#I don’t know the credit of the original artist I’m so sorry!!!!!

[d1sapp01ntm3nt]

drew this recently. Not exactly thrilled with how it came out but whatever. Original under cut!

And yes I do know it’s a sunrise they watch in the church but let me have my fun. also insp from @annoying1yapper101 !!!!!!!!!!

[chahnniesroom]

some loves

pairing: bang chan x female reader

summary: some loves are too hard to bear. years after being trainees together, chan still thinks of you all the time. he has no idea that a collaboration would lead him back to you.

word count: 6.9k

tags/warnings: reader is an independent singer/songwriter, hurt/comfort, angst, mentions of past injuries, a little bit of jealousy, i am still in denial that chan doesn't do lives anymore, hongjoong from ateez is in this fic

read it on ao3 | masterlist

a/n: once again, sorry for the long time between posts. disclaimer that i do not know much about how the music/idol industry works and i did not really do much research. also i'm not an atiny so sorry if my portrayal of hongjoong is not realistic at all. also also i did a lot of the writing on a new tablet doing handwriting with a stylus to text so please forgive any typos or weird formatting! i didn't have a chance to edit much so i may have missed some things.

Chan’s in his studio when he gets the call. At first, he doesn’t even realise his phone is ringing. It’s 2am on a weekday and he’s been working away for a few hours so the rest of the world has just about faded into the background.

He’s both surprised and intrigued when he looks at the caller ID and sees Hongjoong’s name. Chan would consider Hongjoong to be a friend, but they’re not particularly close and he can’t think of a reason that would warrant this late night call.

“Hey hyung,” Hongjoong greets him briefly before getting straight to the point. “What’s your schedule like in the next few months?”

“It’s actually not too bad,” Chan replies after a moment of thought. “We’re just finalising all the music for the next album so it’ll be a bit of time before we get busy with recording and filming for the comeback. What’s up?”

“You don’t have the answer now and I don’t want you to feel any pressure at all, but would you be interested in doing a collab together?”

“A collab?” Chan repeats. “Like, ATEEZ and Stray Kids?”

“We could,” Hongjoong says reluctantly. “But actually, if you’re up for it then I was thinking more like just you and me. I have a couple tracks that we could work off of and I’ve roped in someone to help me with recording, engineering, and production.”

“Who?” Chan asks, interest piqued.

“Not sure if you’ve heard of them, they go by the name HALLA.”

Chan recognises the name instantly. When Chan had first stumbled upon HALLA one late night scrolling and listening to different independent artists, they seemed relatively unknown. However, a little research revealed that they had KOMCA credits on a number of songs for idol groups, some of which had become widely popular. Their personal work was a variety of genres and a majority of the tracks didn’t have vocals, but the ones that did had clever or thoughtful lyrics. There were a couple of different voices featured in the original songs, both of which were smooth and melodic. HALLA has a style that Chan thinks would complement Stray Kids and he’s considered reaching out to them a few times, but was always held back by something.

There was little about HALLA posted on the internet and while Chan definitely appreciates their privacy, he’s curious to meet the person behind all the songs that he enjoyed. There’s just something familiar about all their music that he can’t quite place, something that he wants more of.

“I’m in,” Chan agrees.

“You can take some time to think about it, talk to JYPE to see what their thoughts are too.”

“No need, I’m interested and I know I can convince management to support this.”

“Well that was easy,” Hongjoong says and Chan can basically hear him grinning through the phone. “And for my own pride, I’m going to pretend that you said yes the second I suggested the collab instead of when I mentioned HALLA-ssi.” Chan instantly flushes and is glad that Hongjoong can’t see him over the phone.

“It wasn’t-” Chan begins to protest.

“It’s okay,” Hongjoong interrupts. “I’m also pretty thrilled to get to work with them, so I understand. Didn’t realise you were familiar with their work, but I guess a hidden gem like them can’t stay hidden for long. I’ll send some files over to you and we can organise a time to work.”

—

Chan finds it easy to work with Hongjoong and they make quick progress on the song, writing lyrics and creating a guide within a couple of weeks. Before he knows it, they’ve scheduled a time for Chan to visit KQ Entertainment to record vocals. Hongjoong knows that Chan is keen to be involved in the production and arrangement of the song too, so they also have a couple sessions booked for that, although Hongjoong teases him relentlessly about just wanting to work with HALLA. The worst part is that Chan can’t even deny it.

Hongjoong meets him at the entrance of KQ Entertainment and quickly takes him through security.

“HALLA-ssi is already in the studio,” Hongjoong explains as they wait for the elevator to arrive. “I was getting input on a track that’s been killing me for the past few days.”

“Did they help?” Chan asks, a little surprised that HALLA is involved in more than just this collaboration. He still hasn't had a chance to connect with them other than quick introductions through text a couple of days ago and he's just as excited to meet them as initially.

“Yeah!” Hongjoong grins, eyes curving into little crescents. “HALLA-ssi is amazing. She only had listen to it a couple times before she came up with suggestions on a few different ways to fix the part that I hated. I left her to finish cleaning the song up and then it’s basically ready for review.”

“How did you start working with HALLA-ssi? I’ve been meaning to try to connect with her.”

“It was actually a friend that suggested working with her. For someone who isn’t signed with a label- which I don’t know how nobody has signed her yet- she’s surprisingly well connected within the industry. I’m sure that KQ would be more than happy to have her work with us, but when I hinted at that, she didn’t seem interested.”

“Really?” Although KQ Entertainment is still one of the smaller companies in the industry, most unsigned artists would still jump at the chance to work there since they have a good reputation, especially due to ATEEZ’s popularity.

“I haven’t poked too much, it’s not really my business. I thought I might as well try. I just know that she’s amazing at her job and I’m grateful that I get to work with her at all.”

They turn the corner to the hallway that leads to the recording studio. The door is ajar and Hongjoong opens it, waving his arm forward to allow Chan to walk through first, before following closely behind.

HALLA’s sitting at the desk and the second Chan sees her face, he stops in his tracks.

“Y/n,” Chan breathes.

You look up, startled, and your eyes connect for a split second before Hongjoong crashes into Chan, sending them both tumbling to the ground.

“Hyung,” Hongjoong complains, unaware of Chan’s inner turmoil. “Why’d you stop?”

Chan lets out an apologetic wheeze from where he’s now trapped under Hongjoong, before resting his forehead against the ground. He needs a second to recover.

It feels like a punch to the gut to see you in front of the recording studio’s computer, fiddling with a track. You look different, but somehow it feels like Chan has been transported right back to his trainee days and all that time that the two of you had spent side by side.

It has been years since Chan last saw you. He had found out that you had left JYPE just months after Stray Kids officially debuted, but all efforts to track you down had been futile. You had changed your number and broken contact with all the other trainees. He had asked around a little bit, but everyone he talked to had been unusually cagey about the subject.

Suddenly, everything makes more sense, especially the little that he knows about HALLA.

As trainees, Chan’s favourite moments had been when you had regaled him with stories of growing up on Jeju Island. The two of you had connected early on through your shared love of the ocean. You had promised him that if he ever went to visit in his free time, you would take him on the best trails up to the Hallasan, the shield volcano, and show him incredible views from the highest point on the island. Occasionally, your parents would send you care packages and the two of you would open them hidden away in one of the vocal practice rooms, the sweet citrus of hallabong exploding in your mouths.

You had always spoken about Jeju Island so fondly, of course you would find a way to indirectly pay homage through the stage name that you chose.

“Oppa,” your voice rings out in the silence of the room. Now, Chan knows why the female voice on some of HALLA’s songs had always seemed hauntingly familiar. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” both Chan and Hongjoong say at the same time, then make eye contact with identical confused expressions.

“Hongjoong-ssi, you didn’t mention that the person you wanted to feature on the track was Channie-oppa,” you say, making it clear who you were addressing your concern to earlier.

“It was supposed to be a surprise!” Hongjoong gets up slowly, dusting off his clothes and scratching at the back of his head, still looking bewildered. “I had no idea that you two knew each other, hyung mentioned he hadn’t worked with you before.”

Chan stays quiet, not sure how much you’re willing to share. Hongjoong must not know about your time with JYPE if he can’t piece together how the two of you could have met.

“Oh- I used to- We trained together back in the day,” you explain sheepishly. “I was with JYPE for a little while and all the trainees knew who Channie-oppa was. That was a long time ago though, I didn’t use the name HALLA back then.”

The five years that you trained at JYPE are more than a little while, but Chan forces himself to bite his tongue at your deliberate understatement. You don’t elaborate further and while it’s obvious that Hongjoong isn’t satisfied with your answer, he’s willing to drop the topic for now. You look relieved when he switches the subject to the song.

The three of you finish recording quickly. It shouldn’t be a surprise, the work so far with Hongjoong has been smooth so adding you to the mix has just made things easier, but Chan knows he’s a perfectionist and it often takes him an almost embarrassing number of takes before he’s satisfied. The only delay comes when Hongjoong decides he wants you to sing some of the backing vocals and resorts to actually getting on his knees and begging. Chan doesn’t go so far, but he can’t help but agree that your voice blends with the song perfectly. Of course, he also just wants to hear you sing.

You relent when Chan quietly voices his agreement and it really shouldn't make Chan feel as smug as it does.

It’s not even early enough for dinner when things are wrapped up. Chan is usually eager to finish a schedule early, but he’s reluctant to leave, taking his time packing up his belongings.

Finally, he doesn’t have a reason to stay any longer so he musters up the courage to ask.

“Do you guys want to go grab some coffee or something to eat?”

You and Hongjoong make eye contact before turning to look at Chan guiltily. His stomach churns for some reason.

“I’m sorry,” you wince. “I actually promised to help Hongjoong-ssi with an ATEEZ song and we need to go over the edits that I made before his meeting with the company later today.”

“Oh,” Chan replies, feeling a little relieved. “Right, no yeah I get it. Hongjoong actually mentioned that earlier, but I forgot. My bad.”

You offer an apologetic smile before turning to the computer, opening up a file.

“I’ll see you guys next time, then,” Chan says, starting to back out of the room.

“Of course! Thank you for your hard work and good job today!” you say brightly. Looking distracted, Hongjoong mumbles an agreement and waves goodbye. Unlike you, he’s not staring at the computer monitor though. Instead, his focus is solely on you. Even from his side profile, Chan can tell that he’s enamoured.

Honestly, Chan can’t really blame him, you look comfortable and confident, swallowed up in an oversized hoodie as you start explaining the alterations that you made to the track. Your voice is calm, but warm and you’re careful to start off by complimenting the work that Hongjoong had done previously.

Chan leaves, resolutely ignoring the twisted feeling that’s back with a vengeance and any thoughts of what the cause might be.

—

Chan can’t sleep. His thoughts are all about you, what you’ve been doing the past few years, what happened to you at JYPE that made you leave, and mostly trying to remember how and why your relationship with him slowly fell apart.

That’s the hardest part. In the darkest time of his life, when Chan had been discouraged and disheartened, you had joined JYPE with a brightness and enthusiasm that gave Chan the motivation to continue being a trainee. He had adored you. He still does.

In those last few months before the survival show had been filmed, Chan’s relationship with you had gone from being everything to nothing. It happened in the blink of an eye, and Chan had never understood what caused you to withdraw so quickly and thoroughly. The two of you had gone from spending almost all of your free time together to you avoiding him at the company, pretending not to hear when he called out your name or tried to get your attention.

The regret of letting you slip away has always eaten away at him, but now more than ever.

Of course, at the time it hadn’t felt so simple. The survival show was Chan’s first serious chance to debut, and not just that, but the weight of having eight other people’s careers depending on his leadership took a toll on all his other relationships. Your absence in his life still hurt, but Chan had lots of practice losing people. He had coped in the way that worked best in the past, throwing himself headlong into producing, training, anything to keep himself from wallowing in his feelings.

Chan doesn’t have any schedules for today, but he still heads to the company. He knows this isn’t the healthiest way to deal with things, but he doesn’t know anything else.

When he arrives, Chan just barely manages to catch a glimpse of a few familiar faces. He calls out before he can think better of it, jogging slightly to catch up. Sana, Momo, and Mina watch curiously as he approaches. He knows that Twice also aren’t in a busy period of the year, so he doesn’t feel guilty delaying them.

“Sorry to bother you all. Sana-noona, I was just wondering if we could chat?”

Sana makes brief eye contact with the rest of the girls before agreeing and waving them to go ahead of her. She follows behind Chan as he leads them into his studio, clearly interested in determining the reason behind this atypical meet up.

“What’s up, Channie?” she asks once the door is closed behind them.

Chan tries to think of the best way to start, not wanting to just outright ask, but not knowing how to subtly steer the conversation into the right direction. Finally, he abandons trying to be casual and just blurts out, “Do you remember Y/n?”

“Of course I do,” Sana says, sounding amused at the sudden mention of you. “You both had reputations for being veteran trainees. I mean, other than Jihyo.”

“I was always surprised that she never debuted,” Chan admits. “I just thought it would happen eventually and I was so shocked to find out that she had left. I didn’t- I don’t understand why she gave up on something she wanted so badly.”

“Give up?” Sana asks, sounding like she’s offended on your behalf. “Why would you say it like that?”

“What do you mean? It was like she was there one day and gone the next, I just assumed that she had enough and quit. Nobody seemed to know anything about it. I never found out why and it’s been kind of killing me.”

“You didn’t hear what happened?”

“What- something happened? To her?” Chan swallows hard, suddenly feeling unwell.

“It- I thought that you of all people would know-”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing, but- you never talked to her about it? You knew her better than any of us.”

“Noona, I didn’t know that she was gone until months later. She obviously didn’t want to talk about it to me, I never reached out at first. When I finally did, her number had been changed. What was I supposed to do?”

“I- It’s better if you were to hear it from her. I don’t know the full story and you know how things can be distorted through gossip. And you especially must know how dangerous that can be.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You really have no clue? The two of you were inseparable…”

“Please,” Chan pleads.

“You know how it is in the industry, you were so close, of course there were rumours…”

It suddenly clicks.

“But we were just friends! And the dating ban-”

“Chan, you know nobody actually sticks to those, right?”

“But really, we were never-”

“I believe you,” Sana says, carefully. “But you know that to management that it doesn’t really matter whether or not anything was actually going on. To them it’s all about the optics. A perceived relationship is just as dangerous as an actual one.”

“Management…” Chan repeats, his mind racing. “They never mentioned anything to me though.”

“You never found it suspicious? You two are extremely close and out of the blue she suddenly stops talking to you, then right after the two of you stop hanging out, you’re chosen for the survival show? Someone must have talked to her at some point. Maybe not management, but for sure someone.”

“You think that’s why it took so long for me to debut?” Chan asks, even though he already knows the answer.

“It was a liability,” Sana explains. “To have a dating scandal so early on? Neither of your careers would survive. It’s painful and a terrible part of the industry but it’s true.”

“And.. Why she left, you know about that too?” Chan pleads.

“I think I’ve said too much already. I know that it’s hard, but some things are really personal.” She pauses for a moment. “What brought this on, anyway? You haven’t mentioned Y/nnie in years.”

“I can’t say much, but I- I saw her today, got to talk to her, found out what she’s been up to.” Sana gasps. Chan continues. “It was so weird to see her after so long. In the back of my mind, I had always wondered, but…”

“I’m glad that you two got to reconnect,” Sana says gently. “The two of you cared about each other a lot, that much was obvious. Talk to her, I think at the very least you’ll be able to find peace about what happened.”

“Noona-” Chan reaches out and pulls Sana into a tight hug. “Thank you for telling me. I appreciate it.”

“Of course. I’m sorry that it took so long for you to find out.”

—

A few days later, Hongjoong schedules another session to work on the song. Leading up to it, Chan is both looking forward to it and nervous, not sure what to expect. Although he still really wants to know what happened to you all those years ago, he’s scared about what he might learn and any part he might have had in it.

After a sleepless night, he ends up arriving almost 15 minutes early. This time, Hongjoong isn’t waiting at the building’s entrance. Instead he had let him know a few days before that Chan could just sign himself in and had sent him the name and location of the studio that was booked. When Chan reaches it, he can make out conversation from inside.

“HALLA,” Hongjoong can be heard through the studio doors, which aren’t fully shut. His tone is petulant and much more casual than it was previously. Chan wonders how much time the two of you have spent together between then and now and he almost misses the next thing that Hongjoong says. “You never told me that you were a trainee before.”

That stops Chan in his tracks, interested in how you’ll respond.

“It was a long time ago.” Your voice is faint. You’re still nice, but Chan can tell that your voice is stiffer than usual. “It doesn’t really matter now.”

This time, Hongjoong doesn’t let it go.

“What happened?” he prods.

“Just drop it,” you warn him. “It’s the past, forget I told you in the first place. Nothing ever came of it anyway.”

“Y/n-” Hongjoong changes tactics, the nagging tone replaced with a quieter, more serious one. You sigh.

“It didn’t work out. Obviously. I’m just not idol material.”

“Oh come on, I don’t believe that for a second. Your producing is good enough that I know for sure you’ve been getting offers to work with more companies than just KQ. When you direct during recording, you can hit every note without any warm up or practice. And I’ve heard your original songs, you must have been considered for both the position of lead rapper and lead singer as a trainee because there’s no way that anybody would let your talent go to waste.” Hongjoong is breathing hard by the end of his rant and Chan can see that this is something that has been bothering him for a while.

“It’s okay, Hongjoong-oppa.” Your voice is gentle, like you’re trying to comfort him. “I’m happy with what I have right now. Really. I’m grateful for all the freedom I have. Getting to work on any project I want and experiment with my music without having to deal with the bureaucracy and politics of the industry? Having that independence is precious to me. I wanted to be an idol for a long long time. But even though that specific plan I had didn’t work out, it doesn’t mean I’m not happy with what I’m doing.”

Hongjoong stays quiet for a while.

“Do you think that if you had the opportunity to debut as an idol now, you would?” he finally asks.

“Oppa, it’s not possible. I can’t dance, I’m too old-” you protest.

“No no, just hypothetically. Like if someone walked into the room and handed you a contract and said that if you signed it in an hour then you’d be able to debut.”

“I- I don’t know.”

“What’s your gut feeling?”

“I think I left that dream behind, I don’t know if I want to go down that path again. I don’t think I have it in me.”

“I’m sorry,” Hongjoong says after another pause. “I shouldn’t have questioned you so much, you shouldn’t have to justify your decisions to me.”

“No, it’s fine. It seems strange, right? For me to be an artist in Seoul and not want to get signed, it's only natural for you to be curious. But I learned a lot when I was a trainee and I learned even more after that and I can say with certainty that this is what I want.”

Chan takes that opportunity to knock on the studio door and push it open.

“Hey, hope I’m not interrupting,” he says, as if he wasn’t just eavesdropping on their conversation and purposely chose when to cut in. “Sorry, I’m a little bit late.”

“Hey, no problem man,” Hongjoong says. “We haven’t had a chance to do anything yet, so you’re right on time.”

“Good to see you,” you chime in. “I think this should be pretty quick so let’s get started!”

As you predicted, it doesn’t take long before a majority of the song is finished. Normally, Chan would be keen to stay involved until the very last detail is finalised, but he trusts you and at the end of this day, it’s Hongjoong’s song so he’s happy to give him the final say.

At the end of the session, Chan once again uses the opportunity to try to catch you alone. The two of you are side by side, packing your bags and Chan asks if you have any plans for the rest of the day. You confirm that you're available and Chan is about to suggest that the two of you take the time to catch up when Hongjoong interrupts.

“Oh, Y/n-ah,” he says. “I was actually hoping to get your input on something and I didn’t have a chance to ask you earlier. Can you please stick around for a bit? Sorry, hyung.”

Hongjoong sounds so sincere that Chan almost doesn’t feel annoyed that he’s stealing all of your time and attention. Almost, because at the end of the day, Chan’s only human. Even though he knows he has no right to feel possessive over you, he can’t stop the petty jealousy that bubbles up inside of him. At this point, there’s no denying the emotion.

Just like the previous session, he leaves alone, heading directly to the studio. Hours later, his breath catches when he checks his phone and sees that you’ve texted him.

[Received - 8:04pm]

Channie-oppa~

[Received - 8:04pm]

This is Y/nnie

[Received - 8:05pm]

Sorry about earlier, I have a contract with KQ Entertainment and work comes first :/

[Received - 8:09pm]

But I’m free now! You still interested in catching up?

Chan stares at the messages until it feels like they’re burned into his retinas. Logically, he knew that you had his number, the two of you were in a group chat that Hongjoong had set up, but this was your first time messaging him privately. The first time you had reached out in years. A precious opportunity that he never thought that he would have. He doesn’t want to mess this up.

He’s also shocked to see you texting so casually. Although the two of you have been comfortable in person, he wasn’t sure that it would translate to one-on-one conversation.

[Sent - 8:10pm]

Hey Y/n!

[Sent - 8:11pm]

No worries at all, I understand. I’m the same way too

[Sent - 8:13pm]

I still wanna meet up… but I’m all the way back in Gangdong-gu 😅 It’d be a bit of a trek for you if you're still at KQ

[Received - 8:13pm]

Gangdong-gu?

[Received - 8:14pm]

Ohh JYPE

[Received - 8:14pm]

My bad, forgot that you guys moved

[Sent - 8:15pm]

Yeahhh

[Sent - 8:15pm]

Headed straight back to the company after we were done, sorry

[Received - 8:18pm]

Well… If you’re willing to wait then I don’t mind. KQ is close to a metro station anyway

[Sent - 8:18pm]

Wait, really?

[Sent - 8:18pm]

No no no, don’t take the subway

[Sent - 8:18pm]

I’ll send a driver. They’re gonna pick you up in 20 min

[Received - 8:19pm]

Wowow

[Received - 8:19pm]

Private driver?

[Received - 8:20pm]

You’re a real superstar now haha

[Sent - 8:21pm]

alsfjshkafs noooooooo

[Sent - 8:21pm]

It’s just faster

[Sent - 8:21pm]

and safer

[Received - 8:22pm]

I’m not complaining

[Received - 8:22pm]

but I’m going to get your autograph when I see you

[Received - 8:23pm]

If I sell it then I can probably afford my own private driver 🤭

[Sent - 8:24pm]

Knew it

[Sent - 8:25pm]

You’re just using me for my fame

[Received - 8:26pm]

Ah you got me this time

[Received - 8:26pm]

*Your fame, your talent, and your good looks

[Received - 8:27pm]

Even tho you were the one that said you wanted to meet up

[Received - 8:27pm]

Hmmm maybe you’re the one using me?

Chan listens to his phone as it continues to vibrate from where it’s lodged in between two of the couch cushions after he threw it across to the opposite side of the room. His face is buried in his hands and flaming red. He feels both giddy and terribly embarrassed.

Chan’s no stranger to flirting, he’s experienced his fair share being on either side through interactions with the members and with Stay, but he forgot how flustered he was being on the receiving end of your teasing. The part he never understood is that your playful tone always gave way to sincerity. Even when the two of you would joke around, he could always tell that you meant every comment that you made about Chan being talented or attractive and that flattered him almost as much as it baffled him.

[Received - 8:32pm]

?? Speechless that I caught on?

[Received - 8:36pm]

I think your driver has arrived… Otherwise I’m being kidnapped

[Received - 8:40pm]

Don’t think I would survive a horror film… I got into the car with no questions asked

[Received - 8:42pm]

It was nice knowing you I guess

When he realises how much time has passed, Chan grabs his phone and runs down to the back entrance of the company. Luckily you haven’t arrived yet and he takes the time to reply to your messages.

[Sent - 8:53pm]

Sorry, lost track of time

[Sent - 8:53pm]

They’ll drop you off at the back door, I’ll meet you there so you don’t have to get signed in or anything

[Received - 8:54pm]

Don’t think you’re getting away with ignoring my other texts

[Received - 8:55pm]

But thanks

[Received - 8:55pm]

Is this back door, the famous one that only allows in authorised people?

[Received - 8:55pm]

I’m honoured

Chan rolls his eyes at your cheesy reference and is in the middle of typing up a response when he sees the car pull up. You step out cautiously, then brighten when you see where Chan’s propping up the door.

“Hey,” Chan greets you. “Glad that you made it safely.”

“Thanks for the ride,” you say, looking around curiously as Chan leads you to an elevator that takes you to the rest of the building. “So this is the new and improved JYP Entertainment. I’d say that it looks the same as before, but I never got the chance to come in.”

“Yeah,” Chan says, rubbing a hand against the back of his neck as he walks. “I mean it’s pretty nice, but at the end of the day a practice room is a practice room and that’s where we spend most of our time.”

“Hmm I think we might have to agree to disagree on that one. You have your own studio don’t you?”

“Ah, kind of. It’s technically a shared one, but practically I’m the only one that uses it unless we’re out of the country for a long time,” Chan confirms.

“Seems a lot better than what we used to have! Do you remember when we used to cram ourselves into that tiny room that barely even fit two chairs and a table?”

“I almost forgot about that, it was so terrible! In the summer it would get so hot that we’d keep the door open-”

“And then someone would come yell at us because we’d be playing music too loud-”

“I remember begging management to install a portable air conditioner on multiple occasions, but they always refused.”

“Of course! Even if they weren’t so stingy, there weren’t any windows leading outside in there, how could they install it?”

“Is that why? I always thought they just wanted us to suffer.”

“That too,” you giggle for a moment, before your smile fades. “But they weren’t totally unreasonable. Management has a different perspective than us, sometimes they know better than us because of their understanding of the industry. They can see things that we don’t.”

It’s clear that you’re no longer talking about air conditioning anymore. A lump seems to have formed in Chan’s throat when he recalls his conversation with Sana. Luckily, the two of you have just arrived and Chan forces himself to smile.

“We’re here,” he says, opening the door and motioning for you to enter ahead of him. “Welcome to Channie’s Room!”

“It’s cute!” you say as you step in. “Very… neat. It’s actually more spacious than it looks.”

“Oh,” Chan says, faltering in his steps for a second. “You- you’ve seen my studio?”

“In case you didn’t realise, you go live every week from said studio. I think at this point everyone in the K-pop industry and every K-pop fan has seen it,” you tease.

“Right, yeah. I didn’t- I wasn’t sure how much you kept up with that kind of stuff,” Chan stammers.

“K-pop or do you mean specifically Stray Kids?” you ask, tilting your head slightly.

“Either I guess," Chan shrugs.

"I will admit that it took me a while to get back into it," you say slowly. "I wasn't... in the best mindset after I left." Chan stays quiet, sensing that you're not quite finished. "I know that I disappeared and I am sorry for not reaching out. I wanted to, but I also didn't know how. I know that I hurt you. That it was cruel to avoid you, not reply to your messages, ignore your calls. I had my reasons why, but it doesn't excuse the pain that I caused, and I'm sorry for that too."

“I think,” Chan swallows hard. “I think that the most difficult part was that for the longest time, I didn’t know why. I didn’t know what I did wrong. I asked Sana about it finally, after I saw you again. And I just felt so stupid to realise that it was obvious to everyone except me."

“I’m sorry,” you say again. “I wanted to tell you, of course I wanted to. But I also knew you. If I had told you that us being together was preventing your debut-”

“I wouldn’t have cared,” Chan finishes your sentence for you, starting to understand. “I would have done anything to keep you by my side.”

"Even if it meant throwing away your career," you say softly. "I couldn't let you do that to yourself. You worked so hard, how could I live with being the reason that you were stuck in the training rooms? You belong on stage, making music.”

"The part that I still don’t get though is why you left? You should have been able to debut as well, I know it."

“Ah,” you say wistfully. You look around and grab onto the pillow that’s on the couch beside you, fidgeting with it as you figure out what to say next. “You know, I actually was supposed to debut.”

“What? How come I never heard about it?” Chan feels a pang in his chest. All these years ago, the two of you had promised that the other would be the first person that they would tell if they ever found out that they had the chance to debut. It seemed that neither of them had kept their promise.

“It was supposed to be a secret project. JYP wanted to see how successful a surprise debut announcement would be. You should have seen the NDAs that they made us sign.” You shake your head, letting out a huff of air. “It turned out to be a good decision because it meant they could cancel it without anyone knowing that we existed in the first place.”

"Who was in the group?" Chan asks.

"There were five of us. I think you know all of them, Sumin, Ryujin, Sojin, and Hyowon," you list. You're right, Chan is either familiar with or has heard of all the girls that you mention. It doesn't make sense though, the group was filled with talented individuals and Chan can't think of any reason strong enough to lead to disbandment. Even more baffling is that of the five of you, only Ryujin ended up staying at the company long enough to join the lineup for another group.

"And they just cancelled it out of nowhere?"

“No... It was- I know that for any idol, preparing for debut is tough, but I think that in some ways, it’s especially brutal for the girl groups," you say instead. Chan doesn't question you further, knowing that you must have a point that you're trying to make.

“How so?” Chan has an idea, he’s seen what the female trainees went through, the differences in how they were evaluated and criticised. But he wants to hear it from you, wants to understand what you’ve been through.

“The visual aspect feels like it’s more heavily emphasised than our talent or skills. We were measured for our music video outfits the second they finalised the concept. It was really early on, but at the time I thought it was so exciting and fun that I didn’t question it. I think that all of us were so thrilled by the thought of debuting that we didn't think anything of it. We did our final fittings for it a few weeks before filming and they had made them all a size too small, everything was just a little bit too tight. They didn’t outright say it, but it was implied that they weren’t going to alter them. It was a choice to lose weight or our chance to debut was gone. We were devastated and angry and eventually just resigned. If that's what it took then I would do it. We dieted like crazy for the time leading up to filming,” you laugh, but it's in disbelief, the sound is hollow.

Paired with what you’re saying, it makes Chan want to burn the whole world down. He doesn't say anything, not sure if he can even open his mouth without letting his rage escape, something that you don't deserve.

“We were practising, like always," you continue. "There was a tricky step that needed to be fixed by the next day when we’d be recording, a flip that we hadn't quite mastered. I was the smallest one on the team, so I was the one being flipped. It must have been like 3 or 4 in the morning, we were all tired, hungry, and nervous about filming. Honestly, I don't quite remember what happened, it was all a blur. There was just this feeling that something went wrong and then pain."

You roll up the pants on your left leg and show off the skin there. Chan has to hold back a gasp at the sight. Even though it’s long healed, the scarring is extensive and obvious. Chan can't imagine how much it must have hurt.

“I broke my ankle in two places and sprained my wrist. I couldn't believe it, five years of my life just gone in an instant. It took months before I could walk and even longer before I could dance again. Even now, I can't dance anywhere close to the way that I used to," you say with a watery smile. “Sojinnie had a concussion from the fall and Suminnie dislocated her shoulder, I must have knocked into them or fallen onto them or something. What could we do? Three out of the five of us were out of commission, there was no time and no budget for a group that hadn’t even debuted to find replacements or re-record and re-film everything. I woke up after surgery and they told me that they were sorry, but my contract with the company was over. That someone had helped me pack up all my things in the dorm. I went back to Jeju-do as soon as I was released from the hospital.”

"I- I'm sorry that I didn't know," Chan says, clearing his throat roughly when his voice breaks partway through the sentence. " I wish that I could have been there, to help or comfort you. I should have-"

"Oppa," you respond gently. "It's okay. I didn't tell anybody what happened and the company also kept things quiet. I'm glad you didn't find out at the time. You had other, more important things to focus on, I didn't want to distract you from that."

"You're not a distraction," Chan says incredulously. "You're important to me, I would have dropped everything to be with you in such a difficult time."

"And that's exactly why I couldn't tell you. You've always been too good to me, Channie-oppa," you sniffle. "Look at you now! I'm so always proud when I think of how far you've come."

Chan lifts a trembling hand and carefully cups your face, using his thumb to wipe away a tear that has started making its way down your cheek. He hears your breathing hitch, but you don't object to his touch. If anything, you melt into it.

Chan takes the opportunity to wrap his arms around you, bringing you close. The gesture breaks the dam of tears that you must have been holding back. Chan rocks the two of you back and forth gently, just letting you cry and trying to surreptitiously wipe away his own tears. It takes a few minutes before you calm, taking huge shuddering breaths that break Chan's heart almost as much as your sobs had.

"I'm sorry," you say with a voice thick with emotion.

"Hey, no," Chan reassures you. "There's no need to apologise. Are you feeling better now?"

You nod slowly, head still pressed against Chan's chest.

"I think- I think I just missed you. I always thought it would get easier, not having you in my life, but it never did."

At your words, Chan can't help his arms from tightening, squeezing you close.

"I finally found you again," he says. "And this time, I promise that I won't ever let you go."

read it on ao3 | masterlist

[raysrays]

Fatal Attraction Chapter Three (NSFW)

18+ MDNI‼️

CW for the entire story: Breeding, Size Difference,Size Kink, Jealousy, Scent Marking, Age Difference, Vaginal Sex, Possessive Behavior, Angst, Twisted, Creampie, Angry Sex, Vaginal Fingering, Hair-pulling, Biting, Master/Pet, Light Dom/sub, Violence, Knotting.

Chapter One, Chapter Two,

Content disclaimer: This story is inspired by the amazing artist @PammyJammy117 on Twitter/X. I in absolutely no way own or claim the idea of the “Cryptid Rengoku” character. Please give credit to the original artist who inspired the story.

(If you want to be on a tag list for up coming chapters just let me know <3)

Sneaking out of a monster's den wasn't how I planned to spend my morning. My body was so sore that walking was nearly unbearable. The only reason I managed to escape was because I noticed Rengoku had a slight hearing problem.

Despite his large, pointed ears, he often asked me to speak up or claimed he couldn't hear what I was saying.

He must have been exhausted from last night too, because he didn't react to my footsteps. This "escape," if you could call it that, was likely a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

I tried to recall everything that had happened, but my mind remained hazy. I remembered the pleasure, the pain, and I remembered him saying something to me, but I was too wrapped up in the moment to grasp his words.

But none of that mattered now. The only thing that did was getting back to Tamayo to explain why I never returned with the firewood.

As I neared the edge of the woods, I could see the camp in the distance. My head started to spin again, and my vision became foggy.

I squinted and saw someone running towards me.

"Y/N, Y/N!" a voice called out.

Is that Yushiro?

That was my last thought before everything went black and my head hit the ground.

I was out.

—————————

When I woke up, the warm light was practically burning into my eyes. I knew exactly where I was.

As I slowly sat up from the bed, I saw Tamayo sitting at a desk in the corner of the room, appearing to take notes.

"You should lie back down. Whatever got you, got you pretty good," she said calmly.

She put down her pen and walked over to me, sitting at the edge of the bed.

"How are you feeling? What hurts?" She gently placed a hand on my forehead.

This was unusual. Tamayo typically gave me the "tough love" treatment, even when I was sick. So why was she being so compassionate now?

“I feel... surprisingly okay.” I moved my body slightly, not feeling nearly as bad as I had when I first made it out of the woods.

She smiled and nodded, pulling out another pen and a pad of paper. “That’s because of the medicine I gave you. You should be back to normal very soon.” Her smile was warm and reassuring.

“Are you feeling well enough to answer some questions? I need you to tell me everything you can remember about what attacked you.” She looked at me with a glimmer of hope in her eyes.

I couldn't tell her about Rengoku. By the time he wakes up, I'm probably already in enough trouble with him as it is. I definitely don’t need to add to that.

I bit my bottom lip slightly as I scanned my body. Bruises and cuts covered my arms and legs, and even more were on my chest, according to Tamayo.

I looked up at her apologetically. “I’m so sorry, Tamayo, but I really can’t remember much. Everything happened so fast.”

She sighed, then her gaze stopped at my neck. “What about that?” She gestured to her own neck. “What happened there?”

I reached up and touched my neck, feeling the outline of teeth marks.

Thinking quickly, I decided to go along with what Tamayo believed. “I remember a little bit. It was large with sharp teeth, and it moved quickly. While I was collecting firewood, it ambushed me. It must have thought it had killed me and ran off.” The lie flowed out smoother than I had expected.

I watched as she scribbled my words on her notepad, making note of the beast’s appearance.

I fed her small snippets of false information about the supposed monster that attacked me. It hurt to lie, especially to someone who had always been so kind and patient with me, but what other choice did I have?

She tucked her pen behind her ear and set down her pad of paper, her gaze now fixed on me.

"Y/N."

"Yes, ma'am?"

"I owe you an apology," she began.

“An apology? For what?”

"Last night, when you didn’t return with the firewood, I grew frustrated. Remembering your reluctance to travel up north with us, I thought you had grown tired of monster hunting and just ran off."

She sighed and shook her head.

"So when Yushiro recommended sending a search party to check on you, I told him to forget about it."

My eyes widened at the implication.

"I’m so sorry, Y/N. If I hadn’t been so dismissive, you probably wouldn’t have had to suffer through the night alone in the woods."

She took my hand, squeezing it gently.

"I’m so sorry. Please forgive my negligence," she said, looking at me with genuine sorrow.

My heart ached seeing her blame herself for my "attack." I wanted to tell her it wasn’t her fault and that her life's work on monsters wasn't a waste.

But I couldn’t, because I’m selfish. Despite how much Rengoku scares me, I have strange feelings for him. I don’t want to see him captured and tested on.

“It’s fine, Tamayo, really. You don’t need to feel sorry,” I said with a gentle smile. “Besides, the medicine you gave me has almost completely taken away the pain. I feel fine now!”

She smiled and pulled her hand back. “Well then, if you’re feeling so much better, you can accompany Yushiro to the next village to gather more supplies.” She stood up and walked back to the desk to gather her paperwork.

And I’m back to work…

“There are some clothes for you over there,” she pointed to a small wardrobe in the corner of the room.

“Okay, thank you.” I cleared my throat slightly.

She nodded and exited the room, shutting the door softly behind her.

As I stood up to get the clothes, a sudden ache started in my stomach, the same nausea I felt when we went up north. The side effects of disobeying a cryptid, disobeying a mate.

He must be awake now.

Maybe running into town wouldn’t be such a bad idea after all. It would keep Rengoku from looking for me. He wouldn’t show his face in town.

I dressed quickly and left the small infirmary room. As I walked by, a few fellow monster hunters gave me only a cursory glance.

Stepping outside, I saw Yushiro standing near the door, absorbed in a list. When I approached, he looked up, his usual scowl replaced by an expression of concern and relief.

As I reached him, he diverted his gaze back to the list, avoiding eye contact.

“Are you ready to go?” he asked softly.

“Yeah, is there a lot we need to get?” I replied.

He started walking, and I fell in step beside him. He handed me the list of supplies Tamayo had given him. I scanned it briefly—mostly food and medicinal herbs.

I handed the list back, and he slipped it into the pocket of his vest. We walked in awkward silence for a moment.

“How are you feeling?” he finally asked.

I glanced at him, but he kept his eyes forward.

“Oh, I’m fine. Thanks for getting me inside and taking care of me,” I said, offering a faint smile.

He didn’t respond.

“That bite looked pretty nasty when I found you,” he said finally, glancing at the bandage on my neck.

“It wasn’t that bad,” I said, trying to downplay it. Reflecting on it, the pain hadn’t been intense—perhaps my body was still in shock, and the adrenaline had dulled the sensation.

We walked in silence until we reached the village. Once there, Yushiro pulled out the list, and we divided the tasks between us to save time.

I was responsible for gathering herbs and bandages, while Yushiro took on the rest. We parted ways, and I headed towards the market.

The market was bustling today, crowded with vendors and shoppers. After being shoved around more than I’d have liked, I finally reached a stall selling medical herbs. I quickly gathered what I needed and paid the elderly woman at the booth, then tucked the small pouch of herbs into my pocket and moved on.

Suddenly, a sharp pain flared in my chest and stomach. It felt like I might collapse. Rengoku’s influence seemed to be intensifying.

He must be really upset that I left. It wasn’t as if I planned on disappearing forever. I intended to return and visit him tonight, to show I could manage both him and my team without issues.

I gasped, clutching my chest as the pain grew more intense. It had never hurt this badly before.

I stumbled into a secluded part of the market, struggling to catch my breath and regain my composure. As I focused on the ground, a shadow fell over me, prompting me to look up.

A tall man stood before me, his muscular build evident through his clothes. When my gaze reached his face, my heart skipped a beat. His yellow and red hair, falling to his shoulders, forked eyebrows, and amber eyes were strikingly familiar. But something about his eyes was different—more intense.

“What are you doing all the way out here, little human?” he asked, smiling down at me.

My breath caught as the realization dawned.

“Rengoku?” I whispered.

He smiled wider, revealing his sharp teeth, and his eyes briefly flashed red despite his now human-like appearance.

My heart raced furiously. Even as a monster, he was alluring, but as a human, he was just as captivating.

He grasped my face, his smile fading into a look of displeasure.

“Why was it, when I woke up, that my human, my mate was gone? Especially after she pledged her loyalty and life to me?” His voice dropped dangerously low.

I was disoriented by how strange this all felt. His voice no longer had the echo I was accustomed to, and the clicking sound I had grown used to had vanished.

Am I hallucinating? Is this some side effect of Tamayo’s medicine?

His grip on my face tightened, jolting me out of my thoughts.

I struggled to find the words under the intensity of his angry gaze.

"I-I'm sorry, Rengoku. I didn't mean to make you come looking for me. Really, I intended to come back as soon as it got dark," I said, smiling nervously.

He tilted my head to the side, examining the bandage on my neck. His eyes turned back to their usual red.

"So, not only does my mate try to escape, but she also hides my mark, my claim," he growled.

He was furious, but I didn’t have time for this. If I didn’t leave now, Yushiro wouldn’t know what happened to me.

I gently lifted my trembling hand to cover his, still holding my face firmly. I needed to calm him down.

"Rengoku, please don't be upset. I had to leave, or no one would have known where I’d gone. They would have searched for me."

Oh, the irony...

He scoffed, releasing my face only to grab my wrist instead.

"They never would have found us. I would never let anyone take you away from me." He pulled me close against his chest, leaning down to whisper in my ear.

"I told you, no matter where you ran, I would always come find you," he murmured, his voice echoing briefly.

I shrank back slightly.

"You're coming back home. There's no point in staying around these humans when your mate has a perfectly fine nest for you," he said, his eyes narrowing.

Before I could respond, I heard someone calling my name.

I turned to see Yushiro approaching with a basket of supplies, his face back to its usual annoyed expression.

Instinctively, I tried to pull my wrist away, but Rengoku's grip tightened painfully. I glanced up at him, his eyes filled with a deadly intensity.

As Yushiro drew nearer, Rengoku pulled me closer. I could see the confusion on Yushiro's face.

"Y/N, who’s this?" Yushiro asked, looking Rengoku up and down.

"Oh... this is just a friend of mine. We were just catching up," I said with an awkward laugh and forced smile.

Rengoku's body tensed beside me. I knew I was in trouble once this was over.

Rengoku's gaze shifted from me to Yushiro, and he practically towered over both of us. I could see Yushiro looking a bit intimidated by his size and presence.

Then, to my surprise, Rengoku's murderous look softened into a kind and friendly smile as he faced Yushiro.

I held my breath as Rengoku extended his hand to Yushiro in a seemingly friendly gesture.

"I'm Kyojuro, Kyojuro Rengoku," he said, his closed-mouth smile almost charming despite the anger radiating from him.

"Yushiro," Yushiro replied reluctantly, shaking Rengoku's hand. He was clearly uncomfortable.

Rengoku smiled as he stepped back, wrapping his arm around my waist, his hand digging into my hip.

"So, Yushiro, how do you know Y/N?" Rengoku asked, his voice calm but his grip on my hip bruising.

Yushiro looked confused but didn’t comment on the physical contact.

"Y/N and I work together. We're here on a supply run," he answered plainly, then furrowed his brows in confusion. "I'm sorry, did you say your name was Kyojuro Rengoku?"

Damn. Of course Yushiro would recognize a cryptid's name.

I quickly jumped in before things could escalate. "As nice as it is to catch up, we should probably get going, right, Yushiro?" I said, pulling the small bag of herbs from my pocket.

"Yeah, we should go," he agreed.

As I started to walk toward Yushiro, Rengoku grabbed my arm, stopping me.

"Y/N, we rarely get time to talk like this. I'm sure your friend wouldn't mind returning without you so we can catch up a bit more," he said sweetly, with a hint of warning in his voice. I had no choice but to comply.

He took the small bag from my hands and tossed it to Yushiro, who quickly caught it.

"You don't mind, right?" Rengoku smiled at Yushiro.

Yushiro looked from me to Rengoku before finally agreeing. "Yeah, it's fine. I'll let Tamayo know you ran into someone you know. She’ll be happy to hear you're not completely isolated," he said, then turned and walked away.

I silently pleaded for him to stay, to not leave me with Rengoku like this. But he vanished into the crowd, leaving me alone with him.

————————

Rengoku remained silent as he dragged me out of the village and into the woods. His anger was palpable, and I was too scared to try and fix what I'd done.

Once we reached a small clearing, he let go of my arm and turned to face me, still in his human form. I should have been terrified, but he looked undeniably good.

"So, we're just two friends catching up, are we?" The usual echo in his voice suddenly returned, and his eyes changed from amber back to their glowing red.

"I didn't mean it like that. What did you want me to say? I wasn't going to expose you right then and there," I defended myself.

He stepped closer, his face angrier now.

"You shouldn't have run off in the first place if you were worried about something like that," he growled.

I bit inside of my lip slightly. I guess he was right in a way, but that wasn't the point.

He suddenly grabbed my jaw, forcing my head to tilt to the side. He ripped the bandage off my neck, revealing his mark on my skin.

Pulling me close, his face inches from mine, he said, "My mate will never cover my mark again. Is that clear?" His echoing voice had a threatening undertone.

I nodded profusely, hoping he'd let go. But he didn't. His red eyes locked onto mine, filled with desire and something else...

"Did I not please you enough, human? Was our binding session not sufficient for you?" he asked, puzzled.

"I suppose not if you were able to get up and walk away without my notice," he growled lowly.

“I’m sorry, Rengoku. I swear, everything that happened today was just a misunderstanding. I was never going to leave for good,” I tried to make it not sound as bad, but it really wasn’t working.

“A misunderstanding, I see,” he said, his tone dark.

“Well then, my sweet little mate, let’s ensure there are no more misunderstandings…” he purred in my ear.

“Wait, what are you—?”

His hand tangled in my hair, pulling my head back to expose my neck.

“This time, I’ll make sure you don’t have enough strength to get up and walk away from me,” he purred, licking up my neck.

I blushed intensely, embarrassed by my position.

“R-Rengoku…” I breathed out shakily.

His hand moved to my throat, squeezing lightly.

“Kyojuro,” he corrected firmly. “Address your mate accordingly. I won’t tell you again.”

I gasped for air.

He didn't squeeze hard enough to restrict my air flow, but it was still painful.

He squeezed harder, his other hand moving between my legs. He began to rub me through my clothes, his movements slow and teasing.

I struggled to breathe, but my body was already reacting to his touch. My hips instinctively bucked towards him, desperate for more friction.

He chuckled at my desperation. "So needy for someone who ran away from me, aren't you?"

My body was trembling with need. My breathing grew labored, and I was finding it harder to hold back.

I needed him, and I needed him now.

He removed his hand from between my legs and released his grip on my throat, allowing me to gasp for air.

Grabbing me by the collar of my shirt, he led me to a nearby tree, shoving me against it roughly.

He quickly tore up my clothes again, leaving me exposed. He then tore off his own clothes, discarding them on the ground.

I stood frozen, taking in the sight before me. I knew he was strong, but this was beyond what I had imagined. He was attractive as a monster, but his physique as a human was just as perfect.

His body was muscular and defined. I felt my core grow wet, and my clit throbbed as I gazed at his naked body.

"Are you ready, mate?" he asked, his eyes glowing bright red.

"Y-yes," I stammered, nervous and excited.

He stepped forward, his lips colliding with mine. I melted into his kiss, his tongue invading my mouth, tasting every inch.

His hands explored my body, groping my breasts, pinching and twisting my nipples.

He broke the kiss, his mouth moving to my neck, biting and sucking on the sensitive skin.

I moaned, enjoying the sensations. His cock, still just as big and thick as I remember twitched, the precum dripping onto the ground.

"You're mine," he growled against my skin.

His hands gripped my thighs, lifting me off the ground. My legs wrapped around his waist, pulling him closer.

He pressed his cock against my slit, rubbing the tip up and down.

"Do you want me, mate? Tell me how much you want my cock inside you," he purred, his eyes blazing red.

"Please, Kyojuro," I moaned.

"Say it. Say that you belong to me, and only me," he demanded, his voice echoing.

I'm yours, Kyojuro. Only yours," I whimpered.

With a growl, he slammed his cock inside me, his claws digging into my thighs.

I cried out as the pleasure consumed me. His cock was huge, filling me to the brim.

"You feel amazing," he groaned, starting to thrust.

My back arched as he pounded into me, his cock stretching my pussy.

He fucked me hard and fast, his pace brutal and relentless.

I could tell he was taking his anger out on me, the rage he felt when he realized I had escaped. But I didn't care. I needed him just as much as he needed me.

He panted and groaned, his body covered in a sheen of sweat. He was fucking me so hard and fast, I thought I might break.

I screamed out in pleasure, my orgasm approaching.

"Cum for me, mate," he purred.

His cock throbbed inside me, his seed spilling deep inside. The sensation pushed me over the edge, and I came, crying out his name.

He groaned as he continued to thrust, prolonging my pleasure.

“Y/N,” he growled my name into my ear.

“Yes?” I panted softly, still trying to catch my breath as I came down from my high.

He grabbed my chin, pressing his forehead to mine.

“If you ever leave our nest to go off with some other man again, I’ll kill him where he stands.”

His threat made my blood run cold, but I was so lost in the moment, consumed by pleasure, that I didn’t register how sincere he was being.

He finally pulled out, setting me back on the ground. Exhausted and sore, I could barely stand.

He looked down at me, his eyes primal with need. His anger was slowly dissipating, but I knew this wasn’t enough for him. After all the trouble I’d caused, I could tell this was only the beginning.

“We will return to our den now, and we will continue this… bonding.”

I watched as his body shifted back into its usual form. The monster I was used to. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t looking forward to this a little. He bent down and picked me up as if I weighed nothing.

His smile returned, and his ears perked up, but I could tell I wasn’t forgiven. So, I decided to silently agree and hang on to him while he carried me to this “new home” of ours.

Next>>

[cieloclercs]

what would you say (if i told you i love you)? — charles leclerc

PART: 1/?

summary. in which childhood best friends blur the lines between what they’ve always known, and something more

warnings. swearing, reader and charles are oblivious idiots but they’re cute so it’s ok, ending is annoyingly abrupt (sorry)

pairings. charles leclerc x artsy!reader

face claim. tara michelle

author’s note: so this is a multi-part social media fic inspired by this ask that i’ve been working on for a while. as always, all media and pictures used in this belongs to the original creators. hope you guys enjoy! ps, all i really know about art is what i learned in my gcse class (and my teacher was awful) so if i use any incorrect terminology at any point in this series i’m so sorry! i’m trying my best 🫶

liked by pierregasly and 11,386 others

yourusername monaco summer 🐚🌊🦋☁️

view all comments…

yourfriend prettiest ever 🥹

yourusername oh hush you 🤭

username girl your figure 😮

username she literally has my dream body 😭

charles_leclerc no photo credits? 😃

yourusername 🙄🙄 photo creds to char ig

arthur_leclerc looking a little windswept there

yourusername do you want me to block you again

arthur_leclerc no thanks u look very pretty !!!!

yourusername aww thank you arth 🥰

username wait who tf is this girl and how does she know charles??

username she’s his childhood best friend! they’ve known each other since they were five 🫶

username i firmly believe y/n y/l/n is a goddess not a human being

*charles_leclerc liked this comment

username CHARLES WHAT THE FUCK???

liked by carlossainz55 and 2,376,926 others

tagged: yourusername

charles_leclerc opening day for y/n’s latest exhibition, ‘flow’! je suis très fière de toi, mon artiste. ne jamais cesser de rêver 🌊 / beyond proud of you, my artist. never stop dreaming

view all comments…

username now if this isn’t obsessed boyfriend behaviour then i don’t know what is

yourusername aww charlie 🥹 merci de m'avoir soutenu, je vous en serai toujours reconnaissant / thank you for supporting me, i’m forever grateful

charles_leclerc toujours

username and they say they’re just friends?? THIS IS NOT FRIEND BEHAVIOUR

username omg these paintings are so beautiful! what’s the exhibition about?

charles_leclerc it’s a study of water and the ocean!

username they way he’s answering questions about y/n’s own exhibition for her 😭 babes ur not subtle x

username she’s so talented wtf

*charles_leclerc liked this comment

leclerc_pascale Incroyable 😍

yourusername merci, maman 🥰

username SHE CALLS PASCALE MAMAN OH MY GOD???

liked by joris_trouche and 17,936 others

yourusername summer break, week one ✅

view all comments…

username everyone say ‘thank you y/n’ for feeding us the soft charles content 🥹

username thank you y/n 🙏

joris_trouche elvis is the star of this dump

yourusername i’ll let him claw you again

joris_trouche PLEASE DONT

charles_leclerc woah who’s that handsome guy in slide 2? 😏

yourusername you wouldn’t know him he’s kind of annoying x

charles_leclerc ouch

username charles featuring twice?? we’re losing her 😔

username three guesses who took the pictures of y/n

username hmm…joris? 🤔

username try again

username elvis 🤨

username close!! but not quite

username is it maybe…charles?!

*charles_leclerc liked this comment

username bingo!!

username trade lives with me please 😫

charles_leclerc i hope summer never ends

yourusername you and me both

username he doesn’t want to go back to the sf-23 and ferrari fucking up his race every week 😔

*yourusername liked this comment

username LMAO Y/N LIKED

username she’s just as sick of ferrari’s shit as we are

joris_trouche everyone ignoring the fact that i’m also in this dump as well !!!

charles_leclerc mate you’re not even looking at the camera

username GAHAHAHA CHARLES

➜ part 2

[northernsiberiawinds]

Thief.

Hi @nonvme​ how are you?

I usually solve such issues in personal messages with the authors to give them the opportunity to simply apologize and not repeat their mistakes, but this situation has upset me a lot, because I wrote to you in the comments a few months ago, but you never answered me (your private messages are closed).

You steal my textures and call it your own, as well as sell it on your patreon without any permission and credits.

Let's start from the beginning.

1. https://www.patreon.com/posts/sakira-skin-and-67386343

“credits: obscurus-sims, lamatisse, and google lol” — absolutely no mention of me, it's amazing, because it's almost entirely my texture.

“Do not claim as your own, I work way too hard to have somebody else try to claim my stuff“  —  It's so nice to ask to respect your work when you don't respect someone else's.

Do I need to comment on something? She just took my skin n7, added a couple of details on face and called it her own. And she put it in early access on her patreon to make money on already free сс. She listed other authors in the credits and didn't mention anything about me.

2. https://www.patreon.com/posts/precious-skin-75050799

“Do not claim as your own, I work way too hard to have somebody else try to claim my stuff“  —  and again. The duplicity of this man never ceases to amaze me.

Here she changed a bit more, but she used my skin's face as a base. And again, no mention of me in the credits.This time she didn't mention credits at all, but I see at least @obscurus-sims​ details.

3.

“Credits to Slephora, Obscurus, and Pinterest for all respective bits and pieces”  — okay.

And again, no difference. The textures are identical.

Honey, if a person wants to use my eyelids, he just uses it. There is no need to put my cc in early access again, which has been free for three years.

I want to say that I create my textures completely from scratch, without using EA blanks. Absolutely all the details on my skins are created by me. And as an artist, I can say with confidence that it is impossible to create a texture that will match someone else's pixel by pixel. It's impossible. Moreover, most of my textures are completely drawn by me. What refs from the Internet is she talking about? Did you take refs out of my head? By Bluetooth?

@nonvme you can still apologize and I won't hold a grudge against you. Just apologize and remove my textures from your page. If you had answered me a few months ago and corrected your mistakes, then I would not have written this post and would not have spoiled your reputation. But you didn't answer me.

I'm sorry that you all had to read so much text. I hope your day is going much better than mine.

P.S. I had to re-post to remove some 18+ pieces from the skins.

UPD 15/06/23

Guys! Thank you so much for all your words of support! This is really very important to me. I didn't even expect you all to support me so much. I don't have enough words to express my gratitude to all of you 😢❤️!!!

Nonvme deleted CC that included my textures, and also promised not to use it anymore. It's enough for me to forget about this incident and don't contact patreon support.

I want to add that any author who makes his textures from scratch knows every pixel of his texture. The author of the original content will know if you have used his texture, even if you have somehow modified it. If you steal other people's textures and you haven't been caught yet, it only means that the author hasn't seen your page/cc yet, because he can't monitor the entire Internet. But one day he will find out about you, do not doubt.

[justtwotired]

Whispers of the night - Lloyd Garmadon x F!reader

Part 1 - previous - next

Tag list: @cipheress-to-k-pop @whore-of-many-hot-men @bodieohbo @anyth1ngfor0urmoony @luvlloyd @viannasthings

Guys- can we like- talk about this fanart I added here of Lloyd?? Cause I love it so, so much! Smits such good art and the artists OC -Christal- is also so beautiful! The Artist is ‘Scarlets.Doodles’ btw. I also wanted to say that all the art I use in the beginning of the chapters is not mine, but I always find it on Pinterest and than I can’t find the original artist, if you do know, please tell me so I can give the artist credit for their work!<3

Anyway, it’s bonding time for Y/n and her little brother😍

Your POV:

The holidays where over and it was time to go back to school, fun…!

Not.

But I guess it means I could see my friends everyday so it isn’t THAT bad, I guess, we did have fun at school the first day back.

It was a Monday, which meant school ended early for me. Dad was busy at work and mom was out with my aunt, our nanny was not available on Mondays, so that meant I was on duty of getting my little brother from school and my sister from daycare.

Luckily for me, they where right next to each other. I went to get my brother first and I walked onto the school grounds, waiting around with parents for the bell to ring and for the kids to come running out.

After five minutes off waiting, the bell rang and kids started streaming out of the school. Trough the crowd, I didn’t manage to spot Ace.

After a while, I finnaly spotted his dirty blonde hair and smiled, yet it fell when I saw he was being pushed around by a few other boys seemingly a bit older than he was, making my blood boil.

“Hey!” I called out, walking towards them, they looked up and the four boys quickly scurried off. I contemplated going after them but decided on staying with my brother.

“Ace, are you alright?” I asked concerned, squatting down next to him and turning his head towards me when he avoided looking at me. “Hey, look at me,” I said softly, “are you alright?” I repeated.

He shook his head, tears in his eyes and barreled into me, hugging me tight making me hug him right back.

“Hey, hey,” I said, softly stroking his hair. “It’s alright, they where just being little pricks,” I said and he pulled away, looking at me with a pout. “Why where they mean?” I asked softly.

“They are always mean to me,” he sniffed, whipping away the tears that threatened to spill, “just because I sometimes play with girls and dolls too,” he said and my heart broke.

“They do this more often?” I asked, glancing at the direction the kids had ran and I noticed their mothers in conversation with each other while the boys fooled around, looking oh so innocent as if they hadn’t been bullying my little brother.

“Oh, kiddo, why didn’t you tell me? Or mom and dad?” I asked, wiping away the fresh tears running down his face.

He shrugged and hid his face in my shoulder, making me kiss the top of his head. “Come,” I said, picking him up, “I’ll talk to their parents,” I said and began walking over.

“You don’t have to!” He panicked and I frowned lightly at him, “it’s fine, really!” He insisted and I shook my head.

“Ace, they are bullying you, that is not okay,” I said softly, “let’s try to solve this on our own before involving the school,” I smiled and continued walking.

The mothers looked up when I arrived, looking at me with questioning glances.

“Can we help you?” One of them asked, looking rather annoyed. Great, this was going to be harder than I had initially thought.

“Those are your kids?” I asked, nodding towards the four boys. The mothers all nodded. “I’m Y/n, Ace’s sister,” I introduced, “I just noticed your kids pushing him around and calling him names,” I looked around the group of mothers.

“You- you did?” Another asked concerned, glancing over to her son with a worried glance. “Oh great god, I am so sorry, I’ll talk to Bennie about that,” she shook her head.

“Oh please, they are just having a bit of fun, boys will be boys,” the woman who had been the first to speak waved it off.

“Clarice, if they are bullying ace we cannot take it lightly,” another told her, laying a hand on her shoulder, “we as parents are responsible to teach our children to be kind and respectful to everyone,” she smiled softly at me, making me smile back.

“Are you sure they where bullying him?” The fourth mother spoke, “I mean, they could indeed just been having fun,” she shrugged, looking over at her child as he laughed with his friends, probably not able to imagine him bullying someone.

“Seeing that my brother was crying, I am pretty sure,” I said dryly and she frowned but nodded. “I hope we can all just figure this out without having to involve the school, but if it does not improve, I’m afraid I’ll have to get my parents to speak with a teacher,” I informed.

“Oh yes, of course,” Bennie’s mother nodded hastily, “we’ll talk with our children and please, if nothing improves, come to us and we will talk with the teacher together,” she smiled and kindly touched my shoulder.

“Thank you so much,” I gave her a appreciating smile, “if you’ll excuse me, I do need to get my sister from daycare,” I said and bid my goodbyes.

The first one huffed in annoyance as I left and I heard a, “can you believe that? Accusing our children of bullying!” Coming from her mouth, making me roll my eyes.

Well, teo of them took it amazing, one seemed a bit sceptical, and they other was a total bitch. But it went better than I had expected.

“See,” I looked at Ace with a smile, “that wasn’t that hard,” I kissed his hair and put him down, holding out my hand for him to take as we both headed to the daycare before taking the car back home.

That night, when my siblings laid in bed, I entered the living room where my parents where watching tv.

“Mom, dad,” I said and they looked up at me, my father pausing the movie.

“Yes, sweetie?” My mom asked, her smile dropping at my concerned face.

I had decided it was best to talk with them while Ace wasn’t there, I didn’t want to embarrass him or make him cry by thinking about what was happening.

“Did you know Ace was getting bullied?” I asked and their faces fell, and I swore I saw actual tears form in my mothers eyes.

“Our little boy is getting bullied?” My dad asked, eyes full of rage and my mom grabbed his wrist, muttering his name, trying to calm him down.

“I saw him being pushed around and being called names by four boys about two to three years older than him,” I explained, “when I asked he said it was because he hung out with girls and played with dolls,” I looked at the ground, chewing on the inside of my cheek, “he looked so upset,” I shook my head sadly, my voice cracking.

“We need to talk to the teachers,” my mom insisted, “this is not okay, god, we should have put him in a private school, a public school is just-”

“Mom!” I cut her off, “public school or no, children are just little shits sometimes,” I shook my head, “besides, I already spoke to their mothers, I think they’re going to handle it but I can’t be sure and I wanted you to know,” I explained and my mother threw her head back and sighed.

“Oh, sweetie,” she said and walked up to me, “you’re amazing, I am so proud of you,” she hugged me tightly and I chuckled hugging her back.

“I bet it was that Lucas, wasn’t it?” Dad asked, his eyes still full of rage and he looked at me as my mother let go off the hug.

“I don’t know, but I know one of them is named Bennie, or Ben or whatever,” I shrugged and my mothers brows rose.

“Really?” She asked surprised, “Bennie’s mom is such a nice woman,” she shook her head in disbelief.

“Oh, yeah she was really nice,” I quickly nodded, “she promised to talk to her son- there was this one woman who was being kind of a bitch though,” I said and my mom shot me a look.

“Language, Y/n,” she said and my dad stifled a chuckle, making me shoot him a light glare.

“Sorry,” I muttered, “anyway, her name is Clarice and I swear I want to punch her in the face,” I huffed and crossed my arms.

“Oh… her,” my mom scoffed, “yeah, she’s Lucas’ mother, she is a horrible woman with an equally horrible husband,” she shook her head. “I don’t think she will be talking to her son about this,” she said sadly.

“Then we’ll have to step to the school eventually,” I shrugged, “for now let’s just support Ace,” I glanced towards the stairs where I had just come down from after reading Ace a bedtime story.

“Im proud of you,” my mom said, and pulled me into another hug, making me chuckle and hug her back.

It was a week later, I waited for my parents and little brother to get back from the conversation they had with the school and the parents of the kids bullying Ace.

The bullying had in fact, not stopped and my father was ready to sue. Luckily my mother was reasonable and just arranged a meeting.

When they got back, Ace just went up to his room without a word and my parents walked in aswel, rather frustrated.

“It seemed the school has the same motto as Clarice,” my mother said a bit disappointed, “apparently boys will be boys and they will get over it soon enough,” she said making me scowl and roll my eyes.

“Hey, you know where that Clarice lives?” I asked, “I might pay her a visit and try get some sense into her head, maybe the teachers aswel,” I said darkly and my father met my gaze.

“Good idea” he started but my mother cut him off.

“Absolutely not!” She said and hit the back off his head. “You should not be supporting this behaviour, Elijah!” She scolded my father, “we will handle this like adults, besides, tomorrow they have that costume party in the evening, maybe we’ll get something out of that,” she said with a small smile.

My father and I shared glances, both knowing it was probably not going to happen, but we didn’t say anything.

The next evening, I held my brothers hand as he, James and I, walked into the decorated school grounds. Kids in costumes ran around, some off the parents where even dressed up, aswel as the teachers.

I spotted some kids around our age too, also in custom. I guessed they where older siblings like me.

James, Ace and I where dressed as pirates. James and I wore our costumes from two halloweens ago, we had spent ages on making them.

Ace wore a costume that I bought at a toy store, I had pimped it with accessories and sewed the costume here and there to make it more realistic. I got him a plastic sword, an eyepatch and painted a beard on his face.

He was extremely proud and quickly went to show off to his friends. I did notice there where four girls, but there where two boys aswel that seemed to be friends with him, so I wondered why it was Ace that was targeted by bullies.

I almost tripped when four kids in ninja costume came running past me. One of them wore green, the others red, black and white. I chuckled at the sight before the masks went off and my smile fell.

“What?” James asked when he noticed, giving me a frowning look.

“Those are the four kids that bully Ace,” I whispered, “little shits,” I murmured right after.

“Oh, that’s them aye?” He asked, making way to go talk to them- or well probably their mothers as they stood next to them, showing off, making me grab his arm.

“Jamie,” I said, “don’t, we don’t wat to make it worse,” I frowned and looked at Ace, who was beaming at me, making me smile back. “Ace is happy, let’s leave it like that,”

James nodded and together we headed over to Ace who introduced us to his friends who where all dressed up differently, looking cute as ever.

After abput two hours, both me and James sat on a bench, drinks in hand as we where quietly judging costumes, giggling amongst ourselves.

“There’s so many ninja outfits,” he commented, making me nod. There where indeed, even one teacher was dressed up, fully in blue.

One girl was proudly dressed as the water ninja, boasting to the four little rascals about how she was the best ninja.

They countered that by saying that the green ninja was the best and the most powerful, which just made her stick out her tongue.

I averted my gaze to three girls, who I guessed where in grade seven or so, playing with skipping ropes, doing tricks that almost made me jealous, because I could never do that when I was their age.

James made a comment about that and I shoved him, causing him to almost fall off the bench while laughing.

With a chuckle, my eyes searched for Ace and my stomach sank when I watched how he was harshly pushed and he fell to the ground, making me seath with rage.

“Hey!” I stood up and quickly made my way over, “what do you think you’re doing?!” I called and a few people looked up to see what was happening. From the corner of my eye, I saw two people also quickly making their way over.

“Bennie!” His mother called out, and the boy looked up, eyes wide, looking like a deer in headlights.

I quickly kneeled down next to Ace. “Are you hurt?” I asked worried, fussing over him, James also coming to stand next to me.

“Are you four crazy?” He interrogated the children, “he could’ve been seriously hurt!” He pointed at Ace who had thick tears streaming down his face as I kissed his forehead and hugged him tightly.

“Oh, I am so, so sorry,” Bennies mother said to me, before turning to her son and starting to scold him. “Oh, and you three to!” She turned to the other three boys, who wore the same expression as their friend.

“Gavin,” another mother kneeled down to the level of her child, “what did we talk about, we do not hurt other kids, neither with words or our hands,” she said in a serious tone.

“I wanna go home,” Ace cried and I sighed, picking him up and letting him sit on my hip.

“Lets go, it’s late anyway,” I shook my head, starting to walk off.

“Hey, hold up!” I turned around at a hand in my shoulder, facing Bennies mother. “Bennie, say sorry to Ace,” she looked at her soon with an expecting look.

“Sorry, Ace,” he said softly, and I was quite surprised to see ehe genuinely meant it.

“You too,” the other mother looked at the remaining three kids who also muttered their sorry’s. She then turned to me with a soft look. “I promise this will not happen again,” she said and that’s when the third mother arrived aswel.

“Hey, what happened?” She asked worried glancing at Ace who was still whipping away tears.

Bennie’s mother quickly explained and the woman frowned and turned to her child.

“Felix, have you apologised to Ace?” She asked and he nodded, she looked at me for confirmation and I nodded aswel. “I am so sorry, dear,” she shook her head.

I muttered something before walking of, mostly focused on getting Ace out of here. James followed after me, a hard look on his face.

James hates bullies. He himself was bullied when he was little too and he did everything to protect those who were targeted.

One time, he sucker punched some guy who was bothering a first year, stealing their backpack and everything, it was pretty amusing.

Back at home, James said goodbye to me and Ace and I headed inside, holding Ace’s hand.

My mom was in the kitchen and he quickly hugged her when he spotted her, making her look at me in question, probably wondering why we where back so early and why Ace seemed like he had cried.

I explained the story and she was lost for words for a moment before hugging her son tightly, whispering reassuring things to him before taking him upstairs to get ready for bed.

I also went upstairs, texting with James who just got home and wondered how Ace was doing.

I yelped when my window -which I had slightly opened just in case- opened, greenie stepping inside with a wide grin as he pulled off his mask.

“Hi, princess,” he greeted and I chuckled, sending James a quick goodnight text before getting off the bed.

“Hi, stinky,” I said, scrunching my nose as I smelled the sweat from only a few feet away. He pouted at me and I chuckled.

“You bully,” he said, whiling away fake tears making me jab his side. He laughed, catching my hand before I could do it again.

He pulled me forwards into a kiss and I chuckled, before my face fell slightly when he pulled away, making him frown.

“What’s wrong?” He asked concerned, cupping my face in his hands.

“Lloyd,” I said softly and he hummed in acknowledgment, “can you do something for me?”

Lloyd POV:

I stood in front of Y/n’s house, gi and mask on, a small helmet in my hands.

The front door opened and Ace came running out, followed by a chuckling Y/n who was holding his hand, being dragged towards me.

“Ready to go, little man?” I asked and he beamed at me, almost jumping up and down.

“Yes!” He said in excitement and I chuckled, kneeling down to help him put on the helmet.

“Does that fit?” I asked and he nodded, looking up at Y/n to show off, making her chuckle.

“Good luck, you two,” she smiled and I stood up again, ruffling her hair affectionately making her mumble a soft curse before quickly glancing at Ace who luckily didn’t hear it.

“I’ll see you later,” I said, making her smile and nod. “Now, let’s get you onto the bike,” I said before lifting him up and putting him on the bike before also getting on myself.

“Drive safely!” Y/n called before I drove off, Ace shrieking and laughing in excitement the whole ride.

When we got to his school, I helped him off the bike, before kneeling down and also getting the helmet off. It revealed an excited grin and I chuckled, holding out my hand for him to take.

There were already a few parents and kids in the parking lot who watched with wide eyes.

The two of us walked onto the schoolyard and many heads turned in wonder and surprise, making me grin from under the mask while Ace buzzed in excitement.

“Acey!” A girl came running up followed by a few others, she hugged him tightly, making him let go of my hand to hug her back.

only when she let go did she seem to notice me, making her eyes grow wide. “The green ninja!” She gasped and the other friends yaws dropped aswel as they watched me in awe, making me chuckle.

“Hi there,” I greeted with a small wave. I scanned the grounds quickly and then spotted a small group of four boys, watching in awe. I recognised them from the pictures in the yearbook Y/n had showed me, so I diverted my gaze and looked back at Ace.

“How do you know him?” A boy asked, looking at me, then at Ace, then me again in awe, and then back at Ace.

“He is my sisters friend,” Ace said, a bit shy now as he answered the questions his friends had for him.

“Excuse me?” I looked up at a woman who was holding a phone and a man beside her. “Can I take a picture of the lot of you?” She asked with a warm smile, one of the Ace’s friends went to hug her legs and I guessed this was her mom.

“Of course,” I said and the kids bustled around, all posing as the woman took a few pictures. My hand rested on Ace’s shoulder the whole time.

I never really did pictures and autographs, but just for this one time should be fine.

“Hey, Mr. Green ninja?” I looked up to see a man approaching, he stuck out his hand and I shook it in silence. “I am William Wright, the principal. May I ask you what gives us the honour for you to visit our school?” He asked and I shrugged.

“Oh, I just came to drop off Ace here, his sister was supposed to, but she had an emergency. We’re great friends so she asked me to do it, seeing it is in my patrol area anyway,” I said and the principle nodded.

“Say, can I take a picture for the schools instagram?” He asked, I contemplated for a bit, before just deciding to agree.

Both me and the kids all posed again as the pictures were taken. At one point, I swooped Ace of his feet and got him to sit on my neck, making him laugh and the other kids giggle.

After the pictures were taken, the kids hurried off to play elsewhere and I turned to the principal.

“Say, I’ve been talking to Ace’s sister, and I heard he has been having some problems with bullies, is that correct?” I asked and the principal looked nervous.

“Oh, well, we had a meeting about it a few days back, but, we worked out that it was just a bit of fun, nothing big,” he waved it off and my eyes narrowed.

“Hm, interesting, seeing as he came home yesterday with bruised elbows,” I said and the principals eyes widened.

“Oh that is concerning,” he nodded hastily, “we will look into it, I promise,”

“I am happy to hear that,” I said, glancing at the four boys who were still watching in awe, but didn’t dare walk up to me. “I do really hate bullying, it just disgusts me, you know?” I said, I knew they could hear me.

“Yes, yes of course,” the man nodded and chuckled, “we do really not tolerate bullies here, thank you for informing me of the situation,” he said and then quickly excused himself.

He better do something about it, otherwise I might barge into his office some time later.

I waved at Ace in the distance before leaving with a content smirk on my face.

(Are you liking the fluff? Just asking… for no reason at all)

[withonly-sweetheart]

Threads of Carmine Red

They split your heart into two and the sticky sweet threads that hang between them only bring you closer to your doom. Can you every truly choose your fate? Or will it always be in their silky hands...?

a/n: ok erm so uh like well uh <- thats it. bye! characters are more expanded on in the endings because i cant do shit for shit. i fear.

heh now its time for credits

@candlekiss - MARI WHY'D YOU INSPIRE LIKE ALL OF THESE <3 but it was ur study of the scrapped character design of re8 ada that inspired this wildly massively changed sequence of events. LOVE YOU EITHER WAY POOKIE <3

@pxs-onthehunt - sorry for tagging you but your ada vampire art actually had me tweaking so hard... its kinda what inspired ada's personality throughout this... uh... thank you for your service <3

@vampiricgf <- kita tysm for helping with the atmosphere im still mindblown how your small piece of advice came SUCH a long way and i hope i've conveyed this right (probably havent sigh)

@eyesofsix - ur uhm aeon vampire art... harshi sent that to me because she was freaking out over it and i saw it and also freaked out and we danced in a freaking out circle together. your art is bringing people closer (together). <- stop the freaky jokes need to stop. BUT

(psst. if i didnt mention u in this one artist moots TRUST you're definitely in one of the other three.)

tw: descriptions of blood? ig? idfk something like that and then idek what this is man you just gotta read it ig (can you tell im off today THE OPPS HAVE WON SADLY)

wc: 2.2k

You don’t know where you’re going, but you do know that her eyes are following you. Tracking you, searing your back with their presence, origin unknown. You can confirm it is indeed a “her” watching you when that sultry voice finally appears from the shadows.

“Are you lost, little girl?” she muses, confident in a way you can’t quite explain. You try your best to be bold and lift your chin, surveying your surroundings in an unfavorable attempt to find her. “Ah, you won’t see me unless I want you to.”

“Do you know where I am?” you demand. “Can you get me out of here?”

“Ouch.” You can imagine a pout, yet no face to place it with. A simple expression with no master behind it, crimson lips twisted down. “Leaving so soon?”

“Yes,” you grit out. “I need to get back. Where the hell am I?”

“Can’t you tell?”

You glare out into the retreating light that only seems to twitch from your grasp as you near. A fretful game of tag that’ll never end, you fear. With a frown puckering your eyebrows, you glance upward, yet no flash of lightning comes through the night-ridden windows, useless in your pursuit. Only a flash of white-hot fear that surges through your blood.

A door creaks open somewhere to your left. You know better than to trust mysterious voices from the dark, but guidance is scarce in a place like this. At least you assume your location to be applicable to those terms, foolishly, perhaps.

“Go ahead,” she coaxes softly. “I’m simply helping you.”

Perhaps if there were light, you could’ve seen that she was trailing you the entire time, never more than a few steps away, itching to get her hands on you yet shoving that instinct into a box in her mind, a box known as patience.

You might’ve also noticed the pointed edges of her teeth when she grins as you stupidly stumble into the door, feeling around for the knob, and she waits with her hands clasped behind her back before you trip past something into the room.

And you miss her silently closing the door behind you.

There’s light in this room, thankfully, a dim light that only sparks to life after you take another few steps. A lantern tosses shadows in your face, painting the room in dramatic proportions, making the small area seem larger than life.

“Hello?” you call out, timidly. “Is anyone there?”

You shut your mouth immediately as soon as there’s yet another high pitched squeal from the floorboards, unable to support your weight as well as you’d like, and something splinters behind you. 

Spinning around to find nothing there throws you off balance, and you manage to get your foot stuck in the broken wood. You make the mistake of reaching down, kneeling and pawing at your foot, which leaves you with minor scratches on your now free foot.

It comes with the cost of blood welling up, tears of your skin gushing from a painful gash that somehow goes unnoticed in the first few seconds of shock before you scream. Then you slam your uninjured hand back over your mouth, trying not to scowl at yourself, biting at the knuckle in a silly attempt to cancel out the pain.

It doesn’t work. If anything, it seems your efforts have all been in vain. A weak kick is delivered to your neck, and you sway to the side lightly. There’s an unimpressed growl from behind you, just before something strikes the same area at least ten times harder, and your vision goes dark, fading from your sideways slant of the room.

<><><><>

“Stop moving,” a voice hums in your ear. It seems too sudden for you, jerking back to life like a monster, flailing and thrashing your limbs. You’re bound with something, rope, maybe, but the state of panic sends adrenaline rushing to your head.

“It’s like she does the opposite of whatever you say,” that same sultry voice remarks, albeit from a distance, which doesn’t scare you as much as the presence looming over your shoulder.

“Relax,” it muses, too quiet to determine whether it’s male or female, too subtle to know the differences. Your calf burns, as if your wound has magically gotten larger, spreading over the expanse of bare skin where your pants are rolled up.

You blink and still at the feather light touch of calloused fingertips tracing up your arm, drawing the silhouette of your body, yet the feeling is almost… otherworldly.

“What…” you sputter, an unwelcome shudder rippling through your body. “What are you?”

“What are you,” the woman combats, “if not a creature of Earth?”

They remain pure voices, the harmony of male and female in perfect vocals that may as well be songs themselves, yet the pure chill of fear thrums alongside your searing blood, at every subtle touch unwillingly placed onto your skin.

“Just let me go, please,” you plead, just short of convincing. A string inside you unravels, tugging you back towards them, an unprecedented attraction that could try to coil back up, spin back into a shape in your body, but it reaches for them.

You imagine a well trimmed finger, sharp nails glinting in the darkness, source of light unknown, curling around that thread, a leash for a disobedient dog.

“Aren’t you just that?” she muses. “A sweet little puppy? A human plaything for the society that has existed long before you were even a thought in your ancestors’ flimsy minds. They were no smarter than you, it seems.”

You nod in compliance, feeling yourself slip further and further away, stretching your legs in an attempt to swim through the murky liquid you feel yourself sinking into, trying to reach for the glowing spool, the source of all your turmoil, but it fades within the violent waves.

“She will suffice,” another voice huffs out, the one with the ghastly touch. “Prepare her.”

“Why should it be me?” she scoffs. “You’ve gotten your hands dirty, do it yourself.”

Uh oh. Looks like Mom and Dad are fighting.

<><><><>

The next time you find yourself, it takes what seems like hours to trudge through the inky, vast darkness threatening to swallow you whole. But you see your soul sparkling, woven in as gems of memories within the thin line, glowing so intensely you fear you might burn yourself upon touching it.

But your fingers graze the raised material and you immediately sit upright, eyes blown open as you force yourself to take steady breaths, trying to readjust to the feeling of being in control of your own body.

What had really happened back there? She was the puppeteer to your mindless actions, unable to change the course of events from your glass bubble, restricting your air, trying to erase all evidence of you. You wonder who the mysterious, sultry woman is.

“Thank you.” The same voice calls out, this time from the only patch of darkness available in the well-lit room, morning sun casting warmth onto your cheek as you crane your neck up to catch a glance of the woman.

Narrow eyes peer back at you, and the light in the room shifts quickly enough for you to acknowledge her eerily pale skin, tinted lips the only pop of color in her otherwise drab outfit, a black cloak with crimson accents splashed here and there.

Only when she drops from the ceiling do you realize that they aren’t accents at all. Splotches of dried blood, you see more closely as she approaches, and you scramble back on the mattress you’ve been placed on, only to have your back meet the wall in a most unpleasant manner.

“Don’t worry,” she says with a chuckle. “I won’t hurt you.”

You resist the urge to furrow your eyebrows, fearing that she might take it as a sign of disrespect and pounce. How often do you see vampires? Trick question, the answer is never. You’re not prepared in the slightest, yet you can’t deny the awe that quickly fills you.

Awe at her appearance. If you hadn’t seen the blood, you wouldn’t have even begun to suspect she’s a blood sucking demon, and even now you find yourself doubting the very idea. How could someone so nice be evil?

“I… apologize if I came off strange earlier,” she says with a smile that curves her teeth, and you fight to discern her teeth from her fangs, almost undetectable if you weren’t hanging off your seat and biting your nails in anticipation of them. “You must understand our hesitations to accept a new member.”

“A… new… member?” You test out each word slower than the last, and you feel like you’re back in primary school with a teacher, bless her, patient enough to guide you through it.

“It’s been millennia since a human has met our qualifications. When Leon scouted you, I knew-”

“Leon?” you interrupt. Irritation sparks in her eyes, previously warm, melted honey freezing up quickly. “He’s the guy who was following me here!”

“Yes, but-”

“And he was the one who tied me up!” you say with a gasp. “So who are you?”

“It looks like you’re more interested in talking than listening.” The woman - or should you say vampire? -  curls her lip and you can’t tell if it’s in distaste or carefully placed amusement. It feels like you’re tiptoeing on ice, cracks reverberating through the room, devastating enough to bring the entire building down.

“Sorry.”

“Hm.” She lifts her nose, somewhat haughtily. “You’re quite gullible, aren’t you?”

“Better fix that soon, ma’am,” a voice replied sarcastically from the doorway. Ada shifts her figure so you can see who, but of course, their identity becomes quickly hidden with the light playing on their face, shadows from their cloak hood dapping the planes of their face.

“I’d think twice about talking down to me, Leon,” she replies suavely, a smile coaxing her lips into emotion. “She already knows.”

You swear you can hear his teeth gnash against each other. “That was my job, Ada.”

“Your one job,” she teases, eyes flitting down to you with a subtle wink before turning to face him with an all too important look, “and I beat you to it.”

“Ada,” you test out quietly. Even the name sounds foreign, a medley of arcane qualities and inscrutable judgment. 

"Tell me then," Leon says in a low voice, stepping further into the room. You press back into the plush mattress, sensing the tension mounting between them. "What exactly have you told our guest?" 

"Only that which she deserves to know," Ada replies coyly.

"Which is?"

She levels him an unimpressed stare. "Patience. All will be explained in due time." 

Leon shoots you a glance, lips thin. "How have you found our hospitality so far? Comfortable?"

You nod hesitantly, eyeing the door behind him. "Very kind of you all, though the circumstances of my arrival were... unconventional."

Ada offers a soft chuckle. "Leon lacks finesse, perhaps true. But fear not - harm will not come to you here." Her reassurance does little to do any of its intended purpose. Part of you longs to trust her gentle words and curious gaze, yet Leon's wariness makes you wonder what other truths lie beneath the surface. 

"I understand you must have questions," Ada continues. "Please, ask what you will. An open exchange benefits us all."

You hesitate, darting knowing looks between them. Leon's intense glare conveys he wishes to avoid certain subjects.

"If I may... what exactly are you going to do to me?"

Ada’s enigmatic smile vanishes. Leon scoffs.

“I thought you informed her of her purpose, Ada,” he says, her name coming out of his mouth laced with venom, the same that swirls through your mind as their gazes bore into your mind.

And for the first time since you’ve seen him, Leon grins.

“You are going to become one of us.”

You blink, the words becoming garbled with all the background noise fresh in your mind, coarse tongue lead weight in your mouth, running your teeth over chapped lips.

“And now, we play a little game,” Ada says, although reluctantly, as if suddenly her eagerness has been replaced with the grim truth. “You must pick.”

“Pick… what?”

“One of us,” Leon says, stepping forward. “One of us will grant you freedom; you’ll wake up safe in your home, with no recollection of this incident.”

“Yet the other will lead you to our cause, the same fate that befell us.” Ada’s face has gone stony, giving no hints of which path she leads. “You will join us. This is less of a game, and more a test of your judgment. Choose wisely.”

They unfurl their hands like broken angels, reaching down from you in an inverted version of heaven, more reaching up from hell, but you can’t say that, now can you? Neither of them are trustworthy enough, so you quickly make a decision. 

And you reach for…

ADA?

or

LEON?

[the-curse-of-neoclones]

Moderneopets Artist Mistreatment

Edit as of 11/16/23 10:40 AM NST:

Removed names where I failed to do so before. I'm very sorry to the affected parties, this snowballed so far out of my intended scope.

Edit as of 11/16/23 5:30 PM NST

Please see this post for a small update.

As of 11/16/23 10:10 PM NST, Hazer the site owner has formally and publicly apologized to myself and Velu, the other affected artist. As far as I'm concerned he has officially handled the situation as best as he could, and I hold no further qualms with Moderneopets. I hope to hear of its management continuing in this direction.

The following post is left up for archival purposes only.

*****

Hello, I’m wren. I'm an artist responsible for some of the pet assets on the neoclone, Moderneopets. I'm just going to get into it.

Hazer was extremely lucky to somehow cultivate a dense group of largely professional artists to work together to make assets for his site. When it comes to his own management as a site runner, he’s largely hands-off of the art department, which is a good thing! If he can’t be active in the art panel enough to know what goes on in there, he shouldn’t be running it— we have many strong, capable artists on the team who are passionate about recreating the neopets style, who work together on every pet that has been released ever since critique became a requirement. 

It makes sense that, with a project this large, Hazer should have to designate moderators to enforce rules when he is absent. Choosing to bring on moderators was also a good decision. Unfortunately, he chose poorly. 

Art panel issues should have separate Art panel moderators to take care of them. People who are not overburdened with generic moderation duties from the many other channels of the server, for example. In the same vein, artists should not be moderators. When an artist has an issue with another artist, who happens to be a moderator (which has happened many times, with many people— If the mods actually open threads for all complaints they receive, they should have evidence of this & if they don’t they are not being truthful), the artist would likely not feel comfortable approaching that same artist-slash-moderator to complain about what happened. It breeds an aura of fear and discomfort any time there is an issue with an artist/mod, and that is why the two moderators on the team should have to choose one or the other if hazer wants to cultivate a healthy atmosphere in his panel. 

I���ve created many pets for this website. Neopets has been a passion of mine since the third grade. I’m also one of those professional artists I mentioned— my work is also art, industry or otherwise. I care about breaking neopets down into their core, recognizable shapes. I care about keeping them on-model and in the spirit of the original TNT art team, with improvements made where I and the other panelists think they make sense. I have redlined for other artists to an even greater degree, just as other artists have redlined for me and helped me finalize each pet into something simply good: something that made sense to get put on a little passion project website for other people with a similar passion to enjoy. I found the panel to be a community of likeminded artists with which to discuss our favorite childhood petsite while we made art for a clone, as if we could pretend we were making art for neopets-dot-com. It was nice. 

It wasn’t perfect, though. In fact, shortly after I joined in 2021 I took a hiatus because the art panel was fairly dead. I came back a little while later to see we had several new species, as well as an art director, and lots of activity! That was very exciting. Over the next year I would reach out to the panel or, if nobody was sure of how to proceed, I would reach out to the art director to propose ideas for how to make the panel a little more functional; quality of life updates, if you will. I don’t take credit for all of these alone, there were other artists with similar ideas all communicating to the director in private, but some examples: 

A designated “collab” zone where artists could seek out other artists to complete pets with. 

“The Purge,” in which the team was whittled down to ~25 current, active artists to refresh the team and allow for new artists to join. 

“The Approval System,” which I first sat down with in my workshop (public to all artists) to hammer out the details with as many other artists as wanted to give their input— a method for pitching new ideas to eventually break through the “new species/color freeze” that had been plaguing us.

Speaking on the approval system: like most things that required Hazer’s direct input in the art team, it was left without response for a very long time. Artists with ideas for custom species or colors would occasionally murmur about their excitement for the system to get a look-over by hazer, to see if our approval system pitch would be approved. But hazer is busy, as we all know, and the pitch sat for a while. We had new & returning artists on the team to keep everyone busy. 

What I would expect from a years-old panel of artists, when new additions arrive, would be some manner of tutorial. New artists would need to know the pipeline (here’s your workshop, you can post WIPs and anything else in there; here’s how you ping for critique, here are the spaces in which to ask for it; make sure you always ping before your work is submitted on-site), and there would likely be some acclimating on both sides. What I did not expect (but should have), was pushback from new artists on things that hadn’t had pushback in a long time. Why can’t [x] color be a posechange? Well, we’ve created many already and none of them were posechanges. Why can’t I use colored lineart? Well, that isn’t in line with the style standards set by this color; see, nobody else is coloring their lineart. 

Suddenly there was a divide between veteran artists, the director, and the new blood. The divide felt greater when Hazer came to his new artist’s aid to say, approximately: “Eh, if someone wants to go above and beyond and make better art, they shouldn’t have to adhere to the guidelines.” Then he threw the art director under the bus for not somehow knowing that his intentions were always to keep the panel loose and unstructured. But don’t worry, that isn’t the first bus and won’t be the last.

My personal investment in the panel waned around that time. I think a structured “work” environment with easily accessible rules and deadlines is necessary to any project of this size. If we didn’t want to enforce color standards, nor prioritize certain colors for release, and anyone could just submit whatever Nice Art they wanted, why not open it up so any user could submit pet art? Why have a panel at all? Isn’t Hazer taking any opportunity to dunk on Leopets because he wants his site to be better? How is this different? 

But I stuck around. This was a hobby I really enjoyed, after all, and I really believed it could get better. It had a good core, and despite my grievances with individual artists, none of them were bad people. 

But I noticed some trends. New artists would receive feedback that they didn’t agree with and retaliate by bringing in their emotions or personal preferences. Any disagreement where multiple veteran artists stepped in to say their piece would escalate to the point of very long messages on both sides, and would need to be left to hazer to give a final input. Often he didn’t come around to it, because he’s busy, as we know. I didn’t step in to every argument; they became cyclical after a while, and I didn’t have the time or energy to spend simply tapping the proverbial sign (or style sheet). I would try to give positive suggestions when I could, for example: I don’t think this color needs another alt for just one single design, but we did talk about eventually making this color that your design would fit into really well. 

I’ve done my time having arguments on the internet. I really just want an art environment where the rules are set and people actually enjoy following them, because I do— I see art rules as helpful guidelines at best and obstacles to cleverly navigate at worst, which is still fun. But of course not everyone is going to feel the same way, that’s normal; that’s life. 

On 11/9 I was given this message by Hazer: 

It reads:

Hello wren,

I am reaching out to you today to inform you that effective immediately you are being dismissed from the Artist and Consultant Panels. This decision has been reached through discussions and based on repeated offences in the form of user harassment and subjecting the panels to a toxic atmosphere, after multiple reports and concerns brought up to us by other users.

While we understand concerns regarding panel management, there is a distinct difference between criticising and condeming the way the panel does things and criticising and condeming users that are on the panel, and we believe this line has been crossed one too many times, further supported by concerns brought to us.

We appreciate the passion and drive of our team—all of them—and we understand you have been very passionate about the panel. Given some of the messages we see, we have also concluded that due to things in the panel not working out as you have wished, it has caused you much stress and upset as well, which we do not want. All in all, we've decided that the atmosphere of the panel and your own enjoyment of the website are hampered by your presence on it. Because of this, we have decided it is best to have you part ways with the staff sections of the website.

Effective immediately after this message, we will be permanently removing you from the panels. While normally we do a temporary removal, in this case we've seen that your compatability with our management and handling of the panel will not improve, and it will just bring stress to both sides.

We understand you have put a lot of passion into the projects you have been working on for release in Moderneopets, and in lieu of that, we offer you the option of having the project(s) still be released even after dismissal. Rewards will still be granted for releases per usual, and credit will still be given. If you decide, due to dismissal, you do not want your unreleased work to be released on Moderneopets, simply state it as such, and we will discard all progress on projects you have been working on to respect those wishes.

This decision is final and will not be revoked.

Best wishes to you,

The Moderneopets Team

[end caption]

My response:

It reads: 

No warnings huh?

[end caption]

Hazer didn’t have an answer for me. I was already removed from the panel. 

This came as a shock. I’d been there for over two years, I felt I had a good rapport with the other artists, I felt I’d been a helpful and active addition to the team. Like I said, I’ve done my time having arguments on the internet… what toxic behavior? Discussions over style guides? Giving redlines to people with permission? Working with the whole team to bolster several new color releases? I had an entire species that Hazer wanted ready to go since March— I just pushed through the Swamp Gas release, I just created the Mystical alt? 

No warnings?

Let me reiterate: I have never been spoken to by any staff about my behavior. Hazer, his then-four moderators— none of them have ever been in my DMs to issue a warning. I have spoken TO the mods about others’ behaviors, and nothing ever came of it. The one time (and I mention this for full transparency only) the art director came to talk to me about something I said, it was stated clearly that it was not a warning, and even so I adjusted my behavior around said issue accordingly. And that was well before the purge. 

But, don’t take my word for it. Here it is from hazer himself, speaking over his mods who were busy telling the rest of the panel that they always issue warnings: 

It reads:

No in this case I do agree that this has been an abrupt situation and I understand the blind-sided-ness of it. No official warnings were given out regarding the actions that resulted in the removal of artists today and that’s on fault of myself and deebs not working things out properly despite the moderation team bringing issues to a us a few times – also due to our lack of availability recently.  [end caption]

So… What happened? Well… here it is from Hazer, in longform: 

For those who use screen readers, above are several enormous discord screenshots; I've placed it in a paste bin here: https://pastebin.com/dHLiBRTF

Two other artists immediately stepped down. Hazer admits here in his message that he and the mods had multiple tickets opened about my behavior, that they had known they wanted to remove me. They never gave a warning, never talked to me until the moment of my dismissal, but they had known it was coming for months? 

Why did Hazer and his gang of mods let me continue working on art for their panel? Why did they let me work so hard to pull Swamp Gas together for an official release? Why did they let me put together a whole custom Alt and workshop it for so long? I’ve been active this whole time. Why did you let me keep working if you knew you wanted me gone? 

I am a professional artist. My work is art. Hazer made the knowing decision to exploit my time and effort for his website. He’s not paying me, he’s not paying any of us. It’s volunteer work. But I did not volunteer to be mistreated like this. To not even be given a chance to defend myself. To him, artists are disposable. To him, if someone has worked on your team for years but speaks up when your friend tries to overturn the system, even civil discussion is cause for disposal. Civil discussion negates years of effort, passion, time and care. 

I didn’t have to make art for you, Hazer. And you don’t deserve the team you have. How many artists have voiced their discomfort with your actions? How many artists are taking a break from the panel because of how you handled this? Ah, wait, you wouldn’t know… you’re busy. 

Hazer and his mod team are just another corrupt group of individuals unfortunately heading what could have been a fun and promising petsite. Everyone who speaks praise of modneo does it by and large because of the new and unique art. Hazer was extremely lucky to cultivate a dense group of largely professional artists to work together to make assets for his site. 

If Hazer wants to show any sign of his potential to be a better person, I believe he needs to formally apologize to his site for the misuse of his power and the mistreatment and exploitation of artists on his team. He needs to apologize to you, the players of his game, the subscribers to his patreon, for allowing this to happen under his watch and under his word. You know you fucked up, hazer. You shouldn’t have sided with your friend without any actual evidence of misconduct. You shouldn’t have spoken about me like I was a toxic, subhuman hindrance to your art team. You shouldn’t have treated me like that. I didn’t deserve it. None of us did. You can apologize to me and the other lost artists publicly.

[aticklishpercivalwriter]

The Feeling of Love and Being Free

Link to Art (credits go to original artist(s) as always!): Xiao/Venti

—

Summary: It’s Xiao’s rest day, but Xiao insists on going to work as the Conqueror of Demons. Venti doesn’t let him and begs for him to cuddle with him instead.

A/N: A little angsty in the beginning before going to steamy kisses and then tickling. This is a surprise gift for my irl friend. It was her birthday a few days ago. She likes VenXiao :) As always, enjoy! 

Word Count: 1543 Also on AO3!

— 

“Venti, no.”

“Xiao, come onnnn.”

Both Xiao and Venti were at Wanghu Inn in Xiao’s room. Currently, Xiao glared at Venti who was tugging at his arm to come cuddle with him.

“Please, Xiao?”

“Ven, I have work to do.” 

“Nope! You don't!”

A chirpy voice chimed in as Aether entered and grinned. 

“Aether, you are here.” Xiao said, standing straighter even though Venti was still on his arm like a koala.

“Xiao,” Aether pouted, pulling him into a hug. “Call me Ae. We are boyfriends, no need to be so formal around me. We didn’t sign a contract or anything. Plus, I do like it when you say Ae.” The last part was whispered as he let go. “Anyway, I talked with Zhongli and he said you can relax for today. He and I have some business to attend to, so we’ll be patrolling Liyue on the side.” 

“But,” Xiao started.

“No buts,” Aether interrupted, sternly. “This is your day to relax. Venti, make sure he doesn’t work. I have to get going. Zhongli and Paimon are waiting, have fun love birds!~”

He gave them both a kiss before he was out the door. As the door closed shut, Xiao looked back at Venti, who was grinning from ear to ear. 

“Xiao~”

“I can’t. I need to-”

“Xiao.”

Xiao tensed up as he heard Venti’s voice. All playfulness gone and replaced with a sad brooding. 

“Do you really put your work as Conqueror of Demons above Aether’s and my love?”

Xiao’s eyes widened at the question as he looked at Venti. His grip had slackened and his eyes were filled with sadness and hurt that sent a cold feeling to settle in his stomach. 

“No! Venti, no. Please don’t think like that.” he pulled Venti up and into a hug.

“Then why?” Venti’s voice cracked, causing Xiao’s heart to break. “W-Why are you so persistent in working a-and not being with me? With Ae? With the both of us?”

Xiao took a deep breath before speaking.

“I was made to be a war machine,” Xiao started quietly. “I wasn’t supposed to know what love is or to feel it. But ever since Ae came into my life, he shook those foundations that have anchored me. I’m trying, Ven. I really am sorry for hurting you. For hurting you and Ae. Love is something that I’m unfamiliar with.”

A silence fell over them as they stayed in the embrace. 

“Venti?”

“You aren’t a war machine,” Venti said into Xiao’s neck. “The contract that was made between you and Morax was supposed to be over. If you don’t think so, I was there when it was made and I collaborated with him to make sure that you won’t be rooted into the position you are now. But look now. Morax and I both failed and underestimated your Karmic Debt and you are living with this belief of being a war machine. I should be the one sorry.”

Venti pulled away from the embrace and Xiao saw remnants of tear streaks as he wiped them away. Venti held his hands and looked into his eyes. Xiao saw regret and sorrow but also determination. 

“Zhongli has done his part in letting us have this time together and I believe he will talk to you in due time. But for now it's just us.”

Venti rubbed his hand over Xiao’s vision as he spoke. 

“Xiao,” he began, locking their eyes together. “You’ve done your duty all those years ago and even more, but those times have passed and are long gone.” 

He pressed their foreheads together as he squeezed Xiao’s hands and his vision. 

“Anemo is freedom and that’s why I’m proud to be the god of it. As the Anemo god, I announce you free of your sins and are free to roam the world and do whatever you want to do.”

He inched closer to Xiao, their lips barely touching.

“And as your lover, you are free to let go and have the chance at love you’ve never had before.”

He closed the distance between them and shared a long, deep passionate kiss with him. Xiao’s eyes widened momentarily before closing and returning it with equal passion. 

“Mmm~ Ven~” Xiao moaned, as Venti pulled him in closer, taking the lead and carding his hands through his hair. 

“I love you Xiao. I love you. I love you. I love you,” Venti mouthed into the kiss, sucking on his lip for permission to enter. Xiao gasped, giving him entry. Venti went slow, letting Xiao get used to the new feelings that were bombarding him at once. 

“V-Venti~ Ngh~” Xiao moaned and Venti had to resist ravaging him right then and there. Instead, he led Xiao toward the bed, laying them down without breaking the kiss and sliding his hands down Xiao’s neck and along his back. 

“Mmphahahaha!” Xiao let out a surprised laugh, breaking the kiss as his head fell back into the sheets. 

Venti widened his eyes and looked down at Xiao. His heart fluttered at the sight of seeing Xiao’s flushed face and he can feel Xiao’s whole aura has changed. No longer was it dark and foreboding, but a light, joyful happy one. 

A grin took over Venti’s features as he crawled on top of Xiao, his weight trapping him. 

“Ven?” Xiao asked, his mind still hazy from the kiss. “Mmph! Mmm~”

Xiao melted into the kiss again thinking that another round of intense kissing was going to happen, but instead Venti’s hands curled against his sides.

“Mmahahahaha! Mmmehehehe! Vehehehen! Hahahaha!” he broke the kiss again laughing as he half-heartedly tried to push Venti off. “Whyhyhy?” 

“Do I need to have a reason to kiss and tickle my Yaksha boyfriend?” Venti teased.

“Ahahahaha! Yehehehehehes?” 

“Wrong answer,” Venti smirked, reaching behind his back to scribble his fingers in the opening of his clothing.

“Vehehehenti! snort HAHAHAHAHA! NAHAHAHA!” Xiao let out a snort and a guffaw of laughter surprising them both. 

“I didn’t know your back was ticklish!” Venti exclaimed. 

Xiao’s ears flushed and the red hue on his face increased in intensity. “Me neither.” He looked back at Venti and immediately felt his stomach flip. Venti looked at him with a playful hunger in his eyes.

“You didn’t know?” he said slyly. “That means Ae didn’t find it yet. This is good,” he grinned and flipped Xiao onto his stomach and straddled him and scribbled all over his back. 

“Ven! Ven-HAHAHAHAHA! WAIT! WAHAHAHAIT! snort AHAHAHAHA! I WAHAHAHASN’T- snort OHOHOHO NAHAHAHA! VEHEHEN!” Xiao laughed uncontrollably as snorts sneaked their way in, making Venti’s heart swell with happiness. 

“Ae wasn’t kidding when he said you were extremely ticklish. How did Ae miss your back!?”

“IHIHIHI DOHOHOHON’T KNOHOHOW! AHAHAHAHA! snort SWIHIHIHITCH SPOHOHOHOHOTS! SWIHIHITCH SPAHAHAHATS! HEHEHEAHAHA!”

“Okay, okay,” Venti flipped him back onto his back and it was worth it to see Xiao’s flushed, smiling face. Xiao immediately tried to hide his face in his hands, but Venti was not having it.

“D-don’t staHAHAHAre! NOHOHohohoHO! Hehehehe! Ahahaha! Nohohot thehehEREHEHE!” Xiao shrieked, bringing his arms down and trapping Venti’s fingers in his armpits. 

“Aww, there’s your cute face, my baby Yaksha~ Not here you say? How about here?” Venti drilled with deadly precision into the center of his hollows.

“GAHAHAHAHA! AHAHAHAHAHA! HAHAHAHAHA! VEN! VEHEHEHEN! NAHAHAHA! IHIHIHIT TIHIHIHICKLES! TIHIHIHICKLES! VEHEHEHENTIHIHIHI!” Xiao howled with laughter, weakly squirming away. 

“Ehe, such a ticklish Yaksha,” Venti teased. To make matters worse, or better, Venti started peppering kisses on Xiao’s face and slid one of hands down to knead his hips. 

“PLEHEHEHEASE!” Xiao laughed, shaking his head. 

“You are quite the ticklish one, huh?” Venti snickered, letting up a little to give Xiao a breather. 

“Hahahaha, hah~” Xiao breathed out, still giggling as Venti lazily ran his fingers over his stomach. 

“Ihihihi thohohought youhu arehehe gohohoing to stohop?” 

“I still want to try a couple more spots,” Venti grinned innocently, making Xiao groan. “Hey, I wasn’t hearing a stop from you,” he said, pinching one of his ribs and making him jerk away. 

“Ohoho is this another spot?” 

“Ven! HahahHahAHAHA! NohohOHOHO!”

The tickling began anew as Venti targeted his ribs, randomly alternating between his lower and top ribs. 

“VehehEHEHEhenti! AHAHahahaHAha! ThAHAT breHEHEAk wahasn’t tHAHAhat loHOng!”

“Ehe, too bad~”

Xiao squirmed under Venti enduring the tickling before bringing his face towards Venti’s to kiss him. Venti’s fingers immediately stilled, surprised by his boldness and even more surprised by the longing feeling in the kiss. They shared kiss after kiss as their hands got tangled in each other’s hair, whispering each other’s names in between kisses before breaking apart for air. 

“I must have tickled you silly,” Venti sighed contently, hugging Xiao as he nuzzled his nose against his.

“Mmm.”

“Remember, Xiao. You are free,” he said with a small kiss. “Ae and I both love you, so don’t struggle alone.” 

Venti massaged Xiao’s head making him purr and cuddle closer.

“I’m free. I’m free and with you. I’m free and in love with you and Ae,” Xiao smiled softly as he kissed Venti back. “I love you both too. Thank you, Ven.” 

Venti planted a kiss on his forehead in response and the both of them snuggled even closer before falling into a peaceful slumber.

—  Note: The contract stuff came from my head and not from any lore. Just wanted to make that clear :)

[sleepanonymous]

Im actually so curious now on what you mean by early lore being a mess/the reasons why not being safe to get into. Is there anything you can safely say? Guess im nosy about drama lol go ahead and delete this if you dont feel comfortable answering i totally understand

Sorry it took so long to answer this ask, Anon. So 😅 the thing is I’m always scared I’ll mess up someone’s perception of Sleep Token’s lore when I mention this. I’ve talked about it a couple times, I think? Just not in depth. I’ve personally always been more interested in the irl lore versus the mythological lore behind Sleep Token, but I know it’s a huge factor in a lot of fan’s enjoyment. Keep Reading cut for their mental wellbeing.

The concept of the deity Sleep and the lore surrounding the band was a collaborative effort between Vessel, II, and who I call the band’s old “manager.” Not exactly sure what his official title would have been. He attempted to take full credit for the band’s early lore and their costumes/aesthetic in a Reddit post a while back. I used to think he was actually the one giving the interview in the “All Good In the Hood” article for Sundowning, but the supposed timelines don’t add up anymore, and I believe the band parted with the original manager around 2017 after the Two EP was released and Basick lost the band. That’s another rabbit hole, actually, because I've heard everything from Sleep Token was dropped to Basick went under (which they haven’t? They still have signed artists?).

I’ve always taken what the manager has said with a good helping of salt (I say as I vaguely gesture to the “garden variety, self-important dickhead” insult and him stating Vessel isn’t a real metalhead), but I don’t not believe that he had anything to do with the lore or the band’s formation from 2015-2017, and I also strongly believe the anonymity aspect came from him as well. TBH I’d love to get more facts about the formation of Sleep Token because I have a million questions but I highly doubt any of it will come to light, and even if it does it’ll be long after the band has split up.

Anyways! Back to the Vessel’s name is not technically Vessel part of this post: Vessel is essentially the moniker that fans gave him (or literally Him). It was established that the band members were “vessels” for the deity Sleep, and were numbered one through four via roman numerals. The idea is they have no identities, no personalities, and their only purpose is to serve Sleep (play music). You can see that aspect in older rituals, where III and the original IV would stand still on stage until their cues to play their guitars. Fans began referring to Vessel as such because, I’m assuming, it was too confusing for him not to have a name and to only use the pronoun Him.

[fanaticsnail]

Hi there, I’m not trying to be mean when I ask this, but do you have permission to use the fanart you post with your fics? I don’t see artist credits and know many Japanese artists do not like their art to be reposted, especially not without credit.

Hello lovely anon! Thank you so much for asking about art in my fics. I appreciate you starting this conversation, and am very happy to have this reopen again.

When I began my journey of writing fics, I used to use gifs already premade on this site and have them as the title image. As my interest in the characters spread further into characters not in OPLA, I began to seek out art on other platforms.

The art I use, I find on: Reddit, Pinterest, or a good ol' fashioned google search. I have asked creators on this platform for permission to use their art in fics, and have respected their wishes whether permission is given or not. So far, I have been told "no" only one time, and have respected that wish.

If you hover over the little "alt" button, that's where I paste my sources to give credit to the artists, and implore you to seek out their work and look at it for yourself. It's the little box on the left-hand side of the image (or the three dots that come up when you hover your mouse over them). I have used text links in the past to send people to their sites, but I thought the alt text box felt better: like a little watermark to send those looking for their work.

I've responded to an ask like this in the past, but I am very much open to continuing this dialogue. I am constantly learning about how to best be respectful and give credit where credit is due. I never claim this art as my own (if you've seen the art I do on here, it's lackluster to say the least), I use it to inspire the words I create.

Thank you again for opening this dialogue, I appreciate your concern and rallying to the defence of artists and creators on here.

Edit

I have been informed that this is not what the alt box is for, and am going through each post I've made with art and added links to where I've found them via collecting them from the alt box and pasting the link for easier access. I honestly thought that was what we were meant to do, and I apologise for my misunderstanding.

Going forward, I will be no longer be using art found on Pinterest or Google because I've been made aware that some of that art is reposts by people who did not get permission from the original artists to reupload and share it. Another misunderstanding from my part.

I am truly sorry for the way this was handled on my part. It didn't sit well with me, and I am trying to do better.

[mrsshabana]

Remember how I mentioned someone stole my art for a tattoo??

Well one of my close friends left a comment on the tattoo artist’s Instagram page, letting her know that the original art was mine and I deserve credit. She said it very nicely and was not rude at all. Well the tattoo artist deleted the comment AND BLOCKED ME!!

I’m sorry but my blood is boiling. How can you so shamelessly steal someone else’s art and then try to sweep it under the rug when you get called out? I never even said anything to her and she blocked me.

So for everyone that asked me if they could let her know the art was made by someone else, go ahead. But please don’t be harassing. At the very least I’d like for the posts she made with my art to be taken down.

Just so you know, it was the top half of my body pillow that she copied. Literally just flipped it and drew it exactly the same. And then she went on to win awards for the design and I obviously got no credit. Makes me wonder if she copies other peoples art for her other tattoos. Because if so, that’s real messed up.

I put so much effort into making that art not just for myself but for all of you. And seeing it being taken like this makes me want to just stop posting my art for good. Like all of the hard work and tears I put into that piece can just be claimed by someone else.

I’m so mad, I can’t sleep now. So anyway… thanks for listening to my rant.

Update: Just found out another of my friends sent the tattoo artist a private message and also got blocked

[lulu2992]

Lmao I trust Sharky's infinite wisdom on duct tape, but in my opinion, I think he forgot to consider the power of cement! Also, I am liking a combination of both of these ideas! And ultimately it just makes their stories all the more unfortunate and tragic ; v ;

I don't think we really need to take into account the minimum age for juvie, and though the maximum age is 18, the time one stays may vary. But I'm thinking because this would've occurred about 5 years before the OPAC was beginning to be considered, Jacob lying about his age wouldn't really have to be necessary at all. As for his dog tag, well. It's hilarious, someone definitely fucked up and we're never going to know exactly who probably

The way I'm looking at it, Joseph can be an unreliable narrator because his perspective is very biased; the very nature of writing from specific characters is only an account of their experiences as they see and interpret them to be, which may not be entirely factually accurate. And because of cut content, changes, vague information, etc. perhaps not all the information we take in from the game as players is wholly accurate either. And I'm treating the extra/supporting content in much the same way.

(Also I've been doing a crazy amount of supplementary research on Christianity in general and also just what events took place historically, and I bet John had a hell of a time during and following the Great Recession.)

Of course, we know that the ages from the PlayAsia Blog are not official, but I don't think John's age is impossible specifically because of his profession. Man's been on cocaine for god knows how long- But people graduating from law school exceptionally early or young is not unprecedented (also I'm just very biased about him). The only real age conflict is that, though TBOJ originally describes Joseph from the start as "a child of about ten," but then he later specifies that he was exactly 7, 3 years off but still a small leap, but going by those dates, John wouldn't even exist for another 3 years as well... I've definitely hand waved this and shuffled the event further haha. I need to reread Absolution, but MAN what's with that! (Also sorry this is so long, I've gotten so passionate! I'm so happy you're passionate about fc5 still too!!)

Joseph is indeed an unreliable narrator with a very personal worldview, and some of the things he wrote in the book are definitely biased, but I still believe most of the inconsistencies between The Book of Joseph and Far Cry 5 are just... mistakes, mostly because the story and characters went through many changes, as you said. By the way, I wish we knew when this book was written and who the real-life author is! There are cool drawings in it too, and even though I like to imagine Joseph illustrated it himself, I don’t think they gave credit to the artist(s), but I could be wrong (I don’t have a physical copy; I’m sad).

I hadn’t really thought about this but it’s true that, if John was already born (and even going to school so at least 5) when Joseph was 7, then The Book of Joseph is in contradiction with Playasia because the information sheets say they were born 10 years apart. That said, Absolution also suggests John is at least a decade younger than the Father, so that’s inconsistent with The Book of Joseph as well… And if we want to trust Playasia, Jacob is 12 years older than John and 2 years older than Joseph, so he was either 17-18 or 9-10 when he burned their adoptive parents’ property and was sent to juvie, which... doesn’t really work either.

I think we’re going to need more cement :’)

[cupidspup]

May I request regressor Nina the killer headcannons pls?

Hello Hello!!

So sorry that it's taken me so long to get to your request I would love to do some headcanons for you! (I was so surprised to see so many people wanting them of her too so it’s been fun to brainstorm!!) I actually can think of so many and I’m so excited to do it!! >ܫ< just a heads up some of these will be non regressor related >:p anywho!!

*ੈ✩‧₊˚༺☆༻*ੈ✩‧₊˚

≽^•⩊•^≼

Little! Nina the Killer Headcannons!

None of this art is mine!! All credits go to the original artists!!

*ੈ✩‧₊˚༺☆༻*ੈ✩‧₊˚

🩷 I always imagined Nina to be super fun loving and bubbly just all over the place so I feel like that translates to her little side! She would always wanna play and do anything as long she thinks it’s fun!

🔪 I don’t think she’d have a set age to regress at but she knows that she can be suuuuuper small sometimes where she’ll babble lots n lots (lil chatterbox) or just be super grown up but also not quite x)

😽 She of course has many toys especially plushies there will be tons of plushies EVERYWHERE ALWAYS!! Especially if they’re more scene type of ones like an Invader Zim Gir backpack or something!

🎀 Definitely owns a toy flip phone that plays cute music when you open it and has little compartments for lip gloss

🥩 Her favorite things to eat are sour patch gummy worms and will eat an entire bag in an hour if you let her!

🩸 You will have to force her to drink “regular” drinks because if you let her she’ll just drink all kinds of monster flavors right out of a bottle or her favorite sippy! :p

🐾 She is super clingy and loves to hang out with her babysitters and caregivers and if they don’t have time to play she’ll definitely blow up their phone about it (she’s a lil diva what can she say!)

🌮 Unironically uses “XD” “:3” “O_o” and all kinds of slang from the early 2000s (a true y2k princess)

🍭 Speaking of princess!! She LOVES all kinds of cutesie lil nicknames are favorites being “princess” “cutie/cutie pie” “gummy bear” and “brat” (lovingly of course teehee)

😽 Whether she’s big or little she’ll ALWAYS wanna take cute pictures and will make anyone who’s looking after her take only the CUTEST of pictures for her >:3

🫀 She 100% plays video games while small and her favorite is absolutely Yandere Simulator

🔪 She loves Kandi bracelets and making some for all her friends, babysitters and cg(s) are a MUST!! She will sit anyone down to have them make bracelets with her (AND YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO TAKE THEM OFF EVER >:O!!!)

🐾 I like to think that along with being an age regress or (which honestly isn’t much different in terms of personality to me-) she’s also a pet regressor! I feel that she would LOVE to wear cute cat ears and cat patterned stuff whether they’re arm warmers or cute socks!

↳ she will leave the house any day with any of her kitty accessories (especially her collar) and even have a fuzzy tail hanging from her skirt! ≽^•⩊•^≼

🩷 She would love to make kitty noises and curl up and snuggle with anyone who’s willing just a big cuddle bug! Her favorite is when people will run their fingers through her hair while they lovingly tell her all kinds of sweet words :3

🧸 She would totally be a fan of gloomy bear and have a big collection of their plushies

🎀 It’s always a hassle to get her to bed and she will almost always throw a tantrum. The only time she’ll EVER go to bed without any of it is if it’s nicely made with her favorite plushies (all of them), if you read her some bedtime stories and give her many lovins and kisses and wait for her to fall asleep before leaving (you’re not allowed to leave)

*ੈ✩‧₊˚༺☆༻*ੈ✩‧₊˚

Weeee!! That’s is for headcanons for now I hope you like them!! I had such a fun time doing them and if you’d ever like a part 2 let me know!! (Doing this made me realize I see a lot of myself in her omg)

Thank you again for your request!! ૮ ˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶ ა🩷

Love,

-Kewpie🐾♡₊ ⊹

[jq37]

Please let us know if you solve this mystery!

OK! It’s the end of the year so let me compile everything I was able to come up with (with the help of everyone I dragged into this–you know who you are and thank you and I’m sorry). 

To anyone who’s just seeing this and doesn’t have context, in November, right before the movie Wish came out, I made a longish post questioning who Allison Moore was (which, incidentally, is the first post that comes up when you Google “Allison Moore Disney”).

The reason I was curious about who this random writer is is because she’s credited as one of the co-writers of Wish, Disney’s 100th Anniversary Feature Film BUT she has no obvious experience writing for animation, children, or fantasy when everyone else on the main team has credits on stuff like Frozen and Encanto. I thought it was bizarre that there would be someone so green on a project so big so I went digging. 

Here’s what I learned:

(1) Moore wasn’t originally announced as being attached to the project. Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee, and Fawn Veersunthorn were all mentioned when the project was officially announced in Sept 2022 (for example). Moore was not. And you’d think they’d mention the *co-writer*, right? You don’t start to see her name until a year later in Sept 2023 when the trailer dropped (for example). So it seems like she was brought onto the project later. Of course, this could just be a normal quirk of the industry or something I’m misinterpreting, but I think it’s worth mentioning. 

(2) Moore seems to have a lot more credits in stage writing than she does in screenwriting. I wasn’t able to 100% confirm it until recently (I’ll get to that in a second) but she’s written a bunch of plays and it seems like this is where she has most of her bona fides. 

“Allison is the recipient of two Jerome Fellowships, two McKnight Advancement Grants and the Bush Artist Fellowship.”

That sounds fancy. But it still doesn’t say “Top Choice for Disney Anniversary Movie” to me. That’s not a statement on writing quality. I haven’t read/seen any of her plays. It’s about the subject matter. Look at some of these synopses:

None of that really screams Disney. Which isn’t to say people can’t have range. George Miller wrote all the Mad Maxes but also Babe and both Happy Feet. But if I was hiring someone for a really big project, I wouldn’t want that project to be their first attempt at expanding into that genre. 

(3) This isn’t actually inherently important but she was on an episode of Nailed it. That’s where this picture comes from:

She won the first round and the game ended in a three way tie for the first time in the show’s history. 

The only reason this is noteworthy in the larger scale of things is that, until very recently, this was one of only two places online you could see Allison Moore talking. The other is this very short interview on the red carpet during the premiere. 

There’s nothing in that interview that explains anything. It’s mainly her talking about how it was fun working on the movie and how good the movie is. 

Honestly, good for her for not being Extremely Online, but it really felt like I could get a bit of a handle on everyone else who’d worked on this project in a high profile way but not her. Which is part of why I started down this rabbit hole to begin with. There was nothing to show where she might have had a connection or an interest or anything that would connect the dots. 

For reference, Fawn (who was one of the Directors and story writers) has the kind of resume that I was expecting Moore to have when I initially Googled her:

Smaller jobs on other kids/animated movies (Hop, The Lorax, Despicable Me 2), some storyboard or art work on other Disney stuff (Frozen, Moana, Zootopia, Ralph), and then a big break (Raya and Wish). Based on my understanding of the industry (and I know a fair bit because it’s one I’m interested in professionally) that’s a very typical track to get to the writing side of animation.  

A couple of people speculated that Moore got onto the project in a mentorship capacity. Now, I’m a Black woman who writes fiction professionally when I’m not on this hellsite (affectionate) with the rest of y’all. That means I have firsthand experience with what mentorship looks like in writing–both official Diversity and Inclusion type mentorship and more organic “Let me take you under my wing” type mentorship. I have *never* seen anyone get a job this high profile at the jump just due to mentorship alone. Going from zero to Disney’s 100th anniversary is kinda insane. This wasn’t some B project or something. It was a Big Deal Project. And this is Disney so they could have hired basically anyone they wanted. So you have to assume this was an active decision someone made and not just a thing that happened for lack of options. But in all my searching, Moore wasn’t mentioned except to just say she wrote the screenplay with Jennifer Lee. It was just the baking show and the Youtube clip.

Until today.

(4) I’m going to preface this by saying this doesn’t actually answer the question in a big AHA! way, but it is the only interview I’ve seen about Wish from Moore besides the red carpet clip.

On December 15th, Moore gave this interview with the San Antonio Current.

I stumbled across it while searching for a different piece of information and eagerly clicked to see what she had to say after three weeks of silence after the movie dropped on November 22.

Here are some highlights:

-In high school she was a theater kid and thought she wanted to pursue acting. 

-I college she did playwriting and eventually she got her MFA from Iowa (which has a weirdly great MFA program btw, and also, this interview is how I confirmed she was the playwright Allison).

-When she started on the theater track at her college, she told them she was a playwright so she could study that too even though she’d never written a play before. So it sounds like Wish isn’t the first time she’s just jumped into a new thing without experience. You have to respect the hustle.

But this is the most important line in the interview because it’s like, an answer and a non-answer all in one. She’s asked, “How did you go from writing plays to writing for TV and film?”

And her answer is, “I had a whole career writing for theater, and then when my son was born, I realized I needed to make more money, so I started pitching for TV. I worked in television for about a decade. In the midst of working in TV, I continued playwriting. That's how I got on the radar at Disney.”

Which kind of sidesteps the most intriguing part of the question? Like, first of all, it’s not 100% clear if she means her playwriting or her TV writing caught Disney’s attention. I’m guessing playwriting, but I could be wrong. Secondly, who is “Disney” in this situation? A Disney recruiter? A Disney director? Did Jennifer Lee see a production of Slasher: A Horrifying comedy while passing through Texas and think, “Her. I want her to be my co-writer on this children’s film.” And what did she do to impress them so much that they right away put her on the the *Anniversary Project*? Like, I know I keep harping on this but I can’t stress enough how big of a deal this is. It’s hard enough to write for just your average sitcom or little movie. To just jump on something this big is baffling. I obviously don’t expect Disney to be justifying their every hiring decision publicly but, usually, when someone is doing something like this, it’s very obvious why they were chosen and, even with this sliver of explanation, it’s still frustratingly opaque. And with the strange post hoc timing of the interview (seriously, doesn’t promotion usually happen PRE movie release?) It almost reads like an interview that exists because someone realized the lack of any online presence was weird. 

(5) When she was a kid, Allison Moore had a crush on Fox Robin Hood. That’s not at all important to the mystery, that’s just information she volunteered during the interview and that I’m now sharing with you. So when you search her name now, the top results are me wondering who she is, her IMDB, and her talking about how she liked Fox Robin Hood's little hat. Which isn't a LOT of information, but it’s more than we had before and that’s something.  

[andimoon]

✨Hello hello!✨

Writing requests

💚 Open 💚

(Not my art! Credit goes to the artist!)

I’m only writing EXO right now, but send me your favorite member and a number and I’ll write you a little something. 😁

EXO x Reader!!

~ Xiumin (Minseok)

~ Suho (Junmyeon)

~ Lay (Yixing)

~ Baekhyun

~ Chen (Jongdae)

~ Chanyeol

~ D.O. (Kyungsoo)

~ Kai (Jongin)

~ Sehun

✨Disclaimer ✨

I’m allowing Anonymous requests, but please do not read/request smut if you are under 18 years old. I will not be responsible for that.

{A} Angst

{F} Fluff

{S} Smut

(not for Chen! Sorry!)

Unless you specifically ask for smut, I will not asume your age and I will not write smut! Thank you, dear reader! 💛

✨Prompts✨

1. “Of course I love you.”

2. “Our kids are going to be, 🤌✨MUAH✨” (without emoji’s)

3. “When I die, I’m gonna haunt the fuck out of you.”

4. “Who's going to stop us?”

5. “Don’t be nervous, let me take care of you.”

6. “Easy for you to say. You’re perfect.”

7. “You are absolutely stunning.”

8. “Come on, it’s not that hard.”

9. “I’m not wasting my time on this.”

10. “Do you know how fucking cute you are?”

11. “You shine so much, you blind yourself.”

12. “I don’t usually bite, but I’ll make an exception this time.”

13. “A little water never hurt anyone.”

14. “There’s nothing wrong with getting a little dirty.”

15. “I like it when you smile.”

16. “I can’t take my eyes off of you.”

17. “Don’t hide.”

18. “How much did you sleep?”

19. “If this is your way of flirting, you’re doing a terrible job at it.”

20. “You don’t understand.”

21. “I don’t think you see how important you are to me. Let me show you.”

22. “Do you know how much I love you?”

23. “How are you so perfect?”

24. “Don’t look at me like that.”

25. “Baby, your family is right there. Keep it together for just a little longer and I’ll reward you.”

26. “Make me.”

27. “God, I missed you.”

28. “I’ll go if you go.”

29. “I love you! No time to explain, gotta go!”

30. “Make love to me.”

31. “You’re making a scene.”

32. “I love you, I love you, I love you.”

33. “Please don’t leave me.”

34. “Pretend to be mine for a couple of days. I’ll pay you back somehow.”

35. “You smell so good.”

36. “You still love me, right?”

37. “You’re walking into dangerous territory.”

38. “Well, this got awkward.”

39. “Shut up, I’m trying to fuck you.”

40. “Did you block my number?”

41. “Do you need more?”

42. “I’m scared. Not of you, of me. What if I ruin everything?”

43. “Are you actually afraid?

44. “Let me show you how much I love you.”

45. “Is this enough?”

46. “Can we just stay here for a while?”

47. “You’re so soft.”

48. “Is this thing dangerous?”

49. “Yeah, this is what friends do.”

50. “I just love waking up next to you.”

51. “Don’t you have a house?”

52. “Keep doing that.. please don’t stop.”

53. “This moment is everything.”

54. “Can I live with you?”

55. “I know, baby. Just hold on a little more. It’ll be worth it.”

✨A/N✨

Not all of these prompts are original to me! Credit goes to the creators who came up with them, @theficblog and @its-not-sof 💛