#bc like... wow. she's so normal about it. she's literally just chilling.

[possamble]

do you have any particular thoughts regarding marcille being a half-elf? its interesting to me considering the fact that she seems self-conscious about being a half-elf, but denies it when its brought up

i remember marcille looking visibly uncomfortable over laios simply asking her how old she is, which i think the only reason she might feel nervous about this is because it might reveal her as a half-elf to him.

she's never corrected anybody whose called her an elf either.

never mind the circumstances of the reveal, in which thistle goes on about how half-elves are inferior and accusing her of wanting to become full blooded elf, she seemed particularly upset like he struck a nerve-

i wish the half-elf thing was built upon more. also, underrated marcille line:

okay so i revisited this sequence just to make sure I could back myself up and it's just... man. there's a lot going on.

the first reaction we get from Marcille is this huge panel that takes up half of the page

she is viscerally affected. flushing to the tips of her ears with the intensity of it. and we see it again, a few pages later

so it might seem like she's embarrassed about it and lying to herself, but... I really think it's just that Thistle is accidentally hitting sore spots. If you really look at what he says to get these reactions

"you'll live out your entire life [...] and die that way too"

"a hundred years from now, nobody will be there"

Hear me out. I think, if he stuck to harping on about her inferiority without bringing up how terrifyingly long-lived she is, she wouldn't have been as bothered. But right now, Thistle is accidentally hitting all the marks on Marcille's deepest fears-- and this is after the Winged Lion promised her that her dreams could come true in an extremely vulnerable moment, so it also hits her slightly guilty conscience as well.

I do truly believe that Marcille isn't bothered about being a half-elf the way that people assume she'd be bothered by it. To her, the biggest problem with being a half-elf is that it's isolating.

On one hand, it's not hard to imagine why she'd distance herself from elves in the west. A lot of them can clock her as a half-elf on sight, unlike other races, and therefore she's always branded with this weird stigma of being Othered -- I would even say that she considers herself lucky for being born outside of elven culture instead of having to grow up in it. I mean, just... look at the way elves talk about her.

Skipping past the uncomfortable implication of what 'not tolerating the existence' of half-elves would actually entail, this is incredibly fucking annoying. You can see why she wouldn't want to be around elves much. You see a lot of Marcille reacting badly here, but honestly, almost all of it can be attributed to her freaking out that her bluff completely failed. She's honestly more paying attention to Izutsumi's footsteps and trying to coordinate an opportunity to escape.

And in the end, you see her built-up frustration at being asked if she wants to be a full-blooded elf like 2-3 times in a row.

Yeah, yeah, "the lady doth protest too much," and all. But we know Marcille. We know that she's a lot more embarrassed and horrendously unconvincing when she's being prodded about something she's actually self-conscious about.

Moving onto the flipside of things, it might seem weird that she "pretends" to be a full elf around other races, but it's not really that strange if you think about it. Again, people are weird about her being infertile or whatever, and a lots of them don't even know much about what sets half-elves apart from everyone else. I mean, look at how uncomfortable Laios is just asking her about it

and look at how exasperated and resigned she looks

And like... she's right. Where would that come up in normal conversation? Why would she go out of her way to tell them? She's functionally a normal elf to other races anyway -- got the ears, the abnormally long "childhood", and the huge mana capacity. Unless it's directly relevant or important for people to know, I don't think it's all that strange or indicative of insecurity that she prefers not to bother with it.

(This combined with her sense of being an "outsider" to elf culture also explains why she thinks elf superiority is embarrassing. She sees the way elves treat short-lived races from the "outsider" perspective nonetheless, and thinks it's obnoxious; especially more so because she usually has to play the elf around short-lived races and deal with the reputation of arrogance that elves have built up.)

The sad thing is, this all means that... she doesn't actually fit in anywhere. She doesn't like going out West much because of how elves treat her. But she's also an outsider in the continents she was born in, treated like this exotic long-lived alien choosing to live among short-lived races for some reason. She is always an outsider, the Other, no matter where she goes. Add in the fact that she'll live longer than literally anyone she knows, and it's honestly kind of heartbreaking.

And I think that's the crux of it. Marcille really doesn't act like she's at all self-conscious about being a half-elf because of any feelings of inferiority or being half-made or whatever. She considers herself a perfectly legitimate being and might even, in some ways, consider herself superior to normal elves because she's not blind with elf supremacy or whatever. (And whatever "elven biases" she displays, all of them are born more out of the fact that she's kind of bad at conceptualizing how other races age and mature compared to herself, not that she actually considers herself better or more mature simply for being an elf.)

I think that whatever self-consciousness Marcille has about being a half-elf is, instead, related to terror and loneliness. The reminder that it ensures she'll never truly belong anywhere for the rest of her very long life. The reminder that, in truth, even she's not actually sure how old she is by other races' standards (hence the discomfort when asked how old she is). She doesn't want to not be a half elf, or be a full elf or full tall-man-- in her ideal world, she's still a half-elf. She just gets to live out her life at the same pace with the people she loves and doesn't have to say goodbye again and again and again until she dies.

and one last very important panel, right after Mithrun tells her that all her desires would be devoured

In her ideal world, she's still a half-elf and reality magically starts marching at her pace. But failing that, the second best thing is that she's still a half-elf-- but one who is able to accept reality and let go of her fear.

(But the rest of the story pans out the way it does because, to Marcille, taking reality apart and reshaping it was less scary than simply and fully reconciling with it.)

#asks #dungeon meshi manga spoilers #marcille donato #manga panel analysis #this is probably riddled with typos sorry #readmore cut bc it got long lmao #i ended up babbling about it bc it's such an important character detail to me #bc like... wow. she's so normal about it. she's literally just chilling. #the only thing that really bothers her is the material reality of it and how people treat her #the stereotypes the stigma etc. etc. #otherwise it just.. #literally doesn't factor into her criteria for self-worth at all #the basic truth is that marcille likes herself on a fundamental level #she's not plagued by a deep and festering self-loathing the way a lot of characters in her archetype are #she likes herself and is proud of her successes and accomplishments #its just that shes terrified of failure and can have *episodes* of self-loathing when she fucks up #but who doesn't yknow #i know its a very slight nuance that makes very little difference in how her 'overachiever' problems manifest but its there #the sword of abandonment issues that hangs over her head has nothing to do with her self-worth or self-esteem or meeting her own standards #it has to do with the fear of not living up to *other* people's expectations and not being useful enough to be worth keeping around #she's good enough for herself but she's always so so so scared that she's not good enough for other people #i wont say much about what ryoko kui is saying using this as an allegory for real world racial biases but #dungeon meshi's treatment of marcille's relationship with her being half-elf is so incredibly important to me because it gets it so right. #a trauma about inferiority or being a half-being isn't inherent to the experience of being 'of two worlds' at all #that's something that's unfairly drilled into people by their environment #the *inherent* anguish is the loneliness. the constant longing. the fact that you are always homesick no matter where you are #always just a little bit of an outsider and never fully at home #and dungeon meshi gets that. #edit: cleaned it up a little

[cheolhub]

hey hey heyy!! i have a question about your first impressions of your moots and anons?

i did a few of my mutuals and my active anons 🥹

@ncteez was literally going to pee myself when she followed me. the first time we talked, we were doing a pc trade and i was lit RALLY so fucking terrified of her but now i love her and i miss her and she makes me feel better when i have an issue with anything. my hon <3

@rubyreduji i rmbr one of our first convos was months after we became mutuals— i was really drunk at a party and i told him everything that was happening. he’s the only person im not terrified to talk to because i alrdy know he hates me 🤗. fun fact: jj has seen me in my truest form bc he follows my finsta (everyone keep him in ur thoughts)

@agustdiv1ne ashlee, aur my god. my first thought abt tumblr user agustdiv1ne was ‘wow, this theme is so cute’ and my second thought was ‘wow, ashlee is so kind and chill and i think i would like her to be my best friend’ and now i hit her up at least once a week on some bullshit and i make her pick my next read or i tell her abt this bitch that owes me $500 <3 she understands me bc we were cut from the same cloth

@etherealyoungk i thought skye’s account was so cute 🥹🥹 omfg i remember the first time we interacted was on our birthday (april 30th, nobody forget) and ever since then she’ll come into my inbox and check in on me and it’s so endearing and makes my whole day. i also love hearing abt how she’s doing T-T NOW me and skye are lowkey bffls. we just buddy read a book together and it was saurrrr much fun, i love her sm 🫶🏽🫶🏽🫶🏽

@majestyjun MILLIE WAS ONE OF MY FIRST TXT MOOTS. i love her so much omfg, i’ve always thought she was the coolest ever like 😵‍💫😵‍💫 i am kinda just her fan at this point like it’s so embarrassing. i get all blushy when she replies to my asks

@hwanghyunjinenthusiast i was kinda intimidated bc rj uses punctuation (which is literally fine and normal) and i thought she was mad every time i’d be in her ask box. now i think shes the funniest person alive and she’s my favorite person to annoy the shit out of.

@heesbaby MY FIRST IMPRESSION OF CINNA WAS THAT SHE WAS THE SWEETEST ANGEL EVER. i still think this by the way. i will literally get on one knee and propose and love her forever /srs.

@gyuswhore i think i thought em was really nice and quiet and i was so wrong. em is so fucking funny and unhinged in the best way possible. she’s probably the only person that will call me a bitch and an irresponsible spender (she’s never wrong)

@toruro my first thought of mika was adorable and i thought she was a really great writer. literally have her manhandling with chan tattooed on my brain. she is so nice to me and our brief biweekly interactions are very endearing to me <3

@homerunhansol J MY WORLD, i think ive always thought she was an angel in disguise and she’s ALWAYS been someone i want to be happy forever and ever and ever. i also think i thought her love for vernon was so cute bc i dont come across dolly’s very often and it’s just so endearing when i do bcos they are literally a gift from the gods. i love j ⭐️

@sunnylovespickles i thought sunny was so cute actually. i remember our first conversation and she was making me so nervous liejwheheb so cute and sweet like i’ll never get over the way she flattered me. (how to get to my heart: validate me the way sunny did)

@taekurai MY FIRST IMPRESSION OF MAX IS SO FRESH BC WE JUST BECAME MOOTS BUT OFNSHSBE I AM MADLY IN LOVE WITH HER? love at first sight seriously. i thought she was so kind and i love the pink on her theme and i just love her sm fr.

🪴 dead plant nonnie T-T ive always been obsessed w them. they told me they liked my desk set up and ive been whipped ever since. no but fr, getting an ask from dead plant nonnie is the highlight of my day. they are someone i feel like i’d be really good friends with irl 🫂 dare i say bffs

🍀 lucky charm nonnie!!! i genuinely think they are my lucky charm bcos every time i’d get an ask from them, i’d literally get a boost of serotonin and my day would significantly improve :,( i love and miss them dearly and i will kill for them. (and make them tea whenever they lose their voice in rehearsal)

🛼 roller blade nonnie <333 I THOUGHT THEY WERE SO FUNNY (i still think theyre hilarious ofc) but they reminded me a lot of myself and i felt like every time i received an ask from them, id laugh to myself and be like “this is some shit i’d say” 😭 i enjoy they’re book reviews and im waiting for them to send an ask so i can talk about acotar with them 🤗 (cough cough, come home nonnie im on book three cough cough)

#[ 💌: anon ! ] #[ ⭐️: mutuals ! ] #if i didnt put you please forgive me 😞

[ladymariayuri]

oh if ur still doin this: 8, 5, and 1

im just gonnna do this for whatever i can think of first bc ive been answering asks based on what the person asking likes and you are one of my least Privy To My Video Games pilled mutuals but i love you okay enjoy the rants common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about coming in hot with a dmc opinion but i think everybody who flanderizes vergil into this selfish cunt who acts the way he does out of spite needs to let me hit them in the face with hammers. i literally love vergil so dearly and it pains me to see everybody reduce such an interesting dude into POWER XD DEADBEAT DAD XD. like you guys know that his obsession with gaining strength and almost every single step he has taken is because he never wants to feel as scared and small and powerless as he was when his mother died and he thinks his mother abandoned him to save dante but she didnt she died trying to save him and now he hates (hated) his brother because of it. everything in his entire life stemmed from the day their mother died and it grew into an almost fanatic obsession because he never wants to be that fucking helpless again. not to like say he did nothing wrong obviously or hes a poor little meow meow, hes anything but a poor little meow meow but vergil get behind me i will protect you from the redditors. also the deadbeat dad joke is overdone and boring. dude gets laid (somehow) after being in the torture nexus for god knows how many years, he DIDNT EVEN KNOW HE HAD A SON UNTIL DMC5 AFTER RIPPING NEROS ARM OFF. and anyway fuck all of you he gave nero his stupid corny poetry book when he left for hell and theres a menu screen background of nero and vergil chilling at the table and vergil is awkward because he doesnt know how to talk to his son but theyre just vibing okay. sniffles. sorry for going on a rant about vergil devil may cry are you mad at me worst discord server and why

im not really in any tumblrina discords or what you would consider "fandom" discords i pretty much only strictly use it to talk to like my overwatch friends. im in a lot of servers but its only like hub servers for information about stuff that i would want access to, not really community servers. with that being said, and i just commented this under a mutuals post, but the demon hunter class discord for wow is a god forsaken nuclear wasteland full of edgelords and misogynists and its so painful bc im just there to learn how to press buttons better the character everyone gets wrong raiden metal gear. sylvanas wow. wrathion wow. d.va overwatch. VERGIL DEVIL MAY CRY. dante devil may cry. trish dev- you get the point. maria/doll bloodborne is my most beloved but surprisingly ive found that like a majority of the fanbase is like sane/normal about her. its a nice breath of fresh air

[kingsephir]

I'm so sick of being in Japan- I hate it here. I hate being the other, I hate how most Japanese people treat me and stare at me. How they're always like wow your japanese is so good! And I supposed to say "no no no"? NO! FUCK YOU. I say "yeah, i've been studying for 16 years now"

Today I got laughed at (in a awe isnt that cute sort of way not making fun of) when I said "otsukaresama", like the rest of my coworkers. Like I do, to this guy, every FUCKING DAY? And today you wanna be like, "oh her japanese is so good! look you're saying otsukaresama" LIKE IVE BEEN DOING IT FOR THREE YEARS DUMBASS. We've had full ass conversations in Japanese!!!!

And another thing! My male coworkers can barely talk to me!!!! Makes me fucking annoyed and lonely. Like they can't even speak japanese to me normally they have that weird ass no eye contact, like i'm accosting them sort of look and i'm like BRO. I JUST WANT TO KNOW WHAT PERIOD WE HAVE CLASS IM GONNA FREAK OUT RIGHT HERE AT MY DESK IF YOU DONT SPIT IT OUT. And the aforementioned "oh look you can say otsukaresama" guy cant even speak a whole sentance to me. And it's not an english thing bc he will just drop the end of the sentance in JAPANESE TOO. HOMIE THATS WHERE THE VERB IS IDK WHAT YOURE SAYING BC YOU DONT FUCKING FINISH YOUR SENTANCES *skreech*

I'm tired of my students being scared of me/suprised. Barely being able to talk bc what? they're afraid of mistakes or something idk? But they can't hardly spit things out sometimes- even in Japanese. They just like have an error code and stare blankly. Like homie. I just want you to say my COWORKERS NAME. SHES JAPANESE AND YOUVE STUDIED WITH HER FOR 5 YEARS NOW. AGHHHHH!!!!!!!

"oh you understand kanji that's amazing!" "yeah i took chinese too" and we've had this conversation MULTIPLE TIMES BEFORE. Do you just forget everything about me the second I leave your sight?? "Wow she knows to take off her shoes!" WELL DUH.

I'm just another human being!!!! Please treat me NORMAL!!! They literally CANT!!!!!!! Like maybe a quarter of them can but like ???????????????

I want OUT OF HERE!! I wanna LEAVE THIS GODFORSAKEN ISLAND. With it's earthquakes, lack of meat at the grocery store, suprise at every single thing I do, commenting on everything I do. Like leave me ALONE.

I so hope I can go to turkey this summer bc that's the only way i feel i can survive without freaking out. I was on my LAST STRAW today. I'm going to Turkey this winter then leaving Japan next year for the US. And trying to go back to school. I'm not cut out for teaching either. I don't like it, i've never liked it. I don't want to do it anymore or ever again in this capacity. Training is ok. Teaching? Kids? NO.

I do generally like the kids but I really wish they would just spit things out rather than just like blue screening. It's not scary it's okay. 😭 Our school is so chill and nice the english teachers are so nice to the students. We make sure they know it's ok to make mistakes idk.

Dude even in Turkey- even when they know i'm foreign- even when tbey are suprised I know turkish (mostly they just take it in stride- maybe a comment at the beginning then they go with it). They treat me like one of them immediately. They're so warm and friendly. Sometimes intimidatingly so but that's better than here (for me). Their country is so full of immigrants and tourists and tbh I only go to Istanbul or a small vacation town on the Mediterranean but like. Even in Tokyo I have problems (mind you way less than here but).

AGH. Rant over- I feel a bit better now.

#preytell #praytell #sephir-spiel

[chaeyunz]

happy opening, everyone! excited to introduce u to ryu chaeyun, the wolf pack skele and also professional pain in the patoots. more info will be under the cut, and i’ll be around for a while if you’d like to plot. discord is also available (and slightly preferred!)

please be warned that passive suicidal ideation is mentioned in the intro (marked w a *) & will be a general recurring theme with her character, so please proceed w caution, and do let me know if you need a sparknotes/would prefer to plot without that point!

graduated from the national university of idgafistan, with a doctorate's in idgafism and a minor’s in ijbolism. thats it, that’s all you need to know about her.

her life pre-apocalypse was pretty normal: grew up in a family of 3 with her dad and older brother. mom passed when she was young, and at mama's funeral, her grandma tells her she has shitty fate. she's literally 10 though and doesn't understand what gran's trying to say except she doesn't ever see the maternal side of her family ever again x

watched train to busan like right before the apocalypse started and decided she just wouldn't be built like gong yoo. did, and still does not have that much will to survive, but hey, she's still here!

same can't be said for her dad, who d*es in seoul qz because of a very mundane stroke. doesn't get his blood thinners on time... or at all, bc of the kdrt rationing it super strictly. her brother turns angry at the world, and somewhere in their 5 stages of grief, they make the move to the busan qz. his joining the fireflies is the natural next step for someone so full of anger towards the kdrt.

all the unprocessed grief really makes one a great member of the resistance, and he does well within the ranks of the fireflies. he goes on every mission he can, and chaeyun knows he's gone too. his body never comes back somewhere between the 10th and 20th mission. L + ratio + skill issue!

eyes turn to her, then, to carry on his legacy. problem is, she just... doesn't want to. she's happy chilling in the qz, being a silly little 21-year-old teenage girl.

a demented old lady accosts her randomly. the same shit's spouted, but this time w a twist! she's got shit astrological fate that kills the people around her. the lady's family pulls her away and apologises for her, but it lingers in the back of chaeyun's mind.

* she entertains the idea a little more than she should, and thinks everyone around her in the qz might die. has nothing more to lose (besides a delusionship over someone who barely looks her way) and if she does something useful in div4, then maybe she deserves to live.

sorry 2 everyone on the mission, 'cause she's in her terrible twos and so goddamn annoying. like, pretending to convulse and zombify annoying. pull a gun on her and she'll be like omg wow rude..... what did i ever do to u! if u can look past the chronic unseriousness then she's alright. just ur typical gen z-er.

her one strength is bouncing back from just about anything. like, she's been through. a lot. but everyday she wakes up and decides its a new day to choose violence &lt;3

her dog is a malinois named potato (chip). better trained than her, and she loves that stupid dog so bad. classic case of tiny girl & big dog. potato sideeyes people a lot but also. is very excited and gets the zoomies 24/7 when he's not on duty. rolls over for belly rubs way 2 easy.

misc. chaeyun tingz: always has chocopies on hand. don't ask how or where she's getting them. u think she's finished the one box she's brought.. but she just keeps pulling them out. is her bag doraemon's? / very prone to nosebleeds. no reason why / keeps talking about fast food. misses mcdonald's ice cream so much. / hums under her breath. either chopin or 2016 kpop girl groups. what can she say, she's got range /

a couple plots i would like to have wld b found family.. of course. show & teach her that fate can be changed. we will all have these bitches become found family. / someone who knew her in seoul qz. can tell she's different now somehow... but can't quite put their finger on how (it's death babes x), though i'd love to brainstorm & fill any of ur wcs!

#frf:intro #tw suicide

[awigglycultist]

Headless ep 10 thoughts!

I can't believe we're on the final episode :( I will miss new eps coming out dearly

But also I can't wait to find out everything!

THIS ISN'T DIEDRICH???

Nice song tho but lirk WHERE IS HE WHY ARE YOU REPLACING HIM

That sounds SO suspicious

Are you sure you haven't committed any crimes buddy?

"WIFE!"

Verla knows magic too!

But seriously where are Matilda and Kat...

DIEDRICH?? I MEJW I FIGURED HE DIED BC THAT DUDE WAS SO SUSPICIOUS BUT OMG

Poor Diedrich

YOU GET AWAY FROM HIM GET OUT

GET HIS ASS

I think that sounds like Kat whispering?

Oh no Icabods down too now

Yeah. Don't help him just wait there and do be of no help. Actually that probably is a good thing that's he's staying tho?

Oh no they actually can't even find him either

Yeah the lemon lighter thing came back!

Oh he's in the middle of a pentagram that seems good

He's in the Trousers' theater?

Oh there's Kat... And honestly I'm not so sure I like that she's here considering the way she said that...

RIP HAS BEEN LOCKED UP IN THEIR HOUSE?

Icabod you literally have been rooming with the Headless Horseman who is quite literally a dead person that has been walking around you've even been being dead people back to life you of all people should know it is possible

No Kat no don't do this

FUCK YEAH BROM

MATILDA NOOOO

I mean obviously she's in on this but nooo :(

He's proud of him!

"Thanks Dad. ICABOD!"

Here comes the bard! To save the day!

Yeah let him finish

Oh wow just straight up killing him jesus christ

Even Matilda is concerned with this

Damn okay Diedrich but also fuck yeah

She just straight up took Rip's drink

Aw Brom

Rip was running from Matilda the whole time!

That's song absolutely ruled Shipwrecked put this on Spotify, put all of the songs on Spotify, please

NO NO WHY'D HE HAVE TO DIE AGAIN I MEAN THE SPELL ONLY WORKS AND HE WOULD'VE DIED AGAIN ANYWAY BUT ALSO COME ON

I'm concerned about her going in that cell

They're gonna kill Judy?!

YES HORSEMAN!

The head!

No don't hurt Brom he's just a himbo!

"like Lord farquad but worse" bdjddndn

YES I HAD A FEELING THE BABES WOULD HELP SAVE THE DAY! LET'S GO!

"you have the right to remain totally owned!" iconic

"ow my bones! I have more of them than a normal person" djdjdnfb

Oh woah Matilda's betraying her Kat!?

Rip!!

Henrietta!

Oh no Kat's dead dead no way to get her back :( I mean yeah she's a murderer but so :(

FUCK YEAH MEINHOF

Aww Icabod

YEAH ICABOD GETS SWORD

Oh shit she's gone

Sndkdn Rip get the poor man food

Diedrich? But your dead?

Rip for mayor!

Ah ghost Diedrich!

Aw a note from Paulie!

The real story of Sleepy Hollow!

Omg Brom and Matilda!!! <3 BROMTILDA BELOVED

"it's just that we're best friends :)"

She doesn't appear in photos??

Icabod can see the ghost of Diedrich!

WHAT? A CLIFFHANGER??? ARE WE GONNA A SEASON 2 OF HEADLESS WE FUCKING BETTER BE OMG WHOSE BEHIND THE DOOR DAMMIT

Douffe just chilling living her best life on a beach huh

That was. So. So. So. So insanely good. Seriously if you haven't watched it yet omg go watch it was SO good I absolutely love it!!!!

#shipwrecked comedy #headless: a sleepy hollow story #headless series

[corvuserpens]

Wow ok so episode 04.

I’m actually gonna put this under a cut bc I feel it’s gonna get LONG long.

So this was a symbolically and emotionally charged episode, like literal chills, it was so well written. Also, can I add real quick that this show is a visual masterpiece?? Don’t think I’ve mentioned it before, but it is, I would LOVE to take a tour through Lucifer’s palace, but anyway.

In a sentence I’ll say, this is how you do subversion expectation right. It’s a masterclass on it, actually. I’m gonna start with John’s segment and then get into Morpheus’ to keep things simple, but both did a hell of job (aye? Get it?? Because we travel to hell in this episode, ahaaa) at making me expect a certain outcome and giving me something completely different.

In John’s part, it’s like: to me, John feels like a loose canon. You know the one, the kind that is only a hair trigger away from exploding and causing mayhem. We know he’s the villain, it’s been established ever since he was first introduced. At this point, we know that Dream’s tools tend to do a number on mortals, as we’ve seen with Rachel, Constantine’s ex, in episode 03. John is filled with resentment over his past, his mother and father, his own current circumstances, etc. The ruby likely exacerbated all of it, so we know from the beginning this man has commited serious crimes. We know what he is and what he’s capable of (and just as a side note, I’m loving David Thewlis’ performance, he does extremely well at the whole “wacky but eerily calm” type of villain), but it never quite hit me just how fucking scary he is until he admits what he did to Rosemary, and it’s because I felt sickenly worried for her. We know she is a good person. We know she is kind, a genuinely good soul, she shows it as soon as she comes on the screen and you realize, after getting over your own inherent distrust in people (if you’re like me anyway), that all she wants to do in this world is leave it in a better state than she found it. 

I mean, she nearly runs over a strange man in pijamas and slippers and what’s her first instinct? To yell? To tell him off with some cliche like “get off the road, you psycho!” and drive off angrily? No. Her first instinct is to stop, get out of the car and help him up, ask him if he’s okay. She doesn’t know who he is, but she offers him a ride just because she can see John is a lost person who needs help. She doesn’t know he is a murderer until he’s in her car and it’s too late to turn back. Right off the bat, just knowing Rosemary is actually good and selfless, I instantly felt fear for her, and the second John confesses to murder, I felt my guts crawling, my blood go cold, I was so afraid for her safety. In just a few words, John goes from being a lose cannon to a loaded gun, ready to fire whenever. That’s fucking terrifying. The tension never eases up from there, it just builds up and up and up. Masterful.

Then Rosemary decides to do what any normal person with a murderer in the back seat of their car does: she tries to get help. And it doesn’t go well, of course it doesn’t. I was literally praying “please just take him where he wants to go and drive off, call the cops then, PLEASE don’t pull over to that gas station”, but she does because she doesn’t know what we know, that the Amulet of Protection will kill any person who tries to harm him. Her objective, the only sane objective, is to call the cops. I felt so helpless watching the events unfold. 

I’m gonna be real honest with you: I fully expected Rosemary to die at the end. I see this worrying trend of black or non-white characters dying which I’m not about at all, I know it’s a trope that happens far too frequently in shows and that shit needs to die in a ditch. I don’t claim to be the most woke person in the world or anything but I do try to pay attention and be better at spotting it, that’s all. Maybe I’m wrong in this instance, the truth is I am not black and so I can’t speak for black people. This is just my impression in this show. Back to the plot. 

Now imagine my surprise and relief when John does not kill Rosemary in the end, and even gives her the Amulet to protect her. Sure, now he has the ruby and he doesn’t need it anymore, but the fact that he also recognized what a truly pure soul this one woman is despite her human flaws, that selfishness that he has learned exists in the hearts of all the people he meets, and decided “this person deserves to live so I’ll let her have the Amulet to continue to stay alive” left me completely baffled. THAT is how you subvert expectations, and not just that, THAT is how you write a relatable, likable villain because I don’t hate John. I’m really scared of him, but I don’t hate him. He’s a great villain because I can see where he’s coming from and I understand his motivations, or some of them at least. See, Morpheus’ tools feel like a metaphor for drugs to me, and many of us know how those destroy people. I have a person in my family like that (they’re recovering now, but it’s hard). The way the sand used up Rachel and the ruby clearly twisted John’s already convoluted mind, that terrible need and the things it makes you do to keep you in the high, such as killing people to keep the ruby... I just now realized why there’s a substance abuse warning for this show, LOL. Yeah, long short, I get why he’s doing what he’s doing even if I don’t condone it. I like him as a villain and I love that Rosemary and her pupper Susie got to live to see another day.

Now for Morpheus’ segment. Look. We’ve seen shows take the main characters to hell countless times, for the quest, for the macguffin, for whatever. It’s such an overused plot point it’s gotten as stale and bland as a salt cracker left on the counter for a year. So when I say this show picked up this stale cracker, put it back in the over and miraculously turned into a freshly baked chocolate chipped cookie, you better believe I mean it. I’ve already mentioned this show is a visual spectacle, but this version of hell really feels like a desolate place completely devoid of hope -- hold on, we’ll get to that. The charred bones of thoroughly spent souls littering the ground, the falling ash, the cold Matthew mentions upon arrival, the damned being forced to carry their own fire into hell, the burnt corpses lining the walls still writhing about in perpetual suffering, the people stuck inside trees as they grow around them... God DAMN. I’ve never seen a depiction of hell as a realm of pain quite like this. It feels surreal, yet at the same time it’s exactly what I would imagine what a true hell would be like. Just... OOF.

ANYWAY. As Morpheus and Matthew are being led by that big demon at the gate, y’know the “there’s one at the door” dude, I expect some shenanigans to happen on the way or else we’d cut right to the palace to save time, right? They’re purposefully led through a path through literal towerfuls of cells and we find this woman Nada, who recognizes Morpheus and calls him by a different name??? And the whole Morpheus phasing into a different physical manifestation as he talks to her was so interesting, but the most important bit was discovering that the only way Nada is getting out of hell is when he forgives her, to which he responds that although he still loves her, he hasn’t forgiven her yet. And that’s where the really important bit comes:��“I will not give up hope.” And like, we see it hurts him to see Nada imrpisoned in hell, and we see in the demon’s smirk that he detoured them through there on purpose at his master’s orders so he would see her, he revels in seeing Dream Boi suffer. Let’s put a pin on that and come back later, though. 

We learn not long after who Nada is and that Morpheus was in love with her but she defied him, as one does, so he threw her in hell??? Harsh (apparently he didn’t go that easy on Alex either, someone reblogged my original post and mentioned that in the comics we see what Alex actually dreams and it’s gruesome, so scratch that pfft). I hope we get more on that little story down the line. And at last we meet Lucifer Morning Star, and props to Gwendoline Christie because she makes a PHENOMENAL Lucifer, holy shit! We discover that getting his helm back won’t be so easy as that -- it never is -- and he has to fight for it. Unfortunately, after watching so many dark fantasy shows and reading books of the same genre, I’ve learned to look for clues as to what will happen, so I kinda predicted that that other demon who traded Morpheus’ helm, Choronzon I think his name was bc I honestly forgot the gate demon’s name, would choose Lucifer as his champion. Seeing Morpheus’ tranquility morph into dread, oh man I was like “yep, ya fucked up Dream Boi, I told you to pick her first but you never listen to me”. In this case my expectations were not subverted, but I’m the kind of person who enjoys seeing her predictions come to pass, it feels very satisfying to me so it’s okay because the episode makes up for it in spades.

Because here is where the expectation subversion comes in so... well, unexpected, and very cleanly too if that makes sense. See, from my very amateurish writer and in no way professional reviewer point of view, the show writers played the viewer’s expectations like a beautiful fiddle. They made us think there would be a physical confrontation; I mean, Lucifer and Morpheus even change into different outfits and everything and I was like “well, here comes a big ass battle with really expensive green screen CGI but ultimately so overdone so I just hope it’s quick so we go back to the story”, and what the writers did was take my expectations and basically throw them out the window into a fiery pit. Because it wasn’t a physical confrontation at all. It was a verbal one.

I was honest to the Gods out of my mind with it. They don’t dramatically choose weapons. They don’t make a show of preliminary moves. They basically just stand there and... hurt each other with words. Words cut deeper than a sword, isn’t that how it goes? They have to outsmart the other. What kills a wolf? A hunter with a bow on a horse. What kills a hunter? A venomous snake. What kills a snake? A bird of prey, and so on so forth, and it could have gotten boring very easily, but then Lucifer goes like “I’m a fucking flesh eating bacterium” and Morpheus goes “I’m a whole ass planet” and Lucifer goes “I’m a god damn dying star” and it was AWESOME. A battle of wits AND imagination. It was different, it was refreshing, it was so much more exciting than if it were a physical combat, and again, the visuals, the cinematography, so artistic!! I was glued to the screen, lapping up every line. Verbal combat with witty logic will always remain supreme in my heart. And they actually get hurt, it pains me (and delights me bc I’m a fucking sadist who loves to see her favorite characters suffer) to see Morpheus get consumed by flesh eating bacteria and burned by a supernova, every jab from Lucifer makes him grow weaker and weaker, he’s brought low and I’m like “say you’re a void, you emo twink dream child, you can’t beat a void!” But he doesn’t. She does. The darkness at the end of everything. It looks like it’s over, Morpheus is gonna be imprisioned and used up as a slave AGAIN, but that’s not all because Matthew the raven, the REAL MVP comes in and gives the pep talk of the millenium. The whole speech about Morpheus surviving antilife because “dreams don’t fucking die” and he believes that Dream of the Endless would never leave his raven in hell with Lucifer was inspired. 

Morpheus stands up, beaten but not broken. I... Am... Hope.

Chills. I gasped for real, it was a religious experience, I’m not joking. Because he’s right. Hope dies last. Hope keeps us going. Hope is the brightest light, bright enough to beat back any darkness, any evil. Remember uncle Iroh’s advice? “In your darkest times, hope is something you give yourself.” Remember Nada in her cell? “I will not give up hope.” Hope is what kills the antilife. And just like that, in a quiet, perfect climax, it’s over. Morpheus wins. He gets back his helm, but not before one final exchange of words with Lucifer, who vows to destroy him one day and asks him what power dreams can have in hell, and my immediate thought was “all the power, actually”. Because dreams are what drives us, dreams are what make us human. Not our intelligence, or tool making, or ability to form spoken speech, or art or science. It’s dreams, the ones we make up with open eyes, what we see in our minds when we think of the future, and what are dreams if not a manifestation of hope? 

It makes me chuckle because dreams are such a... I don’t want to say childish, but it’s something usually reserved for when we’re children, aren’t they? Oh what’s your dream? What do you want to do when you grow up? Who do you want to be in ten years? But then we grow up and become adults, and suddenly no one asks what your dream is anymore. It’s something we ask kids to get a feel for what they might choose as a career one day, nothing more. It’s kinda sad, actually. I’m 30 years old, I still have dreams. I’m not ashamed of it. They didn’t just disappear after I turned 18, they just changed into more realistic, attainable dreams. But no one has asked me what my dream in decades. People think it’s childish, you have bills to pay, you gotta go to work at your shitty day job, you gotta finish college bc you’re already 30, stop wasting your life dreaming. Grow up. It’s like after a certain age, you’ve reached your quota of happiness and from then on you gotta be miserable and resign to your boring adult life. We kill the child within us to become robots of capitalist society ruled by the big corporations. No dreams allowed. You gotta slave away to make the rich richer at the cost of your dreams, your loved ones’ well-being, the survival of less fortunately people in underdeveloped countries, the very planet you depend on--

Ok, sorry, sorry, that got really offhand. Apologies. Let’s rewind. What power do dreams have in hell, that’s right, and Morpheus’ response is so... Fuck, I did a snap-snap-snap, bitch get SERVED, oh my GODS it was so passive aggressive and EPIC! Always with that quietness of his, always polite, but BOY, he was NOT messing around, Dream Boi went straight to the jugular with that one. I don’t exactly remember it word by word, but I do remember it was something like “how could these souls be trapped in hell if they could not dream of heaven?” And I’m just, Sir you need to be stopped, that was fucking brutal! The look on Lucifer’s face as he swaggers out with his helmet, wow. 

Can we please have more protagonists who aren’t witty or charming/flirthy or cracking jokes every five minutes, can we PLEASE have more protagonists who are quiet and introspective, who are so unviolent and soft spoken, who love their friends so much that they will do anything for their happiness, that when they do decide to strike a blow, you can feel it in your gut and you literally get up from your seat and scream, clapping your hands like a deranged seal??? Give me more introverted protagonists, for the love of all things holy, because I already fucking ADORE Morpheus. I mean, right before the fight he takes Matthew aside and orders him to go back to the dreaming so he can tell Lucienne what happened to him should he not return so she wouldn’t sit alone fretting over what happened to him forever AGAIN, not to mention to save Matthew himself from being stuck in hell for eternity, like THIS GUY, can I get a hundred of him?? And Matthew downright REFUSING to leave him behind, he is Dream’s raven and that’s THAT okay, WE’re not leaving without the helm!! Did I already mention Matthew is the real MVP? Someone should do a video compilation of Matthew’s scenes with John Cena’s theme in the background, I would play it for ten hours straight.

 In another post I’ll also get into episode 03 because there was some interesting character development in there too with Constantine, but this post is already far too long, lmao.

This show man. This show. I don’t know what I expected but I can say with confidence it was not this. I’ve wanted to read the graphic novels since I was a tween and found out about them, but I never got the chance so when the Netflix show was announced I was really excited yet trying to be moderate. I’m well aware that Netflix productions these days are a shot in the dark, but this one is not disappointing. At least not so far. We’ll see what the next episodes bring.

Sory for the long rant, I just really needed to talk about this and I don’t know anyone I can scream to about how much I’m loving this without embarrassing myself, so I have to do it here. Thanks for reading if you did. Bye bye for now.

#The Sandman #spoilers #I mean it MAJOR SPOILERS I basically cover the episode almost scene by scene #tw: drug abuse #a Crow's rants

[rainbow-arrow]

Plz talk about Luka for bingo sheet

(I'll as k Adrien next)

Luka Couffaine my Beloved

okay time to ~elaborate~ on some 'x's'

i am Very mentally ill about him that's not a fucking understatement. that square was made For Me. Luka Couffaine is My blorbo. i don't think i post about him that much in comparison, but i write, and therefore, think a Lot about him. he is SO MUCH deeper than definitely the fandom likes to view him as-- now. my absolute Favorite moment in All of season four, is in wishmaker:

((SORRY THIS GOT SO MUCH LONGER THAN ANTICIPATED))

"Not even you, right?"

THIS BOY'S like the ONLY ONE who got REAL development in season four and it's ACCEPTING LIES. he's literally gotten two full episodes previously about how much he values the Truth and how The Truth is what's important and from there he realized that sometimes the full truth is not the most important.

I hate how they did him so dirty and making Him be the first person to see the lovesquare, i have written an essay on this, but i really which he Just found out Adrien's so he a. doesn't have to Suffer watching this terrible trap and b. feel more okay telling adrien he knows. i mean, I want adrien to tell him, but that's such a far off wish they don't even get screen time together anymore.

also i wrote Most of untitled Prior to season four coming out (i have skeletons up to 76 rn that were all vague-idea-ed Over a Year ago, and lemme tell you???? i got a Lot of things right regarding luka's characterization that were later revealed in season four??? i know him a lot and i love him a lot????

the 'x's' are obvious, but the 'o's' are Yes but or Yes and-- wow...they are literally me! = in a very normal sense, I want to be more like him in the sense of like. chill. i could write an essay about this but i won't. nothing i like about them is technically canon = everything i like about him is implied canon. he does Not have a lot of screen time and from that i have spent Hours analyzing and making decisions in fics for him based on said observations. everyone but me is wrong about them <3 = i wish i could be more normal, but i cannot consume Most media regarding him bc in general the miraculous fandom they work better as part of a dynamic: no right hiding my lukadrien preference on a post about luka couffaine. but also in general, he fits so well with everyone he works with. there's Good reason he's so successful as the snake miraculous holder, requiring observation and creativity and patience. Adrien was so right that he was perfect for it. desperada was so good for lukadrien i can't get over it. Luka's Great alone. i love him regardless, but even being the cheerful older brother,

!! important notes !! yes. both 'they are so cool looking' and 'why do they look like that' if they spent like. half the effort they did on luka animation that they did on like. any lovesquare moment, he would simply be too powerful. also in my head he's

i did Not select 'wasted potential' bc i Do have hope for season five. i stupidly, oh so incredibly foolishly stupid of me, but i have a hope that he's going to get what he rightfully deserves (on-screen friendship with adrien) in season five.

honestly marinette was stupid for breaking up with luka couffaine but that's not fit for a luka appreciation post. i think that luka and marinette being together for any Real amount of time would have been. So. Good. for marinette. because he's patient. and kind. and understanding. and she really needs to slow her tempo a bit. my absolute Least favorite thing in the whole series is the fucking WHIPLASH from the end of season three to the beginning of season four where there was a buildup for lukanette and adrigami that was just. entirely unraveled in literally the first episode. they're Honestly different characters.

i will not elaborate bc i've made ninety three posts regarding it, but the couffaine's being twins, and Jagged Stone being their dad (at least how they chose to handle it) will Never be canon in my eyes. a dumb attempt at a 'fix-it' i will Never get over.

as far as fandom approach goes, in general it's p good at giving luka his Aesthetic:tm: that the show was clearly going for, but just so much better. Anyone who does an aged-up and includes various tattoos and piercings and continuously colored hair is doing So. Good. that's the Luka we'll never get to see, even in an aged-up ep (which i hope we never get sorry lol). but the part that just irks me is where a Lot of the time they make him out to be like a smooth talking flirt, and while he has Moments we cannot forget how short-lived they are

never forget the fact that he willingly chooses to have lipgloss when transformed name a more iconic hero i'll wait really.

oh while i'm at it, i have this really Big pet peeve where they just don't change his hair during his transformation. bc when he's viperion he's got the greener hair, and luka's rocking the blue and it drives me INSANE when they leave it blue.

look at him. what a dork. he deserves so much and he's getting literally nothing**

oh yes. his entire contribution to season four finale. we all know he wasn't included bc if he was the finale just. would Not have happened. honest. if he was there for like. Any Part of it, it wouldn't have played out. kinda cringe on the show writers part but that's a post for another day.

in conclusion, i love him, your honor.

#let's go #thanks for asking! #luka couffaine #i swear to God i am normal irl #this is my online appearance i can be As Weird as i chose and #this is the way i picked okay #my beloved #i did hold back a little #i have and will Go Off again

[just-some-random-blogger]

part 2 for meow love! 'so nada is dream’s first love' OH nice to learn abt her finally. 'dream we cant be together im sorry i was stupid pls let me go this is bad' cant really judge her. its probably scary to learn that smn youre connected with is... nothing normal and nothing you know about. and pity for dream... hope hell get some love. well this rock thing... is so desperate... feel so bad for her. and its kinds cute (bc oh <зhe doesnt care<з/sarc) but REALLY creepy of dream to still want her to be his queen when shed done THIS to get rid of him.. 'so they make love on top of the mountain' ok i have some questions for the author... well now you have all the right to only sympathise with him bc they said it doesnt matter hes been creepy. (dont take all my words seriously in the first meaning). 'THEN FUCKING BURNS NADA’S ENTIRE VILLAGE' 🤡🤡🤡 . idk whats going on. just remember that i dont know any of them and have no (0) feelings about the characters and the events. 'its cold hard reality the people have to suffer for their rulers’ mistakes' understand like nothing else... its kinda difficult to speak abt the other century bc i know what and why and morality was different but i want to say what i think now with me own experience but dont want to repeat that its only how i feel... they all are so fucked. 'CRYING FUCK then jumps of the cliff and dies' ghdjdd sorry but it sounds amusing to me. reasonable 100%. 'theyre dead youre dead just be with dream forgetting that guilt exists' yeah i thought about it too. like you can do nothing for them now? so what? so punish yourself for them? it has no meaning. BUT also dream? man chill down pls TT yeah she betrayed you, thats all, just hate her peacefully and have good fluffy dreams lol. 'of course i still love you BUT i stilll havent forgiven you' what sex on top of the mountain does to men.... as ever, i judge everyone. she couldve done better, he couldve done LOTS of different things. but ok. it is as it is. YEY FINALLY TALKING ABOUT JOSE RIZAL! this worldwife TT hdsddk actually reminded me of pushkin. good for them both. 'his work inspired the revolution and he did so with non violence so' sounds really cool. and hes so badass for his death. this cunning spain... wow its really good to learn about your history. and the KKK is pretty cool. i like this title. and this cute story about you being confused bc of the song TT such a pure feeling. wow its REALLY amazing to learn about his works. your retelling is delightful. thanks SO MUCH for your efforts, your time, your big brain vibes and everything you do to answer to me! youre SO educational! youre an amazing catmom! 'we love kdramas here in the ph and complain if there arent eng subs on their shows' fhdhsp cute. its soso intriguing to learn about the culture that in fact is a lot different from my own. so please continue! 'this is such a long love letter' i love it!! i cant answer to everything bc itd be even longer and im too gripped by all the information you give but i love long love letters! omg i.. i JUST UNDERSTOOD that i misplaced papak and flan FJSHFHJ. my inattentiveness will be the death of me im SORRY TT so ive already said you what is the thing similar to flan so what is similar to papak.. i meant the defenition, not the very word. theres a word 'кусочничать' (kusochnichat' ig) which is informal, actually, and literally means do smth with the pieces. in fact eating them... i already see how confused you were TT im sorry im silly. well majority of european languages derive from the proto-indo-european including english and spanish as well as slavic languages. and all the vagons come from proto-indo-european 'woghnos'. actually, our vagon came from the french. as far as i know, we didnt have much face to face contact with spain throughout the history. 'its normal to be anxious but you will overcome it' yeah i did! but i was so sleepy and dizzy and all bc of the things i was doing in the night... so ig part 3.... see you soon, love! have a nice.. time? yeah, enjoy your time. love you<з

HELLO <3

'so nada is dream’s first love' OH nice to learn abt her finally. 'dream we cant be together im sorry i was stupid pls let me go this is bad' cant really judge her. its probably scary to learn that smn youre connected with is... nothing normal and nothing you know about.

true T_T i dont blame nada at all she be a stupid mortal like the rest of us 😩 Icarus core flew too close to the sun

and pity for dream... hope hell get some love.

T_T yes and therapy

well this rock thing... is so desperate... feel so bad for her. and its kinds cute (bc oh <зhe doesnt care<з/sarc) but REALLY creepy of dream to still want her to be his queen when shed done THIS to get rid of him..

i mean HAHAHAH he's not human so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ what is morals to someone like him? what is injury or death to a flesh form to him ya feel. i get what you mean its kinda cut eHLSAHAHSF but he problematic af still HAHAHAH

'so they make love on top of the mountain' ok i have some questions for the author...

I MEAN THEY WERE ON TOP OF THE MOUNTAIN ALREADY COS SHE WAS RUNNING AWAY FROM HIM I THINK HAHHAHA I DONT REMEMBER HAHAAH

well now you have all the right to only sympathise with him bc they said it doesnt matter hes been creepy. (dont take all my words seriously in the first meaning).

AHAHHHAHHAHAH

'THEN FUCKING BURNS NADA’S ENTIRE VILLAGE' 🤡🤡🤡 . idk whats going on. just remember that i dont know any of them and have no (0) feelings about the characters and the events.

HAHHAHAHAHAHAH ITS FINE ITS JUST LIKE HAHAHAHAHAHAH ???? WHYYYYY>???????

'its cold hard reality the people have to suffer for their rulers’ mistakes' understand like nothing else... its kinda difficult to speak abt the other century bc i know what and why and morality was different but i want to say what i think now with me own experience but dont want to repeat that its only how i feel... they all are so fucked.

eat the rich and powerful

'CRYING FUCK then jumps of the cliff and dies' ghdjdd sorry but it sounds amusing to me. reasonable 100%.

NAH HAHAHH IT IS KIND OF FUNNY HAHAHAHAHAHA COS REAL HAHAHAHAH T_T

'theyre dead youre dead just be with dream forgetting that guilt exists' yeah i thought about it too. like you can do nothing for them now? so what? so punish yourself for them? it has no meaning.

see we be the same

BUT also dream? man chill down pls TT yeah she betrayed you, thats all, just hate her peacefully and have good fluffy dreams lol.

FACT but he be petty 😩

'of course i still love you BUT i stilll havent forgiven you' what sex on top of the mountain does to men.... as ever, i judge everyone. she couldve done better, he couldve done LOTS of different things. but ok. it is as it is.

HAHAHHAHAHHAHAAHHAAHAHAHHAHAAHAHAHAHAHHAAHHAAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA THIS IS SO FUNNY SEX ON TOP OF A MOUNTAIN DOES TO MEN AHHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHHAHAHAHAH ur so right #justicefornada and yeah dream with that one braincell coming through HAHAHAHAHAHAH

YEY FINALLY TALKING ABOUT JOSE RIZAL! this worldwife TT hdsddk actually reminded me of pushkin. good for them both.

HAHAHA OMG YOU GOT A MR WORLDWIFE TOO HAHAHHHAH

'his work inspired the revolution and he did so with non violence so' sounds really cool. and hes so badass for his death.

yeah bang bang 😞😩✊

this cunning spain... wow its really good to learn about your history.

<3 im glad you think so i find it so funny that you keep saying cunning spain HAHHAH IDK ITS KINDA CUTE HAHAHHAAH

and the KKK is pretty cool. i like this title.

THEYRE THE REALEST AND THE COOLEST 😫😫😫😫

and this cute story about you being confused bc of the song TT such a pure feeling.

T_T i was so confused for real

wow its REALLY amazing to learn about his works. your retelling is delightful. thanks SO MUCH for your efforts, your time, your big brain vibes and everything you do to answer to me! youre SO educational! youre an amazing catmom!

💗💗 I LOVE THAT FOR ME thank you my kitty kat muning <3

'we love kdramas here in the ph and complain if there arent eng subs on their shows' fhdhsp cute. its soso intriguing to learn about the culture that in fact is a lot different from my own. so please continue!

i love kdramas 😩 and yeah were pretty culturally different huh, besides the kwoa thing HAHAH

'this is such a long love letter' i love it!! i cant answer to everything bc itd be even longer and im too gripped by all the information you give but i love long love letters!

<3 <3 im glad you think so <3 <3 <3 im worried i might be telling you things you dont care about so this is reassuring <3

omg i.. i JUST UNDERSTOOD that i misplaced papak and flan FJSHFHJ. my inattentiveness will be the death of me im SORRY TT so ive already said you what is the thing similar to flan so what is similar to papak.. i meant the defenition, not the very word. theres a word 'кусочничать' (kusochnichat' ig) which is informal, actually, and literally means do smth with the pieces. in fact eating them... i already see how confused you were TT im sorry im silly.

no i know you meant the definition! its ok mistakes happen stop apologizing /: its fine. its cool to know you have a similar word <3

well majority of european languages derive from the proto-indo-european including english and spanish as well as slavic languages. and all the vagons come from proto-indo-european 'woghnos'. actually, our vagon came from the french. as far as i know, we didnt have much face to face contact with spain throughout the history.

wow my blown mind mind blown wow oh my HAHAHAHHA DAMN i got schooled love that for me purr 💅 as you should queen

'its normal to be anxious but you will overcome it' yeah i did! but i was so sleepy and dizzy and all bc of the things i was doing in the night...

YAY GOOD FOR YOU MY LOVE <3

so ig part 3.... see you soon, love! have a nice.. time? yeah, enjoy your time. love you<з

omg p3 wow slaYYY

xxx

#anon ask #my beloved anons #modern!daemon anon #ask #modern!daemon nonnie

[saitolover]

✨ cat plays … hatoful boyfriend! ✨

okay so i went and followed my random urge to play hatoful boyfriend just bc i wanted to.. so here i am writing down my thoughts on it all bc it’s a bit late & i doubt i’ll be able to finish it after finding out how long the bbl route takes 🫢

anyways yes! i binged played for at least 4 and a half hours now and finished everyone’s route & all, am currently in the bbl route and finished the 4th class - after finding out there were 8 classes total (thanks google) i decided to sleep lmao. so onto my short thoughts on each route ig (pls bear in mind that ive been playing the game for hours straight & have been binge-speed reading it like crazy)

📌 kawara ryouta

the very first route i did (followed a guide & pretty much did them numerically). we love this “childhood” friend who also was rlly sweet lmao, getting the ending where he talked abt his mom was actually very sad :,( lowkey funny how mc and him casually talk abt dating as human/bird but also sad bc ryouta was worried about being the one who died first and leaving her alone oml. overall a sweet bird (but now im sus of him in bbl route)

📌 sakuya le bel shirogane

so he was the normal “noble” and “high and mighty, i am too high class for you all” type of BIRD lmao, but it was refreshing to see him turn out to want to seek out his own future in music after his family/father rejected him from originally doing it all. also got lowkey mad at this route bc i had to do both the normal and true endings to continue on to get the bbl route lmao

📌 fujishiro nageki

first route where i got genuinely shocked about learning that nageki was actually a ghost like ??? hello ??? it all made sense too & now it’s great to hear how he’s becoming a main part of the plot in bbl route especially with him actually dying from a fire in the basement of an old hall instead of his original story like??? either i was reading too fast or there’s something else that nageki is forgetting… 🤨 ALSO he literally never got to tell mc the secret at the end of his route. WHAT IS THE SECRET (shaking him)

📌 sakazaki yuuya

originally thought his route would branch off sakuya’s or smth but it never did. also a route that began to get kinda weird and i was like. okay we got the dove and hawk party… getting closer to the true plot here hm. anyways i became very invested in yuuya’s investigations and whenever he would try to see what shuu was up to. especially the way they were literally after him multiple times throughout the plot - with they being the hawk party??? damn okay i cannot remember well anymore but i do remember he had to hide from spies and stuff 💀 oml i cant believe they tried to just kill/shoot him multiple times like… anyways. lots of interesting stuff going on in this bird’s route and a lot of the times im like. :0 just shocked.

📌 okosan

now we get on to a more silly route (unless being a great pudding god / being ??? will become a big plot twist or something in bbl route). still remember smashing the beans on the ground with san. idk what else to say about this route except that it was a more lighthearted break after what happened in yuuya’s route lmao

📌 nanaki kazuaki

idk why but i expected kazuaki to be more involved with what was going on with the dove & hawk parties, especially with the cryptic things he’s being saying to shuu throughout his route like??? don’t tell me the love one you lost is involved with what’s going on with the school rn or with the two parties or with the humans…. anyways. pretty chill route save for the fact that shuu locks mc into a storage room 💀 can’t remember much else though

📌 iwamine shuu

woooow. wow wow wow. did not expect a route to go like that. and have an ending like that. lowkey got scared when all the choices were “yes” when shuu asked if mc loved him. also cant believe mc just got murdered like that after shuu casually admitted to killing a bunch of students/birds. also let’s not forget the fact that he sent mc yuuya cooked up so she could eat him i… there is So Much to unpack from this route and honestly am still in shock/disbelief over everything that happened in it bc like… what???? in the world.

📌 higure anghel

no cap i was INSANELY confused for like 90% of this route and honestly it was the funniest and dumbest route that ive played so far 😭 why did that all happen. why does anghel speak like that. love that he’s apparently a filipino bird #pinoypride. but pls the way there was even the boss fight at the end. ICANT this route was perfect

📌 koshiba azami

we love the girlboss… birdboss? of these couple of endings. dunno what else to say except azami is an icon for this entire game and yes i make the rules here

📌 bbl route

okay. there is a lot to unpack and a lot of thoughts and some prediction i have to make about this route so far. once i finish writing everything i remember/want to note, ill probably move to update this post after i complete each following class. okay let’s get started

first off. i was so scared when i found out that mc died ,,, bc the story was being pretty normal and all save for the occasional text boxes between some days. also bc im playing at like 2 in the morning and it’s pitch black around me & dead silent. anyways.

it was nice to see the story in ryouta’s pov, interestingly we’ll be learning more about his relationship with mc and how they grew up together? (hopefully???) as the story goes on… now i forget there are birds on my screen as i get rlly into the story now lmao.

i REALLY wonder what is the thing that ryouta is forgetting?? that both shuu AND nageki have been bringing up like… also why does shuu have to be like that and say “yeah just go along, don’t use your brain, you’ll find it all out eventually” cmon bro. also sus bc why did ryouta lie about going straight home the evening mc was killed… why is your memory getting spotty. don’t tell me you’re gonna end up killing other birds and that you did something to mc in the first place without realizing (kinda doubt this theory tho imo)

i found it super interesting to hear more about the world hatoful boyfriend takes place in, actually. like, learning more about the parties & the pandemic & the role that humans and birds both take in this world was interesting to read, especially with what was going on with the school & how school rep mc’s death would be completed blamed onto the school, known for being more accepting of co-living… makes me wonder if it’s been planned from the very beginning?? since birth or something?? for mc to go to this school and die in this school?? what does the fire in the basement have to do with this?? why did the stairs to it get sealed off?? lots of questions that i cant wait to hear answered…

hatoful boyfriend & the way it’s actually “hurtful” boyfriend, not “heartful” boyfriend was wild 💀 especially with the way the text box’s little “hatoful boyfriend” text changed to “hurtful boyfriend” instead - yeah i got kinda spooked again. idk wonder if there’s gonna be a fourth wall breaking or smth in this,,, trying to think how the phrase “hurtful boyfriend” ties into all this, and also about all the hatoful documents and stuff all around the school…

where tf did that scarecrow thing even come from. also literally cant believe the principal has been dead and someone created/edited that video like a year ago. why is shuu and yuuya lying and being sus - does this have to do with their parties?? also cant believe how humans are pretty much preparing to kill all the birds in the school like ??? that hatch too oml

okay i think that’s all i have to say for now…? it’s 3 am and i have to wake up soon… so ill hopefully be updating this more again next time

...

and next time has arrived. ill be dumping what i had written throughout the rest of my playthrough. :,)

IM.... the screentime of yuuya and sakuya made me so happy bc ive always wondered if their short story lines/routes would talk more about their familial relationship but it rarely really touched on it... and now i am literally so heartbroken right now. WHY. (head in hands) i dont know what else to say about yuuya's final moments and the real story behind these two brothers ,,, except for the fact that i am actually going to cry wtf yuuya's death NOT DESERVED pls now i feel so bad for doubting him earlier TT

why is the doctor so. you know. ??? dunno have to even describe it??? how is he involved with everything. why did he say that hes the one who got anghel to go to this school(?). it feels too obvious for him to be the mastermind or anything yknow but TT idk the way hes just involved in everything makes me want to shake him. how are you involved with ALL OF THIS. why and how are you controlling the scarecrow thing??? does this scarecrow thing have to do with previous/dead students??? what if nageki's ghost is involved with this??? i feel like this scarecrow has smth more to do with this...

also some other little things: i love seeing ryouta and sakuya acting as a duo. who was the third bird?? involved?? im trying to think... it's got to be someone that both yuuya and shuu would be fine with working with and making a deal with... unless they were threatened??? but idk i feel like shuu is not the kind of bird to get threatened TT still tryna think... i feel like its got to be one of the main birds/routes???

and those are my thoughts for the 5th class (that i remembered - typed this up as soon as i finished it!)

wow so the 6th class went by so fast - unless i was just reading it super quickly... ive probably said this a million times now but I AM IN SO MUCH SHOCK??? my eyes were wide open when i was reading all that nageki remembered... and his past and the experiments that they did on him. PLEASE HELP this lil bird who's been through too much ;;;;;; does this mean that all the main birds??? well, i feel like all the main student birds - were somehow being experimented on or developed to become a weapon to humans?? is this the reason why the doctor had nageki's files in his desk? was sakuya's files also in it bc he knew of his past or bc he was also planning to do an experiment on him? has ryouta been experimented on bc of the multiple & several amount of times hes had to go to the infirmiary due to his weak stomach?? okay but wait... what if his weak stomach was a result of the experiments shuu has done on him or smth... i am so Scared. and Shocked. so many questions that are about to get answered very soon. what does the fire have to do with this???

okay, i HAVE to read the 7th class now.

OH NO. oops - sorry if ive been messing up the dove and hawk parties' ideologies i cant remember which one was actually FOR coexisting with humans and who are not,,,

NOOOOOOOOO. NOOOOOO. NO. why do all of these birds have all of these backstories. I KNEW THE DOCTOR HAD MORE TO HIM BUT PLS. i didnt think he would be ryouta's father's biggest admirer from the background like. we see you slowly warming up to him. i see that you never got to tell him your feelings. HEY WHAT DOES THAT MEAN. anyways. the way he wanted shuu to grant a wish of ryouta which is what lead him all the way here. i am Mad and Sad. smad??? uh. YOU DID ALL OF THIS,,,,, i, do not know what to say anymore.

mc's brain being in the little scarecrow. wow. i had a feeling there would be more to the scarecrow but didnt expect to hear about another experiment going on, esp with how it involved human brains TT

also pls not @ shuu gaslighting ryouta ,,, IT ISNT YOUR FAULT ,,, you were literally drugged for the past year and then had to watch your childhood friend just. die. bc you were being experimented on all along. I KNEW THE WEAK STOMACH THING WOULD HAVE SOMETHING TO DO WITH THIS. but not in such a heartbreaking way.

UGH there is so much thats been happening and now my memory is like a goldfish and i just really want to read the 8th class now. but it has been such a Wild Roller Coaster these last few classes

  uhhm. okay i just finsihed the game and. the first thing i want to say that everything that happened has Blown me away. like. everything from this entire route. Everything. i think ill need some time tonight to just lay down and let everything marinate & i'll write a proper conclusion about the game afterwards.   for now: my thoughts on the 8th chapter and the "epilogue" of the game. so thats why kazuaki had the scribbled out photo... the way hes been haunted by his shadow of guilt - which i like to see it... TT i wonder, if everytime he fell asleep, he would think back to the days he had with nageki, or to think about blaming himself for everything?? agh

the way that mc's parents attempting to be mediators at the hatoful house and how it tied to shuu approaching mc and ryouta... how it had involved both kazuaki and nageki. wow. ALSO its so cool how i now reread over the archive files from the main menu and i pretty much can accurately tell what each file is referring to, or who is the one who wrote each file.

i am still in shock. who wouldve known a bird dating sim would this to all happen.

also, same at sakuya wasting his mourning on yuuya - i was literally mourning too like TT why did you have to fake die like that man. AND THE FACT THAT RYOUTA WANTED TO SEE HIS MOM but he couldnt bc he didnt want to bring any death to the humans... who knows how long hes been waiting for everyone with mc's brain and nageki. what if he doesnt wake up. im literally so heartbroken bc in his route, his mother passed after being so sick in the hospital, and now im worried bc what if he never gets to see her again. he literally worked so hard to support her all the time and loved her sm ,,,,,

theres def a lot of things that are slipping from my mind as im writing this (im sorry). its like my brain stopped working and now im so sad about everything thats happened.

was the spirit that nageki talking to in the library before mc??? was she also participating in the little boss fight against brainwashed ryouta??? ugh i need to know more. what if i just replayed the entire game to see all the little things referring back to the truth behind the school and the past of the main birds. haha just kidding... unless??? i want to play the sequel now too... well. for now, time to be sad. i now love this entire game and all of these birds to pieces. (also ive decided. im going to replay the entire game because i can and because i need to)

i word vommit whatever i want and unconsciously create the most random hcs / questions sorry if i say the most random shit or smth in this 😭 also sorry not sorry i like my little hcs and i hope maybe theyre neat too

#catplays.txt #catplays.txt + hatoful boyfriend #hatoful boyfriend

[kylewalker-peters]

OKAY LOVE ISLAND WEEKLY DEBRIEF (i can’t remember it day by day so i’m just gonna do couple by couple):

gemma and luca: still very together, luca is very clingy it’s kinda weird. they were coupled up until danica came into the villa and chose to couple w luca just bc she thought he was fit. anyways…. luca’s still very much into gemma and whilst he was coupled up w danica he slept on one of the day beds (instead of joining him gemma decided to just stay in bed w davide which i still find hilarious)… they’re back together now and it still creeps me out but oh well - 4/10

andrew and tasha: ok so new guy charlie (the love island dan burn) comes into the villa and even tho they look like siblings, charlie and tasha have a hot tub date. tasha says she’s open to getting to know charlie but she’s still interested in andrew. she tells andrew this and he’s fine w it, but then andrew tells dami and luca this and they get very bitchy over the fact that tasha is open to getting to know a new guy (like that isn’t the point of this whole show)??? anyways there’s a recoupling and charlie picks ekin-su over tasha, so andrew picks tasha but during andrew’s speech luca and dami are like rolling their eyes and shaking their heads and tasha gets upset….. i’m sensing problems in their future so - 2/10

charlie and ekin-su: not much to say here tbh. i think ekin-su just likes charlie bc he’s interested in her, so she’s kinda playing it safe. she’s already alluded to the fact that he’s not her normal type and she doesn’t find him physically attractive but after what happened w jay she needed a new option. nothing to say on charlie bc i’ve seen brick walls that are more interesting than him. don’t see this lasting at all so - 1.5/10

side note // the jay & ekin-su drama: this was the most interesting thing that happened this week tbh. ok so ekin-su is w jay after basically binning off davide for him. apparently ekin-su is really starting to like him but it’s not really reciprocated; jay wants to get to know paige and also goes on a date w new girl antigoni, which also annoys ekin-su. after jay’s date with antigoni, he comes back ti the villa and tells ekin-su that he wants to get to know paige and at first ekin-su is like “yeah ok that’s cool thanks for telling me” and everyone’s like “wow ok that was easy” and jay is literally buzzing, going around to all the boys like “nahh ekin-su is proper chill i really appreciate how level-headed she’s been about this”….. cut to approx 10mins later when ekin-su grabs jay for a chat and is basically like “yeah i take back all that i said earlier, you’ve treated me very muggy, why do you want to get to know paige when she’s obviously happy with jacks, why didn’t you tell me this earlier….” etc etc. she kinda remixed the speech davide gave to her, calling him an actor, saying he should be given an oscar - and jay’s just like “yeah ok cool” and him and ekin-su are done. quite entertaining so - 7.5/10

jacks and paige: idk how to spell his name and idc. basically they’ve been proper mushy and coupled up, they spent a night in the hideaway at the start of the week. then jay approaches jacks and is like “i want to get to know paige, cool?” and jacks is like aggressively cool with it, basically telling jay to crack on, which is weird. jacks tells paige this and she’s a bit hurt bc why is he so ok w a guy getting to know her if he’s so interested in her??? anyways at the recoupling, jay chooses paige and jacks looks super hurt and he has to choose danica bc she’s the only girl left. ALSO they had a really cute moment at night where paige is in bed with jay and jacks in in bed w danica, but their beds are next to each other and jacks kinda grabs her hand and kisses it and it’s quite cute. i don’t fully trust jacks, he seems very slimy and him and luca are remind me of stereotypical white guys, but he seems to actually like paige. paige ofc is a sweetheart so for her i’m going - 8/10

indiyah and dami: so so so cute they’re literally so drama free. so ikenna and amber went home and then they had this challenge where they got very close and they kissed and just seem very cute w each other. new girl antigoni came in and chose dami to go on a date with, but he automatically kinda friend zoned her and told her how happy he was w indiyah. not much to say on these two bc they’re very drama free but bc indiyah is gorgeous im giving them a nice - 9/10

davide and antigoni: davide still weirds me out a bit bc of that whole gemma thing icl, but he has his funny moments. he kisses danica, and she’s like “wow ok” and everyone thinks they’re gonna crack on, only for him to pick antigoni in the recoupling. she’s gorgeous and seems really genuine tho - he’s also having a fun time just winding up ekin-su at every possible opportunity. not much to report here so i’m giving it a fair - 6/10

side notes: so paige is now with jay, and danica with jacks

That sums up our love island weekly debrief, if i’ve missed anything pls let me know!! will also send some of my fave tweets from this week when i get off the tube lmao 🫶🏽🫶🏽🫶🏽🫶🏽🫶🏽

my mum keeps saying luca and gemma arent gonna see each other outside the villa but i genuinely don't think there's a choice here i think luca would human centipede himself to that woman if necessary he's soooooo clingy with her it's just weird it's been 2 weeks put the wedding dress away.

name a better duo than tasha and wanting to get to know every man that walks in the villa. like i know it's the point of the show but god she literally wants to know everyone lmao she's gonna leave andrew at some point but when. but also like that lot are waaaaay too interested in what andrew and tasha do like they've pulled that shit before where luca had a go at andrew for saying he didn't care if tasha spoke to davide like it's weird???? andrew tells tasha how much he likes her but then he refuses to be petty or clingy when there's another guy he handles it super maturely and how you would hope a guy you're interested in would be like just leave him alone? not to sound like an andrew warrior here but like he's literally one of the healthiest dudes I've seen. and i bet that lot weren't giving jacques so much stick when he said he didn't care if jay got to know paige.

charlie...... pulled ekin su...... alex im begging you to say sike right now please bestie i cant do this anymore....

what hang on sorry jay chose paige?!?!?!?! have we ever even seen them have a chat???? i swear they didn't even go on that date together wtf?????? jacques sort it the fuck out right now you twat paige is literally golden!!!! like how can they be sweet and cute like that and then jacques doesn't even fight for her that doesn't make sense. pull it together!!!!!!! like does paige even wanna be with jay??

indiyah and dami let's go okay love that for them

naaaaah the way danica has done nothing but be mugged off since arriving i acc feel bad for her at this point davide come on mate. but also glad he's there for a holiday and vibes at this point it's a good character arc

#alex the way i would fight an army for you i literally feel so completely caught up and informed #like this was so brilliant and you are so sweet for doing this for me and also i love you soooooooooooo much actually #also the ratings? genius

[marinetteplztakeabreak]

I need to share soft sign language buddies ninogami headcanon because they’re taking over my brain always:

(This got so long, so youre welcome if youre also starved for ninogami content)

Nino’s mom is Deaf , so he grew up signing as much as speaking. When he was younger he always signed as he talked.

It turned out he’s also Hard of Hearing, so sign language is way easier for him to understand most of the time.

However, though he’s great at making friends, he’s very awkward when it comes to talking about himself. So never comes up in conversation.

It’s not a self-deprication issue. It’s just a “thinking of things to say is hard and I’d rather have someone else do the talking” thing. He’d rather talk about anyone except himself.

Additionally! He’s great at helping other people, but he’s terrible at asking for help. He does not EVER want to be like “hey i cant understand what you’re saying, my ears dont work great,” its his worst nightmare

And it doesnt help that there have been a few cases of people being rude about it when he doesnt hear them after they repeat themselves. And possibly worse, there have been even more cases of people giving over-the-top apologies instead of just,, telling him what they said. So it’s not worth the trouble in his mind

with his few close friends who still dont know, it feels like its too late and it’d be awkward to bring it up, so he just… doesnt. He’s procrastinating on telling them he cant hear them

He stopped signing as much as he talked in middle school because strangers would always be like “woah thats so cool, how do you know sign language” and he’d just panic because he was an awkward tween, and he didnt know if he was comfortable telling them he was HoH, but ALSO just saying his mom was Deaf and not mentioning himself felt like directly lying by hiding information, so he just took the “lazy” way out and signed less in public.

Sometimes fighting the anxiety was not worth it so he just let it win in that case.

Nino is so nice and energetic and loves people, but he is way more introverted and anxious than his friends think.

But when they start to get closer, Kagami who is ever-observant, notices him signing a little bit, (not ever to her, not ever on purpose, but he’d sometimes sign a word he needed to remember while speaking or sign along to emphasize something)

and she luckily for his anxiety, she doesnt know how to have a normal conversation either.

Her (platonic as well as romantic) love language is studying and research, and Nino seems very cool and she likes him, even if she is awful at holding a conversation with him or doing anything to show it.

She thinks he’s so cool and such an amazing talented kind friend. She has so much love for him that she doesnt know what to do with it. So she channels that energy into learning to sign through the internet and whatever tools she can find

And then after a while of this, she’s like “oh no, he’s gonna think that’s so creepy, I cant tell him I know sign language or he’ll be so uncomfortable”

So, like a whole idiot, she hides that she’s learning sign language from anyone. Because OBVIOUSLY if word got back to Nino, he’d assume it was because of him and that she was a weirdo he shouldn’t be friends with

But also Kagami accidentally falls in love with sign language because she has undiagnosed autism. She always assumed that communicating was just going to be impossible no matter what, but as she gets proficient in sign language she’s like,,, oh,,, OH,, this is very nice

Even just signing while she talks makes it so much easier to keep words and sentances straight, but she only does it when she’s alone with her mother, who is literally blind and would never know.

They become closer friends in late high school, and by that time a lot of Nino’s anxiety has worn off and he’s become completely comfortable letting teachers know when he needs to hear somthing, and middle school feels like a distant dream

At some point, Nino invites Kagami to his house a few times, and he signs with his mom. Nino is like “I can interpret for you,” and Kagami is like “wow thanks, I’m so lucky, because I obviously do not know any sign language, why would I have learned it, and also for the record it is brand new information to me that you can sign,” and Nino is like “cool? Its not a secret but im glad i told you if you somehow didnt already know,” and Kagami is like, “yep :)”

But then eventually as they become really close, they are texting one night, (Kagami can still barely get out of her house, so they need to communicate remotely. And both of then HATE phone calls bc its so hard to understand whats happening, but neither of them have admitted this to anyone)

Nino admits that he likes using sign language better than talking, and he wishes he could use it with his friends, but he’d feel so guilty asking them to learn an entire language just to make him slightly more comfortable. He can talk and hear OKAY so he shouldnt put the pressure on them.

and Kagami is like “you could always ask, worst case scenerio they say no, and i dont think thats an unreasonable demand” and nino is like “it is though,” and kagami’s like “ok so haha funny story, please dont hate me” and nino is like, “…what.” And kagami confesses everything and nino is like “why… why would i hate you for that?” And Kagami is like “oh wait youre right im stupid,”

And then Nino’s also like “hey if YOURE more comfortable signing too, then why dont YOU ask your friends to sign for you. Do you see what i mean? It’s hard to ask-” and kagami is like, “as your friend i will prove it is not.”

So then Kagami ends up confronting Adrien and Marinette the next day and is like “Hi. This is a sign language dictionary. Learn from it.” And they’re both like “what?” And she’s like “oh wait sorry. Backing up. I’m autistic. I decided like three years ago. Forgot to tell you. And I need you to learn to sign a little bit so you can understand if i sign something at you. If you want, of course. Please :D.” And theyre like “ok sure yeah i can do that.”

(Theyve already learned and accepted that shes extremely direct in asking for things)

So then she texts nino and is like “i did it. Youre welcome.”

But anyway both of them are uncomfortable in crowds and parties: Nino cant hear anyone and Kagami tends to get sensory overload, so they start signing mostly in those situations, and then it starts to sink in that they’re allowed to sign whenever and that the other really IS also comfortable with it.

(Both of them are much more willing to make sacrifices for others than to try something new and intimidating for themself, so this is the perfect situation to trick them into getting out of their comfort zone, ironically by trying to be more comfortable in the long run)

so they will just sit together and hang out and have long conversations while just chilling somewhere in a park or at cafes or whatever. Both of them become chattier than they’ve ever been because talking and understanding is so much easier, and its addicting

And their close friends all become proficient enough in sign language to have simple conversations.

But also Nino and Kagami start sitting together automatically even in group hangouts, and they start hanging out more with just the two of them, and soon neither of them feel bad about asking to hang out in quieter places, because they can justify it knowing that it will also help the other one, and together that makes both of them also more comfortable asking for little accomodations from other friends, if only to prove to the other that they can do it too.

And Kagami has the lesser-known autism side effect where she makes WAY TOO MUCH eye contact. She’s aware of it but that doesnt make it go away. Normally she feels so awkward about it, and overthinks her gaze because she doesnt want to scare people away. But when signing, you literally HAVE to be watching the other person constantly, so she has an excuse to just be herself, and its so relieving

(and also its kind of fun to look at Nino anyway because he can get so animated and his smile is really nice and oh no she is in love a little bit)

And Nino always struggles because he emotionally ALWAYS needs to be the nice polite one. His anxiety sometimes gets the better of him and he’s constantly worried about sending the wrong signals to his friends and coming off as rude somehow. But with Kagami, he can literally just ask?? And she will tell him her honest opinion without making it weird. And its so comfy and so good and he really loves hearing her unfiltered opinions on so many things because she sees the world in such a unique way and she gets so passionate about such little things and then oh no, he is fallen for her before he can realize it

And they also learn that they’re both artists, they both love to just observe the world because even if they;re awkward, people are actually pretty great most of the time, and its fun to observe them and try to capture the world, and they just sit together and sketch, or they watch each other sketch, and the thing is, both of them draw ONLY FOR THEMSELVES, its not a ‘skill,’ and they don;t want it to be, its just private art for relaxation. Somehow, though, its okay if they share their art with each other. They can just sit in comfortable silence for hours while one of them sketches something and the other watches patiently

And they start to get more comfortable with one of their heads resting on the other’s shoulder as they watch them doodle, and sitting so close their legs press together, and soon enough their hands start brushing against each other’s as they walk next to each other and then all of a sudden they’re casually holding hands whenever they’re not signing because it’s nice

They try to share headphones so Nino can share some of his favorite songs and his compositions with Kagami. But try as she might, Kagami can not handle the sensory of only having one earbud in. Nino knows her tells by that point, and he’s not about to let her suffer for a stupid reason, but she REALLY does want to hear his music. They somehow end up with Kagami putting a pair of headphones around her neck and turning up the volume a little bit so she can hear, while Nino rests his head on her shoulder so he can hear just enough to know where she is in the song

And then he has to sit up and scootch away just enough to see her hands so they can talk about it, and they both pretend not to notice how nice it was to snuggle as they sign. Its fine, though, because now they get the excuse to just look at each other again and sign overdramatically with exaggerated facial expressions, and no one else around can overhear their conversation, and Nino likes to go a little over the top when signing onomatopoeia and acting out particular parts of the song rhythm that he likes, and Kagami laughs, and they both mentally save the image of each other in this moment the same way that they look at reference images for artwork, memorizing the lines of each movement and the things that make each smile unique,

and Nino also shows up at every single one of her fencing tournaments, and he sits as close as he can and signs encouraging messages to her from the crowd whenever she’s not actively competing, (that her blind mom can never catch, which is somewhat of a bonus to Kagami, because every element of their friendship that her mother cant interact with makes this more personal and special and HERS). Every little sign she sends back at him, even a simple thank you, always feels so good and rebellious and free because shes supposed to be focusing on fencing but shes deciding to care more about friendship. And even if she’s expected to leave immediately afterword, she’ll find every excuse possible to find him and give him a hug, which he’ll always accept even though she jokingly warns him shes sweaty and gross

And eventually they are special best friends and it brings them instant joy to see each other and theyre able to interact for no reason other than that they want to and like each other

(And then they kiss)

#ninogami #ninami #nino lahiffe #kagami tsurugi #miraculous ladybug #ml #fic tag #dont want to tag this with the other ship because the tumblr algorithm is weird #and i dont want it going in the tag because theres no content for that ship and this directly opposes it #but i respect nino and alyas relationship so much they are so good and perfect #but im also terminally a multishipper #and ninogami is so darn precious too i love them #i just try not think about the circumstances with alya in this shup #ship #just imagine she and nino are still close bros and alya is dating marinette or adrien or whoever else you want

[phoebehalliwell]

on the subject of crackships.

in a prue lives, phoebeleo piperkyle pruecole paigeandy au (in which paige meets them in s1) how do u see it playing out and ALSO. do u see them all having kids still. this is so random i am so sorry (also i don't mean they have to be set from the get go and never get w anyone else but these would hypothetically be endgame)

i mean with phoebeleo like hard yes like in s2 when they're watching the baby at the end everyone's like phoebe ik you're gonna be a great mom you're gonna have like a million and one kids like mark my words and phoebe's real smitten about it like wow u really think you : ) i'd like to. guess i should probably find a guy first tho huh. but if that guy's already there bc it's leo and he's been here since season one i think they are easily first to have kids and first to get a full power of three the other three is definitely like another can of worms bc like.

okay so for paigeandy obvi we're starting andy's an old childhood friend of the halliwell's for the sake of cleanliness did not date any of them (if we're going messy tho dated prue hooked up once or twice with phoebe (not while dating prue, but neither of them ever mentioned it around prue bc well. yikes.) And piper had a major crush on andy for like. a decade. from ages 13 to 23) and he's a cop and does. stuff idk helps people and this lands him frequently in bed with social services which is. consistently. a pain in the ass. and he doesn't try to hold it against them bc they're clearly understaffed underpaid there's a lot to do but um jesus. and everyone in the precinct Hates having to go over there to do stuff bc you're just standing in the lobby drinking bad coffee for fifty minutes before you can even get a word in with the work and unlucky andy he drew the short straw ends up at social services and who should he meet there if not this gorgeous but really scatterbrained berkeley grad with a mouth like a sailor and a heart of gold and now um there's no need to draw straws at the station because andy straight up volunteers to go to social services just to see paige which she notices of course because like. were you jinxed or something? cursed? i've never known someone to draw the short straw so many times. and andy's like no i just um. like being hands on with my work i don't like leaving up to some dumb rookie with bad luck and paige is like oh don't worry i promise it is still being left to some dumb rookie with bad luck i mean i am right here blah blah blah banter conversation hint at a tragic backstory give it half a season and then it's official bf/gf shit and as far as charmed goes it's a prophecy about four sisters and the halliwells are like phew. dodged a bullet there lmao. until they do something only charmed ones could do and they're like Wait. Fuck. Is There A Fourth Sister Out There? so they find paige within the first hmm ten episodes or so.

so since we have both s1 phoebeleo and paigeandy i'd say they'd be on the fastest track but i feel like paige does have a lot more issues when it comes to getting married and having kids than phoebe does regardless i think by s4 they're married on track to have kids with pruecole we're doing the s3 introduction and the enemies to lovers arc we seal that with either a wedding at the very end of s4 or at the very beginning of s5 however kids is like. like they both want kids but prue has daddy issues and cole has mommy issues not to mention the charmed one/demon hybrid so they need to do some soul searching on that one. prue's probably pregnant by the end of s5 and has her baby halfway thru s6. paige may or may not have had kids at this point if they did they were kind of a whoopsies baby but she and andy r embracing it with open arms.

piperkyle imo is peak in a divorce/widower era it's been pitched like piperkyle au where he's not fucking insane piperkyle au where she's not brokenhearted piperkyle au where they're both normal happy people who then meet but like. nah. the appeal of them to me really is being the broken fucked up human being and feeling like you're kinda just gonna stay broken and fucked up bc you had your shot and you blew it so now you're here get used to it and then to have someone to meet someone who sees you so genuinely as you are that at first it's disgusting leave me alone i hate you but out of that just honest sight grows familiarity and comfort and before you even realized it happened love and jfc i'm in love with them???? but you realize that you're always happier when they're around you want to stay by their side and you don't even have to wonder if they feel the same because you just know they do because you Know each other and you don't have to wait for them to turn and run once they see who you really are because they know who you are they've known from the start saw the ugly the broken and vile and looked past that and saw the beauty and genuine love underneath like 🗣‼🗣‼🗣‼🗣‼. piperkyle consistently makes me insane. So. in order to hit this. we're bringing in dan. that's right, from season two to six (maybe just five but i'd like to have the pruecole arc wrapped up in a nice bow by the time we open up the next enemies to lovers) piper and dan give a relationship the old college try going from the honeymoon phase to the cringe failmarriage stage until it's eventually just time to call it quits like you literally can't move forward. so because of the delayed start piperkyle would def be the last to have kids but because this is a long slowburn full of character development and just like. vulnerable bonding moments i think that once they go official as a couple wedding and kids are not far off on the horizon i think if we close out a season (a hypothetical 9 or 10) with them getting together for the first time then we gotta burn some miles on the freak out denial stage because i always think that's funny that'll last half a season? maybe a third. and then by the end of the season we're looking at a wedding. by the end of the following season they def have a kid

superlatives!

most fashionable couple: pruecole

most likely to name their kids after dead relatives: piperkyle

most likely to break p tradition: paigeandy

most chill about dating a charmed one: phoebeleo (andy kyle & cole would all be way too willing to throw themselves into danger, leo trusts phoebe's foresight and knows when he needs to sit on the sidelines. it is a lesson all the other men still struggle with)

bonus round!

best bromance: 1st place: leoandy 2nd place: leocole 3rd place: colekyle

#charmed #prue x cole #piper x kyle #phoebe x leo #paige x andy #also never apologize for sending me dumb crackship things i fuckin love them!! #💌

[cherryonigiri]

S/O that thirsts over anime/game guys

reposted bc wasn’t showing up in the tags + I want to keep nsfw under the cut

@nononononojustno asked: Okay so could you write a headcanon where 2 random boys (can you pick then? I love all of boys from hq) and Ushi-kun where they walk on their gfs fangirling or thirsting over another anime/game character?And she was talking how hot he is? How they would react?👀😂 have a great day/night and dont forget to eat and get rest, love you💕

A/N: hahahahaha i laughed while writing this. FYI these are all based on legit crushes i had on anime/game characters at some point in my life - see if you’ve watched the shows i’ve watched :) ILY I PROMISE I’M DOING MY BEST TO EAT THREE MEALS A DAY AND GET ADEQUATE SLEEP MWAH. also i went overboard and added an extra boy bc why not. These are a little shorter since there were 4 characters but I hope you enjoy!

Content warning: implied nsfw for Atsumu + slight nsfw hcs for Matsukawa (both are under the cut)

PS: If anyone wants a spicy sequel/one shot for matsukawa i’m open to the idea 👀👀 let me know in my inbox!

Ushijima Wakatoshi

Ushijima definitely knows you’re into anime + games

Having visited your dorm room on multiple occasions he’s seen your extensive collection of manga, anime posters and you always seem to be playing on your switch whenever you have free time

Of course, he notices a significant portion of your collection is centered on male characters

And you’ve definitely mentioned a few games to him - Ikemen Sengoku, Code:Realize, Hakuouki (wow i’m really out here exposing myself) etc.

He doesn’t really mind though? Like - at the end of the day these are 2D men, whereas he is a very real boyfriend

At least he thinks he doesn’t mind

Recently, he notices that you seem to be on your phone a lot, and you seem to be texting the same group chat very often

He asks why and you laugh - it’s not actual text messages you’re just trying out a new otome/simulation game called Mystic Messenger. He finds the name silly but he just brushes it off he’s definitely J E A L O U S

Until one day he walks into your room while you’re calling one of your friends to freak out about that specific game

You sound kind of teary from outside the door “Oh MY GOD OH MY GOD I GOT THE GOOD ENDING WITH JUMIN!” and “[friend name] I THINK I CAN DIE HAPPY I’M MARRIED TO JUMIN HAN WHAT MORE DO I NEED IN LIFE” and “HE’S SO FREAKING ATTRACTIVE UGH I AM BLESSED”

He’s like who TF is Jumin and immediately bursts into your room looking pissed off

Poor babie is all like “you’re married?” and “if you had someone else you were interested in you should have told me.” “Who is this Jumin Han???” 🧐

Oh my god you start cackling, but you manage to tell him that NO you are not married and that Jumin Han is a fictional character from the game you’re playing

Ushijima looks confused after you explain - why would you find fictional men attractive when you’re already dating him?

Tendou almost dies laughing the next day when Ushijima tells him about what happened

Oikawa Tooru

Since practice finishes pretty late he usually goes to see you at your house at night, but tonight things wrapped up earlier - he’s excited to spend more time with you

You’ve finished up most of your homework so you’ve just been rewatching Attack on Titan since you’re super excited for the new season

You’re kinda distracted/have headphones on so you don’t hear your boyfriend knock on the front door. Your mom answers it and lets him in and he climbs the stairs

He can hear your fangirling (freaking out) over something as he walks towards your room

You jump in surprise when he opens the door, because you thought he would be a bit later but immediately release your pent up excitement

“Tooru just LOOK at him he’s such a bad ass like oh my gosh he literally has swords and he’s still running around slaying the MPs who have guns. God whenever he gets angry he looks so hot,” etc. etc.

You’re shoving your laptop in his face, showing him gifs and video of attack on titan, specifically the captain of the survey corps that you are obsessed with

Tooru gets it - for him its space, shitty alien films and astronomy. For you it’s video games and anime - or more specifically, handsome characters from said franchises

Even though he understand that it’s something you’re passionate about he still makes a whole show about whining how you’re in love with Levi Ackerman (lmao i still thirst over our favorite captain) instead of him

“y/n i’m taller than him! And more handsome! He has blood on him all the time! And he’s super annoying because he’s obsessed with cleaning.” *cue pouty Tooru*

You probably shouldn’t tell him that you are an avid follower of the levi x reader tag on tumblr

Tooru still somehow finds out you’re also reading reader insert fanfic and goes BERSERK with his pouting and whining - literally everyone and their mothers have heard his sob story about how “his darling y/n is leaving me for a short germaphobic asshole”

The rest of the team finds it hilarious - the end up pranking him by posting pictures of Levi in his school locker or texting them in the volleyball groupchat (Oikawa is Suffering™)

Makki and Mattsun get him a Levi keychain for his birthday and cackle when he chucks it violently into the nearest trash can

Miya Atsumu

Doesn’t really know you’re into anime/gaming at first

I don’t think that’s on purpose - Atsumu just has such a one track mind when it comes to volleyball and he’s always busy with practice

so he just kinda doesn’t really give all the anime merch in your room a second glance even though it’s a dead giveaway

I bet Atsumu secretly watches some superhero anime - probably shounen stuff like My Hero Academia, one punch man etc.

He probably starts to notice you’re into anime/games because you’ll play games on your phone/gaming device all the time

One day he notices you’re giggling + blushing while looking at your screen. He’s curious to he heads over to you when coach says they can have a break

Peeks over your shoulder because he wants to know what you’re playing - but instead he’s greeted by some 2D samurai guy called Harada Sanosuke asking you to marry him

“Huh, I didn’t know you were into this kinda stuff y/n” tries to sound playful but internally he is screaming / ?????? WOT I DIDN’T KNOW MY S/O WAS INTO OTOME GAMES

Atsumus pretty chill about it at first, he probably teases you a lot about playing the game but isn’t really bugged about it

“Maybe you should thirst over your boyfriend instead of a fictional character babe~”

I mean - he knows he’s attractive and why be jealous? You only really play the game when he’s busy and you don’t really let the game play seep into your dates/hangouts

But one time he walks in on you reading some ~spicy~ hakuouki x reader fanfic and he’s like are u serious

Like you were lowkey quiet screaming to yourself and muttering “omg omg omg” when he walked in and you definitely tried to close your laptop so he couldn’t see what was open in your browser

Too bad Atsumu has mad reflexes and manages to prevent you from making your computer go to sleep

Briefly skims whatever it was that you were reading and smirks at you

“Hey, if you really want something like this, why don’t you let your real boyfriend deliver” before kissing you

Matsukawa Issei

Look, Issei just wants a chill movie/tv show night where the two of you can bundle up on the couch and binge whatever anime you feel like

Has everything set up - this man is ready to go: snacks? he has all of your favorites, couch? filled with soft pillows + multiple pillows. Attire? Comfy sweatpants shirtless 🥵

Last time he chose the series for your binge sleepover so he let you choose what the two of you were gonna watch this time

Turns out you decided to watch Psycho-Pass - it seemed like a pretty cool show, he was down with the whole dystopia/psychological concept

Starts out pretty normal, is appreciating the action + mystery elements and is glad that you chose that show

About halfway through the anime you two decide to take a break - he goes to the kitchen to refill your snacks, leaving to stretch you back.

When he comes back with more food, he notices that you’re hunched over your phone, typing something

He sneaks up behind you after he puts the food down, “Whatcha reading there babe?” You squeak and try to hide your phone, but not before he sees the words kougami x reader typed into your tumblr search bar

Lit-rally exCuSE me what - he’s not mad (more amused than anything else) but he also kind wants to tease you (bc Mattsun is a little shit)

“Is that the reason you wanted to watch this show?” he asks playfully. “He’s pretty hot tho, I kinda agree with you there babe.”

Now that he’s released the floodgate, he can’t stop your occasional comments like “omg how does he look so GOOD when he’s punching someone” or “he could shoot me with his dominator and i’d still say thank you”

The thirst comments are kinda getting to him, so he decides to take things in a different direction

“Let me what I can show you with my dominator~” L M A O I’M SORRY THIS EXISTS

Suddenly you’re being pulled onto his lap, and pressed against his bare chest, Issei barely gives you time to adjust before he’s kissing you roughly, tongue plunging into your mouth

His hands wrap around your hips pressing your core closer to his own, and you can feel his hard-on pressing into your stomach

He’ll be sure to suck a dark hickey onto the side of your neck and his hands travel under your shirt, just to remind you who your real boyfriend is

Needless to say, you won’t remember a single thing about the second half of the show after the night is over couch sex? Couch sex 😏

#haikyuu imagines #haikyuu x reader #ushijima x reader #oikawa x reader #atsumu x reader #matsukawa x reader #ushijima wakatoshi x reader #oikawa tooru x reader #miya atsumu x reader #matsukawa issei x reader #ushijima wakatoshi #shiratorizawa #oikawa tooru #matsukawa issei #aoba johsai #haikyuu hcs #seijoh #miya atsumu #inarizaki #hq imagines #haikyuu #spicy haikyuu

[yunsoh]

'a sohma man'.... kyokeru???? kyokeru????? is this a thing wait they wld be SO funny please elaborate

kyokeru absolutely has a handful of diehards out there (i’ve only seen them on twitter but i’m sure they’re lurking somewhere here too) but i would be lying if i said that i haven’t thought about them LMAO.... okay first of all i think kyo would loathe kakeru on principle -- he’s loud, annoying, invasive, and yuki’s best friend. the only reason uo gets a pass at being loud, annoying, and invasive is that she’s tohru’s best friend. yes he thinks about the fact that he does consider uo a friend and that maybe maaaaybe it’s shitty of him to completely disregard kakeru altogether just because he’s best friends with yuki but then kakeru says something like “wow, no wonder you and yun-yun are related, you’re both so serious and moody lol” that he’s officially like, fuck this dude. 

kakeru on the other hand is super fascinated by kyo just on the basis that he’s another sohma enigma™ and that he finds him hot, and is not put off by kyo not wanting to have anything to do with him like, whatsoever. he kind of sort of knows he and yuki have beef with each other, but he’s not exactly sensitive to that -- yuki isn’t thrilled or anything talking about kyo, but he’s very much like “if you want to be friends with him, fine” (it’s the principle of autonomy, but also. he doesn’t exactly say this kindly. kakeru knows this but runs with it). kakeru tries again to talk to kyo but kyo has more or less put him on the dni list and is pretty aggressive about not wanting anything to do with him. cold, brushes him off, tries (and fails lmao) to ignore him, etc. finally he just has to snap and tell kakeru straight up that he doesn’t want anything to do with him, and kakeru’s just “?? why? because of yuki?” not rlly understanding at all the depths of their baggage, and kyo -- at this point being more mindful abt his anger but still so fuckin sensitive -- more or less snaps like “don’t fuckin talk to me about him.” meanwhile i just imagine uo hana and tohru chilling in the bg watching all of this unfold, hana and uo being like “oh tasty drama” and tohru being like “um!!! 🙃” 

oh my god anyways so kyo and kakeru do not start out on the right foot whatsoever BUT kakeru is nothing if persistent and even though he’s a little mad at kyo for shutting him out completely just on the basis that he’s friends with yuki, he is still really intrigued by him and has seen with his own two eyeballs that kyo isn’t always so prickly and standoffish -- he’s seen from the sidelines that he acts esp different with tohru (which by the way, i’m ignoring the whole kakeru and tohru knowing each other thing, i do not care for it so away it goes) and honestly seeing just how gentle and different kyo’s whole aura becomes maybe makes kakeru a little.... piney.... he tries not to question himself too much but he does question for just a moment WHY exactly he’s trying so hard to get to know this guy only to fall on his face over and over, and while he can chalk it up to stubbornness he does also chalk it up to finding him attractive. he tries to leave the thought cut and dry there and tbh. succeeds lmfao. 

sooooo how does kakeru make things right and can he...... okay so in this universe i think it would make absolute sense that he has a rapport with uo and i think they would be really fucking funny together as friends, so he ends up getting a moment with her to just be like “what the hell is up with kyo and why does he hate me” and she tells him straight up that he’s just Like That but he’s especially like that because kakeru’s so close with yuki. kakeru brings up that tohru’s also really close with yuki, and tbh uo straight up laughs in his face like “okay but tohru’s a tranq and you’re like a bomb in the middle of the room” and she more or less tells him that kyo will come around if he wants to comes around. but for kakeru, that’s a hard “if.” 

kyo meanwhile has been extremely broody about kakeru if only because he’s aggravating the part of his internal dialogue that is soooo so sensitive to the fact that he can’t justifiably blame yuki for all of the things he blames him for and that it’s something he’s been aggressively avoiding thinking about because i mean. it’s his lifeline basically. like he knows he doesn’t want to allow kakeru into his circle for the sole reason that he doesn’t trust the fact that he’s so close with yuki, and he knows that this is directly combatting the fact that tohru’s also close with yuki (+ was arguably friends with yuki first), and that who yuki chooses as friends cannot by that logic be terrible people. he also can’t reject him on the basis of being an annoying asshole because over half of his friend group is made up of annoying assholes. so he spends more energy thinking about kakeru than he wishes to admit to and this ofc only makes him crankier every time he sees him. 

all things considered kakeru is able to maintain a fair amount of distance from kyo being that they’re not in the same class and don’t usually bump into one another unless kakeru is specifically seeking him out, so kakeru does take some time to consider what he should do (he feels that maybe he should apologize but he’s also finally getting the gist that kyo’s on edge whenever he comes around, and he doesn’t want to just waste an apology yk). at most he tries to give kyo a “totally inconspicuous” stare across the room when he comes along to grab yuki from class for a meeting but kyo just pointedly stares out the window instead so it’s a no-go. during this time kyo has been battling between “am i being an asshole to this dude for no reason” and “who gives a shit if i ignore him he’s annoying” and this is made prominent by the fact that his friends chucklefucks #1 and #2 have decided, suddenly, to be annoying to him specifically about why the vice president keeps looking at him funny and uo stoking the flames by saying kyo keeps rejecting him. they then go on to say how cruel and mean kyo is and that he’s breaking their vp’s heart and he’s actually about to triple frontflip out the window again before tohru pipes up like “i think he’s probably really nice actually!! :)” because of course she does she has essentially entrusted kakeru to handling yuki’s heart and soul and. i think she wants kyo to have more friends. i mean i think we all want kyo to have more friends. kyo ofc only listens to tohru but man is he mad about it. he consoled only by the fact that if he gives kakeru a chance and he still doesn’t fuckin like him he can drop him for good.

i’m getting so fucking carried away with this anyway kyo actually kind of runs into kakeru after school and. there’s a funny thing abt kakeru where when he’s completely alone he’s actually just quiet and non-abrasive and normal, and this seems obvious but kyo just realizes he never considered kakeru has any semblance of an off button. it’s awkward on kyo’s part (as usual) and kakeru is both delighted and confused as kyo makes his way through a very gritted apology for being an ass, to which after waaaay too long a contemplative pause he just says sorry in return because he knows he pissed kyo off in one way or another and that he’s kind of an idiot sometimes. which i think is a level of straightforwardness and self-awareness that kyo doesn’t expect from him LMAO so he’s taken slightly off-guard, but still it’s just. awkward. for him anyway. kakeru though is feeling a little bit of a win for himself and just says he has to bail and that he’ll catch him tomorrow, which kyo just kind of absently agrees with...... by the time he considers taking it back and going “this doesn’t mean we’re friends” or smth the moment’s long passed and kakeru’s way down the street, walking off to the station alone........ pause for quiet scene.......

so i just realized i wrote like seven paragraphs about just the leadup of them becoming anything close to friends BUT i do wanna say that i think a big breakthrough moment for them actually becoming friends is really just about kakeru being very obviously his own entity who is actually not like yuki in the slightest (yk how friends take on each others mannerisms and mind-meld and shit like that........ yeah this is something way more apparent for yuki in their relationship LMAO yuki’s influences on kakeru are much much quieter). which is another thing that should be obvious, but considering kakeru is someone who willingly and overtly befriends yuki (vs other people like haru, who has a long family history w him, and tohru, who literally lives with him and is. well, tohru.), and considering kyo never gets to know him prior to this, i want to imagine that he’s just plainly biased and had more or less disliked him by association more than anything. so getting to know him as an individual and carving out a space for just him in his brain.... yeah. 

i’m a big sap for friends-to-lovers so ofc the real pining doesn’t start until they’ve actually started to become better friends, which i think is very much full of stupid bullshit instigated by kakeru begging kyo to teach him how to fight (after asking yuki a quarter million times and getting rejected every time. kyo does not know that this is because kakeru is a power rangers fanboy but absolutely wants to use this as a moment of “fuck that guy i’ll show it to you better than he could anyway” which has this unaware flirty tone to it that kakeru wants so badly to comment on but doesn’t want to lose his chance to learn how to defeat evil with his own two fists so he just. stores that away for himself 2 think about later). kyo trying to teach him would be intimate if kakeru had an ounce more talent and concentration and kyo had an ounce more patience. anyways they play wrestle instead bc kakeru is bored of the basics and it’s actually fun for the both of them until kyo pins kakeru and they have this mutual moment of. uhhhhh. bro? haha. bro?? at which point kakeru finally has to admit to himself “oh this isn’t just normal attraction this is some real shit” and kyo is in full “what the fuck was that” mode. 

i have no resolution for this post i’ve decided i’m just going to leave it at that because as u can see it’s mad easy to run in circles with these two. they’ve got a good hypothetical chemistry going on and have the nice lil kick of drama a la “this is my rival’s best friend/my best friend is friends with my rival” and a good ol sexuality crisis. and what more could u ask for really

#oh my god i wrote this for so long that i started it drunk and finished it sober #anyways ty anon this was fun and i honestly love thinking about other kakeru ships...... probably bc i just love He #kakeru manabe #kyo sohma #kyokeru #headcanons #Anonymous #answered

[kpopisthereasonihavenolife]

k.taehyung/reader 

genre: arist!taehyung, painting!reader, parallel/horror universe

warning(s): violence, mannequins+paintings coming to life (bc ppl are scared of that), blood- but like red paint instead, horror/dread/action elements (i tried okay), bittersweet 

words: 20.3k 

One-shot | Two-shot | Series | Drabble | [Rated: Pg:15] 

Loosely based on Ib, an RPG Horror/Adventure game + Leia (Vocaloid)

synopsis: Taehyung, a freelance, abstract artist is in the middle of one of the worst art blocks known to mankind.  In an act of possible inspiration, he drags his best friend, Namjoon, to a new art gallery just opened.  Only, he didn’t know that his visit would result in him getting separated from his friend and thrust into a new gallery.  One he wasn’t familiar with in the slightest. Along with this mysterious new gallery, a collection of strange creatures lurking around every corner came with the unsettling territory. 

a/n: i literally started this in March of 2019.... I have no excuse for the wait other than my bad.  Regardless, Colorblind is FINALLY done and out! It’s obvs waayyy longer than I intended it to be back in 2019 when I could only pump out like 9k at max- it’s over double that now LOL. But that hopefully aint gonna stop y’all (pls, lmk what you thought/thnk, i’m so anxious about this one alsdjf)

“Here you are, gentlemen.  Enjoy your visit to the gallery,” the receptionist at the counter smiled as she would to anyone.  Handing over two pamphlets to the two men who stood in front of her.  One was dressed in white track pants, two stripes running down the legs.  A white, collared, button-up shirt with a tie exceptionally loose around his neck with a blue, track jacket with red and white stripes down the sleeve, matching his track pants.

The other man wore loose black pants around his hips.  A black and white vertical striped, sleeveless jersey with three buttons on the collar with a red cap placed backward on his faded orange-haired head.  

These two men were two Kim’s. Taehyung and Namjoon.  Taehyung works as a self-employed, freelance artist; throwing and brushing paint over a canvas in random ways and creating objects and places for his mind to be free in abstract ways.  Namjoon is a humbled journalist for a local news blog for his exceptional wording and phrasing on all sorts of topics.  

Taehyung had come to the new gallery opening not too far from his home in search of inspiration.  He had been in a bit of a slump lately, and with nothing to do and nothing worthwhile happening, he was desperate.  Namjoon tagged along because he was tasked with the job of writing a review of the new establishment and creating a small article to include in the next online publication.

“Welcome to the grand opening of The Gallery of Leia!”

Taehyung mumbled to himself as he read the title of the pamphlet given to him.  “Why Gallery of Leia?” He questioned the name as the receptionist answered promptly.

“Leia is the one surviving piece of an artist from way back when that survived a brutal fire.  In honor of its survival, the gallery was named as such.”  She said with a smile as Taehyung nodded and nudged Namjoon’s arm, who stood next to him.

“Let’s go,” he said as he walked inside, not trying to stick around for more conversation and holding up the line of people also trying to gain entry inside. Namjoon following him as he quickly scanned a the front of the pamphlet.  

The gallery was two stories in a decent squared size building.  It was quite the exercise trip in Taehyung’s opinion.  Sculptures were placed against walls or out in the open for rotational viewing pleasure.  Paintings and sketches were hanging, littering the walls for guests to see clearly.  All the different pieces from all sort of artists featured here was amazing, such a wide variety as Taehyung’s eyes scanned the names.  Some familiar, some not.

“Wow, this place is pretty busy,” Namjoon said as he looked around. Namjoon had pulled out a tablet from his side bag, turning on the large touch screen as he took the pen attached to the side of it and opened up a program for taking notes as he started scribbling.  Taehyung peeked over his shoulder.  

“You haven’t even seen any art yet.  Why are you already jotting stuff down?”  

“It’s always good to start an article with how packed or how empty a place is.  The more people there, the more popular or interesting to the masses it is, which normally leads to more pros than cons.  It’s like a first look into how interesting it may or may not be.”  He rambled off like he’s answered the question a million times.  Taehyung nodded with pouted lips.

“You’re such a workaholic.”  Namjoon rolled his eyes at the remark, placing the pen between his fingers as he held his tablet and lowered it to his side.

“Let’s go look around.” The gallery itself, aside from the art pieces inside it, was stark white.  White ceilings to match the white walls and tiled flooring in yet more, polished white.  The lights weren’t as strong as one would think for a gallery, but if they were any brighter the receptionist would need to hand out complimentary sunglasses along with pamphlets because of all the lights bouncing off and around from the white  interior.

Namjoon was busy looking at a large-scale sculpture of a red rose as Taehyung wandered around not too far from him.  He turned down a hall that was surprisingly void of any warm bodies. He was surprised to find an area that hadn’t been cluttered with people yet.  Though, he assumed it wasn’t all that odd considering the early morning hour.  

Along the left wall was a large, long canvas, easily engulfing a vast majority of the wall itself.  It also happened to be the only piece in this dead-end corridor.

Taehyung stood in front of the painting as he looked over it.  Trying to see each and every detail.  He was in awe of the detail and how much time it must have taken to even complete such a large painting.  The dedication and time served to it was admirable.

The painting gave off an eerie vibe.  A dark background with what seemed to be the space of a studio, a spacey and wide studio with canvas’s on walls, frames hanging, paints and easels littering the space leaking into a greater mass of a space with even more dark, distorted art. As he continued to look at it, he stopped to blink, reset his eyes and rub at them so he didn’t go crosseyed and get dizzy.

As Taehyung gazed at the whole of the masterpiece, Namjoon strode up to him.  He whistled lowly in an impressed awe.

“Damn. That's one dedicated, dead painter.”  He walked to the plaque underneath the frame, kneeling so he could read the title of the particular piece aloud.  “Parallel Reality. Painted in 1996 by-” he couldn’t finish because the hall suddenly darkened.  Namjoon and Taehyung both looked at the ceiling and the flickering lights before they blacked out completely. Leaving the room dark and quiet.

“A blackout?” Taehyung questioned. Namjoon stood up, walking back over to his friend.  

“We should go back to the front desk.”  Taehyung nodded as the two of them began the journey back, stepping carefully and squinting to make sure they wouldn’t run into any sculptures or walls.  All the while, never once running into another person.  In fact, the entire gallery was completely silent besides their footsteps.

“Where is everyone?”  Taehyung asked, his eyes slowly adjusting to the darkness.  

“I’m sure they’ve all gathered outside.  No point in staying in a dark gallery.”  The two made it to the front glass doors.  “It’s… dark outside?”  Taehyung looked out through the glass doors.  “It was just noon?”  Namjoon shook his head, pulling on the door, but the door refused to open.  “It’s locked!”  He grunted, yanking again, pushing and pulling on the door.  Nothing.  Namjoon sighed as he turned to Taehyung.  “Go look around, maybe someone is still here.  In the meantime, I’m going to try and get this door open.”

Taehyung nodded before he turned and walked back into the gallery.  The halls still dark, every window showing nothing but a dark, deep navy outside.  He walked to a window to look outside, maybe get a glimpse of what was going on.  But, nothing.  

He turned and walked away, but jumped when he heard someone banging on the glass of the window he had just left.  Running back, he could just barely make out the imprint of a wide handprint on the outside of the glass.  It made a chill run up Taehyung’s back. 

For a moment, he assumed it was Namjoon who had gotten out and was getting his attention to run to the front and get out.  So, he did, dashing to the entrance and when he didn’t see Namjon around any longer, he tried the door.  Still locked.  

He hissed as he whipped back around and went back to the window before he shook his head. As he walked around the gallery further, his eyes began adjusting to the darkness and eventually he was even able to make out some of the art pieces again.  

A painting of a black cat.  One of a man hanging upside down by his ankles.  A basket of fruit that he swore use to have an apple included in the basket.  The back of a woman dressed in nothing but red.  

He felt like he was walking in circles. More than ready to head back to just sit at the front until someone came- since someone had to at some point, he heard another set of footsteps.  At first he thought it may be Namjoon coming back to find him; however, the footsteps were too light to be his friends- he always was a bit of a heavy stomper. Taehyung turned and headed towards the steps as they seemed to move further from him instead of towards him.  

“Hey!”  He called into the echoey halls of the dark gallery. The steps halting momentarily before they started running.  So, Taehyung sprinted after them.  “Where are you going?!”  He yelled as he ran into an open, large venue.  He looked around as he ran, seeing no one around.  “Where are you?!”  He shouted before he stepped in a puddle.  No, not a puddle.  A puddle would only be an inch or two deep.  It surely wouldn’t be enough to engulf him entirely.  

Now, Taehyung was sinking.  Drowning slowly into the Abyss of the Deep before the lights flicked back on and the murmurs of people resumed.

-x-x-x-

When Taehyung woke up, his head was throbbing, his mind was fuzzy and his conscience more than a little confused.  Laying on his chest on the floor like a jersey-dressed starfish, he groaned as he pushed himself up to support his torso on his elbows.  His hair was messier than before as his bangs threatened to poke his eyes.  Looking back and forth, he was in a hallway.  The corridor was dark, a hint of purple and indigo surrounding the entire room.  Walls, carpet, ceiling everything was the same shade of purple.

Obviously, the polar opposite than the pure white of everything previously.

Rolling onto his back and pushing himself to stand, he wobbled as he held his head and tried to will away the headache that was beginning to slowly lessen.  

Going backward before trying to even round the corner down the way, he found a single wooden door at the dead-end of the hall.  Twisting the knob, he entered the small room.  The room was square, red and on the back wall was a single large painting of a woman.  Her eyes were closed and her face was blank.  Her hair was somehow painted off the canvas, down past the frame and onto the wall like it was real hair falling out of the portrait.  

In front of that portrait was a single small wooden table with a vase.  In that vase was a single, blue rose.  A rose with 10 large, vibrant petals and a vine that lacked thorns.  Taehyung had never seen a blue rose before- well, not a real, authentic one anyways. Everyone’s seen the fake, painted blue, red, pink, yellow, purple and whatever other color roses in dollar stores before. Thinking it was manmade, he examined it further, putting his hands on the table to close inspect.  He became far more interested in the flower the more he looked at it.  

It drew him in.  The color captivated him and the aura around it seemed almost important and he felt the slightest urge to pick it up.  Maybe he should, maybe it would be fine.  Reaching out slowly, he drew the rose from the vase and something akin to a jolt of electricity ignited his fingertips. It felt like he had somehow forged an instant connection with this flower as soon as the end of the vine left the crystal clear water of the vase.

Call him crazy, but he almost felt fearful of putting it back and leaving it behind.

The vase on the table cracked as Taehyung’s attention shifted to it from the rose.  Crack after crack spread on the vase before it burst into pieces.  Taehyung hunched backward to shield his face with his arms from the exploded glass.  Shards of glass sat on the table and fell to the floor as the water pooled around the wooden surface and continued to spread as it began to drip off the table’s edge onto the carpet.

“I guess, I’ll take it along.”  He muttered to himself as he turned his back.  As he exited the room, he failed to notice the woman’s portrait shift.  Her eyes opened wide- almost insane- as she smiled.  PItch black paint writing appearing under her frame in smeared text.  

WHEN THE ROSE WILTS, SO TOO WILL YOU WILT AWAY

Taehyung left the room and the hallway he returned to had changed from what he last remembered. There were random letters on the ceiling and floor, spelling something that Taehyung couldn’t make out in the dark hall.  At his feet, he felt himself kick at something when he moved to step forward.  Picking it up, he held a small blue key in his palm.  

Going further down the hall, he came to a forked path.  He could continue going down the hall or take the staircase he that presented itself to him.  The stairs lead up higher than he could see with two paintings on either side of the entrance. Two landscapes of a mountain range; one normal and the other an identical copy, only negative scaled.  Coming to a decision, he took the hall just to cover the ground floor.  Coming to just another dead end, he returned and took to the stairs up.  

At the top of the stairs was a door.  Trying it, it was locked. 

“Naturally,” he huffed.  Trying the key he had kicked with his shoe and picked up not too long ago, it fit perfectly and unlocked the door as he stepped through it.  The door slammed shut and locked on it’s own behind him.  The key becoming useless since their was no keyhole on this side of the door.  He dropped it, leaving it behind. 

He was in a library now.  It was a small room, maybe not even considered a library.  Just a room with bookshelves and books.  Like a compact study without a desk.

He didn’t recognize a lot of the books- which was surprising considering he did have a liking for reading.  He stopped scanning his fingers over the spines of books when among all the thick, sophisticated books was a tiny, thin spine of a bright red children's book.

Pulling it out from it’s snug place on the shelf, he held it in his hands.  It was a short, wide book with a picture colored very messily in what he could only assume was crayon on the cover of it.  Sitting on the ground, his back against the bookcase, he opened it’s thick, card-stock, wobbly pages.

The book was about a painter.  He had been painting his whole life, so long in fact that he started to blend his world with reality.  He would give his paintings ‘life’ and he’d treat them like they were truly alive.  In his mind, they were his friends.  

A painting of a lion toy no bigger than the size of a book, stills of sentient objects like a fan, and even paint brushes contained souls with a conscience and mind to this painter. Even a can of pressurized air that would ‘bully’ or tease the others when they least expected it was ‘alive’, leaving the painter to rip that painting of air up for it’s rotten behavior.

It ends with the painter creating a portrait of someone, something he wasn’t familiar with painting.  People weren’t his strong suit and as such, he was left in isolation for most of his life. His devotion to painting left him alone in reality because he ‘saw’ nothing else.  Thus, he created his own friend in a painting of a woman that didn't exist.  When she ‘came alive’ he even grew to fall in love with her.  The last few pages of the story were torn out, so Taehyung would never know the ending.  

“Who would fall in love with something they knew was fake?  Something painted would never come alive,” he muttered.  Considering the painter in the story to be an utter fool.

Taehyung suddenly jumped, children’s book sliding off his legs and snapping shut as the door to his left unlocked with a loud clack.  He slowly got up, picking the book back up taking it with him as he put it back on the shelf.  The door that unlocked started to whine.  The handle was rusty sounding as something from the outside started turning it.  

In a very logical fit of panic, Taehyung rushed and grabbed the thickest book he could find and held it at the ready.  Absolutely ready to whack whatever weirdo came into this room, knock them out (with luck), restrain them and then question where the hell he was. That, or a hit and run would work too.  He’d figure out which suggestion when the time came in a few moments.

The turning of the knob halted.  Stopped for so long that Taehyung thought whatever it was had gone away.  Lowering his book, he squinted his eyes at the door.  It was quiet, all he could hear was his breathing with the occasional nervous gulp of his.  

There was only but another beat of silence before chaos erupted.  

The door busted open, nearly ripping off it’s handles.  Taehyung, with a short, shocked scream, stumbled back as two things threw themselves into the room.  One was a woman, or rather half a woman.  Long brown hair cascaded down her head and her torso was decked in a red turtleneck.  Her face had a twisted demeanor etched into what would probably be a beautiful face otherwise.  From her waist down was nothing but a picture frame.  Her lower half didn’t exist and was replaced with a black void background and frame with gold edges.  It was like some horror effect that dragged around behind her everywhere she crawled. 

The second was an actual woman.  Legs, arms, chest and all.  Dressed in ruined overalls, a long sleeved white shirt with yellow stripes up the arms.  Tacky, torn brown boots on her feet as she stomped and kicked away at the woman in the frame.  She was wielding... a stick?  Or what looked like what may be part of what was once another picture frame.  End jagged and just asking for someone to get a nasty splinter.

The woman in the frame hissed at her like a dog as her clawed hands moved to drag her across the floor towards the actual woman’s legs.  The framed lady moved faster than Taehyung imagined was possible.  Dragging her half body across the floor and slithering with an absurd amount of grace like a snake.

The lady in the frame latched onto the woman’s leg causing her to in turn repeatedly kick at the frame’s head with her opposite foot.  The frame screamed as she was kicked against a bookshelf.  Books fell, toppling onto the frame as she screeched.  However, her insistent screeching silenced when the real woman took the jagged end of the broken frame she wielded and thrust it into the frames exposed and vulnerable head.

Red ‘paint’ erupted from the frame like a fountain before it became completely limp.  The woman shook the frame piece around, whipping it like a sword after a battle to remove the blood of the slain.  Then, the woman looked over her shoulder at Taehyung. He froze in place, his shoulders jumping at him finally being noticed.

Your eyes widened as they locked onto Taehyung’s. Shocked to see him there.  Your eyes were an unusually bright colored abyss with such a dull contrasting look in them.  He wasn’t sure if he could even see his reflection if he were standing right in front of you.  

You gasped lightly as if being hit with some sort of realization before turning to face him fully. Even if you were a good 10 feet from him he flinched. More than a little bit intimidated with you still holding your broken frame piece and witnessing you pretty much kill what he would label a Feminine Frame Monster.

“You’re the one everyone is looking for…” You muttered to herself.  There was a commotion beyond the door that was hanging pathetically onto its frame.  From down the hall, scraping and screeching were heard in a humming echo. You looked over your shoulder before you moved towards Taehyung, looking at him and grabbing his bicep with little hesitation. You yanked his arm to signal that you were clearly going to be ordering him around.

Taehyung felt like a doll being pulled around by a child.  You were shorter than he expected for someone who just took out a monster as he peered over your head, like a child standing as high as possible to peek out a window. Your grasp on him loosened as you moved to grab his wrist instead.  You pulled him slightly again, snapping him out of whatever daze he was in as he finally looked at you again.

“We need to go.  More of them are coming, and unless you want to end up painting fodder, you’ll follow me.”  He looked down at you as you finally noticed the rose peeking out of his jacket pocket.  You gasped, pointing at it with your other hand that whipped around the red stained frame piece.  “Hide that!” You seethed as Taehyung’s hand immediately shoved itself into his pocket to cover the rose before she began to run out of the room, Taehyung in tow; against his will, might he add.

The halls he was being dragged through were inconsistent and almost gave him a headache. First running through purple halls, then red filled with empty black picture frames.  Zooming through green halls that had arms shooting out of them, claws skimming over Taehyung’s jacket and reaching for his rose.  He pulled it from his pocket and held it to his chest to keep it safe from anyone- thing- trying to grab it.  Finally, your running came to a stop as you swung open a door before shoving him by his shoulder. You slammed the door securely shut before locked it.  

When the door was shut, Taehyung took a moment or two to look around as he tried to regain his breath.  

He was in a blue room now.  Two bookshelves with almost nothing on them and a small table next to a violet couch.  The table held a cerulean vase on it with water filled inside almost to the point it overflowed.  On the back wall was only one giant frame with a pure white puzzle glued one the inside of it.

“A milk puzzle?” He questioned more to himself than anything else. You sighed when it was quiet and then collapsed onto the blue carpeted floor.  Catching Taehyung’s attention, he panicked as he ran to your side, kneeling beside you and debating on whether or not he should put his hand on your shoulder. You panted and pushed your forehead against the door. Hair hiding your face as it hung, falling off your heaving shoulders. “Are you.. Alright?” Taehyung asked slowly- cautiously.

You only nodded as you finally caught your breath.  Sitting up straighter, taking one last breath to even your breathing before you finally looked up at Taehyung.  He knelt higher than your head level as he confirmed that he indeed couldn’t find his reflection in your eyes he stared into.

“You’re the intruder that everyone is looking for in the Gallery, aren’t you?” She questioned.  He blinked in confusion.  

“Intruder?”

“You don’t belong here and you need to get out of here as soon as you can.  This isn’t a place for someone like you.” Taehyung wasn’t understanding anything.  You held your hand out towards him, almost asking for something.  “Your rose. You still have it right?” He nodded as he showed the rose he still held cradled to his chest. He was thankful the vine was thornless, or else his palm would have been riddled with small, painful punctures. 

For some reason, he felt like his rose would be safe with you, so he easily handed it over. You took it and looked over it’s petals.  Admiring the shade of blue, you shifted her gaze to look from beautiful azure petals and into Taehyung’s eyes.  “What’s your name?” You asked.

“Taehyung,” he answered instinctively. You nodded at the sound of it, committing it to memory. “Yours?” 

“I’m Y/n,” you curtly told him as you lifted the rose back into the conversation.  “Do you know how important this rose is?” He shook his head.  You sighed as you moved to face him fully, sat relaxed on the floor. Lifting your arm to bring you opposite hand to touch one of the petals your fingertips dusted around a single soft petal.  You held it with delicacy before your grip changed and your nails gripped and plucked it off the stem.  

Taehyung gasped, a pain shooting through his chest as his hand flew up to grip his shirt. His one-knee kneeling position changed as both knees hit the carpet. 

It felt like his heart just skipped a beat and almost seemed to stall for a moment.  Shaken up, he wasn’t sure why, but it felt almost harder to breathe?  Air came more difficult to take and his energy felt zapped.  The one petal you had pulled off fluttering to the ground at his knees.

You plucked another one, the second petal fluttering to the floor to join the first.  More pain shot through him again as he found himself bracing himself forward, the hand that wasn’t clenching around the front of his shirt, falling in front of him to join his knees on the carpet.  It felt like someone was wrapping a rope around his chest and squeezing the life out of him.  Crushing his ribs and lungs suffocating him.

“What,”  he gasped, “are you doing... to me?” He sputtered as he coughed.  He heard you move before you were at his back, picking him up and bringing him weakly to his feet.  You practically dragged him to the couch, his feet dragging on the carpet the whole way before he fell into the cushions.  

As you stood over him, you pluck another two petals off and he let out small, silent coughs of protest. Whatever you were doing, he was ready for you to stop. He really thought he was dying. 

“Watch,” you told him as the dark bags under his eyes materialized.  You walked to the crystal water-filled vase.  Taking his rose that had lost four petals already, you placed the stem over top of the vase and dropped it inside.  The stem hit the water and immediately Taehyung’s eyes widened as he watched the petals regrow right before his eyes.  

The rose seemed to glow with a calming, almost reassuring, blue hue for but a moment before the pain in his body stopped.  The pangs of hurt disappeared from within his eyes as he let go of his chest and the pain faded.  It was like the pain was just a hallucination.  You slowly withdrew the rose from the vase and handed it back to him as you move to stand in front of him. He had moved from laying in pain on the couch to sitting himself up properly.

Taehyung gently took the rose from you.  “When the rose wilts,” you start.

“So too will I…” Taehyung finishes, unsure on how he knew how to finish the phrase. It was like it was just engraved on his tongue as he said it. The dawning realization that this flower was tied to his life grew into his mind as he spun it between his thumb and forefinger.  “But, I-I don’t understand.”  He shook his head.  You moved to sit beside him, ready to answer whatever questions he has.  “What’s going on? Where the hell am I?”

“You’re in the gallery.”

“No,” he denied curtly, lifting his hand in denial.  “I was in the gallery.  Now, I’m here.”

“You were in the real gallery.  Somehow, you got sucked into this one.  The gallery you were in isn’t where you are now and frankly I don’t know how you got here.  This is a fabricated reality created from a man’s paintbrush.  A human shouldn’t be able to come here.” You got up and grabbed a small, face down picture frame from the top one of the small, dusty, bookshelves.  Bringing it back with you to the couch, you handed it to him.  

Taehyung recognized the man in the photo. “I know this artist. He died a long time ago.” Though his name escaped the young artist.  

“Guena. That’s the pen name he used in his profession.” You looked around at the small room.  “This room, and all the other rooms too.  Every painting and creature here was created by him and his desire to create souls for his non-living creations,” you told him. “But, things are different now. Everything is distorted,” you scowled.  

Just like the picture book he found.  The creations were given life by the hands of the creator then the creator died, leaving all of his ‘lives’ behind.  If that were so, then it would be no wonder why everything would begin to fall apart. It was akin to a circus without a Ring Master. Taehyung furrowed his brows before he placed the photo beside him on the cushions.

He looked up to you, into your dull eyes that somehow held the most breathtaking color.  

“How long have you been here?” He asked.

“I’ve been here since the beginning and I will remain here until the end.”  

“Do you have a rose, like I do?” He felt like he knew the answer, but nonetheless less you shook your head.  He knew what he wanted to really ask, but he didn’t know how to ask it- what words should he use?  To you, who he had just met in the most fictional turn of events that he still can’t wrap his head around.  You were nothing like him and he knew that.

“I’m a painting, Taehyung.”

When you told him the truth he was already beginning to suspect, it wouldn’t be too far fetched to say he still internally panicked.  Something that looks so human, yet wasn’t at all.  You were nothing but brush strokes and shapes somehow given life.  You probably crawled straight out of a frame too.

You saw the emotion flash through his eyes and you were almost jealous of how his eyes could change.  Unlike yours that were stuck, his could tell you a whole story without the use of words.  Anyone in this place could tell immediately he was human because of those eyes. 

In respect to him and his unease, you made sure to keep your distance.  You truly weren’t a threat.  All you wanted was for him to get out, and to get out safely.  You’ve been watching your world fall apart since Guena died.  Every creature that was alive was losing their ‘mind’ and it was only a matter of time before it started to infect you too.  It was a disease that humans didn’t need to get involved in.

“I’m going to be your escort out of here.  With your lack of reaction when in the face of danger, you’d probably get yourself killed in an instant.”  You moved back to the door where you sat on the floor, you're back against the wood as you looked at him across the room on the couch.  “You rest for now and make sure to keep your rose safe with you.  This room is safe, so you don’t need to worry about something happening.”

Then, you stopped talking.  Taehyung almost felt guilty.  You were a painting, and you couldn’t show all the emotions that the could.  You weren’t actually real after all, so it was normal to assume you had a expressional limit.  He watched as you sat against the door completely silent and still with closed eyes.  He was unsure if you were really sleeping or if you even could.  

He looked at the rose in his hands.  This rose is so important and he didn’t know how to fathom what the hell was going on. It all happened too fast and he couldn’t begin to process it all. 

He missed Namjoon as he knew that he was probably still wandering around the real gallery looking for him. He wondered if Namjoon managed to get out since he wasn’t at the front or if the lights kicked back on and he was alright.  He lifted and looked at the photo of Guena beside him again.  

It was odd.  That was the man who somehow created this world and he was also the same painter who created Leia. The painting that gave the real gallery it’s name.  Taehyung never got to see that painting in the gallery- not that he was able too see much to begin with, and he’s not so sure he wanted to at the moment.  

Taehyung was a sympathetic and empathetic person- always had been and probably always will be.  The line between the two blurred in his case.  So, when he looked at you, he felt a sense of guilt as you kept away from him.  You spoke curtly, yet kindly.  You didn’t seem to have an ulterior motive and you seemed trustworthy enough; especially compared to that framed lady from before.  

You brought him here after all. A secluded room and you didn’t attack him or take his rose.  You plucked four petals off his rose, but then turned around and healed him. You even returned it, he knew it was all to prove the point of its importance.  You weren’t going to hurt him and he believed that with his whole heavy-beating heart.  

“Y/n? Are you sleeping?”

Your eyes remained closed, but you answered. “No. I can’t.  I’m a painting, remember?”

“Okay. Then, I have a question,” he said as you slid your eyes open.  Looking at him from your place by the door.  “That thing you killed?” Did you kill it? Could paintings die?  “What was it?”

“They’re called, The Ladies.”

“They? There’s more?” Taehyung’s voice slightly quivered at the idea of more hissing, hacking, floor-crawling, psycho half ladies being out there.  

You nodded.  “What you saw was only one of many Ladies.  She was a Lady in Red.  There are also Ladies in Green and Ladies in Blue.  They’re more common than most.  About as common as mannequins.”

“Excuse me? Mannequins?” You looked at him as a shiver ran up his body.  Goosebumps littered his covered skin.  “I fucking hate mannquins,” he seethed unconsciously to himself.  The look he put on his face was that of disgust and pure anguish and yet somehow twisted into an almost comical look.  You almost smirked at his foul language and facial cues.

Your smirk twisted and soon you burst out into laughter at his face that just seemed so comical to you.  A face someone like you couldn’t pull off because you were fake.  He looked at you as you laughed at him.  The tension that was in the air seemed to be shattered like a nail being driven into a pane of glass.  Soon, Taehyung was laughing at you laughing at him.  Your fit ended as you smiled and shook your head, calming down.  

Taehyung was more than happy to try and get a small nap in now that he knew that you weren’t completely devoid of emotion.  Someone, fake or not, who can laugh and smile like that surely wasn’t a bad person.  

-x-x-x-

Taehyung was startled from his small rest when a tremor shook the room.  Panicking as he sat straight, rim-rod up, you were already on your feet and looking at the door.  You half expected something to charge inside, even when this place was supposed to be somewhere to rest up and be away from any sort of harm. Taehyung flung his legs off the sofa and stood up so quickly he had a wave of dizziness hit him as he held his head and staggered.  Shaking it off, he was at your side, standing just a step behind you.

“What the hell is that?” He lightly asked, like if he was too loud something would hear him.  You just flexed your arm, the hand around the hardened piece of art frame you kept continuing to wield tightening.  “It feels like the ground is moving,” he looked down at his feet.  Like the carpet beneath him was beating in microbursts.

“It’s a distortion wave.  This happens the weaker this world gets and that means it’s only going to get that much worse outside.” You looked at him. “I hope you have some strength in those arms of yours, because you might have to use it.” Taehyung hated the thought of violence, even if it was against figuratively inanimate objects that weren’t supposed to exist . They weren’t alive, but they were still able to die.  His toes curled at the thought of it. You saw the unease in his eyes before looked back at the door, rotating your wrist and twisting around your weapon. “Just stick close to me and run like your life depends on it.”

The lack of an additional ‘because it will’ was an approved choice on Taehyung’s ears.

You opened the door and outside it was a madhouse.  Even more paintings coming alive.  Some stuck in their frames as they clawed at the air and hissed.  Distorted in sharp and blurred strokes as they swiped.  Ghastly hands and objects plunged from walls and hung from the ceiling.  Mannequins moved far faster than previously and he could hear the hissing and scraping of frames on the floor from the Ladies as they drug themselves across the floor like lethal roaches.

You bolted out of the safe room, Taehyung hot on your heels as he stayed immediately behind you.  You dashed down halls, staying in the center away from the walls and anything reaching for you.  You kept Taehyung at your side, pulling him to and fro away from anything that could harm him if he got too close.  You rounded corners in rushed steps or slides as Taehyung occasionally grabbed the back of your overalls to keep you from skidding into the walls from your unstoppable momentum. You swung and hacked at anything that came close and kept them at bay the best you could with your frame.

Taehyung pointed ahead of you, a set of doors ahead.  

“Go into one of those!” He wasn’t sure where he got off telling you where to go. Especially since he was literally the worse qualified person to do so. You didn’t seem to argue back though, so he continued. “The, uh, the yellow one!” He yelled over the chaos.  You just looked back at him slightly over your shoulder, brows creased.

“Which one is the yellow one?!”  You shouted as he slightly stumbled before he grabbed your wrist and took off, running faster and ahead of you before he stopped at a door of brilliant yellow, pulled it open and pushed you inside, slamming it closed. The room was empty save for a single mirror on the back wall.  Thankfully, yellow seemed to be a pretty safe choice.

Taehyung could always trust yellow. 

“Y/n,” he called as he still held your wrist in his hand and you were hunched over.  You weren’t alive, but you seemed unwell.  “What’s wrong?” He looked at the skin under his hand that showed with the fabric of your long sleeve pushed up your wrist.  He gasped silently when he saw it’s complexion shift into a distortion of ugly, muddle colors before vanishing as quickly as it came.  “What was that?” He shook his head. “No, hold on.  Different question.  Can you not see color?”

“No, I can’t.” You stood back up, yanking your wrist out of his grip.  You looked at your skin as you hissed.  The distortion was starting to hit you and the stages would eventually progress into a problem- but he didn’t need to know that.  “I was painted as portrait by a lonely, selfish painters.  He didn’t think to give me the ability to see color so, I can’t see colors or tell them apart.” You shook your wrist out. “Is that a problem?” 

Taehyung jolted. You were clearly touchy on the topic. He cleared his throat as he rubbed the back of his neck. 

“Uh, well not really . I guess if you have me, I can point out colors for the both of us.  Why didn’t you tell me you were colorblind though?  It would’ve been pretty useful to know before we started running for our lives through some fucked-up haunted house reality check.”

“I didn’t think it was relevant.” You sighed.  You had made it this far without relying on the colors you couldn’t tell apart.  Why would now be any different?  You couldn’t even see the color your body or clothes were- if they had color to them at all. For all you knew, you were all black and white and grey. You walked to the back wall and stood in front of the mirror there, frowning as Taehyung came up behind you.  He was as black and white as you were in your eyes.  

“So, you can’t see any color?” He touched his shirt, opened his jacket and pulled his headband.  He pulled your hair up dramatically and motioned to yourself as a whole in the mirrors reflection. “Nothing at all?”

“Nothing at all,” you confirmed.  “I can conceive the idea of colors, but I’ve never had a proper need to see or tell them apart.  I know when something is a threat and I know when something is not. That’s all that really matters here.” Your indifference was something Taehyung- a painter- couldn’t comprehend.  What kind of painting can’t see their own colors? Wouldn’t that be painful or frustrating at the very least?

“Your shirt is yellow and white,” Taehyung spoke. You looked at his reflection with raised brows.  “Your overalls are faded and nearly ruined, but they’re dark blue and your boots are brown.  Your hair is really pretty and your eyes are too.” He described your outfit to you like you were a child, but he meant well. 

Just saying the color of your clothes didn’t help you grasp the concept of what it really looked like aside from the range of grey and white and black you saw through your eyes. “Maybe that doesn’t matter, but I thought you’d like to at least now,” he muttered.

“Thanks,” you told him quickly as you pulled at your sleeves, fixing and adjusting them to cover your arms properly again.  So, that light shade of grey- nearly white- was yellow? “I've never actually learned what color is what to my eyes,” you told him.  “It’s nice knowing at least one color,” you whispered more to yourself than anything.

So, it did bother you. Taehyung felt something swell like pride in his chest as he was acting the role of teacher.

If it were any other situation and if you were a person instead of a painting, he’d be glad to teach you all the colors he could. He felt it was his duty as an artist- freelance or not- to educate those about all the corners of art.  However, you weren’t real and he wasn’t at home in his studio, but in a haunted gallery of danger.  

Taehyung stepped away from you as he made his way back to the front of the room and the yellow door. He put his ear to the door, not hearing much of anything outside anymore. He hoped that you and he were able to give them the slip- as obvious as a tactic as that was. When he tried the doorknob, however, it didn not twist.  Jammed or locked, he knocked his forehead against the yellow wood in frustration.

“Of course,” he groaned before he turned to see you still standing in front of the mirror in the back of the room.  “Y/n, the door is locked. Unless we have another way out, we’re stuck in here.” He announced, making his way back to you as you seemed to finally break out of your own reflection and look around.  

“There’s got to be something we can trigger to open the door or another way out.  Just look around,” you told him.  You started wandering the room, but Taehyung only stood still, crippling his chin in thought and tapping his toes.  The room was completely empty, what could he possibly miss if nothing was in the room except a single, wall mounted mirror?

He thought of all the cheesy cliches like a floor tile trigger or a secret compartment in one of the four walls of ht boxed room.  However, he wasn’t sure if he had the patience to test out those ideas. 

Taehyung stood in front of the mirror, looking at his own reflection that scowled back towards him in thought.  He scurried away from the mirror in a haste as he yelped when the glass cracked.  Splitting down the center in crooked, ugly cracks and small splinters of glass falling from the mirror.  Your ear picked up on the continuous cracking of the mirror’s glass, unlike Taehyung and before he knew what was happening, you were yanking on his shirt and jacket collar. He choked slightly at you pulling him away from it completely as it shattered.

Bursting from the inside out, glass shot forward before raining down to the hard tile of the room.  What was left behind wasn’t the wall behind the mirror, but a matte black door with a sign hanging on the center of it. 

‘PASSAGE’

“Is that our way out?” He asked skeptically as he stood back up and brushed off his clothes of any stray shards that clung to him.  Looking back, the yellow door you both had rushed through had disappeared.  Nothing, but this black door and the walls remained.  He huffed. “Guess that answers that, huh. Wha- hey!” He called as you had already started opening the black door to enter it.  “What if it’s dangerous in there?!”

“There’s no other option,” you told him, pushing the door open before stepping into the same, thick blackness the door represented.  “Stay here if you’re so scared,” you sarcastically teased as you stepped inside. Unsurprisingly, the artist was hot on your tail inside.

The two of you walked through the black hall that stretched from the door you both entered, Taehyung behind you as he grew in more in nerves.  There were no lights and the light front he doorway was long gone behind his back.  He couldn’t see his hand in front of his face and he felt like he was losing his mind.

He could only hear your footsteps, his footsteps and the sound of your sharpened frame weapon dragging across the ground that you had taken from your belt loop as soon as the darkness became thick enough to warrant a twinge worry.

The air in the ever stretching corridor became so thick it was hard to catch his breath as he moved to grab your wrist for guidance.  Then, giggling began echoing from every direction.  Bouncing off what might be a nearby walls and drilling directly into his head. Giggling that mimicked creepy doll sound effects in horror movies, only so much worse. You, unsurprisingly, weren’t phased by the verbal taunts- Taehyung, however, was.

You could feel the trembles in his fingers around the wrist of yours he held so tightly.  You twisted your wrist, freeing it from his grasp for a moment and you could physically feel his panic the moment his fingertips left your skin. He was quick to calm down when you shot your arm back and grabbed around his hand instead.

Taehyung only grew more and more nervous as the darkness didn’t seem to end.  There was nothing in front of him or behind him to act as a beacon of any sort of hope that it would eventually come to a brightly lit finish.  Not even your presence he knew was there was any comfort to him.  It felt like the darkness was ebbing away at his sanity and choking him. 

In the midst of his silent anxiety, he thought he felt something whisper along the back of his neck.  He let out a small, strangled noise of startled protest as he unconsciously ripped his hand away and out of yours.  His panic set in tenfold now that he had no idea where you were anymore.  

He reached out in front of him in a frenzied panic as he waved his arms around in front of himself like a crazy person. He was sure if he was in light or if someone could see him, they’d think him completely bat-shit insane.  No matter where he reached or how hard he searched, he couldn’t find you. He couldn’t even hear you anymore.

Your footsteps were gone along with the frame dragging and he couldn’t hear anything aside from his own hiccuped gasps of air.  A horrible humming filled his ears and he quickly brought his palms up to the sides of his head, covering his ears to try and block out the noise.  It only seemed to intensify though, as if he had cupped around the humming and shoved it directly against his eardrums.

His knees wobbled and his footing staggered before his knees finally hit the ground.  The hard ground that was below his feet changed the moment his knees collided with it.  

Water was running along the hard ground that now felt like tile. If he ran his fingers along the floor, he would be able to trace the groves of cement and glue holding the pieces of breakable flooring together. He wasn’t able to properly process it in the overwhelming state of mind he was currently becoming more and more trapped in.  

The water that seeped into his pants drew higher and higher before engulfing his knees, thighs and eventually coming to reach his waist. His hands stayed covered over his ears as he shuttered and shook his head back and forth- trying to chalk it all up as another nightmare.  He’d wake up on another couch any moment in a room that you had taken him too.  This was just his mind playing trick on him- wasn’t it? 

The humming grew louder and louder before it went completely silent. The shift in noise to nothing was too sudden; uncomfortably sudden.  He should be relieved that the horrible, horrible sound that drilled into his head had stopped, but he was only accompanied by the newfound silence with a chill running up his spine and staying in the base of his neck .

Taehyung couldn’t move.  He shook and trembled, waist deep in cold water.

Was this what insanity felt like? Was he really losing his mind?

Then he remembered.  He was finally able to move again when he remembered his rose.  The flower that was somehow keeping him up and kicking. He moved his hands from his ears and began to frantically pat around his body.  His chest, his hips and thighs. In and out of pockets. He couldn’t find it.  He thought he had already reached his maximum panic level, but he was oh so wrong.  

He lost his rose and he felt like he was near his breaking point.  He hated that it affected him so much in both a mental and physical sense. Taehyung had normally defined himself as a more or less tough person to break down in more cases. 

He hardly had time to adjust to the life threatening new world he found himself in with art coming to life to kill him. Not to mention that his life was tied to a blue flower and he was dependent on a painting for safety.  

Taehyung was literally walking through his own personal nightmare. Who wouldn’t start losing their marbles after all that? 

His ducked down head shot up when he thought he heard something drop into the flooded flooring. He swore he heard the water ripple as it sounded like someone was walking, or dragging their feet through the water.  The sound of moving water echoed and he couldn’t pinpoint from which direction whatever was around him was moving.  Then the water pushed up his legs like something pushed the water towards him and he froze again.

He felt a breath blow against his forehead, his hair blowing in small, annoying strands that tickled his eyebrows and forehead. Whatever was wading in the water beforehand, was now right in front of him.

His mouth opened like he was going to scream, but nothing came out before the room erupted in bright lights.  He flinched under the extreme difference, the humming coming back to drill into his skull as fluorescent lights lined the ceiling above him.

When he was able to pry his eyes open, they glued themselves open at the sight of the creature in front of him.  It was… he couldn’t even begin to explain what it was.  

It looked like it had the basic shape of a person, but the limbs were far too long and lanky and it was engulfed in a thick looking, black tar that oozed and dripped from it’s appendages.  It’s head was also shaped like a humans, but turned completely sideways. The side of it’s head parallel with the floor as that same, thick blackness dripped from it’s chin that pointed directly to the left.  The mouth was nothing but a white circle in the middle of its face with black dripping between it’s ‘lips’ like jail bars.  

Whatever it was, it was horribly ugly and Taehyung thought his mind was distorting. The space around the creature seemed crackly- like tv static.  

The artist couldn’t move, he couldn’t speak, couldn’t flee.  He couldn’t even scream.  But it could. It could move, it could groan and moan, it could scream.  And it did.  

The mouth opened further into an elongated oval and a set of eyes showed themselves in small, crescents with the ends pointing to the left towards their chin on their crooked head.  The shrill shriek it let out made Taehyung’s bones rattle under his skin, like someone had just run a xylophone stick across his ribs.

It had brought it’s long, thin, dripping arms up as it seemed to ready lunge at the young, fear-stricken artist.  It screeched once more before it began to lunge, but it was immediately stopped in it’s tracks before it could do any sort of physical harm.  

The screech was cut short, as the head- in fact- the entire torso of the creature was pushed down by something.  It fell face first into the water at Taehyung’s knees as a long, golden strip of a picture frame stuck out of the back of it’s head.  

Red paint leaked out of the creatures head as it lay still and motionless in the water, dying the flooded area a shade of crystal pink. The smell wasn’t what he expected- what he expected to smell like iron, blood and death instead smelt of a flower shop, honey and lemonade.  The monster with a frame in the back of it’s head smelt like summer. 

Was it… dead?

Then he heard more footsteps, however with the lights on and eyes properly adjusted now, he could see exactly where they were coming from and who.  It turns out that somehow he had made it into a room- a small cube area that had no windows and only one door that was now thrown open.  Through that door, your body was slouched against the frame out of breath- once again ironic since you weren’t alive- and dripping blue drops of paint from your chin.

He was speechless- no longer from fear, but from shock.  

You wadded through the pink water to stand in front of him.  You turned to the creature you had just taken down by hurling your frame piece at it and quickly pulled the frame out.  Red spurt from the wound like a pathetic, paint-filled fountain. Before long, it was simply oozing and rolling off the skull of the creature into the water before it started to completely fade away like ash.

You looked back to Taehyung who had disappeared previously from your grasp and you knelt in front of him. Waving your hand in front of his face, he didn’t respond.  You looked down and around him to see his hand stuck on the inside of his jacket- like he had stopped looking for something mid-search.  

“Tae-”

“Rose,” he whispered urgently, interrupting you.  You gently dug into the small pouch you had on your side- where you got that, he wasn’t sure- and before a moment longer passed, blue petals were shown in his line of sight.  That seemed to finally start to snap him out of it.  “That’s my,” he whispered, the rest of his words dying on his tongue.

“You dropped it earlier when you let go of my hand,” you told him.  You gently took his hand from the inside of his jacket and placed the flower delicately inside his palm.  “You need to take better care of that if you want to get out of here.”

One, small tear fell from his eye before he was throwing his arms around your shoulders and pulling you towards him.  Your face fell into his shoulder as you felt him shake around you. You raised your arms tentatively and started to pat at his back awkwardly.  

“Don’t worry,” you shushed, as you stared at the back wall. You could hear the ashy pieces of the creature disengerate behind your back as his tremors quelled to shivers and soon he was still and his breath wasn’t ragged anymore.  He had calmed himself down as he squeezed you against his chest.

“Thank you,” he breathed.

-x-x-x-

Once Taehyung was able to move again without shaking or fearing for his safety and he had properly calmed down, you led him out of the room he had been trapped in.  Going down another long hall with nothing but lights lining the walls, he briefly stopped at a plaque on the wall next to another door.  This door wasn’t colorful or odd- it looked so ordinary it stood out among the bright purple hall he stood in.

“Gallery ahead,” he muttered, reading aloud as the sighed at the plaque that had an arrow pointing ahead beyond the door.  

Opening the door, there was no noise and all was quiet.  Taehyung followed you as he looked around.  

True to the plaque, it really was just another portion of the gallery.  Proper paintings on the walls with names below it, statues sectioned off with rope and dividers, mantles with busts- it too looked like an authentic, ordinary gallery.  The door you both passed through shut with a soft click as he looked behind at it still jumpy from earlier on. He was thankful it didn’t slam at least.

The floors were tile and shining like they had just been cleaned and waxed.  The walls were covered in a boring, but oddly suiting wallpaper fit for an aged art gallery while chandeliers hung along the ceiling lighting the place in a soft, glowing light.

“This is a nice break from the rest of the place,” Taehyung told you, catching up to your back as you were making your way through the place.  He came to walk beside you, looking at your eyes that couldn’t see any color.

“It is a section of the world that hasn’t been touched too badly by the distortion. If anything is alive here, it shouldn’t be a threat,” you assured him.  The fact you had put away your makeshift weapon put him further at ease.  He looked back and forth at the walls lined with art.  

This was what he was hoping to experience coming into the real gallery today.

Just browsing around to try and spark something in him to create something new.  To inspire him- not threatening his very life after sucking him into an actual nightmare world. He briefly jumped when a painting of a black cat blinked before it stretched and jumped right out of it’s canvas. He meowed up at him as he rubbed against his leg before scampering off somewhere else.  His padding paw steps disappearing down the hall.

Taehyung almost smiled at that.

The two of you walked in silence, the only sound in the gallery was the sound of both of your footsteps and the occasional sound of harmless art brought to life.  Taehyung stared at your back as you walked ahead of him and he began to wonder.  He wondered about a lot.

He wondered what would happen to you when he managed to get out of this place.  What would happen if he tried to maybe take you with him? Could you survive outside this place since you weren’t really born?  Would this gallery even exist when he leaves it or would it cease to be?

He stopped in his tracks he he caught himself. Why was he even thinking about taking you with him? 

The young artist was ripped from his thoughts when he saw your body jerk forward before you were staggering on your feet then falling to your knees on the tiled floors of the peaceful part of the gallery.

“Shit,” he cursed under his breath as he jogged up behind you.  He placed his hand on the middle of your back as he knelt beside you and dipped his head down to try and catch a glimpse of your face. “Y/n, hey!” He called as your body shook and heaved like you were a living breathing person in the midst of a breathing fit.  You were a painting with a soul, but not really alive so did you breathe? He found himself asking that to himself way too often.  

He shook his head- that wasn’t the thought he needed to overthink right now. “What’s wrong? Talk to me,” he tried coaxing you.

You just shook your hand towards him; whether to shut him up or shoo him away he wasn’t sure, but he didn’t move from your side regardless.  When your arm raised, he saw beneath your sleeve a sort of discoloration. It was just like what he saw earlier in the mirror room.  

He took your wrist in his hand as he pushed your sleeve up when you suddenly fell into him. He jolted as he rolled you to lay on your side- your head lolling off in a way that looked uncomfortable with your shoulder pushing into the ground. He lifted your head, putting it on his leg to try and help you at least a bit.  

You twitched as he examined your skin. It looked like your arm was covered in a horrific bruise.  Ugly splotches of black, blue, purples, greens and yellows engulfed your arm like a tattoo sleeve gone horribly wrong. His brows dipped as he looked at the rest of your arm before he looked at the other.  It was the same thing, but not nearly as severe in terms of color and blotches.  It was like it was spreading.  

“What the hell?” He murmured as you seemed to be calming down.  You pushed yourself of his leg to lay on your back on the ground as your chest stopped heaving and you stopped twitching.  You closed your eyes, focusing on coming back down from whatever attack had ailed you and before too much longer, you were forcing yourself to sit up again. 

Taehyung sat beside you, slowly drawing his hand back and away from you as you pushed your sleeve back down to cover your ruined skin.  He narrowed his eyes at you as you looked back at him.  For someone who wasn’t really alive, you seemed to have bags under your eyes.  Something was straining you and you weren’t telling him about it.

“So?” He asked with a sharp tone as you just returned his word with a sigh as an answer.  He wanted an explanation and he wanted it sooner rather than later.

“It’s not-”

“Tell me or I’m gonna annoy you continuously until you give in. We can do this the easy way or the hard way.”

You ticked your eyebrow up at him. “You’re threatening me? You realized I’m the one who’s been taking down everything that has attacked us so far, right?”

“It’s not a threat,” he promised as he crossed his arms sitting on the floor. He looked like a child.  In the end you let out another defeated sigh. There would be no point in arguing with him.  He’d probably run you in verbal circles until he got his way anyway.

“You know how the rest of the gallery is corrupted, you’ve seen it. Everything in this world that is art is affected.” You grabbed the sleeve of your arm as you sat more comfortably.  “Just because I’m fighting against it now, doesn’t mean I’m uneffected.  It’s a distortion that affects the arts- good or bad- and we can’t do anything about it. I’m just stubborn.”

Taehyung sat for a moment before opening his mouth again.

“So, you’re going to turn bad too?” He asked timidly.

“It’s unfortunate, but inevitable.”

“That’s crazy,” he whispered to the floors when his chin dipped down.  He groaned as he brought his hand up to ruffle his lightly colored hair.  You had been protecting him ever since you found him and now there’s a chance you could turn against him too? That was just crazy. You wouldn’t just turn on him like that, right? It’d be gradual and not just flipping a switch from sane to insane, right?

He was pulled from his thoughts again when you moved to stand and he quickly mirrored your actions to stand in front of you.  His arms hovered around your waist and back in order to catch you if you happened to fall again.

“Whatever happens, we just need to get you out of here as soon as possible.  If we find the exit quickly, we can get you out before I completely lose it.” You turned, ready to start walking off again to explore further when Taehyung shot his hand out and caught your arm.

“Wait!” He shouted, the echoes of his voice bouncing off the white walls adorned with art that wasn’t malicious.  “Will you be okay?” He asked even though he really knew the answer.  You had just told him that you were going to eventually turn from who you are now to someone else- one way or the other.

You smiled at him, trying your best to reassure him but didn’t offer him a verbal answer.  You slowly pulled his hand off you before you were telling him to follow you.  His arm dropped back to his side slowly as he looked at your back with sad eyes.  

He didn't know what hurt worse; the fact that you basically just told him ‘no’ or the fact that you didn’t say anything for him to understand because even if your eyes are just strokes of paint, they held so much in them and it twisted his gut.  

Taehyung wasn’t very fond of the idea that he had to leave the peaceful atmosphere of the white gallery and go back out into the one that actively tried to kill him.  His rose was safe in the zipped pocket inside his jacket as opposed to the outside pockets at his sides. He watched before he began to follow you once again.  

The drastic difference between the white, bright gallery and the dark, dim, purple backlight one just from passing through a door still through him for a loop each time he went through another passageway.  He stopped trying to guess what kind of room he’d be going into, because he’d probably guess wrong every time if he did. 

You stayed on guard with your picture frame piece and he stood beside you-more ready to throw down with a sculpture than before- even if he still didn’t want to. He’d tell you what colors were where and lead you in directions if you asked if a certain color was around.  

He briefly wondered how you managed to get around before he got there with your inability to see color, but then he stopped thinking about it because if you just went into a room that was filled with a problem- you probably just got rid of it.  You were more than capable, you’ve proved that more than enough by this point.

“Taehyung,” you called from ahead of him. He had been so lost in thought his steps had slowed down and he was further back away from you than he knew.  “Don’t lag behind.”

“Oh, right,” he called before he was jogging back to your side.  Following you through a doorway, he wasn’t as shocked as he should have been to see a room that was dark with only a trunk inside of it.  Walking in, you stepped up to it before you tapped it with your frame piece to see if something was inside.  

There was only silence before the lid of it burst open.  

You jolted, stepping in front of Taehyung as he raised his hand instinctively to maybe try and throw a punch at whatever might leap out of it, but nothing came out.  The lid bounced against the back of the trunks frame. The inside of it looked like a pink cloud- it wasn’t empty, just unsettlingly pink.  It was like cotton candy or maybe something thicker like thread that could trap you if you touched it.

“What-,” you started before you were yelping into direct fight or flight.  The still pinkness in the trunk jolted before it shot out like sentient strings and separated into long, thick arms of darkened red that wrapped around you and Taehyung’s bodies.  

Your backs were forced together and to your misfortune, your frame was knocked from your hand and clattered to the ground.  The thick strands of red wrapped tightly around your midsections and squeezed as it entangled around your legs and arms and even around your forehead to keep you completely still. Immobilizing the two of you, it then started to slowly reel you in.  

Your feet dragged across the ground and your toes lifted up and off the ground at some point as Taehyung was left to keep fumbling over his own feet.  He wouldn’t fall no matter how tangled his feet got since he was bound and tied so tightly.

The pair of you were stopped in front of the trunk that seemed to bulge in size- like it was taking into account the size of two people before you were swallowed into the cloud of pink turned red.  The sound of the trunks lid slammed above you both boomed like thunder before you were falling.  

It felt weightless, but you could feel the wind rushing past you as you were sure you were coming closer to hitting the ground.  

It was pitch black all around, but you felt Taehyung reach for you- now freed from the strands of red thread that had encased you both. You felt him wrap his arms around your shoulders from in front of you.  His chest pushed against yours before his weight overcame your own and he was falling first in front of you.

The fall wasn’t long and it didn’t feel like enough to particularly kill a person, but when the two of you hit the ground with Taehyung bracing the fall you were quick to shoot up from his chest as he groaned laying on his back.  

“Are you stupid?!” You scolded as he winced both from your shrieks and the pain of the fall. He sat up, rubbing his back as he just weakly laughed.  

“Yeah, so?” Your eye twitched at his lame excuse for a joke at a time like this. As he recovered from his fall and came back to his senses that weren’t cloaked in sensitive fall-stricken shock, you looked around to where exactly you two fell.  

It looked like you were pulled into a child’s coloring book.  Scratchy, uneven lines of what looked to be crayon or oil chalks were used to make up houses, roads and not too far from you both was a mass of uneven, patchy blue chalk that you assumed was a lake of sorts from its size.  It was dark, but it was lit with small patchy lights lining walls or suspending overhead like floating light bulbs.

You made it to your feet after you helped Taehyung, grabbing his hand and offering your shoulder for him to lean on.  He graciously took it and you were quick to ask if his rose was alright.  He dug it out of the inside pocket of his jacket and showed it to you.  A petal or two were missing, but you assumed it was caused from the fall.  

No wonder he hurt so much, you mentally noted with an eye roll; his rose was damaged.  

You looked around and peered over the chalked created houses.  Maybe if you investigated inside one of them, you’d find a vase for him to use to restore his rose petals.  You hiked his arm over your shoulder for a more firm grasp on his body's weight on you.

“Alright, first things first,” you started as you got his attention. “We need to find a vase with water to get your rose to grow.  That should take the pain away.” He muttered in agreement before both of you walked- ambled- off.  

Walking with a body hanging off you was a lot harder than you initially though it would be.  He would walk the best he could, but the injury and loss of his petals were obviously affecting him more than he was willing to let on. 

The first house you both entered was a small one outlined in pink chalk and inside was just one big open room with a drawn, blue couch, a table and a coat rack.  On the table was a vase, but it was empty.  If it wasn’t all black and white to you, maybe you would have found the place almost charming in it’s own way- but it was just dull.

You quickly moved Taehyung to the couch and told him to stay put.  Taking the vase you left the house and quickly moved down the chalked, dirt road down the lake you saw.  Maybe you could put some of the fake water into the vase and just somehow make it work, who knows.

Making it to the lake, you knelt and dipped the vase into the mass of blue as it filled the vase.  Your arm twitched before it was jerked and convulsed with it’s own corruption again and the vase slipped from your fingers for just a moment- but that moment was enough to lose it in the chalky blue mass of scribbles.  

Without much thought, you dove into the water, quickly snatched it back and as fast as possible swam and pulled yourself out of the mass before anything that could possibly be in the lake even thought about grabbing you.  

You huffed in annoyance as your clothes were dusted with chalk and even though it wasn’t real water- you felt damp.  You shook out your sleeves before you got to your feet and went back to Taehyung who was waiting in the house you left him laying on the couch with heavy breaths.

When he saw you, his eyebrow quirked.

“What’re you covered in? Dust?” He asked as you just shook your head, kneeling at the couch side and replacing the vase filled with vibrant blue on the table again.  

“Forget about it. Give me your rose, please.” your hand was outstretched and waiting as he quickly pulled it out and handed it to you. You hesitantly placed the stem into the water and let it sink as the blooms of the petals rested against the rim of the vase.  You heard Taehyung sigh as if his pain was floating away and to your relief, two petals grew once again. “Thank goodness that actually worked,” you sighed.

Taehyung chuckled beside you. “Yeah, no kidding.  That was all assumption- if that had taken more petals off, I think I would’ve passed out or something.”

“You mangled to take four petals of damager before,” you told him. “Besides, you weren’t that injured,” you told him as you took the rose back out of the vase and handed it to him to replace in his jacket. “You just don’t know how to take a fall.”

“Excuse me,” he scoffed in disbelief. “Who was the one who took the brunt of that fall, huh?” He sat up and crossed his arms like a child pouting. “A thank you would be nice to hear, you know.”

Your lips tilted in a smile as you moved to stand up and stretched your arms across your chest.  You felt helpless without your frame piece that you had lost before you wound up here with the young, human artist.  Looking at him like this, you wouldn’t think he’d be in as much danger as he is.  He was in a whole different dimension with enemies at his back almost constantly, but here he was pouting for a ‘thank you’.  You chuckled.

“Thank you, Taehyung,” you told him. You weren’t sure if it was the dim lights or maybe your vision going because of your own distorting body, but you thought you saw the blank shade of his skin to your eyes darken.  Like color had possibly bloomed over his cheeks.

He cleared his throat before you could ask and he was getting up off the couch, walking to the door of the house. He was ready to leave, but stopped short.  You came up behind him and opened your mouth to ask him what the problem was when he spun around and shushed you.  He pushed you back and led you behind the couch, crouching down and covering you with himself as you both hid.

You had no idea what he thought he heard, but you kept quiet before you heard the door of the house you both were in squeak open.  You looked at Taehyung as he looked up, focusing on listening for any indication of someone coming closer to your hiding place.  

You racked your brain trying to think of what or who could be following you both.  Had someone been inside the trunk before you and had seen you at the lake? You weren’t sure.  You heard them pad into the house before they stopped and then a crash sounded through the walls of the room. The footsteps then walked back out of the room and the door slammed shut.  

Taehyung and you stared at each other, still remaining silent for a few more moments before determining you were safe. He let out a breath as he peeked over the couch first and scanned the room.  There was no one.  

“It’s clear,” he whispered as he stood up and moved away from you as you stood up next to him.  Your brows dipped as you saw the vase you had just used to heal Taehyung’s rose shattered into pieces with splashes of blue- grey to your eyes- dusted around the table top and blew onto the floor.  

You looked at the door with a narrowed gaze.  Just what was that? Could something you didn’t know about be wandering around? Then again, even you didn’t know everything there is to know about this gallery. 

“I think we need to hurry,” you muttered, Taehyung quickly agreed as you both scurried out of the house.  The two of you walked along the dusty, chalk paths before you were stepping up a set of stairs back into a proper gallery. It led to a section that you recognized. You started walking with ease, knowing what was where in this section and Taehyung took notice of that.  

“Do you know where we are? I mean, you’ve known a good part of where we’ve been, but I mean-”

“This is my section of the gallery. My frame is hanging around here, so yes I know it.” You told him, interrupting his rambling for an answer to his question.

“Your frame?”

“Yes. You know I’m just a painting. The frame I was placed in and the frame I came out of is around here.”

“Can I see it?” He asked without much thinking before you stopped and turned to him.  He almost slapped a hand over his mouth to keep himself from saying anything else without a filter before you turned on your heel and started off around a corner. “Y/n! Wait!”

“You wanted to see my frame, didn’t you?” You popped your head back around the corner to motion him to follow after you and he did so.  He trailed you- just as he had been- and eventually you took him to a deadend hall.  At the end of it, on the wall facing the rest of the narrow corridor, was an empty frame. “This is it,” you told him, motioning to it with as little care as you would as if you were showing off a bag of dog food.

The frame was silver and engraved with all sorts of weaves across it.  It was sturdy and not undamaged.  The glass of the frame was broken; however it must’ve been broken from the inside if the evidence of the glass at his feet was anything to go by. You must have burst from the inside out and created the glass mess in front of it.  The plaque under the frame read ‘Leia’ as the young artist looked back to you with wide eyes.

“You’re Leia?” He asked. At the discovery he had a pang of small guilt in his stomach from thinking earlier on that he didn’t even want to see the painting since the rest of the gallery was out for his blood. You blinked at him as you nodded simply.

“That was my title when I was created, but I was given a new name because I was granted a soul and free will within this dimension.” You crossed your arms. “Why does it matter what my art piece name is?”

“It's just that the gallery I came from was named after you,” he told you. “I guess I just never expected you to be the last piece of art from someone- not that it’s a bad thing!” He defended at the unimpressed look in your painted eyes. “It was the discovery of that painting that gave my gallery the name it has. You’re like the main centerpiece of everything.”

You looked blankly at your empty frame.  

“I doubt that the ‘Leia’ in the real gallery is like me. I may be ‘Leia’, but I’m more Y/n. It sounds ridiculous, but that painting isn’t me.” You softly traced the silver frame with your fingers before you were turning around again. “Come on, we’ve wasted enough time. No more detours.”

Taehyung was quick to chase after you but he couldn’t think of a thing to say to you.  He wanted to talk to fill the silence that gaped between the two of you.  Taehyung kept telling himself that he had no reason to try and figure you out, you were a painting for God’s sake.  What could he possibly want to know?

Other than everything.

He wondered about a great many things and couldn’t help but overthink what you may or may not have been through.  How did you feel about this world? Did you consider it home or maybe a sort of prison you were unfortunately born into. How did this world look to your colorless eyes? Just how did it feel being a painting exactly? 

When you were ‘born’ and thrust into a world that was already starting to collapse, how did you survive? Did you fight from the beginning, or not? He wanted to ask all these questions, but he knew that he wouldn’t. It wasn’t his place to ask anyway- this world isn’t his and you weren’t even human.

Taehyung followed behind you as a feeling in his gut started to bloom. He raised his hand to his stomach and palmed it through his shirt as his steps slowed and he watched you ever so slowly get further ahead of him.  He felt like he couldn’t do this without answers.  So, he acted idiotically and moronically and selfishly.  

Without you realizing, you got separated from Taehyung once again- only this time on purpose.  The next time you turned around to check on why he was so silent, you stopped in your tracks not seeing him around you.  

“Dammit,” you seethed.

-x-x-x-

Taehyung had back tracked all the way to your empty portrait frame.  He stood in front of it once more as his fingers traced the letters of your plaque. The letters spelling out ‘Leia’ in fine script before he was tracing the frame itself.

He felt selfish for wanting to know about you- a painting- and keeping himself here in a world that actively tried to kill him longer than he needed to be. He scoffed at himself, his mind remembering how he had judged the artist in the book he had read before and how the artist got attached to something like a painting. 

“Talk about the pot calling the kettle black,” he chided to himself.  

He needed to go home and although he understood that, he wanted to know more about the living painting that had been protecting him up until this point.  The same painting who was slowly getting infected with some weird, paint disease that could turn you against him at the drop of a pen.

He knew he was pressed for time. Time was precious, but he couldn’t help but feel like you were too.

Taehyung inspected the black emptiness of the frame that you had come from and reached his hand out.  His hand jerked back when the pads of his fingers weren’t met with the sturdy wall that the frame hung on.  Instead, the blackness encased by the silver frame rippled like murky water.  It was like a pool of ink as he reached out to it again and started to sink his hand into it further.

He wondered how deep that ink went, how far could he reach inside before it stopped him.  Could he be able to submerge himself fully into it, or maybe crawl into the frame like a painting himself.  

“But then, what would that accomplish?” He questioned himself with a half-sarcastic attitude. However, even if he knew it was more than likely fruitless, he started to climb inside anyways.  The frame was big, so he had no problem with grabbing the edges of the frame, lifting his leg over the bottom ledge of it and heaving himself inside the blackness.  

He braced himself, feeling like it would feel like that monster from before that encased him in terror as it threatened his very life.  However, this blackness wasn’t like before.  It was dark and felt endless, but it lacked the deep pit of dread that the monster had.  It felt like something- but he couldn’t place exactly what.

Loneliness maybe? Or perhaps a bittersweet sort of feeling; like being free, yet not being as free as a true human being.  He walked around aimlessly in the blackness, feeling less and less like he was walking on the floor.  He started feeling weightless, like he was walking on air.

There was clearly no end where he was, and he wasn’t so sure if he really wanted there to be.  A light at the end of the tunnel? That wouldn’t apply in this situation and he knew that perfectly well. Or, he thought that would be the case.  From behind him, he started to feel something close by, like the feeling of someone standing directly behind your back.

Whirling around, he saw nothing, felt no one and squinted his eyes as his ears started to pick up on some noise around. It sounded like it was echoing around from every direction, but he was still able to follow it- maybe it was because wherever he was in your frame was a directionless void.

It was nowhere and everywhere all at once.  

As he walked, the blackness started to slowly light up from a greyscale and before long he was standing in a room.  Like, a real room, but in this room he couldn’t touch anything.  He was in a studio- covered in easels, paints, canvases, stains and tarps and cloth and everything in between.  

However, if he even tried to touch something, his hand would just phase right through the object he wanted to grasp. He walked around the studio before the door to the room opened and hobbled in was an older man whose face he couldn’t see.  His face wasn’t even that, it was just black scribbles where the features should have been.  Static echoed around the room as he assumed that the old man was trying to speak, but the words didn’t reach Taehyung’s ears.  

He walked to an easel that was covered with a white cloth before he set up his area and sat on a stool.  He cleaned up some brushes, cleaned his palette and rearranged his paints to suit his needs and wants.

Taehyung watched in silence as the old man began to paint and even though there was clearly a passing of some sort of warped time, in the moment it all felt timeless.  The end result was none other than your own portrait.  He shouldn’t have been shocked to see your spitting image in your portrait, but he couldn’t help it.  

Then the old man just turned his back, his fake face seemingly looking right at the young artist before he pointed at you.  More specifically, he pointed to the white space of your canvas and Taehyung could have sworn he saw it ripple like water.  

The setting of the studio began to suddenly fade out as he started hearing murmuring in the distance echoing around him.  It sounded unbearably loud as he covered his ears and the studio brushed away in flakes like eraser debris.  

“-yung! -hyung!” He felt like his head was about to burst as he felt something grab the back of his jacket and yank him backward.  He was then tumbling out of your frame, out of the void and onto the floor of the demented gallery. “Taehyung!” Someone shouted his name above him as his eyes were blurry and he rubbed at them to try and get them to regain their focus.  He blinked as his brows shot up when his eyes shot open wide.

“Namjoon?” There, above him, hovered his best friend. Taehyung quickly whipped around to his stomach before pushing off the ground and looking up to the blog journalist.  “What? What are you doing here?”

“I should be asking you that.”

Taehyung was sure he was the only one who happened to fall into this sketched out dangerous gallery. Namjoon wasn’t even where he was left when Taehyung looked for him. He looked his friend over.

“How have you made it this far?” Taehyung was impressed. Aside from the disheveled state of his clothes with wrinkles and small beads of sweat on his brow and temple, he seemed fine.  

“It wasn’t easy, I’ll tell you that.” Namjoon groaned as he pulled the artist off the floor and straightened out his jacket, brushing him off. “I’ve been running around like crazy for hours looking for you.”

Taehyung was shocked and honestly glad to see a familiar face.  Then you came to mind.  He wondered if you were looking for him after he just decided to pull that disappearing act on you.  He felt guilty about it now that his actions settled in. For all he knew, you thought he got himself caught in another dangerous situation when he was really as safe as he could be in the moment. 

“Did you happen to pass by a girl? Like, our age but wearing outdated clothing.”

“Someone else? No, I didn’t. Is someone else here?”

Taehyung shook his head.  “No, she’s not a person, she’s a painting and- argh forget it!  It’s a long story and from the look you’re giving me, you don’t believe me in the first place.”

“How hard did you hit your head when I pulled you out of that thing?” Namjoon asked as he used his thumb to lazily point to your empty frame.  Taehyung squeezed his eyes shut as he rubbed at his temples.  He remembered the way his head spun when Namjoon started calling him before he was dragged out by the man.  His head had pounded just like how it did when he was in the room with the tar monster from earlier. 

He tried thinking back to the man in the studio he witness and tried putting together anything that could be used as a clue on how to get home. He seemed to obviously be pointing to something, something Taehyung couldn’t help but feel was important.  “Whatever you saw,” Namjoon called his attention, “forget it.  It’s probably a trap or something.  You can’t trust the things here.”

“Not everything is dangerous,” Taehyung countered with you in mind.  “Y/n isn’t.”

Namjoon sighed annoyed. “You don’t know that. You said ‘she’ was a painting, right? You can’t trust something like that thing.”

“Don’t call her a thing,” Taehyung growled.  “She’s kept me safe up until this point. Like it or not, I trust her. We need to find her before we get attacked by something.”

“Taehyung-”

“I’m not arguing about this.  Finding Y/n takes first priority.” Normally, Taehyung was more than obedient when it came to Namjoon.  Not only was he older, but the sense of leadership the older held made it easy to listen.  However, Taehyung didn’t feel that air of ‘need to follow’ right now around him.  

“What about leaving? What about that priority?”

“She can help us. Y/n comes first,” he finalized before he was turning on his heel and going off into the direction he had fled from your side.  Namjoon clicked his tongue as he reluctantly followed behind.

Logically, even Taehyung knew that you’d probably be agitated for prioritizing your location over his freedom and escape out of this place.  But, the nagging in his head didn’t let him argue the topic, even with himself.  He wasn’t going to just find a way to escape and not tell you goodbye at the very least.  

You had done nothing but help and protect him, the least he could do was tell you thank you properly before he left.  It was the right thing to do, even if a little bit foolish.  He knew that.

To his luck, it didn’t take nearly all that long for him to catch a glimpse of you rushing around a corner.  You were jogging around, looking to and fro for something- he knew it was him- and he was quick to start shouting at you with his arm raised in the dark halls.  Namjoon stood behind his shoulder, still unhappy.

“Y/n!” He watched your head whip around as you started running towards him.  As you didn’t slow down in your approach, the closer you got the more nervous he became before you skit to an abrupt halt at his toes and got up into his face, grabbing his jacket collar.

“Stop going off on your own! Are you stupid or do you want to get attacked again that badly, huh?!” You shouted in rightful anger as he felt sweat gather on his neck.  He raised his hands in defense as he slightly pushed your shoulders down to gain some distance away from your rage.  

“I know, I shouldn’t have run off.” You slowly released his jacket. “That was my bad and I apologize, but,” he stepped away from you and twisted to show Namjoon. “I managed to find my friend.  He was in the gallery with me before I got here. This is Namjoon.”

Taehyung introduced the two of you as you just stared at the man and he stared back in a silent competition that Taehyung definitely picked up on.  Clearly, there wasn’t much hope of friendship on the horizon- but he figured you’d cooperate with him so that they could get out safely.  You were that kind of person- cooperative if not a bit on the stubborn side.

“You found him, huh? Where?”

“Oh, I went back to your frame and he was there.” Taehyung easily answered, deciding to keep the fact that he crawled into the frame and saw what looked like memories to himself.  What if it stirred something up with you? Your mood was already foul enough, he didn’t want to risk it.

He wasn’t one to stir the pot, so to speak. 

Your brow twitched at his seemingly carefree manner at his ditching stunt.  You groaned as you whacked him on the arm before pointing your finger at his face in a warning manner, making him go cross eyed momentarily.  

“You run off like that again, and I’ll tie your wrist to mine. Got it?”

“Promise?” He teased as you just threw your hands in the air in defeat and started walking off.  He wasn’t planning on running when your back was turned again.  Just that one time was enough.  Now that he was with Namjoon too, he couldn’t risk being as careless.  “We’re going. Come on.”

“At your beck and call, Leader,” Taehyung chided, still trying to get your spirits higher from the mood he put you in.  Namjoon followed behind silently with skeptical eyes as Taehyung chatted with you like he’d known you all his life.  

-x-x-x-

Taehyung had since stopped his yammering as you lead the charge of three through halls and told them when to be silent and when to be cautious. You kept a close eye on Namjoon, something about the friend of Taehyung’s rubbing you the wrong way.  You couldn’t say whether or not you were a good judge of character since Taehyung was the first human you ever met, but you still felt something off.  His cold glare made your artificial skin crawl.

You had just walked through an archway before Taehyung made a noise of recognition as you turned to him.  He looked around with wide eyes.  

“What is it?”

“I feel like I’ve been in this area before.”

“Really?” You questioned.  You’d never really gone into this portion of the gallery.  It was always too dark to see and you were always put off by how quiet it was.  It was like there was something on the other side of the walls that irked you.  “Maybe you passed by here before I found you. I’ve never been in this part before.”

“You haven’t been here? I thought you had been everywhere.” Taehyung wasn’t accusing you, he was just curious.  He wanted to know why you hadn’t been here.  

“I had no reason to be,” you told him.  “Besides, I don’t think a creature like me who’s slowly corrupting belongs in a tranquil part of this place.”

“So,” Namjoon finally intervened from behind the two of you.  You both turned to look at his cross-armed figure, still glaring and fuming with some odd sense of presence you hated.  “You admit you’re dangerous?”

Your brows furrowed.  “Excuse me?”

“You said you’re corrupting.  So? That sounds like a red-flag if I’ve ever heard one.”

“I’m sorry,” you scoff in disbelief, “has it been you getting Taehyung through this place in one piece? Or maybe it was you who has been taking down threats left and right and going on wild goose chases when things go south. No?”

“Guys-” Taehyung tried dispersing the stifling air, but Namjoon’s ire interrupted him.  You both went back and forth and before long you were at Namjoon’s toes, arguing with him face to face- quite literally.  Taehyung watched as he tried to think of a way to calm you both down.  The last thing he wanted was to both waste time and have the two sides of his trust arguing against each other.  

Taehyung was going to open his mouth and shout or something, just to break the string of tension, but his jaw had just dropped when you had stopped mid-sentence.  Your hand was raised, an accusatory finger pointed at his best friend’s chin when it started to drop just a fraction to his chest.

“Y/n?” Taehyung called.  He shrieked when your hand came to grip his chin, squeezing his jaw as you yanked Namjoon’s face down to look into his eyes.  “Woah! Y/n, c-calm down!” You narrowed your eyes before you shoved him away, making his feet stumble back a handful of steps to keep himself upright.  Taehyung came to your side as you shook your hand as if it was contaminated. He looked you over and noticed the uneasy look on your face. “What’s-”

“Why are you sticking to that painting like glue?” Namjoon called to Taehyung as he rubbed his jaw.  “I’m your friend here, not that.” Taehyung looked up and towards the journalist with confliction.  

“T-that’s true, but-”

“But nothing.  That thing just grabbed and shoved me, but you’re at it’s side like I did something wrong.  You should be checking on me, not fawning over that.” He pointed at you, his eyes grew small in anger as you just shot back at him a silent glare.  

Taehyung was less than pleased to keep hearing Namjoon refer to you as ‘it’ or a ‘thing’.  Painting or not, you were still alive and, dammit, Namjoon needed to accept that already. He was ready to tell him off, defend you when you spoke first in a low tone.

“Do you trust me?” You asked. You were looking dead at Namjoon, but the artist knew you were addressing him.  You repeat the question when you’re met with only silence.  Taehyung immedately nodded when the question was repeated.

“Yeah, of course I do.”

“WHY?!” He jumped from Namjoon’s shriek across from the two of you. Your shoulders squared and the action didn’t go unnoticed. “Why trust something you just met?! Who is admitting to killing things and slowing losing its mind?!” His brought his hands to his chest, gesturing to himself. “You should be trusting me!”

“What is wrong with you,” Taehyung whispered in concern, wondering what happened to his best friend.  He was normally the type to roll with anything, even in stressful situations he always tried to take it with a grain of salt.  He was an optimist, or at least he always tried to be.  No matter the dark tunnel, there’s always a light; it was basically Namjoon’s life motto. “Did something happen? Stop accusing Y/n and just talk to-” he gasped when he felt your hand grasp his.  Your face was downcast as you squeezed his palm. “Y/n?”

You whipped your head up and looked at him dead in the eyes.  “We have to run.” Taehyung jolted back.  Run? From what? You looked back at Namjoon, your colorblind eyes slowly unveiling just who and what that best friend of Taehyung’s was.  “We need to get away from him as soon as possible.  He’s dangerous.”

“What?” Taehyung was in instant denial.  Namjoon? Dangerous?  The same Namjoon who would cry if one of his plants died or would lay on the floor, staring at the ceiling if someone asked him what his favorite brand of pen is for the hundredth time? “That’s not true, he’s-” Taehyung looked at his best friend to defend him, but stopped short.

Something about him was off. Taehyung had noticed it since the beginning, but dismissed it all. Now, it looked like some veil of black was hovering around his friend’s body as he glared at you. Namjoon didn’t look like himself.  He looked fake and at that, Taehyung’s eyes widened.  

He looked artificial- just like how you did to his human eyes.  

You must have seen it in his eyes, that’s why you grabbed his chin to inspect him further.  That’s why you shoved him away and that’s why you wanted Taehyung to flee.  

Your hand dropped his as you caught sight of the thing disguised as Taehyung’s friend moving just slightly.  You stepped in front of the artist before you took off before ‘it’ could.  It lunged and you were quick to react.  You lifted your foot and slammed it into it’s stomach as it leaned forward- not at the lack of air, but the force you put into your stomping.  You locked your arm around the back of its neck as you tucked it’s head under your arm and held it in place in a lock.  

You groaned as you felt your arms burn with contamination again and your grip almost loosened at the paintings thrashing because of it.  You planted your feet as firmly as you could, even if the thrashing made you teeterd from your heels to your toes and skid an inch back or forward here and there.  

You weren’t sure how long you’d be able to keep the thing under your arm contained and although you had just told Taehyung not to leave your side again, you were ready to tell him to run off and hide somewhere until you could find him.  

The moment you turned your head on your shoulders to shout for him to do so, you halted to see him literally at your back already.  His large hands had planted themselves one on your back to steady you and the only ensnared in the fake Namjoon’s clothed back, gripping it’s clothes firmly. Even the fabric felt like paint under his nails as he started to rip the thing away from you.  

Taehyung caught sight of the fake’s face and what used to be identical to Namjoon had muddled away to show a white tar surface with no sense of expression. He sneered as he took your place of taking it on before he was shoving it backward.  

Although he wasn’t a fighter, Taehyung was no push over.  He could hold his own if he really ended up needing to and at the moment, he did.  He pushed the fake as it stumbled on it’s own clumsy feet before it started to go after him again.  Taehyung swung his elbow out, cathing the fake in the whiteness of it’s face before it hit the ground.  

He backed up away from the thing he just put on the ground, turning to you and snatching your hand in his again.

Taehyung’s hand squeezed yours and when he did, you spun on your heels and took off, fleeing with the young artist beside you.  You both heard ‘Namjoon’ scream behind your backs as Taehyung looked back to see it still laying on the floor, skriming.  

Taehyung was terrified, more terrified than he was before.  He was terrified on how it gained his trust so easily- a thought that almost made him angry.  He felt stupid as he held onto your hand like a linelife as you weaved through the halls and soon came to a staircase.  

You stopped as you looked over your shoulder as Taehyung buckled to his knees and heaved after sprinting for so long.  He used the wall to support himself as you looked at him trying to gather his breath.  

You looked at your hand in his and attempted to pull it away from him, but he just squeezed tighter onto you and tugged it back.

“A little longer,” he whispered.  After a few minutes of him gathering himself and you making sure you both weren't followed, he stood back to his height and continued to hold you hand.  “Hey,” he called with a tight throat. “If we run into anyone else, if you don’t trust them, tell me and I won’t either.” You didn’t say a word to try and deter him from using your judgement as his own, you simply nodded in agreement.  

If all worked out, he wouldn’t need to use your opinions for much longer.  You were going to get him out.

The two of you ascended the staircase before you and when you reached the top, Taehyung looked around to see the spitting image of the original gallery.  

The white walls and matching floors and ceilings. The chandeliers that weren’t on with the power out and the windows all greyed out as if they were blocked by cement.  The front doors were locked as if there was no escape.  Trying a switch, he wasn’t shocked to see the lights not working.  

“Can you lead from here,” you asked him, just trying to get him to talk again.  “I don’t know my way around.” He only nodded before he was walking off, tugging you in tow as you thought of ways to make his voice come out again.  You felt oddly uneasy when he was silent.  The previous incident with the fake friend of his obviously taking a mental toll on him.  It was to be expected, but it still hurt your chest.

If you had a beating heart, you’d call this feeling heartache.

It was when you passed by a rather mundane looking couch that was suclupted in a strange, wavey shape when you figured out a way to get him to talk. You stopped and your hand in his anchored him when he looked over his shoulder.  When he looked at you, you pointed to the sofa surrounded in rope dividers.

“What colors is that?” You asked when you looked back at him.  Your actions and unspoken desire to get his voice to come out didn’t go unnoticed-  

He smiled. “It’s red,” he told you.

-Nor did it go unappreciated.  

From that, he would tell you the colors of whatever you pointed at that you passed and before he knew it he had come to a deadend with only one, giant painting on the wall- taking up the entire space of it.  His mouth opened as his hand dropped from yours as he looked at it.  

“That’s,” he looked at it as his eyes ran over every edge. “That looks like the gallery. The real one,” he smiled as he gazed at it.  This was it, his way out. He felt in his bones that this was his exit.  His hand reached to touch the canvas, but gasped when his hand just phased right through.  It was just like how your frame was.  He could climb into this and be somewhere else.  

Then he felt a chill run down his spine and a heavy feeling fall in his gut.  He pulled his hand back as he turned around and looked at you.  You were well behind him against the back wall, your hands behind your back as you watched him.  

“What?” You asked.  This was his way out and you both knew it.  You expected him to jump on through and finally be free of this hellscape, but instead he made his way back to you and away from his exit door disguised as a painting. He stood in front of you, toe to toe as he looked at you.

Taehyung gazed at you, his eyes began to sting as they felt misty.  This was ridiculous, he felt ridiculous. How could he cry about leaving you behind when he just met you?  You didn’t belong in his world and he knew that just as much as you.  Yet, the feeling of parting ways with you made his throat tight.

“I’m leaving,” he told you. “And I won’t ever see you again,” he choked.  You were shocked to see the first tear run down his face.  You wondered if tears were blue. You brushed it away with the back of your hand as more just kept coming.  He could see the distortion on your skin under your sleeve from the angle of you wiping his tears and he just wanted to cry more.

His mind started becoming delusional.  

If he chose not to leave and stayed put with you, would you hurt him? Would you hunt him down in time and kill him like the others had before?  Would he lose his humanity even? Turn into a painting and spend the rest of his time with you. You wouldn’t be alone if he did. What if he tried to take you back with him? Would you just disintegrate into paint splotches because you had no physical body to speak of?

So many hypotheticals and you wouldn’t allow any of them to come to fruition.

“Go home, Taehyung,” you told him softly with a smile, the hand you placed on his cheek rubbed his skin before letting it softly fall.  You urged him, not commanded him and he knew he had to go.  He sniffled as he grabbed your hands and held them again. “What, you want a hug goodbye or something?” You teased but when he didn’t reply, you rolled your eyes.  “You do, don't you?”

“And? What about it,” he sniffed as he pouted. You pulled your hands away from his, even if he chased after them when you did.  You swatted at his hands that tried grabbing yours once more.

“Do you want me to hug you or not?” You asked in impatience while he nodded like a child. “Then let my hands go.” He immediately abandoned your hands and wrapped his arms under your own and pulled you to your toes against his chest.  You felt your chest hit his with a dull thud as he held you like you were dying.  

Well, you sort of were, but he didn’t need the finer details repeated on your unavoidable fate.  

He started swaying you on your toes as he found a home on your shoulder. One of your hands was on his head, shushing him and the other pat his back between his shoulders.  He really was like a giant child.  Was this what a goodbye hug felt like? It felt nothing like the hug he gave you when he was attacked previously and reunited with him.  This one felt much more sad- desperate even.

“Teahyung,” you whispered as you felt him hum against your shoulder. “You need to go.”

“I know,” he admitted before he started to pull away from you when your hands moved to land on his shoulders to push him softly.  His eyes looked swollen and wondered what color the skin around his eyes were. It looked darker to your black and white vision. “I think- I think I’m going to miss you.  A lot.”  

You brought a hand to his cheek again, stroking it as you smiled at him.  

“You’ll forget a painting like me in no time,” you eased.  He frowned at that, wanting to hug you again, but you just pushed him away. Turning him by his shoulders, you started to push him from behind to the frame before you came to his side.  You gestured towards it. “Home is waiting for you.”

He swallowed another large lump in his throat.  He curled his lips over his teeth to keep from crying anymore.  He was so overly emotional and he was annoying himself because of it. He could only imagine how you felt watching his waterworks.  

“What’s going to happen to you?”

“I’m going back to my frame,” you told him.  “I’ll go back to my home too,” you smiled.  He felt a small sliver of relief at your answer.  “We’ll both go back to where we belong, just as he should. It’ll be okay.” You pat his back. “I promise.” You felt bad, lying straight to his face like that.  

He nodded before he grabbed the inside of the frame, and began to hull himself over.  He had one knee resting on the frame edge and the other still hanging out when he turned and looked down at you hovering above you on the wall.  He reached in his jacket and pulled out his rose before he handed it to you.  It was a silent agreement as he passed it onto you- he knew he wouldn’t need it anymore. You’d keep it safe even if he wasn’t there anymore and he knew you would.

He put on his brightest smile, “see you around, Y/n,” before he jumped completely through.

As his body faded into the stretched, painted fabric of the canvas and the frame seemed to close like a locked portal that you couldn’t ever even think about passing through, you fell to the ground, screaming as your body felt like it was on fire.

You laughed bitterly as you were just relieved that the one precious person you managed to meet in your miserable existence as a painting without a future was someone as kind and warm as Taehyung.

-x-x-x-

Taehyung felt dazed.  

He was staring at a plaque as his eyes were bleary like he had just woken up from a long nap.  He felt like yawning before he felt a shake on his shoulder.  He lifted his head, rubbing his eyes.  

“Hey,” Namjoon called with concern written on his face, “what’s with you? You zoned out for like two minutes.”

“I dunno,” he replied.  He moved to look at the giant painting of a black location with messy brushes of what looked like some haunted locations.  “I feel like I just woke up from a really nap.” He yawned as he read the name of the painting loud to himself.  “Parallel Reality,” the words read and they sounded familiar to him.  “I feel like I'm forgetting something,” he frowned. “Didn’t the lights go out a little while ago or something?”

“Dude,” Namjoon’s hand fell from his friend’s shoulder. “You really need to get some proper sleep if you’re taking micro-naps, standing up, around this many people and dreaming about power-outages.” It was only then that the artist was aware of all the sounds around him- buzzing from every corner of the building.

“I don’t wanna hear that from the reigning champ of disarranged sleep schedules.”

The journalist and young, free-lance artist continued walking around the blinding white gallery.  People crowded the place and the murmur of them all talking in whispers comforted Taehyung for a reason he couldn’t exactly explain.  

He and Namjoon had started down the final hall they had left to view. The sme hall that happened to contain the naming right to the gallery in the first place.  At the end of the hall, hanging on the dead-end wall was the one painting called ‘Leia’. The piece Taehyung came to see specifically to see if he could be sprung out of his art-block.

As he stood in front of the painting, he inspected it.

It was a young woman dressed in dated clothes with her eyes looking off to almost mimic looking off the canvas.  Her legs were coiled in thorns and she looked like she was running from something, but with a protective sense and not a fearful one.  She held a blue rose in her hand as the silver, engraved frame encased the painting.  

The piece wasn’t what he was expecting, but somehow looking at the piece, he felt calm despite the action set formed in brush strokes.  As the tour guide in charge of 'Leia’ began to explain how it was the artist’s last piece, Taehyung began to zone out again, while Namjoon scribbled down notes beside him.  

As she yammered on and on, Namjoon soon caught sight of his friend’s face. He stopped his writing as he lifted his pen up and lowered his arm to tuck it away in his pocket,. When his hand was free of any writing utensil, he placed it on Taehyung’s back.

“Hey,” he whispered softly to not gain attention from the other’s standing around them. “Why are you crying?”

Taehyung jolted as he quickly brought his hands to his face.  

He was crying.  

When did he start and why? He wiped them away only for more to follow through.  He was soon silently hunched over sobbing.  Why did he feel this way by looking at a painting? Art had always given him a sense of emotion- but he hadn’t felt such sorrow before.  

“I don’t know,” he whimpered as Namjoon took him to some place less crowded. As Taehyung calmed down, he felt oddly refreshed.  

“You okay now? I’ve got enough notes for an entry if you want to leave.”

“Yeah,” he replied. “I want to go home and paint,” he announced as Namjoon smiled, happy to see a spark behind Taehyung’s eyes return.  The spark of an artist that had finally overcome his art-block. 

“Alright, then let’s get going.” As the two men walked out, reception bidding them farewell, Namjoon started making conversation. “So, what do you want to paint?”

“I’m not sure, but maybe a blue rose garden or something. Paired with something old fashioned, like outdated clothing or old picture books. I’ll figure it out when I get to my studio.”

He didn’t voice it, but he knew he’d be back to view ‘Leia’ again, and this time he wouldn’t cry. The calmness he felt from the painting- regardless of his tears- was like being reunited with an old friend. 

What kind of man would Taehyung be if he cried in front of a friend?  

-END-

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