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twdmusicboxmystery · 3 years

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TWB 2x01 - 2x03: Analysis

Sorry it's taken me a couple of extra days to get my TWB together. But here it is. I'm combining my analysis of the first 3 episodes. I’ll just go over things that jumped out at me. Nothing super deep. Honestly, while there has definitely been some great symbolism and some important confirmations, there also haven’t been any massive, smoking guns. But there are definitely some things worth noting.

TWB 2x01:

The basic gist of the plot is that we start by saying the Lieut. Col. and the CRM blowing up Omaha. So, they not only took out the campus colony, they took out Omaha as well.

During the opening sequence, at the very beginning, we see a man, clearly injured, crawl up toward the Lieut. Col. She says something to the guy with her about how they found the escapee. Then she has him shot. This shows her brutality, but I've also seen people talking about how this man was wearing a uniform and a badge.

I saw one YouTuber talking about how the badge looked a whole lot like the ones Rick and Michonne wore in S5 when they became constables Alexandria. I think the YouTuber’s point was that this foreshadows Rick, and the fact that Lieut. Col. called the man an escapee shows that Rick is a prisoner there. His failure to return to Alexandria is not his choice.

But of course, the fact that what this guy wears is very reminiscent of a cop uniform also brings Grady to mind. Perhaps the cops at Grady were absorbed by the CRM. If Rick and Michonne’s S5 uniforms were foreshadows of them doing that same kind of work for the CRM, then maybe the CRM has a specific purpose for former law enforcement. It would just make sense across the board.

In this episode, Lieut. Col. gives Hope the choice to leave, and Hope does for a time. While out on her own, she falls down the stairs and ends up with a concussion. (Head injury). In her state of injury, she hallucinates a MISSING GIRL who suddenly shows up. Can we all say Beth parallels? Not much happens except Hope realizes she probably can't survive on her own out there she goes back to Lieut. Col. By the end, she’s taken to see her father.

Meanwhile, Iris, Felix, and Will are hiding from the CRM, and definitely want to make war on them, but haven’t figured out how yet. And Iris kills one of the CRM soldiers.

Iris has a dream in which she pulls the face off a walker. Beneath it, the walker wears CRM gear. The point of the dream in the plot is that Iris knows it wasn't the walkers that took out the campus colony and Omaha. It was the CRM. But this feels like a deeper symbolism as well. Like the CRM is responsible for the walkers or the virus or something. Not to mention, the helmet she sees looks exactly like the one Daryl and saw on the walker he laid next to him 6x06. So, this gave me Beth feels.

When Huck and Lieut. Col. talk about Hope, Huck says, "it did change her." And the Lieut. Col. answers, "not enough." Very reminiscent of Daryl and Beth’s conversation on the porch in Still.

It's also important to note that it was Huck's idea to bring Hope cross country the way they did in S1. That actually makes way more sense. The CRM doing that just to get Hope to the research facility seemed a little far-fetched. Why wouldn't they just go get her and bring her there? But it turns out, it's what Huck wanted to do and because she's the Lieut. Col.'s daughter, her mother supported her in it. I don't know if it was planned that way all along, or if the writers got a lot of flak for the explanation they gave it the end of season one, and therefore decided to explain a little bit more in this episode.

In the charges they used to blow up Omaha at the beginning, there were red and yellow wires.

At the end, the showrunner talked about how the point of season two is for the viewers to slowly figure out the mystery of the CRM, what they're doing and why they're doing it. That’s pretty much it for episode one.

TWB 2x02:

Ep 2 was important and had some really interesting information in it. At the beginning, Iris has just killed one of the CRM's people and she and Felix are hiding from a team of CRM soldiers. A walker shows up, but they need it to be quiet so the CRM soldiers don't find them.

Felix holds the walker from behind and tells Iris to shoot it. It looks very much like the way in which Daryl held the walker for Beth to kill in Inmates. In addition, Iris shoots it in the eye here. (Sirius symbolism.)

I also noticed that the call sign for the CRM is Gamma-five. Gamma is a form of radiation and the name of one of the whispers last season. Then there's that pesky five.

In this episode, we see that Silas has been assigned a sort of walker cleanup duty in one part of the CRM. One interesting thing about his storyline is that there's another young man in his group whose name is Grady. Yes, it's just a name, and I doubt this character will have anything at all to do with Grady or Beth’s storyline. But in all the wide world of millions of names to choose, why is Grady? Perhaps remind us of something?

The really important stuff came with Hope, of course. Her father's girlfriend (Lila) gave her a tour of the research facility. Lila talked a lot about the work that CRM is doing. I still think there are things we don't know about what they're doing, stuff that they didn't tell Hope, but what they did say was very interesting.

Hope asked if they were working on a cure and was basically told yes. That's only one small part of what they’re researching, but even so. Think about that. The Bite/Cure Theory for Beth is simply that Grady was researching a cure and Beth may have been bitten and cured.

Well, we may not be able to prove the bite part yet, and we don't have absolute confirmation that Grady was part of the CRM, but we do have a great deal of evidence. So, if Grady was part of the CRM, or at least in communication with them, then the Bite/Cure Theory is all but proven. That’s super significant, not only because we will have been right about that, but because if Beth was bitten and cured, that's not just a throwaway storyline. They’re not going to do something like that not tell us about it or not bring it back around at some point.

Hope was also told that the research facility as part of an old diamond mine. (Diamonds around Beth.) It used to house experiments in dark matter and neutrino physics. (It just feels a little bit like dark tunnel symbolism to me.) She's also told that the mine shields the experiments from the SUN’s cosmic RADIATION. Just more symbols we've seen over and over again.

She's also told her father is working on an idea that a particular kind of fungus that grows in the walkers decomposing bodies could possibly be used to increase their decomposition rate. Which just means that the walkers themselves would fall apart and become immobile much faster. It's a way to rid the world of the threat that already exists. The takedown all the walkers that are stumbling around in the world.

This caught my attention because of all the mushrooms we see all the time. Mushrooms are a type of fungus. So, perhaps one of the reasons we see the mushrooms so often is because mushrooms or some type of fungus will be used to help get rid of the walkers and make the world safe again.

And again, the reason that's important is because we definitely see them in a big way around Beth and Daryl in Inmates. They wouldn't have them so heavily around Bethyl if they weren't going to be part of that storyline.

While Hope is walking around the facility, she looks into a window at a guy who's doing some kind of work. When he sees her, he close the blinds. It just felt exactly like when Beth was a Grady and one of the wards shut the door in Beth’s face.

There's a part where Hope goes into a storage closet and makes kind of a big deal about a mop. So, mop symbolism.

The only other thing of note which is mostly about the plot, is that Will, Felix, and Iris fake their deaths. They put their clothes on some walkers and the Lieut. Col. finds them. So now the CRM officially thinks they're dead. That's it for episode two.

TWB 2x03:

We see Hope jogging at the beginning. She sees something that says Gate 2 East. So, just east symbolism.

Elton and Percy are still together from last season and looking for food. They find two people (Asha and Der) who end up being tied to Indira’s camp (where Iris and Felix are staying). Elton keeps telling Percy that, "they seem like good people." So, obvious Beth dialogue.

One of the biggest TD sequences I've seen this this season on TWB comes in this episode. Percy and Elton are running and Elton trips. As it turns out, they've run right through graveyard. There are a bunch of bodies buried just beneath the soil. These bodies are walkers and wake up and attack them. Just one of those scenes that is just full of TD symbolism.

We see one eye open (Sirius symbolism). The walkers come from beneath the ground (resurrection symbolism). Because they were under the soil, they're all covered in greenery. There's a tree stump (tree/trunk symbolism) and a walker both covered with the same mushrooms (mushroom symbolism) that we saw near Beth and Daryl in Inmates. You get the idea.

Asha and Der help them fight off the walkers. Then we see an interesting death ritual that these two siblings have. They cut the eyes out of the walkers (Sirius/see no evil, symbolism) with spoons (Beth's DC spoon)

and replace them with flowers.

At first, it seems really strange to Elton and Percy. But later, Elton talks to Asha about it. She explains that they don't think the walkers are empty. She things part of the person's soul is left behind. And that's why the walkers are animated. Killing them helps release the soul. She says the flowers are her own little touch. “A little beauty in the darkness left behind.” It just feels like a parallel to Beth talking about how the walkers were people at one time in Alone. And how she thought that the funeral home owner taking care to bury them was beautiful.

The other thing that really jumped out about me in this episode had to do with Hope. She was in science class. And, I totally missed this at first, but her teacher was T. Brooks Ellis.

Yes, as in the T. Brooks Ellis that Eugene lied about knowing, who he believed was a great scientist. This guy is with CRM and he's actually teaching Hope's class. This is super cool because I'm hoping that at some point Eugene might actually come face-to-face with this guy. That’d be awesome. And it's a great example of how they plan and tie things together over many seasons. And actually, T. Brooks Ellis was even mentioned in S5, at the same time that Beth was a Grady. We had no way of knowing we ought to be connecting those two things, but there's absolutely no way that's a coincidence.

The other thing is that they have Hope go into this rant about how maybe they should be using fermentation to experiment when it comes to curing the virus and getting rid of the walkers. She goes into this whole debate with Mason about the fermentation process and they talk about how one of the byproducts of that is ethanol, a form of alcohol.

A couple things about this. Ethanol was used in a storyline of FTWD two seasons ago. The group drank bad water (poison water/drought symbolism) and the cure ended up being ethanol.

Of course, the other obvious thing is alcohol/moonshine around Beth. But I started thinking about the fact that it was used for a cure in FTWD, and now Hope is suggesting that this process, which results in alcohol, might end up being a cure for the virus, or for the walker threat.

As I told my fellow theorists, I've wondered more than once over the years why they used alcohol as a Beth symbol. While they did the whole moonshine thing. It truly could be that there's really no particular reason. Writers pick symbols that will work for their story and run with them. It may be nothing more than that. The writer pic an arbitrary symbol and then find ways to use it over and over again to convey meaning.

But after the scene with Hope, I don't believe that's the case anymore. I think they've known for a long time, possibly since the beginning, what their explanation would be for how to cure this zombie virus. And they knew it would have to do with fermentation. Therefore, alcohol would be part of the cure.

And think about how much they emphasized alcohol, especially making or producing one's own alcohol (because moonshine) around Beth and Daryl.

I'm assuming fermentation is really going to end up being a thing, because they wouldn't do an entire scene where Hope basically explains the fermentation process and why it will work if it's not going end up being important in the story.

Similarly, they wouldn't have put alcohol in such a big way around Beth and Daryl if they weren’t going to tie the two of them to alcohol and the cure as well. We couldn’t have known this back then, but think of it this way. Beth and Daryl use alcohol to kind of heal themselves emotionally. Alcohol is a hint toward a cure for the walker virus. And perhaps, just one episode later, Beth is bitten and taken to Grady. So, maybe they used some kind of alcohol or fermentation to treat her that we didn’t see. Just throwing out ideas.

I'm very much enjoying TWB. While I’m sad we won’t’ get more regular TWD for a few months, I do like what they're doing with it. As with last season, I feel like we’re getting a lot of clues and symbolism that serve as confirmations.

Here are some great observations from some of my fellow theorists. As often happens, they come up with some things I didn’t even think of:

@galadrieljones: I know we now have Dr. Ellis, wearing his bolo tie with his Texas accent, and that's drawing us back to the lore in TWD. Also, something that Lyla said stuck with me, which was about "turning off the dead." I feel like I remember Eugene saying something different, like that there's some sort of biological agent or frequency or something that was going to be sent out, to basically deactivate the dead, or whatever biological agent is causing the turn. I know that Eugene did tell everyone he was lying; however, I'm wondering if again there isn't a partial truth at work. Maybe he WAS working on the Human Genome Project, or he was studying under Dr. Ellis, idk. But a lot of this is setting up for some sort of crossover, I feel, of which Eugene is at the center.

There's a Half Moon poster in Dennis's apartment. He likes music. Another poster for a band called Amber Tears at the Nav Bar in NYC. None of those things is real, at least not in the sense as it's being advertised.

Dennis is a point of interest for me, because I believe he was at the Devil's Pass with Huck. I still cannot tell whether Huck was ever actually a marine, or if Dennis was ever a marine. It's possible they were always undercover for some early iteration of the CRM. It sounds like Dennis did something really messed up, or something that scared Huck. It's implied though that he was a medic. I don't get the sense that they've seen each other since probably just after the turn, as he doesn't recognize her scar, and he doesn't recognize her name as "Huck." Also, I thought I caught him wearing a wedding ring. I don't know what that means. Like that they were married before, or that he married someone else who possibly died, after being separated from Huck.

Dennis is also a link to TWD, because Denise's twin brother was named Dennis. Daryl carries around the key chain that says "Dennis" after Denise's death. Denise says that Daryl reminds her of Dennis, and Dennis in WB does have a bit of a Daryl thing going on. He wears cut-off T-shirts, has this kind of hot mechanic thing going on. He's angry and brave. He's also into music, which is a callback to Beth. Dennis/Huck also feel parallel to Daryl/Leah.

Huck is lying to Dennis but she's also being lied to by her boss, who is her mother. Huck is a former "marine," double agent, and I think she's a foil for Leah. Huck is wising up to her mother's true motivations (which tbh are still a little unclear) and how her mother seems to have lost her sight of what matters (people) and is focused only on the big picture (war). This is similar to Leah and Pope. Huck's origin story also points to a river. I think Dennis is somebody to keep an eye on in WB.

The map that Silas steals communicates to us that we're in Ithaca, NY. Ithaca is home to Cornell University, but there's no such thing as the Ithaca Underground Research Facility. Lyla tells Hope that it had originally been a facility for studying "dark matter and neutrino physics, before that an old diamond mine." The diamond mine reference made me think of Ann's "canary in a coal mine" allusion, pertaining to Carver calling Daryl a chirping bird.

I mentioned earlier Asha's story about the walkers as being vessels for souls crossing over into the underworld, and how she puts the flowers on their eyes, and how this parallels the coins for Charon. (Links to Acheron, the titles of TWD 11x01-11x02).

When Silas fights the walkers in the "Parade," he is surrounded by white horses. The pale horse is the horse that Death rides, ie: the fourth horseman of apocalypse. I know there's a lot of theories surrounding white horses. I feel that all the horses in TWD might be signaling toward the opening of the Seventh Seal, somehow, foreshadowing the "return" of Christ (Beth?). I have been rewatching Twin Peaks lately, also, and Idk how familiar you guys are with that show, but David Lynch uses white horses to foreshadow death or the coming of evil incarnate. I was concerned by them surrounding Silas, as they could be a death omen for him, or for someone close to him, or not. Just a theory.

Silas is also instructed by Dennis to do special finger exercises to make sure that he doesn't lose nerve function in his cut hand. These exercises reminded me of Daryl's "tapping"/counting exercises that he does in "Rendition.”

Per Silas, the white horse could have a different connotation. More colloquially, white horses are associated with knights in shining armor. Silas could become a knight with a grail quest, who is trying to save somebody. Dwight and Daryl, who I associate with knights, also both have big moments with horses. Not white horses, but horses nonetheless. Daryl with Buttons, Dwight with the horses at the end of Fear season 5, when he's thirsty and delirious and thinks he hears Sherry on the walkie. He finds a bunch of horses and brings them back to Team Fear Family at the Gulch (where they're later apprehended by Virginia).

Also, I find it weird that there are so many name doubles in these shows. There are a bazillion names in the world. We need to have two characters named the same thing? Dennis, Luke, Bob, Sam, Cole, the list goes on and on. Another name double that intrigues me is Jennifer, as Morgan's wife's name was Jenny.

Also, some of the names in WB are very "on the nose." Hope is at the center, a "hope" for the future. Meanwhile, Iris "sees" the truth. Felix "feels." Will "wills" himself free from the CRM. Leo the "lion," reminds me of the Wizard of Oz, ie: Pay no attention to the man. behind the curtain! He is not a coward, but part of his journey is to wisen up. Lyla "lies." Silas is a religious character from the Davinci Code, and I know you all have said that Gimple is super informed by that book, thought maybe a clue that you're on the right track with the holy grail theories. Huck is another literary allusion, re: Tom Sawyer, which is connected to TWD. There's also that pesky character literally named Grady.

One last thing: Dennis uses a bottle of clear liquor to wash up Silas's wound, I believe, and then he tells Silas to take the bottle away with him, so that he can stop staring at it. Makes me think that Dennis has some alcohol dependency issues, which again calls back to Daryl. And Denise is pretty clear on the fact that her parents were both alcoholics.

Oh right one more weird name repetition: Percy is the name of the old man character who helps Beth create a distraction in Grady so that Beth can steal the medicine to help Carol. Beth gives him the strawberries.

@frangipanilove: One thing I noticed that made me go 👀 was Percy pointing out that Asha and the other guy had made a Dakota fire pit. I believe that was the same type of fire that Beth made in Still.

@galadrieljones: Dakota? Another mysterious name. I thought about how Asha is traveling with her brother, too. Just like Sasha. Names!

@frangipanilove: I know, there’s name weirdness going on. When you mentioned Jenny (Morgan’s wife) it made me think of how they called Virginia “Ginny”. Also Dakota and Virginia both refer to states (sort of). No idea of what, if any, meaning there is to it, but it made me raise my eyebrow.

Actually, the name Ginny/Virginia has been on my radar for quite some time. Do you remember Simon from season 6(?). He kept having these odd conversations with Gregory about different types of alcohol. First he was partial to tequila, then later he’d changed to gin. And they kept saying “gin” in an oddly specific way, so much so that I wondered if it was a hint of something. When Virginia/Ginny was introduced, I wondered if there was some sort of tie-in. But I’m clueless as to what that could mean though ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Great observations, Gals! That’s it for our analyses of TWB 2x01-2x03. How did everyone like these first three of us?

#beth greene #beth greene lives #beth is alive #beth is coming #td theory #td theories #team delusional #team defiance #beth is almost here #bethyl

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mythgirlimagines · 3 years

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Time for a brand new talentswap for this fine Tuesday! Give a warm wink and a smile to Myth, the Former Ultimate Animator!

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BACKSTORY AND TALENT

As a youngster, Myth‘s imagination and energy was all over the place. A combination of regular consumption of books, movies, and TV, and living in a rather creative household herself, made this Myth want to bring her odd creations into the human world. Ever since she entered her first ever short animation into a prestigious film festival for preteens, she has been on a roll ever since, with romantic and fantasy anime being her main bread and butter. Her most well-known work yet is “Up in Smoke”, a Romeo and Juliet-esque animated film chronicling the romantic escapades of a two female elemental spirits, a water and fire spirit, and the rebellion against their strict family. It earned raving reviews from critics for its adorable artstyle, its loveable characters, and its heartwarming portrayal of LGBT dynamics. In fact, most of her works have at least one LGBT character, or at least have some form of LGBT subtext. She may not have a lot of human friends apart from Wyre, but she has the support of both her friends and her massive fanbase. Even as a adult, she still has it going in the animation department.

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RELATIONSHIPS

Wyre Anon, Former Ultimate Animal Breeder

Due to her wild and rowdy appearance and personality, Wyre never really had many human friends, but they compensate for this with a whole arkload of animal friends, with lizards, snakes and other reptiles being her main speciality. Myth and Wyre met as children, and quickly bonded with each other over their eccentric behaviour and lack of human friends. In fact, Wyre was the one who gave Myth the eared hat and tail that Myth regularly wears. Wyre regularly brings in live animals as a drawing reference, so Myth would learn how to properly animate animal movement.

Outfit: Same outfit as the original, but with a cat design on the skirt, a brown fox ear headband, and a matching brown prop tail.

Anon Scar, Ultimate Princess

As the princess of a small European country called Zunduros, Scar is the current heiress to the Zundorian throne. Myth was surprised to learn that her animated shows have quite the following in Scar’s kingdom. Despite constantly carrying herself as the “Heiress of the Untouched Shadow”, the facade quickly breaks away to reveal a heavily-concerned and somewhat maternal girl, once she realises that this entertainment giant doesn’t exactly have the healthiest living habits. Nowadays, Scar is always on standby, making sure that Myth gets her daily food and rest.

Outfit: A black Gothic Lolita-style dress, with white lace and red bows on the front, dark red stockings, red heels, red gloves, a red rose holding up her side bun.

Fusion Anon, Ultimate Musician

As the lead singer of the soft rock band, “QUIZ BOWL”, Fusion’s songs mainly center around family and parental love. Fusion’s personality matches the subject matter of his songs, being paternal and kind-hearted, despite what his height and wild fashion would suggest. Imagine Myth’s shock when this 6’3 tall boy with a large afro dyed various colors and a leather jacket claimed to be a massive fan of her adorable animated films. Ever since Myth found out and gave him an autographed art book, Fusion has been in special interest heaven. Nowadays, Fusion helps compose music for Myth’s animated films.

Outfit: A large afro dyed various colors, a black leather jacket with an autistic pride badge on the front over a red t-shirt, black leather gloves, ripped black pants, black boots, a guitar case strapped to his back, color contacts.

Fusion Anon II, Ultimate Photographer

As the girl behind the famous photography blog ,“bustasnap”, Fusion II has traveled all over the world to take pictures of all the scenic landscapes she can find. Upon looking at Fusion II’s photos, Myth knew that she had to use them for background references. This has led to the mysterious disappearance of many of Fusion II’s printed Polaroids. Upon finding out that Myth was the one behind the theft of her pictures, Fusion II chose to print the pictures and hand the copies to Myth. From there, Myth learned that Fusion II is a kind girl underneath her sarcastic and flippant demeanour.

Outfit: Same outfit as her original design, but with her prized Polaroid strapped to her right side.

Just Anon, Ultimate Gamer

Dominating popular MMORPG after popular MMORPG under the name, “anon.”, Janon spends all of his time laying down and not moving from his territory. Despite Janon’s adorable appearance and fashion sense, Janon is foul-mouthed, cynical, and hates just about everybody in this goddamn con. Well, almost everybody. He has a massive soft spot for the two Jr. Ultimates of the convention. Janon and Myth like to organize little slumber parties and nap underneath a large pile of blankets, pillows and stuffed toys, where certain bothersome Anons wouldn’t bother them.

Outfit: A Pikachu hoodie, black headphones with the Overwatch logo on each ear, formal wear and face-mask from original design.

Sparkle Anon, Former Ultimate Traditional Dancer

Coming from a long and prestigious line of traditional dancers, Sparkle’s dancing is truly a spectacle to witness on stage. Spicing up her dance moves with glitter and sakura petals, Sparkle’s moves look like they’re straight from a high-budget fantasy movie. Topping off her stellar appearance is a loud and bombastic attitude that truly shines on stage. Just like with Fusion, Sparkle is also a major fan of Myth’s works, particularly her magical girl series. Myth regularly watches Sparkle perform in order to help with animating dancing and the movement of her characters.

Outfit: An orange kimono with pink flower designs all over it, a purple obi, white socks, brown gets sandals, a sidetail decorated with flowers, glasses from original design.

Egg Anon, Former Ultimate Lucky Student, and Wet Sock, Former Ultimate Yakuza

Originally the twin children to one of the biggest underground yakuza chains in the world, Egg has since been cast out of the bloodline for their unpredictable luck cycle managed to nearly doom their entire bloodline, and it’s only through Wet Sock‘s control that the entire bloodline didn’t go kaput. Upon hearing about Egg and Wet Sock’s backstory, Myth thought that this would make a good premise for a film. Needless to say, despite their cursed and violent concepts, Myth managed to look past them, to find deeply disturbed individuals that just need a hug.

Egg’s Outfit: A bandaged left eye, a half-shaved haircut, the same same clothes from their original design, but with a clover design replacing the bird designs.

Wet Sock’s Outfit: An eyepatch on their right eye, a half-shaved haircut, a black suit just like Fuyuhiko’s.

Curious Anon, Jr. Ultimate Nurse

As the adopted child of a hospital worker, Curious ended up learning everything that they can about the medical field and the human body. Curious has became famous and beloved at the hospital for their kind-hearted and levelheaded personality, as well as their excellent bedside vigil. Because of Myth’s constant neglect of food and sleep, Curious is constantly on standby to make sure that Myth gets the proper amount of nutrition needed to function as a proper human being. Myth may not need Curious constantly hovering over her, but she appreciates Curi’s concern for her.

Outfit: Part of their hair tied into a small ponytail, a mint green face mask, same outfit from original design, but with a white apron with a red cross design on the front, and mint green scrubs.

Anon Nerd, Former Ultimate Mechanic

Famous for his uncontrollable temper and strength, as well as his equal caliber intelligence, Anon Nerd is known for making functional machines out of literal garbage. Unfortunately, Nerd’s entire attitude doesn’t exactly make him a massive hit with other people at his mechanics store. Despite Nerd’s own workaholic tendencies, Myth just makes Nerd so angry with her blatant disregard for her own health. Nerd regularly tries to get this adorable animator to get her eyes off her drawing tablet and just go to sleep, even if it means knocking her out with a wrench.

Outfit: Ruffled-up hair, grease stains all over his body, a black and yellow jumpsuit, black and yellow boots and gloves, scouter from original design.

Eldritch Anon, Ultimate Team Manager

Despite Eldritch‘s jittery and paranoid behavior in public, Eldritch is unbelievably confident when it comes to leading a group. Eldritch is the number one trainer in “Fort Ritchie‘s Boot Camp”, a training center that trains children to take on the inevitable zombie apocalypse. Ignoring the whole “apocalypse” pretense, Eldritch is really good at motivating individuals to take action. Upon witnessing Myth’s poor health, Eldritch has taken it upon himself to prevent Myth from becoming zombie bait, but Myth really doesn’t want to exercise, and seems content with being zombie chow.

Dream Anon, Ultimate Chef

As the daughter of a professional TV chef, Dream can cook healthy meals to feed all her teammates on her volleyball team. Dream is famous for being just a big bundle of joy and sunshine, as well as her energetic and overzealous attitude when it comes to cooking. Dream has taken upon herself to cook Myth only the best of meals, in order to make Myth actually drop her work to go eat with all the others. Don’t get Dream wrong, she does enjoy a lot of Myth’s works, particularly her shonen works. But would it kill Myth to eat something with actual nutritional value?

Outfit: A white chef uniform, a pink bandana tied over her head, a pink ascot, shoes from original design.

Iris Anon, Reserve Course Student

When you first meet up with Iris, the first thing you would notice about her is her insane clumsiness and her almost stupidly optimistic viewpoint. Despite first impressions, Iris actually managed to get into Hope’s Peak Middle School’s reserve course on academic prowess alone, which makes her a veritable genius. Despite not even having an actual talent, Iris doesn’t let that, or the horrible quality of the Reserve Course get her down. Iris watched a bunch of Myth’s anime with her girlfriend, and she is currently overjoyed to be spending the con visit with the girl behind all those masterpieces.

Outfit: A white dress shirt, a red bowtie, a dark blue skirt, white knee-length socks, black slip-on shoes, bandages on her arms and legs, glasses, star clip, and braids from original design.

Purple Anon, Ultimate Swordswoman

As the daughter of an ancient lineage of sword fighters, Purple has been taught the art of the blade by her elders, and yet she manages to surpass them all in blade-to-blade combat. Purple is hardly ever seen without her trusty claymore strapped to her back. Despite what her talent would suggest, Purple is very timid and cowardly, thanks to her sheltered upbringing. Because of her sheltered and old-fashioned upbringing, Purple also speaks in very antiquated vocabulary that is hard to understand. Myth may not understand a word that Purple is saying, but Purple would make a great fantasy protagonist.

Outfit: A black headband, gakuran top, a long purple skirt, lilac stockings, black slip-on shoes, a purple scabbard on her back that holds her claymore.

This series centers around this adorable animator who is unhealthily attached to her work, as the people around her show massive concern for both her and her health.

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PERSONALITY

Ever since she was a child, Animator!Myth has always been into the arts and a very creative soul. Her imagination is all over the place, which helps her with her works. Aside from that, Animator!Myth is also kind-hearted and happy to lend a helping hand to people who needs it. Unfortunately, Animator!Myth has a little bit gaping flaw in her personality: she is a MASSIVE workaholic. Not wanting to let down her loyal fanbase, Animator!Myth works day and night on her animated works, much to the understandable concern of her family and friends. This unfortunately means she goes for days on end without stopping for a snack or nap break, making this already childish and loopy girl somehow even more childish and loopy. Her friends are trying their best to teach Myth that overexerting yourself is no good, and taking constant breaks is the key to success.

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APPEARANCE

Animator!Myth is bespectacled and slightly chubby. Myth‘s undyed hair goes down to her shoulders. As for her clothes, on her head, Myth wears a fuzzy blue hat with ears, an ahoge, and brown stripes. Myth wears an oversized blue jacket with yellow details, that holds an animator’s tablet in one of the pockets, over a pink shirt. She also wears a red skirt, black stockings, and yellow rainboots with a paw print design on the bottom. Clipped to the bottom of her skirt is a tail that matches the hat she wears. ——————————————————-

Well, now that I have finished this week’s talentswap, let me know what you think! In the meantime, have fun and be merry!

-Fusion Anon

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It would be so awesome to be an animator! I love this talentswap!

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thebipolarbisexualnerd · 4 years

Note

Hey!! I have a prompt for tarlos... a college au where Carlos has a girlfriend and he slowly realizes he’s in love with his gay best friend Tk 🤔 idk sounded like a good idea haha

Hope this is okay and not too choppy. Warning for underage drinking since I don’t picture these guys as 21 yet. Other than that this is just a little fluff piece I hope you guys like.

“Who has you smiling like that besides me?” Iris Blake asked with a smirk as she slid into his passenger seat. Carlos clicked his screen black like he had done something wrong when in reality he was only texting his roommate. True, it was borderline sexting, but he hadn’t crossed a line and if he showed the messages to his girlfriend she would probably just laugh it off anyways.

“Just a meme,” Carlos lied far too easily as he tucked his phone back into his pocket. “You decided to stay in uniform?”

“I know a skirt this short gets your attention,” Iris still wore her smirk as she crossed her legs so that her cheerleader skirt would ride up even higher. “Plus, what jock doesn’t want to fuck a cheerleader?”

“You act like you have to try to get me to want you,” Carlos told her with a smile as he laid a hand on her thigh gently. “Does Michelle need a ride? Is she coming?”

“She’s coming straight from the game,” Iris told him as he slowly pulled away from the curb and headed toward the post-game party. “How does it feel to finally have that winning shot? You’ll be point guard next year for sure.”

“It felt pretty amazing,” Carlos admitted as he fought a blush thinking about what those texts had promised him if he managed to score the point guard position. He had to stop texting his roommate things he should be sending his girlfriend. He had been with Iris for three months now, and it was good. She was smart as well as sexy as hell. She knew how to have fun, but was also a girl he could bring home to meet his parents if need be. Basketball camp had brought them together right before he had moved in with his new roommate for the year and he tended to wish those two events had been switched up. It was further complicated since if he ended up hurting Iris he would also offend his best friend. Tben again, if anyone had seen TK Strand without a shirt they wouldn’t blame him. Those abs begged to be licked with those tight muscles and pale skin. He wasn’t a blind man even if he did have a girlfriend.

He pulled up to the house already bursting with people milling on the lawn and around the backyard by the pool. Carlos could swear he felt the pavement thrum from the bass coming from the house as he got out of his car. He followed Iris into the house and quickly had a drink pushed into his hand upon arriving. This was supposed to be the night to celebrate his team, and he planned to enjoy it to the fullest.

He found his way to the backyard where most of the party goers had congregated. A pool glistened in the dim lighting as a stereo pounded out music in one corner. A large group had started dancing in one part of the yard and his eyes locked onto TK almost immediately. He was dancing with another guy, hips grinding together and of course he had already lost his shirt. TK’s hands were all over the guy’s chest and neck as he moved his body to the music. It was definitely indecent and almost obscene, yet Carlos couldn’t tear his gaze away. He wanted to be the one those hands were roaming over desperately. He wanted to see miles of pale skin without sharing with anyone else.

“Your roommate knows how to dance,” Michelle commented as she appeared next to him with her hair pulled up high and a drink in her hand. “He almost makes me want to join in.”

“Michelle on a dance floor?” Carlos forced himself to stop staring and focus on his best friend. “That’ll be the day. He does make it look easy.”

“Iris will drag you out there before long.” She threw back the rest of her drink and grinned at him. “Maybe then your eyes can focus where they’re supposed to.”

Carlos flushed a deep red at being caught staring, but Michelle didn’t; seem to be as angry as he would have imagined. She looked amused more than anything else. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“He’s pretty, anyone with eyes can see that. You’re bi and you aren’t blind.” Michelle shrugged but then fixed him with a heavy look. “If you’re going to switch teams, at least let Iris know first, okay? He’s gorgeous I’ll give you that, but if you cheat on my sister I will beat your ass.”

“Noted,” Carlos nodded to her and tried to stop staring at the dance floor where TK had switched partners when a new song blasted through the speakers.

He really wasn’t trying to be a bad person by staring at his gorgeous roommate. TK was so much more than his looks and Carlos had had no idea until they had roomed together. He was sweet, kind, and cared so much about his family. He had demons darker than anything that Carlos had faced, but he still found it in himself to be kind to anyone in his path. They spent hours watching movies together and they were nearly inseparable at this point. He hadn’t meant to develop feelings for him, but nonetheless the sight of another guy’s hands on TK was driving him crazy.

“Well, you made it over here after all,” TK’s drawl brought him out of his thoughts and he snapped his attention to green eyes that sparkled with amusement as the sun quickly set over the horizon.

“I told you I would,” Carlos defended with a small smile. “I’m a man of my word.”

“Unless you get distracted by long, pale legs right?” It felt wrong to have TK joking about him hooking up with anyone else, even his girlfriend. “Good job on the winning shot, Mr. future point guard. People will be talking about that for the rest of the year.”

Again the texts came back to his mind of what TK had promised he would do if he made point guard for the team. “Yeah, thanks.”

A beat of silence fell between them before a song with heavy bass kicked in and TK’s eyes lit up in excitement. Their eyes met instantly and Carlos knew what his best friend was going to ask before the words tumbled out of his mouth.

“Dance with me?” TK begged, going so far as to tug on his hand. “I promise I’ll try to behave.”

“The trying is what scares me,” Carlos replied dryly as he let himself be dragged over to the throng of bodies moving. TK predictably dragged him right to the middle of the group and Carlos could see nothing but those green eyes as he started to dance. True to his word TK was keeping it rather tame at first with a good few inches between their bodies. Carlos had seen TK dance with several men since they had met and his usual style was to try to become one person on the dance floor. TK’s pants were riding low on his hips and Carlos wasn’t sure when his desire to feel that warm skin became an action, but before he knew it he was cupping one of TK’s hips in his hands and pulling him closer. TK wore a smirk as he took the invitation to close the small distance between them and grind their hips together along to the beat. Sweat ran down the back of his neck as he gave into his whims and wrapped TK in his arms, able to smell him even above all the other people surrounding them. TK felt so good in his arms and the more Carlos got of the other man the more he wanted. He ached to taste that sweet milky skin, but he couldn’t do that to Iris. He wouldn’t cheat on her no matter how he felt about the man in his arms.

He darted away from TK halfway through the song, unable to take the temptation.

He knew his roommate would follow him. He knew TK cared about others far more than he ever cared about himself. TK cared about him and that was the entire problem. There was more than just the physical attraction. They truly cared for one another and that was why Carlos was so confused.

“Carlos, wait!!” TK called as Carlos darted upstairs and in an instant they were alone in an empty bedroom. TK watched him carefully as he slowly closed the door so they could have some privacy. There was a hint of a blush on TK’s pale cheeks and Carlos noticed he had found his shirt in his mad dash to chase after him. It made it easier to focus with all skin covered up once more.

“I’m sorry,” TK apologized and his eyes were wide and full of regret. “I tried not to… I know you’re with Iris.”

“I am,” Carlos agreed as he slowly sat on the edge of a bed. His heart was still trying to calm down to a normal rhythm after being so close to the object of his attraction and subject to some dreams he would never admit to while alive. “I’m not angry at anyone but myself.”

“I know I’m too much of a tease,” TK bit his bottom lip and it sounded like he was rehearsing a line from a movie. Which meant he was parroting a line from his ex, and that was never good. “I just…. I mean, there’s something here, right?”

“The dancing wasn’t one sided,” Carlos assured him, unable to get the warm tingling to fade from where his hands had touched TK’s skin. “You’re smarter than me TK, I know you know how I feel.”

TK’s face went a shade of dark pink at the simple compliment. “I know you love to watch me dance. I thought I was imagining it most of the time though. I’ve been trying not to make it harder for you.”

“Ty,” Carlos used his name rarely, but something about his tone and his words were off here. He knew Alex had messed with TK’s self worth more than would ever be admitted to. “You know I like you for so much more than the way you look, don’t you?”

The silence as TK looked off to a corner of the room told Carlos that TK really had no idea how completely beautiful he was that had nothing at all to do with how he looked. “You mean you don’t want to just sleep with me?”

“I’m falling in love with you,” Carlos got out with his voice shaking and his heart pounding. “You’re beautiful in every single way. I just… I like Iris and I wasn’t sure how you felt. I didn’t know if you would want me.”

“Carlos, you’re a ten,” TK blurted out with wide green eyes staring straight at him. “Who wouldn’t kill for the chance to be with you? You’re kind and popular and funny and sweet. Everyone likes you and I never thought you would want something real with someone like me.”

“We are both blind idiots,” Carlos got up from the bed to step close to TK and take his hand gently. “I want to kiss you.”

“No arguments here,” TK supplied quickly as his lips quirked up in a smile.

“I need to have a talk with Iris,” Carlos told him with a soft smile in return. He kissed TK on the cheek gently with a squeeze to his hand. “I need to make sure things are okay with her before I can freely move onto something with you. I don’t want anything with you to be tarnished by something I can prevent.”

“You really want to be with me? The whole deal? Dating and whatnot?” TK looked shocked that someone could want that from him and it made Carlos’s heart ache that too many people had made TK feel like a plaything instead of like a person to be valued and loved.

“I can see so much with you Tyler,” Carlos said softly as he brought a hand up to cup TK’s cheek gently and brush over it with his thumb. “I can hardly wait for us to begin.”

He broke away from TK and knew that while the conversation with Iris wouldn’t be easy, it would be so worth it to have that beautiful boy to be all his.

#tarlos #tk strand #carlos reyes #college au #friends to lovers #bisexual Carlos #mywriting

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sonicringbond · 3 years

Text

Sonic Ring Bond: The Journey - Scene 37

Time for a little action to spice things up a bit. Maybe it’s because last scene had a gentle let down. Maybe it’s because of the last Survey having so many ties. Whatever the reasoning, enjoy a little action to start...

~I had expected my next meeting with Ix to be troublesome, but I figured with Sonic with me that things would have gone smoother than this. Or at least that he would talk. Ooh~ why does he have to be such a bad person!~

“I had considered our next encounter would have occurred much sooner medium, alas, I have grown far stronger than you could have imagined.”

Ix’s mocking of Rosy came from high above where she was held under Sonic’s arm like a duffle bag while he ran far more successfully across the desert sand than she could. Rosy’s cheeks were puffed up with frustration, but there was little she could do. Though Sonic teasing her didn’t help matters any.

“Some trouble you’ve found, rascal,” Sonic commenting as he risked a glance back at what he fled from.

It was not the first worm like golem Sonic had encountered, but the size of this one was like a small mountain had taken to the sands.

“Ooh~! Ix didn’t make anything this large when I met him! I don’t know what happened!”

“Well, whatever did, let’s just hope Draw can get the help we need.”

Growing more serious, Sonic tried to pick up the pace as even he had traction problems on the sand dunes he skipped across. And fortune did not favor him or Rosy however as a particularly high dune with a view of the ruins of skyscrapers rising from the sand brought them well above the giant stone worm golem.

“This doesn’t look good,” Sonic remarked as a bead of sweat ran down the side of his face.

“At least it looks like fun,” Rosy laughed as a bead of sweat also streaked down her cheek.

A moment later the two of them were tossed high into the air as the golem plowed straight through the sand dune. Sonic couldn’t keep his grip on Rosy, but luck was on their side to a degree as she landed on top of him as he crashed into the side of the golem.

“Tee-hee~♥ Miss me Sonic?”

“Well, you kept me from bouncing off of this thing, but it’s still kind of looking like we’re in a bit of trouble.”

As Rosy sat in Sonic’s lap, she managed to allow him to slide along the wall of sand that rolled off the golem while effectively sitting. He would likely be sore later, but there was little he could do without any real traction. Ix planned on remedying that and had the golem change course under the midday sun.

“WAHH~!” Sonic and Rosy cried out together as the worm turned sharply and coiled around the two hedgehogs. Neither of them saw what happened after that as thew were caught in a massive vortex of sand and promptly buried.

As she was yanked out of the sand by her ankle, Rosy hoped it was Sonic to her rescue, however…

“Ix!” Rosy gasped before coughing on inhaled sand.

“So helpless you seem now, medium,” Ix spoke in a condescending tone. “Is this perhaps the consequence of you being in the company of your lover? No matter, I shall take from you your connection to the gods and return to my search.”

Defenseless as she continued to choke and cough, Rosy could barely squint open her left eye as Ix struck the sand with his staff. Rising between where Rosy dangled and Ix stood, a single Ring formed a window between them, and they locked eyes through it. Ix’s glowing blue eyes, and the broken Red Star Ring held together by an internal gear that Rosy’s left iris became.

“What! Impossible,” exclaimed Ix as Rosy started coughing harder and squeezed her eye shut again. Her coughs after a brief and dizzying moment could not escape her body at all however as Ix’s stone fist closed around her throat.

“Kh…!” Rosy whimpered weakly as her lungs burned and her chest heaved violently. Forcing open her eyes as she grabbed feebly at Ix’s arm, she again graced him with the sight of the unusual sight in her left eye.

“How!” Ix demanded as he tightened his grip and Rosy kicked her legs feebly. “How did you come into possession of a Yoluku Device! Answer–!”

A sudden blow sent the golem flying and Rosy fell into Sonic’s arms as he uncurled from his Spin Dash. “The lady can’t say a word if you’re about to break her neck!

“You alright kid?” Sonic asked as he looked down at Rosy who was clutching at her throat. Not wanting to worry Sonic, she offered him a wordless smile and nodded her head, several tears falling from her eyes. The sight did not please Sonic at all and she could feel the tension that rose from him.

Gently placing Rosy on the ground, Sonic stood up and faced down Ix across the sand. A moment later and he surely would have reduced the golem to a pile of rubble, but that fate was left for the golem that trapped him and Rosy.

~Draw can be pretty imaginative sometimes. I would have never thought of it, but he did. He really is a cute little golem hunter. At least when he isn’t teasing me!

~Anyway, out in the desert we were running along in when Ix suddenly attacked us was more than just a bunch of old skyscrapers sticking up out of the dunes. Though seeing them covered in vines and moss made for a striking sight against the golden sand. But they were nothing compared to the bizarre sight of the castle that plowed through the giant worm golem Ix had used. It was like a thing from a fairytale all covered in buttresses and spires. The white stonework and blue tiled tower roofs were a sight to behold glistening in the afternoon sun. But the really amazing thing was the steam works underneath the town sized castle that propelled it across the surface of the sand.

~I mean Sonic and I couldn’t see them when we tried to run up alongside the castle as we chased it out of Ix’s trap. There was too much sand. But after Sonic picked me up again – honestly, I could have at least tried – we followed flares that Draw shot from within the steam works into the sandstorm the traveling castle stirred up. Once we actually could see them, there were so many pipes and gears it made me dizzy trying to follow them all.

~Soon enough we were whisked through the steam works by people wearing uniforms and a badge with a symbol of a wrench laid across a gear. I think that might be the symbol of the Engineers, but I can’t say for sure. Still, the castle was every bit as beautiful from within as it was from afar.

~I could have wandered the halls covered in the polished floors so reflective it was like I was walking on the soles of my own feet for hours. Whole wings of the massive castle were like towns within themselves, with farms built into some of the larger towers. I’m sure if Tails were here, he’d have spent forever in the bowels of the castle’s machinery, but it was almost a paradise within fit for a city of princesses. And the people were so nice too, without a sign of any of those mean priests in most towns around at all. But our wandering around was not without purpose and Sonic had been doing a lot of talking.

~What Ix had said about my eye had been bothering Sonic. I couldn’t blame him. It looked like a Red Star Ring that was simply crumbling at two of the points revealing a gear that was hidden in it, but Ix called it a device. If it was a machine… Ugh! It’s creepy thinking there’s a machine in my eye. But as this city seemed to belong to the Engineers, there was no one better to ask about it.

~There was just one tiny problem.~

“Not even a hint of red left,” Sonic stated flatly as he looked into Rosy’s eye. She was fidgeting and trying her best just to look ahead so Sonic could get a good look, however…

“Ee~k!” Rosy squealed and covered her face. “I’m sorry Sonic, but having you look so intently into my eyes…! AAH~! ~♥”

Falling over and kicking at the air as she loosely curled up, Rosy earned an eye roll from Sonic and a sigh from Draw. “There really is something wrong with you, you weirdo girl.”

“Rosy!” the pink hedgehog corrected her koala friend while peeking through her fingers. Again, both of her eyes were normal and there was no sign of the unique Red Star Ring within.

“So now what? Draw asked turning to look at Sonic who took to resting his crossed arms on a nearby railing. His ear twitched in response to Draw’s question, but he offered no answer. “What I’d do to get the silent treatment this time! Didn’t I find the town those salvagers out in the desert told us about!”

“It’s okay Draw, “Rosy comforted the young golem hunter by embracing him from behind. Her action frightened free Mote, the fairy companion of Draw’s, who Rosy tilted her head at and smiled. “Maybe you have an idea, Mote!”

Good cheer and enthusiasm were far from enough to convince the fairy that claimed to not be allowed to communicate with a medium to stay and talk. Only Draw could speak with the fairy as it was due to a Ring Bond it had made with it, but he still did not speak up in time to prevent Rosy from vocalizing her disappointment. “Aww~!”

“Give it up weirdo girl,” Draw advised her as he slipped out of her comforting hug. “Besides, Mote says it noticed something here while we’ve been wandering around aimlessly.

“You’re welcome to join us,” Draw invited Sonic reluctantly, and not without making his dislike of that made clear, “though I wouldn’t care if you didn’t.”

“Whatever you say, tyke,” Sonic waved a dismissive hand, but still pulled away from the railing.

With his hands on the back of his head, Sonic followed Draw and Rosy, who in turn followed Mote deep into the heart of the castle.

~The castle kept surprising me with how amazing it was, but some surprises are really too much. I’m sure I covered my mouth when we reached that inner plaza under a big glass dome. The plaza itself was amazing, even if it was just another room inside the castle that served as one. But really, what else could it do. Right in the middle of it was a giant crystal rose the size of a mansion that was encased within a swirling clockwork device. It was just like the one the being in my dream from before my eye started getting weird had. Except the one in my dream actually moved. This one… well once in a while it moved slightly, like a minute hand on a clock, but that was all. Even the rose barely turned where it floated in the air.

~As amazing as it is though, it seemed a normal sight to the people who called the tower home. In a way, travelers like us were the weird ones.~

“Now isn’t this a sight,” a high pitched but friendly voice spoke up behind Rosy and the others. “Don’t see travelers here too often who don’t know about the Rose."

Scene 37 · CLEARED Castle Rose, to be continued

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New character time! By the time this posts they would have already been designed and introduced during the regular writing streams, but I hope everyone enjoys them. there won’t be too much of them yet, but if your familiar with Sierokarte from GranBlue Fantasy you might have an idea of what to expect next week. I hope you enjoy it!

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Special Thanks to Cutegirlmayra Story by @JoshTarwater/SonicFanJ Inspiring Song – The Path of Duty – Yasunori Nishiki – GRANBLUE FANTASY: Versus ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK

Fair Use Disclaimer

Sonic the Hedgehog and all affiliated characters and logos are the express property and Copyright© of SEGA SAMMY HOLDINGS used without permission under Title 17 U.S.C Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976 in which allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. “Fair use” is use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be considered copyright infringement. The Sonic Ring Bond: The Journey alternate universe (AU) consumer written work of fiction is a non-profit transformative work primarily for personal use and can and will be taken down without warning or prior notice at the request of the copyright holder(s) should it not be recognized under “fair use”.

*Sonic Ring Bond logo created by DEE Art – twitter.com/daryliscute.

Sonic Ring Bond AU and Sonic Ring Bond: The Journey are the creation of Joshua David Tarwater/ynymbus/sonicfanj/@Joshtarwater and is to be, including all contents herein considered for all legal purposes the property of the Sonic the Hedgehog intellectual property (IP) and copyright owners, SEGA SAMMY HOLDINGS. All story contributors via prompt, suggestion, written scene, art, and all and every other contribution acknowledge that all contributed material is forfeit for legal purposes to SEGA SAMMY HOLDINGS upon official request from SEGA SAMMY HOLDINGS.

#sonic the hedgehog #sonic fan fiction #sonic au #sonic au series #sonic ring bond #the journey #classic amy #amy rose #rosy the rascal #au amy #amy redesign #pir'oth ix #sonic oc #patch #draw the koala #mote the fairy

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of-the-silver-lining · 4 years

Text

Prompt #5: Matter of Fact

(This is something of a follow-up to last year’s Scour)

(Content warnings: Character deaths, death in general, corpses)

A haze hung over the desert as the five of them, dressed in their full-body protective gear, opened the hatch of the tank cruiser and stepped out onto the undisturbed dust. No breeze blew, and their footsteps, their breathing through the tubes, and the hum of the aetherial barrier within their suits were the only sound to reach their ears.

The sun burned as an orange disc above them in the perfectly still and silent air, and they started forth without saying a word. Rocks and the distant Gyr Abanian mountains loomed above them in the haze like silent, floating ghosts. Withered shrubs still dotted the landscape, as still as if they were frozen in time.

Before them through the haze, the silhouettes of tents and motionless flags grew visible, and soon, countless shapes that dotted the ground, little dark mounds.

“Maybe we shouldn’t do this,” Annelise said. Her voice was muffled through her breathing apparatus and the mask of her suit, and small in the deafening silence. She paused, and the others turned back to her.

Lilimo sighed audibly in her tiny suit. “I’m afraid the time for raising doubts is over. We’ve come all this way because we need those samples.”

Biggs III’s enormous suit towered over her. “If you don’t want to come, you can wait with the tank cruiser,” he said gently.

“No, it’s not that. It’s just...” Her eyes under her dark bangs darted from the mounds on the horizon to G’raha Tia and back. She probably hoped he didn’t see through the glass square on her headgear, but he did.

“This place is a grave,” said Arvin, a sad look in his dark eyes behind the glass. “This is where it happened, it should be as sacred as anything in this world could be. I feel in my bones we should not be here. All we can do is be respectful.”

“They would want us to continue our work if it means we can someday heal the planet,” said Biggs.

“Come now,” G’raha Tia said, fearing Annelise would push the matter, “Our time is limited. We cannot waste our air supply.”

With that, he headed onward and the others followed. The tents and lean-tos of the old military camp came more into view, the cloth of some of the tents still a brilliant Ala Mhigan purple and silver. Banners of the Alliance hung limply over some of the tents; from here, besides Ala Mhigan purple, he could see the blue of Ishgard and the yellow of Gridania.

And then, there were the bodies. They appeared as vague shapes littering the ground, until the group drew closer, and G’raha could make out the beaked griffin uniforms of Ala Mhigan Resistance members. When they reached the edge, they stopped, wordless, looking out over the corpse-ridden camp.

They were not dust and bones beneath faded cloth. Their skin had not rotted away or been dried out by the natural processes of the desert sun. They were perfectly preserved, as if time had stopped the moment they died, freezing the entire scene like a macabre painting. They looked almost unreal, like wax sculptures. Fingers were clawing at the dirt, hands were reaching for the sky. Some were clutching each other, some were curled up as if in the womb, and some held their heads in their arms or covered their noses and mouths with their hands or clothing. Their faces were frozen in agonized screams, contorted in pain, or, perhaps worst of all, wide-eyed in shock.

The five companions stood silently for a moment, taking in the utter horror of the scene. Annelise raised her hands and muttered words of prayer under her breath, and after a moment Arvin did the same. Lilimo put a hand to her chest and said, “To all those who rest here, please forgive us our disturbance.”

Biggs stepped forward and knelt by one of the soldiers, a wide-eyed young Hyuran man who lay on his stomach, head turned, mouth open, and teeth biting into the dirt. “It seems the theories were correct,” he said gravely.

Lilimo nodded and knelt next to him. “In this concentration, Black Rose has frozen all natural processes, even after all this time. All forms of aetherial flow are still utterly halted here. They do not decay, because no process that could decay them can continue. All micro-organisms are also dead, the sun does not dry, the rain does not fall, the wind does not weather. The toxin lingers in the air and the soil to keep it that way. I wonder if this land could ever recover.”

“Gods...” Arvin murmured. “One struggles to believe they are two hundred years old.” Through his headgear, his usually tan face looked a sickly shade of gray.

They continued on their way through the camp. Arvin, despite the irrepressible horror on his face, was a historian to the end and diligently removed a notepad from his pack of supplies and began scribbling notes. “These tents must have been where the Ala Mhigan soldiers slept,” he said aloud, as if trying to break the tension of their silence, “It looks like they came running out and... And, over there, I think I see all the banners in a row, that must have been where the Alliance leaders met. I wonder if... if we have time to see the tent where they met with Emperor Varis zos Galvus. I suppose it should be on the other side of... of... the hill.”

G’raha Tia was a historian as well, and distantly, he could understand the young Hyuran man’s fascination with a perfectly preserved scene from two hundred years ago. This, however, was not history to him. These were the nations of Eorzea as he had known them. It was nothing like history. As if the world had not become surreal enough, it was like stepping back into his original time, his all-too-recent other life.

Soon the five of them split up. Lilimo and Biggs went to gather samples of the cannisters used to deploy Black Rose as well as the air, soil, and other materials, and Arvin went to survey the camp and flesh out his drawings and notes.

G’raha Tia was about to start off alone toward the middle of the camp when Annelise caught his shoulder with her gloved hand, and he turned back to her. “Wait,” she said. “You don’t need to do this. You can go back and wait for us.” Through the glass, most of her face was hidden beneath her breathing apparatus, but he could see the worry for him in her dark eyes.

“I appreciate your concern,” he said flatly, “But as I’ve said before, I do need to do this.”

“You must have seen enough,” she urged. “I promise, we’ll tell you if we... if we find anything.”

How could she understand? From the moment he awoke, everyone he met had been telling him things. He heard the end of stories he had lived in, and two hundred years worth of the future’s history--of Iris’s deeds of heroism, and of Cid’s life’s work left behind and the memories and legacies of the Ironworks. He explored the lifeless wastelands that remained of places he once knew, and it still failed to impress upon him that the world he knew was truly gone.

The decision he had made when he closed the doors of the Crystal Tower could not exactly be called spur-of-the-moment, but it was closer to that than to a long-prepared plan. He had closed the door filled with excitement to see the possibilities of the future, but with little thought to his own preparation for the permanence of what he was about to do.

He never imagined anything like this. Every day he labored to accept the enormity of it. He knew it in his mind, but his heart held out some strange hope. Somehow, he still wondered if he would wake up at Saint Coinach’s Find in his tent and it would all have been a dream, or Cid and Biggs I and Wedge and Iris would appear and lower the curtain on some charade: “Wasn’t that a show! You’d better not be thinking of leaving us, G’raha Tia--look what might become of you!”

He didn’t have time to explain.

“If she’s here,” he said. “I need to see it for myself.”

Thankfully Annelise did not follow him. In the middle of the camp, a large tent stood, striped in the colors of Ul’dah and Ala Mhigo, and some ways before it lay a cluster of bodies. These were all dressed differently, not in uniforms of any kind. A large man missing one arm seemed to be the only one among them dressed militarily, though from his elaborate armor he must have ranked highly. As he noticed the bull on his pauldron, he realized he must be looking at Raubahn Aldynn, the Bull of Ala Mhigo.

He continued on to the others, where a blonde-haired Hyuran woman all dressed in red lay staring at the sky. Some paces away he found a heart-rending sight; a Miqo’te woman was slumped over a white-haired Elezen girl, a staff still clutched in her hand, as if she had been trying to heal her. He bent down beside them. The healer’s glassy eyes were staring in shock and horror, but the Elezen girl’s were closed as if in peaceful sleep, the first serene face he had seen. Perhaps the healer had managed to give her some comfort in her last moments.

Then, he noticed the tattoos on the Miqo’te woman’s neck--tattoos just like his. She was from Sharlayan, and an Archon. So the Scions were indeed here, as history had recorded. His heart sank with dread. She must be Y’shtola Rhul, Master Matoya’s pupil. Which would make the younger woman possibly one of Master Louisoix’s grandchildren, and the woman in red Lyse Hext, the Scion who had returned to fight for Ala Mhigo.

He rose to his feet, beginning to feel dizzy and ill. On the dusty, sandy ground, he spotted a peculiar trail: footprints. They led away from the bodies toward the southeast, and they were spaced far apart, as if the person was running. Likely they were there before the massacre, he thought at first, but he examined the ground beside the bodies, where it appeared they originated, as if someone had knelt or sat there, and then scrambled up to take off running.

Treading beside them so as not to disturb them, he followed the footprints as they led through the camp past more corpses. He saw many mail-clad bodies of Ishgardian knights, lying on the ground and up on top of the rocky outcroppings, where they must have been standing watch. At the edge of the camp, the footprints went on into the desert, and the runner’s pace showed no sign of slowing.

They must have been left there shortly before the gas had been deployed, G’raha told himself. Or they were left by someone else who had returned to the scene; perhaps other groups had developed the means to survive out here. After all, how could anyone have survived Black Rose long enough to run so far? Unless...

He pushed any speculation from his mind, focusing on the sound of his even breaths as he pressed on, loud inside his suit in the silence. He was compelled to see what was at the end, if he could reach it before his air ran low and he had to turn back.

Past the rocks, G’raha Tia squinted over the wide, flat plain, and distantly to the east, he could see the walls and towers of a city--the ruins of Ala Mhigo. Presently, he caught sight of a glint in the dead orange light. Glare on his mask, he thought at first, but as he pressed on, a shape came into view among the sparse, scrubby desert plants that were still rooted in the ground, a dark form lying in the dust.

The breathing that reached his ears turned shaky. He crept closer and saw the glint of metal--a clasp on a leather bag that lay on the ground. He could see leather boots, travelers’ clothes of green and white, and... an enormous bow and quiver on the corpse’s back, and the shine of golden hair. The footprints ended.

He ran to the fallen figure. All he could hear was his breathing quickening into frantic gasps. She lay on her stomach, her head turned to the side. He did not recognize her clothing or her bow, but beside her lay her small harp, the same harp he had heard her playing and singing to in Mor Dhona’s forest of crystals, the same harp he’d asked her to borrow to awkwardly pluck out an ancient song, and coaxed her to play along with him at the campfire late one night. Her fingers were curled and clawing into the dust, where they had left deep scratches.

Her hair was longer than it was when they had explored the Crystal Tower together, and it lay obscuring her face. It was undoubtedly her, undoubtedly... but he had to be sure.

He knelt beside her, and with shaking hands, he touched the corpse’s hair, and slowly brushed it away from her face. He found himself looking into the familiar face of the Warrior of Light, the face he had seen many times in the Crystal Tower. It was no surprise, but that didn’t lessen the horror. His friend’s eyes were squeezed shut, her brows furrowed in sorrow, as if she had been crying.

A cry tore from his own throat and he stumbled back. He fell to his hands and knees, fighting back the urge to retch and the urge to tear off his suit’s headpiece and breathing apparatus. He felt like he couldn’t breathe, and he gasped desperately into the mask.

He had finally found her, and the truth had found him. The revolting, undeniable, inescapable truth. No matter how much he wanted to believe otherwise, the Eighth Umbral Calamity had ended the Warrior of Light, and all the hope she had brought to the world, along with almost everyone he had ever known. It made no difference what vain hope he held on to. Whether or not his heart had refused to face the truth. It was not a matter of belief. It was a matter of fact.

He wasn’t sure how long he stayed there, sitting beside her body with his head bowed. Eventually, the others found him. They must have guessed what he had found, because they didn’t call out to him, but walked up quietly beside him.

“Is it really her?” Lilimo finally asked and G’raha nodded. “She looks so...” she began, but Arvin nudged her with his knee and she fell silent.

Biggs knelt down beside G’raha and rested his large hand on G’raha’s shoulder. “I’m sorry.”

“This is all wrong,” he choked. “All of this... is a mistake. As you said, I should not have come here.” Hot tears streamed down his face. He knew he was making no sense, but he didn’t care what they thought of him. “I told her that history would remember her... but not... this is not.... This was never supposed to happen. How could this be the fate of the world?”

“It’s not,” Biggs said, to G’raha’s surprise. “That’s why we’re going to change it.”

“This may be our world, but we’ve always known that,” said Annelise. “After all, it’s what we are all working for.”

“Aye,” said Lilimo. “Many of us grew up with the Ironworks, living with Cid Garlond’s legacy, dreaming of a different world that could have been.”

“Knowing in our hearts that it should have been,” Annelise added. “I’m sorry we had to awaken you to this. It was cruel. But it’s only because we have a real chance.”

“I can’t promise that you will meet her again,” said Biggs. “but after all this time, our dream might be close to being realized. Even if none of us ever see it, I hope you can take comfort in knowing you were part of it.”

When they left the desert of Gyr Abania, G’raha was silent, his heart hardened with a new resolve. The facts may be indisputable, but he refused to accept them, and he was not alone. They would upend time and space itself in the hope those facts could be unwritten.

#oh my goood so yeah i was working on that for days #i hope make-up day can be used for such an old prompt #i have no excuse for myself except my add #really really really needs some editing and rewrites #but i will resist #i think it broke me out of my writing slump though #but god damn why do i write such horrible depressing stuff #cw: death #ffxivwrite2020 #g'raha tia

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autumn-maple13 · 5 years

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Lost to Time - Chapter 28

Chapter 28: The Thick of Things

It had started raining before they made it back to the hotel they had dropped Iris at, and with as late as it had become they were happy to find some rooms had been rented for them. Surprisingly though, Gladio volunteered to bunk with Iris for the night – though no one was about to question it – dumping Amara in the room with Ignis and her former schoolmates, both of who had decided to give her some devious grins.

She soon found herself glaring at the two younger men while Ignis showered, waiting anxiously for him to finish so she could have a temporary escape herself. However, once Prompto plopped down beside her on the little couch that had been haphazardly stuffed into the room and flung an arm over her shoulder, she knew she was screwed.

“So Ams,” the blond smirked, looking at her from the corner of his eye as he pretended to give the round of King’s Knight he was playing attention. “Are you and Ignis… Y’know.”

“I don’t and I don’t think I want to,” she grabbed his hand and twisted his arm up and off of her.

“Amara, are you hooking up with my advisor? Yes or no.” Noctis crossed his arms, looking at her intensely. “Just be honest.”

“What the actual hell has gotten into you two?”

“You two have spent every night together since we met up at Hammerhead, he’s always the one you head for first, and vice versa for the most part - which is actually getting a little annoying – and I think you and I both know he’s not the type to pay attention to random little things we mention in passing, but he remembers everything you even begin to mention.” The king leaned over to stare the glaive in the eye as he poked the necklace she had yet to remove for bed. “So? Are you hooking up with Iggy or not?”

“What are we not allowed to be close to each other or something?” the redhead grimaced. “Guys, he’s just worried because of how all this with the Arms is fucking with me.”

“I don’t think it’s only the Arms that are fucking with you, Amara.” Prompto whistled innocently when her glare turned on him. “Just saying. He was unusually worried about you during the whole kidnapped by the Empire incident. Yeah sure he wanted the Regalia back too, but he was ready to kill someone to get you back.”

“Guys-”

“We’re not going to say anything if you are, we just want to know ‘cause ya’ll keep looking at each other like you want to run off at any second.”

“Oh, for the love of – I’m not dealing with this tonight. First, I have to fight that fucking Niff bitch, now I have to deal with this from my own friends?” Amara stood and stalked over to the bathroom door, banging on it until they heard something shift inside. “Ignis I’m being interrogated out here! Hurry up or else!”

They couldn’t hear what he said back to her, but it made her glare at the door for a moment before she produced an odd little bag from her pocket. Pulling out a few little tools she surprised them by making quick work of the lock – soon pushing the door open.

“Get the fuck out, my turn.”

“Tell that to the shampoo.”

“I will drag you out if it means getting away from these idiots right now.”

“You can try.”

“Ignis Scientia don’t challenge me.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it, pretty girl.”

“Oh, you son of a-!” The guys watched her face start to burn before she could finish her sentence and couldn’t hold back their laughter when she squeaked. Ignis soon stepped out of the bathroom, still dripping water that left trails on the fabric of his sleep pants and turned a sharp glare on the giggling boys.

“She does have a point you know. So, would you two mind not being pains for tonight? Perhaps you could even attempt to hold off until we reach the Cape?”

“No promises Specs.”

She wasn’t sure when she finally managed to fall asleep that night, but it wasn’t long before now the now-familiar scent of sylleblossoms were flooding her senses. She found herself walking through a field of them, looking over their various colors as she tried to make sense of why she was there once again. Amara was almost happy to finally see someone else there and began to step carefully through the flowers, hem of her sage green dress held carefully above her knees, to make her way over. Somnus was the one she found waiting for her, and he held a hand out to her as she neared him.

“Amara has the pain of the plague returned any since my last visit?”

“No, it hasn’t.”

“As good as that is to hear, don’t expect it to stay that way. The next arm may very well return the pain to you.”

“I’ll keep that in mind, thank you.”

The man gave her a gentle smile, holding her hand gently when she accepted the one he had offered and leading her through the field until a tall white tower appeared before them. Though he didn’t take her near it, the sight of it alone was enough to make both a sense of familiarity and foreboding, wash over her.

“Amara, even though it may be asking the impossible, do you remember anything of the time you spent in our time? Before Ardyn and Aera cast you through it to where you landed.”

“No, but things seem to be coming back a little bit each day. I don’t know if I’ll ever remember it properly, but then again…”

“As adjusted as you are to this time, it may be for the best.” Somnus seemed to understand what she had wanted to say, but a knowing smile on his face made her suddenly remember her conversation with the man’s grandson before she had gone to bed. “So, the King’s advisor, huh? How do you think he’ll take it when he finds out you’re a Lucis Caelum yourself?”

“I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it. For now, don’t you have some answers for me?”

“Of course, but I think someone else would like to speak to you first.” Her uncle motioned ahead of them, where she was surprised to see another person coming to join them.

“Amara.”

“Mom?”

“Yes, darling,” the woman smiled gently, sending a pang of recognition through her. It had been Aera she had received visions of after all! “Oh, how you’ve grown. You look so much like your father.”

“Are you sure that’s a good thing?” Somnus was teasing, and gently ruffled his niece’s hair, but Aera shook her head with a frown.

“Our time with her is limited Somnus, let us not squander it all.”

“Of course.”

Amara awoke with heavy eyes to the sound of her friends chatting away near her, Ignis’s hand resting on her arm as he sat beside her on the bed, sipping his coffee. Shifting her arm slightly to let him know she was awake, she waited until he stood before she sat up, running her fingers through the tangled mess of her hair as she glared half-heartedly at the guys.

“Morning Ams!”

“You look like hell.”

“I made coffee.”

“Morning guys…” she rubbed her face as she stifled a yawn. Ignis was quick to pass her a cup of coffee after she threw her legs over the side of the bed, earning a quick mutter of thanks before she all but chugged the drink. But when she finally sat the cup down, she was surprised to see her usually sleeping king staring her down like she had grown a second head. “What?”

He shook his head but glanced quickly behind her, making her attention turn that way. It was hard to be sure, but for a split second, she swore she saw her mother standing there, looking like a ghost. It only lasted a moment though, and when Amara looked back to the raven-haired man, he only gave her a nod.

“Uh, about that.”

“I don’t think I want to know.”

“What’s going on?” Prompto and Ignis were looking as confused as ever, glancing between their friends while they tried to figure out what happened. “What? What?”

The Glaive shook her head, standing to walk over to the coffee pot. “Just a ghost, nothing to worry about.”

“A ghost?!”

“Someone we know?”

“Someone she knows.”

“Yeah, yeah, I seem to attract ghosts since way back when, but don’t you do the same highness?”

“I don’t think messengers count as ghosts.”

“I’m talking about the fox.”

“Pip’s not a ghost, she’s a messenger. Just not the same way as the others.”

“What are you guys talking about?” Prompto whined, rubbing his neck as he tried to keep up.

“I daresay it’s best we don’t know.” Ignis brought the redhead her cup to refill. “Gladio and Iris went for a quick run. We’re going to head out once they return.”

“Alright.”

“Oh, and Iris wants you to give her your Glaive uniform for her to stitch up. I’d suggest you allow it since she had the better threads to take care of it.”

“Yeah, and you don’t want to wear such a messy uniform once we hit Altissia, do you?”

“Not going to worry about that for long!” the Amicitia siblings gave the group a pair of smiles as they walked into the room. Gladiolus was quick to look to Amara though and nodded to her. “Monica gave me a call. She’s got a Crownsguard uniform and fatigues for you, Sergeant.”

“Lovely,” the redhead muttered, dumping an absurd amount of sugar and creamer into the remaining coffee of the coffee pot, mixing it up and drinking it from the pot, earning a scoff from the Advisor who was still trying to give her back her cup. “Hey Iggy, can you go ahead and get my uniform for Iris so I don’t forget?”

“Of course.” He almost sounded defeated but left her to chug the remainder of the coffee so he could retrieve the Kingsglaive’s uniform. The Glaive joined him to retrieve some clothes for the day as soon as she finished her stolen drink, disappearing into the bathroom to change as the others began discussing what the plan would be. As it turned out, their random little runs through Lucis had left them missing quite a few out of the way royal tombs, which would need to be visited before they took off for Altissia. When Amara rejoined them, she found the guys looking over the map of the tombs, trying to figure out some sort of circuit for them to run once they had dropped off Iris.

“Sorry sis, as much fun as it is to have you around-”

“You guys need to worry about this more than me, I got it.” Iris smiled brightly, not at all offended. “Besides, I’ve got a uniform to patch, I’ll be plenty busy.”

The redhead couldn’t miss the look of relief on the Shield’s face if she wanted to, so she cleared her throat to try and get some of the tension out of the air. “Have we marked off the ones we already have?”

“Well there’s only four of the ten marked on this map, so yes.”

“Alright, ready when ya’ll are.”

And just like that, they were loading up and setting off. With their little caravan driving over the bridge to pass the fort they had knocked out of commission only the night before, it wasn’t long before the concrete ramparts halted to let them slip into more open terrain. Passing by the drop-off that signaled the river was nearby, it was only a few more moments before the vehicles turned off the paved road and started down a tree-lined old one, and Ignis was left to hold onto Amara a bit more tightly as she weaved speedily down the winding trail – Noctis not even trying to keep up anymore, only to pull over at an old parking spot with some lumber piled up off to its side. Letting the advisor hop off as she cut the engine, the redhead quickly had her bike parked off to the side and straightened up her clothes as the Regalia pulled in to join them.

“What the hell Amara? What happened to traveling together?” Noctis was trying to fuss at her, but he almost sounded like he was pouting.

“You’re here aren’t you? Ergo, together. Let’s go.”

“Do you even know where we’re going?” Gladiolus didn’t sound pleased as he walked over, leaving her to produce the map of tombs and unfold it.

“Right now, we’re going to head south a little way to get to the entrance to the thicket, which should be around here. Then, we just cut through it, try not to die, and get to the tomb that should be at its deepest point.”

“Alright, lead the way Captain! Uh, Sergeant!” Prompto grinned awkwardly, but Amara dismissed him with a shrug before she began to walk down the ill-kept road to where the path to the thicket should start. It was only a few minutes past the parking area, and with the guys chatting away about Caem and His Majesty’s ship, it wasn’t too long before the older woman was leading them down an old gravel path to a large metal bridge.

“Looks like there’s gonna be a fight on the other side.” She broke into their conversation, pointing out the less than friendly looking creatures that they were undoubtedly going to have to take care off. “Seadevils.”

On edge once more, the others followed her across the bridge, not at all surprised when the creatures began to act hostile as they neared the other end. Pulling Prompto up to her side before they stepped off, she pointed out a spot on the creature’s skulls. “Seadevils are capable of shooting high-pressure blasts of water, and we’re just out of their range. Can you make the shot?”

“Well, there’s only two of them.”

“If you miss-”

“I never miss!” True to his word, as soon as he was sure of what he was aiming at, the monsters were dispatched, and the group was left to clamor down the rocks to start up the uphill path into the thicket. It was a steeper slope than they had expected, so it wasn’t long before Ignis and Gladio were falling back to stay with Noctis, who every so often found himself stumbling on the gravel – and reminding Amara about his bad leg. Hadn’t it been an injury when he was a kid or something? She couldn’t remember how or when, not that she would have been told anyway.

Turning her focus to keeping an eye out for whatever creatures she could hear crying out in the woods, she was actually kind of relieved when Iris and Prompto came to join her in the lead. Despite their teasing, she knew Prompto was one hell of a marksman, and Iris was the daughter of the Crownsguard Captain/King’s Shield, so also a good fighter in her own right, at least from what she had seen of the girl during training sessions.

As they approached a curve towards the top of the slope, Amara realized she’d have to hope training would be enough. A small group of Spiracorn were staring at them, digging their hooves into the dirt and shaking their heads. They weren’t going to let the group pass quietly.

“Keep Noct back!” Amara shouted before losing a kukri, warping into the monsters before allowing herself to summon a sword from the armiger – Noct’s old sword Masamune, she realized when it was a bit heavier than she had expected. The massive katana made quick work of a few of the closer Spiracorn, but also left the redhead with a new issue that left her returning it quickly to the armiger and warping the hell out of the brush she had found herself in.

“Killer bees!” she warned, though Prompto’s squeal of alarm when one of the massive insects decided to charge them was a bit more effective in getting everyone’s attention. Summoning now one of his spare pistols, she jumped in front of Iris and began firing shots off at the nuisances, not wanting to get stung or worse – hit with their venom, which was known to cause confusion on top of poisoning you. Leaving Prompto to take care of the other Spiracorn while she (and moments later, Ignis) got rid of the bugs, their path was soon clear once again for them to continue.

“That must’ve been why they were already so riled up,” Amara muttered to herself, kicking one of the insects’ bodies out of their way with her disgust clear. Allowing herself a shudder before she continued, she decided to keep a kukri in hand for the moment, happy to find the slope they were now climbing was much gentler – and hopefully less of a pain to get up. From a break in the trees, she could see the sun was already high in the sky – it was around noon now, she guessed, and her stomach agreed.

However, she didn’t have time to worry about hunger, she could hear the sounds of another group of Spiracorn nearby as they neared the next curve in the path. Motioning for the others to follow, she climbed over the old wooden rail and began to cut through the brush, being careful to look out for any more bees as the guys followed her – hopefully around another fight. It ended up being a bit father to get around than expected though, as yet another group was spotted not far away when she had led them back onto the path.

Finally though, after another climb up the steepening path, they found themselves walking onto a stone-lined path, covered in moss with trees and shrubbery climbing the rocks that now shielded them from the woods.

“Welcome to the thicket guys.”

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jaggedwolf · 5 years

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agent wu isn’t on duty tonight (or: tscosi 1x10)

because I remember when I did this for wearp and it was fun so here we go with arbitrary section headings again

Top 3 things I had feelings about, in reverse order, or: in which jaggedwolf is deeply predictable

3. "But I like it when you talk" + the speech it was in response to. I'm just picturing Arkady standing there injured and tired but with a kinda silly smile on her face as she listens to Violet ramble and at no point thinking to herself "perhaps Violet's statement calls for a response". nope. she could just hang out there forever listening to Violet alternately say flattering things about her and go on about whatever.

Violet’s entire rambling? Amazing

“Normally I’d take this as a sign of disinterest but with you it can go both ways” Ha!

Have I mentioned that my real OTP for this show is Violet’s weird sincerity (even when using sarcasm to cope) colliding with Arkady’s barely held together recoiling from any sincerity? Because it is.

“Dating in a romantic sense?”

what the hell, Arkady

Violet would have been 100% in her rights to have made a terrible carbon dating joke here and I’m half-disappointed she didn’t

low-key mourning the loss of a good slow-burn, but also knew it wasn’t tenable as soon as Krejjh mentioned the kissing

2. The Rumor is no more ;_; look it makes good sense as a plan which my head acknowledges, but my heart is mostly going "but Sana mADE IT".

though that brings up another question: did she like, always have that self-destruct fail-safe or did they jerry-rig that in two weeks because I am completely on-board with either possibility

I’m equally here for Sana making spaceships ad Sana stealing spaceships so I guess I just like Sana and spaceships content in general

I imagine that once your home’s been invaded by invisible brain-washed nanobots, it probably is a little easier to let it go

let us all mourn the remains of the hammock

how much of their stuff did they manage to move to the new ship during the blip in security footage?

1. The scene with General Frederick, Violet and Arkady. Sometimes all you want is Arkady getting shot to make Violet blab and I was anticipating it as soon as "Source A apprehended" was said. Good stuff.

Totally would not have minded that scene going longer and Arkady getting more hurt. :)

me: already contemplating scenarios where Violet gets shot instead? Of course. (naturally, it couldn’t be for the same tactic on either side)

Important (to me) facts we learned:

Brian is capable of carrying Krejjh (easily, I would think, given that no one offers to help.)

Sana was arrested for hot-wiring spaceships

I like to learn more about that plural

McCabe guessed "revolution" the same time at which my brain thought it

McCabe is an excellent shot

Unsurprisingly, the answer to my question about the IGR’s college-to-spying pipeline is: spy college

wonder if my answer to McCabe’s daemon question should change to something more akin to hunting dog

I admit, I was a teensy bit hoping for McCabe to die, purely for narrative reasons, but this is cool too

In a meta-joke, Ensign Best was the real traitor all along

this makes Ensign Best Ricky Q's contact and that's so funny to me

At least according to Violet, Arkady looks good in a tank top

we all subliminally knew this already, but still, good to have confirmation.

Stabbing people with needles is indeed a Violet Liu-style plan.

Arkady still had her IGR jacket

possibly for scams, possibly to broodily stare at while thinking about her past, who knows

Dwarnians have at least one knee

More under the cut, because I am incapable of shutting up.

Things I did not see coming

Agent Park coming back, let alone as a pirate

I assume plans were made for Shelly but I still hope she’s okay

Brian talking to the bots

in retrospect, was very telegraphed

I am just very bad at thinking of the swarm as as sentient and sapient as they are

The bots didn’t attack Park and McCabe, who as far as I can tell were still in uniform and still holding their weapons?

hmm if any of the agents had listened to the live audio of the crew during the episode, pre-bot reset, I wonder if it would’ve changed things

everyone saying their own names for the credits was very cute and I hope that sticks around

COWABUNGA

You know, if Dwarnian soldiers in general have a tendency to just yell dramatic lines while also being very good at shooting humans, I feel like humanity’s terror at them is pretty justified

I want to know how much Krejjh enjoyed their fake death

Agent Park going “humankind” very dramatically while shooting into the floor? Krejjh has got to be a little impressed once they got over the whole almost dying thing

Injured but is definitely still the person piloting them off-planet, if their legs don’t work Crewman Jeeter will be their legs

Sana: Capable of flying a ship. Uninjured. Also clearly confident that even an injured Krejjh is their best shot or she would’ve said something, I presume

Side-note: Was vaguely hoping for a mention of Dwarnian blood colour, a guy can dream.

we love you :)

once a caterer, got shot at a lot

is as always, very chill even when all the things are happening

probably the only human to say “we/I love you” to the swarm

the swarm has not had a good time so they probably appreciated that

sometimes your knowledge of advanced xeno-linguistics does save the day (in the background: krejjh, still a little embarassed at how bad their vree-chel-noke is)

the angry angry general

if I heard right, the agent said she was only down, not dead right?

Good

I want her to come back and menace people again, she’s a good menacer and great to hate.

the invisible blue-collar

how many spaceships did Sana get away with hot-wiring by playing the old “I’m just here for repairs” trick anyway

I assume it’s a more involved process than hot-wiring a car but I don’t know much about that either

has had several different versions of that post-mission inspiring speech in her pocket and is very glad she got to use the version she did

the Iris!

I mean, I knew that name was coming as soon as they got a new ship but I’m still delighted

Sana to the IGR: -the universal i’m watching you gesture-

I hope she gets to reconcile with soup man (I almost called him tomato man because the other day I was thinking about him growing tomatoes. I am sorry)

she can change her own dressings (no she can’t)

Already mentioned this but Arkady getting shot as leverage over Violet? Delicious.

Also is too sensible for a dramatic kiss goodbye and I approve of that

not sensible enough to acknowledge she can’t change her own dressings. on one hand, she got shot in the thigh. on the other hand, embarrassment is not a good reason to risk an infection, you fool!

the “That’s not possible” at the general saying Krejjh was dead was very good

I’m not sure Arkady believes Krejjh capable of dying, deep down

report 1: violet liu

forget ship names, the true full circle is Violet starting the season ramble-flirting with a girl and also ending it that way

her entire exchange with the general

“swayed by moonshine and some pretty words” is such a fun accusation to throw at Violet because it’s true. those things just mean more than their literal definitions.

channeling her very real reaction to Arkady getting shot into a long-winded spiel that actually reveals nothing <3

it wasn’t until she literally asked that I realized that duh, Violet doesn’t know any of their Source designations

she was supposed to die in space alone. slowly, as the air supply ran out. maybe quickly if something else in the ship failed. knowing that no one was coming for her. not knowing it was because of a paperwork mix-up. filled with the belief that, whelp, this is the sum of her tiny insignificant life.

it isn’t

#tscosi #the rumor crew #tcosi spoilers #mine #this was supposed to be posted later today but #i woke up sick and sad with no discernible reason for either #and am thus at home #so my hand slipped #this is too many words but that's just how i distract myself from nausea and an utterly random sense of melancholy both of which have been #annoying since yesterday #tscosi rambles

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diverdaddy · 5 years

Text

Set It Up: The Christmas Rush

Pairing(s): KanaDiaMari, NozoNicoEli Word Count: 8844 Chapter : 1/? Summary: Two very different stores at the mall prepares for christmas thats just around the corner, and for one Dia Kurosawa this years holiday season makes for quite the rush. Her manager, Eli Ayase is weridly facinated with chocolate, and their new employee, Kanan Matsuura is a walking distraction on legs. What more could Santa possibly throw her way?

Another collab with @nozoroomie !! Merry Christmas y’all!!

The sound of the radio is ambient background noise as Dia folds the jeans in front of her. Across the way her manager Eli is at the counter, sorting out some documents and preparing for the arrival of their new coworker. Dia has to admit- she’s been a bit nervous for this shift. She really shouldn’t be, considering she’s very good friends with the new trainee, but there’s always that tiny bit of anxiety that forms when she doesn’t know exactly what to expect.

And Kanan Matsuura is sure to deliver something unexpected on her very first shift at Chacci.

The store is just a fancy, budget friendly store for women who like brand names but aren’t willing to pay the expensive prices it costs for brand names. Chacci’s is every girls dream, if Dia’s really honest. Forget brand names- their store has shirts, pants, accessories and handbags that are stylish, affordable and Dia gets 50% off everything. What could be better?

Thinking about that Dia realizes their store doesn’t carry shoes, but that’s not that big a deal.

She folds the last of the jeans and places it atop the pile. She glances at the clock. Twenty minutes until Kanan is due to arrive and her anxiety has barely settled. She mentally runs through the training plan; show Kanan around the store and how places work, have her watch a few transactions on the till, and go over how each and every piece of clothing that gets folded and clothing that gets placed on hangers along the walls. That’s easy enough for a first shift. Probably. It’s how Eli taught her during her first shift after all.

Before Dia knows it she sees someone walk through the entrance from the corner of her eye- the familiar form of her good friend. She looks up to get a better view and she immediately wishes she hadn’t. Good God. What the fuck.

Dia finds herself gazing upon Kanan in the most atrocious looking set of overalls she has ever seen in her life. Her face? Perfect. She’s even wearing a bit of eyeliner in the way she had shown her not too long ago. But her shirt sleeves are rolled up and showing off her arms (or what her girlfriend Mari affectionately refers to as ‘the guns’) and her overalls- god, there’s nothing wrong with a good pair of overalls, but these ones? They weren’t even overalls. More like a horrible cross between overalls and high waist pants from the 70s’. What shade of green was this? Algae? And pinstripes?! This is 2018, pinstripes haven’t been in style in god knows how long.

Kanan looks like a walking horror show and Dia doesn’t approve. This is her first day of work in a respectable retail store. She’s making a pretty bad impression already and she hopes it doesn’t affect Eli’s attitude towards her much. Kanan waves, as if nothing were wrong and Dia waves back slightly.

At this point, Eli has looked up from her paperwork and she beams.

“Matsuura-san! Welcome!” She says, unaffected by the pants, “Your outfit looks pretty great!”

Dia wonders if it’s too late to eject herself into the sun. Eli is an older college student, someone Dia highly respects and enjoys working with. They have some similar interests and always enjoy talking to one another about various things, but Dia never would have guessed that this was the kind of fashion Eli finds endearing. She always looks so sharp, so sophisticated and perfect and yet. And Yet.

“Thanks!” Kanan responds with a grin, “Thought I’d make a good first impression with one of my best outfits.”

Eli laughs lightly. “Kinda like those patterned pants you wore to your interview?”

Kanan can only beam and she turns to Dia with that charming smile.

“Hey Dia! What do you think? Do I look like a perfect Chacchi employee or what!?”

Dia thinks if her ear could bleed from these words alone, they would.

“I wouldn’t say that.” Dia replies without missing a beat. “Kanan. You have so many wonderful outfits. And you came in these?” Dia gestures to- well. All of her. (Except for maybe.. Her arms and face.)

‘’Really? I don’t know Dia-- I think Matsuura-san’s outfit is very Chacci.” Eli intervenes, boosting Kanan’s confidence in her choice of workplace attire, “Though I would say roll down your sleeves if you could, this way customers don’t get too distracted.”

Dia doesn’t know if she’s referring to Kanan’s muscles or the fact that she has a long sleeved shirt bundled up to her shoulders. She hopes it’s the latter. She really does.

“Oh! Sounds good, I can do that.” Kanan says, reaching up and beginning to roll down the her right sleeve.

But as she does, it’s very. Slow. Dia finds herself internally screaming as Kanan purposefully takes her time bringing the fabric down her arms and only just past her elbow, making sure her forearms are still on good display. The brunette looks over to the clock and see’s she still has plenty of time before Kanan can officially clock in for her first official shift. Dia decides she’s in definite need of a breather.

“Ayase-san?” Dia calls, walking over to the counter, “You wouldn’t mind if I took a quick break before Kanan starts, would you?”

Eli glances at the clock herself and ponders it for a moment before nodding.

“Yes, that would be alright.” Eli confirms, giving Dia a small smile.

Dia doesn’t hesitate to go to the backroom, grab her wallet and immediately head out of Chacchi’s. She pushes herself forward towards the shop across the hall from theirs in the mall- a small italian sweets and cafe shop owned by a certain family she knows all too well. Owned by her friends family, it makes it easy to find their daughter here working a few shifts throughout the week. Dia hopes this is one of the days Mari has to work so she can have a few words with her about her girlfriends choice of work attire.

She steps inside the wonderful and familiar smelling shop, approaching the counter with her usual order on her mind. She glances around the shop to look for Mari but sees no signs of her. Instead she’s greeted by lovely green eyes and a warm dimpled smile.

“Afternoon Kurosawa-san!” the girl greets, tilting her head a bit, “Are you here for tea? Or perhaps are you here for Ohara-san?”

“Good afternoon, Toujou-san.” Dia returns the greeting and sighs, “Both, if possible. Could you possibly make the tea a little stronger today? I might need it.”

Nozomi doesn’t question why but plugs the order in with a small laugh. The girl next to her, finishing rinsing out a coffee pot in the sink comments. Her hair is tied back in a low black ponytail and red eyes look at her with a raised eyebrow.

“It wouldn’t have anything to do with her girlfriend being hired in your store would it? She wouldn’t stop talking about it all yesterday morning.” She comments, putting the rinsed pot on the top burner of the coffee machine.

She sighs and Nozomi can’t hide her tiny grin. It’s no secret that ever since Mari’s girlfriend had been showing up at the mall more in her free time, the Chacchi’s employee would come by their shop for a green tea and a quick conversation with said girl. That’s how Kanan got the idea to apply to Chacchi’s- Dia had commented they would be hiring for the holiday season and Kanan didn’t hesitate to throw a resume and application in. Now Dia feels like Nozomi can feel the regret radiating off of her for this decision.

“There’s only so much I can take,” Dia starts to explain as Nico gets to making her tea, “High school was good because we were required to wear uniforms and I wasn’t forced to see such fashion atrocities. I know myself, I’m not always the most coordinated but even my little sister would think that abomination she’s wearing right now belongs in the circus, and my little sister doesn’t have a single harsh bone in her body!”

Nozomi laughs and accepts Dia’s change (Exact change, as always) and drops it into the till before looking out the shop and across the way. As she does, her eyes scan the shop to see just how bad Kanan’s outfit could be, but instead of finding Kanan she finds the other girl at the front of the shop near a display, looking over towards her at the shop. Nozomi blinks once and the blonde realizes they’ve made eye contact and immediately looks away, pretending to fix the display up and acting as if the locked gaze never happened. A subtle grin grows on Nozomi’s features.

“Add a tally to the chalkboard Nicocchi, just caught you know who for the fifth time today~.” she voices in a sing song tone.

Dia quirks her eyebrow and accepts her tea from Nico as both she and the shorter girl look out towards Chacchi’s to find Eli hurriedly folding the last of the shirts before walking back into the shop and is joined by Kanan.

“Are you talking about Ayase-san?” Dia asks, bringing her tea up to her lips and taking a small sip. She hums in approval- perfect, as it always is.

“You got it. Tall, hot and blondie over there looks longingly over here almost every chance she gets.” Nico smirks, leaning on the counter and looking up to Dia. “You wouldn’t happen to know why, would you?”

Dia feels both green and red iris’ on her and she pursues her lips in thought. She lifts her cup to her lips again, tasting the matcha flavour on her tongue and swallowing the small mouthful as she ponders it. She herself hasn’t really noticed Eli staring out at the sweets shop often and she can’t really fathom why Eli would. Or maybe she could? She can at least think of one reason.

“I would imagine it’s because she has an unhealthy addiction to chocolate. She carries a bag of little wrapped chocolates on her at almost all times and rewards herself with one at the end of every shift.” the corners of her mouth turn upwards, “I’ve told her she won’t find out how the chocolate here tastes until she tries it.”

Nozomi giggles and her eyes linger on Chacchi’s.

“Well, if it’s just for chocolates, I’d be happy to give you some samples to give to her. All on the house~”

Dia’s eyes light up a bit.

“Really? But I thought only Mari could-”

As if on cue, the sounds of footsteps approaching her all too quickly hits her ears. She’s enveloped into a hug from behind and she takes a step forward to stabilize herself, gasping and holding her tea out to safety as the familiar form of the girl she’d been searching for drapes herself around Dia. She’s hit with the familiar smell of Chacci’s N°5 perfume and nothing could prepare her for Mari’s excited greeting.

“DIA!~” Mari’s chin rests on Dia’s shoulder as she hugs her tightly. “Did you come here just to see little old me~?”

Dia squirms, trying to pull herself from Mari so she can turn and face her with a glare.

“As you can see, no, I did not. I took my break early because your girlfriend arrived at work and insisted on wearing that atROCITY SHE CALLS PANTS.” Her voice raises in the way it does when she communicates her frustrations with Mari. It’s a charming detail only Mari seems to be able to bring out of her.

Nozomi snorts while Nico snickers as they watch the scene. Dia could care less thought-- she’s pissed. Meanwhile Mari just laughs, pulling her arms off of Dia.

“Oh come on Dia~ she looks very cute! And Sexy. And silly, all at the same time! It’s endearing~” Mari replies with enthusiasm, “Did you like the gun show? She sent me a snapchat and we knew you were gunna react to it.”

Those bitches. Plotting this against her and purposefully enraging Dia with this terrible outfit and pretending that it’d be fine with Kanan showing off her muscles. It’s rude, and it didn’t work. Much. Dia noticed them but made No Comment.

“Only you would think that, Mari.” Dia replies with as little emotion as possible.

Mari looks over to Nico and Nozomi expectantly.

“Oh, I’m with this bitch.” Nico says instantly, jabbing her thumb in Dia’s direction, “Those pants need to be burned in the fires of hell because those are the only flames hot enough to take them out.”

Finally, someone with common sense, Dia thinks.

Mari stares at Nozomi. Nozomi stares back. They share silent words with their gazes. Dia squints a bit, trying to decipher exactly what Nozomi’s feelings on the outfit might be, but finds it hard to understand when she doesn’t quite get her stare.

“Would you say that’s pro Kanan’s outfit, or nay Kanan’s outfit?” Dia asks Nico, not looking away from the two.

“Honestly, I couldn’t tell you. I’ve been dating her since high school but there are still some things about her that are a mystery.” She leans over the counter more to whisper to Dia “But if I ever caught her wearing something as embarrassing as those overalls you’d bet I wouldn’t be out in public with her.”

Dia feels kinship with Nico. They are united in this. Together they’ll form the anti terrible fake overalls brigade. Well, maybe not that far. Dia takes a fucking sip babe.

“Anyway,” Mari says, finally breaking her gaze from Nozomi “What’s up Dia~? If you’re not here for me and you have your tea, you’re usually headed back to your store now.”

“Well, Toujou-san offered to give me free chocolates because my coworker has been glancing over quite often. We assume it’s because of the chocolate.” Dia explains, looking to the display case full of chocolate.

Mari stares for a moment and beams. A light tint of pink dusts Dia’s cheeks. Curse this girl and her smile that could light up the world.

“Sure! If it means gaining another cute customer, I’m all for it!” Mari looks through the display case at each selection of chocolates, “Nozomi! Wrap up some of the fresh chocolates you and Nico made today~ She’ll be sure to enjoy them!”

It doesn’t take long for Nozomi to pick a variety of the sweets they made- a couple of solid milk chocolate squares, a white chocolate cream filled chocolate, and some of their premium dark chocolate and the signature chocolate of the store-- the Oharrero Rocher (the chocolate where the shop got its namesake, which is a creamy hazelnut flavoured center inside a wafer ball and dipped in milk chocolate). She wraps them all up carefully into a small purple package and hands it over the counter to Dia.

“There you go Kurosawa-san! Let’s hope this satiates Ayase-sans curiosity.” Nozomi smiles as Dia takes the chocolates from her.

“Thank you, Toujou-san and Yazawa-san. I’m sure she’ll love them.” Dia smiles a genuine smile and Mari pouts.

“Hey! Don’t I get a thank you for giving them to you?” She leans forward to get into Dia’s field of vision. “Maybe you could thank me with a little kiss~?”

“Not this time.” Dia replies smoothly. She doesn’t mean to imply that at some point she could thank Mari with a little kiss, but the idea itself causes her golden eyes to grow and a wide smile to break out on her lips.

“I’m holding you to that, Dia~”

With that, Dia says her goodbyes and sashays away back to Chacchi’s, chocolates and tea in hand. She places her tea behind the counter along with the bag of chocolates when she gets back to the store. Eli seems to be busy at the counter and looks up when Dia places her refreshments down.

‘’Ah, Dia you’re back. I was showing Matsuura-san how we fold the different clothes here, can you go help her out with the current pile?’’ Eli asks before continuing her work on the computer.

Dia agrees with a sigh before she walks over to where Kanan is working. With her break over its time for her to get back to doing what she's here for-- work. She starts folding along with Kanan, and while Kanan might look like a disaster in her work attire, her work ethics were as strong as ever. It's a plus side to everything.

‘’You’re doing good so far, with the folding that is.’’ Dia remarks.

‘’Thanks, It’s pretty similar to when I work at the diving shop during the summer season so far.’’ Kanan replies with that perfect white teeth hollywood smile of hers. Maybe if Kanan did stay for more than just the christmas season they could use her to advertise the store more at the mall. Like sending her out with fliers in a bikini during the summer, that was bound to attract customers!

As much as Dia still fights back a grimace every time her eyes land on the suspenders of Kanan’s pants while they fold clothes together her eyes also scans over Kanan’s arms every now and then. Sometimes her arms flexes while she folds clothes and Dia can’t help but look. So maybe Mari was more right about that, but Dia wasn’t about to admit anything all of a sudden. Kanan was still committing a criminal offense, fashion crimes of the highest caliber.

Speaking of looking, while Dia averts her eyes from looking too much at Kanan she catches Eli in the corner of her eye instead. Was she looking over to the Oharrero Rocher’s again?

‘’Just keep working, I’ll be right back.’’ And with that Dia walks over to Eli at the counter.

‘’You know they catch you staring when you look over, right?” Dia doesn’t sugar coat it, catching Eli by surprise.

If Eli was a cat, Dia thinks her reaction would best be described as one of these cat videos where you scare them with a cucumber.

“I-What-- uhm- I mean,... excuse me?” Eli stammers a bit, before collecting herself.

Dia picks up her tea again and takes a sip before she gestures to the little bag of chocolates.

“Those are from the girls at the counter. They catch you staring a lot and asked me why, I assumed it was because you’re so fond of chocolate so they gave me some for you to try.’’ Dia eyes Eli carefully, “They’re for you, by the way.”

Eli’s face makes her look more and more like the holiday season that’s just around the corner. It’s so red it could easily be mistaken for a Santa Claus outfit by now. Dia has to admit she’s slightly amused by this.

‘’Thank you.’’ Is all Eli manages to say as the embarrassment is evident all over.

“Is this why you stare over there?” Dia asks, one of her eyebrows lifting is suspicion, “They do sell a lot of great treats, you should check it out sometime.”

Her manager says nothing and Dia wonders if she perhaps has said something wrong. Did she make assumptions? Eli didn’t exactly confirm if she was staring there solely for the sweets and treats. The brunette’s mind races through anxious thoughts as she waits for some sort of reaction from Eli. All the blonde ends up doing in the end is clearing her throat.

“I’m sure they do sell some great sweets. I admit, I’ve never tried them.” She speaks in such a professional yet calm tone, the only reason Dia really realizes it’s not the usual friendly conversation they have is because Eli seems so stiff as she speaks.

“You know, I think breaks are spent there a little too often, yeah? But if we’re attracting a lot of attention from it’s employees, maybe we should hold back or pause going there for awhile.”

Even Kanan is shooting them thinking looks now as she keeps folding the last of the pile. And Dia knows something is up when even Kanan doesn’t buy it. What’s even weirder is why now? Dia’s been visiting the place on and off on her shifts for quite some time. It’s clearly more than just the chocolates that Eli seems to be intrigued by from Oharrero Rocher’s. Dia really can’t help it anymore. Her curiosity is Piqued™ now.

“I mean, I don’t think I go there too often. Usually it’s just to talk to a friend real quick but-” Dia starts, before Kanan interrupts her.

“When was the last time you did that when

was there?” She says it so soft, like a hurt puppy. Dia knows its fake but before she gets a say Eli is talking again.

“That’s right! I know you use your break for that but it would be rude going and not getting anything right? So maybe every time you go over you should buy a little something so that they get business.’’

Dia doesn’t say anything as her lips form a small line instead. What a 180. First Eli’s saying they should pause giving the shop business, now she’s saying it’s rude to go without buying a thing? The fact Eli can’t make up her mind just makes this even more embarrassing for her. Dia feels a bit of pity.

“Even if I just wanna drop something off for my girlfriend or say hi during my break?” Kanan questions, which makes Eli’s points seem even more ridiculous.

Eli thinks for a moment and Dia is sure a small light bulb actually manifests above her head when Eli speaks again.

“Here, for every moment you have to go over there during your break, I’ll give you $5 to get me chocolates. But you can only be there for about five minutes as well. Hows that sound?”

Dia holds Eli in high regards, and she truly idolizes and admires Eli a lot. Probably more than anyone in the world, but this is the second most ridiculous thing that’s come out of Eli’s mouth today. (The single most stupid thing being complimenting Kanan for her outfit.) Now what was she hiding? But if Eli would prefer they do it like that, well Dia wouldn’t object to it. (Besides, there were benefits to this too.. She gets to order her green tea for free from now on.)

So Dia nods slowly in a silent agreement.

“If that’s what you’d like, I’m sure Kanan and I can do that.” Dia looks to Kanan for a confirmation and the dark haired girl nods with a crooked smile.

“It’s settled then! We’ll start it on our next shifts, alright girls?” Eli says it with such enthusiasm that Dia wonders about, but she decides not to second guess it.

If this is what Eli wants to do, she won’t question it.

Christmas time has arrived at the mall, and as per christmas tradition at Chacchi’s, employee’s are given permission to dawn their nicest christmas wears. Nicest is the key word here. Dia’s ready to die.

Kanan’s first couple weeks of training have been going great and as the days went by, Dia was sure she was going to get the hang of wearing clothes with some fashion dos instead of fashion don’ts. But then december happened, and with december comes christmas. Which brings Kanan’s famous and most atrocious of clothing: the christmas themed sweaters.

Of all the years Dia has known Kanan, she’s expected the best of the worst christmas sweaters. She remembers the one with the giant comical reindeer antlers, the ones with the actual light up christmas tree lights. She remembers fondly when Kanan won an ugly christmas sweater contest with adding ornaments and tinsel to a hand knitted christmas tree coloured sweater. All of these had been so ugly they were endearing.

She wishes those had prepared her for the american football team christmas sweater. Dia literally had to google what a Miami dolphin was. She has no idea how Kanan ended up with the ugliest teal and orange sweater but she can assume it has something to do with her girlfriend. There dolphin on it is really what brings this awful sweater together though. Kanan wears it with pride and likes to gloat about it but Dia really wishes she wouldn’t. There’s nothing to be proud of- she could get an official jersey and it would look so much nicer than this thing, but she knows that part of it’s charm for Kanan is the fact that this one is specifically for christmas.

“Ayase-san,” Dia practically weeps, draping herself on the counter,“I realize we both have very different tastes in fashion, but we have to talk about that- that thing Kanan is wearing. You can’t possibly be okay with that. You can’t.”

Eli looks at Dia sympathetically, but there’s a playful look in her eye that tells Dia that yes, yes she can be okay with this. Maybe even more than okay. Eli encourages it.

“Sorry Dia, I think it’s kinda cute. Fetching, really.”

Of course Eli would say it’s fetch. Dia puts her face into the counter and groans. Kanan, oblivious to the conversation, peers over Dia and laughs.

“Kinda sounds like you need a tea, Dia.”

It’s said as a joke but Dia pulls her head off of the counter and stares at Eli. She knows Eli can put two and two together, see that unasked question within her pleading gaze. The blonde chuckles and shakes her head.

“Sure, alright Dia.” she sticks her hand into her pocket and pulls out a small bill and holds it out to Dia, “Bring me back something good, alright?”

Dia takes it greedily and promises only the best as she says goodbye to looking at that thing and hello to looking at better things- namely, Mari Ohara who waits for her at the front of the counter of Oharrero Rocher. Alongside her is Nozomi, filling up some of the sweets in the display case and humming along to the christmas song that plays on the radio. Upon seeing Dia she places the tray down on the counter behind her and approaches the till. She flashes Dia a warm smile.

“Welcome back Kurosawa-san! Here for your usual?” She asks in a chipper tone. Dia returns her smile with one of her own and nods, already handing her the cash.

“Yes please Toujou-san. Ah- and chocolates for Ayase-san again. The same as last time.”

As the customer Mari helps exits the store, she weasels her way into the conversation by planting her elbows down on the workcounter and glancing up to Dia with a cheeky grin.

“Does her

et consist of only chocolate or something? Why not try the macarons or a danish? Or one of our christmas cookies! Tis the season after all~!’’

The brunette opens her mouth to object to Mari’s suggestion but she pauses before declining. Maybe Eli would appreciate a change up- she has been getting the same variety of chocolates ever since they started this. The pastries are always a delight to have, especially if you’re looking for something a little different than pure chocolate. Glancing at the christmas cookies makes Dia tempted to buy some for herself- there’s various little tree shaped cookies, santa hats, a few reindeer and some gingerbread people dressed in christmas themed sweaters. There’s even some present and stocking shaped cookies! They went all out with the shapes by the looks of it.

“That’s actually a very good idea Mari. Maybe Eli would like something other than the chocolates.” She nods a bit as she says this, liking the idea more as she speaks each word.

Without any prompting Mari grabs a medium sized box, reaches into the display case for the tray of christmas cookies and uses her arm to swipe from halfway down the tray directly into the box. Dia watches and her brows furrow as the blonde decides to reach even further onto the tray to swipe even more into the box. Dia looks to Nozomi but finds her attention is on fixing up her tea and she’s oblivious to what Mari’s done.

“There! Now you’ve got enough to share with the whole store!” Mari says, holding the box out to show her all the cookies.

Dia has to admit- the trees look the best but the broken santa hats have their own charm. She reaches in and grabs one, taking a bite as Mari laughs and closes the box up for her. Dia’s eyes light up- the cookie is seriously delicious. The cookie itself is subtly sweet- perfect for accompanying tea and coffee- but the icing adds not only beautiful decoration, but wraps the cookies light sweetness with its sugary sweet coating to make it perfection.

Basically, Dia’s got a thing for these cookies. She hopes Eli doesn’t mind sharing. At this thought Nozomi finishes up with her tea and places it on the counter for her.

“Here’s your tea, Kurosawa-san!”

Noticing a small line has begun to form, Dia quickly closes the cookie box up and thanks both Nozomi and Mari before headed out of the store. She walks with confidence across the way back to Chacci’s and can’t help but smirk when she sees Kanan and Eli looking her way. Kanan with a mildly surprised but pleased expression on her features, and Eli with utter confusion. She knows it’s because of the box. It has to be.

She steps over to Eli and gestures to the box.

“Mari decided you’ve had enough chocolate and gave the three of us a ton of cookies. They’re not bad- I think you’ll enjoy them.” She gives Eli a warm smile as she places the box behind the counter. Eli returns it, but there’s something to it that causes Dia to feel mild concern.

“Thank you, Dia.” She says in her same chipper tone.

Dia decides not to question it, but as she moves back towards the station she worked at before complaining at the counter, she hears it. A soft, forlorn sounding sigh, escaping her managers lips. Her eyebrows furrow and she almost turns to look, but she catches Kanan’s gaze. That vivid, dark amethyst gaze, so strong and piercing yet soft and gentle (in a way only Kanan’s eyes could express, really.) Looks like Kanan’s heard it too and could be thinking the same things she is. The blue haired girl decides to venture over to Dia’s station and help her out.

“Listen,” she speaks in a low tone, its soft yet deep, a voice meant only for her to hear, “That rule she made is a little weird, don’t you think? Don’t you think she’d want to leave the store and get chocolates for herself instead of getting us to do it?”

Dia hopes her blush isn’t showing much from how Kanan speaks. She knows Kanan has a girlfriend. She knows that Kanan’s girlfriend is one of her best friends. She’s very clear that both of them would love her to acknowledge they’ve been flirting with her, and maybe they have been, but Dia’s not so sure it’s serious. She’s not sure if they’re even aware that Dia has thoughts like these with them, but she’s sure they aren’t. She’s positive their flirtatious comments are only a joke anyway.

So she pushes all these thoughts away and focuses on the task at hand- figuring out what Eli’s deal is. She focuses on Kanan’s comment and nods slowly, putting the pieces together just as Kanan had. It is pretty weird that the manager doesn’t get the two of them to cover the store for five minutes while she goes to choose her own confections- at first Dia assumed it was so the manager would continue to be in the store at all time, but even with Christmas approaching there was still a lot of down time for them between customers in the beginning and ends of their shifts, and Eli did get her own breaks as well. So why hadn’t she used those times to go into Oharerro Rocher’s herself? Her brows furrow.

“You make a great point Kanan,” She replies in a soft hushed tone, “I hadn’t actually questioned that until now-”

“-And, and!” Kanan interrupts her a little to excitedly to bring up another point she desperately needs to convey, “She never eats more than one chocolate per shift! I’ve seen it. She’ll delve into the bags, pull out one and then she kinda savours it? Like, she’ll take a small bite and put the rest down and come back to it later. It’s like she’s full but forcing herself to eat some!”

Now Dia frowns and looks at Kanan with a confused expression.

“I’ve seen her inhale a chocolate bar brought from her little sister during one of our long shifts. That doesn’t sound like Ayase-san at all. Not to compare, but that woman is attracted to chocolate almost as much as you’re attracted to the ocean.”

Kanan laughs lightly at that and hums, understanding what Dia means.

“So you have to agree, all of this is pretty suspicious, right?”

Dia glances over to Eli, who is helping out a middle age woman and her daughter by the handbags. She has that mask of a customer service smile as she talks with them. Dia squints as she considers all of Kanan’s points. She turns back to her task, folding up a pair of jeans and focusing on her thoughts. She can see Kanan idly helping her but still waiting for a response, and its after they’ve finished fixing the jean piles that Dia speaks again.

“I think you’re onto something here Kanan. I’m not sure what- but I think we can figure it out.”

Kanan’s eyes light up and she grins that adorable half grin she wears when Dia surprises her with an idea. Dia averts her gaze before she gets too lost in it. It’s too charming and blinding, if she stares too long she’s definitely not going to be able to focus on their job.

With that a customer walks over to the two of them, inquiring about prices of some accessories. Kanan, albeit a bit too eagerly, happily walks with the customer to the display, leaving Dia alone to her thoughts and with other clothes piles to fold. She turns back to her work, thinking about their conversation and wondering, just what exactly it is that makes Eli so keen on getting sweets from the shop if she barely eats them to begin with.

It’s a mystery she’s determined to find the answer to.

“One green tea and a bag of chocolates, coming up. Unless you wanna add anything else today?” Nico lifts her eyebrow as Dia stands in a spot she’s become all too familiar with.

“Yes. Tell the customer wearing that obnoxious blue and pink thing that I can no longer enter this store if she’s in it. I’m banning myself from your goods.” Dia says it so monotone, so wooden. She’s dead on the inside and Nico can see every last bit of life dying inside her gaze alone. How many years of suffering and eternal torment has she been through?

“You hear that Mari? Tell your girlfriend she needs to get out or we’re going to lose business.” Nico peers over Dia to glare at the blonde and her girlfriend, who are sitting together at a table not too far from the counter.

Mari gasps in mock offense, holding a hand to her chest and looking a bit too similar to a certain blonde Disney Channel star when she didn’t get the part for the spring musical.

“But I just got that for her last week! It’s charming like mine, no?” She says, pushing herself out of her chair. Even her hair does a flip to add flare, like slow motion, a L'Oréal commercial was happening before Dia’s very own eyes. And Dia absolutely hated it. But then the sweater comes into view. And Dia wishes for the commercial to come back on again instead.

At a first glance it looks tasteful. It’s red and white, with a lot of snowflakes and little x designs and patterns. Very christmas-y. On the back in english is the name of the iconic american pop star sensation, Britney. The girl Dia remembers Mari having a kind of mini phase for (A phase she realizes that Mari never quite grew out of. Not that she blames her, really. Britney Spears has good music.) However on the front, in english again, it says the words “it’s Xmas b*tch.” Which, as Dia thinks it’s witty and a good reference for her song, it’s not appropriate for the public.

And then there was Kanan’s atrocious sweater. Not only does it have the most unrealistic looking cartoon Santa Dia has ever seen, it reads “Fa la la la Flamingo.” Santa’s sitting in an innertube wearing shorts and a blue tank top which- come on, anyone who even knows even a little bit about Santa knows his signature colour is RED. Not only that, but the blue and the pink are so bright and jarring, it’s hard to believe this sweater is christmas related. She hates it. She absolutely hates it. She especially hates that somehow, some fucking how, Mari and Kanan made the sweater work. She looks so good. The sweater is so ugly but it looks so god damn good on her. Dia wants to

Dia hates her life and her friends she may be pinning after. She really does. They’re the worst- hotties with ugly sweaters that make her want to gouge her eyes out while never blinking at the exact same time. They were like candy, (or rather eye candy). Wrapped in these awful colours and patterns, yet they made her mouth water because they were delicious.

“Absolutely not. Literally, please, go change. For the sake of my eyes.” Nico isn’t shy with her comment and Dia, honestly, has never felt closer to anyone she sort of considers an acquaintance. Every interaction with the short girl just adds to Dia’s list of how much she can relate to her.

Kanan wears a smug expression on her face. Much like the cat that has gotten the cream- her expression says it all. She’s a paying customer! If she wants to stay there and finish her beverage with the daughter of the owner, she is more than welcome to. Kanan has immunity.

At this point Nozomi comes over, chocolates in hand and ready for Dia to bring to Eli, but Dia lifts her hand to deny the gift. Nozomi and Nico look puzzled and the former girl keeps ahold of the bag of chocolates. The confusion rubs off on Kanan and Mari, who watch with equally confused expressions.

“Toujou-san,” Dia states her name in a surprisingly stern tone, causing her to perk up a little, “Could you do me a favour?”

Nozomi looks a little shocked and even more confused.

“I guess?” she tests, looking to Nico who shrugs. She shakes her head and changes her answer a little, “I mean, sure? What do ya need?”

“When you get your break, could you bring these chocolates over to me at the store? I’m having some suspicions about Ayase-san and if my hunches are correct, I’d need your help to test it.”

Dia immediately notices the way Nico’s eyes look past her and towards Mari. She can feel Mari staring at her in the exact same way; confusion and curiosity. She can hear Kanan’s soft gasp and Dia knows that Kanan is catching onto her idea and putting the puzzle pieces together. She might not know Dia’s plan exactly, but she’s got a hunch.

Nozomi’s got a curious and playful look in her eyes. She doesn’t know why, but she’s excited to find out. She agrees and tells Dia she’ll see her the moment she starts her break, and with that Dia says goodbye to her friends and heads back to the store to Eli, who seems to have gotten a few customers in the time she was gone. Dia puts her tea down and immediately gets to work.

The moment she get a chance, Eli realizes that Dia hadn’t brought sweets with her. Dia doesn’t say anything, pretending to help out an older woman shopping for her teenage granddaughter, but she does notice the little bit of a downcast look Eli has before she shrugs and continues with her shift. It confirms one suspicion she and Kanan had- Eli is certainly not into the sweets.

Some time passes and Dia’s been so busy, she’s completely forgotten about the favour she asked of Nozomi. Eli too has been busy and hasn’t thought to ask about the chocolate she forgot to bring. Dia’s tea sits with only a couple sips taken out of it, now cold and forgotten behind the counter. She’s glad it’s been so busy and the time has flown by, but she notices a little too late that Nozomi is on her way into the store.

She walks in, passing by a couple customers as they browse and makes her way over to Dia. Dia notices that she’s had time to change out of her work clothes- her hair is no longer up in a messy bun and is instead down in two twin tails. She wears a christmas themed sweater and Dia feels blessed seeing its

. A polar bear wearing a santa hat- you can’t go wrong with that even a little bit.

Before Dia can think about it Nozomi approaches her with the bag of chocolates in hand.

“Kurosawa-san! Here you are- the sweets you left at the shop.” Nozomi holds them out with a grin, happy she could have helped her out.

It’s then Dia see’s it. She see’s Eli’s eyes glued to them- practically dying to see what happens with their interaction. Her customers at her till have left the store and Eli has nothing to keep her busy since the other browsing customers have left too. Eli has nothing to distract her but these two and Dia swears she can feel Eli’s blue gaze boring itself into her, not daring to look away.

That’s when Dia pushes through with her plan. The plan she realises she didn’t think through as much as she probably should’ve.

“Oh! Thank you, Toujou-san.” Dia stiffly says. “I will just grab those sweets from you no-”

Without warning, Dia knocks over the whole display of folded sweatshirts onto the ground, like some offended cat you just can’t take your eyes off. Next up she hurriedly shoves herself into the table and practically hurls herself and all of the folded clothes onto the floor. The clothes flies everywhere and she makes sure she lands face first into the biggest pile she can find in the span of 0.5 seconds. And then she waits, counting down the three seconds slowly in her head. In those three seconds, Nozomi steps back with a gasp. Eli makes some kind of awkward noise, a customer is about to enter the shop only to immediately turn around and walk the complete opposite direction. Kanan and Mari had somehow made it behind the corner of a huge christmas decoration, watching all of this just past the doorway and at the end of those three seconds, Dia pushes herself up off of the floor.

“Oh no! It seems I have tripped and knocked over this display. How clumsy of me.” It sounds so fake. So absolutely terribly staged- Dia’s voice sounds like google translate as it reads the wikipedia article of arctic seals translated from french to italian to german back to french again out loud. “I’m so sorry, Toujou-san, I have to clean this up right away.”

Nozomi looks a lot more than amused.

“Would you like any he-”

“Oh no! No no, it’s okay. I can take care of this no problem.” Dia’s reply has little to no emotion, Dia finally sounds as dead as she feels inside when she’s around Kanan’s christmas sweaters. She gestures to the counter not far away, “Please don’t waste your time waiting for me to fold these- could you give my coworker Ayase-san the chocolates? She’ll be happy to hold onto them as I clean up this big mess I have made.”

Nozomi, not wanting to disturb Dia, decides to do just that. Mari and Kanan are practically inside the store now, hiding behind a window display, peeking out from behind it as they watch Nozomi move to the counter to Eli. Eli looks confused, flustered, surprised and scared all at the same time. She opens her mouth to greet Nozomi but nothing comes out. She closes it, then stares for a moment. If Nozomi has noticed, she says nothing. (Oh, she has, Nozomi’s gaydar has never beeped this loudly in her life.)

“Hey, I, uh. Well, I have these for Kurosawa-san. She left them at the shop earlier so I decided to bring them to her but she seems a little busy? Could I leave them with you?” She asks with a small, uncertain smile.

And there it is. They both look over to her and Dia quickly pretends to fix her folding, a little too robotically for any real person, but it deters them enough to look away. Dia, goes back to watching their interaction. Eli’s mouth opens and closes like a gaping fish. She can’t form a coherent reply. She watches Eli nod first, before saying a small ‘of course!’ and taking the bag from Nozomi. Her eyes are practically bulging and to Dia, it looks as if Eli is speaking with a local celebrity of some sort. She’s starstruck.

Dia has to hide a tiny smirk forming on her lips as the lightbulb above her head finally lights and she understands. The puzzle is complete and on top of the puzzle is an image with Eli’s face in her hands because she’s been caught red handed fawning over the cute girl who works at the chocolate shop across the hall.

“T-thank you very much Miss..?” Eli, finally able to form real words, speaks in a slightly shaky voice as she asks for her name.

“Nozomi! Toujou Nozomi!” the other girl replies, introducing herself happily.

Eli’s eyes light up like a christmas tree and there’s a small hint of pink on her cheeks as she smiles. Dia pats herself on the back and mentally congratulates herself on her suspicions being correct. She’s throwing a party right now, there’s an imaginary banner that reads “You did it! You were right!” and it gets even wilder as Kanan lifts Dia up in her big strong arms, and Mari comes up and embraces her too, and then they both kiss her on the cheeks to congratulate her on her correct assumption and the plan to prove it. She feels extremely proud of herself.

So proud, she realizes, that she forgot to pay attention to their conversation as her daydream carried on in her head. Nozomi’s pushed herself away from the counter and Eli holds onto the bag of chocolates. The violet haired girl gives a small wave and beams.

“You should stop by the shop sometime! Nicocchi, Maricchi and I don’t bite~ Kurosawa-san can confirm that~”

With that said, Nozomi exits the shop and heads back to work. Eli watches her leave for a minute before she practically falls back behind the counter, putting the chocolates down and staring at the counter in disbelief. A gay breakdown, it seems. Dia looks away from her to Mari and Kanan with a knowing smirk, and she looks on surprised as she watches Mari handing Kanan a few bills. Kanan pockets them with a grin and gives a big thumbs up to Dia before they both sneak out of Chacci’s display window and head back to the

‘This played out better than I could imagine.’ She thinks to herself as she finishes folding the last of the clothes she hurled onto the floor.

In a couple hours following, Dia’s shift ends and she heads back over to the chocolate shop. Nozomi has gone home, her shift being over, and it’s only Nico working for the final hour. Eli’s let Dia go early and has decided to finish the closing shift herself and Dia felt like another tea would be nice for the journey home.

As she waits for Nico to fix up her tea she notices Eli pausing at the door way. She glances over subtly and notices Eli’s staring at Nico with a soft gaze before continuing to the opposite side of the store. Dia quirks her eyebrow upward but turns her attention to Nico as she places her tea down. Dia thanks her and picks it up, taking a small sip from the lid and turning to watch Eli again.

“How many times does Ayase-san glance here during your shifts?” Dia asks Nico, bringing her tea down and not taking her gaze off Chacchi’s.

Nico shrugs and leans on the counter.

“Honestly, I’ve lost count. I don’t catch her staring as often as Nozomi does, but when I do she looks so dumbfounded. Kinda like she thinks she was staring too long and that I could tell, you know?” Nico props her head up in the palm of her hand with her elbow on the counter and looks at Kanan and Mari, “What about you Mari? She look over here much when you’re working?”

“Barely!” Mari sighs and leans back in her chair, “I’m looking there allll the time and she barely glances over when it’s just me in the store.”

“You’re looking for Dia, aren’t you?” Kanan pokes fun at Mari and Mari huffs before smiling.

“Who wouldn’t?! But I’m also looking at you~”

Dia blushes and shakes her head, trying to ignore their comments and go back to the main topic of conversation.

“Yazawa-san, would you say it’s fair to assume she looks over here for you and Toujou-san?” Dia lifts her tea and takes another small sip of it, looking to Nico for her answer.

Nico blinks once, pondering it. Then twice, lifting herself off the counter and raising her eyebrows. She nods a bit as the idea itself seems plausible.

“Well I can understand why she’d look over here for me of course. I’m a hot commodity that only so many people get to have.”

“You mean only Nozomi?” Mari jokes and Nico glares daggers at her boss.

“I have and have had other girlfriends!” She objects with a frown.

“Wait, have?” Kanan says while Mari whistles innocently, “I thought you were only dating Toujou-san?”

“I mean, yeah, we’re dating. Sort of. We’re in an open relationship.” Nico says it like it’s something simple. Dia raises her eyebrows at Nico and stares expectantly. The Black haired girl notices and elaborates.

“Nozomi and I have been in a relationship since high school. We love each other loads and probably always will, but as our relationship went on we kinda mellowed out and wanted a bit more than the other could offer. So we decided to do this together and it’s been pretty great. So far I’m the only one between us to go on other dates and stuff but it’s been nothing serious. Not yet anyway.”

With that said Nico glances over at Chacchi’s with a small grin, watching Eli for a change. Dia watches her and can see it- that same little glint in her eye that Kanan has for Mari (A gaze that, she has to admit, she may have seen directed at her once or twice too.)

She has to admit, she’s a bit envious. Nico and Nozomi knew what they wanted from their relationship and were comfortable making the choice to date other people while still having what they do. It’s probably taken a lot of communicating for them to get to that step. She’s very envious, but she admires it a lot too. She wonders if she’ll be able to find that some day in a relationship.

“Sounds kinda similar to me and Kanan, doesn’t it~?” Mari quips, standing up from her chair and walking over to the counter, “Except we don’t really have too many other people we want to date. Just one.”

She throws a wink Dia’s way and Dia does her best to make sure Mari knows it’s ignored. The brunette literally closes her eyes, but she knows Mari can see her ears burning. She almost wants to curse out loud. Instead, she grabs Nico’s attention.

“Well, if today’s experiment proved anything it’s that I’ve got good news for you and Toujou-san. A positive suspicion I’ve had about Ayase-san for a few weeks now…”

#love live! school idol project #love live! sunshine!!#eli ayase #dia kurosawa #kanan matsuura #nico yazawa #nozomi toujou #mari ohara #love live #love live sunshine #kanadiamari #nozonicoeli #nox writes

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recentanimenews · 5 years

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Bookshelf Briefs 8/21/19

Accomplishments of the Duke’s Daughter, Vol. 4 | By Reai and Suki Umemiya | Seven Seas – Aside from praising Iris’s innovations, this volume focuses more on the political end of things than the commerce end. Iris ends up attending the ball, and it goes better than she expected, mostly as the Queen Dowager is in her corner. In fact, honestly, things may go a little TOO well—the entire ball seems engineered to show off how the guy who dumped and exiled Iris is a hothead idiot, and Yuri seems to be doing an excellent job of manipulating the country into… running itself into the ground. But how invested should Iris be in all this, especially as she has to look out for her own nation, because there’s war on the horizon. Still an excellent political drama. – Sean Gaffney

Behind the Scenes!!, Vol. 7 | By Bisco Hatori | Viz Media – I enjoy Bisco Hatori’s humor, but her plotting is not a thing to behold. That said, as predicted, things resolved with the Ruka plotline, followed by a quick epilogue showing the film Goda made (honestly, the plot of the film sounds like a manga I’d love to see Hatori write), and then another epilogue several years later showing the two pairings (mostly) resolved and the two stars at ease with themselves and successful. There’s fun to be had here, but I can’t deny that I think this started a lot stronger than it ended, and I’m glad it did not end up as long as Ouran. I’d still recommend it to Hatori fans, though. Oh yes, and the amnesia arc proves to be as inconsequential as I suspected it would be. – Sean Gaffney

Cocoon Entwined, Vol. 1 | By Yuriko Hara | Yen Press – Hoshimiya Girls’ Academy has a unique tradition. The students have exceedingly long hair, and as the middle school third-year students are being measured for their high school uniforms, the high school third-years are finally having their hair cut, which will be used to make said uniforms. Cocoon Entwined so far is light on plot, heavy on atmosphere. We meet Yokozawa, a girl who seems to be able to sense breathing and/or heartbeats from the uniforms, and Saeki, the princely girl whom Yokozawa has feelings for. We don’t meet, except in flashback, the elusive Hoshimiya, granddaughter of the headmistress, who has locked herself in her room and for whom Saeki seemingly pines, much to Yokozawa’s dismay. I really liked this volume, even though there’s not a lot happening so far. I look forward to more, whenever it comes. – Michelle Smith

Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction, Vol. 6 | By Inio Asano | Viz Media – Thankfully, and despite Kadode assuring her friends that something happened, it’s suggested nothing did, and the teacher is leaving the city due to the ongoing chaos. Honestly, the world may not have all that long to go—even if the aliens don’t bring things to an end, can Japan really hold off America and everyone else? This still has a bit of a post-apocalyptic feel to it. Still, Futaba does end up getting lucky, so to speak, though the implication is that her politics and his desire for a non-serious relationship will make that a very short relationship. The best part of the story was Oran’s surprise birthday party, which was sweet as pie. I hope there’s more sweet moments ahead. – Sean Gaffney

Emanon, Vol. 1: Memories of Emanon | By Shinji Kaijo and Kenji Tsuruta | Dark Horse – I initially picked up Emanon due to Tsuruta’s involvement since I’ve been enjoying Wandering Island; I only later realized that Kaijo is an award-winning author. The Emanon manga is an adaptation of a series of stories written by Kaijo (also illustrated by Tsuruta) featuring a young woman who calls herself Emanon. Kaijo’s somewhat melancholic but engaging narratives lend themselves well to Tsuruta’s atmospheric artwork. There’s very little action in the first volume of the manga. For the most part, Tsuruta is capturing a reminiscence of a conversation between two people, a young man who enjoys speculative fiction and Emanon. She intrigues him, not only because of the air of mystery surrounding her but because she tells him that she holds memories reaching back to the beginning of life on Earth. Memories of Emanon, adapting Kaijo’s original story, is self-contained, but I’m greatly looking forward to the continuation of the series. – Ash Brown

Idol Dreams, Vol. 6 | By Arina Tanemura | VIZ Media – It’s been almost two years since I read a volume of Idol Dreams. I’d stop short of saying it has gotten good in the intervening time—there’s a lot of melodrama here, from the death of Hibiki’s little sister and him carrying on despite his grief (leading to the spectacularly cheesy line, “Sayaka, can you hear Hibiki singing?”) to the plotline revolving around Hanami’s pregnancy and the fact that it isn’t Tokita’s—but it’s certainly somewhat better, and I think that’s because this volume puts much more emphasis on Deguchi as an adult interacting with adults rather than her masquerading as a teen interacting with teens. It was even a little gratifying to see this mousey character haul off and smack Hanami for leaving Tokita at the altar. Do I care enough to keep reading? Maybe, especially if the next volume is the final one. – Michelle Smith

Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic, Vol. 37 | By Shinobu Ohtaka | VIZ Media – And so, Magi comes to an end. There were some things I really liked about it, like how Ohtaka-sensei showed how Alibaba’s unfailing determination to fight the spell reminded various brainwashed people of other heroes they had known who had sacrificed everything for goals and countries that would no longer exist if everyone and everything returned to rukh. I liked how Kogyoku was desperately trying to get him to surrender to her before the arrival of the massive army in an attempt to save his life. The rest, though, is not completely clear. I get most of what Sinbad did, but I don’t really get how Aladdin emerged victorious. There was a big flash of light and then… happy epilogue? Which I guess is fine. The happy epilogue was what I really wanted, anyway. Overall, I enjoyed this series and its themes of self-determination. – Michelle Smith

My Hero Academia, Vol. 20 | By Kohei Horikoshi | Viz Media – This is an excellent volume, but it’s definitely a “wrap up one plot and start another” sort of book. Midoriya stops the “villains” and we see the small series of tragedies behind their backstory. He makes it back for the festival—just—and it’s a blast, with Jiro at her best (the redrawn art helps) and Eri dazzled. Then we see the new hero rankings post-All Might, and Endeavor is finally top of the charts, but being #1 also means that people are after you as well, and there’s a pretty nasty fight towards the end. Will Endeavor win the day? And will Todoroki care? Great volume, but I think it’s all about Jiro and Eri’s big grins in the end. Those are wonderful smiles. – Sean Gaffney

Shortcake Cake, Vol. 5 | By suu Morishita | VIZ Media – Ten has realized she likes Riku after all and returns early after summer vacation because he’s alone in the boardinghouse. Meanwhile, Chiaki is getting bolder about expressing his feelings. The great part is that not only does he get this pertain to Ten—including a smooch at the end and a “What can I do so that you consider me?”—but to Riku, as well. Chiaki’s oddball personality is starting to come through, and the best chapter here is a cute interlude where he lies about the origins of a cup Riku broke so that they can go out shopping for a replacement together. It involves Riku winning an enormous bag of potato chips for Chiaki from a crane game. I’m not super invested in the romance angle of this story, but I do like the main trio of characters! – Michelle Smith

Sword Art Online: Hollow Realization, Vol. 4 | By Tomo Hirokawa, based on the story by Reki Kawahara | Yen Press – There’s an attempt to ramp up the danger here, given that we’re dealing with the death of NPCs, who technically aren’t real people (though honestly, most of SAO has been built around proving that false lately) and the fact that this time you really can log out and go back to your life. But the threat of the game being hacked, as well as users using drugs to “enhance” their experience, means that this time the Japanese government may finally shut down all these VR games for good—something that Kirito and Asuna in particular are determined to stop. Can they help save Premiere from her fate? And what about Anti-Premiere? – Sean Gaffney

Takane & Hana, Vol. 10 | By Yuki Shiwasu | Viz Media – As expected, Okamon is shot down (very nicely) by Hana. Of course, Takane misunderstands. Indeed, the entire volume is about misunderstandings and poor communication, which is always a good fallback in romantic comedies like this one. We also get the backstory on how Takane met Nicola, and how, like Hana, he was at first completely annoyed by him till he saw his hidden nice side. There are not quite as many amusing faces as previous volumes (though the omake helps make up a lot of the difference). But in return we do get a bit more on the romance front, as a drunken Takane (they had a birthday party for him) ends up kissing Hana… on the nose. That said, the effect is devastating. Fun times. – Sean Gaffney

Yuri Life | By Kurukuruhime | Yen Press – We’ve seen quite a few yuri anthologies about adults lately and this one is a 4-koma one-shot, with each chapter focusing on a different couple, until we come around to the first one at the end. There are couples I found interesting. (One involves the Grim Reaper waiting for a woman to die, falling in love with her, and then having her romance be what enables the woman to keep living… so they have to part.) I will say they are “mostly” adult romances… one is teacher-student, with the student being sixteen, and it didn’t work for me. Nor did the one about the “yandere.” Still, there were more hits than misses, and if you’re looking for cute, sweet yuri that won’t stick in the head, this is decent enough. – Sean Gaffney

By: Ash Brown

#Anime #News #Manga Bookshelf

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chokeholdwrite · 7 years

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She still smells like flowers.

AU military. Fluff. Little angst.

“Who is she?” Naruto points at the photo Sasuke is holding, and currently looking at.

In it, a girl with a beautiful smile and pink hair smiles, using a Kimono. You can’t see the color of her eyes because her smile is too big. Seems kinda happy. Naruto thinks his best friend didn’t catch the question, because he still looks at the photograph, the old and used photograph, discolored at the tips.

Naruto, clears his throat, blaming “Bastard! You didn’t tell me you have someone waiting for you!” Then, he reach the old photograph off his hands, realizing there’s two of them “Who are them?”

The second one, the girl with pink hair is holding up a little girl, no more than a year old. She has black hair, just like Sasuke. Naruto does the math quite easily in this case.

Sasuke smirk before answer “She is Sakura, my…fiancée, and she is Sarada, my daughter”

Naruto whistled “Wow, teme! You have a family that you never told me before!”

He looks at the cerulean eyes “We didn’t have much time to talk about this, you know”

The smile of his face fades “Yeah, I know” He returns the photos “But now we do”

“Now we do”

The thing of a future possible is something that scares him. All his life has been loyal to his country, all his life has been a soldier, and the first thing you know as a soldier is that every day may be your last day. So, he didn’t think about creating a future, pursuing the happiness of a family. He always thought every mission would be his last, every sickness would kill him.

But he did live. Without and arm. But that is a different story.

“Why aren’t you going to home? Don’t you think you've made them wait for you way too long?”

Sasuke keeps quiet, but Naruto never backs up when it concern his best friend. He knows his silent momento not always are a clue for don’t answer, because in the case of Sasuke, silent is always an answer. He doesn’t want to talk about it. He realizes. This is too much for him.

“Well, I don’t see anyone with pink hair” He tries again.

“She doesn’t know I’m back”

The shock on his friend face is impressive “You didn’t tell her? Why would-“

“You already say it” He keeps the photo in his breast pocket “It’s been too long”

“B-but, Sasuke! Good god! You are a soldier and you are petrified for your wife and children? What the fuck?”

“Fiancé, and you don’t understand”

“Well, I do” He frowns “Or I wasn’t there, by your side, all of this years? We cover each other asses all this time!” He hits Sasuke’s back, trying to convincing him by force “You bastard, men up and go home!”

“I will”

“I mean now!”

“I…I don’t know if she has been waiting for me all this years…I…” He shakes his head, his gaze down “She probably has move on and…”

“Well, who the hell would you know if you are a coward loosing time with me instead of actually, finding out where is she” He cross his arms, angrily “You already say it: Is your fiancée”

“I guess you are right” He sighs

“I’m always right, dattebayo” He grins. He takes Sasuke’s bag and throw it forward, several meets away “Now go”

He takes a deep breathe when he is at the door. His mind thinking that Sarada would have now eight years, and the last time she spoke to him her teeth were falling already. Now she would have to go to school, have friends, be happy.

He tries to ring the bell of his once upon on time house. Every time his finger touches the button, feels electric and don’t push it. He has to, he has to-

One little girl opens the door anyways “Hello” She says, looking up at him.

Sasuke is mesmerized by her. Is a little thing, yes, but a beautiful little thing. Her little red dress and her little black hair and those gorgeus eyes behind some red glasses. She is calculating him, making her own suspicious about the man who was at the door for about five minutes no touching the bell to announce his arrived.

Little by little, Sarada minds seems to function at more speed that her daddy.

“Papa?” She asks, her iris tilting.

Little by little, a little smile come to her face and a shivering hand reach for him, trying to touch his face, like he is a dream.

“You are so tall, Sarada” He says, reaching the girl with his only arm, the one who didn’t suffer the consequence about war.

She embraces his face, his little arms circling his neck “Papa, papa!” She says over and over, little tears drowning by her cheeks, repeating his name over and over on his neck “You are home, papa!”

“Sarada!” They hear from inside the house “Can you please help mama to-“

Something is broken.

Food on the floor, he notices it was a plate she held in her hands. Her frozen stare pointing at the door, a tall handsome man dress in military uniform is standing there with one arm with her daughter, both looking at her. Sarada with one of her big, big smiles, and he is looking at her like he couldn’t believe it.

She opens her mouth to speak, but she can. It’s a dream? He is here? The man standing in the doorframe is him? Is…Is… She pulls both of her hands in her mouth, because this feels real, this feel so real, I mean, Sarada is right there and he is right there, and why is… why he didn’t announce, why…?

“Sakura” He says and she shut her eyes. Because is too much. Is the same melody tone she can recognize but she is afraid of. It electrifies her how his talking can disestablish her, make her loose her temper, make her- “I’m home”

I’m home.

He is home. He is home.

She looks at him. His eyes are the same obsidian color, but more tired, more suffering. Has more marks on his face, he looks a little too old and a little too tired. But she feels something in her guts yelling at her, telling her it’s him. He is there, right there, holding his daughter, and she is smiling at her too, like knowing he is her papa even after all this time.

“Mama!” She spat “Come here and welcome papa!”

He put Sarada on the floor with care, her daughter pin-poing her eyes to her mama and her papa, too enthusiastic. Sakura takes little shaking steeps, something inside her breaking at every step (her heart will be shot out of her chest any minute), until she is right in front of him.

She makes the same movement her daughter did before: One trembling hand reaching his check. Sakura let out a sob when she touches his skin, because is real. The man let his face rest on her palm and brings her hand on top of her, a little oh so little smile on his face.

My god. Is him. Is him.

“Sasuke-kun” She says with a lump in her throat, her eyes two rivers of emotions. Her tearful voice calling him “It’s you, Sasuke-kun” She repeats, closing the spaces between them, unable to stop her tears “My Sasuke-kun is back home”

He fells the adrenaline when she touches him on a hug, inhaling all the dust and war he has on his uniform. He feels her, everything in her, a happiness beyond belief raking over him. She still loves him, she still waits for him – even after all this years, she is pushing against his chest way to hard, but he doesn’t care, because he knows now with Sakura things don’t change. She is still the same sweetheart, the same caring person who would do anything from him. She is his person. She still is.

And she stills smells like flowers, after all this time.

#men i don't know #i dont like it #but anyway #tell me #sasusaku #sasusakuff #sarada #sakura #sasuke

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chicagocityfclanspromoblog · 3 years

Photo

Paul Stone → Gregg Sulkin → Hunter

→ Basic Information

Age: 25

Gender: Male

Sexuality: Straight

Birthday: December 13th

Zodiac Sign: Sagittarius

Religion: Methodist

Like Paul? Consider taking him in our Hunter Giveaway Event! We will be waiving applications para samples, personalities and histories requirements for all canon hunters. Just send in the first and last name of the hunter(s) you would like to the main.

→ His Personality

(one to two paragraphs)

→ His Personal Facts

Occupation: Hunter - Focused on Neonate Vampires and Zygotes

Scars: None

Tattoos: Minimalist Cross on his right arm

Two Likes: Supernatural Hunting and Fox Hunting

Two Dislikes: Uniformity and Surprises

Two Fears: Death via Supernaturals and Bleeding Out

Two Hobbies: Trapshooting and Airsoft

Three Positive Traits: Aspiring, Energetic, Hardworking

Three Negative Traits: Impatient, Narcissistic, Secretive

→ His Connections

Parent Names:

Richard Stone (Father): Richard always pushed Paul to excel and to do what is best for the family. He was thrilled when James decided to start training Paul to eventually take over his own city, and it just proved in his mind that he did everything correctly with Paul.

Elizabeth Stone (Mother): Elizabeth is proud of Paul for deciding to marry into the Colt family for the sake of the Stones. She’s always taught him that family comes first and everything he does is to make both Elizabeth and Richard proud. He is happy that Elizabeth seems to like Iris as well, which makes things easier in the long run.

Sibling Names:

Callie Stone (Sister): Callie is the baby of his family, and generally gets away with whatever she wants to do. He can admit to her being a good hunter in her own right, but she’s also able to bat her eyelashes at their parents and get whatever it is that she wants.

Children Names:

None

Romantic Connections:

Rachel Sloane (Former Crush): They had been talking and getting to know one another before he got betrothed to Iris. Once that happened, Paul stopped going to see Rachel. He knows that he should have handled that differently, but he can’t find Rachel to apologize.

Iris Colt (Betrothed): Paul does care for Iris greatly, and is thankful that she seems to feel the same way. It’s not a traditional arranged marriage, and he is completely okay with that. He is looking forward to building a life with her once they are married.

Platonic Connections:

James Stone (Cousin): Paul looks up to James, and when James decided to start training him to run his own city one day, Paul was thrilled. He wants to do whatever he needs to do in order to prove that James made the right choice.

Matthew Stone (Cousin): Paul likes Matthew and spends a fair amount of time with him outside of a hunting setting. Matthew tends to like big game hunting more than fox hunting, but Paul has invited him to go along a few times and Matthew has done the same with him.

Helena Stone (Cousin): Helena is a lot to deal with. Ruthless and savage in most cases, Paul tends to keep a bit of distance between the two of them. He thinks she’s a wonderful hunter, but he knows better than to do something to piss her off.

Mary Ametheon nee Stone (Aunt): Mary is Paul’s father’s younger sister and he vaguely remembers her from his childhood. She has been nothing but kind to him since his arrival but Paul wonders what she is hiding under her facade.

Nina Stone (In-Law): Paul doesn’t spend really any time with Nina at all. She is usually off doing whatever it is she does other than hunting, and Paul doesn’t bother with trying to get close to her.

Thea Stone (In-Law): Paul gets along with Thea fairly well, though with her being the medic, he tries not to see her in a work setting very often. He thinks her cosplaying is pretty cool, but he admits to not really knowing anything about it.

Hailey Colt (Future In-Law): He thought that Hailey hated him at first and he was worried that it would make things even harder on both he and Iris with the marriage being arranged. He is thankful it seems like that isn’t the case, as he knows how easy it is for the Stones and Colts to hate each other.

Blaine Colt (Unsure): Paul genuinely likes Blaine Colt. He’s been taught his whole life to hate the Colt family yet he’s engaged to the girl of his dreams (Iris Colt) and his future in-laws (the Colt Family) have been nothing but kind and accepting of him. Blaine has asked him to start coming around more to get to know Iris’ side of the family and Paul is thinking of taking him up on the offer.

Molly Bennett (Future Cousin-In-Law): Paul gets along with Molly really well, and he is glad that she is happy with James. Molly has made a comment or two about his betrothal to Iris, and Paul understands that she is concerned for his happiness, but he had told her that he truly cares for Iris. He actually hopes that he and Iris will be happy like James and Molly.

Hostile Connections:

Rebecca Stone (Cousin): He knows that Rebecca is mad that he is getting training to run his own city eventually and that she got assigned to dealing with weapons. He is more annoyed that she is acting so ridiculous about it rather than just accepting that James chose him.

Pets:

Slinky (Male Lavender Corn Snake): Paul got Slinky when he was younger. He knows that Slinky is getting older and he will have to replace him eventually, but he adores him and will let him ride around in his shirt pocket when he is at home.

Stella (Female Miami Phase Corn Snake): Stella is the second female that Paul got after moving to Chicago from Arizona; his first female died during his move. She is younger than Slinky, and for that he is grateful as he does not want to have to lose them both to old age at the same time. Stella prefers to ride around on Paul’s shoulder.

→ History (paragraph(s) on background) → The Present (paragraph(s) on how the character connects to the plot)

→ Available Gif Hunts (we do not own these)

Gregg Sulkin [1][2][3][4]

#Gregg Sulkin #open roleplay #city rpg #new rpg #hunter rpg

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chicagocityofclans · 4 years

Photo

Paul Stone → Gregg Sulkin → Hunter

→ Basic Information

Age: 25

Gender: Male

Sexuality: Straight

Birthday: December 13th

Zodiac Sign: Sagittarius

Religion: Methodist

→ His Personality

(one to two paragraphs)

→ His Personal Facts

Occupation: Hunter - Focused on Neonate Vampires and Zygotes

Scars: None

Tattoos: Minimalist Cross on his right arm

Two Likes: Supernatural Hunting and Fox Hunting

Two Dislikes: Uniformity and Surprises

Two Fears: Death via Supernaturals and Bleeding Out

Two Hobbies: Trapshooting and Airsoft

Three Positive Traits: Aspiring, Energetic, Hardworking

Three Negative Traits: Impatient, Narcissistic, Secretive

→ His Connections

Parent Names:

Sibling Names:

Children Names:

None

Romantic Connections:

Iris Colt (Betrothed): Paul does care for Iris greatly, and is thankful that she seems to feel the same way. It's not a traditional arranged marriage, and he is completely okay with that. He is looking forward to building a life with her once they are married.

Platonic Connections:

Mary Ametheon nee Stone (Aunt): Mary is Paul's father's younger sister and he vaguely remembers her from his childhood. She has been nothing but kind to him since his arrival but Paul wonders what she is hiding under her facade.

Blaine Colt (Unsure): Paul genuinely likes Blaine Colt. He’s been taught his whole life to hate the Colt family yet he’s engaged to the girl of his dreams (Iris Colt) and his future in-laws (the Colt Family) have been nothing but kind and accepting of him. Blaine has asked him to start coming around more to get to know Iris' side of the family and Paul is thinking of taking him up on the offer.

Hostile Connections:

Pets:

→ History (paragraph(s) on background) → The Present (paragraph(s) on how the character connects to the plot)

→ Available Gif Hunts (we do not own these)

Gregg Sulkin [1][2][3][4]

#Paul Stone #Open #OM #OMHU #OHU #OHUS #Gregg Sulkin #OMHUS

0 notes

smartestpersonintheroom · 7 years

Text

Iris West Week Day 6: Stories that could have been great Part 1: The Iris/Barry/Linda Love "Triangle"

a.k.a. 11-15 with more Iris and less gross writing for female characters

On the show: Barry meets Linda after karaoke with Caitlin, and asks her out. He shows up on Picture News for their date and Iris feels jealous (?) and when Linda asks for advice on Barry’s elusiveness, Iris implies that Barry is in love with her. Barry tells Iris that she doesn’t want him and she doesn’t want anyone to have him, and basically tells her to stay out of his relationship and that he doesn’t have feelings for her. Later, the two couples (Iris+Eddie & Barry+Linda) double date at the bowling rink and Iris and Barry behave inappropriately around each other. Eddie and Linda call Iris out on this, both telling her that she has feelings for Barry.

So my AU imagining got really long & goes under the cut. But I wanted something that rather than a stupid love triangle that makes Barry out to be God’s gift to women and two hot women fighting over him, I wanted a story-line that prioritised Iris/Linda’s friendship, showed the strain between Iris/Barry post-Confession without making Iris out to be a dog-in-the-manger, also gave Iris/Caitlin some moments (because really show, why can’t these two women be friends?), brought back Iris/and-the-Flash, and moved Iris’s role in the Harrison Wells/Man-in-Yellow investigation forward.

Disclaimer: I don’t remember the non-Iris plots for 10-14 very well.

After Barry’s confession in episode 9, the two (Iris and Barry) are uncomfortable around each other. In episode 10, Barry is at her house when she gets her job offer from CCPN but when they move in for a hug, they hold back because they’re still trying to navigate around their friendship and Barry’s declared feelings. (Joe’s eyebrows go up a this, but he says nothing).

In episode 12, Barry & Caitlin go for karaoke (by coincidence) at the same time as Linda & Iris who were friends from college, and are going for a “girls night out”. Barry asks Linda out, and leaves Caitlin who seems to be hitting it off with someone else. But Caitlin self-sabotages her would-be date (starts talking too much about Ronnie and acting ‘nerdish’) and he ditches her.

Iris is the one who ends up taking a drunk Caitlin to her (Iris’s & Eddie’s) apartment and the two women get even closer. (Part of this AU is that the Rogues kidnapped Iris and Caitlin in episode 10 and the 2 women end up working together to rescue themselves). Drunk!Caitlin is snarky in a nerdy way, and she makes a few pointed remarks about Barry pining after Iris and when Iris is like ‘I don’t feel that way about him’, Caitlin tells her that her rapid blinking, the inflection in her voice and her potentially accelerated pulse are indicative that Iris is lying. She also reminds Iris about how she came to visit Barry every day when he was in a coma and how Iris ‘talked a lot’ and maybe Iris is in denial. She almost slips up about Barry being the Flash, before she passes out.

Later, Iris finds out that Barry & Linda are dating and she’s uncomfortable because Linda is her friend and her colleague. When Linda asks Iris for advice on Barry, Iris replies rather abruptly that well, it’s awkward for her because Barry is her best friend and Linda is her work friend & she would like not to be involved, thank you; which causes Linda to raise her eyebrows a little, but nothing sinister. Later, Iris tells Barry that using Linda as his rebound, will affect Iris’s relationship with her. Barry retorts that he didn’t know that Linda was Iris’s friend/colleague when he asked her out and anyway, he really likes Linda. Iris is like ‘so of all the girls in Central City, you asked someone who I was friends with?’. It escalates into a fight where a lot of stuff comes out: Iris tells Barry that she has now figured out why there’s been this distance between them when he woke up from the coma and it’s because of Eddie, and why did he lie to her all this while. Obviously, Barry can’t deny this so he retorts that he was going to tell her on the night of the particle accelerator but she cut him off because she knows him so well! And that’s ridiculous because she doesn’t know him at all!

The fight really gets ugly. Iris says that of course, she doesn’t know him because Barry is such a good liar – he pretended to be Eddie’s friend, he’s been pretending to be her friend all the while, when really he’s been “Nice-Guying” her. Barry is hurt, and says that she needs to get over herself because now that he’s got it off his chest, he doesn’t have feelings for her anymore. And Iris is like “Great!” and he’s like “Great!”

At this point, they’re in each other’s faces, practically close enough to kiss and they suddenly realise it. And they’re breathing heavily, and all emotional and looking at each other’s mouths and the UST is spine-chillingly hot! And they’re moving closer and you think they’re about to kiss… Then… Barry gets a call from Star Labs about an emergency and the moment is broken. He runs off, frustrated, and Iris just stands there, confused and rapidly breathing and wondering what the hell almost just happened.

Episodes 13: Anyway, they’re still fighting. Iris & Joe have a talk about this & somehow Joe slips that he always knew how Barry felt about Iris. She’s like “why didn’t you tell me?” and Joe is like “it wasn’t my place to tell” & she shares some of her frustrations with him being clearly closer to Barry, not her. (“You talked to him about this but not me!”). At this point, Iris is very upset doesn’t have anyone to talk to about this (Eddie, Linda and Caitlin are out of bounds). Meanwhile, Iris and the Flash reconciled (they made up in episode 10 between him saving Eddie & the Rogues kidnapping her; and there’s a whole arc of how Flash “coming out” has vindicated Iris and she’s trying to get an interview from him, etc), and in desperation, Iris asks the Flash to meet her and at first Barry doesn’t want to because he’s still really mad and confused at Iris right now (how dare she say he was never her best friend! How dare she think he’s deliberately trying to mess things up in CCPN for her), but he does. And then Iris starts talking about her friend and how he let her down, and she starts crying at a time, and Barry lets go of his own anger; and he (as the Flash) advises Iris that she should put herself in Barry’s shoes and imagine what he risked by telling her, and she’s just proven his fears wrong - that telling her the truth would end their friendship. And Iris calms down, and lets go off her anger. Then the last thing she says is that she just wishes Barry had told her sooner. And the Flash is like “would it have made a difference, if Iris had known?” and Iris doesn’t say anything and it’s awful for Barry & he just makes an excuse to leave.

So Barry blows off a date to Linda, and Linda is complaining to Iris, telling her (Iris) that she’s writing him off but Iris talks her into giving Barry a second chance. Iris really goes over board in selling Barry to her: Barry is a great guy. He’s perpetually late but he has a good heart and he’s one of the best people I know. Anyone would be lucky to have him as a boyfriend! Linda raises her eyebrow at this ringing endorsement after Iris’s initial hostility, but Iris says that she and Barry were just having a seasonal BFF fight. Linda decides to give Barry a second chance, and tells Barry that it’s Iris who convinced her to go out with him again, and he feels a type of way about it. (If Iris is pushing him at other women, that means there’s no chance of her being with him). And Linda is sort of silently cataloguing all these things and drawing her own conclusions because it’s clear that there’s something going on between these two that is more than just BFFs having an out.

Episode 14: Meanwhile, Iris and Joe have another talk & this time. Joe reassures Iris that she is his daughter and he loves her above anyone else & that his love for Barry started because of Iris’s love for Barry. “I won’t even be in Barry’s life if you hadn’t insisted on us bringing Barry home when Nora died.” He reminds her that she and Barry have always been best friends first and now they’re family and they will always be part of each other’s lives.

On the A plot with Firestorm, Caitlin did not lie to Iris about Firestorm/Ronnie & actually recruits Iris for help in this episode. Iris is actually the one who ends up defeating General Eiling by threatening him with an expose if he doesn’t let Firestorm go. (He threatens to shut down CCPN; she reminds him that she has a blog with followers in millions). It’s a bluff but Iris majored in criminal psychology and she reads Eiling correctly that he’ll cave. (Kickass!Iris) Caitlin & Cisco (heck, even Ronnie & Stein) at this point starts strongly hinting to Barry that Iris needs to be “brought into” Team Flash. She’s practically a member anyway, and she can only help more if she knows the whole story. Barry refuses and starts using Joe as an excuse but Caitlin retorts that maybe he’s keeping her in the dark as a way of ‘punishing’ Iris for Eddie which makes Barry feel bad.

Anyway… all this leads to Iris realising just how powerful her role as an investigative reporter is - in her own way, she is a hero. (Caitlin & Ronnie & Team Flash say this to her). This inspires Iris to feel that one way she can repair her friendship with Barry is to properly investigate Nora Allen’s murder, based on what she knows about metas etc. (Her investigation kind of dovetails with Mason’s investigation of Wells). She goes to Barry’s lab and takes pictures of the Nora Allen murder board. She bumped into Barry on her way out and they have an awkward encounter where they apologise to each other for their fight and they give each other another BFF fist bump.

That night, Iris has a dream about making out with Barry in the Flash’s uniform in Barry’s lab.

Episode 15: And this leads to the bowling double date where Linda & Barry bump into Iris & Eddie. Iris, on edge from the sex dream, does not want to double date. Eddie is like “why not? I haven’t hung around Barry in a while”. Barry is like whatever, and he’s a bit hurt at how vehemently Iris is protesting after their reconciliation. Linda – who has a mischievous streak – is like, oh no, I insist. So the bowling date is very awkward. And this is what makes Eddie uncomfortable – he’s used to Iris being affectionate and tactile around Barry but now, Barry stands next to Iris, and she practically runs away. They touch accidentally, and jump apart. There’s a painful incident with a bowling ball because Iris was handing the ball over to Barry and their fingers brush. Then there are conversations that start and stop awkwardly as they talk about some of their teenage experiences there, including Becky Cooper, etc. They’re constantly blushing, and not making eye contact. The friendly, easy relationship is now choking with UST and Detective Eddie can’t miss the signs.

The next day, Iris and Eddie have the “Something’s changed between you two & I don’t like it” discussion. Iris is now echoing Joe when she says that Barry will always be part of her life. (Remember, their relationship is still somewhat strained now). Iris is still reeling over that when Linda tells her that she’s going to break up with Barry. Iris immediately launches into another fervent “you have to give him another chance. Barry is a great, wonderful, amazing guy and any girl will be lucky to have him”. And Linda is like eye-rolling, ��Can you hear yourself? You know you’re in love with him, right?” And Iris is like “Why I never!” And Linda is like “You talked about him all the time in college. You never dated anyone seriously and you don’t get a real boyfriend until he’s in a fricking coma. Iris, wake up and smell your epic romance before you hurt more people denying it!”

Iris is so non-plussed about this, that rather than meet up with Barry about the Harrison Wells thing, she gives Caitlin a ring and she and Cisco & Caitlin talk about some of Mason’s suspicions about Harrison Wells. The arc for C & C continue as normal. Barry comes looking for Iris in CCPN because Joe asked him (just like in canon), meets Mason who implies that Harrison killed Stagg. When he finds Iris in their house, they have an initially awkward conversation about Mason’s investigation. At first Barry is defending Harrison then Iris gives him some facts that make him pause. Then she confesses that she’s been looking into the Man in the Yellow Suit, and he’s worried about her safety but it turns into a really sweet moment, one of the first they’ve had since the Confession where Iris tells him that she didn’t just believe Henry Allen was innocent because Barry said so, she believed him because she used to hang in the Allens’s house all the time and her mother died when she was too small to remember so whenever Iris thinks of a mom, she thinks of Nora and it is infuriating that her murderer walks free. Also Iris saw the way Henry and Nora looked at each other & they were so obviously in love and there is no way Henry could have looked at Nora like that and hurt her. So this is more than about Barry for Iris, it's also about her own relationships with the Allen Seniors and about proving that true love is real. The scene ends with Iris and Barry staring into each other’s eyes (basically looking at each other the same way Iris just said Henry and Nora looked at each other) and it's once more interrupted by a call from Eddie - Joe's been taken.

After that, it dovetails into canon. They go to the police station, Barry promises to bring Joe back, they go to the waterfront, Iris tells him she’s not leaving him, etc etc etc.

Wow, this was looong. My goodness. Someone should please fic this for me, already.

#iriswestweek #iris west #westallen #the flash #mason bridge #canon fix

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isitstraightvodka · 7 years

Text

Alone For The Weekend

Just something I wrote a while ago, thought I’d share it with all of you!!

Harry's POV

My alarm went off and I realised that it was 7am. Too early to wake up on a Friday. I shut off the annoying alarm and reached over to the other side of the bed, where my wife always slept, but she wasn't there. I panicked and spoke her name in a worried tone.

"I'm here, Harry." Her voice came from behind me.

I rolled over onto my other side and saw her standing by the large built-in wardrobe, closing the sliding glass mirror. She was all dressed and her suitcase was up against the wall. It hit me again. My wife was leaving today. She was going to spend three days away from home, in Italy with two of her girlfriends, which left me to look after our two little girls. It wasn't that I didn't like spending time with my daughters. I loved it but I had never been left alone with them for longer than 24 hours. This was going to be a new experience for me. (Y/N) saw the look on my face and sat on the edge of the bed, brushing her hand over my bare forearm.

"I'll be back on Monday morning, babe."

"It seems like you're going for longer than that." I sighed.

"Harry, I've coped without you for months at a time, when you went on tour and when you were filming Dunkirk. I'm certain you can last for three days without me." She said sweetly and leaned down to kiss me. I locked my arm around her neck and pulled her further down, deepening the kiss. My other arm went around her waist and I tugged her onto the bed so that we lay side-by-side. She squealed and I smiled, reconnecting our lips. I was going to be without her kisses for three days. I was going to be without her hugs for three days. The scent of her hair, the fragrance of her skin, making love to her, I wouldn't have any of it for three whole days. Sure, I had been away from her for months but since finishing Dunkirk and my first solo album, I finally had time for my family and I had gotten used to having my wife around every day. Now, she was the one that was leaving. I didn't want to let her go but the pressure of her hands on my chest made me release her slightly.

"If you keep kissing me like that, babe, I'll never leave." She murmured, burying her face in my neck. I'd love that. But she needed this holiday. The kids exhausted her, I could see it. My girl deserved a bit of fun and relaxation with her girlfriends.

"You have to go. Fae and Lara will kill me if I stop you from going on your little trip." I said. My wife giggled and looked at me with the big eyes that I had fallen for so deeply very early on.

"Look after the girls for me, Harry."

"I will, I promise."

"I should say goodbye to them now. Then I'm going."

My wife hopped off the bed and picked her handbag off the floor. She pecked my lips one last time and nuzzled her nose against mine.

"I love you."

"I love you too, (Y/N)." I said, kissing her cheek warmly. She slowly pulled away and in her eyes were the first flood of tears, sparkling brightly. She held them back and took hold of the suitcase handle, opening the bedroom door. My gaze locked to hers for the final time as she blew me a kiss, closing the door, disappearing from the sight.

She was gone.

I lay on my back, in a bed that suddenly seemed too big for just me, the ceiling blank and boring. Because she was gone, everything had been leeched of colour and soul. She lit up this room, this house, this life. My life. I didn't know how long I stayed in bed for. It must have been at least an hour and I knew that my wife was no longer in the house now, on her way to the airport with Fae and Lara. I dozed in and out of sleep, hardly getting more than 10 minutes because I couldn't sleep without my girl in my arms. It was a bad sign. How am I going to go to sleep tonight without her? A loud voice cracked me, coming from somewhere down the hall.

"Daddy!"

I rubbed my face with my hands, sighing. It's started already.

0*0

Within 5 minutes, I understood what my wife went through every day that I was away on tour and filming. So many questions I was asked, such a hassle it was to get breakfast ready, the inquiries of where Mummy was had begun.

"Daddy, why is milk white?"

"Daddy, is my toast ready yet?"

"How long will Mummy be gone, Daddy?"

My answers were pretty simple.

"It just is, peanut."

"Not yet, sweetie."

"For three days."

My two girls were the cutest human beings in the world. Fleur was two months away from turning 6 and Iris had just turned 4, the ages of complete adorableness. I could never thank (Y/N) enough for gifting me with these little angels, toothy smiles and green eyes with rivers of curly locks. Anyone could spot the resemblance between me and them. There was no doubt that they were my daughters and I was their father.

I served Iris her cereal and Fleur her toast. My eldest shocked me by gobbling down the hot pieces of bread, stains of raspberry jam on the corners of her lips. I was about to ask her why she was eating so fast but then, I saw her clothes. She was in her school uniform. I looked at the analogue clock on the wall and the time read 8:26am.

"Shit!" The word came out of my mouth before I stopped myself. Fleur looked at me and laughed while Iris pointed her little finger at me.

"Daddy just swore! Daddy, you swore!"

"I'm sorry, peanut, I didn't mean to. Don't tell Mummy, OK?" I said to my daughters, who both nodded. I turned to Fleur and told her to go and get her school bag. School was going to start in about half-an-hour and I needed to get her there in time. Fortunately, Iris was already dressed but she wanted to have her teddy bear in the car so I had to rush off to her room and find it. Once I had both girls strapped in the back seats, I turned the car off and reversed down the driveway, turning the wheel and zooming down the street.

I managed to get my 6-year-old through the gate just as the bell for classes to begin rang. I leaned down on the pavement to hug her, letting her wrap her arms around my neck. I pressed a kiss to her nose and told her I'd be here in the afternoon to pick her up. I stroked her cheek and watched her as she ran off, having spotted her friends and they walked into the school building together.

I hopped back in the car and looked at my youngest in the rear-view mirror.

"It's just you and me now, baby girl. What would you like to do today?"

"I want ice-cream!"

"Ice-cream? It's just past 9 o'clock."

"Please, Daddy! Please!" Iris begged. I sighed and rested my head against the seat. How does (Y/N) cope with this when I'm away? I had so much admiration and respect for her, looking after our daughters when I was fulfilling my dreams in the big world. My wife would kill me if she found out that I fed our daughter ice-cream this early so I suggested something else.

"How about we visit Auntie Gemma and Uncle Michal? We can get ice-cream later, OK?"

"OK, Daddy." Iris said softly. I smiled at her and pulled a kissy face in the mirror; she returned it with a giggle. The car engine roared to life again with a turn of my keys and off we went.

0*0

"Auntie Gemma! Auntie Gemma!" Iris chimed, throwing herself into my sister's arms.

"Hello, my little munchkin!" She laughed, her face filled with surprise at the sight of her niece. She looked at me, standing in the doorway, and welcomed me in with a gesture of her hand. I walked inside and shut the door, kissing my sister's cheek.

"Well, this is a surprise, brother mine."

"(Y/N)'s away, thought we'd pop in and say hello." I shrugged my shoulders. Gemma laid her free hand on my shoulder and smiled at me through her soft green eyes.

"You're too sweet, it's why I love you."

Let it be known that I adored my sister, the way any little brother would. She was one of the most important women, and people, in my life. She had been there for me since the beginning, since I entered this world. Without her support, I would be a brother without his beloved sister by his side. She loved me for me. She loved my choice of bride, she loved the lads, she loved my little girls. Gemma and I were two peas in a pod and I knew that would never change.

There was a squeal from Iris when Gemma's husband, Michal, snatched her out of my sister's arms, tickling her.

"Look who's decided to gatecrash our house!" He laughed as she squirmed against him. Her big green eyes looked right at me.

"Daddy, help me! Save me!"

"Not a chance." I smirked and before she could say anything, she let out a loud cry of laughter. It made us three adults laugh too. Iris's laugh was like that of an angel's. So pure and perfect, not tarnished in any way. It was unbelievable what having children had done to me. My heart exploded with love for them. Every time I wake up and the girls are already jumping on the bed, giggling and smiling their toothy smiles, it literally made me feel like the happiest, and luckiest, man on the planet. I was raised by women and I was now surrounded by more. I loved the women in my life, more than I loved myself.

The impromptu visit to Gemma and Michal kept Iris and I busy for a couple of hours. My niece, Daisy, my sister's 4-and-a-half year old, kept my daughter company while we adults had a long catch-up talk. Gemma demanded to see (Y/N) as soon as she was back because, and I quote, "I miss my sister-in-law way too much." I told her that I'd pass the message on. Once we were back in the car, it came to my attention that Iris still hadn't forgotten about my ice-cream promise.

"Now, ice-cream!"

"It's lunch time, peanut."

"I wanna have ice-cream for lunch!"

"No, you are not, young lady."

"Please, Daddy! Just one, please!"

Her pouty face made me the loser of the argument. I couldn't say no to that face, those eyes. She had won me over. But nothing prepared me for the drama that arose 10 minutes later.

Iris clutched my hand with her tiny one as we stepped into the ice-cream shop. She wanted her usual of cookie dough and I got plain mango gelato. I played sweet with her, swiping icy cold ice-cream down her nose and she got me back by sweeping some of hers between my top lip and my nose so that I had a weird moustache. It was all fine and dandy until we left the shop. I had finished my ice-cream but Iris hadn't but she said she'd eat the final bit of it on our walk back to the car. However, the second we walked out, a mob of paparazzi swarmed at me.

"Harry! Harry!"

"How are you? Are you releasing new music soon?"

"Harry, where's (Y/N)?"

"How's fatherhood?"

The last question hit me harder because in all the chaos, I realised that my 4-year-old was no longer holding my hand. I searched around frantically but she wasn't anywhere. The panic was written all over my face, I knew that, but I didn't care. All I cared about was finding my young daughter.

"Back up, mate. I need to find my kid." I tried to push past the cameras but the paparazzi just got more obsessive, flashes in my face and questions flung at me. I didn't say anything. The only word leaving my lips was "Iris!"

"Iris! Iris, where are you?"

"Daddy..."

Her voice was low and sad but I still heard her. I headed in the direction of where I thought she was, breaking through the barrier of people to find my small angel on the ground, tears streaming down her cheeks. I followed her gaze and saw that her ice-cream cone had smashed, ice-cream melting all over the place. It wasn't the end of the world but to a 4-year-old, it was. My baby girl was upset and I knew getting her another ice-cream wouldn't help.

"Come here, peanut." I opened my arms to her and she ran straight into them. I rose up to my full height, Iris clinging to me like a monkey, hiding her face in my neck. I hated it when my daughters were subjected to the media. They were part of my private life and I didn't want their faces plastered all over the Internet. They were mine and (Y/N)'s to look upon, not anyone else's. Iris softly sobbed as I hurried over to the car, strapping her into the front passenger seat; I wanted her next to me this time. The paparazzi were still around me, taking pictures. I had had enough. I closed the door and confronted the cameras.

"Look, just give me and my daughter some space, please. She's terrified so back off for a minute." I said as kindly as I could but the boiling of anger was rising up, wanting to break free. I held it back and got into the driver's seat, pulling out of the parking space and onto the road, away from the cameras and the questions.

Iris's sobbing had increased in volume and she was doing those choking cries where it sounded like she couldn't breathe. Oh, my darling... I pulled the car over on a quiet street and unclicked my seatbelt before unclicking hers too. I patted my lap and she immediately climbed over the console, wrapping her arms around my neck and crying into my chest. I rubbed her back and kissed her sweet-smelling hair, feeling her small body tremble in my arms.

"Sssh, sssh, my baby... You're safe. You're with me." I whispered.

"I was so scared, Daddy... The camera people pushed me away from you and I dropped my ice-cream. Those people aren't going to take you away from me, are they?"

I couldn't believe what my daughter was saying, let alone her even thinking it. I ran my hands through her dark locks and kissed her forehead as she clutched the ends of my curls with her petite fingers.

"No, of course not, peanut. I'm yours. Yours and Fleur's and Mummy's. And you three are mine. I won't let anybody hurt you, Iris. Not ever."

Big fat tears rolled down her cheeks, her face bright pink and sticky. But to me, always, she was beautiful, having inherited her mother's looks, both inside and out. Iris hugged me again, her high voice speaking faintly.

"Don't leave me, Daddy. Please don't leave me."

"Never. I love you, baby girl."

"I love you too, Daddy." She murmured. She sat there in my lap for at least another two minutes, simply because neither of us wanted to let each other go. She wanted to be in my arms and I wanted her to stay in them. It hadn't been my first incident involving my family and the paparazzi. The cameras thought it was their right to take pictures of (Y/N) and I when we went out on a romantic date while the kids were at my parents' place. When we took Fleur and Iris to the playground about a year ago, (Y/N) almost lost Fleur in the crowd, much like what had happened today with Iris. Sure, take pictures of me all you want but leave my wife and daughters be. That would never happen though. It was the downside of being a huge musician, a part of the biggest boyband in the world. My family were at risk, just as much as me. People liked to criticise them and I despised that. I loved my family and that's all that mattered. Oh, (Y/N), I can't wait for you to come home.

0*0

The dial tone rang in my ear as I paced up and down the kitchen, Iris and Fleur sitting on the couch and floor, watching Moana. It was just after dinner time and the girls were full, now indulging in a happy film, allowing me to have some privacy to make this phone call. Finally, the receiver picked up.

Harry?

"Hi, Mum."

Hello, dear. How are you?

"OK, I guess. A little..."

A little?

"I'm going to sound like a lovesick puppy but...I miss her, Mum. I miss (Y/N)." I rubbed my forehead and rested my elbows on the island in the middle of the kitchen.

Oh, Harry, there's nothing worse than having the one you love be so far away but honey, it'll be fine. She's coming back, she loves you, and she's handled much worse than you right now. It won't be long until she's back in your arms.

"It's not that. It's...just her being around the kids. It feels so different without her here, not taking Fleur to school and not having dinner with us. I don't know how she did it for months when I wasn't here with her."

A mother and a father have different roles and have different effects on their kids, it's why it's different without her. What's brought this on? Did something happen?

I craned my neck to the side through the open space, checking on my daughters. They were engrossed in the film, not paying attention to anything else. My gaze went to little Iris, sitting on the floor with her teddy bear in her arms, her eyes glued to the TV screen.

"I went out today with Iris while Fleur was at school. We got ice-cream but were bombarded by paparazzi when we left. I lost her in the chaos of it all. One moment, she was holding my hand and the next, she wasn't. I did find her but she was crying and it turned out that they had pushed her out of the way, trying to get to me. She was so scared, Mum, and so was I. I'm her father but today, I failed her. I lost her. I feel terrible about it." I explained. It was true, I felt so guilty. Why didn't I hold her hand tighter? Why didn't I just pick her up and run to the car before everything happened? My wife wouldn't be happy about it, I knew that for sure. I could imagine her saying to me, "Why did you let her go, Harry? Why didn't you keep her closer to you?" Iris had gotten over it, her sister made her feel better, but the pain within me was still there. Her face as she looked down at her ruined ice-cream, her choking sobs, her big red cheeks. They haunted me. I heard my mother sigh on the other end of the line.

My boy, you are a wonderful father. You were born to be one, I've always known that. Parenthood is full of challenges and obstacles, yours are just a little...abnormal. You lost her but Harry, you found her. You protected her. You did not fail her and I'm sure she thinks the same as me, and (Y/N) as well. Don't beat yourself up, honey, it'll get you nowhere.

My mother's words sank in for me. Parenthood is never easy and I discovered that the minute Fleur was born. I was a normal person with an abnormal career. That was the only difference between me and ordinary fathers. Iris still loves me. And so does Fleur. And (Y/N). I would tell her about today when she got back, I didn't want to disrupt her on her holiday straightaway. I looked back at my girls in the living room and smiled when they began to sing one of the songs in the film. And that's when it hit me. I'm a good father.

"How do you always know the right thing to say?" I asked.

I'm your mother, Harry. It's my job. She laughed gently.

I farewelled her and ended the phone call, stepping into the living room to enjoy the rest of Moana with my daughters.

0*0

Monday finally rolled around and today was the day that my wife and the mother of my kids would return. It was around quarter past 8 in the morning and we were having our breakfast when the sound of the key in the front door clicked, followed by the sound of her youthful voice.

"I'm home!"

"Mummy!" Both girls screamed at the same time and leapt out of their chairs, rushing off to greet their mother. I didn't even bother telling them to come back and finish their food. I followed them, at a slower pace, and when I entered into the entrance hall, the sight that lay before me was a perfect one.

There was the love of my life, her handbag still slung over her shoulder and her suitcase up against the wall beside her, a big smile on her face. In her right arm was Iris and Fleur had her arms wrapped around her mother's waist, grinning brightly up at her.

"My babies, I've missed you so much!" (Y/N) kissed Iris's cheek and stroked Fleur's curls with her other hand.

"We missed you too! And so did Daddy!" Iris said, looking at me as I leaned my shoulder on the wall. My wife's eyes locked to mine and her smile widened just a little bit more, and her eyes sparkled just a little bit brighter.

"I missed your Daddy too." She spoke.

"And where is Daddy's kiss?" I cocked my eyebrow at her as a smirk tugged at my lips. She bit her lip and placed Iris back down on the floor, taking her bag off her shoulders. Then, with a giggle, she ran over to me, locked her arms and legs around my neck and waist, her lips crushing down on mine with a passion that I had yearned for. I moaned and slid my arm around her waist, grabbing strands of her hair with my other fingers, smiling into the kiss.

"Mmmm, finally, I'm home." She breathed against my lips, just before I kissed her again, slipping my tongue in her mouth. I had missed her so much and I knew exactly what I wanted to do tonight when the kids were in bed. She knew it too.

"Oh, ewwww, stop that!" Fleur groaned.

"Mummy, Daddy, yuck!" Iris gagged.

My wife and I chuckled, kissing one last time softly. She flicked her hair over her shoulder and stared deep into my eyes, our chests touching.

"Yes, I'm definitely home."

Any feedback would be great!

All the love

Olivia xx

#harry styles imagine #just some fluff #daddy!harry

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