#I am not proofreading 1300+ words...

[viaphni]

RUINED REALLTY SEASON THREE: CATALYST TRAILER ANALYSIS

I have to completely admit that the end of season 2 and its epilogue had me very hesitant for the way things are going, and I am still a little hesitant, but i DO BELIEVE THAT THEY ARE 1000% COOKING

First of all, that trailer was AMAZING!

The music, atmosphere, and cinematography were all done very very well (and great voice acting from Rinzler too)

But onto the actual trailer

It opens up on the results of the Soulstice's arrival, with Light alone, showing everybody's souls stolen away and their bodies on the ground. Light has lost it all. He immediately blames himself. It's also made apparent pretty quickly that Soullless is still present in some way, and is going to play a significant role again.

One of the first really interesting things to occur is Light taking the Soul Eater's weapon in his hands.

He stares at it for a moment before picking it up, the screen fading to black. But why would he be using his worst enemy's weapon? What benefit does it serve him? Mostly likely, I think it would have something to do with Soulless. Whether he likes it or not, Light now has a complete tie to the Soulstice itself. As he takes it, he says "And now, another threat is here..."

And Void's new reign of terror is displayed:

We are shown the Yellow Kingdom again, and the areas around it, completely overtaken by Darkness. Void must have taken complete control of the situation, as we just saw Seer with active dominance over their body in the epilogue. Maybe it was a defense mechanism to keep him alive after Corrupt's attack?

After these shots, we see what I think is the center tower of the kingdom—and there is a deep, bottomless pit surrounding it where the moat of lava once was.

It reminds me a bit of the castle entrance to the Depths from Tears of the Kingdom. Void might have something important down there.

A few more shots cycle through of the tower, and we see this—

The camera is descending into the chasm.

Next, we see a room maybe akin to some kind of lab?

It could also be a big machine. Somebody is standing there, but even with heightened exposure and brightness, it's hard to tell who it is. I'm sure it's Void, however, due to the chasm and darkness. This shot is really interesting, too--

--because it seems to be the view of the surface from this area underground. With heightened exposure, the walls look very machine-like.

Whether that or a lab, it clearly serves a primary purpose in Void's plans. (One of my first thoughts was likely a stretch, but I asked myself if it could be similar to the Soulstice--in the way that a machine was created to steal all souls, another would be created now to spread Darkness. Shadow Sabre did something similar in RQ.)

The next four shots emphasize what seems to be some of our new group of main characters.

We see the Purple Leader in his home. Him coming into the main cast will be very interesting, as I'm sure it will give us more opportunities to learn about the histories with people like the Sorcerer and Phantasia, strong links to the Soulstice. I'm sure this knowledge will be vital to the fight.

Now this next photo--I can't exactly tell what's going on here? It appears to be Corrupt's lab? When the exposure and brightness are edited, I can't see any details. But this is 1000% Corrupt is just is trust frfrfrfrfrfrfrfrfrfrffrfr Corrupt is alive

The shot then switches to an Indigo and an unidentifiable Aquamarine who seems to be imbued with light energy, given the white eye. I assumed this could be Aaron, but his soul got stolen. Who knows? The Indigo is the Doctor Indigo, I would think--given the coat and monocle, but he didn't have a design in Season 2, so I'm unsure. Both of these could be completely new characters.

And now, Dimension facing off with the Soulstice. It seems that Dimension will play a much bigger role now and actually put in the work for once. I guess that was his final straw? Or maybe the season will start and he will still show absolutely no concern.

A couple of interesting shots of Light and Soulless show up after this.

In a similar fashion to the Season 2 intro, Light walks towards the camera and glitches into his other forms, this one being Soulless. It only emphasizes his apparent new role in the season.

After this, we see a standoff between the main cast and the main opposition. Light, Professor, Dimension, Purple, and...a strange new variant of Assistant. It makes me think of the assistant robot from A Dark Soul, which was also themed around light. In the beginning of the trailer (and in the thumbnail), we only see the Assistant as a head. I guess he got repaired, and Light was a major factor playing in it.

I'd also like to point out how odd the new Sculk Steves look. They have gray streaks, like light energy. Since Corrupt was absorbed by the Soulstice, I imagine that the light crystal he held became of high use to the Soulstice, allowing it to power up these Steves like this.

The patterns on the ends of their limbs also look much bigger/brighter/saturated, or maybe its just the lighting--like soul flames instead of the typical sculk steve pattern.

The Steve standing above in the second picture catches my eye, though. It seems to be a "normal" being, and even appears to be holding something if you look closely.

Right by the head there. This figure is also standing closest to the Soulstice, so they must be important. Could it be Corrupt? Well if you watch a few more seconds--

Right there. We see Light fighting with who appears to be that figure. But that sword... We have seen that sword before!

Corrupt's sword.

We never saw Corrupt disappear when the Soulstice found him. It's more than probable that he simply could have just absorbed the light energy from him, used it to power up the sculk steves and other operations, and left Corrupt weakened. But what purpose would he have even leaving him alive? The Soulstice has everything it needs now, right?

Light found Toxin, too. And with a potion effect? He seems weakened. Perhaps Void has abandoned him and Light will team up with him? He already seemed to be cracking during his fight with Light in the forest where his prior identity as Soren was revealed. Is it finally time we get Soren back? Or will he still be evil?

The next few shots depict a battle between Light and Void, seemingly at his new base of operations. I'd put photos, but I'm almost out of space, and I want to keep this all in one post. Plus, there isn't a lot to analyze there.

The final shots of the trailer are some of my favorite ones.

There's a good bit to break down here.

We start out by seeing Light's cursed form, except his curse appears to have spread greatly. I've also just realized that he doesn't have his soul-afflicted eye in this form. Images of Purple Leader, Soulstice, Professor, Soulless, and Assistant are not surprising--we already know of their larger roles. I believe that's Corrupt again in the 5th shift. As for the 8th, I'm a bit confused. I don't think we know who this person is. However, the purple belt definitely brings up a few ideas, even if they're stretches. Could we meet a new Purple Steve--maybe even Phantasia?? I doubt that's the case, as it seems pretty outlandish. The Yellow Leader being present actually makes a lot of sense as well. His Darkness should give him resistance to the Soulstice.

BUT, I'm really focusing in on those last three. Louis, Cliff, and,, Seer.

We saw the Elites' souls taken. Clearly, they find their way back to the land of the living eventually (and with some sick new redesigns.) Louis doesn't change much, but Cliff appears to now be entirely a Light Steve. Which brings up another thought--if he is now 100% light, does this mean that he is completely purged of Darkness? Is his Shadow gone? Is his shadow the reason he had to become fully light?

And then there's Seer. There's no doubt that this is him. My friend @chaoticcyprus brought up this photo:

We saw this shot during the semi-finale when Void was battling the Soul Eater. The outfit aligns perfectly, except now his hood is down, and he seems to have been set free from whatever chains held him previously.

But how would Seer and Void separate? I assume it would have something to do with Corrupt's final blow on Void.

Corrupt dealt an absolutely MASSIVE amount of power onto his opponent. I'm sure that the sheer amount of light energy could be enough to somehow split Void and Seer apart. It would explain Void's sudden spike in power and authority that he seems to have in the next season.

As for any final thoughts,,, I can't think of much else for now.

But I'm looking forward to hearing what everyone else has to say, and also what the team presents for Catalyst!

[copajay]

knight in shining armor

✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧

masterlist

can you tell I’m in love with writing period pieces (even if they’re not that historically accurate…) btw, italics is y/n's thoughts and bold is euneok's thoughts.

summary: y/n’s a college student majoring in history on a school trip to a historical castle in england. somehow she and her academic rival, eunseok, get stuck in a secret chamber in the castle which ends up transporting them to the 1300s! will the pair overcome their differences and manage to get back to the 21st century? (not proofread)

date: 04/09/24

scenario themes: time travel, enemies to lovers, period piece

idol: song eunseok or eunseok of riize

concept: fluff, fantasy

warnings: swearing

word count: 12k (i got a bit carried away)

song eunseok is an exchange student from korea who makes your college life a living hell.

you love studying history, especially the entirety of medieval england. you’re even writing your senior thesis on english nobility during the medieval period.

unfortunately for you, eunseok excels at history as well.

since you have such a huge passion for history, you’ve always naturally excelled at it. you tend to be a bit of a try-hard when it comes to school and that bit increases tenfold when it’s anything history-related.

it’s immature to compete so openly with a peer at this age. to many, ‘rivals’ are a high school concept. and yet, something about the way eunseok knows every detail about chinese foot-binding practices and confidently leads discussions about the cold war makes your eye twitch.

history is your thing.

you know you sound crazy, but it’s not like it was completely one-sided. eunseok hates not being the smartest in the room.

he worked his ass off to learn english, leave korea, and get a scholarship at your university. there’s no way he was going to settle for mediocrity.

and of course he noticed how intensely you glared at him when he answered a question you were dying to answer.

just like you noticed how annoyed he was when you would mention getting a slightly higher grade than him on a paper.

you were both in the same major which meant you had a lot of overlapping courses, and unfortunately for your professors and classmates, you almost always ended up in the same class.

for the most part you tried to ignore eunseok outside of class. sure he was the bane of your existence for the hour and a half lecture on roman architecture, but outside that he was none of your concern.

eunseok on the other hand found himself thinking of you quite often. it’s not like he always disliked you. in fact, he found your passion for history admirable, and he thought your dedication to your coursework was cute.

but when you began treating him coldly and sending him glares from across the room, he was quick to react in the same way.

eunseok isn’t stupid, he knows why you dislike him, and that if he was less of an overachiever, you’d maybe warm up to him. but he’s not going to jeopardize his grades and hard work to please some girl… no matter how much he’d like to get to know said girl.

you’d be lying if you said you didn’t find him attractive, but there isn’t a soul on this earth that could waterboard that information out of you.

to put it simply, you can’t stand each other.

but right now that doesn’t matter. nothing matters. because you’re going on a trip set up by the history department to riize castle in england.

it might just be another old site to everyone else, but it's your absolute favorite castle. you know the entire history of the building, you've studied the floor plans an embarrassing amount of times, and have spent most of your childhood yearning to go there, and that dream is finally coming true.

and not even eunseok could ruin it for you... or so you thought.

your flight was set for 3 am, and while the other students were groggily arriving at the airport one by one, annoyed at both the timing and the expenses they'd have to cover for the trip, you were elated.

that is until you received your boarding passes and found out you would be spending the entirety of the 10-hour flight from california to england seated next to the one person you abhor.

maybe he's less insufferable outside of class, you thought to yourself.

after your group boarded you sat down next to him and the two of you continued to sit in awkward silence until takeoff. but once the plane began moving, you noticed eunseok starting to shuffle around and breathe heavier.

"are you alright?" you asked, glancing at his trembling hands gripping onto the armrest. "yes." he responded immediately.

"don't you go back to korea every school break, how are you scared of flying-" before you could finish your sentence, eunseok grabbed your hand, squeezing it tightly.

you were about to interject but you realized the plane was beginning to ascend so he must've been frightened.

his hand was warm and soft, despite his trembling, the foreign feeling of his hand on yours was comfortable.

as soon as the plane was fully in the air, he let go of your hand as if nothing happened and picked out a book from his carry-on.

"um.. are you okay?" you questioned, confused at his sudden behavior change. "i get a bit nervous during takeoff and landings, i'm usually fine during the rest of the flight so you don't have to worry about me holding your hand for the next ten hours." he deadpanned.

"a bit? you were shaking like a leaf." you chortled. he rolled his eyes in response, going back to his book.

it was then that you realized you stupidly hadn't brought any entertainment with you for the trip, and your flight didn't have wi-fi either.

you decided the only thing you could do to remain sane in this situation is fall asleep, it was 3 in the morning after all.

leaning your head as far back as the stiff seats would allow, you closed your eyes and drifted off.

approximately five hours later, you woke up with a crick in your neck and an odd numbness on the side of your mouth. opening your eyes slowly, you were greeted with the site of eunseok's shirt directly beneath you with a large wet spot.

holy shit.

you fell asleep on eunseok's shoulder and drooled all over his shirt. if he didn't say anything this far he's probably going to the next 5 hours you're on this flight.

you haven't moved your head yet, scared that if you indicate you're awake, he's going to hold this against you until the end of time.

panicking, you accidentally jolted your stiff neck up, causing your chin to collide directly with eunseok's.

fuck. well there goes my cover.

"ow!" you both exclaimed in unison. "was drooling over me not enough? you had to break my jaw too?" he grumbled, rubbing his chin.

"you could've moved my head!" you defended, flustered. straightening yourself up, you wiped the side of your mouth awkwardly.

instead of responding, he grabbed a napkin from his bag and handed it to you.

"thank you." you said, taken aback.

why is he being so nice?

"i'm... sorry for ruining your shirt," you mumbled. "it's no big deal." he shrugged.

was this the same eunseok that commented "worst thing I've ever read." on your peer-graded essay?

maybe you could mend things with him during this trip. after all, he did seem pretty excited when the announcement was made.

"so... have you ever been to england before?" you began, initiating small-talk.

"can we just sit in silence?" he replied coldly.

nevermind, he's still just as much of an asshole as ever.

shit. why did I say that? eunseok thought to himself.

the truth is, you made him nervous. whether it was your icy stare or your intimidatingly vast knowledge on history, he could never let his guard down around you.

the rest of the flight was spent with the two of you refusing to so much as face each other until landing.

as the plane was about to descend, you noticed eunseok starting to take deep breaths. part of you wanted to extend a hand, but the other part of you wanted to throw him off the plane.

deciding to be the bigger person, you asked "are you alright?"

"I'm not a child." he croaked.

"I didn't say you were." you sassed.

"then stop talking to me like I am one." he began, growing more irritated.

the two of you began to go back and forth, and before you knew it you had landed. eunseok managed to forgot all about his fear because of how unbelievably petty the two of you were.

"will you guys shut up!?" a passenger behind you shouted, causing the both of you to stop arguing.

annoyed, you got out of your seat as quickly as you could and made a beeline for the baggage claim, waiting for your bags.

how do you keep getting forced into these kinds of situations with him? were you some kind of monster in your past life? was he your karma?

once you and the rest of your group received your luggage, you headed to the hotel. due to the time zone difference, it was already 9 pm in london so your group supervisors told everyone to get some sleep so you could head to the castle in the morning.

whether it was because of the nap you took on the plane, or simply how excited you were, you couldn't sleep at all.

staring at the clock reading 1 a.m. in your hotel room, you decided to try catching a glimpse of the castle before everyone else woke up at 7. it wasn't your brightest idea, but it's not like you had anything else to do.

you managed to get past your sleeping roommates, throwing on a jacket and slipping out the door. coincidentally, eunseok couldn't sleep either, and he decided to go for a walk around the hotel at the same moment you decided to leave.

spotting your figure leaving the hotel and heading off towards the street, he couldn't help but follow you.

was this extremely stalker-ish? yes. but what if she got hurt or kidnapped? we're in a different country after all. not like I care if she gets hurt or kidnapped... but if she did it would ruin our trip! so I have no choice but to follow her eunseok reasoned.

it didn't take long for him to figure out where you were going. the hotel is extremely close to the castle, after all. once you reached, you stared at the castle from afar, marveling at it.

you waited for this moment your whole life, and it was even more beautiful in person. there's no way you could turn back now. you have to see it closer.

carefully maneuvering past the gates, you managed to miraculously sneak in, and there didn't seem to be any security guards present.

what the hell is she doing? this is illegal!

what the hell am I doing? this is illegal!

you thought about turning back, but your curiosity was eating you up inside. you had to go see what the interior of the castle looked like.

thanks to your insanely intensive study of the building, you managed to find a secret opening that not many people knew of and you quickly slipped inside, hoping nobody would notice.

however, someone--that someone being eunseok--definitely did notice. and he mentally cursed himself for following you this far, wondering why he couldn't bring himself to turn back.

slipping through the opening, he entered a completely dark hallway, unsure of where you were.

you had dreamed of walking these corridors your whole life, and even without any light you were able to manuever around the halls.

unfortunately, eunseok couldn't say the same, and when he started walking, it didn't take long for him to bump into a stand of knight armor.

the loud crashing was enough to trigger an alarm system and turn on emergency lights, which exposed both eunseok and you to one another.

"what the hell are you doing here?" you shrieked "what the hell are YOU doing here?" he retorted.

you knew it wasn't long until authorities would arrive, so you grabbed eunseok and began running further into the castle.

"what are you doing? we need to leave!" he yelled.

"if we leave, they'll just catch us on our way out. we need to hide somewhere they won't look."

dragging him by the arm, you rushed into the old servant chambers, diving into the closet. well... what you thought was the closet.

what it actually was was a secret set of stairs that the two of you fell down, leading to a small room that you've never seen before.

impossible. i've watched every virtual tour, studied every reconstruction plan, read every primary source document... and i've never heard of this room.

"great. now we're stuck in a dark, cramped, dusty room in the middle of a castle that's going to be searched any second now and it's all your fault-" eunseok ranted, stopping midway when he saw you staring bewildered at the room.

"what's wrong with you?" he poked your shoulder.

"i... didn't know this room existed." you whispered.

"it's an old castle, I'm sure there's plenty of secret rooms everywhere... you think this is where the servants used to smash?"

"shhh" you urged him, hearing distant footsteps.

"what are we gonna do?" he sighed.

"let's just lay low until they leave. I doubt they'll look for us here. and don't touch ANYTHING. this room might be undiscovered and contain hundreds of year's worth of preserved artifacts-"

you were interrupted by eunseok toppling over a candle.

"EUNSEOK!" you whisper-shouted. "I'm trying to get some light in here." he defended.

fishing in his pocket, he pulled out a lighter before picking the candle off the floor and lighting it. once the room was illuminated, you could see your surroundings much better.

the room was stacked with cabinets and shelves containing miscellaneous items, it must've been used for storage. it seemed to have some personal items that belonged to servants.

you heard the footsteps start to get closer, and a voice appeared right outside the closet doors. looking to eunseok, you began panicking.

"blow the candle out! now!" you whispered.

eunseok blew out the candle and right as he did, the door creaked open.

shit.

shit.

"I know my rights!" eunseok yelled at the foreign figure coming closer.

"what are you talking about?" a woman's voice echoed throughout the room.

a middle-aged woman appeared with a candle in hand, dressed in a long cloth dress, similar to the ones maids would wear centuries ago.

"are you some kind of role-play tour guide? I didn't even know they did those tours this late into the night." he asked, confused.

"what? why is he speaking like that? and why are you two alone in here? and what happened to your clothes?" the woman interrogated.

the both of you had messed up your clothes running through the castle and falling down the stairs. your shirt was ripped up and dusty and his jacket was covered in cobwebs.

"oh, I see. the two of you are following eleanor and harold's example and fooling around in here! how many times must I tell you kids not to fornicate in the storage closet! go back upstairs and fulfill your duties." she reprimanded the two of you.

"told you they fucked in here." eunseok whispered to you.

you shoved him in the arm before responding "ma'am I appreciate your dedication to your job, but can you just tell us if you're going to turn us into the cops or not?"

"what are the... cops?" she exaggerated. you fought the urge to roll your eyes. you might be obsessed with history, but at least you can accept the fact that you live in the present.

"let's just leave." you turned to eunseok. "and get arrested? absolutely not." he crossed his arms.

"who is getting arrested?" the woman gasped. "you know damn well who, lady." he scoffed.

"lady?! I'm simply a chambermaid! have you hit your head?" she exclaimed.

"you know what, you're right. I'd rather get arrested than deal with this crap any longer." he sighed as the two of you began making your way up the stairs.

when you reached the top, you noticed the decor had changed drastically and the windows were letting in sunlight. wasn't it just 1 in the morning?

men and women dressed in modest, cloth clothing were running in and out of the halls and rooms.

"y/n... what's going on?" eunseok tugged at your dirty shirt. "it must be some kind of role-play experience? I'm not sure... how long were we in there?"

"you two must change out of your soiled garments!" the elder woman said, handing you a long dress and eunseok a matching set.

"wait! what's your name, and what's going on?" you sputtered, just as the woman was about to walk away.

"now I'm sure you've hit your heads. I'm agatha, head chambermaid and in one week from now is the duel of knights. we are hosting for the first spell in a decade and tis in a week. now get up and get to work!" agatha demanded.

dumbfounded, you and eunseok simply stared at the clothes she handed you. "let's just go along with it. maybe we can pretend we're a part of whatever this is and avoid getting in trouble." you urged.

"what about the rest? won't they notice we're gone?" he worried. "let's just focus on getting out of here."

he nodded in response and the two of you rushed to find a place to change into your clothes. once you were changed, you walked out and led eunseok back to the secret entrance.

to your surprise, the parking lot that was once set up in front of the castle had been replaced with a moat. a large moat at that. with a ginormous drawbridge leading to a dirt path. the city looked different as well, with the cars being replaced with horse carriages and once large, gray buildings now appearing much smaller and made of stone and wood.

"is there some city-wide renaissance fair happening? are we getting pranked? where's the cameras?" eunseok whipped his head around, waiting to see john quinones pop up at any second.

"is this a dream? did i go unconscious during the fall down the stairs? quick, y/n! pinch me."

you did so eagerly.

"ow! what the hell? I didn't mean literally." he complained, rubbing his arm.

"will you shut up? i need to find out what's going on." you huffed. pulling out your phone, you saw that there was no signal or wi-fi network available nearby. "that's weird, I swore the website said the castle had guest wi-fi." you muttered.

"i have an international data plan, let me try," eunseok whipped out his phone, only to find there was no signal on his device either.

"do you think... maybe, we're actually back in the medieval times?" you shuddered.

eunseok never laughed louder in his life.

"yes, y/n. we time traveled like we're in back to the future! should I call you marty? or do you want to be the old scientist?" he cackled.

"his name is doc brown. and I'm being serious," you began, "how else would all these buildings change overnight, and why else would all these people be wearing clothes from a different time period. look around: there's not a phone, car, or even pavement road in sight. there's no way we were in the castle long enough for them to make all those changes either."

"let's just talk to an actual sane person here and I'm sure they'll explain everything." he assured.

just then, a young woman wearing a silk blue gown walked past, surrounded by two men in armor.

"excuse me, miss. sorry to interrupt your little role-play party but my friend and i were wondering if we could use your phone to make a quick call." eunseok asked.

one of the men rushed forward, "halt! how dare thee speak so freely to her highness, the crown princess."

eunseok rolled his eyes, "i'm not hitting on your chick, dude, i just want to use a phone."

the armor-clad man suddenly put his sword up to eunseok's neck. "what the hell?" eunseok exclaimed.

"release him! who are you sir and why doth thee use such... peculiar language?" the princess implored.

"you people are psychos. no way you're taking this shit so seriously." eunseok grumbled, rubbing his neck after the guard let him go.

"answer her highness!" the other guard insisted.

"we are travelers, here to observe the duel of knights! I must apologize for my companion, he is delirious from traveling all day." you interjected, grabbing eunseok and beginning to walk away.

"wait! your companion is… quite handsome. and his odd way of speaking is rather charming. i wish for him to compete for my hand during the duel!" the princess chirped.

"yeah right, you're crazy if you think I'm gonna-" eunseok was interrupted by your hand slapping over his mouth.

"whatever you wish, your highness." you responded, bowing curtly.

"wondrous! I would also like to invite thee to stay at my manor. surely a handsome man like you is a person of importance." she batted her lashes at him.

"no thanks weirdo-"

"we would love to! we thank you kindly for the offer your highness!" you interrupted eunseok again.

"oh I must have misspoke. I did not invite your mistress, only you." she spoke, shooting daggers at you.

"mistress?!" you gasped which made eunseok send you a shit-eating grin.

"actually, I would prefer my mistress stays with me, if that's alright 'your highness'" eunseok mocked.

the princess rolled her eyes and agreed reluctantly. once the princess and her guards were out of sight, you turned to eunseok. "see how those men didn't hesitate to hurt you? we're clearly in a different place!"

"yeah, a place where people have lost their minds." he scoffed.

"and her dress! it was real silk and embroidered with gold! I doubt a cosplayer has enough money to pull that off, especially in this economy." you tried convincing him.

"fine. lets say we really time-traveled to the 14th century and the princess wants me to join a little duel for her hand. does that mean...

... that i'm hot by both modern and medieval standards?"

you may not like eunseok, but he is quite attractive. it's no wonder his looks attracted the affections of a princess.

"eunseok! will you take this seriously? she wants you to participate in the duel of knights for her, do you understand how dangerous that is?" you practically screamed at him.

"yeah yeah the duel of knights is a fight to the death between the most skilled swordsmen of a kingdom for the right to court noblewomen and the princess. i know it may be hard for you to believe but i passed our medieval history class y/n." he quipped.

"and you realize you will be fighting those men to the death, right?" you asked.

"sure, i'll fight a bunch of history nerds in party city costumes." he chuckled.

you grabbed him by the arm and began pulling him in the direction of the city center… or what used to be the city center and now looked like a town square.

"we really need to talk- about boundaries because you-hey! can't keep dragging me around like a ragdoll-" he struggled as you continued tugging him into the busy streets.

"i'll stop when you quit being so stubborn. i'm gonna show you just how real this is." you stormed.

by the time you reached the city you were greeted with a sign that read 'SM's southern district' in big letters and below it in a smaller font was inscribed 'taverns, traders, and shops'.

perfect.

the two of you went inside a tailor's shop since you deduced that if you were going to pretend to be people important to stay at the castle, you should dress the part.

as soon as you stepped inside, the tailor called out "good morrow strangers, thou must be travelers from far hence."

"why yes, and we were-" you started before the tailor cut you off, "is there anything I may help you with, good sir?" he ignored you for eunseok.

you forgot that as fun as the medieval period was to learn about, it was hell to live through as a woman.

trying to bite your tongue, you waited for eunseok to respond.

"yeah, can we get some fancy clothes?" he asked nonchalantly.

you sent him a glare as the shopkeeper stared at him puzzled, "I'm afraid I do not understand your way of speaking."

"what he means to ask is if we may purchase some refined garments?" you asked, clearing your throat, only for the tailor to continue to ignore you.

sighing, eunseok repeated, "may we purchase some refined garments?" the tailor's head snapped up and he grinned, "of course, good sir! for the lady as well?"

"yes." you stated through gritted teeth. no response. "yes." eunseok repeated once again, to which the tailor nodded.

as the tailor went off to find some clothing for the two of you, you turned to eunseok, "I thought you were a history buff, how do you not know how to speak to these people?" you interrogated.

"first of all, i specialize in east asian history. second, I didn't think I'd ever actually have to rely on my shakespeare lessons from high school."

the tailor came back rather quickly with suits for eunseok and a few uncomfortable-looking but beautiful dresses for you. at least they didn't wear many corsets in medieval england.

"I shall fit them to the both of your measurements and you will be able to pick them up in a few days time. services included, the charge will be 30 pounds, good sir." the man said, awaiting eagerly for eunseok to pay.

"right... one second, good sir?" eunseok hesitated awkwardly, turning to you "you don't have any money, do you?"

"my wallet should be in my pocket... shit I left it when we changed our clothes in the castle. ask him if we can pay him when we come back to grab our clothes." you urged eunseok.

"how the hell do I say that?" he panicked. "just try your best!" you whisper-shouted.

turning back to the tailor, eunseok sputtered out "may we pay... in a few day's time... perchance?"

the shopkeeper looked confused before laughing, "doth thee wish to pay at which hour you come to pick up the garments?"

eunseok nodded vigorously which was enough to communicate the message across to the tailor.

once you left the shop, eunseok breathed a sigh of relief "okay, I believe you. we time-traveled, nothing makes sense, and I'll do anything to get back to the 2020s."

"let's head back to castle, grab my wallet, and we'll figure out what to do from there. we already have a place to stay anyway." you declared.

"if you weren't... yourself, I'd find it hot how calm and collected you are about this," he admitted. you shot him an annoyed look.

"sorry I don't know how to regulate my emotions... or my thoughts... or words. we traveled back in time. we're marty and the doctor guy." eunseok began rambling.

"it's doc brown. and calm down." you grasped his shoulders. "we're going to get out of here, because i need electric plumbing and I refuse to die of syphilis. but that doesn't mean we can't enjoy our time here. you and I both love history right? well now we get to experience it ourselves!" you exclaimed.

there's that look in her eye, the one she always gets when she's talking about history. I could stare at her forever... what the hell am I thinking? it's been a long day and I should get some rest.

you noticed eunseok spacing out while looking at you so you shook his shoulders a bit which jolted him awake, "so what do you say?"

"fine. let's experience your nerdy little medieval fantasy. but, we find out how to get out of here as soon as possible in the meantime." he agreed.

as you guys made your way back to castle, you were stopped by guards in front of the moat. "who art thee and what business doth thy have at riize castle?" a guard barked.

"we were personally invited by her majesty the princess to stay at the castle until the duel of knights." you reported. you saw the guard contemplating a bit before giving the other guards the signal to let you in.

breathing a sigh of relief, you headed towards the castle doors. after a few steps you realized eunseok hadn't moved from his spot.

"what are you doing? let's go back inside!" you scolded him. he looked completely pale and visibly shaken as he started towards you, "y/n. if we're really in medieval times... does that mean I have to fight during the duel of knights?" he fretted.

"i can't die yet. i haven't gotten cross-faded yet! do they even have weed here? I told myself once I leave korea I'd try it but what if I don't even get to experience that-" he began rambling once again.

you grabbed onto his hand, similar to how you did in the plane before trying to calm him down, "you won't die, because you won't fight anybody. we'll find a way to get back to our time before then, it's in a week so we have plenty of time. and you can always just try getting out of it by asking the princess!" you assured.

"you're right!" he exclaimed, squeezing your hand and pulling you into a hug. by the time you processed what was happening, you felt butterflies in your stomach.

that can't be right. butterflies... over eunseok? maybe I'm just touch-starved.

he pulled away rather quickly though, awkwardly trying to move past you to rush into the castle gates as if it would somehow undo his action.

fuck. did I make things awkward? did I kind of like the hug? wait-why do I care? we're just classmates who time-traveled together, nothing more and nothing less.

you followed after him until you reach the room you stumbled out of a few hours prior. digging through the pile of your old clothes, you were able to find your wallet.

fortunately, you exchanged some of your dollars for pounds at the airport. unfortunately, modern-day pounds look nothing like the ones they used in the 14th century.

"I don't think he'll even take these." you sighed, waving around the colorful bills with queen elizabeth's face stamped on them.

"we'll just say it's currency from... wherever we're from." he shrugged.

"and where's that?"

"uhhhh... america?"

"europeans haven't even heard of america yet." you rolled your eyes.

"which is why it'll work perfectly, they'll think it's some secluded, far away town." eunseok reasoned.

you don't know if it was eunseok's annoying presence or the lack of sleep you've had in the last 24 hours, but you felt a migraine coming on. massaging your temples, you decided you should take a nap before you try to find a way back to the future.

"let's get some rest, we can worry about everything else later." you yawned.

"where are we gonna sleep? the princess didn't even tell us which room we'd be staying in." he remarked.

"maybe we could ask agatha." you figured, walking towards the center hall.

"stop wandering off! we could get lost, this place is huge." eunseok argued.

"we won't. I know this place like the back of my hand." you assured.

"nerd." he commented, under his breath. for the sake of your sanity, you pretended you didn't hear anything.

with all the people rushing around the castle corridors it was nearly impossible to pinpoint agatha, and you ended up walking headfirst into the chest of a tall, handsome man wearing a padded shirt, usually worn by knights underneath their armor.

the man was slightly sweaty and holding a leather-wrapped sword in his hand, he must've been a knight coming back from training.

"art thou alright, madam?" the man asked. i am now.

eunseok let out a loud cough behind you, "she's fine. let's go, y/n."

"doth thou not recognize me? perhaps the two of you are not from here." the man reasoned.

"we're travelers, from... america." you hesitated.

"america? where is that?" the man questioned.

"tis a small town up north." you stated, trying to sound as sure of yourself as possible.

"makes sense." the man nodded "what business do you have in my castle. i've never seen you around, and I reckon I would remember a face as enchanting as yours."

am i getting hit on by a hot knight? maybe staying here isn't such a bad idea after all.

"your castle?" eunseok replied.

"yes. i am the crown prince, anton. now remind me again what you're doing in my castle?" anton asked.

"the crown princess invited us, my... brother here is to compete in the duel of knights." you quickly added.

"brother? I thought you were supposed to be my mistress-" eunseok started before you cut him off.

"do you know where the princess may be? she hasn't yet told us in which room we shall be staying." you asked the prince.

"ah, forgive my sister for she is very easily overexcited. I doubt she put much thought into housing you two as guests. I'd usually turn two strangers away, but you're an exception," he stared at you intently, "i'll arrange a room for the two of you shortly. in the meantime, would you care to join my family and I for dinner? it's the least we can do as hosts for you as you've traveled so far."

"we'd love to!" you exclaimed. "wondrous! I shall see you in two hours for dinner. the maids will help you to get ready." he smiled, kissing your hand before he walked away. you felt your cheeks heating up as you waved him goodbye.

"I thought you were tired. now you wanna have dinner with the royal family?" eunseok grumbled.

"eunseok, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. eating dinner in a castle with medieval royalty! how many people can say they've done that?" you beamed.

eunseok held back a smile as you gushed about the opportunity. why is she so cute today?

in a matter of minutes, a young woman approached the two of you, ushering you into a room.

"...here is the closet, and finally, the washroom. I shall give the two of you your privacy now." the woman bowed her head before exiting quickly.

"that was a quick tour." eunseok joked. "she must be busy preparing for the duel." you figured.

"ugh, don't remind me of the duel." he dramatically collapsed on the bed. "wait... is there only one bed?"

am I being lazy and using the one bed trope? guilty!

"I'm honestly too tired to care. scooch over." you shoved him to one side of the bed as you made yourself comfortable on the other. you wouldn't usually be so bold, but you were exhausted. after nearly getting arrested and getting stuck in the 14th century, you deserved a nap.

eunseok, on the other hand, was more wide awake than ever. he didn't want to look immature and get up the second you laid down, but he was even more nervous around you right now than usual.

looking over at your figure, he was shocked to see that you had already passed out. he couldn't hold back the small smile on his lips while watching you.

what the hell am I doing? I look like a creep. he thought, snapping himself out of his daze. deciding to wash up, he headed the the bathroom.

great. a large tub, a couple of buckets, and a hole in the ground. not a single source of running water in sight.

venturing out of the room, he tried calling one of the maids rushing past for some water but everyone seemed to be preoccupied.

annoyed, eunseok decided to try finding water himself. just because y/n's annoyingly obsessed with this castle and knows how to talk like these people, doesn't mean I'm completely lost without her.

after a few minutes of wandering around the castle, eunseok was completely lost.

unknowingly, he stumbled into the throne room while the princess was in the middle of receiving a lecture from her advisors.

"you mustn't invite complete strangers into the castle. do you understand how harmful that could be?" one of the advisors warned.

eunseok tried leaving as quietly as possible but it was to no avail as the princess spotted him almost immediately.

"you! traveler! what is your name?" she chirped, jumping up and heading towards him.

fuck.

"eunseok, your highness." he shared through gritted teeth.

"what an odd name! I suppose tis because thou are from a far away land. my brother told me you were from am-amiri? amera? what ever it's called." she rambled.

"i am princess giselle, and between you and i, you're my favorite contender for the duel of knights. oh how I hope you win and earn my hand." she gushed.

"i hope so too." he responded nervously.

"the prince told me the woman you were with is your sister, did you not refer to her as your mistress earlier... sir is your sister your mistress?" the princess gasped.

"umm, no! where I'm from we use the word mistress instead of sister. silly, isn't it?" he hesitated, holding his breath as he waited for giselle's reaction.

the princess burst into laughter, "how amusing! oh please don't die during the duel so you may make me laugh for the rest of my life." she cooed.

the hairs on the back of eunseok's neck stood up. even if he manages to survive the duel, he'll have to spend the rest of his life married to a loud-mouthed princess in a castle with no electricity.

I have to find a way to get out of this time.

"if you would excuse me, I should wake up my, er, sister for dinner!" eunseok mumbled, turning to walk away.

"nonsense! I'll have a servant do so. you may have the privilege of sitting with me until then." she assured.

"well, I was actually thinking of washing up before-"

"why would you need to wash up? you look perfectly clean." the princess interjected.

eunseok was anything but perfectly clean, but then again, that was by 21st century standards. in 14th century england, even royalty only bathed about once a month.

I can't believe it's gotten to this point, but I really wish y/n were here right now.

as princess giselle kept eunseok company, you were lightly shaken awake by a familiar figure: agatha. once you finally sat up, you heard her gasp.

"aren't you the servant from earlier? what are you doing in the guest bed?!" she shrilled.

"well... we're travelers invited by the princess. besides, it was you who assumed we were servants." you tried shifting the blame.

she put a hand above her heart, "goodness! that explains your odd clothing and speech. oh I apologize deeply. how can I make up for my terrible mistake?" she begged.

you felt bad seeing how apologetic agatha looked, but you remembered there was a favor you needed. "very well, then I demand full access to the storage room in the servant chambers." you declared.

agatha sent you a puzzling look, "what's so special about the storage room, my lady?"

well for starters, it's an opportunity for me to study a room never heard of by most historians. and a way for me to figure out how we got here, and hopefully, how to get home.

"i... liked it?" you said lamely. agatha simply nodded, "anything else?" she added.

"a piece of paper and a writing instrument, please."

"for your lord?"

right. most people, especially women, were illiterate during this time.

"um... yes!" you lied, not wanting to make yourself stand out anymore.

"I shall see to it." agatha dismissed herself.

as soon as she left the room, you collapsed back onto the bed. all you needed was some quality alone time-

the door burst open again, with a flock of servants pouring in. "we must prepare you for the dinner!"

for the next thirty minutes, you were stripped, clothed, had your hair done up in an elaborate hairstyle, and exposed to powders and cosmetics you were 99% sure were toxic. you almost didn't recognize yourself in the mirror, but you had to admit the dress was flattering and you might even copy the hairstyle when you get back to your time.

as annoying as it was, it was fascinating to experience everything you've read about in books up until now. the history nerd in you couldn't help but marvel at it all.

by the time you arrived at the dining room, you were greeted with the sight of eunseok sitting next to the princess, looking mildly irritated. you spotted an open seat next to the prince directly across eunseok and decided to sit there.

shooting the boy a small smile, you sat next to anton who immediately began talking to you.

eunseok took in your appearance, staring intensely at you.

she looks stupid... with her big hair, obnoxiously red lips, long gown, perfect smile-snap out of it!

"lord eunseok, why are you staring at your sister like that?" princess giselle asked loudly, catching your attention.

you turned your head quick enough to see eunseok staring at you with a look of... admiration? impossible.

he turned tomato red and cleared his throat, "I was... wondering what we'd be eating for dinner! I'm famished."

"once mother and father arrive, we may begin eating." prince anton assured. he turned to you, "tell me about your family, lady y/n. aside from your brother here, of course."

eunseok rolled his eyes. why's he so concerned with y/n? and why is this princess on my case?

after a few minutes of you and anton conversing and eunseok stealing glances of you while giselle talked his head off, the king and queen arrived.

you immediately got up and curtseyed to them, gesturing for eunseok to bow. "your majesty, tis my pleasure to dine with you." you resounded.

"my children have told me much about you. do tell me about this 'america'" the king mused.

the rest of the dinner consisted of you and eunseok making up ridiculous facts about america and your backgrounds. occasionally, you'd send each other knowing looks and have to stifle your laughs. it was the closest the two of you got to bonding this whole trip.

by the time the dinner came to a close, anton rose up slowly. "I wish to make an announcement." once he had everyone's attention, he continued, "I have completed my knight training this year, and I have father's word that I will be able to compete in the upcoming duel of knights."

"excuse me?" the queen cried out, "it is far too dangerous. and whose hand will you be competing for? your sister's?"

"of course not. I will be competing for lady y/n's hand."

"WHAT?" you and eunseok yelled in unison. "I understand this may come as a surprise to you, my sweet y/n, but I truly feel we have developed a connection."

we met two hours ago!!!

"NO!" you screamed, resulting in horrified looks on everyone else's face, "I mean... no, your highness. I could never expect you to put your life at risk for my hand, PLEASE reconsider." you begged.

"nonsense. the last ten knights left standing win the duel, and I am sure my son is capable of coming in tenth place at the very least." the king argued.

"charles, he is but a boy-" the queen began, angrily.

"he is twenty for christ's sake! I was even younger when I competed. there will no more discussion, anton will be competing for lady y/n's hand and lord eunseok will compete for giselle's." the king settled

fuck.

fuck.

"what the hell are we going to do?" eunseok panicked once the two of you were back in your room. "if we don't leave before next week, I'm going to die fighting for a girl I don't even want and you're going to get married to that guy!"

"you care about whether or not I get married to the prince?" you teased. "what? no, I- shut up." he deflected.

"relax. I got us unlimited access to the storage closet. whatever brought us here is in there, I know it. we'll look through it tomorrow and find out how to go home." you determined.

"and if we don't?" he gulped. "then we'll figure something out." you resolved, holding onto his shoulders. "we'll be alright, we have eachother." you smiled.

you couldn't explain why you were being so nice to the man you swore you hated just yesterday, but something about the vulnerability of your situation made you desperate to hold onto the only ally you have.

eunseok's heart rate increased in response to your words and close proximity, he couldn't help but stare at your lips. "they overdid it with the lipstick." he commented, mindlessly.

"it's a mixture of berries. and I know." you giggled.

before you could say anything else, eunseok began leaning in. his lips were on yours in a matter of seconds, and it felt completely natural.

your friends always joked that the two of you were just covering up sexual tension with the whole rivalry thing, and you're embarrassed to admit you may have fantasized about kissing eunseok before, but you never in a million years thought it would actually happen.

the kiss was slow yet passionate, there was an unprecedented amount of emotion in it, you felt like you were drowning in it.

eunseok was on cloud nine, it was better than any other kiss he's ever had. his hands wandered to hold your waist tightly as yours flew to his hair.

you don't know how long the kiss has lasted so far, but you know that you never want it to end.

except it does. when the prince and princess walk in on the two of you.

as soon as you heard princess giselle scream, the two of you pulled away, but it was too late. they had seen enough.

"you people are sick! I should have known it when you said you call your sisters your mistresses!" the princess cried out.

before she could say another word, you and eunseok dragged the siblings inside and shut the door. "what the hell are we going to do now?" eunseok frantically whispered to you.

"we have to come clean." you said, which eunseok shook his head 'no' to almost immediately.

"anton, giselle, we lied to you." you confessed while eunseok stayed silent.

"I knew it! there is no america. are you thieves? or spies? who sent you?!" giselle accused.

"there is an america, and we did come from there. but we came from a different america than the one that exists today... we're from the future." you shared.

it didn't take long for both siblings to burst into laughter. "the future? do you take us for fools?" anton choked out.

"it's true! eunseok, show them your phone." you insisted. he pulled out his phone and tapped the screen, causing it to illuminate.

"sorcerers!" giselle screeched.

"it's not sorcery, it's technology! it's made from various metals and allows you to communicate with people across large distances." you explained.

"sounds like sorcery to me." anton commented.

"y/n, you've spent years studying this stupid castle, don't you know anything about the residents? there has to be some information you have on the royal family that could convince them." eunseok looked to you.

"well I wasn't able to study much on these two because they both died young..." you said quietly.

"WHAT?" giselle screamed. "how dare you even suggest that?" anton stood up angrily.

"the records I read said you passed away during the duel of knights when you were 20 and that giselle was unable to take over the throne afterwards because she disappeared one night and was presumed dead... but some say she fell in love with a commoner and eloped with him." you shared.

this caused giselle to gasp loudly, "you... i... i believe them."

"how?" anton interjected, "she just said I'll die and you'll elope with a commoner. you show interest in every nobleman you come across and get over them in a matter of days. there's no way you'd fall in love with a common man and elope."

"I've been pretending to be boy-obsessed so nobody finds out that i..." giselle hesitated "i'm in love with mark."

"the stable boy?" anton cried out. "he always mentions the possibility of eloping but I never took it seriously-" she began.

"you two can sort out whatever's going on with mark later, can we go back to y/n and I time-traveling?" eunseok interrupted.

"how did you even end up here?" anton asked.

"in our time, your castle is a historical monument. eunseok and I managed to sneak in, but we were about to get caught so we hid in a storage room. when we emerged, we were transported to your time." you explained.

it took the siblings a while to process your story, but they agreed to help the two of you find a way to get back to your time. once everything was settled, anton asked to speak to you privately--which eunseok did not like.

"I'm sorry for lying, anton, I was just trying to avoid getting in trouble." you apologized, breaking the awkward silence.

"I understand. I've been meaning to ask about you and eunseok. are the two of you...?" he began.

"I don't know what we are. this whole day has been confusing for the both of us." you answered honestly.

"right." he replied, sadly. "well, I wanted to ask you specifically about my death. does the future really say I die in the upcoming duel?"

"i'm sorry anton... i know how excited you are for it."

"excited? i'm dreading it." he chuckled dryly. "i've only ever shown interest in being a knight because of my father. he was a knight back in his day, that's how he courted my mother and became king."

"wait, so you don't want to compete in the duel?" you queried.

"absolutely not! I'm terrified. I've always wanted to be a writer, but my father told me I have no time for silly dreams like that. I'm the heir to the throne, after all."

I feel horrible, most of the documents i read mentioned anton as an eager knight-in-training, but I guess history books aren't always accurate.

you grabbed anton by the hand and began taking him back to where eunseok and giselle were.

"so you really don't think I'm handsome?" you overheard eunseok asking giselle. "you're okay-looking... but I just needed a cover-up for my late-night rendezvous with mark." she shrugged as eunseok's face fell.

"eunseok. giselle. we need to do something before we go back in time." you announced.

"and what's that?" eunseok responded.

"we're getting anton out of the duel of knights." you declared.

"but how? father is adamant on him competing." giselle protested, "and I doubt he'll believe your time-traveling story."

"we'll just have to figure out a way." you said stubbornly.

although eunseok and giselle seemed uneasy, anton sent you a grateful look which was enough.

the next few days were spent with you and eunseok exploring the storage room and you writing down as much as you could about the contents of the room as well as the royal family.

eunseok agreed to help giselle meet with mark in secret and you agreed to help anton with his writing. in return, the siblings helped you look through the castle library on anything related to time-travel.

to avoid the awkwardness of sleeping in the same bed with eunseok after the kiss, anton offered up his room and slept with him instead.

there was now four days left until the duel, and you still had no idea how to get back or take anton out of the competition. anton and eunseok seemed to get a lot closer though, either through sharing a room or the mutual dread of having to fight to the death in a few days time.

"y/n, can I speak with you. it won't take up much time." giselle asked you. "of course, what's up?" you responded.

"what's up?" she repeated, "what is the matter." you corrected yourself. you and eunseok let down your guard when it came to speaking in old english since the siblings already knew your secret anyway.

"you said in the future, I disappear. mark keeps asking to elope, especially with the duel of knights approaching as many men will be aiming for my hand." she worried, "I'm scared, y/n. I don't wish to leave but I don't wish to lose my beloved either. what do I do?"

you honestly had no idea. maybe it was a bad idea telling them their fates, but if i can try helping them avoid it, I should.

"I think you should try telling your parents. how bad could it be?" you said, stupidly.

"are you serious? they would murder him and i for even suggesting it. royals and commoners don't belong together, of course you wouldn't understand." she stormed.

"okay, okay I'm sorry. I really don't understand. I'm used to modern royalty, where the prince of england married an actress and left the royal family, then got to go on oprah." giselle shot you a confused look, "but if you never try, you'll never know."

"i suppose you're right. but I'm far too terrified of my parents." she sighed. before you could respond, eunseok called out to you, ushering you and giselle to join him and anton.

"we found a way to get out of the duel!" he shared excitedly.

"and how is that?" giselle asked, unconvinced.

"knights are covered head-to-toe in armor, right? we'll just pay two knights to replace us! anton said he's got the money covered."

"yes, I have the money covered, as they say in future america." anton added enthusiastically.

"and you've already found these knights?" you asked, "how do you know they won't tell the king?"

"we did, and anton made them swear because they are under an oath to serve him." eunseok shared proudly.

"don't you think that's a bit wrong, abusing your power? and what's gonna happen at the end of the duel when you have to take your helmets off?" you badgered.

"will you stop being such a baby, y/n? we'll tell them to keep their helmets on, and both you and giselle will be there anyways so you can cover for us." he argued.

"well i'm sorry that I want to make sure your little plan is foolproof so you don't, y'know, die." you fumed.

and just like that, the two of you began arguing again. giselle and anton gave each other a worried look before rushing out of the room, leaving the two of you yelling at each other.

"you're getting a bit too comfortable here, don't you think?" you scoffed.

"comfortable?! you think I want to spend the rest of my life in the 14th fucking century?" eunseok retorted.

"well you've barely been any help in looking for a way back. i've been the only one searching that stupid room for any traces of how we got here!"

"maybe because we've been searching that room for four days and haven't found anything. excuse me for trying to make sure I don't die before I find a way to travel back, if there even is a way."

you stepped closer to him, still seething "you piss me off to no end, song eunseok. you're the last person I wish I was trapped with in this stupid century!"

"do you really think you're my perfect idea of a travel buddy? my life is a mess, all thanks to you!" he snapped.

"I didn't ask you to follow me like a crazed stalker, did I? so why did you?"

eunseok finally went quiet. it seems like he didn't really know the answer either.

you were irritated, but you didn't want to keep arguing, so you decided to walk away before he started up again, "I'm going to town to pick up our clothes from the tailor."

up until now you've been wearing the servant clothes agatha brought you to bed and borrowing the royal sibling's clothes during the day. it'll be nice to finally have our own sets of clothing.

you tried to organize your thoughts but you were still thinking of eunseok. it's not like you haven't argued with him before, but they've never been so... personal.

it pained you to say but his words hurt you. you don't know when you started caring about what eunseok has to say but some time along the last four days you've been trapped here, you started to feel more strongly about him.

and you definitely can't forget about the kiss. you can't believe the two of you just acted completely normal after that. you were too scared to bring it up and so was eunseok.

he's so confusing. one day we're making out and the next we're screaming at each other... and it doesn't help that I can't read him at all.

by the time you were done reflecting on your entire relationship with eunseok, you reached the tailor's shop. walking in, you greeted one of the workers there before informing them of your prior visit.

as the worker brought out your clothes, he held his hand out waiting for the payment.

shit. I didn't bring any money. and it's not like the money I had would've done much anyway.

"I-um, I don't think I can give you the payment just yet," you stuttered, nervous.

"why not?" the worker asked, already putting the clothing back.

"because-"

"because i'll be paying." you heard a familiar voice ring from behind you. what is he doing here?

eunseok walked past you and handed over the old-timey pounds to the worker, taking the sets from him in the process.

once the transaction was finished he walked past you and out of the shop, completely ignoring you. confused, you caught up to him.

"did you seriously follow me again? what's your problem?!" you exploded on the street, catching the attention of nearby townsfolk.

"I saw that you left your wallet and didn't even bother asking for money from the prince or princess. you're welcome for saving you the embarrassment and a trip back-and-forth from the castle." he retorted, stopping to turn to you.

"I don't want to argue. not right now, and not in public." he sighed "good. because neither do i." you sassed, walking past him deeper into the district center.

he rolled his eyes and continued after you, "where are you going?"

"does it matter? or were you planning on stalking me again." you retaliated.

i should just leave her alone if she's going to be so difficult... but this place is sketchy and confusing, and it's getting dark.

"I don't think it's safe to walk around alone here, it's almost sunset." he called out.

"I'm a grown woman, I can handle myself." you refused.

"fine." eunseok said, turning to walk back to the castle.

you spent the next two hours making a mental map of the district, excited to write all about it later. you had to admit this was a much more fun way to learn about history than sitting around with a textbook and reading all day.

unfortunately for you, there weren't any clocks around, so it was easier to lose track of time. you figured it must be around 9 p.m. and decided to head back to the castle.

after about 15 minutes of wandering the streets, you realized you were lost.

fuck. I can't believe I'm about to prove eunseok right. whatever, he's probably living it up at the castle, especially since I'm not there.

on the contrary, eunseok was worried sick. "what if she was kidnapped, or fell down a well or something?" he ranted to anton.

"we shall find her, there's no need to worry." anton assured as they headed out the castle gate.

as the two of them began walking, eunseok couldn't help but overthink.

I shouldn't have let her walk away. and I can't believe the last conversation we had was an argument. what if something bad happened to her? how will I forgive myself?

eunseok doesn't know when or how he became so worried about you, but what he did know was his heart was pounding just thinking about you.

"what... relationship do you and y/n share?" anton inquired as they walked. "we're just school peers." eunseok answered coldly.

anton laughed in response, “peers do not thrust their tongues into each other's mouths."

eunseok's ears turned red upon hearing the younger boy's comment.

"they also wouldn't worry as much as you are right now." anton added.

"she's my ticket back to the 21st century, of course I'm on edge. I need her help finding the way home." eunseok shrugged.

"whatever you say." anton smiled.

"are you into her or something?" eunseok asked, trying to sound casual.

"pardon me?"

"do you wish to wed her?" eunseok sighed. I'm definitely not gonna miss these shakespearean conversations.

"well... she is strikingly beautiful... and strong, and intelligent, and-"

"okay I get it." eunseok cut him off, erupting another laugh in anton.

"but she seems to only have eyes for you. besides, I'm a bit more preoccupied with the duel as of now." anton commented carelessly.

she has eyes for me? eunseok thought to himself again and again until they reached a nearby tavern.

it was then that the pair spotted your figure arguing with a clearly drunken man. before he knew it, eunseok rushed to your side to defend you from the man until he heard your conversation.

"you've gone mad if you think euripides is anywhere close to sophocles!" you yelled.

"you're the mad one, sophocles couldn't have written medea but euripides could have easily written oedipus rex in his sleep!" the man yelled back.

of course she's arguing over history. what a nerd.

"pardon us sir." eunseok interjected, dragging you away by the arm.

"hey! I wasn't finished. and stop dragging me." you ripped your arm away. "now you know how I feel." eunseok scoffed.

"y/n! are you alright?" anton asked. "yes, I'm fine. and I was just about to make my way back to the castle." you asserted.

"point in the direction of the castle." eunseok challenged. you pointed in a random direction hoping it would be somewhat close.

"you were going to head north, further into the town when the castle is down south." eunseok smirked.

if he didn't look so good right now I'd smack that smirk right off his face.

the walk back to the castle was dead silent, with poor anton making the occasional comment trying to spur conversation, but you and eunseok weren't having it.

when you finally reached the castle, anton excused himself leaving you and eunseok alone.

sighing, eunseok broke the silence first, "I was worried about you."

you whipped your head up. did i hear that right?

"I don't hate you. I hope you know that." he went on.

"I don't hate you either." you added. for the first time in a long time you looked at him in the eye.

the tension was palpable, but before you could act on any of your emotions, eunseok turned away. "goodnight, y/n." he walked off.

ouch. I know I said I wanted him to leave me alone, but not like this.

time passed by until it was the morning of the duel. you and eunseok had been growing even more desperate to find a way back home, and giselle and anton were getting even more nervous about the duel approaching.

eunseok had remained distant since that night, and although you hadn't argued since then, you also haven't really spoken much.

you missed him, but you had more important things to focus on.

as the knights began suiting up, you and giselle headed to your seats at the top of the arena. the arena was full of thousands of people, ranging from commoners to nobles.

if everything went to plan, the knights pretending to be anton and eunseok would win the duel, one of them would pretend to be injured and the other would carry them off into the stables where they would switch places with the real eunseok and anton.

of course, nothing ever goes according to plan. 'eunseok' was slain within the first ten minutes.

despite you having no connection to them, it hurt you to see young men lose their lives for a tradition meant to please the rich and powerful. and it hurt even more knowing that this tradition would continue for a few more centuries.

however, not everyone else shared your sympathies, as the majority of the crowd cheered excitedly with each kill. that was... until 'anton' was slain an hour in.

the entire arena went silent and the king jumped out of his seat, "stop the tournament! stop it now!"

oh shit.

the king ran down to check on his 'son' only to reveal a complete stranger under the helmet. still teary-eyed, the king roared "what is the meaning of this?"

we're screwed. we're so so screwed.

just when you thought it couldn't get any worse, the real eunseok and anton entered the arena, assuming the silence meant it was over.

"son! what have you done? answer me, boy!" the king seethed. "i... i don't wish to be a knight." anton confessed, eliciting gasps from the crowd.

"what on earth has gotten into you? is it that boy next to you influencing you?"

"no! I never wanted it. you know I've always wanted to pursue writing-"

"nonsense. you are to be a king. and a king is to be able to fight for his people. will words on paper solve wars? no. only a sword will protect your throne."

dejected, anton nodded before eunseok interrupted, "weren't you just crying over your son's death?"

another round of gasps travelled through the arena. "how dare you speak to me that way? I should have your head cut off!"

"all I'm saying is, if anton listened to you and fought, he'd be dead right now. is forcing him into combat worth losing your son?" eunseok reasoned.

the king faltered for a moment before recovering, "he is not enough of a man to look me in the eye and you want me to let him pursue his childish fantasies?"

in that moment, anton snapped, raising his head, "if I am to be heir to the throne than you will treat me as such. my whole life I've done what you wanted me to do, and look how that would have ended," he paused, pointing at the corpse on the floor.

"father, i assure you I am grown enough to discern what I want and don't want. and what I don't want is a life of a knight. I am not an extension of you, I am my own person, and most importantly, I am a writer." anton concluded.

the crowd erupted into cheers at the prince's heroic delivery until giselle ran down, seemingly inspired.

oh no.

"and I am in love with a stable-boy!" she declared loudly.

just like that, the arena was dead silent again and the king went red with anger.

"this is all your fault!" he pointed at eunseok "you, and that sister-mistress of yours!"

the crowd began murmuring, confused.

"guards, execute them!" he declared.

now you were definitely screwed.

you saw eunseok running out the back as giselle and anton held their father back. panicking, you ran through the back of the arena, meeting up with eunseok.

"what the hell are we going to do?" he panted. you grabbed onto his hand and began running into the castle. you're not sure why, but your gut was telling you to head to the storage room.

once you reached the room, eunseok whispered "won't this be the first place they'll look for us?"

" just hurry up and light the candle, I have to grab my papers." you rushed. he found a set of matches and lit the candle as you frantically searched for all your research.

you heard voices gathering around the outside of the door.

"y/n. if we really do die, I need to tell you something." eunseok began dramatically.

"I love-"

he was interrupted by a banging noise on the door. you quickly blew the candle out, hoping the darkness would somehow make the two of you invisible.

but it was too late, the door flew open, and a man came down the stairs holding a... flashlight?

"stop there! london police, you are under arrest for trespassing."

"what?" you muttered, confused.

"oh my-OH MY GOD. we're back... we're back! what year is it?" eunseok asked the officer desperately.

"are you two on some sort of narcotics?" the officer asked.

the two of you were then escorted to the police station where your group supervisor had to bail you out. you and eunseok were grinning ear-to-ear the entire time.

you were informed that you couldn't go on the tour as a result of your trespassing and you couldn't care less. "I know how much you were looking forward to it, are you sure you'll be okay?" your friend asked, worried.

"I'll be fine! go enjoy it for me." you assured. I'm sick of that damn castle anyway.

after taking a long, warm bath, you settled onto the hotel couch before hearing a knock on your door.

opening it, you were greeted with the sight of an awkward eunseok.

"hey... can I come in?" he asked, nervous. "yeah." you smiled.

"I'm still trying to convince myself that was all real." he chuckled.

"me too." you breathed "but at least it's all behind us."

"yeah, thank goodness." he agreed.

"what was it you were saying before we got arrested?" you asked innocently.

"um- I was saying, i... wonder whatever happened to giselle and anton! surely there's some more information on them now that anton survived the duel." he changed the topic.

"you're right!" you exclaimed, rushing to your computer to google their names.

"it says here that the king passed away from a heart attack due to shock and anton inherited the throne, but he didn't want it so he passed it onto giselle. he went on to become a successful writer and giselle married a common man named mark, they had a son and a daughter named... eunseok and y/n!"

"you think they're sister-mistresses?" eunseok joked.

"gross. anyways, anton's most famous book is called across centuries and it's about a pair of lovers that time traveled." you gasped.

"well that definitely can't be about us, we're far from lovers." he laughed.

"right..." you agreed quietly.

"well, I guess that now that we're out of the medieval period, I can get out of your hair." eunseok began, standing up.

"wait." you spoke up suddenly. if giselle and anton could confess in front of an entire kingdom, than i can confess to a single guy.

"eunseok, i..." you began.

fuck. I can't bring myself to finish my sentence.

"you what?" he asked.

"I'm..."

"are you alright?"

"no! yes-i mean no?" you sputtered.

"i'm gonna go let you rest." he nodded, slowly backing away.

"I love you! I'm in love with you. please-please don't leave yet." you practically begged.

eunseok's jaw fell to the floor.

"I don't know how or when I started feeling this way, and I get it if you don't feel the same way but I had to tell you. I'm-"

you were interrupted by eunseok's lips crashing onto yours, and for once you didn't mind the interruption.

"will you be mine, lady y/n?" he asked dramatically, shortly after you two parted from the kiss.

"why yes, my knight in shining armor." you laughed.

[bibbityboppitybillyharvgrove]

Always There - Chapter Seventeen: S.Snape

Summary: Y/N Potter was left with a baby to care for after her brother and sister-in-law were murdered by Voldemort. One person was there for her, a person she didn’t expect but soon became her comfort person, Severus Snape. During Harry’s third year at Hogwarts and her third year as Herbology professor, a few old friends come around again. Y/N has to handle the feelings of these old friends being around again as well as handle her feelings for a certain potions master all while she tries to hide these things from her godson.

Series Masterlist

My full Masterlist

Pairings: Severus Snape x Female Professor Reader, Potter!Reader x friend!Remus, Sister!Reader x James Potter, Potter!Reader x Friend!Sirius

Chapter Warnings: Female Reader, Potter Reader(No physical description of reader) probably shitty writing, Harry growing up in a loving home, Arthur's attack, mentions of Voldemort, not proofread,

Series Warnings: Female Reader, Potter Reader (No physical description of reader) probably shitty writing, OOC Snape, Harry grows up in a loving environment, mentions of death and murder, poorly written angst, Remus is a shitty friend, poorly written pining,

Please let me know how I can improve my writing and being more inclusive to POC as I am whiter than white. Please also let me know if I have to add more to the warnings! My messages are open as well as my asks!

I am starting a taglist so leave either a comment or something in my asks if you would like to be tagged in any of my works or just this series!

Author's Note: My updates for this will be slowing down a bit during the month of December. Because I am writing 25 days of fics, the updates for this will be slower than usual. I am trying my hardest to write for both but please be patient with me.

Please let me know how I can improve or if you find any errors! Correct me, don't be afraid to! I want to improve my writing and become a better writer so any feedback or advise is welcomed!

Word Count: 1300

My asks are open for questions, suggestions and feedback!

Feedback is welcomed and encouraged!

Enjoy!

not my gif

not my gif

It was approaching winter so that meant colder weather and holiday decorations going up around Hogwarts. However, one night, Y/N and Severus were woken up by frantic knocking on their door. She was discombobulated as she opened the door to reveal Minerva, who had a concerned look on her face.

“Dumbledore wishes to see you both in his office, right away. This is urgent,” She told her, Y/N was wide awake with her tone of voice, rushing to wake Severus as the three of them rushed to the headmaster’s office. Harry was there, completely spaced out.

“What’s going on? Harry, love, can you tell me what happened?” She asked her nephew. He snapped out of it looking at his aunt with a wild look in his eyes. She didn’t recognize him for a moment, his eyes seeming snake-like. 

“I saw Mr. Weasley getting attacked by a snake at the ministry. It was Voldemort’s snake, what’s wrong with me?” Harry asked his aunt desperately.

“Nothing my love, nothing at all,” She reassured him before turning to Dumbledore, “do you have anyone checking on Arthur? Do we think this is a dream or if Harry actually saw this happen in real time?”

“I sent someone to check on Arthur and I’ve gotten word that he was taken to St. Mungos. Severus, the boy needs to start occlumency,” Albus explained. 

“Now? Can’t it wait until morning? He’s clearly not ready to start learning something new right now, he needs to rest as do I,” Severus questioned.

“Yes, now. We don’t know if Voldemort knows about the connection he has with the boy, we need to get a headstart now before he realizes the connection.”

“The boy has a name! His name is Harry and I agree with Severus. Both of them need to rest before they start this! It’s too much for both of them just waking up!” Y/N argued with the bearded man, frustrated with how he was talking about her nephew as if he wasn’t in the room. 

“They must start tonight, that is final!”

“Listen to me!” Harry screamed, everyone falling silent in shock. “I don’t know if Voldemort knows about the connection because I barely knew, I can do it tonight as long as you can Uncle Sev.”

Severus nodded and ushered the boy to the dungeons where they would begin their lessons. Y/N shook her head at the headmaster before making her way to the potions classroom where she knew Severus and Harry would be. She walked in and silently sat at the back of the room as she watched the two most important people try a new method to keep Harry safe. She knew it was starting to take a toll on both of them, both very obviously tired even though they had enough energy to argue with one another.

Y/N knew what it was like to pry into the minds of others and have her mind pried into as well. It wasn’t fun. She knew it was rough on Severus because he didn’t want to see the boy suffering with these memories he was seeing. Most of Harry’s memories were on the happier side, especially the ones with his aunt in them, but he also possessed some dark memories as well, such as watching the dark lord rise and Cedric dying in front of him. 

As the two were getting tired, they called it a night, Y/N dropping a kiss on his forehead before sending him back to the Gryffindor tower. Severus walked up to her and pulled her into his arms. “A lot of his memories are of you,” He said quietly as he buried his head in her neck.

“Good ones?” She asked, resting her head on his.

“Most were. Come, let’s go back to bed.” The two of them let go of their embrace, taking each other’s hand and walked back to their quarters. He was able to fall asleep rather quickly but she had a hard time trying to. She was restless, her mind racing. If Harry was aware of the connection with Voldemort, was the dark lord aware of the connection too? If the dark lord knew about the connection, would he use it to his advantage? Would he manipulate Harry into thinking that someone important to him has been attacked, has been killed?

The next morning as Severus awoke from his sleep, he reached out to her side of the bed only to find it cold and empty. He picked his head up to find her staring out of one of the few windows in their quarters, watching as the creatures swam by. He sat up and let out a yawn before getting out of bed to join her. “What’s on your mind my love?” Severus asked as he sat beside her.

“Does Voldemort have any idea that there’s a connection between him and Harry? That Harry has been seeing these things through Nagini before he even knew about a connection?” She questioned.

“I don’t know, there’s a chance he doesn’t know yet but I think he will catch on soon,” He told her with honesty, “But, there is no reason to worry about it just yet. Harry has already left for Black’s place, so let’s get ready to meet him there. I know you’re missing your friends.”

With that, the two of them got ready together, packed a bag for the break and took a portkey to 12 Grimmauld Place. She was greeted with a tight hug from Sirius who had missed her greatly over the last few months and then an equally tight hug from Remus. Severus took their bags to the guest room as Y/N caught up with her friends. 

“Snivellus proposed?” Sirius asked her as he inspected her ring, his voice showing nothing but shock and surprise.

“What did I tell you about that name, Siri! Stop calling him that!” She scolded her friend. “But yes, Severus proposed. We were thinking about eloping because of the state of the wizarding world.”

“And he didn’t think to ask your two best friends for permission?”

“He asked me, maybe if you weren’t such an ass to him maybe he would’ve asked you,” Remus chimed in. 

“He asked you?” Sirius and Y/N asked in unison.

“Of course I did. Remus is like a brother to her, I had to ask him,” Severus said as he descended the stairs, “And I asked Harry of course.”

“Speaking of, where is my boy? I want to make sure he’s okay,” Y/N asked after realizing she had yet to see her nephew.

“He went with the Weasley’s to visit Arthur. He’s doing better, should be home in a few days,” Remus replied, “Now I think we should leave our men alone to have a chat. We need to catch up without those two in the way.” The two walked off to the kitchen leaving Sirius and Severus alone.

“Remus was right, you know, I would’ve asked your permission if you weren’t such an asshole. Other than Harry, you were the first person I thought of to ask permission for her hand.”

“I never realized how shitty I was to you. I’m sorry, Severus. If you did ask, I would’ve said yes with no hesitation. You make her happy, you keep her sane and you’ve been there for her longer than I was able to be. Thank you for taking such good care of my sister,” Sirius apologized, his voice sincere. He meant every word he had said, knowing he wasn’t always the nicest to Severus. He wanted to make things right before the potions master became a permanent part of his life because Y/N would be a permanent part of both of theirs.

taglist

@acupnoodle @chxelsxaa @fluffyrat365 @fanficwriter5 @atanukileaf @jspidey5 @mija-novella @leo4242564 @crazyunsexycool @livillain00 @bigsimperika

[mio-actuallywrites]

The World You Once Loved Pt 4!

4/12-ish?

PREVIOUS NEXT

1300+ words

What Sorta adventures will you go on now, Prefect?

A/N AT BOTTOM!!

not proofread, will most likely come back tomorrow morning and add some small parts/edits.

As soon as you entered the kitchen 10 pairs of eyes of familiar were on you as you soon almost got tackled to the floor. 

“I’ll just… leave the house I guess…” Oboko mumbled as she grabbed her coat and left, but you could care less. 

“Prefect!” Was all that you could hear before you interrupted them, curious why… or how they came. 

“Hey guys, it’s nice to see you but… why or how did you come here?” Suddenly it was all silent. 

“… WAKASAMA WOULD BE PROUD OF YOUR GROWTH!” Sebek suddenly yelled… probably to avoid the question. 

“But seriously… how?”

“It was Ace.” Was all that Epel said before all eyes suddenly moved to him. 

“Well… Uh… so…” Ace froze up before slowly continuing, “I sorta said Tokyo Japan… because.. I just wanted to see what happened?!” 

“Are you telling me it took almost a goddamn year for Crowley to find me away home but it took 2 FUCKING MINUTES?!” After your sudden outburst you saw a moving bag on the counter… and something black and furry was coming out… wait was that GRIM?

“MWAHHH HENCHMAN I MISSED YOU SO MUCH!!” Grim suddenly launched himself at you as you felt him hug you close. 

“Grim… “ you mumbled, suddenly feeling bad for your outburst, perhaps hugging Grim calmed you down, after not feeling or seeing him for a while and finally being able to was really comforting.

“So what are you guys gonna do now?” 

“Can’t we join your house until we find a way back?” Grim replied. 

“Uh first off all, I have 2 roommates, second of all therel is barely enough room for us 3. Third off all it was your guys fault you came here.” You finished, crossing your arms.

“But don’t you have a Ramshackle-like place here??” You heard someone ask, but you didn’t play any mind to it. 

“I mean…” you responded thinking of an idea. 

“HUMAN YOU MUST TELL US NOW!” Sebek quickly responded. 

I mean, you might have had enough money to rent a small home, for the most a month. After all those hours being a barista you must have gained enough money, for plus the dorm you live in is paid for by the school, so your able to right?

“Uh… have you guys ever heard of Air bnbs?”

Let’s just say at around 3 AM, a group of teens? Young adults walked into a hotel, because you couldn’t book a air bnb for the next day, so here you were using (wasting) all YOUR money on them. Hmm maybe Crowley was smart bribing you maybe you could use those tricks and use them against certain someone’s. 

Anyways after checking in to the hotel and minus 11,364.38 yen, you finally had got a rest for the night. 

You might be questioning why did it take 3 hours

To find a hotel? Well, you had to drive 3 fucking hours to figure out where to stay, and you had to buy them food. So, while they ate all happily, (minus grim as he was forced into a bag while you all ate) you were over there moping about all of your savings being used on something like this. 

Back to the hotel, you shared a room with Sebek while Ace and Deuce shared a room, and Epel and Jack shared one. Grim, he was also with you but somehow he gave you his spot on the bed, but forced Sebek on the couch. (What did you expect?)

After arriving to your hotel room you couldn’t bother to do anything else to sleep, you were already tired at this point so you basically fainted when you hit the bed. However, the thoughts still haunted your brain on how they came here. 

Sebek,  still most likely pissed for getting the couch himself, was fumbling with the TV remote, trying to figure out how to work it, and what it does. 

Grim, who knows what he was doing, you couldn’t bother by how tired you were. 

However next door, you could hear the murmur of Ace and Deuce, sharing stories from their exploration of Tokyo, and what they noticed on the way to your home. They promised you to tell you tomorrow, however you were nervous to hear what chaos they were up to. the laughter from the 2 close friends echoed faintly through the thin hotel walls, while Sebek was still trying to figure out how the TV works.

As you lay there, thoughts swirled in your mind questions about how or why they came. Now you couldn’t care about all that money you spent. You cared about how they came/why they did. While it took Crowley 8 months to figure it out. 

The thoughts of your brain slowly died away as you let sleep take over you. 

Just as quick as you fell asleep, you were suddenly awakened again, you grabbed the phone next to you which read the time of 9:32 AM. 

You sighed as you looked over to see Sebek sleeping on the couch with Grim under the covers of the bed, curled up in a ball. (Which he would never admit to doing however.) 

With a stretch and a yawn, you reluctantly got up and went to the bathroom, got changed and did whatever you did in the mornings. 

After getting ready, you woke up Sebek and Grim, after they both got up, you went to Ace and Deuces room and knocked, after a few knocks and calling their names, Deuce opened the door, looking all ready, while you saw Ace in the background still getting ready. 

“Let’s meet at my room at 10:45? Okay?” You asked, still having to get over to Epels and Jacks room. 

“Yea that’s fine.” Deuce responded. You nodded and went off to find Epel and Jack. 

However once you got to their door, you saw Jack open it. 

“So we meet at your room at 10:45?” He said awaiting your response. 

“Yea… but what… how did you know..?”

“I guess it’s just my wolf senses…” after hearing that response you sighed… perhaps sooner or later you will have to explain to him not saying that in public… due to a certain *thing* called furries. 

After returning into your room and awaiting the others, you thought about what would happen today. 

You were sure that today would be hectic, but you were kinda excited. To be able to spend the day with your old best friends?! And this time at your world?! You couldn’t ask anything better! Hopefully though, no chaos ensures. (However you were sure it would happen… due to the nature of your friends.)

So as you await for the others… you couldn’t help but think how the others back at Twisted Wonderland are handling

right now, if you were correct it was…. 20 hours here so 10 hours back at Twisted wonderland, would they notice the group went missing…?

“Hey Sebek what was the time when you guys came back at TWST?”

“8:15 AM!”

…..

“What do you mean you can’t find Ace or Deuce?!” A certain red head almost yelled… this was the ?? Time they snuck out or don’t come back to the dorm this WHOLE school year. (Keep in mind it was the first semester.)

“It is off with their heads when they come back! And they even bother to skip classes!?”

The red head looked back at the light gray octopus. 

“Well maybe if you could make a deal with me I’d actually help more.”

“What do you say Riddle?” 

A pair of twins followed behind them, talking amongst themselves also wondering what could of happened. 

As the front Twokept talking? Arguing about the missing 2nd years, and figuring out what the hell happened to them. 

Soon they entered the mirror room (forgot what it’s called lmao) and where right in front of the mirror, still trying to figure out what happened before they suddenly were in a different place. 

A dark entity watches from behind… smirking in amusement

“I can’t believe my plan is finally working… after waiting so long… I’ll finally be able to….”

They kept mumbling to themselves, smiling happily as they spun around casting spells all over the place, with a huge smirk placed on their face.

Hey guys! I’m so sorry a month has went by with no update I think I hit writers block! Anyway happy thanksgiving!! I hope you all have had a nice week! Also feel free to send in requests just no NSWF!!

(I really should make my rules lmao)

Tag list:

@twistedcece @nothingfuninthislife

@help-whatdoimakemyusername

[jellyfishbeansontoast]

Christine

ok this was supposed to be based off the song Christine by lucy dacus but with a happy ending, i got a bit carried away though so there’s like nothing to do with the song. pls enjoy some tooth rotting fluff i havent proofread. sorry if it moves too fast im not a slowburn kinda person. thank you so mucn @demxters for the help!!

Robin Buckley x reade

word count: 1300

Sitting alone at a party on a Friday night was not your idea of fun but it seemed to be the only option viable as you couldn’t find Robin or Steve. They’re probably upstairs doing things you don’t even want to know about; it makes you shudder just thinking about it. You’ve lost count of how many drinks you’ve had. You go to get another one, but the room suddenly swings on its side, you stumble forward, practically launching yourself into whoever’s in front.

“Woah Y/n, lets get you home, yeah?”

You smile at the voice of your favourite person, wrapping your arms around her. “Hey robin.” Your heart flutters just being so close. This is wrong, she’s with Steve, you know you shouldn’t be so close but she’s magnetic.

Her hand on your face drags you out of your thoughts, another arm is put around your shoulders but this one is a lot heavier. Right, Steve. They both lead you out of the house, Steve bearing most of the weight before loading you into his car.

Robin sits in the back with you, pulling you into her. She strokes your cheek soothingly and it’s not long before your heavy eyelids are drooping shut. Steve makes eye contact with her in the rearview mirror, smirking when he sees her hand. If you were awake to see it your suspicions of them dating would’ve been shot down immediately.

The journey ends almost too quickly for Robin, she curses Steve mentally for driving so fast. She shakes your shoulders gently to wake you up. She’s angry at herself for not making a move like she’d promised Steve. He’d dragged her out of the room trying to get her to be his wing-woman and in a flash the night was ending. “See you tomorrow?” She hopes she doesn’t sound too desperate.

You nod, halfway through a yawn. Waving at Steve, you nearly fall out of the car before staggering your way up the path. You don’t remember ever getting into bed but when the morning comes you wake accompanied by a stinging headache. You almost can’t tell if the knocking is the door or your head, but it only gets louder and more persistent. Dragging yourself out of bed you make your way downstairs, the light that streams in through the now open door blinds you, sending piercing shockwaves through your head.

“I would’ve brought my camera if I knew this was the morning look we’d be getting.”

You’re hoping you’re doing a sufficient job of glaring daggers at Steve, but you can barely open your eyes. Robin pokes her head out from behind him, “Delivery service! Here to take care of the hangover” she holds out a bag and the smell is heavenly, grease is leeching its way through the paper but you couldn’t care less.

“Do you wanna come in?” but Robin’s already through the door, leading you through your own house by the arm.

You look back at Steve “I’m just the taxi” he calls before leaving you two alone. You’re now incredibly aware of how her fingers are still wrapped around your wrist, just inches away from your hand, if your hand just happened to ‘slip’ you could intertwine your fingers with hers. You shake the thoughts from your head and continue following her up the stairs and into your room.

“Food then you need sleep” she commands, standing in the doorway of your room. She knows she shouldn’t but she can’t help but be incredibly nosy. You’re sitting on your bed, suddenly feeling the heat of embarrassment rise up the back of your neck. “This is cute” she’s holding a photo of the two of you after one of her band performances.

“I s’pose” You mumble.

She clutches the photo to her heart “are you saying I’m not cute?”

“N-no that’s not what I meant at all”

“So you’re saying I am cute”

“Robin!” your heart threatens to beat out of your chest.

“I’m just kidding” and in a second she’s sitting next to you on the bed. She grabs your hand and pulls you back until you’re both lying flat. “You need hangover recovery sleep” you’d forgotten about your hangover in her presence but now you can feel it all coming back. You try to fight a yawn but there’s no getting past Robin, “see, you’re tired.”

You wake up half an hour later, disorientated. Robin’s mouth is partly open, soft breaths escaping her lips, you’re so close you can feel them tickling your cheek. She’s adorable when she’s sleeping, although you think she’s adorable all the time anyway. Her eyes begin to open groggily, her face scrunching up in the cutest way you could imagine. Shit. She’s going to catch you staring. You squeeze your eyes shut, pretending to be asleep. You can hear her rustling around, great she think’s you’re a creep and now she’s leaving. Before your thoughts can continue any further you can feel her pressing a kiss to your forehead. Your breath catches and you’re sure you’ve given yourself away, if you have, she pretends not to notice.

For the next week you avoid her like the plague. You know she simply meant it as a friendly gesture but it’s been playing in your head every moment of the day. She’s come into your work a few times that week, you’re friendly as usual but she can tell something is off. Your smile doesn’t quite reach your eyes and it breaks her to see you like it. Every fibre of your being aches for her but you have to stay apart for Steve’s sake, you’d do anything for her but be a homewrecker. He was so beat up after Nancy you couldn’t be the one to do that to him for a second time.

It's been a whole week since the last time you properly spoke to Robin. There’s a tapping on your window as you’re just about to turn out the light. You grab the baseball bat Steve left once before turning around, after all the shit you’d been through there was no being too safe, you’re able to relax a bit when you see it’s only Robin, athough your heart rate picks up for a different reason. The window creaks when you lift it up, grabbing Robin’s hands and pulling her through. “How did you even get up here?”

She’s out of breath but she points to the tree by your window. Shaking your head in disbelief you put the bat back where it was.

“Why have you been avoiding me?”

Robin doesn’t beat around the bush. “I haven’t” even you know the lie doesn’t sound convincing.

“Yes, you have.” She steps even closer to you.

It’s now or never, “I like you” you mumble, “but you’re with Steve so I get it.”

The sound of her laugh graces your ears, “Me? With Steve? You can’t be serious.” Her laughter stops when she sees how desperately serious you actually look, the tears welling in your eyes. She cups your face in her hands, wiping the tears that spill on to your cheeks. She sighs biting her lip “Steve was supposed to help me get with you”

“With me?”

“Yes, but now I see how awful he was at that, remind me never to take his advice again. Anyway, the point is, I’m not with Steve, never was and never will be, can I kiss you now?”

The kiss is sweeter than any you’ve ever had, her hands still cupping your face whilst yours find their place on her waist. Her lips feel familiar, like you’ve kissed them a million times over. She breaks the kiss reluctantly, pressing her forehead against yours “I can’t believe you thought I was with Steve.”

[christallise]

use your words

pairing: hyunjin x reader afab

warnings: breeding, use of toys, use of pet names, light bondage (tied wrists)

word count: 1300

a/n: i have no idea what im doing im down bad for hyunjin these days, also barely proofread so sorry for any mistakes!!

“We use words here, don’t we honey?” 

Hyunjin’s melodic tone contrasts perfectly with the tightness of rope binding your wrists together above your head. In this position he could view you perfectly, watch with hungry eyes as you contort and writhe under the pressure of the vibrator he’d nestled against your clit. It’d been how many hours now? You’d lost count after the third orgasm; time slipped away whenever you were with him, a mere concept that your tiny, overstimulated brain couldn’t comprehend. 

“Please,” you whine, rutting your hips in the air and when you hear Hyunjin audibly smirk, you mewl, “Please, it’s too much.”

“It’s too much?” He mimics your pleas with a sneer as his pacing footsteps come to a steady halt at the side of the bed. You blink your eyes open and squint up at him through the dim, red lights that he’d insisted on using to gloomily light the room. Every part of this arrangement was artistic, even the bindings holding you in place were intricately tied in such an aesthetic way, each knot tied more perfect than the last. 

When you don’t reply, Hyunjin clicks his tongue and begins to thread his slender fingers through your hair and you can’t help but groan at the distraction from the vibe buzzing ruthlessly at your clit. The pleasure though, is short lived, as is expected. With now a fistful of hair, he jerks your head back and leaves your neck beautifully exposed. 

“You know,” he begins, leaning dangerously close to your face and fuck — you can feel his breath ghosting so delicately on your throat. “If you’re not going to speak…” 

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry! I just….” You babble, thrashing from side to side. How could you speak? How could you form words when all your mind can think about is how fucking badly you need him.  How badly you want to feel him fill you with his cock. How much your cunt aches to be pumped full of his cum. 

How much he simply refuses to give you anything.

“I’m sorry…” you begin to petition your case once more but are quickly silenced when the bed dips and Hyunjins legs are straddling your waist and his hand snakes around your neck, gripping your throat with a gentle ferocity.

“Do not interrupt me, slut.” His forehead is pressed against yours now and his gaze never once falters from your own. You’ve learned your lesson, instead of speaking you stifle your moans with a sob. “If you’re not going to use your words, how am I supposed to know what you want?”

He’s right and yet, even after all the climaxes from just the vibe alone, you’re still shy. Still embarrassed to tell him exactly what you want, no, what you crave.

“Still can’t speak up, honey?” Hyunjin sighs, his hand drawing circles on your hips. “What a shame…”

“No, please!” your begging is a little shameless now but you’re too far gone to care. With Hyunjin pressed so close to you, his clothed cock pressing against your stomach as he straddles you; it’s unbearable.

“Please, your cock…” it comes out in almost a whisper and it doesn’t go unnoticed by him. He feigns laughter and gently presses his lips to your ear, his breath ghosting against your skin sends shivers down your spine. “What was that?”

“Cock.” This time, it’s just a statement. You hope he won’t see it as stepping out of line but once he moans emphatically in your ear, you know he’s had just about enough of his own teasing too.

“Yeah? You want my cock baby? Why didn’t you just tell me?” He chuckles when you whimper and nod, fingers making quick work of the zipper confining him and making even quicker work of aligning himself with your hole. 

“Why don’t we just keep this here, hm?” he says, thumbing the vibrator against your folds, pushing it impossibly closer to your clit. “It’ll make it more fun, yeah?”

All you can do is nod, you can’t think straight. You can feel how the tip of his dick teases your entrance so lightly, so tantalisingly close that you make a feeble attempt to sink down on it; Hyunjin revels in your pathetic pursuit.

“You want to be fucked that badly?” he muses, guiding his cock softly along your slit and groaning lowly when the head and the vibe meet and you can tell by the way he hisses that he can’t hold out much longer either. 

So when he finally — finally — fills you up, inch by inch until he’s nestled all the way in, you curse and writhe under him, grasping at his shoulders and pulling him closer because you need to feel everything. Every twitch of his cock, every erratic thrust, you want to feel it all. 

“Fuck,” he says, gently pulling the entirety of his dick out and languidly pushing it back in, eyes fixated on your cunt, “Look at how well your pussy takes me, baby.”

He’s so right, you’re so wet and you can feel your own juices drip down the inside of your thighs as he almost lazily bucks his hips into you; it’s too much, yet not enough. 

“More…” you whimper, nails etching into his back, “Please. Fill me up.”

Hyunjin is only human, hearing you beg to be fucked full of his cum is enough to make him groan and lose the facade of control he’d been building up for the past few hours. What replaces it is desperation, the insatiable hunger to devour every part of you — to claim you as his and his alone. For the first time tonight you feel the composure slip as his hips begin to slam into yours, his cock hitting your g-spot with such force that your back arches and you squeal, all the while the vibe still keeps the attention of your clit and you honestly don’t think you can take much more of this.

“Mine,” Hyunjin almost growls, his blonde locks that so perfectly framed his features before are now plastered to his forehead, drenched in sweat. His pace quickens with each and ever chant of the word “mine” that spills from his lips and you think you’re going to fucking lose it. You give no regard to the drool dripping from the corner of your lips as Hyunjin mercilessly pounds into your cunt, his hands cradling your hips. 

“‘M close,” he moans, throwing his head back in ecstasy, “So fucking close, baby.”

“Gonna fill me up?” Between the moans and groans, you shock yourself with your own reply. The awe is short lived though, when you watch how your words unravel him at the very seams.

“Gonna fill you up so good baby, gonna breed you so fucking good.” He’s almost at his limit now and between the multiple stimulation and his frenzied, incoherent rambles, you feel the familiar knot start to form in your stomach. You tighten around his dick, a silent signal that you’re almost there. You’re so close, you’re so so close and…

With a deafening moan, Hyunjin tips over the edge and you can feel the way he fills your cunt to the brim with his cum, the way he marks you, the way he owns you. His fingernails dig deep into your sides as he rides out his orgasm, still fucking into you. The pressure is too much, the mere idea of being bred by him brings you to the edge too, back arching as you wail out his name.

Then, there’s stillness. For a while, he lets his cock keep you stuffed full as he lowers himself down on you, smattering your cheeks with tiny kisses and all you can do is breathe out a similarly tiny laugh.

“Please untie me,” You roll your eyes.”

“Look at you, using your words.”

[horanghoe]

Push me - Jaehyun Smut

pairing: Jaehyun x little!reader

word count: 1300 (woah, even number? a tiny drabble and barely any proofreading)

genre: smut//fluff + angst 

summary: After a long night of teasing, three rounds becomes a little too much. Don’t worry though; sweetheart Jaehyun is there to save you from falling.

trigger warnings: hardcore overstim!! Is basically the plot, so pls don’t read if that triggers you <3 + sexual themes + touches on sub-space (though, I am severely uneducated so don’t @ me)

Back to ~ Main Masterlist

Back to ~ NCT Masterlist

Jaehyun grunted slightly, coming undone with a slack jaw and wanton moan as he came into the condom. He barely had a moment to relish it though; the massaging of his cock cut short by your cries and sharp shoves at his chest. It was too much. The intense pleasure overtaking your mind and sending a heavenly white noise into your body that was so deep that you couldn’t breathe; Jae pushing aside his weakness to pull out quickly and move back onto his knees in fear of hurting you, shushing at your cries as he used his strength to guide your twitching thighs down to the mattress. It was all panicked; rushed, discarding the condom quickly to focus on you.

It took a moment for him to compose himself, completely fucked out yet overwhelmed with the need to protect you. He looked at you with puppy dog eyes, totally concerned and encapsulated by your being. His heart melted as he leaned forward gently to press kisses to your shoulders, a slight flutter of panic rising into his chest. He spotted your fists, uncomfortably grabbing at the sheets, and he moved them to his skin.

His palms ran firmly up and down the length of your sides and thighs as your muscles rippled, tears slipping down your cheek. Soft sobs racked your chest, feeling as if you were swimming in a deprivation tank that left you helpless. Senselessly, breath-takingly infectious, was the only way to describe the orgasm that ripped through you.

Your third orgasm had caused the muscles in your legs to contract and release aggressively, your abdomen following abruptly. Your mind faded to blank. Your eyes rolled back into your head and you struggled to breathe, Jae’s thrusts slowing despite how desperately you had begged him to continue.

“Hold me, angel. I’ve got you, you’ll be okay, just let it happen. Breathe baby, I’ve got you.”

You let out a silent sob at his words, folding inwards to grip at his skin. Your thighs squeezed and relaxed continuously against his hips. Jaehyun didn’t care for the marks; crescent dips from fingernails finding homes in soft divots and valleys across his shoulder blades. It stung slightly; your mind-numbing scraping and grasping. But he simply ran his palms firmly against your skin, hovering his forehead next to yours. His warm breath fanned softly against your forehead and cheek.

Your tears streamed from the orgasm, but also from how delicate he was being. Jae’s heart hurt to see you in this pleasure-pain. In a strange desperate attempt at grounding, you laced your fingers of one hand into his hair and cried out his name. Your tone was sharp, Jaehyun snapping his gaze to lock eyes with yours. Time stopped and a tear slid down your cheek. With a soft mumble, he brushed it away with the soft pad of his thumb, peering into you with such love. Cutting off your cries with patient words.

“Jaehyun, Jae, plea-“

“Shhh, you’re okay sweetheart. Try and focus on the good feeling, focus on my voice, the rest should fade away. I’m right here with you Y/N, there’s no need for you to be afraid. I’ve got you. You’re safe. You need to breathe for me babe, okay? I promise you; the pain will leave. You’re doing so good baby; I know you can do it.”

You squeezed your eyes shut cutely, trying to tune into this so-called ‘good feeling’. The mumblings of affirmations making your heart bloom a little with every encouragement. With your first big gasp of breath, you managed to relax a little. The firmness of his touch was truly what brought your spiraling mind back down from absolute oblivion.

“Jaehyun-ie?” You practically hiccupped. He smiled softly, pressing a kiss against your cheek.

“Yes, angel?”

“I love you.” The sentence slipped from your mouth so sweetly and he couldn’t help but laugh softly, taken back from your honesty. The flexing of your stomach had almost entirely subdued, your soft panting lungs finally able to heave a few fresh breaths. Sore muscles became warm and heavy against Jae and the bed. Your mind began to haze over; a fog of love easing the discomfort from memory. Jae peppered your cheeks and neck in fleeting kisses, laughing softly. He replied, with an honest tone.

“Y/N, you cutie, I love you too. How are you feeling, hmm? Managed to ease the pain a bit?”

“Good… Mmm, better~” You hummed softly. The pain of being overstimulated was now replaced with the mushy after-effects of some good fucking. He chuckled softly against your skin, placing one final kiss to your jaw before retracting. Your arms all but flopped to the bed above your head, finding no resistance in how weak you’d become. Part of him ached for this; the complete unraveling of your strength, consented submission, which had your will unwinding like a tightly strung rope. At the end, you trusted him to hold you safely, and tie you back together again.

“You’ve done so well for me, baby girl. That really scared me, and I never want to see you in that pain ever again... Such a pretty angel. What am I going to do with you, hmm~?”

He pressed a kiss to your temple, the submissive side of your subconscious taking over as your tired brain struggled to stay present. You mewled lightly, as he dragged a thumb across your lower lip. He seemed to realize what was happening, hands becoming that more mindful, intents becoming that much kinder. He ran a hand up your ribs soothingly, not missing the slight shiver that flutters up your spine, nor the eyes that flit exhaustedly.

“Y/N, are you still with me, baby?” He spoke slowly, with a tone full of patience. For a moment you had simply blinked into empty space, unable to register what he said, before gently shaking your head. He smiled softly, pressing firmer kisses randomly across your face.

It was rare for you to enter this so-called ‘sub-space’. In fact, it had only ever happened once before at the start of the relationship, though that was an entirely opposite scenario and was something you’d avoided since. It was in fact, turning out to be pretty therapeutic. Giving yourself over completely with the trust Jaehyun would do his best to look after you. If only for a few moments as you grounded back into reality. It hazed you over with a thick dusky pink cloud of love.

“I’m going to run a bath, okay? Try not to move while I’m gone?” You mumbled some form of response, eyes drooping and barely comprehending him. He shook his head with the kindest of smiles. He tried again, resting on his arms, and shuffling to slide his fingers between yours above your head, squeezing lightly.

“Baby ~, I need you to promise me you won’t try and move, okay? Don’t want you to accidentally hurt yourself, do we? Promise me, angel?”

He pouted at the end, provoking lovingly for some kind of response from you. The pout made you smile and giggle with as little strength as you could muster. It made his cheeks blush, laughing chestily as you mumbled back – a little stronger this time in tone, though still very much fogged over.

“Pinkie promise. MmmcanIsleep?”

He nodded, smiling wholly as he locked your pinkie promise in, lifting his body slowly away from yours. Not before squeezing your palm or kissing your forehead with love.

“Yes baby, you can fall asleep. Sweet dreams, angel. I’ll be here, waiting for you on the other side. Goodnight, Y/N.”

And with that, you melted into the serenity of blackout sleep, knowing that on the other end, Jaehyun would be there, waiting patiently to piece you back together.

well would you look at that: updated 03/OCTOBER/2021

[janegilmore]

New Post: https://janegilmore.com/fixedit-in-which-i-discuss-the-meaning-of-the-word-fatootsed/

FixedIt: In which I discuss the meaning of the word fatootsed

The ABC published an article about the new consent education classes in QLD. The formula for news articles about men’s violence against women is put a survivor story at the top of the article so people can understand that men’s violence against women and children is a bad thing.

This article led with a story from Alya*, who, when she was 12 years old, had an alleged friend send her sexually explicit images without her consent. Someone then made the inexplicable decision to promote a story about consent education with this sentence. Someone wrote it, someone edited it, someone may have even proofread it, and then someone chose to use it as the head sentence on the article.

There is a Yiddish word – fatootsed, which, according to the Jewish-English Lexicon has three meanings:

adj. Bewildered, disoriented, discombobulated.

adj. Distracted, frustrated (New York Stagehand Glossary).

adj. Enervated, played out, knackered, terminally fatigued.

I am fatoosted.

_

If you’re reading this on social media, links to all the articles are on the post on my website: www.JaneGilmore.com

FixedIt is an ongoing project to push back against the media’s constant erasure of violent men and blaming of innocent victims. If you would like to help fund it – even $5 a month makes a big difference – please consider becoming a Patron

1800 RESPECT Sexual assault, domestic and family violence counselling and support. 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Ph: 1800 737 732 www.1800respect.org.au

Suicide Call Back Service 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Ph: 1300 659 467 www.suicidecallbackservice.org.au

Kids Helpline 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Phone: 1800 55 1800 www.kidshelp.com.au

Men’s Referral Service Support for men who use violence and abuse. 7 days a week Ph: 1300 766 491 https://ntv.org.au/get-help/

#FixedIt

[myneighborhood-thelake]

Henry Coe Park Adventure Race Training - January 1999

Another Epic Fun Adventure - today I feel great about the experience, but at the time there was no way in [ahem] that I would use the word "fun" when describing this event.....   I tried to cut as much as possible from this report, but since I mainly use these as a way to evaluate my performance I like to remember as much detail as possible.  Also I have not proofread this, so be kind to me for any serious grammatical or content problems.  I just want to get it done.

Henry Coe State Park - just outside of Morgan Hill, California, and by just outside I mean 10 miles up a winding, one lane, unkept road.

Start time - midnight - which should give us newbies a slight intro into racing with sleep deprivation.

Run/Hike - about 10 miles (we made it 12 miles) with two checkpoints.

Mountain Bike - about 24 miles (we made it 25+ miles) with two checkpoints.

Event Organizer - Rich B. - who will be both feted for putting together an event of this magnitude - just because he wanted to put it together and who will also be burned in effigy - for putting together an event of this magnitude - just because he wanted to put it together - but more on that later.

Our Team - Craig Benson (founder of the BAAR list), Paul Allman and Ron Renwick  -  Team What the Heck It's Friday at Midnight and We Have Nothing Better To Do With Our Lives  (OK, OK, we do not really have a team name).

We caravanned down to the park which is about a little over a one hour drive from our houses.  We are just getting started in Adventure Racing, so we were still found it more than a little amusing that we were leaving our warm homes in order to do a workout at midnight.

"Are we really doing this?" "Uhhh, I guess that we are." "Does this make any sense?" "Actually it scares me to say that yes, this makes a lot of sense.  We need to practice night navigation." "Ok, let's do it."

Arriving at the Coe Park Headquarters (HQ) was pretty amazing.  We had expected maybe 5 or 10 people to show, but here it was pitch dark on a Friday night and there were 20 people ready to go!  There was a mixture of experience represented - from our team are just getting started in AR to  two Raid Galiouses and Eco-Challenge veterans whom we promptly named "the Raid guy" and "the Eco guy."  Everyone was very friendly and seemed to be glad to be out on such a frigid night.

At midnight Rich handed out the park maps and course instructions.  We were to plot the checkpoints using UTM coordinates.  Our team was very happy that this was a 'training' exercise because we had no idea what a "UTM coordinate" was or how it was used.  This would be our first stumbling block.  Actually it only took us about a minute to figure out how to plot the coordinates, but at first glance we were a little confused.

As we plotted Rich was nice enough to clue us in on the location of the Checkpoints i.e. - "it's right at the trail intersection" or "it's at the top of the hill you can't miss it."  Let me tell you Checkpoint Two was unmistakable.  There was an option to use a park trail map as opposed to the normal topographic map, but we chose to stick to the topo version.  It made for great training on using a map, compass and altimeter.  The course was basically two "Out and Backs."  One out-and-back on the hike and one on the run.

******************     THE HIKE  *******************

We left Coe HQ at about 12:20 am and started a moderate paced walk up a hill with 3 other teams.  Two other teams had already started their hikes.  As we crested the first hill the lead team in our pack set off at a run and soon left us behind.  We picked up the pace and cruised to the bottom of the hill.  CP 1 was at the two mile mark, but a minor navigation error cost us about 15 minutes and a couple hundred extra yards.  We were the fourth team into the checkpoint.  We had quickly learned that navigation is a crucial factor in AR.

Off to CP 2.  Our course kept us directly on a fairly wide fireroad.  I shut off my headlamp and we cruised along with the light of Paul's headlamp and the moon.  We tried to keep hydrated and fueled as we moved steadily.  At a trail intersection we debated.  Was this the turn marked on our map?  We veered right as it looked on our map (maybe).  After about 1/2 mile we came to an intersection that was not on our map.  Hmmmmmm.  After proceeding forward and checking out the trail we chose to turn around and head back to the road.  We were a little confused.  Which way is the right way?  We chose to proceed along the fire road and we felt that the terrain on the topo map matched our surroundings.  At least as best as we could tell with only headlamps to light our way.  Sooner than we expected we hit Deer Horn Springs (?) and we realized that we were both: on the right path and much farther along than we had expected.  This enlightened us on a couple of points: 1 - try to keep track of distance covered (maybe by pacing), 2 - we need to develop confidence in our navigation skills.  The turn that we made along the wrong trail was caused by our lack of skill.

We did notice that we were descending, but we were so happy to be on the right path that we did not notice how rapidly we were descending.  Soon we heard the creek cutting through the bottom of the canyon.  As we approached the stream the temperature dropped remarkably.  It is amazing how in the distance of a few hundred yards the climate can change considerably.  We crossed the stream and looked at the trail going up, up, up and up some more.  Per Craig's altimeter we were at about 1300 feet (if I remember correctly), and we had to get to 3000 feet in about two miles of hiking.  This would be a grind.  We started out and just kept moving forward.  with the light of the moon we could see the hills and vallies surrounding us.  Even at 2:00 am it was a beautiful place to be.

About 2/3 of the way up we saw headlamps approaching us on the way down.  Soon a caravan of about 10 people shot by us.  We met  the other two teams on the way up.  It was a little disheartening to know that we had lost ground due to our navigation error.  It was even more disheartening when we met Raid-guy and Eco-guy on their way down.  They were holding a conversation like it was a simple walk in the park.  Hmmmm, maybe there is something to John Howard's philosopy of "start slow and taper."

We made it to the top of Mt. Sizer, gathered our token (a nickel with "Team #2" written on it), and we headed back down.  The downhill was far tougher for me than the uphill.  My knees have suffered from too much abuse over the years and my patella tendons were screaming as we made our way down the steep slope.  I had to stop occasionally and massage my knees to loosen them up.  I am not sure what to do, but I need to work on improving my knees if I want to continue on this sport.

Pretty soon we could hear the creek again and it was a very welcome sound - the hill would be over.  After we crossed the creek my feelings immediately changed.  I no longer wanted to hear the rushing water.  I wanted the silence that meant we were far away from the creek and on our way back to HQ.  A good warning sign for me is annoyance.  If I get annoyed during a workout is usually means that I need to eat, so I started pushing down another Harvest Bar.  It was a good choice as I started feeling better immediately.

Amazingly we actually saw some headlamps above us on the trail.  We were catching up to another team.  We picked up our pace in order to put one team between us and last place.  We kept hiking along and soon saw even more headlamps.  Unbelievable!  Could we actually catch two teams?  The answer was yes, but Craig wisely suggested that we slow down a bit and maintain some energy.  We slowly crept up on those in front of us while we ate, drank and kept walking.  We walked with the other team for a while.  It turns out that they had missed the first checkpoint.

Them:     "was CP 1 right next to the outhouse?" Us:  "ummm, it was next to the red cabin, is that what you mean?" Them:     "no, it was one of the fiberglass porta-potties." Us:  "I think that you were in the wrong spot." Them:     "Hey guys, we were not even close to the CP."

Since it was an out-and-back course we hiked right by CP 1 on the way in.  We directed them to the checkpoint and continued heading back to camp.  The last downhill section into the HQ was really painful for me, but it was soon over.

The Hike:  about 12 miles, a little over 4 hours , the incredible pace of 20 minutes per mile !!!!!

***************************     THE TRANSITION  ***********************

Since we are new to this adventure racing game we were totally unorganized for the transition.  We all changed clothes, and digging through gear bags at 4:30 am can be time consuming.  Craig and Paul dissected the mountain bike course while refueling.  I changed clothing, but could not bring myself to eat very much.  I really need to work on refueling.  After a small rest we grouped up to head out on the bikes.  According to Rich the Raid and Eco-guys took only about 3 minutes to head back out on the bikes.  We took at least 35 minutes.

The two teams that had come in behind us on the hike were now regrouping to head out on the bike.  A couple of guys could not continue, so the teams were adjusted.  Paul, Craig and I stayed together, and we were about to set out on the first night mountain bike ride that any of us had ridden.

********************    THE MOUNTAIN BIKE   ********************

The first part in 'heading out' is finding the right trail.  We grouped up at the park entrance and started speculating as to where to go.  It was still dark so we could not clearly make out where the trailheads were.  In addition the two teams that had come off of the hike behind

"I think it's up there." "But we need to go South-West not North-East" "Maybe it's over here" "No, maybe it's over there."

At this point I got a little snippy and said something like "let's just look at the da#$ map!" which was a good idea as a quick look at the map clearly showed the trail head.  The entire pack set off.

The first hundred yards was uphill, but a gradual downhill soon followed.  Since there were about 9 of us in the pack Craig, Paul and I soon were dispersed throughout the paceline.  At the first trail junction, Paul and Craig's map skills really played out.  The team in front stopped to check their map and BOOM! Paul veered left and we blasted by the other team.

At this point I need to clarify something about equipment.  While most people have some type of suspension on their mountain bikes, Paul and I were the only two present who have decade old - rigid frame mountain bikes.  To be honest, both of our bikes were not even "Top of the Line" quality when we purchased them, so we are riding rigid frame bikes with low level components.

Back on the trail, the other team caught and passed us - at least until the next trail junction.  Once again, they stopped to consult their map as Paul cut left and kept moving.  Very soon it was Paul, me, and Craig with the other teams somewhere behind us.  With the limited light provided by our headlamps we did not realize exactly how steep of a trail we were descending.  On our return trip we would be pushing our bikes up this hill - very slowly - as it was at least a 12% grade.

As the temperature was sitting close to 24 degrees, we had to stop often in order to warm our hands.  Craig could barely feel his brake levers which can be very unsettling on such a steep hill - actually it strikes terror in your heart!

Even with our frequent stops we were clearly ahead of the pack.  I was more than a little surprised that the two guys with antique mountain bikes were opening a gap on the better equipped pack behind us.  There is probably a good explanation for us being faster that relates to someone in the other teams being injured or not having adequate lighting, but it sure made me feel good to open a gap no matter what the reason was.  We soon reached and crossed through a nice flat section aptly named Poverty Flats.  The clue for CP 3 mentioned "after you pass through Poverty Flats."  Little did we know that meant that we had to get out of Poverty Flats and then some before we reached CP 3.

Leaving Poverty Flats was a harbinger of the rest of the ride.  The hill started out smoothly and ramped up.  We were soon in our smallest gears and the hill kept going up.  We had to get off of our bikes and push.  This would not be the last time that we would be pushing our bikes today.  At the top of the hill we mounted up and rode forward.  Of course there would never be a "flat" section.  This was an up and down course.  My front derailleur was not working properly, so I was not able to shift out of my little chain ring.  This was fine for the uphill sections, but it prevented me from picking up much speed on the downhill segments.

We had been riding for over an hour and we had still not made it the 5.4 miles to CP 3.  I think that our average speed was about 3 miles per hour...  At this point Craig's altimeter watch proved it's usefulness.  Per Paul's reckoning if we were not at CP 3 yet then we should be at about 1600 +/- feet of elevation.  Per Craig's super watch we were at 1670 feet - which meant that we had even further to go to get to CP 3.  We kept riding until we hit the trail intersection with the "new trail marker" and easily found CP 3.

As you can imagine at this point the path away from CP 3 was almost straight downhill.  This was a dicey decent that ended in a creek crossing.  We had moved quickly away from the checkpoint to keep our lights from being used as a beacon to the following teams.  Our strategy was sound, but did not come to much as it was very difficult to find the continuation of the trail after we had crossed the creek.  We fanned out to find our path which took us several minutes.  As soon as we were back on track the following team came to the creek crossing - which meant that they could use our headlamps as a guide for finding the trail.  After a short push uphill we mounted our bike for a very steep decent.

All three of us had brake problems on the way down the decent.  I had to bail off of my bike twice before I lost total control.  I can only assume that wafter rolling our bikes through the creek some water had frozen on our rims while we looked for the trail.  After a few minutes of the downhill (and the bail-offs) my brakes finally started holding.  We crossed another creek at the foot of the downhill and started moving upward once again.  Soon we were walking our bikes again.

This was a very low point for us.  Our average speed was incredibly low, and we had another very large hill directly in front of us.  I wondered about the usefulness of this training.  Craig mentioned something about eviscerating Rich (the event organizer).  Paul and I rapidly agreed with Craig post-event plans - heck I just got a new Spyderco knife for Christmas and I needed to find a use for it.  In all honesty we were really hurting, and it showed in our black moods.  No matter how dark our mood we kept moving forward either by pushing or riding.  Rich had said that the mountain bike portion should take 3 1/2 hours total.  We were nearing the 2 1/2 hour mark and we were still a few miles away from the turnaround at CP 4 (Kelly Lake).  We kept moving forward.  After about another 45 minutes we met Raid-guy and Eco-guy who were heading back.  We were on about a 3% uphill, so we were moving steadily but slowly.  They were on the corresponding downhill and it looked like they were flying.  At least they were exceeding the 3 1/2 hour projected time too ;-).

Some time later we also met the second place team.  Again we were on an uphill and they were on a downhill - next time I want to meet somebody when I have gravity on my side!!!

I was feeling very sleepy, and then we made our biggest navigation error.  At a T-intersection the trail to the right was marked "Kelly Lake 2.0 miles."  Paul took the right and charged forward.  I did not remember discussing this trail intersection, but I had not studied the map.  After about 1.7 miles Craig checked his odometer, and realized that we should be at the checkpoint by now.  I was falling asleep on my handlebars, so I suggested that Craig and Paul go ahead to the checkpoint while I took a nap.  As he rolled away Craig yelled, "eat something before you got to sleep."  I sucked down a Gu just to get some calories inside me.  Some time later I woke up to the sound of Craig and Paul approaching.  They had not found the checkpoint.  The rested while I woke up, and we turned around to head back to HQ.  When we came to the T-intersection we found our mistake.

On the right side of the trail was a marker "Kelly Lake 2.0 miles - to the right," and on the left side of the trail was another marker that we had missed "Kelley Lake 1.7 miles - straight ahead."  We did not pay attention and we had paid.  Craig and I were ready to head home, but Paul wanted that darn checkpoint.  Somehow we convinced Paul that we had done enough, and decided to skip CP 4.  As we were resting at the T-intersection I finally got hungry again, and I wolfed down the stack of Fig Newtons that I had been carrying since midnight.  Wow, they tasted great.  A couple of mountain bikers that I had met in Santa Cruz came by and asked us about the trail.  We talked for a bit, but at first they did not believe that we had actually started our workout at midnight on the previous night.  It is a good feeling to look at someone who is riding well and know that you have been on the trail since before they even went to bed.

The sun was up now and the ride back was incredible.  The hills and vallies provide for some incredible views, and our rest stops were very scenic.  The ride back was basically uneventful and we kept to the time schedule that we had projected when we had turned around.  The Paul ran out of water.  I offered him a drink from my camelback, but it was empty too.  Craig was also out of water.  I had not brought any water purification supplies, so the last hour was without water.

Crossing Poverty Flats was no problem, but the big downhill that we enjoyed on the way out was now a big uphill obstacle.  It was tough enough to push our bikes, but it was even harder to have no fluids to drink.  Oh well, this is the home stretch.  Finally we were about 1 1/2 miles from HQ and we met Rich.  All three of us were surprised that Rich was still around.  We were also glad to know that he had chosen to stay until everyone was back in.  Rich offered to push our bikes and I gladly accepted.  Rich's first comment was priceless "man, your bike is heavy!"  Tell me about it - I have been fighting that thing for over seven hours now.

We made it back to HQ.  We did not eviscerate Rich.  We actually thanked Rich for going through all the trouble of organizing the event.  I am sure that it took a lot of work to plot the CP's, pre-run the course, create the clues, and then wait for all of us to return.  We really appreciated Rich's effort although we were emphatic about wanting to actually RIDE our mountiain bikes at the next event.  Not so much pushing next time please.

Total time on the Bike Leg:  about 8 hours which equates to a 3.125 mph average!!!

Paul, Craig and I changed and packed our gear.  The drive home was pretty hard because we had all been awake for over 24 hours now.  I drove pretty well until the last mile before our exit where it became incredibly difficult to keep my eyes open.  We made it safely home.

Looking at the event from today's perspective I am very happy.  We learned a lot about 'what we need to learn' in a low-key noncompetitive environment, and best of all it was free!!!!

Thanks for putting this together Rich.

[dawllick]

Friendly Reminder I’m shit at writing and I wrote 1300+ words between 3-4 am. I did not proofread/edit and I sure as hell didn’t plot it out. Consider it a rambling of iZombie emotions in a short fictional narrative.

i’m going to bed have a good night y’all  (if someone wants to add on pls do)

Donning a black t-shirt dress, a faded leather jacket, and black sneakers, Liv was slowly coming down from her dominatrix brain. She was headed to get coffee for her and Ravi after staying up with Major and helping him prepare to become human again. Liv was ruminating on this when she bumped into the local sketch artist whose life she made hell.

Olivia Moore was a coat of many colors to him, and it felt like her sole goal was to press the right buttons. A few days ago, she continually pressed the right buttons in the right order for Jimmy. “Is she single?” He had asked her friend Detective Babineux. He met his gaze with a strained expression. She looked less fierce today, but she was attractive. Sporting a loose button up, khakis, and well-worn leather shoes, Jimmy was pleased to see the morgue attendant.

Jimmy was a good man, but considering all his past interactions with her he wasn’t sure how to act or even talk to her. She seemed persistent on torturing him, would she reward his persistence at understanding?

“Miss Moore, um hi there. Any more snaps?” He asks with a nervous chuckle. His leather bag crinkles under the grasp of his fingers and white knuckles. She blinks and it takes a moment to register what he has said, even who he is. She quickly has a ‘A-ha!’ moment and responds.

“No Jimmy. I haven’t. Thank you for your assistance, I’m sure I was a bit…much during the process. I’ve had a lot on my mind recently.” She says, she needs to get her and Ravi’s coffee. Jimmy smiles and quickly lifts a hand to run through his hair.

“Think nothing of it, or go get coffee with me sometime? I’d love to talk more.” He says, his voice going darker, and deeper at the end. She has another ‘A-ha!’ moment but she realizes now how the brain helped her give him the wrong idea. Her eyes go a little wide and she laughs a bit nervously.

“Well, Jimmy I’m flattered but you see-”

“Wait, please I know work relationships can be hard but I can keep secrets.”

“Oh my God no please listen I’m-”

“Liv you’ve made my life hell and this past week I realized that-”

 “Hey there!”

A third voice cuts in and Liv has never been happier to hear it. Her eyes and Jimmy’s dart to her side and a newcomer is there. Blaine’s arm slips slowly, and not too intimately around Liv. She smiles and breathes a quick sigh of relief but this does not release the tension in her body.

“Well, who is this scrapper?” Blaine asks, a bright Colgate smile and eyes that smiled just as brightly. Liv sees recognition in Jimmy’s eyes and she watches his determination wither. She hated doing it, but what was a girl whose personality was deeply affected by brains and kept her up at night to say?

No that she couldn’t even go with him if she wanted to because of her current anatomy? No because her last two boyfriends who were not Major were killed? She tenses thinking of that and knowing the killer of one of them currently had his arm politely over her shoulder. Liv quickly reminded herself that wasn’t him now, and in this moment she needed to forget that just to survive this awkward confrontation.

“Blaine, this is Jimmy. He had to put up with me this past week.” She said smiling towards Blaine who in turned chuckled once. Peyton had witnessed and been subjected to Liv on dominatrix brain and Blaine in turn got to hear about it. He knew enough that Liv just wanted to let him down easy. Squeezing her shoulder, Blaine looked at Jimmy and pat him on the shoulder with his free hand.

“Sorry about that Jim-bo, Liv’s mind can sometime have a mind of its own!” This comment resulted in an angry look and a smack to the chest from Liv. Jimmy nods. Blaine’s hand slips down from Liv’s shoulder to her waist. Nothing unbearable, but Liv was aware of all her nerves registering his touch. They turn and walk in a direction, it doesn’t matter. Jim sees the hand move and deems it a possessive action and stops himself. He had assumed she was single. But alas, she wasn’t. He sighed and went on his way. Next week God only knows what she would be like.

Liv turns and doesn’t see him. Blaine retracts his arm and smiles at Liv. It’s friendly, and dare she say it: Genuine.

“Thanks Blaine. I assume you have to lay claim to Peyton often?” She jokes.

“Nope, I just don’t like to see a friend in distress. Just trying to help and make up, though I fear I’ll never make it all up to you.” He admits. She looks down and weighs what he has said. He seemed sorry for ruining her life on multiple occasions. He first infected her, then he started to murder teens, he scratched rich people, made them pay for over-priced brains, he murdered her boyfriend Lowell (albeit it was defense), he then shot Major and made her turn him into a zombie.

It was hard for him, to know the short version of all the terrible things he had done, honestly it made it hard for him to sleep at night. Ravi, the doctor who cured him not once, but twice. He unintentionally stole “his girl”, others would say this wasn’t Blaine’s fault but he saw what it did to the Doctor. It wasn’t his intent to hurt him. Major, he ruined his life by attempting to kill him, using him to murder other zombies, and being a reason as to why he is a zombie. Peyton, his romance prior to his amnesia put her in danger with Mr. Boss and his henchmen. Natalia, his grandfather, and so many countless others. But one, Liv Moore.

Who despite being the reason she was a zombie, she sought him out and offered him a source of food. She had given him so many grace periods he didn’t even deserve. He had hurt her more than the others. He had taken her life, her lover, and her future. She was the first point of where everything just went awful for him. If he hadn’t hurt her, over and over and over things might be different.

She and Major might be married, Peyton would be a well-respected attorney, Ravi would be in the morgue, but happily doing his job and not trying to cure a disease with no research and with limited tools and support. Scott E. would still be alive; Clive might not have solved as many murder cases but he would be in less trouble.

Blaine knew that, and no matter how his day went; he’d be lying if he said he didn’t think of Liv at night. It wasn’t a sexual thought, more guilt. How do you make up to a person whom if you hadn’t hurt, she and many people in turn might be living much better? The only thing about remembering that he would want to remember, is how he coped before. So; looking down to see a slight smile on her face as she said thank you wrecked him.

She was heart-breakingly beautiful to look at like that. She in turn noticed his smile, burdened by melancholy eyes. She looked at him, not ready to forget but slowly on her way to forgive. Blaine was a mystery, and she’d be lying if she said that she didn’t think of him at night and the impact he has had on her life. She wanted to forgive him, but everything he had done could play itself through her mind allowing her to relive some of her darkest moments.

The two looked at each other, both a little heart broken, and both wanting to change.

[writingandsleeping]

I wrote almost 1300 words today, and I am immensely proud of myself.  I finished the first draft of a really important chapter.  I still have to do a basic edit, proofread and add some details I forgot to flush out in my haste to just get it down, but damn, I’m so proud of me.

[nataliehegert]

What role does theory play in art-making today? How do artists and art practitioners “think” about art in the absence of an overarching theoretical paradigm—theory with a capital T? Such were the questions posed to me by Joachim Pissarro a few days ago. Embarrassingly, one of the first questions I asked of myself upon receiving them was, “How often do I actually ‘think’ about art nowadays?”

As the editor-in-chief of ArtSlant, the answer should be: “very often,” or “all the time, really.” But in my day-to-day activities—proofreading and posting reviews, Skype meetings with colleagues, responding to emails from contributors and PR agents—I find that I’m usually thinking about strategies and plans for various aspects of the website and magazine, and seldom am I really, actually, hardcore thinking about art. 

Now here I am in the Brooklyn Rail and I must decide “how” I think about art, or, more pointedly, how I can condense my thoughts about how I think about art into 800 words. My brain reels. Casting about, I panic and Google “art theory.” I flounder around in Wikipedia, skimming the surface for a few minutes. I’m not prepared for this; I came of age after capital T-theory had already gone by the wayside, along with History and Truth and Beauty. I sneaked into grad school without having taken the requisite courses that trace the arc of art theory from some Greek guys to the latest French dudes. My exposure to theory came at random intervals, without any logical progression, and was never thorough: from Guy Debord to Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, from Deleuze and Guattari to Benjamin and back again. So I do what anyone looking for answers in the year 2014 would do: I crowdsource it. On Facebook and Twitter I entreaty my artist friends to divulge their own personal relationships with theory. Answers ranged from non-committal “likes” to 1300-word essays. There are many artists for whom writing theory is a part of their practice (paradoxical, I know, at least by dictionary definitions); there are some who try consciously to balance theory and action; some whose practice is informed by theory but not dominated by it; and some who refuse theory completely. Clearly, there’s no consensus. In fact, as my deadline loomed, the diversity of responses was slightly exasperating. The conversation continued offline as well, and I spent the weekend, holed up against the bitter cold in a friend’s Chicago apartment, alternately laughing about the vagaries and pitfalls of writing about art, and arguing about the place of theory in art-making today (theory is alive and well at SAIC, apparently). It dawned on me then, how much of our thinking about art is social. We talk about it, constantly: in studios, classrooms, and galleries; in panel discussions and lectures and artist talks; in hushed voices in museum halls and in louder voices at museum cafes; in snarky tones from the aisles of art fairs; in inflammatory opinions expressed in the comments of blog articles; in adamant, half-baked manifestoes over pitchers of beer in incongruent sports bars; in choked half-sobs at particularly brutal crits. We talk and talk about art, fueled by tiny cups of espresso served in Marais cafes, or by cheap wine elegantly poured by immaculately dressed gallery interns, or by PBRs fished out from ice buckets in the backs of cramped Lower East Side art spaces, or by salt-crusted margaritas from some downtown bar frequented by Wall Street office workers, or by potlatch dinners of fish stew and cheddar biscuits washed down with digestifs of homemade absinthe. As one of my Facebook commentators astutely remarked, it would be “a massive mistake to think theory is only something written and edited.” I did not make this up, of course. Dialogue is “in.” Yet from my own personal experience, discussions among friends with sympathetic ears can become the fodder for, or affirmation of, ideas that only truly become developed, or get closer to being fully developed, in writing. While a conversation about art is more often than not ephemeral—details quickly forgotten, words frequently misheard, sometimes misspoken—writing can give form to abstract notions, lending them some sort of permanence, at least just long enough to allow them to be passed on for others to respond in comments, thoughts, and works of art. Writing is an extension of the dialogue, a way to continue the thought process about art; in fact, some of the most interesting approaches to writing about art that I’ve seen lately experiment with the dialogic: for instance, exhibition reviews conceived between two critics on Gchat; or essays written by several authors that expose the social process of editing, revision, and conflict rather than presenting a unified whole; or artist interviews conducted through the exchange of visuals and videos rather than questions and answers. So perhaps our thinking about art primarily resides in, or is performed by, the give and take of words between friends, artists and curators, writers and editors. Joachim tapped me, made me think about thinking about art, and in turn I opened the question up to others. No conclusive results, but we certainly got a lot of thinking done between us all. A thank you to Joachim Pissarro, Joel Kuennen, Peter Dobey, dineo seshee bopape, EKG, Darren Jones, Michael Morehouse, James Pepper Kelly, Tempestt Hazel, Stephanie Cristello, Mia DiMeo, and Aaron Hegert.

Feature Posted on 2/5/14 in the February 2014 issue