it'd be fun to try something different for a change. The schedule I post in our server is usually just text, so I figure this would spice things up.

"Why no time listed?"

Because I live in Central, some if my friends don't. Just assume the schedule starts as normal unless stated otherwise. For me that's 11:00pm central.

"Tf is Nart?"

It's Naruto, that's just my pet name for it.

Couple disclaimers

1. I am not a toonami employee. Just a fan. I have limited data per month and can't watch anime as much as I'd like, so Toonami is a great way for me to watch new things I haven't seen that I can't find on youtube or something.

2. I'm not a mod or admin of this server, more like a town crier or janitor.

If you have questions, feel free to message me and I'll answer whatever

3. Our server is a psuedo fan server, not official, and it's really more of a "whatever" server depending on the mood we're in, from Toonami to streamers to games and shows, etc. None of us are affiliated with Toonami in any official capacity and it's mostly us goofing off about whatever or watching Toonami on Saturdays. It is an 18+ server, fair warning- we try to keep that stuff in the designated channels, but *some* people are gremlins, so it can scare some off.

#toonami #dd scheddule #ninja kamui #zom 100 #lycoris recoil #one piece #nart #naruto #dbz kai

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hullbreachgame · 9 months

Text

First Update!

Hello! I'm Duncan, and this is where I'm going to be posting updates for my personal, hopefully-to-be-completed-one-day game project!

The quick sales pitch: Heat Signature with a dash of Hardspace: Shipbreaker.

The less-quick sales pitch: A game where you play a highly disposable (and incredibly indebted) fixer who solves a big problem that a lot of individuals and companies have in the time of FTL travel; sometimes you would very much like something, but unfortunately it is on someone else's ship. In fact, it is often not just on someone else's ship, but in fact behind large amounts of personnel who may hold some strong objections to removing it from their ship. Or, they may in fact be the asset that needs retrieving and may not be particularly interested in coming quietly. Your goal? Completing the objectives set forth in your contract, employing whichever methods suit your particular tastes as well as the contract's stipulations-- some might want you to use a more delicate touch, while others want to send a message. Do what you can to earn as much as you can and maybe even pay off your debt-- or just try and enjoy the relative impunity you operate under.

Things are very much in the planning and testing phase right now. So, without further ado, let's get into one of the big things being worked on right now: Destruction.

------------------------CLANG - what was that?!-------------------------

The game is being developed in Godot 4, which is a fantastic engine for people who are a bit less experienced in the development space. It does have a few major downsides though, and one of the huge ones is a lack of assets and libraries. This makes it a little bit harder to get things moving and also means that there is the need to kind of develop quite a few things completely from scratch.

One thing that people who have messed with things like Godot and Unity in the past would probably understand is that you really want your collision objects to be convex. Basically, nice and solid, no holes or dips. You can stick a line in anywhere and it will only ever exit in one spot. In fact, you cannot even have rigidbodies with concave collisions in Godot. This is because it's really hard to calculate concave collisions, and really expensive on a computational level. This translates to: please have mercy on my framerate.

This generally isn't a huge problem, and there's plenty of ways to get around this, like just using static bodies, manipulating collision masks (which I actually will be using for a few neat things!), or you make sure that your concave objects, like a tunnel, or a doorway, are composed of convex polygons. A square room, for example, isn't just one big cube typically, it's six squares representing each face, 6 distinct collision objects.

It might be useful, then, to have some ways to break a concave shape into convex ones. And you'd be right! In fact, you'd be so right, that you'd assume it was a problem we've completely solved. And you would not be correct unfortunately! It's a topic that has a truly gargantuan amount of research poured into it. Google "Convex Decomposition" if you want to learn more about the subject-- it is genuinely very interesting-- there are people far more qualified than me to talk about it.

I have some plans in mind to solve the problem in a way that is performant for my needs, and I will also be (hopefully, providing it doesn't end up being utterly impractical) releasing these tools on their own within Godot so that other people can use them for free as well!

Actually writing out the code for it is... interesting, to say the least, as I am not gifted in the ways of geometry, and did not know too much about mesh generation until recently. However, I am currently working at implementing a very quick-and-dirty 'hole cutting' method right now.

Here is a gif that shows off the basic process for how it works:

Here's an explanation of how the general process will work:

Figure out your hole shape-- in this case, it's a square hole made by the rod punching through the prism. Get the points along the corners as well as your direction. In this case, we've got the 4 points on the face closest to the camera and pointed towards the left face.

Make a plane that is flush with the first 2 points and in the direction of the cut. Everything to one side gets snipped off of the first mesh and moved into another one (we don't actually separate them, but it is separated for easier visualization). Additionally, make a note of the first point in the hole and its intersection point-- in this case, bottom left point of the hole and about 3/4 of the way along the bottom of the prism.

Now-- repeat this step until you get to the last point of the hole; create a plane flush with the side, snip off everything on one side, and move to the next side. Connect everything up. Additionally, if this is the last repeat of this step, make a note of if you have intersected the two points from step 2. If so, you can drop the intersection point from step 2.

For the last points, just connect the previous point, the first point, and the intersection point from the previous point and the first intersection if it wasn't dropped.

After you've gotten all those pieces, you can just replace the original mesh with the 4 new ones. Tada! You have what looks like a hole through a mesh, but in reality it's 4 segments. If you're so inclined, you can also make the surface of the cut its own material-- maybe you want the 'inside' of a wall to look different.

Now, this solution isn't perfect. It cannot be multi-threaded in this fashion, since the sequential cuts depend on the prior cut to happen. I have a few other methods that could actually be done simultaneously, but this one is pretty easy to visualize and for the purposes of the game it should be completely functional. The astute among you may also realize that this will not work for concave holes without a few changes-- this is actually not the hardest fix, but it won't be relevant for the purposes of this type of destruction. It might be included in the library, though!

My next goal is to actually get this method implemented in Godot so that I can show it in action! This will also get me a bit more comfortable with mesh manipulation.

After that, we will be able to get to some really exciting stuff as well with some more... dynamic destruction. Cutting holes is all fine and dandy, but what about smashing them? Hopefully you'll see some more on that in the future!

#godot #godot engine #video games #gamedev #blender #space

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raw-lesbian-energy · 1 year

Text

Mr. X

Summary: Anne and the Plantars go to the movies, while Caroline and the Boonchuys try to avoid being found.

Fandom: Amphibia (The Wild Soul AU)

Pairing: None

Features: Self-Insert Character

Word Count: 4,616

Warnings: None

[A/N: There are two points in this fic where Thai is spoken and I did my best with Google translate, but I am not a native speaker so I apologize if it’s not formatted correctly. I also left translations in brackets next to the sentences so those who also don’t know Thai can understand it.]

—————————————————————

It was a sunny afternoon at Thai Go, the Boonchuys working hard with the assistance of Caroline and the Plantars. It was only yesterday that they had been in a high speed chase with a killer frog robot, but Mr. and Mrs. Boonchuy were in surprisingly high spirits. The Plantars kept busy refilling sauce cups while Caroline mixed some ingredients, but Mr. and Mrs. Boonchuy seemed a bit more distracted.

“Is it just me, or is anyone feeling amped up since we fought the robot?” Mrs. Boonchuy said.

“Kicked that robot’s butt, you mean!” Mr. Boonchuy piped up excitedly. “Remember I was all ‘wha-pow!’ and you were like ‘choo, choo!’” Caroline and the Plantars exchanged glances, all of them understanding just what Anne’s parents were talking about.

“Sounds like you’ve caught a case of post-battle euphoria.” Hop Pop said, a knowing smile on his face.

“Nothing like a brush with death to make you feel alive!” Sprig added.

“I’ll say.” Caroline chimed in. “When I fought that robot toe-to-toe at the museum, I felt like a warrior. Until he almost crushed my ribs, that is.” Neither of Anne’s parents seemed bothered by her statement, the two of them still hyped up on their own energy.

“So what’s next?” Mrs. Boonchuy asked. “I’m ready to fight!”

“Hopefully nothing.” Anne suddenly spoke up, stepping into the kitchen from the front counter. “Unless Andrias sends another robot, we’re safe for now. So, I’m taking the Plantars to their first movie!” Mrs. Boonchuy’s expression changed to slight disappointment, but she was quick to shake it off.

“Ooh, fun.” Caroline piped up again. “What’cha gonna see?”

“Fumigator 5.” Anne replied proudly. “You wanna come?” Caroline’s face quickly turned sour.

“Ugh, pass.” She said flatly. “My mom’s in that one, which sucks because I really did like the other Fumigators.” Anne’s face went blank for a moment as she processed the young woman’s sentence.

“Still not used to the fact your parents are famous.” She said.

“Well, while you guys enjoy the movie, we’ll be ready if anything comes up!” Mr. Boonchuy spoke, drawing their attention. “I even broke out the old pull-up bar! Look!” He moved over to the bar and grabbed it, straining as he tried to pull himself up. He managed to get about halfway before the bar broke, causing him to fall back-first to the ground.

“Ahh, my back!” He exclaimed.

“Honey, be careful!” Mrs. Boonchuy said, moving to his side. Anne looked at both of them with a deadpan expression, but before she could speak, she felt someone nudge her shoulder and turned her gaze to Caroline.

“Don’t worry, I’ll keep an eye on them.” The young woman told her. “You guys enjoy the movie, okay?” Anne gained a small smile at this, nodding in response. Caroline returned the smile before setting the bowl in her hands on the counter.

“Okay Mr. B,” she said, walking over to him, “let’s get you some ice.” There was a small groan from Anne’s dad in response, to which Anne gained a slightly concerned look. She quickly shook it off, however, knowing her parents would be fine with Caroline watching them.

“Alright gang,” the teen said, turning her attention to the Plantars, “it’s movie time!” The Plantars let out excited cheers in response, following Anne out the back of the restaurant where her bike was. They each hopped on as Anne kicked off, pedalling out of the lot and heading for the theatre.

——————

It had been about thirty minutes since Anne and the Plantars had left, and in that time, Caroline helped Mr. Boonchuy get back on his feet and assisted with the cooking. Mrs. Boonchuy manned the front counter, but the day was proving to be rather slow, so she hung out in the kitchen with the others while she waited for customers.

Ding-ding!

The sound of the front door’s bell caught the trio’s attention, and Mrs. Boonchuy headed out to the front to greet the arrival.

“Hello, welcome to Thai Go.” She said politely. The customer was a bald man in a plum-coloured suit, sporting black-rimmed glasses, a hi-tech earpiece, white pants, and tan shoes. The shoes turned out to be rollers as well, as he kicked his heels and gracefully glided up to the front counter.

“สวัสดีคุณผู้หญิง.” (Greetings, ma’am.) He said casually. Mrs. Boonchuy’s eyebrows raised in surprise.

“โอ้ คุณพูดภาษาไทยได้ไหม?” (Oh, you speak Thai?) She asked.

“เพียงเล็กน้อยที่นี่และที่นั่น.” (Just a little, here and there.) He replied, switching to English after. “I was stationed in Phuket for a bit.” Mrs. Boonchuy nodded politely as he pulled out a menu, looking back over the options for his order. At this point, the conversation had caught Caroline’s attention, and she moved closer to the doorway to better hear what was going on.

“We’ll take one Pad See Ew.” The man said. “And while we’re at it,” he pulled a photo from his jacket and set it on the counter, “have you seen any odd creatures walking around? Probably disguised as humans?” Mrs. Boonchuy’s eyes widened as she saw the photo was of the Plantars, and Caroline quietly gasped.

“Hehe, what strange shapes they are!” Mrs. Boonchuy managed, laughing awkwardly. “Haven’t seen them; who’s asking?” The man’s eyes gained a darker gleam, and he pulled a small black wallet out of his jacket.

“Oh, just your friendly neighbourhood federal government.” He replied, flipping the wallet open. It turned out the wallet was actually his badge, showing his photo and the name ‘Special Agent Mr. X’ underneath. The second Caroline heard that, she pulled her phone out, leaning into the doorway as discreetly as she could. She managed to snap a clear enough photo of Mr. X without him noticing, and with it, she pocketed her phone and ran out the back door.

“Yes, very nice. Hooray government!” Mrs. Boonchuy said, keeping up the innocent act. “พ่อเร็วเข้า!” (DAD HURRY UP!) Mr. Boonchuy was quick to emerge from the back at her call, sporting a confused expression as he held the bag of food in his hand.

“Jeez, where’s the fire?” He asked. Before anyone else could speak, the front door opened again and a blonde person with round glasses holding a laptop walked in. The laptop was beeping an alert that read ‘STRING BEAN SIGHTED’ before showing footage of Anne on her bike with the Plantars. Both Mr. and Mrs. Boonchuy froze at the sight of it, while Mr. X quickly gained a look of excitement.

“Gotta go.” He said, slamming a handful of cash onto the counter and taking the bag. “Is your stun gun charged, Jenny? Tell me it’s charged!” The two were quick to head out the door after, leaving Anne’s parents at the counter in shock.

“Uhh-” Mr. Boonchuy started, but his wife cut him off.

“We have to go now!” She told him, pushing him towards the back door. “I’ll explain on the way!” Mr. Boonchuy quickly moved to follow her lead, heading through the doorway back into the kitchen.

“Caroline!” Mrs. Boonchuy called. “We need to leave!” She paused as there was no response or sign of the young woman, causing both of them to worry.

“Caroline?” Mr. Boonchuy tried. Still no reply. “Where’d she go?” Just then, Mrs. Boonchuy’s phone went off in her pocket and she pulled it out, seeing a text message from Caroline herself.

{Saw the shady dude, already going to warn Anne. Meet u guys at the theatre}

“She’s already left.” Mrs. Boonchuy said, pocketing her phone and grabbing her husband’s arm. “Come on, let’s go!” The two got in the family van as fast as they could, and Mrs. Boonchuy was quick to floor it out of the back lot and down the street.

——————

Meanwhile, Anne and the Plantars had taken their seats in the theatre, snacks and drinks ready as the trailers played.

“And now, for what you’ve all been waiting for…” the movie announcer spoke, “…another trailer!” The screen lit up again as a trailer for the movie ‘Cheerleader Musical 7’ began to play, accompanied by air horns and upbeat music.

“Twenty minutes of trailers?!” Hop Pop exclaimed. “And you people call yourselves civilized!” After the trailer had ended, the movie began featuring a T-Rex roaring in front of an erupting volcano. The booming sound made Sprig recoil in his seat, gripping onto the arm rests anxiously.

“Does anyone else feel like this audio-video experience is a little…overwhelming?” He asked, his body shaking.

“Entertainment that makes your ears bleed?” Polly piped up. “I’m here for it, baby!”

“There you are!”

A familiar voice caught Anne and the Plantar’s attentions, and all four looked to the end of the aisle to see a panicked Caroline approaching them. She was keeping low as to not block the screen, but in the light, the group could see her eyes were wide and frantic.

“Caroline?” Anne said in surprise. “Wait, I thought you didn’t want to see this movie.”

“I’m not here for the movie!” Caroline snapped, taking the seat next to Anne. “Some whack job government agent showed up at the restaurant and he’s after you guys!” She pulled out her phone and showed them the picture, causing all four to gain looks of panic.

“Oh crud.” Anne muttered.

“What do we do?” Hop Pop asked.

“We get you out of here, that’s what.” Caroline told them. “Come on, we should have time to sneak out before he shows up.” Anne nodded and the gang quickly got up from their seats, keeping their heads down as they went for the stairs and out the door. Caroline kept glancing about as they headed for the lobby, but Anne was the one to stop dead as the front doors opened and Mr. X rolled in.

“He’s here!” The teen blurted. In a panic, she shoved Caroline and the Plantars behind the concession stand, diving in after them before Mr. X could see.

“Do you think he saw us?” Sprig whispered. Before anyone could respond, the sound of footsteps caught their attention and all five looked up to see an employee staring down at them.

“Hey, you’re not supposed to be back here.” She told them. There was a brief pause before Caroline reached into her sweater pocket and snagged her wallet, pulling out a $50 bill.

“All yours if you let us hide here.” She said. The employee glanced between the bill and the group, seeming hesitant before she shrugged.

“Eh, this job doesn’t pay me enough anyways.” She said, taking the bill and walking away. The five of them breathed a sigh of relief before Anne sat up, peering over the counter to look for Mr. X.

“He’s right in the middle of the lobby!” She whispered. “There’s no way we can get by him without being seen!” The Plantars exchanged looks of worry, meanwhile Caroline paused to think before she got an idea.

“You could if there was a distraction.” She said quietly. “You guys keep an eye on him, I’ve got an idea.” Before anyone could respond, the young woman slipped out and disappeared into the theatre, leaving the four of them alone behind the stand. They all glanced at each other in confusion, not sure what Caroline was planning, but not having any better ideas themselves.

“Sir? Excuse me, sir!”

The louder voice caught Anne and the Plantars by surprise, and all four peered over the stand to see someone running up to Mr. X. They had a dark purple collared button-up with their hair slicked back, five o’clock shadow, and black jeans on. They looked like just a nice young man at a glance, but Anne recognized that purple hair and those converse sneakers anywhere; it was Caroline.

“Sir, I’m so sorry to bother you,” Caroline said, pitching her voice to sound more masculine, “but I just have to know where you got that suit, it is stunning.” Mr. X looked at her with confusion, but there was a look in his eyes that gave away he was somewhat flattered.

“Oh, this?” He asked, gesturing to his jacket. “Why do you want to know?” Caroline didn’t miss a beat.

“Okay, I don’t want to spread drama,” she started, lowering her voice slightly, “but you see, my older sister’s having her wedding next month. She’s such a sweetheart, love her to bits. But our younger brother, the “golden child,” is insisting that he has to be the best dressed one there.” Mr. X’s eyes widened.

“At her wedding?” He said in surprise.

“Yes.” Caroline replied, a serious edge in her voice. “And what’s worse; he refuses to get a tux if it’s over $100.”

“No!” Mr. X gasped in disbelief.

“I know!” Caroline exclaimed. At that point, Mr. X was fully engaged in the conversation, and Anne was quick to realize this was their opportunity.

“She’s got him distracted.” She whispered to the Plantars. “Come on, let’s go!” The Plantars followed Anne as she slipped out from behind the concession stand, carefully making their way to the door without getting Mr. X’s attention.

“We’re almost there!” Anne quietly called. “Don’t stop-wait stop!” She skidded to a halt and caused the Plantars to run into her, but she hardly noticed as she ducked behind the theatre’s front desk. The Plantars followed, and looking over Anne’s shoulder, they saw Jenny, Mr. X’s associate, standing at the exit doors. They were scanning people as they left with a hi-tech device, and it was clear they were checking to see who was really human. Anne could feel her panic rising when her phone buzzed, and picking it up, she saw it was her dad calling.

“Dad?” She spoke quietly, holding the phone to her ear.

“Anne!” Mr. Boonchuy exclaimed. “Are you guys okay? Did Caroline get there in time? What’s going on?”

“Whoa, slow down.” Anne told him, still keeping her voice down. “Caroline’s here, but she’s busy distracting one of the agents. There’s another one watching the exit, so we’ll need to find another way out.”

“We’re coming in to help.” Her dad said.

“No!” Anne exclaimed. “I don’t want you getting in trouble. We can handle it.” Mrs. Boonchuy wound up overhearing this, an offended expression crossing her face.

“Tell her we are adults, and we know what we’re doing!” She said sternly.

“Anne, your mother says-” Mr. Boonchuy started, only to pull the phone away, “-hang on, I’m putting you on speaker.” He tapped a few buttons on the screen, only for the phone to start ringing again.

“คุณรู้ไหมเวลาเท่าไหร่แล้ว?” (Do you know what time it is?) An elderly woman’s voice spoke angrily over the phone. Anne’s expression quickly changed to confusion.

“What?” She said, pulling the phone from her ear. She noticed the call was now a video call, her dad taking up one half of the screen while her grandmother took up the other.

“Oh, whoops!” Mr. Boonchuy piped up. “I think I accidentally-”

“แอนน์? นั่นคือคุณ?” (Anne? Is that you?) Anne’s grandma cut him off. “ฉันไม่ได้เจอคุณมานานแล้ว! คุณดูผอม! คุณกินข้าวหรือยัง?” (I haven’t seen you in ages! You look skinny! Have you been eating?)

“Oh hi, grandma!” Anne said, faking a cheerful tone. “Yeah, I just had a sandwich.” As she refocused on her parents, her tone grew more stern.

“Mom, dad, just stay in the car where it’s safe. We’ll meet you outside.” She told them, switching back to cheerful as she talked to her grandmother. “Okay bye grandma, love you!” Before they could respond, Anne quickly hung up, putting her phone back in her pocket.

“Okay, so you call this number, tell them Mr. X sent you, and they’ll hook you right up, dear.” Mr. X’s voice reached the teen’s ears, and she turned to see Caroline’s distraction had reached its’ end. The young woman still remained committed to the bit, however, taking the card with a grateful smile.

“Oh thank you sir, thank you so much.” She told him. “This will be perfect.”

“Happy to help.” Mr. X replied, turning and walking away. While he wasn’t looking, Caroline glanced over and noticed Anne and the Plantars, her expression quickly changing to panic. Much to their dismay, Mr. X noticed them as well, gaining a malicious grin and pulling out a stun gun.

“Hide!” Anne shouted. She and the Plantars quickly booked it back into the theatre, and Mr. X watched them go with a sinister gleam in his eyes.

“Oh, how I love a good chase.” He said. Anne didn’t dare to look back as she led the Plantars down the hall, finding a door that wasn’t a viewing room and heading through it. Just as they all got inside, she realized that they had walked into a rather small supply closet that had no other way out.

“Oh crud, it’s a dead end.” She muttered. Shortly after, the door handle began to move, causing a wave of panic in all four of them.

“Everyone hide!” Hop Pop said quickly. The group scattered throughout the closet space, everyone managing to duck into a hiding spot just as the door opened and Mr. X walked in. He looked around the space before his eyes settled on a silhouette, noticing it looked very much like Hop Pop and gaining a wicked smirk.

“Now what could this be?” He said, feigning innocence. He approached the silhouette and quickly smacked it, causing it to spin around and reveal itself to be a cardboard cutout of a strange-looking farmer character.

“What the-?!” He blurted.

“Now, guys!” Anne shouted, leaping from her hiding spot. The Plantars quickly jumped out as well, the group rushing for the door, but Mr. X was quick to react.

“Oh no you don’t!” He cried, turning to give chase. As he moved, Polly grabbed a roll of film and threw it, causing it to wrap around Mr. X’s ankles and trip him up. He barely managed to stop himself from face-planting, and in one quick movement, he shot a hand out and snagged Hop Pop by the ankle.

“Ow!” Hop Pop exclaimed as he was pulled back, losing his balance and falling over. The force wound up knocking off his disguise, and with the light from the door’s square window, Mr. X was able to see his real face.

“What even are you?!” He exclaimed, letting go of his ankle with a slight grimace. “And why are you so slimy? Ugh!”

“Rude.” Hop Pop retorted. Mr. X ignored him as he wiped the slime off his hand, which Sprig quickly saw as an opportunity. Lowering his mask, he grabbed a film roll with his tongue and threw it, nailing Mr. X clean in the face. The agent let out a grunt of pain, and Anne took that chance to grab the Plantars and run. Mr. X stumbled as he tried to go after them, but he barely missed as the door closed, locking him in the supply closet. An irritated look crossed his face as he held up his wrist watch, pressing a button on it and activating a laser that melted the lock clean off. Once he was free, he kicked the door open, almost knocking over another cardboard cutout that was standing in the hall.

“Jenny, you’re not gonna believe this.” He said excitedly, talking into his earpiece. “They’re big, beautiful, talking frog monsters!” His eyes were shining as he spoke, but shortly after gained a much darker edge to them.

“Call in the troops.”

——————

After changing back into her normal outfit, Caroline quickly began to search the theatre, trying to find where Anne and the Plantars had run off to. She stopped to check each viewing room, scanning the seats for her friends, but she couldn’t see them anywhere.

“Come on,” she muttered as she stepped back into the hall, “where are you guys?” Just then, the sound of people running reached her ears and she looked up, barely catching sight of the group rushing into the women’s bathroom. She let out a gasp and moved to follow them, but stopped short as Mr. X rounded the corner at the end of the hall. In a flash, she dove behind a cardboard cutout, practically holding her breath as she waited for him to pass.

“Not good.” She whispered. “Not good, not good, not-” she cut off as her phone buzzed in her pocket, and she pulled it out to see it was Mr. Boonchuy calling.

“Mr. B!” She answered, keeping her voice down.

“Caroline!” He said, sounding relieved. “We need your help. We got a plan to get you guys out, but when we tried calling Anne, she hung up on us!”

“Oh for f-…of course she did.” Caroline hissed in frustration. “They’re hiding in the bathroom, but I’m pretty sure Mr. X knows that too. I’m not sure why he-” the young woman stopped mid-sentence as the sound of sirens reached her ears, her eyes widening in panic.

“Is that what I think it is?” She asked anxiously.

“A bunch more police cars just pulled up!” Mrs. Boonchuy said. “They’re blocking the whole lot!” Caroline felt her heart start to race, but she forced herself to take a breath and steady it.

“Okay, you guys said you had a plan, right?” She spoke, still keeping her voice down. “You guys do that, and I’ll find a way to get into that bathroom and help you.”

“Got it.” Anne’s parents replied. Caroline hung up the call after that and put her phone away, while Mr. and Mrs. Boonchuy watched the SWAT team make their way for the door.

“You ready, honey?” Mrs. Boonchuy asked.

“Born ready.” Mr. Boonchuy replied. Reaching into the back, they both grabbed some power tools, ready to put their plan in motion. The SWAT team was quick to storm the theatre, all of them following Jenny as they marched through the halls to where Mr. X was. The agent was waiting outside the bathroom, a calm expression on his face but an excited gleam in his eye.

“They’re in there.” He told them, pointing a thumb at the door. “Come on, everyone; show time!” In one quick movement, he stepped up and slammed the door open, several SWAT members following him and filing into the bathroom.

“Let’s grab ourselves some frog aliens.” Mr. X said, grinning. The agents quickly surrounded the one occupied stall where Anne and the Plantars were hiding, readying their weapons to capture the group.

“Okay, guys.” Anne whispered. “On three, go for the eyes.” The Plantars nodded and readied themselves, waiting anxiously for Anne’s signal.

“One…two…”

CLICK!

In an instant, the bathroom went dark.

“What’s going on?” One agent said.

“The power’s off!” Another cried. There was scuffling and shouting as the team tried to coordinate, but none of them seemed able to find their bearings in the blackout. The sound of power tools was briefly heard, but the chaos of agents shouting at each other overpowered it.

“On your toes!”

“They’re getting away!”

“Watch where you’re stepping!”

Amidst the chorus of yelling, one voice managed a whisper.

“Third stall from the left!”

A few seconds later, there was a click as Mr. X turned on a flashlight. He stood right in front of the now opened stall, and shining the light inside, he was greeted by two small frogs and a pollywog in a bag. The frogs let out small croaks, and Mr. X’s eyes widened as he stared at them in disbelief. The SWAT team stared for a moment as well before one agent started to laugh, which caused a chain reaction and got all of them laughing.

“Nice frog aliens, sir.” One joked.

“I’ve heard of little green men, but this is ridiculous.” Another quipped. Mr. X didn’t bother to listen as Jenny scooped up the frogs, holding them carefully in their arms.

“Looks like our little friends are smarter than I thought.” Mr. X said, a tinge of annoyance in his voice. “We’re gonna have fun with this one, Jenny. And we’ll have the last laugh!”

——————

Meanwhile, at the back of the theatre, shuffling was heard in the air ducts before a large vent grate swung open. Inside the vent was Mr. Boonchuy, who quickly climbed out and turned to help Anne and the Plantars. Mrs. Boonchuy was sitting in the car nearby, checking for any patrolling agents.

“I don’t believe it!” Anne said in awe as she got out of the vent. “Dad, mom, how did you-?”

“Well, parents have a special set of skills.” Anne’s mom replied. Her dad nodded in agreement, leaning back against the car.

“First, your mother bought us some time by distracting the agents.” He explained. “Did you know she used to study close-up magic?” Anne blinked in surprise, looking at her mom with wide eyes. Clearly, this was the first she’d heard of it.

“Then your father got the frogs at the pet store down the street.” Mrs. Boonchuy continued.

“The owner was your old tee-ball coach, Mr. Tram.” Mr. Boonchuy added. “Remember him? Nice guy.”

“And remember that one time we tried to fix the electricity?” Mrs. Boonchuy piped up.

“Yeah.” Anne replied, still somewhat in disbelief. “Wasn’t that a disaster?”

“Yup.” Mr. Boonchuy said. “So we knew exactly what not to do, and used that to cause the blackout.” The sound of sirens was heard briefly as some FBI cars passed on their way out, but no one really paid them any mind.

“That’s amazing!” Sprig chirped.

“Jealous!” Polly piped up.

“You guys seriously did all that?” Anne said, still awestruck. “I can’t believe it! I guess I… really misjudged you.” Her tone shifted to guilt as she muttered the words, but her parents still had smiles on their faces.

“That’s okay, sweetie.” Mr. Boonchuy reassured her.

“We forgive you.” Mrs. Boonchuy added. Anne smiled fondly at them before another question came to mind and her face turned confused.

“Wait, but how did you know which bathroom we were hiding in?” She asked. Mr. Boonchuy was the one to answer.

“Well, actually-”

“Nobody move!”

Everyone froze at the sudden shout, turning to see a lone SWAT agent standing in front of them. They had a staff with a rope loop on it in hand, staring the group down intensely. A rush of panic passed through all of them, but it soon turned to confusion as the SWAT agent lost their composure and started chuckling.

“Sorry, sorry.” They said, grabbing their helmet. “Couldn’t resist.” As they popped the helmet off, Anne saw a familiar mass of bright purple hair and gasped in shock.

“CAROLINE?!” She shouted. Caroline smiled brightly, pulling her glasses out of a pocket and putting them back on.

“Wait, are you a secret agent, too?!” Sprig asked, eyes wide.

“Nah.” Caroline replied, working to take off the SWAT armour. “I just borrowed it from an agent so I could blend in.”

“Ohh, so that’s how you were able to sneak in the bathroom!” Mr. Boonchuy said, putting the pieces together. “But how’d you put all that on that fast?”

“I was a theatre kid in high school.” Caroline explained. “Small roles mostly, but you learn how to change costumes quick.” At this point, she managed to get most of the armour off, revealing she had been wearing her regular outfit underneath. Anne was still stunned by all of it, but staring at the armour, she came to a realization.

“Hold on.” She spoke up. “If you took that armour from an agent, what happened to them?” Caroline froze for a second, her memory flashing back to the agent she left knocked out in the closet before she pulled herself back to reality.

“…He’ll be fine.”

#shy anon writes #amphibia #amphibia caroline #anne boonchuy #amphibia self-insert #amphibia oc #amphibia anne #sprig plantar #amphibia sprig #mr. x #amphibia hop pop #hop pop plantar #polly plantar #amphibia polly #mr and mrs boonchuy #amphibia: the wild soul

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moonlight-pear-blossoms · 2 years

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Saying Goodbye to Ewha

July 27, 2022

Can you believe it already? A month has passed and I’m getting ready to say goodbye to Ewha. This last day so far has been filled with many goodbyes, rushes to take last photos, and the last-minute cramming of chores. In the past few hours, I’ve managed to pack most of my things into my bags, did a load of laundry, and tidied up my room. The thoughts that have been running through my mind have been along the lines of “Wow, I can’t believe I may never see some of these people again” or “how odd it is to have existed here in another country for a month, but by next week, I will no longer be a part of the "Every Day".

I have decided to try writing this back in one of my favorite study spots: the Coffeebean and Tea Leaf located by the Ewha Back Gate bus stops. I just had to get out of the dorm for a bit (packing is hard guys). This branch is located right between Ewha and Yonsei and is close to my dorm. Its location is perfect for a quick bite to eat and a study/work session. In fact, I just ran into one of my Stony Brook friends who is studying at Yonsei this summer (shoutout to Isha).

It's true that I miss all of my family and friends back in The States. But I know I will also miss all of the people I met here. I think sometimes, we have this understanding that home is singular. But what is a home? Some say home is with the people we love. There’s also the famous saying: “Home is where the heart is”. But what the heck is that supposed to mean? Perhaps it means that our bodies are our homes (you know that whole, your body is a temple thing) that provide for us and enable us to function. Or perhaps it means that wherever we have established emotional roots become our homes.

I like to think that I am a gardener planting the seeds of my heart along my journey in this world. These places are part of me. I am part of them. I will hold precious memories of the people I’ve met, just as they will hold memories of me.

I wonder if we will ever meet again.

Goodbyes have always been hard for me. But I am reminded of a very important lesson from one of my favorite anime. If you know me well enough, you can probably guess which one I’m going to talk about.

Fruits Basket is in essence, about relationships, trauma, love, and ultimately the freedom of healing. It is tempting to want to cling onto the past-to hope that everything good will last forever. It is way too easy to fall into the despair of believing bad things will never end.

When I first got here, I wrote about anxiety, exhaustion, fear. I thought, how could I possibly settle in here? I barely know Korean, (and even though I believe I do not look Korean) everyone assumes I can speak it, and the metro system seemed so complicated. I felt so out of my depth and wondered if I could actually pull this off.

Pro tip: google maps does not work well here for directions. It will give you locations, but oftentimes it will tell you that traveling from point a to b is not possible without a car. Use Kakao Maps or Naver Maps!

But now, I can read hangul. I can attempt communication in Korean and worse comes to worst, we fall back onto our phones and using translator apps. I know now how important it is to remember to tap your transportation card when you leave the bus to prevent yourself from getting charged extra. I know that it never hurts to carry an umbrella during the summer. It might rain. But even if it doesn’t, it does wonders for providing shade.

In short, things change. We change.

We say goodbyes but then we also say hellos. We leave but we also return to someplace. We feel lonely or sad, but we can also feel loved and joy: the kind that makes you wonder how you could have ever felt sorrow.

Yes, the happy times end too. This is inevitable. Sometimes I fall into the trap of dread that is knowing that bad things will always return. Even if I am also fully aware that good things will as well.

We look around and feel that sometimes, everyone else is holding it together much better than we are. They are dressed more smartly, or they always show up on time. A hair is never out of place. But it is such a human thing to struggle. To struggle, but also to love. To treasure the things and people that matter to us. And in the end, even if we carry unspeakable burdens, we have the capacity to heal. We all deserve it at least.

I am sad to be leaving Ewha. I am sad to say goodbye to all the friends I made. I am sad to be leaving a place that has become a home for me (despite it being temporary).

But I also look forward to what’s to come. The reunions to come, the adventures to be had, the tears to be shed.

So, I want to say thank you.

I apologize in advance for the long sentences.

For everyone who supported me. From getting here in the first place and settling in (Heewon’s mom, you’re my savior) to encouraging me in art class. From studying Korean together and answering late-night texts when I have random questions or thoughts (though to family and friends in The States, it was just their afternoons). I am thankful for the opportunity to be here (despite Covid), for the strangers who put up with my limited Korean, my Peace Buddy (hands down, Sam is the best), the professors who taught with such patience, and the staff who made Ewha International Summer School possible.

Thank you for believing in making the world beautiful, even though at times it seems rather bleak.

Thank you for believing in me, even when I couldn’t believe in myself.

For your kindness, 고맙습니다!

Although my time at Ewha is ending, my time in Korea is not. Tomorrow, after checking out of the dorm, I board a train to-can you guess (if I haven’t already told you)-Busan! I still haven’t watched that film (I’m sorry, zombie flicks are just not my thing). But being here all summer and not having seen the ocean yet? Obviously had to fix that.

Thank you again for reading this blog! I hope to sneak in a few more posts before the end of the trip. But if not, I’m so glad you joined along.

Wishing you all the best,

Christina M

#south korea #travel #ewha womans university

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hpoxfordprogram · 2 years

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The Best Summer

~by Lily Kachmar

Not many people can say that they studied in Europe for the entire summer, but I am now one of them! Participating in the Oxford Program has been one of the best experiences of my life, and the memories that I have made during this time will stick with me forever. I have visited so many amazing places, learned about other cultures, made new friends, eaten amazing foods, and ultimately learned how to become a respectful world traveler. On top of this, I was able to live at one of the top universities in the world and explore the historic city of Oxford. I have gained so much from this experience and am excited to share my takeaways!

Me and my friends in Oxford

Everyone knows that you will be entering into new cultures with different societal norms while traveling, but you don’t realize how little prepared you are for this until you are actually in a new place. When my friends and I first stepped off the plane in Rome, nothing felt that different. We were greeted by our tour guide, Heike, who was a wonderful and knowledgeable leader during our travels. She guided us to our bus and helped us check into our hotel- an easy transition into Italian life. The moment we went to explore and order lunch, however, we realized how little we knew. Figuring out how to cross the street without cross lights was our first challenge. We narrowly avoided being hit by the mini cars and mopeds whizzing past. Once we made it to a restaurant, none of us knew how to ask for a table in Italian and were embarrassed that we knew so little of the language. It was a high-stress lunch: we couldn’t get google translate to work to read the menu and the attitude of European waiters, who leave you alone for the most part, was entirely foreign to us. The fact that we had to pay for water also came as a bit of a culture shock. By the end of the lunch, the stress and embarrassment of the situation, which was heightened by our tiredness from jet lag, made if seem as if we would never acclimate to being in Europe. This, however, proved to be untrue. We began to adapt to our surrounds and slowly became more comfortable. By the end of the travel portion of the trip, my friends and I had learned a number of new phrases in different languages, how to efficiently navigate the public transportation systems in each country, and how to order at restaurants like pros. We, of course, ran into other difficulties over the length of the trip, including almost being detained at the German/Austrian border while on a day trip to Salzburg from Munich. But such difficulties became learning experiences, turned us into hardened travelers, and will now just be funny anecdotes about our summer abroad.

Me and my friends in Salzburg before almost being detained by the German police

Without being pushed out of my comfort zone and learning to deal with the hardships of travel, I never would have experienced half of the amazing things I did on this trip. Visiting so many countries has given me the chance to immerse myself in different cultures, meet people from different walks of life, and appreciate Europe’s rich history. These reflections are best encapsulated by two of my experiences in the Oxford Program: visiting Heiligenkreuz Abbey in Austria and visiting Mauthausen concentration camp in Germany.

Heiligenkreuz Abbey, located deep in the Vienna woods, is the oldest continuously occupied Cistercian monastery in the world. It houses a community of monks dedicated to study and prayer, specifically prayer through choral chants. In 2008 the monks released an album called Chant- Music For Paradise, which accumulated worldwide praise and showcased how music in all forms can help bring people together. My music teacher, for example, was drawn to the chants and took us to hear an evening service prayer at the abbey. Sitting in such a historic space and listening to chants that have been used for hundreds of years was a truly moving experience. Our group also had the opportunity to speak with the monks after the service and learn about their practice. Their days are entirely focused around prayer services, but some of the monks also take courses at the local university for the sake of learning, rather than entering a specific career. This simplified, diligent lifestyle is so different from the way we live in the Western world today. While reflecting on these differences, however, I also realized that my group was more similar to the monks than we realized. We were all individuals with personal ambitions, we could relate to each other through humor, and we all enjoyed artistic expression. This realization was perhaps one of the greatest takeaways from my trip: no matter how different certain cultures may seem, people can always find similarities and ways to relate to one another.

Some pictures of Heiligenkreuz Abbey

Another significant global experience from my travels was the chance to visit Mauthausen concentration camp. Mauthausen functioned as a work and death camp during World War II from 1938-1945. Thousands of Jews and other targeted minorities lost their lives at the camp, subjected to unthinkable labor and living conditions as a result of Hitler’s efforts to create a “pure racial class.” Today, Mauthausen serves as a memorial and reminder of the millions of innocent lives lost during the Holocaust. A dark, heavy energy encompasses the entire camp. It was horribly depressing to stand in the rooms where countless prisoners were once crammed together at night and to lay eyes on the crematoriums and furnaces that were used to put prisoners to their deaths. Even though Mauthausen was a departure from the happier experiences that encompassed the rest of my trip, it was an incredibly important site to visit. It is one thing to learn about the Holocaust from history books and class discussions, but it was much more impactful to actually walk the grounds of a concentration camp and conceptualize the horrors that the prisoners faced. I felt that it was important to visit the site to honor the victims of the Holocaust and ensure that such an atrocity never happens again.

The front gates of Mauthausen

Overall, the Oxford Program has been one of the most incredible experiences of my life. From climbing the Duomo in Florence to punting in Oxford, I have had the chance to create amazing memories and friendships that will last a lifetime, while also becoming more culturally and historically aware through educational visits to museums, concerts, and historic sites. I would absolutely encourage anyone thinking of applying to the program to go ahead and do so. I would remind applicants that while studying abroad can feel daunting and exhausting at times, it truly is an experience like no other.

Punting in Oxford

#gthonors #gtoxford2022 #gtoxfordprogram #gojackets #oxford2022 #georgiatech

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lilykachmar · 2 years

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The Best Summer

Me and my friends in Oxford

Me and my friends in Salzburg before almost being detained by the German police

Some pictures of Heiligenkreuz Abbey

The front gates of Mauthausen

Punting in Oxford

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thegreenisles · 2 years

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Small update to the drive:

French and German voice files are now available in the audio folders for all of the chapters!

If anyone’s interested, feel free to check it out!

Also, it’s been up on youtube for a bit now but I’ve never announced it: the German songs are also available with the rest of the soundtrack.

[🇩🇪] [🇫🇷]

(Admittedly the French playlist is mostly a joke, they didn’t translate the songs in to French- they just play the English songs in the French version of the game. I included Acorn’s voice file where he sings a short lullaby with the other songs, even though it isn’t a song, which makes it technically the only French song available).

#king's quest #kings quest #king’s quest #kq 2015 #kq #AGAIN i would link directly to the folders but google drive is annoyingly finicky and it won’t let you back out into the main folders #sorry you’ll have to look for them yourself #i don’t know a better alternative so bear with me lol #i said ‘yea more content soon’ on my last post. yeah actually it took 6 months to do this lol #a mix of the work being a bit boring and also getting a job that depends on me being on the pc working full time #also if my translations are bad on the youtube songs and you can tell... let me know HAHA i do not speak the languages #i did my best #but i am likely a bit off as i Did in fact use google translate #but yeah don’t expect much from the french playlist #i was like... i have to put acorn singing here bc i did it for english and german. but thats IT #does it even warrent it’s own playlist? should i just stick it with the german songs #then i was like. yeah i’ll just give it its own playlist. whatever #its in prison #very interesting that the german version had all songs translated but not the french #i wonder why?#a bit disappointing imo i was hoping to hear the french singing #but oh well!

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lostalioth · 3 years

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𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘢𝘧𝘦 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦 ; 𝘣𝘶𝘤𝘬𝘺

summary: “you are the light of my life кукла” he sighs as he watches you at work cleaning his wounds “my safe place” he softly stated. He watched as tears slipped past your eyes and down your chin.

warnings: fluff, winter solider!bucky x female!reader (vaguely described), wounded bucky, cleaning his wounds, bucky takes off his shirt, broken sweet boy

authors note: ah my second ever written oneshot, also I’m gonna be honest I used google translate for the Russian bits so if Its wrong I am very sorry, enjoy!!

You were startled awake by the heavy metal door to your small cell being thrown open, and the loud clanging of keys. With heavy lidded eyes you shifted your body around, on the sad excuse for a bed you were given to look up towards the open cell door. You see the winter soldier stood between you, and one of hydras many guards as your eyes adjusted to being open.

“попасть в камеру, солдат (get in your cell soldier)” one of the guards outside the cell ordered him while pushing his back hard. The soldier didn’t move a muscle as his body stood rigid and still in his place. He had his head tilted down at his feet. He still wore his awful black mask and goggles they forced him. That was your indication they had sent him out on a mission which caused your heart to sink to your stomach

“сейчас (now)” the guard ordered him one last time. The soldier took a step just a few inches forward so the man behind him could close the cell door. The guard scoffed and slammed it shut and walked off, not without turning the several locks on the front of it. trapping you in the confined cell with the soldier.

“Soldat what happened?” you mumbled in your semi responsive state as you had been woken up from a deep sleep. He slowly turned his head to you as his entire body softened at finally noticing your presence. You were supposed to be asleep.

You were slow to approach him as he is quite irritable in his winter soldier state after missions. “Soldat?” you softly questioned. “кукла.. (doll)” he muttered under his breath. You were a bit apprehensive of doing so but you slowly lifted your hand up to his face to peel the blacked out goggles off his face. Once they were off and discarded onto the small table that stood in the cell, you looked up into his ice blue eyes.

You gasp as you notice them.

There were cuts and bruises along his forehead, and they looked like they continued behind the mask. “May I winter?” You softly question as you had used the nickname for him that you adapted, seeing as you didn’t wanna always refer to him as Soldat. He nodded his head slowly as he stared at you taking in your drowsy demeanor, as you were still barely awake.

You peel the awful black mask they forced him to wear so often off the lower half of his face. Which did in fact reveal more scraps and cuts.

You discard it off onto the table next to the goggles and bring your hand back to his face. His jaw clenched under your cold hand but he immediately leaned into your touch. “What happened?” you whimper as you scan his face finding all the scraps and bruises that littered his sharp face.

“Didn't corporate before the mission” he stared blankly at you as you rubbed his cold check. You wince at his statement and your eyes drop for a second. His flesh hand came up to grab your wrist.

He never touched you with the metal one. Even when you told him it was okay. He was horrified of hurting you if he did.

He picks it up off his face and brings it to his mouth. He softly left small kisses over the palm of your hand and your wrist. You smile fondly at him. “Will you let me clean you up Winter? Please..” you plead as you watched him continue to leave kisses over your soft hand.

“If you insist Мои небеса (My heaven)” he sighed, letting your hand go as you turned away to go grab the very small first aid kit they reluctantly had allowed you to have. He walks over to the small and only bed you were allowed in the cell, as you grabbed what you needed to clean him up.

You grab the small wooden chair that sat at the table, to drag it over with you to sit down on in front of the soldier. “Be honest please, are these the only wounds?” You set all the supplies you grabbed on the bed next to him. You watched as he shook his head no with sadness in his eyes. You sigh and your eyes softened. “Where?” you whimpered out. He pointed to the left side of his stomach as he watched your reaction.

“May I clean that as well Soldat?”

He nodded and stood up for a moment to peel the thick and sweaty leather vest and harness off his torso. Your breath hitches for a second as you took in his exposed chest. He was very well built, not that you hadn’t already noticed that.

You then wince as you see the gash across the bottom of his torso. He answered your question before you could even ask it. “I lunged at one of the guards when he started to say.. the words” he winced as you brought your hand down to the wound. Tears began to brim your eyes as you examed it.

“кукла I’m okay…worse has happened” his body stiffened at the memories of the worst times flashing through his head. He had begun to dissociate a bit.

“Hey…I’m right here” you softly whisper as you stand up and bring your hand up to his cheek trying to bring him back.

He blinks a few times looking around the room before his eyes land back on you standing with your body fairly close to him. “Let’s get you cleaned up now then we can sleep” you nod your head at him questioningly.

He sits back down on the bed and hunching over a bit as he figured you’d wanna clean up his face first. He winced slightly as it was an uncomfortable position to be in with his torso wound. “I’ll be quick Soldat, I promise” you grab the small bottle of cleaning solution off the bed and an old ragged wash cloth. After opening the bottle and tipping it slightly so some would run out onto the corner of the cloth you began cleaning the scraps and small cuts that littered his face.

“Thank you кукла” he shuts his eyes as he relaxes into himself while you lightly rub the cloth over all the wounds trying to be as soft as possible. “You don’t need to thank me..” you paused for a moment. “I’d do anything for you Soldat” you put the cloth down on your lap and grab a couple small bandages to cover the cuts.

He smiled softly at you as you placed them on his face.

Once you were finished he swiftly snakes his hand behind your neck pulling you towards him and crashing his lips into yours. Your lips melded together like they were made for one another. You melted into the kiss instantly as you shut your eyes. His breath smelt faintly of spearmint.

It wasn’t a hurried and hot kiss. It wasn’t supposed to be. It was a soft and loving kiss.

He reluctantly pulled away to be met with the beautiful sight of your flushed face and swollen lips. He smirked like a little shit as he was quite proud of himself. “Soldat..” you scold lightly “stop distracting me i need to clean you up” you sigh but grin slightly as you look down at your lap while grabbing the cloth again.

He doesn’t say anything in response he just leans back into the uncomfortable bed, giving you access to his torso wound. He had a cocky grin plastered on his face though. You began to clean the gash on his stomach with your cheeks full of heat. “Мои небеса..” he mutters out while looking down at you fondly.

“you are the light of my life кукла” he sighs as he watches you at work cleaning his wounds “my safe place” he softly stated. He watched as tears slipped past your eyes and down your chin. You finished cleaning the gash and his tilts your chin up at him with his flesh hand as tears still slip past your eyes. “That is why I call you Мои небеса..” “it’s appropriate, you are my heaven..” you nod softly. He slowly wipes away the remaining tears off your cheeks.

He leans back up to then pull you into a quick and loving kiss again.

“Please Soldat let me finish tending to your stomach wound” You whine into the kiss before pulling away. He chuckled lightly at your stubbornness. You grab a large bandage and wrap up the gash, not before placing some gaze under it, in case it bleeds as well as to protect it. “Finally now I am done” you sigh and grab the remaining medical supplies to put them away.

You turn back around to see the soldier, already laid out on the small bed on his back with his arms out. “Come to bed now кукла” he whines like a baby making grabby hands at you. “Yes winter hold on” you grin, placing the chair back in its place before climbing into bed with him.

“Lay on my chest, it’d be more comfortable” he turns his head to look down at you under his arm. “But your stomach” you question with worry filling your eyes.

“Doesn’t matter”

He pulls you up onto his chest and threads his flesh fingers through your hair to lull you back to sleep. You slowly close your eyes, finding it much easier to fall asleep now than last time. “Goodnight Мои небеса..” he mumbled as his body relaxed while he began to drift to sleep.

You were his safe place..

And he was yours..

#bucky barnes headcanon #bucky barnes #bucky barnes fanfiction #bucky x reader #winter solider x reader #winter solider imagine #fluff #bucky fluff #winter solider fanfiction #bucky barnes x reader #wounded #bucky imagine #bucky oneshot #second post #first oneshot #winter soldier!bucky #cleaning wounds

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