#{ If your muse is able to see this message feel free to react or jump in. }

[seginbeats]

Things had been unusually quiet on Giacomo's end for a few months now. Despite his music career finally kicking off successfully, he'd made very little public appearances unless they were directly related to a show he was DJing, or if he was invited out by his friends.

Truthfully, he had been spending a great deal of time with the Segin Squad, and the rest of Team Star's groups, hyperanalyzing the strange activity happening in Paldea, and scrutinizing the way that the region as a whole had been operating. After their stint with hacking into the Paldean league, and getting away with it for some time, numerous teenagers affiliated with the rag tag street gang had dipped back into the habit out of breaking through firewalls and sneaking into various government progreams, out of a need for uncovering what was being kept from everybody.

Paldea was extremely crippled; people continued to leave the region, and security around the crater had been increasing-- while money was being funneled into this tightened security, there were still sightings of strange people occupying the entrance in Medali. Not to mention, the vacancies in certain important seats made it difficult for Paldea to cater to the ever-restless population. The actual breaking point for Giacomo, however, was the disappearance of Cereza-- nothing was done by any of the adults to address it.

Giacomo himself had been growing frustrated with how things were being ran-- and three years of criticism needed to be let out. If nobody was going to do anything, then, he was going to give a voice to his peers who were rightfully skeptical.

In the morning hours, the algorithms of several popular social media apps was throwing one reel up onto the top of everybody's feeds: it displayed a QR code, with music produced by DJ Vice playing in the background. It looped after 10 seconds. This reel would appear to anybody who's GPS had clocked them in Paldea over the past few months.

If one scanned the code, it would send them to a website, with a statement in bold letters:

Paldea Is Censoring Me

DJ VICE HERE.

My fans know that my latest songs speaking up about how things are ran in this town have been buried under the algorithm, and censored on the radio.

Stuff is happening right in our backyard, and the people in charge aren't telling us the truth. Me and my squad have proof that things are being covered up. If nothing was being kept a secret, they wouldn't be working so hard to censor me, and keep us away from the crater.

They're not gonna listen to me, or any of us! So we're gonna MAKE them listen!!!!

We're gonna demand that Paldea divert more money into supporting its citizens, instead of covering up their secrets. Then we're gonna force them to hear our greavances. A clean sweep of all the teachers after Team Star rioted was a distraction to keep us from doing more. Enough is enough.

Join us outside of the academy on October 1st, we're gonna block all the entrances for a protest, and get our voices heard. And if that doesn't work, we'll Star Barrage 'em like we've always done!!!!

[hqbbg]

big and bad.

pairing: matsukawa issei x reader

summary: the woods are a dark place.

genre: fantasy

word count: 1.6K

warnings: i didn’t have this beta’d and this was completed at 5:30am so there might be mistakes but uh, none otherwise that i can think of (but please message me to correct me)

author’s note: heyo! 🤪 I’m back with another HQHQ server collab fic! you can check out the other amazing writers’ works here! i have our dear mattsun for both collabs (and both parts are now posted)!! n e ways as always, I hope you guys enjoy! 💕

part two (18+)

Your legs are shaking and you can feel your knees threatening to give out. The cold air burns your lungs as you continue to run through the dark forest, swatting at branches in your way. You don’t know how long you’ve been running, but you know for a fact that you wish you hadn’t skipped gym class all those years ago in grade school.

After what feels like ages, you finally see a dim light ahead of you through the foliage. As if hit with a sudden burst of energy, you try to push through and feel so close to the end, the light practically within reach. Just as you’re about to get to it, your path is suddenly blocked and you’re shrouded in darkness once again. Halting to a stop, you panic, trying to get a grasp of what just happened.

Suddenly, you no longer feel alone and feel every nerve ending stand on edge. Your heart is pounding in your ears and you do everything in your power to refrain from doubling over to catch your breath. The sound of a branch breaking startles you and you whip around.

“You know, it’s not safe for people to be out alone in the woods at this hour.” You’re unsure of what you’re expecting, but it’s definitely not the silhouette of a tall man standing before you.

You open your mouth to speak, but no sound comes out.

“What shall I do with you?” His voice drawls lazily and in any other situation, you might consider being comforted by it.

While you can’t see him, you hear him move. He seems to be circling you and you do your best to remain facing him, though you’re beginning to feel your head spin.

“What’s the matter, doll?” You can practically hear him smirking. “Cat got your tongue?” You jump when his voice sounds right up against your ear.

Before you can react, you feel hands grab you and open your mouth to scream, only to jolt up from your bed in a cold sweat. Your heart is still pounding in your chest and you’re breathing heavily.

It was only a dream.

Laying back down, you sigh softly to yourself. Just as you’re about to close your eyes to go back to sleep, you hear your alarm go off and groan. Great.

You practically throw the blanket off and toss your legs over the edge of the bed, willing yourself up to begin your day. Glancing out your bedroom window, your eyes warily linger on the trees of the forest below before you force yourself to get washed up.

When your parents had asked for you to drop by for lunch, you were more than willing to accept, never one to turn down free food. However, as you begin your walk down the sidewalk towards the bus stop alongside the thick brush of trees, you feel a chill run down your spine and you want to go back home. Something just simply doesn’t feel right.

Swallowing your paranoia, you quicken your pace until you arrive at the small bus stop. You can’t help but feel as if you’re being watched, but when you look around, there’s hardly anyone around and their attention is fixed elsewhere. You hesitate for a moment before turning to glance towards the thicket of trees behind you and nearly jump when you meet a pair of dark gold eyes looking back at you. When you blink, they’re gone and the bus arrives.

Throughout the whole lunch, you do your best to forget the morning’s events. Your parents notice that something is off, but you brush it off with an excuse of just being tired. It’s true; you’ve been exhausted these past couple weeks with moving into your apartment while still trying to maintain the various responsibilities of life. Maybe that would explain the paranoia and the hallucinations—that’s what that was earlier, right?

As you step off the bus, the air feels colder and the sun is already setting. Where has the day gone? You should’ve left your parents’ home sooner before the sun had begun its descent. The streetlights around you flicker on to illuminate the sidewalk, but you see that your path home is blocked due to road work that’s scheduled to last all night long.

You resist the urge to let out a groan. It looks like the construction extends through the whole main road and the designated detour will take you an extra half hour to walk around. You look warily to your right towards the heavily wooded area that separates you and your building, hesitating momentarily. In all honesty, it would be faster to simply cut through the trees and if you’re quick, you might be able to make it before total nightfall.

Weighing your options, you figure you’re just being extra paranoid because of your dream—or rather, nightmare—and simply inhale deeply before stepping off the concrete towards the brush.

The wind whistles lowly and the setting feels eerily familiar. As you listen to the crunching of leaves and fallen branches under your feet, you’re reminded of the stories your grandmother had told you as a child.

“Beware of the big bad wolf,” she had said, though her sing-song voice hardly instilled the same fear that was snowballing within yourself at the moment.

You feel like you’ve been walking for nearly ten minutes, so you should be near the edge of the forest now. However, with the sun finally set, it’s harder for you to navigate your steps and the gnawing in your chest blooms. You try to maintain a straight path, but you could’ve sworn that you passed the same tree five minutes ago.

Deciding to take a brief break, you pull out your phone to check the time and ideally pull up a map to help you navigate your way out. Unfortunately, you have no signal so your phone is deduced into nothing but a glorified clock.

As you had felt this morning, it seems like you’re being watched, followed. When you glance around, you’re alone. Right as you turn back around to face forward, putting your phone back into your pocket, you let out a scream in surprise when a man is standing before you, golden eyes looking directly at you.

“I wasn’t expecting visitors so soon.”

There’s no mistaking that you know this voice; it sounds exactly like the one from your dream. It’s hard to see him clearly, but you can make out the familiar outline of his tall figure as your eyes steadily adjust. You see him take a step forward, making you instinctively take a step back.

“No need to be afraid, sweetheart. I don’t bite.” The low rumble of his voice sends a shiver down your spine. He takes another step forward into a small area illuminated by moonlight seeping through the blankets of leaves above and you can finally see his face.

He has a lazy and almost bored look donning on his features, the upwards tilt of the right corner of his lips being the only thing indicating his amusement at the fear in your eyes. His eyes seem to rake over you, as if evaluating you.

“Are you going to kill me?” You try to steady your trembling voice, unable to look away from him.

“Kill you?” He muses as he takes another step forward. You take another step back. “What’s the fun in that?”

“Well, if you’re looking for fun, I have an idea or two,” you say, trying to look for a way out.

“Do you now?” The man is now smirking. “Enlighten me.”

“For starters, you keep me alive.” He chuckles but it does nothing to calm your racing heart. “Second, you either tell me who you are and how to get out of here, or just cut the formalities and go straight to telling me how to get out of here.”

He laughs as he takes another step forward, taking you another step back. You feel your eyes widen when your back presses up against a tree you were sure wasn’t there before.

“How cute,” he says as his laughter dies down. “I think you’ll be fun to keep around for a little longer.”

He takes two more steps forward until he’s towering directly over you, propping his elbow against the bark above your head. He leans down to be at eye level with you and you can feel his breath fan over your face. You turn your head slightly, wanting to avoid him in any way you possibly can.

“Issei.”

“Excuse me?” Looking up at him with a frown on your face, you realize just how close he is and feel your cheeks heat at the proximity.

“My name. I think you’ve earned it.”

You’ve hardly done anything, so you’re not sure what that means. Before you can question him further, he cocks his head to the side slightly.

“Tell me, doll. What’s someone like you doing in a place like this?”

“Currently looking for a way out of here,” you answer truthfully. You know better than to trust a stranger, especially given the circumstances you’re in and the alarms are blaring in your head.

“You’re sure you don’t want to stay? I’m pretty convincing and can make it worth your while.” He smirks down lazily at you.

“I highly doubt that and would like to see you try,” you say, trying to swallow the lump in your throat. Perhaps you could’ve worded your sentence differently, a fact emphasized when he leans in dangerously closer to your face so you can feel the ghost of his lips brush yours whenever he speaks.

Your instincts are screaming at you to move, but it’s as if your brain and limbs are disconnected, failing to cooperate.

“Don’t tempt me,” his voice lowers. You hesitantly lift your eyes to meet his and see that they’ve darkened.

Well, that can’t be good.

[canyouhearthelight]

The Miys, Ch. 84

Somehow I managed to get this chapter written, despite a pinched nerve that left me, essentially, on bed rest for two days.  I keep telling myself I need to make a buffer of chapters, but my life has decided not to cooperate...

I hope everyone out there is staying safe and healthy. Where I live, we are currently under a stay-at-home order, and my company (essential) finally got us up and running to work from home this past week. So I at least have that, and I’m aware how fortunate I am for that.

As always, my inbox and ask box are wide open, so feel free to drop me a line.  I love interacting with people on a normal basis.

Somewhat more disturbed than usual, I left Xiomara’s office with Charly in tow.  I was about to let her know she was okay to head home when I realized I didn’t really have a choice - Xio made it very clear that I needed an escort with me at all times.  Conor was still at work, Tyche stayed behind with my fellow Councillor, and Maverick was likely off work but at home.  Charly, however, was right here and one look at her face let me know she was taking her new duties seriously.

“I can call GK,” I tried in vain.

“Nope.” She popped the ‘p’ emphatically. “I have a job to do, and ulterior motives. Ninja grandma isn’t taking my spot.” I arched a brow in inquiry, and wasn’t left disappointed. “Ma’am. Suspected cult leader? Attempted viking overlord? And this person clearly has it in for you? Do the guys know? Does Derek know? Hell, does Arthur know?”

“Why do I feel like Arthur outranks my actual partners in that list?”

“He was a warlord, and apparently your bestie in a past life? Stop stalling and talk. Start at freaking cult leader?”

“Alleged.”

“Sophia Michelle, I swear to - “

“That’s not my middle name.”

“And that’s not the point!”

Well, I tried. With a sigh, I surrendered to the inevitable.  “A bunch of people have been acting suspiciously lately, all over the Ark.  Anti-social, darting eyes, hushed whispers, all that stuff.  Tyche and I thought it was just us, until Noah and I were walking one day and a group of them just plowed into us.”  I stopped and ran a hand through my hair anxiously. “If it had happened even a week earlier, I would have just shrugged it off and been done.  The issue was this.” I tapped my temple emphatically.  “Tyche insisted that I get the proximity update to my implant, to avoid being triggered by people walking into me.”

“Well, yeah, that makes sense,” she shrugged brightly.  “Not like I didn’t notice… I can’t exactly sneak up and hug you anymore.” She scowled comically.

I let a small smile creep onto my face before continuing. “Right. Well, this was a group of about eight people.  They either all ignored the alert, or somehow turned it off.  We - well, Derek and Zach - are still trying to figure out which it was. Either way, it was a cause for concern, so a bunch of us brought it to Xiomara. We suspected it might be a cult, so Grey was also consulted.  They agreed there was a possibility, but pointed out we need inside information. Jokull Bjornson, recipient of your feral tendencies, is our best guess for the leader if it is a cult. So, Xio said she would look into it, but essentially told me that anyone associated with me would be out of the loop.”

“So why is Tyche…?”

“I don’t knowwww!” I whined in frustration.  “And it’s not like she can tell me, so I can’t exactly ask, because I don’t want her to feel bad, right?”

“Ugh, that sucks,” she agreed.  “And you have no idea why this guy hates your kidneys?”

“Eyeah, as far as that goes? You know as much as I do, and I know that isn’t much right now.”

She shrugged before bouncing on her toes. “Don’t worry.  I’ll talk to Coffee, he’ll probably agree to shadow you some of the time.  And it would be from a distance, so you wouldn’t feel like a kid being walked to kindergarten.” When I looked at her, skeptical, she shrugged again. “He likes you.”

“He’s spoken maybe four words to me,” I pointed out.

“And yet, you understand him.  That means he likes you.”

My mind reeling, we made the rest of the way to my quarters with small talk.  However, when we arrived, Charly refused to head home until she saw Maverick and the door closed behind me.  I swear, I get confronted once…

“Why did Charly look like an attack marten?”

Nuggets. “There was an incident today,” I groaned before peeking up at the ceiling. “Miys? Were you recording in Xiomara Kalloe’s office between 1800 and 1900 subjective ship time?”

“I was not, Wisdom.”

Figures.  Special ops of whatever flavor Xio had been did not lend well to being surveilled.  “Okay, thank you.” I looked back at Maverick.  “I don’t want to explain this again, so give me a second.  I was recording, because I knew this would happen.”  After some fidgeting to isolate the conversation in Xio’s office, I flicked the file over to Maverick.  “It’s audio only, but it at least saves me some time.”  I left him to watch it while I wandered into the food prep area for a drink.

I managed to swallow my second sip of wine before an angry shout came from the living room. “What the hell!?” was followed by Maverick striding into the kitchen and checking me over. “Were you hit? Did he fucking touch you?”

My arm was tangled in my shirt before I was able to stop him. “Mav… Maverick.. Babe! Stop! I swear, I’m fine.  Even Charly is fine - “

“Charly being fine is Coffee’s concern - “

“But we are both okay,” I finished.  “I swear, he didn’t even touch me.  Charly shoved me out of the way before he could.”

“I’m gonna - I need to get Conor, we’re gonna kill - “

“Listen to the rest of the recording,” I begged.  “He didn’t just walk away, I promise.”

After a couple of deep breaths and another glance to make sure I was okay, Maverick nodded. “I’m going to play this entire thing when Conor is home, probably after securing him to something that is bolted to the deck.”

“Well, that’s one way to keep him from flying off the handle,” I mused.

“Uh huh,” he replied sardonically, not even a bit fooled by what I was implying. “I don’t think even that is going to distract him.”

“It was worth a shot.”

“I think French toast has a better chance.”

“Gotcha.  French toast and lots of restraints.”  

That got a laugh out of Maverick, and he finally let go of my shoulders.  While he shot a message to our third to skip the overtime, I started getting ingredients together for a hearty breakfast-for-dinner meal.  We managed to time it just right, so the main dish came out of the oven just as Conor was finishing his shower.

Any hope that we even partially fooled him was dashed right after he sat down and saw the spread.  First he grinned, then got serious, and one glance at the broiled tomatoes gave it away.  “Neither of you like those,” Conor pointed to the offending dish with a whine. “Something bad happened, didn’t it?”  He glanced at our expressions before sighing and filling his plate.  “Alright, what gives? Another plague?  Ship stalled in space? Lost forever in subspace or whatever?”

“Something happened today,” I ventured carefully.  “I sent Maverick a recording, and he can play it if you want…”

To his credit, Conor held up one hand while he shoveled a piece of French toast into his mouth as fast as he could chew, quickly followed by one fried egg and two pieces of sausage. Finally, he nodded. “Okay. Got enough to make sure I’m not reacting on an empty stomach.”

“I just ask that you listen to the entire recording, no matter how bad it is at the beginning?”

He sighed again, held up his hand, chugged a glass of milk.  “Okay. I will do everything in my power to sit right here and not touch anything fragile or talk until I hear the whole thing.”

I really couldn’t ask for more than that, so I nodded to Maverick. Once he pulled up the audio recording, we sat tensely until it finished.  The only sounds outside of the record were Conor grinding his teeth and both men clenching their hands tightly enough to pop the joints.  Their expressions were a kaleidoscope of emotions, finally settling on determination when they heard Xiomara insist that I have an escort until further notice.

Snagging seconds of everything, Conor nodded to Maverick. “Us, Tyche, apparently Charly.. You think that Farro bloke?”

“He would,” Maverick agreed, digging into his own now-cold plate of food.  “Don’t forget Grandma Kim.” Conor pointed emphatically with his fork at the suggestion.

“Wait, what are you two doing?” I sputtered.  “Putting together a hit squad?”

“Ach, no,” Conor dismissed my suggestion.  “Escort detail.  If we wanted to take the fucker out, we’d leave it to Tyche and Farro and be done.”

“Not you?” I was so confused.

Maverick shook his head, gesturing with one finger between the two men. “We would feel guilty and regret it, probably the rest of our lives.  Those two, especially with someone who is endangering you again?  Probably would sleep better the night they did it.”

Conor nodded enthusiastically. “But I’m rather fond of your sister, and the Farro fella is alright I guess, so I’d hate to see them sedated and popped out an airlock at FTL speeds.”

“Oh,” I replied dumbly. I expected to have to calm them down, not to see them make such merciless decisions so quickly. “Um. In that case.  Charly said she’d talk to Coffee about shadowing me some of the time?”

I jumped when Conor hit the table with one hand. “See, that’s what I’m talkin’ about! We’ll keep you safe, Sophie… Aw, shit…” He jumped up and knocked the chair over as I dissolved into tears.

My eyes were closed so tightly that I actually lashed out as arms circled around me.  It was only when a smooth cheek pressed against my own that my body recognized it was Maverick and surrendered to protection.  Vaguely, I could hear Conor speaking, but just enough to register that it wasn’t directed at me, so the words just didn’t register as important.

When I finally calmed down, I was curled tightly in a ball on a soft surface, black hair obstructing my vision.  Maverick’s voice was speaking, an almost-chant that was soothing me. “I’m right here. I won’t let anyone hurt you. You’re safe. I’m right here…”  I realized he was rubbing me briskly, alternating between my arms and my legs.

With a sniff, I lifted my head.  “I’m sorry,” I started.

He shushed me. “You didn’t do anything wrong,” he assured me.  “It was a tense situation, and you expected one of us to get angry, so when Conor hit the table, your body didn’t realize it was a cheer and not anger.  You just heard someone you expected to be angry hitting something. It’s okay.”

“Conor…?” I started to ask, not able to make the words go.

“Not mad,” a voice from the door assured me.  When I wormed my way to see his face, Conor was sitting on the floor, back against the door frame.  “As soon as I saw your face collapse, I realized what I did.  I’m sorry, Sophie.  But I swear I’m not mad. Or upset, or disappointed, or any of those things that your mind is trying to over-pick at.  I just feel like an idiot, that’s all.”

“You’re not a idiot,” I insisted.

He grinned. “And you’ll defend me to your dying day, I think. But I should have been more mindful, and I will be. I swear. No loud noises when Sophie’s nervous - it isn’t a huge request.  I can leave the room, just like when I’m mad, right?”  That grin never lost its sunny nature, and I knew he meant it.

He stood to come over, and I felt Maverick’s arms tighten around me. “You upset her again, I’m going to knock your lights out,” a voice warned over my shoulder.

“I’d let you do it, mate,” Conor replied sincerely, holding out his hand.  I reached for it, but he merely squeezed my fingers before reaching further.

He wanted Maverick’s permission, I realized. Not just mine.  Tension flooded what I now realized was our bedroom before Maverick finally took Conor’s hand.  “I mean it,” he insisted with a warning tone.  “Do better, or I’m going to knock you out every time you, personally, upset her.”

“Someone should,” Conor agreed sincerely.

“Violence is not the way to handle this,” I sniffed. “There’s a learning curve, but it’s pretty steep with all the anxiety on the ship right now.” Wriggling so I could see them both, I tried to muster a stern look. “Episodes like this are going to happen. We’re just going to have to learn, together, how to navigate them.”

“Still, no loud noises when Sophie’s nervous.”

Maverick nodded. “That definitely seems like a good starting point.”

I couldn’t exactly argue with that.

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[bts-b18]

Crossing The Line - Chapter 2

Crossing The Line

A Taekook& Yoonmin Story.

Genere: highschool!au, Fluff, Angst, Smut

Summary: Former volleyball player and now trainer of the schools volleayball team Taehyung feels drawn to freshman and trouble maker Jungkook. What will  happen when such different characters collide? Can Taehyung get past the wall of agression and hate Jungkook has build around his heart for all the years?

Yoongi and Jimin are stepbrothers. Jimin however developed feelings which are stronger than brotherly love. Can he keep this a secret?

Warning: step-sibling incest, violence

Part: 01 | 02 | 03 | 04

02 - Trouble

The following days Namjoon tried again and again to convince Jungkook to join the volleyball team, despise Taehyung telling him that having a troublemaker on the team would affect the discipline. Namjoon even managed to get Jungkooks number, constantly texting him to join the volleyball club.

All those efforts to convince him made the younger guy despise the idea of going to play even more, since it meant giving in to the constant nagging. And loosing was something Jeon Jungkook did not do!

One fated day, Jungkook forgot to switch his phone to silent mode, which normally would have been no problem, but this time he was in class and everybody was supposed to work silently for themselves. The ringtone cut through the silence like a blade. Being used to checking his messages instantly Jungkook didn’t even think twice when he grabbed the phone, unlocking it directly. However, he didn’t take the teacher Ms. Kim into account who snatched the phone out of his hands before he had a chance to even look at the message.

“Texting in class again, are we Mister Jeon?”, she hissed.

“Yah! This is private!”, Jungkook yelled jumping up from his chair.

“I don’t think so. You write messages in my class? They become part of my class; hence they are not private anymore.”, she stated like it made complete sense.

“Maybe this will teach you to not text in my class ever again.”, she continued while looking at the phone. A grin way to evil for the petit teacher with short hair, appeared on her face. On the screen were a dozen unanswered messages from Namjoon telling Jungkook to join the team.

“So, you want to join the volleyball team Mr. Jeon?”, she mused now looking at him.

“No way! Some senior student kept bugging me for days already, but I told him I have no interest in doing so.”, Jungkook replied hastily. Maybe too hastily since the grin on Ms. Kim spread even wider.

“I see. So that’s how it is. Well Mr. Jeon then you will join the volleyball team starting today.”, she decided handing the cellphone back to Jungkook.

“And why would I do that?”, he shot back way louder than it was appropriate while talking to a teacher.

“Because as far as I am concerned, your grades are not so great this year, right? And you can’t afford failing another class? For example, my class?”, Ms. Kim suggested while her face made entirely sure that Jungkook could grasp the situation he was in right now.

“That’s not fair!”, Jungkook exclaimed feeling betrayed.

“Live is not fair Mr. Jeon. The faster you learn that, the better. And now everyone please return to your exercise.”

And with that the discussion was over.

 Somehow Namjoon must have heard about the class incident, since he was waiting for Jungkook as he finished his last term before the lunch break. He was standing there smiling from ear to ear, waving happily at an annoyed looking Jungkook. Knowing that he had no other choice he followed Namjoon to the practice hall where everyone was gathered already, passing the ball between them.

“Attention please!”, Namjoon called cheerfully.

“We have a new team member called Jeon Jungkook starting today!”

Surprised everyone turned around.

“Why are you here?”, Taehyung asked all his confusion showing on his face.

Jungkook didn’t answer. What should he say? Admit that his teacher outplayed him? Hell no! Especially not to glasses guy!

“What’s going on?” Taehyung tried again, this time looking at Namjoon for help. When Namjoon didn’t reply, Taehyung forcefully pushed him to the side getting slowly annoyed. He wanted to talk without being overheard.

Seokjin took this opportunity to step in front of Jungkook, crossing his arms: “Nobody wants you here loser boy! You should leave already.”

 “You don’t even know how to serve, idiot!”, Seokjin taunted again.

Being annoyed already Jungkook jumped at the opportunity to fight instantly.

“This is none of your fucking business, dumbass! You know how to fight with your broad shoulders, huh?!”, the raven-haired boy shot back loosening his shoulders as if ready to throw a punch.

Before any of the two could lunge at the other Vic came forward.

“You can’t do that!”, she exclaimed worried, pointing her notebook pen at Seokjin.

Hearing Victoria, Taehyung and Namjoon had quickly come back to the little group gathered around Jungkook. Looking at the younger boy’s mocking expression Taehyung realized what he had been up too: The school rules clearly stated that those who started a fight among the team would be expelled from the club immediately. And It was obvious that Jungkook was not here on his free will.

Taking a quick glance at his best friend Taehyung knew that he was thinking the same thing.

“All right Jungkook, if you are able to catch one ball out of three serves you can leave. Agreed?”, Namjoon grinned.

Great Namjoon, Taehyung thought shaking his head in disbelieve. Why was the blond guy so obsessed with getting the trouble maker on this team?

“One ball? Fine I can do that. No problem!”, Jungkook grinned.

“I will teach you a lesson! Just wait, you will be so dead!”, Seokjin jumped forward.

“No, I will save his ball.”, Jungkook announced pointing directly at a wide-eyed Taehyung.

Recovering from the shock quite fast he looked at Jungkook with contemp.           

“And what if you lose?”

“Whatever you want.”, replied Jungkook quickly.

Hearing that, Taehyungs mouth corner shortly twitched upward into a grin.

A shudder went down Jungkooks spine. Unsure of himself for the first time, the younger smiled sheepishly.

“Ready?” Taehyung asked, getting into position at the other side of the field.

Jungkook just gave a thumbs up jumping on his spot. Seokjin handed Taehyung one of the volleyballs, making a small bow. Like the first time Taehyung played the ball perfectly leaving Jungkook barley any time to react. However, the young male was quick; realizing in which corner Taehyung would hit the ball. Missing the ball just by a few steps he failed the first chance.

“Wow he is good.” “Guessing the trainers moves so easy.” The team members whispered among themselves.

Taehyung served the second ball a lot faster and this time Jungkook even touched it, but still failed to grab it. He was pretty sure, that he would be able to get the last one.

Later the brown-haired trainer couldn’t understand what had gotten into him in this moment, but he took the last ball from Seokjin staring at Jungkook. He was aware that Jungkook had a good perception and was able to adjust to different playstyles quickly. There was a high chance that he would be able to catch the last ball. He could let Jungkook get the ball and he could rid himself of the troublemaker. But, something inside him did want the younger to stay on the team.

He took a few steps back, handing his glasses to Namjoon. He took a deep breath, punched the ball in the air and jumped. It was as if he was flying, hands falling back as he winded up to hit the ball hard. Jungkooks eyes were following him, wide in amazement. Jungkook tried to jump but had no real chance of catching that jump-serve. He was sliding along the floor in vain. Taehyung had landed lightly but was limping, Jungkook noticed. Why did the elder jump when it caused him pain?

Namjoon rushed forward supporting his friend, who had a hard time standing straight.

“Well what will you do know, huh?”, Taehyung mused Jungkook, trying to sound lightly. But his pained face betrayed him.

“AISH!”, Jungkook yelled hitting the floor.

He knew that he had lost. And oh, he hated losing so much! He pushed himself up and glared at Taehyung. Fine if he had to, he would join the damn team: Showing everyone how good Jeon Jungkook could be! They would see what he was really made of.

 Not being very gentle, Namjoon pushed Taehyung down on the wooden bench. They were in the changing room, while the other team members where still practicing. Stretching out his leg, Namjoon placed a heat-pack on Taehyungs injured knee.

“Why the hell did you do that you idiot? You know you shouldn’t put that much pressure on your knee!”, he scolded the other male.

“I don’t know.. I just wanted to jump..”, Taehyung replied while his face was still full of pain.

“Are you sure you want to bring him on the team?” he continued after a short silence.

At that Namjoon furrowed his brows. “Well the thing is Tae, we don’t really have a choice right now. We need a spiker badly and that boy has some real potential!”

“But what good will he do with that attitude?”

“We will just do it like before, all right? I will handle the attitude and you the training okay?” Namjoon beamed, having found a solution he was happy with. Taehyung however didn’t seem convinced.

Instead of replying anything, he just sighed in defeat. This caused Namjoons smile to spread even further, making his cute dimples show.

  Yoongi and Jimin had waited outside of the sport complex after Jungkook had texted them about what had happened. They were now walking down the path that lead to the school’s main cafeteria, trying to get Jungkook to tell them what exactly had happened.

The youngest had quickly summed up what had happened, leaving out the small part were Taehyung had beaten him in the little volleyball game.

“So, you will really join the volleyball team?”, Jimin inquired.

“Yea well, they pressure me with my grades so what much can I do?” Jungkook shrugged.

“Your right..” Yoongi trailed off. He was turning a small package of cookies around in his hands. Now he looked at Jimin who was walking at the other side of Jungkook.

“Here, you take this to eat until we have lunch. You haven’t eating anything today yet.” he offered to his younger step-brother.

Jimin just raised an eyebrow at him. Not making any attempt of taking the package out of Yoongi’s hands.

“Are you my mum now?” he scoffed.

Yoongi, being too taken aback by his step-brothers reaction, was still holding out the little package. What was going on with Jimin? Why was his little brother being so defensive and mean to him lately? Had he done something wrong?

Being annoyed by the two brother’s awkwardness, Jungkook yanked the package out of Yoongi’s hands. “Yah! And what about me?”, he yelled.

Before Yoongi could reply, someone step in front of the two guys, blocking their way.

Looking straight Jungkook came face to face with a guy. He had a round face, brown hair and a broad smile on his features.

“Hey! Do you remember me still, hyung?” the boy now beamed barley able to contain his excitement.

“Should I remember you?” Jungkook asked crossing his arms.

“But of couuuurse huyng!! I’m Hoseok! You saved me from those bad guys..” he whined.

“And you also got kicked out because of me.” Hoseok added, now looking at his feet.

“Well yea. No problem. So, can you excuse us now? I had a long day and want to get something to eat..” Jungkook sighed not having the patience to deal with an excited middle-school boy. He started walking past the younger boy.

“Can I come with you and pay the meal? To make up for the help?”, Hoseok called after him.

“If you stop bothering me after that...” Jungkook muttered without looking back.

“Yeees! Thanks’ Hyung!!!” the younger exclaimed.

  It was evening and everyone was at the volleyball field again, practicing hard for their afterschool club activities. Taehyung was standing at the side observing the younger boys. He had wondered already where Jungkook was. Even though the raven-haired boy was a trouble maker. he didn’t seem like someone who would not keep his word.

As if to confirm that something was up, Victoria tugged at his sleeve.

“Tae, I can’t find Jungkook anywhere. I already checked his classroom and called his phone. He is not answering. What should we do? He still needs so much practice.” She sounded worried.

That boy was his responsibility now Taehyung decided. He needed to find him and get him to train. Also, he couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong.

“You will be overseeing training here Vic. I will go and find Jungkook.”

 Taehyung had managed to get ahold of Jimin, before he had left school and was now questioning him on the whereabouts of his friend.

“Where is he?” Taehyung demanded to know.

“Somewhere, were a good student like you won’t have the guts to go!” Jimin taunted.

Just as Taehyung was about to say something Yoongi stepped in front of his younger brother protectively. “Is there any problem here?” he asked in in a calm tone but with eyes cold as ice.

“No thank you, Hyung.”, Jimin snarled.

“Come with me glasses boy.” He added pushing past his bewildered looking brother.

Jimin felt a pang of guild as he saw the hurt flashing through Yoongi’s eyes. But he continued walking past him anyway.

Taehyung looked between the two brothers, trying to make sense of their behavior. He felt like saying something reassuring, seeing Yoongi’s sad face but didn’t know what. So, he remained silent and hurried after Jimin.

Jimin had led him into a shady looking district quite a few blogs away from the school. Taehyung had asked him a few times, where he would take him but just got an unfriendly “follow me and be quite” as an answer.

When Jimin finally stopped, they were standing in front of an dark alley. Trashcans and stacks of boxed indicated, that they were behind some kind of club or a bar.

“This is as far as I go. If you want to find him, go find him yourself now.” Jimin stated pointing at the building. With that he turned around and left, leaving Taehyung standing there unsure of what to do.

There where barley any streetlights in the ally but he could make out some men sitting on the floor seeming dead drunk. One of them was standing under the single streetlight the ally had to offer, holding a syringe. Something inside Taehyung told to him to run as fast as he could but he still needed to find Jungkook.

Carefully he made one step forward, trying not to make himself known to the other men. At the same moment the backdoor of the building flew open revealing Jungkook, dressed in the attire of a bartender. He was carrying two huge bags of trash, as he was walking down the stairs leading down into the allay.

“Hey! What are you doing?”, Jungkook yelled, as his eyes fell on the men in front of him.

But the men just shrugged, paying more attention to his syringe than to the young boy.

“You can’t take drugs here!” Jungkook repeated, as he tossed the bags of trash he was carrying to the side.

“None of your fucking business!” the male now hissed turning around to face Jungkook.

Feeling frustrated at the lack of respect Jungkook kicked at the closest trashcan. It fell over with a loud bang that was way too loud in the narrow allay.

That, seemed to have caught the attention of the two other guys who had been lingering on the opposite side of the ally. They were righting themselves, stepping closer from each side surrounding Jungkook.        

“Please leave here!”, Jungkook said calm. He had noticed the other two guys and knew that he probably had no chance fighting three grown up man at the same time. But something inside of him didn’t care. Something inside of him wanted to fight.

The other guy seemed way to pissed at this point to just leave, as he hurled forward throwing a punch at Jungkooks shoulder. The younger boy however was faster, avoiding the punch by leaning to the right. That made the man even more furious. His face was a grimace of rage as he threw himself at Jungkook slamming the raven-haired boy into the nearest wall.

Gasping for air, Jungkook tried to push the male off him. His lungs were burning.

“Jungkook!”, Taehyung screamed.

He had been watching until that moment, too shocked by the events unfolding in front of him.

He ran forward just knowing that he had to help the younger boy, throwing any caution to the wind.

He was no fighter and he knew that, but he couldn’t bear hearing the younger boy groan in pain as the man landed a successful punch at Jungkooks stomach.

The man turned around as he heard Taehyung running up to him, temporarily letting his grip on Jungkook loosen. Jungkook however used the diversion to break free. He grabbed some boxes, lying nearby and threw them at the other man in the allay, who had started to advance onto Jungkook as well.

“What are you doing here you idiot? Leave!” Jungkook exclaimed, his eyes flickering to look at Taehyung briefly.

That little shift in Jungkooks awareness was punished directly by one of the men, as he hit him square in the face, making the boy sink to his knees clenching his yaw in pain. Taehyung tried to pull the guy of Jungkook before he could attack again. Stumbling backwards the man looked at Taehyung, surprised.

Taehyung rushed forward grabbing Jungkooks hand. He pulled the younger boy up ignoring his pained whine. Jungkook looked up at him with wide eyes. Fury and pain were battling inside them.

“Let’s run!”, Taehyung pleaded.

But before they could make one step, one of the guys was at them again this time kicking at Jungkooks hip. The black-haired boy managed to doge that attack by pressing himself back at the wall. Taehyung pushed himself in front of Jungkook trying to shield the younger with his own body.

Without being able to do anything Jungkook saw another kick coming, this time aiming at Taehyungs left knee. Taehyungs scream echoed through the night. He went down holding his knee, face a grimace of pure agony. Seeing that they landed a successful blow, the other two men rushed forward ready to help their mate finish the two boys.

Without thinking Jungkook grabbed Taehyung around his waist so that his own back was shielding Taehyungs. He groaned as he felt the fists crashing down on his back. It was so painful that he felt like he would lose consciousness soon but refused to let go of his protecting grip on Taehyung. 

“Hey! What is going on here?!” Jungkook barley heard the male voice ringing down the alley.

“Stop this at once or I will call the police!” the voice came again this time sounding with more urgency.

Jungkook noticed that the strikes had stopped. He raised his head, feeling faint.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw that the three attackers were retreating down the alley, disappearing in the darkness. He let go of Taehyung slowly. When he tried straightening up, Jungkook realized that maybe that had not been such a good idea. He felt darkness rushing on to him. The last thing he felt, where strong arms catching him before everything went pitch black.

[qrbits]

Finished the project I’ve been working on for the past month! It’s kind of a hybrid of a visdev portfolio and a self indulgent story guide. Due to tumblr’s photo limit, I only shared about half of the pages here, but if you’re interested in reading the whole thing, you can find it here. 

I have a lot to reflect upon, but the text is very long (and basically a creative biography ;;;), so I’ll put it under the cut. 

(I’m taking advantage of the fact that tumblr is supposed to be a blogging platform and actually writing a blog for once LOL)

As I said in the introduction page, Red Scherzo is a story I’ve been musing over for several years, and it’s not possible to truly understand the project without understanding its history. As most other creatives will relate, writing is Hard. Creating worlds is Hard. And even more so, creating people is Hard. 

The inkling for this story began in 2014 after I decided that I wanted to write something good. Something cool, something grand. And like most clueless 15 year olds with too much time on their hands, I began to daydream. I reasoned that the best way to make something really cool would be to list out everything that I ever wanted to see in film, in text, in anime, and to somehow mash it into one story. Here are some of the things I demanded from it: nonlinear storytelling, genius foreshadowing, heavy symbolism, characters who are the perfect balance of tragic and relatable, a powerful message, and the list goes on and on. I collected images of beautiful places and beautiful people that I wanted to write stories about and decided that I would incorporate them somehow.

As you can see, these are all very vague, ambiguous elements of storytelling. And so, with only the notion of wanting to make greatness, I began to write. I wrote and plotted and drew iteration after iteration, and I was never satisfied, because how could I be?  There was no way that I could have satisfied the guidelines I set for myself. 

A few years in, about 200,000 words of plotting and 2 or 3 Nanowrimo’s later,  I’d decided to make the story (it was not called Red Scherzo back then) a webcomic. I was starry-eyed and determined. This would be the project I worked on for the foreseeable rest of my life. I’d calculated that if I posted an update a week, it would take until my mid 30′s to complete. 

Saying that now feels so incomprehensible and hilarious. Very little planning went into how the story was going to look, and I had little to no experience storyboarding, panelling, scripting, and so much more. I jumped straight in with a script that was maybe 1/1000 complete, and let my whims drive the visual direction. I got 4 decently sized updates in until I realized I couldn’t keep doing this.

After one last Nanowrimo I did for this story in my first year of college, I decided that I needed to trash the whole thing. Just forget the entire past four years happened, and release myself. It had become a burden, trying to perfect the story, trying to make it something bigger than what I currently had the capacity for. And so I did. I closed all the Google Drive tabs, closed all the Photoshop files, and just stopped thinking about it.

It was a very strange 6 months. I hadn’t known what it was like to not have story in my head for many many years. To not have some scene playing out in my head as I went to sleep, to not see something quirky happen and think about how my characters would react, to not see a beautiful setting and want to inject my story into it. Because my head was clear now, empty and free of any sort of expectations. Of course, in this time, I tried to carefully and slowly plan other stories, and to find some sort of spark that would bring me back into the story realm. I won’t say those were all failures, but just that they need some time to brew, just like Red Scherzo did.

In those 6 empty months, I paid more attention to living. I paid attention to people, ideas, and truths that were important to me. I was struggling with academics for the first time in my life, and learning what it meant to make sacrifices and live in a fulfilling and exciting way. I reread my old old stories that I believed held some capacity of beauty and authenticity and began to illustrate them. I decided what kind of art I wanted to make and what kind of things I wanted to say with it.

And then I returned to Red Scherzo. My mistakes were glaringly obvious now. This story was written during high school, during a time where I was not challenged, not exploring, and not genuine. I used the excuse of plotting to have something to be working on, always, and to be able to show off how much work I was putting into an arbitrary project. It was written during a time when I was feeling bored and suffocated, and used the story as a lifeline to entertain myself. I had goals and things I wanted to say with my writing, but it was all artificial, because I didn’t know it felt like to live like I wanted to.  

You’ve probably grasped by now that the morale of what I’ve just written is that you need to live in order to create. (And that this blog has gotten horribly off topic).  You can’t know what kinds of characters you want to write if you don’t go out there and meet characters. You can’t know what kinds of worlds you want to build if you’ve never experienced yours. 

Okay, so trying to loop all this back around to the actual portfolio. 

Well, obviously, I’ve never been a schizophrenic rich boy living in the 1950′s who writes symphonies and chases murderers. But I think that now, I’m able to understand and respect the people that guide my stories a bit better. I’m less impatient and less worried about making something perfect, which this portfolio is definitely not.

I have a good number of gripes over how this project ended up, but I’m not going to try to add to it or fix it because I want to keep it as a marker in time. This right here is the current maximum of my creative efforts. There are many things in it that I’d never drawn, much less designed before in my life. Cars, knives, buildings, interiors. I discovered that I enjoyed drawing many of these things. I also did the entire thing in a style that I’d hardly used before, just to challenge myself. (I took a lot of inspiration from the way kenesu’s was formatted, and the style that Renareve and Sophie Li’s was done in). 

By the time I hit the midway point, I already knew that I was capable of far more than the project was offering me, but I stuck it through because I needed to finish something solid. 

I’m excited to let this project go into the wild and begin to plan what my next one will be like. There are so many styles and genres I want to try. I feel like I’ve only just discovered the tip of the iceberg of my creative potential.

If you made it, thank you for reading until the end. I hope at least some of this blog made sense or resonated with you!

[artificialqueens]

The Country Singer Ch 2 - Krista

AN: Hi again, typical me I didn’t submit correctly and left my name off the first chapter! Knew I’d get something wrong! I managed to get this one done in a lot less time than I thought so please forgive me if I’m a little slow in future! It was really nice to get some positive comments on the beginning. For someone completely new to writing it meant a lot. Again I really welcome any and all feedback and or suggestions, I have my ideas where this is going but would love to hear from other people.

So in this chapter we see things from Trixie’s point of view as well as Katya’s and it’s the day after the night before…

Trixie woke up and groaned, her brain felt like it was rolling around in her skull.

How many times Tracy! No drinking on work nights! Water. now.  Trixie rolled over and reached out to the night stand to push herself upright. She felt her phone under her fingers and picked it up to check her messages.  Oww! Damn auto brightness, how do I turn this off?!  She squinted until her eyes adjusted, she had two unread messages. 

  Pearl: 

Hey bitch, the show was amazing. You seemed to make quite the impression on Katya, she didn’t stop babbling about you all night ;P x 

Trixie smiled, Pearl had been talking about introducing her to Katya for what seemed like forever. It was fun to watch the normally sleepy and slow paced girl get excited about something. Trixie had to admit they had got on like a house on fire. They shared the same odd sense of humour and disregard for what other people thought. She loved how the Russian had got distracted by her own thoughts and spun off into wild tangents. She was sure they were going to be really good friends. 

Feeling a little more awake she replied to Pearl saying they should definitely all go out again, though maybe not on a work night. She then opened the next message, it was an unknown number.

07*********:

 Hey Legend, Icon, Star, here’s my number. Feel free to save it under whatever you see fit. :P xx

Trixie cringed, she had joked before that should she become famous she would always refer to herself using the three words. It would seem that drunk Trixie was already doing so. Katya seemed to have been amused by it though so maybe it wasn’t that bad. Now what to write back? She had to be funny, Katya had left the door wide open for that.

It should be flirty

  Trixie hesitated. Why did she want to flirt? Katya was pretty, (very pretty in fact) and she had a great personality, but Trixie was straight. 

Are you?

She’d only ever dated men. 

Look how well that went.

  And she’d never found a woman attractive.

You’ve never met a woman like Katya. 

It felt like each side of her brain has declared war on the other and Trixie couldn’t tell if it was confusion or dehydration. She stumbled to the bathroom to brush her teeth staring at the mirror in front of her.

What’s going on here Tracy? A couple of hours with this girl and she’s all you can think of? Don’t rush to reply, get dressed, go to work and reply later. 

She finished brushing her teeth and leaned over to switch on the shower. She grabbed a hair tie and pulled back her hair before stepping in. The hot water felt great on her aching muscles. Her mind flashed back to dancing last night and how much she had giggled at Katya’s moves. They had been crazy and silly but at the same time Trixie hadnt been able to tear her eyes away. She thought about Katya taking her hand and how it had sent shivers up her arm, leading her around the floor and then spinning her in close. Before Trixie could get too used to the intimacy though Katya would launch into her next crazy move. At one point Katya had jumped into the splits to show off. 

I wonder if she’s flexible in other ways…

Trixie snapped out of her trance and pulled the dial on the shower temperature round, blasting herself with the cold water. She winced at the sudden temperature drop and shut off the water. That had cleared all sexy thoughts from her mind and woke up the parts of her body that were still half asleep.  She stepped out of the shower and grabbed a fluffy pink towel off the rack on the wall. Wrapping it around herself she walked back into her bedroom and sat down at her dresser. 

Doing make up was Trixie’s favourite thing in the world. It had come easily to her and provided the means to completely reinvent herself. When she was painting her face her mind cleared and all she thought about was the precision of her eyeliner wing or blending her contour perfectly to create the illusion of a living doll. Her creativity had originally been born from a need to escape, to recreate a new persona after a difficult move to the city, but now it was just fun and relaxing.  She put the final touches on her lipstick and sat back to admire her work. 

That’s one good thing about wearing so much makeup, no one will be able to tell I’m hungover.

 Trixie mused. She let her hair down and teased her curls to bring back their volume. She strolled over to her wardrobe to grab her uniform and caught sight of her wall clock in the corner of her eye. 

Oh shit I’m going to be late! 

———————————————–

Katya was up early as usual, she didn’t really need a lot of sleep and not drinking has its advantages. She padded out of her room into the living area of her little apartment and found Violet perching on the edge of the sofa furiously texting. Her head shot up when she heard Katya come in and sighed. 

“Sorry Katya, I didn’t wake you did I?” The dark haired girl looked so fragile and exhausted. Katya couldn’t understand it, she had left to go to bed as soon as they had got in and Pearl and Violet had stayed up watching tv. By the looks of it Violet hadn’t been to bed yet.

“No, you know me I don’t sleep that much. Are you okay? No offense babe but you look like hell” Katya stared as corners of the younger girls mouth twitched upwards, the half smile not reaching her eyes. “Pearl’s not here” she replied “She went back out last night and didn’t come home”. Violet was looking around like  a lost child, her eyes darting around the room as though she expected Pearl to emerge from behind the curtains. Katya walked around the back of sofa and sat down next to her friend. “What are you not telling me Vi? Pearl goes out all the time without us. Come on, something’s got you all worked up”

A moment of indecision crossed Violets face before she sighed and looked at the floor. “After you went to bed last night, Pearl and I were just watching those stupid cartoons she likes and talking. I made a joke and we both laughed and…she leaned in and kissed me” Violet blushed a little but her worried expression didn’t change. “I was so shocked, I didn’t know how to react. I pulled away and she looked at me and just bolted. She’s my best friend Kat, I’m worried she’s going to hate me” she shifted in her seat and Katya could see her wringing her hands digging her pointed nails into the soft skin. Katya moved closer to her friend and took the girls hands in hers, prising them apart. 

“Oh doll, she would never hate you. She loves you. As you say you’re best friends, you got drunk last night and she made a move, you know Pearl she’s probably embarrassed and  worried that you’ll think differently of her so she left. When she comes back you just need to reassure her you’re okay” Katya smiled at her friend, the girls hands had relaxed a little and she was no longer gripping hers for dear life. 

Katya pulled her into a hug and Violets head rested on her shoulder. They sat like that for a few moments until Violet spoke “The thing is Kat, I think I do think of her differently.” She turned to look up at her friend. “I love Pearl as a friend but recently I think it’s turning into more than that. When she kissed me, I didn’t mean to pull back it was just a knee jerk reaction. As soon as I did I regretted it but she was gone.” Her head dropped back against Katya’s shoulder. “What am I gonna do?“ 

"I’ll tell you exactly what you’re gonna do.” Katya sat up and turned to look at her friend. “You’re gonna go to bed because you need to rest. Then, by the time you wake up Pearl will probably be back and you two are going to talk and you will tell her how you feel. I know you two tease me about my crazy imagination but one of you has already proved me right that there’s something between you.” She looked at Violet knowingly and this time received a genuine smile. “Come on” she pulled Violet up and marched her to her room “Sleep. Now. I’ll put some coffee on for when you wake up” she closed Violets door and and sighed. Pulling out her phone she started typing furiously.

Katya:

 Where. The. Hell. ARE YOU?!?!?!?!

——————————————————-

Trixie’s shift had gone better than expected. It had been quiet so she’d got to spend longer with the few clients who did come in. She’d spent ages showing one girl how to create a fawn inspired look for a fancy dress party and when she was done the girl had almost jumped off the chair in excitement. She had gushed about how amazing Trixie was and how she could never have done this on her own. Trixie’s heart had swelled with pride and she ignored her workmate Kim giggling behind her. After the girl left Trixie shoved Kim playfully. 

“Careful Trix, your hair’s so big you can’t afford for your head to get any bigger! I’m kidding, that look was super cute” the Asian girl smiled “You know your shift ended about 20 minutes ago?" 

Trixie sighed "Thank god, I’ve been nursing a hangover all day” she leaned against the counter. Kim laughed “Go on get yourself away, don’t worry about clearing up, leave it to me.” The blonde didn’t need telling twice and she skipped towards the exit, thanking Kim over her shoulder as she left. She grabbed her bag and rummaged around for her car keys as she walked towards her car. It wasn’t until she found them and looked up that she noticed a figure standing next to her little car smoking a cigarette. They put the cigarette on the floor and then stepped towards Trixie. 

“Thank God, I was starting to second guess that j was at the right car, although i don’t know anyone else with a hot pink beetle.” It was Pearl, still in her outfit from the night before. She smiled a little but it was a half smile and to Trixie she looked like she was barely holding herself together. “Pearl? What are you doing here? Have you even been home?” A million questions were running through her head but she restricted herself to those three. “It’s a long story. I didn’t know who else to go to…I just couldn’t go home right now. Can I come to yours for a bit?” The girl looked so fragile and un-Pearllike that Trixie didn’t respond. She just walked over to her friend gave her a quick hug and opened the passenger door for her.  The drive​ to Trixie’s passed in silence and when they arrived Trixie went to her room and grabbed some clean clothes for Pearl to change into. “Here put these on and give me your clothes. You’ll look like a Barbie until your stuff is clean but it’s better than a cowgirl who’s been dragged backwards through a hayloft.” This earned Trixie a small smile as the shorter blonde took the clothes and headed for the bathroom. 

Trixie grabbed her phone and scrolled her messages to the unknown number. 

Trixie: Legend, Icon, Star:

 Hey Katya it’s Trixie, Pearl turned up at work so I’ve brought her back to mine. Guessing she hasn’t told anyone. I don’t know what’s happened but she’s here and she’s safe. Xx

Not quite the reply I was planning

Trixie could hear the shower running and knew Pearl would be a while so she set about fixing some snacks. She was in the middle of pouring hot chocolate into two mugs when her friend re-emerged, looking like Barbie’s kid sister. She offered a weak smile as she accepted the cup Trixie was offering and leaned against the counter.  “So come on Pearlie, what​ happened? You were having such a good time last night, you seemed fine in that text you sent?” Trixie squeezed her friend​s arm lightly and took a sip of her own drink. She could see the girl’s mind whirring as she tried to assemble her thoughts cohesively. Pearl let out a sigh and started to talk. 

[shadowedtalks]

Medieval Times Part 6

He smiled to himself at the look in her body language after he had left. "The reaction tells it all." he mused Quietly. The same look and feeling he had as a child when the captain found him. It made him nearly tear up as he realized how much the captain actually rescued him from what could have been. Should he have lived he had no doubts that he might have turned out just like the Fox or perhaps even a bandit leader or camp member.

The typical morning for her lord fallowed the dawns arrival. Hearing she would be needed for another call that evening before she was dismissed of the afternoon, she went to find him. With a call for this evening there was something she had to return beforehand. She stood there at a door knowing he was on the other side with some others, taking a breath she moved opening the door looking at those from the evening shift settling in for bed, relaxing and just otherwise hanging out. She scanned them all quickly spotting him among the crowd as slowly she stepped forward soft murmurs about her presences was about the room but most didn't care of her being there. Once she got to him, she lightly tapped his shoulder for his attention.

Kaiser, having had his mind elsewhere, jumped at the sudden tap and he reacted by standing at attention until he saw who it was letting out a deep breath of relief. "By the gods you scared me. Do you need assistance?"

She shook her head no then moved pulling a cloth out to hand it back to him it fell away to show the food he had given her several hours prior. Moving she put it in his hands not allowing him to reject her action and then put her other hand on his shoulder. 'I can't take your food. Thank you however.' She hoped she was able to communicate that with her gentle touch an head nod, then let her palms drop from him back to her sides and moved to turn around and leave the room. She would find a place to rest alone perhaps before tonight. She had come to the decision that no matter how hungry she was she couldn't take food from another. Even if it was given or offered to be shared. She would get her own, earn it, hunt it if she must. She just couldn't make herself to take someone else’s. He would need it more then she anyway. That much she knew; here she couldn't fight or do anything. He however was burning way more energy in a night then she was in the 5 days she had been there for already.

He looked down at the food he had given to her being returned to him. He took it back but He was confused to say the least. ‘Clearly she doesn't eat enough. Yet she refuses food.’ He thought to himself. He figured he couldn't change her mind and he couldn't leave here to go find her until his shift was up to start. Though he made a mental note which direction she went, figuring her would find her during the changeover. “Pride can be your undoing.” He whispered towards her though she was long gone by now’

It was her own feelings of feeling like she was taking what wasn't hers to have. An unyielding compassion she had for others having been born from her past. She couldn't let him go hungry because he felt bad for her. She could shoulder it just fine, just as she has for a while now she couldn't bare someone else attempting such a thing either.

She wandered aimlessly for a while she did however find herself something to eat. It wasn't special a cinnamon mini loaf that was being sold to staff and guests. She slipped in the crowd bought a part for herself and slipped away again. Finding her way back to that large oak tree, this tree easily becoming her chosen staple of a time to just get away even with in her confines an area of peace. She climbed its branches ate quickly her bread and soon found herself comfortable enough to doze off the sun warming the air around her in the shade. Letting one of her legs dangles as she slept peacefully this time. She didn't have too long before she would have to be up again but for now it mattered not.

The evening came to quick for her liking an she awoke as the sun began to fall. She escorted her lord back to his chambers after supper was hosted. Staying at his request. Biting her lip in silence as her night began miserably. Then left once he was done with her. She couldn’t post out in his room like normal she needed to step away this time.

She wandered seemingly in a daze as she swayed just slightly as she walked her head swimming round and round with her thoughts till she was stopped by a pail blue light appearing in her path before her face. Its calming light clearing her mind an her daze for this moment.

Holding her hand up the will of the wisp landed and absorbed into her palm. Delivering its message too her from the master Fay of the forest. He granted her request and will meet the sprite at the forest edge to return her home. On the condition that she too appears before him to receive judgment on her request. It was an easy enough of a request she just had to make sure she couldn't be spotted as she got over the walls this time. An she knew exactly how to accomplish this.

She had a small window of time till the meeting. She got her head somewhat together and hurried off to the young sprite. Getting too her, she relayed the good news as the sprite jumped for joy running to cardinal and nuzzling into her chest for a moment looking up too her.

Cardinal spoke softly to the sprite and wrapped her in her cloak as they melted away into the shadows as the bright nearly full moon was blocked by cloud's an when the light returned both cardinal and the sprite were gone having vanished all together.

Over the wall facing the forest to the east cardinal’s form slinked in quickly to the tree line no more than a soft white glowing streak across the gap into the tree line vanishing again from eye sight in the seconds it took to blink once.

There under the safety of the tree’s cardinal set the young sprite down who now had taken the form of a Kit so cardinal could carry it safely. Once the sprite was down on the ground another figure appeared from the greenery the thick wall seeming to part from him as he glided along. She remained bowed as the sprite returned to its normal form and rushed over to the master fay at his beckoning seeming to vanish into his glow.

"Ah.... The stolen child. Retuned safe without so much as a scratch and a new shifting form taught to them for a low profile. I heard many tales about you. You do well to live up to your name in the forests. I have also heard an see What those nasty humans do to you as well. And lastly what you do to protect those from forests much like this." he spoke as she kept low to the ground with her head bowed.

"You have strange gifts... some taught from those you helped, most natural from your birth… But you are chained by humans. Your light suffocated. Your true goal of messenger to Inari Lost at your accidental abandonment... so your full power is muffled and lost to your ability of use… You suffer so much at the hands of another, so sickening, tainted by those un worthy of your light. Humans grasp, claw, starve, beat and use your body for their own greed. They don't deserve you.... You belong to the forest. I know you know but your chains hold you in place. Makes judgment sad on you... Because even in your home you know you’re not worthy to gaze at me when it should be I." he rambled on she could feel his presence circling her round and around.

"You’re a disgusting creature right now... But gain your freedom an I know you will glow beautiful. As many like you do every full moon at your calling." he moved kneeling before her small form as his hand lightly ran over her head brushing her ears and fur back with his movement.

"Dearest silver fox. Your heart is pure, I’ll see the sprite home myself. Kill your chains when you’re ready then come home child, the forest is your home." then the master fay vanished all together his warmth from his hand lingering on her for a good while.

She held her spot for a few minutes longer then finally looked up and started a small trot back to the walls of the castle. She has heard the judgment many times, some days they asked her to forgo her chains and leave with them at that moment, then there are others that tell her to come back when they are dead and gone. Both are always so tempting but she wouldn't right now she wasn't strong enough. Jumping onto the wall with ease once she was close to it once again, it’s grand size much larger now. In this form she was so light so free and agile a jump like this was nothing, like she was flying as she soared up to land gently with no noise. But she was so small too but she felt so incredibly powerful like this. She walked along the wall for a moment absorbing the glow of the moon. As her silver fur gave off an almost incandescent and Translucent glow. Looking along the wall she spotted that familiar face. 'Kaiser' she thought with a head tilt as her bright green eyes locked with his as she jumped down from the wall vanishing into the shadows. Gone just like an illusion of the light.