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talesofsonicasura · 4 years

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Diamonds and Voodoo

You Do Voodoo

A mysterious visitor comes to Morioh. Paths diverge and intertwine with the various townfolks of this crazy, noisy bizarre town. And it all started with a good deed touched by a bit of magic.

Good deeds tend to create ripples throughout what we know as life. Sometimes an act of kindness can lead to great rewards. At rare times the road to hell is often paid with good intentions. Nevertheless, this type of charity has a habit of changing the future of one or many individuals. For sometimes, a grand adventure begins with that very act of kindness.

"Look out!" Morioh, a small town amongst the middle of nowhere quite unlike many cities found in Japan. A type of place that tends to be quiet but also hosts some oddities within its dwellings. Unlike many small towns, Morioh would become ground zero for a strand of very bizarre events and each with their own level of danger.

A car was parked awkwardly sideways between the road and crosswalk. Upon closer inspection, this was a crash as the front end was inward from the telephone pole currently wedged inside the bright red metal. To the side was an abandoned bicycle alongside a police officer and what many from this town could call a foreigner. The officer holded the visitor close to his chest almost awkwardly, the telltale of being grabbed.

The officer was an older and surprisingly buff male, darkened grey hair hidden under his cap, eyes that had a natural glint of kindness despite the concern now shining for the person in their arms. A would-be victim of the car accident was a young woman around her late teens, between 16 or 17 from the bits of remaining baby fat still left on her face.

Her skin was slightly tanned in a more climate related basis, such as sun exposure than natural skin tone, hair a short messy lime green hidden under the top jaw of a dinosaur-esque skull, a 5'8 body that was slim, lean and had moderate bust along with curves, but it was her eyes and her arms that drew the most attention.

The young woman's arms were decorated in wavy almost vine patterned tribal markings with a four toes pad on each shoulder and her eyes had a unique case of heterochromia with the right being a normal orange but the entire left eye was blue except for a single white pupil. Her outfit consisted of dark blue fingerless gloves, red sneakers, light brown cargo shorts, a black bra and opened orange vest outlined in red.

"You okay there missy? That car almost hit you if I didn't pull you away in time." The officer questioned, his voice soft and kind in a sort of grandfatherly way. She merely looked up at him with a large impish smile. Not even scared or off-put that a speeding car almost made the teen paste on the street.

"I'm good mister! Just glad no one else got hurt either. Car accidents aren't something normal folks can handle and I rather get hurt than somebody else! I'm more than capable of taking some nasty hits!" The woman's peppy, slightly loud and light chuckle paired with the slightly morbid words had thrown the officer for a loop before he strangely found himself chuckling too.

"Hahaha. Well aren't you an odd but thoughtful young lady? I wish some of my friends on the force had that kind of energy. Everyone's been down as of late and honestly needs a pep talk or two." The greenette looked at his badge for a moment as if scanning for his name. Something that was quick to find apparently as it read 'Ryohei Higashitaka'.

With that in hand, she then reached into the pocket of her cargo while silently whispering his name. The officer or Ryohei honestly looked a bit surprised when the youth produced a peculiar item. It was a small brown wooden charm carved into a smiling mask. The mask was painted with red lips, yellow with green outlined eyes, large reddish eyebrows and four small feathers ranging from yellow, orange, purple and red.

"Please take this mister as a sign of gratitude. It's a good luck charm carved into the likeness of Aku-Aku, a spirit of protection. This charm shall ward off a great disaster in your future." The older man took the odd charm with a soft smile and looked it over. He softly chuckles before patting her head.

"Why thank you! It's pretty adorable and well crafted! I'll make sure to keep it close. Good luck is something a lot of people nowadays…" His eyes widened a bit upon realization. "Whoops! Careless me! I forgot to ask for a name. I am Ryohei Higashitaka, an officer of the Morioh Police Department. What's your name missy? I need it to file a report for ya and if you want to press charges." She merely gave an impish smile with a bit of her tongue sticking out.

"It's Taki-Taki, Taki-Taki Bandicoot."

Budo-ga Oka Middle and High School, one of the few schools within Morioh. A joint school where grades between 6 and 11th are together instead of being separate. It was also a place that had a quite an amount of delinquents which make up some of the school's student body.

Walking towards this destination from the local town square was a mountain of a man in very odd clothing. Hair was jet black and well groomed, eyes a bright ocean blue, body sculpted like a Greek God from every single inch out of 6'5 and a natural scowlish look on his face. Nearly all his clothes, from his coat, pants, shoes and torn back hat with golden pins stylized to spell Jo were white except for the man's shirt which was pitch black.

The man was currently looking over a paper, a report or letter from highly detailed it was in both text and a few select photos. His brows wrinkled in aggravation before muttering a soft 'Yare Yare Daze' under his breath. "Godamnit old man. You're too old to be causing this type of bullshit." He hissed, rough, husky and slightly aggravated tone to his voice making a few people steer clear of his vicinity.

Well… not just that. Unknown to the raven in question, there was something odd looking over his shoulder. This peculiarity was a mask of sorts. It looked vaguely human but the light blue material used to craft it was spectral from how it softly glow like wisps in the night sky.

An Aztec type crown at the top with four flat points as if it was a piece from a gear, large carved ears with faint spiral at the center, pure white eyes and mouth outlined in mauve, and the same mauve color to imitate flat eyebrows. Bystanders seeing the mask either quickened their step or blamed this bizarre sight as 'too much coffee' or 'no more liquor in the morning.'

"Huh. Guess an old man in his late 60s can get laid. Oh, so that's where the gardens are!" The young man nearly bit his tongue in shock from both the raspy, light and almost nerdy sounding male voice but also the fact it came from a floating tiki mask that took a closer look at his document.

He couldn't get a word out of his mouth as the mask flew off with surprising speed. "A Stand?! That means there's a Stand User nearby! You ain't getting away from me!" A bright golden aura began to burn around the adult upon giving chase to the airborne oddity. On the sidewalk, the man's shadow grew with the addition of a more peculiar one.

A few minutes passed when the chase was called off upon the mask being too far in the air to pursue, the extra shadow vanished as the adult male let a growl in annoyance. He lowers his hat with a curse. "Damn it. If that thing's responsible for the recent incidents going on in this town…" The man then went to a payphone before dialing in a number.

"This is Jotaro Kujo. Tell the heads of the Speedwagon Foundation that there is confirmed Stand activity in Morioh. Look into the database about a Stand in shape of a glowing blue mask and the possibility if it's connected to Dio." The phone was slammed down as the white coat of the man fluttered while he left.

"Poke!" A finger poking the little snout of a box turtle that had swam up from the water of the makeshift pond seated by a small bus stop. Sitting on the curb of the pond beside was the odd Taki-Taki, currently petting the small reptilian much to its pleasure. "You're a handsome turtle, aren't you? Much nicer than the big ones back home." She cooed while the turtle rubbed itself against her hand clearly in love with the kind contact.

A little whimper had the young woman look around in utter confusion. Soft heterochromia eyes soon met bright baby blue ones tinged with a bit of fear. That fear directed to the little reptile nipping at the greenette's fingers.

A 5'11 muscular young man with blue violet hair tended neatly into a large pompadour, a dark violet gakuran pinned with a yellow heart and gold peace on each side of his chest, sunshine yellow shirt that peeked through the gap of his uniform coat, and dark boots were the owner of these baby blue orbs.

"You okay? Look like you're about to pee yourself." Taki-Taki questioned upon the fidgeting male still looking at the turtle as if it tried to eat him. He immediately calmed down a bit now noticing he wasn't exactly alone, cheeks dusting a bright red. "I'm so sorry! Reptiles just give me the willies that's all, mostly turtles." His soft and slightly rough almost if still adjusting practically rattled with nervousness.

She merely chuckled whilst waving off any concern. "It's alright! Everyone is afraid of something so no harm done. Plus this little handsome fellow is much more kinder than the ones I've seen in Turtle Woods. Those turtles were mean and one tried to steal my hat!" Her spare hand pointed at the dinosaur skull on her head since the other was still petting the shelled reptile.

The pompadour wearing young man shivered upon the two words 'Turtle Woods' but was honestly thankful that she wasn't making fun of him for his phobia. Taki-Taki then stood up whilst petting the turtle's head one more time. "I better go! Promised to get some stuff with my friend Lani-Loli and we're supposed to meet up at the gardens! Chou!" And she was gone with a pep to her step.

"My name is Josuke Higashitaka… And she's gone. Maybe I'll see her again." The sound of male cursing grew as the purple pomp prince noticed a bunch of male students coming over to him. Delinquents from their rude, downlooking and glaring faces, something that only made him sigh. Days like these tend to suck.

The Higashitaka household, home to the Higashitaka family which consisted of the older police officer Ryohei, his daughter but also single mother Tomoko and Tomoko's son Josuke. A lively place from the unique personalities of the three living inside. Well, it wasn't like this right now.

Peculiar water slipping away from the house window almost like a cobra finished with their prey. A fact so true upon the still body of the family matriarch lying lifeless on the floor. Face carved in blood coated horror slowly changes to a pristine clean outlook through a soft golden aura. Almost if the man died in his slumber and not of gruesome supernatural murder.

The golden aura belonging to a bubblegum arm coated in crystalline diamond armor soon vanishes inside the body of Josuke. Behind Josuke was Jotaro, the man clad in white being a relative, his nephew shockingly taken into consideration that his grandfather was the pomp prince's father. Who knew?

And the older man could only look at the teen that was his uncle trying to coax his dead grandfather back to life with sympathetic pity. Aquamarine eyes that always seemed stuck in a perpetual glare now softened at the scene. The look of someone who had seen a death like this before. Or to be more precise, had experienced such a grizzly sight.

Jotaro knew that this wasn't the time for grief fueled hysterics. There were more pressing matters and dangers ready to drown them from the inside. "Josuke…" Any further words from the older man, alongside any actions from the teen immediately stopped upon one thing. Subtle movement originating from the chest of the officer's corpse before them.

A sickly sweet scent reminiscent of cherries filled the air along with the soft sizzle of something burning. Thin wisps of smoke coming from the body's chest pocket spurred Josuke to go into the clothing's pouch. Baby blue eyes widened seeing a small brown tiki charm in his hands but specifically the feathers that were turning to dust.

"A voodoo charm?" The purplette's attention immediately went back to the corpse of his grandfather. His still chest slowly began to rise and fall almost as if… "He's breathing." It was the only conclusion Jotaro came to upon the subtle movements. The charm in the teenager's hands fully became ash once his previously deceased grandfather sat up looking purely confused.

"Ooh my head… I don't remember my favorite booze having that strong of a kick. Josuke? What are you doing here since I thought you were going out? Who's this guy? And why are you crying?" Ryohei didn't expect to wake up to such a scene or his own grandson to hug him so hard thinking he was about to kick the bucket.

He was quick however to notice the scent of cherry in the air alongside a missing weight in his breast pocket. "Did someone light a scented candle and where did my good luck charm go? Was I mugged or something Josuke?" The elderly man's inquiry had the two younger men share the same look. They needed answers.

/"You want to know who gave me that charm? Well, it was a young girl around my grandson's age. She had green hair, heterochromia with her eyes being orange and blue, and had what looked like a dinosaur skull on her head. Said her name Taki-Taki Bandicoot and came into town looking for ingredients. The charm was based off of a guardian of protection... Aku-Aku I believe she said."/

Information that had both Jotaro and his younger uncle running through the streets of Morioh in a hurry. Ryohei had been put into protective custody with a short call from whoever the raven had pretty high connections to. Something that man would have refused if it wasn't for the fact his son was crying. Josuke only cried when things were at the absolute worst. This made it easier to search without the man being in danger once more.

"I never thought my life would have gotten this insane. First an escaped death row inmate capable of killing his victims from the inside with water and now a Stand User capable of bringing back the dead! Things weren't like this until you came to town!" The highschooler quipped as if to ignore the harsh ache going through his legs.

"Your life was bound to become bizarre the moment you awakened your Stand, no, the moment you were born with Joestar blood. A curse everyone in this damned bloodline has. So don't blame me for the shitshow." Jotaro fired back in absolute annoyance. Their destination was the place mentioned by the woman when Josuke encountered her, Morioh's Springroll Garden.

"Maybe she can remove it? She does know voodoo and it does involve a lot of curse thingies? Do you think Taki-Taki can get rid of my fear of turtles?" The teenager's question was merely met with an eye roll from Jotaro. He was going to shout back an insult until something caught his eyes.

A lone figure standing amongst a large collection of various flora and vegetation belonging to one of Morioh's famous landmarks. More accurately a lonehuman figure and a soft blue floating oddity by them that was very damn familiar to the male clad in white. "There she is and that's the Stand I saw earlier!"

Taki-Taki was currently plucking a few mushrooms from underneath the bushes that provided their moist dark home and placed them into a small straw basket. Springroll Garden was a place where people could pick their vast garden by purchasing a special ticket and take home an entire basket full of items.

"It's kind of cool that the town has such a garden like this. Especially when it guarantees a free basket of fresh goods for first time visitors too!" The luminescent mask said with a big smile while looking at a bush full of white roses. His green haired friend merely let out a chuckle in agreement before speaking. "Same here pal. Makes it a lot easier to find the things needed to work my magic."

A loud shout had the two look up to see some familiar faces running their way. "Wouldn't you know? Hey Pompadour Prince, fancy seeing you here!" Taki-Taki's nickname immediately had the boy stop in his tracks. Face burning in anger until the words finally hitting turned that anger into pure confusion. The sudden confusion didn't stop the mask from cowering behind the greenette.

"Pompadour Prince?" He questioned while pointing to himself, clearly confused. "You kidding? That's the best pompadour I've ever seen. Also, calling you king is going a bit too far since we've barely known each other and aren't in a relationship." Her words caused the male teen to blush a bit paired with a smitten look and cheesy smile.

Jotaro merely elbowed Josuke's shoulder as the highschooler remembered what they were supposed to be doing. "Taki-Taki Bandicoot, we need you to come with us. We already know about you being a Stand User since your Stand is hiding right behind you but also that charm you gave Ryohei Higashitaka before he was attacked."

The greenette merely had a confused look before it immediately narrowed into glare after the words Ryohei Higashitaka and attacked. Her emotions were clearly being felt through the odd mask as it came out of hiding to glare at them. "I knew something bad was bound to happen upon seeing that dark aura. Tell me what you've done to that kind officer before I rip ya putzes a new one!"

Josuke was thrown off guard by the sudden aggression consuming Taki-Taki's features. It was as if a cloak of pure madness just overshadowed that sunny aura of the greenette. The change didn't deter Jotaro who refused to back down at her threat. As if proving his point, a gold aura started to radiate from his body.

"You need to calm down now. We aren't your enemies but I won't hesitate to knock you out even if you're a girl." The man spoke as something appeared from his body like an apparition. It was a humanoid spirit of sorts that appeared to be an Aztec Warrior or barbarian with similar origins.

Just as big and buff as his summoner but a bit more, soft blue skin that outlined a coral inner pink, black hair that flowed like smoke but sparkle as if it was stardust, soft ocean blue eyes and a body armed with white pauldrons painted in gold spirals, black fingerless gold studded gloves, a white scarf around their neck, black knee high boots and a long white loincloth alongside a dark tasset.

Yet, the strange being seemed to only piss off Taki-Taki even further as she went into her pant's pocket to pull out a small crystal orb. "You're going to threaten me with a giant in his skivvies? Alright jackass, hope your ready to party. For this Ooda-Booga Boogie of mine is going to send ya to the hospital!" And she crushed the crystal orb in her hand.

Both men only had seconds until a large blackish pink fist had punched Jotaro's spirit in the face, the ghost and summoner were sent flying out of the garden before kissing the street concrete. Josuke could only blink before seeing the thing responsible for sending his nephew airborne. "Holy shit!" For what stood snarling in front of Taki-Taki was an absolute monster.

A heavily built 9'6 tall slightly deformed anthropomorphic porcupine with vibrant magenta skin overshadowed by a darkish gray hide. A long singular black horn tipped with hot pink, burning crimson eyes that glared down at the man in white, a magenta muzzle overlapped with an giant overbite of fangs, multiple pink tipped black spikes across their back, their right arm covered in black armor in the form of a riot shield, and crimson hakama trousers with a black paw print on the side.

The beast snarled angrily at Jotaro while a trail of drool came down from their razor sharp maw. It then let out a loud and deep inhuman roar almost if challenging anyone foolish enough to face the beast's wrath. Jotaro had gotten back onto his feet, spitting a bit of blood on the road before wiping the remainder from his mouth. Some of it stained bits of his hat a dark crimson. His spirit staring at the beast with an analysistic glare.

"That's one hell of a sucker punch you got there. Quite an ugly bastard of a friend you have, makes me question which one it is though. Is the beast your actual stand or a byproduct of its power?" The question only seemed to aggravate the greenette and the large creature she called upon.

"That 'ugly bastard' is my friend Quill and what is with this Stand garbage anyway?! What I want to know is did you attack Mr. Ryohei?! My charm doesn't just vanish without fulfilling its purpose even if stolen. Now answer me or I'll beat the truth out of you!" Taki-Taki declared with a snarl that held inhumanely sharp teeth.

Josuke didn't have to be a genius to know if he didn't stop these two right now then things were going to get a lot worse. His nephew's Stand went in for a punch while the greenette's large beast followed suit. Neither attack landing their blow as two diamond covered pink hands caught both fists.

The culprit was a giant pink skinned warrior whose body was covered in Corinthian style diamond armor. He was huge with the same type of muscle like Jotaro's spirit, eyes were a bright baby blue that shone through the darkness of the heart top helmet with concern, wires connecting the back of his neck to his back, heart shaped diamond pauldrons with spikes, armor that over lined the side of his arms, legs and back, and diamond plating rings around the fingers.

Unlike Jotaro's Stand or Taki-Taki's giant beast, this one exuded a gentle and kind aura akin to that of a guardian or protector. Something that made sense from the soft magenta aura radiating from Josuke. "Please stop fighting! I don't want to see my nephew or the person who saved my grandpa hurt each other for something stupid!" The pomp prince's words carried strong as they were sincere.

Something the greenette easily felt upon Quill taking a step back as if backing down from the fight since there was no longer any hostility. Jotaro's Stand disappeared soon after while he muttered a soft 'Yare Yare Daze' under his breath. "Holy shit… I thought things were going to get ugly there. I don't think this garden deserves to be wrecked by a Spike." The mask's quip not being lost on anyone.

Later at the Higashitaka House, cups of tea were placed on the table. Sitting at the table on mats were Josuke, Jotaro and the odd woman known as Taki-Taki Bandicoot. To their left side strangely enough was the greenette's mask and both men's spirits that were conversing with each other or goofing off upon the playing cards between them.

"I still don't believe that Stands are basically the spiritual energy of someone given form. You sure they aren't warrior ancestors? Jotaro's Star Platinum looks like an Aztec barbarian and Josuke, your Crazy Diamond reminds of those old Greek soldiers from his armor." She said while looking at the three oddities playing Go Fish.

A Scrabble holder was being used for the mask or Lani-Loli's cards since he didn't have any hands. He would ask either Star Platinum or Crazy Diamond to put any of his matching cards down and when he needed to 'fish' a card. "Pretty sure. Couldn't I ask the same thing about Lani-Loli over there? Floating masks that can talk aren't normal either." Josuke quipped while pointing to the mask in question.

"Hey! I'm right here you know and I'm way older than all of you combined! And I would have you know that I was human before becoming a Quantum Mask! If I still had hands I would smack all three of you on the head!" The mask fired back in aggravation, some of the cards disappearing in blue wisps of smoke... alongside Josuke's clothes.

"Eeek!" He panicked immediately covering his crotch, Jotaro hiding his embarrassment under his hat while Taki-Taki turned her head away with face hot red in embarrassment. "Great Tikimon! Lani-Loli! Phase his clothes back now!" The mask quickly undoing his magic in sheer embarrassment. Josuke's clothes and the cards popping back into reality with similar blue wispy smoke.

Poor teen let out a sigh of relief knowing he wasn't nude in front of a girl anymore. "Sorry! Sometimes I accidentally poof things out of existence when I'm stressed! And nothing says stress like an escaped convict who kills people with living water!" Jotaro rolled his eyes at the smartass remark. For an all mighty ancient mask, Lani-Loli was an anxious nerd that was a scare away from passing out.

The reason why they were holed up in Josuke's house was that all of them were targets of the Stand User Angelo and his Stand Aqua Necklace.

Angelo was a psychopath with a taste of madness and penchant for violence. The man was arrested repeatedly for brutal acts like murder and even sexual assault before he was landed on Death row. Sadly his execution didn't work properly, allowing the maniac to escape the morgue and reach Morioh. He attacked Ryohei as the cop was the reason Angelo got arrested.

Due to the nature of his Stand, none of them could use water that came from anywhere but a bottle in fear of accidentally swallowing the dangerous entity. "And when do you think it's safe for us to go home? Unlike you guys, my dad will go nuts if I ain't back soon. None of us want to deal with an angry father much less my pops, Crash Bandicoot." Taki-Taki wasn't blind to the nervous look on the pompadour prince's face while he took a sip of his tea.

"Until that Stand User is caught." Jotaro didn't foresee the spray of tea hitting his face from the greenette's spit-take. The grown man was growling in his seat while the young woman tried to settle down her coughs. "You nuts?! That is the stupidest thing I ever heard and this is stemming from the fact my partner does insanely stupid stuff on a daily basis!"

Lani-Loli had flown over to the table so fast that the card pile dispersed from the sudden gust, much to both Stand's displeasure. "You said this guy's Stand is pure water right? What do we do when we run out of water? Wait, here's a better one! What happens if it rained? Shelter becomes a deathtrap in two seconds!" Both men's eyes widened upon the mask's words.

After settling down her coughing fit, Taki-Taki let out a soft whisper. "I think this is what that putz wants. Turn ourselves into sitting ducks and swoops in for the kill until it's too late. And it's going to rain in three days." Silence filled the room upon that very knowledge. The convict was planning to turn their stakeout into a trap.

Josuke could only sigh at the difficult hand. Sure, they now know the guy's plan but if they ignore it then finding Angelo would be even harder. It also meant that the psycho will find out Ryohei is still alive and won't hesitate to attack him again. "Then let's turn the tables back. Turn the hunter into the hunted." All eyes were on Taki-Taki in seconds.

She had a goofy smile on her face with her tongue sticking out in an impish manner. There was also the fact that another crystal orb was in her hands. An item that produced the monstrous Quill but unlike that one, this jewel was a shade of toxic green. Lani-Loli, upon seeing what his friend held, grew a mischievous grin of his own. The odd duo clearly had a plan that almost made Jotaro and Josuke feel an ounce of pity. Almost being the keyword.

Rain had finally fallen upon the house once three days had passed by. Taki-Taki had called her father about being home a few days late since some issues had cropped up. Neither Josuke or Jotaro heard the man's voice but what they gathered upon how the greenette talked, 'Crash' was kindly lenient. Although, both males would have to see him once she got back home.

They spent most of their time keeping themselves from getting bored. Board games, reading, or Taki-Taki crafting some… mysterious concoctions and trinkets with whatever she found in the Higashitaka household. Josuke could honestly admit that he didn't know there was a den of possums hiding in his walls but the witch doctor managed to get some possum fur and nail clippings after one landed on Jotaro.

The greenette at the moment was alone in the bathroom, various ingredients that surrounded a lone bucket. Each item was odd in their own right, rat tails, frog eyes, shiitake mushrooms, yew branches, spoiled milk and a bottle of water. Taki-Taki began pouring the ingredients into the vat starting with the rotten dairy.

She was chanting in an unknown language that eerily sounded like a mix of Arabic and Pig Latin. Bucket began to bubble from her words as the color shifted upon every ingredient dropped into the vat. Taki-Taki's water bottle was currently halfway empty through the process and the cap left abandoned to the side.

Unbeknownst to the woman, rain began to patter outside and something opaque began to build up by the window. It looked like water but it held a more bluish hue and moved too much like a living creature to be normal. Then a pair of sinister pink eyes and a grin full of sharp teeth slithered through.

"You sure this isn't a mango?" Josuke currently sat in the front room alongside Lani-Loli who floated over the teenager's shoulder. Standing on the table was a large orange fruit with a yellow bottom similar to a mango but two leaves that hung from a stem. The teenager currently poking at the fruit that had come from Taki-Taki's home.

"Nope! It's a Wumpa Fruit, a pretty common thing to find on the Wumpa Islands. They're much sweeter than mango and the juice is pretty tasty too. Especially when used for a Wumpa Smoothie, those are really good." Being curious upon the mask's words, the pompadour prince took a nicely sized bite of the fruit.

Tangy sweetness was the first thing that hit the highschooler's taste buds then a rich zesty flavor kicked in a matter of seconds. "Holy shit! This is actually pretty good. Yo Jotaro, you have to try this!" The raven poked his head out of the kitchen upon hearing his name. He let out an annoyed sigh before snatching the fruit out of the teen's hand.

"Did someone put salt in your oatmeal today?" Lani-Loli couldn't help but point out at the man's awfully sour mood added by the harsh bite he took out of the poor fruit or the vicious vice grip. "No. None of you are taking this situation seriously and last I checked didn't get an angry rodent trying to claw up your face." He hissed before taking another aggressive bite.

The sound of footsteps had gotten the two humans and mask turning their heads. Approaching them with an eerily quiet and dead stare was Taki-Taki. Her feet moving sluggishly to the point it was close to that of a sleepwalker… or if heavy weights were tied to the woman's legs.

"Taki?" Lani-Loli's voice thick with concern while he spoke his friend's nickname. Her response was to open her mouth slowly with evil pink eyes glaring back at them in the darkness. "Sorry but your little friend's life is now mine!" A vile, raspy and deep male voice coming out of the greenette's mouth, all to the horror of her friends.

"Aqua Necklace?! You bastard, get out of Taki-Taki now Angelo!" Josuke could only burn brighter in rage from the deranged laugh of the psychopathic water Stand. "And get rid of my only hostage?! Hell no! This bitch is the reason why Ryohei Higashitaka is still alive! She has the power to bring back the dead, a ticket to immortality!" The mask could only roll his eyes as if sensing a monologue.

"I've been watching you this whole time. I saw the giant beast she summoned and that mask phasing things through existence. With her as my slave, I'll be invincible! The world will be my toy box and every single person my toys that I can break for eternity! Once you're all dead, I'll break her until she's a mindless bitch who will follow my every…" The monologue was caught short upon her mouth snapping shut.

Yet, it wasn't the lips that closed the space but an eerie green substance reminiscent to goo. "The hell?!" Aqua Necklace tried to dive down the woman's throat only to run into another gooey green wall. Then he heard laughter. Pink eyes turned to see it was Lani-Loli who was responsible. He was cackling mischievously that tears looked ready to fly from how hard his laughter, much to the confusion of his friends.

"Haha! Hehehehe! You really thought it would be so easy! Taki and I faced way worse than your miserable hide. Oh, and that's not Taki-Taki you putz! Drop the charade Toxic!" Jotaro and Josuke immediately jumped back upon who they thought was Taki-Taki began to melt. All color draining away into a puddle of green slightly clear goo.

Crazy Diamond and Star Platinum were quickly summoned when that sludge started to rise up in the process of a transformation. The slime forming three toed misshapen legs, dripping fat arms with chubby fingers, a large yellow green belly that from its almost clear texture and Aqua Necklace being held inside looked more like a prison, and a roundish hippo like head paired with short pig ears, large deformed inhuman teeth and two alien yellow orbs looking back at it's observers.

The beast or Toxic's appearance could be compared to a 8 ft tall ogre or even an Oni, supernatural beings that tend to punish wicked humans. "Meet the Sludge, a creature made of magic infused ooze with a love for eating utter garbage, like your ugly face! I told Toxic here about your little plan involving my best friend."

Almost on cue, the large oozing beast let a loud snarl before smoke began filling in its tummy. "Aaaaaaah! What the hell is that smell?! It's getting hot in here! Don't tell me this is acid?!" The mask only had a vicious smile on his face that solidified the fact. "People like you make me sick. I've read your entire file and I bet it would even make Uka-Uka himself furious to see your deeds!" Aqua Necklace could only shiver in horror at the mask.

It was like Lani-Loli's nervous self had been overshadowed by pure animalistic rage that his eyes were narrowed slits and teeth were now large fangs held in a snarl. A deity ready to smite a sinner with divine punishment. Even Jotaro and Josuke were taken aback by the sudden shift.

"I may be a scaredy cat but I am still a protector. My name is Lani-Loli, the Quantum Mask of Phase! For ruining the lives of many, threatening my friends and having an unsavory plan for my contractor, I mark you Angelo and his Stand Aqua Necklace, guilty of your sins! And boy do I have a nice punishment for your wicked soul."

The mask then faced the two Joestar blooded men. "Josuke. Jotaro. Taki-Taki left earlier to find this cretin's owner hence my friend Toxic here taking her place. I know where she is and I'm going to need your help with something."

On a street a few blocks from Josuke's house sat a large boulder. This rock had laid on this spot for centuries after a stray storm left it stranded on the land that would become Morioh. Tied to this very stone was an unsavory dark haired man in a milkman uniform bound by chains and gagged with a black cloth. Bruises decorating his body no doubt from the slightly bloody fists of the witch doctor.

Taki-Taki turned her head and smiled upon the sight of her friends coming into view. Aqua Necklace was still trapped within the prison that was Toxic's stomach, who seemed mighty pleased at the abomination's struggle. "Damn, you did a number on the asshole." Josuke said much to the greenette's pleasure.

"I aim to please. Now then, Angelo, since you made a living of ruining people's lives I believe your punishment should be providing good luck." Taki-Taki then pulled from behind the rock was the bucket filled with her concoction. It was a bright bubbling pink and had a smell akin to rotten lavender. She didn't resist dumping the nasty vat all over the convict much to his displeasure.

The man was struggling in disgust before his movements slowed to a crawl as if his whole body was paralyzed except for his mouth and eyes. Taki then yanked the gag from Angelo's lips allowing the man to speak. "You...crazy bitch…! What have you done?" His raspy dry voice almost sounded like a dying cat from how quiet it was.

"A simple potion made to turn you into an eternal good luck charm for all the folks in Morioh! Bet you now wished that your original execution didn't fail. Josuke, this last part is all up to you. Today you will have to make a choice on how this man goes out." Taki-Taki's eyes narrowed as they glowed inhumanly under the dark cloudy sky.

"Ryohei Higashitaka was the one who put this man in jail and stopped his rampage. In vengeance, this scum tried to rob a righteous soul of his life. As Ryohei's grandson, will you fulfill his task and put an end to the man that escaped the grim reaper's blade? If not, then I will perform the deed with Lani-Loli. What do you say?"

The pompadour prince was a bit off guard by the witch doctor's words. Why would she ask him if he wanted to be the one that dealt Angelo's punishment? "Josuke?! Are you seriously going to let her kill me? Sure I tried to kill your grandfather but if you go along with this bitch's plan then you'll be a killer just like me!"

None of them were blind to the man's false pleas knowing it was a trick to let him go. A rat that will only wreak havoc if given a shred of mercy. Angelo's rants were caught off by a fist breaking both his hand and a chunk of the rock. The shocking thing was that the stone merged and encased itself around the appendage much to the psycho's horror.

"Aaah! My hand!! What are you doing?" Josuke merely ignored the man's painful cries. "You really think that we're going to let you go after all you've done. This town used to be a peaceful place before you came and played with people's lives! So for the rest of your days, you're going to pay back every family that you destroyed! Taki-Taki." The greenette smiled knowing what the young man wanted.

"Let's do this Lani-Loli! Armor up!" The cyan mask flew around Taki-Taki with trails of aqua wispy trails that followed from behind. The mask situated himself onto her back while the ghostly ribbons wrapped themselves around her body. Each wispy streak solidified to form a black jumpsuit of sorts which was highlighted by glowing aqua blue chunks of armor reminiscent of Lani-Loli's crown.

Taki-Taki's eyes were now completely glowing blue while velvet sky blue energy followed through the tattoos on her skin and turned her hair into luminous bluish mist. The sudden change to the witch doctor had the restrained Angelo sweating in terror and nearly pissing himself when Josuke's Crazy Diamond materialized.

"Dorarararararara!!!!" The armored spirit let out a battle cry as both him and the armored greenette let loose a barrage of vicious punches. Each strike was as destructive and fast as machine gun rounds, blowing off huge chunks of the stone and merging to the man trapped in the dead center. Neither of them stopping their assault until every piece of stone had been reassembled.

With one last brutal punch, the stone fragments had fully merged Angelo turning the once human male into a deformed boulder. This new shape of the large stone was a malformed face with wide eyes held in different angles, a large flat nose at the bottom similar to a maui and stress lines just like the person it used to be.

Aqua Necklace, who was still trapped in Toxic's belly, quickly melted away in seconds. No doubt the Stand could no longer survive without the life force of its user, thus following its master into hell. Jotaro could only grimace behind the guard of his cap.

[Morioh Landmark 1: Angelo's Rock. No one knows where this mysterious stone appeared from or why. Despite its unnerving appearance, this landmark is a hotspot for couples both old and new.]

'These three are bat shit crazy and have the strength to back it up. Luckily Josuke has a good head on shoulders but…' The raven's eyes drifted to Taki-Taki, her sludge summon and most importantly Lani-Loli still hanging onto her back. She was conversing with Josuke who took the time to look at her changed form and the living sludge Toxic in rapt curiosity.

'Taki-Taki isn't a Stand User but she's just as dangerous as one. Those beasts, Quill and Toxic, whatever they are no doubt has a connection to her origins. And then there's Lani-Loli. I don't exactly know what a Quantum Mask is but I have a feeling he isn't the only one. Just who are you?'

And that is it! This ended being super long since the story revolves around two whole episodes instead of one. It does take place in the beginning of Part 4 and I wanted to stick as close to canon involving them.

Yes, Taki-Taki can call upon Titans, the enemies normally found in the Crash of the Titan series. Unlike a large chunk of people, I actually like the Titan games. They were the first Crash games I played and 100%. I did play Crash The Huge Adventure for the gameboy advance but it got destroyed in the wash sadly before I got the last crystal.

Any version of Crash of the Titans is good but I suggest playing the DS version of Mind Over Mutant considering the console version is more of an annoying chore with tons of backtracking.

My favorite Titans are Spike and Rhinoroller. I especially love the boss version of Spike from the DS Mind Over Mutant but I haven't found the concept art of it yet.

Just like a witch doctor, Taki-Taki does craft all sorts of potions and charms. The Aku-Aku charm acts like a second chance. If someone who has the charm experiences death, the charm will revive them. Deaths done through murder are a bit different.

The charm will hold onto their soul until its safe to revive the holder. Any extensive damage is done and the soul is returned back to the body once repairs are complete. After use, the charm will disintegrate or dull out depending on how much damage was caused.

The Phase Armor given by Lani-Loli is much different for Taki-Taki when she uses it. Reason for it is that she's contracted to him thus the power and magic he provides is much stronger than someone who doesn't have a contract.

Even if Lani-Loli is quite a skittish character,that doesn't mean he won't get serious when needed. Angelo did a lot of horrible stuff that I bet even Uka-Uka wouldn't do. Uka-Uka may be evil but he has standards.

I wanted to try a different writing style for this considering Part 4 is more of a murder mystery. So I wanted to introduce particular areas, new landmarks and important information in a traversing to the next scene.

Until next time folks! Tell the world that your unbreakable!

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concernedcrisis · 4 years

Text

Thankyou again to @theelfmaiden for tagging me 😊. Much appreciated!

1. What is the colour of your hairbrush?:

Mostly black but with a bit of gold rose.

2. Name a food you never eat:

I'm not exactly against any specific foods, i'd try anything once. But our family specifically doesn't have Brussels sprouts in out household. It's kinda a thing.

3. Are you typically too warm or too cold?:

I tend to overheat a lot, so i' d say too warm.

4: What were you doing 45 muinets ago?:

Watching a character arch breakdown i think. Maybe.

5: What is your favourite candy bar?:

We don't really call it candy down here. There's a distinction between the names for lollie types and chocolate. I'm just gonna assume this means chocolate because it specifies it's in a bar. This might seem a little boring, but I honestly love the plain Cadbury chocolate.

I love when its put in the fridge so it doesn't melt, but also is still soft enough to be bitten, plus it's really good when you dip it in a hot drink like coffee, hot milo, or a hot choc, and it's only just started to melt. When I was little in girl guides, we used to have sleep over competitions where you had to cut a quare off a hard solid block with a butter knife before the timer ran out and then you would tag team with another member and do something else. The team to finish the family block first wins.

6. Have you ever been to a professional sports game?:

Yeah, the first that comes to mind is when i went to a NRL game with a group from school and we got to hold the side banners for the Panthers team as they ran onto the field, then got to have a meet up with them after the game.

7. What is the last thing that you said out loud?:

I really can't remember except for maybe 'yeah'

8. What is your favourite your favourite ice cream?:

I don't really have a favourite, but I do like it when its got chunks😍 - initiate primal instinct to scavenge -

9. What is the last thing you had to drink?:

Dare ice coffee.

10. Do you like your wallet?:

I do actually. It was a gift from my aunty who I hardly see.

11. What is the last thing you ate?:

Chocolate I think.

12. What's the last sporting event you watched?:

I haven't watched a whole sporting even for quite a while. I've just been too buisy and generally am not that into many sports. But the last that I remember watching the whole thing was the state of origin games (A 3 game event between NRL players from NSW and QLD, within which each state rallies for their teams based on their state of origin.)

13. Did you buy new clothes last weekend?:

Nope.

14. What's your favourite flavour of popcorn?:

I haven't tried many flavours of popcorn. We don't have a whole lot of variety. I kinda just like the plain movie popcorn.

15. Who is the last person you sent a text message to?:

My mum.

16. Ever been camping?:

I probably have when I was younger, but not that I remember other than a tent in the backyard.

17. Do you take vitamins?:

Nope.

18. Do you regularly attend a place of worship?:

Nope.

19. Do you have a tan?:

Hah! I'm as red as Patrick's arse but certainly not tan.

20. Do you prefer Chinese or pizza?:

It kinda depends on the type.

21. Do you drink your soda through straws?:

Here we call it soft drink 😊. It really depends. Most of the time when we buy it ourselves I just drink it either from the can, bottle, or in a cup. But if we've gotten it from a servo or from a takeaway shop (eg. A fish and chips shop) , and a straw is offered or available, then yeah.

22. What colour socks do you usually wear?:

Usually black, but sometimes they've got those coloured stripes. A lot of my socks also have brands on them cause... free socks.

23. Do you ever drive above the speed limit?:

I really try not to, and most of the time I don't. It's a little tricky cause I'm still on my Ls and don't want to use cruise control, plus our limit is only 90 when the roads I drive on (country mains) are 110 and the other drivers are either up my ass or trying to speed past me when they shouldn't. Trucks are okay tho, except for the pull back when they overtake.

24. What terrifies you?:

A lot of things scare me, but I'm not sure what to pinpoint as making me terrified. There are a few though.

25. Look to your left. What do you see?:

A stuffed turtle :) 🐢 (I know that's a tortoise, sorry).

26. What chore do you hate the most?:

I don't really dislike any in particular to the point that it stands out.

27. What do you think when you hear an Australian accent?:

Um, it kinda depends. Normally I don't notice it, cause it's where I'm from and how we speak, but if its extremely thick my mind instantly goes to 'Bogan'.

28. What's your favourite soda?:

I don't really have one. When I was a bit younger it was a fire engine. Now if we go out I kinda like to get a passiona. But I also love Back O'Bourke Cola (My dad used to drink it when he was little).

29. Do you go in a fast food place or just hit the drive thru?:

We don't go that often, so there's no real routine procedure. It's kinda just whatever the family wants to do.

30. What's your favourite number?:

Don't really have one.

31. Who's the last person you talked to?:

Either my little brother or my brother inlaw.

32. Favourite meat?:

I'm not a massive meat eater, but I do like pork and certain types of chicken.

33. Last song you listened to?:

Stantough's Bardcore/medieval cover of Vance Joy's Riptide. Befkre that is was Hozier's 'Foreigners god'.

34. Last book you read?:

I really can't remember the last book I read, I've recently only had time to read ficlets. But my favourite book, which I read when i was 13, is The Silence of The Lambs.

35. Favourite day of the week?:

I think it might currently be Tuesday (cause I get half the day off) and alternating Wednesday's and Thursdays (cause i get basically the whole day for art and to study how I want).

36. Can you say the alphabet backwards?:

Not fast, it'd tale me a while to do it.

37. How do you like your coffee?:

Kinda depends, If I want a pick me up I go for maybe black with sugar, otherwise a mocha or an iced coffee by industry default, but if I just want something chill I take it with milk and sugar.

38. Favourite pair of shoes?:

I don't really have a lot of shoes, cause I wear them to death before I get new ones. But I love this pair of boots I have for special occasions that's straight black and has a really nice tall thick heel.

39. Time you normally get up?:

During the week I initially wake up at around 5 but then hit a couple rounds of snooze before 5.40 am. On the weekend I typically get up maybe 9.30-10. Considering I'm up til 3-4 am.

40. What do you prefer, sunrises or sunsets?

I really like dusk as time if day, so based on that is say sunsets, but I think sunrises are really pretty too. Especially cause we live up on a hill in the country and can see the full thing.

41. How many Blankets on your bed?:

In winter there's 2 (Cause I'm not really too used to cold even though I love the cold and winter is my favourite season), but as it gets hotter there's usually either only 1 or still the 2 and I just sleep with them half on half off.

42. Describe your kitchen plates:

We have different sets, ones that we use daily and ones that we use for certain meals or occasions. The everyday ones are round, plastic, and grey. The other set is white an breakable (I can't remember the material) with a short rim. Each come in both a larger and a smaller size, and the nice ones also have small square counterparts for side dishes.

43. Describe your kitchen at the moment.

I guess it's pretty big, cause it goes with an open floor plan for the main areas of the house. There's a lot of counterspace, with quite a few cupboards and drawers, along with a small stand in pantry (Not a walk in cause you can only stand in it and turn).

But there are chairs behind the bigger bench from the dining area side so the bench is used to eat at too. It's actually pretty clean currently. (Mind you, I still live at home So that's probably why I can say it's big).

44. Do you have a favourite alcoholic drink?:

I still can't legally drink for another couple months, but I know I don't like most beers, Champaigns, or wines due to being allowed a small glass at my siblings weddings for the toasts.

45. What colour is your car?:

I don't have a car of my own yet, but the family car is white, and the old car my dad restored is blue.

46. Can you change a tire?:

Maybe in theory, cause I've been taught what to do if I need to, but I've never actually had to do it myself, I've just helped.

47. Your favourite state or province?:

I have a strong feeling this was supposed to be in reference to American states and provinces. I'm in Australia, so we've got the 6 states and 2 territories. The States being New South Wales (NSW aka, my state), Queensland (QLD), Victoria (VIC), Tasmania (TAS), South Australia (SA), and Western Australia (WA), and with the Territories being the Northern Territory (NT) and the Australian Capital Territory (ACT).

I don't particularly have a favourite.

48. Favourite job you've had?:

I've only had one official job (As in a causal employment with a specific salary and not stuff like family friend babysitting and house or dog minding around town) and have recently been hired for another but haven't started. I wouldn't exactly call it a favourite even if it's the only one. Let's just say I don't recommend big brand retail, especially not when being overworked by the company without proper area training, having to basically manage half of the store by yourself (including fulfilling other people's jobs), or when family is involved in the buisness.

Okey. Once again, I'm really really sorry for all the rambling.

I'm gonna tag:

@allenginsbergkinnie @brother-genitivi @geetimesthree @youhavemywhinyass @writer-inwonderland

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byeoltoyuki · 5 years

Text

Just One Week ⇾ KTH

↳Pairing : You x Taehyung

Genre : Fluff / Slight Angst / idol!au

Warnings: Do not listen/watch 'Winter Bear' prior to reading this fic. You might pass out from cuteness overload. He is so sooooft...

Words: +14k

Author: Yuna

Summary : When you head back to your home town for 2 weeks to visit your family during your holidays, you didn't imagine it would start with Kim Taehyung nearly stealing your luggage. Then stealing your time. And then stealing your heart.

✻✻✻✻✻✻✻✻✻✻✻✻✻✻✻✻✻✻

Sunday

The airport of your hometown, because it was not located in the most touristic area of your country, was not usually very busy so whenever you came back home to visit your family, getting your luggage back and exiting the place was a quick affair. Today however, it seemed like three flights had landed at the same time and therefore a massive crowd of people was making their way to the baggage claim area. It was pretty annoying seeing as the airport was so small that it had only one baggage belt for all flights and therefore everything was mixed together. You made your way to collect your belongings and sneaked in the middle of a group of people, staring at the suitcases spinning on the belt, looking for yours. You were going to be there for a while.

It had been a while since you came back home to visit your family, you were working in another country and flying home was expensive. But this time you had managed to get a full two weeks of holidays so you booked a flight home right away. Your plans were straight forward: you were going to relax the first week since most of your relatives were working, and the second one would be used to visit most of them as they would be free since it was the kids' school holidays. You had been looking forward to it, you could not remember the last time you were able to spend some time in your hometown without having the urgency of visiting every single people you knew. It was going to be nice to enjoy all the areas you used to frequent when you were a teenager attending school in the area.

You were pulled from your thoughts as you noticed a luggage similar to yours passing in front of you. You pulled it from the belt and looked for the sticker you had placed next to the name tag to confirm it was yours. But it was not there.

"Great, someone's got the same suitcase as me." You initiated to place it back on the belt when you caught sight of a man on the other side who turned around to leave the area, with a luggage similar to yours. And then you noticed your sticker.

"Sorry... Excuse me! EXCUSE ME!" You put back the luggage you had grabbed on the floor and started running towards the man who did not stop, not realising you were speaking to him. Finally, you reached him and touched his shoulder to grab his attention. When he turned around, you lost your breath for a second when you recognised Kim Taehyung from the Korean band BTS, a group you liked a lot among many others. For a second you forgot what you wanted to say and he seemed to notice it, a worried look crossing his face. You regained your composure and said:

"That's my luggage you have here." You pointed at the suitcase he was pulling. He looked down at it, surprised.

"What? Are you sure? I mean I am pretty sure that is mine…"

You bent on your knees and turned the luggage you had grabbed from belt to observe it properly.

"You are Kim Taehyung right?" you asked.

"Er... yes?" he said hesitantly, the worried look back on his face.

"Well I can't read Korean but I assume that's what it says on this luggage. Also, I have a sticker on mine behind the handle. And my name." You pointed at the name tag on his luggage and his face reddened when he realised his mistake, his ears suddenly becoming a bit red.

"Oh my, I am so sorry! I did not realise... Thank you for calling me and I apologise for not stopping before, I thought you were…"

"A fan? A stalker? Well I am a fan, but certainly not a stalker. There you go." You got back up and pushed his luggage towards him, trying very hard not to show how cute you found his embarrassment to be.

"Thank you... Y/N!" He said after you told him your name. "I really appreciate."

"It is my pleasure, I don't think you would have had any use of my skirts and dresses. Or my underwear. So let's just agree I saved your life."

"Well, it would have been a great excuse to do some shopping... Let's just say you saved my wallet."

"Does your wallet really need saving? Aren't you rich or something? If anything, I stopped you from spending your money here and killed the local economy!"

"So let's agree on that then."

The both of you smiled, amused by your exchange, when another male's voice interrupted.

"Are you alright Taehyung?"

You turned to see Park Jimin joining his friend's side, frowning slightly. Your eyes widened when you recognised the man and Taehyung did the presentations.

"Oh right, sorry Jimin, this is Y/N, she stopped me from swapping my bag with hers."

You bowed to him slightly when you saw him do that first, copying his custom. He raised his head back up with a smirk on his face, clearly making fun of Taehyung's distracted head.

"Thank you very much Y/N, sorry about Taehyung, he tends to have his mind in other places."

"Not a problem." You chuckled. "Are you guys going to be here a while?"

"Just for a week." Jimin started and Taehyung took over.

"We are filming a special video together for a duo and our company found that this town has a very nice historical towncentre, so they thought it would be cool to shoot it here. Plus it is not a big touristic place so we should be pretty anonymous for a week."

"Well to be fair you did run into a fan just a few minutes after landing, I'd say that's not a really good start." You laughed and the boys joined you.

"True. But you're alright, somehow I don't think you are going to tell the whole world of our presence here." Taehyung added with a gentle smile.

"Your secret is safe with me!" You pinched your fingers together and pretended to zip your mouth shut.

***

Monday

You woke up pretty late on the following day, mostly because of the jetlag. So when you got up, it was to find the house empty. You were not hungry for breakfast because of the time difference so you decided to take your time getting ready in the hope that once you would be finished with your shower and getting dressed, you'd be craving some food. However that was not the case and you ended up debating on what to do next, you had a meeting with a friend planned in 2 hours to spend the afternoon with. You remembered a coffee shop you used to go regularly during high school, not far from the place you had agreed to meet your friend. Memories of the delicious pastries and hot drinks they used to serve made your mouth water and you instantly decided you would go there before your catch up.

The coffee shop was located in a small historical square, only reserved to pedestrian. The square was bordered with various little shops that were selling clothes, jewellery... There was even a bookstore at which you made a quick stop to grab a book to read with your coffee. The coffee shop had not changed whatsoever in the years you were gone and as soon as you stepped inside, memories of your teenage years flooded in your head: the numerous times you stopped for a hot chocolate in the morning because you had forgotten to eat breakfast, your first date with your first boyfriend when you shared a pastry... You ordered your favourite latte and headed back outside to settle down in the sitting area in front of the shop and observe the passers-by get on with their lives.

The weather was very nice, it was sunny but not too warm since it was the middle of spring, you only wore a light jacket on top of your cardigan and you realised you could probably sit outside for hours. You started reading your book for a good 45 minutes before taking a break to order another coffee, when you received it, you sat back and enjoyed looking at the square which was now buzzing with activity. Because it was a Monday, today was not the busiest you had ever seen this square, but there were still a fair amount of people looking at the shop windows. You spotted a mother with her young son walking by, the boy clearly not in a happy mood and complaining.

"But mum! These are girls' clothes! I don't want to wear that, it's lame!" he whined.

"It's not because it's your sister's jumper that it is only for girls. You look absolutely fine so stop it!" The mother argued back before they both disappeared in the crowd.

You smiled, remembering when you had to wear your brother's clothes, including that one time for carnival where your mother decided she would not buy you the Esmeralda costume you wanted but instead made you recycle your brother's ninja turtle costume. You giggled at the memory and somehow this topic reminded you of yesterday's unexpected meeting with Kim Taehyung the suitcase thief. It was lucky you caught him before he left the airport or he really would not have had anything to wear! You wondered where he and Jimin were today and what areas of your town they would shoot their video in. It was exciting to know that at some point in the upcoming months you would watch a video of a duo between the two men in the place you grew up in. You took a small sip of your coffee and caught a glimpse of a familiar silhouette standing on the other side of the square. You straightened up and finally realised it was Taehyung!

He was walking with a small group of people that included Jimin and a couple of middle-aged men that seemed to be in charge. One of them was pointing his fingers at various historical buildings of the square while the others were taking pictures and notes. Jimin and Taehyung were observing with interest and you guessed they were doing some location research for the music video.

Eventually, Taehyung turned to look at the other side of the square where you were sitting and spotted you instantly. You weren't too sure what to do, not even certain he remembered you, but then a boxy smile appeared at the corners of his mouth. You smiled back, amused when you saw him waving at you enthusiastically and you raised your hand to wave back. If it was possible, his smile stretched even wider and he pinched the sides of his jumper to shake it. The message was clear, he was telling you 'I am wearing my own clothes!'. You chuckled and gave him a thumbs up. He then tried to grab Jimin's attention to tell him he found you but he was speaking with a couple of people and seemed extremely focused so Taehyung looked back at you, a bit disappointed and shrugged his shoulders. Feeling the conversation (if you can call your signs communication that) coming to an end, you raised your cup of coffee for the man to see, pointed at it and then pointed at the coffee shop behind you, then you showed another thumbs up to imply it was good, and finished by rubbing your stomach. Taehyung laughed from afar, he could not hear you but he could well imagine you going 'Yuuuuuum' based on the look on your face. He did not have the time to show you he understood as a man called for his attention and showed him a notebook. He concentrated on the task at hand and when the man let him go, he looked back and noticed that you had gone, a bit disappointed.

***

Tuesday

You came back to the coffee shop the following day, earlier in the morning as you were starting to catch up on your jetlag. You planned to spend some time there to carry on reading your book before heading to your mother's workplace to grab lunch with her. When you arrived though, you were surprised to find Jimin and Taehyung sitting at one of the tables, immersed in their conversation. You stopped at the sight and hesitated whether or not you should stop for a coffee as planned, realising it could look like you were stalking them, especially considering the fact you were planning on staying there for a couple of hours. You wavered, contemplating your options, and finally, you decided to follow your original plan and sat a the furthest table you could find, pretending you did not notice the two of them.

A few minutes later though, as you came back outside with your drink in hand, Taehyung noticed you and called you up:

"Oh hey Y/N!"

Taken aback, you did not react on the spot and by the the time you came back to your senses, Taehyung had gotten up and approached you to say Hi.

"Third time in three days! What are the odds?" He said enthusiastically.

"Pretty high actually, I did say this was a small town." You joked lightly.

"What are you doing here anyway? I thought you guys were going to be super busy all week?"

"It's the first day of shooting today and these things always end up starting late so we thought we'd follow your recommendation and check out what the coffee taste like here!".

"And?" You inquired .

"Soooo good!" He exaggerated , making you laugh. His cheerfulness was communicative and your smile matched his after just under a minute of meeting him again. "What about you? Are you coming here everyday?"

"Hm not really, It just happened that way. I am here on holidays for two weeks but all my relatives are working until next week so I am just finding things to be busy with. And this used to be one of my favourite places to visit when I was at school so..." You started explaining to him before you interrupted yourself when you noticed Jimin looking at you.

Taehyung followed your gaze and undertook to introduce you to him again. "Jimin, this is Y/N from the airport, do you remember?"

"You nearly stole her luggage? Yes I remember Tae." He said sarcastically. "Hi, how have you been?" He spoke to you directly.

You didn't have the time to respond that Taehyung was already asking you another question.

"Are you sitting all the way there?" he pointed at your table. "Come sit with us Y/N!"

"Erm I..." You hesitated. "No it's fine, I don't want to disturb you, you guys are busy."

But Taehyung was already pulling a chair while Jimin sat back down, smiling at you.

"Please, that'd be nice!" he said.

"And you could tell us all about the places we should take a look at while we're here this week!" Taehyung finally added.

You could see through his enthusiasm that he was really keen on having you sit with them for a bit and you couldn't help but feel flattered at his perseverance. You did not hesitate much longer and put your coffee on their table before heading back to yours and grab your belongings. You sat down with the two men and tackled all the places you knew they could not miss on their stay in the area, Jimin was smiling slightly while Taehyung was listening to your every words, even taking notes of your recommendation on his phone. From the best restaurants in town, local historical buildings and locations, down to the best place to watch a sunset after a long day at work. Time went by really quickly and before you knew it, Jimin looked at the time on his phone and interrupted Taehyung who was telling you of his favourite park to visit in South Korea with passion. You noticed the slight disappointment on his face when he heard the news of having to go, but it disappeared quickly as he turned around to speak to you again.

"It was great seeing you again Y/N, thank you so much for spending some of your time with us! I will definitely try to check out the manor you told us about."

You blushed slightly as he unexpectedly pulled you into a rapid hug to say goodbye, but you regained your composure to wave the two of them off as they left for their next engagement.

***

Wednesday

It was halfway through the week when you had been asked by your mother to do the weekly food shopping. So when you got up from bed, you took your time to get ready, enjoying some television while having the biggest breakfast with everything you loved. You caught up on the latest episodes of your series and somehow ended up watching your favourite live performances of BTS. It was surreal to think of what happened in the last few days: meeting two members of the group, with one of them nearly stealing your luggage! You still could not believe you had befriended Taehyung in the short encounters you had with him, but it was so easy to speak with him. You smiled at the memory of how excited he was the day before when you discussed the things to do in the area. You felt a bit nostalgic, thinking it was probably the last time you would see him, before shaking your head, thinking you had been lucky enough to have some quality conversations with him and it would be greedy to want more.

At about midday, you decided that you have had enough of being lazy and motivated yourself to do your chores. You left your house and got into your car without forgetting the shopping bags. You planned on stopping in town to grab some lunch after doing the food shopping and made sure to grab your book, you had nearly reached the end of the story so you were impatient to know how it finished!

The supermarket was not busy at all as most people were working so you had plenty of time to walk between alleys and pick up your items. The job was done quickly and before you knew it, you were back in your car, heading to the town centre, singing loudly to 'Idol', clearly, meeting Taehyung an Jimin had an impact and you were craving to listen to some BTS songs. You interrupted your bad singing as you noticed a familiar figure walking on the side of the road, it caught your attention because you were currently driving on a double lane that was far from the closest houses or shops. It was the last place you expected to see a pedestrian and as you overtook him and looked into your mirrors, you recognised Taehyung.

"What the hell??" You pulled to the side of the road, 100 metres ahead of the man and stood out of your car.

You waved at the man who stopped walking for a second, dubious, before recognising you all of a sudden and waving back enthusiastically. You saw him running towards you with one of his boxy smiles you were starting to get used to and welcomed him with a:

"Fourth day in a row! Nice to see you again Taehyung."

You observed the man catching his breath for a second and couldn't stop yourself from admiring his features, from the red of his cheeks because of the cool weather, to the messy hair because of the running. You gave yourself a mental slap and listened to his question.

"Y/N! What are you doing here?"

You looked around you and burst out laughing.

"Me? Should I not be asking YOU that? Of all the places I recommended for you to visit, you decided the side of a random road was the best one?"

You saw Taehyung blush slightly and scratch the back of his head in embarrassment, he was adorable.

"I was actually trying to go to that Manor you recommended, so I took the bus... But I must have taken the wrong one or got off too early... Either way, I got lost. But it's alright I don't mind! I get to see a bit of the area and the countryside!"

You looked at him trying to justify himself and to your eyes, he was getting cuter by the second.

"Well, the manor is this way." You pointed to the direction with your finger. "So my guess is you did take the correct line, but there are another 5 miles to get there, so you definitely got off too early!"

Taehyung looked towards the direction you were pointing before pulling his phone from his pocket to look at something. You interrupted him.

"I'll drive you." You walked back to your car and open the driver's door, setting a foot inside. "It's gonna take you at least an hour to get there, jump in!"

The man smiled at you and joined you on the other side of the car, he opened the passenger door and suddenly froze as he was about to enter the vehicle.

"Are you alright over there?" You asked from where you sat.

Taehyung finally joined you and distractedly said he was fine. You wondered what must have crossed his mind but brushed the thought away as his happy self was back and he started a conversation with you. You did not know that the reason Taehyung was startled was because he realised how happy with the situation he was and that he enjoyed seeing you, that certainly was an unexpected feeling for him.

Ignoring what was going on in his head, you observed:

"You've got a nice camera, you enjoy photography?"

"Yes, I take it with me whenever I can, you never know when you'll find something nice to shoot or when inspiration will strike! Do you have any passions yourself?"

"I actually own a similar camera to yours, just a different brand, and I can relate to what you are saying about taking it everywhere just in case, but I am not as thorough as you. It gets heavy walking around with all the different lenses I own!"

Taehyung laughed lightly and the both of you carried on discussing the topic. It was agreeable for the both of you to find someone with a similar interest and before you realised, you were arriving to the location of the manor. Taehyung stopped talking and his eyes opened wide.

"Wow." he exclaimed.

You observed him from the corner of your eyes, finding his reaction adorable, but completely understandable. The manor was more like a castle, surrounded by gorgeous gardens, so the man probably did not expect that.

"Have you eaten yet?" Taehyung surprised you with his question.

"Er no, I was on my way to the town centre when I found you."

"Me neither." He pointed to a burger restaurant just outside of the historical property. "Do you want to stop there quickly to grab a bite?"

The next thing you know, you were stepping out of the restaurant, both eating an ice cream as a dessert. Taehyung had insisted to pay for the meals, saying it was his fault you had to stop and could not go home, and even though you assured him it was fine and you were actually happy with the situation, he would not waver. So at the end of the meal, you dragged him to a separate ice cream station and told him to pick a flavour.

You were now walking towards the 'castle', licking the delicious dessert happily, when Taehyung slowed down and pulled his camera out of its bag, taking a shot of his hand holding the ice cream with the monument in the background. You smiled, thinking it was exactly the kind of thing you would do when visiting a new place. You waited a couple of seconds when an idea crossed your mind; Taehyung was about to lower down his arm, having finished taking the shot he wanted, when you joined him by his side and lifted your arm to bring your ice cream next to his. He turned his head to you, surprised and you blushed, realising what you had just done. You were feeling so comfortable with him that you just acted the way you would do with your friends and family. But surprisingly, Taehyung's smile grew wider and he pulled his camera to take the picture, he then looked at the small screen displaying the new image before showing it to you. You were dubious, feeling something was not quite right and by the man's face, you could tell he was of the same opinion, then, without exchanging a single word, you both crossed your arm so that your ice creams would form a triangle, with the manor sitting in the middle of it. Taehyung snapped the new pose and you straight away looked at it together. It was perfect.

You probably spent 2 hours inside the manor, admiring the beauty of the place, and sometimes looking for Taehyung who would get distracted and lose track of the group you were visiting with. The problem was that you were too a bit like Taehyung, and eventually the two of you were left on your own to continue the visit without your guide. It was not really an issue, you knew this place really well after all. So instead you took advantage of this situation to make it a visit of your own. When you deemed that you had seen enough rooms, you led Taehyung to the first floor terrace outside to have a look at the panorama. The view of the gardens was outstanding and the sunny weather was making it even better, you were chatting comfortably with Taehyung, telling him what you remembered of the history of this place, exchanging ideas for the photos he was taking. It was such a fun unexpected day with him, you did not want it to end.

"I totally disagree, that character's death was absolutely uncalled for! His sister was the one who schemed the whole thing, she was the mastermind and yet not the one who got punished!"

"Well he should have been smarter and keep his distances. But in my opinion, he was pretty boring anyway so that's not a big loss."

The two of you were exchanging opinion on a TV series you both realised you liked. Suddenly, Taehyung stopped and looked around, analysing his surroundings. You recognised the look of him having an idea and tried not to disturb him, curious to see what he would do. He moved away and leaned on the balustrade to shoot his picture before coming back to you, handing you the camera to look at the image. It was gorgeous, you could see both the castle and the gardens, you smiled at the man.

"You have a good eye, It is beautiful Taehyung."

The man smiled back at you before frowning slightly, expressing his hesitation to you:

"I wish I could have stepped further back so I could get this fountain in the shot, it would have made a great symmetry with this window." he pointed at an element on the image, a bit disappointed.

An idea started to emerge in your brain then, and you teased him slightly:

"You know what you're missing in your photos?"

Taehyung looked at you with surprise, not expecting you to say something like that, and stayed silent, unsure of what he was supposed to say.

"The element of danger. And risk." you declared before extending your arm to grab his camera. Startled, he handed it out to you without thinking and within seconds you were leaving.

"What... What are you doing?!" Taehyung asked as he saw you sneak under the security cordon, ignoring the sign that said 'Do Not Enter - Staff Only'.

"Wait don't go there!" he shouted while you disappeared.

"Trust me. And look at the view while I'm gone" you winked at him.

You were gone for a whole five minutes and Taehyung had the time to contemplate the view, but his thoughts somehow drifted towards you and this newly found friendship that arrived unexpectedly. He had traveled many times to locations before but this was the first time he met someone he connected with so quickly. He spent his life meeting new people, thousands and thousands of them, but actually developing a relationship with someone was rare. He was missing this spontaneity of speaking with someone with no ulterior motives than to just chat and exchange interests and jokes. It was so refreshing to discover a new country with a new person and actually feel normal, without the pressure and the stress of looking after his actions in the fear it would end up on the internet. The hint of a smile appeared on the man's lips, before he turned around suddenly, hearing you coming back from your mischievous action.

"I think you are going to like this shot." You told him while looking at the pictures you've just taken on the back screen of the camera.

"I did not realise I made friends with a criminal, I am not looking for problems you know!"

You could have taken this seriously if it wasn't for Taehyung's amused smile.

"Ssh, not so loud!" You whispered loudly in a conspiracy kind of way. "I'll let you in a secret, you can show me any "Do not enter" sign of this town, and I'll know where it is! I am a major outlaw here!"

Both you and him giggled after that little game, and eventually Taehyung asked to see the pictures you had taken on his camera. You hesitated for a second, you had not only taken the shot he tried to do earlier with the gardens and the fountain, but you also had taken a couple of pictures of Taehyung observing the panorama from the castle's balcony without him noticing. You thought he probably would enjoy them, seeing how he posts pictures of himself as a tourist here and then, but the thought of him seeing them in front of you made you blush. You decided to be honest:

"Ok, I have to say, I may have taken a couple of extra shots, but don't look at them now! You are so good at photography, I am a bit embarrassed to show you. So please look at them later once I am gone? Please?"

Taehyung seemed surprised at first and then nodded with a gentle smile on his face. He was finding your embarrassment adorable so he made you his promise without hesitation. He took the camera from your hands and held it in front of the two of you so you could select the image he was trying to take earlier.

"Wow Y/N, this is amazing! I did not realise you could see so much better from higher up. The angle looks so different!"

"The power of criminals." you teased him before he punched back your arm lightly.

The rest of the afternoon disappeared very quickly, 'time flies when you're having fun' as they say... The two of you were now walking to your car, you had offered to drive Taehyung back to his hotel rather than letting him take the risk of taking a bus and getting lost again. He had accepted happily. You were already sitting on the driver's seat while the man was having a last look at the Manor House with a smile. Suddenly, an idea crossed his mind and he bent his head to look at you inside the car, looking excited.

"Y/N, let's take a photo!"

"What?" You asked, stunned.

"Come on out! Let's take a picture together, as a memory!"

Flustered, you observed the man taking a few steps away from the vehicle and get his phone out of his pocket. Seeing as you did not move, he waved at you as if he was saying "What are you doing? Come on!". You unfastened your seatbelt and got out of the car, your legs somehow feeling like marshmallow. When you reached Taehyung's side, he grabbed your wrist and turned you around so the both of you would have the castle behind. He lifted his phone in the air to take a selfie and strike a pose, making a V with his fingers. You smiled shyly, still flustered by his invitation.

"That is not the pretty smile I saw all day Y/N, please do it again for the picture!"

You blushed even more and managed to smile naturally as soon as you regained your composure. Taehyung then looked at the photo with a smile and showed it to you. You observed the image fondly, feeling Taehyung's gaze on you and decided that, actually, you wanted that picture too! You took out your phone from your pocket, unlocked it and extended your arm as far as possible so that the two of you would fit in the frame. Unfortunately your arms were significantly smaller than the man's and what seemed easy for him was a struggle for you. No matter how you angled the phone, it was impossible to fit everything in, you, Taehyung or even the castle! The young man laughed at your troubles and took a step behind you, lowered himself on his legs and dropped his head on your shoulder. You blushed furiously at the contact and instinctively turned your face to look at him. He then took advantage of your distraction to take your phone from your hands and snap a handful of pictures without warnings.

"Taehyung, what...!" you started.

He ignored you and carried on taking pictures.

"I am not stopping until you smile, beautiful!"

It was as if his last sentence finally unlocked your shyness and liberated you to be fully comfortable with him, so you smiled as brightly as his presence had made your day and you could see from the selfie mode on your phone that, as soon as he noticed that, his smile grew even wider, although you did not think it possible. You ended up playing around for a bit, taking probably a thousand different selfies of the two of you smiling, laughing, acting silly, sulking, showing your tongues, making the V sign with your fingers…

Eventually you both managed to sit in the car, ready to leave. You were busy wiping out the tears of laughter blurring your vision when you heard Taehyung asking:

"So, where to?"

You looked at him, stumped.

"I thought I was taking you back to your hotel? Don't you have a big day of work tomorrow?"

Instantly, Taehyung started pouting and your heart skipped a beat.

"But I want to spend more time with you and have more fun discovering the area. I am bored to death at the hotel!"

"I am sure Jimin would be happy to hear that." You teased him, ignoring what he said about spending more time with you on purpose, for your own sanity.

Taehyung shrugged his shoulders, claiming Jimin would not mind, they saw each other everyday after all, and shortly after, he turned in his seat to face you, a serious look on his face.

"But, for real though, I am having so much fun with you, and I can't remember the last time I was able to act so naturally around someone I just met. I'd love for this day to carry on... If you don't have anything else planned that is?"

"Erm, Yes... I mean no..." You stuttered before taking a big breath. "I have nothing planned for the rest of my day, my week even, but there is just that one tiny thing I should have done a few hours ago before I picked you up…"

"What is it?"

"I really need to drop the food shopping at my house. It is all in special bags that keep the food cold but some items really should be in the fridge as soon as possible now…"

"Well if you don't find me too creepy or scary I am happy to give you a hand dropping these at your house if it means we get to stay together a little bit longer!"

You paused to make it seem like you were thinking about it, but really your choice was already made, at this stage you just wanted to tease him a little bit. You saw the young man staring at you, a hopeful look on his face, and it made you happy. You enjoyed the feeling of having someone wanting to spend time with you. As soon as you agreed with the plan, you had the joy of seeing Taehyung's face brightening up before he put on his seatbelt with excitement.

After a short drive to your house, you invited Taehyung to wait for you in the living room while you were sorting out the food shopping in the kitchen. Within seconds of discovering the room, he noticed your Nintendo Switch with excitement and you turned it on for him to have a look at your games. When you had done what you needed, you joined him in the living room only to find him customizing a vehicle on Mario Kart.

"Having fun?" You asked, surprising him.

"Care to join me for a game?" He patted the space on the floor next to him.

You ended up losing track of time, probably racing each other for a good hour before your phone rang and interrupted the race you were in. You paused the game and startled the man by doing so, he was going to complain and ask why you stopped the game when he heard you speak:

"Oh hi Mum... Yes it's all done... In half an hour?? What time is it?" You glanced at the clock and realised it was just passed 6pm, which meant she was going to come back anytime soon. "Actually I am with a friend at home now... No I don't think he will..." You looked over to Taehyung who was staying quiet next to you. "Actually, I don't think I'll be around for dinner either so don't wait for me... Ok that's fine... Drive safe... Love you too…"

You hung up the phone and looked over to your new friend.

"Have you got any plans tonight?"

A bright smile from the young man welcomed your question as he confirmed that he didn't whatsoever.

30 minutes later, after finishing a competitive game of Mario Kart (and losing, you hated to admit it but Taehyung was significantly better than you), the two of you were back in your car. You had not told Taehyung where you were taking him even though he had strong suspicions since he helped you pack blankets and some food in the car. You were both currently singing loudly to your 'Feel Good' playlist as you called it, which was a mixture of songs that made you happy such as Uptown Funk from Bruno Mars or September from Earth, Wind & Fire. However, you were so caught up in your singing that you forgot another song that makes you really happy and that happened to be on your playlist too... Idol, from no others than Taehyung's group. Awkward. By the time you realised what was playing, Taehyung had caught your phone to stop you from changing the song and started to rap happily along Namjoon's voice.

"You can call me Artist, you can call me Idol!" He raised his hands in the air, mimicking his hyung's signature moves.

You blushed furiously as you felt his eyes on you, staring at you with a mischievous smile. If he had any doubt that you knew his group and was a BTS fan, it no longer existed. Surprisingly though, he did not tease you that much apart from the intense staring and you finally started singing with him for the last chorus. When you eventually reached your destination, Taehyung stepped out of the car and he admired the area with a broad smile.

"Is this the hill you recommended? The one with the perfect view of the city and the most amazing sunset?"

You nodded and opened your car to grab what you brought. Taehyung came to your rescue as soon as he saw you struggling with the big blankets and cushions you piled up in your arms, taking them away from you. The hill was completely covered in grass and wild flowers, and a few other people had the same idea as you as you could see several groups and couples spread out in the field, waiting for the sun to set. You picked an empty spot, isolated from the rest of the crowd, and installed your blankets before settling down and observe the view.

The sun was not going to come down for another hour so you engaged in a relaxed conversation to pass the time, snacking on some food you thought of bringing.

"Have you lived here all your life?" Taehyung asked.

"Until I graduated from uni, so most my life really. Then I found a job abroad and just went for it. All I wanted to get out of this place, but now that I live somewhere else…"

"You realised how much it means to you, and how precious your hometown can be…"

You turned your eyes to the man, amused.

"You can relate?"

"I left Daegu when I was pretty young. It's not that I was looking forward to leave, I was pursuing my dreams so I was super excited. But I didn't realise what I had there until I left…"

A peaceful silence settled between the two of you, like an understanding. It was so easy speaking to him, laugh with him, share things to him. Everything felt so natural. This friendship, this relationship, was developing so quickly, any other times you would have been frightened and slowed things down. But it felt so comforting, unique and precious that you didn't want to use the brakes. Maybe it was the inevitable time limit this relationship had that made it like that, so it was easier to embrace the moment, knowing it could all be finished once you drive him back to his hotel. You had been incredibly lucky to meet him 4 times in a row, but you doubted it would happen again, it was a small town indeed but he did mention earlier that in the upcoming days he would be incredibly busy shooting his scenes for the music video, so he would no longer have time for himself to hang around town.

"You see that big park over there?" You broke the silence and pointed your finger to the horizon. Taehyung looked up and nodded. "Next to it was my primary school, I went there from the age of 3 to 10. Every week we would walk to that park with the entire class to practice a sport. I have a lot of memories of those walks, it always took us so long, imagine walking a class of thirty 9 years old kids, so with my friends we got into the habits of telling each other stories. A lot of them were horror ones! I remember this specific story about a cursed doll that would wake up during the night and count numbers while saying where she was, slowly making her way to the bedrooms, until she reaches the parents' room, become silent, and when she starts counting again, she has added another 2, because she had killed the parents, and she was now coming to your bedroom."

"Sounds scary."

"It was. Especially that young!"

"I take it you like horror stories then?"

"Oh no! Quite the opposite! I hate them with a passion! And I blame this doll for starting the trauma! Seriously, put me in front of a scary film and I will not sleep for 2 weeks."

Taehyung cracked up and encouraged you to tell him more, so you started another story of your childhood.

"After primary school, I went to that school over there, with the tower." You pointed towards the direction of the building while the man was trying to find it. But he struggled and even though you tried to give him other indications, such as buildings nearby, he would still not find it. So without thinking, you got up on your knees and placed yourself behind his back, placing your head on his shoulder next to his, and your arm on the other side of his face.

"Right there, do you see it now?" you asked him, pointing your finger again. When no answers followed, you turned your head to look at him and was surprised to find him staring at you, your nose brushing against his as your faces were so close from each other. By instinct, your head pulled back away from his a little, giving you more space to see the blush spreading on his cheeks. To be fair, you could feel your own cheeks heating up too. That is when you noticed the little mole under his nose... You gave yourself a mental slap as now was certainly not the time. Taehyung turned his head back towards the view and raised his arms.

"I think I can see it now, is it next to the orange building? Where there are three trees forming a triangle?"

You welcomed the distraction gratefully.

"Yes! That's the one." You cleared you throat, stepping back from your position and sitting back next to him, wondering what the hell came across your mind to do that. "I spent four years in that school, until I turned 15. I don't really have great memories there to be honest, I was an awkward child, quite shy and a few kids ended up bullying me. But I met one of my best friends there, so there is some positive to take out from it."

You smiled a little, for good figure, not really meaning it. For a second you got lost in your memories, reminiscing about these times. When suddenly a large warm hand enveloped yours, entwining his fingers with yours. There was no need to look as you knew it was Taehyung's, obviously. You squeezed back his hand and continued:

"Then, I ended up in that school over there, until I turned 18. Now you can't miss that one, it was huge. And right next to the main shopping avenue!"

"Oh I see it! Did you end up doing more shopping than studies?" He joked around.

"I'll have you known that I was a very good student mister!"

The man looked at you, with an expecting smirk painted on his face.

"Alright! I might have skipped class a couple of times during the sales period! I was broke okay? I had to be the first to catch a good deal when there was one!"

"Haha don't worry, I'm not one to scold you about shopping!"

"Again, we are back on that luggage thing, I am now convinced you wanted to get the wrong one so you could buy new clothes!" You teased him about that time you met at the airport, nudging him with your shoulder.

A clear laugh tickled your ears, Taehyung was laughing wholeheartedly, and it was the most beautiful sound you had ever heard. What you did not realise though, was that at the same time, Taehyung was contemplating your happy smile, thinking it was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. When he calmed down from his laughter, he said with a soft smile on his lips:

"It was just a happy coincidence."

The two of you carried on discussing for a while, until the sky finally darkened and the sun started going down, painting the horizon in bright pinks, oranges, purples and blues. The spectacle was breath-taking and during the whole sunset, Taehyung did not let go of your hand. When you both settled into a comfortable silence to watch the beautiful sky, you managed to summon enough courage to drop your head onto his shoulders, using it as a head rest. You felt the surprise from Taehyung, his head turning your way to witness you resting on him. Your heart was beating like crazy, wondering what the hell you had just done again for the second time in one evening. And you weren't even drunk. But the atmosphere was so special and intimate that you wanted to enjoy it at its fullest. With no chances for regrets later.

You courage paid off and heart made a full loop in your chest when you felt his head rest on top of yours. You both stayed like that for a while until the sun had completely disappeared and the sky was pitch dark. When eventually you looked around you, it was only to see that you were the last ones around and everybody else had left. A quick look on your phone revealed that it was way past 11pm.

"Taehyung, you need to be back at your hotel! You will be shattered tomorrow…"

The man stayed silent for a second and you were not able to tell what was crossing his mind at the time. He looked disappointed, happy, relaxed... All of them at the same time and maybe something else you could not pinpoint... Hesitation.

Eventually he got up, pulling you from the ground with his hand still linked to yours.

"Alright, let's go back to the real world then."

***

Thursday

You woke up pretty late on that day. You went to bed much later than usual after all, you dropped Taehyung back to his hotel and once you got home yourself, you struggled to fall asleep, spinning endlessly in your bed. Your brain had refused to turn off, playing over and over again the events of the previous days. How you met Taehyung at the airport when he nearly took your luggage for his, how you saw him again from afar the following day, how you met him again at the same coffee place and ended up having a drink with him and Jimin... And how you spent the whole of Wednesday with him, visiting a castle, joking around, taking pictures, taking selfies, and watching that sunset together…

It felt so unreal to have spent moments like these with a man like that. Like for any celebrities you stanned, you had perfectly embraced the fact that you would not see them any closer than on stage or on a TV screen.

But you actually spent a day with Taehyung, and you held each other’s hand. And it felt so natural and easy that you were struggling to process it ACTUALLY happened. And that you may have developed a crush on him. Now that's a truth bomb that blew up in your face when you woke up, right before the moment that it was over, you two would not see each other again. You were a tiny bit angry at Taehyung for messing up with your head like that, especially after what he did when you dropped him at the hotel.

After a good 20 minutes in the car, driving the man to his hotel, you stopped in front of the entrance, putting your warning lights on as you were not planning to park since you were just dropping the man off. That's when you realised that the two of you had been completely silent during the journey and although it had been comfortable, now it was starting to get awkward.

"So..." You had started and Taehyung had turned his head to you, an expecting look on his face.

"Yes..." He said.

"I had an amazing time Taehyung. It was so great to spend some time with you like that, I had a lot of fun." You smiled softly and concluded. "I can't wait to listen to that new song you are preparing with Jimin, it's going to be amazing I'm sure!"

All things considered now that you were thinking back to what happened, he did look a bit disappointed after you said that, he maybe was hoping for something else.

"Thank you for your kindness Y/N, I had the best day. For real. I haven't felt like that in a long time."

He smiled at you one more time, before opening the car door and throwing his legs outside. He got up, turned around and grabbed the door in his hand as he bent down to look at you. He stared at you for a few seconds, visibly searching for his words:

"Take care Y/N." He finally said.

You raised your hand to wave at him shyly, when suddenly he engulfed himself back in the car, sat on the passenger seat and leaned over you to give you a quick kiss on the cheek. He got back out of the car as quickly as possible, closed the door and finally walked in his hotel.

You sighed at the memory of last night, the whole reason why you spent the beginning of the night spinning in your bed. You had totally developed a crush on him. Too bad were never going to see him again.

Your day went pretty quickly, you managed to busy yourself by visiting your mother at her work, having lunch with her since you skipped dinner the night before to spend the time with Taehyung. You had been tempted to go back in the town centre as you had been doing the last few days, but you had no real reasons for it so the only explanation to it was that you were hoping to meet with Taehyung again. But you knew he was going to be really busy so that would only feed your hope to end up in disappointment. So you behaved yourself.

And eventually, it was the evening and you were watching a film with your mother after dinner. You were scrolling mindlessly on your phone at the same time since you had seen this film before and did not need to pay full attention to it. When the twitter notification saying that @bts_twt tweeted on their account, you paid no special attention to it and clicked on it by instinct. Your heart jumped when you saw the picture that was posted.

It was the photo of Taehyung you had taken at the manor the previous day, without him knowing. The one where you ignored the sign that was forbidding entry to this section of the castle. The picture you asked Taehyung not to look at until you were gone. It had completely slipped out of your mind, but clearly not Taehyung's as he took a look at it, and probably even enjoyed it since he posted it on the official BTS twitter account. You checked the caption, written in English for once, and giggled lightly.

'This picture is a crime'

You remembered fondly how Taehyung called you a criminal when you came back from the forbidden balcony and clicked on the tweet to see people's responses.

'The real crime here is how beautiful you look!'

'My new phone background!'

'OMG how is it even allowed to be so handsome?'

That was very true, he was so beautiful on this image, the perfect candid shot, unaware he had his picture taken. You saved the image in your phone, grateful to have an extra souvenir from this day you spent with him (on top of the million selfies you took together), when an idea emerged in your head.

You clicked on the tweet to write a response yourself, taking a few seconds to think of the best way to let him know it was you, without others understanding, if he ever came across the tweet anyway. A quick search on Google images and you found your happiness. So you posted a picture of a very similar sign to the one that was displayed at the castle 'Do Not Enter - Staff Only' and wrote a few words 'I'll let you in a secret, you can show me any "Do not enter" sign of this town, and I'll know where it is!'. It was exactly what you said to Taehyung after coming back from your little 'expedition' and nobody else apart from him should understand the reference.

Your heart was racing like crazy after you tweeted your comment. It was ridiculous really, there were already thousands of tweets responding to his post, what were the chances of him seeing it? Why did he even tweet that? The picture made sense, he posted pictures of himself for the fans regularly, but the caption was very specific. Was he trying to get in touch with you? Were you just imagining things because you missed him already?

You put your phone down on your side, pretending to be chilled about it. But all you wanted to do really was to stare at the screen without interruption, hoping for an answer, a clue, something. But you knew better than to do that, expecting to be disappointed and hurt, so in order to protect yourself, you even turned your phone upside down so you would not see if you received a notification. By some sort of miracle, you managed to push the matter out of your brain for the rest of the duration of the film you were watching, and when your mum got up to go to bed, you reached out and grabbed it, turning the screen on.

You had received a DM on Twitter, from an account you did not know, and there was nothing written by the look of it, just 'XX sent you an image'. Curious, you opened the app and took a look at the message.

It was the picture Taehyung had taken of the manor's gardens, the one that ended up in you 'breaking the law' to get another angle for that image. Or a very similar one. You heart clenched, you were hoping it was Taehyung. It could only really be him, using a private twitter account with nothing on it. You wondered for a second why he would only send you a pic rather than just tell you it was him, but then you understand he did the same as you, he tried to be cautious, he probably needed to confirm it was you for sure. So you thought for a while of what the best response would be and ended up sending him a picture of the manor itself, there was no room for doubts here, it was the historical building you both visited.

You press 'sent' and waited for a response, your heart racing like crazy in your chest. It was like the person on the other end had been waiting for your answer with impatience because in the same minute, you received a response: the picture of your two hands holding the ice cream cones, crossed, with the castle sitting in the middle. You started gigging without being able to control it, making little jumps of excitement on your sofa.

It was HIM.

It was definitely Taehyung.

Only him had that picture.

You decided to carry on sending him pictures, before starting speaking to him for real, so you debated to send him one of the million selfies the two of you took. But you quickly changed your mind, it was the internet and it was better to be cautious. You searched on your phone for an appropriate image and found a selfie of yourself from the day, displaying the brightest smile, with a tiny Taehyung far in the background behind you. You edited the picture by adding a little sun emoji on top of the man's face and sent it once you made sure it was safe.

The picture you received in return made you squeal as you were not expecting it. Taehyung had sent you back one of the selfies you took, where he had his arm thrown around your shoulder and your heads were leaning against each other's. Giving up on sending pictures, you texted him.

'Hi there 🙂 Fancy seeing you here'

'Hi Y/N, missed me?'

'Actually I did, my day was really boring today after yesterday's craziness. How was yours?'

'Really busy, we finished shooting really late, I've got back to my hotel about an hour ago and I am up at 6am tomorrow for more.'

'Aaw you are working really hard, you can do it!'

'Thank you 🙂 Tomorrow I should be finishing around 6pm, and then it will be another big day like today on Saturday as it will be the last day to shoot the video.'

'And then you're going back to Korea on Sunday morning...' you concluded sadly.

Taehyung didn't respond straight away after your last message, but the app was indicating that he was typing, then not saying anything, then typing again... You realised he was probably deleting what he was writing and was struggling on finding what to respond. You felt guilty, wondering if you should have just kept your disappointment for yourself. A new message finally appeared:

'Are you free tomorrow at 6pm?'

***

Friday

It was nearly 6pm when you got in the car to head to the hotel Taehyung was staying in with Jimin and the rest of Big Hit's team. After he asked you if you were free on Friday, he invited you to come over to his hotel to spend the evening together one last time before he left, to have a few drinks, play some games... "I'm not accepting 'no' for an answer!" he said. He confirmed he would be finished by the time you arrived at the hotel, and that Jimin would be there as well, so you guys can get to know each other. He seemed really excited about that last part and you felt touched to know that he wanted his bestfriend to get to know you.

You entered the main hall of the hotel and found a couple of sofas at the back to wait for Taehyung to come and pick you up. 5 minutes later though, it wasn't his blond locks that appeared but Jimin's shy smile. You waved at each other and when he finally reached you he explained:

"Taehyung is not finished with his scenes yet, he just sent me a text to let me know and make sure I get you. Sorry about that!"

You followed the young man to the suite where he and Taehyung stayed in for the duration of their stay in your home town and admired the beauty of what is basically a small apartment in a hotel with separate bedrooms, a living room, a bathroom and a small kitchen area.

"Wow that is an impressive hotel room." you stated.

Jimin smiled at your comment and invited you to sit on the sofa in the 'living room'. The area had a sofa, 2 armchairs, a coffee table, a mini-fridge and a large TV, on which you noticed a Nintendo Switch plugged to it, most likely Taehyung's. Now you understood why he asked you to bring your own games. You sat on the edge of the sofa, a bit awkwardly, unsure of what to do next. Until Jimin started speaking and decided to make it even more awkward.

"So Y/N. I heard you and Taehyung did things two days ago!"

"What?!"

For a short moment, your stomach had dropped, wondering what the hell Taehyung had told his friend. What could he have mentioned? Did he talk about the time at the hill? Did he mention the fact he held your hand? Or when he gave you a kiss on the cheek when you separated? You would have thought that was the kind of things to keep in private, but going by Jimin's comment, did he tell him all of that? And was it a big deal anyway? It certainly affected you and shook your heart, making you realise you definitely developed a crush on the man. But maybe he did not see it that way, he is a very openly affectionate person in the first place, so maybe you were getting all worked up over nothing.

"Wow, I was not expecting your face to change like that. I was teasing you!" He smiled and crashed in the sofa next to you. "Taehyung told me you guys visited that castle and checked out that hill with the nice view and sunset! He showed me a thousand pictures as well. So many of them. I don't even think he showed them all...". He finished with a tone reflecting despair.

You saw an opportunity here to tease him back and get revenge.

"Oh I see! Do you want me to show you my pictures?" You took your phone out of your pocket and unlocked it.

The pleasure you had in watching Jimin's face drop was indescribable and a smirk quickly appeared on your face. When Jimin realised what game you were playing, he burst out laughing, followed closely by you. When you both calmed down, you started chatting of nothing and everything, you were pleasantly surprised to see how easy it was to speak with him, thinking he would have been a lot more shy with you. You had a common topic of discussing how distracted Taehyung could be to end up getting lost like he did on Wednesday, he had apparently done the same mistake a few years ago in Norway, leaving the rest of the group worried.

Without noticing, an hour went by, you were both sipping on some white wine Jimin opened. Well. You were sipping. Not Jimin. He was drinking the alcohol like it was water and teased you on how slow you were to finish your glass. It was all fun, but you knew your limits and you did not want to be drunk by the time Taehyung finally arrived. Because wine made you sleepy and that would not be good. You don't know how it happened but you were now playing 'Just Dance' with Jimin in front of the TV. Jimin started talking about Taehyung's games and how he was rarely playing with him because he was not fond of the games he owned, and you somehow gave yourself the mission to find game he would enjoy so he could play it with Taehyung.

You blamed it on the alcohol giving you the courage to do things you would never do with someone you barely knew.

Jimin had been really excited to discover a song from Blackpink in the game and you had both been dancing to the choreography of DDU-DU DDU-DU on repeat.

That is how Taehyung found you shortly after, moving to the beat of the song (pretty approximately on your side if you had to be honest, whilst Jimin was obviously nailing every move). He stopped on the doorstep as he observed the scene in front of him, neither Jimin or yourself had realised he was there.

"OH WAIT 'TIL I DO WHAT I..." You both shouted as you raised your arms, absorbed by the moves on the screen.

"...Hit you with that ddu-du ddu-du du!" Taehyung appeared between the two of you, holding his fingers like they were guns and followed the choreography.

Jimin seemed unphased by his best friend's sudden appearance and carried on dancing. You, on the opposite, were stunned and stayed still for a few seconds before the reality of the game caught you back.

"Wait... How are you doing this move with your shoulders?!" you asked suddenly to no one in particular.

You played a couple more songs, laughing brightly, teasing each other on your various dancing skills (you stood in-between the two men and kept bumping into them as your clumsiness was through the roof today, probably not helped by the couple of glasses you had drunk. Eventually, Taehyung joined you and Jimin, grabbing himself a drink, and you spent the rest of the evening chatting in the living room, joking around, playing games together, taking pictures... It was the perfect evening between friends and once again, you were marveled at how easy it was to be friends with them. Especially with Taehyung, it had always felt very easy and natural with him, and tonight was no exception.

Slowly, as the evening went by, everybody calmed down and you started watching videos on Youtube, showing each other funny clips, cool dance clips of other artists. Jimin was the first one to fall asleep, he was sitting on his own on a single comfy chair, while you and Taehyung were sharing the large sofa. Well actually you were alone on the sofa and your new friend was leaning against your legs on the floor. You had your feet propped up on the coffee and your hand was tangled in his hair, mindlessly stroking them, while Taehyung was humming happily.

"Hey Y/N..." Taehyung broke the silence with a whisper.

"Yeah..?"

"I am leaving the day after tomorrow…"

Unsure of what to respond to that, you stayed silent. A knot had formed in your throat anyway, threatening to make you cry if you tried to force words out of your mouth.

"I think you need to show me the town centre under the night lights before I leave."

You smiled gently. And off you were.

Your hometown at midnight was eerie, there was absolutely nobody in the streets and your footsteps were resonating against the cobblestones of the old town. It was a beautiful sight to watch the old buildings illuminated by special lights, even for you, even though you had grown up here. You never had many occasions to visit the town centre after midnight as a child, for obvious reasons. You shared a few anecdotes with Taehyung as you walked past some places that triggered your memory and it felt nice to see he was genuinely interested in you, asking more questions about your life. You wanted to do the same, but the knot in your throat would reappear every time you thought of something to ask him, since you knew that his answer would always imply him being far away.

After a while, you both agreed to get a taxi. Once in it, Taehyung asked for you to be the first one dropped off home. You couldn't help but notice that it did not make sense as you would drive past the hotel first, but maybe Taehyung just did not realise that. You refused to let your mind think any further than that, but you did nothing to correct it, enjoying every last second you got to spend with him for the last time. It would usually take a good twenty minutes to drive from the town centre to your family house, however, because it was the middle of the night, there was absolutely no traffic and you realised it was going to take half the time to get home. You mentioned it to Taehyung who didn't say anything in response. But it's not like there was anything to say to be honest. It was completely silent in the taxi, apart from the music playing on the radio, and you felt like the atmosphere had changed. Your mind was buzzing with all the things you wanted to tell Taehyung, but you stopped yourself from saying anything that was related to how you felt about him. You tried to think of other topics, but it always came back to the urge you had to confess to him. So you stayed quiet, biting your lip to stop you from opening your mouth.

"When are you going to pick up your car at the hotel tomorrow?" Taehyung surprised you with his question.

"Mmh... Probably in the morning, I'll get my mother to drop me on her way to work so I don't need to pay for a taxi."

"Ah ok…"

The car became quiet again.

"What time is your schedule tomorrow?"

Taehyung looked at the time on his phone.

"I am supposed to be on set with Jimin in 6 hours. And then we don't really have a finish time. The plan is to finish by 10pm to get the night shots done, but realistically and based on experience, we'll finish 3-4 hours late."

"Oh wow, hopefully you can have a lie-in in the morning. You deserve that much."

A small smile appeared on the man's face.

"My plane is in the morning... I might no go to sleep at all."

You did not respond anything to that. And he did not add anything either. It was unspoken, but you had both looked for extra options to see each other again, and find none. It was the end.

'Do I take a left here miss?" The drive broke the silence and asked you.

"Oh yeah." You leaned forward to make sure he could hear you properly.

"Take a left and then straight over to the end of the road. It is the last house on the left."

You sat back in your seat, your heart racing at the prospect of saying good bye, when your felt a large hand grabbing yours gently. You looked at Taehyung, surprised, but he was looking out of the window. So you did the same and pretended to not notice it. Finally, the taxi came to a stop and your hands separated. You opened the door and said:

"Well. This is me…"

"Yes…"

"I hope you have a good last day tomorrow and that your schedule goes smoothly." You blurted out rapidly, afraid to let another awkward silence settle between you two.

"Thanks. Enjoy the rest of your holidays here."

You smiled at each other. And you concluded first.

"Ok so... Bye Taehyung." you waved at him with a shy smile.

"I'll miss you."

"Me too. Take care of yourself please."

You closed the door and the taxi started driving straight away. You observed the car turning around and hoped to catch one last glance at the man on the back seat. But the back windows were tinted, you wiped out a single tear from your cheek with your hand and headed back inside your house.

***

Saturday

You woke up with great difficulty in the morning and a slight hangover from the alcohol Jimin made you drink the previous night. You cursed at him for being such bad influence and your mind wandered off to Taehyung, wondering if he woke up fine this morning for his last day of shooting. Soon enough you were in your mum's car heading to the hotel to get your own vehicle back. As you were driving in the town centre, one of the street was blocked and a diversion was put in place, creating a little bit of traffic.

"Oh I forgot they were planning on blocking this road today." Your mum said. "I read it a couple of weeks ago on the town's newspaper, something to do with a film being shot here."

That's when it clicked in your mind.

"It's a music video actually…".

You spotted a couple of guys who seemed to be part of the Big Hit team heading inside the shut down area, but couldn't see anything else, or anyone else.

Eventually your mum dropped you at your destination and you were already driving back to your house, making a giant detour in order to avoid the town centre. To avoid traffic you told yourself.

Your plan for the day was to distract yourself enough to not think about Taehyung's last day in your country, so you had organised a full on clean of the house, followed by lunch with your mother, before meeting friends in the afternoon in another town. That should do it.

It worked just fine for most of the day really. You left no room for your thoughts to wander around when scrubbing the kitchen tiles, your mother was so happy to have you with her for lunch she didn't stop talking even for a second, and you hadn't seen your friend for so long that you had a lot to catch up on! Including meeting the adorable puppy she had just adopted a couple of weeks ago. You spent hours playing with the baby dog, taking pictures with him and posting them on your social medias , trying to teach him tricks with your friend (but all the baby cared was to bite your fingers with his sharp needle teeth).

The next thing you know, it was 10pm and you were back home, debating between watching a film and playing a game on your console. That is when you gave up on your resolution. Taking your console out of its bag reminded you of Taehyung, and a wave of melancholy took over you and you started missing the man. You picked up your phone and opened up Twitter, mindlessly heading on BTS' twitter account, to see if he had posted anything about his day.

"He is probably still working." you whispered to yourself, seeing what the time was on the screen. However when the page loaded you let out a gasp.

A picture of Taehyung with his dog Yeontan was published a couple of hours ago with the caption in english: 'I'm cute with my puppy too!'. It was clearly an old picture, as the young man had a different hair colour on the photo. Your mind went wild the second you saw the caption and the adorable picture. You gave up on putting some distance between you and him, you gave up trying not to think about him, how he was, what he was doing. You wondered if he posted this because of the images you shared earlier in the day with your friend's puppy. You wondered if it meant he was stalking your social media profiles. You wondered if he was thinking of you too.

You grabbed a pillow, shoved your face in it and let out a scream of frustration. You didn't know what to do. Respond to the tweet? Send him a message? Ignore it? Despair swallowed you whole once again when you remembered that, whatever that was, he was still leaving in the early hours of the following morning. In the next 6 hours. You ended up watching Friends for the next couple of hours, not really paying attention to the show.

Your phone vibrated in your hands and you were surprised to see that you had received a message from a Twitter account you did not recognise.

"Hi Y/N, it's Jimin!"

You sat up straight on the sofa, surprised to be contacted by him.

"Oh hi! You ok? How did you get my twitter handle?" you responded.

"I stole Taehyung's phone to get it."

You blushed intensely when you realised that Jimin might have read your conversations with Taehyung.

"And can I ask why you did that? lol" you asked.

"Y/N. We are friends right?"

"Er... Yes?" You started to get worried with the turn the conversation was taking.

"And friends tell each other the truth right?" he continued.

"I guess so, when it is for their best interest I imagine."

"Exactly! So I'm going to tell you exactly what I said to Tae today."

"Ok?" You were really wondering where this whole conversation was heading now.

"Just go for it. Be brave. Take a leap of faith."

"Hm... Not sure I am following you here Jimin..." In reality you had a sneaking suspicion Jimin realised you liked his friend and wanted you to tell him that. But just to make sure you were not going to make a fool of yourself, you played dumb.

"Oh come on! Meet me halfway here! I'll just add one more thing: Tae has been miserable all day, and even more since he posted that picture on Twitter and is thinking that you didn't see it."

"Right. I get the message."

You really did, and Jimin finally gave you the last bit of convincing you needed. You shoot up from your seat, turning the TV off and grabbing your coat.

"I can't believe I had to intervene that much." Jimin carried texting you as you were getting ready. "I swear next time I will make you both pay for my services!"

Not wanting to leave him on read, but not wanting to take the time to respond with a full sentence, you just sent him a thumbs up emoji and shoved your phone in your pocket, grabbing your car keys on the way out.

Your best guess to find Taehyung, based on your discussion with him the day before on how every single schedule finished late, was to go to the town centre, where you knew they were filming today. When you parked though, you were surprised to see the street was not closed anymore and members of staff were carrying the filming materials to vehicles.

"Y/N!"

You turned around to look where you heard your name shouted from, only to see Jimin waving happily at you.

"What are you doing here?" he asked you when you reached each other.

"I followed your advice! I took a leap of faith. I came to see Taehyung, is he around?" you asked the man

"Argh! Why didn't you ask me where he was before you left, silly?!"

"Because you were complaining about interfering and threatening to make me pay for your services so I thought I wouldn't make my debt any bigger!"

Jimin laughed and you joined him.

"To be honest, I am not sure where he went." Jimin finally said. "We are meant to leave to the airport shortly, I even got my luggages with me. I guess he would have gone to the hotel to pick up his stuff? I am not sure though, he has been gone a while now.

"Thanks Jimin, I owe you one!" You thanked him as you were already heading to your car."

"You owe me two actually!" You managed to hear Jimin shouting back to you and laughed. You waved goodbye in response.

A few minutes later, you had parked at the hotel they had been staying for the past week, making the comment to yourself that in all the years you lived in this town, you had never spent this much time in this area than this week alone.

You entered the hotel lobby and headed out to Taehyung's room, you had no patience for the lift, so you took the stairs and climbed them two by twos. Eventually, you arrived in front of his door, completely out of breath.

"You're an idiot Y/N... You can't even speak now..."

You waited a couple of minutes to catch up your breath and gather the courage to knock at the door.

*KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK*

You waited a few seconds for a response, but nothing came. You tried again.

Still nothing.

"Tae? Are you there? Are you asleep?" You tried to speak through the door, cautious not to be too loud as this was the middle of the night.

Still nothing.

You took your phone in your hand, debating on what to do next. Contact Taehyung? Contact Jimin? You really weren't sure.

"Excuse me miss?"

A voice startled you and you jumped in surprise. It seemed to be the night guard, checking up on you.

"Can I ask you what you are doing here?"

"Erm... I was here to visit my friend? Mr Kim Taehyung?"

The man looked at you suspiciously, but then eventually decided he could just give you the information you needed.

"I am afraid he has checked out of the hotel some time ago miss."

"Oh."

You felt your stomach drop, and your heart probably. You were so incredibly disappointed, tears started to swell up in your eyes. You managed to contain them in front of the man and thanked him for his help. As you headed outside, you reviewed your options.

You were not sure what time his plane was, you were not sure where Taehyung was. You could always text him, or Jimin. But after everything you just did tonight to see him once again, and after all of it didn't work out, you started thinking maybe it just wasn't meant to be. Maybe you were just forcing things to happen, and it was time to give up now. You really were not one to believe in destiny, but after these failures, it was just the world telling you to stop trying. You stepped outside the building, your head low. You were biting the inside of your cheeks to stop the tears from coming out. But as soon as it started pouring down with rain, you realised it would make no difference to cry, the tears would mix with the rain drops, and nobody would notice.

Not that there was anybody outside at this time of the night.

Until the rain stopped because an umbrella appeared on top of your head and a voice you were craving to hear desperately resonated behind you.

"You were difficult to find."

You turned around instantly, and forgot to breathe when you realised Taehyung was here. Holding an umbrella above your head. Glowing with the brightest smile on his face. You slapped yourself mentally to get some words out of you.

"You can talk." You laughed. "I went to two places to find you. I think I worked a lot more here to find you."

"I went to your house." He said. "I rang the doorbell and your mum opened the door."

"Oh." was all you were able to say.

"She doesn't speak English." He added.

"No. She does not." You agreed, starting to feel really sorry for the man.

You both took a pause. The rain was getting heavier and heavier. You were blushing at the intense stare Taehyung was giving you. His eyes were absolutely glued to you, it even seemed like he was not blinking, simply too busy contemplating you. You forgot to breathe again.

"Ok... Maybe you did work harder to find me."

Taehyung took a step forward under the umbrella, you were now touching. He was so close to you, you could feel his breathing on your face.

"And also, I am the one who actually find you."

He raised his hand to your face and moved a hair strand, stuck on your forehead because of the rain, behind your hear. He didn't pull his hand away after, letting his long fingers grazing softly against your cheek. Your heart was beating like crazy, it felt like it was coming out of your chest. Or maybe it was Taehyung's you couldn't tell anymore, you were so close, your bodies were pressed against each other's. You could see every details of his face, his adorable mole under his nose, you could probably count every single one of his eyelashes...

And you could tell how soft his lips must be.

And warm.

Because he was now kissing you.

And you were kissing him back.

While one of his hand was on your cheek, you reached out for his other hand and entwined your fingers, before pulling him closer to you, as if it was possible.

This was the dreamiest kiss you ever had in your life, so soft and yet so passionate. There was no pause, you could not get enough of each other. It felt like you were not the only one who restrained yourself during the week. Taehyung ended up confirming it for you when you finally separated. Your lips disconnected but your eyes didn't. You could imagine your eyes were glowing as much as his. It was a beautiful sight, Taehyung looked so blissfully happy, all you wanted was to kiss him again. Instead, you linked your arms across his chest, hugging him like you've been wanting to do for what seems like forever.

"You don't know how long I've been wanting to do this." Taehyung said, putting his arms around you in return, laying his head on top of yours.

"As long as I've been wanting to?" You asked him, not giving him a specific time.

He smiled at you, pecked another quick kiss on your lips.

"Most definitely."

You gave him a quick kiss too, struggling to resist as much as him. But as you were about to separate again, he whined like a child, started pouting and you cooed at the sight.

"You are the most adorable person in the world Tae." You rubbed your nose against his, and he did the same.

"And I love you. Can I stay here one more week with you?"

#bts scenario #taehyung #bts #jimin #bts fanfic #bts fluff #bts x reader #taehyung fluff #taehyung angst #taehyung x reader #bts imagine #yuna is baaaaack #just one week

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dancinginthecenteroftheworld · 4 years

Text

Nov 14: Hibernation (Brienne & Danaerys Friendship)

TRIGGER WARNING: Snakes and other reptiles, mentions of animal death (in a non-violent, humane way) Brienne rarely makes house calls, since Asha usually handles their livestock clients, but she does enjoy getting a chance to see how her patient’s owners take care of them. Especially when it’s a good, standard home visit. Sadly, most of the time she makes it to client’s homes is to ease an animal out of it’s suffering. Brienne is always glad to be able to do that in a way that’s most comforting to a pet an owner but it’s the worst part of her job.

Brienne also enjoys working with exotics. It’s not something there’s a huge call for, which is why she focused on general practice in vet school, but she tries to keep her skills up to date. So she was delighted to take the call from a woman looking for someone who could treat reptiles, while Asha shuddered and mumbled about crazy people.

Brienne initially expects to find a small turtle, maybe, or a corn snake nestled in a 20 gallon aquarium. (They really need to find a permanent receptionist, Theon is terrible at getting the details when Asha twists his ear and has him fill in.) When Brienne pulls up to a very large house, what could be described as a mansion, even, she mentally adjusts and imagines something like maybe a larger python.

Danaerys Targaryen enters the door, smiling up at Brienne. She’s certainly a lot prettier than most of the reptile owners Brienne has met, who seem to tend to be reclusive sorts who wear an awful lot of safari gear for not being anywhere near a safari. Danaerys is petite and blonde, in stylish winter clothes and hair done in elaborate braids.

“The habitats are back here,” Dany says. “I mostly want you to look at the slider, but it wouldn’t hurt to give you the tour.”

Brienne’s jaw about hits the floor.

The room they walk into is amazing. Roughly two-thirds of the very large room is taken up by habitat for a leopard tortoise, which is happily munching on some greens and pumpkin. The room has clearly been renovated, and the enclosure has plenty of dirt, several hide boxes, and a variety of plants. It’s also plenty large for the tortoise, who seems to be one of the giant varieties Brienne has only seen in books. There are other tanks too, all well over 100 gallon size, with exquisitely cared for habitats. Brienne sees the red-eared slider, which has nice, clear water and lots of platforms for the turtle to surface on. There’s also a large tank with geckos and another with skinks.

“This is amazing,” she can’t help saying to Danaerys.

The climate control is good too. Brienne has to take off her flannel shirt and roll up the sleeves on her shirt, and she can also see the individual tanks have ways to adjust the temperature.

“I’m planning to move the slider so he can brumate,” Danaerys says. “I know they don’t necessarily need it, but I try to replicate the natural habitat. I wanted to have you check him out first.”

“Sure,” Brienne says, and can’t help adding. “Can I see the leopard before I go?”

Danaerys laughs. She is, of course, one of those women who has laughter that sounds like bells chiming.

“Of course,” she says. “And I’ll show you the rest of them.” The rest of them?

The slider is fine, though reluctant to poke his head out of his shell when Brienne needs him to, which is not terribly surprising. Brienne chats with Danaerys as she works, expressing admiration for the habitats and the effort Danaerys goes through with pets that so many people consider gross or disposable. She also learns Danaerys is opening up a pet store in town, so people won’t have to drive to the next largest city, and hopes to talk with Brienne and Asha about their recommendations for stocking it

“Reptiles and fish,” Danaerys says. “I can do. Cats and dogs are a mystery.”

Brienne finishes up and deposits the slider back in his water (she wonders how Danaerys is planning to move the tank – Brienne is stronger than most women and it would take roughly three of her to handle something that large) and takes some time with the leopard tortoise. “A rescue,” Danaerys says, and Brienne hums her approval. “A professor got him when studying abroad and brought him back, oh, a few decades ago. Didn’t know they lived so long and his family wanted nothing to do with caring for him when the guy died.” When Brienne stands up, Danaerys flashes her a brilliant grin. “Now for the real fun,” she says. If the first room is impressive, the second is out of this world. The first thing that catches Brienne’s eye is the giant enclosure for several green iguanas. It might actually have been an entire room of it’s own at one point, and there’s plenty of plants and vines for the animals to explore. The high ceilings of the house are ideal, giving the lizards horizontal space too. Brienne is so distracted, she almost doesn’t notice the array of other tanks and then she’s choking in surprise.

“Is that a cobra?” Brienne sputters.

“Perfectly legal,” Danaerys says, raising her hands. “I have all the permits and I’m a herpetologist. He can’t be released back into the wild, neither can the Mexican bearded so that’s why I have them.”

“If you’re a herpetologist, then why call me?” Brienne can’t help asking. “I like getting a second opinion,” Danaerys says with a shrug. “Plus, I’m really more snakes and lizards, I haven’t dealt too much with turtles since undergrad.”

“And why are you owning a pet store?” Brienne follows up, taking a closer look at the tanks. In addition to the two venomous creatures, there are several Savannah monitors, a Burmese python, a king snake, and a white corn snake. “Because academia is a curse on humanity and will kill your soul,” Danaerys says frankly. “I’d rather help people learn to take care of their pets properly.”

Danaerys tells her about the reptiles, taking time to show Brienne around the cages and seeming happy to chat. Brienne holds the corn snake, who seems to be the friendliest, and lets him slither over her, little tongue flicking out over her skin in greeting. She learns the cobra is a rescue from a snake charmer who kept his snakes in terrible condition and the Mexican bearded was found with poachers. Both were far from their native lands and nobody was willing to try transporting them. Danaerys had been the only one in her department that would take them, not having children or other types of pets that would make keeping a venomous animal too dangerous.

“But these are my babies,” Danaerys says, standing in front of the green iguana cage. “Drogon, Viseron, and Rhaegal. My first lizards, when I had just started college and didn’t know what to study.” “They’re lovely,” Brienne says. Danaerys beams.

After Brienne finishes scrubbing and sanitizing her hands and arms, and anywhere the corn snake managed to slither, Danaerys – oh, please, call me Dany – asks her for a cup of tea and they discuss getting together to talk about the pet store. Brienne learns that Dany has just returned to Westeros for the first time since childhood, and it’s nice to meet someone who hasn’t spent their entire life in the town.

By the time she leaves, Brienne can’t help feeling like she might be making a new friend.

#november prompts #ficlet #brienne of tarth #danaerys targaryen #modern au #small town au

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lethesomething · 5 years

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Campaign resources: Torotuga, the pirate den

After three days of sailing, land finally came into view. A large island, with a small fortified city on one end, cut off from the rest of the island by steep mountains and dense jungles. To my dismay, however, the captain curved away from that crest of civilization, turning the ship in a large arc towards the back of the island, where nothing but dense forests and swamp greeted us.

“Hoist the flag” the captain shouted, and one of the crew came out with a piece of black cloth, which he unfurled to show a white painted, rather crude depiction of a turtle. With that, a hush fell over the deck and the ship veered into a large mangrove forest, a maze of brakkish water, low fog and bleached trees. I swear I saw movement in those trees. Little flickers of light, be they lanterns or will o’ wisps, and the occasional glint of steel. It was clear to everyone traveling with me, that we were being watched. (from ‘The Sea-Faring Adventures of Milton Hornswaddle’)

Torotuga is your prototypical Pirate’s Den. It lies on the swampy half of Rhea Island, in the middle of a heavily contested region in the ocean. The island itself ‘belongs’ to the sea-faring and conquering nation of Pardoba, and it holds an outpost in the form of the military fort town of Santa Gasso. However, most of it is densely forested and if not unexplored, then at the least uncontrollable, blocked off as it is from the fort by a sheer mountain range and dense jungles. It is here, deep in a mangrove maze called the Forest of Skeleton Fingers, that you can find the bustling city of Torotuga.

The ship continued on through these treacherous waters, narrowly avoiding collisions with trees and rocks, until we finally reached what I had feared all along, a dead end. It was then that the captain came out and marched up to the bow. “Oy! Open the facking gate, ya crusty cumstain!” To my wonderment, I heard a voice coming from the nearby trees. “State your name and business, cuntwaddle” “Marston ya old pissdog, you know damn well who I am.” There was a moment of silence, and I held my breath at such signs of incivility, praying for the gods to save me from the arrows that were sure to befall us, when the ship’s captain sighed. “I am Captain Orsric Graverobber Bones, of the Drunken Elephant. Me and my crew kindly request entry,” he said, in a tone that suggested ennui to a point i would not be able to muster. “Good enough for ya, ya vomit covered sea slug?” And with a creaking sound, a wall that had appeared to only be dead trees blocking our path, was lifted, revealing a hitherto unseen waterway further into the forest. (from ‘The Sea-Faring Adventures of Milton Hornswaddle’)

A Safe Harbor

The town of Torotuga holds about 500 semi-permanent residents, a number that can be boosted up to 2.000 by visitors.

The populace holds a few notorious criminals that have settled down far away from the law, as well as travelers and actual colonists that have stuck around. About a third of the permanent residency, however, consists of escaped slaves, either native to neighboring islands or brought here from far-off places to work on the plantations and farms of Pardoba and a few other nations.

Trade

It is clear almost immediately to any somewhat intelligent adventurer, that the economy of Torotuga is mostly illicid, and largely circular. This is a trade hub and stock-up place for privateers and pirates, though adventuring parties, specialized traders and even certain military groups (of the underground variety) also frequent the place.

The largest trade here is ‘entertainment’. The economy of Torotuga consists for about 60 percent out of brothels and bars. Coming off a boat in the bustling harbor part of the town means weaving your way through runners and trade deals, to be met by a veritable row of… very friendly people. Men and women beckon you, wearing bright clothes, some quite revealing, and made up with red lips and dark eyes.

Another large trade here are pawn shops or, if they try to be fancy, ‘antiques stores’. On the outskirts of the town you’ll find fishermen and a few farming communities, eking out a living on the edges of the jungle.

Architecture and craft

Torotuga gets most of its supplies from passing ships, and it shows. Most of its buildings are made out of scavenged wood and smelted or otherwise repurposed parts. Newer buildings use a mixture of ancient techniques, such as woven vines, and parts made out of metal or imported bricks.

Everything about this town has a distinct improvisational feel. The furniture and decorations are either made out of barrels, stolen off of ships or built new, with themes that remind you of the cultures native to the islands here. The whole town is a mishmash of styles, techniques and bits and bobs. True master craftsmen, however, are few in number.

There are a few carpenters, mostly specialized in boats. Apart from that you can find some relatively skilled weavers, leather workers and woodworkers, as well as smiths. Any mastercraft weaponry or armor found here is probably found or plundered, though.

It is, however, important to know that you can find Anything here, if you search hard enough. The people of Torotuga are good at finding ways, certainly if there’s coin in it. If you let them know you need a seamstress, for instance, they will absolutely find someone, even if it is the cook’s old nan, to do your thing for a pretty price.

Safety

Torotuga runs on ‘pirate’s honor’, which is to say, controlled anarchy. The place does not have a single point of authority, but instead had several factions who look out for their own. Some of the most feared of these are the Whores Patrol, a group of vigilantes that see to it that the prostitutes of the island can do their jobs safely. The artisans also have a neighbourhood watch of sorts, which is Extremely Protective of its members and most shops and bars will employ a very ostentatious group of guards.

Since there is no justice system, those caught committing a crime against someone in Torotuga will need to appeal to one of the factions or lose their hand and/or life.

Food

Torotuga has a mixture of different cuisines from the islands, mixed with the kind of stuff the pirates would know from home, in so far as this can be found. The different inns and bars serve mostly beer, but will whip you up some soup or bread and cheese, or grilled meat, when asked. Notable delicacies can be found in The Temple Bar, which serves a special stew, made of rice, wheat, sharp spices and seafood. There’s a bunch of not particularly identifiable stuff in there, but it’s very tasty. From food stalls, you can buy a simple type of taco, made of flatbread folded around a mixture of meat or poulty, mixed with random vegetables and spices. Most of the best and cheapest food can be procured from the smaller sellers, such as The Baked Potato and Kulita’s.

Notable shops

The largest pawn shop in town is The Hoard, run by a steel dragonborn, Dimitri Helfdal and his mate, a sapphire dragonborn named Irin. This shop stands in the very center of town and has carved stone walls, seemingly built out of the ruins of some ancient structure that stood here before. It is a fairly large building, with a stone and wood front and a large shop sign bearing a carved wooden dragon head, apparently an old masthead. Inside is a quite literal hoard. Dimitri and Irin tend to get the pick of any treasure troves that come to Torotuga, so you can find the best and most expensive stuff here.

Sulejman Sirk runs the apothecary, the Glass Shoal. It’s meticulously clean and organized, seemingly made out of the hull of a downed ship that was outfitted with a brick and windowed front and plated with iron shales. The centerpiece in this store is a large chandelier, a mobile of glasswork fish surrounding a steel brazier that lights up the place. He has your basic health potions and a Very Expensive set of water breathing things (like, super overpriced, guys). Also stocks an impressive amount of poisons.

Davy Jones Locker is a thrift shop of sorts. The proprietor, Antanen ‘David’ Jonesin, is a halfling that collects the mundane and the useful. The interior of this classic brickwork building is made with a number of treasure chests that have been stacked and arranged along the floor and on tables and sideboards. These things are not what typical pirates care for, but he does good business because they do tend to be things sailors Need. His store has stuff like barrels of rope, caltrops, a few smoke bombs found on drowned assassins. He has oil skin bags to keep books and letters safe from the water, sealing wax, forgery and climbing kits, a few block and tackles, fire stones, that sort of thing. Nothing magical, nothing glamorous, but exactly the kind of thing you need to survive.

The Silt Reader is a very small book shop that specializes in literature and poetry. Mostly second hand, a lot of them waterlogged. This store is owned by a half-elven woman, Runa Pavalur, who keeps it very organized, with tomes neatly stacked on shelves and arranged by category. Each book has been outfitted with a bookmark made of thin rope, with a little card attached to it that gives a short summary of what the book is about. Most of the books in The Silt Reader are travel diaries and novels, a fair amount of those of a ‘popular’ variety. This is why, apart from categories like Studies, Travel, Political etc, the shop has shelves named things like the Rose section (hetero romance), the Heather section (mlm romance), the Calla section (wlw romance) and the Orchid section (straight up porn).

For maps, it is best to go is the Crow’s Nest Cartographer. This is a very small house that has one entire wall made up of shelves holding a large amount of rolled maps. It is owned by two gnomish brothers: Illilniss and Omulnis. They will also pay for coordinates of places that have been discovered, or were hitherto unknown.

Lavar’s Smelter: Lavar is a fire genasi, who isn’t too crafty, but is very good at, well, smelting. He’s the one that melts down all the anchors and random steel and iron that is hauled here, something that should not be possible with a smithy as small as his. Is smithy doubles as a blacksmith for basic tools. When asked, he can shoe a horse and provide stables overnight.

Shell and Shield: The only somewhat skilled smith in town. The Shell and Shield is owned by a tortle named Perrahar, whose main trade is tools. She sells non-magic weapons and some simple armor as well but mostly she’s very interested in learning new things. Bring her some new metal that she’s never seen before and she’ll happily craft new things out of it.

Other establishments

There is a church, The Temple Bar, dedicated to Dionysus, the god of wine. It’s not clear if this is a sanctioned church or not. Mostly it appears to be one of the largest bars in Torotuga. Its purveyor is a dwarf and beer connoisseur named Mazzoum Hornmail. The interior is decorated with fake grape vines and filled with assorted furniture. This one is fairly fancy, with a little orchestra playing, and a dance floor. The rooms upstairs can be rented by the hour. The bigger ones are outfitted as meeting rooms, serving the purpose of neutral ground for pirates to strike deals or talk strategy. The smaller ones tend to just have a bed and a washing tub.

Despite the name, The Baked Potato does not sell potatoes. It does sell yams and sweet potatoes, stuffed with a variety of fillings and baked in an oven.

Kulita’s sells a lot of fried things, including fried fish and fried chicken, combined with dumplings, corn bread and pickled vegetables or stewed beans

The local bath house is called the White Whale. It rents out large, round tubs in private rooms to interested parties. These are pretty nice and use, important, ground water, so any visitor can finally get all that salt out. Rooms are outfitted with scented oils and soaps and come with one complimentary towel. The rooms are priced fairly reasonably, but the rate goes up quite a bit if you opt for one of the companions or masseuses that are offered.

The Sickly Shrew: A Very Seedy bar and one of the cheaper establishments to acquire a room for the night. Also a great place to find, like, a specialist to kill someone for you.

The Foghorn Inn: The most boring and basic of inns that Torotuga has to offer, if you’re into that kinda thing.

Assorted locations

Thaba’s Hut

Take the road out of town, past the farm fields that have been planted here, and into the swamp. Follow the set of foot bridges and walkways, till you reach an island, a clearing in the dense foliage. Standing here is an ancient looking hut, built on stilts. It has a thatched roof and a porch, with stairs leading up. The railing of the porch and the stairs looks solid from afar, but upon closer inspection, they are laden with offerings of a sort. Little dolls hang from string tied to the wood, shells, glass vials, trinkets and shiny objects, all tied to the outside of this house. In front of the hut, a small crackling fire burns in a fire pit, tended to by a tall, broad-shouldered man. This is Thaba’s hut, and if you are in need of special magical services, this is where you go.

You pay Thaba for entry, and for the privilege to see the wisewoman inside. Should you enter, you’ll find that the entire place is overstuffed with jars and more dolls and trinkets. A bunch of objects, too, are suspended from the ceiling, much like they were wrapped around the railings. Some tools hanging from twine off a crossbeam, glass and brass pitchers, something that you very much hope is a wig. There’s dried herbs, ham, but also bones, something that looks like a dead snake. There’s… a lot. The hut is where Iyabo, sitting in the middle of the floor in a magic circle, performs magical services. Most likely this will be along the lines of identifying items, removing or placing curses etc. Nahin’s fighting pit

Walking around town, you may hear a number of shouts and just general noise, originating to a dirt square just on the outskirts. Here, you’ll find a small mound of dirt that serves as a brawling ring. Two figures are squaring off here. One is an apparent halfling in monk clothes, fairly lean build, the other, on this day, is a goliath, a large, looming tank of a man, in somewhat soiled sailor’s clothing. They’ve drawn quite the crowd. On one end you see what seems to be the rest of the goliath’s crew, a number of sailors jeering and egging him on. On the side of the smaller figure are also supporters of a kind, albeit a bit more demure. You see a number of humanoids, all in fairly ratty clothing, most of them dark skinned and weathered looking. They’ll occasionally clap but they’re mostly looking. Bets are being made by the crowd, with bookies walking around trying to get any visitors to have a little go. But as soon as the fight starts, a heavy groan goes through the crowd and it becomes apparent just how skewed this match-up is. Within the first second, the goliath has already been kicked in the face. The smaller figure jumps up onto his chest, kicks him in the chin and backflips off, down to the ground. The goliath swings and the smaller figure leans back easily to avoid it, jumping up over a second swing, before turning in mid air and swiping at the shoulder, following that up with two swift kicks. This goes on for a little while, before the goliath says ‘You little shit’, and he pulls out a crossbow. The crowd starts booing. You hear the people behind the smaller figure yell ‘unarmed only!’ but the fighter themselves holds up their hand. “Learn’, they say, and sinks into a defensive stance. The goliath shoots once, twice, point blank, and you watch as the smaller fighter plucks both out of the air before they reach. As the goliath starts reloading, angry now, the other fighter moves. They jump up onto the crossbow and run up their opponent’s arm, before leaning down and kicking the goliath in the sternum. The giant goes rigid, for a moment, their eyes at this point confused and fearful, as the other fighter jumps down, dashes around and swipes at a spot right behind the knee. The goliath. Topples. The crowd erupts in shouts and you can see a well dressed man, apparently the goliath’s captain, walk up to the smaller figure and hand them a pouch. “Sorry about that,” he says. “Temper, that one. But you won fair and square.” The smaller figure bows and returns to their friends, as the crew, with some trouble, pull up the goliath and the crowd slowly disperses.

Kobinahin, or Nahin for short, is a higher level monk that fights for coin and has a little outdoor dojo going. Nahin is always itching to learn new tricks and will gladly match or teach adventurers.

Characters

Merchants and assorted service people

Thaba: A tall, broad-shouldered dark-skinned man, clean shaven and wearing modest but well-kept clothes. He has milky white eyes and a deep voice. He serves as a guardian or manager of sorts to Iyabo. He can usually be found sitting in front of the fire pit by his house.

Iyabo: This wise woman is a multiclass druid – bard with some wizard thrown in there. She is a tiny woman, potentially gnomish in nature, but it’s hard to tell. Her hair is quite a bit longer than her body, a mass of tiny braids, embellished with rope, ribbons, glass beads and brass rings that obscures her shape almost completely. From what you can tell, the hair may have been dark in color once, but it’s been painted with clay. Individual strands are red, ochre, green or a chalky white, the whole thing giving the impression of a gloomy, if colorful, bead curtain. The hair makes it almost impossible to see her face, but when her arms emerge from the curtain, her skin appears to be greyish blue, mostly because that, too, is rubbed with some kind of dust. Her hands are studded with different rings, her wrists covered in bracers and rows of bangles. Iyabo jingles when she walks, and you can discern the rustle of fabric, as well as the sound of many, many necklaces or chains clinking together. She doesn’t so much talk as whisper harshly , also with vague southern accent.

Dimitri Helfdal: A man of smallish stature, stocky and broad, with medium gray skin. Mid forties and fairly jovial, incredibly curious about new treasures and things. He wears a monocle and light linen, embroidered pants, with a sleeveless shirt. Dark grey scales line his shoulders, hands and head, glinting with a brushed steel look that makes him seem , in a weird way, armored. He does not have a tail.

Irin: A dragonborn woman of dark olive skin, fairly tall and with a long tail that whips back and forth between the folds of her long skirt. She wears a beautiful silk tunic, with cropped pants lines in copper thread and a long skirt consisting of four almost see-through loose panels. On her head, and down her back and tail are long crystalline dark blue spikes and the scales that adorn her skin are strangely see through, giving the impression of dark blue gems. It also seems like she has filed some of them to resemble jewelry, the ones around her throat and down her chest looking like a very elaborate necklace.

Sulejman Sirk: A black man in his late thirties, with corn rows tied into his hair, and a cropped full beard. He tends to smile widely and has a prominent gold tooth. He has several gold earrings in one ear and wears a dark grey v-neck kaftan of sorts, with embroidery on the shoulders.

Runa Pavalur: A red haired half-elven woman, fairly young looking, very pale with freckles. Basic hippie attitude, she wears what appear to be several crocheted tablecloths stitched together, and her hair falls down her back in two long braids. Speaks in a gentle, slow tone and has very obviously read every single book in the store.

Illilniss and Omulnis: Gnome brothers, both with heavy mustaches, kindof tanned skin and an almost inky blue hair. They finish each others sentences and then get grumpy about it.

Antanen ‘David’ Jonesin: An elderly halfling with salt-and-peper hair that poofs up around his head like a cotton ball. Wears tiny round glasses and looks rather clerical, but very businessy attitude. His voice is clear and fast, like an american radio dj.

Mazzoum Hornmail: A very serious dwarven man who looks jovial and fat and jolly. He gets quite stern when people don’t treat him with the right amount of respect. It is said Mazzoum has spent years sailing the oceans, and kinda just settled down here because he got tired of the floor moving.

Kobinahin: A dark skinned halfling monk of indeterminate gender. Dark, golden ochre skin, long black hair usually tied in a ponytail. Fairly elegant features. They wear a dark grey jumpsuit with cropped pants and sleeves tied with cloth strips. It is cinched in at the waist with a large strip of cloth. Kobinahin fights for coin and essentially teaches the prostitutes and the escaped slaves self-defense. It’s not clear why they left home to travel the world and fight. (the reason is this DM needed to introduce the Monk class). Speaks in serious, shortish sentences. Very no-nonsense.

Lavar: A fire genasi with tanned skin and flame red hair who serves as a smith. A practical sort who, despite his fiery nature, doesn’t really get upset easily. Always looking for find new ways to make coin.

Perrahar: A seemingly young tortle, though her shield is quite damaged with little black spots. Very curious in nature but extremely chill in attitude. Speaks Very Slowly and pretty damn deadpan. Very little gets to her.

Back-up NPC’s

Loughlin Nic Cadhla: An older woman, lots of scars, with frizzy brown curls in almost an afro, and pale freckles skin. Hard of hearing, from standing next to cannons most of her life. Retired pirate.

Tran Phu Nguyen: A forty-something man who is immaculately dressed and must have been utterly gorgeous when younger, still quite handsome. Ex-prostitute.

Hamisi: A slender, dark skinned man, bald with a short beard. He’s missing an eye and has some horrific scarring, mostly on his wrists that you can see. Missing two fingers on his left hand. Wearing a loose shirt and simple cropped pants, no shoes.

#oh look another one #i like world building ok #don't judge me #campaign resources #dnd #dungeons and dragons #dm stuff

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