#“Your pronouns are he/him which means you're a husband!” made it sound like he/him pronouns are something objective i have to conform to

[springespronge]

???

Assigned male by tiktok user

[not-a-space-alien]

Magnanimous Moonrise Chapter 20M

In this chapter: Valen discovers he and the humans have more in common than he thought

Warnings: Discussion of disordered eating and self-harm/cutting

Thank you for waiting so patiently for chapter 20!! btw I know the dual chapter format doesn't work super well for dialogue-heavy chapters, so I'll probably try something different the first time I get to a chapter where I think having two perspectives doesn't benefit the narrative.

Story masterpost

Complementary chapter

***

Valen was able to quell his mounting anxiety for a little while by resting in the coffin, with the door locked.  Cozy and safe in the dark.  Lex and Ari made indistinct sounds in passing outside, whispering, thinking him sleeping.

They gave a soft knock to rouse him, asking him to come out and permission to lift him bodily onto the couch, which he granted.  They arranged him in the mountain of pillows, throwing a blanket out over his legs.  Lex crooned over him and made sure he was as cozy as possible. 

It felt…a little infantilizing, but he would take whatever comfort and softness was offered to him at this point.  Maybe he could be a creature with dignity again sometime later in life.

The two other hunters came soon enough. Ari opened the door.  One of the male hunters said something boisterously, which he couldn’t make any sense of, but which seemed to be a joke because the other humans all laughed at it.

Valen could tell Ari was unamused even just by looking at the back of her head.  "You think you're so funny. You're gonna need Jesus to save you if you don't knock that shit off."

The larger one came in first.  Bailey, he remembered.  “You're right. We're actually here to deliver a pizza. You want an XL or medium?" The smaller one, Jerome, came in just in time for Bailey to hook his arms around his shoulders.

"What is this, dinner and a show?"  Ari shut the door.

"Nah, we’re not doing standup.  The show is what this is for.”  Bailey gestured to a large instrument case strapped to his back, which Valen realized must be a guitar.

"You think you're so goddamn funny."  Ari seemed to know her job was to play the irritated straight shooter, otherwise their antics would just be annoying rather than endearing.

"You know you love us."

"Only because nobody else will."

Bailey grinned widely, then turned towards Valen.  "And there's the man of the hour! You're gonna eat like a king tonight."

Valen pressed himself fearfully into the back of the couch. The hunter’s tone was light, but all of a sudden, all Valen could picture was earlier when Bailey had been looking at him through the sight of a rifle.

"It is man, right?  Jerome insisted it was man.”

“You were all juiced up on T when you got here,” Jerome added.  “So I assumed.  Sorry you haven’t been able to get your juice while you’ve been here.  It’s clearly worn off by now.”

Why are you worrying about getting my pronouns right?  Why is that what everyone’s focused on?  He knew they were probably just trying to be respectful and make him feel better, but it did little to put him at ease.

Lex had done that, insist that Nick use the correct pronouns while torturing him.  As though Lex thought torture was okay as long as she wasn’t also being transphobic.  Like his gender was more important than his basic rights.

“S-sir, with all due respect, I appre-appreciate the apology, but I worry more about having my personal structural integrity respected than my gender identity.”

The four humans all looked at each other awkwardly.

“Right…” Jerome said.  “Listen.  I know an I’m sorry isn’t gonna do jack shit for something like….this.  But we really do mean it.  We’re sorry.  That’s why we’re here to try and make up for it, even if it’s just a little bit.”

No, no, no, he couldn’t handle this.  It was as if experiencing kindness from these four was just throwing it into relief how universally hated he was by everyone else.  All his friends had left him, his husband and family were a menace, and now the humans, the ones he’d been trying to help, treated him like this.

Valen burst into tears.  “You left me there, you just left me there, all of you.  You just watched.  And you’re the kind ones.  What hope do I have, on either side of the border?”

Lex came over and wrapped her arms around him.  “Shh, shh, you’re okay,” she soothed.

He tried to scoot back to put some distance between himself and Lex, choking back a sob.  “I’m not okay!  I’m very much not!  I’m a starved and injured vampire in a room with four vampire hunters, who helped someone torture me!  I would say this is as far from okay as one can be!”

Lex withdrew, looking hurt.  Ari took her elbow and pulled her away.  “Give him some space, Alex.”

Jerome sat down on the edge of the bed.  Valen clutched the blanket to himself, tears streaming down his face.  “I get it,” Jerome said.  “We suck.  I know we suck.  I’m sorry we suck.  Please let us try and suck a bit less by helping you.”

Valen loosened his death grip on the blanket.

“You’re safe,” Lex said.  “I promise you’re safe now.”

“We realized how fucked up it was, what we did,” Ari said.  “And now we’re trying to fix it.  That’s it.”

“Okay,” Valen said, voice wobbly.  “Thank you.”

“Do you want us to just feed you and leave?” Jerome said.  “We were gonna, um, kind of hang out, but…well, if it’s just gonna make you feel worse, we don’t have to hang around.”

Valen tried to control his breathing.  He was trying so hard to just listen, but they were four vampire hunters.  “You can go about your business.  I won’t–I don’t mind.  I’ll stay out of the way.  You won’t even know I’m here.”

“Er,” said Jerome, awkwardly fiddling with one of his locs.  “No, I mean, we were going to hang out here, with you, to try and make you feel better.”

Got it.

She’s fucking rabid.

I told you it hurts them.

Put her in the trunk.

Fuck, tie it up first.

Settle down!

Valen curled in on himself, ears involuntarily pinned to his head, lip wobbling.  “I–I–I–”

“It’s okay,” Bailey said, sitting down and putting an arm around Valen.  “Breathe, babydoll.  It’s okay.”

I’m sorry we suck.  Please let us try and suck a bit less.

Valen broke down into tears.  “Why did you think it would be okay to do that to me even if I wasn’t innocent? Why do you think anyone deserves that?  I was in there for six months, locked in the coffin except to be taken out and tortured, and you didn’t even give me a chance, you kidnapped me and tortured me, you didn’t even let me talk, and–and–”  His protest dissolved into wretched sobs.  “Why do you think it’s okay to do that to any living creature?  You’re monsters.”

Bailey eased back, face dark.  The humans all looked at each other awkwardly as Valen continued to bawl.  

Jerome patted the blanket. “Listen…” he said.  “Like I said, saying sorry can only go so far.  Trying to make it up to you can only go so far.  I’m not saying it’s right, or we should have let it happen.  But maybe you’ll be less freaked out if you understand.  Most of us have lost family members to vampires.  We know what happens to them.  They just get taken and snatched up out of nowhere, thrown into the meat grinder.  It’s happened to us, and it can happen again, to anyone we care about, at any time.  I don’t know if you’ve ever been through something like that, but it….does things to you.  Makes you numb.  Makes you care less about things you’d normally care about.  Makes you think someone on the other side should have a turn suffering.  Makes you think maybe you should just let the unthinkable happen if it means it can stop the flow of blood.”

“It’s fucked,” Bailey says, tears welling in his eyes.  “The whole thing is just fucked.  Valen, man, please, you gotta understand.  The only vampires we ever meet are the ones who cross the border, and they're usually the worst of the worst.  We never met anyone like you before.  We’re on edge all the time, knowing every night someone wants to kidnap or kill us.  Obviously I’m not saying it was right, but surely you gotta understand at least a little bit, right?  We’re not total monsters, I promise we aren’t.”

“You know what vampires are capable of,” Ari added.  “You know how they can be dangerous.  But you don’t feel it like we do.  You’ve never been a prey animal.”

Valen had felt like a prey animal more than he cared to admit, more than he could describe.  But they were right, to an extent…

Valen squeezed his eyes shut and took in deep breaths, trying to calm himself.  “Yes,” he said carefully.  “I understand, in theory, the reasons behind your actions.”

“I’m sorry it took us so long to realize,” Lex said.  “I’m sorry.  I’m sorry we just ignored the way you were suffering.”

Valen thought about the humans at his previous home, the ones the other nobles fed on, and how he’d refused to feed on them, and then did nothing else to help them.  He had even less justification.  He hadn’t done that out of mortal peril and desperation like they did.  It’d been out of inertia and apathy and lack of initiative.  Out of fear of change and radical action.

He’d thought to himself, If I free those humans, they’ll just go get more, so it wouldn’t do anything.  And he’d been right, in a way, in that the problem was systemic and not on an individual level.  But…he’d refused to feed on them out of squeamishness, and then walked past them every day and didn’t help, the same way these humans had done to him.  He understood the reasoning far better than he wanted to admit.

“Okay,” he said, his rabbit-quick heartbeat finally slowing down.  “I understand why you did it.  I do.  It’s just difficult to feel safe.”

“We’ve learned our lesson,” Lex said.  “We’re not gonna let something like that happen again, to you or to anyone.”

Valen nodded.  “Thank you.  Thank you, ma’am.”

“There, see?  Everything’s okay.”  Bailey slung his guitar around and started to pluck a few strings.  “Now, time for dinner and a show!”

Valen couldn’t help but smile.  Bailey and Jerome were just so….goofy.  It felt weird.  Like as though he hadn’t expected the vampire hunters to have any personality beyond wanting to hurt him.  “Excellent,” he said timidly.  “I’ll be sure to spread the word about the excellent service at your establishment, haha!”

“Oh he’s funny,” Jerome said.

“Yeah, yeah, he’s funny, but he’s also fucking hungry I bet.  Time to chow down, big guy.”  Bailey rolled his sleeve up.  “Ari said the arm is an option, yeah?”

“Um…” Valen shrank back.  “I can’t bite–You–you pulled my fangs out.”

Bailey blinked.  “Ah.  Shit.  We did.”

Ari wordlessly handed over her knife.  

“Right…” Bailey said.  He took the knife unhappily.  Jerome looked like someone had threatened to stab him, and took a step back without a word.  Valen looked at him apprehensively.

“All right, here I go,” Bailey said, looking queasy.  He positioned the knife over his arm, in the spot where it seemed safest.  He took in a pained, hissing breath as he made a cut with the knife.

“Jesus, you big baby,” Ari said.

“Ey, ey, some of us don’t see blood once a month, ya know.  Only when something’s the matter.”  He sat on the edge of the bed and held his bleeding arm out to Valen.  “Eat up.”

“Thank you, sir,” Valen said politely, and bobbed his head in a bow.  He leaned forward and took Bailey’s arm delicately, drinking in small, dainty sips.

“There ya go,” Bailey said, ruffling Valen’s hair.  “Bet that feels better.”

Valen finished his drink, swiping his tongue over the wound to close it, then bringing his head back up, licking his lips.  “It does.  Thank you, sir.”

Jerome was still cowering against the wall.  “You don’t have to if you don’t want to,” Ari said.  “The two of us are plenty.”

“Is everything okay?” Lex said.  “Like, something up?”

“Um.”  Jerome swallowed and drew forwards, wringing his hands.  “No, I–I want to help.  I want to help him get better.  I do.  I just…”

“Is getting fed from too much, even if it’s from an open cut?” Lex said.  “Blood loss affect you?”

“Um...”  Jerome nervously shook his head.  “I, no, that’s not it.  I-”

Valen panicked a bit, guilt and fear flooding him, as he saw the internal struggle about whether or not to feed him.  “Don’t feel obligated, sir, it’s quite all right.  I’ve had more than enough for today.”  Two feedings was definitely enough to stave off the hunger–if he wanted to get back to a healthy weight, he’d definitely get better faster with more, but this had saved him from the hunger at least.  But what was the issue?  Was Jerome afraid of him?  That wasn’t good, at all.  It’d seemed like things were going well, but now he started to spiral into anxiety again.

“I want to,” Jerome said, sounding like he was about to cry.  “I do, I’m sorry.  I just can’t, man.  I’m sorry.”

Bailey squeezed his shoulder.  “You don’t have to tell them, J-man.”

“No, I…Okay, yeah, I want to.”  Jerome sighed.  He rolled up the sleeve of his hoodie, revealing a series of scars striped up his forearm.  They looked old, but they were easy to see because they were raised and bumpy, and darker in color than his already-dark skin.  “I just, um…I just got some baggage about cutting myself,” he said, swallowing thickly.  

Lex and Ari both looked sorrowful.  “Oh,” Lex said softly.  “Of course.  Don’t worry about it.  Whatever you can handle.  It’s fine if you can’t.”

Valen was horrified by the reveal of this injury, but….the humans all seemed to know what this meant, and Valen….didn’t know what could have caused an injury like that.  His imagination ran wild trying to guess.  Had Jerome been forced to cut himself to feed vampires before?

“I would never force you, sir,” Valen says.  “I promise.  I don’t know….why, or who would make you do that, but…”

The humans all looked at him like he’d grown a second head.  He shrunk back fearfully.  “I’m sorry, I’m sorry if that was rude, sir, I am–I just don’t understand, I-”

Jerome laughed, his thick voice breaking up the tension in the air.  “Of course.  Oh my God.  Vampires don’t scar, so of course you wouldn’t know.  I can’t imagine they self-harm either.”  He ran his fingers over his forearm.  “I…did this myself.  When I was younger.”

“What?  Why?” Valen blurted out before he could stop himself.  He was horrified by this idea.

“It’s hard to describe,” Jerome said.  “I was…in a lot of emotional pain.  It felt like…I didn’t deserve to not be in pain, in a way, that I deserved it.  Or maybe it was easier to have a bigger problem.  A cut on the arm is easier to treat than feeling like shit, you know?  You probably wouldn’t get it, but it made sense to my brain at the time.”

Never in a million years would Valen have guessed a human would feel like that.  He’d had thoughts like that before, but they’d been driven by guilt, and disgust at himself.  He’d never cut himself, but he’d starved himself often enough.  But he did that because he needed to hurt others to feed, why would a human hate themselves enough for that?  Why could they possibly feel guilty about existing like Valen did?

Maybe he shouldn’t say this.  Maybe when he tells them about he’d sometimes gone days without eating because of the shame and self-loathing, only eating when the hunger pains became too much to bear, maybe they’ll say he should have done that, because he’s a monster and hurts others when he takes care of himself.

“I…do get it,” Valen says bravely.  “More than I care to admit.  I…often starved myself for similar reasons.  I felt too guilty to eat.  Too guilty for existing.  I never cut myself, but I often had self-inflicted pain.  It was….stupid.”

Jerome let out a slightly choked murmur of pity, putting a hand on Valen’s shoulder.  “It wasn’t stupid, man, neither of us were.  I mean, heck, for you, it at least made sense, right?  Because you felt guilty for drinking people’s blood, yeah?  That’s only natural.”

“No, I…I still did that to myself even when I started drinking the imported blood.”

They all blinked at him.  Oh, they…they didn’t know about the imported blood?  But of course, how would they know?

“There are specialty shops on the other side of the border who import blood from overseas,” he explained.  “Where there’s infrastructure for collecting it from paid volunteers.  Places where things are kinder.”

“That’s awesome!” Lex said.  “Holy shit!”

Valen nodded.  “Yes.  So I shouldn’t have felt guilty for eating then, but…  It still lingered.”  He looked up at Jerome.  “I wouldn’t have thought humans would have any reason to feel that way.  You’re innocent.”

Jerome gave him a sad smile.  “It’s so much more complicated than that, man.  We got…things to cope with even though we don’t have to drink blood, ya know?  I dunno if you want me to dump all this on you, but my…  I was depressed as fuck growing up.  It’s easy to fall into when things seem so hopeless.  It’s so hard to stay outta jail, when it feels like they’re trying to get you in there. And my… the first time doing it was when…”

He put his head in his hands, starting to cry. Bailey sat down and put his arms around him.  “It’s okay.  You’re all right.”

“When my Daddy found out I was gay,” Jerome choked out.  “And I told him I was worried about–about catching GRID, or whatever that-that gay flu going around is, that people are dying from and he said- he said maybe it would be better if I did.”  He broke down into full-blown sobs.

Lex and Ari came over and added themselves to the comforting hug as Jerome cried.  Valen stared at him with misty eyes, absolutely blown away.  For some reason, he hadn’t imagined humans to be capable of such cruelty.  At first, to anyone–he wouldn’t have guessed they could be so cruel to him, a vampire, but to say such a thing to another human?

Why? 

His worldview had started to crumble in his hands.  He’d mostly been picturing humans living picturesque, ideal lives ruined only by the monstrous actions of vampires.  How had he been so narcissistic to think the world revolved around him and his crimes like that?  Why hadn’t he thought that humans were fully-realized individuals who could invent their own bigotry against other humans?

“I’m…sorry, sir,” Valen said.  “That’s unbelievably cruel.  I’m sorry that happened to you.”

Jerome sniffed and looked up at him, wiping his eyes.  “Yeah,” he said, voice wobbly.  “But hey, I don’t have to care about what he thinks anymore.  Fuck him, haha.  I got everyone I need right here.”

“Yeah, man, yeah you do.”

Jerome disentangled himself from the hug.  “Well–Well I don’t care that my blood ain’t good enough for the Red Cross–it’s good enough for you, and you know blood better than they do.  Come on, let’s figure out some way to make this work, huh?”

The group tossed ideas around, and hemmed and hmmed for a while, before Jerome eventually agreed that it would be okay to make two pinpricks, like a bite, rather than a cut.  It took a lot longer to get the blood out, but Jerome didn’t mind, and good-naturedly played with Valen’s hair while he did so, which was soothing.

Valen was overfull by the time he was done.  He was starting to get a bit afraid that he’d throw up again.  “Thank you, sir.  I feel much better now.”

“Well, we ain’t done yet!”  Bailey jovially picked up his guitar.  “Get ready!”

“R-ready for what?” Valen stammered.

“He’s gonna play you a song,” Lex said.

“It’s supposed to make you feel better,” Jerome said.  “If you’d rather not, we don't have to.”

Valen drew the covers further up himself.  “That-that sounds nice.  That could be nice.  Thank you.”

“Right,” Bailey said.  His fingers started working at the guitar strings, plucking out a jaunty tune.  “Now I’m good on the guitar here, and Jerome’s got the golden pipes, so I’m gonna let him lead, and I’ll be the backup singer.”

Jerome reached into his bag and pulled out a tambourine, shaking it.  “And you ladies might know the words to this song, so feel free to sing along.”  This with a wink at Valen, which caused him to slide down into the couch.

Jerome started singing.

Oh it happened one night when the moon was bright

And full, but not as full as my heart.

Lex and Ari instantly recognized the song and joined in, smiling widely and laughing.  Apparently this song is….very funny, but Valen had never heard it.

When I saw her, I knew she could tear me apart

She was pale and dead and covered in blood but hey

Nobody’s perfect

And she paralyzed me with a glance

No persuasion needed

And no sooner had my lips touched hers 

Than all the blood had left my body

But it was worth it in the end as the feeling fled my limbs

Valen went beet red, realizing suddenly that the song was about a human man taking a vampire lover and getting killed for it.  It was undeniably a sad story, but…it was so chipper.  Was this supposed to be a joke?

Bailey knelt down next to Valen, gesturing to him grandly during a particularly intense verse.

Oh you’re so big and bad it’s true

But that’s what I like about you

Jerome knelt on his other side, shaking the tambourine.  

It’s true that you could snap me in half 

But baby, maybe I’m into that.

Valen tossed the covers over his head, mortified. 

And if this ends with me getting all my stuff sucked out, Well,

That’s sort of what I was hoping for

There was silence for a moment, no one singing, the guitar twanging.  He cautiously raised his head and peeked over the blanket, only to find that everyone was looking at him and pointing.

“I’m sorry,” he stuttered.  “I don’t know the words.”

“Oh, this part is just a big growl,” Bailey said.

Valen’s eyes bounced around the room.

“Go on,” Jerome said.  “Give us your scariest growl.”

Valen nervously clutched the blanket, scanning them all one last time to make sure it was really okay before letting out a tiny, strangulated noise.

They all knew Valen had a better growl in him.  Hell, they’d heard him give better growls, in the basement.  But he was afraid to go too hard, to seem too threatening.  Nobody pushed it.  They gave a cheer.

Valen’s spirits soared.  He’d participated, and they were all cheering for him.  He knew it was supposed to be a silly song, clearly it was supposed to be a silly song, but….  It made him feel better.  Less alone.  Less different from the humans, to know that he wasn’t the only one who’d had lofty ideas about love between humans and vampires, to think about a world where a human would walk up to a vampire and kiss her.

His eyes shifted over to Lex and Ari.  He couldn’t decide how he felt about them.  But he was definitely feeling something.

***

Tag list <3

@aceouttatime

@annablogsposts

@cc1010foxy

@darlingwhump

@emcscared-whumps

@nicolepascaline

@oddsconvert

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@whuarri

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@whumpycries

@whumpsday

@zillastar13

[zozo-01]

Welcome to 'Projecting Parts of Me onto Darlin' and Starlight'!!!! Buckle up Bitches, This is Gonna be a Wild Ass Ride <3 (Part One)

Hi! Hello! I have been threatened by @yetdevout to write down all of my Desi Darlin' and Starlight hcs and you know what? Imma do it. As I am writing this, this is getting reallyyyy long, so I'm gonna split this up into two <3. This willll be featuring both listeners being females, so if that's something you're not cool with, this is your warning!

[hehe, lets play a game and we'll call it 'which hcs are things that Zo doooo]

So we're gonna start with my darlin' Darlin'. (She doesn't have a name but shhhhhhh)

I have made it very clear that my Darlin' is from Toronto, and if anyone knows about Toronto, it has a diverse group of people within the South Asian diaspora.

Meaning that she picked up a little bit of every language, from bangla, punjabi, gujrathi, sindhi etc etc

It's not enough to speak fluently, but enough to get by with understanding the main points of what people are saying.

Her mother language is Urdu, but she's also fluent in hindi. (because they are the same language with different words and ahhhhhhh)

She gets her pronouns mixed up though. (ie, referring to masc items with fem pronouns)(Her family giver her shit, but she's trying T-T)

People who call urdu a "language impossible to make sound mean" pisssss her offfff. She'll glady be the proof to prove them wrong.

And she's inable to read Urdu because she learned how to read arabic instead. *sighhhh* Please don't ask.

--

Adoresss fucking with people.

It's not just Sam though, she's fucked with the entire pack.

Marie had to be the one who stopped her.

Poor Gabe and Asher were manipulated soooo much like this.

David doesn't even let her speak in Urdu around him because he's convinced that she's lying to him, which like fair.

(Doesn't help that the last time they spoke before she went to Washington, David asked if she'll be fine and she responded with 'I'll be fine' in urdu

It's just that Sam is her favourite target at the moment.

She'll tell the poor vampire the wrong meaning of certain words.

"Tum to meri chaan hai." "Hm? You say something, Darlin'?" "Just that you're a fucking bastard." (She literally called him her moon.)

"Paghal!" "What was that?" "I love you <3" (in her defence, she called him an idiot out of love)

Sam can never trust Darlin' on her word, so he goes to Milo (who is also desi because I said so <3) to decipher what Darlin's saying.

"Pffft- ya do realize that she's been messin' with ya since the beginnin'???"

Darlin' beats Milo up for ruining her fun. :(

--

Speaking of Milo, him and Darlin' were best friends growing up!!

Darlin' was always over at the Greer house and Marie loves her.

She truly believes that Darlin' was the daughter she never got.

Marie became Darlin's connection back home.

She'd cook her alllll of her favourite dishes (briyani, pulao, kalegi etc), order her lenghas, ghararas, shararas, tell her stories from back home and so on and so forth.

Most of Darlin's jewelry either is jewelry she inherited from her mother's family or gift from Marie.

Marie's the aunty who you can truly vent to and she'll give good advice and keep it a secret.

She admires the shit out of Marie for leaving her husband because she felt unhappy 'cus that shits unheard of!

--

Which begs the question, why didn't Darlin' tell Marie about Quinn?

There is a culture of 'taking it' in many South Asian communities. You can't complain about anything, lest it makes you seem weak.

And with Darlin's father... oh you better believe Darlin' kept quiet about any pain they were in.

A habit that unfortunately followed them to this day.

Another reason is because she doesn't wanna mess up her mom's reputation.

Despite her wild and rebellious nature, she is obedient to a degree because she cares for her mom's reputation. Absolutely kills her though because her actions shouldn't reflect her mother, but she rather shut up and let Quinn drain her then 'ruin' her mom's life.

--

Apologies for it getting dark, but I did say that it was 'Projecting Parts of Me onto Darlin'.'

But anywho back to the happier things, LUDO!!!!

For those who don't know, Ludo is a board game that is common in a lot of desi households. It's our version of Monopoly and shit. Gets. Intense.

Darlin's the Queennnn of Ludo in her family. She beat her nani, that's enough of a coronation for her.

Like imagine Vincent, Lovely, Sam and Darlin' playing Ludo for a game nightttt.

Vincent (who is also also desi because I said so <3) and Darlin' are screaming at each other because Vincent 'killed' one of Darlin's pieces. At one point, they both started screaming in urdu.

Sam and Lovely decided to grab popcorn and watched the shit show go down.

--

Despite her hatred of formal settings, Darlin' really does like to dress up.

Like she'll do her make up and put on a gharara and run through the woods (Sam's backyard).

He adores watching them dress up because it's one of the few moments where Darlin' will talk about her life prior to coming to Dahlia.

"This chudiyan set was from my great-grandmother and was one of the few things she kept with her during the partition."

Her favourite piece of jewelry is her mother's wedding day tikkah because she vows to wear it on her wedding day and have a better marriage than her parents did.

Poor girl just wants to be a bollywood heroine but she's got shit to deal withhhh.

--

Speaking of bollywood movies, she freaking adores them!!

From classics to modern day, she'll eat that shit up!

Doesn't watches movie with subtitles because she doesn't have the need to.

Her favourite is 'Chak De India.' (Its reallyyyy good and I am telling you to go watch itttt)

She changes this habit once Sam comes into her life.

Sings alongs to all of the songs and has the prettiest voice when she does it.

Explains some of the cultural significance behind some of the movies actions to Sam.

"There's just... this expectation to listen to your parents. And if you don't, they'll lash out. That doesn't make then bad people, it just... I don't know how to explain it." "Culture varies from place to place, darlin'. I get that."

Bollywood movies are how Sam tries to learn urdu so he can impress her. (Yes I know hindi and urdu are two different languages but shhhhhhh)

--

Food preferences!!!

Loves anything with rice. Briyani, pulao, white rice, it does not matter, she'll eat it.

Not really the biggest fan of any kind of roti, paratha or naan, but she'll stomach if she must.

Does not like chai at alllll. Visibly gags at the taste. (Yes I know, disgrace to all brown people, but she cannotttt be bothered to care.)

Also the food has to be spicy, no exceptions.

She once spit out food at a restaurant because it was too bland.

Adoressss mangos. But like, she's really picky with them. They haveeee to be from south asia or else she doesn't want them.

Sam has taken upon himself to order mango seeds to plant in their garden <3.

As for drinks, adoresss lassi! But she has to make her own separately in a glass cuz she adds extra salt in hers.

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See this tik tok???? Darlin' has sent it to everyone she's had an argument with.

Here are their reactions:

David: Tank you can't use a tiktok to win a damn argument.

Asher: Sigh, Tank no-

Sam: Maturing is also realizing that help is ok and that you need to take care of yourself.

Milo: LISTEN HERE YOU BITCH-

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some miscellaneous things

Darlin' once pushed Sam away from her because she thought an auntie she knew was approaching.

Milo has 'Desi Girl' as his ringtone for Darlin' and once Sam learned the meaning behind the lyrics, he made it his ringtone too.

Darlin' exudes 'technically an only child, bur has relatives who treat her like a younger sister' vibes. [This is a specific role that I can't explain but it makes sense.]

Considers men who are called 'mama's boys' a red flag. [BECAUSE THEY FUCKING ARE (in brown communities at least).]

Sam once called himself a 'mama's boy' and Darlin' was deadass considering leaving him.

Has her wedding planned out. She has walked Sam through every single step of their wedding.

I don't really have a clear idea of their home life, just that her parents aren't bad people, just a product of the environment they were brought up in.

Can't do mehndi to save their lives, so they spend a shit ton of money to get it done for events.