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impossiblesuitcase · 1 year

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Kai ranting about how frustrating everyone was in a very long meeting that left him so emotionally and physically exhausted that he’s on the verge of a breakdown as cinder rubs his back.>>> 👌👌

(Also very good chapter of mmm, love a good title drop)

Did I take this prompt and use it as an excuse to write an idea I've had for ages? Noooooooo. I would neveeeerrrrrr.

Voices in His Head

“The Eastern Commonwealth’s blatant loyalties to Luna make it wholly unequipped for any rational discussion—”

No.

“—the Olympic games is a fundamentally Earthen event, and not only is the empress asserting that we should include Lunar and cyborg athletes—”

Stop.

“—but she even insiuntates that it should be held on Luna.”

Shut up.

“Empre—”

SHUT. UP.

Queen Camilla’s words freeze in his mind, scratch and almost start up again.

Kai walks into the bathroom, bleary-eyed and spent. His dress shoes clack on the marble tiles and tinnitus crawls into his synapses, so awful it makes him want to wrench them off and shove them into his eardrums.

“Empress Selene would even imply tha—”

A shower. He needs a shower. He’s sticky and greasy and his hair is clinging to his forehead. At this very moment, he’s certain every arachnid mite living in his pores is raving.

(He’s been in his air-conditioned office all day.)

Their bathroom is straight out of one of those architecture netfeeds Iko pores over. Tall ceilings, double sinks with basins cut from a geode and coated in glass to protect their hands. Dim lights framing the mirror. A large freestanding tub with hidden jets, and overhead a bespoke chandelier. The shower has built-in seating and three heads and is wide enough to fit four, five, ten people and a horse.

Cinder is leaning against the sink, back to the mirror. Her hair is unusually free and tumbles down her shoulders as she scrubs her teeth. Her chequered red shorts and white singlet have lost opacity where they are stretched over her midsection.

Six months gestation, and though she’s hurled up her guts almost every single one of those days, she’s still the most beautiful mother-to-be he’s ever seen.

He is noticed as she turns around to the basin, her toothbrush lodged between her teeth. “‘Uo’re back!”

Kai pauses at the towel rack, steadying his hands on the metal bar. The shelf adjacent is already home to three rubber ducks, two bottles of baby shampoo, a microfibre koala towel and a thermometer.

“‘Ow was da meeding?” she garbles. She leans over the faucet—spits, gargles, and wipes her mouth with a towel.

His feet are finally free of his shoes, next his socks. When she straightens, he’s struggling to pull off the left with his toes.

“Kai?”

“It was fine.”

She sighs, stringing the towel over the rail. “Isn’t it kind of the union leaders to choose a time that’s great for their time zones and terrible for ours?”

He forces a single scornful chuckle. His sweat has left condensation on the rail, and his towel is absent.

Cinder passes him a fresh one unbidden, then bumps the drawer closed with her hip. “Sorry I left you to fend for yourself in there—Doctor’s orders and, oh! Doctor Li moved the blood count test to Friday.” Eyes alight, bright and hopeful. “Do you wanna get away tomorrow?”

“We have the meeting with the chancellor,” he reminds her flatly.

She deflates, thumping her forehead with the heel of her hand. “Stars, I can’t remember anything these days. Stupid”—wack—“pregnancy”—wack—“brain.”

“It’s almost 1 am. You need some rest.”

She’d been napping when he left for the meeting, not before moving her from the couch to their bed. He’d hoped she would stay asleep. But she woke up, on purpose, to wait for him. Again.

“You look like you need it too.” She smiles tenderly, extending her hand for him to take.

He takes it. Squeezes. Pulls away. “I’m gonna have a shower.”

The smile falls. “You already had one this morning.”

His hands fumble with the hem of his shirt, trying to pull it free—it’s stuck around his wrists. Kai dumbly pulls and grunts. Pulls, pulls, pulls.

When he doesn’t respond, her brow creases, quietly worried. “You look tired. Why don’t you just come to bed?”

Finally, he figures out that the shirt is a button down. The button holes are near impossible with numb fingertips but eventually he’s slinging the shirt across the bathroom floor.

Then, wordlessly, he approaches her, kisses her forehead, and crouches to kiss her stomach.

Cinder looks at the ground; at him. “I’ll wait for you.”

Don’t. But she’ll ignore him anyway.

Kai makes it into the shower and puts it on full blast. It’s scalding. He curses under his breath, steps out of the stream, turns around for the soap.

Cinder is still in the bathroom, lingering by the doorway. She isn’t looking at him—more towards the bay windows and seven potted plants underneath. Yet there’s a reason she’s here.

She’s done this—this pensive hovering—a lot over the past year and a half. The year and a half which was better chronicled by months; months of hoping, months of disappointment.

He grabs the soap, catching it as it slips out of his hands. Footsteps retreat into their bedroom.

It’s his fault, of course. He has no siblings. No aunts or uncles. He is the last in line for the throne.

Kai scrubs his chest.

Hereditary male infertility. Cinder had even reasoned that perhaps her cybernetics had damaged her reproductive system—trying to take some of the blow. But the doctors said in no uncertain terms that she was as good a candidate for pregnancy as any.

It’s his fault.

Months of vitamins almost as many calories as his breakfast congee. Months of the exact same soul-crushing, taunting, singular pink line. Every time, Cinder would hug him and assure him that she didn’t blame him, that it would happen for them.

“It takes two to make a baby, you know. If one of us is having issues, we both are,” she’d said.

He had smiled weakly.

But as the waiting went on too long, she stopped telling him that the tests were coming back negative. Stopped telling him she was taking them at all. But he’d hear her curse when she got her period, not just in annoyance for the blood staining their bedsheets. Hear her hushed conversations over comm with her obstetrician. Complain of more headaches than usual—the ones she gets in place of crying.

He turns off the water, feeling a sting in his own eyes.

———

Kai is shivering by the time he leaves the bathroom.

Cinder is still awake as promised, though her heavy eyelids imply it’s an active fight. The bed sheets are wrinkled from her previous nap and she’s snuggled into the baby blue pregnancy pillow that Scarlet recommended for sciatica. Kai grudges the fluffy cocoon because its walls keep him from holding her at night. But he wants her to be comfortable, so he doesn’t let that fact reach his vocal chords.

Cinder absently scrolls through her portscreen as he approaches the bed. Feet jelly, he flops onto her side and crawls over her legs.

She giggles under her breath. “Lazy.”

Drained, Kai thinks.

His side of the bed is cold. Despite this, he can’t be bothered to pull up the blanket or turn off his bedside lamp. He just stares blankly ahead. Little flickers of light scatter outside, like stars in his vision. He’s forgotten to close the blinds to the balcony window, he vaguely realises.

Can’t be bothered.

Then again, it’s not a bad thing to fall asleep to. Though the front of the palace stands towering above the crowded New Beijing metropolis, this side faces a picturesque mountain range. Where the city welcomes more artificial light than darkness, the mountain lights are patchy; sparse from town to town.

He and Cinder love to stand on their balcony at night and gulp in the air and dream about getting lost in those forests.

“What’s wrong, love?”

The port has been moved to her nightstand, plugged in and facing down. She’s looking at him.

A safe shake of the head. “Nothing.”

Her hand snakes out from underneath the pillow and tucks around his back. It’s frighteningly cold; it skips like stones over a frozen lake on his skin. A moment later, he realises it’s actually warm, hot even, and his brain has misinterpreted the temperature.

Cinder stalls the hand at the small of his back. “Please don’t lie to me,” she whispers.

He sighs deeply, explanations clogging his throat. That warm flesh against his skin reminds him of the hot metal rods used for archaic torture and interrogation. It’s a disturbed, callous thought he regrets immediately, even if he couldn’t control it escaping from his deep unconscious.

“It was just…the meeting.”

“Didn’t go well?”

Something derisive leaves his throat. “You could say that.”

Deep brown eyes that still visit his dreams, imploring. Her hand cups his waist. “Tell me about it.”

“Empress Selene would even imply that her trauma validates her opinion over ours.”

“No,” he says firmly. “It’s not important.”

She scoffs. “It obviously is, if it’s got you this drained.”

He rolls over, facing away from her. “I’m fine,” he says curtly. “Don’t worry about me.”

Kai tempers his breaths. This new position is already growing uncomfortable. He waits.

No sarcastic response. Not even a pitying reply. A glance over his shoulder reveals her frowning, pinched lips.

There it is again, that lingering. Kai hates having her worry about him. He hates that, before, he was too overwrought and uncoiled from wanting to curse into the wind to really take care of her as much as she needed. Hates that during that time he could bring down any cheerful mood, like when they played a boardgame with Cress and Thorne—which Cinder had deliberately arranged as a breather for him—and he became snarky when he was the only player to not land on a ‘have a baby’ tile.

Of course, they have all the univs on the planet. All the resources in the galaxy. They could’ve marched into their doctor’s office, get hooked up to the latest high-tech fertility machines and walk out soon-to-be parents.

But the procedures would be incredibly invasive for Cinder. Just hearing the lengths of it made his stomach flip-flop upside down and inside out.

Cinder had endured surgery after operation and trauma after mutilation. He couldn’t do that to her. Not when this was a simple, fundamental thing he should be able to give her.

So they waited. And he underestimated how much that waiting would corrode him. Now she’s pregnant, and he isn’t going to let a minute pass by without taking care of her.

Ignoring her, freezing her out, is not taking care of her, chants a voice in his head.

“Kai, my love, look at me.”

He does as asked.

She reaches over, stroking his cheek. Her eyes drop to his chest. “Can I tell you something?”

“Anything.”

Wistfulness envelopes her face. “You know, it doesn’t matter what you could be talking to me about—the apocalypse, certain death.” The switch back to his eyes is sharp. “What really stresses me out is when you don’t talk to me.”

That voice was right. Stupid stupid stupid.

“I don’t want to worry you,” he repeats.

“I know.” Lines crinkle around her eyes with her smile. “But I will always worry about you. That’s the deal. And you won’t stress out Peony either: she can’t hear.”

“Actually, her ears are already formed and functioning. I was reading up on it the other day.”

“Well, she can’t comprehend what we’re saying.”

“Cinder,” he feigns offence, “are you calling our daughter dumb?”

A long eye roll. “Kai.”

“Sorry.”

She sits up unexpectedly, extricating herself from the baby blue pillow. It’s thrown to the floor with groan and no doubt a few jugfuls of strength, then she secures herself in his arms instead.

He’s too tired to dial down his eagerness. This is what he’s needed all day, all month, all ever. He cradles her rapaciously.

“Talk to me,” muffles against his shirt.

And he does. Gripes about Queen Camilla barely shrouding her prejudice against Cinder, and the other leaders agreeing, despite everyone in the room knowing it was born out of jealousy for the younger, more popular ruler. Rants about President Vargas and his new bill that would fold all trade route monopolies into his hand, and how the fully-informed other leaders supported it! All because the Union was growing suspicious of the Commonwealth for opening new internal routes, believing they were attempting to splinter off and rely on their own economy.

He does and he does until he’s almost crying from frustration, because this is the last thing they need right now. These inane arguments would persist until after Peony came, and they didn’t deserve to have to entertain and coddle squabbling politicians. They shouldn’t have to cradle fragile adults when they should be cradling a fragile daughter.

Cinder listens and holds him. Listen and hold, listen and hold. As he winds down, recoils into back his spring, she pulls his hand to her heart, the other to her stomach. Peony is awake too.

Badum, kick, badum, kick, badum.

“Thank you,” she says finally.

“Thank you,” he says meaningly.

Under his palm, a thin, jagged scar peeks out from her singlet, starting at the swell of her breast and reaching her sternum. It’s the length of his pinky finger and almost the length of her ring finger; they’ve measured it before.

Kai caresses the pale memory under his thumb. It’s faded over time, but it could fade more. Doctors recommended laser treatments, skin grafting, cell turnover acceleration. Cinder declined it all. She wears her scar without apology. It wasn’t her fault her crazed aunt stabbed her in the heart.

It isn’t his fault.

Cinder directs his chin with a warm metal hand and kisses him like she’s the one whispering that assurance to him. Like she means it.

Badum, kick, kick, badum.

“Can we reschedule the meeting with the chancellor?” she whispers after a while.

He laughs. “No. I’d love to say yes, but we really can’t.”

She squints. Yawns, not too disheartened. “Then can we do something this weekend?”

“Like what?”

Deep brown eyes that still visit his dreams, sparkling and romantic. “Since Peony can hear, how about…” She shifts awkwardly in his hold to point at the glistening mountainous skies. “A walk through the forest?”

A deep inhale. Crisp air, frozen in time. Towering trees that would remain and thrive despite any number of problems he faced or caused.

“Birds chirping, a creek burbling, just like when you proposed?” She gives him a nudge, though he needs no convincing. “Won’t that be nice for her?”

Wind rustling through leaves. Twigs crunching under his feet. Cicadas humming where he’ll never see.

“Peace and quiet for Mummy and Daddy?” he teases.

A laugh, and then she tucks back into his neck.

———

The forest is silent, yet Cinder’s smile is speaking a thousand unsung words. It’s okay. I love you. You’re doing your best.

Maybe he can listen to the voices in his head, when it’s her.

Notes

My reasoning as to why Kai may be infertile.

Hey, question! Anyone like Cresswell fic and would want to be tagged?

@cinderswrench @cindersassasin @hayleblackburn @spherical-empirical @salt-warrior @just2bubbly @gingerale2017 @zephyr-thedragon @holdmysparks @oceanspray5 @icarusignite @shellyseashell @kaider-is-my-otp @slmkaider @luna-maximoff-22 @cosmicnovaflare @kaixiety @shellyseashell

#tlc #cinder #kaider #the lunar chronicles #lunar chronicles #linh cinder #emperor kaito #prince kai #selene blackburn #tlc fandom #marissa meyer #lunar chronicles fanfiction #kaider fanfiction #married kaider #post something old something new #post sosn #kaider as parents #kaider pregnancy

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tnbiatch · 2 years

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SOSN ch 2 snippet:

“Seeing you lot gives me a headache. I’m not sure anymore who’s with who. Are any of you a couple?” Sirius asks after a while of eyeing us.

“Who says we’re not in a polyamorous relationship, Black?” Evan asked with a serious look on his face.

“I—You—Wha-- ? Reg?” Sirius spluttered looking for something to say.

Will def post on wednesday. Watch out people! Sending you all my love 😘🥰

#jegulus #james x regulus #marauders #regulus black #james potter #starchaser #the black brothers #ao3 fanfic #remus x sirius #sirius black #remus lupin #fic: start of something new

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petnews2day · 1 year

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Man accused of throwing husky puppy over Houston apartment balcony – KIRO 7 News Seattle

New Post has been published on https://petn.ws/SOSn

Man accused of throwing husky puppy over Houston apartment balcony – KIRO 7 News Seattle

HOUSTON — A man is accused of animal cruelty after he allegedly threw a husky puppy over a Houston apartment balcony last month, authorities said Thursday. >> Read more trending news Dwight Paul Hankins, 66, of Houston, was arrested and charged with felony animal cruelty to non-livestock, according to Harris County Sheriff’s Office online booking […]

See full article at https://petn.ws/SOSn #DogNews

#Dog News

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legrandepapillon · 2 years

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Chapters: 18/30 Fandom: Hamilton - Miranda Rating: Mature Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Gilbert du Motier Marquis de Lafayette/George Washington, Alexander Hamilton & John Laurens & Gilbert du Motier Marquis de Lafayette & Hercules Mulligan, Adrienne de Lafayette & Gilbert du Motier Marquis de Lafayette Characters: Gilbert du Motier Marquis de Lafayette, George Washington, Adrienne de Lafayette, Alexander Hamilton, John Laurens, Hercules Mulligan, Michel du Motier Marquis de Lafayette, Marie Louise Jolie de La Rivière, Maria Reynolds, Elizabeth “Eliza” Schuyler Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Arranged Marriage, semi-modern au, Age Difference, Classism, Wealth Importance Summary: Arranged marriages were a common affair—especially in a world where your hand in marriage is only worth as much as your dowry, and you are your parents property until they say otherwise. Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette—heir to a French title and wealthy import business—had just never expected he’d be subjected to one. (an alternate universe where marriages between young heirs and older affluent people are arranged for power, wealth, and the continuity of financial security)

#sosn #washette #just realized i never posted this on this blog #here you go #marquis de lafayette #george washington #hamilton an american musical #fanfiction #arranged marriage au

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eerna · 6 years

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@the-beautiful-annabel-lee replied to your post “members of the rampion crew are not tied exclusively to their partner...”

�� Part of the reason I enjoy this series so much is because they all are so close and love each other like a family!

HONESTLY YOU ARE SO RIGHT they worked so well in whichever combination the plot put them in and part of the reason they felt so real is because the romance pairings did have interactions, but also lived and had meaningful and less meaningful actions outside those frames I knew my soul was sold to the series the moment Cress and Wolf, the most unlikely combination ever, were ordered to play a married Earthern couple and infiltrate the palace

#the-beautiful-annabel-lee #answered #i love the rampion crew so much #usually big casts of characters are unnatural in their post-plot reunions but they worked so good in both sosn and w&n im gonna cry

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star-going-supernova · 2 years

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Loved the new fic, Star. Could you just clear something up for me though? Is this fic seperate from your "Something Old, Something New" fic from a few weeks ago? Can't wait for the next part of that BTW.

Thank you! Of course I can, friend! Yes, The Thing About Night Guards is entirely separate from Something Old, Something New. I was only borrowing the idea of the OG band exhibit that I described in it.

Also, for further clarification, the continuation for Something Old, Something New is going to be a three-chapter story called The Past Refuses to Be Forgotten in which the first chapter is the original SOSN ficlet. I might use my Friday rotation to post that one after No Take Backs wraps up, so you hopefully won't have to wait much longer!

#i answered a thing #anonymous #life and times of star

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daisydoctor13 · 4 years

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WIP tag game

rules: post the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. send me an ask with the title that most intrigues you and interests you and i’ll post a little snippet of it or tell you something about it!

Thank you @freetobegrace for the tag

Does it count as a WIP if you've completely lost motivation to write it lol anyway

AA maybe

Hustle

Flight

Halloween

SOSN

Send me asks but I'll warn you I'll not reply until tomorrow because life

I'll tag @batnbreakfast @ktlsyrtis @pers-books and @slightlyintimidating if you fancy doing this

#yeah i never name my WIPs until i post them and even then #i dont always change the name of the file #tag game #fic writing #ask me things

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princessselene126 · 4 years

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Rampion Crew Sexualities

As promised in this post, I’m going to go wayyyyy more in depth on the sexualitites of the rampion crew. Why? Because I can. In my mind these are all canon, but ya’ll can look at them as headcanons.

Cinder

Demisexual

She didn’t think of Kai as attractive until after she met and interacted with him. She saw plenty and pictures and interviews of him before, but never thought much of him until after that point.

I don’t think she ever thought of anyone else as attractive partially because she never expected to find love (since she was a cyborg and adri emotionally abused her into thinking she wasn’t worthy of love) and partially because she didn’t have time to think about or want a relationship in general.

Kai

The Token Straight™

Instead of the token gay, we now have the token straight. fight me on this.

Attracted to Cinder, blushes ridiculously around Winter (even though he was already dating Cinder. But it’s Winter and literally everyone but Wolf is attracted to her, so can you blame him?)

He’s that hella supportive Straight Guy . Think Jason Grace from the riordianverse.

I really love the idea of Kai hosting an annual Pride Ball/Gala at the palace. Everyone’s outfits are the colors of their flag. Rainbows and glitter are everywhere. Cinder is annoyed by all the glitter, but she’s happy that they do this every year… even if she still finds glitter in her metal extremities 6 months later

Iko

Asexual heteromantic

Even though she has a human like body now, I don’t think she’d ever be in a relationship with someone (W&N almost making kiko a thing made me upset and frustrated honestly).

She really likes the idea of being in a relationship though, which is why I consider her heteromantic. She canonically romanticizes the idea of love–wanting Cinder to go to the ball to dance with Kai, and a bunch of other instances I’m blanking on right now.

Finds people attractive “You’re even more handsome in person” but doesn’t want to have sex with anyone, because again, robot. I really don’t even want to know how sex with an escortdroid would work in the tlc universe

Scarlet

Bisexual

She’s hella physically attracted to Wolf obviously. They made out on that train after knowing each other for only what, a few days?

But let’s not forget that she frequently blushes around Winter as well.

In general she has very chaotic bi energy

carrying a gun on her at all times

starting fights in the bar to stand up for people

running away from home when she was younger

not having any real regard for personal safety

Wolf

Scarletsexual

Let’s be honest, this man only has eyes for his feisty red head.

He never thinks of anyone else. there wasnt anyone before her, and there’s never going to be anyone after her.

You know how everyone thinks winter is beautiful, and blushes or stares at her for a sec while interacting with her? Yeah no. Wolf is the only one who doesn’t do that because he only wants Scarlet.

Cress

Lesbiannnnnnnn (but bi romantic)

I think Cress likes the idea of dating/being with men, but when it comes down to it, she would not enjoy having sex with men.

Her and Thorne’s relationship probably wouldn’t last more than a few months after the end of Winter because of this (I pretend they aren’t a thing in SOSN). It’d just take her a few months to realize “Okay, I like him, he’s a better person now, but anything more than kissing him I’m just not into”

and Thorne would be 100% okay with it and they’d “break up” on good terms. They’d still travel the world together but as best friends or maybe it becomes an almost sibling-like relationship.

Seriously ya’ll I just really need more lesbian Cress.

Thorne

Epitome of Disaster Bi™

He hits on everyone, okay? Not just women.

I’m a big fan of him being in denial about his sexuality. He may be willing to flirt with everyone, but he was probably really nervous about dating guys at first.

Even though this is in the future and people are probably much more okay with sexualities, I feel like his parents are those old money people who are homophobic which is why Thorne is in denial.

He started to figure out and get comfortable with his sexuality sometime between deserting and getting arrested in New Beijing, but he doesn’t actually start going out with guys until after the Lunar Revolution.

Winter

Pansexual

Winter loves everyone and everyone loves Winter.

She’s so very positive when it comes to physical appearance.

It doesn’t matter if someone is short or tall, fat or skinny, white as snow or black as night, she thinks everyone is beautiful and attractive just because they’re unique.

Jacin

Demisexual/romantic (on the verge of Wintersexual)

The reason Jacin is so in love with Winter is because they spent their entire lives together, so he knows her inside and out.

Even if he and winter weren’t in love, he’s the type of person who would only be attracted to someone who he feels emotionally connected to.

Because he’s a guard and easily glamoured, he wouldn’t care much about appearance, be attracted to someone based on it, or believe a person’s appearance is even accurate to what they truly look like–it’s all about personality and connection for him

#tlc headcanons #mine #my post #lunar chronicles #the lunar chronicles #rampion crew #the rampion crew #lunar chronicles headcanons #lunar chronicles headcanon

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emeraldwaves · 5 years

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WIP TITLE MEME

Tagged by the amazing @crown-of-winterthorne<3 THANK YOU! I’ve seen this one floating around and thought it looked fun!

The Rules: Post the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Message or comment the title that most intrigues you, or interests you, and I’ll post a little snippet of it or tell you something about it!!

MAN DO I HAVE A LOT OF WIPS LMAO!! Since my main active fandom RN is BNHA, I’ll just post my WIPS from those!! (but i have plenty from other stuff, from like FFXV, FFVII, K, etc if ppl are interested?)

My file names suck XD Listed by Last Modified

SoSN CH1

[NaNoWriMo] Kacchako Dragon Fantasy AU

KK BB CH 1

ABO kacchako wolf

Quirkless 2?

kacchako labor fic

On the Shore of his Soul Prologue/ch1? idk

fairy AU kacchako

Todomomo music AU

steampunk 7

B’s Request

Tagging @its-love-u-asshole @youaremynewdream @theorchardofbones @roraewrites @liziscribbles @miqitten @aurikhai @jaydpuppycat @kiiniku @novocaine-sea @ghostoftheyear

#kacchako #todomomo #tag meme #fun stuff #if people wanna #LOL #feel free to comment or ask about stuff!#i love talking ideas :D

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sosnvintageismylife-blog · 3 years

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Guess That Garment!! We will be posting snap shots of this new item all week. If you can guess what it is you get 40% off any original SOSN custom piece of your choice. Winner will be announced Sunday. Happy guessing!!!! (at New York, New York) https://www.instagram.com/p/CLFmupil1tB/?igshid=1dpayeac2ba2u

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newslookout · 4 years

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Market volatility in December will be high, potentially due to higher taxes if blue wave comes: Sosn

youtube

Steve Sosnick, Interactive Brokers, joins ‘Closing Bell’ to talk about what he’s seeing in the markets as coronavirus stimulus talks continue between Speaker House Nancy Pelosi and Secretary Mnuchin as well as the volatility before the elections.

The post Market volatility in December will be high, potentially due to higher taxes if blue wave comes: Sosn appeared first on News Lookout.

source https://newslookout.com/world-news/market-volatility-in-december-will-be-high-potentially-due-to-higher-taxes-if-blue-wave-comes-sosn/

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impossiblesuitcase · 2 years

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Mutually Moronic Marriage - part 1.

“To be honest, you will never be loved by everyone. I’ve decided that I should start caring more about the opinions of the people that I love. And if they love me back, I won’t be afraid to make mistakes, because they’ll help me.”

Kai makes a mistake, one Cinder has reason to be upset at him for. But Cinder learns that in a marriage of two morons, he’s her moron (and she, his).

~~~

For an event called ‘The Annual Peace Ball’, it was seldom peaceful.

The ball of 126 T.E was an obvious failure. It marked the beginning of the revolution, Levana’s grip on the Commonwealth, and Cinder being arrested and mortified for the universe to behold.

One would think that that was the hardest to beat, but the next year, the Peace Festival had to be postponed with Alpha Lysander Steele and his attacks.

The following year shouldn’t have even been an issue. There were no galactic threats, no wolfen soldiers (except for cuddly, tomato-loving ones). Nothing to cause disaster.

Except for Cinder, former queen of Luna and current queen of causing disasters.

She and Kai were engaged and the ball was her first true glimpse of her future as empress. However, they had decided to keep their engagement from the public for the time being.

Cinder missed the memo. As she was getting ready for the ball, she had just been about to take off her engagement ring when Kai had arrived. They’d talked and kissed and she’d gotten distracted and sauntered right into the ballroom with her bare metal hand flaunting the ruby jewel.

The press went mad, interpreting it as an unassuming way to announce the engagement. The news had spread instantaneously to everyone but Cinder, who had shut off her netlink for the evening. Then, when guest after guest congratulated her, she did nothing but gape in confusion. Someone must have seen something, or heard Kai mention the engagement to Torin. If someone had figured this out, what else had been discerned? Were they being spied on?

Cinder spent the night stupefied, flubbed the waltz and knocked over a tray of hor d’oeuvres. It wasn’t until afterwards that she saw her ring and chastised herself.

In the wake of this, Cinder approached the fourth year with lax. Everyone knew they were engaged, and her public spectacles of humiliation were still being replayed on the netfeeds, so she had nothing to hide.

She became so relaxed, in fact, that she ignored protocol.

Protocol: Do not shake a person’s hand unless they are a dignitary of similar or higher status.

Cinder thought this protocol classist and responded with a firm handshake when a commoner outstretched her hand. She didn’t question in the moment why the woman offered her left hand rather than the customary right.

The woman, disgruntled with the fact that Kai was marrying Cinder and not herself, slipped off the ruby engagement ring and sprang away.

“Hey!” Cinder had yelled, startling the guests around her. Before the guards could pounce she seized the woman’s wrist and forced the grimy fingers open to recover her ring. The woman swung her free arm frantically, clawing a gash into Cinder’s elbow.

The thrashing and wailing and the blood dripping from Cinder’s arm onto her dress overall soured the evening’s festivities.

No one had blamed her, but she was noticing a trend. Now, she’d groan when the ball was mentioned. Wake up with nightmares where she had been transported to eerie fairytale dimensions on her wedding day with her ring stolen.

This year, she was determined to have a perfect ball. No dramas incited by herself. No end-of-the-world scenarios. Just a normal, boring ball with dull conversations and tight dresses. The prospect had never been more appealing.

———

The fifth year was her first ball as empress, with seven months of marriage in hand, and just before the hectic political season started.

The Commonwealth had been financially crippled by letumosis and the war. The public were still struggling to recover, so Cinder and Kai decided to write some legislation to boost the economy. Cinder had offered to draft and present it, and it would be her first act as empress.

She was sick with nerves when she thought too much about it. So she didn’t tonight, instead resolving to enjoy this soirée.

Nothing bad would happen.

Nothing that she caused, anyway.

She did her absolute best to be regal. She chatted with guests, took royal-sized bites of the appetisers and applied all her dancing lessons for an effortless waltz with Kai.

Unfortunately it was to be a smaller reunion than usual: Jacin was in the throes of medical exams and where he was Winter stayed. Scarlet and Wolf were occupied with their newborn son. Iko was staying in Rieux for a few months to help them out.

At least Cress and Thorne and Tressa and Kinney could make it. And if all else failed, Cinder could always talk to the palace mechanics, whose topics of conversation she much preferred than that of the socialites.

“Turns out it was an internal fault, Your Majesty. The ID scanners are no longer receiving software updates so there have been lapses in their functionality.”

Cinder ran the numbers in her retina calculator. “But it’s still glitching…it shouldn’t be if it was just a software issue.”

Li Yanlin was a mechanic at the palace: a fairly new employee who was still always dumbfounded when the empress herself came into the workshop to help or tinker. The more experienced mechanics had already come to welcome Cinder into the fold as one of their own.

Yanlin sighed. “Yes, we’re not sure why that’s happening either. And both our managers are retiring next month. We’ve been working around the clock to fix the problem, but with them gone, I doubt we’ll figure it out anytime soon.” He took a long swig of his champagne and baulked from the rush of alcohol on his tongue. “And it’s not like the housekeepers have bothered to hire new managers,” he grumbled.

His eyes slipped over Cinder, and he suddenly remembered whom he was talking to. “Ah, not to criticise your staff, Your Majesty! We are working fine, perhaps a bit delayed but that’s to no judgement of you and—”

Cinder raised her hand in a gentle pause. “Yanlin, don’t worry. If we’re on the brink of a worker’s revolution for unfair conditions, I’d like to know how to help. Or”—her voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper—“how to join.”

Yanlin sagged with relief. “My apologies, Your Majesty. But thank you for your support. I’ll be honest, it’s been very tough on us staff.”

“I’ll look into it,” Cinder assured. Suddenly, hot air was fanning her neck and she would’ve jumped in surprise if she hadn’t recognised the distinct cologne.

Now that the bioelectrical security device was becoming popular, Cinder could no longer sense people as she used to. It startled her at times. The energy in the ballroom tonight was patchy, and she could pinpoint even from afar which persons were not equipped with the lock.

“Li-jūn,” said Kai. “How are you?”

To honour their first ball as a married couple, Kai and Cinder wore their imperial crowns with traditional Commonwealth dress. Yanlin on the other hand wore a suit, light against his brown eyes, skin and hair. Unfortunately trading his work uniform for an upgrade had not traded his anxiety for confidence. He was haplessly out of place at this shindig—perhaps the very reason Cinder gravitated towards him.

Yanlin bowed, face flushed. “I’m well, Your Majesty.”

“I do hope you haven’t been plagued with rowdy mechanics recently. I heard there’s a particularly bad one frequenting your workshop.”

Cinder rolled her eyes and only with that movement did Yanlin realise it was a joke.

“Oh!” he chuckled, albeit nervously. “No, no, we are very honoured to have Empress Selene.”

Kai smiled. “Don’t feel the need to lie.”

Cinder nudged his arm. “Give me a break!” Yanlin again looked confused. She leaned closer. “He’s only joking.”

“I understand,” said Yanlin, in a tone that suggested he very much did not understand.

Kai tied an arm around Cinder. “I’m sorry, but I’ll have to steal my wife from you. Enjoy your evening, Li-jūn.”

Yanlin bowed again, and she waved good-bye as Kai whisked her away. “I’ll order new scanners for you as soon as possible,” she called. “I promise!”

Yanlin stumbled in his bow. “Th-thank you!” From her peripheral vision, she saw him dissolve into a chair, wiping his brow with the end of a tablecloth.

“You scared him,” Kai chided.

Guilt swept over her. “What could I possibly have said?”

“It wasn’t anything you said—it’s that you, the empress, are talking casually to staff. It’s intimidating.”

“But you are also in my position,” she rebutted. “How would you know how it feels?”

He smirked. “It’s how I feel when I talk to you.”

“Hey!” Her face remained neutral, knowing a million eyes were trained on them at all times. It could spawn any number of ridiculous accusations in the tabloids (“Trouble in paradise as the royals fight at the Peace Festival—Is divorce on the horizon?”, “Inside the shocking new story: ‘She’s always abused me,’ says the emperor”).

Kai plucked a flute of champagne from a nearby server and took a sip. “I pulled you away to greet the Abernathy family. They want to see you.”

Cinder squeezed her eyes shut, a headache already forming. “That family? I have to greet that family in particular?”

“Yep.”

She pinched his glass and took a hearty gulp. “I’m gonna need this.”

He laughed with sympathy. “I promise that once it’s over you can go talk to Cress and annoy Thorne all you want.”

“That’s sound gre—”

Cinder stopped. The world tilted. Her head whipped around, surveying the myriads of bodies.

Kai clutched her arm, taking the glass back from her. “What’s wrong?”

She shook her head, wondering if the sudden surge of bioelectricity she had felt was imagined. It had disappeared immediately. “I thought I sensed someone. Someone who wasn’t here before.”

Kai cast a furtive glance around. “Lunar or Earthen?”

“Lunar, I think. It was strong.”

Of course, there could always be late arrivals to such events. But this bioelectricity signature washed over her with unsettling familiarity. A chill seized her spine as that same energy struck her again.

“Thank you for the compliment, Your Majesty.”

Cinder and Kai pivoted around so quickly they almost stumbled on their garments. A figure emerged from the unaware crowds. Cinder recognised the man instantly; a sleazy, despicable, washed-up thaumaturge whom she had sentenced to life in prison three years ago.

“Dolion Siegfried,” she muttered.

“You remember me?” Dolion’s voice dripped with cloying mockery. “I must say, I am surprised. Given how little regard you’ve paid for ruining my life, I presumed I had slipped your mind.”

She stepped forward. “You have five seconds before I call secur—”

He opened his suit coat to reveal a gun at his waist, clamping her mouth shut.

“What do you want?” Kai hissed. He did not know Dolion or what he had done. He didn’t need to, not when just the sight of the thaumaturge would roil anyone’s gut.

“This has nothing to do with you, Kaito, and everything to do with your wife. I would like your silence.”

Kai linked arms with Cinder and pushed her behind him. He said nothing.

“Good,” Dolion praised. “You’re more reasonable than I expected from an Earthen—imbeciles that you are.” He reached over and took the glass from Kai, gulping down the rest of the liquids. Some sloshed over the rim and dripped down his fingers.

“What do you want?” Cinder repeated. Kai kept her behind him when she tried to step forward, shielding her.

“I have a complaint I’d like to settle with you. As you can see”—he flourished his hands—“I’m not in prison. You may be wondering why.”

He pulled out the gun, adjusting it until it was comfortable in his hand. While Cinder was certain that he wasn’t trained for such weapons—thaumaturges always controlled others to do their dirty work—she doubted he was trigger-shy. She called up her tranquiliser gun and pointed it at his chest.

“Calm down, Selene,” he scolded. “You claim to be a pioneer of justice, and I have been wronged. If you are what you claim, no violence will be needed.”

She cocked the gun to his head, met with steely indifference.

“I demand retribution tonight, and if that cannot be achieved, I will slaughter every person in this room.” A smirk. “How? Well…”

Her hand steady, Cinder’s eyes skimmed the room. From amongst the crowd she spotted the few guests whom she had identified earlier without the bio-lock. Their eyes bored into hers; a normal occurrence with guests, judging her dress or cybernetics or mere existence. But no, Cinder knew it wasn’t the usual judgement from strangers. There was no way to grasp their bioelectricity.

“Cinder, look,” Kai called in a harsh whisper. One by one, each controlled guest pulled a hand from behind their backs, holding a gun of their own.

Kai’s arm in hers quivered with rage. Her retina display warned her of a spiking heart rate.

“I will allow you five minutes to collect yourselves, and then I shall return, awaiting your surrender.” Dolion’s voice was light, as if he were discussing something trivial like the selection of music.

The second his back was turned Cinder fired. The dart was intercepted by a guest, glamoured to fling himself forward. Dolion saluted, passed the glass to an unsuspecting server, and left. The guest fell to the floor in a heap.

Cinder let out a shuddering exhale.

The sounds of the party echoed and muddled in her ears as her brain fought to regain its footing. She only barely registered Kai bracing his hands on her hips.

“Are you okay?” tumbled out of him in a rush.

She nodded and met his frantic gaze. “Are you?”

He nodded in turn and pulled them to the outskirts of the dance-floor. “What’s the plan?”

Notes - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

Hello, hello! This fic will be 9 chapters, 1-2 new chapters released each week!

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