#ALSO if anyone wants to theorize some more PAY ATTENTION TO EVERYONES EYES!! even the npcs!! theres a reason some are different :)

[team-avia]

Okay so my insomnia is really bad so I’m going to force you to listen to my raving and rambling about RL theories because I saw some old promotional stuff and now my mind is galaxy braining right now

SO HERE IT GOES

(Sorry if this has been brought up before btw and is old news)

Obvious potential spoilers!!! Beware everyone else!!!

This motherfucking promo image is the source of my thoughts, especially after playing Cass’s and Bella’s demo. Particularly the symbols used for every character:

Cassandra: obviously an prodigy actress and star of the department but the further we get into her demo we realize there’s more behind the diva persona than meets the eye— hence the symbol, while classic in theater, can also reflect her emotional state and her need to cover it up with smiles and arrogance. Her nightmares and sense of commitment to potential romantic lovers maybe be a symptom of a more deep reason.

Bela: THE HEART like bruh obviously it in reference to whatever Miranda did to her before the game started—being heartless and what not. And how she’ll eventually regain her ‘heart’ if we go down the route right.

Daniela: so far she’s seems normal, well adjusted, and tame in comparison to her sisters. Key world being SEEMS. There’s definitely something broiling beneath the surface with her and I bet it has to do with her family troubles and her always putting on a brave face. Hence the rose but the notable thorns beneath it. Every rose has its thorns and what not. Idk if it has anything to do with the rowdy crowd she associates with.

Angie: the doll obviously fitting her RE origin and over all her personality, sweet, kind, and maybe bombastic. But look closely—there’s a tear on the doll’s face. Like Cass (and maybe Dani) she has a mask—aka being a party animal and overall alcoholic. It may have something to do with being Donna’s niece and I’m assuming Claudia’s daughter. But where’s the latter???? I’m sensing a dark back story here and her maladapting to her mother’s death.

The last three are the hardest to theorize because we haven’t seen much of them in the Demos but I’ll slightly theorize here:

Donna: the recluse of the campus is pictured with a syringe. Could be a nod to her RE origin being with her pollen/hallucinations but could also have to do with why she’s so shy and introverted. Maybe in the similar vein to Angie’s, what with her sister and what not.

Alcina: Wine is an obvious choose to use for her. Bitch loves her red. Idk what else to pull from this. Again hard to speculate with no demo introducing her. It’s giving wine mom energy and not in the fun way.

Miranda: this bitch has some fucking powers or something—giving hag in the swamp vibes and doing shit to people. Bela with her heartlessness (and maybe Cass’s nightmares?). Also Mia being a witchy gal and giving Miranda a gift that’s warm? Hella sus. The Corvus skull is obvious to her RE origins but also a nod to witchcraft and supernatural things. Also a symbol of death. Bitch be brewing shit idk.

Anyways those are my thoughts. Idk how accurate this is and, based on how old the pic is, could be completely wrong. I’ve spent too many hours thinking on the Demo for it to be healthy so this was a long time coming.

Feel free to cuss me out for how wrong I am. I just needed to get my thoughts out there.

Make sure you take care of yourselves! Love you guys! Stay safe and healthy!

I DONT KNOW HOW TO RESPOND TO THIS WITHOUT SPOILING ANYTHING BUT

thank you for noticing the little details 😭 ❤️ ive been waiting for someone to notice HAHAHAHA

finch

[glassica]

Perfect pair

M!yandere old classmate x Gn!reader. Notes: mild yandere, stalking, obsessiveness, old friends

You and him were not best friends. In fact, you would never pay an ounce of attention to him had it not for both of you being the top of class and your classmates started shipping the two. Sure he was a fun and cool guy, but between you and him there was hardly a common interests. You had your circle and he hanged out with his game buddies, bunch of heads gathered around a phone stressing over playmatches every break time.

There was a time when you both got seated together, yet the relationship barely improved. Though the exchange was fun and he was indeed a lovely boy, you deliberately stopped yourself from getting closer to him. Even when you always made excuses in your head that he simply didn't click, your heart knew for sure that you were scared. Scared of him, scared of what he thought about you, the teasing from your classmates. He wasn't stupid. He definitely knew the shipping, just pretended to act oblivious like you.

However, you didn't worry too much. Graduation was few months away, you could put all this discomfort behind once you got to college. You'd never have to deal with these highschool shenanigans ever!

Right?

"Isn't it funny? We don't just go to same college, now you're even my classmate again too!"

You sat alone at the class theorizing all the possible ways to make new friends, only to be startled with the pat in the back by him. Not just any of your old schoolmates but him, the guy you were the most awkward with. His grin widened and the eyes looked at you cheerfully while you stayed there still astonished at the possibility that you two could ever met again.

"Well now I don't have to fret over my college life," he joked, "I already have you as my first friend!"

"I am the one who have to worry about getting no friends here!"

He chuckled. Of course he was aware of how poor your socialization skills were. He had spent all those years in highschool witnessing how lonely you were. He saw a kid always stayed at their seat glueing eyes into the phone, never hanged out with any circles during breaks, never went to school events nor night outs. You were friendly and distant to everyone at the same time, and only managed to befriended some kids in senior year.

He too, would not care about you had the shipping never happened. At first it was annoying. He absolutely wanted nothing to do with this random kid whose only common trait he shared with was being top students, yet over time he became aware of your presence. His eyes started searching for you everyday, observing the way you furiously jot down all the teacher's speech trying not to miss a word, the way you stutter and avoid eye contacts with everyone during presentation, the way you grit teeth regretfully over a right answer that you mistakenly redid as wrong. He looked at you too much.

And he wanted to get closer to you. He wanted to know more about you beyond the classroom. What you liked, what you did after school, your family, your music tastes, everything. Sure you were more than just a kid who only know to study like what people assumed. He tried his best to talk to you, but backed down when sensing the hesitation in your attitude. Those teasings was a double-edged sword: it introduced both of you to each other, and also drove away any chances for a relationship to take place.

Nevertheless, he wouldn't give up. It wasn't a coincidence that he got in the same college with same major as you. In this place you and him could talk to each other without anyone poking fun at. No one knew you guys there and the only thing they saw was best friends knowing each other in highschool. Sitting next to you, he giggled thinking about the future. He and you would take walks to class together, work on group projects together, have lunch together. He and you would do everything together, like a perfect pair.

"Hey what if we even end up as colleagues later?"

"I don't think there will be a third time."

"Who knows? We may even be a real family too!"

"What's wrong with you?"

He smiled. You didn't know, but he had no plan to ever let you be alone starting now. He'd be there, by your side, forever.

[bidokja]

I was joking a while back that the actor they have playing KDJ for the orv movie was too handsome for him and a friend who's read orv was like "KDJ is actually secretly attractive!!" And I just felt my soul leave my body right then

SIGHS...

Okay. Buckle in. I'm gonna finally actually address and explain and theorize about this whole...thing.

I'm not gonna cite any exact chapters cause it's like 11:30 and I've got an 8 hour drive in the morning but I'll at least make an approximate reference to where certain things are mentioned. Also, this post is just my personal interpretation for a good bit of it, but it's an interpretation I feel very solid about, so do with that what you will. Moving on to the meat of things:

There is one (1) instance in the web novel that I know of which describes specific features of Kim Dokja (especially ones other people notice). This takes place when members of KimCom are trying to make Kim Dokja presentable to give his speech at the Industrial Complex (after it's been plopped down on Earth). This is when they start really paying attention and focusing on Kim Dokja's appearance since they're putting makeup on him; I still don't think they can interpret his whole face, but they can accurately pick out and retain more features than usual. If I remember correctly they reference him having long eyelashes, smooth skin, and soft hair. These features can be viewed as (stereotypically) attractive.

Certain parts of the fandom have taken this scene and run with it at a very surface level, without realizing (or without acknowledging at the very least) that this scene is not about how Kim Dokja looks. This is, in part, due to not realizing or acknowledging why Kim Dokja's face is "censored" in the first place, and what that censoring actually means. I think it's also possible that some people are assuming the censorship works like a physical phenomena rather than an altered perception.

I'll address that last point first. The censorship of Kim Dokja's features is not something as simple as a physical phenomena. It's not a bar or scribble or mosaic over his face. If that were true it'd be very obvious to anyone looking at him that his face is hidden. But his face is not hidden to people. They can look at him and see a face. If they concentrate on his eyes, they can see where he's looking. They know when he's frowning or grinning. They see a face loud and clear. But what face are they seeing? Because it's not really his, whatever they're seeing.

No one quite agrees on what he really looks like. And if they try and think about what he looks like, they can't recall. Or if they do, it's vague, or different each time. We notice these little details throughout the series. Basically, Kim Dokja's face is cognitively obscured. Something - likely the Fourth Wall, though I can't recall if this is ever stated outright - is interfering with everyone's ability to perceive him properly. This culminated in him feeling off to others; and since they don't even realize this is happening, they surmise that he is "ugly."

Moving on to the other point about what the censorship means: To be blunt, the censorship of his face is an allegory for his disconnect from the "story" (aka: real life, and the real people at his side). The lifting - however slight - of this censorship represents him becoming more and more a part of the "story" (aka: less disconnected from the life he is living and the people at his side). The censorship's existence and lifting can represent other things - like dissociation or depersonalization or, if you want to get really meta, the fact that he is all of our faces at once - but that's how I'd sum up the main premise of it. (The Fourth Wall is a larger part of the dissociation allegory, but that's for another post).

So you see, them noticing his individual features isn't about the features. It's not about the features! It doesn't matter at all which features got listed. Because they could describe any features whatsoever and it would not change the entire point of the scene. Because the point isn't what he looks like. The point is that they can truly and clearly see these features. For the first time. They are seeing parts of him for the first time. Re-read that sentence multiple times, literally and metaphorically. What does it mean to see someone as they are?

This is an extremely significant turning point dressed up as a dress-up scene.

---

P.S. / Additionally, I'm of the opinion that Kim Dokja is not handsome, and he is not ugly. He is not pretty, and he is not ghastly. Not attractive, nor unattractive. Kim Dokja isn't any of these things. More importantly, Kim Dokja can't be any of these things. The entire point of Kim Dokja is that you cannot pick him out of a crowd; he is the crowd. He's a reader. He's the reader. Why does he need to be handsome? Why must he be pretty? Why is him being attractive necessary or relevant? He doesn't, he doesn't, it's not. He is someone deeply deeply loved and irreplaceable to those around him, and someone who cannot even begin to recognize or accept that unless it's through a love letter masquerading as a story he can read. He is the crowd, a reader, the reader. He's you, he's me. He's every single one of us.

[staygolddindjarin]

Grief

Chapter One: History

Din Djarin x Reader x a bunch of other star wars characters

Series Summary: Raised on Mandalore, born into a bloodline of warriors, no one ever expected for the daughter of a Clan leader to go rogue. Leaving the life of security and making the journey to fight in the war against the empire meant many things... giving up the way of the Mandalore, and giving up a solid future. A future that involves an arranged marriage to a foundling from another clan.

Chapter Warnings: Oof this ones kinda angsty right off the bat- ⚠️ attempted suicide?? Kinda?? Age gap (reader is underage, but don't worry it's just for the sake of backstory and also there's no spicy, so...) mentions of death and afterlife, fluff if you like squint really hard

A/n: hello there... I'm sorry to inflict tumblr with this atrocity, but wattpad had to deal with it so tumblr can too. I wrote a different version of this on my wp with an OC name, but I know that not everyone cares for that so this won't include that. Also this series will be such a slow burn... prepare yourself ahead of time because it's going to be agonizing

Words: 6.3k+

SERIES MASTERLIST UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Part 1/?

"Pehea gar mar'eyir ni...."

How did you find me....

He came and sat beside me, the sound of metal scraping agaisnt the ground when he knelt first.

"Gar cuyir te shi solus tion'ad comes olar jii.  Ni kar'taylir gar jate'shya gar mirdir Ni vaabir," He responded.

You are the only one who comes here now. I know you better than you think I do.

I heaved a deep breath before letting it out in an exhausted sigh. Speaking in my native tongue was something I always appreciated, but now sitting here it felt nearly uncomfortable, but there was a reason for that.

"I wanted to be alone," The words from my mouth were no longer in my language, and he shifted beside me, trying to convey his confusion without a word.

"Care to elaborate?" He suggested, his asking tone was harsh... but then so was everything else about him.

I didn't really feel like explaning my feelings at the moment. I didn't want to focus on the very thing he was asking about. Even though he wasn't absolutely sure of what he was asking.

"You wouldn't understand if I told you," I trailed off.

"Try me." His voice wasn't any softer, but the sincerity he rarely showed had seeped into his tone.

"I really don't think it's a good idea. You really won't understand, and for all I know you could make things worse off for me than they already are," I didn't like it when he let his guard down around me. I didn't like getting closer to him, even though I was supposed to.

"I can't force you. Whatever it is, I wouldn't get myself too worked up," He sounded hurt, but I couldn't bring myself to believe it was by my words. He was too strong to be wounded by such trivial things.

He moved in his seat, beginning to stand, and for some reason the thought of being alone like I had originally intended seemed like a horrible idea.

I reached out to grip his arm. I kept my gaze forward, knowing that even if I looked at him I could not see his eyes.

"Stay."

He didn't hesitate. He sat down again, and I no longer felt guilt for the hurt in his voice a moment prior.

We sat for a moment in silence, just looking over the cliffside, into the deep canyons that wove in between settlements and encampments of our tribes and clans.

"I don't want this life," I whispered. I had only half hoped he would be paying enough attention to hear me. My voice was soft enough that he might not have.

"What do you mean?"

I squeezed my eyes shut, regretting the choice to even say what I did. I felt a shiver go down my arms, and I felt the wind come into the old open cavern, making the air around me chill. My arms were exposed, for I didn't expect the cold tonight. I didn't expect to be here this long.

"I'll turn sixteen in four days. I will either take the creed, or deny everything I've ever been taught. I'd leave if I do that," I finally gave a glance in his direction. He looked back at me, or at least the beskar did. I could never tell where his eyes were.

"You want to leave?" That pained tone of his voice had returned. The one I felt guilty for without actually believing I had done anything to cause it.

I did. I wanted to get off this planet. Away from the responsibility of becoming what everyone expected of me.

"I have to. It's the only way I will ever be at peace, but I'm not sure if I truly have the strength to stand in front of my family and deny the creed."

I could run away. I had some friends who were planning to jump a transport and join the rebellion against the empire.

They had offered me to be apart of this, but I had refused, believing that I would follow in my ancestors footsteps and take the creed. My father had already provided the beskar for my helmet to be made. It was already in the armourer's possession. All that was left was for me to come of age.

"Where did you go, just now?" He noticed my lack of attentiveness to my current reality, and brought me back to where I was. On the drafty cliffside, with my legs hanging over the end.

"Nowhere. I was just thinking about the future," I had admitted. Though I felt the need to stay emotionally distant from him, and not let myself develop a closeness, I knew I could trust him with my life, which is why I even revealed these things to him in the first place.

"What do you think your future will look like?" The tone that brought me guilt had again left his voice, but was replaced by something else... was it fear? I could not even think of theorizing that he could ever be scared. He was one of the bravest in his clan. Never had he shown an ounce of fear to anyone or anything. How stupid of me to even wonder.

"Merc and his crew are gonna stow away on a crate transport tomorrow. He has contact with the rebellion. He said that I could go with them if I was up for it," I looked down, almost embarrassed at admitting a plan of escape to someone so loyal to this place. Even though he wasn't born on this planet, and even though he wasn't a blood member of any tribe, the foundling was more of a mandalorian than I could ever be.

"You've agreed?"

"No. Not yet," I shook my head. I didn't feel like my reasons were valid. Having him sit beside me, and ask me these things made me realize that I needed to explain myself further.

"Din, I want to be free. I don't want to spend the rest of my life under a code that is so restricting to me, binding my every decision. Everything I'd do would have to be following after the creed."

He didn't respond, and even though his features were shrouded under the reflective surface of his beskar, I could tell he was thinking of something.

"I'm not yet sixteen, but when I am... I don't want to be locked down under a piece of metal. I don't want to have to be bound to this planet or a clan. I want to go some place far away and be something that is different than what everyone expects of me. I want to fight battles against the empire, I want to make my own rules. I want to be free to marry who I love, and not be betrothed to whoever my father chooses for me," I finished off my speech about freedom, but realized the last sentence too late. I should have chosen a better set of words.

Din's head hung down, looking at the wrist guards he wore. He shook his head back and forth and before I could interject, he began speaking.

"So that's why...." he trailed off. I was honestly too scared to say anything now. Why must I speak so bluntly and hurtfully honest to people? Perhaps it is because I had never gotten close to him that now I had no fear in what I said to his face.

"If the reason you plan to leave your family is because of me, then-"

"No," I said harshly, catching him off guard. I was usually snippy with others, but I had never before shown a tendency to be angry or intense with my speech. "Believe me, this has nothing to do with you."

"You have always shown enthusiasm towards coming of age. It's only now, when we are arranged, that you show any difference," He brought on certainty in his voice that I nearly couldn't deny, but the truth was... it really wasn't about him. "I can converse with your father, the rest of the clan... I will find a way to break it off if it will make you stay."

"Din, I don't want you to do that. If you don't believe me when I tell you that you are not the cause of this, then so be it, but I will not have you ruining your good name in my favor, when it won't even stop me," The heat of the moment provided actual, physical warmth for me in the time I was running my mouth off, but now that I had finished, and begun to calm down, I felt the freezing air on my arms again, wrapping them around myself and drawing my legs closer to generate more body heat.

"Are you cold?" He changed the subject, needing something- anything else to say.

"Its not exactly warm up here," My voice was low and sarcastic, but at hearing my words, Din stood up and stepped behind me. Before I even had a chance to ask him what he was doing, I felt his thick woolen cape being draped around my shoulders.

I smiled softly, not even a real, full smile. More of just a small tug from the side of my lips. My real smile was saved for later.

"Thank you."

He nodded as he sat back down, letting his legs fall over the cliffside.

"So you're gonna leave with them, aren't you?" His head turned to face me, but I couldn't dare try and stare at the beskar while thinking of what I would do. This choice was the beginning of the rest of my life.

"I think so," I didn't think. Thinking was what I had been doing too much of. Now I was certain. This was my choice. I was going to start new, and become something different. I may have been born on mandalore, but I was definitely not a mandalorian.

I had a rush of confidence come through me until I remembered what this meant. It all hit me like a dropship coming out of hyperspace. What was I thinking?

"No," I whispered. Din didn't understand my sudden discouragement, but he would soon.

"Merc and his friends already denied the creed. He's a foundling. They all are," I started to tear up as I realized what would happen to my family. The loss of a child in a clan is bad enough, but my family hadn't done anything to dessrve this. They were caring. They had shown me love. They had given me the best life I could ask for on a planet with such a religion.

"Second thoughts?" He asked genuinely, scooting closer beside me as to maybe get more information from my body language, or even my breathing.

"I can't do this. My family would be ruined. If I ran away, they would be punished for it," I felt tears coming up in my eyes. My clan was good to me. The people were kind, and I found solace there. Even if I had always dreamt about something bigger, I couldn't bear to let ruin come upon my family name. It wasn't fair to let that happen, especially when the only thing in the way was my own selfishness. "I can't leave my family."

I let the tears stream down my face, not even bothering to wipe them away. The contrast of the cold wind on my hot, tear streaked face had helped to calm me down a little.

"If you plan on staying, you understand that I am apart of your future here, don't you?"

"Din, I already told you before... you are not the reason I want to leave," I tried my best to keep myself together, but with my wet cheeks and red, puffy eyes, I didn't see how that could be an option.

What if there was another way to freedom?

I sat, trying to think of some stories that the other clan members would talk about.

"Din?"

He hummed in response, keeping his gaze on me.

"Has anyone in your clan ever mentioned afterlife?" I maybe should have taken a different approach to this. He seemed to be rendered speechless by my topic of conversation, but I had to ask.

"You mean after death?" He asked me and I nodded.

"I've heard some stories."

I thought about how it had been described to me. A paradise, with never-ending happiness, and unlimted freedom. Freedom.

"After you die, you appear in the world as another life. You can do whatever you want and no one has consequences for any of it. It's like a world without chaos. Everything is perfect," I remember every word as it comes out of my mouth. The words that were spoken to me, more like taught to me when I was a bit younger by the elders who had retired from their days of battle.

"It sounds too easy." He said, ripping me out of my fantasy.

"That's the point. You don't have to worry about anything or anyone, because you can do as you please, and everything will still be the same. All you have to do is die...."

"Like being reborn into a different world."

"Exactly."

I hesitated to take my safety blaster from it's holster under my hip, and when I did, I looked at it before pointing it out in the distance and testing the trigger. It shot a blast of lazer energy out into the air, landing somewhere beneath us in the canyon.

I decided that this was not an act to pursue at the moment, for Din was sitting right beside me, and the sight of watching a young girl pull the trigger against her own head might be an unpleasant one. Even for him, though he has seen worse.

I put the blaster back in it's holster and stand up from the rocky ground. Din follows suit, looking down at me with quiet concern. I wouldn't have known it until now, but I wondered if he had come to care for me at all during these last few weeks we had been betrothed.

I'd known him the majority of my life anyways, so I knew he must have felt some sort of attachment to me, but in what form, I hadn't ever cared to ask.

He kept breathing heavily as he looked down at me for a few moments, and it almost sounded like he wanted to ask me something. The question was on the tip of his tongue, but he couldn't bring himself to utter the words.

"Here's your cape back," I slid the material off my shoulders, trying to hand it back to him, but he pushed it back towards me.

"You should keep it for now. The sun is nearly down, it will only grow colder."

He reached his gloved hand up to my face, and I could swear I felt the warmth of his hand beneath the coarse leather.

I only nodded, and leaned forward, trying to lean my head into him, but he carefully stopped me, his hands on my shoulders. Instead he rested his helmet against my forhead, and the cold beskar wasn't such a bad feeling as it rested there.

"I won't let you down. I promise." He said, clueless of my plans for later tonight, after the tribes were asleep, and no one would be at the cliffside.

"I know you won't. You're a good man, Din Djarin." I paused, trying to gather better words. "A true Mandalorian if there ever was one."

The moment didn't last any longer because of how frigid the air was becoming. It was warmer back with the tribes, they always had a fire burning.

Without another word, we both left the old artillery cavern and hiked down the side of the canyon to get back to our own clan territory.

Once I was at the edge of mine, I turned around to utter a simple goodbye, and found that he was very close behind me. His hand came up and rested on my shoulder, lightly squeezing it.

Maybe this was the last time we would see each other. Tonight I would envoke my plan to freedom, to rebirth. Perhaps we would meet in another life. Perhaps I would have just enough memory of this life to try and find him in the next one. One where I will have freedom.

Tonight I had gotten closer to the metal clad Mandalorian than I ever had before. I didn't regret it. He listened to what I had to say, and there were few who ever did.

His hand fell from it's place on my shoulder, but I didn't let him walk away yet. I pulled him into an embrace, feeling him tense up for a moment before reciprocating. It took him a few seconds to let out the breath he was holding in, but when he did, he found himself relaxing into the comfort.

"Goodbye, Din," My voice wasn't sad, or overly sensitive in any way. I figured it actually sounded quite optimistic.

"You know I'll see you tomorrow." He said, reminding me of the clan meetings. Once a month the clans would gather and each tribe would go over the agenda for whatever was to happen soon. Battles were normally discussed, but tomorrow, me and a few of the others in the other clans would be talked about. Our ceremonial coming of age where we would take the creed.

"Yeah... right. Don't come looking for me, I don't plan on showing up," I said quietly, careful in anyone was to hear me.

He pulled me back at arms length and looked at me, but his black blast shield hid his features and I could not tell if he thought I was crazy or not.

"How come?" His voice was also quiet, as we noticed some of my clan passing by to get to the fire.

"Don't worry about it. You'll still see me tomorrow," I lied. Or did I? Everyone within the five neighboring tribes would probably see me tomorrow.

He nodded, pulling us all the way apart and stepping back.

"Good."

He didn't look like he was gonna walk away until I had gone into the hub of my clan's small village. I turned around and walked towards the large fire, seeing my mother. Her helmet was unmistakable. The pattern of the strill engraved into the side of the beskar. It was her signet. A worthy kill of her days in battle. I would never have one. I walked towards her when she noticed me.

Her modulated voice let out a small chuckle, before I stepped beside her.

"It is well to see you spending time with Din Djarin. Me and your father were afraid you may not have been fond of him," She kept her gaze on the fire, speaking only loud enough for me to hear her, given that the other mandalorians of our village were also gathering around the fire, conversing with each other the same way we were.

"I am fond of him, why would I not be?" I was unsure of what she meant. Sure, I had been keeping a distance between us since my father had arranged our marriage, but I never had shown that I wasn't fond of him. I was polite, and gave him attention when it was asked of me.

"Whenever I or your father bring up the discussion of your eighteenth birthday, you always seem to act like it's the plague," She was smirking under her helmet, and I could tell. I could always tell what face she made underneath her metal covering.

"Maybe it's the fact that I dread getting married at all. I'm not opposed to Din, though," I convinced her. I wouldn't have to try and do that again after tonight.

"Whatever it is, your father will be pleased to know you and him were in each other's company. Although I will stray from telling him you two were alone... you were alone, weren't you?" She turned her metal covered head, trying to figure out from the look on my face.

"Yes," I answered truthfully, knowing there was no point in lying. No damage could be done at this point, except for maybe towards Din.

"And what were you both doing?" She tilted her head, and I let mine drop. I would tell her the truth, because nothing bad could come from it. Or could it.

"We were just talking... about the future," I answered.

"Your marriage..." She suggested, and I nodded, knowing that it did come up in the conversation.

"Yes."

"I shudder to ask if consummating was apart of this conversation," She looked back at the fire, knowing how red my cheeks would turn and how embarrassed I would be.

"No, nothing like that. I can promise you," I shivered at the thought. Din was a good man, but I didn't necessarily need to be letting thoughts like that intrude my mind.

Everyone else around the fire seemed to be distracted by the glowing flames, and my mother was soon the same, so I suggested my absense.

"I'm going to go in for the night, get some rest. Big meeting tomorrow..." I said before reaching out and squeezing her hand tightly.

She nodded to me, and I took my leave, walking towards our living quarters on the opposite side of camp.

I wasn't looking where I was going, and brushed my shoulder against Merc, who was with Gander and Shyloh.

"Sorry, didn't see you coming," I told him, but he shook his head, optiing ti ask me a question instead.

"Don't worry about it, I was looking for you anyway... Did you think about the offer? We leave at sunrise on the north delivery tarmac," He informed me, but I didn't have an answer. I wasn't staying here, but I wasn't leaving either.

"You'll know if I show up," I gave him a smirk, partially just because I was glad to see someone's actual face tonight, and not just a metal facade.

"We can't wait up for you, just know that."

I nodded, letting them get by. Maybe I could go with them. Live this life freely without starting another one.

No.

My family will not be able to handle that. It's better off if I'm dead. At least they won't go on to believe that I betrayed them, turning my back on all loyalty they had ever taught me. They would nevwr wonder if I ever loved them or planned on keeping their wishes.

I could start fresh. They wouldn't have to worry about me anymore. And I wouldn't have to worry anymore either. Rebirth.

I went straight to bed, clutching the woolen blanket beside me close to my chest.

For some reason I felt a pang of guilt in my chest. Something that made the sting of salty tears swell in my eyes. I knew that what I was doing was best, but yet I started having a hard time justifying something so drastic. They would get on fine without me, wouldn't they? They would go on living by the creed. This is the way. They will find a way to go on without me, like they did before I was born. Din will be arranged with another girl as soon as I'm gone. Everything will be alright.

The wetness that spilled over my eyes and down my face lasted hours, even though my mind kept telling itself that it was at peace.

It was in the dead of night, when I gathered a few of my belongings into a knapsack, throwing it over my shoulder before leaving out the tattered window of my private space.

I ventured to the canyon, with the moons lighting my way. The planet was never truly dark, due to the brightness and the number of shinning moons, all the color silver.

I set my knapsack down on the edge beside me. By the end of this, I would be at the bottom, waiting to be found the next day. I just hoped it wouldn't be anyone I knew. Of course, the number of people who ever came out here was only two. Me, and Din Djarin.

I hoped he wouldn't find me. I hoped it would be someone from another tribe that was flying over, and happened to spot something at the base of the cliffside.

I pulled my flask to my mouth, taking a large drink. A bit spilled onto my chin, and I wiped it off, feeling the breeze on my face. It was much colder now than earlier tonight. I wasn't sure if I should pull the blanket from my belongings and wrap it around myself, or skip the process of making myself comfortable and just get this over with.

I leaned over, looking straight at the ground, hundreds of feet below me. My heart started racing, and I got scared. Why shouldn't I be? I have every right to be absolutely terrified. I closed my eyes, trying to scoot myself over the edge inch by inch, seeing if I would just drop.

I nearly panicked when my bottom hit a crack in the ground and I thought I was going over. My breath hitched in my throat and I instantly pulled myself back.

"This isn't as easy as I thought it would be," I murmered, beginning to feel the emotional side of everything rise to the surface again. It didn't help that with the absolute silence that circled around me, I couldn't have any single thing to distract me.

I stood to my feet, wrapping my arms around myself to ease the goosebumps rising on my skin from the frigid air.

I stood right on the edge, lifting a foot over and leaning forward, but before I could fall, I again caught myself, the adrenaline working overtime in my system and beginning to heat me up.

That wasn't going to work either. If I could, I would put a blaster to my temple and pull the trigger, but then it wouldn't look like an accident.

I paced around back and forth a few times, trying to calm myself down, to stop the whimpering and to make my tears cease. It wasn't working. I just needed to get this over and done with. A new life, with endless possibilities was waiting for me on the other side. Freedom was on the other side.

I wiped my face, even though it didn't stop me from crying, but it helped me to see clearer. I backed up, into the cavern, all the way inside until my back hit the wall of the ex artillery carvern. This was it. A new beginning. Rebirth. New life. Freedom.

I ran as fast as I could toward the edge, my eyes closed. I could feel the wind blowing against me even harder with my speed, and I could tell the edge was drawing near. Every step I took, I felt as though it was my last one.

I finally felt my foot hit the edge, but then I never fell. Instead, I was tackled to the ground. Whoever landed on top of me was heavy enough to hold me down, because half of me was hanging off the edge of the cliff.

I didn't dare even open my eyes. This was a sign. Someone stopped me.

I clinged onto whoever it was, and knew almost instantly who was laid over me when I heard him groan.

I cried even harder, my head buried in his armor clad chest, and my arms around his neck and his torso.

He was holding me tightly, one hand cradled my head into his neck, and the other firmly gripped my waist. He rolled us both over and I swear I felt him shaking.

"What were you thinking?" He stressed, his grip on me tightening as if he was scared to let go. I was scared too. I didn't want him to let go.

"You have to talk to me..."

I heaved a deep breath, deep enough to steady my voice so my whimpering didn't interfere with my words.

"I want out. I need to get out," I cracked in the middle of saying so few words, but they conveyed the message I was trying to get through.

"I can get you out, I promise.... But please don't ever try that again," His voice was full of worry, and as I suspected, he was trembling in fear.

"I'm sorry..." I cried some more, realizing that what I had done was now the biggest mistake I ever made, even if I was saved.

"It's okay. You're okay. I've got you," He spoke to me, my voice quieting down as my sobbing came to a slow halt.

I lifted my face from where I had burrowed it into his neck, looking up at him. I didn't know what his expression was, but something told me it was fearful, and worrysome.

"I have to get out of here," I repeated again. The last day or so it became my mantra, and would leave my lips often, even just to myself. Mostly just to myself.

"You're going to. You're going with Merc... when are they leaving?" He asked, his arms still around me like mine were for him.

"At sunrise. They're gonna jump a delivery ship on the north tarmac," I explained, my voice was now hoarse and thick, due to not only all the crying I had done, but also the cold night air that had entered my lungs.

"Sunrise isn't for a few hours..." he let me know, and I nodded, knowing we shouldn't probably leave yet, for the walk to the north tarmac wasn't very long from here.

"Din, if I leave, my family is going to get the fire for my decision. I can't let that happen," I told him, my voice had become more firm, and I needed to convey the importance of how much this meant to me.

"I give you my word, that as long as I live, nothing will happen to your family," He swore, and I could just feel his eyes staring into mine. So much so that for the first time since he put that helmet on, I knew where his eyes were.

"I trust you. And I know that you'll always keep your word," I nodded, a small smile finally forming on my face.

Since it got fairly quiet, and we were still entangled together,  I scooted off of Din and opted instead to take the seat beside him.

"I should tell you some things before I go. I just don't want to leave anything unresolved," I admitted, and he stayed silent, waiting for me to continue.

"I know this might sound horrible, but I hated the idea of getting too close to you. It was like if I had formed an emotional bond with you, I wouldn't be able to leave anymore. And the last thing on my mind had been to stay. I've wanted freedom for a while now, I was just always too scared to say anything. And when my father told me that you and him had come to an agreement for arranging a marriage.... it's like it all became more real to me. My freedom would be taken in just days. The creed of mandalore is sacred, and it's truly an amazing thing... but it isn't for everyone."

He sat and took everything in. All the words that just spewed from my mouth like I had been holding them in for ages went against everything I had ever learned. Everything that had ever been put into my mind was the opposite of what I wanted.

"You're young. You want more than what the creed can offer you. I think you'll be able to find what you want wherever you're going," He said, I knew there was more, for he didn't even mention anything that I had said about not wanting to be close to him, but when he stayed silent, I knew he was finished, and that I still had more to say.

"Din, I wanted to tell you that if I had to be married, I wouldn't have minded it being you," I admitted. I would leave no stone unturned before I was to just pick up and leave forever... maybe not forever, maybe someday I would return to my family, to Din.

"I can't say I don't feel the same," He seemed to become stiff next to me, but I soon found the reason when he suddenly reached for my hand with his gloved one.

I took it proudly, intertwining our finhers together.

"You know, I was only an eight year old kid when you took the creed. I have so many memories of you yourself, but whenever I recall them... I can't see your face. I've completely forgotten what you look like," I laughed a bit, though it was quite a sad thing actually. I could not remember him in a way that wasn't covered in metal. I remembered that he was a boy once, and that he would play with all the younger children in the clan set next to his. He played with me and the kids I lived next to. He was a lively, energetic boy. Always doing something... sometimes causing mischievous acts. He was so different now. But the change wasn't bad. Since he'd taken the creed he has been the most noble, fearsome, and trustworthy member of his clan. Completely honorable in every sense of the word.

"I don't look like I used to. It wouldn't do you any good to remember anyways," He chuckled under his helmet, and it brought a smile to hear the melodic sound.

"Well, if I'd stayed long enough to marry you I would find out for myself," I leaned my head on his shoulder, feeling comfort by his presence. If I had made the absolute decision to leave this planet earlier, I could have let myself grow a relationship with him. Romantic or not, he was easy to talk to, and I trusted him. He was a friend to me, and I never imagined more, but now his presence was just something that put me at such ease.

"Do you think you'll ever come back?" He pondered, seeing as just the tiniest moonrays shown down into the canyon ahead.

"Someday. I'll comeback and repay you."

"For what?"

"Saving my life," I replied. My attempt to throw my own life away had been pushed away but I had to bring it up. I owed him my life.

"Anyone would have done the same if they had seen," He insisted, and I shook my head.

"How did you even know I was out here?" My curiosity got the better of me, and I asked for an explanation.

"I couldn't sleep, I took a walk through Ronion until I found myself here. I saw you across from the mesa on the south side... I saw you lift your foot over the edge, I knew what you were trying to do," He said, his grip on my hand got tighter almost instantly.

"Thank you. If you hadn't been there, I would be at the bottm of this canyon." I let so much seriousness onto my voice, and it didn't sound like me.

"Don't thank me yet... not until I get you on the tarmac,"

We sat in silence after that, just looking out over the horizon. When the slightest bit of light hit the edge of the planet, we stood to our feet, gathering my knapsack and begining the journey to the north delivery tarmac.

We were there in no time, and before I could even look for them, Merc and his crew were in sight. They were all sitting with their backs against some cargo imports, waiting for the transport to arrive.

"Well, well, well... look at what the shriek hawk dragged in," Shyloh said, gesturing to me and Din.

"Djarin, I didn't expect to see you here," Merc raised an eyebrow at the sight.

"I'm just here to make sure she gets onto the transport safely," He assured them. I looked out of the corner of my eye, and in the brighter horizon I was able to see a cargo ship coming into the landing area.

"Our rides here," I said, and they all jumped up. Since the ships were automatically run, and don't even require droids, it was often very easy to hop aboard and be carried to another destination. Of course, there were only a few who ever wanted to leave.

I myself hadn't ever left Mandalore, neither had I traveled much even on the planet. Only a few trips to visit the the markets with my father. I never even went into the city, for it was told that in the city lived Mandalorians who did not keep the creed. The tribes were convinced that they hadn't actually ever taken the oath, and just wore the armor for the sake of doing it.

The ship's doors opened, pulling me out of my thoughts, and a conveyer belt folded down to let the cargo units be carried out onto the tarmac for later pickup.

"Alright, it's time to head out," Gander said, slinging his knapsack over his shoulder and boarding the transport.

The rest followed after him, but I still had one thing left to do. 

Din looked at me, waiting for me to join the others, but I came close to him one last time.

"You promise my family will be taken care of?" I asked, to which he simply answered with a firm nod. However the look on my face gave him reason to believe that his answer wasn't good enough, so he spoke instead.

"I give you my word. If they are not taken care of, I will let you strike me dead where I stand."

That was good enough for me. He truly meant it. He was a man of his word.

I pulled his head toward mine, resting ny forehead against his in a traditional mandalorian kiss. I pulled back when I heard my name being called from the transport.

"Goodbye, Din Djarin," I told him.

He didn't respond, he just let me go, watching intently as I boarded the ship before the doors closed.

The cargo transports were always on schedule, so as soon as the doors closed, it began lifting into the air. I looked out through the transparent view finder on the side, watching him stand as we began moving out of sight.

"You gonna miss him?" Shyloh asked, his brows furrowing as if he were sorry for me.

"Yes, I suppose I will."

I lost sight of Din, and realized we were leaving the atmosphere most likely preparing for a jump to hyperspace.

"But I'll see him again."

.

.

Tags are open ig...

A/n: please don't get too caught up in the age gap y'all it's just for backstory purposes because this story is eventually going to follow canon events.... (also i know that this doesn't really portray Mandalore correctly, but let's pretend it does because i had this idea)

[ashintheairlikesnow]

Misread Details, Part One

CW: Death talk, BBU, dehumanizing language about Box Boys

A Box Boy Serial Killer On the Loose? Part 1 of 3

r/LetsTalkTrueCrime

•Posted by u/oshaycanyousee 1 month ago

Hello, r/LetsTalkTrueCrime! 

I’ve posted this write-up in a couple other reddits, but someone pointed me to this one as being a good place for discussion, and this is a really weird set of three unsolved murders (well, one death and two murders? Maybe?) and I wanted to see if any of you have some thoughts or maybe more info on these cases.

Three men died within two years in three different cities. 

While each death is unique, all of them have one thing in common - fingerprints and DNA from a single human pet was found in every single location. 

Let’s start with the first death.

Nathaniel Matthew Benson, who went by “Nanda” (a childhood nickname given to him by a younger brother who couldn’t pronounce his full name as a toddler, apparently), was forty-one years old at the time of his death. 

He was born and raised in North Dakota by very strict religious parents, and had three younger brothers and one younger sister. There is some disagreement here about whether his home life was peaceful or not. His younger sister claims that the environment at home was strict but fair, and the family was mostly happy. Two of his three younger brothers tell a different story, about a father who put too much on their shoulders, especially “Nanda” as the eldest, and the pressure they felt to be perfect.

His other brother, the youngest of the family, has never given a public interview beyond a short statement that he and Nanda were not close, and he did not feel able to speak about his character. There were nearly fifteen years between the oldest and youngest childrens’ births, and Nathaniel had moved out of the house by the time the youngest was four years old, so this makes sense.

By all accounts, Nathaniel was an excellent student, getting all A’s throughout his years of education. He was considered quiet and shy, and most of his high school classmates don’t have many standout memories of him. He graduated valedictorian of his high school class, then surprised everyone by stating he wouldn’t be attending college, and instead would be taking a “gap year” to travel the United States using money from his graduation party and also some he’d saved up from working part-time retail and restaurant jobs.

Between ages 18 and 19, he took his small secondhand four-door vehicle around the nation, calling home every week or so to give his family updates, sending postcards, etc. After about six months, though, the phone calls and postcards became fewer and fewer, and eventually he told everyone he had gotten a new job and decided to forgo college entirely.

His family was shocked - and by all accounts his father was furious - but Nathaniel refused to budge. 

There was apparently a very hostile phone conversation about one year after this decision which was the last time Nathaniel Benson spoke to his father directly until his death.

After this, his family received only sporadic communications sent from a P.O. Box located in central California, in a mid-sized city known as Dosaba. He never did give anyone an actual home address.

He occasionally called them, mostly his sister and one of his brothers, but surviving family states that the phone number he called from was different every single time, and usually didn’t have a California area code.

“He used burner phones for everything,” Nathaniel’s sister Samantha told WNDR, a local news station, shortly after his mysterious death. “And he would never tell us what job he did. We asked and asked and Nanda would just say ‘oh, this and that’, or ‘I do contractor work’. Just answers that don’t tell you anything. It was all very mysterious, very secretive. You know, we talked about how maybe he’d gotten into drugs or something, but my brother wasn’t a drug user, ever. It just seems so out of character for the brother I knew.”

“He was always reading his Bible when we knew him,” Younger brother Timothy stated. “But you know, I asked him once if he had found a home church wherever he was living, and he laughed and laughed. Then he just said, ‘they’d have a lot of opinions on how I live my life if I did that’, and changed the subject. So I knew whatever he was doing, it probably wasn’t good.”

There has been a lot of speculation by investigators that “Nanda” had indeed picked up employment within some kind of drug smuggling group at this time. Evidence found after his death has even opened the possibility that he worked as a high-end hitman.

There’s a lot of international travel during this time period, far more than can be accounted for unless travel was part of his workplace responsibilities. Employment records show him working as a sales manager for a company called Sunrise Investments, but this is believed by many to be a shell corporation hiding something much, much darker. 

However, all of this remains speculative, and there’s never been any proof that Nathaniel Benson did anything but the financial sales the company claims. No one ever did much work with him, and other employees at the company stated contact with him occurred entirely by phone and fax (and then e-mail) at this time. 

When investigators pored over the documents after getting a warrant, they weren’t able to find anything suspicious - and that in and of itself seems suspicious to some.

For years, Benson seemed to simply drop off the map entirely when it comes to local information - investigators did find that he owned a vintage Corvette that he fixed up himself (found via vehicle registry and taxes listings, which is public knowledge), and that about two years before his death he bought a large five-bedroom house with a basement in Dosaba, which he renovated in total secrecy. I was able to find records of him paying home taxes through his mortgage company, and that he spoke to local contractors and building companies, paying for consultations about the renovations he undertook. 

None of the companies he spoke to kept any kind of detailed notes about these consultations, but you’ll see why it’s relevant when I discuss what was found after his death.

Nathaniel Benson’s life came to an abrupt end on August 16th, 20XX, but nobody would find his body for more than two days. 

On August 18th, his cleaning lady arrived for her usual weekly visit to discover him crumpled at the foot of the stairs, face-up. She called 911 immediately and first responders arrived within twenty minutes to her white-faced and nearly silent. 

First responders noted that Nathaniel’s eyes were closed, unusual for a violent death. A wet cloth had been laid over them to help them stay that way. The medical examiner stated later that this would have to have been done within the first hour after he died, before rigor mortis could stiffen muscles and lead to them opening again. 

That whoever witnessed his death knew to do this is deeply unusual, and may be a sign of affection or grief. 

The autopsy found that Nathaniel had met his end approximately 36 hours before he was found, and had died due to an undiagnosed heart defect that had resulted in cardiac arrest. 

Sounds like any sudden death that can simply be written off as sad but natural, right? Well, there’s a few details that make things a little murkier than that, and have led to his death being listed as “undetermined” officially, and possibly including foul play.

For one thing, Nathaniel hadn’t simply collapsed next to the stairs - he had fallen, or been pushed, and showed evidence of bone fractures and head trauma consistent with the fall. A bit of blood was found on one step that came from his injuries. This head trauma would likely not have been fatal if he had received medical attention, but cardiac arrest ensured death even if head trauma didn’t. 

Did Nathaniel Benson suffer a heart attack and fall down the stairs, dying only when he reached the bottom? Maybe. 

Or maybe he really was pushed, the shock of it is the reason he went into cardiac arrest. 

There’s one more unusual fact that makes foul play a possibility in this mysterious death. 

Nathaniel Benson owned a legally purchased Box Boy, no known legal name, who went by his original purchase number: 334235. The Box Boy was a Romantic designation, and was purchased from Facility 001 in Berras, a city in Southern California, where the WRU headquarters is located.

WRU, when contacted by investigators, easily agreed to meet and provide detectives with information regarding the Box Boy’s purchase, as well as the DNA and fingerprint samples the company keeps on file. 

According to WRU’s internal records, this Boxie was not only a designated Romantic, but a specialty Romantic, trained for ‘masochism’. This tracks with multiple books on, shall we say, somewhat salacious interests that Benson had for his love life.

As Benson never seemed to date anyone or maintain a relationship, it’s theorized that the Boxie was his way of dealing with the stress of his work. WRU noted that Benson had contacted them after the purchase was complete to give his compliments on the Boxie’s training and note that he was ‘perfect’ and they ‘got along just fine’. 

The Box Boy’s fingerprints were found all over the house, which is totally normal. He was living there full-time, after all. But investigators also located something a bit more unusual: a secret room within the home that the cleaning lady had never seen before, hidden behind a carefully camouflaged door.

This is what Benson had been working on when he ‘renovated’ his newly purchased home: He built a secret dungeon room with stone walls and a concrete floor, outfitted with a dip and a “drain”, plus a garden hose hooked up on one wall. 

The room also had rows upon rows of cabinets full of various tools consistent with a ‘hard BDSM lifestyle’, according to one detective. I wasn’t able to get ahold of the actual list of items found, but was able to determine that whips, knives, ‘unspecified implements purchased from adult stores’, and other things were found.

Tests done on the walls and floor showed that blood had been spilled nearly everywhere in the room at one time or another, and large amounts of it. There was also evidence of blood found in Nathaniel Benson’s bedroom, primarily on the floor and in the bed. A small faded stain was found on the headboard just below a set of cuffs hooked into it.

A few small dried bloodstains were also found around the master bathroom sink, and investigators were able to determine the blood matched the DNA of the Box Boy, and was left there much more recently than the rest of the blood in the house, possibly even on the day of Benson’s death. 

Here’s the thing, though: the Box Boy himself was nowhere to be found. 

Was this Box Boy tired of being used as a human pincushion? Did he take matters into his own hands and commit the ultimate crime a pet can do, killing his owner? If he did, he no doubt knew what happens to pets who kill their owners, usually either being ‘put down’ or wiped clean to be resold.

Is our Boxie a killer right from the start? Or was he only a witness to a natural death who panicked and ran away?

Without locating the Boxie himself, it’s impossible to know.

The cleaning lady remembered him, and gave a description: Somewhere between 5’8” and 5’11”, wiry but with some muscle, usually dressed in just a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt when she was in the house. He has short dark hair, brown eyes, and an angular face. She mentioned visible scars on his arms, but none on his face. She was told to call him only “pet” if she needed to speak to him. She stated his voice was slightly hoarse and rough, as if he had a sore throat all the time. 

They had only one significant interaction, where the cleaning lady inquired about a large bruise on the Boxie’s face and bandages on his arms. He apparently told her, at the time, that he ‘liked the reminer’, but thanked her for asking after his health. They never spoke directly again. 

The detail about his face being unscarred will become incredibly relevant in parts 2 and 3.

Neighbors, when asked, mentioned that they had seen someone matching that description walking away from the house somewhere around 4 and 5 pm on August 16th. The medical examiner believes Benson died around noon, so this leaves about four or five hours between the death and the Boxie leaving.

He appeared to be walking very quickly and one neighbor noticed he was holding what looked like crumpled cash in one hand and a plastic shopping bag in another.

He was spotted waiting at a nearby bus stop, and footage from a camera mounted inside the bus shows someone matching the Box Boy’s description riding the bus all the way into Dosaba’s historic, artsy downtown. There, he was again captured on CCTV purchasing a one-way train ticket with cash. The train station employee who sold him the ticket remembers offering him a round-trip ticket for a discount, which she always did anyone who asked for a ticket to another city, only to have him “nervously” say he wouldn’t need to come back. She mentioned that he scratched at the side of his neck, and that when he walked away, he looked like his shoes were a little too big for his feet.

It is believed, as Nathaniel Benson was found barefoot but wearing clothing that suggested he had been outside doing yard work just before his death, that the Box Boy stole his shoes.

The fleeing Box Boy is captured one more time on camera as he arrived at his destination, Red Hills, approximately a two-hour train ride to the south. He walks past the CCTV quickly, hunched over as if trying to hide his face.

After that, he disappears.

Red Hills is a significantly larger city than Dosaba, with nearly a million residents within city limits and another 600,000 filling its suburbs and outer neighborhoods. Red Hills is a city that has seen better days, and it would be easy for a runaway Box Boy to simply fade away into its seedier districts. While Red Hills has had more than a dozen runaway Boxies picked up over the years, mostly Romantics who engaged in prostitution to make ends meet, it’s not believed that Benson’s Box Boy knew this when he chose the location.

As Romantic Boxies usually can’t read, it’s believed he simply chose a location he’d overheard someone else say, knowing nothing about what he would find when he got there.

Two days after his death, Nathaniel Benson’s debit and credit cards, Driver’s License, and a folded-up note he had written to himself about buying toothpaste were found in a plastic shopping bag tied-off at the top, were found inside the bus the Boxie had ridden, stuffed between the edge of a seat and the wall. The Boxie’s fingerprints were on everything.

But the Boxie himself wouldn’t be seen again until more than a year later.

Nathaniel “Nanda” Benson’s death for a time remained a one-off unsolved mystery. A little on the unusual side, but entirely possible that no foul play occurred, just some details that need filling in.

The shocking murder of a Red Hills man known locally as “Brute” would bring this Box Boy back into law enforcement’s line of sight, and open up questions about whether the Box Boy had simply been running away from Nathaniel Benson’s death… or leaving to find a new victim.

I’ll post Part 2, about “Brute”, shortly! Then Part 3 will be about a third murder, in which our potential Box Boy serial killer takes out… another serial killer. 

I told you this one gets interesting.

-

@astrobly @finder-of-rings @burtlederp @whump-tr0pes @raigash @orchidscript @doveotions @pretty-face-breaker @eatyourdamnpears @boxboysandotherwhump @whumptywhumpdump @whumpfigure @outofangband @thehopelessopus @downriver914 @justabitofwhump @butwhatifyouwrite @newandfiguringitout @yet-another-heathen @nonsensical-whump @endless-whump @gonna-feel-that-tomorrow @oops-its-whump @cubeswhump @whumpiary

[snek-snacc-ficc]

One Is A Genius, The Other’s Insane

Summary: Logan had seen enough of the world to know it was a horrible place, greatly in need of a competent leader. That was a job he was more than willing to fill, and so, by the age of twenty, he began his tireless work to plan the perfect scheme for world domination. Things became much more complicated, however, when Remus, his complete opposite in nearly every sense, stumbled his way into his life.

(Pssst, it's a Pinky and the Brain au)

Words: 3,177

Logan Ackeroyd couldn’t pinpoint exactly when he realized the world was a horrible place. It had been more of a gradual thing really. He studied history in school and learned of all the horrors man had committed against man throughout the thousands of years of humankind's existence. Everyday he’d watch the news and see atrocities happening across the globe in real time. When he turned sixteen, he had to get a terrible job as a fast food cashier, enduring impatient, rude customers demanding cheap food that tasted like it had been chemically manufactured (and he figured it most likely was), just so one day college would be slightly more affordable. And, perhaps worst of all, when he did reach college, he was forced to listen to pretentious English professors take the likes of Sigmund Freud seriously. Listening to an old man tell a room full of his fellow peers that Hamlet wanted to copulate with his mother was the last straw, and so, by the age of twenty, Logan Ackeroyd decided that he would take over the world. 

He wasn’t the absolute perfect choice for Earth’s ruler, he knew, but he also knew that he had an immense amount of intelligence, and a righteous moral code, and that put him above nearly every other world leader in his book. 

Unfortunately, Logan found, working to become the world’s benevolent dictator didn’t pay well, in fact it often depleted his pocket book, and so he took up a job as a middle school science teacher by day, and would dedicate his nights to working out the perfect scheme for world domination. 

It was supposed to be a secretive, solo endeavor. Involving others in his plan could get messy and chaotic, which was rather counterintuitive to his goal. Along with that, it could prove disastrous to alert others of his plans for fear it could somehow lead to interference from the authorities. It was best, he decided, to simply keep to himself with a clear mind. All of that, however, was ruined the day he met Remus.

Logan’s trip to the hardware store was meant to be quick and simple. He was working on what he thought was the verge of a breakthrough, (a prototype of a device that would allow him to brainwash the masses through the use of a high pitched sound wave), but he was missing some of the tools needed for its completion. When he turned around from the shelf he had grabbed a collection of bolts from, he was brought face to face with a man with a handlebar mustache staring at him. He was startled for a moment, but the feeling quickly gave way to annoyance.

“Excuse me,” he said, pushing past him.

“Is that blood on your sleeve?”

Logan looked down at his long sleeved polo. He hadn’t noticed the red stain on it earlier and he thought it odd that the stranger would point it out.

“I don’t believe so. There’s a stronger possibility that it’s jam.”

“You should totally lick it to find out.” 

“That would be highly uncouth,” Logan deadpanned, hoping the peculiar person would soon leave.

“It could be cool. If it is blood then you’d be like a vampire.”

Logan moved towards the check out, delving into an explanation of the definition and proper pronunciation of “uncouth.” The man continued to trail behind him, apparently satisfied with his shopping trip of a cartful of spray paint, chattering on about what seemed like disconnected nonsense. By the time he was finished with his purchase, excusing himself once again to leave, Logan was relieved to no longer be burdened with the annoying distraction.

He rushed to his lab with the missing parts once he reached home, eager to begin work on the project once more. He had little time to do so though, as right as he began the door to the room swung open. Logan jumped, grabbing a screwdriver on instinct in case he had to defend himself, and spun around to see the man from the store standing before him. 

“What?!- Why’re you-” he sputtered, completely flabbergasted.

“You left this at the checkout,” the man said, thrusting forward a plastic bag with a collection of wrenches in it. Logan hadn’t even realized he’d left it behind, but his attention had been split when he was checking out thanks to the other.

“So your first reaction was to stalk me and break into my house?!” Logan’s voice rose with anger and unease. “How did you even find where I live?”

“I followed your car.” The man said it like doing so was the most casual thing in the world. “I almost missed ya, but I caught up just in time. Lost you for a second at a stoplight though. And when I found you again your car was already in the driveway and you were gone. I tried knocking at the front door but you never answered, so I just walked in and heard you doing...whatever this is down here.”

Logan was silent, both confused and slightly disturbed that the man’s first solution had been breaking and entering, but he had little time to dwell on that. His cover was blown. His lab had been exposed to an outsider who would most certainly bring an end to his work. It had always been a concern of Logan’s, but he didn’t think he would be faced with it so soon. He kept his composure though, already theorizing which high security prison he might be thrown into. 

“Well,” he said, “I suppose now that you know of my secret you will contact the authorities. I’d rather you do it now and get it over with. My phone is right over there if you need to use it.”

The man did not move to grab it however. He remained where he was, darting his gaze around the room.

“Why would I do that?” he asked, still taking in the surroundings.

“B-Because you know of my nefarious plans now, to take over the world.” Logan gestured to the large bulletin board on the wall labeled “Plans for World Domination,” using the same tone of voice he used when re-explaining concepts to students that had been zoned out in class.

“You’re trying to take over the world?!” the other sounded ecstatic, “Woah, how?”

That hadn’t been the reaction Logan expected at all, and he still was unsure whether it was a trap of sorts or the man in question really was this...dense seemed the best way to put it. Either way, he had little left to lose. If he was going to get arrested, at least he would finally get the chance to explain his genius plan to someone beforehand. He turned back towards the device on the work desk. 

“Well if you must know, I’m working on this prototype of a device that would send out a high frequency noise to anyone within a ten thousand mile radius. Once it’s finished, I was going to hide them on numerous radio towers and implant a message within it that would brainwash everyone that heard it, allowing me to gain total control of a large number of people quite quickly and efficiently. The only problem thus far seems to be a simple yet pesky error on my part; These wires on its main control panel keep falling in the way when I try to work on it, and there's no way for me to move them all at once and simultaneously continue my work.” 

“Well I can help with that Dr. Dork-enshmirtz, here.” He moved over to the control panel, lifting up the bunches of wires that hung over it. “That better?”

Logan, though still a bit stunned, dug around in the bag the man had brought over, taking out the wrench he needed to continue where he left off. 

“My name is Logan,” he said, “but that is quite helpful, thank you…?”

“I’m Remus,” the other chirped eagerly.

“Thank you Remus.” As much as he loathed to admit it, it was fairly nice to have some sort of companionship. Being able to share just a bit of his idea already gave him a rush of excitement, despite the odd circumstances it had occurred under. And having someone to be an extra set of hands was an added bonus.

“Would it be possible for you to further offer your assistance to me?”

“Sure thing Nerdy Wolverine, as long as I get Australia privileges when you brainwash everyone. I’m gonna make a spider army.” 

The plan fell through in the end (Logan hadn’t considered how difficult it would be to travel the globe, climbing thousands of radio towers), but from that moment on Logan had Remus as his partner in justifiable crime.

---

"Heeeyyy Logie, what are we gonna do tonight?"

Logan rubbed his temples. For ninety-five nights in a row Remus had asked this same question, and every single night Logan's response was the same.

"The same thing we do every night Remus, try to take over the world."

"Ooo neat! What are we gonna do this time? More sabotaging jam companies?"

"No Remus," Logan sighed, "after last night's disaster we're lucky we aren't on some government watch list." He was most disappointed that out of all of his plans that one fell through. Creating a utopia where only Crofter's jam was consumed would have been a dream come true. But alas, he had to move on.

"Truth be told I am rather stumped as to what our next approach should be, but I'm sure with some copious amounts of effort I will come up with another brilliant idea."

"Why don't you take the night off Brainiac?" Remus asked.

"Take the night off?" Logan scoffed, "When the world still remains in the clutches of corrupt, incompetent leaders? Never. Besides, what would I do if not plot to take over the world?" 

"You could take a nap," Remus suggested, "You've got circles under your eyes so dark you could pass for a MySpace profile picture."

"While I appreciate the concern, my friend, I am quite fine. Though my sleep schedule is a bit off of an average rhythm, rest assured I have calculated a routine that keeps me functioning regularly. Though, given that you sleep a full 9 hours each day I doubt a set sleeping pattern can do much to create normal behavior." Logan muttered the last bit watching Remus grind his nails against his teeth like they were a nail-filer.

Remus halted his movement, inspecting his hand with one eye closed as he spoke. "Well then we could do something fun. We could watch this one documentary I want to see about this religious cult that made all it's followers fuck each other on a bridge and then jump off," he let out a cackled laugh, "Crazy how all that religious stuff can control people like that."

Logan scrunched his nose. "Remus, I ask that you keep your disgusting documentary drivel to yourse-" He paused for a moment, the last thing Remus said sinking in. 

"Remus, what did you just say?"

"It's crazy how all the religious junk can control people," Remus repeated, "that's partially why I gave up organized religion, in fact…" 

He trailed off but Logan wasn't listening, the gears in his head turning, formulating a new idea.

"Remus," he exclaimed, eyes lit up as he cut the other off without realizing it, "are you pondering what I'm pondering?"

"Hm, well I think so Logie," Remus said, "but I'm actually allergic to synthetic body glitter."

Logan grit his teeth, face falling. 

"You would make for wonderful evidence to prove it's possible to de-evolve, Remus. No, I was referring to the idea of preying on the population through the use of religion. If I were to somehow convince the masses that I were a god I would have the world tied around my finger; They would do anything I commanded."

"Woah, you'd be a much better god than Sky Daddy Logan," Remus said, "but how are you going to get that many people to trust you?"

"From what I've observed, most people seem to distrust claims of the supernatural due to a lack of perceivable, verified evidence," Logan said. "If I could find a way to create some sort of projection of myself to a large number of people all at once, it might be enough to convince them that I am a deity. And right here in America would be the perfect starting point, because most people here are rather gullible and severely lacking in critical thinking skills."

Remus clapped his hands together. 

"Yay! We're gonna start a nerd cult!"

---

Tireless nights were spent working to bring the plan to fruition. Logan had to work out exactly how he could create a convincing projection of himself, as well as find a power source with enough energy to fuel it. After weeks of building, planning, and re-working the contraption was finally finished and ready to be put to use. 

It was about half past ten o'clock when Remus and Logan headed out to the nearby electrical company. Its small amount of security and large source of power made it the ideal location to put his plan into motion. When they arrived and had successfully snuck through the wired fence, Logan turned to Remus.

"Here," he said, handing him a thick metal pole he had under his arm, "you use this to knock out the security guards while I hack into the security system and cameras. Try and meet me in 15 minutes."

Remus gave a two-fingered salute. 

"You got it Dorkenshmirtz."

Logan rolled his eyes at the nickname, but couldn't truly be annoyed by it. So far everything was going perfectly according to plan. Logan even found himself grinning as he made quick work of disabling the security, the flow of adrenaline making him nearly burst with excitement. Once the system was completely down, he turned tail to head to the main center. He unzipped the bag he was carrying, carefully taking out the disk-like platform he would use for the projection, and untangling the series of wires and cords to put together. To his dismay, he found that the last cord was slightly bent, most likely from being shuffled around in the bag on the trip over, and wouldn't properly plug in to the outlet without hands on assistance. The concern was quickly diminished though. Remus would be able to hold it in place while he was on the platform. Just as the thought crossed his mind the door swung open and Remus stepped in. His hair was slightly more astray than usual and a noticeable bruise was forming around his jaw, but he was smiling madly, chipper as ever.

"Did you take all of the guards out?" Logan asked.

"Yup, I bonked 'em!" Remus said, proudly. "A few of them put up a fight but I went like this," he swung the pole through the air, "BONK!"

Logan couldn't help the amused quirk of his lips. 

"Wonderful," he said, making his way towards the platform, "Everything has been put into place, except the cord over there. I need you to hold it into the outlet for this to work. Do not let go."

Remus nodded.

"Amen Sky Daddy!"

He plugged the cord in, keeping it upright and steady. Almost immediately the platform lit up with a surge of power. Logan walked towards it, nearly trembling. Finally after years of work, trying and failing and trying again, he was going to succeed. The world would finally be his to craft to his perfect, peaceful vision.

Once it was completely charged up Logan took his step onto the platform. Outside an enlarged image of himself filled the sky for miles. He cleared his throat, preparing his speech for the people, when suddenly his moment was interrupted by the sound of Remus cursing to himself as softly as he could manage. His head whipped around and to his horror he saw sparks of electricity flying from the place where the cord met the outlet, sending repeated shocks through Remus, who was struggling through the pain to keep the cord plugged in.

Remus looked to Logan, seeing him hesitate.

"Go on," he whispered, though his voice was strangled with discomfort, "I'm fine."

Logan turned back around once more, but got no further in his speech as he caught the sparks growing larger out of the corner of his eye. 

Time seemed to freeze for Logan, his head was spinning, torn between the task at hand and Remus' pained whimpers.

He'll be fine.

He'll get electrocuted and die.

It's one person vs the future of the rest of the world. This is what I've worked towards for years, and I'm going to blow it.

But he's helped so much. 

Stupid, loyal Remus with his constant screw ups, and dumb jokes, and annoying nicknames, and laughter and chatter that always rang through the house, that filled a void I didn't even notice was there before, and-

Remus cried out, his body completely jolting with an electric shock, but still he forced himself to keep hold of the cord.

"Remus let go!" Logan shouted.

"N-no, y-you-" Remus couldn't get out another word before another strong shock struck him. The surrounding wires and cords were jumping with sparks as well, and Logan caught sight of a fire starting at the floor where Remus sat slumped weakly against the wall.

"Remus!"

Without thinking twice Logan bolted from the platform, heaving Remus into his arms just as the flames began to grow and approach his body. He rushed out of the building, lungs burning from the toxic fumes of smoke that filled the air, but he didn’t slow his pace until they reached the car, the sound of sirens already blaring in the distance.

The drive home almost certainly broke the speed limit, but Logan cared little about that, glancing at Remus, unconscious but miraculously breathing, every few seconds until they reached home.

---

It was evening two days later when Remus finally awoke. He groaned, blinking his eyes open. Just as he came to, Logan walked into the room, rushing over to the bedside.

"So Logan,” Remus said, flashing a dopey smile up at him, “what do you want to do tonight?" 

Logan threw his arms around Remus' neck, the position awkward due to him being sprawled out on the bed, but neither paid any mind to it. Tears leaked out of Logan's eyes, that he tried to hold back.

"I think," he said, sniffling, "that you can choose what we do tonight Remus."

Soon after, the two were curled up on the couch, Remus' head resting on Logan's thighs. Logan sipped hot chocolate from his #1 DICK-tator mug, a Christmas gift from Remus, carding his fingers through the other's hair as a true crime documentary played on the T.V. Maybe, he thought, world domination could wait a bit when he had his whole world lying right in his lap.

---

Ah! I’m so glad I finally finished this! Think of it as my own little celebratory work to welcome in the new Animaniacs reboot.

Taglist: @bullet-tothefeels 

[takonei]

Beta AU - Main story, Chapter 5, deadly life (Part 5)

Note of the author: Guys, gals and pals following this story, chapter 5 is finally coming to an end.

Chapter 5: An oath to one’s lost humanity - Deadly life

...

He's...

He's dead.

Rantaro is dead.

Why was he still crying? Why was he still so afraid?

This was the fifth execution he was witnessing. Why did this one feel so different? So heartbreaking? So...

... Personal?

Shuichi couldn't discern what was in front of him, his vision blurred by the tears and the overwhelming dark thoughts his mind had been drowning him in for days.

Before he knew it, his knees gave out. He felt a few tears fall, letting his view clear enough for him to notice he was on the checkered floor of the courtroom.

The violinist couldn't hear anything that was happening next to him. Were any of them crying? Wailing? Holding each other into their arms?

So much he couldn't focus on.

"He... Rantaro..."

Shuichi didn't even realize he was saying this out loud.

His view slowly became hazy again due to the non-ending tears flowing on his cheeks.

The sound of his heart racing was loudly echoing in his head.

But the devastating thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a heartwrenching cry.

Miu dropped to the ground as she screamed her lungs out, wailing the loss of the one they had all trusted. The one who became a role model for her and helped her become the person she was now.

The one she had cared so much about, even more than the rest of them.

Although Shuichi could not pay full attention to it, Kaito and Kokichi went by her side to comfort her.

"Why? Why did it have to be this way?! Why didn't he trust us with this?! Why did he decide that carrying us without any sort of help was the right thing to do?! Why didn't he think he deserved our recognition for helping us?!"

"I don't understand..."

She sobbed, hands gripping her head.

"I don't... I don't understand anything at all..."

...

Shuichi was still frozen.

Why indeed?

Why did he deny their gratefulness for the actions he had done?

And of course, was still lingering the never-answered question he had asked himself so many times already...

... What was madness and what was reality?

The thin line that was so clear to him had been reduced to shreds over the trials, the deaths, and their suffering.

A crazy and unbelievable world they had learned to accept, and then was proven to be even crazier than they had all first thought.

...

He could feel Kirumi's tall figure next to him still staring at the black screen.

Shuichi barely heard the sound of her heels approaching him.

He couldn't even raise his head to look at her.

To his surprise, she set a knee down next to him, putting a hand on his shoulder. "... Are you okay?"

A low voice that reeked repressed sorrow.

A simple question with a simple answer.

...

He doesn't know what took over him.

Before he realized what he was doing, the violinist had wrapped his arms around her, head buried in her chest. A grip stronger than he ever had on anyone in the entirety of this horrible game.

Was he so starved for comfort that his first reflex was to childishly clutch the person offering it?

What was he thinking? Why was he clinging to the trained killer who had the strength to throw him across the room?

Hadn't he had learned his lesson back then?

Had madness consumed him as well?

...

Kirumi didn't push him away, though.

After some time, she hesitantly placed her hands on his back, hugging him back without complaining.

He couldn't even find the courage to mutter a word. He could only cry his eyes out, shaking in her arms.

Shuichi didn't know how much time they would all spend mourning the slow death of their symbol of hope, in a wordless room filled with the sobbings and the cries of the ones fate had cursed.

Sixteen at the beginning, five alive as of now.

Eleven had perished under the despair of murderers and brutal executions.

He could only wonder why they were the ones still alive.

Why not Himiko? Korekiyo? Tsumugi? Keebo? Ryoma or Rantaro for that matter?

Shuichi kept crying. Life was unfair, and there was no one to blame but their captor.

Or captors, if what Rantaro said was true.

But right now, he couldn't bring himself to focus on theorizing about their situation.

The two were kept in this hug. He could feel Kirumi's rapid heartbeat in her chest. It felt so intimate, so private, and probably the most vulnerable he had ever seen her.

How could they even understand each other? They had lived completely opposite lives. Drastically different experiences that had forged them into the people they are now.

Although...

... The darkness surrounding them may be what was bringing those different worlds together, forcing them to coexist and cooperate to defeat a greater evil.

Worlds slowly decomposing as reality itself wasn't even trustworthy anymore.

Kirumi kept gently petting his back.

There was nothing around him anymore, just the tight embrace of the mercenary...

... And one, single tear falling on his head.

 ...

 ...

 --

 ...

 Shuichi doesn't know how much time passed before he regained a bit of consciousness and control over himself again.

And when he moved a little, Kirumi immediately gave him some space. She seemed to be at least a bit better now.

They didn't exchange words, and instead, silently helped each other to get back up.

He must be a mess, but at least Kirumi had the decency not to comment on that.

Monokuma was gone, surprisingly.

Miu was still sitting on the ground, looking at the void with eyes reddened by tears that had now dried.

Kaito and Kokichi seemed to have been trying to comfort each other as well.

The violinist swallowed before approaching the three.

"Are you... Okay?"

Kokichi glanced at the grieving Miu. "Hey... We should... We should get out of here."

He was right. This courtroom was only making matters worse.

The street artist rubbed her eyes and took Kaito's hand to get back up.

They looked around the courtroom, which seemed to have fewer lights on than before, like a store that had closed hours ago.

"Monokuma didn't even bother trying to make us leave..." Kokichi muttered.

"Not like he could have done anything." Kaito glanced at everyone. "We're all complete emotional messes."

There was a silence that lasted a few seconds.

Miu slowly started walking towards the exit.

"Let's just leave."

The ride in the elevator was quiet, and Shuichi was somehow grateful the machine kept emitting its loud mechanical noise. At least he could focus on something other than the dark thoughts in his mind.

They stepped outside the shrine. The sun had long gone down by now.

The five last survivors walked back to the dorms, each to their respective rooms.

What was going to happen next?

Would this game even continue? Rantaro might have failed and gotten executed, but he might be right, at least to an extent.

According to him, they could not trust anything they knew. Not themselves, their memories nor their pasts.

But also that this game was now completely devoid of sense and rules. What sort of motive would even incite them to kill anymore?

He could only hope the bear would indeed get bored and stop this massacre once and for all.

...

He closed his dorm room door behind him and fell onto his bed.

He didn't feel like sleeping, but didn't feel like staying awake either.

Shuichi stared at the other side of his room, not even bothering to put on proper clothes to sleep.

...

--

...

*knock* *knock*

He was suddenly taken out of this half-sleeping state when someone tapped on his door.

They could have used the doorbell, but Shuichi guessed they didn't want to make too much noise.

"I'm coming..."

The violinist slowly got up from his bed and opened the door. And here was standing...

Kirumi.

"W-What are you doing here?" he mumbled, rubbing his eye.

She was still in her uniform, and had visibly not tried to rest like he did.

"There's something important I need to address. I'll be waiting for you in the courtyard."

She immediately closed the door and left.

"W-Wait!"

Too late.

What was that about?

He went to the bathroom to splash water on his face.

Shuichi stared at the mirror, but somehow, this reflection didn't feel like his.

"The person you all loved and cherished, Rantaro Amami, the ultimate medic... Never existed."

...

Was he real? Was he nothing but a pale copy of another person?

Could he even call himself Shuichi Saihara anymore?

He could only try to imagine what was on Rantaro's mind all this time.

The violinist shook his head.

Not now.

He put on his shoes and left for the courtyard.

Just as she said, Kirumi was here, alone.

"U-Um... What did you want to talk about?"

"I'll wait until everyone gets here."

Everyone? What was important enough for her to call them here?

He could only wait and see.

None were in the mood for small talk, and that was perfectly fine.

The three other survivors came one by one, Miu being the last to arrive.

They all looked like they had tried to sleep, but were either kept awake by the terror and sorrow they were all feeling, or were waken up by Kirumi herself.

"So? What's the deal?" Kaito asked.

Kirumi crossed her arms, not glancing at anyone in particular. "I wanted to tell this to all of you immediately, but considering your current states, I preferred to let you take a break from this... 'Trial', if we can even call it that way."

Fair enough. But... What was it that couldn't wait until tomorrow?

"I've had this feeling ever since the execution. But to investigate alone would have been selfish and stupid on my part."

The mercenary raised her hand, palm facing them. She tightly gripped her sleeve. "You see..."

She pulled it down, revealing what looked like a strange electronic pin planted in her arm, a tiny smudge of dried blood where the needle was entering her skin.

"... I have a feeling that this case is not over yet."

Shuichi's eyes widened, both in horror and shock.

"W-What the hell is this?!" Kaito yelled. "Why the fuck do you have that in your arm?!"

The violinist could tell this was new. After all, he had seen her bare arms twice before, and she sure as hell didn't have that.

"I'm fairly certain Rantaro is the one who planted it on me."

Miu visibly perked up at the mention of his name. "What does Rantaro have to do with this?!"

"Remember when I grabbed him by the collar earlier?"

Shuichi winced. This moment wasn't the most joyful and pleasant to think about.

"I believe he planted this when he put his hand on my wrist. I didn't think that much of it at the time, but I could feel something in my arm ever since then. And I doubt he would have done this for no reason at all, and more importantly discreetly enough for Monokuma not to notice, or at least comment on that."

What... What else did Rantaro plan for this case?

"B-But..." Kokichi stuttered. "That must have hurt... How didn't you notice him planting it in your arm? I mean... You said you 'believe', like you are not sure..."

Kirumi froze.

...

Her condition.

They still didn't know.

She sighed. "I guess I had to reveal it someday."

"I don't feel physical pain. I never did. Rantaro knew that already, and I believe he took advantage of this to transfer one final message he couldn't allow Monokuma to take away from us."

"YOU WHAT?" Kaito yelled.

Shuichi looked at him. "She's telling the truth... I've seen it for myself."

"Hold on, when??" Miu frowned.

"Uh-

"Now isn't the time." Kirumi interrupted the discussion. "Rantaro must have given me this piece of evidence so we would have one step ahead of Monokuma. If we don't use it carefully, we will waste it."

Shuichi nodded as she watched her putting her sleeve back in place, not bothering to take out the pin. But perhaps it was safer this way.

"I've been thinking about it since the end of the trial, and there is only one place this could be useful in. Follow me."

They glanced at each other, but followed Kirumi without questioning. She must be staying silent so Monokuma wouldn't try to ruin their final investigation on this case.

The group climbed up the stairs of the main building one by one, and she stopped...

... In front of Ryoma's research lab.

This was where the two had prepared their plan without the cameras watching them. And if Rantaro didn't want Monokuma to investigate before them, then it must be the right place.

Once in the lab and after locking the door behind them, they decided to look through everything to find a hint.

But something caught everyone's attention quite quickly.

The locks on the boxes.

They let Kirumi climb there to see if this was indeed the answer.

...

"I believe this has something to do with the boxes, but not this one. However, I do have a theory."

She climbed down and showed them the pin.

On the part that had been outside of her arm was a tiny blue square with several black dots and one single white dot.

"The pin is the key, but it opens only one lock, I think."

Kokichi tried to get a closer look. "Oh! Like the square may be a map of all the boxes and the white dot is the correct one!"

"That could be it."

After figuring out how the map worked, they let Kirumi climb on the box supposedly noted white.

*click!*

The sound of the box being unlocked was loud enough for Shuichi to hear.

"Bingo."

Kirumi climbed inside the box and after a few minutes, she went out.

And in her hand was...

... A camera with one of the anti-electronic bomb magnets on it.

"What is this?" Kokichi asked.

"I mean it's a camera, but... Do you think something important is in here?" Kaito asked.

Kirumi stared at the object. "I have a very bad feeling about this."

But they didn't have a choice. This was the very last hint Rantaro had given them.

And Rantaro's plans, as insane as they were, were able to catch Monokuma by surprise, even by failing.

Was he still helping them from the grave?

The group sat down as Kirumi put the camera in place so everyone could see.

"... Here goes nothing."

She turned the device on.

Two videos were saved. The first recorded video was a minute long and the second was about seven minutes long.

"Perhaps we should watch them by order of recording?" Miu suggested. "I don't know... It's just my guess..."

She seemed to have gained a bit of energy back. Enough to investigate on the legacy Rantaro had left behind.

"First video it is." the mercenary selected it and pressed the play button.

...

-

...

The video started. It was Ryoma's lab- they could recognize the boxes and the signature lighting. It looked like the camera was positioned to film the entrance.

The gadget didn't seem to have been activated by anyone, yet was somehow recording.

But before they could wonder how, someone appeared on the screen.

Ryoma.

"So? Everything is in place?"

Shuichi jumped at the voice of Rantaro.

The medic appeared on the screen with a hacking gun in his hand.

"It's filming. Be careful, we only have one shot."

"I know that already."

Rantaro positioned himself behind the door, and Ryoma disappeared from the field of view right after taking out his own hacking gun.

The medic stared at where Ryoma supposedly was and nodded.

"MONODAM! WE HAVE A QUESTION ABOUT THE RULES!!"

Rantaro yelled probably louder than necessary.

He tightly gripped the gun, finger on the trigger.

...

The door suddenly opened and Monodam walked in.

A beeping was heard- supposedly the electronic bomb.

The two jumped out of their hiding spots, Rantaro kicking the door to close it.

And to everyone's surprise, both had pulled the triggers.

However, something made Shuichi's heart stop.

Rantaro's shot missed, going past Ryoma. And the latter's shot was the one to take the robot down.

Ryoma fired a couple more times as Rantaro nonchalantly walked towards the now dead mascot, not even bothering to help.

"... He's deactivated. We're good."

Ryoma looked up to his partner. "Could you have at least tried to shoot a bit further away from my face?"

"Sorry. At least we're good now, right?"

"Yeah."

...

So many questions ran through Shuichi's head.

Rantaro shrugged. "But hey, the first part is over. I'll let you take care of Monodam while I get to see how Monokuma is going to ruin the exisal hangar assault. I'll report everything to you later on."

"Got it, boss."

Ryoma took out what looked like a remote and then...

...

-

... The video brutally ended.

Rantaro... missed? And more importantly, on purpose?!

Which meant...

Monokuma was wrong. Rantaro was not the culprit of this so-called case.

But... Why didn't he say anything?

Why did he let himself get executed?!

The camera was here with the proof!! Why didn't he defend himself?!

The others were also under the shock of this revelation.

"Rantaro... Didn't do anything...?" Kokichi shakily mumbled.

"Monokuma... You..." Miu muttered. She suddenly slammed the nearby box with her fist. "You fucking bastard!! This was someone innocent you executed!!"

Innocent...

Somehow a part of Shuichi hoped he was indeed the one who killed Ryoma. To think there was a possibility he was executed for nothing...

He didn't even want to think about it.

The little game the judge and the condemned were playing had deadly stakes that meant nothing to either of them.

Now that Monokuma was gone from their group and Rantaro was dead, they could only try to put the final puzzle pieces of this miserable trial together.

Their motives and the rules, the lies and the truth.

Shuichi thought he knew Rantaro by now, but...

Whoever was with them during the trial and on the video felt like a total stranger.

...

"There is a second video. And I have a feeling this will be somehow worse." Kirumi broke the silence, narrowing her eyes at the tiny screen.

They had all realized Monokuma's mistake, and their mistake as well.

But whatever the second video showed couldn't change the truth of the first.

Rantaro was executed either for the wrong reasons or for absolutely nothing.

"Are you guys ready?" Kaito asked.

They exchanged glances and nodded.

Kirumi selected the video and pressed play.

...

-

...

The camera moved slightly as if it was being adjusted.

But on the screen was a scene that immediately made Shuichi stiffen.

A rope. A chair. A white neon light.

This video was about Ryoma's death.

The camera in place, Rantaro moved in front of the lens, checking if everything worked.

"It's recording."

"Good."

Ryoma appeared on the screen.

The two walked towards the chair and rope. Ryoma climbed on the seat and placed the noose around his neck.

...

"So this is it, huh?" Rantaro said. "This is where your story ends."

Ryoma shrugged. "You know it doesn't. Not now, at least."

"Yes, yes, I know. But you're about to die, Ryoma."

...

"... I'm doing this for you guys. You better win, alright?"

"Don't worry. We will."

There was a long silence between the two.

"... So? Shall we proceed?" Ryoma asked.

"Of course."

Rantaro rummaged through one of his inner pockets and took out...

... A small bottle filled with transparent liquid, exactly the one he had tried to drink during his execution.

He handed it to Ryoma.

"Thanks."

The weapons maker opened the cap.

"What on earth did you mix for the smell to be that strong?"

"Do you want the full list?"

"I'll pass."

Ryoma approached the container to his lips, and...

... He drank the entire bottle.

Rantaro took back the empty container, putting it in his pocket.

"This tastes awful."

"Told you so."

Ryoma snickered. "You better win this trial, Rantaro Amami."

The medic didn't seem to react.

He watched as the other soldier seemed to feel nauseous, and not even ten seconds later, he collapsed.

Ryoma was dead.

Rantaro stared at the scene for about a minute.

He then proceeded to snatch the chair from under his feet.

The lifeless body swung for a moment, but stopped moving rather quickly.

This was the exact same horrifying scene they had all discovered earlier.

The medic approached the camera with the chair and sat down.

He stared at the lens, not a single emotion visible on his face.

(BGM)

"If you're watching this, then it means the plan was a success."

"This means that I was both executed and Monokuma failed at being a competent killing game host."

"You see, I spent days preparing this specific poison for the plan. A poison that could act in a matter of seconds and could not be identified through bloodshot eyes, vomited blood or anything else."

"After all, right now, the blood in Ryoma's body is still circulating enough to create the marks around his neck that will make you all think he hanged himself."

"So if everything goes according to plan, Monokuma will have marked his death as either hanging, suffocation, or strangulation."

"But in reality, his death was never related to the rope."

"And if I get executed, this means he would have done so for absolutely no valid reason at all. I didn't disrespect any rules, I didn't kill Monodam, and I didn't kill Ryoma. Which means..."

"... That I am completely innocent in the case of Ryoma Hoshi, the ultimate weapons maker."

"In other words, absolutely everything about this case is nothing but pure lies and inability to take care of a simple suicide. Cause of death wrong, rules broken, innocent executed for crimes they didn't commit..."

"Nothing but pure failure on Monokuma's part."

"You may wonder why I did this. Why we prepared this entire plan. Well..."

"Most of the reasons are what I told you after the trial. About destroying Monokuma's will to continue the game. But there are a few more reasons for my actions."

"Why did I let myself being executed? Why didn't I show the proof with the cameras? Well..."

"I didn't want to."

"I wanted Monokuma to go through his entire thought process only to realize he had been wrong all along and had broken the rules for absolutely no other reason than his incompetence."

He chuckled.

"Isn't that what he loves to do? To get our hopes up and make us fall into a greater despair?"

"So how about we turn the tables for once?"

"Monokuma, you thought you had managed to put an end to our plan, but that was never the case. You fell right into my trap because you always let us do whatever we wanted."

"You miscalculated everything about this."

"Ah, but you guys don't know what I'm talking about exactly."

"The cameras showed him that I was preparing a poison. But this poison was not to end my life on my own terms like he thought I would do in case the plan failed. It was for the plan itself."

"But you may ask, what exactly did I take out of my pocket later on during the execution? Well... If I even managed to do so? The answer is quite simple."

"It was plain water."

"Nothing but still water available in this lab. As stupid as this sounds, any transparent liquid could be mistaken for water and vice-versa. Quite convenient if you ask me."

"Anyway, there is another question that you probably asked yourselves at some point."

"Why wasn't *I* the victim of this case?"

"You see..."

"I was supposed to. I was the one who volunteered to be the victim."

"However, Ryoma didn't let me. He wanted me to live no matter what. And that's when I got a better idea."

"To manipulate Monokuma into killing me."

"Of course, I omitted a lot of details when I explained the plan to Ryoma, or else he wouldn't have accepted to help me in this. I told him I would show the videos after Monokuma votes me guilty, but being executed was my intention since the very beginning."

"Now does that mean Ryoma's death was useless? Absolutely not. This plan wouldn't have been a success without his sacrifice."

"I do wish he didn't have to die this way, but the end justifies the means, as they all say."

"Although, I'm getting off-topic here."

"..."

"Hey, mastermind."

"Do you see it now?"

"You failed, and I won."

"We both did this little game of play pretend for three weeks and you lost."

"Admit your defeat. There's no point in continuing because everyone has already realized by now how pathetic this shitshow really is."

"And even if you don't immediately give up, everything will end soon enough."

"..."

"... Well, I do have one last thing I want to say to you, asshole."

Rantaro smiled and raised the middle finger.

"Get fucked, mastermind."

...

-

...

Shuichi couldn't believe his eyes.

Rantaro... He had won.

He was exactly where he wanted to be.

In the afterlife after dying as a martyr.

Everything he supposedly felt was nothing but an act to manipulate Monokuma. Lies that had fooled them all, including the mastermind.

This meant that when the investigation had just started, now hours ago, when they looked at the information the bear had given them to investigate...

... The game was already over.

Shuichi couldn't even comprehend how insane this was.

Out of all the things Rantaro could have done to try to defeat Monokuma, this was the last thing he expected him to do... And yet he felt like he should have.

He could somehow hear the deranged laugh of the medic in the back of his head, mocking them all from the world of the dead.

Mocking Monokuma for his mistakes... And perhaps laughing at the absurdity of his own life too.

A man filled with illusory memories, perishing from a meaningless death.

There was not even a single bit of dignity left of him. His whole honor had been shattered to pieces by this killing game.

...

The violinist thought about the conversation they had in the morning.

"I won't be able to die in peace until I'm absolutely sure this game is over."

The way he smiled as he was dying, leaning against the bridge pole with nothing but ashes in his lungs and blood flowing out of his shoulder...

He died satisfied.

He died in peace, knowing his plan was a brilliant success.

An ending that was a tragedy to them, but a blessing to him.

Rantaro... He was really...

... A mastermind of his own.

 --

"..."

"Rantaro, you filthy bastard."

"You actually won."

"I should have known what I was getting into when I made this decision back then."

"A move that I now realize cost me my place of 'ultimate mastermind', but a move I do not regret in the slightest."

"You were a wonderful adversary. I am glad I got to fight you in this nonsensical game, although there are a lot of things I do regret. And I do wish you were here for the final trial."

"..."

"I was wrong to underestimate you."

"This whole madness..."

"That's why you started the act, isn't it?"

"To make me lower my guard and think you were not as much of a threat as I thought you would be."

"At first I didn't believe your bullshit thanks to Kiyo. However, the more this game went on, the more I realized you were slowly drowning in your own despair."

"But I made the mistake of thinking you wouldn't be a worthy opponent in those conditions, and thus you managed to pull out a plan even greater than anything I've ever done in this game."

"Congratulations, Rantaro."

"I admit defeat."

"You're observing me from the afterlife, aren't you? In that case..."

"Watch."

"Consider this a promise, or a gift."

"I will finish what you started."

"I am going to put an end to all of this."

"..."

"Oh well..."

"You already made sure this game would end since the very beginning of your crazy plan, didn't you?"

[atxlxs]

Beyond The Veil: Chapter 3

The staff meeting during the following Friday of the entrance exams has always been one of Nedzu’s favorite days. Several variables are set loose all at once and he gets to watch the chaos happen.This year, in particular, has an interesting candidate.

Viridis Muska.

Quite obviously, they aren’t Japanese and their records state that she moved here with her legal guardian 7 years ago after an accident unfortunately killed her parents. Her identity is as clean as his favorite tea cups and her homeschooling was explained by needing to learn the language. Their quirk registry matched up with most of their actions as well.

Most.

She had first garnered attention by finishing a whole hour early. Even some intelligence quirks don’t finish that fast. Especially since it was a test Nedzu personally made. Then there were her responses in the history section. It almost appeared as if she forced herself to use third person writing. The descriptions were remarkably detailed and certain events held smaller but no less important information that doesn’t exist in any textbook.

He would know.

Then came the practical. Her use of her quirk to enhance certain aspects of their physical abilities while also using it sparingly to prevent quirk exhaustion was intriguing and well throughout. Releasing the 0-point as time was ticking down Nedzu had expected everything to go as calculated.

Unknown information, however, always changes that.

The knowledge of where the other examinees were, the quick reaction time, the healed ankle. None of that was listed in her abilities and the government always keeps track of healers. In fact, looking over her quirk registry, it's surprisingly vague. As if the person who wrote it made sure that unless someone had personally seen the quirk in use, the description sounded fine. Yet after seeing the quirk in use, the description became lacking.

It was past intriguing, it was fascinating.

Watching the staff members file into the room, Nedzu couldn’t help the feral smile on his face. He had a sneaking suspicion as to why this particular examinee was so unknown. Afterall, no matter how hard Nedzu tried, the “veil” never lifted for him. He wasn’t one of them and he didn’t personally know anyone who was. If Viridis was what he thought they were, then Nedzu might finally get answers.

“Now let's get to it!” Nedzu chirped, reveling in the shudders the teachers tried to hide at his excited tone. The only one to succeed was Aizawa, but he also was personally taught by Nedu during his third year since Nedzu wanted to cultivate his skills. Now the man was the best underground pro there was.

They shuffled through applications and sorted them based on accepted, pending, and rejected. Midnight was in charge of business and design, Power loader for support with help from Ectoplasm, Cementoss and Present Mic for general, and Eraserhead along with Vlad King for heroics.

30 minutes in, Aizawa spoke up.

“Nedzu, I’m assuming examinee #2438 is who you were watching yesterday? Viridis Muska?”

Nedzu grinned at him and nodded. “Yes, as you might know considering your underground status, I have a sneaking suspicion that she is from ‘beyond the veil’.”

Aizawa actually dropped the paper he was holding. His eyes grew slightly larger as he dropped his head into his capture weapon to hide the bottom half of his face. Yamada, who despite what people thought, was also involved with the underground. Thus, the gasp was expected. Everyone else, however, looked confused.

From the back, where he was looking over some teaching material, Yagi Toshinori aka: All Might raised his hand like a student. Nedzu almost chuckled at the thought.

“Yes All Might?”

“What is this ‘beyond the veil’?”

Nedzu knew he would ask that but acted as if he didn’t and thought about it for a moment. In reality he was already going to tell his staff this year about the existence of the veil despite knowing nothing about what actually lies beyond because the underworld has been spiking in activity lately and there was a chance that big moves could be made soon.

Turning to face the room as a whole Nedzu dropped his typical smile and allowed his serious to show through his eyes before he spoke.

“This info may not leave this room. It is imperative that only a select few even know the name. The term ‘beyond the veil’ is the official title for the shadows that have hidden out of society and humanities view for thousands of years,” Nedzu watched as his faculty began paying rapt attention to his words. It wasn’t often that he got serious afterall.

“It pains me to say it but even I don’t exactly know what lies beyond this veil, however I do know that whatever is there is something beyond human.”

“Are you saying that humans aren’t the only creatures on the planet?” Vlad asked, confusion and disbelief lacing his words.

“Absolutely. In fact, those that know of the existence of the veil theorize that the only reason Humans have the abilities called quirks was because someone mingled with what was beyond. Viridis Muska is clean, clean in a way that only someone like me would even notice the slight discrepancies. Yet these discrepancies were only noticed because of my Knowledge of the veil. If i didn’t know, I wouldn’t have noticed how strange her abilities really are. Or questioned why her words in the history section seemed over-detailed.”

The room was silent for a few moments, then Aizawa moved and placed the application on the class 1-A acceptance pile.

With a grin, Nedzu nodded.

“I’ll be the projection to Viridis. I wish to invite her for a cup of tea.”

Eras was casually leaning against the tallest window in the house, a leg dangling over the side of the window sill as the other was pulled up next to them. A book rested in their hand against their raised leg, a cup of tea held in the other. Since the window she was sitting next to had a very clear view of the front of the house, Eras was able to see out of the corner of her eye as Muska fell face first into the moss ground while holding up an envelope.

Eras spit out her tea as she laughed and Muska got back up and ran into the house.

“SUGAR MOMMY THE MAIL CALL!” Muska screamed as she burst into the house. In response, Eras simply held out the hand with the book and let it drop to the ground, smacking Muska in the head from above.

“WhaT ThE FuCk?” Muska screeched as she snapped her head up to glare at Eras. A smug grin stretched over her features and she swung a leg over the pole off to the side of the door and slid to the ground.

“The acceptance letter came in then?” Eras asked, heading over to the kitchen to drop her mug in the sink.

“We literally don’t know whether or not I got in?” Muska said as she followed. Tibbles jumped from the catwalk as Muska passed the door frame and landed on her shoulders, a loud meow interrupting Eras’s rebuttal.

“Oh fuck off.” came Muska’s reply to whatever tibbles said. She waved off the next meow and walked over to the kitchen table. The black furball jumped off to sit next to Muska while on the table.

Once Eras sat on the opposing side, Muska tore into the envelope. Expecting a letter. Not a black disc. She and Muska stared in bewilderment before the disc lit up and projected a person up into the room. Nevermind.

“Its a fUCKIN RAT MAN?”

It's not a person, it's a Nedzu.

Tibbles, who had taken offence to the projected rat, dog, thing, swatted the projector and almost sent it flying if it weren’t for Eras’s inhuman reflexes. Catching the disc and reorienting it back where it was placed in the middle, The projector continued with little care of the scare he just gave the three.

Vaguely, Eras registered that Muska had passed and with flying colors, coming in second on the exam. Internally, though, she was searching for why Nedzu was sending out a projection. She had left a slight surprise in Muska’s quirk registry in order to figure out if the rat knew about the veil and what's beyond. Though she wasn’t expecting it to be found out so soon. What had Muska done to contradict the registry?

It clicked just as Nedzu cleared his throat once more.

“Also, seeing as you have achieved the highest score in the last 20 years of UA’s history on the written exam, I wish to extend a meeting to you to talk over tea. I am quite fascinated by your answers. Especially in the history section. Welcome Viridis! This is your academia!”

The light in the room came back to normal levels as the projection ended and Eras slammed her head onto the table, startling Muska out of her apparent shock.

“Uh, What?” The witch asked, completely unaware of what she did.

“What did you do during the practical?” Eras asked, muffled by the table top.

With a confused look, Muska went on to talk about their experience. From scouting to planning and scrapping some bots. Then as she got closer to the end, Eras was able to confirm her suspicions.

“This one girl had fracture so I healed that real quick and then focused on greenie-”

Well shit, Eras hadn’t expected Muska to instantly show off her healing capabilities. Now they had a meeting with the rat-man. Eras groaned and cut off Muska mid rant about red flags and someone named Midoriya.

“What?” Muska asked, slightly annoyed at being interrupted.

“I made your quirk registry purposefully vague to accommodate for your other abilities and people wouldn’t know what to look for if they had never heard of the veil before. Nedzu probably saw you use Healing abilities, which I never mentioned to make sure the government didn’t flag you as a healer, and compared that to your probably almost first person account of history and connected the dots. Now you have a meeting with a rat man to talk about you possibly being a part of the veil.”

It was silent for a bit before a loud meow and purr followed and Muska slammed her head on the table.

“We know Tibbles, you don’t have to rub it in my face like that.”

@baguettehead

[tundrainafrica]

Title: Division of Labor (3/?)

Summary:  

“The past years, we have noticed a lot of our fresh high school graduates knew nothing about responsibilities that await them outside high school and even college. Many students do not master budgeting, taxes, household planning, loans and we hope to raise a generation who can navigate the adult world without the consequences of bad decisions they are bound to make going in blindly…”

Paradis High school starts a program incorporating adulting into their curriculum and Hange and Levi are paired together.

Note: From request of @a-golden-hearted-snk-fan. See this link for the request

Other Chapters: 1 2

Link to cross-postings: AO3

It turned out Hange did think the housing plan through.  

"It's a rent to own contract...so after paying this certain amount of rent… within a number of years… we can own the house basically," Hange explained. Her preparation was evident in the wad of papers she had carelessly spread out on the table in front of Levi.

At first glance, Levi could not make sense of what those papers were. Eventually, by carefully scanning through the therefore, herewiths, in the events, the interest rates and percentages, Levi figured out they were contracts and manuals full of buying and renting policies of one particular real estate company.

Levi looked out the glass window of the booth of the quiet diner they had chosen to work in. He had tried to use the mechanical movements of the crowds on a commute home to at least help clear his mind enough to make sense of how exactly a rent-to-own contract worked. Levi was sure Hange was at least attempting to explain everything about the buying policies of the real estate company in layman's terms. Although Levi was somewhat impressed by the dedication Hange put into it, as soon as she started to talk about the policies and agreements beyond ‘we get to own the house after a while,’ Levi ended up spacing out. The prospect of spending, even if it was fake money, caused him enough unnecessary stress.  

He turned his attention to the two flour sacks who were propped by the window of the diner booth they occupied. He had purposefully turned their ugly faces towards the window at the small possibility that Shadis, Erwin or even Zeke were amongst the crowds of people walking through the crowds and into the subway station. A testament to their determination not to waste any unnecessary funds or worse, flunk the program

"If we catch you in public not holding your baby, you pay babysitting dues or you fail." Shadis had said in homeroom class that morning.

After some discussion as a class and with some confirmation from Erwin, the whole class came to the understanding that if they went out separately, they were in no obligation to take their babies with them. It could always be assumed after all, that their partner had their baby with them. Being in public with their partner meant someone had to have the baby with them or they risk pay necessary dues. At any rate, they found solace in the fact that if they were going to look like idiots holding brown sacks with shabbily drawn faces on them, they at least had someone to look like an idiot with.

Levi looked back at  Hange to see that she had not stopped talking. Levi was not too surprised, having the disinterested equivalent of a resting bitch face, he had to master the art of looking like he cared to get past most classes.  

“Where did you get these anyway?” Levi asked, interrupting the tirade of his partner. The answer to that question would at least be something he would be able to understand.

“The procedures manual and their company policies are available online.” Hange answered matter-of-factly. Levi noted how quickly she recovered from having her explanation of policy and business jargon interrupted.

As Levi looked once again through highlighted lines and messy scrawls, he felt embarrassed that he was not even halfway done with the design they had discussed the night before. He slowly brought out his folder where he had at least begun to draw the floor plan from the link Hange had sent him the night before.

“How has the floor plan been Levi?” Hange cocked her head to one side. Levi could not tell if she was provoking him or if she was genuinely curious about the progress of his work. Regardless, the way that she sifted through the papers under her, while looking pointedly at the roughly drawn floor plan on his hands had Levi self conscious.

It was Tuesday afternoon, less than 24 hours since she had bombarded him with messages. Less than 24 hours since she dropped a pdf file of the floor plan and went MIA, Levi guessed it was to prepare all the documents which Hange had just laid out in front of him that morning. As he compared his own progress to hers, he also became aware of one more reality, their first outputs were due tomorrow. Begrudgingly Levi had to admit, despite her naivete and overenthusiasm, Hange had a better sense of urgency than he did.

“I planned everything out already. I just need to outline it.” Levi said, trying at least not to sound as defensive as he felt.

“But can you do it alone? I didn’t sleep at all last night to get this done.” Hange looked more concerned than anything else.”

As Levi looked back at a skeleton of a housing plan that lay in front of him, he started to understand her concern. The house they had selected was huge and designing would take hours if he actually wanted to put thought into it.

“I mean even if we take out the 1800 from our budget of 3600 dollars a month, we still have to consider furniture and it might take you a while to come out with the pricing right? I guess we could leave out 1000 dollars for that….”

Furniture? Levi had stopped listening at ‘furniture.’ Somehow Levi had assumed that it would have been fully furnished when they bought it and they just had to rearrange furniture. “We’re buying an unfurnished house?” Levi had hoped Hange was pulling his leg.

Hange knitted her brows in confusion. “Did I say anything about a furnished house?”

                                         Division of Labor

“There are two methods of accounting used in modern day society: cost accounting and accrual accounting or as I’d like to call them: an idiot’s sorry excuse for accounting and actual accounting.” Zeke wrote the two terms on the board and plopped himself on the teacher’s desk. “Really though, why the hell do people still use cost accounting in modern society, it’s fucking stupid, barbaric, might as well go back to bartering…”

Levi had no idea what either of them were. As he looked around at his classmates, they looked as lost as he was about the mini rant that Zeke gave about the two accounting methods he had failed to define.

After a few minutes of ranting, Zeke finally noticed the blank faces of his students. “Okay Social Experiment.” Zeke cocked his head to the side. “Actually, let’s call it an IQ Test.  Jean stand up.”

“Yes sir!” Jean followed way too enthusiastically.

“You got the investment banker occupation so ideally you should be the most knowledgeable on money among everyone in the room,” Zeke continued. “You have zero dollars and I gave you 100 dollars right now. How much do you have?”

“100 dollars sir,” Jean answered.

“That’s a smart boy.” Zeke slapped his desk so hard, Armin and Eren jumped, having sat so close to the teacher’s desk. “Okay, so if I lent you 100 dollars, how much do you have?”

“100 dollars.”

“So, you’re gonna run away with my money? No plans of paying me back?”

Jean tensed up in confusion. “No sir. I’ll be paying you back.”

“Then is it your money?"

“It’s with me sir… So I think…” Jean paused for a second. “So it’s your money sir?”

“Tell me. The money is with you after all. Is it your money or my money?”

“It’s my money sir!” Jean answered too quickly, probably without even thinking.

“I lent you the money. I expect it back so it’s mine. Calling my money your money is practically stealing Kirschtein. I can call a lawyer on you.” Zeke narrowed his eyes at Jean for a few seconds before shrugging in defeat. “But you’re not a criminal. You’re just an idiot who relies on outdated accounting methods. Don’t take that with you when you become an actual financial advisor. Sit down. I’m calling someone else.” Zeke turned back to the class list on the teacher’s table. “Okay, anyone in this list with a finance related position...” Zeke’s eyes widened in surprise as he looked through the list. He looked at the class with a cat-like grin, his eyes focusing on one boy in the front row. “In my almost sixteen years of knowing you, I did not expect you to be suitable but it looks like you’re the only one in this list other than Jean with an accounting related occupation.”

“Really? It’s accounting related?” Eren had never been one to be good at Math. Everyone in the class agreed and as their professor hinted at his assigned occupation, many began to whisper, possibly theorizing as to what Eren had gotten.

They did not have to theorize for long though, within seconds, Zeke continued to discuss. “Okay Eren, let’s discuss your field of expertise --- insurance.”

Eren slowly nodded in return. It was a nod which everyone in the room had understood at first glance. Insurance was not Eren’s field of expertise.

Zeke did not seem to care though. “Case study time! I have 3000 dollars. Eren the insurance salesman sells me $200 dollars a month worth of insurance and I buy one years worth of prepaid insurance. By the end of this month, how much worth of assets do I have left?”

“By assets, you mean money?”

“Check a fucking dictionary.”

Eren sat down for a second. From his seat, Levi could hear some whispers from Mikasa and some clicks of a digital keyboard, or possibly a calculator.

“600 dollars.”

“Final answer?”

“Yes. Final Answer.” Eren seemed so sure of his answer.

From seeing Zeke’s face at the answer, Levi could not help but think, maybe phrasing it as a question was the better option for Eren.

“This is why your generation is so shit at saving. With this type of attitude, you‘re all gonna get into some shity Ponzi scheme with yourself and some sad saps who actually pitied you enough to lend you money without assessing your credit rating that’s just gonna continue riding on some endless cycle until you all go to jail or declare bankruptcy.” Zeke ranted again as he punched the buttons of the projector, turning it on. “ Scratch that. At this rate, none of you would probably even know how to declare bankruptcy.”

Accounting 101 . Those two words flashed on the screen, the contrast of black words in a default font to the white background of a hastily made powerpoint only getting clearer as the projector whirred to life.

“The amount of debt you can get into in the real world will fuck up your life. So to simulate the real world consequences of unpaid debt, we decided to make your fake debt by the end of the year one of the main determinants of your final grade. And we will be using real accounting to determine your debt. Any questions before we start?”

It was Sasha who raised her hand from the back of the classroom.

“Yes?” Zeke asked with shoddily hidden annoyance.

“So which one is cost and which one is accrual again, Sir?”

                                      Division of Labor

"I told you. I'll handle the accounting," Hange said. "We can make this work." Her words were not at all assuring.

It was Wednesday afternoon. They had submitted their selection for their house that afternoon in class so that meant no more takebacks. Their house plans were due midnight and Levi was not even halfway done. To add insult to injury, Levi was still reeling from Zeke’s lecture just a few hours ago.

Initially, Hange had suggested they buy the furniture in installments. The prospect of buying in installments though became all the more terrifying with the accounting system Zeke had introduced to them that day and the weight of a negative balance sheet on their grades.

As soon as you buy something and enter into debt, the money owed is not yours anymore. Levi shuddered as those words echoed in his head. He narrowed his eyes at Hange. "Really Hange? Can we? After deciding to spend half your salary each month on an unfinished 3 bedroom house?" Levi asked as he gestured to their next tall order that stretched over two aisles. They were in the baby's section in the supermarket.

It was their third round around that aisle, trying to look for a brand of diaper and a brand of formula that would not cost them a total of 400 dollars a month.

“I mean, we still have 800 dollars on groceries if we put our furniture installments budget at 1000 dollars a month,” Hange explained. “So if we spend 400 dollars on baby stuff, we should have 400 left.”

“400 dollars for a month’s worth of meals for a family of four.” Levi clarified. “There must be something here we could choose not to spend on.” Or maybe we could find a cheaper place to buy things in. Levi thought back to the supermarket nearer to his house and made a mental note to check it. The output was due on Friday anyway.

"Hey, Armin and Annie are here too!" Hange said enthusiastically.

Too enthusiastically. Levi clarified to himself. That was not at all good news. If other groups were going to that supermarket, that must mean they think they have the financial leeway to spend there, That could also possibly mean he and Hange had somehow fucked up financially as a pair, struggling to make ends meet. Armin was a studious student with a good head on his shoulders and he chose to shop in a more expensive supermarket. Are we spending too much?

"Let's ask Armin…" Levi did not need to finish his sentence. By the time, he looked to his side, where Hange stood or at least was supposed to be standing, the latter was already on her way to the blond boy..

Levi did not waste anytime. As Hange chatted up Armin, Levi made a few rounds through the two aisles again, his phone calculator on hand.

Just in case. Levi told himself. Just in case they had miscalculated the minimum expense of 400 dollars.

                                      Division of Labor

Hange had a long talk with Armin. By that point, Levi had lost count of the number of rounds he had made around the aisle. He had stopped counting at five. He had done his research on discounts and made some fake accounts and the expense still clocked at $390 dollars.

By the time he and Hange called it quits, the sun was setting. Hange seemed lost in thought and she had been that way since she had finished her conversation with Armin. Levi decided to take over keeping both sacks for the night. He made a small detour to the grocery store nearest to his flat. It was smaller, a little dirtier but it meant a little more room for spending and a bigger chance of saving his grade and graduating. Begrudgingly, sanitation became the least of Levi's issues.

He wrote out all the prices of the important items they had seen in the grocery store. When he got home, he made sure to write them all on a google sheet complete with weight, quantity and prices and sent the link to Hange through an instant message. For some reason, he felt a twinge of disappointment when all he received was a heart react in return.

Of course, Hange still had a lot of things to calculate. Even as they separated less than an hour ago, she had seemed distracted. Levi guessed Armin had told her something game breaking about the accounting process.

What did Armin tell you? You need any help?

Will explain soon. Send the meal plan and house design by 9 pls.

Levi managed to submit the meal plan by nine. He had copied and pasted from some random family cooking website, changing a few ingredients to fit what he thought would be cheaper options. He did not need to think too much of it either. He lived a life many would consider the complete opposite of excess and as a result, had mastered the art of improvisation when it came to food.

His main problem lay with the floor plan of the house. Hange had agreed to handle worrying about the expenses. That was one problem out of his plate.

Even with the money problem out of his hands, Levi found himself working until late anyway. Or not working… Levi was only reminded of his lack of productivity when his phone lit up with a notification.

11:00pm

Hange Zoe

Where??????

Levi only realized then that he had gotten a little carried away with the problem of where to put the washing machine.

                                 Division of Labor

It was a genius idea.

That Wednesday night, only a few hours before the house plan was due, Levi had had fifty tabs open from German and Japanese house designers showing bathrooms and laundry room designs highlighting the novelty and practicality of putting the washing machine in the bathroom. Levi had spent hours pondering the logistics of making it work for the house design Hange had sent him only for her to shoot down the idea an hour before the housing plan was due.

They rented an American style house with a bathroom in every bedroom and the impracticality had dawned on him particularly when it was fifteen minutes to 12am and they were still arguing in chat over how to design the house. In the end, Hange had gotten her way, having brought up the issue of accounting furniture and the fact that they probably did not even have the financial leeway to pay for a washing machine anyway.

Having to deal with the disappointment of losing the opportunity to design the house the way he wanted to and having his unfinished design shipped off to Erwin’s email, with little regard for the effort he had put into the intricacy of both the toilets and the laundry room, Levi was a little pissed. He also considered the fact that he had respected the effort and detail Hange had put into choosing a house and had allowed her to submit a potentially overpriced and unfurnished house as their final product.

And she could not even reciprocate the respect for his whims.

Levi decided then to take a break from it all. It was a silent agreement on both ends. Or there was no need for an agreement anyway. They had finished their deliverables for the week by Thursday.

Everyone had ended up cramming theirs anyway and Levi found himself walking home alone and spending his time outside school hours bingeing whatever was new on Netflix.

By Monday, Levi had not expected to do much. Their breakdown of responsibilities was due Friday, 12am on Thursday to be exact according to the file that Erwin had sent. It was a one page paper with a few questions that just needed answering. They could easily start on Tuesday or Wednesday.

Levi wanted to spend at least just his Monday, peacefully, not considering the program which has been plaguing the start of their junior year since Shadis’ announcement just a week ago. He allowed himself to clear his mind, making sure to just note on his phone to start on the next output by Wednesday. Hange would probably remind him anyway.

He had deluded himself well into thinking the adulting program was limited to those once a week outputs. An announcement was made to meet in the kitchen after lunch for home economics class. His mood that Monday had him living in complete denial of what could actually go on in a school kitchen and for some reason, Levi imagined having a lecture in the kitchen was a completely normal expectation, even with the reminder to bring aprons and gloves. Maybe we just need to put them in lockers or something.

As the students filed in though, some of them panicked and that was when Levi figured out that something was not right. The counters were all lined up with ingredients. Some of the students had recognized the ingredients. Levi looked to Hange to see that she was blank on what the hell the pattern was behind the types of ingredients set out.

There were the essentials--- flour, sugar, eggs. There were exotic ingredients Levi could not even name or pronounce.

“Cardamom, Star Anise, Rose water. What the hell?” It was Jean speaking from behind Levi.

“I’m glad you see the pattern. I’m assuming that means you’ll all do well?” Erwin waited while the rest of the class filed into the room before he raised his voice loud enough for everyone to hear. “Today we’ll be having a pop quiz just to make sure you all know what you’re writing when you make the meal plans. In the tables assigned to you, you will see the ingredients for one of the meals you put in your meal plan. Please use them accordingly to make a full course meal from what you had submitted.”

Levi could not remember for the life of him what the hell he had put in that meal plan a week back

[tildehummingbird]

Spoiler about Catherine and the Soul Riding

(I posted this over at sso forums, so if you see a thread like this there, it's me hehe)

So, I've done the Catherine Quests and I've completed them and as a lot of other people, I was mad. 

I mean, I had so many questions: If Aideen is in everyone, and destiny doesn't matter, then what's the need for Soul Riders, if anyone can do it? Destiny and being the "chosen one" is the whole entire concept of this game, and changing the route NOW, or at ALL doesn't make any sense, and they're probably gonna lose a lot of players that are interested in lore because this doesn't make any sense. Then what's even the need for a 5th rider? What's even the need for this game at all, if a 5th rider isn't needed then just follow the storyline in Starshine Legacy and don't add the 5th rider. If anyone can do it and if Aideen is in everyone, then explain why we're the only ones in this whole entire generation that can handle all powers at once, why can't any of the other riders in Jorvik? Why was Elizabeth so surprised that we could in fact use all powers? What was the need for the beginning cutscene? It literally told us "In times of despair, a sisterhood of Soul Riders will ride forth to protect the island from the evil that seeks to rip the world apart. It is foretold that a sisterhood led by a heroic and fearless girl will appear on horseback to bring hope and light back to those who believe that all is lost... Are you that girl?" I don't know dude, it doesn't even matter if I am because apparently anyone can be that girl, so who cares if I am? Then why were we able to literally fly on our horse? Why would Fripp be so adamant about our protection to the point of where he put his own life on the line, just so we could be protected? The message of "anyone can be a hero" is great, however that's not the point of this story and it never has been.

All these questions and no answers, so I thought we could theorize a bit so that, together, we could try to understand a bit more about this and understand what even happened, what it means and where it is going.

I was checking the star stable tag on Tumblr, and I saw a post by @sso-emberwood that pointed out a lot about Catherine: She didn't even want to be Aideen at all, all she wanted was a normal life with Thomas and her baby, to be free from this prophecy and these duties. Not only that, but The Keepers of Aideen aren't exactly the most telling bunch, so she would know as much as we do: nothing. She wasn't a fan of the prophecy thing, she wasn't a fan of being the only one who's special and different, and she rejected the whole idea, so it would make sense as to why she'd project that onto us, too. Not only that, we saw that she lost her horse, and therefore "half a soul", as Linda described it so maybe she really doesn't get it anymore.

Either that, or maybe we perceived what she said wrong. I went back to check on what she said, so I'll write it here: "We needn't wait for Aideen's return. The goddess is reborn with every horse and rider who open their hearts and form a true bond. Aideen's gift is love. She's been with us all along. In me. In you. At least that is what I believe."

So, to start off, I think that last part is very important. That's what she belives - referring back to what we know is fact: she didn't like the prophecy, and she wanted to define her own destiny and not be controlled by it - so it would make sense for her and her character that she'd have these beliefs. To her, all you need is Aideen's love because Aideen's gift lives in everyone. Now, it is true that Aideen's Gift lives in everyone because Aideen's gift IS for everyone in the island of Jorvik, and I even have Rhiannon dialogue to prove that the Keepers of Aideen agree on this too. This bit of text is from one of the Soul Riding quests, where Rhiannon takes us to South Hoof:

"Have you ever noticed there's something different to the nature of Jorvik? The grass is greener, the birdsong sweeter. But most importantly, the horses are happy and free. They have all this land to roam, and we Jorvegians share this land with them. This connects us to horses on a deeper level. The other Druids put so much focus on the Soul Riders, Guardian Horses, Aideen herself....but they forget to see the magic that's right before their eyes. The magic of Aideen's gift." At this point, you're given two choices: either "I already know that." or "That's what they all say." Regardless, she'll say "Is that so? You've probably heard folk talk about it as if it's some kind of friendship between horse and human. But it's so much more than that. It's what pulled me to travel up North to care for magical horses. It's what makes Nix so special to me. It's even why I'm a Wild Whisperer...On Jorvik, our deep bond with horses is magical. You've been training exceptionally well. During this time, the bond you have developed with [horse name] has flurished. But you haven't just strengthened the bond between both of you. You've connected to the nature of Jorvik on a deeper level, and with that have honed a magical link to all the horses in this island. Close your eyes, and listen to the sound around us. Can you feel how everything is connected?", yet again you can choose between "Yes, it's magical." and "Uh...no." she'll say "You clearly have an affinity for this. I'm impressed. Sometimes, if you focus clearly, you may notice a spark of something powerful. That's the presence of a wild horse. It's one of the ways we Wild Wardens sense they're nearby and ensure their safety. So now you know. Aideen's Gift ties us to all the horses on Jorvik, and it is something to treasure. You can use this knowledge to improve your riding skills. Pay close attention to your horse, and the horses around you, and you will find harmony. This is what I wanted to share with you weeks ago, but I thought you weren't ready to understand. However, I was wrong. Your dedication to Soul Riding has proven just how much you care for the horses on this island. I'm proud of you, [player name]. Thank you for helping protect the horses on Jorvik."

Aideen's Gift is what makes you have such a good connection with horses and it is what makes Jorvik's people and horses special - however, that's certainly not enough to lead Soul Riders into battle. Love isn't enough to defeat Garnok - you need to be chosen for it and destiny DOES matter, no one else has any power in any circle, only the people who are born specifically to have it. However, Catherine is right, but I'm not exactly sure that she understands that that's not why we are unique and that's not what makes us fit for battle instead of literally anyone else - we're unique and the reason as to why we're the only ones who should be able to go into battle is because we don't just have Aideen's Gift like everyone else - we are Aideen. Catherine is Aideen too, we are her and she is us. Cause all of the reeincarnations of Aideen are the same thing, different body. Us and the Soul Riders don't just have Aideen's Gift, we were reincarnated to be her and the soul riders were reincarnated to be what they are today.  Catherine very visibly rejected and left behind her duties and gave up being a soul rider after she lost her horse - she completely rejected even looking for a reeincarnation of it like we did with Anne - but when she did, we were born, because Catherine gave up which meant that another reeincarnation was needed, because it needs to be Aideen herself, not just someone who has the gift - she kept the gift, but she no longer had what it takes to be that girl, and didn't want to either, so someone who did was born.

And again, the Druids make it very clear that their mission, and their end goal is he rebirth of Aideen. A couple of days ago I got a lore book from the Soul Riding missions called "Druids and Horses: A Partnership" that said this: "Aideen's Gift enables druids to continue to protect Jorvik, feel spiritually closer to the land, and ultimately fulfill their mythical goal of the rebirth of Aideen" and  "[...] a network of spiritual people whose sole mission is to protect Jorvik through ensuring the return of the goddess Aideen." 

Which means they acknowledge that they're waiting for a specific someone to be born, so that that specific someone can lead the sisterhood into battle, when the final battle comes, which means that they acknowledge that it can't just be anyone. Waiting for someone special is the whole point of the Keepers of Aideen - they are literally called Keepers of Aideen, no Aideen reborn, no Keepers of Aideen.

Also, in the mission "Strenght in Numbers" with Rhiannon in the Soul Riding, she said that what made her leave Jorvik was that she saw a hooded figure in the forest, and it felt like it was draining the life out of her and her horse, so she left because she was afraid, but she came back upon Elizabeth's request for help, and she when she saw how much closer the Keepers of Aideen were, she decided to stay, but after she says she says: "What really opened my eyes was you, [player name]. Your dedication, skill, and sheer talent has given me faith in Aideen's Light that I haven't felt for a while." Everyone has something like this to tell us, I think there's a reason for that. One of the most important ones so far was for example, when Darko was able to enter the Stone Ring, threatening to destroy the keystone, and Fripp says: "I would sooner destroy the keystone than let you take [player name]. She is more important than you imagine..."

The reason as to why I choose to share the Rhiannon one is because it is recent, just like Catherine's memories which means the story and the objective remains the same, with the only difference that we know Catherine's perspective and why she failed and why the sisterhood fell apart, which will be important in the future, because if you don't remember, the dark riders are trying to recruit Nihili (previously known as Elise) who is the 4th Dark Rider. So far, we've only seen her horse but what we do know about her is that she has the ability to cause discord within the Dark Riders, but I'd imagine she'd have influence on us, as well, and that's why she'd probably be recruited. The Dark Riders know that the previous sisterhood failed due to discord and fights within the group, so it wouldn't be surprising that they'd try to make that happen yet again.

Apart from all of this, I simply don't think Catherine knows enough about this whole thing to be the one to reveal it to us, and I also think the "big reveal" was anticlimatic and not well done, at least in my eyes, because *assuming* this is the route they're going with...eh? What? Why was it so...dry?

Also, if you go back to the very first news post on Catherine's diary, it says "This chapter of the Soul Rider story arc is a standalone quest and is not mandatory to complete in order to play future quests with the Soul Riders." and if they were to add SUCH an important reveal then it wouldn't be a something you could choose not to do, it would be a mandatory, integral part of the story -  this seems like very important information, right? If we don't do this quest, and just move on then in the world and in a story sense, MC wouldn't know that there's technically no Aideen to look for. It doesn't make sense if this is really what they're going to do...Unless it's not and this is just Catherine's opinions on the matter.

Overall, I'm just not a believer yet - I still think this is just Catherine's thoughts. As @sso-emberwood said, the only one who could actually tell us anything for sure is Fripp. He knows way more than everyone in the Keepers of Aideen. But he's sick still, and has been since 2017 the poor guy. I don't think we should assume anything yet, and I certainly don't think the game has changed directions. If it did, I'll be honest with yall - my interest would not be the same and I think it would be that way for a lot people as well and I think that's fair. You can't just come in and suddenly change the route of something that has been hinted at and is supposed to be the point of the game, it just doesn't make any sense. If so, then there's no need for this game or for a 5th rider.

[sunshinejihyun]

Fire Escape Nights || Saeran Choi

Summary: Saeran isn’t a many of speaking many words, but he does write them down Word Count: 1.4K

Masterlist

Saeran’s journal was something everyone knew not to touch. When he first got out of the Mint Eye, he saved up for a nice, leather bound 200 page blank book and once he got it, he kept it with him everywhere. No one knew what he was writing, but they always knew not to disturb him.

Some of the RFA speculated he was writing a book. Zen was sure that Saeran was keeping a hit list and writing down everyone who’s done him wrong, complete with a full plan to murder the aforementioned people. Even Jumin theorized that his journal was where he wrote down a list of days that was important to him. So it may come to a shock that all that was in his notebook was tons of letters dedicated to you. Letters that, if they were ever to be shown to you, would cause Saeran to up and leave South Korea in shame.

Hypothetically, you were the one person that Saeran could tell everything to, but in reality, the only time Saeran was able to talk to you was when Jumin wasn’t around, afraid that he would accidentally say something to you that made Jumin catch on to the fact that Saeran was absolutely captivated by you.

He wasn’t sure when it had happened. Saeran had seen you hanging around Jumin a few times, not really paying much attention because he thought you might have been with the aforementioned, but that changed when Jumin brought you back to the next RFA party. Jumin introduced you as his younger sibling and no one seemed to take notice of the light pink dusting your cheeks or the way that when all eyes were on you, you’d scratch your nose as a nervous tick. Saeran did, and that’s the night he started writing. At first, the messages were innocent; he felt that he knew you enough to be able to talk to you about his day and what he hoped to do when he finally started to get better, but he also knew he didn’t know enough to really have anything turn personal. Of course, those thoughts were foiled when Saeran got to know you more, the messages turned into soliloquies of unrequited love and things he noticed about you that you wouldn’t think anyone would ever observe.

Saeran promised himself he wouldn’t fall in love, let alone fall in love with someone related to the RFA, an organization he was trained to hate for the longest time. However, here he was, sitting and writing about how in love he was with you every single night.

“Hey, are you even listening to me?” You asked, running your long fingers through your hair.

You and Saeran were sitting on the fire escape of the rented house you stayed in with some other students from the school you were attending. Both Jumin and your father insisted you didn’t have to live this way, but you wanted to; getting a proper university experience was something you wanted to do by yourself, no help.

“Yeah, sorry. Just distracted tonight.” Saeran replied, wiping his sweaty palms on his pants.

You bumped your knee against his and Saeran’s heart fluttered at the contact. “You sure you’re not just tired? It’s,” you paused, turning to look at the clock kept near the window you access the fire escape from. “It’s almost 4am.”

“I couldn’t be more wide awake,” Saeran replied honestly, not taking his eyes off of where your knee was still touching his. “But you should go to sleep.”

You sighed, leaning back against your hands, sending a lazy smile towards the boy who sat with you almost every night. “Yeah, but if I go to sleep, what are you gonna do?”

The first night Saeran spotted you sitting on your fire escape was when he and Saeyoung got in a fight and he stormed out, searching for the solace that only midnight air could bring him. When you saw him, you called him up and if it were anyone else, he would have refused; but it was you, the person who he wrote letters to so, he scaled the side ladders and sat down next to you, indulging in easy conversation. You and Saeran quickly bonded over the fact that neither of you slept well, opting for maybe an hour or two of sleep in favor of staying up and talking, or some nights, cramming for a test you had the next day. Saeran’s favorite part of the day was walking to your apartment across town after dinner time and finding you waiting for him, a blanket wrapped around your shoulders, no matter the weather.

“I could do stuff. Journal. Maybe even learn to draw.” Saeran sighed out, reaching subconsciously towards his left jacket pocket where his journal was sitting snug.

You let out a breath and turned to Saeran. “Seriously, what is on your mind tonight? It’s like you’re here but you’re also a million miles away.” You grabbed his rough hands in your soft ones and he felt his resolve melt softly. “I know you well enough to know when there’s something wrong. So what is it?”

Saeran stayed quiet, letting the outcomes of actually telling you how he felt run through his mind. You could hate him. Or you could pity him. Or a ton of other options where it would leave him heartbroken. But there was one outcome that had Saeran wanting so badly to tell you what was going on: you could maybe feel the same way.

“I promised myself I would never fall in love with you.” Saeran started and you opened your mouth to reply but he stopped you by holding a hand up. “You’re my brother’s friend’s sister, for goodness sake. But we’re sitting and laughing on a fire escape at 4 in the morning every single morning and I can’t help thinking that I am totally fucked.” Saeran let out a sigh and went to stand up, pulling out his journal. “I want you to have this. I’m gonna go for right now and leave you to process.” He started climbing down the fire escape but stopped at the last minute. “If you want want to talk to me after this, be here at your normal time. Otherwise, just leave the journal in your normal place.”

You sat there, playing with the frayed edge of the journal, not looking up to meet Saeran’s eyes, no matter how hard he tried and he sighed, shaking his head and making his way back to the house he’s learned to call home.

That next morning, Saeran felt sluggish and Saeyoung knew. He didn’t bother him, or tease him, opting to leave him alone. There were whispers on the phone, most likely about him and the fact that he was sitting in solitude without his journal.

He didn’t want to leave his bedroom but his stomach was rumbling and he was pretty sure that Saeyoung was out, doing whatever he does when he was gone. So when he walked to the kitchen and found you sitting at the table, an uneaten sandwich laid out next to you and as Saeran approached, you quietly offered it to him.

He silently took it, watching you as you pulled out his journal and handed it to him. “I added something new in there.”

Curiously, Saeran opened to the new bookmarked page and he almost couldn’t believe what he was reading as the title of that page. “Two insomniacs fall in love.”

“I’m not a writer like you, but I wanted to start the next part together.” You admitted, pushing hair that fell out of your pony tail to the side.

Saeran set down the sandwich stepped closer to you, his hand wrapping gently around your waist. “You really mean that?” The small smile on Saeran’s face was slowly creeping towards being a huge smile and when you nodded Saeran didn’t hesitate to lean in and press a small kiss to your lips.

“Jumin’s gonna kill you,” Saeyoung called from the doorway, dropping cans of PhD. Pepper on the floor and making you giggle and kiss the worry away from Saeran’s cheeks.

“Don’t worry, he’ll have to get through me to get to you.” You stepped away from Saeran and sighed. “I have to get back to class. I was just on a lunch break, I’ll see you later.”

It wasn’t a question. Saeran and you both knew that no matter what Jumin will say or do when Saeyoung tells him what’s going on between Saeran and his younger sibling, that Saeran will be on that fire escape by 10 o’clock at night, ready to hold you in his arms until the sun starts to rise.

[thereallinksstuff]

Uhm here's my first fic in like 8 years, I hope it isn't to bad.

Fandom : sander sides ,

Pairings: intrulogical, background royality hint of anxciet

Words: idk fahm

He felt the familiar tug of Thomas summoning them, he sighed in annoyance at being disturbed.

He popped up just like any other day he was summoned only this time everyone was staring at him. "Why are you all looking at me as though my head has turned into Barneys armpit?" 

"Uh....Nice outfit logan" Virgil managed through his suprise at logan not being in his normal tie and black polo.

Looking around the room at everyone staring at him, Logan realised he hadn't changed into his work clothes. No instead he was wearing large spiked combat boots, torn black skinny jeans, with a sleeveless punk rocker style Jean vest. Even his hair was a vibrant blue instead of the normal brown.

"Uhm...Logan? How come your dressed like that?" Patton had asked curiously.

being pulled from his thoughts by Patton's question logan turned to look at the fatherly side,

"Well it is not my usual attire, I am comfortable like this. I merely forgot to change before popping up. If you would all continue with the discussion you were having prior I would be grateful."

"I agree, let's get back on topic." 

Logan was thankful for their host for helping in getting everyone's eyes off of him.

For the next hour or so they discussed whether or not Thomas should do one thing or the other, He didn't pay much attention. He was too focused on a strange feeling (heh feeling) that someone was in his room.

As soon as Thomas had his issue resolved Logan was the first to say goodbye, of course with a reminder to drink water and be healthy, but he was out of there quickly.

When he got back to his room he didn't immediately see anyone there, curious as to why he felt like someone had been. Looking around his room he noted how all the books were in place, his bed was still neatly made, his closet doors were slightly open as he had left them. Taking a moment to double check inside his closet, he felt like someone had their eyes on him. As he walked out of his closet he noticed a small paper and box on his desk.

Making his way over he examined the note with a strange curiosity.

To Lo,

I have a proposition for you, if you would like more info, check the kitchen  ; )

From, someone.

As curious as Logan was about the note, he loved a good puzzle after all,  he looked inside the little box. Inside there was a small space pin that had 'viva la pluto' written on a small ribbon. To say he was shocked was an understatement, he was baffled as to who would have given him something so nice and who would have gone through the trouble of learning about his disdain for Pluto no longer being a planet. 'It is a planet, stupid people.' he thought as he placed the pin on his vest. Making his way down to the kitchen he noticed Patton making dinner with Roman and Virgil not around, possibly in their rooms.

"Hello Patton, I wanted to apologize for my appearance today with Thomas, I nearly forgot to change, I will make sure it doesn't happen again."

Turning around and smiling brightly at Logan, Patton just gave him a shrugging wave. " It's alright Logan, I think we were all just surprised to see you...all punked out." "I understand the confusion Pat, I tend to only allow myself to dress this comfortably when there is nothing that will need my sudden appearance."

He Gave Patton a small smile while looking around the room, he noticed a small deep blue note on the counter, "hey pat, who's the note for?"

Patton turned and followed Logan's gaze- " oh that? Im not sure who it's from but it's got your name on it." Logan walked over and picked up the note, choosing to pocket it for the moment. "Well I am going to go reorganize my books, I shall see you at dinner Patton." He finished saying as he walked into the shared living room. Pausing for just a moment to read the note.

To my Star

I know you like to read so check your favourite book to find the next clue

From someone cool.

As he made his way back up to his room he couldn't stop himself from theorizing who the notes were from, it wouldn't have been Patton as he was with Roman, and Roman well, to be honest he didn't think Roman would do something this simple..

As he entered his room, he almost immediately noticed ' the murder of Agitha Christy ' sitting on his bed- not on the shelf. Sitting down on his bed picking up the book, he fondly remembered the first time he read the book, it was such a nice memory. When he opened the book he saw the note, gently taking it out and setting the book back on his bed, he read the note.

To My Sun,

I know this has been short but here is your final clue, meet me where you'd least expect me, yet exactly where someone like me would be.

Love your admirer.

'My Admirer?' he thought to himself as he got up to return his book to its place. Thinking logically he slowly went through the list of who it could be, Patton and Roman were quickly ruled out seeing as they were together. Only for a moment did he think it'd be Virgil, but realizing that Virgil currently likes Deciet, it wouldn't be him.  Pacing back and forth in his room for a good 20 minutes he decides to try looking around the 'basement.'

No it wasn't really a basement more like where deciet and Remus chose to have their rooms.

Walking down the hallway that leads toward the 'dark sides' as Roman puts it, login again felt like he was being watched.

Making his was down to the common area for the 'dark' sides logan looked around seeing neither deciet or Remus. After a few moments of looking he sighed and thought out loud to himself. "who would send these notes, especially to me?' after all he was the 'nerd' he was logic. Although he didn't enjoy the nerd aesthetic as much as his punk one, he just couldn't get his thoughts to a conclusive answer about why someone would admire him.

Lost in his thoughts he didn't notice Remus come up from who knows where to stand right infront of him.

"HIYA Logan, whatcha doing down here?"

Be started into reality, login recomposed himself before answering, "I was looking for the author of some notes that I've been left, I am merley looking everywhere." He replied maybe. Little quickly, he had hoped Remus didn't pick up on it.

"Oh well, that sounds fun can I help you??"

Remus asked while bouncing on his feet, seemingly excited about being able to help someone. For a few moments logan questioned why Remus would want to help him, however he couldn't bring himself to a logical conclusion as to why he shouldn't let him help. He sat down on the couch that was behind him, and held the note out to Remus. "This is the last note I received however I do not know who the author is, and such I figured I just look around in places I wouldn't normally go." He finished with a huff, looking up towards Remus. He was reading the Note and doing his weird thinking face, Logan took this time to really get a look at Remus, he wasnt in his normal Dukey attire, he was wearing something more akin to how logan was dressed. Biker boots, ripped cutoff shorts, a black sleeveless t-shirt that read 'could be gayer' across the chest and a fully studded and patch covered Jacket. Logan laughed a little to himself about the similarities between his and remus's styles.

"Well, do you have an idea as to where I should look Re?"

Almost as if he had forgotten Logan was there Remus blinked then bounced right back into energy town. "I DO!!" He shouted and grabbed logan by the wrist. "I know this seems kinda crazy but just follow me!" Remus bounced forward dragging logan along with him. Ignoring the nice feeling of having someone else hold you, Logan followed after Remus, hoping it wasn't to far.

"Okay I'm gonna need you to close your eyes and trust me." Remus asked as he stopped in front of a door Logan didn't recognize. "May I ask why Remus, I do not wish to be the subject of your pranks."

Remus looked around quickly trying to come up with an excuse, not being able to think of a good one, he replied simply. "it's a surprise! But also because we have to cut through a part of my imagination. And I don't want you to be er.. grossed out?" Remus finished quietly, being considerate of the others feelings was a bit strange to Logan, seeing as Remus rarely did it, however he was more curious as to who the author of the notes was. He made the decision to trust Remus, and of he was honest with himself, he was hoping Remus was the author, seeing as he liked Remus for quite a while now.

"Alright Remus, I trust you to keep me safe, we can go when you are ready." Logan adjusted his glasses to look at Remus, who had been staring at logan with a wide grin plastered on, but slowly it wavered as he processed what logan had said. "You...you actually trust me enough to enter my imagination?" He asked, looking down rubbing his hands awkwardly together.

"Well yes, you may not have the nicest or cleanest thoughts and ideas, but you are a part of Thomas, and to be honest with you Remus, there are times when I prefer deciet and yours company more than the others. You are unpredictable and can be a bit much however, I have no reason to not trust you. You have never directly hurt me, or the others - well minus roman."  Hoping that He didn't pick up on the emotions behind his words, Logan let out a small breath he didn't realize he was holding as Remus bounced in excitement. "Okay, let's go!"

Grabbing Logan's hand instead of wrist this time, Remus pulled logan into his imagination as soon as the other's eyes were closed.

Logan now with his eyes closed and his hand in remus' , he hoped Remus knew where he was going, but then again, He tended to know a lot of weird things, so he let himself get pulled along what sounded like a dirt path. Every so often he would hear humming from Remus as the walked. It had only been 10 minutes of walking but to Login it felt like longer, what with his eyes being closed and all that.

"Okay stay right there with your eyes closed." Remus had asked him calmly, with what seemed like nervousness in his voice if only a little.

"I.. uh okay" Logan replied trying to show as little confusion as possible. He could hear Remus walk towards and open something but, without the visuals he couldn't identify it, so he waited patiently playing with the various spikes on his wristband.

Remus slowly walked back over to Logan, a bouquet of wilted flowers in his hands (he tried for days to make living flowers but couldnt)

He gently tapped logan on the shoulder, "okay you can open your eyes now" he said with such gentleness that the other had not heard before, slowly opening his eyes and looking at his surroundings, he couldn't help but to be shocked. Up in the night sky there were thousands of glowing stars with a large shining moon bathing both men in a nice calm light.

As Logan looked around he noticed the partially alive trees and bushes that surrounded the clearing they were in. Remus had a wonderful imagination,sure, there were random creatures wandering around and random dirty jokes personified everywhere but it was wonderful in its own way. He wondered why so few were willing to see it.

Finally looking over at Remus, Logan noticed how he was already looking at him, with a goofy grin on his face holding what seemed to be withered flowers. "I know you are a hesitant person sometimes and that you like to do things in the most logical order. However demented or disturbing to the other my ideas and thoughts are, you help them to understand me better. Which I can't thank you enough for. So Logan Sanders...would you like to...go kill people together?  LikeBoyfriendsShould? On a regular bases?"

It took a moment for logan to process all of what Remus had been saying, and if his thinking was right Remus was the author of the notes, and he was asking him out in a very Remus way...

For once Logan didn't have the words to respond, the side he has had feelings for, for a while is asking him out and to be his boyfriend. Before his logical thinking could stop him he stepped forward grabbing Remus by his jacket collar pulling him into a kiss.

Taking the kiss as a yes, Remus slid his hands around Logan's waist, kissing him back with passion in an attempt to communicate how happy he is. When they pull apart logan looks at him with a sparkle in his eyes that was usually reserved for learning. However right here right now, with Remus, in his imagination logan couldn't be happier, even with all his grossness or disturbing thoughts, Remus was the one for him.

"Thank you, and to verbally express my feelings, I accept your offer to be in a romantic relationship, Darling."

"Haha I figured from the kiss but thank you, to hear you say it makes my heart explode into a million pieces hahah." Leaning his head on Logan's shoulder the two sit and talk until dinner, to which they both go to, sharing glances and holding hands, much to everyone else's confusion. they lived punkily ever after.

I hope y'all like it, let me know if you do

Sorry for any errors in grammer or spelling, it isn't my strong suit

[the-omni-princess]

Frozen Heart [Epilogue]

Author: @the-omni-princess

Summary:  After the war against Hydra, King Bucky comes home to take what has been promised to him since he was young, you. But he is not the same person as the young boy that you grew up with. Can she break through his tough shell and bring back the young man she once fell in love with? Or will she be forced to marry the monster everyone thinks he’s become?

Word Count: 1.7K

Pairing: King!Bucky x Fem!Reader (Royalty Au!)

Warnings: teeth rotting fluff!

A/N:

My beta @annaloveloki is literally the best and that's the t

working on a honeymoon drabble rn, but other than that, it’s the end of this series. My babies <3 lookout for another series, coming out eventually

[Series Masterlist]  [Series Playlist]  [My Masterlist]

----

Growing up, summer was always one of your favorite times of the year. Waking up early to search for seashells with Steve and Bucky or sneaking ice cream into your rooms as you made pillow forts were some of your fondest childhood memories. Now, you spent the summers running the Kingdom, listening to the people, helping as many people as you could, and taking a few weeks off vacation in the South when possible. In the five years since you’ve come to the North, the kingdom has prospered. A good harvest led to a great harvest, and despite a few hiccups and arguments, Bucky was right, you were a great leader for the people. He also did an absolutely wonderful job, listening to the people to build more schools, lowering crime rates, and taxing the nobles more heavily than the lower classes. Some scholars theorized that the kingdom was in the beginning of a new golden age.

So today, like every first Monday of the month for the past few years, you sit on your throne, listening to every person who made the trek to ask for help or thank you. Some days were easy, such as the days where most residents thanked you for the new marketplace that brought jobs to their town. However, some days felt darker, like the day a mother begged for help for her dying son, help she didn’t have the funds to pay for back in her village. Not sparing a second thought, Bucky watched as you helped the boy into Dr. Cho’s arms. The boy miraculously lived, and in response, you had immediately put into place a new health policy in the kingdom. Tax revenues were split, and the extra funds made it possible for the lower class to have health services for a much lower rate, and in some cases free.

The particular woman who was speaking to you, was bringing up an argument between her and her neighbor. A petty fight, really, but you listened nonetheless, giving your opinion. Bucky was the one who answered the next inhabitant's problem.

Usually the kingdom didn’t give you too much trouble, it was mostly the advisors who defied you, never liking your ideas. Bucky, bless his heart, tended to shut them down pretty quickly, his warm voice turning into ice, the protective wolf in him lashing out. Such as the time you shot down an advisor’s idea, one that would only hurt the lower class. His anger exploded, criticizing Bucky when he tried to come to your defense. “Do you allow her to speak that way for you?” the advisor, one you truly didn’t care enough to even know his name had spoken to his king in a harsh way.

Bucky merely snarled back, “Yes, I do, this as well as in many other things, you’d be wise to remember that.” His voice was cold, the first words in his head being growled out at the man. You had placed your hand on top of Bucky’s calming him. You could practically see the steam rolling off his head, something you definitely teased him about later.

You had kept your voice calm, though the advisors that knew you better than that could hear the venom in your words. “Thank you for your concern, sir,” you emphasized his lower title, “but I do believe your King and Queen can handle the problems of the people, and I do not believe I asked for your opinion on this matter.” You quickly dismissed the rest of the meeting, before adding, “And sir, do remember, I am your Queen. You are not my equal, and you will address me as such.” Eyes wide he quickly bowed and rushed off before you could change your mind.

A small squeal from your right pulled you from your thoughts of the past, two small children rushed into the throne room, followed by two blurs of white and grey fur. You son made it to you first, scrambling to hide behind you just as you stood from the throne. You held him close, just out of reach from Aurora and Raine who yipped happily. Your daughter, however, jumped straight into Bucky’s arms, curling up into her clearly favorite parent.

“Brooklyn, what have we said about chasing your brother down the halls?” You chastised softly, still trying to calm the shaking boy wrapped around your leg.

“To plway in the garden instead,” the five-year-old responded dutifully. Bucky tucked her hair behind her ear, just as Natasha rushed in, cradling a small baby in her hands.

“Grant! Brooklyn! There you two are! You shouldn’t run away from me like that!” Brooklyn just buried herself deeper into her father’s protective arms, pouting. Natasha was most likely regretting telling Wanda it was alright to leave all three children in her care, so she could spend time with her new fiancé, the Head Chef, Vision.

“I’m sowwy auntie,” the little girl sniffled, looking up towards the two of you with tears already brimming her eyes. You knew it was just to gain your attention, so you simply did just that. You gently took the babe from Natasha’s arms, cradling the four-month-old into your chest as your son still buried his face into your long white gown.

Bucky sighed softly, gently prying his daughter’s face from his chest. “What do we say, little princess?” he encouraged, making sure she knew he wasn’t mad at her as both you and him gave her the attention she wanted.

Brooklyn sulked again but carefully pushed herself out of her father’s arms, standing in front of her twin brother. “I’m sowwy, bwutha.” She sniffled again, her tiara tilted vicariously in her hair, and Grant pouted as well. You always loved how they wore matching pouts and eyes to their father, as it reminded you of when you were a child. Brooklyn was a ball of energy, and many of her tutors said her main issue was how she could never sit still. You secretly encouraged it, knowing how much energy your future little queen would need. Grant was always the quieter one, reminding you of when Bucky first came back to you. Calculating, quiet, but eyes wide and always taking in new information. The twins knew each other perfectly, and with one sad ‘I’m sorry’ look from Brooklyn, Grant pushed forward and the two hugged each other. They curled up into each other, even when they were babies they always found a way to be close together. Two matching blue eyes looked up at you for approval, wondering silently if it was safe for them to go back to their games. You nodded, and both scrambled to the gardens to play, two adult wolves and one Natasha rushing after them.

You turned to the crowd, holding the baby closer just as she woke up from the noise. “If there aren’t any more life or death situations, I do think it is time to wrap up for today. Food will be served down the hall for anyone who did not bring their own, follow the guards if you have any trouble finding it.”

Bucky stepped closer to you, wrapping his arm around you. “And thank you all for coming,” he smiled warmly before turning his attention to you, pulling you into his arms. “And how is my little princess doing?” he coed at the babe in your arms, who simply squealed and squirmed in your arms.

“I’m doing fine, thanks for asking,” you teased, grinning up at him.

“Ha, ha, very funny, but you are my Queen, this little cutie is my little princess!” he went back to cooing at the babe, thoroughly enjoying her little shrieks of enjoyment. “My beautiful Celeste,” he kissed her nose, grinning at her responding wiggle, “And My Northern Star,” he whispered before kissing you decisively on the lips. Tender lips against yours, and not a care in the world as you held your baby close, and Bucky held you even closer.

Slowly pulling away as Celeste squirmed for attention, you both couldn’t stop the smiles on your faces.  A sudden spark in your mind made you smile even brighter. “Did you hear what Steve and Peggy are naming their child?” The two had gotten married not two years after your own marriage, and now (finally) were expecting their first child together.

“I suppose you’re bringing that up since you’re going to tell me, right?” He teased you back, his hands pressed against your hips, rubbing gentle circles into the fabric of your dress.

You nodded, biting back a smile, “Steve joked and said maybe they should name the baby James since you never have used the name anyway,” you paused, giggling as you saw Bucky’s face scrunch up, positively offended. “But, instead they wanted to name their child after Sam, since he says you stole his close friend and captain of the guard from him.”

Bucky gave you a small gasp, feigning a surprised look, ever the drama queen. “Me? Never!” He dropped the act in favor of smiling again. “Besides, he was the one who sent Sam in the first place, not my fault we became friends.” He shrugged, and you couldn’t help but laugh.

“You absolute dorks,” you kissed his nose playfully.

“But I’m your dork, y/n/n,” he whispered softly.

You nodded solemnly, like it was a big burden to bare. “That you are. Now, let’s go, My Love, we still have to pack for our trip to the beach house in the South.” You tried tugging yourself from his arms, but with a baby in your arms it was pretty hard to do that.

“I know, I know, our yearly vacation. Maybe this time we can give Brooklyn and Grant a baby brother?” he teased, smirking at the implications despite the obvious joke.

“Oh no, mister, that’s how last year’s conversation started. I just had Celeste, I am not doing that again so soon.” You gave him a look and he simply chuckled, pulling you closer as the two of you walked side by side through the halls.

“I’m kidding, My Love. Besides, we can have plenty of practice,” you couldn’t help the laugh that escaped your lips.

“Yeah, yeah, I love you too,” you nuzzled closer into his warm embrace.

“I love you even more, My Queen.” He kissed your head lightly and you realized how truly at peace you were. No more waiting, no more war. Simply two people in utterly in love, surrounded by their ever-growing family, having the time of your lives. Baby steps had become a literal phrase as the children grew up, and everything felt right in the world. Peaceful, content, full of happiness, your children’s laughter in the distance. You finally did it. The Northern Castle was finally a home again.

---

Tags:

Permanent Tags:

@minetticatinwonderland  

Frozen Heart Tags: (To change your tag, please let me know :D)

@jsmith509 / @lumar014 / @littlemissporter / @kaylaphantomhive  

@damnbuckyishot / @aveatquevale- / @booksbeforebois  

@marvelgirl7 / @irreplaceable-spacexual / @mallorydoesstuff / @heartislubbingdubbing / @zeilenkrieg

Bucky Tags:

@cassandras-musings  / @darkness-doughter / @novaddictx / @thedancingnerdmermaid / @mood-pancakes / @gracethegeek9902

For a tag, just reply/comment, if I don’t see it, just message me. Tell me what you think! Literally, any comment makes me happy! Like, comment, reblog, interact <3

[bladekindeyewear]

Book Commentary on Inversion Theory

Alright, as a follow-up to this post, it looks like there’s an actual full bit of Homestuck book commentary (around the pages nearing Rose’s grimdark transformation, Book 6 pg 115, HS pg 3305, thanks @ramiedersedreamer and @zandraxofnebulon) about how Inversion Theory (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) isn’t what we thought.  Quoting and reading it first (not the whole reddit post but that portion at least), then discussion under the cut:

"Rose is a Light player, but her blackout effects result from arguably the nadir of her role as such a hero--that is, when she succumbs to Scratch's manipulations and other eldritch persuasions, and goes grimdark. This truth would appear to lend credence to a line of classpect thinking known as "inversion theory," which really isn't without its merits. This note has just gone to the bother of describing one of its merits, in fact. However, it is possible to get carried away with this line of thinking and use it to evaluate everything that happens in Homestuck. For instance, you could say "Well, Karkat is a Blood hero, and here's where he stops being as Karkatty as usual, so that means he's being the opposite of his aspect. Which means he's being Breathy instead of Bloody. So that means a bunch of other stuff, ipso facto, Homestuck has been EXPLAINED." That's not really the way all this works. Aspect lore runs deep, but it isn't the Rosetta Stone to the story. When in doubt, it's better to remember this: rather than an underlying mystical logic where all classpect roads lead to Deep Answers, HS is a comprehensive nexus of many themes, and all roads lead to the basic idea that this is a tale about kids who are trapped in the universal struggle associated with growing up."

I... hm.  Dammit.  Is that all he wrote??  This slippery author is a master of giving us tantalizing and insightful details without committing to any hard yes-or-no whatsoever.  >:T

I’d been building myself up to reading this all throughout yesterday with gut-wrenching dread that at this late, late, late hour he’d finally given us a definitive “NO” on Inversion.  Instead we get this quite interesting but more vague “eh, there’s merits, but don’t go too far with it”.  Which is...... 

...about as potentially-optimistic as I put it in the previous post, if not moreso?

Andrew’s being careful to lavish odd praise on inversion theory, too.  Which some people are going to interpret as (Option 1) “Nice try, but dead wrong”, like the anon who put a snippet in my inbox initially, and others will interpret as (Option 2) “The big ones are RIGHT, nudge nudge, but stop applying it everywhere cause the fans who say every line of the comic means ‘ghosting inversion’ are looking at the story wrong and annoying everyone”.

As someone guilty of being one of those fans described in the latter half on occasion, I can CERTAINLY agree with THAT last part.  Andrew made it really clear with the ending of Homestuck proper -- “this side shit didn’t matter as much as you thought it did”.  I was so enamored with the classpect system that I thought almost everything was being shown to us through those lenses, at one point -- but even though perhaps more than the random reader might have thought is there, like he says, it ain’t supposed to be no Rosetta Stone.  Even when I WAS overapplying classpect everywhere, the people who did it too often in places I felt clearly un-merited REALLY pissed me off!  I can’t imagine how much more that might’ve been magnified in the shoes of someone who happened to apply the correct, lower amount of classpect and had to put up with me babbling and slathering it everywhere, much less the author’s shoes.

But there is still a big hole in his criticism, one he intentionally seems to have left there to me.  By saying “don’t look for it everywhere”, but ALSO that “there’s more than some merit to it”... I don’t think it’s a stretch to think the truth might not only be somewhere in between Options 1 and 2, but perhaps even closer to Option 2.

Aaaand HERE’s where if you’re someone who HUNGERED for me to admit wrongdoing by sticking with this theory for so long, you’re no doubt angry.  Looking at me as making excuses in the face of this long-awaited OBJECTIVE PROOF OF TOTAL THEORY DISMISSAL... WHY won’t the deluded bastard FINALLY succumb to REASON?  ANDREW HIMSELF spoke up on the issue, IS THIS NOT ENOUGH?!???

And, well... you’re right to be angry.  To be honest, I’m a fair bit pissed off too -- I could’ve used a solid “NO”, traumatizing as it would’ve been to me!

But that’s not what we got, because... *rolls eyes @ author* ...that’s not how Andrew works nowadays.  And as irritating as it is, I also have to respect it a bit.

Andrew has become pretty committed to not full-on table-flipping fan interpretations and fanworks, avoiding forcing one “correct” interpretation (see: central struggle of HS^2 and the villains labeling divergence from canon at all as “bad”) because both interpretations should be rewarded.  If something is REALLY wrong and hurts objective appreciation of the lessons he wanted to portray in his comic, like people plastering Classpect everywhere to the exclusion of the story’s central canon-escaping themes, he’s willing to shut them down... but when it comes to effective-sounding interpretations of the comic that he possibly never intended but “could” have been what he intended?  He’s REALLY careful not to step on them!  Or even sometimes DISTINGUISH them from the ones that he DID intend, sometimes, to keep as many fan interpretations alive in our imaginations as possible.

Which, as someone who pins Inversion’s entire existence on the assertion that “Andrew deliberately intended this and it’s our DELUSION otherwise”, really pisses me off at times like this.  This is a theory hinged on the idea that Andrew had been deliberately hiding INCREDIBLY clever evidence throughout the comic for these intense thematic moves.  All the SYMBOLISM we thought was pointing to inversion would lose an incredible amount of its meaning if it were all an accident.  What about all that cool imagery in the Breath and Blood post?  Did any of THAT really mean what we thought it was there for, like between WV and PM?  Was any of it REAL?  Will we ever even get an ANSWER?  The answer is “no, we won’t”, because Andrew persists in this method of keeping his cards close to his chest even if he has to take them to the damn grave, cause he knows we’ll have more “fun” not knowing ‘em.  That considerate son of a bitch.  >:(

I’m serious -- it really does make me more than a little angry.  I really do wish he’d said more to show us where we’re off-course.

But HS^2 has brought us Terezi telling us that Mind and Heart are indeed opposites.  He MIGHT be holding onto the info because we may get it later in canon itself...

Meh.  I’ll try not to hope too hard.  And I’d better clarify what I actually believe, here:

My TL;DR thoughts on Andrew’s commentary up above are that when it comes to Inversion Theory (1, 2, 3, 4, 5), he’s leaving room for some of the BIG events to have been right or almost right -- say, #1, maybe #2, and only POSSIBLY #3 or #4 -- while telling us to back off and cast SERIOUS DOUBT on stuff that could have more character-driven explanations, especially #5.

If there’s a seriously FUNDAMENTAL transformation in a character that isn’t fully explained by their character journey alone (as kids growing up), involves significant outside interference, and is reflected by countless visual cues, THEN we should want to see if Inversion Theory “has merit” in that sort of case -- while laying it up against other competing theories that account for external interference of a non-Inversion-related nature in their actions too.  Things like pre- and post-ascension Aradia or pre- and post-dreamdeath Jade seeming almost completely different characters?  Or Rose seemingly taken over by the Horrorterrors... only to do nothing to benefit them but throw her mainself at Jack and get killed so she’d be forced to ascend on the moon mission rather than God-tier-die?  I’d say Inversion is worth consideration and -- daresay -- worth believing in, in such cases.

And it still might all be wrong.  There are legitimate ways to read Andrew’s commentary above that would have people screaming that Inversion has been disproven, that the “merits” mentioned were just a nod of respect to the losing side that I’m completely overblowing.  But those seem to me like carefully ambiguous words from a carefully ambiguous man, and if there’s anyone to blame for their ambiguity, it’s Andrew.  Trust me; I don’t like it either.  He’s had plenty of practice saying things in a way that we CAN’T really draw many assumptions from.

Heck, even the Redditor transcribing this summarized their thoughts in a way that draws some assumptions I don’t believe are there:

Mostly I think it's just interesting that he's actually addressing Inversion Theory, and the gist is basically "it's a cool idea and has some merits, but the classpect system and story are not quite that formulaic." Sorry BKEW. At least we know Hussie has been paying attention to our wild theorizing.

--which is a rebuke drawn on the common interpretation that Inversion describes too “formulaic” a classpect system, especially with specific-class inversion like Seer <-> Witch and such.  But IS that what Andrew is saying? Andrew criticizes the overapplication of aspect theory in describing everyone’s actions page to page, but does that mean a quote-unquote “rigid” system (I’m not going to play out the old “specific-class-inversion-is-too-rigid” vs “youre missing the flexible potential a fixed system gives” arguments again) is ITSELF an overapplication of classpect to people’s actions and personalities? Is he perhaps hinting that only Aspect stuff mattered in Inversion cases and the Witchy Rose class stuff was just a separate thematic thing that fits by coincidence??  What does it mean? WE DON’T KNOW!  AND IT’S PISSING ME OFF AAAARGH

...I think I’ve said all I can think to say for now.

I mean, I’m glad Inversion Theory wasn’t outright disproven.  I think it’s neat.  I have a lot of emotional investment behind it, and being told it was all a worthless goose chase would have made me vomitously sick!  But as I struggled with at the end of Homestuck proper, constant ambiguity shows a fair bit of disregard of its own, and both ending AND epiloguing Homestuck not only without a “yes” on this but without even a clear “NO” has caused me more gutache and poor feelings across MONTHS than either answer ever would have given me.  I thought we’d earned that by getting through it, that we wouldn’t have to wait for YEARS and then STILL get cockteased like this.  And I wonder how much I’m going to regret, later, that this wasn’t just a clear, simple “NO”.

I’m being told there’s an upd8 just now and I should read it.  I’ll get on that.  Cy’all.

[sanders-sides-rebloger]

Sleep and Stress

Part 1

TW: Slight angst, mentions of bullying, stress, overworking oneself

Word count: 2860

Summary: Thomas has a big project to finish over the weekend. He’s stressed about it and loses sleep over it, determined to finish it no matter what. Remy lectures him about the importance of self care sleeping properly. Except... Anxiety is taking the wheel this time.

A/N: Inspired by real events that happened to me! Yep, ya girl got stress ridden, once, over a hw assignment and now here is where it lead. Some sweet sweet content. I’d say it was worth it for the amount of time itd been my wips folder. The intro sucks but I promise it gets better

In this world people have always had their own personas with them. Specifically they are two beings from a persons mindset that can appear in the real world physically.

In these categories, Anxiety can be placed almost anywhere in the combinations. Depending on someone's personality, that anxious trait is usually paired with The Left Brain or the Right Brain, or in some cases, Morale and Logic.

Many historians and scientists theorize their origins in many ways. It was already proven they weren’t biologically transferred from parents. A famous article on google talked about how a married couple by the names of Martha and Alan who’ve had their own personas. As their child grew they didn’t show any signs of having aspects of their own, and they didn’t.

Below that were many links to interviews with famous political leaders, scientists, and more about the subject. It of course leads to the topic of religion, in some comments and topics that just became all controversial and too confusing.

“They always take the exact form of their host with a few minor differences.” One article said. ”They dress differently based on what they represent, though their voices are alike it can vary based on tone and attitude. It makes them appear to be slightly separate. And they can also talk to their host from inside their head, either it’s for reminders or a plain conversation.”

“The type of personas that rises from someone can vary. They always come in pairs. The most common ones are Anxiety, the Left and Right Brain, the Brain and Heart, Morale and Logic. There are other aspects outside of this spectrum such as Creativity that can form, but those are very rare and is more directed towards someone’s personality.”

“When a persona sinks down, they go into the ‘mindscape’ or an alternate plane of reality that exists inside of the hosts head.“

“Since they don’t appear and disappear out of thin air, they need a place to live in order to maintain their half human functions. That’s why they have rooms each of them go to for the host to enhance that part of themselves, including a space for that persona to reside in. It’s sort of like the mindscape is a living area in the conscious level of the mind, where memories and stored knowledge is retained.”

“It's like a Mind Palace.” Someone once said.

~~~

This leads us to Thomas Sanders, a senior in high school. He’s apart of that spectrum in which he too has personas of his own, Anxiety and Sleep.

For him, Anxiety appears when Thomas is going through something stressful. Often they talk together about certain situations that depend on the outcome, even if the reason is outright ridiculous. When it’s in public he usually summons him when he’s around a fair amount of people who also have their personas out with them, not wanting to look like the odd one out.

Sleep on the other hand..is an odd subject for him. When he grew up Sleep was the first to form during Thomas’ development and soon after, reveal himself. So he didn’t question him at first.

In middle school going into high school, students would make fun of him for being different. Thomas didn’t know what was different- he had personas just like everyone else so what made him so special? He was confused at first until he was able to see the bigger picture. He was one of the biggest targets the bullies chose as their prey and teased him over and over about it.

All because he had Sleep.

“What was Sleep? Why does it exist?” And so many other inappropriate comments. Thomas felt sick of it.

Of course when he told the staff about it, it shut them up for a while. His parents wanted to be more safe than sorry so he moved to a different school. Thomas agreed to himself that he would not show anyone publicly that he was different in any way, no matter how normal it may be for other students.

He met Joan and Talyn there. They never left him alone after quickly noticing how new he was with his closed off demeanor and shy attitude. They both really brought him out of his shell.

After becoming closer with the two he showed them eventually and he was pleasantly surprised by the result of their reactions as well. He still never really shows Sleep or Anxiety around in school to this day for fear of being seen as the odd one out, and he was content with that.

Now that Thomas has grown up a few years, he felt confident that he could be himself when he’s out in public. No one had ever seen a Sleep aspect before so he was bound to get a few questioning looks from people who walk past him. Maybe a few people from school would notice him outside, but he was beginning to accept that risk.

Besides, Joan and Talyn would make anyone regret whoever decides to talk behind Thomas’ back. They’d make them regret it.

Thomas was currently in his room, sitting in his desk. It’s Friday afternoon and he has two days left to finish this unholy project. Granted, being a senior in high school is great and all, however, Thomas would’ve gotten his history project done sooner if he was paying closer attention.

The problem was that Thomas messed up on the size of the project, subsequently making each square too big to fit on the entire front side on a sheet of paper. Immediately filled with regret, he began to erase the entire thing and start all over. Thomas had the chance to get a second one after school (just in case), but he’s terrified of confrontation.

Actually walk up to the teacher and talk to them? No thanks, he can do this on his own.

It sounds easy enough, but looking through his textbook, drawing the characters, and basically almost everything about it was difficult for him. The man had good talent in singing and is a darn great actor, but art was not his forte. He even had to color his poor excuse for an art project to get extra points. And as much as he did not want to do that, he was going to push himself today, he was gonna pass this class even if it killed him.

He checks the clock on his computer, 6:15pm. He just started about two hours ago nonstop and he got some stuff done, four squares were complete.

“If I’m being honest with you, it looks pretty good so far, but I bet you could do more if you worked a little longer.” Anxiety rises up beside Thomas, looking over his work. His voice was deeper than his host’s.

Anxiety wore a black hoodie, gray lines tracing all over it in a plaid pattern, a black t-shirt that read ‘Anxiety’ in bold letters to represent who he is, and wore dark black eyeshadow under his eyes.

The senior gets up and stretches his muscles in his arms and legs. Being glued to a chair for nearly two hours wasn’t the best idea, but he was gonna have to get used to it for a while.

“Today’s the day I’m really gonna pull myself through, Anxiety. No backing down this time!” Thomas says, his voice laced with determination.

While some students in Thomas’ class were fortunate enough to receive help from either friends or family, he was one of the unlucky souls in the group who he didn’t have much access to help. Both his parents were out on a business trip for the weekend, and Thomas has the house all to himself.

Joan and Talyn…? Well he didn’t want to bother them. Petty excuse, he knows, but what was he supposed to tell them if he asks for help? Even considering the fact they weren’t in the same class as him, they may just lecture him on getting enough sleep and he wasn’t in the mood for that.

Anxiety tucks his hands into the pockets of his dark hoodie and raises an eyebrow. Thomas was known to be a procrastinator at times which led to his grades dropping a few times in the past.

He was currently on his bed, scrolling through social media. He notices Anxiety’s suspicious gaze and looks beside him.

“What?” The senior asks in confusion, clearly not taking the hint.

“Let me just get to the point.” He pulls out Thomas’ wheeled chair and sits on it with the back side pressing against his chest. “You have a C- in the class, which is basically a failing grade, and you only have two days left until it’s due by Monday. It would be a shame if all that hard work went to waste.” He says in a taunting tone.

“What are you suggesting?” Thomas crosses his arms.

The darkly dressed boy drops his facade. “Basically the more you get done, the faster you’ll finish. And I really don’t need to be working overtime the sooner that due date approaches.” He groans, Anxiety droops his head slightly and massages his fingers through his scalp.

“I’ll just take a fifteen to twenty minute break in between each session. I have it all planned out.” Thomas waved his hand nonchalantly.

Anxiety looks towards Thomas, his expression falls.

“I’m being serious this time Thomas. You can’t let this one slip. If you don’t put all your effort on this project and you don’t get enough points, then something else in the way is just gonna bring you down. Maybe even worse than this one, and the cycle will just continue. Do you really want that?”

Thomas didn’t answer. Sure, he had the whole weekend. But that didn’t mean he couldn’t stay up late to finish if he wanted.

He glances at his project with a rush of determination flooding his system. It’s worth 150 points. He can do this, he just needed a little push.

Anxiety stands from the chair and leans against the wall nearby to allow room for Thomas to sit. The man stares down at his work with pure annoyance and desperation.

“God, I hate doing this.” He groans out and lays his head on the table.

The darker trait leans his head back against the wall, looking up blankly at the ceiling as if it had all the ceiling as if it had all the answers.

“Look, I’m not trying to be the bad guy here, but the faster you get this done the better it is for the both of us.”

“No, no. You’re right Anx.” He lifts his head back up. “I need to keep working… Plus I can’t even sleep anyway.” Thomas reaches for his phone and checks the time, seven-forty pm. He didn’t even realize how much time had passed. “Wherever he is.” He says with a sigh.

Thomas spent a good amount of time on his paper. He finished his tenth panel and is lightly underlining notes in his textbook to summarize for the next one. However the longer time went on, the more frequent the senior found himself massaging the aching tension from his neck and back more often.

He decided to call it quits for the night. He got ready and the second his lights went off Thomas flops to his bed immediately. Muffled yells, into his pillow, can be heard as Sleep rises up beside the bed.

Instead of his usual thick leather jacket, he wore a thin black cover up, pajama pants, his everyday white shirt that read ‘Sleep’ in bold letters with a bed and sleepy emoji. Adding to his style, and his trademark sunglasses were resting on top of his head.

“It’s about time you show up.” Remy says in his usual sassy tone.

“You can’t blame me for having a lot on my mind right now.” He groans, laying on his back.

“Jeez, how long did that guy keep you up for?” Remy slips himself underneath the covers with Thomas, taking off his sunglasses and setting them on the dresser.

“You mean Anxiety?”

“Yeah, him, whatever.”

“If you must know, I spent about another few hours trying to finish this project while your sorry butt was out partying at that concert.” He crosses his arms under his neck, staring up at the ceiling with a mocking tone.

Seeing personas going out and about on the streets is pretty normal. It wasn’t uncommon to see some of them roaming the streets on their own with or without their hosts.

Though as Thomas grew up, he saw a few of his classmates, who had some reveal themselves in the real world, would get bullied at schools because of how different they are. People made awful rumors how they would take over the world one day, call them names like ‘clones,’ and how they think they’re better than everyone else.

It made him sick to his stomach, it got so bad to the point there used to be places specifically like schools or restaurants that would ban people, with aspects from those places. It was horrible and a thing from the past.

Going off topic, some even befriend one another and go out just like what normal people do. It’s usually not for long, since people would need them back at some point.

It also takes the phrase ‘having some time for yourself’ to a whole new level in Thomas’ case. There have been so many movies nights that turned into popcorn throwing fights he’s had to break up between Remy and Anxiety.

“It was a My Chemical Romance concert!” Remy exclaims, dramatically putting a hand over his chest before he shifted, making himself more comfortable under the covers. “Girl, you know I couldn’t resist.”

Remy though, is a whole different story. He can be a pain at times, staying out for ungodly hours of the night. He can be unpredictable. Though he wouldn’t overdo it, unlike the incident they had a few years ago. Being the embodiment of Thomas’ nightly routine of proper rest, he physically can't sleep without Remy.

So when he’s out, sipping tea with his friends, Thomas can’t summon him like he usually can. Well, he can but its like a phone call. You can hear it but it’s your choice whether you want to answer it or not. Remy chooses to deliberately go out on his own, so he will have to just wait until he comes back.

Anxiety would go out too if he wanted, but he chooses to mostly stay in his room. Only coming out when Thomas needs him and such, to which Remy replies with as, ‘boring’ or ‘being a party pooper’.

He doesn’t mean to deny Remy’s invites as being rude, but the places he goes sometimes are...questionable in Anxiety’s point of view. Not bad, just odd. He’s way too outgoing for the dark traits style and just hates the crowds overall. It’s not for him.

He stuck with Remy like a leech after ten seconds with the overly boisterous crowd. He didn’t try to talk to anyone and was pretty much third wheeling. He did eventually find a decent hiding spot to hide away and blend in a bit. Although, Anxiety wanted to leave so badly but didn’t for the sake of not looking rude.

After a few tries of Remy trying to get him to go out again, he stopped eventually and never asked again. It faulted their friendship a bit with the mix of arguing over what’s best for Thomas.

Moving on, Remy has to either sleep in his room in the mindscape or in bed with Thomas himself. That way, theyThey would be connected, that way, so for the man couldto actually rest. It wouldn’t make much of a difference if Remy wasn’t sleeping next to Thomas but he chooses to do so anyway. Maybe it’s about proper communication in the morning. Remy does lecture Thomas at times when he forces himself to stay awake, he doesn’t know.

Plus it’s kinda nice to have someone to wake up to in the morning. Self love and all that.

“Thanks for making me stay up late again.” Thomas says in a low tired voice. He rolls over to the side, facing away from Remy. A smirk soon forms on his face from a familiar memory, unable to resist. “Unlike last time, where I was up until two pm.”

Remy huffs out a sigh. “That was one time, alright? Anxiety practically ingrained that lecture into my head. Plus, at least you finished something amiright?”

“I mean, I guess-“ He starts off.

“Also, you were able to finish your work and I was able to get something checked off my bucket list. Staying up a little late, if you need to, isn’t that bad ya know.”

“Ok, yeah, I see what you mean. Now let me sleep. I’ll need it for tomorrow, G’night Rem.”

“Night Thomas.”

Thomas shifted to a more comfortable position and closed his eyes. Allowing the darkness of his room to consume him.

[sasuhinasno1fan]

Enchanting circus snake- Lukadrien June Day 12

I like watching aerialists and contortionist. I only ever saw one Cirque du Soleil show in person, but my favourite acts were those. It’s just amazing to watch. I was watching their video on their best contortion acts in different shows and one guy was on the list, I think. I wasn’t too sure about the last person. While interesting, since I think contortion is more geared to females, I also realized i could see the bends in the body way more clearly. Maybe I’m usually distracted by the make up and costumes of the other performers but I did get slightly grossed out but I have to remember that all these other contortionists bend like they have no bones and use those bodies to balance off of each other so...yeah. So Marco and Rose have been theorized to get the Goat and Pig Miraculous so that’s who I’m talking about when I talk about those people. I don’t think this is my greatest. Subject I’m not the most familiar with don’t come out well if I try to describe it so I only explained the stuff I have a kinda good understanding of. (Realized I could of asked my cousin who’s been learning how to do silks and hoop recently so...don’t yell at me, I walked in the sun for so long today, I’m so lucky I didn’t pass out when I got back home.) @lukadrien-june​ Enchanted

Adrien loved the circus. Not just the whole classic idea with clowns and such, but ones like Cirque Du Soleil. Those had been the types of circuses his mom worked with when she was younger. In almost every new production the Cirque had, they’d call his mother to perform. She was an aerial performer. His earliest memory was her teaching him how to properly hold himself on the straps so he didn’t hurt his shoulders. Even after she passed, even if it meant sneaking out of the houses, he’d go to circus gym to practise aerial, learn how to do contortion and keep himself as loose as a cat, just like his mother used to call him.

“My little chaton, you have no bones. You are going to astound people with your talent one day.”

Of course, after his mother passed, any mention of a circus would usually mean grounding or punishment. He’d have to beg his father’s assistant to not say anything if she caught him, convince his only friend to lie to his dad that he was with her when he would go to the gym or even ditch the only extracurricular activities his dad approved of outside the house. He was toeing the line constantly, but to do the thing he and his mother loved, it was worth it. So when Chloe surprised him with tickets to Miraculous Box, a new and upcoming circus that was getting a lot of buzz, he almost squeezed her to death.

“You’re lucky I’ve actually liked some of their stuff and didn’t think it completely ridiculous like all those other circuses you love. You have no idea what I had to do to get tickets after I missed the opening sale.”

He was sure she just bugged her dad to offer a huge donation so she could get tickets, but he didn’t say anything. He’d seen a few things about the circus: they wore masks and had code names based off the Chinese Zodiac and supposed animals associated with the 5 elements in Wu Xing, costumes to match and even though most had their own separate acts, they were skilled enough to do groups ones, usually acrobatics. He loved watching the ladybug aerialist, the turtle German Wheel user and even the goat slack rope artist. But one of his favourite was the snake themed contortionist. Chloe always squealed in slight disgust watching guys do contortion, mostly cause they were usually shirtless and you could see all the bends of their body. She still did it when he showed her a video of him, but she had to admit, much like a snake moving in a way to distract their pray, the contortionist moved in such a powerful and enchanting way, you wanted to keep watching.

And he was finally going to get a chance to see him in person.

                                                  _____________

Adrien felt like a little kid as he watched the ladybug dressed silk aerialist. The ribbons from her mask flowed as she held herself up with the black silk. Her red costume stood out as she gracefully moved. When she eventually reached the floor and bowed to the audience, Adrien loudly applauded and would have been standing had Chloe not grabbed his arm. She didn’t want to risk him being seen by anyone.

“Another round of applause for our lady of luck, Ladybug.” the master of ceremonies, Fu Wang he introduced himself as. “Now, please prepare to have your minds astounded as you see this snake slither into shapes.” behind him, stage hands quickly wrapped up the crash pad that had been under Ladybug as a music box looking stage rolled easily rolled out. Adrien could just make out a lip the top didn’t cover with a hand balancing block attached to it. “Now, you may ask why a music box? Well this snake can play you emotions with his guitar but since he can do that and do contortion at the same time, though I know he’d try, we hope you can find the music in his performance. Please welcome, Viperion!”

a stage hand stayed back from moving the crash pad and opened the lid to the music box. A pair of hands covered in a dark turquoise point gloves poked out grabbing onto the balancing block and then following, shirtless, a tight similarly coloured pants and snake inspired mask, was Viperion. His dark hair was tied back, just the blue tipped bangs hung in front of his face, clearly not bothering him as he lifted himself out of the box and into a backbender handstand. The stage closed and Viperion flipped his legs back to stand on the stage. Applause filled the room as he stood to greet his audience and Adrien could only stare. He had chipped nail polish and gauges in his ears and he could move his body in ways similar to a snake. Adrien had a bit of a fanboy crush on him. The music started and he sat himself down and started the bend. He could hear Chloe trying to hold in her comments, but Adrien didn’t care that he could see the part of Viperion’s stomach look like it was bending from where his ribs rested or that his legs looked they weren’t attached to his hips. He was every bit of the snake his costume suggested and Adrien was his pray.

“I think he’s staring at you.”

“Huh?” he broke his gaze away from the performance to see Chloe nodding to the stage. He looked back at Viperion, who was on his forearms, legs split in the air. As he grabbed one foot and straighten out the other leg, he stared at the crowd. But it almost looked like he was staring at Adrien. “No he isn’t.”

“Say what you want, but he’s totally checking you out.”

Viperion’s act ended with him twisted at his waist, hand out like a snake’s head ready to strike. This time Chloe couldn’t stop him from standing up and applauding.

“A round of applause for our musical snake! Before we move to our last performance, please check under your seats. For those of you who are new to our little circus, if you find a pass under your chair, you are invited to an aftershow meet and greet with our performers and if you’re skilled enough, maybe you can do a trick or two with them. The pass had a special mark that can only be revealed by our flash lights and they’re chipped too. You can thank Pegasus for that, he’s a bit of a computer nerd as well as skilled with the Cube. I ask that you don’t try to sneak in, Multimouse’s boyfriend wouldn’t like to have to throw you out. After the show, please stay in your seats and our performers will come and check your passes.”

Adrien pulled out a black and red card with a Chinese style motif printed on it.

“Looks like we get to go see if he was flirting with you.” Chloe said, a similar card in her hand.

“He was no. he was probably just looking for a focus point. Now pay attention, they’re gonna do acrobatics.”

the Goat and Pig named performers where thrown in the air to land on towers of their other performers and while it was nail biting and so amazing to watch, Adrien thought he deserved a bit of credit for being slightly distracted. He’d get to meet Viperion after.

After the show was over, those without passes lingered a little, but with the lights back on full brightness and stage hands acting as ushers, the crowd disappeared and left only the lucky winners left. The performers came back out, wearing matching jackets with their stage names and animal printed on the back but masks still in place.

“Welcome everyone! It’s said that ladybugs are good luck, so it seems you’ve all seen one in your past few days as you’ve gotten the chance to stay back after the show. The performers will come check your passes. Once you’re cleared, please come join me in the centre.

Ladybug was coming to do their section when Viperion stopped her. They talked for a moment, Ladybug smirked at the contortionist and then went to another section.

“Oh he was totally staring at you.”

Adrien rolled his eyes. “How do you figure that one out your majesty?”

“Well peasant, our section is pretty empty and we’re the first ones who’d get our passes checked. Why did he stop that other girl from coming to check our tickets? To chat with the mom and her kid in our section?”

“Maybe.” a long shot possibly but Adrien didn’t want to get his hopes up. Last thing he wanted was his memory of his favourite contortionist laughing at the guy with the fanboy crush.

“Passes please.” oh god, there he was. With all the control of a model, Adrien handed him the pass which was handed back after a moment. “Hope you enjoyed the show.”

“Loved every moment of it.” Adrien couldn’t help but glance at the still bare chest underneath the jacket. “Every bit.”

as they got up to head to the centre, Chloe whispered, “I saw that.” to which Adrien shushed her.

“Welcome everyone! I hope you enjoyed our show. We’ve invited you to come get to know our performers better. You can even ask their names if you wanted, the masks are just protection since most of them are underage.”

“He does have permission from parents and guardians before any of you panic!” Rena Rouge, the fox magician, assured. “We have a public Instagram where you can see us.”

“Thank you my dear. So, does anyone have any questions, want to see something or even show something?”

“He does!” Adrien heard before he felt his hand go up.

“Chloe!” he yelled, yanking his hand away, but everyone was staring. He was sure people recognised him.

“Yes my boy?” Fu kindly asked.

“Um, uh, I just wanted to say that the show was amazing and I really liked the contortion. I’m learning how to do it myself. I’m better at aerial though.”

“Are you now? That’s amazing to hear. How long?”

“Um, been doing aerial since I was a kid. Started learning contortion on and off about the same amount of time? I’m really flexible.” he kept seeing Viperion stare at him. Not in a mean way, but in a ‘I’m very interested’ way.

“Helps when his mom is Paon Graham.”

What was she doing? “Chloe!” anyone who wasn’t sure had to know who he is now. His mother never shed away from sharing her circus life.

“I thought you looked familiar. I got the chance to work with your mother once. Same in awe look whenever she watched performances.” Fu said.

“Do you think you could show us something?” Viperion asked. Adrien felt himself getting red at the attention.

“Oh, no I couldn’t.” Mostly cause if a video got out, he was dead.

“Oh please? Your mom was such a huge inspiration to me.” Ladybug begged.

“We’d really like to see. Most people can mostly do cartwheels and such.” Viperion asked.

“I guess I could.” he really hoped his fanboy crush on Viperion would wear off one day. It was surprising how easily he bent to those kind eyes.

Viperion’s music box was brought out again and he climbed up. He was used to all eyes on him but this was different. Chloe was the only one who’d seen him doing tricks like this, now he had professionals and a crowd watching him. He took a breath and put his hands on the block and pushed his gravity forward so his legs came above his head. He slowly took one hand off, finding his balance before grabbing the leg near the front of his head and pulling down so he was more slanted. It took him a second but he was able to start turning the block.

“Alright Adrikins!” Chloe cheered as the group clapped for him. He glanced up, seeing Viperion smile at him.

Yeah, he didn’t see himself getting over that fanboy crush anytime soon.

                                                  ______________

Luka was happy to have the day off and he should of gone to visit his mother but he was sure she’d be ok with him putting it off. Last night during his act, he looked in the crowd, tantalising it and caught a pair of green eyes fixed on him. Then he actually looked. Even in the dim light, he could make out the blonde hair, fair skin and those, enchanting green eyes staring. He felt the urge to talk to him, flirt a little maybe. Marinette had definitely been right to guess that Luka had been showing off more than usual last night. He wanted to catch someone’s attention. Then when the guy’s friend said Paon Graham, he realised he wanted to flirt with the guy who’s picture was plastered all over Paris. He always looked beautiful in those pictures, flawless almost, but Luka thought he looked most flawless doing that trick last night up on the stage that had been designed for him.

Somehow Kim got the girl’s number and passed along a message she had: “Adrien practises his tricks at Cirqu’Aouette, they have a private gym that I paid for him to use. I watched a guy do contortion which looks so much weirder so if he doesn’t get a date out of this, your circus’ tour won’t be a big enough wing span to escape my wrath.”

he really hoped that meant just focused on him and not the circus. He followed the address Kim forwarded to him to a building at the side of Cirqu’Aouette. He glanced in through the window to see Adrien pulling himself up on a ring and hook his legs through, dangling there without a care in the world. He eased open the door so not to startle Adrien.

“Not many guys to hoop.” he said, Adrien opening his eyes and staring at him.

“Viperion!” he pulled himself up and dropped onto the crash pad beneath him.

“It’s Luka actually. Luka Couffaine.” he said, offering Adrien his hand so he didn’t stumble off the pad.

“Luka. Um, what are you doing here? I thought you guys would of headed out.”

“Well, pretty much the whole company is from this town so this is our homecoming show, so we get a little time  to spend with our family. I wanted to talk to you though.”

“Oh?” Adrien looked nervous.

“I’ll be honest, your friend threatened to either hurt me or the circus if I didn’t come talk to you, but I’m glad she made me come cause I thought your trick last night was pretty amazing. Not many people have the bravery to get up in front of a crowd and do something that’s kinda scary to be honest.”

“Oh, well, not nearly as good as what you do.” the model replied modestly.

Luka looked up at the hoop. “So aerial is more your thing?”

“Yeah. I love being in the air. My mom would call me a cat because of how I can bend but she was always in the air growing up and I wanted to do the same.”

“So I’ve always wanted to learn aerial and while I’m sure Marinette – Ladybug,” he clarified when he saw the confused look on Adrien’s face, “could be an amazing teacher, I was hoping maybe you could teach me? I’d be more than willing to teach you more about contortion. Who knows, maybe we can make a cat out of you yet. If not, then would I still be able to ask you on a date?”

“A date? Me?”

Luka nodded. “I don’t usually go showing off to the crowd. I tend to stick to my routine and stay with it, but I saw you and before you ask, no I didn’t know who you were nor does that matter, and all I wanted to do was keep your enchanting green eyes on me.”

Adrien’s face turned red and he ducked his head, fingers messing with his shirt, getting chalk marks on the dark fabric.

“Oh, well, um, I guess I wouldn’t oppose to teaching you, or a date. Whichever works for you. I know you’re on tour still.”

“For two more weeks. And both would work for me.” he smiled when he saw Adrien bite down his own smile. “Can I see you perform on the hoop, if that’s ok?”

“Can I borrow your phone?”

With a Lindsey Stirling song playing on his phone, Luka watched Adrien bend and contort around the hoop. Maybe it was still the big pull that had drawn his eyes to him last night still affecting him, but watching him hold himself by the strength in his legs, he never looked more enchanting.