#Biana is so me (the nails in arm thing)

[amandayetagain]

Swan my tags are for 44 bc I couldn’t find the post 😭 second reblog will be 45

https://archiveofourown.org/works/52127758/chapters/158790007

That’s all folks. <333

@moontoastt @thefoxysnake @camelspit @absolutely-existing @cutebisexualmess @arsonistblue @aphelea @presidentroarie @vesperas-mirrors @let-them-sing-of-others @im56bithc @cecebookworm @sleepdeprivedweeblol @n--k--m m @relationshipnotfound @amandayetagain @xanadaus @aurenflare

[alaydabug2]

Tag list: @paloma-ascends-into-hellfire @nowjumpinthewater @bookwormgirl123 @thishumanformislimiting

History Repeats

Chapter two

The war is over. Everyone is happy. Years later, Biana is accepted as a councilor. Only then, does she realize she wants what she can't have. Dex Dizznee. She could step down so they could be together, but progress is finally being made with her on the Council. If she steps down, that could reset all the progress that was done. What will she do? Stay? Leave? Have this affair in secret? Will they end like Kenric and Oralie, two star crossed lovers who fate had different plans? Find out in this story.

(Dex Pov)

Dex sighed when he sat on his bed after the ceremony. He unbuttoned his shirt and flopped back.

Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.

He was so stupid.

He should've manned up and asked her out sooner. Right when he got the nerve to try, Oralie stepped down. Then, the talk of Biana being nominated started circling around.

He couldn't ask her then. He was too late.

He would've asked her sooner, but regent duties kept them both busy. They had to go on different assignments for the council.

He had even planned to ask her out over the weekend before everything happened. He had asked to meet up, but now he couldn't do that. He'd just have to make up some sort of excuse to why he wanted to meet with her.

Maybe she would cancel now that she was a councilor. She would probably be too busy now.

He laid down and fell asleep. In the morning, he felt his heart skip a beat. The hope was immediately squashed out when he remembered. Biana had responded. She was still able to make it out. That, unfortunately, complicated things.

Now what was he supposed to do?

When Saturday came, he ended up dressing nice and clasped his cape over his shoulders. They were heading out to Atlantis, where he invited her over to the ice cream shop.

His original plan included getting some flowers. That was now out the window.

He leaped to the city. He wandered around a little before taking a seat on the outdoor table.

Biana had joined him a while later. She fiddled with her nails.

"Oh, hey," Dex greeted her.

"Hey," she murmured. "You wanted to meet?"

"Yeah. I did."

Now he wished he could just escape.

"So... what did you want to meet with me here for?"

"Oh..."

Crap. That small tiny detail he forgot to figure out.

"I just wanted to see you. Wondered how you've been," Dex managed to force out.

"I've been good. You?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I've been good, I-"

His breath caught when he made eye contact with her. He could see her cheeks flush.

"Um, Dex." Biana lowered her voice. "Not that I don't want to see you, but this... looks like something it's not."

He could've kicked himself.

"Oh, yeah. Of course." He got up from his seat. "I'll see you later."

"Wait," she said, reaching for his arm. "You don't have to leave right now."

Dex pulled his arm free. "No, sorry. You're probably busy anyhow."

He took off down the street.

[rayniscatstatue]

“Severed Ties and Dreams”

Word count: 1605

Prompts: 54. “I don't hate you.”

78. "I hate you, I can finally say that without ripping my own heart out. I can finally say it with every fibre of my being, every bone, every nerve and I never want to see you again."

96. "You two deserve each other, you really do. Now, will you just leave me alone?”

Character relationships: Sophie Foster and Keefe Sencen (romantic), Keefe Sencen and Biana Vacker, Linh Song (platonic), Sophie Foster and Rayni Aria (platonic)

Description: Sophie and Keefe start fighting about how Keefe is always trying to make sure she is okay. Then Sophie snaps at him.

————————————————————————

Keefe’s pov-

I don’t remember how the fight started.

I just simply can’t but all I know is that Foster is shouting at me. She seems to hate me right now. When ever this happened before we were dating though things always cooled down.

I don’t think that will happen this time.

Her dark brown eyes are filled with furry as the words finally hit me. "I hate you, I can finally say that without ripping my own heart out. I can finally say it with every fibre of my being, every bone, every nerve and I never want to see you again."

I body feels rigid. The words repeating in my brain.

“Foster.” I say, knowing my eyes are glassy.

“Don’t fucking call me that.” She stares daggers at me. The guilt hitting me.

“I don’t even remember what I did!” I shout. Waving my arms around the place.

“Sure you don’t, lair.” Her voice is bitter, spitting words at me. “I hate you, Sencen.”

“So you get to call me by my last name?” I watch as she unclasps the necklace I gave her. “That really fucking hurts Sophie. I didn’t mean for that shit to happen. I’m sorry for what ever I did, but my mind won’t let me remember it. I am trying as hard as I can. Everything has become a blur to me.” I take a few steps back.

“You have a photograph memory, Sencen. This shows how much of a dick you are.” She grabs her water bottle, slowly unscrewing the cap. “Should’ve just stayed with the Neverseen.” I can barley hear the last part that she mumbles.

“I left for you! I did that all for you!”

“Don’t seem like it!” She chucks the water at me. The cold hitting me in the face as it drenches me. I quickly turn my heel as I run out the door. Leaving her behind.

Sophie’s pov-

I watch as he turns his heel. Quickly speeding out the door.

I pull out my imparter, it being my only last hope. “Dex Dizznne.” I say.

The ring runs through the house. I don’t actually hate Keefe. I just don’t know what got into me. I should be great full that he is trying to protect me.

I am the one being over dramatic.

My imparter tells me that he is unavailable. Time to move onto the next person. I know Keefe would be going to Fitz so he is out of the question. Marella is always good with this stuff.

“Marella Redek.” I wait as my imparter once again rings. Waiting forever.

Another friend unavailable.

“Linh Song!” I am shouting now.

She has instead hung up on me. Unusual.

“Tam Song!” I ball my other hand into a fist as I wait. Already taking a guess what will happen. But it is worth it.

He is once again unavailable.

“Oh my god, Biana Vacker!” I feel my nails pierce the skin on my palm. Might as well punish myself for this one.

She hangs up on me, must be with Linh or something.

“Okay fine, Jensi Babblos!” I stumble over to the couch as my imparter rings through.

Another one down on the list, only Maruca, Rayni and Wylie left. If not then I am screwed.

“Maruca fucking Chebota!” I start to attach the necklace to my imparter like a chain. I don’t care, at least show Keefe that I still care.

Two more shots left.

If this doesn’t work I am pouring sand down my throat.

“Rayni Aria.” I take a deep breath in.

Her face flickers onto the screen, finally! “Sophie, are you okay? It looks like you have been crying.” She points out.

“Can you just leap over to Havenfeild, I need some advice and your the only person that actually answered out of Dex, Marella, Linh, Tam, Maruca and even Jensi. I can’t hail Fitz or Keefe though.” Tears start to pour down my face. My other hand still in a fist.

“Okay, I will be on my way. Don’t worry I will punch Tammy boy along with Linh and co in the face afterwards.” Rayni replies determinedly.

“Thanks, but no need to go punching people.” I weakly smile as the imparter flickers off.

I unclench my fist to see blood poring down. The sticky substance on my hand. I wipe it on my black cape, hoping to hide it.

That’s when I start to hear footsteps coming up to my room. Rayni.

She opens the door. “Oh my god Sophie.” She rushes over to me. “Spill, I will give the paper towels to clean up the tea.”

“I-I got into a fight with Keefe. I think it was over how he was always trying to protect me.” I whisper.

“Just go speak to him, I am sure he will forgive you. He loves you for goodness sake.” Rayni waves her arms around as if I am an idiot. Can’t disagree though.

“But I told him I hate him, plus I told him that he should’ve stayed with the Neverseen.”

“Okay, damn.” Rayni takes my hands in hers. “Speaking to him upfront will always help.”

She continues to go on giving me relationship advice. I am starting to question if I should’ve hailed Wylie first.

Keefe’s pov-

I knock on the door of Everglen. I need to speak to someone. Specifically Biana.

“Hello, Keefe!” Della opens the door. “Are you okay?” She notices my puffy eyes from crying.

“I need to speak to Biana.”

“Alright, she is up in her bedroom with Linh though.”

“That doesn’t matter.” I brush past her as I find my way to the stairs of the mansion.

I want her back, I really do. I just want to be able to love Sophie without anything or anyone getting in the way.

I rush down the hall wiping my eyes. Hoping to make them less puffy. I know it probably isn’t working but oh well.

Biana will under stand.

I repeat those words in my head as I make my way to her door. I knock or the door, twice.

“Hello?” She opens it. “Oh, Keefe. Come in.” She pulls me in as I sit down on her bed.

“What happened?” Linh turns towards me. Her imparter going off at the moment. She cheeks it. “It’s Sophie, should I answer?”

“W-we kind of had a fight.” I tuck my knees into my chest.

“Okay, I won’t answer.” Linh presses decline as Biana sits down on the other side of me.

“What happened?” Biana asks. She grabs my hand as Linh grabs the other. I hold onto their warm touches.

“It was the classic I just wanted her to be alright. But this time it escalated massively.” I mumble as Biana’s imparter starts to ring.

“Sophie, it seems that she is also in distress.” Biana looks up at us as she declines on her. I feel so bad. Hopefully Tam or Marella will be able to help her.

Maybe even Fitz.

“Keep going.” It is Linh this time. Her eyes soft behind her black and silver hair.

“She shouted that she hates me. Also mumbled that she wished I stayed in the Neverseen.” I look down at my feet.

“Oh my god, I know her emotions can sometimes run high but this is unexpected.” Biana mutters beside me.

“I could only feel anger at the time, maybe a little guilt as I was turning my heel.” I drop my head down as I rest it on Linh’s shoulder.

“Just deep breaths.” Linh speaks to me, putting her head on top of mine. “1.” I breath in.

“2.” I breath out as Biana say says it.

We keep going like that up to 100.

“Now, you should speak to her.” Linh says.

“I hear foot steps.” Biana points out as we all look towards the door.

Two pairs. “There are two people.” I mutter.

“Yeah.” Linh agrees as a knock comes to the door. Biana stands up to open it.

It revels Sophie and Rayni.

“Sophie, why are you here?” I stop myself for a second as they step in. I notice her glassy eyes. “You hate me.”

“I don’t hate you.” She mutters, looking down. The rest of the girls looking at each other awkwardly.

“We will go.” Biana says as she grabs Linh to walk out the room.

That only leave me, Sophie and Rayni. At least she found someone.

“Do too.” I whisper.

“Keefe, look at me.” She crouches down in front of me, grabbing my hands.

All I can feel is a spiking guilt. She actually doesn’t hate me.

“No.” I shake my head.

Instead Sophie grabs my face with one hand. Bringing it up to her’s.

The soft press of her lips against mine. I kiss her back as I squeeze my eyes shut. Hoping to live in this moment forever.

She really did take back everything. So do I.

She leans back, my lips now feeling cold.

“I love you.” Foster raises my chin with her hand.

“I love you too.” I rest my head on her shoulder. Faking into her warm embrace.

I missed this feeling.

“I will leave.” Rayni points to the door.

“Thanks, Rayni.” Foster calls to her, not looking up.

“You two deserve each other. You really do. Now, will you just leave me alone.” She walks out the door. Directing her last sentence to Foster.

“Love you.” I whisper again.

She giggles, the best sound ever. A smile creeping up on her cute face. Her blonde hair falling perfectly down her shoulders.

————————————————————————

Ps. Loved how I made Rayni and Sophie’s sister like relationship!

[maerambles]

Chapters 23, 24, 25 and 26

Keeper of the Lost Cities - Shannon Messenger (October 2, 2012)

“You know, for a girl who hates doctors, you sure can’t seem to get away from the Healing Center.” [Elwin] (Ch. 23, p. 221)

I bet Sophie’s fear of doctors comes from being able to hear their thoughts from such an early age. The first place she noticed she could hear other’s thoughts was in the hospital, so I can bet that the first person she heard was her doctor and it may not have been good.

“Banshees can sense when someone’s in mortal danger.” [Elwin] (Ch. 23, p. 222)

I wonder why that is?

“But a brain push is a highly specialized skill only the ancients can pull off.” [Elwin] (Ch. 23, p. 223)

List of Sophie’s talents: Telepathy, Telekinesis, Photographic Memory, Blocking, Ability to read ANYONE’S mind, ability to read animal’s mind and Brain Pushes. Seven talents/abilities...

She wasn’t sure she wanted to have things in common with someone who acted like such a brat. [Sophie about Biana] (Ch. 23, p. 226)

You barely know Biana? She hasn’t even been that mean so far. It feels more like Sophie is jealous of Biana’s appearance but that’s just me.

She searched her memories for the rest of the night, but when she went to bed she was no closer to the solution. (Ch. 23, p. 229)

Why do I keep forgetting that Sophie can go through her memories like this it’s legitimately so cool!

For those of you worried you won’t be able to score the required seventy-five percent to pass, I recommend seeing Lady Nissa in the tutoring Center.” (Ch. 24, p. 231)

Lady Nissa?? I wonder who she is I don’t think we’ve heard anything about her.

“Oooh, smart thinking,” Dex agreed, reaching for the rest of his books. (Ch. 24, p. 232)

I did this in middle school, and now my back hates me.

“Which pin did you get?” Marella asked as he pulled out a small velvet pouch, like a Cracker Jack prize. (Ch. 24, p. 232)

Shannon’s age is showing, I was born in ‘99 and I had to google what that was lol.

“Right now there are only one hundred and eighty five unicorns - so that pin is super rare.” [Dex] (Ch. 24, p. 233)

Oh wow, that’s not a lot of unicorns.

“You could have told her that she’s a stuck up snob and you don’t want to be her friend,” Marella offered.(Ch. 24, p. 234)

Is Biana really that bad?? I haven’t seen her be extremely rude to anyone besides Sophie, and her feelings towards her are valid.

“Wait. I’m sorry. It’s just... girls always use me to get to my brother. I guess I sort of expect it.” (Ch. 25, p. 238)

This is so sad. No wonder she’s picky with her friends.

“Maybe you can braid each other’s hair and giggle about what boys you like while you’re at.” [Keefe] (Ch. 25, p. 239)

Can we stop with this.

Jealousy flared in Biana’s eyes as Keefe wrapped an arm around Sophie’s shoulders. (Ch. 25, p. 239)

Does Biana like Keefe???

Most Telepaths could only isolate a general area, but Sophie could nail down the exact spot. (Ch. 25, p. 240)

List of Sophie’s talents: Telepathy, Telekinesis, Photographic Memory, Blocking, Ability to read ANYONE’S mind, ability to read animal’s mind, Brain Pushes and exact thought tracking. Eight talents/abilities... albeit some are connected to being a Telepath but most are things that other’s can’t even do.

Sophie sighed as Marella flled everyone in on her almost weekly explosions. (Ch. 25, p. 244)

Oh my gosh Sophie this is actually so insane!! Lady Galvin must be PISSED.

She didn’t deserve sympathy. She didn’t deserve anything. (Ch. 25, p. 246)

Later in the books, it mentions that elves don’t deal well with guilt. I’m assuming this is why Sophie has such a drastic reaction to cheating on her exam. Also, it could be a way to show how incapable Sophie of doing something horrible. It’s defiantly interesting.

They’d [Grady and Edaline] just nodded, forgave her, and hoped she didn’t get in too much trouble. (Ch. 26, p. 248)

Grady and Edaline are such good parents, I adore them.

Sophe released the breath she’d been holding. (Ch. 26, p. 249)

Everyone’s favorite line, lol.

Alden was reporting on her too? (Ch. 26, p. 250)

Why is he reporting on her? I feel like he should be on her side, but he seems to never tell her anything.

“It’s hardly a secret that you tried to stop his wedding with Della.” [Tiergan] (Ch. 26, p. 250)

TIERGAN HOLY SHIT?? He knows the tea! This is so interesting, I would love to know more. I’m reading the annotated edition and Shannon says there’s a lot of background for the adult characters that she had to cut out. I would to read something about that! Would especially love to read about what Prentice and Jolie are like since we only experienced them with them already being passed away.

“I’ll serve the detention.” (Ch. 26, p. 251)

Sophie, our selfless queen!

An earsplitting shrill whine - part whale song, part nails on chalkboard, with just the right amount of screaming toddler - reverberated through the rooms. (Ch. 26, p. 253)

Oh wow, I though Sirens were supposed to have a pretty sound? I guess that’s not true in the Keeper world.

“You keep claiming you’re not mysterious, but who are you kidding?” [Keefe] (Ch. 26, p. 253)

Keefe’s favorite word for Sophie so far: Mysterious.

“Remember the reekrod someone put in Dame Alina’s office a few months ago?” (Ch. 26, p. 253)

Reekrod - an original thing from Miss Messenger!

His palms [Valin] were cold and sweaty and a blob of drool settled in the corner of his mouth and never went away. (Ch. 26, p. 254)

How is a person this nasty existing in the elven world lol. No offense to Valin, I know he’s a 12 y/o boy, but I can’t imagine a person existing like this in our world let alone the “perfect” elven world.

“Too bad I can read what you’re feeling without physical contact.” [Keefe] (Ch. 26, p. 255)

Can he turn this on or off or is he constantly feeling the emotions of others? Questions Questions...

“If you must know, yes, your emotions are stronger than others.” [Keefe] (Ch. 26, p. 256)

More ~interesting~ abilities to make Sophie stand out more. I believe this is more to connect Sophie and Keefe more, but still.

Sophie wasn’t allowed anywhere near them, forced instead to sit alone in a corner while Keefe winked at her and Valin stared and drooled. (Ch. 26, p. 256)

Ok but she didn’t actually do the punishment (as weird as it was?) which is something I would be happy about it. I’m surprised Keefe didn’t say anything about this treatment lol.

Did she really pick iron purification - the easiest transmutation in alchemy? (Ch. 26, p. 257)

Ok, but why didn’t Lady Galvin just tell her earlier in the book? Wouldn’t that save them both a lot of trouble?

Ok!! Just wanted to upload this because it’s been a while since I uploaded something lol.

[crymeariveronceagain]

Biana Vacker with Vitiligo: a concept

I cannot draw for the life of me, so I cheated and used THIS PICREW-- ALL CRED TO ARTIST.

Hear me out for a hot second.

Biana Vacker has vitiligo. She had it long before she got her scars, but it’s something that has always set her apart, made her different.

And her family is very concerned with that whole... y’know... different-than-other-elves thing. They always have been, right?

Maybe it’s not so bad, maybe it’s not that hard on her, but from a very young age, Della covered up any visible marks on her daughter with makeup. As Biana got older, she started doing it herself. 

Maybe that’s how she got into makeup to begin with. The fact that she needed to know how to blend it all together. 

And maybe she went through that phase where she absolutely hated the fact that she needed to wear makeup every day. But maybe she realized “This is something I know how to do, so I can make it my own.” Maybe that’s why she loves it so much. She learned how to make herself feel confident, radiant, wonderful with makeup, the same tool that for so long she’d been using to hide something that belonged to her. 

But maybe she never stopped covering it up. Maybe she was scared of what other people would think. What her mother would think, her father, her brothers, her friends, her enemies. 

Sure, Makeup was hers, now, makeup was something she enjoyed, but every day, without fail, she covers it up. 

And then with a crash of splintered glass, her world is cut into shreds around her--and with scars, scars and scars and scars, dragged like sharp nails across her back and arms and face--

Comes a strange element of freedom. 

Because she looks different now. She can’t cover up all these scars. 

All she can do is accept that this is who she is, now, 

“These scars are a part of me, now.”

And she decides, somewhat in the same rush, that her vitiligo is part of her too.

Its not something to hide, it’s not something wrong or bad-- it’s just a part who she is. 

Just like Sophie’s eyes are brown. Just like Keefe has freckles littered across his nose. Just like Linh’s got a scar across her wrist. Just like Tam has a birthmark on his shoulder. Just like Dex’s dimples.

So she stops hiding it. 

Because maybe... there was no need for that in the first place.

[allweleftunspoken]

a short human au kam oneshot ✨

I wrote this at like 3am a while ago so I apologize if it’s not the best lol

without further adooo here’s my shitty attempt at writing fanfic XD

— —————- ———

Keefe let out a dramatic sigh as he flopped back onto his bed. He tossed the book he was reading aside because if he had to read Shakespeare for one more second his brain might, quite literally, explode. He was bored and Tam was here, so he might as well move on from homework to annoying his best friend.

“Taaaaammmm” Keefe sighed, kicking Tam’s leg lightly, “Pay attention to meee.”

Tam looked up from his book and tilted his head, “Aren’t you old enough to entertain yourself?”

Keefe threw a pillow at him, but Tam caught it and threw it back, hitting Keefe in the face.

“Well that backfired.” Keefe mumbled while rubbing his face. Tam laughed and set his homework aside. He pulled a leg up to his chest and rested his head on Keefe’s knee,

“Sorry.”

“No you’re not.” Keefe said, ignoring the backflips his stomach was doing.

“You’re right, I’m not, that was hilarious.”

Keefe moved his knee causing Tam’s head to fall.

“Rude,” Tam said, glaring at him.

Keefe laughed, as Tam got off the bed and walked over to Keefe’s dresser. This was their relationship. They laughed and semi flirted but neither of them were brave enough to make the first move. He also didn’t even know if Tam w anted to make a move. Could he be imaging all the flirting? Maybe Tam was like this everyone.

He shook his head and returned his focus to Tam who was now messing with the bottle of black nail polish on the dresser.

“Can you do mine later?” He asked, “It would drive my parents crazy.”

Keefe got up and walked over to him,

“Yeah sure. It drives mine crazy too,” he said with a sad laugh.

Tam laughed too and set the bottle down.

It was safe to say their parents weren’t the best. They were horrible actually. Keefe couldn’t count how many times he’s come home from school to be the subject of his Father’s anger. Whether it was screaming, or throwing things, or the occasional trip to Keefe’s bedroom to destroy Keefe’s sketches, Keefe couldn’t do anything. His mom wasn’t much better. She just stood by and let it all happen, occasionally adding to his list of ‘things to hate myself for’. They fought all the time. He couldn’t remember a day where there wasn’t screaming of some sort. To top it all off they were homophobic. Keefe hated it. He hated it here. He knew Tam’s home life wasn’t much better either, and he hated that. He hated that Tam had to deal with this. No one should. They’d talked about it before, once they even cried because they were so tired of it. They’d talked about running away, but Tam said he couldn’t leave Linh. Keefe had said she could come with them but then Tam said that Linh would never want to leave Marella and Biana. So they decided to wait until they’re eighteen. Then they’d all leave together. They’d move as far away from them as possible and never look back. Keefe couldn’t wait.

He watched Tam pick up one of Keefe’s rings and fiddle with it. Keefe couldn’t take his eyes off him. The sun was about to set and the light was peeking through his window, casting a warm glow over the entire room. Tam looked like he was glowing. He looked beautiful. He always did. He’d never actually tell him that though. He wished he could..he wished he could tell him a lot of things.

Tam set down his ring and turned to Keefe, catching him staring, “What?”

Keefe blushed lightly, “N-nothing.”

“You were staring at me.”

“No-No I wasn’t-“ he stuttered.

Tam raised his eyebrow.

“Hey you knocked over my nail polish,” Keefe said, subtly changing the subject. He reached behind Tam to fix it, but then he looked down to find Tam staring up at him. Keefe’s stomach dropped. They stayed like that for a while, both of them staring at each other, and neither of them moving. It was almost as if they were scared to. Like moving might break the delicate trance that they seemed to be in.

At some point Keefe’s eyes moved down to Tam’s lips. He could’ve sworn Tam started move towards him then, but before he could know for sure a door slammed downstairs.

They both flinched at the noise and quickly leapt apart.

Seconds after the slam, the arguing started. The loud arguing that usually lasted for hours at a time, which could only mean one thing.

His parents were home.

Keefe scratched the back of his head,

”So....”

Tam shoved his hands in his pockets,

“So...I don’t have to be home for a couple of hours...wanna go get coffee or something?”

Keefe could’ve kissed him. He really wanted to actually.

He let out a big breath and whispered, “Yes please.”

Tam smiled, “Ok, just let me get my stuff.”

He started putting his books in his backpack while Keefe got a sweatshirt and pulled it on over his school uniform dress shirt. He grabbed another sweatshirt and turned to Tam,

“Wanna wear this?” When Tam started to get flustered he quickly clarified, “Its getting cold out, you might need it-“

Tam took it and quickly thanked him, and pulled it on over his uniform as well. He put on his backpack and started walking towards Keefe’s door before Keefe stopped him,

”Yeah no, we’re going out the fun way.”

It was also the way that avoided running into his parents downstairs cause he...really didn’t need that right now. He took Tam’s arm lightly and lead him over to the window,

”Oh come on.” Tam sighed.

“Where’s your sense of adventure Tammy boy?”

”I must have lost it somewhere.”

Keefe flicked his bangs, and then out the window they went.

———���—————

“Ok but that was the best cookie ever, I can’t believe they just gave it to us for free.”

Tam said as they walked back to Keefe’s house from the coffee shop they ended up going to. The sun had set now and it was dusk. Keefe loved this time of day, when everything was still and quiet and beautiful.

Keefe laughed, “They probably gave it to us because I’m so attractive.”

Tam blinked, “That literally makes no sense whatsoever. “

Keefe smirked, “I don’t hear you disagreeing.”

Tam shoved him with his arm.

“You’re so annoying.”

”You love me.”

”That’s debatable.”

Keefe clutched his heart, “You’ve wounded me. I don’t know how I’ll ever emotionally recover from this.”

Tam rolled his eyes, fighting back a smile.

Keefe knew Tam loved him, platonically if not anything more. He wished it was more, since Keefe had been falling in love with him since the 8th grade. He could never say that though, since he still wasn’t sure how Tam felt. He might never be sure...

They walked for a few more minutes before stopping in front of Keefe’s house.

He looked at Tam and found him already staring at Keefe. He held his gaze and whispered, “Here we are.”

“Here we are.” Tam took a small step towards Keefe, “I should probably head home now...”

Keefe’s heart was in his throat. What was happening right now?

”Probably...”

Tam looked down at their hands and Keefe gathered all the courage he had and started slowly reaching towards Tam’s hand. Their fingers barely brushed before Tam intertwined them. Keefe couldn’t believe this was real. Was this real? If it was dream it was a hell of a good one. He’s liked this guy for years and now it finally happening-how was this happening-?

His voice was hoarse as he whispered, “You know we’re holding hands right now right?”

”Yeah I noticed.”

”And you’re...ok with that..?”

”I’m more then ok with it.” Tam’s grip on his hand tightened slightly, and Keefe almost passed out. No way this was happening. No way he was holding hands with dude he’s like since he was fourteen.

”Keefe..” Tam whispered, interrupting his thoughts.

”Yeah...?”

Tam took a small step towards Keefe, and moved his hands to his face, slowly moving it down to his. He paused, his voice so soft Keefe could barely hear it, “Can I....”

Keefe answered him by connecting their lips. The kiss was slow and everything he’d ever imagined it would be, and more. He never wanted it to end, but it did. They broke the kiss and Keefe leaned his forehead against Tam’s lightly.

“Did that actually just happen...” he whispered.

Tam laughed softly, “Yeah, it did...”

Tam then pulled Keefe into a hug, holding him so tight he thought he might break something. He didn’t mind one bit, and he held him back just as tight.

They stayed like that for a while before Tam whispered the words Keefe thought he’d only ever hear him say in his dreams.

”I like you Keefe. I have for a really long time..”

Keefe smiled bigger then he’d ever smiled in his entire life, “I like you too Tam..”

Tam leaned back from the hug to look at him, “Well I’d hope so since you just kissed me.”

Keefe laughed and after a few more minutes of talking (and maybe kissing) they said goodnight. Keefe watched Tam walk away and thought about what just happened. How did that just happen? He wasn’t sure, but he was sure as heck glad it did. Does this mean Tam was his boyfriend now? He’d work up the courage to ask him tomorrow. For now he went to bed and dreamed about a boy with silver bangs and soft hands.

[bookwyrminspiration]

In Nightfall, when Sophie went into emotionless zombie mode, it said all her friends tried to get her out of her funk. How do you think they tried to do this?

great question! I can only speculate, as Shannon neglected to share this information (likely because it's difficult to come up with just for one brief mention and she had the rest of the book to write!), however, I have an abundance of thoughts and poor time management skills, so there's a few possibilities floating about in my head

Fitz: cuddle-sessions. Sophie always gets really anxious (like shy) when he gets close and she becomes hyperaware of everything, so maybe physical proximity could help break her out of it because she'd become aware of things. And also its a nice support to have and fun to cuddle (when you're in a comfortable position, at least. They haven't gotten to a place where they'd be okay moving for their own comfort, but that's another thing)

Keefe: Okay hear me out I know this one might sound like Linh, but animals. He tries to break her out of it by reminding her of the things/people she loves that are still around and aren't currently kidnapped, so they hang out with Silveny and play with Iggy and all that. I don't think he'd joke with her at all, really. Instead, he'd recognize the severity of the situation and just how badly she's been affected and know that this topic is too heavy for him to make light of.

Biana: Sleepovers. She stays the night to check on Sophie and to talk to her for prolonged periods of time. I think she might purposefully try to make Sophie uncomfortable/do things she wouldn't want to just to get a reaction out of her so they can build back up to being more present. Little things like make-overs and painting nails and fancy outfits that Sophie doesn't like, so that if she expressed that it'd be a sign of actually feeling something for the first time in a while.

Linh: I can't decide if Linh would go more of a physical route and splash her with cold water to shock her into existence or if she'd go for a more emotional but complicated route. Breathing exercises perhaps? She might try to spend time around Sophie and share things she likes to try and get her excited/invested in them.

Tam: I'm going to pose a thought that he doesn't necessarily try to get Sophie out of zombie-mode, but rather watch over her while she's in it to make sure she's as okay as she can be. He's seen everyone fail and isn't going to convince himself he can break her out of it, so instead resolves to just watch her. They spend time quietly together and he's reading off to the side but watching her, making sure nothing goes too badly. I suppose he might have more realistic expectations of the impact he has

Dex: Poking her. He'd do the little snaps and patting her on the arm when she starts to get really lost in her thoughts. But it's all done very lovingly and lightly, almost in a joking manner like "hey bud where you goin?" if that makes sense. He may talk to her a lot to try and get her to focus on reality and listening so she doesn't get lost in the zombie-mode.

I don't know if the others are close enough to warrant them trying to break her out of it consistently, but these are a few of the thoughts I had! This is all speculation and I don't even know what breaking her out of zombie mode could mean--does it mean she's aware? Does it mean she's back to normal? so many possibilities!! and each character might see it different too, which affects their specific actions

But I am curious whether or not Shannon had any specific actions in mind when she wrote that line. she didn't need to in order to write it, but she could've!!

[gay-otlc]

To Love Unafraid (With An Ugly, Poisonous Heart)

Summary: Fintan was silent for a long time. Then he nodded and said, "The life of a pyrokinetic is a lonely one. It's hard to get close to people. When you do, it's too easy to hurt them. It's best to just isolate yourself from the good parts of society. If the council doesn't lock you up, you lock yourself up. I'm sorry you had to manifest this curse. I'm sorry you're turning into a monster like me."

(Or, Marella has OCD, and her intrusive thoughts feature hurting Biana.)

Word count: 3374

Content warnings: Wow, this is gonna be a long list. Um. Intrusive thoughts and depictions of OCD is the main one. Severe guilt and self loathing. Cursing. Fire and (imagined) death/murder. Mentions of suicidal thoughts and self harm. Generally disturbing. And yes, I did warn you that this would be fucked up.

Written for Marelliana week. Would probably fit under day two (nightmares) but also a free day. Whatever. It's all Marelliana. @marelliana-week

Read on AO3

Every time Marella looked into Biana's eyes a little too long, she thought she would catch on fire.

It wasn't her fault Biana was so... Biana. Were there really any words for how wonderful ae was? Beautiful, one could say, but that would barely cover it. Yes, Biana was so fucking beautiful, so beautiful it was unfair, with mahogany skin and a wide smile and stiff, dark hair with streaks of lavender. Marella had never been especially poetic, but she wanted to color Biana with adjectives and metaphors until the page reflected even a tenth of aer beauty.

She couldn't write that beautifully, though. She could only watch aer and think that if she could freeze time right then, she would be happy forever.

"You're staring again," Biana said, a hint of a laugh in aer voice.

"Sorry! You're just... you're just really pretty."

Ae looked down, cheeks turning pink. Sheepishly, ae scratched the back of aer neck. "Aww. Thanks. You're the sweetest."

Biana's lips are the sweetest. They'd only kissed a few times, and before then, Marella had thought nothing could taste better challah. She'd been proven wrong. At the thought, she noticed she'd been staring specifically at Biana's pink lips. She blushed harder, looking away. Until warm skin touched her hand, and wrapped fingers around hers. Marella looked back, surprised. Biana chuckled quietly, the prettiest smile on aer face. Marella brushed her thumb over aer knuckles, wondering how the hell she'd gotten so lucky as to date the princaess next to her.

And then the princaess burst into flames. Ae was a girl on fire, stunning. Ae looked like a phoenix, a mythical creature even for the elves. But aer face didn't look triumphant or majestic or beautiful. Just scared. And sad. Aer skin turned charred, angry red burns blistering across aer face. The girl Marella loved crumpled into ashes.

She blinked. Biana was back, alive, not on fire, beautiful as ever. But Marella couldn't appreciate aer beauty nearly as much, because the image of Biana burning was seared into her mind.

Do it. Do it. Burn aer. You know you want to.

Marella ripped her hand out of Biana's.

"Love? You alright?"

Deep breaths forced their way out of Marella's lungs. She clenched her fists so hard her nails painfully dug into her palms. "Yeah," she choked. "Don't feel well."

"Oh." Biana gave her a sympathetic look, and she squeezed her fists tighter. She didn't deserve Biana's sympathy. "Do you want me to get you anything?"

Let aer stay. Talk to aer. Don't push aer away.

"No," she replied forcefully; half a scream, half a sob. Hurt flashed across Biana's face, and Marella somehow felt even guiltier. If she could snap at aer like that, what would stopping her from getting just angry enough to really snap and... well... see the scared, sad, girl on fire once again. She took a deep breath, feeling tears rise to her eyes. She looked away. "No, I think I'm just going to lie down. Thanks, though."

"Okay." Biana still looked worried. If she could have, she would have comforted aer. But she didn't know exactly how to explain I'm not sick, I don't have some life threatening disease, I'm just getting horrible visions of murdering you and I'd prefer not to let those visions become reality, because I couldn't stand to lose you, and I don't think I could be responsible for that without burning away my ugly heart and soul as well.

Once Biana tore aer gaze away from the mess that ae had the misfortune to love, and light leaped away, Marella let herself crumble. She didn't even wait to get up to her room and hide under her blankets. Just let her knees collapse as she sank to the grassy yard in front of her house. Her shoulders shook with sobs. It felt like she would explode with anger and guilt and fear, and if she wasn't careful, the fire that exploded out of her would burn everything else in her life as well. All the things she cared about.

(Biana Vacker.)

She'd had thoughts like this before. Attacking people she was close to. Usually physically, but sometimes verbally. Still, that was all before she manifested. The worst she had ever thought about doing to anyone would have left a few bruises. Not like this.

Not a pile of ashes where a girl used to be.

When she was a kid, she'd been confident that her mother's accident was her fault, that she was the one to push Caprise Redek. She needed constant reassurance that she had been in a completely different room of the house at the time, that she couldn't possibly be responsible. Her dad thought it was a grief response, the guilt, the nightmares with false memories.

It could have been, if it was just a one off. But lately, Marella had begun to think there was some sort of monster living in her brain, whispering these horrible thoughts. Trying to convince her to carry out its wicked instructions. She would beat her head trying to force it out.

That didn't work, of course. And ever since Marella manifested, it felt like the monster was on fire. Bigger. More powerful. The monster was just an entity of flames, wanting to burn anything and everything that had the misfortune to be in Marella's path.

Sometimes Marella thought she was the monster.

And monsters didn't deserve to collapse on the front lawn crying, mourning the girl she used to be, who wasn't a danger to everyone around her. The girl she could have been, if she was just a little less twisted.

Glaring, jaw clenched, she stood up and swiped an arm across her face. She screamed as loudly as she could, trying to force the monster and the fire and all the poison out of her. Then she took a deep breath. She needed to talk to someone about this, because the secret, or the monster, or both, would eat her from the inside if she didn't let some of it out. Obviously, she couldn't tell Biana. Nor her dad- he didn't need to be more worried about her than he already was. Nor any of her friends, they had a hard enough time trusting her already.

Marella needed advice from someone who was just as dark and twisted as she was, so she could escape all the judgement. Someone who knew about monsters. And fire.

She needed advice from Fintan.

Reluctantly, she took out the leaping crystal that directed her to her much-dreaded training sessions with Fintan. Once the world materialized around her, she shivered. I'm never going to get used to the cold here.

Maybe it'll freeze out the monster.

Don't be ridiculous. The monster will never leave. The monster is you. The monster won't die unless you die.

Then maybe it would be best if-

"Marella?" Fintan's raspy voice said, interrupting Marella's spiral of thoughts swirling down the drain, slowly disappearing just like any goodness, or sanity, she had. "What are you doing here?"

"I-" Marella swallowed. "I didn't have anywhere else to go."

"What about your girlfriend's house?" Fintan asked, smirking a little. Marella really hadn't done a very good job of hiding that.

"I can't go to her. I'm too dangerous to be around her. If she's too close to me, she'll get hurt."

"Because you're a pyrokinetic?"

"Because I'm a monster."

"Please. If you were a 'monster', you wouldn't resist every time I suggested you join the Neverseen. You're disgustingly concerned with morals."

The words spilled out before Marella could stop them. "I'm also disgustingly obsessed with burning the love of my life to a pile of ashes!" Fintan stayed silent, and for a heartbeat, Marella thought, This is it. She was such a monster she even horrified Fintan. But her mouth kept talking, and her heart kept bleeding. "There's a monster in my head, that tells me to do really horrible things, like- like kill Biana, set her on fire until she can't survive me, and the more it goes on, the more I realize I'm the monster, it's my own actions. The monster tells me I want to do those things, and why would I think it if I didn't want to carry it out?"

"Do you want to hurt Biana?" Fintan asked, his voice calm and collected as ever. What a dickhead.

"I don't know!" Marella screamed, spinning around to punch the wall. Her knuckles split apart, droplets of blood appearing on them. "Part of me, part of me loves her more than anything else, can't stand to see her in even the least bit of pain. And the other part wants her to burn. And I don't know which part is real, or how to stop the second part. All I know is I can't be around her. I'm too dangerous."

Fintan was silent for a long time. Then he nodded and said, "The life of a pyrokinetic is a lonely one. It's hard to get close to people. When you do, it's too easy to hurt them. It's best to just isolate yourself from the good parts of society. If the council doesn't lock you up, you lock yourself up. I'm sorry you had to manifest this curse. I'm sorry you're turning into a monster like me."

"I'm sorry too," said Marella, not quite knowing what she was apologizing for. And then she ran.

Where was she running to? She didn't know that. Just... away.

When she finally had to take a breath to catch her breath, calves burning and lungs aching, it finally occurred to her. Where the pyrokinetic monsters had to go. The only place in the world that the world could possibly be safe from her. She'd considered the Forbidden Cities, midway through her run, so she wouldn't hurt anyone she knew and cared about... but she could kill humans, and that was still monstrous. Same with any cities for the other intelligent species. If she was around people- any people- they'd be in danger.

Exile. She had to go to Exile. A place meant to keep the rest of the world safe from her.

But how the fuck do I get there?

Marella screamed. No one was allowed to hear her. She screamed, because she was so damn close to keeping everyone she loved safe, and at this last step she couldn't make it. How the fuck did she get to Exile? Did she turn herself in to the Council, have a tribunal? Would they lock her up? They fucking should. The Council had thrown innocent elves into Exile, they wouldn't mind banishing a Pyrokinetic with a fucked up brain.

To Eternalia, she supposed, since she didn't have many other options.

She leaped there, starting heading towards the Councillor's castle, barely able to focus on anything around her other than the screaming in her head and the thunderous beating of her ugly, poisoned heart. Which is how she didn't notice that there was a person right in her path... and how she managed to bump into them.

Aer.

Biana.

"Hey, watch where- Marella? Love? Are you alright?"

Just her luck, the person she needed to stay away from. "What are you doing here?" Marella blurted, before she could really think about it. It sounded harsh, and she saw the hurt flash across Biana's face.

Ae recovered quickly. "I was getting some work done for Team Valiant, since we weren't together; it's too hard to do it around you, your pretty face always distracts me." Under aer breath, ae mumbled something that sounded like Biana, you disastaer queer.

Normally, Marella was happy to laugh about being a disaster queer- a concept she was well acquainted with, but that was drowned out by the fact that Biana was still affectionate with her. Still found her pretty, wanted to date her, just as in love as ae was before. Why wouldn't ae be? Ae didn't know. But ae needed to know- it wasn't fair to keep lying to Biana, manipulate aer into thinking aer girlfriend was a good person.

"We need to break up," said the words spilling out of Marella's mouth. In horror, she watched as Biana's face fell, looking like slow motion. She could see the heartbreak dawn on aer, moment by moment.

Aer brown eyes filling with tears, ae whispered "Marella?"

"I- you can't- we- I need to go to Exile," Marella said. "We can't date if I'm in Exile."

"Why the fuck would you need to go to Exile? The fuck did you do?"

"Nothing yet. I'd like to keep it that way. Which is why I can't see you again."

"You're not making any sense, Marella!" The tears spilled onto aer cheeks, and whatever was left of Marella's ugly heart broke.

She didn't want to tell Biana. She really, really didn't want to look Biana in the eye and explain that she fantasized about killing aer. She would rather be anywhere else- preferably Exile- but Biana had a right to know why Marella was breaking up with aer. So she swallowed. "I... I get these thoughts," she started, not quite knowing how to verbalize this secret she'd kept so close to her forever. "About... hurting people. Hurting you. Earlier today, right before I left, I thought about killing you. Burning you. It was really vivid... I could see you on fire, looking so scared of me, before you turned to ashes and smoke. And then my brain whispered..."

Marella broke off into a sob, not daring to look at Biana's face. Ae probably hated her now. Ae hated herself too.

"It whispered, 'Do it. Burn aer. I know you want to.' I'm so fucked up, Biana, I'm too dangerous to be around you. Please just leave before you get hurt. I don't want to hurt you, but this monster that lives in my head wants me to. Or maybe the monster is me, it's all so fucked up, but I don't want to let the monster win, whatever it is. Protect yourself. Don't let it win."

"Marella..."

"Biana, please don't let it win! It would kill me to see you die, know it was all my fault... my heart's full of poison and seeing you die would still break it. I love you, I love you more than anything, which is why I have to keep you safe. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." She turned away, almost crying too hard to speak. "I'm sorry. I'll just... I'll go."

Cold fingers wrapped around her wrist. "Not a chance in hell," snapped Biana, whirling Marella back around. "Don't you dare push me away. I am your girlfriend, and I call the shots on whether or not you're too dangerous to be around me. And the only danger you pose is trying to make my head explode from gay panic."

"Hello!? And also burning you!" Why the fuck couldn't ae understand? Ae needed to get away.

"I'll carry around a damn fire extinguisher, I don't care. I'm perfectly capable of handling myself in life or death situations. I've survived the Neverseen a million times over, I can survive the off chance that you lose control and set me on fire. I'll take precautions and I'll be ready to defend myself if I need to, but I don't think I'm going to need to."

"You don't know that! You don't know how horrible I am!" Marella couldn't stop screaming. She wasn't angry at Biana. Just angry at herself. Angry at the monster. Just... angry. She needed to stop before she set anything on fire. Monster.

"No, I don't know for sure that you'll never hurt me. But I know that I love you. I'm not going to stop loving you just because you're a flawed package. It's not like I'm little miss perfect or anything. We can be fucked up together."

"You're not perfect, but you're damn well closer than I am! Even Fintan thought I was fucked up. Fintan. I love you, Biana, I do, but my heart's too ugly and poisonous to be in love like we are. I just need to cut our ties and hope the pain from missing you goes away eventually."

"I love you, you fucking idiot!" Biana shouted. "I love you, because you're Marella fucking Redek, and you make me want to freeze time and be happy with you forever. I love you so much that it feels like burning any time I think of life without you in it. I love you so much that it feels like my world is a little bit off-kilter and then I kiss you and that's the only time everything feels right. I love you because you've been with me through all the shit in my life and made me smile through it all, so now it's my turn to help you with your shit. I love you so, so much, and I love everything about you. Even the flaws. Even the monster. I wish I could tell the monster to stay away from my Marella, but I can't, so I'm going to tell Marella to stop being so hard on my Marella. I love her, and she's not as bad as she thinks she is. She's not bad at all. I love everything about you, Marella, but I can't love you the way I want to if you keep pushing me away. So we'll be in love, and then we'll also have my scars and your monster and all our history with the Neverseen, but we'll love each other through it all. I need you to understand that I love you, you fucking idiot." Biana's eyes were wild with desperation. Ae exhaled heavily, giving Marella a pleading look.

"I love you," whispered Marella. It was all she could say before collapsing into a hug, crying. "I love you. I'm so sorry I tried to leave. You're the best. I love you."

"I want you to love yourself almost as much as I love you. You deserve it."

Maybe Marella would believe that, eventually. Maybe she'd get there.

She was still broken; how could she not be, with a monster living in her head? A little bit burnt, a little damaged, a little horrible. But she kept living. (Biana stayed alive and un-burnt too, to Marella's delighted surprise.) Her ugly, poisonous heart kept beating.

Elwin gave her a little pill to help keep the monster quiet, help keep her from freaking out so much every time the monster reared its fiery head. She eventually got to a point where she could make little fires with her hand and not spiral into a panic. Biana held her other hand as Marella lit the Hanukkah candles herself, and she was a bit scared, but it melted away with the laughter and latkes and warm lighting. It was hard not to push aer away; hard to keep herself from running away.

But Marella did it, because she loved Biana. And she loved herself, just a little bit. And she tolerated the monster. So she kept going, and she allowed herself to love Biana. To love unafraid, with an ugly, poisonous heart.

[angeldreifics]

Sophiana Ship Week Day Six

Pairing: Sophie Foster x Biana Vacker

Prompt: Nightmares and Daydreams

Word Count: 1058

Warnings: a bit of angst, nightmares, mentions of kidnapping, talk about having kids. idk maybe more?

(A/N): I think I’m just going to call this series “Domestic Bliss” Or something, because that’s pretty much what it is. 

Sophie wasn’t there.

It was three A.M., and Biana had woken up to an empty bed. She stood up and walked out of their shared bedroom.

“Soph?”

Nothing.

“Sophie, you there?”

She wasn’t in the kitchen, or the living room, or the bathroom. Biana tried outside next, expecting to see her wife sitting on the porch, watching the stars. But she wasn’t there either.

Biana began to panic, fearing the worst.

Had their past finally caught up to them? Did the Neverseen find them?

Was she ever going to see her wife again?

She would have to go after her. Not alone, of course. It would mean she would have to return to the lost cities. She would have to face her family again, and tell them that she had let Sophie get captured.

The guilt would eat her alive.

“Sophie!” She shouted, running out into the yard of their cottage, not bothering to put on a coat or shoes. “Sophie, please answer me!”

“Biana?” There was a rustle in the leaves, and after a few moments, Sophie jumped out of the tree and walked over to her panicking wife. “Hey, hey, calm down.”

“I thought they had taken you!” Biana whispered, tears streaming down her cheeks. “I was so scared.”

“I’m sorry, I should’ve left a note.” Sophie apologized and wrapped an arm around Biana’s shoulders. “Come on, let’s go inside.”

“I-” She swallowed. “I thought the Neverseen had taken you. I thought they had found us.”

“I’m here.” Sophie promised gently. “I’m here, and I’m ok.”

“But-”

“Come on, Bi.” She cooed. “Let’s go inside.”

Biana let herself be led inside and sat down on the couch. Sophie sat beside her, grabbing a blanket and putting it over the two of them. She hugged her wife, holding her close, trying to get her to stop crying.

“What were you doing out there?” Biana finally asked.

“I had a nightmare.” Sophie admitted, looking away and playing with a few threads from the edge of the blanket. “Couldn’t fall back asleep after, so I got up and I guess I just ended up in a tree.”

“You should’ve woken me up.” Biana said, taking her hand. “You know I’m always here for you, right?”

“I know.” Sophie said softly, still not meeting her eyes. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have disappeared like that.”

Biana was silent for a few minutes, rubbing her thumb across Sophie’s hand. She knew Sophie loved her and trusted her for the most part, but there were still walls that she had to try and break down. Her wife was always one to keep her problems to herself, but Biana worried that it wasn’t healthy.

“Do you want to talk about it?” She finally asked gently. 

Sophie shook her head. “It was just the same thing it always is.”

The kidnapping. 

Sophie was constantly reliving that day. It played over and over in her mind, haunting her dreams. It may have happened years ago, but the effects would last a lifetime. She held onto a lot of guilt from that night. It was her fault Dex had been taken too, wasn’t it? She should’ve done more to stop it. 

Biana pulled Sophie close, leaning her head on Sophie's. 

“Whenever you’re ready, I’m here.”

----

“What are you thinking about?”

The two sat on their front porch. The sun was shining overhead, the sky completely cloudless. A gentle breeze blew through the trees, leaves rustling gently. There was a creek at the far end of their property, and if you listened hard enough, you could hear the gentle gurgle of the flowing water. 

Sophie was reading a book. Ever since she had come back, she had appreciated reading human books more. The elves would say that human books weren’t good reading because elves were smarter than humans, but Sophie had to disagree. It was nice to be able to just read and enjoy herself, without worrying about anything. She had chosen a romance novel, something light and easy.

Biana was painting her nails. She had started trying to do fancy designs, enjoying the meticulous work. Sophie even let her practice on her nails weekly, enjoying the time with her wife.

Biana looked up from what she was doing. “Hmm? Oh nothing I guess.”

“You looked lost in thought.” Sophie said, closing her book gently. 

“I was daydreaming.” Biana admitted.

“About what, if you don’t mind me asking?”

Biana hesitated. “Our future.”

“What about it?” Sophie was curious.

“Well… we’ve been married for about a year now.” Biana started. “And if this was our life forever, I would be happy.”

“But…?” Sophie prompted.

“Have you ever thought about having kids?”

Sophie froze. 

“I’m not saying we should!” Biana said quickly. “I was just thinking that it’s an option, you know? We could adopt or something, since I don’t know how human medicine would help with elves. That seems risky. But adoption is a route we could take. Again, not saying we should.”

She trailed off, noticing Sophie was still quiet. Had she messed up? Did she freak Sophie out? “I’m not sure.” Sophie finally said. “I’ve never really had the chance to think about being a mom.”

Between everything with the Neverseen, being unmatchable, and then realizing that she was pretty gay, being a parent had just never seemed like an option. But, it was possible. They could have a family together.

It would be a lot of work, and a lot of money. Were they ready? Would they ever be ready? 

“I need time to think.” Sophie muttered. “But that’s me saying no.”

“Take as much time as you need.” Biana said quickly.

Sophie nodded and looked off into their yard, thinking deeply.

She was pretty sure she wanted kids. But she and Biana didn’t really have a support system. They had a few friends from work, but no one was all that close. Afterall, they couldn’t really talk about their past with humans. 

The kid probably wouldn’t ever know their grandparents, or their uncles. And they would have to adopt, which meant a human baby. A baby who would grow up and definitely notice when they were aging but their mothers weren’t. Their child would probably die before them. 

The only way this would work was if they went back.

Was having kids worth it?

I hope y’all enjoyed this, and as always feeback is appreciated!

[colossalsummer]

KOTLC book one READ ALONG part 3 of 5

I read the first Keeper of the Lost Cities book and annotated every page. Here are the highlights. (Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3/ Part 4/ Part 5)

Chapter 21

Sophie… picked up a huge clod of mud and nailed the verminion in the gut. LOL This isn’t a very good nature preserve

She placed a hand on Sophie’s shoulder and Sophie straightened. “Sorry. Do you mind?” “No… it’s nice,” Sophie whispered. It was the first time Edaline had touched her. 

*sophie splotches the living tar out of Stina* Had she pushed too hard? If she still has a pulse, not hard enough

Chapter 22

If she was going to beat Fitz, she was going to have to give it everything she had—and then some. Don’t kill him… just maim him

Chapter 23

I feel like there’s some talk about Fitz being all jealous of how much more powerful Sophie is than him, but he was really classy about her winning here. Like, just real happy for her, even after getting his melon smashed on the far wall of the gymnasium. This boy is concussed and he still accepts his loss with dignity. Say what you want, but I think Book 1 Fitz is a real lil gentleman.

Chapter 24

Dex: “I’d love to see Wonderboy’s face if a Dizznee broke his precious record.” just kiss already

Chapter 25

Biana: I know you like my brother. OH NUTS BACK OUT BACK OUT

I really appreciate that Sophie is this bridge between the popular kids and the weird kids.

...Dex moved their practice experiments to the caves that lined the beach at the base of Havenfield’s cliffs. Oh, you mean the Make Out Caves

Rock couldn’t burn and the ocean was nearby if they needed it. And they needed it. A lot. Dex sprinting into the ocean, screaming his head off, trailing flames, is a great image. Any fanartists that aren’t drawing their OTP kissing please get this on my desk ASAP.

Chapter 26

Sophie kept her eyes on her hands as she confessed her crime.

I like that Alina’s like “Maybe possibly we should give her detention?” and Tiergan’s like "NEVER." Some of these clowns would throw their coats over a puddle for Sophie but Tiergan would throw his whole body in front of a bus.

Keefe notices Sophie in detention and just gives her a thumbs up I’m dying

Tiergan to Alina: “Everyone knows how you favor him.” Eww

Her mind wandered automatically to Fitz. Someone cleared his throat. Sophie locked eyes with Keefe. What if Keefe thinks Sophie likes him? He must’ve noticed her thinking he was cute when they met.

Galvin: “You might want to brush up on iron purification.” AW OH MY GOSH SHE PICKED THE EASIEST ONE THIS IS SO SWEET

Honestly what is even more emotional for me than Sophie falling in love with all these boys is all these adults in her life that are really, truly trying to help her. I really like this book as, like, the story of Sophie trying to rebuild her life and support systems in the rubble of this massive personal tragedy. She’s learning to fall in platonic love with all sorts of different people in her life like Galvin and her foster parents, and I think that’s just nice.

Chapter 27

It sucks so bad that their finals happen all in one day.

This tradition of putting the caps in the lockers and filling them with presents the next day is so, so cute. I wish we did that in human school because it would seriously take the edge off.

Chapter 28

Keefe’s dad: “This must be the girl who was raised by humans.” And you must be a gigantic butthole. Charmed.

Every time Edaline holds Sophie’s hand I die and come back to life.

I’m so proud of Keefe for thriving with a vengeance in this terrible environment. Good boy.

There’s a lot of candy in this chapter, and I like that when kids integrate into a new fantasy society like Harry Potter, learning candy names is very important.

Tiergan: “...But do you think I could be tempted back by a little girl? Especially one performing so unremarkably in her sessions?” *crying* Ugh hold herrr

I just realized, is Biana just hanging out with us to get intel or something? She took a very sudden turn, and she seems guilty all the time now. Every moment this book shatters my trust.

Keefe teasing Sophie because he knows she’s stressed is *chef’s kiss*

*Dex getting the Disneyland watch* thank you Shannon I needed to see that

*Dex freaks out about Sophie’s “boyfriend”* Keefe: “Interesting.” Dex: “What?” L O L

Sophie runs to hug her foster parents and for a second wonders if that was okay BUT THEN THEY HUG HER BACK

Dex fixing Sophie’s iPod so she can have human music somebody help me I can’t

I hope Keefe hasn’t been associating her feelings for Fitz with himself. She gets all gaga when he just happens to be around and I just want to keep his little rascally heart intact.

Keefe: If you don’t relax, this candy will always taste bitter—so snap out of it!

The candy turned sour. Lol u got anxiety

Chapter 29

Alina: “Be prepared to be pushed much harder in ability detecting from now on.” I mean if you can’t, you can’t, right? Kids don't just squeeze new powers out

He didn’t like her— O yes he do honey

Sophie: “There are forbidden talents? *reaches for ever-growing file on things that are questionable in elf society* here we go

Sophie: “That still seems wrong. It’s like they’re not allowed to be who they are.” Marella: “Oh, relax. There’s only been like twelve—ever—so it’s not exactly a huge problem.” It doesn’t impact me so I do not see it 🙃

Sneaking into Edaline’s office and finding it just completely overturned. This woman needs some help.

Chapter 30

Dex took her to Moonglade: a wide, round meadow filled with thousands of fireflies flickering in the darkness. Mmm hm hmmm :)))

He came up behind her and used one arm to level the scope. Hello

Dex: “Sorry, is this okay?” Sophie: “Sure.” Mm hm mm hm go on

*sophie burns her hands and Dex rushes to examine them* aw man this trope gets me every friggin time. I'm so weak to that "hold still let me see your wound" stuff

You guys I think I’m team Sokeefe

[silveny-dreams]

Maybe if you have time #12 with Marella x Linh?

12 - Sneaking away to a hidden corner to share a secretive kiss.

-

Maybe it was her own fault, for insisting to Linh that they try to keep the fact that they were dating on the down-low, but Marella wasn’t sure how much longer she could pretend to be platonic during this girls night sleepover.

It wasn’t like anything had gotten particularly out of hand. The evening had been full of the usual sleepover sorts of things. Lady Ruewen had baked them all a whole tray of mallowmelt and helped them make cinnacreme; Sophie had played them all some of her human music and they’d had enough sugar at that point to get up and dance all stupid to it; there’d even been some nail-painting, which Marella only reluctantly went along with.

And somehow watching Linh through all of it was driving Marella slowly mad. There had been the cinnacreme mustache Linh had gotten on her upper lip that made Marella very, very aware of Linh’s lips. And Linh had looked so desperately cute, jumping around and swinging her head to some song called “Likey” and laughing. Not to mention Linh had convinced Marella to let her paint her nails for once, so Linh had been holding her hand gently and playing with her fingers for the past half an hour.

Marella had a sneaking suspicion that she might have been doing some of this on purpose.

“There, I made a little flame on the end of this one, Mare,” Linh said, sounding very pleased with herself.

She lifted the hand she’d been painting so Marella could see the little flicker of orange polish on her pinky nail.

Right. That was it. That was all the gay tension she could handle in one evening without doing something about it.

“I’m going to head to the bathroom,” Marella muttered, standing abruptly.

She leaned down and spoke quietly enough that only Linh could hear. “And if you don’t come check on me in the next five minutes, I swear to god, Linh.”

And Marella knew that Linh had been messing with her a little then, because a small, secret smile curled in the corner of Linh’s mouth.

How was that fair?

Marella closed the bathroom door behind her, making her way over to a little vanity and propping herself up to sit and lean back against the mirror. Just to be certain, she tapped at the upper corner of the mirror.

“This isn’t Sophie’s weird spectral thingy, is it?” She whispered, mollified when nothing responded.

“Let me check on her, okay?”

Marella turned and watched the bathroom door ease open and close just enough to let Linh inside.

“Great, now get over here,” Marella said quietly enough that Sophie and Biana wouldn’t catch it from out in Sophie’s room.

Linh grinned, laughing softly. “You’re awfully bossy tonight.”

“And you’ve been acting all cute on purpose and it’s too much,” Marella protested, poking out her lower lip. “Now get over here.”

Linh’s smile looked rather pleased. “If you insist.”

Marella looped her arms over Linh’s shoulders when she got close enough and pulled her in close, covering Linh’s mouth with hers.

Linh sighed contentedly, kissing her back, and brought her hands to cup Marella’s face gently.

“Sorry that I was cute on purpose,” Linh whispered against Marella’s mouth, smiling.

Marella snorted. “Uh, just kiss me and all is forgiven.”

Linh grinned and pressed her lips against Marella’s briefly. “There’s only so long we can kiss before we make our friends suspicious, you know.”

“Then that’s exactly as long as you need to kiss me to make it up to me,” Marella insisted, and Linh muffled her own giggles against Marella’s mouth.

How it was fair that Linh could be this cute, even when kissing her, Marella didn’t know. All she knew is she wouldn’t change it for anything.

-

Thank you all for for your submissions! Requests are now closed.

[girlofmanyfandoms]

The Awesome Saucers Pt 5

A/n: This is the band’s first practice session, they’re just getting to know their instruments. Let me know if I should do more of these! Enjoy!

Word count: 1,345

Warnings: Jensi gets page time *cue surprised Pikachu face*

Jensi’s hands were trembling as he grabbed his keyboard. 

“It’s okay, bro,” Jensi tried to comfort himself. “It’s everyone’s first day of practice, too. No one will judge.”

Jensi ran to the Leapmaster and whispered Foxfire. It was a miracle he got the word out. What was even more of a miracle was that Magnate Leto approved their use of Sir Astin’s currently empty classroom. It was off to the side, but Jensi had expected him to be questioning, demanding to know how they got their hands on such instruments.

“Maybe Sophie talked to him. They seem to do that a lot,” he muttered to himself before shaking the thought away. He had more important things to focus on. Sir Astin’s room was surprisingly large, mostly pastel purples and blues, which was fitting, as he taught classes on the Universe. By the time Jensi arrived, Marella had already finished setting up and was talking enthusiastically to Linh, their backs facing the door. She must’ve arrived early to bring her drums in.

Jensi was considering listening in on what they were saying, but brushed it off as band talk. 

“Hey guys, long time no see!”

Marella and Linh jumped apart and took a moment to compose themselves. Marella nodded to acknowledge him. 

“Hey,” Linh greeted cheerfully. “I know we don’t talk much, but I guess this band will change that, right?”

“I guess,” Jensi laughed nervously, still wrapping his head around how much this would really change for him.

“You seem… apprehensive,” Marella frowned. “You need to chill.”

“This,” Linh started, gesturing to the room around her, “Is an open space. An atmosphere you can be free in. Where you can express yourself.”

“Yeah, man,” Dex called from the doorway, his guitar slung crookedly over his shoulder. “We’re all beginners, none of us are gonna sound good on the first day. By the way, Linh, where’s Tam? I thought you two would come together.”

“He told me to go ahead. I think he has something planned for our parents.”

“Good,” Marella joined in. “No one should treat their kids the way they treated you.” She took a second to brush a strand of Linh’s hair out of her face gently. Linh grinned sideways at her, blushing slightly. 

Jensi opened his mouth to mention this, but Dex pulled him to the side, winking at the girls. Jensi tried again, but Dex put a finger to his lips. “Don’t mention it. This is normal.” Dex cleared his throat and led Jensi to one of the only tables in the room. “You can set your keyboard up over here. Let me know if you need anything, I’ll be tuning my guitar.”

“Ok.”

—————

Within the next half hour, everyone had arrived. Marella and Linh claimed to have gotten bored and asked Biana to lend them nail polish. She gives them hot pink and silver accordingly, not giving it much thought. They slink off to the corner giggling. 

Biana rolls her eyes. “While those two are goofing off, who wants to go first?”

“I’ll do it,” Stina declared, head held up high, acoustic guitar acting as a staff in her glorified stance. She lifted her arm more than she needed to, clearly expecting the action to result in an awe-inspiring riff.

Tam nudged Dex in the arm. “This’ll be good.”

And it was. It was so good that it was horrifyingly, terribly, someone-rip-off-my-ears bad. Even Stina knew it. But, of course, she would never forfeit her dignity. “See if you can do better than that, losers.”

“I’ll try,” Tam volunteered, trying to spite Stina. He sat down on a stool and modestly began strumming, trying to get a baseline of which sounds correspond to which string. He tuned his guitar a bit before letting himself strum a bit. It wasn’t great, but it was one hundred times better than Stina’s attempt. “Dex, you wanna give it a shot?”

Dex grabbed his bass guitar and took Tam’s place on the stool. Eventually, everyone but Jensi, Biana, Marella, and Linh had had the spotlight.

“Look, Tam.” Linh motioned him over, taking Marella’s hand and showing off their nails. Linh leaned her head on Marella’s shoulder ever so slightly, cheeks heating up.

Tam, fully understanding why she had done so, rolled his eyes and took his sister’s hand, helping her stand. “Practice and then you can get back to your girls’ night.”

Linh sighed and reluctantly picked up her bow and began to play her cello. Marella followed directly after, being purposely chaotic in the noises she made, leaving only Jensi and Biana left to practice. 

“You can go first,” Biana offered. “I haven’t figured out how to practice my vocals yet.”

Jensi gulped. “No, no,” he refused profusely. “Ladies first.”

“JJ, I already told you, none of us expect you to pull off something great,” Dex comforted. “That’s what practice is for.”

Jensi began to protest. “But-“

“No buts,” Maruca stopped him. “If I had to make those shrill sounds with that clarinet, you have to practice the basic piano chords. Besides, even if you mess up, it won’t sound that bad.”

Jensi relented. “Fine, I’ll try it.” Maruca clapped in celebration. Jensi fumbled in his pockets for a paper he had prepared the day before. He had wanted to go straight to Sophie, but realized how awkward that would be. After that long, who would genuinely help someone who let them sit at the same lunch table all those years ago? Instead, he called on Dex who was able to give him notes on how to identify each piano key. After emptying out his pockets, he realized it wasn’t there. Sighing deeply and cursing himself silently, he approached his keyboard. He would have to do this off of memory. 

The others watch as he expertly navigates his hand across the keys. After gaining some confidence, he began playing with both hands, only having to slow his speed slightly. He messed up a few times, but since no one mentioned it, he felt motivated to continue. At about noon, they decided to wrap things up.

“What about you, Biana?”

Biana looked puzzled. “What about me?”

“You didn’t practice vocals yet,” Stina pointed out. “Planning to skip out?”

“I don’t know what to sing,” she replied modestly.

“Sophie can help you out with that one,” Maruca told her, leading Biana by the shoulders. “You guys can head out. We’re heading over to Havenfield.”

——————-

After everyone had said their goodbyes, Biana and Maruca light-leaped to Sophie’s place. Maruca, eager to hear Biana sing, rushed to Sophie’s room, too fast to even be questioned by Sandor. 

“Sophie!” Maruca called. “We’re coming in.”

Sophie was browsing through her old IPod, eating an entire batch of mallowmelt off of a tray. She sat up suddenly trying to hide the batch of mallowmelt behind her. “Maruca! Biana! I wasn’t expecting guests.”

“It’s fine.” Maruca popped a piece of mallowmelt into her mouth and layed down on the flowery carpet. “We’re here for your human music expertise.”

Sophie looked flustered. “Well I’d hardly call it expertise, more like-“

“It’s good enough,” she interrupted. “And it’s all we have. I need a song for my girl Biana here to practice her vocals. She couldn’t do it at practice today because she didn’t know the lyrics to any songs.”

“Practice?”

“Not important,” Biana promised. She didn’t want Sophie to know just yet. “Can you teach me some human songs?”

——————

After Maruca helped Biana, she realized how much she had really been left out of the circle. She was only useful to them because she was a Psionipath.

“But not to the band,” she whispered to herself. She was at Elwin’s so she could meet up with her cousin, Wylie. Maruca told him about the band and he smiled. He said Cyrah would enjoy it. He even asked if they would play in front of Prentice once they were better. Maruca, of course, agreed. “I have a place now. A purpose. Friends.” And that attitude was all she would need.

Taglist: @imaramennoodle @bookwyrminspiration @an-absolute-travesty @a-lonely-tatertot @linhammon-roll-bromance101 @linhamon-roll @holesinmyfalseconfidence @loverofallthingssmart @ a n y o n e

Please let me know if I forgot to tag you or if you want to be tagged!

[artificialqueens]

The Bitch and the Dumbass 2/? (Biadore) - Miss Bianca

A/N: So here’s the second chapter! Thank you guys so much for the great response to the first, it really inspired me to get moving and write some more. I’m still not fully sure where this is going, but I’m a slut for high school AUs, and this is giving me my life, so I’m sticking with it. We’ve got a couple new characters in this one, and I’m adding Witney as a lil side ship, because I’ve recently become fully obsessed with Willam. Hope y'all like this, and please tell me what you think! You can also find it and my other stuff on my ao3, MissBianca. 

In the first few weeks of chemistry class, Bianca learned three things (other than the class material itself) that she immediately filed away to think about when she was bored.

She also wrote them down, of course - on the backs of her pages of notes, when Adore was too busy daydreaming to pay attention. Bianca’s brain got so busy sometimes that it was best to keep a record of whatever she wanted to remember.

First of all, Bianca learned the right way to lean on her desk during the breaks in lecture so she could catch all of Gia and Vivienne’s gossip (without them realizing she was listening), to share with Courtney later. Through that, she also learned that the dance team captain, Alyssa Edwards, was the gossip queen of the school.

Honestly, if Bianca had a dollar for every time she’d heard Gia whisper ‘Alyssa says…’ in that annoying drawl of hers, she’d be able to live comfortably without even getting her high school diploma for the rest of her life.

Secondly, she learned that Ms. Visage was not the monster people made her out to be. She wasn’t easygoing, by any means, but her infamous mean streak actually made Bianca more inclined to like her. Ms. Visage was a judgemental bitch, that was for sure. But from what Bianca could tell, she really just wanted all of her students to succeed and live up to their full potential.

However, as far Bianca was concerned, Ms. Visage’s impression of Adore’s full potential was misguided. The teacher expected Adore to have full comprehension of all of the readings and material, something that very clearly wasn’t going to happen.

That led to the third thing Bianca had learned: Adore, despite being seemingly unable to focus on academics, wasn’t actually as dumb as Bianca and everyone else had assumed she was. When they did labs, Adore always had a relatively good grasp on what she was doing, and Bianca didn’t mind answering what questions she did have.

It seemed harder for Adore to understand all the lectures, but she seemed to be trying to. Even though her leg bounced almost nonstop and her nails tapped against the desk impatiently, she started out every class taking notes.

Halfway through, though, Adore’s focus would start to slip, and Bianca would catch her doodling in the corners of her pages instead.

And that brought Bianca to the present moment, 25 minutes into Friday chemistry class, with a page and a half full of notes on the properties of the noble and halogen gases in front of her. Beside her was Adore, with about two thirds of that material written down in messy handwriting, from what Bianca could make out.

The other girl was tugging on her lower lip with her teeth, and humming quietly as she carefully drew a series of small cats right in the middle of her page.

Instinctively, Bianca wanted to tell Adore to pay attention, but she doubted it would make a difference. Ms. Visage was only going over the readings anyway, and Bianca’s hand was tired from taking notes all day. She set down her pen, propped her chin up on her fist, and watched Adore for a moment.

Adore’s bright eyes were soft and striking at the same time, lashes fluttering as she surveyed her doodles. A lock of dyed blonde hair was slowly falling across her round cheek, and the slightly pouty, focused look on her face made a smile tug at Bianca’s lips.

As much as she’d resented being paired with Adore two weeks ago, Bianca was minding sharing a desk less and less every day. If she was honest, Adore was actually kind of…adorable. She winced internally at the unintentional pun.

“See something you like, nerd?” Adore murmured, smirking lazily as her eyes flicked over to Bianca quickly.

“Just wondering what it’s like in that messy brain of yours,” Bianca fired back quickly, her voice low and raspy. “Don’t you get dizzy, with how fast everything goes in one ear and out the other?”

Adore grinned, her tongue poking out between her teeth as she finished off the ears of another tiny cat on her paper.

“Maybe I like being empty-headed,” she replied, resting her cheek on her fist and smiling vapidly at Bianca. “I’ll graduate and be someone’s trophy wife, never work again.”

Bianca snorted.

“Better fix those roots first, bitch,” she retorted. “And get your tits done. Rich older men like tits.”

“How about rich older women?”

Bianca raised an eyebrow. Was Adore gay? For some reason, she’d never even considered the possibility. It hadn’t really mattered before, she figured. And it still didn’t matter. Biana forced herself to stop thinking about it.

“How should I know?” she replied finally.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Adore whispered, feigning surprise. “I thought you were one of them. I must’ve been confused by your worn out hairstyles and that grandma neckline.”

“Well, damn,” Bianca cackled quietly despite herself, covering her mouth. “Not bad for the dumb girl.”

Adore shrugged, still grinning, and turned her attention back to her notebook. Bianca tried to do the same, reviewing the notes she’d already written, but she lost interest quickly, and in a minute or so, she found herself looking up at Adore again.

This time, though, Adore was already staring at her.

“You really think they’re too small?”

“Huh?”

“My tits,” Adore explained, her voice low. “You really think they’re that small?”

“I - well, I hadn’t -” Bianca stammered, thrown off guard. She glanced down at Adore’s chest, and then back up to the other girl’s face to see Adore smirking at her again. “I mean,” she paused, trying to regain control of the situation. “They’re n-not too small, they’re nice tits - I mean, objectively, of course - but they’re not trophy wife material.”

“Aw, thanks,” Adore teased, batting her eyelashes rapidly and shimmying her shoulders. “Glad you like them. Yours are nice too, very -”

“- Don’t,” Bianca cut her off, slightly flustered. “Just shut up, you idiot.”

Adore laughed too loudly, and Ms. Visage’s droning voice fell silent.

“Oh, shit,” Adore muttered, covering her mouth with her hand. Bianca grinned, suppressing her own laughter.

“Delano!” Ms. Visage shouted sharply. “What did I say about talking during my class?”

“I wasn’t talking, I was laughing,” Adore replied, and a wave of giggles swept through the classroom.

“Delano, my class is not a joke.”

“Yeah, c’mon, Delano, it’s life or death here,” Bianca added, jumping onboard delightedly. Ms. Visage’s lips twitched.

“Sorry, Ms. Visage, Ms. Del Rio,” Adore said mockingly, rolling her eyes and flipping Bianca off.

“Ms. Visage,” Bianca called, gasping with offense. “Adore’s being profane -”

“I didn’t say anything!” Adore denied.

“She flipped me off, that’s the same -”

“That’s enough, you two,” Ms. Visage cut them off firmly. “I have a lecture to get back to.”

Clearly satisfied with herself, Adore flicked her hair over her shoulder. Huffing out a sigh, Bianca tapped her finger sharply against Adore’s notebook.

“Get back to it, airhead.”

Adore flipped her off again.

Reluctantly, Bianca resumed taking notes as the rest of the period crawled by, glancing sidelong at Adore every so often and trying not to get caught up in staring at her.

When the bell finally rang, Adore nearly fell off her stool in her hurry to get up, her arms swinging comically. Chuckling, Bianca put her things away and slid her ever-present sunglasses back into place on her head.

“Bianca!” Courtney called. Bianca looked up to see her best friend standing near the doorway impatiently, with Alaska Thunder, Dela Creme, and Darienne Lake hovering beside her.

“I’m coming, don’t get your panties in a twist,” Bianca quipped, hopping off her stool and slinging her bag over her shoulder.

“We getting lunch?” Courtney asked as Bianca walked towards her. “Willam texted and said she’s saving the table.”

“Yes, Court, it’s lunchtime,” Bianca replied slowly, as if Courtney was stupid. “When else would we get lunch?”

“Good!” Courtney linked their arms together, completely unfazed by Bianca’s rudeness. “C’mon, then. You too, Adore.”

“Huh?” That was Adore. Bianca looked over her shoulder to see the other girl frowning confusedly.

“Wait, there’s no way Adore’s coming to -” Bianca began to say.

“Yes, she is,” Courtney interrupted. “So are Dela and Darienne here. Let’s go, people, time to start walking. Haven’t got all day.”

“But, Court,” Bianca tried again, letting Courtney pull her along as the group shuffled out through the door and headed towards the cafeteria. Adore hovered on Bianca’s other side, and Darienne’s boots could be heard pounding the floor behind them.

“No buts.” Courtney shook her head. “I was talking to them before class, and they seem like pretty cool people. And you need more friends anyway.”

“Oh, fuck you,” Bianca snapped halfheartedly. “I guess this bitch is coming, too?” She nodded towards Alaska.

The tall blonde was a few feet away from Courtney, her posture surprisingly diminutive for someone decked out in combat boots, heavy metal jewelry, and dark eye makeup that gave her a ‘I’m so hardcore that I just got punched in the face twice’ look.

“I dunno,” Courtney shrugged. “Alaska, are you?”

Alaska looked up, seeming slightly startled. She blinked a few times, running a hand through her messy hair.

“If you guys - if you want,” Alaska said unsurely.

“Court, she looks like she hasn’t brushed her hair in a week,” Bianca muttered. “I feel like something’s gonna jump out of that nest and bite me.”

“Of course, we’d love to have you!” Courtney chirped, ignoring Bianca entirely and waving Alaska closer with her free hand. “C’mere.”  

“I can’t believe you,” Bianca hissed under her breath, and Courtney squeezed her arm. “I swear to god Court, if you try to invite that bitch who looks like the product of a meth-ridden 3 AM hookup between Elvira and fucking Marilyn Manson, I will -”

“Sharon can come too, if you like,” Courtney added, cutting Bianca off before she could finish her whispered threat. “You two are friends, right?”

“You’re the devil,” Bianca muttered in Courtney’s ear.

“Oh no, that’s okay,” Alaska said, shaking her head and frowning. “Sharon doesn’t eat at the cafeteria. I don’t either. Not usually, at least.”

“Well, there’s a first time for everything,” Courtney chirped. “You’re with us, now.”

Bianca sighed deeply.

“Oh, c’mon now, turn that frown upside down, Willow,” Courtney said with a grin, elbowing her. “It’ll be fun! Who knows, you might actually find someone you like in the bunch.”

“I’ve got you already, I’m good,” Bianca said. There was a responding coo from Courtney, who squeezed her arm again.

“Aw, what about me?” Adore half whined on her other side, a lazy smile tugging at the corner of her mouth.

“What about you?” Bianca said, glancing up at Adore.

“Seemed like you liked me a lot earlier,” Adore teased, looping her arm through Bianca’s and pressing in next to her, almost as if she was mocking how the other two girls always walked together.

“Oooh, someone’s getting friendly,” Courtney commented with a giggle.

Bianca’s cheeks started to get warm as Courtney side-eyed her. Trying to pretend that she wasn’t blushing, Bianca rolled her eyes exasperatedly. She swore sometimes that Courtney was put on the earth just to embarrass her.

“Yeah, just this whore,” she snorted. Adore’s hand was brushing lightly against the inside of her wrist, and Bianca didn’t think she liked the way it made her skin tingle. “Get off of me, bitch, I wouldn’t wanna catch anything.”

Adore smiled charmingly, and Bianca pushed her off, making a face. On the other side of Courtney, Alaska giggled.  

The girls made their way quickly through the halls, other students getting out of their way at the mere sight of Bianca and Courtney heading up the pack.

The crowd inside the cafeteria parted like the red sea in front of her, almost eliminating the line for food entirely. As she grabbed a lunch tray, Bianca was suddenly glad that she was levelheaded enough not to let the rush of power get the best of her. She couldn’t stand the people who did let high school popularity go to their heads.

Bianca knew that she was a bitch. In fact, she owned it. But - in her opinion - it was never uncalled for bitchiness. If someone did something stupid, they deserved to be read, and Bianca would be damned if she wasn’t the one to do it. It was all just honesty, really, and if the truth scared people, they could just stay the fuck out of her way.

Which, of course, they did.

Which, in turn, bumped her, albeit unintentionally, up the social food chain. Bianca hadn’t sought popularity out, but she had it anyway - a combination of power through fear and admiration through concise fashion choices. And also, a burst of luck from having the school’s #1 overachiever and social butterfly at her side most of the time.

The people that did seek popularity out, though, the ones who wore metaphorical masks to school, fought tooth and nail for power, and abused it when they did have it, those were the people that Bianca wanted to roast like pigs on spits.

If their school had stayed true to the stereotype, then Courtney and her fellow cheerleaders would’ve been that sort of people. But at Johnson High School, it was the core of the champion dance team who formed an unbreakable, intolerable, and sometimes cruel clique.

Bianca knew Shangela, one of the best dancers, and she wasn’t so bad, just a gossip addict. She’d also been friends with Alyssa Edwards in middle school, and Alyssa wasn’t a bitch, just an often insensitive diva. It was the ones like Gia Gunn, Coco Montrese, and Tyra Sanchez - and more recently Laganja Estranja - who were the worst. They were the ones who couldn’t get enough of being the center of attention and talked shit about everyone outside of their social circle for fun.

“Willam!” Courtney pulled Bianca out of her thoughts with an excited squeal, wobbling on her tiptoes so she could see over the sea of people to their table. “I see her, Bianca, c’mon!”

Bianca grabbed her lunch tray, hurrying after Courtney as her friend trotted quickly through the crowd.

Wondering if they’d managed to lose the latest victims of Courtney’s almost aggressive friendliness in the bustle of the cafeteria, Bianca glanced over her shoulder.

No such luck. The rest of their little group was following along like ducklings, Dela and Darienne keeping up the pace pretty well. Adore was another story, balancing her tray precariously against her hip as she struggled to get the strap of her bag back over her shoulder and catch up at the same time. Bianca snorted.

The cafeteria was packed with students, but their table was mostly empty, aside from a couple of Courtney’s friends that she knew Bianca would tolerate. Today, it was two other cheerleaders: Willam Belli, wildly popular and probably Courtney’s favorite person on the planet, and Joslyn Fox, a sophomore who thought Courtney was a god.

Bianca raised an eyebrow, making a mental note to interrogate Courtney later for both choices - Willam, because Courtney was getting very transparent about the crush she had on the her, and Joslyn, because letting her sit with them could not be explained through anything other than Courtney’s narcissistic tendencies.

Willam, the object of Courtney’s attention, was poised perfectly on the bench, her multi-colored pastel hair in beachy waves that were clearly supposed to look tousled and messy.

There was no food in front of her - Willam didn’t like to eat in public - and she was popping her gum loudly as she looked down at her phone. She also clearly hadn’t noticed the excited blonde puppy that was Courtney Act hurrying towards her.

As someone who spent a lot of time on her hair and makeup, Bianca knew exactly how much work it had taken Willam to look careless, and she respected it, just like she respected Willam’s impeccable fashion sense and taste for expensive shoes.

All in all, if Courtney had to have a crush on someone, which she always did, Bianca was fine with it being Willam. She’d give the couple her stamp of approval, if she had to.

Courtney reached the table, hopping up onto the bench right next to Willam and immediately invading her personal space with a kiss on her cheek. Willam nearly dropped her phone in surprise, cursing loudly as Courtney wrapped an arm around her waist.

Cackling, Bianca sat down on Courtney’s other side. Resting her elbow on the table, she watched them as they interacted, gathering ammunition to use later when she made Courtney admit her hopeless crush and do something about it.

“You got lip gloss on me,” Willam laughed, setting down her phone and reluctantly letting Courtney pull her in closer. “Fuckin’ bitch.”

“It looks good on you,” Courtney said, grinning. “It’s your color!”

“I know all my colors, and that’s not one of them,” Willam replied, looking at Courtney. She paused for a moment before continuing, a smile tugging at her lips. “It’s not one of yours either.”

“Hey!” Courtney gasped, offended.

Willam laughed, her arm wrapping around Courtney’s shoulders.

“Don’t worry, you’re still hot,” Willam added, reaching up to brush Courtney’s hair out of her face. “Even if you are shit at makeup.”

“Aw, fuck off,” Courtney huffed, her cheeks pink. Willam grinned even wider.

“I feel like I’m gonna get my first and only cavity just from watching this,” Bianca said grumpily, waving her hand at them. “You’d think you’re a couple on a honeymoon, with all of this bullshit going on.”

“You’re just jealous,” Courtney said dismissively, resting her head on Willam’s shoulder.

“Yeah, she likes me better now,” Willam added, shrugging. Her words were clearly directed to Bianca, but her lazy smile focused only on Courtney, eyes bright and narrowed affectionately. “Sorry ‘bout it.”

Rolling her eyes, Bianca pointedly looked away. She wanted to commit that enamored look on Willam’s face to memory so she could describe it to Courtney later. Maybe it would help convince her to just ask the other girl out already, before Bianca did it for her.

After a moment, Bianca realized that Adore, Darienne, and Dela were all still standing around awkwardly with their lunch trays. Glancing to her other side, she saw Alaska hovering behind Courtney and Willam, looking very self-conscious.

“Well?” Bianca demanded, looking around at them. “Are you cunts gonna sit down, or keep making yourselves look stupid?”

“As if we’re the cunts here,” Darienne muttered, almost too quietly for Bianca to hear. Adore’s eyebrows shot up, and she glanced at Darienne sideways.

Dela nudged the trio over to the other side of the table, where an over-eager Joslyn Fox was waving them over with a smile. After a moment, Adore sat down across from Bianca, with Dela and Darienne beside her.

“I’m sorry, what was that?” Bianca arched an eyebrow, glaring at Darienne once the three were settled on the bench.

“Hm?” Darienne looked up at her innocently. “Oh, nothing.”

“Mmhm, sure,” Bianca hummed, deciding to leave it for now. She eyed Darienne suspiciously. There was very little that she knew about Courtney’s new friend, and it made her slightly nervous. She’d have to try to get information out of one of the less annoying dance team girls later.

“Courtney,” Bianca said, nudging her friend, who lifted her head slightly with a hum. “Alaska’s still…”

She trailed off as she looked behind them. Alaska was gone, probably off to wherever she normally spent the lunch period.

“What about Alaska?” Courtney asked.

“Nothing, she just left,” Bianca shrugged nonchalantly, ignoring the guilty feeling in the pit of her stomach.

Of course Alaska had left - they’d forgotten about her, and left her standing there awkwardly in the middle of the cafeteria. It wasn’t as if she was Bianca’s responsibility, though, so there was no reason to feel bad about it. It was Courtney who had dragged her along with them, and then promptly forgotten her entirely at the first sight of Willam Belli. Classic Courtney.

“Oh no!” Courtney exclaimed. “Where’d she go?”

“Oh nerrrr!” Willam repeated in an exaggerated imitation of Courtney’s accent. Bianca cackled. “Who’s Alaska?”

“I feel so bad,” Courtney said, a pout on her lips. “I liked her, I did!”

“Who’s Alaska?” Willam repeated her question, only to be ignored again.

“You forgot about her,” Dela put in from the other side of the table, her lips twisted in a frown. “I was waving her over to sit with us, but there’s not really enough room on this side.”

“Are you trying to imply something here?” Darienne asked, looking annoyed.

“Oh gosh, no, not at all!” Dela exclaimed, her eyes widening. “It’s just not a big bench, that’s all.”

“No, I see how it is,” Darienne said with a dramatic sigh, flapping her hand at Dela. “It’s fine.”

Seeming unsure of what to say, Dela glanced at Adore, who shrugged, picking at her food. Bianca narrowed her eyes as the table fell silent.

“Anyway, who’s Alaska?” Willam asked for a third time, breaking the weird tension dryly.  

“Tall punk bitch, blonde rat’s nest on her head?” Bianca replied.

“Ohhh,” Willam nodded. “Smokes under the bleachers with Needles’ crew sometimes?”

“Does she?” Bianca asked, raising an eyebrow. She’d known Alaska hung out with Sharon sometimes, but Alaska was a good student, and Sharon and her friends were the type of people that would end up in prison or dead in alleys, not in college. And on top of that, Alaska had seemed so self-conscious and quiet, it was hard to imagine her breaking school rules so openly.

“I mean, unless she’s got a lookalike, yeah,” Willam shrugged. “I’ve seen her there a couple times. Fuck, she’s so trashy, though.”

“Pot calling the kettle black, much?” Bianca retorted, and Willam grinned.

“Fair.”

“She’s really nice,” Adore put in, speaking up for the first time. “Spends a lot of her time alone. She plays the piano in the band rooms sometimes, though, during free periods. I think I’ve heard her singing, too.”

“Her makeup is terrible,” Willam drawled.

“So’s Courtney’s,” Adore countered. Bianca cackled, surprised by the speed of Adore’s comeback. “And you clearly love her.”

“Hey, wait a second -” Courtney started to defend herself, perking up.

“Also fair,” Willam agreed, cutting Courtney off and stroking her hair soothingly, as if she was a pet, when she huffed in annoyance. Willam grinned at Adore. “I like you. What’s your name?”

“Adore Delano.”

“I’m Willam.”

“I know,” Adore chuckled.

“So why are you here?” Willam asked.

“She’s my lab partner,” Bianca said.

“I meant, like, all of them.”

“Courtney picked them up after chemistry class,” Bianca explained. “Said I needed more friends.”

“Sounds like her,” Willam snorted.

“I’m right here,” Courtney whined, nudging Willam’s shoulder with her nose like a puppy. Bianca just barely caught the flash of a genuine smile on Willam’s face before the other girl suppressed it.

“Wait, we’re friends?” Adore asked, resting her forearms on the table and leaning forward. “I thought you hated me.”

“No, we’re not,” Bianca snapped.

“But you don’t hate me, though?” Adore tilted her head to the side, a cute half smile on her face.

Bianca paused for a moment. Two weeks ago, she would’ve answered immediately that she did, but she wasn’t so sure anymore.

For as long as Adore had been on her radar, Bianca been grouping her with Laganja Estranja, mostly because Laganja and Adore had been inseparable Freshman year. She’d never interacted with either of them, but she’d heard Laganja talking far too much their sophomore year, when she started hanging out with the dance team girls. Now that she was on the dance team, she was insufferable.

So when Bianca had ended up in a fight with a loud and annoyed Adore the first day of class, it had been an easy assumption - if Laganja was a fake, loudmouthed attention whore, then her close friend was probably exactly the same way.

Obviously, Adore wasn’t. And come to think of it, Bianca hadn’t seen Adore and Laganja hanging out in a while anyway.

“I never said I hated you in the first place,” Bianca pointed out finally. “You were the one who came for me that first day.”

“You’re cool now, though,” Adore said, shrugging carelessly. “I mean, I can’t hate you, because you’re helpful, and sometimes you’re sweet, and you’re funny…but you’re truthful, but you’re a dick…you’re like, evil-nice.”

“She’s got you down pat, Bianca,” Courtney commented, giggling.

Bianca smiled at the little speech. Courtney was right. And the fact that Adore wasn’t ashamed to admit that she’d been wrong before made Bianca like her even more.

If Bianca was totally honest, the shameless, raw bitchiness that Adore had thrown her way that first day of class had been the reason that she’d actually communicated with Adore at all instead of just ignoring her. Adore wasn’t very smart, but she was funny and filterless and she spoke her mind, and that was the kind of person that Bianca fucked with.

“Now if you’d said that to me on day one, Adore, I’d have been your friend from the start,” Bianca said, laughing. “But it’s gonna take a bit longer than that, because you were such a cunt.”

“It’s fine, bitch, I’m not trying to be your friend just yet,” Adore said, making a face. “You’re an asshole, and you wear fucking sunglasses inside.”

There was a burst of chuckles from around the table, and Bianca could hear Willam’s wheezing, seal-like laugh above the rest. Bianca rolled her eyes, leaning forwards so she could glare at Willam.

“What?” Willam grinned. “She’s right. Wearing sunglasses inside is real fucking stupid.”

“Just put them in your bag?” Adore added. “It’s not like it’s hard?”

“Oooh, she reads Bianca, I like her,” Willam exclaimed, clearly delighted. “Courtney, can we keep her?”

“I’ll keep the sunglasses on, thanks,” Bianca retorted. “My hair gets frizzy, and they help keep it down.”

“Are you sure it’s not just because you wanna look cool?” Adore was smiling now, her eyes sparkling, and Bianca wasn’t sure she could take her eyes off of her if she tried.

“I’d look cool with or without them,” Bianca replied.

“That’s debatable,” Courtney put in.

“Yeah, I think it would take a lot away from the whole…look,” Willam mused.

“It does, I’ve seen her without them,” Courtney agreed.

“You’re all cunts,” Bianca said firmly.

All three of them laughed, and Bianca rolled her eyes, suppressing a smile. Maybe the new additions to their little group weren’t the worst thing in the world.