#now it’s January and yep it hurts

[twilightmalachite]

Poltergeist - Prologue

Author: Akira

Characters: Madara, Natsume, Tsumugi, Sora

Translator: Mika Enstars

Proofer: Revoltrad

"Trying to solve your mistakes with monEY… That’s a scummy adult moVE…"

[Read on my blog for the best viewing experience with Oi~ssu ♪]

Season: Winter

Location: NewDi Office

ES’ first year of establishment, early January. The first work day following SS—NewDi Office…

Madara: Happy New Yeeeeeear ☆

I’m here to answer your call! Happy New Year! MaM’s Mikejima Madara is here! Time to welcome in the new year!

Hahaha! May you have a prosperous New Year! I wish for our up-and-coming idol agency, NewDi, to experience a bright future this year, too!

That is all! New Year’s greetings are over! I’ve done what I needed to do…☆

Natsume: WaIT, waIT. Were you a bomber aircraft in your past liFE? Can you not just come in shouting and yelling all over the place and then just walk away satisfiED?

Sora: Auauaua~? Auauaua~…?

Tsumugi: A-Are you alright, Sora-kun? Is it your eyes? Do your eyes hurt?

Sora: A-A huge color burst out when Sora let his guard down, so—

Madara: Ahh, that’s my bad. Sorry, sorry. Did you recognize my loud voice as color and feel it through your eyes, Sora-san? That’s pretty interesting!

Here, let Mama give you a New Year’s envelope as an apology for bein’ a bother! ♪

Sora: Yay~! ♪ With this New Year's money, now Sora can buy up all those games companies are shelling out for children for the new year!

Natsume: Trying to solve your mistakes with monEY… That’s a scummy adult moVE…

Madara: Wouldn’t it be more creepy to see a squeaky clean adult~? To live is to become dirty, no~?

Besides, since the conclusion of SS turned out to be a farce laughable enough to make tea boil in your gut[1], those of us idols who participated in the main competition were rewarded accordingly.

The massive amount of money that should’ve originally gone to a single unit has been distributed evenly.

Tsumugi: Yep. As a result, we’ve received more L$ than we know what to do with. NewDi has been struggling financially for a while now, so it’s a great help.

Natsume: As the experiment in SS nears completiON, the profits from SSVRS should be reaching our pockets shortly as weLL.

Madara: Mhm! But if I’m being honest, I don’t know what to do with all the money I’ve gotten!

I’ve attempted to give it out to show my thanks to the friends who came to help MaM out during SS…

Nearly each and every one of them snapped back at me, saying “It’s not like I came to help you for the money or anything!” in some old-fashioned tsundere style—I was completely pushed away!

So now I have way too much money left over. What should I do?

Sora: Does Mr. Giant not have any hobbies? Does he want Sora to recommend a game to him?

Natsume: It’s less that he doesn’t have any hobbies and more that he has his hands full touching grass in the real worLD, rigHT, Mikejima-senpai? You knOW, you’re a surprisingly empty persON.

Tsumugi: Is that surprising?

Madara: Quieeet! What’s up with you guys? The new year has just begun, and you’re toying around with my faults~?

If you’re looking for fun, can’t you just play Fukuwarai or Hagoita?[2]

Tsumugi: No need. Actually, Mikejima-kun, I have some news that should make you happy.

Madara: Yes? What could it be? I can’t recall anything, anything at all, but if you’re lecturing me for something that’s my fault again, then—

Natsume: Just why would you not remembER? Have you been rampaging on for so long you can no longer feel remorSE?

Madara: I’m a no-remorse, no-regrets kinda guy! Which is why I don’t like to be yelled at, because to me, I didn’t do aaaanything wrong!

Tsumugi: Hehe, so basically, Mikejima-kun, you just wanted to give us your greetings and head back before you could get a scolding, huh? You’re like a child who has misbehaved.

Natsume: Aptly pUT. You’re just like thAT, a chiLD, but with a massive boDY.

Madara: He~y, are you messing around with me for kicks again?

Natsume: Oh, not at aLL. RathER, it’s the opposiTE—ActualLY, our presideNT, who is still traveling overseAS, sends his congratulations to yOU.

Madara: Congratulations? Our president, who has a reputation for having too little presence in the company, is giving me what-now?

Natsume: Well you sEE… Thanks in part to SS, NewDi’s managemeNT, which has always been small and weak as an agenCY, just like a little peeping baby biRD, has begun to show signs of stabiliTY.

Thanks to your work in Double Face, obstacles behind the scenes have been eliminatED, tOO.

Developments continues on like sO, so operations are going strongly within the agenCY—

As presideNT, he wants to reward us for NewDi’s breakthrough as its affiliated uniTS… It’s sort of like thAT.

Madara: Is that true? So if we hadn’t been holding down the fort, this small and weak agency would have been crushed and eradicated long ago?

Tsumugi: Maybe so. But through this, we were able to survive.

It’s likely not a gift to us in the spirit of the New Year, but rather… As a way of recognizing our achievements thus far, the president has awarded us a bonus.

Madara: A bonus? More money? Right after I said that I don’t need any more of it?

Natsume: YeAH. That’s about how the rest of us reactED, tOO. The idols within our agency aren’t too obsessed with monEY.

Tsumugi: Ahaha~, which is exactly why we’re losing in this competitive capitalistic society! ♪

Sora: HaHa~♪ When Tsuka-chan in Knights heard he was going to get money, he said “Is this an insult!?” and got all angry for some reason~!

Madara: Hahaha, we’re quite the troublesome bunch, aren’t we? ♪

Natsume: You’re at the top of the liST, you know thAT?

StiLL, if we rejected the bonus like thAT, it’d make the director lose faCE. In other worDS… Seems even the president was a little uneasy about thAT, you sEE?

And so he started saying that it doesn’t have to be monEY, but he’ll grant us anythiNG, anything at aLL.

Tsumugi: He basically said, “Now, make a wish. I’ll make it come true, no matter what it may be.”

Madara: I don’t remember having collected the Dragon Balls.

Tsumugi: Well, anyhow, if you have any wishes, now's the time to tell me, essentially.

Natsume: The president boasted “any wish you waNT,” but this is a small and weak agency in the eND—So your wish can only be so bIG.

Tsumugi: But the president really seemed willing to do anything you’d like. So if there’s anything you have qualms with, please let me know, this might even be your chance to speak out about agency management policies.

Madara: Hmmm…?

Tsumugi: Well, by all means, take your time to think about it. Apart from that, Mikejima-kun, are you free right now?

Madara: Aren’t I always free, whether I like it or not?

Sora: Wanna come with us for Hatsumode[3], then? It was too busy to go during the New Year’s holiday, so Sora and the others were talking about going now~! ♪

Madara: Haha, everyone’s still feeling the New Year’s festivities, even though today’s supposed to be the first day back at work…♪

Madara: (…I wonder if that’s why I’m feeling festive too. I just came up with an “outlandish idea”~. ♪)

[ ☆ ]

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The Japanese saying heso ga cha o wakasu (lit. to boil tea within your navel) is used to describe something ridiculously laughable, comparing one's belly when laughing hard to a boiling tea kettle.

Two popular New Year's celebration games. Fukuwarai is a little similar to “pin the tail on the donkey”, but with players trying to correctly arrange facial features on a blank face while blindfolded. Hagoita, or Hanetsuki, is a racket and shuttlecock game, much like badminton but without a net.

Hatsumode is the first shrine visit of the year, as part of New Year's festivities. Typically done on the first couple of days of the new year. Traditionally, New Year's wishes are made and omamori (good luck charms) are bought. It's also popular to draw an omikuji to receive your fortune; hence the omikuji feature during Enstars' New Year's campaigns.

#poltergeist #event #mam #madara mikejima #tsumugi aoba #sora harukawa #natsume sakasaki #translation

[darksaiyangoku]

RWBY/Swords of Fate: Arc Kingdom

Chapter 1: The Beowolf Hunt

Fairy tales. Myths. Legends. Stories with ever evolving characters and events. Many share a common source and many diverge from their original tellings. No two versions of one story are ever exactly the same. This is one such a story. A young man desired to cherish and protect. He never imagined that he would be the one to pull the legendary sword from the stone. In this tale, you will witness the trials and tribulations that shaped him from a simple huntsmen to the King of Vale. So begins the path to a new era of Remnant; the Arc Kingdom.

5th January, 734 AC

Jaune: *swinging his sword* Ha! Yah! Fwooo!!!

Rogue: Gh! *chops firewood* Gah!

Saphron: Verte! Have you seen where Noir and Blanc have gone?

Verte: They're in the kitchen. They're gonna be the ones cooking dinner tonight.

Rouge: *eyes gleaming* Is it lamb stew again?

Verte: *smiles* Yep!

Saphron: Alright! Come inside, Jaune!

Jaune: You three go on ahead. Let me finish practicing out here.

Saphron: Oh come on! All you ever do is practice. A little break isn't going to kill you.

Rouge: If he wants to freeze to death, let him. More stew for us.

Verte: And I get his room!

Jaune: Wha- hey! Get back here! *runs inside*

An hour had passed and Noir and Blanc carried the pot over to the table. A large puff of steam escaped as soon as the two of them took off the lid. Everyone's eyes sparkled with hunger. The mouthwatering meat, crunchy carrots, hearty leaks and fluffy potatoes were swimming in a sea of delicious stew. They wasted no time in digging into the meal.

Jaune: Mmmmm!!! Guys, this is incredible!

Noir/Blanc: Thanks! *beams*

Rouge: So Jaune, tomorrow you'll be returning to Beacon. Have you packed everything you needed to.

Jaune: Mmhmm. My weapons, spare clothes, Dust and all of my books. I'm all set.

Rouge: Good to hear. *smiles and headpats him*

Jaune: Rouge, come on! I'm not a kid anymore.

Noir: Awwww, big brother's blushing!

Blanc: He likes it!

Jaune: Ack! I do not! *blushes* Hmph.

Two hours had passed and Rogue, Saphron and Verte were getting ready for bed. Jaune, meanwhile, popped outside. Near the house was a small gravestone. He knelt to it and clasped his hands together.

Jaune: I'll be heading to Beacon again soon, master. *chuckles* I can't believe that it's already been 4 months. You should've seen me in the Initiation, I was terrible. *laughs* But somehow, I managed to impress the headmaster and now I have a team of my own. We're called JNPR, like the berries. *touches the ground* I've written to Shirou as well, and I've made sure he's okay. He's taken up a part time appretinceship as a blacksmith in the Kingdom of Mistral, says he's working on forging two exceptional swords. Anyway, goodnight.

Jaune rose up from the snow and shivered. The cold really hurt his knees. As he was about to open the door, he heard a loud scream.

Jaune: What the-?

The scream became louder, followed by snarls and howls.

Jaune: Grimm...

Jaune burst open the door and rushed to his bedroom. Taking his father's sword and shield, he hurried outside and ran into the direction of the chaos.

[Vin Village]

Shadowy black wolves growled and snarled at the villagers. Atop their faces were bone-like masks and their eyes were a burning red. Men and women tried their hardest to fight back against the pack, but they were too strong. The beasts fought back and slashed at the people as if they were defenceless lambs. Many tried to run, but they weren't fast enough.

From within a small shrubbery, Jaune could see the attacks unfold. Grabbing his sword, he drew it and ran. With a mighty yell, he slashed at one of the beasts and chopped its arm clean off. It screeched in pain. Taking his sheath, he pushed a small button and it changed into a shield, with the emblem of the Arc Family at the front. The rest of the grimm set their sights on Jaune and surrounded him.

Jaune: Try and get as far away from here as you can. I'll hold them off.

Villager: Are you crazy? There's 7 beowolves there!

Jaune: I've handled these creatures before. I've got enough Dust with me. Just do what I say and get everyone to safety as quick as you can!

Villager: Alright. Good luck. *runs*

Jaune: *deep breath* Okay Jaune, just remember your training.

Two beowolves lunged at him, baring their sharp claws and fangs. Immidiately, Jaune blocked them with his shield. His feet dragged against the snow as he was pushed back slightly. Raising his sword, he struck at one of them.

Jaune: Hah!!

He managed to land a scratch on its chest. The other beowolf tried to attack Jaune, but he dodged just in time.

Jaune: *grins* Yaah!

He thrusted his sword into its chest and yelled out in pain. Suddenly, Jaune noticed 3 of the beowolves running away from the village.

Jaune: Oh no you don't! *pushes beowolf with shield*

Before he could catch up to them, someone dropped down in front of the beowolves, armed with a scythe. They wore a bright red cloak and their face was obscured with a hood. In a single stroke, they slew the 3 beowolves. Jaune was impressed.

???: Behind you!

Jaune: *turns around* Woah!

He narrowly avoided being scratched by a stray beowolf, losing his footing and falling to the floor. Instantly, the cloaked warrior dashed towards the grimm at top speed and blocked an incoming attack. Pushing the grimm back, they decapitated it with their scythe. Jaune shook his head and stood up. Gripping his sword as tight as possible, he and the cloaked warrior stood back to back was they were surrounded by the remaining 3 beowolves.

???: When I say 'now', we strike. Got it?

Jaune: Yeah.

The beowolves slowly moved closer, growling. Jaune could feel his spine tingling.

???: Now! Sah!!! *slices beowolf*

Jaune: Hah! *stabs beowolf*

Jaune/???: YAAAAH!!! *chops beowolf in half*

The threat was over and the grimm crumbled into ash. Jaune turned to the cloaked warrior.

Jaune: *smiles* Thanks for the help, Ruby.

Ruby: *takes off hood* No problem, Jaune.

Jaune: How come you didn't tell me that you were in Charlemagne?

Ruby: *nervous laughter* Sorry about that, it kind slipped my mind. I was at a tavern with mom and dad when I heard about the attack.

Jaune: Huh. I heard about the attack before I was gonna go to bed.

Ruby: I gotta say, you did look a little rusty. Have you been slacking off.

Jaune: Wha? No! I just... *shifts eyes* haven't fought any grimm in a while.

Ruby: Yep, that's a given. *chuckles* I'm looking forward to going back to Beacon tomrrow.

Jaune: Me too! It'll be great to see our friends again. *sighs* Though I'm not looking forward to seeing CRDL.

Ruby: You still upset about the sparring match?

Jaune: I can handle losing a sparring match. But breaking my sword was crossing the line! Anyway, um, I never thanked you for helping me back then.

Ruby: There's no need to worry about it. After all, what are best friends for? *smiles*

Jaune: Yeah, that's true. *chuckles* Still, you're amazing.

Ruby: Thanks Jaune.

Jaune: Anyway, we should check on the villagers. See if they're okay.

Ruby: Yeah *nods*

The two of them walked near the gate, where the villagers were gathered. Many of them thanked Jaune and Ruby and tried to give them gifts, much to their embarrassment. From afar, the wizard Ozpin was watching them.

Ozpin: And so it begins. *smokes pipe*

[Castle Vale]

In the throne room, King Vortigern sneered at the black crystal ball next to him.

Vortigern: You musn't worry so much.

Crystal ball: You made a dangerous mistake, Your Majesty. Making a deal with Ozpin? Are you trying to incur my wrath?

Vortigern: He won't win.

Crystal ball: How can you be certain?

Vortigern: Because I saw to it personally. Uther doesn't have any living heirs. Without him, the bloodline has ended. That sword will remain in the stone for eternity.

Crystal ball: What of Ozpin, then?

Vortigern: I'll see to his demise myself. After all, *eyes turn draconic* you blessed me with this power. He doesn't stand a chance.

#rwby #rwby au #rwby fanon #fate au #fate fanon #swords of fate #rwby swords of fate #swords of fate arc kingdom #jaune arc #ruby rose #rwby oc #vortigern #ozpin #spahron cotta arc #rouge arc #verte arc #noir arc #blanc arc

[hannahssimblr]

Chapter Ten

January is long, and February, somehow even longer. It brings with it the kind of biting cold winds that make my face hurt and indignance rise inside me at the injustice of having to be outside in it. I try to manoeuvre my useless fingerless gloves over my knuckles as though they might provide even the tiniest bit of extra heat to my hands, but it’s already too late. I’ve let the cold invade, and by now there’s nothing I can do to prevent the cold spasms that rip through to my bones. 

It is five in the evening. I’ve been here since the morning, once Simon reluctantly allowed me to take a day of work away from the studio, but it’s been relentlessly cold since I arrived. The sun will set in an hour from now and I will lose the light, so I forge on anyway, tracing a careful line with the nozzle of the spray paint along the brick at the gable end of the bookshop that commissioned me. It is my first mural on a building, not a window, but nobody seemed to doubt my ability to do it when they approached me. Nobody except for me, and while I didn’t express it, I doubted it, and I still doubt it, even now. 

 I reach around at my feet for the cherry red paint can and rattle it before spraying a wide, confident arc across the brick. Does it look good? Does any of this look good? I’ve been nose to nose with it for so many hours now that I can hardly even tell what it is. The paint stains my finger tip red. Just about every inch of me must be dusted with paint at this point, as the wind has been blowing it back on me in clouds and leaving speckles all over my skin and clothes. I eye the streak of teal paint that has run down the side of my middle finger and dried there, and I silently curse at it, knowing how badly it will stain as I pull my vibrating phone from my pocket. 

Don’t suppose you’re free for a call tonight? 

I wish. I’m never free anymore. 

Sorry, I have a date at the medieval torture chamber. 

Gym with Shane?

Yep. 

And in those rare times that I am, Jude isn’t. We’ve been missing each other for weeks, like trains passing on the tracks, what with my work, the increase in commissions, more cards to design, I’ve been finding myself cooped up in the studio until late into the evening sometimes. And Jude, he’s working hard on his final projects. He spends as much time in his studio as I do. Sometimes the only meaningful correspondence I’ll get from him in a given week is a photograph of whatever modernist chunk of plaster or clay he’s working on lately, and this week is shaping up to be another just like that, only I’ll be the one sending some hasty close up of a few swipes of paint and trying to convince him that I’m getting paid to do this. 

We haven’t caught up in so long.

I like to imagine that he’s desperately sad about this fact, miserable and missing me terribly, when in fact he’s probably just bored at home again, Jonas likely out somewhere without him and whatever silly movie he’s put on the television has stopped being entertaining. 

At this rate I won’t see you until I come over.

Yeah, what the hell. How have we not spoken in over a month?

Probably because I hate you and I’m avoiding you. 😉 We’ll have a proper catch up in Berlin. 

He sends me a crocodile emoji, which has become our private code for “goodbye” as in, “See you later, alligator”. I type one back and get on with what I was doing, and paint another broad, sweeping line in that delicious cherry red paint. I last ten more minutes without an interruption, and there is a voice from behind me. 

“Well.”

I whirl around. “Ugh, hi Shane.”

“Delighted to see me, are you?”

“Honestly it’s a bit like a bad omen when you appear.”

I yank my protective mask from my mouth while he huffs out a laugh. “Ready for the gym?” I groan in protest, but I gather my things anyway, stacking all of the spray paint bottles into a giant canvas bag and rolling up the tarp. We stop by Mezzotint to store all of it in the studio and let me change out of my painty clothes in the employee bathroom and then we take the Luas into town to the gym. 

Shane decides to show me mercy, and lets me spend our session in the pool, so while he heads to the gym and does his usual routine, I swim lengths of the fast lane and keep strict count of the number so that I can brag about it when he comes to use the health suite. I reached a point suddenly, a month or two ago, where my lungs and limbs didn’t burn so badly during my swimming lessons, and in fact, despite the inevitable dread that the gym instils in me, once I’m actually in the pool I find myself enjoying it. I swim to the end, turn and come back, over and over as the smooth hands on the big clock rotate, and finally I anchor myself to the lip of the pool as Shane crouches in front of me, hair wet from the shower. 

“How many?” He wants to know. 

“Sixty lengths.”

“Many breaks?”

“None.”

He nods with approval and says “good stuff.” Which is the highest compliment available. I struggle out onto the tiles with trembling arms and follow him to the health suite sauna where we sit, ragged breaths, and the water that rolls off our bodies dissolves into mist as it drips onto the benches. 

“How’s college?” I say. 

“Grand.”

“Full on now, I’d say, is it? With the final exams kind of looming on the horizon a bit.”

He shrugs. “I dunno, I suppose so.” 

Shane did not fail his Christmas exams. He didn’t pass them with flying colours by any means but Shane being Shane, has never once done poorly at anything he has attempted. As far as I know he has never failed a test, and it’s evident by now that it’s not for lack of trying. The final exams are Claire’s newest worry, as she’s convinced he’s yet to open a single textbook. 

“And the football?” I venture, and watch as his shoulders slump. “It’s good, it’s busy and all. I dunno. I’ve a few things to kind of think about in terms of it. You know, like, some things to consider.”

I nod. “Must be tricky to balance it all, like what with the training and college and all. I can’t imagine how hard it is.”

He glances at me with a furrowed brow as though what I’ve just said has nothing to do with what he was talking about, but he throws me a consolatory “Yeah.” anyway, clearly not bothered to explain what he meant. 

“Pity you can’t come to Berlin.” I pivot. “It’d be nice if you were there, like, I know you’ve visited before and all, but I think it’ve been a fun friends thing to do altogether. Not often we all get to hang out now that we’re so busy.”

“Nice for Claire to have time away on her own though.” He says. “I think a bit of distance would do her good, a bit of space.” and I wonder if he means from Dublin or from him. 

“I’m a bit nervous to go.” I admit, which prompts him to look right at me for the first time since we came inside. “Why?”

“I’m not sure, I suppose it’s been years since I’ve been out of Ireland, like, been in a different country with a different language and… like, I dunno I suppose I’m nervous to be around Jude and all his friends.”

“They’re just more of the typical artist types, nothing to get that excited about.” He eyes me for a moment before adding “They’re not going to think you’re uncool, or whatever it is that you’re worrying about. Nobody cares about that type of thing except for you.”

“I don’t care if they think I’m uncool.” I lie defensively. 

“Right. So is it about Astrid then? Do you think she’s going to tear you a new one?”

I stare at him, startled. “What are you on about?”

“Astrid, like.”

“I have no idea what you mean.”

He rolls his eyes and gets up, slinging his towel over his shoulder. “I’m sure you don’t, Evie, you fecking dope.” He says, and then pushes his way out into the cool air of the poolside. 

Beginning // Prev // Next

#lucky girl part 3

[helianskies]

'please don't fall!' for PruSpa :)

why of course >:3

Ladder

“Do you want me to hold the ladder?”

“I'm fine, it's not that high!”

“It was just an offer!”

“Oh, God, be careful up there, Gilbert! Please don't fall!”

“No point appealing to him,” Mikkel tells Antonio, who has just wandered into the room. “Stubborn as hell, as always!”

“I’m fine, seriously,” Gilbert assures them both all the same. “Your concern is flattering, but totally unnecessary!”

The three of them are amongst a small group of volunteers (or ‘elves’ as it had been put) to help decorate ahead of the annual holiday get-together. This year, it has become Francis’ undertaking, but as if he was going to get up a ladder and decorate the Christmas tree himself! Gilbert has a list of strict instructions (which he’s mostly ignored so far) and as he approaches the top, he’s glad he’s nearly finished. 

But of course, being all the way up a ladder while decorating what was apparently a ten foot tall tree is ‘alarming’. Gilbert’s been dealing with Mikkel’s disguised worry for the last twenty minutes, but now that Antonio is now also here, he just knows it’ll worsen. Darn old men and their weak, weak knees! Not everyone is a liability!

As predicted, nevertheless—

“Do you want me to hold the ladder?” Antonio offers as well, hands on hips as he watches on from below. “Or maybe one of us should go up there instead…?”

Gilbert waves him off, and continues titivating the silvery tinsel. “I’m almost done,” he says by way of reassuring him, the worry-wart. 

“I’m gonna leave you to it,” Mikkel surrenders with a gentle sigh. “Reckon I’ll be more use elsewhere.”

“Yep!” Gilbert agrees, eyes still glued to his work. 

He hears some mumbling from below—Antonio and Mikkel exchanging some quiet words and a laugh about something, he notes—before one person’s footsteps pad away, and the room falls silent once more. 

The silence only lasts so long, though.

“I’m looking forward to tonight,” Antonio muses. A quick glance down reveals that he’s looking around the room, at the tall ceilings, the chandelier, the snow-adorned garlands… “Something about Fran’s parties are always so magical, don’t you think?”

Gilbert hums along to appease him. He isn’t sure if ‘magical’ is the word. But he will admit he enjoys these nights, the festivities, the friends, the laughter… That’s what the holidays have come to mean: spending time with the important people in his life while they can.

But then Gilbert finds himself, after a moment, looking down once more. Below him, Antonio is eyeing some of the decorations already on the tree—glass baubles, ceramic birds, hand-painted globes—and a small smile seems to have appeared on his face, eyes wide like a child in a sweet shop.

Antonio is an even bigger fan of the holidays. For the same reasons, at heart. But there’s a part of him that also just loves the lights, the ornaments, the wreaths—every little detail. And even if he maintains his traditions in January, Antonio has not shied away from Christmas Day celebrations either in recent years. Gilbert likes seeing him enjoy himself in that respect. There was a short period where his presence was… Well…

It’s good to see him. 

“Oh my gosh, I f—”

“FUCK—!”

“GILBERT!”

It happens so fast. There’s a wobble, then more wobbling, and then only falling.

It feels funny. A leg slips briefly between rungs—a misplaced foot is the root of his problems—and he feels himself fall backwards, light, helpless, fast. He braces himself in that single second to hit the ground—maybe even the ladder—to hit his head, or hurt his back, or land on a shoulder. Sustaining an injury is far from ideal, especially since these days he’s not quite so well-equipped to heal, but if he—

He does not hit the ground, but something just a little bit softer. Something that has arms that try to catch him, and something that inevitably falls down beneath his weight.

So much for not falling!

But that fall has repercussions, now, on more people than just himself. 

With a groan, Gilbert tries to move and get up. Antonio, however, who is beneath him and sprawled across the floor, asks him, strained and quiet, to stay put.

Gilbert worries. His arse hurts, as does his shin. He’s glad to see the ladder went towards the tree and that Francis’ baubles survived the ordeal, but…

“Are you okay?” he asks Antonio, who still holds him, arms wrapped around Gilbert’s torso. 

“Eh…” His breathing is a bit heavy, yet bated. “I thought I told you not to fall…”

“Yeah, well,” Gilbert scoffs, “you made me jump!”

“And you’re welcome for saving your neck!”

With that, Gilbert carefully pries himself from the other’s grasp and slowly sits up. Antonio softly groans, and decides to stay lying down; the other perches next to him, his own heart still racing a bit, and they look at each other.

The worry is certainly mutual.

“You okay?” Gilbert asks again, another layer to his question implied in the way his face morphs. 

“Sore,” Antonio says. “Gimme a minute. I’ll— I’ll be fine.”

“Idiot.”

“Well.” His smile returned, albeit somewhat mischievous. “After that, I guess you could say you—”

“Don’t.”

“—fell for me?”

“Ugh.”

“The heck happened to you two? I heard a scream!”

Gilbert rolls his head to the side and finds Mikkel, reemerged at just the right time, and in a dramatic display of surrender, he riffs a slew of curses and joins Antonio on the floor properly. 

Paying no mind to Mikkel’s presence, then, Antonio seeks out Gilbert’s hand and holds it gently in his own. It is warm. It is kind, in spite of what has just occurred between them. And Antonio looks at him with such warmth, too, and Gilbert looks back, and the other smiles once again, and Gilbert warms and buzzes and breathes and—

“No more ladders for you, Gil.”

“If you say so, Toni.”

And with that, their laughter only resumes.

[ fic collection on ao3! ] [ prompts list here! ]

#helia writes #hws spain #hws prussia #pruspa #no more ladders for gilbert #got a life ban #the first of the holiday fics had arriiiiived #i am working slowly thru them so do bear with #and thank you anon for requesting these buffoons 🍪 <3

[lgcseojin]

✱ SEOJIN'S JOURNAL ( 2006 - current )

This journal is property of Park Seojin. It contains sensitive topics and precious thoughts. If you find this, don't open it or else he'll come find you and take you to Suplex City! Go away.

Septembur September, 2006 The therapy lady said if I pretend I'm talking to God then I can write eeeasier. I dunno. Don't wanna talk to you right now buddy. Cuz somtymes sometimes I kinda wish you didn't make me so I'm upset at you. And I hate cake and I don't wanna blow out anymore stupid candelsles. It just makes me feel real mad. Speshully Especially when Miss Heejung tries to give me hugs. I don't want none of that I just wanna go back to my friends somtimes.

November 30th, 2006 Mr Dongwoo Dad said that the baby is gonna come any day now. I'm gonna be mad if the kid is born on my birthday no way am I gonna share. It's my day!! I want somethin that's mine.

December 25th, 2006 Didn't write in this thing cuz I forgot. Anyway. Christmas is real fun. I got an RC racer thing!!!!! It goes so fast hahahah!!

January 15th, 2007 The baby was really late. They called her Dahye. She looked at me kinda funny but she didn't cry when I hugged her.

September 3rd, 2007 I got moved to a different class and stuff. I wanna throw books cuz now I'm not with my friends. But the teach said we were dissruptin class or whatever. I get to sit next to a girl now and she stuck her tongue out at me so I stuck out my middle finger. Her name is Boram.

March 14th, 2008 Girls are weird. I gave Boram my chocolates cuz she gave me some and then she said she was gonna throw em in the toilet. Whatever. I didn't like her anyways.

May 21st, 2009 Hahahah!!! Jaehyuk hyung came to school today and brought a real lizard. Yep it was real I checked and everything. Haesung said we should dissect it but we were like no way. I wanna make it my pet. It looks so sick! Not sick sick but cool

June 17th, 2009 I bought a guitar!!!

November 27th, 2009 A weird lady said hi to me when I was walking home. She had really long hair and a funny smile. She looked real sick (the real kind) and said my name. Maybe she's one of them no homes people or a ghost or somethin

November 29th, 2009 The weird lady tried to give me a bag of chips and grab my hand. Did she think I was 5 years old or somethin. That shit don't work on 11 year olds. So I ran away real fast. Skinned my knee. It fuckin hurt.

December 1st, 2009 Stuff sucks real bad right now. I'm real sorry God. I don't wanna go back no more. I just wanna stay here now. I'm sorry.

December 1st, 2010 She called again. I can't have one day.

December 1st, 2011 Sorry I keep ignoring you. Lotsa shit is happening lately. That lady hasn't even read this since like 2 years ago. Why do I even bother? How did I do it again? Hi, God? Haha. I'm good, I guess. Bored right now. Eating some kinda bread dad bought in Japan. Way too sweet but whatever. Birthday went okay. They gave me a party and it wasn't anything special I guess.

January 20th, 2013 Got nothing else to do so I'm gonna write in this again. Fuck this city. Fuck everything. I don't wanna move and leave everyone behind. This sucks so fucking much. Seoul seems like it sucks anyway. But at least Jaehyuk is there... Ugh nevermind. It makes feel sick to write while the car's moving all over the place, and Dahye won't stop pinching me. I'm gonna give this kid a headlock.

April 30th, 2013 Some kid almost ran me over with his bike so I grabbed it and he fell on me. Buncha stolen shit fell outta his jacket and everything. Hahaha. He begged me not to tell anyone. I think he's a grade below me even though he said he's like 13 I think. Seems real smart. Name is Cheol... something. I guess he's ok when we started to talk but if he runs me over again I'm gonna pummel him for sure.

August 2nd, 2013 Mom had the baby today. The kid is real cute and she grabbed my finger super tight. I'm gonna be honest. I kinda felt like crying and stuff. She's real cute, Dasom. I wanna protect her.

October 12th, 2013 Jaehyuk wants to start a band or whatever. Know I never mentioned it before but I kinda like to sing and I know how to play guitar. I'll give it a shot. He introduced me to some guy named Taewoo from another school and I asked Cheol if he wanted to join, too. Here goes nothing I guess.

February 23rd, 2015 I asked Minkyung out. I know you don't know who that is yet, God. Sorry about that. I was being an idiot just being in my head instead. She's in the same class as me. She's got short hair like to her neck kinda length. It's really funny. The class was playing soccer and she kicked the ball at my head. She seemed real scared about it and she came over to check on me and grabbed my face. That's what it's like to fall in love right??

July 9th, 2016 Long time no see, huh? Lots of good news happened so far. Well, kinda. First, I'm still going out with Minkyung. :) Second, I entered a singing contest and I got 3rd place, so a guy with a card came up to us and all. He was from a company... entertainment company. Legacy or something. Well, I auditioned and made it. Cool, right? Weird, though... Didn't think this could be a thing for me. Well, I'm gonna mooch these vocal lessons and see what happens I guess. Taewoo won't stop calling me a fucking sell-out though. Bastard. Anyway... the next news is awkward kinda. Mom and dad decided to foster this kid. He's like 12 or 13 or something and he's already getting on my nerves... Feel bad for him though. I know what it's like.

June 14th, 2017 Shit sucks. What a joke. See if those fuckers mess with Hyunseung again. I'd kick their asses all over again until they leave him alone.

December 2nd, 2017 She called me again. I don't get why she just won't leave me the hell alone. I can't do this shit. I don't care if I'm her "real son". Why did she have to find me? You left me there for like almost 7 years and now you wanna keep trying.

March 1st, 2018 I decided to start over. It's for the best, probably. Dim is over. I left the company. Me and Minkyung decided it would be better if we broke up. I couldn't even look at her anymore after I went off the deep end and didn't wanna be around anybody for a while. It was like shit was falling apart and I didn't wanna be like that and hurt her. Then have to leave her. And the guys. I feel like shit. I don't even know if this is the right choice. I'm taking you with me. There's still a lot of space to fill.

March 28th, 2018 It's the fifth day of basics. A week in and I've got some smart idea to start a journal. Apparently it's supposed to be "good" for me as an outlet but like... For all I know, some guy will take it, read it, and make fun of me. Whatever. This is stupid. The food sucks.

March 30th, 2018 Guy named Jung Woobin joined today. Kind of a nerd, but he's in my temporary unit and the bed next to mine. Might as well make friends. He keeps talking about random shit. Maybe I can see if he likes Slam Dunk. Well, I'm not here to make friends anyways, am I? Nothing else interesting happened. Entries are gonna be short till something interesting happens.

April 5th, 2018 Week two. Not hype. Hate waking up fucking early. This sucks ass. Some guy lost his shit and ran off in some random direction. They labeled him as a deserter. Feel kinda bad for him. Just glad he wasn't in my unit.

April 8th, 2018 New recruits came. There was overflow in bunking so they stuck a guy with us. I get a chaebol smell off of him but he seems alright so far. Let's see how he does during the first week.

April 21st, 2018 I'm tired of this Kang dude. Nearly kicked his ass before we got stopped. What a prick. He snores when he sleeps, too. I'm gonna plug his nostrils.

May 1st, 2018 Transfer to marines unit today. Off to Pohang. Wish me luck.

July 30th, 2018 Finally got time to sit down and write. Shit's been intense. The C.O. is no fucking stickler. He makes our squad wake up up to an hour earlier than the others. Set our alarms as the wake up song that blasts outside. Today, I swear we got to bed at midnight and got up at 3:30am. Wanted us to get our rounds done early so we can get a head start into the MMA training so we're in top shape. Tomorrow, our platoon is supposed to meet with the American marines that are stationed here, too.

October 10th, 2018 My English isn't that great but I kinda talked to this guy and we became friends. Tall, wavy hair, super ripped. Said his name is Andreas like the fault line but I dunno what that means, really. I can just call him Andy, he calls me Jin. His Korean is pretty good, actually. Hahaha.

October 11th, 2018 We sat by the river when everything is done and he and his friend taught me how to skin a rabbit. Then, the guy said he was gonna go rock fishing ( I think, I couldn't get his accent but I think he was from Australia or something ) and pulled a catfish with his bare hands. I'm serious! Wish I coulda taken a picture...

October 14th, 2018 It's the last day of the collab camp thing. Andy gave me a book. D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths. I guess I should get better at English... But he said he's staying in Seoul after this. And his dad's got a boxing gym or something. Once I'm out, I'll check it out.

December 1st, 2018 They remembered my birthday. Never thought I'd get a Chocopie with a candle sticking out of it. Whatever works. I don't like sweets anyway and it's cold as balls.

February 13th, 2019 I'm on break for seollal! Came back home for a bit to see everyone. I know I saw them in between but still... This is nice. Chan must've gotten real tall over the summer. Dasom ran up to me and hugged me real tight. As for Dahye, she shook my hand. What a weird kid. I missed them so much. Gonna go spend time with them now. I won't forget you at home. Promise.

March 26th, 2019 A new guy joined us today. Real jumpy, that one. Said he got transferred to our unit for some reason he won't say. Rumor is that he tried to kill some guy and he's in a gang back in Daejeon. I don't believe it for a second. What a stupid story.

April 3rd, 2019 Caught Lcpl. Shin creeping around the place after dark not in his bunk. I got up to take a piss and he almost scared it right outta me. This is like the 2nd time this happened. Since our ranks are the same there's not much I can do. Should I tell the C.O.? Shit, why am I asking you? I don't think you would know what to do either.

April 17th, 2019 Fuck it, we finally ratted on the guy. The hell is he doing lurking around the latrines all the time... Must be some kinda weirdo. I guess that's why he was transferred. Shoulda kicked him out instead. Woobin said he saw him with a knife when he got out so I dunno what to think anymore. Lt said it isn't a big deal. That the guy's gotta be touched in the head, whatever that means.

April 22nd, 2019 Something or some dipshit keeps knocking on the barracks again. Can't fucking sleep. Shit sucks.

May 24th, 2019 Things were quiet for a while. There was a weird smell coming from the latrines and it wasn't cause of the crap they serves us. Found a dead bird strung up with shoelaces. Can't eat tonight.

May 28th, 2019 Can't sleep. Knocking again. The alarms went off. Glitch, I guess.

May 31st, 2019 Some shit went down. Two of the guys started wailing on each other outta nowhere. Screaming real loud about something. I didn't really bother trying to figure it out when we got them off each other. They were reprimanded. Only 9 of us, so this shit really stirred things up. Must have been some kinda disagreement. But everyone's fucking tired. Climbing drills are tomorrow.

June 1st, 2019 The ropes were cut. Or frayed. Or old, or something. It's my fault, isn't it? If I didn't pull so hard then Hwang wouldn't have fallen. Everything's okay. He said it wasn't cause of me. They took him out for a short medical leave. Hope he's okay. But I'm still shaking. I'd only tell you this kinda stuff, God.

June 5th, 2019 There's only 6 of us right now in the unit right now until the others get back. Feels real quiet right about now. No one really wanted to talk. Least, not to me. I still got Woobin but he seems like something's real wrong. Shin's got the world under his feet, though, the way he's strutting everywhere. Kept trying to show me his rabbit pelt. Freak.

July 7th, 2019 That fucking knocking again. A slam. Piss off so I can sleep already.

July 19th, 2019 It's raining. Real hard. Had to go fix something and found Shin out there doing... something. Whatever it is, he didn't like that I caught him and fuck I don't know what to do. It can't have been something bad, right? I didn't really see. It was dark.

July 23rd, 2019 I'm gonna kill that piece of shit. What kinda asshole takes a picture of my mom and just. He's dead. Next week. Mark my words, God. I'm confessing ahead of time if something happens. I'm kicking his ass when he comes around.

July 29th, 2019 The fucker still lives. Unfortunately. Opened my eyes and saw him hovering over my bunk. I swear. I saw it. How long was he standing there? How many days? Shouldn't think too much of it...

August 2nd, 2019 I looked over and he was just sitting up in bed like that. Awake. I don't think he ever sleeps, come to think of it. Woobin said the same thing. I started to keep my knife with my under my pillow.

September 6th, 2019 We woke up and Shin was gone from his bed. Nothing from the usual. C.O. came in and told us the military officers came and got him. Said what happened stays with us. They're making Woobin testify but he won't tell me what happened. Guess I'll never really find out. Gotta keep an eye on the news maybe later. Feel like I need to take 8 showers though. Maybe 10. Hopefully there won't be too much to write about now.

September 30th, 2019 Holy shit. Just a little bit longer and I'll be outta here. Sgt. Park speaking. Cool, right? I should have something positive here after all that. Everything seems like it's okay again. I think. I guess I thought about it a little more... All sorta guys come through here and you never know who's gonna end up being totally insane. I left out some details but, God, I'm sure you saw what happened anyways.

October 15th, 2019 One more month! I get to lead new recruits today. I asked Woobin to help and he still almost passed out running with us. Guess some guys really don't get that fit here, haha. Here's hoping we can still be friends when we leave. He's outta here next week... Gonna miss him something awful.

November 10th, 2019 I'm free!!! Gonna stay with the family again for a bit until we get my place figured out. Don't really plan on going to school or anything, but dad helped me find a job at some restaurant. I gotta go to Gangnam for it since it's all ritzy but it pays well. I'm kinda excited. Really feels like I started over again... Also, went to the bar still in my fatigues ( yeah, I know, I was lazy ). Craziest thing, the people you meet again. Some guy in uniform, another in a sparkly jacket. Funny where we end up.

December 2nd, 2019 Saw the guys yesterday. We got super smashed and they said I climbed a tree. Wait. Why am I still writing? Nothing interesting is going on. Let's not make this a habit.

January 8th, 2020 Nevermind. Something kinda crazy happened. Went to Vampire Den for the open mic night again. Just to sing. I got that card again. This shiny one. I guess I must have been outta my mind and had it in me to go for an audition. It was worth a shot. I'm almost at the limit they accept trainees. Fuck what am I doing? Shit.

January 9th, 2020 The call came. I made it. They said I gotta move into the dorms now. At least I got a couple months to myself.

January 20th, 2020 Shit man. So many kids around... This kid ( had a real unique name ) I'm roommates with said that he's graduating high school soon. Crazy... I think I'm in way over my head if this is how things are gonna be, but fuck it, right? At least I can still keep my job. Guess I'll just start making some friends around here. There's plenty of guys my age. Yushin's even here, too. Well, anyway. I don't gotta keep writing in this right now so see you later.

July 24th, 2020 Hey guess who's gonna be in a band again? Well kinda. It's still a bunch of practicing. We'll see what happens but I'm feeling optimistic, I think.

April 21st, 2021 This just in for another episode of Shit Sucks... They pulled the band stuff. I guess there weren't gonna be enough resources for it. Dunno what to do now. Feels like everything's crumbling apart around me. I can just hide away in my room for the rest of the year, right? Just not sure what they're gonna do with me now. Gotta get better at dancing. I'll do it later.

May 23rd, 2021 Shit just keeps happening. I saw her with someone else. I don't want an explanation. I'm tired of this push and pull shit. Going here and there without saying much. She lit my heart on fire and put it out with her fucking shoe. I loved her. At least, I think I did. I guess that doesn't matter now. Nothing should have come from that day and why did I even bother going through with it. Over and over again. Wasted my own heart. Nothing matters anymore, does it? Fuck it all. I should go somewhere. Don't look now, God.

August 17th, 2021 I guess some okay things can happen. But these blind dates the guys keep trying to set me up on are a waste of time. Better to not put in effort like that. Anyway, dad's heart thing has gotten better, too. He wanted me to start picking up his new medicine after practice every day.

September 19th, 2021 It's hard to want to sing again. Or want to do much of anything again. Maybe I'll get better by next year.

September 25th, 2021 Met this girl. Well, already did. Sometimes, she'd be at the pharmacy when I picked things up. There's dimples in her cheeks when she smiles at me. I mentioned I was interested in producing music and she asked me for some pointers. We're meeting next week so I can help her, I guess. Worth a shot. Come to think of it, I think we went to the same high school.

October 18th, 2021 She's cute. Fuck, I'm so screwed. I remember now. I sneezed on her in the hallway once. She said it was two times, but I don't remember the first one. We already talked a lot. It's weird. Something dangerous about her. I'll watch my step...

October 31st, 2021 I feel drunk even though I'm not. She said she liked me and I wanted to run. I think I already like her, too. I just can't be what she needs right now. I shouldn't be writing this stuff down. I'll save it for songs. My own head. See you.

December 5th, 2021 She said there's a beauty in being impulsive. She is coy and bold. She wants to kiss my cheek because something compels her to. She yearns to see me. I can't forget anything she says. She speaks in poetry and laughs in music. I don't flinch when she reaches out to touch me. So.. What now...? I kissed her on the shores of some snowy Sokcho beach. When she says now that there's nothing innocent about the way I kiss her with that smirk of hers. When she said she's looking for someone to break her heart because she's just being realistic. Not to feel burdened because I make her happy. She'll be patient for me. I think I might be going a little crazy. Emotionally, spiritually. She makes me want to sing again.

December 1st, 2022 Aside from one good thing, this year was kind of a bust. Hoping for a better one next year. Fuck, I'm getting old. Did they forget about me?

March 20th, 2023 Finally got a project! With actual songs. Not sure what it's gonna entail but ... here goes nothing, as usual. :)

March 30th, 2023 And when it comes to spring, I learned that it's made of heartbreak and not love.

August 12th, 2023 Fuck, what am I doing with my life? It's so close I can taste it but I can't help but feel like there's so much missing.

October 30th, 2023 What am I doing? Part two. Everything is all jumbled up. There's nowhere to put that anger brewing in my head. I almost messed up my hand because of it and ruined everything for myself. Might start writing some songs again...

December 1st, 2023 The first birthday I really felt like I deserved. I guess I made it this far, huh? And there are people who care about me, love me. It's still really overwhelming to think about, but looking back, this is what I always needed. And I should have been more grateful for what I have around me in the form of other people.

January 1st, 2024 I think it's gonna be a great year. Love is real.

January 14th, 2024 Oh. Fuck.

#✱ ㅡ alone with my thoughts. ( solo )

[asksoldieron]

SO-14: "We've already almost killed him once!"

If there's a lot of engagement on this, this post is liable to get real long, beware before you expand.

No art, but hopefully my eyes will improve enough to add some later!

Welcome to the Engagement Lounge, for Sick Day (SO-14) an instalment! Short comments can go in the replies, but there's a 475 character limit. Longer ones will need a reblog. Remember to @asksoldieron if you're reblogging someone else's reblog, so I can see it too!

Okay! I'm fighting the tail end of a mild cold and my eyes are not happy. These two things may be related, but I suspect the drops the doctor gave me are making things worse. I keep believing doctors when they tell me something's going to improve my quality of life and ending up in pain when they don't actually follow up on making sure it's an improvement. I technically have 20/20 distance vision, but it's not stable. But the doctor was running over an hour behind and that didn't make an impression. "Oh, you just have dry eyes. You need better eye drops. See you in a month!"

Those eye drops ain't helping, and literally everything else I can do that might help is stuff I dug up with internet research. And I owe the doctors money, they don't have to pay me so much as a consulting fee. If I make a fuss, I'll burn my bridges with the only binocular vision dysfunction specialists I could find locally. I can look for another place, I guess, but god alone knows if they'll be any better or how far the spouse will have to drag me to get there.

Oh, yeah, and after having been exhausted and oogy with cold meds, I can confirm, my left eye has started wandering off again when I'm tired. The doc said that was probably a temporary improvement and, yep, I'm back to the status quo. Only now my eyes hurt. I'm even wearing glasses all the time, trying to keep light and air out of 'em.

So, no art. Again. And difficulty proof-reading, but I think I managed well enough. It should be readable, anyway.

I'll feel better when I don't also have a cold. Please excuse my medicated ramblings.

Anyway, now you know how the RA started the Cat Network and got Mattie and Greg to help out. And John wasn't being hyperbolic when he said they'd almost killed Erik!

Phooo, I will be considered mostly healed by January 20th, but light tolerance and dry eyes are the slowest things and might improve for a whole year. I may not be stuck like this, but I don't relish the thought of incremental improvements over a year, with apathetic (and expensive) support.

[Back to Site?]

#tin soldier and soldier on #instalment #engagement lounge #i don't mean to be depressing but it's hard to ignore your own eyeballs #looking at things is one of my favourite things to do

[dianneking]

20 Author Questions

Tagged by the lovely @weemssapphic - thank you so very much for that!

1. How many works do you have on AO3? - 37

2. What's your total AO3 word count? - 175,030

3. What fandoms do you write for? - Gwendoline Christie, some other characters in the Wednesday fandom too.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos? - Surprising Like Good Coffee on a Bad Day, Shapes of Love, First Evening Back, Intoxicated, Entwined Destinies.

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? - Yes. I try my best to get to every comment because I love love love the community that builds around shared interests. Also, time is such a rare commodity these days that if you take the time to let me know what you thought of my writings...we're already pals.

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? - Oh, that's easy, Loving You for sure. The whole premise is hurt no comfort so yeah. Read this at your own risk.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? - Hmmmm I feel the one I went in most detail about the happy ending was Surprising Like Good Coffee on a Bad Day, it was extra fluffy and funny and I find myself smiling just thinking about it.

8. Do you get hate on fics? - As of now, not yet. Hopefully it'll stay that way.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? - Yep, at times. As for what kind, depends on the story, but mostly at least somewhat kinky.

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written? - I love a well executed crossover soooo much. For now, I've only written New Teacher In Town, a Larissa Weems x Melissa Schemmenti (Abbott's Elementary) oneshot, but I do have others I'd like to try my hand at.

11. Have you ever had a fiction stolen? - Not that I've noticed. I only write on AO3 and Tumblr, so if you see my fics somewhere else, please tell me - it's probably stolen.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? - Not yet!

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? - Not yet published, but I might have something in the works... isn't that right @scream-queenlover?

14. What's your all-time favorite ship? - Errrrr difficult to say tbh. I like to change and to make different ships work. I like Gwen's characters paired with almost anyone ever. I like the challenge of making it work and surprising readers with them.

15. What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? - I don't ever let go of WIPs. They are just biding their time. I have some requests in my inbox from January (if it's yours, I'm so very sorry) but also, the feeling of writing the right fic when you want to write it is something that is so good I just don't want to do an uninspired shoddy work of them. Their time to shine will come.

16. What are your writing strengths? - I am a very logical person, so I like to build my characters so that they make sense, so that their actions and reactions have some meaning and some depth. Also. I loooove to write gut-wrenching angst and I feel like it shows.

17. What are your writing weaknesses? - They change with time and with the fic in question. Right now, to sit my ass down on a chair and write is my greatest challenge. Also, I feel like most of my oneshots are a lot of the same, and that kinda bothers me.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic? - All for it if I can find a native speaker that betas me on that.

19. First fandom you wrote for? - Well, I wrote an angsty fanfiction of an Ideal Husband before knowing what fanfiction was, so I guess that was my first fandom.

20. Favorite fic you've ever written? - Hmmm. Surprising Like Good Coffee on a Bad Day has a special place in my heart because it was my first one, but also I feel so proud of Unrelenting Love (Madeleine) not even quite sure why but I really love the way it came out.

If you see this and you are an author, that's it! You're automatically tagged! And please, do tag me in your post because I am so very curious!

#fanfiction author #20 questions #20 author questions #on writing and fics #dianneking #tag game

[purlturtle]

YOTP 2023 - March - "acceptance"

January, with an explanation of what this is | February

“You still love her, don’t you?” Pete asked softly, after Steve had helped a limping Helena up the stairs.

Myka sighed. “You know, I tried not to, back then. Tried to hate her, tried indifference; none of them worked.”

Pete cocked his head. “But you’ve forgiven her? You said yes when she asked if she could come in.”

Myka pondered this for a while. “Not… quite, no. Not fully.”

“She hurt you bad.”

“She did.”

“But you still love her.”

“Yep.”

“So… now what?”

“Wish I knew,” Myka said softly. “I just hope I have time to figure it out.”

(On AO3)

#bering and wells #warehouse 13 #yotp 2023 #my fic #tumblr fic #drabble #drabble challenge #march #acceptance

[silvfyre-writings]

Aizawa Cares Pt. 24 (MHA Fanfic)

Hi, yes, I forgot to post this yesterday omg. I got in the car to work this morning and went "shit, I didn't post the chapter" but here it is now! It's time for Aoyama to shine! I hope you guys enjoy the chapter!!!

Okay, so, usually the way I work is that I try to be a chapter ahead so that if something happens I still have something to post. Well, I've now not gotten ahead. And it's also heading towards December so I'm becoming rather busy ugh.

The next update, as a result, will come on the 1st January, 2023.

HOWEVER! If I do complete the next chapter before then, I will post it, but just in case I can't get it finished in time, that date will be the next chapter post. Thank you all for understanding and I'll see you all in the new year (with this fic at least, and hopefully sooner haha)

Aoyama is crying.

It certainly wasn’t a strange sight for Aizawa to walk in on, and it wasn’t the first time that he’d walked in on one of his students crying. Hell, he often caught Midoriya crying about some thing or another at least once a day; he was surprised Midoriya even had any tears left to cry out by now.

But yes, Aizawa was no stranger to tears. The only question he had was what Aoyama could possibly be crying about. Nothing immediately came to mind; he hadn’t put his class through the usual rigorous training he did, and he hadn’t heard about the other teachers giving them a test so bad that even Yaoyorozu had been brought to tears. Poor Ectoplasm hadn’t realized just how hard he’d made the test until his students had approached him for help—something that they never did unless the situation was dire. Or someone got hurt. But all was well and mathematics had yet to claim a life.

That still didn’t tell him why Aoyama was currently on the kitchen floor, an empty packet of cheese in front of him, and sobbing his heart out, and Aizawa was a little terrified to find out just what could reduce the boy to such tears in the first place. “Aoyama?” Aizawa questioned as he approached his student, coming to crouch beside the boy, resting a hand on the boy’s shoulder. “What happened?”

Aoyama looked up at him, tears running down his cheeks. “Someone ate my cheese, Aizawa-sensei.”

Oh. Aizawa glanced at the empty cheese packet sitting on the floor. Yep, it was definitely empty and Aizawa had honestly thought that Aoyama had eaten it, but clearly that wasn’t the case. He’d witnessed just how passionate the boy was about his cheese, often sharing different kinds of cheeses with his classmates; however, unless Aoyama actually offered, the class knew to leave the cheese alone. But this time, one of his students had broken that rule.

“Did you do what I told you all to do?” Aizawa asked gently.

Aoyama nodded. “I put it in a container and labelled it and someone ate it!” The boy’s words rose until his voice was practically wailing.

“Alright, I know it’s upsetting that someone ate your food, but I need you to calm down for me, okay kiddo? Take a breath and wipe your tears.”

Aoyama did as he was told, his lip wobbling as he tried to stop himself from crying. It tugged at Aizawa’s heartstrings. It was such a simple thing to get upset over, but that didn’t mean that Aoyama’s feelings were any less valid. So, he reached over and tugged the boy into his side. His student lost the fight against the tears and began to cry again. This time, Aizawa let the boy cry it all out on his shoulder.

“Write down what cheese it was that was eaten, and I’ll try to get it replaced for you.”

Aoyama nodded into Aizawa’s shirt, a muffled ‘thank you’ coming from the boy.

Aizawa was going to find out who ate that cheese if that was the last thing he did, but first, he needed to help Aoyama calm down. He continued to hold onto Aoyama, not saying anything but just holding his student carefully. After some time had passed, Aoyama seemed to calm down, his sobs quietening into sniffles, and his tears coming to a halt. Still, the boy clung to him and showed no signs of moving.

"How about we get you to your room and you can have a rest?" Aizawa suggested.

Aoyama simply nodded, and didn’t resist when Aizawa guided them both into a standing position; Aizawa then leading his student up the stairs to his dorm room. The entire walk, Aoyama didn’t say anything, just kept his head down and finally pulled away from him when they reached his room. A quiet ‘thanks’ came from his student, and he watched as the door slowly shut behind Aoyama.

Letting out a sigh, Aizawa pinched the bridge of his nose, mentally preparing himself for the following conversation he had to have with his class. Hopefully, whoever ate Aoyama’s cheese would own up to it, and fast, because he did not want this to become a regular occurrence; a detention and buying replacement cheese should be enough of a deterrent. As he made his way back down the stairs to the common room, he tapped out a message and sent it to his students—minus Aoyama of course—telling them all to come to the common room immediately.

Now all he had to do was wait.

One by one, his class trickled into the dorm, eyeing each other anxiously and slowly approached where Aizawa stood. He’d put his most unimpressed face on for this moment, eyes narrowed. It had the intended effect, for none of his students dared to speak, only taking a seat wherever they could. Midoriya walked into the room, his entire body trembling. If it were any of his other students, Aizawa would take it as a sign of guilt, but this was Midoriya, who quite frankly, was easily frightened. Still, Aizawa watched the boy sit next to Iida and Todoroki, politely nodding at them before turning his attention to Aizawa.

All he was waiting on now was the stragglers, those that had probably been in the midst of something when his message had gone through. And he was right when Bakugo stormed into the dorm, drenched in sweat and ranting about being interrupted; the rest of the boy’s friend group following behind.

“Please don’t sit on anything, Bakugo.” Aizawa said, not feeling up to trying to get nitroglycerin out of the furniture.

“I’m not stupid!” Bakugo snarled, and continued to stomp towards the bathrooms. “I’ll be back!”

Aizawa let Bakugo go, turning his attention back to his class, taking a mental count of who was here. Everyone had arrived, which meant that once Bakugo returned, he could begin. It didn’t take long for the explosive boy to return, free of sweat, yet Bakugo still chose to sit on the floor.

“Right, we can begin.” Aizawa said, but before he could continue, he was interrupted. By Iida naturally.

“But, Aizawa-sensei! Aoyama is not here and you said everyone had to be here in your message!”

“Aoyama is not present because he is the reason I have called you here.” Aizawa narrowed his eyes at Iida, who straightened and gave a single nod. “Now. I do not care what your opinion on the matter is, nor do I want you teasing or mocking your fellow student for what I’m about to bring to your attention. Aoyama did not ask me to do this, I did. Am I understood?”

“Yes, Sensei.” His class echoed quietly, each one of them looking uneasy.

“Now, I am aware that Aoyama likes to share his cheese with you all, and that’s his business to do so. However, Aoyama has expressed that the cheese in the labelled containers is only to be eaten by him, as is the rule in this dorm.” Aizawa pulled out the empty container he’d picked up on the way, showing the labelled lid to his class. A few of them seemed to pick up on what the problem was and paled. “One of you has broken this rule. One of you decided to ignore the fact that the food in this container was not yours and ate it anyway. And I expect that whichever one of you did this, will be mature enough to own up to it, because your actions caused your classmate a great deal of distress, and that is unacceptable.”

Aizawa paused to let the words sink in, yet no one immediately owned up to the cheese. He imagined it was because the culprit was scared of what might happen to them if they did. He did tend to forget how threatening he could be when he wanted to, and that his students were about as forthcoming as rocks when he was actually mad. He sighed, and lessened his glare. “The punishment will be the following; detention, buying a replacement of the exact cheese that was given, and a handwritten and verbal apology to Aoyama.”

Finally, after several minutes of tense silence, Sero raised his hand, doing his best to avoid making eye contact with anyone. “It was me, Sensei.”

Aizawa nodded. “Everyone else but Sero, leave. Now.”

His class was quick to take the escape, practically fleeing the room and heading upstairs. Not one of them seemed to want to dare to leave the dorm with how angry he was. Sero’s friends gave him sympathetic glances as they too, fled upstairs, and soon it was just him and the boy in the room. Aizawa stared at Sero and sighed. “Why did you eat Aoyama’s food?”

“I—I don’t know.” Sero said. “I want to say it was an accident or something, but I honestly don’t know. I just wasn’t thinking I guess.”

“I’m disappointed. I thought I’d taught you all better than this.”

“I’m sorry, Aizawa-sensei.” Sero dropped his head even more, looking thoroughly ashamed at his actions.

“It’s not me you have to apologize too.” Aizawa said. “It’s Aoyama.”

“I’ll do that, Sensei.”

“Of you go then.” Aizawa tilted his head towards the stairs. “You’ll have detention for three days after school, and need to replace the cheese you ate. I expect it done ASAP.”

“Yes, Sensei.” Sero said, standing and quickly making his way towards Aoyama’s room, understanding Aizawa’s dismissal for what it was.

Aizawa sighed, hoping that Sero’s punishment would be enough to stop such a thing from happening again. Hopefully.

 Aoyama was crying. Again.

But this time, he wasn’t crying alone.

Aizawa didn’t know what he’d walked in on just now, but he almost wanted to walk back out and let the students involved handle the situation, thinking it was just a minor disagreement or something similar. But then he saw the same distressed look on Aoyama’s face that the boy had worn a few days ago after the cheese issue, and Aizawa knew then that he wouldn’t be able to leave the situation alone.

“What’s going on?” Aizawa asked as he approached the students trying their best to calm Aoyama down. Yaoyorozu… Ashido… Midoriya… and Sero. A quick glance up the stairs showed more of his class looking on anxiously; trapped on the other side of a wailing Aoyama. It was then that Aizawa saw it; shattered glass at the bottom of the stairs. Ah, shit.

Aizawa knew exactly what it was that had been broken, for it had been a glass sculpture of a building in France that Aizawa didn’t know the name of, but recognized. It was an important possession of Aoyama’s—a gift from his parents if he remembered correctly—and Aizawa wanted to know just how it had ended up broken.

Ever the voice of reason, Yaoyorozu was the first to speak. “It was an accident, Aizawa-sensei. Midoriya tripped down the stairs just as Aoyama was coming up them. We heard the crash and came to investigate, but by then, they were both in tears.”

Aizawa glanced over and Midoriya, taking note of the equally distressed look on his student’s face, and the rapid waterfall of tears running down his face. Aoyama was similarly distressed, but being much more vocal about it. “Midoriya—”

“I’m so, so sorry, Sensei!” Midoriya said in a hurry. “It was stupid of me to trip over my own two feet, and I tried my best to dodge Aoyama, but I couldn’t do it in time, so then I tried to save the sculpture, but I just made it worse, and I can’t apologize enough, and—”

“Midoriya, breathe. Aoyama, I need you to do the same.” Aizawa interrupted before Midoriya could really get going. His student followed his instruction—Aoyama taking a little longer to understand what was being asked of him—giving Aizawa time to approach, resting a hand on both his and Aoyama’s shoulders. “Now, are either of you hurt?”

Both students shook their heads, although Aizawa could see some puncture wounds where the glass had penetrated, and he wasn’t blind to the way that Midoriya was gingerly holding his arm. Aside from a few bleeding spots, Aoyama seemed to be fine, which was good considering he’d probably been squashed by Midoriya in the first place. Teenagers will be teenagers, I guess. Aizawa turned his attention to the students at the top of the stairs, scanning the crowd for the ones he wanted. “Iida! Todoroki!”

Two heads peered through the crowd, pushing their way to the front. “Yes, Aizawa-sensei?” Iida asked, quickly coming to stand just behind his classmates.

“Can you and Todoroki take Midoriya to Recovery Girl, please?”

“Sure thing, Sensei.” Todoroki nodded, quickly helping Midoriya to his feet.

“The rest of you, go back to your rooms.” Aizawa ordered, pleased when the rest of the kids scattered like mice. Now that there was only a small group of people, Aizawa could focus his attention on Aoyama. “Hey, kid, how can we help?”

“You—You can’t.” Aoyama sobbed, reaching for the broken glass, only to be stopped by Sero. “It’s broken!”

“I know.” Aizawa soothed, rubbing gentle circles into Aoyama’s shoulder with his thumb. “But maybe we can fix it?”

Aoyama’s entire body shuddered as the boy tried to gather his words. “It was a gift from my mother. She—she made it herself. And now it’s gone!”

Clearly, Aoyama was too distressed to actually listen to what Aizawa was saying. But thank god that Yaoyorozu was still here.

“It’s okay, Aoyama.” The girl smiled gently. “I’m sure if you tell your mother what happened, she’ll be happy to help you get it fixed. It was an accident that it got broken. I could easily make another for you as well if you’d like, but I think it’s more about the sentiment, isn’t it?”

Aoyama nodded; his sobs having died off. “Maman made it for me before I came to UA, as a way to remember her while she was in France still.” The boy paused. “Do you really think she won’t be mad?”

“Of course not!” Yaoyorozu said. “She’s your mother! How about we write her an email together? Sero and Ashido can gather all the glass and we can try and get it all sorted out.”

“Okay.” Aoyama agreed, letting Yaoyorozu pull him up, both students disappearing back up the stairs before Aizawa could stop them. He’d wanted to make sure that the minor injuries from the glass were alright. He’d just sent Yaoyorozu a message asking her to do that for him.

“Will you two be alright?” Aizawa asked his two remaining students who looked a tiny bit annoyed and being put in glass cleaning duty.

“Sure, Aizawa-sensei.” Ashido smiled at him. “We’ll just use Sero’s tape to clean everything up and take it to Momo! Although it would’ve been nice if she asked us first.”

“Would you rather be the one that has to comfort Aoyama and talk to his mother?” Sero retorted.

“Good point.”

Aizawa sighed, turning on his heel and leaving the two students to clean up the mess. Now he had to make the trip to Recovery Girl’s office to check on Midoriya. Why are my students such a mess? Why?

 

By the sixth time that Aizawa had walked in on Aoyama in tears, he was ready to get to the bottom of the what was the reasoning behind all the waterworks. Aizawa was all for his students expressing themselves, but this was more than the normal emotional distress he’d encountered over his years as a teacher. This time, Aizawa had had to hunt down Aoyama, for the boy simply hadn’t shown up to class that day, and no one seemed to know where he was. His class certainly hadn’t enjoyed the lecture that had come from that little titbit of information, but maybe that would teach them to pay more attention to whether their fellow classmates had actually left the dorms in the morning.

Anyways, Aizawa had left his class the moment Ectoplasm had walked in, and made his way over to the dorms, quickly climbing the stairs to the floor of Aoyama’s room. He was worried about his student, especially after the many breakdowns over the past couple of weeks. Aizawa stopped outside of Aoyama’s door, gently rapping his knuckles against it. “Aoyama? Are you in there?”

Aizawa listened carefully, pressing his ear against the door. He could faintly hear the sound of something moving in the room, but it was too soft to distinguish whether it was Aoyama or something else inside. “Aoyama?”

Aizawa carefully pushed the door open, not wanting to invade his student’s privacy, but also wanting to make sure that his student was actually in there and alive. The room was dark, a stark contrast to what he’d heard about the room in passing conversation. His eyes were drawn to a massive lump in the bed, the covers drawn over to hide the lump from view. The lump was shaking, the bed rattling in response, which explained the noise that Aizawa had heard from outside.

“Aoyama, are you alright?” Aizawa crossed the room and perched on the edge of the bed. He carefully pulled the covers down to reveal his missing student, cheeks splotchy and tears running down his face. “Oh, kid, what’s wrong?”

Aoyama’s eyes met his own, and the tears began to fall even faster, and the boy’s sobbing grew worse. Aizawa’s concern shot through the roof, all sorts of possibilities running through his mind for what could possibly be causing this kind of breakdown. At first, he thought Aoyama could be injured—a valid concern since his class had been sparring yesterday—but he didn’t find anything as he scanned the boy. Next, he thought it might be sickness, but it was hard to figure out if the heat Aizawa could feel was an actual fever or just from all the crying. Whatever was causing the breakdown, it certainly wasn’t going to stop anytime soon, so Aizawa just carefully pulled Aoyama into his arms, letting the boy cling to him and cry into his short.

Aizawa rocked Aoyama from side to side as the boy continued to cry, although his wailing was starting to quieten down, the sobs descending into silence. The tremors remained, and occasionally Aoyama would hold his breath; Aizawa felt a little bit of pride in that moment that his student was trying to calm himself down. He continued to soothe Aoyama for some time, just patiently waiting for the boy to calm down enough to tell him what was wrong.

“It’s okay, Aoyama. You just tell me when you’re ready.” Aizawa said, hugging Aoyama just that little bit tighter, ignoring the snot and tears that were slowly staining his shirt. He could handle a little mess if it meant that his student was comfortable.

Finally, the crying stopped, the silence that followed broken by the occasional sniffle and cough. “Aizawa-sensei?” Aoyama whispered, his voice cracking slightly.

“I’m here, kid. What’s going on?”

“I’m sorry…”

“Don’t be sorry, Aoyama. But you can talk to me.” Aizawa said, running a hand through blonde hair. “I want to help, if I can.”

“It’s stupid.” Aoyama sighed into Aizawa’s shirt.

“It’s not stupid if it got you crying like this.”

Silence followed his words, but Aizawa didn’t push. He just patiently waited for his student to find the words he needed. Several times, Aoyama made to speak, but failed to follow through; still, Aizawa did not push. Pushing would only bring back the tears.

“I miss home.” Aoyama finally said. “Not… home here, but home home.”

“Home home?” Aizawa was confused for just a moment before he remembered that Aoyama hadn’t been born in Japan like the rest of his students. “You mean France?”

Aoyama nodded. Aizawa could feel tears start to dampen his shirt again. “I miss France, and my parents. They went back after the dorms were built. And I can’t visit them…”

He’s homesick. Aizawa finally put the pieces of the puzzle together; when Aoyama had been crying over his eaten cheese, when he’d been crying over his broken statue that had come from his mother. All of those had been reminders of home for his student, and all of them had been broken in some way. It wasn’t surprising that Aoyama had broken down.

All of his students missed home one way or another, but most of them could be soothed with a late-night phone call, or an organized visit. Something that was near impossible when your family lived in another country entirely. And for once in his life, Aizawa didn’t know how to help. The solution would be to arrange time for Aoyama to visit his family, but the current situation with the League made that impossible. A phone call could help, sure, but he doubted that it would. And it wouldn’t be right of him to ask for Aoyama’s parents to just fly back to Japan—considering his students track record with bad parents, he wasn’t willing to risk it either—even though that would probably help Aoyama the most.

“How can I help, kiddo?” Aizawa asked.

“You can’t.” Aoyama let out a single sob. “You can’t help me, Sensei.”

“Let me try at least. Is it just you missing home?”

Aoyama nodded. “Maman and papa are busy. I haven’t—I haven’t heard from them in ages.”

“Okay, okay, it’s alright. We’ll sort something out.” Aizawa ran a hand down Aoyama’s back. He racked his brain to try and figure out what time it would be in France; not something he’d ever had to think about before. Once he figured it out, he couldn’t help but wince. If he tried to call Aoyama’s parents, it would be well into the night.

But if it calmed his student down, it was worth losing some sleep. At least, in his opinion, it was. Aizawa pulled out his phone and found the number he was looking for, only hoping that it was still the correct one. He held the device up to his ear, listening to it as it rang. Aoyama didn’t question what he was doing, nor did he seem to notice.

“Hello?” A tired, accented voice came through the phone. “Who is this?”

“This is Shouta Aizawa. Am I speaking with Ms Aoyama?”

“You are. You’re Yuga’s teacher, aren’t you?” Aoyama’s mother questioned, sounding much more awake. “Is everything alright?”

A competent parent. Finally. “Yuga’s just feeling a touch homesick. Would you be able to speak with him for a bit. I’m aware it’s late and—”

“Put my son on the phone.” Aizawa blinked as he was interrupted, not expecting the woman to interrupt him.

He pulled back from Aoyama and held his phone out to his student. Aoyama just blinked at him. “Your mother is on the phone, if you’d like to talk to her.”

“Maman?” Aoyama shakily took the phone from Aizawa’s grasp, tears welling in his eyes once again as rapid French began to filter through the phone; Aoyama responding in turn.

Aizawa found himself trapped, since Aoyama was still clinging to him, so he resigned himself to his fate and just made himself comfortable, pulling Aoyama into a one-armed hug. He didn’t have a clue about what was being said on the phone, and he could hear another voice had joined the conversation—Aoyama’s father if he wagered a guess—but whatever it was that was being said, it was helping, for Aoyama was slowly starting to relax, looking happier than he had in the past few weeks.

It wasn’t a solution to Aoyama’s homesickness, but it was a start to helping him.

He’d talk to Nedzu and Aoyama’s parents later to see if there wasn’t a way to allow Aoyama some time to go to France, or if they could bring his parents over to Japan for a visit.

And if they couldn’t sort something out, well, Aizawa would just have to learn French, wouldn’t he?

#my hero academia #boku no hero academia #mha #bnha #dadzawa #aizawa shouta #aoyama yuga #mha fanfic #fanfic #writing

[purplesurveys]

1801

Has anyone ever made fun of your taste in music? Not to my face but I'm familiar with the sensation. Society at large had historically made fun of girls who liked One Direction, and we're getting a repeat treatment for the most part with BTS.

What’s your favorite season of the year? We don't have seasons so I've never been able to relate with your four.

Do you have pop-tarts in your house right now? No – the markups for those get so expensive so we only occasionally get them. Like they taste okay, but definitely not worth how much they'd usually cost.

Is anyone’s birthday coming up? It's my dad's birthday in a little over a week.

Does someone owe you over twenty dollars? Yep my sister's been paying me in installments for the tickets I got her to both Seventeen and the upcoming Manila run of Miss Saigon.

Do you remember who you liked in grade eight? That's equivalent to freshman year, right? I wasn't into anyone then.

When was the last time you burned any part of your body? It fortunately didn't leave a mark but a couple of months ago I touched a freshly-cooked mozzarella stick, but my instinct wasn't quick enough so I unintentionally let it linger in my hand even though it was scorching hot. Anyway, it obviously hurt a lot lol and the affected fingers were throbbing for a few moments before subsiding.

Have you ever overflown a bathtub? Nope.

Are you dressing up for Halloween this year? It's only January and very early to tell.

Have you ever called somebody dollface? I don't think so.

If I gave you ten dollars, what would you spend it on? Immediately put it in savings.

Have you ever thrown food at a stranger in a movie theater? Wow, no?

What are you most excited about right now? Well there's the Rumble happening this weekend and I have a hunch AJ will be making a teeny weeny appearance, so I've been hyping myself over that for the last couple of months now haha.

Does / did either of your parents serve in the military? They never did.

Are you somewhat of a perfectionist? To a fault.

Do you like sour candy? No I quite dislike anything sour actually.

Where would you like to go on your honeymoon? I've never really thought about it. Somewhere secluded in like Spain would be nice.

Do you have Verizon? We don't have that.

What do you do to stay awake when you’re tired? I just drink coffee. Maximizing the brightness on my phone also helps.

Are all nighters something you have grown used to? I'm not 'used' to it, it's just something I like doing.

Do you usually wear sunglasses when you’re driving? I never do that.

Do you wear your shoes around the house? I'm Asian. We take our shoes off no matter what.

Is there ever a time that you enjoy cold showers?

Yeah, when it's really hot and I've been at work outdoors.

What clothes are you most comfortable in? Sligihtly oversized tops, denim jeans, sneakers. Jackets/cardigans that are one size larger are also nice.

Is there anybody you’re not ashamed to tell anything to? Angela would be the closest.

What has changed most about you in the past year? I've been a lot more generous to myself in setting boundaries.

Are you good at painting nails? Not at all. I can't even do mine neatly.

Smoothies or slushies? Slushies.

Are you good at filling silence in awkward situations? It depends. Sometimes I know so little about a person (maybe we've only met, maybe we're worlds apart when it comes to our interests) that it's just impossible for me to keep a conversation going; it'slso harder when they also don't make the effort.

Ignoring nutrition, could you live off veggies for the rest of your life? No, I need my meat.

Elaborate on a way you have volunteered? I've never volunteered but I've shown support in other ways. I donate to crowdfunding efforts for injured stray dogs at least once a month, and there's a rescue community that I have a subscription to – the monthly fees go to maintaining their shelter.

Do you use a full length mirror daily? Yep, just to check how I'm looking and if I need to fix my hair or whatever.

Can you walk in heels, or do you feel awkward in them? I used to love wearing heels and owned several pairs, so if you asked me put a pair on now I'll be just fine.

Any TV shows you sit down weekly to watch? I'll watch at least one Friends episode once a week but that's it.

Does anybody know about your sex life other than your partners? Sure.

Even if you don’t like politics, do you still have opinions on the issues? Yes.

Are you one to sneak food into movie theaters? We don't 'sneak' food because we don't have to do it, lol. Bringing outside food works just fine here, and there's a mutual understanding among Filipinos that the one line we draw is just with smelly food. People will bring sushi or fries or hotdogs or pizza but you'll never see anything that's like, flooding in garlic or vinegar or whatever.

Will you tell someone if there’s something in their teeth? Yes, 100%.

Do you ever actually make your bed? Yup, I need to otherwise I wouldn't be in the proper headspace to work.

Do you make an effort to eat healthy? Just whenever I can but it's really not a practice of mine. I love spoiling myself with all my food faves lol.

How are things between the person you like / love / are with?

Where did you sleep last night? Below my loft bed, which is where I sleep on weekdays. My actual bed is only reserved for weekends.

The last time you kissed someone, what color of shirt were they wearing? Idk.

What year do / did you graduate? I graduated college in 2020.

What kind of booze did you last take shots of? Soju.

What’s something you want to purchase next time you’re at the mall? An inhaler because I recently lost mine :(

Has someone of the opposite sex ever told you that you were sexy? I don't think so.

If you could see any musician live, front row, who would you choose? BTS or Beyoncé.

If you had to choose between a million dollars or to be able to change a regret? The money.

Are you taller than your mom? No. She's short, but I'm still shorter :( Hahaha.

Have you ever been around someone who was high? I have, back in college.

Do you prefer to take your showers at night or in the morning? I used to be such a major evening shower-er but lately it's been in the mornings. I need to get my showers in as soon as I wake up because I find it helps SO much with calming me down and making me feel relaxed just before I start work.

Think back to June. Were you in a relationship? I have not been for the last 3 Junes.

What’s so special about what you’re wearing? I got this top from my extreme last-minute outfit shopping for Kim Seonho's fanmeet last year. Basically I went to the arena with an outfit I pre-decided on, come to discover that there was apparently a color code (his fandom color is blue). I had zero blue on so I rushed to the nearest H&M and bagged the first blue top I could find, lol.

Do you have any ‘naughty’ photos on your phone? Nopes.

Could you handle living with a male roommate? It'd be quite unique but I'm not closed off from that situation.

What were you doing at 10:00 this morning? In a virtual meeting.

Why aren’t you texting the last person you kissed? We haven't talked in over three years.

Do you think anyone has feelings for you? No.

What do you miss the most about your past? Not feeling like I am stuck.

When is the next time you will kiss someone? I don't know. Never? Hahahaha.

Has anyone taken their shirt off in front of you? Yes.

Plan on getting drunk or high tonight? Nah.

In the past week, have you cried hysterically? Yeah, I cried like Monday to Wednesday over work. And it wasn't just your light sobs; I was struggling to catch my breath and everything I said came out shakily and I was crying from pure anguish.

Do you think you’ll actually live a happy life with somebody? No. I'm okay on my own.

Are you on birth control? Nope.

Did you talk to someone until you fell asleep last night? Nah.

Last time you were really happy? Seeing Seventeen last week, hehe.

Do you tend to fall for players? No.

Why aren’t you in ‘love’ with your last ex? We're estranged now.

Have you ever asked a boy for advice? Yes, I've asked plenty of advice from Hans before.

Are you wrapped in a blanket? Nopes.

Did you get a full 8 hours of sleep last night? Yes I did, actually. I fell asleep earlier than usual – around 10:30 AM – so that helped a lot.

Have you spoken to your mother today? Father? Mom yes, dad no.

[frecklystars]

This is about the commission so you can read this when your ready

It may be difficult, but if you remember what you wanted then you could write your commission in a notes app first so you can take a break if you need to. Then just copy and paste it to them [ive never commissioned someone before but i imagine you have to be specific about what you want]

Then get them to send the painting to a trusted friend to hang on to untill you are ready to open it or you could get it sent to your home and just not open it.

Getting a commission like this could be a huge step for you! but it shouldn't come at the cost of your mental health, if you think that getting the painting is going to hurt you in any way then it's completely reasonable that you don't get it and nobody is going to be mad at you.

[Sorry if this doesn't make sense ive never gotten a commission before so i dont know much about the prosses, but i do hope this helps and uh sorry for the block of text]

Hi sweet anon! 🥰💐 Thank you for reaching out!

Yep you got the process correct! Luckily a year ago I already set everything up, I have my request prepared and written out, I have my reference of my S/I ready in her pretty flower skirt and I have my money set aside... the only thing I really have left to do is hit "send".

With Starscream, he's different, I don't feel panicky/devastated the same way that I do with other TF characters when I'm triggered; I don't get any violent flashbacks when I look at Starscream as often anymore, but now instead I will feel... how do I describe it, this... immeasurable GRIEF in my chest, like this horrible, overwhelming pressure in my chest that makes me sob uncontrollably for several minutes. I think it's because Starscream saved my life and my self ship with him was the most wholehearted, unconditional feeling of love I've ever had with any of my ships I've worked on, and I purchased so many personalized voice clips from his voice actor back when he had those available on cameo which made me feel even closer to the character... and I guess seeing this character now and immediately associating him with my abuser and no longer feeling that Love™ with him just makes me feel so depressed over what I'd lost. And my brain tends to have an all or nothing view of things, so when I see Starscream and think "oh god I miss him, I've lost him", I'll also think "I've lost him forever and I'm never going to feel safe with him ever again" which is what makes me hesitate to spend so much money on a commission. I mean, I know I'm not going to have a panic attack if I view it, which is great. but I know I might cry my eyes out unless if I'm miraculously cured within 4-8 months, but who knows 😅

I really like your suggestion of not opening it until I'm ready! I didn't even think of that being a possibility. I actually ended up doing that with an autograph from Steve Blum, I ordered it in January even though I felt super numb, and when it arrived in the mail sometime months later, I still didn't open it for probably 6 months. I still felt sad when opening it, but at least I waited until I was absolutely ready, and I felt more in control of whatever reaction I'd have to it. And you have made another good point, that this could be a rly good step to healing for me. The therapist I'm seeing for my trauma is constantly telling me I have to get back into the habit of self shipping again, even if it's so hard, I literally have to try to train my brain into remembering how TF used to give me serotonin, haha. I haven't felt ready to draw myself with him yet, but hey, maybe paying someone to make a really gorgeous professional painting of Starscream staring into my eyes lovingly while holding my hands in the soft light of the moon? Maybe it'll make me feel better.

Thank you for your help, anon!!! 🌟✨

#anonymous #asks

[joysmercer]

you show up today, just to ruin things

inspired by this post by @lovelyamneris and this post by @yackers.

______________

Late 2012

Nina groans and rolls over, reaching for her phone. 5:33 AM. Too early to get up, too late to fall back asleep. Brilliant. She clicks the screen off, but something catches her eye just as it fades to black and she immediately unlocks it again. She squints to make out the notification under the harsh light.

Fabian🖤

Missed Phone Call & Voicemail | 4:17 AM

Nina mentally does the math. It would have been 9:17 in the UK when he called. A strange time, especially since he had always been so cognizant of the difference between them. It’s also not like him to leave voicemails—if she missed a call, he usually texted after—but then again, it’s not like him to contact her at all. It hasn’t been for a while.

Curiosity gets the better of her, and she turns her volume down as low as it can go before pressing play on the message.

“Hey, American Girl,” a very un-Fabian-like voice sneers through the phone. Patricia? Nina thinks, wondering what she’s doing with her ex’s phone. 

An old, unpleasant notion pops into her mind—maybe they’re…no. Even if Fabian’s moved on, it wouldn’t be with her. Would it?

“I have something super important to tell you, since Fabian here is too much of a wimp to do it himself,” Patricia continues, taking on a strange tone Nina’s never heard her use before. She begins to wonder if maybe her old housemates got a little too excited with the secret alcohol stash Jerome keeps under his bed.

But then again, at 9 o’clock in the morning? Really?

“I am not!” Fabian’s voice screeches in the background. There’s a rustle, then a distinct thud. 

“Ow, you asshole, that was my elbow!”

“Well, you fucking deserve it, messing with my stuff like that.” Fabian laughs—no, cackles, and Nina stares at her phone, feeling sick. In all the time that she spent with him, he never spoke so harshly, roughhoused enough to hurt someone. Drunk or not, this isn’t the Fabian she knew.

"Anyway, Nina, or what did I used to call you? ‘My Chosen One’?” Fabian continues, pronouncing the last three words like Alfie used to when telling ghost stories. “You know what I discovered? With you being gone—you’re actually not that special. Eddie can do everything you used to, without being nearly as annoying. And at least he's never put us in danger. Some Paragon you were, only good for crying and lying, and even that you always seem to fuck up.” 

Nina presses pause, ignoring the minute and a half left on the message. 

Whatever small part of her regretted her decision to stay away this year, hoped to go back eventually and reconcile with everyone, dies with the remainder of the voicemail.

She made her choice, and clearly, they’ve now made theirs. 

It’s time for her to put that part of her life behind her.

______________

January 2013

“Oh, that’s weird,” Fabian mutters, staring down at his phone screen. “Eddie, do you remember me calling Nina for any reason last semester?” 

“No, why?” 

“It says here I called but she didn’t pick up? Sometime in—oh.” 

“What’s up?” 

“It was right around when we were, you know.” Fabian trails off. “Oh, god, I should probably call her and explain.” 

“What, that we nearly reawakened a crazy Egyptian goddess and destroyed the world, again, when she specifically stayed away so that wouldn’t happen?” Eddie scoffs.

“Yeah.”

Eddie smiles apologetically. “Yep. She should know. Especially for Chosen One Purposes and all.” He pauses, then continues mischievously, “And maybe throw in whatever’s going on between you and Mara for good measure. Really piss her off.”

Fabian flips him off with one hand and raises his phone to the ear with the other. The call fails. He tries again; the same thing happens.

“I think she’s blocked my number,” he says, whacking his phone against the palm of his hand. “Or I just really need to replace this thing.” 

“Dude, calm down. It’s probably an issue on her end,” Eddie suggests. “Like, maybe she doesn’t have an international plan anymore.”

“Yeah, maybe.” Fabian leans back in his chair and groans. “I wish I could just remember why I called her that day.” 

“Sorry, man. Maybe you can ask her when she finally unblocks all of us on ChumChatter.” Eddie thumps him on the shoulder and promptly leaves the room, presumably in search of his own girlfriend.

______________

June 2013

“Amber, are you sure this is a good idea?” Nina asks as she slams the boot of the taxi shut, hoping the response would be different than the one she’s received the million other times she’s asked.

“Trust me, Neens, I wouldn’t have invited you to this soirée if people didn’t want you,” Amber says matter-of-factly. “Plus, daddy’s on a business trip and mum’s gone with, so we have the entire place to ourselves. Worst case, you can just hide out in the opposite side of the house.” 

“Fun. Feeling very welcome here,” Nina grumbles, following Amber up the gravelly pathway leading to the mansion that is the Millington Family Residence. 

Over the next half hour, the girls pick their bedrooms, shower, and unpack a little, waiting for the others to arrive for what Amber called their “Big-Summer-Blowout-Slash-Anubis-Reunion-Slash-Grad-Party”: five days in the fanciest estate Nina’s ever set foot on with a bunch of people she not-so-accidentally ghosted for six months. 

She’d bumped into Amber while touring universities in New York over December break, and to her relief, their friendship picked up exactly where it left off. However, it wasn’t until she received a carefully-worded, heavily apologetic email from Fabian mid-March that Nina unblocked her other friends from across the pond.

Still, memories of that awful voice message plagued her—Fabian hadn’t mentioned any such thing in his email and she’d been too afraid to ask for clarification—so the only lines of communication she kept open with him were strictly confined to the group texts they’d established (upon Amber’s observation that “maybe you lot wouldn’t have had your souls stolen if you talked to each other at the same time instead of playing a life-threatening game of telephone”). Nina was anticipating some frostiness when she finally saw him (and, perhaps, everyone else) in-person, and she was not looking forward to it.

A soft knock on her door shakes her out of her reverie. Amber peeps her head in. “So, our first guests have arrived,” she says, a stressed look on her face.

“Amber, what did you do,” Nina says, purposely phrasing her words as a statement instead of a question.

“Okay, so I may have not explicitly told anyone that you would be here,” Amber starts, blushing slightly. 

“Amber! You promised—”

“I’m not done,” Amber interrupts. “Fabian may or may not have just arrived withmaraonhisarm.” 

“Huh?” Nina asks, confused.

“With Mara. Like, together. Side note, I did not see that coming. Anyway, um, he noticed your suitcase in the hall and didn’t exactly look pleased.” 

“Ugh.” Nina groans and flops back on her bed, covering her face with her hands. 

“In my defense, we did plan all of this in the giant Anubis group chat that you were also in, so I just assumed people knew.” Amber sighs and takes a seat on the edge of the bed. “I’m really sorry, Nina.”

Nina simply sits up and pulls Amber into a hug. She knows her friend only meant well, especially given how much she’d missed home when she first moved away. She can’t fault her for that. Besides, Amber’s right; there was no reason why the others didn’t realize everyone in the group was on the invite list.

Amber pulls away first. “So.”

“So,” Nina echoes. “Come on, it’s time to face the music.” 

The two girls enter the foyer and are greeted with the sight of not only Fabian and Mara but Patricia, Joy, and Eddie as well. They’ve all changed since Nina last saw them; even regular profile-picture updates can’t hide things like Joy’s newfound air of confidence or the fact that the boys have each grown a few inches taller and far more serious over the past year.

“Hey, guys,” she says nervously. “Long time, no see.” 

Eddie raises his chin slightly, Joy and Mara slip her shy smiles, Patricia gives a little wave.

A chill silence fills the air as Fabian’s gaze finally lifts off the ground to meet hers. The room seems to spin around them, closing in and suffocating the breath out of her. Even if Nina had the words to speak, she wouldn’t have been able to.

Finally, Fabian clears his throat and gestures upstairs. “Boys’ rooms are there, right? I’m gonna go, um, freshen up.” He hoists up his suitcase and rushes away.

As the others crowd around her, demanding hugs and gossip, Nina watches him walk around the balcony out of the corner of her eye, unable to let herself relax. 

Not when it’s obvious that her coming here only made things worse for the one person who didn’t deserve to be hurt by her anymore.

Not when that problem worked the other way, too.

#house of anubis #hoa fanfic #fabina #nina martin #fabian rutter #sibuna #ao3 link in the reblogs

[moohnshinescorner]

🔥🔥NEW RELEASE🔥🔥

Book details:

Hesi-Dating

by Zoe Forward

Publication date: January 15th 2024

Genres: Adult, Comedy, Contemporary, Romance

Synopsis:

I warn all my dates: Don’t fall for me.

I’m good for a date or two of no-strings fun, but then I’m a ghost.

Until the sheriff. He saves me from a jerky ex-date. Now I owe him a favor. Almost a decade older than me, funny, and insanely attractive, my chemistry with Seth is off the charts. His post-divorce hurt makes me want to heal his wounded soul. For the first time in ever, I say no. He doesn’t deserve my heartbreaking ways. I tell myself I must walk away since me dating law enforcement is a no-can-do. I’m not a felon, but I do have connections from my past that make it dangerous. If I’m truthful, it’s self-preservation. Seth threatens to awaken the desiccated organ inside my chest.

Then he needs a favor.

Calling in favors becomes our not-dating game.

I should have stopped helping him. I should have left well enough alone. But I just couldn’t resist. I have a connection to this guy. One that has me acting irrationally. One that snags the attention of the gang leader I wished would leave me alone.

I want to nurture our burgeoning spark, but I must protect us from the deadly dangers of my past.

Hesi-dating features a hesitant sheriff, a player girl hiding a big heart and dangerous past, a lame horse, and the world’s worst home security dog. It stands alone and comes complete with sibling meddling, an awkward naked handcuffs scene, and a sweetly satisfying happily ever after.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/203870534-hesi-dating

Purchase:

Amazon: https://amzn.to/4aMEzuO

MY REVIEW ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

My second read of 2024 New Year and I loved it. It was a very unexpected story and I was totally thrown for a loop.

Jolie is thrown for a loop when her blind date turns out to be the sexy sheriff of San Diego, Seth. Yep this handsome, sexy, older sheriff is not what she expected and definitely not someone she can date. With the dark secrets of her past and her known association with a gang leader, the sexy sheriff is the last person she should date.

Seth has thought about Jolie non-stop since that first encounter. But she said no. She has a dark secret and he cannot understand why it is a problem for them. But when the two keep getting thrown together over and over, those feelings grow and Jolie must make a decision. Stay and risk Seth being killed or leave him forever.

This book was an amazing read. The story flowed flawlessly and was pure unexpected perfection. The characters are wonderful, smart and strong willed. I fell completely in love with Seth and I want one of my own. "wink, wink" He is so smart, sexy, loving, caring and just out right amazing. Him and his greying hair to his sexy hat. This man oozes charm.

The story is a twisted tale and has quite a few triggers in it. Beware of the trigger listed: kidnapping, rape, violence, stalker, control, murder and child danger. This book combines all these things to create a dangerous, twisted, suspenseful tale of obsession and fear. It is exciting, scary and heart breaking. An excellent read.

AUTHOR BIO:

USA Today bestselling author, parent, wife, veterinarian, chocolate lover. Author of spicy paranormal and contemporary romances. Zoe Forward brings readers the perfect combination of action adventure, romance, humor and a bit of magic.

Her novels have won numerous awards including the Prism, Readers’ Choice Heart of Excellence, Golden Quill, Carolyn Readers Choice Award, and the Booksellers’ Best Award.

You can find her residing in the South with a menagerie of four-legged beasts and two wild kids

Author links:

#booknerd #bookblogger #booklove #bookstagrammer #bookish #amreading #bookstagram #bookworm #booksofinstagram #tbr #valentinepr #newrelease

[heaven-s-black-box]

Loopy love- Gureshin

Return to File

Recovery date: January 21st, 2020

Description: Shinya's high on pain meds, Guren just wants to make sure he's okay.

Notes: N/A

Word count: 479

Back to directory

Getting shot in the butt with an arrow hadn't been Shinya’s plan when he offered to help Yoichi. You see, Yoichi had asked him for pointers on being a sniper, and Shinya being the gentleman he was agreed. I mean, it couldn’t be that bad right? Find a high place, find a few targets, and shot for a few hours. Nothing to difficult, nothing at all.

After a while, Shinya had gotten bored and decided that he’d go find a vending machine. Still no problems, he told Yoichi to keep practicing and he’d bring him back a drink. Nothing could go wrong! And nothing went wrong… until it went horribly wrong. 

“OH MY GOD!” Yoichi yelled, “I AM SO SO SO SORRY.”

“It’s- It’s fine,” Shinya groaned, "Just help me get back to the city.”

You see, when Shinya had come back with drinks, he hadn;t realized Yoichi was concentrating. He was ‘in the zone’ really, and Shinya should have been more careful. He turned around to put the drinks down and called out to Yoichi. Yoichi (startled) turned around with his bow drawn, and like any respectable Demon Moon Company member, shot first and asked questions later.

So now, Yoichi was helping Shinya limp back to base… with an arrow in his butt. Yep… Shinya has an arrow in his butt. So much for a relaxing day off. He was never going to hear the end of this from his brothers, maybe even Guren. Although he had ways of making Guren shut up, he has plenty of black mail for him. 

---

“Lieutenant,” Sayuri greeted Guren when he entered the medical ward.

“Where is he?” Guren asked sounding exhausted, he knew it was nothing too serious, but he still cared for Shinya.

“The wing on the far end.”

Nodding to dismiss her, he found his way to Shinya’s wing. There he was met with one of the most peaceful sights he’s ever seen. It revealed their early morning cuddles, when the sun was barely breaking through the curtains and Shinya was still sound asleep on his chest. Sighing, he sat in the chair beside his bed.

Just as he was about to reach out and rub Shinya’s back, he was on his stomach, Shinya groaned.He looked like he was really struggling to open his eyes. He always looked adorable when he was half asleep, although Guren would never say that out loud.

“Hey sleepy head,” Guren teased, “How you feelin?”

“You know. I could kill you. Right?” Shinya slurred, he was most definitely very,very drugged.

“No you couldn’t. You couldn’t even hurt an ant,” Guren laughed.

“I’ll show. You,”Shinya mumbled, “Right after. This nap.” And like that he was out.

Guren had to admit, drugged Shinya was almost as cute as sleepy Shinya. He was just glad he met drugged Shinya in a peaceful situation.

#Researcher S's recovery #owari no seraph #seraph of the end #gureshin #fluff #oneshot #ONS oneshot

[atozphantomsquadron]

Chapter 5: Enclosure

January 15th, continued

Trinity Site is an unremarkable part of the New Mexico landscape.  Although there are several mountains in the far distance, I’ve heard that entering the vicinity tends to create a sense of foreboding and dread, whether you leave the car or not.  I have never been here before now, but I can understand what those stories are talking about.  Perhaps it’s the residual signature of destruction that’s making us so uneasy as Gabe pulls the truck off the highway and starts off-roading toward an unknown destination.

Michi’s having a tough time of it, I think.  She’s shivering in the back seat.  I think either she feels that dread, too, or she’s still trying to recover from transporting Jerry Tile to the Ranch.  “Are you okay, girl?” I ask her.

She nods, clutching her elbows.  “Don’t worry about me, Alanna.  I hate this place.  Dad brought me here years ago, trying to see if the auras here would trigger my powers … it didn’t work too well, and I’ve had nightmares ever since.”

I can understand that.  I turn toward Gabe.  “Where are we going?”

“The cave that your father was investigating is not far from here.  I’m taking us there to start looking for clues as to how we can both find him and fight.”  His face is unmoving, chiseled in marble.  I sense before this trip is over I’m going to learn there’s more he’s hiding.

Not surprising, though, I’m still pissed at him for hiding the supernatural blueshirts from us.  How are we supposed to fight without knowing everything about the enemy?  For God’s sake, armies go into combat with at least a little bit of intelligence, why can’t we?

The truck bounces and stumbles over a number of ruts and lumps in the ground, until finally the brakes squeal and we shiver to a stop.  Gabe slams the truck into park.  “We’re here, girls.”

The three of us pile out of the truck, stretching our legs: after our close call at the checkpoint Gabe has forbidden either of us from leaving the truck unless he gives us the okay to, including at stops.  I look around, trying to get my bearings.  The sun is low in the sky: night will be upon us soon.  There’s a good deal of dust in the air, probably kicked up by our feet and the truck’s tires. 

Ahead of us, though, is what I’ve been dreading.  The cave.  The one that my dad disappeared in.  It’s not very remarkable, just an open hole in the side of a hill as far as we can see.  There isn’t anything really suspicious about it just looking at it. 

Gabe walks up to a spot near the cave’s mouth and points down.  “This is where we found the Sword.  Weapon and scabbard were driven almost a foot into the ground, right at this spot.”  He bends and scrunches his face, like he’s narrowing his eyes.  “In fact, the hole’s still here.”

I look over at Michi, perplexed.  How does a hole that small stay in the ground after two years?  We join Gabe around the hole.  I crouch down and get a closer look at it.

It’s an oval-shaped opening, just sitting there in the dirt.  I look down at the Sword on my hip: yep, it could fit in there pretty snugly.  I reach down, gently trying to feel the edges of the hole with my fingertips.  It doesn’t feel right.  There’s something wrong here, something I can’t quite put my finger on …

My fingers are pulled.  I can feel a weight being attached to them, and they’re driven into the hole, which now threatens to consume my arm.  I pound at the dirt, trying to get leverage to pull myself out.  Behind me, Gabe and Michi are flying around in a panic.

“Guys, stop freaking out and help me!  Pull me up!”

Both Gabe and Michi wrap their arms around me and pull.  It’s no use.  Whatever has a grip on my fingers isn’t letting go.  I don’t want to have to draw the Sword to deal with this, but I might have to … except that the wrong hand is trapped, and I can’t draw it.

Was this planned?

Michi brings her gloved hand down next to mine.  “Let me try something, girl, if I hurt you I apologize in advance.”

“I don’t care, just do it!”  My heart rate is rising, I can feel it pounding in my throat.  I’m panicking. 

Michi nods at me, wrapping her hand around mine.  “Polarity!” 

My hand shoots out of the hole, nearly carrying me and Michi with it into the sky.  As it is, we wind up sprawled on our butts in the dirt.  My breathing is trying to return to normal, but it’s hard after that much adrenaline’s been pumping.  Michi turns toward me and asks, “are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’ll be fine … what the hell was that?”  My fingers are still throbbing: whatever grabbed them had a tight grip and didn’t want to let go.  I look at the newly-freed fingers and realize that both of them are bleeding, though I didn’t feel any kind of skin penetration at the time. 

Am I in shock?

Gabe crouches down and checks the fingers.  “What’s in there that could cause this?  This looks like some kind of animal bite.”

I shrug.  “The last thing I felt in there before I was pulled was some kind of metallic surface.  I think that hole’s definitely man-made, and not by driving the Sword in it.”

Sounds distract Gabe and Michi.  They look up, eyes narrowing toward the cave.  “I think we’ve got company,” Michi mumbles as she flexes her gloved hand.

Gabe helps me up, and the three of us carefully start venturing inside.  I’m on full alert, so I unfurl my wings and let them sit behind me as I carefully wrap up my bleeding fingers.  I don’t expect to be able to fly in the cave, I just like having them out when I feel endangered.  It’s like my security blanket.

I can hear the sounds, getting louder.  They sound like human beings … yells, commands, screams … with a deep, hollow echo.  Gabe and Michi are in front of me, at the ready for a fight.  Michi has her gauntlet hand up and ready to cast a spell, but it looks like all Gabe wants to do is fistfight.  If anyone in here is armed, he’s screwed and I’ll need to draw the Sword again.

Moving deeper into the cave, I can almost make out a flickering, like someone has lit a fire deep inside.  Wanting to remain silent, so that we wouldn’t be heard, I motion to Gabe and Michi.  They nod and acknowledge, and we continue to advance, but slower this time.  As we do, the light eventually gets brighter.  A natural ridge appears before us, just above where the light is at its brightest: all three of us start crawling as we approach it.

Over the ridge, we can see a multitude of activity taking place.  New Empire activity, to be specific: blueshirts are manning machines and tending to vehicles.  At the center of the cavern room is one person, in what looks like full military regalia, directing traffic and observing.  He’s walking through the scene with a number of blueshirt attendants following behind him.

Gabe seethes.  I give him a questioning look, and he relents and speaks.  “The guy doing the inspection down there is the Regents’ new Joint Chiefs chairman, Tyrelius Scolar.  This is starting to get too intense … maybe we should leave.”

“Why?” I whisper intently.

“Look at Scolar’s hip, Alanna.”

I narrow my eyes and focus in on the man identified as Scolar.  The uniform looks like one a North Korean general would wear, riddled with medals and sashes and gold cords, all against the same shade of blue preferred by the SSA.  It’s hard to make out, but I do finally see something dangling from Scolar’s hip.

It’s a sword.  It looks like it’s about the same length and heft as mine.  The hilt, though, is a darker color, almost pewter, and is decorated with what looks like a red X.

I get a sudden chill.  I’ve seen that sword before.

When it ran me through …

“Jesus Christ, he’s the Invader!”

I might have just said that too loudly.  Gabe clamps his hand around my mouth.  “You can’t stand up to an Invader fight, not yet.  Your father couldn’t even handle him.”

Everything is freezing up in fear.  The Invader.  Mom and Dad told me about him, when they told me about Four Corners.  He is the anti-Guardsman, an agent of Hell who tried to trigger Armageddon before my parents and Uncle Cyrus and Aunt Kitty were able to stop him.  He nearly succeeded.  They always told me that he seriously hurt Dad in their fight, hurt him as the Guardsman.

If Dad couldn’t stand up to him, what chance do I have?

Michi taps us on the shoulders.  “Guys … I think they heard us …” She’s standing up, thrusting her gloved hand in front of her.

We look down at the scene and realize that we’ve drawn the attention of several blueshirts.  They’re drawing weapons.

I can’t think straight.  That much is obvious when I leap off of the ridge and draw the Sword.  My wings don’t retract when the armor closes around me, though: much to my surprise, my wing spars get armor of their own, and they’re able to move.  I land in the dust, legs apart, Sword at the ready.

The second winged Guardswoman.

Blueshirts are firing their weapons at me.  From above, I’m seeing magic blasts taking some of them out.  Others, I swing the Sword from side-to-side, clearing them out of my way.  I’m quickly approaching Scolar, at a measured pace.

No, not yet!  I don’t want to die right now!

Scolar is an unremarkable man once you get past the uniform.  His eyes are obscured by the world’s largest pair of eye shields, which leaves me only able to see his mouth and chin.  They’re wrinkled and scarred.

Why does that face seem familiar?

I have no time to debate myself, as he reaches for his sword and draws it.  Armor closes around him.  The helmet is the last to appear, a grinning death’s head.  The Invader brings his body and weapon to en garde, ready for a fight.

I can vaguely hear Gabe’s words in my mind.  Then I realize that I’m hearing him actually yell them.  “Alanna!  Don’t fight him!  He’s too powerful!”

The Invader gives me no choice: he rushes and thrusts.  I parry the advance and kick at him to knock him aside.  The sound of the swords clashing reverberates throughout the canyon, making the entire place vibrate.  A stalactite falls, very close to our position: I dodge it.

I need some kind of advantage, but how?  Might as well try to fly.  I flap my wings, lifting off gently, then more sharply as the Invader tries to attack again.  I flap them harder, trying to get back up to the ridge.  I’m vaguely aware of orders being called out underneath me, which brings about a fresh barrage of gunfire.

Many bullets strike the armor, bouncing off.  A couple hit my wings and bounce off as well, although I can feel those shots more than the others.

Then there’s a slicing pain, and my altitude starts to fail.  My left wing won’t respond.  I desperately try to flap, but as I look over I see there’s a large cut out of its webbing.  Toward the ceiling of the cavern I can see the source: the Invader has thrown his sword at me, which cleaved right through the wing before driving itself into the rock.  Just as quickly as I spot it, the sword vibrates loose and returns to the Invader’s hand.

No choice.  I close my wings into my body and angle myself so that I’ll land on my feet.  With the Sword’s help, I do.  The Invader takes this as a sign of defenselessness, and rushes toward me, sword held high.  I turn around quickly, because I see my own opening, and I’m about to swing the Sword hard into his midsection …

“Levitation!”

No!  I’m yanked roughly out of harm’s way by another of Michi’s spells.  I had him right there …!

The spell isn’t quite refined yet, and it flings me against a rock wall.  I sheathe the Sword and shake my head: it’s killing me right now, not to mention the shearing pain in my left wing, safely tucked into my body.

“Come on, girls, let’s get out of here!”  Gabe is grabbing us by our arms and dragging us out of the cave.  We don’t have much choice but to follow him, his grip’s too tight.  Besides that, more blueshirts are starting to climb over the ridge to pursue us.

Michi gets a look that I’ve seen hundreds of times before in her eyes.  “Oh no you don’t, girl,” I warn her.  “Not in here, not in closed quarters!”

“Sorry, I gotta do what I gotta do!”  Her right arm is in Gabe’s grip, which frees her up to use the gauntlet.  “Hellfire!”

Michi’s left arm turns into a flamethrower.  A lot of blueshirts change into black ash, as they’re consumed by the flames emitting like jet exhaust from my best friend’s hand.  The flames also act like jet exhaust, because suddenly I’m aware of Gabe lifting up off the ground and being propelled by the fire.

“Not much further, girls … hang on!”

Michi is looking even paler.  I can only imagine how much of a cost the fire spell is taking in her blood.  I think when we’re back on the road, I’ll force-feed her cans of spinach.  The thought almost gets lost as we tumble out of the cave’s mouth, and Michi finally puts out the hellfire.

She’s really weak.  I need to pick her up and toss her into the truck, as Gabe turns it over and slams on the gas before I’m able to close the door behind us.  The blueshirts that survived the flaming cave rush outside and fire at us, but after a while we’ve left them far behind.

I’ve just realized that I’m panting.  I turn around to look at Michi.  “What were you doing back there?!”

She grins at me sheepishly.  “Well, y’know, I thought they wouldn’t be able to escape …”

“Not the hellfire, the levitation!  I had a clear shot at destroying the Invader …”

“That was my fault,” Gabe chimes in.  “I told her to do it.”

Now I am really pissed off at Gabe.  “I had an open torso, and I was going to cut him in half!  I didn’t need rescuing!”

“If Michi hadn’t pulled you out, you would be dead.”

I feel hot.  “How do you know that?  You don’t!  You had her yank me out before I was goddamn ready, before I could do anything about it!”

Gabe is wincing slightly under my verbal assault, but holds his ground.  “Alanna, the Invader has his tricks, and an uncanny ability to evade destruction at the Guardsman’s hands!  What was I supposed to do, betray your parents’ trust in me and let him slaughter you?”

I’ve had enough of his sanctimonious act for tonight.  The heat is overwhelming.  It’s creeping up my throat …

A line of shimmering flames launches right across Gabe’s face, melting the window on his side.  He panic-brakes and the truck spins out slightly.  When the flames finally dissipate, both he and Michi are looking at me, with panicked and somewhat surprised expressions.

At this point, I realize that those flames just came out of my mouth.

#phantom squadron #insurgent's journal

[automatismoateo]

I had it all wrong. via /r/atheism

I had it all wrong.

I made a post here last month about how my father was going to force my family to do Bible readings every Sunday. He ended up changing his mind and having us watch sermons every week instead. I wasn't thrilled about this but still went through with it all since I wasn't ready to tell them that I'm an atheist and this wasn't too big of a deal anyway.

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Well, I ended up talking with my mom a few weeks ago about what my plans are for after college and we ended up on the topic of grad school. Basically, I expressed that I didn't really want to go and instead wanted to find a job right away and move out as soon as possible. I wanted to leave as soon as I could so that I could finally stop faking as a Christian (and hiding other things) and finally just be myself without having to worry about possibly not having a home to go back to, but I didn't want to reveal myself just yet. I tried dancing around it while still trying to answer her questions, but she wouldn't let up and told me to just say it. I'd looked through the coming-out stories on here and knew that I could end up ruining everything in just this moment, but she wouldn't let it go and it was obvious that I was nervous and hiding something.

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So I told her. I told my mom that I'm an atheist, and she said "Yeah, is that it? 🤨"

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She wasn't upset with me at all. My stomach had been bubbling like a damn witch's cauldron and she took it as though I'd just told her that I got a C on a math test. She also said that she'd known for a while now because of all the questions I'd asked over the years, but I never suspected her of knowing anything. I thought I'd been doing a pretty good job of hiding everything, but I'm actually a really shitty actor.

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Although she wasn't upset, she did cry at some point because it hurt her to know that I was worried she wouldn't love me anymore, that I doubted her and my dad's love for me. I felt terrible for making her feel that way, but I had no idea. I was just scared. I think she was able to understand where I was coming from though and was no longer hurt over how I felt. Additionally, she ended up telling my dad because she knew I was too scared to do it myself and he took it well too!! I was more worried about my dad finding out because he seemed to be even more passionate about his faith than my mom, but he was cool with it. Overall, I felt a little ridiculous for hiding and thinking the worst (I think it was valid for me to feel that way though), but I am just so glad that this weight has finally been lifted off my shoulders.

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Now, do they fully understand my perspective as an atheist and why my beliefs have changed? Nope. Do they still pray for me anyway? Yep. Would they prefer it if I went back to Christianity? Absolutely. But that's okay. It doesn't have to be perfect. As long as I always have my parents' love and support for who I am then the little imperfections don't matter. This is more than enough for me.

EDIT: It’s great that things have worked out well for me but if you’re someone who is still in the kind of situation I was in before then PLEASE be careful. It’s actually not recommended for atheists to come out while still in potentially dangerous situations. My story isn’t common. Thank you and I’m hoping for the very best for you.

Submitted January 29, 2023 at 07:56PM by DawnoftheMorningStar (From Reddit https://ift.tt/8hm0xXE)

#reddit