#I might re-watch the anime just for the occasion I miss it

[twpsyn-who]

Guess who just got a new reason to live?

[gossip-girl-of-middleearth]

Wrong End of the Ithilien Stick (Legolas x Reader)

Requested by: @elvish-sky

could i request a legolas x reader with angst- like she misheard something he said and they have a falling out- but with a happy ending?

A/N: Here you are!! Hope you enjoy :) bon appetit ☀️

They were hopeless – completely, and utterly hopeless. Most who wished to court did so at the first few stolen glances, but not Y/n and Legolas.

Apparently, a year’s worth of peril on the road did nothing to invoke revelations. The Fellowship journey may have introduced them to one another, but it did nothing to bring them together. No, that was entirely up to them – the worst two to be left in charge of their own romantic fates.

Although, that’s not to say they entirely went their separate ways in the aftermath. Y/n had stayed behind with Legolas, in Ithilien, where they sought to restore the trees.

The whole process was full of cleared throats, deep blushes and shy smiles. Gimli, on the occasions he would visit, rolled his eyes, and groaned aloud.

“Ye still on yer dove dancing, are ye?” he taunted one day.

However, all the pair could do, was look away from one another. Y/n simply felt herself too inferior to his royal status, as to make the first move. Legolas, on the other hand, felt himself too high maintenance to even begin asking her if she minded his princely upbringing.

It was a vicious cycle, but one the four Hobbits sought to destroy, following their next visit.

“So, we are all aware of our roles?” Frodo asked, as the four friends strolled across a wooden bridge, and into the Ithilien forest.

Frodo had enjoyed the distraction, and appreciated the time away from his cooped-up desk greatly. Any chance to rid himself of the journey’s memories, was a chance he’d take.

“Aye!” Pippin confirmed. “Merry and I are tackling Y/n, and you and Sam will handle Legolas.”

“By nightfall, those two will be married!” Merry agreed, nodding resolutely.

However, stifling the Hobbits’ laughter, Y/n and Legolas appeared from nowhere – greeting them by the creek’s bank.

“Who’s getting married by nightfall?” Y/n sweetly asked, squinting under the bright morning sun.

“I don’t mind a wedding,” Legolas added on, smiling down at Y/n. “If it’s someone we know, perhaps we ought to go. Could borrow some cake?”

“I don’t think they’ll be wanting it back, somehow,” Y/n laughed, sharing the Elf’s smile.

Watching as they grinned brightly, and laughed together, the four Hobbits nervously looked at one another.

Oh, how desperately they needed their plan to work. Y/n would shrivel from mortality, before they even had a chance to marry themselves!

“Alas, we’re being rude,” Y/n dismissed, immediately moving forwards to hug all her friends. “It’s been so long since our last visit to the Shire! We’ve missed you all so much!”

“Likewise,” Sam warmly replied, hugging her tight. “We quite enjoyed the trek on over here too.”

“Oh, really?” Y/n excitedly asked, pulling back. “Legolas and I have been working on the trail leading in all year! We finally managed to grow the petunias you sent over as well.”

“That’s wonderful news,” Frodo smiled, now walking in tow with the girl and Elf, as they led them away. “So…speaking of news, has anything as of late occurred in Ithilien? Any news of courtship, perhaps?”

“From whom?” Legolas tightly asked, not at all liking Frodo’s sly connotation.

“Oh, no one in particular,” he lied, sharing a smile with the other Hobbits.

“Of course…” Legolas dismissed, nonetheless answering, as he walked through the botanical gardens. “Well, not to our knowledge, no…oh, but a wonderful pair of deer mated recently! We are expecting fawns any season now.”

“So are we,” Merry grumbled, rolling his eyes.

Having heard, with his Elven hearing, what the Hobbit said, Legolas confusedly glanced over his shoulder. Nonetheless, he merely only creased his features, before stealing a glance at Y/n. He then looked back up front, as they pressed on walking.

“Well, there is much ground to cover,” Legolas changed the topic, glancing up at the glittering trees. “We ought to start here first, so that we can make it back in time to-“

“Actually, Legolas,” Frodo interjected, coming to a halt, and causing the others to do the same, “we were thinking, on the way over here, that we ought to maybe split the group in half, so that we might finish earlier this time?”

Blinking down at the Hobbit, Y/n and Legolas knitted their brows. They then unsteadily looked between one another, before Y/n herself piped up again.

“Uh, sure…we can do that,” she said. “Any reason why, though?”

“Well, we do want to see your restoration project, and permaculture,” Merry began answering, chewing on the end of his pipe, “but, we’d prefer to spend some time with just you two as well. You know, at dinner and such. Don’t forget, we need supper as well.”

Looking between one another once more, and silently communicating, the two taller friends discreetly shrugged.

“Very well,” Legolas sighed, returning his attention to the Hobbits. “Frodo and Sam, you two can come with me. Merry and Pippin, you join Y/n. Oh, and Merry? Discard the pipe – there’s no smoking in Ithilien.”

Upholding both palms in surrender, Merry tucked the pipe away. As he and Pippin began following after Y/n, they both shared a sneaky grin with Frodo and Sam. They each all resolutely nodded at one another, before turning around to face back up front.

~

“Oh! Oh! Look!” Y/n excitedly pointed out.

Looking upwards, both Merry and Pippin observed a courting pair of bluebirds. They flew around one another, and landed in a little brown nest, high up in a tree.

Grinning brightly, Y/n breathed in the soft spring air.

“Oh, don’t you just love this time of year?” she wistfully sighed. “The courting animals, the romantic lighting, the little boats on the lake-“

“THAT’S IT! I CAN’T TAKE IT ANYMORE!” Merry exclaimed. He clamped his ears tight, with both hands, and squeezed his eyes shut.

“Merry?” Y/n asked in concern, swiftly turning around to observe him. “Are you alright? What’s wrong?”

“What’s wrong? What’s WRONG?” Merry seethed, finally re-meeting her eyes. “YOU ARE, Y/N, THAT’S WHAT!”

“I beg your pardon?” Y/n bit back, looking him up and down with narrowed eyes. “What did I do?”

“It’s more like what you haven’t done,” Pippin elaborated, ever-so-casually. “Actually, both you and Legolas, to be perfectly candid.”

Feeling heat rise to her cheeks, Y/n stammered over her words.

“I-I don’t understand-“ she tried to say.

“Yes, you do,” Merry interjected, using a series of hand gestures to further his point. “You like him. He likes you. It’s been like this since Rivendell – BEFORE we all set out for Mordor, mind you! Somehow, destroying that little ring was easier than getting you two to admit your feelings!”

Y/n was at a loss for words. Had it all really been that obvious?

“Yes, it really has been that obvious,” Merry piped up again, apparently having read her mind.

Slumping her shoulders, Y/n ran a hand along her face, and complained.

“This is really humiliating…” she said. “Do you think Legolas knows too?”

“Y/n, not to alarm you, but I’m pretty sure all of Arda knows,” Pippin winced.

Finding a park bench, Y/n sat herself down in a flush, and groaned.

“Well, whatever am I to do?” she asked, as her two friends each took a seat beside her. “I ought to tell him, I know that much, but I just simply cannot muster the courage.”

“Y/n, I’ve seen you slowly decapitate an orc’s head with a picnic knife,” Merry deadpanned, placing a hand on her shoulder. “I think you can handle telling your one true love how you really feel.”

Rolling her eyes at his choice of cheesy words, Y/n soon reeled them into her lap, where she picked at her thumbnail.

“Aye, that is true, but…” she pressed on, “well, look at me, guys. I’m a commoner, and no amount of true love is going to change that. He’s a prince, at the end of the day…what would everyone think?”

“What does it matter what everyone thinks?” Pippin encouraged, holding her other shoulder. “We, the Fellowship survivors, know above all else just how short life is. You can’t spend it worrying about what others will make of your happiness.”

Seeing the cogs turn in her mind, Merry squeezed her shoulder harder, and urged her to look at him.

“You love him, Y/n…you can’t delay any longer,” he said.

Chewing on the inside of her cheek, Y/n creased her brows. It was true, she loved him, more than anything else. Why should she deny herself that, based purely on what others would think?

“You know something? You’re right!” she resolutely declared. She stood upwards quickly, and squared her shoulders. “I love him, and I shouldn’t care what anyone thinks of my status! I’m going to tell him – today!”

Whooping and hollering, Merry and Pippin also both jumped to their feet. They pushed her along, as she began jogging away, to where she knew Legolas would be.

“That’s the spirit, friend!” Pippin cheered. “Go and tell him! And please make the cake red velvet at the wedding!”

Waving over her shoulder with a grin, Y/n pushed her legs faster, as to find Legolas, and finally reveal her heart to him.

~ In the botanical greenhouse, Legolas, Sam and Frodo all stood around – inspecting the many different pot plants.

“And this one is a young fern,” Legolas explained, holding a tiny plant up high. “I grew it myself from a seedling. I’m hoping it’ll soon have sprouts of its own, and raise a family, and-“

“Oh my goodness…” Sam sighed, folding his arms, and shaking his head. “You really are hopeless, you know that, right?”

“Pardon?” Legolas confusedly asked, lifting his eyes from the fern. “My apologies…if you do not like ferns, I could show you the-“

“Legolas…I think you ought to sit down for a moment,” Frodo interjected, gesturing to a wooden chair in the middle of the greenhouse.

Furrowing his brows, Legolas warily glanced between the two Hobbits. They stood in front of the chair, and folded their arms – very serious, indeed.

Slowly, Legolas made his way on over towards the chair, and sat down.

Instantly, the two Hobbits closed the greenhouse curtains all around, save for one. The only window left open served one ray of sun, which purely basked Legolas, and Legolas only, as if he were under an interrogation spotlight.

Squinting his eyes, and craning his head to move out of the light, Legolas spoke.

“Is the chair really necessary-“ he tried to say.

“Right, let’s cut to the chase,” Sam interjected, standing in front of Legolas with Frodo. “Y/n. You like her. She likes you. Now, why haven’t you courted her, and made beautiful children yet?”

Staring wide-eyed for a moment, Legolas parted his lips. However, swift in his archer’s mind, he soon sighed. Next, slumping his shoulders, Legolas responded.

“I suppose I haven’t been as discreet in my fondness as previously thought…” he mused.

“Not in the slightest,” Sam and Frodo said at once.

Twitching his lips to one side, Frodo softly stared down at his friend, and pressed on.

“Legolas…why haven’t you told her of how you feel yet?” he asked.

Lifting his eyes, and wincing them, Legolas considered his thoughts. He knew how much Y/n enjoyed her freedom, and he knew how restricting a royal life could be. He loved Y/n enough to not impose such a confining lifestyle on her – that was why he held back.

Exhaling again, Legolas knew he could no longer hide his feelings from his friends, and responded.

At the same time, just outside of the greenhouse, Y/n ran up to the door. Stumped for a moment, as to why the curtains were all drawn back, she nonetheless moved closer. However, upon hearing muffled voices on the other side, speaking of her in particular, she halted, and listened in.

“Are you jesting, Frodo? She’s a commoner,” Legolas said in frustration, shocking the girl outside. “Y/n and formalities simply do not mix. How could anyone ever love someone so different from themselves? Nay…I wouldn’t brew that situation.”

Having stumbled backwards in hurt, Y/n felt tears prick at her eyes. She raised both hands, and held them over her chest.

Before she could freely cry, she turned on her heel, and ran away. However, as she did so, she failed to hear the end of Legolas’ sentence, which defined the entire context.

“That’s why I can’t marry Y/n…she deserves better than what I could give her,” he said. “I wouldn’t wish for someone so free to be tied down to someone like me...I’m far too different from her.”

“Does Y/n not also get a say in the matter?” Frodo sincerely asked, studying his friend apologetically. “Y/n loves you, Legolas…you ought to at least give your courtship a chance, regardless of formalities.”

“Aye, Frodo is right,” Sam added on, nodding at his raven-haired friend. “You ought to at least speak to her. It can’t hurt…well, it can, but you’ll never know until you try.”

Sucking on his lower lip, Legolas knitted his brows. He considered his friends’ words, and mulled them over. It was true, he loved Y/n, and he was almost certain she him. Perhaps Frodo and Sam were right – simply talking couldn’t do much harm, could it?

Nodding his head, Legolas met the Hobbits’ eyes again.

“Aye,” he agreed at last. “You’re right, I ought to at least ask her!”

Swiftly standing, Legolas moved out from the chair, and headed towards the greenhouse door.

“We’re proud of you!” Sam cheered, giving a mighty few claps of his hands.

“Good luck,” Frodo smiled, nodding at his friend.

Nodding back once, Legolas beamed bright, and headed outside.

~

Having run away far enough, Y/n now trekked angrily through the forest. Her jaw was set, and her eyes burning. How could he be so nice to her face, only to say such horrible things behind her back? She cared not, for she would maintain the entire other side of Ithilien, from now on.

She, a commoner, would not dare stay with someone who cares so little for her. However, she soon heard a bright voice calling from behind. Turning around, she spotted Legolas swiftly jogging towards her.

“Y/n!” he called, wearing an excited smile.

The moment he jogged up to her, Y/n grew cold in her stance. She revered him with distrust, and anger.

This did not go unnoticed by Legolas, whose features dropped, and his mind wiped. He now sought to ensure she herself was okay.

“Are you alright?” he sincerely asked, brimming with concern.

Laughable, Y/n thought. How dare he pretend to care – right to her face as well!

“Never been better,” Y/n seethed, turning on her heel.

Stammering over his words for a minute, Legolas shook the odd mood in the air away. He followed after her, and shyly spoke – though, his words were hasty.

“There’s something I have to tell you,” he began. However, Y/n wanted none of it.

“You don’t have to tell me anything, your highness!” Y/n snapped, turning around once more, and angrily pointing at him. “I heard enough earlier.”

“You heard what I said?” Legolas repeated in horror, suddenly feeling his palms grow clammy – for more than one reason.

“Every last word,” Y/n replied, glaring across at the Elf.

Shocked by her attitude, Legolas was simply at a loss. He shook his head at the ground in confusion, and spoke.

“I-I thought you would have understood?” he said, lifting his puzzled eyes once more.

“Oh, I understand!” Y/n sarcastically started, rolling her eyes. “Just like you said yourself; how could anyone love someone so different?”

Truly hurt by her words, Legolas parted his lips. His eyes brimmed in anguish, as all his hopes were suddenly stomped on, and buried beneath the dirt.

“But…I thought that wouldn’t matter to you?” he said in a small voice.

“Yeah, well…I guess you thought wrong,” Y/n replied, scrunching her nose in disdain.

Turning on her heels, Y/n stalked away. Where she was heading? She didn’t know – all she knew, is that she could find some better and more loyal company, with just herself.

Left alone, Legolas stood in silence. What had just happened? She truly did not wish to court him, purely because of his royal status? Very well, then – he could do just as fine by himself.

Matching her anger, Legolas too stalked away, but in the opposite direction.

~

Sat down in the grass, and enjoying a picnic by the lake, Frodo and Sam basked in each other’s company. Merry and Pippin were off who knows where, and doing God knows what. However, all tranquillity soon came to an end, the moment a furious Y/n stomped past.

Staring between one another, and blinking in confusion, the two Hobbits quickly dropped their sandwiches. They rose swiftly, and chased after her.

“Hey! Hey, Y/n!” Frodo called, jogging to meet with her. “Have you found Legolas yet? There’s something you need to know. We spoke earlier, and-“

“Yes, I know you all talked earlier,” Y/n snapped, now recalling exactly whom Legolas spoke with before. She halted, and glared down at the two friends. “You’re all very good comrades, aren’t you? Well, if you are all such good brothers in arms, how about you go find him instead, and leave me alone?”

Noticing that she made a move to stalk away again, along the edge of the glistening lake, both Frodo and Sam confusedly looked between one another once more.

“I beg your pardon, Y/n,” Sam tentatively spoke up, watching her leave, “but I think you may have the wrong end of the stick here?”

“Oh, no, I think I have the exact right idea,” Y/n seethed, rolling her eyes. “I hope you all had a lovely time, speaking about me behind my back – and just a commoner? Really? We can’t all be from Bag End, Frodo.”

Confused, but only for a moment, the context suddenly clicked in Frodo’s mind. Racing forwards, he held Y/n’s hand, and kept her in place.

“Wait! You DEFINITELY have the wrong idea!” he exclaimed. “I know what you’re angry about, but you have to listen! He wasn’t talking about you in that regard – he was referencing his distress over taking you from your farming life, and placing you in royal formalities!”

“What are you talking about-“ Y/n had gone to say, with a yank of her hand out of his. However, Frodo’s words quickly met her mind, and ceased her tongue.

Oh.

Oh.

Well, now that made more sense.

Feeling a wave of shame wash over her, Y/n bared her teeth in cringe, and winced her features.

“Oh my…” was all she could say.

~

A little further off, but still heading towards the lake, and Legolas could be found in the same situation – however, only a few steps behind.

“You all come into our home, and plant ideas in our heads,” Legolas seethed, striding away from Merry and Pippin, “only to leave poisonous weeds instead! I don’t know what you’ve all done behind the scenes, but you’ve certainly made nothing better since your arrival!”

“Please, Legolas! Just tell us what happened!” Merry begged, struggling to keep up.

“Well, that’s just the thing, isn’t it? I don’t know!” Legolas exclaimed, rolling his eyes. “One minute, the last time I was with Y/n, mind you, and we were happy! But the second I see her again, after she spent her morning with you two, and she turns like the tide on a wintery day!”

“That just doesn’t make any sense…” Pippin whispered, creasing his brows. “When she left us, she was on her way to tell you all about how much she wished to court you, and-“

Halting in his tracks, Legolas paused. Snapping his head over his shoulder, the Elf questioned the Hobbit, who quickly clamped his mouth shut.

“What?” he pressed. “What do you mean she was coming to tell me of courting?”

Looking between one another, Merry and Pippin sheepishly bared their teeth. Figuring the cat was already out of the bag, Merry turned back first, and revealed their agenda.

“Well, we somewhat…nudged…Y/n, to tell you of her love for you,” he said. “Last time we saw her, like I said, she went to find you in the greenhouse.”

Knitting his brows, and mulling the new bouts of information over, Legolas responded through a confused shake of his head.

“But that just doesn’t make any sense,” Legolas continued. “What could have soured her perception, from her journey between you, and the greenhouse-“

The greenhouse.

Oh.

Oh.

Having caught his own words, Legolas immediately knew what went wrong. She had thought him to be insulting her status, and he thought her to be rejecting his.

Running a hand over his face, Legolas growled in frustration. Why must love be so hard? Surely, beyond courting, marriage and children, things would be easier, would they not? Well, Legolas wasn’t so certain he’d find out now – not unless he tracked down Y/n in time, before their rift planted roots too deep.

“I need to find her,” Legolas frantically began, looking all around himself. “I have no idea where she’d be – she could be on the other side of the forest, for all I know!”

“Uh, I don’t think so,” Merry interjected, staring behind Legolas with Pippin.

“How would you know?” Legolas confusedly asked, though, his frustration edged his tone.

“Just a hunch,” Merry said again, pointing behind the prince.

Looking over his shoulder, Legolas’ formerly hardened features softened. Y/n stood in the near distance behind him, and anxiously stared in his direction – like a deer caught in the headlights. She chewed on her lower lip nervously, and waited by the lapping water’s edge.

Catching both Frodo and Sam’s eye, Merry and Pippin each awkwardly began stepping away, as did the other two Hobbits.

“Okay, we’re just, uh…gonna go now, yeah…good luck,” Merry said, dragging his younger cousin away.

Swallowing his nerves, Legolas suddenly felt his knees buckle, and his palms grow clammy. Nonetheless, if he was old enough to court, then he was old enough to resolve relationship issues.

Breathing in a shaky breath, and releasing it through pursed lips, Legolas forced his feet across the grass, to where Y/n stood.

Feeling her own heart hammer, and sweat cling to her temples, Y/n shifted on her feet. She frequently looked between an approaching Legolas, and the lake beside her. Was love meant to be this scary? Would it always be like this? Or was this the end?

She figured she would soon find out, for the prince now stood before her.

Both said nothing. Instead, they merely stole glances, like so many times before, and looked at the rippling lake.

The sun basked them in a warm glow, and the wind blowing through the leaves nearby met their ears. Soon, however, a chilly afternoon breeze rolled through, and darkened the sky overhead.

With a shiver, Y/n wrapped her arms around her form. She rubbed up and down, as to bring the warmth back. She hadn’t been wearing a cloak that day, for she figured she needed none. This was, of course, against Legolas’ advisement earlier that morning.

Sensing her cold, Legolas finally studied her again. With a sigh past his nose, he shed his own cloak. Next, stepping forwards, and accelerating both her heartrate and his, he wrapped the green material around her shoulders.

Immediately, the cold of the world was blocked out. It even appeared as though the sun above had made a comeback – breaking through the otherwise grey clouds.

He held her shoulders, as he adjusted the cloak, and secured it over her form. Y/n watched his features, as they creased in both concentration, and consideration.

“Why would you do that?” Y/n asked, after a moment of quiet study – breaking the silence finally. “Won’t you now be cold?”

Although he did not feel the cold the same way she did, Legolas used the moment as an advantage – a hoist to deliver his most inner thoughts, in a way.

“Perhaps, but…I’d prefer you to be warm,” he said, having initially jolted at her sudden words.

“Why?” Y/n tightly asked. She knew why, but she wanted to hear him say it.

Swallowing down his nerves, Legolas slowly met her eyes. They brimmed with nerves, but also adoration – a combination of which Y/n shared. However, hers also bore eagerness, and anticipation.

“Because…” he began in a small voice, swallowing once more. “I…I, uh-“

“Yes?” Y/n whispered, leaning in closer.

Sighing, Legolas buried his nerves away, and did the most un-Elven thing possible. He swept Y/n into a tight embrace, and hugged her warmly.

Shocked for a minute, Y/n widened her eyes. However, she soon melted into his touch, and hugged him back.

“Because, I believe a partner should ensure theirs is okay,” Legolas finally revealed.

“Partner?” Y/n repeated, in a very small voice. “And by partner…you mean?”

“Someone I love dearly, and care about most ardently,” he softly replied, kissing the top of her head.

Stunned by his small gesture for a moment, butterflies fluttered in Y/n’s stomach. She then hid said nerves with humour.

“Well…that is definitely hard to misinterpret,” Y/n attempted to joke. However, her joy overwhelmed her, and she squeezed the prince harder. “If it’s any consolation, I love you too…and I’m sorry for my brash behaviour earlier.”

“Aye, I am as well,” Legolas grinned, swaying her in the sun. “So…this may perhaps be an ambitious request, but…will you court me? Royal status and all?”

“Of course,” Y/n grinned back. “But, will you court me, commoner status and all?”

Smiling brighter, and closing his eyes contently, Legolas continued on hugging the girl by the shore. He then softly answered, whilst the sun basked them both in a placid glow – perhaps a tell-tale of the many good days to come.

“Without question,” he said at last.

[mylittlegemlins]

Hello tumblr, during my childhood I was really obsessed with smurfs and since I found out that they released a reboot, which unfortunately I haven´t yet been able to see, I think I had some inspiration and ended up writing this.

I don't usually post this kind of blog about series unless I'm too immersed in it because I feel like it's too childish but to hell, blogging about-analyzing series for kids is my entertainment method and if I can't post about my likes on Tumblr I don't know why have an account.

So I present:

How to catch the Smurfs

This is the definitive tutorial on everything Gargamel ever did to catch the little blue critters.

It is based mainly on the animated series from the 80s and the 3 films that were produced between 2011-2017, I watched several episodes again to write this, but I still hope I don't forget some important information.

Following these steps:

1. Why catch the Smurfs?

During the comics, the series and the recent movies there were many reasons why Gargamel and other humans wanted to capture the Smurfs that change over time, among its main uses we have:

- They are ingredients for exotic dishes.

-Turn them into gold

- Ingredient for the Philosopher's Stone

- Use its essence to obtain magic

- Their tears serve as an ingredient for spells

-Their skin serves as a treatment to cure diseases

2. Points to consider:

This is a set of rules that fall between the lines when using a Smurf for any of the recipes mentioned above.

2.1 How many are needed:

In some episodes Gargamel was about to cook a single Smurf, so 1 is enough to eat them.

To turn them into gold you need at least half a kilo, about 6 smurfs.

2.2. They don't need to be alive

I didn't remenber any place where it said that Smurfs must be alive to use them in recipes.

2.3. Smurfette doesn't always count

She has to be a real smurf or else it won't work, during her first appearance before the papa smurf spell and the episode "smurfette unmade" where she reverts to her original form she is not a real smurf, so it wouldn't work unless that is in its blonde form.

2.4. Fake Smurfs:

The reason Gargamel can't just create another Smurf and use it in his recipes is because his creations are blue clay with a conscience, to turn them into real Smurfs you need the “true blue”spell

2.5. Artificial Smurfs:

Smurfette, Sassete, Kactus, Vicky and any other Smurf they come up with in the future, count as real Smurfs only after their transformation.

To clarify the points, these are the steps:

3.Locate them

The Smurfs are in a village protected by a magical force that makes it invisible or unreachable, it is only possible to find the village if a Smurf guides you to it, even after finding the exact location it will have disappeared if you try to return, so the best It is marks the surroundings of the village and look for them in the places that the Smurfs frequent.

It is possible to capture them when they leave the village, force them to guide you, enter the village using teleportation spells or hoaxes.

4.Traps

Catching smurfs is relatively easy, you can chase them with butterfly nets, catch them with your bare hands, using a cat or any other hunting animal, now that I think about it a hound would be very useful to track their scent.

Using some classic traps to hunt animals also works with Smurfs, traps with cages or hidden holes in the ground, or camouflage in a bush until a Smurf is close enough to catch it, you can't use traps like an obvious cage with food in it, they are too smart to fall for that.

It is more effective if they are placed in strategic places such as a field of smurfberries which is outside the village.

Small female creatures are also used as decoys, such as female smurfs, little mermaids and lymph to make a smurf fall in love and thus leave the village to a point where they can be captured.

5.Which Smurfs to capture

Personally I think there are Smurfs that are easier to catch, although Gargamel could not have a list of all with so many times that they have passed by his house, he should already recognize one or another Smurf and I remember that there is a episode where he knows some of his names.

The main cast, Smurfette, Hefty, Brainy, Clumsy, Greedy, Grouchy, Jokey and Handy as far as i can remember, they´re the ones that have been captured the most times and also the ones that have escaped the most, since they're easy to capture, it would be convenient to take advantage of this, but since they know how to get out, they should change the cages with them, put the cages in another place, move the objects that previously used to get out, and above all not to fall the same tricks again.

Papa smurf has been captured many times, he is the one who most leaves the village and if in one of his trips they capture him, maybe the others would not notice his absence, it is something difficult because he already knows how to escape and he can use spells against you, but if you manage to kill him the others would be lost without their leader, and with the disaster they would be easier to capture.

Lazy smurf takes naps during his work outside the village so it's a good chance to catch him, hopefully he might still be asleep while preparing the recipe and he won't try to escape.

According to his debut episode sickly smurf was never able to escape from Gargamel and Azrael; it is so easy that he catches him with his bare hands in 20 seconds.

Baby Smurf is more vulnerable for obvious reasons, the negative side is that there is always a Smurf looking after him, but if they manage to separate the baby it would be easy to cook , considering the life expectancy of the Smurfs is more than 500 years, it may remain a baby for the next 10 years so there is time to execute your plan.

Nat, Snapy, Sassete and Slouchy, the 4 children Smurfs that appear in season 5 are in almost the same circumstances as Baby Smurf.

In Wild Smurf's first appearance he kicked Gargamel in the face and easily made Azrael afraid of him so it might not be a good idea to mess with him.

I guess Smurfs like scaredy would never leave the village unless they forced it so the only times he gets caught is when they capture all 100 together.

6.Don't let them escape

In many occasions the Smurfs escape when they have already been captured by Gargamel, either from his hands, cages and in their closest attempts they escape from the pot.

These are the points to keep in mind:

6.1 Capture only one

If you capture a single Smurf than two or more as it will take a while for them to realize that one is missing and they will not come to their rescue, the more they are, the more likely they will find a plan to escape, so keep them in mind. separate cages.

6.2 The others will come

Once Gargamel has one or more Smurfs, it is 100% certain that the others will come to rescue him at his house, so it would be convenient to go to another place away from the forest where he can cook the Smurfs without others being able to find them. Gargamel has a basement with a secret door, he was able to hide there and pretend he didn't have them until the rescuers leave.

6.3 catch rescuers

Knowing that more Smurfs could come, you could use it to your advantage by placing traps on the doors and windows, or on the contrary, closing everything so that it is impossible to enter without having a key.

6.4 They will leave him for dead

In the episode "the tear of a Smurf ", it seems that if they don't find a missing Smurf it only takes a week for them to surrender and prepare for his funeral. You can hide the smurfs with their mouths tied up in a drawer and pretend you don't know what they are talking about until they give up, then it will be time to execute the recipes. If Gargamel had enough brain cells to keep the secret, he could eat the Smurfs and the rest would think they were eaten by birds or something and would not take revenge.

6.5. Do not look any further

If you already have 99 it is enough, even if you have only one, it is not worth risking it to find one more, it is a trap.

6.6. Don't open jokey surprises.

The characters always forget that gift.

6.7. Don't listen to them

On several occasions they try to make conversation to buy time, they trick him into thinking that he will bring more Smurfs or that he cannot eat him, everything is a trap.

6.8. Just kill them

He never did that but it's a very obvious choice, I don't remember somewhere saying that smurfs have to be alive for recipes, Gargamel has repeatedly expressed his desire to destroy them. Wouldn't it be easier to kill them before throwing them into the pot? if you can't, they don't even have to be dead, just unconscious or asleep. Gargamel has drops of lava in his lab for some reason, how come he doesn't have substances to knock them unconscious? In case he have many captured you could use classic techniques such as placing the cage in a tub of water until they drown, even stepping on them would be enough since they are very small.

6.9. Papa Smurf's books

If Gargamel tries to kill them with an epidemic, papa will have the cure, if he casts a spell, papa has the antidote, since he has been in the village on several occasions, he should take the opportunity to steal or destroy their books, he could look for the true blue spell and perhaps find another useful spell.

7.Enjoy your smurf soup

If that's all i came up with, you can already eat or become a millionaire at the cost of a smurf's life, hopefully you'll have to face a horrible revenge from papa smurf, but i'm not responsible for that.

8.Other methods to get smurfs:

This is a set of theories for alternative ways to get smurfs without capturing one from the village.

8.1. create smurfs:

In the second live action movie gargamel gets the formula for the true blue spell, so from here technically he could create smurfs, then transform them into real smurfs and do whatever he wants with them, during the series he had to look for the formula instead to look for smurfs.

8.2. Clone Smurfs:

In the episode "the hundredth smurf" Vanity creates a clone of himself that eventually integrates into the village, it is a genetically exact clone so there is no doubt that it is a real smurf. He just needs to place a mirror in front of a smurf and get it struck by lightning, Gargamel could capture a smurf and make clones that will work, he wouldn't even have to keep the original and he would have an infinite smurf machine.

8.3. Kidnap Baby Smurfs:

During the blue moon it is possible that a zork came to the village bringing a baby smurf, it can take up to 200 years without bringing one but if you are alive when that happens, you can try to hunt the zork and capture the defenseless baby.

8.4. Repeat the fake smurf technique:

If it is possible to create fake Smurfs like Smurfette, it might work on a second try, Smurfs are not very cautious around strangers, once Smurfette arrives in the village no one wonders where she came from or why she was in the forest, but rather Immediately they offer him a house, Gargamel could create a smurf and this time instruct him to lead all the smurfs in the village into a trap and make sure he does not turn good, he can also turn himself into a life-size smurf costume, Nobody will notice that there is an extra Smurf and he can repeat the same trap,third time’s a charm

9.Conclusion:

Surely there are many other methods to catch Smurfs but I can't see the whole series again even if I wanted to, because it is a series for children Gargamel never learns from his mistakes I think that catching Smurfs is not that exaggeratedly difficult, especially for someone who has access to magic may be as difficult as capturing a talking rabbit, Gargamel is just stupid.

The end.

[lucywritesreid]

Our own little island

Thank you for all the feedback from my last fic :3 I really don’t have any explanation for this other than....yeah...Spencer during lockdown haha.

Summary: Spencer and Y/N Have been living in their own private bubble during lockdown. YN has discovered a game and initially Spencer shows no interest...

There wasn’t much to say about the last few months other than they had been… weird. Weird on a global scale. You almost couldn’t believe how quickly everything went from normal to complete lockdown and watching the news every night had set you into complete panic mode. Both you and your highly germ-phobic boyfriend were more than happy to comply with the necessary restrictions. Spencer’s rational and calm mindset kept you both prepared and he did everything possible to reduce your anxiety. You would be forever grateful to have him by your side at such a horrible time.

For you the hardest adjustment was not seeing your work friends every day. It was odd to not spend every waking moment surrounded by all the people you loved the most. You didn’t realise just how much you would miss them despite seeing them all the time anyway. Friday night became the highlight. Your team, set up by Garcia, started a weekly quiz whereby everyone joined a Zoom call and one member was chosen to deliver a set of questions. Granted, it took Rossi a few failed attempts to be both seen and heard on camera, but you had all got it working in the end. Garcia’s quiz was based on cute, fluffy cartoon characters, Rossi delivered a mastermind style quiz all about the ratpack, Hotch surprised everyone with an in depth quiz about the employees of the FBI (where you realised he knew way more about personal lives of his colleagues) and you did pop culture through the ages. You had warned Spencer that ‘the history of the atom’ wasn’t in keeping with the Friday night spirit, and despite being met by many groans, he ended up presenting a fun and engaging quiz where losers had to take a shot for every question wrong. No surprise that he was the only one still standing by the end.

 The truth was that despite all the chaos and uncertainty, you realised that you were lucky to have so much time spent with the man you loved. Sure, you worked together, but that was as professional as you both could manage. Stolen kisses at the back of the jet and shoulder squeezes were as close as you could get whilst working. But at home, you both had free reign of each other. You were both night owls, sleeping through most of the sunshine. You spent your evenings playing chess, re-watching old horror movies and having a lot of sex. You were sure that you were keeping your local Thai restaurant in business, living mainly off that and tubs of ice cream. It was almost therapeutic spending your time lounging around in your comfortable clothes. Hours would pass while you both sat reading in silence (you, a few chapters, Spencer, a novel or three…), his arm slowly brushing the inside of your leg as you read. On the more anxious nights, Spencer would do absolutely anything to calm you down, making sure you were okay. He’d perform Shakespeare, teach you how to cheat cards, read to you in different languages and even let you braid the ends of his hair.

 You were very sure you were going to marry Spencer Reid.

 There was one of your hobbies that he didn’t quite understand. In the first few weeks at home, you had invested in a Nintendo Switch, mainly from the push of Garcia but you had been eyeing it up since it first came out. You spent many nights on animal crossing visiting Garcia and her magic candy land island. It was one way to experience the outside world without actually being there. There was something wholly therapeutic about going fishing, planting flowers and giving gifts to your wonderful animal villagers.

 Spencer, of course, didn’t really understand the appeal. Despite having the most wonderful brain you’d ever met, he seemed to have a block when it came to technology. He never discouraged you playing, but always looked over your shoulder with a furrowed brow whenever he saw you.

 “See that, y/n, there’s no way all those fossils would be in such close proximity to one another in such a small area.” He commented on more than one occasion. “What use is archaeology when they are just there on the ground for you to see?”

 “Spence, it’s a fictional world, I really don’t think they took into account geographical locations of fossils…” you couldn’t help but laugh whenever you spoke about it.

 “Don’t even get me started on the physical anatomy of these animals! How disproportioned they are from the real thing! And the colours, y/n! Have you ever met a purple tiger before?”

 You knew that he meant no harm from his remarks and was probably getting enjoyment out of it. So you’d shrug, offer him a turn and wait for some comment about how he was going to read an FBI report from 1987 again, and open your switch back up once he was distracted.

 One night, you had stayed up late to make wishes on your island. You really needed the star fragments to craft your new DIY recipes and had spent hours posed in position, ready to make a wish. You hadn’t realised that you were falling asleep and your switch was falling out of your hand, until…

 “YES! YES! Take that you stupid arachnid!” you heard a shout.

 Waking up and looking to your left, you blinked in amazement to see Spencer sat with your switch gripped between his fingers.

 “Spence? What are you doing? Are you okay?!” Many sleepless nights and bad dreams had left you very susceptible to fear when you heard shouting.

 He looked over to you and his cheeks flushed. “Oh, y/n, honey I didn’t mean to wake you I’m sorry! It’s just you fell asleep with your game in your hand, I went to turn it off and ended up talking about the stars with this wonderful little owl… She just tells you all these facts. And they are accurate, too! I even wished upon a star.”

 “That’s Celeste.” You commented, and yawned. “Spence, what time is it?”

 He squinted at the screen before replying, “4am.”

 You laughed. “And how long have you been playing animal crossing?”

 His focus went back to the screen but he carried on talking to you. “Oh, a few hours now! I’ve just caught a tarantula, the stupid son of a bitch bit me before! Did you know they could bite you in the game? I was just running around trying to get my bearings and it ran up behind me and bit me. But I showed it who’s boss. And hey! It turns out I was wrong about the fossils, in a sense..”

 You raised one eyebrow, “Dr Reid, wrong?”

 “Well, not wrong exactly. It’s still highly unlikely that they would be so close together, so close to houses, and be found in just one dig. But I took one to the museum after I dug it up and was really surprised. I hadn’t realised how accurate the information provided was about these fossils! And the details in the display, too! You’ve got yourself rather an impressive collection, y/n.”

“Mhmm.” Tiredness was setting in but listening to Spencer talk about your game was more than entertaining. You sat up slowly, leaned across and rested your head on his shoulder. “What else have you been up to?”

 “Well I recalculated the position of some of your flowers to maximise chances of getting hybrids. I know purple is your favourite colour so I looked into the best way to get purple flowers!” Spencer was speaking in that quick, animated tone that told you he was really into something. “I even researched the quickest and most beneficial ways of befriending your villagers to maximise the gifts that they give you. I spent a lot of time talking to the Raymond character.”

 “Raymond reminds me of you, y’know. Dapper, sophisticated, looks great in glasses…” you replied, nudging his shoulder with your forehead. “How did you find out all of this?”

 “Well, I read the whole Nookipedia website and that gave me a pretty good idea.” He turned to you and grinned. Of course, the genius had become the master of your favourite game in a matter of hours. “You can test me on any of the villagers’ names and personality types.”

 You looked down and saw piles of notepaper, all scribbled on, splayed out across the bed. You picked one up entitled ‘terraforming.’ Instead of trying to decipher Spencer’s handwriting, you decided to ask him about it. “Spence… what’s all this paper? What are these drawings?” You tilted your head and the paper simultaneously to try and get a better understanding of his scribbles.

 “Oh! I’ve been looking into reshaping your island. I came up with a few designs I thought you might like. My personal favourite is the honeybee, cos I know they are your favourite, so I calculated how we can use the terraforming tool to turn your island into a bee. Garcia would be so jealous and…” he trailed off.

 “What’s the matter?”

 He looked back at you with big puppy dog eyes. He chewed on his bottom lip a little before he spoke. “I’ve gone too far, haven’t I? This was your game, your private space, I never meant to take over. You really have done a great job…”

 All you could do was laugh. You leaned over and planted a reassuring kiss on his cheek. “Honestly? I’m really happy that you’re into this now. It means I can talk to you about it. Just you wait until you see Garcia’s island!”

“Really, you’re not mad at me?”

“It would be impossible to be mad at you, Spence. Maybe we’ll set up your own character now.”

And with that, you kissed him again, nuzzling into the comfort of his arm. “Show me what else you’ve been doing…”

[the-moon-prince]

The Last Of us~Kurapika x Reader ~Chapter IV

AN: Hi my lovely fellows!

A new chapter! I tried my best to develop further the self insert character and clarify more its backstory and clan! I have somethings planned I hope you’ll enjoy. Thank you so much for all you support and I thank you for reading!

I wish you a pleasant read, and I hope you’ll enjoy the new chapter of my story.  (Chapter I) (Chapter II) (Chapter III) (Chapter V  soon!)

Paring: Kurapika Kurta x GN! Reader

Word count: 2 307

TW: None!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Everything in life has a continuation. Kurapika and (Y/n)'s relationship is also subject to this law. An undeniable detail was that the lives of both subjects were terribly busy and loaded. Notably, the activities that Kurapika was involved in were lightened. (Y/n) held their word to assist him in his cause, as their work turned out to be advantageous. Primarily when it came to retrieving scarlet eyes. Kurapika even recovered two more pairs not long after by the dint of their research.

Another point in common was that the two were- Or at least when they wanted- very organized. The majority of encounters took place after they departed their jobs with the Nostrade. Consisting most frequently in small walks in nearby parks, have coffee or read together. Accommodating conversations that permitted them to know each other.

"What is the reason behind your decision to study psychiatry?" It occurred to Kurapika to bid during a walk. The situation was atypical; people with profitable prior careers didn't take the Hunter exam, not to mention how extremely young (Y/n) was, being just a year younger than him. But knowing the introversion of his partner, he decided to go little by little.

"My grandad was one. I aspired to be similar to him.

He had a treasury full of medicine and psychiatry titles I loved to read, I also sneaked into his conversations on the subject!" -(Y/n) gloated, with a tiny rocking and a smile.-"I find the functioning of the brain stimulating! And I like to help, it makes me feel useful. One of his acquaintances invited me to be his apprentice several times ago. I just accepted." 

It was not rare for them to get together in the same room for each to work on their matters. They spent time in each other's presence. It was what mattered to them. 

~

In the beginning, (Y / n) was the one that expressed questions the most. Especially details that many would judge insignificant.-"What is your preferred flavor of ice cream?" "Your favorite color? Mine is (Fav .color)" What musical genre do you prefer? I like (Fav. genre), I'm particularly a David Bowie fan." The answers to those questions were vanilla, light gray, and jazz. (Y/n) liked to accumulate all the possible details about Kurapika. More than once he was surprised that the (hair/colored) remembered, like what candy he preferred from the local store, that he liked his water slightly cooler than room-temperature or they reminded him to take a break from using his contact lenses. (Y/n) was also very vocal, consciously or not, with what they liked about Kurapika. They made him blush more than once with "you look pretty today", "you are kind, thank you" or "I love your eyes, they are blue dog's eyes". He had no clue what the latter meant or where were their origins, but (Y/n) said it so lovingly that he couldn't help feeling like it was the greatest of compliments.

Kurapika relied most on studying (Y/n) body language to approach them. He soon realized that while their face was not very expressive, the rest of their body tended to be. When they were waiting for something that excited them, they tapped the table with their long nails. They used to hold the door for the person behind them and him. And the two things that Kurapika found the most adorable of all, they tilted their head when they thought of something and flapped their hands when they were excited-even if they tried to suppress it on occasions. Something that Kurapika was not anticipating at all, particularly considering its dexterity and exactness from the time they fought, was (Y/n) clumsiness. They took bad or silly postures and never tied their shoes- Kurapika suspected them to not know how-.

He loved to tease (Y/n) with it. Expressly when they caught a light pole in the road, for not paying attention while they talked.

(Y/n) reminded him so much of Pairo, shy, a tad playful, and caring.

Pairo...

He would have liked to meet Yorknew. Observe everything Kurapika had seen. He sure would have liked the cinnamon rolls and the city lights. It was cruel and wicked. 

"Kurapika"- a quiet voice took him away from his thoughts. His head stung.

"Here's your tea, sunshine"-(Y/n) placed a cup full of steaming cinnamon tea in front of him, and proceeded to sit down.-"Are you fine?"

"Yes, I was just... just thinking."- Kurapika mumbled and looked at his cup.

 "I see. It is not wrong to miss someone. It simply signifies you love them, and they're important to you."-They mumbled, also looking down at the tea, as if they were capable of reading his mind. They certainly didn't read minds. Just missed someone too.-"If we don't remember them no one else will."- (Y/n) muttered as if the statement was also for them. They wanted nothing more than to comfort him. In one effort they dubiously lifted their hand and started to gently rub his back.

Kurapika turned to see them.-"You call me sunshine now?" He wanted to tease them. It didn't work.

(Y/n) nooned with pride.-"Because of your hair, the color evokes a ray of sunshine. Without sunlight, the flowers do not grow, therefore it is important. You are valuable to me."-Completely overlooking the other man's intentions. Kurapika covered his face with his hands and started laughing. He felt better.

"You are sickly sweet!"- he exclaimed, shaking his head. 

"I am. And you're sneakier than you seem." (Y/n) similarly joked. They rested their heads on the hand, drinking tea. They maybe were sappy, but in the end, Kurapika loved it. He had someone to comfort him and with whom he could play. How he had missed this!

"Your piano is nearly the only furniture you have in your living room, and I haven't seen you play it yet."-continued taking a sip of his tea. He didn't know if (Y/n) played the piano, but they certainly prepared good tea.

"I am not very skilled. I am incapable of composing anything, and I haven't played for a long time. I was taught how to play some melodies, and that's what I play."

"May I see?"-Kurapika requested, for (Y/n) to approach the grand piano. They opened the tone's cover and he started to play. Sol-Fa Re Si-Fa Re Si ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f81rM4BKODw ). It sounded like a child's song, sweet and simple.

"My grandad was better. Verily, the instruments make me nostalgic, I have them essentially for that." They babbled once finished.

"You're not awful either." The blonde assured-"Did he teach you?" 

(Y/n) agreed with a smile. "We fancied dancing and singing. My people liked artistic activities, we were somewhat hippies." they joked with a melancholic undertone.

"And the Kurta?"-their interests were genuine

Kurapika was surprised, it was the first time anyone had asked him. He couldn't help but respond excitedly.- "Well, I traveled with a friend, his name was Pairo. We transported ourselves on the backs of huge birds called Pikos! It was really fun... did you had something similar to travel?"

(Y/n) stared at him for a moment, tilting their head "We were the animals...", to them, the answer was a bit obvious. Why would they mount animals for transportation if they could transform themselves into animals?

"That seems lawful... I quite omitted that detail." Kurapika notified. I forgot that people like (Y/n) were part beast. They hardly ever mentioned him and he hadn't seen them in their other form either.

(Y/n) Laughed-"And we used normal cars. Uniliums didn't live very detached from humans. Our community was like 40 away from the city and most adults worked in it. We just maintained our animal figure in private. Most humans didn't have a clue they were fraternizing with us." They were delighted to talk about their peers. Like when you talk about a family member you haven't seen in a long time.

"What kind of animals were they?"-.Kurapika's curiosity about the group only increased. Besides if he knew more about them he would also know more about his (Y/n).

They hummed, -"Well... we were all mammals. Most were preys, for each predator, there was an average of 13 preys. Of 126 members, we were 10. There were mice, rabbits, deers. But no one was sure how to determine which animal would be an offspring."- They cheerfully explained, general information. But nothing about themselves. 

Kurapika would have to question directly.-"And you?"

"I am the cat. But I was raised by wolves, like Romulus and Remus. Who knows? I might establish my own empire!"-(Y/n) played.

It was the first time they mentioned it. But now that he reflected, (Y/n) resembled a cat. They had particularly long fangs and claws.

"I didn't know your parents were wolves!" Kurapika felt he was finally learning a little more about his lover's past. But the reaction received was not the one he expected. An ordinary person, he included, would be glad to remember his parents.

(Y/n) quitted smiling and leaned their head into their folded arms. The atmosphere in the room had changed.-"They are average humans. As we mix with humans, it was not uncommon for some to marry them. My grandfather's mother and my grandfather, who were Uniliums, married humans. My mother was human and married another human."- they mumbled. Kurapika felt that the topic was not very pleasant for them, and considered it appropriate to stop that conversation.

"I comprehend..."-and changed the topic-"Kurtas were further separated. It was difficult to get outward of our village. This to guard us. Controlling the scarlet eyes and our emotions was not easy. Many panicked when they saw them."

(Y/n) seemed to quickly forget the preceding topic and willingly listened to their beloved again.-"I understand that. Some humans were also afraid of us, they believed we were demons or beasts. The funny thing is that the deluded wouldn't recognize us."-they mocked-"Sentiments could also influence our appearance. But our parents taught us to be cautious since cubs." 

(Y/n) had seen Kurapika with his scarlet eyes, but he hadn't seen them in their beast form. The most he had seen was that night when they saw him straight in the eye, and their pupils were contracted, like a cat's, and the (e/c) had almost fully spread.

"You have never revealed your cat form to me. I bet you're adorable!"- He expressed in an attempt to satiate his curiosity. 

They sure weren't anticipating that request, following a moment of hesitation, they lilted "I presume I get accustomed to wearing this shape."

Kurapika wanted (Y/n) to have confidence in him. He understood the concern in showing foreigners such aspects. After all, they had both been marginalized and punished for their looks.-"It's not going to be unpleasant to me. I like cats." he offered them a sweet smile. 

At the moment he blinked and reopened his eyes, (Y/n) had a pair of fuzzy (color) cat ears, the right one with a tiny darker spot on the tip, a fluffy tail, and their hair was slightingly fuzzed up. Maybe the most remarkable thing was their feet, long and standing on the tip.

 Their eyes changed again, and their hands were slightly larger with wider claws; to ultimately have the appearance of a cat-humanoid. They didn't look so different and they were still (Y/n). 

Kurapika didn't see anything devilish about the person in front of him. Rather, he saw an exotic beauty, like fantastic creatures from magical books. He felt lucky to be able to witness something of that bearing and have that experience. What was so special to him was that this being was his partner.

"You certainly are a kitten. That's something you can do in that form?"-Kurapika interrogated.

(Y/n) took a minute to consider, head tilted as usual- the only difference is that their ears moved delicately-. They raised their open hands, showing some very pink set to digital pads, advanced towards him wagging his tail, and cupping his face with a cute smile.

"Your hands are very soft, darling."-Kurapika giggled at the silly idea. (Y/n)'s grin grew wider, closed its eyes, and in complete pride said "I have paws, honey!" That was true. Not many could say they had paws. Especially a so soft and warm pair. (Y/n) appeared happy and relieved, as if they had been discharged from a weight or they were finally doing something they had repressed.

"And you also have marshmallow cheeks. Can you do something particular under that form?"-As Kurapika enjoyed the softness of the caring touch, his question was not precisely answered.

(Y/n) separated their paws from his face, and showed its claws. "I have retractile claws, like, well, a cat. Under this form my strength and speed increase. My bite force equals that of a Jaguar. Ultimately I'm capable of using a more potent nen's technique since my aura flow grows. Although, you know I'm a pacifist. I tend to be softer..."

"You look like a big plush doll. Yet, this appearance may be tricky. You absolutely are a cat."- Kurapika could recognize why (Y/n)'s clan was killed to extermination. Many collectors would be filled with sick and devious pride to have such a creature. He was happy that at least (Y/n) survived. For the first time, he was happy that he too survived.

[johannstutt413]

(requested by calligomiles; related to this but maybe not the same timeline)

“Hey, Nat, it’s Independence Day.” Sonya, sitting across the dining room table from the heiress, set down her book to address her. “We should go to the bar tonight.”

“Hmm...I agree. Rada’s unavailable, but Anna should be free.” She, likewise, closed her book and went to get her coat.

Zima shrugged. “Sure, she can come along. Things are still a bit messy, but it’s a holiday. She can find it in herself to forgive me for one night.”

“I hope you don’t mind sharing that pardon with me when you get it,” Rosa replied. “The day after you told her the news, I could feel her eyes boring into the back of my neck during our shift in the office together.”

“If he’s really that busy, the Doctor might want to stop rotating his assistants around. Can you go invite her?”

She smirked. “I never thought I’d see you scared of one of our own.”

“Between the two of us, and without Rada here, you’re the face she’d want to see more.” The General went back to their room to change. “Text me when you’re on your way back.”

“Yes, ‘General.’” Natalya tossed a bit of sarcasm in her parting shot as she left.

Istina responded to a knock on her door by looking through the peephole...and there was Rosa. Hmm. “Can I help you?”

“Tonight, not particularly.” The heiress mimed tossing back a shot. “The General and I are going to the bar to celebrate Independence Day. Will you join us?”

“You really want to celebrate our freedom while our brothers and sisters bleed to secure it? Rather optimistic, don’t you think? Nonetheless, I’ll come along; I finished my novel, and I can’t quite start the next one yet.” The advisor reached for her coat, hanging on the wall beside her door, before joining the homewrecker in the hallway as she texted her girlfriend…

To say the situation was ‘tense’ between Anna and the couple was a massive understatement; it’d be more accurate to say the relationship survived through the sheer weight of their shared history, which admittedly only made the betrayal that’d occurred cut closer to home. Zima and Istina had had what felt to the advisor like a strong bond, but shortly after Rosa re-emerged from her self-imposed exile in Logistics, the General threw that away to date the heiress. It stung, in both the past perfective and present adjectival sense, but it wasn’t as if she could disassociate with them. After all, Gummy and Leto were still friends with all of them, even if they were doing their own things for the most part these days, and on the occasions they were around, it was almost enough to make them feel like a group again.

Almost.

They walked back to Zima’s apartment, where the General was waiting by the door. “Ready to go?” She asked, hand on the handle in case Natalya needed to run in and get something.

“Yes, we should be good.” Rosa took Sonya’s hand as she passed their apartment, Istina walking on the other side and noticeably behind her. “If I’m honest, I don’t believe I’ve been to the bar with you before, Anna.”

“I don’t drink often.”

The General nodded. “That she doesn’t. The lightest-weight Ursan you’ve ever met.”

“Th-that’s not true!” She retorted. “I knew plenty of girls my age with lower tolerances.”

“None of which I or Nat have met, so my point still stands,” Zima retorted.

The heiress sighed. This might’ve been a mistake. “Let’s try to refrain from fighting too seriously until we can start a proper brawl, please.”

“Aye. No point in fighting her, anyway.” Sonya scoffed. “No challenge to it.”

“...” The advisor simply followed them to the bar without any further word.

For the first half of the night, things went as expected; Rosa sat in the middle, the General on one side and Istina on the other, acting as a half-Gummy in her attempts to keep things civil. Anna at most sipped her drink, but even that seemed to have an effect on her, making her protests more vivacious. Eventually, Zima got bored of squabbling and, seeing Beehunter and Leto at another table, left to talk to them, leaving Istina and Natalya alone.

“Shouldn’t you be going with her?” The advisor asked, officially finished with her first drink of the night and moving into her second. “You are her girlfriend, aren’t you?”

“I...have my doubts about that,” she admitted, watching the other table laugh, presumably at Anna’s expense.

Anna shrugged. “Don’t blame you. Wouldn’t be the first time, after all...Two-timing whore’s daughter...I still miss her, though.”

“Really?” Now that was a thread worth pursuing. “I thought you only had vitriol left for her.”

“I woulda tho’t the same, but I dunno. Hard to hate ‘er fe’real when she use-a be so warm, y’know?” Her words were sticking together on her tongue like honey; it was hard to scrape them off into the air without them running together.

Natalya smiled. This one really did have a low tolerance, didn’t she? “So is it possible you don’t miss her, just having someone there for you?”

“Mebbe...Do you?”

“I’m sorry?”

Istina swerved around on her stool to face the heiress. “D’ya miss ‘er at ‘er best?”

“Well, yes, I do.” Her eyes wandered back to the other table. “Or at least, I think so. But have I seen her at her best? You’ve known her longer than I ha- What’s so funny?”

“Knew ‘er? Knew ‘er?! Oh, that’sa good one, itn’t it? I knew ‘er, yeah, sure, just like we knew ‘bout the ‘ole ‘Pet’r’eim’s a Reyunyin plot’ or wh’ever they tryda tell us, or ‘at Sonya was thirstin’ fer ya more’n I do after a night at the bar...Yeah, sure, I knew ‘er like ‘at, a’ight...I knew ‘er like the shadows ‘hind my closet door...”

There was a moment of silence, punctuated by a laughing trio of Ursus, before Rosa continued the conversation. “‘Thirsting’ as in you need water after going out drinking, or-”

“Oh, c’mon now, Miz Perfek, don’cha tryn’ play innocent wi’ me...Ya know ya’ve got some’in the rest of us don’t...” Anna giggled a bit, her eyes drifting down Natalya’s neck and settling pointedly elsewhere. “Mmhmm...Woulda been e-zyer t’keep ‘er if I’d ‘ad ‘em, too...Must be nice, bein’ so mature...Damn noble breedin’...”

“You really do have a low tolerance.” In spite of what might be expected, part of the heiress was enjoying listening to her like this. Very few people at Rhodes Island had anything negative to say about her, so all she had to back her own self-loathing was more of her own inner voice. It was depressingly refreshing, or maybe refreshingly depressing? One of those.

That came to an end when Istina drifted a little closer. “Hey. Wanna know a secret?”

“A secret?” Rosa raised an eyebrow. “About who?”

“‘Bout me, konechno (obviously). C’mere.”

Natalya looked back over at the other table, frowned, and turned around to find the advisor even closer. “Yes?”

“‘Tween you and her? ‘snot even a choice.” A pair of very intoxicated lips continued talking. “Ye might be a homewrecker, but yer still better ‘an ‘er by a long shot.”

“I don’t-”

Anna leaned in further. “I say we oughta have a lil’ revenge, don’cha think?”

“How drunk are you to be thinking...like this?” How drunk was she, to find herself kind of agreeing? “I mean, she’s right there...She could see us if she turned around.”

“Ya really think she will, though?” Istina giggled a little. It was obvious what the answer was there, judging by the animated voices coming from that part of the bar.

Rosa rubbed her forehead, sighed, downed what was left in her cup, and shook her head. “You’re right, she won’t. She doesn’t care, she never did, and I...I’m sick of it. Sick of being second-fiddle to someone she won’t even confess to. Sick of being a bystander in my own life. Sick of-”

“Ah, shut up and kiss me already.” The advisor tugged on Natalya’s shirt and pulled her close enough to do just that.

“And so I said to Nat-” Sonya was saying to the others, turning to gesture to her at the bar...Only to see that unfold. “So I...Fuck.”

Leto cocked her head. “I think they’re just kissing right now. It’s not that bad yet.”

“I knew one of them was a lightweight, but both of them? You sure know how to pick ‘em, General.” Beehunter smiled to herself behind her glass.

“...Eh. They won’t remember it happened.” Zima turned back around. “So anyone, I said to Nat...”

But the truth was, Rosa was very cognizant of what was happening - cognizant enough that, when they broke it off, she was blushing bright red. “Anna, I...This is a bit much, I think.”

“What? Didn’t like it?”

“N-no, I...I did, but...” Wouldn’t this make her a double homewrecker at this point, then? “I mean, I don’t even have any proof that-”

Istina sighed, turning back to her glass. “‘Course you need proof. I knew ‘fore she said a word what’d happened ‘tween the two of ya…’Ell, I think I r’mber yer taste from my last kiss wi’ ‘er.”

“Oh. You know I never meant to hurt you, right?”

“Just lost yerself in ‘er smile? I know the feelin’. So rare t’see...” She slunk into the bar. “Still, ‘o, I wish I’da known what I missed out on fer ‘er the firz time.”

The blushing was only getting worse. “Oh, Anna...”

“That one ‘Arkaz girl sang it better ‘an I coulda...I’m sleepy...Need a pillow...” Despite that, Anna’s head fell to the bartop, and she seemed to fall asleep just fine.

“Hmm...Hey, Sonya?” Natalya called over to the other table. “I’m going to take Anna home. I’ll see you when you’re done here?”

Ignoring the snickers from the other two, the General turned around and gave her the thumbs-up. “Sounds good. See you there.”

“Heh. Well, looks like we know who’s getting some tonight, then.” Beehunter had dissolved into a quiet but body-wrenching giggle fit by this point.

“Maybe,” Zima admitted, watching Rosa pluck Istina from the bar and cradle her as she took them back to the advisor’s place. “Honestly? I’ll just sleep at Anna’s tonight. Save her a trip back to my room.”

The other two weren’t sure whether to keep laughing at how ridiculous that sounded, or admit that, as usual, the General was two steps ahead. The drink in their systems, eventually, got them to settle on the former.

[mhdiaries]

Freaky Fusion Hybrids Sirena Von Boo Diary

6.4

I filled out my Monster High application today (*gulp*). I’m trying not to get my hopes up – I mean, why would they accept me? What makes me so special? My only hope is that my unusual scaritage will help me stand out (it usually does – just not in a good way!). What other monster do you know who can say her parents met at the bottom of the ocean? You see, my mom was a huge bass-ketball (it’s kind like underwater casketball) star back in the day. She could dive deeper and faster than anyone else, which is really important when you need to retrieve the ball. One day during practice, she dived down farther than she’d ever been before, and she found this amazing old shipwreck… and who should be frightseeing around that wreck than the most drop-dead gorgeous ghost she’d ever seen. To hear my mom tell it, the ship wasn’t the only thing that was wrecked – so was her heart (*gag*). That drop-dead gorgeous ghost (otherwise known as Dad) couldn’t believe he finally found someone who matched his spirit. Who cared that she was a mermaid and couldn’t swim through things? He fell so hard in love that he never went back to the ghost world again. Fast forward about 20 years, and here we are today.

I got my love of anshrieking – you know, finding ordinary items from the past that have survived long enough to they’re now special, from my Dad. We can spend hours in them, mulling over faboolous finds and imagining their history. Next to the ocean, anshriek stores are my favorite place to drift off in. Even though Dad can get on my nerves sometimes (he has a tendency to hover), he’s usually pretty great company.

As for mom… sometimes I’m not so sure I belong to her! We get along fine and all, but if it wasn’t for our matching tails, I might wonder. My mom still operates at tur-boo speed, whether she’s planning cruises (her job) or shopping with sand dollars (her hobby). Me, on the other hand… well, I just like to coast along and take things as they come and lose myself in my imagination. Mom and I spend a lot of time swimming together, though, and she thinks I’m fast enough to swim competitively if I wanted to. Maybe, if I’m ever at the same high school long enough, I’ll try out for the team.

6.12

Head in the clouds, tail in the water: that’s pretty much how I feel most days. Half in, half out. Today I had to stop at the ghostery store for my dad, and this little vampire was all like, “Mommy, is that a ghoul, a ghost or a mermaid?!” (*cringe*) Poor little chomper looked totally confused.

Sometimes I think if I was just one thing I wouldn’t feel so divided all the time. But which would I choose??? I daydream about that a lot (mainly because I’d love to rock a pair of boo-jeans, and that’s really hard to do with a tail). But honestly, what would I do if I could only be on the land OR in the sea? It would be so boring to be chained to just one of them – like watching barnacles grow boring.

The only people who really get how I feel are by best friends Avea, Neighthan and Bonita. You would think we’d have nothing common, all being such different types of hybrid monsters, but they get what it’s like to be two things at once. I’m so glad they applied to Monster High, too. We made a pact that if one of us doesn’t get in, NONE of us are going. Fins crossed we all get the same news, one way or another.

6.29

One of the freaky coolest things about the summer is treasure hunting in the sea. I pretty much treasure hunt year-round, but the water is so much warmer in the summer, and I’ll take any oppor-tuna-ty I can to lurk around collecting. One of my favorite treasures to collect is pearls (diamonds are SO out with the tide, you know). I like to turn them into charms or weave them around my chains for extra-special occasions. I also string them up around my room so I can lay on my waterbed and listen to them softly chiming in the breeze (and when your dad is a ghost, there is ALWAYS a breeze). One of the great side effects of treasure hunting is I get totally lost in my thoughts down there – watching the sun sparkle through the water, wrapping myself up in the warm silence… just me, the water, and some otherworldly sea creatures. Today I woke up really worried that I hadn’t heard back from Monster High yet. I think I know what this means (and I’m not surprised), but all my worries were gone once I was a few fathoms below water. I saw this adorable family of sea horses, and I started thinking about how cool it would be to have a seahorse of my own… or maybe a whole litter of them, so they could pull me out to the sandbar… is “litter” the right word for a group of seahorses? Why are they called seahorses, anyway? They don’t neigh… hey, do sea horses make any sound at all?! (*head spinning*)

7.2

I was checking my email today at the Coffin Bean, and I suddenly realized I was the only monster there without a pet! My dad tends to creep out most animals, and my mom can’t stand the smell of wet fur, so they just refuse to let me have a pet. Sometimes my parents are so shellfish – don’t they understand how much this means to me?! The first thing I’m going to do when I graduate from high school is get a pet (well, after I find my own place, since I’d be in deep water if I brought one home!).

I spend a lot of time daydreaming about what kind of pet I’m going to get. One day I’m convinced an electric eel is the pet for me (we’d certainly light up the night together!)… and the next day all I can think about is getting a starfish (how cute would a periwinkle starfish look in my hair?! *squeee*) in fact, deciding which one to get might be the most stressful part about having a pet. I guess the only answer will be to get more than one!

7.10

I was on my way to meet Avea, Bonita and Neightan for a move (in sea-D!) this afternoon, when I decided to stop off at the catacombs to cool off from the blazing sun. the catacombs are the perfect summer hideaway. I can let myself – and my thoughts – wander without much chance of interruption. Today, however, I had a surprise. I ran through a ghost named Spectra! AND Spectra had a pet – a ferret named Rhuen! Spectra is a student at Monster High, and she writes a column for the school paper. She’s also a ghost, which automatically gave us something in common. I’m not entirely sure we’d be ghostly good friends – she asked a TON of questions – but it was scary cool to say I now know somebody who actually goes to Monster High (not that I’m getting in or anything). We talked about meeting up again, when all of a sudden, I noticed my shell phone flashing. I totally missed calls from Avea and Bonita – and, as it turns out, I missed the movie as well! It all ended up working out, though. I found everyone at the die-ner after the movie, and I had a gill-licious ice scream shake and fries. That’s what I love about my friends. They don’t take my drifting off personally.

8.1

Did this really just happen, or is this another one of my daydreams?! It started out like any other day… I was in the kitchen warming up a bowl of float-meal when my dad rattled over with mom and asked f we’d gotten anything interesting in the mail. Right away I knew something was up – I mean, you can see right through him. Dad handed me a letter, and before I even had a chance to read the first line, shrieked “Honey, you’ve been accepted to Monster High!” I rolled my eyes like, “Whatever”, but then I flew back to my bedroom and re-read the letter about fifty times. It was true… I would be starting Monster High in less than a month! I’ve been drifting around from school to school for so long. Maybe, this is just one more place to unfit in, but at the same time… maybe, it’s a chance to really make a splash.

I guess the worst thing that can happen is that Monster High will be like every other school I’ve tried… I’ll go there, hate it, then drift off to another school next year. And I guess the best thing that can happen is that I’ll love it. Avea, Bonita and Neighthan all got in, so I’ll get to see them every day. Maybe I’ll make some more clawsome friends, learn some deadly cool new things, and even try out for the swim team. Then again… I don’t want to make a specter out of myself on the first day. As my dad is fond of saying, what ghost up must come down. Maybe the reverse is true. If I keep my expectations down, then they can only go up from there!

Just take a deep breath and dip your toe in, Von Boo. You can do it!

[howtodisassembleyourdeviant]

Missing Home

I’m re-posting in hopes to fix the format issue I have with the last one. 

Connor missed you. There was no easy way to put it. He wanted to hold you in his arms, hear your voice, taste your lips. He wanted you to explain some of the jokes the other human detectives told. Hank finds the constant barrage of questions exhausting, but you never tired. A new exhibit had opened up at the zoo, featuring mythical animals. He wanted to see it with you. 

But you weren't here.

"I have to go. I match what they're looking for and it's their best lead." 

You both were sitting in the meeting room, an hour after you had been asked to go undercover in another precinct for a human/android trafficking ring. You would be working at a seedy strip club, as a bartender. Everything about this was terrible to Connor. Putting your life in peril while lecherous men tried to touch you? If he had any say, he would adamantly reject the idea, but... It was your choice. It tore him apart, wanting to support and protect, conflicting with each other. 

You kept trying to reassure him, that you had back-up, that your outfit had a tracker in it, that you would not be stripping. Then one of the officers you would be working with handed you your uniform, a skimpy two-piece that only covered the essentials, then had the audacity to check you out, a wolfish grin on his face. Rage threatened to boil over. Noticing, you grabbed Connor's tie, reeling him in and kissing him hard. The officer's smile fell, and he quickly exited. You pulled back, smiling up at the android, bringing your hand up to his face and stroking his cheek with your thumb.

"I don't want you to think I want to do this. According to their data, the ring is getting bigger. It needs to be shut down." He knew you were right, that innocent lives were at stake, but that doesn't mean he has to like it. "I have to leave for debriefing tomorrow, but why don't we have some fun tonight? We can do whatever you like." You ran your hands up his stomach and over his chest, resting them on his shoulders under his jacket. His eyes fluttered, and for a second, he forgot everything. You were... And he was... 

You took hold of his tie again, pulling him to follow.

"Let's go, lover boy."

..............

That was over three weeks ago. They had spent the whole night tangled together, relishing in the closeness. All too soon, you had to pack up and leave. You kissed him one last time, told him you love him, promised to be careful, and then you were gone. 

To protect your cover, he wasn't allowed to contact you, only receiving updates through the department. Apparently, you were fine and they were getting a lot of Intel. It should only be a matter of time before they have enough evidence to raid the location. He hopes so. You'll be free to come home then. 

 To think, at this very moment, some drunken idiot could be hassling you, trying to grab you. You were capable of course, but how much could you do without blowing your cover? It burned him up to think you might have to 'tolerate' any of it, for the good of the mission. 

He was walking home after another shift. Without any outstanding investigations, he wasn't allowed to stay after anymore. Apparently, not everyone appreciated his help, though he doesn't understand why. He only pointed out details they were missing or errors in their assessment. He wasn't rude about it, just factual. Hank gets tired of it too, though he has far more patience with him. He knows Connor isn't doing it to show him up, it's just how he was programmed. Deviancy can't fix everything.

The car has been sitting in the driveway for weeks. He just doesn't see the point in rushing home. All he does is stare at his fish or at the tv. He tries going over casework, but it just all leads to him worrying about you. Were they treating you alright at the other precinct? Were you getting enough sleep? Eating properly? Dragging his feet, he looks to the ground. This city always seems filthier without you, trash and cigarette buds littering the walkway. 

This is ridiculous. He had a life before you. He had hobbies and did things... Didn't he? He put in a lot of hours at the department, that's for sure. He went home to Hank's house and took care of Sumo, listened to music and read some of Hank's old paperback novels. Everything seemed so dull then. It wasn't that he was unhappy, in fact, some of those days were the best of his life, but then you showed him he could be happier, that every day could be like the best day of his life, opening doors he didn't even know were there. He sighs, kicking an empty can. 

The epitome of scientific artificial intelligence can't be left alone for five minutes. 

A call flashes on his HUD, bringing his attention away from his self-pity. It was Markus.

"Hey, Connor. Are you free tonight?"

"Yes. Why?" Did they need some help at New Jericho? Or a meeting for the leaders? Maybe some legal advice?

"Wanna hang out?" 

...hang out? He didn't even consider that. It's been a while since the last time they met up that wasn't on professional terms. Between his work at the DPD and Markus being the ambassador for androids, free time hasn't exactly been on the table. Still, wasn't he just griping about not being able to be left on his own? Wouldn't this just solidify that? He must have taken too long to answer, as Markus reiterated.

"There's a bar downtown that is offering drinks tailored to androids. Simon believes it would be a good way to unwind." So, Simon is going? He has no issues with Simon, but it makes him wonder.

"Who all will be attending?"

"Just the leaders." 

Which means North will be there.

"I think I'll just stay at home." Markus knows his issues with the psychotic woman. Staring at fish for several hours sounds like the better option.

"North will be meeting up with a few of her friends."

"What about your image? You represent our people. It won't look good if someone were to see you acting intoxicated." Connor made it to the front of his house, sitting down on the porch steps. 

"The club is for androids only. The owner has already made arrangements for us. Everything will be fine."

"Android only? I thought we were against segregation." 

"Are you being difficult on purpose?"

"No." Maybe. He doesn't really feel like going out.

"Connor, I think you need this. You can't live your life working all the time. Come out with us. It'll be fun."

"I'll think about it."

"Great! We'll be there to pick you up in half an hour!"

Connor sighed, running his hand down his face. I guess he was going out tonight. He should probably feed the fish before he goes.

........

Markus showed up and eyed Connor's outfit.

"Do you own other outfits?" The RK800 was wearing his usual button-up and tie, though rather than his labeled blazer, he was wearing a brown jacket. 

"Is there a problem with my attire?" It seemed adequate, just a bit casual. He adjusted his tie, to which Markus took it and pulled it off. The leader knew of Connor's ticks, and he wasn't about to spend the whole night watching him play with his tie. Connor said nothing, though he pouted a little. You bought him that tie. Still, he left it off. When it came to fashion, it seems that Markus knew best. 

"I think we should go clothes shopping sometime. Are you ready?" Connor nodded, giving his friend a half-smile. 

In the car, Markus and Simon sat upfront while North, Josh, and Connor sat in the back. Josh was brave enough to be the barrier between North and Connor. She still hasn't forgiven him for hunting his own people, or Jericho, or pointing a gun at Markus on stage at Hart Plaza. Connor, on the other hand, does not understand her desire for senseless violence or her hatred for all humans. Some resentment was understandable, considering her background, but she takes it to the extreme.

"So, where's Y/n? I didn't see her inside. Is she at work?" Markus asked. He met you on several occasions, watching Connor light up when you were in the vicinity. This time, however, Connor's expression darkened.

"I don't know. She's working a case. I'm not allowed to know where." 

"I'm sorry to hear that, " Markus internally cringed. Not a good start to the night.

"Do you know when she'll be back?" Simon looked at Connor through the rearview mirror, seeing him cross his arms as he curled into himself.

"No."

"Well, hopefully soon."

"Way to go, killing the mood, Connor, " North smirked. It was apparent she didn't want him there any more than he did her.

"Nothing a few drinks can't fix. Let's just enjoy tonight, " Josh placated.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Connor knows how Hank struggles with his addiction. He has personally had to deal with some of the lieutenant's worst days, spewing insults one moment then adamantly apologizing for the next. With his help, Hank had cut down significantly, but he still occasionally has his bad days, like on anniversaries.

"From what I understand, it's perfectly safe. It's thirium-based with several chemicals that affect androids in a way similar to alcohol in humans. It all gets worked out through the filter, though if you drink too much, you need a way to remove the excess fluids." Simon explained.

In other words, unless an android planned on purging his system, they needed functioning genitalia. In this aspect, Connor was fortunate, as he was actually built with such a thing. It was the easiest way to remove evidence that he samples. It's all collected in his filter where it gets broken down in a specialized, biodegradable cleanser, and once a month he drains it and has to drink a bottle of said cleanser to replenish his system. When he started dating you, he upgraded so his component could have "other" functions.

It still sounded like a bad idea, but he didn't want to dampen the mood any more than he already has.

.........

The bar had reserved a private table for them in the back. North was quick to break off from the group, leaving the men to gather at the table. The music was pumping out deep bass, androids dancing together and having fun. Connor just felt out of his element. The owner, upon seeing them, sent over a round of blue liquid in shot glasses.

"Let's loosen you up!" Markus handed Connor one of the drinks, then held his shot glass up, prompting everyone else to do the same.

"To freedom!" He cheered.

"To freedom!" Simon and Josh agreed, downing their drinks. Connor hesitated. He dipped his tongue into his glass, wincing at the flavor. This seemed more like poison than a drink.

"Are you aware that some of the elements in this drink can be quite harmful to us if consumed in large quantities?" Connor asked, incredulous that they would be so willing to put that in their systems.

"Yes, but so is alcohol in humans." Markus set his glass down and a female android wearing a tight-fitting black dress took the glass and replaced it with a full one. "You don't have to, but you should try it. Live a little!"

Connor regarded the drink once more. Maybe he's being a bit over-cautious. He downed the drink, coughing as it burned down his throat. The table cheered again, patting Connor on the back. It seemed safe enough. His system didn't immediately try to purge it. He didn't feel any different either. When the next round of shots was set, he drank it down. Then, another. And another.

.........

"Have you ever met him? He's an asshole." Connor shook his head.

"But it was he who created the basis for all androids." Simon intervened.

"So, because he's the reason we exist, he's not an asshole?" The RK800 scoffed.

"According to ancient mythology, that should make him even more of an asshole," Josh added.

"What are you talking about?" Markus was walking back, or rather, stumbling back. Apparently, intoxicated Markus likes to dance.

"Kamski," Simon answered.

"Assholes." Connor and Josh answered at the same time. They all shared a laugh.

Connor drank down another shot. Was this his eighth or twelfth? He didn't know and, for the first time, he didn't care. He felt pretty good. Loose. Like his body was made of jello. He tried to join Markus on the dance floor, but when he went to stand, his gyroscope was malfunctioning and before he realized it, he was on the floor, joining in with his friends laughing as they attempted to help him back to his seat, dropping him twice and Josh fell down himself. Instead, they started talking about how much has changed in the last two years, what they hope to do in the future, and now, they were talking about when Kamski returned to Cyberlife. It might have been a good move for the company, but that didn't mean Connor trusted the man. Still, it was fun, just talking and joking.

 If only the other patrons at the bar would leave him alone with his friends. There must have been a dozen women who tried to get him to dance with them or buy them a drink. Even after he explained he was in a relationship, they didn't seem to care. One even sat on his lap, which he instinctively pushed her off. She did not appreciate that.

Despite it all, the atmosphere was light and jovial. Connor was glad he went out. This was significantly better than sitting and waiting. Maybe, when you get back, he'll invite you...

"Why can't humans come here?"

"Because most of them are assholes, " Simon joked, taking another shot.

"Not all of them." You weren't.

"Aww, does the detective miss his master?" North chided. She rejoined the table. She was with two other women, one of which he recognized as the woman he shoved to the ground.

"She's not my master, she's my lover, and she's far better company than you or your friends, " Connor sneered. The air did a sudden 180°, filled with hostility.

"Okay, let's calm down, " Markus tried to come between them, to keep the peace, but for North, peace was never an option.

"What? Too good for your own kind?" 

"Too good for this conversation, " Connor smirked, taking another shot. North, not the type to take being dismissed, knew exactly what to say to rile him up.

"I bet you think you mean something to your "lover". Your little human would fuck any android that asks. Probably what she's doing now."

That did it. Connor was on his feet in seconds, though he stumbled slightly as the world turned. 

"Listen here, you conniving bitch! You can talk shit about me all you want, but you leave her out of your goddamn mouth. Because you had a tough start to life, everyone else has to suffer? At least you didn't have a psychotic, murderous AI controlling all your actions, though, you two probably would have had a lot in common." Connor got in her face, next venomous words leaving his lips as a growl, "It's a shame you had to kill someone before the new laws. I would have loved seeing you carried to prison, kicking and screaming."

She punched him in the face. It threw him off balance and he fell back, catching himself on Josh. She stormed off before anything more could be said, her friends laughing. Connor got back to his feet, about ready to go after her when Markus took his shoulder.

"Why don't we call it a night?" 

.............

Connor sat in the passenger side of Markus' self-driving car, poking at his cheek. A ring she had been wearing had cut into the syn-skin, making it leak. It was already sealed and healing, but he was still pissed off. To avoid conflict, North caught a ride with one of her friends.

"I just don't understand her problem with humans. Not all of them used her for sex. Y/n definitely wouldn't! She loves me, not that sour... Tart. If she was there, she would have kicked North's ass!" He was ranting, and Markus had to keep himself from laughing.

"I know, Connor, I know."

"Who's that on your porch?" Simon asked. There was someone in a gray hoodie curled up on the front step. When Connor saw, he jumped out of the car before it stopped moving, falling to the ground. He quickly made it back to his feet while scrambling to get closer. The commotion awoke the person sleeping there, looking up to see what's going on. 

"Y/n!" Connor bowled into you, knocking you back onto the porch. "I've missed you!" He nuzzled against you, making no moves to get up.

"I've... I've missed you... God, you're heavy! I've missed you, too." Markus came up, trying to pull him off you, but Connor's iron clasp brought you up with him. He was still snuggling against you, swaying on his feet.

"Markus, what's going on?" You asked, noticing he wasn't exactly the portrait of perfection either, over-correcting his steps and laughing.

"Have you heard of the new drinks for androids?" Markus smiled. "It looks like you can handle it from here. See you later, Connor!"

"Wait, Markus! What..." But the man sped off to his car, tripping on the front bumper, and you were certain you heard laughter coming from inside. You stood, six feet of drunken android hanging off your shoulders.

"Do you have your keys?" You asked.

Connor pulled back, checking each pocket thoroughly. After a few minutes, he smiled in triumph, pulling out his keychain. You took it from him and unlocked the door.

"Well, this explains why you weren't answering my calls."

"You called me?" He was baffled. He tried to pull up his call log on his HUD, but it glitched out and closed on its own.

"Yep. At least ten times. I lost my keys. I knew you weren't at work, and Hank has his phone turned off again, so I couldn't ask for his copy. I figured you were at Jericho, so I'd just wait for you." Connor won't answer calls if he's in a meeting. He has a number for emergencies, but it's not like the two of you lived in a bad neighborhood, and it was a nice night, if not just a tad chilly.

"I'm sorry, " he sounded so sad, you made the mistake of turning and looking at him. Eyes doleful, wet with unshed tears, lips pouted. No human or android should be able to pull off the sad puppy look so well!

"It's fine! You should hang with your friends more!"

"I'm sorry."

"It was only ten minutes, tops." Actually, over an hour.

"I'm sorry." A tear escaped one of his eyes. 

"No! It's fine! Don't cry!" You pulled him into a hug, which he immediately sank in to. "Come on, let's get you to the couch." You more carried him to it, tripping on the end table in the dark. You finally got him down, breathing a sigh of relief. You went to walk away, but he grabbed your wrist.

"Where are you going? You just got home!"

"To turn on the lights and get a glass of water." You kissed his forehead, "I'm not going anywhere."

He reluctantly released your arm. Still pouting as he leaned back.

You went about turning on the lights.

"How did everything go?"

"Professionally? Very well. Personally? Worst time of my life." You came back, setting your drink on the counter. With the lights on, he had a clear view of your face. Your left eye was bruised, and you had a split lip. Your neck was also discolored, as if someone had tried to choke you.

"Who did this to you?" He cupped your cheek, trying to get a better view, but his damn vision kept swimming. Who would dare to hurt you? Death will be a blessing when he gets his hands on them.

"Connor, I'm fine. They're already behind bars anyway. Some guy was plastered and wouldn't take no for an answer."

"Where was your back-up?" You didn't answer him. They didn't want to 'risk the investigation' over something you should be able to handle. Just because they were right, doesn't make it right.  

"I don't want you going undercover again. I don't care how many lives are at stake!"

"Calm down, " you took hold of his hand, but he pulled out of your grasp, taking your upper arms as he pleaded with you.

"No! I want you to promise me you won't do this again! I can't lose you! I didn't want you to do it before, and now you're injured! Next time, it could be worse! Just, please... I can't control your life, but please don't do this again." He leaned his head forward, resting against your stomach. "Please."

"Okay, " your hands went to stroke along the back of his neck, "I promise." You lifted his head, gazing into his eyes. "I promise, okay?" He closes his eyes, savoring the words, knowing you will be safe, that he can help keep you safe. 

He felt your lips on his, your hands running along his scalp. He was quick to respond. In this moment, he was no longer sitting in a house.

This was what home felt like.

When you pulled away, his eyes remained closed for a moment, lips curling into a smile. You giggled as he opened his eyes and you weren't sure if he was dazed from drinking or from the kiss. It was a perfect moment...

Ruined when your stomach started to grumble.

"Sometimes, it really sucks to be human. All I wanna do is love on my man after not seeing him for almost a month, but my stomach can't go twelve hours without making a fuss." You gave him a final peck on the forehead before heading to the kitchen. Unwilling to leave you alone for a second, Connor stumbled after you.

Opening the fridge, you were met with bottles of condiments and nothing else.

"I cleaned out the fridge last week. I didn't know when you'd be back." Connor found himself staring at your ass when you bent down to look in the crisper, as if food will magically manifest in the little drawers. He found the way it moved to be quite hypnotic,  swaying back and forth.

"Guess I'm on frozen dinner." You grabbed one, fiddling with the package before chucking it into the microwave. In that time, Connor had moved behind you.

"You're very pretty, " he spoke, pressing up against you and hugging you.

"And you're very drunk, " you giggled. He started to sway back and forth, dancing to music only he could hear.

"Wanna go to the zoo?" He mumbled in your ear.

"I'm pretty sure they're closed right now."

"They have an android dragon, now."

"That's cool but they're still closed."

"And a mermaid."

"And despite that, they are still closed!" You exclaimed.

"But... I wanna go..." Came his whine.

You turned in his arms, putting your hands on his shoulders as you both continued to sway. Connor was pouting again. So cute.

"We can go tomorrow, when they are open, okay?"

"...fine." He smiled down at you, happy to have you home. He wants to hold you close for the next month to make up for lost time. You rested your head against him as he pulled you closer. "I've missed you, " he whispered, closing his eyes as he rested against your head.

"I've missed you, too. Not one minute went by that I didn't wish I was curled up next to you, " you murmured, listening to the thrums of his thirium pump. You didn't even hear the microwave go off, nor did you care at this moment.

Connor's hands slowly started roaming, creeping from their place on your hips to your ass, gently kneading it. You would be lying if you said it didn't feel nice. Three weeks of running around a bar wearing high heels can really put a strain on your body. Your soft moan encouraged him to grab just a little harder, pushing you flush against his pelvis, getting a good idea of just how much he missed you.

"Someone's feeling frisky, " you chuckled.

"I think I have an addictive personality. I just can't get enough of you. Will you enable me?" He punctuated the last sentence by grinding against you.

"You must be drunk to think you need pick-up lines to get to me, " your own hands started to wander from his shoulders, sliding across his pecs to his waist, then his hips where you traced along his pelvic "bone" before pulling away, just as your stomach decided to make you aware of your food cooling in the microwave. "Human needs overpower human desires. You have to wait."

Once again, Connor pouted, but he agreed. As you ate, you both sat on the couch, tv on but at a low volume. You asked about what he's been up to and if he had fun tonight. He told you about North being a bitch and how you should kick her ass if you ever meet her, earning a laugh from you. When you finished your food, you got up to put your dish in the sink. On the way back, you started undoing your shirt buttons for what is to come.

Or rather, what was to come. Connor had laid down and must have found it so comfortable, he entered sleep mode. His LED spun a lazy blue. He looked so relaxed. You turned off the lights and grabbed a blanket. Then, you took off your jeans and laid down on top of him. Other than his LED flickering a little faster for a moment, he didn't react. Lastly, you tossed the blanket over you both, laying your head down and letting his artificial heart be your lullaby.

.........

The next morning, Connor woke up in a daze. The sunlight seemed too bright from the blinds, prompting him to close his eyes as he connected to the house system and closed them. There was a pressure in his lower abdomen. A warning was flashing on his HUD informing him of his need to remove excess fluids. He went to sit up, only to realize there was another weight on top of him. He opened his eyes, finding you laying across his body. You looked so peaceful, eyes closed, mouth slightly open as you lightly snored. He could lay here forever, but the warnings kept flashing, and the pressure in his groin felt so uncomfortable. Why did he have to drink so much? 

He fought with himself, trying not to move until it was getting to be too much. Gently, he rolled over, trying to ease you onto the couch. He did not notice how your arms wrapped around his neck, locked together. When he stood up, your weight pulled him back down. You whined out a protest to being moved, making him freeze as he tried to get you to let go.

"Love? Could you let go, please?" He whispered into your ear. Your lips curled as you kept your eyes closed.

"I could, " you mumbled. He sighed.

"Would you please release me? I need to use the restroom."

"No, I don't really want to." The warnings started flashing brighter, making his head throb.

"Please, love? Sweetheart? I really need to go, " he spoke, borderline desperate. When you didn't answer, he stood, once again bringing you up, practically carrying you towards the bathroom, all the while you were giggling. The blanket tangled around his feet and he fell backwards to the ground.

"Please, Y/n, let me go! I'll do anything!" 

"Say,  'Y/n is the nicest, most beautiful woman in the world and it is an honor for me to be graced by her presence'!"

"Y/n is the nicest, most beautif-" you cut him off with a kiss. It was so brief, he chased after your lips when you pulled back.

"Close enough, " you snickered, releasing him and pushing off from his chest. You offered your hand to him to help him up, which he took, laughing as you struggled to haul him up. 

Quickly, he pulled you close and kissed you.

"When I'm finished, we're picking up where we left off, " he smirked before dashing off, leaving you shook for a moment.

"I'll hold you to that!" You called after him, looking forward to a proper 'Welcome Home'.

[haiky-u-lously]

King Kuroo and the Red Knights (7)

Summary:

A Camelot AU where King Arthur is Kuroo Tetsuro, and the Knights of the Roundtable of characters from seasons 1-4 of the HQ anime. Eventual Kuroo X Reader.

Themes:

Action/fighting/killing, dead bodies, Fluff, Angst, Humor, Eventual Romance

Warnings:

Mentions of stalking and abuse of power, Language, Angst in feelings, Gore and fighting, mention of explosion, mention of seeing dead bodies

Word Count:

For Chapter: ~3900words              

Questions/Comments/Concerns/Ideas welcome as always.

Enjoy!

–Admin Red

Chapter 7: The Castle Stands

Kuroo had been frozen in shock as he’d watched the Red Knight jump through the new hole in his castle’s wall. His eyes trained on the squire that followed screaming at the top of his lungs.

He’d never expected such an action, and his men looked to him for a response.

He had to shake his head to get control back over his body, and he sprinted the few steps to the edge of the corridor to check for himself that the Red Knight hadn’t died. His relief was short lived as he saw the fighting below. 

“Your highness, let me apologize for the Red Knight’s recklessness. This is your castle and kingdom and we should have waited for your word before moving.” The squire addressed him, bowing in the biggest show of respect the King felt from the man since their meeting.

Kuroo tsked, half because he was pissed that a complete stranger took to fighting on his behalf without so much as a wave of instruction and his own guards were standing there waiting for him to tell them what to do, and half because the squire was right that as guests they should have been the last to step up. If anything were to befall the Red Knight or his companion on their first knight in Camelot he could kiss any possibility of reconnecting with the Order to fail.

“Guards, get Sugawara some protection, lead him to the square. Then all of you go help defend the front gates.” He instructed the few guards standing among his men, letting the squire go to be besides his partner. The light-haired male bowed his head in thanks and took off with the royal guards. “Now, Aone.” He called, addressing the strongest amongst the men there, “Find Yuurei, keep her in her chambers and do not let anyone enter unless it is me.”

The giant soldier nodded before taking off to complete his orders.

“Osamu, you will come with me to check the south gates.” He waited for the man to recognize his orders before continuing, “Bokuto, Teru, you need to find Satori, Atsumu and Futa. They aren’t below in the square, so I have no idea where they are. If you come across anyone you don’t recognize, kill them on sight.” The men nodded once before turning and sprinting down the hall, splitting directions to search for the other knights.

“Sire, you wanted me to join you and not Bokuto?” Osamu questioned the King’s orders even as he followed in running with the man towards the south end of the castle.

Kuroo shook his head, “Bokuto needs to find Futakuchi. If we can get Futa, then the enemies have no chance of beating us completely. Besides, if you went in search, you might just give up searching for the others if you found Atsumu first. Letting him dictate your moves all the time, I needed to make sure two of my best fighters didn’t just go off and do their own thing.”

“Atsumu is a bad influence on everyone, not just me, Kuroo.” Osamu responded, the venom in his voice telling how he did not appreciate the King’s tease.

The King turned to grin at his friend, and missed the man coming around the next corner, sword drawn and ready to swing. But Osamu was in prime position and latched his hands around the attacker’s sword wielding appendage. Turning into the man and forcing him to flip, the strength of the throw making the adversary release the sword as he screamed in pain landing on his backside. Osamu quickly spun the blade and thrusted it through the man’s heart.

“Thanks.” Kuroo said to the knight in appreciation.

Osamu nodded once before withdrawing the sword and bringing it with him as the pair continued their trek across the castle.

_____________________________________________

Aone had made it to the Queen’s chamber with ease, only coming across one enemy. He took them down quickly and commenderred their weapons. Having rushed to the hall where the explosion had been heard from he hadn’t grabbed his sword or armour, all he wore was his chainmail, like all the other knights bore at dinner. He was happy to have a weapon in his hands as they were better shields than simple links of chain.

He slowed as he met the hall to the Queen’s room hearing the distinct ting of metal on metal from clashing swords. Looking further ahead he saw Futakuchi barely hold off a swing of the enemy weapon as he tried to dodge around his attacker and two dead guards at his feet.

Aone quickly stepped up and sliced through the foe. Stopping the man in his tracks, another thrashing and the enemy fell to Aone’s hands.

Futkuchi looked at him in amazement, “Aone, that guy took down two royal guards and you beat him like it was nothing.”

The knight squinted his eyes, thinking, ‘You could have flung him across the room with half a thought if you’d just use your magic.’

“Oh! Did I hear that correctly?” The Queen’s voice carried through the door, “Thank goodness.” She’d opened the door to meet the knight, “Futa tried to protect me but honestly I feel safer with any of the knights guarding my door. It’s just terrible how quickly the royal guards fell.” She murmured to herself in annoyance, going on about how stupid it is for people to attack such a well guarded palace such as Camelot’s and how they must be cowards to attack right after dinner and just before the darkness of night sets in. “Why must the enemy come for me anyway?” She questioned, approaching the dead man and kicking his side, checking he was really dead for good measure.

These were the moments that Futakuchi and Aone forgot about the Queen’s bad sides, the pieces of her personality from before that shone brightly and overshadowed the more recent transgressions.

“Your majesty,” Futakuchi notioned for her to re-enter her chambers. “Aone is here to be your guard, he will wait inside with you until the King comes. So, if you will?”

She huffed, but followed the directions. “Aone, grab the guard’s helmet and sword. You too Futa. You’ll need all the protection you can get if they’ve made it this far in already.” Yuurei’s orders were based on all the battles they’d faced since she moved into the castle, and the men knew what she said was correct. As poor form as it felt to take the pieces from their allies, both complied. 

Futakuchi even took the breastplate from one of the fallen, commenting about how he needed the piece since Aone had strength and chainmail. 

“South gate,” Aone said once his friend had finished tightening the metal around his body. “You go, I’ll protect the Queen.”

Futakuchi nodded and left the giant knight to his mission.

“Aone,” Yuurei called, grabbing his attention as soon as he’d closed them inside her room. “Are the others safe?”

He thought a moment before informing her of the King’s orders and the Red Knight’s actions. “After he jumped, the King went into high gear giving everyone orders. I was the first as he wanted to ensure your safety. I only presume he went to the South gate and told Futa to meet him.”

She nodded in understanding and moved to look out the rail-guarded window besides her dresser. “They need to be okay. Everyone, Kuroo of course but the knights as well. We can’t afford to lose anyone right now.”

Aone just nodded an agreement before moving a chair to face the door directly between the side of the room the Queen occupied and the direction the door would open. He sat down, with his weapon held in his hand, ready to perform his duty for as long as needed.

____________________________________________

Bokuto was running down one of the halls on the west side of the castle, eyes out for opposing forces, but he had not crossed any and figured he’d chosen the free side of the castle. 

As he rounded the corner to check one of the chamber halls he ran smack into another body, he quickly corrected his footing to stop from falling and held up his hands, prepared for a fist fight. Only to drop them when he saw the person he’d hit. “Well this is where you were Atsumu?”

The man before him just scoffed from the ground, having fallen from the sudden collision. “Why are you here Bokuto? Shouldn’t you be with one of the royals?”

Holding his hand out to help his comrade stand, the golden-eyed male explained the King’s orders. “Me and Teru were sent to find those that Kuroo hadn’t immediately seen from the location of the explosion. I see you took time to get dressed?” The man ended, laughing out in half question of surprise and half being impressed by the quick thinking of the blonde.

“Like hell I’d fight without protection. Do you want me to die so easily?” Atsumu scoffed in response, headed back down the hall.

“Wait!” Bokuto called, grabbing his friend’s shoulder, “Our orders are to find the others, I believe it’s also so that there are knights posted around the castle to make sure the enemy is defeated.”

Atsumu sighed and faced the other knight, “So, what you’re saying, is that I got all this crap on just to guard a practically empty quarter of the castle?”

When the silver-tip-haired knight just smiled in return, the blonde growled in annoyance, but moved to search the wing with the other knight.

__________________________________________

Terushima was fighting three enemy forces that had ambushed him as soon as he’d entered the east wing of the castle. While he was happy for the action, he was still pretty full from dinner and was not nearly dressed for the fighting occasion.

“Woa! So here’s all the action!” He heard called and suddenly the rear guard of forces waiting to take a turn against him were being cut down and attacked.

Within minutes he and his savior had taken down a whole ten members of the attackers’ forces. “Thanks for the assist Satori, but this doesn’t mean I’ll go easy on you in the tournament.” Terushima smiled at his friend.

Satori just looked down his nose at the blonde knight, “I think this just proves how much better I am than you.”

“How’d you even know to come this way?” Terushima ignored the ploy and asked his thoughts aloud instead.

Though the red-haired knight didn’t answer verbally, the shrug and smug grin pairing told Terushima that the knight had just guessed to come down this way. And as was generally the case, got luckily correct and it was indeed where he was needed most.

“Anyway, we should clear out any enemy forces here and go meet up with Kuroo and Osamu at the South Gate. Want to make a game of it?” The blonde questioned with a wide grin.

Satori smiled back, “Yes, let’s do that. But we should make it a bet instead. Whoever kills less foes has to do stable duty for the other for the next month.”

“Deal!” The knights shook their hands in agreement, face splitting grins over their features before splitting off and taking down any enemy to cross their paths.

______________________________________

After what felt like an hour of fighting, the advancing forces finally began to dwindle. Kuroo raised orders to the guards and Osamu to push the enemy back out of Camelot, he felt they’d turned the tide of the battle. 

Futakuchi had done his part in shielding their fighters so that none defending the South Gates could be cut down. It was pure luck that Aone had crossed him so quickly and led the magician directly to the place Kuroo wanted the magician. 

“Futa,” Kuroo called, after taking the life of the last aggressor in front of him. “Presuming our assumption that one of them has magic, is indeed true, then the front should be fine also. Right?”

The attendant thought for a moment, trying to decide how much to share about information that isn’t really his right to tell another. “If they do hold any powers, and I mean, I’m not saying they do or don’t. Just if they do, then I think they’d do their best to help without making it obvious they have powers. I mean, I didn’t share my powers with you all for a long time, and even now it’s only shared with those I know I can trust.”

The King nodded at his servant’s explanation as he watched the enemies retreating forces be cut down even further to size.

“Wow, it’s already over?” He heard Terushima call from atop the stairs into the southside of the castle, “Guess we took too long cutting down the enemy that made it in. Satori, how many did you get?”

Satori proudly puffed out his chest, “Seventy-six. Pretty great isn’t it?”

Terushima clapped in a fake-being impressed manner, “Wow, so cool. Very many. Great job.”

“Well how many did you take down then, baka?” The red-haired challenged.

Now was the blonde’s turn to stand with pride as he shared his own body count, “Eighty-one.”

The two started going at it further when Satori called Terushima a liar. Their interactions crack up the King and magician who’d turned to watch their fronting. 

Before long another pair approached, “Well, isn’t this a lovely sight? The best fighters in Camelot all just standing round while the castle is just coming off an attack of great degree.”

“Oh Bokuto! You found Atsumu, great!” The King called in response, ignoring the tease his best friend had tried stirring the pot with.

Atsumu looked around, and spotted the hair of his brother among the forces returning from running out the attackers from Camelot’s grounds. “You sent Osamu to fight with the guards? What a waste of his skill set.”

“Well if the best fighting twins were here together, then we could have used everyone to their best potential,” Futakuchi threw back, sticking his tongue out in defiance of the knight.

Atsumu, took after the magician, fist raised to throw down.

The other men just laughed at the pair’s actions, having also distracted Satori and Terushima from their own argument.

“Is this really all the knights of Camelot can do after a battle? Fight with one another?” Osamu questioned, a bored look on his face as he finally reached the others.

“It’s fine, I am sure the front is well taken care of.” Kuroo admitted, though he started walking towards the South entrance as he said it, making the others want to follow just to double check that the main entrance was in fact no longer being breached and that the aggressor’s forces were well taken care of.

Bokuto was the closest so he moved to open the doors, only stopping in his tracks as soon as he peeked his head inside.

“Bo, move your ass!” Satori yelled at the knight, while Terushima and Atsumu kicked him in the butt, sending him falling inside and pushing the doors open enough for the other knights to see what had made him pause.

The Red Knight stood there, sword drawn as if prepared to fight in defending the path inside the castle. When the knight seemed to recognize the group of men as the members of Camelot’s most trusted and royal court, they sheathed their blade. Nodding once, and moved to exit the area, only stopping when called.

“Red Knight!” Kuroo yelled, and seeing the fighter stop to listen, the King continued, “If you are here does that mean the front is freed of the enemy?”

The Knight turned to face the King directly and bowed his upper body over his arm, a sign the King had read meant that the Red Knights were happy to fight alongside Camelot’s forces. 

“What of your squire and my knights?” He asked, after understanding that the foes were all taken care of.

Nodding, the Red Knight told him all he really needed to know. His friends and guests were okay, while he may have lost a number of royal guards, his friends and guests had survived this test against Camelot’s forces. 

“We will hold a tournament in a week. In apology for how we treated you and as a thanks for your assistance in this fight. You and your squire are welcome to participate as fighters. Please let me know if you choose to, as it would mean a great deal to us.”

The Red Knight seemed to consider his words, after a brief silence where his friends looked to one another in question of how the Knight would respond, the King watched as the Knight held a thumbs up.

“Very well. Futa,” He called his attendant up to his side, “Please take our guest to meet up with his friend and then move them to a room down Daishou’s wing.”

Futakuchi’s eyes grew wide, and for the first time since their arrival, the Red Knight watched as the magician rejected the King’s order, “Yea, that’s not going to happen anytime in the near future. I’ll take them to literally any other hall.”

“Kuroo, let them stay in my hall with Satori! Anyone willing to rush into battle like that is a-o-kay with us!” Terushima excitedly yelled before the King had a chance to yell at his servant’s attitude.

Atsumu and Osamu looked at one another before the gray-haired twin commented, “We wouldn’t mind sharing a room so they could stay down our hall. It would be interesting to be given a chance to get to know the Red Knight’s way of doing things better.”

“Woah woah woah,” Bokuto sounded, as he smiled with his hands held out as if he was the star of the group, “If they are moving out of Aone’s hall they should move to mine. The most private hall of the entire castle!”

The Red Knight’s head shot up hearing that statement and nodded twice in quick succession, apparently deciding that was the best offer they’d heard amongst the King’s friends’ outbursts.

Sighing, the King just mentally agreed that after having given them a rough time at dinner, shit rooms to begin with, and having them fight on Camelot’s behalf, letting them have some privacy would be a good way to start mending the relationship with the pair. “Very well, Futa. Find the squire and lead the pair to Bokuto’s wing. If you see any of the maids, tell them the rooms need curtains and bedding.” The King then moved away from the group to go check on his wife.

The men who’d cleared out the castle and protected the rear side followed the magician and Red Knight back to the front to meet with the others.

___________________________________________

To both groups’ surprise, the rear and front groups of fighters met inside the castle. Futakuchi quickly took the Red Knight and the squire to move their bags and get to their new rooms. Immediately running into a maid as the three split off from the others and giving them the King’s orders.

“Soooo,” Dacihi drawled out, not sure how to bring up his thoughts without seeming too random to his fellow knights.

“The Red Knight is definitely someone we want on our side,” Semi bluntly said, not nearly as timid about sharing his thoughts.

Iwaizumi nodded, “The way he took down all those bodies, I would hate it had we gotten on his bad side.”

Yamagata agreed with the three, “Having been saved a few arrows in the back by his quick movements and steady hands swinging his blades, I concur. We are lucky Futa stopped you from making a permanent enemy of him, Atsumu.”

“Yea, well, we didn’t see him fight so how do we know you aren’t exaggerating his accomplishments just because you all fought side by side?” The blonde retorted, still refusing to acknowledge that he’d made a terrible decision trying to remove the Knight’s helmet.

The group from the front looked to one another before silently leading the others to see the square.

Once everyone was atop the steps, they could see the hundreds of bodies laid out, even with the royal guards moving limp forms into stacks on carts to be wheeled out and burned, the group of knights could tell it was hundreds of dead enemies.

“More than two thirds were taken out by the Red Knight and his squire. And the Knight took out almost twice as many as his squire.” Yamagata informed, and those who’d questioned the four stood in complete shock.

Iwaizumi shook his head before turning to face the castle, looking up to one of the towers and pointed out two bodies hanging over the edge, “The arrows meant for us that he stopped, the Red Knight threw back at the shooters, killing them and saving us from an onslaught of shots we held no defense against.”

“When the Knight jumped out of the window, it felt as if all of us got strength from his show of solidarity.” Semi added, wondering aloud, “But when his squire came to assist as well, that strength seemed to double. I had felt like giving up with as few enemies I faced compared to them, but every time I looked up at either of the pair I felt a new surge of energy and continued.”

Daichi nodded, “We aren’t exaggerating. Had he been made an enemy, Camelot’s front gates would have been breached more severely than they were.”

Atsumu admitted defeat in his principals, “I will apologize to him first thing in the morning.”

“We were surprised too though.” Bokuto commented, explaining why as soon as he saw the four men from the front lines were paying attention to him. “Kuroo told him about the plan for the tournament and we all thought he was going to reject the offer to join, but he held his thumbs up at the King instead.”

“Oh sure, you’re just saying that because the newbies are moving down your hall,” Satori complained.

“Right, they would have been better off with us,” Terushima cried out in agreement with his friend.

Osamu just rolled his eyes before explaining to the confused four that were not present for the room reassignment. “Kuroo wanted to move them from those shit rooms on Aone’s hall. He told Futa to move them to Daishou’s hall and the idiot refused. So, basically everyone offered their own hall before the hot-headed King could make a scene of yelling at the stupid magician.”

“Ah, that makes way more sense.” Yamagata smiled in understanding.

Semi just shrugged, “Well your hall is the most private of the options he was presented with, Bokuto.”

“And maybe having the Red Knight so close will discourage the Queen from bothering you as often as she does,” Daichi laughed.

The other knights joined in laughing with the dark haired male. Even Bokuto himself, though he was trying to save face. Of those around him only Iwaizumi knew what was really going on with the Queen, and to Bokuto’s gratefulness the knight never gave any indication to tell the others. Always waiting to discuss with Bokuto himself, Futa, Aone or Ushijima, the only other three members of the court who knew of the trouble she brought him.

“So the festival is really happening then?” One of the men asked aloud. The group smiled to each other before heading towards their respective chambers to get a good rest before preparations started the next morning.

_______________________________________________

Table of contents:

Chapter 6                                                       Chapter 8

[kat-feinated]

My favorite Denver restaurants

How was your week?

My week included being invited to have a threesome with two of my work clients, who are both meth addicts and lost custody of their child due to said meth addiction.

My boss asked me to send the text to her and just replied “FOR GOD SAKE” and I feel like that’s the perfect summary of my year.

Speaking of meth, we finally finished watching “Tiger King” this week. I know I know, that show is so one month ago. But I have a lot of thoughts that I need to share with the world.

1. Did anyone else find Joe really sympathetic and felt bad for him? Yes, I know he’s unstable and probably killed animals and stuff but I found him...endearing!? 

2. Doc Antle is the creepiest ever ever ever. 

3. Jeff Lowe sucks. And his wife is way too young for him. And THE WHOLE THING WITH THE NANNY I JUST CAN’T.

4. The guy with no legs whose name I can’t remember was my favorite character. And just seems so normal. How did he end up there!?

5. I’m proud of Saff for standing up for Joe in the aftershow...everyone else just sold him down the river!

6. Howard Baskin. Howard Baskin singing. Howard Baskin’s wedding photos with Carole Baskin. The show is worth watching just for Howard Baskin.

7. Do I think Carole murdered her husband and fed him to a tiger? Yes. Would I still hang out with her in a heartbeat? ABSOLUTELY.

8. I’m extremely mad that I didn’t come up with “hey all you cool cats and kittens”. And now it’s already over-used.

Do you miss eating at restaurants as much as I do? (Probably not because you’re probably a normal person who has friends and other hobbies). I miss restaurants so much it HURTS. I miss looking up menus and deciding what I’m going to order days before I go. I miss people-watching and commenting on everyone else’s food. I miss kind servers bringing me baskets of bread and drinks that I didn’t make. I MISS RESTAURANTS YOU GUYS.

So, while I’m eagerly waiting for restaurants to start re-opening, I thought it would be fun to share my very favorite places to eat in Denver. Share this list with your favorite Denver local! Or better yet, come visit Denver and try these spots out (and invite me!!). 

Cuba Cuba: This was the first restaurant I tried in Denver, because it’s across the street from our old apartment. It’s located in an adorable blue bungalow but is surprisingly spacious on the inside. For drinks, order their house made mojitos or a pina colada. For appetizers, order the plantain chips with guacamole and garlic sauce (YUM) or the empanadas. Everything I’ve eaten there for dinner has been delicious, but I especially love the coconut shrimp and the chimichurri steak.

Perfect for: a date night or girls’ night where you feel like getting a little dressed up (but you’d be fine going there dressed more casually).

Rioja: This is my mom’s favorite Denver restaurant, and she insists we go every single time she’s in town. It’s located in Larimer Square, the cutest and most charming street in downtown Denver. It’s a bunch of old Victorian buildings that have been converted into restaurants and shops, and the street is decorated with twinkly lights and Colorado state flags so it’s a great spot to get a touristy picture when you visit.

The menu changes constantly, so it’s hard to recommend exactly what to order, but you can’t go wrong with the pasta dishes. They are known for their artichoke tortelloni and it’s honestly the best pasta I’ve ever eaten in my life. Last time we also ordered the tagliatelle and clams which was fantastic. For starters, order the smoked pear and raclette if it’s available-so yummy.

Also, Rioja makes all their bread in house, and it’s probably our favorite part of the restaurant. Waiters literally come around with a giant tray of bread and I always try every single type. The lavender sourdough and rosemary biscuit are life-changing.

Perfect for: when your parents come visit (and pay!) or a special occasion like an anniversary or birthday dinner. It is on the pricey side.

Work & Class: This is probably the Denver restaurant I’ve eaten at the most. Located in the very hip Five Points neighborhood, Work & Class is always busy and does not take reservations, so I would recommend going on a random weeknight vs. a Friday or Saturday. If you do go on the weekend, plan on an hour plus wait-the good news is you’re surrounded by bars and breweries to help pass the time.

Work & Class is a South American/American fusion restaurant, and everything is served tapas (small plates) style, so go with someone you are cool sharing with. They have fabulous in-house cocktails which change seasonally, so definitely order one while you peruse the menu. It’s hard to make food recommendations since I’ve probably tried everything on the menu and have never been disappointed, but some of my favorites include: the lamb, the empanadas, the mac & cheese, and any of their vegetable side dishes.

Perfect for: your group of friends who you’re comfortable sharing with (eating off of each other’s plates!).

Mercantile Dining & Provisions: This is another spot that my mom insists on visiting every time she comes to Denver. It’s located in Union Station in downtown Denver, which is itself a great spot to visit. It’s an old train station (that is still a working train station) but also home to a hotel, an ice cream parlor, a bookshop, a florist, and every other small adorable business you can imagine.

Mercantile serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner (I’ve had all 3 there), but my mom and I have created what we believe is the perfect system for dining there. We always go on the day she is leaving town, since she can take the train from Union Station to the Denver Airport after our meal. We try to go around 11am, and we order a raspberry muffin. My mom doesn’t even like muffins, but these are no ordinary muffins-not too sweet, perfectly fluffy, moist (I’M SORRY) -just sheer perfection. After sitting and people watching for about an hour, we then order a short rib sandwich around noon, as soon as they start serving their lunch menu (it gets quite busy at this time). SO GOOD. SO TASTY. Plus, the restaurant itself is so cute-it looks like Joanna Gaines designed the perfect black-and-white chic modern farmhouse.

Perfect for: brunch/lunch after a morning exploring downtown Denver, or a quick bite before catching the train to the airport.

Lowdown Brewery: Is it cheating that this is actually a brewery and not a restaurant? I say it counts because they make all their food in house. I don’t always love going to the popular breweries around Denver because they’re usually packed. I’ve never seen Lowdown packed and in my opinion it’s the best brewery in Denver in terms of food and ambience-and the beer is good too!

Not only do they make and sell their own beers, but their menu always features a seasonally rotating list of Colorado beers as well. They have a lot of IPA’s (which I despise but everyone else seems to love). I’ve tried their blood orange wheat, selfish (pale ale), and their blackberry sour and have enjoyed all three. In terms of food, you can’t go wrong with any of their pizzas, salads, or sandwiches, but I personally can’t get enough of their beer cheese dip (served with broccoli, apple slices, and soft pretzel bites-I’M DROOLING).

Perfect for: sitting out on their patio with friends in the warm weather. Bring your dog!

El Five: El Five has one of the coolest views of downtown Denver, not to mention delicious food and drinks and great service. Their sangria is the best I’ve ever tasted, but they have tons of great cocktail, beer and wine choices if that’s not your thing (but also what is wrong with you). For appetizers, try the spreads of the med-a platter of house made pita, hummus, and veggies. For their traditional tapas, I’ve tried and enjoyed the patatas bravas, the shrimp & calamari, and the goat cheese croquettes. Then, of course, you must try their paella. I’ve tried both the Valencian (made with rabbit confit!) and the seafood and would recommend either. Be prepared to log roll out of the restaurant when you’re finished because you will have gained 100 pounds.

Perfect for: a festive date night, dinner with your parents, drinks with your girlfriends-just be prepared for an expensive bill.

Stowaway: I’ve only been to Stowaway once, right before the shelter in place order started, but I’ve been dreaming about it ever since. First of all, it is tucked into the cutest former warehouse-turned-hipster-coffee shop/brunch spot, complete with exposed pipes and red brick walls. I AM HERE FOR IT.

We went on a Sunday morning with some friends who warned us to expect a bit of a wait. Fortunately, the Denver Central Market is just a few blocks away so we were able to enjoy some cocktails and/or coffee while we waited.

When we finally got in, I ordered the Colorful Colorado (an egg dish) because of the 8 million reviews I’d read ahead of time that told me I must order this dish or live a life of unending misery and regret (ok, that might be a slight exaggeration but it was something along those lines). I also split the fruit toast with Joshua because I have to order something sweet and something savory when I go to brunch (I know I have a problem, just leave me alone). Both were so freaking good. I can’t wait to go back soon and try everything on their menu (or more likely, order the same two dishes over and over again).

Perfect for: brunch with your favorite hipster friend.

Linger: This is the one restaurant on my list that I love more for the location/ambience than for the food, though the food is certainly tasty. Linger is located in my favorite neighborhood in Denver (LoHi or Lower Highlands) and the building it’s in USED TO BE A MORTUARY. Like, WHERE DEAD PEOPLE WOULD BE SENT AFTER THEY DIED. I personally find this so cool, and if this freaks you out, you would never know except that I just told you (sorry). It’s very airy inside with cozy mood lighting and exposed brick walls. This is another place that does small plates and they’re all globally-inspired street food dishes-the menu is literally divided by continent (i.e. Asia, Africa). For drinks, order the turmeric mule. For eating, you really can’t go wrong, but some dishes I’ve enjoyed include: the bao buns, the impossible burger persian sliders, the tuna tostadas, and the potato masala dosa. Skip dessert because right around the corner you’ll find Little Man Ice Cream-one of my favorite ice cream spots in the city.

Perfect for: a first date/date night, a girls’ night, or a summer brunch on their rooftop bar.

Snooze: Full disclosure-Snooze is a chain and is not just located in Denver; they have locations across Colorado and in a few other states including Texas and California. That being said, I just have to include it on my list because I believe it is completely worth the hype.

Because there is always a long wait (I’m talking 2 hours sometimes), we always go on a Monday morning when there’s a federal holiday that other people don’t get off, such as Columbus Day. Don’t kid yourself-there will still be a wait, but it will hopefully be closer to one hour. Plus, they give out free coffee while you wait!

I don’t even like pancakes, but I always order the pancakes here. ORDER THE DAMN PANCAKES PEOPLE. You can even get a pancake flight where you can sample three different types of pancakes (I highly recommend the blueberry danish pancakes and the sweet potato pancakes). If I’m in a savory mood, I’ll order the breakfast tacos with a side of one pancake.

Perfect for: brunch with your friend, brunch with family or anyone with kids, brunch with your arch nemesis, brunch with anyone.

Hopefully this list made you excited to go back to restaurants again in the future, instead of depressed! And please send me your best restaurant recommendations! These conversations are what I live for.

[purplesurveys]

811

What do you like to drink in the morning? I’m not really a drinks person and I’m fine having all my meals with just water. I like coffee, but I usually drink it in the afternoon or at night. What color is your favorite hoodie? Don’t have one. My favorite sweater is gray though. Do you have a string of lights in your room? No. I remember wanting those as a teenager but I figured it was such a waste of electricity just to make my room look a little cuter, so that turned me off from the idea lol. Do you know what you are going to do today? Yeah, well today I was going to finally register for a social security number online, but given that I’m from the Philippines and the government only gives their 15% in everything they do, the website is absolute garbage and I can’t get past the first step of the process. Not surprising anymore. Other than that, I don’t have anything else to do. Does your heart hurt? My heart is missing so many people at the moment, but it’s not really hurting.

Who is not in your life that you wish was? I wish that my late maternal grandfather was still alive, if he counts. Who hurt you last? Probably Gabie. She doesn’t have a good hold of her emotions when she’s mad and tends to spit out hurtful things without thinking if it would affect me. I plan to have a talk with her about it once we can see each other again because it’s beginning to suck. Can you see the moon out your window right now? Continuing this survey four hours later, except now I’m tipsy as fuck haaaaaa. I dunno, I probably won’t be able to. It’s been raining all day and evening so I might only see clouds if I look out.

What makes you feel inspired? Seeing other people with insanely good work ethic. Are you mad at a friend right now? Nope, no reason to be. Do you have a friend who hurt you and doesn't care? I mean I’m pretty sensitive, so yeah I’ve had some friends say stuff to me that they probably didn’t think anything of, but hurt me in actuality. Is your room clean? Sure, it’s not too cluttered at the moment or anything like that. Can you see the sunrise from your window? No, it doesn’t happen on my side of the house. If you were a writer, would you have a pen name or use your real name? I’d use my real name. Idk, I’ve always found pen names to be a tad bit confusing. Did you go to Goodwill yesterday? I didn’t, and I don’t, because we don’t have whatever that is here. What is your friend's cat's name? I don’t have friends who have cats.  Do you celebrate your pet's birthdays? Continuing this survey 15 hours later because I was too dizzy to continue typing, lmao. I typically buy him a dog-friendly cupcake from the pet supply store at the mall near my school, and I serve him more food than usual for lunch and dinner. March is a busy month for me with school and stuff, so I haven’t gotten the chance to throw him a party. :( As a kid, did you celebrate your dolls' birthdays? (if you're a girl) I never liked playing with dolls. But no, I didn’t celebrate the ‘birthdays’ of my other toys. None of them lasted that long with me anyway haha. Are you wearing a hoodie right now? Nope. It’s chilly right now, but it’s not wear-a-hoodie cold. Did you ignore the last facebook post that bothered you, or did you comment? I had to ignore it because it was from my grand-aunt, and old people like to throw fits when you call them out so it was going to be a waste of my time if I commented. Do you need to go to the pharmacy today? No, no need for meds anymore yaaaaaay. Are you realizing that one of your friends isn't a real friend? Not at the moment. I’m happy with the circle I currently have. What was the name of one of your stuffed animals as a kid? I didn’t like stuffed animals either. This is more of my sister’s turf. Do you have a car? If so, did you give it a name? I do have a car but I’ve never given it a name. With my dad having plans to sell it soon, I’d rather it stay nameless for the remaining time it has with me so that I don’t get any more attached to it. If you were a famous singer, what would you want your hit song to be about? I’d want it to have an important message so I’ll probably write something about the bullshit that the government keeps pulling on us.

Did you skip church last week? No, unfortunately my mom makes us watch YouTube recordings of masses from a certain church. I usually hold up one of our couch pillows so that I don’t have to see the TV screen, but nevertheless I’m part of the audience and 30-45 minutes of my time are always wasted every Sunday. Do you have any big regrets? Just one big one. If you had to re-design an alien, instead of making them green with slanty-eyes and an egg-shaped head, what would you make it look like? I’m not creative enough for this question, so pass Do you have anyone who loves you, besides God? Do you have anyone who cares about you, besides God? Do you have anyone who you can go to for support? Yes, there’s a number of people I can think of. Do you normally write in cursive or print? Print, I write faster that way. Does your heart ache for something? Right now I’m kinda wanting pizza actually lol. Do you fit the millennial stereotype? I’m not even a millennial, dude. Would you want your first child to be a boy or a girl? Girl. I don’t want sons. If you were to write an article for a magazine, what would it be about? I’m in the mood to write an opinion piece about, again, the government. Do you have a blog? I have this Tumblr but it’s really more of a journal than anything else, so no, I wouldn’t say that I have an active blog. I did have several classes where our projects required us to make blogs and I never deleted those, so those blogs are still up albeit untouched for years now. If you were to start a blog, what would your first post be about? I can see myself starting a food review blog where I journal all the restaurants I dine in. Do you think you are good at writing poetry? I absolutely suck at it and hate when I’m required to make poems. Have you ever tried a science experiment that didn't work? I don’t think so. Have you ever had a teacher who looked like an alien? I dunno what an alien is supposed to look like but I also haven’t had a teacher who I thought looked weird. Do you take gummy vitamins? Not since I was 14 or 15. Are your feet wide? No. At least I don’t think they are lol. If you could do research right now for an essay, what topic would you choose to right about? Welp today is our Independence Day, so keeping in line with the timing it’d be nice to do a paper on something about Philippine history. What are your strongest attribute? Personally, I like the fact that I’m detail-oriented. That trait has been responsible for presentable Powerpoints, has saved otherwise careless co-workers, and has made sure that all research, written articles, etc. are free from critical errors, be it in data or grammar. Have you ever been tempted to commit a crime? Of course. I think we’ve all been tempted to do something like that at least once. Have you ever started writing a suicide letter? I’ve written a couple ones throughout the years. ...and then realized you wanted to live? No. Do you know anyone who had to evacuate for the latest hurricane? Not the last typhoon, no. But my friends in Marikina have had to evacuate for past calamities many times because they live right beside a river, and one that easily overflows at that. Do you write letters to friends? Only for special occasions, like for Christmas, retreats, if they were graduating, etc. Do you like to write letters? I do but it can get so tiring, especially because I prefer handwriting my letters. I used to write 40+ handwritten letters, one for each of my classmates, every year when we would go on retreat. The practice was super tiring though so now I typically just write letters for Gab. As a kid, did you find diagramming sentences fun? The what sentences??? I’ve no clue what you’re talking about. Whatever those are, I’m positive we never did that in school. What is your dream? Money. Where would you travel if you could? I’d go absolutely everywhere, but I’d start by finishing off Asia first. When it comes to traveling, I’ve always imagined myself taking my sweet time going local first before venturing out to farther countries. That being said, I’d love to go to Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Brunei. Do you feel all alone in the world? No. Do you own a piece of jewelry with an owl on it? Haaaaaaaaa, no. That’s such a Tumblr-in-2010 trademark. I did have owl stuff before, though. If you have a class ring, what color is the stone? Not a thing here. Does looking at the starry sky make you feel peaceful? It does. But if I’m really hellbent on feeling peaceful, I’d rather look at either a skyline at night OR into the sea during the day. Do you have a pen pal? If not, would you ever want to have one? No and no. Like I said, I’m pretty much retired from handwritten letters after writing 40+ of them every single year for around a decade lol. Do you drink hot chocolate? Only La Creperie’s San Gines hot chocolate. Sometimes I’ll drink hot chocolate at hotels too. Do you like apple cider hot or cold? I don’t drink that. Are you hurt by something a friend did to you recently? No, none of them have done or said something hurtful to me lately. Are you under 30? Yeup. Have you made a "30 Things to Do Before I'm 30" list? No. I don’t like keeping myself under a deadline. Do you paint rocks and hide them in your town? I’ve never done that before. Do you have a secret crush? Nope, am very vocal about my crush heh. What was the name of your first crush? Andi. Have you ever had a crush on a teacher? Yes, groan. Do you like parodies? Not always. Some of them can be a little too cheesy for my liking. Are you a Taylor Swift fan? Not a chance. Have you ever kissed a picture? I probably have. Do you use window clings (stickers for your window)? No. Do you decorate for fall? We don’t have fall. What do you want to be for Halloween this year? Not really sure yet...I don’t even know if we’re getting Halloween this year. Has suicide crossed your mind a lot lately? [trigger warning] Not these days, and I’m really thankful for that. I’ve self-harmed twice during the course of the quarantine and while that’s disappointing at least I haven’t thought about being dead, and that’s what matters to me. Do you have supernatural abilities? ............No. Do you get enough hugs? Definitely not these days. I haven’t been hugged since March. I think I might cry when I get my first one. What labels do people try to put on you? I don’t know. You’d have to ask others because this isn’t the sort of thing people say to your face lol. Who do YOU (or rather, who does God) say you are? Are you happy? I’m not happy with the Jesus questions on here lmao but kidding aside, I wouldn’t say that I 100% am. I just feel like I’ve only been floating or existing recently, but not fully happy. Have you asked yourself recently, Why am I here? I hate questions like that, so no. What family member did you get your hair color from? Everyone of them. Filipinos have the same features. Have you ever found a secret compartment? No. If you designed a house, would you give it a secret room? I’ve seen some interesting ones on the internet that make me want a secret room of my own, but I think it’ll stay as a fantasy. Do you read horror stories? When I come across them, sure. I don’t actively look for them though. Do you ever comfort eat? Yeah, I did it a lot before quarantine. Yabu’s a great example of me comfort eating haha. Does stretching feel good? Yesssss. Do you have your wedding planned in your head already? I have scenarios that play in my head but I don’t have the specifics – color scheme, flowers, centerpieces, location, etc – mapped out yet. Would you ever adopt a child? Not my first choice. Are you ok today? I’d say so, yeah. It’s not hot today so that’s already good enough of a day for me lmao. Was the last book you read good? It was okay. It holds a great life story with okay writing. Wrestlers write autobiographies ALL THE TIME which means that not all of them will be a home run, and AJ’s was neither earth-shattering nor bad. I definitely didn’t appreciate the unintended-but-casual sexism/misogyny in it or the extreme hyperboles, but it’s AJ and I love her work nonetheless.

[wcsleyevans]

a bit about wesley evans

LAYER ONE: THE OUTSIDE

Name: wesley roman evans

Eye Color: brown

Hair Style/Color: curly brown short hair

Height: 5′11

Clothing Style: usually something comfortable to wear in a lab - old trainers, jeans and a graphic tee with some sort of science joke on it

Best Physical Feature: smile

LAYER TWO: THE INSIDE

Fears: his lies about his research being found out

Bad Habits: obsessing over something for a long time and then forgetting about it, biting his nails

Ambition for the Future: to become a father and raise a future scientist

Biggest regret: how things ended with alexa

LAYER THREE: THOUGHTS

First Thoughts Waking Up: "coffee... must. drink. coffee.”

What They Think About the Most: either science fiction or actual science

What They Think About Before Bed: the show he just watched before bed

What They Think Their Best Quality Is: his positivity & ability to help others

LAYER FOUR: WHAT’S BETTER?

Single or Group Dates: single

To be Loved or Respected: loved

Beauty or Brains: brains

Dogs or Cats: cats

LAYER FIVE: DO THEY?

Lie: yes, a lot of the time. about research, about his feelings towards people, about what he actually wants the most in life

Have scars/birthmarks: a lot of scars from experiments gone wrong. a large burn mark on his arm from a heating block, a big scar from an exploding conical flask, and lots of cuts on his fingers from picking up glass

Believe in Themselves: not really - his research clearly isn’t good enough to get him anywhere so he lies about it

Believe in Love: absolutely. platonic, romantic, familial. all kinds of love

Want Someone: absolutely

LAYER SIX: EVER?

Been on Stage: nope

Done Drugs: no

Changed Who You Were to Fit In: he became a bit closed off and impatient when he decided to change his results in order for no one to suspect him of doing anything wrong. but didn’t change to fit in. if anything, when he met sofia he became more himself

LAYER SEVEN: FAVORITES

Favorite Color: emerald green – the colour of bis(N-sec-butylsalicylaldiminato)nickel(II) to be exact. it was the first crystal he every managed to correctly synthesise

Favorite Music: he doesn’t like to admit it, but wes is a big t swift fan

Favorite Animal: cats

Favorite Drink: freshly brewed coffee

Favorite Food: salted popcorn

Favorite Place: his lab

Favorite Sport: he hates sport but if he were to pick one, it would be lacrosse

Favorite Season: autumn

Favorite Holiday: thanksgiving

LAYER EIGHT: IN A BOY OR GIRL

Best Personality: outgoing and extroverted, someone he can talk to about anything even if they don’t understand it

Best Eye Color: doesn’t care

Best Hair Color: doesn’t care

Best thing to do With a Partner: watch sci fi movies and try to ruin the plot by explaining the science. or just sit and talk about nothing, and everything

LAYER NINE: FINISH THE SENTENCE

I love: my work. it’s so cool

I hate: the fact that i might get caught one day

I feel: so lucky to have a best friend like sofia

I hide: my real findings

I miss: how easy the first few years of the academy were

I wish: things had ended differently with alexa. she deserved so much more than she got with me, and i wish she knew just how much that relationship actually meant to me

QUESTIONNAIRE FOR THE MUSE:

What do you look like? (Include body type, frame, hair, eyes, skin, age, and distinguishing features): i’m quite slim, but on the odd occasion i get time off work i go jogging so i guess there’s a bit of muscle definition. i have brown curly hair, brown eyes and tanned skin. my most distinguishing feature is probably my eyes, they’re quite big and expressive

How do you dress most of the time?: i usually wear a graphic tee of some superhero or science joke, jeans and some old shoes that are comfy. oh and also usually a lab coat and goggles, y’know, for science purposes

How do you “dress up”?: i have only ever dressed up once for prom and i wore one of my dad’s old suits that was too big for me. not a good look. but i would wear a nice, fitted suit if i ever had to go to an event that needed one

How do you “dress down”?: joggers and a baggy t-shirt. and fleeces. fleeces were the best thing in scotland as it is freezing up there

What do you wear when you go to sleep?: pyjama bottoms. usually flannel pattern, but i have some in evans tartan which are my favourite thing i own

Do you wear any jewelry?: can’t wear jewellery in the lab unfortunately. too many chemicals and lasers

In your opinion, what is your best feature?: i love how excited and passionate i get about things

How many siblings do you have?: just me bud

What is your father like?: such a supportive guy. he moved us all the way from scotland so that i could go to a better school and become a scientist and for that i’ll be forever grateful. he doesn’t necessarily understand all that i do, but he knows how much it means to me that he’s supportive anyway

What is your mother like?: mum is amazing. she was the head of a firm of accountants in edinburgh and she gave that up so we could move here. she’s so compassionate and kind, and her and dad were made for each other. most supportive parents you can get to be honest

Where do you live? Describe it: Is it messy, neat, avant-garde, sparse, etc.?: i live in a flat in grove harbour by myself. it’s quite spacious as it’s not in the nicest part of town, but i’ve installed cameras, extra security systems and made it really safe. it’s a nice apartment actually. spacious kitchen, cosy living room. it can get messy but mess stresses me out (when it’s not in my lab... that’s a whole different story) so it tends to stay tidy

Are you emotional, depressed, ect?: i’d say i’m an emotional person, sure. luckily i don’t have any mental illnesses.

Would you consider yourself straight, gay, bi, or something else? Why?: i’d say i’m straight, have never thought of guys in that way before but i wouldn’t completely take it off the table. i have been in love with sof since i was about thirteen though and haven’t really though about anyone else other than alexa, so i guess that answers that question

How ticklish are you? Where are you ticklish?: i’m ticklish everywhere. literally everywhere. mainly around my waist, but my feet are super ticklish too

What do you do when you are bored?: i watch old re-runs of sci fi shows, and browse the internet for plotholes. or go see sof. either’s good

What do you envy most?: i envy people advancing in their research. i’ve been at a standstill for months and i don’t know why, and it’s driving me mad

[c-is-for-circinate]

I wrote so much thoughtspew about the first two seasons of Farscape and serialization vs episodic plot in late-90′s TV and character progression, and then I put a cut there because I’m not an animal.

An interesting thing that happens in Farscape (and I’m a couple of episodes into season 3, and have not been particularly good about any sort of liveblogging, as expected): we don’t actually see the first time John Crichton, intentionally and in his right mind, specifically chooses to and succeeds in killing someone he’d consider a person.

I was keeping an eye out for it--I knew it would happen sooner or later, and early Season 1 Crichton, who thinks he can talk Crais out of his vendetta by explaining it was a car accident; who brokers a deal with the Genesis and then sends a Marauder crew of Peacekeepers off of Moya alive; who spends the entire first episode confused and captured and shot at by various people and then insists, when he’s finally the one with the gun and the handcuff keys, that the Moya crew rescue Aeryn right along with him--that Crichton is so deliberately and fundamentally not a killer.  It’s one of his firmament truths about the world.  You don’t kill people.  That’s not how the world works.

And it was so clearly one of the things that was going to get stripped away in the breaking-down of John Crichton (which I remembered enough about Farscape to know would happen, but could not have described the trajectory of).  So I was keeping an eye out for it, and I realized, we never quite get it.

There’s a moment in Maldus’s trap, with Crais, where he decides to hell with it and tries to kill Crais--but fails.

There’s the virus that takes him over, uses John’s own two hands to beat a Peacekeeper scientist to death--but John doesn’t remember that, wasn’t in control, isn’t really to blame.

And then there’s the Peacekeeper ship that leaves Moya at the end of the episode, that John figures out how to blow up by its trail of cesium fuel--but the only person on board the ship is possessed by the virus, is a zombie, could never be saved, and everyone knows killing a zombie isn’t the same as killing a real person, right?

There’s the firefight as he escapes the Gammak base, and maybe he hits someone lethally and maybe not, but who knows?  There is, of course, the plan several days later that destroys the base completely--ignites an entire moon, and surely dozens, hundreds (thousands?) die with that.  So maybe that’s it.  Maybe that’s the moment.  Or maybe by that point the moment’s already passed.

By the fourth episode of season 2, John stabs T’raltixx straight through the chest with a quolta blade, stone dead, up close, at a range to see his face and his blood, but of course he’s half-crazed from light emissions at that point, so that’s not quite right either.  But by that point it doesn’t feel new or horrifying any more anyway.  By that point John carries a pulse-pistol as a matter of course, and has probably used it off-camera and we haven’t even seen it.  By the time his caveman and superbrain doubles show up he’s ready to shoot first and ask questions later.  By the time he’s kidnapped by the Scarran on the commerce planet, he thinks of himself as a person who’s killed, who’s grown callous to the suffering of others, who his mother would be ashamed of.

John spends a lot more time threatening to shoot people than actually shooting them, but his aversion to pitched battle in the timeslip episode near the beginning of season 3 has a lot more to do with timeline integrity than avoiding death.  He goes into a firefight of pitched battle at the end, and shoots to kill, and succeeds again and again and again, and the only people whose deaths he regrets at the end of it are the ones he tried to save.

The thing is, I’m really into how these gradual character shifts happen.  I’m intrigued by the lack of a clear-cut start/stop point.  Because I think that’s how it happens for the characters, too.

John Crichton never wakes up and thinks, I’m a different person today than I was yesterday.  He doesn’t notice the first tilot me he really kills someone, on purpose--it’s a thing that happens in the middle of ten thousand other things, and by the time he has time to sit down and process the fact that it happened, it has happened, and has been happened, and there’s something else new to worry about now anyway.  

John stops wearing his IASA flight suit and it’s just sort of a thing that happens, and maybe it’s laundry day or maybe it’s the day he dressed up to pretend to be a Peacekeeper and everything went to shit, and in retrospect it matters but at the moment it’s nothing.  You can point to the end of S1 as a major turning point for him, but plenty of things turned around before that point happened.  And of course, you can point to the chip as the explanation for so much of the rage and the violent impulses John’s throwing around in season 2--but it’s not like one of the (many, many) one-off mindfrells that dissipate at the end of an episode and leave whoever-it-is alone to be themselves again.  Season 3 John may be ‘himself again’, but whoever his self is, it’s a pretty far cry from who he was when the chip first went in.

I’ve been thinking a lot about this gradual style of character development, where the Big Meaningful Things just sort of happen in the background and you don’t notice until they’re over.  And I wonder how much of it is about the way episodic TV happened in the late 90′s vs today.

In the late 90′s, nobody made TV shows for people to marathon.  I remember 1999.  We had a VCR, which nobody in the house knew how to program, and no cable which meant that any episodes of Farscape I watched were on tape at my best friend’s house and usually out of order.  Any shows I did watch as they aired were often out of order: some weeks it’s a new episode, some weeks it’s a rerun, some weeks you go to your sister’s play and miss it entirely, some weeks it’s preempted by The Sports.  Serialization was a thing, but there was absolutely less continuity from one episode to the next than you might get from, say, Sens8, or Steven Universe, or even something like The Good Place--which is an episodic sitcom, but still builds each episode off of events in the episode before.  I remember watching The Wire for the first time, on DVD, in 2010, and saying to my friends, “this is a different kind of tv show”.  Every single episode acted as a chapter in a story, rather than a stand-alone piece that could be shuffled into a different order within the guidelines of a couple of specific signpost events.  And the kind of character development you do in a show like that, a show made for the internet generation, a show whose creators expect it to be binged, is different.

Farscape has a lot of continuity, but it also uses the status quo as a tool.  Half the episodes start of in media res.  We don’t need to know the specifics of how we got to wherever we are today, and it doesn’t have anything to do with the last episode.  We know the generalities: we’re on Moya, we’re generally in trouble of some kind, and now we’re going to find out what new difficulties today has brought.  Along with that, we know the status quo of characters.  In Season 1, we know John Crichton is desperate to go home to Earth, is confused and out of place, would rather talk than hurt anybody, or let anybody hurt anyone else.  That’s who he is.  Episodes where he doesn’t act that way--trying to kill Crais and then very nearly killing Maldus--they’re anomolies.  One really bad day.  That’s why it’s so easy to shrug off the time he explodes the Peacekeeper shuttle with the virus-infected captain in it.  That can’t really be Crichton committing murder, because that’s not who he is.  That’s not who the status quo says he is.  If that’s who he is, it changes the status quo.

And the thing is, using status quo as a tool like that allows the show to do a lot of very gradual character development without the audience or the characters themselves actually noticing.  Season 2 Crichton is so angry all the time, but--well, it’s just bad days, because we know Crichton, and he’s a good guy who doesn’t like violence.  Or, once it’s been going on long enough--okay, I guess this is the new status quo, he’s just an angry guy.  Was he always like this?  Guess he changed while we weren’t looking.  The show doesn’t start to reveal what’s up with the chip until the back half of the season.  And then suddenly there’s a reason Crichton’s been acting like this, and that makes sense, but also by that point it’s become part of the status quo.  Crichton knows how to do violence and is so frustrated all the time.  That’s part of who he is now.

And I think the show really benefits from being watched with that mindset, because it feels like the characters are just as used to thinking of themselves and their friends in terms of status quo as we are.  I’m thinking about the episode where Zahn and D’Argo and Rygel rip off Pilot’s arm and then turn on each other.  By that point they’ve stood by each other through all sorts of problems, risked their lives for each other, and for Pilot and Moya, no question.  But the opportunity to go home comes up, and they each think about who they are, who they think they are, and they think, ‘I am a person for whom going home is the Number One Priority’.  Never mind how little time they’ve spent seeking out a way home compared to how much time they’ve spent taking care of each other.  By season 3, John loves Aeryn, loves Moya and her crew, would die for them and has actively tried to do so on multiple occasions, but he puts them all in danger for a chance at a wormhole and a way home.  Not because going home is actually more important to him than their safety--if you set out the choices in front of him, if you said ‘You go home but Moya and everyone on her will suffer or die’, he’d give up the chance to go home without question.  But the option comes up, and the little self-identification flag in his head goes, ‘Astronaut John Crichton, US of A, wants to go back to Earth more than anything in the world’, like a one-note character description blurb.

Farscape works really well when viewed as a show about a bunch of people who spend very little time actually thinking about where they’re going and why.  They drive around in circles getting into and out of trouble, trying to keep safe and keep fed, reacting to one problem after another, and not one of them has any kind of plan for getting the things they say they want.  Ask anybody on Moya if they intend to spend the rest of their lives there, they’d say no (or, ‘probably, and it looks like that’ll be about half an arn, now shut up and let us figure out how not to die’).  But not one of them have an actual plan for leaving her.

[hecamity]

petals ch. 2

ch. 1 | ao3 link

Katsuki did not know what it was about Midoriya Izuku that made him want to pay attention.

Being around people was never necessarily on the top of Bakugou Katsuki’s favorite things to do, so when he realized he had begun to enjoy Midoriya Izuku’s presence, it almost felt like he had been doused with a bucket of ice-cold water.

And by the second month of their tentative friendship, Katsuki learns.

Whenever Izuku’s in a bad mood, his shoulders are slumped and his eyes are missing that little twinkle, his full lips turned downward into a frown that looked out of place on someone like him.

Nervous Izuku though, bit his lip until it was a dark pink color, fumbled with his fingers, and tripped over his words clumsily.

But mostly he’s happy, Katsuki notices, and when he’s happy, his face lights up the room. He grins the biggest grins, causing the corners of his eyes to crinkle.

When he was bored in class, the green-haired man would doodle little drawings on the edges of his notebooks or his eyes would wander until they glazed over and he was lost in thought.

His freckles were pretty, Katsuki thought.

They suited his boyish features, the body marks like constellations splattered across the bridge of his nose and on his rosy cheeks.

He was also funny; funnier than Katsuki would have imagined and on more than one occasion, he would find himself fighting a smile at one of his stupid dad jokes that sounded like something Katsuki’s father would tell.

Katsuki kind of hated him for it.

He was also thoughtful and kind—on more than one occasion Izuku would share his snacks during class or bring him notes he missed on the few days he couldn’t bring himself to get out of bed early enough for class.

During quiet observations of his newfound friend, Katsuki noticed his eyes would sometimes glaze over, the ghost of smile pulling at his lips and during those moments, he found himself wanting to know what Izuku was thinking about.

Izuku was also a talker and Katsuki learns more about him.

He learns that he’s an only child who was raised by his mother and he grew up without a father figure in his life.

He didn’t have many friends growing up but in high school, he’d befriended a girl named Uraraka Ochako, who attends a university on the other side of Tokyo and he was still very close to her.

Izuku tells him that he’s allergic to bees—though he thinks they’re cute— and his favorite color is scarlet, and that he’s broken so many bones climbing trees while trying to save cats that he’s kind of best friends with all of the nurses in the emergency room of the nearby hospital.

He’s also a really big All-Might fan and even though he’s studying to be a veterinarian, he still dreams of being a superhero just like him.

He’s kind of an idiot nerd, Katsuki thinks to himself, watching Izuku hum happily around a bite of katsudon.

“Are you okay, Kacchan?” Izuku looks up from his bento and gives him a warm smile, though there was a hint of concern in his eyes. “Your curry’s going to get cold.”

Katsuki is startled from his thoughts and feels the tips of his ears burn at being caught staring and definitely not at the endearing nickname that Izuku had taken to calling him not too long ago.

Clearing his throat, Katsuki moves his gaze down to his spicy curry and lets out a small growl. “M’fine. Stupid nerd. Also don’t call me that again or I’ll kill you.”

Izuku gives a soft laugh, picking up his chopsticks once more. “I’m glad. Eat up, Kacchan.”

His laugh sends a flutter through Katsuki’s stomach and his heart stutters in his chest.

Katsuki learns.

First Week of July, Year 1

A shrill ringtone filled the still silence of Katsuki’s childhood bedroom, interrupting the peace of a quiet, summer morning.

Katsuki let out a long groan as he opened his bleary eyes, kicking away his damp bed sheets.

Reaching a long, toned arm towards his nightstand, he grabbed his cellphone and squinted at the screen in front of him.

He was met with a silly picture of Izuku, the green-eyed man sticking his tongue out playfully at him.

A few weeks into their tentative friendship, Izuku had stolen his phone and saved his number, insisting that a caller ID photo under his contact name officially made him a friend and he could do nothing about it.

Katsuki had pretended to be unimpressed and had ripped the phone away, re-naming his contact name as Shitty Nerd, much to Izuku’s displeasure.

Before the call went through to voicemail, Katsuki’s thumb swiped right, answering the call.

“The fact that you’re calling me during summer break before nine in the morning definitely means you’ve got a death wish.”

“Good morning, Kacchan,” Izuku called out brightly through the phone’s earpiece, his voice tinny. “What are you plans for the day?”

“I was planning to sleep until you called.”

“Perfect,” Izuku cried. “That means you’re not busy and that I can drag you out for a breakfast picnic.”

“No.”

“I’ll see you in an hour!”

Accepting the fact that he would not be able to sleep in any longer, he sat up in bed with another groan.

An hour and a half later, Katsuki found himself sitting across from Izuku on a red-checkered blanket, biting into the tuna onigiri that’d been handed to him completely disgruntled at Izuku’s All-Might opinions.

“How the fuck can you think the All-Might vs. Endeavor Arc is the best when Discovery of All for One exists?” Katsuki crowed, eyebrows furrowed as his expression set into one of incredulity.

“Kacchan,” Izuku began with a matter of fact tone of voice, his face growing serious the way it only did when it involved All-Might discussions. “While I agree that the Discovery of All for One is an incredible arc, All-Might vs. Endeavor not only gave us great insight into the rivalry and relationship between All-Might and Endeavor, but we got to learn more about Endeavor as a character and not just an antagonist.”

“Endeavor fuckin’ sucks.” Katsuki replied simply, reaching for his bottle of iced green tea, although he was fighting an amused smirk at the passion he had for the animated series.

It was endearing, Katsuki admitted to himself.

“He does,” Izuku agreed, giving him a small smile. “But the amount of back story that arc gives us definitely makes it the best.”

“You’re such a nerd,” Katsuki huffed, allowing the smirk he’d been fighting play at the corners of his lips. “Let’s see how much worse your opinions can get. Favorite villain?”

“Stain.”

“Tch. All for One. You keep on disappointing.”

Izuku gave him a tiny pout and threw a grape at him, the tiny fruit hitting Katsuki above his eyebrow.

Katsuki growls and doesn’t waste a moment as he menacingly lifts his half-eaten onigiri, a playful smile growing on his face as Izuku giggles his way through half-hearted pleas.

Katsuki settles for not wasting a delicious onigiri, but did not mind wasting a couple of grapes, much to Izuku’s relief.

As Katsuki walks back home later that afternoon, he feels a strange yet pleasant warmth settle in his chest.

It’d been a good morning.

Later that evening, as he’s settling into bed his phone chirps beside him.

When he unlocks the screen he’s met with a single line.

Thank you for the best day in a while, Kacchan. <3

Katsuki’s heart squeezes in his chest, before thrumming as fast as a hummingbird’s wings as he types out his reply.

Yeah it was pretty all right. Night Deku.

September, Year 1

“Wait,” Izuku interrupted Katsuki, his face aghast. He held a hand up in front of Katsuki and stared at him with wide eyes. “You’re saying I already missed your birthday?”

The two were currently sat in a quiet corner of the library they’d claimed as their own earlier in the school year, hurriedly typing up a lab report that was due in exactly two hours—or at least Katsuki was attempting to, Izuku already seeming to have grown bored of the work in front of him and proven to be a great distraction.

“Six months ago.” he clarified, with a roll of his eyes at Izuku’s annoyingly endearing dramatics. “It was before I even met you.”

“But we got to celebrate my birthday.” Izuku pointed out, his bottom lip jutting out slightly. “We should celebrate belatedly!”

“Only because you practically forced me to come to your house for your birthday dinner.” Katsuki deadpanned as he pushed the glasses he almost never wore up the bridge of his nose, not moving his eyes away from the screen in front of him as he continued typing his lab report.

Nearly two weeks after their picnic, Katsuki had found himself inside the Midoriya household’s home for the first time, at a small celebration of Izuku’s birth.

He’d been nervous; Katsuki was never too comfortable visiting others’ homes and meeting parents—but he’d admittedly enjoyed himself.

“You had fun,” Izuku argued, leaning forward on the table. He set aside his books and laptop, having given up on working completely. “I’d never seen you laugh so much. I also didn’t think you could be so polite.”

Of course I was, the blond thought to himself. It was humanly impossible to be rude to Midoriya Inko; she was kindhearted and welcoming—not too different from her son.

“Fuck you,” Katsuki huffed and gave him an indignant look. “I can be polite. Mothers love me.”

That was a lie—Kirishima’s mother was perhaps the only mother that tolerated him aside from his own.

Izuku only smiled at him, reaching over to pat his forearm. “Well, at least my mother does. She thinks you’re great.”

Katsuki felt heat course flood his cheeks and goose pimples rise on his flesh at the velvety touch of Izuku’s warm fingers against his skin and pursed his lips, glancing away in embarrassment. “Well, yeah, I’m damned awesome.”

“I can’t say that I disagree with you. You’re a good friend to have, Kacchan.” Izuku tells him kindly.

Although Katsuki feels a small pool of warmth at the soft look in Izuku’s gaze, he can’t help the lump that builds in his throat, a small tug in his chest at his words.

A good friend.

Later that evening, as Katsuki sits alone in the semi-darkness of his empty dorm room, he's interrupted by a quiet knock at his door.

Standing at the doorway, arms full of snacks, a laptop, and the unmistakeable shiny cover of the limited edition DVD of All-Might: The Discovery of All for One was a messy-haired Midoriya Izuku.

"Why don't we get that belated birthday celebration going, Kacchan?" A wide grin and twinkling emerald orbs, look up at Katsuki's surprised face.

His stomach swoops, his palms dampen, his cheeks flush, his heart sings—

Katsuki learns.

[icharchivist]

I was rewatching DGM hallow and I remembered that Lavi and Bookman occasionally engage in telepathic conversations. How come I've never seen this talked about more in all the years I've been in this fandom? This is really weird. Even most of the Noahs think it's weird/creepy when someone reads their thoughts/talks in their head. The more I think about the Bookman the creepier they get. I'm not implying they're evil. Just really weird. 1) Telepathic w/each other. 2) Not only against attachments-

2 but against having a heart (not even the past Jedi at their most radical taught padawans to not feel anything). 3) If Bookman and Lavi are the standard then they either think they're above humanity or hate humans or or just indifferent. 4) they have SO many secrets that they keep to themselves no matter what. 5) they will never feel loyalty for anyone/thing that doesn't further their own ambition and even then they can easily drop you like you mean nothing to them. 5) They routinely erase-

3 each other's minds and none of them remember their birth names. 6) they swap identities so many times their own growth as individuals is trivial. 7) Ever single (possible) bookman we have met has either exhibited creepy or hostile behaviour. 8) they take to neutrality so strongly you can question if they even think to care what will happen to them if the Earl's plans succeed. 9) Are they even self aware? I'm not expecting a complete disaster. But I am expecting the bookman to weird me out.

Okay so for the telepathy i will have to come back to it when i will re-read it bc i don’t really remember it in Hallow and I think the scene I think should be that one??? Is the fact that ii’m almost certain i remember it being confirmed that Lavi and Bookman talk a whole other language. Apparently the Bookmen would have had their own language and I think i remember that in the manga it was translated by having weird bubbles to specify they were talking in that language (and it is possible that, due to the fact the anime couldn’t just pull a new language that was a work around to still have one of their Bookmen conversation being visible using telepathy).

But i really don’t remember the scene in question in details so i will have to check that out again but I THINK it is Bookman Language related more than telepathy and that the telepathy was a way for the anime to translate it

THAT SAID if the idea of Telepathy is a thing (which tbh could still be??? Bookmen already messes with minds a lot with the whole deleting memories thing who knows the hell they can do) it could explain also a lot of much more silent looks that we kinda justified so far by “they know something we don’t”. It might have been conversations we missed. 

Still unsure though i’ll get back to that when i will properly have re-read those parts bc this is really intruiguing me now

I know the fandom had talked about the Bookman’s language though but i’ve never heard of telepathy before now?? Idk 

And yeah like you say this is very weird bc putting them on the same level as Wisely is... very weird. Besides considering how much Lavi still struggles to get people around him i am fairly certain that if telepathy there are it i between the Bookmen only, not all knowing as Wisely.

But yeah aside from that, mood. The Bookmen are seriously a creepy brunch. Not in a bad way, but in a “this is extremely shady and I get you’re doing that to be neutral but i’m not sure those means are actually legally or morally applicable”

I agree with all your points. 

and i’ll elaborate under cut bc i might have gone carried away,

well 1) i just discussed it there, either Telepathy which would be a whole new can of worm, or a whole other language that would still applies that they have a special language to keep secrets in. And tbh it would also make sense that they would write down records in a secret language since they don’t actually let people Read their reccordings: Bookman specify that it comes with the part to “chat a lot”, they won’t share the written reccords (which they MUST HAVE for the the survival of the clan), so “Secret Language no one else in the world know” rings as shady to me.

4) NOT TO MENTION we know that Bookman also keeps secrets from Lavi (when meeting Cross’s altered akuma, Bookman specifies it was only something he (and Cross) knew about.). And it’s not to mention secrets that the Bookman in charge keeps from the rest of the Clan (see again, how Lavi’s eye is only known by Bookman Sr, not anyone else in the clan seems aware of that)

6) Apparently about their switching identities, something very creepy that came out of the latest Komui corner too is that the name they have during a war is the name that the recording will officially get. Meaning it’s not even that “Lavi” calls himself like that for the people around him, it’s that even after Jr would have moved on or died or anything, the Records of the Holy War would still be called “Lavi”. And we know that the names picked seems to have meaning that applies to each wars (as Wisely smugly smile realizing Lavi’s name’s meaning, but doesn’t tell people). So even more of a disconnect with their sense of humanity since they have to be distanced from their own names, as their names become history as it goes. Which makes Jr’s identity crisis over how “Lavi” is “him” even more creepy tbh, bc it extends that “Lavi” isn’t just a reccord name anymore, it is not just the Holy War anymore, it is part of Jr as a BEING. And to me that’s even creepier that it’s even something Lavi has to worry about.

8) this is honestly one of my biggest questions. If the Earl’s plans work, all humanity will die. Or at least there had been no mention so far of any “saved people that would go through the Ark”. (there had been speculations about the real purpose of the Akuma and how its evolution process would be perhaps a part in creating supperior beings to salvage during the Flood like the original Ark did, and i’ll need to get back to the chapters tha thints that there are more secrets to the Dark Matter than it just reversing the innocence, BUT personally I have issues with this theory because of how easily the Noah do torture and kill the Akuma at times and seem to look down on them. But I would agree there seems to be a bigger purpose to the Akuma and the Dark Matter that we cannot even imagine.)Regardless, I don’t see anyway for the Bookmen Clan to survive, else the Noah would have found way to keep them on their sides and not torture them like they do now and exclude them. Yet we know at some points the Bookmen were “on the Noah’s side”. So what the hell do the Bookmen expect to happen with the Flood? Is their neutrality so important that they are ready to litteraly go down with this ship when the end of the world come? Yet we know they have some self preservating instinct it seems, so why? It just enerves me so much!

9) Yeah same, basically.

One last thing i will add: How the HELL did Bookman manage to find himself and Lavi innocences he knew they would be accomodator to when they decided to join the Order? Bc the Corner mentions that Bookman decided to set them into the Order to watch BEFORE they even got in contact with the innocences, and Lavi mentions that “Gramps just knew we’ll find innocences we would be compatible with” and how????? How the hell??? You can’t just make it that easy for the two of them to randomly connect with two random innocences (and we know they’re the one who have shown the least actual connection with the innocence) after arcs and arcs proving that the innocence is picky and sentient, that its own personality affects who they end up picking, that even the synch can change depending of how the innocence feel to their acomodator, and Especially, that the Order had DECADES of experimentations that were basic human rights violation due to how desperate they were to not be able to have enough people synchronizing with the innocence.

You  cannot have a full arc of telling us the Order did an entiere experiment about bringing fallen exorcists’s brains back in new bodies in hope the innocence would synch with said bodies, while letting those bodies decay under the pain of the innocence, for the sLIGHT CHANCE an innocence could be compatible again, only to then tell us “oh yeah we wanted to join the order so we ended up finding two innocences that we could connect to.”

For exemple: Take the Crows. it’s obvious the Crows want to help the holy war, as the Third Exorcist project proved a whole brunch of people were ready to put Dark Matter in their body to fight back the Akuma. And from all those Crows, from all the experiments we know the Order have carried on, somehow, as long as we don’t know of a “Former Crow Exorcist”, it means it’s not that easy. Not when you have a whole military branch who would be willing to be God’s apostles. And it’s not even counting how others Orders’s soldiers like the Finders would or not jump on the occasion.

So how the hell did they do that? How the hell did Bookman find those? bc even if they don’t connect to their innocence on an emotional level, they seem like proper innocence. Else Allen would have commented about how the souls don’t disappear like planned, like when he saw how the Third Exorcists killed the Akuma. Besides, we also know Bookman fears Lavi’s innocence could turn into a crystal type, so it confirms this is legit innocence, and that Bookman doesn’t have full controle over it.

How could Bookman be so sure they will become accomodator BEFORE finding any innocences? It raises seriously worrying implications considering all we know about the innocence and how hard it is to find accomodators for it this far in the saga. 

*take s a deep breath* anyway that said,

tbh part of me understand the feeling of “wanting to disconnect your feelings” when you watch history happens, because history is goddamn overwhelming. For having studied history for a few years i’ve personally had a few breakdown just over thinking about the amounts of horrors you read about one year after the other, so to have to remember all those horrors AND reccord current horrors, I understand in principle the thought that shutting those emotions down is the easiest way to record it. 

In principle.

Because in practice this is (a lot like you compared) nearly impossible witout losing their humanity and even losing perhaps an important part of how to understand and translate human experiences through emotional lenses. That’s the major issue with this logic.

had they done that for so long they don’t even question it? Or are they perfectly aware that it’s exactly why they cannot afford emotions? what are their view on the world and it coming to an end? How far are they willing to go in order to keep their own secrecy and status squo? Do they even realize the possible irony of them “not meedling with history” while the only fact that they are meddling by taking the dispositions they do to remain hidden/uninvolved? Not to mention that wanting it or not, Bookman and Lavi had meddled in the Holy War. Would they remain fully neutral, Bookman wouldn’t have had to tell everything he knew about the Noah to Komui in his first appearance for exemple. 

Lately it seems like they seem more interested in the Noah losing (self preservation kicking in) but that does raise the question of how far they are willing to share the secret history and how much is considered “medding with history”? Because this “secret knowledge no one should have” IS changing the course of history by being shared.

Do they even realize or do they really see themselves as walking books who can deliver information if pressed a the condition it doesn’t require to dig in their secrets? Where do they draw the lines?

I have HUNDREDS of questions about the Bookmen and it drives me insane. I won’t exclude that i might be overthinking it bc man, gotta wait between chapters huh, and that perhaps it won’t be that complicated or deep, but the more you get to see how shady the Bookmen are the more you wonder how and why?

Anyway that fascinates me. Bookmen pls unlock your secrets,,

[mhdiaries]

Diary of Sirena Von Boo

I wouldn’t dream of reading your diary - so don’t read mine.

6.4

I filled out my Monster High application today (*gulp*). I’m trying not to get my hopes up – I mean, why would they accept me? What makes me so special? My only hope is that my unusual scaritage will help me stand out (it usually does – just not in a good way!). What other monster do you know who can say her parents met at the bottom of the ocean? You see, my mom was a huge bass-ketball (it’s kind like underwater casketball) star back in the day. She could dive deeper and faster than anyone else, which is really important when you need to retrieve the ball. One day during practice, she dived down farther than she’d ever been before, and she found this amazing old shipwreck… and who should be frightseeing around that wreck than the most drop-dead gorgeous ghost she’d ever seen. To hear my mom tell it, the ship wasn’t the only thing that was wrecked – so was her heart (*gag*). That drop-dead gorgeous ghost (otherwise known as Dad) couldn’t believe he finally found someone who matched his spirit. Who cared that she was a mermaid and couldn’t swim through things? He fell so hard in love that he never went back to the ghost world again. Fast forward about 20 years, and here we are today.

I got my love of anshrieking – you know, finding ordinary items from the past that have survived long enough to they’re now special, from my Dad. We can spend hours in them, mulling over faboolous finds and imagining their history. Next to the ocean, anshriek stores are my favorite place to drift off in. Even though Dad can get on my nerves sometimes (he has a tendency to hover), he’s usually pretty great company.

As for mom… sometimes I’m not so sure I belong to her! We get along fine and all, but if it wasn’t for our matching tails, I might wonder. My mom still operates at tur-boo speed, whether she’s planning cruises (her job) or shopping with sand dollars (her hobby). Me, on the other hand… well, I just like to coast along and take things as they come and lose myself in my imagination. Mom and I spend a lot of time swimming together, though, and she thinks I’m fast enough to swim competitively if I wanted to. Maybe, if I’m ever at the same high school long enough, I’ll try out for the team.

6.12

Head in the clouds, tail in the water: that’s pretty much how I feel most days. Half in, half out. Today I had to stop at the ghostery store for my dad, and this little vampire was all like, “Mommy, is that a ghoul, a ghost or a mermaid?!” (*cringe*) Poor little chomper looked totally confused.

Sometimes I think if I was just one thing I wouldn’t feel so divided all the time. But which would I choose??? I daydream about that a lot (mainly because I’d love to rock a pair of boo-jeans, and that’s really hard to do with a tail). But honestly, what would I do if I could only be on the land OR in the sea? It would be so boring to be chained to just one of them – like watching barnacles grow boring.

The only people who really get how I feel are by best friends Avea, Neighthan and Bonita. You would think we’d have nothing common, all being such different types of hybrid monsters, but they get what it’s like to be two things at once. I’m so glad they applied to Monster High, too. We made a pact that if one of us doesn’t get in, NONE of us are going. Fins crossed we all get the same news, one way or another.

6.29

One of the freaky coolest things about the summer is treasure hunting in the sea. I pretty much treasure hunt year-round, but the water is so much warmer in the summer, and I’ll take any oppor-tuna-ty I can to lurk around collecting. One of my favorite treasures to collect is pearls (diamonds are SO out with the tide, you know). I like to turn them into charms or weave them around my chains for extra-special occasions. I also string them up around my room so I can lay on my waterbed and listen to them softly chiming in the breeze (and when your dad is a ghost, there is ALWAYS a breeze). One of the great side effects of treasure hunting is I get totally lost in my thoughts down there – watching the sun sparkle through the water, wrapping myself up in the warm silence… just me, the water, and some otherworldly sea creatures. Today I woke up really worried that I hadn’t heard back from Monster High yet. I think I know what this means (and I’m not surprised), but all my worries were gone once I was a few fathoms below water. I saw this adorable family of sea horses, and I started thinking about how cool it would be to have a seahorse of my own… or maybe a whole litter of them, so they could pull me out to the sandbar… is “litter” the right word for a group of seahorses? Why are they called seahorses, anyway? They don’t neigh… hey, do sea horses make any sound at all?! (*head spinning*)

7.2

I was checking my email today at the Coffin Bean, and I suddenly realized I was the only monster there without a pet! My dad tends to creep out most animals, and my mom can’t stand the smell of wet fur, so they just refuse to let me have a pet. Sometimes my parents are so shellfish – don’t they understand how much this means to me?! The first thing I’m going to do when I graduate from high school is get a pet (well, after I find my own place, since I’d be in deep water if I brought one home!).

I spend a lot of time daydreaming about what kind of pet I’m going to get. One day I’m convinced an electric eel is the pet for me (we’d certainly light up the night together!)… and the next day all I can think about is getting a starfish (how cute would a periwinkle starfish look in my hair?! *squeee*) in fact, deciding which one to get might be the most stressful part about having a pet. I guess the only answer will be to get more than one!

7.10

I was on my way to meet Avea, Bonita and Neightan for a move (in sea-D!) this afternoon, when I decided to stop off at the catacombs to cool off from the blazing sun. the catacombs are the perfect summer hideaway. I can let myself – and my thoughts – wander without much chance of interruption. Today, however, I had a surprise. I ran through a ghost named Spectra! AND Spectra had a pet – a ferret named Rhuen! Spectra is a student at Monster High, and she writes a column for the school paper. She’s also a ghost, which automatically gave us something in common. I’m not entirely sure we’d be ghostly good friends – she asked a TON of questions – but it was scary cool to say I now know somebody who actually goes to Monster High (not that I’m getting in or anything). We talked about meeting up again, when all of a sudden, I noticed my shell phone flashing. I totally missed calls from Avea and Bonita – and, as it turns out, I missed the movie as well! It all ended up working out, though. I found everyone at the die-ner after the movie, and I had a gill-licious ice scream shake and fries. That’s what I love about my friends. They don’t take my drifting off personally.

8.1

Did this really just happen, or is this another one of my daydreams?! It started out like any other day… I was in the kitchen warming up a bowl of float-meal when my dad rattled over with mom and asked f we’d gotten anything interesting in the mail. Right away I knew something was up – I mean, you can see right through him. Dad handed me a letter, and before I even had a chance to read the first line, shrieked “Honey, you’ve been accepted to Monster High!” I rolled my eyes like, “Whatever”, but then I flew back to my bedroom and re-read the letter about fifty times. It was true… I would be starting Monster High in less than a month! I’ve been drifting around from school to school for so long. Maybe, this is just one more place to unfit in, but at the same time… maybe, it’s a chance to really make a splash.

I guess the worst thing that can happen is that Monster High will be like every other school I’ve tried… I’ll go there, hate it, then drift off to another school next year. And I guess the best thing that can happen is that I’ll love it. Avea, Bonita and Neighthan all got in, so I’ll get to see them every day. Maybe I’ll make some more clawsome friends, learn some deadly cool new things, and even try out for the swim team. Then again… I don’t want to make a specter out of myself on the first day. As my dad is fond of saying, what ghost up must come down. Maybe the reverse is true. If I keep my expectations down, then they can only go up from there!

Just take a deep breath and dip your toe in, Von Boo. You can do it!