#man serving looks and performance today <3

[fallingdownhell]

Could I request reader getting mad and giving a scathing "the reason you suck" speech at someone who's discrediting her man with Diluc, Kaeya, Al-Haitham, Zhongli and Childe?

Uhhh, someone likes to be feisty.. I see how it is. Sometimes you just gotta let all that pent up anger out, preferably at someone who deserves it. I got you <3

Characters Included: Diluc; Kaeya; Alhaitham; Zhongli

Content: gender neutral reader; cursing; cussing out people; nothing else, I think

Word count: 2,6k words

Thank you for your request!<3

Diluc

Diluc sighed as he put away the last dried glass onto the shelve behind him, finally being able to breath properly.. or at least that's what he had hoped for, but a particular customer was being really roudy today.

The man in question was a travelling bard, originating from Fontaine, who recently came to Mondstadt. He begged Diluc to let him perform at Angel's Share, hoping to make some money to continue his travels.

Diluc agreed after some time, yet immediately regretted it once the man started "singing". It was so out of tone, just horrible to listen to. Worst part was that, after getting paid, the bard instantly burned all of his earned money on drinks.

He got drunk rather quickly, now being loud and rude to the other customers who were starting to clear up the place since it was close to closing time.

You had been sitting on one of the tables on the lower level, a little bit further away from the crowd, but as things started to clear up, you went and sat on the bar, waiting for Diluc to finish up so you could both go home together.

After a few more minutes, it was only you and Diluc, plus the drunk man left in the tavern. Diluc tried to get him to leave kindly at first, but the man didn't respond too well to his request.

"The fuck do you want from me, you fucking asshole? Get the fuck out my sight and get me another drink!", he hiccuped in between his sentences.

When Diluc refused to serve him any more, he got even more agitated. "The fuck's that supposed to mean? Do you talk to all your customers like that you dick? 'm surprised you still got patrons, the booze isn't even that great here!"

You've had enough of it at this point. You listened to his shit far too long today, and you kept your mouth shut. But when it comes to him insulting and downplaying your boyfriend, that was were you drew a line.

So, without a word, you got up and stepped in front of Diluc, getting between the two men. As the drunkard was staring at you, confused on what you wanted from him, you took a deep breath in.

"The only asshole I see around here, is you! You ruined everyones evening today! Your so called "singing" sucked ass, and you reek of alcohol. No wonder no one wants to interact with you with how aggressive you're getting. Now, you better hurry the fuck out before I go completely insane on you calling my boyfriend such things, you coward!"

The two man looked at you, one with surprise but also some sense of pride, while the other became scared. He shrinked more and more with every word that left your mouth and by the end of your speech, he was hurrying to get out of his seat and left the tavern as quickly as his shaky feet would let him.

You sighed and turned around, facing Diluc now. "I'm sorry. I know you could have handled that yourself, but it just pissed me off how he was talking to you."

Diluc just smiled down at you, pulling you in for a quick, passionate kiss. "Don't apologize. I quite enjoyed seeing this feisty side of you. Just don't let it become a habit."

You blushed but nodded at him, which only made him chuckle. After that, you helped him finish to clean up, then went home with him. It may have been just your imagination, but you thought that he was holding you a bit closer to him this night...

Kaeya

You have been growing more and more irritated throughout the entire day as you witnessed your boyfriend Kaeya running through the city.

That was already an odd enough thing for him to do, since he was normally locked in his office the entire day. You didn't know what was going on, but still kept an eye on him whenever you saw him running by.

He didn't seem stressed or agitated, so you didn't mind too much, so long as he wasn't going to do any more overtime.

But then later, you noticed another man approaching Kaeya every so often, especially as he got closer to the end of his work day. It wasn't a knight or other shop keeper, as Kaeya had been talking to almost only those people the entire day for whatever mission he was currently on.

The man was just a normal civilian, walking up and talking to Kaeya. At first, it seemed like a normal conversation, but every time he walked up to your boyfriend again, he got progressively louder and angrier each time.

You weren't exactly happy with the situation, but you also knew that your boyfriend could handle it on his own, which was the only reason why didn't walk up to them to give that guy a piece of your own mind.

That, however, changed when you stumbled into them again. The two of them were currently standing just outside the main city gates, the two guards who keep watch looking between each other, not knowing what to do, as that guy was now full on screaming at Kaeya.

Seeing that, you wouldn't take that. If Kaeya wasn't about to tell off that man for his blatant disrespect, then you would.

You had no idea why the guy was being that way in the first place, but you also didn't care.

As you got closer to the group, his shouts became clearer to you, now understanding what he was saying.

"... damn knight of Favonius! What are you even good for, except exploiting us citizens? And you! You're the worst of them all!"

"Now, now. How about we all calm down first, and then-!", Kaeya tried to calm the man down, but he wasn't having any of it.

"No, I'm not gonna calm down! I am rightfully upset and you can't tell me what to do, Mister Knight!", the guy said in a mocking tone, it was clear he was looking down at all of them.

This was also the moment you arrived at the scene, as well. Walking straight past the two guards and Kaeya. You could feel their confused looks on your back, but you ignored them as you came to a hold in front of that guy, your face looking furious. Before he could take a breath to start another one of his monologues, you cut in.

"You shut up right now! I don't know what your fucking problem is, but I've had enough of you following around and bothering my boyfriend, yelling and insulting him." You pointed a finger to his face as you leaned more towards him, making the man back up a little, to try and get away from you.

"Is your life so miserable and boring that you have to take your frustrations out on other people? Do you have nothing else to do? Are you just that pathetic?"

You looked at him, eyes stone cold as you expectantly waited for him to answer. The guy looked from you, to Kaeya, then back to you, before he turned and ran away from the situation.

"Hmpf. That's what I thought..", you mumbled under your breath, turning around and walking into the city again, but not before grabbing Kaeya's hand and pulling him along with you.

He let you do so, having the biggest of smirks on his face as he witnessed the scene unfold before him. He made a mental note to applaud and thank you later, when you two were in the privacy of your home again..

Alhaitham

He wasn't cut out for the role of Acting Grande Sage..

Not only did he himself say that all of the time, complaining about the increase in work he had to accomodate. But all the other sages were saying the same thing, complaining to others about how Alhaitham wasn't doing enough, how he had to commit himself to the Act more.

Your boyfriend, however, paid no mind to those people, even less their complaints about him. He has already resigned from the Role of Acting Grande Sage and was only waiting for a new candidate to be chosen so he could finally step down and return to his work as the Scribe of the Academiya.

Currently, you were walking down the hallways of the Academiya, going for the elevator that would take you to the upper levels, where Alhaitham's temporary office was situated. Since he got his promotion, you always went to fetch him after the work day was done so you two could walk home together.

As you were riding the elevator upwards, you started hearing voices, getting louder and louder the closer you got to your destination. You were confused about the meaning of this, but you were bound to find out very soon.

As you arrived, you realized that Alhaitham seemed to be currently in a very heated argument with two other, older scholars. Well, more like the two of them were aggressively talking to him, while he remained silent.

Alhaitham was the only one to notice your arrival, seeing as the other two were too absorbed into their own little world, telling off your boyfriend.

You started approaching his desk, Alhaithams eyes following you as you walked up the stairs.

One of the scholars then noticed his attention wasn't on them anymore, which only served as fuel to his already bad mood and his manors.

"What, so the Acting Grande Sage now thinks he's better than us, so he doesn' have to pay attention to the "simple" people? You better turn your attention back to us because we are far from done here. I don't care if it's gonna take all night, but you have to do your work just as much as everyone else here. Just because you helped our Archon does not make you better than anyone else!"

His outburst ticked you off as you come to a sudden hold behind those two scholars, who still haven't noticed your arrival at the scene. It was silent for a few seconds as noone said another word after this.

Originally, you planned to ignore those scholars, simply walk around them to greet your boyfriend and take him home with you. But after that, it didn't feel right not to say anything.

Alhaitham noticed your change in demeanor as well. He leaned back with a slight grin on his lips, planning to enjoy what was going to follow.

"And what do you think gives you the right to talk to other people like this?", you said, tone noticeably pissed off. The scholars turned around, surprised by your sudden presence. Yet, you didn't give them a chance to answer, you just continued on.

"He is better than you, in one aspect, at least. He can hold his temper and treat other people with respect. Unlike you, he doesn't go around insulting and blaming other people for apparently not doing their work. Which isn't even true, what do you think he's doing here all day? Now, if you have nothing smart to say, please excuse us."

Upon ending your tirade, you look over to your boyfriend pointedly. He got the hint, got up and walked over to you. You took his hand as you led him towards the elevator, leaving those two scholars behind, who looked dumbfounded at you still.

You paid them no mind, however, as you tried to focus on your breathing, trying to calm down on the ride to the lower levels. After a few moments, you felt Alhaithams arm wrap around your waist.

You knew he wasn't the biggest fan of PDA, but in this situation, it seemed he could make an exception. You smiled at him, leaning against his side a bit more, but you still failed to notice the grin that was still plastered on his face from witnessing this scene...

Zhongli

Seeing as your boyfriend is the Ex-Geo Archon of the nation of Liyue, he naturally had a very expanded knowledge accumulated over the years he's been alive.

Nowadays, after giving away his gnosis, he likes to subtly share that knowledge with other people and scholars when he's not busy at his place of work.

Often times, when meeting with other scholars to discuss some topics he asked you if you wanted to accompany him. He accepts whichever answer you give him, not expecting anything from you, but he does enjoy your presence at his side.

Today, he had been invited onto the Pearl Galley to discuss some topics on ancient Liyue history with some scholars from Sumeru, and he asked for your company again.

Since you had nothing else planned for the day, you agreed to his invitation, setting off so you wouldn't miss the event shortly after.

Usually, during those meetings, you always set beside him, respectful of the people around you and the fact that you were out in public. However, somewhere along the way, you always ended up sitting in Zhongli's lap. Wether it was because you were growing uncomfortable on your chair, or simply because Zhongli wanted you closer to him, didn't matter. It just happened..

And so it did today as well. At some point, you were getting a bit bored, having heard the storys of the current topic from your boyfriend a few times already, so you decided to climb onto his lap and doze off a bit.

Zhongli didn't bat an eye to it, having already expected something like this to happen. Other people threw some weird glances at the two of you, but didn't say anything else, deciding to just turn back to the conversation at hand.

You dozed in and out while Zhongli held you, listening to the conversation only with one ear. That was, until one man decided to spring up from his table, slamming his fist down, hard. The sudden sound startled you, opening your eyes again to locate to source.

The man was standing, his head red as a tomato as he seemed furious about something. Confused, you looked at him, then around at the table. Zhongli remained utterly calm as he continued to stare at the guy, while the other scholars remained seated but tried to calm down their companion.

"No! Fuck off! Where do you think you're taking the right to just state your theories like they are proven facts? I know you're old as fuck but that doesn't give you the right to disregard our hard work and own theories like that, you bastard!"

The guy yelled, grabbing the attention of the entire ship. People around you started to whisper, now totally engaged within the situation. You were baffled at his words, turning to look at your boyfriend who seemed to be unbothered by it. He didn't seem like he was going to say anything..

But you just couldn't let that stand..

"The only bastard I see around here, is you! What, just because someone doesn't share your opinion and challenges you, you freak out and start to insult them? That's pathetic behaviour, if you ask me. Go and cry about it to your mommy and daddy, since they obviously handle everything for you."

At your words, the guy grew even more furious, but he was also rendered speechless. Before the situation could escalate any more, his other friends dragged the guy away, leaving only you and Zhongli back at the table.

People around you looked for a while more until they started to settle back, turning to their own business again.

You were still sitting in your boyfriends lap, mumbling under your breath, when he leaned down to you and pressed a soft kiss to your forehead.

"Thank you, Darling. You didn't have to do that, but I appreciate you defending me all the same."

#genshin impact #genshin impact x reader #genshin x reader #genshin scenarios #genshin impact scenarios #diluc x reader #diluc x you #diluc ragnvindr #diluc x reader scenarios #diluc scenarios #kaeya x reader #kaeya x you #kaeya alberich #kaeya scenarios #alhaitham x reader #alhaitham x you #alhaitham #genshin impact alhaitham #genshin impact diluc #genshin impact kaeya #alhaitham scenarios #zhongli x reader #zhongli x you #genshin impact zhongli #zhongli #zhongli scenarios

[definitelynotafurinasimp]

Being in a relationship with the Fontaine Women

characters: Charlotte / Furina / Lynette / Navia x gn!reader (separate)

warnings: none, just fluff

genre: Mostly fluff, with a bit of comfort added in Navia’s part

a/n: I decided to leave out Clorinde bc I honestly don’t have any concrete headcanons about her, mostly because she was only there for like 3 scenes and said a total of like 2 sentences. I will write for her, but I still need time to read more about her.

I tried to keep this at least a bit headcanon-y, but you know me, so I decided to add a small scenario to every character’s part, mostly just one’s I felt served as good examples of how things might be and that I didn’t feel like I’d get the chance to write in the future.

Anyway, hope you enjoy!

Charlotte

With Charlotte, days on which nothing happened were rare. There always was some sort of event going on somewhere, and wherever it was, the journalist wasn’t far away, dragging you along with her. But just because you were there for work, didn’t mean you couldn’t enjoy yourselves, especially with someone as energetic as her.

Trying to hold secrets from her, be they good or bad, quickly proved to be futile. She was a Journalist after all, so slowly digging up information to eventually figure out the truth was part of her being. That being said, getting informations through investigating always felt more rewarding to her than getting them served on a silver platter, so it quickly became routine between the two of you to give each other only a few hints instead of normally announcing news… something that, to the misfortune of others around you, quickly also seeped into your conversation with your friends and family.

“‘Man trips and falls down stairs at the opera house’? No, why would anyone read an article when they get all of the information via the headline?”, you suggested before quickly discarding your idea, causing Charlotte to sink further into her thoughts.

“Ooh, how about ‘Tragic accident at the opera house leaves man injured’?”, just as quickly as the words left her mouth, the two of you gave each other an energetic high-five before Charlotte continued to map the article out loud, only for a weird feeling to slowly wash over you… as if there was something important you were forgetting.

“Isn’t today the premier of that thriller you wanted to write an article about?”, you asked, only for Charlotte to stop talking in the middle of her sentence, her eyes widening as she quickly glanced towards the clock.

“You’re right! These clothes should be good enough for the opera house right? Ah, who am I kidding? Nobody cares!”, words began shooting out of her mouth in a panic as she grabbed you by the wrist and started dragging you towards the Aquabus, pen and notebook in her other hand.

…Somehow, be it by the grace of your Archon or Charlotte’s insistence the Aquabus drove at twice its intended speed, the two of you managed to get there in time.

Furina

The Hydro Archon had an… interesting way of showing her affection. The performance she liked everyone thinking was the real her too fond of the dramatic to do so in a normal way while the real her was too easily flustered to go through with anything fancy. And so, it inevitably became your responsibility to initiate anything even slightly romantic.

Just because she was nervous however, didn’t mean Furina’d drop her usual act and with the way she behaved and talked whenever others were looking could easily fool people into thinking your dynamic was the other way around.

There weren’t many moments in which the two of you had the chance to be alone in public, with the Archon either surrounded by a few of the gardes or swarmed by the citizens of Fontaine. So when you wanted to visit your home in the countryside, Furina was quick to decide that she’d indulge you with her presence, choosing to keep silent about how she was happy to leave the city behind for a day.

If Furina’s uncharacteristic silence wasn’t enough to make you feel like there was something wrong, the look on her face would have made any doubts in your mind dissolve. Just as you had opened your mouth to say something however, you were interrupted by the feeling of something grabbing your hand, all the while the Archon's face was slowly painted red.

“Are you feeling fine Furina? Your face is-”, you were quick to tease, unable to hide your amusement as it was all written over your face. Furina however, did not look up, quickly cutting trying to cut you off, only for her own feelings to be betrayed by a crack in her voice.

“The sUN- I- Thanks for your concern, my dear companion, but there’s no need to worry. I’m fine, just a bit warm, the sun is scorching hot today after all”, she quickly stuttered out before putting on her act once again, hiding her face by looking away from you, only to quickly find herself engulfed in shadow as you put a parasol over her, greeting her with a smile when she finally looked back at you.

As the way to your destination was once again filled with silence, your eyes eventually landed on a hill covered in rainbow roses, causing you to quickly drag Furina from your actual path.

“Where are you going!?”, she managed to ask, only shy away for a moment when you suddenly shoved one of the roses in front of her face.

“Be careful when taking it, it’s really easy to prick oneself's on their thorns”, you spoke with a genuine smile, only for it to quickly contort into a teasing one when you saw her blush even further.

“I should have brought a better parasol, this one doesn’t seem to be working”, you joked, causing Furina to fire back with some sort of excuse. You didn’t care too much, the sight of her scrambling to regain her composure was too cute for you to do anything but silently observe it.

The rest of your journey was rather uneventful, as was your way back. What was of interest for many citizens of Fontaine however, was the rainbow rose their archon wore for the rest of the week 

Lynette

To call Lynette a romantic would have been enough to net yourself a serious defamation case. She wasn’t her brother, who did and said all kinds of embarrassing stuff while putting on a mask, so while the two of you may have been in a relationship, most normal people wouldn’t be able to tell. So while you shouldn’t expect to see her showing her love to you in broad daylight, that didn’t mean that you didn’t get any special treatment.

On days where there was nothing to do, it had gotten somewhat common for Lynette to come over to your place, using it as a place to recharge her batteries when there was too much going on at home. So as you silently sat on your couch, reading a novel you had recently bought, while Lynette laid next to you, with her head placed on your lap, eyes closed as she relished in the calm atmosphere, the sound of the door suddenly swinging open was enough to give you a small heart attack.

“Pardon the intrusion, but have you seen my dear siste-”, Lyney’s voice rang through the room before his gaze eventually landed on the two of you, eyes instantly widening. “Oh sorry, I didn’t know I was interrupting something.”

Just as quickly as he had appeared, he was gone, and while you liked to think that it normally took quite a bit to get you to blush, you could feel your cheeks quickly heat up. Was it because of his tone, his smirk or some weird combination of both, you didn’t understand, all you knew being that Lynette’s brother always found a way to make you feel embarrassed about even the most boring scenes.

“Should we-”, you quickly looked down at Lynette and began to talk, only for her to quickly finish your sentence for you.

“‘Try catching up to him’? I don’t think that’s necessary”, she stated matter of factly, her eyes not opening for even a split second before continuing to hum to herself.

“It seemed like he was looking for you, maybe he was just worried where you were?”, you asked, quickly getting a response in the form of a shake of her head.

“I told him I was visiting you. If I had to take a guess I’d say he was just passing your home and decided to quickly mess with you.” Her explanation made more sense than you’d like to admit, it wouldn’t have been the first time he decided to do things simply to try and get some amusement out of your reactions. However, you didn’t like the way Lynette made it sound like getting a reaction out of you was something that required so little effort.

“Sure it wasn’t you he was trying to mess with?”, you asked teasingly, only for her to finally open her eyes as a small smile found its way onto her lips.

“More than certain, redcheeks.”

Navia

Navia had always been easy to get along with. She was intelligent, funny and could single handedly lighten up the mood in any room, possessing an amount of self-esteem that was charming without coming across as her being full of herself. To use her own words: Who wouldn’t treasure having a partner like her. And while there were times her work as leader of Spina di Rosula kept her too occupied to see you much, she made sure to use her time with you to the fullest.

Was it eating at the Hotel together once in a while, or going on a walk around Poisson and Fontaine, taking in what remained of its colorful landscape while simply chatting the day away. Whether the subject of your conversation held any importance or you simply joked around, didn’t matter. Having each other by your side was enough to make any day a good one in retrospect.

There was a time you used to fear visits to the cemetery with Navia. It wasn’t like you didn’t want her to be sad whenever you visited, it was her fathers grave after all, but seeing her knees grow weak as she tried her hardest to keep a brave look on her face made your heart sting as if it had been pierced with a knife. It had been that way each and every time, no matter if it had been a week after his death or two years… But not this time.

As the two of you arrived at the grave, you glanced over at Navia, fully preparing yourself for what you might witness once again, giving her hand a reassuring squeeze. Instead, you found her silently smiling to herself and as you followed her gaze, your eyes eventually landed on a pair of candles placed next to the grave, causing your lips to form into a smile as well.

“Looks like Silver and Melus were here before us”, you noted, only for her to shake her head in response.

“Melus told me he wouldn’t be able to visit the grave until later… And well, you know Silver. I doubt he’s the kind of guy to light candles.”

Callas the Unfaithful no more. You might not have known her father that much, only seeing him a couple of times, but you had no doubt that the one who raised Navia would never have murdered anyone for any reason. 

Before you had the chance to lose yourself in your thoughts even more however, you were brought back to the real world by Navia’s voice.

“You still have the flowers?”, she asked, only for you to carefully grab them from your bag and present them to her, handing her one before putting the other in front of the grave. “Thanks. I’m sorry, but could you leave me alone with him for a moment? I’d like to tell him the good news”, she asked only for you to quickly nod.

“Thank you, you’ve been a great help today. I love you”, she told you with a smile.It wasn’t like her usual, radiant ones, instead being much smaller, but it was genuine, and that was the only thing that mattered.

#furina #furina x reader #focalors #focalors x reader #charlotte #charlotte x reader #lynette x reader #lynette #navia x reader #navia #fontaine x reader #genshin x reader

[broken-freedom]

Nina can you write a blurb or one shot of Eren going to the strip club one day and discovers that Y/N is a stripper plus she doesn’t want anyone to know her secret that’s why she doesn’t tell anyone. One day he catches her and in order for Eren to keep her huge secret she has to give him more than a lap dance in the back room if you know what I’m saying 😏

• Your Little Secret •

Word Count: 1.9K

CW: lap dance, humiliation (?), face riding. 

A/N: It took me forever I know, but hey! It is now done at least! Enjoy ;) 

Your worst nightmare became reality the moment your eyes locked with his in the middle of your performance. You managed to keep your “job” a secret from every single person you know for 4 long years only to be discovered by the one person you hate the most.

 It started as a little extra support, because let’s be honest, who can afford to pay all this money every semester for 4-5 years atop of all other life expenses? You left home as soon as you graduated from high school and even with the extra shifts you were picking up here and there, the bills were left unpaid. When one day you were working as a waitress, serving dinner and cleaning tables, an older man slipped a note in your hand as he paid you a farewell, one you thought was a generous tip to conclude the good service you provided, or at least .. you hoped. You shoved the note in your back pocket and resumed working. 

After your shift ended, you opened the note to only find a number and a few words scribbled messily underneath “I can provide you more, somewhere else.” The note creeped you for days, but one afternoon you were desperate, unpaid bills everywhere, unsubmitted assignments alerts filling your school’s email. How are you supposed to find time to study when you are practically overworking yourself to be able to pay for rent, classes, gas and food?!

You ran to the note and with shaky hands opened it and dialed the number. 

“H- hello …?”  you start nervously. 

“I was waiting for your call” you hear the man on the other side of the line talking with such confidence.

Turns out to be a stripping job that the owner of the club saw you and thought you would be able to earn a little extra doing that instead of serving food and relying heavily on tips. Without a second thought you accepted, the number he offered you would solve 99% of your problems and you only needed to work 3 days per week. In the other 4 you can actually focus on your education and get your degree to find a better job for yourself that can fully support you. 

You managed to keep your little job a secret from your friends and classmates. Yes it is a small town, but who would go to a strip club on a Tuesday evening while needing to be in class first thing in the morning the next day? And it worked, for four years, you buried the truth intending to never admit it out loud, not even to yourself, until today….

The day where your secret comes out and everyone will know about it because of him. 

You were in the middle of your seductive movement taking off the little excuse of a bra as a part of your dance when you locked eyes with him. You feel your whole world crashing at once. The air around you is thick and making it hard to breathe. The room you’re in suddenly turns 100 degrees and rising. You meet his amused gaze with a  mortified one, feeling sick to your stomach. Your body is moving as you do every time performing your seductive dance as if you were on autopilot but your brain is flashing alarms at you to run away from his burning stare. The way his eyes are twinkling looking at you makes you sick, and you would love to smack that shit-eating grin out of his face, but you sadly have to carry the dance.

“Eren Fucking Jaeger..  Why is he here? We have a test tomorrow! Shouldn’t he be studying?” 

The more you wonder, the wider his grin gets, making you clench your teeth to prevent yourself from screaming from the top of the stage. 

Your thoughts are running 100 miles per hour but also trying to keep your cool as much as possible replacing the mixed facial expressions of disgust and anger with a much calmer and relaxed one. The show has to carry on no matter what. 

 Your body swaying left and right to the beat of the slow tone music as your own hands cupping and grabbing at your skin starting from your thighs to your hips, to finally settle on your tits. You try to keep your mind off him and focus on your work, you’ll have to deal with him later. But he makes it so hard for you with him whistling and cheering at your every movement, feeling his flame-filled gaze on your bare back even when you can’t see him. 

The moment the music dies to a stop you rush off stage and run in your heels to shield yourself from his prying eyes, you strip in front of thousands of people without care, but not him, not Eren. He will make sure to turn your life into a living hell now he knows your secret. You’ll have to run away, change your name, and find a new life elsewhere. But it doesn't always end up as you want as Eren catches up to you and holds your wrist preventing you from going further into the dressing room. 

“What do you want Eren?!” you try to yank your hand out of his grasp but no success since he is way stronger than you. “Oh why so shy now darling, you were ready to drop your panties for me not a minute ago?” He holds your gaze daringly. “I also paid for a lap dance, would never miss the chance of having Ms. perfect dancing half naked in my lap” 

“Not in your wildest dreams! Let me go right now!” You try to push him away with your other hand, but he is faster, holding both of your hands now and pulling you closer to his chest, hovering over your face and smirking devilishly “You were the last person to come to mind when I asked for the best.. You? The best? Got to try to believe it .. or do you want your secret to make it past the walls of this building?” He twists you around and pushes you to walk in front of him to the same hallway you were going to earlier, not to your dressing room, but to the private room right next to it. 

You want to keep your job, it still pays the bills, but also needs to find a way to keep Eren from exposing you to everyone you know, you walk with him as you think, and think, and think, you need to have the upper hand in this situation, but knowing how evil Eren is, you will need to calculate your next step carefully.

You get inside the private room and push Eren to sit on the sofa, his hungry eyes exploring every inch of your body as you make your way to the pole in the center of the room. “Someone changed her mind” Eren chuckles thinking to himself how easily you got manipulated to do exactly what he wants. You wouldn’t want anyone to find out about this after all, and from who? So you’ll have to do what he tells you to do. 

You grab the pole, bending your body ever so slowly, giving Eren a full view of your puffed pussy strangled by the thong. A loud whistle coming from behind you reminding you of who is actually sitting there watching your every movement. You close your eyes shut trying to steady your breathing and carry on your plan. Slowly but seductively you make your way towards Eren pushing his knee apart so you can stand in between and reaching for his necktie to untie it “Hands behind your back Jaeger, club’s policy” He does what you tell him to do, hypnotized by how good you smell and you tie his hands behind his back. You bend over as you sway your hips pushing your tits closer to his face. The way he gulps the closer you get to him tells you that what you are doing is correct and gives you the energy you need to continue. You pull the string of your bra down exposing your boobs as you straddle Eren’s lap. Watching the teasing gaze drop from his face gives you satisfaction when you start grinding on him wanting to torture him. The more you grind the louder he growls “ Fuck …”  wanting more, and now you can feel him more. Erected, desperate, and wanting more, and you give him more by pushing your weight down on his cock but stand back on your feet quickly “wha- … why?” his confused tone makes you giggle. 

With one swift motion, you place one leg on Eren’s shoulder, reaching your hand to teasingly rub your clothed clit before you pull the string to the side exposing your wet pussy to Eren’s widening eyes. “You did not pay for this but I am feeling like giving you a special treatment today” 

The closer you get to Eren’s face the more he understands what you want to do “why are you doing this?” “Because I can, isn’t that obvious?” “But you- …” you cut him off when your pussy makes contact with his lips, tongue darting out immediately to taste the sweetness of your essence dropping into his mouth. He moans, loud, and you enjoy the scene of his eyes rolling back. Grinding his clothed cock was fun, he made cute noises, but riding his face is even more thrilling. His whole diameter changed and it is pleasing to watch. You pinch your nipples in between your fingers speeding the process, Eren thrusting his tongue inside your pussy with his nose pressed against your clit is more than enough to send you to cloud nine, drenching Eren’s face with cream liquid and a few drops falling into his shirt staining it white. Your legs shake and you try to steady yourself by putting your leg back on the floor, Eren is quiet, he is more surprised than you are by how your actions silenced him, but his eyes are screaming at you. You look at his flushed, wet face with amusement, his hands still tied behind him. One final step before you conclude your plan.

You drop to your knees in front of Eren, unbuttoning and unzipping his pants to take his raging cock out, fully hard and leaking in your palm “what a pretty cock, Jaeger” you smirk giving Eren’s cock a few pumps making him growl in response. You keep your eyes locked with his as you bend lowering your head, but before your lips reach his tip, you tear your eyes away from Eren’s looking at his length in your hand “what a shame for a cock this nice to be attached to an asshole like you” and you spit on it before you stand up and start backing up to go to your room to change “keep your mouth shut Jaeger, or I know a way to keep it useful other than talking shit about others” 

Even though he never actually planned on telling a living soul about your little secret. He’ll still come to spite you every once in a while, and to get you to sit on his face again… 

xXx

#eren jeager #eren jeager x reader #eren smut #eren aot smut #eren x you #aot smut #eren jaeger smut #eren x fem!reader

[tessenpai]

Kono Oto Tomare Chapter 127 Scans and Rough TL

Disclaimer: Please DO NOT use this translation to make your own TL of the chapter!! The KOT TL group works very hard to give you the most accurate translation, that does as much justice to the original script as possible. This is a ROUGH translation. That means is faulty and there must be mistakes in certain places. This is just for impatient people like myself to get a grasp on what is going on in the chapter! You can REFERENCE my TL if you want to discuss the chapter but never USE it as it was your own.

Scans:

Page 1

Side text: Welcoming the morning of the decisive battle---

Page 2

Sfx: pipipipi pipipipi

Chika: Ngh...

Page 3

Takezou: Good morning, Kudo-kun. The weather is great.

Takezou: Are you ok? Weren't you able to sleep well?

Chika: Ngh---...

Takezou: We still have time so you can sleep until we really have to get ready.

Page 4

Takezou: I will come wake you up later.

Takezou [thoughts]: Maybe I should close the curtains again---?

Chika: Ah!

Page 5

Chika: Sorry, I was still half asleep.

Chika: Mornin'

Takezou: ----Yeah.

Takezou: Good morning.

Side text: It surely will go well---

Chapter Title: Dear

Page 6

Sane: Finally... it begins now. Today is the day.

Mittsu: Yeah... I feel like I'm gonna throw up my breakfast...

Kota: Stop it! You will stiff up!!

Sane: Let's do the ritual we did before the preliminaries!

Kota: Eh? What was it, again?

Sane: If I remember it right, in your hand over here, there are points that ease the tension if you press---

Mittsu: That hurts, you idiot!! Do it in your own hand!!

Chika: Are you guys really getting nervous this early again? Pathetic.

Chika: Takinami also said it yesterday.

Chika: That we are already the best and incredibly awesome, and we should only have fun now.

Suzuka: I didn't say that.

Page 7

Sane: The hell, what's your deal Chika!

Chika: In my dream, our performance was a huge success

Mittsu: It was only a success in your dreams!!

Mittsu: Isn't that, like, a red flag!?

Chika: Shut up! I already have the image of what our success will look like in my mind!

Hiro: Oh, man. Everyone's already here!

Takezou: Ah, Kurusu-san, Hozuki-sa----...

Page 8

Kota: Wooaah, you both did your hair a bit today!!

Sane: Oh, you're right!

Hiro: It may give us a little boost of energy!

Kota: So cute---!!

Hiro: Thank you.

Takezou: ...Lost the timing to say it...

Suzuka: Ok, everyone's here now.

Suzuka: Is a bit early but let's start moving---

Hiro: So- sorry, wait just a moment...! Just- just this!!

Page 9

Hiro & Satowa: For Momoya-kun and Yoshinaga-kun!!

Mittsu: Aaaah--- these!! Woah

Hiro: In the Preliminaries, Hozuki-chan made us charms! So we thought to give you yours!

Satowa: A received help from Hiro-senpai this time.

Kota: We also brought ours--!

Atsumu: !

Atsumu: I-i-i-i-is it really ok for me to accept such a marvelous thing...

Hiro: Of course! It would make us very happy if you did!

Atsumu: Thank you so much!!!

Page 10

Natsu: ...

Hiro: We thought... that you might be uncomfortable receiving handmade stuff, Momoya-kun, but

Satowa: If you don't want it, it's absolutely fine for you to throw it away...

Natsu: No, I wouldn't throw it away...

Atsumu: Should we put it as backpack keychains?

Natsu: No, I'm afraid to lose it if we do that.

Hiro: !

Satowa: Also, Keishi-san if you'd like... This time we've relied on you so much...

Keishi: Whaat, for real!? You're also giving me one!?

Page 11

Keishi: Woaah-- thank you--!

Chika: ...

Chika[sfx]: Rustle

Kota: I'm sitting with Aki-chan today--

Sane: Wha- We gotta decide that with rock-paper-scissors!!

Kota: First come, first served--

Sane: What the hell, you--

Satowa: Giggle

Satowa: !

Page 12

Chika: Hozuki, sit here today.

Satowa: Blush. Eh-

Page 13

Satowa: Eh, wh- why...

Chika: Just sit here.

Hiro [thoughts]: Kyaaaaaaa-----!!!

Hiro [thoughts]: What what what. Excuse me, Chika-kun----!? What are you doing!!?

Hiro [thoughts]: Woaaah--- Ahhh geez--- that's nice--- That's sooo nice---

Hiro [thoughts]: Both being in love in the National Competition is so nice---

Hiro [thoughts]: Bu- but from here on it's all about the performance!

Hiro [thoughts]: There's no time for me to be jealous!!

Hiro [thoughts]: Gotta keep it together---

Suzuka: Kurusu.

Hiro: Yes...

Suzuka: You have people behind you, move to the back quickly

Hiro: Ah, so- sorry.

Page 14

Hiro [thoughts]: To the back----...

Suzuka [memory]: You might as well make that into your strength

Hiro: Ku- Kurata, can I sit with you?

Takezou: !

Takezou: Of course.

Page 15

Takezou: Would you like to sit by the window?

Natsu: ...

Satowa [thoughts]: I wonder… with what intention did he…

Satowa: I mean, we often together at the venues, too. It's not like there has to be a big reason for it now, but...

Chika: ...About that charm

Page 16

Satowa: Eh?

Chika: When you made them last time, you didn't make one for yourself, Hozuki.

Chika: Did you make one this time?

Satowa: ...Hiro-senpai offered to make me one but...

Satowa: I- I refused...

Chika: Eh? Why?

Satowa: Why, you say...

Satowa [thoughts]: Because Kudo wrote my name in his. That made me so happy, that for me it made it my charm and

Page 18

Satowa [thoughts]: Is not like I can say that to him-!!! I did tell Hiro-senpai, though...

Satowa: It's fine, really.

Chika: ...

Chika: Mhmmmmm. I see.

Chika: ...

Chika: ...

Satowa [thoughts]: Wha- what is it?

Satowa [thoughts]: I really don't get it---

Chika: Then I guess you wouldn't want this?

Page 19

Satowa: -----... Tha- that's...

Satowa: Did you make that... for me...?

Chika: ---As- As I thought, you wouldn't really care for it, right!? You wouldn't use it! My bad--

Page 20

Satowa: I would!!!

Page 21

Satowa: I most definitely would... so.

Chika: ...

Chika: Here

Satowa: ...Thank you...

Satowa: Ah, that's right.

Page 22

Satowa: Look! Now it matches yours, Kudo.

Satowa: Wait!

Satowa: Could it be that you also made charms for Momoya-kun and Yoshinaga-kun...!?

Chika: Well, no. I thought you would make theirs this time around as well...

Satowa: I see. That's a relief.

Chika [sfx]: ba-dump ba-dump

Chika [thoughts]: Dangerous... That was sooo dangerous---....

Page 23

Chika [thoughts]: I wanna hug her so bad-----....

Chika: Gonna sleep.

Satowa: Suddenly!?

Page 24

Takezou: Today the weather is so nice.

Hiro: Wha- Ah, yes. The ideal weather to compete!!

Takezou: Ideal to compete! Ahaha

Hiro: ... ...

Hiro: ...Kurata. Um, you see...

Hiro: Only if you'd like, would you...

Hiro: ----Nghh

Hiro: Would you write your name on my charm!?

Page 25

Hiro: I mean, you see- Last time Chika wrote Hozuki-chan's name on his charm and I thought that gave it more power or something... so...

Hiro [thoughts]: Wow this is so embarrassing...

Hiro: Ah bu- but maybe imitating those two would be a bit, you know-

Hiro [thoughts]: Uuuugh--- what am I even saying.

Hiro: Sorry, I said something weird...

Page 26

Takezou: Then, should we exchange charms?

Page 27

Hiro: Ex- Exchange charms with you, Kurata?

Kurata: Only if you'd like, Kurusu-san.

Hiro: I would!!!

Page 28

Takezou: ...Alright. Okay, here's... mine.

Hiro: Ye- yeah! Thank you!!

Page 29

Takezou: Fu

Page 30

Hiro: ---I will protect it with my life!!!

Takezou: Ahaha That's very reassuring. I will do my best as well.

Sane: ...

Page 31

Sane: Should we... exchange ours as well...? Sigh...

Mittsu: Will you protect me...?

Sane: ...If you want...

Page 32

Man: Here

Tougo: Thank you very much.

Page 33

Man: That would be the last one.

Kifune-sensei: Yes. Thank you very much.

Man: I get to send off Ichiei's students every year. But this year is even more amazing.

Kifune-sensei: Amazing?

Man: Yeah. How do I put it..?

Man: Their atmosphere? Or more like an aura.

Man: It's so overwhelming. It's a bit scary.

Page 34

Man: Are they also in peak condition?

Kifune-sensei: Yeah. Of course.

Page 35

Kifune-sensei: Like never before.

Side text: The group of genius koto players is their biggest hurdle to victory---

---Kono Oto Tomare! will continue next month!!!---

#kono oto tomare! #kono oto tomare #kot #sounds of life #stop this sound! #kot! #rough tl #kono oto tomare 127 #kono oto tomare! 127 #kot 127 #kot! 127 #spoilers

[lasnevadaslaborunion]

I've given this spiel on Discord already but I'm thinking about it again today so here goes

The reason Las Nevadas worked as pre-recorded, highly polished lore whereas other arcs were better served by improvisation (or, especially later, fell flat in the attempt to be more "cinematic") is because that style of presentation reflected and enhanced the themes of c!Quackity's story.

c!Quackity is a very image-conscious guy. He's performing strength, coldness, and viciousness. He's performing power, wealth, and masculinity. He wants to look respectable and frightening in the ways he's seen respectability and fearsomeness modeled by others.

But in the process, he eclipsed his emotions, his better self, and his very humanity.

Las Nevadas itself is a testament to that desire. It's grand, impressive, and entirely artificial. It's a harsh contrast to the organic awkwardness of El Rapids and the ramshackle simplicity of early L'manberg and the White House. c!Quackity intended it to be unlike any country before it - an improvement, an escalation, his unique legacy.

Even the style of the streams reflects that! They become more and more elaborate as time goes on, and yes, you could say more artificial. There's no improvisation. There's no room for silly mistakes. There's no breaking character. It's flashier, grander, more impressive. It's a bunch of bright, sterile lights, all alone in a cold desert.

...okay, now I have to talk about the face cam.

On the DSMP, there are only a few characters who never streamed from their own perspective. Of these, c!Schlatt and c!Dream are best known, and this lack of first-person perspective is often cited as a reflection of their villainy. However, I would also describe this as symbolic of emotional masking. It's vulnerability, and whether the narratives and the characters allow themselves such vulnerability.

c!Schlatt may very well be the embodiment of stereotypical toxic masculinity. He is obsessed with appearances. He lifts weights, takes steroids, drinks protein shakes, and harshly belittles anyone who doesn't live up to his standards. At the same time, he is a deeply paranoid ruler, who increasingly suspects (not without reason) even those closest to him of treason. His commitment to his "tough guy" persona in spite of his faltering health ultimately kills him, as his heart gives out - alone in a crowd.

c!Dream is also a deeply paranoid man (again, not without reason) who is so afraid of coming to terms with a changing world and his own changing relationships that he cuts himself off from all but a few other people and schemes for a near-impossible reunification. He becomes a caricature of a villain and locks himself in both a literal and metaphorical black box, in which he suffers and, yet again, ultimately dies. As with c!Schlatt, what began as a means of self-protection becomes an avenue for demonization.

(As an aside: c!Techno also never uses a facecam, although he did stream his POV. His arc proceeds in a much different way from other "antagonistic" characters; c!Techno manages to overcome his mistrust of others, refine his anarchist ideals, form a community of friends who help one another, and end his story happy. He's a wonderful foil to c!Quackity, though for slightly different reasons than the other two figures mentioned.)

These two (three with c!Techno) figures, alongside c!Wilbur (their polar opposite, insofar as his penchant for Hamlet-esque soliloquies goes), form c!Quackity's idea of what it means to be powerful.

In the first Las Nevadas episode, Quackity uses the facecam in the same way he did previously. We see every flinch, hear every doubtful thought, feel every change of expression. Where this changes, though, is the final scene: Quackity tears apart El Rapids, the last remnant of his early life and connection to his loved ones, and returns home covered in a prisoner's blood.

Las Nevadas 3 has a much different ratio of facecam to non-facecam scenes. During the confrontations with c!Foolish and c!Purpled, those in which he is at his most expressive and physically vulnerable (as both of these characters could easily defeat him in a fight, forcing him to rely on personal appeal), we see him acting through the facecam. But during his discussion with c!Sam about potential recruits, he's all business and all masked up. In c!Fundy's nightmare, in which he is more a manifestation of insecurity than a character, we only see his smiling skin and a frosty voice.

As for the prison scene... hoooooly moly I gotta talk about the details in that scene a different time. But I think it's fair to say that while c!Quackity is undoubtedly in a position of power here, he also breaks down in a way we haven't seen in this context yet. And by the end… well, he's confident. What reason is there to hide? The only person he might hide from already knows what he's capable of. This is the most honest he's ever been about his motivations for torturing c!Dream, and his straightforwardness and undisguised hatred amplifies the horror of the scene.

Las Nevadas 4, however? This is where the pattern gets really interesting.

The first segment of the stream is made without a facecam. c!Quackity walks c!Slime through lessons on how to be successful and powerful, each of which is challenged and peeled back. c!Quackity never fully removes his mask, even around this person he trusts, because he is trying to be an example for that person to emulate.

But there are two scenes in which the facecam returns. One, during the reunion with his fiances in Kinoko Kingdom, in which c!Quackity lets himself be relaxed and affectionate for the first time in months before pivoting to an outburst of all his resentment, sorrow, and anger. Two, when c!Purpled traps him and c!Slime and he is forced to fight for his life before screaming in grief at his friend's death.

And the final scene of the episode? We see not just the facecam, but full live action. The actor showing his full image, and c!Quackity being completely open and sincere. There's hope! There's a real human person still in there! Perhaps he can trust again and change before it's too late!

And guess what happens in the End of Las Nevadas?

THAT'S RIGHT, NOT A SINGLE SECOND OF FACECAM. NOT EVEN A CRUMB. HE'S GOING MAD (SCIENTIST) WITH POWER AND TERRIBLE COPING MECHANISMS FOR GRIEF. OUR MAN IS FULLY LOST IN THE MOTHERFUCKING SAUCE.

And that persona - no, not just the persona, the very person he tried to squeeze into his own image! - is the one who kills him!

And this is why I never liked the notion that Quackity's lore being so polished set the bar too high for other storylines. Because first off, imagine trying to insult someone by literally saying they're too good. Second, c!Quackity's whole arc in Las Nevadas was about how the pursuit of power and acclaim at the expense of your ability to be sincere will fucking destroy you. This way of telling a story is neither superior nor inferior to the more naturalistic style of other arcs. It all comes down to personal taste and how the medium can enhance the creator's intention.

And if Las Nevadas rings false to you?

Good. You understood.

Learn something from its fall.

#dsmp #c!quackity #c!schlatt #c!dream #analysis #tw torture #las nevadas

[sagesolsticewrites]

✨Elvis (2022) Masterlist✨

Austin Butler:

• Trouble - A cast outing after filming Austin's "Trouble" performance prompts you to finally confess your feelings.

• Baby - Austin knows exactly how much you like the Elvis voice he’s learned… and has figured out how to use it to his advantage

• The Wonder of You - Austin needs some assistance in re-dyeing his hair while filming is shut down

• Take My Hand - a lil slow dance in the kitchen blurb as Austin arrives home from set

• New Look - Austin arrives home from prepping for “Elvis” and he looks… a little different

• Now or Never - Cast as Priscilla Presley, a romance blossoms between you and Austin on set

• Breathe - Austin’s protective side comes out when paparazzi take it a step too far

• Way Down - You and Austin spend some time in the pool on your vacation (this gets a lil steamy, minors please dni!! 18+ only here kiddos)

• Firsts - The first big interview of your career is with Austin Butler, star of the new Elvis movie. He’s staring at you like that because he’s just being nice about your first interview, right? (gn!reader)

• Drawl - Austin needs some help getting back to himself after Elvis. Luckily, his best friend is here to help him out!

• Romance Will Reign Supreme - Austin takes his shy s/o along on a cast trip to Disneyland. Fluff ensues.

• “i could have missed the pain, but i’d have had to miss the dance” - A song reminds you of past relationship with Austin (angst!!)

• Scaredy Cat (vampire!Austin) - your boyfriend takes you to a haunted house on Halloween

• Cake & Dragons (asexual!gn!reader) - Your boyfriend goes above and beyond to help you celebrate Ace Week &lt;3

• Diner Date - Just a sweet little blurb about Austin taking you out for a date at a 50s diner (inspired by those bts pics we got from Hugh Stewart)

• Today Was A Fairytale - You decide to surprise your boyfriend in Australia for your first Valentine’s Day ❤️

• touchstarved - reader is very touchstarved while Austin is away filming in Australia

• Midnights Series(?) (not technically a series, more of just a collection of fics inspired by Midnights)

Lavender Haze - tba

Sweet Nothing - you serve as a sweet domestic escape for Austin when the fame gets too much

Snow On The Beach - tba

Labyrinth/Glitch - tba

Adam Dunn:

• Bonfire - Adam invites the cast of Elvis over for a bonfire night after filming wraps. You've developed a giant crush on him over the course of the movie as you portrayed Bill’s wife, because of course. Circumstances arise in which your feelings for each other are finally revealed, all thanks to a shared hoodie.

Polyam Fics!

• Tell The World I’m Yours (Austin x Olivia x Reader) - Your partners have been a little distant lately, and you’re even more worried when it seems like they forget your birthday… but they end up having a very sweet surprise for you ☺️💕

Elvis (2022 movie version):

• Reunion Series

Reunion - Elvis reunites with a childhood sweetheart from Tupelo

Renew - A funeral, the service, and new beginnings

Rebirth - A wedding, and a lil thing called the ‘68 special ;)

Release - It might be time to get out from under the Colonel’s thumb…

• Good Luck Charm - your boyfriend learns about the success of his first record while out celebrating your birthday

• Take A Break - Elvis gets sick after all the traveling to his shows, and it’s up to you and his mama to help him get better

• “i can’t keep kissing strangers, pretending they’re you” - 12 years ago, Elvis chose his career over you. What happens when he shows up at your door asking for a second chance?

• Taking Care of Business You - You wake up with a cold and you’re absolutely miserable… you have to miss a date with Elvis on top of that. Luckily, your boyfriend comes to your rescue.

Steve Binder

• Guitar Man - It’s love at first sight when your childhood friend Elvis asks you to be a part of his comeback special. But Steve Binder, director extraordinaire, couldn’t possibly feel the same way… right?

• Guitar Man Part 2 - You and Steve go on your first date, and deal with being an official item on set.

Scotty Moore

• Blue Moon Boy - Your boyfriend Scotty gets nervous before a show. Good thing you’re there to help him 🥰

Dixie Locke

• It’s Nice To Have A Friend - Your childhood friend Dixie comes to you for comfort after Elvis breaks up with her at prom. In the months after, you get to spend more and more time together, and you discover something new about your feelings towards her. Better keep that under wraps, it’s not like she’ll ever feel the same… right?

Polyam Fics!

• A Night to Remember (Austin!Elvis x Dixie x Reader) - Your childhood friend Dixie Locke has started dating Elvis Presley, and you couldn’t be happier for her. And you’re absolutely looking forward to going on tour with them! You definitely won’t develop feelings for your best friend on top of having feelings for her boyfriend. There’s no way that can end happily… right?

Misc.

• happier series - Bill and Scotty’s breakup has rattled the dynamic of the Blue Moon Boys, and it’s made all the worse with the introduction of you, Scotty’s new girlfriend. This story can go one of two ways… take your pick! 

the happy ending

the unhappy ending

• right where you left me (Elvis x Dixie angst) - the breakup at prom, from Dixie’s point of view, and everything that comes after

• find all of my drabbles here!

Send requests if you’d like (no smut please!) Unfortunately I can’t guarantee that I’ll write them all but I’d love to hear what y’all’d like to read!

#austin butler #elvis (2022) #austin butler fic #austin butler x reader #austin butler imagine #elvis 2022 #elvis biopic #elvis baz luhrmann #austin butler fanfiction #austin butler fanfic #sage speaks #masterlist #my writing

[ohmyenjolrass]

things i adored of the catalan version of jesus christ superstar

so i just saw the catalan version of after discovering there is one (it's here, check it out!) and i think it was ABSOLUTELY AMAZING. shoutout to @this-is-a-name-dont-worry for making me discover it <3

catalan is my favourite language and i am lucky enough to speak it every day, and this production didn't disappoint at all!

so as a tradition in this blog, let's review my favorite parts!

first of all, i adored the setting and the cast. the costumes were also fabulous. so the whole aesthetic of the show was impeccable, giving me the same vibes as the 2018 nbc version. 10/10 for scene.

now, specific things. many of these things have to do with lyrics because i think the translation was EVERYTHING.

heaven on their minds is always a banger, no matter the production. one thing i loved about this particular version was the lyric obri els ulls i escolta el que t'he de dir / que no veus que no vull veure't morir?, which literally translates to open your eyes and listen to what i have to say / can't you see that i don't want to see you die? (more or less).

that translation changed my life forever.

the percussion break right before what's the buzz? gave me +20 years of life.

then, judas's expression during mary's bit was so funny.

and also, some note changes during strange thing mystifying that i LOVED.

i also think it was clever how judas was arguing with the apostles in the background during the first chorus of everything's alright.

moreover, the way mary soothes judas in the second chorus

AND HOW THEY CHANGE THE LYRICS SO THEY CAN MAKE IT PLURAL (like mary talks to both jesus and judas).

ANNAS IS A GIRL !!!!! and an amazing performer, gotta say.

also, the little dancing of the priests during this jesus must die.

i adored how in hosanna, jesus and judas enter together and then mary joins them (and judas gives her a little kiss!!).

also judas telling the crowd to be chill while caiaphas sings.

and how he gets mad when jesus talks about heaven.

SIMON IS A GIRL !!!! and also SPECTACULAR.

the way pilate and jesus look at each other just before pilate's dream.

the priests being in the temple during the scene.

mary confessing to jesus during i don't know how to love him and jesus ALMOST KISSING HER???? WOAH.

a priest offered judas some food while he was having a mental breakdown in damned for all time and i thought it was the funniest thing ever.

okay so during the last supper happened a lot of things

first, JUDAS SMOKING. i'm always a fan of that (please, don't smoke).

also, during their first confrontation, judas says deixa'm que t'expliqui (let me explain) to jesus, and I WANTED TO CRY

the way the apostles tidy up the table after jesus and judas's first fight.

at the end, judas looks for comfort in the apostles AND THEY REJECT HIM???? the audacity.

gethsemane was in general absolutely stunning, but some things i liked about it is the way it was translated. the song in catalan seems like jesus is asking god to show himself so that he can see that everything is real. HEART B R E A K I N G.

ANOTHER HEARTBREAK. the lyrics just before the song starts say ningú es vol quedar despert amb mi? / no em deixeu sol avui, which translates to none of you wants to stay awake with me? / don't leave me alone today. I MEAN.

some other lyrics that destroyed me were the pre-chorus. in catalan, jesus sings: vas donar-me llum / però ara sols veig fum / esperant que tú vinguessis / vaig donar-te el que tenia / una vida / no pots esperar més d'un home sol, which translates to you gave me light / but now i only see smoke / waiting for you to come / i gave you what i had / a life / you cannot expect more from only a man. I MEAN X2.

peter's voice was one of my favorites.

and also, herod serving cunt in that animal print trousers. chef's kiss.

judas's death affected me more than any other production

in superstar, judas singing de debò el teu sacrifici et converteix en salvador? which translates to does your sacrifice really makes you a savior? in the cuntiest way possible. yes, king.

and to finish, the timer above the cross going down before jesus's death.

if you reached this point, hi! i hope you enjoyed it, 'cause i know i did. check out this production, it is truly amazing. see you in the next post! x

#ro likes musicals #jesus christ superstar #jcs #catalan jcs

[camishir]

Once Upon A December - Chapter 2

Chapter 1 << Chapter 2 >> Chapter 3

tw : alcohol consumption (not reader), drunk but supportive Fatui agents.

After leaving Sumeru for good, you decided to begin your journey in Natlan.

To think that you got quite lucky. A job in a busy tavern where you could perform during the busier shifts and even help out the waiters paid well – so you took it. The tavern was called „Fireball" by everyone, as it was famous for it‘s famous spicy meatballs that you had yet to try.

The tavern‘s owner, an old, hard-of-hearing, but extremely friendly man, welcomed you with open hands. Seeing you perform, sway on stage as dendro particles and flowers matched your moves mesmerized every drunk, bard, and simple visitor passing by. You were hired in no-time and soon became the talk of the town.

You didn‘t have the closest relationship with other workers, as it was always only work-related talk, never had enough time to joke around or sit down for lunch together.

But it didn‘t matter. You were only here to make some money to continue your journey.

It was about two weeks since you‘ve been working in „Fireball". Tonight was a much easier day, as there were not that many people in the tavern. Silent and comforting chatter created a warm atmosphere in the tavern.

- It‘s weird to see so few people here in the evening. Usually the tavern is buzzing with people, - you said to your co-worker, Juliet.

- Yeah, but I feel rather relieved. My head was starting to hurt from all that loudness," – Juliet answered, as she sat at the bar facing you.

You continued to wipe another glass, as you heard your other co-worker come down from the upstairs floor with an empty tray.

- Keep tabs on those at table 13. They‘ve had more than enough drinks tonight. – Merilia sighed, as she unceremoniously slumped on a bar chair next to Juliet.

You only chuckled at Merilia’s exhausted expression, as comfortable silence filled the tavern again.

As you started wiping the bar, Juliet turned her attention to you.

- Say, Y/N, how long are you planning on staying here? Heard you want to become a performer or something like that? – Juliet asked, trying to start a conversation.

- Yeah. I was hoping to earn some mora before continuing my journey, - you nodded at the woman before you.

Before Juliet could ask anything else, sudden rustling and footsteps were heard outside. What startled all of you was the fact that it sounded like there were more people coming into the tavern than usual.

And you were right.

Around 20 Fatui agents of all lower ranks scattered in the tavern and took their seats, quickly changing the comfortable atmosphere into a more suffocating one. You only noticed that something was off by looking at your co-workers faces, as they soon became slightly more pale. Both of the girls' eyes were on the tavern’s door. Automatically, you turned to see what unsettled Juliet and Merilia so much.

A tall, wide figure entered the tavern. His whole face was covered in a shiny mask, and his body was surrounded by a heavy-looking armor. This tall man spared you a single glance, as he made his way towards the table in the darkest corner of the tavern.

- I’m not serving him. Get someone else to do it, - Juliet said quietly as she stood up and walked over to one of The Fatui's tables, ready to take their orders.

- Who is he? – you asked Merilia, as she was standing up from her seat.

- Capitano. One of Fatui's Harbingers.There is no way I’m about to serve him and risk losing my life today, nu-uh… Heard he was one of the most cold-hearted ones… - Merilia whispered, as she leaned toward you.

You only blinked away your dumbfounded expression, as you understood that the task of taking Capitano’s order fell for you. With a deep sigh, you prepared your best smile as you made your way to the Capitano’s table.

The Harbinger was sitting there alone, arms crossed, as he watched his men have their share of fun, already ready to drink and relax. As you stopped at his table, the man slightly raised his head and turned his face to you. Even though you couldn't see his face, you could feel his full attention on you.

- Good evening! Are you ready to order? – you asked, pulling out your notebook and pen, ready to write down Capitano’s choice of food.

The man stayed silent for a moment, as if he didn’t understand you. During that moment, your thoughts raced a thousand miles per hour.

- What would you recommend? – he asked, surprising you with a deeper voice than you had expected.

- Well… We are famous for our spicy meatballs! Or if you’re not into spicy stuff, my personal favourite are sticky glazed ribs, - you chirped, nodding your head slightly.

Capitano hummed quietly as he lowered his head a little more.

- I’ll try the meatballs then. And… Bring me a drink of your choice, but make it free of alcohol, - The man finished his order.

With another nod, you noted everything down and made your way to the kitchen to submit the order.

- How was it? – Juliet asked you, as she patted your shoulder.

- He was actually really polite, ordered a plate of meatballs, that’s all, - you smiled back at your co-worker which was happy to see you fine with the encounter.

Both of you got snapped out of your small talk, when Fatui agents started to get rowdy. One of The Fatui agents stood up, clearly already drunk from just one glass.

- Hey, waiter! How about a performance with our food? Isn’t this the best tavern in town? – he slurred, with a half-full glass in his hand. Quickly, he got pulled to sit back down by another agent, but not long after, another one of the men started hyping up the idea of someone performing for them.

You noticed Juliet's face turn sour from the drunken conversations of The Fatui agents, but you quickly moved in front of her.

- Let me handle this. It's just another night of performing, right?—you asked, taking a step back from Juliet and making your way to the small stage in the middle of the Tavern.

Juliet nodded, as she gave you a reassuring smile.

- Break a leg! – she chuckled.

You made your way to and up the stage as you noticed all the Fatui agents starting to clap, relieved that they had finally gotten a performance.You didn’t fail to miss Capitano’s lingering gaze on you.

As you exhaled, you closed your eyes.

3… 2… 1…

When you opened your eyes again, The Fatui men were clapping for you, cheering for you to perform again. You only smiled as you bowed to them and made your way towards the kitchen, intending on finally delivering Capitano's order.

With a plate of meatballs and a glass of juice in your hands, you made your way to The Harbinger’s table.

- Is there anything else you’d like to order? – you asked, this time more reassured of yourself.

- No, that is all. Thank you. – The Harbinger spoke, as he picked up the cutlery.

Upon wishing him a nice meal, you made your way back towards the bar, where Juliet and Merilia were already waiting for you.

Just like that, the rest of the night went on quite peacefully. About an hour later, you performed again, which made The Fatui agents cheer for you even louder than before.

At the end of the night, when everyone finally left the tavern, you and the girls could breathe a tad bit easier. All of you were beyond tired, but all that was left is to clean up and close up.

You felt your eyes widen, when you stopped at Capitano’s table with a wipe in hand.

There was a hefty bag of 20,000 mora left on the table with a note sticked to it :

„Thank you for a wonderful performance."

P.S. I��m incredibly sorry for my rowdy men.

- Capitano"

#genshin impact #genshinimpact #genshin angst #genshin imagines #genshin impact angst #genshin impact x reader #genshin x you #genshin fluff #genshin headcanons #genshin sagau #genshin impct #nilou x reader #nilou x you #sumeru #capitano #nilou #capitano x reader #tartaglia x reader #tartaglia #childe #childe x reader #pantalone #pantalone x reader #pierro #pierro x reader #dottore #dottore x reader #signora x reader #la signora x reader #lasignora

[totaldramacruisecontrol]

Last Time On Total Drama Cruise Control: You've Got Pipes! Just Kidding!

CHALLENGE 6: - TOKYO, JAPAN The boat is chugging along, cutting through the choppy waves while seagulls fly over. The boat has been on the water for a while, longer than usual. Chris is seen looking out with a pair of binoculars with a concerned look on his face. “Hey Chef...didn't you say we would be in…you know...the location by now? I'm not seeing land….” "I just followed the map you gave me." "But I didn't give you a map..."

"Uh oh." ______________________________________________

“Ok contestants! Today's challenge is a karaoke sing off! We will do this bracket style, Tapir vs Beaver. Once we hit the final 2, we have a special round to determine the winner! Due to the uneven teams, we will only pick 4 for each side, once you pick your 4 performers, pick a song and get on the stage!"

Tapirs: Courtney, Wayne, Trent, Brick Beavers: Ripper, Julia, Alejandro, Harold ------------------------------------

ROUND 1: TRENT VS JULIA WINNER: JULIA ROUND 2: COURTNEY VS HAROLD

WINNER: COURTNEY ROUND 3: WAYNE VS RIPPER

WINNER: RIPPER

ROUND 4: BRICK VS ALEJANDRO

WINNER: BRICK

------------------------------------ ROUND 5: COURTNEY VS JULIAWINNER: JULIA ROUND 6: BRICK VS RIPPERWINNER: BRICK ------------------------------------ IT'S FINAL TIME! THIS ROUND IS A DUET. WINNERS, PICK YOUR PARTNER! Courtney picks Brick! Julia picks Ripper! COURTNEY…RIPPER…SWITCH SIDES! Brick and Ripper VS Julia and Courtney! Instead of submitting Julia and Ripper's song choice, Courtney decides to slip in a children's nursery rhyme instead!

Out of both awkward duets, the Brick and Ripper win the challenge for the TERRIBLE TAPIRS!

______________________________________________

ELIMINATION: It was Julia who was served the Mocktail of Misery and walked the Plank of Shame. Alejandro has effectively convinced the rest of the team to vote out Julia, and she becomes very aware of it as soon as she's voted off. Julia had a few words for Ripper before walking the plank! "I thought I loved you, but you let that bastard of a man vote me out. You choose HIM over me—You knew he controlled the votes, that he wanted you isolated and that he saw me as a threat, and you didn't do anything about it. I can't love you. But... maybe if you ditched that snake of a best friend..."

“….She never loved me, did she?”

______________________________________________ With Julia gone, Ripper struggles between a crush he's had and the fact his first girlfriend didn't even love him. Luckily, Wayne's there to console him in a cat cafe. They later acquire fireworks together, and Wayne has reason to believe Ripper is experiencing hot flashes of some sort. Harold believes he is pregnant. With Amy's help, it turns out he's actually NOT pregnant, and is actually a vampire. Raj offers his arm to him, and it is taken.

Alejandro purchases a camera for Amy, and their bond strengthens. The two watch confessionals on a dingy phone Alejandro acquired. Speaking of Alejandro, guess who has a crush on him this time? It's Lightning! The Sea Tails (Alejandro, Raj, Wayne, Ripper) blow up stuffed animals on the beach using fireworks. Alejandro, however, chose to blow up a Drama Machine Funko Pop that Scott gifted him. He has to leave early. Raj is unwell during the entire experience due to blood loss. Scott has an encounter with Scary Girl on Takeshita street! What is she doing here?! She's not in the game! "That big, scary shark...Do you still think about him sometimes? Aren't you afraid...he'll find you again?" She hands him a stuffed rabbit, which has an extra eye and different body parts of varying colors, seemingly sewn on after the others were torn off. "Now that I have her off my back, I can do some shopping! I'm just so excited! Thank you, Scott. Keep an eye out for any...toothy friends you may find!" After Amy talks about her past with Sammy to Raj, he doesn't wish to talk to her anymore. "I can't be your friend right now. I'm sorry." After acting as the ship's therapist for so long, Raj has a breakdown. Luckily, Wayne is there.

Who will rise? Who will fall? Who's going to have the NEXT breakdown? Who's Harold going to bite next?

Find out next time on TOTAL! DRAMA! CRUUUIISE CONTROL!

#recap

[lboogie1906]

Margaret Allison Bonds (March 3, 1913 – April 26, 1972) was a composer, pianist, arranger, and teacher. One of the first African American composers and performers to gain recognition in the US, she is best remembered today for her popular arrangements of African-American spirituals and frequent collaborations with Langston Hughes.

She grew up in a home visited by many of the leading African American writers, artists, and musicians of the era; among houseguests were sopranos Abbie Mitchell, and Lillian Evanti, and composers Florence Price and Will Marion Cook, all of whom would become influential to her future musical studies and career. She showed an early aptitude for composition, writing her first work, Marquette Street Blues, at the age of five. Her first musical studies were with her mother, who taught Margaret piano lessons at home.

She worked as an accompanist for dances and singers in various shows and supper clubs around Chicago; she copied music parts for other composers.

During high school, she studied piano and composition with Florence Price and William Dawson. In 1929, she began her studies at Northwestern University, where she earned both her BM and MM in piano and composition. She was one of the few African American students at Northwestern University; the environment was hostile, racist, and nearly unbearable. Although she was permitted to study there, she was not permitted to reside on campus. She recalls, in an interview with James Hatch:

“I was in this prejudiced university, this terribly judiced place…. I was looking in the basement of the Evanston Public Library where they had the poetry. I came in contact with this wonderful poem, “The Negro Speaks of Rivers,” and I’m sure it helped my feelings of security. Because in that poem he tells how great the African American man is. And if I had any misgivings, which I would have to have – here you are in a setup where the restaurants won’t serve you and you’re going to college, you’re sacrificing, trying to get through school – and I know that poem helped save me.” #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence #alphakappaalpha #womenhistorymonth

[godlovesyousoiloveyou]

Hello! im the anon that wanted to ask about orthodoxy. i know this will likely be very difficult to answer, but are you able to tell me a bit about how saints play a role? if not, perhaps you could speak on your personal relationships with/thoughts on the saints? and please dont apologize, your offer of information was more than kind and im very grateful!

St. Nikolai Velimirovich said, "If a person wants to get an idea about the pyramids of Egypt, he must either trust those who have been in immediate proximity to the pyramids, or he must get next to them himself. There is no third option. In the same way a person can get an impression of God: he must either trust those who have stood and stand in immediate proximity to God, or he must take pains to come into such proximity himself."

I am a prodigal, an unworthy sinner, an ungrateful and wicked servant. I deserve not to look upon the face of God being such a terrible person that I am. If I dared to come near Him at the wedding feast, my clothing will accuse me for it is not a wedding garment. The saints are important because they are people who now stand beside the throne of God and they intercede for us.

1 Kingdoms 13:28 "Far be it from me to sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you; but I will serve the Lord and show you the good and right way."

Genesis 20:3-7 God tells Abimelech to ask Abraham to pray for him, otherwise he is a dead man for taking Sarah from him)

Exodus 8:4-6, 8:24-25, 9:28-29, 10:16-18, 32:31-32, Pharaoh asking Moses to pray for him and Moses praying for Pharaoh

Numbers 12:10-13, 14:11-19 Aaron begging Moses to pray for Miriam to be healed of her leprosy and Moses interceding for the Israelites before God

Deuteronomy 9:20, 9:25-26 Moses praying for Aaron and the Israelites

1 Kingdoms 7:8, 13:19 Samuel interceding for the Israelite to be victorious over the Philistines, Israelites asking Samuel to pray for them so the Lord is not angry that they asked a king for themselves

3 Kingdoms 13:6 King Jeroboam asks the man of God to pray for him to God to restore his hand that withered away and he prays and it's restored immediately

3 Kingdoms 17:20-23 Elijah prays over the widow's dead son's body and he is brought back to life

God is not the God of the dead but of the living, Christ said in the book of Matthew. The saints are not dead, they stand before the throne of God interceding for us.

Throughout the history of the church, there have been so many saints who lived venerable lives, sacrificing their lives in the name of Christ as brave martyrs (like St. Eleftherios who is celebrated today), saints who helped so many people in their afflictions (St. John the Merciful who gave away all he had to the poor), saints who performed many miracles (some recent ones are St. Nektarios who healed the sick, St. Porphyrios who was blind but prophesied so many things about the future, St. Paisios the Athonite, St. Joseph the Hesychast, etc.).

Here, in our current life, in this present day and hour, we in the Church who strive to love God are, in Orthodox theology, considered the Church Militant. We who love God are all soldiers of Christ and being alive on this earth and striving to do God's will, we are always battling against the forces of the enemy, the evil one. The saints who have struggled to love Christ and won the struggle, living until the end of their earthly lives as faithful Christians, they are considered to be the Church Triumphant. We are striving to be triumphant like them, triumphant against the passions, temptations, and addictions; against pride, selfishness, gluttony, immorality, and all sins.

One particular saint who has helped me a lot is St. Xenia of St. Petersburg. She was homeless, she was considered a fool-for-Christ. She sought not earthly glory and she hid her virtues so well. She was so poor, not because she did not have money, but because whatever money she had, she gave to others. She sacrificed her comforts so that God would comfort her. St. Paisios the Athonite said, "When we cease seeking consolation from man, then we will receive consolation from God." Such people who have achieved it are people like St. Xenia.

I had been struggling with finding a job for years and praying to have a home to call my own. I am not an educated person, I did not even graduate high school. I did not even have a house to go, I feared I would be homeless. St. Xenia helped me get a house. I prayed a few akathists to her and in the same month, I received a house as an unexpected gift from my in-laws. I have received a lot of help from other saints as well, St. Xenia is just one of the recent ones.

Anyway, this was a really long answer, hopefully it's not too boring and if it is, I'm sorry. lol.

#ask #eastern orthodox

[7grandmel]

Todays rip: 28/10/2023

Sidelined Symphony

Season 3 Featured on: The SiIvaGunner Spooktacular Halloween Horror Special Collection '17​-​'19

Ripped by l4ureleye

Part of Spooktacular Week! ● Requested by fezaki (Discord)

In all these Halloween events, there's obvious jokes that we all know to expect. Typical spooky music from video games, Five Nights at Freddy's the 8-BIt Beast, horror media, David S. Pumpkins, and so on and so forth. The events aren't always quite so all-encapsulating as to *only* be spooky-themed rips, but broadly speaking you know what to expect - the kind of rips I've posted in the last few days, that is. But amidst all of this, some rips get rather creative in the ways they celebrate the Season. And yes, I do know how ironic it is for me to be praising creativity when I'm here making my fourth post covering a Stickerbush Symphony rip, after Satinpanties Symphony, Stickerbrush State of Mind and Bramble Blast Collab. Look - they're all too good not to talk about, okay?

Sidelined Symphony falls in line with the many other excellent lo-fi rap mashups done by ripper l4ureleye, yet upon playing you'll no doubt recognize the man behind the vocal performance. Early in 2018, as Season 3 was just getting into gear, a very peculiar meme started circulating all around the internet - that of Burger King Foot Lettuce. It was borderline inescapable during the time, all thanks to the bizarrely straight-faced narration of such a ridiculous story by content creator Chills. The guy is seemingly very well off, with his own channel sitting above six million subscribers, and the channel he narrated the video for being similarly well off, yet...there's no doubt that being the target of a large-scale meme basically just about making fun of his voice likely got to him, mentally.

I can't speak to anything concrete about the situation, granted, other than that it seems like Chills is taking it well nowadays (and maybe always was) and is even embracing it through things like his cameo on Smiling Friends. Althesame, when August rolled around later in the same year, Chills released his first venture into music with Sidelined, a rather melancholic and openly emotional rap tune. With lyrics like "Been trying to get away for some time - part ways with the life I chose" - it gives the feeling that Chills was rather conflicted about the situation he was in.

All of that is to say, that seeing Chills' top comment in Sidelined Symphony's YouTube upload, thanking the SiIvaGunner team for the arrangement...it really warms my heart, and feels almost like a reconciliation. Even if there wasn't ever any true bad blood between Chills and the memes made of him, the rip serves as a reminder to us viewers that the guy is MORE than a walking meme - that he's an actual creative, a human being worth loving and cherishing. And that's easier to do than ever through the rip - Bramble Blast's emotionally poignant instrumentation and progression lends itself incredibly to the raw honesty of rap lyrics as the aforementioned Stickerbrush State of Mind already demonstrated, yet its given an entirely unique vibe in Sidelined Symphony thanks to all the other tweaks made to it. The lowered pitch of the original song, the sound effect samples from Super Smash Bros. Melee and Brawl, and the way the song knows when to let Sidelined take more emphasis in the song during the midway point of the rip.

It all comes together to a rip that's absolutely swirling with emotions in so many ways, and in so many directions - empathy and respect for Chills, nostalgia for Super Smash Bros. Brawl and the SiIvaGunner channel itself, and utmost admiration for the rippers that continue to make such incredible music out of love for the internet. Sidelined Symphony is, beyond being one of my favorite rips to listen to, just one of my favorite rips for all that it stands for. Peace and love on planet earth. And foot lettuce from Burger King.

#todays siivagunner #season 3 #siivagunner #siiva #l4ureleye #chills #creepypasta #creepypasta fandom #number 15 #burger king foot lettuce #horror media #horror movies #donkey kong #donkey kong country #dkc2 #donkey kong country 2 #diddy kong #david wise

[chateautae]

What doesn’t sit right with me is the government’s total lack of respect towards the boys. I mean what more do they want from bts? They’re willing to exempt athletes who no one’s heard of because “they’ve been tied with national prestige” but not the boys? Lmao and bts hasn’t? This has got to be the biggest joke ever. They should either change the wording for their exemption rules or simply admit that they cannot stand exempting musicians like bts. Let’s be real, South Korea is a popular destination today MAINLY because of bts. Kpop is relevant in the west BECAUSE of bts. Bts contributes SIGNIFICANTLY to South Korea’s GDP. Bts were named ambassadors. They have ticked more boxes in the exemptions rules than anyone else yet they’ve been dragged around for years? I’m glad they decided to take matter into their own hands, this has got to be the biggest fuck you to the government ever. Now watch, South Korea’s GDP will take a hit, the tourism sector will plummet, kpop will loose its relevancy these next couple of years because bts won’t be able to attend American award shows. It’s over for them, by playing games and acting like spoilt and ungrateful children, they have passed over the reigns to bts. They’re the ones in control now in relation to all these sectors and there’s nothing the government can do about it anymore.

It’s not even about the fact that the boys must serve in the military (as that is an honor for Korean men), it is about the government’s shitty treatment of the boys and their blatant ignorance of bts’ impact and duty towards their country. They have done more than enough, South Korea wouldn’t be where they are today if it weren’t for them and that’s just a fact. What more can they do to prove that they’ve done enough for South Korea? I just don’t get it.

And before anyone says anything, I’m a Korean living abroad so trust me I know what I’m saying when I say this government made a huge mistake

Loves everything you said is correct!! I can’t believe the govt even had that 3 year deal where BTS could still perform but be in on call for the military? And the govt would earn the money they make?? Even now the govt is scrambling to rewrite the terms so that BTS can still perform overseas during their enlistment like… at this point it’s becoming blatantly disrespectful snd rude. The tannies aren’t puppets, you can’t use them. You can’t control these boys and rob them of their free will, they’ve chosen to nobly enlist and they should be allowed to do so without any other obligations!! But the argument does circle back to the govt ignoring their impact in the first place. I’m not a Korean citizen nor a Korean so my opinion doesn’t matter, but BTS’ impact is unavoidable. Their numbers and power is something undeniable and to think it’s just been brushed off for this long… of course BTS are gonna get fed up and make their own decision, which is a fucking boss move!!!

I just wish the boys the best of luck in their endeavours and truly hope things will go smoothly for them. I’m sure the media is gonna blow this up and throw around so many accusations and articles even during their enlistment, but I know they’ll rest easy knowing they have us and each other 💜

On another note though, we have things to discuss army. LIKE WE’RE MILITARY WIVES/HUSBANDS NOW WE MUST STAY STRONG!! Also why do I feel like Jungkook’s gonna entirely outclass anyone and anything? That man’s gonna make the hardest stuff look easy ik k-armys are really concerned he’s gonna choose something really strenuous, which is valid 😭 AND WHAT ABOUT HOW JACKED THEY’LL GET?? DO WE WANNA DISCUSS IT!! Armytwt is the source of my lightheartedness guys I swear it’s the only reason I’m not crying on the train to school rn 😭😭😭 please join me 😭😭😭

#sammy’s inbox #anon #ot7 💫 #the seven stars in my universe

[xnoel]

Interview with Punnasak Sukee, the creator of 180 Degree Longtitude Passes Through Us.

Excerpt:

(...) Punnasak Sukee, the man who not only wrote the series but also serves as its director. A professor of Performing Arts and Artistic Director of Bangkok University Theatre Company, he has brought a sense of theatre to this series that I, at least in my limited scope, have yet to see any other series do in such an honest and poignant fashion. “I am interested in Politics,” Sukee says of the nature of the story in 180 Degrees. “As a teacher, I teach my theatre students to be stage activists. My work of art always concerns politics, so I think about how to manifest the idea and my voice as a responsible citizen in my work all the time. I’ve never seen Thailand in a perilous  juncture as today.”

“My 3 lead characters are representatives of 3 generations involving in the conflicts,” he continues, speaking of the fight for LGBTQ+ Equality. “Of course, Sasiwimol and Wang are obviously on different sides, but people like Inthawut are most of the people I’ve found in my daily life. Moreover, sometimes I see myself as Inthawut for lacking the ability to change something. And that leads to the question of whether authenticity can be changed. I am looking for a landslide in the next election (which seems to be far away and uncertain) to abolish the tyranny, but can we hope for the people like Inthawut to take action?”

#180 degree the series #180 degree longitude passes through us #obviously knew this series was political but it's nice to know exactly what he was going for #i'm really curious about how this show is gonna end but i trust him somehow

[narniacloud]

Shinhwa WDJ made me reminisce about the past and look forward to the future… A special year-end concert (Naver)

Shinhwa WDJ (Lee Min-woo, Kim Dong-wan, Junjin) delivered a special gift to fans ahead of the 25th anniversary of Shinhwa's debut.

Shinhwa WDJ, who introduced a unit for the first time in 24 years with the title of 'group Shinhwa's first unit', faced each other with Shinhwa Changjo (fandom name) through the year-end solo concert 'Come To Life', a medley of hit songs, and each charm This solo stage filled the running time of more than 3 hours.

Shinhwa WDJ's year-end solo concert 'Come To Life', which was held for two days on December 30 and 31, 2022, commemorated the 24 years since their debut in 1998 and presented unforgettable memories to fans who have been waiting for a long time.

A special concert that both Shinhwa WDJ and its fans have been waiting for before Shinhwa WDJ's surprise formation, after Shinhwa's 21st anniversary concert held in 2019, among Shinhwa Changjo, who had not been able to see the members at a concert.

'There will be a concert in the future. A big topic was whether or not to hold a concert called “Can I do it?” And after 3 years, in 2022, Shinhwa WDJ, which first introduced a unit with the words, “Our fans could get too tired if we delayed any longer, and we thought we should get together as much as possible right away,” and at the end of the year, Shinhwa WDJ finally faced Shinhwa Changjo.

We couldn't take our eyes off each other. Shinhwa WDJ's first mini-album 'Come To Life', the first track 'Shape On Body', the members opened the fire with energy as if they had returned to the beginning of their debut, and performed more passionately than ever before, followed by 'Your Wedding' and 'Rumble' ' He showed a performance and breathed with fans.

Shinhwa WDJ, which has been facing Shinhwa Changjo for the first time in a while, worked hard to breathe with the fans throughout the performance, going back and forth from the main stage to the sub-stage close to the audience to share musical sympathy as close as possible.

In addition, the members showed off their individual capabilities on the stage of a solo album that has been loved so far, as if they went back in a time machine. Lee Min-woo's 'Just One Night', 'Taxi', 'Don't Trust Men', 'The M stYle's Jun Jin's 'Love Won't Come', 'Wow Wow Wow', 'Wa' Kim Dong-wan's 'Handkerchief', 'Scream', and 'Viva La Vida'.

A concert group that makes people reminisce about the past and look forward to the future.

Shinhwa is a boy group with the special title of 'Korea's longest running idol' and has been loved for 24 years.

True to the title of 'Korea's longest-serving idol', Shinhwa WDJ drew attention with a setlist that fully captured the footsteps of the past 24 years at this concert. 'I Pray 4 U', 'Don't Leave Me', 'You're Pretty', 'Perfect Man', 'Only One', 'Orange', 'Usah! Wow!' The stage was decorated with various songs that made Shinhwa what it is today, and Shinhwa Changjo created a spectacle of singing along with light sticks to respond to the members' passionate performances.

The 'Come To Life' concert, which had a perfect ride, looked back on the past and made expectations for the future activities of Shinhwa WDJ and the group Shinhwa.

Source: Osen

#shinhwa wdj #lee minwoo #kim dongwan #junjin #shinhwa #이민우 #김동완 #전진 #신화WDJ #신화 #shinhwa news

[cosmindart]

Aquafirma: Waters of the clouds

[any excuse to repost my fav old works. Here's an AU story with the AskIsaak cast]

Aquafirma, a world similar to ours centuries ago back when castles and horses were kings, but twice smaller. Here in place of Humans lived the Anacrees.

They looked quite a lot like Humans but that was just on the surface. The main striking difference between a human and an Anacree was the green pearl-like gem emerging through their chest, however there was much more to them. Their longer lifespan, their innate magical disposition, their stronger bones made from the same gem-like material as their pearls.

Their culture was quite unlike ours, they worshiped a different deity and had holidays divergent from ours. For example everyone wore a shawl on their shoulders, each family having their own cut, color and trim combination. In addition special shawls everyone wore for specific celebrations existed as well. Most celebrations centered around the Salmalion god and the water cycle.

This story follows a group of 5 Anacree friends who, one faithful year, vowed to restore their world from the recent calamity.

___________

Chapter 1

   Today was the first day of spring and Lionel was excited. Everybody was but for a different reason. Today was the day of the Salmalion festival, the biggest holiday of the Anacree people. Every winter, the fresh waters of many lakes across the world rise into the sky to form huge water bubbles up in the air with a crystal at their cores leaving only salt oceans until spring where the drinkable water finally rains back down in a 2 day long downpour. Anacrees celebrate right before the rain comes every year with dances and feasts. Lionel however wasn’t excited about this, during the celebration he was going to propose to his childhood friend and soulmate of 3 years.

Lionel was running up and down in his apartment itemizing everything. His celebration outfit for this afternoon was ready laid out on his bed, his hair was brushed, his shawl ironed to perfection, his pearl was polished despite its cracks… Everything was in order.

“Chill out! You’re gonna pop a vessel” exclaimed Kennedy, Lionel’s roommate. “The celebration isn’t happening for another hour you know.”

“I know! I just… I wanna make sure I'm not forgetting anything!”

“I know you’ll nail it and even if you ‘mess up’ I know Isaak will find it funny and just as memorable!” Kennedy patted him on the back to reassure him a little and took off the tan guy’s shawl so he’d put on his celebration one “Let’s go out! Helping out the performers setting up could distract you and stop you from turning into a nervous wreck!”

“Aren’t the pair who are playing the Salmalion new this year?” Lionel asked, his mind successfully distracted”

“Yeah! Micheal is gonna be the head of the beast! He said he had to or his dad would have been sad to have their family tradition broken. I know the second dancer is new too but I heard he didn’t want people to know who he is…” The red head paused then smirked “I will find out! Nothing escapes me!”

“How about you don’t snoop eh! Won’t you be celebrating my engagement after the dance?” He joked “You’d rather weasel your way backstage to expose the guy?”

“Pfft of course I’d celebrate with you!” The two tall guys walked out of their house “That’s why we should help them set up! That way I can snoop now and celebrate later!”

“I agree to help, yeah.” Lionel poked Kennedy’s nose “But I'll make sure you wont get any time to snoop! Leave the man alone alright!”

The two men laughed for a while as they made their way to the grand plaza. Banners were already hung up everywhere, a dozen people were running back and forth setting up more decoration, putting up pillars on which the Salmalion dancers would jump on later during their performance, setting up booth where food and drinks would be served, and more Anacrees just sat and watched the buzzling going.

The duo walked toward the stage with the pillars, ready to lend a hand on Lionel’s side and to pry for info on Kenny’s side. Putting the stage together were two grey-haired dudes in blue stage gear: Pyotr and Shurik. Supervising them wearing green fur covered pants was Micheal. No doubt the pants he was wearing were the front paws part of the Salmalion costume. Kennedy looked around trying to spot someone else wearing matching pants… All he saw around the wooden podium were other crew members in blue. Lionel pulled Kennedy toward the Wojcik brothers and the dancer.

“Do you need help? Kenny and I are at your service if need be!”

“Nah, we about got it done” said Pyotr, the chubbier one of the brothers.

“We were already done setting-up actually” added Micheal “We just ended up shifting the stage slightly but it’s all good now. Thanks anyway.”

“I heard Eliott ask for strong men to help him 10 minutes ago!” mentioned Shurik

“Ah! He just said that because he’s gay and wants eye-candy! He doesn’t actually need help!” joked Kenny “I bet if we go find him he’ll already be done setting up too!... Anyway I was wonder-”

“We’ll go check anyway!” interrupted Lionel pulling on his friend’s sleeve.

“You really weren't joking when you said you wouldn’t let me snoop uh!”

“Leave the mystery man to his secrets!”

“Mystery who?” Asked the lanky brother.

“He probably mean And-”

“Pyotr! We talked about this already, did we not?” scolded the dancer “He’s hiding away for a reason. Don’t ruin this!”

Micheal had interrupted his helpers a little too late. Keno had heard more than enough for him to connect the dots and Lionel could tell just by looking at the smile forming on the trans guy’s face.

“Well, we’ll get going~” the redhead cooed

While Lionel and Kennedy were making their way around the plaza offering their help here and there, their friends on the other side of the city were busy with their own dealings.

Artyom had called Isaak over to help calm down Vadim who was in a panic. Usually he would have called Kennedy but he knew he would probably be helping with Lionel’s proposal set-up and rehearsal today.

“What’s gotten to him?” asked Isaak, Vadim had locked himself into his room, crying and panicking. “Did you have a fight or something?”

“No! He woke up like this! I tried asking him what’s wrong but between all of his sobs I wasn’t able to properly grasp what the problem is.”

“What’s the best you could interpret?”

“I'm not sure? At one point he screamed ‘the water! The water!’ but that’s about all I caught...”

“What? What about the water? Is he scared of this year's downpour or something?”

“I don't know!”

Isaak sighed heavily before knocking on the distressed twin’s bedroom door.

“Vadim… Can you open the door? Can we talk?” Shuffling could be heard behind the door “You said something about the waters... What is this about?”

“The water won’t come down!” Vee screamed back “It’s just not going to! I’ve seen it! I know it!”

“What? This can’t be true! Why wouldn’t they?”

“I dreamed about it. The water isn’t going down today… It’s not going down for a while!”

“You dreamed of it?” Arty asked, confused

“Don’t you think it was just a nightmare?” Asked Isaak

“I doubt it!” Veed tried to recompose himself then put both his hands on Isaak’s shoulders “Look… Isaak. You’re smart right. You gotta believe me. I... I’d had multiple dreams before that turned out to be true. Usually they predict things far in the future, like months or years ahead. This one however, it’s so short notice… but I know this is one of them still!”

“W-wha…?”

“H-how?”

“I saw in my dreams that you’d become a transman… I’ve seen months in advance that Arty would get promoted to be the royal artificer.” He started pacing around. “At first I choked it up to coincidence or just me misremembering old dreams. But after 10 or 12 of them happening I’ve come to recognize the specific energy I feel when I'm having a precognitive dream. I know the water not coming down is an event I foresaw!”

“Wait.. You could see the future and never told us?” Asked Artyom “Why keep it from us?”

“All the dreams I had so far where things I felt were better left unsaid. Would you have liked me ruining the surprise of your promotions month before you even applied and risk you not putting in the effort because you’d think you already had it secured? Should I have personally inserted myself in Isaak’s self discovery years before he realized he was trans and potentially make Isaak feel pushed into being trans and make him steer in the opposite direction?! It’s fucking complicated but one thing I can tell you is that it wasn’t my place to say anything. Things were bound to happen without my input. Me saying anything could have made things worse instead!”

“Please calm down!” Whispered Isaak “Forget about the old dreams for now. Let’s focus on the water dream. What can you tell us about it? How do you know it’s gonna be today and not next year that the water won't come down? Wouldn’t it make more sense since all your other dreams predicted things way far ahead?”

“I.. All I know is that the water won’t come down, and since the reserves we got were only enough to have us last through winter we’ll have a huge problem going through spring a d summer.” Vadim retreated back into his room, the door still open. He sat on his bed. “I know it’s going to be this year because of a key event I know is going to happen today… Arty knows what I'm talking about…”

“Oh.. yeah I know what you mean…”

“What’s the key event?”

“Well.. Er…” Arty tried thinking of something to say that wouldn’t expose Lionel’s romantic plans. “The new dancers! This year we got new dancers. We’re probably going to have a reveal/introduction to the new performers that we won't get next year…”

It wasn’t the best excuse but since it technically was true, Isaak wouldn’t catch him in a lie.

Isaak sat next to Vadim. Everyone stayed silent for what felt like an eternity. Isaak was thinking deep and hard about the upcoming event. The waters weren’t going to come down if what Vee saw was true but then what? Neither of them could do anything. They couldn’t just fly up in the clouds and order the water to come down. Warning the population before the celebration wouldn’t help either. At best they’d be laughed at, at worst it would cause unnecessary panic. Had they know earlier maybe they could have told The Highness to make bigger reserves but it was a one-day notice. Nothing could be done.

“Well.. We should get going…”bluntly said Isaak “The celebration will start soon”

“WHAT?! What about the waters!” Vadim cried

“What do you want me to do? There’s nothing any of us can do! The only thing we can do right now is wait until after the celebration to talk to The Highness about it!” He painfully sighed ‘We don’t need to create chaos or have you branded as the bad omen that caused it all, alright? Let’s go.”

“I guess you’re right…”

The twins swapped their usual shawl for their celebration ones before all three of them made their way out to the plaza, they quickly stopped by Isaak’s place for him to change his shawl before finally arriving at the festival.

After a ten minute walk and another five to find their missing 2 friends the group was finally reunited. Both the blue haired guy and the twin had put on a brave face, fainting happiness even if the fear of what might come upon them today. When he saw Isaak, Lionel’s excitement for his proposal was renewed. He was too blinded by his daydreaming to notice the tenseness coming from his partner. He had his plan playing on repeat in his head: First they would all raise their banners, a swig of Pecha would be drunk, they would watch the Salmalion dance and then, right before the rain would pour down, he’d get down on one knee and ask Isaak for his hand. It would be perfect!

“Arty! Vadim! You won’t believe what I discovered today!” Kennedy said with a smug grin, Lionel shaking his head behind him. “Guess who the new dancers are this year~”

“Micheal? That’s not a secret.” replied Artyom

“Yeah yeah we all know about him. I'm talking about his partner. The butt of the beast!”

“Oh? They changed too?” the other twins attention was caught “I thought only Micheal’s dad retired to pass down the role on him.”

“Weeelllllll… Have you seen your brother today? Isn’t he suspiciously missing in action right now?”

“No way Andrei is performing. That’s just too unlike him!”

“Yeah, he’d be way too embarrassed to do something like this!”

“Why do you think the identity of the new dancer is kept hidden! It’s his shame!” Kennedy made exaggerated dramatic gestures “He can’t bear to have it known. Too bad his best friends accidentally let it slip <3”

“Wouldn’t you two know already?” asked Isaak “Wasn’t that the key event that-”

“We shouldn’t talk about the dream thing!” Shouted Artyom, his hand covering Isaak’s mouth “Y-you said it yourself! We don’t need to create unnecessary chaos!”

Isaak nodded. He planned to tell Lionel and Kennedy but maybe it was best not to, Kenny might go around and spread rumors. Besides now that he thinks about it, it was possible Vadim had only seen Micheal in his dream and not the other dancer. Micheal was kind of a bigger deal, family traditions and all.

After reassuring and distracting the two tall guys away from the dream talk, it was finally time for the festival to start. Every Anacree in town were out in the street laughing and partying. One-handed banners branded with the face of their chimera god were distributed throughout the crowds. Some people waved their banner in the air, others attached them to their back with lockbound magic and more simply held onto theirs. Once everyone had their banners the music started. It wasn’t time for the grand dance yet but there was always some form of party dancing before that. People danced, people drank, they looked at the sky brandishing their flags. Everyone was celebrating, even Isaak and Artyom who had forgotten about their prior talk. Only Vadim remembered and looked up with eye full of worry.

“Hey Vitamin!” He thoughts were interrupted by Kennedy. “The Salmalion is about to make its entrance. Should we cheer by saying Andrei names at the end? Don’t you wanna see his reaction?”

“Uh? N-no. Let’s not… We.. We don’t need to torment him.” Vadim whispered, Kenny’s mood suddenly shifting.

“Are you alright? I know you’ve always been the quiet twin but even by your standards you’ve been awfully silent. What’s the matter?”

“It… Youll see later…”

Kennedy looked around at his friends.

“Er..” He leaned in closed and whispered “It’s not about Lionel’s proposal is it? Did Isaak talk about not wanting to be with Lionel when you were away or something?”

“No, no! It’s fine… Just don’t worry about it for now…”

Not worrying wasn’t gonna be easy. He didn’t know what was bugging Vadim but he knew that tonight was a big night for Lio and he really didn’t want this life milestone to be ruined. There wasn’t anything for him to do for now beside smiling and not letting Lionel catch on any potential tension. He’d make sure he was going to propose and everyone would be happy. Just after this dance it will be time. 

While it was clear it was just two men in a costume, for a brief moment under the projector, it felt like it was a real beast. It jumped effortlessly onto the pillars, standing and bucking as if it was one single living being. It showed how skilled and in prefect synch the two performers were. People probably already forgot these were two newbie performing in front of people for the first time. They weren’t untrained of course, but a first time show in front of so many eye on such an important date was sure to put them under pressure.

Lionel had waited long enough, the show was going to conclude soon and his moment had come. He poked Isaak’s shoulder to get his attention. It was had for the guy to pry his eyes away from the dazzling display. If it really was Andrei under there, he was truly impressed. Seeing that his first attempt was mostly unsuccessful (only getting his 3 other friend’s attention but not Isaak’s), the tan guy nudged his boyfriend a second time. 

“Yeah? What is it?” Isaak said, his eyes still locked on the green creature kneeling and bowing indicating the end of the dance.

“Look” giggled Lionel, his voice coming from much lower than what Isaak was used to

The trans guy looked down toward the source of the voice. Lionel was kneeling down, just like the beast did a moment ago.

“Whe. Wha? Wait. What?!” incoherent questions was all he could mutter

“Will yo-”

“Well yeah?! Of course!”

“You didn't even let me finish!”

“S-Sorry… Go ahead. I won't interrupt this time!”

Lionel stood back up and laughed

“No, no, no really go ahead and do it again! I didn’t mean to cut you off!”

“It’s fine! I can’t deny it didn't go down the way I expected but I think we’ll get to laugh about it for quite some time!”

“At least say it in full! I wanna hear it!”

“Alright! Alright!” Lio paused dramatically, looking straight into his partner’s eye who grew with impatience. “Will you marry me?”

“Yes! Yes I will!”

The blue-haired man hugged his soulmate tightly, a good portion of the crown now looking at them cheering. Proposals were not uncommon on this celebration, to them it was just something more to be happy about and celebrate. To them kissing under the torrential rain of the spring downpour was just so much more romantic… But there was no rain.

Isaak’s mind had been completely focused on the celebration and then the proposal that he had all forgotten about the whole water premonitions. He was only reminded of it when murmurs grew through out the crowds. It should have started raining by now and everyone was talking about it. What was going on? Did they start celebrating a bit too early? Were the new dancers not good enough for the god so he decided not to grant them water? They waited. A few more minutes, then an hour, then two more… The water... It really wasn’t coming down.

Vadim was right.

Panic set in. People started crying, shouting at the sky, banners were thrown, glass shattered. At the middle of it Vadim was frozen. I knew this would happen, and he wasn’t able to stop it. Why didn’t he predict it sooner, before winter back then there was still time? What was the point of him getting his vision right before the fatal event?

Eventually, guards came down to minimize the chaos. Lionel who was a guard currently off duty was asked to join in too and get the population under control. Once the crowd was deemed calm enough The Highness walked onto the stage. Their voice instantly got everyone to look at them. They spoke in the most soothing voice, yet a tinge of coldness could be felt.

“Please. I urge every one of you to stay calm. Surely our dear Salmalion is merely testing us. Showing some slight displeasure at this year’s show perhaps. I'm sure the spring rain will come soon. Please be patient.”

___________

Chapter 2

   It was the next afternoon and the rain still hadn’t started. The entire population was agitated, speculations ran rampant and no matter how many speeches The Highness gave the mass couldn’t be calmed. There was yesterday’s speech, a closed off consort with elites, messengers sent to other towns to estimate the extent of the rain situation, traders deployed to find or exchange money for freshwater supplies, yet another public speech and finally there was today’s consultation with the artificer team.

Artyom was the leader of most of these tinkerers so he knew he had to be on top of his game today. With both Vadim’s info and what he heard from the prior meeting he had already started drafting inventions. He had a number of blueprints tucked under his arms. They were very rough as he had drawn them himself and didn’t ask his artistically skilled twin to clean them up for him. Vadim already had enough on his plate so he let him sleep throughout the night while he stayed up until dawn to work.

“Your Highness, let me start up the meeting with what I have drafted!” he exclaimed, already laying down his papers on the table. “With enough steel and glass we could work out some thermal desalination! We’d need salt water for this. I figured since we can't conjure water out of thin air and we know the oceans don’t rise up during winter we should have no issues with that...”

“Go on” encouraged the royal figure, surprisingly not being bothered by Arty cutting them off.

“My design is for the most part just 3 components. A first container filled with salt water, a heat source placed under the container and finally an empty container linked to the first by a tube.” he explained as he pointed to his scribbles laid down on the table. All the other workers followed in silence. “If everything works the way I think it will, the water will evaporate from the heat then drip down into the second container. The salt being too heavy and not able to turn into gas will remain in the first container!”

Everyone nodded. On paper it sounded logical.

“Have you tried it out on a small scale?” asked the town leader “How fast would the process be? How much heat would we need to generate to turn a large amount of salt water into fresh water?”

“I-I haven’t had the time to test it out on such short notice but I'm very confident in the process!” Artyom stuttered “Um.. Additionally I… Would it be possible to have a private consultation regarding the issue.. My brother wanted to speak with you on the matter and-”

“I don’t have the time at the present. I understand that everyone is worried but I cannot address everyone’s concern individually.”

“Well actually it was a more helpful insight really..”

“Have him consult the elite Majis then. If whatever he has to say is pertinent enough it will get back to me. Now go and get this unsalty thingy test out. If it doesn't work, report back to me with a new idea. Do not fail me, you would fail the people as a whole”

“Of course your Highness. I won’t disappoint.”

The tinkering twin lowered his head. Well at least he tried and so far his machinery plans were accepted. With this approval The Highness dismissed everyone. From this day until the waters were back or a new source of fresh water was found, they would all have to work on Artyom’s desalination plans. Most of them were quite happy with how the meeting went. None of them had to speak or fumble with their half baked ideas. What Arty had displayed here truly showed why he was picked to be the royal artificer and not just another worker.

Isaak was the one to contact then, he though to himself. Isaak wasn’t an elite Maji officially yet but he had been granted a staff last month meaning he was bound to be promoted in the coming weeks. In this world there was 2 types of magic: Lumos and Silvusion. Lumos allowed Maji to turn pure light into solid objects and projectiles while Silvusion-which technically still was a light based spellcraft- was the art of using mirrors to display images. It’s main use was entertainment and every house had a big mirror in their living room that would be used like a television. However it had its tactical use also; all elites and Highness-approved individuals like the royal artificer got to have a smaller pocket-sized mirror they could use like a cellphone of sorts in order to communicate long distance. Artyom pulled his pocket mirror out. Did Isaak also receive his when he got his staff or were they waiting for his official graduation? He thought.

“Should we start working now?” asked one of the other engineers who was following Arty out of the royal quarters along with everyone else.

“Ah… yeah..kind of. Everyone go get your stuff and meet me at the smithing house. I need to fetch a couple things before we get started… maybe get those prints cleaned up too.”

“Artyom. I need to talk to you.”

“Is it urgent? I'm kinda busy right now..” he shook his blueprints “Royal duties and stuff…”

“...Hmmm… I guess not…”

“Is it about the dance? I know the Highness said that maybe it didn’t rain because the performance wasn’t good enough but I personally don’t think so. Yo-...Micheal and his partner did a great job!”

“Ah.. Thanks for your input. I'll be sure to forward it to Micheal.”

It felt immensely weird for him to both see his older brother vulnerable like this and having to console him. He hoped his words were enough for the time being. There was just so much for him to worry about and execute. He wasted no time grabbing his equally sulking twin out of the house and on their way to their half-blind friend. On their way there the double got to talk a bit about what was to come and Vadim brought up an interesting point.

“Do you really have to ask Isaak to get us in touch with the elite Majis? Can’t we go to them directly?”

“We cant because a lot of them are snobs who hates me.”

“What? Since when?”

“Since the beginning pretty much. They don’t like how, unlike the others, I do not consider the use of Lumos in my builds. They all think magic is the most important thing and tech needs to evolve with it. I don’t believe in that and still managed to make it as the royal artificer. It pisses them off.”

“I see… But Isaak… don’t you think he’d rather focus on his engagement with Lionel right now?”

“It’s just gonna be a small favor in order to help everyone! It’s not like I'm going to completely prevent him from designing his new family sash!”

He did agree with Vadim and didn’t really want to involve Isaak, but if he wanted the Majis to listen to him and his brother he needed someone the elites had faith in to speak on their behalf.

He wondered how Lionel was dealing with all of this also. Isaak knew about the rain situation but Lionel didn’t. Did he feel like his proposal was ruined because of it? Did he think that maybe he was somehow responsible for the crisis because the god disapproved of their union? He didn’t get to find out just yet since when they arrived Lionel was nowhere to be seen. He was probably on guard duty today.

“Hey Ziki”

“You know I don’t like it when you call me that!”

“Sorry. You know how I am when I'm nervous, being all sweet and stuff. Using nicknames is part of it.”

“Yeah, yeah. What is it?” the blue haired man asked, lifting his head away from the paper he was drawing on. “How did the royal meeting go?”

“Good for the most part. I have all the machinery planned out. I still need to get Vadim heard by The Highness tho…”

“You didn’t get to mention it during the meeting?”

“I did! It’s just that they said he’d need to ask an elite Maji first…”

“I'm.. I'm still technically a scholar Maji. I didn’t graduate to elite just yet.”

“I know but you can talk with them! They wont listen to me plus I need to go work on the desalination system.” Arty grabbed Isaak's hands “Can you talk to them for us? Bring Vee with you maybe?”

“Fine.” Isaak replied as he looked back at his less than stellar drawing of a shawl. “If Vadim help me with this design we can call it even.”

“Of course! I don’t mind” replied Vadim, finally participating in the conversation. “I can whip up something real quick right now and we can check with the Maji later.”

“Hmm no. Let’s go see the elites first. It’s more important”.

Isaak felt both flattered and nervous at the idea that he was the only one able to help the twins in their situation. He left like a small hero almost. If the elites listened Vadim could be bumped up to a trusted position of sort like ‘the royal medium’ and get access to a pocket mirror he’d use any time he gets an important vision. Perhaps the elites could find a way to more precisely channel his ability and get him to see critical events on command.

The trans guy was honestly just excited about visiting the elite's quarters. As a simple scholar he didn't get to visit the noble district often unlike Artyom who had his smithing house there. The trio made their way through the plaza, up the small incline that led to the inner wall separating the commoner’s zone from the noble district and along the housing street. When they passed by the smithing house Arty split from the group leaving Isaak and Vadim to continue toward the elite’s tower.

Out of all the buildings, the elite’s tower was the prettiest according to Isaak. Sure The Highness’s castle was gorgeous as well but to him the slimmer elegant glass tower was much more pleasing to the eye than the wide golden palace. There was no one guarding the tower today. The water crisis probably had most guards in town keeping everyone calm and stop the most distressed individuals from attacking merchants and stealing any water they could get. Lionel was probably in the thick of it right now.

Inside, the two men made their way up the spiraling stairs. It was Vadim’s first time here and Isaak could tell it was scaring him a little.

“The elites can be a bit snooty but they aren’t outright dickheads. Don’t sweat it too much.”

It didn’t completely reassure the guy but Vee appreciated the gesture nonetheless. He remained silent the entire way up, following the scholar around the place. They eventually stopped in a long hallway, dozens of blue doors lining the sides of the crystal-decorated walls. Isaak pointed at one in particular and gave a little nod to encourage Vadim to enter.

“He-hello?” He shyly muttered, a crowd of staff-wielding men turned toward him “Erm…”

“The Highness told us to consult you regarding a matter we dim of utmost importance” declared Isaak

“More important than the water shortage that we have to deal with?!” barked one of the older Maji

“Well… Kind of?” Isaak braced himself a bit “My friend over here has an ability that could prove useful.”

“Can he create water?”

“Locate a freshwater source?”

“Call the rain on command?”

“N-no he cannot do any of that” Isaak was having a harder time than he expected.

“What is it then”

“He can dream of the future. He actually told me about the rain not coming down hours before it happened.”

“How long did he know about it?”

“Why weren’t we notified”

“Eh. I was gonna ask if he was the cause of it but looking at how pathetic and terrified he is I doubt it!”

“I only dreamed about it the night prior. I had slept in that day so when I woke up it was already too late to do anything! Isaak told me not to tell anyone so as to not cause panic or make me look like a bad omen!” he yelled before taking a deep breath. “While I got this vision only hours before it came true, I usually have most of my visions months or years ahead. If you can find in yourself to trust me I'll be sure to notify the council of any visions deemed important that I get.”

“What other predictions did you get?”

“How often do you get them?”

“How do you tell the difference between a regular dream and a vision?”

“I.. I usually get only 2 or 3 visions per year and they are mostly about my friends..”

“We could potentially weaponize this!” said a very old Maji who had been silent until now. “Let’s say his vision only comes to him if it involves his friends. The water crisis involved everyone so it’s fair to say it still follows the ‘friend parameter’. All we need is to always have one of his friends participating in important events so we can get predictions.”

“Isaak is his friend, we could use him!”

“Yeah!”

“We can’t involve him with everything. We only get 3 predictions a year!”

“You guys are all making plans but we haven’t even got any kind of proof this is true!”

“Hmhmm! Anyone can say ‘I saw it in a dream’ after it has already happened.”

“We could potentially put it to the test using Isaak”

“Do we think? Personally I don’t want to involve anyone not approved in important dealings. Not without the proof Artyom can predict things accurately and within a reasonable time frame.”

“I-I'm Vadim actually... Artyom is my”

“Yeah yeah”

The room of elites was split. On one side some thought using the two young folk was a good idea, on the other were the ones wanting proof first. There was also a smaller pool of ‘wizards’ completely uninterested in the speculated precognitive abilities. In all honesty Isaak was less than thrilled to hear all these people he looked at as peers casually discussing using him as a test subject. Sure, he’d be glad to help with Vadim’s gift but they made it sound like they were going to throw him into dangerous situations just to see what would happen. He was starting to think this was a terrible idea.

“I... Ah…” Isaak hesitated “We’ll let you think about it. Vee and I need to go back to Artyom… Vadim is supposed to help with the blue prints…”

The entire room was too busy debating with each other to reply to the scholar so him and his companion quickly made their exit.

“That’s... That’s not at all how I envisioned this unfold…”

“Yeah… Me neither…”

A bit defeated, they made their way back to the smithing house. Isaak hated that name to be honest. Artyom was the one to name it and he wasn’t the most creative when it came to naming things… well beside giving people nicknames but that wasn’t the same, with nicknames you get a base name to work off.

Inside the tinkering warehouse everyone was huddled around something out of the two friends’s view. They could hear them whispering to each other but couldn’t understand what was said as so many voices spoke simultaneously. A familiar voice drowned them all.

“Alright boys! Time for a taste test!”

Now part of the circle, the scholar watched Artyom take a generous gulp of water out of a beaker. Looking at the guy’s face the water didn’t taste salty. His idea had worked.

“The water temperature aside, it taste decent! I think we’re good to go for the larger scale production!” he declared before spotting his twin in the crowd. “Right on time Vee! Let’s get the schematics polished so we don’t have any mishaps from misreadings! Everyone, while we work on the papers yall can already get the smelters ready. We’ll need a bunch of stuff melted down to make enough stations to generate water for everyone in town!”

Away from the rest of the workers, Isaak leaned in toward the artificer leader.

“Do you think this will generate enough water for everyone?” he asked

“To be honest? No. But it’s better than nothing. It will probably be tightly rationed with only the nobles getting comfortable supplies at best…”

“Yeah I figured also…”

“My first plan was actually to build a pump that reached all the way up there to siphon the water back down to us… But there’s no way we can build that high…”

“What about the river’s source?” chimed Vadim “the water of our lake came from the Nicolas river.. Maybe if we followed it to the source…”

“I heard e scouting team was sent there already” replied the other twin

“Let’s hope we’re the closest to it.” stated Isaak “If the water crisis is worldwide there’s no doubt any nearby town would also check any close-by water sources and if they capture it for themselves before we do it could get dicey…”

“Yeah…”

“Well at the very least we got some hopes with your water-conversion plants!”

Artyom nodded then started walking away, blueprints in hand. As much as he enjoyed the chitchat it was time for him to get to work. The sooner he got his men to build the faster they could start refilling the water reserves.

Arty wasn’t the only one who needed to go back to work, so did Vadim. It wasn’t the same kind of work however. He gently nudged his taller friend.

“Let’s get home and start drafting those shawl designs shall we?”

Proposals and weddings were completely different in Anacree culture. When proposing there weren't any rings needed, they still did the kneeling thing like humans do but that was about the only thing they had in common. After popping the question there was no month or year-long waiting times until the officialization of the union. There weren't any big party celebrations either. Here things were simple: first one partner proposed, then after accepting the other partner was to design the shawl they and their future children would wear until they too get married.

There were many different styles of shawls but only 3 categories of union shawls. First there were the ones which were designed by mixing attributes from both partner’s shawl such as taking the color of one and the trim-cut of the second. Next there was the one who was brand new, taking no cue from the pre-wedding garments and displaying a completely different color and cut. Finally there were the ‘extensions’, in place of making a new shawl the submissive partner would simply start wearing the same shawl as the dominant’s family kind of like humans (and anacrees to an extent) do with last names. This last one was very common amongst nobles.

“What kind of designs were you thinking of?”

“Hmm I'm not sure… I know Lionel doesn't really care about keeping his shawl and while I love mine I feel like adding a touch of color would make him happy. So regardless of if I merge both designs or make something new, I’d go for something that has some bright trim like on his cloth. I do really like having gold bits on the ends though! It gives the shawl some nice weight to it…”

Vee took mental notes of it all. He already had some designs floating through his head but he pushed them aside at first. He was focusing, searching the back of his head. Had he any dreams that hadn’t happened yet where he saw Isaak with a different shawl? He thought. Had he already seen what he knew was the lovers destined union cloth? No. The only prediction that didn’t remember having taken place yet was one with Artyom sitting down on the lake shores, it taking place after the crisis was over no doubt.

___________

Chapter 3

The entire month it took to have these made were a decent distraction for the three people involved. They couldn’t completely ignore the drought however. All 5 friends were very concerned, each having their reasons. Kennedy’s crops were shriveling making his harvest pitiful and leaving him and his clients hungry, Lionel was constantly dealing with thieves and people driven mad from dehydration, Artyom was stressed from the responsibility of running the water conversion plant that didn’t produce nearly enough for everyone, Vadim slept more than usual in a poor attempt at triggering his precognitive dreams in order to find a solutions, and Isaak he just.. He felt the pressure of him needing to do something but compared to the other he felt like he wasn’t in the place to be feeling that way. 

He wasn’t a guard, people didn't rely on him for food or water, he couldn’t predict the future either so why did he feel so responsible somehow? Even after finally being officially promoted to elite Maji rank he wasn’t in any position to do anything. None of the elite Majis were from what he had been briefed. As far as they and The Highness were concerned they were just going to wait for the water to come down by itself once the god decided it was time. He didn’t like this idea at all.

Isaak sat at the window back in the elite's tower looking up at the sunset-red skies and watching the humongous watery orb above. It seems almost reachable from up there.

“You’ve missed another meeting” said Uriel, one of the other elites

“My presence wasn’t needed” replied Isaak “I bet all you did was talk about changing one of the tower room decorations again.”

“It was about changing the roof’s golden pole actually…” The pink haired man leaned on the window ledge. “There’s not much we can do about the water situation so for us life goes on. We just focus on whatever we would as if everything was normal.”

“So we just sit there while everyone else dies?!”

“I don’t like it either, you know.”

They stayed silent for a while, looking up at the life fluid hovering high up above.

“What’s the dark spot at the center of it?” asked the new elite.

“It’s a crystal I think… If I recall correctly Salazar confirmed it was a crystal when he looked at it with his spyglass.”

“We use crystal gems in our staves to focus our magic…”

“Yeah.”

“And we pull said magic out of our own crystalline chest pearl right?”

“Hmhmm. And the crystal up there is surely powered or using magic to keep the waters up all winter.”

“What if we broke it?”

“Uh?!”

“The crystal at the core. If we broke it there wouldn’t be any magic to keep the water up! We’d get our water back and we won’t keep dieing!”

“Isaak! Do you even hear yourself? Do you really want to defy God, break one of his gifts and go against his judgment?!”

“Do YOU have a better idea besides sitting on your ass and doing nothing?!”

“Alright.. Let’s entertain for a minute your idea of destroying the crystal. How are you gonna get up there? Because you nor any of us could cast a luminous projectile that would fly that far.”

Isaak remained quiet for a while, trying to think of something.

“Well… er…building with bricks and steel seems unfeasible… Too many resources needed… would take too long aswell…” He hadn’t thought that far.. He hadn’t really thought at all to be fair. The idea had hit in only a few seconds ago. “We could use Lumos to create a ladder or stairs..”

“So have a full team to go up there? Because you can’t have a group on the ground making the ladder since we can’t conjure magic that far and having only one person go on their own they will tire themselves and eventually be too weak to keep their cast solid.”

“Well I suppose yes…”

“What if one accidentally falls off and the entire focus is lost? Everyone would fall to their doom”

“Fine! I haven’t figured it out yet!” The trans man shouted “I still think it’s the best option!”

“It’s a foolish plan.” Uriel gently put a hand on Isaak’s shoulder. “You’re still young and new to the Maji. Trust me it’s not a good idea.”

The fresh Maji pushed away his senior. He wasn’t going to drop it, not yet. Unless he wasn’t able to come up with any method of going up he would keep this as his main plan. Without wasting any time he sat at his desk, completely ignoring Uriel who was still very much in his room. Isaak opened his notebook and started scribbling away.

He did his best putting down every potential method of getting up with Maji that he could think of. Stairs, ladders, ropes, trampolines of sorts. Each and every plan fell flat for the same reasons: they would all either consume way too much energy for a solo expedition or even if a team was used any loss of focus could unmaterialized the Lumos and get everyone killed. Only the greatest of the elite would be able to pull it off and there was no way they’d agree with this plan if Uriel’s reaction was anything to go by.

“Are you done?” said the unimpressed dark skinned elite who kept watching as Isaak struggled to come up with anything viable. “Are you willing to listen to reason?”

“I am NOT done!” snapped the newbie. “I still have plenty of ideas!”

Isaak stormed out. In truth he didn’t have much left in his head. He knew someone who might however: Artyom. His specialty was to build contraptions that could function without Maji after all. Surely he could come up with something. A sort of huge harpoon launcher that could attach a rope to the crystal that Isaak could climb? A catapult that could safely send him up? A precise canon that could swiftly dispose of the crystal perhaps?

He ran straight toward the water plants. He didn’t stop for a second even if his lungs were burning from the efforts. At the moment it didn’t really care about the dryness in his mouth, the sharp pain in his chest or the dizziness getting to his head. He had hopes.

“Arty! I need a favor from you!”

“U-uh? What?”

“I need you to make a machine that can get me up there! O-Or something that can shoot far enough to penetrate the waters and reach the crystal inside!”

“What?! What are you on about?” The orange-coded twin was completely taken aback and confused. It wasn’t like the guy to talk crazy like this. If anything, cookie plans was his field of expertise, not Isaak. “You want to go up there? To get the water down?”

The former scholar looked around for a moment. Both the artificer Artyom was talking to a minute ago and all the other workers in earshot were looking at him funny.

“I..ah… Let’s talk about it in private okay?”

“Okay?...”

The royal artificer led his friend to a less populated part of the plant.

“So you wanna get up there… What are you gonna do when you’re there? Politely ask the water to come down?”

“I'm gonna shatter the crystal” Isaak stated matter-of-factly

“WHAT?!”

“I'm gonna break it. It’s gonna break the spell that keeps the water up.”

“I-I. Wh.. We-I mean I guess it could work.. But how? Like? What do you want me to build to get you up there? How are you gonna break the crystal?”

“I don’t know how to get up there, that's why I'm asking you. Lumos Maji wouldn’t work as I’d get exhausted before I even reach a tenth of the distance so if Maji won’t work you’d work something out!”

“I'm..flattered you think I could come up with something…” Arty started walking around as he started racking his brain. “Hmmm..perhaps…”

The artificer walked away still in his thoughts, the Maji trailing him closely. Isaak could hear him mumbling as he went along, unable to grasp what was being said. Eventually they reached the twin’s house where Arty shot straight to his bedroom. There he reached for one of the shelves above his desk and brought down a small wooden boat.

“A boat? I'm trying to fly up… not… you know…” Isaak was quite confused.

“I made two of these for Vadim and I to play with. We’d spend entire afternoons on the lake shore to watch our little boats uncontrollably zip by. One day my boat hit a rock but rather than crashing and sinking, it got launched in the air and the sail catching the wind pushed it really far through the air. You know, the same way it can help the boat glide on water but up? Maybe we could do something like this?”

“It does sound a bit crazy…”

“Yeah and so far all my crazy ideas worked out so maybe~”

“I… If you think it can work, I'll put my faith in you.”

“For the take off I’d need a machine that can either catapult the boat or generate a big enough gust of wind.” the brunette said as he started to scribble down ideas. “Once up in the air a steady flow of air could keep you sailing and fall back slowly. The airflow could be maintained with a spinning fan operated with a rotating lever… But then the descent… I don't thin the wind and sail could keep the fall slow and gentle.. Not at this angle at least…” Artyom grabbed his small wooden boat, lifted it up and let it fall to the ground. He gave a small nod before picking it back up, tying up his pillowcase to it and dropping it one more time. This fell noticeably slower this time around. It was still a hard fall for the small toy but it was undeniably slower than before. “Yeah! A bigger horizontal sail could work… It would need to be tucked up or folded during the take off though, otherwise it could prevent the ship from taking off entirely.”

Isaak didn’t understand much of what the tinkerer was saying but it seemed like he had promising plans.

“So here’s what I have so far: we’d need a small boat as a base, anything too big could make the take-off harder but big enough to fit the team.”

“Team?” Isaak asked

“Well yeah, you’d need at least 2 people; one who’ll operate the fan and the other to work the sail… I mean I could potentially see how I could fit things in a way where you’d be able to work the lever with one hand and the sail with the other but then I wouldn’t have any space to put the folded up second sail for the descent.” Artyom scratched his chin. “Come to think of it, depending on how big of a sail it would need to be, I might not have enough space either way… That would need to be tested further first…”

“Yeah and even if I could operate both at once, I would need at least one free hand to cast any spell to get right of the crystal…”

“Oh yeah! That too!”

“A two-man team is inevitable…”

“I mean, would Lionel let you go up there on your own anyway?”

“Ahah! No! No, he wouldn’t!” Isaak paused, realizing he had thought about so many parts of his plan but had yet to even consult with his husband about it. “I’ll talk to him.”

“Take your time with it cause I got a lot to work on if we want this to work.”

Isaak nodded before making his exit. Would Lionel agree to his plan? If he did would he even have the time between his guard duties? If his husband didn't have the time, who would he turn to to be his co-pilot? Arty was still needed at the plant, Vadim would never do anything this dangerous and Kennedy… Maybe Kennedy would agree.

The Maji made his way to the marketplace as it was where Lio was posted most of the time. The market was a shell off itself. Evening was approaching but it should still be active for an hour or two before Lionel would probably patrol around town.Thankfully he arrived on time. He took a good look at the few stands still up around him. The fruits and vegetables were pitifully small compared to previous harvest, the fish booths that would usually pop up this season were nowhere in sight and while the meat stand seemed to still have decent produce it was only a matter of time until all the livestocks that were fattened up during winter would run out.

Isaak stopped in front of a stand for a moment, it was a tea stand. Tea merchants were the only one to still prosper in these times as people would use the dried leaves to flavor the muddy-tasting waters some people were able to dig out of the soil since the desalted water was distributed in such small rations.

“Isaak?” called a familiar voice behind him

“Uh?!” he turned around, now facing his lover.

“What are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be at the tower?”

“Oh, yeah. I was looking for you actually!” the trans man replied, nodding his head to the side to motion Lionel to move away so they could talk in private.

“What’s the matter?”

“I.. Arty and I have started on a plan to get the water back but I’d need your help.”

“Sure?” the tan man was a bit apprehensive. “What do you need me to do?”

“Arty is building a ship to get us up. I’d need you to fly it with me. I can’t operate it on my own.”

“F-Fly?”

“I know it’s a bit of a wild plan but.. I know it’s gonna work!... It has to…”

“Wh… Okay. Have you tested the ship already or…”

“Artyom is still building the schematics for it actually.”

Lionel thought about it for a moment. Flying up sounded crazy, even more so considering they hadn’t even tested whatever machine they wanted to use. He looked up at their end goal.

“What did Vadim say about all this?” he asked.

“Uh? I.. I haven’t talked to him today” Isaak’s confusion didn’t last long. “He didn’t get any visions about it. Not yet as far as I know… If he gets a vision where it ends badly of course I won't go through with it.”

“Hmm..”

“Besides, we can’t really get a prediction any time soon, I think. He said he gets like 3 a year and he already had one last month. The two he has left probably won't happen for a while…”

“Not necessarily.. Even if he used to have visions at regular intervals his last vision was clearly a break in his usually precognitive habits with it being a short term prediction.”

“True…”

He sighed heavily and made his way to the kitchen. On his way he walked by this twin’s room, he seemed hard at work. He hesitated between continuing his route downstairs or inspecting what his brother was doing. Before he could make a decision Artyom noticed him.

“Hey sleepyhead. How is the dream thing going?”

“Still nothing worthwhile… Looks like you got something going?”

“I.. Isaak asked me to build him a fucking flying machine…”

“You sound both excited and terrified at the idea.”

“Fuck yeah I am! On one hand IT’S A FREAKING COOL IDEA! But on the other hand it’s like… He could crash and die, you know?! BUT IT’S STILL A FREAKING COOL IDEA SO IMMA DO IT!”

It was often like this with Artyom, excitement made almost any danger seem trivial in the heat of the moment. Surely later when he’d be testing things on the field he’d be much more cautious. Sure he liked risky fun but not to the point of putting his friends life on the line.

The artificer spent quite a long time explaining in detail what he and Isaak were planning. Vadim soaked it all up. He prepared himself mentally for his upcoming clean-up of Arty’s blueprints. He knew he technically wouldn’t need to since his brother only asked for clean-ups when someone else would need to follow the drawn instructions. Vee didn’t really care if this was going to be a solo build-job for Arty, he really wanted to draw those prints. He wanted to feel useful in these times of crisis. If he couldn’t bring any predictions, this was the only good thing he could provide.

___________

Chapter 4

   It didn’t take long for word about Isaak’s skyward expedition to spread around and reach the rest of the elite team. Even if words hadn’t spread they would have been found out now that testing would start. Artyom had spent weeks on this vessel and was ready to see it fly.

For now, the elites only watched from a distance but at the first sign of promising success they knew they might need to intervene. They couldn’t let Isaak go up and defy the natural course of nature, they could certainly watch the fool crash and set the example for people not to follow in his footsteps.

Arty had set everything outside of the city walls. The entire group of friend was here: The artificer was checking all of his machinery, Isaak was composing himself the best he could to fight off his nervousness, Lionel was already seated in the boat ready to face it all, Vadim stood aside his eyes closed as if he was trying to conjure any last minute vision even Kennedy was here. He had pretty much given up on his crops at this point and had nothing better to do than watch his friend put all their effort into this outlandish plan of theirs. 

The boat-like sky-machine was propped up onto a large wooden structure that had some semblance of a giant crossbow tilted upwards. Artyom was going on about the procedure.

“One last time. First I will pull the lever, it will release the cord and will launch you guys up. Once you reach the apex of the curve: Isaak, deploy the main sail and Lionel, start cranking the fan. At any sign of drop or instability deploy the parachute sail. Do not hesitate! It’s better to deploy early and be safe than too late and dead!”

“Don’t worry. We will follow your protocol.” reassured Isaak

“Just making sure. I won’t be able to remind you once you’re up in the air!”

“What’s your pronostic” asked Kennedy to Vadim

“I don't have any” the shorter man whispered back

“I don’t mean in terms of dream predictions. Just in general what do you think is gonna happen?

“I.. I don’t know…”

“Personally I think it will fly… Probably not upward enough for a first flight but it does look promising!”

Vadim stared at his companions fully getting ready to fly. Surely if it were to end in a death he’d have gotten a vision for it, right? They’d be fine regardless of whether it was going to work or not, right? If anything fatal were to happen and he didn’t warn them it would be his fault wouldn’t it?

“Just don’t sweat it with the visions, okay?” said the red head. “If you ask me; the more you focus on it the less likely you are to get one.”

“Uh?”

“Yeah! It’s like when I lose something. When I look for it I never find it but when I stop looking I suddenly find what I was looking for! Maybe your visions are the same. Just try to not think about it.”

“Are you two ready to see history getting written?” shouted Artyom from atop his contraction, lever in hand. “It’s time to take off. I hope you’re watching!”

Kenny and Vadim’s eyes locked onto the boat-thing. There was no turning back now, it was time. Vee looked at both Lionel and Isaak’s faces. Lionel seemed a bit apprehensive yet still very calm and focused. Isaak however… He didn't look sad or scared. He seemed determined, angry even. Rage and passion flowed through him. There wasn’t anyone else more invested in seeing this work, not even Artyom.

“On the count of 3!” Arty declared. Tension rising.

“One”

The artificer held the lever tight with both his hands. Sweat drops forming on his twin brother’s forehead.

“Two”

The two husbands firmly gripped their respective controls, ready to pilot the vessel around. Kennedy held his breath.

“Three!”

The moment Artyom pulled on the mechanism, Vadim closed his eyes. He wasn’t ready to see this. He didn’t want the disaster that could unfold to be forever etched in his brain. He couldn’t live with himself with their faces haunting him. Kennedy and Artyom didn’t notice Vee wasn’t watching, they were too busy following the flying machine with their eyes. It didn't launch far up but it was flying!

They were soaring. They were a bit shaken up by the force of the launch but they were still set on their objective. Isaak opened up the sail and held it’s bar firmly, Lionel getting at his own task on the same beat. With the current angle their best way of gaining altitude would be to gently ascend in a spiral.

“How are things on your end Lio?”

“All good!”

“Great! This might be a slow climb. Let me know if you get too tired to keep the fan spinning.”

“I can manage. I was able to keep my arms up without resting for a full 6 minutes! This is nothing in comparison.”

Lionel’s strength was his pride. With his pearl cracked he couldn’t use any Maji, not even the very small Lumos spell any commoner could master. With the gem-like material their skeleton and pearl was made of, it was very difficult for Anacree to break a bone. The center pearl was where it was the densest making it even harder to crack. Somehow Lio managed to get his damaged. He didn’t remember when nor how. As far as he knew it was always like this.

The strong man put all his heart into getting that fan spinning and his lover did his best steering the ship upward. They wanted to reach the top but deep down they knew they wouldn’t make it on the first try. Right now it was a matter of seeing how high they could go.

After almost fifteen minutes it felt like they were so high up already, but looking at the water bubble above it was clear they were nowhere near high enough. They didn’t even make it half way there.

“I think we’re starting to lose altitude” Said Lionel

“Already?!”

“It’s kinda hard to judge right now but if we’re not already tipping, we’re about to.”

“Alright, let’s give it a couple more minutes before we initiate the descent.”

“Got it!”

It didn’t take long for them to have confirmation that they were indeed starting to fall. Without wasting any time Isaak folded back the mainsail and Lionel took out the large cloth that would serve as a parachute.

As the huge draping unfolded, part of it wrapped around the center pole of the boat. If it remained tangled it could get the men into serious trouble. Their descent was getting increasingly faster. Panic started to set in as the two started to wrestle with the fabric. They pulled and tugged but they didn’t seem to get anywhere.The tangled sail slapped them with the wind making it even hard for them to focus or do anything. 

“We need to get it off!” cried the younger one.

Both of them were terrified. All their efforts proving unsuccessful, Lionel let his instinct kick in.

“Get down!” He ordered

Isaak obeyed without asking any question. Now that his husband was out of the way, Lio started ramming into the pole with his shoulder. After only three blows the wooden mast splintered away. With the force of the wind, the fabric’s hectic flapping, gravity and momentum of Lionel’s blow, the pole flew up in the air and the sail finally got to open up properly.

The fall wasn’t over however. The delayed sail opening would probably mean they wouldn’t have as much time to slow down enough before impact but it seemed that the pole ripped a small but noticeable hole in the fabric, further impacting the speed of their descent.

Down on the ground Artyom and Kennedy were getting worried. Vadim was completely drowning out the outside world at this point. He hadn’t opened his eyes since the launch, even after Kenny shook him in celebration when he watched the boat glide through the air.

He didn’t move either when his brother called for him to help when the ship crashed nor when Kennedy ordered him to help. Vee was completely disconnected from his surrounding, hiding deep down in his mind bubble to shield himself from the real world and it’s harsh consequences.

Luckily the two pilot didn’t die in the fall. They were badly bruised and a bit concussed but thanks to their stone-like bones paired with the parachute who had still considerably slowed down their fall, they were okay. It took their voice to confirm they were okay and back on the ground safely for Vadim to finally open his eyes again. He was still shaken and speechless, just as much as the two who had just had the biggest fall of their lives.

“Not too bad for a first flight!” Isaak joked, his pain clearly audible in every one of his words.

“Could have gone better” replied Artyom.

“How long will it take you to fix it?” the blue haired man asked, taking pretty much everyone by surprise.

“You already wanna fly again?!” Yelled Kennedy, Lionel slouched on him for support.

“I'm sure Lio and I will have enough time to heal while arty works.”

“Well I can’t just repair it. I’d need to redesign it first.” said the artificer “It’s clear the main pole can cause issue during the parachute deployment…”

“Maybe… Maybe you could put the parachute in a box on top of the poll” Suggested Lionel. “And the top could be opened by pull a rope from below where I’d be sitting?”

“Hmmm… Perhaps… But it might mess up with air flow and aerodynamics… Ill look into it.”

Vadim hated Isaak’s determination right now. He didn’t like how he could be so ready to throw himself into danger like this even if it was to save people. Wasn’t Isaak upset when the Maji considered using him as a test subject by throwing into equally dangerous situations?

 Vee hated this, he hated that they were making good progress, that that would continue, that they would probably reach higher and higher next time, that every tries the chance that they could die with increase along the height… That he couldn’t do anything about any of this. He couldn’t help them nor could he stop them. All he could do was watch and hope they’d survive.

This feeling wouldn’t go away for a long time. As month went by, Lionel and Isaak multiplied the flights. No matter how many time they crashed,got bruised or broke a bone, they got back up and flew again. At that point, Vadim wasn’t the only one with negative feelings about the airship project.

The elite Maji already knew about the entire plan since day one thanks to Uriel, but steady progress of the fliers made it clear it was something serious. Not only was Isaak acting in total defiance of the God by trying to destroy the crystal and force the water back down, but he was dragging with him a good part of the population. The crowds were dying, water supplies kept dwindling as other town started giving less and less of their salt waters instead keeping it for their own conversion, there was little to no fauna left to hunt for meat and crops were suffering from the drought just like everything else. To many, Isaak was their last hope. The Highness wasn’t going to let this slide, an intervention was needed.

Right before their latest flight, the group was greeted by Valliard. Valliard was a tall and strong man just like Lionel and Kennedy. Unlike them however, he was well versed with Maji. He was one of the top 5 elites. Isaak had seen him many times in the meeting but had never heard him spoke before.

“The Highness is displeased with your actions Mr.Lockheart.” his deep voice boomed. “Not just you but also the Alexeev twins.”

“Well I'm displeased with The Highness’s lack of actions! We need water!” shouted Isaak “I'm getting it!”

“This is your first warning. You can try one last time but be assured. If you do damage the crystal or continue to try flying both you and Artyom will lose your ranks. You might be exiled even”.

“Fuck you!” barked Isaak. He was having none of it. “I'm doing what’s necessary! Can’t you fucking see it?!”

“You’re not. You’re rebelling against our guardian.”

“Our guardian is letting his people die in mass all across the lands! And for what? Punish us? What have we done to upset him so bad?”

“Maybe You are the problem! You’re just a massive disappointment!” Valliard declared, shooting daggers at Isaak with his eyes. “We all though you’d grow to become a great Maji like your grandfather Ignacio, but we were wrong… You’re no better than the cracked pearl you married.”

The launcher was prime. Artyom was on post, lever in hand. Isaak jumped in, ready to go. Lionel was still on the ground however, preventing them from taking off.

“Come on, Lio. Let’s show him we’re worth more than his snobby magic tricks” encouraged Isaak.

Lionel couldn’t hide his pain. Yes his pearl was cracked, but he was still a good man, he already showed he was a productive member of society. Many time he was praised for being a great guard in the market place even without using any Lumos to apprehend thieves.

“I can’t do this without you Lio…”

He was right. Isaak couldn’t do it without him. He needed him, the people needed them. The only reason their friend group made it semi-comfortably this far was because Isaak and Artyom’s ranks as Elite Maji and Royal Artificer got them access to a bit more water than the rest that they would share with the friend group.

With their rank on the edge of being striped and they water supplies cut, it might make it harder to rest, heal and fly in the future. He needed to get in there and pilot this ship straight to the top.

“Yeah” he said before taking a deep breath then climbing aboard. “I'm ready”

With everyone at their post, they lifted off. Just like every previous time the initial launch was flawless. Sure they would be shaken a bit or lose their balance but it was nothing they couldn’t easily recover from. This rather short period of time was the easiest and most peaceful.

Isaak looked down bellow as they progressed upward, after so many flights and rough falls he no longer feared heights or experienced vertigo. They could see it all from up there: the empty lake, the streets only populated by corpses people were too tired to move, the palace and tower where the nobles hid and hoarded most of the waters, Artyom’s water-treatment plant that could no longer keep up. It was all sad.

“Reaching the apex in 5!”  stated Lionel

“Alright! Ready to sail!”

By now they were used to the routine. It didn’t matter how much the ship had changed after all the crashes, all the redesigns to make things smoother. On paper it was still the same steps: they launched, they opened the sail once they started losing altitude, they’d power the fan who’d push then higher and then after they got as high as they could -goal reached or not- they open the parachute and make their descent.

“It’s the highest the launcher got us yet!” said Isaak

“Yeah! I think we got almost as high as our first flight after using the fan.”

Now was the hardest part. Isaak needed to keep the boat in line and carefully pilot it upwards while Lionel would have to work his arms off to keep the fan spinning to keep their wind-push steady. Thankfully, Lionel’s task had been made easier. With a few extra gears and loop Lionel’s lever-cracking was made more efficient as it seemed to more or less multiply the amount of spin the fans would do for one of Lio’s input. It was like for one crank the fan would spin like 5 times as opposed to the 1 to 1 they started with.

The two pushed forward. They kept going higher and higher, following a spiral pattern. Ascending like this was a bit slow but so far they hadn't found a better way to do so. It was working so it’s all that mattered for now. Looking up, the water bubble kept getting closer. Give or take 50 minutes they should be able to reach it.

“Do you think You could do both the cranking and steering at once?” Asked Isaak “I might need both my hands to properly aim at the thing once we get close.”

“Yeah don’t worry about that.”

The boat creaked and groaned the further they got up. It sure had been through a lot so far. Most of its plank had been replaced at least once, most of the cracks have been filled with paste or covered with metal plates. For the most part it looked a lot like the initial boat safe from the mast that had been moved a tiny bit further back and the secondary sail on the side of it opposing the main one. By having it on the side of the pole it prevented it from getting tangled up on it once released.

“How close do we need to be for you to shoot? I doubt we were planning on getting anywhere inside the water bubble, were we?”

“I’ll let you know when it’s time.”

They were close indeed, but not close enough, not yet. Isaak’s heart was beating faster than the fan was spinning. Just a few more minute.

“How are we doing regarding height?” He asked “Still going up?”

“Yep! Still going strong” replied Lionel. Gone was the pain he had in his voice when he was still on the ground in front of Valliard. “Seems like we aren't gonna plateau or descend for a good while!”

These minutes felt like slow motion for Isaak. They were so close! How long had they been going up at this point? Almost two hours logically, but it felt like twice that. Couldn’t they make it up already? Finally get this drought over with?!

If he could, Isaak would have been pacing back and forth in a poor attempt to manage his impatience. However he had a sail to operate, he couldn’t slack and risk messing things up when they were about to reach their goal. Despite the frustration and his eagerness to go faster, he remained focused on his task.

Isaak grabbed his staff with his right hand, the left still tight on the sail handle. He pointed it up toward his target, closing his left eye to aim. He didn’t need to close his left eye to focus his sight better since he was already blind from that eye for a few years now, but it was a force of habit.

“Hold on! Let me get the sail.” Lionel said bending forward.

“No need yet. I'm just calculating stuff.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah… I give it at least three more loops.”

By that point, the circle they were making to go up were getting tighter and tighter. Tight enough to ascend as fast as possible while not making the turns to hard to maneuver.

Lionel looked at Isaak as he did his calculations. He’d married a smart man, very bright and resourceful. He didn’t agree with the big elite’s words. Isaak wasn’t a disappointment. Sure he might have not been as powerful as the great Igniacio Lockheart  but he was still a great Maji.

He though back to the many things he heard both Isaak and Artyom say, elite Maji were snobs. They didn’t value people for what they were, only for what they could do that would benefit them. Isaak was worthless to them because he didn’t fall inline with their view of what should and shouldn’t be done to please the god. Artyom was below them because he refused to build machines that would complement their magic. Him, well he was pretty much nothing since he couldn’t cast any spells at all.

“Lionel! It’s time!”

Isaak’s command pulled him out of his thoughts. Without hesitating nor wasting time Lionel reached forward, firmly grasping the sail handle.

“I got it! Fire whenever!”

Isaak aimed straight for it. Lionel did his best to keep the ship steady while his husband charged his bolt. Light beams swirled around them, merging at the tip of Isaak’s staff. Once the ball of light was large enough, he fired.

The lumos bullet whizzed through the air, Isaak getting pushed backward from the recoil. Both men followed the projectile with their eyes. It pierced the water forming an ever growing whirlpool around itself.

The watched on the edge of their seat. The bullet was barely distinguishable at this point. They could see it’s glow but the refraction of the water made it seem like there were many flying in completely different directions.

They felt their ship starting to lose altitude but didn’t move quite yet. They watched a little longer. And a bit more. Now they had completely lost sight of the bullet.

“I missed it.” whispered Isaak

The projectile indeed didn’t connect. Either that or it did without damaging the core. It was better to think it missed because it meant they could try again, shattering it to pieces this time around.

“F-fire again then!”

Isaak aimed his staff up again. Lights swirling around them once more. Then nothing. It just poofed. No bullet, no fanfare, just a whole lot of nothing.

“I can’t! I used all the energy I had! I can’t!” the trans man cried. “I wasted our chance…”

Lionel pulled his husband close to him with his right arm and held him tight to comfort him, pulling the cord of the parachute with his left. They’d try again. At least he hoped they could. With how close they came to success, he worried the elites might take away everything. Right now he had plenty or time to think about what to do next. The descent was going to take a while.

___________

Chapter 5

 It took a full week for Isaak to recover enough energy to make a new attempt. He spent the whole time locked in his house away from the elites and everything else. Lionel filled him in with how the other were holding up everyday, he also took care of him and stayed by his side as much as possible.

From what he had heard, The highness did not officially removed his and Arty’s rank. The ship and launcher hadn’t been confiscated either. There was a rumor that the elites couldn’t enforce their threats because of the masses. The Maji feared a potential uprising and felt like they had no choice but let them fly as to not upset the crowds.

“How are you feeling today” Asked Lionel, gently caressing Isaak’s cheek. “I think we should go out together today, the fresh air would do you some good.”

“We should fly today. I’ve rested enough.”

“Hmm.. I don’t know if Artyom’s available today… They’ve been overworking him a lot lately. I guess it’s their way of preventing us from progressing…”

“The boat is in working conditions is it not? I'm sure Kennedy or Vadim can take Arty’s place. All he does is pulling a lever.”

“Ah… about Vadim…” Lionel hesitated for a moment. “He... He still hasn’t woken up.”

“Uh?”

“Y-yeah.. It’s been two days… He’s still alive and breathing! He’s just.. Asleep…”

“Do you think a vision is holding him back in somehow?”

“I don’t know.. Maybe? Or maybe he’s forcing himself to remain asleep until he gets one…”

“We need to put an end to this. The drought is messing with everyone and he’s the one who probably have been hit the hardest aside from the ones who already died.”

Lionel nodded. He didn’t like how long this water crisis was lasting either. Each day he spent ‘wasting time’ was torture to him. Last time they almost had it, they just needed one more try and they’d make it, he was sure of it. He though about how hard it must have been for Isaak. Missing his shot must have weight on him, so did having to wait until he had charged back up.

“Before we fly... Can I go check on Vadim in person? I doubt Ill wake him up but.. I feel like talking to him wouldn’t be a terrible idea. It’s been a short while since I’ve seen him, you know? It kinda feel like it’s been an eternity…”

“Of course. I'm sure Andrei will appreciate you visiting his brother.”

“He’s not mad at us is he?”

“No. He’s upset about Vadim’s seemingly endless sleep and Artyom being treated as a work-mule, but he got nothing against us.”

“That’s… That’s good.”

“He’s been helping a lot actually! Since Arty is so busy these day, Andrei’s been the one to keep an eye on our equipment.”

“Maybe he could be the one assisting us at launch then?”

“I’d prefer not to.”

“Why not?” Isaak was a bit confused. Lionel had just said Andrei was willing to help so why the hold up?

“If we do get any negative consequences for this any time soon, I’d rather not involve him. He could have a good life with Michael once everything is back to normal. Keeping an eye on our stuff while Arty is away isn’t putting any attention on him so let’s keep it that way.”

“Fair enough.”

The trans man finally got out of bed and starting dressing up. It made him feel a bit better. After spending an entire week inside almost neglecting himself, it was a nice change to actually make himself presentable.

They walked slowly to the Alexeev house. Even if Isaak had fully recovered his casting energy, he was still quite drained emotionally without even taking into account the thirst and hunger brought down from the drought. At least they had it fairly good, Isaak though. Everyone else had it way worse without their privileges.

After a long walk through the empty streets of their hometown the couple eventually reached their destination. The twins -and their older brother’s- residence. This house had seen quite a lot. Artyom had cracked and blew hole quite a few times in the past with his experimental machines. Lionel knocked on the door. By now it had probably been replaced at least 7 times. He vividly remembered that one time Andrei had to kick down the door in a panic after Arty had set something on fire when they were teens.

“Oh. It’s you.” said the eldest Alexeev who opened the door. “Isaak is here too. Good to see you’re still holding up okay.”

“I wanted to check on Vee before we go fly again today.” weakly stated Isaak.

“I have great hopes that we’re going to make it this time” cheerfully added Lionel.

“I hope you do.” the scar-faced guy motioned them inside. “We all do. Even the elites… They may be mad and truly believe breaking the crystal could piss off whoever created said crystals… but they want the water back just as much as everyone else.”

“H-hey… I hope you’re doing okay in there…” Talking to an unconscious friend was much more hard on him than he expected. “I'm.. I'm sorry. I'm both sorry because it all suck and I don’t like seeing you like this and I'm also sorry if any of this is my fault… I know I didn’t cause the drought, I didn’t cause those visions or anything.. But I do feel like my plans to recover the water did stress you out. I know you were terrified we might die the first time we launched. Arty told me you desperately wanted to get vision to stop us from flying if you foresaw things to go wrong and I'm deeply sorry about all this. I never wanted you too feel like you needed to push yourself and your ability to assist us… Maybe I should have said something about it sooner… I mean I did, I think? I probably wasn’t clear enough or worded myself properly to sooth you but… I was just... I was focused on making the plan work, you know?” 

The two taller guys watched silently as Isaak spoke softly. Isaak really did focus too much on the airship mission. Not matter how many time the wooden plants splintered and cut him deep, how covered in bruises he got, how many bones he occasionally broke in the falls. He just got back up and tried flying again the next day.

“Let’s go get Kennedy” said Isaak “Let’s get this over with…”

“You’re not taking Artyom with you this time?” asked the eldest. “I'm sure he’d hate to miss a flight, especially the one that succeed…”

“I totally get that but I really don’t want to waste any time. They barely give him any free time these days, do they?”

“Right…”

“I still have my pocket mirror. Ill be sure to call him so he can watch us from wherever they put him.”

“Alright…Fly safely.”

“Eh. A couple bruises never kept us down for long.” Isaak laughed..he hadn’t done that in ages, he felt.

It warned Lionel’s heart to see his husband smile even if it was half faked. Hopefully he’d be able to see him genuinely smile like he used to very soon.

The two made their way out after waving goodbye. They needed to find Kenny but honestly had no clue where he might be. He wasn’t at his and Lionel’s apartment this morning and probably wouldn’t be at the farm considering how bad it had been these days.

“So… Where are we heading, Lio?”

“Well Kenny told me he’s been spending most of his week checking on people around our place, see if they needed help and all that…”

“So?”

“So we’re gonna go back to my street and scream his name until we find him. Unless you got a better idea.”

“I haven’t seen him in a week! How do you want me to know where he is?”

“Then screaming it is!”

“Urh!” Isaak crossed his arms. “Why cant they give everyone pocket mirrors? It would be so much better! We would be able to talk to anyone at any time of the day no matter where they are!”

“Yeah, that would be nice.”

Isaak didn’t really like the idea of yelling to find Kennedy. Their throats were already dry enough from the lack of water, they didn’t need to make it worse. Going door to door would have probably been smarter but it was undeniable that screaming was much faster. It only took them five minutes to get the red head’s attention.

“What is it? Are you guys okay?!” Said Kenny, panicked. It’s like he expected them to be dying or something.

“We need an extra pair of hands to get the boat flying.” said Lionel

“Oh! I take Arty is still under the elite’s tight grip?”

“Yeah pretty much… I’ll still try to call him once we’re on site so he isn’t completely left out.”

“Okay, Alright. Are we doing this right now or..”

“Yeah.”

“We could wait a little if you’re in the middle of helping someone” contradicted Lio. “We don’t want to force you to bail on anyone.”

“Nah, nah! I'm cool doing it now. There’s no issue on that! Lead the way!”

With Kenny now there, the party was now ready to take off.

The walk to the launchpad was much faster than the one they took to the twins house. Not because it was closer but because Isaak was much more in a rush and the emotional drain weighted less on him despite being still there.

When they arrived there they noticed a few people standing around the machinery. At first they were fearful these were elites or people sent by the elites to sabotage them, but on closer inspection and some conversation it was revealed these were supporting townsfolk. 

Andrei did keep an eye on the equipment in the evening and at night, but during the day this group stayed put. They truly had the whole town supporting them in their endeavor. One of them even said he wanted to fly why Isaak was still resting but had no choice but back down when it was brought up to him that a skilled Maji needed to be on board to shoot down the crystal.

Before any flight could take place, loading the launcher was in order. The boat was already on the machine but the elastic cord that made the launch possible wasn’t pulled back yet. Lionel grabbed the wooden wheel-crank on the back side of the machinery. The more he spun it, the tenser the cord got.

“Are we ready to go?” Asked Kennedy from the top of the wooden platform.

“About to be! Ill give it another spin or two for good measure.” replied Lionel

“Is there anything I nee to do beside pulling the lever? Like, I don’t know… shout commands or something?”

“No. Even if you did, we wouldn’t hear you from so far up. After lift off, Lionel and I will pretty much be on our own but there’s nothing to worry about.”

“We’ve perfected our routine at this point.”

“Figures… To be honest I don't even know why I expected to do more. All the other time you guys went up, Arty just stood still just like I did and just watched…”

“Aw c’mon!” Lio patted his roommate on the back. “Your part is still key to the whole thing! We need all three of us to make it work! You launch us, I provide the airflow for the boat to get to the top and Isaak take down the core!”

“Pff! How much do you want to bet once you two get back down with the water, they will only praise you!”

As the trio joked about who would get the most accolades and who deserved them best, they were interrupted by a familiar face approaching them. It was Uriel. He strutted along as if everything was fine and dandy.

“Lionel, Let’s get in and go. Now” Isaak ordered. The mood had shifted.

“I'm not here to stop you, lecture you or in any way bother you.” Said the black man. “I'm here to wish you luck. As much as I disagree with your action, if this get us out of the hell we’re trapped in then so be it. Fly on.”

“Hand us your staff then!” said one of the townsmen who had been protecting the catapult.

“Yeah give it to us until they are back! That way we’re sure you won’t shoot them down with Maji!”

“There will be no need. Ill be taking my leave shortly. I was just passing by to pass the good word, that’s all.”

Isaak had absolutely no care for Uriel and whatever he had to say. While his superior was busy bickering with the townies, the rebellious Maji jumped aboard the ship. His husband followed suit.

“Kenny!” Isaak called, snapping The beefy guy out of his daydreaming. “On deck! Get ready!”

“Oh! Yeah! Sorry, I was uh… Whatever they can take care of the guy anyway!” Kennedy shook his head. “Alright boys hold on tight! One flying boat coming right up!”

The ascend had nothing new nor exiting to offer him. At this point it was just an unskippable timewaster. He just wanted to be upther, take the darn thing down and save the people.

The fire that burned in him was too strong for him to be antsy or nervous the whole way up. No. He was still as a statue. His hand gripping the sail so firmly his knuckles turned white.  He was gonna shoot it, destroy it. He was gonna blow it to pieces. If he missed one more time, he’d never forgive himself.

Lionel could feel how tense and passionate Isaak was. He didn’t say a word. Not even when they reached the apex, his husband deployed the sail on his own. They both knew to perfection how and when every tasks needed to be perform, no communication needed. Isaak didn’t need to tell Lionel to scoot over and handle both handles either.

He took a deep breath and held his staff against his chest for a brief moment. Aim. Focus. Don’t miss. He raised his golden cane upward, pointing it at the target. Aim. Focus. Don’t miss. He charged his lumos beam, the bullet growing before his eyes. Aim. Focus. Don’t miss. All he needed was to shoot. Don’t Fucking Miss.

As Isaak released his spell, a loud crackle was heard and he was pushed back hard. Lionel momentarily let go of the fan handle to catch him. The were about to descend anyway so cranking it was no longer necessary.

Both of them looked up to see the conclusion to the fruit of their labor and effort. Just like last time they stood speechless as they watch the glowing projectile cut through the water, the ripple and refaction making it look like a multitude of them dispersed through out.

And then. 

BOOM.

The Crystalline core broke into pieces, releasing a shockwave through the air.They had done it. The Crystal was shattered and the water was raining down.

The water was raining down.

Now they just had to parachute back down like they had done many times before. Lionel went and pulled the cord. The cloth unfolded but didn’t deploy properly. The fabric was too soaked and heavy. They were quickly faced by the horror of the situation they were in.

With the torrential rain hammering down on them, the soaked sail was nearly unusable. It wasn’t going to slow their descent nearly enough. 

Unless they did something, they weren’t going to make it.

“I.. Maybe I can cast something!” Isaak said, holding Lionel’s hand tight. “I can try to male a parachute out of Lumos! It won’t be affected by the rain.”

“C-can you? Didn’t you use all of your energy already?”

“Just give me a moment to rest and focus. Trust me... Ill get us out of this!”

The held each others hand and pressed their forehead together, focusing in unisson. The heavy boat fell down much faster than them and since they were no longer holding onto it, they felt it leaving under their feet. Up in the middle of the sky they poured their heart and last bit of energy into this last spell.

“Let’s hope it works…”

___________

Myth and legends are plenty on Aquafirma. One tell the story of a man who brought back the world’s water out from the clutch of a greedy displeased god.

Everyone know this story is rooted in truths but these days you’d be hard pressed to hear what really unfolded. There are as many versions of it as there are stars in the sky. Some say the man flew on a winged whale, brought the water down using a Lumos nets then came back from the cloud to be crowned king. Other will tell you he built a ladder, fought the Salmalion himself and became a new god. There are also tales saying he used his Maji to launch himself up like a living missile, sacrificing his life to destroy the crystal.

To most, it mattered very little how he got the waters back. The water was here to stay and the land flourished. That was the most important thing of all.

#isaak lockheart #kennedy marsh #lionel lockheart #andrei alexeev-honda #artyom alexeev #michael ikkioi honda-alexeev #vadim alexeev #pyotr wojcik #shurik wojcik #ocs #Short story #AskIsaak AU #AskIsaak #Isaak &amp; Friends