#from [xyz places we hung out] just let me know and if you need anything for class just feel free to reach out'

[hskswife]

heartbeat one

Summary: You placed your hands over his heart and the tears started to roll out.

Genre: Angst, Fluff

Pairing: Hoseok x Reader

Words: 1851

You smiled as Hoseok wrapped his arms around your waist, from behind, kissing your neck his warm skin against yours, "Goodmorning hun." He just groaned as he dug his sleepy face onto your neck.

You laughed as you continued to flip pancakes as he clung to you. "Hun. Can you hand me the plates over there." He nodded as he finally let go of you to grab the plates, "Do you have anything planned today?" You shook your head, "No why?" He smiled as he put a strawberry in his mouth, "Let's go do something."

"Okay, tonight because you have work and I have a deadline coming up. Okay?" He stuck his tongue out at you while you placed the food on the table, "Fine." You smiled as you sat down, "It would've been done by now if someone wasn't so needy last night." He licked his lips as he bent down to kiss you before he sat in his chair digging into the pancakes," Totally worth it right?" You giggled at his sexy remark as you wiped off the syrup on his chin. "Yeah totally worth it."

After breakfast, he got ready for work and you locked yourself into your office as you began writing the second part of your trilogy. You kept rewriting the end but nothing good ever came to you. One part would seem like a good idea at first but after reading it a few times it seemed too cliché. You groaned as you got more and more frustrated. "Ahhhhhh! Why did I choose to be a writer?!"

You sighed as you continued to type away when your phone beeped. You smiled as you saw it was from Hoseok. You then opened the message:

jhobi: Hi baby don't work too hard and don't forget to eat<3. Can't wait for tonight~~ I love you muah (;

  And with that, you instantly felt better especially with the picture he sent of him holding up his drink with a wide smile. Every single frustration in your body just disappeared. "Wow, he must be enjoying himself at work." You smiled like a dork to yourself as you replied back.

You: Thanks hobi i feel so much better <3 i cant wait for tonight either ill make sure to wear the dress you love (;. I love you too (:

You then put your phone down and got to writing. After 2 hours or so you finally had finished writing and your eyes were starting to feel heavy. You looked at the clock and figured you can take a nap before your date with Hoseok. So you got up and went to the bedroom turned on your alarm and fell asleep.

You woke up to the sound of your phone it was Hoseok's ringtone. Fuck were you late? You answered the phone without looking at the time," Hoseok hun I'm sorry I'll be there in a minute I just need to get rea--"

"Is this Ms. Min?" You heard a stranger say over the phone making you double-check making sure the number was Hoseok's. It definitely was. "Y-Yes...who might this be?" The person was silent for a second, "Please come to XYZ hospital right now. Mr. Jung has been in a traffic accident."

Your brain took a while to process what he had just informed you but before you can say anything he had hung up. "N-No this is a prank it has to be. I'm sure I go over there and Hoseok and the boys would be laughing at me..." You grabbed your sweater and keys and ran out of the apartment and into your car. "Hoseok is fine...he has got to be..."

You then called your brother. "Sorry can't pick up the phone right now just call again later." You were shaking your heart was racing. So many thoughts were racing through your head. Yoongi is not answering. That means they were with Hoseok. 'I'm sure this is all a prank.' You thought to yourself but it wasn't convincing enough.

You finally got to the hospital."I'm here for Jung Hoseok. He was in a traffic accident and they cal--" Yoongi then interrupted you, "Y/N right here."

You couldn't get the anxious feeling off your chest. But you followed your brother into the hospital room. You prayed that when you went in there a smiling Hoseok would greet you with a smile with a cast on his leg. You prayed it was nothing big. You prayed he was safe.

When you finally got there Yoongi opened the door. "Y/N before you go in there...just hear what I have to sa--" You barged into the room to find Hoseok laying on the hospital bed with a blanket over his face. "Is he sleeping?"

"Y/N..." Yoongi said as you slowly approached Hoseok's lifeless body. "Wake up baby I'm here come on jokes over." You laughed as tears rolled down your face your worst fears being confirmed as you removed the blanket over his face and placed your hand on his heart that was no longer beating."Come on Hobi...this isn't funny anymore. Wake up." You fell to your knees weak from the shock as you firmly grabbed his hands, "Hoseok wake up! Please! It's not funny anymore!"

Yoongi ripped you away from Hoseok's body as you continued to cry out. It felt almost as if though the whole hospital was filling up with your pleas and screams. "Hoseok please!!" You screamed continuously your voice cracking. You knew you were losing your voice. But you didn't care. You continued to scream hoping and praying that somehow that would bring him back.

After an hour or so when you just became numb a nurse and a doctor came in to take Hoseok's body away. "Ms. Min, can we talk to you?" You silently looked up at the doctor and nodded.

You followed the doctor into his office and took a seat on the chair in front of him. "You are aware that Mr. Jung has lost all contact with his blood relatives. So all we have down as a guardian is you. Mr. Jung was a listed donor but we still need you to sign some documents saying its fine for us to donate some organs for people who are in need of these organs."

You scoffed, "So you're asking me if it's okay to butcher my fiancé." You said the last part coming out as a squeak. The doctor cleared his throat," Not necessaril--" You then stood up, "You said it yourself it was Hoseok's wish to be a donor. At least I pray to the people who receive his organs to live well for him. That's my only condition. Tell them to live well." You left the doctor's room crying once again. You covered your mouth afraid to cry out again. You hiccuped from crying too much. It was hard for you to breathe. It got harder but this was your reality now. To breathe, eat, and live without Hoseok. This was your own damn fucked up reality.

3 weeks have passed since Hoseok's death but you were still numb. It felt as if though yesterday you were just with him. He may have left you behind but the feelings you felt couldn't have been more alive. You moved out of the apartment you and Hoseok lived in together. It was suffocating. Every corner of that apartment had 7 years worth of memories you wanted to forget.

You were working on your new book when Yoongi knocked on your door. You lazily got up and opened the door to your room, "What?" He looked at you pitifully, "The hospital called they said the mother of a boy who received an organ from Hoseok wanted to thank the donor's family...Since he had just woken up." You scoffed, "Do I have to go?" Yoongi held your hands, "Look...I know your hurting still, I don't even know how much it hurts for you right now but at least show your face and see them. Please?" You nodded, "I'll get ready."

Yoongi smiled as you opened your closet and made yourself look presentable. You then got out of your room and you bow to Jin and Taehyung. "Wow, we haven't seen you in forever how are you holding up?" Jin smiled and asked you looked down," Getting by I guess." They all went silent as Yoongi's room opened, "Oh you're ready. Let's go..."

The car ride there was silent. Everyone had been careful around you. Not a word during dinner about Hoseok. Your mother told you to live with Yoongi and the boys for a while rather than living alone. She was scared that I won't take care of yourself or you might do something much worse.

"We're here." You nodded as you got off. When you arrived at the hospital it got even harder for you to breathe. You hated the hospital. The smell and the people. It reminded you of that day. You were scared to step foot in a hospital. You never told anybody of course.

When you got to the hospital room you were greeted by a lady probably in her late 40's. Yoongi told her something before she approached me. "You must be Mrs. Jung. Oh, you're so young yet you lost your husband so ear--" Yoongi cleared his throat, "I'm fine Yoongi, and no ma'am we weren't married yet..." She looked down and bowed deeply, "You don't have to--"

"I am sorry for feeling happy when your mourning his death but, thank you! You saved my son's life he's only 22 and for him to still be alive I'm thankful." You looked at the boy in the bed. "He's only a year older than me. Hoseok was 25..."

"And making the decision of giving his heart to a stranger must've been hard..." You smiled, "I just signed the papers. Hoseok was the one who decided to donate them. He was always giving..." Your eyes teared up as the boy woke up.

"Mom...whose that?" She immediately ran to his side, "She's the fiancé of the man who gave you his heart." You smiled at him and bowed, "Nice to meet you I'm Min Y/N and that's my brother Min Yoongi." He sat up and bowed, "My name is Jeon Jungkook. I'm sorry for your loss..." You approached him as you reached for his chest, "Is it okay if I..." He nodded, "Go ahead."

You placed your hands over his heart and the tears started to roll out. You felt the beating of Hoseok's once lifeless heart. It was hard for you to breathe again. You felt the warmth on your fingertips as if though your sunshine hasn't left your side. You closed your eyes and was startled when Jungkook grabbed your hands. "So-Sorry I just I don't know why but your expression made me want to hold your hand..." He immediately let go of your hand and you removed your hands from his chest. "Live well Jungkook..." You then made your way out and before you grabbed the door to open it Jungkook screamed.

"Can I see you again?" You turned around to look at him and smiled, "Sure..."

#bts #bangtan sonyeondan #bangtan #bangtan boys #Bulletproof Boy Scouts #beyond the scene #kim namjoon #kim seokjin #min yoongi #jung hoseok #park jimin #kim taehyung #rm #rapmon #rapmonster #jin #suga #jhope #v #bts smut #bts fluff #bts angst #bts scenarios #bts fanfic #bts fanfics #bts fake text #bts fake snaps #bts scenario #bts fake texts #bts fake chats

[higuchimon]

[fanfic] Rewards of Losing

Another pleasant evening, made even better by a successful duel. Ryou stepped out of the door, enjoying the warm summer air. Much better than the chilly inside of his current – location. He didn’t want to think of it as a lair, though the half-dozen opponents he’d called here would probably disagree.

Of course, they were all cards now. He wasn’t going to worry about their opinions.

But he’d done all that he could here. He’d sealed some of the finest duelists in the XYZ dimension in cards and had a very good idea of how XYZ Summoning worked. He was only one of several operatives from Fusion in this world, seeking out information and taking care of potential troublemakers before they ever knew there would be trouble to make.

That meant that he needed to destroy this place as quickly and cleanly as possible and then head on to his next location. It wouldn’t take long; he kept virtually nothing here anyway. All he needed was the time.

He would make certain that this wasn’t the only place that burned. It would have to burn totally but it would need to spread, just to cover his tracks. A building that only burned when it was surrounded by other, equally flammable buildings, would quickly give away that an unregistered Firestarter roamed the area. The locals – the Guild, he’d learned they were called – would start looking for said Firestarter.

Ryou had a lot invested in not being found and he’d done a very good job so far. He kept himself distant from as many people as possible, while not being standoff-ish to the point it caught other people’s attention. He couldn’t hide being a Firestarter but he could fly under their radar.

And once the invasion starts, I won’t have to hide at all. He didn’t know when the invasion would start. But he suspected it would be soon. Everything had to be put into place and enough people trained to make it happen.

Of course, Fusion and the Professor’s preparations had been built up for quite a while already.

He started to go back inside, intent on getting his prizes and starting the fire. But something across the alleyway shifted, and Ryou stopped, staring intently. Had someone connected to one his opponents followed him here?

He couldn’t see who it was, but his Firestarter senses flared up – he might not know who it was, but he could tell what it was.

There’s a Healer there. That didn’t seem quite right. What would a Healer be doing around here, even if they were allies to an opponent?

“Who are you?” He asked, wary, hand ready to activate his duel disk at a moment’s notice.

The voice that came back was – different in some ways that he’d never heard before. Soft and firm, laced with all the raw power of a Healer at least on his level, but coming from – farther down? A child? No, it couldn’t be.

“I am Kei. And you must stop.”

Ryou’s eyes narrowed. “What are you talking about?” Had they somehow seen him? If that were the case, then he’d make sure that they were the next one that he carded. He couldn’t allow them to spread the word. Even if he could escape, it would put the invasion at risk. He couldn’t let that happen.

“What you’re doing. Turning those who fall against you into cards. Denying yourself. You must stop.”

Ryou pressed his lips together. So they had seen him. He would at least give them a good duel before carding them, regardless of their age. “If you want to stop me, then you’ll have to defeat me.”

“That won’t happen.” A soft whisper of a laugh. “I cannot duel, my Firestarter.”

“What?” Ryou shook his head. “I’m not your Firestarter. I already am courting someone else.” Though truth to tell he wasn’t especially thrilled about it, but Firestarters and Healers at Academia weren’t always given the choice on who they courted or bonded to.

“You are. But as to why I can’t duel -”

Ryou could see a pair of gleaming gray eyes moving out in the darkness. They reminded him of Shou’s eyes, though not even as high off the ground as Shou’s would be, and they were – they had -

A light hung not that far from where he stood, so he saw what came out of the shadows very clearly. He simply didn’t believe what he saw. Slowly he shook his head. It wasn’t right. It wasn’t possible. But there it stood regardless, staring at him relentlessly.

It was a cat. A very large cat, one that he might have even thought of as a panther. The cat’s head rose at least to his waist and was as black as a starless night. Intelligence gleamed in those gray eyes that regarded him so calmly.

“No,” he whispered, shaking his head again. He’d clearly taken a harder hit in that last duel than he’d thought. That alone made sense. He wasn’t seeing a huge cat and if he did see a cat, the cat wasn’t talking to him. It wasn’t possible.

The cat did not smile. But from the set of the shoulders and the way the tail curled around the cat’s front paws, Ryou knew that it was amused at him.

“As I said, I am Kei. I am your Healer Cat. You are my Firestarter. Or we will be.”

Again Ryou shook his head. “Even if you exist – and you don’t – Yuuri doesn’t take very well to challengers.”

Yuuri won the right to court him against four other Healers. There wasn’t much left of them. If one could call mulch “much” anyway.

Kei’s tail twitched, head raising upward in a very confident gesture. “You may rest assured that I don’t care what he thinks. You are not his. You are mine.”

If this cat was as possessive as Yuuri – no. He’d hit his head, that was all there was to it. He wasn’t hearing this.

“I don’t have any food for you. Go try somewhere else,” Ryou snapped, turning on his heel and stalking back into the building. He locked the door behind himself and hurried to pick up the few items that he wanted to keep. He wasn’t even going to think that what had just happened could even be close to being real.

The last thing he needed in his life was another creature as possessive as Yuuri. It hadn’t yet been decided that they would bond, but as the two respective most powerful Firestarter and Healer at Academia, most people expected that they would, sooner or later. Ryou more or less expected it himself. Who else would he bond to, when he’d never met another Healer who came close to him in power?

Kei had that strength. Ryou knew that even when he didn’t want to know it. There wasn’t a single Firestarter or Healer who could have missed it.

But that’s a cat. Cats can’t be Healers. Or Firestarters. I’m hallucinating. He truly wanted to believe that with all of his heart. He didn’t dare think of what the other options might be.

He packed up what he needed – the decks and the Duel Disks would be sent back home, which meant that anyone searching for them here wouldn’t find them – and found himself grateful all over again that the building had no windows. He stepped out of a different door, cautiously making certain that no one was in the area to see him.

Especially not anyone with black fur and gray eyes.

At least on this side of the building, there were far more streetlights, which meant far fewer places for a large black cat – that didn’t talk, because cats couldn’t talk – to skulk around. He took the time to change out of his Academia uniform to the street clothes he’d picked up to help blend in around here. Perhaps the cat wouldn’t notice him like this.

I’m not trying to avoid a talking cat. He would tell himself that as often as he needed to.

When he was a decent distance from the building, he turned and regarded it for a few moments. His eyes narrowed and his mind lashed outward, igniting the building. Flowers of flame unfolded from one particular side of it, not that far from a bar. The fire probably wouldn’t spread that far, but it would likely be written off as a late night drunk doing something that he shouldn’t. With a small effort of will, he made sure the fire burned bright and strong enough so erase every trace of his presence.

He could hear fire alarms already on the way. He could only stay long enough to make sure any local Firestarters didn’t hear anything about him from the fire. Flames did not identify people by their names, but they could still give enough information to make him quite uncomfortable.

“This has to stop.” Again the cat sat there, tail curled around their paws, staring at Ryou. “You’re hurting people. You know this is wrong.”

Ryou’s first instinct was to correct that. He hurt people because he needed to; because it would help his people when the invasion came. But he wasn’t going to talk to a cat about things like that.

Instead, he finished off the fire, turned on his heel, and headed off into the night. The cat didn't follow.

Not that he looked. Really.

Kei watched his Firestarter until he was out of sight – a distance far greater than a human’s eyes would have been able to. He’d been watching this Firestarter for several days, learning what he could about him.

That wasn’t nearly as much as he wanted. For all that a Healer Cat could tell certain things about any Firestarter, most especially their Firestarter, he couldn’t quite pin down important points about Marufuji Ryou.

He knew that the Firestarter was a Firestarter, and one strong enough and with the right personality that if the wrong event happened, he might well frost over. A nascent Frostflame needed an equally strong partner, or even two on occasion.

He’d known before Ryou said a word that someone else was courting him. If one could call it courting. He could smell the scent of the other, a little faint but there, and he also smelled cruelty. It wasn’t so strong as to indicate it came from Ryou himself, though Ryou did have a few streaks of that himself. Not so much as to turn Kei off, though.

Slowly he got up and followed. He’d tracked Ryou to where he lived some days before and didn’t need to go behind him to get there. But he wanted to keep an eye on his future partner regardless.

What else he knew could be summed up very quickly and easily. Ryou wasn’t from this world. He didn’t carry any of the scents of it beyond what he’d picked up from living here for a scattering of months. But the fact he didn’t even know Healer Cats existed made that absolutely plain.

There were other cues as well. The way that Ryou didn’t seem to know what dueling just for pleasure was came close to the top of the list. He only dueled when he would turn his opponent into a card at the end.

That would definitely have to stop. He wasn’t sure of why Ryou was doing it – he couldn’t read the Firestarter’s mind, only be aware of certain emotions – but it could not keep on happening. He wasn’t even certain of how Ryou did it. That would have to be changed as soon as possible.

Silently Kei slipped through the night, considering his options. He knew the first and most powerful thing he needed to do – bond to Marufuji Ryou. It wouldn’t entirely eliminate his need for a human Healer but it would help balance him. Maybe then he would understand why what he did was wrong.

Assuming that he didn’t already. Without knowing why he did it, Kei couldn’t be certain. He would have to ask that as soon as possible.

There were routes in Heartland City – in any city where Cats dwelled – known only to those of the feline persuasion, be those Fire Cats, Healer Cats, or cats who were neither. Kei strolled down one of those, pausing at one of his favorite restaurants. He would have far preferred eating with his future Firestarter, but until he could convince Ryou that he was neither a hallucination nor a common cat, this would have to do.

This particular route catered to unpartnered Cats of both types. Kei ordered himself a delicately prepared meal of fish and happily tore into it while considering his options.

I’ll have to keep at it with him. He’s stubborn. Which wasn't a bad thing at all. Kei rather liked that, in fact.

His tail swished as he considered what else to do. Ryou would need a proper Healer, a human. Were there any that could serve the purpose? Someone far better than whoever it was that was trying to court him through cruelty now.

I need a duelist for this. He won’t be happy if his Healer can’t duel. Kei knew that already. Dueling sang in Ryou’s veins along with his blood and his flames.

Unfortunately, there weren’t any duelists randomly lurking along the way between here and where they were going. Fortunately, Kei knew exactly where to find duelists. Far too late now to go looking, but come the next day…

The sooner he could locate one, the better. If he wasted too much time, it wasn’t impossible that the Dark Healer who he scented around Ryou could make his move and they could begin to bond. That would be monstrous; not a true bond in the slightest.

But Kei refused to let that happen.

Once he finished his dinner, he loped off into the night, planning for what the following day would bring.

Mizael liked being out late at night. He had a taste for rare flowers that grew best by night – there were few enough Healers who specialized in those, so he had them all to himself more than he didn’t. So he wandered through one of Heartland’s loveliest gardens, one that he’d helped grow, one that featured a great deal of evening primroses, jasmine, and wisteria.

Sometimes he saw other Healers out in the gardens. That was hardly unusual; there were plenty of Healers who enjoyed the night-blooming blossoms, even if they weren’t good at growing them. Every Healer had their specialty, after all.

He was also used to seeing Healers who brought their prospective Firestarters on courting dates to the Night Gardens. Sometimes he wondered if he would ever do that; presuming that he ever found a Firestarter or even a Fire Cat that he might want to bond to. So far, none of the ones he knew who weren’t bonded ever quite seemed right.

What he wasn’t used to seeing in the Night Gardens was a Healer that he didn’t know whose presence sent a warning tingle up his spine. The stranger wasn’t doing anything untoward; he wasn’t even looking at Mizael right now, though he surely knew Mizael was there.

This wasn’t just a strange Healer, though – this was a strange unbonded Healer. He strolled along the walkways of the garden, whispering to the blossoms in the same style that any Healer would. He paused at one twining wisteria vine and regarded it thoughtfully, tracing it with one finger, and a soft chuckle that Mizael didn’t understand.

Mizael approached carefully. This wasn’t just a Healer who was new in town. The closer he got, the more he could feel that this was also a duelist, even if he couldn’t see a deck or a duel disk on them. But a duelist’s spirit could not be hidden.

“What are you doing here?” He finally asked. “Are you new to Heartland?” He’d heard nothing from the Guild about any new Healers and they were reasonably good about letting him know who might visit his gardens.

The new Healer turned towards him. His coloring was unusual, even for Heartland. His hair was mostly a deep shade of purple that matched his eyes, though there was pink in the back as well. He wore a uniform that Mizael didn’t recognize, as purple as his hair. His left arm cocked, as if intent on battle at a breath’s notice.

“Only visiting,” the newcomer said, lips turning upward into a smile. Mizael tried to ignore the shivers that the smile sparked. This was a face that seemed crafted to smile but when he actually did so, all Mizael could think was to make it stop. “Is this your garden?”

“It’s one of the city’s,” Mizael said, reaching up to brush his fingers over the wisteria. He’d always been rather fond of it. “But I take care of it, too.”

“How nice,” the stranger agreed with a slight tilt forward of his head, too slight to really be called a nod. “It’s larger than my garden, but I have to share space at – my school.” Again that way his lips moved that invoked a smile without actually being one.

Mizael nodded; he’d been through that experience when he was at school. All the student Healers had to share a communal garden. Which wasn’t a bad idea; it helped teach co-operation. But he far preferred having his own garden to himself.

“Are you going to be visiting long?” Mizael knew he’d never been good at small talk. There were far better ways to spend one’s time, he believed.

“Unfortunately, not. I came to visit the Firestarter that I’m courting.” Again his lips curved upward. “He’s in town for a time on – business.”

Mizael nodded. Before he could ask the other for a duel, the newcomer tilted his head a bit more. “I’m terribly sorry. I’ve neglected my manners. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Yuuri.”

Mizael nodded in return. “Mizael.” He had a family name, but he preferred not to use it. It had never meant that much to him and going only by his given name felt more fitting regardless. Then he smiled. “You wouldn’t happen to be a duelist, would you?”

To Be Continued

Notes: Because I wrote this for YGO Big Bang, I will update it daily until it’s done. Starting Monday I begin GX Month, which I’m quite looking forward to.

#fanfic #ygobb2020 #higuchimon writes #ygo gx #ygo zexal #ygo arc-v #marufuji ryou #mizael #yuuri (Arc-V) #au: healer firestarter #chapters: rewards of losing

[moscato-dassti]

big post

so, here’s my first REAL attempt at tumblr.

And, just a warning, the grammar is AWFUL so please PLEASE don’t pay too much attention. I promise I’m not actually illiterate. hate that my first post (i think that’s what this is called?) is kinda a lil bit sad but what i want to talk about seems kinda tumblr-esque?

Not gonna use any names, just for privacy purposes. I’d like to remain as anonymous as possible.

I want to preface this story with things, but I’m afraid that it’s going to come across as justifying it, which I do not. But, that being said, I’m going to preface it anyway. My boyfriend is loving, caring, and kind. He has never said a single thing to me that was hurtful, and has and will never lay a finger on me. He also suffers from a lot of symptoms that are similar to depression. He doesn’t have health insurance (gotta love the US for that), so we have no way of really knowing but basically, the man has things going on in his head and he is suffering constantly. We both do. He had an absolutely awful childhood that I won’t go into out of respect for him, but basically, this year has been awful to him.

It started in March, he came up to move in with me and he was actually genuinely excited. I knew things weren’t going to be easy for him, he was moving away from all his friends and a job he loved. He transferred through his job to a different store in our town. He soon realized things weren’t going to be as great as he had hoped. The new job sucked ass, he felt alone at work and the only real social interaction he really ever got in person was from me, or when my friends were able to, he would hang out with us as well. And then, in April, he got a call that the last living person who raised him had passed away. Before he got a chance to go and visit her. He took a few days off from work that eventually turned into him quitting and spent the next month unemployed. His next job was even worse, he got fired for LITERALLY no reason at all. And so, he was in an absolutely awful place mentally. I was doing everything I could to help him. I gave him space when I needed it and affection when wanted. Finally, June comes around and our anniversary is approaching and he’s acting very distant, but I assumed it was just from everything going on. My anxiety was through the roof though. The thing that finally was so out of character that I started asking him about was when I saw him take a picture on Snapchat. He rarely uses snapchat, but when he does, he usually just sends a picture of a wall or something, but this one was a selfie. I wasn’t too suspicious at first, so I asked him who he was snapchatting, and he told me he was talking to one of my friends, which was believable, they talked about video games a lot, but it was usually, once again, over messages, So, when I asked him what about, he paused, just long enough for my heart to sink. You know, the “shit, I’m so screwed pause.” And he gave a reason that, without the pause, I would have bought, So I asked him, calmly, “can I see?” And he froze, and at that point I wished that time could also freeze. He didn’t say anything, a lump grew in my throat. And he said, “Her name is ****. I found her on Facebook.” 

I asked as many questions as I could, and from what I could find out, they never did anything physical or sexual, but he purposely didn’t tell her about our relationship and from messages I saw she was very obviously into him and he went along with it. He said he wasn’t sure how far he would’ve let it go, and they now have each other blocked because “they decided that would be best.” Or, in other terms, she only wanted to be involved romantically with my boyfriend and had no interest in being just friends. 

He said he did it because (among other many other reasons) he felt like he didn’t get enough attention from me. We had been living together, as I had said, and I spend my time waiting for him to want to spend his time with me.

So, of course, after gathering all that information, I’m crying. I feel hurt, betrayed, confused, angry, and all. But I couldn’t let myself be in that room and let it all out on him, because that wasn’t  going to solve anything. I call my friend, heaving, sobbing, and choking on tears, they barely catch any of it, but I show up at their place and I say it all again. After I’ve calmed down, I start to put together my actual thoughts.

Call me stupid or naive, but breaking up with him wasn’t top on my list. Things could have been way worse, and other than this exact instance and things that I am aware are and will always be far out of our control (mental health, for the most part), I was completely content with him. I knew things would probably never be able to be the same, but even so, he was still the guy I love and still the guy I wanted to marry.

He has always taken care of me, whether it was cleaning my room because I spent 4 months living without being able to see the floor because I could barely pull myself out of bed, or putting gas in my car at 2 am solely because I just don’t want to get out of bed. He tells me every single day, multiple times a day, that he loves me and tells me how excited he is to make me his wife one day and raise kids together. 

And so, we didn’t breakup. We stayed together. But, it’s been rough. We agreed that we both needed to be more open and honest about what we need or what we were feeling, but that hasn’t been as easy as it seemed to be. Soon after the instance, I felt like I needed to talk to people about it, because for me, even just telling them what happened helps. Even if I don’t talk about my feelings about it. After telling all my friends, started mentioning it in some sort of self-deprecating joke way to my coworkers, and long story short, I started developing feelings for the one that said he had been going through the exact same. I started looking for signs that feelings were reciprocated, and they were there. I was freaking out. On top of everything that had happened, I had fallen into a situation that was on track to becoming a physical affair of my own. The coworker was leaving soon and so I was so desperately hoping that I could just let him leave and never see him again. But, I couldn’t. On his last day, I gave him my snapchat and he added me.  We soon started having awkward small talk, mostly because of the fact that neither of us were just straight on flirting with each other but we still wanted to talk without falling into a friendzone. I tried to convince myself that I just felt friendly feelings for him. I kept up with the “being open and honest” and told my boyfriend who this person was and described him as “just a coworker that quit.” It worked for three days until I realized that if I didn’t do anything or say anything now, I’m going to live with regret, never getting to hang out with this guy after work. I told my boyfriend exactly what was up. I thought, “this is it, he’s going to tell me he was unhappy and wanted out and end things.” But, he didn’t. Instead, he told me I could still talk to him, and even see him before I leave. He wanted me to tell the coworker about my feelings, which I didn’t want to at first, but I did. He admitted that he was also interested. I told him that maybe in another life, things would have been different, but I still love my boyfriend and I chose him. We hung out once before he left, and nothing happened except a goodbye hug. I’ve barely heard from him since.

That night I got home and I laid with my boyfriend. I told him about everything that we did and what was going to happen. And he was okay with it.  I wish that I could say that solved all the problems, but take it from me, an eye for an eye is an awful way to try and solve your problems, even if it happens naturally.  About two weeks before we were going to start our new lease, we decided the town we were in was bad for us, and that the new lease probably should be put off. If we didn’t find subleasers, we were probably going to be stuck with it until December. Luckily, we found people to take over the lease immediately, and once my current lease ended, we moved back home. Things have been a little bit better, but to tell you the truth, I’ve been awful since June 16th, 2019. (our anniversary was the 14th) Staying with someone after they’ve cheated (i think?) on you is hard. The trust we had built completely collapsed to the ground. I have to constantly restrain myself from peeking on his phone and bite my tongue so I don’t ask him every time he looks at his phone who he’s talking to. I can’t put him on parole for the rest of our relationship because that isn’t how life works. But it’s constantly in the back of my mind that he’s doing it again. Every once in awhile while he’s asleep I’ll unlock his phone and go through it and I feel like shit afterwards, Like, I feel like I was on a diet and I cheated on it. I’m never going to be able to fully build back the trust I had with him until I can just let him be. I don’t WANT to feel like I need to invade his privacy but I can’t help myself. I don’t want to ask him if I can go through his phone because I don’t want him to think he’s untrustworthy.  I feel that I have exhausted every outlet and resource I have to talk about how I feel because I don’t want to hit up my friends every three weeks and tell them that the trust isn’t fully there yet. Fear consumes me almost every minute we spend away from each other. It starts out with, What if he’s cheating on me right now instead of doing XYZ? What if he does it again in the future? What if it’s with someone you know? What if he does and you never find out? and after all those questions are asked (and stay unanswered) it takes a turn to self loathing. “You’ll never actually leave him. He’ll use you until he finds someone better. You’re too easy, and people step all over you. You’re just as bad for thinking about being with your coworker.” And that’s pretty much how my life has been going lately. Some days are good, other days are bad, but most days are just okay. Improvement has been made since that day, but it seems to be plateauing and I don’t like it at all. I feel like if we went down from here it would be the end. And that’s what scares me the most. We have planned out so much in our lives. When we want to be married, when we would like to have kids, and what we want to name our kids. We talk about it more now than ever before. It’s really scary knowing that it could all just go away. I would say in an instant, but the worst part about breaking up is that it’s more often than not, a really really long, painful, and terrible process that I really don’t want to have to go through ever again. Anyway, there’s my rant. If you’re still reading this, thanks, it took me over an hour to write out. If you skipped to here, the tl:dr is that my boyfriend cheated on me, causing me to almost cheat on him, our trust was completely shattered and now I live in constant fear and self-loathing and have no more outlets to release it :-)

#story #cheating #follow #first post #relationships #love #anxiety #depression #rant #vent #follow for follow

[shitmybiwifesays]

do you have any advice for how to spot another bi girl? bc not only am I single and lonely, I am in need of a group of gay friends

From the mouth of Wife: “I have no idea how to make gay friends, I always just took yours.”

Which is true. We’ve been together so long and were together through our 20′s so we largely tend to share social circles - most of my friends at this phase in life are people I met and bonded with through work. 

So, that having been said, let’s start with ID’ing bi girls out in the wild:

The beautiful (and in this case vexsome) thing about we bi folk is that there is no rubric to who we are/what we look like. With gay and lesbian friends, while we know those stereotypes do not hold, there is an accepted “look” that people use as shorthand to seek out people in the community. This is of course ridiculous when we consider that plenty of men are snazzy dressers and plenty of girls like short hair and none of that has anything to do with how they identify or who they’re attracted to, but for the sake of this discussion, I’m pointing it out because those beacons do often attract people seeking out friends or partners in the community. 

Bi folk? We’re all over the place. Everyone is, there really is no uniform unless you’re in a rainbow onesie with a pride flag on as a cape, but with us, just because you see a girl holding hands with another girl it doesn’t automatically make her bi. See what I’m saying? We’re a little harder to spot, and biphobia in the community still runs rampant. I had a very tight group of mostly gay friends in college, and the bulk of them ridiculed my bisexuality for years as “not real.” So finding another bi girl is unfortunately a little harder to do than just finding the clique who wears Pride pins. Sometimes we still encounter biphobia from within the groups where we should feel safe. So for you, spotting a potential partner and finding friends is probably going to have to go hand in hand. Fret not - both Wife and I agree that Friends First, while oft repeated, is the best way to start a relationship. Are you a student? Look for the Gay-Straight Alliance or P-FLAG at your campus if such a thing exists. If you’re particularly industrious (and in a place where doing so is safe) feel free to start one. Pride Events can be tricky because they’re basically huge parties (and can be rife with all sorts of toxicity; see: Columbus Pride and how badly they dropped the ball in 2017) so I’d err on the side of caution there. Coffee places are great for meeting new people but require an ex amount of moxie in approaching or talking to strangers. 

The internet is, as always, the easiest way to reach out with little risk - look for LGBTQ+ message boards that discuss your city - usually you can google “XYZ City LGBT community” and turn up at least a few recommended places. A lot of websites like to list the best or safest cities for use to live in, but take those with a grain of salt - a local can tell you a lot more than a paid website can. 

Now, all of this is assuming you live in a city and not a small town, which is a whole ‘nother ball game. A scary, complicated ballgame. I grew up in tiny town, rural south Alabama/North Florida and could count the gay people I knew on one hand. It wasn’t safe to be out. I understand that the times have changed but as we all know, that doesn’t mean the backwater places have changed with them. You have an obligation to your safety first and foremost, but part of living a good life is not feeling isolated and alone. Looking into the nearest big city might be your best chance - for me, Pensacola and Jacksonville were the only ‘safe’ places growing up (and even then, not that safe). If anyone else has good suggestions to help a bi friend out, please feel free to leave them - and please know we’re here rooting for you. You can do it. There are people out there who are gonna think you hung the moon - all you gotta do is find each other. 

#the bi wives answer #Anonymous #the answers you seek

[an-aesthetic-darling]

Lost Letters

(Here is my attempt at doing a fan fiction on Miraculous, enjoy!)   

  After so much they had been through, all the stress from school, living double lives that were secret for so long, trying to fit in while saving Paris from the abnormal, then finally knowing who the other was, she disappeared.

 It wasn’t the normal ‘I’m leaving town for a few days to go do xyz, I’ll be home soon!’ Marinette had just vanished from the face of the earth, to everyone’s surprise. Her best friend hadn’t been told that her companion would be leaving, as well as her parents who were devastated at the news. But no one took it as hard as Adrien. 

Once the model had picked up the rumors that were passed around class, and then eventually announced by the teacher herself, he was at a loss of words. For the longest time, his classmates had thought that the bluette and blonde had nothing to do with each other besides the occasional throw of affections, were shocked to see how he handled the new information. 

 Adrien, though never being quite out spoken in the first place, went almost mute, only murmuring the occasional yes, no and thank you at simple questions. He walked around in a daze, his gaze far off and distant as if searching for something that could never be found again. His closest friend would try to start conversations or at the very least make him smile but all efforts were fruitless. Eventually, a few weeks later from the official announcement that Miss. Dupain Cheng was indeed gone, the entirety of the class knew not to bother the young Agreste, even Chloe, who shamelessly threw herself at him a few months prior now left him alone.

As weeks bled into months, all that was on the boy’s mind was where did the girl he know and had come to admire go? Adrien came weekly to the Dupain-Cheng household, to converse with Mari’s mother and father how he understood how they were feeling and tried to help. Her mother was always so welcoming to the model, recognizing him from the magazine clippings that hung in her absent daughters room. Marinette’s father appreciated that at least one person, no matter their relation to their beloved child, would come in to help them cope with their baby’s absence. 

On one of these visits however, something odd had happened. While Adrien and Marinette’s father conversed over a warm cup of tea, Mrs. Dupain told the blonde that he was welcome to look in their daughter’s room, just to have a feel that she was still out there but warned not to mess with anything. After the tea was finished, the couple went back down into the bakery for the afternoon customers while he climbed up the stairs and through the trap door into his lady’s bedroom.

Everything looked untouched, the bed neatly made with the pillows in exactly the place Mari knew would be comfortable to her. Rough sketches littered the floor and desk, some in better shape then others. The curtains were open which let in some light to the darkened room but it was clear that no matter how the room was arranged, dust still clung to the bookshelves and that the one who kept them tidy would never touch them again.

Adrien looked around the room with some nostalgia, he had come up here before both as himself and Chat, then the visits became easier when their identities were revealed. He moved around the room carefully, as not to disturb anything when something caught his eye. Stationed on the corner of the neglected desk, sat a small wooden box, that unlike the other items around it, wasn’t covered in a layer of dust. When he came close enough to grab the box and open it to reveal its contents, he did it with upmost care, like the trinket would crumble if he handled it wrong. 

Inside were letters, not just one or two but enough to have to be squeezed in to make them all fit. The young man took a letter out of the box and read the front where the address should be. The heading was ‘Open When You Wonder How Much I Love You.’ His heart pounded in his chest when he tore open the seal and read the piece of paper tucked inside. He could almost hear her talking when he read-

“Dear Adrien,                                                                                                             I’m sorry I had to leave without a proper note to explain. When you discover these letters, it will be an undetermined amount of time since my absence had started to become prevalent. As you read this, I already know you would doubt my loyalties and affections to you seeing as I couldn’t explain my start of adventure. I’m in another country as you read this, studying different fashion lines and cultures to have a good idea of what I want my personal mark on be in the fashion industry. I know you were aware of my desire to make clothes and to become a designer so this wouldn’t be out of place as my expeditions would lead for me to broaden my knowledge on the subject. Mon minou, I know you must be upset or hate me for leaving without a trace but even though it may seem different, my love, adoration and trust still abide in you. You are still my Chat Noir, hero of Paris and of my heart, who makes those dreaded cat puns that never seem to cease making me smile. Oh how I’ll miss your side comments and constant seeking of affection. Though you have the side we kept hidden for so long, you are also still the Adrien Agreste I know and love. You are a wonderful person, considerate and kind and motivated to help someone even if it is out of expense of other things important to you. I never expected that the two people I tore myself to pieces to keep in my life were one person, but when the truth was revealed, I couldn’t have been more elated. I wish you all the luck in the world, for your career, friendships and relationships that will be soon to come in my absence. My love for you will never fade, no matter how big a distance we have between us, please know that. As you will probably see, you have more moments that I have written for in advance, in case you’ll need those words of encouragement to get you through a tough spot or just to brighten your day. I miss you with terrible heart ache but know that one day, I’ll come home to see you again. Take my adoration with good regards, and with a heavy heart, I’ll close this letter off.

                                                                  With Loving Regards and Well Wishes,

                                                                                       Marinette Dupain-Cheng”

The young Agreste was stunned to read the entirety of the letter, looking over the words again and again to make sure his eyes weren’t deceiving him. He picked out all the letters who were specially written to him and looked at them all. The headings differed from ‘Open When It’s Too Early In The Morning’ to ‘Open When It’s Snowing’. When he got to the last note addressed to him, the writing was short but straight to the point.

“Dear Adrien,                                                                                                                 I know this is the final letter that is meant for you but please take care of my most prized possession in my absence. As there hasn’t been as many akuma attacks as there used to, I decided to leave this behind. Safe guard it with your life, and make sure it’s well cared for. In my desk drawer, there is a small velvet box with embroidered hearts on it. Open the box and see what I mean for you to take care of. I hope this doesn’t over step my boundaries but do this as a promise to me.

                                                                               Take Care and See You Soon,

                                                                                       Marinette Dupain-Cheng”

He followed the written instructions and opened the drawer carefully, digging through some papers until he found the velvet box. The blonde put the sacred item holder on the desk top and looked it over, just to make sure nothing would spring at him if he opened it. After making sure it was okay to touch, the lid of the box came off and there sat inside were Marinette’s most treasured and safe guarded possession: The earrings her Miraculous was attached to.

#AAAND DONE #finally #my first fanfic #miraculous ladybug #fanfiction #idek how to tag this #give me props #I wanted to do this for awhile

[real-life-pine-tree]

Arc-V Aftermath: Lunalight Serenade (15/26)

When all is said and done, things have quickly recovered in the four dimensions. But when weird things start happening, the Yu-Salad Boys and the Bracelet Girls quickly realize they have some loose ends to fix. Co-written with @violetganache42​.

WARNING: Dub names will be featured in the story.

"Why, Miss Celina, is that you?" Yuri asked, holding an invisible hand. "Or am I speaking to a disguised angel who became a prettier version of the woman I love?"

Dennis chuckled. "That's your best line?" he asked. "That sounds like something Yuto would say."

Yuri let out a frustrated sound. "You are quite right," he said, flopping onto his bed. "Not even I could make that line sound perfect!"

You know how, on the day Yuri got his hair cut and new clothes, he'll put his plan into motion the next day? Yeah, about that. It never happened…yet.

For a while now, he has been practicing his butt off in his and Dennis' shared dorm, trying to be charming while retaining his usual traits. Why else would his new shirt say "I WISH YOU WERE AS INTERESTING AS MY PLANTS" on it? The key factor to this issue is the complimenting one-liners. It has been frustrating him because he can't seem to find the perfect lines to say to Celina. He's got the looks and the personality, but why can't he come up with what to say? If he was trying to be like Yuto, then he was definitely succeeding at doing that.

"What's wrong with being more like Yuto?" Dennis asked. "He is rather good with the ladies."

"Except I refuse to stoop to his level!" Yuri explained. "I want to be more like my true self, not some old-fashioned knight!" He groaned. "If only Leo Akaba taught me how to treat ladies with high respect!"

"Why don't you ask him?" Dennis realized. "He did get married."

Why didn't he think about that earlier in the first place? He was so caught up in his frustration that he never bothered asking the one person who taught him how to use etiquette. He bolted up from his bed and turned to face Dennis, telling him that he is a genius; of course, the Shaddoll user replied it is a smart move he came up. With this in mind, the two left their dorm and headed out the male Obelisk Blue dorm building before running towards Leo's office.

Meanwhile, Leo was staring at ARC-V, thinking about something. He was most likely considering about destroying it after almost fusing the four dimensions back into one just to get Ray back. At the same time, however, he also wanted to reprogram it to use it for a different yet helpful purpose; after all, he did prevent the Yu-Salad and Energy Girls from being erased from existence, with some help from Yugi and Téa. He knows how the machine works by heart and still has the blueprints to make any adjustments if he did want to keep it. This may be his toughest decision yet.

What isn't a tough decision is helping Yuri out as he heard a knock on the door and a voice saying he and Dennis wanted to talk to him. He walked towards the double doors and opened them, letting the Fusion duo into his office.

"Hello Yuri and Dennis," Leo said. "What brings you here?"

"I wish to learn how to charm a girl," Yuri answered. "Since my trusted friend here informed me that you were once married, perhaps you can teach me your ways."

"You fell for a girl?" Leo asked. "I'm rather surprised. I didn't know you were interested in dating."

"I thought so too," Yuri agreed. "But I recently discovered I have feelings for Miss Celina. I know she is part of your daughter, but-"

"It's okay," Leo interrupted. "I have come to accept that Celina and the other three girls are not Ray, so you do not need my blessing."

"But sir, Yuri only wishes to learn how to make girls fall for him," Dennis clarified.

It was true. When the two and Sora left the barber shop, a lot of girls were attracted to him. Yuri wished to be a charming and gorgeous individual—obviously not being just like his XYZ counterpart—and maintain those qualities to develop the ability to woo girls based on his personality and looks, especially Celina.

"Very well, Yuri," Leo said. "I did teach you all about etiquette when you were younger. I suppose it's time you learn how to properly talk to girls."

"Thank you, Professor," Yuri said.

Later that evening, Team Lancer had just finished their training session for the day. Sylvio, Celina, and Aura have all gotten along pretty well throughout the past few days. Their developing bond with each other proved to be useful in establishing teamwork, which will be essential for the tournament.

"I must say, Celina, you're an amazing team leader," Sylvio said.

"Yeah," Aura agreed. "With your help, we might be able to win the whole tournament!"

On the first day of training, Celina agreed to be the team's leader as part of a decision. She has shown to be useful with her leadership skills ever since, helping out her teammates with determining strategies by utilizing their respective special summoning techniques and using their monsters' effects to aid one another for battle. She was also a headstrong individual, showing that Team Lancer will never give up and not back down from a challenge. Aura was right; with Celina's determined and loyal leadership, they may have a chance in claiming victory.

"Thanks, you guys," Celina happily said, happy to be her real self around true friends.

Just then, a notification alarm went off from Celina's Duel Disk. She checked it and on the screen showed a text from Yuri, much to her annoyance.

Meet me at Heartland Park tonight for a duel you certainly won't forget. -💜

"Seriously?" Celina asked. "He's signing his messages through hearts now?"

"But Celina, I think he's asking you out on a date," Sylvio guessed.

"Yeah right," Celina said. "He probably just wants to annoy me again."

"But if it is a date, you can't go looking like that," Aura said.

When Aura stated that, it was clear she had an outfit for Celina. She invited the Lunalight user to her house to show her what she can wear for the date with Yuri. She browsed through her closet in search for the clothes she had in mind while her friend looked around the bedroom, noticing how nice it was. About a minute later, the Ritual user found the clothes still nicely hung up; she placed it on her bed to see that it is a modified version of Celina's Duel Academy uniform.

"Where did you get this?" Celina asked, picking up her now-plain uniform jacket.

"Yugo gave it to me," Aura explained. "He figured you might need it again, so I changed it so it doesn't look like a uniform anymore."

This was actually nice of Yugo and Aura to do this for Celina. She hasn't worn her old uniform since she first met Zuzu. Seeing that her jacket no longer has the designs on it, it will fit her idea of starting a new life rather well. She took her uniform off the bed and headed to the bathroom to get changed. Once it was on, she looked in the mirror to see her reflection; it corresponded with her shoulder-length, bob-shaped hair, basically helping emphasize her new life. She grabbed her usual clothes and headed back to Aura's bedroom to see what her companion thinks.

"You look absolutely amazing," Aura said. "But that's not saying much because you always look amazing."

Celina smiled at that compliment. "Thanks Aura," she said. Aura felt like a younger sister to her, especially during moments like this.

Celina was wished good luck on the date as she headed out the door and started walking to Heartland Park. While heading there, she couldn't stop thinking about what Yuri was scheming this time. How he is going to annoy her this evening? She knows he'll try to tick her off again, like he always does: setting her up to "lose", bragging about his Predaplants, engaging in yet another heated argument, and teleporting with his Violet Flash Spell card. It never ends; she wants this cycle of madness to stop because she has found a better dueling rival and wants to inform him about it, but knowing Yuri, anything troublesome was bound to happen.

Eventually, Celina entered through the front gate of Heartland Park, trying to find him. With his cabbage-shaped hairstyle and tacky attire, it should be easy for her to find him from a mile away. She strolled down the pathway to look for him, but surprisingly, he wasn't there. That's strange; she knows what he looks like and must know where he is. Then again, he didn't specify a specific location in the park in the sent text. An annoyed groan escaped her mouth as she continued walking. She soon spotted a figure from afar; it must be Yuri. She picked up the pace a little to ask him what this ordeal is really about.

"There you are!" Celina exclaimed. "You better have a reason for bringing me out...here..."

She noticed Yuri's haircut looks different from his cabbage style; it was more pushed back with a few stray streaks and even had bangs. His clothes were also more causal than his regular uniform. There was no way this was the same Yuri… Was it?

"Hello Miss Celina," Yuri said. "I'm glad you could make it this lovely evening."

Celina snapped out of her trance. "Don't try to sway me with sweet talk!" she said, taking out her Duel Disk. "I came here to duel you!"

"Well what a pity," Yuri said. "It seems I forgot my deck and Duel Disk."

Sylvio and Aura guessed correctly; this was going to be a date and Yuri practically tricked her. If he specified this in the text, she wouldn't have brought her deck and Duel Disk with her. However, for a tomboy who grew up in Duel Academy, she was confused on what was he pulling.

"You brought me all the way over here to trick me into dating you?!" Celina asked. "Give me one reason why I shouldn't strangle you right now!"

"Of course," Yuri said. With the wave of his hand, he materialized a single rose. "But for now, you should enjoy this peaceful night." As he said that, he placed the rose in Celina's hair.

Celina blushed a tiny bit as the rose was placed through her indigo hair strands while still upset at the fact she was tricked by Yuri. She should have known something this would happen, but she reluctantly agreed to go on this date despite the appearance and apparent personality change.

"Fine," Celina said. "But if you pull any funny business, I'm bringing out Cat Dancer!"

"Don't worry, Miss Celina," Yuri said. "You won't have to resort to such plans."

Speaking of plans, Yuri mentioned that he made reservations at a restaurant. Their table was outside, so they were going to have a moonlit dinner. Although it was temptingly interesting, Celina knew what moonlit dinners always meant. Correction: everyone knows this cliché. My god, if spaghetti's involved, there better not be a kiss while we're eating it, she complained in her head.

As the two walked over to the restaurant, Yuri tried to reach for Celina's hand. "What are you doing?" she asked, pulling her hand back.

Yuri was surprised by the reaction. "Goodness, Miss Celina," he said. "I only want to hold your hand."

"What for?" Celina asked. "Are you trying to copy my fingerprints?"

Yuri chuckled a bit. "Of course not," he answered. "Are you not aware of basic dating knowledge?"

Of course she doesn't. Most of Celina's life was spent at Duel Academy, proving her strength to Leo. She developed no social skills at that time aside from being more open to Sylvio, Aura, her counterparts, and the other Lancers. And for that matter, she hardly has the proper skills to go out on a date. This is a girl who doesn't know how to act like one, and Yuri decided to trick her into a date.

Celina's silence pretty much answered Yuri's question. "You must learn how to relax," he said. He held Celina's hand, intertwining his fingers with hers. "I would say you should let your hair down, but it seems you already have."

She asked to herself, It took him this long to realize I cut my hair? It was clear she still wasn't buying what Yuri was doing. He was attempting to be funny while mixing in some flirting, but it wasn't working.

"So you finally noticed my new hairstyle," Celina said.

"That is incorrect," Yuri said. "I noticed it during the festival a few days ago. It certainly is a better fit for you. Much better than that ponytail you initially had."

Celina sighed, half tempted to roll her eyes, when she notices two people driving. Upon closer inspection, she realized it was Yugo and Rin who were driving on their now-completed Duel Runners. From the looks of things, they were driving by the restaurant when they spotted their Fusion counterparts.

"Hi Celina!" Yugo called out as he and Rin zoomed by. "Just going on a date with my amazing and beautiful girlfriend!"

The customers sitting outside of the restaurant stared at Yugo as he and Rin drove by. His voice was loud enough to attract a few indoor customers too. Celina was happy to spot him yet she was wondering if he does this all the time. Yuri explained that the first time he shouted to the world about his girlfriend was a few days ago during the festival and tournament sign-ups. It was actually a good thing he explained this because she, Sylvio, and Aura arrived a bit later than the others to register their team. Suddenly, he almost forgot about their dinner plans, so it was good timing of the Synchro duo to zoom by on their Duel Runners.

"So what are your dinner plans?" Celina asked.

"Nothing special," Yuri answered. "Only the finest salads the restaurant has to offer."

Salads?… Just…… Salads?…… Celina knew there has to be other meals Yuri got, but as long as spaghetti isn't part of the plan, she was relieved to hear that. Don't get her wrong, she does enjoy having spaghetti, but on a night like this, the last thing she needed was a Lady and the Tramp cliché being pulled, especially with him of all people. The two entered the restaurant and approached its host and hostess, with Yuri telling them about the reservations he made.

"Of course, sir," the host said. "Right this way."

The two followed the host to a reserved table outside of the restaurant. They were handed their menus and told their waitress will be on her way. As they looked over the different drinks, appetizers, entrées, sides, and desserts, Celina gazed upon the layout of how the restaurant looked. It was well decorated with plants and paintings to help give an Italian feel to it. Even the food and drinks were Italian-based: pizza, pasta, endless soup, salad, and breadsticks, chicken meatballs, Italian soda, etc. She wasn't sure why this place felt familiar to her; did Yuya and Zuzu went there with their families for dinner one night while the Fusion duo was still fused with their counterparts? She's been so caught up in her new life that she honestly doesn't remember.

"Yuri, does this restaurant seem familiar?" Celina asked.

"Of course it is," Yuri answered. "The Sakakis and Boyles came here to celebrate the return of Yuya's father."

Now it was becoming clearer and easier for her to remember. She recognized the details she just saw and knew she had seen them before when she was in Zuzu's shared mind. A minute later, their waitress showed up.

"What can I get you tonight?" the waitress asked.

"One of your legendary salads," Yuri answered. "What would you like to have, Miss Celina?"

"Uh..." Celina said. "Just a slice of pizza." She quickly glanced at Yuri. "And a small salad."

"Very well," the waitress said. "Your meal will be available in a few minutes."

As the waitress went to the kitchen to place their orders, Celina couldn't help but wonder why Yuri looked and acted different. He still called her "Miss Celina", so at least there was something that was still the same. Based on the shirt he was wearing, she can tell he still has his Predaplants back at Duel Academy. Another unchanged trait. However, his tone sounded more polite than what she was used to. As a matter of fact, a huge portion of Yuri transformed, from his fashion sense to his…questionable gentlemanly charm. She can't stop thinking about why he was doing this or what his intention was.

"Hmm?" Yuri mused, noticing Celina was staring at him. "What is it, Miss Celina?"

"Why are you doing this?" Celina asked.

"Doing what?" Yuri asked.

"This," Celina repeated, gesturing to Yuri. "With your even-layered haircut, plant shirt, and weird behavior. This isn't like you."

"Perhaps this is the me I wish to be," Yuri said. "I feel terrible with what had occurred and I wish to redeem myself. In fact, I don't even think Yuya's father completely trusts me."

Yuri wasn't wrong about what he was saying. Although Zarc's darkness that once clouded his judgement was gone and had a change of heart when Yuya was revived, he hasn't been fully redeemed. Heck, he hasn't gotten an opportunity to make amends for his past actions until today. He wants to be a better person and he figured this evening was a good time to start.

"But then I saw you, Miss Celina," Yuri continued. "You have been changing your image as a way to figure out who you really are. You even got rid of that rather unnecessary ponytail. So I realized that if you're changing yourself for the better, I should do the same thing."

What Celina doesn't know is the true reason why Yuri was doing this, so it was very smart of him to not mention it to her. Deep down, he had a feeling his new persona will leave an effect on her and win her heart from Sylvio in no time. No doubt this plan will start working its charm shortly.

Several minutes later, the waitress brought out their dinner: two salads and a slice of pizza. Yuri thanked her before he and his date began eating their meals.

As the two ate, Celina glanced at Yuri. "You think I look better like this?" she asked.

"Certainly," Yuri answered once he swallowed a forkful of salad. "Why else would I untie your hair?"

"To annoy me," Celina guessed.

"True, but I always did find that ponytail distracting," Yuri said. "So when I found out you cut it off, it was such a relief. Your new hair frames your face beautifully."

Celina blushed at his comment. She never expected Yuri to compliment her new hairstyle, so this was saying something. Her main goal was to restart her life anew after she was separated back into her own body, not to flatter boys. With this still in her head, she quickly regained her composure and snapped out of her brief trance, keeping her claim about focusing on her fresh beginning. Unfortunately, Yuri noticed her reaction; this was a sign that his plan may be starting to work.

"What's wrong, Miss Celina?" Yuri asked. "Are you not used to people saying how beautiful you are?"

At this point, this may be the first time Celina agreed with him, but she was obviously trying not to show it. Certain people usually compliment her on her dueling skills, so hearing this coming out from Yuri was something that doesn't happen everyday.

"No..." Celina admitted, glancing down.

"But you are beautiful," Yuri said, reaching over to cup Celina's chin and make her look at him. "And a beautiful creature such as yourself should never be so tense."

Why should she not be tense? Celina wasn't like most girls her age because of her old lifestyle. She was still getting adjusted to living a simple teenage life and she needed some time to adapt herself into this. A realization soon surfaced in her head; she didn't want to admit this to Yuri, but she may be thinking that he looked rather handsome. She actually liked how his hair came out. Wait... If Zuzu, Rin, and Lulu loved Yuya, Yugo, and Yuto's hair, that means she is too. That could only mean one thing: Ray also must have secretly liked Zarc's hair as well. Does that mean Celina is starting to fall for Yuri?

Yuri noticed Celina's dazed expression. "Are you alright?" he asked.

"You really think I'm beautiful?" Celina asked, noting that she didn't feel like this when Sylvio called her by that word. She tried her hardest to maintain herself, but a tiny amount of daze kept slipping out onto her face.

"Of course," Yuri answered. He retreated his hand. "But we must not let this lovely meal go to waste."

Celina obliged and the two continued eating their dinner. Hopefully, the salad and pizza can help her try to keep her mind off this discussion; nevertheless, she can't stop feeling this unusual emotion. She found Sylvio to be a better dueling rival than Yuri, but the Predaplant user was proving himself to be a charming individual… Much like Yuto, but with his own quirks? She can't even think straight anymore; she notified him that she'll be using the bathroom, with him responding with an "Okay". She hussled her way through the crowded restaurant to the female restrooms, where she splashed some water on her face to try and wake herself up from her delusional state.

"What is wrong with me?!" Celina asked aloud. "How can I let myself fall for that guy?! He's still that same cabbage-haired psycho who carded a lot of people!"

She instantly remembered that his hair no longer resembled a cabbage, the same hair that temporarily attracted her. Fortunately, there was no one in the bathroom, so she cupped her hands over her mouth to let out the biggest scream she can conjure up without having the employees and customers hear it through the wall. Once that was out of her system, she and her reflection stared at each other, baffled at the situation she was in. She wasn't sure how to get out of it; this may be a rare moment where she may need help.

Back outside at the table, Yuri let out a bit of glee, obviously not going overboard with it like Yugo. He talked to himself about how his plan was truly coming along. "Goodness, Miss Celina," he said. "You must learn how to control that temper."

With a slightly cunning tone as he spoke, he schemed about how her temper will soon be her own undoing once she falls for him, officially proving that he will be the one for her and not Sylvio. Never in his life has he had to deal with someone who shared the same romantic interests as him; it was practically criminal! Surely, Celina's reaction to this before using the bathroom would be strong evidence to use once his plan succeeds.

Meanwhile, in the ladies room, Celina had contacted Aura through her Duel Disk. "And then he started calling me beautiful!" the indigo-haired girl said. "Now he's making me feel weird!"

"Oh, relax," Aura reassured. "You're in love. You should embrace it, especially since your past lives were destined to meet again."

"But I don't love Yuri!" Celina insisted. "He might have changed his hair into a more attractive style, but he's still the same flamboyant psycho!"

"Sounds like you really are falling for him," Aura said. "Don't fight fate. If you two were meant to be together, go for it."

But how can Celina fight fate if she knows it's greatly contradicting what Aura said? This was overwhelmingly stressful and frustrating for Celina to cope with. Just then, an idea popped into her head, one that suggested her try something out.

"Thanks Aura," Celina said. "I'll keep that in mind."

The two ended the webcam chat on their Duel Disks before Celina sighed. She couldn't believe she was actually considering to do this. There was only one way for her to truly know if she is in love with Yuri…and that is to kiss him. She did whatever she could to not throw up from the sheer thought of it. Her plan was to take him back to Heartland Park and find a spot where they can be alone and kiss him; if she feels sparks, she let Aura know she was right. It was basically a battle of fate vs. choice as of now. There was no way to know for sure if this was real love or not until she finds out for herself.

She exited the bathroom and made her way back to the outside table where she and Yuri were sitting at. At the same time, the Predaplant user had already put back on his façade, one that Celina was oblivious about. "Shall we continue our dinner?" he asked.

"Of course," Celina answered.

The two progressed with their dinner now that Celina was slightly calmer. As she took a bite of her pizza, she seemed more rational with her thoughts and could think clear than she did earlier. All she has to do is endure this date so that she can initiate her plan. All she has to do is trust her instincts and make sure she doesn't fall for any of his flattery. Then again, what will Sylvio say about what happened tonight? He didn't seem to mind her being asked out by Yuri, so who knows.

Some time later, the two finished their meal. "So how much was my dinner?" Celina asked, about to take out her wallet.

"It's okay," Yuri said, taking out his Duel Academy student card. "Dinner is on me."

Celina completely forgot that Duel Academy students have cards and can earn points throughout their curricular, which can be used instead of regular money. Her arms went back to their original position after Yuri said he'll pay for dinner.

"Right..." Celina said. "I forgot about that."

"It's alright," Yuri said. "After all, a true gentleman always pays for the full meal."

A true gentleman? Sounds more like an exaggeration, she thought to herself as the waitress came by with the bill. After she placed it on the table, Yuri handed her his student card to pay for their meals. She then headed to the restaurant's debit/credit/student card scanner to print out his receipt.

"So, Miss Celina, are you looking forward to the upcoming tournament?" Yuri asked.

That was a question Celina could answer. "Of course I am," she answered. "Team Lancer is gonna kick some butt."

Yuri chuckled in response. "Oh, I wouldn't be sure about that," he said. "Team Obelisk is training hard for our debut, especially with our new idea of entertainment."

"Are you going to scare the crowd with your creepy plants?" Celina jokingly asked.

Yuri knows a sarcastic tone when he hears one and simply replied that it was going to be a surprise, so that means she was going to wait until the day of the tournament to find out what the surprise is.

"Alright," Celina said. "But you better not pull any funny business."

The waitress returned with Yuri's card, his receipt, and a pen to sign it and tip her. After putting his card away and looking at the total amount for the Fusion duo's dinner, Yuri gave her an 18% tip before exiting the restaurant with Celina to carry on with their date.

Celina let out a sigh. "Are you feeling alright?" Yuri asked.

"We should head back to Heartland Park," Celina suggested.

"What for...?" Yuri asked.

"It's a rare peaceful night," Celina explained. "I want to enjoy it."

"Very well," Yuri said. "We can spend some time there."

The two made their back to Heartland Park to spend the rest of their date there. Celina wasn't kidding when she said this night was rarely peaceful; there wasn't a single cloud in the sky as the sun nearly done setting, with the full moon beginning to rise, casting its luminescence all over the city. While walking down the park's pathway, Celina spotted a hill with a tree on top of it, saying that they should hang out underneath the tree for a while. Yuri agreed and the two traveled up the hill, making themselves comfortable in the tree's shade.

"You certainly know a lot about the sky," Yuri commented.

"I did some astronomy classes back in Duel Academy," Celina recalled. "As a Duelist who uses Lunalights, I wanted to learn about the night sky so I can bring out the best in my duels."

"How interesting," Yuri said. "And this evening does seem lovely."

"That's nothing," Celina said. "Check this out." She lightly touched her forehead. "I activate my Skill: Natural Energy Burst."

Celina's En Moons marking began to glow cyan beneath her bangs, causing the moon to look brighter. During the past few days, she and her counterparts recently discovered that they can utilize their Skills outside of a duel by harnessing the energy of their respective symbols; in Celina's case, she can channel lunar energy.

"So you learned to master your new power," Yuri said. "How impressive."

"Zuzu and Rin can do the same thing with their markings," Celina explained. "Zuzu can make flowers bloom in her presence, while Rin conquers windstorms."

"What about Lulu?" Yuri asked.

"I'm not really sure," Celina admitted. "But songbirds seem to fly near her whenever she sings."

Celina never got the chance to fully see Lulu's power because she heard she had to get her spinal plates surgically and has to be in a wheelchair once she recovers. However, she did remember seeing the songbirds fly around in this vicinity earlier this week. It also reminded her of the sleepover at her XYZ counterpart's house where she, Zuzu, and Rin heard her sing a melody back when they were just learning of what their markings can do. She also admitted that she has a nice singing voice.

"Lulu really is a beautiful singer," Celina recalled. "Almost like a siren."

"A siren?" Yuri asked. "That must sound annoying."

"Not that siren!" Celina corrected, turning her head to face Yuri. "A siren from Greek myth..."

As Celina's looked at Yuri's face, her eyes were glued onto the him, stuck in a really strong stare. The two soon realize that they are starting to fall for each other, with the brighter moon helping to bring out their best features. Celina developed thoughts in her head that maybe she was wrong about Yuri; sure, he may have carded so many people, but that was because he was given orders by Leo to do so. With the Interdimensional War over and the incarnations officially separated, it was actually nice to know he was seeking redemption. He obviously wasn't the best dueling rival, but he might as well be suitable enough to be a romantic interest.

In Celina's point-of-view, not only was she drawn by his new hairstyle, but also his eyes. Originally fuchsia, they were now neon green to match Starving Venom's eyes. She also noticed his slitted pupils; they usually don't resemble a dragon or a snake's pupils, but Yuri seemed to be genuinely in love with her. It was nice to see her in her old Duel Academy uniform, albeit the plain red jacket, and admired her new hairstyle too, but he can't keep his mind off of the glowing marking on her forehead. The cyan luminosity went rather well with her indigo hair and the moon's brightness strengthened her beauty.

"My god..." Yuri said, placing his hand on Celina's cheek. "I never noticed how lovely and elegant you can be."

"And... I guess you're not as bad as I thought," Celina replied as she leaned in.

Were they going to kiss? It definitely looks like it, but since it was their first one, they felt nervous about it. They weren't sure who was going to make the first move until—out of desperation—Celina ultimately locked lips with Yuri, catching him off guard. He was in the middle of preparing himself to kiss her, so it was quite startling to see her pull something like that. Wait, startling is longer becoming the right word to describe this scenario. It became more astounding, more satisfying, more pleasing. He then caved in and the duo ended up exchanging kisses.

Celina moaned slightly as Yuri started stroking her spine. She responded by reaching up to caress his hair with one hand, tugging lightly on the carefully-layered purple and pink locks. He must have enjoyed this feeling because he nipped on her lower lip. The kiss was slow and gentle, the two savoring every minute of it.

They separated the kiss to get some breath, knowing their plans have backfired. Celina wanted to prove she doesn't harbor feelings for Yuri when learning she does. Looks like fate wins this round, but what about him? Wasn't his intention to win her heart? Yes, but it was because he was jealous of Sylvio, believing he was in a relationship with her, but during their kiss, he came to see that the two developed a great friendship with each other, meaning his jealousy got the best of him over nothing. It was kind of embarrassing when you consider the crazy stuff people do for love, but it doesn't matter to him right now.

Yuri was about to say something, but he couldn't speak, only blushing heavily. "What's wrong?" Celina asked.

Yuri cleared his throat. "N-Nothing," he stammered. "You're just..." He cleared his throat again. "...an amazing kisser."

Something about him was peculiar, but in a good way. His nervousness was growing by the second, giving him a seemingly dorky personality. In truth, he was always this way ever since he was a kid. He embraced his strong talent and skills, but his façade of not minding the loneliness was just a mask to hide the fact he never had real friends. Everyone used to fear him as they watched him walk down the halls, unaware that he was incredibly lonesome and wanted some company. This was the first time he not only got to truly connect with someone, but also reveal his real self. Celina noted on how cute his sudden personality change was.

"So this is the real you," Celina said.

Yuri simply turned his head away, too shy to even speak. "Oh, come on," Celina said. "What happened to that guy who always praised Leo Akaba?"

Yuri remembered that time back at Duel Academy when he talked to Celina about Leo, rambling on how he idolizes him, only for him to almost get sliced by her Duel Disk, leaving him with a stoic expression as he ducked. He smiled softly at the fond memory.

"I...only made friends with people through Leo," Yuri admitted. "Thanks to him, I met Dennis and Sora. I always felt comfortable around them, but..."

"Not like this?" Celina asked.

He shook his head "No" and explained how growing up friendless forced him to make it look like he was okay and didn't mind the loneliness when, in reality, it didn't.

"So you're an insecure young teen who hides his tears through smiles," Celina commented. "Kind of like a certain tomato-haired performer."

Is she referring to Yuya? Well, aside from him being a lot goofier, friendlier, and more of a performer than Yuri, it appears that she was right about this comparison. Perhaps the two boys aren't so different after all and he never knew all this time until this very moment

"You're right," Yuri realized. "I really am a lot like Yuya Sakaki."

"And you saw how he was able to overcome his issues," Celina said. "Maybe you can do the same."

"I'll try," Yuri said, his gaze focused on the ground. "But I'm not sure if people would actually like me."

Celina placed her hand on Yuri's cheek, making him look at her. "You'll do great," she said. "People might actually like this new, undiscovered side of you."

This was the first time Yuri was flattered by her compliment. All his life, he grew up from a disguised insecure boy to a former Obelisk Force soldier with high nobility, but now that everything is peaceful, he should also engage in a new lifestyle, one that makes him comfortable. He'll still have his etiquette, although it did sound relieving to break free from his shell and begin a fresh start. Yuri rarely had a naturally calm smile, so seeing him form a small grin on his face made Celina happy. For the rest of their date, the two stayed snuggled up next to each other, watching the brighter-than-usual moon ascend into the clear and cloudless night sky with stars appearing in scattered places. It was a rarely peaceful night indeed. A night that the Fusion duo will never forget.

#Arc V Aftermath #yugioh arc v #Yuya Sakaki #Zuzu Boyle #Yuzu Hiragi #FruitShipping #Yuto (arc v) #Lulu Obsidian #Ruri Kurosaki #FallenAngelShipping #Yugo (arc v) #Rin (arc v) #AppleShipping #Yuri (arc v) #Celina (arc v) #Serena (arc v) #PredatorShipping

[itsjayyyy]

July 24, 2019 2:19 pm

Have I studied like I said I would? No. Am I in dire need of an update? Yes. Looks like there’s only one option.

okay so I have to go all the way back to june 26th, huh? Well rose REALLY didn’t take the talk about her finances well. She acted as if I was still just mad at her over memorial day, as if she wasn’t a massive burden on our parents. See that’s the difference between rose and I; when I see that I’m a burden on someone else I remove myself from their life so that I don’t hurt them, but rose just doesn’t give a fuck. She’ll be a leech for her entire life and not even bat an eye. Anyways that’s not the point. She wouldn’t say it to my face, but clearly she heard what I had to say. Apparently iris told me that rose was shocked; nobody had ever told her that before. Which is surprising to me, why would mom and dad and iris all tell me about how tired they were of rose being a mess but not say it to her face???? I swear I’m the only person with a spine in this family.

Anyways rose plans to move out in september now, and shortly after she announced that, mom and dad made plans to move back to michigan in november. I haven’t been talking to rose, but I really hope that she sees the direct relationship between the time that she’s moving out to the time that they’re moving out. Since she’s making progress towards fixing her finances, I’d say that issue is a closed case now.

But really, I never looked down on her for her life being a mess. To me, you can do whatever; get a college degree, not get a college degree, work minimum wage, make six figures, none of it really matters to me. I only care that you treat me with respect, treat me like a friend. My issue with her, and not just on memorial day, has been that she doesn’t listen. I told her that on my birthday this year, three months ago, and no change. Memorial day just served to reinforce the idea that I’m just a side character in life to her. She tried to twist it and say “you’re making me choose between you and my boyfriend” which is a load of shit, I’m asking that you DON”T choose between us and rather treat us equally. Or at least, I dunno, say one word to me when the three of us are together so that I know that you still acknowledge me. Or I dunno, maybe not invite your boyfriend to family events when the rest of the family hasn’t explicitly invited him?

Iris has been in town since the whole issue with rose. I hung out with her a few times, but I never saw rose. Iris has told me a few things. I knew that, a while ago, peter proposed to rose and rose broke up with him, for four hours, before she asked him to take her back. He said no, so she bought him an xbox and (according to iris) some weed, because rose said “he can’t say no to me when he’s high.” I really want to say that she meant saying no to her asking for him to take her back. I really want to say that she didn’t rape him. But I can’t. I can’t even say that those four hours were just so that she could think, knowing that she’s cheated on every boyfriend she’s ever had. Honestly I don’t think I can ever look at her the same. Iris wants to give her the benefit of the doubt, saying “we don’t know if she raped him” but I’m not gonna give her that just because she’s a girl, or my sister. Those words came out of her own mouth, after all.

On Saturday, when I got off work, iris and I met up because we planned to see rose at the mall. Iris was leaving on sunday, and she wanted to get a group pic of us. Frankly I can’t stand that iris, despite nonstop talking about how rose is becoming more and more toxic and manipulative, still wants to be on good terms with her. But then iris explained, how when she first moved up to chicago, she thought she’d visit later and see everyone as usual. But before she could come back to visit, her sister in law died. (The main reason for the visit is so that they can help the family fight for custody against the bio dad). She said she was worried that, like her sister in law, she would go to chicago mad at rose and then who knows, what if rose dies while iris is in chicago and they never got closure too? It’s a reasonable fear, but I guess I’m just too hardheaded to feel it too. 

Anyways, we’re at the mall, nick and peter go to gamestop so the three of us could talk in private. This was my plan for how I wanted the conversation would go: I explain that I personally didn’t agree with the texts I sent her about her finances, but that the rest of the family was growing annoyed with her and I was the one tasked with telling her. She would have the chance to tell me what she felt, and what she’s done, etc. We close the finances chapter, and move on to her personality, which I considered to be the ACTUAL issue. I would let her know that I didn’t like that she clearly didn’t care about me. She never listens to how my day was (as in, she’ll be physically present when I speak but she’ll literally be texting peter as I’m talking). She doesn’t take ANY criticism at all. As in, she’ll blow up at you if you even imply she’s not perfect. The whole peter break up situation. I wanted her to know that it’s not okay for her to treat people as machines where she just needs to do xyz to get them to do what she wants. That people have feelings, that people are *human* just like her, and we all deserve to be heard. She never listens to listen, she listens to come up with an argument in response. She lacks empathy.

As you can guess, that’s not how the conversation went. Before I could get two sentences into telling her about how the finances thing, she cuts me off and starts talking about how I “don’t even care about her achievements” and starts talking about how she’s an expert at car pricing (she works for a scrap dealer, they price vehicles by amount of steel) and she knows better than nick, who is an auto insurance adjuster with years of experience. I jump straight to “you don’t listen to listen, you listen to argue” and from there it’s nothing but cutting each other off. Iris tried to keep the peace by making us take turns, but rose cut me off on my turn so I was like ya know what? This bitch clearly will not listen, despite the fact that I’ve tried to listen when she was cutting me off. I give up. So I figured since there was little chance at salvaging the discussion, I said “yeah, you’re right, the whole family is dissapointed in you because you’re twenty two years old and don’t have a degree, a car, a place of your own” and then she stood up and left. It was a really low blow for me to attack her like that, but it’s not fair that she can treat me like literal shit for years but I can’t even dish out a few insults one day. 

Iris, nick and I leave to go to my apartment, where we all calm down, pet mango, look at motorcycles. Then we went to get tacos, then I went home. 

Sunday night, iris says that she’s about to leave town, and wanted to see me one last time. We met up at the starbucks near my apartment. Frankly all of sunday I was just marinating in my emotions, and meeting at starbucks finally let it all out. 

One thing that I’m surprised took me 20 years to realize: rose is actually the root of all of my insecurities. And no, I’m not just saying that to make her look like the bad guy because I’m mad that she cut me off. Think about it. Where did I get the idea of “speak only when spoken to” imprinted into my head? When my parents forced me to be with rose after school and rose and her friends all treated me as an annoyance. How they ignored me, tried to act like I wasn’t there, while they all had fun together. The way they would literally pay me to leave them alone, sometimes. What about my incredibly bad body dysmorphia? Maybe the way her and her friends used to say “oh, you’ll have a glo up some day jasmine” as if I was ugly at the time. How I was just rose’s ugly little sister to them. Or, most glaringly, the time that rose did my makeup when I was 15 or so, and she took a step back to look at it halfway through, started laughing, and said “you just look so ugly.” I cried in the bathroom for 45 minutes after that. And the worst part is that that memory feels so faded, like I almost forgot about it. What else did I forget?

Anyways I tell this all to iris, and she said that I needed therapy. I scoffed at that, of course, because I’m fine. (Narrator voice: She was not fine). I tell myself that I’m okay now, that the emotional trauma caused by rose is nothing but the past, that I’m a well adjusted individual now. Iris bet me $40 that I couldn’t get a date in a month to see how well adjusted I was. 

Easy as fuck, all I need to do is go on straight tinder. Men swipe right on literally anything, so it’d be easy as hell to get a date. I even wrote the most batshit insane bio ever (I literally talked about my issues with rose and the $40 bet), and within 24 minutes I saw that 99+ men had swiped right. I swiped left on at least a few hundred guys, before I finally swiped right on one. Apparently he super liked me, so I said “was the super like by accident or do you just have that poor of taste in women” and yet! we actually made plans. Like kinda plans, like “I’m free tomorrow if that’s not too soon, we could get sushi” so it wasn’t set in stone, but there was decidedly something. And he was cute, too.

Monday morning I woke up and immediately unmatched him, followed by me deleting my account. Followed by me crying violently in bed for two hours, thinking about how he would have thought I was ugly irl, that I really am hideous, and don’t deserve love. That I deserved to die alone, because I have no personality and I’m the ugliest person alive. It sounds overly dramatic to see it typed out, but man, that morning I really wanted to die. That’s when I realized that maybe iris was right, maybe I do need therapy. 

But this is my issue, I don’t like letting people know about my feelings. I feel like I look weak. And it’s so easy for me to just, not tell a therapist things, because it makes me uncomfortable. I tried therapy a year ago, literally all I did was say “yeah I’m fine :)”. I’m starting the online therapy sessions that my college offers, because I don’t have to talk to anyone for it. And on top of that I have all of those things that I’m planning to do that I wrote in the last 2 updates. I want to improve my life, and I’m gonna start on it now. 

Tuesday I texted peter, letting him know my side. He said “I have my own opinions on the matter” and by that I assume he means his opinion is that he’s on rose’s side, of course, otherwise he would have stood up against her. After seeing that I left class an hour early and cried in the bathroom. I thought I was being quiet but this girl in the stall next to me knocked and asked if I was okay (I said yes). 

And yeah, like I said in the last update, it hurts that rose (and peter) are pretty much cut out of my life. They were kind of the only friends I had. But I have to remind myself that this is the exact same situation I dealt with in sophomore year of high school, with jackie. She stopped being my friend, and because of it I lost all of my friends. But this time around I’m gonna be able to meet new people, and a lot easier, since I’m in college. As a matter of fact, I got an email from this sorority I plan on joining today. I need time to heal, but I will heal.

And as soon as I get my braces off, I’m going to maybe try tinder again (no!!!!! I just said I don’t like tinder!!!!!! but maybe I’ll try again when my braces are off......)

Anyways, let me tell you about today, wednesday (we finally reached the end!). I woke up, scrolled through my socials like usual, then watched a few really old music videos. Like, pop punk old. Went to publix, got my waffles, then came home and watched the next episode of ore monogatari, basically as I had planned. But then I just started slacking because I didn’t feel like studying (I still haven’t studied). Went through my main blog’s archive. I really noticed that my blog has been dead exactly since I moved out. I guess I’ve just been too busy. My dashboard isn’t really my style, it’s very multifandom when these days I really only care about bts. I think I’m gonna get back into tumblr, at least it’s more stimulating then scrolling down the same reddit posts 20 times an hour. Anyways I saw my posts from when mono came out and MAN that’s some strong nostalgia. It was only about 10 months ago, but it feels so distant. That’s when I lived with my parents, and they were on vacation so I had the house to myself. While rose went to a halloween party, I stayed home and watched the forever rain music video on repeat while downing 4 beers and doing my econ homework (I got a 100 somehow, despite being sloshed). Anyways I’ve been listening to it on repeat the entire time I’ve been writing this.

Okay it’s 3:44 now. Man, this was a really long update. I think now I’m gonna make my cesar salad that I bought from publix, then study. I mean, the lowest test grade is dropped and I already passed the first two exams, so no big deal. Ugh I wish rose could buy me another pack of cider right now.

[mrsteveecook]

what should I do when a see a coworker’s fly is down, can I review a rude interviewer, and more

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go…

1. What should I do when I notice a coworker’s fly is down?

What should I do when I notice a coworker’s fly is down? A colleague stopped by my office to chat, and I noticed that his fly was open. I felt too awkward to say anything in the moment, yet later I agonized over whether I should have addressed it. If he had a piece of spinach between his teeth, I’d have no problem mentioning it, but since it was the zipper on his pants I didn’t say anything. What do I do? Pretend I don’t notice? Tell him to “XYZ” (examine your zipper)? Should my approach change based on the gender and seniority of the coworker? Or am I totally overthinking it, and a simple “Hey Zach, your fly is down” will do every time?

In this particular case, he is a peer, we’re friends, and it was in the semi-privacy my office. I wondered if it would have better for me to casually advise him to zip up in case he happened to meet with the managers in our office before he noticed, but I couldn’t bring myself to say anything.

Additionally, the other day I bled onto my dress while I was on my period and no one mentioned it. I was mortified when I found out, but I can understand why my coworkers would shy away from alerting me to my wardrobe malfunction/leaky tampon (even though I wish someone had said something). Is that the same or different?

As long as you’re matter of fact about it and don’t make it a big deal, most people will be grateful for a quick, straightforward “Hey, I think your zipper is down.” I think you can do that regardless of gender and regardless of seniority — people will generally appreciate the heads-up regardless, as long as it’s not accompanied by leering or blushing or staring or anything else that makes it weird. Use the same tone you’d use to say “Watch out, there’s a mosquito on your arm” and it should be fine. (That said, some people will just never feel comfortable telling someone like the CEO that her fly is down. That is part of the price of being the CEO.)

With the bleeding, ideally someone would have discreetly told you about it, but yeah, more people are going to be weird about that than about zippers. But bless the kind people who have it in them to discreetly say, “Hey, I’m not sure if you know that you have a stain on your dress.”

2. Can I get blackballed for posting a negative review on Glassdoor?

Is it possible to get blackballed for posting a negative interview review on Glassdoor?

In this situation, the hiring manager called me at 6 p.m. on a Monday without notice. I said I couldn’t speak then because I was about to run out the door. She asked if I could call her back and I said I didn’t have availability the next day (due to having to travel five hours for another interview and the interview itself — but why do I have to explain this to someone? It’s perfectly rational to be busy), but I did have availability Wednesday morning. Here she kind of cut me off to say, “Actually I think I’m going to pass on this, we’re looking for someone actually interested in getting a job.”

I was so stunned that a professional said this to a potential candidate that I just said “Okay, thanks” and hung up the phone. And, I mean, I guess it was good for being so direct, but calling me at 6 p.m. after working hours when I would obviously be caught off-guard by an employer, and then getting frustrated with me when I’m busy because I’m actively interviewing other places is a bit insane. Or am I overreacting and maybe It’s my fault for being so flustered when she called? I just felt so angry about her telling me I wasn’t serious about getting a job when obviously she doesn’t know me or anything about what I’m doing. I’m just nervous about posting it on Glassdoor even thought I think the company should know an employee is speaking to people like this.

Wow, she was wildly out of line. You weren’t saying you couldn’t speak for weeks and weeks. You said you couldn’t speak at that exact moment (totally fine) and that you were fully booked the following day, but offered to speak the morning after that. That’s not necessarily ideal if they’re looking to fill interview slots quickly, but if it posed a problem for her, she could have just said, “Unfortunately that won’t fit with our timeline, so it sounds like it won’t work out this time.” Instead she chose to be an ass.

You should be fine posting this on Glassdoor. She may figure out who you are, but it’s highly unlikely that she’s going to blackball you from other employers for it. (It does mean, though, that you may never get an interview at that particular company again — so if you care about that, proceed with more caution.

3. My coworker’s students told me she doesn’t teach them anything

I work for a welfare-to-work program, running a job readiness program. I recently started handling more of the case management aspects of the program while a new coworker took over the instruction portion of the program. The coworker called out for the past week and I went back to instructing class. I was amazed to discover that the students hadn’t actually been taught any lessons for the past three weeks; this is significant because the class runs in four-week cycles. I crammed as much possible in the four days that I covered.

I am extremely bothered by the fact that my coworker apparently, per the students, doesn’t actually teach them anything but rather sits around watching YouTube with them four hours per day. I don’t know how to approach my manager, who is also new, about this. My concern is that we are grant funded and will not get future financing if the the students don’t reach the progress marks they’re required to. How does one approach their manager about a coworker who doesn’t do their job, being that it affects my job greatly, and about fearing that our program is being seriously jeopardized?

Just be direct and matter-of-fact: “I covered classes for Jane four days last week, and something happened that I need to pass on to you. The students told me they hadn’t been taught any lessons for the previous three weeks. They said that Jane watches YouTube with them instead of teaching lessons. I obviously don’t know if this is true, but I felt like I needed to flag it for you.” You could add, “Based on my time with them, it does seem like they hadn’t learned X, Y, or Z, which is a requirement of our grant funding being renewed.”

In other words, just the facts. No conclusions about Jane, just “here’s what I was told and what I observed, and it could have serious ramifications because…”

4. How can I avoid telling people where I’m going when I resign?

I work in an industry niche that really worries about trade secrets and proprietary information and such. Old job and new job are in the same niche. To be emphatically clear, I will not be bringing anything — anything — proprietary to my new employer. All the same, I worry there might be people at my current employer who are just crazy/vindictive enough that, if they knew, or could guess, where I was going, might do something to spook my new employer and/or jeopardize my offer. (I know what tortious interference is, but I’m not sure they do, is what I’m saying, and I don’t want a lawsuit, I want a job!)

Any advice on how to handle my resignation to minimize my risk? Can I resign without telling people where I’m going? I realize I could just say “it’s between me and my rabbi” or whatever, but my niche is small enough that the folks I’m worried about might see it as code and start guessing or sniffing around. I don’t want to flat out lie and say I didn’t know where I was going, or name another company. Is there an ethical way to throw people off the scent, at least until day one at new job?

Some options: * “I don’t want to jinx it until the details are finalized, but I’ll let you know as soon as I’m allowed to talk about it!” * “I’m not quite ready to announce it yet, but I’ll let you know when it’s finalized.” * “I’m still working out the details but should be able to share it soon.”

5. Should I re-contact this reference?

A few months ago, I received my first post-grad school job offer, after more than a year of job hunting. Once I accepted the offer, I emailed three people I’ve been using as references to let them know. Two responded right away with congratulations, but I haven’t heard from the third, and it’s been nearly three months. He receives a truly enormous amount of email and I know in the summer he does field work in places with spotty internet, so I’m not offended! But I was wondering at what point I should send him a second email? I’ve known him for five or six years at this point, so I’d like to think he would be interested on a personal level — but also I’d just like him to know that my long (looooooong) job hunt is over, and how much I appreciate the several times he gave a reference for me in that period.

I’m horrible at “networking” — or any casual contact with a person who is/was in a position of authority over me. So I’m unlikely to do the casual keeping-in-contact emails I know others do, which means realistically, it’s entirely possible that I’ll never see or talk to him again. (I know this is a whole separate problem.) But even so, I’d absolutely hate to leave things like this after I know (because I’ve been told so by interviewers!) that he gave such a glowing reference!

He may not think any response is required! Yes, ideally he’d send back a quick congratulations email, but it’s very likely that as a busy person with a lot of email, he saw your message, thought “that’s great news,” and moved on to the next email. He probably has no idea that you’re waiting to hear back from him! I’d just assume he saw the email and this particular interaction has been completed.

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what should I do when a see a coworker’s fly is down, can I review a rude interviewer, and more was originally published by Alison Green on Ask a Manager.

from Ask a Manager https://ift.tt/2CrRmpH

[higuchimon]

[fanfic] Rewards of Losing:  Chapter 12

Kei paused outside of Ryou’s apartment, sniffing the air and murmuring to the plants. What had they seen? What could they tell him?

Not nearly enough. Ryou hadn’t been outside since he came back the night before. But someone had been in there, someone the native plants didn’t like at all. That was Yuuri, he suspected.

The air could tell him little more. Ryou's scent hung clear in the air, but it wasn’t as fresh as it would be if he were there. Hours old, at least. There was another scent as well. That one was probably Yuuri. It tasted much the same as the flytrap, only more human.

And a bit of something else as well. That he wasn’t sure of, though it felt oddly familiar. He would have to figure this out.

For now, though, he leaped up to the balcony and scrambled his way inside, looking around and sniffing thoroughly for any clues.

What he saw chilled him to the bone. The room held almost nothing. No sign of the flytrap or Ryou or Yuuri. Their scents weren’t as strong – they’d been gone for hours. Where they’d gone Kei had no idea.

Slowly he cast back and forth, but there wasn’t anything else. All he could find that held any extra scent were the cards Ryou got out of the packs he’d bought from Mizael’s shop. Kei sniffed those – Ryou hadn’t touched them in hours as well.

“Nova,” he called, “are you there?” Faster to do it this way than to try and paw through all the cards. Had Ryou taken Cyber Dragon Nova with him or not?

A shimmer of spirit appeared before him – Cyber Dragon Nova. His head was down, his frill withdrawn.

“I tried, Kei,” he murmured, scales clanging against one another. “But neither of them could see me or hear me. I couldn’t do anything.”

Kei leaped onto the couch and stared at Nova. “Tell me what happened,” he ordered. If Nova had been human, he might well have been weeping. But the Cyber Dragon line didn’t shed tears.

“After you left, Ryou went somewhere.” Nova reported. “He used a Duel Disk I haven’t seen before. He made sure to leave me and the other cards here. I don’t know what happened while he was gone, but a short time afterward, he came back. He fell down when he did and didn’t move.” Slowly Nova’s tail twitched. “I tried to call you but you weren’t anywhere around.”

Then he drew in a deep breath. “That other Healer showed up. The one who isn’t quite human – with purple hair and a dragon’s heart.”

Oh. Interesting. Kei hadn’t thought of Yuuri like that before but when he reconsidered the times he’d seen him before – he could understand it. He nodded for Nova to continue.

“He picked Ryou up and put him on the couch, then grew out the flytrap and used it to tie him up. Ryou didn’t wake up until close to morning.” Nova’s tail twitched back and forth. “The Healer mentioned that he’d used Firedamp on Ryou.”

It was just as well that there weren’t any humans in the room. What Kei said wasn’t spoken in any human language. But the emphasis would have made it clear regardless.

“Is there anything else that they said?” Kei wanted to know. “And where did they go?”

“Back to Fusion,” Nova reported. “They’re going to come back so Yuuri can duel Mizael, however. Yuuri said he’s going to card him regardless. Whatever that means. And you too.”

Kei’s claws flexed in and out. Firedamp. Not good. He’d known from the moment he laid eyes on Ryou that the Firestarter could become a Frostflame with the right incentive. He might even survive the process. Firedamp not only shorted out a Firestarter’s flames but increased the chances that a Firestarter could frost over – while dropping their chances of living through it.

He wasn’t worried about being carded. He’d managed to spy on Ryou doing it and he didn’t think there was a Cat born that couldn’t evade that. Ryou remained more important.

I can’t get to Fusion. I have to talk to Mizael again. He couldn’t be certain what Ryou wanted or didn’t want right now. Nova didn’t understand enough about humans to be able to tell him what Ryou was thinking and that would make the difference. Had Ryou been bound because he tried to flee or was it something he’d consented to?

Had they returned to Fusion to avoid Mizael here or so Ryou couldn't have a chance to flee? Kei didn’t like not knowing this. He believed with all of his heart that Ryou was a good person. What he didn’t know was if Ryou knew how good of a person he was.

He regarded the cards carefully before he carefully took two of them in hi mouth. If he hated anything about being a Cat and not a human, it was the lack of opposable thumbs. With Cyber Dragon Nova and Cyber Dragon Drei, he leaped out the window and headed towards Mizael.

Ryou kept scraping, reaching for the tiniest flicks of flame, anything that would help him get out of the vines’ grip. But there wasn’t even a hint of the flames anymore. Just the aching cavern of emptiness that filled him ever since he woke from Yuuri’s nasty drugs.

As if that weren’t bad enough, his head throbbed to the point he found himself quite grateful that Yuuri never yelled at him. Of course, those soft words were laced with poison of a different kind as the hours ticked by.

“You don’t really think either one of them are going to want anything to do with you, do you?” Yuuri murmured from where he sat, one arm slung around Ryou’s shoulders. The fingers of his other hand brushed through Ryou’s head over and over. The remains of a fine meal rested on the nearby table.

To anyone else watching, it would have been a perfect scene of Firestarter and Healer domesticity. Ryou ached to get out of there, to feel the flames burst to life inside of himself once more.

Yuuri tapped him gently. “Answer me,” he murmured, just the faintest hint of sternness in his tone.

Ryou knew the answer that Yuuri expected to hear. He knew what everyone else in Fusion would give. He knew also what he wanted to believe. Those two answers remained opposite from one another.

“They won’t,” he said. “They’ll hate me because of what I did.” He’d done the Fusion dimension proud. Yuuri said so. The Professor said so. He’d believed it – up until a point. Up until the Professor so casually decided that he could have his memories torn away for no reason whatsoever.

That made no sense to him. He’d been a loyal soldier all these years. The Professor even seemed willing to accept Mizael – with restrictions. But to card Kei? That didn’t make sense.

The restrictions that would be placed on Mizael sort of did. But Ryou didn’t want those restrictions placed. He wanted to speak to Mizael, to explain things to him, to let him make his own decisions. He'd not be Mizael otherwise.

Again Yuuri’s fingers brushed through Ryou’s hair, pulling his thoughts away from Mizael. Yuuri never let him think of the other Healer for very long.

“How very true. And you did enjoy what you did so much. And what you’re going to do. I have such plans for you. Whether or not we bond.” He chuckled. “Remember what I said about the Professor? We’re still going to do that.”

Ryou didn’t dare to say it out loud, but he knew what Yuuri meant. To kill the Professor – part of him shied away from the thought. He’d spent so long respecting the man and learning from him.

And yet another part yearned to have his flames back so he could set Akaba Leo on fire. The casual way he dismissed Cats, how readily he intended to strip Ryou’s memories, and Ryou didn’t even want to think about what he’d really wanted of Mizael.

“This is all for your own good, after all. I saw those cards you had back there.” Again his fingers played through Ryou’s hair, so soft, far too soft, his words whispering deep into Ryou’s ears. “It’s bad enough that Dennis learned how to use XYZ and he needed that for his mission. You didn’t and you still had some? Unforgivable.” Soft fingers pressed against the side of his neck and Ryou jerked hard, eyes going wide at the jolt of pain. “But I will forgive you, because I wasn’t there to keep you on the right path. Bond or no bond, you have tasks to do that only I can guide you in.”

Ryou shuddered; there had always been an element of pleasure in pain for him. He'd tried very hard to keep it from most people, but Yuuri always knew what Ryou didn’t want him to know.

He wanted his flames back. He wanted to hear the laughter of the fire and feel it dance along his skin and inside of his blood. But no matter how hard he tried, that emptiness didn’t change.

Ryou closed his eyes again, trying to at least rest. He wasn’t sure what all of the effects of Firedamp were, but he didn’t seem to have that much energy. He could move around if he really put in the effort, but actually dragging up the energy to do so seemed beyond him most of the time. He didn’t feel hungry – he ate because Yuuri insisted, not because he had an actual appetite. What he really wanted to do was sleep.

Instead he dragged his eyes open and drew in a deep breath. “Why – am I so tired?” Yuuri would probably know. He wasn’t sure of how much it mattered, except that it might give him an idea of when he wouldn’t feel so drained.

“I suspect it’s because of the drug I used to knock you out and the Firedamp.” Yuuri actually seemed pleased that he’d asked the question. “They’re interacting. I wonder what else they’ll do to you.” He tilted his head to examine Ryou. “You’re going to tell me everything about how you feel.”

“Right now?” Ryou snorted at that. “Tired.”

Yuuri chuckled. “Then go to sleep. I’ll wake you when it’s time to eat again. There’s nothing else you need to do for now.”

There was that part of him that didn’t want to do what Yuuri said. But as much as he disliked it, there were few Firestarters who could resist a Healer’s orders when given in such a tone. It would have helped if he were bonded to someone else, but right now, he didn’t have that protection.

He let his eyes close now, and wondered if he would ever feel warm again.

Yuuri thumbed through his PDA, searching for any interesting topics to keep his attention as he whiled away the time until he needed to return to XYZ and watch the invasion begin. Oh, how he looked forward to that.

If he could have, he would have popped over to Standard or Synchro and found a few low-level duelists that could serve a useful purpose in becoming a part of Super Fusion. But he didn’t want to take the chance on missing the invasion, let alone leaving Marufuji behind unsupervised.

He glanced down at the sleeping Firestarter, more than a little amused at how peaceful he looked. There weren’t many people who looked that peaceful around him, let alone sleep near him. Granted, Marufuji didn’t exactly have any choices in that.

With a twitch of his fingers he had the vines slowly pull away from Marufuji, leaving him somewhat free. It was safe enough; he would remain too drained of energy to run off anywhere when he woke up, and he knew better than to try and escape Yuuri in the first place. Or he should. If not – Yuuri would be pleased to teach him.

A quiet tap came on the door. Yuuri raised one eyebrow. He didn’t get many visitors. He reached a thought to the plants that kept guard on his door, then rolled his eyes.

“Come in, Dennis.” Yuuri ordered. Who else would it have been, really?

Dennis strolled inside, waving his fingers at Yuuri as soon as he was in sight. “I thought you’d be getting ready for the fun stuff. It’s going to be tomorrow.”

“I know.” Yuuri didn’t move from his spot on his comfortable couch. “But I have other matters to deal with.”

Dennis blinked as he settled down in his usual chair. “You two aren’t bonding already, are you? I thought I heard something about Marufuji -”

Yuuri silenced Dennis with a cut of his eyes. “No. We’re not. We’d be in my garden if we were.” The safest and best place to bond would always be the Healer's personal garden. There were other places, of course, but whenever he bonded, that was where it would happen.

Dennis fidgeted. “So what are you two doing here, then?”

“Right now, I’m keeping him out of trouble. He’s going to be memory wiped after the invasion is settled.” Yuuri wasn’t going to let the scientists do that if he didn’t have to. He had his own methods to make Marufuji more biddable. “He was a little too attached to XYZ.”

That got an eyebrow raised from Dennis. “Oh?”

Yuuri snorted at his expression. “Not like you. He was actually developing feelings for one of those Healer duelists. He wanted one of them spared because he likes them, not because they're good duelists. And he was starting to get connected to one of those Healer Cats.” His lip curled. “The Professor won’t allow that and neither will I.”

Dennis nodded slowly. “Makes sense.”

Yuuri suspected Dennis didn’t think that it made as much sense as all that. But Dennis at least knew when to shut up and let smarter people do the thinking.

“Now, did you just come here for gossip or did you want something important?”

To his credit, Dennis didn’t fidget. He merely shrugged. “Gossip, mostly. There’s not much else for either of us to do until the invasion gets started.”

That was a bit more true than Yuuri would have liked it to be. Dennis had already completed the basic part of his task by finding the girl that the Professor wanted – with the pleasant added bonus of finding another Firestarter for Yuuri to potentially play with.

“Have you found out anything else about that Firestarter?” Yuuri wanted all the information before he did anything. It so helped to know his prey’s weaknesses before he struck.

Dennis examined the fingers of his left hand. “A few things. I don’t think he’s quite as prone to enjoying pain as Marufuji there.”

The side of Yuuri’s mouth twitched. “Not yet, anyway.” He did rather like that about Marufuji. Having someone around who thoroughly enjoyed the pain he could put them through made everything that much better. He wasn’t sure if it would be more entertaining if they wanted to enjoy it or not.

That was something he would have to find out. He looked forward to that as well.

“Anything else?” He knew that it would be easier to snatch the girl up in the chaos that would follow the invasion. He hadn’t made his mind up on when he wanted to take his own prize. He’d probably end up taking the girl first, if only so the Professor would not pester him.

He already had too much that he didn’t want the Professor to know about. His work in creating Super Fusion, the real purpose he wanted to use Marufuji for, his plans for the boy from XYZ. Part of him wondered if he wanted to kill the Professor just to eliminate the sense of the man looking over his shoulder.

Not that it mattered. He would kill him no matter what.

Once again Kei squirmed his way into Mizael’s apartment. He set the cards he carried down on the nearest flat surface and sniffed.

“We have to talk,” he declared. “It’s about Ryou.”

Mizael turned towards him. “What?” His voice was a trifle clipped and as Kei came over, he saw him looking over his deck. “Did he come back?”

“No. That’s the problem. Yuuri took him to Fusion, or so I guess.” He crossed over to sit near Mizael and told him what Cyber Dragon Nova had reported. Mizael listened quietly the whole way before he picked up the two cards.

Nova appeared at once; Drei hadn’t yet properly gained awareness, though both of them could feel the spirit sleeping in the card. Nova’s frill remained down, as did his head.

“So what do we do?” Mizael wondered. “Tomorrow is when I duel Yuuri – and when the invasion is going to start.”

Kei wasn’t going to tell what he’d done at the Night Garden. Mizael would want to keep himself as far from that as possible. Though the trees and grass and flowers all whispered of danger and caution even now. The Healers and Firestarters who were also duelists slowly prepared themselves.

But would they be enough? Even if they were, would they be strong enough?

That Kei didn’t know.

“He’s going to be there when the duel happens,” Kei said at last, his tail twitching as he considered all of their options. “Until we see him then and there, we can’t know what he really wants to do. We might not be able to even then. But that’s the only chance we have to see him.”

Mizael nodded slowly, lips pressed together. Then he turned back to the cards set out there. “I’ve been trying to come up with some sort of strategy to negate what Yuuri might try. But I haven’t been able to think of much.”

Nova spoke up quietly. “I know a few things. The Cyber Dragon line – the oldest of us are Fusion monsters. I’ve talked to them. I know ways to nullify Fusion summoning.” Slowly his tail twitched. “I don’t know what Yuuri uses, but if I can help, I will.”

Mizael reached out and rested one hand on Nova’s head, at least as much as he could when the spirit remained insubstantial. “What can you tell me?”

As the two of them got into strategy and deck-building, Kei relaxed. He would go out later to talk to his fellow Cats, but for now, he needed rest of his own. So much bordered on beginning.

To Be Continued

Notes: So close to important things happening!

#Fanfic. #higuchimon write #ygobb2020 #ygo gx #ygo zexal #ygo arc-v #marufuji ryou #Mizael #yuuri (Arc-V) #chapters: rewards of losing #au: healer firestarter

[trishgibsontx]

there is no such thing as rejection — and how to deal with feelings of rejection

photo by Pia Oyarzun

never in my life has there been a person or thing that rejected me and I looked back on it and said “I missed out”. it was more like “omg I dodged a major bullet and now I see how rejection was my protection”. yes — rejection is protection.

let’s back up. my earliest and only memories in life are rejection. this is a blessing and curse. the curse is obvious. the blessing is, I was/am so used to it, that on a daily basis I not only feel but KNOW that I have nothing to lose. nothing. if you start at the bottom, where else is there to go that is worse? kids were pretty much nasty to me, mostly because I was carrying around this energy signature that was so loud that echoed abuse, criticism and rejection. this is how life works – we repeat what we have experienced over and over again before we can begin and then repeat what we ARE. two very different things. anyhow, there were some ok adolescent kid experiences sprinkled in between, but never once was I actually able to feel them. I was still stuck in a tangible system that told me the complete opposite every day. the ok adolescent kid experiences could have hit me in the face with acceptance and I wouldn’t have felt it anyway. I was pretty much fucked.

by the end of high school, I had been deemed attractive by society’s standards for like a few years. maybe starting at 15 or 16. I remember thinking, what a crock of shit that these people and boys are so nice to me because of how I am looking. but that’s human nature for you. on a superficial level, I obviously kind of fit in. but not fully. I hated that it took something so superficial to make people be nice (this, by the way, is why I hid my photo and full name from my healing practice for years! I was testing people perhaps! I wanted to be liked for ME — and the best way I knew to do that was through offering them my core/content ONLY, prior to meeting. then basically wearing nearly a burka and dumbing myself down as much as possible when meeting. at least in the earlier days of my healing work). by the time I got to college, however, I was away from all that was — and the doors of actual human acceptance seemed to open to me for the first time ever. I met a ton of people, mainly girls, who just accepted me for who I was. I will never forget my college roommate experience. there I was, in the middle of conservative Boston, and I looked like a bit of a wild child. I wore pink and blue wigs on random, I went clubbing a lot, and nearly all of my adventures included friends who were not from the US. my college roommates were all conservative, nice girls. mostly from the Boston area or places like upstate NY or upstate CT. but the biggest thing for me, that I had never experienced before, was their acceptance. these girls observed my individuality and perhaps many things about me that did not fit the norm in that city at that time, and they simply accepted me. they didn’t question me. they didn’t put me down. when I walked around with my wigs or nearly naked in our apartment or basically just was ME in a way that I know was foreign to them, they just…let me. perhaps my experiences were just SO opposite prior that I am overshooting the mark of gratitude to them. but I can’t help still reeling from the impact these young women had on me — by accepting me for me. that never faded during those years. I am forever grateful. those were formative and crucial years for me, because I got to see the way the world at large saw me: a nice, interesting person with something to offer others. in my mind, at that time, if these very “normal” people were not ostracizing me, maybe there was hope for me after all! I took that feeling, integrated it, and began to run with it…

now the above initial experience with acceptance in this lifetime did not immediately fix all of the inner deficits that I experienced. I am still working on the inner. whatever forms us is what we will work on for the rest of our lives. period. but the above initial experience with acceptance surely taught me about contrast and, generally, the fact that I could fit absolutely anywhere I went. even if all of the next places that I went gave me panic and anxiety at first. which they do, almost all of the time by the way. except my sessions…not even once have I felt that. I guess I know my home

as time went on, during my 20s, I did everything I could to reverse my brainwashing that had affected and crippled so much of my life. I moved to different cities alone, once again experimenting with how the world would see me. I was almost always greeted with open arms. such a different experience to my early life and the town that I had spent it in. there was also a very anchoring experience of bringing the past into each then-new situation so that I could work out the unconscious elements of it. that was and is always the worst. so, as the surface and conscious elements of me were really working themselves out, like I could visibly fit in, there was a lifetime of deeper and unconscious work that would always be the other side of the sword. fine. that’s the way it is for each of us, the particulars simply depending upon our particular luggage in life.

what I began to realize was, just how synchronistic each experience with rejection was for me in term of cleaning up ghosts of the past and the utter defunct programming of the unconscious mind. my unconscious mind was so over having to repeat things from a decade or two earlier, but it was surely working overtime to vomit out the trash. I began to see that nothing about these present unpleasant experiences was present! these present experiences were shades of the past, stuck in the wrong dimension, coming up for review and release. when people tell you “that’s in the past, get over it, move on”, they are full of shit. there is no such thing as just the past. everything is past with present-tense facades or masks. and, if things have not been released and processed from the past, they will stay present always. comments like “get over it, move on” always come from abusive people who want to once again erase your conscious awareness of what is/was. anyhow, I began to see that all I was dealing with in the present tense was not present at all in a tangible emotional sense; that the world did not still see me the way it did when I came into it. I was still looking through an old lens, because that lens was foggy and littered still with the debris from others. this understanding and awareness was a really nice thing for me, because each time the outer world “rejected” me, I was able to see specifically who and what from the past was leaving with that experience! it was not and will never be present tense at all. rather, the past masquerading through the present. so then, what really was this thing called rejection? this thing called rejection was a series of experiences of OTHERS that I had internalized and confused with my own. there was no such thing as rejection! what a novel concept…

I then began to find a system to this whole “rejection” thing. especially in romance. here was the system: anything that I had to make happen was bad for me. yes! anything I have to make happen for me is bad for me. if I am unwilling to see this, I will perceive it as rejection. but it is NOT that. it is the Universe working on my behalf to shuffle away ANYONE or ANYTHING that just does not serve me. it doesn’t make them the devil, it doesn’t even necessarily mean that they are toxic; it just means that there is something much greater for me greater good available and I am missing it because my ego is likely trying to work through yet another shard of the past.

I learned that I can still go after what I want, but that the moment it shows resistance or force versus power, I had better run. sometimes, those things that show resistance or force return as a new thing or person, but that has to be proven and proven hard. usually we are just dealing with an old cycle if we are allowing anything that has resisted us to be in our present life. for example: this one time, years ago, I had a HUGE crush on a guy. he seemed totally perfect for me. he also seemed totally interested. we hung out under mutual pretense and made out a few times. he had recently broken up with a girl he had been with for a long time. I figured perhaps he just needed time to acclimate to dating again so I wanted to give him space. but something was off. he wasn’t pursuing me the way that every other guy I dated pursued me. even if I had been the initial pursuer. I couldn’t put my finger on it, until one night we got super drunk. we had never slept together nor had he tried and I had attributed it to him needing time. lol, most men don’t need time for something like that. anyhow, in a mutually inebriated state, he confessed to me that he was gay. he told me that he was going to continue to date women though, while secretly sleeping with men (this happens a lot, by the way!). I immediately felt held by the Universe. I had stressed over what it was that I wasn’t enough of or xyz for months. none of that was the case. I am glad I didn’t force the issue or pull out a ton of tricks to make this thing work. sometimes, if we force things and don’t listen to the flow, we can end up getting seriously hurt.

another time, there was this job in TV that I really wanted. on paper, I “should have” gotten it. anyway, I was rejected. months later, the show became an utter disaster. other actors I knew on the show who were contracted were miserable beyond belief. the credits didn’t matter anymore. nothing mattered because it was a mess. I remember being at the east river and hearing the news and laughing out loud with thanks for not mixing me up with that “opportunity”. I had not been rejected, I had been protected.

all good things that come to us do so by way of attraction NOT PROMOTION. if we are in a state of force or promotion, we are going to be constantly confusing divine intervention with rejection. if we are in the flow of attraction, we are able to process feelings of rejection and acknowledge that the tangible experience is not actually that. if we are in the flow of attraction, we are able to identify the “current” feeling that is totally out of place with time and space, and tie it back to a VERY OLD experience. if we can even remember. some trauma is so repressed that we repeat the same pattern of perceived rejection over and over and over again. this happens a lot with rape and incest and molestation survivors. but no one is really able to thrive until they remember the incident. this is also known as people who consistently choose unavailable or abusive partners. they are battling unconscious amnesia no doubt.

with my business, it is 100% ATTRACTION versus promotion. like a 12 step program. I don’t need to promote ANYTHING. I live in my truth, I state that truth, and I state what I want. and it shows up. I don’t need to offer groupons or deals or specials. when I began, all I had was an ugly wordpress site in poop brown (not a tech savvy person) and people still called me. I don’t even know how they found me as it was before I had dabbled with ad words or yelp or anything at all. well, actually I do know how they found me — I was living in pure alignment with myself. that pure alignment is the loudest antenna we have to attract what we need/are. so many people don’t get this and they work so hard at surface endeavors to build their brand — when the content is totally missing. by the law of physics this just can never, ever work out.

I want to be clear in saying that I am a big believer in going after what we want in life. we can hunt down that guy or girl and express interest, we can color our business and put it live so that people know where to find it, we can be the loudest expressions of ourselves. but the moment that we feel the pushback — the resistance — the need to force, it’s a wrap. run. run from anything that even appears to run from you. THEN, the Universe will show you the proof of your protection. trust me. I’ve failed and succeeded at that concept hundreds of time.

there is no such thing as rejection.

                  The post there is no such thing as rejection — and how to deal with feelings of rejection appeared first on The Medical Intuitive Blog: Energy Medicine & Reiki Therapy By Elaine™.

from Trisha Gibson http://www.themedicalintuitiveblog.com/2017/07/29/no-thing-rejection-deal-feelings-rejection/

[real-life-pine-tree]

Arc-V Aftermath: Fish Out of Water (8/26)

When all is said and done, things have quickly recovered in the four dimensions. But when weird things start happening, the Yu-Salad Boys and the Bracelet Girls quickly realize they have some loose ends to fix. Co-written with @violetganache42.

WARNING: Dub names will be featured in the story.

"DO YOU NEED HELP WITH YOUR HAIR, MISTRESS LULU?" a robot maid asked.

"No thanks," Lulu politely replied, taking out the curlers in her hair. "But I appreciate the offer."

"VERY WELL, MISTRESS LULU," the robot maid said. "WHICH DRESS SHALL YOU BE WEARING THIS EVENING?"

"The light purple one with frills," Lulu answered.

At the Obsidian residence, not long after talking with Celina, Lulu had finished receiving her spa treatment. She already removed her facial mask and cucumbers and was about to style her hair after removing the curlers. She was looking forward to this night because this is going to be the first time she attends a party with her family after the Invasion struck. They even invited Yuto to the Kastles' party since Kameron and Astra approve of him and he never went to a grand event like this one. In other words, it was practically a night of firsts for Lulu and her boyfriend.

The robot maid went to Lulu's closet and got out the dress she requested: the light purple one with frills. She hung it up nicely on the doorknob as her mistress continued tending to her long hair.

"Let's see..." Lulu mused, searching through curly hairstyles on her Duel Disk. "Which style would work best for me?"

The robot maid scanned through the various images of long, curly hair as Lulu gradually scrolled through the page. While she was figuring that out, Yuto was also getting ready for the night. He had recently started living with the Obsidians after the separation because living there could give him the training he needs for living in an elite society, especially since he came from the middle class. He was nervous about this event because he is one of the few people not from a high social class that will taking part in a grand party. What would the others think about him? Even with the outfit he picked out (a dark grey business suit with a white collared shirt, a black tie, and a pair of black shoes), it may not make a difference.

Orbital, a robot butler, entered the room. "YOU SEEM NERVOUS, MASTER Y-YUTO," he said. "SHALL I PREPARE HOT TEA FOR YOU?"

"No thanks," Yuto said, checking his reflection in the full-length mirror.

"BUT YOU ARE NERVOUS," Orbital stated. "IS THERE ANYTHING I CAN DO TO HELP?"

"I guess," Yuto said as he took off his glasses to clean them with a small cloth.

"YOU HAVE EVERY RIGHT TO BE NERVOUS," Orbital said. "BUT DON'T BE. YOU HAVE BEEN WORKING FOR OBSIDIANCORP FOR A WHILE. SURELY THE OTHER PARTYGOERS WILL ACCEPT YOU AS ONE OF THEIR OWN."

Orbital could be right. Working in a wealthy business may mean a chance of fitting in with everyone in terms of social status. Yuto thanked the robot butler for the advice, with the latter responding that he's always there to help his master. Before leaving, he wished him good luck and to enjoy the party.

"Thanks Orbital," Yuto replied as he put his glasses back on. He gave himself one last look in the mirror, hoping this would be enough to let everyone know he was worthy of living in a high society.

Some time later, he met up with the Obsidians. Shay wore a black tux while Lulu donned an outfit that the robot maid helped her pick out: her selected dress with a black shawl over it, black heels, and her curled hair done in a loose ponytail and draped across her left shoulder. Yuto couldn't help but blush at what his girlfriend was wearing; anything she wears makes her look beautiful.

However, Yuto noticed Lulu's chest seemed a bit...bare. "Uh, Lulu?" he asked. "Where's...?"

"I had to cover my En Birds marking with makeup," Lulu explained. "And the shawl is to hide my scar."

Yuto was alarmed to hear that. "But why?" he asked. "You shouldn't hide your beautiful imperfections."

"The Obsidians have a reputation of being absolutely perfect," Astra explained. "We can't let the other families know what has happened to us."

Yuto understood what Astra means. The Invasion was a devastating time for the XYZ residence, including herself and her family. After she and her husband got carded and their daughter was injured and then abducted, who wouldn't blame them? The return of the Original Dimension revived their business, but they're currently working on recovering their wealth. With a fresh new start, they were determined to preserve their reputation in hopes of no one learning about what they endured.

Shay quickly noticed Yuto's saddened expression. "Don't be like that," he said happily. "You should be happy. Tonight's your big debut as a member of high society."

"I hope your weeks of training have paid off," Kameron said.

The eggplant-haired teen hoped so too, but he had trouble hiding his worries. Despite getting advice from Orbital, he still felt a little tense about what to expect. The Obsidians reassured him not to let his worries get the best of him and to focus on having an enjoyable night. He nodded in response and exhaled; he was anticipating for tonight to be another memorable one, hopefully as memorable as the LID dance.

Yuto and the Obsidians left their home and walked to the family car. You think that they would at least take a limo there, but they were not risking any careless accidents. As Kameron drove the family (and Yuto) to the Kastle residence, Yuto thought about how dueling was like in a high social class. He guessed they must have the same views as the other lower classes and imagined that they would find an interest in his Phantom Knights; after all, this archetype is what made him a noble person in the first place. Whether duels were meant to be serious or fun, he hoped everyone will respect his deck and skills as a Duelist.

"I hope you brought your best monsters for tonight, Lulu," Shay said.

"I did," Lulu replied. "I even brought my secret weapon."

"Assembled Nightingale?" Yuto asked.

"Not quite," Lulu answered, showing Yuto her true secret weapon.

Her secret weapon was actually Mariamne, The True Dracophoenix. She was a Level 9 WIND Wyrm-Type monster with 2700 ATK and 2100 DEF. Her effect allows Lulu to special summon her from her hand by destroying two monsters from her hand or the field; if both of them were also WIND, then four cards from the top of her opponent's deck were banished. Another effect of hers enables Lulu to add a non-WIND Wyrm-Type from her hand, but she can activate each of Mariamne's effects once per turn.

Lulu explained to Yuto that she likes using Mariamne because she is as beautiful and powerful as her. She mentioned she doesn't use the card very often, but when she does, it is treated as a secret weapon for special parties, such as the one going on tonight.

"I can tell," Yuto said. "She must be a powerful monster."

"She is," Lulu replied. "I only save her for these events."

"How come?" Yuto asked. "Imagine if you showed her off in the next dueling club meeting."

"Sure," Lulu said, hiding her nervousness at that statement. "I'll see what I can do."

She placed Mariamne back in her deck after finishing that sentence. She felt a little doubtful about showing her secret weapon off at the next club meeting. The best thing she can do is present it tonight to see what Yuto thinks of it in action. If only he and our friends can understand how powerful that card really is… she thought to herself.

The car soon drove in front of the Kastle Manor where the party was taking place. Kameron found a good place to park not too far away from the entrance gate. After parking, everyone got out of the car and started walking towards the mansion. It was time for them to start the post-Invasion era of attending grand parties. Upon entering through the mansion's doors, Yuto was amazed at how elegant the party was. So many people were invited to this event; it is rather hard to believe there were a lot of XYZ citizens from just the high social class.

"Presenting the Obsidians and...some random boy," the guest announcer said.

The last part of the statement stunned Yuto a little. Did the guest announcer not receive the name of the person the Obsidians invited to tag along with them? Regardless, several girls noticed him and were attracted to him. Ever since his personality changed while he was growing up, it made him incredibly handsome, which ended up making him a girl magnet. However, there was another reason why Lulu chose this specific attire: she knew something like this would happen and had to visually remind them that he's taken by her and they don't take advantage of him. The girls don't approach him, fortunately, but they snuck in a couple glances of admiration. In Yuto's case, it's not always easy being so attractive.

"Uh... Lulu?" Yuto asked. "Why are these rich girls looking at me like that?"

"Never mind them," Lulu said, placing her arm across Yuto's shoulders and pulling herself close to him. "They're after you for your looks. Luckily I dressed accordingly in case something like this happened."

"But you-" Yuto started to say, but then he realized Lulu wore an outfit that matched his hair colors, so he held her hip and held her close.

Aside from that, the night generally started off well for Yuto and the Obsidians. Kameron, Astra, and Shay spotted their friends and met up with them; it's also worth noting that Shay has a friendly rivalry with one of them.

"Hello Shay Obsidian," a long-haired young man said. "It has been a long time since we saw each other."

Shay chuckled a bit. "Christopher Arclight," he said. "Are you still rusty with your dueling?"

"Do you really think an Invasion would stop me from practicing?" Christopher asked in response.

"Depends on how I see your skills," Shay playfully replied.

The Arclights were close friends with the Obsidians. Based on what Christopher said, he, his brothers Thomas and Michael, and their father Byron all survived the Invasion. It would also make sense for him to practice his dueling skills while Heartland was recovering. He was looking forward to testing them out against Shay; on the other hand, the latter believed he may have an advantage because he has built up all the skills he needed after engaging in duels during his time with the Resistance and the Lancers. It would soon be a matter of time for the two to decide who improved the most.

Several minutes have passed and one of the hosts—or hostesses—showed up. It was the Kastles' daughter Rio; she wore a sleeveless, floor-length, light blue and white dress with a light blue strap that split on her left. Underneath the dress, she also had aquamarine-encrusted heels on her feet. She has been saving this dress for tonight because it suits her ICE-themed deck. It was evident that she was one of the girls who has fallen for Yuto because she becomes lovestruck whenever she looks at him.

Yuto quickly noticed Rio's gaze. "Who's the ice girl?" he asked Lulu.

Lulu simply glared at the blue-haired girl. "Rio Kastle," she said. "Don't bother with her. She's not worthy of your time."

But Rio soon approached the couple. "Hello Lulu Obsidian," she said. "Who is this gentleman accompanying you?"

"None of your business," Lulu responded.

"But Lulu, I want to know if this is the man who stole your heart," Rio said, caressing Yuto's face. "He is rather handsome."

Yuto tried his hardest to not blush whereas Lulu knew why Rio wanted to talk to them. She knew the ICE user was pretending to flirt with her boyfriend, especially regarding what happened before the Heartland Duel School dance. She was previously engaged to Reginald, Rio's twin brother, when she met Yuto. Basically, Rio was angry that someone like Lulu would turn down her brother's engagement.

"I appreciate the compliment..." Yuto said, gently pushing Rio's hand away from him. "But I'm already taken."

"Just as I thought," Rio said. "You're that Yuto Osaku person!"

"Come again?" Yuto asked.

"You might not know this, but Lulu Obsidian was originally set to marry my brother, Reginald Kastle," Rio angrily explained. "But after she transferred schools, the Obsidians informed my mother and father that the arranged marriage was canceled because of someone named Yuto Osaku!"

Hearing this news left Yuto heartbroken. He had no idea Lulu used to be engaged to a wealthier boy at her old school; it was one thing to transfer schools, but getting a new boyfriend was a completely different story, one that made Rio livid to this night. He started wondering why she even chose him in the first place.

"So how could Lulu have fallen for you?" Rio asked Yuto. "You might look wealthy, but I want to see your dueling skills. Only your cards will tell me what you're really like beneath the perfectly-coiffed hair and sharply-dressed posture."

"You want to duel me?" Yuto asked.

"Certainly," Rio replied. "And if you are from a wealthy family, clearly you will know how these duels work."

Yuto thought about Rio's offer to duel her. Little does he know is that Elite Duels are different from regular duels; what she just said was a clear indicator of what Elite Duels are like. This concerned Lulu because her boyfriend has never dueled in an elite class before. A fear crept up her that said everyone will know he isn't born wealthy, but works in a wealthy business. She wanted to help him out without getting in the way of his and Rio's duel and accidentally exposing him of a middle class resident, but what can she do?

"Very well," Yuto said, activating his Duel Disk. "I accept your challenge."

"Good," Rio said, activating her Duel Disk as well. "You seem to know what you're doing, so you also know what Elite Duels are."

The two engaged in their first Elite Duel: ICE vs. Phantom Knights. Ice Beast Zerofyne vs. Dark Rebellion XYZ Dragon. A duel to decide how Yuto became Lulu's boyfriend and what he's really like. The Obsidians, the Arclights, and the other attendees watched them unleashing their skills, with Yuto behaving like a true knight as always. Unbeknownst to him, most of the partygoers were analyzing the cards he used and determining what he truly is. A worried Lulu noticed this, followed by a loyally protective Shay and a reassuring Kameron and Astra. It doesn't matter who wins; people are being judged on their social classes by the very cards they draw.

"Dark Rebellion XYZ Dragon shall finish this duel!" Yuto declared. "Mauling Mandible Charge!"

Using its signature move, Dark Rebellion destroyed Zerofyne, taking out the rest of Rio's LP. Yuto may have won the duel, but this was an Elite Duel and almost everyone had a thing or two to say about his social status.

"Just as I thought," Rio said. "You're nothing more than a peasant!"

"What does that have to do with anything?" Yuto asked, confused. "I won."

Lulu looked embarrassed. "Elite Duels aren't like regular duels," she explained. "They're about judging your opponent by the type of cards they use."

Yuto caught on to what she described and looked around to see so many people agreeing with Rio's remark. They began viewing and calling him a peasant all because of him using his Phantom Knights. He doesn't understand why he would be called such a low class name just because he retained his beliefs and how his deck made him so noble. He quickly grew ashamed and upset by all this; even after taking Orbital's advice, it still didn't change the fact that he was a middle class resident dating a high class girl. Just then, Shay took a step forward, getting ready to defend his best friend from the crowd, but especially from Rio.

"That's enough!" Shay demanded. "Just because the Phantom Knights are often used by Duelists who can't afford more expensive cards, it doesn't make Yuto a peasant! In fact, I was the one who encouraged him to use those cards!"

"Why are you defending that peasant?" Rio bitterly asked.

"Because he's my friend," Shay responded. "If it wasn't for the Phantom Knights, Yuto would have still been a timid boy. I encouraged him to envision himself as being brave like those knights, and because of that encouragement, Yuto Osaku is just as chivalrous as any other gentleman!"

"Precisely!" Lulu agreed. "You might think the Phantom Knights are for peasants, but for Yuto, they reflect how noble he is!"

"But he still doesn't belong here," Rio pointed out. "Why do you even love him?"

Yuto wondered about that question as well. Why did she even choose him and why does she love him? Lulu's response to this soon became clear for the Phantom Knight user.

"Because he was the first one who didn't love me for my background," Lulu answered. "When we first met, I could tell from the look in his eyes that he didn't care about my family history. As we spent more time together, it became clear that he loves me for who I am. He is a true gentleman because of his kind heart, and that should be enough proof for why I love him."

Yuto's sadness transformed into contentedness because it was true. When he first met her, he loved her for her natural beauty, but over time, he has also grown to admire her sweet, loyal, and strong personality. In both cases, her family history and social status didn't matter to him. She and Shay were right; over the years, he has become a true knight and a real gentleman who will protect and care for those he values most, even his girlfriend. It became remarkably evident that their love for each other was unbreakable.

Rio scoffed. "So what?" she asked. "You must have gone soft on those commoners!"

"Oh really?" Lulu asked. "Well I beg to differ." She proceeded to take out her Mariamne card for all to see.

Everyone gasped at the sight of Mariamne, including Yuto. He began to understand why Lulu only uses that card for formal parties: it is to show everyone that she will always be a graceful yet tough girl whether or not her soon-to-be husband is a commoner. Since Yuto loves her for who she is, it helps strengthen the parallels between her and her now-revealed secret weapon. That was how genuinely powerful Mariamne, The True Dracophoenix really is, and it made his contentedness turn to how proud he is of Lulu.

"You see?" Lulu asked, placing her Dracophoenix back in her deck. "Even though Yuto is a commoner, this doesn't change who I am."

Rio was still shocked. "But-"

"Rio, what do you think you're doing?"

The ICE user turned around to see Reginald, who wore a dark blue suit, walking towards her. He had noticed her Elite Duel with Yuto and overheard the little "episode" going on with her, Shay, and Lulu. Lulu also heard his voice and was surprised to see her ex-fiancé again. She pondered on why he abruptly showed up in the midst of defending Yuto.

"Reginald," Lulu said. "It's been a while."

"Indeed it has," Reginald agreed. "But I never thought you would have fallen for a commoner."

"Yuto is a noble gentleman," Lulu repeated. "I love him for who he is."

"I see," Reginald remarked. "But I want to know if your dueling style has changed."

"Oh, really?" Lulu asked, already activating her Duel Disk.

"Indeed," Reginald replied as he also activated his Duel Disk. "Ever since the Invasion struck Heartland, your family has gone missing. Mother and father had sent out your invitation in hopes of your return, so it was a surprise to see you here."

Another Elite Duel was about to begin, but it was between Reginald and Lulu: WATER vs. Lyrilusc. Shark Drake vs. Assembled Nightingale. A duel to determine who improved their skills the most based on the changes they made. As it progressed, it increased in tension, with Yuto and the Obsidians rooting for Lulu and Rio supporting her brother. Reginald utilizing a burn strategy with his WATER monsters gave him an advantage, but it didn't stop his ex from swarming the field with Lyrilusc monsters. Once she had summoned over twp of them, it was time for her to bring out her ace.

"I overlay Lyriluscs Turquoise Warbler, Colbalt Sparrows, and Sapphire Swallows!" Lulu declared. "Birds with beautiful wings, gather on the battlefield and take brilliant flight in the bright sky! I XYZ Summon Lyrilusc - Assembled Nightingale!"

Suddenly, as Assembled Nightingale appeared on the field, Lulu's En Birds marking started glowing from her chest without having a clue about it. However, this managed to catch everyone else off guard. What made this baffling for Yuto, Kameron, Astra, and Shay is the marking was covered up with makeup. How was it still able to penetrate through it with its glow?

As everyone was focused on her glowing marking, Lulu activated her summoned XYZ monster's updated effects. First off, Assembled Nightingale receives a 1000 ATK boost since it gains 200 ATK for every attached XYZ Material. Secondly, having five attached XYZ Materials, it is allowed to attack five times during the Battle Phase. With everything prepared, she was ready to whip out a OHKO to Reginald's life points.

"I will finish you off with Assembled Nightingale!" Lulu said. "Graceful Winds!"

Assembled Nightingale directly attacked Reginald five times, bringing down his LP to 0. With the Elite Duel over, Lulu's marking stopped glowing, leaving everyone at the party speechless. Upon piecing together why there was no reactions from anyone, she kept looking at their faces. Did she do anything wrong? Or did something else struck that grabbed their attention?

"My god..." one of the partygoers said. "Why was she glowing?!"

Questions and possibilities flooded her mind. Glowing? Glowing from where? It couldn't be from the eyes because that only happened when Zarc and the Yu-Salad Awakened. But where else on her body could this glow come from? She eventually realized what may have caused this: her marking. It must have reacted when she performed an XYZ Summon; apparently, it was bright enough to glow through the makeup, which seemed rather improbable. How can something as simple as makeup not be enough to prevent a little light from appearing? Pretty soon, the only emotions that she felt were disbelief, stupefaction, and fear.

Her boyfriend and family saw how distraught she was and headed over to see if she was okay. They have never seen anything like that happen before, but when the partygoers were thunderstruck by something abnormal, it was bound to be serious.

"What happened to the Obsidians during their disappearance?"

"It must be connected to the unexpected Invasion from those masked soldiers!"

"What else is this family hiding?"

Suspicions arose from those that watched the second Elite Duel. Kameron and Astra were busy relaxing their only daughter, but the overlapping gossip was becoming stressful for them. Shay also did whatever he could help, but all Lulu did was hug her parents and brother, slowly on the brink of crying. She knew tonight wasn't their night. First Yuto gets called out for being a commoner, then Rio questioned her reasoning behind her current relationship, and now the Obsidian family name may be on the line. The poor girl just wanted to attend a simple grand party without any trouble happening, but now she didn't want this night to exist at all.

During the familial reassurance, Yuto noticed the tears streaming down Lulu's face. She trembled with despair and distress, believing she may the cause of this night. If she hadn't transferred schools, this wouldn't have happened; at the same time, she would have never met her true boyfriend. She buried her face in her father's clothes, losing control of not trying to cry. Yuto exhaled through his nose and stood up. She and Shay protected him from Rio earlier, and now it was his turn to protect them. It was his time to be a true knight outside of a duel once again.

"Lulu, take off your shawl," Yuto said.

Lulu turned to face her boyfriend, still crying. "Wh-What?"

"Trust me," Yuto said, speaking in a gentle tone.

Although still upset with what's going on, Lulu nodded her head. She has trusted him in the past, so no doubt she'll trust him again. She got up and wiped away her heavy-flowing tears, then proceeded to remove her black shawl to reveal the scar she got back during the Invasion.

"I was greatly injured during the Invasion," Lulu explained, still crying. "An Ancient Gear Hunting Hound slashed my back, damaging my spine in the process. I had to get spinal implants or I would have lost the ability to use my legs."

Shay took a deep breath. "She's not the only one who got hurt," he said, lifting up the left side of his dress pants to reveal a robotic leg that was designed to look normal. "I was attacked by a Chaos Ancient Gear Giant at one point, who crushed my left leg. The damage was so bad that it had to be amputated and replaced by a robotic prosthetic."

"My wife and I weren't so lucky," Kameron said.

"Indeed," Astra agreed. "Our souls were sealed into cards and sacrificed into a large machine that nearly killed our daughter. If it wasn't for a Duelist named Yuya Sakaki, we wouldn't have been able to recover."

Everyone was alarmed at Lulu, Shay, Kameron, and Astra's revelations. They initially thought the Obsidians plainly disappeared when Duel Academy invaded, but spinal plates and a robotic leg? They also knew about a huge number of people in Heartland getting carded; however, they never knew about the Fusion Dimension's main intentions. Learning one of them was almost paralyzed from the waist-down while the other lost his left leg and their parents were among the victims that were nearly sacrificed to a dimensional-fusing machine was quite the eye-opener.

"Do you see how much this family went through?" Yuto asked, showing no fear in his eyes. "They wanted to relax after all of the hardships and for you to treat them as if the Invasion never occurred. But then you had the nerve to criticize them and question their status in this society! They are still trying to recover from the financial losses, so the least you could do is offer them support!"

Just then, a voice called out from within the crowd. It sounded rather cat-like. Lulu recognized that familiar voice; it belonged to none other than Cathy Katherine, her best friend who was also invited to the party with her family. From the sounds of things, she was deeply concerned about what happened to the Obsidians after the Invasion and wants to say something in regards to them.

"I support them!" Cathy had cried out. "Lulu Obsidian has been my best friend since childhood, and I don't care if she was reduced to a ragged servant girl! I will give my support to the family!"

"As do I," Byron Arclight agreed. "Kameron and Astra have always been strong business partners and my sons are good friends with their children. We will offer full support until they recover."

Murmurs broke the silence, discussing the given situation at hand. Sure enough, it soon became gradually escalating voices of support, with friends, couples, and families reaching out for any assistance, even if it's just donating money. They remembered how ObsidianCorp did a fantastic job at keeping the city parks clean every day; although the Original Dimension's return restored the corporation building, their wealth still remained the same. After being blinded by judgmental Elite Duels at this party, they want to make it up to the Obsidians for the way they acted, as well as show their gratitude for making Heartland City the beautiful and colorful city it was known for.

"What?!" Rio exclaimed. "Why are you-"

Reginald placed his hand on Rio's shoulder. "Let it go, sister," he said, glaring at Thomas. "There's no use arguing with the ones who wield three of the most powerful XYZ cards in the world."

Rio reluctantly sighed, knowing that the Arclights are helping out a family that turned down her brother's engagement. At the same time, Yuto was accepting being a part of Lulu and Shay's circle of upper class friends. He may not be born in a high class, but that didn't stop him from working his way up to feeling welcome by wealthy yet caring people. He had a thought about his mom, but it was different than the last time. In this case, he knew that somewhere up in the heavens, Lono must be so proud of how much her son has grown and matured.

"Aww... There's that smile I love!" Lulu said, giving her boyfriend a quick kiss on the cheek.

"I can see why you fell for him, Lulu," Cathy remarked. "He's so gorgeous, especially with his cute hair."

Yuto was flattered by that comment, but this type of flattery Cathy displayed was more of a playful tease. He could tell she was the only girl at the party that approached the eggplant-haired teen, maintained a genial personality, and knows he is a keeper. These were a few signs that indicated Cathy as Lulu's true friend. Lulu giggled, knowing the gray-haired feline girl already accepted Yuto as her best friend's boyfriend, and lightheartedly reminded her the real reason why she fell for him as the grand party continued on for the rest of the night.

#Arc V Aftermath #yugioh arc v #Yuya Sakaki #Zuzu Boyle #Yuzu Hiragi #FruitShipping #Yuto (arc v) #Lulu Obsidian #Ruri Kurosaki #FallenAngelShipping #Yugo (arc v) #Rin (arc v) #AppleShipping #Yuri (arc v) #Celina (arc v) #Serena (arc v) #PredatorShipping