#(i don't think i'm being TOO mean to poor Jam)

[gillianthecat]

Not putting my judgmental-ness on that last gifset reblog ('cause that's rude), but this WOULD have been in my tags:

Sorry to Jam, and I love him, and he's beautiful, but if you look at the gifs where you can see HIS face it's the most dead fish kiss to ever barely make contact, but then if you look at the next gif with FILM'S face, it's like, that must have been the most scorching hot, erotic as fuck kiss in the history of cinema and now I've got to go fan myself.

[woniverse-writes]

"Moth to a Flame (part 6)"

Bada Lee x Reader

part 5 ⟵ part 6 ⟶ part 7

series masterlist

summary: y/n l/n is the youngest team member of Jam Republic, competing in the second season of Street Woman Fighter. she’s got the sweetest smile and the most vibrant personality, but she also may or may not be the biggest hothead on the show when it comes to defending her teammates. apparently that’s attractive to Bada Lee.

word count: 12k

warnings: swearing, angst, mentions of depression anxiety disorder, mentions of medication, not proofread, nothing i write is a reflection of anyone's true character and is a work of total fiction

It had been almost a week since the interim mission check. Almost a week since 1 million was estimated to place first. A week since Jam Republic began preparing themselves for elimination. A week since Bada and Y/n fought… a week since the two had last spoken.

After the screaming match between the two girls and y/n making her exit with a slam of team Bebe's dressing room door, the younger headed to her own dressing room bawling her eyes out. Her teammates didn't immediately question anything as she stormed in and began to aggressively pack up the few things she had brought back for the day. Audrey made her way over to place a gentle hand on her shoulder

"y/n-" but was immediately swatted away by the still-crying girl. y/n immediately turned around with regret written all over her face

"I'm so sorry- I didn't- I didn't mean to push you away" she sobbed with wide eyes, shaking her head, trying to convince her friend that she didn't mean it, but Audrey already knew that. Audrey knew Y/n.

"hey, hey! It's okay, I know you didn't mean to…" she comforted the girl, bringing her into a hug. This time the younger girl let her friend wrap her in a warm hug. She buried her face in Audrey's chest and bawled her eyes out until she felt too tired to carry on.

"Is something else bothering you lovey?" Kirsten asked gently from somewhere in the corner. Y/n looked up slightly confused, which is when she realized they had no idea what just happened. She began to cry all over again, this time just weeping exhaustedly. I don't even think you could call it crying- more so just her looking sad as tears freely ran down her face. It took her a few minutes before she could even begin to explain, but when she did it wasn’t any easier.

“I got into an argument with Bada… well- it was actually a really bad fight, and- and I totally fucked everything up” Poor girl could barely finish her sentence, as she hiccuped her way through it before she started sobbing and heaving again. Everyone in the room shared looks of shock and confusion, all rushing closer to comfort their youngest. Audrey already had her hand rubbing circles softly on Y/n’s back while Emma sat on the other side rubbing her shoulder, and the oldest three kneeled/sat in front of her.

“I’m so sorry my sweet girl… do you wanna tell us about it?” Kirsten being the wonderful leader and friend she is, did not hesitate one second before openly trying to comfort y/n. The youngest sniffled and hiccuped a bit more while trying to nod.

“Y-yeah, just give me a-a few minutes, p-please” y/n shakily pleaded as her sobs picked back up. After about ten minutes of crying, she was pretty sure there was nothing left in her. Latrice had gotten up to get her water a few minutes ago and now was forcing her to drink it seeing as y/n had been able to calm down.

“Take your time baby, you don’t have to tell us everything- you don’t even have to tell us anything if you don’t want to!” Ling reassured her little bestie and made sure y/n still remembered how safe she was with Jam Republic.

“No, it’s okay- I want you guys to know… I just- I don’t even know where to start or how to retell this…or if I even have the energy to do so right now…” the youngest countered, wanting just to tell her members what happened and get it out of the way so she could begin suppressing it, but her eyes began to droop and her voice got soft, both being immediate signs of her exhaustion. And on any other day, or in any other situation her members would find it quite endearing, but they can’t help but feel crushed at the sight.

“Why don’t we finish packing- after the flight, you’ll have rested a bit, and if you’re feeling up to once we’ve landed you can explain the whole situation to us then. If not, that’s okay too.” Latrice gently spoke up, reminding everyone that they had a flight to leave for in just under an hour and a half. Y/n sniffled and nodded, slowly standing up. Everyone immediately backed away slightly to give her enough space, then watched as she lifelessly moved around the space, finishing packing her things. It sincerely shocked them to see her this way, thinking it was already pretty bad how she was acting before they showed up- and that was when they WEREN’T paying attention to her. Y/n was never good at hiding her feelings unless it was when she was dancing or performing- when she was putting on a show- so to see her so sluggish and empty really scared the five other members of Jam Republic.

“This is going to be a long, hard fucking week…” Emma noted, the others either nodding or tiredly humming in agreement.

________________

“Do you wanna talk about any of it?” Lusher tried her best not to pry- not that she would've had to pry much anyway since she heard the whole thing- but she wanted to hear how Bada was feeling with the aftermath. The leader just sighed deeply once again with her elbows resting on her knees, hunched over as she laid her head in her hands.

Bada felt nauseous. She felt dizzy, like the room was spinning and her ears were ringing. To be completely honest, there was a possibility she would pass out at any moment. None of what had just happened in the last- what? 20 minutes? Was it longer than that? Hell, was it shorter? Bada really had no clue, but none of what had happened in that time felt real to her.

“I don’t know Lusher…” the leader finally mumbled, still hunched over. It was quiet and meek, sounding exhausted. The sub-leader glanced around at her teammates whose faces were all some sort of variation of fear or anxiety, She sighed and crossed her arms before speaking up again

“Well, then how about we get some rest? Maybe afterward you’ll want to talk about it, or maybe you won’t- either way, we’ll be here…” She firmly stated, knowing how tired everyone was and how sleep easily played a role in how well they felt. The leader took a huge breath, her members watching had her shoulders rose and fell. Bada stood up with her head still hanging low. The other girls moved out of the way and watched as the oldest started groggily packing up her things and sat back down on the couch with an empty look when she finished.

“I’m ready when you guys are.”

____________

The first day back in New Zealand was just another segment added to the nightmare that Jam Republic has been living in these last few days. Y/n slept the whole plane ride but woke up with a very minor fever and headache. She just chalked it up to crying so much and getting so world up.

“I promise it’s fine Kirsten, I'm probably just dehydrated-” 

“Which still isn’t good! Even if that’s the case, it’s not something to treat lightly, y/n. And since I know you’re lying it’s even more serious to me… I need you to try your best to take care of yourself right now love, we need you.” she dragged the youngest over to some airport market and grabbed two waters and a bottle of juice. Kirsten glanced over her shoulder and saw eyeing up some snacks, but didn’t end up grabbing them. When the younger walked away to look at something else, the leader moved to grab whatever she was looking at. The bright colorful packaging with cute designs made her smile. It was obviously a very y/n-like treat- some sort of sweet gummies with a sour sugar coating. She grabbed two of them and got a savory snack as well, knowing how stubborn her youngest is and how hard on herself she can get.

When all of their luggage had been picked up, all six members of Jam Republic headed back to their hotel. y/n lay with her head against the cool glass of the window, not quite asleep but definitely not mentally present. Everyone was already worried from what had happened the previous day, but it seemed like something different was the issue now. Y/n didn’t only seem depressed anymore- she seemed physically ill.

By the time they arrived at their place, Emma was the first to offer y/n help, which she obviously declined. Yet Emma still took her heavier bags, and y/n didn’t even have the energy to complain. The older carried them up for her as she dragged behind the rest of the group. Audrey, noticing how out of it her best friend was, circled back around to meet y/n in the back of the clump

“You not feeling too good, bunny?” the slightly older brunette questioned with eyes full of concern, and a mouth of whatever candy bar she was munching on. Y/n actually felt herself smile a bit at how endearing her friend was. still, she sighed and nodded, which of course Audrey didn’t believe.

“I really don’t get why you feel like you have to lie about it…” the elder mumbled, kicking a rock while they walked. Great, now I made Audrey upset. y/n frowned and sighed deeply

“It’s just easier to deal with it by myself… it’s exhausting having to explain why I feel the way I do, especially when I don’t even understand it half the time… I wanna tell you guys, I promise I do, but it would drag the team down so much, Audrey…”

“Why do you say that? Because we’d have to take time to discuss what’s wrong? Because we’d have to stop working and focus on you for a second?”

“No Audrey it’s not-”

“Oh so then it’s because we care about you and we’d do anything for you in a heartbeat and you don’t wanna accept that you have people that sincerely love you? You don’t wanna accept that you really are a loveable amazing person who doesn’t deserve to be talked to or treated like that?” Audrey pointed off somewhere in the direction they had just come from, seething as she finished. this was the first time y/n had ever seen the girl as angry as she was, but she couldn’t help but feel confused

“How… how do you know what she said?” y/n tilted her head and awaited her friend’s response with said eyes. Audrey hesitated for a second, feeling like she’d said too much, but sighed and began speaking again

“Lusher told Latrice… well- Latrice and me. I still want to hear everything from you though- I want to know how you’re processing all this and how it felt for you because while she seemed neutral, there could just as easily be things Lusher left out in favor of Bada.” she quickly explained, hoping she hadn’t betrayed the other girl’s trust by getting the story from someone else first.

“Lusher didn’t seem… mad? Wait- how does she know? Did Bada really tell them everything already? I mean I guess that makes sense since-” her mumbled external pondering was cut off

“They heard everything…” the older of the two once again spoke hesitantly, unsure of how the other would react. y/n just glanced over, slightly dazed

“Huh?” Audrey let out a breath she didn’t even realize she was holding, then continued explaining.

“Lusher said their entire team was just around the corner while you guys were arguing, and they could hear everything…” she trailed off at the end, cringing slightly at how bad the entire situation was. Y/n sighed and closed her eyes, feeling another wave of headaches coming

“Great, now all of team Bebe hates me…”

“You don’t know that!” Audrey was simply trying to be her optimistic self, and she couldn’t help but giggle when the slightest bit of normal y/n showed through the depression when she gave her older friend an over-exaggerated deadpan look. The two finally reached their shared room and began unpacking the few things they had. After doing so, the girls all quickly washed up and got changed, then headed to practice.

Practice had gone well for the most part- the first half was reworking practically everything and adding more to make the choreography stand out more. The second half was just drilling everything until it was muscle memory, or at least close to it. Everyone could tell y/n wasn’t feeling well. It didn’t show in her dance, but definitely on her face as she looked miserable every time they finished.

“Why don’t you take a break hon-” Emma tried convincing her with a gentle hand on her shoulder, to which y/n loosely pushed it away

“Em, I’m fine” she whined and moaned, tired of having everyone baby her for the day. The older stood there for a moment before sighing and shaking her head, then walking off. The rest of the practice went the same, and everyone finished wrapping things up around 12:45 am. 

Later that evening (or morning rather) after practice had ended and all of Jam Republic had returned to their hotel, y/n started throwing up and her fever increased severely, ending her up in the ER at 2 am with Kirsten and Ling, the others being told to stay back and get some rest.

“After running some tests and talking with her, it just seems like a stress fever, which thankfully means there’s nothing physically wrong- well besides some dehydration, but we have her on an IV for right now- However, whatever is causing the girl so much stress should probably be taken out of her life immediately…” the doctor sternly informed the two oldest members of Jam Republic. They both just looked at each other, not really knowing what to do, seeing as their poor baby’s stress was unavoidable right now unless she were to completely drop from the challenge, and maybe even the entire competition as a whole.

“We’re actually a part of a competition right now… we want her to rest but- we need her to be able to compete with us. Is there anything we can do to speed up the recovery?” Ling spoke before her friend could, the desperate tone already taking over her voice. The doctor sighs and takes off his glasses.

“We could try putting her on an anti-anxiety medication to see if that helps… but it really would be the most ideal to let her rest as much as possible in a low-stress environment.”

“A low-stress environment isn’t really possible right now. And- she’s actually already on something for anxiety and depression, would she even be allowed to do that?” at Kirsten’s question the doctor looks slightly confused

“Has she not been taking the medication recently? Because when we ran the tests to see if there was something in her system, we found no traces of drugs, alcohol, or any substances…” The two dancers once again looked at each other, having a silent conversation.

“Would we be able to see her?” the leader asks softly, to which the doctor nods and leads them to y/n’s room. He opens the door and they find her lying there staring off into space, barely awake.

“Hey honey… is it alright if we come in?” Kirsten asked as softly as she could while still wanting the girl to hear her. Y/n nodded wordlessly and closed her eyes. The two oldest Jam Republic members came and sat near her hospital bed and after a few minutes of conversation with the doctor, it was just the three of them in the room. 

“Sweetheart…” the leader brushed some hair out of y/n’s face and watched as her eyes fluttered open

“Did you hear any of that?” She finished and furrowed her brows, unsure of how aware of her surroundings the younger was. Y/n shook her head and matched Kirsten’s expression

“They’re gonna keep you here overnight to make sure you get enough hydration before going back, okay?” She kept brushing away stray hairs and petting them down softly against y/n’s head, lulling her to sleep. There was a slight nod of understanding. Kirsten stood up and y/n quickly (as quickly as she could) reached out to grab her hand

“Please stay… at least one of you… can at least one of you please stay with me” the youngest pleaded in a pitiful whisper that made the older two’s hearts break all over again. This girl really was going to be the death of them all

“Of course honey, we’ll both stay” Ling reaches for her other hand pressing a motherly kiss to the back of it 

“I’m sorry… for slowing down the process and now dragging you guys into it… you should be getting good rest right now… not here with me… and here I am being selfish by asking you to stay… shocker…” It seemed like y/n was just mumbling whatever was coming to mind, yet tears were once again freely slipping down. Her eyes closed and wet eyelashes fluttered softly against her cheeks as she drifted off. The two sat there in slight shock, a bit taken aback by what she’d said. Both had wanted to say something and let her know how wrong she was- how while yes they should’ve been resting, it was more important to them that she was okay. After a few minutes of silence, Ling spoke up

“Why didn’t you tell her she can’t practice?”

“Because now is not the time to send her into a nervous breakdown… she’s barely even conscious, it’d probably give her a heart attack if I told her she wasn’t allowed to practice” the leader stressed and hung her head for a moment.

“We’re gonna have to ask her about her medication in the morning…” she sighed rubbing her forehead, causing Ling the groan softly so as not to disrupt the sleeping girl a few inches away

The next day Kirsten woke up first and told a half-asleep Ling she was going to grab breakfast for them. When she returned, it seemed the older had been awake for a bit and that y/n had just been waking up. The leader sat in the chair next to the hospital bed and handed everyone their food. y/n thanked her teammate quietly and they all began eating. After a few brief moments of silence and soft chewing, Kirsten spoke up

“So there are a few things we need to talk about…” she mentioned seriously, glancing up at y/n who was staring intensely at her food, but had stopped chewing for the moment.

“...like what?” the younger questioned and went back to cutting up her food to eat more.

“Like why you haven’t been telling us things… we need to know when you aren’t feeling well y/n or else we can’t help you-” Kirsten explained in a worried motherly tone but was quickly cut off 

“I don’t want you to have to help me-” the bedridden girl argued tiredly and sighed. There wasn’t any anger and she didn’t raise her voice in the slightest. She was just exhausted. 

“I should be able to take care of myself on my own. I’m an adult… i should start acting like one” y/n spoke everything loud and clear until the last phrase. She had mumbled the statement to herself, sinking back into her pillows and wallowing in pity again, but Ling and Kirsten both heard the self-deprecating callout. Every second that passed, the two eldest grew more and more worried about their youngest’s wellbeing 

“The doctors said they didn’t didn’t find any traces of anything in your system, which is good, but that also included your meds… did you forget to take them yesterday?” Ling questioned softly rubbing the back of the girl’s hand. Y/n once again goes completely silent, and avoids eye contact with an extremely guilty expression, which has both older members raising an eyebrow.

“Y/n… what’s up?” Kirsten pushed for a response, causing the younger dancer to sigh

“I haven’t been taking them regularly…” Y/n mumbled, fiddling with the blanket that laid over her lap, still avoiding eye contact.

“You haven’t been taking your meds???” “Y/n are you fucking kidding me? Since when?” both members started began outwardly stressing

“...since the second week of filming-”

“THAT WAS THREE AND A HALF MONTHS AGO-”

“Lingy, let’s not yell at her… I’m sure she had a reason…” Kirsten put a hand on her shoulder and the oldest sighed, they both turned expectantly to y/n, who felt immensely small in front of them for the first time in her entirety of knowing the two dancers.

“...they were making me tired” The youngest curled into her and cringed at the excuse, especially after seeing both women’s faces drop into disbelief.

“Are you serious right now?” Ling questioned with a deadpan expression her arms crossed. Y/n bit her lip and continued to play with her fingers.

“y/n…” Kirsten sighed as she closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose

“I started that new medication and it made it impossible for me to do anything! I was barely making it through those battles and the only thing keeping me going was the excitement and adrenaline-” The youngest tried to defend her reasoning but what cut off

“So you thought it was better to just take nothing? Why didn’t you say something to someone, or even just call your doctor and ask to go back-” This was the first time Kirsten even slightly raised her voice at y/n, and it wasn’t even at that point, but the small girl could feel the disappointment radiating off of her team leader, and she felt everything come crashing again.

“Because I didn’t want to go back to the other medication, it did nothing for me- I wouldn’t have switched in the first place if it worked!” she could feel herself getting worked up again, tears somehow still being able to form. She sighed and laid back in the hospital bed, actually crying this time instead of having tears judge freely fall down her face as she stared blankly.

“I know I shouldn’t have stopped taking them… but I just couldn’t do it. I thought I was doing fine…” y/n mumbled, wiping away tears and sniffling, feeling exhausted again.

“Y/n…” Kirsten started after taking a deep breath and hearing the younger girl’s hum of recognition 

“You can’t practice.”

“What…” barely came out as a whisper 

“You’re too stressed out right now, and your immune system is down… you aren’t eating or sleeping properly and you’re overworking yourself. You are literally killing yourself slowly… and for what? A stupid competition? Some girl?” she tried to keep her tone level and calm, but Kirsten couldn’t help the rise at the mention of the other team leader, hating her in that brief moment for being one of the reasons her poor baby was feeling this way

“If it’s so stupid Kirsten, then why are we here?” Y/n could feel herself getting frustrated again. This was exactly why no one took her seriously, because her team didn’t even take her seriously, or at least that’s what she thought. Kirsten let out what felt like the twelve hundredth sigh within the last 24 hours.

“They’re discharging you in about 20 minutes… you’re allowed to come to practice but it’s recommended that you don’t… the doctors said it’s best to keep you out of high-stress environments right now-“ 

“Yeah well, do they even know what’s going on?” so many things were happening in the moment. Y/n felt like she was going to combust and throw up and pass out all at once. She’d never spoken to Kirsten like this- fuck she’d never felt frustrated with Kirsten like this. 

“Yes y/n, we told them, and they still think it’s best for you to rest… at least for a little while” The leader’s tone was back to gentle, but it sounded just as tired as the younger girl’s. Y/n didn’t say anything as she sat in disbelief. The three sat in silence for the next few minutes until it was time for y/n to be discharged. She signed off on some documents and then the three were off. They decided to head back to the hotel first before meeting the others at the studio, wanting to change and all that since they’d all spent the night at the hospital in their pajamas. 

Y/n decided to stay back and get some more rest, finally giving in to her exhaustion. While they were glad she was taking their advice, Ling and Kirsten once again couldn’t help but feel their hearts hurt for their youngest members. It was always hard seeing each other go through tough times, but it usually never lasted this long or became this severe. It felt like there was nothing they could do to help her.

The youngest jam republic dancer napped and rested for about five hours after she had made her return to their hotel. After waking up she showered and got dressed and decided to head down to the studio. When y/n arrived she waved and greeted everyone politely with a gentle smile, shocking everyone at her appearance.

“I thought you weren’t coming today- you said you were gonna rest.” Kirsten separated herself from the group after telling them to keep practicing

“I did rest- but I couldn’t just sit there and do nothing… even if I don’t feel well I should still come and watch to make sure I’m not missing anything” y/n defended her case to the best of her ability, but Kirsten was always right

“No, if you don’t feel well you need to be resting and taking care of your body AND your brain” the leader retorted, teasingly poking the younger girl’s forehead at the end of her sentence to make a point. Y/n cracked the tiniest smile and even though it was barely there Kirsten was proud of herself for at least being able to do that much.

Y/n sat at the front and watched the practice for the remainder of the time, taking notes on everything she saw whether it be strengths or weaknesses, new ideas, or things she felt needed to be changed entirely. The girl was surprisingly calm and didn’t feel any stress while she was observing. That’s pretty much how the rest of that week’s practices went for Y/n until the last three days before filming. She had been begging Kirsten to allow her to get back to dancing and the leader actually almost caved a few times, desperate to perfect the routine, but still stayed strong and insisted she rested.

____________

It had been a week since the two had spoken. By now all the choreography was finished being created, taught, and perfected. The videos were all shot and edited and it was finally the day where all seven teams would present their work to everyone else and the judges. The day when another two crews would be put up for elimination, and once would go home. 

Everyone entered the arena one by one, each team taking their designated seat. It was always mindlessly interesting in these situations, where they’d all gather to watch something but not dance because the fashion choices were truly a show of each dancer’s honest character. Y/n looked as elegant as usual with her red, black, and ivory ensemble. She was doing surprisingly well at the moment, having more of an icy glare rather than the empty eyes of depression that had taken over her the last week or so. 

Y/n was doing surprisingly well until she wasn't. Jam Republic is seated by the time team Bebe passes by. y/n feels her heart rate pick up as they approach, all of them glancing at her, some glaring, but their leader acted as if she didn't even see the girl and walked right past them with an icy stare.

“Oh, now that’s just fucking mean” Ling scoffed and stared down the team as they took their seats. Everyone was obviously feeling on edge and very nervous about the results, but y/n still looked quite ill. She had recovered for the most part, but she suddenly felt like throwing up again at the interaction with Bebe. She's still so distraught from the fight with Bada a couple of days before, and now the youngest dancer is scared shitless that both of their teams are going to be up for elimination. As much as she wants to avoid the older girl right now, y/n wouldn't be able to live with herself if Bebe got sent home today…

y/n took a sharp breath, biting her lip trying to push back the sudden sting of tears already feeling the anxiety begin to gnaw away at her. Lusher noticed this right as the team took their seats and spoke over her shoulder to their leader. 

"you can't keep ignoring her…" the younger prompted after seeing the way Bada pretended y/n didn't exist when they passed by

"excuse me? Who are you to tell me what I can and can't do?" the leader coldly responded, eyeing the girl up and down. Tatter felt a shiver run down her spine at the interaction, already worried about the integrity of her team considering the rest of their practice time felt like a waste as well. She just sighed and tilted her head out of stress.

After the fight between Bada and Y/n happened, and they both went their separate ways alongside their teams, team Bebe began to fall apart. Bada read through the countless criticisms their routine had gotten and didn’t even know where to start. The stress was eating her alive and she tried her best not to let it show. Normally when things got bad, the Bebe leader would talk about it with Y/n, but that obviously wasn’t a possibility right now, which made everything so much worse. 

Practices became unbearable due to how irritable the leader had become, often losing patience easily when things didn’t work out how they were supposed to. Any time they’d go on break Bada would sit and rewatch whatever footage had been taken or reread the notes to see what was going wrong. The other six Bebe members sat off to the side getting water, all observing their oldest with immense concern. She still hadn’t opened up about the situation to them, honestly feeling too embarrassed, even though she knew they heard the entire thing. The guilt of it all was eating away at Bada and she didn’t want to admit that.

“She’s gonna have to share the burden with us at some point” Lusher sighed and pushed herself up off the floor, sauntering over to their crew leader and popping a squat next to her

“You haven’t had any water today…” the sub-leader observed while glancing at the taller girl

“You’re seriously keeping track of whether I do or don’t drink water?” it was supposed to come out in a joking manner, but Bada was serious, the sentence coming out flat and irritated. She didn’t look up from the sheets of paper she was looking over when she responded as well, completely focused on fixing the issue that she couldn’t seem to understand.

“Yeah I am- because you’ve stopped taking care of yourself and you won’t let anyone help you” Lusher snapped back, causing Bada to finally look up and meet her harsh gaze. The younger dancer’s arms were crossed and her brows were furrowed, making her look more like a pouty child than an angry adult, but still Bada could feel the frustration radiating off of her. She sighed and stood up, tall stature looming over Lusher for a second before she stood as well.

“Talk to me… this isn’t gonna work if you take everything on yourself” the shorter once again encouraged her teammate to share her troubles. Bada sighed and the two stared at each other for a moment before Lusher turned her head slightly to call out for Tatter. The blonde came bounding over with a somewhat nervous look on her face

“What’s up?” she asked

“You think you’d be able to run things by yourself for a bit?” Lusher questioned in return, causing Bada to cock her head a little, not entirely fond of the idea. But the way the youngest director confidently responds makes her feel a little better about it. The other responds with a quick ‘great’ and a smile, before dragging Bada out of the practice room and slightly down the hall to one of the small dancer lounges.

“Alright- let’s hear it.” Lusher claps her hands together as she sits on the couch and crosses one leg over the other. The leader lets out an amused scoff and shakes her head. She sits down on the other side of the couch and leans on the armrest.

“I just feel stressed about the routine… we’re taking a big risk with what we’re doing and I can’t help but wonder if it’s the right approach…” Lusher eyed her suspiciously, not fully believing the leader

“So it has nothing to do with Y/n?” she tilted her head and raised an eyebrow, the leader huffing at the question

“Well of course it has plenty to do with Y/n- we didn’t exactly leave off on good terms the last time we talked… it’s just more unnecessary added stress that I need to stop thinking about and move past.” Bada finished her reasoning in a reserved manner, looking away from the girl next to her

“Woah- wait- you think that’s really something you should just ignore??” Lusher was genuinely shocked, not used to her leader being so avoidant. Maybe it was her way of trying to remain relaxed and cool, but the younger dancer could see how terribly the whole situation was affecting her friend, and it definitely wasn’t something to just be left alone.

“Well, I have better things to worry about right now than some childish dancer who clearly can’t control her emotions” the shorter girl scoffed completely unamused 

“This is coming from the person who blew up on her just as easily- come on Bada, you’ve never been a hypocrite so don’t start now” She couldn’t help but laugh a little at how childish the leader was being without even realizing it 

“So you’re taking her side now?” Bada looked pretty offended, telling the other dancer just how serious she was with her question. Lusher sighed deeply

“I’m not taking anyone’s side, but you both were really shitty to each other… neither of you should’ve said the things you said- but by you saying how immature and emotional she is, you’re pretty much saying it all about yourself because you two had the same energy going on…” she tried to explain calmly, which resulted in another immature response from the leader

“I was simply matching her energy-” Bada pouted as she talked, and Lusher usually would’ve found it cute if it were any other situation

“Right, which by your definition was childish and irrational…” the leader scoffed and looked away, playing with her sleeve. There were a few moments of silence 

“You know she’s not doing well either…” the sub-leader spoke up after a while

“Yeah? And how would you know?” the taller girl mumbled, still not looking away from her sleeve, finding the loose string much more interesting than the conversation at this point

“Uhm, I asked her?” she posed it as a question, but it was meant in a sarcastic way, pointing out the obvious answer. Bada quickly snapped her head back up to finally look over at the younger girl

“Oh, so you’ve been talking to Y/n?” Lusher sighed again after seeing her friend’s irritated expression make a return

“Of course I have, she’s our friend- well she’s my friend, I don't know what she is to you” she responded softly and sincerely, yet mumbled the last part, causing the leader to scoff for probably the thirteenth time during this conversation

“C’mon Seoyoung, be serious right now- this isn’t the time for your silly little delusions-” Bada tried to joke slightly and steer her away from the door they were about to open

“No, you be serious Bada. you know damn well she’s more important to you than you’d like to admit. If I didn’t know any better I’d say you were practically in love with her.” the older of the two let out a laugh of disbelief at her teammate’s (accurate) accusation

“In love? With y/n? That hilarious Lusher- really funny actually. I’d love to know where your brain comes up with things like that.” her tone was low and sarcastic, becoming mean and condescending, similar to how it was the last time she spoke with Y/n

“Oh don’t fucking talk to me like that- you’re not gonna treat me like I’m an idiot because I know you better than that. Stop putting your insecurities onto the people who care most about you when they’re trying to help Bada” The room went silent and the older stood straight up in her place, eyes softening at the callout. It was strange to hear Lusher talk to her like that, or even hear her talk like that at all. Sure, the girl teased her a lot, but the two had never gotten into a serious back-and-forth argument like this. Bada thought at that moment that maybe she really could be the problem, seeing as how no one else had been getting into screaming matches like she had recently.

“I just don’t understand why she couldn’t just talk to me…” Bada mumbled sadly burying her head in her arms

“Because she was stressed out and hurt… I mean- if my girlfriend voted to eliminate my group, I would be hurt too-” Lusher tried easing the mood with some light teasing

“Seoyoung…” the older girl dramatically glared at her, but both knew the look held no real malice

“Okay my bad- sorry, but you get the point.” she rushed out in turn

“I do, but she said she understood…” the leader once again drifted off, focus going elsewhere

“Okay, and? She can understand your reason and still be upset about it. Especially since there were other things that were probably weighing down on her… you have to remember, we weren’t the only ones who voted to eliminate Jam Republic… EVERYONE voted for them… and since they had already been facing setbacks from the moment they got to New Zealand she was probably struggling a lot-” Lusher tried to help her understand, but Bada wasn’t having it

“yeah, she was struggling but I was too- you didn’t see me taking it out on her did you?” she tried to retort, but was met with Lusher’s immediate response

“but you did take it out on her! Just not immediately…” 

“Lusher you saw everything- you know how hard everything was for me-“ and it was true, lusher did see everything, just like she’s seeing it now. She witnessed one of her best friends completely lose her confidence and doubt all of her abilities while keeping it bottled up. But she was the only one who saw.

“Right, but she didn’t, Bada… How is she supposed to know that if you don’t tell her-”

“She didn’t tell me anything!” it felt like an argument was starting again. The older of the two truly not seeing the whole problem, or at least not recognizing her part in it

“Right, but you pushed her to talk about something she didn’t want to share with you- why? I don’t know- but that’s none of my business! YOU need to figure out what went wrong…” Lusher explained from the objective point of view

“I get that, but how is it fair for her to shut me out and then get bitchy with me, but when I do it in return that’s not okay?”

“Oh my god- Bada, it wasn’t okay for either of you to act that way! But your retaliating after pressuring y/n to talk about something she wasn’t ready to talk about seems like your own fault…you were so fucking mean to her Bada- like- the things you said were awful and absolutely not okay!” The younger of the two allowed her voice to increase, finally getting her point across. Lusher watched as Bada’s face softened again, feeling like she finally got through to her, even just a little bit.

“...I know” The older hung her head and covered her eyes, as Lusher sighed and sat down next to her, leaning her head on Bada’s shoulder.

“I know she treated you badly too, what she said wasn’t okay either- but it wasn’t charged like yours was” Bada scoffed and wiped her tears that she didn’t even realize had fallen

“yeah, and how do you know?” she shifted slightly to glance down at the younger girl, but Lusher just kept staring off into the space ahead of them

“Well- maybe at first it was a little bit… but at some point, she had already given up on fighting and just wanted to get out of there… believe me, Bada, she knows how bad she fucked up too…”

That week had been just as terrible for Team Bebe as it had been for Jam Republic. The last day before filming they ended up making drastic changes to really sell the concept, causing everyone to be exhausted the next day, but luckily they were all able to hold off until after filming had finished.

The team now sat in their designated area, everyone carrying a very negative intimidating intense energy, except Lusher who was just exhausted from still having to play the mediator at this point. After all teams have settled in and the production staff is ready to go, Kang Daniel begins recapping the mission for the audience members and announces the first concept shortly after. Deep n Dap’s video was shown first.

Y/n felt another wave of depression rush over her as she watched the video. It was so well organized and put together, and hearing how loud everyone else was cheering for the green team made her feel nauseous all over again. Yet the young dancer was able to preserve her face and not let her anxiety show, although she didn’t make a single sound or expression for the entire video. Once Deep n Dap’s score was revealed the entire team of Jam Republic began to get nervous seeing how high all three directors had scored.

Shortly after, it was Jam Republic’s turn. Kirsten had been asked about their rehearsal process and was only able to get a few words out before she started tearing up. The leader finally showed her tears, and Y/n hung her head holding her breath knowing she'd cry too if she didn't. When the score for Jam Republic’s leader was shown, y/n felt herself genuinely smile for the first time in three days.

Once the video started and everyone was cheering, y/n felt herself start to lighten up a little- but was also still frustrated at the circumstances- seeing as they all had no faith in Jam Republic and now here they are cheering for them. Witnessing how well the video turned out after all their trials and efforts, and how much everyone loved the individual parts really made Y/n feel so much better. It shocked everyone slightly that y/n wasn't showcased or highlighted at all, but they had no problem pointing her out since she still stood out due to her energy.

“Oh- Y/n didn’t have any highlights?” Redlic commented as the applause died down

“I guess they weren’t able to give her something with all the idea changes…” To be completely honest, Y/n didn’t want a highlight. When the crew began reworking their choreography and it came to the segment that had featured the youngest dancer, Y/n told Latrice to cut it. She was still not allowed to practice at the time and felt it was unfair to the other dancers and her team.

It actually made Bada feel really bad about herself- because, for the first time since meeting the girl, she was glad y/n wasn't in the spotlight. When the leader realized she was thinking this way it made her feel even worse about the situation, knowing how hard this all was on the younger girl, and she did nothing but make that worse for her. She felt conflicted the entire time watching the video- while she was mostly glad she didn’t have to watch Y/n be in the center of attention and was able to avoid accidentally reacting to how pretty she was; Bada was also annoyed that she wasn’t showcasing her talents like she normally did. Knowing how skilled the young dancer was, her presence alone probably would’ve guaranteed Jam Republic a win, so what reason was there for her not to be given her own part?

The other two scores were revealed and the team felt immense pride. However, any relief Y/n was feeling was ripped away just as quickly as it arrived. Daniel announced the 100-point deduction from Kirsten’s score due to them failing to meet the minimum amount of required dancers and y/n felt her stomach drop. The gasp she let out was followed by tears although she managed to push them back- she truly thought she was going to be sick. Y/n had to physically cover her mouth, to avoid letting out a sob or to stop herself from throwing up? She doesn’t even know. This poor girl is literally internally losing her shit and having a mental breakdown over the fact that they could lose to deep n dap.

Moments pass as Daniel re-explains the extra concept points that would be rewarded to the crew that executed the outdoor concept better according to the judges. When it was revealed that Jam Republic won the points Y/n burst into tears and covered her face with both hands as her shoulders shook with sobs. 

“Ahhh the baby” Amy whined in sympathy, pouting along with Redy and Lia

“She must’ve been so stressed” Waackxy pouted as she and her teammates nodded

“DON’T CRYYYYYY” Lusher was the only one from Bebe to shout out to her, the others kind of just side-eyeing her

“What? She still deserves comfort… she’s not a bad person, she just did a not good thing… I wouldn’t even call it a bad thing” The sub-leader sternly eyed up her teammates, then her leader, already tired of how they were acting.

"she cries too much" Bada was mumbling to herself but made sure to say it loud enough for the girl in front of her to hear. Lusher whipped around and pursed her lips, her nostrils flaring as she forced herself to take deep breaths

"For someone who got into an argument over immaturity, you're acting really childish." the younger of the two whispered calmly, but everyone could feel the rage simmering in her. She turned back around and her face immediately reverted back to one of pride for the pink team.

“Y/n, you were extremely ill during the second half of the rehearsal process-” Bada tilted her head, eyebrows furrowing in confusion and concern at Daniel’s words. She was sick? Is she okay now?

“How do you feel that impacted your overall performance?” the host questioned after Kirsten and Emma had finished giving their speeches. The youngest member sniffed and wiped her tears as she was handed the microphone, taking a deep breath before speaking

“Well…” she sighed and felt more tears coming

“It was extremely difficult for me personally, obviously… but I couldn’t help but feel like a burden to my team…” the youngest member let out a sob as she tried to finish her sentence. Audrey rubbed her back, comforting her friend.

“So I did my best to attentively take notes and help where I could, while actively reviewing the choreography until I was well enough to perfect it on my own…” Y/n was able to finish more stably after taking a few deep breaths and calming herself down. Daniel nodded and smiled sympathetically before thanking her and moving on.

“Wow… she taught herself everything in her own time and practiced it less than the others… and still looked that good???” NOB cocked her head, genuinely stunned by how dedicated and talented the youngest Jam Republic member was.

After 1 Million and Mannequeen’s videos were both shown and scores were revealed, announcing that 1 Million had taken the win, it was time to move on to the all-gender concept groups. Lady Bounce’s video was shown first, and they scored extremely well, seeing as it was well executed and had a lot of energy. The team had received a generally positive reaction during interim checks and also finished off strong with positive feedback from the judges. Both Bebe's and Y/n’s nerves were beginning to rise.

When it came time for Bebe’s video to play, everyone was interested to see what the team did with the feedback. Since Jam Republic was seemingly able to come back from near-elimination, the other crews were curious to see if Bebe would be able to do the same, or if they would simply take the other team’s place as the least impressive performance.

Right off the bat, Y/n was already distraught. The amount of partner work really threw her for a loop because it wasn’t like that before… and she literally thought she was gonna burst into tears again. She knew it was obviously just acting, but the young dancer still hated it and lowkey felt like it was a punishment, even though it clearly wasn’t. 

The entire time, she watched with a heavy heart. It was so good and she couldn’t even tell anyone how proud she was of them, especially Bada, so Y/n just there and silently let tears roll down her face the whole time. Her eyes were on Bada as soon as it ended. She of course didn’t look her way, but y/n continued to clap as hard as she could, knowing if she were to open her mouth and cheer she’d probably let out a sob

“It was just really good… I’m glad it turned out so well” she said wiping her tears and putting on a very fake smile trying her hardest to look happy and not utterly heartbroken, knowing how the camera picked up every reaction. Audrey once again patted her friend’s back and gave her a sympathetic smile. When Bebe’s score was shown everyone was shocked to see that it was lower than Lady Bounce’s- not by a ton, but still lower. Y/n felt her heart rate start to pick up, getting nervous at the thought of Bebe losing the whole challenge and ending in the elimination battle.

Bada started her speech well but only got about two words in before feeling a surge of emotions. She quickly recognized the hard work of her team and spoke on how she would continue to improve and grow as a director, before affirming it all with a nod and handing the microphone back over. Wolf’Lo’s performance followed, and Y/n wasn’t shocked at all when she continued to be unimpressed by the group’s work. However, despite her exhaustion and anxiety, the youngest Jam Republic member was still able to pull out an expressive reaction to the orange team scoring higher than Bebe.

“That’s fucking ridiculous…” Y/n glared at the screen, unable to hide her distaste. Emma snorted at the girl’s reaction

“Good to see you haven’t lost your judgment” the older girl teasingly smirked at her teammate who just smiled lightly and shook her head. Daniel moves on to announcing which of the three teams received the bonus points for executing their concept the best. Ladybounce took the win and y/n began to panic more seeing that Bebe came in last out of the three. When they showed the current rankings based on judges' scores, she was relieved Jam Republic wasn’t at risk for elimination, seeing Bebe in sixth place had her head spinning. She was really hoping the audience votes would keep her safe and boost Bebe in the ranks as well.

The host began announcing the final ranks for the mission, after adding in audience votes and views. 1 Million placed first, not surprising anyone, since their performance was practically flawless. Jam Republic was called for second place and all six of the members felt the tension leave their bodies, even though their safety was guaranteed by their win. Audrey put her arm around y/n and the girl was able to smile a little bit more at their victory, still not completely present in the moment due to how much of a nervous wreck she was for Bada and her team. Now that Y/n knew she was one hundred percent safe, she should’ve felt relieved, but no such feeling came.

While the other members debated who tied with Mannequeen for third between Ladybounce and Bebe, y/n just continued to lay with her head on Audrey’s shoulder, totally zoned out. Ladybounce won and the youngest jam member tensed up while applauding, not moving from her teammate's shoulder. When Bebe is announced as fifth it takes y/n a second to come out of her daze, and when she does she sits straight up and feels tears sting her eyes again. She’s able to hold them back as she applauds, finally feeling genuine relief knowing that the team is safe.

Bada was handed the mic to give her speech, and much like everyone else who had held the microphone at one point today, she began to tear up. Of course, all the natural stress and anxiety of the challenge and competition as a whole had gotten to her, but everything had hit so much harder since she wasn’t able to share any of it with Y/n. The leader felt tears rush faster, no matter how hard she tried to keep them back. After taking a few deep breaths and racing some encouraging pats on the back from her team, Bada was able to speak up

“I’m glad we always scored well in previous missions, but it was a lot of pressure going into this knowing how high the standards were for us…” the tall leader started off 

“It’s really all thanks to the members for keeping things going while i wasn’t at my best, so thank you. We’ll continue to keep showing great performances.” Bada finished with a firm not and grateful smile, evoking applause from the other teams. Deep n Dap and Wolf’Lo place in sixth and seventh by default, meaning they are the two teams up for elimination. Daniel announces that both teams are free to go prepare for the battles now and everyone disperses, heading back to their individual hideouts. Jam Republic is one of the last groups to head up to their room, along with Mannequeen, seeing as the two were hyping each other’s videos up.

“Oh shit- I think I left my phone down there…” Y/n sighed in annoyance after feeling around for her phone and not finding it

“Do you want me to come with you to check?” Emma offered, but the younger just shook her head

“No, it’s okay. I’ll meet you guys back in the room” she replied and the others nodded, then they both parted ways. Y/n went back down to the fight zone area, looking around Jam Republic’s seating for her phone, finally finding it next to the bleachers. As she heads back up and begins going down the hall, someone rounds the corner nearly bumping into her.

“Oh- I’m sorry” Y/n meekly whispers at the taller blonde, who at first was glaring down at her, but softened her gaze once she realized how terrible the girl looked. Even under all the stage makeup she had on, Y/n’s eyes were slightly sunken in and didn’t hold the same sparkle they usually did

“It’s fine…” Tatter somewhat dryly responded. Neither of them moved, both simply staring at each other for moments. The older of the two felt the urge to at least create some small talk between them, also harboring some guilty feelings for being cold toward the Jam Republic member.

“How have you been?” she crosses her arms and tries to sound relaxed, not wanting the other girl to feel uncomfortable. Y/n didn’t really know what to say, as she stood stuttering for a few moments, debating whether or not to answer truthfully

“well… I’ve definitely been better” is ultimately what she decides to say. Tatter frowns and her shoulders slump as she sighs

“I’m sorry…” y/n gives her a tight-lipped smile in return, hoping that would be the end, as the whole thing felt incredibly awkward. Yet the older sighed again and continued

“I’m actually sorry for some other things too… I’m sorry for not reaching out to check on you and for being so bitchy. I just saw how distraught Bada was after the whole situation between you two, and I didn’t even stop for a moment to think you could be doing worse… so I’m really sorry y/n” Tatter gently explained with genuine sorrow in her eyes. The other dancer was touched by the apology and a bit taken aback as well

“Thank you Tatter… I really appreciate it. These last few days have been miserable, especially since fighting with Bada… I understand you guys not wanting to talk to me or other things like that because I said some pretty terrible things-” the blonde cut her off with a scoff of a laugh

“Yeah well, you definitely weren’t the only one… I’d even argue that what Bada said was much worse” she strongly retorted, causing the younger girl to sigh and look down

“I know… but I kinda deserved it” Y/n quietly replied feeling her throat begin to close up at the memory

“Not really… I mean sure- you were being an annoying brat, and maybe a tiny bit selfish in the moment, definitely petty-” the other girl calmly argued

“Okay Tatter, was there a point you were trying to make?” the blonde laughed at her friend’s sarcasm, glad to see the slightest smile on the girl’s face, making it known that she wasn’t taking any of it personally

“What I’m trying to say is that even though you were having a rough moment, how Bada dealt with it was absolutely not the right way to go about it. Of course, you were both at fault, but she took it too far.” Tatter finished seriously with a small shake of her head. There was another moment of silence before she began speaking again, shifting the topic slightly

“I bet dealing with this didn’t make it any easier for you to get better, huh?” the older asked in regard to Y/n getting sick and having to continue working on the mission while trying to recover

“No, I actually think it’s part of the reason I got so sick… because I was so stressed out over everything already and that was like- my final straw” The two laughed softly at Y/n’s slightly dramatic statement. Tatter pouts playfully, yet feels genuine heartache for her two friends.

“Things will get better,  believe me… she misses you, she’s just so fucking stubborn” Tatter grimaced at the thought of her hard-headed leader and how she’s currently refusing to accept her guilt, causing the tiniest saddest smile to show on y/n’s face.

“I should probably get back to my group now…” the younger softly commented looking down somewhat sadly at her shoes. Tatter hugged her without hesitation and felt Y/n tense up at first, but the short girl quickly relaxed and wrapped her arms around the other in return. They said their goodbyes and right as the blonde watched Y/n turn the corner, she felt a tap on her shoulder and whipped around to see her own teammate.

“what took you so long?” Lusher questioned staring down at the still-empty water bottle the girl said she was going to fill up about 15 minutes ago. Tatter hesitated for a second before deciding it was better to just be honest

“...I was talking to Y/n” she watched as her older teammate’s eyes lit up slightly

“Oh? About?” Lusher curiously and somewhat suspiciously inquired, hoping it would be something good and not about how Tatter decided to beat the shit out of the other girl

“Nothing really, just checking in on her…” the two continued their conversation as they finally began heading back towards their hideout

“Oh, so you’re finally done glaring at her? Good!” the blonde laughed rolling her eyes at the older girl’s sarcasm

“Yeah… I apologized for being bitchy and then we talked a bit about how stressed she was and how it didn’t help when she got sick…” Lusher visibly relaxed at the younger dancer's truthful retelling of the conversation, feeling a bit more at peace knowing she wasn’t alone anymore in the “getting Bada to stop hating Y/n” battle

“I still can’t believe she got so worked up and stressed that she ended up in the hospital” Lusher nonchalantly replied, stopping Tatter in her tracks

“What??” the blonde exasperated, stuck a few steps behind behind the older dancer. Lusher looked around, confused for a moment until she remembered that she was the only one who knew

“Oh yeah, Y/n wound up in the hospital almost as soon as they got back to New Zealand. The doctors said she was so overworked and anxious that it was making her physically ill- that’s why she wasn’t allowed to practice or even be in the rehearsal space at time” Lusher briefly explained the whole situation to her teammate, who stood there with her jaw dropped

“How did you even find this out??” Tatter questioned, still baffled. Lusher’s face went from calm to somewhat guilty for a second

“Well… I had been trying to get in contact with Y/n to see how she was doing, but she wasn’t responding to any of my calls or texts. So I texted Latrice and she explained what was going on, and also made me aware that by texting her, I was lowkey stressing Y/n out more…” she finished with an embarrassed smile, knowing that she and Y/n were okay now and that she didn’t have to feel guilty about it anymore. Tatter scoffed in amusement, shaking her head as they both finally entered their team’s room.

“It took you two long enough!”

____________

After everyone had been given a break while Deep n Dap and Wolf’Lo prepared for their elimination battles, they all gathered in the arena for the show. The bright lights and cheers from the audience amped up the energy and had all the other teams extra hyped. 

The first battle was the “hidden battle”, where both teams went head to head as a whole group. Y/n wasn’t expecting more than what she’d usually seen from both groups, but it’s safe to say she was blown away by Deep n Dap’s performance. The song choice and usage of nunchucks really had her getting hyped up, and her normal, energetic self slowly coming back.

The battle to follow was between Chocol and Locker Zee. The young Jam Republic member was fired up, which meant some interesting comments were bound to leave her mouth before passing through her brain

“Bruh it’s so annoying how they’re suddenly so good… like- they were good before but this is AMAZING…” Her entire team side-eyed her, Kirsten and Latrice worried about the show airing what she just said, fearing she could get canceled; the other half trying not to laugh but internally agreed. When the third battle is about to begin and mini walks out and takes off her over shirt showing off her pink jersey, y/n gets excited and points with a smile, since the two are both pink lovers, of course causing her team to smile at her in endearment. When JJ walks out and does the same, y/n starts dying laughing, clapping her hands in amusement along with the rest of her crew. Once the battle starts Mini is the first to dance

“She’s like- actually scary” Y/n jokes around and hides behind Audrey, who laughs and continues to smile just because she’s happy her friend is able to joke around again. The fourth battle was the 5 on 5 and y/n was beginning to get tired of how good both teams were. It felt like things were never going to end, and she was honestly thinking neither team deserved to go home at this point. The fifth battle was another one-on-one with Baby Sleek and Locker Zee, which resulted in another win for Wolf’Lo, bringing the score to 3:2 in favor of Wolf’Lo.

For once, Y/n actually found herself rooting for Deep n Dap, probably because she couldn’t stand Wolf’Lo just as much, or possibly even worse. The sixth battle began, and it was between a duo from each team. Yeni Cho and Haechi came out for the orange team, while JJ and Locker Zee both came out for the green team. Y/n was once again bored by the older team’s presentation, genuinely excited to see what the Deep n Dap duo was about to whip up. 

When their music started and everyone recognized it was Michael Jackson, the energy in the room somehow increased even more. JJ and Locker Zee put on a flawless performance, executing each hit and accent perfectly, making sure to connect with each other and the audience. 

“BRO WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?????” “I DON’T KNOW BUT I NEED MORE OF IT” Audrey and Y/n are literally losing their shit while watching the performance, absolutely obsessed with the duo, hoping to see more of them in the future. As JJ and Locker Zee took the win, it tied up the score once again, bringing them to the final round, which ended up being between the two leaders. This was a battle Y/n was extremely curious about, already not a fan of Halo’s specific style and also aware of Mina Myoung’s incapability to freestyle. But when the music started, she was pleasantly surprised 

“WHAT THE FUCK WHY IS SHE EATING?????” Y/n is so baffled by Mina Myoung’s sudden ability to freestyle efficiently. Y/n stood there, fully back to her normal self (at least for the time being) holding onto her hair with her jaw dropped. To her, the improvement (call it that or desperation) was sickening- it was such a pleasant change that Y/n felt Mina deserved the win just for that alone.

However, the win goes to Halo, giving Wolf’Lo the overall gain of staying in the competition, meaning Deep n Dap was the next team to be eliminated. It’s a bit hard to watch, knowing they truly did try their best. Y/n was doing surprisingly well with not crying- well… until Mina started talking. The leader began her speech and the Jam Republic member was able to avoid tears until Mina brought up how she felt she was able to move on from 1 Million. After that, it was like the floodgates opened up. Don’t ask her why, but Y/n took that shit personally, like a shot straight to the heart. Especially when the Deep n Dap leader mentioned her relationship with Lia Kim, y/n felt her ache for them.

As all teams say their goodbyes to Deep and Dap and said team leaves the studio, filming ends for the day. Everyone is either standing around mingling or heading back to their own hideouts. Jam Republic continues their conversation with Mannequeen when Lusher comes bounding over and wraps her arms around y/n congratulating her, nearly scaring the life out of the small girl. When the younger turns around to see who it is, she once again bursts into tears and clings to her. Lusher feels her heart break even more for her friend yet can’t help but giggle softly at how cute the reaction was. Poor y/n was so scared that Lusher hated her too and it brought her the slightest bit of relief knowing that she didn't

Bada watched from where the rest of team Bebe sat in their designated spot, not even trying to hide her irritation at the situation. She was feeling a mix of annoyance (at both y/n and lusher) and watching the interaction once again sent a wave of guilt rushing through her.

"Ya know you can go congratulate her too…" Tatter spoke up from behind the leader. Bada looked over her shoulder at the blonde and scoffed, but it held no malice- she just sounded exhausted

"And why would I go do that?" the team leader looks over her shoulder with a cold stare and a slight look of disgust at the idea

"well for starters so you can stop getting into arguments with your own teammates-" She did have a point… Bada had been much more irritable since the argument, causing a lot of their practice time to be even more strictly ran

"and two, so you can stop making both her and yourself miserable" Ouch Tatter. Ouch.

“Weren’t you just glaring at her too when we walked in?” Bada rolled her eyes and pouted childishly crossing her arms, causing the other girl to snort and respond

“Yeah, but I talked to her in the hallway… she was in the hospital you know-” Tatter responded as if it were common knowledge or a quick throwaway fact about the girl

“What???” the leader’s eyes widened and she uncrossed her arms leaning forward to make sure she heard the girl correctly

“Yeah… got so worked up and anxious over everything she made herself sick apparently” Tatter shrugged, not having all the proper information. Bada sighed and rolled her eyes

“Seriously? Where‘d you even hear this from?” she pinched the bridge of her nose and closed her eyes, now fully recognizing and admitting to the guilt she’d been suppressing. Tatter hesitated for a second, debating whether or not to mention her small conversation with the girl they were talking about, ultimately deciding not to.

“Lusher” the blonde gave away her source matter-of-factly. Of course, she heard it from Lusher. Bada was beginning to think if she hadn’t made a move on Y/n first, Lusher would’ve easily swooped in and done so. But now that she and Y/n were fighting, did that mean Bada could potentially lose her to the other girl? Lusher was attentive and understanding, closer to Y/n’s age, and had been the first of team Bebe to interact with Y/n… plus she had been in contact with her after the whole incident. The leader tried not to worry about the irrational possibility of her own teammate stealing the girl she was pining after away from her… but it was still a lingering thought nonetheless.

notes: i needed this chapter to be as long as it was just so you guys didn't have to suffer as much in the next chapter🫶

taglist (open) (continued in replies): @tinybada @angel-hyuckie @violetinferno @jesuschrist2006 @1luvkarina @uwulyn @justandloyal2961 @deadgirlwalking3 @squidvoldyvoid @vivzyo @ouhaika @jksjx @ocyeanicc @marianamartinsthings @jxrdxnh @luvjanexx @lorenztired @khjssss @heavenlycloud @loisje123 @starchasermyloves @zhivaxo @grinnwolph @notyourd0lly @stinkbvgs @nermandiiiii-blog @arujee @idontknownemore @thatgayinsomniac @fruitr0llup @cgriffin9797-blog @woooooya @kaaylvst @ssc7514 @astoreea @linda-botello @kpopgirl-97 @erikook @misszoldyc @sammisregrets @jysai @moonsvrse @froufrousnowman @amararosesblog @tikitsune @aestrelle19 @laaaasanielzz @randomhoex @tswisal1 @unpretty-reader @charlesswife @stella222

[matan4il]

Hello hello, sending hugs as always!

I was hoping you maybe be able to give me some inspiration for a small series of food photos I'm assembling for Channukah! I'm doing an 8 part series celebrating the different groups within Judaism to 1. Be loudly and proudly Jewish at this current time, and 2. raise awareness for non-ashki Jews. In the UK it's super hard to find many non ashki peeps which makes it hard to chat to people about other classic Channukah foods, but I was wondering if you knew of any particularly good ones (that aren't latke or sufganiyot)? Would hugely appreciate any suggestions you have!!

Hi darling, sending you the biggest hugs right back! <3

Oooh, Hanukkah foods! I'm not gonna lie, some of my fave Jewish foods come from this holiday. With your permission, I'll give a small introduction, just for anyone reading, who might be unfamiliar with Hanukkah, and curious... and also talk about some of the lesser known Hanukkah food traditions among European Jews, too.

So during Hanukkah, we celebrate a miracle that happened with the oil at the Temple in Jerusalem. After the Jews defeated the occupying Greek forces that had desecrated our Temple, we wanted to light again the eternal flame of the Menorah (the Temple candelabra) with olive oil, but after the destruction caused by the Greek forces, there was only enough left for one day, and it would take 8 days to get more oil. The miracle is that somehow, that small amount of oil lasted for the whole 8 days, meaning the light didn't go out again. To remember this miracle, we eat food fried in oil! Being Jewish is so good for your health. XD

In shops and bakeries around Israel, there are already sufganiot being sold. They are YUMMY, and while some people call them "the Jewish donuts," I can say that after having eaten American donuts, I def think sufganiot are way yummier (in part 'coz they're not as "heavy" because the dough it's made of is fluffier? More... airy? Not sure how to say it, but I hope you get the idea). Also, you don't get robbed, because someone made a hole in the middle of the sufgania, taking out nearly half of it. The traditional type has strawberry jam injected inside, and sugar powder on top, but in Israel there are some crazy fancy kinds, and every year they seem to become more extravagant.

Traditional sufganiot (you can see a bit of the jam on top, but half the fun is biting and getting to the "treasure" of lots of jam at the center of the sufgania):

Fancy sufganiot:

Then there's the latkes, or as they're called in Hebrew, levivot. They're like savoury pancakes made out of potatoes, and obviously they're fried in oil.

In many Jewish communities, there was a custom of giving kids special pocket money for Hanukkah. In Israel, this "money" is given in the form of chocolate "coins." I freaking loved this as a kid! It was fun unwrapping the "coins," eating the chocolate, and then (assuming I was careful when peeling them off), make a collection of the different "coins," or just play with the wrap.

Greek Jews used to make a bread from potatoes and yogurt:

Georgian Jews made levivot out of corn flour (sometimes filled with cheese), or out of potatoes AND nuts, giving it the shape of a big omelette. Here's the corn flour version:

Czech Jews had a custom saying goose is the best meat, so for Hanukkah, they often ate goose related dishes. For example, they would make levivot from potatoes, eggs, sugar, lemon and goose fat.

French and Swiss Jews would make levivot out of apples.

The Jews of Iraq, Algeria and Buchara (which is in Uzbekistan) used to put the Hanukkah pocket money for the kids inside honey cakes. In Algeria and Buchara they also sometimes made levivot with meat added inside.

The Jews of Romania and Austria used to light potato Hanukkah candles! This was likely because they were so poor. Still, a pretty cool thing, when you can light your candle, and eat it (or at least a part of it), too.

In northern Africa, Jews used to make a type of cookie called Debla (sometimes nicknamed "dough roses"), which originated in Libya. They're usually eaten with a sweet syrup. It's more of a Purim dish (the equivalent of Hamantaschen), but was sometimes prepared for Hanukkah as well. Traditional Debla:

And a slightly "fancier" Israeli version:

Okay, maybe my fave Hanukkah dish! It's called sfinge (the 'ge' is pronounced like in "sponge"), and it's basically the Moroccan sufgania, which later became popular among Tunisia and Libya Jews, too. It can be round with a hole in the middle, it can be in the shape of a ball, while Libyan Jews make it flat. It's eaten with either honey or sugar powder, but again, in Israel fancier versions developed... I'm not a great cook, so IDK to explain why, but it's even fluffier than the sufgania, and that's why it's my personal fave.

Traditional sfinge with honey:

With sugar powder:

Israelis always having to make everything fancier:

They even made a savoury version of flat sfinge...

I hope this helps! Have a wonderful day, darling! xoxox

[anistarrose]

The thing about the Heart Attack segment in Wonderland is that they put so much aromantic subtext in it. They accidentally put SO much aromantic subtext in it, on behalf of multiple characters, and I'm thinking about it constantly. Let me tell you all about it.

Magnus is dropped into a dating game and literally leads with "I cannot stress enough how uninterested I am in this." Now, it's perfectly valid to read this as due to him waiting for Julia, or just him being plain old uncomfortable with having his love life put in the spotlight. However! I cannot stress enough the exchange that happens just a minute or two after that line:

Magnus (describing his ideal date): ... and we don't see each other again, ‘cause I'm really not interested in dating. Audience: [exaggerated] Oooooh! (cheers) Griffin: The silhouette is like, fanning itself. Lydia: Playing hard to get, huh? It seems like our contestant is into that.

And I just have to say: unfortunately, this is one of the most aromantic fucking experiences I've seen represented in fiction in my life. I mean — saying you're not interested in romance, then having those words twisted on you, like they're some secret coded way of saying that you are interested in romance? Not having a single way to express your disinterest that'll actually be believed? That's some aro shit right there. God. Fuck.

As an aside, it's enough to really tell that Heart Attack is not designed to be a reprieve from the pain, even though it's the "good outcome" of Trust or Forsake. It's designed to be uncomfortable. To funnel suffering to Edward and Lydia, just like all the other games do. (More on that later, in fact.) But in summary:

Magnus is a character who can be read as uncomfortable with romance for either aro-spec reasons or unrelated reasons. But in either case, his discomfort attracts reactions that reek of amatonormativity — and therefore, resonate with aromantic experiences. (Psst, I did recently write a gray-aro Magnus fic!)

Two more analyses below the cut (and only one of them is for another Horny Boy):

Obviously the next character I need to talk about is Merle. I've found aroallo readings of his character to be compelling for a long time (having sex with plants so you don't have to worry about romantic commitment, am I right?), but the way he describes his "ideal date" is another factor:

Merle: I volunteer to drive her vehicle, and tell her it's filthy, and so we go through the uh- drive through vehicle wash and she pays for that too. Um, and then I take her to have dinner with my family, and- Magnus: Wait, like your wife and stuff? Merle: She meets my ex-wife.

Merle's probably exaggerating as a joke, continuing on about both him and his partner being miserable, but I think the fact that Merle's mind goes here is genuinely drawing from a lot of poor romantic experiences in the past. He didn't get a choice about being on Heart Attack, and his marriage with Hecuba was similarly "arranged".

It's also worth noting that at this point in time, Merle is putting in the work to be part of Mavis and Mookie's lives again, but is not interested in doing the same for Hecuba — he instead just asks Mavis how Hecuba's doing. That said, given that Magnus is the one to put the focus on Merle's ex-wife, I think it's fair to read the "family" comment as Merle actually expressing that he'd rather spend time with his kids than give any special romantic attention to his date. Moving on to the rest of the "joke":

Merle: She's having a miserable time and she's really mad, she can't wait to get outta there. I take her back to her house, and so I lean up against the door jam and say, 'Sure you don't want me to come in for a few minutes?' and she slams the door in my face.

It's possible Merle just has a more roundabout, self-deprecating way of expressing a similar thing to what Magnus did: Merle just isn't interested in dating. To me, the last line implies he might not say no to sex, if offered — but overall, it reads as if Merle is putting minimal effort in because he's looking for an excuse to get out of this relationship anyway.

It's also possible that Merle's "rejection" of a suitor being so disguised as humor could point to him still coming to terms with his disinterest in dating. Particularly, in comparison to Magnus, who is so vocal and unashamed about it, while Merle might still be figuring this all out.

(Honestly, the self-deprecation Merle turns to here is actually kind of sad, when viewed in that light — he already lets himself be the butt of jokes so often, and now he feels like the way romance doesn't click for him has to be a joke, too? Oof. Someone give him a hug and tell him he's not broken this instant!) But regardless:

Merle views dates, and perhaps romance in general, as things that will inevitably turn disastrous for him and any party involved with him, and he would rather spend time with his children than repairing a relationship with an ex, or cultivating a relationship with a new partner. This is not an experience exclusive to the aro-spec umbrella, but you can't say that an aromantic reading of his character doesn't fit him like a gardening glove...

...which he wears while fucking his plants. Because plants don't demand emotional intimacy, nor take too much time away from the platonic relationships that matter more to him. And you know what? He's fucking valid for that! Fly your flag, nasty grandpa!

But moving on: I promised you aromantic analysis of characters outside of our protagonists, and henceforth, that analysis I will provide. And not just because I admittedly see Taako as the token alloromantic (though clearly an aro ally; if he hadn't chosen Forsake we wouldn't have gotten all this incredible characterization!)

I digress. So let's go on to addressing the lich twins in the room: Edward and Lydia.

Remember my argument earlier that Heart Attack serves the purpose of collecting suffering just like the rest of Wonderland does? How it's just a subtler way of making Wonderland's victims fundamentally uncomfortable?

...Using, of all things, romance?

How the vogue twins, for whatever reason, felt inspired to make people uncomfortable with matchmaking and adoration? How, some way or another, they noticed how much potential romance had to induce suffering? Being pressured into a relationship, being told that no matter how firmly you say you're uninterested, you're not really uninterested?

...Relatedly, I have always gotten the sense that Edward and Lydia projected relentlessly onto their victims.

Edward: This resolve, this desire to do whatever it takes no matter the cost to save yourselves — do you know who you three remind me of? Magnus: No? Merle: Who? Edward: Us!

I'm even going to go a step further and say that on top of projection, they want their victims to go through things they went through. Swallowing the guilt of having fucked someone else over to survive, of course — that's basically self-admitted. But possibly also... the feeling of not being able to get back what you lost (Keats). The feeling of not being able to heal (Keats).

So, where does that leave Heart Attack?

Lydia: It was the three of us, surviving against all odds. The world against us.

Their family of three was (is) indescribably important to them. I'm not necessarily saying that societal expectations of romance, especially of romance as a priority above that of family, left a bad taste in their mouths — if not downright contributing to their trauma — but, okay, I wrote the rest of this post and now that I'm back, I can no longer deny it. I'm definitely, absolutely saying that.

At the time of the podcast, we know Edward and Lydia's own relationship is heavily strained. Until the end, they are lying to themselves and to each other about the fact that they continue to be emotionally and magically reliant on each other. After all, Lydia wouldn't say "I guess we really needed each other after all" in her dying moments with such surprise otherwise.

This is the second reason that I... well, I wouldn't quite call it a "theory," but I find it most impactful to read Edward and Lydia as characters for whom the concept of Love has baggage. And always has, from their origins as youth in a tough spot in an already amatonormative world.

Maybe the constant societal devaluing of platonic, familial bonds left them with serious emotional scars. Maybe the constant conflation of Love and morality just weighed on them and weighed on them and weighed on them until they decided: well, we don't love the way people expect us to, so we might as well give up on being the good people they expect us to be. We might as well embrace this new fuel of suffering.

...And you know, I hope this gets across what I mean when I always say I headcanon villains as aromantic to make them more sympathetic.

Edward and Lydia, textually, are already tragic villains. As twins and liches, they're also textually foil characters to several of the Seven Birds. But I also like to think that they have a lot in common with Magnus and Merle, and the possibility that tugs at my heartstrings the most is the possibility of them all falling under the aromantic umbrella.

[fleshwerks]

Ugh, there's no end to it. Sorry, followers. ADHD hyperfixation says, and it won't stop until it's late at night and I'm crawling into bed, brain-tired, asking myself 'what the hell was the point of all that, Mari?' This time, we set our iron sights on Rook.

Relying on my reblogged post about pope Leliana, here's another problem. I think they kind of wanted another Hawke, but also wanted a blank slate. The Inquisitor received shrapnel for being 'bland', but you could still pretty effectively roleplay personality onto them with with the admittedly meagre dialogue options. The problem with Rook is that thy're ne ryba ne myaso. They're not a stand-alone character with existing personality + a lot of intense player-induced flavour. But they're not a complete blank slate with some vague history that leaves a lot up to the headcanon, either. Rook's just three flavours of friendly: nice-polite, nice-jokey, nice-stern. Rook is just... nice. Not burdened heavily by past connections of family and personal experiences, but not a complete blank slate like the Inquisitor, either. You can't really project onto Rook because there's just enough there for them to be a character separate from what you've largely personally created, but they're not interesting enough as a separate person for you to mould them to your vision. Some argue that the 'asshole option' and wanting it to be there just means that you, the player are an asshole and you want to be an asshole, and that means you're a bad person. But how about when you want your Rook to be nice, but have a breaking point? Where Rook's patience runs out and they just fucking snap? , but not too stern. It'd be nice to have an option to do that. And from what I gather from what I saw, the option simply isn't there for the most part.

Rook is built to be accommodating. Sacrificing existing personality and player-made personality for the sake of catering to solving the problems your companions.

It's a roleplaying game in name only. And you can do that thing well. Pathologic 2 does it well, it has a lot of flavour, though it doesn't affect the outcome. But the flavour matters. You can have a very distinct personality without it causing problems for the writers who have a certain story and outcome in mind. It starts to come across like Bioware's writers were either hamstrung by an inexperienced lead and/or financiers, or it's a crew comprised entirely of inexperienced people who don't know how to do good game writing, or the problem is someone who is experienced, but has a strong but incompetent vision, and is simply not willing to compromise. Still, one has to wonder what the brief by the investors was. Because right now it sounds like the brief was: "Offend no one. We need to cast a wide net and make some fucking moneeeey."

Looks like the fans are once more saddled with having to make their headcanon entirely from scratch, but this time with no support whatsoever from the in-game dialogue wheel. Which... honestly? It's my jam, when I'm not playing. But when I'm playing, I want to either play someone with established personality, or a total blank slate with plenty of room to build character in-game and support my headcanon that way. Not someone who's completely shackled somewhere in the middle, too afraid of saying anything wrong and thus reducing themselves to a single trait: "nice."

Where's Vivienne rearranging your castle furniture just to provoke you because she thinks you're a troglodyte who doesn't know their arsehole from their mouth based on your increasingly hostile interactions (if you go down that path. Her positive path is very rewarding).

Disclaimer: I could get the game and sit with Rook for several playthroughs, but I said it before and I say it again: a good game gives you most everything on the first playthrough. A poor game relies on subsequent playthroughs and a shitton of legwork by the player's own imagination to wring meaning out of this cold piece of smooth and featureless rock.

[sphireath-wisp]

Hi! Idk if this is weird to ask but can you do the monster trio + Usopp, law and shanks with a Mexican!Reader that starts to yell at them in Spanish? I think yk what i mean but other wise it’s fine <3 ty!

Sypnosis -> The ask above! I will be removing Shanks though because I have a limit of 5 people per request!!

Author's notes -> AAA MY FIRST ASK??? AND WHEN I WAS BUSY??? I'M SO HAPPY!! First off, I would like to apologize for getting to this ask super late since I was really busy for the past week and had no time to write. Thank you for your patience!! (You didn't say this was x reader, so I won't write it as such)

Warnings -> Probably inaccurate Google translations, not proofread, following EddieVR's way of speaking (I'm trying to follow an actual Spanish speaker's way and tone so that I can be as accurate as possible), vulgar language because the reader is yelling (so I assume they're upset/angry), Reader could be perceived as rude

Featuring -> Luffy, Zoro, Sanji, Ussop, Law

Luffy

You can't believe the disaster of a crew you've joined so spontaneously. With a captain that gives that poor cook a workout to feed him 3 meals a day (maybe even more than that), you feel grateful that he's the one cooking because of the delicacy and care he puts into his meals.

Though, not even the best cooks can perform magic. Without ingredients, a chef is left with nothing but utensils to serve. It gave you a shock when you realized how fast Sanji had already ran out of ingredients.

"¡Nunca duraremos en el mar contigo, idiota sin cerebro! La comida está prácticamente terminada. (We'll never last at sea with you, you brainless idiot! The food is practically finished.)" You sigh.

Luffy is... dumbfounded. He just stares at you, scratches the top of his head, then tilts his head with an innocent gleam in his eyes - oblivious to what you're sputtering. If anything, he finds it sort of amusing to see you this upset.

He's heard from the crew about the depth of your culture and home country before - boy, he misses the mouthwatering food there just thinking about it.

You shake your head, aware that your chidings aren't getting through to him. Plus, you got so upset you started scolding him in a whole different language. "Sanji! Would you limit Luffy's meals-"

And suddenly Luffy listening to you (despite the incessant complaining in between).

Zoro

"Ouchouchouch, what the hell?" Zoro grits his teeth at you after you pinched his ear, dragging him behind the crates and preventing him from attacking the marines in front of you.

"Don't just go up there! What are you thinking?" You suddenly spot flashlights illuminating the dark corner the both of you were jammed into and immediately rush over to another hiding place. Letting go of Zoro's ear, you could only pray that he had enough sense in him to follow you instead of trusting any predatory instinct he had in him.

Nami trusted you with this mission! You had to sneak in quietly and-

"It's Roronoa Zoro! Call for backup!"

Great! Another problem. Snaking your hands around him, you grab onto his shirt, smiling gently for just a moment. There weren't many options and it was only the two of you in a base full of marines - it would be waste of time to defeat them all and the injuries afterward would be nothing but troublesome.

"You know what this means, ¡corre por tu maldita vida! (run for your damn life!)" Not looking back for a single moment, you bang into almost everything blocking your way with Zoro being dragged along behind you. Luckily for you, he works as a great meatshield - fending off all the enemies that get too close for comfort!

Zoro had no idea what language you were speaking, but he could tell just how furious you were just by how much you continued to ramble while sprinting into enemy territory. Just by how you sound, he could tell that you probably weren't saying the nicest things about him...

(He'll learn from you so that he can use them against Sanji)

Sanji

Just like how he hears the tears of heartbroken women falling to the ground, he can listen to the exhausted sighs of the women on board. Every time Nami and Robin are having a hard time, Sanji makes it his first priority to help them.

Of course, his enthusiasm to assist these "poor, helpless" women are appreciated - but his tendency to go all out and beyond makes his efforts... overbearing.

"Special drinks for the two lovely Mademoiselles," Sanji's voice deepens, coaxing his words with a dash of honey in hopes of wooing Robin and Nami. The gentle clack of a cup being placed next to your hand suddenly alerts you, "And one for (Name),"

You thank him along with Nami and Robin, sipping the sweet cider-like concoction in your glass as your eyes drift back to the book in your hand.

"Is there anything else I could help you with?" You couldn't see what Sanji was doing, but you could already picture that infatuated grin on his face.

Despite the three of you already insisting that there's no need, Sanji still lingers around you. Like a moth to a fiery flame, Sanji buzzes around the two women - leaving them with no moment of peace.

"¿Puedes callarte y aprender a cerrar la boca? (Can you shut up and learn how to zip your mouth?)" You yell, slamming the book shut. You continue to scream - even Chopper and the others begin to hold you back from reaching Sanji.

"Do you get the feeling that they're mad at Sanji?" Luffy sits on a railing and ponders. "No shit, Sherlock." Zoro retorts.

Ussop

At first, when you didn't know Ussop well enough, you were unaware of his tendency to lie his way out of sticky situations. From his title as "God Ussop" alone, you would assume he's quite powerful, no?

You once overheard his boasting to those oblivious to his actual abilities. You don't think of Ussop as weak, far from it. His talent as a sniper is unlike no other and deserved to be praised. However, exaggerations would only bring in more and more trouble. Not to mention the misconceptions!

You weren't really sure whether his exceptional ability to lie was a blessing or a curse.

"I've carried a 100-ton hammer before as well!" Ussop folds his arms, holding his head up high in pride. The wows and impressed gazes from the kids only made him exaggerate more.

You sigh, leaning against the wall and wondering why pirates like you and Ussop are suddenly babysitting kids now. You ran into daycare to avoid getting spotted by marines, but the children there ended up assuming that the both of you are new caretakers,

You did nudge him a few times, reminding him about how the crew is probably waiting for the both of you the get back on the Sunny. Though, your words probably fell on deaf ears.

"Ussop! Ussop! If you and (Name) were to fight, who would win?" The question piqued your curiosity and the ends of your lips curve upwards, "Well, that would be-"

"Me, of course!" Ussop interrupts your sentence before it was finished. The kids gasp in awe as you snap your head to Ussop, glaring at him.

"(Name) must not be that good of a fighter..." You hear a soft murmur through the whispers in the crowd.

"Oye, imbécil, ¿de quién crees que estás hablando? (Hey dumbass, who do you think you're talking about?)" Grabbing a hold of the collar of Ussop's shirt, you drag him out without any explanation as he tries to talk you out of this.

"Do you think they're going to eat?" One kid asks, "Yeah, maybe they got hungry." Another replies.

Law

"You're not going to try the capirotada (Mexican bread pudding)? The rest of the crew seems to have taken a liking to it." You hum to yourself before being interrupted by a loud sigh.

"You know I don't like bread, (Name)-ya," You didn't bother to turn around and see the frown on his face, but it's fine - you were completely okay with his opinion.

"You're really not open to trying new things, huh?" You sarcastically jest, "The crew might ask me to make this again, you know. The smell of bread is going to haunt you in your sleep."

"(Name)! Seconds please!" Bepo barges in with a giant plate in his hand, "The others want more too!" Bepo rushes to your side, placing the plate on the counter for you. "Captain, you're really not going to try this... what is called again?"

"Capirotada, learn how to pronounce and drill it into your brain, then I'll make this for the crew again." Your back was still turned to the both of them, but you could still hear the soft groans from your captain.

"Capirotada! It's really good," Bepo insisted - which did bring a smile to your face. He grabbed a plate of the bread pudding, shoving it right into Law's face as Law pinched his nose.

Law took a step back, but eventually sighed and picked up a fork. "No more bread for another month after this, alright?" Law poked his fork into the pudding, sliding it around the plate as if he was reluctant to even pick it up.

Finally, he ate it.

"So? Isn't it great?" Bepo asked. Law slowly chewed the pudding, his features contorting into surprise, a bit of satisfaction, then disgust. "Yeah, I'll take that as a no." You chuckled at his expression.

"(Name), I don't think it's the bread... I think it's your cooking." Law covered his mouth, implying that he was going to vomit, hiding his laughter.

"diez, nueve, ocho... (ten, nine, eight...)" You slowly turned around. Unluckily for Law, you had happened to just buy a new set of knives recently known for their effective and quick chopping! "W-we should really go now, captain! It was really super duper nice seeing you, (Name)!"

"tres, dos, uno. Captain, ¡Espero que hayas dicho tus oraciones! (three, two, one. Captain, I hope you said your prayers!)"

[geddy-leesbian]

Mildly high in the bathtub and feeling rambly.. I know from my blog/ao3 it seems like I'm one of the people that's deeply invested in RE men and ignores the girls, but I do love Claire so fucking much, probably not as much as I love Luis but more than I love Leon to be completely honest. It's just that I don't like her in the situations I like to write about. Hurt/comfort, angst with a happy ending, that's been my jam as long as I've been in fandom spaces. And I just don't enjoy the thought of Claire in situations like that. I love inserting Luis into as many fucked up scenarios as possible. I play other RE games he's not in and think "what if Luis was here and got traumatized more haha" but I don't do that in games without Claire because I prefer to think she's fine and thriving and not getting into fucked up scenarios. I play Darkside chronicles and Revelations 2 and love Claire so much but when i get to the end of the game the book closes for me, like "damn poor Claire went through a lot of shit, she deserves a good break" I'm not brainstorming ways to further torment her like I do with Leon and luis, i want her happy. But I also don't like writing happy fluff, again I've been mega into angst as long as I've been writing, and I've never enjoyed domestic fluff really. I only do fluff as the payoff for a bunch of angst. I have vague fluffy thoughts for hwo Claire's nice life could be unfolding, but they aren't thoughts i feel i need to flesh out and write down. And if i tried to write them, I'd be bored to death by the lack of angst and drama

And I know I've written Serrennedy fluff where they're okay and thriving so I should be able to do the same with Claire but it's very specific fluff with those two. It's them being parents because of all my daddy issues and trauma, I don't write fluff of them unless kids are involved. And I also don't see Claire as a parent. Like maybe to Sherry but that's special. (And i mean I usually imagine Leon as the one being Sherry's parent anyway) I've been struggling with the next chapter of wakin' up blind with the house on fire for a very long time and finally realized recently it's because something about it didn't feel quite right, a conversation where Claire tells Leon she's been thinking about having a kid too. Like it's sweet and appeals to my "almost every relative I have is either dead or shitty" trauma because it's claire saying she still sees leon as a brother and their kids will be like cousins, but it just doesnt feel right, I think she's makes more sense as the cool childfree aunt

Idk how to conclude this. Just. I enjoy women escaping traumatizing situations forever and being happy and like to actively put traumatized men through more trauma ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ (i focused on claire bc she's my number 1 blorbo but i am fond of most of the other girls too and just don't do things focusing heavily on them for similar reasons. Especially rebecca after umbrella chronicles i was like actually i hope to god she isnt in another mainline game any time soon bc i do not want to see her suffer more girl's been through enoigh 😭 and while claire has also been thru enough and deserves a rest i want to see her in a mainline game again because I think it's really hot when she lifts heavy things and shoves heavy things and beats people up sorry)

[kitkatopinions]

RWBY has been nitpicked to the bone by now. I suppose there's volume 9 but lets be honest not alot of meat to work with there, lots of gristle though. But here's my take. The end where the team arrives at Vacuo doesn't fill me with anticipation like an ending should. I feel more confused than intrigued. Likewise the same for the template preview at RTX. So many unanswered questions and considering the next volume isn't guaranteed, many will likely remain unanswered.

Ah, see, I'm gonna have to disagree with you on nitpicks. I feel like I still have plenty of nitpicking left in me for RWBY. XD

But I completely agree with you on the ending of V9 when they're in Vacuo. First of all, they went where and when they're needed the most, but... Why are they needed? By the look of things, Vacuo is doing way better than expected (because natural consequences don't exist in this show lol,) and honestly the writers have done an incredibly poor job of explaining why these five specific kids who aren't of graduation age and essentially were given their hunter badges because of nepotism and protagonist armor are needed in the war against Salem. Shouldn't they logically have gone somewhere that was in desperate need of any Hunter with a weapon like a village outside of the kingdoms? Or a place dealing with devastating Grimm attacks that a Silver Eyed Warrior could help with? Also, I've been mostly against time travel plots, but 'when you're needed the most' implies that the Tree goddess literally was doing time stuff and dude, when Team RWBY now is needed the most is probably pre-V3 so they can... You know, stop the devastating attack on Beacon that launched the whole war.

Second off, wasn't getting any semblance of an army together even to fight Salem a sure sign of how evil and controlling and oppressive Ironwood was? And yet the sight of ships overhead in Vacuo is supposed to fill us with hope?

Third off, the entire RTX original end for V9 was so bad that it's literally comical. Winter going on about the poor giving martyrs that wanted so much and did so much, Willow hiding out in her little sun hat being mistreated by mean poor people, the little 'remember her message' grafitti as if Ruby said something more than a bunch of confusing stuff and then a half-baked 'everything will be fine' platitude, Qrow being weirdly fine after the supposed death of his beloved nieces... All of it was just so badly done.

And yeah, it's possible that we might not get V10, but I think we probably will. I just don't know if we'll get anything more than V10, so I'm anticipating a major rush job that tries to jam pack in way too much while completely forgetting about tons of things. Then we're going to get a bunch of hate from anti-rwders blaming us and not acknowledging RT's terrible history, the RWBY writers' poorly done work and bad planning, or the fndm putting other people from other fandoms off of rwby as possible reasons why the show didn't last for another ten years. XD

[o-avosetta]

Re: Coral Island 1.0

I've been playing Coral Island again after stopping earlier this year to wait for it to get to 1.0. It's been just the experience I hoped it would be.

I've already written about how much it feels like home, how refreshing it is to play a game so very clearly and lovingly inspired by maritime Southeast Asia. It feels even more so now, maybe because of where I'm playing.

I'm on December break, so I happen to be playing from my family's town, where I really can walk down to the beach and hunt for fresh urchins at low tide if I want. Mostly I walk out to a detached coffee stand much like Raj's (more of a hut than a stand, actually), admire my neighbor's dragonfruit vines on the way, and hope I get to say hi to dogs like the player gets with Bonbon and Taco. The town where I am has also gotten a lot more multicultural in recent years, so it really isn't a stretch that I'd run into people of different nationalities* and multiracial couples* and families in Starlet Town also. There's a Japanese man who set up an izakaya down the road from our place, and it's excellent.

[* Not to get into the sociopolitics of this, but maybe the fantasy of Coral Island for me is that none of the older white men are there looking for land to grab for their retirement and/or poor, younger, less educated women they can exploit as bangmaid brides.]

I don't looking forward to leaving town again, but I'm glad I'll have this game for a taste of home.

I'm only nominally a farmer, I think. Diving and clearing the sea has been my favorite activity in the game, and I think I'll continue even after I make the merfolk happy. I've been making decent money drying scallops and making kombu chips this Year 1 Winter, so making a living this way seems doable.

I've lamented elsewhere that farm life sim games set in seaside towns often forget how much the sea is part of the life of such a town — usually, such games make the ocean nothing more than another fishing spot. I love, love how much the ocean is very much a part of Coral Island. What happened to the ocean is why Starlet Town has been struggling lately. My progress underwater is tied to my progress overall. Merfolk have their own town, and I can befriend/date them; they aren't just blink-and-you-miss it sprites to liven up a fishing session. I still have a lot of seafloor to clear, so I guess I'll see if the ocean endgame is any good later. But just the fact that Stairway Games devoted this much of the game to the sea really touches me.

(I fucking love the ocean, okay? In another life, I was going to get a marine science degree right here in my family's town. But noooo, I decided to try being a writer, lol.)

As for dating, I'm not in a rush to woo any particular townie. There are almost too many attractive people in this game. So I just work on my farmer and on healing the island, and I let relationships develop naturally. Run into a townie? Stop and talk to them. Hand them a jepun blossom or a mushroom or a jar of jam. See whose stories and personality make me want to keep running into them once the first blush is past.

I've reached the winter, though, so I do have some clear favorites now.

I don't know if I want to marry Dr. Yuri, be her best friend, or be her. I just think she's so cool — the coolest person on the island even. I think I relate to her coming to the country after her adventures abroad and trying to do the best she can for the people around her. Maybe I want to be with another me-in-another-life, idk (after marine biologist and before writer, my next aspiration was pediatrician).

Mark recently won a popularity contest in the player community, and it's not hard to see why. In games like this, any scarred dateable who starts off gruff or mean is basically cotton candy left out for player ants. I haven't checked yet, but I'm willing to bet his dog-feeding cutscene launched a thousand fics ("Good girl" — woof). (Either that or something something garden rake up the ass something something.) Mostly I like him because he's the only one who actually seems to banter with the player, and he looks big and cuddly like my SO.

Chaem is the other initially aggressive character, and I think I like her, too. I was actually put off at first; in early access, she was only an aloof jock who was pretty focused on her workouts and her sport, not outright mean. I don't remember her being this rude to my farmer when I met her pre-1.0. Then I had a little think about why one would let Mark be a little mean to them but not Chaem. What do you know, getting to know her makes her warm up to you also.

I like Theo because he just gives off vibes that I need in my life.

Who else? I think I will always have a soft spot for Surya because he was my first crush in early access, and though the attraction has waned this go-round, I still want to be his friend. I want to be Eva's friend mostly because one of my friends really likes her. I want to be Lily's friend because I just want to know all about her and her bonsai. I haven't made enough progress with the merfolk yet, but I have a major crush on Princess Miranjani. (Agung, what we could've had if the devs hadn't baited and switched you with Semeru, hayy.)

Ah, and as usual, I have made it a personal mission to make the town grandma love me. Betty, I'm saving all my flowers for you, mano po, paturo naman po ng recipe sa mooncake.

Okay, I'm out of thoughts now; time to grab my diving suit again.

[otakween]

Digimon Tamers - Episode 47

Another creepy Juri-centric episode. She's kinda like the Ken of this season with all her trauma. It felt like this episode was jam packed with so much information that none of it had much of an emotional impact on me. Too frenetic. Crazy that there's only 4 episodes left! Let's see where things go...

Notes:

I swear Japan latches onto the randomest things. "Grani" is a reference to a horse from a Scandinavian legend. I looked this up and Grani is mentioned in several Japanese video game franchises: Final Fantasy, Fire Emblem, and Arknights. They also mentioned the "famous knight Siegfried" who I'm pretty sure was referenced in .Hack. Either these obscure (to me) stories are common knowledge in Japan or writers in the anime/gaming industry are a bunch of history/lit nerds (I mean...that checks out).

We learn that Juri's fixation on "fate" spawned from childhood trauma when her mom died and her dad said it was her "fate." Yeah...that would mess anyone up at that age. I was terrified of dying when I was a kid.

Why are the kids just standing around inside a van instead of being properly secured with seatbelts? >:/ Well...I know they've faced far worse danger, but still! Think of the children, Digimon Tamers!

Lots of aesthetic, early 2000s computer desktop shots in this, very nice

A little confused how everyone realized that Juri was inside the big blob thing. Like, Takato knew that fake Juri was in there since they had their confrontation, but that doesn't necessarily mean that real Juri's in there, no? I guess they just assumed since she's nowhere to be found.

Glad that Juri's dad realized the error of his ways, but he can't really use "awkwardness" as an excuse for his neglect. I simultaneously feel bad for and am frustrated with her step mom who seems like a doormat. Ruki's mom being bad at comforting her was funny and relatable.

Takato begging Juri's dad to not be mad at her was a little heart breaking. What a good friend...

Ruki has a moment of "Guess my life ain't so bad" introspection while thinking about Juri. Definitely an important life lesson for kids to learn to empathize with others and not be so self-centered. Also follows the "don't judge a book by its cover" moral.

The Juri-monster of the week was part-unsettling and part-hard to take seriously neon rave monster. I found the voice mimicry thing more annoying than scary. The part that I found most creepy was the video camera spawning out of its tentacle.

So I guess the D-Reaper is using Juri as its sample to understand humanity or whatever, but it already decided that humanity was unworthy a long time ago, so why does it still need her and her memories? I don't get its motivations...

Felt really bad for Juri's dad when he attacked the monster with the van and it had no effect whatsoever, poor guy :'(

[deathlygristly]

Am thinking more about categories and language.

I went looking for things about trauma and what trauma is and what it means and if people really can be traumatized by a TV show that they consent to watching and that they have the power to turn off whenever they want.

What I found:

Some people being nasty about "Well, I have an Official Diagnosis and I have seen Terrible Things, so everyone else who mentions trauma is Weak and Unfit. Also who cares if you get yelled at, just get over it, it doesn't actually affect you. Weak ass loser piss babies using trauma as an excuse. Unlike Me, The Officially Diagnosed Strong Trauma Survivor Who Isn't A (Sneer) Victim!"

Some people yelling at the first people while also being nasty and arrogant in their own way, like "Shut up why are you even here complaining about this, you're too old to care about anything, they're just kids, they'll grow up and use the word right, you're a loser, and also actually I am the Most Traumatized Here and you're all actually the (Sneer) Victims!"

Some people saying yeah, the narrowest definition of trauma is a life-threatening event, but it can also be just being stuck in a traffic jam too!

Some people being offended that someone had told them that some behavior of theirs was triggering, or that some people called what was just "discipline" child abuse.

Some people trying to fit any behavior they'd ever behaved into a category of mental illness, and others telling them no, you're a loser Victim unless you have the money and access and also the lack of negative consequences to your Category being known by authorities to get the Official Categorizer to tell you what Category you're Officially in. Until then shut up, you loser with no Official Category.

I did not actually find anything about being traumatized by TV shows, except for one poor person who mentioned feeling weird about discussion of a particular TV show. They didn't name the show but from the details I'm pretty sure it was Game of Thrones, and I don't think they were traumatized so much by the TV show itself as they were anxious and uncomfortable around the treatment of women and sexual abuse and the general brutality in the material. Which is totally understandable. Also they did not continue watching the show and they did their best to avoid discussion of it, which is what I would expect if someone was wondering if they'd been traumatized by a show.

My conclusions were that the word "trauma" means so many different things to different people that it's become useless, that I understand that some amount of categorization is useful and needed to deal with reality but I think we've passed that point when it comes to categories of mental health, and that a LOT of people really really hate anything they perceive as weakness and they're very invested in seeing themselves as the strongest most independent and self-sufficient human and also as the best at being the most messed up of whatever category of mental health issues they think they're in.

Anyway, yeah, humans. Man.

[darkkitty1208]

Have you noticed Stephen's beard is crooked in infinity war? The part below the lips. I can't unsee it. And since then I've been wondering if it was on purpose to show us Stephen's handicapped or if they simply botched it.

Christ, anon. No, I didn't notice that, and I dunno if I should be terrified or impressed by your attention to detail. O.o

So I looked it up because I was curious--

--and apparently you were right! It's not exactly very clear but if you see closely -- I had to zoom in several times because I'm practically blind -- there's an uneven patch on the underside of his chin (centre to left) and a bit of (very, very slight) crookedness to the part under his bottom lip. If the picture above isn't clear try this:

Probably not a better picture but. It's visible enough, yeah? I couldn't find any other suitable ones lmao.

Which reminds me, we were given this wonderful shirtless scene in DS 2016 where Stephen is shaving his goatee:

(Damn. I feel happy he even gave an affirmative nod at himself after that shave. Insecure Stephen is my jam but seeing him glowing and happy with his body/priding in himself at how far he's changed from the dishevelled homeless man he was like this is... something else.)

...and I have to say, even if we were only given a side-view, it looked pretty good. And then we were given the scene where he showed up walking through the Kamar Taj courtyard as a new man (I couldn't find it???) and went to the library saying this iconic line:

Yeah, there's the other side of his shaved goatee. (Thank god for GIF makers bcs the original lighting in that scene was horrible.) And it looks pretty even and neat on both sides, I think? Which concludes that he can, in fact, still shave his beard properly with his hands. Also this was much, much earlier on than IW so he was possibly still slowly adapting to his hands' condition and being able to do this must've been a feat compared to when he had already adjusted himself to the pain in his hands much later. (I'm not actually disabled so I dunno if anyone could ever be 'adjusted' to a disability... But this is Doctor Stephen "Pain's an Old Friend" Strange we're talking about. Nevertheless, I could definitely be wrong and I really don't mean to offend anybody.)

So I'm just gonna make a guess that the slight unevenness of his beard in IW is either caused by him having a Bad Hand Day or simply because he couldn't see the underside of his face clearly while shaving because bathroom lighting can suck sometimes. XD But it's very slight anon, Jesus Christ.

But seriously. Maybe we just need to give this man a damn break because he is trying his best, nonny. Leave the poor guy alone 😭

(Also me: *continues to scrutinise his goatee for the next half hour*)

BUT ALSO it grew scruffier in MoM so he probably grew it out for a while.

I have to be honest here. I don't like how his beard looks in MoM it looks like it was painted on him. ;-;

It could be that it grew thicker bcs:

He was too busy dealing with sorcerer stuff to be focusing on his goatee

He would only shave when his hands are more cooperative bcs he refuses to ask for help

Or he used this shit:

I feel bad for finding that last one funny.

[beesflowers]

Hi, im transported here😈😈 ask and you shall receive!! How bout your oc's interacting with ur fave chars?? Or maybe if they had a sekai fragment, what would it look like:000

-daily anon!

𝒫𝒥𝒮𝒦 𝒪𝒞𝓈 𝒾𝓃𝓉𝑒𝓇𝒶𝒸𝓉𝒾𝓃𝑔

Answer: hasgdhasdb omg HIIII ANON So happy to see you requesting here too! ^^

Shin and Eimi already have their fragments posted but the other two gotta wait for my ahh to finish writing it finally </3

But I'll be very happy to do their interaction with my faves!! Hope you like it! Also just pjsk cuz there's too much of them to fit them all in one post...

Characters: Shin Hinomori, Eimi Ochida, Rika Kamishiro, Kako Boisclar, Shizuku Hinomori, An Shiraishi, Nene Kusanagi

Type: platonic, oc x character, very short oneshots

Note: Picked my top 3 hehe 🤭 even tho I struggled a bit... ANYWAY sorry for taking so long and hope you like it!!

Shin Hinomori

Shizuku Hinomori

Shin slowly walked into kitchen, following the smell of pancakes in the morning. He noticed his twin there and immidietly peeked from behing her shoulder to confirm his theory.

"Pancakes?"

"Oh! Morning Shinny! Yes, I'm making pancakes! Is Shiho awake yet?"

He looked around, noticing no one except for them.

"No, I guess she's still asleep... Need any help with these?"

"Hm... you can find some jam!"

"On it, sis~"

He hummed and searched through entire fridge for a jam... yet found nothing... He sighed knowing well he now has to wake up sooner than he'd want to go get some...

"I'll just go to shop..."

An Shiraishi

Shin was yet again, hiding behind stairs in Kamiyama High... Why you may ask? He wore his favorite earrings and necklaces, completely forgetting about rules here... what worse, he was being chased by 1st year from disciplinary committee...

Thinking he was safe, he peeked out to tell if she's far or not... but she was very close... to close, because right in his face...

"Hahaha... what a... pretty lady I'm seeing here!"

"Don't you try getting away now! You must know well by now that you can't run in corridors. You could've seriously hurt someone."

He finally shut up seeing how he's lost... sighing, he decided to jsut give in to not make any more troubles for himeslf...

"I'll take it off myself... If I hide it in my bag it should be alright, no?"

"I technically should confiscate it... especially after a fight you just put up..."

"They're... important to me, so let's just... forget about it?"

He almost begged her right here and now while slowly taking off all the jewelry as sign of giving up.

"Eh... fiiine... but if I see you with jewelry on anytime today, I WILL confiscate it!!"

"Deal~"

Nene Kusanagi

"(Phenny... Phenny... Where could she've left it?)"

Shin thought to himself as he searched through Pheonix Wonderland. Maybe he was treating this a bit too seriously but... if that plushie is important to his sister, it's even more important to him!

That's when he finally found a girl with the exact same plushie, picking it up from the bench. He was almost 100% sure it must be the exact plushie he's looking for!

"Hey!! Girl with green hair and plushie in hand! Yeah you!!"

He yelled not considering much else as he ran up. Though seeing how startled he made the girl... he kinda began feeling bad...

"Sorry, didn't mean to startle you... Is it yours or did you just found it?"

"I-I found it..."

"Great! I'm pretty sure it's my sisters plushie, may I have it back?"

She handed him the plushie with gentle nod, still uncomfortable... He couldn't leave poor girl just like that, right?! It's his fault for scaring her...

"I'm Shin Hinomori! It's nice to meet you! And thank you for saving my sister's plushie!"

He reached out his hand, planning to play it off with complimenting her to calm her down and showing he has no bad intentions! Maybe even try to initiate a small talk?

"Nene Kusanagi..."

"Heh~ Pleased to meet you! And... by the way... do you go to Kamiyama High? I think I saw you on corridor..."

"Y-Yeah... you too, huh?"

"Mhm~ Hey, I have an idea..."

Eimi Ochida

Shizuku Hinomori

Just by entering the classroom, Eimi could see Shizuku sitting by the window. And being a good friend she is, she immidietly came up to greet her!

"Hello, Shizuku. How are you doing this morning?"

"Ah, hello Eimi!! I'm doing quite great, I must admit~ How about you?"

"Good enought. I hope you got enough sleep, because I prepared the training schedule like promised."

"Mhm! I'm ready for whatever you throw at me! Tho... I'm just curious... have you been working during the night?"

"A bit... does it show?"

"You do look a little bit tired... would you like to take a nap? I can wake you up once it's time for lesson!"

Green haired girl was about to decline but seeing her classmate already getting a chair ready and preparing it for her comfort just melted her heart... how could she decline now? Well... she can't...

"Thank you, Shizuku..."

An Shiraishi

"Could that be... An?"

Eimi exclaimed once she saw familiar face during her walk. It's not often they get to talk!

"Oh gosh, Eimi!! What are you doing here?"

"I'm only taking a walk and collecting my thoughts... How about you?"

"Just walking towards Weekend Garage! Wanna come with me? You can collect your thoughts over nice cup of coffee~"

"Hehe~ Sure... I'd be happy to catch up with you after such a long time."

Manager nodded, quite happy from the encounter and that she get's to fill her in on how not only her friend is doing in MMJ! but also get to know how SHE's doing with her new group and goal~

"I got so much stories to tell you! Just be prepared to pay back!"

"I'm sure I won't disappoint you~"

Even she can gossip from time to time, right? Especially since it's nothing mean...

Nene Kusanagi

"(Nene Kusanagi... green hair... purple eyes... where could she be?)"

Eimi looked around, desperately looking for person Emu wanted her to give a package to, since she was busy. Some may be happy she got free entry, but she didn't wanted to go off track before doing what she was asked to.

"Gosh, I'm never going to find her..."

Finally she let out a sigh as she was slowly giving up... that's before she felt someone's presence... she could even hear the worry in their voice...

"Are you... alright? Do you need help?"

Looking up, she finally noticed... girl withg reen hair and purple eyes! It was as if hope filled her again.

"A-Are you Nene Kusanagi perhaphs?"

"Uh... yes, that'd be me..."

"I'm so glad I finally found you... Here, Emu wanted me to deliver you this package."

"Ah, that explains it... Thank you... uh..."

"Eimi. Just call me Eimi. It was pleasure meeting you, Kusanagi!"

"Yes, you too..."

And with that conversation coming to an end, she exchanged small smiles and walked away, satisfied with her job! She was happy to help! Even if her moment of weakness being seen was... a bit embarrassing...

Rika Kamishiro

Shizuku Hinomori

Rika entered photoshoot room with the instructions she was given. She was already feeling great in beatiful make up and clothes they picked for her, so it wasn't hurt at all to get comfy!

She just sat down to get some quiet moment, before the photoshoot starts... but instead, she heard a familiar voice~

"Rika!! Is that you, I'm seeing?!"

Looking up, she noticed one of her favorite ever people she got to work with! Shizuku!!

"Shizuku! Oh it's so nice to see you! How have you been? Anything new in More More Jump! or with Shiho?"

"Oh you know~ we're slowly gaining more fans! And Shii is growing with her badnmates as well! And how are you and Rui doing?"

"Awh~ I'm so happy for all of you! And I'm so glad you ask~ So! Let's start with exactly 24 robots he built while we were apart! First one, you wouldn't believe! But it's actually..."

And that was precisely how blue haired girl fell into 2 hours of rambling that even directors couldn't stop and had to move photo session by an hour, since the purple haired girl wouldn't stop rambling even during taking photos...

But~ at least now they know everything that happened while they were away!

An Shiraishi

Purple haired girl was taking small walk around corridors, when she suddenly felt a gust of wind passing her... it was Rui... What is he up to this time? She just heard "cover me, sis~" before he hid away.

Not long after, she was standing face to face with girl from disciplinary committee, An Shiraishi!

"Rika! Did you saw your brother anywhere? He was running this way!"

"(He's right there but... No! I can't look!! I need to be supportive sister and get him out of trouble!) I'm afraid I was lost in thoughts again... What did he do?"

"He tried sneaking metal into school... And he still has some on himself!"

"Oh no... I'll make sure to talk with him once I see him. Just trust me here, alright~?"

"Eh... alright, I'll trsut you..."

"Great! And meanwhile we can have small cup of tea from cafeteria! I have a bit to tell you~ Did you knew Shinonome's sister recently won another drawing contest~?"

"Oh- Ena?! Gosh she's really skilled..."

Rika hummed while sneaking a peak towards her brothers hideout and giving him a wink, as she walked away with the girl that almost got her brother into detention...

Nene Kusanagi

"Nene!! Don't tell me Rui left you here..."

Purple hair girl greeted green haired one with a smile, tho also small surprise when she saw her alone in this house kitchen...

"It's fine... he's just grabbing some robot from his room or so..."

"Ah, that explains a lot... but still|! It's impolite to leave your guests alone, even for a surprise! Mind if I keep you company~?"

"Sure... I don't mind."

Rika gently smiled to herself knowing how shy the girl was, yet she didn't mind her presence! And that was little sign for her, she's doing great job as her best friend's sister!!

"How are your shows, Nene? Are you reaching your goal yet?"

"Almost... I still have a bit to practice from my singing but... I'm motivated..."

"That's the most important! Tho I think you're already incredible actress AND singer~"

"Heh... you alwasy have to throw some embarrassing compliment, don't you...?"

Nene mumbled so quietly, Kamishiro girl wasn't even able to hear it at first!!

"Huh?"

"I just said... thank you. I appreciate it~"

"Awwh!! Thank you Nene~"

"Please, spare me the tight embrace... I want to breath..."

Kako Boisclar

Shizuku Hinomori

"(Who's that? Did they pass out? Are they hurt?)"

Shizuku thought to herself as she noticed some teenager boy sleeping on a bench... even tho she didn't knew him, she still got a bit worried and decided to come over, gently shaking him awake.

"Excuse me? Are you alright?"

"Mhh... Who...?"

"Ah, I'm Shizuku! I'm sorry to wake you up, I simply got worried..."

"I'm just tired..."

"So that's what it is... it's not safe to sleep around here tho..."

"Right... I'll go back after I wake up properly..."

Kako reluctantly sat up, now getting closer look at the girl next to him... but he decided to shake off his intuition telling him he saw her somewhere and just thank her properly for once.

"Thank you for... making sure tho... I'll be alright now, so no need to worry."

An Shiraishi

Kako was simply walking through corridors with home made coffee in hand. He felt energetic enough to make one, so now he has a source of energy for... few hours for sure!

"Fancy seeing you awake, Kako!"

Turning around, blonde haried guy saw one of his friends and person who always woke him up...

"Hi An... yeah, I got cofee today..."

"Well if that's the only stuff that keeps you awake, you should definitely visit Weekend Garage more often! I could sneak extra expresso for you~ Just not to a dangerous level..."

"Heh, yeah, I figured that out. But thanks, I think I'll have to someday..."

"Not forcing! Take your time!"

"Mhm. But it also was a while since I last visited..."

"My group's practicing in 3 days there and we plan on doing mini concert~ You surely won't fall asleep there, hm?"

"Well... I can try..."

"Great!! I'll be looking out for you!"

And with small high five, as their way of sealing the deal, the two with very different characters parted for now~

Nene Kusanagi

What was Kako doing in arcade with blue haired boy and green haired girl? That's the question he asked himself every time he had to move to another game... It was nice laying his head on machine and having little nap... especially with surprisingly comfy rugs...

Tho later Toya had to leave, and now he's left alone with just Nene... not like he minds, but he definitely has to move more, since rematch isn't an option...

"Kako, we're moving"

"Eh... sure..."

"You know I won't force you to sit here? If you're this tired you may consider going home..."

"No... arcade is pretty nice to nap..."

"They should make sleeping games for you..."

"That'd be nice~ I'd come here even more often if that was the case."

Boy slowly stood up and rubbedh is eye, gently yawning.

"We can go on longer game now, that'll require few tries from me... Will you want to play something for 2 players after it if you're awake enough?"

"Sure... but no promises."

"Well Toya's not around so just don't fall asleep while standing... there's no one to catch you..."

"Heh... I won't. This floor isn't THAT comfortable for me to fall onto..."

[chocolatepot]

2.02 thoughts!

DAMN Crowley talking to the goats about himself, basically, yeah? God will destroy you for no fucking reason.

Muriel is such a John Finnemore idiot character. Love that.

My ambivalence to Ineffable Bureaucracy aside, Gabriel remembering the song even after putting all of his memories into a fly is pretty sweet. (Gabriel is also such a John Finnemore idiot. He writes great idiots.)

This whole thing with the Scottish pub's jukebox feels like something that should have been given to Maggie to investigate, maybe. Like all of the stuff that the human characters were able to look into for the viewers' benefit in s1/the book - it feels like too much of a digression for Aziraphale when there's so much going on in the plot. I feel like it could have helped to make things less jam-packed.

Aziraphale doing the little miracle to get the guy out of his seat (and seeming to be closed to get away from street association man) - again, a little selfishness!

When I first watched this ep I KNEW he was going to characterize Maggie as having a "pash".

I don't like the Jane Austen joke ... I know I'm being a killjoy/taking it too seriously. A friend pointed out that it's very Doctor Who-ish and it is. We don't have TIME for stupid jokes, there is too much plot to cover.

Truly love that Peter Davison is Job and Ty Tennant is Job's annoying gay son. "Bildad the Shuite" is so silly that it really pleases me.

The first time in history that Crowley insists to Aziraphale that "no I really am evil and awful, I'm such a bad guy"? And he's immediately proven wrong.

I always liked the idea that Aziraphale discovered the pleasures of human food himself (with pleasure in physical comforts and food/drink being his own personal love of the Earth to mirror Crowley's), but it being something that Crowley introduces him to, as supreme lover of Earth, works as well.

Aziraphale being jealous that Job gets to speak to God (when was the last time God actually interacted with any angels besides Metatron? is she talking to the archangels, even?) when God is just lecturing him like an asshole, asking him questions he obviously has no answer to ...

I am such a child, the "reach into his robe - no, higher" joke really landed with me.

I feel like Gabriel and Michael would have questioned the number of children being given, since she was supposed to have seven? Also makes me wonder if the poor woman still conceives seven more times, since that was apparently divinely ordained. (I guess she could still miscarry. I just want to save her from seven births at her age.)

The "our car, our bookshop" conversation hits so well on a second viewing - but again, so selfish. There is no way he has ever considered the car shared until the moment that he needed it!

Pride and Prejudice foreshadowing/parallel - Gabriel sort of was an angel in possession of a "good fortune" as supreme archangel, and the first line is sarcastic, but he did find himself in want of a wife, of sorts. I'm connecting the dots! (You haven't connected shit.)

The interesting thing about Aziraphale's abusive relationship with Heaven/God is that it's a staple of fic, yet ... not quite like this. The focus in my experience is usually on him being directly bullied rather than on the doubt engendered in him by God/Heaven doing shitty things and his fears about what doubting would mean (though tbf I don't read as much GO fic as I do OFMD fic). I'm sort of eager to see if people jump on this.

Crowley thinks he's so adorable when he's freaking out about being "fallen". So cute so cute so cute. How does David Tennant load so much affection into his smile? And the "as far as he can" callback ... *chef's kiss* It is interesting to me how in/after s1 I was very into the dynamic where Crowley gets off on protecting Aziraphale, and now I am kind of like "... he's been GIVING for so many centuries, when is Aziraphale going to turn around and match that?" Some of that is obviously echoes from having seen the finale, but some is definitely what I was thinking as I watched the first time. (Presumably the answer is "in s3," obviously.)

[lizard-shifter-noms]

Broken Bloodlines Chapter 11

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Part 11 already? were almost to the end!

only two more plus the epilogue!

have fun reading!

and as always reblogs are appreciated! (Also ASK’s are open so feel free to bother me!)

AO3 Link for those that prefer the layout there; https://archiveofourown.org/works/44627188

——————————————————————————————————

Turning around I saw that Oakley had already found the weird Teal stuff and had instructed Fable on what to do with it.

Well if he applied the stuff by himself it would probably also heal all the minor cuts on his hands as well.

 The container of it was also only a fourth full now,  I hoped he'd be able to make more of it as soon as he fully moved in.

Then again the guy had absolutely no system when it came to storing things.

“Mrrw?”

I looked down at the sound to see the cat brushing up against my legs.

“There you are, c’mere”

I picked her up and let her sit one one arm while stabilizing her with the other one.

She immediately flopped over so I had to hold her like a baby instead and softly tapped at my chin.

This really was one of the nicest cats I had ever met, if not THE nicest.

It also seemed the Teal stuff wasn't needed anymore seeing as Oakley was putting the lid back on and just shoving the thing into one of the many shelves brimming with largely unidentifiable things.

“You know the little cat you have there would make a good familiar for someone with magic”

Both me and Fable looked at him with various degrees of confusion.

“What do you mean by that? 

I think she's a little too nice to be the accomplice of a witch”

He tilted his head and looked at me like I was an idiot, again.

“Not every witch is evil, man i ought to talk to Rikaad about your schooling system! Seems like it's doing a poor job!

Also not every magic wielder is a witch and not every magic wielder has a familiar, most don't actually as finding a suitable animal is quite hard”

Huh, i hadn't known that, then again we did fight an ice mage so maybe i really was just dumb.

Also I did not go to school, which Oakley seems to have forgotten.

“Oakley i never went to school,  they would have killed me before i put one foot in the building”

Oakley looked at me strangely and Fable was actually rather horrified.

oops we had forgotten to tell him the more bad side of the History.

I'd fix that while both of us were recovering.

Luckily thanks to that Teal stuff Fable should be fit in no time.

“Well that sucks, but at least you didn't turn out to be a complete idiot like some other people i met throughout time.

I can show you some of the more basic stuff after I'm done dragging my stuff here if you want?”

Like a teacher or  what? Also I had no idea what he considered basic knowledge but there was no doubt I'd learn at least something.

“I- uh sure why not, i don't doubt that'll be useful”

The winged man nodded then went to a cupboard that looked recently dusted and fished out two spoons that definitely weren't even from the same maker.

“Perfect! And now that the jam has cooled down, do you wanna try it?”

Right, the herb jam, I did have to say that it smelled good so why not?

I really doubted it was poisonous but I hoped Oakley had cleaned the spoons.

“Sure, it doesn't smell bad so why not?”

I looked over to Fable who just nodded in confirmation and I noticed that he looked kinda tired.

Oh right, the teal stuff takes energy to properly heal so him being tired was no surprise.

We could go take a nap after this,  I myself was also kind of worn out and sore from all that had happened.

Oakley dipped the spoons in the glass closest to him and then held them out to us so we each took one.

Luckily the spoon looked to be clean,  aside from the jam of course so without further ado i tried it.

It was sweeter than I expected seeing as Rosemary was more of a savory herb, at least in cooking, 

but it was possible that Oakley just put a ton of sugar in it.

But all in all it was pretty good.

“It's a lot sweeter than I thought it would be,  How much sugar did you pour into this? Aside from that its actually good and i bet the Kitchen staff would love the recipe”

I looked over to Fable to see what he thought of it but I could only see him sitting at the table with a mildly confused and miserable expression.

“She stole the entire spoon”

He pointed at the cat who sat on the other end of the table and was currently lickign the spoon clean.

Oakley also saw it and immediately started laughing his weird cawing laugh.

It took barely a second for me to join in and Fable started laughing as well, the sound still weirdly reminding me of a bell.

That mixed with Oakley’s cawing tone made it sound like weirdly out of sync music where only one person knew how to play an instrument.

To my ears it was a lovely sound, both my Brother and Oakley were also getting along, well as much as one could with the strange winged man.

The cat however was quite unbothered by the sound,  at least I thought so at first but then she stepped on the broad part of the spoon making it flip into the air and land in front of Oakley.

Yeah, he was right that the cat probably had at least a minor amount of magic.

Though it was unlikely she knew how to use it.

Oakley grabbed the spoon and tossed it in the sink where already some other cutlery was.

He gave Fable a new spoon to try,  making sure the cat wouldn't get it this time even if she tried.

Fable did agree with me that it was indeed sweeter than one would think and after reapplying his bandages,  even if they wouldn't be needed for that much longer,  We left to go back to the castle with the cat in tow who was insistent on being carried by Fable.

Considering he was tired and the teal stuff wasn't yet working that fast he kind of had to lean against me to avoid falling over.

I decided that since all that madness with Maringand was over I could finally move back into my shed,  This time Fable actually could use the loft as well.

I did wonder though how long he was going to stay now,  after all the Teal stuff would fix his limp leg in maybe a day tops.

I wished he'd reconsider his plan, at least for a little bit.

He'd been here barely a week and more than half of that he had been trapped in a horrible mindset.

I liked him, sure, he’s my brother after all, but at the same time I barely knew anything about him.

That did make me wonder though how much he even knew about himself.

He had been in that horrible mindset for years,  he probably didn't even know much about himself either.

Maybe him going out to try and find what kind of person he was would be the right thing to do after all.

Besides, after the tiny glimpses i got from what he was like telling him what to do would be the wrong thing, not to mention kinda fucked up.

No, Fable had every right to go and do what he wanted,  it was none of my business.

He was now leaning half asleep on me and I had to half drag him across the ground, it was a wonder he hadn't dropped the cat yet.

Yeah i’d get him to the loft and then let him sleep till the next day,  He needed it, a lot.

That would also give me some time to think of something to give him that he could take with him on his journey.

Nothing big or heavy of course, but just something little so he had something from his little brother.

Maybe something useful? 

That was of course the obvious choice.

But what?

Oh well, I could decide that later,  for now it was better if we both just rested a bit.

We reached the shed pretty quickly and without running into anyone else.

To be fair I doubted I'd want to chit chat anymore for today so that was just right for me.

Fable had by now almost fallen asleep while upright,  and still somehow holding the cat albeit that a lot more lopsided now.

That Teal stuff might be a huge help with injuries but apparently the trade off was that one got extremely tired really fast if used.

I had to keep that in mind for future reference.

Half dragging Fable up to the loft and onto a makeshift bed that was a little too short for him I also put the blinds on all the windows.

While I was busy with that the cat went and used my Elven Brother as a mattress.

He didn't react to it though, already out like a candle.

Well the sun would only begin to set in like an hour or so,  So what else was there to do for me?

I wasn't tired, at least not yet,  but there also wasn't really anything to do for me.

Fresh air would be nice though, and as long as the cat was there Fable wasn't alone either so a few minutes walking around would probably do me good so I went out of the door once again.

The last few days had been stupidly stressful and very chaotic,  and I honestly doubted that i had comprehended all of it yet.

I didn't really want to anyway.

We had lost people due to Winton’s stupid greed, most of them complete strangers to me that I had never met before, and now never would.

And of course some people I did know were now gone as well.

While Oakley somehow was fine Barsen was not,  a fact that still didn't really want to go into my head.

Who would take care of the Garden now?

And who would let us do stupid things around the castle without telling anyone?

Who else could ever be the kind and calm presence he had been?

I would never see that steady pillar of kindness and acceptance ever again.

And on top of that what would happen to his stuff?

Would it just be tossed out like I had seen city dwellers do with the belongings of people that died without any relatives?

I hoped not, and I doubted any of the castle residents would let that happen either.

But it still felt like someone had torn a hole into something Important that couldn't be repaired.

Despite not knowing the man for as long as most of the Castle did he had still been a very dear friend.

He had even given me tips on how to care for the wild array of plants that grew on my back in the Ardua form.

Though Half of them weren't exactly doable considering they grew in flesh instead of dirt.

What a fucked up thing taken out of context.

My wanderings had taken me without my noticing along the outer wall all the way to where Barsen had Died.

Aside from the patches of mud and the bent branch on the sapling there wasn't even that much evidence of what had happened here.

Well, if one could ignore the rusty stains that is.

Seemed like my grimm musings had taken me here somehow.

I felt like throwing up once again but pushed past the feeling.

I didn't have anything to throw up anyway.

Still, at the sight something in me Ached terribly.

Despite all the differences and things that happened in between i knew the feeling, i knew it well even.

It felt like shortly after my mother had died and part of me had rejected that reality for a good week or so.

It was the feeling of loss.

What a terrible thing to experience once again.

I briefly wondered if the plants would grieve him if they could.

They probably would,  he had treated them with such care and respect after all.

The tiny sapling here had even refused to let him die face down in the dirt.

Looking at it I saw that it was some sort of willow tree,  but I was no expert and the thing reached maybe my waist so it was impossible to tell what kind.

I did feel sad for the broken branch though.

Maybe I could mend it?

I didn't really have any string on me for that though,  Maybe I could use something else?

Oh wait, hair could work.

Not the human hair I had right now but the long and thick strands of the Ardua mane would probably work just as good as string.

Going a good few paces away from the little clearing so i wouldn't damage anything i carefully shifted to the quadrupedal form.

Trying to use the clawed paws to get some of the fur didn't work as well as I had hoped so I tried to tangle some of my mane in a thorny bush which had a lot more success.

Shifting back to the smaller human scale again I fished the few hairs that got stuck out of the shrubbery again.

Huh, they were a lot longer than I thought they'd be.

While i had expected them to maybe be half my lower arm long,  they were actually the length of my entire arm,  shoulder to wrist and as thick as a fine sewing thread.

How weird.

Well whatever, it would surely work for what i had planned at least.

Going back over I carefully put the bent branch back in its place and then used the strands of fur to fix it into place.

There, now it could grow properly again.

I stepped a few paces back to make sure I hadn't messed up my poor attempt at helping the plant up.

It didn't seem like it but then again I was no expert.

What a strange sight still, a lone sapling in a place where not too long ago Carnage had taken place.

It still felt like someone had twisted an ice cold knife into my Heart,  well the beating one,  and I knew that this awful feeling would persist for quite some time.

I should probably leave now, the tree wasn't as broken as before and staying here could not be good for my Mental health.

Taking one last look at the only thing that had stood witness to what happened here I turned around and went back towards the castle.

While walking through the Garden I noticed that the Plants still seemed miserable, branches drooping down,  Petals already closed despite it being only late afternoon and the grass not as vibrant as it had been just a few days beforehand.

Could plants grieve? If so, these certainly were doing as such.

It still was weird to be in the middle of that so I hurried along forward and back to the relative safety of the castle.

I reached it within minutes and debated on what to do for now.

It didn't look like anyone was out on the benches or front yard anymore, good, that would spare me some smalltalk.

I didn't feel like talking at all at the moment anyway, my mind was still slowly processing what had happened, albeit lately so.

I wanted some peace, but Fable was sleeping in the Loft of my shed and I really did not want to stay in the Garden right now.

Well there weren't many other places i knew, especially ones where there were no people.

So that left the Library and… The tower that allowed us to see the enemies approaching early.

It was possible that someone was in the library at this time to read or to also get some peace so I'd go to the tower.

If anyone wanted to get to me they had to climb a stupid amount of stairs first and considering i didn't even want to do that i doubted anybody else would follow me.

After a good few minutes of stair climbing I was at the top of the tower for the second time in my life, only to find to my extreme surprise I was not as alone as I thought I'd be.

There, on the stone bank that went around the outer wall under the windows sat a familiar red headed form.

He was clutching a longish box that I was pretty sure contained a beautifully made telescope with plant based engravings.

I debated for a moment if I should leave or not but that choice was taken from me as Robin turned around to look at me.

The skin under his eyes was a little red but that could also have been an effect from the setting sun.

I chose not to mention it, instead I just silently sat next to him as he tilted his head and pointed to the seat next to him.

We sat in silence for what felt like forever, just staring out at the ocean without actually seeing it.

It was very probable that this time both of us spaced out because there seemed to have been a good hour or so missing seeing as it was now dark out while just a moment ago the sun had just begun to set.

Huh, so that's what it was like.

At a shifting sound I glanced over to the rusthead who was now leaning his forehead on the box while hugging the rest of it.

Why did he have it in the first place?

I wasn't about to ask that though,  it would probably just make everyone upset again.

But as it turned out i didn't have to ask as he gave that information of his own accord.

“Do you remember when you told me to go give Barsen the Telescope back and then go look after the kitchen staff?”

I nodded, I had done that so he wouldn't randomly run after us into the battle.

“Well i went to give it back, but after like twenty minutes he came by the kitchen and handed it to me again.

He told me to keep an eye on the box like it was my own and if I did a good job of that I could have it one day.

Then he left, and… didn't come back.

So I guess it's mine now?

I mean he did say if i kept an eye on it i could have it,  but I just don't understand why…?

And why would he give it to me of all people? 

I'm clumsy and I drop things all the time. 

He knew that, so why give something so precious to me?”

While talking tears had begun to fall from his eyes even if he tried his best to keep his voice steady.

I had no answer to any of the things he'd been talking about,  Why would I have?

Robin had been better friends with the Gardener than I had, spent more time with him as well seeing as Robin wanted to learn about plants.

Maybe that was why, if Barsen had known there were soldiers while the castle was largely unguarded he probably wanted to ensure the pretty telescope went to someone that shared his love for plants at least a little.

I moved to hug the shaking redhead who, while being strangely quiet about it, was still leaving tear tracks down his face.

He sort of, just flopped into my hold, still silently crying and it was taking almost all of my willpower not to start crying too.

“I don't know,  but if he trusted you to take care of it then I don't doubt that you can.

He was not stupid, far from it really, so if he judged you to be the best candidate to keep a eye on it then you have to be just that”

He sniffled a little and wiped his eyes with the corner of his sleeve.

“You think so?”

“I wouldn't say it otherwise, couldn't anyway”

He made a humming sound and just continued to lay there in a miserable heap.

Looking out of the tower again I saw that it was completely dark now, the only light coming from a torch Robin must have brought with him beforehand.

Maybe we should head back down now,  if the torch went out we would have absolutely no light to descend the stairs and I for one was not keen on falling down all of them.

“I think we should go back down,  it's dark and i don't want to fall should the torch go out.

You feel like getting up?”

He just made a grumbling noise and shrunk down further like he wanted to completely disappear.

Didn't feel like walking huh?

Well i could probably carry him, he did also look tired.

Probably from crying.

“Want a ride?”

He looked at me confusedly for a second, likely forgetting that I could actually lift stuff even if I wasn't in my Ardua form.

Figuring out how to carry him without burning him with the torch took a minute or so but in the end he was clinging to my back with the telescope still clutched to his front while I carried the torch in my left hand.

While Robin could probably hold the torch as well I kinda needed it in front of me to see where i was going and if he held it it was likely going to be close to my face so this was the best solution.

I wasn't keen on setting my hair on fire anyway.

The trip down seemed to be faster than the one going up but I really wasn't complaining about that.

Considering going down the stairs wasn't as exhausting as going up we reached the bottom fairly quick and I was stuck in the empty torch mount near the door.

That's probably where it came from anyway.

While I did that I realized I had no idea where Robin's normal room was, there hadn't been any need seeing as we usually met outside or in my shed.

“Robin? Which way is your room?”

I asked the Ginger currently slouching over my back but didn't get an answer.

Twisting my head around as much as I could and listening to his breathing revealed that he had simply fallen asleep.

It would be adorable if it wasn't for the fact that I had no idea what to do now.

Since I had no idea where his room was I just set off towards my own hoping to figure out how to get him off my back and onto some pillows without waking him up.

I'd get to that when I was back in my shed.

I wondered if the Cat was still there,  she had been using Fable as a bed after all.

Probably not though.

Slinking around I actually walked past Nea who just quietly nodded after seeing the sleeping ginger on my back.

Thank fuck, i didn't really want to talk to most people yet,  also i'd rather not wake Robin up by talking to the usually rather loud woman.

Also I was pretty sure she wasn't supposed to be out and about right now even if she was better now.

Well, not my problem.

Ducking under the doorframe I emerged right in front of the shed, 

well that was the easy part over with.

Now I just had to figure out how to bunch up some pillows for Robin without waking him up, or Fable for that matter.

Clumsily closing the door behind me again I saw that I had just shoved the blankets and such from when I slept in the Ardua form to one wall, making a pile of soft Fabrics.

Perfect, at least I didn't have to pile it all up myself.

Now the only question was how to get Robin off of my back without waking him.

In the end I managed by having him slide sideways off and onto the pile of assorted cloth pieces.

I pulled one over him to act as a blanket as he curled up like a wet kitten while still clutching the telescope box to himself.

I wouldn't even try to take it, Though he would have some imprints of the box on his face tomorrow.

Grabbing a not occupied blanket I dragged it over to some of the leftover hay bales that we had been too lazy to remove while sweeping the shed and settled down there.

Lucky thing I wasn't allergic to anything.

Cocooning myself in the fabric to avoid the straws poking me and kickin my shoes off into the hay I fell asleep as well.

I had no idea how long I was out for but was awoken to the sound of familiar voices.

Opening my eyes I saw both Fable and Robin sitting on the floor in front of each other.

A meowing sound told me they weren't the only ones there.

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NEXT / PREVIOUS / OVERSIGHT

[ace-the-fox]

This is another ask question game from the other day

Questions 2, 3 & 30 for Haruka, Momo and Misao :3

Hiya!! Sorry this took so, so long. Had a birthday party (not mine, a friend's ofc lol) when this was sent and then... I took part in a marathon relay today!! Ran 4.2 miles and was EXHAUSTED lol. I didn't run the full way, bc I started getting cramps in my leg about halfway through, but it was chill just to run through and see people lol. So yeah, not just being lazy and ignoring you haha /lh

So, question time!! (For this first question, yes I am going to completely ignore the time period and just go with stuff I know well because I'm feeling ✨️lazy✨️)

2) �� - She's an indie girl at heart. MARINA, Nicole Dollanganger, Jasmin Bean etc. She's very much "Dad, it's not just a phase, you could never understand!!"

✴️ - She'll listen to anything with a solid beat and a happy tune. She doesn't listen to lyrics much, she just kinda listens to shit. Sometimes Haruka will accidentally ruin songs for her (but not really because she'll still listen to them, just not as comfortably as before lol) because she'll just be jamming out and Haru will go "Hey, you know what that song actually means, right?" She's also a big vocaloid fan in my heart.

🔲 - Heavy rock, without verging into total heavy metal stuff. Like, System of a Down and Three Days Grace etc. Why does she also give me Radiohead fan vibes? (Haru too ngl 💀)

3) 💟 - Bombs. Explosives. It's just genetics. It makes sense, as she's under so much stress (and will be under more sooner or later-) that she basically is a ticking time bomb. Will she blow on others or herself first? Who knows!

✴️ - ...a gun. Hear me out. She's definitely a lover not a fighter, so if I had to give her a weapon, I think a gun would be the most merciful out of the ones I can think of. Something not as close range and personal. Maybe a bow and arrow actually. Idk, she also has that kind of vibe. It also gives her major final girl vibes, which I love for her.

🔲 - This girl needs a baseball bat. Steel preferably. Let her committ several counts of vandalism and property damage and possibly kill or injure a few innocents here and there.

30) 💟 - Unless she's using perfume or something to actively smell good, perhaps to impress someone (*cough* Momo *cough*), she doesn't smell of much. Just smells generally clean. (She does smell of cigarette smoke after lunch on schooldays but shhhh don't tell Kira-)

✴️ - She has a very sweet, citrusy perfume she wears daily. Haruka loves it <3

🔲 - Some rancid mix of mold/grime, alcohol, cigarette smoke and dried blood. Whatever it is, she's stinky (poor thing).