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spencereid-reads · 1 month

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the language of you | s. reid

wc: 2.1k // warnings: english isn't my first language! an extreme amount of italics, meet-cute, love at first poem sight kinda thing. poems that i found on either google or pinterest. a few swear words, maybe? // a/n: my first time writing for reid and cm in general. i'm in the middle of season 9 and idk where this idea came from. also i don't know anything about poetry, the last quote is as far as my knowledge goes. if you think you know me from my other writing blog no you don't<3but ily also idk if i'll keep writing, i just wanted to post it bc of world poetry day, i think it's a nice coincidence.

i use she/her pronouns//fem!reader in almost all of my fics!

the cold hallways of the university building aren't as big and intimidating as he remembered. and this time, they welcomed him with open arms. he was just a kid when he first set foot here, and now here he was, being invited by a member of his team to teach the young minds of college kids.

spencer reid had never been a great public speaker, sure, he had the qualities of one, but he was also known to ramble on and on about a specific subject if he was interested enough in it, most likely overwhelming and quite often scaring the class attendees.

he followed dr. blake through the crowded halls, she'd invited him along to one of her lectures, she needed someone with vast knowledge about, -well, everything-, and a quick mind, and he was the perfect addition to her classes.

it was weird, being on the other side of the lecture hall, with dozens of eyes set on him as he spoke, he wasn't nervous per se, more... aware of the situation. but luckily the students were focused, paid attention and asked good questions. he considered that a win in his book. without noticing, the 90 minute class was over, and he approached blake after gathering his things and crossing his signature leather bag over his shoulder.

"ready to head back?" he asked.

"not quite, there's a friend of mine giving a lecture next door, it's her first class, actually. thought we'd stop by for a bit, wish her good luck." she said, sliding her black blazer back on.

"sure, what's it about?"

"you'll see. i think you'll enjoy it." she gave him a sly smile, making her way up the steps, he stood there for a second, wondering what the subject might be. there were a lot of things that he enjoyed, physics, math, science.

spencer caught up to her just as she opened the door to the other lecture hall, sliding in behind alex as his eyes adjusted to the change of lighting. compared to the room they'd just left, this felt nothing like a classroom. it felt more like a theater.

the lights were off, the room being lit up by fake candles lining both sets of steps on each side of the room, and he noticed real candles on the front stage, the flames dancing with the subtle change of pressure as a girl, maybe as young as he was, walked on stage. a book in her hand, but she didn't need it, whatever she was saying was from memory, the worlds flowing effortlessly out her mouth.

he stood frozen in his spot, it took him two seconds to recognize and figure out what was going on.

"lines fall on the soul like dew on the grass. what does it matter that i couldn’t keep her. the night is fractured and she is not with me." she recited, eyes closed as she stopped walking, even from his spot at the top of the steps he could see her facial expression, a frown on her face as her eyebrows furrowed, lips pursed as if she was the one feeling the pain the author was describing.

neruda. poetry.

spencer had never been the biggest fan of poetry, but maybe he just hadn't found the right person to teach him about it.

what an incredulous thought, someone teaching a subject to genius spencer reid? but he couldn't help but be drawn to the soft voice that spoke with love, sorrow and rhythm.

"my voice tried to find the breeze to reach her. another’s kisses on her, like my kisses. her voice, her bright body, infinite eyes."

she was savoring each word in her tongue, and spencer's ears perked up at every sound that left her mouth.

"wonder boy, come on," alex's whisper brought him out of his thoughts, as he followed her down the candlelit steps to one of the first rows.

how he wished he could've stayed up there, hidden within the shadows, since he couldn't take two steps without his eyes having to find the young lecturer again, slowing down his legs.

but from down there he noticed the way the candles lit her face, casting a soft golden glow, and now he found himself thanking the small flames scattered around the stage.

she threw the two fbi agents a look, a knowing gleam in her eye as she recognized the female doctor. it was fleeting, she didn’t let the interaction distract her from the verses and the words slipping from her lips.

“loving is so short, forgetting is so long,” she breathed the words, barely audible as she felt every syllable in every bone of her body.

as she finished the poem, deafening silence fell upon the room, and spencer realized how quiet the room had been since he arrived, yet her soft voice seemed to fill it effortlessly.

“has anyone here ever felt emotions as strong as the ones depicted in the poem? joy, sadness, anger?” she asked, somehow leaving aside the ‘character’ she’d slipped into as she recited the words written by neruda. “love? has anyone ever experienced this… deep, unshakeable need to absolutely possess someone? to keep them all for your own, locked in a room to look, touch, admire as much as you wish?” she continued, eyes scanning the room, and spencer’s breathing hitched when she placed her eyes on him. “i know how it sounds like, but- poetry and language, is quite possibly the best way to express those intense feelings.”

“what about sex?” a voice from the crowd asked.

“that’s a great way too,” she nodded, laughing along with the class, “but have you ever stood in front of a girl, a boy, a person you truly feel like you’d die for, and told them exactly that? how just the touch of their hand holding someone else’s would rip your soul out of your body, or how you’d swim oceans just to get to hear their laugh one last time? i don’t know about you, but i feel like that’s a hundred times better than sex.” she continued, walking from one side of the stage to the other, using her hands and changing the tone in her voice to emphasize what she wanted to say. “i promise you that by the end of this semester you’ll be able to put all of that into your own words. read, everyone. please, read and do your research, and i promise you that you’ll get your chance to be neruda, dickinson. anybody can be a poet. poetry is about feelings, thoughts, the things that keep you up at night, and being able to put all of that into words. read, even if you don’t understand what they’re saying, but think about what they want to say. i know it’s our first class but i’ll leave you some work for friday. just pick a poem, learn it and present it here, i want to see what we’re working with. that’s it for today, thank you.” she vowed her head like an actor who’d just finished a play, walking around the stage as she blew the candles off.

“come on, let’s go say hi,” alex stood up, prompting spencer to do the same, and he had to swallow the feelings inside of him. his mind repeating every word the girl onstage had just said. he knew the importance of poetry, he had a few favorite poets, and he knew about all the hard technical work that was behind writing a good poem, but he’d never taken the time to think about the personal aspect of the work.

“dr. blake, great to see you here,” she greeted the older woman, who embraced her in a hug.

“you too. you were great there, no one would’ve thought it was your first time teaching,”

“well, what can i say, i learned everything from you.”

“please, our fields are as far apart as they could be. it’s all thanks to that big brain of yours. which, speaking of, meet dr. spencer reid, we work together.” alex stepped aside, revealing a tall man, hands fidgeting with his leather bag and long strands of hair covering his forehead. alex always had a soft spot for spencer, the young genius reminded her of herself, once upon a time.

“pleasure to meet you, dr. reid,” the young girl smiled at him, offering her hand.

“likewise,” he said, taking her hand in his. alex’s eyebrows raised, she’d been expecting a speech about germs and pathogens but got none.

“so, what’d you think? was it too much? think i scared the kids?”

“today’s youth doesn’t take things too seriously, they prefer one night stands and lack of commitment.” spencer explained.

“think i’m reaching for the stars for trying to get them to channel their emotions and actually feel them?” the young professor asked him, a smile on her face told him that she’d already thought about that.

“not necessarily, studies have proven that people who can feel and acknowledge their emotions are happier, live longer and have better relationships with themselves and others. also, they have more confidence in themselves and can make lasting relationships, but physical and emotional.” he continued, and this time dr. blake spoke.

“so if you do your job right you’ll get lots of people laid,”

“ah, if only i could make that work for me,” she replied, heat creeping onto her cheeks as she looked down. her words made spencer stop breathing.

“i’m sure someone with your wits and… well, you could get anyone you want,” the words slipped out before he could control them.

“sounds easier said than done, but i’ve decided to devote my life to my work and books, and there doesn’t seem to be anyone coming anytime soon to change that. i’m alright with that, life is more than that.” she shrugged her shoulder.

“not enjoyment, and not sorrow, is our destined end or way; but to act, that each tomorrow find us farther than today.” spencer recalled from memory.

“you speak my language, doctor,” the young professor breathed. and the older woman took the opportunity to interfere.

“like i said, genius. you two should talk, he’s got a very interesting brain that i’m sure you’d love to pick,” she reached toward her friend, wrapping her in a quick hug, “i’ll meet you out there, reid, i have a few things to do.” with that she walked out of the lecture hall, leaving the two young brilliant minds together.

“sorry about her, she’s been trying to set me up with someone since we met. i was her t.a back when i was a grad student.”

“you worked with her?” spencer asked, internally rolling his eyes at himself, she’d obviously just stated that.

“yup. i know, how could someone go from linguistics applied in criminology to poetry? it’s a big leap, but… she’s helped me more than anyone in my entire career.” she spoke with fondness in her voice. “anyway, she was right. i would love to pick that brain of yours.” she said, “sorry, that sounded weird, but-”

“no, no, it’s- fine. i- i’d like to talk to you, more, as well.”

“it’s a date, then.” she smiled, even wider when she noticed the slight blush creeping on his cheeks,

“if only i could recollect it, such a day of days. i let it come and go as traceless as a thaw of bygone snow; it seemed to mean so little, meant so much-” spencer started, the words taking over his mind and mouth before he could even think about it.

“if only now i could recall that touch, first touch of a hand in hand- did one but know,” she finished for him.

“i-i,” he started, surprising himself by the way he stuttered. “i don't speak your language, not like you do, not yet. i'm not a poet. but… i want to learn… i want to.”

she breathed out, all the air leaving her lungs, his wild eyes scanned all over her face, not profiling. but learning, taking in her cues, and a pressure left his shoulders when she saw her lips twitching, breaking for a smile.

“i may be the writer, but you'll always be the words.” she took a step toward him, his eyes settling for her own, it helped him calm down. “it's like i said, anybody can be a poet.”

“i-i’ll see you friday?” he said.

“friday?” she raised her eyebrows.

“yeah, you-you said you had to see what you're working with?”

“i do.” she nodded, a playful gleam in her eyes, “i guess i’ll see you friday. we can get coffee, before coming here.” she suggested.

“is that special treatment, professor?” one more time, he surprised himself by the way he spoke to her, like it was the most natural thing to do. we wished it never stopped, he wanted to hear her amused laugh again.

“maybe.” she bit her lip as she laughed.

****

“this could be the start of something new, and it feels so right to be here with you.”

-high school musical

#i finished this a few days ago #i didn't know if i wanted to post it #but #i just read that today is world poetry day #and wow #spencer reid #spencer reid imagine #spencer reid x reader #spencer reid x you #spencer reid x y/n #spencer reid fanfiction #spencer reid fluff #spencer reid fic #spencer reid one shot #criminal minds #criminal minds fanfiction #criminal minds oneshot #criminal minds imagine

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tanith-rhea · 9 months

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Carnations

It was beautiful, in a morbid way, that this would be the way you'd go. A botany teacher whose lungs were filled with flowers.

Author's note: absolute angst on this one, I won't promise tears cause different people sail different ships, but I can say that there is no happy ending, a good old character death which I suspect is over-described, and the illusory or not certainty of unrequited love.

You may do with this information whatever you please 💛

You'd always had a fascination when it came to flower diseases. Hanakanjō always seemed to you like the worst thing that could happen to a person, flowers sprouting from one's skin and betraying their emotions to others around them. In the end, you wish you could trade it for yours, it would be mortifying to burst into pink carnations every time Larissa walked past you, but at least you wouldn't have yellow ones choking you up at night when you replayed her words repeatedly in your head.

"I could never fall in love with an employee," she'd said, nursing what little wine was left in her glass.

"Do you think you could control it?" the question had nothing to do with your fondness for the principal, it spoke of how much of a romantic you were, actually, how tragic it would be if it happened.

She seemed to consider it for a while, before settling for "I'm fairly certain. I have no interest in falling in love and even if I had I would make sure to not harbour any feelings for someone I could not pursue. I wouldn't be so careless as to set myself up for heartbreak," her voice sounded sure and final. She finished her drink and inhaled carefully before eyeing your glass and seeing you'd also finished yours.

"I'm afraid it's rather late," she continued softly, "This was supposed to be a work meeting and I kept you for far too long," she paused, and you felt something tighten in your chest as you realized the conversation (and your lovely evening) was over. "Thank you for indulging me, though."

Larissa would never fall in love with a teacher. And you, pretty much a teacher and "one of the few she considered a friend", would never have your feelings reciprocated.

It was rather lovely, to be in love, and you discovered you didn't mind to love alone that evening when you left her office. It was really such a shame that your lungs begged to disagree.

The first time you coughed you were in class. You were about to explain to a second-year student how a certain plant could be made into poison and medicine depending on the situation or its handling when you broke into a fit. You hadn't caught a cold and no flowers were blooming quite yet, so when you couldn't stop for a whole thirty seconds you thought it rather odd.

The blood in your elbow pit once you finally stopped was also curious, but you carried on until all classes were finished.

Later that same day, you were at the quad waiting for a student who had asked you to take a look at his potted plant which he said didn't look so good. He had left class just a few minutes before and passed through the quad to tell you he would go to his dorm take the plant and come back in two beats but he was taking his time, apparently.

Distracted, you didn't notice someone approaching the table you were sitting at and squeaked like a scared squirrel once Larissa's hand laid on your shoulder.

"My, my, I did think you were a bit lost but it seems you were in fact stupefied," she sounded amused. Your face was catching fire.

"You absolute menace, why did you sneak up on me like that? Do you want to kill me?" your voice was still squeaky; like you'd inhaled helium.

Larissa laughed, full of mirth and fondness, and you couldn't pretend to be displeased with her when your lips were insisting on twitching up. You were probably making a funny face while fighting back your smile because she only continued on, if softer, as you shook your head and looked away.

"I'm sorry to have startled you, I was only passing and wanted to know what you were up to." Her hand was still resting on your shoulder and her thumb was now soothingly stroking small circles on the hollow of your clavicle.

She smiled affectionately at you while you composed yourself enough to answer. You had close to no dignity left but you would fight to recuperate it.

You cleared your suddenly tight throat, "I'm just waiting on Ajax for plant advice. He's babysitting a Dahlia for a friend of his and is worried it might be dying."

"A dahlia?" Larissa arched an eyebrow.

"Yes... why?" what was so curious about a boy caring for a flower to her?

She shrugged, "Nothing, just-" she paused, her fingertips pressing a bit as if gripping you lightly for a second, "their meaning, I imagine, but boys his age probably don't know these things anymore," she smiled dismissively.

She squeezed your shoulder softly again, eyes glinting a bit before saying, "Well, it's always lovely to run into you, dear," and leaned down to kiss your cheek, hand sliding from your shoulder to your chin as she held your face gently and pressed her lips right under your cheekbone.

She eyed the spot where her lips had been, probably because they left a mark redder than your blush, before smiling once again and leaving. Once she was out of view, you brought shaky fingertips to your warm face and suddenly you were doubling over with coughs; unstopping, burning things scorching your throat as blood springled your trousers and then, like it was just another product any coughing fit could conjure, there were two yellow petals, tinged half red in blood, laid on your lap.

"Professor...?" Ajax's voice caught your attention, and frankly people had to stop surprising you like this. You looked up to see terrified eyes staring at the stains on your lap. "Is everything alright?"

You definitely didn't feel alright. "Yes, it's just an inflammation or something," you pretended to dismiss it and he didn't seem too convinced, "Is this the child?" you pointed at a perfectly healthy dahlia.

"Yeah... I left it on the window this morning and it seems a lot better now." He shifted from foot to foot, "I brought her here just to confirm she's alright," he completed.

"She?" you couldn't help a smile. It was a joke when you said the child.

His face reddened a bit and it was amusing but mostly adorable how uncomfortable he suddenly seemed.

"Xavior and I have this thing that we talk about her like she is a person," he appeared to be immensely interested in her since he couldn't take his eyes off the plant to look at you while explaining, "We read on a website that plants can communicate with others and respond well to being praised and stuff so it because sort of a thing and-"

His words were coming more and more like undistinguished mumbles so you took pity on him and interrupted, saying "She's alright, Ajax. A healthy little girl as far as I can see, don't worry."

He visibly relaxed, deflating like a cloak of lead was sliding off his shoulders. He finally looked you in the face, still unsure and stealing glances at your lap.

"Thank you, prof." He nodded forcefully and marched quickly back inside.

The tricky thing was that you loved life, but you also loved Larissa, and you didn't want to stop doing either of those, even if they might terminate each other and you in the process.

Love is such a beautiful sentiment and dying from it was just your luck. If you could choose, in all honesty, you might have chosen to die exactly like this.

That didn't mean you were eager to do so. And that was why you decided to distance yourself from Larissa. You loved her, and you knew your love would only grow stronger and having her around did not help to keep you from diving deeper into the magnificent, all-encompassing feeling of completion that filled your heart and soul so absolutely it spilt.

In the first few weeks, she didn't seem to notice, but after your third refusal of a shared glass of red at her office she appeared at your door, concern written between her brows.

"I'm sorry to disturb you, dear, but I have the feeling I don't see you as much as I'd like this past few days and was wondering if something happened."

She had no business looking so caring and... worried, fretful.

You were still standing at the doorsill, feeling thin roots curl and clench inside your chest like anarchist veins looking for tissue to spread themselves onto when the thought occurred to you for the first time. Why can't she love me back?

It was nonsense. You knew her, you knew why, and of course your life was on the line and it mattered more than school rules or power dynamics but she was not looking for love. She made it clear not once, but several times when she'd repeat incessantly every time someone brought up the fact that she was single.

"I don't see why I need someone, Tish," or "I don't mind being alone, Vlad," and "No, dear, I don't feel incomplete, I have everything I ever wished for".

You hadn't had a problem with it before, but now, seeing her standing there, gloved hands clasped together in front of her elegantly but not fooling you at all. The air was charged, she was waiting for something; an invitation to enter, an explanation, reassurance. Her hands in front of her were not a sign of grace but an attempt at not fidgeting. She never fidgeted, you suspected she practised so much that now every time she felt uncomfortable she'd instinctively adopt certain poses that evoked control.

"Finals are coming soon," you said with no thought at all, and her brows furrowed deeper, "I mean... Preparation for finals," you tried to salvage, "I like to do a pre-review with smaller classes."

She clearly did not buy it but also didn't question you. Instead, her posture impossibly improved as she cleared her throat quietly, "Well, I'll leave you to your evening plans then," and she motioned to leave.

"Which-" you said quickly before she could go, she stood attentively, "I don't have," you said, voice breaking at the end as you felt petals clog up your windpipe.

Larissa smiled, surprised and clearly pleased, and you stepped out of the way so she could enter.

"Give me a moment," you whispered with what you hoped was an easy smile as you excused yourself to the bathroom.

As soon as you closed the door you tried your best to vomit, expel? Get rid of the petals slowly rising with as little sound as possible. If you coughed there was a chance Larissa would hear and ask questions. You weren't sure you could lie to her if she asked why you were coughing petals like you're the embodiment of spring. Even if she'd know the reason, you couldn't trust yourself not to tell it was because of her.

But you can't vomit something coming from your lungs, and there is no such thing as "gracefully letting a foreign solid thing leave travel through your respiratory system". You just grabbed a towel from the cabinet and muffled the screeches and choking and sobs on it.

After an unknown amount of time, a knock took you out of your breathing exercise to regain control.

"Is everything ok in there?" you weren't coughing anymore, but her small voice made you want to cry. Your face was still flushed from all the exertion and the tears brought by pain were still drying on your cheeks.

Your breathing quickened as dread and heartbreak occupied the emptiness left by bloody petals. You screamed without a sound, air leaving your throat, face twisted from grief. You'd die from loving her and you knew you would do so soon.

Larissa didn't wait for an answer much longer, and as she opened the door you curled into yourself, hiding the petals between your legs and chest, burying your face on your knees so she wouldn't see how ugly you looked when falling apart.

"Love, what happened?" she breathed, kneeling beside you without another word and taking you into her arms.

Why was she calling you love? Why did she have to do that? You were her friend, dear and darling and sometimes sweet. You weren't her love, you would never be and that was going to kill you. Why did she have to be affectionate when it cut you deeper than any cruelty ever could?

You couldn't make a sound, your throat could barely manage between you not breathing from all the muted crying and you scrambling for air when you realized more petals were coming as Larissa's smell filled the air, easily overpowering the flowers' while she hugged your body with one arm and kept the other around your shoulders, fingertips massaging your scalp under the crown of your head where she kept her face pressed.

This was so close to love. Why was it so hard to take that final step? You shared evenings together like a years-old couple, talked easily as if you'd spent a life together and not two years of acquaintanceship, you thought of her every second of every day, nurturing her in your heart and her rejection in your lungs.

You wished you could make her fall for you. You didn't mind before, and it wasn't the prospect of death that made you yearn for it so much now. You realized you were sick because it was too much. You had too much love inside of you and if she didn't want it there was nowhere it could go, no one to belong to, so it had to cease to exist, one way or another.

As your tight muscles started to tire and your body to fail, Larissa helped you to your bed. You were less than a person, more like the hollow ruins of a once beautiful castle that was now being conquered by nature, retaken, reclaimed.

When you stood and full flowers fell from your hiding place to the floor, you heard Larissa's surprised intake of breath. A few uncertain second passed as you looked down to the beautiful blooms you couldn't help but longingly admire, wishing them to finish you before Larissa continued to care for you like it wasn't just make it worse.

You were so drained she practically carried you across the room, laid you down on the bed and looked for the Nth time uncertain. After a few seconds she seemed to reach a conclusion and slid under the covers beside you, pulling you half conscious to her chest.

Before you completely blacked out, you heard her whisper, "I wish it was me."

The next day she wasn't there. When you woke up with very few memories of the night before, you had the sense that something was missing and as snippets of images and vague recollections started to pile up into a sequence of tortuously sweet moments, you had your worse fit of coughs that date.

That was it. You were done for. Larissa cared enough to wish to die in your place but not in the way that could save you.

You'd do anything for her but she simply couldn't do the one thing you needed from her. And it wasn't her fault, you knew she could try, hell she did try the night before for all you knew but it just was not possible. No one could force people into love and you wanted nothing of the sort. Even if you hungered for Larissa like a person starving to death you were happier knowing she would have a good life, everything she ever wished for, as she said, than being forever bound to you when she didn't want it.

You knew you didn't have long now, you weren't really coughing as flowers with the semblance of thin stems were lodged in your throat, so you fumbled desperately for something to write on while you still could.

When Larissa found you, she didn't see the paper, the tray with tea she'd gone prepare to wake you up with fell with no sound she could hear, the shattered porcelain not registering underneath the deafening white noise. She lifted your body from the floor beside the bed where you'd slipped off only to scream and let you fall onto the mattress as she saw glassed-over eyes.

She screamed and wailed and didn't notice the countless people rapidly entering and immediately leaving the room to look for help. The love of her life lay on a bed of flowers, yellow and red while their skin was almost translucent. Choked on the stems of what could be a small bouquet, blood slowly pooling beside their mouth.

"Dear Larissa, I hope you forgive the state I'm bound to be found, and that whoever has the misfortune of finding me has it in themselves to remind this scene as a terrible but miraculous love letter.

I loved you so much that it killed me.

Doesn't that sound nice? Maybe not nice, I'm dying so I don't have time to weight my words too carefully.

I'm writing this to thank you. Thank you for every time you smiled at me, talked to me, touched the back of my hand while handing me wine or made me nothing at all other than company.

Life was harder but infinitely sweeter while I was fortunate to love you. I am in love with you, and I hope after I'm dead I'll be able to still be. I know you'd be kind to the point of letting me haunt you, but I love you more than I can put into words and want you to forget this ever happened and be happy.

It's ok that you don't love me back, it's ok that I'm dead now, I died loving you and there is no other way I'd rather have died. If the price for feeling this deeply is death then you could say I chose to pay, even though I didn't. I know you wished it were you, but I was happy to pay.

If I coul"

Part of the unfinished sentence was covered by a dark stain, the rest was simply not written.

Larissa sobbed brokenly reading "I know you wished it were you," over and over, what she'd meant the night before was "I wish I was the one you love."

I listened to this while I wrote if you'd like to listen to some soft, nice music. As always, @alder-saan I hope you like it. Unless you don't want to read sad stuff which I completely understand

#yes... well #do you know the “death of the author” concept? this one is the death of the reader #quite literally #we die like unloved bitches on this one and I'm not talking about beta-reading #angst with no happy ending #unrequited feelings #hanahaki desease #larissa weems x reader #do I need to say that it's 2:30 in the morning and I haven't proofed read this before posting?#it might be rubbish since I'm half delirious from low blood pressure #larissa weems

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lehguru · 1 year

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SOMETHING ABOUT YOU + GETO SUGURU

in the car, cruising around with you

and my baby, you know that i got you

hit the road, i'm taking off with you

not in a hurry, there's something about you

despite all his demons and his flaws, you love geto suguru

word count: 1.7k

warnings: reader is gender neutral, but shorter than geto. geto didn't go insane AU, late happy bday to him!! ily beefy man; not proofread (i tried to proofread but probably missed things) + requests are open ! check pinned post for request rules

“what do you like about geto, anyway?”

the sudden question from the woman made you choke on your drink. the beverage made your nose and throat warm up in a way that was a little uncomfortable, but you barely acknowledged it. where did that came from?

“w-why are you asking that?” you murmured, taking deep breaths to calm yourself after the little coughing attack you had.

“because he’s an asshole.” ieiri stated simply, making the whisky inside her cup twirl with a simple move from her wrist. her tired eyes remained focusing on you and your expressions; a habit she had since you two were students.

you wanted to laugh at her straightforwardness. if it was any other situation, you would have laughed and agreed with her; but now all you could do was feel embarrassed. you hoped that by staying quiet, she would forget her own question and move on to another topic, but her stare remained focused and judgemental. when one of her eyebrows raised, you started to wonder.

there wasn’t something you could point and say “that’s what i like about geto”. you yourself asked that question over and over again throughout the years that you four spent together. his purple eyes, his long dark hair, the way he dresses and speaks. everything was gorgeous and amazing for you, but you didn’t even know why and you couldn’t explain it.

just like an angel coming to the earth to save you, gojo’s obnoxiously loud voice made you and shoko turn to look at the entrance of the bar. the white haired male was waving, with a wide smile on his pink lips, and his left arm was around the subject of the previous talk.

geto looked… breathtaking. as always, he was wearing an oversized black button up, with the first three buttons off. his pants were also oversized and black, they seemed like another version of the uniform he had to wear while teaching. it was a simple outfit, but he looked gorgeous – gorgeous as always, you would say.

when they approached your table, in the corner with a big couch-like seat – gojo would complain if it wasn’t that exact table –, your heart jumped softly. the way suguru smiled at you made you instantly smile too; you got up to say hi and his arms wrapped around your waist, pulling you into a hug.

“thanks for coming.” he murmured, too close to your ear.

“of course,” you replied, squeezing his muscular body and then breaking the hug. you smiled up at him, your hands resting on his biceps. “i wouldn’t miss it, birthday boy.”

his shoulders visibly relaxed and your eyes met. all thoughts escaped your mind; his purple irises looked darker under the dim light of the establishment and they mesmerized you. they seemed to be pulling you in and geto didn’t break eye contact at all – if you weren’t so focused on his eyes, you would have noticed how his face seemed a lot closer to yours. the one that pulled you two apart was none other than: gojo satoru.

“hey hey, let’s get to drink, yeah? do they have any sweet stuff? suguru, ya want a plain beer again?”

“yeah, whatever.”

after you two sat down again – he sat down next to you –, he seemed to just forget about your little moment. was it even considered a moment, you thought, it wouldn’t be the first time that you read too much into a situation with him. but… what if it was a moment?

the cup you were previously drinking from got shoved back into your hands, bringing you back from your daydreams. you looked at the person that did that and your eyes immediately locked with ieiri’s; thanks to your long friendship with her, you immediately knew what the woman wanted to say to you: get it together. and you tried to.

inhaling deeply, you let a smile appear on your face again and joined the conversation shoko and suguru were having; you didn’t even process the topic they were talking about before gojo came back with his and geto’s drinks, shifting the entire mood of the table. fortunately, gojo’s extrovertedness was an amazing help for you at that moment. even if he was sitting next to you, geto was much more focused on making his friend behave, so it gave you time to calm down properly.

the rest of the night went well, as well as it could at least. gojo ended up wasted after three drinks, as always. geto and shoko hold their liquor well – you could see a faint blush on suguru’s handsome face and it made you giggle –, but you three decided to call it a day when satoru started whining about the students hating him.

“i’ll bring this guy home,” ieiri said, helping the white haired man enter a cab. while she was pushing his head to stay inside, she waved at you two. “go enjoy the night. happy birthday, geto.”

“thanks shoko, be safe.”

you two watched the cab drive away, gojo waving at you two through the backseat’s window. the ravenette next to you chuckled and waved back; the bags of gifts on his arm making soft noises as he shook them. you pulled your phone to get a uber, but geto immediately took it out of your hands and put it in the front pocket of his pants. as he started to walk away, he said before you could yell at him to give your phone back:

“‘m driving you home.” you froze and stared at him, your mouth slightly open. when he noticed you weren’t following him, he turned around and gave you a wide smile – it seemed like he saved those only for you –, gesturing with his head to his car. “c’mon.”

your legs started moving before you could fully understand the situation. he opened the door of his car for you and you got in, murmuring a gentle ‘thank you’. while he left his gift bags in the backseat – you noticed his leather jacket sitting there too – and you put on the seatbelt, you took the opportunity to breathe in deeply; his car smelled like him, obviously. there was a faint scent of gojo’s sweet perfume, but geto’s was so much stronger and dominant, it made you a little lightheaded. after getting in the driver’s seat, suguru noticed your expression and his eyebrows furrowed in a subtle manner – if you weren’t good at reading him, you wouldn’t have noticed it.

“i thought you could handle drinking.” he started the car and you finally noticed the black and silver rings that decorated his fingers.

“i can. i just can’t handle gojo.” the snicker that left his lips was enough to make your nervous thoughts leave. you looked outside the window as he started driving away, resting your chin on your palm. “did you enjoy your birthday?”

“you know i don’ really care about that,” while he drove with one hand on the steering wheel, he reached inside his pocket and gave you your phone back. “it��s just a normal day.”

“it’s not just a normal day!” you lightly slapped his arm. “it’s a special day, because we get to pamper you.”

“you don’t have to, i’m a grown man.”

“there’s nothing wrong with doing something nice for someone you love.”

geto chuckled. it was deep and a little husky, different from his normal laughter. you looked at him, embarrassment starting to settle on your chest, and he gave you a side look, his thin eyes looking sharper than ever.

"you love me?"

against the part of you that screamed to finally confess to him, you stayed quiet. you didn’t know if he would take that as a confirmation or a denial, you simply hoped that he would leave it alone. and he did. when you looked out of the window again, you noticed you weren’t near your house; if you were being honest, you didn’t even know what part of the town you were in. before you could ask about it, geto turned to the right and parked his car near a ravine. he turned off the engine and smiled at you.

“i got a surprise for you.”

you both climbed out of the car and you stared at the view. the black sky was starting to slowly light up, warning you that the sunrise was really close to happen. geto rested his hips against the hood of the car and you followed him, sitting close – maybe a little too close – to the man. you rested your head against his shoulder and he wrapped his arm around your waist. he inhaled deeply, making your head go up following the movement of his body, and murmured:

“be honest with me, do you love me?"

you held back the urge to look at his face. you bit your lips, your thoughts racing a mile per hour while you debated whether or not you would tell the truth. his big hand pressed against the side of your lip and that was enough to ground you. nodding, you replied:

“yeah. for a while now.”

a small chuckle coming from him surprised you. you raised your face and your eyes immediately locked on his, the purple of his irisis looking bright and cheerful. he smiled. that was the widest smile you have seen him give anyone in years. his lips made contact with your forehead and you closed your eyes, enjoying the warmth; and… did that mean what you thought it meant?

“that’s the best birthday gift i’ve ever received." he pulled you closer, making you almost sit on his lap. “be mine.”

you rested your head against his chest, hearing the fast heartbeat that reverberated through his chest. “of course.”

the sun casted soft yellow lights on your bodies. usually, you would’ve thanked the warmth that would surely come with the sunlight, but you were already warm, inside and out. a thought that suddenly popped in your mind made you chuckle and geto looked at you again, humming softly – you knew he was asking you to say what is on your mind.

“how will we tell gojo about this?”

“not through a call. he would blow up our ears with his screams.”

you nodded in agreement and dropped the subject, you could think about that later. all that mattered to you was the beautiful sunrise in front of your eyes and the beautiful man next to you.

2023 © content belongs to lehguru, but the characters used on them belong to their respective creators!!

#geto suguru #geto x reader #geto x you #geto x reader fluff #geto x you fluff #jjk x reader #jujutsu kaisen x reader #jjk x reader fluff #jjk x you #jujutsu kaisen x you

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raven-at-the-writing-desk · 11 months

Text

Deuce, Malleus: My Dream, to Defend

I now read everything Malleus says as extremely ominous and foreboding (knowing the context of book 7) 👨 THEY’RE ALL RED FLAGS 🚩, YOUR HONOR *proceeds to perpetuate the red flags by giving Malleus reasonably optimistic but also ominous-in-the-right-context dialogue*

Also??? Why are Ace and Deuce's faces on their birthday cards so similar 😂 They kinda match, even their Groovies (they kind of look like they're racing each other!)… cute

A Boy in Bloom, and his Flowering Future.

“What makes you glad you can use magic?”

Malleus paused, pondering the question. “What an odd inquiry.”

“For Malleus-senpai, yeah. You use magic for almost everything! It must be hard to just pick one thing about it that makes you go, 'I'm thankful for this!'. But for me…” Deuce tilted his head back, looking up to the structure that loomed over them.

It was the main building of the campus, housing numerous classrooms and offices. Regal and imposing, with several turreted towers and balconies, it was less an academic institution and more like a castle. A castle where dreams and wishes came true. Among them, his--if he worked hard enough.

"I'm happy that I got into Night Raven College," he said earnestly. "I never thought I had the magic potential to make it to a place like this, but here I am... standing at the steps."

Malleus's mouth curled. "What a surprise. Many of the students I've encountered here are the self-assured types. If I may ask... Why is it that you did not believe yourself worthy to stand among us here?"

"Long story short, I was kind of a delinquent back then. I'd use my magic to get up to no good. Y'know, laying the smackdown on anyone that talked shit or looked at me the wrong way."

"... 'Lay the smackdown'? 'Talked shit'? I'm afraid I'm not familiar with such colloquialisms."

"Er, it sounds really wrong hearing those words come from you... Basically, it means 'fighting' and, 'when people say bad things about you'. Got it?"

"I understand. Perhaps I will take care to incorporate such terms into my vocabulary. It may even make me appear more approachable to others."

"AHHHH!!!" Deuce startled, frantically waving his hands to silence his interviewer. "M-Maybe that's not such a good idea!! I think Sebek'd tackle me to the ground and kill me on the spot for teaching you bad words..."

"Fufufu, I jest."

"A-Are you really...?"

"Of course. Please, continue sharing your story." Malleus gestured for him to proceed. "Pray tell, why is it that you became entangled in such affairs?"

"Lots of stuff," Deuce said vaguely. "Mostly because I stood out. Didn't really fit in. It was easier to take out my frustrations on others than to work on myself.

"When my magic came to me, it was helpful to have in fights. It would drive some people off, and they'd leave me alone. They were scared of getting crushed again by a cauldron."

"Scared, you say... Hmm." Malleus looked pensive. "I see. So there are cases where non-mages feel threatened by the existence of mages."

"Huh?!" Deuce stared at him, eyes bulging. "That never occurred to you before, senpai?!"

"Magic comes naturally to me. It is capable of blessings and miracles. I cannot imagine why anyone would fear it."

"Well, I think it's because magic can do good things, but it can also do bad things.”

“Good and bad…” Malleus’s brows crinkled as the considered the thought, a finger to his chin.

Deuce’s stomach dropped at the sight. “Did I speak out of turn?! Y-You don’t have to listen to what I said if you don’t want to, senpai! Forget me, wh-what do I know anyway?!”

“… No, not at all. I was just thinking about your words. It reminds me of something my grandmother told me.”

“Eh, your grandma? Y-You don’t mean the queen of Briar Valley? I… reminded you of her?” Deuce squealed, afraid to speak her name.

“Yes, she.” Malleus’s eyes darkened, resembling a storm right before lightning struck. “Grandmother says that we Draconias were gifted with great powers—and with it, great responsibility to our people and their smiles. It is with this power that we are able to protect our country.

“Is it not similar for magic in general? The wielder is the one who determines whether one’s magic is used for ‘good’ or for ‘bad’ means. In which case… it is up to each of us to use what we have for ‘good’.”

“Draconia-senpai…!!” Deuce clutched a fist to his heart. A smile was at his lips, his eyes shining. “You get me!! I… I want to use my magic for things like that! To defend my friends and my family…!!”

“That is the way.” Malleus smirked, relishing in the newfound fire in his junior’s eyes. “The power to protect those you love is within your own hands. All you must do is shape it, guide it… and make that dream come true, regardless of the obstacles that may cross your path.”

“I’ll do my best!! If there’s one thing I know I’m good at, it’s being stubborn!”

“That kind of persistence is unique to you.” Malleus showed his teeth. “Take pride in that, Spade.”

"You bet I will!!"

"... Incidentally, how do you fare in Defense Magic?"

"Urk!!" The birthday boy visibly deflated--an indication of his answer. "N-Not the best... I studied as much as I could, but still barely passed my last exam. But don't worry about me, Draconia-senpai!!"

Deuce pointed at his temple. "I'll train my brain even more so I can get at least a C next time!!"

A C... so he means to say that he earned a D on his previous exam.

A low laugh rumbled out of Malleus. “How truly tenacious of you, Spade. I wish you the best of luck on that journey.”

He lifted a hand, fingers curling around the milky orb floating in the sky. The wind rustled upon his command, ushering in a cool breeze that chased off the bleating heat of summer.

“The birthday road, and your future, awaits.”

“Yes!! I’m on my way!!” Deuce eagerly mounted his broom. His knees were tucked together tightly, stiffly securing the handle.

“Ah, and Spade. One more thing.”

“Yeah? What’s up?”

“When the times comes,” Malleus said with an easy smile, “you are free to defend yourself against my magic.”

Deuce nearly fell off of his broom at the suggestion. “Whaaat?! There’s no way I’d be able to hold up against your magic…! I’ll be just a pile of ashes by the time you’re done with…”

He caught himself and stopped. A deep breath taken, and then he set his jaw. The peacock green of his eyes had dimmed into a shade more serious.

“… No. I… I just told you that I wanted to be the kind of guy who’s capable of defending the people he loves. That means no running away, even if I’m scared, even if I know I might not win! That’s my promise to myself.”

“Fufu, that’s what I like to hear. I will be expecting you sometime then.”

Deuce gulped. “Got it! I’ll face your challenge and my future… head-on!!”

FwooooOOOSH!!

A steady wind kicked up, starting small and growing into a powerful gale. Deuce yelped as his broom bucked forward, inching above the ground on only a few startled sparkles. He looked back in horror, only to find Malleus chuckling into a hand.

Had that been a magical push?

“Heh, so that’s how it’s gonna be?” A wicked glint had surfaced in Deuce, from the eyes to his grin. “I’ll show you just how I ride…!”

Gripping the handle tightly, he leaned forward, bracing himself for a familiar rush. Height wasn’t his goal, but speed.

The world stilled. His senses sharpened, his thoughts growing louder, more insistent.

Imagine a magical wheel. Think of becoming one with the wind. So fast that you’re not yourself anymore.

He blasted off, a tornado of swirling blue petals left where he had once been. Flitting down lazily, drunken on the moonlight, they were the mark of a speed demon reborn.

The past, far behind him.

#twst #twisted wonderland #Malleus Draconia #Deuce Spade #Deuce birthday takeover #something no one asked for #spoilers #disney twisted wonderland #twst imagines #twst scenarios #twisted wonderland imagines #twisted wonderland scenarios

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polysyndetonaddictsupportgroup · 8 months

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oh my god I binge read sea glass garden last night and the third and fourth chapter DESTROYED ME.

I’m omw to reread the entire fic because it was too good and I KNOW that it’s going to be one of the must-reads of this fandom. I’m literally in love with all your characters (your Tsumiki is so freaking interesting she was READY to get at it with Maki✊🏻) especially your description of Megumi’s situation is killing me, my heart is in pieces. No matter how many stories there are depicting the years before his high school time, there will always be too few idc.

I’m pretty sure it’s canonically stated that Megumi went on missions before being enrolled as a student and that he witnessed the death of at least one comrade, all because he had been bought to be a jujutsu sorcerer. Imagine never having the delusion of a future because you signed your life away to ensure your sister would live happily. Your take on the fact that, maybe, at some point of his life, Megumi didn’t wish to be a jujutsu sorcerer anymore destroys me. I never really thought of it, and he probably never imagined a life for himself where he wouldn’t die as a jujutsu sorcerer either. He was downright begging to be left to die in peace because he couldn’t bear it any longer when he shouldn’t have even gone on missions yet at all😭 And even though his current injuries weren’t caused by a mission, I don’t think he’d be so stupid to try to tame the snake unsupervised a few days after Geto’s death. Like c’mon. It’s all the higher ups fault, because it always is. Damn them. I hope they choke on their rotting teeth😤

ANYWAY I GOT LOST ON THE WAY TO ASK YOU A QUESTION JANSJAJANJAHA I ramble way too much

I noticed the updates have been pretty frequent, so do you have an update schedule with pre-written chapters? No because if you don’t I applaude you for being able to write masterpieces in a few days😩

P.S. I was curious about the meaning of the title and I read your other post about it and it’s so beautiful😭 obviously it’s sad but it also speaks of the determination of humans’ will to survive yk? You are genius😫

No update schedule, unfortunately! I don’t have the self control to not post chapters when I have them. I go on hyperfixation-fueled writing binges and writers block crashes of unending despair. It’s a Whole Thing. Updates tend to come in waves with me. It’ll probably be pretty erratic updates until the story ends. Thank you for reading and for your kind words!

You are speaking my ENTIRE LANGUAGE with Megumi. He is, hands down, the most interesting character in the show to me. His backstory and how it intertwines with his philosophy and approach to morality make him just so unendingly interesting to me.

Like, the Fushiguro siblings and specifically Megumi really were doomed by the narrative from the start. Megumi never really lived in a world where he had a future. Like, the past arc takes place during spring of 2006, and his dad had ditched long enough at that point that he straight up forgot megumi's name. Tsumiki's mom had been gone long enough that Megumi thought she and his dad ran off together, so she probably wasn't around after Toji stopped coming. Megumi was born late December of 2002, so he would have been three then. Tsumiki was, at most, five. And because Gojo didn't go to meet them until after Geto's massacre in late summer of 2007, it was just the two of them for at least a year.

Like, the sheer horror of being two very small children taking care of each other, knowing that the money's running out and that your parents probably aren't coming back. They were living in abject poverty, and Megumi was most likely seeing curses during at least part of this (considering he was right at the age for it and he wasn't all that surprised with Gojo rolling up to tell him his dad was from a magic clan) with no idea what they were, because even if Toji explained anything (which i doubt) the chances of Megumi remembering the explanation aren't great. He's seeing horrifying things every day and doesn't have any support past his sister, who can't see the same.

Tsumiki and Megumi faced parentification at a ludicrously young age. We know that Tsumiki most likely took a pretty strong caretaking/maternal role for megumi from an early age, but the fact that baby Megumi's only question when Gojo found him and made his offer was about Tsumiki's happiness suggests that the caretaking wasn't one sided. Making decisions about your future based on the needs of your family is a very adult concern, and it was Megumi's only concern. While Tsumiki was canonically far more open with her affection and care (grumpy baby Megumi refusing to hold hands, you have my whole heart), Megumi definitely loved her deeply already and was modeling his actions with her interests in mind. They must have both been shouldering the load of raising and protecting the other for as long as they can remember. Tsumiki and Megumi were likely barely surviving day to day. They were already shouldering the stresses of grown ups and likely didn't have any of those childish, starry-eyed dreams about what it would be like when they grew up.

Even when Gojo enters the scene, the parentification didn't end. While he does take on a paternal/caretaking role, his intro into their lives very much heralded a time where Megumi became the family's compulsory breadwinner. I won't break down my thoughts on how Gojo probably wasn't the one who came up with the deal of Megumi being collateral for their survival since I already did it in another post, but however it came about, it doesn't change the fact that Megumi knows that he's the one his family's survival hinges on from a stupidly young age.

We know that Megumi was training/working as a jujutsu sorcerer pre-canon. Gojo straight up tells him at age 4 that he's going to need him to work hard, he references the fact that he's been training megumi for a while in season 1, Megumi admits to nobara that he's lost a comrade on a mission before Yuuji (though Yuuji was the first that was his age), and Megumi knows a lot of the people in this world. By the time canon starts, he's been training with Kamo since before Kamo entered school, so for 3-4 years minimum, and Mai knows him as well. Kamo straight up says that Megumi's got more talent than the head of the Zenin clan by his first year, and his Grade 2 status at entrance means he's considered a prodigy. There's also a lot of little scenes that suggest that Megumi's been doing this a while. When Gojo's talking to Yuuji about the detention center fight, he makes a few comments about how Megumi likely understood the reality of the fight and just how bad their odds were better than the other two, suggesting 1) megumi has the experience already to do that and 2) Gojo has witnessed him in the field enough to get a sense of how he evaluates situations. He's been doing this a while.

But the thing is that he's also passively suicidal the entirety of season 1. And that's probably because he spent his entire life believing he was going to die young.

He probably doesn't think of it as being passively suicidal, but he absolutely is. The sacrifice bunt vs Yuuji's homerun in season 1 is SUCH A GOOD MICROCOSM OF HIS CHARACTER.

Yuuji has the blind confidence of a very young god who was never informed that there were other gods that were older and more powerful and will kick his fucking ass. Like, he will be in Sukuna's throne room after the man ripped his heart out and Literally Killed Him and still be like "I will beat your entire ass." No doubt. No hesitation. I simply love him.

Megumi, meanwhile, walks into fights knowing he will find one that he can't win. Yuuji thinks he can beat anyone, but Megumi defaults to the assumption that he can't win in a way that is really suggestive of a very, very deep underlying mental issue.

I don't know if you're anime-only or if you know what the "trump card" gojo refers to during his training scene with Megumi, so I'll confine it to what's already appeared in the anime. Throughout the anime, there's multiple times where it's alluded to the fact that Megumi has some kind of "trump card" where he can take his enemy down with him. Gojo specifically refers to it as "dying to win." Sukuna even recognized to some degree that he was pulling it during their fight and called it "burning through your own life." Whatever it is, it's a sacrifice play. It's taking someone down with him.

And we see throughout the anime multiple times where he almost pulls it. Sukuna is the biggest example, but he likely almost pulled it twice in the fight against Hanami during the Goodwill Event arc. When Hanami first confronts them, Megumi immediately says "Get Inumaki out of here" to Kamo.

And that's fucking weird. Inumaki's a semi-grade one sorcerer, higher than him. He's his very experienced senpai. He's no slouch in a fight. Kamo is older than all of them, has been training his entire life, and is a first grade sorcerer. Out of all of them, Megumi was the baby kohai who should have been leaning on the older students. Instead, he's trying to get them out of the line of fire. He probably saw an immeasurably powerful special grade and decided to pull the same trump card he almost pulled in the fight against Sukuna as soon as Inumaki and Kamo were safe.

Later, when Hanami has Maki by the throat, after he was already hit by her root attack that would kill him if he used cursed energy, he makes the same hand signals he did during the Sukuna fight while thinking about how he's the one who has to make the sacrifice play. He was absolutely killing himself to win.

And that mentality makes so much sense when you consider that Megumi already made the sacrifice play with him and his sister all those years ago.

He's spent his entire life locked into being a sorcerer. It's the collateral keeping himself and his sister alive. He doesn't have a way out. His future employment is collateral for an already-accrued debt; he just doesn't have the option to quit and do something else the way everyone else does. And the thing about being a sorcerer is that the mortality rate is not awe-inspiring, to the point where the Kyoto students canonically tried not to get close to each other because they knew that a decent number of them would be dying young and it would hurt less.

Megumi's not stupid, and he's been doing this for a long time. He's probably been reconciling with his own likely violent death for a long time by the time canon starts, and it really fucking shows with how he approaches fights until the bridge fight. There's something so tragic and sad about that to me. Like, what age was he when he realized this life would probably kill him? When he realized that he would never have a way out?

When you bring in his own morality structure and philosophical approach to life, that entire mindset becomes so fucking interesting. Because Megumi's plainly fucking furious that people did this to him.

Megumi's middle school bullying days is both hilarious and endlessly fascinating in the context of his history. His entire thing is that he hates bad people and believes that we’re born into a fundamentally unjust world. Specifically, he hates people that look at the vulnerable and lack empathy for them, to the point where he ended up going out of his way to beat up every single bully in his middle school an unilaterally enforce peace. He had an entire dramatic speech about how he was doing this because they had hurt others—the worlds based on social construct, "please don't kill me and I won't kill you." They had broken that to make themselves feel strong, and if they did it again in front of him, he'd kill them. All that jazz. And it's really interesting that he never once looks down on the people getting bullied. There's a huge emphasis on strength as tied to value in JJK--Sukuna and Gojo being some of the biggest examples--but Megumi only looks down on a lack of empathy and compassion, not people who are physically weak.

Once that's contextualized with the fact that the person who was supposed to protect him abandoned him and sold him to some very bad people, it becomes a lot more tragic. He's doomed by the narrative and he's self aware of the fact that he's doomed. He spends his entire middle school years kicking the shit out of people who take advantage of people because they can, and I personally think that's because that's exactly what happened to him when he was a kid. There's always a bigger fish, and some pretty fucking big fish have him in a corner. But he's the biggest fish in the pond of his middle school, and he does not put up with people who hurt others just because they can.

He spends his last years before becoming a full time sorcerer acting as the sort of person that never was there for him as a child, and there's something so tragic about that to me. Megumi just reads as someone who's already accepted he's doomed and is so angry he wasn't saved.

Even his name has tinges of tragedy to me. Like, it's the difference between "blessing" and "blessed."

On his face, Megumi seems like he's blessed. He won the genetic lottery. He was born with one of the most powerful techniques in the franchise, the one that the Zenin clan desperately wants. It's rare enough that no one else alive has inherited it. It's suggested that it's the Zenin equivalent to the Six Eyes, and Gojo's the one who's always saying how he alone is blessed by heaven. Even Kamo, who isn't even Zenin, commented during their fight on how much people wanted someone like Maki or Mai to get it instead. I won't comment on manga events, but as it proceeds, it becomes even more obvious just how valuable his technique is considered to be.

But Megumi doesn't seem to particularly care about his technique.

He said at one point that, in middle school, he didn't really want to be a jujutsu sorcerer because he couldn't imagine who he'd want to save (the fact that his first act in the series is to save Yuuji is another discussion entirely that I am so mentally ill about). Megumi spends the series surrounded by people who are extremely impressed by and focused on his technique, but for Megumi? His technique and its value seems to be the thing that trapped him. No one was ever going to let him live in peace, and he was young enough that he had no real way to protect his own interests.

He never got to be a kid who got to dream about what he'd be when he grew up. Other kids got to say they'd be an astronaut, or an actor, or a veterinarian or whatever, and he has known that he would be lucky to not die in wizard school his entire childhood. He is a blessing for other people, for the Zenin who want his technique, for the higher ups who effectively own him until he repays his debt, but he's not blessed. He's just valuable sea glass with collectors circling. He hates his name, and I think he hates what he is as well. He's an extraordinarily strong willed person who hates people who take advantage, but he's spent his entire life with a boot on his neck. that must piss him off.

I think his relationship with jujutsu sorcerer would have potentially been a lot better if it had been a choice for him, but he's someone who intensely values control over himself who has been controlled by the circumstances of his birth his entire life. There are all these tiny ways in the show that he tries to exert control over his own circumstances because he just doesn't have a lot of control over his life and it's just amazing character design.

He's just so tragic to me. I am so mentally unwell over him.

Tsumiki and the fact that she was fully about to fight Maki for a hot minute was a lot harder to settle on, mostly because we just don't get a lot about her. But I actually kind of like those kinds of characters? I get to play more in those sandboxes and have more freedom with the character because I'm just using what's little known about them as a bouncing off point and making shit up for the rest.

And with Tsumiki we just do not have a huge amount because she's in a magic coma when canon starts. What little we have is coming through Megumi, who is a naturally unreliable narrator when it comes to her. Like, in his mind, her primarily defines her as "a good person," and that makes a lot of sense when you consider that this is his big sister who was, effectively, the only source of stability and care he had growing up and is almost completely lost to him by the start of canon. he's the last person i would expect to be an reliable narrator about her.

Fanon (at least what I've seen) seems to have translated what we've seen to her into "kind natured good girl" which I don't entirely agree with? I just don't think those kind of people exist. Like, the one's who are all sunshine and rainbows and kind thoughts all the time. Everyone has negative emotions; it's just a matter of how they deal with them.

Also what little concrete we have on her doesn't necessarily suggest she fits that kind of eternally-caring good girl motif anyway.

There's the big example, where she says she would much rather think about the ones she loves rather than curse anyone. This very notably isn't an idealistic "everyone has good in them" rationalization, but it's more "I have better things to do with my time." Forgiving bad people is a trait that Megumi attributes to her, but he's an unreliable narrator about her, so it may be accurate or it may not be. There's a difference between forgiving someone and taking a policy of non-interference.

It's also suggested that she doesn't actually look down on the absence of forgiveness--she actually comments pretty favorably on it. She says that Megumi's refusal to forgive people is a part of his kindness. This suggests that, even though she goes after him for fighting, it's not some kind of perfectly kind "forgiveness is the right thing to do" rationalization. She recognizes the nuance in Megumi's actions and his anger. The thing she really gets on him for is the fighting itself, not the anger, and fighting 1) has wider impacts on Megumi (physically, mentally, emotionally, on his record, etc) and 2) it's suggested that she gets on him because of these wider impacts. We never actually see her discuss it at all in terms of the people he beats up, and Megumi thinks, in retrospect, that she was picking him to care about the same way that he picks who he saves. Again, he's unreliable, so this may be true and it may not be, but I find her character so interesting if it is true, especially in light of her quote about not cursing people because she'd rather think of her loved ones.

That takes Tsumiki from the kind of "prototypical good girl" character type into the realm of someone who has picked to only care about certain people and approach the rest of the world with polite indifference. She doesn't share Megumi's anger at the world, but she doesn't exactly approach it with starry-eyed idealism either.

A much better example of starry-eyed idealism within JJK is actually Yuuji (pre-Junpei) or Geto (pre-genocidal breakdown) than Tsumiki--and the narrative immediately deconstructs both cases of starry-eyed idealism, suggesting that it doesn't genuinely tie being a "good person" to those approaches to morality.

Both Yuuji and Geto kind of spout like, baby's first philosophy class styles of idealism. And I don't mean that in a derogatory way towards either of them--they're both highly empathetic teenagers who care a lot about the world and people in it who are trapped in a system that is fundamentally hostile. Yuuji has a stance of "even considering killing would affect my soul" and Geto has a stance of "I exist for the sake of protecting those weaker than me," both of which aren't wholly without merit, but both are overly simplistic and lack nuance. Which makes sense, because they're both a teenager's approach to morality. In a safer environment, they could have grown in nuance and had their world views challenged safely. but the system they're both existing in isn't safe and never has been--so Yuuji ends up having to confront his stance on killing when he has to put literal children trapped in inexplicable torment out of their misery, and Geto goes off his rocker entirely.

In contrast, Tsumiki really isn't as idealistic as either of them, from what little we see of her. She never once gets close to their levels of "I want to save everyone" syndrome--it's straight up that she's picked her people to care about and has better things to do with her time than waste it on hate and anger. Contextualizing it within her background, that reads more like a survival strategy than being a sparkly kind perfect good girl.

She was a very young girl who had to shoulder a huge amount of responsibility at a young age. She was stuck in terrible circumstances, living well below the poverty line, with her only support being a brother that was even younger than her. We don't know anything about her mom or bio dad, or how much she knows about/remembers Toji, but it's interesting that Toji's approach to life is the antithesis of Tsumiki's.

Toji was so caught up in his own bitterness towards how he was treated that a big part of why he took Riko's assassination was so he could prove he was stronger than *checks notes* a sixteen year old miracle baby and his repressed boyfriend. In the end, the fact that he was caught up in his bitterness was his downfall, and he said it himself: he normally would have fucked off the second Gojo showed up after the assassination was done. He directly ignored his instincts to prove a monkey like him could take on the pinnacle of jujutsu sorcery, and that's what killed him.

There's not enough in canon to tell us either way if tsumiki had any impressions of the adults in her life, but I honestly really like the idea of her looking at the a life where the adults are neglecting her because they've been consumed by their own anger and hate and purposefully deciding to not let it consume her as well. To discard that kind of stuff, not because she thinks there's good in everyone or that it's horribly wrong to have negative emotions, but because she has the people she loves and she's building a life with them by sheer force of will. She's fleeing the teeth of a beast, not approaching the world through rose-colored glass.

For another thing, we have legitimately two actions that she's canonically taken in the series. One was nail Megumi in the back of the head with a milk carton during a fight, the other was fling her fucking body off a bridge with a homemade bungee chord. Girl's probably not a nun.

I ended up deciding that the core of Tsumiki's character needed to be that had a, for lack of a better word, selfish way of loving people. Not to say that she acts selfishly (if anything, canon shows she's intensely selfless when it comes to the people she loves), but just that she's decided to conserve her efforts and care to center around the people she loves and not care about the whole world and everything in it. In her mind, Megumi's kindness is in part because he's angry on the behalf of other people, which is a trait she doesn't share. She cares about her brother and just straight up doesn't have the time or resources for everyone else. Megumi is her landmine.

There's not enough in canon to contradict this reading of her, which makes her fun to write. So she's a relatively nice and polite girl until her brother's in danger, in which case she's immediately stealing cars and about to throw hands with a girl holding a polearm. She's so fun.

#jujutsu kaisen #jjk #jjk spoilers #fushiguro tsumiki #fushiguro megumi #sea glass gardens #those that have been following me for a while know that the ask box comes at the risk of 73 different tangents in the answer #that's right folks it's yet another info dump

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hoomandoescosplay · 4 months

Text

Too Much Love and Fire Whiskey | Albus Potter x Scorpius Malfoy

As I'm sitting at the Slytherin table in the great hall with Scorpius I notice Rose is making her way over here. I turn to Scorpius to see if he's noticed her as well and he gives me a look to show he's not sure why she's coming over either.

Rose takes a seat across from us at the table and tries to make small talk. "Hey Albus," she pauses then glances at Scorpius giving him a small nod, "Scorpius. You two must be excited for this year finally wrapping up." She exclaims.

I nod, giving her a questioning look. "Do you need something Rose? You don't usually just come by here to talk." I say trying not to come across as rude.

I can tell she's caught off guard from my directness and she replies slowly. "Well..." She starts, thinking over her words as it looks like she's considering the best way to approach this situation. "Since you're both in Slytherin I figured you both heard about the party happening tonight." She pauses and looks between Scorpius and I. "And I was wondering if you two were going to go to it." She gives us a big smile and I can tell that she's indirectly implying she wants us to go.

Scorpius pipes up. "Oh yeah, that party that's tonight? We're probably just going to chill in our dorm instead." He turns to me making sure we're on the same page. "Yeah," I start to say. "Parties aren't really our thing, you know that Rose." She pouts at our answer.

"Really? Not even for one last party before school gets out? It's the end of fifth year guys, we need to celebrate that." She adds trying to convince us to change our minds.

Scorpius takes some candy out of his robe to eat as I continue the conversation. "How about we'll see. I'm not making any promises but I know you'll stay here until you get something other than no."

I can tell Rose is still determined to get a yes out of us but she backs off for now. "Fine, fine." She says with a small pout still. "Well, if you end up changing your mind I think both of you will have some fun. It would be a great way to let loose especially after how much happened this year." She stands up after that saying bye to both of us and heading back to some of her friends at the Gryffindor table.

"Well she sure was determined to get us to go." Scorpius says continuing to eat some candy. I nod my head in agreement. "Yeah, I think she wanted to see us get a little more wild tonight than maybe we're up for. I think she was hoping to see a side of us that she hasn't seen before." I grin slyly and Scorpius chuckles.

I'll admit we definitely do have a wild and rebellious side but we don't show it off often. Especially with our reputation at Hogwarts we'd rather keep a low profile most of the time.

I reach out my hand for a piece of candy and he gives me a few in return. "Thanks Scorp." Smiling he replies, "You're most welcome. I think sharing is the best part of having candy." He smiles then pops another candy into his mouth. It's also a convenient excuse to touch Scorpius a bit I think to myself without realizing.

Soon after, many students exit the great hall for many reasons. Some go to finish up last minute assignments, some hang out with friends before heading home for break tomorrow, while others find a nice place to relax.

Scorpius and I are some of the ones who choose to find a nice place to relax a bit before going back to our dorm. We ended up just choosing to relax in a quiet corner of the common room that's out of the way and has a couple of chairs.

I plop myself down into one of the chairs and look at Scorpius, waiting for him to join him in the other chair. Scorpius sits down a second after and starts to fiddle with his wand.

I quickly notice how I can't keep his eyes off of Scorpius, watching him fidget with his wand. I absolutely love observing Scorpius when he does these small things; it's sweet and playful.

I can't help but smile at him especially since it's clear he isn't aware of my observation as he continues to fiddle with his wand. I eventually speak up. "Do you think we should try going to the party? Rose has got the idea stuck in my head now." I sigh.

Scorpius takes his attention off his wand to look up at Albus. "Hmm..." He pauses for a moment debating it. "I mean we could go," he says, not entirely convinced. "It might be fun to get out and see what everyone else is up to."

I take a moment to think. "Yeah you're right. It could be fun I guess." I get more comfortable in my chair before continuing. "Worst case we could always just go to our dorm if we get bored." Scorpius nodded at the idea which made me smile.

"Yeah, that sounds great. We could try the party, and if we don't like it, we'll just go back to the dorm. We don't have to stick around if it sucks." Scorpius grins, thinking about how much fun they could have at this party which makes me smile wider.

"It's settled then. We'll be partying it up tonight." I say laughing at the thought as Scorpius joins in. "Yep, sounds like an excellent way to wrap up the year. Who knows, maybe we'll have the time of our lives tonight." He gives me a cheeky smile. His smile makes my whole body light up and I smile with him.

I stand up dusting off my robes turning back to face Scorpius. "Wanna head to our dorm to chill before they start setting up for the party down here?" I ask as he nods his head. "Sounds good to me." As he stands to start walking towards the stairs I follow him getting excited to go to a party with him later.

─── ☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ ───

The music from the party is pumping even all the way back down in the Slytherin common room. It's obvious that this is going to be a very high-energy party.

I crack a smile as I hear the music, and Scorpius follows my lead. We walk down the stairs eager to go and see what this party has in store for us.

I quickly scan the room and notice that I recognize a lot of the people at the party; most of which are fellow Slytherins and some from other houses. It's interesting seeing everyone in a different light outside of the classroom.

"There seems to be a lot of older students as well as some fellow 5th year classmates." Scorpius says close to my ear making sure I could hear him. I feel my face heat up from our close proximity as I nod. "It's probably how they were able to get so much fire whisky for the party." I point out glancing at the drink table.

My comment makes Scorpius chuckle. "Yeah, I forgot that they wouldn't have as much trouble getting a hold of fire whisky, and it looks like they got an insane amount of it." Scorpius says, looking at the table with all the bottles.

We both notice that there's no shortage of students already taking full advantage of this free alcohol and getting pretty tipsy pretty quickly.

Scorpius's heart flutters as he feels Albus's hand on his. Something about their physical closeness is so exciting and thrilling!

"Hmm..." Scorpious starts to say, looking back over at the alcohol with a grin on his face. "It would be rude not to have a couple of drinks, wouldn't it?" He smirks back at me, making my heart flutter.

"Why yes it would be very rude not to have at least a few." I reply playfully. "Well, I guess let's start getting tipsy, shall we?" Scorpius says with a wry smile, holding my hand a bit tighter and leading me over to the table of free alcohol.

After we both grab a cup we walk towards one of the sofas to sit down and watch the party in full-swing around them. Scorpius takes a swig of fire whisky and I follow suit so we're both on the same level.

We both observe the people around us, many of whom are already noticeably tipsy from the fire whisky. "You know this isn't so bad. Watching everyone is actually pretty amusing." I say getting more comfortable on the sofa.

"Yeah it is," Scorpius agrees, taking a few more gulps from his cup. "People-watching is a fun activity, especially when people are getting a little tipsy. It's incredible what people will do when they're feeling the effects of the fire whisky and their inhibitions are lowered." I hum in response, taking another swig from my cup.

We continue to talk about random topics that come into our minds as we continue to drink more of the fire whiskey. I'm starting to feel a bit tipsy myself but I try not to show it too much.

I never thought I was much of a light weight until now. Scorpius has had about two more drinks than me and he's not even half as tipsy. "I never imagined I'd get tipsy so easily," I mumble from his place next to Scorpius on the sofa.

"Hmm? Sorry, what was that?" Scorpius asks me, noticing that I said something but not sure what. I blink a bit, realizing that Scorpius didn't hear what I said. I speak up a bit louder this time, slurring slightly. "I said I never imagined I'd get tipsy so quickly. This fire whisky is strong, you know?"

Scorpius gives me a warm smile. "Yeah it's definitely a bit stronger than usual." I lean my head on his shoulder letting out a sigh. "Mhm, very strong." I mutter.

Feeling comfortable I lean over a bit, moving my body to be even closer to Scorpius. Looking down at me I can tell he's noticed how tipsy I've actually gotten. In response, I feel Scorpius wraps an arm around me pulling me even closer to give me more support.

A few minutes pass with both of us just leaning on each other until Rose and James Sirius walk towards us.

I can tell Rose and James are also a bit tipsy from the fire whisky as they greet us with big smiles on their faces as they seem eager to talk. "Hey guys!" Rose calls out happily. She sounds a bit slurred but still mostly coherent. "I have to admit I'm shocked you both actually came to this."

I lift my head off of Scorpius and shrug. "We got bored and figured it wouldn't hurt to come for a little bit." I replied.

"At least you two had a choice." James says. "She dragged me to this against my will." Rose just rolls her eyes at his comment. She then smirks with amusement and nods at Scorpius and I.

"Boredom is certainly a good reason to come to a party. So how's the party so far?" She asks, her eyes taking in the scene and she takes a sip of her fire whisky.

Scorpius answers her question this time. "Not bad actually. We've actually been having a blast just watching everyone. Very entertaining stuff." He says making me laugh.

Rose seems to appreciate Scorpius's answer, as she chuckles as well. "Yeah, there's been a good amount of entertainment at this party so far," Rose says, looking around at all the people. "Plus there's plenty of drinks all around." She sips her fire whisky and smiles. It's clear that she's quite enjoying herself.

James agrees with the fire whiskey comment and takes another sip of his own cup. "This party is really kicking it up a notch," James says with a grin, holding up his cup of alcohol.

Rose smirks. "Yeah that's for sure, you can thank the older years for bringing all of this fire whisky. They really know how to throw a party." She turns her head at the sight of something and her eyes light up. "Oh one of my other friends just got here, let's go say hi." She quickly drags James off leaving Scorpius and I alone again.

The conversation seemed to sober me up a bit which is good. Tapping on the rim of my cup I look towards Scorpius. "So," I begin, sipping some more of my fire whisky, "Are we really just sitting here, watching everyone, because we don't know what else to do?"

Scorpius thinks for a second. "It seems like we are." He laughs. "Yeah... it does seem that way," I laugh as well and take another gulp of my fire whisky. I then pause for a moment, taking a second to think. "You know, in all honesty, I'm not complaining." I smile at Scorpius.

I look at Scorpius for a few more seconds before blurting out. "You have really pretty eyes by the way." I immediately get flustered by my own words as Scorpius lets out a small laugh and gets up.

"Wait, where are you going?" I mumble, not wanting Scorpius to leave me for too long. "To get you some water. You need some." Scorpius replies with a smile still on his face.

I can feel my cheeks burning even brighter from that smile on Scorpius's face. "W-well, I mean, yeah... but... you don't need to, I'm fine." I mumble, hoping that he'll just sit back down with me instead of leaving.

"If you give me your cup I'll sit back down." Scorpius bargains. My heart skips a beat as I hear this from Scorpius. I'm so focused on wanting Scorpius to stay that I almost immediately hand my cup to him. Realizing, I make sure to take a second before passing it off though in the back of my mind I'm waiting eagerly for Scorpius to hurry and sit back down.

Instead Scorpius takes the cup then reaches his free hand out. "Let's walk around a bit to get you to sober up." I blink a little as I feel my heart pounding in my chest, as all of this close proximity and the lingering effects of the fire whisky have me feeling so many intense emotions. I take Scorpius's hand without saying a word, letting him lead me.

─── ☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ ───

As Scorpius leads me around the room all I can focus on is him and only him. I can tell the walking isn't helping as much as he thought it would because every so often another new compliment for Scorpius will come tumbling out of my mouth.

Each time I see the corner of his lips curl upwards into a smile. Eventually Scorpius stops walking as we near a mostly unoccupied corner of the room. He pulls me a bit closer to him and whispers in my ear. "You know, I could spend all of the rest of the night just looking at you." Scorpius whispers, letting his voice grow more flirty playing along with my tipsy state.

I'm left completely speechless as Scorpius's words and actions slowly start to race through my mind. Between the fire whisky lingering through my body and all these intense emotions before I know it I blurt out something I never thought I'd ever say out loud.

"I am hopelessly and utterly in love with you Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy and I don't know what I'd do without you." I say as I wrap my arms around him in a tight embrace. As I rest my head in the crook of his neck I register what actually just came out of my mouth and I instantly tense up.

Lifting my head from his neck I immediately let go of him and started rambling trying to explain what I meant without confessing anymore than I already have. Before I know it Scorpius's lips are on mine making me go silent. After a moment I close my eyes and kiss him back. My whole body feels as though it's on fire and every place Scorpius is touching makes my skin tingle.

Too soon he ends the kiss and all I can do is stare back at him. "And I thought I was the one that talked a lot." He says laughing while holding onto me still. I feel myself smile and my face turning even redder.

I internally curse the fire whisky I've had as I can barely wrap my head around what just happened. "Did you mean to do that? I mean- I'm not complaining if you did I just-" Scorpius interrupts me with a laugh as he says "Yes I meant to kiss you Albus. Did you honestly think I didn't also have feelings for you?" I blink at him a few times trying to force myself to sober up a bit more.

After a few seconds I grin and wrap my arms tightly around him in an embrace. "I really hope this fire whisky isn't making me imagine this." Scorpius wraps his arms around me tighter as well confirming this is in fact real.

The embrace could last forever and it wouldn't be long enough, as I continue to hold Scorpius close and tight. I'm reeling from the overwhelming feelings of love and adoration, finally getting to embrace the person I've crushing on and finding no resistance from Scorpius but instead only love.

I finally let go of Scorpius while laughing. "I guess this party was worth going to after all." I say making Scorpius laugh with me. I can only laugh from the sheer joy that this evening has brought me. This is everything I could have ever hoped for right now - this night, this party, and above all else, this boy.

"Oh, it was MORE than worth it." Scorpius beams leaning against the wall were standing near. I follow his lead leaning against it as well while reaching my arm out to intertwine our hands together.

We stand there for a few seconds in silent bliss until I hear Scorpius whisper something. "I am hopelessly and utterly in love with you too, Albus Severus Potter."

─── ☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ ───

Bonus:

Rose and James were standing near the drink table talking about random topics jumping from each thought with a nice flow. From the corner of her eye Rose's head snaps in the direction of the opposite side of the room.

Her eyes widen as she slaps James's arm repeatedly. "Geez Rose what is it? Calm down will you?" He rolls his eyes at her sudden outburst and sees her silently pointing across the room.

He ruffles up his hair as he turns to look at where she's pointing. "Holy-" James stop's mid sentence utterly shocked. "Is that-" he starts as Rose continues for him. "Scorpius and Albus? YES!" She shouts the last part loudly making some Slytherins glare at them.

"Ahh they're kissing. Merlin, they're actually kissing!" She grins while jumping up and down excitedly. James laughs at her and at the fact those two finally confessed to each other. "Well, I did not expect that to happen tonight."

As Rose continues to celebrate what she just witnessed James leans against the table smiling genuinely happy for his brother.

─── ☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ ───

#scorbus #albus severus potter #scorpius #scorpius malfoy #albus x scorpius #albus severus x scorpius #james sirius potter #rose granger weasley #slytherin #fluff #hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry #confession #drunken confessions #scorbus fanfiction #scorbus fic

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urban-witch101 · 1 year

Note

Hey! So um if you remember I made a request on your Danganronpa Thh ghost au if you could do sdra2 ghost au headcanons. If your still busy that's ok but if you forgot this is kinda like a reminder (Sorry of this sounds rude 😭)

Oh my goodness. I'm so sorry! I completely forgot. Also I got multiple requests for this and that is a foreign concept to me, I'm patting myself on the back for a job well done for the first one I guess.

I want to clarify - this one will be a little different than the other one. This will also be the last one of these I do until I play the third game. This isn't an x-reader. This is also going to be tricky considering the canon lore, so I'm kind of twisting it around instead of just throwing it all out completely. Have fun y'all.

- Danganronpa 2 Ghost AU - "They're Trapped."

Hi! Spoilers ahead. Also, just a big fat trigger warning in general.

When Makoto Naegi set out, against direct orders, to create the Neo World Program, he had good intentions. Rehabilitate the kids, even the questionable ones, to their original state. What he didn't expect were the files to get a little...weird. It didn't seem dangerous. At least, it wasn't until it was already too late.

The worst part is that Makoto would be rewarded with this transgression, this mistake. He outright refused to give the Hope Foundation the program, but when they took it by force, they realized why he hid it.

They were there. They weren't alive anymore, but that doesn't mean a whole lot in a fictional world made of binary coding. This is what they found.

Hajime Hinata is the only one that will greet you upon entering the Neo World Program.

When you first open your eyes on the beach, you'll see clear blue skies for miles, an ocean that looks and sounds just like the real deal, and a bundle of broken code flashing by the trees.

He's had the most sightings of all the students. If you're lucky, he'll even ask for your name.

If he's not there when you first wake up, then check the hotel. He can be seen walking around the cabins, hesitating on certain ones and letting his finger glaze over the mailboxes with their names on them.

His little friend is different. Much different.

9/10.

Izuru Kamukura is the same body with an incomplete personality.

He can be seen by the Ancient Ruins, pacing up and down the halls.

Sometimes he'll ignore you. Sometimes he's snippy and aggressive. He doesn't hurt anyone though, not anymore.

Many of us think that spirits don't want to ask us questions when in reality they just don't have that kind of energy to give anymore.

The Neo World Program flipped that logic on its head.

There was only one person that Kamukura actually talked to, and he asked him all kinds of questions. Who he was. What he was doing there.

Their meeting was solemn, but honest. He was quiet after that.

7/10, a mixed bag.

Gundham Tanaka pops from place to place, but the two main spots you'll find him are the Ranch and Strawberry House.

He's always alone, and he likes keeping it that way.

No animals have reported being around him - no animal noises in the glitches, or any mention of them in his code. Not even his hamsters.

At the Ranch, there are reports of the cows "brushing themselves". Bits of code surround the brush, as if he's specifically keeping the rest of himself hidden. These sightings are common though.

If all else fails, he wants you to know that the animals are taken care of.

There is one report. An anonymous employee went into Strawberry House and found his code in the Tower. They used a device mimicking a spirit box and could hear the constant click of his shoes.

Pacing in circles, and an occasional whistle of an unfamiliar tune. 10/10, harmless and is actually pretty helpful all things considered.

Peko Pekoyama has never been seen once, but it's known that she stays in the Beach House.

When they approached the building, they thought someone was already inside due to the footprints in the sand going in the door. The Beach House was completely empty.

She'll play the flashlight game. She's unresponsive to the spirit box.

The employee decided to wait until the night cycle kicked in, turned out the lights, and sat in the main room quietly.

They didn't hear much, but they did enjoy the quiet. Listening to the wind chimes and the ocean helped them meditate and stay calm in a time that a regular ghost hunter would be depressed about the lack of evidence collected.

After they were done they gave an audible warning before packing up to go, figuring that they weren't getting anything.

It turns out that the Beach House is the only place in the island that gives you a sense of peace. It wasn't programmed to give this atmosphere.

10/10, super chill.

Ibuki Mioda...has not changed at all. She bounces from place to place, but her sightings are mostly in the music venue.

You name it, it has happened in this building.

Equipment turning on by itself, speakers blasting scrambled rock music, something falling from the rafters in the ceiling, etc, etc, etc.

She does everything. She loves the flashlight game. The spirit box became redundant when they figured out that whenever it was in the music venue it would blast rock music. She's spoken through Ouijia Boards with specific messages. She even talks about executions and murders that she's witnessed.

Do you think a ghost could effectively haunt a music venue better? No, you don't. It's Ibuki Mioda.

8/10, somehow the loudest ghost ever.

Teruteru Hanamura is in the kitchen in the old building. There's no record of him ever moving from the old building at all, much less leaving the kitchen.

He's pretty quiet - unless you're a woman.

He reacts to men, but they've never gotten a response on the spirit box with them. He'll turn lights on and off and knock things over.

If you're a woman, there's not more physical activity but he will definitely talk.

He loves to talk. He answers every question that he can. He talks about his mother and her diner, the terror he felt from being stuck on this island with no rhyme or reason, his regret of killing the Imposter instead of Nagito.

He has absolutely no idea who he really is.

His code proves it. Could you imagine the Hope Foundation's reaction to Naegi's and Alter Ego's code actually working?

When asked if he'd ever leave the kitchen, he refused.

"I can't face them...not after what I did."

9/10, very helpful but prepare for emotional damage.

Sonia Nevermind is in the library on the second island.

They weren't able to get her on any devices. Nothing happens when people are in the room.

One of the employees got the idea to leave a camera and a tape recorder rolling there while they explored the rest of the island.

When they came back the tape recorder had been turned off and the camera had been glitched to stop recording about ten minutes in.

In those ten minutes, there was an orb accompanied with code glitches passing through the top corner of the frame. The tape recorder had been recording for two minutes, and all the heard was the sound of someone breathing.

That same employee spent the night in the library alone and they decided to bring a film camera so nothing could be corrupted.

They woke up multiple times throughout the night to sounds of books dropping, a girl crying, and what sounded like mice squeaking. These were later reported as hamster sounds.

The film camera had been set on a timer to go off every hour and take a picture. Only two pictures had something off - one had a dark shadow in the corner and the other was a picture of a mangled wall of binary code. It was translated later.

"Let us out."

8/10, spooky as shit but now we know where the hamsters went.

Akane Owari was last seen by Chandler Beach.

According to many employees, Akane tends to wander. She's never been seen in the same spot twice.

Many have tried to lure her out by coding smells of food to appear, but to no avail. She knows it's not real - she can't eat anymore.

Once she was caught on the spirit box in the hotel restaurant. It picked up sounds of chewing along with weird grunts of frustration. Another time she was in the beach house, making the window in the shower room rattle.

There's not a lot to note about her. She tends to keep to herself and avoids the Hope Foundation employees at all costs.

The only really significant finding happened in the hospital, in her old sick room. Sometimes the lights flicker, and the IV's will start to operate and show a heartbeat despite not being hooked up to a person. An employee was able to quietly play the flashlight game with her, asking simple questions about her and her life.

5/10, quiet but not very helpful.

The Imposter is still in the old building.

They're similar to Akane in the sense of not really interacting all that much, tending to stick to themself and haunt the old building alongside Teruteru.

The few times they did get them to interact were...interesting, to say the least.

They don't seem bothered by the fact that their murderer is literally a room away. "He did what he had to do." Fair enough.

One employee brought a knife to the building - all of their technology went wild; the tape recorder only got bits and pieces of loud static that wasn't there in real time, their flashlights went out, the spirit box wouldn't even turn on, etc. One of the cameras actually burst into flames.

That employee ended up throwing the knife out the door. Everything calmed down almost immediately.

6/10, whatever the fuck you do, don't bring a weapon.

Hiyoko Saionji is consistently found in the hotel restaurant.

She's occasionally been heard at the music venue as well, but the restaurant is her go-to.

She doesn't like the spirit box, but she loves the flashlight game. She will play that puppy all night.

When asked why she stays here of all places, the flashlights go quiet before they start flashing in a pattern.

It seems that she has an affinity for morse code.

"It's where big sis is."

One of the flashlights rolled over to a specific spot in the restaurant, by one of the walls. Right by where Mahiru's shrine used to be.

8/10, harmless but big ow.

Kazuichi Soda hasn't been seen by anyone. But he has been heard.

It is nearly impossible to track this motherfucker down.

They looked everywhere - the airport, the military base, the plushie factory, everywhere that they could think of.

It wasn't until an employee mentioned that he was close friends with Hajime that they got an idea. They set up some equipment with sensors around the hotel and waited.

When they looked at the footage later, there seemed to be more than one student there. They even overheard bits of a conversation on the spirit box:

"How's...oking today?"

"Nice and quie...ople seem to be comin...more and...though."

"...isn't...urprise. They seem to...help."

"...hat a joke."

10/10, quiet and looking out for the others.

Nekomaru Nidai has been seen twice - once in Strawberry House, and once by Chandler Beach.

Large flashes of code were seen in the tower elevator by the spot where he died by two witnesses. They tried to set out equipment to recreate this phenomenon, but it never happened again.

He likes the flashlight game. He hates the spirit box.

Funny enough, it seems like he can't recall a lot of his time as Mechumaru. He remembers taking the blast for Akane, and his last battle with Gundham. That's it.

The other time by the beach was also an accident, but there wasn't one flash of code - there were two.

The witness swears that it was Nekomaru and Akane, but they didn't hear anything. It seems that they were both simply enjoying each other's company for a while before going back to being restless spirits.

8/10, a little helpful but otherwise stays out of the way.

Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu can be found around the Beach House, but his most frequented spot is the diner.

Surprisingly enough, he's very interactive with the employees of the Hope Foundation. He uses the spirit box, he plays the flashlight game, etc.

He's even been seen in both code form and on an infrared sensor. He's had full conversations through the spirit box.

There was only one time he wasn't present, and when the employee assigned to him went looking, they felt drawn to the Beach House.

The power had been cut a long time ago, but they could still hear the faint sound of music while inside, along with some wind chimes. That sense of peace from before seemed amplified, growing into a feeling of joy.

When they turned on the spirit box, they could hear a whispering conversation between a male and a female with occasional laughter.

For one night a year, on the day Peko Pekoyama died, they're together again. 10/10.

Mahiru Koizumi is...everywhere?

She didn't get to see the rest of the islands like her classmates.

You know she's there when you hear a camera click and you're not actively taking photos. Sometimes she turns on the spirit equipment, effectively draining the batteries before they even start setting up.

She doesn't talk on the spirit box, but she'll do anything that's quiet. Dowsing rods, the flashlight game, etc.

She's picky about talking to guys, but gals and nonbinary pals? She's game.

When an employee mentioned Hiyoko Saionji, it got really quiet.

"Turn on the flashlight if you miss her."

Click.

9/10, minus one for ow factor.

Nagito Komaeda haunts the Ancient Ruins alongside Kamukura.

There's one rule; don't turn off the lights. Nobody has had the guts to try to break it.

Every room in that "school" has had something happen in it. Chairs have been thrown against the walls, tables knocked over, to try and break the coding he's trapped in.

Glass vases have been shattered, anything that's been on a table had been knocked over before, etc. There have been instances of an employee hearing the breaking of a glass vase that they put somewhere, going to check on it, and finding it completely intact, still on the table they left it on.

The employees that try to stay there for a full twenty-four hours never complete it. The longest completed run was sixteen hours.

The plan was simple; get there at ten AM, collect as much evidence as possible while taking shifts on sleeping, and leave at the same time the next day. The daytime was pretty mellow, with the occasional bang and crash recorded and not much else.

Once nighttime hit, it was a whole other ball game.

The two decided to stay in one of the classrooms with a lamp on, the overhead lights off, and the door closed. Screeches and cackling echoed off the walls, followed by intense sobbing. The employee that was asleep woke up from the feeling of choking, which was then confirmed by the bruises left behind around his throat. They wanted to stay, but, when the bulb in their lamp exploded, they decided against it.

1/10, fuck you and your temper tantrum.

Mikan Tsumiki floats around the third island, but she's seen the most at the Hospital.

An unnerving energy has since filled the building, with many if not all of the employees refusing to go inside.

If you're lucky, you'll see her from the corner of your eye. That's the most she's ever let herself be seen.

Sometimes the lights flicker without cause. The windows rattle and the glass cracks, as if someone tried to punch it.

Crying can be heard throughout the building at night. Sometimes there are screams. If you turn on the spirit box though, it gets interesting.

If you listen very closely, you can hear her whispers and rambling. She talks to herself.

She'll mutter medical knowledge, dates and times, names that were important to her - a little bit of everything.

She won't answer any direct questions, only Yes and No. She likes the Ouija board. One time an employee asked about Hiyoko and the planchet flew across the room.

5/10, do not interact if you are Hiyoko. Just don't.

Chiaki Nanami is nowhere and everywhere all at once.

Bits of her code fly around all of the islands, as if searching for something.

As an AI that was created to protect the students, she is the program. A memory that all of them had, and one that all of them wanted to see again.

If there's a direct Hope Foundation representative present, she will not interact. However, she seems to enjoy the company of the regular employees; maybe she relates to them more.

She likes big, open spaces; don't try to talk to her in a tight space, like a closet, because you'll get nothing.

Her favorite is the Ovilus box, since she can directly speak through it without too much effort.

Her physical form has only been seen once.

On one of the early mornings where an employee was out completing the night shift, the run began to rise where the waves crashed against each other before settling to the sandy shores of the beach. When they looked over to admire the view of the albeit-fake sunrise, two figures shielded by shadow caught their eye.

They claimed it looked as if a girl was there, waiting, when a boy came and scooped her up into a big hug. It was later confirmed that the descriptions matched Chiaki Nanami and Hajime Hinata.

10/10, she's finally home.

I hope you all enjoyed this, it was so hard to make! Thank you for your patience :)

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manawari · 1 year

Text

There was a new student in school.

A month after Sung Jin-woo resumed his studies in school, he discovered there was a transfer. He speculated that she or he must be in the same class as him, considering how loud his classmates had been chattering about the new addition. But as someone who was never captivated by such a topic, he delved into the textbooks on his desk and flipped to another page, resting his cheek on his gloved hand.

In a vague whisper, he could hear Igris reminding him of the upcoming mathematics quiz and advising him to check his notes. The monarch sighed and flickered his hand to silence the knight. At this point, he realized his mother's pestering was easier and better than Igris' constant reminding him of his studies as if his life depended on it.

Now, it was Beru whose voice was meddling in his ears. Tank even roared.

Good Lord. Jin-woo groaned.

His teacher's voice finally graced his mind. He lowered his book, only to pause midair when his eyes caught something at the front.

"Everyone, I'd like to introduce our transferee," the old lady gestured her hand to the younger one next to her. She flashed a smile at the student. "State your name, my dear."

The girl nodded and faced the class. Her hands were tucked behind her as she bowed. "I am Cha Hae-in. Please to meet you all."

A smile gently formed on his face.

[ Ack~~ my Liege! It's her! ]

[ It's Lady Hae-in! ]

[ She still looks as graceful as before. ]

[ About time your paths have crossed, my sovereign! ]

Jin-woo ignored his shadows as he watched her walk past the students to settle on the empty desk next to the window. Only a row ahead of him. It was no surprise that there had been many eyes diverted to her. He could tell her posture relaxed when she finally sat down — gaining a handful of attention had never been her cup of tea since the very beginning.

Though a small part of him wished she could've glanced at his direction.

Sure, he had plans to meet her in a natural way in the future. . . But he did not expect that day would come quick. He didn't even know what should he say to her first.

Hi! Remember me? We were both hunters before and you told me how nice my smell was. — no, of course he would not say those words. Unless she had those memories back.

I run in the field too, so wanna race with me? — too casual for his taste.

Hae-in seemed to be growing popular among their peers in an instant. Not just how well she answered every question those teachers had given her, but also how kind she acted toward the other students, always having that smile on her face in spite of the jitters under the mask

And here was Jin-woo, only watching from his seat.

His shadows had been growing quite frustrated at how he still had not approached her. Let alone having their eyes meet.

But the second before they did, he always lifted his textbook to his face.

He was such an idiot. . . It wasn't like she had changed because of the timeline. That pure, heart of gold huntress was right there. Living with no bargain to fight for her life. The Cup Of Reincarnation had given him another chance to form a bond with her in a way he was sure nothing would tear him away from his loved ones this time.

His promise.

His promise to see her again. . .

She may not remember that moment, but it won't stop him from wanting to fulfill it as it was also a promise to himself back when he was out battling the monarchs.

There was still time. As long as he won't slip that opportunity away.

"Woah! That's a whole new record!" Gushik exclaimed, staring at the stopwatch in his hand.

Jin-woo chuckled. Next to him, Younggil was panting like a dog, only a matter of time before his knees couldn't take it anymore.

"Don't be so surprised anymore, Gushik. Be surprised if the little man surpassed our golden boy." Choi Taewoong snickered.

"Pfft~ yeah, it'll be the end of the world of that— OH GOD! IT'S CHA HAE-IN!" Gushik gasped. One of his teammates smacked his shoulder to keep his voice down.

"Where?!" Younggil suddenly rose up.

Taewoong followed his gaze across the field, spotting the blonde strolling the area alone. He grinned. "You bastards are lucky for having her in the same class. I hear many guys are trying to get her autograph, is that correct?"

"Yeah! Sadly, she always refuses in kind," sighed Younggil. "The longest communication I had with her was when she picked up my notebook and told me how good my doodles are."

And oh, besides those things, Hae-in had captured many attention among the guys in the class as well. It took every ounce of willpower for Jin-woo to not step in and make an inappropriate first impression. Luckily, Hae-in managed to deal with them fine — and by 'fine', he meant the times she got the boys running away or apologizing for disturbing her.

There was no denying he felt satisfaction in his veins.

It was never easy to grab her full attention after all.

"Earth to Sung Jin-woo!"

He snapped out and found his acquaintances staring at him. "Yeah?"

"I was asking if you had gotten to talk to Cha Hae-in." Gushik said, deadpanned.

"Uh. . . " Jin-woo scratched his cheek. "No?"

"Wow."

Taewoong laughed. "Oh, I bet ya he will. Had this guy stole enough attention from the ladies? Ms. Cha shall fall under his spell in no time!"

Little did they know, it was him who had been under her spell long, long ago.

Jin-woo grabbed his bag from the bench and slung it over his shoulder. He decided to leave his teammates to their own devices. He had endured the next couple of minutes listening to their chatters, ranging from the upcoming preliminaries to estimating the chances of him being noticed by the famous athlete herself. It was quite a balderdash, but that was just who they were.

*Thud*

A book had dropped on the ground. Jin-woo adjusted his pace to pick it up and called for its owner. No reply. So, he took a couple of steps to tap her shoulder.

Then, a simple whirl of her head was enough for the world to drop into silence. This was the first time to meet her up close ever since she had introduced herself in front.

"I— thank you." She plucked her earphone out of her left ear, taking the book from his hand. "You're Sung Jin-woo, right? One of the well-known runners in this school."

[ My Liege. Your heartbeat is increasing immensely. ]

"Shut up." Jin-woo gritted his teeth at Beru's message.

"Pardon?" Hae-in blinked her eyes at him.

"Huh? Ah, it's nothing!" Jin-woo said. He cleared his throat. "Y— yes, I am Sung Jin-woo."

She smiled. "Please to finally meet you, Jin-woo."

Finally? So that meant she had been meaning to approach him the same way he had toward her?

"I. . . I could say the same thing." His lips curled into a gentle smile. "You've won a lot of competitions, correct? You did very amazing."

"That's— that's very sweet of you." Hae-in flushed.

Now's your chance. . . Jin-woo inhaled and continued. "What do you say if we should run together sometimes? That is, if you're free, of course."

"Sure thing!" Hae-in pulled herself back and cleared her throat. "I. . I would love to. When shall we begin?"

"Saturday. How does that sound?"

She chuckled. "I'll see you then."

"Looking forward to it." Jin-woo smiled. Wider than before.

#solo leveling #sung jin woo #cha hae in

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bunnyscar · 4 months

Text

Debut

“One more week before school starts,” Sam commented. Kye grunted and hunched his shoulders. Despite what he had said about wanting to go, Kye could not hide his uneasiness towards going to school. Sam didn’t blame him. To be honest, Sam felt just as nervous, perhaps more so since not only would he be new to the school, but he would have Kye to worry about too. While Kye could probably manage interacting with most students on his own, as long as Sam supervised, if there were bullies in the school it could be a disaster. Kye could not control himself around criminals, and to him, bullies would be nothing more than criminals.

Sam shook his head. It did no good to worry. Besides, he and Kye had been going out more often, in an attempt to get Kye more acclimated to society. This evening, they had gone downtown to see a movie, one that Sam had deemed would not rile up Kye. The only "bad guy" in the movie had been a tornado, and natural disasters did not enrage Kye as villains did.

Sam turned to ask Kye what he thought of the movie, but Kye suddenly turned his head towards an alley, a fierce look entering his eyes. Dread gripped Sam.

“No, wait,” Sam started to say, reaching out to stop Kye, but the boy had already taken off, leaping down the alley. Gritting his teeth, Sam raced after him, pulling out his phone and dialing the police. If Kye was acting this way, it was because he had sensed a criminal. The best thing to do was to call the police and try to hold Kye back from killing the villain until they arrived. “Hello, officer? There’s a crime happening on Lyle St. off of 43rd. Please come as soon as you can!” Sam said into the phone as he raced around a corner.

Three men stood, holding someone against the wall. They had turned, however, to see Kye approaching them with a snarl and eyes glowing, just like when Kye had rescued Sam. “Kye, don’t kill them!” Sam yelled, running over. With another snarl, Kye slammed a fist into one of the men’s faces, throwing him back against the other alley wall. The other men stepped back in surprise.

“You want your faces to be mush as well?” Kye said threateningly, lifting his fist again. The men, however, backed away, faces pale with terror. As they stepped away from the wall, Sam saw that they had been accosting a girl, probably around Sam’s age. She sat trembling, staring wide eyed at Kye.

In concern, Sam knelt next to her and asked, “Are you all right?”

Turning her wide-eyed gaze to Sam, she whispered, “Yes.”

“The police will be here soon,” Sam reassured her. He glanced up to check on Kye, but to his relief, the vampire was merely glaring at the men and snarling, keeping them pinned to the opposite wall in terror. Kye was much better at restraining himself now than he had been when Sam had first become his caretaker. It had been almost impossible to keep him from beating up the criminals before the police came, and Sam had almost given up the idea of taking Kye out in the city. Now it seemed Kye had learned to intimidate more than physically attack. Glancing at the girl, Sam felt some regret that she had seen Kye like this. It must be scary to her to be threatened by the men, then see what most people considered a monster.

It was not long before the police arrived and handcuffed the men, leading them away. They also took the girl, so they could ask her some questions and contact her parents. After asking Sam and Kye some questions, the two boys were dismissed with a caution to be careful out on the streets. As they finally walked down their own street, Sam sighed. He had hoped this would be an uneventful night, but of course that had not been the case. With a smile at Kye, however, he said, “Good job tonight, Kye.” Kye merely grunted and nodded, but flashed a grin back at his brother.

“Ready?” Sam asked, glancing at Kye.

“Ready as I’ll ever be,” Kye mumbled, gazing anxiously beyond the school gates at the large building. They stood outside the school, other students streaming past them into the building, on the way to their classes. It was their first day. Taking a deep breath, Sam and Kye stepped onto the school grounds and up to the school building’s double doors. Though Sam had not been to this school before, seeing the classrooms with their rows of desks and the rows of lockers in the halls felt familiar and exciting, as he remembered his middle school. For Kye, however, it was overwhelming. So many other students, all chatting and laughing or rushing to their classrooms. Hunching his shoulders, Kye stuck close to Sam as they made their way to their first class, English.

When they entered, a girl sitting in the front row looked up and exclaimed, “Sam!”

“Lily? Fancy that, we’re in the same school,” Sam said, walking over to her desk. The brown-haired girl smiled.

“I thought you were homeschooled?” she asked.

“Well, we decided it was time to start public school again,” Sam explained.

Lily nodded, then smiled at Kye and said, “Kye wasn’t it? Nice to see you again.”

Kye nodded, his eyes flicking all about the classroom nervously. “He’s a little overwhelmed,” Sam said apologetically.

“I can understand,” Lily said sympathetically, then motioned to two desks next to her. “We get to pick our own seats today. Why don’t you sit up here? I like the front row, since you don’t have to see the backs of everyone else,” she said.

Sam thanked her, and he and Kye took their seats. Class started soon after that, and to Sam’s relief, Kye seemed to relax as the teacher continued. They made it safely through the morning classes, and by lunchtime, Sam began to feel hopeful.

At lunch, Lily introduced some of her friends to Sam and Kye. There was Morris, a lanky boy who like to joke around; Sarah, a tomboyish girl who was part of the theatre club and kept trying to convince the others to join; and Marissa, a quiet girl with long black hair. When Kye saw Marissa, he stiffened slightly. Sam couldn’t tell why, though there was something about the girl that seemed familiar. Halfway through their lunch, Kye leaned over and whispered in Sam’s ear, “She’s the girl we saved last week.”

Sam started. Looking at Marissa more closely, he suddenly remembered and felt uneasy. It could be problematic if Marissa recognized them as well. While it wasn’t the end of the world if people knew Kye was a vampire, Kye did not really like his identity being known, and it could deter people from wanting to interact with him. Perhaps Sam should try to meet with Marissa alone and ask her not to reveal Kye.

She beat him to it, however. As they exited the cafeteria, Marissa turned to him and said, “May I speak with you and Kye a moment?”

“Uh, sure,” Sam said nervously, and they walked to the side, into an empty hall.

Bowing her head politely, Marissa said, “I want to thank you both very much for saving me last week. My family is rather well off, and I’m often getting targeted as a ransom. Please let me know if there is any way I can repay you.”

“There’s no need for you to repay us,” Sam said hesitantly. “Though, if you wouldn’t tell anyone that Kye is a vampire…”

Marissa nodded. “Of course.” She smiled shyly and said, “By the way, you both were really cool then, when you faced those criminals. Anyway, thank you.” She bowed again and then hurried away.

Sam and Kye looked at each other. “Well,” Sam said with a sigh. “That went better than expected.”

Kye nodded, but looked thoughtful. “I wonder what she meant by cool,” he murmured.

With a grin, Sam teased, “Maybe she’s got a crush on you.”

Kye rolled his eyes and groaned, “Yeah right. Don’t make stuff up, Sam.” Sam laughed and they headed to their next class. The first day had gone well so far. If only it would stay that way.

#original story #vampire #sam #kye #first day at school

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zalrb · 9 months

Note

wondering what your thoughts on “Tar” were !

I saw it a while ago and I feel like I'm still working out my thoughts on it. I definitely found it a thought-provoking character study and I think what makes it complex and interesting is summarized in that one scene in the movie.

Before I saw it, I just saw that one scene i.e. clip of her and the Juilliard student, which was interesting for me to watch as someone who studied cinema and had to watch Birth of a Nation in virtually every class for four years and getting fed up with it (I ended up skipping those screening days). There was so much conversation around that scene and from what I had seen, most people sided with her and I was like, I really feel like we're not supposed to side with her here, I feel like the irony is that she's chastising and then bullying them for being restricted and conformist when she's being restricted and conformist or at the very least, it's more complicated than simply she's right and they’re wrong. But I didn't know for sure so I decided to watch the whole thing to understand the context. Then when I did I was like, OK this is an excellent scene.

Although it essentially and effectively summarizes the debates about looking at art and not the artist, it also showcase her hypocrisies and her narcissism and her own limitations as an artist because the immediate context is that the student plays her a contemporary piece she's unfamiliar with and her response is to belittle it and to return to the canon of old white men, which is conformist. Then the wider context is that she herself is an authority figure who groomed and blacklisted a student leading to her suicide so of course she's going to advocate for divorcing the art from the artist because of her own predatory and destructive behaviour. And then there's the scene later on in the movie where she does exactly what she apparently abhors which is rate a musician on everything but her skill and talent. Then within the scene her frustration at the student for not responding to her playing or to her arguments the way that she wants them to leads to her humiliating them. And then there's the question of her emphasis on interpretation of a composition as a rebuttal to simply looking at the music because what makes up a conductor's interpretation of a piece of music? Would their perspectives and life experiences not inform how they approach music? Can you truly separate the personal from the art as an artist? But she sounds right, she makes points that can generate tons of conversation about art vs. the artist, about engaging with the historical figures of your chosen field etc. etc. (but is the student even saying they've never engaged with Bach? They don't conduct him but it's not as if they've never listened to him) so it's a layered scene, especially considering that she's called a bitch by a student who won't play Bach because of his misogyny. And then the movie essentially challenges us to have that debate with ourselves by slowly peeling back who she is for the rest of the runtime. Is Lydia right in that scene just by the merit of her argument or does knowing more about her life and her perspectives inform the way we view that argument? It certainly does for me.

And then Cate Blanchett was great as Lydia. She wasn't likable, I don't think, but she held your attention onscreen, she embodied being an Authority, she definitely conveyed how Lydia Tar would be a household name in classical music.

I also appreciated the subtle, almost dreadful vibe that permeated the movie.

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irishk0rn · 1 year

Text

Guilty

I don’t actually hate Cenarius, I just don’t particularly care for him or his character. He just happened to be the target of my negative projection as I project onto Illidan.

Trans Illidan fic.

Illidan was tired. He was tired of hiding who he was; hiding behind a name that wasn’t his, hiding inside of a body that didn’t belong to him. And his brother knew; at least his brother knew. He was proud of him, actually. That was a bit of reassurance — Hell, Malfurion even helped him pick a name. And it didn’t have any correlation to his assigned name. The beginning letters or sounds weren’t even the same.

He supposed the easiest course of action after telling his brother and his close friend, Tyrande (who also happened to be transgender? who knew!) was to tell his teacher, his mentor, Cenarius.

His brother had advised him to do so; his hunch was that Cenarius would understand and maybe teach him a more masculine themed program. The night elves, sadly, had really harshly engrained gender roles. Illidan knew that it certainly wasn’t easy for Tyrande to be herself — not even with the help of him and his brother. But she was a great woman. He loved her bravery…

Illidan felt alone, despite Malfurion being right behind him, telling him encouraging words. He couldn’t really hear them — he wasn’t tuning him out on purpose, but this looming sensation of fear and coldness weighted like chains upon his already torn heart.

“It’ll be alright, brother,” Malfurion said. It ran a good chill down Illidan’s spine to be called brother. It was one of the first steps Malfurion took for him. “I think Cenarius will understand…”

“... I can only hope,” Illidan muttered, continuing on his terrifying path to speak to his teacher.

Cenarius was reading a book in between teaching druids when Illidan approached him. Malfurion decided this moment was for them, so he stayed a small distance away. But he was close enough where his brother could see him and know he was there to support him. The dark haired sin’dorei took a deep inhale, swallowing his pride and nerves. The nerves cut his throat like a blade and when he tapped Cenarius on the shoulder, he was unable to speak for a moment, the sharp unforgiveness of his pride rendering him unable to do so.

Cenarius tore his gaze away from his book. “Yes, Zar’lyne, what is it?”

Illidan tensed at the use of his deadname. “I’m, um, I’ve something to tell you, teacher…”

He could barely speak. Cenarius closed his book and turned his full attention to Illidan, which made Illidan even more nervous; and he began to sweat — when he looked at his hands, bringing them up to fidget, they were trembling. Cenarius tilted his horned head. “What is it, my student?”

Illidan took in another exhale. “My name is Illidan and I— I am a man. No longer a Stormrage sister — but a Stormrage brother.”

Cenarius frowned, and it struck a wave of fear through his student’s body. Oh Gods, he thought, he’s disappointed.

“Oh,” his teacher uttered. “I see.”

The dark haired kal’dorei frowned at him and awaited more. More than a disappointed “oh” before Cenarius went back to his book. And for a few moments, nothing more came. He almost took it as a cue to walk away before his teacher spoke again.

“Well, Zar’lyne,” Cenarius said. His deadname was used deliberately this time, “think of this: what would Elune think?”

Illidan frowned. “Elune? I…”

“Consider the question, my student. What would she think of your pretending?”

The caster was now more confused than anything. Did Cenarius really some up what he had just confided as pretending?

He reached out to pat Illidan’s head, like a parent consoles a child, but Illidan leaned out of his reach. “No, don’t — why do you think—”

Cenarius got closer and leaned down to his level. “I know you want to be like your brother, little one. But this is not the way to go. I can’t help you if you continue this charade and Elune won’t be able to, either.

“You’re not him, and you can’t ever be. So he Zar’lyne, not… what was the alias? Illidan? Don’t be that.”

And, because he was in shock, Illidan just nodded before taking his leave. As he walked by his brother, Malfurion put a hand on his shoulder, midway through asking how it went, before Illidan shoved him off. He did it so hard that Malfurion even fell in the grass. He got up quickly, changing into his travel form to catch up with his brother.

—

Illidan was throwing things in his room now, and Malfurion was trying to calm him down. He was angry now.

“Brother, please, calm yourself — stop throwing your things!”

In defiance, Illidan threw a wooden bowl at Malfurion’s head. The other elf ducked and it smashed against the wall, breaking into pieces. Had it hit him, because it was thrown so hard, it could have knocked him unconscious.

“I hate Elune. I hope she falls from grace painfully!”

Illidan began to cuss in Darnassian, and Malfurion matched the languages. How could you say that? Malfurion asked him, ducking again when Illidan threw something else, but just at the wall. She must forsake me!

His brother frowned. Why would you say that? He was concerned of the cursing Illidan was doing of whom they worshipped, afraid he would suffer consequences for his rage driven words.

“She must!” Illidan now responded in common, “She must forsake me! She made me in the wrong body, and made me your sister!”

Malfurion blinked. “And what is that supposed to mean?”

“You know what it means, brother! I will never be on your level — I will always be in your shadow! I will always be known as your less talented sister before I fade into nothingness. I could save all of Azeroth and I will still only be remembered as ‘Malfurion’s sister’!”

His twin went over to him and put his hands on his shoulders. “Por’wyeun,” he said. It meant brother in Darnassian. Illidan swatted his hands away. “No. I can’t talk. Get out. Get out right now.”

Malfurion frowned, but obliged, and listened to the slam and lock of the door. Then he heard even more smashing and punching of the wall before his brother let out a rageful scream that would have shaken Elune herself. And it hurt his heart for his brother. Twins were connected to some degree, and could feel each other — feel their hurt. The pain was so strong in Illidan’s heart that it made Malfurion’s own chest ache with pain, so badly that he didn’t attend his class that evening.

His family was in pain and he didn’t understand how to help him. Should he stop showing his excellation just so Illidan could feel he had a chance? Should he give up in the name of his brother? Should he let Illidan earn it? He didn’t know.

All he knew is Illidan was hurting and he didn’t know how to help.

#world of warcraft #wow #illidan stormrage #irishkorn #irishkorn fics #trans illidan #trans illidan stormrage #malfurion stormrage #cenarius #ficlet

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wandaadmierer · 2 years

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Jealous Professor.

NOT MY GIF!!!

Wanda Maximoff x Reader

Warnings: 18+ DNI IF UNDER 18, smut, dirty talking, semi public smut, swearing(Tell me if i missed any.)

Synopsis: After class, you're professor becomes unexpectantly jealous at your new found friend.

“What’s wrong my love? You’ve been really quiet today.” You gently wrap your arm around her waist as you stand closely behind her. “Nothing, you should go.” She coldly says as she attempts to take your arm off of her but fails. For a moment you’re confused, wondering what you have done wrong to make her mad at you, then it clicked.

Moments before…

The school bell rang loudly, echoing amongst the school grounds. University students scrambling to get to their next class. As per usual you arrived on time and sat in your allocated seats. It seemed ridiculous at the time to be placing adults in certain places, but you didn’t complain, you could socialize with anyone, so it didn’t matter who sat beside you. As luck would have it, you sat in the desk, closest to the professor. Again, you were not complaining. She was a beauty to behold, and the way she would teach her lectures were elegant and graceful. Which only increased the appeal.

Following your schedule, you arrived in your class and sat in your seat at the front. It appeared that your two desk mates were absent, so you were left alone. Well not alone, your girlfriend was right in front of you. Forgot to mention, you guys have hooked up in the past and are now secretly dating.

As you secretly admired your girlfriend, a knock interrupted your thoughts. Seizing the lecture, all eyes were on the source of that noise. Excusing yourself, she approaches the door to see who’s on the other end. Minutes later your gf and this new person are both standing at the front.

“Everyone, I would like to introduce you to Tracey, she will be joining this course.” Your gf announces. After the introduction, Tracey decides to sit next to you. And of course, you being you, you engaged in multiple conversations when you were given the chance to speak. Tracey is a sweet girl, who seemed to have an amazing personality, but her college clothing was a whole different story. Majority of her clothes revealed a lot of her body, and if you were single, you would have wanted to shot your shot because she also seems interested, however you heart belonged to another and has been for 6 months now. If only she knew this.

The lecture went by in a blast, you made a new friend who was really smart in this subject and was able to help you with certain things, so it should be considered a really happy day. However, if felt off. It felt like eyes were on you throughout all of todays lecture.

The bell rang, signalling the end of today’s lecture. As you were gathering all of your material, Tracey gently grabbed your arm, alerting your attention. “Hey, I was wondering if you wanted to go and get something to eat with me.” Tracey asked in a seductive town, while subtly lifting her cleavage. Your natural instinct was ofc to look, but just as fast you looked away. “Sorry I have to ask the professor a few questions first about today’s lecture. So, you head out first, and I’ll txt you later.” You simply tell her. She nods in understanding and leaves the room, closing the door on her way out. Now it was just you and the hot professor.

Present time ~

“Nothing, you should go.” She coldly tells you. As you slowly connected the dots, only one thing made sense, jealousy. You softly giggle behind her, catching her off guard. As you seize your laughter, you slowly begin to leave a trail of light kisses on her neck, right behind her ear. You knew her body well and knew that this was one of her weak spots. She softly groans against your touches, before she forcefully grabs your arm and releases your grip on her. She turns around and lightly shoves you back, enough to make distance between you both. You enjoyed seeing her jealous, but this was a whole other level. She huffs before turning back around. “Go.” She orders. Ok now it’s time to turn the tables. You had an idea. You approach her again but don’t touch her, only merely grazing your lips against her ear.

“Is someone jealous because another girl was talking to me. Is that what your problem is.” You tell her in a husky voice. You already knew the answer, but the grunt that came from her made it all worth it. Her breathing becomes uneven, she hands twitching, and her eyes closed. Her persona was slowly crumbling, but not quite there. “she was flirting with what’s mine; I have a right to be upset.” You slowly put your hands on her, not nearly enough to satisfy, only to annoy. “You shouldn’t be upset my love, you have me, all of me. I’m not going anywhere." She rapidly turns her body around and pulls you in by the neck. Lips smash against each other in a messy rhythm. She was never one to initiate the sex between you too, so this jealously must have really gotten to her.

You loved this newfound confidence in her, but the moment she started unbuckling your shorts, you had to stop her. “So needy, does my baby want something?” you felt like teasing her. “I need you to stop fucking teasing me and give me what I want. I deserve what I want after what you did to me today.” Your eyebrows raised. Now she was playing a very dangerous game. Your right hand grasped her neck, not too rough but just right to give her a headrush.

“I strongly suggest that you watch your tone with me baby, before I punish you.” You sternly told her. She shivered, causing a smirk to plaster on your face. As you slowly see her form a smirk of her own, you insert two of your fingers into her drippy pussy. The moans that escaped her mouth almost made your knees give out, but this newfound dominance keep you together.

The way her velvety walls clenched around your fingers indicated that she was close. Your speed increases dramatically leaving her to slap her hand over her mouth to muffle her moans. “I love hearing those sound come out of you baby. Why keep them quiet.” Right before she was about to let go, you immediately retreated your fingers and sucked them clean. She had immediately growled at your actions, however when you gazed into her eyes. She shut her mouth.

“Ill see you after class Miss Maximoff.”

Debating on making a part 2, let me know if you think i should:)

#wandamaximoffxreader #wandamaximoffsmut #wandaxreader #professormaximoff #jealousmaximoff #jealousy #wlw #gxg #gxgsmut #marvel

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xknivesandpensx · 10 months

Text

Like Pieces of a Puzzle

Chapter 7

Summary: What if Harry wasn't the only extra student called upon to participate in the Triwizard Tournament? Far from the most popular candidate, Draco not only has to take on the trials but also deal with his unexpected feelings for Hermione. Will he be able to face the challenges as well as follow his heart?

Chapter length will vary. I'll be referencing both the books and movie versions. Some things from what I've previously written will be mentioned, all of which you can find here.

And for those who asked to be tagged: @dayane245love

When Hermione entered the common room, Harry and Ron were finishing their Divination homework. Two volumes of Unfogging the Future laid open on the table as they spoke back and forth to one another, rattling off random unfortunate events. Only a few students remained hanging around, including Fred and George, who disappeared upstairs upon her arrival.

Crookshanks jumped from Harry’s lap and rushed over to rub against her leg. Hermione greeted him, lowering down to brush her hand over his ginger fur, causing a loud purr to be heard. He took off soon after, deciding to curl up near the fireplace.

Hermione peered over Ron’s chart. Her lips pressed together upon skimming over his work. “Not going to have a very good month, are you? You seem to be drowning twice. Don’t you think it’s a bit obvious you’ve made these up? Then again, Professor Trelawney isn’t very creditable. She’d likely believe you.”

Harry shrugged, silently agreeing per the latter. “She already told me; ‘I fear the thing you dread will indeed come to pass.’ I suppose I prefer that over her predicting my death all year. I think this one is a nice touch, considering.”

She read the answer, raising a brow. “Decapitation? It’s barely better than Ron getting trampled by a rampaging Hippogriff.”

“It’s not easy coming up with good ways to die,” Ron defended as she took a seat next to him. “Besides, we all know she’s a bit of a nutter. If it’s not downright devastating, she’ll think we haven’t tried hard enough.”

“It’s beyond me why the two of you are wasting your time in her class. Everything she says is rubbish,” Hermione mentioned, attempting to maintain her usual self, despite feeling quite the opposite. “You should’ve taken Arithmancy. Professor Vector is strict, but she really gives us a challenge.”

“Well, bully for her,” Ron muttered in return, picking up his quill to write more.

During a lapse of silence, Hermione put the box she carried on the far end of the table. She wanted to talk about S.P.E.W. but the urge of excitement dwindled. For some reason, a sudden awkward feeling buried itself in her stomach. And what for? A single, civil conversation?

She shook her head, as if the motion alone possessed the ability to shake Draco from her thoughts.

Hermione noticed Harry’s slight tensing, how he hesitated to move his hand to his forehead. She ducked down, speaking in a whisper. “Your scar’s bothering you again, isn’t it?”

“It’s nothing.” He wished she didn’t look at him quite like that, with concern pooling in her brown eyes, her features softening by worry.

Somehow, Hermione was the only one who ever noticed.

Ron lifted his gaze after she spoke, now questionably regarding him too, however, where Hermione held apprehension, he took on a puzzled expression.

Harry felt suddenly uncomfortable by their stares and turned his attention elsewhere. “What’s in the box?” he asked, moving to get a better view of the contents. He took out a badge and flipped it over, merely to be interrupted before he could say anything.

Although wise to his tactics, Hermione went along almost automatically. “Before you ask, S.P.E.W. stands for the Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare. I was going to put Stop the Outrageous Abuse of Our Fellow Magical Creatures and Campaign for a Change in Their Legal Status, but it wouldn’t fit. After much consideration, I decided to take a practical approach. With both of you helping, think of what we can do for them. Of course, we’ll need more than three members.”

“This again, really? It’s all you ever go on about,” Ron complained. He believed the house-elves were content, happy even, doing as they always have.

She glared at him but otherwise ignored the comment. “I’ve done loads of research. Obviously, we’ll need money. Two Sickles to join seems right to me. You’re treasurer, Ron. Harry, you can be the secretary, so you might want to write everything down I’m about to say.”

As if he’d know the important details to keep track of. He maybe even regretted asking, if not for the fact of it stealing the notice from himself. Harry took another from the box. “What happened to this one?”

“Oh, I forgot to fix it.” Hermione drew her wand out. “I banged into Malfoy on my way here. He stepped on it. I think by accident. Reparo.” It came together in an instant, now identical to the rest.

She started to wonder how he’d be next time they saw one another. To Hermione, at least, she thought something changed or perhaps it was all in her head. Draco being nice didn’t quite mean anything. But in regards to her? Who could say for sure.

She still felt the impression his hand left, how the tingling sensation raced across her skin. To think a single touch had the power to inflict such a sensation. Hermione knew if she vocally indulged in the matter to them, they’d think her as mad as Professor Trelawney.

Possibly, she’d agree given who she often caught herself daydreaming about him. And while a part of her thought it wrong to keep secrets from her friends, crushes were simply excluded from any of their discussions. Although, Harry’s interest in Cho appeared obvious, once picking up on it. His whole face lit up upon seeing her. He forgot how to speak and embarrassed himself on more than one occasion.

Ron, on the other hand, she didn’t see his interest latch onto anyone (because even he hadn’t caught onto his growing feeling for Hermione yet).

“Malfoy again? Strange for him to be roaming the halls, isn’t it?” Harry asked, figuring he may as well take out a blank piece of paper. He smoothed it out by using his forearm, struggling not to wince after he felt another dull sting.

Hermione forced a steady voice, restraining from answering too quickly. “Hardly. He just left Professor Moody’s classroom. Anyway there’s something – ”

“Does that mean he got in trouble?” Ron interjected, his mood lightening. “He deserved it in any case, on the account of Neville, of course. Hasn’t been right ever since.”

She took the badge from Harry and tossed it in with the others. “Laying it on a little thick, aren’t you? I’m sure Neville isn’t upset anymore. And you needn’t look so happy about it either. Points taken away would be the direct approach, not detention.”

She refrained from disclosing the details of Draco’s punishment, considering they’d only see Moody in a higher regard, lacking the true brutality of the ordeal. Telling them greatly differed from seeing the results in person.

“Defending him now?” Rom came across affronted, his gaze quick to find hers. “He did laugh after Pansy pushed you in the mud. Not to mention everything else he’s done over the years.”

“Thanks, Ron. I nearly forgot about that highly mortifying moment.” Hermione turned to the window where a snowy white owl could be spotted, any further words lost. Hedwig tapped her beak on the glass, waiting for entrance.

Harry quickly crossed the room, letting her inside before untying the parchment attached to her leg. His eyes scanned the letter Sirius sent. Both Ron and Hermione moved into the corner, away from the few students who’d possibly overhear them.

“Not now,” Harry remarked to Hedwig, who hooted for attention. He kept his summarily to the overall point. “He’s coming back because he thinks I’m in trouble.” Disbelief clung to his hushed tone. “But there’s nothing wrong, nothing worth him taking the risk.”

Hermione moved to put her hand on his shoulder in hopes of providing comfort. She instantly felt the strain pulling along his muscles. “He cares about you and it is concerning. Of course, he’d want to be closer. Your scar just bothered you.”

“For a few seconds,” Harry snapped, shrugging her off. Her pacifying voice irritated him, yet the negative emotion vanished in a flash after he caught sight of the hurt look on her face. “Sorry… I can’t lose him too.” He grabbed a piece of paper, writing a hurried reply.

Hermione trailed after him, taking it upon herself to read as he wrote. “You’re lying, you didn’t imagine it. He’ll know exactly what you’re trying to do and it won’t work. He’s probably already on his way.”

Harry disregarded her and went back to Hedwig.

“Might as well not bother,” Ron said. He returned to the table, in which Hermione followed, still casting a worried glance. “I get it, though. It has to be hard. Wanting him near but needing him off someplace else.”

Hermione nodded, aware Harry desired nothing more than to leave the Dursley’s and live with Sirius. He talked to her about it in length once, describing how connected they became in a small amount of time.

She watched as Hedwig gave Harry a rather hard nip on the fingers for having to be sent out again, despite complying. Before she managed another sentence, Harry retreated upstairs, muttering about being tired, leaving her to slump in her seat, attempting to sort through her thoughts as Ron quietly went back to his homework.

Hermione managed to talk to Ginny the next day. They left lunch early so she could send a letter to her parents, borrowing Hedwig, for Sirius responded and his answer came that morning, urging his godson to use other owls due to her bright color. And he, as she expected, knew of Harry’s attempts to downplay the pain.

The walk to and from the owlery provided enough privacy to explain the conversation she and Draco shared. A warm breeze swept past as they trailed the bridge, passing Cedric along the way, who gave a nod and light smile in their direction, having met them during summer.

“I mean, you find it odd too, right?” Hermione asked as soon as they were out of earshot. Uncertainty wormed its way inside. She fought to find a rational conclusion in means of putting her heart aside. “I think I’m making nothing into so much more.”

Ginny kept her gaze on her feet, taking a few steps to consider an answer. “Why not simply try talking to him again? Get things sorted out?”

The suggestion came off rather tempting, however, risky. “Even if I wanted to, I wouldn’t get the chance. We have Potions together but only for a half hour today on account of the other schools arriving.”

The excitement over the tournament took over the school in full. Almost every student went on earnestly about the possible competitors and challenges. Hermione, alternatively, possessed no ability to concentrate on the competition.

“It’d be pretty awkward asking to speak to him directly, especially since he’s always around the other Slytherins.” Although Ginny still found her friend’s affection towards him to be surprising, she figured at least one of them deserved a chance.

“I can’t fathom a single thing to say anyway,” Hermione mentioned. “For all my logic, I’m simply lost when it comes to talking to a boy I’m interested in. And given his foul behavior, I’m better off keeping things as they are. I used to handle myself better, whereas now I’m harrowed by the very thought of seeing him again.”

He drove her crazy. Draco came off arrogant, yet it seemed to be more than that, like he was uniquely talented at getting under her skin. (Not excluding the fact of his proficiency at annoying Harry and Ron too).

Sometimes she thought herself too hard on him, given he was no different than any other teenager, blood status aside, and perhaps she didn’t hate his company if caught in a tolerable mood. Then he tended to prove her positive assumptions wrong by keeping to his typical condescending attitude.

“I’m not one to give advice on the subject, but I believe the correct thing to do is to decide. Either take the risk or let your feelings go.” Ginny stated it simply in spite of personally knowing the difficulties of confronting the choice.

“I can’t keep going back and forth, that much I know.” She dug herself too deep already. Hermione started to grow tired of the unknown, wishing to gain freedom from the conflict. “I just need to think it over, is all.”

Once more gratitude for their friendship made itself known. Confiding in Ginny proved beneficial. Plus, their discussions about either of their crushes led them to additional topics. She loved spending time with Harry and Ron, nevertheless she greatly appreciated the company of another girl.

After getting back inside they agreed to head back to the Great Hall so Hermione could walk to her next class alongside her two friends as per usual. Their topic of discussion drifted to a lighter note along the way.

Not only to preserve the privacy of the subject matter in whole, but also to the point of providing Hermione the space she required without rehashing the problem.

They turned the corner and dé·jà vu hit, having run into Draco again. All three of them came to a quick halt. His eyes met Hermione’s surprised, flushed face. A prolonged stare (which sped up her heartbeat so rapidly it fervently thumped against her chest) followed a swift continuation of strides. He walking around like they were invisible to him. His expression appeared unreadable, almost indifferent.

She turned around, losing sight of him along the corridor. He vanished amid a group of students.

“What am I supposed to make of that?” Hermione questioned, perplexed by Draco’s reaction or lack thereof.

“I’m not entirely sure.” Ginny grabbed hold of her arm, forcing her to keep moving. “If we don’t hurry, we’ll miss them. But I must say, he is acting strange.”

#dramione #draco malfoy #hermione granger #harry potter #the goblet of fire #this chapter took longer to write than i thought it would XD #probably because the holiday weekend #and hitting days when i just couldn't write #anyway here's chapter seven #nice comments are always appreciated #sorry for any spelling or grammar mistakes

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booksandchainmail · 1 year

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Pale 8.5

Or, again, correcting herself, was there any way that the people who knew how Alexander had died, herself and Lucy, could run away?

ok, good to know that Lucy told her. And maybe good that Avery isn't here? I feel like she's the worst at deception

I reread the cafeteria scene in Worm a couple of weeks ago, and this is reminding me of it. Trapped in a mundane everyday location, surrounded by peers, having to hide a secret as the net tightens, knowing that reacting to strongly to protect yourself or get away will give it away, and having to remain calm and unsuspicious while panicking

“Raymond is asking if America or Liberty have any idea what happened to Alexander, beyond what was said here. America answers that he probably died old-guy-hot.” Verona nodded. Tough questions.

maybe we should put Raymond in charge of designing questions for the Carmine Beast investigation

"Raymond is now asking if they took any action, used any item, or performed a practice that would confound their answers or actions about Alexander.” “Would you know if you did?” Verona asked. “Should we have been asking-”

same line of thought from Verona I see.

Picking inexperienced kids who don't know what contingencies to cover as investigators must have been really useful for the murderer

I'm just hoping that the fact that John isn't bound at all and wasn't acting on their orders/request will help.

“Shh. Let me listen. Apparently… cheating the system to alter your mind or force a lie is something the spirits don’t like all that much. Chase says that if America and Liberty pulled that, then they’d know.” So that wasn’t a thing. Right. “Know how?”

good to know! That impacts my methods list from way back in Arc 1

She considered herself okay at hiding her emotions and emotionally deadening herself, but she had no confidence right now, and she could remember messing that up when talking to Yadira and Kass, back when they’d been trying to sell themselves as tough and too scary to mess with. She’d tried to go emotionally dead and she’d just gone, what… sad?

...in my experience, keeping everything hidden and not reacting to your emotions works right up until something hits in the wrong way and everything you've been non-reacting to breaks out at once

“Like you guys and me, or you guys and Zed. At odds one day, friendly-ish a few weeks later.” “I kind of thought that might be us.” “It isn’t."

I like the textual acknowledgement that this isn't an application of one of the standard protagonist powers

It’s not just losing a teacher and wondering what the future holds. It’s also knowing your parents might lose everything.

and that's something that they can't paper over with making personal friends, not if students are focused on their familial duties. Might be good to approach kids without family backing? Like Nicolette and Tanner, or the eastern practices boys

"Stuff doesn’t die and this world has a long, long memory. Unless you kill it. Unless you very deliberately ensure those things don’t follow you or weigh you down. Removing burdens and threats in a surgical way.”

so I think Nicolette might be on to them

“She has nothing,” Lucy said. “Except me, maybe,” Nicolette said. “You’re looking out for a lot of people,” Verona noted.

Nicolette is good! Maybe longterm she should get the school.

“A narrow path, maybe. From Awakening to whatever lies ahead. And whatever lies past that.”

if they do solve the mystery soonish, what then? They've served their main purpose to Kennet, does the town still need practitioners? It managed without for quite a while, but I guess there's more attention on it nowadays

Fernanda sat on a storage box by one of the bookshelves, seemingly not caring that it situated her lower, so she was looking up at all those people.

oh she cares, I'm guessing that's deliberate so she looks younger and helpless and unthreatening. Makes her less of a suspect and gets Nicolette's support

Verona sat there, silent, mentally banging her head against the wall. Why were they here? Why were they talking to her? Each mental bang made her headache worse.

I have a bad feeling this is going to boil over in some way. Thinking back to when Verona felt trapped and pushed down after Avery got stuck on the Forest Ribbon Trail, and she responded by spitting in her dad's face

“Not girls either. Don’t get me wrong, boys are cute, they can be hot, but… no.” “No interest in boyfriends or marriage?” Zachariah asked. “Nah,” she said.

Stronger and stronger evidence that Verona is just aromantic.

I want to add a small caveat that what she's thinking of (and repulsed by) here is a very specific traditional kind of relationship (involving kids and cohabitation), and that it's entirely possible to have relationships that don't involve these specific details. But overall she's shown zero interest in romance, and seems to feel trapped by the thought of any romantic relationship (in a way she doesn't for close platonic relationships), so I'm comfortable calling her aro.

A lot of her discomfort, aside from the specifics of 9-to-5 and kids and mundane life, reads to me as being being deeply uncomfortable with the idea of being in a relationship with someone who wanted things from her she couldn't or wouldn't reciprocate. And that trying to meet those expectations would make her resent and hurt a partner she might genuinely care about.

Notably, this doesn't show up when she thinks about platonic relationships. Even very serious ways of tying lives together, like potentially becoming Lucy's familiar, don't make her feel trapped in the way a romance does. And I think that's because she isn't worried about not being able to meet the needs of a platonic partner.

Also, for not falling into allonormativity: we've been shown zero evidence Verona is allo, and plenty of evidence she's aro. So.

It felt like Nicolette was very, very wrong. That there was this safe road running right down the middle of things and thinking about it made Verona’s stomach cramp. She’d rather fling herself over the side of that safe path, into Otherdom or hardline practice.

also, part of the reason she's eager to disengage from mundane society is to get away from what she sees as the inevitability of traditional romantic relationships. Adding "meeting adult aromantics/people happily single" to the list of things Verona needs, right after getting out of her dad's house.

Except without the marriage, like she’d just told Zach. Unless it was purely for show and periodic nights together as the mood struck, with them each having their own space in a manor or whatever. That would actually be kinda ideal.

that honestly seems pretty arrangeable. Though I guess most practitioner families would want kids out of the deal.

It would require some brutal amputation somewhere down the line, but she couldn’t make the mistakes Alexander had. If she went down the more serious, more ambitious practitioner path, then she couldn’t go all the way down that road. If she became Other, she’d need to do the same. Maybe less surgery, since the surgery would be on herself.

Not thrilled about this new alternative path to becoming an Other. Serious practice, sure, but I'm not a fan of the ambitious practitioner route

mostly it was Verona struggling to figure it all out and reality would shout ‘Wrong!’.

being a teenager sucks

“My mom had him etch it, so it’s silent, so he doesn’t make such a racket in his workshop area.”

yeesh Zachariah was not kidding about his family being small-scale

“The meeting with Alexander, and Mari, I’m trying to connect the thought- oh,” Lucy said.

don't worry, I'm not getting it either. Maybe the thing about weaving your own style into a contract?

Verona could have kicked herself. She hadn’t been building enough. Hadn’t been taking steps. Instead, she’d been leaning back, watching, looking for the right fit. And Lucy had been taking steps to build herself up, picking her implement, and Avery was giving herself gold checkmarks and going off on an expedition with Jessica.

... I want to make all the girls read each other's point of views until they stop with the self-esteem problems

Verona laughed in response. This was why she’d needed to have her emotional balance, and be situated at a fake ‘neutral’. To be able to laugh. The entire room fell silent. Conversations in the background stopped. Even Lucy looked a little startled. All eyes now on Verona. Laughing so soon after Alexander’s death.

Sort of the same stance as America, being weird enough about the death that it makes them less suspicious by not trying to seem unsuspicious?

"We can’t tell you stuff if you’re going to use it against us.” We can’t tell you stuff even if you won’t, but that’s at least easier.

love the strategy of being so outraged about being questioned (despite being guilty) that the actual questioning gets derailed

“Yes,” Lucy said. “My new implement lets me hear things. I heard what you and the other apprentices talked about as a group. Interviews.”

oh clever answer. Using a legitimate reason to know more to hide the illegitimate reason. I have a feeling Ray is going to follow up on this more though.

“That’s the tone of discussion I was saying may burn bridges,” Raymond said, quiet. “A man died and you’re laughing.”

in the same way that Lucy responds to stress by getting more assertive, Verona responds by getting more flippant and offputting (affectionate). It looks a bit suspicious here, but I think she may have shown enough of a pattern of behveior that she can get away with it (much like the Tedds can)

“Just… he made plans to talk to Fernanda’s family, but Fernanda talked about that, too. He, um, he was plotting, rallying the troops, sort of. Talking to some mercenary types through America’s dad, um, he was serious about that revenge plot. I heard only snippets, so there was more I missed or only got fragments of.”

oh nice, she's slipping in things she heard Alexander say in person before he died and implying she overheard them just now from other students (bolded is heard from him)

“I don’t know what Avery knows, I assume it’s not much more than us, unless Zed or Brie or Jessica have said something.” “What about you two here?” “I only really know what Lucy passed on, what she overheard and observed,” Verona said.

good, getting cover for the other two to not have to answer questions in depth again

“This feels like it’s running against everything my parents tried to instill in me when I was young,” Lucy said. “Talking to authorities and all. Not having a representative.”

I don't think practitioners believe in Miranda rights

“I’m sorry. I respect you more than most here, I appreciate you turning things around, but I can’t forget day one. It wounded me. You wronged me. I have to account for the fact that you could do it again.” “Even with me looking out?” Nicolette asked. “Yeah,” Lucy said. “Sorry, I am, but… always.”

this is partly a distraction technique, but I think Lucy is being entirely honest here :(

“To answer your question, what else I know, yeah, what Verona said is right,” Lucy finished

and there's a non-answer! Verona's said a lot of things in this conversation. Also, what Verona said in answer to this specifically was that she only knew what Lucy had seen and heard, which is of course true for Lucy as well

Eyes like black windows with pale, shrouded figures within. White-wrapped heads and bodies with vague, distorted black shapes of unevenly-sized eyes and mouths all grouped in the middle of the eye, like a family or something staring through a window.

Is Verona seeing the spirits that found Nicolette a hallow? Her sight does seem more tuned to spirits and Others than most people's

Verona, despite herself, despite sense, sanity, and reason, laughed, interrupting him.

and there's the breakdown. At least it seems like it might be useful in deflecting questioning

"You ask me my feelings on him? I kinda liked the guy! I know my friends didn’t like or adore him but I thought he was sorta cool sometimes! Now he’s gone? And I can’t ever chill and talk practice with him? That sucks!"

I think Verona is the only one of the girls who could answer the question this way, because her interest in the practice emotionally outweighs issues of morality or justice

The tone that resulted was… pretty much the opposite of the strong image that Lucy and them had been trying to convey, before. The ‘don’t mess with us’ image.

but I think it's a more approachable image. Maybe people will be less scared of your apparent ability to casually use deadly force if they see that you didn't want it to happen, it ecalated beyong your contorl and you're messed up about it

Venting emotion like a little bitch, like her dad.

so Verona may have some issues around toughness

“I didn’t want this, either. I didn’t do it, I didn’t ask for it. Avery didn’t either, for that matter."

Ah that lovely fact that John isn't acting on their instructions, he's just an ally

Wet snow splooged out in every direction from the circle’s edge, along with mournful wails and stuff.

lovely word choice here

Even being outside like this, waiting for Avery, it felt very exposed, and she felt a bit humiliated.

I strongly relate to feeling like having strong emotions, particularly a breakdown, in public is humiliating. I know it shouldn't be, and I don't judge other people for it, but hate hate hate if it happens to me

“Three times, a startling laugh. Taking control of the conversation by stamping it with your Self. Making it yours. But the tears were real. The words were real and unfiltered. And they didn’t finish questioning you.”

oh! I remembered that that was Maricica's advice, but didn't connect it to Verona's laughing. To be fair to me, I started this chapter last evening and read the interrogation this morning.

“Happy outcome, at least. Showing weakness, it got most of your enemies to back off. Most."

pretty much what I was hoping

#booksandchainmail reads pale #pale #wildbow

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i-may-be · 1 year

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hii! i was wondering if i could have a matchup if that's alright 🗿

i'm bisexual and my pronouns are they/them, i'm okay with being called anything really. i lean more tward a masculine side, but not by much (kinda 50/50)

fandom is mha <3 i'd like a romantic match up please

the characters i don't wanna be matched up with are any kids like eri because that's weird :/

my loved ones say that i have a pretty laid back personality but i can have my moments where i don't stop talking lmao 😭 i can be pretty spacey and i constantly zone out when someone's talking for a long period of time

i'd like only one partner please and thank you :)

my style kinda varies but i mostly wear baggy black jeans and over side band shirts and hoodies. my first impression is quiet and reserved, but when i get to know someone well i talk (a lot)

other things i do when i'm comfortable with someone : i like to call them dumb and random names i make fun of them sometimes if i'm really comfortable around the person, i kinda hold onto them

some of my hobbies include playing the guitar, the drums, and bass. i also love skating and listening to music. i love cats and going to music stores and just looking around. people watching at the park is also pretty neat. i also really love the colors green and purple. i don't really like neon colors or loud noises.

and my type is calm white boys (a little emo) and really powerful women

thank you so much and have a great rest of your day !

hello! thank you for choosing this blog for your matchup <3

ROMANTIC MATCHUP: Nejire Hado

HOW YOU MET

You were in a relatively empty cafe enjoying your order when she first approached you.

Kinda put you off at first, because why is someone approaching you randomly in a cafe? But she was asking you questions faster than you could really think so you were already off to a rough start.

Things eventually smoothed over when Mirio came in(apparantly he was supposed to meet up with Nejire sooner, but she became bored with waiting for him after he was delayed) and he apologised for her bluntness and a few tad invasive questions that you never got around to answering in the first place.

Whatever tension you had eventually died down with Mirio there to make Nejire a little bit less intense, and somehow you all found yourselves deep in a conversation until the pair had to leave to go through with their original plan.

After that, you seemed to meet Nejire in random places and slowly got to know each other more thanks to her chatty personality and by your own growing proximity and encounter rates(that pokemon deep dive really pulling through in my writing lmao).

RELATIONSHIP HEADCANONS

I don't know what your music taste is- like I'm assuming it's good considering it seems to be a big part of your life and you play three instruments- but just know Nejire's music taste is pure shit. Like in the most affectionate way possible, she has really bad taste in music. Like not even in the mainstream bad music way, she just listens to very obscure bad music. Respect though, she's dedicated.

While you both differ in a lot of hobbies and just your personalities in general, Nejire's curiousity about everything brings you both together as she learns more about your interests. Plus, she's pretty admirable in her determination and drive which pushed her to become one of the top 3 UA students. She admires a lot about you too, just like she admires things about everyone around her, but you're special in the sense that you can convince her to actually ask her what she admires about you, a question to payback for all the intrusive questions she gives you without much warning.

Get prepared to start knowing a lot of people and have a lot of people know you. Since she's settled more in herself and now has a chatty personality, Nejire knows a lot of people, and a lot of them are going to learn about you when you both get together. News spreads quickly, and your name will be associated with her. It's not anything anyone can control, but be warned.

HANGING OUT

You both seem to share that kind of curiousity about people, you with your people watching and Nejire with her, well her more blunt approach. You could definitely drag her out to people watch with you, she can definitely hold back going up and chatting to them if you want her to just sit with you and talk quietly about your observations.

Due to her quirk and the training she has to go through to overcome it, Nejire will sometimes just come to you utterly exhausted by the day. When she's in this state, she's much more willing to just let you talk about whatever you want or put on some music while she relaxes herself.

Ice-skating dates, go figure. I think she'd do kinda dumb stuff on the ice to see you laugh, but she's too cool to actually fall or anything. After you guys would go to a cute little cafe to eat or get a drink or whatever, but it's just a sweet time for you two where you have her full attention.

#haydens matchups!!!#mha matchups #mha nejire #nejire hado #bnha matchups

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