#and sorry i never bothered to change his bloody face texture

[c-cw-f-saeko]

the depths of restaurant row (yokohama liumang headcanons 1/3)

hi! i still have less than a week of delusion allowed so who wants to hear my headcanons about the liumang!!! i shared this with oomfie not too long ago and decided to do more stuff to add to it :D

- east and west wings of qing jin

the thing about the liumang is that low-level and high level members live in a completely different world (as expected). 

an example of this is qing jin, the big high-end restaurant deep in restaurant row. only officers and higher ranked members of the liumang are able to dine in there without getting invited and it is known to be the place where a lot of secret deals happen. dining in there was common sign for the new and lower ranked guys of “i made it!!” 

qing jing do open up on many aspects that only high ranked members have access to. for example, each wing of the restaurant are entries into another level of the underground. 

until the coup-d'état, mabuchi and zhao shared oversight of each wing. zhao always had low interest in cabaret clubs and casinos so he took on the apartment complex. on his part, mabuchi wasted no time showing off his newly acquired second-in-chief of the liumang (and his prominent rags to riches story) by blowing his cash on women and co.

-> the east wing has tunnels leading into mabuchi's purgatory, a pleasure district and gambling hall, replica of the one in kamurocho.

-> the west wing has tunnels leading zhao's apartment complex, a three story building situated somewhere in yokohama which entry is only possible through qing jin.

- the purgatory (mabuchi's dream girl)

pleasure district mabuchi had built as soon as he became the second in power of the liumang. he had visited the purgatory of kamurocho before and wanted his own version under restaurant row. it’s maintained by the highest ranked officers of the liumang.

one way mabuchi revelled in his newly acquired notoriety and money was to indulge in women. he often visited cabaret clubs and spent on the most expensive alcohol. but for the the few times zhao came with him, the girls always seemed to be more interested in zhao than him. hence why he got the purgatory built, so there was an area he’d declared king no matter what.

his purgatory houses many different workers like (highly skilled in performing arts) female escorts, gambling dealers, street fighting competing in an arena, etc. mabuchi aimed to do everything on an even bigger scale and quality than the one in kamurocho. of course, it access is reserved to elites, tycoons and his closest associates. zhao always thought the endeavour was ridiculous, but left him to his devices.

since the purgatory's inauguration, lin lin was one of the most known female escorts there. as she was known to be a very good entertainer (lin lin sings very well, play instruments, and has a good presence). it didn't take long for mabuchi to fall for her. so, he did his best to woo and impress her by any means necessary.

one of the ways being how he named one of the business he was managing after her. it was the newest cabaret club in restaurant row at the time. zhao did kinda make fun of him for doing so much to serenade an escort; which at the end of the day would never accept his advances. however, mabuchi always thought zhao was wrong about that and they fought a lot about it.

(but zhao was right about it actually)

lin lin never really accepted mabuchi - as it was one of her goals to not get more involved than she already was (dating the literal second in-line of the liumang comes with lots of issues isn't it LOL).

as the coup d'etat grew as a looming threat over the liumang, lin lin moved from the purgatory to the said cabaret club. as it is a more normal job anyway and won't have to suffer the consequences of a potential collapse of the purgatory. she could easily play off sharing the same name as a coincidence as only a few even knew mabuchi named it after her.

mabuchi exiled of the city not long after that and relinquished its oversight to zhao.

tesso and zhao at the entrance of the purgatory

zhao introduced the purgatory to tesso shortly after he became the leader of the white mask branch, as a "gift" for rising in the ranks. it's at that point that tesso started to understand the world higher-ups (like zhao and mabuchi) lived in. this is also when he was first given entry to one of the wings of qing jin.

"zhao-san, what am i even supposed to do there?" "uhhhhh, how am i supposed to know," zhao answered, laughing. funny enough, it's not like tesso was a regular customer or cabaret clubs and stuff like that and zhao is the last person to give advice on that. tesso decided to have a taste for one night, to see how it's like.

this is where tesso meets lin lin for first time. seeing a new face for in a long while, she became his guide to show him around and let him know how things goes down here.

tesso and lin lin always share a drink for the rare times tesso spares the time to visit (becoming the leader of the white mask branch, he has less and less time) and they get along well until this day.

- zhao's apartment district

"tesso-kun, take care of this"

as he got into power in the liumang, zhao focused on building an seemingly normal-looking apartment complex that's connected to restaurant row through the underground. it was used for his assassinations 🤩 (there's a body dump in the basement that not the police nor the geomijul can trace back its origin.) zhao also concludes deals with his associates. given its construction, that complex is known to be the most private place in yokohama. not even the geomijul is aware of its use nor entry.

three levels of such alleys and there's an apartment of various use behind each door

in the midst of the coup-d'état and not too long before he left, zhao gave the key to his private apartment complex -- which finally gave him access to the other wing of qing jin. once again, tesso wasn't sure of what to make of it again being the only one of his peers to even have access to qing jin like that. zhao said he could whatever because he thought it would be a waste to not use the building.

(i'll explain tessohui more in another post LOL) but, following the liumang's change of leadership and transition into seonhee becoming the leader, tesso and seonhee got closer. then, he decided on sharing one of the apartment with her there.

given their schedules, this is neither their permanent residence. tesso has a few homes -- he moves frequently between restaurant row and isezaki road (subsequent apartment he wishes yua lived in), depending on the current job. seonhee is usually up in koreatown. they meet in the west wing usually when privacy is needed.

funny enough, every time seonhee has to get there, she's mad as hell 😭 all the way from koreatown with her sandals, her feet always hurt a lot. tesso says time and time again she should try out shoes like his because of this 😂

#zhao tianyou #tesso #seonhee #yokohama liumang #lin lin #liumang headcanon #do not mind the atrocious composition #i am not a graphic designer #this was supposed to be much longer but ill stop there for now #there are some mistakes in here but im not correcting them sorryyyyyyyy #rookie tesso wore a puffer jacket !!! it think it suits him #and sorry i never bothered to change his bloody face texture #i need to make another hc post about tessohui and another about yua #!!!!!! #ill get to it asap

[thr-333]

I got this request story idea where quirkless deku doesn't want to be a hero anymore because of bullying that he got from bakugou and wrong saying that he got from all might. So deku decides is a backpacker, travelling around the world experiencing cultures, food, quirks!!! He has even a YouTube account where talk about his travels, meet new people and talk about their quirks.

Here you go @sweetizukufan its set in nz like  you wanted :D

Ochako flopped onto her bed and groaned into a pillow. She didn’t have the right to complain, she knew that. She had been one of thousands of applicants to pass the entrance exam and for the past three years her classmates had been training just as hard as she had. And truthfully she didn’t want to complain. It was her final year at UA. It was only a matter of months until she was officially a hero her dream since a child and she was excited for it!

That didn't change the fact Aizawa had upped their training the last few months. The days got longer the work harder and quite frankly it left her with virtually zero free time. Whenever she tried voicing her thoughts she’d be met by her well meaning, but overly enthusiastic classmates encouraging her to keep her head up. 

She was! That didn’t mean she had to go through hellish training with a wide smile on her face.

“Ugh,” Ochako rolled over as it got hard to breath with the pillow smothering her. She really did need to get some sleep before waking up at five in the bloody morning tomorrow when she hit the gym. But honestly at this point if she didn’t do something to break up the monotony of training, eating and sleeping she was going to lose it.

She blindly grabbed for her phone. The school had funded getting her a newer model than her old flip phone since that had been a hindrance when she started internships. She was provided with the industry standard which her friends had tested by throwing it out a window, where it hit Bakugou’s head, and was promptly exploded then stomped on. The thing came out of it without a scratch.

She brought up youtube, it’s not like she had any games, let alone time to play them. It was probably a bad sign she had forgotten what channels she liked. With little other option she started scrolling trending with only a small amount of hesitance. She flicked past everything that was clearly clickbait, too childish or both. 

Something caught her eye and Ochako back-pedalled to take a look. It looked like some sort of vlogging channel ‘ARRIVING IN NEW ZEALAND! Auckland sky tower!!!’ was written across the screen. Even with all the caps she didn’t really see how that could be clickbait. Maybe the guy was just excited, she would like to get a holiday like that after all. The image had him smiling at the camera sitting down and below him was nothing, nothing but a street far below. Ochako was embarrassed to say her first thought was that he had some sort of floating quirk before realising he was literally sitting on a window. In her defence she had a float quirk.

Partly embarrassed she clicked on the video why not live her traveling dreams vicariously through a stranger? She used to watch her fair share of travel videos, although those were mostly in tropical places so she could research where to take her parents.

The video started with a shot looking over the wing of a plane, a montage of it starting to land. Ochako was vaguely concerned when all she could see was water out the window but just before touch down the tarmac came into view so it wasn't a surprise crash landing. The camera cut off after a few more seconds panning across the airport as the plane pulled in. The music started to fade out as the shot cut to the same guy as before.

“Hey guys Midoriya here again, just got off an eleven hour flight,” He had no right to look so cheerful at that Ochako had never been on a plane but it didn’t look particularly fun, “And let me tell you I was not prepared for the ordeal that is security here,”

Midoriya’s smile faltered a bit, looking sheepish. He was walking with the camera just outside the airport, people milling around in the background paying him no mind.

“I had no idea it would be that tough, I had an apple I got on the plane in my bag and I thought that would be alright, I got it on the plane after all!” Midoriya didn’t look upset or angry but  he was blushing madly. Ochako cracked a smile at that now that she looked closer he was probably about her age, “But no, I swear I thought they were going to arrest me! They started interrogating me, I had to stutter out that I got it on the plane, but that didn’t stop them they gave me a lecture about protecting the environment and declaring food, luckily I got off without a fine, I think it’s because I looked terrified, because I was,”

Midoriya chuckled rubbing his neck, there was a bang and he looked wideyed to the side the camera shook slightly then cut to another shot the setting slightly off from where it was showing a bit of greenery growing at the air port.

“Sorry dropped my bag,” Ochako giggled at that a bit, more that he had decided to keep that in the video than anything else, “So I thought that was the end of it, but apparently not, they started asking questions about my shoes, ‘have you visited any farms?’ ‘have you worn them hiking at any point?’ stuff like that, so that was a bit of a problem because these are my only pair of shoes in this country and I’m pretty sure they’re gonna incinerate that apple,”

A little graphic of a cartoon apple on fire popped up along with a pair of shoes. A speech bubble followed saying ‘save yourself!’ as the apple’s little chibi face screwed up.

“I promised them that no, I haven’t by the way I wouldn’t lie about this stuff the environment here is super cool and unique I couldn’t live with myself if my dirty shoes killed a forest,” The graphic was gone by now and Midoriya was walking through the airport, “But I handed over all the snacks I had in my bag, even if they were ok to bring in the country I was too anxious to risk it, that seemed to appease the border security and I got away with my shoes in tact, my snacks sacrifice will not be in vain,”

Ochako was tempted to laugh but if someone set fire to her snacks or sweets there would be hell to pay.

“Anyway now I’m hungry and have some time before my hotels check in,” Midoriya beamed at the camera, “So I’m gonna do something I’ve wanted to since planning this trip,”

On that mysterious note the video cut to another montage as Midoriya got into a taxi. Ochako let herself enjoy the sights that rolled out the window. She wished she had a computer to watch this on instead of squinting for details on her phone's screen. The montage went onto show the outside of a store then going inside to pan over all the baked goods inside. It was a smorgasbord that stoked Ochako’s envy.

“Here we are,” Midoriya sat at a table just outside the store a few bags laid out in front of him, “These sorts of bakeries are everywhere in New Zealand, I didn’t look for anywhere specific just one walking distance to my hotel room, and here we are!”

Midoriya took something from a bag showing it to the camera to make out the golden crust of a pie. Going torturously in detail as he ripped it open for the audience's benefit. Steam rose and mince flowed out, surprising Ochako as she thought it would be sweet. Breaking it open made a mess as Midoriya was forced to drop the piping hot pastry. The filling pooled across the bag it had come in making the whole thing look sloppy.

“I think my friend would kill me if she saw me do that, Gemma don’t watch this video,” Midoriya warned to late, “She’s the one who told me I had to try a pie, I have a few flavours here but lets start with the basic one, mince!”

Midoriya had some difficulty eating it now that it had fallen apart but managed and his eyes lit up.

“It’s really good, the pastry is flaky and buttery it works really well with the savoury mince the two together make a really satisfying bite, but I guess it would be better if I didn’t destroy it first,” Midoriya said sheepishly, “I won’t do that for the rest of them, promise,”

Midroiya took another bite from the pie before showing off the next one.

“This is Gemma’s favourite Butter Chicken, and trust me it smells so good!” Midoriya, the tease took a bite. Ochako had to wonder what she did to deserve this, “Wow I like this one way better, not that the other one was bad!” Midoriya hurriedly said.

He showed the inside to the camera, a rich looking butter chicken inside.

“It’s really flavourful so you don’t need any sauce that and the texture of the chicken and curry are really complimented by the pie crust,” Izuku took another bite as he talked, “I guess it’s kinda like if Butter Chicken was wrapped up in Nan so there's no way it wouldn’t be good,”

Midoriya talked more as he ate that pie and a steak and cheese one he had brought talking about both until Ochako’s mouth was salivating.

“That’s not nearly all the pie options, but I’ll be touring across New Zealand so this can be an ongoing adventure, now desert!” Midoriya brought out a long bun full of cream, it had a dollop of jam on the top and so much icing sugar Ochako feared for his health. Midoriya however ignored those fears and took a bite anyway, “The buns really soft and the area that the cream’s touched it is just the best texture ever,”

He smiled and there was cream and powder on his cheeks Ochako just knew was going to haunt her until he wiped it off.

“This entire thing is just, ‘ok how can we make this as soft as possible,” Midoriya commented getting closer to the middle of the bun where the bit of jam was, “The raspberry, I think? Jam is really good at breaking up the flavour half way through, now I can eat the rest of it,” Midoriya grinned as he finished it off. He started walking around again waiting for his check in to arrive. That didn't seem to bother him as he pointed out things on the street as he walked.

As he did, Ochako saw someone blatantly jump over the street instead of waiting for the lights. There was another person in the background who casually strolled across the side of a building, feet sticking to it somehow. While people would use their quirks on the street all the time they were usually less obvious about it as police would sometimes call them out and it did depend quirk to quirk. Midoriya zoomed in on a few of these people before it focused on him smiling as he walked.

“New Zealands got pretty cool laws around quirk usage,” He explained, clearly having done his research, enthusiastically by the looks of it, “You have to go through some basic training to prove you can control your quirk, at least so you wont hurt anyone after that you get a license and your free to use your quirk, like I island,” That Ochako thought was cool part of her training had pointed out that some situations heroes were called in for weren't always villain attacks but some public quirk usage gone south, “It’s pretty easy to get by the sounds of it but that does all depend on what your quirk may be,”

The shot cut a bit, Ochako assumed he had rambled on about that for a bit and decided to cut that part.

“In terms of heroes from what I’ve researched the police handle most of that, they’re trained in their quirks kinda like hero schools back in Japan but starting at university not highschool,” That made sense Ochako supposed, and they’d probably have more time to master their quirks too, “There’s a few heroes sure, they’re like a branch of the police department and I think there's a departmental separation between rescue and combat heroes,”

Was she privately pleased he had listed rescue heroes first? Yes, yes she was.

“But honestly there aren’t many, they seem more like the people you call in for really big stuff going on, or international relations, it makes sense the population of New Zealand isn’t all that big,” Midoriya rounded the corner someone made a peace sign at the camera before moving on, “Almost half the population is here in Auckland and the whole country hasn’t reached the five million mark yet, thats crazy to me considering Japan’s population is in the hundred million range and it’s only slightly bigger than New Zealand,”

That did seem insane to Ochako, not sure to be smug about that fact or not.

“So that's probably why heroes are less of a thing here but that doesn't mean it’s all not still really cool,” Midoriya was beaming at the camera, his positivity and enthusiasm practically punching her through the screen, “I’ve rambled enough, it’s about check in time I’ll show you guys where I’ll be staying,”

Midoriya gave a quick tour of his hotel room. It wasn't much, more of a backpackers than anything.

“It’s not big I know but I’ll only be staying here for a few days to explore Auckland then I’m off traveling so a large place wasn't really a worry,” Midoriya flopped down on the bed, bouncing slightly as he hit the mattress, “I’m gonna take a nap because I am exhausted,” His tone betrayed nothing, “But stick around because I’ve got a surprise this afternoon- well I probably put it in the title anyway so it’s not a surprise but it’s still going to be cool, See ya,” Midoriya saluted the camera and it faded to black for a few seconds.

When it came back to light it was an image looking up at a tall tower circling around it and entering the building next to it. There was a continuous shot that was sped up as he walked through the line entering an elevator which literally had a glass floor.

“Wo-” The camera was pointed down at Midoriya's shoes as he hesitated to stand on the glass patch. His foot made contact before he quickly stepped back, “Nope, no, nope,”

Ochako laughed and sank back into her bed. The elevators opened and there was a shot of large windows showing the expanse of the city. The footage sped up as Midoriya did a clean circle around the tower showing it was a loop to give a 360 degree view of Auckland. It was pretty with rolling hills and she could see forests at the edge of it. Honestly it was small compared to the cities she was used to but that made sense given what Midoriya had said earlier.

“Look at this,” The footage went back to normal speed as Midoriya focused on a chart comparing the heights of different towers, “It’s half as tall as the sky tree,”

And that was given the giant antenna on the top.

“Come check this out it’s pretty cool,” Midoriya walked down the steps until he was right next to the window, a few steps more and he came to a patch in the floor that was just glass like the elevator. Midoriya noticeably stood back from it, “It says here that the glass is just as thick and strong on the floor, so reasonably logically,” Ochako snorted, “It should be just the same as walking on the floor… they say that but…”

Midoriya switched the camera around to focus on him, looking a bit pale.

“This might shock you but I’m not really a fan of heights,” He shuddered and shook himself out, “Alright I can do this,”

What followed was a frankly painful process that Ochako couldn't help but laugh at. Midoriya would approach the glass before backing off. He set the camera up on the railing so it looked down enough that she could see the glass and street below. Midoriya tried a bunch of stuff like walking up without looking down. That didn't work and he backed out several meters before he had even reached the glass thinking he was standing on it. He tried to sit down and scoot onto it but couldn't manage more than sitting far from the edge and putting his feet on it. Ochako started howling with laughter when a kid came by running up and jumping on the glass while Midoriya looked on with fear like they were mad.

Midoriya at least had a humor about it. 2D sketches drawn over the video to help exaggerate his struggle and the entire thing filmed rather comically.

Ochako was beginning to believe he had photoshopped the image earlier before he grabbed the camera taking a deep shuddering breath.

“I can do this, I promise I can do this,” He sat down and shuffled back cringing all the way. Ochako found herself strangely proud as Midoriya actually made it onto the glass. He was white knuckled reaching up to hold the railing. He smiled shakily at the camera before turning into a more genuine look of triumph. That was until he quickly rolled off it jumping to his feet and scurrying away, “There! Done! I did it!”

He was smiling brightly now and Ochako couldn't deny she was proud of him. She had struggled herself with heights something she was forced to get over to use her quirk so she knew just how hard that can be.

“Gosh I hope that's easier than what I’m about to do,” Midoriya spun around to show a different window wires running outside and inside a countdown that was about to hit one. It did and there was a blur outside Ochako belatedly realised it was a person. Oh no.

“Now I’m not going to do that but I am going to do something pretty cool,” Ochako blew a sigh of relief but also wanted to hit him for scaring her like that. Under no circumstances should he be jumping off buildings.

They lapsed into another montage Midoriya going back downstairs. This time he had the courage to put a foot on the window in the elevator. Downstairs he went into another area donning a coat and sort of jumpsuit before layering harnesses over the top. He went up an elevator with a few other people this time. They stepped out into another room Midoriya carefully keeping the window out of frame to keep the grand reveal. Their harnesses got latched on and secured to a railing. Once everything was safe the doors pushed open revealing Auckland city, this time not hidden behind glass. 

Midoriya skipped over the likely long process of gaining the courage to go outside cutting instead to him smiling with the city at his back and wind whipping through his hair.

“Welcome to the top!” Midoriya yelled over the wind, the audio quality was bad but that was understandable. She felt worse for Midoriya who was smiling through the fear, “It’s really cold and windy up here and I’m scared!”

“Just go back down you idiot,” Ochako huffed fondly as he kept shouting to be heard over the wind.

“I’m kinda afraid of dropping my camera honestly,” Midoriya laughed but she couldn't hear it, instead he pointed in to a few specific spots across the city, “See those hills? Most of those are actually remnants of volcanoes, you see Aucklands kinda built on top of a giant pit of Magma,”

Midoriya quickly grabbed back onto the railing, slowly shuffling along the sky walk, higher than he had been inside.

“Luckily the volcanoes in this area are dormant, cause if one in this area erupts there's a pretty good chance like 50 more are gonna follow,”

Midoriya stayed up there for a little longer pointing out interesting things in the distance. Ochako could safely say she was glad when he cut back to the bottom of the sky tower. His hair was windswept and cheeks red from windchill. Ochako didn't even need to check the comments to know most of them were gushing about how cute he was.

“That was… terrifying, but I’m glad I did it, who thinks I should try skydiving next?” Midoriya grinned, before his face dropped and paled again, “God please no that was a joke,”

Ochako giggled relaxing back in bed again after the tension of the skywalk Midoriya had been leaking through the screen dissipated.

“Anyway  I’m just gonna go lie down for a while until some friends of mine get here, then we’ve got one more surprise,” Ochako hoped he hadn’t changed his mind and was going to jump off the building after all, she didn’t want to see him have a literal heart attack.

The video cut to Midoriya smiling at the camera again. He had a lot more color to him now and his hair was somewhat tamed. In his defence he had apparently got off and 11 hour flight then walked around 300 meters in the air it was allowed to be messy.

“So the person meeting me is Gemma, I mentioned her earlier, and a few other friends but their camera shy so you probably wont see them,” Midoriya was bouncing in place gaze constantly drifting away from the camera, “This is our first time meeting in person so I’m kinda excited kinda dreading if this has all just been some elaborate joke and I’m about to get stood up or worse,”

“Who hurt you and who do I need to kill?” Uraraka whispered, fully prepared to throw down the gauntlet for a youtuber she had only just discovered.

Luckily for them Gemma and his other not seen friends were spared her wrath. The camera shot was from far away so she couldn't hear or see anything in detail but it clearly showed the two running up to hug each other Midoriya pulling back to excitedly chat. Gemma matched his enthusiasm, sparkles trailing her arms as she made wide sweeping gestures.

“Here everyone say hi to Gemma,” The shot changed to frame the two of them, Gemma waving the motion sending more glittering sparkles falling from her hand and landing on Midoriya’s shoulder.

“Oh no-” Gemma stepped back to look at Midoriya the front of his shirt was covered in lingering sparkles along with his face and hair. Midoriya looked down at himself a little shocked as Gemma covered her face groaning into her hands, “I’m so sorry, I swear they fade out,”

She scrubbed her hands down her face, unaffected as her whole body shone lightly with subtle sparkles.

“I love it,” Midoriya grinned, twirling a bit to show there was a band of sparkles across his back from where her arms must have come around him. He was quite a bit shorter than her so his face also looked like someone had blown glitter in it, it just made his smile all the more dazzling.

“So you know where we’re going for dinner?” Gemma was looking at the camera but clearly asking Izuku.

“Up the tower again!” Midoriya beamed and really him plus sparkles was too unfair a combination.

This time in the elevator Gemma stood proudly on the window as Midoriya yelled at her.

“Are you crazy?!”

“Crazy you say?” At that Gemma jumped up and Midoriya let out an unholy screech as the elevator shuddered, she laughed but it was teasing not cruel. Ochako could make out the vague reflection of someone patting Midoriya on the shoulder and another person's arm came into frame to swat at Gemma.

When they reached the top Midoriya did not focus too much on the view, already having shown it. They stepped into a nicely decorated restaurant, but what was interesting was when Midoriya demonstrated that it was slowly spinning so the patrons could enjoy the view without leaving their table.

“Do you think they could speed it up?” Gemma asked, she was sitting next to Midoriya, both had their backs to the window so Ochako had a clear shot of it.

“Like a dangerous merry go round?” Midoriya questioned, the sparkles still clung to his cheeks and eyelashes.

“Exactly!” Gemma gave him finger guns, that matched her real guns. She may be sparkly but without the coat Ochako could now see she was ripped, “Also the dangerous is redundant,”

“What kind of merry go rounds-” Midoriya cut himself off as a waiter walked by, “... anyway I don’t think thats a good idea, given that the points to you know, eat,”

“Thats just what makes it more fun,” Gemma waved off.

“Uh-huh,” Midoriya raised an eyebrow skeptically before turning to the camera, “Hope you guys don’t mind but I wont be doing much food reviewing this dinner, I’ll show it off but-”

“This is a night for us to celebrate, later losers,” Gemma saluted, Midoriya squeaked telling her off before cutting the video off. Ochako laughed glad for Midoriya that his nerves had been wrong.

As promised he showed a few shots of some fancy looking food. Ochako wondered how much she would have to save up for her and her parents to eat there, not as much as the flights of course… hopefully. 

The camera placed on the table showed the scenery slowly revolving outside, getting darker and lights turning on as the sun set. By the time they were getting up to leave it was fully dark outside and Midoriya spared a moment to linger on a shot of Auckland at night.

“Izuku don’t forget your bag,” Gemma called as she shrugged on her jacket, also glittery.

“Thank-” The camera whirled around to where the bag should be. There was a slight ridge dividing the circle of the restaurant that spun and a ledges lining the outside where all the supporting beams were, “Oh sh-”

The camera started shaking as Midoriya ran through the restaurant. The shot switching to another camera that caught Midoriya as he ran the other way almost bowling over a waiter and profusely apologising. All the while you could hear Gemma and several others laughing off screen.

“Oh? Look what we have here,” Gemma moved the camera to focus on a spot as the restaurant turned around, a bag coming into view that Gemma scooped up. It was probably Midoriya's seeing as it had a couple of All Might pins and Ochako wasn’t sure how popular he was internationally.

Gemma set up the camera to focus on the opposite direction Midoriya ran. It caught the moment he came around the other side, still staring worriedly at the window. Gemma whistled sharply gaining a few glares but a relieved look from Midoriya as she held up his bag.

They left the restaurant with a few apologies at the other patrons for being loud. When the camera switched it was back on Midoriya but Ochako caught a glimpse of Gemma shimmering in the background waiting around.

“Alright that's all for today,” Midoriya smiled, Ochako stomped down the slight disappointment resolving check out his other videos from his easiness and confidence on screen Midoriya must have been at this awhile, “I’m going to be touring all over the country so stay tuned for the series, I haven't showed you nearly how beautiful New Zealand is, I hope I can make it down to the south island too cause they have some really pretty scenery, for now I’m going back to the hotel and crashing hard, see ya!”

The video signed off to the end cards a recommended video and link to Gemma’s apparent channel that looked like some sort of fitness channel with how she was lifting weights in it. Ochako promised herself to check it out.

For now she subscribed to Midoriya’s channel checking the time to see if she could squeeze in another before going to bed. She was feeling like she could get away with it. The change in pace revitalising in a way. But really she attributed that to Midoriya’s natural cheer and charisma. Somewhere in there she had allowed herself to relax and get swept up in this dorky kids mundane adventure. It was exactly the kind of thing she wanted her parents to experience one day. 

This was exactly what she had become a hero for, and now graduation was within her grasp. She just had to push a little more and then she would be out in the world able to do some good for her family and everyone else. 

Ochako smiled at the screen, resolving to get some sleep and maybe she could squeeze in another video tomorrow morning. Before she turned off her phone Ochako glanced at the channel's name, snorting to herself. It was perfect.

Green Bean and Bags

#my hero academia #my hero academia au #mha #bnha #asks #ask request #asks welcome

[judediangelo75]

Style Witch: Judith Harris

Inspired by the ask from @kc-needs-coffee to @that-scouse-wizard​  

Here’s a little story to go with this as well.

MC Friends: David Willows ( @that-scouse-wizard​ ), Katriona  Cassiopeia ( @kc-needs-coffee​ ), and Lizzie Jameson ( @lifeofkaze​ )

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

David was taking a small kip on the couch in the Hufflepuff Common Room when he was rudely awaken by the loud slam of a door. 

Slightly dazed and annoyed, he sat up to see the fuming little figure of his best mate, Judith.

“Where’s the fire, Little Tigress,” he yawned. The young witch paused upon hearing her dear friend’s voice. The fire that burned in those pale gold eyes dimmed when she looked at her friend’s sleepy face.

“Sorry, David. I didn’t mean to wake you,” she said softly. David stretched a bit.

“Don’t worry about it. Something’s bothering you, what’s wrong?” Judith crossed her arms with a huff.

“That bloody style wizard,” she grumbled. David arched a brow, waiting for her to continue. 

“He had the nerve to talk about my outfit today, saying it’s burning his eyes,” she supplied. David studied his friend from head to toe.

Her brown black hair was in twists, partially hidden under a dark blue bandanna. Her usually gold accessories were clipped onto her ears. Her face was make up free. A blue and white V-neck shirt, light gray 3/4 camo pants and white Converses clothed her body.

David didn’t see anything wrong with her look. He always thought she looked nice regardless.

“I don’t see anything wrong with it,” he mumbled. Judith walked over and sat on the couch next to him, angrily pouting.

“My point exactly. I told him that’s rich coming from a person who tried dressed me as someone’s mother for the Valentine’s Day Ball.” David snickered. 

David remembered that day clear as day. It was hard not to, seeing how peeved Judith looked when she was looking in the mirror. 

‘You lost ya damn mind if you think I’m going to the Ball like this, Egwu. I look like a mother whose in her mid thirties, demanding to speak to your manager to file a compliant.’

 David laughed to the point his sides hurt and he had tears in his eyes. 

“You’re not wrong, that pixie cut definitively wasn’t your style, Little Tigress,” David chuckled. He got a glare for the nickname but he knew there was no real hostility towards him.

“It sure as hell wasn’t. Andre had the nerve to look like I told him Pride of Portee was the worst team in the league. Then he said ‘I’d like you see you do better. Everyone knows I’m the Style Wizard around here.’ Damn title went to his head a little bit,” she grumbled. 

David looked at her curiously. One of the things he knew about his Little Tigress was being told that she couldn’t compare to someone else.

“Well, why don’t you show him? I’ll even let you use me as your little art project,” he offered. Judith gave her a glance.

“Are you sure,” she asked, slightly hesitant. She never styled another person before...

David offered her a smile.

“Positive.” Judith returned it with a shy one.

“Okay...”

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

David sat in her dorm room as Judith was taking notes.

She asked questions in regards to his shirt size, preferred jacket size, pant size, and shoe size.

“What’s a look you want to try again,” she finally asked, twirling the quill in her hand. David looked thoughtful for a moment before saying,

“I admit, I did like the Valentine’s Day look from last year. Ya know, the punk look?” Something shined in those pale gold eyes.

“Gotcha... I think I can work with that...”

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

Few days later, David was called back into Judith’s room. He spied the shopping bags that sat on her bed. He rose a brow at them.

“So I’m assuming you got something.” Judith looked up at him with a shy smile.

“Yeah... but I want it to be a surprise. So you’re gonna have to close your eyes. David shrugged.

“First off, hair,” she said. She pointed to her vanity, a chair already waiting for him.

“Sit.” Doing what he was told, he sat and allowed his friend to style his hair. His face would occasionally scrunch up when he felt the water from her spray bottle hit his face but relaxed at the feel of her fingers massage his scalp. 

After some fluffing, combing and adding gel, Judith step back to admire her handiwork.

“Perfect, now stay still. I’m gonna add a bit of color.” David nodded as Judith fetched her wand.

“Colovaria!” David felt the faint traces of magic dance over him before it fading. Judith was dancing on the balls of her feet, the biggest smile on her face. 

“I’m guessing it looks good,” he asked, ready to turn around to face her mirror. Only for Judith to take ahold of his face.

“No looking! I’m just about done... just need a few more things...” Judith grabbed something from her vanity. 

“Close your eyes,” she said. Doing so, David could feel something cold being stuck onto the skin near his right brow and right ear. 

“Open.” David’s eyes fluttered open, to find Judith’s smile. 

“It’s slowly coming together... but there’s one more thing. You’re okay with facial hair, are you?” David blinked.

“I, uh, never thought about it...” Judith giggled.

“Don’t worry, it’s only gonna be a little. I can’t see you with a full grown beard.” They both shared a laugh at that, and Judith casted another spell on her fellow Hufflepuff. David could feel the hair solely grow on his chin. 

He rubbed it, feeling the new addition of Judith’s look on his face. 

“Wow, you look older. But in a good way. Huh,” she said thoughtfully. David chuckled.

“So, are you done with my face?” Judith laughed and nodded. 

“Now clothes, but remember keep your eyes closed. I’ll hand you the clothes one by one and you can change behind the screen over there. Got it?” David gave her a mock salute.

“Yes ma’am.” The young witch rolled her eyes. 

“Hush and hurry up and strip,” she demanded, shoving him behind screen. Making quick work of his running shoes, jeans and gray V-neck, David shouted that he was done.

“Remember-”

“Yes, eyes closed, I heard ya the first time, Little Tigress,” he sassed, closing his eyes yet again. He heard her annoyed grumble as she placed each article of clothing into his outstretched hand.

He could feel the rips in the pants she gave him and the leather texture of the jacket as well. He felt more and more excited to see what he looked like.

“Step out, I’ll help you put on the shoes,” Judith said. Doing so, he could hear Judith clap rapidly.

“Holy shit! You look great David! Oooohhh, I can’t wait for you see,” she cheered, grabbing his hand to lead him to her bed. David sat down and felt Judith slip on a pair of boots to his feet. They feel a bit heavy but not in a bad way...

“And done! Come, I’ll lead you to the mirror.” Following his little friend, he heard a door opening and Judith saying,

“Okay... you can look now...” 

Brown eyes opened to stare at his reflection only to widen in surprise. He stepped closer to the mirror to take a closer look at his reflection. 

His normally neat hair was now a styled mess, red dye blending into his brown hair, flaring at the tips. Two shiny piercings sat near his brow and a bigger one of his ear. The little bit of facial hair did age him well.

His outfit consisted of a plain white T-shirt, a red leather jacket, black fingerless gloves with a red wristband, black acid washed ripped jeans and black combat boots. He turned his gaze to a suddenly shy Judith.

“Well,” she asked, rubbing the back of her neck sheepishly. She let out a squeal when she pulled off the ground and into a tight hug.

“I look badass! Thank you so much, Little Tigress,” David cheered, nuzzling her hair. Judith blushed and giggled.

“There’s one more thing, Hound...” David perked up at this, setting her down so she can retrieve it. 

Judith went over to the bags on her bed to pull out a black box the size of her hand before returning to David. Handing the box over to him, Judith bit her lip anxiously to watch her expression as he opened it.

David’s eyes widen before softening. In the box was a silver necklace. On the chain was a ram’s head, a aquamarine gem replacing its eye.

“It’s beautiful, Little Tigress,” he mumbled. Judith smiled softly at her tall friend before taking it out and putting it around his neck. Judith stepped back to admire her work.

“There, you look great...” David glanced at the mirror. The necklace definitely a nice finishing touch to his new look.

“Thanks Judith... why don’t we pay our resident Style Wizard a visit?”

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

Andre was in the Courtyard, talking to Talbott. 

“Then she said I made her look like someone’s 30 year old mother, can you believe that,” he ranted to his fellow Ravenclaw, who in turn snorted.

“Considering that she’s my girlfriend and have come backs for days, yes,” Talbott shrugged. Andre pinched the bridge of his nose.

Maybe ranting to Judith’s boyfriend wasn’t his most brightest idea...

“I’d love to see her try to do better,” he grumbled. Talbott’s red eyes trailed off him for a brief moment only to widen slightly at something behind him.

“Apparently she accepted that challenge. And it’s fair to say you lost, mate.” Andre let out a nose of confusion before turning around to see what Talbott was talking about.

Only to stiffen with wide eyes.

Approaching the two Ravenclaws was David and Judith. However, the attention was focused on David.

...At least they were pretty sure that was David.

“Cheers, Tal. Andre,” the guy greeted them as he stood before them. 

Yup, that’s definitely David Willows.

“Wha-?! How-?! Who-?!” Andre spluttered over his words as he took in David’s new look. 

“What do you think of my new look Judith created for me? Pretty badass, right,” David smirked. He glanced at his best mate to find her sharing a similar smirk on her face as they stared at the dumbfounded Style Wizard.

“Yeah, Andre? Pretty cool, right,” Judith teased. Andre shut his mouth and stared at the two Hufflepuffs with an unamused glare.

Damn it, he forgot how often they loved to push his buttons.

Talbott chuckled and walked up to his little bird to hold her hand. 

“Impressive work, little bird. If it wasn’t for the impish look in David’s eyes, I wouldn’t have recognized him,” he said, placing a quick peck on her cheek. Judith beamed up at him with a small blush on her cheeks.

“Thanks, Talbott...” Andre let out a cough, bringing attention to himself.

“I guess I know when I’m beat. Nice work, Judith,” he mumbled. Judith and David snickered at his sulking form.

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

Andre was at the pre-game party, sipping his Butterbeer when he felt a hand grasp his shoulder.

“Cheers, Andre!” He turned to greet David only to pause when he took in his outfit. 

A plain black T-shirt, a custom made letterman jacket, white and yellow track pants and tri-petal running shoes clothes the Hufflepuff Beater. 

“Wha...” David smirked.

“You like? Judith made this for me to wear at pre-game parties. Check out the back,” he said, turning around to show the Ravenclaw Quidditch player. The word ‘HOUND’ flashed at Andre before David spun back around. 

Andre narrowed his eyes.

“Yeah... pretty cool...” 

“Daaaaavvvvvviiiiiiddddddddd....” The two wizards turned to find the short figures of KC and Lizzie approaching them.

“Where is she?! I want to place a custom order of that jacket. I’ll even pay,” KC pouted. David chuckled.

“Sorry KC, Judith decided she didn’t want to show up this time,” he apologized. Lizzie groaned.

“David, you lucky bloke! You have a best mate to designs stuff for you. No fair...”

“You know you guys could ask me to make something you,” Andre quipped. Lizzie and KC looked at each other before looking at Andre.

“Did you think to make a letterman jacket before David showed up in his,” KC asked with an arched brow.

“No, but-”

“Okay, case closed,” Lizzie said. David laughed at Andre’s disgruntled expression as the girls fawned over his jacket.

#hphm #hogwarts mystery #harry potter hogwarts mystery #hphm mc #hphm jacobs sibling #jacob's sibling #jacob's sister #jacob's brother #judith harris #other people's mcs #david willows #katriona cassiopeia #lizzie jameson #hufflepuff!mc #hufflepuff!mcs #talbott winger x mc #talbott x jacob's sibling #talbott x mc #hphm andre #andre egwu #andre is not amused #talbott has no pity #tigress and hound #hphm fanart #hphm fanfic

[undead-notunreasonable]

Happy Draco-O-Ween || Part 19 of 31 ||

"Please, you must tell me more about these airplanes you saw, I'm completely fascinated by them!" Vlad tepes called out to Dracula from his seat. A gentle snipping sound could be heard within the room, filling the silence with its slashing sounds. A hand came to the base of Vlads skull, forcing his head downward. Another snip.

Count Dracula walked toward the mirror in his living room, carrying a cup of blood as he watched his former lover having his 500 year old locks being cut off by a professional stylist. While he admired it at the time, it was much better that he adhered to the modern age of fashion & haircuts. His face were warm with admiration as he gazed at the man before him, enjoying the way he looked with his new transformation. The cut were showing of the angular jaw that Draculas fingers had once traced in the dark privacy of a bedroom. "Later, I'm sure we don't want to bore our employee with something as trivial as modern technology." He gave a half laugh, coming across as sincere.

But the hair dresser, a slim thing in torn acid wash jeans, a band tee, ginger bowl cut, and a nose ring, merely flashed a weak smile at his clients, focusing more on the task at hand. Truth was, he wasn't really ever listening to any of his clients, they were just meaningless conversations to pass the time to make customers feel more comfortable rather than sit in an awkward silence for 20 minutes to an hour. That's not to say that he wouldn't listen at all. Sometimes he would hone in on someone's conversation due to there being juicy gossip or a scandalous affair. Most of his clients were rich folks, they always had something to spread, be it money, words, or legs. This client though nothing really major, just a rich man helping a friend back on their feet. He wanted a haircut that was distinguished but young. A simple short back & sides, with a little more on the top to play with. Both vampires saw their revolting rotting corpses within the mirror, saw how old their bodies really were. That didn't matter to them right now, they could see each other just how they were when they were alive.

The hairdresser couldn't see that though, he just saw two middle aged men who seemed to have a few feelings lingering between them. He wondered if they knew that or whether it was some weird older generation thing where they still saw it as shameful thing to feel. "Head up please." He commanded, beginning to add the final touches of product to give the longer areas more of a waves texture.

Vlad looked up into the mirror, still the same rotting corpse but with a shiny new hairstyle and a humans fingers wobbling it about in shape. Humans clearly made more effort with their appearance these days. "What do you think?" His eyes met Dracula's within the mirror.

Count Dracula walked across to the other, perching himself on the edge of a table so that he came face to face with him. Longer fingers stretched out to hold the man's chin, all eyes on him. "I see someone as beautiful as the day I met him." His eyes turned gooey as he leaned toward him, pressing a kiss to his lips.

Oh, they are lovers, thats cute thought the hairdresser. It was nice to see an older generation of gay couples, being free to be who they are. Though he half wished the man would really give criticism on the cut but he supposed kind words to a lover meant he'd done a good job.

"Let me just check the back for you." He whispered down to Vlad, rising to his feet once more to join the hair dresser at the back of the seat. "Here, hold this." He instructed for the slim man to take his now empty cup. The red haired man held the cup against his stomach, letting his client observe his work. Draculas fingers lightly tugged at the small few strands that rest on Vlads neck. He gave a little nod in recognition, then reached for the scissors that rest on hairdressers table. He snipped off the tiniest of strands, and stood straight, meeting the hairdressers gaze in the mirror. "There. My apologies, I'm ever the perfectionist." He shared a wide smile, slapping him on the shoulder, and tightened his grip so the other couldn't move. He looked a little panicked at that. "That'll be all, thank you." Scissors swung open, hanging by a single finger until another held them straight out, and blade met throat. Dracula didn't let the human fall, instead, he made him stand up & watch himself bleed to death, his blood, his life pouring seemlessely into the cup Dracula made him hold, even as it overflowed onto the floor.

(Note: if you're going to a killer, always have wood floorboards with a varnish on the top. Much easier to clean up.)

Vlad sat there, elbow resting on the arm of the chair, fingers pressed into his cheeks and a look that was completely unphased by the horrific sight before him. Dracula took the cup from the dead man's hand and finally let him sink to the floor. Vlad turned in his seat to look at the dead body "It's a shame you killed him. I quite enjoyed the silence of the man. Humans love the sound of their voices these days, that sometimes I wish I had the gift of being Deaf." He twisted in his seat to look down at the victim, letting out an unsympathetic sigh "He really did do a good job on the hair do."

Dracula wasn't even bothered by Vlads nonchalent address of the ever growing cold corpse of their hairdresser. Instead, he rest against the wall next to the mirror, one hand bloody from murder, the other holding out the now overfull cup of here "Here, drink this." He ordered as he stared out ahead of him, lost in thought. "Did you bring me back to life? After my torture and death? Was it you who created me?" It was a question he hadn't dared to ask himself in a very long time. He looked almost distraught with it.

Vlad took a long swig of his freshly drawn drink, smacked his lips as if he were trying to decipher what kind of wine he'd been handed before replying in a most assured voice. "No. I did not create you. The vampire that made me, I begged for you to join me too."

"What?" Draculas voice wavered in shock at the news, he'd begged for this to happen?

Vlads hands raised with palms up, a sign of mercy for his silence so he could explain "We were losing the war, my most trusted advisor and the love of my life had been kidnapped by the Turkish. I didn't know what my next step would be. You don't know this but I used to plot and vent my anger in a cavern in the deepest woods of Wallachia. One day, that day, the cavern spoke back. It told me to lose but that I would win everything a thousand times over, that I could ruin those who set out to ruin us and come out with even a scratch. I was desperate to get you back to me. I didn't know what I was signing up for exactly but I asked whatever was in that cavern to find you, to make you the same as myself. I couldn't be without you. You deserved that justice too." Another long swig.

"It was your decision? You decided to break my heart into shatters when I hear they have decapitated Vlad III & placed his head on a spike? You decided I should come back and let me go home to my Mother only to kill her with a need I did not understand, to go and find my wife with my child, fighting everyday this vile hunger until I just couldn't bare it & I slaughter her?! I was going to be a father and you stole that from me!" Dracula snarled at the other, funny how ones image of someone can change so swiftly.

"It wasn't your child." Vlad snapped back, tone deathly serious.

Dracula shivered as though someone had walked over his non existent grave.

"She always fell for stable boys it seemed. I'm sorry to tell you this after so long but clearly she always found something appealing about a roll in the hay. Don't bark at me." Vlad raised his finger like a man commanding a disobedient dog. "You're a smart man, Omor. Think about it. Think how long you and I were gone at war, barely a few weeks home & you could feel the small curvature of life within her as she announced she was with child?"

Dracula looked almost defeated. So many years he'd spent quietly tormenting himself for killing both wife and unborn child just to satiate his unyielding hunger. Now, he knows that his wife was never his to begin with, not even his own flesh and blood. "Why did you say nothing?"

Vlad held out the cup of blood, Dracula looked like he needed it "For selfish reasons entirely. We were winning the war at that point, you were on form with all your plans of action, I couldn't risk my advisor losing that, I couldn't risk upsetting you."

"Would you have told me? Even if we had won the war?"

Vlad looked intensely at his lover, pausing a moment before replying "A little while after the celebrations. But I would have hoped she would be honest with you, I'm not a messenger."

"You're a warlord." Dracula huffed his laugh, quoting something he'd said centuries ago.

"Could you have still loved her despite her affair? Despite the child not being yours?" Vlad took a sip from the glass, seeing that Dracula didn't partake himself.

"Of course. I would be butchered the man who slept with her but I loved her entirely. I would've loved that child as my own. People didn't need to know." Dracula looked less like the terrifying creature the world had come to know but more solemn and vulnerable with the news, so heartbroken.

Vlad hated seeing someone to strong, crumble. He threw himself out of his seat, placing their shared cup of blood onto a table, and cradled the man he adored in his arms. "I'm sorry you had to hear the news but remember, this was centuries ago. We have a future to work at together now. It's you and I." He cradled the vampires face in his hands for a moment longer before sharing a deep kiss, trying to repair the small shatters of Count Draculas heart.

Do remember, the corpse of a dead hairdresser lies on the floor during their embrace. These are not loving creatures.

#even the app doesnt have the nice layout options aaaaaaaggghh #Drac-O-Ween #Claes Bang #BBC Dracula #Netflix Dracula #Dracula 2020 #Dracula #Claes Bang Thirst Squad #GAAAAAAAY LOOOVVEEERRSSS #31 days of Halloween #31 day challenge #31 days challenge #31 days of october #31 days of horror #31 days of halloween #31 days of halloween

[meshtams]

Suppress

I didn’t know why I was even bothering. It was the first day of year eleven and I wished that I was still in bed. Its unlikely I’d’ve been sleeping anyway, but at least I could lay down. Somehow, I felt like if I laid on the floor of the hallway like practically every fibre of my being was begging me to, I would have been kicked in the head by the chavvy year nines that, without fail, ditched the first class of the year.

           So, there I was. Dragging my feet across the shitty, beige tiling, my head down and my long hair falling over my face as I headed practically on auto-pilot towards the biology corridor, past all of the obnoxiously bright noticeboards that gave me a fucking headache.

            When I finally reached my classroom after what felt like hours, I flopped down next to my best friend, Georgie. Well, actually, Georgie was my only friend, but he was still the best.

           “Apparently we’ve got a new teacher, mate.” His voice was as warm and cheerful as always.

           “Hopefully they’ll be less of a prick than Miss Morrigan then, yeah?” I folded my arms on the desk and dropped my head onto them.

           “To be fair, a mass murderer would probably be less of a prick than Morrigan, so the bar isn’t exactly high.” He laughed.

           “Hm, that’d be cool though, to have a mass murderer for a teacher, don’t you think?” my voice was barely more than a mumble and my eyes were squeezed closed.

           “Sure, Mal.” He would probably have said more if not for the sudden slam of books on the front table.

           “RIGHT!” I jumped and almost fell off my seat, my head snapping up violently to look at the teacher. He was tall and skinny, with sallow skin and greying brown hair, and for some reason I couldn’t put my finger on he seemed oddly… familiar. Like he looked like someone I knew, but I was almost certain I’d never met anyone who looked like him before.

I shook my head and turned to Georgie. “Dude, does he look really familiar to you or am I just going nuts?”

“You’ve been nuts for years, Mal.” He smirked bemusedly.

I sniggered. The citalopram and propranolol in my backpack would definitely agree with him there. “Yeah, but, like, more than normal.”

“Nah, man, he looks like that guy who used to babysit you. Your dad’s friend.” I was confused.

“Who?”

“I dunno, he watched you when your parents were at work or away or whatever. I saw him pick you up from school a few times.”

I drew a blank. “When?”

“Man, I don’t know. Like, year 4? Year 5? I just remember I thought he’d look like Snape if he grew his hair out.” He laughed to himself.

“Boys!” The new teacher was suddenly stood right in front of our desk.

“Yes, sir?” Georgie turned on his most charming smile.

“If you want to gossip liked middle-aged women, do it OUTSIDE of my classroom, understood?” We both nodded- clearly, he was going to be almost as bad as Morrigan, and we didn’t even know his name yet. “What are your two’s names?” He looked down his nose sternly at us.

“Georgie Smith, sir.”

“Mallory Hawthorne, sir.” I mumbled. I didn’t have the charisma nor, to be honest, the desire, to charm teachers the way that seemed to come naturally to Georgie.

“Right. Smith, Hawthorne, if I hear either of you speak again this lesson then you will both be spending your lunch break in detention with me. I could not care less about whether or not you listen, but I do not accept disruptions, understood?”

“Yes sir.” We replied as one, Georgie lively as always, me sullen.

“Good.” He turned to walk back towards his desk, addressing the class. “Now, as I was saying, my name is Mr Cresswell and I will be your biology teacher for the next year.” I started to tune him out, dropping my head back onto my desk and spending the rest of the lesson spacing out.

As soon as the bell rang to signal the end of class, Georgie was darting out of his seat and dragging me up by my arm. I groggily stood and allowed myself to be led out of the classroom and towards the gym. I groaned, realizing that it was PE next- I hated PE, because I was useless at anything physical and the teacher never let us get away with slacking off. Most of our teachers didn’t really care, but we’d been stuck with Mrs Swiftley since year 7 and we knew very well by now that she would not accept slackers.

“Leave me here to die, Georgie.” I crumpled to the floor, groaning again.

“You’re so bloody dramatic. Its just PE.” He rolled his eyes.

“Easy for you to say, you like sport… and moving…. And being alive.” I sprawled out on the now empty corridor as the bell rang, signalling the start of class.

“Get up, dipshit. You’re going to make us late, and I don’t want to have a detention on the first day back again.”

“I can’t go, I’m dead.” I murmured, my face pressed against the cool tile- surely school tiles shouldn’t be so comfortable, right?

“Mal, if you don’t get your arse up right now, I’ll call your mum.”

“Georgie, you are the worst best friend in the world.” I heaved myself up and made my way towards the boys’ bathroom; I always changed there instead of in the locker room. I’d not changed in front of anyone since I was about 8 years old, and just the thought made my skin crawl. I tried to push the door open, but it was locked. Why was it locked?

“Georgie, the bathroom’s locked, I can’t get changed.” I tried to keep the whine out of my voice but I doubt I was successful.

“Look, everyone’s gonna already be in the gym by now, just get changed in the locker room.” His face was painted with a look of pure exasperation.

“You change then go out and I’ll get changed once its free.” I walked into the locker room and sat heavily on one of the corner benches.

“Mate, we’re already 20 minutes behind, you just change there and I’ll change on the other side of the room with my back to you. Just hurry UP!” I could see that Georgie was getting irritated, so I just nodded.

“Sure, whatever.” I took a deep breath and turned around, starting to undress in the presence of another person for the first time in nearly 7 years.

 I was mostly changed, just about to pull on my t-shirt, when Georgie gasped. I turned quickly to see him staring at me. “Georgie, what the fuck?!”

“Sorry, I just turned to see if you were ready; where did you get that scar?” his eyes were wide.

“What?” my anger was replaced by confusion.

“The one on your back?”

“I don’t have a scar on my back, Georgie. Look, fine, I’m not pissed off with you, lets just go.” Georgie looked like he wanted to say more, but he seemed to think better of it at the last minute, just nodding and turning away.

The rest of the day passed fairly uneventfully; the most exciting thing to happen was the fact that I managed to actually fall asleep during lunch, leaned against Georgie’s shoulder.

That is, until I got home.

 “Mal, your Uncle Artie is coming to visit! He’s finally back in town, so he’ll be coming over for dinner tonight.” My dad greeted me as soon as I walked in the door.

I stared at him blankly. “Who?” I didn’t have an Uncle called Artie. There was Mum’s brother Jamie, and dad’s sisters Lorna and Sue, and Lorna’s husband Darren, but definitely no Artie.

“Artie! You remember Artie, he used to look after you when your mum and me were out.” He must have noticed my complete lack of comprehension, because he just huffed. “You’ll recognise him when you see him. He’ll be here at 6, alright?” I nodded and headed up to my room to shower and change. I smelled from PE and my uniform was starting to itch.

I was undressing in the bathroom when I suddenly remembered what Georgie said about a scar this morning. I rolled my eyes and leaned up on my tip-toes until my torso was in view of the mirror, turning awkwardly to try and see if there was anything. I was certainly surprised to see a large patch of skin down my spine that looked slightly discoloured- the texture looked to be the same as the rest of my back, but there were pinkish-brown spots that stood out starkly against my pale skin. It looked like a well-healed burn scar, but I had absolutely no clue where it had come from. Shaking my head, I pushed the thought aside, turning my shower on and stepping in.

 By the time 6pm came about, I had showered and changed into sweatpants and an oversized long-sleeve, and spent some time laid on my bed scrolling through the barrage of messages Georgie had sent; he sent at least 100 nonsensical messages about whatever his interest was that week every single day, and although I complained to him that he was clingy and irritating, I rather liked them.

“Mal! Uncle Artie’s here!” My mum called up the stairs. I dragged myself off my bed lethargically, pulling my duvet around me like a cape as I made my way downstairs.

When I reached the living room, however, I froze. There was a man sitting across from my parents- a tall, thin man, with pallid skin and dark brown hair with a healthy smattering of grey. He was laughing with my dad about something, but as he looked up and his dark eyes fell on me, my breath caught in my throat. The scent of cheap whiskey invaded my nostrils, even though I knew, logically, that there was no whiskey in the house- the smell made me nauseous so my parents didn’t buy it in.

I felt my chest heave, half a gag and half a gasp for breath as my vision clouded black and I began trembling. I couldn’t catch my breath no matter how hard I tried, and the last thing I saw before succumbing to darkness was my mum hurrying over to me, worried.

 My head felt jumbled. Brief memories of whiskey breath on my face, Artie’s cold voice telling me that I was pathetic. That I was worthless. That I was a mistake. The memories flashed too quickly to comprehend fully, but I got enough. Artie slamming my arm closed in the bedroom door, not quite hard enough to break it. Boiling water pouring down my back. Threats of having my tongue removed from my skull if I spoke a word to my parents. Even in the darkness I felt dizzy, thankful as the recollections slowed; not speaking for 8 months after one threat. Pretending it never happened, that everything was okay, that “Uncle Artie” was just as nice to me as he was to my parents.

 When the memories stopped and my eyes opened, it was to the sight of both of my parents leaning over me, my father with an anxiety pill in one hand and a glass of water in the other.

“Mal, Mal, are you okay?” My eyes stung. I tried to open my mouth, to ask them to get him OUT, but my tongue felt heavy, swollen. I lifted my shaky hands and tried to sign to them, panicking, desperately clinging to the vague memories of signing I had.

‘That man hurt me, get him out.’ My mother’s eyes blew wide and filled with tears, whilst my father just dropped everything he was holding, turning and snarling at the man before lunging at him, dragging him out of our house and turning to call the police, whilst my mother held me close.

“What did he do?”

I pulled back to free my shaky hands. ‘Burn. Hit. Mean. Threat. Bad.’ I could barely force my hands to cooperate, let alone form full sentences.

“Oh, Mal, I’m so sorry. I’m sorry we never noticed. I’m so sorry.” She practically sobbed into his shoulder, clutching him close until the police arrived.

#unreliable narrator #or at least an attempt at it #university of brighton #narrative and narratives #project #uni #journal

[salt-is-a-terrible-currency]

Keeping promises 3

Chapter 1: https://ivartheboneme.tumblr.com/post/156118762399/keeping-promises

Chapter 2: https://ivartheboneme.tumblr.com/post/156225089779/keeping-promises-chapter-2

What did I do today? Well let’s see: instead of studying for a seminar I have later this week I wrote almost 1700 words of this fic. Oops?

Warnings: rape mention, abuse mention. Will get more explicit in later chapters.

Author’s note: the timeline is a bit different from the show. Here, Ivar was born long before before Ragnar made the deal with King Ecbert about starting a settlement. I’d say he was about 5 years old when the settlement was established. Also, the timejump in the middle of season 4 lasted long enough for the relevant characters to reach whatever the age of consent is in your country. Where I live it’s 15, I don’t know about other countries. Sorry in advance for any spelling/grammatical errors, English isn’t my native language.

Chapter 3

Upon seeing the deformities Björn had left the tent to find Floki and Helga. Soon all three of them walked in, followed by a young girl with dark curly hair. Helga immediately sat down next to Ylva and took her hands. She introduced herself while smiling reassuringly. The young girl sat down at Ylvas' other side. "This is our adoptive daughter, Tanaruz. We're going to prepare a bath for you. Can you walk?" she asked while carefully squeezing Ylva's hands. "Not very well and not on my own." "We will help you. Right, Floki?" Floki nodded in agreement.  "Of course" Björn and Floki began preparing the bath while Helga and Tanaruz disappeared again. Ylva still sat at the table. Ubbe poured some more ale and placed the mug in her hands. "Does it hurt?" Hvitserk asked curiously. Ivar glared at Hvitserk. "Of course it hurts, you idiot. Did someone drop you on your head when you were a child?" he snapped. Hvitserk blushed and clenched his jaw, clearly annoyed at the aggressive remark. Sigurd let out a sigh. Ivar turned to Sigurd, staring him down like a predator about to strike. A few seconds passed in intense silence before Sigurd averted his eyes. Ivar picked up his mug, smirking confidently at Ylva before bringing it to his lips.

Tanaruz came back first, carrying a bundle of clothes in her arms. She placed them on the table without saying a word and returned to her seat. Ylva noticed that Tanaruz kept as far away from the brothers as possible, always keeping enough distance so that none of them could reach her. A few minutes later, Helga walked in with a small basket filled with different herbs and plants. She immediately began preparing an ointment, all the while making sure that her daughter saw what she was doing. "This will help against the pain. I'll prepare something to help you sleep...” "I don't want to sleep" Ylva interrupted. Helga stopped in her motions. Björn and Floki tried to act like they weren't listening, but it was obvious that they had heard. "When I sleep, I dream. I feel their hands on me again, their knives. My knees break all over again as they bring down their tools on them" Helga bit her lip hard, trying to figure out how to respond to this.                                               “Then we will start with the bath and then the ointment for your knees, yes? And if you change your mind I’ll bring you the sleeping draught.” Just then Björn called out that the water was ready.                                                         “Then leave us. Tanaruz and I will help her. Floki, can you find somewhere for her to rest?” Floki walked up to the table, inspecting Helga’s work by poking his finger into the mixture and feeling the texture.                                                   “Well, we could make place for you in our tent, Ylva, if you wish. That way we are always near if you need more medicine for your knees and my girls can keep an eye on you”. Ylva bowed her head in gratitude.                                     “Thank you. You and your wife are very kind.” He smiled at her, a sad smile as if he wished he could do more. 

Björn walked over to the entrance and waited for the others to follow him out.   “Let’s give them some privacy.” The men rose from the table and walked outside. Ivar crawled past Ylva, pausing to look up at her before exiting. There was rage in his eyes, so powerful that she almost flinched. Then the moment was over and he was once again making his way towards the entrance. Björn looked over at the small group of women.                                                           “Helga, come find us when you’re done.” He turned and left the tent.

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 Ylva struggled to stay still as Helga carefully rubbed the ointment on her aching knees. Tanaruz stood behind the chair, trying to brush the knots out of Ylvas’ wet hair. Helga kept her head down so that Ylva wouldn’t see the tears that threatened to spill from her eyes.

After the men had left she and Tanaruz had helped Ylva to the bath that stood in the back of the tent. When they removed her clothes Tanaruz had gasped in shock. Her back was covered in scars of different shapes and sizes. Several of them vaguely resembled crosses, but it was hard to tell since they were partially covered by lash marks. Her thighs and neck covered in bruises. A thin scar that snaked around her throat could only mean someone had once tried to strangle her. There was a small swelling on her collarbone, meaning it had probably been broken at some point. Similar swellings could be found on several of her ribs. The back of her left leg was also marked with scars, from right above the ankle all the way up to the fold of the knee. But these looked different, more organized. Small lines, appearing in groups of four with a fifth line crossing them diagonally. Tally marks. Helga tried to avoid thinking about what this meant but she had her suspicions.                                                     “There, now we’re done. Would you like to rest for a while? I have to go find Björn but Tanaruz can stay in the tent with you if you’d like company”                 “I’m not going to sleep”                                                                                         “You don’t have to. But it’s been a long day and it’s still not over. If nothing else, it might be nice with a break from all the staring eyes.” Ylva reluctantly agreed. Helga went to find Floki and he carried Ylva to their tent. 

As they passed through the camp, everyone seemed to stop and stare at the odd little group. Most of them had probably already heard that her family had been part of the Wessex settlement; rumours travel fast.  When they finally reached the tent, he placed her on a small bed. Tanaruz stood at the other side of the bed, anxiously looking at Helga as she left the tent with Floki.           “Where did you come from?” Ylva asked, in an attempt to distract and calm the girl. She didn’t respond, just picked up the hairbrush and sat down next to Ylva. Tanaruz began brushing Ylvas hair again and shaping it into a long braid. Her imprisoners had never been particularly bothered with making sure her hair was well-kept, and it had grown long during her time as King Aelle’s plaything. After Tanaruz was done, she moved so that she faced Ylva, and finally spoke up:                                                                                                                         “Björn. He raided my home. Helga saved me” Her accent was heavy and she seemed to carefully think of each word.                                                           “She is very kind, I’m sure she takes good care of you”                                       “She is. Not all of them are” and with that, Tanaruz closed up again.

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 Helga had just finished telling the men about what she had seen.                     “We should bring her with us tonight.” Ivar said. Ubbe grimaced.                     “Don’t you think she’s had enough of violence and of that man? Why would she ever want to be near him again?”                                                                       “Because,” his eyes lit up with excitement “if she comes with us tonight she will hear him scream and beg for mercy. She will watch as sharp blades sink into his back, life slowly leaving him. Don’t you think that she’s dreamt of that all these years?” This made Floki giggle.                                                               “It is true, she’d probably enjoy that. Don’t you think so, Helga?” he asked, taking her hand. Helga shifted uncomfortably in her seat.                                 ”It might make it easier for her to sleep, knowing that justice has been done. But you should let her decide.”                                                                           “I will ask her right away” Ivar dropped to the ground and slithered outside. Helga couldn’t stop herself from shuddering as she saw his snakelike movements, she wasn’t sure she liked the way the youngest Ragnarson seemed to take an interest in Ylva. When she realized that she was being watched by her husband she blushed and stood up.                                         “I’ll go too, Tanaruz feels uncomfortable around Ivar.” She could feel eyes burning at her neck.

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 It was time. Ylva sat on the ground, slightly elevated by a rolled up fur. It was late and torches lit up the glade. The snake pit where king Ragnar had died was right in front of her; Ivar had insisted that she sit there so that she see could see better. King Aelle was pushed onto his knees while the crowd taunted him. Floki raised his hammer and Aelle screamed as the nails pierced his hands. Ylva pulled her cloak even tighter around her, watching with wide eyes as Björn began carving into his back. The screams made her heart race and gave her goose bumps. She was so caught up that she didn’t notice Ivar making his way toward her.                                                                            “Are you enjoying it?” he whispered in her ear. She flinched in shock, her heart beating even faster as she looked at Ivar.                                           “Yes” she answered after a moment of hesitation. Turning back to the bloody scene in front of her, she could see that Aelle didn’t have much time left.         “But that will end soon” she sighed. Her heart was already slowing down to its normal pace.                                                                                                         “Are you not happy that he is dying?” he sounded a bit disappointed                 “I am. But he is only one person…” her voice became more intense “Aelle will soon be gone, but what about everyone else? His noble visitors that he would allow to use me, king Ecbert who gave me to him in the first place. They all still live.” At her words, Ivar took a deep breath as if to calm himself. He gently grabbed her chin, making her face him again. His eyes shone with endless joy and mischief.                                                                                                    “Then I promise you, that they will die.” Before she could answer he let go of her again and slithered away to king Aelle. She saw Ivar propping himself up on his elbows, watching the king take his last breaths. Her heart began to race again.

#keeping promises #keeping promises chapter 3 #vikings #vikings fanfic #my writing #ivar the boneless #original female character