#which just seems boring to revise and edit

[vaya-writes]

The Wyvern's Bride - Part 3.2

When Adalyn gets sacrificed to the local wyvern, she’s a little annoyed and a lot terrified. Upon meeting the wyvern, she discovers that he’s not particularly interested in eating people, and mostly wants to be left alone. In a plot to save himself from the responsibilities his family keep pushing on him, Slate names Adalyn as his human Envoy, and tasks her with finding him a wife.

2000 words. Cis female human x Cis male wyvern (slow burn, arranged marriage, eventual smut). firefly-graphics did the divider.

Masterlist - Previous

Adalyn wakes early. She’s used to getting up at sunrise to start baking, and up in the Spires with the balcony door propped open, she has an unimpeded view of the lightening sky.  

Slate had woken earlier still and is nowhere to be found. There’s evidence of his stirring here and there. A blanket in a pile by the chaise. Crumbs at the table. A covered plate of cold toast waiting for Adalyn. She bites into it, relishing the jam Slate had procured.  

She’s tempted to go back to bed. To sleep in until the sun finishes rising. To loaf about and relax, perhaps with a book. But she’s not yet game to go through Slate’s collection, and the threat of boredom chafes at her skin.  

Instead, she dresses for the day, gathers up some of her cleaning supplies, and makes for the kitchen. She’s not sure what state she’ll find it in but is looking forward to using the area herself.  

Light streams into the windows as she makes her way down the Tower until finally, she enters the passage that leads to the kitchen. Its dark, but thankfully short, and when she finds the dining room, the skylight illuminates the area enough to see her to the kitchen. 

Adalyn swears under her breath as she locates the flint and steel and lights the nearest brazier. Perhaps lighting is another thing she’ll have to talk to Slate about. 

When the kitchen is lit, Adalyn leans against the counter and surveys the place. Her legs are wobbly from the trek – it had been nice to stretch them, and she can move without discomfort now, but the hike will still take some getting used to. 

The Matron’s staff had tidied the kitchen. Dishes had been washed and put away, and any remaining food had been sealed and put in the larder (dried fruits are all that remain). Still, there are crusts and crumbs scattered about, and the fire pit is overflowing with ash.  

Adalyn sinks into cleaning. She marvels over the plumbing as she wipes and washes the counters. She puts on a pot of tea when she works, settling into the familiar routine. She even rummages through the larder for ingredients, and once the counters are clean, starts baking some bread and biscuits. She’d brought her starter yeast from home, and Slate’s kitchen is stocked with everything else she needs.  

By midmorning she’s surveying the fruits of her labours with satisfaction. There’s a platter of sweets to snack on, jam sandwiches which she eats on the spot, and a tea set which she resolves to take upstairs. She sets aside a handful of other things to take to the Tower, so that she won’t have to descend to the kitchen each morning for supplies.  

Throughout the morning Adalyn had noted a distant rumble. It had been almost comforting. In the stillness beneath the mountains, with Adalyn’s busywork being the only sounds, it soothes her to hear something else. 

When she finishes her work and takes a moment to breathe, she listens to the sounds with curiosity, then recognition. The occasional boom and slight tremors beneath her feet could be indicative of a cave in but had been too consistent. It’s more likely Slate, at work somewhere within the Spires. 

She glances at her food, then around the kitchen. There’s honestly not much else for her to do, and with the rest of the day stretching out before her, she decides to explore. 

She sets off in the direction of the byway, following the distant sounds of earth rending, retracing her steps through the dining hall and a winding passage before she emerges into the enormous cavern. At the size of it she blanches. Awe inspiring as it is, the walls are still unremarkable, and she worries that she might lose her way. She’s looking around for landmarks, anything to help mark one passage from another, when she notices the pile of stones beside her.  

Their purpose immediately becomes clear. Adalyn notes the number of stones and their arrangement – unique. Each door marker is different from the next. She resumes her exploration, walking alongside the stream and taking in the sights. Plant life creeps down from the ceiling, spilling over the edge of the cave opening, high above. The area is almost lush. 

She doesn’t have to walk the entire cavern, thankfully. The sounds are coming from just across the main-way, and she eyes one passage speculatively. The gouge marks around the edge of the doorway are fresh; debris and dust litter the ground and a set of footprints, visible even to her, track through it all. She spies a bundle of white and stoops to examine it. A shirt, discarded in a heap. 

She’d go in after Slate if it weren’t for the darkness. At its thickness, she balks. Even if the wyvern were through the passage, she has no way of knowing about any hazards.  

“Slate?” She calls. 

The noise ceases. For a moment she hears nothing. Then there’s the crunch of footsteps. 

“Adalyn. Are you alright?” 

The air swirls with dust. Adalyn waves the particulates away from her face and coughs. “I brought you lunch, though it might be early.” 

Slate emerges from the darkness, pausing at the threshold of the shadows. “It’s never too early to see you, dearest.” 

Adalyn squints at his outline, using the expression to cover her embarrassment. “Do I get to see you?” 

He straightens, and steps out of the corridor. Contrite, he runs a hand through his hair, smearing a white streak through it. “Sorry. Difference in eyesight, I guess.” 

He’s shirtless, in his demi form. There’s a layer of filth and grit covering him, almost creating patterns against his grey skin and dappled scales. 

She eyes the swarths of them: thick and dark on the backs of his arms and shoulders, lightening colour at his sides, and thinning into skin over his chest. There’s a fresh scar above his left pectoral, and Adalyn recognises it as the place where Slate had removed a scale. 

She drags her eyes away from his chest and forces a polite smile. “Did you want to wash up first, or...” 

Slate gestures towards the cavern. “Let’s go over there. You can sit in the light, and I can take a dip in the stream.” 

Adalyn takes a seat at the bank before unwrapping their food. She sets the remaining sandwiches aside for Slate while she picks at a biscuit. She watches with bemusement as Slate kicks off his shoes and socks before stepping straight into the stream. She catches sight of his back – tessellated scales the colour of coal – and the amusement slips her mind. 

“What are you working on today?” 

His arms are wreathed in shadow, fingers tipped with long claws. Adalyn watches, riveted, as he dispells the claws into puffs of smoke and begins rubbing water up his arms and chest. His skin from the forearms down is still shadowy, and cloudy water streams off him in rivulets. 

“I’m carving the passage from the main-way to where your quarters will be.” 

“By hand?” 

“The first time, yes.” 

He climbs the bank to sit beside her, and she wordlessly hands him a sandwich. He smiles his thanks. “What about you?” 

Adalyn sighs. “I don’t know. To be honest, without a bakery to run, I fear I might get quite bored.” 

“What did you used to do with your free time?” 

She leans back, watching a cloud pass. “Cook. Clean. Garden. Sometimes spin and sew.” 

“Do you like doing those things?” 

“Yes, sometimes. They help me feel in control.” 

Slate considers while he finishes his food. Then rests his hand in his chin. “We could find you a project. I always have several to keep me busy.” 

She grins. Slate seems the type to keep multiple pots on the burner. “You got a list, or something?” 

He straightens and counts on his fingers. “Finish the blueprints for your quarters, carve out the passages and main spaces, contract a smith for fittings, designate a permanent space for my workshops, build said workshops, prototype different elevators,” he pauses, and a blush touches his cheeks at Adalyn’s expression. “To start.” 

She enjoys his enthusiasm. Even if she finds it hard to relate. “I thought you’d finish the Tower first.” 

He brushes some crumbs away and reaches for a sweet. “I don’t want to crowd you longer than necessary. Your space is my top priority.” 

Some of her mirth fades, and she tries to keep a neutral expression. Part of her fixates on those words, searching them for further meaning. Perhaps he is being genuine.  

Tentatively, she replies. “I don’t feel crowded.” 

She misses the way he looks at her, somewhat sharply. Fearing he had misstepped. “You don’t? I- well, I know how humans value their privacy.” 

She purses her lips. Part of her very badly wants to protest the distance he’s literally building between them. But she doesn’t want to push, and risk seeming clingy.  

She lets the topic drop. “So what project do you suggest I take up?” 

He thinks. “You like cleaning.” 

A nod. 

He looks almost pained as his picks his next words. “I suppose I don’t mind if you go through my things. Organise them, I mean.” 

She’s torn again. She wants to react with brevity. Tease him for his tastes. ‘What if you don’t like my system.’  

Instead, she approaches the situation with growing anxiety and caution. She wonders if having her in his space, touching all his things, will drive him to push her away faster. She’s practically a stranger. And he’d been so frustrated with his family meddling.  

“If you’re sure. I know it could be a bother.” 

He shakes his head. His fingers creep towards hers. “It’s not. You’d have to try really hard to bother me. Just wait until tonight. Some of the magical artifacts can be aggressive, and I’d better point them out.” 

She eyes his hand, next to hers, and some of the tightness in her chest lessons. Anxiety temporarily assuaged, she manages a smile. She stands and readies to leave, allowing herself some humour. “Okay dearest.” 

--- 

When Slate joins Adalyn for dinner he is both late and sodden. He lands on the balcony and lingers there, sheepishly wringing his clothes out. 

“There is a bath here.” 

“I don’t want to track dust through my room,” he says before going to fetch a towel.  

Adalyn had rekindled the fire herself and lit the braziers, and dinner is set out when he joins her at the table, once more in his human form. She wonders if there’s a particular reason he chooses the form so frequently. 

“Sorry I’m late. My timepiece is broken.” He bites into a pastry and lets out an appreciative groan.   Adalyn hadn’t found any substantial supplies in the larder and had managed to make some fruit pies with the jam preserves. He swallows and smiles at her. “How are you finding the keep?” 

She shrugs. Adopts a teasing tone. “There’s room for improvement, I suppose.” 

“Oh?” 

“I don’t want to seem like I’m complaining.” 

“Please. Complain to me.” 

“Perhaps you could build an exit or two? I’m getting plenty of fresh air from the balcony, but it’d be nice to go for a walk on the surface.” 

“That’s a quick fix. Though I’d be careful walking around the karst. There’s a lot of places you could fall.” 

“We’re also down to bread and cheese. Some supplies wouldn’t go astray.” 

Slate nods. “I go hunting every few days, but it’s slipped my mind, with all the changes. I’d planned to visit the valley tomorrow; we could stock up then?” 

“What are your plans in the valley?” 

He smiles, coy. “Oh, you know. Post some letters. Check in with some craftsmen. Pick up a gift for my wife.” 

“You’re too sweet.” 

“Right?” 

She rolls her eyes. “I’ll forgive your tardiness then.” 

“Was that all you wanted? A door and some food?” 

Adalyn narrows her eyes. “I could make a list if it pleases you.” 

“I love lists.”

---

Next

#the wyvern’s bride #my writing #vaya writes #monster boyfriend #tetaro #monster romance #exophilia #i feel like the nitty gritty is boring and this is so hard to write without going over the nitty gritty #like the important part of this next arc is these two showcasing their love languages and how they have completely different ones #unfortunatly that means a heck of a lot of slate building stuff and adalyn delivering him food and making small talk with him #which just seems boring to revise and edit #please tell me this reads okay #regardless of my concerns

[novlr]

Story Edit Like A Pro!

If you begin a story edit with these questions to evaluate your characters, plot, and setting, you’ll be amazed at how this will help you improve your story!

Evaluating Characters

We’re going to look at characters first. 

The cast of characters is the list of characters in your story. These characters act and react. They create emotion. They show motivation. Without any of this, you don’t have a story. That’s a tall order for your characters. So how do you make sure you’re getting the most out of them?

Who appears in each scene?

Having a list of your characters per scene gives a specific method for evaluating how you’re using the characters and shows you when you need to revise a scene.

It’s time to revise a scene if:

There are too many characters in a scene. Is every character required to achieve the purpose of the scene?

An introduced character lacks detail or has too much detail.

There are names that are too similar and might confuse the reader.

What are their goals?

A character goal is what a character wants. She should want it so badly that your readers feel her need in their guts. And failing to achieve the goal will be devastating.

What gets in the way of their goals?

Characters will drive the tension in your story, and tension is what keeps a reader reading. Putting obstacles in the way of achieving the goal will raise the tension.

Evaluating Plot

Plot is what happens in the story. It’s what your story is about. Here are three questions to help you evaluate each scene and how they relate to the plot.

What is the purpose of each scene?

There must always be a reason any given scene exists in your story. That’s what we mean by its purpose. A scene without a purpose will distract the reader from the main story. It may even bore the reader.

Is there an entry hook opening each scene?

Whatever you read at the beginning of the scene that keeps you reading is the scene entry hook. Every scene must have one by the end of the first three paragraphs or so.

Is there an exit hook at the end of each scene?

Whatever you read at the end of the scene that keeps you turning the page to the next scene is the exit hook. Every scene must have an exit hook. This includes a secret revealed, a cliffhanger, a clue, or a story twist.

Evaluating Settings

Finally, while you perform a story edit, examine your settings. Settings are key to keeping your reader engaged, so don’t ignore them. 

Is the location you chose the best place for emotional impact?

Each scene must take place somewhere, and each location has the potential to ramp up emotion. Often a writer doesn’t think hard enough about where a scene takes place and doesn’t end up using locations effectively. Does the location elicit emotion in the reader or the characters? If not, choose a different location.

Are there objects relevant to the plot or characterization in each scene?

Watch a film without props or a backdrop, and you’d probably get confused or bored. You’d just be watching actors on an empty stage, which would make it hard to believe the reality they’re trying to portray.

Readers are much more engaged in a story if they can imagine the setting that stirs their emotions. 

Are some of the 5 senses used in every scene?

Sensory details keep the “stage” and characters interesting. Without them, both the setting and the characters will seem flat.  Using the POV character’s senses to describe the action will bring your reader closer to the character. So ensure the senses used show characterization or move the plot forward.

#writers #creative writing #writing #writing community #writers of tumblr #creative writers #writing inspiration #writeblr #writerblr #writing tips #writblr #novlr #editing #editing resources #editor #writing tools #editing tips #editing advice #story edit #story editing #developmental editing #structural editing #writer resources #writing resource #writing advice #writing help #help for writers #learn to edit #creative writing resources #writing resources

[thebiscuiteternal]

Okay, sending the picture doesn't work, sorry about that, so:

Anything for the Au where Meng Yao gets snatched up by a wen solider, works his way up and is one day 'rewarded' by wen Ruohan who has Nie huaisang sent to his room?

Ah, yeah, nonnies can't send images. Submitted images require a name attached too, but with that I can at least edit you to be anon in the actual post. Totally understandable if you'd rather not, however, no push.

(note: I originally had an opening conversation between Meng Yao and Wen Ruohan for this, but my WRH "voice" felt... slightly off. Not up to my standard. I didn't want to extend your wait while I fought with it, so I might try revising it another time.)

---------------

By the time he opened the door to his room, he had gone through over two dozen possibilities for what this 'mystery present' could possibly be-

-and what he found was not any of them.

He put a hand over his mouth to keep any sound of surprised dismay from escaping, lest someone be listening in where he couldn't see them, then stepped into his room, closed the door, and immediately pressed a silencing talisman to the seam before approaching his bed.

Where there was a boy tied to one of the posts.

Almost immediately, his mind began instinctively taking an inventory of information. Which was good. As long as it was occupied doing that, it wasn't panicking.

First off, the clothing that bore all of the hallmarks of the Nie sect- captive, an important one, clearly, yet sent here instead of the Fire Palace.

The overall ragged state of his hair- clearly pulled more than once in a struggle- and the painful looking bruise that spread down from his left temple over his cheekbone- a favorite knockout tactic for attempted escapees.

Gingerly, he lifted the boy's chin, and estimated that they weren't that distant in age, maybe two or three years at the most.

As he continued his examination, his unexpected... guest made a faint little disoriented moan, eyes fluttering open just enough for him to see they were a vivid pale green before they closed again and the boy once again went slack in his bindings.

Meng Yao took a very slow, deep breath and let it out.

Then did so again.

The number of Nie family members who were in or close enough to the central bloodline to inherit that eye color could be counted without running out of fingers, which, put together with the other things he'd made note of, meant he'd been handed none other than the brother and heir to the sect leader currently leading the war against his own.

He had heard quite a bit about the Brothers Nie since he'd first come under the direct command of the Undying Sun. Wen Ruohan's opinions and feelings about them wandered the entire gamut from 'upstarts to be crushed under heel like bugs' to 'wayward children who merely needed to be taken well in hand," depending entirely on his mood at the moment he happened to be -frequently- thinking about them.

One of his very few requests of his sect leader was that he be allowed to keep his job and his home entirely separated, so given that... that Nie Huaisang had been sent here, it seemed that Wen Ruohan's opinion was currently in the 'wayward child' category.

Which didn't exactly make things easier for him, since, again, it could change at any time. For all he knew, this was anything from a genuine gift to some kind of test.

He sighed and rubbed his head.

Alright.

Alright.

He would simply -as if anything about the situation he'd been handed was simple- focus on 'for now,' to prevent giving himself a headache.

For now, this was intended as a gift.

One to be taken care of, akin to a surprise puppy.

He could do that.

Maneuvering into a position that would make it easier to catch Nie Huaisang once he was no longer bound, he pulled a knife from his sleeve and went to work on the ropes. When the last came free, Nie Huaisang slumped forward into his arms.

Huh.

He was a lot lighter than expected.

Filing that away in his mind in case he needed it for later, Meng Yao managed to get him laid out on the bed with very little difficulty.

He was not, however, a fool, so before he resumed examining for other injuries, he tied both of Nie Huaisang's hands back to the bed post.

By the time he was done, he'd found a handful of other bruises -though none as serious as the blow to the head- and some minor scrapes, as well as a qi-slowing sedative that would need to be burned out of Nie Huaisang's system.

And then it would just be a matter of figuring out what to do once he woke up.

#mdzs #jin guangyao #nie huaisang #fanfic #no sangyao yet but we all know it would go there eventually

[bettsfic]

wip update!

i'd planned to post chapter 3 and 4 of Free Ride before the new year but last week my brain dug its amygdala in the sand and refused to do anything productive. but i picked it up again today and i'm about halfway through revising chapter 3. chapter 4 is still a mess.

in lieu of Making Words Happen, i started playing baldur's gate 3, which is as amazing as everyone says it is, and astarion is as blorbo-shaped meow meow as he seems. i didn't get any writing done last week, but i did do a lot of random world-building for a vampire story involving soulmates.

i'm not even through with act i btw so i'm avoiding spoilers at all costs.

my goal was to finish revisions on Skinless by the 30th, one year to the day i first opened the document. but that didn't happen. that said, i think the major developmental edits are mostly done and i just have some gaps to fill/threads to tie together. best case scenario is to get it out on submission by memorial day. mid case scenario, end of summer. worst case scenario, i chicken out entirely and get back to work on Rabbit's Blood, which is so palatable i fear it's boring.

i've spent the past couple months working on a major life overhaul, so i'll be rolling out a lot of new things/changes over the course of the year. very excited and daunted.

also i'm hoping to have a newsletter out this week!

#lkwrnl #wip update

[inthewindandinthewater]

A Plain of Stars (Chapter 3)

A/n: Finally I wrote another chapter. I know I said I'd write it like a month ago but I had a lot going on with my family and school, plus every time I tried to write I just couldn't put the words down. I also wrote a full chapter that had a huge plot hole, like something so stupid you'd think I haven't been in this fandom for years now. But, I did write the into to chapter 4 by accident so that one should be alone quicker now that I'm done with school for the semester. I hope y'all like this one, it's a little short. Feedback is always appreciated.

(I always end up rereading these and making little edits, all my stories are always getting a little bit more readable :0)

Warnings: Light cursing, arranged marriages, reader is kinda mean

Summary: Agnes Goyle is quickly working her way into your circle.

Chapter 4

⋆⋆⋆☆✦☆☆✭☆☆✦☆☆✭☆☆✦☆⋆⋆⋆

Chapter 3

Poor Agnes. 

Poor boring, tactless Agnes; who had no shot with the boy of her dreams. 

You and Agnes Goyle had become friends last semester, not good friends but friends came few and far between so you would have to grin and bear her. The two of you had been assigned partners for a potions assignment and she had quickly latched. She asked you to take her places, walk the castle with her, and had intruded on your meals with the twins. 

It was about two days in that she began to shift, she’d always been outgoing and friendly, not particularly funny but to her credit she didn’t try to be. But whenever Evan was concerned she seemed to second guess herself, cutting off her sentences or looking anywhere but him when she would speak. Evan, who could be called a moron but never oblivious, immediately took notice of this. 

“What’s up with your shadow?” He’d said one day on the way back to the dorms after dinner. Agnes and Pandora had decided to study that even, Dora had either taken a liking to or a pity for the girl. “Agnes?” You say, shrugging “no clue.” You knew. Of course you knew, but her crush wasn’t for your entertainment and you didn’t fancy playing matchmaker. “Hm” Evan looked annoyed but didn’t dwell on it. 

She was always walking a step behind the rest, cutting herself short when one of you spoke over her, tugging at her clothes, staring off into space. Nothing like she had been when it was just the two of you, then she couldn;t seem to shut up. She filled the empty silence with random facts and stories about her day. You found the chatter a little comforting, Agnes talked and you listened, there was no pressure on you to drive the conversation. It was like having a companion with whom you could be completely mindless, you liked that about her. And if you were busy, or had another place to be, she never minded. 

Even now as she walked slightly behind you, Regulus, Pandora, and Evan she wasn’t the same bubbly girl you’d come to know in the first months of your friendship, it was really starting to grate on your nerves. If she was going to be around she could at least be herself, it was far more enjoyable than the simmering shyness that clouded her now. You tug Regulus closer to you and away from Evan, effectively putting a space between him and the blonde. Agnes, thankfully getting the cue, gives you a surprised but grateful look and steps into the space. “Goyle! Didn’t even know you were there, when did you get so quiet?” Evan chirps, in his all too easy way. “Oh, I just-” she fades away, you give her a stern look. “I just didn’t want to interrupt, plus you couldn’t hear me back there.” An amused huff escapes Regulus as he watches the events play out, he gives you a bit of side eye. To which you shrug. “Next time just shove Reggie over, it’s not like he speaks anyway.” 

Later, when it was just you and Regulus in the library he broached the topic. “So, your shadow has a crush.” He raises an eyebrow at you, “I guess, I really hate what it’s turned her into.” You say, not averting your attention away from the essay you're revising. “So your solution is to play cupid?” That makes you look up at him, the way he’s leaned over the table with his chin in his hand. “No” You exasperate, “my solution is to make her more comfortable so she’ll stop acting like a kicked puppy.” He leans back then, a sardonic expression painted across his face as he crosses his arms over his chest, “is that right?” You roll your eyes and go back to your essay, “what happens when she gets the wrong impression? Evan is used to two kinds of girls. You and Dora, who may as well be sexless, and objects of affection. Personally, I don;t think Agnes Goyle falls into that second category.” 

You huff and throw you quill back into its inkwell, “I don’t know Regulus, maybe I wasn’t thinking about it. Maybe he will like her or maybe she’ll have to realise that she doesn’t have a chance and get over it. Either way it will be a learning experience for one of us.” You snatch you quill back up and go back to writing, Regulus for once allows a smile to curl over his features as he watches you. 

Okay, so maybe it was cruel and self motivated. But, you didn’t have time to worry about it, and for all other people knew you were just trying to make her feel included in the little ‘in-crowd’ the four of you were forming. 

The buzz around Regulus’ reappearance had spread quickly throughout the school and even more had the news about who he was hanging around. Now that you had all grown up a bit people were starting to take sides. War was inevitable, most families had either pledged their children to the darklord or outright denounced his ideology. The four of you sat at the centre of it, not in the sense that you were the main problem in this war, but more that you each straddle a fence. Before Sirius had left it was so clear that all of you, or at least Regulus and the twins would take the dark mark, but now doubt had set in, especially as you all neared your seventh year. Chatter was ceaseless and endlessly annoying, you knew it mattered, you knew the moment any of you made a decision you would polarise either way. You just hoped you wouldn’t be polarised against one another. 

Unlike the others your parents hadn’t made a decision. Obviously they leaned one way, and by doing so and being of the relatively new families to join the sacred 28 you managed to skate by. But the pressure was increasing and you all knew it. “I’m scared” Dora had said to you one night, “I’m scared for all of us.” Her expression was uncharacteristically grave. The lofty demeanour she was known for was slipping out her day by day, the weight of decision squeezing it out her. It seemed even the brightest of you were losing your colour. You shifted closer to her on the couch, putting your arms out as she fell into them in time. You’d never been a touchy person, but Dora knew comfort one way. You’d stroked her hair and whispered sweet nothings, ‘it’s going to be okay’s,  and ‘we’ll be alright’s. All manner of things you didn’t really believe. 

Your little in-crowd was becoming more and more tight knit every day, but not in the way that made it seem like you’d always be this way. Not like Sirius and his friends, who seemed to suck new people into their friend group like a vacuum as time went on, they seemed like they’d be a family forever, it made you sick to your stomach. You opted not to think too much about it. No, your tightness felt like a rubberband fit to snap, that one day it would break and you’d all be scattered out the edges of the world. Now, Agnes was slipping her way under that band, none of you felt the security to warn her. Too worried that acknowledging it would be just the thing to break it. 

Regardless, you were becoming more fond of them each day. Even for all of Evan’s chatter, and Regulus’ lack of chatter, and for Pandora's odd remarks, or for Agnes’ little observations; you still wouldn’t trade them for any of your classmates. There was something about the way you fit together, it made the snugness of the rubberband feel more like comfort than an inconvenience. You’d never had friends like this, before you’d had Sirius. But this was almost better, when one of them annoyed you there was always someone else to go to, and for the most part you were all together. Either at meals or in classes you were a unit, the consistency was so nice that the thought of them slipping away made your chest ache a little. 

Christmas decorations had finally been draped across the castle, the yuletide in the air lightened everyone's mood. “Don’t you think hanging mistletoe around a castle full of children is a bit odd?” Agnes remarked as she cut into her pie. “Now that you mention it, yeah.” Regulus spoke, looking across the table at Agnes, who always looked a little ajar when Regulus spoke to her. “True! What are they playing at?” Evan chimed in, looking more over to Regulus than to Agnes, who’d broached the question in the first place. “Maybe it’s just one of those archaic traditions, they probably don’t even think about putting it up anymore. It’s just like the garland of the bobbles.” Pandora directed her musings at the sky, serverying the floating wreaths above her head. “Except it’s not” Evan furrows his eyebrows at her and eventually rolls his eyes when he is given no response from his sister. “I mean, she has a point. I don’t think anyone’s holding a wand to the first years heads and making them kiss for our amusement.” You say, your tone lovingly chagrin. “I should hope not” Regulus says, looking over to you where you sat next to him. 

This had become commonplace, it didn’t matter where you were, you sat down and he sat next to you. It was kind of adorable, like a standoffish housecat that insisted on following you around but never sitting directly with you. “I don’t know, anything above my head in a doorway makes me uneasy after what happened to Severus.” Agnes shivered, remembering the concoction of red paint and god knows what that was soaked Severus Snape as he entered the potions room last week. None of you had been there, being in the year below Severus and not sharing any classes, but everyone had either seen or heard about his march of rage through the corridor back to his dorm. “Those four need to be jailed, if not only for annoying the piss out of everyone who has to deal with Snape.” Evan looked genuinely exhausted, he’d been assigned Severus as a tutor for potions and had to deal with his attitude biweekly. “Maybe, try studying on your own and passing your own classes and you could avoid him.” Regulus shot Evan a look that was returned back twice fold. “Maybe Slughorn should do his job instead of networking with his students” Reglus only nodded at that. 

“He does what?” Agnes said incredulously, Pandora piped up in turn, sensing something that needed explanation. “He likes to form connections with the wealthiest and most intelligent students in each house, he invites students with promise to be a part of an exclusive club so they think fondly of him when they’re more successful.” She says, her gaze falling from the sky and onto Agnes. “Oh” she says, the same look of simmering shyness falling over her once again. Evan spoke next, “his standards are almost inexplicable, don’t worry about not being invited” He elbows her in the ribs gently before leaning down to fake whisper “I’m not in it either.” This turns Agnes into a puddle of blush and giggles in her seat. “His definition of promise is obviously skewed considering both my brother and I made it,” Regulus remarks, pushing food around his plate. The table is silent for a second, all of you surprised at the mention of Sirius. “He has no standards, his methods are about as clear as divination.” You say, effectively smashing the silence and diffusing tension. 

The conversation picks up once more as Agnes tells her latest story about divination, to which Evan can’t help but make commentary. It’s in these moments of distraction that Regulus finds his excuse to scoot ever so slightly closer to you on the bench, and for once.. You notice. 

#the maruaders #slow burn #regulus black x reader #regulus black x you #harry potter #a plain of stars

[spaceagebachelorstan]

i am very bored rn, so

ride the cyclone youtube au

they all have semi-popular yt channels in this au. i dont know what counts as popular so take that as anywhere from 1-20k each. whatever you see it as will work

mischa

had to start with the king of kaching himself. Obviously he posts frequently to badegg, most of his time on his yt chamnels goes to his music, but he'd start badegg_games as a little side thing and react to horror games he really likes, which gets peoples attention. he puts links to the original badegg in his descriptions which leads to more people finding his music. how much more? you decide. he also collabs pretty frequently with ricky, and brings other choir members on sometimes. his backgroud is just his room, maybe with some extra lighting. he edits his own videos and they are exactly how you'd expect them to be.

ricky

he absolutely has a gaming channel. he might stream as well. he's played every single fnaf fangame, including all the dating sims. hes also played onlycans. that one got age-restricted. any niche game he finds he makes a video on it. he uses text to speech in his videos, most of the time in post production so he doesn't have to type as he plays, and adds big subtitles. he also has a complete timeline of zolarian history. mischa and him collab pretty frequently, often playing multiplayer horror games together. he spends a lot of time on his video borders, and his channel logo is very fun and colourful. his cats show up very frequently in his videos, and when its something he doesn't think will jumpscare him, they're often sat on his lap as he plays. rpgs and sci-fi are some of the main types of games he plays, but theres a big variety. his channel name is linked to cats, zolar, or both.

ocean

she is freesciencelessons, but for every single subject. she is the only reason anyone is passing anything. she started it as either some extra credit project or as a way to revise, but people started following her and she actually quite liked making the videos, so she kept going. she doesn't bring other people onto her channel very often. her videos range from ten minutes to half an hour, depending on the subject, and shes very thorough. if its on any type of standardized test, ocean has made a video on it. she makes props for her videos and asks penny or ricky to animate things for her sometimes. her channel name is something simple like rosenbergrevision or something.

constance

did anyone watch quake n bakes? because that is what she'd do. shed post themed tutorials on how to bake different things. if it was a choir member's birthday, shed make them a themed treat and give it to them in the recording (if they were ok w it). her most popular tutorial/recipe were these 3D minecraft mob marshmallows she made for ricky, but her personal favourite are these little rose-shaped meringue cookies. sometimes she posts sewing videos as well, or little arts and crafts videos. she also promotes the cafe or makes cafe vlogs, but not often. her set up is pretty aesthetic and neat, but nothing extremely fancy. her intro is. short but sweet and she. has a little logo. her channel name is smthn like blackwoodbakes or connie'skitchen.

noel

he started making videos about poetry and film history and french cinema just to talk about them really. it was a passion project, he wasn't really too bothered about how many people saw it. he put work into it because he liked it, and he's haply with the followers he has. his videos are really long, and he goes super in depth. and then, he loses a bet to someone in the choir, and makes one of those "i watched _____ so you didn't have to" videos about some rlly bad movie that everybody takes the piss out of (think after or something). im picturing him with like a wine glass in hand making quips about whatever scene is on. it gets so many more views than his other videos. he's absolutely livid. but he makes more bcs people genuinely seemed to like the video. his dramatics and insults were quite interesting to watch, and soon its a pretty regular thing (if regular means once every four months). he still mostly makes his videos on things he likes, though. also, he managed to rope ocean into watching some horrible basic film with him and people like their dynamic, oddly enough. on halloween he reacts to horror movies with mischa. his channel name is something serious and probably ties into france somehow.

penny

shes a faceless youtuber and she has a pretty wide variety of videos. she used to be a stan acct for johnny moon before legoland, and she had to post a video on why what she did was wrong as community service. that one got a lot of views. she has a lot of art tips and speedpaints, as well as a lot of vlogs and a draw my life. she has a lot of videos about different types of music as well. her username has something to do with jane doe, she thought abt it because shes faceless and doesnt show her identity online and thought it was a fun idea. her set up is pretty basic, but its nice, and ezra's voice features in a lot of videos. the other choir members don't normally appear on her channel, but she, ricky and constance did an art challenge once.

#noel gruber #mischa rtc #ocean rtc #constance blackwood #ricky potts #penny lamb #noel rtc #ocean oconnell rosenberg #mischa bachinski #ricky rtc #ride the cyclone

[mikasa-last-hope]

If you collect all the reasons why you like rivamika?

Thank you for your question, Anon 😉

I hope there won't be too many spelling mistakes!

[MANGA SPOILER]

.

.

Make me like Levi.

Perhaps an original reason but a Rivamika scene made me like Levi. Yeah… when I started AOT, I didn't do shipping and I didn't like Levi. For me, he was just another badass character, cold, who did not express any emotion. Typical shonen character, seen and reviewed. How boring.

Then, I bought AOT volumes in colossal edition and I reread the manga. (side note : The colossal edition is super cool because the panels are obviously bigger and the paper is smoother and whiter, I find this edition more qualitative so I recommend!) So, I reach the chapter 30, the first real interaction between Levi and Mikasa and I see this panels in a very big format :

I can't really explain it well, but something clicked in me when I finally saw some real expressions on Levi's face. From that moment I got interested in him and started to like him, then discover that contrary to what I thought at the beginning Levi was a character with an interesting psyche and background. (Although I think it's a pity that Isayama didn't exploit it further… But it' s also the manga format that wants that, it's more limited than a novel.) He's a gray character who can be capable of committing heroic acts as well as terrible and even vicious things. He's a character that is very interesting to analyze and to write about. In the end, he became my favorite.

Levi's discreet interest in Mikasa.

I like how Mikasa managed to pique Levi's interest. I always found that sometimes she was ignored or put aside by her own friends so I really appreciate the fact that someone paid attention to her and is concerned about her.

Then, there are his stares on Mikasa and speechless!Levi :

Levi wants to give meaning to all the sacrifices that have been made. Without it, all the people he lost will have died for nothing. It's personal but at the same time it gives him a selfless side, which closes him off a bit in a rather heroic character despite his flaws and his darkness. So it gives me the impression that we are dealing with "Captain Levi" most of the time, a closed person who is only interested in what might serve his noble cause. But his interest in Mikasa, although it's a bit professional, also seems rather personal, an interest he has as just Levi, as a person.

And, with Mikasa, Levi seems to be more reserved and hesitant, which deepens his character and makes him more approachable than an always charismatic and confident "Captain Levi".

The evolution of Mikasa : from hostility to trust and care.

Mikasa with Levi goes from this :

to this :

Mikasa doesn't like Levi at first, at least not since the court. But as time goes by, there is a real evolution of her opinion about him. Even though she still holds a small grudge against him, I still feel that she realizes that he isn't as bad and evil as she thought. She saw the "bad" sides of Levi first but ends up seeing his good sides later. She learns to respect him, follow his orders and trust him.

There is a real positive development that has been done (although in my opinion it has not been sufficiently exploited) and which shows that Mikasa is capable of questioning herself and revising her opinion.

Their interactions with each other.

Their interactions are really nice to see and read. They're both my favorite characters and I ship them together so of course I love the scenes they have together and I probably have a biased view because of that but… I still feel that there is a kind of special atmosphere between them. I can't put words to it, but it's like there's something deep and latent. It's more obvious in the manga, but there's almost always a game of looks between them :

⬆ Here, I really like the focus that tightens on Mikasa's eyes.

⬆ The way Mikasa turns her eyes on Levi… the way there is once again a tight focus on her eyes gives it a more intensity/meaning to them. And Levi seems to turn his away as if he's uncomfortable with it whereas he's usually the first to stare at people…

⬆ This page is simply amazing. No text, just looks. I don't know what Isayama wanted to show here, but I feel like Levi see Mikasa's distress and is surprised and confused? I would really like to know what Levi is thinking at that moment. Because right before the frame on Levi's eyes, there is Mikasa's face from his perspective. So I think I'm being reasonable in saying that it's more Mikasa's expression and tears than the fact that she draws her sword that surprises him. I think it might be because he is surprised that Mikasa cared about someone else than Eren to the point of drawing her blade?

⬇ And it's during one of their interactions that we learn a little more about each other :

So I find that this mix adds a certain personal dimension and intimacy to their interactions.

Their dynamic.

He is Humanity's Strongest Soldier. She is the Woman Who Worth Hundred Soldiers. So if they team up, we have the right to have high expectations. And they don't disappoint. They have a confidence in each other's abilities that allows them to fight on their own without having to worry about the other, but ready to intervene for the other if necessary. Even though it wasn't shown much, they can really ally themselves and synchronize like in the uprising arc and especially at the very end, against Eren. Alone, they are strong. Together, they look unstoppable.

I liked when Mikasa was kind of Levi's right-hand soldier. I think it suits her, I would have liked to see her more in this role. It would have allowed her to learn the importance of responsibility, to put forward other of her qualities than her fighting skills. Mikasa is smart, works well and I think she knows how to anticipate the needs of others. And not being afraid of Levi, she could have told him when he was too harsh but at the same time "defend" him to her comrades because she is the one more able to understand and accept the drastic orders that Levi can give. A conciliatory role to improve understanding and cohesion between Levi and his squad. We saw all of this in the uprising arc, admittedly rather superficially, but I really enjoyed it.

I also find that Levi and Mikasa have a bit of a "Mentor and Protégée" dynamic. I always thought that Levi was trying to pass on/teach something to Mikasa. In the forest of giant trees, he tells her to not lose sight of their objective, unless satisfying her own desires overrides that. Later, he tells her to control her emotions for not mess up again. In the Uprising Arc (manga), he orders her to kill the enemies when she can, it may be an order but it’s mostly a survival advice, I think. In Season 3 part 1, he tells her that humans will also be their enemies and asks her to pass on the message to her comrades, he warns her and her friends by saying this. He asks her to calm down a few times and explains quickly why rushing is not the right thing to do.

But beyond the dynamics of "Superior and subordinate" and "Mentor and Protégée" which are professional. Levi and Mikasa also have in my eyes a certain dynamic on a more personal level : Levi see Mikasa for what she is not more not less. Although he is aware of her abilities, he doesn't mystify or belittle her. Besides, Mikasa seems more natural and herself with Levi than with the others. She has no filter, she isn't afraid to say and do what she really thinks. I find that she has a freedom with him that she doesn't have with anyone else.

As for Levi, he is still himself, Mikasa or not. However I find that he picks up in his rough way of talking when she is around surely because she tends to react. He takes his time more when he speaks to her as if he is uncertain and hesitant when usually he is very direct. To be honest, I don't know if it's because there's something about Mikasa that really makes him unsure or if it's because he knows that she's reluctant towards him and if he doesn't tone down his harshness the message won't get through as well as with the others.

There has always been an honesty between them that makes their dynamic natural, balanced and doesn't feel forced. We go from a somewhat reluctant association (on Mikasa's side) to a functional team. Obviously, it's not always perfect, but it only makes their dynamic more realistic. They don't always agree, but they talk about it, argue, try to make the other see their point of view. They are honest with each other, not afraid to tell the truth to each other and this is a good thing for me.

Rivamika is also a ship that is eligible for the romantic dynamic of "the man who looks at the girl from afar, not letting his feelings get in the way of her happiness and the girl who is in denial and not wanting to acknowledge her feelings for X reasons (bad love history, blind love for someone else)". For example, I have in mind this scene from "No string attached" for the dynamic I'm talking about (starting at 50 seconds for what I want to explain) :

It's not for the dialogue or for the characters' personality that I give this scene as an example, although "I don't need you to take care of me. I take care of myself. That's what I do." fits pretty well for a line from Mikasa to Levi (and I will pay good money to see and hear Levi tell Mikasa that she fights like a hamster!) However, it's more about the idea of the confident guy and the girl in denial… The way the girl's first instinct is to lash out at the guy and, him, just stays chill, ironic, cynical... Familiar, isn't it?

They could be beneficial to each other.

Maybe that's why I shipped them together in the first place. I really think they could have been beneficial to each other.

Levi has suffered a lot. I feel sorry for him when I started to like him so I wished he had someone to really care for him. And Mikasa takes care of others, sometimes in a rough way but she also knows how to show an incredible sweetness. And it's some of that sweetness that I want for Levi.

There is also the fact that I think Levi feels apart and I believe that Mikasa can really understand him because they share certain personality traits, have certain events in their past that are similar. Levi could find an understanding and compassion from Mikasa that he cannot find from anyone else.

Mikasa seems a bit lonely too. Not like Levi seem to be, I have the impression that she's sometimes put aside by the others without them doing it intentionally and she tend to self-effacing too. But Levi, when she speaks, he listens and don't interrupt her... I think that he could give her the right attention and respect she needs to be more confident. (Yes, for me Mikasa lacks confidence in herself, that's the reason why she believes so easily Eren when he says he hates her, it's not a lack of trust in Eren but in herself.)

And as they remain two individuals, with two different personalities despite some common points, they sometimes have disagreements as we have already seen in the manga. But this is not necessarily a bad thing. It allow them to question themselves and to evolve individually in a positive way.

Rivamika is bold.

Rivamika or any other ship than Eremika would have been more audacious, "artistically" speaking. Main characters who love each other romantically? Super original, we never saw that… I've always hoped Isayama would go beyond the standard in this matter (He did it a bit by killing Eren before he could be with Mikasa, I admit.). I was hoping he wouldn't make a romance between Eren and Mikasa, because I wanted something different and original, to show other kind of love than the romantic one. To show that people can be very important without it being romantic, it would have been more and really interesting... too bad.

But at the same time and to be honest, I like AOT as it is, I accept Eremika and understand what it brings to the story. I didn't read the manga for the romance but for the universe, the suspense, the survival story, the characters…etc. But I also see Isayama's work as an incredible support for the imagination, a nice base, good characters with which we can invent, build or deepen the relationships between them.

I am aware that Rivamika is also controversial. This is also why I say Rivamika is bold. It's a ship that has negative labels so it should be handled with caution. But there is nothing that is really an obstacle, if you think about it a little, nothing that can't be swept away with logic, facts and an open mind, but above all a distance to have when it comes to fictional characters in a fictional story, in a world that is not ours and in a time apparently prior to ours. (I won't debate it here because it's not the subject and I will only make an already long post heavier. If you are interested in my opinion, ask and I will try to make a post dedicated to this subject.)

Rivamika is the ship that inspires me the most to read or write about the development of a relationship. There is a real potential to exploit, a story to tell with twists and stakes.

They look good together.

Yes, I know it's a superficial reason, but I can't help but find that there's a certain flow that comes off of them when I see them together. It's a matter of taste.

Here are some examples to illustrate what I mean :

Manga :

Anime :

Official Art :

Fanart :

Fanart by PNR Phit chan

#rivamika #levimika #my asks

[zmwrites]

Happy STS!

What does your first draft look like? What kind of revisions do you do for a second, third etc? Do you drafts change a lot or a little between each?

Hi Kate!

In a perfect world, I would write a decently clean first draft, fix world and character mistakes in the second draft, fix pacing issues in a third draft, and then do line edits in the fourth and final draft.

However reality is not so kind.

Admittedly, I've only had three projects progress past the first draft stage: Indigo Wars book 1, Snapshots, and PerDeA. Remnants has a very clean first draft but I haven't started editing it because I am afraid of messing it up.

To note, I don't think I'm very good at second drafts and beyond. I know I'm not very good at editing. It's boring and repetitive and you have to read the same thing over and over again. It is the worst part of the writing process (for me)! Once I tell the story, I want it to be magically ready to be seen by the world.

But editing is unfortunately necessary. It's looked different for each project that's made it that far.

For PerDeA, my editing process was very basic as it was a short story. I just made things clearer and shorter. The first draft and the final draft were very similar.

Snapshots was, again, a very simple editing process. I didn't edit it much beyond basic comprehension. It was a very clean first draft and was only ever intended for Wattpad, so I wasn't very fussed about quality. I also had to change the names because it started out as an alternate universe project for Indigo Wars (which I will not elaborate on hahaha).

On the other hand, Indigo Wars has been a fucking nightmare. The first draft was a mess and didn't have an actual plot. The second draft was a complete overhaul with several HUGE changes to character dynamics and plot. It also introduced an entirely new second POV. Draft three solved several major problems including the repetition of plot points and some characterization problems. Draft four added more context to the second POV and fixed a few more character problems. Now I'm on draft five and I'm trying to make it shorter while not sacrificing any of the character/world building I've added in the past drafts.

For Indigo Wars book 1, it seems like with every new draft I fix one thing but create two new problems. Even now as I'm trying to get it short enough to query, there are things I'm not happy with. One of the main characters doesn't have enough of a personality AND I hate his name. Another main character, I think she comes off as immature and annoying to the point I'm not sure anyone will like her. But I've been working on it so long that I'm not sure if my perceptions are true or if I'm just sick of reading the same thing over and over and over again.

Sorry this has become so ramble-y! I am still searching for a method of editing that works for me. I hope that it'll become easier as I get more experience going beyond the first draft.

#zoe replies

[athenswrites]

Knight of Dawn: Chapter 7 [Not Your Typical Fairytale]

TW: toxic/borderline abusive parent (Adele)

Pacing the narrow office, Piers recited their speech again and again, rewording it every time. They’d already rewritten it three times on paper and typed it up twice. The wording was slightly off, and after Grady and Adele got up their ass about not giving one at their Coronation, Piers wanted this one to be perfect. 

The books on the walls distracted them from their thoughts. They ran their fingers down the spines as they paced back and forth. Pausing, Piers randomly pulled an older looking book from a series, peeing at the faded gold lettering of the title.

Beauty and the Beast.

Very funny. It slid perfectly back into place as they continued browsing the rest of the series, all fairytales they knew by heart. Adele used to read them to Wesley, to Lake, to Piers every night when they were younger. She’d always start with them, the youngest, sitting on the floor beside their bed and reading until they fell asleep. She’d slip out of the room, and head to Lake’s room

After Wesley and Lake had died, she’d sit by their bed, reading until she fell asleep as well.

Their hip bumped against the desk chair, and Piers apathetically looked at the pile of proposals. Adele had left them there for them, waiting to be edited, proofread, and proposed to the Council, who’d just send it back to the start. They had to get the Council to approve at least a few. They had to establish their footing, had to establish the people could trust them to do something for the people.

The big rolling chair creaked as they plopped down, spinning in a circle and staring at the ceiling. Avoidance was their favorite tactic. If they ignored it long enough, everything would go away, right? 

A noise sounded just outside the study.

Piers jerked upright, spinning around in the chair to face the door. Nothing. It was just their imagination-

The knob jiggled from the outside, then someone knocked on the door once, then a pause, then twice again in quick succession.

Mom.

They hopped up from their chair, heading to the door and unlocking it. Adele hugged them as soon as they got the door open.

She still dolled herself up, with her perfect blonde ringlets and one of her old dresses, but her face seemed even more tired and worn than it had just the afternoon prior, which they hadn’t thought was possible.

“Marcie said you needed to stay in your room, in bed.” Piers chastised her and she dismissed them, with a wave of her hand.

“Please. Just because she told me I needed to be there doesn’t mean I’m actually going to stay there. I get bored. Besides, as I’ve told you before, I’m gonna wear my old dresses if I can fit into them again. Estrogen made me gain so much weight and it’s strange being able to fit into these again.”

Piers let her inside, and locked the door behind her. She used the wall to stabilize herself, dragging her fingers down the spines of the books like they had. As they sat down in their chair, she came up behind them, leaning heavily on the desk.

“Jilly-bean, I may not be the most physically sound, but I can still think. Is there anything I can help you with?” Adele nodded towards the stack of proposals, as they pulled one off the top, busying themself with it because they were tired of going over what they were going to say.

“I’m good, mom.” They brushed her off, and she sighed.

“I started most of these. I can help revise what you’ve added.” She tapped the proposal they were working on with a perfectly manicured red nail. Her gray eyes scanned the paper, then she silently pointed to a sentence. They read over it, realizing it was phrased wrong, and scribbled it out with a huff. It was relieving that she was still mentally sharp, but also annoying as hell.

“I can do this myself.”

“You need my help, apparently.” She pointed to another error.

“You’re not Queen anymore. This is my job. Step back, and don’t read over my shoulder.”

“Alright, alright, I’ll let you do your job.” Finally, Adele backed up. Taking a seat in a plush chair in a recessed portion of the wall, she hummed to herself, running her fingers over the red velvet of the seat. Piers knew she wasn’t trying to bother them on purpose, but they were trying to separate themself from her reign, and her hovering over their shoulder was not the way to do that.

“Did you write up what you're going to say-”

“Yes. It’s on my lens and saved and ready.”

“Good. Are you excited to meet everyone? There’s a lot of notable people here, probably more than you’ve ever seen.”

“Yeah. There’s a lot of people.”  Piers ignored her, beginning to rewrite what she’d pointed out. They now wanted to finish this before Grady came to get them.

“Rene is coming, no? I didn’t check if he was or not before I lost access to my files. My lens got logged out and I haven’t bothered to log it back in. He hasn’t been here in years.” Adele asked, and Piers paused.

“President Dubois? Did you know him?”

“Vaguely. Marcie’s little brother is his secretary. I think I’m going back to bed.” She was hiding something.

Her face contorted into a grimace, as she shakily stood, leaning on the arm of her chair. Piers leapt to their feet, rushing to make sure she didn’t fall. 

“Is that all?” They pushed further, and she snapped at them.

“I don’t want to talk about it. I don’t want to think about it.”

“Mom, it’s imp-”

Without warning, Adele grabbed their ear, pinching it between her sharp nails, dragging them down to look her in the eyes. Steely gray met venomous green. The scent of her sickly sweet perfume overwhelmed them, and they choked a little.

“What did I say?”

Piers remained silent, causing her to pinch harder. Neither of them wanted to give.

“Tell me!” She demanded.

They finally relented, “You don’t want to talk about it…”

Finally, her grip released, and they jerked away, backing up to the desk. Sitting in their chair, they rubbed their ear, turning their back to her and trying not to get upset. She came up behind them, spinning their chair just a little bit, and leaving a kiss on their right cheek, the unscarred one.

“I’m sorry…I didn’t mean to lose my temper.”

She waited for them to respond, realized they wouldn’t talk, and left without another word. The door clicked shut behind her.

Piers was left recoiling, resting their head in their palms and taking deep breaths to clear their nose of the smell of her apple perfume. It left them sick to their stomach. Adele had something to hide about President Dubois, and they really didn’t want to try and weasel it out of her again. The only move they had left was to talk to the President himself.

Someone knocked on the door again, three short raps, evenly spaced.

“I’m coming…” They closed everything for the day, setting the proposal back in the stack, before grabbing their half-mask off the desk along with a small folder of backup information, in case their lens decided to die. Grady stood just outside the door. She took one look at them, and her expression changed to worry.

“What’s up?”

Piers sighed, pulling the gold and navy mask on, and fluffing their hair to hide the string, “Mom’s…acting weird again. She came by. Is everyone else here?”

“Yeah…hold on you have lipstick on your cheek” Grady reached up, rubbing a spot on their cheek with her thumb. Rolling their eyes, they swatted her hand away. She reached up, as if to fix their hair yet again, but didn’t. “Are you gonna be okay, Piers? I’m here for you, and I’ll be in the room with you.”

“I’m gonna force myself to be.”

The duo headed down to the Great Forrest room, where they found Piers was the last person needed to start the meeting. Everyone else sat around the table, laughing, eating refreshments from the kitchen, and catching up, waiting on them. Awkwardly, and with everyone’s eyes now on them, Piers walked around to the head of the table. They took the last seat between Councilors Johnson and Miles. The massive rolling chair, similar to the one in the study, sunk down as they sat. Councilor Miles glared at them, hiding it behind a pleasant smile.

“Nice of you to finally join us, Your Majesty.”

Piers brushed off the obvious venom in her voice. It would be better for their mental health to avoid talking to her as much as possible. She’d just make their life difficult, just to make it difficult. Clearing their throat, Piers stood, knocking into the table as they sat the slim folder down.

“Welcome. As is customary with the rise of a new political leader in this era, I’ve called this Conference of leaders from within Georgia and the Southeast in order to share my future plans and goals for this nation, and to begin formal diplomatic talks. I’ll go over what I perceive to be the most pertinent issues first, but I am open to questions. Afterwards, I’ll leave the table open to anyone else who’d like to speak or ask about issues I haven’t touched on.”

Subtly, Piers pulled up their list and chart, beginning to speak in vague enough terms so they wouldn’t offend everyone. Every so often, someone would interrupt them with a question, most often the Councilors of the Zones. They’d use the information they’d gathered from their research to appease whichever Councilor as best as they could. No one could genuinely hate them this early on in their reign, or they were doomed. After finishing their plans for revitalizing the Crashing District in ATLZoS, Piers pulled at their shirt collar and readjusted their jacket. They paused for a moment, grabbing their cup of water off the table and finishing the glass. Surely it’d been four or five hours since they began…

It had been two.

Setting their glass down, they stuttered a little, “I’m sure y’all are all ready to take a quick break. We’ll reconvene in ten minutes.”

The silent tension in the room broke, as various leaders got up to get more refreshments from the tables around the edges of the room, talking amongst themselves. Piers took a seat and twisted in their chair, popping their spine, then popped their knuckles as well. They looked to Grady, who sat in a chair against the wall, talking to a man with bright ginger hair and a blonde woman. She seemed busy.

“You’ve done your research, your Majesty.”

Piers spun around.

There stood President Dubois, smiling. They stumbled to their feet, almost running into him as they stood.

“Pleasure to finally meet you, Mr. President.”

“Likewise, Monarch Hall. You’re well read on everyone’s political stances, and the way you angled your answers was impressive. You know so much about everyone.”

The two shook hands and Piers made a quick note of everything about his appearance, from his face to his hair to the clothing he wore. For some reason, the strangest thing about him was the fact his gloves were black like theirs, with white stitching. Other than that, he looked the exact same as all the stuff they’d seen about him. Stern, but kind face, dark wavy hair, slate gray suit, white shirt, black shoes, green tie. He was well put together as a leader should be, and held himself with confidence. Nothing stood out about him, but because of that, something seemed off. Almost as if he was trying too hard to seem normal, like he had something to hide. The two began to talk, but whenever Piers poked a little further than just diplomatic, he managed to brush it off. He never answered more than asked. President Dubois had a defensive shell for sure, and Piers was determined to shatter it then and there. Something wasn’t right about this man.

“Piers, Rene, are you ready to continue?” 

It was Captain Johnson who tapped their shoulder, having come in to talk with his brother. Piers glanced at the time.

“Shit, yeah, it’s been fifteen minutes.” As they spoke, President Dubois gave the Johnson brothers a nod, and began to step away, but they raised their voice just a little bit, “Mr. President?”

When he turned back to look at them, they caught a glimpse of a familiar yet unplaceable expression, before he masked again. “Yes?”

“Can we meet after dinner? I’d like to talk with you about the political sphere of the southeast, and I’d appreciate having you as a potential ally. You seem very knowledgeable and I would like your guidance.”

His smile grew a little wider, “Certainly, Jillian.”

Piers froze as he returned to his seat, quickly falling into a heated conversation with one of South Carolina’s representatives. The familiarity with which he said their name, it bothered them. The way he called them Jillian. Adele called them Jillian, and that was it. The rest of the Palace always called them Piers, since before they could remember. They were forced to shake it off for the time being, reconvening the meeting. The room fell back into its previous quiet, tense state, all eyes on them.

NYTF WIP Intro

Tag List (reply or dm to be added or removed; I pulled from the old tag list + the call post): @author-a-holmes, @soul-write @flowerprose @ceph-the-ghost-writer @theglitchywriterboi @when-wax-wings-melt @thechaoticflowergarden @lyralit @penspiration-writing @samatedeansbroccoli @charlesjosephwrites @italiangothicwriteblr @thetruearchmagos @pineapple-lover-boy @unilightwrites @sanguine-arena @bardic-tales @joshuaorrizonte @blind-the-winds @circa-specturgia @hymnonlips @aloeverawrites @the-stray-storyteller @writeblrsupport @starlit-skys @kyuponstories @guessillcallitart @magic-is-something-we-create @talesofsorrowandofruin @writingonmymind @imslowlydisintegrating @worldsfromhoney

#writeblr #writing #wip #excerpt #wip excerpt #creative writing #athenswrites #chapter excerpt #rene dubois #piers hall #nytf #adele hall

[starlit-hopes-and-dreams]

Happy STS! I'm curious about Shattered Dreams, since I still don't know too much about it and you say it's your first major piece of writing! How would you say it differs from Hidden Depths, and how is it similar? Is there anything you learned in the course of writing and posting Hidden Depths that's informing the other WIP as you now revise/edit/continue writing? Anything you're enjoying more, or enjoying less? Anything else interesting you can tell us?

Happy STS! Thank you for the ask, Claire!

Oooh, what a fun question! First off, I'm not sure if you've seen my WIP intro, but if not, there it is :)

Okay, this is long, so under the cut it goes lol

Differences and Similarities

So Hidden Depths is set in the same world of Shattered Dreams, approximately 5-ish years prior to the events in the novel. I use the same third person, character-centric style of writing, I've centered my story around two characters, which seems to be a sweet spot for me, and it's still essentially a love story at its core. They are both captivity stories that deal heavily with trauma and recovery from trauma.

Shattered Dreams differs in that I had the time and space for a lot more worldbuilding and complex plotting than I did in Hidden Depths. Now, did I do it well? Meh, going through on this editing pass, I'm noticing more info-dumping than I'd like, so I'm cleaning that up.

Hidden Depths I didn't have that kind of time for. Maybe if I'd started writing more than 3 days before the start of the event, but uh. I didn't. So I started in media res, which I actually ended up liking quite a bit, and I learned a new writing technique!

It also differs in that with Shattered Dreams, I was trying to write the kind of love story I wished I was capable of and where physical affection was important and sought after (I literally made physical touch a basic need for an entire species-they can't go too long without or they'll go crazy lol).

Whereas with Hidden Depths, I wrote the kind of love story more true to my recently discovered aroace-self. It's still an idealization, of course, with an over exaggeration of certain characteristics, but it's been really nice and somewhat cathartic to write.

Learning

Ahh, the learning. Well, the more you write, the better you get, right? So there was that. I could tell writing Hidden Depths that I'd improved beyond what I'd written in Shattered Dreams, which was a really cool thing for me. It made me feel really proud. (and kinda embarrassed when I reread Shattered Dreams bc I'd sent it out for beta 😅)

I definitely learned a lot more about whump writing, and you can bet that I'm using that in my edits to flesh out scenes that were rather vague (or create new ones all together!) bc I was either afraid of the response or just didn't have the depth of knowledge to really do it justice.

I learned that just because I can write explicit sexy time scenes doesn't mean I have to :D especially if they already made me uncomfy to start. Basically I toned them down, because I didn't hold anything back the first go around lol. Maybe they can be bonus scenes so all my hard work doesn't go to waste XD

Just by being here on tumblr, I've learned a lot more about queer and disabled representation, which is not something that I had a lot of exposure to before. I am definitely going to implementing some of that knowledge in Shattered Dreams if I can!

Interesting stuff

Ummm. This has gotten pretty long already lol. Let's see... Alaia and Serin, the two main protagonists, were never meant to be together; he was just a side character I made bc captivity with one character is boring as hell. Well, that went to shit, he ended up as a POV character, and now has an entire character arc I have to write lol. The way these things happen, huh lol.

#starlit asks #clairelsonao3 #sts ask #sts #writeblr #shattered dreams #hidden depths #sorry i kinda rambled a bit XD #thanks for the ask! #i took way too long on this one so the other asks will have to wait a bit longer 😂

[bitletsanddrabbles]

"Dear Charles,

A man named Inkstead* took some pictures of me for Harper’s Bazaar a while ago (I never found out quite why) and one of me holding my secretary in my lap came out very well indeed. When I get the dozen I have ordered I’ll send you one. The secretary, I should perhaps add, is a black Persian cat, 14 years old, and I call her that because she has been around me ever since I began to write, usually sitting on the paper I wanted to use or the copy I wanted to revise, sometimes leaning up against the typewriter and sometimes just quietly gazing out of the window from a corner of the desk, as much as if to say, “The stuff you are doing is a waste of my time, bud.” Her name is Taki (it was originally Take, but we got tired of explaining that this was a Japanese word meaning bamboo and should be pronounced in two syllables), and she has a memory like no elephant ever tried to have. She is usually politely remote, but once in a while will get an argumentative spell and talk back for ten minutes at a time. I wish I knew what she is trying to say then, but I suspect it all adds up to a very sarcastic version of “You can do better.” I’ve been a cat lover all my life (I have nothing against dogs except that they need such a lot of entertaining) and have never quite been able to understand them. Taki is a completely poised animal and always knows who likes cats, never goes near anybody that doesn’t, always walks straight up to anyone, however lately arrived and completely unknown to her, who really does. She doesn’t spend a great deal of time with them, however, just takes a moderate amount of petting and strolls off. She has another curious trick (which may or may not be rare) of never killing anything. She has brought into the house at various times such things as a dove, a blue parakeet, and a large butterfly. The butterfly and the parakeet were entirely unharmed and carried on just as though nothing had happened. The dove gave her a little trouble, apparently not wanting to be carried around, and had a small spot of blood on its breast. But we took it to a bird man and it was all right very soon. Just a bit humiliated. Mice bore her, but she catches them if they insist and then I have to kill them. She has a sort of tired interest in gophers, and will watch a gopher hole with some attention, but gophers bite and after all who the hell wants a gopher anyway? So she just pretends she might catch one, if she felt like it.

She goes with us wherever we go journeying, remembers all the places she has been to before and is usually quite at home anywhere. One or two places have got her – I don’t know why. She just wouldn’t settle down in them. After a while we know enough to take the hint. Chances are there was an axe murderer there once and we’re much better off somewhere else. The guy might come back. Sometimes she looks at me with a rather peculiar expression (she is the only cat I know who will look you straight straight** in the eye) and I have a suspicion that she is keeping a diary, because the expression seems to be saying: “Brother, you think you’re pretty good most of the time, don’t you? I wonder how you’d feel if I decided to publish some of the stuff I’ve been putting down at odd moments.” At certain times she has a trick of holding one paw up loosely and looking at it in a speculative manner. My wife thinks she is suggesting we get her a wrist watch; she doesn’t need it for any practical reason – she can tell the time better than I can – but after all you gotta have some jewelry.

I don’t know why I’m writing all this. It must be I couldn't think of anything else, or – this is where it gets creepy – am I really writing it at all? Could it be that – no, it must be me. Say it’s me. I’m scared.

- Ray

*Actually John Engstead."

- Selected Letters of Raymond Chandler edited by Frank MacShane, pg. 49-51

**I don’t know if the repetition was intentional on Chandler’s part, an error in the letter, or an error in the book, so I left it as is.

#raymond chandler #letters #on famous people's cats #meow #cat dad #cat ownership

[suzyq31]

how do you write so fast? Do you have a schedule and any tips on how to set a writing schedule?

My speed with posting is deceiving as I usually have a lot written before I post. At least with my story Maybe Tomorrow (which I completed first) and Found which I'm currently writing Chapter 17.

A few things that help me write fast are sprints or timers. Where I don't worry about how good it is, I just get words down. Doing this I've sometimes managed to get down anywhere from 1k-5k (although always be kind to your wrists and take breaks!) in a sitting.

For me a lot of magic is in the editing/revising which I do a lot of, which can slow me down, or be more time consuming, but it's how I seem to operate.

I don't have a set writing schedule. At one point I was writing every day but that was getting too consuming for me so I've stepped back so that I can also focus on other hobbies.

Although I do try to make time a few days a week to sprint and will often jot down some stuff on my lunch break. I also edit from my phone when I'm bored or have some spare time. I will say having ADHD makes my drive come and go a lot. I often get hyperfixated on a story and write a TON, then it slows down and I have to do the hard work of finishing it up once the dopamine wears off. It's also why I usually have a couple projects on the go at a time.

I wish I had more concrete advice! Just remember there's no right or wrong way to do it. But you also won't write if you don't at least get yourself to sit and open the document. I'll link the Pomedoro timer here.

Also check out @theplottery they have tons of great advice!

#suzyanswers #writing questions #harry potter fanfic writer #writing life #adhd #adhd writer

[elphabaoftheopera]

Tagged by @raven-curls​ and @vinkunwildflowerqueen​ thank you!

This inspired me to finally re-shelve the books strewn all about my place (and dust my bookshelf). So thank you for that.

From last place to first:

#10. Time Travel Short Stories foreword by David Wittenberg: “It may surprise readers to know that the sorts of spectacular time travel plots one typically encounters in contemporary science fiction, full of multiplied time lines, paradoxes, revisions of history and butterfly effects, are a late innovation of the genre.”

Pretty dry writing even for a foreword, and I was not surprised by the fact. Next!

#9. The Norton Shakespeare Anthology: (from the preface) “Since Shakespeare’s principal medium, the drama, was thoroughly collaborative, it seems appropriate that this edition of his works is itself the result of a sustained collaboration.”

There were like four collaborators for this anthology. I get what they’re going for here, but kind of boring. Bring on the Shakespeare!

#8. Star Wars I, Jedi by Michael A. Stackpole: “None of us liked waiting in ambush, primarily because we couldn’t be wholly certain we weren’t the ones being set up for a hot-vape.”

What is a hot-vape? When I googled it I just got “vape hot” which warned people that they were vaping too much if their vape was hot. Is it a Star Wars thing? Deducted points for confusion.

#7. Midnight Sun by Stephanie Meyer: “This was the time of day when I most wished I were able to sleep.” (I had to add the next few lines just to appreciate the brooding: “(cont.) High school Or was purgatory the right word?”)

I laughed when I pulled this one out. I borrowed it from my mother-in-law like over a year ago but couldn’t make it through the first chapter. I would give it higher points for the next two lines but judging just by the first line doesn’t make it a standout.

#6. The First Five Novels The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum: (from the intro) “In 1900, a moderately successful writer for children by the name of L. Frank Baum set out to write a new type of “wonder tale” in which (in his words) “the stereotyped genie, dwarf and fairy are eliminated, together with all the horrible and bloodcurdling incident devised by their authors to point a fearsome moral to each tale.”

L. Frank Baum is obviously a fave, it was cool to learn a more about him in this long ass sentence. I laughed at the irony of “moderately successful writer”. Still, it’s a foreword and forewords are bland.

#5. Play Directing In The School (A drama director’s survival guide) by David Grote: “Play directing can be an art, but like all real art, it is built on a solid foundation of craft.”

I haven’t read this book yet and I’m not a drama teacher but I do direct plays. It’s a sentiment I agree with. No more, no less. Still a foreword! I promise I do have novels too...

#4. 1912 Facts About Titanic by Lee W. Merideth: “On April 11, 1912, many of the more than 2,200 people aboard RMS Titanic watched the green hills of Ireland slowly disappear from view as the magnificent liner steamed west into a beautiful Atlantic sunset—and into history.”

Actually kind of pretty imagery for a non-fiction foreword. A topic that interests me. I feel like if this were an introductory paragraph/sentence in an essay the teacher would write “nice work!” off on the margin. 

#3. The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss: “It was night again.”

Simple. Concise. Informative. It was night again. I’m simply gripped! I have no idea what this book is about but this made me laugh out loud.

#2. Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel: “Like many fathers, mine could occasionally be prevailed on for a spot of “airplane.”

Masterful, and I mean that unironically. Obviously Alison Bechdel is a fantastic writer, but this is a really great first sentence. It puts you right into the narrative and is creatively expositional. Makes me actually want to finally read the graphic novel in full. Obviously makes me think about the musical too which is a plus!

#1. Junie B. Jones Is Not a Crook by Barbara Park: “My name is Junie. B. Jones. The B stands for Beatric. Except I don’t like Beatrice. I just like B and that’s all.”

I didn’t even need to crack the cover to know what the first sentence would be. Yes, I cheated a little to get the full bit but even so I’d rank it first. This intro is iconic and just delights me every time I read or recite it. This sentence was literally the first sentence of a chapter book I ever read on my own (though I was reading Sneaky Peeky Spying), and for that Junie B. Jones will always “B” #1 in my heart.

I'm tagging @the-shark-is-a-mammal​, @character-shoes-and-misery, @amidalleia, @cultishsocialgathering, @lavalierre, @starspangledpumpkin, @itsniaeveryone, and @misosuper and anyone else who wants to participate!

#thank you for tagging me! #more non fiction than i thought #and some are my husband's books #this makes me emotional for junie b jones i'm so glad i kept my collection #reading tag

[link4eva]

Kiro’s Seeking Date Translation [CN]

Hey, everyone! Just a couple of things before you begin reading. I don’t actually know any Chinese so this translation was done through the power of Google Translate. A HUGE shout-out to @keliosyfan and @cheesy09 for helping me with edits and revising. Thank you!!! 💛

Here’s a link to the date video uploaded by @keliosyfan​ that you can follow along with.

 Also, here’s a link to the call that comes before the date.

*TW: I feel like I should note that this date has mentions of human trafficking.*

This translation contains spoilers for a date that has not yet been released to the ENG server. If you wish to not be spoiled, please don’t look below the cut. 

Hope you enjoy~ 💛

*Spoilers for future content below!*

[First Part]

??: What are you doing kidnapping her, idiot?! 

??: She has been with Helios for so many years, she must be his most important woman.

??: With this woman, we can make him write off his debts and also crush his spirit as a gift to those foreigners.

In the dimness, two male voices drifted into my ears.

My hands were tied behind me, and the rope bore through the cloth on my body. The rough and wet touch made me very uncomfortable.

??: If he really cared about this woman, would he always keep her by his side? Tell everyone that she is his weakness?

??: This woman is a target he bought four years ago to get rid of trash and see who in the city found him unpleasant!

Although I was very certain that these people were telling the truth, after hearing those words, my heart still couldn’t help but ache.

??: This is the end of the matter. This woman can’t stay.

??: Sooner or later, that beast Helios will know what you have done. He would never let us get away with it. *Changed some wording*

??: This person has just been taken away, and Helios won’t be so fast.

The icy sound of a knife unsheathing made me clench my teeth. My whole body shook.

The hemp rope had been cut with the blade hidden in my sleeve, and I waited for the opportunity as it gradually approached.

Even though I closed my eyes, I could always see that person’s face and a pair of indifferent blue eyes.

If I died, would he be sad? 

??: Hope... is the most precious thing in this world. 

??: Do you want to go with me?

I can’t die yet.

But just before I acted, someone ended up being faster than me.

With a “shink”, it seemed that a sharp weapon pierced the glass and embedded itself into the wooden board. The sudden noise made my heart constrict.

??: Don’t open your eyes.

After an extremely cold and commanding voice sounded, there were shrill screams. In the continuous plethora of sounds, there was the harsh sound of bones being twisted.

I closed my eyes and curled up tightly, worried that this was just a dream.

Until I was hugged in a strong and warm embrace, with the fragrance of smokey tobacco wrapping around me. 

I opened my eyes blankly and caught sight of the silver hair that was eye-catching and dazzling in the gloomy thatched house.

Those blue eyes, which were normally calm, were now mixed with a little anger.

MC: ...Am I dreaming?

Helios: Do you often dream of me? 

The man gave me a look, held me, and walked out the door. It seemed to be the warehouse of a wine shop.

(Cut to outside)

Suddenly his figure stopped, and I lowered my eyes to find that a man was holding onto his trousers tightly.

??: Mr. Helios, boss, please forgive us this time. We will soon have a big deal, and then we will be accommodated…. 

Helios: Is the restaurant I run like an orphanage?  

Helios: Repaying debts is justified.

He turned a deaf ear to the man’s pleading and the whispers from the bystanders. He moved his long legs, and the man fell to the ground.

At the same time, a group of people began to move in and out of the store.

MC: Should I first….

Helios: Don’t move. 

His voice sounded impatient. I blinked and didn’t speak anymore.

After the fight was over, Helios raised the corner of his mouth and gave a slight retort to the kneeling man.

Helios: Mr. Cao, you’re welcome to visit Spring Moon Pavillion next time. 

??: You foreign devil, don’t lie! Go to hell! 

The curse echoed behind us, and the sound of a solid, steady heartbeat fell upon my ears.

Here, people called him many things-- Mr. Helios, the boss, foreign devil. 

No one knew his origins. There was a rumour that seemed to say he was of mixed race.

Most of the restaurants, diners and pawn shops in the city were under his name, and there were many other shady places.

Countless people ate his meals, and countless people enjoyed his turf. They were his business partners, his subordinates, and his debtors.

He was the unspoken ruler of this city.

Everyone here respected him and feared him.

MC: Are you hurt?

I felt the person stepping forward seem to pause, but it was only momentarily.

Helios: No. 

I leaned into that somewhat cold embrace, and in my sorrow, it seemed to overlap with the heavy snow from four years ago.

[Second Part]

(Flashback)

I stretched my arms strenuously, trying to grab the flying photograph.

The man behind me tightened the chain on the back of my neck, leaving only the muddy photo in my blurred vision, which ended up crushed with shoe prints on the ground.

Like unforeseen freedom, it broke free, but also decayed. Like my freedom, slowly slipping away with each step.

The world was covered with a film and the insults behind me were drowned out, and only cold white noise remained.

Suddenly, a pair of delicate leather shoes stopped next to the photo, and someone picked it up in the next second.

I blinked slowly, and found an eye-catching and sharp silver light under the extremely gloomy sky.

It was like the first speck of snow that one would find stunning in the late winter, burning straight into people’s eyes, beautiful and cold.

The boy looked around the same age as me, and a pair of azure blue eyes met my own.

The biting cold caused my reaction to delay and another pair of distant and similar pupils appeared before my eyes.

But they were warmer and brighter.

??: Snap out of it!

When my consciousness was pulled back to reality by the pain, I heard screams that did not belong to me. The force that restrained me suddenly disappeared, and I fell directly to the ground.

I reluctantly raised my eyes and found that the silver-haired boy had come over at some point, twisting the man’s wrist with one hand. His gaze shifted from the photo in his hand to me.

??: Did you stay in the orphanage in the east of the city as a child? 

I looked at him dumbfoundedly and lost my voice for a moment.

??: Answer me.

MC: [flustered] ….Ye-yes! I stayed there for a year.

The boy’s eyes seemed to light up for a moment because of my answer, and then became alienated in the blink of an eye.

He threw the man aside, lowered his eyes and wiped off the mud from the photo with his white sleeves, then squatted down and handed it to me.

??: I’ll only ask once.

??: Come with me?

I stared at him in a daze, and the roaring from the outside world came to an abrupt end. Only the voice of the boy in front of me and my own heartbeat could be heard.

MC: Ok.

As soon as I spoke, the boy threw a few silver bills at the man.

The heavy snow fell silently, and I was taken into his arms, like a fragmented snowflake.

The blood, water and frost all mixed together, and I heard his voice in the dizziness.

??: Starting today, you are mine. 

??: My name is Helios.

??: But I don’t like this name, so don’t call me that.

MC: My name is MC….Then um….what should I call you?

His attitude left me a little perplexed.

Helios: If you have something to say, I will acknowledge it.

Helios: Is that photo important?

In the heavy snow on the quiet road, I lifted my head laboriously, trying to muster a smile.

MC: [smiling affectionately] Very important. He was my best friend in the orphanage and a big star in the city.

MC: Everyone loved to hear him sing. He never cared about who his audience was; he shined nonetheless. 

MC: It’s just… He went abroad six months ago, so he must be an even better person now.

The boy’s footsteps froze for a moment as if his feet were bound in ice and snow.

Helios: He’s just an actor. 

Helios: A useless profession.

MC: But….it was his smile that gave me strength.

Without him, I would not have been able to hold on till the day I met you.

(End of flashback)

I opened my eyes and turned my head to see Helios sitting on the sofa, casually reading the newspaper. As usual, he should be in the restaurant at this time.

Looking at his profile, the dream I had just now made me a little confused.

It turned out that I had stayed by his side for so long.

He took me back to the small restaurant, healed my injuries and taught me all kinds of things.

Literacy, singing, dancing, medical skills, business….

He was the most ruthless and sharp blade. I had witnessed how he, with his own power, had expanded this small restaurant to its current size in just a few years.

Helios: Get up and eat if you’re awake. 

The sudden words interrupted my thoughts. Helios didn’t look up as he slowly took a sip of tea from his teacup. Seeing him frown, I immediately got up from the bed.

The food had been arranged on the wooden table, the temperature just right; neither too hot nor too cold--

Obviously, the people who prepared this had carefully taken time into consideration.

I looked at the man sitting aside from the sidelines and saw the teacup he put aside. I was a little puzzled.

MC: Is that pot of tea not brewed?

Helios: It’s poisoned. 

Helios: Tastes terrible. 

I almost choked on the spring rolls in my mouth and sighed inwardly at his calm demeanour.

I went up to the cabinet, skillfully took out the bottle of medicine and poured out a pill. I walked up to him and handed it over.

Helios: I won’t die.

After hearing the expected answer, I picked up the pill and brought it to his mouth.

He didn’t open his mouth but stared at me coldly.

MC: You don’t need to stare at me. I’m not afraid of you.

With that said, I continued to pry open his mouth with the pill.

Probably moved by my fearlessness, his mouth finally opened slowly and swallowed the pill.

I smiled with satisfaction and when I turned around to continue enjoying my spring rolls, a pair of cool palms swept over my waist.

The incense stick burned quietly, and a small sigh and familiar body temperature covered me closely from behind.

Helios: Don’t you blame me for using you as bait? 

He closed his eyes. His long eyelashes were covered with sunlight and his brows were furrowed.

MC: You taught me that there is no meaningless business in this world.

MC: You bought me. My life is yours.

Helios: That’s the spirit. 

The person behind slowly opened his eyes, his pupils full of jest and scrutiny.

MC: Today I just wanted to go to the temple to ask for a peace charm like in previous years. 

MC: I was going to go there by myself, but I didn’t want to cause you trouble.

He probably didn’t believe me. Even so, I explained it word by word.

A cool finger stroked my neck and entangled a few strands of my hair.

Helios: How many years have you been with me?

His sudden question had me stunned for a moment.

MC: ….Three years and two hundred and seventy-five days.

Helios: It’s three years and two hundred and seventy-six days.* 

*This is a little Easter egg that @keliosyfan spotted.  “When Helios asked MC how long she has been with him, she says "3 years, 275 days" but he corrects her saying "3 years, 276 days". If you put the numbers together you get 3276 which in CN numeric slang means "love Qiluo(Kiro) for life" or "生爱棋洛"So in a way, he wants MC to say "I love Kiro for life"(3276/生爱棋洛). 🥺😭🤧”

Although his voice was faint, it was conclusive.

I thought about it and didn’t argue with him. For me, there was no difference between one more day and one less day.

Helios: Want to leave?

MC: ….?

He laughed suddenly, but only slightly mocking this time.

Helios: I can teach you enough to live a better life.

After that, he stood up. The sudden drop in temperature made me feel a little cold in this midsummer weather.

Helios: Since you want to leave, I won’t stop you.

Helios: But leave before the seventh day of July. 

[Third Part]

Helios left after saying this, leaving me alone in the room in a daze. 

Compared to his sudden expulsion, I was more concerned about another thing.

The seventh day of July.

What was going to happen on that day?

The annexed restaurants, and suppressed merchants….I know what Helios has been doing for several years.

Would my existence cause him any trouble?

I looked at my bare wrists and couldn’t help laughing at myself.

Maybe I was locked in place by a pair of invisible shackles.

I pursed my lips and walked to the closet to take out the bag hidden in its depths. Perhaps it was just my illusion, but it seemed to have been turned over by someone.

(Outside of room)

Outside the dark room, late at night, I tiptoed over with my bag. There were faint sounds of firm punching and kicking coming from inside the room. 

Helios stayed alone here every night, not letting anyone come close.

But this was my hidden secret, and I could secretly monopolize Helios at this moment.

As usual, I opened the window a crack.

In the room, Helios was half-naked, and the small old silver locket hung with silver bells, reflecting sharp lines of bright silver light in the cold moonlight.

His movements were swift and fierce, harder than usual as if he was venting out something.

His wet hair was weighed down, and sweat dripped slowly from his lower jaw and down his strong and undulating chest.

He stood at the junction of light and shadow, with most of his face hidden in the darkness.

The sound of cicadas in midsummer made people feel a little restless, and the silver locket on his chest heaved slightly as he panted hard.

Helios stood there and didn’t move. I don’t know what he was waiting for. *The music from the first Valentine’s Day event starts playing so it’s getting steamy 😏*

In the next second, those blue eyes passed through the window and were firmly locked on me.

MC: ….!

I instantly withdrew my head and squatted down.

Helios: ….Come in. 

Helios: I’ll only say it once. *Don’t need to tell me twice!! 😩😩 *

Hearing the slightly stiff tone, I stood up, lowered my head, and pushed the door open. I only took a single step in and then stopped.

Helios: I don’t see you this compliant on weekdays.

MC: ….You knew?! Then why did you never let me go before….

Helios: For my own pleasure. 

I suddenly raised my head and found that he had positioned himself right in front of me. His scorching body temperature seemed to be able to cross the distance between us and set me on fire.

MC: I-I didn’t come here today to take a peek, I just….

He lowered his eyes and his gaze flicked across the bag I was holding behind me. His smile melted into a bit of a smirk.

Helios: If you’re saying goodbye, you don’t...

MC: I want you to teach me some martial arts.

I held my breath and did not miss the momentary surprise that flashed through his eyes.

MC: What you taught me isn’t enough.

Helios looked at me condescendingly, his eyes dim. A breeze flitted past my ear as his hand smacked against the door frame behind me.

Helios: Not enough? 

In this tense atmosphere, I tried my best not to avoid his gaze.

MC: You taught me a lot, but….it felt like things had become even serious today.

MC: So I…. I still need you.

Before I finished speaking, Helios suddenly grabbed my left wrist from the outside and at the same time stretched out his leg to hook behind me. 

When I lost my balance, his left hand instantly reached out to support my waist, and his right hand came out from under my arm and clasped my wrist from the front again.

When I came back to my senses, I found that I had been directly pinned to the floor, and the bag in my hands had been tossed aside.

The entire movement was executed clean and smooth, and there was only the faint sound of the silver bell on the old silver locket swaying in the silent air.

Helios: There are many people who need me in this city. 

Helios: I can teach you. Want to learn?

He lowered his head slightly, and the old silver locket grazed my chest, which made me take in a sharp inhale. My entire heart and lungs seemed to be occupied by his breath.

I tried to lift up my wrists and lower limbs, but it wasn’t enough to shake off the person above me.

MC: In this bag is the money that I have saved over the past few years. The money you bought me for back then, plus four years’ worth of interest, will be given to you.

Helios: I’m not short on cash.

MC: If you accept the money, I won’t owe you anything, but I will still help you.

I tremblingly stroked the old silver locket on his chest. It carried his body temperature and made my fingertips hot.

It coincided with the seventh day of the seventh month of the first year we met. For the first time, I heard someone cursing him and wanting him to die.

I had cried and went to the temple to ask for a peace charm and an old silver locket. When I got home, I gave them to him together.

I knew that many people in this city hated him, but I wanted him to be safe.

He had just smiled sarcastically at the time, and I threw it away when he turned around. Who knew that I’d see it dangling on his chest here that night.

The silver bells chimed, just like my unstoppable heartbeat. 

MC: You still wear this old silver locket.

Helios: I forgot to remove it.

His hot breath fanned my face, entangling with my own breath in the scorching air.

My fingers followed the silver chain of the old silver locket and stroked his chest. I could clearly feel his taut muscles under my fingertips.

MC: There are many orphans like me in the restaurant.

MC: Those merchants who were suppressed by you could always open new shops.

MC: Underground, the losers will always be the bureaucrats who usually bully others and gain funds out of ill will. 

MC: I don’t know why you want to be a bad person in the eyes of the city, but what I see is different from others.

Helios: Ridiculous.

MC: This is what you taught me.

Looking at my smile, he snorted coldly, but the moonlight sneaking in illuminated the faint smile in his eyes.

Helios: You just said it wrong. 

He glanced at my bag and lowered his body even further.

Helios: Don’t owe me anything?

Helios: The three years and two hundred and seventy-six days with me were enough for you to repay me?

MC: [confused] You didn’t even see how much there is inside…. 

Helios: I’ve seen it.

He pulled slightly hard, making me stand up instantly.

Helios: You owe me too much. 

Helios: I’ll ask you to settle the tab later.

Helios: However, you do need to learn some self-defence skills.

Unlike his usual touch, his fingertips caressed my eyes, ears, nose and neck.

Helios: People have many weaknesses.

Helios: Eyes, ears, throat, heart…. *The way he said this sent shivers down my spine 😳🥵*  

As he whispered, his fingertips kept moving downwards, making me nervously hold onto that hand.

Helios: [more sexy whispering] What’s the matter? Don’t you want to learn? 

Helios: I gave you the chance to leave.

Helios: But you refused. 

[Fourth Part]

Helios implemented his teaching method, “diligently” teaching from the most basic style, which made me extremely embarrassed.

MC: [flustered] ….Can you put on some clothes next time? *MC, no!! What are you even asking?! You enjoy it and you know it! 🥵

Helios: I can wear what I like. 

Seeing the obvious teasing in his eyes, I ran away completely.

Finally, I asked him about what would happen on the seventh day of July, and his expression became a little solemn under the clear moonlight.

Gradually, I became even more sure that this was related to what he had done for so many years.

(Cut to store)

In the early morning of the seventh day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar, a few foreigners in suits and arrogant expressions came to the store.

These people seemed to be a little unkind, and my heart felt uneasy.

Waiter: Miss MC, a guest of the boss, made a reservation at Spring Moon Pavillion.

MC: Let me take care of it.

With a smile, I went to the foreigners and led them to the booth. I didn’t expect that Helios would already be waiting there.

The moment he saw me, his brows lightly furrowed and he tilted his head slightly.

“Leave.”

I blinked and instantly understood what he meant. After the foreigners walked into the booth, they positioned themselves again at the door.

MC: Boss, your guests are here.

After that, I took a step back and then ridicule suddenly rang out.

??: Leaving already?

Unexpectedly, a foreigner walked over, grabbed my wrist and dragged me directly into the booth.

??: Helios, you must have misunderstood.

??: What is the meaning of a group of men when talking about business?

The foreigner smiled sarcastically. I restrained the urge to shoot and looked at Helios cautiously.

In the next second, an invisible cold front flew past my face, grazing the wrist of the foreigner and leaving behind a small, bloody wound. 

No one knew when he fired the shot, and Helios was still leaning on the sofa, lazily looking at the wailing foreigner. He made no effort to hide his coldness and murderous intent.

Helios: Next time, it’ll be your head. 

Helios: Come here.

I stood cautiously behind Helios, and saw a man in a white suit standing up with a feigned smile.

Foreigner: Just kidding. Don’t get upset, Helios.

Helios: Is that what you learned by spying on me every day?

My heart sank and I tried my best to calm my nerves.

Have these people been spying on him?

Foreigner: Don’t say that, we just need to confirm whether you are worthy of our cooperation.

Foreigner: After all, with this kind of business, ordinary people are not eligible to participate.

Foreigner: But….we also have to look at the sincerity of the boss.

His eyes moved from Helios to me with an arrogant smile.

Foreigner: I heard that you have a well-trained girl who is clever and easy to use. I wonder if you are willing to share?

I was shocked and couldn’t move. I waited quietly for Helios’ answer.

Helios: I can. 

The cicadas kept humming noisily, and for an instant, I seemed to be back to that moment from four years ago, when there was only haziness left in this world.

But I just blinked and walked respectfully from the back of the sofa to the foreigners.

It sounded like a serious matter. Maybe he wanted me to be an undercover agent for these foreigners?

Or maybe he just changed his mind again and didn’t need me anymore.

My vision became a little blurred.

Helios: Did you really think I would say that? 

Helios’ arms encircled me from behind. His familiar breath came over me, and his voice was filled with pure mockery.

Foreigner: Helios, what do you mean?

Helios: Your nonsense... will anyone still want it?

The foreigner was stunned as if he didn’t expect him to say that. But in the next second, his expression became fierce again.

Foreigner: So it was you who brought those people…!

In the horrified eyes of those foreigners, Helios’ smile became even more ruthless.

Helios: I’ve been tired of looking at the faces of you idiots for a long time now. 

Helios: I asked you to come today to settle the account.

At Helios’ signal, I slowly withdrew from the booth.

(Cut to lobby)

I didn’t know what would happen to them next, but maybe something would briefly end today.

I returned to the lobby and asked for the guestbook from the front desk. I wanted to distract myself but there was one face that was stuck in my mind.

Helios won’t get hurt, right?

Helios: ….MC.

Did I trouble him again just now?

Helios: MC.

An impatient sigh sounded in my ears and I felt my figure tilt, and in the next moment, I was trapped in someone’s arms.  

Helios: Didn’t you hear me calling you?

MC: Helios….!

Helios: I should’ve said that only you can’t call me by that name.

In this lighted corner, the ambiguous gazes of the other guests in the lobby wandered over to us.

MC: Did you just call me? Wait… Has your matter been resolved?

MC: And let me go first. Th-there are other guests here.

Helios: This is my restaurant.

His fingertips rested on the guestbook, and a faint chilly scent emanated from him.

Helios: Did you really think I would give you to those people just now?

MC: ….

He narrowed his eyes, his voice carrying with it some faint, dangerous warning.

MC: …. I didn’t.

Helios: You’re a terrible liar.

Helios: Why did you walk over?

MC: Because I believe in you. I know you have your reasons.

I couldn’t help holding onto his drooping lapels. At this moment, Helios seemed to reveal all those sharp edges and corners of his heart. 

There were only some unfamiliar ones left, which belonged to the insecurities of youth.

Helios: Ridiculous.

As he said this, he pulled me up and walked into the depths of the lobby.

MC: ….Sorry.

Helios: I’m talking about myself. 

I looked up in surprise and saw his slightly ironic expression.

Helios: They have a large munitions factory behind them.

His voice was indifferent, but what he said was like a time bomb, going off in my brain.

MC: Munitions factory?!

Helios: Those foreigners have been smuggling arms into the city.

Helios: I couldn’t find the buyers and sellers, but there was always a steady stream of arms that kept coming into the city.

Hearing this, I felt cold sweat ooze from my back.

I knew what the meaning was behind all of this.

I remembered the unfinished words under the hideous faces of those foreigners just now.

Helios had found those people now.

MC: Why…. are you telling me this?

Helios: Because I want to.

In the midst of my wildly racing heartbeat, his words were sure and firm, as if something seemed to be coming to light. 

MC: The merchants and bureaucrats that you suppressed were all related to this, right?

Helios’ silence secretly confirmed my suspicions, and my heart couldn’t help but race.

He always carried all the dangers by himself; walking alone in silence.

Why not ask other people for help?

Just as I was about to ask, I immediately thought of the answer.

With the continuous delivery of arms, both buyers and sellers were in the dark, and easy actions against them would only be a surprise.

Did he destroy those arms?

Helios: Strength and weapons are necessary. 

Helios: Those who really need it will use them to protect important things.

He said this matter of factly with determined eyes as if understanding what I was thinking in my heart.

We walked through the corridor of the hotel and came to the street from the side door.

The dusk was heavy, the red lanterns softly brightening the sights of the entire street, and it was full of liveliness.

The girls blushed as they cuddled up with their partners under the lights and the crescent silver moon.

Such a quiet night made my nose itch.

MC: If those goods were sold to the original sellers.

MC: What would tonight have been like?

I turned my face to look at Helios by my side. The warm yellow lights shone on the side of his stern face. He didn’t say a word, probably accepting something reluctantly.

MC: What you said about this world… What do you think it will look like in the future?

Helios: There is only brief peace at the moment. 

Helios: But suffering will bloom into a flower. (Sidenote: what he means to say is "no pain, no gain." It's one of Kiro's character themes :>)

He raised his head slightly, and the cold moonlight reflected in his blue eyes, like the sea under the moon. 

Silent and immense, as if it could contain everything.

Seeing him like this reminded me of those distant eyes.

In a ghostly manner, I took out the crumpled old photo from my purse and held it beside his face.

Helios: Why do you carry this person’s picture with you everywhere?

MC: [smiling affectionately] Because he is special to me.

Helios: And yet you still follow me?

MC: This is different.

Looking at his teasing smile, I snorted at him and looked at the boy in the photo with a warm smile.

MC: You said that when technology advances in the future, this photo will definitely become the colour in my memory.

Under the blue sky, the blond boy was like a passionate golden sun under the eyes of the crowd.

He smiled and seemed to be able to become a source of invincible courage.

He could gather endless amounts of enthusiasm as long as he stood there.

His voice turned into notes and tunes, dancing along with the wind, driving some of the darkness away.

In this devastated generation, he was like a burning flame.

Kiro: I’m Kiro. 

Kiro: Thank you for listening to my song. 

Helios looked at the yellowed black and white photo, looking a bit dazed for a while, and a little lonely.

Helios: No one in this city remembers him anymore. 

MC: I still remember.

MC: Even if the whole world doesn’t, I will remember him.

In those turbulent years, I had always remembered the embers left behind by that meteor.

Once, there was a young man named Kiro who helped me through countless dark and dull times with a smile.

Until the day I met Helios. I gained the strength to live again from this person.

MC: I think you are very similar.

MC: Although your methods are different, you are both using your own strength to illuminate and empower others.

Helios’ pupils contracted unconsciously, and became deeper with my words.

The slowly rising paper lanterns glowed with a gentle light, quietly surrounding us, like a tender embrace.

Helios: You haven’t asked for this year’s peace charm.

Hearing what he said, I suddenly remembered that because of the previous kidnapping, I couldn’t find a peace charm.

MC: Seeing your attitude before, I thought that there was something that was making you anxious, so I kept following you.

Helios: What attitude?

MC: You said I should leave before the seventh day of July. I asked you about it later, but you didn’t say anything. Wasn’t it about that serious matter?

Hearing my question, Helios froze for a moment and then turned his face to the side, his earlobes slowly turning red.

MC: Was that not what it meant?

Helios: …. 

He pursed his mouth and the lights shone behind him like a splendid landscape painting.

Helios: Because “weakness” really does become a weakness.

MC: Huh?

Helios: You are the only person here who wants me to be safe and live a long life.

Helios: I was reluctant to wait until the Qixi Festival this year.

Helios: Although, I don’t understand why you would want to wish for peace during the Qixi Festival.

My heart was beating fast, and seeing Helios’ face turned to the side, I found his eyes to be brighter than the stars.

MC: [blushing] Because, because I just happened to run into you at that time. *Changed some wording*

MC: And if it’s the New Year, the wishes would all pile up on top of each other, and God won’t be able to hear them.

MC: During the Qixi Festival, maybe God is used to hearing the wishes for marriage, so he can hear my request for peace without needing it to unheard.

Helios: Then today, in addition to asking for peace, you can also wish for marriage.

Helios smiled slightly with some clarity and sincerity.

MC: ….In that case, a name is needed.

MC: But you never let me call you by this name.

I held my breath nervously and saw his face slowly leaning towards me. I didn’t mind the attention around me, and his breath slowly entangled with mine. 

Helios: Let me see.

His protracted tone was a bit tempting and bewitching as if it had lost a thick shell; more naked and intimate than usual, and finally landed on my lips.

Helios: Ki-Ro. 

Helios: Please use that name.

End

 You can find the call that comes after this date here!

#mlqc #mlqc spoilers #mr love #mr love game #mr love queens choice #mr love dream date #mldd #mr love kiro #mldd kiro #mlqc kiro #周棋洛 #date translation #LOVED THIS DATE!! #a whole symphony of Kiro flavours #I especially liked the unexpected spice

[morrak]

Untitled Wednesday Library Series, Part 58

Absolutely bushed, but for once the reasons are basically alright. What little time I’ve had for pleasure reading I’ve given (to the surprise of precisely no one) to rereading a couple Brecht plays; maybe I’ll get far enough through one of the books to comment on translation for next week.

For now, the American Heritage Dictionary of Indo-European Roots in the 2011 third edition, revised and edited by Calvert Watkins.

For a long time, the family of some family friends ran a folk/bluegrass radio station out of a town called Calvert. My parents played for them a couple times, if memory serves. That’s not even slightly relevant, but I do think about it every time I see that name. Anyway.

The How

Purchased new online with neither fuss nor trouble — boring for once. I’m not even slightly qualified to use this to its full potential, but you can just go out and buy things sometimes. Nobody even tried to stop me.

The Text

Many books contain words, and that’s a very sensible reality. Spend any time around dictionaries, though, and you realize there’s a difference between being full of words and being full of words. Before I reveal the side of the fence onto which this one crashes bodily, get a load of this table of contents.

Thanks, book.

I put it to you that the body is somewhat more developed. I could (and have! and recommend you!) read root definitions at length. Tasty index, and of course the material in the back is lovely. I’m sure you’ll be shocked and appalled to hear I like a good phylogeny. The introduction is a nice tutorial for those of us less acquainted with the linguistics at play; even I can mostly follow it.

The Object

Very nice. Archival paper and great typesetting; points for navigability and ease of scanning. Technically excellent. I’ve always enjoyed getting used to the internal logic of a reference like this. American Heritage doesn’t seem to miss with that. I do not care for the cover.

The Why, Though?

Because @strawberrycinema is a huge nerd and suggested I get the same copy as her so I can ask questions and let her throw spare knowledge at me. I’ve used it a couple times on my own, but a huge portion of the information on offer flies clean over my head. Quite handy in general and great fun on occasion. Wish I knew more stuff about things.

#images #untitled wednesday library series #on language

[andromedasstarship]

i could not choose between 77-80 so i overbearingly ask u to use each of them with spencer reid if u wish 🥺👉🏻👈🏻

80. “Your comfort and happiness is more important to me than some stupid dinner.” + 77- “If you want to leave, we can leave.”

send a prompt + character from this list! 

pairing - spencer reid x gn!reader

warnings - stress?? mostly fluff 

a/n - tysm kenna for requesting this i love you and i loved writing this. i also went overboard on this one bye! ive also never posted something this long in an ask reply before so if this looks weird BYE!

Your car had long gone cold, but you still couldn’t find the energy to pull yourself out yet. It was futile to try and wrestle your emotions into a tightly sealed box; as soon as you crossed the threshold of the town-home you shared with Spencer, you knew he’d be able to read you like a book. Damn genius profiler skills.

Taking a quick look at the time you knew you had to suck it up and go inside; you were pushing how ‘late’ you could be without him worrying something had happened on your commute home. With a deep sigh, you grabbed your bag from the passenger seat and exited the car; taking your sweet time with locking the car behind you and digging your house keys out of the bottom of your bag.

To put it simply, it had been a difficult year. It was the final year of your Phd. program and while- all things considered- you had had an amazing time, the past few months had been both physically and mentally draining. What was once your lifelong passion had suddenly started to feel like a chore; a chore you felt you weren’t even good at anymore. Almost every day was spent either in your own classes or teaching undergrads. Almost every night was spent on the final edits of your thesis or grading work from your students. The few moments of freedom you found were spent doing the boring parts of adult life: housekeeping, getting your car fixed, calling elderly family members, etc.

Neither of you had formerly addressed it, but you knew it was taking a toll on your relationship. Spencer being busy was a constant, but it was normally balanced out by your typical 9-5 schedule. But recently, even on the nights he was home you’d be too wrapped up in your own work to even sit down and eat dinner with him. By the time you crawled into bed he’d be long asleep and in the mornings you’d been leaving for work earlier and earlier in order to get research time in at the university library. It felt like the two of you hadn’t even been awake in the same room for weeks, let alone do anything relationship-y.

Tonight was supposed to change that. Kind of. His team was having a fancy dinner to celebrate some major milestone that you couldn’t remember. It’d been on the books for months, but kept getting pushed back by surprise cases. It felt like everyone held their breath this week, waiting for a case to pop up, but instead everyone was left pleasantly surprised when no such thing happened. It was going to be a great night: classic Rossi pasta dish, all partners and kids invited. Even though the two of you wouldn’t be alone, it’d still be a perfectly good excuse to get out, put on some nice outfits and have a fun evening with friends.

Spencer had been particularly excited. The past week, you felt as if it was the only thing he ever talked about. Not that the two of you were having extensive conversations. He kept talking about how great it would be to get out of the house and how much he was looking forward to having a totally work free evening. His excitement warmed your heart.

Which is why you were taking so long to find your keys. Today had been one of the hardest day you’d experienced in a long time. The thesis meeting you had with your advisor- that you’d been staying up late every night editing for- had gone horribly; it was as if everything you prepared was wrong. Almost every student in the class you taught scored poorly on the latest assessment- on a unit you considered yourself an expert on-, something you viewed as a failure of your ability to convey the info. And to top it all off, even though you felt as if you’d spent hours upon hours working yourself to the bone the past week- in order to clear space for tonight-, you still felt as if you had piles of work to catch up on.

You knew the stress and tension of the day would read clear on your body as soon as Spencer got a look at you. And with how excited he’d been, you absolutely didn’t want to ruin the dinner. You’d hate for him to feel as if you were being selfish or that you couldn’t even prioritize him in your schedule.

You took one last deep breath, before going to put the key into the doorknob. Just as you touched the handle, the door swung open from the other side.

“Jesus!” You exclaimed, one hand clutching your chest as you nearly jumped out of your skin. In front of you was Spencer, smiling down at you with that irresistible grin of his.

“Did I scare you? Sorry. I thought I heard you car pull up earlier and when you didn’t come in I thought maybe something was wrong so I wanted to come check-”

You quickly cut him off- even though you did find his worrying a bit endearing- by pressing a quick kiss to his lips. 

“A good song came on just as I pulled in, couldn’t just get out.” You lied, adding a small laugh for effect. It was an on brand situation for you, something certainly believable. If Spencer had any doubts, he didn’t question you, simply moved out of the doorframe so you could step in.

Inside the house, you set your bag down by the front door like you always did. While kicking your shoes off, you pulled your jacket off, smiling when Spencer had his hands already open to hang it on the rack. You knew he had that ridiculous memory- and you had a pretty set routine-, but it still made your heart swell every time he anticipated your next move and went the extra mile to be helpful.

“So, how was your day?" Spencer asked, as the two of you made your way to the kitchen area. “What’d Professor Addams have to say in your meeting?”

You clenched at the handle of the fridge, grinding your teeth before pulling the door open. When you turned to look at Spencer, you saw he made himself comfortable on one of the countertop stools.

“Went well. They gave me some uh, um, some comprehensive revisions.” You said flatly, turning back to face the fridge; missing the skeptical look Spencer was throwing you.

“That’s good?” He said slowly, before adding, “well how was class? You just wrapped up the last unit didn’t you?” You both knew he knew the answer, but was just attempting to further the conversation. Had it been any other day you would’ve found it endearing, but today just wasn’t that day.

You slammed the fridge door shut, just hard enough to be cause for concern. “I thought tonight was absolutely no shop talk. Huh? Why don’t we just start that rule now.” You said, a slight edge to your voice. It’s not his fault, it’s not his fault.

“Are you okay-”

“Yes! I just don’t-”

“If there’s something wrong, you know you can tell-”

“There’s nothing wrong-”

“Do you need to stay-”

“Stop!” You exclaimed, bringing an end to the constant cutting each other off. “Everything is fine. Okay?” You said, unable to maintain eye contact.

Spencer slowly nodded, though you could tell he didn’t believe an ounce of what you had just said. Luckily for you, he seemed to let it go, falling back in his seat.

“I’m gonna go shower and get ready and then we can leave, alright?” You asked rhetorically. When he just nodded again, you very quickly walked up to him and pressed another quick kiss to his lips. “Love you.”

“Love you too.”

---

The ride to Rossi’s was silent, something that normally wouldn’t have bothered either of you had it not been for the borderline argument you had in the kitchen. As you pulled up a few cars down from the house, you caught Spencer staring at you from the passenger seat, a slightly concerned look on his face.

“Stop doing that.” You huffed out, but there was no real bite in your voice.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” He asked gently, reaching out to push a piece of your hair away from your face. God that was sweet.

You quickly nodded and threw a very forced smile his way, not quite meeting his eyes. “I’m fine. I promise, come on.” You said, killing the engine and pushing open your car door.

Before you could fully open the door, Spencer’s arm shot out across your body and pulled the door back shut with a bang.

“Spencer!” You yelped, startled by his sudden movement. You turned and gave him a bewildered look.

“You always look over my head when you lie.” Spencer stated.

“Oh I do not-” You started, but letting the sentence fall flat as soon as you realized you currently were looking over his head.

“Your favorite song came on the radio, twice, on the drive here and you didn’t react at all either times.” He said. When you still didn’t say anything he continued. “What’s going on? You know you can tell me.”

The look he was giving you was making you feel all sorts of guilty. Of course he cared, that’s why you loved him so much. You just didn’t want to ruin something that’d been in the works for so long, all because you had a bad day.

“Spencer,” you started, giving him a very pointed look and making sure to hold eye contact, “I’m fine. Can we just go in?”

Spencer shook his head, externally searching your face for more clues while also internally thinking back to any clues from your kitchen fight. “We aren’t going anywhere, until you talk to me.” He urged.

It probably wasn’t the best move on his part, seeing as you both were incredibly stubborn. The two of you were unrelenting, both staring blankly at the other; hoping the other one would break first. After nearly 5 minutes of silence, it became very clear that neither of you were standing down anytime soon.

Spencer reached his hand out again, gently cupping your cheek; internally you cursed your body’s natural reaction to lean into his touch. “What’s going on?” He asked, voice much softer than earlier.

You were internally screaming over how caring he was. Damn him! You cursed yourself for not being able to just play the role of perfect partner for one night.

“I’m exhausted.” You said, voice quiet. “My meeting went horrible day. I absolutely failed at teaching my students the last unit. I’ve been bringing so much work back to the house I haven’t even been able to give you a second of attention. And now we have this dinner that you’ve been looking forward to for months and I don’t want to ruin-”

This time, it was Spencer that quickly cut off your rambles with a kiss.

“Do you want to leave?” He asked, as if it were the most simple thing ever

You gave him a shocked look. “Spencer, you’ve been talking about this dinner for weeks. I, I can’t ask you to put this off, you and the team rarely get time to-”

“If you want to leave, we can leave.” He said. His voice was so sincere it made the whole thing that much more difficult. He was too good.

“Spencer, no.” You said, putting special emphasis on the ‘no’. “We haven’t even walked in the door, there’s nothing to leave yet. I’m not going to ruin the dinner we’ve all been planning on for months. I’ll be fine for a couple hours.”

He didn’t answer, instead pulled his phone out and quickly started to type out a text.

“What are you doing?”

“Texting Rossi, I’m gonna tell him you aren’t feeling well and we can’t come anymore.”

“We’re outside his house! It’s not a big deal-!

“Your comfort and happiness is more important to me than some stupid dinner!” Spencer cut you off, giving you a very pointed look. You weren’t sure your heart could take the swelling much longer.

“Spencer, you’ve been planning-”

“I don’t want to hear it-”

“You’ve wanted to get out of the house for so long!” You stressed, giving him a ‘duh’ look.

“We can go do something else!” He replied, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “Just us, no pressure to be ‘on’ in front of anyone else.” That did sound good- No!

“I’m not gonna be the one who keeps their boyfriend away from his friends-”

“I see them every day. Every day. One dinner means nothing.” Spencer said confidently, clasping your hand tightly between his.

You contemplated for what seemed like hours; though it couldn’t have been more than twenty seconds. “Are you sure?”

“I’ve never been more sure of something in my life.” Spencer said, giving you a very mock serious look; you couldn’t help but laugh at that. “There you are.” He said, smiling to match yours.

You turned the car on, clicking your seatbelt back into place. “So, where to pretty boy?” You asked.

“Well, I heard of this new ice cream place that just opened up. Their ‘claim to fame’ is they make over 50 flavors in store every single day. Did you know on average it takes nearly three hours from start to finish to make a single batch of ice cream? Or that when ice cream-”

You shook your head in amusement, chancing a couple glances in his direction as you were driving. You loved his excited ramblings and animated hand motions as he further explained the history of ice cream; as well as all the random facts about the place he was directing you to. As you got closer to your new destination, all you could think about was how lucky you were to, to be loved by someone who always knew just what to say.

---

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