#(I could draw my Rook but I need to finish the game and make my mind up to it -there is one thing that's really bugging me)

[aldisobey]

Nascent Blight

AO3 Link

This is the best starting point for Lich Emmrook fic I'm working on. Mostly inspired by the in game note found after Emmrich becomes a lich. Partially inspired by a 'make him worse' trope. Questions and angst surrounding the transition to Lich life with the beginning whispers of things better left alone.

Setting: A few days after the Lich ritual

Pairing: Rook Thorne x Emmrich Volkarin

Rating: T - I mean the note in game is macabre

Words: 1382

Rook wandered the upper floor of Emmrich’s study. The scratch of a pen sounded softly below. He took a moment to lean over the bannister and peer down, a soft smile teasing the edge of his lips at the sight of the necromancer.

“Nearly finished, dearest.” Emmrich’s tone carried the hint of an echo, his glowing skeletal gaze kept locked to the documents at hand.

Rook nodded in reply, skin prickling.

A mere glance and Emmrich felt it. Rook had been testing the theory in the days since the ritual. He was sure of it now, Emmrich could sense some change in the shift of awareness surrounding him. Was the light in the hollow skull for show? How did he…Rook shook his head, chewed at his cheek to chase off rumination.

“If you’re in need of distraction, we have some new letters.”

Rook blinked, was he reading minds now too? Brow furrowed at the thought he drummed the banister before taking leave and wandered to the desk near at hand. He smirked at the neat stack of papers, no need to ask where they might be, his beloved was precise in all things. A corner of that crooked smile remained until he picked up the first one.

Dear Professor Volkarin,

Your preserved heart, liver, lungs, and other diverse organs have been stored in this urn, as requested.

Vorgoth and I hope that it will serve as a treasured memento in your many years to come.

With warm regards,

Watcher Myrna, Keeper of the Seals

Rook’s face fell, throat burning as he attempted to keep the gathering saliva down. So that was? Gut twisting he shifted only his eyes to look at the urn that had escaped notice. He had seen so many like it. It wouldn’t be out of place here…but this was? He dropped the letter in a hurried lurch towards the window, hand flying to cover his mouth. Rook flailed, then grasped the banister white-knuckled. He pulled himself towards the window, steadied with a lean and breathed deep.

“Rook?!” Emmrich’s voice echoed with concern from below and was punctuated by the clatter of his chair.

The immediate need to retch overcome, Rook rode out the following ebbs of nausea by closing his eyes and sticking his head out into the Fade. Listened to the quick thump of Emmrich’s footsteps on the stairs as he focused on controlling his breathing.

“I’m fine.” eyes still closed, he heard the steps drawing closer, “You don’t need to trouble yourself, it’s almost passed.” The nausea had lessened, he sniffed, the air had a subtle shift, it tasted different somehow. It was pleasant, almost, peppermint? Rook opened his eyes and turned to see Emmrich not far behind him, a whisper of green dancing on the necromancer’s fingers.

“Thank you Emmrich, it was, I was, just surprised is all. It’s lovely. A fine. Memorial?”

“Darling.” Emmrich’s tone shook with grief Rook could feel burn into his chest, it overrode the sickness for a moment, and he sighed into a lean towards Emmrich’s waiting hands. Once in their grasp they set to massaging him, touching light and tracing on the neck, firm down the back and circling up.

“I’m sorry. That reaction wasn’t ideal.” Rook swallowed hard, eased into Emmrich’s attentions, and tried to ignore the sense of twisting regret in his stomach. “I didn’t expect the shock.”

“Please, my love,” Rook shivered as the skull’s echoing words went deep, “I should have considered how you might take such a keepsake given your discrepancies.” His hands gripped Rook’s shoulders a last time, then gently turned him around to look in his eyes.

“It was a foolish lack of thought.” Emmrich grumbled at himself, and then nodded his head towards the urn, “Truth be told. With everything else requiring our attention it had escaped mine at the moment.” He took a step apart and dipped his head, “Accept my apologies, I’ll have it stored elsewhere until…” Emmrich’s voice quaked, the sentence snapping into silence at the horror of uttering that future.

For the barest second Rook grimaced, heart pounding at that reality, but he forced out a smile and pursed air from his lips, “Don’t. Keep it where you like, it’s growing on me.” He touched Emmrich’s arm a moment, leaned closer, the shock of Emmrich's organs in a jar had passed. Looming horror remained, but that was something he could laugh with. Now his concern was for the despondent lich in front of him.

He reached out and grasped Emmrich’s shoulders, leaned down and crooked his head to catch the green flare still staring at the ground. Once he captured it with a soft stare he slowly lifted Emmrich’s gaze by standing up straight himself.

“There we go.” Rook grinned and squeezed where held.

Emmrich’s head still dipped, locked now on Rook’s face.

“Can you preserve blighted organs? I could get a matching jar, would it be different since I’m not a lich?” Rook mumbled, melting under the flickering green. Emmrich kept silent, subtle movements testament to his attentiveness and portraying worry. Rook let go and dusted where his hands had been. Withdrawing them to himself he scratched at his neck, “Or, I know you can’t blight the undead, stupid question, but can you undead the blighted?”

Emmrich’s jaw dropped a hair’s breadth, had he lungs to fill he’d have gasped, but silence hung between them as the mind raced for any possible answer. Rook carried on, words tumbling,

“I thought about it. If it’s possible I’d like that. The Nevarran options, that is. You don’t have to burn me alright? I do have questions.” He paused, wondering what to emphasis first, he wanted to let Emmrich know it’d be alright, he could grow fond of an urn, and he’d leave what he could in the hopes it might help mend his absence. Maybe a wisp would like his skull, barring blight restrictions. Before he could continue the thoughts out loud he was drawn into a tight embrace. The movements were familiar, the action comforting as he sank into Emmrich. He lay his cheek against the lich's sternum, but he couldn't fully relax, couldn't close his eyes now that they'd swept over the urn mere feet away. 

“Rook, dearest. Thank you.” Emmrich held Rook tight, attempted to ward away the approaching tremble.

The Warden heard not a word. The stillness beneath his cheek was new. The silence deafening. It was there. His eyes locked tight on the jar. Right there.

Emmrich lessened the pressure, leaned back to take in more of him, Rook moved his head in turn, looked long into the etheric flame meeting him. The lich crooked his head at the sight, the movement soft and concerned, then raised his thumb to wipe clear the edge of the Warden’s shining eye, “I’ll answer any of your questions.”

Emmrich could feel Rook shudder in his arms. The man was still smiling, oblivious to the panic plain on his face. Emmrich kept a firm hold and spoke slow, “First, I need you to…”

“Can non mages do this lich thing?” Rook interjected with a shaky grin, his voice hushed from the startlingly short breath. He ignored the welling in his eyes. Obviously he was joking, it was more of a dream than anything. But who better to entrust dreams to?

“Oh, my love.”

It was a rhetorical question at best. A joke in reality. Why did the agony in Emmrich’s response make that deep ache past his chest? Everything burned, lungs and throat tight. This wasn’t the time. All of this was fine. Steadying breaths. He was a Grey Warden after all. He lived content with dying since drinking from that cup.

But no matter the reasoning of his thoughts, he couldn’t stop the shaking of his hands. So that route was hopeless. He swallowed hard, then…maybe?

“You know, that Warden, Isseya,” Rook didn’t get the chance to finish any further thought. He was suddenly devoid of Emmrich’s touch, the lich had jolted, reacted as if burned and turned his entire body away while bellowing a firm.

“No.”

Rook flinched as if struck, he’d never heard such a harsh tone from Emmrich. But there was something underneath, something desperate. Pleading.

Don’t breathe the thought.

[rook-apologist]

CHAPTER 2 IS UP

Pairing: Lace Harding x Rook Thorne (Human) (He/Him)

Rating: Teen and Up Audiences (Subject to change)

Tags: Domestic Fluff, Comfort, Romance, Epilogue, Established Relationship

Word Count: 4,543 (ongoing)

Prelude: Lace Harding and Rook journey to Ferelden to enjoy some much needed time off together. Rook is excited to see where Lace grew up, and is looking forward to meeting her famous "Ma" as the rest of Thedas recovers from the "Blight to End All Blights".

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

Preview:

The inside of the house mirrored the outside: broken beams hung precariously from the ceiling, chunks of plaster had fallen away to reveal the wooden frame beneath, and the smell of dust mingled with the faint scent of lavender that Ma Harding must have been trying to use to mask it. Lace scanned the room with a faint frown, her eyes lingering on the sagging floorboards and the patched-up windows.

“Here we are,” Ma Harding said cheerily, doing her best to make the space inviting. She bustled over to the couch, brushing off a thick layer of dust and loose debris with her apron. “It’s not much right now, but it’s still home.”

She turned to a recliner near the couch and repeated the process, pulling a slightly frayed blanket over the chair’s worn cushions. A tray of freshly made sandwiches sat on a small table between the furniture, and a boiling kettle could be heard from the kitchen.

As her mother finished patting down the furniture, Lace took a seat on the couch, brushing her fingers over the faded fabric. Her brow furrowed as she turned to her mother. “Ma... how long have you been living here like this?”

“Oh, not long love,” Ma Harding said, waving a dismissive hand as she perched on a nearby stool. “Just for a few weeks now. Some of the boys from Redcliffe have been helping out where they can when they aren’t busy fixing up their own homes. We’ll have it good as new in no time.”

Rook, ever the practical one, moved around the room inspecting the damage. He ran his hand over a cracked wooden beam, testing its stability, and glanced at a window with a jagged pane of glass that had been hastily boarded over. His expression was carefully neutral, but Lace knew him well enough to see the concern lurking beneath the surface as he walked the space. Eventually, he made his way to the recliner and couch where he hesitated. Instead of sitting next to Lace on the couch, he lowered himself into the single chair, his posture unusually formal and stiff.

Lace tilted her head at him, her green eyes narrowing. “Uh…what are you doing?”

“What? Just…sitting?” He replied, failing to mask the awkwardness in his tone.

“Yeah, I can see that. But why over there?” Lace’s eyes narrowed even further as she leaned in towards him, patting the empty seat next to her.

Rook cleared his throat, clearly uncomfortable. “Well, you know. Just…giving you and your Ma space,” he said, his voice too casual to be convincing.

Before Lace could press further, Ma Harding burst into laughter, clapping her hands. “Oh, Maker’s breath, you’re precious! What is this, some noble’s drawing room? It’s perfectly okay if you want to sit next to your girl! We aren’t prudes here boy!”

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

This chapter was a lot of fun to write. I'm challenging myself to include more dialogue and humor in my conversations. Hopefully it comes across as natural, and not forced!

Hope y'all like it!

[kaija-rayne-author]

Dragon Age Veilguard Review 5.2 in series

34.5 hours in. 32.5 hours playtime.

Obligatory disclaimer you can just drop to the cut if you've read it.

Something came to my attention. I need to make it crystal clear that I utterly love the diversity in DAV. It's fantastic. I'm also a heavily left leaning, non-binary, queer as fuck reviewer, editor, and author.

I'm on media blackout while I play this, so I'm only getting second-hand info on how awful it is right now in the DA Fandom. Please be safe and take care of yourselves. Arguing with incels and white supremacists is completely pointless. They sea lion worse than an actual sea lion. Your mental health is important.

Though, every single time the anti-queer brigade comes out for a new DA game, I sit there thinking 'have you bozos ever played any DA game, like, ever?' My guess is nope.

Spoilers for Dragon Age Veilguard

5.1 section here.

This is a long one.

So. I managed to play for a good portion of the day. I'm exceedingly grateful it held me.

Around about 27 hours? I felt immersed in the story, and this part of THEDAS. It shouldn't take 27 hours of playtime to suck me into a game. That in the writing world is what we call shitty pacing, poor editing,. and just... take it right back to the drawing board.

It could just be me. I'm notoriously hard to suck into stories because I was foolish enough to become an editor. But I've never had that problem with a DA game before.

I managed to finish the team. I like Davrin, Taash, and Emmrick. My favs so far in order are (yes, I'm cringing 🤣) Lucanis, Taash, Emmrick, and Davrin. With a close follow-up by Bellara.

I wonder if it's Lucanis's VA doing it? I am a bit of an accent slut and I have a definite voice kink. TBF they did change him a whole fucking lot from the Wigmaker version. Even if he does look like Dracula.

Getting misgendered in game sucks as much as it does in real life. So content warning on a person misgendering their kid and the person they're with (Rook).

But generally, the trans rep is handled in such a loving, beautiful manner, and I have to give AAA+ on that front. I feel seen in it. Seeing and helping Taash on their journey is healing, and just wonderful to see in a triple A game.

But lets talk about accents yes? WTAF? In every other DA game they stuck with regional accents for the different regions. Anyone from Antiva had anywhere from a light to a heavy Spanish accent. Anyone from Orlais was French. Tevinter in the personage of Dorian and even Neve had/have British accents. It wasn't ever really 100% but they at least tried. And I loved that.

This game doesn't feel like they tried at all.

In like... a lot of ways. How do you go from something so intricately and delicately intertwined as DAI to... this?

It's all just mid. Meh. I'm sorta into the story enough now that it doesn't feel like I'm slogging through blight to play it anymore. But if I couldn't finish the game? I don't think it would bother me for long. And that's something that would usually drive me bonkers.

I miss the collections. Everything from the mounts to the silly bottles of wine to collecting gifts for the right character. I miss that... I dunno... feeling of actual importance the Inquisition had?

Like. All the pieces line up in DAV. People dying. More people gonna die if someone doesn't step up. Intrigue. Betrayal. Nasty demons and darkspawn running around. But it's missing something. I'll figure out what it is eventually, but it's almost 3am so it probably won't be right now.

It's also a completely, horrendously, unbalanced game. On a normal level, (Adventurer in DAV), a regular gamer should be able to get through it without a whole lot of difficulty. A challenge, yes. I actually do like to be challenged a little in games. Maybe a death or two here and there but not in every damned fight. I wish they'd make the option to turn death off available for every level. I get stomped often enough that it's so annoying to sit through the reload. And reloading is where I've had the most problems.

At Keeper level (easy) it’s far too easy for me. At the next level up, (Adventurer) it's really pushing my skills in a very not fun way. There's like, no even scaling.

I miss the crafting! I miss going harvesting for stuff that I could build funny armour with. I had the Iron Bull in Dawnstone (pink) armour because I thought it was fun and his character probably wouldn't have cared. I always head canoned him saying in that don't fuck with me tone, "I like pink."

I miss being able to make special armour for my crew. It just... uuuugh. It's missing so much of the delicately intertwined details that made DAI such a good game. The bottles of wine and Warden notes in DAI gave you hints to Warden lives.

But at least I finally have armour that leaves elves feet bare. I really really wanted that.

Here's why.

I also have to admit that I do like how the wardrobe makes changing the way your gear looks does make it more streamlined, but I really really miss the crafting. I am trying to provide a fair review, after all.

I miss being able to make potions and bombs. And unless I've missed something, you just can't? You can't grow anything either. Growing stuff in Skyhold gardens was one of my favourite things about DAI. I was really looking forward to finding out which plants grew in the north of THEDAS and what stuff we could make with them. It never once occurred to me that they'd get rid of so much of the fun of DAI. It's like they've taken all the really intricate and interesting details that made DAI such an awesome game and... given us this. Milquetoast Veilguard. The mounts were gifts from different areas and peoples, so it tied that into the world.

The plants you grew had to be collected from various areas and used to make bombs and potions. I really miss that. Yes, you collect stuff to give to the Caretaker to upgrade or enchant your stuff, but 1. Why the fuck do I have to break so many barrels to get stuff? Who thought that was a good idea? Sure, a little, but there's barrels fucking everywhere. I'm a completionist player so tend to try to do everything. And 2. Collecting the different armour patterns, and the materials to make stuff like bombs, potions and explosives with was a large part of what I loved about DAI and DAO.

The Lighthouse has grown on me. But isn't it part of the Lore that living beings can't enter the fade? So uhhhhh... do we have a massive plothole there or did I miss something?

Manfred is fucking awesome 😂.

What in the world did they spend all that time doing if it wasn't going to be an intricate, detailed game?

They seem to have spent all that time on fucking with the looks of the characters and the graphics (to the game's detriment), messing around creating new demons because sure... we needed fortnite knockoff demons. Oh, and we mustn't forget the not-fucking-darkspawn. They've already contradicted themselves about them in game. They say at the beginning (I think it's Bellara?) That maybe these are old darkspawn rather than new. Then later in game they say Gilly has been making new darkspawn. Sure, Bellara could've just been wrong, but that wasn’t the feeling I got.

I do like the skill tree. That is much more streamlined.

I like the map. It doesn't feel like Dragon Age but it's a decently functional map. Reminds me more of DA2 than I'd like because that wasn't a good map.

I mostly like it at the Lighthouse. I like being able to see if companions have something to talk about so I don't spend time running around to each of them trying to see if they've got something new. That was an actual weakness in DAI I'm happy to see fixed.

The different ways you could decorate Skyhold were related to which areas and cultures visited a lot of the time. All those details they chose to not use for DAV were what made DAI such an epic game. To be fair, it might be similar for the Lighthouse. I haven't explored decoration options. I'll try to look at it soon.

And yes. Again. The best part of this game is the backgrounds, scenery, and environments. It's honestly the only thing holding this mess together. Rivain is fucking gorgeous. I love Treviso. Arlathan is amazing. Bit meh on Minrathous but despite living in one, I'm not really a big city sort of person. The puzzles aren't very challenging. And I miss the ocularium. That tied ancient elven and even Tevinter history into the world.

It very much feels like they've just decided to not care about the Lore and swept most of it under the carpet. A large reason I play DA games is the mental puzzles all that Lore gives me.

Also, foreshadowing should be subtle. Not the experience of being whacked over the head with a hammer.

And FWIW? Given standard medieval-esque health care? That wound Varric took would've absolutely been fatal. If not right away, then eventually. I'm really hoping they aren't going toward 'noble sacrifice' with him.

I'm not bothered by the different accents amongst the veil jumpers, or even the different races. Yes, it's letting shem hands touch ancient elven secrets, but it's also accurate to a lot of indigenous cultures. As long as you followed their ways, they welcomed new people (until things got really bad due to colonization and cruelty). The commonalities between First nations cultures and the Dalish are hard to miss, so that part works for me. (My ancestors were indigenous.)

I mean. Yeah. I'm Neurodivergent in a bunch of different ways. Change isn't always easy for me. But every single game I play has changes. I play a lot of games. I don't remember ever feeling so utterly betrayed by them as I do about DAV. If I had any expectations for this game, they were pretty low. And yet... even though the bar was on the ground, they've managed to disappoint me.

I'm still gonna keep playing. I don't hate it. But like... I'm not even sure if I can say I like it. Bits and pieces, yes, but as a whole? Nah. I love the Ziplines, those are fun. I like the ease of walking over logs and stuff now. That was a nightmare in DAI.

And I need the distraction right now, as long as I don't lose complete interest, I'll keep at it.

Oh. And the Owlbear in BG3 is absolutely cuter than Assan. Don't get me wrong. Assan IS cute. But... between the two? Owlbear wins.

Oh... and in all that time I played today? I didn't see Solas. Sooooo yeah. They completely sidelined his character. Makes me wonder if they made the decision to change the name from Dreadwolf to Veilguard and just nixed a lot of his content because of piss baby whiners who didn't like Solas. Which, if they did that? Is really shitty. Also, if he got sucked into the prison he'd had the gods in... where exactly are the other Evanuris! Stuck in there with their jailor?

And if the Caretaker is who I think it is? I'm gonna be pissed. (Felassan.) That is such a cop-out way of bringing him back. The Lore supported a bunch of different ways for him to return and if they went with that? UGH. I do like the boat between islands in the crossroads, that's fun.

I'm pretty sure I know who the Gloom Howler is. The bandages and the line 'they were never yours' gives it away if you've read the books. I figure she ran into the Architect. Did y'all notice how much her head looked like his?

I could be completely wrong. But enh. It doesn't really matter. I honestly can't see myself replaying this. If I even manage to finish it.

Section 6.1 here.

[esseastri]

For the curious, my Rook list:

Revira Thorne, mage, elf, romanced Davrin. She was a lightspeed story-mode run that Lisa and I did together so we could avoid spoiling each other, and we both accidentally fell in love with her.

2. Tetalya Mercar, mage, human, romanced Lucanis. Her playthrough is actually finished, as she was supposed to be my personal Canon, but. I love her, but I should have gone with my gut and not done Shadow Dragon first... I just didn't really connect (note her wearing all the Crow apparel... sigh).

3. Vida de Riva, mage, elf, romancing Lucanis. I just finished Weisshaupt with her, and she is rapidly becoming Canon, as she should have been because let's be real, my canon was always going to be a Crow. I am predictable. I, um. Am obsessed with her. To an embarrassing degree.

4. Thova "Laidir" Durwindor, rogue, dwarf, gonna smooch Harding. She's not actually a Lord of Fortune, her faction is Inquisition Agent, it's complicated because I love making shit up for backstories. She is my self-indulgent delight.

5. Renan "Aldwir" Devarin, mage, elf, romancing Bellara, possibly. Also deeply Not Canon. Just entirely Not Canon. She's an Inquisitor, but like hell is anyone else tracking down Solas while she still draws breath, so now she's Rook.

6. Dovari Thorne, rogue, dwarf, is romancing Harding. She's on the big city Choice because I have no self-control, a LOT of Feelings about both Dwarves and Wardens in this game, and a deep need to get her to Weisshaupt.

7. Descence Laidir, mage, qunari, will eventually romance Taash. This pic does not properly show off how teal they are. They're not even out of the tutorial yet, but I am OBSESSED with their design.

8. Sabina Ingellvar, mage, human, gonna kiss Emmrich. She was never meant to exist. I blame ek johnston and my sister. Help me.

9. Serasio de Riva, warrior, human, will either romance Neve for the city Choice drama (betrayer of his home! for LOVE!) OR he will kiss Bellara as originally planned because she deserves some romantic nerd to come sweep her off her feet. I have no idea which way it'll go, but I do know: Boy Pretty.

10. Evithali Aldwir, mage, elf, will romance Davrin and then send him on the distraction team because she's for the Nightmare Difficulty run and the Nightmare Runs always have Terrible Decisions in them. I will be remaking her on the PS5 when I've got a free slot though, no way I'm doing nightmare on PC, so this might not be her final form. We shall see. But she is Last on the list, gotta do all my easy and normal plays first!

[marigoldendragon]

Twst ask game, 1, 12, 25, 28

Another ask! I'm gonna run out of twst gifs (lies. there's many more)

1. Who's hand did you first grab? Why? Would you choose someone else if you could do it over again?

I think it was Ace? I dont really remember as I was just kind of pushing buttons not really expecting much, as I didn't know any of the characters XD And hell yeah I would choose differently. Even if I didn't know who was who there are characters who have MUCH prettier designs :P

12. Least favorite character from each dorm?

OH interesting. I don't really hate anyone, except for Rook :P But I guess each dorm has a least fav? Heartslabyul - Cater? He's just kind of there. Not particularly interesting to me. Savanaclaw - Leona. I have yet to finish book 6, as I understand Leona really shines there, but at the moment he's just kind of an asshole. I get he probably has a lot of depth, I just havn't really seen it. Octavinelle - *sweats* Azul I guess?? But I this feels like cheating as I do like him and his dramatic ass. Scarabia - Jamil. He's fine. I just like Kalim a whole lot more :P Pomefiore - Rook. Creepy ass stalker. Ignihyde - nope. can't do it. wont try Diasomnia - ........... Your gonna hate me Hana but, Malleus. He's just kind of ... boring to me? But then the fandom absolutely loves him so much that he's just over saturated, and it makes me like him less because of it.

25. Which character(s) would you actively avoid?

Rook. Again, creepy stalker.

28. What is the TWST related content that you've produced that you are most proud of?

I actually answered this one in my last ask! So copy paste it is!

hmmmmm the one that's my favourite, the one I had the most fun with is probably the skinny dipping comic I did https://www.tumblr.com/marigoldendragon/750319005371400192/more-second-year-shenanigans-silver-was-just

Proud, though? Probably this Lilia painting https://www.tumblr.com/marigoldendragon/746733901553205248/not-gonna-lie-pretty-stoked-at-how-this-came-out

Believe it or not I didn't know how do draw people until pretty recently. I was a furry/fantasy artist, any drawings of humans I did was just *incredibly* loose guesswork. I got SO into Twst that I learned the anatomy of a human face for the sole purpose of drawing fanart. So this painting was a pretty big thing for me. It was kind of the final bit of proof I needed to myself that all those frantic studies had paid off.

Thank you for the asks my dear 😘

[madeleinefjall]

Dragon Age Veilguard Thoughts

Spoilers incoming, so don’t read if you haven’t finished the game! Be warned.

I just really need somewhere to gather my thoughts about the game, as many others have already done. These are mostly rambles, so enjoy. I hope. 

Going into the game, I was reluctantly optimistic, and with that I both managed to be surprised by how much I liked the game, and how much some parts disappointed me. Overall, I think it was good! For me it was quite in line with Inquisition; I loved parts of it, disliked parts of it. Even though stuff was missing, I felt it was a good enough continuation of the game, even though I would’ve loved to hear more about what happened with all of Solas’ spies etc. 

To be fair, I think every Dragon Age has their negative and positive parts, and as someone who doesn’t care about combat, the characters and character interactions usually make up for the not-so-enjoyable combat. Dragon Age Origins is clunky, I hate the fade quest and always use the mod for it. Most of the characters, except for Alistair and Morrigan, don't do as much for the plot unfortunately. But I love it. The end of that game, as someone who romanced Alistair, was a gut punch for me. 

The things could be said for DA2 and DAI as well, but I never connected much to the companions in those, even if I still love them, but not enough that I’ve felt the need to for example draw fanart etc. I do love Dorian, and I thought the romance with Cullen and Solas was fun (the last one mostly because of the angst in Trespasser). Anders in DA2 was interesting because of what he did, and the angst of romancing him was enjoyable. But other than that? Everyone else is fine, but not characters I think back to a lot. Even so, they are still enjoyable! They made it worth the repetitiveness in DA2, and the utterly bloated mess that Inquisition is.

And now to Veilguard; those parts are probably what makes me most sad. I actually DO love all the companions in this one, I love the outings and how I got to know them all, but...for some reason they still felt, not there? The banter was nice, not as spicy as DAO or DA2, but I liked it. But in conversations, they were invisible. They didn't react. Not that they did that much in DAI either. However, the romance, oh, the romance. I had SUCH a hard time choosing who I would romance, because I wanted to romance them all. But after you were locked in? I felt like, is this it? Were we even together? There were crumbs, and not the whole cookie I’ve had from the previous games. For reference, I chose Davrin in the end, because I felt that he and my Grey Warden fit the best, and I don’t want to make Harding sad when Rook has to follow the Calling in the future. And…It was ‘aight?

That whole part reminded me more of how the romance was in ME2, quite nonexistent, but perhaps a bit more than that in DAV. And, don’t get me wrong, I do love ME, especially the 3rd one, but then I was already locked in with Garrus and I enjoyed all of their interactions as a couple. Veilguard reminded me a lot of ME2, it was a bit like DA in ME skin at the end, but those parts were quite fine for me. 

So the writing and the lack of…nuance? Is probably what I think is missing. Just some small touches of the companions with Rook, are they friends? Flirty? Something? It was more alike to Shepard with their crew, and perhaps that was the point, but as much as I liked it 30h in, I was quite sad there weren't more interactions with the companions, since I actually loved them. They felt a bit unutilized, some more than others. I don’t want more quests but shorter scenes, interruptions in conversations, a quick kiss of the one you romance, smaller things that make Rook feel more included. And since I flirted with everyone, why did no one comment on it after I locked in? And why did Lucanis flirt more with Neve than with my Rook? Makes me sad rip. Both Lucanis’ and Neve’s “I’m interested in a romance but aren’t locked in yet” were really good though. Made me blush. 

Other than those complaints, I did enjoy it. Perhaps I miss some of the more harsher parts of Thedas, the gritty, the awfulness. We did get it, but it was more in the background, not that it would change my opinion of the game. 

Towards the positive things! I LOVED the Weisshaupt quest. That was so enjoyable and I almost cried seeing the chalice from the fifth blight. The blighted village was also nice. I also enjoyed the ending, to which I cried, and I enjoyed the combat, which I changed 2h into the game to hard. I cried as well during Bellara’s first outing, her voice actor is so good. And Taash, when they screamed, gave me the chills. There were a lot of moments where I was like “Damn, I really like this”. I think it was great that the areas were more streamlined, with side quests that made sense and felt fitting. Perhaps I am getting old, but I would almost want an even shorter game still haha. It was short enough that I feel like I will play it again in the future to romance someone else, without that exhausting grind of DAI. I also really liked the art style, even if I was put off by it in the first trailer.

Since I played as a Grey Warden, I felt that my Rook had a lot of moments where she actually felt included and that her background was connected to everything. There were a lot of Grey Warden lines, a lot of other Grey Wardens talking to my Rook about Grey Warden things and other parts where my Rook could speak her mind of being from that group. I am intrigued to see how the other backgrounds are included in the game, or if I choose the “correct” one which had the most content. This was something I didn’t like with DAI, for example. My Inquisitor was just a husk of nothing.

I will throw in a last complaint; the music. The music in DAI was so good, and when they did use Trevor Morris’ tracks a few times in DAV I almost cried again, and I don’t think any of the music solely for DAV is memorable at all. It was background noise. 

Even with all this, I had fun! It felt like a Dragon Age game, and I feel a lot of the complaints are too loud. I never expected another DAO. And perhaps it could’ve been better, but with all the changes and rework they had to do, I’m just happy we got another DA game. The end ended me.

And I would die for Assan and Manfred. 

Hope you enjoyed my rambles about the game. This is not something I usually do but I haven’t had anyone to speak about my thoughts so, hey. :) I probably missed some things and thoughts but be prepared for some fanart soon!

(THE CHOICE BETWEEN HARDING AND DAVRIN THOUGH THAT WAS MEAN WTF I AM NOT OVER THAT)

[zoobus]

What about the other chapters (I stopped playing after chapter 4 because I found the resolution of the conflict too bullshit)

Chapter 1: hi my name is Riddle and I force everyone to follow the rules, no matter how stupid. I do this because my Disney villain won, thus following stupid rules should be seen as moral. Holy, even. Objectively good? Absolutely.

His friends: so obviously following all these stupid rules is objectively bad. We all know. Despite the fact that we live in a country where the stupid rules villain won.

Riddle: omg you're right, also my mom never let me have cake as a kid. Group hug🫂

Chapter 2: hi my name is Leona. I'm leaning into the villain angle, I will let innocent people get hurt if it suits my needs or they annoy me. Don't be fooled though! My tragic backstory is that apparently servants are allowed to talk smack about royalty as long as they're not the firstborn. Really hurt my feelings. I'm just like a poor person when you think about it.

I supported Leona ripping magical ACLs for petty reasons and I figured he was the designated overblot since he's the hottest bishie in his dorm but I kept asking - what the fuck are YOU stressed over? Ruggie's the one doing all the work? And when he gets caught and starts that PATHETIC cope like uwah I never wanted to win in the first place I'm just a sad little second prince who can never be king... His hotness rolled back into the negatives which is crazy. Even crazier that there's no real resolution for Leona talking all that shit to his righthand man like that. This was the perfect opp for a tension relieving face punch and they didn't do it

Chapter 3: this one was actually 80% good, Ursula's grandbaby is out here scheming and manipulating, making contracts with morons too dumb to consider the rammies. But by this point we knew what was coming - an embarrassing forced character killing tragic backstory. Azul only writes up manipulative contracts (which again, should be perceived as morally good since Ursula won in this universe) because he was bullied and worse... He was f*t.

What do I even say to this? How dare you.

Chapter 4: this one was 90% good, just ignore the forced friendship end. Imagine having to make yourself small for the sake of some grinning clown too stupid to even appreciate it. He doesn't notice the sacrifices, he doesn't care that if he earns a 70, Jamil has to earn a 65. God I loved when they zeroed in on how stupid you'd have to be to think of your servant as your friend. This is the first one where I've rooted for the "villain" from start to finish. So they had to do a

Here's how I would fix each chapter

I don't care about anyone in this dorm. Delete.

Why is Jack even there if not to fulfill his natural role? Jack who is driven by justice and doing the right thing regardless of the consequences. The natural conclusion should have been Jack physically assaulting Leona (could be a beating, could be a shounen friendship punch, but he NEEDED to get hit) and then evading the consequences of assaulting royalty (I will keep the theme of evading consequences for the various felonies committed in-game because it's funny). Also add some kind of resolution between Ruggie and Leona. I can forgive giving children permanent knee injuries, but degrading your right-hand man? In public?

I remove the stupid bullying backstory entirely. Ursula didn't need a reason to steal a teenager's voice! She did it for the thrill of the game! Make his breaking point about, idk, hubris, making contracts with the wrong person. Bring male Cruella in somehow because I like him. Also draw his octopus form without the blot, it's not faaaaaaiiiiirrrrrr that only Jade and Floyd have fishsonas. I make him fat also.

Jamil succeeds👍 also give the voice actor more time to work on his evil laugh because it was a little 😬

Vil succeeds👍 Rook does not do That. And turn this arc into literally anything popularity related that isn't singing/idols.

[1218-814]

I decided to make a profile for my OC, which I changed more things than I thought I would. Also because I can't find my Wacom pen and I was bored.

(by the way, this child is a carbon copy of me but cuter so-)

Name: Yuu Lupine (Very much a fake name)

Grade/Class: 1-A

Birthday: 3/10 (Pisces)

Age: 16 (?)

Hight: 163 (Looks smaller than/as tall as Riddle because of posture)

Dominant hand: Right

Homeland: The World Beyond The Mirror

Club: Board Games. Can't go sometimes because they work at Sam's.

Best Subject: Magical History

Hobby: Sleeping and drawing

Dislikes: Betrayers/surprises

Favorite food: Salmon/ikura

Least favorite food: Depends on the mood

Talents: Fast reading skills

Main Base: Mickey and all the people who wandered into a foreign place. (Same as Yuu, basically)

Sub Base: Loki, Mulan, Gogo, Edna (will add more if felt like it/some are taken what I assume canonically)

Black Butler Base (similarity): Sascha and Othello

Magic: No, but actually yes.

Idia did make something for them to have the ability to use magic. Based on Loki's staff, it holds a magical artifact inside. Blot will work the same; basically magic pen, but not pen. Only uses it sometimes, to prevent overblots.

Rollo comes in later and he dislikes it a lot.

Doesn't tell a few people, for some reason.

~~~~

Lv up 1: ...What is this "level up" for-

Lv up 2: I wonder if I can get stronger...

Lv up 3: Maybe I can be strong in this world...

Card lv max: Wait, hold up, I'm pretty sure this isn't magic. What do I need this for!? Well, they do say "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger".

Limit break: I think you should re-think this-

Groovy: I feel like I can beat some of the dorm leaders now! ...Never mind, I'm back to normal.

Episode lv up: Freinds are cool... I can't explain it, but it feels kind of nice and warm inside... Sorry, that was embarrassing, pretend I said nothing. We should have tea some time to talk again.

Lesson 1: You should let me follow you to class, I don't know where I'm supposed to go.

Lesson 2: Ditching class is an option, you know. I mean I think it's good for us to go to class though.

Lesson 3: Wait we have a quiz?

Lesson start: Let's get this over with.

Lesson End: I think I want to have a snack now.

Battle start: I can't use magic... Let me just cheer you, people, on.

Battle win: well, rip to you people who lost.

Attack/duo/etc.: N/A

Magic history ★1: Grim, give me some snacks/ Lucius is as cute as always/ meowww nyaaaa/I'm really bored right now...

Magic history ★2: I've read this before/ I finished this!/I memorized this part/So it's the same thing back in my world?/ My ink...

Magic history ★3: I could write an essay on this in 40 mins/I guess I got some luck today.

Crowley/Special lesson: Did you find a way back for me? No? Then why are you here./ It's not going to matter in the end anyways...

Flying: N/A, just watches (sometimes with Idia)

Alchemy: N/A, just watches. (For now, at least)

~~~

Relationships:

Same as MC, but doesn't vibe with a few. (Including Kalim, Cater, Trey, etc.)

Also, friends with my other OC, Sice (Mob who was friends with Riddle for a short period of time).

~~~

Anyways my other OCs are:

Since- number 6 of the Hearts dorm. He's based off of Doll. NRC

Bishop Hunt: Twin of Rook, very opposite lore. RSA

There are 2 or 3 OCs for the movie "Frozen". Elsa boy is very powerful bc of his UM being similar to Trey's

Might post some art of them in the future?

[twstdreams]

Among Us

Here’s how I imagine dorm leaders and vice dorm leaders play Among Us!

Riddle Rosehearts

Does not play hide and seek version because that’s not how it’s meant to be played! He sees it as breaking the rules

Speaks in chat as a ghost: NO! It wasn’t them! Off with your head!

Dutifully fulfills tasks even after being killed

As an imposter, he probably kills someone but then gets caught on security cams or someone walks in the room right at that moment

Trey Clover

Winner of the entire game. Trey is amazing at being imposter and no one ever suspects him

He won’t kill you right away. You guys will be alone several times and he’ll lull you into a false sense of security. Last meeting you were defending Trey, saying he had the opportunity to kill you but didn’t, and now you’re a ghost

You accused him and now you’re getting ejected! You swear you saw him vent, not the other way around! Too bad everyone believes Trey instead.

He’s a good sport and never yells or swears in the chat. 

As a crewmate, he’ll fulfill tasks. If someone wants to pair up, he’s fine with that. 

Leona Kingscholar

Throws suspicion at people with no hesitation

If killed, as a ghost he will not do tasks. Leona leaves public games after he gets killed

Leona will try to finish his task even if something else is being sabotaged because he is not doing this again. Oxygen tanks and lights aren’t his problem!

Doesn’t always report murders because he cannot be bothered

Honestly, he doesn’t take Among Us too seriously, but he’s having fun going on a killing spree. Leona gets mildly annoyed when he gets caught

Traps people in rooms just for fun

Ruggie Bucchi

Ruggie doesn’t mind being a crewmate but has a lot more fun being an imposter

If this was really on a ship, his unique magic would allow him to kill everyone

Vents like no one’s business, and he always smirks when he successfully kills someone and gets away with it

Does not speak in the chat until called out or throwing suspicion

Azul Ashengrotto

Azul is very meticulous and has entire stage memorized. He never gets caught on corners or runs into fences

He will lock a room before killing people and always seems to have some smooth alibi or is at least supposedly at some part of the map far away from the murder

Azul will self-report if someone is about to catch him or come too close to the area

Many murders while claiming to do downloads or fixing wires

The only issue is that no one believes him. He is always sus

As a crewmate, he avoids everyone unless it’s at least 3 people in the room so no one can suspect him or kill him without a witness

Jade Leech

Jade kills you then self-reports it. He also loves accusing others in the surrounding areas but making it sound like he’s simply stating facts

Will throw the other imposter under the bus with no hesitation

Jade never seems to take this game too seriously, but last week you accused him as imposter and now you’re the first to die. Are those two instances related? Jade won’t let you know with his sharp smile and eyes that betray nothing

Jade is having a lot of fun. It’s planned chaos. Murder sprees, blaming each other, everyone is suspicious, scrambling to get tasks done, and running the minute you see someone else!

May follow someone around just to unnerve them but will claim it’s to see if they’re being suspicious

Kalim Al Asim

Help! I fell into a vent and I can’t get out! Why is my name red?

Kalim can never remember which location he’s in. Map, who? “There’s wires! I’m connecting lines.”

Simon says is a struggle. He will be there for a while. No, it’s not because he’s an imposter faking a task, he really is just suffering.

Can never swipe admin card in one go

People generally believe Kalim mostly because they’re not sure if he can even lie

Jamil Viper

Jamil will lock the door and kill you, then self-reports and claims doors were closed so the imposter must have vented

Always avoids security cameras

Sabotages tasks and then murders a stray person who was on the other side, then vents to a safe location away from the task

Plays logically either as a crewmate or host

He does all the tasks in the same area first, going either top to bottom, left to right, whichever is most efficient

Swerves other people well while heading to whatever location he needs to

Swipes admin card perfectly every time

Idia Shroud

Definitely bought skins and has a preferred colour

Uses chat frequently to prove his innocence! Idia always has an alibi and will aggressively accuses others

Vents like a pro, no you can’t catch him, and he enjoys getting to move without seeing others. He avoids all security camera spots

He gets annoyed when the other imposter gets caught or throws suspicion at him

If you know him online and in-person, you will be shocked by how smoothly he communicates. He likes to cause problems in game and in person, though.

Cleverly sabotages tasks, locks doors, and snickers as he gets away with yet another murder

As a crewmate, he just avoids everyone or keeps a good distance between him and everyone else to prevent getting murdered

Ortho Shroud

Can you kill him? Yes. Could you deal with the emotional damage? Maybe

Plays with his brother but Ortho is more interested in bonding than anything

Can do all of the tasks easily

Likes forming teams and will vouch for people

As an imposter, he kills without remorse. Last round he was defending your name and this time he murdered you in med bay then vented away

Vil Schoenheit

Honestly, probably does not play. He’s got better things to do and it’s not interesting

Maybe played once because it was trendy so an interviewer asked him to and he didn’t want to decline online

As imposter, he draws everyone in by sabotaging a task and kills the lone soul that lingers after everyone scatters

As a crewmate, he does okay. Perhaps pairs with someone to prove innocence, maybe not depending on how seriously Vil is taking this

Rook Hunt

He runs impossibly fast, you do not understand, you can both be using the same console but Rook is faster

Accept defeat, if he wants to murder you, it is happening. You never reach the damn emergency button in time

LIVES for hide and seek

So flamboyant even in chat, some people vote him off for that exact reason while others think he’s innocent for the same reason

Malleus Draconia

Barely gets by due to advice from Lilia

As a crewmate, he just does tasks on his own minding his own business and then gets either murdered or accused because there’s no witnesses

Did you accuse him of being imposter last round? Well, might as well confirm your fears this round. He’s coming after you!

Always uses proper punctuation and grammar in chat

Cannot calibrate distributor to save his life

His heart is warmed whenever someone vouches for him Imposter!Reader x Crewmate!Malleus fanfic here we come

Lilia Vanrouge

So chaotic but having a blast! Will you all work together as a team or fall apart as individuals?

Sabotaging tasks is a favourite! He can kill a couple people on the way and then vent so he’s not the last to the task

Also don’t blink because the next thing you know there is 3 dead bodies. Playing with Lilia without a kill cool down is dangerous

Enjoys playing different maps

[twisted-in-wonderland-jay]

First date

This is assuming you’ve known each other for some time now.

ALSO! If you want to you can request a short story based off the date, or any of my headcanons😊

Malleus Draconia-

long walk at night

Kinda chilly so he gives you his jacket

Simple just to get to know you

Cute complements but kinda creepy

“You’re so small and cute I could just squish you” and the like

Lilia-

Escape room

Because he loves the adrenaline

Why did I agree to this

HeLp!!!!

He’s laughing the whole time

Probably went through the room a day before so he could be your hero and find everything

Silver-

A nice dinner

Reading after till he falls asleep

You both cook together

At ramshackle dorm

The ghost leave you two alone

He hums before falling asleep

Sebek-

Zoo

He’s never been on a date

He asked Lilia and Silver about date ideas and looked it up Zoo seemed like the best choice

Super nervous which you think it’s kinda cute...

He did his research, he learned about all the animals

Casual clothes!?

A dork the whole time

He feels so calm and relaxed around you

Leona-

Chill in the Savanaclaw dorm

He really doesn’t want to go anywhere

But he’s game for anything within the dorm

You throw in a cute romantic movie

You both laugh and point out how stupid the characters are

Cuddled up to him and he surprisingly lets you

popcorn and candy

Eventually you both get bored after the movie so you play a game and he hopes over to you

He puts you in his lap and puts his chin on your head

Later he starts getting drowsy and takes you to bed with him

Good night

Jack-

Hike in the forest

Jack loves to be out and about

Hiking in an area he’s never been

He’ll let you ride on his back as a wolf or maybe if you get tired on his back in his normal form

He’s so in tune with everything

Pointing out every sound, smell, animal, and plant

All day out hiking

Carries you back home/ to the car at night when you leave

Ruggie-

Food adventure

Your treat of course

Food puns

In town

All day

300+ snacks

“So do we spilt the cost?” “Oh I thought you had this...?” Jk he helps a bit

He saves up to help pay

He’s running all over the place buying food

The last place is a cute donut shop were you get a dozen and take them back to Savanaclaw but eat them together. No sharing with the others! Ruggie’s rules

Idia-

Games. He won’t leave his room really...

VR games

RPG VR game he’s a knight/tank and your a mage/healer

“I need HEALING!!!!”

Visiting cool places in game

Both fight big monsters and go through massive dungeons

And the end before logging off you steal a virtual kiss from him and sign off leaving him stunned, though it wasn’t a real kiss

Jamil-

🎶On a magic carpet ride🎶

midnight a fireworks festive is held

He meets you at ramshackle on the balcony

Ride on the magic carpet to an area with a clear view

For the first time he’s smiling holding you close while no ones around

He loves the face you make in awe at them

After you ride up past the clouds on the way back to your dorm

You fall asleep on the way

Kalim-

Fair

find him in an instant b/c he spotted you from a far and yelled to you

All the rides

He wins a little otter plush

At the end you ride the Ferris wheel, at the top he reaches for you w/ a soft smile and asks if he can kiss you.

Vil-

Around 10am you meet up in the shopping district

He has a little shoot to finish

Then lunch at a smoothie parlor and some sweets

Shopping all afternoon

He says it’s his treat

He’s never treated anyone before

Vil makes stops at all the stores and makes you try on every outfit he creates

Rook-

Archery range

He’s just showing off...

He teaches you how to use a bow

Rooks really close behind you up against your back. Moving through the steps for drawing back

He laughs at your flustered face and remarks at how cute it is

He’s close just to see you flustered

He’s happy you show a liking to archery

Epel-

Picks you up early morning

He shows up in causal clothes and on a motorcycle

You sit behind him, he tells you to hold on tight

He drives SUPER FAST!!

He’s super excited to be hanging out with you

after a bit he slows down and stops

You two pick up lunch, he drives to an area in a meadow, you eat and talk about random stuff

Azul-

Art Museum...

He enjoys the peace and quite of it

He thinks the best piece is the one painted by your mother and father😏

Takes you ballroom dancing after if your feeling up to it.

Jade-

Monstro Lounge (boring I know)

After closing hours

You stop by and have a drink (alcohol or not)

You two talk while you help clean up for the night

You turn on some jazz music and get an idea

You decide to dance a bit with him

Little did you know he had made dinner while you had cleaned so after you dance he brings out dinner

Floyd-

Swimming...

In the water around the dorm

You lose him and call for him but no answer

You feel something touch your leg and are pulled under

You look around to see nothing, then he snakes himself up your body, feeling you up. Then when he reaches your face he kisses you.

You didn’t realize you needed air so bad

Riddle-

Study date

He has trey help him bake some tarts and make tea

When you get to his dorm he takes you to a private study room in the library where the tarts and tea are

You study for a bit asking question and just generally talking

He wants to study but he can’t. He just wants to hear you talk on and on about anything your heart desires

Ace-

Pranks around campus and a fun photo booth

he draws the funniest things on your face and vise versa

Mess around and prank people

No real plan just what ever comes to mind from jumping on bubble wrap in the park to coloring Deuce's hair pink

Deuce-

Arcade!

This man can beat any game you throw at him

He doesn't win against you b/c he can't bring himself to let you lose

He is especially good at classic arcade games like Street Fighter, and Pac-Man

In an arcade this man is like a kid in a candy store. He’s super excited and proud of himself when he wins.

Trey-

Baking all day

Cakes, Brownies, cupcakes, tarts, this boy can bake any pastry under the sun

He bakes and you decorate

If you get anything on your face he’s happy to lick it off. (Nicely! I know where this is going! Don’t you dare you horny child!)

He’s a lot of fun

The best part is sharing in the quality time with you and sharing all the treats with everyone

Cater-

Cafe hopping

He takes you to all of his favorite cafes

It’s a game for you two

He orders what ever the workers wanna give you two

A bad or good one

You rate and guess what it is

He mostly gets the weird ones

Che’nya

I will update more

[rozengrotto]

Vil + Idia: I'll Bring Out the Best In You

(a oneshot in which Vil decides to do Idia’s make-up for the entrance ceremony...and tries to teach him something about the beauty inside him)

“Ah, Roi du Poison! Immaculate! Simply immaculate! The way he leads the brush, like an artist painting the piece of his life time. I'm speechless by his grace, his elegance. Beauté! 100 points!”

“Rook, you sure like to run your mouth.”, Vil muttered under his breath. The Pomefiore student was in the midst of tracing around Idia's eye with a jetblack liner. Once he was satisfied with the result, he moved on to the other eye, repeating the same practiced motions.

Ignihyde's dormhead looked anything but happy in his current position. All the fussing around, the stench of flowery perfume and being handled around like a make-up doll was like a nightmare come true for a tranquility-loving hikkikomori such as him.

“C-can I go now?”

“No. I'm not finished with you yet.”

Manicured nails dug into ghostly pale skin as Vil gripped Idia's chin and directed it to face the other way.

“You are a dormhead now, a figure of respect, and as such you need to take proper care of your appearance. All those students in the dormitory you lead look up to you and expect nothing but perfection.”

Idia swallowed hard, sinking a little more into his seat.

“G-great. Now I'm even more on edge.”, he mumbled grimly.

A smirk stretched onto Vil's lips as he started to apply some concealer for the shadows under Idia's eyes. Gods, this boy needed more sleep.

Vil would have to set him some clear boundaries such as no playing video games in the dead of the night and also no binge-watching whatever cutesy anime show he was into this time.

Also he mentally noted to let Idia see the sun some more, because – goodness gracious, people could get blinded by that toothpastey white skin and unhealthy complexion of Ignihyde's leader. A life spent inside all day in his dark room wasn't doing his body any favors.

“E-everyone's expectations are too high. 0% of reaching the goal at this point. I'd initiate a retreat and abort the mission until my l-level's a bit higher – ah!”

Vil had yanked a flaming strand a bit too harshly.

“So you want to give up? Go back to your room and stick your head into the sand like a coward potato?”

“Uhm...yeah, kinda?”

Pomefiore's dorm leader huffed. “Unbelievable. However, it's a pity you think so, because I surely won't let you shirk your duties.”

Having said that, Vil let the fireproof hairbrush run through locks of blue fire in an attempt to tame some of the especially stubborn blazing curls of the fellow third year student.

“Roi de ta Chambre, please do tell, what sort of lipstick do you use? That hue of deep blue is quite wonderful, I think it would fit Vil's beauty as well.”, Rook asked with his usual grandeur as he assisted Vil by handing him the tools he needed to work on Idia's appearance.

“I d-don't use lipstick...my lips are naturally colored like that.”

The hunter's eyes widened and his hands shot up in front of his chest.

“Sacre bleu! How magnificent! I've never heard of such a thing!“

In contrast to Rook's marvel, Vil seemed unfazed and instead ordered: “Now, would you please look into the mirror?”

“D-do I have to? Really?”

Vil arched a blond eyebrow.

“What? Are you afraid of turning into stone from seeing your own face?”

Idia flinched a little, his shoulders drawing up to make himself small.

“Uh, I...I am not...really a fan of...l-looking at myself. My hair's awful and I'm...not really handsome overall, so...I don't need to be reminded of that e-every time.”

Pomefiore's leader suddenly stopped with his ministration of Idia's hair and bent down to look into the other's eyes. Idia's first instinct was too quickly avert his gaze with a squeak, but Vil wouldn't let that happen as he firmly captured Idia's bony face with both of his hands.

“Idia. Look at me.”

Ignihyde's dormhead shifted uncomfortably around, amber eyes shyly flickering towards Vil and then quickly back again.

“Never put yourself down like this. I don't want to ever hear such things from your mouth again.”

Some of the strictness left the blond's features again and his violet gaze softened a little.

“Listen. There's beauty in everyone of us. Some of it more hidden, some of it more blatant. As a sworn ambassador of grace and elegance, it's my job to polish that beauty of yours and make everyone else witness how you truly shine inside. You see? Would the famous Vil Schönheit really spend his valuable time working on a lump of coal if he didn't know that you were secretly a diamond in the rough?”

Rendered speechless by Vil's encouraging words, Idia could only stare as a soft hand moved his flaming bangs to the side, revealing his pale forehead.

“Almost like a different person, don't you think so? Beauty requires a lot of hard work and dedication. However, you can do anything you set your mind to if you really want. Even you.” Pomefiore's dormhead smiled as he watched the other student gape at his reflection in the mirror.

Their moment of wonder was interrupted when Rook clasped his hands together and cooed: “Magnifique! Vil, your words are a poem that would even let the Greek masters go green with envy! My heart has swollen numerous times with pride. Such beauty. Such poise. Ah, I feel like fainting.”

“I was merely speaking the truth.”, Vil stated courtly, picking up the brush again to continue his work.

“Uhm, th-thank you. I...I appreciate what you're doing, Vil-shi, really, b-but...we're not done yet?”

Idia fumbled with his hands.

“I...uh, there's a pick-up event in a game I like and it's running out in a few hours, so maybe we could postpone-”

Vil's face hardened.

“No. What is more important in this world, Idia Shroud? Beauty or a video game?”

“I...don't think my answer will satisfy you.”

“Good. Then keep that mouth of yours shut and let me turn you into a diamond.”

[ice-cream-writes-stuff]

¤~°Ghost Marriage: Lovely Bride To Be?!°~¤ Finale!

Previously...

Before the door closed, (Y/N) asks them something. "Can I please have something to eat? I haven't ate in a few hours."

Present Time.

It was now close to night after all the arguing of students had disbursed. Finally all agreed with Crowley and his raffle idea on who the grooms should be.

Once all of the participants names were in the Headmasters hat. He shakes his hat around a few times and stops. Carefully pulling out a name a few names. Crowley coughs and clears his throat. The crow announced the lucky four grooms for operation "Lovely Bride To Never Be".

"Rook Hunt, Epel Felmier, Riddle Rosehearts and Ace Trappola!" Headmaster Crowley yells over the quiet teens. Gasps and groans filled Sam's shop. Yet no know decided to go against their headmasters choice. Grim doesn't even bother to question why the crow had choose them.

The four grooms step in front of their peers as Crowley starts talk with Sam. Not seeing the jealous eyes directed at his winners. To which they gave calm or smug expression. (*Cough* Epel and Ace, *Cough*.)

So the headmaster buys the items they needed for the operation. Not knowing that nightfall was closing in. "Considering that the time we have left until the wedding, this is our last chance. If this plan fails.. (Y/N) will lose her life!"

The four chosen teens gulp at the thought. The kind hearted prefect will die they do not succeed. They will not let that happen! "Since the ghost groom is in a suite. You shall also wear formal attire, or act like a prince, if you don't you will be not seen as a challenger."

Crowley gives the four grooms the things they needed. All the while Ortho had hacked into the security cameras to show to his peers. Standing outside, the students that weren't excepted all crowed around to see the footage. Once the boys are done changing. Stuck in formal wear, handsome as ever.

Their peers, friends, gave compliments and snide remarks. Cater takes a couple of photos and posts it on his Magicam. Tagging it, #Ghost groom, #Saving (Y/N) from Ghost groom and #Tuxedos! "The wedding ceremony is approaching now, the servant ghosts must be on high alert. Please be ready when the time comes!"

The four grooms nod. "No problem. I'll prove I'm the most suitable person to become the groom!" Riddle said with determination in his eyes and voice. "Oui, me as well."

"I'll reach out to her with words of love if my sincerity gets to her, then she will understand my feelings." Rook remarks with spark in his green eyes too. Epel joins in too with his seniors. "I'll save and catch her heart!" Ace agrees along with them, "yeah! Let's succeed in this plan in a instant!"

_____________________________________________

It was now night time and the three grooms had arrived to the gates of NRC. "Epel is late, it's already time to go..." Riddle said with uncertainty in his tone. "Did he get cold feet or something?" Ace asked to the two seniors.

"Non, non. Monsieur Crabapple would never wimp out, especially if it's for Madamonsieur (Y/N) of all people." Rook smiles without a care. "He'll be here soon..." "GUYS!!" It seems the fourth groom has arrived. "What took you so long.. Long."

Ace snark words die in his mouth before they could even come out. Grim, (who had decided to come with the grooms,) eyes widen at how fast Epel was coming towards them. The loud gallops of a horse draw near and nearer. "Sorry about the wait!" Epel says as he looks down at Ace and his seniors.

"It took me longer than I thought to get ready." His steed neighs after his words. Ace looks at Epel with astonishment and confusion. "Why are you on a horse exactly!!?!" Epel returns Ace confusion, "eh, why, because... Isn't prince charming supposed to make his entrance riding a horse. Right?"

"Do prince's even still do that!?" Ace turns to his seniors, "dorm head, Rook, you agree right!?" Rook was strangely quiet as he addressed his dormmate. "Epel... Your initiative, critical thinking, determination and preparation are astounding and very très bein!!" Rook applauded at Epel's effort.

Riddle could agree with his fellow senior. "You're even riding the most ornery horse in the equestrian club." The redhead pointed out with pride. "They're listening to you very well, you'be got a Mack for handling horses." Epel bashfully smiles at their praise, thmaking the two.

Ace interrupts the three by asking how they were gonna get inside. The Heartslabyul dorm leader tells him to quit his whining as Rook tells them that the wedding was starting in three hours. "How did I end up in the wrong?!" Ace asked, mostly to himself. "Ok.. Let's go! OPEN UP!" Epel yells.

One of the guard ghosts had heard the racket and sees the four, plus the horse and Grim. "Good evening, we've come here to win the beautiful brides hand in marriage." Rook said to the ghost. "Suitors and challengers, huh.. His highness will not be pleased to know of this, and so close to the wedding as well... I shall not let you through! Take your leave!"

Epel smirks, "are you sure? You're going to regret turning us away." The lavender haired boy chides. "What? You seem very confident." The gaurd sighs at the persistent suitors. "... Fine, I'll be the judge."

"Pretend I'm his highness bride and show me how you plan to propose! I will let you through the gate if you prove your feelings are ture." The ghosts remarks, waiting for one of the suitors to propose. "Guess we gotta do what he says if we wanna get through the door." Ace said with clear unpleasantness.

"... *Ahem!* Please allow me to go first!" Epel said with a hint of timidness in him. "Go ahead, show me your heartfelt proposal!" The ghost replys back. Epel starts to speak. "I will... Make her the happiest bride ever."

"Because whenever the person I love is in trouble. I'll come to their rescue, like a knight in shinging armor! Whatever happens along the way, I'll get (Y/N) through it all- er! I mean YOU through it all. Just like you had done for me! I will be the one to protect you from all harm."

"So, I am asking for your hand! I implore you. Please marry me!" Epel said with such emotion. Not knowing of the cameras that had captured all of it. Nor would any of the others know when it came to their time to propose.

The guard ghosts eyes widen, "your expression is totally serious... And you're even on a white horse! Like a true prince!!" Ace sighs, "the horse.. So I really was wrong?" The ghosts asked if Ace was a servant to Epel, Ace said no.

"Oh, so you're a suitor? Very well. Let's see how you'd propose." Ace gave a cheeky grin as he starts. "If you marry me, there's no doubt in everyday will be filled with fun."

Ace words grow softer as he continues, his eyes turn a bit nostalgic. "There might be times we argue or fight but... I'll always be the one to apologize. I'll be by your side through thick and thin and always work to make you smile."

"That makes me the best for the princess. So... Don't lay your eyes on anyone else, please marry me!" The ghost nods after Ace had finished. "Your desire to make your partner happy is bright as day! You're the real deal." The ghost then apologized to Ace for mistaken him as a servant.

"That was a decent proposal." Riddle said with a coy smile with amusement. "Hey, could you knock it off with that reaction? I'm just saying my lines!" Riddle's face doesn't change in the slightest.

"You say that but I'm sure that you put real thought into it." Grim goes along with Riddles teasing. "Nyahaha, Ace is trying to act all cool, y'know." The furrbal laughs at Ace, "shut up!" Riddle's teasing look turns into a confident one, "it was just like you Ace, but unfortunately, the princess is going to choose me!"

The soldier ghost points at Riddle. "Alright, you're up next. Show me your moves!" Riddle complied as he began his proposal. "I vow to be honest and sincere!"

"I promise to never hurt the person I love. If it's for my princess, I'll put everything on the line. I humbly request... Won't you choose me as your groom?" The ghost was speechless, uttering a "oh's" and "oh my".

"You seem so reliable and gallant... Even my heart is all a flutter." The ghost said in awe at the red headed groom. "Yeah it was so cool, Senior Roseheart..!" Ace agrees with his tuxedo buddy, "dorm leader got game too, huh?"

Riddle goes very quiet after his turn. "... Th-*ahem* that is enough out of all you all." The Roseheart male turns his head away so none of the group could see his pink cheeks. "The three of you were marvelous. It's my turn next." Rook spoke up as ghost gave him a look.

"The bar's been raised pretty high. A half-hearted proposal isn't going to cut it all!" The ghost declared to Rook, who just smiled and nodded. "You are truly beautiful, please allow me serve you for evermore. May I present a poem of all my feelings for you who has been watched under my eyes for months..."

"I wish to bring warmth to your cheeks, my dear. Long have your eyes only shed lonely tears. Oh, can they even see the happiness you bring to me and others around you. Vibrant is the live blooming in our rendezvous. Ever so gently, let me take your face to rest upon my hands. Under my care, may your lovely (e/c) eyes gaze ever sparkle with hope and romance."

"Woah.." The two first years said in sync, with awe and disgust. Riddle reviewed Rooks oddly embarrassing poem in his head. "Hold on! Read his poem vertically!"

Riddle explained that Rooks poem spelled. I LOVE U.

Rook congratulates Riddle on figuring it out. The ghost was surprised at the last suitor. Telling them they were very interesting challengers for his prince. The a pair of unfamiliar eyes watched them up above. Elias called his guards to go outside to the gates.

"The bride must have her friends here as well!"

_____________________________________________

(Y/N) tries her best to keep calm as she stuffed her face with cake. Taking off one of her gloves, she used it to smear off some of the crumbs off her cheek as a napkin. She puts her glove back on and stabs her fork in a glop of frosting. "*Ahem*!" A cough rings out in her "changing room.

The (h/c)-nette looks up from her food to see the ghost nanny. "My dear lady, it's time to go the wedding hall." Nanny ghost said happily. (Y/N) nods, bringing her herself to stand. Patting down her outfit to make sure crumbs weren't stuck to it.

The nanny ghost fixes her tiara and takes her arm into his. He smiles at her gently, like a grandfather giving his daughter her first pat on the head. The two walk out of the room in arm and arm. Heading to the cafeteria or the "alter". He then lets go of her before she walked down the aisle, flying off to one of the seats.

The "bride" walks over to the alter, but her "groom" was nowhere in sight. (Y/N) shifts in her place awkwardly as the ghosts chatter. She shifts around her bouquet and looks at the flowers. Stephanotis, Peony, Rose, and Lilly's. Her mind tires to remember the meanings, but her thoughts were interrupted when the ghost prince floats in.

The guest grow silent as music starts to play in the background. Elias smiled widely as his little ghost pals fly around him. "I'm so sorry my dear princess, I hadn't noticed the time." Elias said sadly as little tears well up in his eyes. (Y/N), feeling bad for him even though in her odd circumstances, told him it was all good.

"Oh! I forgot to mention, your friends are on their way here. You didn't tell me you were bringing your guests as well?" Elias tells her with innocent confusion. (Y/N) felt sweat drip off her back as guilt and happiness wash over her.

"They're comin-!" Her sentences wasn't even finished yet before her friends arrived. Riddle, Ace, Rook and Epel all wore nice suits while Grim was being held by a ghost soldier! Her friends were bound in ropes as they tried to get out of them. "Release us!"

Riddle demand with anger, "watch your tongue!" A soldier shouted at the hot-temperted red head. "Guys!" The "bride" yells in fear. The group looks at (Y/N) and are all stunned by her appearance.

She wore beautiful wedding attire, but the look on her face did not gleam like her outfit. "Why are they-!" "They were causing a ruckus, saying they were here to challenge me for your hand. But I decided not to hurt them, they are your friends after all. Think of it as a wedding present!"

The room goes quiet after the prince spoke. (Y/N) stares at her friends faces and her eyes slightly light up. She gives a sad smile and bows at them. Mouthing a few silent words to them. They stare at her with fear, but keep quiet.

"Now let's start!" The ghost groom announced as the priest ghosts starts to talk. "Do you, Prince Elias. Take this young woman as your wife and be with her for all eternity." "I do!"

The preist smiled at the boys eagerness. "And you my dear lady, do you take him as your husband for all eternity?" (Y/N) takes a glance at her bouquet of flowers and smiled softly. "I don't.." Gasps of shocks fill the air.

"Wha- but why?!" Elias cried out, as (Y/N) friend's cheered. The (h/c)-nette takes in a breath before releasing a sigh. "Prince Elias... You are a good soul, a sweet one. You put on a brave face for your subjects and friends so they could be happy."

"But you aren't, your just putting your ideals on me so you could finally find your happily ever after. Elias, you need to understand. I'm not your true love. You don't even know me, I don't even think you know why I am even here in Twisted Wonderland." (Y/N) says sadly, taking the princes hand in her's.

"I'm sorry about what you've been through. Though you need to see that you have to stop searching for someone who is your "ideal" cause I'm not a princess!" (Y/N) chuckles bitterly. "There is more to somebody than how they seem to be."

"I... I never meant... I just.." Elias tried to form words, though he couldn't. "I was never able to get a "happily ever after" when I was alive.. I wanted to find my princess and have a future with her. Yet that was stolen away from me, now I'm stealing you away from yours." Elias cried,  his blue eyes closing.

"I'm sorry... I deeply am." The ghost groom cries, wiping his tears away. "Even after five hundred years, nanny was right. I still act like a child." This time, the prince laughs with bitterness. "I think it's time to finally leave.."

(Y/N) nods as Grim got out of his captors restrains and throws a wedding ring to her. "Place it on his finger! He'll disappear for good!" Grim yells at her. (Y/N) catches it and gives Elias one last smile as she puts on the ring.

"Thank you..." The ghost groom whispers as he started to disappear along with the other ghosts. When he was finally gone, the only thing left was a wedding ring. (Y/N) crouched down and picks it up from the ground. Throwing it in a trash been soon after.

She goes over to her friends and undid their restraints. When she finished, the group of grooms give her a hug. (Y/N) hugs them back, placing a small kiss on each their cheeks in gratitude. "Thanks..!" She blushed and looks away from them and focused her attention on cleaning up, not seeing her suitors rivaling looks in their eyes.

The ghost groom had lost his chance for her heart. But who said her suitors will?

The End.

(Yay! This series has been one wild ride for me. But I did it! Thank you guys for the support! I told myself that I would finish this before the Twst halloween event. And I did, Thank you guys! Happy Spooky Month! 👻)

[blizzardfluffykpop]

Winter Break

Summary: Yugyeom and you stay at Hogwarts for Winter Break. 

Oneshot

Word Count: 1,967

Yugyeom X Reader

Requested: Hi~~ would it be possible to request #25 for the 25 Days of Winter with Yugyeom? I was a bit late for the Hogsmeade promt, but I was wondering how would it be to spend Christmas at Hogwarts? I hope your day was amazing 💜💜💜

Prompt: 25. Make your own prompt!

The ceiling in the great hall is covered in candles and snow. Almost as if you were to reach up, you could taste a freshly fallen snowflake. As the days draw closer to winter break, the more excitement builds off the walls. Everyone is itching to leave the castle and be with their families. Exiting the castle and almost everyone is throwing a snowball at someone else. Which would lead to me spotting one of my seven friends and hitting them in the back of their head. The little shiver as they turn back around with a cold stare. Wondering who dared to throw a snowball at them. I wave, and it turns one snowball thrown into a whole snowball fight. Professors are nowhere near safe, although Hagrid is always one to join in on the games. 

Once we are all tuckered out, we head over to Care of Magical Creatures. Three more days and more than eighty percent of the students will be at home. Usually, I would be joining in that percentage alas, I’m having my first Christmas at Hogwarts. Hagrid beckons all of us to follow him to the lake. “Before we leave for home, I want to show you all what Hippocampuses do for the winter.” I catch up to Yugyeom and Bambam, and the three of us walk at the back of the crowd. “So, (Y/n), where are you going for winter break?” I shrug, “I’m staying here,...” Bambam pouts, “Aww,... I was hoping to visit you over the break.” I pout back, and Yugyeom gleams over at me, “So am I!” I grin and let out an excited ‘yes’. 

I’ve been friends with Jaebeom, Mark, Jackson, Jinyoung, Youngjae, Bambam, and Yugyeom for six years now. While Mark and Jaebeom have graduated, we all remain friends. But, with Yugyeom, I don’t feel friendly emotions, I feel the type where your heart picks up when they walk into the room. When he laughs, my whole day becomes brighter when he's sad, I’m sad. In the beginning, I denied that I had any feelings for him because it was so much easier, seeing him as a friend. My heart thought differently and knowing that everyone in the group is heading home. Except for him and I, has my heart going into overdrive, I’m excited but terrified. 

“Aw you guys are no fun,...” I laugh, “Bambam, if you want you could write to your mother and tell her you're staying here.” He shakes his head, “You know she would have my head after she already planned to have me over.” I laugh, “She is such a sweet woman though,...” He scoffs, “Yeah, uh-huh.” Yugyeom shakes his head and sticks his tongue out at Bambam, “We get to stay here, sucker!” I laugh and join in on his antics, and Bambam places his hand over his heart. “How can a Hufflepuff be so mean?” Yugyeom shrugs, “You bring the best out of us, Bambam.” Bambam scoffs, “I am a Gryffindor, I would do nothing of the sort.” He lifts his head up, walking away from us just to run into a tree. Yugyeom and I crack up and high five, “Don’t worry, I’m okay. THANK YOU for asking.” Bambam glaring at us, and we mimic him, “THANK YOU for asking! You’re welcome!” 

We reach the bottom of the hill to see Hagrid showing us the Hippocampuses that lay swimming under the ice. “You see, the water underneath is quite warm. The ice is protecting the creatures lying within. A Ravenclaw lets out, “Does that include the Giant Squid?” Hagrid sighs, ready for a break, “He lies there, but he rarely comes out of his dwelling.” A few kids snicker, and after everyone sees the reds and blues of the Hippocampuses he leads us back to his house. “Alright, class dismissed.” 

--

The next weekend, Yugyeom and I watch our four friends leave for home. Bambam promised to write us a letter. From seven to five and now down to two. When they leave, Yugyeom looks over at me and asks, “Wanna make snow angels with me?” I smile, “Why not?” He grabs my arm, and we run to the courtyard. He drags me down with him, and I can’t help but laugh. Swinging our arms back and forth, we make our angels perfect. I do my best to get up and not ruin my angel. Yugyeom follows suit and looks at our angels, and says, “They’re missing something.” I raise my brows, and he draws little halos over them. I laugh and accidentally bump into him. Causing the halo to go right into the head of his angel. He drags me down on top of him, and we tussle. “My angel was perfect!” I flip us over, “Not as perfect as mine was!” I say as we roll across both of our angels, ruining them. I pout, “Now, we gotta do them all over again.” He scrunches his nose up, and it’s my turn to throw us into a blanket of snow. 

We recreate our original snow angels, and with a chill, we head back into the castle. Sitting across from him in the great hall, I bet him a sickle that I can beat him in Wizard’s chess. He pouts, “You have an unfair advantage!” I look up and pretend to think about it, “I don’t know whatever you mean.” He glares, “You and Jinyoung are on the chess team.” I shrug, “Maybe” He shakes his head, and between us appears a chessboard. I let him make a move first, “Okay,... No pressure. Pawn to F3.” My jaw drops, seeing as I was going to take him out in three moves. And now this game is going to go longer than I intended it. “What?” I sigh, “Nothing,...” He smirks, “I’ve watched you and Jinyoung play enough to know that’s the only safe bet with you guys.” I roll my eyes, and I start taking him out piece by piece. I stopped paying attention to his pawns and attention to killing off the queen. I have everything except the rook and a bishop when he lands a pawn on my side. “I’d like my queen.” My jaw drops, and with the way, his queen sits at E1. His queen and rook unite in killing my king. Not only am I in shock but agony. He chuckles, “Beginner’s luck!” I sigh and laugh out, “Experienced loser!” He grins, “Ayy, you’ve beat Jinyoung how many times at chess?” I shrug, “Never lost to a beginner though.” He smirks, “Life is always open to new opportunities, right?” I cross my arms and pout, “I guess” He ruffles my hair and pulls out of his pocket three of my pieces that I seemingly lost. “You little--” He scampers off, and I chase him around the tables. “That’s cheating!” Our laughter booming off the walls, “Not if you didn’t catch me!” I finally catch up to him and wrap my arms around him. “Now, I did.” He mumbles, “You did years ago.” But I couldn’t quite make out what he said. 

I give him his sickle, “But I cheated?” I shrug, “My loss, cause I didn’t pay attention to you sneaking the pieces off the board.” He flicks it up and says, “Heads we sit in front of the fire after sneaking butterbeer from the kitchens. Or tails you buy us butterbeer from the three broomsticks.” I shake my head, “Oh Merlin,... I hope it’s heads.” He catches it on his forearm, and I look over his shoulder to see which side landed right-side up. “Heads!” I point to him and say, “Your common room!” He looks over and asks, “Why’s that?” I shrug, “It’s closer, less likely to be caught.” He smirks, “And when did you ever care about that?” I roll my eyes, “I don’t want to spend my winter break scrubbing cauldrons.” “Fair enough.” 

We grab a case of butterbeer and a few pastries before we head to the Hufflepuff common room. “You guys decorated?” He nods, “Of course, all the third years got together like three weeks ago and decorated it.” I smile, “It’s so beautiful,...” He smiles, “I think so too.” We sprawl out on the couch and watch the flame twinkle. We each pop open a bottle, and he says, “You know I didn’t plan to stay here.” I look over at him and ask him why he was then. “My parents are helping my brother move into his new house.” I nod, “I bet that’s hard, isn’t it? When you go back, you won’t see your brother.” He sighs, “Yeah,... I miss him already, I know he writes to me all the time. But I guess it’s hard to know something consistent is no longer.” I nod, “I understand that, Gyeom.” He puts his face into my shoulder, and I reach my hand up and play with his hair. He asks me why I’m here this year, “My mother is stationed in another country. You know how she’s an Auror and all it’s just weird not to spend the holidays with her.” He nods, “I know, exactly, what you mean.” I rest my head on top of his and take in the moment together. 

--

Today is Christmas, and since I decided to stay with Yugyeom in his dorm. Since everyone else in our year is at home for the holidays. I had no one to bunk with within my house. Yugyeom is already in front of the fire and has a butterbeer cracked open. His presents on top of his lap, and I hide my gift for him behind my back. He looks over and sees me and cracks another butterbeer open, and tells me it's mine. I grin and join him on the couch, both of us dressed in fluffy pajamas. He scoots closer to me and hands me a small box. I give him my gift, and he smiles. We decided to save each other for last. Bambam’s mom made my owl a cardigan, and he got me a human-sized one. It seems they did the same for each of us, in a variety of colors. I laugh at Mark’s gift for Yugyeom is a set of fake tattoos. The note says, “To fulfill your need for more!” He laughed as well, and Mark gave me a coffee mug with three different packs of hot cocoa. Knowing I will share it with the rest of the group. Each gift makes me feel warm and fuzzy. It's nice to know I have such good friends. 

I reach to open Yugyeom’s gift to me, and he tells me, “Before you open yours,... I have something to tell you.” I nod, “Okay,...” He finishes up with his gift, “I,... uh,... I’ve liked you since our second year.” I grin, “That’s a relief since I’ve liked you since second as well.” He smiles and we open our gifts. It’s a gold necklace with his name scrawled out, “It’s beautiful, Yugyeom.” He smiles and finds that I got him a similar gift, but with my name written in cursive. “So can I call you mine?” I ask him softly as he turns around and has me clasp the necklace around his neck. “If I  get to call you mine, in turn.” 

I point up at the ceiling there hangs a big bundle of mistletoe. “They say Hogwarts mistletoe is special.” He finishes my sentence, “It only appears above couples who are meant to be.” I place my hand on his cheek, and he holds my face in his hands. And for the first time, I kiss the lips of Kim Yugyeom. Maybe spending winter break at Hogwarts was the best idea my mother had yet.

[calwrites]

The Masked Singer (Spencer Reid x Reader)

Summary: The team has become obsessed with The Masked Singer, an extremely silly singing competition about trying to guess what celebrity is singing behind a mask. Imagine Spencer’s surprise when he hears a familiar voice.

Warnings: none (unless you count bad writing lol)

Word Count: 6.2k

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

Spencer wasn’t quite sure how it happened, but it had. The team was obsessed with The Masked Singer. One morning, JJ, Prentiss, and Garcia had been talking about it before they had to brief a new case. Apparently they had found the first season online after they had too many glasses of wine and had made it through half the episodes in one night.

“It’s just trying to guess what famous person is singing while wearing a mask?” Morgan had asked. “That doesn’t sound very hard.”

“Yeah it should be obvious, but it’s not and that’s what makes it so addicting. They disguise their voices when they talk and they give you these cryptic clues about who they are.”

Emily nodded along to Penelope’s point. “Plus the judges’ guesses are everywhere, which doesn’t help.”

“Maybe you should watch, Morgan. Put those profiling skills to use,” JJ teased.

Derek was opening his mouth to respond when Hotch walked into the room. “Unfortunately, we have a case that needs our profiling skills.”

Spencer thought that would be the last of it. They spent the next few days tracking down another serial killer, and he was looking forward to relaxing on the jet on the way home. Maybe he’d read for a bit if no one wanted to play chess with him. What he wanted more than anything, though, was to be able to go home to Y/N. But he couldn’t.

His thoughts of you were interrupted by Penelope popping up on a screen. “I have a wonderful surprise for my favorite crime fighters.”

“Well don’t just tease us, baby girl,” Derek prompted when Garcia paused for dramatic effect. Instead of answering, Garcia started playing something on another screen.

“Oh there was a new episode on last night,” Emily said excitedly. “No one looked up who was unmasked, right?” After getting verbal confirmation that no one had looked up who was unmasked the previous night, Emily and JJ gave the rest of the team a short rundown of who had already been sent home.

“And people actually agree to do this?” Rossi asked in disbelief when they were done. The girls ignored him, focusing instead on the show. Rossi and Morgan shrugged at each other, but Spencer could tell that they were both a little curious about the show.

“I know Donny Osmond, and that is definitely Donny Osmond,” Rossi yelled approximately twenty minutes later. “Just look at how he walks.”

“I think it should be cheating for Rossi to guess when he might actually know some of these people,” Derek complained. Emily and JJ both nodded in agreement, so Derek turned to Hotch. “Hotch?”

“It’s cheating.” Hotch was trying to seem like he wasn’t also paying too much attention to the show, but he wasn’t doing a very good job. Rossi threw his hands up and started arguing his case, but JJ shushed him as the clues for the next performer started.

And just like that, the team had a new tradition. Garcia would play any episodes they missed when they were on the jet on the way home from a case. If they were without a case when there was a new episode, they would get together at someone’s house, usually Rossi’s, to watch it as it aired.

Emily and Derek were probably the best at guessing correctly, but Rossi sometimes had the advantage of actually knowing the celebrity behind the mask. Hotch and JJ blamed their incorrect guesses on not having time to stay up to date on celebrities because of their kids. Most of the time, Spencer didn’t even bother guessing. He had no idea who most of the celebrities were, but he enjoyed watching as the rest of the team got into trying to figure it out. Garcia had been banned from guessing after the team found out she was doing her own research. She had tried to argue that if they could use their super profiling powers, she could use her internet sleuthing powers, but the others weren’t having it.

Spencer had mentioned the show to you when you two were on the phone chatting before he went over to Rossi’s for the season 2 premiere. Curious about the show that managed to captivate and puzzle actual FBI profilers, you had decided to start watching on your own. Now, you and Spencer discussed the show whenever you had both watched the new episodes. It was nice having something new besides work to talk about. Of course, you, like Rossi, had the advantage of actually knowing some of the celebrities.

“How did you know it was Sherri Shepherd?” Spencer asked you after he got back from Rossi’s one night. “You said you knew it was her from the first time you heard her sing.”

You laughed at the frustration in your boyfriend’s voice. More than anything, you wanted to be cuddled up with him on the couch. But you were on opposite coasts, so imagining his furrowed brow would have to do. “I’ve met Sherri Shepherd. I’ve been on The View. Or did you not watch that interview?”

You were just teasing him. You knew that Spencer watched every interview you did. He was the most supportive boyfriend ever, even though you knew that some of the answers you had to give in interviews hurt him. Every time you were asked about dating, you had to give an answer like ‘No one special,’ ‘Not looking for anything right now,’ ‘Too busy to start anything.’ Truthfully, you were too busy to start a new relationship. You were constantly filming a new movie, doing press for a new movie, or getting ready for a new movie. Plus, you already had a boyfriend. Why would you want another one?

It was hard being away from Spencer so much, but you both knew that it was what was best for your career right now. You had met Spencer when you were a struggling actor who had just finished filming your first major movie. Now, you were an Oscar winner who was constantly getting offers. Spencer had told you that you needed to take advantage of those offers to really cement your place in Hollywood. You had both decided that the best way to keep each other safe, from both the media and psychopaths with grudges, was not to go public with your relationship.

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

It was over three years ago. You had just finished filming in DC. Most of the cast and crew had already gone back to LA or wherever they called home, but you had decided to stay in DC for a few more days to unwind before going back to your empty apartment in New York. It was probably about time to accept the fact that you should move out to LA, but you preferred the East Coast to the West.

You wandered through a park, when a cluster of chess tables caught your eye. More specifically, one man sitting at the chess tables. He looked to be about your age, but what made you watch him was the way he was playing three games at once. And winning them all. When the games were over, his opponents all grumbled as they walked away, leaving the man looking at the boards almost sadly.

You knew how to play chess, but you wouldn’t say that you were great. Still, you had to talk to this guy. So you sat down across from him, startling him as he replaced all of the pieces to their starting positions. He blinked at you in surprise instead of saying anything, so you took the lead, moving a pawn out first.

The two of you played in silence for a few turns. You smiled every time you caught him looking at you, and he blushed every time he was caught. He was cute. You quickly realized that you had no chance of winning, so you abandoned any sort of strategy and began moving pieces at random. You watched as he became more and more confused at your moves.

“It’s going to be a tie,” he said finally. His voice was lovely. “I mean, I could still win, but looking at our moves throughout the game, it seems most likely that it’s going to be a tie.”

“Is there any way I could win?” Truthfully, you hadn’t even been expecting a tie, but you wanted him to keep talking.

He shook his head. “No. You actually had a decent chance of winning until I took your rook four turns ago. If you had moved your queen instead, then I would have had to move my knight, leaving my king open to check.”

You blinked at the man for a moment. “Do you remember every move we made?”

He nodded shyly. “I have an eidetic memory.” You had no idea what that was, but it sounded impressive. At your blank look, he launched into an explanation of an eidetic memory and how it was different from a photographic memory. You weren’t really sure what he was saying, but you liked listening to him.

“So, it’s probably going to be a draw,” he finished shyly, painfully aware that he had just spent way too long explaining something to you that he hadn’t asked him to explain. To his surprise, you grinned at him, taking his breath away.

“Well, I was going to say that if I win you have to tell me your name, and if you win I have to tell you my name. Since it’s a draw, I guess we’ll both have to tell each other our names. I’m Y/N.” You stuck out your hand, but he looked at it awkwardly.

“Considering how many pathogens are passed during a handshake, it’s actually safer to kiss. I’m Spencer,” he continued quickly as a blush spread across your cheeks.

“Well it’s nice to meet you, Spencer. Honestly, I feel a little bit like I cheated. I started moving pieces randomly after about three turns.” Spencer looked shocked at your admission before he started laughing. “To make it up to you, can I buy you dinner tonight?” You were a little shocked at your own confidence, but thankfully Spencer seemed to like it.

“Only if I can buy you a coffee now.” You had agreed, obviously. The two of you spent the rest of the day together, getting to know each other. By dinner, it was like you had known each other forever. You had stayed in touch when you had to go back to New York. Spencer didn’t have a lot of free time, but you didn’t have any jobs at the moment, so you went down to DC whenever possible.

You and Spencer had only been officially dating for two weeks when your movie premiered. You weren’t ready for the media to scrutinize you two, and Spencer wasn’t ready for his coworkers to profile you, so you had agreed to keep your relationship on the down low.

Then you name blew up. The reviews for your movie, and your performance in particular, were glowing. People started suggesting an Oscar nomination for you. You started getting offers for roles your couldn’t refuse. So you packed up your life in New York and moved out to LA. You and Spencer talked all the time. He had even started texting you. Plus, you flew to DC whenever possible to be with him, even if it was just for a few hours. But it was still hard for you two to be apart for so long.

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

The season premiere of Masked Singer is tonight. Maybe you guys can watch it on the plane.

 Spencer read your message and smiled. You knew it had been a tough case without him even having to say it. Sometimes he thought you could read his mind. You had a way of always knowing what he needed, even when he didn’t know.

 A new season of their favorite show was just what the team needed. Spencer sent a quick text to Penelope to ask if it was possible for them to watch the show on the jet as it aired. She had responded not to underestimate her, which worried Spencer slightly.

 The team sat in silence for a few minutes, the engine the only sound, until the screens came to life and the opening for The Masked Singer appeared. “I forgot this was coming back tonight,” JJ sighed in relief as the rest of the team smiled at the show. They settled in, ready to start trying to profile the celebrities in wacky costumes.

“And now, our very own royal contestant: The Queen,” the host said as a new clue package began to play. Spencer stiffened as The Queen began to talk. Despite the voice modification, Spencer could recognize the way you spoke. Your word choice. Your cadence. Even the way you walked onto the stage. Everything screamed Y/N. Spencer couldn’t help but smile at the mask you had chosen. It was like the top of the queen chess piece. Not the mention the tight white costume looked great on you. What would really confirm Spencer’s theory was your singing, so he waited with baited breath and hoped no one on the plane would notice his sudden heightened interest.

“If I should stay, I would only be in your way.” Spencer’s breath caught.

“Aww. Whitney,” Derek exclaimed. The rest of the team joined in with similar comments of surprise and joy as the music joined your voice on screen, but Spencer was too focused on you to notice them.

As he watched, it was like the cape on your shoulders turned into the blanket he kept on his couch that you had wrapped around yourself. The microphone became a spatula that you held to you mouth instead of using it to flip the pancakes, belting this very song much to his neighbors’ annoyance. It was a scene he was used to, having seen it many times.

“That was amazing. There’s no way you’re not winning this season. But I have no idea who you are,” one judge said when you were done. The other judges echoed similar thoughts before they all started throwing around some possible names. Spencer smiled to himself as his teammates were similarly confused. No one mentioned your name. And they probably never would.

You were very insecure about your singing voice, though Spencer often told you that you shouldn’t be. However, you never even mentioned singing in any interviews, and you didn’t sing in front of anyone that wasn’t Spencer.

“So what brought you onto The Masked Singer?” one judge asked.

“I’m actually a big fan of the show, but the real reason was because it’s my boyfriend’s favorite show. I wanted to surprise him.” Your voice shook nervously as you spoke. Spencer couldn’t tell if it was because you had stage fright or because you had publicly announced that you had a boyfriend for the first time. Not that anyone knew it was you. You and Spencer had been talking about going public with your relationship for a few months now, but you had both always found reasons to keep putting it off. Spencer knew what you were doing. Once you were unmasked, you would have to acknowledge that you had a boyfriend.

Of course, some part of Spencer’s mind reminded him that all of this was filmed in advance. There were people somewhere who knew that you were The Queen and that you had a boyfriend. Spencer just hoped that the NDAs that they had signed were enough to keep that from getting out before the episode aired. Not that he had time to worry about that. You were still talking to the judges.

“Do you think he’s going to be surprised when you’re unmasked eventually? Not that that’s going to happen any time soon.”

“Definitely not. He probably knew it was me the minute I walked on the stage. Plus, he has to hear me sing all the time when I’m home.” It made Spencer’s heart soar hearing you refer to his little apartment as home. You spent more time in your Beverly Hills house than his apartment, but whenever you talked about going home, Spencer knew you were talking about getting back to DC. Getting back to him.

As the rest of the team continued to discuss guesses about your identity, Spencer pulled out his phone to text you.

The Queen sounded amazing.

Spencer knew that, wherever you were, you would smile when you read that text.

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

Pretty soon, the new episodes of The Masked Singer were the highlight of Spencer’s week. He was always antsy when they couldn’t watch an episode when it aired, desperate to make sure that you hadn’t been eliminated yet. He loved watching as your confidence in your voice and you stage presence grew.

Surprisingly, it was after you did a cover of Heart of Glass by Blondie that the switch flipped. Spencer could pinpoint the moment it happened. Your performance became electric and there seemed to be a pull, even in the jet, that drew everyone to you.

Spencer had seen it happen before. About a year after you had started dating, you and Spencer had met up in New York for a weekend. Spencer was in awe of the way you managed to seem completely normal, allowing the eyes of all the tourists to slide right over you, despite the fact that your face was on a billboard in Times Square.

The two of you were eating lunch in a pizza restaurant. Spencer had wanted to do research to find the best place to eat, but you had pulled him into a random place. Although he hated to admit it, the pizza was really good.

It was easy to hear the conversation of the two girls, high school students if Spencer had to guess, in the nearly empty restaurant. Spencer saw the look of joy on your face when you realized that the girls were talking about your movie. You both had to smile that they were now talking about how obsessed they were with you when they had walked past you a minute ago without even realizing it.

You looked at your boyfriend with an unspoken question in your eye. Spencer nodded his head at the girls, letting you know that he didn’t mind if you went over to talk to them. As you stood up, it was like the air around you changed. There was no difference in the way you held yourself. If Spencer believed in things like vibes, he would have said that you just started giving off a different vibe. Suddenly, everyone’s eyes were on you.

You spoke to the girls for a few minutes before taking some pictures with them and returning to your table. You seemed unaware of the effect you had on everyone, but Spencer couldn’t shake a strange feeling. It was like for the first time he had seen Y/N Y/L/N instead of his girlfriend Y/N. When you finally got Spencer to tell you what was bothering him later that night, you had confided in him that you often felt intimidated when he talked about his job.

The two of you had grown past that as your relationship went on, but it was strange seeing the effect that you had on his friends.

The closest he got to spilling your secret was the next week. As you got closer to the finale, the competition began heating up. In an effort to prove that you were more than just a good voice, you had chosen 1,2 Step, complete with your own twist on the iconic, according to you since Spencer didn’t really know, choreography from the music video.

“She has some serious stamina,” Emily commented as you got through the rap flawlessly despite all of the dancing you were doing. Spencer knew all about your stamina.

“And look at how her body moves. She can dance.” Spencer’s fist clenched at Derek’s comment. He knew that Derek didn’t mean anything by it. Your body moved fluidly through the dance. It was easy to see in the tight costume you wore. But something seemed to burn inside Spencer as he watched Derek watch you. He wanted nothing more than to tell Derek that last weekend he had used his stamina to keep you up until the early hours of the morning.

But Spencer stopped himself. You had said that you had a plan for telling people about your relationship. He just had to wait for you to put that plan into motion.

The judges were still clueless about your true identity, though Spencer still thought that all of the clues should have made it extremely obvious. Still, it was amusing listening to their guesses.

“I think-no, I know who this is.” Spencer settled in, ready to hear Ken Jeong’s latest wild guess. Last week he had been sure that you were Leona Lewis and the week before it was Mariah Carey. “This is Y/N Y/L/N.”

Spencer tried not to react as everyone in the jet, and on the screen, shook their heads at Ken’s guess.

“Y/N doesn’t sing,” one judge told Ken as another said, “Y/N’s not a singer. No way.”

“But Y/N won an Oscar for her role as a queen. Plus, and stay with me here, in the clue package we’ve seen things about agents. She has an agent, who gets her roles and probably got her on this show, so welcome to the show Y/N Y/L/N.”

“The Queen is in a long term relationship, and Y/N isn’t dating anyone,” one judge pointed out. The other two judges nodded along, so Ken gave up his fight. Spencer realized that, if anything, Ken guessing it was you would convince people that it couldn’t possibly be you.

“Hey, Spence, didn’t you have a little celebrity crush on Y/N Y/L/N?” JJ asked as the commercials started. The rest of the team turned to look at him. Spencer tried to hide his blush, but the smirk on Derek’s face told him it wasn’t working.

“Yeah,” Emily continued, “You go to see all of her movies. Multiple times.”

Spencer tried to shrug nonchalantly. “I just think Y/N is a good actor.” Luckily, the team soon lost interest in teasing Spencer, so he could focus on texting you about your performance.

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

“Thank goodness we finished in time to catch it.” Everyone nodded in agreement to Emily’s statement. They had just finished another case earlier that day and had made it to the jet in time to watch the finale as it aired. The team settled into their seats and quickly began sorting out their bets about who was who and who would win.

“Reid, you want in?” Rossi asked. So far, Spencer had abstained from all of the betting about the show they did. But now he wanted to have a little fun with his team.

“I think The Queen will win.” Most people nodded. That was a popular opinion. “And I think The Queen is Y/N Y/L/N.”

“Oh c’mon, kid. You’re just as bad as Ken,” Derek complained, but he was smiling. Spencer felt slightly guilty. He knew that he was at least partially right. He had been tempted to ask you whether you win, but held himself back. There was no doubt that you signed some NDAs, so you really weren’t supposed to tell him.

Spencer had a hard time caring about the other performances. He was looking forward to hearing you again and to seeing the faces of his friends when he was right about your identity. Finally, the other two finalists had gone and it was your turn.  Unsurprisingly, your performance was amazing. The best of the night in Spencer’s slightly biased opinion.

Spencer was so relieved when third place was announced and it wasn’t you. Some celebrity he didn’t know took their mask off. There was some exchanging of money among his friends. But then it was time to announce the winner.

“And so, the winner of this season of The Masked Singer, who will go home today with The Golden Mask trophy is,” the host paused for dramatic effect. Spencer had to remind himself to breathe. “The Queen!”

Spencer breathed a sigh of relief as he watched you jump up and down onstage before being ushered to a throne where you would watch the runner up take off their mask. It was another celebrity Spencer didn’t know and didn’t care about.

“I guessed Miley Cyrus when you sang Jolene a few episodes ago. I don’t think that’s right, but it’s the best guess I have, so I’ll go with Miley,” one judge said when it was time for their final guesses. This was it. You were about to be unmasked. Spencer wasn’t quite sure why he was so nervous. You had won! And he already knew that it was you under the mask.

The other three judges threw out their final guesses, but no one was very sure of themselves. Except Ken, who confidently said, “It’s gotta be Michelle Obama,” earning lots of laughs from everyone watching.

“Well, let’s see who it is. Take it off. Take it off.” The host started the chant, which the audience and judges quickly took off as you pretended to struggle to take off your mask. Spencer found himself joining in with the rest of the team as they chanted too.

And finally, you removed your mask and Spencer could see your beautiful face. As great as you looked standing on the stage with your hair and makeup perfectly done, Spencer couldn’t wait until you were back home in a week and he could see you huddled on the couch wearing pajamas.

Chaos erupted, both on the screen and on the plane. It seemed like no one could believe that it was you. The rest of the team was too busy yelling in shock that they didn’t notice the look of absolute adoration Spencer was giving you.

“This might have been the most shocking reveal in Masked Singer history,” the host said into his microphone as the judges and audience began to calm down. “I mean, no one even knew you sing, Y/N. Why did you decide to come on The Masked Singer?”

You laughed uneasily into the microphone. Spencer could tell that you were feeling equal amounts of joy and nervousness. It was understandable, he thought. You had just won a singing competition despite having never sang in public before.

“I’ve always loved to sing, but I’ve never had much confidence in my voice. I’d love more than anything to be in a big movie musical. I guess I was hoping that this would be a good place to build my confidence.”

“You have an absolutely amazing voice,” one judge said. You ducked your head shyly, smiling slightly at the ground before looking back up at the judges. “I think after people see your performances you’ll have no problem doing a musical. I mean, you tackled so many different genres, and you sounded amazing doing all of them.”

You thanked the judge before turning to the others. A smile remained on your lips as they all congratulated you, but Spencer could tell from the way you kept shifting your weight that you were uncomfortable with all of the attention.

“Wait so you said that one reason you did this show was that it’s your boyfriend’s favorite show?” Spencer’s heart fluttered as he watched your smile grow at the mention of him. “That really threw me. I didn’t know you were dating anyone.” The other judges agreed.

“Yeah my boyfriend and I have been together for over two years. We’ve just kept it a secret.”

“Well the secret is out now.”

“You still don’t know who he is though,” you pointed out. The judges laughed and agreed.

“Whoever is dating her is a lucky man,” Rossi commented as the show wrapped up. Spencer tried not to let his heart skip a beat. What would his team think when they found out about you two?

---------------- 

“I still can’t believe that The Queen was Y/N Y/L/N,” JJ sighed. The team was in the elevator on the way up to their floor. They all needed to drop some stuff off, but Hotch had told them that no one was allowed to stay late tonight. They needed to get home and relax.

“I can’t believe she managed to have a secret boyfriend for over two years without the media finding out,” Emily added. “You know Garcia is probably already trying to uncover the mystery man.”

The team laughed as the elevator doors opened. Spencer made a mental note to warn you about Garcia. He had already texted you to congratulate you, but he missed you. You were supposed to finish filming in a few days and then you’d be back home in about a week. Still, Spencer was a little bummed that you would miss your third anniversary, which was actually tomorrow.

“Hey, Pretty Boy, who’s at your desk?” Derek asked.

It took Spencer a moment to really understand what he was seeing. It didn’t quite make sense in his brain. Every time you got home, you would immediately shower (to wash off the airplane germs), throw on one of Spencer’s old sweaters and some leggings, and curl up on the couch with whatever book Spencer had left laying around until he got home. And now here you were, wet hair and all, sitting at his desk. He barely had time to admire the look of concentration on your face as you tapped at your phone, probably texting your agent.

“Wait, is that-” But Spencer didn’t let Emily finish.

“Y/N!” he called as he pushed through the doors into the bullpen.

Your head shot up at the sound of your boyfriend’s voice, a huge smile growing on your face. You dropped your phone onto the desk (your agent could wait) and rushed over to him. Completely ignoring the fact that his team was a few steps behind him, you threw your arms around Spencer, wrapping your legs around him too when he picked you up. He began to spin you around, causing you to shriek in glee.

Finally, he put you down. You started to move away, but he surprised you by putting his hands on either side of your face and connecting your lips. You smiled into the kiss, so happy to finally be back with your boyfriend.

“Does anyone else feel like they’re missing something?” You two broke apart at the sound his coworker’s voice. You smiled shyly at the man who had just spoke, Rossi you assumed, based on Spencer’s stories about his team.

“Everyone, I’d like you meet Y/N. My girlfriend.” The team looked between Spencer, who was looking at you like you were the only thing that mattered, and you. You could feel the blush on your face, but that didn’t stop your own goofy love-struck grin.

“It’s so nice to finally meet you guys,” you finally said. “I’ve heard so much about you all.”

“We can’t say the same,” the blonde, JJ, slowly replied. You could feel Spencer shift uncomfortably beside you, before he pulled you even closer to his side.

“That’s my fault,” you said before Spencer could say anything. “I wanted to keep our relationship a secret so it didn’t get out to the media.”

“That’s not entirely true,” Spencer corrected you quickly. “I wanted to make sure that Y/N didn’t get targeted by anyone because of my job. She didn’t want anyone targeting me because of her job. It was a mutual decision.”

“And you couldn’t even tell us?” JJ asked. You could tell, even without knowing her, that she was hurt. You knew that she was Spencer’s best friend, so it was understandable. In fact, every face was looking at the two of you with some mixture of confusion, surprise, and hurt.

“I didn’t want to risk it,” Spencer said uncomfortably. “I figured that the more people who knew, the more likely it would be to get out. Y/N already had to tell some people, so I didn’t want to add to the list.”

“I only told my agent, my assistant, and my security team. And I only told my security team because they thought they caught Spencer trying to break into my house one day.”

Spencer’s face went bright red as he remembered that failed surprise. “I think we need to hear that story sometime.” The rest of the team quickly agreed with Prentiss. It seemed, for now at least, they would let the whole secret thing go.

“What are you doing here?” Spencer asked suddenly. “Not that I’m not happy to see you. I am. You’re supposed to be in LA filming.”

You grinned mischievously at him. “I managed to get the filming schedule rearranged a bit, so I could finish early. I shot my last scene this morning, then went straight to the airport. I wanted to surprise you, so we could finally spend an anniversary together.”

“When do you leave again?” The softness of Spencer’s voice broke your heart. He was preparing himself for you usual answer. You’d be here for a week or two and then have to leave again. But not this time.

“Not for months.” A smile of disbelief spread across Spencer’s face. “I’ll have to go to LA and New York for a few days here and there, but nothing long term. I want to be here with you.”

The two of you had, once again, forgotten that Spencer’s team was standing in front of you. It was so easy to get wrapped up in one another when you were both used to being alone together.

“Did I hear something about an anniversary?” Rossi asked, shaking the two of you out of your little bubble.

“It’ll be three years tomorrow.” You grinned up at your boyfriend. It was the first anniversary you would get to spend together.

“Let me host a dinner for you,” Rossi offered. “I’ll make one of my famous meals. We can break out some nice wine that I’ve been saving for a special occasion.”

Spencer began to shake his head, but you grabbed his arm and gasped. “Spencer please,” you begged. “You know I’ve always wanted to go to a dinner at Rossi’s place. You only talk about them all the time. Please. Please. Please.” Spencer finally gave in to your pleading, nodding reluctantly.

You hugged him in excitement before moving to properly introduce yourself to his friends. As you chatted with them, you could hear the clicking of approaching heels.

“My favorite crime fighters will be unhappy to know that I haven’t been able to find anything about Y/N Y/L/N’s secret boyfriend.” You looked up at the brightly dressed woman, definitely Garcia, who had just walked into the bullpen.

“Actually, baby girl, I think we figured that one out ourselves.” Garcia looked up from her phone at Derek’s words. Her eyes widened as she saw you standing among her coworkers.

“Wha-? Who? How? What?” she stammered. In response, you grabbed Spencer’s hand, pulling him closer to you. He wrapped an arm around you, grinning apologetically at Garcia. “Spencer Reid, I would be so mad at you if I wasn’t so happy about meeting Y/N.” Without wasting another second, she rushed over and hugged you. You laughed at the look of jealously on Spencer’s face as you were taken from his arms. This would take some getting used to.

---------------- 

You smiled happily, watching Spencer’s friends laugh at a story you had just finished. “I think this was a much better anniversary than burning dinner and then ordering takeout would have been,” you whispered to your boyfriend. Rossi’s food had not disappointed. Nor had his wine. You were feeling comfortably warm as you cuddled up with your boyfriend.

“It’s what we would have done after dinner that I was looking forward to.” You tried not to shiver at Spencer’s words.

“There will be plenty of time for that,” you reminded him. “I’m glad I’m getting to know your friends. They’re so important to you.”

“I’m glad they’re getting to know you. I think you all will be friends. That might not be good for me though.” You laughed at the embarrassed look on your boyfriend’s face. His friends had plenty of embarrassing stories about him, so you had been swapping stories all night.

It was easy for the team to see how absolutely in love the two of you were. Even if they hadn’t been profilers, the looks you two shared were so obvious. What had surprised them was how open Spencer was to your touch. In fact, he was the one initiating most your contact. You had been prepared to control yourself for the sake of Spencer’s professionalism, but he didn’t seem to have the same thought. Any time he could, he would grab your hand or wrap his arms around you.

That was how you had gotten to be cuddled up next to him. After dinner, the party had moved outside. You had been heading for a seat in between Emily and Penelope when Spencer’s hand had reached out and grabbed yours, pulling you onto the outdoor sofa beside him. Not that you were complaining. So you had stayed like that the rest of the night, leaning comfortably into your boyfriend’s side.

A couple weeks later, you posted a picture that Penelope had taken of the two of like that onto your social medias. It was time to introduce the world to your boyfriend.

[jackdawyt]

With no time to waste, we have a tremendous news update on Dragon Age 4’s current iteration known as “Morrison”, as many development secrets were revealed in BioWare’s brand-new hardcover book of “Stories and Secrets from 25 Years of Game Development.”

A lot of the questions that we’ve all been asking over the past few years, finally have an answer, all thanks to this book. I will be delving into all of the Dragon Age 4-related content in this book; however, I wholeheartedly advise you pick up the book for yourself because it is filled to the brim with insights, information and behind-the-scenes reveals on every BioWare game to this date.  

It’s full of so many captivating, inspiring and amazing stories that showcase BioWare’s incredible journey over the past 25 years.  

In any regard, we’ve got a lot to get into, so leaving no stone unturned, we’ve got some updates regarding Dragon Age: Morrison, the current-rebooted project code name of the next Dragon Age game.

Morrison:

Along with this amazing retro-styled font of Morrison’s code name - that I’m totally going to use in future videos and thumbnails - we actually have a small plot synopsis on this working title.  

It reads as followed: “Tevinter Bound – a sneak peek at the follow-up to Inquisition.”  

“As BioWare entered its twenty-fifth year, the Dragon Age team was hard at work on Morrison, the code name of the long-awaited follow-up to Dragon Age: Inquisition. The game, helmed by executive producer Mark Darrah, will take players to Tevinter as events of Inquisition and Trespasser threaten to forever change Thedas.”

We’re going to Tevinter! Of course, we already knew that based on Trespasser’s ending, Tevinter Nights, and the developers already hinting that, but it is still very nice to see hear that in a plot outline.  

In addition, the most interesting factor about this synopsis, is that for the first time BioWare have confirmed that “Morrison” is indeed the code name for the current Dragon Age project, which outrightly confirms that Jason Scheirer’s Kotaku article on “The Past & Present of Dragon Age 4” carries merit and truth to it, meaning that we can indeed trust the entire contents of Jason’s article.  

Regardless, sticking with the 80’s retro theme, BioWare staff have themed shirts for the project, and they look absolutely amazing. Please, BioWare Gear Store release these one day, if at all possible, these designs are so good!  

The book then goes on to show very familiar concept art that was showcased within the Gamescom behind-the-scenes trailer, however, this time, we have actual descriptions on each of the art pieces, and what they’re portraying. So, we don’t need to spend another 40 minutes speculating about what the pieces could show.  

The underwater shot which we assumed to be Isabela accompanied by what looks like Dorian with a sword, an undead and a female dwarf, appears to showcase the Lords of Fortune, a newly-introduced faction within Tevinter Nights. 

The synopsis says:  

“Where there’s treasure, there’s adventurers braving death to get it. The Lords of Fortune are always on the hunt for treasure-wherever it may be.”

The next shot, which I speculated it as Tevinter’s capital city Minrathous, has a synopsis that says:  

“The glittering hubs of Thedas are beacons of civilization and bulwarks against the night.”

Following that, we have the mysterious Antivan Crow lady concept art with the synopsis:  

“The Antivan Crows have perfected theatrical assassinations. The Antivan Crows are celebrated for their mastery of stylish slaying.”

And then we have a most recognisable mural, one that many of us have spent way too long staring at, tinfoiling over its endless possibilities. The synopsis of The Dread Wolf Rises concept piece says:  

“One of Nick Thornborrow’s beautiful paintings showing an old friend with a shadowy threat!”

Following that, we have Nevarra’s undead operating on a dragon, with the synopsis saying:  

“From their Necropolis, the Mourn Watch guard Thedas from occult threats”

And then we have – hold on, what’s this, a new piece of concept art? Roll on the tinfoil, I’ll read the synopsis first and then we can go from there, as it states:  

“The Deep Roads teem with evils both new and old, known and unknowable.”

I won’t spend ages delving into a single piece of concept art, but we can see the Deep Roads with plenty of light coming from the surface. It’s a beautiful shot, that I’m sure is building a mood for potential locations in the next game.  

The final concept art piece shown is one from the trailer, however, it’s not cut-off anymore. When it once looked like an evil Cetus, it now reveals something even more wicked than a sea dragon... A figure with multiple arms, red eyes, a curved headpiece, holding a spear. Is this an ancient God? Could it be Ghilan’nain? A Lovecraftian sea-hybrid-monster? Or is it just a crazy idea thrown together by a concept artist, because why not?  

The synopsis is the most intriguing and provides a further context for the next Dragon Age game:

“The Evil Gods have Thedas in their sights and only heroes can stop them. The shadows of the past stir, and new heroes must rise to fight them.”

There are many “gods” in Dragon Age, the Old Gods, the Elven Gods, the Maker, the Titans, etc. You could certainly consider each of them to be evil too, but on a whim, with the whole “shadows of the past stir.” I’m sure this synopsis is referring to the Elven Gods, given Solas’s scheme that will return the Evanuris to Thedas once more.  

Taking my tinfoil hat off for a moment, this book expertly describes concept art stages relating to BioWare, and I need to touch on what exactly these pieces could mean going forward, because they most certainly could just be conceptual drawings without much context for the next game.  

The book quotes Dragon Age 2’s development regarding concept art, saying:

“In the early stages of any project, before the concept artists are aware of any writing, they like to just draw what they think cool story moments could be. It’s not unusual for the team to then be inspired by those drawings and fold them into the game as the project progresses.”

And, even further than that, Matt Rhodes, who is the Art Director of the next Dragon Age spoke a few words regarding Dragon Age: Inquisition’s conceptual art stages:  

“As multiple teams worked on their corners of Inquisition, lead concept artist Matt Rhodes spent weeks creating images to help solidify and drive a vision of what the game could be.”

“It was partly to encourage and remind myself of what the potential of this project could be,” Matt says. “We all imagine the finished game. I wanted to get that on paper, to remind everyone we are making something that could be pretty cool.”

So, while we’re all so excited to see these amazing concept designs and imagery, and we love to correlate it all to the next game, remember that these designs are very early work building a vision for the next game, they’re just being used to represent what idealistically the developers would like the game to end up like, or what insane ideas the concept artists have for the game.  

Many of these ideas won’t turn out in the final product, but it’s still so nice to see this work already.  

Wolf Rook Book:  

Moving on, we can put an end to a five-year mystery, we finally have answers on that enigmatic red “Wolf-Rook" book that Mark Darrah has teased for half a decade.  

One of my first ever videos on this channel was delving into the early pages of this book, back then I had a hunch that this book was the next Dragon Age game’s early concepts and designs, like a shiny development doc for the team.  

And I was on the right tracks, as followed:  

“The book was an internal guide for developer and publisher eyes only that summarized the vision for Dragon Age: Inquisition’s follow-up, a project code-named Joplin. The Joplin project has since been revised to such an extent that its code name changed to Morrison, but the red book still contains plenty of ideas likely to appear in the next Dragon Age. While most pages remain highly classified, here are a few Mark said we can publish.”

There’s a small description of The Qunari with some other concept shots, the paragraph reads as followed:

“The Qunari are followers of a religious text of principles known as the Qun. Though Qunari may be of any race, most are part of a race of large humanoids with horns.”  

“For ages the Qunari have proven a formidable opponent to the rest of Thedas, almost conquering the continent until a united force of every Chantry nation pushed them back into a tense stalemate. Recent events have reignited the Qunari offensive, however, and their forces are in open conflict with the Tevinter Imperium, while their spies and agents are active in every nation.”  

And at the bottom we have a Creatures double-spread page with different concepts very similar to those seen in Inquisition, the paragraph reads as followed:

“Animals, monsters and misplaced magical experiments: creatures stir apart from the conflicts and machinations flowing across the continent. Creatures range from the lowly nug up to the ultimate apex predator, the dragon. The next Dragon Age will feature our widest and most varied set of creatures to date. While often quite simple in implementation, creatures provide variety through differentiated animation and appearance.”

So, “Wolf-Rook” is still relevant, somewhat confirming that the work that went into Joplin, may cross over into Morrison, which is very exciting because Joplin’s vision for a Dragon Age title sounded amazing, so to hear aspects of that work pouring into this new project is absolutely fabulous. I had a hunch that the red book was still valuable to the current project, because we’ve seen a lot of “Wolf-Rook” teased this year, Mark Darrah has not stopped showing off his stash of red books. So, I’m very glad it’s here to stay for the current iteration.  

Dragon Age Week:

Next up, we have an update to a story I talked about in March of this year, Mark Darrah teased a picture of his laptop with the BioWare Slack server shown at the bottom of his screen.

One of the channel-titles within the server was one by the name of “DA Week”, and thanks to this book, we know what “Dragon Age Week” actually is:  

“Dragon Age Week is a five-day period during which members of the Dragon Age team can pursue creative projects that in some way benefit Dragon Age. The work done during DA Week, and its erstwhile cousin DA Fridays, sometimes found its way into releases.”  

“The giants in Inquisition came out of a Dragon Age Week,” executive producer Mark Darrah says. “We also had a board game made that we were going to put into Inquisition, but we just didn’t have time to. It’s referenced. It’s a dwarven chess.”

So, I do wonder what kind of ideas have come out of Dragon Age Week recently that has then ended up in the next Dragon Age. Hopefully, one day we’ll have a new book that tells us Dragon Age 4’s secrets and we can visit this topic.  

New BioWare Vision:  

Moving on to the final major update, thanks to this book, we have a greater understanding about the vision BioWare have going forward. According to General Manager, Casey Hudson and Dragon Age, Narrative Director, John Epler.  

Casey Hudson spoke on the “old” BioWare and how their changing paths to a “newer” BioWare:  

“We can’t go back to where we’ve been,” Casey Hudson says, now the studio’s general manager. “The way that we worked, all of those stories and the crunch and eating pizza for six weeks straight and all that kind of stuff, as fun and memorable as it was at the time, those things won’t work for where we’re going.” 

As BioWare grows, Casey says it must learn better ways to work while still embodying the values laid out by Drs. Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk.  

“It starts with the ones that were there at the very beginning with Greg and Ray of humility and integrity,” he says, “Those are super important.”

Other pillars include a passion for excellence and courageous creativity.  

“We used to exemplify this not because we were courageous, but because we didn’t know better. We would try things and fail and try something else until we got it right, and it was very experimental. But what can happen is, once you do know the consequences of failure, you can very easily start retreating. And at that point, it actually does take courage to put yourself out there and try something new.”  

Casey says. “We’re not super young and inexperienced anymore. We do know better, but we still have to try and do some crazy stuff anyway.”

John Epler shared on the change going on within BioWare:  

“I am excited for what the future holds. I think BioWare is changing. I think we’re at a crossroads where we can either accept that and move into the new BioWare, or we can try to cling to the past. We have to be respectful of our origins without being constrained by them. It’s an exciting time and I’m really looking forward to what the next five years brings.”

“’I’m one of those people who is probably going to be here until they have to literally wheel my desiccated corpse out of the building, because I love working here and I love the people I work with and I love getting to come into work every day to have long, detailed conversations about how eluvians work.”

All in all, I’m incredibly excited and optimistic for BioWare’s future, they’re aware of their flaws, while knowing what makes them great. They seek to humble themselves, while changing direction, they want to avoid crunch while being experimental. I think we’re going to see the company bloom when they inevitably release the next Dragon Age, and I am totally here for that.  

Dragon Age Day

Before I leave you, Dragon Age Day is quickly approaching, and it seems BioWare have plans this year. EA Community Manager, Jay Ingram tweeted about fans asking questions for the Dragon Age team, in prep for plans on Dragon Age Day. I’ll link the tweet down below, so you can ask as many questions as you’d like! It seems that BioWare may stream on Dragon Age Day, so do watch out for that, and give them a follow on their Twitch, also linked down below:

https://twitter.com/JayKingIngram/status/1325197450907275264

https://www.twitch.tv/bioware

Regardless, this is where we part ways. There was so much that this book uncovered, I highly recommended picking It up for yourself, it’s truly worth it to any BioWare fan. There was also some future Mass Effect stuff, but I’m saving that for a future video that I’ll do at the start of the new year. And I most likely will do future videos on other topics revealed in this book.  

[lollercakesff]

And They Were Strangers

Jyn Erso has been prepping for this for months. Years even, if you count the endless hours she'd spent running pools and hosting watch nights with her college roommates. She'd choreographed hundreds of dollars in auctions for remaining teams and had led multiple nights where her and her friends cooked their way around the world with the country of the week. The memories were great, sure, but to say she didn't feel a connection with this path in her life would be a lie. Something drew her in, tied her up, and convinced her that this - this - was the thing she needed to do before she died.

And now it was time. She was ready. Mentally… Physically… Hopefully.

AN: Will I finish writing this? I have a plan... But is it worth my time?

But the path to her next adventure was currently being blocked by some too-tall goon with haphazard hair and piercing dark eyes who kept getting in her way. First at check in, then in line for security, and now at the boarding gate. They’d practically been together, crossing paths and crashing each other, since she entered this damn airport and it was starting to really get to her. 

"Are you planning on getting on this plane or just standing in the way?" Jyn growls under her breath when the man doesn't move forward with the gate agent's call.

"What - Oh," he leaps forward a step and hustles towards the woman, pulling his passport from his pocket as Jyn sighs and checks her papers again. 

Her new American passport feels heavy in her hand, its empty pages a sign of things to come. She was on her way to Los Angeles where she was scheduled to show up at her first and only briefing for the next season of the Amazing Race. The producers had promised a full day of orientation covering the rules of the race and how the team match up would work before the "trip of a lifetime" began the next day. She was trying not to stress about it but she didn't quite know what she was getting into. 

This was the first season where every team in the race would be a set of strangers. They'd all meet at the briefing but it wouldn't be until the start of the race when they'd learn who their partner was. The producers had billed it as the season of 'fate' where they tried to pick a winning team by pure dumb luck with names drawn from a hat. Or so she'd been told. Who knew how it would really work.

"Next!" The agent calls and Jyn scurries forward, passing her documents over and brushing her bangs from her face. In another second she's motioned through and she's heading down the gangway and onto the plane. 

When she gets to her seat her frustration returns tenfold as the man from before has settled himself in her seat by the window, his seatbelt already clipped and his attention turned towards the action on the tarmac. 

"Hey, you're in my seat," she greets, stuffing her duffle in the overhead bin.

"F? Window?" He answers with an almost-accent and a quirk to his lips. Jyn frowns and steps into the row to let the people behind her pass.

"Yes. That's my seat, can you move please?" 

"I was sure I had the window, I feel claustrophobic if I can't see out - "

"Yeah, I'm sure. Can you check your boarding pass?" She asks, cutting his sob story off before it can even get started. 

"Can't I just have it this one time? It's a short flight," he answers, making no move to relent. Jyn sighs and drops into the seat next to him, her eyes closing tight as she urges the irritation to ease. 

"Fine. But this is bad karma and I hope it comes back to bite you in the ass, asshole," she grumbles the last part, determined to insult him but not loud enough to cause a scene. The man coughs as if to hide a laugh and Jyn hates him even more, pulling up her hood and taking out her headphones.

She was going to spend the next two hours in a music haven, mentally far from this man and the constant bumping of her elbow that came from sitting in the aisle row. Soon she'd be in LA at her hotel and then she'd be on to a new country, with a new language and culture that she'd have to work with to get her team to the finish line. Then she’d do it again and again until they won. Or they lost. She didn't like to think about that last possibility so instead she closes her eyes and hits play.

---

The hotel bed is more luxurious than anything she's ever slept in in her life and when she wakes it's with a curse as she realizes she's almost late to the briefing. Hustling around the room, she nearly crashes onto the floor when her pants get tangled and she loses her balance. Cursing out her alarm, her beautiful sleep, and the time difference, Jyn pulls on her t-shirt just as she pulls open her door and slams into someone walking past her room.

"Shit, sorry!” She gasps as she rights herself and pulls back. When she looks up it’s to find the man from the plane. The one who wouldn’t give her back her seat. The one who’d been a pain in the ass all day. “You!” The man’s eyes widen and he looks around him like he’s being Punk’d, surprise in his brow. 

“From the plane?” He counters, as if he was still struggling to place her. 

“Yeah. What, are you following me? How did you know to find me here?” Jyn growls, crossing her arms. The man cocks his head and furrows his brow, looking at her as though she was crazy. 

“Follow you? I’m here for… A thing that has nothing to do with you. If anything, I’d think you’re stalking me,” he adds sharply. Jyn scowls and shakes her head, her watch beeping with her five minute alarm. 

“Sure. Fine, whatever. I won’t be here long enough to have this happen again. Have a good life!” She shouts as she hurries off down the hall, her hand flung up into the air and her middle finger pointed towards him. 

She takes the stairs down to the conference room because getting stuck in the elevator with that jerk would put her nerves over the edge, their already frayed status from the late wakeup making her more punchy than usual. By the time she barrels into the room and grabs a plate of the breakfast, the producer is calling everyone to a seat. 

Jyn moves towards an empty chair and begins measuring up her fellow racers, her eyes drifting over one person and then the next as they settle in a semi-circle around the speaker. Some of them were incredibly fit, others a bit paunchy but she figured they could probably take her in a memory challenge or two if it came down to it. Most of them were on the younger side, maybe in their twenties or thirties, though there were a few who easily slotted into their fifties at the very least. She didn’t want to be ageist but she secretly hoped she’d get paired with someone who could keep up with her at the very least and she didn’t really peg any of these older folks as marathoners. 

“Welcome, good morning everyone!” A young woman calls out, drawing their attention to the front of the room. Jyn sits up and nimbles on a muffin, trying to look intimidating to the others around her who she assumed were doing the measuring up as she had just been. 

“You’re in my seat,” a voice says over her shoulder. Jyn’s stomach drops and she frowns, looking back to find the man from the airplane and the hallway standing behind her. “Don’t worry though, I’m not going to make you move, I’ll just take this empty one here.” 

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” Jyn hisses, clenching her hands and nearly crushing her muffin to pieces. 

“Nope,” he responds as he sits in the chair next to her. An insult is on the tip of her tongue when the woman calls out again and really takes control of the room, beginning with a welcome spiel before moving right into the security briefing. After the team has explained every terrifying aspect about the world in explicit detail, Jyn looks around the room and finds half of the contestants with a concerned look on their faces, the other half grinning wickedly at the challenge. Beside her the man keeps his expression reserved though his eyes are calculating, the look making her guess whether he was regretting his choice or simply bored. 

After the welcome session, they’re broken up into groups of four and are led to a table in the corner of the room. Jyn sighs a breath of relief as the man is placed in another group, his presence finally dissipating and allowing her to focus on the tasks at hand instead of the prickling skin she felt whenever he was close. 

Hours pass and the contestants are moved around the room to different stations where they focus on different aspects of the game. There’s logic tests and geography quizzes which she passes with flying colours but when it comes to the language skills and memory games she flounders, her attention twisting towards her fellow contestants. She spends half the time trying to measure up where they stand on these activities, who would be best suited to the way she wanted to run this race. 

Her strategy - based on years of watching the show - was to run with brute force. She would power through on the physical challenges and when it came to figuring out a puzzle she was set. She just needed a partner who would be able to keep up and rush into everything just as hard. Smarts weren’t what won you the race, it was being able to push your way through anything and she had trained to do just that. 

“Everyone now has an hour for lunch. Feel free to get to know each other and remember, these folks might be your competition or they might just be the person you cross that finish line with!” The producer from earlier calls as the stations are closed and the participants are left to loiter in the room. 

Jyn feels like she’s in a social experiment as she beelines towards the food table to take a plate. She loads it up with everything she’s going to miss for the next few weeks - caesar salad and french fries and pasta salad that looked too delicious to miss. When she settles at a table she’s quickly joined by a handful of others, the conversation easily picking up from the morning activities.

“I’m Bodhi Rook, you?” The man sitting next to her says around a forkful of salad. Jyn looks him over quickly and notes his tall frame and long hair, his thin frame and open expression. He could be a good partner - she’d seen him race through some of the challenges with an efficiency she admired. 

“Jyn Erso,” she answers, lifting her hand to offer a shake. Bodhi takes it and squeezes it before turning back to his food, diving in as she looks around the table at the others. “You heard anything about how we’re going to be assigned teams?” She asks after a few minutes, her water lifting to her lips. 

“Not really. My group thought maybe the stations were to see where our strengths were so they could match us up better. But I was also told it would be a name in a hat, so who knows what they’re planning.” 

“Yeah, I heard the hat thing too. I hope there’s a little more thought put into it,” she responds with a shrug. Bodhi nods and lets a laugh escape. 

“Either way, I think I’ll be okay. I just like the adventure of it, you know? Don’t really need to win the whole thing,” he says around another bite. 

Jyn frowns and looks at her food, debating internally whether she could be paired with someone who didn’t want to win the whole race. If she had to admit it - though she’d never say it on camera - she wasn’t here just because she liked the show and wanted to see the world. 

She was here because she needed the prize money. 

The thought creeps up on her and she pushes it back down, stuffing it into her chest like too many clothes in a carry on bag. She didn’t have time to think about it now, not when she should be sizing up her competition and thinking about U-Turn and Yield strategy. No. She needed to focus. 

“What about everyone else?” Bodhi asks the table when Jyn still doesn’t respond. She turns her attention to the people around them, listening as first a bright eyed Luke Skywalker and a gruff Baze Malbus explain their motivations before moving on to Leia Organa, a beautiful but strategic thinker, and her cocky puppy-dog-tail for-the-day Han Solo easily admits he’s only here for the money. Jyn can’t help but think he might be her real competition if they don’t get paired together, the gleam of a quick buck in his eyes adding to his boisterous energy. 

Taking another glance around the room, Jyn weighs the rest of her competition as they sit at two other tables. Sixteen racers in total, all with different motivations and experiences that they bring to the table. They’d be eight teams and the producers had all but guaranteed it would be a tough race with all of them having secret strengths that were admitted in their bio videos. Jyn can’t remember what hers ss but by the time she turns back to the conversation at hand, she already knows one thing is for sure - she’s going to win, even if it kills her. 

After lunch they’re broken off into individual briefing rooms where they’re given their racing issued equipment and a final check in with the producers before they’re sent off to their rooms to pack. In the morning they’ll all be meeting in the lobby to hand over their backpacks before heading to the starting line. 

When the race starts their first activity will be finding their matched backpack with a coloured bandana tied to it. The racer with the matching bandana will be their partner for the duration and it will either be a successful match or a story of just how quickly Jyn can crash and burn their team. 

Throughout the evening she tries not to think about it - pushing away thoughts of how hectic tomorrow would be, how much adrenaline is already rolling in her veins and just how is she supposed to sleep tonight? To distract herself she focuses on potential strategies depending on who she paired with in the morning. Baze could work, or she’d even probably be successful with Han if they didn’t rip each other's heads off. Bodhi would be a great candidate - he seemed relaxed and competent, but Jyn didn’t like that he wasn’t driven by the final prize so much as he just wanted to have an adventure. 

No, she could pair with most of the people she’d met that morning. With the very real exception of the man from the plane who she’d learned was named Cassian Andor. There was no way they would be able to work together to even get out of the States, their partnership tanking before they even took their first flight. She was sure of it. And so when she falls asleep that night it’s to the thought that she had a one in fifteen chance of failing and those were pretty good odds. 

---

Morning comes in a rush of excitement and insanity and a paranoia that she’s forgotten something even though she’s checked her bags at least a dozen times. When she gets to the lobby, the assistants take her old bags and mark them with her tags before collecting her race bag and shoving it onto a luggage cart with the other packs. She’s directed to a holding queue where the racers mill about, snacking on the continental breakfast and filling their water bottles. 

Twenty minutes later and they’re piled onto a bus. Thirty minutes later and they’re being placed around an empty field with only the production crew circling them and a pile of luggage in the center of the field. Jyn thinks she spots her bag with a blue tag and she grins, looking around at the nervous faces she was up against. 

“You’ve got this,” she whispers to herself as Phil Keoghan begins his speech from near the luggage pile. Adrenaline spikes in her blood and then there’s a horn and she’s racing forward, scrambling for the luggage pile and her bag with its bandana looped through the arm. She pulls it free and stumbles back, looking around at the other racers as they take in their own colours, desperately looking for their partner. 

Not Bodhi. Not Baze. Fuck, not even Han. She scours the faces and colours until she sees it - blue, like hers! She steps forward, her smile widening having finally found her partner. 

But then she looks up. And her eyes meet her partner’s. 

Dark brown meeting green.

Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck.

“Guess you’re stuck with someone with bad karma,” he says evenly, the nerve of it making her want to pull her hair out. She curses again and grabs for his arm, dragging him towards the clue box for their next instructions. They didn’t have time to waste on pleasantries and witty comebacks, not if they wanted to win. 

She could do this. Brute force was all it would take, right?