#(( here it is finally ))

[yangjeongin]

HYUNJIN | 231214 @ ASIAN ARTIST AWARDS

[sollucets]

Hey, Sand, have you seen--

[hehosts]

MY DAD IS A HOST?!

CHAPTER 1: PILOT

CHAPTER ART CREDIT: @ottermelonart

A steady pair of gloved hands dance over the somber keys of a piano. The room is dark and isolated, and the tune is melancholic. It is strange to see oneself, and that is what Ren is sure he is witnessing now. He cannot make out a face, only the hands. Wearing gloves, they continue to play expertly, as if unaware the user is being observed. When Ren goes to speak, he finds he can say nothing. Instead, he wakes up. 

It’s always the same, and he’s already frowning.

That dream again…

Ren is calm and alert to the world. He also appears to be looking for something or someone. It’s perturbing, isn’t it? To have the same dream so many times over again? Over and over. Usually, Ren can’t remember falling asleep, let alone dreaming. He’s always assumed that whatever he forgets in the brief hours of calm must be nightmarish. My life is kind of a nightmare. Beginning to rise from the Western-style couch, he shifts the thin blanket off his body. 

Another day. I can do this…I have to do this. Just get up already.

Pounding feet from the hallway tell him he should prepare. His young son barrels inside, jumping on his dad excitedly. He manages to catch Ren’s groin with his knee, climbing up to his father’s chest to get their faces together as close as possible. Kyosuke, a five-year-old, smiles brightly. He seems to favor his father, thus, the child’s devotion is immediate to gathering all of Ren’s attention. 

“I’m up, I’m up,” Ren assures with an affable grin. “You’re already awake, huh?” 

“Yeah! You were sleeping forever. Time to get up!” 

Kyosuke beams at his father. This is his favorite person and the one he relies on to take care of him. If asked, Kyosuke would say Ren does the best job at being his dad. Yori would disagree but is happy to take the praise. 

“It’s only 7 AM, Kyosuke. It’s still early.” And Ren works late. His schedule often conflicts, but he imagines that when Kyosuke enrolls in school soon, this will change. He’ll have to figure that out, too. Worn out but willing, Ren rises as he encourages Kyosuke to walk around. "Come on, let’s wake up Grandma—”

“—I already woke Grandma up! We’re ready for breakfast now.” 

“Oh.” A beat. “Well, go get dressed while I get ready, okay? I’ll make us something to eat after.” 

“Okay! But I want miso, and Grandma wants ohitashi!” 

“That’s fine. You can have miso.” I think we still have some left. “Go get dressed like I asked.”

“Yes, Papa!” 

As Kyosuke patters off, Ren checks his mobile for the time. 7:15 AM. He was close enough. Stretching, Ren meanders to the one bathroom their apartment shares between three people. When examining himself in the mirror, he frowns. He doesn’t like what he sees. It’s a man he doesn’t know. Touching his face, he pauses before noticing how messy his hair is, how tired his eyes are, and how utterly different he looks by day. It’s easier to exist at night. He’s always preferred the dark. 

Touching one of the bags under his eyes, he winces before bucking up for the day. There’s no use mourning over what he’ll fix later. He needs to change out of this shirt and boxer combination, become more presentable to society, and then return to become his other self later. It’s almost silly, he thinks, having two lives. 

Silly isn’t the right word for it. Insane is what it is. I’m living an insane double life. Who does that? What kind of dad does that? 

Running the water, he opens the cabinet attached to the mirror, looking over various pill bottles in search of something specific. Finding what he wants, he shuts the mirror, opens up the small bottle to take a shot of unspecified liquor, and drops it in the trash. The hair of the dog has been the only way he can stand to get his mornings started these past few months. It’s all getting worse for Ren. 

As he finally brushes his teeth while multitasking to comb his hair, Ren catches Kyosuke peering in at him from his peripheral. Even without his glasses, Ren always knows his son’s form. Spitting out toothpaste before rinsing his mouth clean, Ren turns to face the boy. 

“What is it, Kyosuke?” 

“Are you done yet?” 

“Almost.” He swivels his head to catch a glimpse at himself in the mirror one more time. “Yeah, I guess. Where are my glasses?” 

“I don’t know.” 

“Well, you wouldn’t, so that makes sense. Come on. Let’s go to the kitchen. I remember getting water when I came in last night. I must have left them in there.” 

“Okay!” Kyosuke is always so agreeable. Ren is fortunate to have a cheerful yet docile child. I got really lucky with him. “Can I have miso now?”

“Yes, you can. You’ve been very patient, and you did a good job getting dressed today by yourself. You’re really growing up.” 

“Not too fast, though,” Kyosuke worries aloud.  

“No, not too fast, but fast enough.” 

Yori doesn’t think this will bother Kyosuke. He should know better than that.

“Oh…”

“Come on. Don’t take it so hard.” 

“I’ll try not to…” 

He often forgets how sensitive to everything Kyosuke is. He would wonder where he gets it from, but truthfully, Ren raises Kyosuke mostly alone. Kyosuke’s fears and anxieties about the world stem directly from the man who worries about him the most. 

“It’ll be fine, Kyosuke. Just enjoy yourself. We should have an easy day together before I go to work.” 

“Oh! Can we do morning stretches?” Kyosuke is fond of repetition, which Ren can appreciate.

“You can stretch while I make breakfast. Now, where are my glasses?” 

It’s starting to become a bit of a bother. Making his way through the living room’s open floor, he finds his glasses, which he seems to have tossed carelessly last night. Inspecting them, they seem fine enough, though a new scratch in the lens has him thinking this day might be more challenging than he anticipated. 

Can nothing ever just be easy? I feel like I find a new problem every day…

He can hear the television in the background as Kyosuke diligently exercises. Ren goes to the fridge, opening it with anticipation that he’ll have everything he needs. It’s more bare than he remembers from the last time he cooked, though he has brought in a bit more takeout than normal. Ren hates to do it, but sometimes he’s too tired to meal prep all day when he’s constantly gone and unable to provide a real home-cooked meal. That’s why breakfast and lunch are so important to him. If he can feed his family that way, leaving them prepared for dinners without him, he can at least rely on that. He wishes he could make every meal for Kyosuke and his mother, but life isn’t like that for them, and part of that comes down to the decisions Ren has made. They are hard to swallow. 

He manages to throw together not quite what they requested, but something good enough, with the promise that he’ll do better tomorrow. He says that a lot. It’s something he always wants to do. Ren is trying, but even he knows that’s often not good enough. 

While his family never complains, he wishes they would sometimes. Then, he remembers that he might not be able to take that kind of honesty. It’s one thing to bemoan over himself. It’s another to hear outright. Besides, he has someone in his life for that. Someone who constantly reminds him of his mistakes. 

I have a lot of people for that.

They eat breakfast together in Ren’s mother’s room. Kyoko is a sick woman. She has been for a long time. With a low immune system, naturally prone to pneumonia, and overall complicated health from birth, she was lucky to even have Ren. It was like a miracle. He was her miracle, even if he’s always been hyper-aware of how much he complicated things for her, how much harder he made her life by merely being born. They have no other family. He knows it’s because of him. 

I don’t even have a dad. If I did, I doubt it would have been different. People look at me all the time like I don’t belong here. Like there’s something…different about me.

But he’s found that what intimidates or dissuades people from him by day works well to his advantage at night beneath red lights. What makes him different by day lures in customers by night. A host club is only as good as its number-one host. Ren makes sure he’s worthy of that title. He’s not the manager and high rank for no reason. It is frustrating to be so beloved by night and so avoided by day. It is the stigma of his life. He is from a single mother and, thus, is now a single parent. 

It has to be more than that, right? It’s the way people look at me before they even know that about me. Before they know anything about me. Like they seem something I can’t. Like they know something about me…

By lunchtime, Ren and Kyosuke have had a promising morning. Breakfast, stretching, a bit of housework, and even an hour for one of their dramas. Standing, Ren promises to make Kyosuke something for lunch, making his way to the kitchen to repeat his morning. 

Damn. I can’t avoid it anymore.

“Kyosuke?” he calls as he makes his way back out to the living room. The boy is alert immediately. “How about you come to the store with me, okay?” 

“Look! There’s a sale!” Kyosuke is already grabbing a basket as they enter the Lucky Mart, and Ren is doing his best to avoid a woman who seems to know him. “Another sale! Wow! So many! Papa, look!” 

No, Ren’s body language seems to tell the woman as he follows Kyosuke’s youthful whims. We don’t know each other. I’m not him here.

“Wow. That’s, uh, that’s great, Son. How about you grab a few things, okay? I need to go to the beauty aisle.” 

“You’re always in the beauty aisle.”

“I, uh, heh. Well…” Ren takes his moment for a clever exit, patting his son on the head as he strays to do some private shopping. Kyosuke is a smart boy, and he’s already confident enough to grab what they need on a budget. That kid is more worried about our finances than I am. “Oh, here we go.” 

Sorting through a few brands, Ren grabs a collection of new shampoo and conditioner, a bottle of mouthwash, floss, some new foundation, and various other items he feels might enhance the look. The cologne here is too cheap, so he’ll have to order another bottle imported, but it’s worth it. 

Besides, that…comes out of the budget from work. I can make that a work expense. 

Reuniting with his son, he tosses his items in the basket he takes from Kyosuke’s hands, encouraging Kyosuke to start gathering vegetables. They can only afford a few cuts of fish this week, but Ren is sure he can make that work. He lets Kyosuke pick each vegetable as he always does, allowing his offspring to go through a moderately tedious process as Ren idly checks his phone.. 

Just a few messages from his employees, but nothing worth worrying about. No one has called out, and they’re smart not to unless it’s a real emergency. Only a few push it with him, but Ren quickly reminds them who the king is. 

You work for me, he often tells them. And I…work for Him. The latter is always a personal reminder. 

Once they’re finished, Ren grabs the rest of the usual staples, the fish he’s worked into their budget, and makes his way to one of the checkout lines. They only have to wait a few minutes before their items are being scanned, totals ringing up fast…and far out of their expenses. Ren cringes, planning to just take the hit or ask for a few things to be removed with a white lie of Oh, I forgot we already had that at home. He was going to flirt a bit with the cashier, but Kyosuke’s whining cut him off. 

He’s getting fussy.

“No,” he whines, eyes welling with tears. “Papa, no! The signs said there were sales.” 

It’s hard to reason with a child, although Ren still tries. These are the moments to make ‘learning lessons’. That’s what he tells himself as judgmental eyes fall over them, patient shoppers overhearing their small dispute. 

“It’s fine, Kyosuke. Sometimes, things aren’t always what we’re told. Things change all the time. We just have to adapt to it, even if we don’t want to or aren’t prepared. Does that make sense?” 

Smooth save. I’m pretty good at this. 

“But…!” 

“I’m sure it was just a mistake.” 

A damn expensive one.

“But we can’t afford all of this, Papa!” Kyosuke exclaims, trying to reach up to grab items he’s ready to run and return. Ren encourages him to stop, grabbing Kyosuke gently by the arms. “Your credit card is almost maxed out! It’ll get declined!! And you only have a little bit of money! What are we going to do—?!”

What the hell?! What the hell?! Has he been in the bills again? I need to put those up higher…

“I have money, Kyosuke. I got paid recently. Don’t worry.” Besides, people are starting to stare. “I’ll put it on my credit card. I already made the payment. You don’t even need to worry about this, Son.” 

He tells the cashier to continue, putting the tab on his card, cringing inside, and carrying their bags as Kyosuke holds onto one very carefully. They leave quietly, but Ren can feel the eyes on their back as they exit. It doesn’t matter. They have what they need now, so Ren is ready to take Kyosuke home. 

They pass a few food vendors. It’s getting late, and he knows by the time he gets home, unloads everything, and manages to make lunch, it’ll be more of a late lunch or an early dinner. 

“How about we stop somewhere for a second, okay?” 

“Where?” Kyosuke pauses, looking up at his dad. Still holding the bag carefully, he seems to have recovered from his minor meltdown at the store. “I’m hungry.”

“I know. How about we get something special today, hm?” 

“Yeah! Can we get taiyaki?” 

“We can. We’ll grab some for grandma to take home, too.” Ren offers to take the bag for Kyosuke, who graciously accepts. “Oh, and Kyosuke? You need to let me focus on the budget. That’s not something you should be thinking about at your age. In fact, you should focus on school starting next year.”

“I guess so,” Kyosuke replies uncertainly. 

“What? I thought you were excited to start school. You were a few months ago.” 

I should have expected this. I already kept him out of kindergarten. That was probably a mistake, but I wanted more time with him. Hm. I guess this is my selfishness coming back to bite me.

“Well, I-I am excited…but I’m also scared! I won’t know anyone there! And you won’t be there, a-and Grandma will be all alone!”

That last part bothers Ren. He doesn’t even regard it, instead changing his strategy with Kyosuke to one more promising. Besides, Ren hasn’t quite figured that all out yet. How can he be everywhere all at once for everyone all the time? How can anyone do that? 

“I know it seems scary, but it’s something we all do in life. Even I went to school.”

“No, you didn’t,” Kyosuke giggles. 

“What?” asks Yori, shaking his head dismissively at his son as they begin to walk toward the nearest stall that serves their purpose. “Of course I did. What are you talking about? You’ve seen my photos. I was your age once, Kyosuke.” 

“No, because you were never that young!”

“W-what? Do you think I’ve always been this old?”

“U-huh!” 

The lack of any hesitation wounds Ren’s pride. He is a vain man, so his looks mean a lot, and he’s only twenty-seven, so he’s not that old. He is starting to feel it, though. The younger hosts are making him more nervous with each day that passes. This haunts him. Yori can’t stand the thought of getting to even thirty. 

“Seriously? No way! Oh, and don’t ever say that to your mother. She’ll kill me.” Kill me. Not you. “She’s, uh, you know…she’s…”

“What? She’s old, too!” 

If she could hear us, I would already be dead.

“Can I order now?” 

“Hmm? Oh, right. Yeah, go ahead. Here.” Ren sets the bags down. His arms are getting tired, so this works out as he hands Kyosuke a few bills. “Make sure to order enough for all of us, okay? I’m going to make a call.”

“Okay, Papa!” 

Kyosuke is such a polite boy. He generally makes a great impression wherever he goes. He always looks good for Ren, is very respectful, and minds himself. However, he is incredibly cautious, so he tends to assume the worst if he feels threatened. Ren has tried to minimize anything threatening in Kyosuke’s life, but there are things even he can’t protect his son from, and he’s learning to accept that. He won’t be able to protect Kyosuke forever, but he can protect him now. He can guide him always. As long as he’s alive, anyway. After he dies, he imagines Kyosuke will live a pretty free life. 

The call he makes is admittedly important. It’ll decide if he’s getting a nightly bonus after work or not, and Ren needs every dollar he can scrounge up. Even if it’s just one client, he can easily work his time’s worth out of it. Enough to make the week a little easier, at least. From there, he can book out more regularly, like he usually does. Things have just been a bit more complicated recently. 

My life is complicated. It’s easier to leave it at that. It’s easier to ignore the complications he makes for himself. My life has always been complicated. I don’t even think I’d recognize myself from back then. I don’t think I even know who Yori is.

Because he is Yori. He is also Ren. That’s where it becomes complicated. 

Kyosuke doesn’t know Ren, but he knows Yori. Yori is Kyosuke’s father. Ren is the man who masquerades at night, hosts women, and comes home later than any respectable father should. This is what he knows; this is what his life is. 

Getting the affirmation he requires, Ren hangs up the phone as Kyosuke returns to his father in a balancing act. Three to-go boxes are stacked in a bag that he’s carefully trying not to spill. Ren helps him, swapping him out with something a little lighter and rearranging the load to be easier to carry home. 

I should stop by the Easy Mart to grab cigarettes tonight. I bet Akira will be working. He usually is.

“Let’s go home, Kyosuke. We don’t want this to get cold, okay?” 

“Yes, Papa.”

Kyosuke is a good son. Ren wishes he could be a better father to him. Regardless, they walk home together, and Ren listens to his son’s countless stories, observations, and random facts he’s learned. They practice a bit of English, which Kyosuke fares well enough. Ren tries to teach him a few phrases in French, and for the last time that day, Ren smiles with a sense of true purpose and authenticity. These are the last moments of the day when he can be Yori, when he can be Kyosuke’s father. 

When they get home, he will be who he always is inside. He will become Ren. Yori never goes out at night. Ren never sees the sun. 

[neverforpickles]

The Freak called ‘Jezebel’

sweetkalachuchi | Mature | 8.3K | 20/10/2023

“Zayn!” Harry said the moment he got inside the room, his voice loud and clear as it touched the four walls of the room. His voice bellowing and ricocheting on their own without Harry raising his voice.

Without hesitation, from where he’s sat in the sole incredibly detailed piece of architecture in the whole room, Harry calmly said, “I am going for a vacation.”

Or, the Devil decided to go for a vacation and met his soulmate instead.

Edited by Leticia ( @lousatellite)

Beautiful artwork by Chay ( @ladychlo )

My birthday present to you.

[sophie-beaniee]

HEEEYYY this is my first fanart for the svsss the fandom and to be honest, this took me a long time to finish since this type of drawing is not my style, my artistic work is more traditional. Plese do not take this work seriously because to create it I used the following references @/xiro_k (figure), @/strottine (color palette) and @/okamiwonders (tattoo reference)

[tomwambsgans]

This Picture of You // a tomgreg au fic

wordcount: 106,505 chapters: 12/12 tags/warnings: 1970s au, historical accuracy, canon rewrite, gay culture, drug use, sexual content, slow burn, repression, happy ending It’s with no other option, work in Canada being so scarce, that Greg moves below the border for the first time in years. He knows rationally that he’ll never see Vietnam. The draft lottery has an age limit, and he’s nearing 30. He’s just always struggled to stay rational and the whole damn world seems to be following suit right now. The same sets him on the path to join the family business, a company which represents everything that he has spent the past decade protesting. After a near identical flight to New York, a comparable plan, and a heart-stopping, chance meeting, that path officially crosses with Tom’s—a man who despite his experience has just as little business treading all this corporate scorched earth. Who, for reasons that he’s had under lock and key his whole life, will hire Greg when his own uncle won’t. It’s with as much shame as there is victory that most everything from then on are their own choices. It opens their lives right up.

[graysistance]

𝙨𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙝𝙤 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙖𝙛𝙩𝙚𝙧

the year is 34 aby, and the resistance has a new political star.

two, actually. 

a young woman who streaked from galactic oblivion to not only survive capture by kylo ren and torture by the first order, but count a victory against ren to her name, and a young man who'd turned away from the first order's stormtrooper programming, proved that starkiller base wasn't as defensible as the first order would like to think, and just narrowly survived what could have been a debilitating lightsaber injury.

frankly, rey is upset to have missed the bulk of finn's recovery. mostly his waking up. instead, she'd run off to the other end of the precious map bb-8 and r2-d2 had put together, components practically shaking with hope and glee. leia's blessing and pleas had gone with her, an enormous privilege, but when all was said and done finn was far more preferable to cantankerous luke skywalker. not even the stunning setting with water as far as the eye could see helped.

in the end, luke agreed to return to his sister's side - and by extension, the resistance. either rey convinced him or he convinced himself; it almost didn't matter. the journey back to d'qar nearly reduced rey to exclaiming in luke's face that she didn't know how luke managed to achieve what he apparently had over the course of the galactic civil war, but she held her tongue and they did in fact arrive in one piece. the reunion of a long-parted sister and brother managed to soften her heart at least a little. as did being able to throw her arms around a mostly recovered but very awake finn at long last. 

eventually it was decided that luke would begin to train rey in the ways of  the jedi arts while leia contributed as she had opportunity. suddenly rey's life was busier than it had ever been before. hours spent in hyperspace became days spent in focused mediation or exhausting rounds of dueling and saber forms. her time on d'qar was limited, and therefore time with her friends was as well. rey began to hoard opportunities to join resistance fighters in the black, defending planets in need or forming up to rain fiery hell down upon the first order. 

all that changed when, after a few standard months of tutelage under luke, the skywalker twins sent rey out alone on a mission to stalsinek iv with nothing save her recently completed yellow bladed saber and a short holo from leia referencing some prior agreement of safe passage "should anything go wrong."

her mission: find the site of a fabled great fountain that supposedly spewed water that granted healing and a longer lifespan. the drinking of the water wasn't the point, luke emphasized, but to sit in the fountain's presence, feel the strength of the force around it, and meditation in the wash of heightened power. he'd called it a "nexus", much like the caves of dagobah from his youth or the jedi temple on ach-to and the cave below from rey's recent experience. it was there she was supposed to find some semblance of balance and peace. 

during rey's most arduous journey yet to the mysterious hapes consortium, she began to wonder if balance or peace were even possible. 

once she'd manually threaded her way through the heavily ionized minefield of the transitory mists, locking the consortium away from the rest of the inner rim and indeed the rest of the galaxy itself, past the tangled knot holes that threatened to yank her into a plethora of unknown hyperspace lanes and setting her progress maker knew how far back, rey arrived in the hapes cluster that contained stalsinek iv. with great care rey crept her way through consortium space, clinging to the barest threads of the force to show her the way. and show her the way they did. 

from space, stalsinek iv was a jewel-toned planet that conjured images of rich forests and the constant presence of burbling rivers and streams. rey only had moments to feel the intensity of gleeful relief before the falcon's sensors blared, warning her of a speedily approaching craft. she had mere seconds to flick the shields on full blast before multiple barrages of cannon fire slammed against the falcon's hull. 

kylo ren had followed her through the transitory mists and waited until she'd slowed her search to a crawl before attacking, the absolute sleemo. he was not at all interested in keeping to a low profile and continued to unload his munitions onto her, cornering rey into firing back. 

what followed was a concentrated dogfight that left rey's head pounding as she grit down on her teeth in painful ferocity and the entire span of the falcon groaning from sharp turns and dives. all the while, the two ships crawled closer and closer to the surface of the rainforest planet. 

in a sudden, inspired move that rey could barely telegraph, she fired precisely toward one of kylo's sublight engines and hit dead on. in the resulting explosion, she lost all sight of his ship and, taking the advantage presented, dove almost instantly for the planet's surface below. 

the smoking falcon eventually landed quietly in an almost too-small clearing. rey was beginning to find it both difficult and almost natural to calm her rush of adrenaline. the force was almost breathable it was so strong, and rey could trick herself into believing she saw the force itself filtering through sunbeams like fog. putting kylo ren from her mind and the oddly bittersweet possibility that she may have crippled him and left him to whatever hapans may come across the debris of his tie, the young woman pressed forward. 

she was led step by step, leap by leap, to a quietly glimmering fountain. the clearing around it was dotted with an arrangement of glittering stone pillars covered in carvings that appeared ancient. such confounding and unearthly beauty left rey speechless and awestruck to the point of utter stillness. how long she stood there, she couldn't quantify. she only knew her time of mute reflection came to an end with the crack of a saber igniting behind her. 

kylo had not only survived her blast, but followed her down to the surface and through the barely habitable jungle to the fountain luke had warned her was partly myth, but could still be real. 

the following fight was merciless. 

hours or mere minutes long, rey and kylo clashed again and again and again, losing their sabers only to find them again, diving between columns and dodging falling debris. and all the while, the force nexus roared, imbuing each force user with an intensity of power they'd never before felt capable of. not even on starkiller base when the voices of jedi past had whispered in her ear, encouraging her with every strike and even suggesting multiple offensive moves she'd never before considered with a saber or her quarterstaff. again and again red mingled with yellow as rey valiantly attempted to drive kylo away. yet they were evenly matched with every swing, the force answering each of their calls to it with roars of might. 

and then the force quieted and was gone. 

completely. 

the anomaly was enough to cause kylo to cease his barrage and rey hers, though their sabers were still locked together. rey stared into the obsidian blockade that was kylo's mask, unwilling to pull back. strangely, his helm left her view as kylo's head whipped to the side, apparently detecting something rey could not and trying to spot it before it got too close.

then the footsteps reached her ears. 

almost as soon as she heard them, the sound of blasters being set to what she hoped was stun overrode all other questions.

if her and kylo's dogfight had not alerted hapes' defenses enough, their fight and subsequent destruction of the fountain certainly had. 

although, rey was momentarily confused by the sight of armed soldiers wearing what looked to be night vision paraphernalia. but there was no time to think more on it once the command to put their hands in the air came. and as usual, rey had no intention of doing so. kylo, as it happened, felt the same. almost as if they were linked, kylo and rey began to take as many soldiers down as they could, enough to form a path of escape. they were nearly there when a strange thought to “stop the attack” squirmed its way into her head. very unlike rey to think such a thing, but the thought was persistent and rey eventually listened. as soon as she stilled, a cry of “set to stun!” broke through the air and rey went down like the ruins behind her. 

she woke in darkness and not alone. her and kylo had been brought to a cell of some kind and thrown in together to wait for whatever fate the hapans had in store for them. in typical fashion they argued until more soldiers arrive to remove rey from the cell and take her somewhere private to be questioned. there she found that whatever strange technology had been used to fool her into thinking strange thoughts that made her obey commands was once more being employed. every question she was asked, she had to answer in full truth, leaving no details out. 

but the strangest one was the question of whether or not the names isolder or tenenial djo meant anything to her. her open answer in the negative seemed to confuse her interrogator. 

eventually she was sent back to her cell, but quickly removed one more time before she could really begin explaining to kylo what had gone on. they said prince isolder had arrived. it clearly meant something very important that he was here, although rey couldn’t fathom why.

in short order, rey began to realize that her life was changing in a more immediate way than she could have ever fathomed: her and the prince were related. 

not only that, rey was the royal heir of hapes and granddaughter to ta’chume herself. quite possibly strangest of all, named kira. 

as isolder kept talking, answering all of rey's poorly pieced together and sometimes silent questions, the air was filled with more and more and more practically unbelievable stories that rey nearly refused to accept outright – if it hadn’t been for all the proof isolder was willing to provide. apparently, fourteen years prior, civil war had been tearing the hapes consortium apart at the seams and the royal family were scrambling to keep the throne and stay alive. the crown prince and chume’da’s six year old daughter was under heavy protection, but apparently not enough. to rey’s shock, she was told that she was not left behind in necessity or abandoned with prejudice, but sent far, far away from her home to the relative safety of coruscant. only, during a refueling stop on jakku, a bounty hunter tailing them at the behest of isolder's rebelling brother kalen pulled rey and her nursemaid from their ship, sold the little girl to unkar plutt, and flew away with the nursemaid never to be seen again.

a simple story resulting in a disaster that left a family in pieces. almost worse was the revelation that rey no longer had a mother. tenenial had died shortly after kira's birth under suspicious circumstances. rey didn't know which was worse: discovering that her apparent mother was dead, or realizing that even if she'd been able to grow up in hapes she would never have known her at all.

then came the alarm calling for the prince and his "guest" to be evacuated: kylo had escaped his – their – cell and was now nowhere to be found. and he was armed. rey sprang into action, determined to follow kylo and stop him before he made it off planet. a path of destruction was laid out in front of her and rey discovered that he'd taken her saber, too.

for the second time that day she plunged into the jungles stalsinek iv in search of her quarry. once she breached the walls of the mist patrol's outpost, the force returned to her with a vengeance and rey bounded to catch up with her rival, only to reach him just as he boarded his tie. with his and her sabers clipped to his belt. miraculously, the falcon was not far off. rey jumped in and threw all systems into overdrive in order to catch him. but for once, the force was on kylo's side -- that or his mind was far clearer and he managed to evade her completely, diving into the transitory mists and completely out of her reach.

this battle was over and she was weaponless. and yet on the ground things did not get better. a previously unnoticed transmission from leia had been beeping away, waiting for rey's attention. the first order had sprung upon the resistance's d'qar base, forcing them to abandon it completely. the entire population of the base was now in hyperspace on their way to what they hoped was a viable new location, still to be determined. luke was with her, offering advice and support, but they both urged her to return at once and meet them at a soon to follow rendezvous point. that had been five standard hours ago, and there was no second message.

rey turned for the mists and began her journey back anyway.

it was only when rey on a strange whim stopped above jakku for no other reason than to stare at it that the second message arrived to meet on batuu. black spire, specifically.

once arrived, poe and finn met her in a rush and practically carried her back to luke and leia. in short order, rey's entire story burst forth. both the twins' reactions to the name isolder were peculiar, but none more so than leia's. come to find out, leia had previously met isolder under almost equally as strange circumstances. but as rey came to the end of her story, silence reigned. continued to reign until rey was half inclined to demand the full details of what happened on d'qar. luke broke the silence first, however, by suggesting the two of them go in search of another crystal with which to build her a second saber. once that was done, he turned to his sister. what leia said should not have shocked rey, and yet it did anyway. leia suggested returning to hapes and speaking more with isolder -- maybe even stepping into the place his daughter should always have had at his side.

true power came not only from the force, leia said, but in other, more surprising places. this could be one of them.

so rey did the only thing she could do: listen.

after a standard month of searching and not-so-patient crafting, a second (still yellow-hued) saber fit perfectly into rey's hands, singing the same song as the first crystal had. soon after she slowly boarded an x-wing nursing feelings of dread despite all of the kindest goodbyes she'd been offered. batuu shrunk behind her along with the force signatures of everyone rey had come to love during her time with the resistance. there was no guarantee she'd ever see them again.

her arrival at the transitory mists was as unwelcome as the first go round, but she made it through the second time with far more skill. not sure what else to do, rey returned to the site of the force fountain and from there picked her way to the hapan military outpost. once again the force left her in a rush, but enough soldiers remembered her that her quiet request to speak to the prince was heeded unusually quickly. prince isolder was indeed called and arrived in record time. rey greeted him in embarrassed silence, unwillingly willing to do whatever he asked.

rey didn't remember much after that besides climbing aboard isolder's transport, arriving in a place called ta'a chume'dan and being told she would need to undergo a dna test before she could be presented with confidence to ta'chume. in a fog, rey went where she was led but barely slept in the room set aside for her.

the next morning, she was informed that the test results had finished calibrating. isolder at least had his answer:

rey was really kira ka djo.

what came after that, only ta'chume would be able to tell her.

*** AUTHOR'S NOTE: this verse is based off of the legendary fic "landscape with a blur of conquerors". while loosely following the beginning story beats of the fic, i've changed many details in order to make the story more my own, although all credit belongs our eternal reylo goddess thea for both the base idea and the inspiration with which to create a verse. this one goes out to you, kylorenvevo. may the force always be with you.

[rejoiceinsilverlight]

i think mabel somehow finds a picture of stan and ford's prom outfits and goes ham recreating the suits for her and dipper's prom

[mochasucculent]

The gang all together 👍

Sketch v final + refs below!

First pic was reffed from My Own Private Idaho, which ended up being a really bad idea because this focal length was ridiculous to try and flatten out and match with the others lol

Second pic was obvi The Pieta by Michelangelo, but shoutout to my partner for suggesting the role reversal cause I was initially gonna draw Viktor in Jayce's arms again, but having it the other way around gave me the idea for the last piece where they're mutually in each other's arms and on equal ground in the composition

Third pic was reffed from The Blossoming Of Love by Miquel Blay! Had to move Jayce's hand to Viktor's shoulder because he was too yolked for his arm to fit between them lmao

[gibbearish]

love when ppl defend the aggressive monetization of the internet with "what, do you just expect it to be free and them not make a profit???" like. yeah that would be really nice actually i would love that:)! thanks for asking

[chloesimaginationthings]

Everyone loves FNAF music man.. even Michael

[tofupixel]

witch's treehouse (updated)

cross stitch pattern here

support me | commission me | buy a print | buy a sticker

[coffit0]

The Ballad of Pearlescentmoon

[panstarry]

heads up: this games charity bundle was finally approved on itch.io! it opens this friday, april 12th, and will run for a week. all proceeds will go to the Palestinian Children's Relief Fund.

you can check out the bundle on itch.io and follow @vgforpalestine on twitter for more updates!

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EDIT: as of april 20th, 2024 this bundle is now live!!

[queerente]

happy ten year anniversary of my favorite tumblr post of all time!!!