#i just love the drama of the hairpins

[f0point5]

Max Verstappen x bestfriend!reader Masterlist

She’s still bejewelled - Y/N finds out F1 wag pages are once again speculating she is dating her best friend, Max Verstappen

It’s (not) a cruel summer - Y/N and Max enjoy the summer break

August slipped away - Y/N does a Q&A to catch up with her followers after summer break

Burning red- Lando puts his foot in it

Holy ground - Fans discuss their excitement to see Y/N and Max interact at Zandvoort

I’m the one who understands you - A window into Max and Y/N’s home life

It turned into something bigger - Y/N’s comments about her childhood friend, Mick Schumacher, lead to a social media firestorm

They’d say I’d hustled, put in the work - A look at Y/N’s podcast, Dirty Air(time)

Shake it off - Determined to forget her worries, Y/N goes out parting with Max and Lando

They say home is where the heart is - Fans discuss how Y/N and Max love being roommates

(We’re) in the club doing I don’t know what - Fans look back on Max and Y/N’s Club Rat Renaissance

Pauses, then says, (he’s) my best friend - Y/N spends the day in Amsterdam while Max does press at Zandvoort

How evergreen, our group of friends - Snippets of Y/N and Max’s other friends on the grid and beyond

We’re faster and never scared - It’s a dramatic Friday in the Zandvoort paddock

I watch Superman fly away - The drama continues as Y/N and Mick have a run in in the paddock

Long live all the magic he made - Y/N supports Max as he equals the record for most consecutive wins

Remember the footsteps - A look at Y/N and Mick’s lifelong friendship

He has his father’s eyes…his father’s ambition - A look at Y/N’s relationship with Jos

I love your handshake, meeting my father - Fans discuss Jos’s perspective on Y/N, and her relationship with Max

And maybe it was egos swinging - Everyone speculates about the cause and consequences of Y/N and Mick’s falling out

I fell from the pedestal - Y/N becomes the subject of internet trolling after her fall out with Mick becomes public

Don’t know how long it’s gonna take to feel okay - Unable to deal with the stress and trolling, Y/N goes home to Switzerland, cutting off Max

My reputation’s never been worse so - Y/N’s absence sparks concerns amongst those closest to her

If someone comes at us, this time I’m ready - Y/N’s friends publicly support her as the hate continues

You don’t want to know me, I will just let you down

My words shoot to kill when I’m mad - Mick and Y/N finally talk

Something in your eyes says we can beat this - Max has a tough start to an important weekend, but his luck is about to change

(We) saw something the can’t take away - Y/N is there as Max wins at Monza and breaks another record

This is life before you know who you’re gonna be - Netizens discuss Max and Y/N’s enemy era

20 questions, we tell the truth - Y/N catches up with her followers after a hectic couple of weeks, and meets a man in Monaco

On a Wednesday, in a café - Y/N’s podcast with Daniel leads to some interesting revelations

Do you really want to know where I was? - Y/N and Max spend a day at the factory as rumours begin to swirl

I make it look oh so easy - Y/N and Max choose different confidants as they both attempt to avoid the elephant in the room

You’ll find me on my tallest tiptoes - It gets harder for Y/N to keep her secret

Slow motion, double vision in rose blush - Y/N gets back in the saddle while Max watches from the sidelines in more ways than one

Carnations you had thought were roses - Two of Y/N’s secrets are revealed

Didn’t it all seem new and exciting - Max leaves Y/N behind in Monaco as she reflects on her date

Loose lips sink ships all the damn time - Y/N heads to Switzerland for a special appointment as her relationship with Max is put under a microscope

I don’t wanna miss you like this - Y/N and Max deal with the distance between them differently

Your finger on my hairpin trigger - Tensions run high as Max has a bad day on track and Y/N gets defensive

Takes one to know one - Y/N’s much needed talk with Elliot is interrupted by an explosive qualifying in Singapore

I want to tell you not to get lost in these petty things - Max’s streak comes to an end and he and Y/N look ahead to Suzuka

Forever going with the flow, but you’re friction - Max asking Y/N to fly out early to Japan leads to tension and Y/N turns to Daniel for advice

I drive down different roads - Fans, and Y/N, speculate about her budding relationship

(They) knew what it was, he is in love - Netizens set out to prove that Max is in love with Y/N

(We) counted days, I counted miles, to see you there - Y/N arrives in Japan and is reunited with Max

Balancing on breaking branches - Max receives an unexpected delivery as Y/N answers questions from the media and her mother

It’s you and me, there’s nothing like this - As Max gets back to business as usual in Suzuka, wag social media does it’s thing

My (baby flies) like a jet stream - Max has a good day on track and Y/N’s Vogue article goes live

I can read you like a magazine - The internet reacts to mentions of Max in Y/N’s Vogue article

He’s passing by, rare as a glimmer of a comet in the sky - Red Bull securing the WCC is overshadowed by the revelation that Max hates podcasts

The lingering question(s) kept me up - Y/N does an Instagram Q&A

I just may like some explanations - Y/N answers more questions

How you held me in your arms that September night, the first time you ever saw me cry - Set in 2017, we learn what led to Y/N’s dad being dropped as Max’s sponsor, early in their friendship

People started talking, putting us through our paces - When Y/N is spotted out with Elliot, Instagram, Max, and Lando react

I don’t wanna touch you - Y/N finds herself short of breath on her padel date. Later, she appears on Max’s stream

(I) will never make my parents’ mistakes - Y/N’s dad hears about her dating life, and her mother weighs in

Drinking on a (yacht) with you all over me - Y/N and Max kick of his birthday celebrations with a day on the water, while Elliot changes his tune

I’d pick you up and we’d go back in time - Y/N and Max bring in his birthday somewhere special

We’re gonna be timeless - It’s Max’s birthday, but Y/N isn’t the only one planning surprises

Take the moment and taste it - Max enjoys a birthday boat day with family and friends, and Vic makes an accidental discovery

There’s glitter on the floor after the party - It’s the morning after night before. Max and Vic discuss Y/N’s letter

Movin’ on was always easy for me to do - Y/N and Elliot meet up to talk and Y/N’s friend weighs in. Y/N’s tweets irritate Max

Your eyes look like (being at) home - Y/N goes riding, Lando proposes plans, and Max has plans of his own

No I didn’t hear the news, ‘cause we were somewhere else - Max and Y/N arrive in Doha, but rumours about Max’s Monaco exploits follow them

You heard the rumours from (your friends) - Max attends Media Day while Y/N hangs out with an old friend

‘Cause they don’t know about the night in the hotel - Max’s GQ interview exposes an interesting part of Max and Y/N’s past

I was dancing around, dancing around it - Y/N and Clara celebrate Max’s on track triumphs

(You) stand up, champion tonight - Max becomes a three time world champion

This life is sweeter than fiction - Max wins in Qatar in a physically gruelling race

Life makes love look hard - Back in Monaco, Y/N is seen out with Elliot, and he makes a bold suggestion

Can we always be this close? - Y/N and Max have a chill day at home and while Twitter notice Max made an admission in an interview, Y/N makes an admission to Victoria

Inescapable, I’m not even gonna try - Y/N and Max spend a day at the factory, where both realise they may have something to work on

You go talk to your friends, talk to my friends, talk to me - Y/N’s podcast with Oscar comes out, on the same day she finally films one with Max. Meanwhile, Max uses the sim in an unconventional way

Yes, I remember what you said last night - Y/N’s plans for COTA baffle Christian, and Y/N learns an unexpected fact about the past

Take out, then take me home - Y/N prepares for Austin, and an interview with Max comes out

Love’s a game, wanna play? - Y/N tries her hand at padel after watching Max compete, and Max steams with Redline

Rosé flowing with your chosen family - Clara and Y/N spend the day together, and Clara becomes determined to finish what she started in 2017

(We are) a flight risk, with a fear of falling - Y/N and Max head to the US

Ain’t it funny, rumours fly - Y/N heads to a Ferrari gala as rumours swirl about Max’s next career move amid reports of infighting at Red Bull

As if I don’t already see (it) - The circus settles in to Texas and Y/N’s dad weighs in on Elliot

Can you see right through me? - Y/N and Elliot make a king and awkward paddock debut

I’ve been sleeping so long in a twenty year dark night - Y/N sheds light on her dating history while she and Elliot struggle to adjust to life in the paddock

It’s morning now, it’s brighter now - Y/N reaches out to an old friend for support. Meanwhile, Daniel tries to support Max

The moment I could see it - Max takes another win in Austin while Elliot reaches his breaking point

You’ll find the real thing instead - Y/N and Elliot have an honest conversation

In the name of being honest - Bonus part where Y/N answers Instagram questions after the Austin GP

I’m asking you why - More of Y/N’s post Austin Q&A

You’ve got a girl at home and everybody knows that - Y/N and Max are suspects in the wildest paddock rumour yet as they wrap up their trip to Austin

You learn my secrets and you figure out why I’m guarded - Y/N gets brutally honest with Mick as Max plays goalkeeper twice

You saw the truth in me - Max cuts it close before media day as reports surface of security threats in Mexico

They tell you that you’re lucky, but you’re so confused - Max attends a gruelling media day as Y/N deals with the heat of Mexico

Laughing with (your head in my) lap, like you were my closest friend - Everyone has a tough quali day

This is the golden age - Maxico delivers another win, and Y/N celebrates with tequila

(You would never) me darling, but who could stay? - Y/N and Max arrive in Brazil for a short break before the race

No one has to know what we do - Max and Y/N fall off the map and enjoy some private time

I can’t say anything to your face - Max and Y/N continue to leave each other flustered and Max starts press for the Brazilian GP

The way you move is like a full on rainstorm - Max takes pole in difficult conditions and Y/N gets near her breaking point

We were cards sharks, playing games - Max wins the sprint and Y/N wins games of her own

🚨I’ve had to add a second masterlist for all posts after this point. That can be found here 🚨

#max verstappen x reader #max verstappen #f1 fanfiction #f1 x reader #formula 1 #max verstappen fanfiction #max verstappen x you #f1 imagine #f1 social media au #f1 #lando norris #lando norris x reader #daniel ricciardo #daniel ricciardo x reader #mick schumacher x reader #mick schumacher

[dejwrld]

˚₊𓆩༺🎸༻𓆪₊˚ — summer of 22', choso kamo

𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐓 𝐈𝐈𝐈 — FIREWORKS AND FIRST KISSES

🩰 — choso & y/n attend a summer festival together as technically their first real date, but feelings and the summer heat kinda get the best of them.

ᩍ before reading please be advised of the following warnings — female reader, female anatomy describe, slice of life au, band member!choso, skater!choso, record shop worker!choso, extremely fast paced fic, tooth rotting fluff, kinda my own ossumption and characterization of modern choso, profanity, mentions of family drama, reader & choso making out, slight exhibitionism kinda, brief clit play, kinda, festival chapter yay, mentions of other characters: utahime, geto, maki, yuji, mimiko and nanako (whose aged down for plot purposes) | mdni, taglist, masterlist, other creations

chapter playlist | moment by vierre cloud, small infinity by houston kendrick, honeymoon fades by & sabrina carpenter

It’s been a week since Choso admitted to having a crush on you and your mind still was running rapid about him telling you this. You’ve completely ignored the fact that he was crushing on you when you two would text or talk on the phone late at night. You adore how patient he was with you, even though you were sure he craved to hear your thoughts on the crushing situation—he didn’t pester you about a decision on if you like him back or not. 

He was so soft with you that it caused your stomach to fill with butterflies and your cheeks to radiate so much heat. Choso clouded your mind so heavily that even your little class of eight-year-old dancers could tell that you were thinking of someone. The innocent teasing of them claiming you have a boyfriend when they catch you staring off with a smile. Currently, Utahime is sticking a beautiful pink flower hairpin in your braids that was pulled back into a perfect bun.

“Your head has been in the clouds lately, are you okay?” Utahime questioned as she glanced in the mirror in front of your vanity. “I’ve noticed you dazing off when you practice.” 

“It’s nothing.” Your words tumble out so quickly that Utahime knew that was a lie. She finally managed to neatly place the hairpin in your hair before she glanced in the mirror at your reflection. 

“Is it that boy?” Utahime questioned. “It’s so strange because your mother always would say the same thing when she would space out. Just to find out she was daydreaming about your bonehead of a father,” Utahime chuckles before she motions for you to stand from the seat you were sitting in. 

You stood up smoothing out nonexistent wrinkles from your attire before speaking, “He admitted to having a crush on me.” Your eyes glance down at the geta footwear that was on your feet before you glance at Utahime’s teasing smile. 

“That’s so cute, but he’s a nice guy. I met him when he first got hired at Suguru’s shop.” Utahime pointed out. “How do you feel about that? The last time you were serious with someone, it was that one guy. What was his name?”

“Naoya. I wouldn’t count that as anything serious. We didn’t really get anywhere. He just was a bed warmer after long hours in dance class.” Your shoulders shrug. “I don’t know, maybe we’re moving too fast.” Your words sting your own tongue even saying.

You liked Choso, you liked him more than you expected actually. He brought a smile to your face without you realizing it. He made you feel so alive that on some occasions you forgot to breathe. He was a breath of fresh air in your suffocating world of dance and you loved that. 

“Do you think you’re moving too fast or are you only saying that to consider self-sabotaging what you guys are growing into?” Utahime waltzs around you to ensure that your yukata is perfect. 

Which it was. The floral print and pastel pink shades complement your complexion wonderfully. You felt like a princess that just got pampered and frankly, you couldn’t wait to see the way Choso’s eyes light up brightly when he saw you.

“Maybe, I am self-sabotaging. I’m only here for three months before I have to return to the States for university.” You grabbed your clutch to place important things in it. “What’s the point of putting my all into something that could be temporary to the both of us.”

“You don’t know that Y/N,” Utahime says. “You don’t know if he views this as a temporary thing. You’re just overthinking.” She playfully slaps your shoulder. 

The sound of your phone ringing interrupted your next words and your cheeks heats immediately seeing his name flash on your phone. Your thumb drags alongside the screen to answer the call and hearing Choso’s voice sent a nourishing quiver down your spine. 

“Hey, I’m outside. I was wondering if you wanted to walk to the festival together.” He then kisses his teeth. “I should have asked this earlier, but I was helping with the inventory at the shop, so I forgot.” He rambles on about his day of counting records for Suguru and your lips curve into a smile as you’re mouthing a farewell to Utahime and leaving the room. 

“I’m coming down now, just give me a couple of seconds.” 

You end the call and when you finally make it down, Choso is leaning against a wall waiting. The black kimono he wore hugged his figure nicely and displayed that whatever free time he had outside of being a responsible older brother, skateboarding, working in a record shop, and being in a band—he worked out. When his eyes landed on you, his smile grew bigger and his eyes glimmered while he closed the gap in between you. 

“Wow.” was the only thing he could utter as his dark eyes glossed over you one more time. He extends his arm for you to grab upon and you do immediately. “The festival isn’t that far away, so I hope you don’t mind if we walk. I just thought it would be nice to do so.” 

You smile at him while gripping his arm while walking, “I’m okay with that. I’m just glad to be spending time with you.” You look over at him and notice the tip of his ears immediately reddens at your words. “Does your ears always do that?” 

“When a pretty girl has me blushing, yup!” Choso bluntly admits as he walks in the direction of the festival. The two of you can already hear the loud music from different instruments. 

“That’s good to know. It means I’m doing a good job at winning you over.” You playfully nudge his side with a smile. “I’m glad you invited me to this, I would have been stuck being bored in Utahime’s place.” 

“They have a pretty cool firework show at the end and I thought it would be cool to watch it with you.” Choso smiles and now it was your turn to feel your heartbeat quicken and your cheeks steam with heat. 

You peek down at your shoes before speaking, “Then thank you again.” You quickly pressed a kiss on his cheek before continuing to walk. 

This time not only did his pierced ears illuminate a shade of red, but his cheeks also. You had a charm on the man and you knew it. “Did you ever talk to your brother? You guys left off on a sour note,” You pointed out as you glanced over at him. 

“He actually hasn't been home lately. Staying over at a friend's house because it’s closer to his internship,” Choso’s lips form a straight line as if he was trying to believe his own words. “But he’s supposed to be here tonight because he volunteered to work at one of the booths.”

“Well, I still think you guys should talk. It seems there's some tension between you two,” You point out. “But we don’t have to talk about it,” A comforting smile spreads across your face while you continue to walk. Your eyes look ahead seeing the decor for the festival bit by bit. 

“I don’t want to dampen the mood, it’s just when our mom just up and left leaving us with his grandfather—it took a toll on him when he was younger. He told me he saw her again when he was out with his friends and she completely ignored him.” Choso comment. “So, I feel like he’s doing this just to try to get her attention. Which he’s never going to get.” Choso sighs. 

A frown appears on your face hearing his words and you sigh, “I’m sure he’ll realize that she isn’t a good person.”

“But I just don’t want him to realize it when it’s too late,” Choso interjects and when you two finally make it to the entrance of the festival, the gloomy look that decorated his face disappears. “But on a lighter note, let’s have some fun.”  

You didn’t want to pester him anymore about the situation. You gave him a smile and let him guard you through the crowd at the festival. As you two ventured through vendor booths and food booths, Choso noticed Noritoshi holding the hands of Mimiko and Nanako while talking to this dark-haired girl who wore a royal blue kimono. 

“Choso!” Noritoshi yells while waving the hand he briefly detached from holding one of the twins. 

You approached the group with a smile and Noritoshi couldn’t help but return it. 

“Suguru, went to go find Satoru in this crowd of people and I’m stuck with the two lovely twins.” He motions to the twins who were gripping his attire completely shy since it was a certain stranger by you.

“Mimiko and Nanako, how’s dance class?” Choso bends over to their height to open his arms and let them run into them. He picked both of them up with ease. “You know, my friend here always is a dancer.”

“Really?” Nanako glances over at you and you wave at her but her shyness overcomes her again and she hides her face in the crook of Choso’s neck. 

“So, Choso. This is Maki, she's the newest employee at the shop and guess what? She’s a bassist player,” Noritoshi smiles at him. 

Maki adjusted her glasses on her face before waving, “Suguru told me you guys needed a bassist player,” Her voice trails off before speaking. “So, here we are. Do I need to like audition?”

Choso and Noritoshi share a look and you were expecting for them to say yes because that’s what bands do. They held auditions for members to join, but they shook their heads and let out a similar laugh. “No, if Suguru hired you, you got to be one hell of a player,” Choso answers. 

He places the twins back down, ruffling up their hair before looking at Noritoshi and Maki. “I’m going show Y/N around, text my phone.” He stops abruptly to give Noritoshi a warning look. A look that told Noritoshi to not call his phone at all while he showed you around. 

“Jeez, I get the memo. Remember you’re opening tomorrow, so don’t stay out too late.” Noritoshi’s eyebrows weary together. “Now, who wants taiyaki?” He asked the twins who cheered excitedly and grasped Maki’s hand to follow Noritoshi into the crowd of festival attendees. 

Now you and Choso were alone again to enjoy the festival, engaging in childish games at booths, and now enjoying food before the firework show to conclude the evening. You ate your food and soon you felt someone staring at you when you glanced up from your food, you met Choso’s alluring gaze as he tapped his silver ring-covered fingers on the table you sat. You swallowed the last bit of food that was in your mouth before speaking, “Is there something on my face?” You question while hands embarrassingly brushing anything off your face.

“You don’t have anything on your face, Y/N.” His lips swell into a smile before adding. “You’re just so beautiful.” He sighs happily and leans forward to pick up one of the dumplings from your food and pop one in his mouth. 

Your body grows hot and a tingling chill travels down your spine before clearing your throat and sipping at your throat. “Thank you. But I must remind you, if we want to have a nice spot for the fireworks show, we should hurry.” You glance at the time on your phone. 

Choso continued to eat as if your words went into one ear and exited out the other. He takes a bite out of his food and shrugs his shoulders, “I know a spot that has the best view of the fireworks. Don’t worry,” He flashes a comforting smile that causes you to ease in your seat—correction, make your whole body fill like a bowl of putty Geto’s twins possibly play with. 

“Special spot? I’m flattered, have you brought every one of your dates to this special fireworks viewing spot?” You ask. 

“No, I usually don’t go to these types of things. But I thought it would be romantic to take you,” He grins and you can’t help but return the smile. 

Choso finishes his food and tosses it in the trash closest to you before speaking again, “Do you have doubts that I’m actually interested in you?” His dark eyes that you tend to be afraid to gaze at look at you. 

“It’s not that.” You split your last dumpling in half—picking it up with your chopsticks and guiding it towards Choso’s mouth. He eagerly eats the half you offered and waits for your response. “It’s just I refuse to believe that you’re single or it’s not other girls in life or interested in you.” You eat the last bit of your food. 

Choso picked up your trash to throw away before finding his seat yet again. His fingers comb through his jet-black strands of hair, “Obviously, there are girls that are interested in me. That private message me on social media, and believe it or not—even a groupie or two. But they don’t pique my interest as much as you.” He explains.

He watches you chew at the straw of your drink before grabbing your free hand. Despite the summer heat that had you sweating in your attire, the coolness of his rings cooled you down. The pad of his thumb rubs against your hand, “I know, we only have such little time together before you’re back in New York. But, I feel good about this. About us. As hopelessly romantic and cliche as this sounds.” He sighs and removes his hand from yours. 

You felt empty when he drew his hand away to stand up. 

“Are you ready to see some fireworks?” He extends his hand for you to take and you grab onto it because you wanted his touch more than ever. 

You let him guide you through the crowd of people who were making their way closer to the sight of the fireworks. But, when Choso made a turn in an area that you were sure wasn’t meant for festival goers—you gripped his hand tighter, and like the gentleman he was, he returned the squeeze just to comfort you that you were going to be okay. He opened the gate and let you walk through first and the two of you followed a trail that led to a hill that overlooked the festival. Many people that were wandering around looked like ants compared to where you and Choso were. Completely starstruck from the view, you didn’t notice that Choso put down a blanket for you to sit on. You kick your shoes off and sit down on the blanket next to him just in time for the first firework to decorate the night sky that had a sprinkle of stars twinkling down on you. 

Your eyes glance at the colorful works of art in the sky, but you didn’t even notice the stare Choso was giving you at the moment. As his body was sprawled out on the blanket and his head resting in his hand, he stares at you as if you’re the best piece of art in the world’s exclusive museum. As if you were the muse of every song he’s written with Noritoshi. While you were astonished by the fireworks in the sky, he was astonished by you and your beauty that causes the blood to rush to his olive shaded cheeks. 

“If you take a picture, it’ll last longer,” You turn to look at him, your body moving a bit to be closer unintentionally. 

“Maybe I should do that,” He fishes for his phone and put the camera on you. “Smile.” 

You smile for the camera and when he was done, he show you the picture. You wanted to admit that this the happiest you’ve been when you were away from home. From traveling to Russia to Europe, your ballet trips around the world were eventful—but lonely. You’ve spent the time with your peers, stunned everyone with your skills, but still felt alone. But this summer, you felt as warm as the weather that kissed your skin when you left Utahime’s apartment. He made you feel this way. 

“Can I ask you something?” Choso breaks the calming silence between you two. His eyes glancing at the fireworks but then back at your face to meet your curious look. 

“Sure, ask away.” You respond. 

“Can I kiss you, Y/N?” 

Your heart pulses in your chest and you are forced to swallow the lump that suddenly formed in your throat. Timidly, your head nods because you are lost with words—but if those words were to untie and come undone, they would be eagerly saying yes. Yes, that Choso could place his soft pink shaded lips on yours as if it was the end of the world. 

When he leaned up to meet you halfway, his lips crashed on yours so intensely that your mind immediately froze. Choso kissed you as if you’ve never been kissed before. Stealing the thought of every guy that you’ve lip-locked with and tossing it in the trash because they no longer mattered. The kiss was hot—moist and breathy, the two of you weren’t per se trying to win a battle of who’ll kiss harder, but more so still learning what kissing technique can cause the other to gasp in a hot moan or cause goosebumps to garnish each other’s skin. Less likely a battle, but a union—a mere collaboration to want to be close with each other. Surely, Choso knew this. He’s urging you on your back under the blanket that was on the ground, while his large frame climbs on top of you—not breaking the kiss at all. 

You wanted to curse yourself for deciding to go all out at this festival. Utahime made it known to you that you didn’t have to wear the attire because people also go to the festivals in regular clothing, but you want to respect the culture and be in the spirit of the date insisted. Now it was in between the steamy moment of Choso’s guitar playing hands from free roaming your frame. His lips travel across your jawline, kisses, sucks, and nibbles. The sound of the fireworks blocks out your moans, but just at the sight of Choso’s pierced ears growing red—you knew he could hear them. He knew he was making you feel better even if he couldn’t indulge in the wetness in between of your thighs.

His lips travel back to yours to deepen a kiss that made your heartbeat. Your eyes shift close in the bliss of the moment before your fingers comb through his hair. You tugged his long strands just a bit to gain a moan before he finally gave you what you wanted. His touch. 

The fireworks expand brightly in the night sky above you two, practically being the only source of light you and Choso had. His fingers dance behind you to undo the knot that holding your kimono together and close. But he didn’t fully push it open, just a bit to help him be comfortable in between your thighs that he used his own knee to push them apart.

His hand disappeared in between your bodies and you anticipated him to slide those guitar-strumming fingers in your panties, but teasingly—his index and middle fingers pushed upon your folds. Even you can feel how wet you were due to such a small task causing your panties to stick your lips provocatively. Your eyes finally open and you’re met with Choso staring down at you. His cheeks were stained with a crismon colored blush and kissed swollen lips were curving into a smirk. 

“All we did was kiss, Y/N.” He reminds while fingers trace alongside the waist line of the seamless nude panties you wore.

You cover your face in embarrassment just in time to feel your face warm up. “Oh shut up.” You slap his shoulder playfully. 

“Do I have that much of a charm on your, hm?” He rubs his fingers in a circular motion, not even bothering to pull your panties to the side. But to let you wither under him as he teases you.

“Maybe you do,” Your words were like a broken record. You can hardly get your words out with him toying with you like this. 

“That’s good to know,” He clicks his tongue and he pulls your panties to the side. His lips kissed you so sensually until you were moaning mess beneath him with each motion of his fingers. 

You’ve heard many rumors and jokes about how band members are splendid with their fingers and gosh, was he proving those rumors to be as true as ever. He haven’t even inserted any in you yet, but just the way he strummed your clit as if it was his guitar caused you to moan out his name. 

Choso. Choso. Choso. 

In a faint whisper in tune with the fireworks, he says in your ear, “That’s right, say my name.” 

Through the cracks and booms of the fireworks, for the remainder of the night—the only name you knew was his and the fact that he was very talented with his fingers. 

(🎸🩰) — tags. @maydayaisha @spiderpunkfien @bbytamaki @honeybleed @yeagerzprettyblnt @smileyy-cakee @hoohoohope @theclassbookworm

#choso kamo x reader #choso kamo fanfic #jjk fanfic #jjk x reader #jjk smut #anime fic #anime x reader #angelshubnetwork #anime smut #choso kamo smut #female reader #black reader #x black reader #⊹˳⁺ ♡ 𝒻𝒶𝓃𝒻𝒾𝒸𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃 𝒸𝓇𝑒𝒶𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃𝓈

[vivid-ink]

"To Know You Again" Chapter 5 - Doubt No More

Pairing: Neteyam x fem!Omatikaya OC

Summary: “Do you remember our last night here? The night before my family left?” The warm, rumbling timbre of Neteyam’s voice washed over her. “Yes,” Naia whispered. How could she forget?... She had replayed the memory of his lips over and over numerous times. One corner of Neteyam’s mouth lifted in a small smile as his eyes tracked over the delicate bridge of her nose and over her steadily flushing cheeks. His gaze stopped to rest on her lips, “You gave me something that night. I think it's time I returned it."

An exploration of what if Neteyam had to leave a girl he was close to behind when his family fled to the reefs to seek refuge. AU - Set 7 years after TWoW, exploring the many emotions and the eventual romantic reunion between Neteyam and his love.

Warnings: Adult content 18+, MDNI Content: Romance, drama, angst, fluff, sexual content, smut, soulmates, bonding. Word Count: 8.9k

Previous Chapter 4 - The Great Mother's Blessing

Leylani watched, alarmed, as Naia disappeared out through the entry flaps of the tsahìk’s hut again, tearing away through the stronghold. The basket of clean linen lay haphazardly on its side on the floor, some of its contents spilling out of its tilted form. She called out in a half-shout, very mindful of the newborn asleep in her arms, “Manaia! What’s wrong? Manaia!”

Her friend had looked a fright. Naia’s eyes had been wide and frantic, as though she had just witnessed something terrible. Her expression had turned even more stricken when she had met Leylani’s gaze, and her face had crumpled before she had snatched her belongings and fled. Something was wrong.

Lithely pushing off the backs of her feet to stand up, Leylani quickly padded back around the wooden partition to return Amiria to her napping mother with a hurried apology. Gathering her long tresses and winding it all atop her head in a knot, she lanced a couple of long hairpins through the updo to make it stay and prepared to run after Naia. Leylani strapped her hunting knife to her hip and was about to step out of the hut when the flaps parted to admit an apprehensive looking Kikuna.

“Did Manaia come back this way?” Kikuna asked, her forehead creased with worry.

Immediately connecting the appearance of this young woman with the disappearance of the other, Leylani remarked in return, “Yes, why?”

Kikuna shifted anxiously on her feet and wrung her hands, “A few of us were chatting by the washing grove. She overheard and looked upset when she left us.”

Clearing her throat and folding her arms impatiently across her bosom, Leylani eyed the young woman acutely, foot tapping tetchily on the floormats, “Well? What happened?”

Kikuna and her gaggle of friends were insipid and notorious gossips. Leylani did not even want to guess what unpleasant comments had been said that had not been meant for Naia’s ears. Likely some distasteful comment about Naia’s plain appearance… or her bland fashion sense… The former of which was untrue, and the latter meant nothing at all in the grand scheme of things, when you considered what a generous and beautiful soul Naia was, even if her tongue was sharp.

“Tupou told me this morning that Neteyam has reclaimed his role as successor.” Kikuna began carefully, “I’m sorry Leylani, I know it’s meant to be all hush-hush still, but everyone is already talking about it. We were just talking amongst ourselves about it. You’d make a strong pair, you and Neteyam.”

Kikuna’s last sentence was delivered with a beseeching smile towards Leylani, as if the compliment would somehow atone for the inappropriate nattering she and her friends had engaged in. The realisation of what Naia had overheard and what she would have surmised was like a dowsing of frigid water over Leylani. Naia would have assumed the worst and worse still, her assumption would have been incorrect based off the gossip.

This was not at all how events were supposed to unfold… Naia was not supposed to find out until Neteyam spoke to her tonight… By Eywa, no one in the wider clan was supposed to know anything yet.

*** FLASHBACK TO EARLIER THAT MORNING ***

“Neteyam, wait!” Leylani speared through the draping flaps of the council shelter, hastening after Neteyam as he strode away. Reaching out, she grasped hold of his wrist and he turned to face her. The disappointment was plain on his face, but the unwavering resolution that reinforced his decision still remained.

“You can’t convince me to change my mind, Leylani. My decision is made.”

“I know, brother. But-” Leylani breathed with an exhalation. However, Neteyam interrupted her before she could continue.

“Then there’s nothing to talk about.” He was about to turn on heel and leave when Leylani firmly took hold of both his hands.

“Hear me out, you didn’t let me speak.” Leylani chided. She squeezed his hands hearteningly, “You would rescind your decision to decline and accept if you could mate Manaia, right? What if she was your tsakarem again?”

Neteyam’s lips parted and his brows furrowed low, reading between the lines of what she was implying, “What are you saying?”

Warmth unfolded in her heart as Leylani licked her lips and prepared to give voice to her own decision. She felt no disappointment, no resentment, because she knew this was her path and was at peace with it, “I’ll step down.”

Astonishment coloured Neteyam’s face and he blinked at her, shaking his head, “I can’t ask this of you.”

“You’re not asking. I’m offering.” Leylani pressed firmly. She graced him with a noble smile then and released one of his hands to press her palm over his heart, “This is right. It is what I must do for my people and for both of you. We’ll make things as they used to be, reinstate the original order of things.”

It appeared her words were still sinking in and Leylani could see him mulling over what they meant. Neteyam murmured, almost to himself, “That’s assuming Naia wants to be tsakarem again. She did give up the role after all.”

With a snort and an eyeroll that even Naia would have been proud of, Leylani retorted, “She gave up the role because she didn’t want to mate Tupou, because Tupou isn’t you. She is still the ideal tsakarem for this clan just as you are the ideal successor. She will go where you go. Manaia will stand by your side, trust me.”

Neteyam huffed out a laugh of delight and he pulled her into a firm embrace. No words were said, but Leylani did not need them to feel his relief and his gladness.

“Come! We must tell them. Before they dismiss for the morning.” Leylani said, tugging on his wrist again and pulling him eagerly back into the meeting shelter.

*** FLASHBACK END ***

The curse that rustled past Leylani’s lips was stifled, but still vulgar enough that Kikuna flinched in surprise. Leylani knew it was unlike herself to use expletives, but sometimes the situation warranted it.

“Tupou should never have told you, and you shouldn’t have gone and told other people!” Leylani moved to take Kikuna’s elbow, leaning closer so she could mutter by the other woman’s ear through gritted teeth.

Kikuna pouted and hissed huffily, “It wasn’t just me Tupou told. He told a few of the other warriors too. And how is it that Manaia doesn’t know? I thought she and Neteyam were close.”

“That is beside the point! Your gossiping has unnecessarily and incorrectly upset Manaia.” Leylani rebuked with pinned ears, her tail swishing crossly from side to side. There was not any way to correct Kikuna’s understanding of the situation without telling her the full truth. Considering what a chatterer Kikuna was, Leylani decided it better to give her the truth rather than leave her to potentially spread more assumptions and lies, “Neteyam’s decision isn’t final yet! He needed tonight to speak to Manaia first before the council formally made their announcement, because he won’t reclaim his position unless Manaia agrees to reclaim hers as tsakarem.”

Kikuna blinked several times as the facts settled in and then she turned to Leylani in shock, “So y-you’re not going to be mated to Neteyam?”

“No! He loves Manaia! But no thanks to you, you’ve now made it seem like he’s abandoned her behind her back!”

Kikuna paled to a lighter shade of blue and she bit her lip, realising the error and the consequence it had wrought upon Manaia. She could only squeak in response, “Oh.”

With an exasperated snarl of frustration, Leylani swept out of the hut in search of Naia. She did not regret how harsh she had been with Kikuna, but another part of her reminded her that the root cause of this situation was not, in fact, Kikuna. Another muted curse left her and she muttered under her breath to herself, “You wait until I get my hands on you, Tupou.”

***~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~***

Was it possible to go from the happiest you had ever been to the saddest in the space of one day?...

Night had fallen and it was well and truly the heart of eclipse now. Naia knelt at the foot of the Tree of Souls her hands braced against the peeling bark of the trunk as she wept. Even the unbroken flow of the ancestors’ voices through her bond with the Great Mother’s tree did nothing to soothe the upheaval in her heart.

She was well-versed with the symptoms of a panic attack. The revelation of Neteyam’s supposed re-acceptance of his birthright, and betrothal to Leylani by default, had sent Naia into a tailspin of irrational thinking. Her deepest, darkest fears had risen to the surface like a monstrous creature with sharp claws and gnashing teeth, seizing hold of her heart in its unforgiving jaws and terrorising her with her insecurities. Yet, try as she might to combat the crushing senselessness that came with the spell, Naia’s thoughts still swung from pole to pole; idyllic memories of the last few weeks warring with the ugly insecurities dredged up by her panic.

Why didn’t Neteyam say anything about the proposition?... Was that his intention all along? To return to the clan to reclaim his birthright?... But he told you he loved you; he came back for you… Then why did he keep this from you?...

Naia had fled the stronghold earlier that afternoon and her legs had automatically carried her towards the ikran rookery, intent on flying wherever her panicked mind sought to take her. She had reached the flat crag of the rookery before realising that Lortirea would still be weak from laying, so flying was immediately thrown out of the equation. Foolishly, she had let her legs carry her mindlessly and aimlessly down from the floating mountains to the forest floor, where she had continued to run herself to exhaustion.

The acute shaking of her limbs had ceased now at least, as had the painful tingling in her fingers. All that was left now were her sore muscles and scraped palms and knees where she had fallen earlier. Where her mind had reeled with irrational panic before, now it drowned in the unrelenting depths of her despair.

She could not lose Neteyam again… A woeful sob forced its way from her throat. Naia had healed the wound as best she could when his family had first left all those years ago. She had made a reluctant peace with his departure from her life, and convinced herself to be content with her memories and her girlish fantasies. But then he had miraculously returned and he had swept her off her feet with his promise of forever. So, why now had he agreed to mate another woman?...

An image of Leylani swirled into Naia’s mind, all lissom grace and stunning beauty beyond compare… The thought turned into a knife-sharp clench in her chest. Perhaps it’s obvious why, Naia… How could he resist her?... They would make a strikingly attractive pair… you would look mismatched next to Neteyam with your uninspiring plainness…

By Eywa, Naia knew she could not bear to go through life watching them together. Not after sharing what she had with Neteyam these last few weeks. Naia knew the separation would be so much worse this time, knowing what she would be losing; watching him wed Leylani; watching him start a soaia (family) with her; living with them as olo’eyktan and tsahìk... Naia felt sick and she swallowed another painful sob.

Better than Tupou being clan chief, at least… Neteyam had always been a natural leader and the Omatikaya would flourish under his leadership. However, the positive thought was of little consolation to Naia in the present moment. Her heart was selfish and it wanted to wallow in its hurt.

One of Naia’s hands flew to clutch the pendant at her throat, the only physical reminder she had that she had not dreamt up the bliss of the last while. Neteyam had given it to her, called her the most beautiful thing in his eyes… Had he lied?... Perhaps you were just a convenient roll-around in the moss while he awaited the council’s decision to reinstate him… She did not want to believe the horrid thought, but her insecurity reared its ugly head once more.

Naia knew that Neteyam had had other women. He was her first, but she was not his by any means. They had not spoken about this specifically, but there was a familiarity and a confidence in the way he touched her that spoke to his sexual experience. The idea had not bothered her before. After all, it had been her own personal preference not to explore intimacy with others. She would not begrudge him the freedom of not doing the same. But maybe she was not as special as he had led her to believe…

Naia sagged on her next sobbing exhale, uncaring that it hurt the scrapes on her palms to trail her hands forlornly down the harsh bark of the tree. Palms flat on the glowing moss, she bent forward to press her forehead against the backs of her hands, her entire form prostrate on the ground. Great Mother, please let this all be a nightmare… let me wake up and realise that none of this is true…

She was shattered both physically and emotionally. She was so tired. There was no way she would make it back to High Camp tonight. Scaling down the mountains and trekking to the Tree of Souls on foot had been a rash endeavour. There was a reason that those who wanted to visit the sacred site made the journey down on the backs of their ikran. Naia would have to spend the night here, and may Eywa protect her, lest any predators decide to make a midnight snack of her.

The pendant around her neck reminded her of its presence again as it clinked gently against the moss with her lurching breaths. She encircled the piece of jewellery in her palm, feeling the smooth texture of its looping pattern against her fingertips.

Lifting her head from the ground to sit upright, Naia unsheathed the dagger at her hip. It did not belong around her neck.

Neteyam had broken his promise, if he had ever meant it at all.

***~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~***

Leylani had been pacing at the edge of the stronghold overlooking the horizon for the better part of the evening, anxiously awaiting Neteyam’s return. No one had seen Naia since she had bolted earlier that afternoon and the small scout party that Tarsem had deployed just before eclipse had not located her anywhere in the stronghold or in the surrounding forest grounds below the mountains.

Naia’s mother had been disappointed and unimpressed to learn of the misunderstanding, but Ayepni knew her daughter and she knew Naia would not return until she was ready to. Naia had always been very independent and obstinate; she would not be found if she did not want to be. Ayepni had tried to reassure Leylani that Naia would return home when she was ready to, but this did not sit well with Leylani and it was well into the night now.

Leylani chewed on her bottom lip and wrung her hands. She had grown and learned the ways of healing and spiritual leadership alongside Naia since they were children. Naia was as close as a sister to her, and the thought of Naia thinking she had betrayed her trust too was a thorn in her side. Kicking some loose scree about with her foot, Leylani groused to herself again and wished the warriors would hurry up.

The warriors’ patrol party was late returning to base, although Tarsem had indicated this possibility to her. Their assignment today had been to patrol out to the farthest outskirts of Omatikaya territory and it was a decent journey there and back. This was a mission that was routinely done once every moon cycle to survey the land for any unusual activity or threat from neighbouring clans. The danger of the Sky People had been vanquished, but Na’vi were still territorial, and inter-clan relations were not always friendly.

Finally though, the caws and skreiches of returning ikran reverberated through the rocky cavern of the stronghold as the warriors swooped in and up to land. Leylani’s eyes zeroed in on her two targets dismounting from their beasts to her far right. She felt a dichotomy of emotions as she marched up to the pair, her relief at the sight of Neteyam sparring with her quickly firing frustration at the sight of Tupou.

“That frown isn’t a good look on you, Leylani.” Tupou jeered, though his heckle was short-lived when it became apparent in the next instant that the focal point of her frustration was him.

Jabbing him with a finger above the just-healed scar on his pectorals, Leylani spat at Tupou, “You!” She felt no remorse at Tupou’s hiss of pain and continued, “You big-mouthed bastard. If anything untoward has happened to Manaia, it will be on your head!”

The mention of Naia’s name instantly caught Neteyam’s attention and he swivelled away from his ikran to face them, “What’s going on?”

“Tupou has broken the confidence he promised you this morning! He told Kikuna and a few others that you’d accepted the proposition, except he omitted the one crucial detail that your acceptance was still dependent on Manaia’s own reclamation of her own role as tsakarem.” Leylani outed Tupou’s misdemeanour without an ounce of hesitation, and it was the maddest Neteyam had ever seen her, “And now, the entire clan is talking about it and Manaia thinks you have agreed to be betrothed to me!”

Vexed at Leylani’s attack, Tupou griped in return, “So tell her that’s not the case? I don’t see the big deal!”

“I would! Except she heard through the grapevine from Kikuna and her gossip gang and ran off upset! She hasn’t come back since!”

The news sunk in a weight of cold, stony dread into the pit of Neteyam’s stomach. It was a misunderstanding of significant proportions and he turned to glower at Tupou, “You couldn’t wait just one more day for me to discuss this with Naia first? I haven’t technically accepted yet.”

Tupou flung his arms up impatiently and emitted a harsh groan, “It’s as good as done anyway! Manaia will re-accept her old position, we know that! Why didn’t you tell her about the proposition in the first place? If she is your intended, then why did you keep this from her?”

Neteyam’s lips pressed into a thin line and his tail weaved in a low arc behind him. It was a valid point that he could not refute. He should have told her. It would have been the honest thing to do. He had known that keeping this a secret from her was not ideal, but he never envisaged his decision to do so would unravel and come back to bite him in the form of the messy misunderstanding they now found themselves in.

The simmer of unease in Neteyam’s gut began to bubble and froth with more intensity while he absorbed the full consequence of how Naia would have interpreted the situation. Eywa, she probably thought he had deserted her for Leylani…

Leylani shook her head at the misfortune of it all. She took hold of Neteyam’s elbow and gave it a pressing squeeze, “Do you know where she might have gone? She looked distraught. I hate that she has the wrong idea about all this.”

Thinking immediately of the grotto, Neteyam nodded, hoping that he was right, “I think so.”

“Tarsem said that if you don’t find her soon then he will dispatch another round of scouts. He wants to know she is safe.”

“Got it. I’ll come find you at your family’s shelter if we need to keep looking, but if you don’t hear from me then everything is alright.”

***~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~***

Hindsight was always 20/20 and regret almost always came hand in hand with it.

The night-time winds during the darkest part of eclipse were bitterly cold and Neteyam wished he had brought his flying shawl with him. In his haste to find Naia, the thought had not even occurred to him. He squinted down at the forest floor below through the whipping airstreams, searching for any sign of her. He was weary after his day’s work and even Tompa’s own fatigue was palpable through their bond as they flew. However, Neteyam’s concern for her safety far outweighed his tiredness.

None of this would have happened if he had been honest and open with Naia from the beginning.

The commlink in his ear beeped as yet another one of the other scouts reported they had searched and cleared their assigned area with no sighting of Naia. They had cleared High Camp, cleared the surrounding floating mountaintops and were now searching the forest floor in a gradually widening radius as Naia’s whereabouts continued to elude them.

Neteyam cursed under his breath. Where are you, Naia?... He would not rest until he found her. By Leylani’s accounts, Naia had been missing for hours now and though she had never been the reckless sort, part of him worried she might have done something rash in her upset.

To say that Neteyam’s heart had plummeted earlier when he had gone first to their grotto was an understatement. He had expected to find Naia there, but he had arrived to find the space vacant and cold. The rumpled nest of blankets had been as they had left it the previous night and not even a single ember glowed in the makeshift hearth. He had not been able to scent her in the vicinity and it was evident that she had not even set foot in the place that evening.

He had scurried to her family’s shelter next, in case he had missed her on her return home. However, he had been greeted by the apprehensive eyes of Naia’s parents, Ayepni and Tulut, their anxious expressions confirmation enough that Naia was not there either.

“Manaia has never missed last meal.” Ayepni had declared, and her worry had been tangible then, “No matter how angry or upset she is, Naia always comes home to eat. And then she might disappear again to go sulk wherever she goes, but she has never missed a meal like this.”

If it had not been for the dismal circumstances, Neteyam would have laughed. Naia did like her food. But this uncharacteristic departure from her routine was yet another stone on the already weighty pile of stones in the pit of his belly. Where was she?

The commlink beeped in his ear again followed by the rustle of static. The line connected and then disconnected several times, punctuated by harsh crackles and scratches like the person using it was fumbling around, inexperienced with the commlink device around their neck.

“Ah, hello? Can anyone hear me?” The voice was awkward, feminine and hesitant.

Neteyam’s fingers flew to the link at his throat, pressing the button to speak, “Leylani, go ahead. What is it?”

“I’ve found her! She’s at Vitrautral! I haven’t landed, but she appears alright, just praying.”

Balmy relief washed over Neteyam at Leylani’s words and he took a deep inhale before letting his breath rush out of him in a gust. He responded, “Copy that. I’m on my way there now.” The Tree of Souls was not far from where he was currently, it was just a bit farther out west.

Urging Tompa to bank left toward their targeted destination, Neteyam spotted Leylani departing on her own ikran in the distance. He let out an echoing ululation and returned her wave as she turned to depart for home. Leylani had insisted on joining the scout party and after Naia’s parents and himself, she was probably the next most concerned person. Neteyam had always held Leylani in high regard, both as a healer as well as a friend, but he had a newfound level of respect for her after what she had done today. Her unselfishness was truly admirable.

The dazzling vision of the sacred tree illuminated the luxuriant forest around it and Neteyam slowed on Tompa to circle the site. He spotted Naia within moments, knelt on one side of the tree’s mammoth trunk. The hallowed tree was positioned in the centre of a series of rocky escarpments which surrounded it on all sides, making it look as if it was situated within a natural geological bowl of glowing flora.

Making his descent, Tompa alighted elegantly on one of the scarps and the beast let out a low whine at the sight of Naia, who turned her head briefly in acknowledgement but remained stooped over where she was knelt. Patting Tompa’s neck in gratitude and murmuring his appreciation, Neteyam slid off his familiar’s back and carefully made his way down the steep scarp towards Naia.

Breaking into a jog once he reached flat ground, his eyes automatically scanned Naia for any sign of injury as he approached. She turned her head to face him and Neteyam’s heart squeezed in his chest.

Physically she was unharmed, but emotionally she looked broken.

Neteyam could smell the anguish pouring off her in the scent of her dried perspiration. The usually neat braids of her hair were windswept and little tendrils stuck out around her forehead and ears. Her nose was wet, her cheeks tracked with tears and her eyes were red-rimmed. Even the usually bright glimmer of the tanhì that freckled her all over were dimmed, the bioluminescent spots all flickering weakly like dying stars against the rich sapphire of her skin.

Naia did not rise to greet him and she held his gaze only for a few moments before her chin dropped to her chest again. The points of her ears turned down and her tail lay limp by her side. “Congratulations,” She croaked bitterly, her gaze still trained on her folded hands in her lap.

Shaking his head and feeling the sharp edge of regret cutting into his soul again, Neteyam’s voice was measured when he spoke to begin his explanation, “Naia, there’s been a huge misunderstanding-”

“About us? Yes, there has. One of us has made a grave misjudgement of the other.” Naia interrupted with a snap, immediately defensive.

“I’ve made a huge error in judgement, and I’m sorry. I should’ve told you so you wouldn’t get the wrong idea, so that you knew where I stood about us.” Neteyam continued, calmy disregarding her interruption.

Naia had spent hours in solitude now, stewing away with only her tumultuous emotions for company. She had alternated between praying to the Great Mother for guidance in the despairing situation she found herself in and begging her to take the pain in her soul away. Her hurt and her anger had warred, battling each other for control, swinging back and forth between bouts of tears and bouts of resentment.

However, now that Neteyam stood in her presence her ire was winning and dominating. She did not need to hear his apology for what he had done; for the woman he had chosen over her. She did not want to hear it. Her ire flared and it mixed with her burning shame. To think that she had pledged her everything to this man, let him fill her with dreamy promises, and he had so easily cast it all aside.

“I don’t want to hear it.” Naia’s tone was harsh and her big eyes were full of accusation as she glared up at him. Her face twisted into a grimace and a spurt of rage pushed her to her feet before him, “I trusted you. I let you in and let you cajole me with your sweet words, and all for nothing!”

Neteyam blinked and he took an involuntary step backward in bewilderment. Confusion bloomed within him as he regarded Naia who stood there with wild eyes and clenched fists. What was she talking about? Her chest was heaving with her breaths and tears were pooling in her eyes. She looked on the brink of a breakdown.

“Naia, what are you talking about?”

Neteyam reached for her arm and Naia exploded in a violent hiss, twisting out of his reach, “Don’t touch me! You lied! You didn’t have to say all those things! You didn’t have to make me feel special if you didn’t mean any of it!” Naia’s words rushed from her in a torrential stream, her emotions running high on the fuel of insecurity she had stoked to a fever pitch in the hours leading up to this moment. Feeling vulnerable, she wrapped her arms around her shoulders, her screams fizzling to whimpers now as she began to cry, “You told me you loved me. I let you touch me.”

Horror dawned upon Neteyam when he realised that they were not at all on the same page about the grave error of judgement they were speaking about. They were not even heading in the same direction. He was referring to his own misjudgement of keeping her in the dark about the proposition. She was apparently referring to her own error of judgement and that error was loving him. She was still rooted firmly in her belief that he had betrayed her.

Neteyam watched, momentarily dumbfounded, as Naia wept openly now. His nose twitched and he detected hints of her various emotions, all eddying around in a negative mixture that tainted her unique and sweet scent with a sour tinge. By Eywa, he understood then that she had spent most of the day and night steeping in the unbalanced state he now found her in. She was distraught and she was not thinking rationally.

His arms ached to reach out to her, but he had to be careful. He did not want to distress her further. He needed her to hear him out, “Yawntu (beloved), listen to me, please. It’s not what you think-”

But Neteyam’s words ground to a sudden halt when Naia’s arms shifted, lowering to hug herself about her waist and leaving her bare neck open to his view. His soul-gift was no longer around her neck.

A spear of panic shot through Neteyam and he gasped, “Naia, where’s the necklet I gave you?”

With a petulant sniff, Naia murmured, “Probably at the bottom the river I threw it into.”

The words were a dagger in Neteyam’s heart and his expression turned pained. His pain was followed by an unbidden surge of anger that flashed hotly through him and it manifested itself as a rancorous snarl.

Naia’s wrath spiked and she hissed in return. How dare he be upset with her?

In truth, she knew her words were a lie. The necklet lay tucked in the safety of her sling bag, but she had lied to spite him. She wanted him to hurt too. She had sliced the cord of the necklet from her neck with her dagger earlier amid her sadness, but she had not been able to fling it away. The soft part of her heart that would always yearn for him had convinced her to keep it; it was the only reminder she possessed of her time with him.

But as always, Naia’s wrath made her tongue sharp and she hurled yet another pointed barb at Neteyam, “Why? Were you hoping I’d return it to you so you can give it to Leylani now?”

The roar that tore from Neteyam’s throat was full of raw emotion; a potent fusion of his pain, frustration and regret, and Naia flinched violently at the sound.

Neteyam could see how the misunderstanding had occurred, and he acknowledged that his decision to hide the proposition from Naia had contributed to it. But what hurt him the most was the fact that she had been so quick to condemn him. She had not even waited to speak to him, to clarify, before jumping to the worst possible conclusion of his character. After everything they had shared in recent weeks, she still doubted his love for her.

“Woman! I swore my love to you not even two days ago!” Neteyam boomed, “Why do you-”

Naia interrupted once more and her voice rose to meet his, “Then why did you accept the council’s proposition and agree to mate Leylani? You didn’t even tell me about the proposition and you’ve known for weeks!”

“I know and I should’ve told you-”

“How can you expect me to believe you and trust you-”

“Naia, let me explain myself!”

“-when you kept this from me-”

“MANAIA, BE QUIET! STOP INTERRUPTING ME!”

Naia recoiled at his bellow and her mouth snapped shut in fright. Neteyam had never raised his voice like that with her. Ever. She could not recall a single incident even when they were younger of him losing his temper. She knew she could be argumentative and sarcastic, but he had always been calm and collected with her. At most he had become a little snippy, but he had never shouted at her like that.

Neteyam saw Naia wince and knew he had scared her. Her wide eyes were wary as she watched him. His first instinct was to apologise for his outburst and the words were poised on his lips, but he withheld them, and the frustrated part of him quipped that she deserved it. Interrupting was a bad habit of Naia’s; always had been for as long as he could remember.

Breathing deeply, Neteyam squared his shoulders and fixed Naia with a firm look, “You always do this, interrupt people when they’re trying to speak. Stop it. I’m going to speak now and I’d appreciate it if you didn’t interrupt me until I say I’m finished.”

Still stunned, Naia gave a meek nod in agreement.

Neteyam trusted her answer, but to be safe, he decided he get the short and sharp facts out of the way first, “I’m not betrothed to Leylani. I haven’t fully accepted the council’s proposition to reclaim my birthright. Tupou is over-eager to step down and he should never have said anything to Kikuna or anyone else this morning. He only gave her half the story.”

He paused and raised a cautionary brow when Naia’s lips parted to say something, but she kept her word and she pressed her mouth closed again.

“Tarsem came to me with the proposition three weeks ago, soon after I returned to the clan.” Neteyam continued in an even tone, starting his explanation from the beginning, “I declined outright, because even back then I knew it was you I wanted.”

Naia’s ears perked up at his words and a green shoot of tenderness sprouted through the black anxiety that blanketed her heart. Although the urge to ask questions was strong, Naia made a conscious effort to just listen to Neteyam as he explained the council events of the last few weeks to her. He described how his grandmother had convinced him to make a counter-proposal to the clan council, that he would reclaim his birthright if he was not obligated to mate Leylani. He explained how the council had taken the last two weeks to deliberate and had ruled this morning to deny him his request because they wanted tradition upheld.

“I didn’t tell you about the proposition because I was afraid.” Neteyam admitted, and his gaze was sincere, “I was afraid, at first, of scaring you away with how deeply I felt for you if you knew I was banking the entire situation on being able to be with you. And then after we became close, I was afraid you’d pull away and push me to accept for the greater good of the clan.”

Naia looked dubious, but remained silent like she had promised. She briefly mused to herself that Neteyam clearly thought her much more altruistic than she actually was. She would not have pushed him away romantically to force him to reclaim his position for the greater good. After so many years of pining and after the bliss of loving him for real, she knew she would have been selfish.

It was a bold move considering the taut situation, but Neteyam had seen Naia’s eyes softening as she listened and he reached out gently to pry her wrists from around her waist. He was met with little resistance from her and he pulled her towards him to wind her arms around his narrow waist, “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I should’ve been open about it and none of this would’ve happened. And maybe if Tupou had shut up like he was supposed to too.”

“So why did Tupou tell Kikuna you accepted?” The words were out of Naia’s mouth before she could stop them, but it was because she sensed a lull in Neteyam’s flow of words as he was getting distracted running the knuckles of one hand over her cheek, and Naia wanted to know the rest of the story.

“Because Leylani stepped down this morning.” Neteyam breathed and Naia gave a sharp intake of breath at his words. He leaned down to kiss one corner of her mouth and then tilted his head the opposite way to kiss the other corner, “I told the council I would reclaim my birthright subject to the condition that you reclaimed your position as tsakarem.”

Naia pulled back a little to better regard him. Reclaim her position as tsakarem? The sentiment shocked her. She looked up into the face of the man she knew she would follow anywhere and give anything for. Her words eluded her though and she did not know what to say.

Neteyam filled the silence, “Only if you wish to. I’ll only reclaim my birthright if you will be the tsahìk at my side when I become olo’eyktan. But if you don’t wish to take that path then that’s fine too. I’m yours either way. You are what I came home for.”

A sudden and overwhelming shame overcame Naia and she felt rotten. With the actual truth of the situation now laid out before her, she perceived her irrationality and recognised how her inner demons had caused her to spiral into overreaction. She had assumed the absolute worst without giving him a chance to speak for himself.

Neteyam had apologised for his lapse in judgement. It was her turn now.

Pulling her hands away from his hips to cover her face when the burn of her shame forced fresh tears from her eyes, Naia whispered wetly, “Oh Great Mother, I’ve been so stupid today. I should’ve known better. I know you better. I’m so sorry, Neteyam.”

Hushing her softly, Neteyam enveloped her smaller frame in his strong arms and rubbed his cheek soothingly against her hair while she cried noisily into the crook of his neck. He felt her arms snake out from between their bodies to clutch at his back, her fingers digging with pressure into his skin, as if she was trying to press herself even closer to him. He noticed her body trembling slightly and he murmured by her ear, “Are you cold?”

Naia fought to control her hitching sobs and she shook her head, stuttering, “N-No. My muscles are j-just fatigued.”

Yet another realisation dawned on Neteyam and he remembered Naia’s ikran was out of action currently. Eyes widening in disbelief, he queried, “Did you make your way here on foot?”

“Yes.” Her response was barely a whisper.

Prying her gently away from his torso and stepping back to inspect Naia again from head to toe, Neteyam discovered her scraped palms and grazed knees. Her shins and calves were also littered with scratches and thin cuts from where, he presumed, the surrounding vegetation had whipped and snagged against her legs as she ran.

Neteyam cursed low under his breath, crushing her to his chest again and berating her softly by her ear, “You’re so stupid sometimes, Naia. It’s dangerous coming all this way on foot! You’ve hurt yourself.”

The gentle scolding only caused Naia to cry harder, “I thought I’d lost you again. I just needed to get away! I don’t know what I’d do if I had to live the rest of my life seeing you with Leylani!”

One of Neteyam’s hands cupped the back of Naia’s head against his shoulder and his other hand ran in warm strokes up and down her back, “How many times have I told you I love you? Why did you automatically think the worst of me, and Leylani too, huh?”

Naia winced a little at the recognition that she had also wronged Leylani. Sweet, sincere Leylani who was like a sister to her. By Eywa, she had been such a fool today. She did not know what to say. All she could do was repeatedly murmur wet apologies against Neteyam’s skin while she sobbed.

They stood together for a period and they remained enfolded in their standing embrace. Naia’s hitching sobs soon petered out and her breaths gradually steadied to the calming rhythm of Neteyam’s heartbeat. All the while Neteyam pacified her with whispered reassurances and gentle kisses pressed to the crown of her head.

Sniffling, Naia thought to herself that he was being too good to her. She felt undeserving of every hushed phrase and every small kiss he graced her with. Feeling much calmer now than she had since the afternoon, she snorted cynically, “You should be scolding me more. This feels like you’re rewarding my bad behaviour.”

A deep breath was pulled into Neteyam’s lungs, his muscular chest expanding beneath Naia’s cheek before it deflated again in a long sigh. Neteyam’s voice was hurt when he spoke, “I can’t believe you threw away the necklet.”

Biting her lip hard, Naia mentally smacked herself. With a grimace, she lifted her head to meet Neteyam’s pained eyes and squeaked, “I lied.”

“What?”

“I lied. I didn’t throw it away.” Naia admitted in a clearer voice, “I cut it off but I couldn’t bear to get rid of it, so I kept it. It’s in my bag.” She gingerly stepped away and moved to her bag, making a face when her thigh muscles screamed in protest as she crouched to fish the necklet out.

Cupping it preciously in her palms, she stood and presented it to Neteyam, shamefaced. The looping pendant and pearlescent beads were all intact and only the woven cord of it had been defiled where Naia had sliced it free of her neck.

Neteyam shook his head and rolled his eyes. He wanted to be angry with her, but he had never been the sort to hold a grudge and he forgave easily. Especially when it came to Naia. One look at her tear-stained face and beseeching gold eyes and his annoyance just fizzled out of him. He sighed once more, “I can make a new cord for it. And when I do put it round your neck again, it’s never coming off. Ever.”

“Sorry,” Naia peeped, her lower lip wobbling a little, “I’m sorry for overreacting and being stupid today.” Enclosing the necklet in her hands, she pressed a kiss to her closed fists. She returned to nestle it safely inside her bag again, not wanting to drop any of the beads or lose any.

“We don’t have this tradition in the Omatikaya, but the Metkayina have a ritual where everyone creates a gift for their intended mate. A gift from the soul that you present to the person you want to spend eternity with.” Neteyam said, watching as Naia’s face flushed deeply and her expression turned hangdog when she approached him again, “The necklet is my soul-gift to you. I don’t want you doubting what I feel for you anymore.”

Swallowing through an uncomfortably dry throat, Naia nodded, “I know, I just- I believe you, I do- but you can have anyone you want, so why-”

Neteyam heard and saw Naia struggle to express herself. It was unlike her in that she had always been quick-witted and well-spoken, but her self-doubt was plain as she stumbled over her words. No, he was not having anymore of this. If she could not truly comprehend through his words and actions how much he loved her, then he was going to have to show her that there was no doubt in his mind.

Closing the space between them, Neteyam silenced her stammering lips with a quick but fervent kiss before pulling away to declare, “I see you and I love you, Manaia te Txewì Ayepni’ite. Say you’ll be mine?”

The word ‘yes’ was just about to fall from Naia’s lips, but it was impeded by an abrupt gasp when she realised Neteyam had reached behind him to bring his neural queue forward from over his shoulder. The well of emotion inside Naia swelled almost to bursting point when perceived the true significance of what he was asking.

He was not simply asking her to commit to him exclusively. He wanted to bond with her, to mate her for life and beyond…

Neteyam added, “I’m sure of this. I want nothing more in this world. Your decision around whether you want to reclaim the role of tsakarem is irrelevant. Be mine, Naia, now and always?”

Naia’s heart sang for joy, the explosion of love in its depths a welcome reprieve from the icy ache that had besieged it for most of the past day. She felt the involuntary sting of tears in her eyes as her elation overwhelmed her. Thank you for this blessing, Great Mother…

Naia was unable to suppress the choked sob that slipped from her and she forced her vocal chords to work past the lump in her throat, “Yes, I love you. Of course I’ll be yours.” The dazzling smile she received in return was an image of him that would be forever imprinted into the core of her memories.

Reaching back to trail her hand down the thick braid of her own queue, Naia brought it between them to mirror his previous action. She felt Neteyam’s free hand come up to cradle her jaw, his warm fingers caressing her cheek. She placed one of her hands over the back of his and leant into the warmth of his palm. He leaned downward and she instinctively tilted her head up to his face, but it was not their lips that met this time.

Neteyam gently stopped to rest his forehead against Naia’s. They were so close that the swell of her breasts pressed against his ribs and their thighs brushed where he had one of his legs positioned between hers. Nothing existed but him and Naia in that moment, just the beautiful stillness of two souls about to be united in the presence of Eywa.

Slowly but surely, the knuckles of their hands met, bringing their neural queues together. The delicately curling tendrils of their queues interlaced with each other’s, twining into a radiant rope of blessed union. Tsaheylu.

The profound strength of their bond rocked them, their eyelids clamping shut and their mouths going slack for several moments while their hearts, minds and souls aligned. It was ecstasy like neither of them had ever known. Their hearts began to beat in time in their chests and a rush of emotion and sensation forged between them in a neural bridge.

Blinking several times, Naia’s eyes refocused on the physical image of Neteyam before her and she pulled her eyeline up to meet his. His eyes were a little watery, but a beaming smile was stretched across his face and Naia felt a surge of adoration reach her through their bond. Then, even though his lips did not move, she heard him clear as a bell in her mind. You’re so beautiful, my Naia.

An image of herself flowed through to her and it was surreal how she was looking at Neteyam with her eyes, but she also saw herself through his eyes. There were no words used to describe her, just his emotions and fragments of bright things and happy memories that he associated with her. She saw herself as he saw her and she was beautiful. Naia laughed, the sound pealing through the gently blowing leaf-strands of the Tree of Souls and Neteyam took her in his arms to kiss her passionately.

The neural bond between them was pure and harmonious, but there was another rising urge beneath their mutual flow of emotion that was beginning to engulf them. They were united mind and soul, and all that was left now to seal their bond for life was the simultaneous joining of their bodies. 

Naia’s cool hands clutched at Neteyam’s shoulders and she pressed her torso tight against his, uncaring if the position meant her head and neck were craned almost all the way back to reach his face. She needed to be as close to him as possible, wanted him to be one with her body and soul. Neteyam had one arm looped firmly around her waist and its twin supported the back of her head while they lost themselves in the heat of their kiss.

It was as if they were entranced in a pleasurable daze, each fully aware of their own actions but also equally aware of the other’s. Time had ceased to pass, both entirely spellbound by the present moment they were sharing. There was no hesitation as they curled around each other on the mossy ground, arms and limbs tangling tight when they finally coupled their bodies in an intimate embrace. 

The erotic pleasure was immense.

Their bond had forged between them an endless feedback loop. Naia experienced every single pulse and stroke of Neteyam’s pleasure as he moved within her, and likewise, Neteyam’s own rapture was heightened by the gratifying fullness and deep pleasure that Naia felt of him filling her. Every gasp and every moan; every kiss, every lick and stroke of hands and tongues was amplified, and all the while the depth their love was an over-arching certitude within their bond. When the crest of their pleasure eventually consumed them, it was overwhelming and experienced together at the same time.

Neteyam’s breaths were ragged by Naia’s ear, his body shuddering still through the aftershocks of their climax. He shifted and was about to raise his upper body onto his palms to roll away when Naia whimpered and clutched him to her. She looped her arms around his shoulders and hooked her ankles behind his lower back. He sensed her thoughts; she wanted to keep them joined.

I’m crushing you. Neteyam protested through their bond.

Roll us over. Came Naia’s drowsy response.

Neteyam carefully and gently rolled them onto his back and the manoeuvre was a success. They remained pleasurably fused and Naia grinned in carnal satisfaction where her cheek was pressed to his chest.

Physically, Neteyam chuckled and he sent a thought to her. We have eternity to do this now, yawntu.

Pressing a small kiss to his pectoral, Naia snuggled down against him. She had an answer for him now, had made her decision. Inhaling the musky scent of him through her nose, she sent him her answer. Yes.

Lethargic now after their coupling, Neteyam did not catch on and Naia giggled as his somnolence fed through to her through their connection. Cheekily, she poked him in the ribs, which earned her a jump and the sensation of sudden alertness at her action. She clarified this time. Yes I’ll be your tsakarem.

Naia felt a burst of approval from him and she felt him smooth his hot hands down her naked back, down until he cupped her bottom on both sides. He squeezed the soft flesh there and swivelled his hips, eliciting a sensual gasp from Naia when she discovered he was hardening inside her again. Evidently Neteyam was very pleased by her decision.

Pushing off his chest to sit upright, Naia let her weight sink down to take his entire length within her and a carnal moan purred from the man beneath her. She shot him a coquettish grin and raked her gaze slowly over the musculature of his torso, appreciating every solid line and ridge.

Neteyam was her mate now. He was hers forever. Naia could hardly believe it. All her girlish hopes and distant dreams during the years they were parted seemed so far away now in the face of the truth they would now live as one heart and one soul.

The sentiment was echoed by Neteyam and their mutual joy at being mated coursed between them in a brilliant blaze of heat. They made their vows to each other, the spirit of Eywa guiding their words as they were shared in perfect unison:

From now, you are flesh of my flesh and bone of my bone. What Eywa has made one shall never be parted; day or night, near or far, in sickness or in health. I give you my life and my love, even when the day arises and the Great Mother calls you home, I will remain yours thereafter, until such time they Eywa calls me home to be reunited with you again forevermore.

***~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~***

Author’s Note: Wheeeeee! Our two lovebirds have mated! Bring out the sugar, wine and the fluffies to celebrate!

This was supposed to be last chapter, but I’ve decided there will be a short epilogue that will be uploaded as the next chapter.

I’ve got some lovely fluffy ideas for the epilogue, but what would you all like to see? I’m happy to take requests, though I can’t guarantee I’ll use your idea(s) as it will depend on whether it fits with my vision of Neteyam and Naia. The epilogue will be set in the near future.

Share your thoughts and emotions with me, my lovelies. Throw me your epilogue requests. <3

Thank you again, as always, for all your support, comments and kudos. Writing for you all is such a JOY.

#neteyam #atwow neteyam #avatar movie #avatar neteyam #avatar twow #neteyam sully #neteyam x oc #avatar james cameron #fanfiction #avatar #neteyam smut #neteyam te suli tsyeyk'itan #atwow #thewayofwater #avatar the way of water #way of water #avatar 2 #neteyam x reader #neteyam x na'vi!reader #vivid-ink works

[nekoashiii]

More questions for teen reader au! (If thats ok)

1. Does reader have any special powers/abilities?

2. Will reader ever say how they got to teyvat(being isekai'd)?

3. How would reader rule over teyvat?

Love this au

You are more than welcomed to send me asks about any au, I enjoy writing about it!

Previous parts ──‌➤‌‌ 1, 2,

1- Explaining is a bit difficult but well, yes and no. Reader doesn't have vision like powers or they can't just levitate.

But that doesn't mean they are powerless, you see anything they talk to responds back to them, for example, they look at a mirror and the reflection waves at her, or she talks to a pen and the pen starts writing on something to respond back, what in the Disney shit

And no one is really safe from their powers, they whisper to themselves about how they wished today weather was stormy and boom, the sky will start to rumble at their will.

Same goes with this, zhongli and other are walking with reader in the palace (more like them following reader everywhere since this is the more realistic way au)

Reader decides that they are tired of this shit and runs to another corner of the manor with the acolytes chasing them, they do find reader but before they can get anywhere close, walls appear infront of you and separate the acolytes and reader. Teyvat only listen to the creator, you.

2- Tbh they can say whatever they want and their words hold the price of gold, diamonds, their words are precious. However, on this matter even if they do say how they got here or what a device is, no one really understands, they don't have the brain cells to understand what the absolute hell is a phone (unless you are talking to albedo or Dottore) Still they think you are a god in that world as well, a world full of gods. So it would be counted as something holy to explain to them how you descended. (You can bet your ass they will teach kids at school about this)

3-readers place in like.. a massive building, 100 times bigger than a normal castle you see in a Chinese drama.

It's like absolutely massive, even living in it for 3 months you still haven't explored some parts of it

Important business will be moved near your palace since that city is now the capital of teyvat.

Ayato, Pantalone, ningguang, etc.. they would move in. Yes move in. They managed to use Suger coated words and guilt trip you into letting them move in the palace so they would be close to you, and plus their business would boost like 0 to 100

But you don't stay in your palace all the time, you have other places to stay at for 1 month, inazuma, liyue, fontain, mondstad, Snezhnaya, etc..

And your clothing changes to the style of the country, exp: inazuma: kimonos with lavish hairpins, liyue: (I forgot what the name is but I added a picture)

As I like to add, the clothes you wear is genuinely not even fun anymore

I did some research and the weight of the crown you should wear is around..8-20 kg.

DO YOU KNOW HOW HEAVY THAT IS?? And the long dresses you can trip on 💀

Example if you are over 14:

Keep in mind that you change clothes when you visit other countries

Liyue: china,‌ ‌Inazuma: japan ,‌ Mondstadt: Germany,‌ ‌Snezhnaya:Russia

Take liyue clothing as an example for this

3- alot of people would not expect this but, you are not really free like those sagau fics you read. If we are talking realistic, you aren't allowed to even step a foot outside without an army of people trailing behind you

Keeping that in mind, your word is law, what you desire is law, you want students to have 6 months of break instead of 3? Say less.

So yes politic spins around you. It's a different case if reader is young. In that case the archons would take control with your premission until you are 13.

And if you are over 15, you should review the rules of each country and correct and add stuff if you like.

#sagau #genshin impact x reader #yandere genshin impact #genshin sagau #sagau yandere #x reader #yandere cult genshin #sagau fatui #yandere sagau #sagau zhongli #sagau inazuma #sagau mondstadt #sagau fatui harbingers

[i-guess-im-into-this-now]

The Apothecary Diaries

S1E6 First Watch

Here's where I watch The Apothecary Diaries for the first time and give my thoughts, analysis, predictions, and occasionally I stumble into a joke.

If you want to start at the beginning:

Episode 1

My character cheat sheet:

Yinghua - pink flowers LIW

Lady Lishu - child bride concubine

Lady Lihua - concubine Maomao saved from poisoned powder

Crystal Pavilion - Lady Lihua's Pavilion

Lihaku - officer giving out a lot of hairpins

It's the garden party and I'm so excited!

Cryptic openings are what this show does. And this one starts with palace gossip about someone who is apparently a picky eater. The gossips state:

It's not like it's going to kill her or anything.

What terrifying foreshadowing.

Now we are finally at the party. There is dancing and music. Everyone is freezing. That probably includes the infant princess who is also at this party.

Oh that's the dowager empress holding the baby! This is the first we are seeing her. And yeah... she's got to be Jinshi's mom. It's like the artists were told to design a female Jinshi.

Apparently the empress gave birth to the emperor at a nauseatingly young age because it freaks Maomao out even though we never hear the number.

Oh the empress actually has two children. You don't say. There is a younger brother, who is conspicuously missing from his place of honor on the stage. But according to gossip he has a weak constitution and has rarely been seen. Sure.

In my best guess, prince #2 has been away with the military which is why he hasn't been around. Upon his glorious return the emperor immediately assigned his handsome brother to the rear palace. It's only speculation at the moment, but I don't think I'm far off.

Someone mentioned earlier that this event seems designed to pit the concubines against one another. And yeah it is. I guess that sort of thing appeals to the emperor, because he has created drama between the ladies before when he went to Lady Gyokuyou to request that Maomao take care of Lady Lihua. Wow, it occurs to me that maybe he wanted to meet Maomao in person because he realized his younger brother was interested in her. That's probably not good.

Yinghua has managed to get involved in some kind of drama with Lady Lihua's ladies. Oh they're talking smack about Maomao! Lady Lihua has the absolute dumbest ladies in waiting. They literally cannot recognize Maomao because she changed her clothes and put on some eyeliner. That's lucky for them, because they wouldn't be saying any of this to Maomao's face since they are legit terrified of her.

Maomao must have inflicted some lasting psychological damage on those ladies because they run the moment they recognize her. I do love that Maomao's friends are defending her though. She's not in this alone.

Yinghua: Don't listen to those bullies. I mean, just look at how adorable you are!

Maomao: Oh. I don't care.

I believe her. Maomao's self-esteem isn't on the outside. Instead she prides herself in her skills, and particularly on how she can use them to help others. Insults to her looks can't touch her. After all, she was trying to worsen her appearance to protect herself. Now, if she ever failed to help someone or if she made a misjudgment or mistake that hurt someone, that would probably crush Maomao.

I love her delulu pavilion friends. They view Maomao in the most sympathetic way and want to protect her. And they're all in on JinMao (probably have the ship half built).

Yuck. This girl was made a concubine at age 9. Maomao's appalled. So am I. This show doesn't pull any punches. And I do think this show has a lot to say about the oppression of women. I'll try to refrain and let someone more qualified analyze that. Please share if you've seen someone talking about this issue.

Lady Lishu makes it a point to rudely ignore Maomao while she's holding Lady Gyokuyou's baby. Maomao notes that she is wearing a color that clashes with Lady Gyokuyou and wonders if it's intentional. I'm sure it is. And here is someone for you to keep an eye on. She should not be underestimated just because she's only 15. She's actually been in the palace for 6 years, which I think is longer than Lady Gyokuyou.

Maomao sees the idiot ladies of the Crystal Pavilion shivering and despite their treatment of Maomao in the past, and earlier that day, she can't bear to see someone suffer. She offers them something to warm their hands and they flee in terror.

Oh Maomao observes someone exchanging a hairpin, Yinghua explains that it's some kind of recruitment thing and that there is a secret meaning, however Maomao doesn't care... But this is relevant! Considering she just received a hairpin herself that very morning! Yinghua also calls bullshit and says, hilariously:

Excuse me, I'm trying to gossip with you over here!

She's dying to tell Maomao the hidden meaning behind the hairpins, but we never find out what she would have said.

In any case, Maomao promptly accepts another hairpin from the first stranger she meets, a bouncy officer named Lihaku. Directly after she gets another one from Lady Lihua. This one is given with a compliment and a great deal of warmth. Maomao's going to look like a pin cushion before the day is done.

Also, where is Jinshi? These folks are making moves on your girl!

The next part of the garden party has commenced, with everyone waiting motionlessly in lines. Maomao has taken off all of her hairpins and looks around while she waits. She thinks Gaoshun looks good, like a soldier, and realizes he has a higher position then she realizes. She gets a polite acknowledgement from him when he notices her attention. She also spots the cute bouncy officer, Lihaku. She breaks the 4th wall to wonders where Jinshi is:

I don't see our ✨sparkly✨ eunuch anywhere, but, who cares.

Maomao is such a weirdo about poisons. She loves the stinging sensation.

Maomao is noticing a lot of things going on around her during this meal. Lady Lishu has a severe issue with food. This isn't someone being a picky eater. Maomao is brushing it off for now, but I assume she'll help this girl at some point. Some other lady is witnessing Lady Lishu suffer and she's giving a creepy smile. Maomao isn't happy to have seen it. But it will force her to figure out whatever mystery is playing out here.

And Maomao just ate something that made her blush and lick her lips, so it's either an aphrodisiac, or poison. I mean it could be any tasty food, the girl loves to eat, but it's probably poison. Yup, it's poison. She's so into it though...

Jinshi finally arrives (where was he?), just in time to... not attend the party and follow Maomao instead. To be fair he deduced instantly that she may have been poisoned. And then he knows she has been because she's smiling at him.

Meanwhile Maomao is fantasizing about being incompacitated by poison. And I don't know ethically where to fall on this one. I'm not one to kink shame but I don't support self harm either. Jinshi doesn't have that problem, he is very much not happy about it. He's dragging her to medical care. And this is exactly what I'm talking about when I say I'm glad Maomao has people in her life who care about her well-being because, for as good as she is at caring for others, she doesn't take care of herself.

She wants more of the poisonous soup and Jinshi has just about had it with her. Turns out some dumbass ate the rest of her soup and collapsed at the party. Anyway, Maomao offers a solution to treat him that involves more poison. Jinshi does not approve.

Maomao notices Jinshi's new hairpin and jumps to the best conclusion which is that he got it as a gift from his secret male lover. I'm not even going to offer a guess of my own because I hope Maomao is right.

The stress of this day has made Jinshi upset. He's not bothering to try and keep up any pretenses. Maomao is seeing him unmasked, and she prefers it.

Maomao receives some impressive drugs that make her purge. The moment she's done Jinshi asks her to immediately solve this case.

She asks to speak with Lady Lishu. She knows she has an allergy to fish. Her nasty food taster did not. Maomao lets her know that trying to give fish to Lady Lishu is the equivalent of trying to poison her. The issue now is that Lady Gyokuyou's fish meal was swapped with Lady Lishu's non-fish meal. Most likely by her own food taster, as a way to torment Lady Lishu by forcing her to eat fish. However, the dish that was intended for Lady Lishu, the one she never received, was the one that poisoned Maomao. So, now the question is, who tried to poison Lady Lishu?

Maomao terrifies that food taster and is confident that she won't allow Lady Lishu to eat fish again.

Maomao is left alone with Jinshi and Gaoshun. Jinshi promptly lays a hand on her shoulder and gets told:

Please, I'm of lowly birth. It's not right for you to touch me.

Jinshi doesn't like that.

Jinshi: You're the only one who has ever used that excuse.

Maomao: That's just because everyone else is being nice to you.

And Jinshi hates that.

And it may seem like they're playing around, and bantering as they both like to do, but in fact they are drawing up new boundaries. Things have recently taken a turn for them into something more serious. And this is the first time they've been able to talk.

First Maomao shared her story about being nearly assaulted, and then being kidnapped, which made Jinshi react in a powerful way, he gave her his hairpin which carries unknown meaning, then Maomao was poisoned, and Jinshi got pretty scared for her, and she caught a glimpse of the real Jinshi. All of this happened today!

And neither one of them has any idea where things stand between them. Jinshi pushes forward. A hand on her shoulder. Maomao pulls back. She removes his hand - no.

And she tells him something true that he needs to hear. We are not of the same class. There are rules to these things and you are breaking them. I'm not going to break them for you.

And then she tells him, something that hurts worse. People don't treat you authentically.

From the only person who does see him as a real person and not just as some lofty official he hears I see you but I won't get close to you. No one else will either.

Jinshi is trapped by the elevation of his station. People are unwilling or unable to interact with him in any real way. And he has a role to play that requires him to mask himself, and do things like manipulate servants, and flirt with concubines.

Maomao is right that the people around him are just being nice. And Jinshi hates it.

He wears different masks to achieve his goals in the harem but he's desperate to take them off and have someone see him. It's why he loved when Maomao glared at him. It's why he delights in her sarcasm and biting comments. And now she's pulling away from him.

Jinshi is completely alone.

And here is where Maomao and Jinshi serve narrative foils to one another. Because Maomao is authentic with everyone. She speaks her mind, behaves how she wants and people see her and adore her. She has real relationships all around her.

Maomao is loved.

It is worth noting, that even though Maomao is putting up a boundary between herself and Jinshi, she did not return his hairpin. She is drawing a line, but she isn't completely walking away.

Maomao, exhausted after everything:

What a day.

Indeed.

If you want to read these from the beginning:

Episode 1

Next episode:

Episode 7

#apothecary diaries #the apothecary diaries #maomao #jinshi #jinmao

[fourseasonsfigs]

Wen Kexing with Purple Cloak

I love this fig since it so perfectly captures Wen Kexing's unhappy but grim resolution to handle things in Episode 26. And by "handle things", meaning going off to his likely demise.

I remember watching this episode and my jaw dropping open as suddenly he had a purple cloak on! We'd been seeing a lot of the pink costume up till now, but lo and behold we have this gorgeous purple cloak billowing around him as he walks.

The sharply resolute look on his face when he turns around to leave...just perfection.

He arrived perfect and precious on my doorstep, frowning mightily away. By the way, all those little strings of fluff around him are the remnants of something that my MTL calls "pearl cotton" which is this ultra light, fluffy, soft wispy cotton batting. It's like the most high end cotton batting I've ever seen, and those little fibers get everywhere on the fig. My vision isn't the best anyway, and then these little fibers are individually quite invisible. They love to hide around hairpins and in folds of clothing, so I only often see rogue fibers after I've taken rounds of pics. It's a great cushioning material so I can't mind it, but this last batch of figs had so much pearl cotton I could probably have stuffed an entire throw pillow.

There was no way to get him to stand on his own, so I immediately put fig stickers on his feet and slapped him up on a fig stand. Metaphorically speaking, only the most delicate handling for my figs!

The pattern in his eyes is just gorgeous. We have the maple leaf pattern that matches the ones on his pink yuanlingpao, and then the purple highlights to match his cloak.

Such beautiful posture, Lao Wen! Standing straight and tall, unyielding and determined to meet your fate.

I also love purple, so anything with this color is an automatic favorite for me!

Just a whole glorious mass of hair from the back!

I personally always love huge billowy cloaks with massive amounts of fabric for the sheer drama of it, but in reality the cloak wasn't that crazy. So this is a good rendering of it.

I did in fact buy the licensed replica of this cloak while it was still available, and it is really nice. It's beautifully designed and very comfortable so that the ties simply hold it shut vs. choke up around the neck.

You can see him holding his fist like he was in the show. Some of this is to allow the costume to drape gracefully on screen, but some of it is to show his resolve and readiness. There's no wealthy-young-master-hand-behind-the-back pose here.

I really like the detail they put into the pink yuanlingpao underneath the cloak. It really feels like the cloak is a separate piece over the clothes.

No pants here, just a cutoff over the boots. It's fine of course, but you know how I like the hidden detail of the pants tucked into the boots when we see it on figs.

Aww look at his little clenched fists! This whole batch of hairpins miraculously made it through on this last ocean shipment, despite any additional air column protection. Must be all the pearl cotton!

Sadly, this fig maker's whole batch of figs did not come with any printed box art or box cards. This is her last batch of figs, as she is no longer making them, so I suppose it was more trouble than it was worth to make cards. Which is too bad in multiple ways, I'll miss her figs!

Material: Resin

Fig Count: 429

Scene Count: 29

Rating: Two fists of stalwart determination!

[link back to Master Fig Index for more posts]

#wen kexing #word of honor #gong jun #figthusiast #episode 26 #word of honor merch

[prolestari]

Love Between Fairy and Devil (2022)

Summary: When a fairy accidentally resurrects a powerful demon, their fates become entangled and they must work together to save the world from an evil spirit.

My Rating: 10/10

Pros: The romance, the costumes, the acting, the comedy, this show has it all.

Cons: The plot can drag a bit as it hits some of the typical beats that these types of shows have (like the mortal arc).

Fanfic-ability: 10/10. I'm writing fic for it now! The chemistry between the characters is fantastic and there are tons of stories to tell before, during, and after the show.

This was my first C-drama, and it was certainly a learning curve because everything about it was so unfamiliar. Xianxia dramas are certainly like nothing you see in the west, and it took me a few episodes to get over the costumes and special effects (and the plot devices). But I'm so glad I did, because it ended up being one of my favorite shows ever. This is a great show to try if you've ever wanted to give this type of drama a shot. More thoughts under the cut!

My only complaint with this show, and with Xianxia in general, is the crazy plot devices. It's like every time the characters need to get bailed out, all of a sudden someone happens to have a Jade Hairpin of Destiny or a Binding Fate Knife that does the exact thing they need done. As a writer it makes me roll my eyes but I've learned to just go with it and accept it as part of the genre.

The acting is what kept me invested as I got comfortable with the Xianxia genre. Dylan Wang and Esther Yu are both fantastic, as are all the supporting characters. It's really amazing how they can go from comedy to romance to heart-wrenching drama. I cried multiple times at this show and luckily a friend watched it too because the need to scream was intense.

#love between fairy and devil #lbfad #my two cents #notes and reviews

[shinsengumi-archives]

Wachigaiya Itosato

I found an awesome movie about the Shinsengumi and the courtesans from Shimabara! Specifically, the love story between Tenjin Itosato and Hijikata, and her hatred for Serizawa, based on a novel with the same name.

Description: wiki.d-addicts.com/Wachigaiya_Itosato You can download it here: 

Part 1: https://disk dot yandex dot com/d/LaL22oOn5sEc2

Part 2: https://disk dot yandex dot com/d/AzyZntzneP5GM

Or here (with Chinese hardsubs or English machine-generated subs): https://archive dot org/details/wachigaiya-itosato

The film is called "Wachigaya Itosato". Wachigaya is a former tea house in Shimabara that has survived to this day: here it is:

Filming was done right at the site. By the way, if anyone wants to see the actual Shimabara, here is a whole tour from zajcev_ushastyj. 

Here is a map on Wikimapia:

And here's the address. By typing it into google maps, it will take you right to the front of the Shimabara gate: 150-2 Yakuencho, Shimogyo Ward, Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture.

Itosato in the movie is a tenjin, then a taiyu from the Wachigaya house. The two girls in the movie, Itosato and Kichiei, were not invented by the authors. They were the names of the two girls who slept with Serizawa's henchmen, Hirama and Hirayama, on the night of Serizawa's murder. I feel like that's where it's headed here too

The details of the costumes of the Shimabara taiyu and tenjin are meticulously rendered in this movie. The hairpins, the red collar, the "three-legged stools", and even blackened teeth.

And even the Japanese language is old-fashioned, just right for that era - the Kyoto accent of the girls (oh, their "okureyasu"!), and the frequent "sessha" and "de gozaru" of the men.

Unlike all the other Shinsengumi movies, here the "Wolves of Mibu" are shown mostly through the eyes of the Shimabara girls. Not all of them. Mostly Hijikata and Serizawa and their buddies. But the others are there too, only a little bit. For example, Okita with the kids:

Or Kondo with calligraphy and O-Ume, Serizawa's mistress:

Serizawa here is surprisingly played by the same actor who played Sutesuke in the Shinsengumi taiga drama! He definitely has a talent for playing unpleasant people 😅. He plays Serizawa quite well.

Another surprise - Hirayama Goro, one of Serizawa's friends, is played by the actor who played Harada in the taiga drama :). Even though he's on the "bad guy's" side here, he's still charming 😅

And finally, Hijikata. Ooh, Ito Hideaki! In the beginning, he's like this simple and shaggy Miburo:

It's funny how they first explain to him that when entering a decent establishment, you have to surrender your weapon, and also who are the Taiyu. The Roshigumi were staring out of the window at the curiosity passing by:

Hijikata declares to the owner on behalf of everyone, "We want one of these right here right now." He throws a large sum of money at the owner. But the owner replies that they couldn't get a taiyu right away, but a tenjin, no problem. Two tenjin come, one of them Itosato, and Hijikata stares at her with his mouth hanging open. And then, when she serves him sake, he guesses that the girl has bad eyesight. "My brother has bad eyesight, so I was wondering if you have it too..." The tenjin was embarrassed: "Don't tell anyone, please!"

At the end of the cultural event, everyone bows peacefully and says goodbye:

Then Todo catches up with the girls and hands Itosato a note from Hijikata. Two ryo are embedded in it, but the tenjin didn't have time to read the text, because at Shimabara's gate, there's a commotion and Hijikata immediately kills one of the dastardly Choshu, which makes a second lasting impression on Itosato:

Well, with the situation at the gate under control, the girl reads the note, and there is a haiku about the "ways of love" 😂 Completely different from Hijikata's actual handwriting, but still written clumsily:

And then… Serizawa, in a fit of rage, kills Otowa-kottai, Itosato's favorite "big sister" (I must say, this taiyu had been making a lot of trouble for herself). Hijikata comes to Wachigaya to apologize, Itosato screams that she never asked for Serizawa, Hijikata consoles her in a reserved, manly way…

But not in the "manly" way that Itosato would like. She waits and hopes for the relationship to develop - is she a tenjin or what? Her friend Kichi-chan got along with Hirayama a long time ago:

And Hijikata just invites Ito-chan to take a walk to the eye doctor 😊 Cute scene!

On the way back, Hijikata asks the girl if she has accidentally fallen in love with him. Ito-chan immediately admits that she has, and Hijikata admits that he didn't expect such a direct answer…

And then Itosato complains to her friend that "Hijikata-chan" treats her like a child. Yeah, and he teases her too. It's a pure fanservice moment, a la the Shinsengumi medical checkup. Only here, people are just trying on new clothes:

And Hijikata says, "Hey Ito, it's a shame you don't have good eyesight - you can't see a normal man properly". And he throws off his robe…. Anyway, it's a must see 😂

Along the way, he discovers that old Hirama has a soft spot for Itosato, and Serizawa discovers that Itosato has a soft spot for Hijikata... Anyway, Serizawa forces Hijikata to literally put this tenjin under Hirama. And he agrees because he has to kill Serizawa. And Ito-chan agrees because she imagines Hijikata in Hirama's place, and she keeps saying "I love you" to him… Although Hijikata-chan is kind of mean to her, to be honest 😅

In addition, the movie has training in the dojo, Saito-san coming out of the torture room, and Matsudaira's order to kill Serizawa, but it's mostly about the girls. There are no subtitles (except for Chinese), but that's not a big problem for this movie.

#film #red light district

[unhealthyfanobsession]

Angsty prompt with Nesta recovery arc: day of her wedding is soured when Cassian is once again distracted by Mor, whom she reluctantly invited as a bridesmaid per his request. Feyre has been more enamored with the wedding itself than reassuring Nesta’s nerves. Rhys is holding the check over her head even tho she insisted he didn’t need to pay. Amren is just being a bitch and souring the whole evening with her attitude against marriage. (Perhaps an omen?)

Finally done with being second, she sneaks out the back with The Valkyries in tow and a couple hundred bucks Eris gives her (was supposed to be a wedding gift but better suited as a runaway bride advance - he’s loving it! Much blessings and thank you for the drama!!) and roads trips to anywhere with her best friends. A weekend of clarity and a phone discarded in some church bathroom.

Creative liberties to the writer - you never disappoint!

Ok so if you squint then I kind of fulfilled what you asked for … I started with good intentions I swear but it just took on a life if it’s own! Always dangerous to give me creative liberty 😉

“You look so beautiful,” Elain smiled. She smiled and for a second Nesta almost believed her. Almost deluded herself into thinking that this happy, gentle, sweet, make no conflicts version of Elain was real and not just a facade she put up to avoid sharing Nesta’s fate.

Not that Nesta’s fate was bad. It was good, of course. It worked out. Everything worked out exactly as it was supposed to. Right?

Nesta placed her hand over Elain’s on her shoulder and smiled back, “Just like the drawings.”

Nesta pretended she didn’t see Feyre’s eyes flicker dark even as the first ounce of genuine light entered Elain’s.

“Drawings?” It was the first word Mor had spoken all day - a fact that Nesta had been, up until this second, extraordinarily glad of. She had invited Mor to her bridal suite (or whatever it was called for a mating ceremony) out of courtesy more than anything else. Respect for her relationship with Cassian - confusing and annoying as it was- and because she knew Mor was the sort of girl who would die to see a wedding dress before everyone else.

She was right on that score if the way the blonde’s entire spine straightened up the second Gwyn clasped together then final pearl-inlaid button was any indication.

“Nesta and Elain used to draw their wedding dresses on the back of sheet music when they were supposed to be studying piano.” Feyre’s delivery was simple and free of bitterness. Mor’s eyes were not.

“You didn’t joint them?”

“Feyre was never a fan of girly things like that,” Elain’s jaw worked hard with the force of her plastered on smile. “We asked her to draw a wedding dress with us once and she drew a huntsman’s cloak instead.”

Feyre grinned at the memory, “I did, didn’t I?”

“More practical, you said.” Nesta didn’t add that Feyre repeated the sentiment again once they were back in the cottage and her and Elain were fantasizing about their wedding gowns while Feyre was hunting.

“But you love beautiful dresses,” Mor half pouted. Yes, Feyre loved to go shopping and feel silks and dress in starlight with her new friends.

“I like wearing beautiful dresses when they are placed in front of me as Rhys and you do … I don’t spend my free time thinking of them.”

Nesta felt Elain’s hand clamp tighter on her shoulder. She squeezed back in acknowledgment. The shared frustration.

“I suppose you had more important thing to think about.”

Was this going to be the rest of Nesta’s life? Waiting for Cassian in a pretty dress while his family reminded her of every sin she committed as a child? Would he defend her? Would he tell Mor to stop, if he was here? Would these subtle jabs and hairpin pricks ever cease? Shouldn’t Nesta know the answers to these questions before she accepted eternity?

Choosing Cassian had never been easy, but it had always been worth it. His family though …

No.

Not his family.

Just Mor.

What did it say that Nesta trusted more entirely in Rhysand to defend her against Mor’s comments than her own mate? Rhysand who wouldn’t stop showering her in gifts and wouldn’t hear a single bad word about her from anyone. Rhysand who took a debt for a debt. A language he and Nesta understood completely. Rhysand who owed Nesta 3 lives that he would never repay. That she never wanted him to repay.

Cassian owed her nothing but himself. And it was enough. Cauldron and mother and wall and old human gods, it was enough. But … was it enough when he was not there?

That had always been the question, hadn’t it.

Hand stitched silk tightened around Nesta’s middle. Squeezing her organs together and trapping her nerve somewhere deep inside her rib cage.

A huntsman’s cloak, her little sister wanted.

Ironic, that so many years later she sent a huntsman to trap her wicked elder sister’s heart.

And of course he succeeded.

For a very long time Nesta convinced herself that it didn’t matter, if he trapped her heart or she gave it willingly. But suddenly, in this room, with Elain’s hand pressing down on her shoulder and Mor’s glare so thinly veiled and her sins splashed across Feyre’s face even on this day … suddenly, nothing mattered more.

“It’s ok,” Elain whispered. “Do it for both of us.”

Gwyn’s eyes shot up, bright teal reflecting off of shining white. Emerie stood where she had been watching quietly from the corner.

“Any summit,” her Illyrian sister said. “Any battle.” Her gaze flickered to Mor and the High Lady. “Any choice.”

And just like that, her organs loosened. Shifted back to their proper spot, floating free among her blood and muscle.

Nesta wanted to run, and if she did, more people in this room would cover her tracks than try to claw her back.

She was not where she was all those months ago. She was better. She was freer. She was … loved.

Loved by her sisters. Blood and found.

Loved by her brothers (in-law but every bit annoying enough to count as the real thing)

Loved by her mate.

Loved by … loved by herself.

And that made all the difference.

With one foot out the door, Nesta did something she never could have done a year ago. She admitted what she truly needed in that instant. “Everyone get out.”

They did. Without question.

And with a single tug of a golden string…

“Cold feet, sweetheart?”

#nessian #nesta archeron #nessian fanfiction #acosf #cassian #a court of thorns and roses #sarah j maas #nesta and cassian #gwyn berdara #gwyneth berdara #a court of silver flames #valkyrie #Valkyrie trio

[maybenotmei]

kaoru gf hcs pls😭🫶?

with you !

today i'm going to give you the "precious treasure" that you've always wanted!

— ((( o(*ﾟ▽ﾟ*)o )))♡ —

notes: Hiiiii anon i'm assuming general dating so i'll do that <3 thank you for letting me ramble abt kaoru . i have like four kaoru 4* on jpn so i think it's only right i write a lot about her. can you tell i really Really love kaoru seta .

also another anon sent kaoru seta hcs and im wondering R U guys the same person. if not then this is out to 2nd anon as well!!!

dramatic. very, very dramatic

dramatic in the "proclaims your love for you from the top of the haneoka building if she could" kind of dramatic

(she shouldn't look down though)

in public... it really depends on if you've made your relationship public or not.

kaoru has a ton of fans. you know this very well, especially if you were once one of her diehard fans. in order not to cause or stir any drama, you both will keep your relationship private for a while.

like. remember how rokka's class reacted to when kaoru called rokka "cinderella" out of nowhere and everyone was already freaking out ("what is this?! explain yourself kaoru-san!!")? yeah think that but for the Whole school if they found out.

dating kaoru is like dating a really really famous person except most if not all her fans are in the same general location at the same time. pda is a little hard for you, but to kaoru? oh she'll treat you like one of her "kittens" as to not draw any attention (but if you squint you can tell she has favoritism towards you.)

cmon, she wants to show how much she loves you in public too, you know?

if you guys DO go public, it's going to be a mess. kaoru will be there for you of course, and both of you make sure that you two will not let the mean words or whatever get to each other at all. you're ready to fight for each other if needed because you love each other

(that prev hc could be tied w the overprotective hcs i've done in the past)

kaoru's the type to give you nicknames,

the ones you're comfortable with, of course. darling, love, a lot more, although just tell her you don't like a nickname and she won't use it on you. promise.

kaoru has a way with her words, so she'd say a ton of flattering praises and compliments towards you. she'd compliment you whenever she has the chance, but you can catch her off-guard by complementing/flirting with her back— and seeing her flushed face is so worth it

she's scrambling to find her words if you return the flirt. "o-oh, that's very flattering, dear.." (trying to keep her cool)

^^ i think this is Exactly how rumors would start (and your relationship will inevitably become public)

but she also loves spending time with you! when it's simple, day to day life, she loves spending it with you. the little things in life start to feel a lot nicer when you're with the one you love, and that's exactly how kaoru feels about you.

that doesn't mean she's not extra extra with your dates sometimes...... although those only happen when she plans it carefully or hhw's willing to help (and fund) it. once, your date was on a literal cruise ship. you two were inside though (and if you're not easily sea sick, you both went outside on the deck)

has she dedicated multiple performances to you? yes. has she tossed guitar picks on stage in your direction in hopes you'd catch it? absolutely. has she given you one personally with her signature during a really special performance on your anniversary where you didn't catch the guitar pick? yes, yes she did.

practices and after concerts are almost the same in a way that she would take up every opportunity to flatter you— except after concerts, you'd congratulate her. whether it'd be roses, chocolates, or maybe just a simple hairpin, she'd treasure it. you might catch her wearing that hairpin the next day, or in a concert for everyone to see.

now, theatrical performances. she loves you but she has to stay in character, right? however that really doesn't stop her from looking over in the audience for you, hoping, just hoping you're there. and when you are, when she sees you, she will perform to her utmost best. (not like she already was... but seeing you makes her motivated)

you mean everything to her, and she'll never ask for anything more.

#bandori x reader #bang dream x reader #bandori #bandori headcanons #bandori scenarios #kaoru seta x reader #request #can u tell i wrote parts at different times. anyways love u kaoru u didnt have to give me two of the same df1 card though

[umlewis]

2007 Monaco GP, post-qualifying interviews

Interviewer: "Lewis, as we say, a clean sweep for the McLaren-Mercedes team. It looked as if you were held up by Mark Webber going through the tunnel." Lewis: "Yeah, I had a fantastic qualifying, I think. It was quite exciting, and then it started to rain in the middle part of the session. I think I was P1 at the time and I was hoping it would continue to rain, but unfortunately it didn't. It was a bit of a gamble, a bit of a lottery, really. I called in and said let's come into the pits on this lap just in case it rains towards the end. The lap was fantastic; it was really on the limit. I think I touched one of the barriers on the exit of turn four, and I was three tenths up on my previous best, and then I got held up by Webber. He was on an 'out' lap. I don't know whether he saw me or what, but he didn't let me past until turn eight, so I lost half a second behind him. I still managed to pull it back. I was only a tenth off my previous lap, but still, the tires were gone and that was that." Interviewer: "Lewis, you've won three times here before, twice in Formula Three, once in GP2. It just looks as if you love driving a Formula 1 car around here." Lewis: "I do. I do. It's an awesome track. It's my favorite, and just knowing that you're brushing the barriers all the time, that there's no room for error... It's extremely quick. You wouldn't believe how quick we're going round here, 180 miles an hour between… There's not really much room there. And to me, for my first grand prix, I'm really happy to be second. It's good for the team, and I think Fernando did a great job, but I think tomorrow is going to be interesting."

Press Conference:

Interviewer: "Lewis, very interesting time on your very first lap when, in theory, you've got a race fuel load which was only 0.2s slower than your fastest time in the first session. Does that tell us about your fuel strategy?" Lewis: "I don't think so. You can take what you want from it, but it definitely doesn't mean anything about my fuel load. I think we were just extremely quick and I felt great in the car. I thought it was almost exactly the same time as I did at the end. I thought I did 1m15.9s on heavy fuel. I think that's what I qualified second with. It was good, a good lap, but at the end… It was a really exciting qualifying session. I think we did a very good job. I thought the team was quite accurate with the weather conditions; they said it was going to rain when it rained, and mid-part of the last run, it started to spit. I was on a good lap and I was fortunate to finish it, but then we couldn't push for the rest of the laps. We came in, got the tires on and started the lap, and it was good. I was three and a half tenths up by turn four and then I caught Mark Webber and I lost half a second behind him but still managed to do exactly the same time. I'm really happy with it. It's good for the team and I think it will be interesting to see what happens tomorrow." Interviewer: "You seemed to have a drama at the hairpin, Portier. Was that Webber-induced?" Lewis: "Yeah, well I caught him through turn four and I don't know whether he didn't see me or what. In the drivers' briefing he was saying they need to be hard on us for holding people up, and he came out and held me up. But I think it was the same for everyone. It doesn't really affect me; I still got second. That's good."

Journalist: "Rodrigo Franca, Racing Magazine. You three said Monaco is special because of everything. Ayrton Senna was remembered just yesterday and I would like you all to say something about him." Lewis: "Ayrton was my favourite driver, and when I first started watching Formula 1 it was the red and white car at the front, and as a little boy I was always dreaming of driving that car and I'm driving it now and, so, you know, when you come to Monaco… I have lots of memories of watching him win here and when he lost a race when he crashed, and I was definitely emotional when he passed away, but still... It's great to be racing here and to be doing as well as he always did when he was racing." Journalist: "Livio Oricchio, O Estado de Sao Paulo. For Alonso and Lewis, you're first and second on the grid and in the championship. All the drivers this year who led through the first corner went on to win the race. Will you talk to each other about the start?" Alonso: "The team will say to us something, I think. We respect each other, obviously, and want the best for the other one, inside the team, and we want to beat our opponent that this year seems to be Ferrari, and starting first and second at Monaco what we aim is to finish first and second because it is the most points, and apart from that I don't think there are any problems between us and it should be just a normal race." Lewis: "I agree. The team will speak to us before, but we're professional. We respect each other and we are teammates and we want to do a good job for the team, but we also want to win and we will go into that first corner probably not as aggressively as we would if we were going into it with a Ferrari. But we're going to be conservative and see what happens. We're on different fuel strategies, similar pace, so we'll have to see how it goes. It's going to be difficult tomorrow with the conditions, and also you never know when the pace car is going to come out. We'll see."

Journalist: "Frederic Ferret, L'Equipe. Lewis and Fernando, how is the pace of the McLaren in the long runs?" Lewis: "I think we've seen in the past the Ferraris have been extremely very quick, but I think if you look at it we've been the quickest this weekend. I think we have a great car, the best car, and I think on Thursday we had a very good long run, very consistent, so I have no worries going into the race." Journalist: "Andrea Cremonesi, La Gazzetta dello Sport. Kimi had a bad day. Do you think this will have an affect in the championship?" Lewis: "Sorry, I was in a daze therr. I didn't know if that question was for me! I think it was unfortunate, but I don't really know what happened to him. I thought he spun and I got held up by Felipe. He had to stop and I had to stop on one lap, but I think it's difficult for him at the moment. Obviously Felipe is doing a better job, and whether he's being more fortunate or what I'm not sure, but he's doing a good job. As Fernando said, it's a long season and there's a long way to go, so he has time to catch up if he needs to." Journalist: "Ian Parkes, The Press Association. Lewis, are you happy to curb your natural instincts at the start of the race tomorrow?" Lewis: "Yes. I think you have to run on your natural instincts and see how the start goes. If I get a better start and it looks like I can pass, then I probably will, but I won't do anything silly to risk pushing both of us out of the race. It's a long, long race and I think I feel good about our strategies, and I feel we can come away with a one-two, so it's important we're sensible." Journalist: "Malcolm Folley, The Mail on Sunday. Lewis, have you had a chance to put into perspective what starting the Monaco Grand Prix from the front row of the grid will feel like?" Lewis: "I think it's going to be, well... Driving this track every year is just something special for me. To come here and to drive for a team I always wanted to drive for in my first grand prix here, it's a very, very special moment for me. Tomorrow we just want to finish the race in the points, continue the way we've been going this season. It will be amazing to be sitting at the front there."

#lewis hamilton #f1 #formula 1 #monaco gp 2007 #flashback fic ref #flashback fic ref 2007 #monaco #monaco 2007 #monaco 2007 saturday #fernando alonso #tw transphobe

[gravitasmalfunction]

2023 Cdrama roundup

What I watched in reverse chronological order, mostly.

Under the cut: 11 historical costume dramas, 5 fantasy dramas and a handful of others that I started but haven't finished yet.

Historical costume dramas

A Journey To Love (2023, IQIYI) Delicious beginning, strong middle, sort of fell apart for me toward the end as the focus shifted to siege warfare and succession politics. WTF was that epilogue, even. My Journey to You (2023, IQIYI) My winner for 2023. Visually transcendent, twisty storyline, amazing cast, glorious costuming; this was the whole package of everything I love. I was saving this one up as a special treat and it did not disappoint me. Story of Kunning Palace (2023, IQIYI) I liked it but it didn't hit for me emotionally how I thought it would. Still, very pretty, lots of enjoyable scheming and palace drama, and Bai Lu as Jiang Xuening was great. Mysterious Lotus Casebook (2023, IQIYI) This was the one I gave in and subscribed for. Alas, the Venn diagram of what I got out of this one and what the rest of tumblr got out of it barely overlaps. It was entertaining but did not consume me; possibly the subversions of the usual dudes in the jianghu tropes were lost of me because I am not a great enthusiast of dudes in the jianghu. Loved Li Lianhua's hairpins though. Jun Jiu Ling (2021, Viki) Must a drama be technically good? Is it not enough to have a great script and an excellent cast and let your leads get a bit goofy with the romance? Where is the petition for Jin Han to be given romantic lead roles in costume dramas forever? Twisted Fate of Love (2020, Viki) No, seriously, where is the petition. Stop hogging Jin Han's time with contemporary dramas! I don't care about contemporaries! Ironically I came to this one off the back of Lost You Forever, because it also has Tan Jianci in it, but again with ruining a great actor by casting him as a dutiful prince character of boredom. Let the dudes smoulder, please! So I came out of this wanting more Jin Han smouldering and hence went on to Jun Jiu Ling. Come to think of it, possibly another reason I found Kunning Palace underwhelming was because I'd recently watched Twisted Fate of Love, and I think Twisted Fate of Love did it better. Best non-2023 drama I watched this year. Would rewatch again and again. The Legend of Anle (2023, Viki) I think the problem is since I've seen Word of Honor, every other Gong Jun role is a disappointment. I really like him tender, lovestruck and mischievous. (And Xiao Zhan, I have the same complaint to make about The Longest Promise.) Instead his character in this drama has all the appeal of a bowl of cold porridge. The most fun I had was with Anle and the princess - the rest of the drama felt like a paint by numbers exercise executed with the least possible amount of love. I wrote drawerfic to purge my feelings of betrayal over how the story handled a certain spoiler. Also, Anle was hot with white hair and they should have let her keep it. New Life Begins (2022, Viki) Hello the feel-good feminist solidarity palace drama of my heart. My crops were watered, my skin cleared and my heart lifted. The Heart of Jade/Heart of Loyalty (2021, Viki) Loveable urchin is adopted into Ye Olde cdrama cops, solves crime with serious older partner (opposites attract!). Slightly better made than Jun Jiu Ling, engaging story and cast, not so much comedy but lots of heart. I’ve Fallen For You (2020, IQIYI) Incredibly stupid and very sweet. I loved it but alas it got gradually fractionally less stupid and a bit more dramatic towards the end. I know the older couple's romance was played for laughs but also good for them? Fall In Love (2021, Viki) I am tacking this one on to the historical costume dramas because technically it is one, it's just the historical period is the republican era. Anyway, blazing sexual tension between leads and finishing up with a little joining the glorious communist revolution, as a treat. Must remember to finish writing that PWP I have outlined for it at some point.

Fantasy dramas

The Ghost Bride (2020, Netflix) Deserved much more budget than it apparently got, but they did their best with what they had and I respect that. FL's BFF who got like a whole two minutes total of screen time if she was lucky is my new celebrity crush. Please cast her in more things. The Longest Promise (2023, Netflix) Visually stunning, great costumes, nonsense storyline only saved by a majority-awesome main cast, and a truly godawful main romance. As far as I can tell, Xiao Zhan is just there to supply a warm body where the ML should be and something acceptable to rest one's eyes on. Again, the fact that I first saw him in a role in which he was animated, cheeky and apparently having fun has ruined my ability to appreciate him in stoic, dutiful roles. I kept watching for the FL and to see if the 2ML would get less doomed. Back From the Brink (2023, Viki) Beautiful visuals, excellent female lead, great comedy value in between the blood feuding and violence. Honestly I am mostly watching cdramas of all kinds for the female leads, the beautiful visuals and the laughs, so even though I felt it dragged at times and the storyline gave me occasional conniptions, I enjoyed it. The Starry Love (2023, Viki) YEA BOY! This one was fun, would watch again. It's on the very short list of dramas with weddings that don't go horribly wrong part way through (pro-tip: never plan to hold a wedding in a cdrama, it's got to be 100% spontaneous or someone will get stabbed) Till the End of the Moon (2023, Viki) My initial impression of this one was it seemed to have a lot of suffering for the grimdark sake of it, but it had cute and funny moments too. There was a lot going on throughout, so much so that I could have watched another 20 episodes probably and not complained it was too long. Would watch again, especially all the parts with Pian Ran.

Dramas I started but haven't finished yet

Flavour, It's Yours/Instead of Tipsy Why Not Get Drunk (2019, Viki) Picked up because Gong Jun was fun in Word of Honor, stayed for the wine, weirdly. Put it down because I am not feeling the romance. Our heroine needs a million dollars and all her life problems solved, but I don't believe she needs a boyfriend. Lost You Forever S1 (2023, Viki) Stopped at ep 31 not because I didn't like it but because I like it so much and there will be a season 2 and I want to be able to breeze through whatever emotional hell awaits at the end of season 1 straight into season 2, box of tissues in hand. Would watch again, repeatedly. Odds on for my favourite drama of 2024. Love is Sweet (2020, IQIYI) I had the subscription so I thought I would check it out. Contemporary settings are not my friend, but I stuck with it, and the makeout session in the hallway was super hot, but sadly the main romance went downhill from there and hence I bailed at ep 25. Imperial Doctress (2016, some random Youtube channel) This is not A Journey to Love and I can't believe it took me 7 episodes to stop and question it properly. I might come back and finish watching it though. Or not. In my disappointment I resubscribed to watch the actual A Journey to Love. Mr Bad (2022, Viki/IQIYI) Stopped watching this one midway in order to watch more costume dramas (I have priorities). The Blood of Youth (2022, Viki) I will probably come back to it eventually but I stopped watching this to watch more dramas with female leads (again with my priorities) Love is an Accident (2023, IQYI) Subscription ran out before I got to the end, other priorities took over when I renewed the subscription, but I was enjoying it and will be picking it back up now.

#cdrama #2023 in review

[hanashininglive]

A ferocious heavenly fire that pierces the night

This is my raw translation! It may not be 100% accurate!

Please excuse my spelling and grammatical mistakes and enjoy the translation!

Summary:

The third spin-off drama from Mystic-in-training series featuring the demon god (Onigami) Ran and Tenko!

What appeared in Ran's dream as he slumbered was a memory of a distant day he once spent.

And it seems that Tenko was also having a similar dream.

This is just my own raw translation!

It may not be 100% accurate, but I hope you enjoy reading it~

✨Evet story✨

= Episode 1:

😈 Ranmaru kurosaki: ... Is it a full moon tonight? You can see the outline of the moon clearly. It's so quiet that it won't be surprising if real demons appear.

Ah. That's doesn't suit me.

🦊 Natsuki Shinomiya: Good evening. It's a nice moonlit night.

😈 Ranmaru: ‼️‼️ ..... What the hell, Natsuki?

You're on break too...?

🦊 Natsuki: hehe It's such a wonderful night, so I thought maybe I'd be able to meet a real youkai-san or demon-san. It's just a short walk.

😈: "Real."...huh...

If you're around, I'd love to see you.

It can be used as a reference in a play.

🦊: The beautiful moon is out, and now it looks like we'll be able to have a friendly conversation while watching the moon. I wish I had brought some dumplings with me.

Onigami. No dumplings, though, But before we resume shooting, how about we have a little meeting? The next scene is just the two of us, Maru-chan-senpai and I.

😈: Oh good.

In this spin-off, demons and tenko are the main focus of the story. We have to keep pace, including creating the atmosphere.

🦊: Thank you! After all, when Maru-chan-senpai is with us, he's as dependable as Oni-san (Mr demon).

😈: Like a demon... Is that a compliment? As usual, you're out of tune when I talk to you...Then, let's take the eaves over there.

= Episode 2:

*Ran's dream*

????: I heard they tricked people and ate them. At the usual mountain pass again. I am no sharp-ears but I can tell.

I thought we agreed that it would be the last time, 100 years ago.

If you don't take care of that decision, who will?... I'm not going to say any more.

Don't betray yourself again.

You, ....... You've been watching. You come back only at a time like this.

I wasn't being kind or anything so save your praise. If I didn't say what I said, it would just feel bad.

..........you want to talk? I don't mind, but aren't you awfully formal? And look at the hairpin. It's new. What the hell is going on?

!?????: ...............Ran. Please wake up.

*End of the dream*

😈: ‼️‼️.......Tenko......?

🦊: sorry. For some reason I felt you were uncomfortable sleeping. If you're tired, a futon is better than a tree. Would you like to use the room I rent?

😈: No, I just dozed off. It seems that one of the techniques he has been practicing for is about to be perfected. I promised Tokiharu that I would take a look at it if so.

🦊: I can't refuse that request. I understand why you were at the shrine so unusually. But ------ is that the only reason ?

=Episode 3:

☀️Otoharu: Wow, wait, Shonoshin! Don't show your technique yet!! Tokiharu and I are not ready!

🦊Shonoshin: Geez....... Your opponent won't wait in a real battle! I'll shoot you in 5 seconds! Let's go? 5. 4. 3. 2...

🦊 Tenko: Hmmm. Shonoshin and the boys are always so lively, aren't they?

😈Ran: they are carefree. Well, they've got that going for them, too.

...Lately, I've been seeing more and more of those little fishy demons around.

🦊 Tenko: Outside the barriers that stretched around the city, right? It's partly because it's weakened a bit, but Tokiharu-kun's magical power is probably the reason why it attracts the youkai.

😈Ran: Keeping up a city worth of barrier as it is for a long time, How can you be so cool ? I really don't want you to turn into an enemy.

Looking closely, you're not wearing your usual kimono. When did you change it?

For a long time, I thought you were wearing it.

🦊Tenko: because it's getting hotter. I was advised to wear a thin kimono. I just had something I used to wear.

I didn't think I'd ever wear sleeves like this again...

Wearing it for the first time in a while makes me feel taller.

😈Ran: Heh...That's a very human thing to say.

=Episode 4:

🦊Tenko: Good evening, Ran. From the first look it doesn't seem like you've got a new kimono. I've never seen it before, but was that what it was supposed to look like?

😈Ran: Well. People are scared of me when I'm dressed like this. I try to avoid them, especially in the human settlements , but this time I just want to get it over quickly.

🦊: I see... Last time the two of us were seated out, so we left it to Ren to deal with it. We have to do our best this time.

😈: But why are you following me around?

I didn't ask you to. It makes us stand out even more.

🦊: In dealing with this situation, I want to raise as few concerns as possible for the children. I just wanted to make sure you are the same.

😈: Surprising. I thought you were the one who wished the most for their growth as Mystics, Tenko.

🦊: If someone is so careless as to break off a budding branch in the middle of a bloom, that's a different story. For as much as possible I don't want to put my precious flowers in danger.

😈: You don't even show such a pretense while the sun is shining and humans are awake. They say the fox is not to be underestimated, but you're very auspicious.

🦊: That's what you say, but... I too have heard that demons are very scary. But I think it's very kind of you to accept my request.

😈: Kind....

We're wasting our time talking about it. Let's go before the moon sets.

=Episode 5:

🪻Shiraai: Hello, Onigami-sama (demon god). It's rare for you to be here at this hour. Otoharu and the others haven't come back from school yet.

😈Ran: No, I didn't come to see them today.

........But first, there's an extra one.

You think you're cleverly hiding, but your tail is showing.

🦝Kotobuki: Oh my God! What a terrible thing to say. Let's rejoice in a more touching reunion, Ran-chan☆

Aren't you happy to see me?

😈Ran: Of course not. I didn't come here to see you. Ah, that..... Shiraai.

If there is anything you can feel with your powers, anything bothersome, please tell me.

🪻: Clairvoyantly, you mean.

.......I knew it. I don't join our training a lot but I still notice it before Otoharu and the others do.

Yes, there is. Something that's been bothering me.I've been wondering if this is the work of demons or not, and I was thinking of consulting Tenko-sama soon.

🦝: Does that have something to do with the fact that the people around here are starting to have "nightmares"? The Yanaris told me so. (Yanari is a type of Yokai, very small demons and it tries to shake the house or stuff around the house and just make noise. They don't do more than that )

😈 (Tenko, you noticed and kept quiet.) (Inner thoughts)

🦝: It doesn't seem to be everyone in the whole town though. It's just a rumor among the demons who have no malicious intent. I don't know about outside the town.

🪻: If it goes that far, it's not surprising if Otoharu and the others received a request or two. But they didn't, so it's strange, isn't it?

=Episode 6:

*In a dream*

😈Ran from the past: You say you consulted me because I'm nice to you.......but I couldn't have imagined that you decided to marry a human man.

...........I understand. I respect your choice, no matter what anyone else says. Besides, no matter what I say, you've already made up your mind, right?

*End of the dream*

😈*Sleeping* .....

🦝: Ooh. Hey, hey, hey. He's gone silent. Could it be that the devil god himself is sleeping standing up? I'd like to capture it in a picture scroll.

😈: Shut up. I have my moments of pondering, too. Unlike you Tanuki.

🪻: We're talking about something important here, so don't make unnecessary trouble.

So, what are you going to do now that you still haven't told Otoharu and the others?

😈: That's fine. I will take care of this matter. ……Ah, me and Tenko will take care of it. Can you tell me, in case of any suspicious activity around this shrine?

🪻: Understood. Leave it to me.

🦝: Oh my gosh, it's rare for Ran-chan to be that much of a shoulder to lean on. I guess "old vows" are important after all.

😈: One-pot meals are best when the pot still hot. Shiraai, if you polish the donabe pot, you might be able to eat something delicious. No later than tonight. As early as the evening.

*Squeeze*

🦝: Ouch! You're hurting me, Ran-chan~! I'm so proud of my tail, don't be so rough with it~!

=Episode 7:

🦊Tenko: It seems that the yokai in question is trying to wear out people's spirits by giving them nightmares, while hiding in the presence of many small yokais.

Thanks to Ran listening to Shiraai-kun and the others, I'm glad we were able to reconcile.

😈Ran: ..........I'll leave it at that. Well, it seems that the target has not been decided yet. Tokiharu had a dream that he overslept this morning, so he woke up in a hurry.

🦊: Hehe. Both Otoharu-kun and Tokiharu-kun seem to be very scared of "lateness". Is that even a nightmare?

😈: What about you? What about your "nightmares"?

🦊: It was not a nightmare, but I might have had a dream that some people might consider a nightmare.

I can't say for sure, as I dream about it from time to time. However, when I meet the youkai that is the source of this phenomenon, I don't think I can help it.

😈: What, were you trying to say a joke? Even you sometimes tell jokes like that.

🦊: It's not nice to be forced to dream, whether you want to or not, is it? If the prankster go too far, I'll have to punish them.

😈: I agree with that. It is possible that they could become a yokai that takes the life of the people at will and eats their souls.

It doesn't suit my nature to mess around. Let's just cooperate this time and go beat up the culprit.

=Episode 8:

😈: We've come a long way, huh? If we have to go this far to get to the source, then we're dealing with a very careful opponent.

🦊: Even though they are cowards and knew we would question them if they were exposed, they decided to do it. It seems that they wanted to get their hands on the power of the demons really badly.

😈: .......... You're pretty angry after all. Is there something that can't be blocked by Tenko's Barrier?

🦊: Hehe Well, I'm not all-powerful either. Besides, it's enough if I can protect the people I want to protect.

*A barrier is spread*

🦊: Well. You are very good at hide-and-seek.

But eventually I caught you~

You have been manipulating people's dreams from such a place?

😈: You were caught off guard, thinking we didn't know you were here. I won't let you get away. Whatever gets within my barrier, can never escape out!

*After beating the culprit*

🦊: Let's stop here. The mountain should not collapse. I have to return to that town by morning.

😈: Yeah, I guess so. If the word gets out, maybe they'll be a little less likely to mess with us for a while.

🦊: Shall we let the human children think that if they do something wrong, the demon will come to punish them? I mean, It's thanks to the gentle demon god that we won't have nightmares tonight.

😈: Don't do it. No one will believe that story.

=Episode 9:

😈: Thanks to that bastard's running around, I had to use my extra strength. I couldn't go easy on a yokai of that level.

🦊: Hehe. The attack was a little too vigorous and loud. Perhaps Shonoshin and the others may have sensed it.

*A Moment of awkward silence*

😈: ....... Aside from the yokai, Tokiharu and the others don't seem to have woken up. We did well for a hasty preparation of work, no?

🦊: It seems so. Ran, I enjoyed working with you too. So, I'll see you soon.

😈: Back to the shrine? It's almost dawn. I have a room, and if you want to go with Tokiharu to school tomorrow, you can stay here.

🦊: It's a very tempting offer, but......not yet. My futon is at Otoharu-kun's shrine. If he gets suspicious, this whole night will be ruined.

😈: Is that so?........Thank you, Tenko. I might not have been able to catch that tail on my own. I'm glad you were there for me this time.

🦊: No. I did what I did because I had my own reasons. I should be the one thanking you... Good night.

😈 *Inner thoughts* (....Everyone has a thing or two that they want to keep to themselves, don't they? the kind of "past" that you even dream about.)

=Episode 10:

🪻Shiraai: Oh, Onigami-sama! You came again today. Otoharu and the others are training in the bamboo grove in the back. They are very excited to try new techniques.

🦝 Kotobuki: But more importantly, Ran-chan! For a brief moment in the middle of the night, I felt a very big power, was it the work of you two? Tenko-sama won't tell me!

😈: I won't tell you about anything that Tenko is not telling you about. You must have been going around all night gathering rumors again, right? Don't do anything unnecessary.

🦊: Now that you've come all this way, I think we should make some tea. Shiraai-kun, would you like to help me?

🪻: No, I'll do it, so Tenko-sama please sit down. Look, stop bothering Onigami-sama and if you don't want to be turned into a Tanuki hot pot, come with me.

🦊: I expected you to come. I'm still a little concerned about it. But from what I've been able to find out, it's not worth worrying about.

😈: It was the same as usual in the morning.

...... To think that I would be called demon god and that I would stand side by side with Tenko.. Thinking about it all over again, it's a strange coincidence.

🦊: If they live long enough, their strong wills will overlap and will intertwine with the fire of life. We will continue to watch over them under every circumstances.

📿 Tokiharu: We did it, Otoharu! The two of us managed to stop Shonoshin-san's fox fire! ....Huh..? It looks like something is burning... AH, THE PAPER DOLL!!

🦊: Oh my... I thought it wouldn't take long for them to grow up. But It looks like we have more time left than we thought.

😈: ...... Well, we can't stop the flow of time, and we can't stop it either. They should grow up on their own pace.

~END~

#utapri #shining live #ranmaru kurosaki #natsuki shinomiya #translation #event story #A ferocious heavenly fire that pierces the night #i am working on the cards translations too but since i am going through some defcult times it might take a week or so 🫠

[marengogo]

QUICKIE - 1: The Moon Embracing The Sun

LOVE AGAIN - by Daniel Caesar, Brandy  [CASE STUDY 01]

[Music is a very big part of my life and I’m MOSTLY INCAPABLE of writing without music, so I just thought I'd share what I am listening to while writing this]

–🐺–🐺–🐺–

Constantly, I hope everyone is doing great and I’m guessing we are all very excited about tomorrow! I’m perhaps overly excited and all I need to do at this point is try and get some sleep, like for real, but I feel like I’m a kid again and it's Xmas Eve’s Night where even tho I ain’t tryna catch Santa, I’m too hyped to sleep 🙃 … ANYWAYS, As the name of this series suggests, this is not going to be anything excessively long, but rather just a quick observation regarding some cute/lucky/noticeable occurrence I might have noticed or that might have happened in correlation to Jikook.

Today I’d like to talk about a “little” K-Drama called The Moon Embracing The Sun, which is from 2012, like, a good 10 years ago, but good stuff, good stuff! I literally just finished watching and it took me two weeks because I was trying to make it last (and it is a good 20 episodes). As you might already have deduced, the fact that it talked about The Moon and The Sun made me think of Jikook and straight away my brain started braining as I began to better understand a very distinct difference between how The West and The East perceive the relationship between the Moon and the Sun (myself being born and brought up in The West). 

First of all, I was quite intrigued to find out that the drama was a love story between the Sun and the Moon, since (as some might have gathered by now) with me being really big on mythology (greek/roman in particular), I’ve always had a hard time thinking of the Sun and the Moon as anything other than twins, which is what Apollo (eventually god of the Sun) and Artemis (eventually goddess of the moon) are. In The East it appears that they for the most part star crossed lovers for something the moon did apparently, but lovers nevertheless.

My second thought was “I wonder if Jikook know about this drama …”. Just because theta re Korean I couldn’t assume that they would have known or watch it, particularly when in 2012 they would have been busy busting their asses tryna get ready to debut (to be precise as Jimin came to BigHit around May 2012 and the series ended in March 2012, perhaps he was busting his has to get into BigHit). 

But you know me, with the powers bestowed to me by Google I went snooping around and found out that during RUN BTS 73, the one where JK acted as a director, Taehyung actually reenacted a crucial scene from the drama itself. So if anything, they would have heard about it by then. Following is the episode on weverse:

Now, I don't want to ruin the drama too much for anyone in case you become curious and want to go watch it but the following object (a hairpin) appeared in the series and its explanation made me pause and go “Bro … Too soon 😬?”

Character receiving the hairpin asks: “What … is it?”

Character giving the hairpin replies: “The moon embracing the sun. The King is the sun and the queen is the moon. This hairpin … is adorned with the white moon embracing the scarlet sun, so I have named it The moon embracing the sun”

And by that time it was just so romantic the whole idea of the Moon embracing the sun, but then when JM came out with his photo-folio and many jikookers started pairing up this particular photo with one from JK’s photo-folio:

A White Moon and a Scarlet Sun? … As always, these are just MY observations but I ain't gonna lie, my brain took quite a few double-takes at this particular coincidence, and HEY, be it as it may, just a coincidence, it is one hell of a cute coincidence, right?

Always respectfully yours and particularly intrigued, 

Marengo.

#QUICK JKK #Jikook #White Moon #Scarlet Sun

[mykoreandramareviews]

I Heart Korean Dramas and Art (It's My Obsession!)

I have an obsession. Thanks to the fantastic invention of online movie streaming which opened up a whole new world for me. I started watching K-dramas on Netflix but there weren't enough movies and TV series in their database to satisfy me. That sent me on a treasure hunt. I found two sites – Drama Fever and Viki - that are accessible to the American audience where you can watch the shows online. No download. Unfortunately, Drama Fever no longer exists and I got so hooked I splurged and paid for the Viki subscription. (It was about $10. I don't go out much, so it's my treat to myself!)

My preference is for Korean historical period dramas. I get so attached to the characters. The women look so elegant and refined in their silk dresses; and their hair is so beautiful, adorned with those pretty hairpins. The men look so noble with those hats and those robes. If it weren't for the fact that the king and crown prince wore special robes, all the guys could be like kings. :)

Here is the problem for me that makes it difficult to watch the more modern K-dramas. Once I see these men and women in the traditional clothing of the Chosŏn (or Joseon) Dynasty, it's hard to look at them wearing modern clothes in a 20th century drama or comedy. Not that they aren't just as impressive acting as 20th and 21st century characters. They just don't look the same! You know what I mean? :)

Here's a TIP. Don't ever pick a series that is fairly new and all the episodes have not been uploaded and translated with the English subtitles. I made that mistake once. Never again!

I got hooked on “The Flower in Prison” (2016). I did not realize that it was a new series. Oh, the agony of waiting for the next episode to become available. Not only that but there was an additional wait because the lines had to be translated and the English subtitles made available. I made that mistake too! Got to a critical part of the episode and the English subtitles disappeared. WHAT?!! It was not 100% translated. Had to wait a day or two more for the translation to be completed. But it was so worth it!

Lesson learned. Whenever I get ready to watch a Korean drama TV series, I make sure all the episodes are there and fully translated.

I heart Korean historical drama and also any art that I can find related to it (or even not related, as long as fits the Korean history theme). Like I said. I'm obsessed!

PLEASE FOLLOW @mykoreandramareviews

It's a work in progress and a labor of love.

#kdramalovers #kdrama #korean+drama #entertainment

[s3raphh]

mondstadt character hcs! part one

*see how venti has one finger up im so clever for picking this gif*

basically how they think of each other and crap, i didnt listen to the voicelines so this is definitely not uh canon compliant? this will include npcs!

CONTENT WARNING: swearing since diona and rosaria exist

VENTI AND ROSARIA

the aunties that don't talk to each other for like, fifteen years and they randomly meet each other at the mall and start talking while they leave you in the middle of the electronics store.

they're wine aunts who give bad advice and hand-me-downs to you

they used to babysit kids but had to stop because of a warning from jean

venti gets so drunk that sometimes rosaria takes him to her quarters in the church

venti will randomly sing at the tavern and he always manages to get rosaria to play the lyre for him while he sings

they have nicknames for each other

"bard boy" and "catwoman"

rosaria doesn't quite understand the reference but venti giggles to himself and thinks of batman theme songs ✪ ω ✪

rosaria = instigator of drama

venti = doer of drama

rosaria will always update venti on church drama

"hey bard boy, have i told you about sister rosette cheating on her boyfriend with eury's husband?"

"that's awful, is eury doing alright?"

"she already had the divorce papers"

"wow, how awful is her husband?"

"just bitchy enough for me to dislike him as well"

"language, catwoman!"

"😒"

"but i do have to say, the erotic undertones of the situation make for an incredible song! shall i write a ballad 'bout this scandal?"

"yes."

DONNA AND DILUC

"all i can think about is diluc!" x "who?" i am DEFENDING DONNA WITH MY LIFE do not hate on her on my watch (╬▔皿▔)╯

donna was definitely writing in her diary about the darknight hero after she met him, but she knew that a mysterious figure like him wouldn't be easy to talk to....

so i know in my soul that this madwoman decided to investigate

diluc knows that someone is investigating him and he's trying to work out whether or not kaeya went back on his 'promise' to keep it a secret, but he hasn't ruled out the girls who are into him.

donna DEF has those detective novels and basically gained inspo from there for her investigation, she also has those boards where you connect pictures with yarn and shit.

she's definitely aware that something is up with the wine tycoon man, but she still hasn't gotten to that point so diluc is listed in her suspects list....

meanwhile diluc is still working out who could possibly be looking into him... the fatui? the harbinger he met in snezhnaya four years ago? could it just be kaeya's ass snooping around? or was it diona trying to kill him again?

donna's wannabe detective moments end when she starts to get bored of darknight hero and starts simping for diluc once again

(i just find donna x diluc so funny but i also rlly want them to interact FOR REALISES💀✋)

JEAN AND KAEYA

wlw and mlm hostility. THEY'RE SO FAKE TO EACH OTHER I JUST KNOW IT...

the passive-aggressive energy that enters everyone's bodies the nanosecond these two see each other.

"hello jean."

"good to see you too."

*silence as amber enters the room and awkwardly scrapes the chair across so she can sit*

"what'd i miss?"

i know in my soul that whenever jean's on a mission, kaeya sneaks into her office and sits on her chair for the ego boost

everytime kaeya leaves the room, jean rolls her eyes def

kaeya used to steal her food at work but varka told him off so he only steals her hairpins now

sometimes jean, amber and eula go out for church but every single time, kaeya manages to crash the outings.

"oh how lovely, there was a church session and nobody invited me? how cruel of you girls..."

"barbatos give me patience"

of course, they don't hate each other. jean and kaeya are friends and only playfully act mean to each other. but sometimes jean wants to throw him off the church's towers and sometimes kaeya wakes up everyday and decides to piss everyone off because of his daddy issues.

DIONA AND BARBARA

i hc that diluc gets barbara to babysit diona since he knows that diona doesn't have many responsible guardians in her life... sad

"diona, mr draff said that you need to do your homework D:"

"tell that old man i dont give a crap!"

"diona! if you keep cussing like this, i'm going to–"

"that old man? huh! daddy can't do anything about it because his oldass has been drunk all morning! i'm gonna go bomb the wine industry with klee, can't stop me!"

"hey! hey! klee's grounded, come back here!"

diona bullies barbara whenever she babysits and barbara is on her last nerve

they do get along whenever barbara gets her to scrapbook, she even gets klee over so diona behaves for once.

"d'you think i drew margaret right, diona?"

"uh, klee... i dunno how to tell you this but that looks like a garbage can."

"you're right! is it a good garbage can though?"

"ah, girls! don't speak ill of miss margaret..."

"all that lady does is drink, barbara!"

"juice?"

"wine, klee."

"oh jeez."

sometimes barbara finds herself breaking down from all the pressure while she babysits and diona begrudgingly comforts her, telling her that she shouldn't let anyone make her do things she doesn't want to.

diona even offers to beat up her stalkers, to which barbara quickly decines.

diona does it anyway.

SUCROSE AND AMBER

i hc that amber has a rock collection and that she once helped sucrose collect bones unknowingly and that's why sucrose admires her so much i also hc that amber is amazing at stitching and just makes people clothes when she has nothing to do

sucrose is really awkward during meetings at the knights, so amber always helps translate her words whenever she tries to speak up.

which is why they always sit next to each other during meetings!

sucrose sends amber random rocks she finds and amber greatly appreciates it.

sucrose is pretty dang good at art as well since albedo's art studies was so easy for her to grasp, so she sometimes asks amber to give her things to draw.

amber sometimes stitches sucrose socks or leg warmers whenever she has time

they're not the closest of friends but amber considers her a good friend.

MONA AND ADELINDE

i hc that when mona finally settled down in mondstadt, she met adelinde while buying groceries and they became friends mona likes to tell her about alll the predictions she has for people in town

"adeline, dear, i bought a new scryglass this afternoon and i do believe sir diluc's fate has become much more clearer."

"please, please, please let the young master have a good love life..."

"ah shit–! excuse my manners, adelinde, i think i must've seen something i shouldn't..."

"what? what is it?"

"it's the young master... in carnal embrace."

"...excuse me?"

"twice..."

"what"

"once with a young woman he met in snezhnaya and another with a fatuus."

"..."

"..."

"i would like to see kaeya's love life."

"let's hope it isn't something so promiscuous."

can you tell that i love being nosy

⋆⛧┈┈┈┈﹤୨♡୧﹥ ┈┈┈┈⛧⋆

if this post gets seen by anyone, you can drop ur reqs down there, i would prefer platonic pairings instead of ships ◑﹏◐ (i do ship kaebedo and fischl x noelle so those pairs will be included somehow lolsss)

#genshin #genshin impact #genshin headcanons #venti #rosaria #diluc #donna genshin impact #headcanons #jean #kaeya #diona #genshin barbara #mondstadt #genshin impact barbara #mona genshin impact #adelinde