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cheritzteam · 2 years

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[The Ssum] Special Interview on The Ssum (feat. Bluebird)

Hello, this is Cheritz.

As we have entered the month of August, it has been raining a lot in Korea.

Are you waiting to hear the news on the official launching of <The Ssum : Forbidden Lab>?

Some of you might have realized there is a little secret(?) with the PV we previously released, and today we have brought small news!

Perhaps you are tired of seeing PIU-PIU all the time, so…

We give you the Bluebird!

We have asked some questions in order to prepare you for your upcoming encounter with your special ssum-one! :D

(Please scroll down if you are interested!)

***The following contents include the wholesome conversations that took place during the interview.***

Q. Please introduce yourself. A. I am the Bluebird, No. 37. I’d like to ask you to keep this interview brief, as there is a place that requires my presence right after.

Q. Where are you needed? A. I’ve been relocating the post from ** sector on *** of *** to the lab studying human emotions.

Q. So you run the application that allows sweet, heart-fluttering chats between the users and this special ssum-one, right?? A. If you are talking about The Ssum, I must tell you that it is managed by the lab that studies love.

Q. (I’m starting to question where this conversation is going…) Is there a reason why all A.I.’s come in form of birds? A. That would be a top secret, classified.

Q. Uh... Sure... Anyways, let us move on and talk about the game. Is it true that contents worth 200 days of chat will be unfolded real-time? A. It is true.

Q. So what about chats that would take place after the 200th day? A. We are currently working on them.

Q. Could you tell us whether you will provide matches with a variety of men who could be potential special ssum-one? (A lot of our users seek conversations with more than a single person…) A. It is highly likely that will be the case in the future.

Q. Is it true that the special ssum-one will send messages whenever the user can check them for sure? Any chances that he will wake up the users in the middle of the night? A. Our A.I. named PIU-PIU used a unique technology that transcends time and space and provides a match between two different daily patterns.

Q. Is that a warning for sleep deprivation? A. Just make sure you enter the right data.

Q. The disclosed images showed how the special ssum-one changes his hair and outfits. Is there a reason he does that? Or is this part of a special event?! A. That is up for him to decide.

Q. (Now that was simple…) Will he get to send a lot of pictures? A. I cannot answer that one. I am not the special ssum-one.

Q. Come on, give us a hint! How many pictures can users expect each day?! A. According to our data, it is common to see a couple exchanging at least 10 pictures per day.

Q. (Is that supposed to be a hint??) Okay, moving on! Ever since PIU-PIU’s Love Bundle was revealed, we have been receiving questions about app subscription! A. You mean the upgrade for PIU-PIU.

Q. Is subscription a must?? Does this mean that users cannot complete the game without upgrading PIU-PIU? A. PIU-PIU on default will not disappoint, although it does come with a bit of flaws.

Q. Will users get to experience termination of chats in the middle without subscription? A. No.

Q. So what is the immediate good that the users can find in upgrading PIU-PIU? A. Its frequency will get stronger.

Q. (I’m not sure if this fella is really here to promote this game…) Just what is the <Forbidden Lab>? Why is it forbidden? A. I’m afraid this is not the right time to tell you that. (Whisper) Come find me in the game. And I must take my leave now.

Q. Wait! Before you go, please give us a word of promotion for The Ssum!!! A. It comes with features that make it more than a simple communication app.

Q. I see… Thank you for sparing your time. We will look forward to the Forbidden Lab and The Ssum!

***End of the interview***

That is all from the Bluebird!

We hope it was helpful for those of you who had questions!

You will get to see a variety of surprises and treats from your special ssum-one for 200 days...

Spend your days and nights in sweetness as your chats with your special ssum-one grows deeper and sweeter, and find out all the hidden features of the app!

And we hope you will meet again with PIU-PIU and the Bluebird in the game.

Please remember that on the 17th of August, <The Ssum : Forbidden Lab> will be officially lauched!

We will bring more news to entertain you in the future, and we wish you a happy day!

-Cheritz-

#thessum #ts #cheritz

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nav-i-nav · 3 months

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My thoughts on OMORI and its message

I feel like I should talk about the impact OMORI had on me as a whole and recent posts made the thoughts I had after finishing the game for the first time come back, so here we go!

Remember this is my own interpretation, so don't take anything I say as the irrefutable truth! Likewise, feel free to add anything I might've missed in either tags or reblogs! I love hearing about other people's interpretations of the game!

Lastly, please forgive me if something I write isn't clear or easy to understand, I just needed to get this out of my system, so apologies for any typos/formatting issues ヽ(*。>Д<)o゜!!!

TL;DR: OMORI is a complex game about acceptance and choosing to move forward, and how the choices you make will influence the path ahead of you.

There are two routes the player can choose to follow during OMORI, as well as three endings you can reach based on those choices. The true route (which can lead you to either the good ending or the bad ending) and the hikkikomori route (which leads to the neutral ending).

As I've stated in previous posts, I firmly believe this game is not about "unconditional love" or "always forgiving"; rather, it's about not running away from your mistakes and confronting, accepting, and moving past them.

The hikkikomori route

One thing I've seen a lot of people do is disregard the fact that Sunny completely forgot about Mari's death. Yes, even if Headspace Basil or Stranger remember, and even if Something is a constant "reminder" of the truth, Sunny does NOT remember this UNTIL the day before he moves away, which in turn leads to him looking for Basil and thus, this resulting on a fight breaking out between the two of them which lead us to the hospital, where we choose one final time.

We know the cycle and resetting of Headspace has happened AT LEAST four times before the events we see in the game thanks to this dialogue found right before the Black Space segment of the game.

What we don't know is if Sunny actually remembered the truth during those instances or if Omori managed to put a stop to it. Personally, I like to believe this is the case. Why, you ask? Simple. I like to believe the hikkikomori route is but another one of these cycles.

Nothing special happens, nothing that alters Sunny's routine. Sure he is going to move away, but he still chooses to isolate himself in his house and wait until that day, doing nothing but the occasional chore and sleeping. He doesn't open the door for Kel, there are no external stimuli that indicate something is wrong and the ones that are already present inside the house have been blocked (the piano room, the closet, the backyard). And so, there is no reason for Sunny to question anything. There's no reason to accept or forgive anything.

To Sunny, Headspace is real. To Sunny, the truth is that his name is Omori and that he goes on all sorts of adventures with his friends while his dear sister stays behind. This is the truth he's accepted for four years, the life he's taken on and the life he'll continue to live should he not open the door.

Sunny has forgotten himself. He cannot accept the truth or forgive himself because of this. Daddy Longlegs confirms this thanks to the following dialogue:

Not only that, but Sunny also starts seeing himself as Omori in the mirror at the end of the hikkikomori route, which only solidifies the fact he has lost himself at this point and has given in to the safety of Headspace.

Lastly, let's not forget one of the biggest differences between the true and hikkikomori routes—the "boss" fight. Whereas in the true route, it's Omori, in the hikkikomori one, it's Stranger.

Something really interesting is the change of Stranger's dialogue between the true and hikkikomori routes. Here is the dialogue during and after the fight we have against him:

There is a distinct aggression that Stranger lacks in the true route. Stranger is the embodiment of everything Sunny wishes to forget. No matter how hard he tries to separate Basil from the incident, the truth is that he will always be linked to Mari's death one way or another, and, as Daddy Longlegs says:

However, even if Sunny didn't open the door, the fact he is moving away remains. We know this causes Sunny some sort of uncertainty and discomfort, as seen by the "Time" area in Black Space. Sunny is aware something will change and that causes him anguish. It's both figuratively and literally, a timer. To leave and forget or to step outside and find out the truth.

The reason Stranger is the final "boss" of the hikkikomori route is precisely because he is the last obstacle Sunny must "overcome" before he's able to fully forget himself. He is moving away and he's chosen to go with it, to let go of the past forever and completely abandon his identity as Sunny to embrace Omori fully.

Stranger, of course, knows that Sunny has chosen to turn a blind eye to the truth, so as a last attempt, he forces him to face him, to confront everything he's run from, and try to snap him out of it. But by this point, Sunny has given up all hope. He refuses to accept the truth, he refuses to see the pain and suffering his actions have caused, and so, Stranger backs off. Because he knows that at this point Sunny is far too gone.

The true route

With that out of the way, let's focus now on what is canonically considered the true route of the game. We all know what happens: Sunny opens the door and steps out of his house for the first time in years, which leads him to reconnect and mend relationships with old friends and make new ones, all within the span of three days until he moves away.

This is already a huge difference to the alternate route, as he actively interacts with all sorts of people and environments, allowing him to explore the real world and reconnect with it again. Of course, Headspace's influence is still present (as seen by the Headspace imagery that we can see around Faraway on the first day we go outside), however as time goes on, these disappear and instead Sunny starts remembering memories he had buried deep underneath the vibrant colors and fantastical aura of his dreams.

We all know this, so why am I bringing it up?

Thanks to all the stimuli that he's being exposed to, Sunny is able to remember more and more of what happens. He can no longer run away because Mari's death is a fact that he is constantly being reminded of by the world around him. Little by little he pieces what happened back together right until the sleepover he has with everyone else at Basil's house.

During three days, Sunny begins remembering who he is, and although Omori is him, he is not Omori. He is not as strong as him, nor is he able to ignore his fears like his counterpart. Just like the branch coral dialogue indicates:

Omori can mimic a human, but Sunny will never be an empty husk. His human nature remains above all and that is precisely why he can only run for so long. One way or another, Sunny must confront his mistakes and choose.

He can still run away by not opening the door on the second day, he can still escape during the sleepover by choosing not to save Basil, but by this point, he's already faced with the truth.

Now, let's talk about Basil and Sunny's fight. Although Sunny realizes Mari's dead, he doesn't learn the full truth until after Black Space. Again, one of the main things that distinguishes these routes is what happens with Stranger after we've explored this area. The main difference is that, unlike in the hikkikomori route, in the true route, Sunny knows that he has people he can count on. He knows he is not alone, as stated by Stranger:

Sunny is no longer isolating himself. He can finally see that people care about him and that he counts with them. This is reinforced by Hero, Kel, and Aubrey's dialogues right before the fight with Omori:

As well as Basil's before Sunny enters his house for the last time>

Both of these scenes happen right before Sunny takes the initiative to confront and accept what he's done. The difference between the true and the hikkikomori routes is the fact Sunny is no longer alone and he trusts that he'll have his friends by his side until the very end.

And then, we reach the final moment. The final decision.

Just like how Stranger was the final boss for the alternate route, we stand before Omori, who readies his blade as he blocks your path. Sunny has learned the truth, he has seen what he's done and now he has to fight. To prove that he is ready to move on.

Omori has been Sunny's shield for so long. So now Sunny must show Omori he is ready to let go and be himself.

This is the difference between the journeys we go through on each route.

The reason I believe that the hikkikomori route ends with a “neutral” ending is because Sunny never faced the truth. He didn’t even try to do so, instead choosing to hide away and forget, rejecting the idea that Mari died once again. Whereas in the true ending and the bad ending, he accepts this fact and embraces it. He sees the incident once again and remembers the role he had in everything that happened over the course of four years. And then he chooses if he wants to move forward or not.

Let's look at the cutscenes that play after the fights with Stranger and Omori respectively. (I will be using the good ending cutscene for the true route):

One of my favorite things about these is the fact that in the Hikkikomori route Sunny is still submerged in the darkness of Black Space. He is still blinded and therefore he can't see those who still care for him, those who cheer on him and wish him to move on. Instead, all he sees is Omori, because that's all he's known for four years. He is the only one who's been able to provide comfort to him because he won't let anyone else inside.

This changes during the true route, and regardless of what happens in the fight, one thing is clear: Sunny has accepted the truth. He is no longer blind to what happened, and he has finally come to terms with it. Only then does he decide if he wants to take the next step forward or not.

My thoughts

If you've read this far, thank you! Now, you must be wondering what does all of that have to do with the game's message. Well, I'll get to that.

First, I want to make one thing clear. I firmly believe Sunny's journey is not one of forgiveness but of acceptance.

Sunny's been stuck in an endless loop for roughly four years. All he's done is relive the same stories and go over the same path again, just as the following dialogue shows:

He will never be able to move forward unless he accepts the truth. What's done is done, and no matter how many times Headspace is reset, Sunny will never be able to undo it.

This is why the hikkikomori route is a neutral ending compared to the bad ending, even if the outcome is considered worse but most of the fanbase. Because in the hikkikomori route, Sunny never took a step forward. Nothing changed. Meanwhile, in the bad ending, Sunny knows what he's done and he chooses to take his own life as a response. He took a step forward but didn't have the courage to take the next one.

This leads to the last ending. In the good ending, Sunny takes two steps forward instead of one.

In the secret cutscene for the true route's good ending, when Sunny and Basil’s Somethings disappear, it isn’t their guilt or their regret. Rather, it’s the delusions (both literally and figuratively) that have blinded them for so long, the delusions that made them unable to move on. And now they can finally see past them and find each other.

They can finally accept that YES, Sunny killed Mari, and YES, both of them hurt the rest of their friends AND each other with their actions.

That’s the first step for them to heal.

But it’s definitely not the last one.

Trauma doesn’t go away so easily. And sure, life will be rough for a while. But at least they’re LIVING. They finally see things for what they are, and they are able to move past them and try to forgive themselves.

Maybe they won’t forgive themselves. And their trauma is never going to go away. But at least they’re no longer trapped in a lie and can choose what they want to do with their lives.

This is why, to me, OMORI is not about forgiveness. The story never shows Hero, Kel and Aubrey's reactions to the truth because this isn't what the game wants to focus on. Sunny's journey is for him to accept the truth and come to terms with it. But it's not the only journey we see along the way. Take Aubrey for example. She too came to terms with her actions towards Basil during those four years, and although there is not a conclusive ending to this, we see how she realizes her actions weren't justified no matter how hurt she was and she chooses to try and make amends.

Choices are extremely important in Omori. Sure, we can choose if we want to run away from an enemy or fight it, we can choose if we want to buy an item or not, we can choose to play the minigames or do the side quests we get along the way. But at the end of the day, the choices we make determine the future of the characters.

By opening that door, we can see the different outcomes of the story. And to me, that is just how real life is. We don't know what will happen in the future, we don't know if we are going to hurt others or if we'll regret our actions once everything's over, but what's important is to have the courage to make those decisions in the first place, the courage to accept when we're wrong and then choose to move forward or not.

Omori has taught me that making mistakes does not equal you being a terrible person. It is your choice to learn from those mistakes and improve. No matter what, you must have faith in yourself and those around you, and know that even if you didn't make the "right" choice, you can learn from it and you can become a better person thanks to it.

And I think that's beautiful.

#omori #omori game #omori sunny #sunny omori #omori headcanons #omori spoilers #navi.txt

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itsclydebitches · 1 year

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Hi, I stopped watching RWBY midway through volume 5 and basically only keep up with it through your blog which has made volume 9 quite a trip. Anyway, I've got to ask what the fuck is going on in episode 9? The team is happy about Ruby drinking the tea???

I literally cannot imagine being you right now lol. Experiencing RWBY solely through this blog?? Absolutely wild concept. How does it feel being blindsided on a weekly basis? XD

But to actually answer your question... yes? The tea is heavily framed as a suicide attempt, given that Ruby drinks it after a physical and psychological beating from Neo, with the intent of not being Ruby Rose anymore, after Neo herself entices her with it because, as we know, she wants revenge on Ruby for (in her mind) killing Roman. There’s no version of Episode 8 in which this is framed as a positive action. However, at the same time the show has been pushing the idea that Ascension (AKA what Ruby has done by drinking the tea) is ultimately a good thing; a way for those who have fulfilled their purpose to finally move on and achieve something new. Now, however harmful a message that might be from our perspective, the show has made it clear that this is natural for an Afteran, so I could sort of buy it as a cultural difference...

Provided the show had explained how losing your memories/even your physical body isn’t a "real" kind of death.

If we hadn’t seen a character dragged off against their will, forced to Ascend despite clearly being opposed to the idea.

If our “best” version of the journey didn’t come from the Paper Pleasers, a group with cult-like undertones that are so obsessed with Ascension they orchestrate daily attempts at physical harm/suicide in order to achieve it.

If any one of the characters had bothered to consider whether this would be good for Ruby, a human who does not come from this world, especially after it’s explicitly pointed out that she shouldn’t be able to Ascend.

If any one of the characters had considered that Ruby doesn't have a defined purpose that she has completed and thus has no need to undergo the Be Assigned a New Purpose Ritual.

And if most of this information hadn’t come from the Cat, a manipulative (according to the heroes) party later revealed to be a Super Duper Evil Villain.

So even within the realm of ‘This is a good thing, just a cultural difference!’ there is a LOT of negative implications that the story hasn’t bothered to unpack. But here, in Episode 9, the group continues to ignore all of it. They see that the Paper Pleasers, after drowning themselves, have come back as the Genial Gems. Does it matter that they had to undergo such a horrific event in order to achieve that upgrade? No. Does it matter that they no longer remember Jaune, a friend who lived with them for years? No. Does it matter that they found Ruby beaten and bloody, being given the tea by Neo while a fake Roman talks about how the world would be better off without her, after she ran from them all post-meltdown because she (rightly) believes that no one cares about her mental health? No! All that matters is that the Gems came back “better” - with “better” defined as now being impervious to water and fire - so that means Ruby will definitely come back “better” too. Hurrah!

The characters don’t care about the horrors that it took to get Ruby to this place, or that she committed magical suicide in front of them, or that Neo helped orchestrate all this, or that Little was lying dead in front of her. All they care about is how this was supposedly Ruby’s “choice” and if she doesn’t come back as the same Ruby they knew, that can only be a good thing because - again - she chose to do this.

(I need to make a separate post on how no, this is not a choice in the way RWBY is framing it. There's a reason why we discuss depression as an illness. You don't "choose" it any more than you choose to die of cancer.)

I can’t emphasize enough that the message of Episode 9 couched in metaphor is, “Yes, if you hate yourself dying is an option. Agency is the most important thing, so if someone wants to die, you need to let them die and accept that fighting for them is selfish (remember Penny?). Lucky for the heroes, they exist in a magical world where death has a reset button, so choosing suicide is an even smarter choice because then you can reflect on that choice and possibly come back with a cool upgrade!”

Yang has one (1) moment where she freaks a little after seeing Ruby encased in the tree, but Blake, Weiss, and Jaune talk her down because remember Yang, your sister chose this. It’s a good thing.

The rest of the episode is this vibe. Behold, the team literal minutes after watching a psychologically terrorized, physically beaten Ruby try to kill herself:

#rwde #rwby #suicide tw #mymetas

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yelenasdiary · 8 months

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Kinktober Info

So, I have decided to join in on the kinktober trend this year! Please have a read below on how to request a fic and the times I'll be posting etc.

Please DO NOT read this post or interact with my blog in any form if you are a minor! This is for people 18+ ONLY!. Men, please do not interact, thank you.

This is kind of long but it includes everything you need to know before sending me a request x.

Requesting -

If you'd like to request a fic for Kinktober, please read these points carefully.

~ The deadline to have requests sent is September 23rd (AEST). For anybody outside Australia, this would be September 22nd.

~ When requesting, please mark your request with "For Kinktober", if you don't I will just assume your request isn't for the event.

~ Sending a request doesn’t guarantee it will be written, I may get an overwhelming amount of requests for this & if that happens, I simply cannot write them all.

~ When sending a request, please state if you want Reader to be fem or GN! If you want Reader to have a penis in the fic, please mention if you want them to be Fem, GN or AFAB/AMAB.

Here is a list of what I am comfortable with writing & what I am not comfortable writing. Please read these carefully, if you send a request that I am not comfortable with, I will delete it without an explanation.

Comfortable With: Daddy/Mommy kinks, Con Non Con, Character x Character, Character x Reader, Breeding Kink, Voyeurism, Desperation, Toys, Bondage, Double Penetration, Lactation Kink, Somnophilia, Exhibitionism. FAB! Reader with a penis and/or Character with a penis.

Not Comfortable With: Scat, Incest, Pedophilia, Character x Male Reader, Body Shaming, R*pe, Racism, Age Regression in a sexual setting.

I do not write smut for celebrity x reader. I only write smut for female fictional characters x reader.

Extra Details -

~ I will post a fic every Monday, Wednesday & Friday for kinktober, giving you all a total of 13 fics. Again, for all those outside Australia, this will be every Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday.

~ All fics will be posted at 5PM AEST. If for any reason I will be late posting, I'll make a post about it.

~ I will not have a seperate taglist for this, if you want to be tagged for any of my work, please leave a comment on THIS POST.

Who I Will Write For -

If somebody isn’t listed here, it doesn’t necessarily mean I won’t write for them.

Yelena Belova (Marvel)

Wanda Maximoff // The Scarlet Witch (Marvel)

Natasha Romanoff (Marvel)

Kate Bishop (Marvel)

Agatha Harkness (Marvel)

Melina Vostokoff (Marvel)

Emily Prentiss (Criminal Minds)

Charlie Ross (The Little Drummer Girl)

Kelly Foster (We Brought a Zoo)

Jane Banner (Wind River)

Leigh Shaw (Sorry For You Loss)

Alice Chambers (Don’t Worry Darling)

Taylor Sloane (Ingrid Goes West)

Any variant characters from THIS LIST.

With that, I can't wait to be apart of this little event (or trend, whatever you want to call it!) I'm excited to see what you guys come up with! If you have any further questions, concerns or if you're confused on anything, please don't hesitate to send me a message or ask.

#fanfiction #yelena belova #marvel #natasha romanoff #wanda maximoff #kinktober #Kate bishop #agatha harkness

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yoonia · 1 year

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Blood Moon Rising | 30

‘As beings from ancient times, the Vampire Clan has undergone numerous changes to thrive in the Modern Age after surviving the Ancient Blood War. As a part of the traveller family in his clan, Jimin has parted ways from the coven until the day his Lords warned him of the lurking danger from inside the clan. And all so suddenly, he was pulled out of his solitary, only to have given the responsibility he had never wished to have, along with the threats that come as a part of the deal.

Born as youngest yet having lost so much, you have given your family your loyalty, your protection, and had been given their love and support that had become the only thing that keeps you going. But what happens when the only people you have put your trust in only repay you with betrayal?’

➥ Character | Jimin x reader

➥ Genre | Supernatural!au, Vampire! Jimin, Werewolf!reader, Angst

➥ Ratings & Warning | PG-13; mentions of assault and usage of poison, depiction of a battle.

➥ Word count | 13,3k words

➥ Part of The Shifters Series | World Map & Glossary | Characters Guide | ⤎ Previous Chapter | Next Chapter ⇢

➥ Masterlist

➥ Author’s Note | I’m sorry this took forever, and I’m also sorry that I couldn’t get this chapter any shorter when it’s a bit more detail and conversation heavy, but we’re getting closer to some more action, I promise. A quick reminder, that as we progress with the story with more possible crossovers between stories happening in the future chapters, I will start referring to the other female characters with their OC names each time they make any appearance in the scenes. Feel free to follow and get to know more about these characters through the Characters Guide page linked above. Enjoy!

Jimin has lost count of how many times he had travelled through the Resting Forest.

He had gone through the same trail for many years, decades, and most possibly even during the past century that he spent more time being constantly on the move, exploring the continent and travelling across the vast land rather than staying secluded within the home castle. The trail has become so familiar to him that he no longer questions the reason why he had found himself running through this forest during the frenzy state that he was in when he was fighting to survive from the poison, sending him far towards the East side of the continent.

It had sent him falling right into your path, causing an encounter that seemed to have been destined to happen.

Jimin stops himself from going down memory lane just as he begins thinking about the entire event, unwilling to let his mind wander too far as he silently follows behind Kim Junmyeon, the Alpha of the Blue Moon Pack who is leading him and his Vampire brothers towards the werewolf’s home territory. He looks over his shoulders, immediately meeting Jinhwan and Junhoe’s eyes as they both walk closely behind him. Both of them are wearing the look of exhaustion, looking worse for wear but doing their best to keep their heads up to hide it.

The twin sons of Lord Seunghyun are walking right behind them. Why they have chosen to tag along instead of going ahead with Hanbin who had left earlier is something that Jimin cannot understand. It had seemed like they had decided to stay close to Junhoe, the one who they had looked up to as their protector ever since their young age. The messenger that had come with them, Yeosang, has separated from the group right after the battle had ended to continue with his duty, as the twins had asked him to send out a message to the other Lords’ children to let them know that they have met with Jimin and that the Orphans are gathering in the werewolves’ territory. At the far back, the Siren mage, Hyun, follows silently. His eyes keep flashing between black and silver while he walks, a sign that he is using his spells. Perhaps it is his way of tracing any signs of threat coming along the way, and he is doing so while chatting along with the Enforcer who is walking right beside him in his human form as he had injured his shoulders during the fight.

Behind Jimin and his group of entourage, the rest of the werewolf pack follows, mostly remaining in their werewolf forms to provide security for their Alpha and his special guests. Though the security measures do nothing to stop Jimin from staying alert on their journey. Not only because of the possible threat that may still come, knowing that not all of Jiho’s followers have been put down or apprehended from the previous fight, but also for the fact that the Alpha and his pack seem to be leading him down a secret path that Jimin had never once noticed before when he travelled past this region.

Despite knowing everything about the Resting Forest and the territory surrounding the Blue Moon Pack, there was nothing much that Jimin had known about the aforementioned werewolf pack itself. Nothing else other than its various characteristics which had become the reason why the pack had been chosen as the intermediary of the Peace Treaty. Ever since the end of the Blood War, they have been widely known and proven to be the most proficient mediators in maintaining the Peace Treaty between the Shifters community and the Vampires clan, while their territory has become a neutral ground, as they are strategically situated at the part of the continent which allows them to maintain communication with their alliances with ease.

To the East, the Blue Moon Pack is surrounded by other smaller packs of shifters and small human towns, while they also have direct access to the two largest and strongest packs in the continent—the Supreme Wolf Pack and the Wolf Moon Pack—and their human alliance in the Rivermouth Village. Slightly up to the North, they are merely a coast apart from the restricted area which is the home island of the Fairies, though it had never been confirmed if the pack had ever developed any direct association with the latter, as the Fairies have been mostly known to keep to themselves and remain distant from the other communities in the continent. To the West, the pack is connected directly to more human territories as their closest neighbours, while they have the Vampire clan’s homeland as their farthest neighbour, even if they still have easy access to remain in contact with their representatives within the Vampire clan.

The advantage that their strategic location has offered does come with a price, however, as they are also situated within the proximity of one of the most hazardous parts of the land.

Surrounded by the Resting Mountains which acts like a massive wall of shield to protect them from any possible threat, along with the Resting Forest which acts as the perfect barrier and secured border surrounding the pack’s territory, they are still susceptible to the danger coming from the No Man’s Land down South and the Hunters’ colony on their South West side. The barren land serves as a silent threat, with ruthless rogues and halflings residing within its territory, constantly waiting for the right time to move out in search of new lands to raid. Meanwhile, the Hunters could often be seen lurking around the area, using the excuse of watching over the rogue shifters in order to stop them from coming near the human towns. Yet the shifters community has always known that they are simply lying in wait, anticipating for a chance to strike any unsuspecting pack of shifters before infiltrating their territory to seize control.

With these facts in mind, Jimin wonders if this would be the reason behind the peculiar route that the Alpha is taking him and his brothers upon entering their home territory.

For a long time, there is only one open path that Jimin has known to be the main entrance leading to the Blue Moon Pack’s territory. He knows of its existence and where it is originally located, enough to know to stay clear from it whenever he would travel past this region. Enough to notice that this is not the path that he has in mind. The moment he began to follow the Alpha’s lead, he had expected to see the familiar-looking path that he had been avoiding for many years. Yet, instead of finding himself going around or between the Resting Mountains the way he had expected he would, Alpha Junmyeon has been leading him down below, going through the path beneath the mountains.

“Is it safe to assume that this isn’t your public entrance that would have been the main access meant for your regular guests?” Jimin questions the Alpha after a short period of time walking in silence through the cavern underneath the mountains. His voice bounces against the rocky walls around them, followed by an echo that sounds subtle and smooth. It gives him the slightest hint of how deep this cavern seems to be and how far the journey that they still need to take before reaching the end, but also hints at just how well-maintained this secret path has been.

Right beside him, Alpha Junmyeon responds with a soft chuckle as he nods at the Vampire. “No, this is not our public entrance. Blue Moon Pack has multiple entry points for security measures. Our territory is located in one of the most compromising places in the continent, open to threats and challenges. Both the mountains and the forest have been sufficient enough to hide us from our enemy’s sight, making it hard for those who have never once set foot in our territory to find where we truly are, but we still cannot risk jeopardising our safety during moments like this one.”

Hearing the werewolf’s answer, Jimin simply nods, acknowledging the measures that the werewolf pack has taken to protect themselves from the challenges that they must regularly face. A new sense of admiration grows on Jimin as he silently commends them for being resourceful, proving further that they are truly a worthy ally. He now understands precisely well why you and your family had thought of them with high regard, putting aside the fact that you were once mated with one of the previous Alpha’s sons.

“So that means there are more of these secret passages hidden under the mountains?” Jimin asks, both out of curiosity and also for the sake of not letting his mind goes all the way into wondering about the life you had before he met you. To his relief, everyone around him seems to be preoccupied with the need to focus on getting through the passageway safely to notice the emotional turmoil that suddenly overcomes him.

“Beneath, around, and over. Each one is hidden perfectly with only a few selected pack members and ranked wolves would know how to access, and each one is specially guarded against any possible threat from both inside and outside of our territory,” Alpha Junmyeon explains with a proud smile, before slowly adding, “I don’t think even your mate had any knowledge of all the passages that we have despite having spent quite a long time living with us. She only knew a few of the old ones that the immediate family members of the previous Alphas would use, since she had used them to come and go when she needed to, but there had been a couple of new ones that we had created since the pack has been growing rapidly over the years.”

Jimin gives out a soft chuckle. “Seeing that she didn’t even bother mentioning it in the first place, I’m pretty sure that even if she has figured them all out, she would keep it to herself to protect you and your family. Even from me,” he lightly jokes, smiling wider as Alpha Junmyeon laughs at his comment. Jimin waits until their laughter dies down before uttering slowly, “I guess news travels fast around here,” indicating the fact that the werewolf had somehow found out that Jimin had recently mated with you, a fact that wasn’t supposed to have reached them when neither of you had made it public as it had only happened recently.

Alpha Junmyeon falls silent for a brief moment, giving Jimin nothing but a small smile. “We have a mage who resides with us while acting as our counsellor. A member of the Peacekeepers. She has foreseen your mating while maintaining contact with her mentor, the grand mage, Agatha, who had confirmed her vision to be true,” he later says to Jimin, who is not completely surprised to hear Agatha’s name being mentioned as she had always appeared to be someone who was crucial to the Peacekeepers and their purpose. “Even if we haven’t heard the news from our counsellor, I would’ve still recognised the scent you are carrying and the mating mark that she left on you right the moment we met. I surely hope that my sister—” he stops himself briefly with a chuckle and quickly says, “Oh, forgive me. I mean, my former sister-in-mating. I hope that she is doing well.”

Jimin gives the Alpha a warm smile. “She is surviving and thriving regardless of the circumstances. Due to your relations with each other, I do believe that she will remain to regard herself as your sister-in-mating, as my existence could never erase the history that she had with your brother.” Hearing this, the Alpha nearly stumbles. He quickly turns to Jimin, shocked, quite obviously not expecting to hear the Vampire acknowledging his late brother, your fated mate, without any hint of jealousy. Though his eyes grow soft as Jimin later adds, “She still thinks highly of you as well, and she respects you as both the Alpha and the older brother that she never had growing up. She had even asked me personally to find you if I ever need to when she heard that I was travelling through this area to reach home.”

Jimin turns to the Alpha as they both stop walking for a brief moment, nodding with a smile. “Never would have thought that I would find myself in a circumstance where you would find me first and aid me before I had the chance to reach out. I do wonder, however, how it was possible for you to find us in the first place. Or, more specifically, to know that I would be there in need of help, and to think that you are working side by side with Hanbin, the brother that I thought I had lost.”

Alpha Junmyeon locks his gaze with Jimin for a moment before proceeding with the journey. He has tried to hide it, but Jimin can still catch the glint of tears appearing in the corner of his eyes as he looks away. “I highly appreciate that, knowing that she still thinks of me the same way,” the Alpha says with a soft voice. The moment he turns to look at Jimin once more, there is a bit more warmth in his gaze and his smile as he speaks, “I still think of her as my little sister. I don’t think that it will change anytime soon. Regardless of who she is mated with. And it was an honour of mine to assist you when you were in need. Don’t worry, all of your questions will be answered soon, including why and how your brother had come to be with us.”

Despite his curiosity and the questions lingering inside his head, Jimin simply smiles in return, choosing to be patient about getting his answers. “Thank you, Alpha. For being there for me and my brothers, and for bringing aid to us. And, more importantly, I certainly hope that things wouldn’t change between you and my mate, whatever happens in the future.”

At his comment, Alpha Junmyeon gives a brief nod, before his expression changes. Straightening his back and shoulders, the Alpha puts on a more serious look on his face, acting once again as the host Alpha before he gets too emotional about his sister-in-mating who he hasn’t seen for years. “It won’t take us long before we arrive,” he calmly says as he continues to walk ahead of the group, Jimin quickly following close behind. “These caverns were created as quick passageways, not only to help us sneak in, but also for our emergency escape, so the journey would take much shorter compared to the trip that we normally would have needed if we had gotten through the main entryway. This tunnel specifically was created to lead you straight to the safety chamber within our pack house.”

Jimin reacts with a nod. Then his mind wanders back to the conversation that they shared previously, back to when the Alpha invited him and his brother to his pack for the first time. “Is there where these guests of yours are waiting for us at?”

“Yes, they would be waiting for you there. I’m sure that your brother, Hanbin, had already joined them by now,” Alpha Junmyeon says with a secretive smile, as he continues to make Jimin wonder about who these ’guests’ might have been, as the Alpha had never taken the chance to explain further before they departed towards his home pack. “I’m sure that the safe chamber would be more fitting for this reunion, and for the private meeting that we have prepared for you.”

A wave of distrust spreads through the air around Jimin as his brothers overhear the Alpha’s words. An unsettling feeling rises inside him as well at how vague the Alpha has been about whoever it is waiting for Jimin and his brothers to arrive. But Jimin has no other choice but to trust the Alpha, knowing that Hanbin has done the same by reaching the pack first.

Jimin tries his best to tame his curiosity, not wanting to let it take away his focus as he slowly enters a new and unfamiliar territory. “Can’t wait to meet them,” Jimin simply mutters, as he silently sends his thoughts to his brothers and Hyun, warning them to stay alert and be prepared for whatever is waiting for them at the other end of this tunnel.

Jimin breathes in the fresh night air as he steps out of the long cavern, and he is immediately surrounded by the ripples of force that are a part of the Blue Moon Pack’s signature. It isn’t as powerful or as intimidating as the forces that he had felt in the past when he visited the Supreme Wolf Pack during one of his missions, but it is enough to alert him, to remind him that he has stepped foot into a foreign territory that might not always be so welcoming to Vampires, especially under the circumstances that they are in.

His own powers begin to rise in response, forming a protective barrier around him against the forces that seem to be present to identify him as a new threat. He controls himself, however, until he settles down from his need to fight and the ripples of forces around him start to calm down, settling around him in a more welcoming embrace. He looks around, noticing his brothers doing the same while the two mischievous twins seem completely unaffected. Right behind them, almost looking just as unaffected as Lord Seunghyun’s children, Hyun remains calm as he continues conversing with the Enforcer who had been travelling alongside him.

Jimin doesn’t know much about the siren or his powers, but he could sense that the mage has exceptional control of his powers and magic. His calm and quiet nature might be his way of hiding the true nature of his magic, something that Jimin had witnessed during the fight and back when they were still in the Wiccan community’s hideout. And he is seeing it now here, as the shifter walks past the border without so much of a flinch when the forces around him should be pressuring him from various sides the way they do against the Vampires. To have such a powerful being — someone who is supposed to be a part of a community of shifters that has been living far hidden in their sanctuary for centuries — now working with modern white magic and joining hands with the Peacekeepers, is something that has Jimin wondering and questioning about the boy’s true identity.

Deciding to put his curious mind at ease and focus instead on the events happening in the present, Jimin then turns to the Alpha who is already waiting for him. Together with his entourage in tow, Jimin proceeds to follow him across the open ground which spreads from the mouth of the cavern that they had just walked out from, a gravel-covered pathway marking the way that they are supposed to follow to reach their destination.

As they continue their walk, Jimin silently observes his surroundings. The trees here are much smaller than what he had encountered out there in the forest, but they might be just as capable of giving shelter to everyone walking down this very same pathway. It would have given the Vampires the perfect shield against the sunlight, though it is hard to confirm it now as the day is already turning into nightfall once again.

Above him, the sky appears to be tinted in dark grey, with only a hint of burnt tangerine shining on the horizon as the sun takes its final descent for the night. Jimin cannot believe that an entire day had passed, though the moment he is surrounded by solitude and serenity, it seems as if the long battle that he had just gone through has ended a long period of time ago. He can still feel the aftermath of the battle—the exhaustion, the remnants of the wounds that are still in the process of healing, and the feeling of dread that has been following him since he was forced to fight his own kind. Even his entire senses are still vibrating, as if he could still feel the rumbling of the forest while it was burning in flames.

A massive cedar tree appears before him just as he reaches the end of the open pathway, rising tall from the ground just as Jimin slowly walks closer. It takes him a moment to realise that the tree is growing against the side of a building, with its trunk leaning against the stone walls while its branches are giving the perfect shades to partially hide the pair of wooden doors that Jimin can see peeking through the shadows. As if the tree had come alive at one point and simply decided to rest against the structure, protecting it from any possible intruders with its entire body.

“This building—” Hyun wonders loudly as he steps forward and stands beside Jimin, before he starts voicing the very same question that the Vampire is dying to ask, “Would this be the pack house that you mentioned earlier?”

The Alpha smiles knowingly at the siren mage and answers, “Yes, this is a part of our pack house. Or, if you want me to be precise, you are currently looking at the additional sector of the main house which is placed at the rear end of the entire residential complex. This area is often used to accommodate regular guests or shelter families of Enforcers who are on leave for pack’s duty, which is why this access is provided here to give these guests or the families staying on this side of the house more privacy and the security they need.”

“Ah, I see,” Hyun says, laughing softly. “I was wondering why the Blue Moon Pack would hide its main house so deep into the woods or use such an old building to shelter its members. I half expected to hear that you had simply disguised the house for incomers and unfamiliar guests like us.”

Smiling at Hyun’s curiosity, Alpha Junmyeon shakes his head. “As I have mentioned, this passageway is meant for anyone who needs to mobilise in private while also functioning as an escape route from within the pack. This is the safest route that we could choose for you to enter the pack house without drawing unwanted attention from other pack members, something that I am sure you wanted to avoid,” he explains further while pointing out that he knows that Jimin and his group have been moving in secrecy before reaching this area.

Though it is true that the Alpha knows what Jimin and the others truly need, as gaining attention on their movements and presence in the pack would be the last thing that they need, as it would alert others from outside the pack of what they are trying to do. Having caught in an intense battle earlier had certainly ruined their initial plans, as now a fraction of the rebels had revealed that Jimin did survive the poison. And now Jimin can no longer predict what the rebels would do if they should find out that he had made contact with the Blue Moon Pack, who is supposed to be the neutral party in this entire situation.

Alpha Junmyeon gestures to his Enforcers to open the door for them while he continues to explain, “This door leads straight to the safe chamber in the basement, where our guests are currently staying. For the sake of tonight’s meeting, we have arranged for the basement to be left unused by the pack members. It would give you the privacy that you would need to talk without any intrusions from anyone from the pack. Although, as the Alpha of Blue Moon Pack and the one responsible for the pack’s safety, I would still like to request that I, along with my Beta and Third-in-command, could join this meeting as the mediators and your personal witnesses, as what you are discussing may involve the future of our pack and our treaty.”

Jimin nods, finding no grievance about the Alpha and his ranked wolves being there. “I certainly have no objection to your involvement. This is your home, after all, and we are merely your guests. I would hate to appear as if the Vampires are taking over your territory for the sake of our cause,” he lightly comments before adding, “And also because you seem to know better about whoever it is waiting for me to meet.”

The Alpha laughs while Jimin shows his uncertainty as he thinks about what he might be getting into. “I can assure you that there is no threat waiting for you down there. At least, not from us,” Alpha Junmyeon reassures him as he sees the Vampire’s reaction. “As the one who is providing you space for this audience, I shall instead offer you protection, even if just to make sure that I can send you home safely to my sister-in-mating.”

His statement draws a smile from Jimin. “I’ll hold on to your words then. Lead the way for us, Alpha. Let’s see who our mystery guest is and get this over with,” Jimin says, gesturing towards the door just as one of the Enforcers moves to open them.

The massive door creaks as it opens and the Enforcer steps aside, allowing the group of Vampires and the lone mage to enter first. The entrance foyer is kept dark, while the air inside feels a bit musty compared to the outside, though it grows better as they continue to walk through the area until they reach a long hallway leading to the stairwell that would take them to the lower ground.

Alpha Junmyeon takes the lead with the previous Enforcer to show them the way down, and only then does Jimin finally realises that the other pack members and Enforcers who had been with them had parted ways, presumably to return to each of their own quarters as they are done with their roles for the night.

Unlike the entrance foyer that they had seen earlier, the stairwell doesn’t seem too dark nor cramped, as the entire way down is lighted with small sconces hanging on the walls around them. Once they all reach the basement, Jimin is surprised to find that the open area below is much more spacious than he had previously thought it would be. Though it shouldn’t be much of a surprise knowing that it should hold as many pack members as it could if any danger should ever occur in their territory.

There are a few closed doors in every corner of the room which seem to be leading to more personal spaces. Jimin can only guess that they may be bed chambers for guests or pack members who would need some privacy during their stay here.

Much to his surprise, however, even if the basement area is located deep underground, the air around him feels a lot less musty or damp the way it did when he first entered the building. The cool air seems to flow around him more fluidly, suggesting that there is better ventilation on this level compared to the upper ground.

They continue walking, reaching the far edge of the basement that leads to a long hallway where another set of doors appears right at its end. Alpha Junmyeon turns to Jimin and his brothers, calmly stating, “Here we are,” before he knocks on the door gently to announce his arrival.

The door opens right away, with Hanbin appearing on the other side with a bright smile, already expecting to see his brothers coming. “Ah, you’re finally here. We’ve been anxiously waiting for you.”

Before Jimin could question him more about his comment, Hanbin steps aside and ushers Jimin and the rest of the group to enter the room. Walking past the threshold, Jimin takes his time to look around him and asses his surroundings. Unlike the bare-looking open area of the basement where they had landed from the stairs, this room feels a lot warmer and way more comfortable to settle in.

Instead of a bed chamber, the group finds themselves entering what seems to be a seating lounge. The walls around them are painted in dark grey and navy blue tone of colours. While looking slightly dark, it gives a lot more life into the room compared to the barren space outside, where all Jimin could see was the pale stone walls and bare cemented floors. A plush carpet covers the floor, while a few leather-covered loveseats are placed in various corners of the room, giving it a homey atmosphere that helps calm the unsettling feeling inside Jimin’s chest a little. The sound of the cracking flame from the fireplace draws everyone’s attention, as it sparks together with a subtle flow of a familiar force that sends a deep longing into Jimin’s heart.

As he turns toward the fireplace, two young werewolves step closer, greeting their Alpha first with a respectful bow before turning to Jimin and his group. “Lord Jimin, let me introduce you to my second, Beta Chanyeol,” the Alpha says as the taller one bows towards Jimin, before gesturing to the one standing beside him who is wearing a bright smile on his face. “And this is my Third-in-command, Minseok. I have handed them both the responsibility of accompanying our guests and watching over the pack on my leave, and with your permission, they will act as witnesses for tonight’s meeting.”

Jimin greets them in return, and allows the werewolves to chat with the rest of his group while he turns away, intending to study his surroundings more closely. He notices Hanbin walking closer just then, with his two other brothers walking alongside him. His throat feels constricted as he sees Yunhyeong, looking as if he had just come out of the infirmary, with one of his arms hanging on a sling, though his smile is still as bright as it always has been. Jimin recalls Jinhwan’s story about the attack, how Yunhyeong had taken the hardest blow during the ambush before disappearing in the portal during their dramatic escape. Together with them is Donghyuk, who had left Jinhwan in the hands of the Wiccans in order to find their missing brothers. Since he is here with them, it has appeared that his mission had been a success.

Seeing his brothers all back together gives Jimin a sense of relief. He is overcome with glee to see them all standing there, even if their appearances are filled with fresh scars and wounds.

“So—” he says as they all come to surround him, each one of the brothers holding back as much as they could from getting too emotional that neither of them makes a move for a hug. “Were you the special guests that the Alpha has been talking about?”

Hanbin grins at his brother and shakes his head. “I wish I could say that we were the ones getting all the royal treatment. Unfortunately, that’s not the case. Someone else is here to see you. And I bet you’ll be happy to see him too,” he says, as he steps aside, allowing Jimin to get a clear view of the rest of the room.

He turns around to look at the center of the room as Hanbin gestures him to, and sees a round table with a few armchairs that have been strategically placed around it, signifying that this place has normally been used for secret meetings or private dialogues which needs to be done away from the other pack members.

But it is not the round table itself which makes Jimin halt and catches his full attention. It is the male Vampire who is sitting right at the head of the table, silently watching him with a smirk while leaning back in his high-back armchair, as if he has been waiting patiently for Jimin to notice his presence.

In his shock, Jimin’s mind wanders back to a recent event in the past, taking him back to the final moments that he shared with his mentor. Lord Xander’s voice echoes inside his head as he sees the older Vampire flashing through his thoughts, as he is taken back to the moment when the healer Lord was handing him a pair of necklaces before bidding his goodbyes,

“If neither of us could recover in time, or if Death comes to us in our sleep, please make sure to give these to our children. To Laila’s daughter and my son.”

‘My son.'

Jimin blinks away the image from his head, almost unable to believe just what he is seeing. For a moment, he had almost thought that he was seeing Lord Xander sitting there, smiling the same way he would have whenever they would meet. But he quickly snaps out of it, just as the past memory fades away from his thoughts, helping him to realise that the Vampire before him looks a lot younger than his mentor, despite looking almost identical, and with much shorter hair.

Before Jimin can react, the twins beat him to it as they walk around him and rush towards the round table together to greet the familiar face waiting for them.

“Jiwon. Should’ve known that it would be you waiting for us here,” Yongguk comments with a deep chuckle as he slides closer to the Vampire, while the other twin curiously tilts his head. “How did you get here? Why are you hiding in a werewolf pack? Have you been here all this time?”

Jiwon softly chuckles at his cousins, keeping his eyes on Jimin when he gives them an answer, ”It’s quite a long story, actually, and it has something to do with the reason why Hanbin and Yunhyeong had ended up here too.”

Surprised, Jimin immediately turns to glance at his brothers, both of them shrugging their shoulders as if telling him that the Vampire’s words are true.

“Why don’t you take your seats and join me?” Jiwon calls out to the Orphans who are still standing a few feet away from the round table, while the twins had swiftly taken the empty seats right beside him, as if they all belong there. “I bet you boys are tired from the long journey and might be a bit confused. We need some catching up to do anyway. I’m not wrong, am I—Lord Jimin?”

Back at Wolf Moon Pack…

There is something magical about the sunset in the Wolf Moon Pack.

The air cools down the moment the sun begins to descend, while the vibrant colours in the sky seem to blend together like a watercolour painting—iridescent, dazzling, enchanting—as if the space around the pack is coming alive at nightfall. You look up to admire the dark shade spreading in the sky that appears almost purple, while the stars begin to pop out, revealing their beautiful glow one sparkle at a time. As the faint shade of the descending sun fades beneath the foliage across the hill before you, the moonlight above is quick to grab your attention. Its radiating light draws you in, but it is the shade faintly appearing on its edges that has you taking a long, deep breath.

The indistinct shade of red.

Its presence serves as a reminder that time is running out. Ever since it had been determined that the events which had been happening for the past few years—the rebellion rising within the Vampires clan and the coup which occurred in your home pack—have a silver lining, that someone—or perhaps, quite undoubtedly, an entire group of them—is intending to give rise to the Blood War, bringing back the nightmare that had haunted the entire continent for centuries, it has marked the rise of the blood moon as your time limit.

There seems to be a clear reason why that specific night has always been chosen for the rise of chaos and why it was possible for the Dark Alliance to unite their powers to take over the continent. And now that it is evident just how close it is already to the night of the blood moon rising, you cannot help but feel as if you are being pushed into a corner, with limited options to choose on how to stop the war from happening.

But will it be possible for any of us to stop it at all?

“It’s a marvellous view from here, isn’t it?”

You turn away from the window just as Mage Kim enters the room. Her arrival snaps you out of your daze, plummeting you back into reality where you are standing in her quaint kitchen, with bright lights illuminating the room in contrast to the dusky sunset out in the woods.

The pretty mage moves with a gentle flow around the counter, carrying a basket full of fresh vegetables in one hand and an old spell book in the other, which she then places on top of the marble top counter with such ease and grace before turning to you once again to speak, “I always enjoy watching the sunset from that very same window myself after a long busy day of work, though it seems to me that it’s not giving you the same calming effect as it does to me.”

Puzzled by her words, you tilt your head, trying to understand what she is trying to say. Seeing this, Mage Kim giggles a little before tilting her chin towards your hands. “Seeing the way you are clutching that mug so tightly, I can only guess that your mind is not as calm as it looks.”

Raising your eyebrows, you follow her gaze and look down at your hands. Sure enough, you find that not only you are clutching the mug in your hand just as tightly as the way she described it, but your claws have also come out, making their appearance and almost digging into the sides of the mug. Hairline cracks are beginning to materialize on what was supposed to be a flawless-looking mug before the tip of your claws made contact with it.

With a gasp, you quickly retract your claws and loosen up your grip on the mug, before gently placing it on top of the kitchen counter.

“I-I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to ruin your mug,” you start to apologise, while the mage only waves her hand at you and laughs.

“Oh, don’t worry about that old thing. I’ve had that mug for as long as I can remember, so it’s due time for it to crack anyway. I’ve gained plenty of new ones since I moved here so I won’t miss it too much,” she calmly says to you with a smile.

“Still—” you murmur, still unable to look away from the damage that you have done. For any mortal eyes, those tiny cracks may not be visible. But it is quite different when you are looking at it with your eyes. “I guess I got lost and carried away with my thoughts there for a moment. But I did enjoy the tea you made. I promise.”

Mage Kim grins at you as she takes the abused mug out of your sight. “That’s a relief. At least I know that I didn’t really leave you completely idle,” she says, as she continues to unpack the vegetables that she had carried with her while chatting.

“I’m sorry for stepping out while we were having a chat. Yvonne is one of the pack’s elders who had just lost her mate last summer. They’ve been together for 70 years, so it was really hard for her to adjust to living on her own with her kids all spread in different packs. I’ve been helping her deal with her grief, and she would often stop by like this to say hello and chat, and sometimes vent when she has some troubles at home,” she says, not even pausing as she puts some of the fresh goods away and setting aside a couple of them to use later, while you can only watch her closely, admiring how every single thing that she does seems to captivate you.

Even the way she moves enchants you. Sometimes she would appear as if she is gliding above the ground when she walks, while sometimes her moves remind you of flowing water. There is also a familiar sense radiating from her, reminding you of something that you had encountered before even though it is hard for you to point a finger at what it truly was.

“These are all from her, by the way,” she continues to say, waving at the vegetables that she had set up on the counter. “She always leaves a whole basket of fresh produce whenever she comes to visit, as a token of gratitude each time I would spare my time to see her, mostly everything that she had grown and harvested herself from her little garden.”

“That’s so thoughtful of her,” you muse softly, drawing another smile from the mage. “I’m guessing that happens often? Do the other pack members give you offerings like this whenever you help them?”

Mage Kim shrugs as she turns to wash the goods in her sink, refusing your help when you offer, simply telling you to take a seat instead, to which you comply easily just to get out of her way. “I never asked them to, but they always come to drop things in exchange for our help. My mate and I simply try to help out as much as we can for the pack since they have been so welcoming of us since the day we arrived. I figured it was a fair trade, we give and take, and help each other the best we can for the good of the pack.”

For the good of the pack.

It was the same teaching that your father had imprinted in you ever since you were just a pup, growing up under his and your mother’s care. The same teaching that has been passed on within the pack through each generation, shared among the pack members for many years to form a tight bond under your father’s lead. It pains you to think that the very same pack has now been split apart, all because of the coup that began from your sister’s treason.

Pain twists inside your chest when you think about your pack’s fate, and you turn to look at your surroundings just to distract yourself from your own thoughts. It was late in the afternoon when you came to pay the mage a visit, done under Taehyung’s mother’s advice. It wasn’t much of a surprise to find that both the mage and her beta mate had chosen to live in a quiet and secluded area away from the heart of the pack, but it was still a pleasant surprise when you finally found the quaint cottage that they have both been living in. Located on the top of the hill, the cottage has the perfect view of its surroundings—the serene forest, the green hills, and even the riverbed which leads to a nearby waterfall—while it remains a walking distance towards the packhouse, allowing the Beta to travel back and forth so easily each day when he is needed for his duty.

“This is quite a nice place to live, far from the hectic life you would normally find at the heart of the pack. How did you manage to find this cottage?” you find yourself asking the mage when she returns to your side, and you can faintly feel her pride radiating from within her.

“We didn’t. My mate, Seokjin, built this cottage with his own two hands, right after the Alpha gave us this piece of land to work with. We had requested a place where we could find some peace and quiet, to have something different than our daily life, which is almost never peaceful,” the mage answers as she pours some more tea into two different mugs, replacing the one that you had almost ruined and the one that she had left behind in the sink on her rush to see the pack member that had come earlier.

The mage continues her story while sipping on her tea. Her eyes glow fondly as she appears to reminisce about her past. “My mate, Seokjin, wanted to create a place that resembles our old home. Years ago, he and I met during the winter when I was a trainee witch. I was staying in an old cottage that used to belong to one of the mentors in the coven that I was raised in when he came at my door.”

She stops with a giggle, before continuing to tell her story, how she found a sleeping bear on her porch one day, then about the days she spent with that bear before he finally revealed himself in his human form. Mage Kim then tells you a bit more about Beta Seokjin’s past, the history that you had once heard partially from your father but never in full form. You have known before that the beta had once gone feral after losing his home pack and his family during the Rogue War, but you had never heard the story of how he managed to find his way to join the Wolf Moon Pack with his mate until now, as Mage Kim tells you almost in detail of the events that had led them both to this place.

“That old cabin held so many good memories, but what we shared while living there for that short period of time was so precious for both of us that the moment we were given a chance to build something new and create new memories, Seokjin insisted to recreate that same cabin here. Which, as you can see, turned out to be this pretty little cottage that we call home.”

As you look around you, a sight that comes to mind is not an old cabin that would have resembled this one, but another that had been buried deep in your memories. Located deep in the Blue Moon pack’s territory, the old cottage that was built by Jongin’s own two hands, was the home that had held a lot of golden memories of your own with your deceased mate. In the past, your chest would have burned with so much pain whenever you are reminded of those old days, when you pictured the life you had then only to be reminded of Jongin’s passing and how much it had hurt you.

Now, however, the longing that you are feeling for those missing days is accompanied by another kind of yearning. You begin to wonder if you would be able to build a new memory with your second chance mate. Would it be possible for you and Jimin to build your own home, away from the tumultuous lives of an Alpha and a Vampire Lord?

Snapping out of it, you turn to focus on Mage Kim’s gentle voice as she continues talking.

“We would still return to that old cottage in the winter, whenever Alpha Namjoon grants us a break during the cold season and gives permission for us to leave the pack for a while. He knows that my mate still finds the need to hibernate, though it hasn’t been quite as demanding as it was before when his beast counterpart was still dominating him, and it’s always been hard to hibernate completely if we remain in this place throughout the winter. My mate can be extremely grouchy when he doesn’t get the long rest that his bear needs,” she adds with a giggle. “Alpha Namjoon also understands how much Seokjin would have to hold back when he is working alongside him, so he does give us some flexibility to travel and get away whenever we need to.”

Knowing the roles that Beta Seokjin and his mate had to take upon joining the pack, and the sacrifices that had no doubt taken place, you understand why Alpha Namjoon would give them so much freedom. But thinking about two Alphas leading the pack together, with Beta Seokjin stepping back to be the second-in-command, has left you wondering about the pack’s dynamic. Especially now that you have found out that the beta is mated to a white witch, someone who would have been seen as the enemy by the pack had it been under normal circumstances.

“Speaking of which—Mage Kim?” you begin to question her when your curiosity grows stronger. “How are you adjusting to living in a pack, and as a shifter’s mate? I’m sorry, I just can’t help but wonder. It’s not often that a shifter and a mage, someone who has the ability to master witchcraft, would cross paths, much less turn out as mates. I’m sure it wasn’t quite easy.”

“Please, call me Aurora,” she says in return, smiling shyly when she sees you raising your brows. “That’s the name that was given to me at birth. I don’t normally use my given name, for personal reasons, which is why I have requested the Alpha to have the pack call me under the name ‘Mage Kim’, as I have taken my mate’s given name as mine and it would make it easier for me to remain anonymous to any outsider.”

You simply nod, trying to understand even if you have yet to know the full story behind her reasons. A million different questions appear in your head, as you are reminded of the first time you heard Taehyung mentioning Mage Kim when you met him, but you keep your curiosity to yourself as Aurora continues with, “But I do feel like it would be better for anyone who I am personally close with to call me by my real name. Of course, I would appreciate it if you would only call me by my given name when we’re alone.”

“Of course, Mage Kim. I mean, Aurora,” you answer her with a smile, which she returns with a grateful nod.

“To answer your question, it did take quite a while for me to get used to living in a pack of shifters. Before meeting my mate, I had never once encountered any shifter, nor had I ever truly learned a thing about them. I’ve learned so much since then, and then a lot more ever since I joined this pack,” she explains with a soft chuckle. “I’m quite grateful that they welcomed me with open arms. I also had my mentor by my side during the first couple of years I began living here, since it was his place that I was taking over when I first arrived, so that was a huge help as well.”

“How about your mate?” you ask her, when you recall the authority of an Alpha radiating from the werebear when you first met him. “I imagine it wouldn’t have been easy for an Alpha to submit under another leader when he came in.”

Shaking her head, Aurora sighs a little. “Oh, it sure wasn’t. Didn’t help the fact that my mate is quite a hot-headed shifter. Even without his Alpha blood running in his veins, he has already been quite stubborn to deal with,” she says while rolling her eyes, though there is still a sense of fondness and admiration as she talks about Beta Seokjin. “He does have a huge respect for Alpha Namjoon, however, since the Alpha is wise and honourable as a leader. I think sometimes my mate would try to start something with the Alpha just for the fun of it, not because he is trying to challenge Alpha Namjoon’s authority.”

Laughing, you imagine the Alpha and Beta going at each other when they are together. Just like how you had seen them arguing in your vision. “I’m going to guess that there’s been a lot of ‘friendly’ banter between the two over the years?”

Aurora shakes her head again while laughing. “It never stops. And I think Alpha Namjoon enjoys it when my mate would challenge him into some kind of an argument or debate or when he tries to turn the Alpha’s own words against him. He always seems more—alive, when he is with Seokjin,” Aurora carefully says, before she looks at you with deep caution in her eyes and adds, “I’m sure you know what the Alpha is currently dealing with.”

Biting your lips, you briefly nod, knowing what she is insinuating. “Yes, I know very well. I was once in his shoes, quite a few years ago.”

Aurora releases a deep sigh. “That is probably why I was sent here by fate, and why my mate was needed here in this pack. At first, we were merely searching for a way to give my mate a sense of order, for him to be a part of a community once again to give him everything that he had once lost. But then we both realised that we were able to give something more to help the Alpha and his pack,” she begins to speak with a soft voice, as if she feels like someone would be able to listen to her words as she talks about Alpha Namjoon and her mate’s personal business. “My healing powers may not be on par with the best mages in the continent, but I do my best to support the Alpha, and help him through his struggles so he could still do his duty and keep the order in the pack. Meanwhile, my mate would have enough authority to give the Alpha his sound voice and support whenever he is needed, or to take his place when the Alpha is absent.”

“The Mating Sickness—” you start to ask, “How far worse has it been since—”

“I’m afraid I cannot say,” Aurora claims while shaking her head slowly, a hint of sadness appearing in her gaze as she thinks about the Alpha. “But as someone who once battled with the same sickness, I’m sure you know what would happen if he keeps on going like this for a longer period of time. He has been going strong for long enough. But even the strongest being in the realm would still have their limitations.” Aurora looks up, staring deeply into your eyes as she adds, “For Alpha Namjoon, he might as well have gone past that limit quite a long time ago.”

A deep concern flows right through you after what Aurora had just told you. As someone who had once experienced the same sickness and knows damn well what the sickness could do to a shifter, you can imagine the struggles that Alpha Namjoon has to face.

You have met Alpha Namjoon a few times and spent time with him during your stay in the Wolf Moon Pack, and never once had you ever caught any signs of him struggling. Deep down, you cannot help but admire his tenacity, while at the same time, you also know that he would have to endure as much pain as the power that he has to use to hide his suffering, and it worries you even more to think that he had been fighting for so long.

“How are you feeling now, by the way? Does your chest still feel tight? Is it easier to breathe?” Aurora suddenly asks you, and for a brief moment, you have no clue what she is talking about that you instantly fall silent, until you finally remember the reason why you came to visit her this afternoon.

Your heartburn.

Ever since early this morning, you have been getting a series of heartburn bothering you. It started with your heartbeat which continued rising so rapidly, followed by the tightness in your chest that caused you to have trouble breathing. You immediately suspected that Jimin may have been the cause when your mating mark started pulsing, though you had no idea if the pain you felt simply came to you because of the distance and for being so far away from your mate, or if something else was causing it. That it had been a sign that your mate was in terrible danger.

After consulting with Taehyung and his mother, they advised you to see Mage Kim to find answers, which became the reason why you are here, sitting in her kitchen while sharing deep thoughts and stories with a few cups of hot tea.

Immediately, you lean back and start to gently rub your chest, right where you had been feeling pain. You quickly realise that the only thing you can feel now is warmth, while the tightness that had been bothering you is long gone. “Oh! That’s interesting. I didn’t notice it while we were chatting, but it does feel better. Are you telling me that all I had to do was drink warm tea?”

Aurora laughs, looking relieved and amused at the same time. “I wish it was that simple. The tea only helped ease your muscles and calm your nerves. I put a few drops of my remedy in your cup of tea and the snacks I gave you earlier, then I added a calming potion into that one,” she says, pointing at the mug you are still holding. “That’s what did the job.”

Surprised, and absolutely amused, you can only shake your head in wonder. “I guess they weren’t kidding when they said that you give the best remedies. I suppose the wonderful chat we had also helped put my mind at ease that I almost forgot what I was supposed to be doing here.”

Aurora looks out the window from over your shoulder just then, and her eyes immediately widen. “We’ve been talking for so long that I didn’t even notice how much time has passed. I haven’t even started making dinner.”

Turning away from her, you follow her gaze to look out the window, noticing how dark it had gotten out there. “Oh, right. It’s already dinnertime. I’m sorry for taking so much of your time,” you say to her, feeling remorseful for getting lost in the moment. But right as you turn to her and before you even begin to take your leave, the mage stops you right away.

“Surely you can stay for a while longer, can’t you? Seokjin isn’t going to return for dinner tonight, as he is still busy attending Alpha Namjoon’s business at the pack house. He’s probably already combing through the buffet dinner by now. Tammy, the pack’s senior cook, makes excellent meat pies, and he would often go mad for it whenever he is eating with the other pack members.”

“Well—I’m not exactly in a rush to go,” you tell her, which is not entirely a lie.

Ever since you came to the pack, you had spent most of your time staying close to your parents. Oftentimes, Taehyung would have to send either his mother or his mate to drag you away, forcing you to join them during mealtime just so you could get a little break from watching over your parents who remain unconscious. You have no doubt that the moment you return to Taehyung’s property, his family would have you joining them again. While you are grateful for their care, it doesn’t stop you from feeling as if you are intruding on their personal space too much, and you feel guilty about it when they have already done so much to help you and your family.

Besides, you also have another purpose to stay with Mage Kim tonight, and you refuse to leave until you have what you needed.

“On that note, I should probably start making dinner,” Aurora says, turning away to pull out a couple of containers from the freezer standing behind her. She sets them all up on the counter, opening them to reveal the frozen meat contained inside, nearly causing you to drool. “How do you like your meat, Alpha? Medium, or well done? Or perhaps, rare? I know that shifters can have different tastes in the way they enjoy their meal.”

“Medium rare, leaning more towards rare, if that’s not too much of a trouble,” you answer her while holding back from licking your lips. Though you can barely restrain your wolf’s hunger when she softly growls inside your head, drawn completely to the sight of the uncooked meat. “It’s the only way it would be fair for me and my wolf. Obviously, she would prefer her meat raw. But when I’m in my human form, I do enjoy a bit of a roast on my meat for a taste.”

“Understandable. That’s actually how my mate would love his dinner too,” Aurora says, nodding. “Of course, the bear inside him would always fight him over it, as the beast prefers the meat all fresh and bloody. But Seokjin could no longer stomach it ever since he started staying in his human form longer. He always says that fresh meat reminds him of the dark days that he spent as a feral.”

Nodding your head absently, you try to recall a little bit more of what you had once heard about Beta Seokjin. You had never once met any shifter who had gone feral for a long time and managed to regain their sanity to be able to return to society and to hold a highly regarded rank the way Beta Seokjin did, so his story had always intrigued you ever since you first heard of him from your father in the past. You had once wondered if he would still lose control even once he had returned to live and function in his human form, or if he had given up the option to shift at all.

A shudder runs through your body as you imagine yourself living without ever getting a chance to shift right back into your wolf form. The feeling of entrapment suddenly overcomes you, as you have always felt so free and alive whenever you are running in your other form.

“But he still hunts regularly while he is running in his beast form, right?” you question the mage as the thought comes into your mind. “I always give my wolf free reign when I need to go out on my regular run, and she always takes the chance to hunt and eat her game all fresh and bloody when she is in control.”

“Oh, obviously,” Aurora answers with a playful scoff. “He still runs in his bear form, though he rarely does it alone. He would do it either when the pack is doing their regular run together, or he would have one or two Enforcers running with him to keep an eye on him. It’s not that he would lose total control when he shifts, it’s just that the bear would take any given chance to take over his body and he would sometimes run free and wild without care. It’s usually during that time when the bear would find a fresh hunt for himself and enjoy his rare, and extremely bloody, meat.”

“Beta Jin would always argue with the bear about it when that happens, I’m guessing?”

She laughs, knowing that her mate would do such a thing just for the sake of it. “Every single time.”

As Aurora prepares for dinner, you can no longer sit down and do nothing, so you give her no choice but to let you help her through it. Soon enough, you are sitting with the kindhearted mage on her dining table, which is small and comfortable enough for two people, though you still find it hard to imagine Beta Seokjin sitting around it in his bear form. Which, according to Aurora, is something that often happens when the Beta is too exhausted to fight against his bear who always wants to show himself in front of his mate.

“He used to do that in our old home, watch over me while I was cooking our meal or when I was messing around with my potions, filling the room with his massive body. I suppose it became a bit of a habit for him that he still can’t let it go once we’re living here, so I’d just let him instead of arguing about it. No matter how stubborn Seokjin can be, his bear is much worse,” Aurora tells you with a soft chuckle. “Seeing him trying to fit into this tiny space is pretty adorable too, especially when he’s sitting with his legs out like a giant teddy bear.”

Seeing that you have only ever met Beta Seokjin while he is being formal and serious in your previous encounters, imagining him being the cute teddy bear that Aurora is describing him draws a smile to your face. “Forgive me, but it is really hard for me to picture the Beta acting in such a way,” you comment with a laugh. “Although, if I have to compare him with Taehyung, then I guess they’re both aren’t so different, after all, if they can truly act differently when they are in their personal space and with their loved ones and just be themselves.”

Right the moment you say this, your mind wanders to Jimin. Finding a mate is always a blessing for a shifter, and you had been given the gift of finding your second chance mate. Despite feeling blessed and grateful, you resent the fact that it had to happen during the circumstances that you are in, where you are unable to enjoy your first moments with your mate the way Aurora and Beta Jin or how Taehyung and his mate, Rhea, could. You barely had enough time to be with each other before you had to part ways, all because you both had to meet on the rise of an incoming war.

Suddenly feeling envious and disturbed after listening to Aurora’s story, you lean back in your seat to try and distract yourself from your own thoughts. That is when your eyes fall onto the old spell book that has been left right on the corner of the dining table. You remember seeing her carrying it with her all the time, and then you saw it again earlier when she came back from tending to a pack member, but you never had any clear view of it until now.

“This book seems pretty old. It looks like it’s falling apart,” you comment as you lean to look closer. For some odd reason, the spell book seems to draw you in, though seeing its dire state, you hold back from reaching out to touch it.

“That’s because that book has been around for ages,” she comments while laughing. “I’m trying my best to keep it as it was. I’ve had the book since I was little. My mother—the woman who raised me—gave it to me. That’s the only thing that was once hers that I still have left.”

“A.C.,” you murmur softly, reading the initials that have been engraved so clearly on its leather cover. The writings around it seem to be fading, yet the initials are still quite easy to read.

“That’s my mother’s initials. She carved it on the cover because she kept losing her books as a child. She told me once how the other kids who grew up with her knew that she was different, and had constantly tried to cause trouble or get her into trouble in the coven. That includes stealing and hiding her book of spells and grimoires right before her rituals,” Aurora explains, looking down at the book cover with a deep longing in her eyes.

“Her name was Agatha. Agatha Carro. That’s where A.C. came from. She was a healer and a clairvoyant, just like me, though the magic and the blood that ran through her had come from black magic, as we were both born and raised in a Dark Coven.”

Agatha. The name rings inside your head, and you are immediately reminded of the Wiccan. Could it be—

“But let’s not go there. I’m pretty sure that my story isn’t what you needed to hear,” she suddenly says, waving you off before your mind could go any further. She leaves her seat to pick up the steaming teapot and begins to refill the empty mugs on the table with fresh tea before returning to her seat. “At least, I know that it’s not the reason why you came to visit tonight and why you had kept me company for hours. I know that you didn’t come here just for an idle chat or to simply cure your heartburn, even if I haven’t heard you complaining about me keeping you here.”

“Nothing about our conversation was idle. If any, it had been quite—enlightening,” you reassure her while picking up your mug of hot tea. You can smell the scent of fresh herbs through its steam, letting you know that she had once again added the same remedy as the one she had given you earlier.

“I was told that you are the one working on the remedy for my parents. I just—I don’t know, I just figured it would only be right if I paid a visit, to say thank you and see how it’s going, or if you have any trouble with it at all,” you finally admit to her. “It was by chance that I was having trouble breathing and experiencing heartburn at the same time, so I had a good reason to ask Taehyung to show me the way to your home.”

Aurora simply smiles at you. “Coincidences often happen for a reason created by Fate. Yes, I have been working on the remedy ever since Beta Taehyung and his mother reached out to me,” she says, gesturing to the sunroom at the back of the cottage that is visible from the dining room. Seeing the altar and the wooden cabinet filled with glass jars containing various herbs standing in its corner, you safely assume that she is using the sunroom as her little workshop where she is making her remedies. “I took a sample of your father’s blood and the antidote that was said to have been given by your mate. Alpha Namjoon said that your mate had also been poisoned and you believed that it might have been the same one that was used to harm your parents.”

Nodding, you tell her everything that Jimin had told you about what the poison had done to his body. “It had similar symptoms to what my mate had said to have happened to him. Taehyung’s mother told me that if it wasn’t for the fact that my parents had the Alpha blood inside them, then they would have—” you stop talking when your throat feels tight. The thought of losing your parents had been haunting you for quite a long time, and you refuse to let it enter your mind again now that you are starting to feel a glimmer of hope. “Did it work? Did you manage to find a way to use that antidote for them? I know that we couldn’t use them directly since the original antidote was created for Vampires.”

Aurora shakes her head. “No, we couldn’t use it. Even if we had, there is no doubt it would only harm your parents more. It seems that the poison that was used on your mate was also slightly different, as we found a hint of wolfsbane added into it through your parents’ blood.”

This new fact makes you frown. “Are you saying that the poison may be the same, but they had deliberately altered it to weaken werewolves?”

“That seems to be the case, yes,” Aurora hums softly as she deeply considers this thought. “Not to worry, though. We are close to finishing the remedy. I’ll spend the whole night working on it and making sure that it will actually work. Just like you said earlier, we’re in the race against time, so I’ll personally make sure that it would be ready before sunrise.”

As the night continues, it turns out that there is no need for you to wait until sunrise comes to have the remedy that you needed. Right after you finish dinner, Aurora simply decides to get right back to work to finish creating the perfect potion that would help heal your parents.

She welcomes you to join her in the sunroom, where the area is filled with her little trinkets, illuminated with nothing but candles, while the scent of herbs and potions keeps flowing in the air around you. You watch her in awe as she gets to work, as she pulls out the samples of blood and altered antidote that she has been working with to create new samples in smaller vials. You even lend a hand when she needs to crush a few different herbs to mix with each sample, until she finally manages to find the perfect mix to eliminate the toxin and the remaining poison from the blood samples. She even uses a hint of her magic to amplify the remedy once she is done, and for once, the sight of the magic practice doesn’t leave a bad taste or an eerie feeling inside you, knowing that the spells she uses—enchanted from the pages within the old spell book—is only done with good intentions.

Hours before midnight arrives, the mage already has a few portions of the remedy that you had needed from her.

“You are truly amazing,” you muse with wonder as you hold the vials filled with the freshly blended remedy that may help heal your parents. “Thank you so much for this.”

True to her humble character, Aurora only waves her hand at you. “Don’t thank me yet. We’ll see if it’ll work to help your parents gain their strength back and for them to finally recover. It’s going to be a rough process of healing after dealing with such a strong poison, and this will only be the beginning of that healing process. I’ll be here to ask for help from the ancestors to lend their strength. Perhaps I can also find more answers by convening a seance to communicate with them directly to ask for their guidance.”

“Ah, that’s right. You told me earlier that aside from being a healer, you are also a clairvoyant,” you say to her, recalling what she had shared and what Taehyung had once told you.

“That is true,” Aurora says, giving you a shy smile. “My mother was a gifted one with that skill, and she had passed on her gift to me.”

Once again, Agatha’s face comes flashing into your thoughts. “I’ve met another clairvoyant, a Wiccan, on my journey here. She showed me a glimpse of the past. She started with the events that happened years ago regarding my sister, long before her rebellion came to rise, to show me what may have triggered her to finally take action to turn the pack against me and our parents,” you carefully tell her, refraining from saying more about seeing Alpha Namjoon and Beta Jin in that same vision. “Then I was also given the chance to see another Vision, left behind by my mate’s mentor and guardian, which we had managed to unlock with the help of the Wiccan. This one took me back long enough to witness the Ancient war, the Blood War, and to see for myself everything that had actually happened during that time.”

Aurora’s eyes grow wide upon hearing this. You haven’t exactly shared this with anyone else but the Alpha, but knowing that she may have the same ability and more knowledge about this gift, you had figured that perhaps you can find some answers from her.

“Have you ever—” you start by asking. “Since my arrival in this pack wasn’t so much of a surprise to you, have you ever envisioned me coming here for help or have you ever seen any signs about the war coming back?”

Aurora looks a bit unsure for a moment before she finally nods. “The spirits spoke to me during one of my seances. They had given me a warning that something is going to happen in the near future. Something so big that would alter the entire lives of everyone living within this realm, and that I would know when the time will come. The messages they sent me had foreseen a part of a distant past that was coming back to the present, that a cycle of events will take place as soon as the pieces that were linked into that past are reconnected,” she says, recalling everything that she had known. “The moment you arrived at the pack, bearing the mark that was given by your mate, I knew that it had begun.”

A sigh slips right through you just as the dreadful feeling that you felt before returns, the unsettling sensation that always takes over when you recall the sight of the Blood War. “The vision had told me something similar. Through the vision that I entered, I was able to understand everything, to know all about the pieces of the past that had caused the war and the possibility of them coming back in the present and reconnecting—”

As you begin to talk about it, the memory of the vision returns to you. They come flashing into your thoughts like a set of moving pictures. The pale Vampires that reeked of blood, the young and mighty Vampires riding the flying dragons, the army of Rogues and Halflings rushing down the mountains before colliding with an army of Werewolves and Lycans in an intense battle, and the deep, bloody red sky above.

“A vision that was left behind by someone who no longer exists in the upper world,” Aurora suddenly murmurs while looking like she is a deep thought. “This Wiccan that you met must have been quite powerful to be able to assist you with one.”

You tilt your head, suddenly feeling curious. “Are you not capable of doing the same?”

Aurora gives you a sad smile. “Not quite yet. I haven’t had that much experience with it to try it with another person, but I have been training myself to create a Vision for myself so I could go back into the past and look into some of the Elders’ memories,” she says as she looks up at you. “Is that what you needed help with? Do you have another vision that you would like to visit?”

You quickly shake your head. “No, not quite. I’m not sure, really. I’m just still quite at a loss, I guess,” you answer her with a defeated sigh. “It’s just—there are so many things that are still bothering me. How much do you know about the Ancient Blood War?”

At the mention of the Blood War, Aurora’s face immediately turns grim, and the unsettling shudder begins to run down your spine even before you hear her answer. “Enough to know that if it should occur once more in the present, the entire realm would succumb to darkness, because the forces that had once stopped the War may no longer exist.”

➥ Special Appearance: Jiwon (Bobby) as Lord Xander’s son

#btshoneyhive #jimin scenarios #jimin scenario #jimin fanfic #jimin smut #jimin fluff #jimin angst #jimin x reader #bts jimin #park jimin #bts scenario #bts fanfic #kpop scenario #kpop writing #kpop fanfic #bts smut #bts fluff #bts angst #bts x reader

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runefactorysecretsanta · 2 years

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~*~Rune Factory Secret Santa 2022 sign-ups have now begun!!!~*~

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lizzybeth1986 · 2 years

Text

Hindsight is 20/20

Book: The Royal Romance (with references to Desire and Decorum)

Characters: Hana Lee & Peter Foredale (OC) (platonic), Hana Lee x Kiara Theron. References to Annabelle x MC from D&D.

Rating: PG

Word Count: 5000+ words

Summary: Hana and Kiara travel to England...after recieving a letter from Hana's former fiancè. Hana explores her journey as a bi woman in a walk down memory lane.

A/N1: This takes place three years after the events of TRR3. Hana and Kiara are married and have an 8-month old child at this point. Peter Foredale in this universe is both the "Lord Peter" Hana mentioned in TRR1 (who was engaged to her then broke the match) and the current head of Countess Florence Foredale's (my D&D MC) estate, Edgewater. Faceclaims here.

Tagging @choicesficwriterscreations for FoTW and @choicespride for National Coming Out Day (Thursday).

"Ready, darling?"

Hana nods mutely. She is, after all, ready in all the ways Mother wanted her to be. Face serene, back straight, gown resplendent.

You look like a vision, the dressmaker gushed a while ago when she saw the results of her handiwork, I cannot wait to see the look on Viscount Foredale's face when he sees you!

Inside the satin gloves, her hands begin to tremble.

Viscount Peter Foredale. Gentleman. Up-and-coming barrister. A regular on the magazine spreads. The most eligible bachelor in all of England. Most of all...a wonderful, kind friend.

And after tonight...her future husband.

Her stomach tightens in a sick lurch.

"Doing okay?" Kiara asks her wife, running a thumb gently over their daughter's left cheek. Her other hand settles at the small of Hana's back, tracing soothing circles. The child shifts her attention from the pearl button she's been chewing, to coo at Mama Kiki's touch.

"Yeah... she's fine," Hana replies, her voice grainy with fatigue. "Put her in any sort of moving vehicle, and she's the world's happiest baby."

Kiara releases a laugh from pursed lips. There is nothing their 8-month-old loves more than being carried around; if you try to sit down, even for a minute, she will bash her hands against your chest and moan for you to get up and move around again.

Her eyes, however, never leave Hana's face - not the downturned lips, not the concealer-masked dark shadows under her eyes.

"I wasn't talking about Chaima," she says quietly.

Hana closes her eyes. It's easy enough to dissemble her nervousness when Chaima is in her arms, but not when Kiara is pinning her with that piercing, knowing gaze. That gaze has always been Hana's undoing.

"Look at you, asking me all the hard questions at 11 in the morning."

Kiara sighs, and fiddles with Chaima's curls. "Your arms must be aching, ma moitié. Let me have her just a bit. Rest now; we'll be reaching Edgewater in half an hour."

Hana sighs and nods. She doesn't want to let go of Chaima yet - it would be so much easier, pushing every other thought aside when this lovely golden child is in her arms...and she suspects that's part of the reason Kiara wants to take over. Don't put off things just because you think you can't handle them perfectly, habibti.

Kiara tucks Chaima's head gently on her shoulder, crooning an old lullaby in Darija. Nīnī yā moūmoū...Hattā tjī ‘andou moū...Sleep my baby...until your Mommy arrives...

Chaima thumps her little hands against Mama Kiki's breasts in approval. Sighing, Hana takes out the letter that brought her here.

Dear Hana,

I hope you, your wife and your little one are well. It's springtime here at Edgewater, we have plenty visitors in the afternoons, touring the gardens and the lake. Mabel has been renovating the house again - she's been insisting I leave the Regency-style furniture in the Regency era and go for something more contemporary (I'm right!).

Little Alphonsa thanks you for her copy of "A Smart Cookie". I'm sure she'll love the message in a few years...but for now all she can see are the cupcakes, the croissants and the macarons. I'm quite proud of the fact; in this one area she takes after her father.

Despite her nervousness, Hana cannot resist a small smile. It's been good to hear from Peter again, truly. He has always been a serious man, whose humour slips through in the most unexpected moments, and it shows in his letters. And from his wife's rare interjections in his letter, she can tell Mabel is the more open, outgoing one.

It had all begun a year ago. They hadn't spoken at all in the years since their engagement had fallen apart, first out of bitterness and then out of shame. Somewhere in those early days, he'd resented her for those dreams left unfulfilled, and somewhere she half-hated him for leaving her to deal with aftermath, alone.

But when she'd heard the news of Earl William Foredale's death from her father, it felt odd not to give him a call. They'd known each other long enough for Hana to understand how hard Peter would have been hit - this man he'd loved and worshipped and wanted to follow on the footsteps of - and whether or not her presence was welcome she knew she needed to at least try.

You reached out after years of silence and offered only compassion, he wrote to her months later, For that, I can never thank you enough.

She looks to the final lines in the letter. Just to see if there's something she's missing, something hidden between the lines. Perhaps, an courtesy-invitation to an old friend he would much rather not see again.

You mentioned in your last letter that you'd be in London two months from now. I would like to extend an informal invitation to visit the Edgewater estate, and our family, when you are here. It would be nice to catch up.

His letters to her have been nothing but sweet. Warm. Tentative in their attempts to speak about anything but that which caused them to part. And for that, she is grateful.

Still. That prickle of fear remains.

The foyer of the mansion is elegant, imposing. From the parlour nearby she can faintly hear the sounds of an excited child attempting to converse with Chaima, occasionally asking Kiara if she can touch her hand. My baby, my cupcake, we'll give you lots and LOTS of milk and carrot smash!

(I think you mean mash, Kiara replies, sounding amused and more than a little charmed by the girl already)

The Persian rug is soft beneath Hana's feet, and the oak panels shine in the patch of sunlight streaming in through the windows. But that is not what catches her attention.

A portrait on the side, of a young woman in an ocean-blue gown that bears the insignia of a unicorn and an eagle, in gold and silver. An elegant shawl around her shoulders. In her face is the pride of a woman who seems to have fought for her place here, and won. Next to her, a calm, brown-haired man, hands kept behind him. Straightening his back, trying to stand tall, trying to match the stature of the lady he just married...but happy to be there.

"That's Florence Foredale," a rich, deep voice speaks from behind, "Countess of Edgewater. 1817 to 1867." The woman who approaches her walks with grace and confidence, hips swaying slightly as she walks. On her wine-coloured lips, a small smile. "Good afternoon, Your Grace."

Hana laughs, relieved that Peter's wife seems every bit as happy to see her as she sounds in his letters. "I've heard about her. She's quite famous in Cordonia...especially in my wife's province." She gives the other woman a teasing grin. "And we're not in Cordonia anymore, Your Excellency."

"Mabel," she interjects. "Not very many people call me by my name nowadays, and I rather miss the sound of it."

Hana nods, smiling. "Mabel it is," she says.

"Hana," Mabel responds, her eyes brown and speculative, but softening when their gazes meet. "Peter's in the study. He said he'll be joining us in a couple of minutes."

Hana's spine clenches in a mixture of anticipation and dread. If Mabel notices an involuntary twitch from her guest, she chooses not to tell.

Hana closes her eyes. Lifts her chin. Tries not to sweat under the harsh camera lights. Involuntarily tightens her fist until the photographer tells her she looks a little too tense.

She can feel Peter's hands, holding her by the waist like she is glass and he's afraid he could break her. She can feel his breath near her ear, slow and measured. She can almost hear him swallow his nervousness in his throat, and wonders if he is just as terrified as she is.

She waits for the feel of his lips on hers. The one she's read about in books, secretly watched in her cousins' favourite films. The one that's supposed to release a million butterflies in your stomach, the one that softly parts your lips like they're made of silk, smooth and sensuous. Already she can feel him growing closer...closer...

"OWWW!!!"

Peter finds her half an hour later in the kitchen, calming herself down with a few small squares of chocolate. Guiltily, she notes the still-blood-red bruising on his bottom lip. She runs her fingers over the delicate filigree earring they chose for the occasion, still unsure why his frown is one of worry, not disgust.

"Are you alright?"

She sniffles, almost hating him for being so kind. "I should be asking you that."

Surprisingly, he offers her a lopsided smile, making his swollen lip even more prominent than before.

"Well, see. At least I landed somewhere in the vicinity of your face this time," Peter says, chuckling, "Give me a little more practice. I promise it will be your cheek next."

Fresh tears spring in Hana's eyes - this time tears of laughter.

"How's this, Auntie Hana!" little Alphonsa chirps, enthusiastically swinging a rattle to Chaima's face, "Am I doing it right? Does Chaima like it? Do you? Do youuuuuu?"

The last two sentences are addressed to the baby bundled in Hana's lap, applesauce running down her mouth. Chaima looks away from her food to gift her slightly older companion a gummy, two-toothed smile. Shaking the rattle is typically the job of whichever mother has her hands free, but Peter's little daughter insisted on keeping her tiny guest happy and submerged in toys for the two days that they were here.

"Yes, Alphie," Kiara blows her a flying kiss, "you're a natural!"

Hana gives Alphonsa an affectionate pinch on the cheek with her free hand. "Chaima lights up every time she sees you, darling, and so do we."

Right next to Hana, Peter grins. It's the first genuine smile she has seen from him since they started talking, and Hana is struck by how alike he and his daughter look right now.

"Alphonsa loves babies," he explains, "or any child, really, they just have to be younger than her. It sets her big-sister instincts abuzz."

Hana sighs, shaking her head and remembering her own days as the only child. Her chandelier earrings swing around her neck as she laughs.

It fascinates her, really, how at ease they are with each other when they're talking about their children. Ever since she came here, their conversations have been awkward, stilted, punctuated with pregnant pauses that harbour all the words they're too afraid to say to each other. They've been trying so hard to be normal around each other, Hana realizes, and failing.

But as parents, they've never been better friends.

"Wait a minute," Peter's voice sounds a little bemused, suddenly, "is that -"

It is only when Hana follows his line of sight that she realizes exactly which earrings she's worn for this visit.

In that moment, she wants to dig a hole beneath the parlour floor and bury herself there.

"Yes," she says, sheepishly, "I'm sorry, I didn't think..."

Peter raises his eyebrows, then turns to look at Kiara and Mabel. As they both watch their wives talk animatedly, lost in their own conversation together, Peter suddenly turns back to Hana with a mischievous grin.

"Don't be," he says, "I'm just grateful we both managed to get better kissing practice. Less bloodshed that way."

Hana stares at him, then breaks into peals of silent giggles. It isn't even that funny...not to anyone else anyway...but the dry tone and the memories make it hard for her to stop laughing.

God. She isn't sure what else may happen to cast a shadow on this golden time, this lovely reunion...but if there is one thing Hana has missed up her old friend...it's this.

It is on their second day at Edgewater, that Countess Mabel requests Hana accompany her for a short walk.

Edgewater Lake is a tranquil, limpid little paradise, tucked away behind the estate's beautiful gardens and sprawling grounds. The aroma of bay willow and birch trees is alluring and soothing all at once, and even the ducks seem to float languidly over the water.

Mabel smiles in satisfaction at the sponge cakes in her box, kept specially for the ducks. She offers some to Hana, and together they throw the crumbs in the lake, watching in rapt attention as the ducks practically spring into life, squabbling over who gets which piece.

"I don't think I've ever felt more at peace anywhere in this estate than here," Mabel says. "I found this place quite by accident on my first week here, when I was too intimidated with the rest of the house and the estate. It's been my safe space ever since."

"It's a beautiful place," Hana smiles, remembering Sôse - the lake near the Cordonian Royal Palace. Its clear waters, its free-spirited birds, that distinctive smell of yellow crocus flowers that now reminds her of home. Where she was once told she would become a Duchess. Where Kiara had proposed to her, seven months later.

"Many tales speak of Countess Florence having picnics here."

"With her husband?" Hana says with an arched eyebrow, knowing full well the true answer.

"No. Her...companion. Miss Annabelle Parsons of Hazelvale."

"Parsons? As in the artist who painted Woman's Waltz and Rose Gold Reminiscence?"

"Yes," Mabel says, a faint smile on her lips, "I'm certain you've heard all the stories."

"Not until recently," Hana whispered, remembering just how ignorant she felt, those first few months after she realized she loved women more often than she loved men. How much there was for her to learn. She remembered sitting up some nights after she came out in public, wondering just what to call herself. Am I lesbian? Am I bisexual? Why are most of the people I get attracted to, women? And how can I say I'm lesbian if I've still found myself gravitating towards at least one or two men?

It took Kiara to convince her that she needed to stop overthinking, that changing her mind about who she was didn't mean she was lying to herself. To feel good about learning at her own pace. When she first heard about Florence Foredale, Hana hadn't even known what a lavender marriage was. "I wasn't really out to anyone until I started living in Cordonia."

Mabel's smile grows wider. "Me too. I'm bisexual."

Hana sucks in a breath. "Really?"

"Yes."

"When did you realize?"

Mabel's smile is swift and regretful. "I had an inkling in my early twenties...but I was deep in denial until at least two years ago."

Hana nods, placing a hand on Mabel's shoulder. "That sounds a lot like my journey. I don't think I could even articulate who I thought I was before I left Shanghai."

"Before Peter and I met, I was a young girl brought up in a very strict Goan Catholic family," she says, "You never even uttered the words gay or bisexual around our house." She sighs, heavily, seeming to remember her first year at Edgewater. "I was so scared. The timing was all so wrong. What was I going to do, now that I knew? What was I going to tell Peter?"

Hana winces. She had the same fears the night of their engagement...only now she can give those questions a name. The memory of his face is blinding in its clarity: contorted in pain, his mouth uttering questions she wasn't sure she would ever have the answers for...Is this what you want? Am I what you want??

The way the scales fell from his eyes as she fought to stop her tears.

And then he had left. Left that secluded hallway, left her house, left China. News of the broken match came from her parents.

She had become "damaged goods" overnight. Without a single hair on her head being touched.

Silently, Mabel reaches out and takes Hana's hand, squeezing it in understanding and an attempt to comfort. Hana presses her eyes closed. She doesn't want this woman's pity. Not after this long, when it's too little too late.

Hana is afraid of the answer. But she still has to ask.

"How did Peter react?"

"Afraid."

If her eyes weren't closed already, she would have done so right now, cursing herself for coming here. All this time...and she'd really convinced herself he'd changed...but if he was treating his lawfully-wedded wife this way -

"Not of me," Mabel says softly, her hand moving to touch Hana's arm now, "Of himself. He never quite forgave himself for what you had to go through after he left."

Hana sucks in a horrified breath. "He knew?"

Even before she did?? And he never once tried to talk to her about it?

"Not right away. Not that you weren't straight." Mabel says, nervously fingering a sapphire bracelet on her wrist. "It took him years to make sense of it. When the announcement of your marriage to Kiara came out...and then that magazine spread you'd made on Trend for Pride in Cordonia...several things began falling into place."

"Before or after you came out to him?"

"After," Mabel whispers, "I won't pretend it was perfect. I won't say he understood everything all at once . But he did try...and he still keeps trying."

Hana lets out a sigh of relief. It feels good, knowing that the phantom she had built in her head of him isn't entirely accurate.

"More than once when he's spoken about you," Mabel begins again, slowly, "he's told me that he thinks neither of you had a clue you loved women back then. He said you didn't seem to have enough space to ask questions about who you were or what you wanted."

"He's right," Hana says, staring unseeingly at the ripples on the lake. "When I fell in love for the first time, in Cordonia, it was hell. I had no idea what I was feeling, I couldn't get over the fact that it was a woman...and she was lost to me before I could even hope to win her."

Mabel smiles. "...and then you met Kiara."

Hana chuckles, a glow trickling down and filling every inch of her being...as it always does when she remembers their first days after they confessed their love to each other. "And then I met Kiara."

The two women walk further, looking out towards the lake rather than at each other. Hana gropes around in her mind desparately for a change in subject.

"I feel like I've seen this place before, even though this is my first time personally visiting Edgewater."

"It's possible," Mabel concedes. "Several films have been shot here. I think my favourite one so far has been that one with Cassandra Leigh in it... what's its name...?"

"A Timeless Heart," Hana replies, wonderingly. Even as she answers she finds herself awash with memories. Memories she'd kept locked away since Peter had left...yet something about this particular one demands she revisit it today.

They're at the home theatre Father and Mother had installed, just before Peter's parents agreed to their match. Peter tries - not too subtly - to place his arm around her. Hana obediently folds her hands on her lap, and hopes he doesn't realize they built this room specifically for him.

"Did you know," he inches himself a little closer to her, whispering, "this scene was shot a few years ago at a lake close to our house."

Hana does not answer. Her eyes are glued to the screen, glued to the woman with dark hair and wine-red lips, the camera almost caressing her face. The hero, who Hana is suddenly grateful she cannot see, takes a freshly-bloomed rose from his pocket, gently brushing her cheek with it. She gifts him a slow smile in invitation. Yes.

He brings the rose to his lips, and Hana fully expects him to return it to his pocket, but he does not. Instead he brings it back to Cassandra Leigh's face again.

The petals caress Cassandra's cheek like velvet on silk, moving slowly, sensuously, down the line of her jaw. The length of her hair. Her rosebud mouth. It moves across the expanse of her face, and Cassandra responds to the flower as she would the touch of a lover.

As the flower moves languidly over her silken skin...and Cassandra's expression shifts between confusion and desire and pure bliss, Hana feels a softening deep within her. It's a sensation she has never quite felt before. It moves, again, again, almost as if the petals are kissing her - not the man holding them.

It's almost as if he doesn't exist. It's almost as if no one exists, just her. And this woman.

When the projector breaks down immediately after, and Peter gets up - grumbling about missing the best part of the film - she suddenly stares at her fiancé-to-be like she can barely recognize him.

"Penny for your thoughts?" It's Mabel. Hana shifts uneasily at her piercing gaze.

"I was just thinking..." Hana murmurs, still bemused by the revelation, "sometimes all the signs can be right in front of you - staring you in the face - and you won't even realize that that weird feeling at the pit of your stomach was desire."

Mabel nods slowly, her smile one of recognition.

"Yeah...I've had a couple of crushes I didn't even realize were crushes until later."

"It's funny," Hana replies with a small laugh, "this entire time I've been thinking my love for women suddenly burst into life when I came to Cordonia and met Esther...but it's been there all along. It just took me a while to see it. To give it a name."

"Well...you know what they always say," Mabel lays a soft hand on Hana's arm, "Hindsight is 20/20."

"And this...this is Earl Vincent the First," Peter says, pointing to the portrait of a man in 15th century finery on the wall of his study. "Quite the character. He's said to have spied on both sides during the Wars of the Roses."

Hana smiles. "I know of at least one Duchess back home who would love to hear that story."

It's their last day in Edgewater, and Peter has summoned her to the study. Hana wills away the still-slight prickle of fear that he will rake up the past. They've spoken often enough; the topic could have easily come up if he so chose.

"and this...this is my most famous ancestor - appointed Championess of the Realm by Queen Charlotte herself - Countess -"

"- Florence," Hana whispers. The young woman in the portrait is still dressed in her house colours of blue and gold, but holds a white rose to her bosom. Her gaze seems to focus on the artist, brimming with emotions she cannot yet express. Hana is confident that if she strained her eyes long enough, she would find Parsons scribbled at the bottom-right corner of the painting.

"Yes," he says, a faint smile on his lips, "I hear that back in Castelserraillan they've made a film on her life."

"She's quite popular there."

"For good reason, I imagine," Peter says, "Most of what used to be considered 'rumour' about her is...in effect...true."

Hana's eyes widen. The stories of Countess Florence Foredale marrying Mr Chambers but pledging her vows to Miss Parsons...that she gleefully officiated her "husband's" own union to another man on their wedding night...they are fairly common knowledge. Common knowledge that you'd never expect the heir to her estate to confirm.

"Among us descendants, no one knows for sure whether her son was part of the Foredale bloodline in the way the ton of those times would have wanted it," Peter stares at the Countess' portrait, hands clasped behind his back, every inch this woman's heir. "But she left behind a legacy. A legacy I am proud of. A legacy I long to live up to."

Remembering her conversation with Mabel at the lake, Hana says, "From what I've heard, you already are."

Peter's answering smile is one of sad knowing. "You've been talking to Mabel."

Flushing, Hana nods. "I have."

He chuckles and shakes his head. "She often gives me more credit than I deserve."

Hana laughs. "I think I'll let her be the judge of that."

She can see Peter's shoulders heave in a deep, deep sigh. He walks away from the hundreds of ancestral portraits, back to his table, running a fingernail across its wooden surface. His eyes are cast downwards, almost as if he can't bring himself to look at her.

Hana freezes, anticipating the difficult conversation ahead.

"Hana," he says, his voice suddenly rough, "I wanted to hate you so badly in the beginning."

Her stomach drops to her feet. "I know."

"I kept telling myself, she could have opened up to me, anytime. I stayed at her home three while weeks; she could have let me know then. I convinced myself that I was a match you carelessly chose to sleepwalk into, that you considered me another chore to get done."

Tears spring in Hana's eyes. "I couldn't understand what was happening to me back then. I still don't."

Peter moves behind the table, running his fingers through the knob of one of the drawers. His own eyes seem clouded, she notes with a pang.

"Mabel told me once...the process to figuring out who you are isn't always going to be linear. You're never going to figure it out all in one go," he finally raises his eyes to hers, "Was it like that for you?"

Hana swallows. "It's still like that for me. There are still parts of this journey that are yet to make sense."

"I could have stayed back. Talked to you. Tried to help somehow, though god knows whether I'd have messed it all up further. I could have tried." Peter's voice is flat, almost deceptively lacking emotion. Only his eyes betray his recrimination of himself. "Instead I ran off. Leaving you to face all the questions."

"You didn't!" Hana's own voice is suddenly hoarse, roused by his self-flagellation into passionate defense. "Don't think I didn't notice, Peter. Before you left, you and your family made use of every contact you could find...to kill most of the gossip surrounding our breakup. Neither I nor my family found out until two years later."

Peter shakes his head in disbelief. "But -"

"You didn't get all of it right. I know that. People still managed to spread the word, and I kept getting raked over the coals for it, even after I married Kiara." Hana takes a deep breath, exhausted from her tirade. "You hated me then, but you were still willing to do that for me. If you really want to know how worthy you are of Florence Foredale's lineage, you can start right there."

Peter sighs. "Let me apologize for not trying to understand, at least."

She lets out a watery laugh. "Apology accepted."

He searches her eyes for affirmation, and nods, opening the drawer he had been running his fingers through mere minutes ago.

"Come here," he mumbles finally, leafing through a sheaf of papers, "I have something I've been wanting to show you. Ever since we started writing each other."

It's sketches of the same woman - in various moods, various poses...the drawings themselves in various stages of completion. These aren't formal portraits, set up over stand and easel, its subjects motionless. No - these are poetry in motion, impatiently etched, capturing their subject in all her vibrancy and fierce spirit. Here she is, head thrown back in (at least in Hana's imagination) loud raucous laughter, the wind in her hair. And here, yet again, holding a little boy up in the air, his tiny hands reaching out to caress her face.

Here is one made by the Countess - herself an accomplished artist - of her wife standing tall and proud, an eagle perched on her right arm, her left hand caressing a unicorn.

Her heart almost stops when she sees the final painting - the artist Parsons herself, arms wound around the other woman's waist, her chin tucked against the Countess' shoulder. Their fingers seem woven together, so that you cannot quite tell which ones belong to whom. The Countess herself looks to their interwoven hands with a mixture of desire, and longing, and pain.

Hana runs a hand over the couple, her touch almost reverent. Her heart twists a little at the strength of their love, the immense injustice of their loss. "No one else has seen these before."

"No one," Peter agrees, "except my wife. We unearthed these just days after Father died. And a week before you made that call." He picks the last drawing up, his eyes brimming with affection. "When you rang us so soon after that, it felt like a sign. Like I had one more chance to make things right."

Hana takes his hand, pressing it between hers. "You and Mabel have done more than that. I'll never forget this visit. You both owe us a trip to Cordonia, now."

Cautiously, tentatively, Peter gives her a hug.

"I'd like you to have this last painting," he says gruffly, passing her the one she'd touched so reverently mere moments ago. "It just feels right, you having this. There's a lot of things my ancestor didn't have...that I'm glad you and my Mabel finally get the space to explore."

"And even then, we had to navigate so much to get there," Hana responds. "All we can do really is pass it forward. Make it easier for the next generation, and the next, and the next."

Peter gifts her a rueful smile. "I'll try my best to do just that, Hana. I promise you."

Little Alphonsa giggles and gives Kiara a drawing of herself and Chaima, as a keepsake. Already Kiara plans to have it framed and put up in her nursery.

Mabel has a gift of her own, too. Just before Hana leaves, she slips a small package into her bag, insisting she only open it when they're closer to the airport.

The car that takes them to the airport weaves through traffic slowly, steadily, in no particular rush. In an hour's time, Chaima is asleep on Kiara's lap, and Kiara herself has dozed off, mumbling gibberish in her dreams.

Quietly, Hana takes out the package, tears open the wrapper. A letter falls out.

H -

Since you like Cassandra Leigh so much, I thought you might like The Warmest Winter. You'll know why when you watch. Thank me later.

Love,

It's a CD cover for a film. Two women, gazing into each other's eyes in reverent devotion, their gazes speaking a million promises that their lips can never tell. Hana presses the CD to her chest and whispers a prayer of gratitude.

A sleeping Kiara shifts her neck ever-so-slightly in Hana's direction, murmuring her name softly. Her hand still lies - soft. protective - over Chaima's stomach.

Hana keeps the CD back in the larger bag she's carrying - the one that holds those precious paintings.

Seems like our plans are set for next date night, wife. She brushes away a strand of hair from Kiara's forehead, kissing it. I just can't wait.

Notes:

Ma moitié - French for "my other half"

Nīnī yā moūmoū - Moroccan lullaby (link here)

A Timeless Heart and The Warmest Winter are both Cassandra Leigh films in the Choices universe.

Inspiration for the Timeless Heart scene in the movie-watching section, came from a rather sensuous (by our 50s Bollywood standards!) Hindi film scene in Mughal-e-Azam, where the hero caresses the heroine with a feather. See:

You can watch the full song here and the scene in question is from 2.10-3.00.

#hana lee #hanaleeappreciationweek #HLAW #the royal romance #the royal heir #the royal finale #HLAW Day 3 #HLAW Day 3: Pride Parade #lizzybeth1986 #content: fanfic #kiara theron #desire and decorum #annabelle parsons #hana lee x kiara theron #hana x kiara #annabelle parsons x mc #long post

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squealing-santa · 1 year

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G'day Magic Makers!

Now that I've had a little time to recoup from the marathon sprint these past ten days have been, it's time for a Squealing Santa 2k22 Update!

As of this morning (11.16.22) all assignments have been sent out via DM (apart from a couple in ask inboxes). Please make sure to open those memos at your earliest convenience and respond to let me know you've taken a gander. Thanks again to those of you who already have 🥰 If you didn't receive a message but had received a registration confirmation, let me know!

Here are some reminders for this years event:

In order to get a piece of tickle fiction or art, you must be willing to create a new piece of tickle fiction or art for someone else. I want to emphasize this point because it's not fair to whoever you're paired up with if you never create for them.

Openly communicate with the host. This is a super busy time of the year, we totally get that. If you have any problems, including needing an extension or needing to drop from the event, please please please reach out. I am here to help!

Fics should be at least 250 words (if that sounds like a lot, don’t worry, it’s only about a page double-spaced). There is no limit if you'd like to write more!

Art should have clean, finished line art (if traditional, drawn on unlined paper and well-lit upload). There is no limit if you'd like to color or stylize more!

Your works should be based on the prompts given by the person you're creating for:

○○○ If there are multiple fandoms and/or prompts listed, you only need to make one!

○○○ If there is an asterisk beside a character's name, that is an indication of ticklee preference.

○○○ If anyone is confused about their prompts, or would like more clarification, I can act as a go-between if you need to ask questions of the person you’re writing for.

Don't tell anyone who you got assigned to create for! Part of the fun is that it's a surprise, so remember to keep it secret until you post your finished works.

Try your very hardest to have your art or fic completed and posted by the end of December, as this is a holiday exchange! But you don’t have to wait until the end of December - you can post as early as December 1st!

Once you've finished, you are welcome to reveal yourself by posting to your own blog, submitting directly to your giftee's blog, or submitting here @squealing-santa. If you’re an anon or you’re unable to/uncomfortable with posting directly for whatever reason, please utilize the submission option!

Please make sure to tag your works with [#squealing santa 2k22] and/or [#ss2k22], along with relevant fandom and pairing information, so that we can find and archive your wonderful creation!

I think that about wraps up the reminders! Thank you so much to everyone for participating this year - I cannot wait to see what magic you make!

#squealing santa #squealing santa 2k22 #ss2k22 #2k22 bulletin board #tickle fic #tickle art #tickle content

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rdrevents · 1 year

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Please see below the FAQ and Rules for our RDR Valentine Fanfic Exchange. If you have any additional questions, don’t hesitate to send us an ask!

1. What is the Valentine Exchange?

A gift-exchange with fluff and romance at its heart (platonic love counts too!) Everyone who signs up gets a Valentine to write a gift-fic for. Information about what kind of fic your Valentine would like to receive is collected during the sign-up, and you will receive this to help you write the perfect fic for your Valentine.

2. Is this strictly an RDR themed event?

Yes. While we allow OCs or Character x Reader fics, it must feature characters from RDR1 and/or RDR2.

3. How long is the exchange? This event is much shorter and smaller than our main exchange event (The RDRSecret Winter Exchange), so the sign-up, creation period, and gift reveal only last 20 days in total. 4. What are the fic requirements? Length:

Fics are expected to be between 800 - 1,500 words long. Going a little over the 1,500 is fine, but all fics should hit the minimum.

Standalone:

Fics should be independent one-shots that are not a part of, nor rely upon knowledge of, an existing fanfiction or establish ‘verse.

Tailored:

Fics should be tailored to your Valentine’s wishes to a reasonable extent. Some may request their writer take more liberty and creative freedom, some may have very specific requests in mind.

5. Is this a Secret/Anonymous Valentine?

While we do prefer to keep Valentine’s anonymous until the gift reveal, we are not pushing this as an anonymous event, so this will be left to the participants’ discretion if they wish their Valentine to remain secret or not.

6. Who can participate?

The event is open to everyone as long as you have not warranted removal from a previous event.

7. How do you choose gift-givers and recipients?

We pair up gift-givers and gift-recipients based on the information we receive via the application form. This includes information such as character/ship requests, content ratings, DNWs, and any interests that align.

8. What’s a DNW?

A Do Not Want is something that you or your gift-recipient does not want featured in the gifted piece in any way; the gift-giver is expected to respect the DNWs of the gift-receiver no matter what. Misuse of or ignoring DNWs will result in a ban from future participation in our events.

9. How do I participate in the Exchange?

A valid email is required to sign-up and partake in the event, but this information is only available to the event moderators and will only be used to confirm your participation and to share your gift-recipients preferred contact and gift information. We do this via email as tumblr’s messaging system is not suited for mass individual communication and event organisation. You will be required to fill out a google form which will request information for the gift you’d like to receive and what kind of gift you’re comfortable creating. This will include information such as desired prompts, general likes, characters / pairings, DNWs, etc. This helps us match you with a gift-giver/recipient.

10. I have an additional question, where do I ask?

You can message the moderator on Tumblr @rdrevents, contact us on twitter @rdrevents_ or email the moderators at [email protected]

By joining the event, you are agreeing to adhere to the pairing requirement and respect the Do-Not-Wants of their gift-recipient. Failure to do so will result in permanent exclusion from future events.

We do not accept works featuring or glorifying underage characters in sexual, explicit, or NSFW situations of any kind.

We accept adult and dark/heavy themes as long as they are appropriately tagged.However, to keep inline with the theme of this event we do not expect any dark and/or heavy themes to be the main focus of the story.

All conflicts that cannot be solved between involved parties should be brought to the moderators attention.

Moderators have the power to remove any person from the event should the party in question violate these rules or values.

Minors (Under 18s) cannot request (sexual) NSFW content and likewise cannot produce (sexual) NSFW. Anyone found lying about their age to receive such content will be banned from all future events.

#eventfaqs #RDRvalentineexchange #rdrevents #valentine #fic exchange

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olofpettersson · 1 year

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WHALE SHEPHERD

https://teia.art/objkt/144125

This piece is a part of my BIOSEMIOTICS project, that begun on HEN, and now continues on TEIA. It asks: What if all living creatures in this universe were communicating with a unknown yet learnable language of signs?

The goal of the biosemiotics is to contrubute to av evolving field of human transcendent language from an artistic point of view, and, ultimately, to develop, establish and disseminate a transspecific semantics.

This does not only mean that it wants to develop an art of communication so transparent that there no longer is any use to talk about species and their symbolic transgression. It also means that all communicative events will be based on friendship and love: a pair of emotional bonds conditioned by individual-to-individual relations. We want to listen to each other as singularities; as the multitudes, gangs or packs or swarms or bee-flower-like complextities we are. Thus, we hope, can we eventually learn what it means to be a sentient being, and why we have woken up on this earth.

In order to reach this goal, the project will need to dismantle a long tradition of anthropocentric science and philosophy. And I realize that the road to a new era of biosemantic research, informed by a cross-fertilization of anthropology and zoology, is rocky. There is a set of challenges that will need to be identified, analyzed and overcome. Some can be overcome with art, some with science, some with action.

Although the complexity of these issues is perhaps both practically negligible and easily overstated, they are nevertheless important for the development, conceptualization and distribution of viable, practical strategies. In the light of concrete progress, the theoretical problems outlined below will of course become mere curiosities. Yet, as we are often told, the first step to overcome a problem is to realize that it exists. We see at least three main challenges that will need to be taken into consideration.

First, we need confirmation. What is closest is not always what is easiest to understand. Just as you cannot see your own eyes, your own ability to see is, and can only, be understood in a mediated sense. You need to trust the experience of another individual to believe that you have eyes to see with. This means: If it is the case that the general ability to communicate transcends species border, the science or art that will map and understand to what this ability amounts must be mediated, reflected and confirmed by someone from another species. Further, as in any science and art, there is a step from an ontic to an ontological level. There is a difference between doing it and knowing that you are doing it. In the first case, it can be perfectly natural and automatic. In the second case, it is problematized and can be the subject of progress and development.

Second, we need to go beyond the concept of species. The goal of any ambition to understand and augment interspecies communication is to destroy itself. Because insofar as the ultimate result is the ability to see the individual instead of the species (race or gender), the very notion of interspecies communication will become obsolete. How are we going to go beyond the concept of a species? How will this affect the notion of evolutionary biology? If we no longer can talk about inter- and intaspecies competition, how shall we explain the development and transformation of life?

Third, we need clarity. We need to understand each other on a deep, individual and honest level. This, of course, does not need to imply that we need articulated accounts, but we do, at a minimum, need a feeling of conscious certainty. It is not enough just to have a hunch. It is not enough just to have a general idea. We need specific, lucid, reflected messages that can be questioned and confirmed. There is no reason for why we should settle for any less. This may mean that we ultimately need to leave the letter and sound based means of communication, common among humans, as this is a weak, and clearly deficient, form of communication. But it cannot mean that we should lower our expectation of clarity, complexity and understanding.

This project is developed in close collaboration with projectdolittle.com, not only to secure scientific accuracy, but also to stretch the limits of how we conceive of emotional and cognitive communication.

Since its launch, the project has also been an important part of the Geopoetics, a larger umbrella project with many branches and incarnations, but with a general aim to produce inclusive emancipation and a transgression of the axiological borders between human, animal and plant.

Some results has already been shown to an exclusive audience at private events and parts of the underlying graphics by Timothy Crisp has also been shown at the Swedish Printmakers Association at the exhibition Configurations.

#biosemiotics #cryptoart #nftart #teia

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costellobezrobbins · 2 years

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How to Phrase Effective Questions inside a Tarot Card Reading

Are you receiving a tarot reading for the first time? Well, to obtain a productive and insightful tarot card reading, you should know the best way to phrase your queries. Asking the right form of questions after a tarot reading will ensure that you receive illuminating techniques to assist you to achieve your dreams and goals. However, once you ask a poorly phrased question, there exists a good possibility how the answers you get will likely be confusing, vague, and even discouraging. If you are searching to secure a tarot card reading, you can consult a tarot card reader online through a tarot app to guide you through the difficulties of life. All you should do is download Astroyogi's tarot reading app. To use a fruitful card reading session that will ensure that you end the tarot reading session with additional knowledge than you began with, below are great tips that you'll be able to remember while communicating with them. So, let's get started. Major arcana Course for Phrasing Effective Questions in a very Tarot Reading Ask Open-Ended Questions Tarot reading provides the the best results whenever you are wanting to get advice or better insight. The tarot cards reading want to offer and reflect on possibilities. This is why it is advisable to ask open-ended questions. Even though it is possible must straightforward good or bad questions, tarot cards often give complicated answers jointly must delve into the cards' symbolism to grasp the reasoning behind the good or bad. A card reader interprets what are the card reveals, so answering exactly a pros and cons isn't feasible for your tarot card reader. For example- Don't- "Will I get the work promotion?" Do- "How can I grow in my career?" Ask Questions That are Focused on Yourself You may be tempted to inquire about questions on other people throughout a tarot reading. But asking them questions about another person will turn into unproductive. Tarot card reading is ideal whenever you are focused on yourself looking for solutions by yourself. For instance, if you inquire relating to your romantic endeavors, tarot cards cannot respond to your questions like whether your companion loves you or if they'll marry you. Instead, it is possible to seek advice like how you are able to make a stronger experience of them. For example- Don't- "Does my crush love another individual?" Do- "How can I make a better and stronger bond between me and my crush?" Avoid Extremely Detailed Questions Tarot card readings offer guidance to ensure that you can work from the obstacles in your lifetime. They are not meant to give you detailed answers or exact predictions about any specific situation. So, you ought to steer clear from asking specific dates, names, or results. Take Complete Ownership with the Situation When it comes to communicating with them, it's a good idea in the event you inquire which will enable you to take ownership in the situation to get the right insight. For instance, if you want to ask questions in connection with health of the cherished one, rather than asking when they will regain health or even the outcome from the health problem, it's better in case you ask what it is possible to do to improve the chances of them convalescing and regaining their health or how you can support them. When you go for a card reading, be operational towards the advice that the tarot cards offer you. You might find information that you don't like, yet it's important to listen for the message, regardless of whether it is what you are trying to hear or otherwise. A tarot reading session might be of enormous help in the event you do it with purpose. This can only happen if you put conscious efforts to phrase your question correctly.

#Tarot Master Classes #Online Tarot Course #Online Tarot Reading #Tarot courses online #Minor arcana Course #Major arcana Course #Tarot healing #Tarot coaching #Tarot workshops #Tarot deck #Tarot oils

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911bingo · 2 years

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Frequently Asked Questions (mobile-friendly edition)

What is a Fandom Bingo?

A Fandom Bingo event is where you take a theme (in this case, 9-1-1 and 9-1-1: Lone Star) and create a grid of prompts in the layout of a bingo board. The goal is to fill the prompts in such a way where you get a traditional bingo (3 or 5 in a row, column, or diagonally), or to go even further and fill out every prompt and get a blackout board. To get your bingo board of prompts, you’ll fill out the sign-up form where you’ll choose from a list of categories to tailor the experience to your interests. From there, you’ll have until March 31st, 2023 to complete as many prompts as you can!

What is a 3x3 board vs. a 5x5 board?

These are the different sized boards you can sign up for. A 3x3 board will give you 8 prompts and 1 free space, and a 5x5 board will give you 24 prompts and 1 free space. The only difference between the two is the amount of prompts you want to be given.

What can I create for the “free space”?

Anything you want! So long as it fits the Prompt Fill Requirements outlined in the Rules and it’s related to 9-1-1 and/or 9-1-1: Lone Star, then you’re good to go! The main restriction is that it must be something you’ve created during the Bingo period; you cannot go to a previously posted creation and retroactively claim that it fills your Free Space.

Are crossovers okay?

Yes! So long as 9-1-1 and/or 9-1-1: Lone Star are involved, you can cross over with any other fandom.

I’m participating in another Bingo/Event, can I use a Bingo fill from here and also count it towards another event?

Yes, so long as you have permission from the other event and it doesn’t violate any of their rules.

I have a prompt fill idea that covers two different prompts on my board, can I count it for both?

No. You must have a unique fill for each square on your card.

I finished my first board and I’d like a second board, but it’s after the sign-up closing date. Is that okay?

Yes! Since we’ll be using the information from your initial form to create your second board, there’s no need to fill out the sign-up again. Just contact a mod to request a second board (likely the person who gave you your board in the first place, but it can be any of us if necessary), and they’ll get you set up!

Do I need to join the 118 Discord to participate?

Short answer: no.

We understand that people may not want to learn a new platform, or perhaps you’re already involved in too many servers and don’t want to deal with another one. That’s totally fine! All of the 9-1-1 Bingo information and updates will be available on this blog, and you can contact the mods through Tumblr as well.

That being said, if you’re looking for a community to chat about 9-1-1 and 9-1-1: Lone Star with, we would welcome you with open arms!

I signed up over 72 hours ago, where’s my bingo card?

If it’s only a couple hours past 72, please be patient with us. In last year’s event we had over 90 submissions in just the first week of sign-ups, and there aren’t many of us working this event. We might just be backlogged! So long as you received email confirmation of your sign-up submission, we received your form.

If it’s been a whole day past 72 hours and you haven’t heard from us, that might be for a few different reasons:

‣ If you provided a Discord username, this is probably because we can’t contact you through DM. You may have forgotten to include your 4 digit #tag, or more likely, your privacy settings are set to receive messages from friends only or mutual servers only. ‣ If you provided a Tumblr username, you may be unable to receive media messages or may be unable to receive IMs from non-mutuals. ‣ If you gave us an email address, please check your spam/junk folder. The email should be coming from [email protected]. ‣ All: Check your confirmation email to make sure you spelled your username/email correctly.

In any case, please send us an ask off anonymous so we know who you are and we’ll get you sorted out.

I still have a question that hasn’t been answered here. What do I do?

Please send us an ask and we’ll get to you as soon as we can! Asks will be publicly answered unless specifically requested to remain private.

#faqs #mobile friendly

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rijallaw · 23 days

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Green Card Through Spouse: Preparing For The Interview

Have you been hoping to acquire a green card through your spouse? Do you want to be as prepared as possible throughout the process? That’s what we can do here at the Rijal Law Firm. We can, quite literally, be by your side every step of the way. One part that you may have to deal with: the interview. Specifically, you’ll be interviewed by someone who works for the USCIS.

Your case will be different from any others. So, what we’ve written below may not be exactly right for you. If you have any questions, we encourage you to reach out to us.

Why Is There An Interview? There are actually multiple reasons for the interview. The interview itself isn’t just the USCIS asking you questions. It also involves a thorough examination of forms, identification documents, security-related queries, and a deep dive into the intricacies of the marital relationship. The primary objective is to ascertain the authenticity of the marriage, aiming to root out instances of immigration fraud where individuals engage in sham marriages solely to obtain a green card.

What Documentation Should I Prepare? To bolster their spousal green card petition, individuals are advised to compile and present documentary evidence. This may include joint bank account statements, credit card statements, a shared lease agreement, a visual narrative through pictures spanning the relationship, and testimonials from friends or family. Although no single piece of evidence is obligatory, a comprehensive collection can fortify the case by demonstrating financial interdependence and the genuine nature of the relationship.Remember, in this context, the burden of proof lies on you. You have to demonstrate the bona fide nature of their union. We can help you to be as prepared as possible so that you’re as ready as you can be.

What Questions Will I Be Asked? While there isn’t a standardized set of questions, applicants can anticipate an exploration of their relationship history. The immigration officer will try to establish the timeline of when you two first met, when the relationship gained seriousness, moments of meeting each other’s families, the decision to get married, etc.

Some officers may delve into more specific details, probing birth dates, names of family members, and other particulars to uncover any signs of green card fraud. We can coach you so that none of this will be a surprise.

How Can An Attorney From The Rijal Law Firm Help? While we cannot respond to questions about the relationship on your behalf, we can navigate legal queries that may arise. Moreover, we can present the immigration officer with meticulously gathered supporting documentation, showcasing its relevance in establishing the authenticity of your marriage. Before the interview even, we’ll collaborate with you so you’ll be able to anticipate potential questions and assemble a comprehensive packet of documentation for the green card through spouse process, being fully prepared.

Will I Get A Green Card Through Spouse After A Successful Interview? Following the marriage green card interview, some immigration officers may render an immediate decision. However, most likely, they’ll review the case and issue a written decision within a few weeks. In the event of approval, the marriage-based green card is dispatched shortly thereafter.

Rijal Law Firm: Ready To Help Today With the assistance of an attorney, applicants can navigate this process with confidence, ensuring that their documentation and responses align seamlessly with the immigration officer’s scrutiny. Successfully clearing this hurdle paves the way for the issuance of the coveted marriage-based green card, marking the culmination of the adjustment of status journey.

To schedule a free case evaluation with us, message us through our site or call.

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spacetime-asriel · 2 months

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I have been asked to say a few words to the transhuman arm of Sector Seventeen Overwatch, concerning recent successes in containing members of the Resistance Science Team. Let me say up front that I regret having to temper my heartfelt congratulations with a strong measure of disappointment. But I wouldn't be doing my duty as your Administrator if I didn't pass along the message I have received from Our Benefactors. The capture of Eli Vance is an event of major significance, make no mistake. And while it's true that conceivably we could have taken him at almost any time in the last several years, the manner of his capture may prove to have unexpected benefits. It cannot have gone unnoticed by all resistance members that Doctor Vance's capture coincided with the act of giving shelter to Gordon Freeman. This might cause other resistance members to think twice before harboring Doctor Freeman. It might cause them to question his allegiance; even prompt some to turn him out, or turn him over to our cause. However, we cannot count on such developments. Doctor Freeman's reputation is such that other desperate renegades are likely to grant him a great deal of license in the spirit of spreading general chaos and terror. This brings me to the one note of disappointment I must echo from our Benefactors. Obviously I am not on the ground to closely command or second-guess the dedicated forces of the Overwatch, but this does not mean I can shirk responsibility for recent lapses and even outright failures on their part. I have been severely questioned about these shortcomings, and now must put the question to you: How could one man have slipped through your force's fingers time and time again? How is it possible? This is not some agent provocateur or highly trained assassin we are discussing. Gordon Freeman is a theoretical physicist who had hardly earned the distinction of his Ph.D. at the time of the Black Mesa Incident. I have good reason to believe that in the intervening years, he was in a state that precluded further development of covert skills. The man you have consistently failed to slow, let alone capture, is by all standards simply that—an ordinary man. How can you have failed to apprehend him? Well… I will leave the upbraiding for another time, to the extent it proves necessary. Now is the moment to redeem yourselves. If the transhuman forces are to prove themselves an indispensable augmentation to the Combine Overwatch, they will have to earn the privilege. I'm sure I don't have to remind you that the alternative, if you can call it that, is total extinction – in union with all the other unworthy branches of the species. Let's not allow it to come to that. I have done my best to convince Our Benefactors that you are the finest the species has to offer. So far they have accepted my argument, but without concrete evidence to back it up, my words sound increasingly hollow even to me. The burden of proof is on you. As is the consequence of failure. I'll just leave it at that.

go away

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mattsammonsez · 1 year

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Hello, I Must Be Going

Hello, I must be going I cannot stay I came to say I must be going I'm glad I came But just the same I must be going, la-la!

-Groucho Marx, Animal Crackers

Throughout my life, when I had to make an important decision, I would often make my decision based on a big-picture view question; “Do I really want to be a part of this?” Really, it’s that simple. Sit back, take everything in, and ask if I really want to be part of this. “This” is everything: career decisions, life decisions, political decisions, religious decisions. While my life has not been perfect, my recollection is when I asked myself this question at key points in my life, I’ve pretty much made the correct choice every time. I haven’t saved the world, nor have I appeared on any lists counting the top 30 or 40 or 100 in any field, but I’m in a good spot on this 3rd rock from the sun. But today is one of those days where I look at something, scrunch my face, and say to myself, “I don’t want to be a part of this anymore.” This time, “this” is Twitter.

I’ll offer a few more thoughts in a moment, but for those who don’t like longform, here’s the short version and you can stop reading after this paragraph: I’m sunsetting my Twitter account. I’m not deleting it, because I don’t want someone to eventually take over the handle and do nefarious things with it, but effective immediately I’m no longer pressing the blue button with the white bird for news and opinions and chatter. Where can you find me? Well, I guess you can find me on Facebook, but I don’t really hang around there much anymore either. Yes, in the irony of ironies, someone with a Master’s degree in digital and social media is personally withdrawing from two of the biggest social media platforms. But I think if you really want to talk to me and get my opinions or ask how my kids are doing, we have to roll it back to about 2003.

· My email is [email protected]. Reach out, say “hello”, share contact information. If I want to talk to you and get your opinions and ask how your kids are doing, we’ll do it there. Quietly, in civilized fashion. Like old times.

· If you have my phone number, it has remained unchanged for 22 years and I don’t anticipate changing it. Call me. Text me. Let’s actually hear voices speak. Quietly, in civilized fashion. Like old times.

· If you have my email or phone number, and you’re aching to see my handsome face, let’s schedule a quick video call and catch up. Quietly, in civilized fashion. Like old times.

· If you happen to be visiting Phoenix where I now live, or if I happen to be where you live, let’s connect and shoot the breeze. Quietly, in civilized fashion, with a beer. Like old times.

That’s the main message. I’m not going away, I’m just going away from here.

Now if you’re curious about why, it’s for a lot of the same reasons others are leaving, but it’s not as simple as one answer or one person or one event. I used to joke that Twitter is the crazy man on the street corner with the bullhorn shouting about everything. For 10+ years I chose to be one of the crazies with a bullhorn, after joining mostly because it was a new platform and I needed to be there for work. But I feel there’s too much crazy, too many bullhorns, too much shouting. Way too much shouting. Way WAY too much shouting. I’m choosing to step away from the street corner in exchange for a leisurely walk around the city instead. I’m doing it for my own sanity, for my own emotional well-being, for the opportunity to let go of this virtual crack addiction, and mostly because if there’s one thing I’ve learned on Twitter it’s that nothing really gets done. Certainly not much positive gets done. I look at where I am now and where I was in February 2012 when I signed on, and I can’t chalk up much happiness or success to Twitter. That’s what most psychologists would call an unhappy relationship. So I’m breaking this relationship, and looking forward to getting away from some of the noise in our world now.

I know what you’re thinking. I know you have doubts. Here, let me share some with you:

· BUT… BUT… I’M AN INFLUENCER! I regret to inform you, no, you’re not. At least you’re not on Twitter, and honestly on most social media. There are plenty of ways to be a positive influence on others. Screaming into the Twitter hurricane, regardless of how good your intentions are, that’s just a waste of time. It’s a waste of energy. It’s a waste of good intentions. There are better ways to do that, in front of real people, with real conversation.

· BUT… BUT… IF YOU LEAVE, ELON WINS! Well, sure, I guess so. But what exactly is he or any of his backers “winning”? If Twitter is the spoils of victory in life, Lord take me now.

· BUT… BUT… FACISM AND EVIL AND AUTHORITARIANISM AND ANTI-SEMITISM! Yes, it’s all here and sadly growing in front of everyone. It’s not just happening in America, but around the world. Democracy is at a major stress test now, and I have banged that drum on this platform for a few years now. I don’t want any part of that either, and I have made my voice heard with my ballot. You can make your voice heard too on November 8th. There’s also a reality that while I control my vote and you control your vote, we don’t control the tens of millions of other voters, even those who have been misguided or who vote with hate and malice. Some election results may not equate with what you want, or what is fair and good. Be prepared for that, because there are going to be some very sore losers. I don’t put much faith in elected officials, even the ones I’ve helped put in office, because they’re human. My faith is in God, and in trying my best to fight these world issues the best I can. Screaming about it on Twitter (or most any social media) isn’t the way to do it. Very little gets done.

· BUT… BUT… YOU’RE PUTTING YOUR HEAD IN THE SAND! No, I’m realigning my priorities for where I get news from reliable sources. NPR, BBC, Washington Post, my local paper The Arizona Republic. I’m sure there will be more once I figure out which subscriptions to buy into. There are good reliable sources on Twitter, but they’re surrounded by the crazies with the bullhorns screaming at each other. I’m not going to surround myself with that.

· BUT… BUT… YOU OWE IT TO ME TO STAY HERE FOR SOME WEIRD REASON I CAN’T PUT MY HANDS ON BUT I’LL SAY IT! No, I owe you nothing. Especially here.

· BUT… BUT… HOW DO I STAY IN TOUCH? I already told you! Bottom of page 1. Email, text, call, Zoom, meet up in person. Let’s do good things that require more than 280 characters to communicate. Let’s hear voices, see emotions, lift each other up.

· BUT… BUT… DO I HAVE TO DELETE MY TWITTER ACCOUNT? That’s your call but do what you feel is right and healthy and best for you and your friends and family.

I’d say I’ll miss you, but I told you how to get a hold of me twice now, so I don’t think we’ll be missing each other unless we go out of our way to not connect. If you go your own way and I go mine, that’s okay too. We’ve had some fun times here, and as Ronnie Milsap once sang, I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.

Speaking of singing, a little grease paint under my nose and a long cigar in my mouth as I say:

I'll stay a week or two But I am telling you I must be -- going

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