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deansapplepie · 7 months

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Till THE DEAD do us part | Chapter 1

A/N: This story will take place in all the seasons, but it’s not exactly a rewriting cause I’d have to re-watch everything to use the exactly lines of the characters, also I think it’s better if I tell a side story without changing the main facts of the story. I’m not good with synopses, so sorry about that.

This story has a Female Reader, but I don’t describe her appearance, so anyone can identify with her.

Summary: Y/N Grimes is Rick’s younger sister, when the world ended she had Lori, Carl and Shane. But did she really have them? Her brother was dead, her sister-in-law was sleeping with her brother’s best friend and her nephew was just a small kid. She had him, Daryl Dixon was no knight in a shining armor and she was no damsel in distress, but maybe they were exactly what each other needed.

*gif is not mine, credits on the gif.

Chapter 1: Vulnerable

Summary: Y/N sees something she wasn’t supposed to see, she need to vent about it but she can’t do it with Lori or Shane, because they are the main reason about it. So she goes to the woods hoping to find some peace.

Warnings: mentions of sex, swearing, kinda angsty, a little bit of fluffy, comfort, mentions of death, mentions of violence

Pairing: Daryl Dixon x Grimes!Reader

Word Count: 2,072

Extra notes: I proofread the text, but English is not my first language, so feel free to correct any mistakes, of course with a lot of love.

Chapter 2

It was again one more boiling hot day in the Quarry near Atlanta, you thought the temperature would for sure kill you, but there was another thing threatening to take your life and it wasn’t a Zombie.

Before everything, before the world ended, life wasn’t easy. You wanted it to be, but you were living one of the worst moments of your life. You had just lost your job as a vet because you couldn’t save a rich man’s cat and he demanded that you were fired. You felt bad for the poor cat, for your lost job, for your name as a professional that was now forever marked and also for your dog a female German Shepherd called Luna that had to see you not acting like your usual self.

On top of that your older brother, Rick, got shot working… he was a Sheriff’s Deputy. That’s what made you stop feeling sorry for yourself, because you couldn’t. You needed to see your brother laying on a hospital bed in comma, you had to hold things together and take care of Carl and Lori.

Lori and Carl had you, but you had no one, Carl was just a kid and Lori couldn’t even take care of herself at the moment. There was Shane, he was like a brother to you, but even with him there… it was as if you were alone. You just had Luna.

You went to their house and stayed there, you were going to stay until Rick got better, yes, he was going to get better and you would stay just a little bit more to help during his recovery, and everything was going to be fine again. But it never was. The world ended. The dead were walking as if they were alive and Rick died.

Now you lived in a Quarry with Lori, Carl, Shane and a bunch of other survivors. Most of people were pleasant and easy to live with, the exception was Ed, Carol’s husband and Merle Dixon, Daryl’s brother, but this was the apocalypse and you don’t have much choice on the people that are going to be around you.

It had been almost two months since everything happened and the camp was created, almost two months your brother had died… and today, while you were picking some wood, you saw something that felt as if someone was pulling your guts out of your stomach and squeezing your heart.

Lori and Shane. Not Lori and Shane friendly doing what they usually do, they were in the middle of the forest, fucking, and there was no other word you’d use to describe it other than fucking. There wasn’t even two months Rick died, and his best friend and wife were fucking.

You felt nauseated, you went back the same direction you came and knew you had to do something to calm down. You couldn’t afford causing an scene or any uncomfortable situation, you could not hurt Carl.

“Hey! Aunt Y/N, did you already pick all the woods?” Carl shouted to you from the spot he was, playing with Sophia and Luna, Carol watching them.

“Er… wood wasn’t good that side, I’m going to the other side see if I find anything better.” You gave a lame excuse, you just wanted to be alone, cry all this shit out, in silence cause you didn’t want anyone to know and you didn’t want to attract any walkers near the camp.

“Can you look after them a little more, Carol?” You asked the woman, you were sure she was not going to say no, she loved being with the kids and even with Luna.

“Sure, don’t worry.” She said, you nodded and then walked to the opposite side from where you came the fastest as possible, looking down so others wouldn’t see you had started to cry.

You walked until you found a place far enough so no one would find you, but not so far that you would have any trouble. You had a gun and knife, you knew how to defend yourself, but you couldn’t make it easy to the dead to kill you, you were not that dumb.

You sat behind a tree, brought your knees to your chest and hid your face crying. Your thoughts were racing and all you could think was about what you saw, your brother and how you missed him. You listened to some light leaves hustle, but You didn’t give it importance, thinking it was probably the wind, it was so light that it couldn’t be a walker. So you continued minding your own business crying what you had to cry so you could look at your sister-in-law’s face without letting her know how upset you were.

“Ya shouldn’t be out here vulnerable like that” you jumped startled by the redneck’s voice. ‘So that was him,’ you thought, ‘of course, only he could walk with light steps, he was a hunter after all.’ You wiped your tears, not that it would help they were still falling and there wasn’t anything you could do to stop them.

“I’m not vulnerable, I just needed some time alone.” You answered, he was really trying to not be too rough on you given to your situation, but his lack of tact was something he had much difficulty to overcome.

“Ya could cry in your tent, it’s safer”

“I don’t wanna Carl and Lori to see me cry. I don’t wanna have to explain myself, things would get bad if I had to. I don’t wanna upset Carl.” You sniffed, that was one of the worst parts of crying, getting a damn runny nose.

“Shane can’t help?” He asked, you didn’t know but he probably already had some idea of the reason you were crying.

“He’s part of the problem Dixon, if I could I’d punch him and kick his balls” you answered, tears still running down but a little bit calmer.

“Did ya see him and…” he didn’t finish the question, because you completed it for him.

“Lori? Yeah”

Talking about them made you remember everything you saw and how it hurt you. You were still mourning Rick, and Shane and Lori apparently were already moving on. What hurt the most is that even mad at both of them, you still loved them. Lori was like a big sister, a sister that you wish you had while growing up, and Shane? He was your brother he taught you how to defend yourself, he gave you shooting classes, he brought you home the first time you got drunk and even took care of you while you were hangover. When Rick wasn’t there, he was. At this moment you hated him as much as you loved him.

“Do you know if anyone else know about them?” You asked after a long time, you were so lost that you didn’t even noticed that Daryl walked a bit ahead and stoped with his back turned to you. He wanted to give you privacy to cry, but he also couldn’t leave you behind, it was dangerous to you staying so vulnerable at the forest. He knew you could defend yourself, but you didn’t even listened him approaching, you sure were not going to listen to a walker too.

“I don’t know. Probably not. I’m much into the woods, so I caught them a few times.” He answered at distance, not turning to look back at you. “Do ya like him?” Daryl asked and right after he just regretted having opened his mouth, why would he ask such an intimate thing to you? He should just stay there and make sure you’d go back alive to the camp.

“Ew! No! He’s like a brother to me. We grew up together.” You answered disgusted to the idea of liking Shane any other way. “It’s not that. My brother, he died. Well, you probably know. And I know Lori needs to continue living and they are adults, but there’s not even 2 months and she moved on that fast and Shane… he was his best friend. I’m still mourning him, the world still doesn’t make any sense without him here and they are already fucking. I know I’m being selfish and emotional but…” you spoke so much that you had already lost your line of thought. Daryl was probably tired of you, he wasn’t one to talk much, but here you were opening all your thoughts to him.

“It’s about yer brother. Ya have the right to feel.” He understood, he had never lost his brother and he hoped he’d not lose him anytime soon. Merle was a dick, and he made him mad most of the time, but he was his brother, so he understood you.

You wiped your tears, calmer and ready to continue. You were still mad and sad about everything, but now you didn’t feel like you were going to die anymore, you were not suffocated. You got up, shook the dirt from your pants and approached the archer.

“I was going to take some wood for fire. I don’t want to go back empty handed. Can you help me?” Now you gave a look at him, and noticed he had some rabbits and squirrels hanging from a rope. He was being essential to maintain everyone fed, he was not one to be socializing around the camp, but he was good and you could see it.

He just nodded and started walking by your side collecting the good woods he found along the way. “Thank you.” You said collecting a branch that you saw.

“For what? I didn’t even take the woods to the camp.” Did he not understand or was he faking?

“Not about the woods. Well, that too… but thank you for staying with me and talk to me, you didn’t have to” ‘but you did’, you completed in your thoughts. “Also, thank you for always bringing us food. I don’t know if I ever told you that.” He grunted, sometimes you wish you could know what he was thinking, you never knew if his grunts mean something good or bad.

“No need to thank me” he never knew how to react at moments like that. Should he say thanks back? Should he give another compliment?

Soon you returned to the camp, he helped you put the woods near the makeshift kitchen and was going to clean the rabbits and squirrels so they could be cooked.

“Luna likes you” you said, you saw how your dog acted around him. He was a little surprised with the comment. “You can take her with you when you want, I see that you like her too.” You smiled, a beautiful one just as if you were not broken or had cried your soul an hour ago.

“She likes my food too” he joked, it was not intentional but after what he said he even got a little smile at the corner of his mouth for some seconds. You giggled before answering.

“I know, she makes the cutest puppy eyes. It’s not her fault if you can’t resist her charms.” He snorted and for some seconds, just few seconds, he thought that maybe she wasn’t the only one he couldn’t resist. As he went to clean the hunt, you went to Carol to say you got the wood and offer to take care of the kids while she started to prepare the food.

You couldn’t take that smile from your face and you didn’t were sure why, you ruffled Luna’s fur while you sat close to the kids and released the dog so she could run around a little. You hated having to let her tied, but you were too afraid of what could happen if she went too far. She ran around the camp and soon approached the archer he pet her and she made her happy tail dance to him, he looked in your direction and you smiled watching their interaction. Your day wasn’t lost, there was still good things to be grateful for, even in a world like this.

Final notes: Please tell me your thoughts. There is a long time I don’t write and publish fanfiction in English so I’d be glad to hear from you.

#the walking dead daryl #daryl dixon #the walking dead #twd #twd daryl #daryl x y/n #daryl dixion x reader #daryl fanfiction #daryl imagines #the walking dead fanfiction #daryl dixon imagine #daryl dixon fic #daryl dixon fanfic #daryl x grimes!reader #rick grimes #daryl x reader #daryl x you

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keep-the-wolves-close · 1 month

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Steady Heart

Chapter 31: Hunting Grounds

* Pairing: Slow-burn Kayce Dutton x OFC Stella Daniels

* Rating: M

* Warnings: language, stalking with intent to maim or kill, death, violence

* Word count: 3,958ish

I would love to give credits to @dameronscopilot and @deanscroissant for being sounding boards for me during this whole process, giving outsider insight, being cheerleaders, and allowing me to screech at them about things that have happened during the writing process. I seriously couldn't have gotten this far without y'all!

Author's note: Things are ramping up y’all! Hold on to your hats. We’re coming towards the finale. I hope everyone is enjoying so far! I hope you love this chapter as much as I do!

Another fun fact, wait do you guys like these?

But fun fact this was the second chapter I wrote lol.

Stella finished washing her hands in the big sink Olivia had in the wash bay. She watched as the slight gore from the difficult birth slid away. At least her hands and arms were clean now. Her hoodie on the other hand needed some serious tlc. She couldn’t throw it away because it was the first hard birth she had experienced, just Olivia and she at the helm, without the help of parents or anyone there. Olivia’s parents had gone away on a short vacation, and no one else was around. They called the vet, and he walked them through as much as he could. The point was to keep mama and baby stable long enough for him to get there and handle the rest.

There were muffled voices from off to the side of the wash bay. The foaling stalls were the first three along this wall, along with the wash pad. It was Olivia finishing up with the vet. They wanted to be sure they marked everything off the foaling list, and the extras that came along with the tough delivery. Trinity and the tiny colt were going to be just fine. They had been in some deep water, but with the help of the vet and their own knowledge paired together, they made it through to the other side.

“You ladies did a fine job. Both of them will be just fine. We’ll keep an eye on his front legs to see if they straighten out over the next few 24 to 48 hours.”

Stella nodded and the vet finished giving them instructions, “If they don’t stretch out on their own, then we’ll reconvene about wrapping or antibiotics.”

Stella was the cheerleader for the little colt. “Once he gets to moving a bit more, those tendons should relax and not contract as hard anymore. I have faith in the little guy.” She looked at Olivia, “So do you need me anymore this evening,” she looked at her phone for the time, “just kidding. This morning.” She laughed.

“No babe, I think we’re all good here. I’ll see you in a couple days to check up on him. Thank you for coming as fast as you did.”

“Always, lovely. I’ll see you later on.”

She walked out to her car and opened the door to toss in her bag onto the passenger seat. Before she got in, she heard footsteps approaching her from the barn. Stella looked at the person and found that it was Olivia. She smiled at her and she sat sideways in the driver’s seat.

“Are you sure you’re okay to drive home this late Stellar?” She looked unsure at Stella’s condition.

“Yeah girl, I should be fine. Ryan will also birth a bull calf if he doesn’t see me in a bunk before he leaves for the day.” They shared a chuckle.

“Okay, but you turn around if you feel like you can’t make it. I’ll fight your brother in the morning for you.” Stella turned and shut the door. Olivia gave it a tap and she was on her way. If only she had taken her up on the offer.

It was extremely dark in the wilderness of Montana. Stella knew this, but she needed to head home to the ranch. Ryan hadn’t been thrilled with the idea of her running out that late, but ranch emergencies didn’t wait. It was part of her job. She helped at Grand Springs occasionally. She helped with mostly all of the horses, but specialized with the broodmares. That was Stella and Olivia’s favorite part. The two points were about an hour away from each other. That’s why she had specifically bought a house that was the halfway point between the two ranches.

She squinted as headlights behind her blasted brightly in her rearview. Yes, it was advanced darkness out here in the middle of the forest, but the high beams were a bit dramatic in her opinion. She rolled her eyes, but kept moving forward at the set speed limit. The larger SUV behind her inched closer.

“There’s plenty of room to go around me, my guy.” She gripped the wheel and tried to ignore the sinking feeling in her gut the closer the big SUV got. She hoped she had service as she asked Siri to call her brother. She must have had at least a bar of service because her speakers started to ring out to her. It rang one time and went to voicemail. She looked in the rearview again, gauging just how close the Suburban looking vehicle had gotten.

She cursed, and asked Siri to call her brother again. ‘There is no actual way this shit is happening.’ She hadn’t been to her own house since everyone had made her come back to the ranch. Stella couldn’t even think of where they would have picked up her trail, if these were even the same people. If they were even following her. Maybe they were just in a hurry. She grimaced thinking about the Beck brothers and sped up to 70. She really had to stop being naively optimistic.

Stella reached across the front of the car to her glove box. Feeling the leather holster, she said a prayer as she brought it to her lap. She thought she was being jumpy, but she would rather have it on standby and not need it, than it being out of reach if the need arose. The words her brother and Rip had said to her the day they told her she was coming back to the ranch still ran through her head. ‘You brushing it off this way? Will get you kidnapped or killed. Or both.’

She looked at the clock and realized it was nearly four in the morning. There was one other person she knew that would pick up immediately at this hour. Kayce. She really didn’t want to bother him, but her brother wasn’t picking up. She would call Rip next if she needed to. The big vehicle kept a steady pace of being closer almost every time she looked at it.

She had no idea that a ring could be so loud. It rang two times, then four, and she felt more and more desperate with each ring.

“Oh come on. Pick up, Kayce John. Pick up.” She bounced in her seat. About the sixth time she bounced he picked up. “Oh thank god.”

“Stella? What’s wrong?” She could hear the gravel of confusion in his voice. He was only asking what was wrong because in no normal situation would she call this late. Especially since they had been at a distance from each other. He’d just finished taking care of leaving a message to Malcolm on his porch and was headed home when the call came through.

“Kayce I’m sorry, but someone is following me and Ryan won’t answer the phone.” She could hear him rustling around.

“Where are you?” He demanded.

“Somewhere off of 89 and 191, between Grand Springs and my house. I’m like 45 minutes out from your dad’s.”

“Shit! I’ll meet you at your house. Just hold on. I’m coming. Stay on the phone with me.” She could hear more rustling.

Stella looked around to find an escape option. ‘There should be a farm road,’ the voice in her head continued out loud, “here!” She tapped her brakes briefly and cranked her wheel to the left. She watched in the mirror as the big SUV flew by the road.

“Here what Stella?! What’s going on? Talk to me!”

She stomped on the gas because it was only a matter of time before they stopped and turned around. This road led back behind her three acres. The last acre, acre and a half, of her property remained wooded. She just needed to get there before that SUV came back.

“Kace, I’m going in through the back. I hit the farm road, but they’re not far behind me.”

“Keep going, don’t stop moving.”

She saw the little unmarked spot she had cleared out for the little tractor she had and jumped for joy. She checked her mirrors and could just barely make out their headlights. They definitely saw she had turned. They just had to figure out where. That would work in her favor. She cranked her wheel again and bounced around the turn into her property. She pulled off to the side behind the one dilapidated shed she had never bothered with.

Stella turned off her car. Everything went dark, “Kayce,” she whispered, “I’m about to get out of the car. They haven’t pulled in. Yet.”

“I’m almost there. 10 minutes out.” He sounded like he was praying under his breath, “Stella?”

“Yeah?”

“Get. Them. Lost.”

She swallowed hard as realization hit her. She heard her brother’s voice, ‘Stop, don’t think, just move. Hesitation gets you dead.’ She shook her head to bring herself back to the very serious reality at hand. She hopped out of the car and placed her phone in her bra wanting it close so Kayce could hear her. Popping the button on her holster, she flicked the safety off and heard the distinct snip of the deadly change. She peeked around the old shed. The Suburban was just passing by, but this time it had a partner. The silver car from before, which had stopped at the entrance she had turned in.

“Shit, that silver car is with them! It’s the same fucking people.” Stella looked around for something to get their attention with. She wanted to lure them into the wooded area to make herself harder to find, but also have it be like fishing in a barrel. She remembered that she had a flashlight in the pocket of her driver side door.

“ETA?” She opened the car door as quietly as she could.

“I’m almost to your driveway.”

“Okay cool. I’ll be somewhere near that trashy shed. I’m about to do something stupid.” Stella ended the call and put her phone in her back pocket.

“Stella?! Stella?!!” Kayce punched the steering wheel and screamed, “Fuck,” and floored it.

His tires crunched and threw gravel all the way up the driveway and back to the wooded part. The truck was barely in park before he hopped out. He heard the distinct pops of gun fire and started running. He broke through the line of trees and stopped behind a large tree. There were all sorts of sounds coming from every direction. He heard a lot of heavy footsteps to his front and right, but there off to his left there was a clear pattern of lighter foot falls weaving and bobbing. He breathed a sigh of relief because that meant Stella was still upright. Ducking down he headed to the left to get the drop on the men from behind.

Giving a wide berth, he wrapped around the back where the guy bringing up the rear looked for the woman of the hour. Kayce rushed up on him while he was still distracted and gripped his neck tightly. The man dropped to the ground with an unceremonious thud and he moved forward.

He quickly gained traction with one more of them. After the second man hit the ground, he heard Stella scream and his heart stopped. His feet started to move before he had realized it. Gunshots rang out followed by another scream that got cut off abruptly.

“Stella!” Kayce screamed out as he found the small clearing where she had gotten pinned. He hoped to see her there standing, or at least conscious because he couldn’t even fathom not having her around. She leaned against a tree, huffing wildly. She had scooted herself back against the trunk in the scramble for her life. She looked like she wanted to pass out. The men that screamed were down on the ground. They laid in an odd position and Kayce could tell they was dead. He ran over to Stella and took her gun in the process.

“I got ‘em, Kayce,” she tried to catch her breath, “before they got me.” He grabbed her hand and started to lead her away toward his truck.

“Yes you did sweetheart.” He winced at the thought of how she was going to come to terms with taking a life. If she even realized she killed someone.

“Holy shit. I think I’m —,” she stumbled and bent at the waist away from him. She stabilized herself on a tree, and retched until her voice went hoarse.

“Let it out baby. Let it out.” He rubbed her back in between her shoulder blades to give any sort of comfort he could. She started to shake with the effort. Kayce placed an arm around her waist to keep her from falling.

“I’ve gotcha Stell.” Her body relaxed as the heaving stopped. She groaned and wiped her mouth off. Her phone started to ring in her back pocket as she made herself upright. Immediately, she handed it to Kayce, not wanting to deal with whoever it was.

“Ryan,” he greeted quietly.

“Uh, excuse me? Kayce?”

“Ask me all the questions you want later. Get yourself and Lloyd out to Stella’s. Now.”

“What the fuck, is she okay?”

“Yes, just get here now.”

Colby looked over at Ryan when he heard his confusion at calling his sister, but having someone else pick up. That someone else being their current foreman. His eyebrows raised at that thought. He would have to talk to Stella about that when he saw her next.

“Colby, you and Jake are in charge for the day! I need Lloyd to go to Stella’s!” He ran as if the devil himself was on his heels and left a confused Colby in the bunkhouse.

He ran in and immediately ran into Lloyd. “Jesus Christ Ryan watch where you’re goin’.”

“Lloyd.” He gulped air. “Kayce said there was an emergency at Stella’s and we need to get there now.” He ran off to find any truck keys he could.

“Oh hell!”

The two men saw the slight destruction Kayce’s truck had caused to the driveway. They each let out their own expletives, not sure what they had just pulled into. Ryan threw the truck in park and looked for Kayce. The man in question got up from the porch steps next to Stella. Ryan hopped out and ran for his little sister.

She looked like she was trying to make herself small and disappear. Her normal tan from being in the sun was pallid. Her eyes had dark half circles around the bottom. There were minor scrapes and bruises that lined her arms.

“Stella!” She looked up at him and slowly stood. He grabbed her in a bear hug.

“Oh Stella, I'm so sorry I didn’t pick up. I’m so sorry.” He put his hand on the back of her head and held her as close as possible. She hadn’t known he was busy making sure Rip didn’t die. She sniffled. Stella knew it wasn’t his fault.

In a small, scratchy voice, Stella reassured her brother, “it’s okay. Kayce got me.” Ryan nodded and scoffed quickly. Even in her time of trouble, she was still worried about everyone else. He squeezed her tightly. He knew he shouldn’t have let her go by herself. He was grateful for Kayce being protective of his sister and his fast action. He had come in where Ryan had failed.

“Don’t blame yourself, Ry.”

“Don’t worry about me right now. What the hell happened?”

“I was on my way home from Olivia’s. A big ass SUV started following me. I tried to call you, then I called Kayce. He said he would meet me here. He was pulling in and I got their attention and brought them into the woods.”

“I’m almost to your driveway.”

“Okay cool. I’ll be somewhere near that trashy shed. I’m about to do something stupid.” Stella ended the call and put her phone in her back pocket. She slammed her car door and ran around the shed. She could still see the silver car. Now out in the open, she waved the flashlight wildly in the air.

“Hey fuck face! You want me so bad, come and get me!” She took off running to the right. She ducked and dodged around trees and stumps. She saw the one big fir she loved and ran for cover there. At least to catch her breath for a second.

She could hear the men as they yelled through the trees. It sounded like some came closer to her, and some went further. It didn’t sound like a lot of people. She heard the underbrush crackling to her left. She listened to her right and took off back toward the little rundown shed. One of them must have heard her.

“She's over here!”

She looked off in the wrong direction and yelled in a singsong voice, “No I’m not asshat,” she hoped her voice would bounce back and keep them confused. She continued to run and thread herself through the trees. She thought she heard the rumble of a truck and prayed to god or anyone who would listen that it was Kayce.

“You did what??”

Stella shook her head. She didn’t want to remember what happened after she heard Kayce’s engine.

“I needed to buy time until Kayce got to me. So I got them lost in the trees.” She shrugged and knew she wasn’t going to hear the end of it but she needed to sit. Stella directed him wearily. “You should go talk to him. I’m gonna sit down.” Ryan helped make sure she actually sat and didn’t fall.

“Ryan,” Kayce called him over. “You said you wanted to be all in, right?”

“Now's not the time, Kayce.” Lloyd scolded.

Ryan defended himself to the man he considered a father. “I'm already in this place so deep.”

“He wants you clean. You carry a badge.”

“The badge hasn't kept me clean.”

“If you want in, it's all the way in.” Kayce didn’t want him to think there was a way to half ass it.

“I know.”

“He doesn't wear the brand.” Lloyd argued.

“He will. There’s four bodies in the wooded area of her property we’ve gotta take care of.” Kayce explained.

“I’m, what?” Ryan was confused. From the story Stella had told him, to the announcement that there were four dead bodies that needed dealing with, he felt like he had whiplash.

Kayce hushed his voice so Stella wouldn’t hear, “She also,” he didn’t want to finish the sentence, “killed two of them. I don’t know if she’s realized it yet.”

“No.” His shoulders dropped, devastated. “Tell me you’re lying, Kayce.” Ryan felt like he was going to be sick. He never wanted something like that for his sister to bear on her conscience.

“I wish I could, Ryan.”

“Fuck!” He exclaimed quietly. He peered over at his baby sister and now registered why she looked the way she did.

“Oh, she knows.” Lloyd told them. He knew that look well. He had seen it on himself.

“She can also hear you.” She fixed her gaze on the three men. She moved her glasses back up her nose. Her face hardened.

“It was them or me and they didn’t stop coming. So I protected myself.” Stella stood on shaky legs and tried to fight off nausea, “Now, what are we gonna do to fix the problem?”

She walked over, stood in front of the three men she knew wore the brand, and made herself vulnerable. “I’m all in gentleman.” She put her hands out to the side then her eyes finally landed on Kayce’s, and she let her hands drop against her thighs. He knew exactly the role she’d just accepted for not only herself, but for him.

Lloyd sighed and glanced at the ground to hide his face as he felt his heart bleed for her. He never imagined something like this playing out, or her having backed herself into a corner like she did.

“No Stella. You don’t know what you’re asking.” Lloyd left no room for argument. There were several noises of agreement. Lloyd was like a father to Ryan and her, but after the bullshit that she just went through, she didn’t care if he was the Pope. Stella decided now was the perfect time to place a disagreement on the table.

“Are you sure I don’t know, Lloyd?” She paused to look each man in the eye, daring them to object. “I've lived on that ranch 365 days of every year from the time I was 14 years old until I was 24 when I bought this house.” She pointed aggressively at the building. “And those of you who are in the shit, didn’t exactly have quiet mouths when you thought no one was around.“

“I’m neither blind, nor deaf, gentleman.” She placed her hands on her hips. “Like, for example, what happened to Fred?” She fixed her glasses and paused for them to answer. When they failed to do so, she kept going. “Did he just get “bored” and “move on” like you told everyone else? Or did you just so happen to take him to a “train station” that somehow magically exists just beyond the welcome sign for Wyoming?” Stella knew her luck was pushed to the max, but she was tired of caring today.

“I’ve seen and heard what goes on behind the scenes at that ranch, guys. I know exactly what I’m saying.”

“Let’s have this little heart to heart later after this is dealt with, yeah?” Kayce tried to get everyone to get moving because the sun was close to coming up. No, Stella didn’t have close neighbors, but today would be the one time someone chose to stop by.

Stella groaned to herself as she got out of the car. They were finally back at the Yellowstone. She was going to keep it that way for a few days. At least until she had to go back to Olivia’s and check on that little colt. That was a conversation with Ryan for later when she had more energy. She had been up way past 24 hours at this point. She was starting to see double. She was just happy she had made the drive back to the ranch.

She decided everything in the car could be left. She just wanted to go fall on a bunk and pass out for several hours, if not for a full day. After the hell of this morning, she deserved that and dared anyone to try and tell her differently. If they tried, she would most likely sock them square in the jaw.

She went toward the bunkhouse, hearing the bed call her name. She was so close to the freedom she could taste it. At least she would have been if a heavy hand hadn’t grabbed her around the arm. She turned in a swinging motion with the momentum from being stopped.

“What could you possibly want that can’t wait until later?” Kayce stared back at her. He looked unamused. She had thought it was her brother.

“Sorry, I thought you were Ryan.”

“The bunkhouse is gonna be loud. Go to the foreman’s cabin.”

“But that’s your place.”

“And?”

“And I don’t want to put you out of your own place just because I need a fat nap, Kayce.”

“I told you to go there. It’s got a couch that works just fine.”

Stella rolled her eyes in true Stella fashion. “Okay, Kayce. I’m too tired to argue. I’m taking the bed though.” She walked away before he could argue back. She had laid on that couch many times before, and it was trash on the back. He had made that proverbial bed, so he could lie in it.

#yellowstone #kayce dutton #yellowstonetv #luke grimes #ian bohen #ryan #kayce dutton fan fiction #yellowstone fanfic #yellowstone fanfiction #kayce dutton fanfic

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party-gilmore · 3 years

Text

Rewatching the pilot and watching how, when he sees how much that score made him, Eliot's tucking his head and just staring at that number and laughing - not throw his head back, but like the kind where you're almost fighting it but not quite not really, tight but wide grin that's not really open but still splits your face and makes your cheeks hurt, and almost manic about it, and thinking bout someone kiss this man so I don't have to, and like

I know metatextually they hadn't even STARTED working on that plot yet but like

Knowing what we know later, i can't help but think back to that moment and Eliot staring at that number and thinking holy shit. this is it. this is as free as I'm gonna get.

Because shit was getting tight, as a freelance retrieval specialist I think. Eliot's name was... starting to collect black marks. Failures.

He couldn't retrieve the monkey. He couldn't retrieve the dagger of Aku Abi. The community talks. Who knows what else had gone wrong in the year between the Rashomon flashback and the Nigerian Job? Nate said he chased them all, at one point or another. For Eliot, since Nate didn't know about the Moreau connection, that would've been in his freelance retrieval phase.

And Nate's good.

How many jobs did Eliot lose to him? How did his reputation fare, after those last couple failures? Did some of the higher ups know about his connection to Moreau? Did Damien have him blacklisted from certain circles, keeping him from taking more lucrative jobs with people who knew his full skillset, leaving him with the penny-ante players paying him well below what he should be getting ("why are you sending second-rate thugs after me?" perhaps because that's the price range you have to work in now, that's the only tax bracket that will hire you, the kind that hires second-rate)?

Had Eliot been considering it, until that moment? The possibility that Damien was right? That he would, inevitably, come crawling back after failing on his own? Maybe he could make it another couple months... a year or two even, if this success could bolster his flagging rep -

(there's a moment in the hospital, when all seems lost. they've been busted. the job that was supposed to save him doomed him. he'd find his way out, but after this colossal failure who's gonna hire him? he resigns himself to it happening sooner rather than later, now. then Parker gets Nate a phone, and he watches the man work a miracle)

- but he could see it looming on the horizon. The encroaching fear of knowing what was at the end of the road for him, the inevitable return to...

Then he opens that envelope. Sees that payout. The Score.

And in one singular fucking moment, one fell swoop, it comes crashing in on him that he'll never have to work for Moreau again.

Hell, he'll never have to take a single job he doesn't want to again. He can pick and choose his clients. Pick and choose his methods. The non-lethality that he was fearing was becoming a liability, just like Damien had said it would, suddenly no longer an issue. He could choose jobs he knew he could handle, instead of jumping at whatever was offered to him and hoping it worked out.

All because of this job. The one he'd hoped would get him by just a little longer. The one that for a moment he feared had ruined him.

Because of this team. This ragtag little group of people he was trying so hard not to enjoy the company of. Not to get attached to, even after such a short amount of time.

Because of Nate Ford.

So when Hardison calls him up later, with a story about another job and vet who needs their help, there's no hesitation in the "yeah, I'll be there."

Eliot had already decided the moment he saw the caller ID.

#eliot spencer #the nigerian job #damien moreau

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casuallyimagining · 3 years

Text

Fix You (2)

hybrid!Min Yoongi x female!reader

Summary: When you take in a stray cat, you have no idea he’s secretly a hybrid trying to escape his past. Can you help him heal? Genre: hurt/comfort, angst, slow burn, fluff Word Count: 2,987 Rating: M Warnings (may not appear in every part): minor character is a dick to animals, mentions of a gun, main character injury (non-serious), discussion of physical abuse, emotional abuse, discussion of sexual abuse, discussion of self-harm

Notes: Banner by @birbdae; thanks to @voiceswithoutlips, @taetaesbaebaepsae, and @hoebii for editing this for me.

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When you woke up, the cat was nowhere to be found, and your pillow was missing. It was just your luck that the random cat you had saved would end up being a kleptomaniac. You sighed and began to get ready for your day. It wasn’t like you could do anything about it. The cat was probably scared and confused, and you couldn’t blame him for wanting to be comfortable.

As you passed your TV stand, you bent down to peer underneath it. Copper eyes stared back at you. You greeted the cat and his tail swished back and forth against the floor, annoyed. So he wasn’t into mornings, then.

Heading into the kitchen, you quickly made yourself a cup of coffee. If the cat wasn’t a morning person, then you would probably get along. You were an early riser, but that was mostly due to insomnia, not because you actually enjoyed being awake.

You brought him the rest of the chicken you had cut up the night before, prepared with his morning dose of the antibiotics. Laying down on the floor, you pushed the plate under the TV stand for him.

He sniffed at the chicken, eyes not leaving your face as he started to eat. His canines were long and pointy, you noticed, and if you paid attention when his mouth was closed, you could barely see the tip of the right one poking out from his lips.

“I’m going to go shopping today to get you some stuff.” The cat didn’t answer. Of course he didn’t. He was a cat. “I know you’re feeling better, but please try not to jump on stuff. You’ll hurt yourself more, and I really can’t afford another weekend trip to the vet.” His copper eyes seemed to soften at that for a moment before hardening back into a glare.

You weren’t sure what you did to make the cat constantly glare at you. Maybe he had a resting grouch face. Maybe he was just uncomfortable in his new surroundings. You hoped that, if nothing else, he would eventually warm up to you. All the pets you’d had in the past had opened up to you right away, although you supposed that was because they were babies when your family had adopted them. You’d never adopted an adult cat before.

“Eat up,” you told him before pushing yourself off the floor. “I’ll be back soon.”

The pet store was larger than you remembered it being. When you were a kid shopping with your mother for your pets, there were only a few departments in the store. There was, of course, sections for cats and dogs, as well as areas for fish, birds, reptiles, and small mammals. Now though, in addition to the old departments, there were additional sections for hybrids of all kinds--there was even a department dedicated to large and exotic hybrids like lions, panthers, giraffes, and elephants.

Hybrids weren’t a new species by any means, but it had only been in the past decade or so that people had fully started to embrace them in society. Before, shops that catered to hybrids were usually small and boutique--hybrids used to only be seen as pets or servants, and ones that lived without ownership were few and far between. But after fighting for and receiving the rights they deserved, hybrids had become more prevalent in society. There was even a hybrid serving in the president’s cabinet, and quite a few serving in other high-ranking government positions.

You wandered through the cat section of the pet store, unsure of what to buy. You had a couple toys in your cart--catnip mice and little springs and balls that had bells in them. You knew the cat was somehow going to act offended by them, but you reminded yourself that he’s a cat, and indoor cats needed something to stimulate their minds.

You also had put some cat shampoo in your cart. The cat was dirty, and you weren’t sure how much blood was going to be caked into his fur under the bandage, so you figured a bath was somewhere in his immediate future.

Sighing, you grabbed a bag of air-dried food. He would probably hate that, too, but you couldn’t keep feeding him raw chicken. For one thing, you couldn’t stand the feel of it, and the less you had to touch the raw meat, the better. But also, chicken was expensive, and while your job paid decently, you weren’t sure how well it could support an all-raw diet for the cat. This air-dried food was turkey and salmon, and would be the next closest thing to raw.

Eventually, you would probably end up getting the cat a cat tree, but you didn’t think it was a good idea right now. With his shoulder injury, he really shouldn’t be climbing or jumping, and a cat tree would only invite that more. So you left the aisle, even though they had a tree that had a little house you knew he would love to hide in.

Before checking out, you stopped by the little kiosk that sold ID tags and collars. You knew he would hate wearing a collar, but if he ever escaped, you wanted to know someone could return him to you. You would ask the vet about microchipping later, but for now, a collar would have to do. Looking at the options, you couldn’t help but laugh. Most of the plain collars were pink or had things like little butterflies on them. A few had bells, which you knew he would find absolutely repulsive, and a couple others had bowties. You considered a dark blue plaid one with a bowtie, but decided against it. As cute as he would look, you knew the cat would probably bite you if you went anywhere near him with it.

You settled on a collar covered in piano keys. It was the plainest one they had in stock that wasn’t bright pink. You grabbed a small, circular tag, too. He would hate it, but at least maybe if you picked the least offensive options, the cat would tolerate wearing a collar.

On the way home, you stopped and grabbed a coffee from the chain cafe down the street from your apartment. You were still a little tired, and when you got home, you were glad for the extra caffeine.

“I’m home, kitty!” you called into the seemingly empty apartment. You hadn’t really been expecting the cat to be anywhere out in the open, but a small part of you had hoped.

Walking into the kitchen, you deposited the couple bags from the pet store on the table. You couldn’t help but feel like something was off. Nothing was broken or in the wrong place that you could see from first glance, but the niggling feeling in the back of your mind wouldn’t go away. Something had been moved in your kitchen. Your mug from your coffee this morning was washed and sat in your drying rack, along with another cup that you had thought you put away and the dish from last night that you had used to feed the cat. You didn’t remember washing the dishes this morning, but you were still a little tired, so maybe you had and just forgot.

You didn’t see anything else out of the ordinary, so you let it go, choosing instead to go find your cat. As expected, you found him under the TV stand. He was panting as if he had just run under there from somewhere else in the house.

“You know you’re allowed to be in other rooms, right?” you asked him softly, pulling the empty plate out so you could take it to the kitchen. “You don’t have to run under here every time I come home.” Copper eyes met yours for a second, and you could see panic in them. Then you saw it. The bandage around his shoulder was gone.

Your brow furrowed in confusion. Dr. Jung’s assistant had wrapped it securely. He must have really been running around the house to not only loosen it, but to dislodge the bandage entirely.

“What were you doing while I was gone, dude?” you questioned. The cat looked terrified. His eyes were large as saucers, his ears flat against his head. His mouth was open in a silent hiss, his long canine teeth on full display. “Are you hurt?” That seemed to catch him off guard. “Are you still bleeding? Can I see?” You reached into your back pocket and pulled out your phone. “You don’t have to come out if you don’t want to,” you said softly, waving your phone in the dark. “But can you at least turn so I can see?”

It took you a second to realize that, again, you were talking to a cat. He wasn’t going to listen to you, despite how human his reactions to you seemed to be. In the second that it took you to remind yourself that your cat is, in fact, a cat, his demeanor changed. His ears were still pressed back against his head, but he seemed less agitated, more resigned. He crawled toward you slowly, the limp almost entirely gone.

When he was out from under the TV stand, he stood fully. You pushed yourself up so you could sit and examine him. As you reached for him, he backed away slightly. His copper eyes met yours for the briefest of seconds before they flicked away, focusing on the floor. He stood still and allowed you to scoop him up into your lap.

“It’s okay,” you soothed, scratching his head gently. “Let me just look at your shoulder.”

You ran your hand over the joint and he froze. For a second, you thought maybe he was going to bolt back under the TV stand. But he sat there stiffly, allowing you to feel for the bite marks and anything that might still be bleeding.

You found nothing. Not even a scab. The only signs of the dog attack yesterday were a ring of indents--scars, you presumed--that ran from his shoulder blades down to his chest and onto his leg. There was no way he had healed that fast.

But you didn’t say that. Instead, you smiled at him. “If you don’t want to wear the bandage any more, you don’t have to,” you said soothingly, scratching at the base of his ear. His copper eyes met yours, and you pulled away at the apprehension in them.

He stepped out of your lap as soon as your hand was away from him. You nodded once, smiling at him. “I’m going to go do some work, kitty. I’ll be in my office if you need anything.”

You were a researcher. Always had been. When you were looking for apartments in the city, you had created spreadsheets and pro/con lists and had spent weeks researching neighborhoods. And when you decided on the right neighborhood, you had debated floor plans, after weeks of second-guessing finally settling on the single floor, three bedroom, two bathroom with the decent sized kitchen and living room.

You hadn’t done any research before taking in the cat. You loved cats, had had several growing up. You knew enough about them to not need to do any research before committing to taking home the stray living near your parents’ house.

Maybe you should have.

Although you weren’t exactly sure how researching could have possibly prevented anything. You pushed it out of your mind, though, choosing instead to focus on your next work project.

Except you couldn’t focus. Your client was a hybrid-owned cafe just outside the city, and you were trying to design their menus. Normally, it wouldn’t take you long at all. They were great clients, and they had given you all the information you needed, but your mind kept drifting to the cat in your living room. You assumed he had crawled back under the TV stand. He seemed to be comfortable enough under there, although clearly he felt comfortable leaving the shadows when you weren’t home.

And then there was the problem of his name. You had no idea what to call him, but you were sure he had a name. Though how you’d figure it out, you had no idea.

You had wanted to watch this movie for months. It had appeared on streaming services around Christmastime, but it was now April, and you still hadn’t had the chance to watch it. You curled up on your sectional in the living room to watch it, a bowl of popcorn sitting beside you. You had turned the lights off in the living room, so the only major source of light was what was coming from the TV, and it was a fairly dark movie.

Though you were invested in the plot, you still scrolled through your phone, your attention divided between social media and what was happening on the television.

Out of the corner of your eye, you noticed a shadow moving under your TV stand. Your cat’s head poked out a second later, copper eyes watching you scroll through your social media. In another second, the rest of his body emerged from the shadows. You forced yourself to watch the movie. You didn’t want to freak him out by watching him. When you glanced back at where he had emerged, he was gone.

The movie was about halfway over when you noticed him again, slinking back into the living room from the hallway. Where he had gone, you had no idea. But he sat for a moment, staring at you from beside the wall. You had grabbed a blanket in the time that he had been gone. Your apartment tended to get chilly at night sometimes--it was old, and the insulation wasn’t the best--and you were a little cold.

Before you knew what was happening, he was up on the couch and in your lap, laying in the valley between your outstretched legs. He paused for a moment, copper eyes meeting yours as if gauging your reaction. In the dim light from the TV, you could see that hint of panic again, as if he was terrified you would shout or push him away. You smiled at him gently, resituating so more of your lap was available and going back to scrolling through your phone.

The cat was apparently satisfied with your reaction, because he readjusted himself, as well, curling up so he was taking up more real estate on your lap. You didn’t mind. His little body put off quite a lot of heat, and from what you could feel of him through the blanket, he was cold, too. Eventually, he settled in, his head rested against your leg beside your free hand, his tail flopped into the crook of your elbow, the tip flicking lightly back and forth.

After a moment, you felt him shift again, and you almost jumped when you felt his head press into your hand. It took you a second, and a few more tentative bumps from him, but you eventually opened your hand and allowed him to press his forehead into your palm. You rubbed your thumb gently over the soft fur of his cheek. He leaned into your touch and you could feel him relaxing. You heard the rumbles of a purr start to stutter in his chest. It wasn’t constant like other cats’--it sounded vaguely like popcorn, crackling and popping at random.

You sighed, resting one hand on his back and continuing to stroke his cheek. He stiffened for a moment and raised his head, wide eyes staring into your face, before he slowly started to relax again.

“I can’t keep calling you kitty,” you said softly when he was comfortable. He didn’t raise his head, but his ear swiveled in your direction to show he was paying attention. “And I’m terrible at names, so you’re going to have to figure out a way to tell me what yours is. Unless you want me to call you something ridiculous like Smudge or Shadow.” The cat grunted. Apparently he didn’t like those names, either. “I didn’t think so.”

Your attention returned to the movie, but you kept petting him. His stuttering purr resumed. He directed your hand by nudging it, up his head and down to his shoulder. He adjusted how he was laying so you could rub where the scars of yesterday’s bite marks were. You massaged the area gently, his purring increasing in volume.

His fur was soft and considerably less dirty than it had been that morning. If you concentrated, he smelled like your shampoo.

“I have to take some stuff back to the pet store tomorrow,” you said finally. “So you’ll have some time alone to do whatever.”

He froze, and despite the movie playing, it was quiet without his purring. His eyes were wide, and he hissed, but aside from his ears flattening, he didn’t move. He was scared--no, he was terrified.

It broke your heart.

“I’m not going to hurt you.” You kept your voice soft and even. “You can stay here for as long as you’d like. I want you to feel comfortable here.”

You sighed. You still felt a little weird talking so seriously with a cat, but his reactions confirmed what your research had told you. You had questions, and you were a little concerned about the logistics of everything, but you had started to come to terms with it.

Him smelling like your shampoo. The dishes being done. The stolen pillow and blanket. The things that were moved ever so slightly. The oddly appropriate reactions to what you were saying. How fast he had healed. Maybe you’d always known. Maybe that’s why you still talked to him like he was a person.

He was a person, more or less.

Your cat was a hybrid.

As always, your feedback is appreciated. Feel free to pop into my ask box with questions or thoughts about the series. I’d love to hear from you!

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Taglist: @min-yus, @melindagrace31, @shrimpmsg, @ghostkat23, @demcreeps, @ggsmashgg, @findingourtreasure, @20emma0, @springbean, @black-rose-29, @cuteipat, @agustneeds, @deeepvibes, @yzkyzkuniverse, @softbbyg0rl

#yoongi x reader #min yoongi x reader #min yoongi #hybrid yoongi #hybrid yoongi x reader #bts hybrid au #hybrid au #thebtswritersclub #yoongi hybrid au #hybrid bts #hybridyoongi #yoongi hybrid #yoongihybrid #yoongi angst #bts angst #min yoongi angst

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bokettochild · 3 years

Note

Hi there!

For the one shot requests, could we get Time and Four?

Keep up the awesomeness!

This scenario came to my mind the instant I saw your ask, but it took me a hot second to finish because I had already started another one.

Anyways, here's Time and four bonding and hanging out with a Minish!

(Asks and requests are still open if anyone would like to see something specific!)

Of Minish and Men

A chuckle escaped Time's mouth as he looked down into his bag, his single blue eye meeting the tiny beady ones of the minish hidden inside. It’s a daring move, he must admit, that the little one thinks they can sneak into his things. Are they after the sugar he keeps on hand for fairies? Exploring his items out of genuine curiosity?

There are many reasons for the little people to be interested in his things, but it brings him no end of joy to see how they start when his eyes meet theirs.

He’s not trying to scare them, honest.

“And what are you doing?” He chuckles, low and soft so that his boys won’t hear. Wild is coaching Wind through making dinner with himself and Legend, and the noise of it covers his words, but he can’t be too careful.

The minish squeaks something in return, shuffling it’s tiny feet and looking up at him, apparently embarrassed at being caught.

Maybe sharing a sugar-cube with this little one wouldn’t be so bad.

A cautious glance up reveals that the others are all busy at work, Warriors and Twilight working to darn the sailor’s pitiful socks while the trio making dinner fusses around their pot, laughter and stories bouncing between them as Legend catches the carrot slices Wind keeps throwing at him in his mouth. It’s rather impressive actually, but he’s not going to encourage the smug grin on the Vet’s face (he doesn’t miss the pleasure that appears with every new slice either).

Four and Sky are out gathering wood, and in the meantime, Hyrule has positioned himself at the edge of camp where the smell of strong herbs won’t bother the others as much as the healer prepares salves and ointments for future use on the wounds that the others will inevitably get.

In theory, Time himself was supposed to be helping sort the herbs, but he’d stopped to get a spare jar from his pack before doing so. And now here he sits, a minish guiltily shuffling it’s paws in his pack as he looms over it. He almost feels bad when he reaches out his hand, palm up and fingers flat, only to have the tiny critter start backwards and trip on it’s tail, but when his hand stops the minish only looks up at him in surprise.

“I won’t hurt you.” He murmurs softly. “But you really shouldn’t be in there, you’ll get hurt.”

Tiny paws hesitantly make their way onto his finger tips, cautious black eyes staring up at him for a moment before the minish dubs him safe, crawling up to perch on the palm of his hand, where it reaches into it’s leaf-cloak and produces something.

It’s small, soft pink, and clay, marked with a symbol that his eyes can’t quite make out from the distance he’s at.

“What’s that, little beastie?” There’s a soft squeak as the minish stares up at him, eyes wide and expectant as he cocks him head. “I'm sorry, I don’t understand.”

“Time, I thought you were helping Hyrule?” It appeared that Sky and Four had come back, as the smithy was now walking up to him with a confused expression. “What-” The smithy froze, even as Time looked up from the minish in his hand to meet the teenager’s gaze.

“Is everything alright?”

“What-” Four’s voice hitches as he speaks and he can’t keep from grinning slightly at it. “What are you doing?”

Time looks at Four, he looks back at the minish, and then back at Four. To the world around him, he looks perfectly calm, but in his mind, he’s grinning like a mad man. “Talking to a minish.” He responds easily. “The little one thought it would be a good idea to climb into my bag, but it isn’t safe in there for such a-”

“You can see them?” Four interrupts, voice full of wonder, eyes glittering a warm red that indicates that one of the colors is now fronting, although if he’s to believe the hint of hazel at the edges of the smithy’s gaze, the other colors aren’t far from the front.

It’s hard, so terribly hard, to resist smiling at the smithy, but his boys believe him to be a stoic and mature leader (except Wars, Wars knows), and he’s not about to change that, not if it means he can maintain their respect and thus some semblance of order (even he has his limit for chaos, even if his older brother doesn’t think he does).

“Naturally. They’re creatures of the forest, are they not?”

“Well,” And violet flickers to the forefront, a slight warning that he’s about to receive a quick lesson about the minish. “It’s actually a common misconception that the minish are forest folk, they’re actually native to all of Hyrule, and even some of the lands beyond. Although,” The smithy cocks his head, eyes glinting hazel for a moment before returning to purple as the colors assumedly discuss something. “Your little friend here probably is native to the forests.”

And with those words, the smithy is kneeling down at his side, peering closely at the minish with a gentle smile that somehow produces the opposite effect as his own attempts. The minish beams up at Four with eyes twinkling with joy, a series of soft cheeps and squeaks sounding between the two as they appear to converse. Light giggles shake the smithy’s shoulders, pure and warm, and reminding him of softly pealing bells as Four offers his hand to the minish, who happily climbs aboard, leaving behind the piece of clay in Time’s own fingers.

“He’s a bit young, entirely new to the job.” Four explains. “It's his first time rewarding travelers for good deeds, and he wasn't expecting to get caught.” The smithy looks up at him, eyes warm and brown again as a fond smile pulls at his features. Hylia, Four looks so young like this. “Most adults can’t see them.”

Now that throws him for a loop. “I’m sorry?” He knows he’s frowning down at the smithy, but thankfully Four seems mostly unfazed, if not a bit confused himself. “What?”

“Did you not know?” The smithy cocks a brow, tipping his head to one side as the minish in his hands does the same thing.

“You two okay over there?” Warriors calls out, and all three of them turn to look at where the Captain sits, sock in hand and needle still poised as he stares over at them.

“All good, captain.” Time assures, and while neither Wars nor the Pup look like they fully believe it (or maybe they’re just curious) they both nod and return to what they were doing. (Time notes with appreciation and pride that Twilight has carefully turned his ears away from them, effectively preventing himself from listening in to their conversation.

He turns back to Four, brows furrowed as he looks down at the minish in Four’s hands. “Why do you say that?”

Four blinks at him, confusion apparent on his features for a moment before recognition dawns. “They say only those with the heart of a child can see the minish, most people stop seeing them around ten or thirteen, although Wind still can,” The smithy smiles fondly towards where their sailor is helping the champion cut turnips, hands carefully guided under Wild’s careful eyes as the sailor bites his tongue with effort. “I’m not really surprised about that though, I’m glad he still can.”

“He deserves a little innocence.” Time agrees, eyes trailing down to the mouse like creature in Four’s hands, mulling over the smithy’s words.

’Only those with the heart of a child can see the minish’. Four had said.

A smile breaks over his face. “Ah.”

“What?” Four’s gaze is all the colors at once, each clear in tehri own right as the separate parts of the smithy all look to him for an answer.

“I think I understand.”

“How?” Violet springs to life in the smithy’s gaze, pushing the other colors back with an eagerness that Time’s grown used to when Four learns something new. “How can you see them.”

Time smirks, mischief singing in his veins as he tucks the charm the minish gave him into his bag and grabs the spare bottles he had come for. Not a word escaped him as he stands, gazing pointedly at Four, and moves over to where Sky is now kneeling at Hyrule’s side and helping him to prepare an ointment.

“Time? How?” Four calls out, but Time doesn’t answer.

He’s got to keep up that mystical façade somehow after all, and if it satisfies the mischievous child’s heart inside him, well, all the better.

#linked universe #linkeduniverse #lu time #lu four #minish #picori #bonding Time #father time #time is a gremlin #Time is a child at heart #change my mind #Time knows about the colors #heroineoftwilight my beloved #fluffics #fanfic asks #fic recs #one shot request #linked universe fic requests

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jae-canikeepyou · 3 years

Text

| kismet | j.jh | part two

pair: jaehyun x fem!reader

word count: 10k+

summary: his parents sends him for a month long vacation to the country side to meet his other half, which so happens to be you. and alternatively, your beloveds asks of you to be in your best behaviour while he’s around. disliking how things turn out, you both come up with a pact with each other before your two families gathers together for christmas eve dinner.

genre: arranged marriage + bad 1st impressions

a/n: this is not proofread and i apologise for any mistakes :p here’s the next one and i hope you look forward to the final soon! enjoy reading! ~j

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| part one | part three (final) |

it was another morning johnny saw you and jaehyun arguing at a distance by the stables. be it inaudible yelling or actions that seemed exaggerated, this time it was a sight that was a little worth seeing. so he walked closer to hear this quarrel.

“you didn’t check the horses’ conditions yet? it’s been a few days and i told you to memorise the schedule!” you flipped through pages roughly that they nearly tore. “it’s your job! you’re the ‘vet’!”

“what? you never gave me any schedule to begin with!” jaehyun groaned then sat back on the hammock to rest and you were trying to get him back up on his toes. “and what if i just want to take a day off today? you can’t force me!”

“check the animals jaehyun. that’s an order.” you sighed, writing down notes to keep updated with the stocks and materials. “i have some things to do—”

“like what? practicing and riding?” he asked and you didn’t answer. “thought so. you rarely do things around here and you still brag about how accomplished you feel.” he scoffed and laid back down on the hammock. “i’m the one doing the work..” he mumbled until it was inaudible for you.

ouch that hit the mark. johnny could see your cheeks bubbling up and eyebrows narrowing at jaehyun’s comment. of course he wouldn’t know that because you usually do not deal with the hard work around the farm. the only job you work hard for was horse riding. you had a reputation to hold as you were the daughter of a renowned family.

jaehyun took a huge inhale as he swung himself like a mother did to lull a child. he sung to annoy you even more and with the ruffles from the papers in your hands, johnny could tell his friend was satisfied making you mad. you bit your hairtie between teeth, tying your hair up into a high ponytail and rolling up your sleeves until the elbows.

he was indeed a huge man, you grabbed the edge of the cloth and pulled him as high as you could. he fell miserably to the hard soil. “ow quit it y/n!” he stood up to dust the impossible dirt from his pants. “you’re just sensitive because what i said is actually true! i’ll get back to work if that’s what you’re worried about.”

he fixed his coat and head straight inside the stables.

you crossed your arms and tried your best to hold your changing expression. “talk about sensitive! you can’t even withstand heavy workload!”

“mentally i can but i’m not physically ready! i didn’t sign up to be your pawn so stop acting like a queen and actually help out!” he grabbed the hay and scattered them in the horses’ place.

the audacity- the fall from three days ago still had an impact on you. “didn’t you hear what i said? i have things to do! now continue that. i have to answer this call..” you sounded irritated and soon your voice sounding further away the more you spoke. jaehyun saw you answering the ringing phone, taking it from you.

before you could, you were draped on his shoulder as if you were a towel. “i won’t take that as an excuse, y/n! you’re coming with me!” he forcibly took the phone off your hands and threw it far.

defeated and exhausted to talk back, you tapped his back because fear was slowly consuming you due to your shoulder pain. “you’re buying me another phone! put me down jaehyun! my back still hurts!” you hit his hips and expected he wouldn’t listen but,

he did as you were told.

“you’re forgetting your condition number one!” jaehyun pointed his temples as anger became visibly seen on his face. “you said ‘you’ll do the work for me and with me’, and they go together!” he threw a small sack of hay to you.

“you’re being an ass because i invaded your day-off!” you stomped to the next horse.

“tsk, i don’t think i can continue this with you! you‘re ruining my well-being every single day!”

“the jeong jaehyun can’t stand arguments?” you tilted your head in frustration and nodded at his silence. “thought so. this is part of the pact you suggested and i’m just simply following it! so if there’s anything, you’re the weak one here!”

from afar, johnny was taken aback behind the fences.

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the kitchen was quiet, the grandfather clock ticking away time and as each second passed, so did your patience. daylight met its end. it was day 14 and your mother asked you to give jaehyun the lesson he wanted to have— bread making. you forgot about it, and jaehyun probably did too because despite staying over for ‘vacation’, every day you either saw him with his friends goofing around the barn or him superglued to his school work.

yet now you were close to smashing his face into the mountain of flour he carefully, and slowly built. mark did a better job despite being clumsy. you can handle clumsy, but you couldn’t handle people with top perfection in their ego, a.k.a., jaehyun.

his dimples were hollowing as he looked intently at the numbers on the scale, waiting for that specific and exact digit to appear with a spoonful of melted butter. “oh my g- you’re wasting time!” you grabbed the spoon and put everything into the bowl. “0.1 or 0.2 grams makes no difference! hurry up and mix the dry to the wet ingredients!”

“i was nearly done with the measurements but you had to dump everything in there!” still he stirred them in a bowl with a whisk anyway. “you’re the impatient one!” he carried the bowl and placed it between his arm and waist, subtly asking johnny to film him.

“uhm what do i do after they’re incorporated?” mark interrupted the heated conversation. so far he was careful and observant with your every move. “do i knead it?”

“after twenty minutes.” you smiled at him. this was great; mark actually made your day at least, a lot better than jaehyun did. “resting it will let the flour hydrate. the milk will be absorbed and the gluten will relax too.”

mark snapped his fingers as he tore a plastic wrap to place on the bowl. “that makes it easier to knead right?”

for a moment you felt like a proud mom. “mhm, you’re learning! you’re originally not my student today but you’re doing a better job than—”

the bowl jaehyun was using fell to the floor. to make it worse it was upside-down, that meant all work done had gone to waste. the dough wasn’t close to incorporated. “..him.”

“crap.” jaehyun swore under his breath. his lashes slowly lifted. “my bad. i don’t mind starting again. i can handle my next batch.”

and though they were pretty, your disappointment came through your sigh. “goodness jaehyun. things are never right with you. i’ll clean this up. we ran out of eggs and milk so you have to go to the farm and get some.” you pulled mark’s arm aside as you began to clean. “mark you can chill for a while.”

jaehyun untied his apron and went out with a bucket, mumbling and complaining to himself at exasperating you were so early in the morning.

johnny then followed him. the pact he heard lingered in his head and thought this would be the right time to ask. “i can do the milking myself john.” he opened the gate to the cattle.

“i know. but that’s not why i came along.” johnny put his camera aside. “you and y/n.. made a pact?” with that question out and jaehyun dropped the bucket, johnny figured that what he heard days ago could be true.

“what?” jaehyun turned on his heel, confused, trying not to sound or look surprised. “why would i make a pact with someone so ill-mannered as her? she’s not worth my time or even interests me.” he affirmed with subtle shaky eyes. “the only pact i know is this marriage our parents put us into.

johnny thought for a while, looking at jaehyun who grew clueless the minute passed. he guessed he was wrong. “n-nothing. i’m probably hearing things. or jumbling scenarios because i’ve been watching too many movies this holiday season. i’m sorry dude.”

deep inside jaehyun let out a sigh of relief, but anger was starting to boil at how careless you were for slipping out. he continued to milk the cows and retrieve a couple of eggs before hearing you call them from the house. “oh my g- she’s screaming again-” he scoffed and tried to walk faster. “i can’t just run i might spill the milk bucket!”

“there’s this thing called speedwalking!” you yelled. “try doing that!”

“you always argue with her. aren’t you both tired?” johnny took huge leaps to escape the cold.

“she isn’t, i am. imagine the amount of stress i get the moment i open my eyes in the morning.” jaehyun vouched and shivered at the thought of it.

johnny opened the door and the warmth met their skin. “sure but when you do bump heads, there’s always a smile on your face after you state your point. i never seen you in a good mood since you and sue broke up. i can take that smile of yours a sign.” johnny noted what he’d been seeing.

“it’s a victor’s smile. it means i win the argument.”

they both entered the house and to find you still teaching mark. jaehyun placed the bucket down and rested on the sofa after being told he could use the kitchen once you were finished. trying to keep warm, jaehyun gave small glimpses of you as he wondered when it would be the right time to tell you about what johnny told him. and because he felt johnny tailing him from behind, he wanted your lesson to be over quick.

“i’m thinking it’s a sign that you have feelings for y/n.”

jaehyun batted his lashes. “no no no. i don’t fall in love that easily. there’s nothing attractive about her and i told you i’m not marrying someone like her, with bad attitude and all—”

“and still you tease her for fun? that’s like a cover-up to hide how you actually feel. you may not see that but in another’s eyes, it means something.” johnny clicked the buttons on his camera, rewatching the videos he took.

“are you throwing the ‘i tease her because i like her’ kind of ego? you know i argue with her because i hate her.” he hissed, flipping his laptop open to double check his reports.

the blonde hair boy shook his head with a growing grin of disbelief. “i’m not. my point is, it wouldn’t hurt to try to know her for who she is.” johnny’s lips flatlined when his eyes trailed to your approaching figure. “who knows maybe she’s trying as well and never really got the chance to- yeah i know y/n he’s all yours now.”

unfolding your arms you playfully hit his back with pressed lips. “shut it johnny. just help the baby lion with the cleaning, he’s not really good at it.”

you sat on the sofa, circling your shoulder to ease the pain before leaning back. “ugh. kneading the bread made it worse.”

with the frequent complaints coming from you, he couldn’t concentrate proof-reading his work. it made jaehyun unzip his coat, fishing something from inside and handed a box to you. bothered with how you hesitated to get it, he grabbed your wrists and placed it on your palms. “take it. it helps me a lot too whenever i cram.” did he just.. smile? it was subtle but you were sure he did.

a swarm of guilt started to form at the pit of your stomach. it wasn’t that you thought he partially blamed himself for the fall at the barn house, but because he actually cared when the fall wasn’t even the ultimate reason why your shoulder suffered in the first place. he had no knowledge and still doesn’t. and it was kind of frustrating to think you couldn’t begin that topic.

your heart now was experiencing somersaults. you asked yourself: why? sure he’s handsome and got built, but at this moment why are you all flimsy and speechless? “so you do have a heart for people.” you opened the box of the patch’s packaging.

“i was expecting a ‘thank you’ but i guess with that you’re taking back your words.” he grinned as he typed on.

you snorted as you put your legs up. “hmpf, aren’t you assumi- ow.” you touched your forehead where the pain stung.

“shut up, i’m reading.” jaehyun stressed in a low voice.

“reading what?” you scooted in closer, and jaehyun surprisingly let you see what it was rather than snapping at you. you squinted at the screen and nodded. “equine studies..” you read out softly, that seemed to be a report he worked on in his early years. “isn’t it mandatory for you to study it?”

jaehyun’s scrutinizing gaze caught you off guard, making you clamp your lips to keep quiet. he sighed and continued to read as if you didn’t exist. “i thought you weren’t interested in my field of study.” his brows drew together at your curiosity despite remembering how you did say it clearly.

quickly you tear the patch’s plastic to break the awkward silence you brought upon and let out a soft chuckle of shame. “i’m asking because it’s equine related and i wanna learn. plus i’m too tired to pick up a fight with you so teach me everything you know.”

“i don’t even know if you’d get it in one night- fine. it’s mandatory but i only learnt the basics. i’m not specialising in it or anything so don’t expect much.” jaehyun stared at the screen yet feeling your presence so close kind of pressured him, and he didn’t know why.

“basics like checking the heart, respiratory rate, temperature and hydration status?” you hugged your legs together after placing the patch behind you. “hm.. that’s kinda simple.”

jaehyun clicked his tongue. “that’s the general checking for an animal’s condition, used for emergency access and such. we were given an understanding of veterinary anatomy—”

“which includes learning principles in developmental anatomy in gross, microscopical and ultrastructural levels. learn all these then you can focus on organs to give a physical and radiological diagnosis with the physiology and anatomy as bases—” you finished his sentence, soon shutting up as you got carried away.

his mouth agaped in shock and in strangeness of your interest. he checked your forehead to see if you were in the right mind. “did you read it out from a book or something? and what’s up with you and scientific terminology? you’re supposed to be hating on big words.”

you wondered why his comment hurt you. did he assume you were uneducated? at this point you thought deeply that secrets were meant to be kept. and they were only to be revealed by two ways; one was heard by others, and two was at your will.

“why are you so quiet now?” he laughed, scrolling down at endless of documented pages. “are you experiencing brain fart after that long sentence of sophisticated vocabulary?”

this was far from assumption. this was plain mockery. and it hurt. you hit him on the arm a little more violent and forceful than the usual, and bite back your lips. “it’s not because i’m dumb. i know these because i’ve been there.” you stood up and grabbed the box he gave you. “thanks for this anyway. good night.”

“hey you don’t have to hit me!” jaehyun paused for a second, he had difficulties processing your sudden outburst. he mumbled to himself, “why is she offended when i’m the one who got hit..”

mark happily came out of the kitchen with a freshly baked bread in his hands. “y/n! i’m done with the bread and it smells soooo good- jaehyun, where is she?” the younger one put down the tray.

he sighed and gestured confusingly. “i don’t know she probably went to sleep.”

“man i wanted her to try it.”

“she can try tomorrow. anyway i’m gonna take a shower.” jaehyun turned off his laptop and headed straight to the bathroom.

but before he could have his relaxation, hendery stood against the opposing wall with arms crossed. “can we talk?” he tilted his head, asking to sit at the veranda with him.

they sat at the table set with hendery pouring cups of hot tea. jaehyun took it in his hands, eyes meeting your childhood friend’s as he brushed his hair up. “i kind of wanna tell you something. it’s not my position but i feel like you deserve to know.” that made jaehyun’s mind questioning more. “i overheard you and y/n talking.”

jaehyun frowned at the very recent event, something he found rude from your action. “yeah? she reacted so much and hit me just because i teased her a little. might’ve taken it too seriously but she should know i was joking about her not knowing-”

hendery looked at the dusk distance. “m’lady loves animals more than anything, and for a long time veterinary science is something close to her heart too.”

jaehyun gulped in full on revelation. that was why you reacted. he realised the reason why you hated him in the first place wasn’t only because he was the one you were to marry, but because he was the person who was currently studying the course you’ve always wanted to take.

“she was supposed to take it in college but due to unfortunate circumstances she couldn’t continue. there’s family issue and she had an accident-”

what accident? jaehyun for the first time in other’s eyes, showed worry and curiosity. and his raise in brows cause hendery to realise he missed out an important detail.

“ah you haven’t met mr. y/l/n yet, right?” hendery asked as he sipped on his tea. “he’s busy right now because he’s always out of town but he’s the one y/n’s having issues with.”

“i’m guessing her father opposed to the idea of her becoming a vet?”

hendery shook his head. “he didn’t oppose. in fact he allowed y/n once we graduated high school. she got enrolled to the first semester and was doing well until she had little time to no practice for her semi-finals at cross country at all. mr. y/l/n is a horse riding coach so he’s especially strict with y/n. let’s say their arguments started from there.”

though he didn’t ask parts of your personal life, hearing all these news stunned jaehyun. there was only one thing he wanted to ask: what caused your accident? “how did she do with vet science?”

“she managed and had no fails.” hendery had a brief proud smile. “sadly mr. y/l/n didn’t find it impressive, because he really thought his daughter would be an equestrian like him. y/n hoped he’d be understanding but yeah anyway, you get the gist from there.”

“if it ever crosses her mind, we’ll see if she does. i’ll head inside for a shower. thanks for letting me know.” jaehyun had his palms on the knob, turning around one last time to confirm something. “was the accident, bad?”

“not as life threatening, but it was enough to traumatise her.” hendery picked up the plates and cups. “she.. still hasn’t recovered.”

he stared back at the young lad’s expression, and he could tell hendery has been looking after you ever since. maybe it was better if he hadn’t asked.

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you still shook your legs after hendery warned you of your decency and image, saying that that action was his pet peeve. but really, it was just an excuse to save himself from you due to the fact he said that shaking legs while thinking wasn’t ladylike at all. you couldn’t keep yourself in one place, pacing back and forth in the barn with marg eyeing you since it already been long you did so. “sis.” she cleared her throat and you stopped being jittery with biting your fingers. “what’s up with you?”

“nothing.” you lied, an uneasy feeling began to build up in your chest as the man you despise gently held the horses’ manes. “i’m fine, just thinking.”

jaehyun did the final checks for your horses’ health conditions and to be brutally honest not only did you find him surprisingly quiet, he was rather kind and collected for four days now. he even taught you some veterinary related topics in which you were surprised he was willing to teach. maybe he took your subtle request when you wanted to learn anything he knew about equine medicine. perhaps he wanted a break from all negativity when it came to you. in fact he did mention he couldn’t continue arguing anymore.

and in those four days it got you thinking about the pact. you had a week left and you weren’t sure if you convinced your family or jaehyun’s friends enough to call off the marriage. yes you’ve been at each other’s nerves for small arguments and there were times you forget about it too because the way you both fought was so natural. however today was just too quiet, like he was stopping the fights on purpose and for what reason exactly?

marg slid next to you when you went out for fresh air, nudging you by the waist with hers. “obvious again.”

“w-what?” you widened your eyes, earning a sly grin from your sister. “obvious about what?”

“your heart is on your sleeves. i can see it. the others might do too. so tell me, do you like jaehyun?” she crossed her arms, her grin widening when you began to be jittery again.

“ha?! no!” you stuttered and lied, and you knew marg’s claims hit the nail.

because not only did the past four days of not talking with jaehyun had a toll on your pact, but it definitely had on your heart. there were a total of four things you discovered about him.

1. jaehyun was a fast learner. he learned to clean horse hooves, saddle them and even did carpentry in one day.

2. he had humour but no one really acknowledged it, and appeared a little dorky to you.

3. his dimples were actually cute and has a vampire smile.

4. he really did have a heart for people too. you saw how he helped out your family whenever you were absent.

sometimes these traits softened you, and sometimes you wanted to at least be his friend. but you weren’t close to being one because the pact clearly prevents you to and in the end, it was better off that way. marg held your shoulder. “i know you fight a lot but that’s when the developing starts.” she paused, looking back at the barn. “jaehyun seems alright but you’re really being too obvious.”

“again, obvious about what? i hate it when you’re so vague stating your point.”

“if you wanna talk with him just do it.” she turned around a little to see the said man removing his gloves. “i noticed you’re both distant. it’s been four days so i’m guessing you’re not used to not fighting him. you tend to miss whatever you both stopped doing.”

you pinched her cheek. “do you even know how mentally draining it is to reason out with him?” you darted a gaze at her before a weight was put upon your head. it wasn’t that long for you to realise it was jaehyun. gosh how irritating. you even recognised the perfume he wore.

“i know exactly how that feels, marg.” jaehyun winked at her. “can’t mess with this one,” he messed your hairdo. “she’s feistier than most animals i’ve encountered.”

his giggle of pride echoed in your ears and you thought you were able to tolerate his reply but no. whether he was doing his part for the pact or not, whether he was enjoying this or not, he became more of a jerk the longer he stayed here.

“i’ll leave you two to talk. the light in y/n’s eyes changed when you arrived- ah!” she held her arm as you pushed her aside, and she was proudly walking away with what she had done.

jaehyun shoved his hands in pockets as he gestured you to follow him into the barn. it was only the two of you now while the rest surveyed other parts of the land with hendery. he held jet’s reins, usually your horse would react whenever strangers would. not to jaehyun, shockingly. you bit your lips in wonders what this man had in his mind.

“i just checked him like you taught me. he’s dehydrated.” he pinched a part of its skin close to the mane. “you practiced this morning right? didn’t give him water?”

“i gave him enough.” you unlocked the gate to jet, soon petting him. you couldn’t help but feel immense awkwardness. “did his skin snap back?”

“not as fast as i expected but he needs a little more fluids to keep the levels normal.” jaehyun wrote down numbers before handing your notebook to you, and you thought today was going to pass again without progress for the pact. “i’m gonna walk around for a bit. later.”

“hey.” you called out perhaps a little too rudely and instead of talking things through. he stopped in his tracks. “setting the vet thing aside, aren’t you being too quiet right when we have a week left? it’s been four days and by now some of them might notice the sudden silence. did you forget about the pact?” you asked, not knowing why you were fuming all of a sudden.

maybe it was because he was only staring at you. or that marg’s obversation was slowly getting to you and convincing that her hunch about you was right. “you’re a jerk when i met you but you’re even more so nowadays.”

jaehyun turned around with pursed lips, he didn’t like how you always assumed, especially giving him nicknames in which his friends also have gotten used to calling him those. “me? a jerk? i’m doing all i can to stop this marriage because we both know how it feels to be controlled.”

his answer only made you laugh. “ha you don’t know anything about me, jaehyun. if you’re actually doing something why haven’t you done anything then? you’re being careless-”

he brushed his hair & wore his cap backwards. “it’s not about if i’ve done something! y/n it’s about what you did!” jaehyun pulled you to a corner in caution if anyone heard him. “you were loud and careless! last week johnny asked me if we made a pact because he heard you mentioning it! i assure you he has a mind i still couldn’t understand and he’s probably trying to connect the dots now-”

“wai- you’re saying he knows about it and you’re only telling me now?!” you slammed jet’s gate, your eyes fixed him. “you could’ve told me right then and we could’ve solved this as soon as possible! how much do you think he knows?”

jaehyun slowly rubbed his face, shook his head and shrugged shoulders. “i don’t know! but you know what happens when he figures out we’re arguing for show? he’ll tell everyone we did that because we’re against this marriage! and in the end? we’ll be stuck with each other for life-”

“ugh don’t even tell me about it i couldn’t even stand the sight of you!” you wrapped yourself more in your coat, stomping straight outside and ignoring his reactions towards you.

“why are you like this when it’s clearly your fault?!” he quickly grabbed your shoulders to forcibly turn you around. “i’m telling you and you’re so reactive about it?”

you pointed at his chest. “no! it’s your fault for not telling me sooner!”

“oh so now it’s my fault? y/n look at yourself! can’t you see that someone impudent like you can cause troubles even for a slightest bit! you’re at fault!”

impudent?.. this was all too familiar and nostalgic.

jaehyun then closed his eyes at the stinging pain in the groin. “ugh what the hel-”

“you deserve that-”

right when that felt good and you wanted to hit him more, you were yanked backwards by a force. you fought back the arms restraining you. “y/n stop!”

“let me go wong kunhang! this jerk needs a lesson!” you growled in his arms, shimmying your body through them.

hendery reminded you of your shoulder and soon you stopped. “i’m sure that kick was enough for a lesson and calm down, will you?”

“jae you alright?” johnny helped him up. “hope it’s not too injured because you still need that for reproduction-”

“seriously? now’s not the time.” jaehyun glared at him then to you, you were now like deer in the headlights with his stare. “this is why i can’t stand you.”

mark, hendery and johnny looked at each other trying to figure what had happened. “what were you two arguing about?” hearing hendery ask, you tugged on your coat once he let go of you. “we heard her yelling that she couldn’t stand the sight of you and then you’re both blaming each other.”

you hesitatingly looked down to your boots, avoiding their curious gazes. fidgety as you knew you were, you tried not to respond. they heard from that far of our conversation.. oh my go-

as if jaehyun could read your mind, he cleared his throat. “it’s nothing. y/n’s just stubborn as usual. she doesn’t want to admit her fault when i told her jet’s dehydrated. guess she didn’t want to look irresponsible.”

“classic y/n.” your cheeks suffered from hendery’s squeezing palms. “how many times do i have to tell you to behave? c’mon you’re better than this.”

jaehyun sighed in relief that they were convinced with his reasoning.

jet’s snout poked your arm and exhaled, you cursed under your breath for not locking the gate. “then you should know why i’m like this.” you reiterated with a flat smile. “i’m gonna go to the bar for a drink. don’t bother me.”

“oh then we’re coming with! mark! you’re driving!” johnny pulled the boys into jaehyun’s car. “this hurt dude needs cheering up after you nearly ended his career for having kids.”

“maybe it’s better off that way?” you grinned with a tattling tone.

“i hate you so-” jaehyun barked before his voice was shut off by the car door. his expression became funnier with how the vehicle muted his voice.

jet and cash trotted slowly to let the car go first, hendery rode ahead of you as you followed him. beside the roadside was fields of green, laying flat with new flowers that have yet to bloom. by now the horses were galloping alongside the car, you could feel jaehyun shooting daggers at you. the joy to horse ride diminished when you took a glimpse of him pointing at you, sliding his clenched fist from left to right and pointing at his chest.

you’re dead to me. he spoke with his eyes. and you could hear his annoying voice in your head.

you flicked the reins to ride faster, passing hendery and cash. reaching the bar first would make you feel better and it would at least let the neighbourhood know you weren’t hanging out with boys like him. you soon unmounted yourself from jet and led him to an area where he could stay.

the bell chimed and you raised your hand for a simple mocktail. funny how you told the boys you’d be here for a drink yet didn’t plan to get drunk. you sat by the bartender’s while you saw them entering and sat at one table by the window. honestly you could’ve went elsewhere instead but this bar was the closest from home. and right now you really needed to clear your mind.

to clear your mind from jaehyun because you knew he’d be the death of you.

—

and how you ended up on the same table with them was too hazy for you to recall.

“i was like, singing my heart out at one karaoke place after i was rejected from the coffee shop i applied to. then the girl of my dreams had appear while i was all sweaty and sloppy and i was shirtless! it was really-” johnny spoke too fast for you to hear and curled his fingers remembering it.

“second hand embarrassment was too much at that point.” jaehyun chuckled and sipped on his glass.

“but john, you got her to say yes even though you’re high and wild.” mark raised his palm for a fistbump.

mark turned to you. “y/n what’s something you couldn’t forget?”

you smiled slyly towards your childhood friend and hendery’s panicked face resurfaced with begging hands. you feel yourself going tipsy but went for storytelling anyway. “this previous halloween i forced hendery to dress as rapunzel because i wanted to dress as pascal.”

mark let out a contagious laugh which had everyone giggling too. you brought out your cracked screen phone which jaehyun broke and showed a picture of you on a piggyback ride with hendery. the said man cowered himself from the compliments and while you continue to keep him in the spotlight. jaehyun found it unbelievable that you were quickly switched from cranky to giggly when drunk.

“here’s the awesome part,” you slurred your words with hiccuped breaths. “around nine guys asked me to ask for his number and i gave it to them! he was that hot! i could never compete!”

jaehyun oddly cackled out loud and you all turned heads to him. “of course you could never! i mean look at you!”

his friends raised brows as jaehyun was enjoying this a little too much. perhaps taking advantage of your drunken self. “you dress weird and your hair’s a mess. you’re always rude and sometimes smelling like a horse. by the way that’s such a turn off to guys like us. like do you even bathe-”

you were definitely tipsy but you understood his words clear enough to feel a wave of emotions blanket over you. forgotten memories began play in your head and began to sulk.

“yeah i know i’m like this and so what if i’m plain and ordinary?” you whined and the boys held their breaths.

“my parents think i couldn’t take care of myself after i dislocated my shoulder at cross-country.” jaehyun heard you.

“because of that they started to pair me with accomplished men they think could give me a better life. so i misbehave every time they bring a suitor over.” you propped elbows on the table and glared at jaehyun. “you’re the fifth and before you arrived i lied to mom and dad that i recovered, hoping they’d stop and leave me alone but nope! they think you’re the one-”

hendery managed to catch your collapsed body from falling. he let out a soft laugh. “mhm, she spills a little too much when she’s drunk-”

you covered his lips and did several clicks of your tongue. “i’m tipsy! not drunk but tipsy! are you spilling tea about my life to that jerk?”

he scoffed lightly. “of course not! i didn’t tell him anything.” he lied.

you pinched his cheek. “i doubt it. you’re a talkative donkey! they should cast you to be part of shrek musical next fall!” you giggled and tried to keep yourself awake from all that drowsiness. your eyes dropping to slumber.

“m’lady.” he fixed you on his side and you were now carried on his back. “jaehyun doesn’t know a thing.” he cooed, giving jaehyun a wink to zip his mouth shut regarding the topic.

small sobs began to bubble out from you, you clung onto hendery. “ah jaehyun? you know that jerk called me impudent? he said i always cause troubles but what choice to i have? i don’t want to be betrothed!” you wailed and mark and johnny raised brows at jaehyun as soon as you said it. “hendery he called me impudent! he’s just like dad and i hate them both!” you leaned on his shoulders.

“but do you really hate jaehyun?” johnny smirked as he enjoyed how open you were compared to being sober. jaehyun noticed where this was going and tried to stop him but the tall lad shushed him when you spoke.

“yes!” you slurred with a lopsided smile and narrow brows, which looked strange as they couldn’t tell if it was a good or bad thing.

“i hate him because he’s so prideful! ‘jeong jaehyun, veterinary medicine student’ my butt. i should’ve been one too but daddy said no.” you pout, soon knocking out. “i hate how.. handsome that jerk looks-”

your friend hopped slightly and quickly got out of the bar so you wouldn’t cause a scene any further. “i’ll bring her to my place, it’s just a block from here. you guys can go ahead.” he told the guys to call it a night. “i’ll take jet and cash to my stables at home. see y’all tomorrow.”

they got on the car and started the engine. jaehyun read the atmosphere among them, he fixed the front mirror and saw mark and johnny with questioning looks. “what?”

“did you really call y/n impudent?” mark played with the buttons of the window.

jaehyun stepped on the pedal to head to your place. his friends bombarded him with what if’s and was too tired to respond. but just to shut them up, he replied.

“i was angry when i said that. i didn’t really mean-”

“do you think she meant it when she said you’re handsome?” johnny asked to cut off the weird vibe lingering while mark propped his fists to rest.

“she’s drunk. not like she can remember it anyway.” jaehyun clenched on the wheel.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

you woke up in hendery’s bed with a tray of breakfast on his desk table. you slid it towards yourself to eat when a folded paper fell from underneath.

i saw jaehyun at the grocery store earlier, he asked me to pass this breakfast to you. also! he said he’ll be at the barn’s loft. now go meet him. ~hendery

great, he pissed you off yesterday and he was the last person you wanted to see today. what was his plan now? he prepared breakfast and yet what was the use of eating the meal when it has gone cold? you tied your hair to a top bun and wore your glasses, quickly grabbing your coat, onto to jet’s back and went to the barn.

the sun’s heat was enough to make you warm on the way there. jaehyun swung his legs while he waited. he stared at the ground when a shadow appeared, you stood at the entrance asking him to come down.

he did that, but there was a different air around him. it was the same air as those four days of silence between the two of you. “at least you’re not late.” he slid his palms into his back pockets.

“did you want to talk to me about something?” you asked with a slice of bread in your mouth. he nodded with intense eyes. “then make it quick. i have to make my rounds-”

“i’ll go with you.” jaehyun suggested and you choked on your bread.

“what?” you gulped on the huge piece stuck in your throat and stopped him from walking. “why not tell me now?”

he pulled you to jet’s stall and pushed your back to mount on the saddle. “‘cause it’s better if they don’t see us talking normally when we’re supposed to be at each other’s throats.”

he’s definitely up to something..

jaehyun rode a bike, leading you and jet through woods and up on a hill where its summit towers part of your family’s lands. from here you could see your house and tiny figures you assumed were his friends. you haven’t gotten a clue why jaehyun was being nice again. and if he was, why today? why bring you all the way here to have this conversation? you couldn’t think of anything at all and maybe you should’ve eaten the meal he prepared for you.

when the winds blew, jaehyun spoke in a soft voice. he was awkward, you could tell that, but what he did was something you didn’t expect. he leaned back with his palms on the grass. “i’m sorry i called you names.”

hm.. you better be.

that apology alone pierced your heart, in a good way. if he was tired from all the negativity and endless banters, so were you. it had been fifteen days after all. maybe this was a cool break before continuing with the pact. “which ones?” you copied his position and counted your fingers one by one. “there’s ugly.. shorty.. lazy ass.. a no brainer-”

“i didn’t call you tha-” he paused, his lips forming an ‘o’ until he pursed them together seeing you mimic him on his laptop. “right. i implied it when you wanted me to teach you equine studies. anyway the bottom point is, i’m sorry for calling you impudent.”

you chuckled, but to him it sounded more of a scoff. “haven’t heard that in ages. never expected i’d hear that again.” you looked at him, he did too, there was a stare down before you spoke again.

“but yeah. i guessed you did that to fulfill your part for the pact. the guys were probably nearby and you thought of that to spark up the conversation. are we done?”

jaehyun rested his arm on his knees. “no that’s not what i meant- i’m being sincere here.”

“okay? then tell me what’s on your mind. you brought me up here. it’s gotta be something worth my time.”

“i feel like the pact just brings the worse out. and whenever it does, i don’t feel myself anymore. like this is not me.”

he picked up a dandelion, letting the wind take its soft pieces. he wished his feelings weren’t easily swayed like the flower’s petals. he knew he was easily hotheaded, stubborn and mr. perfect, but should he always be like these?

“then who is the real you?” you caught some flying pieces of the flower before looking back at him for answers.

“a studious douche who got his heart broken by his ex.” he shrugged and waited for your bicker, but you sat there with shocked eyes and struggled to find what to say. “yeah, in case you’re still surprised, i do have a heart for people.”

“i heard you.” you flicked his temple.

he held back fists from hitting back. “hey why’d you hit me?”

“it’s my way of being affectionate.” you laid on the grass and while he copied, you thought that jaehyun had a point, how the pact seemed a good approach yet with deteriorating results.

“by being violent?” jaehyun moaned as he asked. “ever thought that a pat in the back would be better?”

you glared at him. “let’s continue what we’re doing with another condition.. no personal or evil intentions whatsoever, or maybe a slight hint that we’d start dissing. we’re doing this for ourselves and..” you cleared your throat. “..helping out a friend.”

it made total sense, because he knew how much of an effect it did when the purpose of the pact was done unconsciously and naturally. he let out a tight and breathless sigh between his lips. “i’m your friend? after calling you all that?”

“i just needed something to describe you. would calling you a douche make you feel better after you apologised?” you stood up and headed downhill.

“well you did call me ‘handsome’ last night.” jaehyun singsonged and carefully walked down the stoned steps.

you froze at how stupid and blabbermouth you could be whenever you went to the bar. “i don’t remember, since i’ve been studying the things you taught me.”

“you can ask the others if you think i’m lying.”

“y’know what? i take back the condition i said.” you quickly hopped on jet to head back. “don’t bother me!”

“what do you mean studying? you’re planning to pursue vet sci? hey!”

“yeah.” you made jet walk in circles around the confused man, and your one-word response had jaehyun confirming you already decided to tell your father about it.

and it’d be on christmas eve too.

—

for almost half an hour marg couldn’t contain her feelings after you told her what had happened. marg squealed and you quickly covered her mouth since the door wasn’t entirely closed. she squeezed the pillow and hid herself behind it.

“he apologised?! such a gentleman! i mean mark didn’t really tell me the details but jaehyun really felt guilty?” she put the pillow down and crawled next to you on your bed.

as to why she reacted this way remained unclear to you, you figured it was probably she watched too many rom-coms with johnny in the past few days. “i admit, it was considerate of him to do that. but it doesn’t prove he’s already a good man.” you fixed your files and past researches of veterinary science. “sometimes an apology isn’t enough.”

your sister nudged you in a force causing you to stumble in your stance. “ey you’re too mean. him apologising is already enough of a sign that he’s a good one, and raised well.”

“i don’t know marg.” you slumped on your bed. “my head’s hurting because of him.”

she raised a brow and gave you a teasing look. “by thinking of him or he just couldn’t get out of your head?” she kicked her feet to escape your balling fists.

“why are you reacting if it’s not true?!” her giggles grew in volume as she brought out her phone record your reaction.

“get out of my room!”

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

jaehyun walked around the mart in response to yet another order from you. it had to be a day before christmas eve too. he should be feeling the very essence of christmas and because of you, he didn’t. people who happened to pass by him swore they saw a walking corpse, while some sensed a spreading dark cloud hovering above him.

his demeanour quickly shifting and changing as if the clouds blocked his rays of sunshine. he was mumbling to himself and those who stood close by took careful small steps away from jaehyun, for he sounded like he was enchanting a spell.

he thought about it a lot— whether it there’d be a difference between the two of you if you hadn’t taken back that condition. because now that he was controlled like a pawn again, he wasn’t going to back down or lose to you. at least for the past few days since then he saw an improvement. you weren’t as violent, not a single word of hate from you nor were they intentional. it was obvious you were helping out. a small smile managed its way to resurface until he saw a reflection of himself looking like an idiot. jaehyun, you’re a fool. you shouldn’t be feeling this.

ignoring his subconscious, he turned a heel at the next grocery aisle when a voice attracted attention, at least to him it sounded like hendery. hearing your name from an unfamiliar man’s lips had him peeking secretly at a distance. “i suppose y/n’s behaving well with jaehyun?”

“better than everyone expected.” hendery followed him with hands deep in pockets. “aside their petty arguments, she gets along with him, mr. y/l/n.”

“that’s good to hear. i knew the jeong’s would never fail my expectations. their son is in vet school, yes?”

the mentioned name chilled him to the bone. he wasn’t to supposed to be feeling in this manner yet the very presence of your father already had gotten his shoes glued to the ground. hendery nodded and continued to walk along with him. “i hope he doesn’t encourage her about it too much. having y/n marry him would keep her quiet about ever continuing vet school.”

jaehyun’s back grazed the products he lightly leaning upon and stood still in his thoughts. he wasn’t the type to eavesdrop on others, let alone your family issues. although he was briefly told about your rocky relationship with your father and couldn’t hear much of the conversation, he shouldn’t care or meddle with it but.. did mr. y/l/n really think that?

and he remembered how you told him you’d pursue veterinary.

he fished for his phone with certainty that he would tell you what he had heard. he nearly dropped his phone when it rang and your name appeared as the caller. staring at it for a while, never in his life had he ever hesitated before— given that he was a straight forward person, he wanted to tell you.

and he didn’t know why he decided to keep his mouth shut and stayed behind, instead of doing the opposite. hendery noticed him beside the hundreds of chocolate chip buckets. “oh jaehyun!” he greeted, making your father turn his head around. “come here!”

jaehyun pressed his lips for being caught, steadily and unwilling to go them. he wished that now would be the appropriate time to be walking on super glue, he really didn’t have the mood to talk to your father. it wasn’t the right time as their conversation about you would probably escalate from there.

“hello mr. y/l/n, i’m-” he greeted, unknowingly staring at him longer because you were his carbon-copy.

“i know you’re jaehyun and i’ve been updated enough that i wouldn’t have to be physically at my residence to know your good qualities.”

“glad to know someone’s giving you the correct information.” jaehyun smiled, subtly gazing straight at hendery with more pressure on the tone of the name. hendery then clamped his lips to a close, regretting he should’ve minded his words carefully.

mr. y/l/n nodded with a chuckle— even hendery rarely saw him doing so, ever. and this only proved that there wouldn’t be a better groom fit for you other than the son of his childhood friends. “i like your personality. mind joining me for tea?”

jaehyun read the situation, and what your father was up to. he had to listen for another half hour even though he felt his phone continually vibrating then stopping. he knew it was you, but how could he answer when the person you grew to hate was with him at this moment? one word from him through a phone call would make you go berserk.

anyone could see that jaehyun was fighting a mental dilemma. for anyone it would be an easy question to answer; free food, you’re in. his future father-in-law asked for company, sure why not. jaehyun felt like he only one answer, and it had to be a correct one. he gulped and though he eyes wavered, he agreed anyway. “i don’t mind, but y/n would probably be moody if i don’t return immediately.”

“mhm, no worries. i won’t keep you long.” mr. y/l/n said, and jaehyun didn’t know why he had a small heart attack on what possibly could follow.

he lead him to a restaurant, hendery nudged the troubled-looking dimpled man. “sorry dude. he likes snacking on things but i’ll try to divert his attention so you can go to y/n asap.”

—

the relieved sigh didn’t last long when looked up from the ground. jaehyun spotted you crossing arms with a slight worrisome look. your fingers then pointed at the kitchen window and it looked like his soul left his body and his footsteps on the ankle-high snow. the curtains indoors brushed to one side with his parents facing back from the windowsill at the upper balcony.

his heart was beating his chest as if it wanted to go out. he planned to tell you what he and your father talked about, but in that previous hour he missed out your text messages and calls— not knowing they were that important. now he knew why they were.

you took his phone and clicked on the lock button, he didn’t check your means to reaching him. they were still in the lockscreen. “i know you’re a seenzoner but you shouldn’t ignore important calls! i was calling you an hour ago because your parents came so suddenly. did you know about their change of plans?”

he gave you other paper bag and made his way inside. “no they were supposed to arrive tomorrow.” to you jaehyun seemed grumpy for doing groceries, but it was obviously not the case when kept looking elsewhere. he bit his inner gums in question as to why he was venting out his irritation at you instead of the revelation that was told to him.

you followed him in and began bring out the items to set the remaining food on the kitchen island. something told you not to go overboard with the planned argument you had in mind, but you couldn’t handle the way he was acting now, as well as giving you the sudden silent treatment. behaving this way was such a wrong timing and you decided to cut the silence before it made you feel worse than you already were. “you good?”

“y-yeah.” he tilted down to take a quick look at you while realising lately how you hadn’t been sleeping well. the puffiness under your eyes was proof. he cleared his throat. “uh, i should be asking you but have you been studying.. lately? or have you been staying up all night?” he asked, changing the subject.

he twitched at your outburst excitement with your palms rested on his arm, shaking it vigorously. now that he reminded you, you gestured him for a whisper. “i found another way to stop this marriage without us hurting each other.”

what? his eyes grew big.

“aren’t you hurting me now?” he cleared his throat, referring to the reddening spot on his skin from your grip. he knew what you meant. he knew you’ve been sitting in your bed the whole day, reading e-books and going over past lectures documents.

“if i tell my dad that i’m pursuing vet school again, i think this time he’d let me. i’m confident because i do have a degree in equestrian sport science. imagine the benefit if have a degree in veterinary?” you opened a carton of milk to drink. “i wonder if my credits’ still applicable?”

“you sure you wanna do that?” jaehyun held the top your head, gripping it as if it were a basketball. “it’s gonna take you years to finish.”

“scared to have a competitor in the field, jaehyun?” your voice challenged him.

he wasn’t scared at all, he loved competitions as well as proving he could do things. but, he was scared for you. he knew the outcome of all this because it was already planned out. he was told by your father during tea break before he arrived here.

chills slowly went down your spine with that one, subtle, short silence from him.

“i’m not scared. it’s just that..” you shot up your head at his remark. he trailed off and shut his lips seeing your parents enter the living room with his beloveds.

“just what?” you stared at him with a long hum.

he had to lie and keep his opinions to himself. “are you able to take on hard words in that tiny brain of yours?” jaehyun scoffed, leaning in closer to provoke an argument with his hands patting your head.

“hey! you’re insulting my height, not my brain!” he heard your innocent whines as if they were precious— too precious that he wanted to protect you than to fight you; just for tonight.

and for the first time he was laughing sincerely at you.

week three had you imagining things, that he would look at you so differently. instead of horns they’d be halos, softer looks than tensed ones, and most of all you wonder what changed him within a day. it was confusing that he would show another side of him, then go back to what he was when you first met him.

but tonight? his possibility of change soon went void.

during dinner, whether or not it was right, that choice you made became one of the two things you regret to do and say. your father said his ultimatum in a low voice by the hallway, isolated from everyone enjoying the celebration.

“dad, please. i’ve done what you want. i think it’s time you’d allow me to do what i want.” you kept your head low in all hope this would be your final time to ask. “i’m successful as an equestrian, i hope to be more so as a veterinarian. please let me continue. i don’t want to get married yet-”

“still holding onto it, y/n?” he scoffed and took quick glances at his surroundings. “i’ve done everything for you to be known, raised you to be the best rider out there-”

and he too, held with the same stupid reason. “no dad! i raised myself to be the best because heavens knows how much damage it’ll cost me if i failed you-”

“this is the last time i saying it, you’re never going to be one.”

“but dad! you know how badly i want to be a vet-” you whined and hoping you wouldn’t cry because you promised yourself you wouldn’t.

“y/n you’re marrying jaehyun solely for that reason!” he whisper-yelled, making your heart squeeze tight because you could see how your complaints have pissed him off. “he seemed to be agreeing with me after i invited him for tea.” he fixed his hair.

w-what did he just say?..

he loosened the top button of his shirt; his gaze still scared you like it did that night. he held his temples to reason out with you. “discipline yourself tonight. i do not want hear anything from you about this matter ever again.” the impact of his tone shattered you. not only your mood but with how you perceived jaehyun as a whole.

you couldn’t remember much afterwards, anger roamed around your head and as much you kept your composure, jaehyun has a sharp eye. you’ve been quiet since coming from the hallway, hours have passed too since your father called you upstairs.

“are you alright?” jaehyun leaned on the refrigerator while you took some fruits from it. figured that you were completely ignoring him, he grabbed your favourite sweater to snap you out of your clouded feelings. “are we doing the pact now?”

it was getting suffocating being next to him. the audacity of what he did disgusted you. “hey tell me-”

you shut the fridge’s door with much force, held your breath and went to the sink to wash them. “i’m not doing it. and what’s there to tell you? just because i opened up to you that doesn’t mean we’re already close.” you coldly answered with a irritated look.

jaehyun was abruptly taken back, his hand let go of your clothes. “why are you’re suddenly like this?”

you began washing the apples as well as peeling their skin. “you’re not born yesterday, jaehyun. this is my usual self.”

“no y/n, i’m not talking about-”

“what the hell is your deal?” jaehyun could hear you mumble even with the loud blasting of holiday playlists.

“i just want to know if we’re starting the argument,. it seems like you’re doing your part-”

“you knew all along, didn’t you?” the sound of peeling almost excruciating to your ears but nothing more than his reaction to your question. ‘that my dad would refuse my plead.”

painful as it was, his expression changed. he was colder than the snow outside, heartless as a predator and unresponsive like a dead man. he just stared at you straight, acknowledging it with soft wavers of his brown orbs.

and that alone was enough to break you to pieces.

#jung jaehyun #jung yoonoh #nct jaehyun #nct 127 #jaehyun #jaehyun x reader #jaehyun au #jaehyun fluff #jaehyun imagines #jaehyun scenarios #jaehyun fanfic #jaehyun angsy

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uomo-accattivante · 3 years

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Great article about Paul Schrader’s The Card Counter - a poker movie that’s not really a poker movie...

Some filmmakers write a hit movie and spend the ensuing years trying to escape its shadow. Paul Schrader never flinched. Forty-five years after his “Taxi Driver” script put him on the map, the writer-director has developed a body of work loaded with alienated anti-heroes compelled to violent and reckless extremes for the sake of a higher calling.

That includes “The Card Counter,” in which Oscar Isaac plays guilt-stricken Abu Ghraib vet William Tell, a man with a gambling addiction compelled to help the revenge-seeking son (Tye Sheridan) of a former colleague. Taking justice into his own hands, Isaac’s William Tell slithers through the Vegas strip in search of questionable salvation, not unlike a certain Vietnam vet named Travis Bickle did from the driver’s seat. As if to cement the comparisons, “The Card Counter” features Martin Scorsese as an executive producer, marking the first time the two men share a credit since 1999’s “Bringing Out the Dead.”

For Schrader, “Taxi Driver” comparisons are inevitable in all his work. “My tendency is to look for interesting occupational metaphors,” Schrader said in a recent interview. “‘Taxi Driver’ hit the bull’s eye of the zeitgeist and it doesn’t die. There’s no way I could’ve planned for that, but it does inform the stories I tell.”

At 75, Schrader continues to churn out movies much like his compatriot Scorsese, albeit on a much smaller scale. “The Card Counter” is the latest illustration of the secularized Christian dogma percolating through his work. “Our society doesn’t like to take responsibility for anything,” he said. “But I come from a culture where you’re responsible for everything. You come into the world soaked with guilt and you just get guiltier.” In his own prickly fashion, Schrader makes movies steeped in empathy for lost souls in search of redemption despite the daunting odds. “We’re all certainly capable of forgiveness,” he said, and chuckled. “Anyone who says otherwise is wrong.”

The “Taxi Driver” dilemma looms large in nearly all of Schrader’s work, from the dazzling high-stakes activism of “Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters” all the way through Ethan Hawke’s eco-conscious priest in “First Reformed.” While the latter, Oscar-nominated effort brought Schrader new fans, “The Card Counter” is an even more precise distillation of his aesthetic — a moody, philosophical drama about the vanity of the personal crusade.

Schrader, who has labeled his homegrown character studies as “man in the room” dramas, embraces the parallels as usual. “There is this kind of myth that the taxi driver was this friendly, joking kind of guy who was a character actor in movies,” he said. “But the reality is that it’s a very lonely job, and you’re trapped in a box for 60 hours a week.” He saw the same logic with gambling, a wayward profession generally depicted in the movies in the context of escapist romps, rather than the somber rituals that afflict most players. “I thought about the essence of playing cards every day, or sitting in front of a slot machine. It’s kind of zombie-like,” Schrader said. “You see commercials of people in casinos laughing. But it’s a pretty glum place. Today with slots you don’t even have to pull the lever. You just sit there and let the numbers roll.”

The gambling figure led Schrader to the bigger picture of his character’s conundrum. “I was wondering why someone would choose to live in that sort of purgatory,” he said. “He doesn’t want to be alive, but he can’t really be dead, either. What could cause that? It can’t be a simple crime, murder, or a family dispute. It has to be something unforgivable. And that was Abu Ghraib.”

After the fallout of that debacle, William did time in a military prison, and reenters society before the movie begins. That was a world the filmmaker wanted to understand in clearer terms. Though Schrader has received blowback for his controversial Facebook posts in the past, in this case, the platform was an asset: He used it to track down soldiers who had done time in the United States Penitentiary in Leavenworth, the only military prison in the U.S., to better understand the initial claustrophobic world that Tell endures, as well as the conflict between the justice he’s received and what he deserves. “This man has been punished by his government, set free, and paid his due, but he doesn’t feel that,” Schrader said. “What does he do then? How does he fill his time? That’s how it all began.”

Schrader himself toyed with gambling when he lived in Los Angeles early in his career, but soon gave it up. “I very quickly realized I was only interested in gambling if it was really dangerous and I didn’t want to expose myself to that kind of danger,” he said. Years later, though, the experience helped inform his story. “There is this whole fantasy of gambling movies from ‘The Cincinnati Kid’ to ‘California Split,’” Schrader said. “But poker is all about waiting. People will play 10 to 12 hours a day and two to three times a day, a hand will happen where two players both have chips. Now you’ve got a face-off. But that doesn’t happen very often. Most guys who are there are running the numbers, the probability.”

He envisioned “The Card Counter” as a repudiation of the traditional poker movie, which builds to the giddy release of a final tournament. When that moment arrives in the movie, Schrader takes the movie in a bleak, shocking new direction. “It’s not really a poker movie — that’s a red herring,” he said.

William is immersed in his casino journey when he encounters Cirk (Sheridan), the crazy-eyed son of another Abu Ghraib soldier who committed suicide. Cirk blames the soldiers’ former commander (Willem Dafoe), and hopes to loop William into the plan. Instead, the older man decides to take Cirk under his wing to talk him out of the act, which doesn’t prove so easy. In the process, the gambler forms a curious bond with La Linda (Tiffany Haddish), a gambling agent and pimp whose icy, relentless drive to make the most out of the poker circuit brings William some measure of companionship on his wayward journey.

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It should come as no surprise that the “Girls Trip” breakout is nearly unrecognizable in the role of the calculated La Linda, which is also a distinctly Schraderish touch: From his work with Richard Pryor in 1978’s “Blue Collar” all the way through Cedric the Entertainer’s supporting turn in “First Reformed,” Schrader has made a habit of seeking out comedic actors willing to play against type. That’s partly opportunistic on his part. “They’re eager to do it because they want to expand their palette, so you can get them for a price,” Schrader said, chuckling again. “That’s necessary, given the kind of films I make.” But that’s not all: “They will always find a way to be interesting, even when they’re not getting a laugh.”

Which is not to say that the process comes easily to them. Haddish recently told the New York Times that Schrader had to coach her out of speaking in a comedic sing-song. The filmmaker put it in blunter terms. “On the first reading of the script we had, frankly, she wasn’t very good,” he said. “I told her to go back and read every single line without emotion. Then I said, ‘You’re not going to do that in front of the camera, but you can’t hit every line either. So let’s pick five or six lines you can hit where you get a smile or reaction.’ Quickly she got that it was a different rhythm.”

As for Isaac, whose disquieting turn suggests a maniac lingering just beneath the surface, Schrader once again turned to metaphor. “I told him to imagine himself on a rocky coast in the ocean,” Schrader said. “Waves are going to come up and get you all day every day. They’re going to try to batter you. Let them. The waves will go away. You’ll still be there. Don’t compete. In the end, the rocks will win. You have to learn to trust that the way these things are put together has more power than the individual movement.”

William’s routine includes an odd ritual in which he covers all the furniture in his various Vegas hotel rooms with white paper. While the motivation is never explained, Schrader said it stemmed from an experience with production designer Ferdinando Scarfiotti on the set of 1982’s “Cat People,” when Schrader realized the man was doing the same thing. “He said, quite simply, ‘I have to live here surrounded by these ugly hotel furnishings,’” Schrader recalled. The concept inspired the new movie’s most compelling visual motif. “Casinos are very ugly places. There are no exceptions,” Schrader said. “Often you aspire to finding pockets of beauty and there weren’t really any here except the only place he could control, which was his hotel rooms, where he could privatize his visions. I came up with this ritual for him to control those visuals.”

At a certain point, Schrader himself couldn’t control the visuals of “The Card Counter” for more prosaic reasons: After an extra tested positive for COVID-19, the production shut down last March, with five days of shooting left, and couldn’t resume until July. Though Schrader initially took to Facebook to fume at his producers, the pause eventually opened up an opportunity to tweak his vision. “I edited the film and put in placeholders for the five or six scenes of consequence that I hadn’t shot,” he said. “I didn’t have a fully finished film but I could screen it for people. Normally you only get that privilege if you have a big-budget film and you’re allowed reshoots.” The early audience included Scorsese, who provided a crucial note. “I asked Marty, ‘What am I missing?’ He said to me that the relationship with Tiffany and Oscar was too thin. So I rewrote those scenes.”

Schrader asked Scorsese to take on the executive producer credit as a favor. “I said, ‘Marty, wouldn’t it be nice to share a card again? I thought it would help sell the film but it would also be a cool thing to do after all these years,’” Schrader said. “Then a couple of weeks later his agent called wanting to work out a deal. What deal? I asked Marty and he said yes. That’s the deal!” Now, the pair are trying to collaborate on a new long-form TV series based on the Bible, though the timing has been delayed by production on Scorsese’s upcoming “Killers of the Flower Moon.”

In the meantime, Schrader has been mulling over the way “Taxi Driver” not only continues to inform his storytelling but the world at large. “Hardly a week goes by that I don’t notice or hear some reference to it,” he said. “But I don’t know how you’d tell such a story today. A number of writers have tried and I don’t think they’ve succeeded because it has to come out of a certain place and time. We have plenty of these incels around, but they’re not as original or revealing as they were 45 years ago when that character came on the scene. I wouldn’t know how to write about it.”

Instead, his next project is a love triangle called “Master Gardener,” which he hopes to shoot in Louisiana before the end of the year. He has several other potential scripts ready to go after that. And while he has expressed trepidation about the future of cinema in the past, he’s not convinced that audiences have given up on it yet. He recalled a conversation he had with Cedric the Entertainer when “First Reformed” made the rounds. “He said off-handedly to me, ‘You know, I didn’t realize there were so many people who liked serious movies,’” Schrader said, and chuckled once more. “Well, yeah, there are.”

“The Card Counter” premieres next week at the Venice Film Festival. Focus Features releases on September 10, 2021.

###

#oscar isaac #the card counter #paul schrader #martin scorsese #tiffany haddish #tye sheridan #willem dafoe #taxi driver #master gardener #indiewire

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mldrgrl · 3 years

Text

Broken Things 22/24

by: mldrgrl Rating: varies by chapter, rated R overall See Chapter 1 for summary and notes

His room is now their room, and the timing is perfect, considering the surveyor is due any day. When he opens the wardrobe now, her blouses and skirts and underthings live next to his. Her tin of hairpins sits next to his comb at the washstand. Her shawl hangs next to his jacket on the hooks behind the door.

They haven’t been physically intimate since the morning that Mary arrived and she tells him she’s having her women’s time. He only has the vaguest notion of what that means, but it must be why she’s paler than normal and a bit subdued. He’s asked her a few times if she feels okay and she always tells him she’s fine, but he knows that women’s time can bring pains and sickness, so he tries to be comforting in the ways he knows how. He rubs her back when they lay in bed together and he will embrace her when they find they have a moment alone. He always breathes a small sigh of relief when she embraces him back.

He notices she’s deeply concerned with the new horse and he doesn’t blame her. He has his own concerns. He’s rehabilitated and trained dozens of horses, but he’s never dealt with a pregnant mare and Melvin seems to think the poor gal is in some kind of danger and might need to be put down. He doesn’t want to have to do that, especially since Katherine is so taken with it.

The surveyor arrives, a Mr. Sean Pendrell. He brings maps and equipment with him that Katherine takes immediate interest in. His wife is actually a very shrewd advisor when it comes to the planning. She’s able to help design a layout for the new space which will give them a better access road to the town and save them a bit of headache when it comes to the new pasture. He didn’t think it would be possible to join the old with the new, but she found a way and even Mr. Pendrell was impressed.

As the days go by, both Mulder and Mr. Pendrell begin deferring to Katherine over certain elements of the plans. When they tour the old Goodwin property, she advises that the water pump should be considered central to where and how the additional buildings will be placed. There are times when Mr. Pendrell does speak up and step in, given his experience, and Katherine listens and insists that Richard be brought into the conversation and the three of them start speaking an engineering language that sounds like gibberish to Mulder and leaves him scratching his head most of the time.

Sheriff Doggett rides out with his boy, Luke, and Mulder shows them around the ranch. He can tell that the Sheriff is hesitant about letting his son come out and work for him and he tries his best to allay any concerns the man may have. It happens that Mr. Pendrell is working with Richard on a design the ranch hand wants to incorporate into the plans that looks like a small railroad to Mulder, but Richard has explained it’s a way to move feed and grain from place to place without a lot of effort and Luke gets himself involved in the conversation and suddenly he’s the one with the pencil marking up the sheets and explaining elements of woodworking that will help or hinder what Richard has in mind.

“Now, son, that’s not your place,” Sheriff Doggett says.

“No, please,” Mulder says. “If he’s going to be the one building things, he should have his say as well.”

Mulder thinks the respect the two men show to the younger boy is what may tip Sheriff Doggett over into agreeing to let him work the ranch. That, and the fact that he says himself he’s never seen his son so animated. Mulder shakes both of their hands before they go and says he looks forward to seeing Luke come December.

It takes roughly a week for Mr. Pendrell to do his surveying and to give them a rough draft of the plans for the expansion. He seems almost sad to leave them and says it was truly a pleasure to have worked on the designs. The finished plans will be sent to Mulder by way of a courier in a few weeks time.

With their guest gone, Mulder notices that Katherine returns to the subdued and distracted state she’d been in just before he arrived. She spends almost all her free time in the stables tending to Mary. Melvin, who has been just as watchful, thinks the foal might drop within the next few days.

Every night after they go to bed, Mulder slips quietly out of Katherine’s arms, dresses in the other room in clothes he’s hidden in the wardrobe, and goes out to the stables to check on the progress. Melvin has been sleeping just outside of Mary’s stall every night.

“How are things?” Mulder asks.

“She’s restless,” Melvin says. “I think whatever’s gonna happen will be happenin’ tonight.”

“You still think something isn’t right?”

“Usually a foal dropped this late in the year is smaller. Her belly is bigger than I ever seen a horse get and she drags her legs like it’s burdensome to her.”

“Should I have tried to call a vet up from Abilene?”

“Don’t think it would’ve done any good either way. I expect she’s either going to drop a dead foal or she’ll die trying.”

Mulder sighs heavily when he spots Melvin’s pistol at his hip. Mulder has only had to put down one horse in his life and it was one of the worst things he’d ever had to do, but he knows that if the alternative is that the horse had to suffer, it was the right thing to do. If the time comes, and Mary needs to be spared, he only hopes that he can prevent Katherine from having to witness it.

He sits with Melvin for a bit and they share a thermos of coffee. Mulder tells him about the plans for the expansion and how his vision has changed based on what Katherine and Mr. Pendrell had devised. He reveals to him that Katherine has moved her things into his room and Melvin gives him a look that can only mean he’s stating an obvious fact.

Mary snorts softly and they get up to check on her just as she folds her knees and starts to lay down. She rolls to her back and kicks her feet and snorts.

“Is she alright?” Mulder asks.

“She’s laborin’ alright.”

They wait as the horse writhes and then she stops and rolls to her side. She stays that way and lets out a sigh. She’s still for so long that Melvin opens the door to the stall, muttering to himself.

“No, no, no,” he says. “Come on, girl, you can’t stay down there.”

“Melvin?”

“Go get Jesse and Jimmy, we gotta get her on her feet, and I mean now.”

Mulder sprints out of the stables to the bunkhouse. He calls for Jesse and Jimmy who groggily sit up in their beds and then jump up and start pulling their trousers on. When Mulder runs back he sees Katherine, in her nightdress and robe, coming out the back door.

“Go on back,” Mulder calls to her.

“What’s happening?” she asks.

“Mary’s laboring. Go on back to bed.”

Katherine doesn’t listen, she runs to the stables with him and he tries to stop her, but she pushes past him to Mary’s stall. Jesse and Jimmy come tripping into the door behind her, shirts half-buttoned and shoes unlaced.

“What’s wrong?” Katherine asks.

“We’ve got to get her up,” Melvin says. “Boys, get in here and help me.”

The men file into the stall and stand behind the horse with Melvin. He directs them to push, and they put all their energy into it, but she doesn’t budge. They push again, and again, and Mary just sighs and snorts. Katherine watches through the bars on the stall door.

“Come on, girl,” Melvin says. “Come on.”

They push and push and Mulder is sweating and grunting, but the horse refuses to move. Finally, Melvin waves them to stop and he strokes the horse’s neck a bit and then feels her belly. He wipes his forehead on the sleeve of his shirt and then looks at Mulder and gives a small shake of his head. Mulder looks at Katherine through the bars.

“Go on to bed, honey,” he says. “You don’t want to be here.”

“No!” she cries, and rushes into the stall. She pushes Mulder’s arms away when he tries to block her and drops to her knees beside the horse. “Don’t give up, Mary,” she says. The horse snorts a little and Katherine strokes its cheek gently. “I know it hurts, I know you’re tired, but you have to get up. Get up, Mary. Get up!”

“Kate,” Mulder says.

“Push,” she orders. “Get back there and push. She’s not done fighting.”

The men bend down again and on Katherine’s order, they push and Mary lifts her head and kicks her feet a bit. Again, Katherine demands, and they push and Mary flails and gives a bellow and drops her head to Katherine’s lap.

“Don’t you quit on us,” Katherine tells her. “Get up, Mary. Get up! Push!”

Mulder puts everything he has into pushing on the horse’s shoulder and by some miracle, Mary rolls to her belly. She stands slowly, flanks quivering and glistening with sweat. Melvin tells Jesse and Jimmy to get him some towels and blankets. Mary drops her head to Katherine’s shoulder and breathes hard. Katherine strokes her neck and speaks softly to her.

“That’s a girl,” she says. “You did it.”

Mulder leaves the stall and doubles over with his hands on his knees and breathes hard. Melvin comes up next to him and takes a backwards glance at the stall and then down at Mulder.

“We ain’t outta the woods yet,” Melvin says.

↭

Katherine knows that Mulder has been sneaking out to the stables every night. He may think he’s doing a good job hiding it from her, but she’s been on to him from the very first time he slipped out of bed and the spare clothes were easy to find in the wardrobe in her old room. She lets him think he’s getting away with it though so that they don’t have to have a conversation about it.

The window in the kitchen offers her a decent view of the stable door and she’s taken to moving a chair from the table to sit and keep watch. Most nights, he’s not out there long. An hour, maybe a bit more. Tonight, she waits almost two full hours for him to come out of the stable and when he does, she knows immediately that something isn’t right. She watches him race across the yard and nearly take the door off the bunkhouse when he bursts in.

By the time Katherine runs to put on her robe and her shoes, Mulder is racing back to the stables and she’s right behind him. He tries to get her to go back inside, but there’s no way she’s going to keep back when she knows something is wrong.

Seeing Mary on the ground, lying still as though she’s already given up before she’s even started, puts a vice on her heart and squeezes the breath out of her. The men want to quit and Mulder wants her to leave, but she’s spotted the pistol at Melvin’s hip and she won’t let any of them give in so soon.

If there is a higher power, she begs that it gives Mary the strength she needs to get back on her feet. She begs God for his mercy in her mind and begs the horse out loud to not give up. And it works. They get Mary to her feet and she prays that the worst is now over. Jesse and Jimmy go back to bed.

Melvin rubs the sweaty horse down to keep her from getting a chill and drapes a horse blanket over her. He tells Katherine it’s best to let her be and let nature take its course from here. Katherine is reluctant to leave, but she joins Mulder and Melvin outside the stall where they sit and sip cold coffee from a thermos together as they wait.

Katherine prays, only instead of rubbing her thumbs and index fingers together in a phantom rosary, she silently twists her wedding ring. Mulder puts his hand over hers eventually and tucks her close to his side and under his arm.

Mary whinnies softly and they all jump up from the floor. The horse is stomping one foot on the ground and craning her neck to bite at her hindquarters. Her tail is swishing like mad. She stomps her foot again and stretches her neck up as she whinnies and bellows. She shifts to the side of the stall and starts to lean on it and stomp her foot.

“Is she supposed to be doing that?” Mulder asks.

“No,” Melvin answers, with a slightly frustrated growl.

Katherine goes into the stall. A horse may not be a woman, but the concept has got to be the same. She knows the clinical stages from the textbooks she’s read and if she can apply that knowledge here, she’s going to do it. She runs her hand down Mary’s neck and shoulder.

“You be careful, now,” Melvin says. “A horse in distress is liable to lash out.”

That sends Mulder into the stall after her. She glances at him and moves slowly back along the horse’s side.

“I’ve heard people say you know how to talk to the horses,” Katherine says. “Talk to her. Tell her we’re here to help.”

“I’ll try.” Mulder leans close and puts his cheek next to Mary’s and whispers to her.

Katherine eases her hand across the horse’s backside. She’s afraid of getting kicked more than anything and doesn’t want to do anything that might startle the horse. Her tail is swishing like mad and she can see there’s a protrusion forming at the ‘birthin’ exit’ as Melvin had called it. There’s a sudden gush of fluid and she steps back a little to avoid getting splattered.

“Melvin,” she says.

“The sac’s busted,” he says. “It’s good. It means the foal’s comin’. You see any hooves yet?”

“I think...yes, I think there is a hoof here.”

“Pointed up or down?”

“Down”

“Good, good. She just needs to push now.”

Katherine looks at Mulder and runs her hand along Mary’s back and belly. He stares at her as he whispers to the horse and she can feel the horse’s ribs almost undulate. Mary strains hard, but the hoof that had made its way out of her disappears.

“No,” Katherine whispers. “Come on, Mary.”

Mary shudders and a hoof appears again and more of a leg. When she strains again this time she kneels and both Mulder and Katherine have to jump out of the way as she collapses onto her side.

“It’s alright!” Melvin calls, before either of them start to panicking. “With the foal broke through now, she might stay down.”

Mulder crouches by Mary’s head and rubs her cheek as Katherine crouches at the back of her and keeps her eye on the progress. The laboring continues and Mary rolls and snorts a few times, each time bringing only just a bit more of the foal into view. And then she stops rolling again and takes a deep breath. Her eyes close and she just breathes.

“Don’t let her stop,” Melvin says. “She’s got to keep going.”

“Come on, Mary,” Mulder says. “You want to meet your little one, don’t you? We all want to meet your little one. You can do it.”

Mary snorts a little, but doesn’t move. It’s clear she’s exhausted. Katherine’s chin begins to quiver and her eyes fill with tears.

“Come on,” Mulder pleads.

“Please,” Katherine murmurs. “Please, Mary.”

Mary takes another deep breath and rolls to her belly. She lifts her hind end up and her hindquarters shiver with exertion. Her hooves start to slip under her and Katherine knows she’s going to go down any minute and if she does, she may not get up. Without thinking too much about it, she reaches out and grabs onto the foal’s leg and then slides her arm up and into Mary’s body.

“Tell her to push,” Katherine yells. “Push, Mary.”

“Push, Mary,” Mulder says. “Come on, girl.”

Katherine can feel Mary strain hard and she pulls at the same time. She pulls as hard as Mary pushes, but the foal is slick and there isn’t much purchase to take. She digs her knees into the ground and clutches the knee of the foal into her chest and pulls as hard as she can.

Mary gives a whinny and Katherine starts to fall backwards with the foal sliding free and into her lap.

“I’ll be dadgummed!” she hears Melvin cry.

“Oh my God,” Mulder whispers.

Mary shudders and then throws her head back to see her baby. It’s then that Katherine realizes that there’s not just one foal draped across her lap, there are two. They’re small and almost twisted together, both squirming to get free. She starts to laugh out of sheer relief and slides out from under the foals so that they can get free and learn how to stand on their own.

“Twins!” Melvin marvels. “That is rarer than a hen’s tooth right there.”

“Kate, you did it,” Mulder says. He starts to try to hug her, but she’s covered in gore and he hesitates.

She looks down at herself and at the blood and slime that covers her hands and she laughs harder. Suddenly though, she takes a shuddering breath and begins to sob. She cries so hard that she nearly falls to her knees, but Mulder catches her and lifts her up and takes her out of the stall.

“You did it,” Mulder tells her. “Honey, you did it. What’s wrong?”

It takes her some time to catch her breath and though she feels weak and like her throat is too pinched to speak, she looks up at him and whispers, “I’ll tell you everything.”

#i wrote this #broken things #chapter 22 #MSR #AU

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hedgiwithapen · 3 years

Note

Leverage + kittens

Not quite your brand, but on the other hand, 150% your brand

It turns out that being free from “ Stuck in the Van” doesn’t mean much if it’s replaced with “ stay in the house” and Breanna mutters curses against “mean genies” for a solid half hour. She knows it’s just to keep out of sight, like back-up. Alec always impressed on her--she got the idea it was a learn-from-my-mistakes-- the importance of keeping the mark from seeing everyone too soon. If someone calls an audible, or new information turns up that changes the whole plan, it’s good to have a new face in reserve. It’s not because they don’t trust her, Eliot tells her seriously. It’s because she’s very important. Yeah, sure. She gets the idea that they’re trying to protect her from this job, something about old friends. The house is huge--she has waaaaay more room than she ever did at Nana’s-- but she still chafes, eager to do more than follow the money and read emails and texts and whatever else she can dig up. She can only read through so many clear facebook market place scam messages in one sitting. Who cares this much about paying 10 bucks for lamps??? Breanna decides to go exploring. The house is fully tricked out, and she knows that Alec took what was already there and had even more secret panels and cubbies and passages put in. She also knows that some of them have prizes in them, and that Alec said there are still a bunch no one’s found. She’s exploring the attic when she hears the noise and frowns. It’s not the scratching of rats--for all she lightly teases Eliot about his ability to identify anything off the tiniest clue, she knows the sound of rats too well. She runs her hands along the wall and finds a patch that’s warm. “Well,” she says out loud, though her com is off, “I’m either about to get savaged by a raccoon or not.”

She pushes on a section of wood, feeling for a place it might move, and it swings open a little, revealing a cubbyhole lined with lint and scraps of litter, a tiny passage stretching beyond that must lead into the roof itself, and--- Breanna taps her com on. “ Hey I know, I know you said only to com you if it was an emergency--” “Are you hurt? Did people try to break in? Do you have your taser?” Parker cuts in fast. “No, No, and Yes,” Breanna rattles back just as quickly. “Um, I found kittens.” “Kittens?” Parker chirps, and then adds an accented, “Oh, no, nothing, just the dust--” to whoever’s in the same room as her. “Where did you find kittens? You’re supposed to stay in the house,” Eliot says. “I am in the house!” Breanna says, affronted. “The kittens are in the house, they’re in the wall.” “There are not kittens in the house, I would have known,” Eliot grumbles. “Uh, tell that to them. There are three, can we keep them? “No.” “Please?” “Yeah, Eliot, please?” Parker puts in. “ If they could break into the house with all our security and even you didn’t notice, they’ve earned it. “ “We can’t have pets, what happens when we have to go out of town? Or you get bored of them?” “I’ll ask Tina to look after them! And I’m not going to get bored, I wouldn’t give them away because I don’t want them anymore, when, when they get bigger and they’re not little and cute, I--, that’s not going to happen.” Breanna says fiercely. She puts a hand into the cubby, and one of the kittens starts purring instantly, whiskers brushing her fingertips. “....I’m not feeding them or cleaning the catbox or driving them to the vet or...waving those little feathers on strings or anything,” Eliot insists. “I’ll do all of that!” Breanna swears. There’s a long pause, filled with the sound of a particularly brutal fight/ “Fine,” Eliot agrees. “Yessssss,” Breanna cheers. “Thank you! I’m gonna get them some snacks, and--” “Don’t give them my steak.” “Breanna, hate to interrupt but this is urgent,” Sophie joins the call for the first time. “Was there anything in the emails about a lamp shaped like a fish?” “Oh, uh, yeah. Sending you the deets now.” Breanna fishes out her phone, sends the message, and takes three pictures on the kittens to send to Alec. The biggest of them, a calico, yawns and shows off all her sharp little teeth, and the little tuxedo looking one with a white tip to his tail starts mewing for affection. “I’m going to regret this.” Eliot sighs. ~ “Regret this, huh?” Breanna asks, holding up her phone. Eliot is sitting on the couch, besieged. “Don’t you dare,” he says pulling the calico off his shoulder where she’s been chewing on his hair. “Molly, stop--” she starts chewing on his shirt sleeve instead. “Oh, this is video, streaming straight to Alec.” Breanna reaches out a finger towards the kitties. “Awww, hello! Hello Widmark!” she coos to the tux, who has yet to move from the curve of Eliot’s elbow, purring his lungs out. The tabby, Trevor, launches himself from Eliot’s knee to the top of the couch, stepping on Molly, and the chase is on. “Dammit, Casey,” Eliot sighs, and Breanna beams.

#dammit hedgi day 2021 #leverage redemption

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e350tb · 3 years

Text

The Owl House: A Blight on Gravesfield (Chapter Five)

Five

The sun rises over Gravesfield.

...so the first essay topic will be up online this afternoon. Now back to weird local myths!

In 1660, King Charles II was restored to the English throne, and the whole Civil War period came to a close. Sort of. There was still a lot of political and religious controversy in both the British Isles and in the colonies; but that’s mostly a topic for another course. We are going to be following the continuing adventures of the Wittebanes.

John died in 1672 of pneumonia, but before he did, he had a family house constructed on his estate; that house, the Historic Wittebane Home, is still, and access is free to all Gravesfield residents, so if you have some time it’s well worth a visit. Although it looks small and uncomfortable now, in the 1660s it was the height of colonial luxury.

John left his estate to his son, the confusingly named John Philip Wittebane. We’ll call him John Philip to avoid too much confusion. Before John Philip took over the estate, he had sailed both as a merchant and as a buccaneer in the Caribbean; we believe he sailed with Henry Morgan in the raid on Maracaibo in 1668-69. While there, he purchased investments in a number of industries, and while he divested from them when he returned to Connecticut to collect his inheritance, they had made him a very wealthy man.

He immediately put his wealth to use by buying up most of the small farmers around Gravesfield, and by 1690, it was reckoned that most people in Gravesfield were employed by him. It became effectively a Wittebane company town, with John Philip even serving as the city’s mayor several times.

This is where our next myth comes to play; that in 1687, John Philip Wittebane had a woman put to death for witchcraft, and that consequently, her ghost haunts the Historic Wittebane Home.

Now, I’m a historian, I can’t tell you ghosts are real. That’s a job for ghostbusters. But was a woman really hanged in Gravesfield for witchcraft, nearly twenty years after the end of the Connecticut Witch Trials?

The local newspaper tell us that on June 13th, 1687 - a Friday - a ‘vagrant, suspected by some of heresy and witchraft, was duly hanged by the magistrate on account of the cruel and vicious murder of Henry Finch, who had been struck down while attending the ‘pigges’ on the Wittebane estate.’ So we have a clear cause for the hanging, and a ‘suspicion of witchcraft,’ but we don’t have a connection.

Frustratingly, this newspaper doesn’t tell us how poor Henry Finch died. Was he cruelly hexed? Well, if we go digging about in the archives, we might find a different story…

----

A brisk and foggy dawn was breaking over Gravesfield.

Ben Frakes was not a man of means by any stretch of the imagination, and as he stepped out into the cold air, he wished he could afford a car. (Well, he could, but it was hard to justify the expense.) It had been an uncomfortable night. Life in his one-room apartment had its charms - chief among them proximity to the college - but on cold nights it could be miserable, especially when his radiator was still broken.

Still, he was in fairly good spirits. His course on Gravesfield’s myths, and the truths behind them, was going very well, and the students seemed engaged. And it was a very good time of year to be in the history business; the annual Gravesfield History Fair was coming up, something he always looked forward to. It was always a riot; apart from a small county fair, there would be historical talks and tours of the old battlefield and the Historical Wittebane Home, and even the yearly battle reenactment; one which Ben had taken part in every year for his whole time in Gravesfield.

He was always on the Redcoat side and therefore always lost, but having fun was the main thing. Even if it was a bit of historical revisionism on the part of the townsfolk.

He was just starting off down the sidewalk to the college grounds when he spied a rustling in the nearby bushes. For a moment, he was prepared to dismiss it as a rabbit or a bird, but then, to his astonishment, a little white head poked out.

“Is that a cat?” he asked himself.

Slowly and gently, he crept forward, leaning down behind the bush. The cat emerged, gently headbutting his outstretched hand.

“Hmm… too much grooming to be a feral,” mused Ben. “Have you gotten out of someone’s yard?”

Carefully, he picked up the cat.

“Am I gonna have to print out a wanted poster for you?” he asked, chuckling. “I’ve got some milk in my fridge, maybe… what the?”

His gaze turned to the cat’s paws. Just under one of the back paws, he could see a peculiar mark, almost like a lock. He frowned.

“That doesn’t look healthy,” he mused. “Okay, pre-class prep can wait, I think you need a vet.”

He started off in the direction of the vet. He wasn’t concerned about making it to his class; that was still hours away, and he’d been planning on spending the morning doing some marking. But that mark… cats did not have marks like that.

At least, not in his world.

----

Camila was not an oblivious woman, especially when it came to her daughter.

She had had some suspicions the night before; most people wouldn’t jump through a portal into the unknown to get their friend to help, after all. But things were messy and upsetting, and people did irrational things under stress, so she’d shelved that thought.

When she walked into her living room the next morning and found them sound asleep in each other’s arms - well, suffice it to say, her suspicions grew a bit.

When Luz eventually blinked open her eyes, she found her mother sitting on the couch with a cup of tea in her hand, smiling wryly down at her.

“Good friends, are you?” she asked.

Luz blinked, and then glanced over to Amity.

She yelped and pulled herself out of her friend’s arms, which in turn woke her up with a start. Both sat up, Luz turning bright red.

“What’s going on?” demanded Amity. “Are we being attacked?”

Camila took a sip of her tea.

“Don’t worry,” she replied. “If we are, I’m sure Luz is very well protected.”

“Mooo-oooom,” groaned Luz, burying her head in her hands as Amity turned red too.

“Uh, Ms. Noceda, it’s… I’m…” Amity scratched the back of her head. “Please don’t get mad, Luz…”

“Mad?” Camila tilted her head. “Why would I be mad?”

“I… um… I…” Amity stammered.

“I need to take a shower!” exclaimed Luz. “Far away from here! Goodbye!”

She darted off the inflatable mattress and out the door.

Amity buried her head in the blanket, moaning softly. Camila frowned, moving a little closer to her.

“Amity,” she asked. “Is everything alright?”

“Sure,” sighed Amity. “Why wouldn’t it be?”

Camila reached down and put a hand on her shoulder. She was surprised to see Amity jolt away from her; her frown deepened.

“If you ever need to talk,” she said. “Just remember that I’m here.”

“Thanks,” replied Amity, looking away, “But I don’t think I will.”

She got up and walked away.

----

Luz spat her toothpaste out into the sink (she was surprised at how much better-tasting human toothpaste was than the stuff they used on the Isles, although it probably didn’t provide the same magical plaque protection) and washed her hands, whistling to herself. She didn’t know why - it wasn’t as though she was calm or cheerful - but perhaps music calmed the soul.

“Okay,” she said to herself. “Gotta go back to the historical society. Maybe there’s a lead to getting Amity home on that creepy curator guy’s conspiracy board… also wanna see if the bookstore’s still there. I think Amity would like it.”

She turned to the door and immediately froze.

Camila was leaning against the closed door, arms crossed.

“I think it’s time we talked, mija.”

Luz pursed her lips.

“...do we have to do it in the bathroom?”

#the owl house #luz noceda #amity blight #camila noceda #vee #lumity #a blight on gravesfield #writing

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sage-nebula · 3 years

Text

Game Review — Neo: The World Ends With You

In 2008 I played a JRPG unlike any other I had played before, or have played since. It was a self-contained story and for the most part I was okay for it to stay that way, though I was always curious what more could be done in the world, and hated how Square-Enix kept teasing us with the promise of a sequel that it seemed would never come. But now, 13 years later, that sequel has finally arrived.

Overall Score: 9/10

My personal feelings on the story and characters aside, overall Neo: The World Ends With You lives up to its predecessor in terms of gameplay, writing, music, and presentation. Unlike other sequels which fall woefully short of their predecessors, Neo does a fantastic job of staying true to the spirit of the original so that older fans can enjoy it just as much as new fans do. For more detailed thoughts, head under the cut (and onto my blog for formatting purposes).

The Pros:

The writing, for the most part, is excellent. Again, I have more personal takes on the story and character beats that I’ll delve into on a different post, but in terms of how the dialogue and flavor text are written throughout the game, Neo has shown that the writing staff hasn’t forgotten what makes The World Ends With You spectacular despite it being 13 years. The humor is on point, the character of the fictionalized version of Shibuya that was created is on point. Even just playing the demo I could tell that the charm was still there despite this being written over a decade later and I couldn’t be happier with that fact.

The music is, of course, phenomenal. There are remixes of tracks from the original game that are great, because I’ll never say no to a version of “Transformation” or “The One Star” or “Someday”. But there are also original tracks that are just absolutely beyond fantastic, such as “Kill the Itch” or “Last Call” or “Bird in the Hand”. One of the things that sets The World Ends With You apart from other JRPGs is its music, and how it’s composed to be music comparable with what you could hear on a radio versus being very identifiable as video game music, and Neo delivered on that front yet again with both the remixes and the original tracks.

The gameplay is another area in which Neo shines. It would be impossible to replicate the battle system of the original game, something Square-Enix showed time and time again with their numerous ports and remasters of it. The original game was meant to be played on the Nintendo DS, and specifically the Nintendo DS, in that it was created with the dual screens in mind. As a result, the two partner system just didn’t work on the numerous ports and re-releases, and it wouldn’t be able to work in Neo either due to the fact that none of the platforms it’s releasing on have dual screens. As a result, Neo’s battle system is very different, but also very, very good. The battles are still real time, and you still control all of the characters at once (I don’t think there’s a way to let the AI take over like with the partner in the original game, but I could be wrong on that), but this time they’re all in the same plane of existence and you juggle up to six of them at a time. Instead of passing a light puck to power up a sync fusion, you’re instead bouncing combos in order to work up a Groove, which in turn lets you Beat Drop in what is essentially a version of the sync fusions, albeit not nearly as specific to the characters as the sync fusions were. There were times while playing that having to balance so many characters at once got a bit much, especially when trying out new pins with different reboot times, but overall the battle experience is incredibly smooth and is a perfect rendition of what TWEWY battling should be like on a single screen. Battles aside, there are numerous other areas in which the gameplay shined as well. Starting in Week 2 you gain the ability to move around the map more quickly in a way which integrates the BGM as well (which is important given how much thematic importance is given to music in these games), and in Week 3 you get an even faster method of travel via telewarping around the map. Pins are back, and with a story explanation given for why the characters can use any pins they please, you get different pins to use and elemental affinities to consider when picking out your decks. A new Social Network feature not only gives you additional information on various characters, but also grants you new abilities and can help you keep track of who is who, as well as who has a relation to whom. Little features like this definitely add to the experience of the game and make playing it feel fun, which is always of paramount importance when it comes to video games.

There is a ton of content, which again, is pretty important when you consider that this is a $60 game. Like the original game, there are three weeks of seven days apiece for the main story. In a way, this can make it seem like the game goes by too fast (especially if you binge play it like I did), but also like the original game, there is plenty of post-game content to do as well. For one, we once again get a light-hearted parody bonus chapter in the form of “Another Day”. For another, there are Secret Reports unlocked by completing special missions in each chapter that provide extra background information, as well as an unlockable secret ending as well. So although the main story can go by fast (especially if, again, you just can’t put it down), there is still plenty to do once the main campaign is completed and that’s always the mark of a brilliant game as well.

Speaking of, the game really is difficult to put down. Five hours passed by in a blink for me while I was playing, not only because the gameplay was fun, but because I just had to know what was going to happen next. There were times when I figured I would just start the next day and then put it down, but the next day began with something crazy happening and I had to follow up on it. For a heavily story-based game, this is yet another necessary strength and the developers pulled it off fabulously.

For the most part, the characters were all fantastic as well, newcomers and returning vets alike. The original game shined in how unique it made its characters, and Neo does this as well. The returning cast is (again for the most part) IC but with notable growth in their personalities and demeanors, and the new cast is equally as lovable (or detestable for those that are meant to be detested). Again, since this is a story-based game, having strong characters is a necessary requirement and Neo pulls that off just as splendidly as the original did, with few exceptions.

The game is also beautiful to look at, much like (at risk of sounding like a broken record) the original. The comic book art style has always been incredibly unique and charming, and they integrated the 3D graphics seamlessly with the art style to create a truly beautiful marvel to look at while playing. The character design is also worthy of a chef’s kiss, especially when wise decisions were made behind the scenes to swap the designs of certain characters (namely, Ayano and Kanon originally had each other’s appearance, before a smart decision was made to swap how they looked). All in all, this is a game you never get tired of looking at.

The Neutrals:

Despite there being a wide variety of pins to use (especially since any character can use any pin), there actually isn’t that much of a variety in terms of what the pins actually do. This is partially due to hardware restrictions; in the original game they could have sound based pins because the DS had a microphone, and the touch screen also allowed for different types of inputs as well. But current consoles don’t offer as much in terms of gameplay ingenuity, and as a result you get a lot of pins that are basically just clones of each other, which is a little bit disappointing when you compare it to the original (especially since I haven’t discovered many iconic sets yet, a la Darklit Planets or Brainy Cat etc).

While there are a ton of characters in this game, there is much, much less emphasis put on the citizens of Shibuya who aren’t involved in the Game, which in turn makes it feel like there are less memorable side characters than the last game. For the most part, the citizens of Shibuya are basically relegated to just being possessed by Noise, and that’s it. Whereas we saw their lives carry out over three weeks in the last game (such as Makoto’s evolution in both his social and professional life), here we don’t really get to see that, which is a bit disappointing as well.

The battle gameplay, while very fun and smooth, does feel a little less deep at times than it did in the original game. While in the original you had to learn to balance Neku’s pins with his partner’s psychs, here you’re basically button mashing in a rhythm in order to get the gauge up, which can get a bit tiring if you do a bunch of battles in a row. The fact that the Beat Drops aren’t unique to the characters like the Fusions were is another thing that, while not a huge detriment, still feels a little less special than the Fusions did in the original game.

Neo is a lot more plot-focused than the original, which was more character-driven. Don’t get me wrong, the original definitely had a plot as well, and Neo does care about its characters. But while the deeper aspects of the plot were discovered post-game through the Secret Reports in the original, here the plot intricacies are front and center. And while the first game spent way more time developing its characters and focusing on their inner struggles, here the character issues are mostly pushed to late game in order to focus on the plot. It’s not bad, but it is noticeably different.

You still don’t get to actually see the characters in the clothes you dress them in. While this makes sense (it would be way too much to program in), it’s still a bit of a letdown.

The fashion brands don’t really feature into the plot or world at all, with the exception of Gatto Nero because of who created it. Again, it’s not a huge deal, but I enjoyed how you could see which brands were most popular in different areas of Shibuya in the original, and how you sometimes had to boost the popularity of the brands via doing battle with those pins or clothes equipped in the original in order to clear missions. It made the brands you were wearing actually matter, versus just being fun flavor text.

The Cons:

The time travel mechanic, Replay, is probably the biggest con this game has to offer. While it does have consequences that I won’t spoil here in the very final act of the game, for the most part it completely negated the stakes for the vast majority of the game, because you knew that even if something terrible happened, Rindo would be able to go back in time and fix it. I was never worried about what the characters would encounter as a result of this, except for in a few instances where something bad happened after Rindo had already used his power for the day. This is a noticeable downgrade from the original game, where there were no Do Overs and Neku and the others had to live with whatever consequences the Game had in store for them, which made everything feel that much more dire. In addition to lowering the stakes, though, Replay also loses points for the fact that having to do the same events with slight changes over and over felt like padding. In particular, in the endgame there is a segment you have to go through about six different times, and it felt maddening. While I do feel like Replay was a homage to the Zero Escape games in that it works remarkably similar to Sigma and Phi’s SHIFTing ability (and Fret even calls the Game “the escape room from hell” which again calls to Zero Escape), for some reason it felt far more like a chore here than it did there, possibly because you couldn’t Jump at will here like you can in Virtue’s Last Reward.

I’m personally not wild about the adult/teen romances that were implied in the game, even though thankfully neither of them seemed reciprocated. Namely, Kanon viewed Fret as a kid given that she’s an adult and he’s a teenager, and Shoka never really thought about her relationship with Ayano that deeply even though Ayano seemed pretty in love with Shoka. But even though these relationships weren’t reciprocated, the fact that they were present at all is still something that I’m really just not wild about, and made me feel a bit uncomfortable while playing. (And yes, I know that Ayano and Shoka are said to be sisters in “Another Day”, but the subtext surrounding Ayano’s feelings in specific in the main story is so blatant it’s essentially overt text. I don’t want to get into it here since that delves more into spoiler territory, but I really just was not wild about it at all, especially since that’s the most blatant lesbian rep this series has given us thus far, which is disappointing to me, a lesbian.)

I don’t want to dive too much into this here because of spoilers, but: Neku. From his English voice acting to his writing, he was disrespected up and down in this game. Truly a massive disappointment in every sense of the word, and so he deserves a Con point all to himself.

There is a noticeable lack of minigames in Neo, as well as a lack of variety in the wall missions. We only had one instance of Reaper Review (that I encountered at least). There was no Reaper Creeper, nor was there Tin Pin Slammer, though both were mentioned. As someone who loved Tin Pin Slammer, I was so sad to see it not present at all in this game, and there wasn’t even a suitable replacement for it that we could play on the side, either. As mentioned above, the battles can get a bit boring after a while, so the fact that there weren’t minigames to help break them up truly feels like a detriment to what is otherwise a very fun game to play.

Fret’s Remind ability was a chore every time I had to use it. You had to hold the joysticks at certain positions and if you couldn’t solve it fast enough, you had to reposition them all over again. Maybe it’s just the Switch version that was having the issue, I don’t know, but I found it incredibly finicky and hard to control, which made me dislike every time I had to do it despite loving the little drawings that Fret conjured up when he used his ability.

In cases where Noise could interrupt your entire party at once, I found that I was unable to use pins a second or two before the interruption came. This was most notable with the elephant noise (fuck those elephants, me and all my homies hate those elephants, there were TOO MANY ELEPHANTS in this game) and the final final boss. Again, this could be a bug exclusive to the Switch version, I’m not sure, but it was annoying as heck regardless.

All in all, whatever complaints I may have, this game is extraordinarily fun and a wonderful sequel to an even more wonderful game. I’m incredibly happy with it and I’m glad that it lived up to expectations, particularly considering how long it took to arrive. Now we just need to wait 13 years for a third game. I don’t know about you guys, but I’m ready.

#neo: the world ends with you #neo twewy #neo the world ends with you #2021 game reviews #minor spoilers contained within though I tried to keep it as spoiler-free as possible

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