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ibijau · 3 years

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Oh, here's a prompt! Nie Huaisang travels back in time to ensure that Jin Guangyao stays away from the Jin sect. When he gets back, he's disturbed to find that not only is Meng Yao now his stepbrother (or has at least become a very respected disciple of the Nie sect), but is also now engaged to Lan Xichen. Cue screaming and/or fainting. But at least Minjue is still alive, right?

It was surprisingly easy to make it all happen, much to Nie Huaisang's surprise. In stories time travel was always so complicated to orchestrate, with so much to plan for... but Nie Huaisang had just done it, and it seemed to be working well.

His first stop had been to Meng Shi, shortly after the birth of her son. He could have gone back further and prevented her from ever having that son, but... but at the end of the day, he'd been impossibly fond of Meng Yao even if he'd grown to hate Jin Guangyao. The solution, then, had been to visit his mother and make sure she didn't fill her son's head with impossible dreams.

It had taken some money to get Meng Shi out of the brothel for a few days, and she'd been quite suspicious of him at first. But Nie Huaisang had been a gentleman, and she'd warmed up to him a little. She'd even given up on trying to seduce him once he'd explained that while not opposed to feminine charms on occasion, he mostly cut his sleeve. She'd acted quite sorry for him when he'd explained that actually, he'd just gotten out of a long relationship that had ended badly due to some trust issues and a the betrayal of a man they'd believed to be their friend. Meng Shi had shared a few stories as well, some her own, most her colleagues'.

By the time they'd arrived in Lanling, Nie Huaisang had become quite attached to Meng Shi, and decided he might change his plans a little, depending on what would happen in the next few days.

Meng Shi was not happy to meet other women who'd had the dubious pleasure of sharing Jin Guansghan's bed. She was even less happy to talk to them and learn that none of them, not a single one, had ever received money or attention again after he'd left them, not even those who'd had a child. One of them, the servant of a powerful family of merchants, had gone begging at the door of the Jin sect when her three years old daughter had fallen sick with something nobody understood. She'd been sent home under threats of a beating if she ever showed up again, and her daughter had died.

That had been nearly four years earlier. Jin Guangshan hadn't been sect leader yet, but he'd been his father's favourite and most spoiled son, so he would have had the power to do anything he pleased, including sending a doctor to his daughter, or having her brought into Jinlin Tai to make sure no dark spirit was attacking her. He wasn't even engaged to his wife at the time, so it was impossible to use her to excuse his lack of care. And he'd known about the child's sickness, because he'd happened to be passing by when the mother came begging for help. It was he who had ordered she be sent away, annoyed by her crying.

Meng Shi had gone paler and paler as that poor woman told her tale of sorrow, clutching her son tighter against her chest. When Nie Huaisang and her had returned to their inn, she had asked him why he'd wanted her to meet those other women.

“I just don't like what he's doing,” Nie Huaisang replied, a little embarrassed that he hadn't thought she might get curious. It was stupid of him. Meng Yao surely couldn't have gotten his brains from his father after all.

Meng Shi, sitting on her bed, rocked her infant son in her arms in silence for a moment.

“They were all weak,” she said after a while.

“Who?”

“Those other women. They were all weak.”

Nie Huaisang tensed, fearing that she might announce she was cut of another cloth, that she would persevere where they had given up, but Meng Shi only sighed and kissed her son's forehead.

“He picked them so they were young and would have no one to turn to. Servants and prostitutes and unwanted daughters... he picked us so we'd have no one to turn to when he'd abandon us, no one to defend our honour and force him to pay for the children he made us have. Women like us, it's our own fault for getting pregnant in the first place, isn't it?”

Nie Huaisang stared at her, and realised she was right. He'd been so busy collecting names, he hadn't paused to wonder if there had been a pattern to Jin Guangshan's actions.

“Are there any more you want me to meet?” Meng Shi asked.

“No, she was the last one.”

“Then I suppose we'll started heading back to Yunping City tomorrow. I'll have to make new plans for...”

“No, we're not going back,” Nie Huaisang announced, startling her. “It's too unfair if you go back, you deserve better. Both of you deserve better!”

She blinked a few times, and gave him an amused smile, still rocking her baby. She didn't believe him, of course. Nie Huaisang could hardly blame her for that. After her last experience with a cultivator...

But Meng Shi really did deserve better. Nevermind that in a future he hoped to have now prevented, he'd desecrated her body to get back at her son, this was a different thing. Meng Shi was not a bad person. He'd once thought her guilty of ambition at least, but after a couple weeks in her company, he realised she'd just been desperate for a chance to escape her lot in life. He couldn't really hate her for that, even if it had led to such tragedies after her death.

Nie Huaisang liked her now that he'd met her, and he couldn't condemn her and her son to a worse fate than what they'd have known without him.

He needed a plan.

He needed a smart plan.

He had a plan.

“So, I might have lied a little, you're going back to the brothel,” Nie Huaisang said, earning an unimpressed smirk. “But not for long! I'm going to try something but... would you be willing to lie about who sired your son?”

“Why not? At this point, the truth won't get me much.”

“Perfect. Then I'm going to warn my sect that I have fathered a child, and that I'm unable to care for it at the moment. I'll have to write to them but... but I know Nie zongzhu will immediately send for you. He'll probably ask after me, he hasn't seen me in nearly a decade, but I know he won't have forgotten his cousin Nie Xingyu, and he'll do what's right for my son and his mother.”

And there was no risk of the real Nie Xingyu ever returning to ruin that story, Nie Huaisang knew. His father's beloved cousin, who'd become a rogue cultivator after an argument with their grandfather, had actually died a year or two before Nie Mingjue was even born. A Night Hunt accident, one which Nie Huaisang had discovered by chance while investigating some of Jin Guangyao's crimes. But he remembered his father always hoped to see Nie Xingyu return, always speaking so highly of that cousin who had been almost a brother to him.

Nie Huaisang's father would be delighted to meet his cousin's son, and if “Nie Xingyu” asked for it he would buy Meng Shi's contract in a heartbeat. It would only be a matter of convincing sect leader Nie then, and Nie Huaisang wasn't worried about that. His father had kept all the letters his cousin used to send and read them to his sons, so Nie Huaisang was confident he could imitate his prose and handwriting, not to mention he too carried the Nie seal to mark that letter.

At worst, if it didn't work, Nie Huaisang could always find the money somewhere to buy that contract in person and try to find somewhere to leave Meng Shi, but he'd rather know that she and Meng Yao were safe and sound in the Unclean Realm.

Meng Shi, of course, looked unimpressed by his plan. She still thought he was lying, or trying to sell wonders like other men before him so they could share her bed for a reduced fee, or demand more of her than they'd paid for. Nie Huaisang didn't mind. If people's opinions of him mattered, he would have chosen a different way to avenge his brother, wouldn't he?

It took nearly a month after Nie Huaisang had brought Meng Shi back to her brother, but one morning, from the room he'd rented across the street, he saw a small group of Nie cultivators go in. His father was among them, and when they excited the building, he was carrying little Meng Yao in his arms and chatting cheerfully with Meng Shi who seemed shocked at this turn of events.

Unseen by her Nie Huaisang smiled, and went to activate the talisman that would take him back to his own time. Hopefully this would have been enough to save Nie Mingjue. And if it hadn't... well, he knew how to travel to the past now.

Nie Huaisang opened his eyes. He was in his room, and yet not. This was what used to be his room when he was young, before he became sect leader. A little smaller, a little more private, with a view on a small private garden where he kept his favourite birds. Hisroom, the one he'd always preferred, and had only abandoned in a desperate attempt to be the leader he'd thought his people would need. If he still lived in this room, then it meant Nie Huaisang wasn't sect leader.

Delighted by this apparent victory, Nie Huaisang sprung to his feet and rushed out of the room, only to run head first into someone.

He'd ran into that person enough times that he knew them instantly, even before seeing their face.

“Well someone is in a hurry,” Nie Mingjue said with a laugh.

A laugh.

Nie Mingjue was laughing. Nie Huaisang couldn't even remember the last time he'd heard his brother laugh like this. Not since the Sunshot Campaign, he thought.

“Your cousins haven't arrived yet,” said someone standing just a step behind Nie Mingjue, her voice also full of laughter. “You didn't oversleep, don't worry.”

It took all of Nie Huaisang's willpower to look away from his brother (Nie Mingjue, happy, laughing, healthy) but he managed it, because that other voice was a little too familiar.

It was odd to find Meng Shi in her fifties when just a few hours ago, Nie Huaisang had seen her in her early twenties. Her hair had turned grey, there were wrinkles on her face, and she had exchanged the bold colours she used to wear at the brothel for the muted tones the Nie sect favoured. It suited her. Growing old suited her, if only because she would never have had the chance, had Nie Huaisang not changed her fate.

“I think he's not quite awake yet,” Nie Mingjue teased when Nie Huaisang stared too long, poking his little brother in the shoulder. “But at least I don't have to drag him out of bed. Can I leave the rest to you, auntie?”

Meng Shi smiled, and assured him she'd make sure Nie Huaisang was ready for his cousins' arrival. Nie Mingjue thanked her and left. Nie Huaisang almost ran after him, suddenly needing to touch him, to hug him, to make sure this was real, that he had truly...

“Now it's finally you,” Meng Shi noted, earning a curious glance. “I've realised a few years ago that you looked oddly similar to the man who helped me. Too similar to simply count it as family resemblance. But until today, you didn't look quite right either.”

When Nie Huaisang could only blink at her, she laughed.

“I thought so. I've been wondering for years, but... you did something to change what was meant to happen, didn't you?”

“I did. I wanted... I needed to save certain people.”

“Your brother,” Meng Shi guessed.

Nie Huaisang nodded.

“And my son?”

He nodded again. “Where is he? Is he well? He learned cultivation, right?”

Meng Shi smiled proudly. “He's one of the best in his generation, people keep telling me. He's married now, and living with his husband, but they come visit often. They wanted me to come live with them in the Cloud Recesses, but it's too cold for me over there, and I like the friends I've made here in Qinghe, so I... is something wrong?”

Nie Huaisang nodded, then shook his head. “His husband?”

“A-Yao is married to Lan zongzhu,” she explained. “I would have preferred if he'd married a woman, but Lan zongzhu is a very good husband to him, and they always seem so very happy when they're together. It's all a mother can truly wish for, isn't it? To see her child settled and happy.”

Nie Huaisang said nothing.

He did not run back into his room, didn't hurriedly prepare some ink so he could draw another time travelling talisman and set things right. It was tempting, so tempting. But Nie Huaisang resisted that temptation, and forced himself to smile.

“I'm so happy for them,” he mumbled after a while, and hoped he would learn to mean it.

#Meng Shi #Nie Huaisang #xisang #xiyao #mo dao zu shi #mdzs #jau writes #this was super fun to write thanks for the prompt!!

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ddarker-dreams · 3 years

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FINALLY SOMEONE SAID THE TRUTH.

I admit that i enjoyed act 3 but it feels like really rushed i have so much complain with that.

The build up until act 2 was so good it give us so much premise but the final blow si meh. Sorry that i want to share thing long rant with you

1. Why the final talk is with yae, no offense to her but we need ei to explain not to mention she witness khaenriah downfall so she can give us more information, i feel like they do it for the plot armor so they can just keep dragging this

2. So many things that quite inconsistant, the shogun is show no mercy to anyone that even did a little thing outside what she think its right, how come she can still have a talk with signora, when sara is falling like that, and also there is no clarification about sara right now.

The traveler was so done at first they refuse to help thoma and ayaka at the beginning. But they seem so happy and forget everything how come they are not RAGE ( okay maybe this is to bias and personal) when this nation provide nothing about our siblings information and also why they are not mention anything about their problem in ei stroy quest. Its nonsense! She is right in front of youu, ask about your siblings, ask about khaenriah, ask about ukmown god!!. How come they can just forget like that. Also mihoyo really waste the potential about twin things i thing ei will give us so much help bcs of the sympathy that we both rn lost our twin but noooo.

3. Kokomi seem lost some brain cell, she make a very succesfull grand intro but she become meh in act 3, how come a great strategist like her let the sus sponsorship slip just bcs they are desperate, not to mention her screen time is really small and her role seem so unsignificant and it feels lile she is a plain npc.

4. The awesome world quest that we have done doesnt get any mention at all! Inazuma owe us so much with cleansing sakura, thunder sakura, tatarigami, obarashi quest. It has so much potential that yae or ei or anyone else aknowledge what traveler has been done but nooo.

cracks knuckles... i suppose it's time for my promised dissertation. interestingly enough, you touched on a lot of the main issues i had with chapter III.

i think that if i had to pin the main issue, it's a lack of overall cohesiveness? we were jumping all over the place without the chance to ever flesh things out. inazuma is a smaller cast, but i feel like we didn't get to see any of them shine. since i'm most interested in the genshin characters, i'll break down my problems by going over everyone and their (lack) of impact on the story.

was ayaka not questioned or placed under suspicion for being close to thoma before his escape? i wanted to see her broken up over her duties as they relate to the yashiro commission, paired with having someone she genuinely cares about in danger. it would've been an interesting struggle if she was forced to choose one or the other. instead she just kinda took a back seat.

speaking of thoma, i don't even have anything to say, because he just... was there? for .0001 seconds. said "lol this sucks ig" and that's about it. i know we're going to get a story for him in the future since he's a 5* but i'm not getting my hopes up 😭 then in the raiden shogun's character story, man is peachy keen! be upset with the raiden shogun! have some inner conflict! even if it's just using loaded language because he's under surveillance for going against the raiden shogun, that'd be so cool. saying something like,

"Traveler, what's with that expression? Oh please, there's nothing to worry about. We're under the Statue of the Omnipresent God's protection. Nothing bad has ever happened here." *wink*

i also don't know what to say about gorou. he was... there....... i think. what is he fighting for? what are the stakes for him? what makes him place so much trust into kokomi? i'm out of things to say about him because i don't remember anything he did or said.

kokomi... oh kokomi... i was so hyped. so excited. i thought that maybe we could see a foil to the raiden shogun. that she'd have a moment where she's forced to realize, just like her opponent, sacrifices must be made that will hurt people who will never understand why she made them. or maybe something to show her military prowess. but instead she just accepts a mysterious patron's help (?), sees her people aging like the grateful dead from JJBA, and goes oh well. that sucks. what can ya do. oh bye traveler i guess, good luck with that. ????????????? HUH... similar case to thoma where she's gonna get a character story but like. she won't be the leader of the resistance anymore. that was her whole shtick. they took her shtick away. also she forced me to interact with more NPCs whose names i've already forgotten so i'm tilted about that still.

KUJOU SARA... AN INJUSTICE. A DISGRACE. a slap to my woman loving face. the build up was there. yae miko's comments about sara probably knowing the tenryou commission is involved in shady dealings, but is choosing not to think about it. sara being forced to confront reality and challenge her adopted father with the truth. being able to blaze a new path for herself in the process. when she started running to the raiden shogun i was ultra hyped up. sara, a devotee to the shogun for so long, was about to see her god interacting with the same people who led inazuma to this awful state. how would she react? would she stay ignorant, like yae miko so coyly said, choosing to look away in favor of following her god's footsteps? or would she be forced to recognize the raiden shogun isn't as divine as she once thought, and challenge her belief system?

we open the door to see the raiden shogun. the loading screen ensues. the camera pans to the ominous room, clouded in darkness, hinting at the ominous confrontation that is to come. the music takes a serious timbre. and then...

well fuck that potential character arc i guess. (we still don't know what sara made of any of this since she poofed out of existence from the story at this point)

kazuha also was handed a similar treatment. we've been with him for a while longer now. he is our introduction into inazuma, the one who first gets us emotionally involved by regaling us with the bittersweet tale of friendship that led him to becoming a wanted criminal. a kind soul who loves nature yet was dealt a cruel hand by fate, forced to watch his home nation turn into a hostile place, where his dear friend ultimately perished as a result. we get the scene with his friend's vision lighting back up. he parries a block from the raiden shogun, in the same area where his friend was killed by her. the parallels. the drama. except this time, he wasn't too late. he protected the traveler where he "failed" to protect his friend in the past. did he feel redemption at this? or was it a bittersweet reminder of what could've been?

WELL i guess we'll never know because we didn't get to talk to him again 😭 idk who got a bait and switch worse, him or sara. jesus christ mihoyo.

then we have signora. why is the raiden shogun talking to her? does she know about the gnosis being taken, and if she doesn't, what was her plan to get it from the archon? what does she think about scaramouche? and oh, okay, we're fighting here now. good fight + god tier music. pog pog. okay, now we've beaten her up, and raiden shogun wyd— wait no not signora her lore is still on CUPS not YET raiden shogun and— ah she's dead. okay. non nerds who didn't read artifact lore are going to know nothing about her. signora has such an interesting story, and yet... well. ok.

then we get raiden shogun redemption (?) arc. i was hype for this as well, though at that point, idk why i bothered being hype. i knew they were gonna do a cute power of friendship something or another, and i'm good with that, so long as it's executed well. what i was envisioning was like seven different buffs to correspond with the seven different visions, the dreams of those whose ambitions were stolen serving as the spear to penetrate the raiden shogun's heart of stone. maybe a hydro vision giving us extra healing for a time, with the voice acting over it being like,

"Even if the rest of the world forgets us, let our will carry you through this one final time. Succeed where we couldn't, Traveler."

so on and so forth.

but instead we got— you get the idea at this point. why bother spelling it out anymore.

at that point i was surprised the raiden shogun didn't go "oopsie woopsie!! we made a fucky wucky!!!" because that was the vibe i was getting. i love ei, don't get me wrong, but i wanted to see her challenged with what she had done to inazuma in the past year. maybe meeting NPC #2345259 who lost her sister to the vision decree or something, reminding ei of the love she held for her sister... being forced to come to terms with the extent of what she's done in pursuit of eternity.

anyway. please for the love of god mihoyo hire better writers for the main story. that is all i ask. thank you.

#genshin impact spoilers #answered #Anonymous

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mrsamaroevans · 3 years

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YOU ALL OVER ME | ANGEL REYES

Fandom: Mayans M.C.

Pairing: Angel Reyes x the consequences of his bad decisions with Female Reader.

Words: 3,673.

Warnings: Sad and like a bad word. English is not my first language, so, sorry if there are grammar mistakes or if the redaction is poor.

A/N: This is the first thing I finish like in ages! This was not requested but I couldn’t stop listening to You All Over Me by Taylor and this came out. Thank you so much for reading, feedback is well received. *Gif is not mine*

|| MY MASTERLIST ||

“The best and worst day of June was the one that I met you, with your hands in your pockets and your ‘don't you wish you had me’ grin. But I did, so I smiled”

Santo Padre Regional High School.

Those were the words that you read before crossing the door with your mother. You had only one week in Santo Padre and you still had time before the school year begins, but she wanted to have all that ready as soon as possible.

While your mother was making all the paperwork, you were waiting on a bench outside of the office until you got bored. As no one could stop you, you decided to walk around for the facilities of what soon would be your new school. It was smaller than the school you used to go to before moving across the country, but it was okay. Classrooms were big enough, lockers a bit smaller y the patios were open and surrounded by green areas. You weren’t too disgusted about changing school again anymore.

Near the cafetería, was a mural with pictures of the different extracurricular classes and the people who were part of them. The cheerleader’s team looked too pretentious. You hated that cliché, but it was what you felt by just looking at the picture, you could be wrong though. The theatre team looked cool, maybe you’d join them. Then, was the football team.

Guys that looked bigger than what a sixteen-year-old guy should be. One of them proudly carried a big trophy. He had to be the leader, it always is. What was the position they had? You didn’t know, you weren’t too familiar with the terms of the sport.

But that guy in specific caught your attention. It wasn’t because of the trophy he had in his hands or what that meant. He had a beautiful smile, but for some reason, it didn’t look sincere. There was something in his eyes that kept you looking at him. All of him looked happy and proud, but there was something more. Unfortunately, if someone asked you what it was, you wouldn’t know how to explain it. But there was something there.

“You’re new?”

You gave a little jump at the unexpected voice on your side. You turned to your right and you saw him again. The same guy with the trophy in the picture, now in real size at your side.

“I’m gonna be” you nodded and looked back at the mural to see the rest of the teams.

“And, you like what you see?”

That flirty tone in his voice almost made you laugh. You turned to him again and saw that he had a smile that combined with the tone of voice he used and with the question he had made. His hands in his pockets, making his biceps more notorious.

“A little bit, yeah,” you said, willing to not let him intimidate you. And the truth was that you really liked what you were seeing “You are on summer break, right? What are you doing here?”

“I’m gonna do an exam,” he said like he didn’t want to talk much about it, but you didn’t realize it.

“You’re still on finals?” You asked, confused. The first time you noticed in your route was that there were no students or teachers.

“Oh, no… it’s an extraordinary exam. Chemistry” The guy answered as he didn’t care too much that he failed a class. You didn’t know what would be your situation at home if you were in his place.

“So, you’re not good with chemistry, then”

“It all depends on the situation” he smiled.

You kept his gaze for a few seconds. You didn’t want to give him the satisfaction to know that the first guy that got close to you in that city had made you shy. But the visual contact didn’t last too long, ‘cause you had to look at the ground for a second.

“What did you say your name was?” You asked, looking back at his face. He had beautiful brown eyes, but you were afraid that if you look at them for too long, he could know all your secrets.

“Angel,” he said and he looked so calm that that frustrated you even more.

“And I’m sure you’re not one”

Angel devilishly grinned and you felt your knees going a little weak. How a guy that you didn’t even know could have that power on you?

“What’s your name?” He asked and when you were about to answer, your phone rang so you lifted your index finger at him to ask for a moment. You took your mother’s call and the first thing she asked was:

“Where did you go?”

“I’m just walking around,” You told her calmly. You felt kinda sad when she told you that you needed to go to the office to sign the institutional regulation. That meant that your conversation with Angel came to an end “Okay... coming” you end the call and as you were placing your phone back into your pocket, you said: “I have to go”

You looked at him for the last time and started to make your way to the office, but you didn’t even give five steps when he spoke again.

“Hey!” He shouted making you turn back to him “You didn’t tell me your name”

“(Y/n)” you smiled and turned around to the way you had ahead.

“I lived, and I learned. Had you, got burned. Held out, and held on, God knows”

All the effort for the first date. The first kiss. The first ‘I love you.' The first time you made love. That day you met his parents and they adopted you into their family right away. All the double dates with his brother and girlfriend. The fairs and festivals. The football matches in which you were the one screaming louder than anyone whenever they made a score. His better grades. The jealousy from both sides. The fights because of the cheerleaders. All those break-ups and comebacks. Those days at the beach. The laughs. The tears. The good and the bad had gone and all because of his insecurities.

How did that happen? With three pictures someone left in your locker.

“What the hell, Angel?” Was the first thing you asked when you confronted him after school.

He saw the pictures and shrugged “You need me to explain it?” Those words had hit you too hard like never before a question had made. Your heart was breaking and it looked like he didn’t care even a little.

“What’s wrong with you?” You asked, not understanding that attitude towards you. He had never talked to you like that.

“Nothing, you’re the one who wants to fight,” He said, turning around to walk to the small desk beside his bed.

“I received pictures of you sleeping with Haley, what were you expecting?” You got close and threw the pictures at his back, they hit him and then fell to the floor. Angel barely looked at them and chuckled.

“It’s not so bad,” he said, turning to you.

“That it’s not so…?” You laughed at what you heard. Angel was a bit distant weeks before you had to go to college to finish your registration, but you never thought something like that could happen “It has to be a joke”

“You left for a week and I had physiology needs”

“Fucking jerk!” You shouted and couldn’t help but push him making him crashed against his desk. Some brushes fell to the floor and the tears in your eyes started to gather. You didn’t want him to see you crying, so you decided it was time to go.

“Everyone told you that but you didn’t want to see it” he aggressively said.

“Well, you got it” you turned to him and shrugged “Another broken heart… you smashed it” your voice trembled with the last words. That seemed to affect him because his hard expression softened for a second “I hope you’re happy”

But Angel wasn’t even close to being happy.

Once you left his room, he sat on the floor and saw the pictures. He ripped them apart while the tears fell from his cheeks. He hated himself.

He was a coward. He couldn’t break up with you, but he couldn’t let you stay with him. You had plans that he didn’t. Your vision of the future didn’t fit with his, and it was because he didn’t have one. He didn’t have plans like you, he wanted to go and take anything that comes his way. You had ambition, you had a plan to make your dreams come true, and him? He didn’t have anything.

To his eyes, you didn’t deserve someone like him.

“I lived, and I learned, and found out what it was to turn around and see, that we were never really meant to be”

Years went by and life changed.

Angel went through something he thought he never would. His mother has ripped away from their lives and that had been a hard blew for him. His little brother was sent to prison y couldn’t help but feel responsible because he made his way to get a gun easier. Ezekiel told him it was for mere protection, but deep down he knew his brother wanted retaliation.

And that made him get life imprisonment for the homicide of a cop.

His relationship with his father became tenser than what already was. But, after all that he had lost, he found a shelter. The club. Mayans MC. Those men went from simple mates to family too quickly.

He had heard from his father that you came back to the city. By that moment you were already done with college and your parents had been —finally— established in Santo Padre. You told him once, that you had fallen in love with the city and that, definitely, you could see your future there. So, when Felipe said that, he didn’t doubt in believing him.

But knowing you came back and seeing you had been so different for him.

He was on his way to the scrapyard in his bike with Coco and Gilly at both of his sides, but they had to stop for gas. Coco was saying something about how much he hated the hot weather and the incensement in the price of gas when a silver jeep parked in the pump in front of his.

Three doors opened. From the driver’s one jumped off a man with braids and sunglasses; he went directly to the pump. From one of the backseats door, as beautiful as he remembered, you went out.

He saw how you fixed your dress and laugh at something someone told you. You were fanning your face with your hands, a sign that you were hot. Then, a couple of seconds later, you took your hair and tied it in a messy bun. The hot air of Santo Padre in summer was excessive.

“We should have closed the windows and put the air conditioner” Angel heard a masculine voice and then he heard your laugh.

“You know that the combination of air conditioner and this weather make me sick, honey”

Honey. Angel hadn’t forgotten how that word sounded coming from your lips, but hearing you say it to another man broke his heart.

A man in a suit that looked to be more expensive than all of the boots Angel had, walked to you. He had a smile when he kissed you and even though he didn’t want to keep watching, for some unknown reason he couldn’t take his eyes off of you.

“That last house’s not a sign to desist in looking for our home here,” the man told you, taking your hands “We’re gonna find the perfect house or the perfect place to build it”

“I know,” you said and nodded. Your left hand touched his cheek and that was when Angel turned to his bike. The sunrays helped to the gleam of the giant diamond in your finger to not being unnoticed by him.

You were engaged, and you and your fiancé were looking for a house, which meant it wouldn’t take long for you to marry.

“You okay?” Coco asked him. He was pale and it seemed he could faint at any moment. But Angel didn’t answer, he turned to the jeep when the doors got closed instead.

The driver started the engine and that was when your gaze stopped in him.

You looked fine. You looked happy. When your eyes connected with his, you didn’t seem surprised or hurt, or shocked. In fact, he couldn’t decipher what he saw in your eyes.

“You know her?” Gilly asked.

“I used to,” Angel said when he found his voice which wasn’t quickly.

And even though he was hurt for letting you go in the way he did, when he saw you he realized that he had made the right decision. ‘Cause you belong to the world that man in the expensive suit could give you. It was too painful though, to find out —again— that he never really had a chance like that with you.

That night, he required the services of Vicky’s girls and after that, Coco had to drive him to his apartment ‘cause he couldn’t even walk for all the alcohol he drank to cope with the pain.

“So I lied, and I cried, and I watched a part of myself die”

Days after and thanks to el Padrino, he knew who your fiancé was. His name was Miguel Galindo and he was the son of José Galindo, founder of one the most powerful and deadliest cartels in the México-USA border. He also knew that your wedding was set to be in October and that would be in three months.

That day in the gas station wasn’t the last time he saw you. He had seen you in the mall with the first friend you made in Santo Padre. You met in the market and it had been so uncomfortable. There were a lot of people and you had to walk by too close to each other. He also saw you going out of a restaurant with Miguel at your side and once and then you two were in the paper news for going to charity events.

It didn’t matter how many times he saw you at the side of another man, he could never get use to it.

“I know you didn’t want to talk about it at the moment, but… why did you break up?” Felipe asked him. He didn’t more information to know what he meant. Angel had a couple of days going to his parents' house and Felipe knew why.

You had been there on so many occasions and Angel still couldn’t get over you.

“I cheated on her” Angel said “I slept with one of the cheerleaders and I made sure to have evidence. Evidence that I left in her locker”

Felipe sighed and shook his head no “We didn’t raise you like that, Angel”

“I know that” he sounded irritated “But I needed to push her away from me so she could get all the goals she had in life… and it turned out fine. She’s so much better now”

“Did you apologize to her?” His father questioned, hoping to get a positive answer, but when Angel remained silent, he got the answer he didn’t want “You have to do it, Angel. She was and is a great woman, she didn’t deserve that. But at least do it for your mother” Angel turned to his father. There were tears in his eyes at the mention of her “Your mother loved that kid, and she always taught you to apologize when you did something wrong”

Angel nodded and took his gaze up to the ceiling, promising his mother that he would apologize next time he sees you.

A month went by to see you again. A Friday, his father had asked him for help at the butcher shop, so he went out of the clubhouse and when he arrived at the shop, he saw a jeep parked outside and a man waiting by the backseat’s door. For the glass of the shop, he saw his father talking to you. You were smiling and later, your exit coincided with his entrance.

“Sorry,” you said with a small smile and thanked him when Angel stepped aside to let you walk out.

Angel looked at his father and the expression on his face said “Go” so he just nodded got out of the shop.

“Hey, (y/n)” his voice went out less determined than what he wanted, but it worked out to have your attention. The driver had already opened the door for you, but you still turned to him “Can we talk?”

“Uh… I don’t see why” you said.

“Please…” Angel insisted, feeling nervous for the first time in too long.

“Fine” you nodded and made a sign to your driver for him to wait. He took the butcher bag and went to the trunk “What happens?” You asked, giving a few steps towards him.

Angel pointed at the table so you could sit with him, and you did.

“I never apologized for what I did to you,” he said after a few seconds of silence. He saw you sighing and shaking your head.

“Angel…” you began to say, but he interrupted you.

“No, wait… I’m sorry. I truly am and I was in that moment too” he accepted, taking you by surprise ‘cause that day you didn’t see any repentance in him “I was a jerk, you didn’t deserve that and I’m so sorry”

You didn’t know what to say for a moment. Clearly, you had gotten over what happened, but, talking about it only took you to all the pain you felt and the depression you fell into that lasted more than you would have liked.

“Well, thank you for your apologies. I accept them” you finally said and Angel looked relieved with those words “But, don’t worry anymore… it’s been some years and we got over it, right?” You asked with a small smile on your face.

“Yeah…” Angel lied “I think it turned out fine for both of us”

“Yes, everything’s fine now” you repeated “And, well… we’re going to find once and then, the city is too small. Is good that it won’t be uncomfortable next time we cross paths” you smiled once more and stood up “I have to go” Angel accepted that and even though he wanted to make you stay a little bit longer. You stopped and turned to him by yourself “Angel?”

Angel looked up to you, you were closer than what he thought you would “Yeah?”

“I’m sorry about your mom,” you said pressing your lips together. When that happened, you called Felipe and Ez and talked to them, but you didn’t dare to talk to Angel.

“Thanks for the flowers” you shook your head no. You sent those flowers because you were in pain for what happened too, not because you wanted to look good before them or for them to thank you afterward.

“I loved her. She was amazing”

Angel smiled, remembering the times when his mother had told him that you were the one and that she would love to have you as a daughter-in-law “She loved you, too. She loved you so much” he admitted.

You smiled and did something that took him by surprise: you hugged him.

Angel reacted in time to hug you back, he did it tighter though, like he didn’t want to let you go again, and the truth was that he didn’t want to.

“Bye,” you said when you got apart, but he couldn’t say anything back. He just looked how you got in the car and how the jeep went away from the shop as he held on to those five seconds that the hug lasted.

The days kept on going until they became weeks and October arrived quicker than Angel imagined. El Padrino was invited to the wedding ‘cause he had been close to your future late father-in-law, so Miguel appreciated him.

Angel had promised himself he wouldn’t go. Being there and see you taking someone else’s name wouldn’t help in anything, but couldn’t contain from doing it. A few minutes after seven p.m, he drove to the church and waited outside. He was in a spot in which people couldn’t see him, but he would see when they go out. In his hands, he had a strip with black and white pictures from one of those machines at fairs. Those were the only pictures he kept after you broke up with him.

In the first one, you were only smiling. In the second, he was kissing you and in the third, you were smiling and showing your left hand in which you had a candy ring that Angel bought for you.

At 7:45 people started to leave the church and it didn’t take too long for you and your now-husband to go out. You looked beautiful. Your smile could light up the whole country, and, the man at your side looked happy too. He should be. Marry you should be enough reasons to be the happiest and luckiest man on the planet.

A tear fell when your husband cupped your face and kissed you. It didn’t matter how happy you looked, Angel couldn’t help but wish to be him taking your hand at that moment. He looked down at the pictures and sighed. He left them in the tree trunk that was being used as his hiding spot and turned to you, one last time.

He still loved you like the first day and he couldn’t deny it, and also couldn’t hide it. He was hoping to find you in another life to make things right.

“Cause no amount of freedom gets you clean. I’ve still got you all over me”

|| MY MASTERLIST ||

#angel reyes #angel reyes drabble #angel reyes x reader #angel reyes fanfiction #angel reyes fanfic #angel reyes gif #Mayans MC #mayans mc x reader #mayans mc fanfiction #mayans mc imagine #mayans mc fic #miguel galindo #miguel galindo x reader #miguel galindo x oc #miguel galindo fanfiction #miguel galindo imagine #fanfic #fanfiction

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goldandbluesmiles · 4 years

Text

In Shades

Summary: Damian paints his family.

Ao3:

Part of batfam flufftober2020

Damian had an art assignment. Paint a portrait of one person in your life and use only one colour and explain why you chose that one colour.

It was an interesting assignment and Damian could not choose just one person to paint. So, he painted everyone in his immediate family. He figured he could hand in the best one.

He asked Alfred to sit down first.

For Alfred, he chose the colour grey. Dull and able to blend in, a symbol of dignity and sophistication as much as it was a symbol of loss.

Alfred had taken care of them through their losses and their fears, through their triumphs and their victories. He had stood by them as they had fought each other and had stood by them as they had held each other. Always there always reliable.

Yes, grey it was for Alfred.

"I am honoured, Master Damian," said Alfred once he showed it to him. It was the only thing he said but it still made Damian feel warm.

The second person he sat down with was his father.

For his father, he chose the colour black. It seemed a bit cliche but it fit the man. Black stood for strength and mystery, for formality and elegance, but at the same time stood for aggression and authority, for death and darkness.

This one might not end up with the rest of his assignment for it would be hard to explain to a civilian how all these characteristics could fit the airhead billionaire Brucie Wayne. But Damian could not bring himself to draw his father in false colours. He would just have to hide this one away.

Once he was done with the portrait, he looked at the harsh lines and smiled. Yes, black definitely worked.

His father must have agreed with his observations because one look at the piece and he had laughed.

"Well, you certainly got me, Kiddo. But maybe not take this to school. Though, I would like to hang it in my study instead. Would that be alright with you?"

"Yes, Father," Damian had agreed.

Father had them given him a long and tight hug, softly whispering how proud he was.

It almost made Damian cry. Almost.

Dick sat down for next, a wide smile on his face.

Damian chose to paint his brother in bright greens. Green was the colour of growth, harmony and renewal. His brother had moved non from tragedy after tragedy and always found a way to make his world right again, not only for himself but for others too. The freshness of the colour captured the man's smile in full and made him seem wiser than his years, which in Damian's opinion was exactly what his brother was.

Damian knew this one would be his favourite.

When he showed Dick, he was gushed at his talent but had been confused about the colour choice. Unlike most of their other family, Dick had never had an interest in the visual arts, opting to express himself physically as Cassandra did.

Once he explained, Dick had gotten tears in his eyes. Damian had almost become alarmed but his brother had swooped him up in a hug and held him close, much as his father had.

"Thank you, Damian,"

"You're welcome, Richard," said Damian, though he did not know what the thank you was for.

Cassandra did not sit but chose to stand instead. Damian was quite alright with that.

He painted his sister in shades of purple. Purple was the colour of royals, elegance of a certain kind, and ambition. Violet was the colour of magic and dreams.

Cassandra smiled all the way through painting, holding her pose together. This painting took the longest as Damian knew that it would e important to paint her whole body instead of just painting her face.

Once he was done, Cassandra hugged him before she even saw the painting and then hugged him again after she was it.

"Good," she whispered, "You got me,"

"I'm glad you think so," he whispered back

After Cassandra came Jason. And the only reason he had agreed was that he was stuck on bed rest.

Damian drew him in shades of red, head bent over a book. Red was the colour of anger, danger and sacrifice. It was also the colour of love and passion, the colour of a fire that burned bright and a heart that beat for others. Jason was all that and more. He rose from the ashes like a phoenix and had devoted his life to his family and city. Sacrifice after sacrifice, all in the name of love for people he thought didn't even love him. He was wrong about that of course.

"The angry brother in red, huh?" said Jason once he saw it, voice showing just a fraction of the bitterness he was feeling.

Damina instantly refuted, "No, the passionate brother, and the loving one,"

Jason looked at him in surprise.

Damian continued, "You are too sacrificing for your own good, you are passionate about what you do and you love so much that overflows out in bursts,"

For a few moments, Jason watched him with his mouth open, and then ever so slowly, a smile spread across his face.

"You know," he murmured, "I think red could be your colour too,"

"Really?"

"Really,"

Tim was surprised at being asked, and really that made Damian feel just a little guilty. He was almost an adult now and quite ashamed about how he had acted all those years ago.

For Timothy, Damian chose blues. Blue represented the open sky and ocean, depth and stability. It stood for loyalty, faith, truth and confidence.

Over the years, Damian had watched his brother grow into his abilities and become sure of himself. He was a leader, a detective and a man loyal to his cause and family. Damian was proud to have him in his life, to call him family. Even if he never admitted it out loud.

He explained the meaning of the picture in a few words, the whole interaction being awkward in a nice way, both of them feeling a bit shy about it.

"Thanks, Dames," said Tim

Damian just shrugged in response.

It was enough.

Duke was the last sibling he asked to sit down.

He chose to present Duke in pink. Pink was intuitive, pink was tender, pink was kind. It was a positive colour that inspired warmth and appreciation. All of the things he felt for the second oldest in the family. Duke had a soft way about him that drew people out of their shell. He was a leader but not an authoritative one like Father or even Timothy. Instead, his leadership consisted of inspiring and lifting others.

"Pink? Isn't that a girl's colour,"

"While you are right that pink represents feminity in today's society, it is a more recent development, I chose to focus on other meanings of the colour,"

"Yeah? And those are?" Duke asked disbelievingly, but not unkindly

Once Damian was done explaining, Duke grinned and held out a fist for him to bump. Damian complied.

"Thanks, man," said Duke, bounding out of the room as if someone had filled him with unlimited energy.

Damian watched him go with a shake of his head.

Damian contemplated whether or not he should do anyone else, and in the end, asked Stephanie to sit for him too.

He painted Stephanie orange. The colour represented friendliness and enthusiasm, competitiveness and risk. It stood for raw instinct and free spirit, lead to the person feeling warm and at home. The colour of the autumn.

Stephanie was a friendly spirit and was somehow always present. She pushed forward when knocked down and fought to make her home. Her success came from her enthusiasm and competitiveness and her willingness to risk it all.

Stephanie gave him a grin and a big kiss on the cheek when he explained the colour.

"Ew, Brown! Stop!"

"Uhuh," she cried, "Yuu love meee! Now I knooow!"

"Oh god, you are such a child,"

The last person that sat for him was Barbara Gordon.

Damian chose to paint her in browns. Brown was the colour of reliability and support, of protection and security. It stood for everything genuine, honest and sincere. It was what came to mind when he thought of Barbara. The way she was always there, a voice in everyone's ear. The way she always spoke the truth, light and clear. She was a friend, she was dependable, someone that could be trusted and relied on unconditionally.

Oddly enough, like Alfred and Father, Barbara did not need an explanation for the colour. She merely smiled and nodded.

"You have a great eye," she told him, "I really love this. Thank you, Damian,"

"No, thank you, Barbara,"

xxx

After a long night of patrol, Damian was ready to fall into bed. However, before he could do that, he realized there was an envelope sitting on his pillow. He took it out and smiled.

There was a picture of him petting his animals, most likely taken by Timothy, and it was tinted yellow. Beneath it, were words written out in yellow glitter pen.

Sunshine. Happiness. Fun. Hope. Mind. Perception. Optimism. Creativity. Freshness. positivity.

Underneath was a paragraph written in his father's neat cursive writing, though he could tell the input had probably come from a few different sources.

'Yellow represents the heat of the sun and the loveliness of a smile, it evoked hope for the future and is linked with the optimistic. Yellow showed creativity, freshness and positivity. Damian, you are almost an adult now and have grown into someone who had learned to channel your creative side, look towards the future and smile, even if it is internally. You have a beautiful mind and your artistic perception of the world takes our breath away. Always stay you, Damian,. You are bright and wonderful,'

Wiping the happy tears that were making their way down his cheeks, Damian quickly took out his phone. He pulled up the group chat and wrote a short message, knowing it would get the sentiment across.

'Thank you. I will do my best,'

#flufftober2020 #fluff #batfamily #BatFam #batman #robin #batman fic #bruce wayne #Damian Wayne #dick grayson #Jason Todd #Tim Drake #cassandra cain #cass wayne #duke thomas

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whereflowersbloom · 4 years

Text

Questions

Damian found his girlfriend standing out on the lovely vine-shaded balcony, dressed in civilian clothes and staring out into the city. Night turned Gotham into an endless sea of luminescence. Skyscrapers around the city glow with the light of thousands of residents inside, creating trails of brilliance that ascend up towards the starry sky. It is quite beautiful, in its own way. The soft evening breeze caressing her ebony hair, creating wafts of lavender and rosemary in the air. Had she always been this breathtakingly beautiful? Slowly, Damian set his gaze towards the stars above. The precision that Raven studied the sky with passion, it fascinated him. It was as if she was reading lines from a story book, but instead there was a mass of speckled lights as she was connecting them, tracing invisible lines.

Raven took a deep breath of fresh night air and sighed, a mix of contentment, and something else, she couldn’t point it. “Have you ever considered what your life would be like If you had taken a different path?” Her breath hitched on the last word but her eyes had glance sideway to his large calloused hand still in hers, for someone who appeared to be controlling and unapproachable, Damian was surprisingly gentle and affectionate. The question caught him off guard. He felt a bubble of longing as he remembered her words that night at the carnival when she had called him kind and generous, nobody had ever spoken that way about him. That night something inside him changed, high and fenced walls began to crumble down.

Soaking in the view a little longer, Damian waited a few minutes before deciding to speak. He supposed that the saying that one’s life flashes before their eyes must hold some kind of truth, though he was not dying, and yet he had been dangerously close to the gates of death several times. Raven was his anchor amidst the unpredictability of their life as titans, always bringing him back from the turbulent waters. He couldn’t stop himself from recalling the most memorable moments of his unusual and complex life. He exhaled a long audible breath as he begins.” My life had been long decided before I was born into this world.” He murmured to the whistling wind, his words sounding faraway, even to his own ears. He would rather not relive any of the horrors he’d seen, the terrible acts he had committed in order to build a new world, make it better. What a blind and naive child he had been. At some point he had been ready to surrender his sword, his Robin suit, his claim to fight for others, offer her perhaps a normal life if that’s what she wished for. He would give her anything she asked for in a heartbeat. He squeezed her small hand tighter, Raven immediately noticed way he’s gripping onto it, like she’s the only thing keeping him tethered to this world. “After some time coming to the tower, I contemplated a rather uneventful, ordinary life. If my parents had conceived me under very different circumstances. If mother loved me more than her own insatiable ambitions. If father wasn’t the eccentric, mysterious millionaire Bruce Wayne or a vigilante consumed by his thirst to serve justice.” There was a tone of melancholy in his voice, the promise of a different retelling of a story. His story. “It wasn’t all bad. Mother…she used to read to me, every one now and then, nights like these. Tales about the greatest leaders in history, others about the origin of the Al Ghul dynasty. I treasured those moments.” He looked over at her, and he didn’t seem to recognize her for a moment, like the memory had been so strong it had actually confused him, taking him back to that instant. This was the most he’d ever really said about his mother. His past as an Al Ghul. Sure he’d shared some stories, about certain things he enjoyed and disliked. But he never spoke about Talia with such profound emotions. This was personal and precious to Damian. It saddened her. Saddened for the pain in his emerald eyes that he was trying to hide. Another long breath was blown between his full lips, and he deflated again, like he was accepting the undeniable truth. “Perhaps I would have met Jon at a local school and we would play basketball after classes and Greyson would be the team’s coach. Maybe we would have crossed paths at the extensive and valuable Gotham Public Library. I would have offered to treat you a cup of Earl Grey tea. A part of me believed I’d have picked Veterinary medicine as my bachelor degree.”

She looked at him with such intensity and Damian thought her violet eyes grew deeper, darker, more reflective. She was weighing her own reflection in his eyes, trying to see through him like she always did. And they both were visualizing, a different life consisting of trivialities, a simple lifestyle, maybe in the countryside, a rather nice and quiet house, perhaps similar to the Kent farm with some slight but substantial improvements. “What about you?” He abruptly asked her, startling her. Oh she had never been sure about her own future. “As the daughter of an inter-dimensional demon. I didn’t think a future was possible for me. A happy family, a stable romantic relationship, loyal friends. Everything was endless blackness when I was trapped by Trigon. What I have right now is more any blissful future I could have imagined.” She muttered softly. This companionship between them, the mutual care, the tender loving, the sense of equality between them, the feeling of belonging to each other beyond any outer interference because they chose one another. Their family and friends. Everything was more than enough. Damian was unconsciously too absorbed at how she looked at the whole world as one precious thing, values life in every form and shape. Her unnatural powers gave her the ability to look into something and see what others can’t. It was fascinating. He was thankful too, sincerely appreciated what he had. His father, troublesome siblings adoptive or not, his teammates and Raven. He is product of the flames which burnt him, his actions, his choices and the will that made him grow formidable instead of breaking. They both were. This woman was the one he wanted to spend the rest of his human days with.

“There’s something that wouldn’t change. You. It’s always been you, Raven.” He’s got a dazed look in his eyes, a familiar bright gleam to them that hadn’t been there earlier, but he flashed her a dazzling smile at her, one that make her insides jump. Raven let his words sink in. He wanted her even if things were different and joy seeped through her whole body.

She just felt greedily wanting more time with him, every moment and experience. She loved him, from the possessive way he held her or how he kept on touching her the instant they are alone and he felt he same. They have been together for a few years now, it took them some time to announce it to their significant others. No matter how things turned out, they have this genuine, real and consuming love. That emotion when you felt like your lungs are out of air when your lover is away from you, everything was so intense and yet so tender, you were worried it would break between your fingers like crusty autumn leaves. She focused on him.

Damian looked out of his depths. He’d always been so controlled and measured, knew the weight of his every word and was completely unflappable despite whatever life threw at him, but now he didn’t. He seemed as if he was nervous, unable to spell out his own feelings. Hesitant. Could be her imagination but she sensed a slight agitation awakening in him.

“Marry me, Raven.” The words are said with his whole heart. They are genuine and honest and very him. He couldn’t hold back the words any longer. Why wait anyway? theres simply no time when you’re busy saving the world day-to-day. There’s no question to calculate when is the right right or your fated person, no formula for the correct time. Timing. There’s no use reminding about the past or the life they would have dreamed to have. The present was a gift and ultimately what matters the most. They have been romantically involved for 4 years now. He knew she was the one the moment he gathered courage to ask her out, court her properly the way he had been taught. Initially, he planned to propose differently but it felt right. This conversation only strengthened his resolve to make a Raven his wife.

“Damian.” She breathed with astonishment.

“No buts. Marry me.” He commanded with an eyebrows raised stopping her from coming up with an unnecessary excuse, content filling his veins and the marrow of his bones, flooding him with a blanket of warmth and hope. He didn’t want to wait anymore. He wanted her, now and tomorrow and the rest of his existence, and she loves him. Like he knew she’s always had her doubts on if she could be loved or she did before they started dating.

Her bottom lip trembled momentarily. She felt a bit like she can’t breathe properly, but then Damian is reaching up and gently cupping her cheek, and she exhaled shakily as he runs the pad of his thumb over her lips. He was looking at her dead serious, asking her to marry him. “I’m not taking the chance to wait too long.” Damian whispered urgently. His tone more serious than before. Her heart was hammering in her chest. They moved in together about a year ago. Were they ready to take the next step?

It felt too real all of a sudden. Too damn real, and she wants to drown in it this moment, in this bottomless sea of feelings for him. She wanted to pretend that this is real and more than that, she wanted to say yes. Damian Wayne didn’t take a no for an answer. When he was determined, he did everything posssihke to get it, one way or another. And she loves him nonetheless. Raven felt her heart flutter, her chest tightened ever so slightly as she finally exhaled. “Yes. I’ll marry you, Damian.”

“I love you.” Her voice breaking as tears are rolling down her cheeks and the small smile on her lips. It was easy to find herself gravitating toward Damian, falling back into that wordless sync they had. To feel herself being pulled into his personal space as he crowded hers. Until they faced each other with barely inches between them and her breath hitched as he snaked his arms around her, emerald eyes softened, glowing against the moonlight, they didn’t leave her, and his arms made the distance between them disappear. Their lips are barely touching but he can feel the softness, the plumpness of her mouth, like an overripe fruit. She brushes her lips against his and Damian rapidly kissed her fervently. His lips breathing silent ‘I love you’s. The low giggle that rumbled up through her could not be contained though she tried. She knew several language but no words could describe this ecstatic happiness.

Damian is overwhelmed by the sweet taste, the delicious scent, the warm feel of her. He was intoxicated and drunk off their hungry kiss. He trailed his hand on her waist up her back and feels her heart hammering against her ribs and wonders for a moment if she’s feeling as consumed by the kiss as he is. If she is as incredibly happy as he is right in this moment. He didn’t need a different life, this one was exactly what he wished for.

Damian made a mental note to ask Jon to accompany him ring shopping tomorrow. Tonight he had plans to celebrate his engagement with his gorgeous fiancée.

His lips brushed hers in a soft, tender rhythm once again. Once. Twice. Thrice. Harder, and a little bit hungrier than before, until her fingers are intertwined in his hair and his solid body is pressing against her frame. He lifted her up effortlessly, taking a few steps back, taking her back to their bedroom. Two figures bathed in tranquil starlight disappeared.

Oneshot because I need fluff. Final edit

Thank you to @chromium7sky @ravenfan1242 @deep-in-mind67 and all my readers for motivating me to write. This might be the last chapter for a while. 💜💜

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charlettebffxiv · 3 years

Text

Prompt #12 Excuse (Extra Credits)

Knowing how all this works is frustrating. That is a sad part of becoming more and more familiar with just how the systems work. Once you’re aware of the bits and pieces of the clock that ticks along your time it gets really, really hard to not hear it. To feel like you’ve made your own choices, and that you are forging your own path. “That is bullshit.” Ogi Nogi was a man of few words, but even for this first outburst from him in a long while, Charlette chided him “Ogi, try and be a little less crass, will you? It’s frustrating, yes, but don’t lower yourself.” The lalafell crossed his arms, looked way, way up at Charlette. Staring her dead in the eye. “No.” Well, she wouldn’t appreciate that, but she could at least understand where it was coming from. As, in the back of her mind, she had a few choice words of her own. That was bullshit.

The Archive, for all its secrets, systems, oaths and rituals, was a fairly simple beast. The firstborn of every family to settle permanently in Willow’s Heart is inducted. The only exceptions are for only children, and those that are already parents or bonded. If this was too much to offer, you left Willow’s Heart and settled elsewhere. Harsh, yes, but everyone had to be bound to the purpose. Once inducted, you took your Oaths, you swore to take no charges, no quests, no ambitions other than the Orders. You were no longer an heir, a spouse, a youngling filled with dreams or ambitions. You became an Apprentice to the Order, and that was your dream and ambition. Breaking these oaths, taking on a new purpose that the leaders of the Order judged had become higher to you, and it was exile. It was upon this precipice that Charlette stood now, with only a hearing between her and said leaders to decide where her future would be going. It could be the disciplinary hearing that set a warning in her histories and left a permanent stain on her record, but saw her returned to the Orders fold and able to continue what had been her life since she was thirteen. Or, it could be the very last time this system made a decision for her, and it would be to send her out to start over, without any chance to redeem herself. Her home would not be her home anymore, her friends and family remain bound to Willow’s Heart. She had been standing on this line for a full twelvemoon by this point, in a grey area of existence that had left her uncertain about either path. That system chafed now, its limitations and it’s injustices hung around her neck each time she sat with her fellow Order members, all of them wishing her a swift return. Exile, though, sat on the horizon each time she was attending to her temporary position with the Botanist Guild. Utterly unknown, terrifying, lonely. Who was she, without Willow’s Heart and the Order? She did not know. Likely nothing. “And that’s bullshit.” Ogi Nogi sat next to Charlette, and poked her in the side. It was a sun of rest, and she was surrounded by her friends in a booth at the Willow’s Heart tavern, The Scholar’s Blush. What else do you call an alehouse that is down the road from a library? “Was I thinking aloud?” Charlette asked, a poor habit she had recently developed in the more isolated moments of her Botany work. She looked up at the people surrounding her. Maxim was holding back a laugh, Chloe was giving her a look that suggested she was questioning, once more, how they could be siblings. A’nidreah looked up from her drink, licking foam from her lips like she had heard nothing unusual. Loash and Alistair, at the same time, did the thing men who fancy themselves stoic do. A shrug, and a quick nod to the side. They very nearly butted heads. “Sorry, but it is something I do wonder about. I, we, have dedicated so much of ourselves to this place. Order or Botany guild, or otherwise. What. What do I do if they decide I have breached the code? Crossed the line? What if I have to go?” the words struggled from her, crawling up her throat and making it twist and pull at them like she wanted to swallow them back down. Once spoken, though, they existed. Can’t take that back. “They won’t. Not if they know what they are doing.” Alistair reassured her. “And they do, you’ve met Emillie. Not a man alive that knows more of what he’s about than him.” Loash’s nod came with a firm grunt too “S’true. He only does clever things.” Loash rarely had a bad thing to say about his appointed guardian though. “I mean you’ve given them no reason to think of you as more than a dedicated Willow’s Heart-ian? -ist? What would you call us? Willow’s Heartdians? Anyway, you’ll be fine. Bobocufu’s probably only got glowing things to say about you.” Maxim flicked his hand, danced around Charlette’s worries and dismissed them like they never even deserved to be said. “Bobocufu only has nice things to say about everyone. She could talk-up the Emperor of Garlemald if he planted a sapling in his front yard.” Ogi Nogi speaks again, though being less helpful this time. Charlette held up a hand to stop anymore reassurances coming her way, taking the time it required to gulp from her cup to think before she spoke. “Thank you everyone. That does help. But we won’t know until it happens. Until then I just need to keep making the best impression I can, if I want to avoid being sent away.” A solemn series of looks fell over the group with the silence. Then Chloe and A’nidreah glanced at each other. The Miqo’te shook her head, but Charlette knew Chloe had made up her mind. “Does it matter?” Chloe asked, getting a few quick looks from everyone but Maxim, and A’nidreah who had decided to look down and focus on her drink. “What do you mean? Of course it does. I don’t want to be sent away from everything.” Chloe leaned forward, and looked at the others around the table. “Everything? Everything is not in Willow’s Heart alone Charlette. I just do not think it would be the end if the world if you, well, went outside for more than a demand from the Order.” Tension gripped the Order members at the table. “You know what I’m talking about when I say everything. I grew up here, this is home.” Chloe squared her shoulders, sat up straight. A mirror of Charlette when she was not willing to back down. “People make new homes all the time.” “Our family is here. Mother, father, the others from the coven.” “They can take a trip, see you and a bit of that world too.” “My botany work was all done here.” “And a lot of it was done out there too. Maxim will make the trip.” Chloe patted the blonde on the chest. He looked between the two, then dipped his head to Charlette “Working with us isn’t based on where you live. We could call on you, when we’re outside of bounds.” “My friends are all here, members of the Order. A’nidreah, Alistair, Loash, Ogi.” She was not balking, and neither was her sister. “There are no other taverns out there? I do not see anyone here so selfish they would never make the time to see their friend.” the others nodded, but it was without looking directly at Charlette. “I do not want to leave.” She finished, firm as she can be, the conversation needed to end. “Maybe you need to, maybe you are lying.” Chloe was not done. “I do not lie.” Charlette had started to feel a tightness in her chest. “That’s a lie.” “What do you want from me Chloe?” Her tone was harsh, it snapped. “I want you to be honest, and I want you to make a choice for yourself.” Chloe was irritatingly cool and calm. “How is ‘I do not want to leave behind my friends, family and home forever’ not honest enough for you?” Was she shouting? She didn’t feel like she was shouting, but her words were coming harder, A’nidreah’s ears were twitching downward. Alistair reached out a hand “Okay, anyone need a refill?” several hands went up, Charlette and Chloe continued to stare at each other. Chloe’s hand went up. Charlette’s followed, slowly. “I’ll help!” Loash was standing as soon as Alistair had escaped his seat. “Me too!” A’nidreah followed. Maxim was trapped at the far end, between the two sister’s, Ogi did not seem to care. Though he did make his escape via the classic. “I gotta pee.” The lalafell slipped out his seat and made his way to the back. The sisters squared off, Maxim tried to busy himself with folding a swan out of his serviette. “Stop lying to yourself Charlette.” Chloe finally ended the tense silence. “Stop acting like you know everything, and know better than everyone.” She felt angry, why was Chloe doing this now? Why did she always have to do this? “I do not know everything, or better than everyone. But I know my sister.” Did she though? It felt, to Charlette, like Chloe was constantly confused by her. “Then why do we fight more than we talk?” It was a good question to ask. It had been this way for a long, long time. “I do not fight you Charlette. You fight yourself, everytime you come close to this. I am just on your side, so you fight me too.” Charlette rolled her eyes, shaking her head and looking away from her Sister. “Come close to what?” she asked, near spitting it. “Choosing what you want, first.” Charlette watched out the side of her eye as Chloe placed her cup down, and leaned forward, elbows on the table, reaching across to try and meet Charlette’s touch halfway. “Be honest with me. Why is being out there, for your own reasons, such a terrible thing?” Charlette swallowed. Her friends had scattered around the tavern, Maxim’s swan was so poorly folded it looked mangled, and Chloe was pushing, like she always did. She didn’t want her to push now. Not here. She felt Chloe’s hands reach the rest of the way, pulling her hard grip from around her cup, and holding on. Her eyes felt warm. “I will not be able to see him any more.” “He is already gone, Charlette. He has been gone for twelvemoons.” “What is left of him is all here. Under Willow’s Heart earth, in our home, in his locker. In the Hall of Honour.” Chloe stood, walked around that table and sat herself next to Charlette, hugging her around the middle with one arm. “That is not what mattered to Fred, you know that. What mattered is how we saw him, you know this better than any of us. You know him better.” Charlette almost smiled, but Chloe saw the little curl of her lips. “Yeah. Maybe.” “Does he still make you laugh?” Charlette thought of him, and she spoke through a tearful chuckle. “Yes.” Chloe just smiled, and held on. “Then he is here.” It was a nice moment, right up until Chloe finished where she was going with this. “No stop using him as an excuse.”

#ffxivwrite2021 #ffxiv writing #ffxiv rp #ffxiv roleplay #elezen #duskwight

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golden-deer-dear · 4 years

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Claudeleth Fic Recs

I love fic recs. I love Fire Emblem. And since I can’t really focus on anything else right now, I decided to just promote my favorite Claudeleth fics out right now. If you’re looking for something to read, then check these out because they’re all amazing. In no particular order, here are my top five fics. (Many of these authors have other stories I love, but I decided on one per author for this list.)

Fate and Other Lessons by DistractedSiren, Byleth/Claude, wip - 33k

When she'd been a young Blue Lion at Garreg Mach, Byleth had been certain that Claude von Riegan, leader of the Golden Deer, had done everything in his power to make her life difficult.

Now, four years later, Byleth finds herself teaching at the Officers Academy alongside her old rival, and he's just as annoying and distracting as he was when they were eighteen. He's also at least twice as handsome. The pair are quickly back at each other's throats, only Byleth has no idea that now all of their interactions are fraught with sexual tension. Claude, on the other hand, is hardly aware of anything else. And their students? Their students are on the verge of locking them in the Goddess Tower together and leaving them there until they figure it out.

I love this AU so much. I find AUs fascinating, but it is sometimes hard to find one that keeps the characters’ personalities in tact. Not only does this one do so, it is one of my favorites because of how on point the characterization is written. The plot is intriguing, and I am immediately drawn in as soon as I start reading. This is one of those fics that as soon as it updates, I’m immediately pouncing on it to see what happens next.

If you’re looking for a well written fic with amazing characterization and some tasty slow burn romance, this is exactly what you want.

Point and Shoot by doylesmom, Byleth/Claude, 7.4k Once the war was over. Maybe they could all move on with their lives, then. Bernadetta could retire and never have another trauma induced episode again. Hilda and Marianne could finally get married. Ignatz could finish art school. Sylvain could come out of hiding. And maybe, maybe, if they were both still alive, she could confess to Claude, her best friend, who she loved more than she had ever loved anyone or anything in her life.

But that day had not come yet, and that time was not now, and as she took his hand as he helped her out of her seat, she could only pray, pray, pray that that day might come soon.

I got distracted writing the review for this one because I needed to read the fic again as soon as I opened the page. Apparently this is the author’s first smut, and that is just insane to me, because this fic literally has my favorite claudeleth smut scene. This AU is intriguing, and that is coming from someone who normally gives Mafia/Crime AUs a wide berth. I want to know more about this world, and the fact that we’ll be getting a sequel in a few days has me super excited. Byleth and Claude are still wonderfully in character, even with the dramatic setting shift, and I love it so much.

This story showcases some amazing writing talent. If you’re in the mood for some interesting world building, and some amazing smut, I strongly recommend you read this fic.

For Whom the Stars Shatter by Cirrocumulus, Byleth/Claude, wip - 50k

“I would have made you Queen of Almyra, eventually”, he whispered against her collarbone, sensing her discomfort. Part of her could have indulged in that fantasy, even then, but whenever she raised her eyes to wrinkled folds born from laughing she would count his crow feet like the years that passed.

20 years ago, Fódlan had been granted peace by the King of Almyra in a battle written down in history. Now, the anniversary crept ever closer, and with it old feelings and new ambitions. But time divides people, and he had been giving his away while she seemingly hoarded hers. Yet the rings on their fingers were ever present, stuck in pipe dreams of the past.

Oh man, I could literally go on all day about how much I love Cirro’s writing style. It has this beautiful, poetic feel to it that hits along the lines of a Shakespearean tragedy. There is so much pain and yearning in this fic, but it is such a good hurt. This is exactly how I would imagine Byleth behaving if she was made Archbishop, and just the tension and love that still exist between her and Claude is so good. It usually takes me all day to read a new chapter, because I’m just mesmerized by the writing that I’m going back to reread lines I just read. It overflows with symbolism, which I am just a huge sucker for.

Are you looking for something with angst and longing? Something that is just the epitome of beautiful writing? Then you’ll want to check out this fic.

last kiss by wanderlustt, 3.8k

Five men who've stolen kisses from Byleth, and the one man who steals her last.

Oh my god! This fic is full of desperation, and the writing is done in such a style that it conveys Byleth’s feelings perfectly. I have read this fic at least five times by this point, it is just so good. My heart ached the entire time I was reading this, and that feeling did not dull upon rereads.

I can’t say much more without giving away plot points, but everyone should read this fic. Just stop what you’re doing right now and go read it.

to fall in love again by mochee, 12k

"Who are you? Are you a spy for Edelgard?" "It's me, Byleth," she says, almost desperately. Claude’s next words cut through her like a knife, so earnest and true that she doesn’t doubt them for a second. “I don’t know a Byleth.” -- Or: Byleth comes back from her slumber to find out Claude has not only been ill with Hanahaki, but that he was forced to undergo surgery. There are consequences.

It’s a hanahaki fic, so you know you’re in for some pain. This is another AU I don’t typically seek out, but man am I glad I gave this one a chance. This fic has a unique take from what I’ve seen from other hanahaki AUs. The end of the first chapter had me literally gasping out loud in shock. I made the mistake of reading this right before I was supposed to go into work, and I could not put it down. I was trying to take sneak peaks of it whenever I got a chance, I just needed to know what happened next.

Yes, more angst and pain, but the payoff for this one is so beautiful. Give yourself enough time to finish this before doing anything else, because it will engross you and you won’t put it down.

I enjoyed doing this, so if you guys would like more fic recs at some point in the future, let me know. Go enjoy these wonderful fics!

#fire emblem #fire emblem three houses #claudeth #claude x byleth #claudeleth #fic rec #other peoples stuff

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carlilen · 3 years

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@warward : carlisle’s + esme’s relationship

trigger warnings for suic*de, ch*ld death and ab*se

i’d like to preface that both carlisle & esme are depressed, with carlisle having cptsd and esme possibly experiencing post-partum depression as she still is described to grief her child. i will get to bright and happy things in the end

i think the main core thing between them is their upbringing, with carlisle being abused by his father and esme being abused by her first husband they have found that caring for each other while being vampires have brought them closer together. esme and carlisle also both attempted suicide, with carlisle doing so multiple times, he definitely feels her pain and sorrow. i never understood how smey wrote carlisle and esme marrying almost as soon as esme was a newborn. in my canon, carlisle waited a total of 10 years before making his first move because love was just not on his schedule, he was happy that he was not alone. and when carlisle got to know about esme’s past, what happened after the first time they met, carlisle just felt it was inappropriate to approach her in that sort of manner, but he would be there for her when she needs him. and i guess esme just saw carlisle as a lonely leader who didn’t take into coupling with someone. with edward being around and reading carlisle’s thoughts had made edward tired when so much yearning romance was around to be heard . edward turned out to be their matchmaker in the end as edward caught esme’s thoughts as well . carlisle’s thoughts would be so victorian in fashion, precedented and dying inside, i guess after a decade of edward listening to carlisle, he just took after his father and became self-loathing himself.

that is not to say carlisle did not have people around him, in his love life he’s had romantic adventures, such as making love to volturi guards, or being around nurses or directors of hospitals, but none of them would strike him as romantic, not in the sense that he would end up with them. carlisle has a lot of emotional issues, that would be difficult for someone to just figure him out. when you’ve experienced what carlisle has seen, it’d be only natural that you would behave suspiciously, wary and untrusting of someone you have just met.

with esme, carlisle has found closure, carlisle got to know overtime what esme had experienced, the abuse from her husband, her child’s death and those suicidal attempts, carlisle started to gain esme’s trust as they both talked their backstories, carlisle would tell about the volturi and his father. carlisle liked that esme didn’t pity him, but just understood him, sometimes made contrary opinions to his, in his eyes she was her own being, natural and beautiful and strong, not someone who tries to get closer to him, to be more appealing to him, thats a big no no to carlisle, as he just wants to see everyone be their truest selves.

whenever in those 10 years, carlisle would see her ankles or they’d go for a swim, carlisle dreamed of having desires and esme would be there with him.

when carlisle and esme finally got married, he and she shared their same ambitions, to have a family, to have well built careers and to care for their children. and to raise those children to be upstanding members of society, but something between them always floated.. i guess id say... is that they were always the same image in time, that their children will always be the same, they both decided to work hard enough to have what they have now. the most beautiful thing about them, is that they found motivation between one another. in carlisle’s point of view he counts his upbringing as a weakness, but he sees esme so strong, and standing and blooming in his eyes, ( she comes in colors everywhere, she combs her hair, she’s a rainbow ) he thinks of himself as better. really carlisle loves esme and finds love for himself within her. her complex character surprises him every day.

one of the few favorite things about esme, to carlisle is that she can freely contradict him, as mentioned before, but it doesn’t turn out into and argument, instead it becomes a romantic play between them and they listen to one another. carlisle still doesn’t like himself all that much that he can’t give a timefull growing old together future, but he wouldn’t give anything away now, they reached their goals together. imagine how happy carlisle was once esme was out of architecture school and became an interior designer, he was so happy they got to build something together, both metaphorically and literally.

at the end, carlisle and esme are happy with what they’ve become and what their result currently is. carlisle would fight for what they have together.

to summarize . here is an excerpt of what i think their relationship is like, written by me, as an introduction to carlisle’s spinoff:

In the morning, when the home of Cullen rampaged through chaos of going to school, the parents had always prepared their kids to not be late, but after the last door was shut, the last tire screech faded into the woods; they were surrounded in quietness of embrace. They had felt proud they could do it, unbothered by anyone, they grew protective of each other in each other’s arms.

Carlisle then takes Esme to the beach, too cold for anyone to come by, the sand dunes were blown to their faces, but strong wind didn’t alienate the couple. Instead they invited the storm that was above the sea. They became themselves when waves crashed into rocks, small beams of light would reflect on their skin. Sometimes they would wear shoes, sometimes they would run alongside barefoot. Carlisle and Esme always walked on thunderstorm beaches, alone, hand in hand. They mourned their youth they had lost to their previous incarnations, there touch to touch they danced like swans. With sunshine emphasizing the color in Esme’s hair, Carlisle only wished to give her the sun into her pale hands.

But in Esme’s view, Carlisle has given her enough . . .

#if you've read all of this . thank you so much ♥#suicide tw #child death tw #abuse tw

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blu-joons · 5 years

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Married To Namjoon ~ BTS Headcanon

Your Wedding

Of course, the two of you had to get married at the beach, it was the perfect place for the two of you to tie the knot

You split the planning of it equally, Namjoon didn’t want all the pressure on your shoulders, he loved to chip in

It was exactly what the two of you had dreamed of, and luckily the weather was perfect for the occasion

You’d never seen Namjoon so soft, he struggled to hold back the tears for most of the day, overwhelmed by the occasion

“I just feel like I’m in a dream, look at you, like a real-life angel.”

You kept it quite low key, only those closest to you were in attendance

The whole occasion was very loved up, intimate and passionate, just as you’d hoped

He’d used all his practice with interviews to give the perfect speech making people laugh and cry

Who else could be his best men other than his six best friends?

They were incredible, paying back all the times Namjoon had helped them out when they were in trouble or abroad

“We arranged a little something just to prove to the two of you how much we love the both of you and how happy we are.”

The six of them climbed on stage and performed one of the songs Namjoon wrote when he first met you, but was too scared to show you

As the night drew in, the two of you snuck away for a few moments away at the beach, taking it all in

It was easily the best day of your life; nothing even came close

The next chapter of life was daunting, but you knew you’d get through it together

A few days were needed to come back down off the high that was your wedding, it took a while for it to feel real

The two of you were too wrapped up in each other, filled with love and adoration

One of your favourite things to do was look back at all the photos friends had sent you just to remember it all over again

“I wish I could just replay it all in my head, everything was just so perfect, I never want to forget a thing.”

“I know what you mean, I’d love to just get married everyday forever.”

Being Married To Each Other

It was a big relief knowing everything had gone seamlessly, you and Namjoon were perfectionists, nothing could go wrong on your big day

He also spent a few days away from the studio so you could enjoy the beginnings of married life with each other

“They’re going to be lost without you in that studio, it’ll be carnage.”

“I’m sure they’ll survive, they’re big enough and ugly enough to look after themselves.”

Most days the two of you would walk back along the beach, it had always been the haven for you both when things got tough

He loved to pretend you were doing it all over again, slow dancing with you as you watched the sun set

You kept finding little pieces of your wedding in the sand, for example, red petals from the roses you used in your bouquet

Every day you had to remind yourself you were a Kim; you were terrible at forgetting that your name had changed

A week to the day after your wedding you went on honeymoon whilst you were still in a blissful bubble

The bubble never really popped, the two of you had an incredible relationship, from the outside looking in, it was perfect

Your outfits were all hung up nicely in the back of your wardrobe as keepsakes

Namjoon’s favourite thing was introducing you as his wife, there was something assertive about doing it that always made him smile

You were his first love, and only love, which only made your marriage even more special

After your first month together, the boys sent you a video that had been recorded of their performance of Namjoon’s song

As well as that, they sent you a montage of all the photos they’d taken from your day

“Is that you crying when I walk down the aisle? Oh, Joon, that’s so cute.”

“No, I just have something in my eye, that’s all.”

He became more in touch with his emotions after your wedding, he didn’t feel like he had to pretend to be strong anymore

Naturally, children were quickly bought up by everyone, asking when the two of you would expand your family

Namjoon had always been honest about his dreams to become a dad, but he also wanted to spend quality time with his wife before he focussed on children

The two of you had been blessed with so many gifts and letters, from friends, family, and fans who just wanted to be a part of your day

Lots of fans sent you messages and gifts, you couldn’t believe the generosity of them all

He was also asked more about you interviews after your wedding as everyone realised how serious the two of you were

You’d never let rumours get to the two of you, but getting married certainly put them all to bed

Your families were around a lot more too, they’d always been close, knowing that the two of you were a match made in heaven

The spark was very much still alive for you both, with big gestures and little ones, keeping the other happy and excited

His priorities shifted, as much as he was still leader of BTS, more importantly, he was now a responsible husband

You noticed the difference too as he spent more time with you, or brought you to the studio more often

Slowly, your dreams and ambitions were being completed

Your Honeymoon

The main thing you wanted to do on your honeymoon was explore, which is why you went on a little road trip

You hired a camper van, which you had to drive, and took it around all your favourite European cities

When the two of you first got together you wrote a list of the places you wanted to go with each other, keeping it in your memory box

Culture was the most important thing for you both, you wanted to get a sense of the city you were in

It was incredible, you loved being able to spend the quality time with Namjoon without anyone interrupting

You’d park up and spend hours walking around, hand in hand, finding different stalls or attractions to visit

The two of you recorded a lot of your honeymoon too, making travel logs that you could look back on in the future

It was also a time for the two of you to think back to your wedding

“Any time we go to a beach, I always remember our first dance.”

“I always think of when you walked down the aisle, that was my favourite moment of the day

Your logs were a good way of keeping in touch with the boys too and making sure they were behaving

Namjoon took note of your favourite cities so he could try and arrange gigs there for the next tour

One thing you loved was meeting so many fans from around the continent who all supported your relationship

Namjoon had shown you parts of the world you’d never seen before, it was a dream come true to see so many places

You bought lots of souvenirs too, mainly for your family, and the boys so that they knew you’d been thinking of them

As with any holiday, time flew by, it ended far too quickly for the two of you

But the boys couldn’t wait to hear all about it as you relieved it all for them

“Tell us every small detail. How many times did Namjoon break something whilst you were travelling?”

Marital Issues

What was special about the two of you was the fact that you never argued with each other about anything

He’d used his practice at keeping the boys in line to stop himself from ever getting upset with you

The two of you were incredibly open and talked about everything, whatever was on your mind

Sure, there were times when you got on each other’s nerves, but it never escalated further than that

He was the calmest person in the world, it was impossible to ever make him mad

You’d tried a few times, just to see if you’d get a reaction, but he was always so diplomatic and reasonable

Married couples didn’t argue in his opinion, if you loved someone, you could never argue, love was perfect to him

You tended to get wound up more, but Namjoon would be quick to calm you down and encourage you to talk

If anything, the two of you would disagree about random bits of knowledge, or who was the smartest

The most common time you’d argue was playing board games or being in competition with each other

“You so just cheated, I watched you nudge your chess piece forward just then.”

“I think you’re seeing things jagi, I didn’t touch it, don’t get upset because I’m beating you!”

You were like big kids in that sense that your stubbornness got in your way

To most people it was crazy, but to you both, it was only natural to argue in a game

Looking To The Future

Namjoon had made no secret of his desire to be a father, it was the first dream he ever had growing up

He couldn’t wait to start a family with you, you were going to be the best mum in the world, he just knew it

Whilst his career was important, in the back of his mind, the thought of having children always lingered

“I don’t want to rush anything, when the time is right, pregnancy will happen.”

The two of you first bought a house away from the boys, even if somehow, they were still at your house every day after rehearsal

They weren’t willing to let their leader go just yet, who else was going to keep them on their toes?

Before children, he wanted to make sure that he was the best husband, taking care of you whenever you needed it

There was a comforting feeling about being married, Namjoon knew he was never going to be able to lose you now

A family was all that he’d ever wanted, and over time, those dreams were definitely becoming a reality

The Boys Take On Your Marriage

You ended up spending as much time with the boys as you did Namjoon some days, they absolutely adored you

Jungkook looked to you like a sister, just like he did with Namjoon, he’d turn to you for advice

“I know I can talk to the two of you about anything, something’s been playing on my mind, and I need your help

Taehyung loved to take candid photos of you both, saving them for presents on anniversaries and birthdays

“I hope you guys like what I’ve done, happy first wedding anniversary!”

Yoongi would always tell you embarrassing stories about Namjoon from before you met him when they lived together

You could always rely on Hobi to look after you and keep you safe if Namjoon wasn’t around for some reason

Jimin was your biggest cheerleader, he’d always be updating the fans and supporting the two of you in everything

Jin loved to have you around, his favourite hobby was cooking with you, because none of the other boys really could

At times it felt like you’d married seven boys, not one, but you wouldn’t have it any other way

They were just thrilled to see their leader so happy

---

Masterlist

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tainted-sentimientos · 4 years

Text

Barack Obama’s DNC Speech

“Good evening, everybody. As you've seen by now, this isn't a normal convention. It's not a normal time. So tonight, I want to talk as plainly as I can about the stakes in this election. Because what we do these next 76 days will echo through generations to come.

I'm in Philadelphia, where our Constitution was drafted and signed. It wasn't a perfect document. It allowed for the inhumanity of slavery and failed to guarantee women -- and even men who didn't own property -- the right to participate in the political process. But embedded in this document was a North Star that would guide future generations; a system of representative government -- a democracy -- through which we could better realize our highest ideals. Through civil war and bitter struggles, we improved this Constitution to include the voices of those who'd once been left out. And gradually, we made this country more just, more equal, and more free.

The one Constitutional office elected by all of the people is the presidency. So at minimum, we should expect a president to feel a sense of responsibility for the safety and welfare of all 330 million of us -- regardless of what we look like, how we worship, who we love, how much money we have -- or who we voted for.

But we should also expect a president to be the custodian of this democracy. We should expect that regardless of ego, ambition, or political beliefs, the president will preserve, protect, and defend the freedoms and ideals that so many Americans marched for and went to jail for; fought for and died for.

I have sat in the Oval Office with both of the men who are running for president. I never expected that my successor would embrace my vision or continue my policies. I did hope, for the sake of our country, that Donald Trump might show some interest in taking the job seriously; that he might come to feel the weight of the office and discover some reverence for the democracy that had been placed in his care.

But he never did. For close to four years now, he's shown no interest in putting in the work; no interest in finding common ground; no interest in using the awesome power of his office to help anyone but himself and his friends; no interest in treating the presidency as anything but one more reality show that he can use to get the attention he craves.

Donald Trump hasn't grown into the job because he can't. And the consequences of that failure are severe. 170,000 Americans dead. Millions of jobs gone while those at the top take in more than ever. Our worst impulses unleashed, our proud reputation around the world badly diminished, and our democratic institutions threatened like never before.

Now, I know that in times as polarized as these, most of you have already made up your mind. But maybe you're still not sure which candidate you'll vote for -- or whether you'll vote at all. Maybe you're tired of the direction we're headed, but you can't see a better path yet, or you just don't know enough about the person who wants to lead us there.

So let me tell you about my friend Joe Biden.

Twelve years ago, when I began my search for a vice president, I didn't know I'd end up finding a brother. Joe and I came from different places and different generations. But what I quickly came to admire about him is his resilience, born of too much struggle; his empathy, born of too much grief. Joe's a man who learned -- early on -- to treat every person he meets with respect and dignity, living by the words his parents taught him: "No one's better than you, Joe, but you're better than nobody."

That empathy, that decency, the belief that everybody counts -- that's who Joe is.

When he talks with someone who's lost her job, Joe remembers the night his father sat him down to say that he'd lost his.

When Joe listens to a parent who's trying to hold it all together right now, he does it as the single dad who took the train back to Wilmington each and every night so he could tuck his kids into bed.

When he meets with military families who've lost their hero, he does it as a kindred spirit; the parent of an American soldier; somebody whose faith has endured the hardest loss there is.

For eight years, Joe was the last one in the room whenever I faced a big decision. He made me a better president -- and he's got the character and the experience to make us a better country.

And in my friend Kamala Harris, he's chosen an ideal partner who's more than prepared for the job; someone who knows what it's like to overcome barriers and who's made a career fighting to help others live out their own American dream.

Along with the experience needed to get things done, Joe and Kamala have concrete policies that will turn their vision of a better, fairer, stronger country into reality.

They'll get this pandemic under control, like Joe did when he helped me manage H1N1 and prevent an Ebola outbreak from reaching our shores.

They'll expand health care to more Americans, like Joe and I did ten years ago when he helped craft the Affordable Care Act and nail down the votes to make it the law.

They'll rescue the economy, like Joe helped me do after the Great Recession. I asked him to manage the Recovery Act, which jumpstarted the longest stretch of job growth in history. And he sees this moment now not as a chance to get back to where we were, but to make long-overdue changes so that our economy actually makes life a little easier for everybody -- whether it's the waitress trying to raise a kid on her own, or the shift worker always on the edge of getting laid off, or the student figuring out how to pay for next semester's classes.

Joe and Kamala will restore our standing in the world -- and as we've learned from this pandemic, that matters. Joe knows the world, and the world knows him. He knows that our true strength comes from setting an example the world wants to follow. A nation that stands with democracy, not dictators. A nation that can inspire and mobilize others to overcome threats like climate change, terrorism, poverty, and disease.

But more than anything, what I know about Joe and Kamala is that they actually care about every American. And they care deeply about this democracy.

They believe that in a democracy, the right to vote is sacred, and we should be making it easier for people to cast their ballot, not harder.

They believe that no one -- including the president -- is above the law, and that no public official -- including the president -- should use their office to enrich themselves or their supporters.

They understand that in this democracy, the Commander-in-Chief doesn't use the men and women of our military, who are willing to risk everything to protect our nation, as political props to deploy against peaceful protesters on our own soil. They understand that political opponents aren't "un-American" just because they disagree with you; that a free press isn't the "enemy" but the way we hold officials accountable; that our ability to work together to solve big problems like a pandemic depends on a fidelity to facts and science and logic and not just making stuff up.

None of this should be controversial. These shouldn't be Republican principles or Democratic principles. They're American principles. But at this moment, this president and those who enable him, have shown they don't believe in these things.

Tonight, I am asking you to believe in Joe and Kamala's ability to lead this country out of these dark times and build it back better. But here's the thing: no single American can fix this country alone. Not even a president. Democracy was never meant to be transactional -- you give me your vote; I make everything better. It requires an active and informed citizenry. So I am also asking you to believe in your own ability -- to embrace your own responsibility as citizens -- to make sure that the basic tenets of our democracy endure.

Because that's what at stake right now. Our democracy.

Look, I understand why many Americans are down on government. The way the rules have been set up and abused in Congress make it easy for special interests to stop progress. Believe me, I know. I understand why a white factory worker who's seen his wages cut or his job shipped overseas might feel like the government no longer looks out for him, and why a Black mother might feel like it never looked out for her at all. I understand why a new immigrant might look around this country and wonder whether there's still a place for him here; why a young person might look at politics right now, the circus of it all, the meanness and the lies and crazy conspiracy theories and think, what's the point?

Well, here's the point: this president and those in power -- those who benefit from keeping things the way they are -- they are counting on your cynicism. They know they can't win you over with their policies. So they're hoping to make it as hard as possible for you to vote, and to convince you that your vote doesn't matter. That's how they win. That's how they get to keep making decisions that affect your life, and the lives of the people you love. That's how the economy will keep getting skewed to the wealthy and well-connected, how our health systems will let more people fall through the cracks. That's how a democracy withers, until it's no democracy at all.

We can't let that happen. Do not let them take away your power. Don't let them take away your democracy. Make a plan right now for how you're going to get involved and vote. Do it as early as you can and tell your family and friends how they can vote too. Do what Americans have done for over two centuries when faced with even tougher times than this -- all those quiet heroes who found the courage to keep marching, keep pushing in the face of hardship and injustice.

Last month, we lost a giant of American democracy in John Lewis. Some years ago, I sat down with John and the few remaining leaders of the early Civil Rights Movement. One of them told me he never imagined he'd walk into the White House and see a president who looked like his grandson. Then he told me that he'd looked it up, and it turned out that on the very day that I was born, he was marching into a jail cell, trying to end Jim Crow segregation in the South.

What we do echoes through the generations.

Whatever our backgrounds, we're all the children of Americans who fought the good fight. Great grandparents working in firetraps and sweatshops without rights or representation. Farmers losing their dreams to dust. Irish and Italians and Asians and Latinos told to go back where they came from. Jews and Catholics, Muslims and Sikhs, made to feel suspect for the way they worshipped. Black Americans chained and whipped and hanged. Spit on for trying to sit at lunch counters. Beaten for trying to vote.

If anyone had a right to believe that this democracy did not work, and could not work, it was those Americans. Our ancestors. They were on the receiving end of a democracy that had fallen short all their lives. They knew how far the daily reality of America strayed from the myth. And yet, instead of giving up, they joined together and said somehow, some way, we are going to make this work. We are going to bring those words, in our founding documents, to life.

I've seen that same spirit rising these past few years. Folks of every age and background who packed city centers and airports and rural roads so that families wouldn't be separated. So that another classroom wouldn't get shot up. So that our kids won't grow up on an uninhabitable planet. Americans of all races joining together to declare, in the face of injustice and brutality at the hands of the state, that Black Lives Matter, no more, but no less, so that no child in this country feels the continuing sting of racism.

To the young people who led us this summer, telling us we need to be better -- in so many ways, you are this country's dreams fulfilled. Earlier generations had to be persuaded that everyone has equal worth. For you, it's a given -- a conviction. And what I want you to know is that for all its messiness and frustrations, your system of self-government can be harnessed to help you realize those convictions.

You can give our democracy new meaning. You can take it to a better place. You're the missing ingredient -- the ones who will decide whether or not America becomes the country that fully lives up to its creed.

That work will continue long after this election. But any chance of success depends entirely on the outcome of this election. This administration has shown it will tear our democracy down if that's what it takes to win. So we have to get busy building it up -- by pouring all our effort into these 76 days, and by voting like never before -- for Joe and Kamala, and candidates up and down the ticket, so that we leave no doubt about what this country we love stands for -- today and for all our days to come.

Stay safe. God bless.”

- Former President Barack Obama

To the decided:

To the undecided:

To the opposed:

#politics #usa politics #democratic national convention #dnc #dnc 2020 #dnc speech #barack obama #president barack obama #forever my president #john mulaney #kid gorgeous #ariel #the little mermaid #nicki minaj #stupid hoes #vote #vote 2020 #cnn

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medea10 · 5 years

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Medea’s Top 10 Worst Mothers in Anime

#the promised neverland #Fruits Basket #Bakemonogatari #assassination classroom #fairy tail #kill la kill #aggretsuko #skip beat #Umineko no Naku Koro ni #Higurashi no Naku Koro ni #Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha #magi #neon genesis evangelion #diabolik lovers #erased #boku dake ga inai machi #soul eater

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tasoku · 5 years

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Claude/F!Byleth (+ Dimitri/F! Byleth) - A different path (AU One-shot)

Synopsis: Claude grows suspicious as his teacher keeps her distance from him, harboring a secret he has to discover.

This is based on the Golden Deer path, with spoilers to the S support ending with Claude.

Basically this story follows a headcanon AU I wrote before, but also a previous one-shot I wrote before (links to both:

One-shot: https://tasoku.tumblr.com/post/187437715802/claudefbyleth-show-me-one-shot-here-i-am

AU: https://tasoku.tumblr.com/post/187482379567/headcanon-au-golden-deer-spoilers )

It's not required to read the two to understand the story, but bonus reads if you want to check it out :3

I honestly wrote this story out of angst for the Claude ending. I wrote a mini personal rant about it on my blog, but essentially it made me realize that Dimitri is still my true husband. I love Claude, don't get me wrong, but I also wanted more from him as his wife (lol). Here was a story I wrote getting my frustration out. It might not be everyone's cup of tea. But if you like some romance angst, here ya go.

----

When Claude discovered that she had joined Golden Deer, a feeling of relief washed over him. However, he noticed her eyes avoided his gaze, seemingly as though she was hiding something. Even when she had to shake his hand as a greeting, he could tell that she knew more than she let on, and he wanted to find out what it was.

His first suspicion was when she got hold of the Sword of the Creator. Before he felt like he was only suspicious of Lady Rhea for allowing someone completely unaware of the Church to be teaching at the Monastery, but the fact that his teacher could wield the strongest Hero's Relic definitely hit his suspicion senses. However, what ended up feeling the most amiss was his teacher wielding the sword with confidence and ease, as though she had held it before. She told him that she did not know what it was, but her actions at the Holy Tomb spoke otherwise.

As his curiosity for his teacher grew, he realized that he was not the only one. He saw the other House Leaders eyeing her out, particularly the Black Eagle's leader. His professor never batted an eye at the gazes, apparently aware of the attention but not really caring. What Claude noted, however, was that his teacher appeared the most interested in the Blue Lion house leader, Dimitri. After the lectures with Golden Deer, she always made it a point to stop by the Blue Lions dorm and talk to someone from there. As Claude watched her everyday, he saw that she'd greet everyone, but eventually work her way up to talking to Dimitri. Somehow, this struck a nerve in him and he didn't understand why. One day, he confronted her about it.

"So Teach... about to speak to your favorite Lion?" He quipped. It was right at the end of class, as the other students made their way out of the room. Byleth was about to step outside as well until she heard the words coming from the house leader at the entrance. Claude was leaning against the nearby wall, arms folded against his chest. Byleth stopped and turned towards him.

"Are you jealous?" She asked. His eyebrows quirked up. He did not expect this response, especially not from his usual serious teacher. He laughed.

"Of course. Every time you speak to the Prince it's making me wonder why you don't speak to me in the same way. Am I not good enough?" He knew he was pushing the boundaries already, implying that he had been watching her. However, her earlier response had piqued his interest too much, and he wanted to take the bait just so he could see her up close. She smiled at him.

"You're good enough. But I don't think I'm good enough for you." As she said this, she turned away, walking back towards her room. Claude stood there dumbfounded, not understanding her words. Her words implied she had an interest in him that he knew couldn't be the case, but worse yet that she felt he was going to reject her. He was confused, but at the same time even more riled up to find out more about her.

"You're an odd one, Teach. My favorite kind of odd."

---

Those words resurfaced in his mind years later when he saw her at the now worn down Monastery. As he saw her again since the 5 years, he wanted to embrace her, however he saw her brows furrowed with uncertainty, with a hand reaching out to him instead. He took it in his to shake, and awkwardly smiled at her as she sighed a breath of relief.

"It's good to see you again, Claude."

"Same to you, Teach."

As he talked to her about Fodlan's new dawn, he saw her eyes face the sky, looking faraway into the distant future. He knew he was going to do the same, but seeing her do it first made him realize that just as before, she knew more than she led on. He attempted to place his hand on her shoulder, but she turned away towards the stairs.

"We need to find the others. Let's go." His eyes widened. For some reason he felt like the scene playing out was not how it should be, and yet it was still going. He nodded and followed her down, trying to shake the feeling of amiss.

---

The feeling came back after the Battle of Gronder Field, where the professor decided to save Dimitri. Somehow as if she knew, she had followed after the forgotten leader as he chased down Edelgard and rushed to save him from the remaining Imperial Soldiers. Hilda gushed to him later that the professor "ran to Dimitri's side like a knight in shining armor" and "rescued her beloved King as she held him in her arms." The words needled his heart for some reason, but he ignored the feeling and pressed on to see his teacher. When he saw her finally leave Dimitri's room, he spoke to her.

"Is he that important to you?" He asked. She looked back at him, her eyes hiding her emotions.

"He's just as important to me as you are," she replied. He clenched his fists.

"We've been through much more though, haven't we? Am I really equal to Dimitri?" He questioned with a tinge of bitterness. He didn't know why, but it bothered him that he was only equal to the Faergus King. It shouldn't matter as much, but the fact that she was willing to sacrifice herself for him too was bewildering. She smiled sadly at him.

"No, you're not. You're much more.." She stopped herself, shaking her head. "Claude, I'm sorry. Let's drop this, okay? Thank you for letting me save him." She went over and squeezed his hand. Her hand in his was warm, and he made sure to squeeze back. Somehow her warmth comforted him, but it hurt him at the same time.

----

As the war raged on, he could feel his jealousy grow as he saw his teacher spend more time with the blue-cloaked King. His allies noticed, and they all began to whisper about the apparent emotions she had for the Lion, which only made his feelings fester.

One night he couldn't take it anymore and he pursued her. They were in one of the small outdoor gardens, where she stopped in place at hearing her usual title. He walked up to his teacher, facing her.

"Are you going to finally tell me?" He asked. She looked at him with confusion. "Tell you what?"

"Everything. Your secret. I know you're still hiding information from me." Her eyes flashed for a second of what looked like worry, but it disappeared just as quickly.

"I'm not hiding anything from you--"

"Don't lie to me!" He pulled her towards him, arms enfolding around her back.

"All these years... you've been speaking to me as if you knew me. You know what's going to happen, don't you?" He didn't know for sure, but the gnawing suspicion that had grown throughout the years had finally eaten him.

"..." She didn't respond, but he knew that was the right answer. He pulled away from her and stared into her eyes. Although she had no words to say, he saw her eyes began to mist, and eventually tears fell. He wiped away her tears with his hands, cradling her face after.

"I'm sorry for hurting you. I understand, you can't tell me anything. But I'm guessing if you chose to be with me then it means I succeeded in my ambitions, huh?" She had no response, but she gently placed her hands on his. He knew he was correct.

"And if I'm going to make another guess, we won't see each other often anymore after this war is over." This time he felt her grip on his hands grow tighter, as if to confirm his theory.

He knew. If he was thinking of his future, he had planned that his professor would take care of Fodlan after the war if they were successful, while he returned to Almyra to make sure they would form an alliance with their former enemies. He knew this would be a long, arduous task, maybe even longer than this war. Based on her response, he most likely wouldn't see his professor again for a long while, especially with them being busy with their own lands to watch over. It was a huge commitment, but the only way for his dream to come true of the peaceful world he envisioned.

"Your dream is the best one for our future," she finally answered, "But being together isn't a part of it." She smiled at him, more tears filling her eyes. "You promised me before, in another time, that you wouldn't leave me. It's the only promise you've broken."

She let go of his hands this time. "Please forgive me, Claude." She turned away, walking towards the opposite direction. He quickly stopped her, his arms wrapped around her shoulders.

"Byleth...!!"

She stopped in her tracks. They stood there in silence, as if time had stopped. He wanted her to stay with him longer, but he realized now that it was impossible. She had set the world as is for a purpose. This was not their path. His arms soon loosened, letting her go. She never looked back.

"I'll help you achieve your dreams. That's the extent of my love for you." She walked away, leaving the Alliance leader to his thoughts.

#claudeth #dimileth #fire emblem: three houses #claude #byleth #dimitri

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dat-town · 4 years

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CODE Z3RO | CODE 07

characters: BTS & Red Velvet genre: thriller, futuristic au warning: nothing really summary: The twelve most ambitious and promising university students are welcomed in Choego, the world’s first entirely artificial intelligence-driven city, to compete for five job contracts that could change their life. But what if something goes wrong? What if they get trapped? What if the city suddenly turns against them? Can they find a way out before the countdown reaches zero? words: 4K tagged: @philosopher-of-fandoms

➼ Chapter Index

Empathy towards others had been a foreign phenomen to Jeon Jungkook. Caring about others’ loss had never been his forte. He lived as if life was a zero-sum game: what he won was the cost of the other party and what he lost was the reward for someone else. He didn’t believe in win-win situations, he thought of them as sugar coated lies of enthusiastic believers of fairness and ethics. However, life was - just as it had always been - a game of survival, the natural selection of the fittest, whether it be the strongest, the most cunning or the smartest.

It was his ambition that brought him here, that he stamped over those who were worse than him because that was the only way of living he knew. Otherwise he would have been backstabbed, used and left behind. He had no luxury to let himself lose. Apart from his own monster-like ambition he had mouths to feed, younger siblings and his sick mother. However he lacked the usual brotherly instincts as he spent all his time studying and working under the weight of responsibility.

So given he had no previous experience in such field, Jungkook didn't know what to say, let alone do when Yerim's shoulders once again shook from the force of her silent sobs. She tried her best to contain them, the nasty, salty tears but whenever her brother's face appeared in front of her or anybody mentioned anything concerning death, she broke down. Hoseok on the verge of a mental breakdown didn't help her case at all.

Logically speaking Jungkook shouldn't have felt guilt. It hadn't been his job or task to take care of the young girl. She was here after all, she was qualified enough, at least on paper, so basic survival skills shouldn't have meant trouble for her. But apparently there was no academics that could prepare them for a situation like this, even Seokjin's crisis management education was in vain in the end. It didn't save him when he would have needed it but oh a selfless sacrifice what a noble, stupid thing. He must have loved his sister a lot but now, she had to deal with the grief and handle responsibility he’d had put onto her shoulders by saving her.

Although there was something... maybe about Yerim and her strange fascination with him, or maybe it was rather about what Miss Raina had said about team work but Jungkook stayed by the broken girl's side when Wendy asked him to.

"You take really good pictures," was what he said in the end to break the awkward silence burying them. It was just as bad as silent but at least it dragged the girl out of her dark thoughts and that was also something.

"Thank you," she murmured, head snapped towards him in surprise and she even had enough presence of mind to blush at the compliment. Seeing the pearl-like dried tears on her cheeks, Jungkook decided to keep it up, drag out the conversation even if on any other occasion he wouldn't have cared. But maybe his own troubled heart needed something other than his thoughts too.

"How long have you been taking photos?" He asked even though he didn't even really care about the answer but the glitters in Yerim's eyes that now resembled the starry sky instead of a black hole. Her orbs didn't hold any hatred or blame towards him and somehow it did feel a little bit like salvation, too. Even if he wasn't religious, he didn't want bloody eyes to haunt him in his nightmares. So he listened patiently as the girl went on about the camera being a Christmas gift and that she used to be on the school journal in high school and for a blissful moment it was all normal. But in this simulation of theirs, something like this couldn't last long and it seemed to be the IT guy's responsibility to remind them that they had a task at hands to finish… If they wanted to survive in this deadly city apparently.

“Let's get going, we can't let ourselves rest while we don't know for sure what's going on,” he looked over the rest of them seemingly taken over the leader's position after Kim Seokjin’s tragic end. However, not everybody was overzealous about giving him authority.

“You think we will just follow you wherever? That you can tell us what to do just like this? We saw where his big mouth took the Selfless Brother, so for your own sake it would be better to control your tongue, Mr. I-Hacked-Into-The-System,” the marketing major muttered under his breath black-heartedly as he parted his ways from the psychology major girl. Up until now they have been quite invested in their own conversation away from the others. It was kind of surprising taken that Taehyung didn't seem to get on well with anyone, not even the quiet and cold Joohyun. He probably thought she was weak just because she needed insulin for her diabetes. He most likely didn't look at her as a real rival. So then why did it look like he was seeking for an ally? Or maybe he threatened her based on the terrified look on her face.

Yoongi didn't waste his time nor energy to question it. They had a much more alarming issue on their hands.

"Why, do you have a better idea?" He scoffed and kept the eye contact, tensed sparks flying in the air around them. Seemingly nobody wanted to pick sides in this dispute. There was no use. Splitting into two or more groups seemed useless and more dangerous if what Hoseok claimed about Jimin's death was true. They were better off together than one by one but to keep the unit together they had to have some kind of consent above the will and want to live. That stupid fight for the five contracts didn't help their case either but instead of bringing that up Yoongi tried a different method: if he could make the one with the biggest complaining mouth shut up, he knew the others wouldn't say a word either.

"Let's go," he repeated his notice after Taehyung merely shrugged off his question with a grimace. Of course he had nothing, they were all out of ideas, this one about going to the research centre was just another excuse to not sit still and wait for their doom. Probably a lot of them wanted to leave already, but a part of them still wanted to believe that this whole thing was just a simulation and the rest, the ones who fought for the longest will be awarded dream jobs. Even if logically speaking this situation felt more drastic and serious than what they had signed up for to begin with.

The mass of people moved as one, the weeping Hoseok ending their queue with Wendy keeping a close eye on him. He seemed close to passing out but they couldn't let themselves deal with a dead weight.

They passed by a little park with a lovely fountain out of water and from there they could see the bridges above the river-width canal of sea water. From what he remembered from their walking trip to the dorms, Yoongi knew they had to cross those bridges to get off the island, so it was already a good place to start. But it would have been better if they knew what they were dealing with all these sectors shutting off one by one. They needed to know the order to survive and what everybody was afraid to ask: what happens if even the last sector is done for?

The eeriness of the place in the early morning was even scarier than some props for horror movies’ dark themes. The city that seemed to hold the future, a promise of a better world just yesterday now looked more like a dead town and Yoongi wasn't sure he would ever be able to live here after everything that happened. He probably wasn't the only one thinking that way. One glance at Hoseok's horrified or Yerim's weeping face was enough to conclude it wasn't only him who wanted to leave as soon as possible. If death was the price for those bloody contracts then he didn't want them anymore. He knew he could get a job easily with his diplome, he didn't need this fancy artificial city to make his life more whole. Unlike some others, he wasn't that desperate.

As they were getting closer and closer to the main researcher building, he also realized that this whole situation was like a dangerous Jenga game. With each sector gone, their chances of getting out became slimmer and the carefully built tower got closer to crumble turning into fine dust carried by the wind. Yoongi didn't want to be the one to pull out the piece that held the fragile structure together, so he was careful, watching every step they took as if they were walking on eggshells waiting for one of them to explode like a bomb.

"We're here," the IT guy announced as his steps came to a halt in front of tall building facing the rising Sun. He checked on the photo he took once more but yeah, they must have been at the right place. At the questioning looks he got, he nodded towards a sign ahead.

Of course, Taehyung couldn't leave it without a comment either.

"This is it? A bit too fancy to be the researchers' place, don't you think?" he scoffed when he reached the metal panel claiming they reached their destination, the headquarters of the creators of Choego.

The glass building towering above them looked just as abandoned and empty as any other on the island. If there weren't the huge sign reminding them of the purpose of the place, it wouldn't have been any more special than the others surrounding it.

However, Yoongi deeply hoped that this new visit of theirs wouldn't end up like the one in the hospital. That was shocking enough for a life, even what they found out about Sooyoung. Being here felt less and less like a competitive simulation game and more like a nightmare he wished to wake up from. Unfortunately, smart city or not, it couldn't fulfil his wishes.

"Don't forget that the whole city is built thanks to their efforts, so of course they built something like this for themselves," Namjoon spoke up staring at the huge building that made everyone feel like they were nothing but ants under the feet of gods. Maybe they were. Maybe there was someone watching over them. Someone who treated them as if they were puppets on a string. It was an unnerving thought.

"Pretentious bunch," the purple-haired guy scoffed with an ugly grin in the corner of his mouth. Yoongi rolled his eyes at his childish behaviour as all of them climbed the black marble stairs to the glass door in the front.

It was safe to say that the IT specialist hated his kind: the ones with big mouth without actually doing anything. The only thing he did was stirring up nervousness and despise between supposed-to-be allies. His presence made the group work more hectic and tensed because nobody knew when would the guy or someone else snap at them for making a honest to God mistake.

After the hospital incident everybody was a bit wary as they approached the glass entrance of the building, nobody wanted to be the one to open the gates of Hell, so Yoongi stepped forward and touched his bracelet to the metal panel next to the door.

Not authorized personnel, the machine claimed almost instantly and the guy's arm fell back by his side resignedly.

"Wait, shouldn't we have a researcher's rights? Does this place need something extra?" Joohyun voiced out the confused thoughts that must have crossed everyone's mind. She seemed like the type to remember even the smallest details anyway, especially when it was about rules. Something about it made Taehyung suppress a pleased grin in the back of the group.

"Yeah, Miss Raina told us we have similar rights as the general researchers," Namjoon nodded and with furrowed eyebrows he crouched down to get a better look at the control panel. It looked just like the ones in their dorms and the hospital. There was no sign that they would need something special permissions to enter. "Not letting us in doesn't make any sense."

"Let me try, too. Maybe something's off with your bracelet," Wendy stepped forward but the robotic voice echoed the same as before.

"Why would it have been different? Do you really think you're so special?" Taehyung snorted loudly from the back and if it wasn't for the peacemaker girl putting a soothing hand over her boyfriend, Namjoon would have been at the guy's throat in that minute. The way the corner of his mouth twitched at the ugly remark told it all, but it didn't seem like the marketing major had plans on stopping his triggering behavior anytime soon. He clearly enjoyed dancing on everyone's nerves, especially Namjoon's whose emotions were written all over his face.

"There's no harm done by trying twice," Wendy claimed calmly, not bothered by the words thrown at her like an offence. She had known better than to care about such comments.

"It's weird," Joohyun hummed touching her own bracelet as if it was more of a handcuff than the key to freedom, her dark eyes not once leaving the automatic door with no handle.

"I'm checking our permissions and try to grant the ones needed for this building," Yoongi sighed as he pulled out his notebook from his bag.

Now knowing how he could easily slip through the crack between the watching eyes of the system firewall, he logged into the database in no time, quickly checking whether their IDs had any privilege or limitation they didn't know about. Though, the more they kept going, the more he realized that all they did was walking around in the dark without any guidance. So he wasn't surprised when he saw that their bracelets were stripped off any rights as soon as they identified themselves in the hospital. Maybe that's why the lab's security system also turned on in the basement.

He quickly wrote out a few lines of SQL commands but the big red error message he got made him let out a nasty swear words.

"What?" Namjoon looked at him curiously.

"I have no permission to change the date in the database," he grimaced even though he should have known this.

Of course, it wasn't that easy. It would have been actually a huge gap in the security if the database let him update its rows without being an admin. Fuck, how could he get that? How could he trick the computer to believe he's an administrator with ultimate rights? If only he could log in as Han Raina! She most likely had every right they needed. They would only need a username and a password...

Or not.

A sarcastic chuckle escaped Yoongi's throat. It must have seemed crazy in such a situation but he didn't care. Could it be? Could they leave a hidden door just for him to find? They couldn't be so careless to leave that opportunity open just like that, not after knowing that he was doing his masters especially in cyber defence, this was his expertise field.

"I think I know how to hack into the database as an admin," he murmured under his nose at the questioning stares he got. "Does anyone remember what was the code on Miss Raina's ID card?" he pointed at his own still around his neck with his picture, name, other basic data including a bold font with his registration code yoon.gi.min.

He looked around hopeful, searching for help since he doubted Raina was the researcher's real name, it didn't really sound Korean enough. However, all he got was blank and confused stares. Sighing he knew he had no other chance than to give it a try. He could only hope that there was no lock on the system or a limit of maximum attempts of failed logins. He typed in rai.na.han into the command line after the username and added a few symbols into the password part. It was a wild guess, an almost childlike attempt.

SQL injection was one of the first and most basic web application attacking techniques he had been taught about during his years as a computer science major. He spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to hack into the data-driven application his professor had created to make his students sweat while doing their homework. SQLI was one of the biggest web application vulnerabilities, one of the greatest mistakes one could commit as a developer if they let open doors like this but maybe they were lucky.

Or not.

He sighed when the error message changed to No such username in the database. Of course, there wasn't, it would have been too good to be true.

"It was hye dot rin dot han," A girl the farthest from them said quietly, barely audible and Yoongi looked up from his computer to stare at the the long, brown haired girl with eyes that held mysteries noone has ever told. He didn't question why she hadn't said anything before, instead he typed in the name Seulgi suggested and adding the same symbol trick he pressed Enter with a hopeful heart.

Everyone looked at him in anticipation and the seconds seemed to roll by slower as they waited for the command to run. It seemed an awfully longer time than the barely 1.2ms it needed. Then Yoongi's usually stern face lit up with triumph.

"I'm in."

Jungkook and Namjoon, the fellow engineer students who had some idea about how programming worked let out an awed wow watching his work while the other let out relieved sighs and exchanged nervous smalls.

However, their small delight didn't last long.

"Fuck this shit," the IT guy groaned. "She doesn't have admin rights and apparently no one has. Which is crazy, it shouldn't be like this. Every database should have an owner."

"I think it's the city's doing. The artificial intelligence doesn't want us to leave," the younger engineer boy brushed the fringe out of his forehead as he carefully reminded them of what they feared the most: so it was really a trap. A trap with no exit? This possibility alone was enough to silence them all.

"Do you... do you think they are all dead too? Miss Raina and the others?" A small, scared voice rang like a chime of bells from behind Yoongi and those who hovered over the notebook in his lap.

Yerim's sudden question had taken all of them by surprise. The young girl looked over them like a ghost, pale and eyes hollow and red-rimmed. She might have seemed like a naive girl but everyone gets over the denial phase of grief at one point, so she could also face the truth. And that little added 'too' in her question hinted that Yerim also accepted the loss of her brother no matter how hard that must have been. Yoongi looked up at the doe eyed boy behind the girl's shoulder and Jungkook looked the most boyish and vulnerable in that moment that he had ever seen. For all his bravado, he looked quite frightened for the first time of the day. Even more so than in the computer room from where they were made to leave.

"If they stayed on the island then... they might be," the med student answered ever so diplomatic, not one for lies but not one for stabbing knives into sensitive hearts either. Unlike Taehyung who had enough of sitting around.

"Okay, so Plan A didn't work. Anyone has a Plan B instead of mourning people we don't really give a shit about?"

It was a harsh truth. No matter how shocked or empathetic they were, none of them felt too bad about the people who built this Hell that killed them in the end. They might have been good people with families but they didn't know them, so their grief was fake like the flowers in their dorm.

"Well, the building doesn't have any windows we can reach to climb in. The glass door is probably shock resistant. So our only chance is the door and this entry system," Yoongi murmured listing off the options he could come up with but it didn't look too promising.

"Actually every system like this can be hacked through good ol’ wires, too," Namjoon claimed, leaning closer to the control panel to check the perforation and the smooth edges of the box. He hummed seemingly finding a good way to open it and then he turned to his girlfriend.

"I need your makeup bag."

"What?" The girl blinked at him, confused and a bit angry at such a ridiculous request. What would he need her stuff to?

"You brought it, didn't you?" Having no time for explanations Namjoon raised a brow.

Wendy sighed and fished the small pink bag out of her luggage. Opening it her boyfriend only pulled out the metal nail file. Everybody held their breaths while the engineer guy picked the metal facet apart, using the tool instead of a screwdriver, untwisting the screws. He hovered over the insides of the panel and the multiple colourful wires that had no meaning to anyone besides him. Wordlessly, he reached for the beauty scissors and with a swift movement he cut through all of them.

"What the fuck?" Taehyung hollered bewildered when he saw what he did. Namjoon snorted at his panic.

"It's not a bomb, idiot, nothing bad will happen, I just disconnected it from the system–"

Shutting down speed doubled. Next sector shuts down in eighteen minutes. The machine voice chimed from somewhere inside, faint through the thickness of the walls but still audible.

"Oh are you so sure? Really?" the marketing major guy growled and fisting the collar of his shirt he pushed the engineer harshly to the wall.

"As if you knew better!" Namjoon said through gritted teeth, the tension between them evolving to a whole new level. Everybody tensed around them both from the fear of them tearing at each other and what the warning meant.

"Well I didn't want to go into that doomed basement either but as always no one listens to me," Taehyung clicked his tongue gripping harder on the material in his hands when prettily manicured fingers tried to pry those off.

"Because you had zero useful ideas! You can only complain!" Wendy spoke up on behalf of her boyfriend. No matter how much they fought, she deeply cared for him, it was obvious and she wasn't going to just let a big mouthed kid tell him off like that.

"Still better than getting us killed like your precious boyfriend just did," the lilac haired guy sneered at her too, coal black eyes boring into her soft brown ones like he was trying to pierce through her.

The others didn't watch the argument in silent anymore, more and more joined taking sides, trying to reason with soothing words but nothing seemed to work, not until like a breeze on a summer day, something gripping brought change into the atmosphere.

"Guys…"

A quiet voice trembled in the chaos, barely audible over the argument among the rest but miraculously every head whipped towards Seulgi standing by the door. Her hand was over the glass, leaving sweat stains on the material and the door itself was agape, leaving a slim crack between the edge and the frame. The entrance to the researchers' base was open.

They made it inside, exactly where they wanted to get and yet, it didn't taste like salvation at all. Because there was a grave price yet to pay.

#series: code zero #bts fanfic #bts thriller #red velvet fanfic #bts x red velvet #stories

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smokehqs · 4 years

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ANTONIN DOLOHOV

Occupation: Defense Against the Dark Arts professor Age: 37 Gender: Male Pronouns: He/Him Blood status: Pureblood Allegiance: Death Eaters Faceclaim: Oscar Isaac

You knew what it felt like to be an outsider. English wasn’t your first language. You didn’t have the connections that came with Hogwarts and the Slytherin house. But you overcame. You proved yourself more of a snake than any of them, in every sense of the word. You slipped through the cracks into a social standing you could never have imagined as a child in Belarus. Half of the soldiers that surround you were recruited by your hand– sometimes you allow yourself the fantasy that they’re your soldiers and not your master’s.

HISTORY:

Born when magical beings had to live amongst muggles in his country, Antonin Dolohov still remembers his early years in Belarus. He remembers a woman singing, his mother’s hand through his hair, the last look his father had given him before he’d been taken away for multiplying food for his hungry family. He remembers holding his baby sister as they hid under the floorboards of his muggle neighbor Petra’s home while worthless muggles had taken his father and shot him in the woods. The sight of blood littering the green expanse of forest still lingers in Antonin’s nightmares.

Antonin, his siblings, and their mother had lived with Petra for a couple of years after that before his mother eventually took her own life. With no one to look after in Belarus, Antonin and his older brother Piatro were sent to their father’s uncle in Yekaterinburg, Russia, while their sister, Aliena, was sent to their mother’s sister in Sweden.

An exacting man, Rudolf Dolohov ensured that Antonin knew his family name and understood the weight that name had brought years before. Dolohovs, Antonin learned, did not give their loyalty easily. They took what was their due.

The Dolohovs had been in the service of the Russian tsars (many of whom were magical) for centuries. Grigori Rasputin, a wizard masquerading as a muggle mystic and a cousin of Antonin’s great-grandfather, had served the Romanovs for years with considerable influence over the Tsarina. Though history said he had been assassinated, in truth he had helped to betray the royal family and bolstered the Bolshevik revolution.

Dolohovs were duplicitous when it suited them.

But Antonin, while appreciating his ancestor’s contribution, had no intention of being a Bolshevik, had no intention of trading one king for another. He had ambition and a thirst for power, for wealth, for more. As a young man, Antonin had no desire to serve anyone but himself and the other families that had been maligned alongside his own.

Upon entering Koldovstoretz, Antonin realized just how much power one could amass and he resolved to restore the names of the great Belarusian wizarding families. He did not fit in at Koldovstoretz initially, his bloodline unverifiable and his Russian still mingled with the Belarusian dialect that was out of vogue in Moscow. His brother, Piatro, graduated the year after Antonin began and he felt rather bereft when he learned that his younger sister would be attending Durmstrang with their cousins on their mother’s side.

It was that moment when Antonin realized he was alone in the world. Taking the challenge for what it was, he became singularly devoted to restoring his family’s name and amassed a group of similarly minded individuals. They focused heavily on schoolwork - it was difficult to gain power by force if one did not know how to do so - and also cultivated political relationships that would help them in the future. He also learned English, studying to a point where not even the most learned of individuals would be able to tell that his posh London accent had been cultivated in the halls of a foreign school.

Eschewing the advice of his uncle, Antonin came to realize that he could not expect loyalty from others if he was not willing to give it. He became a leader of sorts at Koldovstoretz and his ambition to restore magical society to its rightful place was known throughout its halls. He was often ruthless in his goals, with a vicious streak that reared his head when he felt cornered. Antonin spent summers in Belarus with his brother, learning the ins and outs of the criminal underworld.

It was at Koldovstoretz that Antonin realized his potential and it was also there where he met Katsiaryna. While he did not fall in love with her as quickly as she did with him, Antonin grew to appreciate her dedication to their shared cause and his admiration turned to love over time. She became his family, his partner, and what he valued more than anything else in the world. He proposed with a simple ring he single-handedly fashioned out of gold using a piece of his mother’s jewelry.

A somewhat menial job in the family gold mine in Irkutsk was the most Rudolf could give him after graduation and Antonin had rejected it, not wanting his family’s pity. Instead he moved back to Belarus and navigated the Ciemra on his own after graduation, knowing that he would have to continue to pay his dues and forge connections before he would be able to take back the power that had been denied him.

He drew Katsiaryna into the Ciemra, the Belarusian Wizarding Underworld, where they flourished with a great deal of dedication. Eventually they began to amass more until Antonin found himself running a vast criminal network that assured he would never need to work another day in his life. But he had grown bored, they had amassed more wealth and power than thought possible, and, wanting a new challenge, the Dolohovs had moved to Britain.

To the public, Antonin comes across as a foreign businessman, though what he does business in is always a bit murky. He smiles at strangers on the street, helps those in need, and many remark that he would make a wonderful politician. He is the snake in the grass that most everyone ignores. In private, however, he is singularly loyal to his family and to their ambition. He maintains a decent relationship with his older brother, Piatro, and dotes on his niece. He lost contact with his younger sister after she graduated from Durmstrang and whenever he is out of town on business, he puts out feelers in hopes of finding her.

Antonin is also an ethnocentrist. While he lives in Britain, he generally finds most of their society to be boring - his ultimate goal, after all, is to further bolster Belarusian Wizarding Society. He keeps that part of himself guarded, of course, and only Katsiaryna is aware of just how much he detests some of the people they live amongst. He often refuses to speak English at home, worried about losing his Belarusian roots.

Antonin has the capacity to differentiate between the necessity of muggles - one cannot be at the top if no one is at the bottom, after all - and understands the difference between a muggle and a muggleborn. In his mind, there is such a thing as a useful muggle - one of the first things he’d done after amassing a decent fortune was send enough so that Petra, the woman who had protected him while her kind had tried to obliterate his, would be able to live her last years comfortably. But most of the muggles he encounters are little more than clever apes, and he has no use for them.

Joining the Dark Lord was an easy choice, for it gave Antonin more connections and more opportunities to seek power. Now, he ranks relatively high in the Death Eaters and considers himself one of the Dark Lord’s most valuable recruiters.

Sometimes, though, Antonin considers what his life will be like when the Dark Lord moves onto Europe. When he leaves Antonin in charge in Britain. It is a pipe dream, but one that Antonin aspires to. He may be serving Voldemort but one day it would be Antonin his servants would bow to. He will be the king in all but name, with his formidable queen by his side.

CONNECTIONS:

Rabastan Lestrange, Rodolphus Lestrange, & Lucius Malfoy: Recruited

Regulus Black: Former recruit, wants dead

Dmitry Nott: Friendly with

Rory McIver: Is Idolized by

Igor Karkaroff: Is disliked by

Rosmerta Dunlap: Is hated by

Blair Wood: Despised by

Katsiaryna Dolohov: Married

Sanya Dolohov: Niece

Fenrir Greyback: Resented by

Augustus Rookwood: Viewed competitively by

FLED · RETIRED

#harry potter rp #marauders era rp #skeleton rp #mature rp #marauders rp #smokeskeleton #smokeskeletonretired #antonin dolohov

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foxglovesound · 4 years

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🐾, 🌲, 🛠️, 💡, 🌠(instead of whether they are religious or not, how they act and familiarize on their religion, if that makes sense?) for hornetflower, goldenscale, acornbee, lightingface

FIRST OF ALL I’D LIKE TO GIVE A GREAT BIG APOLOGY FOR HOW LONG IT TOOK ME TO ANSWER THIS QUESTION i wanted to put a lot of thought into my responses (despite how. unprofessionally i wrote them thats just bc i type lazy KFHDSFDDSF) so i took a day or two to mull over as well as comic pages were DRAGGING ON LATE this week q___q !!!! thank u for ur patience AND the interesting questions this was fun >:3c!!!!

🐾: Do they have any future goals?

HORNETFLOWER: Well, honestly?? I’d have to say no. hornetflower isnt a particularly ambitious molly, and she tends to just focus on her current, short-term duties and what she needs to get done. at the moment her main goal is to guide sootpaw to her warrior graduation and to help raise duckkit -- and see duckkit reach her own graduation, of course. however, being minkclaws most trusted confidant, hornetflower kinda makes whatever minkclaws goals are her own goals too -- shell support her friend through thick and thin

GOLDENSCALE: again not really! she doesnt really have any particular ambitions in life, nor is she training an apprentice that she needs to see make it to graduation. part of her does hope that one day she and gorsefang can reconnect, but the rift between them is wide and goldenscale has stopped her attempts at reconnecting with gorsefang after her sibling’s initial resistance. beyond that? not a very ambitious warrior either! her daily goals are probably just getting the word of whats the next hot gossip (u can usually find her sharing tongues and chattering with her fellow clanmates to get those little details hehe)

ACORNBEE: she wants to become the top warrior of riverclan, pretty much! acornbee dedicates her life to upholding clan tradition and code, and her dream is to just become the most admired warrior in riverclan, one that the leader (snowstar….obviously) can trust with her nine lives (supposedly). however, acornbee takes the code a little too seriously -- anything that the leader could ever ask of her, she’d do without a second thought.

LIGHTNINGFACE: lightningface’s main goal in life has become more focused on their career as now they and eveningscale are the senior caretakers and technically like the head ranks of the caretakers. they’ve also got a little bit of a surprise coming on later during the comic ;) and their main goal will be making sure that little group stays safe and is raised happily.

🌲: What’s their favorite hunting spot?

HORNETFLOWER: probably by the rivers and streams! she enjoys either physically being in the water or amongst the stones overseeing the water flowing by, and she and minkclaw often goofed off together as youngsters around streams and rivers, so she has a particular affinity for hunting in those spots !

GOLDENSCALE: as her name suggests, goldenscale is especially skilled at fishing!! so her favorite hunting spots around the territory would naturally be the streams and river running through their territory as thats where she’s at her prime B)!!!

ACORNBEE: i dont believe she’d have a very specific hunting spot in riverclan, though i’d imagine she enjoys hunting around areas where there’s more shrubbery she can crouch behind and sneak up on her prey !!!

LIGHTNINGFACE: lightningface prefers hunting in the open parts of riverclan territory, where the trees thin out, or near the windclan border! they have a windclan-cat like build, and prefer chasing down prey out in open areas, rather than dodging around trees and shrubbery.

🛠️: How do they best contribute to their clan?

HORNETFLOWER: hornetflower is a very kind, and nurturing, member of riverclan. besides the typical warrior-duty stuff, such as patrols and hunting, hornetflower also helps out a great deal around camp - she makes sure apprentices are staying safe and out of trouble, and often drops by the nursery to interact with the caretakers and kittens there. BASICALLY she’s a very warm molly and a role model to some, so she best contributes to her clan besides her warrior duties by offering advice and guidance for youngsters and even others her age :3!

GOLDENSCALE: as mentioned before she’s EXCEPTIONAL at hunting fish and streams, so she contributes the best to riverclan by stocking the fresh-kill pile with plenty of fish she can catch, as well as giving tips and advice to apprentices and growing cats on how to more efficiently hunt fish in the river and streams!!

ACORNBEE: as a very obedient, task-orientated molly, acornbee best contributes to her clan in the smaller ways - she does what she’s told, when she’s told, and she does it thoroughly and properly. she makes sure she gets her tasks for the day done before any free time, and takes her responsibilities very seriously - she also works on the dens and camp setting a lot, making sure everything is secure and, if anything needs patched, she’s the first one reporting to the opening to patch it up! she’s just a busy little bee around riverclan pretty much hehe!

LIGHTNINGFACE: they’re one of the senior caretakers, alongside eveningscale, so they contribute to the clan most by taking charge of the nursery. they make sure caretakers are in order, especially apprentices, and make sure everyone’s staying safe and happy. one of the more important duties they have is keeping a note on kitten personalities and traits, because the senior caretakers often sit down with the leader before a group of kits is to be apprentices and give the leader their input on who should mentor which kit, and what career choices the kits have decided on. of course, the mentor-and-apprentice pair ups are the leaders final choice, but they usually do take the senior caretakers recommendations, and they of course make sure not to pair up a kit interested in becoming a caretaker with a warrior mentor or vice versa!

💡: Give a random fact about them?

HORNETFLOWER: hornetflower is the revamp of an old rp oc named Hopwhisker! I kinda miss the hop- prefix a lot honestly…. Anyways! she had 6 toes and was a scottish fold, both of which kinda got revamped to just big paws and floppy ears, but

GOLDENSCALE: originally she was part of the main group with lampreyface, hornetflower, minkclaw, blackcloud (before cootwhisker got in the way) and marigoldface! they were, conceptually, a very tight-knit friend group, but i ended up making lampreyface older than that generation and the group itself was feeling a little crowded so i broke it up a little. while they are all still friends they’re not like The Group as originally planned sdfhsdf!

ACORNBEE: she is the second ever cat i used the -bee prefix on :D!

LIGHTNINGFACE: there’s a rumor in windclan that went around shortly after rosepaw’s apprentice ceremony/first apprentice gathering that lightningface was actually rosepaw’s sire - although there’s no real validity to that claim. lightningface just happens to look a lot like their nephew.

🌠: Are they religious?

HORNETFLOWER: hornetflower isn’t devoutly religious in how she acts, so she doesn’t really pray daily or send her thoughts to starclan daily, but she will head down to the river (a common spot for most riverclan cats to stop by and pray without heading all the way up to starclan’s ledge, should they feel the need to pray for something) and pray for her friends or family if someone she knows is in danger, or battling an illness, or going out on a particularly dangerous job/duty/task. if a clanmate or someone she knows from a different clan has passed away too, she’ll sit down and send a silent prayer up to starclan, asking for her ancestor’s to welcome the aforementioned cat into their ranks securely.

GOLDENSCALE: besides just….believing in starclan, goldenscale doesn’t really do anything or behave in any particularly religious manners. she never really prays unless she feels it’s desperately, desperately needed, and you could probably count the amount of times shes prayed on one of ur hands. her religious behavior/familiarity extends to just simply knowing that there’s a place after death.

ACORNBEE: acornbee, on the other hand, is very attentive in her religious behavior. she typically takes a moment to thank starclan for a catch once she hunts prey down, and prays before she sits down to eat, typically again just a little thank you to starclan for blessing her with a meal. shes not shy when it comes to prayers for starclan, and often thinks to them for advice - however, in her eyes, the closest a living cat can get to communing with starclan outside of starclan’s ledge is the leader: the leader, in acornbees eyes, has direct path with starclan, and whatever the leader orders, it must be a will of starclan. it can be an unfortunate vulnerable way of thinking.

LIGHTNINGFACE: the most notable behavior they do when it comes to religion is the fact they will send a prayer up to starclan before every birth - its usually just a quiet, quick “let this cat and their kits make it through the birth” in their head before they settle down to help the cat in labor deliver kits, alongside eveningscale. they also tell kittens and apprentices lore and mythology, as well as about starclan, so that could also be a way that u can see how they act in according to their religion!!

#worldbuilding #lore #just bc i added extra like cultural stuff abt caretaker ranks n what not in some of lightnings answers

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