#I wanted to choose two mcs that I haven’t drawn yet and these two are so cute😭💓

[myokk]

Ok I only have two reasons for this🧍‍♀️

1) it’s raining all day

2) I’m bingeing Bridgerton & I wanted to draw big fluffy dresses😭

I hope it’s ok that I borrowed Clora and Lyla for this😇🙏😙 tbh I drew the sketches underneath super fast & I wish I had spent more time on them but I was too excited to do the dresses jajajajajaja

@choccy-milky @keri-mcberry

[joonie-beanie]

Missing Ingredient

Pairing: Solomon x Reader

Word Count: 5,467

Preview: Solomon needs help obtaining some "nectar" for a spell he wants to try, and asks you for your assistance.

Unbeknownst to you, the so-called nectar he needs isn't from a flower at all.

This chapter is also being posted as a part of my “Devil Doms” series on AO3.

I wrote this after getting inspired by one of @/shokujin-art’s pieces with Solomon and their MC Ethan!

WARNING: This chapter can be considered dub-con. If dubious consent makes you uncomfortable, please do not read.

“I need your help.”

The smile on Solomon’s face is a little disconcerting. After all, usually it’s not he who is asking you for help, but…you decide to hear him out.

“With what?”

Your gaze is openly skeptical as you regard him, but his smile doesn’t waver.

“I need nectar for a spell I’ve been wanting to test out for a while. I was wondering if you could help me in that regard.”

You blink at him, confused. Nectar? How the hell are you supposed help with that? It’s not like you’re an expert with flowers, and you certainly have no idea about flowers that reside in the Devildom.

“You…want me to help you find…nectar?”

He nods, bringing a hand up to his chin—his eyes turning towards the ceiling.

“Well…basically, yes.”

You narrow your gaze at his phrasing, concern growing by the moment. Exactly what the hell is Solomon playing at? You know he’s a bit of a sketchy bastard, and sometimes you feel like he can’t be trusted, but…so far, he hasn’t wronged you.

…that counts for something, right?

“Listen,” you say, poking a finger into his chest. His eyes widen at the action, and he pauses—staring at you as you continue to jab him. “I’ll help you, okay? But I better not be harmed on this journey to achieve whatever “nectar” you need. Got it, wizard boy?”

Solomon rolls his eyes at your nickname—catching your finger when you move to press your nail into his chest once more.

“You won’t experience any pain,” he says, laughing quietly. His eyes crease, a handsome smile lighting up his face, and for a second, you forget about your worries.

“I promise.”

The next weekend, you get a text from Solomon demanding that you come over to Purgatory Hall.

Today is the day—he needs your help with his nectar issue—and so, you pack up your bag and head over.

You’d attempted to ask him what retrieving this nectar would entail. After all, did you need to dress in hiking boots?? Would he be taking you out into the Devildom wilderness to try and find some rare, valuable flower?? But Solomon had refused to reveal any details.

He’d simply explained that it may take a few hours, and that you should just bring yourself, and any basic necessities.

So now, here you are—standing on the step to Purgatory Hall—waiting for Solomon to come and let you in. It takes a few minutes, but eventually the grand wooden door is pulled open.

“Took you long enough,” you mumble as he ushers you inside. The sorcerer can only laugh, keeping pace beside you as the two of you traverse the halls—heading towards his room.

“Sorry,” he says. His hand moves to wipe at his brow. You notice the tiny beads of sweat sticking to his skin, and curiosity fills you. “I was preparing.”

“Preparing for what?”

Again, Solomon reveals nothing. He easily laughs off the seriousness of your question, waving a hand in front of him as if to try and dissipate any of your worries.

“Preparing to retrieve the nectar,” he responds after a moment, flashing you a small smile. “I’ve been trying to gather the ingredients for this spell for many, many years, and this is the last, and hardest one to collect.”

“And…you need my help in particular with this…why?”

Your eyebrows are knit together on your forehead, and you’re sure that Solomon notices your trepidation, yet he chooses not to address it. Instead, he continues a few more strides up the hall before stopping.

You’ve already arrived at his room.

He reaches out to grab the doorknob, his silver eyes darkening playfully as he regards you. The subtle shift in his demeanor has butterflies tickling the inside of your stomach, and you swallow nervously.

While you’re not as magically inclined as Solomon, you can still feel the magic leaking from inside of his room. He obviously has something planned for you once you step inside, but you’re not sure what.

“…you promised you wouldn’t hurt me,” you remind him, pouting angrily—attempting to hide your apprehension. Your words have Solomon rolling his eyes, and he releases the door knob.

Standing straight, he jerks two of his fingers towards you, and suddenly a golden magic circle encases one of your wrists.

Your eyes widen in surprise, but before you can think to say anything, he’s making another motion with his hand. Quickly, the magic circle tugs you forward, and within seconds, you find yourself directly in front of Solomon.

His previously kind smile is now replaced with something more akin to an amused grin.

“I gave you my word, didn’t I?” he asks, free hand moving to gently brush a few stray hairs from your face. The gesture contradicts his current attitude, making you feel torn. Anxiety and excitement mingle in your gut—both turned on and concerned by your predicament.

“You did, but you’re kind of a bastard, so I want you to reassure me…,” you mumble, cheeks heating up as you stare at him.

This isn’t exactly the first time Solomon has used his magic to fluster you. No, many times now he has casually used spells to fuck with you—making you more sensitive to the touch, or creating a brief gust of wind to flip your skirt up while at RAD. It has kind of become your thing—picking on each other, with Solomon bridging into sexual territory every so often.

Actually...you’d made out with him a few weeks prior—both of you slightly intoxicated, and drawn in by the club music at The Fall—but it had never gone beyond kissing, and groping. Despite that, the sexual energy between the two of you had been palpable.

Yet, nothing had come of it. You’d mutually parted—preserved your friendship—and gone your separate ways that night. You’d assumed that Solomon simply wasn’t interested in doing those kinds of things with you—that any playfully sexual advances towards you were done in the spirit of friendship. Which you were okay with.

But…now that you’re standing here—hair risen all across your body at the magic leaking from his room—you know that he has big plans. And judging by the glint in his eyes, and the way his thumb is carefully caressing your cheek—you’ll certainly be in for a treat.

“When you step beyond the threshold of this door, no harm will come to you,” he speaks calmly, dipping down to press a soft kiss to your lips. Almost instantly, you’re melting into him—heart hammering against your ribs as your defenses are so easily torn away.

“Do you trust me?”

You nod, and his fingers leave your face. You hear the doorknob turn.

“I shouldn’t, but I do.”

He laughs at that, and in the next beat, he’s pulling you inside.

His room is just like you remember it—spacious, and dark. His desk is littered with an army of ingredients, and spell books. His bed is nicely made, and there’s a single, leather armchair tucked into the corner of the room, near the fireplace.

The only thing out of the ordinary is the golden blob of magic sitting in the center of the room. There’s an intricately drawn circle of chalk surrounding it—many runes, and foreign words tied into the dormant spell.

“I’m beginning to think that this “nectar” you need isn’t exactly from a flower…,” you mumble, sending him a little look when he once again uses the magic circle around your wrist to force you farther into his room. Solomon only smiles, guiding you forward until you’re standing inside the chalk ring—the blob of magic at your feet.

“To be honest, for the longest time I thought I was searching for a rare flower,” he says, sighing as he recalls his strife. His footsteps echo throughout the silent room as he scoots arounds the circle, shaking his head in disappointment. “This is a spell I found in an ancient text, and the words were quite hard to decipher. At some point, I picked out the word “nectar”, but figuring out what kind of nectar took far too long.”

As he speaks, you feel the spell at your feet start to buzz to life. And when your gaze flickers to the floor, you note that the blob of magic is starting to…move?

With each passing second, as the spell activates, the ball of golden magic expands and contracts—bulging here or there. You’re forced to divide your attention between Solomon—who is now standing in front of the leather chair—and the magic at your feet (which looks ready to explode).

“Solomon…,” you speak nervously, gasping when a second magic circle suddenly encases your free wrist. You turn to look at the sorcerer just as he jerks his fingers towards the ceiling—forcing your arms high above your head, where the spinning circles then merge into a single, larger one.

“H-Hey! You still haven’t told me what the hell is going on!” you stutter, feeling warmth on your cheeks as you realize your current state of vulnerability. With your hands bound like this, there’s no way you can escape whatever Solomon has planned.

“And yet, you still look like you’re enjoying this,” he teases you. You attempt to glare at him, but there’s no real power behind it, considering he’s right.

“Bastard…”

Solomon laughs at that, and he steps into the chalk circle without warning. His hands find your waist, and he kisses you without an ounce of hesitation. His lips are firm, and warm—moving against your own languidly, like he’s got all the time in the world.

The show of intimacy successfully distracts you from the ball of magic at your feet. Well…at least until the energy takes a new form—multiple, long limbs of magic shooting out, and wrapping around you.

“Mmph!” you squeal around his tongue, rearing back in shock. You look down, wriggling as the warm tendrils of magic climb your body. One is already hugging your waist—replacing the feel of Solomon’s hands as the wizard takes a step back—watching everything unfold with a self-satisfied grin spreading across his lips.

“Basically,” he speaks, calm as ever—as if you aren’t being molested by magic. His magic. “I finally figured out that the “nectar” I’ve been searching for is the arousal of a human. The product of their pleasure.”

His words have you feeling even hotter—an embarrassing gasp leaving you as one of the tendrils wraps around your thigh, and wiggles against your clothed sex.

“Really, of course I finally figured it out once I’m here in the Devildom.” He shakes his head, crossing his arms disappointedly. You bite your lip, trying to stifle another lewd sound as the tendril around your waist curls up between your breasts.

From what you can tell, there are 2…well, tentacles of magic in total—with one occupying your legs, and the other busying itself with your torso.

“I-If you need human arousal, why not use your own?” you ask him, already quite breathless. The sound makes Solomon’s eyes sparkle.

“What? You think I want to sit around and jerk into a cup for god knows how long?” he laughs, eyes raking down your body. His gaze stops near your hips, and he makes a motion with his hand. In response, the tentacle currently rubbing softly against your pussy pulls away—hooking under the waistband of your pants.

In one swift motion, it tugs the garment down your legs, and discards it onto the floor. You flush hottly, pressing your thighs together in an attempt to preserve a sliver of modesty—but the tendril of magic easily slips its way between your legs, once again rubbing against your pelvis.

“And besides, this route seemed much more fun.” He smiles cheekily, a dark sort of amusement lingering in his silver gaze. “I always pegged you as the type to enjoy a situation like this anyway. You know, a damsel in distress with a bit of kink and sex thrown in.”

You send him another look, but can’t say anything. Because…he’s not necessarily wrong. You can’t deny his words, nor can your body deny its reaction to your current predicament. Each pass of the magic between your legs or against your breasts has arousal pooling in your gut.

“Of course, if I’m wrong, just tell me, and I’ll stop.”

Despite the teasing look on his face, his words are genuine. He won’t do anything you’re not okay with. Even if he needs the ingredient for his spell, it seems he’s not entirely an asshole. At least, not to you.

“N…no…I’m okay with this,” you admit meekly, causing him to smile. “But…how are you retrieving the… um…”

You’re too shy to say it, now, realizing what the nectar actually is.

“Well, I did mention that all of this took time to prepare,” he responds, allowing the tendrils of his magic to continue roaming your body freely. It seems like he’s able to control them when he wants, but otherwise, they’ll continue working towards their goal on their own.

“Since I was able to get you to agree to help me out—”

“Without telling me what would actually be involved.”

He sends you a look—a little annoyed at being interrupted despite so kindly answering all of your questions.

“Oh I’m sorry—,” he makes a motion with his hand, and suddenly the tentacle around your chest is tearing your shirt away with a definitive rip. In the same beat, the tentacle between your legs slips beneath the crotch of your panties—tugging them off your body.

Somehow, it manages to discard the garment near Solomon’s feet, so he bends down and picks up the cotton fabric with a smile—the large spot of arousal hard to miss, even in the dim light of his room.

“—but do you really have the right to be sassing me about my ethics, when you’re already wet enough to stain your panties? Clearly, you’re turned on despite me not telling you, love.”

You open your mouth to attempt to defend your pride, but the only sound that comes out is a lewd gasp. The smooth magic between your thighs resumes its motions—now rubbing up against your wet pussy with no barrier. The contact makes you ache—your clit already so sensitive to the touch—and a satisfied grin settles on Solomon’s face.

“As I was saying,” he continues with his explanation calmly, but his gaze doesn’t leave the sight of you. With your panties gone, and your shirt in tatters on the floor, the sorcerer would be a fool to not watch the show unraveling in front of him.

“It took time to prepare. I had to figure out what would be the best way to retrieve the nectar without letting it go to waste. After all, sex can be so messy.”

Solomon pauses for a moment, soaking in the sound of your voice as you whine—your body flushed from head to toe as the thick tentacles of his magic keep their pace, rubbing against you in all the right places.

His slacks are beginning to feel a little tight.

He coughs.

“Basically, the raw magic will absorb your “nectar”, and will keep it trapped until I can draw it out.”

“S-So what?” you whimper, fingers helplessly curling and uncurling above you. His magic circle allows your wrists no wiggle room. “Y-You’re just going to sit here and watch your magic molest me until you’ve collected enough of my arousal for your spell?”

“Molest is a strong word,” Solomon says, seating himself in the leather chair. He leans back, letting his legs spread wide, and your eyes fall to the tent in his pants. “I prefer fondle. Or, pleasure. After all, you’re feeling a fair amount of pleasure right now, aren’t you?”

With a small inclination of his fingers, the tentacle between your legs pulls back—the thick, rounded tip pressing directly against your clit. It moves in miniscule side to side motions, and Solomon sees the way your entire body flexes—thighs shaking with each pass over your bundle of nerves.

“Fuck,” you pant, arms straining against their bindings. The wizard chuckles.

“Shall I make you cum like this? Or would you prefer to wait? Personally, I have no qualms making you orgasm until you’re begging me to stop, but I also don’t want to break you. You’d be a pain to put back together.”

“Asshole,” you remark.

With the tentacle still swiping across your clit, you know it won’t be long until you reach your climax. And while you know cumming will only serve to make everything more sensitive afterwards, you can’t bring yourself to pass up the offer of an orgasm. You’re already too close, and your body is begging for a release.

“I…I want to cum. Please.”

“Look at you, saying “please” even though you’re calling me an asshole.”

You so desperately wish he was within kicking range, because if he was, you would absolutely lift your leg and wipe that cocky grin straight off his face.

Luckily, the magic between your legs quickly distracts you from your anger towards the sorcerer. 

As if hearing your plea to cum, it begins to work even faster—searching for the pattern that will undoubtedly drag you into the depths of your pleasure. And once it finds it—lewd gasps and moans falling from your lips—the tentacle keeps at it until you’re tumbling into your release.

Sensing your orgasm, the magic limb presses up against your pelvis. It slots between your folds, rubbing languidly as you experience your high.

You can only guess that it’s currently collecting all of the precious “nectar” that has leaked from your throbbing pussy following your climax.

“Shit…”

Apparently willing to give you a moment to breath, the magic tendril occupying your sex continues its slow motions. In its place, the tentacle that had been lazily fondling your chest until now gets to work. It fully wraps around both of your breasts—squeezing, and tugging—almost as if it’s attempting to milk you.

Your eyes flutter shut at the sensation—quiet, hot breaths filling the space in front of you as the tailend of your orgasm finally passes. Yet, you can still feel the embers burning in your gut, threatening to reignite with any simple touch.

“Feel good?” Solomon questions, drawing you out of your haze. Your eyes fall to him, heart thundering in your chest when you notice that one of his hands has strayed beneath his trousers—fingers enclosed around his length through the fabric of his underwear.

“Perverted wizard,” you speak instead, completely ignoring his question. The smallest of grins grace your lips, a breathy laugh leaving you. “Getting so hard from watching me. Shouldn’t you be ashamed?”

He chuckles at your words, looking amused by your wit.

Truly, you’re a fool to be speaking to him like that, as if he isn’t the one in charge right now. While he’s been kind to you thus far, he has no issue in changing that.

“Be a good cock slut and shut the hell up.”

He flicks his fingers, a fake smile plastered on his face, and in the next moment your pussy is filled to the brim with his magic. The tentacle reaches deep—snaking between your walls until the soft head is pressed flush against your cervix.

The abrupt intrusion has you crying out, wrists once again straining against their bindings as you struggle to adjust to the new sensation. And yet, Solomon grants you no grace period.

The magic begins to move—sliding in and out of your wet walls at a swift pace that has your mouth opening, but no sound coming out. At the same time, the tentacle at your chest squeezes harder, the tip of the appendage moving to swirl around one of your hardened nipples.

“S-Solomon,” you choke out, knees buckling under the intensity of his magic. The way his name sounds falling from your lips—desperate and overwhelmed—has his cock jumping against its confines.

His jaw clenches, fingers squeezing a bit tighter as he strokes himself.

“I’d slow their pace down, but I can hear how wet you are from here,” he remarks, silver gaze falling to the space between your thighs. As the tentacle grinds inside of you, small amounts of your arousal are soaked up by his magic. As they’re absorbed, the liquid pools in the main body of the magic—the blob still resting at the center of the chalk circle which is keeping his spell active.

“I called you a cock slut teasingly, but it seems you actually are one. How precious.”

“Fuck off,” you pant, body writhing as the embers in your gut quickly reignite into flames—hot, intense, and growing with each second that passes.

He laughs at your exclamation, pressing to his feet. With deft fingers, Solomon quickly rids himself of his pants, and underwear—the pieces of clothing lying abandoned on the floor beside your own. And when he moves forward—once again entering the magic circle, and stepping into your personal space—you feel your heart skip a beat.

Your pussy clenches around the tentacle still working inside of you, nervous butterflies blooming in your tummy when you see the dark look in Solomon’s eyes. Like he’s finally giving you a glimpse of the real him—not the kind façade he always shows in front of the others.

“If you’re going to use your mouth in such a vulgar fashion, I know a better way.”

Suddenly, without warning, the magic circle encasing your wrists presses downward—forcing you to your knees. The tentacles adjust accordingly, but continue their ministrations as normal. The new position, however, has you eye-level with Solomon’s weeping cock.

“Say ah,” he says, canting his hips forward. The tip of his length smears against your hot cheek, and you flit your gaze up to him—aroused, and a little scared.

He’d be lying if he said the fear didn’t turn him on.

“No?” Solomon tangles a hand in your hair—firm, but not enough to hurt. He holds your stare, his eyes expectant. Yet, he doesn’t force himself upon you. After all, he gave you his word that he wouldn’t hurt you, and while right now he would love nothing more than to stuff your mouth with his cock, he won’t if it’s pushing you too far.

You take a deep breath, trying to calm your nerves (although it’s not easy to do, considering the two tentacles that are still very bent on pleasuring you for the sake of your “nectar”). Then—

You part your lips, hot breath fanning against his length.

“Aaah—”

Solomon looks genuinely surprised for a moment. However, he definitely won’t be wasting such a perfect opportunity.

“Truly a cock slut,” he says by way of praise—sliding his cock into your mouth before you can even think of responding.

The moment he hits the back of your throat—making you gag—you realize what you’re in for. There’s no way you’re making it out of this situation sane. Not with Solomon fucking your mouth, while his magic devastates your pussy, and fondles your chest.

In contrast to the quick, brutal pace the tentacle currently occupied with your sex has taken, Solomon starts off slowly. He rocks himself into your mouth, his silver eyes focused on you as your lips suction around him. Each time, he ventures deep—his cock sliding into you until you can take no more.

Tears blot your eyes, body tensing as you resist the urge to gag around him once again. Solomon notices your struggle—watching the way your fingers curl into fists. A part of him debates being nicer. You’re already struggling thanks to the ministrations of his magic, after all, and yet—

“You like it rough, don’t you?”

He reaffirms his grip on your hair—holding your head steady as he begins rolling his hips. He’s still not as fast as the tentacle devastating your pussy, but his slow pace is no more. No, he fucks you quick enough that you don’t have time to steel yourself for the sensation of his cock hitting the back of your throat.

So now, along with the wet, slapping sounds already filling the room, your frequent, helpless gagging can be heard as well.

To Solomon, it’s music to his ears.

“I don’t need you to tell me “yes”. I can already see the answer with how much of your arousal my magic is collecting,” he says, breathing a laugh. “Seriously, you’re the one that should be ashamed, Y/N. You stand there and tease me for getting hard, but you’re the one positively leaking right now. Do you want to be even more stuffed? I could create a third tentacle if you like.”

“Nn—,” you attempt to shake your head, tears finally rolling down your cheeks. You already feel like you’re going insane. There’s no way you’d be able to handle anything more than this.

Solomon grins at your response, purposely grinding into your mouth, and holding himself there. He watches as you flounder—body writhing against the bindings at your wrists. 

Even as you struggle to breathe, you can feel the orgasm building inside of you.

You choke down a sob.

Solomon’s magic is relentless. You have no idea how long it’s been—how long the tentacles have been teasing you—have been trying to milk you for all that you’re worth—but it’s been long enough to bring you to the edge once more. And each time Solomon forces you to gag around him, you only inch closer.

“Mmph,” you whine pathetically around him, your body shaking as your pleasure continues to build to a peak. It won’t be long until you’re sent tumbling over the edge a second time, and once that happens, you’re not sure how much more you’ll be able to take. Your brain already feels like it’s on the verge of short-circuiting.

“This is a good look on you—,” he comments. Sweat has beaded on his brow—stray strands of his hair sticking to his forehead, and you’re mad that he still manages to appear so handsome despite his disheveled state.

“—ruined, and on the brink of orgasm. You’re going to cum again, right?”

Your noise of admission is lost around his cock as he continues fucking into your mouth. However, he doesn’t need to hear your agreement. He can already tell—what, with the way your eyes are practically ready to roll back into your head.

“You should wait for me,” he says, amusement tugging at his lips when he feels you whimper. “Can you manage that?”

Without waiting for your muffled attempt at a response, Solomon thrusts become rougher. He fucks into your throat, groaning at the way you instinctively gag and swallow around him. Saliva pools at the corners of your lips—slipping down to your chin and mingling with the tears that have fallen from your eyes.

You’re so overwhelmed. You’ve never experienced so many sensations at once, and while you try your best to hold out for Solomon—to be good, and wait for him like he’s requested—you can’t. It’s impossible.

With a strangled cry, you come undone. Your body thrashes, your head naturally attempting to pull away from Solomon for much needed air, but he doesn’t let you go anywhere.

“Ah, if only you had waited a little longer,” he remarks, disappointment in his tone. He lowers his other hand to grab your head, and more tears pour down your cheeks as he face fucks you to his heart’s content—even as your orgasm continues to roll through you.

Luckily, the sorcerer isn’t very far behind. He finds his release just as your orgasm is beginning to subside, the tentacles that are assaulting you finally beginning to slow their ruthless pace. 

Gripping your hair, he forces himself deep into your throat—a dark satisfaction settling in his gut as he watches you choke on his seed.

“Swallow like a good girl,” he chides, one of his hands moving to wipe away your tears. As best you can, you swallow around him—puffy eyes turning up to him. The pleading look on your face successfully softens his heart, and with a sigh, he releases your head.

Immediately, you’re pulling back—coughing and gasping for air.

“P-Please, I can’t…anymore…,” you beg, voice raw. The tentacles have started picking up their pace once again--ready to resume their duty after having given you a few minutes to rest.

Solomon clicks his tongue, his silver gaze dropping to the mass of magic on the floor. There’s a fair amount of your “nectar” that has settled at the bottom of the orb. Enough that Solomon will be able to attempt his spell more than a few times.

So, with that in mind, he releases you.

The tentacle around your torso unwinds—your breasts feeling used, and sore from its touches. At the same time, the magic stuffing your pussy slowly pulls out—the limb soaking up whatever excess arousal you have to offer as it retreats.

Before long, the two tentacles have remerged with the ball of golden magic—the light from the spell circle fading as everything settles back into place. Once he’s sure that your precious juices are properly kept, Solomon waves his hand, and the magic binding your wrists disappears.

Almost instantly, you’re falling forward—catching yourself on your hands and knees, fingers smearing through intricately drawn chalk lines. Solomon kneels in front of you, brushing your hair from your eyes.

“You did well,” he says.

“You’re the worst,” you respond. 

Your entire body feels like jello. You’re not even sure there’s any blood left in your arms.

He chuckles.

“Fine, I’m the worst.”

Grabbing you beneath your arms, Solomon helps you to your feet, and leads you over to his bed. He throws the sheets over you, and then moves to retrieve the blob on the center of his floor. He gingerly places it on his desk—resting it atop a plush cushion, like a prized pet.

His eyes linger on it for a few seconds, satisfied. Then, his silver stare turns back to you—his sheets rustling as you settle yourself in.

There’s absolutely no way he’ll be kicking you out anytime soon. If you can barely walk to his bed with his help, there’s no chance that you’ll be able to walk all the way back to the House of Lamentation.

Luckily, he doesn’t seem to mind your company. He’s got a heart inside of him, even if parts are stained black.

“I’ll go get some water,” he says. However, just as he’s brushing past the bed, there’s a knock at his door.

He pauses at the sound, and you hold his sheets tighter around your naked body.

Eyebrow raised curiously, Solomon strides to the door and pulls it open. Standing on the other side is a red-faced Simeon. He looks both angry, and embarrassed.

Solomon’s heart drops.

Despite all his preparation, he’d forgotten to enact a noise blocking spell…

“Oh shit.”

“Oh shit is right,” Simeon responds, crossing his arms. “You’re lucky Barbatos agreed without question to teach Luke a new recipe despite me calling him last minute. Once I heard you and your partner…going at it. You live with a child up the hall, Solomon.”

Solomon sighs. “I’m sorry. I meant to cast a spell to block the noise, but I forgot.”

“Next time, don’t forget, or I’ll have harsher words to say to you.”

“Very much noted.”

“Good.” Nodding, Simeon turns to stalk away from the wizard, but pauses.

“Oh, by the way, you mentioned inviting Y/N over this weekend. Are you still planning to do that? I’d love to see her.”

“Uhhh…,” Solomon resists the urge to glance back into his room, towards the bed where you’re currently hiding yourself. “Yeah. She should be over later. I’ll let you know when she gets here.”

“Good!”

Smiling, Simeon disappears up the hall. Solomon shuts his door, and from beneath his covers, you quietly scream.

“Simeon heard us fucking!! What’s wrong with you!!”

Again, Solomon sighs.

“Yes, yes, we already agreed—I’m the worst. Now pipe down, or I’ll have to shut you up again.”

When you actually cease your scolding words—glaring at him over the edge of his sheets—Solomon cocks an arrogant eyebrow.

Well then, he certainly knows the best way to get you to shut up from now on.

[opalmaplehibiscus]

Information as to Why Twisted Wonderland is NOT an Otome or Dating Sims Game

Hello Everyone! It’s been a while~ ヾ(•ω•`)o I finally found the courage to write Twisted Wonderland content after what happened a couple months ago, when I literally just came back, and while writing a couple of analysis I thought I would write this as an informative rather than an actual analysis of the game.

DISCLAIMER: This post is NOT by any means demeaning otome games or dating sims whatsoever. This was written to clear the misunderstanding people had on the genre of Twisted Wonderland and that anyone should be allowed to be play without feeling restricted or thinking it’s not something they want to try because of misunderstandings. Do NOT use this post as a source to offend people but please use it to inform others.

It’s no longer old news that Twisted Wonderland frequently gets called an “otome game” or dating sims by people who never played the game before. People on twitter, youtube, and even those that were trying to or supposed to advertise the game have often categorized it as such. This wouldn’t have been such a big deal had people recognize and acknowledge that the game isn’t after being explained to about it, but after hearing their arguments as to why they refuse to change how they think about it, the frustration pent up for nearly a year has finally bubbled over.  Buckle your seats everyone cause today is the day this argument ends once and for all!

First off, let’s start off with what makes an otome/dating-sims an otome/dating sim. Both are very similar, where, according to Japan’s Wikipedia, Nico dictionary, Kotobanks, and many more Japanese dictionary sites, otome games (i.e. 乙女ゲーム)  are games which includes a female MC who has the opportunity to attract the very attractive male characters in the game and enter a love route with each of them separately or harem-like. Dating sims are a bit different. Dating sims (i.e. 恋愛シミュレーションゲーム)  falls into to two definitions with the first one being the exact reversal of otome: MC being male, the love interest characters being very attractive females. The second definition is the one many are familiar with – a romantic visual novel. Believe it or not the first definition is the original definition of what dating-sim games are, the second meaning derived from many attempts of using the term “dating-sim” incorrectly by the English speaking gamers to the point society now believes it’s the actual meaning.

However, this difference doesn’t change that both otome and dating sims are very close. Both genres include gender-specific MC(s) (there’s been games where a player can play either male or female), handsome/beautiful characters with their respective love routes, and a main plot to follow. In addition to this, when the game is in mobage format, there’s going to be showers of fan service in the form of events and gacha-cards, though, arguably, it doesn’t change the fact that the MCs would still be interacting with the characters romantically.

So, from the explanation written above, Twisted Wonderland falls into that category, right? Sorry not sorry, that’s wrong. Sure, Twisted Wonderland has many characters to swoon over since…I mean…they’re drawn and written by Yana Toboso and her staff and…there hasn’t been anyone so far who had the capability of saying no to characters she personally had drawn or created. But! It doesn’t mean that the game is a dating sim or otome.

One of the reasons Twisted Wonderland isn’t one of them is how the game is set up. There are no routes the MC can enter nor can the MC pick and choose which characters to focus on in general. Like FGO and Granblue Fantasy, the MC solely follows the main plot and has to interact with all the characters they’re introduced to whether they like it or not. The same logic is applied when playing events – the MC will be participating and talking to all the characters involved in the event. Not once does the game give the opportunity for the MC to choose who they can talk to and participate in the event with the person they chose. The only time it’ll be one-on-one is, most of the time, getting the desired character’s card through gacha or when the event sets the story where the MC has no choice but to talk to a character one-to-one. For the latter though, the MC isn’t going to be able to wish for the character they want to talk to – it’s completely random and up to the writers who they want the MC to interact with.

For otome and dating-sims alike, especially in mobage format, the MC has the opportunity to choose who they wish to focus on and interact solely with the characters they chose whether it’s the main story, event, and card story. It can even be arguably said that otome and dating sims focus solely on the MC and their love interest interaction more than anything else. As for Twisted Wonderland, again, that does not happen. Twisted Wonderland, in addition to progressing the main story and revealing more about the characters involved, focuses on everyone’s interaction with each other including the NPCs. The game shows the other characters that aren’t interacting with the MC talking to other characters and what role they were playing while the MC was busy with the group the writer had them interact with during that time. Even in the card stories, most of the card stories involve more character-to-character interaction rather than MC-to-character interaction.

Speaking of which, the MC in Twisted Wonderland, the game, is gender ambiguous.  Not once did the game developers and story writers mentions the MC as a specific gender like the other romance games. Heck, most of the characters don’t even use a gender-specific pronoun such as 彼女 (“kanojo” = she) or  彼 (“kare” = he) when referring to the MC. They usually refer to the MC by their given position, 監督生 ( “kantokusei”  = prefect). The only exception is when the game’s mascot and MC’s buddy, Grim (the blue-fire monster), who uses あいつ ( “aitsu”) which is a gender neutral pronoun that holds the vague meaning of “that one” or “that person”. There’s also the fact that the MC’s default name is ユウ (“Yuu”), which is name used by either genders in Japan and how the MC uses gender neutral pronouns when regarding themselves  as 自分 (“jibun”) and others as 貴方/あなた (“anata”).

Even during the official advertisement, official summary, official game archive book ( i.e., Twisted Wonderland Magical Archives), and posts made by the staff on twitter, not once did they specify the gender of the MC. In fact, they never once even specified the gender of the audience they’re targeting the game towards nor say anything about there being romance or any hints of harem-esque situations that involves the MC in any shape or form. The most “direct” statement made by Twisted Wonderland’s staff was from an email a fellow Twisted Wonderland fan had sent to the staff after a magazine had advertised the game as “Disney’s first game for women”. The email from the staff mentions that they wanted the game to be enjoyed by everyone, REGARDLESS OF GENDER. (link to said post here)

If they had any intentions of making the game otome-like or dating sim-like, Aniplex, Disney, and Twisted Wonderland staff would’ve mentioned that the game has romance or the possibility for there being romance when releasing the story summary, game system set up, and their ads. Not only would they have done that to get the audience they wish to target but speaking of it legally, they are required to mention it since there’s liability on their part on informing their customers on anything they need to know in regard to the game they’re playing. Age restrictions, fees, game play, and the like – Twisted Wonderland also had to go through the same process like any other visual novel games to be developed and released.

In a way, Twisted Wonderland can be seen as another Touken Ranbu or KanColle, but with an actual main story plot to progress through. All three games’ MCs are gender ambiguous, great characters to throw-er-spend money on, and have fun game plays. Sure, unlike Touken Ranbu and KanColle, where their MCs continues to be gender ambiguous in their anime and manga adaptation, Twisted Wonderland’s MC in the manga adaptation ended up being male – however, a statement was released by Yana revealed that the MC in the game and the MC for the manga are not the same people. (Link here) Meaning, the “real” or “official” MC’s gender continues to be gender ambiguous for the sake of continuing to attract all genders to play the game.

All of this being said, Twisted Wonderland is a fun, visual novel game and supposed to be enjoyed by everyone – each to their own way and passion. No one shouldn’t be discouraged from playing it solely because of false advertisements or misconceptions made by others who haven't played the game yet.

I hope this clears things up and hopefully helps others persuade people into playing the game! 

[jokertrap-ran]

(光与夜之恋 Light and Night) Evan’s 6✩ Inspiration: Umbrae Secrets [繁荫秘语] Date Translation (Prologue)

“I saw Mr. Lu in the elevator just now! He was acting different from his usual self and the look on his face was absolutely frigid…”

*Light and Night Master-list | Evan’s Personal Masterlist *Spoiler free: Translations will remain under cut *Join the Light & Night Discord (＾▽＾)~ ♪ *This 6✩ Inspiration has 8 Endings!! *Evan’s tag will be #For Night, For Revolution

It was an ordinary day of work. I’d just gotten to the office when Li Man’man opened the door and entered the room.

Li Man'man: No way, no way! You’ll never believe it! I’m doing all of you a favour by reminding you to behave today.

Brother Mao: Huh? What’s gotten you into such a tizzy?

Li Man’man rubbed the goosebumps that had arisen on her arms, shivering as she recalled what she’d seen.

Li Man'man: I saw Mr. Lu in the elevator just now! He was acting different from his usual self and the look on his face was absolutely frigid…

Li Man'man: I thought I’d turn into a block of ice in no time flat the moment our gazes met!

MC: What?

Hearing her recollection, I couldn’t help but to suddenly think back to what happened yesterday during lunch hour.

❖☆———————————★❖

At noon, I’d compiled a set of documents related to jewellery designs, just as Evan had requested and brought it up to his office.

A voice sounded from within when I knocked on the door of his office. It sounded unusually indifferent.

Evan: Come in.

❖☆———————————★❖

Pushing the door open, I saw Evan leaning against his chair, his brows were furrowed, hanging low, and there seemed to be thick storm clouds brewing in his eyes.

He was still staring blankly out the window in a daze when I went up to his desk.

Evan: Just leave it there.

MC: Okay.

Hearing me, he turned. The dark look on his face instantly lightened up.

Evan: Hm? Oh, it's you.

Evan: Sorry, I was just thinking about something.

Recalling the unusual look he had on his face when I entered, I couldn’t help but step on eggshells around him.

MC: Don't worry about it. Here are the documents you requested. Are you… okay?

Before he could reply, however, the landline on his desk suddenly rang, interrupting our conversation.

MC: I'll leave you to it!

Evan nodded apologetically at me and I took my leave from his office.

❖☆———————————★❖

Did something happen to make him unhappy…?

With his personality, he wouldn’t tell anyone about his troubles even if something WAS troubling him, no doubt.

❖☆———————————★❖

When I got home at night, I switched on the TV. It was coincidentally broadcasting a camping-related program.

The lush green forest, the joyous chirruping of birds and their songs… Everything there was powered by Mother Nature’s power of healing, capable of washing away all exhaustion in one’s body and mind.

I didn't know why I thought of Evan again, but I did.

MC: There’s a gigantic forest at the outskirts of Guangqi City and it’s clear weather out all the time now.

MC: Maybe he might feel better if I can somehow get him out to the forest for a walk...

An idea popped into my head and I scrambled to fetch my phone, searching for the familiar name in my contacts.

I was just about to hit the call button when I suddenly thought of a plausible issue.

MC: I don’t think he’ll reject me regardless if he wants to go or not if I invite him directly like that.

MC: Maybe I should feel around for his thoughts about it so that I don’t unknowingly coerce him into anything.

After pondering it for a while, I hit the dial button.

❖☆———————————★❖

Evan: (Y/n)? What's the matter?

MC: … Evan, I… err, have gotten interested in coffee lately.

Evan: Really? What flavour of coffee do you like? I'll be glad to recommend you things.

MC: Oh… I haven't decided yet.

MC: Ahem, have you ever seen a coffee tree? I've never seen it myself with my own two eyes! I really want to go see one~

Evan: About that…

He sounded hesitant, there was no doubt about it. I awkwardly scratched my head. 

Did I come off too strange by bringing up that question out of the blue!?

Evan: Coffee trees have strict requirements when it comes to the environment they’re grown in. And as far as I’m aware, the PH levels of the soil and the amount of rainfall here in Guangqi City do not fit their criteria.

Evan: So, I'm afraid it'll be hard for you to spot one in Guangqi City.

Evan: But we can go see one together in Africa during your next vacation if you'd like.

MC: Eh? Africa? No need then.

MC: Ahaha… then, how about...

When there’s a will, there’s a way. I saw a glimmer of light at the end of the dark path in my mind.

MC: Then, what about a bamboo pith?

MC: I had some bamboo piths while eating hotpot a couple of days ago! I find that it’s a very amazing fungus! I really want to see one growing for myself!

Evan: It is. Although information is now widely accessible, it still hits different when you see it with your own eyes.

Evan: When are you free? We can go check it out together.

MC: Brilliant!

That's what I've been waiting for you to say!

MC: Are you free next weekend?

Evan: Yes, my weekends are open.

Evan: You… Are you this happy just to go to the forest for a walk?

MC: Hahaha, yeah! Super happy!

Evan: I'll come fetch you in my car next Saturday at 10 AM. Will that be alright?

MC: Sure! We're all set then!

Evan: Then, have you ever hiked or camped out before?

MC: No… but don't worry!

MC: I’ve watched lots of videos about camping on the internet! I’ll prepare all the equipment we’ll need this time!

Evan: Alright. I'll be leaving it all to you then.

❖☆———————————★❖

Soon, the appointed day arrived.

When I came downstairs lugging along a rucksack that towered about half a person tall, Evan, who was waiting by his car, looked slightly taken aback.

Evan: You…

I found myself blanking out as I stared at Evan, standing not too far away,

This was my first time seeing Evan dressed in such a casual manner.  The soft and form-fitting material of his clothes made his shoulders appear wider and him, much more reliable. It was reassuring, to say so in the least.

MC: Haha, did I bring one too many things? Actually, I think so too.

MC: In case we don't find a bamboo pith today, we can still camp overnight in the forest with this.

MC: Don't you think?

He smiled as he approached, taking the heavy bag off my shoulders.

Evan: Sounds good.

Evan: You must have fun and enjoy your first camping trip, if anything.

The tenderness in his countenance was the same as always. Where was that coldness to him that a certain someone had mentioned?

I secretly felt a wave of relief wash over me.

MC: Let's head out then!

❖☆———————————★❖

After driving on the suburban roads for nearly an hour, we finally reached an area near the forest on the outskirts of the City.

Evan gently took my bag out of the trunk, slinging it over his shoulder.

MC: That's pretty heavy. How about you let me carry it myself?

Evan: Since we're going to be travelling together anyway, how about we both give it our best?

MC: Alright then. Thanks!

❖☆———————————★❖

Stepping into the forest, lush green foliage surrounded us all around.

The ubiquitous noise and lights were all isolated from here, creating a secluded and serene atmosphere.

The air was warm, humid, and carried the sweet refreshing scent of vegetation. Relaxation was literally oozing out of my pores.

I turned around to look back at Evan. He was standing ramrod straight as usual with a blank expression on his face.

MC: Evan, we're here to relax!

Evan: Thank you. I am very relaxed.

MC: You can afford to be more relaxed. Here, follow me. Open your arms like this, take a deep breath, and go "Ahh…"

He smiled helplessly at me. Just when I thought he was going to refuse, he mimicked my stance, opening his arms wide.

Evan: Ahh…

MC: Hahaha. Yup, just like that.

I took out a map and a compass from the bag.

MC: I will be the leader for today! I’ve already marked all the routes we can take. Let’s see… let’s go this way first!

Evan: Alright. As you say, leader.

We proceeded through the forest according to the directions shown on the map.

We chatted about the animals and plants that we saw as we walked. Or more accurately, Evan was the one introducing them all to me.

Evan: Sorry. It must be boring hearing me talk about all these.

MC: Nope. I’m actually even more interested after hearing you talk about them.

MC: Also, your expression changes into something a little different from what I’m used to whenever you talk about something you like.

Evan: Something that I like? I’m not really sure if it constitutes as me liking it, but I think I’ll like it if you do.

He smiled in a manner as if he didn’t mind it at all, stopping as he took out some tissues and a bottle of water from his bag.

Evan: Here. Wipe your sweat and hydrate yourself.

MC: Thanks.

The soft bubbling of running water entered our ears as we stopped to rest.

MC: Looks like there's a small rover up ahead, just like how it's drawn in the map!

Evan: Looks like the leader's leading well.

❖☆———————————★❖

Following the sound of running water, we soon found the river.

The clear stream rushed across the pebbles, the crystalline liquid glittering under the golden light of the sun. The wind that blew past the waters was very cool and very refreshing. It felt great on my slightly worn-out body.

MC: The cool breeze here by the river’s really nice! And the sound of dripping water’s also very calming.

Evan: Looks like there’s a flat rock over there where we can sit.

Evan: Do you want to rest for a bit?

I want to…

After pondering for a while, I finally decided to…

⊹ ˚✩ ━━━━━━━━━━━ ∘◦ ✥ ◦∘ ━━━━━━━━━━━ ✩˚ ⊹

✥ Choose your Ending:

END 1 | Choice: Do Nothing [都不做]

END 2 +3 + 4 | Choice: Call Out [呼唤] ⊹Speak⊹

END 4 + 6 | Choice: Approach [亲近] ⊹Touch⊹

END 7 + 8 | Choice: Heart-throb [心动] ☆Light & Night★

❖☆————— ⊹ For Night, For Revolution⊹ —————★❖

[casey-v]

Valentine

Ethan x Casey

I haven’t written any fics for quite a while, but with OH3 coming soon I’m getting these vibes again….

I always wondered: what would the closing of Edenbrook mean to E x MC’s relationship? Here’s my attempt to this part of the story.

Sorry in advance for any mistakes, English isn’t my first language.

Warnings: none, I guess (maybe a few smutty thoughts)

Words: 3K

Disclaimer: all characters owned by PB

Participating in @choicesfebchallenge Day14: Valentine

“Good morning Dr. Valentine. This is your day today, isn’t it?” The nurse Rose greeted Casey as she entered the free clinic.

“Good morning. Yeah, I get that a lot.” Casey tried a friendly smile. Since she had been a child everyone referred to her last name on Valentine’s Day, making a remark or joking around. As a teenager it had made her feel special, but by now she was tired of hearing it. Especially today.

She had been in a bad mood since she woke up and it had nothing to do with her last name or Rose. But it had everything to do with the man who simply ignored this day today, probably didn’t even know it existed. 

It was perfectly clear to Casey, that these kinds of traditions meant nothing to Ethan. Nevertheless, her disappointment was huge because she had had great expectations for today. After a few difficult weeks she had hoped that a romantic dinner could bring them closer together again.

After the gala and their public kiss everything had seemed perfect and she had spent some time on cloud number nine. But then Ethan gradually became distant and a little grumpy again. They both often worked double shifts and meetings outside the hospital became rare. And they never talked about their life after Edenbrook’s closing. Whenever they got close to that topic, Ethan would change the subject. And Casey was also in denial; she hadn’t applied to any jobs outside greater Boston because she didn’t want to lose Ethan. But maybe it was too late now anyway, she didn’t even know what point in their relationship they really were at.            

“Has he told you yet?” Sienna interrupted her thoughts.

“Hi Sienna. No, I still have no idea what we’re doing tonight.”

“Oh, that’s so romantic. For sure he has something incredibly special planned for the two of you.”

Casey tried to maintain a cheerful façade even though she actually felt like crying. But Sienna’s enthusiasm was also kind of sweet, so she managed a smile.

“You seem more excited than I am.”

“I’m hosting a lonely-hearts roomie dinner tonight, so at least let me enjoy the romance in your life.”

Casey felt bad that she was being dishonest with her friend. It was silly, but she would rather spend the night at the movies on her own and then sleep in an on-call room than admit to her friend that Ethan wasn’t going to take her out on a date. Besides, talking about it would make it more real: their relationship was probably on the rocks.

 A busy morning at the clinic kept Casey occupied and gave her no opportunity to dwell on her misery. As she was preparing an IV for a patient, she suddenly sensed someone right behind her.

“Dr. Valentine, can you please run some tests on this patient and then get back to me as soon as possible?”

Usually her favorite baritone voice quickened her heartbeat, but today it sounded businesslike and not appealing at all. When she turned around Ethan didn't meet her gaze. Instead, he just thrust a patient chart into her hand and was gone before Casey even had the chance to respond.

 At first, she stood there with her mouth open, unable to move, a dreadful feeling spreading through her chest. She had barely seen him all week and that was all she got?

When her vision started to get blurred by tears, she quickly ran to a supply closet, locked the door and sank to the floor.

 What now? She couldn’t decide whether she was more sad or mad. How could it be, that things went wrong so fast after everything they had been through together? And how dare he talk to her like a random intern, shoving that patient file into her hands so rudely. He wasn't even her boss anymore.

She still held the chart clutched to her chest and now wanted to check what seemed so urgent. But what she saw didn't make any sense. There was only a last name on it and an address, but everything else was blank. As she turned the page her heart took a leap. She wiped away a few tears and stared at the blank piece of paper. Two words stared back at her.

Dinner tonight?

When she finally remembered to breathe again, she flipped back to the first page and now the pieces were falling into place.

Sorellina, Huntington Ave.

She knew the name had sounded familiar. “Sorellina” wasn't a patient's name; it was the name of a fancy Italian restaurant in the Back Bay. To be sure she pulled out her phone and searched the internet. And what she found there brought a bright smile to her face.

 …the ultimate destination if you're looking to really impress a date…

.. one of the most romantic spots in the city…

…awesome place for date nights…

 So he didn’t forget after all! But why the strange behavior? Some things didn’t add up. You don’t get a reservation like this one day in advance. He must have planned this weeks ago. A lot had changed since and now maybe he just wanted to give them one last shot? He wouldn’t be so heartless to dump her on Valentine’s day, would he?

Casey was totally confused. Was she just misinterpreting the whole situation? But she couldn’t be that paranoid. Something was brewing and she was determined to find out tonight, no matter what. This time she would confront him and for once she wouldn’t let him off the hook so easily.

But first she had to get through the day somehow, and she had to head home during her lunchbreak to choose a breathtaking dress. And pack an overnight bag, just in case. Not to forget the special brand of scotch she had ordered for Ethan. And she had to tell Sienna. And…

Okay! First of all, she had to calm down and concentrate on her work. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Then she took a pen out of her pocket and wrote below Ethan’s message.

Tell me when and where and I’ll be there 💕

After leaving the supply closet she randomly grabbed two other files, placed hers in between and handed them to an intern. “Please get this to Dr. Ramsey immediately.” Then she went back to her patient, who was still waiting for his IV.

The day seemed to drag on endlessly. In the afternoon she found the piece of paper out of the fake patient file in her coat pocket.  

Dinner tonight?

Tell me when and where and I’ll be there 💕

my office, 7 pm 😊

 He had even drawn an emoji! Smiling she added one more line.

Dessert at your place?

Then she quickly ran upstairs, sneaked into Ethan’s office, and put the piece of paper onto his desk. Her eyes fell on the big clock on the wall: 4 pm! Three more hours to go.

 *******

Ethan sat behind his desk, already dressed in his tux, trying to focus on some files. But instead of working, he kept repeating in his head what he wanted to say tonight.

It was ridiculous. Usually, he gave speeches in front of hundreds of fellow doctors and here he was, being nervous about talking to one single woman. The difference was that he felt very qualified to talk about his profession, but he was totally insecure when it came to talking about his feelings. With Casey, he wasn't Dr. Ramsey, a famous and respected diagnostician; with her, he was simply Ethan, a man struggling with the changes in his life.

The sound of high heels echoed through the hallway and announced Casey's arrival. Trying to calm his nerves Ethan busied himself with his paperwork as she entered the office. He didn't raise his head, instead he just glanced at her over the rims of his glasses. As he did, she put her hands on her hips, pushing the winter coat aside to give him full view of her stunning dress. And it had the desired effect. The small piece of black nothingness took his breath away.

 “Dr. Ramsey, don't you think it's inappropriate to look at a colleague that way?”

He swallowed hard, but he wouldn’t let her tease him like that.

“Dr. Valentine, don't you think it's inappropriate to wear something like that in your workplace?”

She smirked at him.

“Not as much as taking it off right here in your office.”

Defeated he shook his head, a smile showing at the corners of his mouth. He had to fight the urge to leap over his desk and take her right there against the office door, but instead he only sighed deeply and reached for his coat. This had to wait.

“We better get going or I don't know what I'll do!”

Together they left the office and walked to his car, holding hands. But despite their little banter just now there was an odd silence between them.

*******

The restaurant really was the perfect setting for a special date. Casey was overwhelmed and also kind of intimidated by the atmosphere. To her, it felt more like a first date with a guy she had a crush on than a dinner with the man she had been dating for month. And Ethan seemed equally self-conscious. But after some champagne, they both loosened up and had a really great time.

Almost.

Casey knew Ethan too well by now not to notice that something was strange about him tonight. She couldn’t shake that nagging feeling in her gut.

Back in his apartment, after she had given him her gift, he sat down on the couch with a serious face and asked her to sit down as well.

“I have something for you, too”

Blushing slightly, he handed her a small box and rubbed the back of his neck.

“I wanted to…, I mean this is… Oh, just open it and then I’ll explain!”

Carefully, she lifted the lid of the box and saw, lying on a tiny silk cushion, a key. From the looks of it, she assumed it was the key to his apartment. Casey gave Ethan a questioning look and waited for the promised explanation. But it didn’t come. Ethan seemed uncomfortable and pinched the bridge of his nose. Finally, he just blurted it out.

“Want to move in with me?”

Of all the things she had expected him to say, this certainly wasn’t on the list. But why now? Hundreds of different thoughts whirled through Casey’s head all at once. At first she just stared at him, then she burst into tears. For a long time Ethan looked at her helplessly, finally he ran a hand through his hair in frustration and murmured: “Obviously not.”

At that, Casey’s head snapped up. “No, no, no! I do, of course I do!” She wiped some tears from her face and explained between occasional sobs.

“The thing is: Whenever I imagined moving in with you, I got sad about not living with my friends anymore. And now I’ve just realized it doesn’t matter because in a couple of weeks they’ll all be gone anyway, scattered across the country. I’m going to miss them so much. And since I don’t know where I am going to be, there’s no point in moving in with you either.”

She shook her head, trying to keep the tears at bay.

“I’m sorry I’m such a mess, it just seems that everything is falling apart. This morning I wasn’t even sure whether you want to break up with me or not and I thought that…”

“Whoa, hold it right there. What on earth are you talking about?”

From Ethan’s shocked expression Casey could tell that it had obviously never occurred to him to break up. Slightly embarrassed she continued in an unsteady voice.

“I mean, the way you’ve been acting lately, especially this morning, you’ve been so rude….”

Ethan gently caressed her cheek with the back of his hand, wiped away her tears, and sighed.

“Oh Casey, I’m so sorry. But you know me; you know that I hate talking in front of patients. And I had a lot on my mind; I’ve been nervous all day about our date.”

He smiled shyly and shook his head. Then his gaze darkened again, guilt clearly written on his face. His brows furrowed, and he backed away a little.

“Although you’re right that I’ve been putting some distance between us lately. But I needed clarity about the whole job situation. And us. All my life I’ve planned everything three steps ahead and then suddenly it felt like I was losing control. I know I can’t ask you to stay because you have to finish your residency at one of the best hospitals in the country. Thus, I have tortured myself to figure out how we can make things work and I’ve been miserable all this time. Until I realized the answer is fairly simple.”

Casey couldn’t believe that they had both been so distraught for weeks, and instead of sharing and confiding in each other, they were just brooding over the challenges ahead, each to their own. Slowly, the uneasy feeling inside her stomach began to dissipate, although she had no idea what he was talking about.

“What answer?”

Ethan took her hand and he gently drew circles on the back of it with his thumb, his eyes following its movement.

“Edenbrook has been my home for almost 12 years now, and if they take it away from me, what else is there? Naveen, of course, and my father nearby, but other than that ….”

All this time Casey held the box with the key in one hand. Now he took it from her and raised the key to eye level. Her gaze wandered back and forth between the key and Ethan. He cleared his throat in search of words, but they didn’t come. Her heart hammered in her chest, the tension almost unbearable. Finally, his blue eyes met hers and he found the courage to speak, his voice husky and low.

“This isn’t just the key to my apartment, Casey. This key means I want to live with you, wherever that may be.”

His last words were only a whisper. “If you’ll have me, that is.”

Casey couldn’t even begin to grasp what it all meant. She would be able to apply to any hospital in the country and Ethan would be with her. Live with her.

An overwhelming feeling of happiness spread through her body.

“You really would do this for me?”

“No, if I’m honest I’m doing this not for you but for myself. I don’t want to go back to being that grumpy cynic I once was before I met you. I’m lost without you.”

The full meaning of his words sent a prickling sensation down her spine, but she was also amused.

“Ethan, you’re one of the most famous and respected physicians, you’ve managed perfectly fine without me for 36 years.”

Ethan put down the key and the box from her hand and took both her hands, his gaze intense.

“But it’s taken me 36 years to find out what it means to be genuinely happy.”

Those last words took all her breath right out of her and her heart was ready to explode. His eyes pierced hers as he waited for a response.

He moved closer und squeezed her hands tightly, his eyes still dark.

“So, what do you say?”

She couldn’t resist the temptation to mess with him.

“Let me get this straight: You’re telling me, if I said no, there would be no one to tell you if you’re acting like a goddam diva again?”

A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth realizing what she was getting at. “Probably.”

Grinning she went on. “And who would be there to help you with your social media accounts?”

“Nobody.”

Ethan’s eyes began to light up as she moved onto his lap, mischief in her smile.

“And there would be no one who would dare to tease you?”

“Right.”

Their faces were now only a breath away.

“And nobody there to make you pancakes?”

“Exactly. What would become of me?”

Her mouth moved to the side of his neck. After a line of soft kisses, she started nibbling on his earlobe and whispered. “And no one, who would do this?”

“Oh, I’m sure it’s not hard to find someb…”

She quickly backed away and punched his arm playfully. “Don’t you dare!”

Ethan was now gleaming all over his face. He tucked a finger under her chin and gently nudged her nose with his. “So is that a YES?”

“Do I even have a choice?”

“Not really!”

And then at last his lips found hers, first slowly, barely touching, until they both gave in and melted into each other. All the tension of the day, all the pent-up emotions of the past weeks fell off and there was only him and her. While the kisses grew more and more urgent, his hands started to roam over her body and slowly he unzipped her dress. As his warm hand gently slid down her back, Casey felt his hot breath on her ear.

“If I remember correctly, you promised me dessert.”

“We already had a selection of delicious Italian desserts.”

“But I’m still very hungry. And first of all, this dress has to go. The sight of it has been tormenting me all evening.”

*****

The bedroom was almost dark. Ethan lay on his back, staring at the ceiling. He was unable to put his mind to rest after the events of the day. He turned over to watch the stunning woman sleeping next to him. The moonlight on her face made her even look more beautiful. From now on, he would have the privilege of waking up to this sight every morning. That thought alone made his heart leap.

Gently, he draped the sheets over her shoulder, brushed her hair out of her face and gave her a soft kiss on the cheek; always careful not to wake her.

Smiling down at her he whispered. “I love you, Casey Valentine.”

Never before had these words left his lips. And now didn’t even count either because she couldn’t hear them. He had tried to tell her many times, but the moment never seemed right. Today would have been the perfect occasion, but he had chickened out again.

It was absurd. They had started to plan their future together. Why was it so hard? Three simple words!

Laying back down he whispered, more to himself.

“I’m going to tell you. Soon.

Maybe tomorrow.”

----------------------------------------

Thank you if you have made it so far.

This piece has really been a challenge, it took me forever. I’ve changed it a couple of times and I am still not quite satisfied, but at some point you just have to let go.

Tagging seperately.

[tiramisiyu]

【未定事件簿】 Tears of Themis: 【腾霄】 Xia Yan | Skyflying Date Translation

Translation Masterlist | Xia Yan Masterlist

Video

Translation under cut~

Part 1

Home

After finishing up with work, I returned home, collapsing onto my bed. Suddenly, my phone rang.

MC: Hello, Xia Yan?

Xia Yan: Got home yet?

MC: Just did, what’s up?

Xia Yan: Recently, there’s been an experiential culture variety show called “A Unique Challenge” – have you heard of it?

MC: I have – it’s been pretty popular recently, though I haven’t seen it yet.

MC: I heard that they’ll pick normal and famous people each week to experience cultures of different regions or types.

MC: Cheng Cheng’s idol participated once, experiencing an ancient ceremonial culture and playing some little games.

MC: Although, since when were you into variety shows?

Xia Yan: My friend was one of the picked participants, but he’s got something going on for now and doesn’t want to go there anymore, so he gave it to me…

Xia Yan: That week just happens to be a pairs’ challenge – would you be interested?

MC: What’s the theme?

Xia Yan: It’s trendy culture, and I heard that they prepared a lot of things for this topic. Want to go try?

MC: Sure, let’s go together.

In the few days after, as long as I thought about participating in a show with Xia Yan, I couldn’t help feeling somewhat nervous.

Finally, it was the day of filming.

--

Clothing Store

MC: Xia Yan, are you not done yet?

Xia Yan: Almost, almost…

MC: You’ve already been in there for ten minutes. Are the clothes hard to put on?

Xia Yan: Ugh, this headband is a little hard to handle.

MC: Then I’ll help you put it on.

Speaking thus, I got up and walked towards the fitting room.

Xia Yan: Ah, no need, no need!

Xia Yan pulled the fitting room’s curtain tightly.

Xia Yan: Uh… I feel like… this outfit doesn’t really suit me, so I should probably change!

Rustling sounds came from inside the fitting room.

MC: Let me see! If you don’t come out, I’m going to lift the curtain!

I faked an act to scare Xia Yan. Sure enough, hearing me say this, the sounds of movement from the fitting room stopped, and the curtain was slowly pulled open.

Xia Yan: Ugh…

MC: …

Back during school, Xia Yan always wore school uniforms, and the clothes he wore now were mostly casualwear. Speaking of which, this was my first time seeing him wear hip-hop style clothing. The bright symbols didn’t feel over-the-top; instead, it added a free, confident youthful vibe for him.

Xia Yan: This outfit… is it… too gaudy?

MC: …

Xia Yan: You’re not even talking… looks like it really does look bad. I should go change it.

MC: Don’t change it! It looks great, of course it looks great!

Seeing Xia Yan walk towards the fitting room, I grabbed onto him.

Xia Yan: For real?

MC: Of course – you look super cool!

Xia Yan: …

Xia Yan: Wait, why haven’t you changed yet?

Xia Yan: Do you think the clothes I picked for you look bad?

MC: How could that be? I’ll go change now, wait for me!

Xia Yan: Go ahead – after changing, we’ll officially start the challenge.

In fact, Xia Yan and I were already in the middle of filming. We were changing clothes at this store due to the show’s requirements.

--

[Flashback]

Filming Studio

Host: The theme this time is trendy culture. The topics that can be drawn are different, and the contents of the challenge are also different.

Host: Next, could the guests please come onstage to draw topics?

I followed everyone towards the stage and drew an envelope out of the box. When I flipped it, I saw a word written in large font on the envelope – skateboard.

MC: (It actually ended up being skateboarding…)

Host: Alright, could everyone now open your envelopes and read the details of the topics?

Hearing the host’s words, I rushed to open the envelope and take out the topic inside.

MC: Search for the mysterious skateboard?

MC: Looks like we have to find various components of the skateboard, then assemble them.

Xia Yan: Let me see…

Xia Yan took the mission card from the envelope, looking it over in detail. According to the instructions on the mission card, the components of the skateboard were scattered in different places on the commerce street, guarded by NPCs. Our mission was to find the NPCs, complete various tests, collect the skateboard components, and assemble them.

Host: The mission locations are at the pedestrian commerce area outside. Please finish them as soon as possible.

Host: The program team will keep track of each team’s time, and rank everyone based on completion time.

Host: If you have not completed it beyond three hours, it’s counted as a failure.

After finishing her explanation of the rules, the host gave a slight smile to everyone.

Host: Alright, after you have prepared, you can set out.

Host: Before the game starts, you can all choose a trendy culture-themed outfit at the clothes store.

[Flashback end]

--

After regaining my train of thought, I rushed to put on the clothes and pull aside the curtain, then walked in front of Xia Yan. However, as I turned in several slow circles, Xia Yan kept his eyes on his phone the whole time.

MC: Xia Yan, why do you keep staring at your phone!

MC: You’re not even giving me your opinion… does it look good or not!

Xia Yan: …

Xia Yan: It looks great, of course! You look great no matter what you wear.

MC: Really? Why do I feel like you’re… being a little perfunctory?

Xia Yan: It’s not perfunctory, they’re all my sincere thoughts!

Xia Yan rushed to shove his phone back into his pocket.

Xia Yan: I just received a message and didn’t notice, sorry.

MC: Is it an important message?

Xia Yan: It’s nothing urgent.

Xia Yan stood up, walked around me in a circle, carefully looking over the clothes I was wearing.

Xia Yan: Inspection complete. It really suits you, so let’s go with it!

Xia Yan: Looks like my eye is getting better and better.

MC: Pfft…

MC: Right, Xia Yan, I haven’t asked you yet – when did you learn to skateboard?

MC: I definitely remember that you hadn’t learned to skateboard before.

--

[Flashback]

Near the School Grounds

During middle school, Xia Yan wanted to learn to skateboard, but the school prohibited students from doing dangerous activities like this.

School Dean: Young man in front, get over here!

Xia Yan: Crap!

MC: I’ll cover for you, run!

Xia Yan planted a foot on the skateboard, kicked off the ground quickly, and disappeared past a corner within seconds.

School Dean: You-! Which class did that boy come from?

MC: I don’t know. I also just passed by, and I’d wanted to persuade him to stay away from these dangerous activities.

Xia Yan: Oww!

The sound of something falling sounded from far away, followed by Xia Yan’s pained shout.

MC: Xia Yan!

Since he left in a rush, Xia Yan, who was not yet familiar with the skateboard, fell heavily down from the stairs.

[Flashback end]

MC: After falling that time, didn’t you not ride the skateboard ever again?

MC: When did you secretly learn it again?

Xia Yan: Uh… that time was just an accident because I ran off too quickly. Afterwards, I was very careful.

MC: So you really were doing it secretly…

Xia Yan: Just a few times. I didn’t say it because I was afraid you’d worry.

MC: Really?

Xia Yan: It really was just a few times. Think about it, weren’t we together all day?

Smiling, Xia Yan changed the topic.

Xia Yan: I actually truly learned the skateboard after going to the Ministry of National Security.

Xia Yan: The teacher who took me in back then really liked skateboarding, and I learned from him.

Xia Yan: There was very little time to relax in the Ministry, but whenever there was time, I would skateboard with my teacher.

Xia Yan: When I was little, I was only concerned about looking cool and rushed too much. After learning the basics from my teacher, I wasn’t scared of getting hurt anymore.

MC: Alright alright, I won’t look into the things you’ve hidden from me.

MC: You can’t be like this in the future. You have to tell me if anything comes up!

Xia Yan: …

MC: Could it be that you’re hiding other things from me?

    Part 2

MC: Could it be that you’re hiding other things from me?

Xia Yan: I’m not.

Xia Yan: Alright, it’s about time, so let’s hurry out.

Hearing Xia Yan say this, I took out the mission card given by the program team from my pocket.

MC: We have a total of four components to find – the board, bracket, bearings, and wheels respectively.

MC: Although, where should we start?

Xia Yan: There’s a clue on here, right?

Xia Yan pointed to a sentence on the mission card.

Xia Yan: “One cunning and one foolish” – this should be the clue.

MC: Does this mean we have to find two NPCs, one smart and one dumb?

Xia Yan: Shouldn’t be, I feel like this sentence seems more like a riddle.

If it’s a riddle…

>The answer is a word >The answer is a term

MC: The answer should be a term, and “cunning” and “foolish” represent one word each.

Xia Yan: But what word does “cunning” refer to?

MC: Cunning… crafty… foolish… inflexible…

MC: I got it!

MC: Cunning refers to “skate”, and foolish refers to “inflexible”, which is “board”.

MC: When joined together, they form the term “skateboard”.

Note: 狡诈 = Cunning; 狡猾 = Crafty; these are synonyms (or near synonyms) that have the same first character; the second character of “crafty” sounds the same as and looks similar to 滑, which makes the first character of “skateboard” in Chinese.  

呆 = Foolish; 呆板 = Inflexible; the term for inflexible includes the term for foolish, and the other part, 板, is the second character of “skateboard” in Chinese.

Also note that skateboard in Chinese is made of two characters, rather than one (hence why the answer is a term, not a word)

I do think that this riddle is a bit of a stretch though haha

Xia Yan: If the answer is “skateboard” … then let’s go ask at the skateboard shop.

--

Skateboard Shop

As soon as we entered the skateboard shop, Xia Yan and I saw another team of guests. They were surrounding the staff member, wanting to ask for some information.

Guest A: You really aren’t an NPC from the program team? You really don’t know what this sentence means?

Guest B: We’ve already asked all around. This is the only skateboard shop on the commerce street, so it has to be this place.

Shop Staff: My apologies, sirs, I really do not know what that sentence means. Please do not impede my work anymore.

Guest A: Alright, sorry about that.

The two gave up struggling. When they saw Xia Yan and I come in, they sighed helplessly.

Guest A: Don’t waste your energy. That person isn’t an NPC; we’ve already asked.

After speaking to us, the two left the skateboard shop dispiritedly.

MC: What do we do now? We guessed wrong…

Xia Yan: Not necessarily.

Xia Yan: She only said that she didn’t know what the sentence meant, but she never denied that she was an NPC of the program team.

Smiling, Xia Yan walked up to the staff member, took out the mission card, and pointed to the riddle on it.

Xia Yan: We already know what this sentence means. This is a riddle, and its answer is “skateboard”.

Xia Yan: This is the only skateboard shop on the street, so you should be an NPC of the program team.

Hearing Xia Yan speak, the staff member smiled slightly.

Shop Staff: Congrats on solving the riddle and successfully passing the first stage.

Shop Staff: This is the skateboard’s bracket; please hold onto it.

MC: Awesome, Xia Yan, we got it right.

Xia Yan: Then do you have the clue for the second stage here?

Shop Staff: If you want the second clue, the two of you need to do a little challenge.

Xia Yan: Sure, what challenge? Bring it on.

Seeing Xia Yan’s determined expression, the shop staff took out a little plate, grinning.

Shop Staff: It’s nothing difficult; the two of you just need to eat two spicy peppers raw to get the next clue.

Xia Yan: W-what?

Xia Yan’s smile stiffened instantly. Seeing this, the cameraman followed up quietly, pointing the camera at Xia Yan.

Xia Yan: Ah, this… uh…

The peppers were bright red, and a single glance would tell you that they were very spicy.

MC: (Even someone who can handle spice probably wouldn’t be able to endure this test.)

Xia Yan closed his eyes, held his breath, took a pepper, then stuffed it in his mouth. After chewing quickly twice, he rushed to swallow the pepper down.

A mere few seconds after, Xia Yan’s eyes widened, and he opened his mouth, inhaling deeply.

MC: Xia Yan, are you okay?

Xia Yan: Water… water! Quick, give me water!

Luckily, the program team had prepared in advance. I rushed to hand a glass of water to Xia Yan. He swallowed the water noisily, and even his eyes had reddened from the spice, tears at the corners of his eyes.

MC: (I can’t let Xia Yan suffer alone, so I’ll do it too!)

I grabbed the second pepper and stuffed it in my mouth. The agonizing taste spread in my mouth, and I speedily swallowed the pepper.

Xia Yan: Ah! Haa…. Don’t eat it! Haa…

Right after swallowing the pepper, a mere few seconds later, a burning hot spiciness rushed at me, filling my mouth with pain.

MC: So spicy! Water! Water!

MC: This is way too spicy!

Xia Yan: Haa… here, water… haa…

Unable to pay attention to how I appeared in front of the camera, I took the water and drank it down noisily.

--

After ten entire minutes, Xia Yan’s and my tongues finally recovered.

MC: So much hassle just to get this clue.

Xia Yan: Miss, you can give us the second clue now, right?

Shop Staff: Indeed I can.

The staff member took out a little paper slip and handed it to Xia Yan.

Xia Yan: “Seems to be but is not; search for the origin.”

MC: Looks like it’s a riddle again. I wonder what it means?

MC: Origin… does that mean the originating point? Could it have to do with the materials that make the skateboard?

After not hearing an answer from Xia Yan, I looked up, wondering. Xia Yan wasn’t looking at the paper slip; instead, he was staring at the product shelves, thinking about something.

MC: Xia Yan, Xia Yan?

Xia Yan: Ah, sorry, I just got distracted…

MC: Is there something you want to buy?

Xia Yan: No, I just felt like there was someone over there just now.

MC: Probably the cameraman from the program team; don’t they have to take some other shots?

Xia Yan: I feel like there’s someone who’s been watching us the whole time.

Xia Yan: Although, since we’re filming a variety show, people watching out of curiosity is also normal.

Xia Yan: Let’s go, we’ll think about this new riddle on the way.

MC: Sure.

   Part 3

Commerce Street

After walking aimlessly on the road for a while, I felt faintly unsettled from seeing Xia Yan’s expression. He didn’t seem like he was thinking seriously about the answer to the riddle – instead, he kept scanning the people on the road.

MC: Xia Yan, I feel like you’ve been a bit absentminded ever since the beginning.

MC: What did you see? What’s the matter?

Xia Yan: It’s nothing…

MC: …

Xia Yan must be hiding something from me. But we had microphones on us right now and were surrounded by the program team staff, so I couldn’t just ask him.

Seeing my concern, Xia Yan gently touched the microphone, then winked.

Xia Yan: Let’s rest up ahead first.

MC: (Is he hinting that he’ll use other methods to tell me?)

We found a drinks shop by the road and scanned the menu code on our phones. Just as I was browsing the menu, contact notifications popped up.

--

[Phone Interface]

[Xia Yan]: It seems like I offended someone when investigating a case before. I received a text when trying clothes on earlier.

[Xia Yan]: The text told me to be careful, and he’d let me know how one “ends up when sticking their nose where it doesn’t belong”.

[Xia Yan]: Though I don’t know if they’re just trying to scare me or if they’re serious, it’s still better to be careful.

[MC]: Did they bring up the show filming today?

[Xia Yan]: No, though I’m a little worried.

[Xia Yan]: There are lots of people here, and I can’t tell if anyone with bad intentions might have mixed in.

[MC]: Okay, I got it.

[MC]: I’ll help you keep an eye out on the surroundings. You be careful too.

--

MC: …

So Xia Yan’s unusual expression just now was because of this. I relaxed the expression on my face, ordering a drink as if nothing were up.

MC: Let’s hurry and think about that riddle.

MC: Search for the origin… what does that refer to?

MC: Is there some special story associated with the origin of the skateboard?

Xia Yan: Hm… I’m not too clear on this either. I’ve only heard that skateboarding is an extension of surfing.

Xia Yan: Apparently, people living on the seaside were the ones to invent the first skateboard, to not be limited by geography or climate, and to enjoy the feeling of surfing.

MC: Could it have to do with surfing?

I turned on my phone and sure enough, I was able to find a surfing equipment shop.

Xia Yan: Who would’ve thought that there really would be a surfing equipment shop here…

Xia Yan: Then let’s go see.

--

Surfing Equipment Shop

Xia Yan: Surfing is the origin of skateboarding, and the surfboard and skateboard also have similar aspects.

Xia Yan: So the answer to “Seems to be but is not; search for the origin” is this place, right?

Shop Owner: I didn’t think that you two would be able to get here this quickly.

Shop Owner: You’re the first team that drew skateboarding to get here.

Shop Owner: You can get the board and sandpaper here.

The shop owner thus handed the items to us.

Shop Owner: If you’d like, you can assemble the components you’ve gotten first.

Xia Yan: It’s inconvenient carrying the sandpaper around, so let’s just assemble it here.

MC: Sure.

Xia Yan: Then can you also provide us things like screws and washers?

Shop Owner: Hahaha, of course. You two won’t need to waste energy searching for those.

After getting the materials, Xia Yan tugged me down to sit and started to assemble the skateboard.

MC: You really are familiar with this.

Xia Yan: Yeah, because I’ve always disassembled and reassembled my skateboard myself.

Xia Yan: To me, the skateboard is just like a partner.

Xia Yan stared seriously at the skateboard, twisting the wrench in his hand.

Xia Yan: Did you know – each skateboard gives everyone a different feeling, and each one is special.

Xia Yan: The tightness of the brackets, the size and hardness of the wheels, the material of the board – all of these will give a different feeling for each person.

I gazed quietly at Xia Yan. His eyes were shining, flashing with the light of excitement. Hearing him speak, it felt as if the skateboard in my hands had a life.

MC: Xia Yan, why do you like skateboarding this much?

MC: Is it because of the stimulation from fast movement?

He stopped the movements of his hands and thought for a moment. Then slowly opened his mouth.

Xia Yan: It isn’t that, or you could say that it isn’t just that.

Xia Yan: As an extreme sport, skateboarding can be mentally stimulating, but compared to my line of work, it’s not really worth mentioning.

Xia Yan: I still like skateboarding because it lets me continue to challenge myself and break past my limits.

Xia Yan: After completing a challenge, the joy of achievement is what has me most fascinated.

I had never ridden a skateboard, and I hadn’t personally experienced the emotions Xia Yan had towards skateboarding. But seeing him look like he liked it this much, my emotions felt somewhat complicated…

MC: Xia Yan, when we were little, mom and dad didn’t let you skateboard, and I didn’t support you for it…

MC: Do you blame us?

Hearing me speak, Xia Yan was somewhat surprised.

Xia Yan: Blame you? What for?

MC: Because we didn’t understand you…

Xia Yan: I don’t – I wouldn’t blame uncle and auntie, and I definitely wouldn’t blame you.

Xia Yan: Uncle and auntie wanted me to grow healthily, and you didn’t want a repeat of the past – it was all for my own good.

Xia Yan: Everyone has their own selfishness, especially towards those who are the most important to them.

Xia Yan’s voice got lower and lower, and I seemed to hear a faint whisper.

Xia Yan: I’m like that too…

Before I could ask him about it, Xia Yan’s hands stopped moving as he smiled.

Xia Yan: Alright, it’s done. Now only the wheels and bearings are left.

Xia Yan: Boss, do you have the next riddle clue?

Seeing us about to leave, the boss took out a sheet of paper and handed it to us.

Xia Yan: Let me see… A car carries seven people, and twenty-eight people return home…

Sure enough, yet another riddle.

Xia Yan: Should be a word riddle… a car with seven people on it…

MC: Ah, I get it! The answer is “wheel”.

Xia Yan: Makes sense, so the twenty-eight people refer to the four wheels?

Note: The Chinese character for wheel is 轮, which is visually made of three different characters, 车 (car), 人 (person), and 七 (seven). If there are 7 people per wheel, and 28 people total, this means there are 4 wheels.

MC: Then “return home” should refer to where the tires are…

Xia Yan: “Return home”… or we can take it to mean “the place of the very beginning”?

MC: Does it refer to that studio where we started filming the show?

Xia Yan: Possibly, but it might also be the first place where we found the clue.

MC: That skateboard shop?

Xia Yan: Yeah, it said in the mission card that the locations to finish the missions are on this commerce street, but the studio is some distance away from here.

MC: So the location should be the first store we entered after arriving on the commerce street, or the place where we found the first clue.

MC: Although the program team wouldn’t know where we’d go first, so it’s more likely to be the skateboard shop.

Xia Yan: Yep, that’s right.

MC: Then let’s go check out the skateboard shop again.

--

Skateboard Shop

We changed direction and headed back to that skateboard shop. Seeing that we had returned, the store staff was a little curious.

Shop Staff: Why did you come back? Did you leave something behind?

Xia Yan: Yeah, we left “something” behind.

Xia Yan displayed the clue in his hand, pointing to the words on it.

Xia Yan: A car carries seven people, and twenty-eight people return home. The answer to this riddle is this store, right?

Shop Staff: Correct, the answer is indeed this place.

Seeing that Xia Yan and I had already found the answer, the shop staff no longer concealed anything, taking out four wheels from the shelves.

Shop Staff: Here, take it.

MC: Awesome, Xia Yan, now all that’s left is…

MC: Ah…

Suddenly, a massive force pulled me backwards.

Xia Yan: Careful!

MC: Xia Yan?

Xia Yan’s brows drew closely together, switching positions with me in what was nearly an instant, blocking me from the front. Only then did I realize that someone was running straight towards us. He was wearing a baseball cap and sunglasses, and a single glance could tell you that he came with ill intent.

Xia Yan: Who are you?

If Xia Yan hadn’t pulled me back just now, that guy would have made it in front of me by now. When I remembered the message Xia Yan sent me earlier, my heart jumped up to my throat.

MC: (Is it someone who came to get revenge on Xia Yan?)

MC: (Xia Yan thought someone was watching us before. Could it be him? Was he following us the whole time?)

???: Ow!

Before I could react, Xia Yan swept a leg out, knocking the guy down to the ground.

???: Heeey! W-wait! You can’t just hit me!

???: This is different from what was promised!

Xia Yan: ???

Seeing that Xia Yan had stopped, the man propped himself up into a sitting position, then speedily shifted backwards. After he had escaped beyond five metres, he cleared his throat again, rambling some “fierce words”.

???: If you… got the skill, then… have a showdown with me!

Xia Yan: …

MC: …

Hearing this, Xia Yan and I had completely frozen where we were. The man sitting on the ground had also gotten up, taking advantage of this to snatch the wheels in Xia Yan’s hands.

???: I… I’m taking the wheels. If… if you want to take them back, then find me at the park!

???: Remember, it’s the park behind the commerce street!

After speaking, he sprinted out of the shop door, holding the wheels.

   Part 4

If you asked me what the most awkward experience of my entire life was, I bet it would be this moment. It was obvious that the guy who’d just come was an NPC arranged by the program team, yet Xia Yan and I took him to be a dangerous hoodlum and knocked him down.

Xia Yan: So it was someone arranged by the program team…

Xia Yan: And I was just making a big deal out of nothing.

Shop Staff: Sir, isn’t your desire to protect a little too strong?

Seeing that the shop staff, who didn’t know about the whole situation, trying to hold in her laughter, I felt so awkward that my toes could pretty much dig into the ground.

MC: …

Xia Yan: I’m really sorry…

Xia Yan turned around, apologizing to the program team staff. But the director said nothing, holding up a sign in his hand, which had writing on it:

Continue!

Xia Yan: Ahem ahem… then let’s hurry and find him.

MC: Okay, let’s use our ability to get the wheels back.

--

Park

After adjusting our mentalities, Xia Yan and I arrived at the skateboard park behind the commerce street. The man we’d run into at the shop just now was holding a skateboard, waiting for us in the middle of the square. Beside his foot were several skateboards of different styles and some protective gear.

Director: This is the special guest we invited for the show. He’s a professional skateboarder and has won quite a few awards.

Xia Yan: I’m really sorry about just now…

Skateboarder Young Man: No problem, no problem… I’ve fallen a lot while skateboarding, and I’ve long gotten used to it.

After a simple greeting, the man in front of us cleared his throat, reciting the show script given to him.

Skateboarder Young Man: You two have finally arrived.

Skateboarder Young Man: If you want to get the wheels back, then bring on your true skill!

Xia Yan: Then tell us, what do we need to do for you to return the wheels to us?

Skateboarder Young Man: See this racecourse? You two have to ride to the endpoint together.

Skateboarder Young Man: No worries if you go a little slowly, but if you fall off the skateboard midway, you’ll have to start over.

MC: They… want me to skateboard?

Xia Yan: Sure, no problem.

Seeing my shocked expression, Xia Yan circled his arm around my shoulders with a smile, patting me gently.

Xia Yan: No problem, we still have two hours, which is enough for me to teach you now.

I looked at the racecourse before us. It was around two hundred metres in distance, there were obstacles on the straight path, and there were around four or five turns. The worst was a row of barricade poles near the endpoint…

MC: This is…

Skateboarder Young Man: Barricade poles. You must use a Hippy Jump to jump over them.

MC: Hippy Jump?

Xia Yan: It’s a term for a skateboarding move, meaning that you jump up from the skateboard, then fall back onto the skateboard while riding.

MC: ???

MC: I don’t even know how to skateboard, yet they also need me to… jump?

Xia Yan: It’s fine, we can definitely do this. I’ll teach you how to skateboard first.

Xia Yan borrowed two skateboards from the program team and helped me put on various sorts of protective gear.

Xia Yan: Here, put your left foot on the skateboard first, and put your center of gravity on the left foot…

I carefully followed Xia Yan’s directions, planting my foot on the skateboard.

Xia Yan: Then put your right foot on, stand stably and get a feel of it.

MC: Okay.

Seeing that my feet were placed horizontally on the skateboard, Xia Yan gently let go.

Xia Yan: Great, keep the skateboard horizontal. Don’t push down with your heel.

This was my first time standing without support on the skateboard. Though I wasn’t moving, my legs still couldn’t help trembling. The skateboard wasn’t as stable as I’d imagined – the board was prone to movement, and with my wobbliness, it also rolled from left to right.

MC: Aaah!

I didn’t know why, but Xia Yan’s miserable fall during school replayed over and over in my head, making me more and more nervous. All the muscles in my body tightened, and I tried my best to maintain balance.

Xia Yan: Don’t be nervous, relax… relax…

Xia Yan: You don’t have to tighten up this much. I won’t let you fall.

Under Xia Yan’s consolation, I heaved a deep breath, then gradually straightened my body. Sure enough, when my legs stopped trembling, so did the board.

Xia Yan: Now, let’s try moving.

Xia Yan: Put your forward foot where the truck bolt is, slowly kick at the ground, and then follow up with the back foot.

Xia Yan: You have to fix the center of gravity on the left foot. Don’t be afraid.

Xia Yan opened his hands on my sides, as if he could grab onto me, no matter what pose I fell in. With him standing beside me, I felt filled with limitless courage. Following his instructions, I lightly kicked at the ground with my right foot. The skateboard rolled forward crookedly, and I gritted my teeth, quickly moving my back foot onto the board.

MC: Ah…

I spread my hands, trying to maintain balance.

Xia Yan: Straighten your front foot. That’s right, just like that, you got it!

The skateboard rolled forward, slow as a snail – but no matter what, I had successfully overcome my mental obstacles.

For the next hour, I repeatedly practiced skateboarding, as well as learned some simple turns under Xia Yan’s instruction. With half an hour left to go before the mission ended, I decided to end training and officially take on the challenge.

Skateboarder Young Man: Ready to go? Ready, start…

I heaved a deep breath, stepped onto the skateboard, and started to move.

Xia Yan: Awesome, here I go.

Seeing me stabilize myself, Xia Yan caught up from behind. He held onto my hand, spurring me forward at a faster speed.

Xia Yan: How does it feel?

Two skateboards, one in front and one behind, moved forward at breakneck speed. I held tightly onto his hand. A slight summer breeze blew at the hairs around my ears, bringing a sliver of warmth amid the coolness.

MC: Pretty decent.

Xia Yan: Push down lightly with your toes. We’re about to get through the first turn.

MC: Okay.

The turn was right before us, and the flowerbeds on the roadside looked like they were rushing at me.

MC: (Relax, I have to trust Xia Yan… and trust myself!)

As I maintained my balance, my toes pushed down on one side of the board. The board started to turn, but the arc of movement couldn’t keep up with the curvature of the path.

MC: (I have to get past!)

I couldn’t help squinting my eyes and holding my breath. As if the skateboard had heard my prayers, it slowly changed directions, and the shrubbery in front of me also gradually got further.

MC: Xia Yan, I did it!

Xia Yan: I said so already – you can definitely do this.

My heart beat wildly, but I knew that it wasn’t because of fear – instead, it was because of excitement. Right then, I understood why Xia Yan loved skateboarding so much, refusing to give up even if he fell and got hurt. Extreme sports were not only a source of excitement and stimulation, but there was also the sense of accomplishment after conquering yourself.

MC: (We’ve gotten past four turns. Next up, there’s…)

Xia Yan: Do you trust me?

MC: ???

Xia Yan: No, I should say, do you trust in yourself to jump over the barricade poles?

Xia Yan turned around and looked at me, his eyes full of anticipation and encouragement.

Do I trust in myself? As a newbie, it was really hard for me to say. But…

MC: Xia Yan, I trust you.

Seeing my certain expression, the corners of his mouth pulled up slightly.

Xia Yan: When you hear me say “Jump” in a moment, jump upwards.

Xia Yan: Don’t jump forward or backwards, just straight upwards. Then, raise your knees high.

Xia Yan: And leave the rest to me.

As we spoke, the barricade poles got closer and closer to me.

Was jumping up from the skateboard really something I could do? Though they were only 30 centimeters high, I might fall from jumping if I’m not careful…

A thin layer of sweat formed on my hand, and I started to feel a chill at my fingertips.

Xia Yan: Right now, jump!

Xia Yan and I let go of our tightly held hands simultaneously, and I followed Xia Yan’s instructions, lifting my knees as I jumped.

The feeling of flying through the air left me without the feeling of safety, and my heart beat furiously. I shut my eyes tightly in anxiety.

Suddenly, a strong arm clasped around my waist, and an external force pulled me upwards. With a clunk, my feet fell back onto the skateboard.

MC: Ah—

Xia Yan: Don’t be afraid.

Xia Yan: You’ve already done very well. Just leave the rest to me.

Xia Yan’s gentle voice sounded by my ear. He maneuvered my skateboard with one foot, with one hand supporting my backwards-leaning waist.

MC: …

Our poses right now looked very much like embracing dancers.

I lifted my head. Xia Yan’s face was as close as could be, such that I could even feel his breath. The hairs in front of his forehead entangled, and I could smell the fragrance of his shampoo, fresh and clean.

Xia Yan: Look, we did it!

With the sound of the timer’s ring, Xia Yan and I rushed past the yellow finish line.

  Part 5

Skateboarder Young Man: Wow, you two really are impressive.

MC: Ahem ahem…

Xia Yan: …

Hearing the man’s teasing, Xia Yan retracted the arm he’d encircled around me.

Xia Yan: Alright, you can return the wheels to us now.

Skateboarder Young Man: I didn’t say that there’s only one part to this challenge.

The man shrugged, looking at us like he was waiting to watch something interesting.

MC: What? But now… there’s only half an hour until the mission ends.

Set up by the program team again as we were, I couldn’t help feeling somewhat frustrated. Seeing my expression, the skateboarder man shrugged.

Skateboarder Young Man: Plus, two teams have already finished the mission.

Skateboarder Young Man: If you two don’t hurry, you won’t be able to rank.

Skateboarder Young Man: Although, it can’t be helped – sucks that you guys drew skateboarding. That’s the hardest topic, after all.

Xia Yan pinched my hand on the side, giving me a meaningful look.

Xia Yan: Then how many tasks are there after this?

Skateboarder Young Man: There are still ten moves after this. Both of you have to try five types of obstacles.

Skateboarder Young Man: But between the two of you, you only need to successfully do six of them for me to give the tires to you. It shouldn’t be a big deal with this guy’s skills.

Skateboarder Young Man: Though you won’t be able to rank, finishing the mission in time can be considered passing with minimum grades.

That was true – getting the wheels and finishing the mission within limited time wasn’t difficult.

Xia Yan: Minimum grades? Ever since I was little, I have never handed in an answer sheet that only met minimum grade.

Xia Yan: If you’re a prizewinning skateboarder, would you dare to compete with me?

Skateboarder Young Man: Compete? Why wouldn’t I dare? What do you want to compete over?

Xia Yan: With these ten movements, I can finish them faster, jump higher, and do them with better posture than you.

Skateboarder Young Man: Dude, maybe your skateboarding is impressive compared to normal people, but I’m a professional skateboarder.

Xia Yan: If you don’t try, how can you be sure that I’ll lose to you?

With an expression that could pass for a smile or a level expression, Xia Yan looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

Xia Yan: If I win, you’ll give the wheels straight to us without needing her to try.

Xia Yan: If I lose, our challenge will change from ten to twenty, and we’ll have to successfully do them all to get the tires.

Xia Yan: How about it?

The man in front of us also looked eager, but as a program guest, he couldn’t change the rules without authorization. Right then, the director following us on the side spoke.

Director: Sure, then let’s change the rules so you two can compete.

Director: This way, the show will be more interesting!

--

Thus, Xia Yan and the skateboarder started the competition. The racecourse this time was a harder one – not only were there different sorts of obstacles, but there were also half-pipes – heaven for skateboarding enthusiasts. Seeing that the two were going to compete here, the enthusiasts got out of the grounds, excitedly watching from the side.

Whoosh – Xia Yan and the skateboarder sped past me. According to the agreed-upon rules, they had to circle the track twice, during which they had to use ten different moves. The first to arrive at the end would be the winner of this race. The first circle had already finished, and their speeds were about the same, though Xia Yan was leading.

MC: Xia Yan, do your best!

Skateboarding Young Man: Hah, is that all you’ve got?

The man laughed disdainfully, springing up at a turn, jumping onto the railings with his feet planted on the board. His skateboard stayed stably on the railings, sliding down the handrails. He swayed twice, stabilized his body, and continued to speed forward after landing back on the ground.

MC: He’s already finished ten moves, and even used the moves to take a shortcut…

As expected of a competition-winning skateboarder – he could use anything on the path. Meanwhile, Xia Yan still had two moves left to go, and the distance between them was widening.

Skateboarding Young Man: Sorry, the result’s determined – you’re going to lose.

Xia Yan: That’s not for sure.

Xia Yan’s foot pushed off forcefully from the ground as he lowered his centre of gravity, seeming like he was about to make some move.

MC: Up front is…

MC: Xia Yan, careful!

There was a deep pit in the middle of the grounds. Unlike before, when he opted for stable paths, he rushed down the half-pipe. The skateboard sped downwards, then shot up along the upwards slope.

Right then, Xia Yan flew up into the air from inertia.

Xia Yan: Just watch me.

MC: …

This scene looked like a stunning artscroll, unforgettable even from a single glance. Amid the azure skies, Xia Yan looked like an eagle with wings spread, soaring into the sky. His extended arms were like wings that sought freedom, as if he would rush into the sky if given a chance. Right then, everyone and everything around me retreated from the stage. My eyes were fixed solely on him.

MC: (Xia Yan… really is amazing.)

The people all around all gasped in amazement, making the skateboarder young man look towards Xia Yan.

Skateboarder Young Man: What?! How could this be…

After the skateboard flipped several times midair, Xia Yan’s foot fell back onto the skateboard. He rushed from the other side of the pit back onto the racecourse, leaving his opponent behind.

Xia Yan: This time, it’s my turn to take a shortcut.

His soft hair fluttered in the summer breeze, a sliver of unruliness on his face, his eyes dazzling.

Xia Yan: As long as one hasn’t arrived at the end yet, there is no such thing as a so-called foregone conclusion in life.

Xia Yan winked at me, leaping down from the ladder on the side of the racecourse.

With a clunk, he dropped stably onto the ground, rushing towards the end.

Xia Yan: Sorry, I win this time.

With ten high-difficulty moves complete, Xia Yan arrived at the end first.

And so, this competition drew to an end.

--

MC: Awesome, we won!

When I saw the race end, I happily ran towards Xia Yan.

Director: Quick, follow with the camera!

Director: Did you catch that shot of him flying up from the slope? That part was absolutely magnificent!

The intense competition seemed to have left Xia Yan somewhat exhausted. He wiped his sweat, wanting to find a place to sit and rest. I got a bottle of water from a staff member, planning to hand it to him. Right then, the cameraman and several staff members walked over, getting near him.

Suddenly, a dazzling light passed before me.

MC: Huh? What’s that?

I took a careful look. One of the field staff was the source of the dazzling light, which came from the opening of his sleeve.

When I saw the thing in his sleeve, cold sweat formed on my back.  

That was a knife!

MC: Xia Yan, watch out!

  Part 6          

When I made out the thing in that person’s hand, my heart leapt up.

MC: Xia Yan, watch out!

When that person heard me, he looked back at me, then straight-up took the small knife out of his sleeve and rushed at Xia Yan.

MC: Crap!

MC: (What do I do?)

Driven by urgency, I snatched the skateboard beside me, throwing it towards the person.

Clonk—

Field Staff: Ah!!!

Caught off-guard by the wooden skateboard striking him, the man staggered. With his sneak attack stopped by me, the man in front of me rushed at me furiously.

Xia Yan: So it was you.

With a cold, short laugh, Xia Yan rushed forward, kicking the knife out of his hand. Before the man could react, Xia Yan caught his hand, restraining him onto the ground.

Field Staff: Let me go! Why did you damn detective have to stick your nose where it doesn’t belong!

Xia Yan: Hah, paying for murder with a lifetime. I merely made your father’s crimes known to the masses.

Xia Yan: Good thing you did not hurt her – otherwise, you would regret it.

Xia Yan looked frigidly at the person on the ground, then paid no more attention to him.

Xia Yan: Call the police.

The program team staff had been shocked frozen by the scene before them, only regaining their senses when Xia Yan reminded them.

Director: Yes, call the police, quick!

The sudden interlude cut the show recording short, and the director apologized to us. Not long after, the police arrived. Xia Yan and I also went to the police station.

 --

Police Station

Yan Wei: He confessed. It was indeed him that sent you the threatening messages and emails.

Yan Wei: He thought that it was all because of you that his father ended up in jail.

After Xia Yan and I finished with record-making, we happened to run into Yan Wei, who had just finished interrogation. He looked at Xia Yan, smiling helplessly.

Yan Wei: He suddenly went from an extravagant life as a young master to the son of a criminal. He couldn’t bear it and wanted to get revenge on you.

Xia Yan: I never would’ve thought that he’d be able to get into the program team.

Yan Wei: He hasn’t said how he got in – probably bribed the crew staff.

Yan Wei: Don’t worry, I’ll deal with this thoroughly. I won’t let him threaten your safety.

MC: Thank you for the trouble, Sergeant Yan.

Yan Wei: No need to be polite – it’s part of my work.

--

Park

After we left the police station, the program team director called us, saying that they’d tape the remaining portion another day. During the call, the director repeatedly apologized to us, saying that they would definitely do a strict audit of the identities of the production team members. He also promised that similar things would not happen again.

Xia Yan: I never would’ve thought that he really would blame everything on me.

MC: Ugh… since we were in the middle of filming earlier, I didn’t have time to ask you.

MC: If I didn’t notice that something was off about you, were you not planning to tell me about the situation?

Xia Yan: It’s so rare for us to get out and have fun, and I didn’t want to sweep away your excitement.

Xia Yan: Not to mention that things happened so suddenly, and I wasn’t sure if it was a prank or if someone really was targeting me.

Xia Yan: So I didn’t tell you from the start.

I knew that, when faced with difficulty or danger, Xia Yan’s initial reaction was always to bear it himself. It had always been like this, ever since we were young.

--

[Flashback]

Near the School Grounds

MC: Xia Yan, so you were here.

Xia Yan: Ah… I…

Xia Yan’s foot had just stepped onto the skateboard when he saw me come over, and he hurried to retract it.

MC: When did you buy a skateboard?

Xia Yan: I didn’t, I borrowed it from our classmates… don’t tell uncle and auntie.

MC: The older boy from the neighbors just fell and broke his bone a few days ago, yet you’re still willing to play?

Xia Yan: That’s why I don’t want you to tell uncle and auntie!

MC: Then why did you hide it from me too?

Xia Yan: I didn’t do it on purpose – I wanted to show you after I learned to do it.

Xia Yan: You were the one to say that the older boy looked cool when he was skateboarding, after all…

MC: Really? I don’t even remember that…

Xia Yan: You… ugh…

Xia Yan: Either way, I borrowed a skateboard afterwards, wanting to learn, but you guys said that skateboarding was unsafe, and I was afraid you’d worry if I mentioned it.

Xia Yan: Rather than making you worry all day, I might as well… just not tell you.

MC: …

School Dean: Young man in front, get over here!

Xia Yan: Crap!

MC: I’ll cover for you, run!

[Flashback end]

--

Maybe it was because he worried for others too much, but Xia Yan always tended to hide lots of things inside.

MC: Xia Yan, did you know – when you hide things from me, I get even more worried.

MC: When we were young and you fell while skateboarding and injured yourself, your foot had clearly swollen. Yet you bore it all yourself, saying that it was all fine.

MC: Until mom and dad finally noticed two days later and rushed to take you to the hospital.

Xia Yan: I know… back then, I thought if I just endured it, it would be fine. I didn’t think it would be that serious.

Xia Yan: I originally didn’t want to make you, uncle, and auntie worried, but I ended up causing trouble for everyone instead.

MC: After that, I always worried about if you were hiding anything else from me, bearing it all alone.

Just like today. Even though with Xia Yan’s skill, he still might not have been injured even if I didn’t notice…

But, what if?

During then, Xia Yan had just finished off an intense competition and was exhausted. What if someone was able to take advantage of this to hurt him?

When I thought this, I couldn’t help shivering, balling my hand into a fist.

MC: Fortunately, this time, you didn’t hide it from me the whole time.

MC: If I clearly could have helped you, yet I have to watch you get injured with my eyes wide open, then I will never be able to forgive myself.

I stepped forward, gently clasping onto Xia Yan’s hands. His warm hands were full of calluses, proof of what he had experienced during those eight years. In the past, I always felt that this pair of hands brought a feeling of infinite peace of mind, but now, I also felt a sliver of heartache and worry.

Xia Yan: I know.

Xia Yan held my hands back, his eyes filled with helplessness.

Xia Yan: That’s also why I told you everything in the end.

He gently twisted up my stray hairs, tucking them behind my ears.

Xia Yan: Though I hope that all I bring you is happiness and joy, rather than unease and worry.

Xia Yan: But I know that people can’t stay away from all trouble, especially in NXX, where the road ahead will be difficult to traverse.

Xia Yan: So, I’ve decided. If the road ahead is fated to be covered in thorns, then I will grow with you by your side, no matter what comes at us, traversing this bumpy road fearlessly.

MC: Xia Yan…

Xia Yan: Was what I said a little foolish…

MC: You didn’t. I’m really happy that you’re finally willing to face trouble with me.

Xia Yan: Mhmm. In the future, if I encounter any unsolvable issues, I’ll tell you, and we’ll figure it out together.

MC: Okay, it’s a promise.

Xia Yan let out a long sigh, no longer discussing those slightly depressing topics.

Xia Yan: Today’s challenge was pretty fun. My only regret was how they had to stop filming midway, so we couldn’t rank or get prizes.

MC: It’s fine – plus, I feel like the challenge wasn’t a failure.

MC: It’s precisely because of this ending that I feel like this was a worthwhile trip.

The summer night wind blew over the lake surface, the cool air dominating my senses.

I silently made a wish in my heart – I hoped that one day, I could become strong enough. I hoped that I could also protect Xia Yan, this eagle flying high with his wings spread, and his smile that was as warm as sunshine.

  Videocall

Good morning, got any plans today?

Why am I wearing this outfit? Because you said I looked good in it, so I bought it.

I also bought the outfit that you wore during filming.

Speaking of which, after the episode was broadcast, my colleagues laughed at me for a good while, saying that I looked hilarious when I was eating the chili peppers.

They even made me into a meme sticker and sent it into the Ministry group chat… even the teacher who taught me before started using it.

Revealing my identity? No need to worry about that, I reported it to the upper ranks before we went. And it’s exactly because of this that they watched the episode…

For the past few days, I checked out the comments… a lot of people were saying that we looked like a couple, dunno if you saw that…

Your colleagues and friends also said so? Then… do you feel troubled by it…

No? That’s good then. I actually feel like those shots were really well taken, and I rewatched it several times.

It really is great that we can use this sort of method to save good memories.

Right, the weather today’s pretty good, so do you wanna go out and skateboard? I can teach you to do some other things.

No protective gear? You don’t have to worry – I’ve got it all, gear and skateboards.

It might be a bit uncomfortable to wear the gear. If you haven’t gotten used to it, you don’t have to wear it. Either way, I’ll protect you.

With me here, I won’t let you fall, so just relax and leave yourself to me!

Then I’ll head for your house now, and I’ll also bring the clothes. See you soon.

[aspenflower17]

Finding You (Part Thirteen of ??)

Hewwo! It’s another update, coming at you kinda late but on a Sunday nonetheless! I hope everyone had a good holiday season, and that these last couple days of 2020 are being nice. I’m calmly greeting the new year and hoping it doesn’t get flustered 🙄

Anywho, if you’re new here, here’s a link to Part One for you, if you so choose to read it!

Tags because they’re great (both the tags and the people!):  @simpingforsatan @naimena @hachimochi @wrathandgreed @magi-minminxiii @rensphilia @a-dream-at-night @chloelikesobeyme @getbehindme-satan @theuglypugling @oofthelazyweeb (If you want to be put in the tags, let me know in a comment or dm me!)

Satan/ F!Mc

Word Count: 2,366

Trigger Warnings: Light... bullying? Maybe...

“Ah, there you are Satan,” Lucifer said when he walked into the room.

“Found him flirting,” Asmo giggled, walking in behind him, “I’m sure you can guess with who.”

“Ugh. Normies,” Levi huffed from behind his gaming console.

“You work fast,” Belphie smirked, a glint of mischief in his purple eyes.

“I… Just heard music, and followed it,” Satan sighed.

“Oh yes, because so many people in this castle play music,” Asmo teased, “You knew exactly what you were doing.”

“I… Let’s just go eat.”

“Hehe, you basically just admitted you were looking for her!” Asmo practically sang.

“Asmodeus. Now is not the time or place for this. We are in mixed company and we are late for dinner. Please refrain from other comments,” Lucifer scolded.

“Psh. You’re no fun tonight,” Asmo pouted, though he went quiet after that.

Satan watched Lucifer as they made their way to the dining hall. He knew Lucifer wasn’t looking forward to being forced to spend time with Michael, but there seemed to be another level to his annoyance. Actually, thinking about it, this new attitude started after the ball. What’s got him so upset?

His thoughts were cut short by Barbatos’ sudden appearance, “If you’ll follow me this way.”

“Ah, Barbatos. I do apologize. We had a… disappearance,” Lucifer shot Satan a glare, to which Satan responded with an eye roll.

“It is quite alright. M… Jane explained everything to us. Lord Diavolo is very excited to hear he helped her finish her composition, and is looking forward to them performing it for us tonight,” he said this with a look at Satan that left no room for argument.

“As long as… Jane is alright with it.”

Barbatos smiled and nodded his head, “Glad to hear,” then to Lucifer, “His Lord is very happy you are all here. We have quite a feast prepared tonight, including…” Barbatos turned and started walking, the brothers all following. Satan stopped listening, instead, focusing on the square envelope in his jacket pocket. He knew he’d have to wait until he was in the seclusion of his bedroom, but he really wanted to hear what she had to say. She had been friendly toward him earlier, so he desperately hoped her letter would be something positive. Even the small amounts of time he’d been able to spend with her had been the best he had had since she had left. He could feel himself loosening up, her presence a balm to his pain and anger. Though she was now an angel, one that didn’t remember their relationship, one that had grown up in the Celestial Realm, at her core she still had the same soul. The one he and all his brothers had fallen for. The one that had picked him last time. If there was any chance for him to win her back, he would use it and regain what he lost.

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

“Oh, that reminds me of the time he started drunk texting everyone! It was during the first exchange program and he decided we needed to have a drinking contest. Remember that Lucifer? He ended up texting everyone close to him to tell them he loved them! I remember Simeon approaching me, wanting to make sure he was okay. The look on his face when I told him it was because Lucifer got drunk!” Diavolo and Michael started laughing, though they were the only ones.

The dinner had started off fine. Michael had seemed nervous, not saying anything for a good ten minutes besides greetings to the brothers. The brothers themselves were polite, though not friendly. They all worked towards letting Michael know that, talking to everyone but him. And why shouldn’t they? Their human was back, though not a human anymore. Even Levi had started talking to her when Diavolo had started his stories.

“Michael, did I ever tell you about the first time Lucifer came down to the Devildom?” Diavolo’s voice was loud and left everyone silent.

Levi, who was about to respond to something Mc had asked, sighed and leaned back in his chair pouting.

“I don’t believe you have.”

“Well, let me tell you about it. When I first saw Lucifer….” And Diavolo continued. Lucifer was trying very hard to act like he couldn’t hear Diavolo. The way he gripped his fork and his very stiff behavior gave him away. Someone would have to be deaf not to hear Diavolo, which was the point, “And then he left. Though I had said I wasn’t looking for friendship, I couldn’t help but be drawn to him. After he asked if we could speak again… Let’s just say, I was overjoyed. I never expected things to turn out the way they did from that first meeting, but I’m glad they did.”

“I remember him coming back up to the Celestial Realm. I was in the room while he gave our Father his report. He did mention the bad soil, and that he thought your very good manners and hospitality were all an act. He did mention how he did think we should consider your olive branch if you will. I will admit, I thought the whole idea preposterous the first time I heard it, but seeing as how I’m here now, it seems it’s not as crazy as it sounds.”

“I appreciate that Michael,” Diavolo smiled. To anyone looking closely, there was almost a ghost of a smile on Lucifer’s face. Then Diavolo gasped, his eyes shining, “Oh, I totally forgot about the time Lucifer got a cake to the face!” Lucifer abruptly stiffened again, more rigid than he had been before, the red of his eyes seeming to alight.

The conversation devolved from there, the two sharing stories back and forth. Lucifer had broken his fork by holding it too tightly, though he didn’t seem to have registered what he’d done. The glow of his power and displeasure were starting to swirl around his being. Barbatos had left the room to get him another one and was yet to return. Everyone else in the room was slowly inching away from the Avatar of Pride.

“That reminds me of when he-”

“Lucifer!”

All eyes turned toward Mc who had been sitting next to him the whole time but who now seemed intent on speaking to him. Michael, who had been cut off, looked at her in confusion. As Lucifer’s eyes landed on her she visibly shivered, but continued, “I hear you play piano, and are very accomplished at that.”

“Yes, I do.” The answer was curt and so cold it was almost frozen.

“Oh Mc, you should hear him play! He started playing in the Celestial Realm, and I’ve never heard anyone before or since that-”

“That’s great Michael,” Mc answered, cutting him off for a second time, “When I play for you all tonight, would you be willing to make any notes on what I can improve on? It’s been so long since I’ve met someone who could actually give me an honest opinion and real constructive criticism, I would definitely regret it if I didn’t ask you,” she then looked at him with such veneration, Satan instantly felt jealous. Did he not tell her he had worked really hard to get as good at Lucifer? If she wanted pointers, she should just ask him.

Lucifer blinked a couple of times before answering, most of the anger gone from his voice, “If you would like.”

“Really? Oh, I would appreciate that so much! Oh, I can barely wait now!”

Could she be…

“I’ve eaten my fill if you would like some direction now…”

“I’ve eaten enough as well. Would that be alright, Lord Diavolo?”

“That should be fine. In fact, if no one has any objections, how about we all adjourn to the music room. I am very curious to hear the song you’ve been working on.”

Beel looked down at his plate with disappointment, though he quickly shoved the food in his mouth, but no one else had any objections, so they all started to make their way to the music room. Lucifer had latched onto Mc’s arm, talking quietly with her. Satan glared at his back, though he was glad Mc had saved him from Michael and Diavolo so tactfully. She had been able to save his pride and even stoak it a little, ensuring the situation diffused.

“She’s really good at this,” Asmo whispered in Satan’s ear.

“Of course she is,” Satan answered more curtly than he meant to.

“Awww, is someone jealous?” Asmo teased.

“How could I not be?”

“I guess. He’s not the one she’s going to be performing with though,” Asmo answered, before rushing forward to talk to Luke.

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

Satan sat next to Mc at the piano bench, needing to wait until his part. Though he tried not to, his eyes kept wandering to her face, so expressive as she played. He almost missed his entrance, though the pause was a bit more dramatic that way. They performed as well as they had earlier, possibly better since they’d already played it once before, though it didn’t feel as intimate as it had before. He could only assume it was because they now had a crowd. Well, that and the fact Lucifer was hovering now. When they finished, everyone clapped, Mammon actually whistling.

“I can tell the ending was composed earlier today,” Lucifer began before the clapping had subsided, “It was much less polished than the rest of the piece. I also noticed Satan almost missed his cue...-”

“Would it be better if I were to play some of my other pieces?” Mc cut in. Lucifer had been looking at Satan, about to say something more, “I know it’s good to have feedback when you haven’t nearly perfected a piece, but since I’m looking for the feedback… Oh, I do need a ” She gestured a bit helplessly.

“Very well. Let’s do that then.”

Satan exited the bench, Mc moving to the middle again. Lucifer remained where was at which annoyed Satan. He wasn’t sure if she had intervened in Lucifer’s little rant on purpose, but he was grateful for it. He wasn’t really used to being the brother that was chewed out in public, and he knew he was rusty, but he hadn’t come to the dinner tonight expecting to play for everyone. Not that he couldn’t have handled it had it happened.

The familiar sounds of Bach’s Prelude No. 1 in C Major began, though a bit slower than Satan was used to. He wasn’t surprised Mc knew the song. It was the type of music that would be played in the Celestial Realm. It was a beautiful song, though he would’ve preferred one of her own compositions. He was also a bit confused as to why she was playing it slower than one usually would.

When she was done, Lucifer said the one thing he’d been thinking, “That wasn’t the right tempo.”

“I apologize about that,” Mc blushed, “I’m still getting used to this instrument.” She was getting used to…

Lucifer had the decency to look chagrined, “I apologize I should’ve realized.”

“Oh, it’s alright. I did ask for pointers. I’ve been practicing for a bit now, so I hope it sounds alright.”

“I did notice…” Lucifer launched into a whole rant, Mc paying attention the whole time, even asking for pointers when she didn’t fully understand what he meant. Having made himself feel better by having his ego stroked a bit and by bossing someone around, Lucifer sat down simply listening to her play.

There were some more classics by human composers and some of her own creation. Each one was absolutely beautiful and Satan found himself more and more impressed by just how accomplished she was. She had said he had influenced her a great deal when she was young, but what he saw was not just a child being impressionable. It was the zeal of someone who clearly enjoyed learning and wanted to better themselves. All too soon she asked for a reprieve, having played for a half-hour at least.

“Satan, why don’cha play us somethin’?” Mammon asked, turning towards him.

“Huh?”

“Yeah. It’s been a while since you’ve sat down and played something,” Asmo added, winking at him.

“I don’t even know what I’d play.”

“What about ‘Read My Heart’? I like that one,” Beel suggested, smiling over at him.

“That song’s for…” Satan trailed off.

“Exactly. Now, get your butt up there and play it,” Belphie sighed.

Satan approached the instrument slowly. The whole thing had started as a dare. Before Mc had officially chosen him, there had been a lot of back and forth between the brothers over who Mc’s favorite was. An idea that had been put forward was for each of them to write Mc a song. Satan knew his brothers were throwing their all into the song to make it as amazing as they could, Asmo actually bringing in a team to help him with his song, so he had thrown his all in as well, though he went with one instrument that he played himself to make sure it was as authentic as possible, putting every feeling he had for her into the song. His worry about her mortality, which had been well-founded. All the new feelings of love. Contentment. Acceptance. Belonging. Everything. He had been extremely satisfied with the results, though, just like most of their earlier “contests” it didn’t really decide anything.

He had never expected to play this song ever again. Mc had died. What was the point of ever playing it again? He’d written it for her anyway. But… she was back, and she was sitting right there. She had also never heard the song he’d written for her. She’d cried last time she heard it. Would she feel the same way this time?

His hands played the familiar keys, the notes ringing out just the way he remembered. He was afraid he wouldn’t be able to get the first line out, he became so overwhelmed with emotion. He did though, his voice strong. He hoped the lyrics would reach her. Would help her come back to him.

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

Part Fourteen

[thedetectivessay]

Highlights from the Fan Meeting

(took longer than planned. sorry..)

So, there were definitely A LOT of people watching during the event. At one point, it reached 26k viewers - but it could have been higher than that. They were also broadcasting through VLive so there were more. 

There was an earlier interview thing that was reposted later on on Instagram. I’m not sure if that was something exclusive to SK viewers or if it really was just a private interview (saw a news outlet’s watermark somewhere; Yonhap News’, I think). 

Either way, in that interview, Cho PD participated. He wasn’t there for the international fan meet, though.

Anyway, here are the highlights in a (mostly) chronological order:

• During the opening, the cast were introduced. Jaesuk or the MC did mention straight off the bat that this will be the final season. 

• Sejeong roasted Kwangsoo because of his hair 😂 It’s currently very long because he and Sehun had been filming for Pirates 2; Sehun’s hair was long-ish as well. But yeah - he got the most teasing because his hair is as long as Sejeong’s now lol

•  Okay, I gotta mention this: Jongmin was DRESSED TO THE T. He looked so nice, but it was so cute! He was just so determined to impress the international fans present. It just showed how much he cared about us and about how we felt about him. 

So yes: if you haven’t yet, give Jongmin some love. 

He was also asked at one point who he felt the closest to among the cast members, and y’all - he hesitated 😭😭 It was obvious he wanted to say he felt the closest to Sejeong, but he got scared because he thought the fans who were there might get mad at him 😭

But Sejeong, being the sweetheart that she is, kept encouraging him to pick her anyway by throwing hearts at him 🥰

Y’all, what are we gonna do once this show is over? This brOTP is the best when it came to roasting people! And they act like fr siblings 😭😭

• On the same question, after Jongmin did pick Sejeong, Kwangsoo made a remark, saying that he thought Jongmin was going to choose him. He looked hurt 😂

Side note: are we finally getting more Jongmin and Kwangsoo scenes this season?? 😃

• Not that long after, they played a game. Three of the cast members were chosen prior to the meet to draw a picture summarizing an episode. The rest had to guess where it was from. 

Kwangsoo was the first to go, and his clue - drawn nicely - pointed to S1EP5, The Last Vampire. Jaesuk was the first one to solve it, mentioning that it was the episode Park Hae-jin was in.

Seunggi was next, and it took the cast a while to figure out which episode it is. Can’t remember who solved it or if Seunggi just gave them the answer, but it was depicting one of the final scenes in S2EP10, The Flower of Death. It was that part where they were in Flower Killer’s hideout, when he finally told them who he really was while standing over Minjae. 

Kwangsoo afterwards said he was surprised by how terrible(?) Seunggi’s drawing skills were. Seunggi just laughed. 

Sejeong was next. She drew the detective team (beautifully, btw), and underneath the picture were the words versus + seven silhouettes with question marks on their faces. 

Kwangsoo praised Sejeong for her great drawing skills, and the cast agreed. 

The cast eventually figured out which episode, but they were hesitant to really speak of it.

It was then revealed that it’s an episode/case where the detective team faces off with a copycat team. We will see this and find out who the copycat seven are in S3. 

• Afterwards, they did this thing where a roulette chooses one of the members, the MC reads the messages written to them by fellow cast members, and they guess who they think it’s from. 

I’ll probably make another post later for this if you guys want since I can’t remember everything that was said, but basically...

> Jaesuk received messages from Sehun and Seunggi. Can’t remember what Seunggi said, but Sehun pretty much just thanked Jaesuk for teaching him 10% of what he needed to know about variety (he said the other 90% he learned himself lol) 

> Seunggi received messages from Sehun and Minyoung.

> Kwangsoo received messages from Jaesuk and Sejeong. Jaesuk said in his message that he highly valued him and Jongmin - and he asked them to stay with him forever (😭)

Meanwhile, Sejeong said that she’s thankful and sorry to Kwangsoo. When asked what she was sorry about, she said it was because she knew there were moments when it needed to be funny, and Kwangsoo would make a fool of himself to make that happen. 

(Side note: she interacted a lot with Kwangsoo this fan meet, too, so I have hope that I will also get the Kwangsoo and Sejeong brOTP scenes I’ve been asking for 🙌🏼)

> Minyoung received messages from Jaesuk and Jongmin.

> Jongmin received messages from Kwangsoo and Sejeong (my other brOT3 😭❤️)

> Sehun received messages from Jongmin and Minyoung. Jongmin said in his message that he was sorry to Sehun because he didn’t (couldn’t?) take care of him better. 

> Sejeong received messages from Jaesuk and Minyoung. Minyoung asked somewhere in her message for them to have a drink together some time, while Jaesuk asked Sejeong if she could help Kwangsoo land a role in her current drama 😂

Kwangsoo then revealed that Jaesuk always does that: whenever he meets with his friends and other celebrities, he always asks them to cast Kwangsoo in their drama or movie. The cast laughed. 

Seunggi then mentioned afterwards that he’s currently working on a new drama or movie (not sure which one), and he offered Kwangsoo the role of a mouse lol

• That was then followed by the Thank You messages from the fans. Some of you may be aware of this, but about a week and a half ago, on IG, the Busted Netflix official account asked fans to submit a 10 second video of themselves saying “Thank you, Team Busted!” in their native language. 

It was so cute, you guys! It just showed how much the cast and crew were loved by many all over the world. 

Although: there was one fan from Sweden or Norway who had a whole PROJECT D MARK HANGING ON HIS WALL. THE SAME ONE HANGING OUTSIDE THE MAZE IN C’S LAIR IN THE SERIES PREMIERE.

Where did he get that?? I want one, I’m so jealous!! ☹️

•  The fan meeting closed with messages from the cast. Most of them seemed so tired at this point, but Jaesuk proved to be the best leader the cast/team could ask for even in the end. 

I mentioned this on the first update, but he said he felt sad that the series was coming to an end especially since the cast had such great chemistry. It was heartwarming to hear because it personally gave me a sense of closure. 

To hear a cast member address the feelings a number of us feel is comforting, you know?

• The fan meet ended with bouquets of flowers (non-threatening kind 😏😉) and gift bags for the cast! They were all so pleasantly surprised, and it was so cute. 

Netflix seemed to be aware that the awards season just finished in SK, so they gave each of the members their own trophies bearing personalized awards! It was a weighty trophy, too; the cast commented on it.

I don’t know what the other members received, but Sejeong, I think, got the Bright Future Award. 

Myuk PD later posted on his IG pictures of this big gift bag that Netflix apparently gave him and the other PDs. One of the gifts they received contained a pair of wine glasses with an electric bottle opener in the middle. It was so classy and nice.

Bro - no one can say that Netflix didn’t love the detective team and the creators of the show. They threw all kind of love and attention on them, and they didn’t skimp on the gifts and ads either. 

There are other points from that earlier interview I was talking about, but I’ll put that on a separate post if you’re interested :) 

Detective Fam! There’s literally only two days before the final season drops! For those of you who live on the Eastern hemisphere, it’s just one day and some change! 

Season 3!! Are you guys excited??!

[takingcourage]

Kismet

Pairing: f!Hayden x m!MC (Tate)

Word Count: 2,825

Summary: A weekend getaway gives Hayden and Tate the perfect excuse to enjoy some time together and to think about their future. 

Note: This is one of those stories that’s been collecting dust in my drafts for ages. I could never get the ending quite right, so I kind of forgot it existed until I started seeing posts about this appreciation week and decided to finish it. The end result certainly doesn’t do Hayden justice, but I wanted to do what I could to recognize one of my favorite Choices characters. I’m still a little bitter that we never got to see Hayden’s continued growth in a third book. : / 

Anyway...

Thanks so much to @haydenyoungappreciationweek​ and @lizzybeth1986​ for organizing this event and giving me an excuse to finally finish this story.  

Tate stood outside Hayden’s front door, scratching the line of one thick eyebrow as he waited for the telltale rush of footsteps on the other side of the wood. His lips slanted into a smirk at the sound of his girlfriend’s bare feet coming down the hallway. As usual, she was running. Seconds later, the door flew open wide to reveal Hayden, breathless and giddy.

“Are you ready for the best weekend ever, Tate Park?”

Following her into the apartment, his mouth kinked up at her eager greeting. “I am, but it doesn’t look like you are…” he replied, surveying the piles of clothes strewn about her living room.

Hayden snagged a dirty mug from the coffee table, glancing over her shoulder as she carried it to the kitchen. “Really thought you’d be used to my messes by now.”

Her duffle bag sat open on the floor, empty save for a pair of tennis shoes at the bottom. Shaking his head, Tate sauntered over to the side chair and began folding the towels that were heaped into the seat. From the other room, he heard Hayden pull out the dishwasher tray. Based on the sounds that emerged from the kitchen, it seemed the mug was not the only dish making a tardy entrance into the machine.

“I’m just wondering how we’re going to have the best weekend ever if you haven’t even packed yet. And I never remember things being this cluttered when you lived with Sloane.”

“You never saw my bedroom.” Hayden reappeared in the doorway and threw him a suggestive wink. “Besides, I’m much cleaner when I’m living with another person.”

“Careful...l might hold you to that someday.” He caught her waist as she passed by and pressed a sound kiss to her lips. For a brief moment, she melted against him, and he savored the scent of warm vanilla against her skin. So much had changed since their first meeting more than a year ago, but at least one thing remained the same: her kisses still had the power to make his knees turn to rubber. “I love you.”

“Love you too,” she rejoined, eyes flashing with sincerity before the customary glint of mischief returned. “Even though you’re a neat freak.”

“I’m not a neat freak. I just prefer to use my furniture for its intended purpose.”

“Couches are overrated.”

“Ouch. I’ve clearly been slacking if you think that’s the case. Are you sure you don’t want to skip the getaway for a movie marathon? There’d be lots of blankets and snacks. And hours of snuggling…” His skin tingled a bit at the thought.

“We can watch movies in Cedar Rest.”

“If we ever get there…” the words were mumbled under his breath, but nothing escaped her hearing. He dodged the rolled-up pair of socks she threw in retaliation, then dropped them into the open duffle bag at his feet. If this was her method of packing, it was going to be a long night indeed.

“I just have to be there to check in with the organizers before the festival starts tomorrow morning. And I should be ready to go in the next ten minutes or so, which gives us plenty of time to get dinner and then go explore the town for a while.”

“Or time to chill at the bed and breakfast,” he offered, arranging the now-folded towels in a neat stack.

“Long day at work?”

“No, I’m just not convinced that we’re going to get out of here in the next ten minutes. And I think you’re forgetting that we have a ninety-minute drive ahead of us… after we’ve made it out of the city.”

“Oh, hush.” She shoved a pair of pajama pants into her duffle bag in protest, and Tate had to turn his face to hide a smirk.  

“Take your time,” he offered casually, lifting the precarious pile of towels from the chair. “I wasn’t in the mood for dinner tonight anyway…”

Tate had already rounded the corner to the bathroom by the time she called out after him, “You love me!”

He did. So very much. He could hardly remember the days before she’d come into his life, although he’d known her less than two years. And as he transferred the stack of washcloths from his arms to the cabinet shelf, he found himself wishing that he was putting away their towels in their bathroom. He’d caught himself having similar thoughts too many times over the past months.

Tate fully supported her decision to live alone, but in such moments, his resolve wavered. Recently, he’d missed seeing her every day -- missed those quiet, intimate moments they had shared during the many weeks they spent on the run. Staying over for weekends just wasn’t the same. He wanted all of life to be with her.

Much as her methods might frustrate him, he wanted to pack a single suitcase, together. They’d pull their favorite items out of the closet, comparing piles as they arranged them on the bed. Tate would check the forecast and watch Hayden cram everything from a bathing suit to her winter coat into the allotted space. She’d curl her nose at his planning and make quips about the unreliability of weather reports. 

Somehow, it was his idea of bliss.

But for now, he would continue to be patient. There was nothing to be gained by rushing her. He’d never ask her to do anything she wasn’t ready for, though he would be lying if he said he wasn’t ready to put all separation behind them. The engagement rings in his browsing history were a sign of just how ready.

When he returned to the living room, Hayden was tugging at the zipper on her duffle, all traces of clothing having disappeared from the couch cushions. She dropped the finished bag beside the door, wheeling toward him with a distinct sparkle in her eyes. “Shall we go?”

Tate shook his head at her bemused expression. “We may have time for dinner after all.” Hoisting the strap of her bag over his shoulder, he wove his fingers through hers and flashed her a cheesy grin. “Time for the best weekend ever!”

The last thing he saw before she flipped off the lights was Hayden shaking her head at him, eyes narrowed at his affected tone. He squeezed her hand as they made their way out into the hall.

______

“Dipper would have loved today. It’s a shame she’s with Sloane this weekend.”

Tate mumbled his agreement around the key card between his teeth. Behind him, Hayden turned on a lamp and continued talking. “It’s my penance for missing two Stir-Fridays in a row. I couldn’t have her living alone all weekend, especially with Khann out of the country for the month.”

He unburdened himself, setting the bags of food on the small table. Hayden placed her bottle beside them before rummaging to find the cups from their place beside the sink. “I’m sure she appreciates it.”

“She deserved to have her for a while. This joint-custody has hardly been a fair exchange with all the traveling she’s been doing with the AIC.” Hayden broke the seal on the wine, pouring generous servings into the hotel glasses. “We should find her a dog of her own someday. Dipper’s bound to get spoiled if we keep this system up.”

“She is your dog, after all.” He took the drink from her outstretched hand and drew a sip of the dark liquid. “And think of the playdates Dipper could have with a new dog. They’d have a great time.”

Hayden beamed at him as her quick fingers yanked an inscrutable object from one of the food cartons. Their dinner was a haphazard assortment of festival food, and most of it was cold. After a long day of socializing under the autumn sun, they’d both decided that a hotel-room dinner was in the cards. Luckily, between all of the food stands, they’d had a considerable selection to choose from, and Hayden had wanted to try it all. 

“I’m starving.”

Tate raised an inquisitive brow at her complaint. He rummaged through the packaging to find the burger he’d ordered.

“I know I had a massive lunch, but these jobs take it out of me.”

“I can see why.”

Tate reflected on the day, unable to control his smile at the memory of how much fun it had been to watch her work. Steve had been the point of contact for this job, it was true, but there was no doubt in Tate’s mind why the event organizers had chosen Hayden to document the day. The Equinox Festival had been a vibrant, colorful affair that was almost enough to make Tate miss the mundane bustle of New York City streets. But Hayden was completely at home.

Tate never stopped marveling at how good Hayden was at engaging people and bringing out their best features in her photography. He’d always thought of himself as an extrovert, but she gave new meaning to the word. Children, especially, had been drawn to her at today’s event, and he knew without even looking at the camera that the images she’d captured would be stunning. There was something in those candid moments that mesmerized her, and that fascination translated into her photography.

“You okay there?”

Tate raised his lukewarm sandwich in acknowledgment. “Yep, just thinking.” He watched as she withdrew a kebab from yet another container of food. “Do you want to take a look at today’s shots after we finish eating? I’m excited to see what you got.”

“Me too. I think the new tourism website is going to turn out great.”

“I’m sure it will.”

Once they had finished eating, Hayden transferred the images to her computer while Tate cleared the table. His task complete, Tate joined her on the couch, startled by a sudden change to her appearance.

“You started wearing glasses?” The question came out a bit more incredulous than he’d intended, but the sight was jarring.

“Not all the time -- obviously. Usually just when I’m working on my computer.”

“Your vision is better than 20/20, Hayden.”

“And I want to make sure it stays that way,” she insisted saucily, tapping the hard plastic frame at her temple. “These are supposed to protect my eyes from blue light.”

"Your eyes are....nevermind..." he mumbled, stretching his fingers to brush a strand of hair from her forehead. He narrowed his eyes and looked closer. "They look great."

“They’re supposed to make me look more competent and less threatening.”

Tate’s brows knit in confusion. “Is that something you’ve been worried about?” While he knew she was capable of incredible feats of strength, it would be absurd for the average observer to be frightened based on appearances.

“You never know. Harley looks pretty threatening when she wants to be.”

He had to admit that much was true. “But none of your clients have said anything about you being threatening or incompetent, have they?” The question prickled the skin at his neck;  the thought of anyone questioning her made his blood boil. 

“Of course not!” she brushed it off as though the thought were ridiculous. At his skeptical look, she added, “I promise. No one has said anything -- I’m just testing them out.” Her dark eyes looked even larger from behind the clear frames, and Tate smiled in the rush of affection that flooded over him. The underlying fondness was always there, but in these moments, he was struck by just how proud he was of her. With a sight pang, he also realized how much he missed being there to witness these little steps in her process of self-discovery.

“If you’re sure,” he answered, pushing the feeling aside. “Let’s look at what you’ve got.”

Computer in hand, Hayden moved to his lap and stretched her legs along the length of the couch. “Can you see?” She asked, sweeping her hair over one shoulder as she settled back against him.

“Uh-huh.” His eyes flicked down to the screen before settling again on her profile. The glasses were quite an attractive addition…

“This girl had the best fashion sense. I don’t understand how she put all of that together, but look! It’s perfect.”

He nodded, trying to concentrate on the picture instead of Hayden's warm, familiar scent. “I like the socks,” he murmured against the silky hair at his cheek.

“Me too! Maybe I’ll try to find some like that next time I’m out shopping. I bet Nadia would like them too.” 

Tate hummed in assent, watching contentedly as she flicked through the pictures and offered observations on each one. As expected, the images were a perfect representation of the day’s events. For the next hour, they chattered over their favorites and relived memories.

"...And that's the last one,” she announced, lifting her finger from the trackpad. “I'll start editing them when we get back tomorrow."

"And in the meantime?"

"I’m going to enjoy the rest of my weekend with you.” She closed the lid on her laptop before moving it to the coffee table. Stretching a hand behind her, she wound deft fingers into the hair at the base of his neck. "Maybe we should sleep here tonight -- I'm pretty comfortable."

“On the couch? Aren’t they overrated?”

“Mmmmm,” she considered. “No.”

He kissed the exposed shell of her ear. 

“Well,” she waffled, shifting in his arms so that she could see his face. “The one at my house is still overrated -- at least, most of the time. I don’t need it all to myself.”

“I guess that’s just one of the downfalls of living alone.” He tried to play the exchange off casually, but his heart sank at the reminder that they would be parting ways once they reached home the next afternoon.

She grew uncharacteristically still, one nail digging slightly into the outer seam of her pants. “I think that’s something I had to learn for myself,” she told him finally, the hesitance in her tone catching him off guard. 

Was she nervous? He thought back over the strange response, pulse accelerating at the possibilities. “What do you mean?” 

“That I don’t like living alone as much as I’d like living with you.”

His breath halted, and he couldn’t quite suppress the hope that was bubbling up inside of him. For the space of several anxious heartbeats, he held his tongue, afraid that breaking the silence would cut the opportunity short.  

“Didn’t you say you wanted to move in together?” Her voice was soft. Behind the glasses, he saw a flash of trepidation.

“Of course I do. But are you sure? You’ve been discovering so much on your own. I don’t want to hold you back.”

Swinging her legs off the edge of the couch, Hayden turned to sit sideways on his lap. Tate bristled with pleasure as one cool hand landed on the nape of his neck. “It’s been good for me -- don’t get me wrong. But while I still don’t know everything, there are a lot of things I’m sure of. One of them is that I’d rather be living with you. ” Her nose wrinkled as she met his gaze and removed her glasses. “You’re my kismet, remember? We were always destined to be together. Together together, Tate. Living together.” 

“I get the picture.” Taking the dangling glasses from her fingers, he carefully placed them on the coffee table.

“I’m pretty sure I get the pictures. We just finished looking at them, remember?” 

Tate groaned and pulled her tight against him, relishing in the small sigh of contentment that fell from her lips when she was secure in his arms. 

“Think you can handle me and my flawless sense of humor all the time?” 

“Your humor, your sincerity -- on the rare occasions when it makes an appearance -- your messes...” His lips curved into what was shaping up to become a permanent smile. Even the thought of sacrificing his spotless apartment couldn’t dampen his mood. 

“My massages?”

He laughed as her grip on his neck tightened. “Your massages -- I want to be there as often as you’ll let me.” 

“Then you’ll be there a lot. I hope you’re ready for it.” 

“I’d consider it a privilege,” he told her truthfully, combing his fingers through the pile of hair at his shoulder. Lulled by the repetitive motion, the events of the day started to catch up with both of them.

“Tate?” 

His eyelids parted in time to see her lift her face off his chest. Her eyes had grown a little tired, but they were steady and true. Soon, they’d be the first sight to greet him every morning. He could have pinched himself over the realization. “Hmm?” 

“Told you this was going to be the best weekend ever.” 

[indiavolowetrust]

THE LOCKED=ROOM MURDER OF MR. DIAVOLO: Choose Your Own Adventure

Guidelines

The story will be updated in approx 1000 word segments on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, with two to three choices at the bottom in [this format.]

Depending on the feedback – comments, DMs, reblogs, etc. – I will write the next portion of the story based on the choice. You will have until 6 p.m. Central Daylight Time of the following days to make your choice: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

Available here on AO3.

If the MC dies, the player (you) will be allowed to rewind back to the previous choice. Perhaps there are even secret choices.

Previous part here. Or start from the beginning.

Portrait of a Young Man: Part Five

[Answer in kind. You are a guest here, after all. Despite your circumstances, you must follow social obligations.]

You hate him. You hate him. Good God, you hate this rapacious, scheming devil. You detest this devil with every fiber of your being, every bone in your body, everything you could ever pour your soul into. You hate this conniving beast of a devil with every last ounce of hatred you could ever muster in your body. Just the sight of him sets you on edge. Here you are, having paid dearly for what must have been a boost in his career. Your partially scarred visage, burned body, and want of a leg can attest to that much. What would have become of your academic ambitions and your father’s empire lies in burnt shambles around you. While you have no solid proof of his role in your father’s death, surely the great wealth and business that he has accrued is more than enough for you. Had it not been for your father’s generous donations -- and events, business dinners, strategic alliances -- you highly doubt that the demon before you would be enjoying the fortune that he possesses now.

And yet here he is, untouched by time or any semblance of guilt. If you were a halfwit, you would have sworn that this devil before you simply stepped out from the fabric of your memories.

Despite the intensity of your hatred for Mr. Diavolo -- and your nagging, incessant urge to scream profanity at him and hurl accusations -- you are a guest. Guests do not act in such a manner.

You grit your teeth. Hopefully it passes for a smile.

Mr. Diavolo begins to descend the stairway, his hand on the banister. “It’s been years, hasn’t it?” he remarks, looking you up and down with interest. “You’ve grown up to be quite a fine young lady, I see. How fares your mother?”

Bastard. Bastard. Bastard. Bastard.

“She’s doing well,” you lie. “Much better than she was.”

“Wonderful! That’s good to hear.”

He reaches the bottom of the stairwell much quicker than you had hoped, nearing you with long, easy strides. You nearly fall over when he claps you on the back. Thankfully, you manage to retain your balance. Then there is that great, wide businessman’s grin again on his features, as if you two are truly old friends, and you feel the rage beginning to writhe in your core once more.

You want to burn that face of his to ashes.

The dark-haired man steps forward somewhere in your peripheral vision. You turn slightly to regard him. His gaze flickers towards you once, maybe twice on account of your missing limb, but once more he ignores you. 

“While I appreciate this reunion, I believe the hour is quite late.” He nods respectfully to Mr. Diavolo, as if to signal his leave. “And we’ve quite the number of guests who haven’t arrived yet. Surely such reunions and introductions can be set aside for tomorrow.”

Asmo huffs. “Just because you retire so early doesn’t mean that it applies to the rest of us. You’re no better than an old man!”

“My apologies, I wasn’t aware that simply needing sleep insinuated that --”

Mr. Diavolo claps his hands together once, interrupting the dark-haired one in the middle of what would certainly incite an argument. “Perhaps Lucifer is right,” he concedes. “Even the professor has yet to arrive, and I believe he was set to reach the estate by tonight. We’ll have it all sorted it out by tomorrow.”

And so it is Asmo that insists on leading you to your room, your suitcase in tow. The both of you pass even more vast swathes and stretches of corridors, each one appearing to be more expensively decorated and lavish than the last. When you finally reach what you assume to be your room, your remaining leg throbs from the strain. Asmo sets your suitcase to the side as he knocks on the door -- and then he swings it open with a flourish, revealing the four poster bed and gilded mirror within as he does so.

“Ta-da! One room for one young lady.” Asmo passes the threshold to place the suitcase beside your bed, and you follow him in. “I do hope it is to your liking.”

Again there is that dramatic flourish. and --

You realize that you’ve yet to thank the man for helping you up the stairs, much less for bringing your things to your room. Or for making conversation with you, given the dark-haired man’s -- Lucifer, you recall -- complete refusal to speak to you. You can only imagine why.

A sheepish expression graces your features. “I don’t think you need to mention that,” you say, tring to force down the embarrassment. It proves to be ineffective. “I believe I forgot to say thank you, by the way. For helping me up the stairs and whatnot.”

Asmo simply waves off your attempt at social grace. “There’s no need to thank me. What sort of gentleman would I be if I were to refuse extending aid to a lovely young lady such as yourself?”

Your embarrassment only intensifies. Perhaps it has been much too long since you have dabbled in society.

“Besides, we are friends here, are we not? I take it that you’ve no clue as to whom the others would be.” He leans casually against the frame of the door, overlooking a trinket on the rather massive wardrobe. A sidelong glance. “I know only a few of the others, but I’ve got the slightest inkling that your invitation was a bit, ah, unexpected. That you’ve no idea why you were brought here. Am I  correct?”

He’s rather perceptive, you note.

“You are..”

There is a slight pause as Asmo turns the trinket this way and that, his attention preoccupied with what appears to be a carved bat. Or a winged animal of some sort. His visage is turned away from you for only a moment, breaking his hold on your gaze -- but he regards you once more soon enough.

“Then we’re allies!” he declares. “Or, ah, how would you say it -- we’re in the same boat. I was told that this was an opportunity to meet another of my trade here, but I highly doubt that such an opportunity would include that arrogant peacock of a politician. Or you, Miss Georgine. You don’t seem to be much of an actress, I’m afraid.”

His rather cheery demeanor belies only the slightest hint of the unspoken question. Of his sharp curiosity. You respond in kind.

* * *

You wander the halls of the manor after a quiet, private breakfast. Sleep had evaded you in the long hours of the night, despite your needful attempts, and so it was after a restless battle that you had finally given up on such a notion. If sleep did not consider itself your companion at the moment, you would not chase after it. A butler -- a rather reserved man by the name of Barbatos -- had allowed you to fix your own breakfast at your behest, leaving you alone in the cavernous kitchen. Dawn had broken sometime later, a soft, gray sort of sunlight streaming through the curtains, and you had made sure to draw the curtains before you left the room. A silent thank you to the butler.

You cannot help but be somewhat surprised at the emptiness of the corridors. Surely there should be someone else awake at such an ungodly hour of the morning.

Then again, you are thankful for the respite. The coming days will likely be filled with nothing but blunders in social grace, awkward conversation, and generally unpleasant experiences. While you had looked forward to the taste of your old life, the reality of the situation is a bit more than jarring.

It is not long before a great door looms before you, drawing your attention. Unlike the other doors or corridors that you have passed -- which could very well lead to only more doors and corridors -- this one seems to be of some significance. Two snarling bronze lions are positioned at its center, rings hanging from their teeth. The door itself is much more sizable than the others as well, rivaling even that of the great entrance hall, and you feel almost stifled by the sheer size of it. Its suffocating presence only further serves to indicate the importance of what must lie beyond this door.

That, and the fact that there is an engraved sign that reads LIBRARY beside the door. You decide to step inside.

,Much like the rest of the manor, the library bears an extravagant touch to nearly every aspect of the room. Not an inch of space lies fallow. Bookshelves tower far above you, crammed nearly to bursting with novels, manuals, and encyclopedias of all kinds. An imported rug of rich crimson sits at the center of the room, and upon the crimson rug sits a single desk composed of dark mahogany and brass. Muted sunlight streams from windows that reach the ceiling, and heavy, embroidered curtains line nearly every fingerbreadth of the glass. Aside from the rather impressive skylight above -- which somehow does little in the way of visibility -- there appears to be no other source of light in the room.

There is a sound somewhere out of sight. It is indiscernible, given its brevity -- but you are quite sure that you have not misheard. You squint and peer into the darkness in an attempt to identify its source, but the shadows are far too thick for you to do so. If you desire to find the source, you will have to step further into the library.

Do you venture into the darkness?

[Of course! It could very well be another guest. The curtains here need to be drawn open, besides.]

[Oh, yes, let’s go frolicking in the shadows of that accursed devil’s library. Surely that’s not dangerous at all … No, you’d rather keep your head on your shoulders.]

[Perhaps you should try calling out into the darkness first. If it is truly a guest, they will answer.]

[obeymematches]

requesting a demon boy hehe ^-^

hey admin i hope you’re doing fine :D

* im socially awkward, i suck at keeping conversations so i like people who are patient and talkative

* i get distracted easily so i like watching movies or a series with someone else and i also talk during it sometimes so bear with me hehe

* i love horror related things!! from murder documentaries to gory art and if im at my peak i can stay up all night reading on stuff im passionate in,, which is why i know a lot of stuff

* i tend to be optimistic and smiley because negative things (even a slight change in voice tone) affect me so badly and i dont want to affect others too

* i hate lateness, i hate repeating myself and i hate people who makes the mood go down 

* i like cooking and i would love someone who would cook with me. it doesnt matter if they’re good or not as long as they are interested its okay

* im not really a morning person 

* my friends say i have a great sense of humour and i can talk for hours end if prompted about something im really into

* its hard for me to build relationships because i tend to distant myself if i feel like im annoying them 

* im very ambitious and if i really put my mind to something i’d work hard on it so if no one stops me i tend to overwork and go into complete burnout,,which sucks

* i forget a lot of things including birthdays 

* as much as i am an introvert (an intj, to be exact), i like going outside and seeing the world and go on adventures ,, maybe to the new amusement park or food hunting at the fancy streets

* i like having a vcr around to record moments, and i like people who could take good pictures of me 

* i am amused over the smallest things, it can be a shiny rock, a baby shaped cloud or a butterfly on your head

* i need someone who can ground me because i do get overwhelmed easily

* my alignment is chaotic evil 

* i LOVE back hugs and forehead kisses!! 

* and i love stupid debates over breakfast 

-----------

Hello! 💎

I’m fine, just dropped my phone and broke the screen... but its ok 😩 (not a big spiderweb so idc) I hope you’re fine too, and i hope you enjoy the result!

So I was torn between Satan and Mammon, but I think you and Mammon might be better! 

So both of them is patient and talkative (in canon none of them tried to hurt the MC yet so thats patience compared to the others) and that is why it was not an easy decision, but listen. 

Mammon gets along well with anyone, regardless of the awkward first phrase. 

He likes movies too and I don’t think he really minds a company who talks over the device! (I choose him because idk what Satan would think of that. Sure he gets really into series and stuff but thats exactly why I’m not sure if he would appreciate talking while it’s on) 

 Actually you know what, you and Satan would be so close friends but Mammon would be drawn to you regardless. 

Like you could talk to him about the thing you like, he would try and watch movies with you but be aware that he gets scared easily! 

He watches it with you anyway so hopefully you appreciate his efforts 🥺

So what really attarcts him is your optimistic and positive attitude towards everything. You’re such a cute and sweet person, and you actually care about him. How could he not fall for you hard. 

I think the fact that he hangs around with you sooo often would influence your personality in a way that it will be easier for you to open up to people or just to keep a conversation going. 

Mammon is literally never the one to ruin the party (unless he does something very stupid) so that is not an issue. In fact I kind of headcanon him as a person who makes the mood better? like he can and will cause drama but it’s never on purpose. (also I wish canon showed more of his serious side. like theres 1 ssr card’s devilgram story thats more serious but i haven’t finished that yet. i believe its the One too many insults card, or something among those lines) 

Hmm I’m not sure about his cooking skills but he’ll do anything to spend time with you after a while, so if it means cooking then so be it! (I mean he has worked at Hell’s Kitchen before, I’m sure he knows a thing or two about cooking, so he might help you teach some tricks around kitchen utensils)

Honestly he appreciates someone with a sense of humour so thats really nice. Depending on your taste, he can be a real funny guy too! Joking around can really make a relationship stronger. 

Uh I think he feels similar about distancing yourself from others. That would make a mutual connection. The best relationships are the ones where you really get the other person’s character. 

Tbh he could use some of your ambition regarding his plans or studies so hopefully you can also influence him! 

I don’t think he would simply let you burn out. Like he really does care about you, if it means picking you up and putting you down in a different room for your sake, he will do it. Not to be annoying as he just genuinely wants the best and you’re being stubborn 🥺

So I think a spark would happen when you ask him to tour you around the Devildom on the first week of your stay. He would take you to some amusement parks! And it would be the greatest ice-breaker ever! 

Ohhh I think he is one of the best at taking pictures, dude is literally a model. He knows the best poses. The best angles. Just trust him. 

Hm he’s one of the more carefree brothers, a rather free spirit. He would be confused about why you worry so much. Not exactly in a mean way but it would sometimes help you see things from a less stressful POV. 

I think a problem would be that he might affect you negatively, like the way he talks and stuff, but it is canon that he is going to do his best to change once you bring it to his attention. 

He is affectionate I think, so it’s really nice that you like kisses and hugs! Expect a lot! 

[natsspammityspamspamham]

Dino Watches Anime (April 26)

I haven’t made one of these for a while, and after the first draft went and deleted itself, I wondered whether it was worth making another one (I make these primarily for myself then get really surprised whenever people notice these). During harsh times like these, I find myself being drawn to the cheesiest and the most cringe-inducing shows, but maybe I just like them because you can put them on double-speed without missing a thing because you know what’s going on. It’s like instant noodle broth: satisfying, warming, but you know it’s going to kill your insides with self-crisis. Seriously, I didn’t come to terms that I really, really like romance as a genre until a little while ago. 

With that being said, I want to take a short break from romance now. 

I often ask myself, “Why are you watching these when you can be watching really good anime?” Well, that’s probably because I don’t want to have my analytical brain on right now. I want to watch an anime that takes two brain cells to enjoy. I only have two. Once I garden some more, maybe then will I get into the stuff I know I will enjoy like Hunter x Hunter (2011)

Things that I just started but couldn’t get into

NHK ni Youkoso! (1/24)

For one, I didn’t want to watch this before because it would’ve hit too close to home. The show’s about a NEET aka a freeloader (not in employment, education, or training), and I’m... almost that description (but that’s mostly because of the pandemic). Really, this show is riddled with paranoia, and it wants you to really know that with its changing art styles to its cynical script lines to its main character honestly needing some help (seriously, he needs help). I read further (aka spoilers) and realized that I probably won’t have fun with this anime right now, and I will never touch the manga because that stuff is even more insane than its adaptation. NHK ni Youkoso is about people who fall between the cracks of normal standard society and their desire to seek their own normal by any means necessary, and during stressful times, I think it belongs on the backburner.

Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei (2/12)

After seeing how much I enjoyed Kakushigoto (which will be mentioned later, I just thought, “Wow, I want to see that other really famous work!” I didn’t enjoy it at all. I forgot why I put the series on-hold. It’s about a suicidal teacher who will stop at nothing to die then ask people why they almost killed them. Through a bunch of errors, he ends up becoming some sort of a harem king to his students (and he attracts the weirdos). I enjoyed the lengths Studio Shaft went to to make this anime appear the way it does (which helps in a lot of ways), but I just can’t continue with it until a much later date.

Appare-Ranman! (2/?)

I just lost interest after looking at the rest of the cast. I’m all for being vibrant and out there, but some of those character designs imitate more of a “racial stereotype/caricature”. I’m not saying that I dropped the show only because of that (I’m quite dense when it comes to that), but I didn’t like the characters either. I can’t get behind a show that won’t let me enjoy it a single moment over two episodes. 

I’ll pick it up again later (probably)

Free! (5/12)

I feel like they’re shoving fanservice a lot. I try to skip every fanservice scene, and I managed to watch up to episode 5 in less than an hour, and I didn’t even get through them all. But I will say that ending is stuck in my head now. (humming)

This show has taken me at least two attempts to watch so far. Let’s see how many more it takes before I finish/give up!

Darker Than Black (18/25)

I’ll probably finish this one for the sake of finishing it. I just find that the episodic nature gets stale after a while, and the overarching story is often disregarded. In exchange, we do get some fun side stories, character development, and world building, but I’d like to settle down too, you know?

Clannad (1/23)

Yeah, I’m doing that now. I’m going to see whether my feels bones are as strong as they were before... after I take a hiatus because I’m not sure if I’m in the appetite for that kind of romance now that I’ve watched two shoujo in a row. 

Sousei no Onmyouji (20/50)

I bet you, someone was like, “Let’s throw all these shounen cliches into a pot then see what comes out!” Bruh, this is bordering that story I wrote when I was 14, and I’m not even dissing this anime. I enjoyed it but need a break now. It’s very cliche, predictable, and honestly, I can see why it has such a low rating. Studio Perriot likes cutting corners sometimes with their long-running series (*stares at Naruto*), and this anime is no exception. Sometimes, it feels like a visual novel. “We don’t need to animate anything if she’s so fast that no one can see her.” Dang, but it gets repetitive. It also has a magical girl power that only works when the main couple does it? Cool, but that also gets repetitive. I just didn’t see myself watching the same thing another 30 times (at least right now).

Maison Ikkoku

I’m actually on the fence about continuing this one. It’s really sweet, but I’ve had my fill of romance. I have been wanting to watch some more Rumiko Takahashi works though. There’s no reason for me not to continue this. It gives me strong Princess Jellyfish vibes (which I should also finish). 

Recently Finished

Itazura na Kiss

Just... end my suffering. It’s not worth it. The thing about shoujo anime is that I watch it late at night when my brain is at its worst when it comes to analyzing or taking in any emotional circumstances. Then I asked myself, “Would I want any young, impressionable people to watch this?” And my first thought was “F**K NO!” This anime was an absolute trainwreck. As my Discord friend put it “It’s so bad, yet you can’t look away!” But what makes this anime unique? What sets it apart? It shows life after high school. Just like Clannad, it shows that life is more than your secondary education. There is more to life than just being a teenager. I’m not saying these characters ever grew though because that’d be a FAT JOKE. 

Episodes 1-13: Girl gives boy a love letter. He laughs and doesn't even want it and goes "no thanks". Girl gets upset. Then they find out they're living under the same roof after the girl's dad made them a house out of popsicle sticks (because the dads are childhood friends). She keeps trying to push herself onto him, and his mom joins in and is plotting so much more than you'd expect. The best part is that this main girl already has a childhood friend who's like "please marry me. I'll cook for you, work for you, take a bullet for you, slice my head off if it means you won't chip a nail--" then the girl replied by chasing after the guy who calls her stupid on a daily basis and genuinely believes she can't do anything. 

Episodes 14-25: Guy gets dragged to his own wedding and generally does not care for the girl unless she’s either not looking or is on death’s bed. He practically deserts her every other time, and we’re supposed to think it’s romantic when he finally gives a crap about his wife (even when she’s pregnant). The show constantly reminds you that even other characters have doubts that our main character cares about anyone other than himself and his aloofness. They have a bunch of missed affairs including a hoe that tries to leave her husband on her honeymoon to get with Mr. Aloof and a nursing student that genuinely cares about MC and the fact that her husband doesn’t care about her at all.

The moral of the story of this anime: If you chase after somebody long enough, they will cave in and marry you even if they don’t like you, want you, insult you, bully you, or generally show all the signs of an unwilling partner.

Anyway, this anime is crap. I can’t believe I watched it. I want those few hours back (I fast-forwarded a lot, okay?) I can’t believe I finished it. Looking back makes me want to press undo. Having this under my history is a shame to my family. Even if I was sleepy and generally out of it, that’s no excuse for choosing this. Sayonara

 I will say that Daisuke Hirakawa and Nana Mizuki did give good character voices despite the circumstances. That, and I haven’t heard from Hirakawa besides those couple of scenes from School Days (which... is a different type of romance), Free! (which I dropped when his character joined), that gumball scene from Jojo, and that introduction to him being the new Demon Slayer villain. I didn’t realize he was that old though.

Special A

This is one of the anime that my sister watched, and I thought, “I need to be reminded of what a somewhat healthy relationship can be” I wasn’t disappointed because the last anime left such a bad taste in my mouth that literally anything could’ve soothed the aching wound which was bad decision making. Even under regular circumstances, I probably still would’ve enjoyed it, but since it came at the right time, I give it an extra nod of approval. I also never realized that the second opening was inadvertently drilled into my brain because I kept overhearing my sister watching it. Now that I’ve grown up, I realize I was listening to the voices of some of my favourite seiyuu. Go figure. 

The story was really sweet with characters that I genuinely liked by the end (not my favourite cast by a very long shot, but it was slightly above average). It was slightly above average for me in a lot of ways (ironically), and it was enjoyable. The art is very fitting for its time, the music was very... ordinary, and the story was simple enough that you knew exactly what was going to happen at any given moment. This show should be titled: Special A(ppreciation for those brave people who have fallen in the friendzone; we’ll get ‘em next time). 

Akatsuki no Yona OVAs 

Unlike the actual TV series, this stuff actually ends conclusively without ending on the CLIMAX OF THE BIG ARC. SERIOUSLY, I WAS ROBBED. You can say, “There’s a perfectly good manga right there.” Shut up. I want my fight scenes animated with a big helping of a strong female lead. It gave me a sudden appreciation for Hiro Shimono and his character Zeno who literally just inserted himself in last minute in the anime (but these OVAs perfectly explain everything). You probably shouldn’t watch the anime without watching these OVAs because they’re canon, funny, and touching at times. It enhances the series.

According to the animation, we know it can do fight scenes. Give us another season, cowards! Actually, it’s Studio Perriot, so if we ever get it, it might be two stickmen duking it out. 

Haikara-san ga Tooru Movie 2

You know, I really enjoyed the movie. The first one. This one? Not so much. Actually, I felt so done. I was looking forward to this so much. It’s like going to a restaurant, expecting really good pasta, and then being served some leaves from the weeds out back. Eventually, it tastes better when you add some dressing and cheese, but it still isn’t a bowl of pasta. This show casts aside everything I like about it (present-tense because they didn’t kill everything of it) and leaves one little inkling of its valued ideas. Instead, we get a romance-chasing movie that feels a bit more like an amnesia fiction that’s slightly higher quality than usual. I can’t say I regret watching the movie. There were some redeeming qualities, but they jumped from a 9/10 to a high 6/10 that managed to squeak itself into an overall 7/10. 

(This gif is from the first movie, but I can’t find any from the second movie anyway)

Currently Watching (Not Seasonal)

Samurai Champloo

This anime is a staple of Shinichiro Watanabe, and after this, I will probably watch Cowboy Bebop, Carole & Tuesday, and Space Dandy. I did enjoy Sakamichi no Apollon and Zankyou no Terror. 

Plus, after all that romance, I need some samurai slaughter. The fight scenes and the music get me every time. I don’t even need to say anything else about the anime. The fight scenes are enough to watch alone.

[shalliedragon]

Fur Squared 2018: Convention Report

All right. I think it's official now. Fur Squared is now my favorite furry convention. Their attention to detail, the sheer generosity of the attendees, the utter insanity of the events, the fact that it's just the right size, the fact that 40% of the attendees either sponsored or super-sponsored... all of those things make Fur Squared unlike any other convention I've been to. It is rare that I attend a convention that is pretty much non-stop happiness and excitement from beginning to end.

I say this despite the fact that the weekend was more or less one big blur of awesomeness. There weren't a whole ton of standout moments, because it was all consistently fun and enjoyable. But I will try to recount what I remember (might be easier now that it's over).

Thursday

Got everything packed into my car before work, and left work early to head on the road. It's a long drive from home to Brookfield, so I had to put the pedal down and just go. On the road I listened to the Dragget Show and Feral Attraction podcasts (sidenote: FA's "keeping yourself secure on the internet" episode was extremely disappointing, but that's a topic for another day).

I got to the con around 10:15 and checked into my room. I met my dear friend (and roommate) Jake (AKA Cobbs) in the lobby of the Sheraton. After exchanging pleasantries, he helped me carry my stuff in, and then we went over to MST3K (stylized to MiST3Ke on the schedule). Registration had closed, so I didn't have my con badge yet, but the person at the door thankfully let us in just by showing our state ID's.

The panelists were Alkali, Pandez, Xander, Draggor, Dixie Lioness, and Furry Bobs (I believe). The movie in question was... some kind of bad fantasy adventure thing, I don't remember the title, but it was bad. The panelists had to drink when a weapon was drawn, when there was a typo in the subtitles, when there was "(dramatic music)" playing, or the secret rule: anytime the panelists ended a sentence with a vowel. I didn't stick around to the end, as I was exhausted (so did Jake), but I think the panelists ended up winning.

We made our way back to the room, where we ran into our 3rd roommate, Gotherine Foxx (Gothy for short), who was putting the finishing touches (read: a pack of googly eyes) on a very large and ornately-drawn painting for the charity auction. She subsequently left with her friends, and then Jake and I went to bed.

Friday

I. Slept. Like. GARBAGE.

It took me a very long time to finally fall asleep the night before, and I don't quite know why. I think I got like 3-4 hours of sleep. It was BAD.

Thankfully, Fur Squared made it up to me with FREE BREAKFAST. This is one of my favorite features of Fur Squared. Every day of the con, they give all of the attendees vouchers for the breakfast buffet, so that everyone always gets at least one of the two meals needed for the 6-2-1 rule. I ate my fill, assuming that I wouldn't really be eating lunch that day. Jake and I sat with my friends Angel and Gabi, and we also ran into my friends Linn and Xeila.

After breakfast, I meandered around the con space with Jake, and went to get registered. Two things of note. First, they were giving out ribbons to the sponsors/super-sponsors that had character classes on them: archmage, drunken master, divine oracle, and ... one other one that I don't remember (I think it was Bard or something like that). I chose Archmage. Second, they had little stickers that you can put on your badge for your preferred pronouns. This made me REALLY happy; I always love it when cons try to be trans-inclusive.

Then we did some people-watching. There were a lot of familiar faces, and the excitement was palpable (both from the attendees, and from the many happy dogs that the charity had brought with them). I managed to snag a picture of Axikor as they walked past (it was actually the only picture I took the entire con, foolish me). Finally, it was time for opening ceremonies. It was filmed, so I won't go into detail, but long-story-short: the GOH's were Furry Bobs and Cypher (sp?), the artist of honor was Golden Druid, the con theme was "Lizards and Labyrinths 2nd Edition, Revenge of the Top Hat", the Kalerati and the Church of Adam started a charity donation war to see which one was the best, and people were silly. Good times.

Also, throughout this time, my 4th roommate, Dezzi, was nowhere to be found.

After the con was open, I made a beeline for my room and got right into my fursuit. I traveled around the con space some, posed for a few pictures, gave a few hugs, and got some professional photos taken at the photoshoot area in the headless lounge (I was due for some new photos). They had a whole collection of fantasy-themed props there, which made for some fun photos. I did a couple photos: one where I had a veil and some potions and looked like an alchemist, and one where I had a fistful of gemstones. The photos should be processed in the next few weeks.

I ran into my friend Alex while I was there; he was wearing his Azriel Dreemur fursuit (he's the one with the big Save button you see gallivanting around the cons). We chatted for a bit, and he went on his way.

I also had a goal for the weekend. Earlier in the year, I had bought a pack of "sprouts", these little clip-on plastic plants that you can affix to yourself as decoration. I was inspired by a former MFF roommate, Sven, who was giving them out to people. I wanted to continue the tradition, so that I could help #SproutTheLove on my own. I had a collection of 5 that I was going to give out by the time the weekend was over (I had already given my other 2 to my roommates).

After getting my photo taken, I sauntered downstairs to the video gaming room. They had rockband set up, so I immediately sat down at the drum kit and started getting a song set up. A couple other furries saw me banging on the drums and went "I have to get in on this." There were 3 of us playing "Somebody Told Me" by The Killers. And it was a cluster. We could barely hear the music, the instruments were all out of sync, and I was extremely rusty (and in fursuit). But it was fun, and it seemed like it made people smile, so it was worth it.

I said my goodbyes (I think we ended up attracting a small crowd), and made my way back to my room to cool off and clean up. I got a quick bite to eat at the con suite (which was decorated with candles, goblets, crystals, and even a little keg), and then made my way over to the Otherworld Stories panel. Alkali and a bunch of his Nero (LARP) friends told stories of their various experiences in LARPing, and hilarity ensued. It was a surprisingly popular event, and the individuals involved sounded pretty amazing. They also had a slideshow of old photos from Alkali's LARP days. I really wish they had Nero out where I live, because it sounded like a hell of a lot of fun.

After that I stayed put for convention horror stories. It's pretty standard for that kind of panel: old con chairs and con staffers talk about ridiculous terrible things that happened during their tenures, and hilarity ensued. I had heard many of them before, but it was still fun. It was filmed.

I got a quick bite to eat (#BeerCheeseSoup) between panels, and then went back for the 3-Headed Monster. As per usual, Alkali, Pandez, and Xander each did 15-20 minute comedy sets back to back. Xander got somewhat political, but also much darker than usual. Good balance of new and old material. Alkali ... was Alkali, and Pandez sang a song or two. It was filmed, as usual, and it is consistently one of my favorite events, so if you haven't seen it yet... see it. Seriously.

After that was QUIPFUR. This is Draggor's homebrew version of the popular video game Quiplash. Serathin was the MC (he basically just read off the answers and stuff) and the main panelists were Xander, Furry Bobs, and Huscoon. Unlike standard Quiplash (in addition to having furry-related questions), Quipfur was played where Draggor chose which two people played in a given round. He usually pitted one of the panelists against a random audience member. It was pretty hilarious, and I highly recommend it if you like fun events that you can participate in.

It was at that time that I noticed that Draggor still wasn't wearing his trademark skin-tight bodysuits. He was in a costume (broad-brimmed fantasy hat with feather, and tights), but he wasn't wearing a mask or anything. Indeed, throughout the entire convention, he only donned a bodysuit once: the fursuit parade (where he wore his Robbie Sinclair suit). Other than that, he was just his normal human self. He never said why he wasn't wearing them (to my knowledge), so I don't know what the reason was for the change of pace. I can only speculate: either a) he just wanted to change things up and do something different, or b) he was getting tired of being known as "the bulge" and wanted to be recognized for more than just his suits and his package. Maybe I'll ask him sometime...

After Quipfur, I went over to "Fox's Songs To Get Murdered By". Fox Amoore (accompanied by Flop the bass bunny) basically just played a bunch of random songs, and had Pandez, Alkali, and Boozy Badger sing along. It was definitely fun, and very silly. I think it was filmed (I hope so, because my memory for it was kind of weak).

Of note: this was one of the first panels I recall that made mention of the phrase "cripple fight." This phrase was to become a recurrent meme throughout the con.

Jake and I quickly went over to the restaurant and got some more food (I had a salad, and Jake had a salad with a brat sandwich, and also had the cocktail I got earlier that night, a variant of a sidecar). We often spent our time talking about things in the fandom and various hobbies. Jake's a soft-spoken guy, who often just responds with a "nice" or "I like that" when I tell stories. I worry that I am boring or annoying to him, but since he chooses to keep hanging out with me, I'm assuming my worries are unfounded.

After dinner part 2, we went to Whose Lion Is It Anyway (audience participation version). I've become more fond of the audience Whose Lion in recent years; people have gotten better at it, and the quality of the jokes has really increased. Further, I am SO HAPPY that Alkali specifically told people "please avoid insult humor and racist jokes" and encouraged people to get creative. That had been a problem in previous years; people had often used Whose Lion as an excuse to say terrible things to each other, in an attempt to be funny. But since they specifically quashed that this time, people actually tried different things beyond the typical "hey baby wanna do sex?" chestnut. It was great. Indeed, some some of the jokes were FANTASTIC.

Also more cripple fight. And Culver's. Culver's is apparently a thing now.

After that, we went to the bizarrely-titled "Boozy's Drunken Naptime." I honestly went into it expecting to see Boozy doing dramatic readings of children's stories or something. Instead, it was him, Huscoon, Fox Amoore, Nbowa, and Dixie Lioness just BS'ing for an hour. Weird, but still funny and interesting.

This seems to be a common theme for a lot of panels: get X people, put them on a stage, and have them tell funny stories and BS with each other, with pretty much no structure beyond that. There were at least 4 panels at Fur Squared that followed this format. It's a format I haven't really seen outside of furry conventions, and I am curious about how it came to be, and why it works so well. More research to come.

After that was the last panel of the night: Iron Alcoholic. It is competitive mixology. During each round, the competitors had to create a cocktail that met certain criteria (i.e. "must contain vodka, must be a shot"). They had a time limit to do this (2-3 minutes), and then audience members were the taste-testers for the event. Each round had a winner, based on how the audience felt. Me and Jake only stayed for 2 rounds, because the event started after midnight, and we were both exhausted. But it was pretty awesome. It was definitely filmed (thank you Silvergatomon, seriously he is a saint).

Saturday

I got up at around 8 in the morning, so that I could go to Xander's Saturday Morning Cartoons panel. I had been looking forward to this panel all year; it was a ton of fun last time. It's a great way to just relax and unwind on a Saturday morning. As usual, Xander created a "playlist" of various clips from cartoons and TV shows, and we just kind of sat and watched. It was funny, though some clips were better than others. Most of them were D&D or animal themed to an extent. Unlike last year, they didn't have cereal and milk, which was a bit disappointing. Still, a good time.

Immediately following was CHAIRity D&D. This was probably one of the best panels at the con. It was a one-shot D&D adventure, played by Alkali, Draggor, Dusty Montale, and John AKA Beardo The Magnificent, with Faelan as the DM. They were playing a variant of 5th edition, with some additional house rules to streamline things (each player had a deck of cards with spells on them). And it was BRILLIANT. The campaign was really smooth and fluid. Faelan was an EXPERT DM; he deftly made things up off the cuff, without batting an eye or checking a rulebook. All the players got really into their characters. And as usual, they were hilarious. To top it all off, the audience could donate money to the charity to both increase the difficulty of the adventure AND grant boons to the players if they so desired.

It was probably one of the best run, most entertaining D&D sessions I have ever witnessed. And it sounds like they'll be doing it again next year, so yeeeeeeee!

After the adventure, I booked it back to my room to quickly get into fursuit for the parade. While I was in the staging area, I ran into Xander (in suit) and gave him my usual hug. I also ran into my friend Angel, who was wearing her brand new wolf partial suit. It was super cute, especially because she had a big plush cookie in her mouth. After the group photo, the parade began. I was right behind Red Beagle (I think that's his name?) and I felt really bad, because I kept bumping into him as I walked. My vision isn't very good in-suit, so I had a hard time looking at the audience AND seeing where I was going. I'm going to make an effort to be aware of that going forward. Mustn't have been fun for Mr. Beagle (considering my head is made of resin and probably made for unpleasant noseboops).

On a lighter note, I do distinctly recall hearing people shout "Shallie!" as I rounded one of the corners (I think it was Leafy Greens?). This really made my day, as I rarely get recognized by name in the parade. I made an effort to get a lot of mugging and posing in, trying to do more than just wave. I think they like it when I act "fabulous", so I'm going to try and ham it up more next time.

After the parade, I rushed back to my room to get cleaned up before running back to attend Charity Whose Lion. Again, one of my favorite events. And again, more cripple fight (IIRC Boozy ended up swatting Propzilla with his cane). I highly recommend this panel; these folks are all experts at improv comedy. If you haven't seen it, watch the video when it comes out.

Following that, I went over to the dealer's room to take a look around, and collect my super-sponsor swag. This year's con swag: a Fur Squared beer mug, a t-shirt, a branded dice bag, a complete set of D&D dice, and a branded stemless wine glass for the super sponsors. As usual, sponsors got a copy of the poster, and super sponsors got to be IN the poster. I was pretty blown away by my picture: they knew somehow that I was a spellcaster, so they made me a sorceress (in a pretty dress no less). It was awesome.

After wandering around some more and snagging a bite to eat (while signing the super-sponsor poster for the charity auction and giving two sprouts away to some strangers), I went over to @FurSquared. This was a gameshow of some stripe, hosted by Iggy, where each round, people were given prompts, and were asked to come up with clever responses. For example, one of them was "what kind of fictional crossover have you always dreamed of?" The responses were pretty good, but I remember the game being a bit more... lively the previous year. Still, fun times.

Following that, I went over to another bizarrely named panel: "Monkey Knife Fights." Following a similar formula as Drunken Naptime, they put Alkali and Boozy up on a stage and had them BS for an hour. As you might imagine, it was hysterical. But that wasn't the cool part. That came after the panel.

Immediately following the event, Alkali revealed that a hypnotist had come to the convention, and was in the audience with us. I think some people donated to the charity to convince Alkali to undergo hypnosis at the hands of this gentleman. I thought "Oh this'll be funny, we'll watch Alkali do stupid things". But what actually happened was even better. The gentleman, who was named Mark, was a professional hypno-therapist, and he spoke all about how hypnosis can be used to help treat psychological disorders and mental illness. He also explained how hypnosis worked, in an effort to allay Alkali of his fears (he was visibly nervous at first).

Eventually, the ferret calmed down, and Mark began his hypnosis regimen. He told Alkali to imagine that a helium balloon was tied to his wrist, and that it was slowly filling up with gas. As it filled, Alkali was told to imagine that his arm was getting lighter as the pull of the balloon got stronger. Eventually, Alkali's arm PHYSICALLY ROSE OFF HIS LEG, and he literally could not make himself put it down. Then, Mark cut the balloon's "string", and Alkali went to sleep. Mark told Alkali to envision that one of his friends had snuck in the room and put googly eyes on Boozy's eyes (Boozy had been sitting there silently the whole time), and to think about how funny that would be.

At the end, Mark told Alkali that he wouldn't remember any of this, but that he would feel very refreshed and happy, and that he would see Boozy's "googly eyes" upon his waking. Mark commanded Alkali to wake up, and Alkali had the biggest, most placid grin I had ever seen on his face. He looked so peaceful, so content, so relaxed...

And then he turned and saw Boozy and LOST IT!

Alkali honestly believed that there were googly eyes on Boozy's face. He was all like "You look like Dr. Doom from Roger Rabbit!" and he laughed so hard that he nearly fell out of his chair. After he had calmed down, Mark asked how Alkali had felt. Alkali responded that he felt "the best I've felt all day."

I really hope that was filmed, because that was an incredible experience.

Moving on, I went to the super-sponsor dinner. More accurately, I stood in line for the super-sponsor dinner. Apparently there were so many super-sponsors that they had to bring in people in stages. I was toward the end of the line. Alkali was really apologetic, and said he would try to smooth things out for next year. But it honestly didn't matter. They had enough food for everyone.

And what a banquet it was. They had a buffet with chicken and mushrooms, roast beef, roasted vegetables, dinner rolls, salad, beer cheese soup, potatoes, cookies, brownies, and Sprecher Root Beer on tap. It was pretty delicious, especially considering how hungry I was. I sat at the table, eating with my fellow super-sponsors, thinking to myself "I'm doing this every year!" And frankly, I think I will. All the cool swag, getting to be in the poster, AND a free catered meal? Considering a Fur Squared supersponsorship is $100 less than one at MFF or AC, I think that's a pretty solid bargain.

Also, there was a proposal at the dinner. It was pretty sweet. I think Alkali cried.

After that was the DRAGGET SHOW! Super fun, like always. The panel was Xander and Alkali, Boozy, Draggor, and Pandez. I forget what all they talked about, but it was recorded, so eh. I do remember Xander mentioning the video I made for them. Context: I had been working on a remix of the JAPAN SONG for the past several weeks (go to YouTube and look up "dragget show japan song" if you want to see the original, or my remix), with my goal being to get it done before Fur Squared. I was successful. I also wanted to get Xander's attention about it (he tends to not check his phone often), so I asked him about it on his Patreon. He mentioned it, and said that he had actually retweeted the song. So yeah, that was cool.

Of note: the Dragget Show was a charity panel, so people were passing around the hat. But towards the end, there were two huge donations. One person donated $666.66. And (IIRC) Tobe donated $1,000. Alkali cried. Combined with the other money, the show raised over $2000, which made it the most generous event at the convention other than the charity auction. It was amazing. And as usual, the show ended with a charity story. It was the story of what REALLY happened on Draggor's birthday, when they all got insanely high. I won't go into detail, though; you need to attend the panel to hear the charity stories. >:D

Following that, I went over to the Foxes and Peppers after dark show. It was pretty funny, like usual. Pepper's guitar string broke mid-set, so he had to fix it WHILE performing. They auctioned off the last printing of one of Fox's CD's. And they performed "Lighthouse", in memory of the kids who were shot during the school shooting in Florida recently. Pepper put it best: "I want to forget the reason I wrote this song, but there keep being more and more reasons to perform it."

The show ran a little long, so I ended up being late to Libation Appreciation. For those who don't know, this event is all about sharing knowledge about alcohol. They talked about various different types of booze, how they like to enjoy them, and various recommendations for brands to try (apparently Nika distillery is good for Japanese whiskey). It was pretty informative. Then Fox and Pepper crashed the panel, and Pepper (who was drunk) started playing around with the giant Jenga set in the corner of the room. Still, good times. They kicked us out at 1AM and I went to bed.

Sunday

Got up at around 9 for breakfast (someone ended up taking our spots, so we had to talk to the wait staff and get new vouchers), and then Jake and I went over to main events for Keep Talking And Nobody Explodes. For those who don't know the video game: one person has a bomb in front of them, with a bunch of puzzles on it. The other person/team has a bomb manual, with instructions on how to solve the puzzles. However, neither can see each other's screens, so they have to talk and work together to defuse the bomb. It's a pretty fun, but stressful, game.

And they took it further at Fur Squared. Firr and Zen Fox were running the panel. They had one audience member at the bomb, and a team of other audience members with paper copies of the manual. While the bomb was being defused, Firr and Zen would do everything in their power to be distracting. They would scream and shout, sing, dance and stomp around, blare annoying music, and more. They even set up crazy "house rules" to make it even harder. One of the "experts" had to speak in a Russian accent. Another time, only one of them was allowed to speak. Another time, the audience had to use their phones to use the manual.

And then it was my turn. I got to be the defuser once (I lost), and it was hilarious. Firr and Zen were yelling and making the stage shake, and they were moving my microphone around. Another time, I was one of the experts, which was shortly after they had taken all of the paper manuals and threw the pages all over the place. We gathered up the papers as best we could, and were ready to start.

And then Harvard walked up to the bomb chair. Harvard is a silent fursuiter. We had to play "Keep Talking" with someone who didn't talk. To make matters worse, Firr and Zen decided to play "helping hands" with us, where they came up behind us and put their arms under ours, pretending to be "our arms." I distinctly remember receiving a nipple tweak from Firr. At any rate, we lost, even on the easiest difficulty. Harvard had the foresight to hilariously dive from her chair just as the bomb was about to explode. "She was the only one who thought to do that," said Firr.

Our next "victim" was Razzy, another fursuiter. Thankfully Razzy could talk. We still had a hard time deciphering what he was saying for some of the puzzles. This wasn't made easier by the fact that Zen Fox decided to lie down on top of all of the bomb manuals. I had to physically roll him out of the way (I thankfully didn't push him off the table). But we won!

For the last bomb, I think it was Zen in the hot seat, and Firr reading the manual. They misread one of the puzzles, but I think they ended up winning? I don't remember. Regardless, Firr does a really good job with the Keep Talking panel, so you should check it out next time you go to Fur Squared.

Following that event, Jake and I went down to the "Coming and GOHing" panel. SemJay, Zen Fox, Pandez, and Firr regaled us with stories about being the previous guests of honor at Fur Squared. They answered questions and shared their thoughts about unexpected things about being a GOH, what their proudest accomplishments were, and how they messed with Alkali's head. SemJay even took off her pants for charity (she was wearing underwear, don't worry).

This panel bled into the following panel, Firr's "Go Forth And Suck." It was a pep-talk panel, where Firr (and the other former GOH's) encouraged people to just go out there and try whatever they wanted to do. If you have an idea, just do it, and don't be ashamed of sucking. We all sucked at one point. And sucking is how you get good. It was because they all took risks and did stupid things, some of which just blew up in their faces, that they ended up where they are now. Pandez's story was particularly poignant; one of his first solo comedy sets was to a crowd of 12 people in a room made for 500. But he kept going, and he learned a lesson from his experience (tailor the room to the size of the event, and do smaller sets).

I was reminded of my panel at the previous year's Fur Squared. The one that only had 3 attendees. As of writing this, I never attempted to try again after that dismal failure (even though someone thanked me for my time). So, next con I go to, I am going to submit multiple panel ideas and see which ones I get. I will do my best, and I will have fun doing it, no matter what happens.

Sidenote: because one panel ended up bleeding into the other, the panelists decided to combine the two and call it "Coming and GOHing and Sucking." We laughed at that for a good 30 seconds.

After the panel, I went with Jake back to the room and we said our goodbyes. He unfortunately had a plane to catch. But I was happy to have been able to share so much of the con with him, whether it was sitting together at panels, or having in-depth conversations during meals. He told me he remembered fondly the time at AC when we just sat and talked for hours at the end of the con. I hope that we can do something like that again sometime.

Then I went to the charity auction. As usual, it was fun times. Lots of great stuff up for auction. I unfortunately didn't win anything. But honestly, it wasn't even about that. The Fur Squared charity auction is one of the highlights of the con, because people really get into it. Cheering, jokes, huge bids; the atmosphere was electric! There were items that went for over $1000 apiece. My roommate, Dezzi, actually ended up buying the creative rights to the Kalerati AND the Church of Adam at the auction. Alkali bought the signed super-sponsor poster, as a way to say Thank You for all the hard work done by Axikor and their team. A mask made by one of Alkali's Nero friends went for $1500. It was incredible.

Oh, and someone bought a collection of Victoria's Secret perfume and then sprayed it all over Alkali, Firr, and Pandez.

Charity auctions, the bar has been set by Fur Squared. Both in terms of money raised, and in terms of the experience.

After the auction, I quickly went back to my room to get into fursuit. I decided that this was going to be a tradition: I would always do "This Is How You Kill A Con" and closing ceremonies in-suit. So I did.

I met up with my friends Linn and Xeila at the panel, and had some snuggles (I know Linn had previously asked for fursuit snuggles, so I was making good on my promise). I gave Linn one of my sprouts. But the real fun was the panel itself. For those who haven't been: "This Is How You Kill A Con" is basically just a time-filler while the board of directors meets to go over the events of the con. As a result, they give Firr free reign to do pretty much whatever he wants. And he took full advantage of that.

Him and Zen (and I think Furry Bobs was there for a bit) just kind of did whatever for an hour and a half. We had a mini charity auction. Several things ended up being up for bid. First, a small sketch done by an artist in the audience at "Coming and GOHing and Sucking". Next, a small piece of string. I think there was something else (I hope they filmed the panel).

And then Huscoon showed up. The conversation turned to Culver's, again. Turns out, the Fur Squared Twitter account only follows one other account: Culver's. This gave Firr an idea. He would put up for auction the ability to send a single tweet from the Fur Squared Twitter account AND the ability to have the account follow any one other account (no unfollows). I think the winner tweeted out that he wanted to be the GOH for next year.

They also managed to convince Huscoon to auction off the ability for someone to post a tweet on HIS account. Yes, you read correctly. The famously conservative, controversy-starting Huscoon. The one for whom #BlameHuscoon was created. Turns out, Dixie was the one who won that tweet. I think she posted "I give my undying love to my sweetheart, Pepper Coyote" or something like that. Good times.

In the middle of the shenanigans, I made my way up to the front of the room and gave my last two sprouts to Firr and Zen. Firr clipped his to his hat (where it stayed for the rest of the con), and Zen clipped his to his beard. I was happy.

Finally (after ending the panel with a round of "Bohemian Rhapsody"), it was time for closing ceremonies. They began with a big Happy Birthday song for Draggor, and he was blown away. He was grinning from ear to ear, and he turned beet red from embarrassment. Turns out he's as big a sweetheart as Alkali is. The staff also brought up a present for him: a hoodie featuring the logo for Dragon's Milk beer.

I won't go into too much detail, as this panel was filmed. I'll just go over the highlights. Kataze had his traditional power point presentation, going over the numbers at the convention. This time he had graphs, and they were HILARIOUS. Final head count: 1101. Total sponsors and super-sponsors: 485. That's right. 45% of the convention chose to upgrade their badges. By contrast, I think AC had a similar number of upgraded badges, but had 7,500 attendees.

Someone brought in a whole cart full of Culver's custard. I didn't get any (as I was in suit) but they had enough for... a lot of people.

And then the waterworks. Alkali read off the totals for the charitable donations from each of the sources. And as he read, his became more and more misty-eyed. But it didn't stop there. I think there were at least 4 or 5 instances of people coming up and going "wait Alkali, I have more money." Including my roommate Gothy donating a LITERAL BRA AND PANTIES MADE OF MONEY, that was worth $69 on the dot. As usual, Firr went around and rounded things up.

The final charity total was $21,000. They beat their previous year's total by about $6,000. Which, as of this post, puts Fur Squared at #3 in the ranking of most generous furry conventions in the world (total donated divided by attendance).

To top it all off, Cy, one of the guests of honor, said that when she sells her house, she would donate 10% of the value of the house to the charity, which was estimated to be a donation of about $12,000.

Lastly, they announced stuff for next year. Vegas themed. Title: The Mouse Always Wins. I do hope that means that Miko is going to do something ridiculous.

They also announced the guests of honor. They doubled up on the artists of honor (I don't remember their names), but they also had a new "Gamemaster of honor" title, which they awarded to Iggy! I was ecstatic, cuz I had roomed with him the previous year, and consider him my friend. I was jumping up and down and clapping like mad. I think Iggy was pretty surprised.

After closing ceremonies wrapped up, Linn went back to my room with me, and I gave her the Christmas present that I had been meaning to get to her for the past 2 months: a board game called Pitch Deck (look it up, it's fantastic). She was so happy, because she's a huge board game nerd, and she immediately recognized the game when I pulled it out. We sat and talked for a while, catching up and talking about future convention plans. After a while, I told that I had to get cleaned up (I was still in my bodysuit), so we parted ways.

After cleaning up, I went over to the hotel restaurant for dinner. This was where things took a bit of a dip. I got to the restaurant, and sat down. I waited for the waitress to come bring me a menu, but she never did. I went over to the bar and sat down, looking over at the bartenders. They never acknowledged me. I sat there for a solid 15 minutes, and was never even noticed. It was stupid. Upset, I decided to give up and head over to the Adventure Time marathon. Thankfully they had pizza there, so I was able to eat my fill without having to spend money.

I discovered that night that I don't like Adventure Time. While it has some funny jokes, it's too full of existential dark humor and body horror for me to enjoy it. Plus, there were like 5 people watching the show. So instead, I decided to take a look around and see what people were doing.

It was then that I discovered the "dead dog karaoke" happening. Firr, being a DJ, had set up a karaoke machine in the main events room. People could give him a card with their requests on it, and he would call you up when it was your turn. It started out kind of slow, but as the night went on, it became increasingly more fun. And there were some AMAZING singers. Citrine Husky in particular did an incredible cover of "Don't Stop Believin'".

People were really getting into it. I ran into Gabi and Angel again, and we hung out for a bit before they ran off onto the dance floor. There were a surprising number of folks dancing. Then Zen Fox showed up and things got a bit more rowdy.

Highlights: closing ceremonies had a big confetti cannon, so people were having confetti fights. A lady in a big white fursuit, with padded digi legs, sat down on Zen in the middle of the floor. She then proceeded to poke Zen with a big "phallic" balloon. At another point, someone had a cardboard cutout of Jesus, and they were dancing around with it. Someone did Andrew W.K.'s "Party Hard" and Firr was backing it up unenthusiastically. One guy serenaded Gothy with R. Kelly's "Bump n' Grind." They did the Time Warp.

And I sang "Your Song" by Elton John. I was kind of afraid of the high notes, so I started out singing the song and octave lower than the original. This ended up sounding bad, so I switched over to the original register and just did my best. Turns out I was able to hit most of the high notes after all. I distinctly remember doing a silly dance during one of the breaks. Firr came up next to me and sang along. And I held out the last word longer than I expected (I looked at my "watch" in an effort to be funny).

I'm not saying all that to brag. I'm trying to remember what happened, because I don't think it was filmed. See, the main reason I write these journals is so that I can re-read them later down the road, and have a solid recollection of the events of the con. My memory isn't that good, and most cons become a blur after a while, so I try to capture everything as best I can.

Anyway, the night ended with another rendition of "Bohemian Rhapsody", which concluded right before the hotel staff kicked us out of the room. Apparently there were business travelers, and we needed to be quiet after midnight. I think they said they'd put the karaoke in another room next year so that it would be less disruptive.

Exhausted, I wandered back to the room with Gothy. We chatted briefly about furry stuff before heading to bed.

Monday

Got up at a reasonable hour and got breakfast with Gothy. We ran into Dezzi at the restaurant. We chatted for a bit, about his newfound "power" as the new owner of a cult and a religion. He's apparently planning on handing over the reigns at next year's charity auction if someone can match his bid.

After our breakfasts, we went back to the room and got packed. Gothy had the foresight to request a luggage cart, which made things WAY easier getting out. However, in her haste to get home, she forgot her slippers, so I had to run them out to her before she left (made it).

I packed my things, and with a little finagling, I was able to get all my stuff out to the car in one trip. After checking out, gassing up, and getting a coke, I put the pedal down and drove home, listening to #Hashtag and The Dragget Show on the way.

Overall

I love Fur Squared. It is a magical, unique, wonderful convention, a true diamond in the rough. Every year, they have new surprises. Every year, new memes, new jokes, new stories, new insanity. They keep donating more and more money, and creating bigger and grander schemes and shenanigans. Every con is special, but Fur Squared is... different. Its craziness, its generosity, its attention to detail, its loving and close-knit atmosphere, its relationship with its hotel and charity... many cons have some of these things, but it is the confluence of all of them that makes Fur Squared worthy of being called my favorite convention.

You should go.

[starlitesymphony]

10/11 Questions Tag Game

I was tagged by @shadow-maker​ and @hklunethewriter for two different versions of this, so I decided to combine them into one post. Thank you both for thinking of me!

Sorry, it’s long...

Who is your favourite OC? I still write the very first OC I made when I was eleven! He’s evolved quite a lot since then. He’s an MC in my current WIP now. His name is Ash and yes he was originally named after the pokemon character. I can’t hardly change it now, can I?

Have you ever made a dramatic change to your WIP? I cut a huge chunk off the end to turn into the sequel when I realized it was gonna be twice the size of HP and the Order of the Phoenix

How many OCs do you have? A whole lot of them!

If you could bring any of your OCs to life, who would you choose? Probably my protag. She’s really kind-hearted and brave.

Do you have any non-human OCs? I have intelligent starships, spaceports, cities, etc. Most of the time they don’t communicate directly with humans, though.

Would you ever co-write with another author? …Maybe? I’m not opposed to it, anyway

What writerblrs would you recommend following?   @boothewriter @cog-writes @firewritten @dragonscanbeplantstoo @incandescent-creativity @briannadeberry  but honestly I haven’t run across a bad writeblr yet, it’s worth a look through the tag to find people!

What is your favourite book? Banner of Souls by Liz Williams. It’s out of print, and it’s not perfect, but I have been in love with it I was a teenager. I actually saw a post not too long ago complaining about lack of dystopian matriarchies in fiction—well that’s what this is!! It’s a very unique and frankly brutal world. I’ve drawn a ton of inspiration from it over the years.

What’s the #1 thing that’ll make your MC blush?   One of the plotlines of my novel is the narrator experiencing her first crush, so she ends up feeling embarrassed a lot. Luckily she can control whether or not she blushes. Usually.

Describe your MC in one word. Sagittarius

Now describe your antagonist in one word. Scorpio

What’s one thing your MC wishes they could change about themselves? She wishes she hadn’t been conscripted into the military when she was a child.

Pick a WIP and tell me whether your “good guy” OCs get along. What about the “bad guys”? Yeah, they do. I’d say this is actually the whole theme of this book—having your bestie’s back no matter what, even if you don’t always see eye-to-eye.

Who would your OCs die for, if anyone? Her mom or her mentor, which she’ll say without a second thought, and her mentor’s lover by the end of the book.

What advice would your MC give their younger self? You don’t really want to know the whole truth yet! The truth hurts

How much would you say you torture your OCs? :3c Well…quite a lot. They’re literally bulletproof, can happily survive in space without a suit, and can look like anyone. They’re the most powerful fighters of the human race. So I’ve had to come up with some serious stakes.

Your antagonist is given $1,000,000 with impunity–it’s clean and obligation-free. What does your antagonist do with it? Spend it all on fancy things for her apprentice.

Alright I’ll tag @lady-redshield-writes @briannadeberry @firewritten @writebruh @winnieleighwrites @authorisada @writing-after-midnight @theinkstainsblog @hannahcbrown @burningemberjade  @dragonscanbeplantstoo Here are your 10 questions:

1. Which of your MC’s would you take on your next vacation? 2. If you got whisked off into your story world, would you stay there? 3. Which of your MC’s do you feel the most connection to? 4. Are any of your OC’s based on people you know or have met? 5. Have you ever abandoned a large WIP? If so, why? 6. Have you published anything? (Just yes or no is fine!) Are you hoping to go traditional, indie, online, or not at all? 7. Do you have any goals for your work over the next year? 8. Post a line you think sums up your work! 9. Have you ever had someone you would consider a mentor? 10. What are you currently reading? Anything interesting?

[professor-abeloved]

For the shipsss: mc x maxwell and mc x sean (if it hasn't been done yet)

sorry it’s a lil late dear @allthecowslovetheleo​ !! thank you though for asking about my two fave ships mahal kita kaibigan

here’s my trr mc, eliza wong!! HAH SHE HAS AN ACTUAL NAME SUCK ON THAT PB

Send me a Ship and I’ll Break Them DOWN

How did they they meet?

as is in canon, they met when eliza was serving maxwell & friends as a waitress. maxwell thought she was gorgeous in that green dress and had a good feeling about eliza, especially when he saw the way liam looked at her. eliza thought maxwell was friendly, hilarious, maybe too impulsive, but she liked him right off the bat.

Who developed romantic feelings first?

maxwell!! he realised it early on in the competition - he just kept his feelings under wraps, not only for the sake of house beaumont and cordonia, but for eliza’s and liam’s sakes as well.

eliza slowly developed feelings for maxwell the more they spent time together, but it took her a long time to recognize what she was feeling. part of that is because she was so dead-set on winning the competition that she didn’t focus on anything else. 

this is because 

she’s competitive and wanted to prove olivia and the others wrong

she wanted to prove something to her stepmother and her childhood self since she grew up with dreams of becoming a princess - but was always told that she couldn’t and she was a fool for even dreaming

she wanted to save house beaumont so badly. at first she thought that she simply wanted to repay maxwell for his kindness, but it ran so much deeper than that

eventually, eliza grew disillusioned with courtly life and realized that she didn’t need a tiara, a fairytale prince or a billion fancy dresses. all eliza needed was something who could appreciate her inner princess (aka the kind, compassionate, driven woman she was), regardless if she was wearing a waitress outfit or a beautiful ballgown.

addtionally, her “feelings” for liam were just strong aesthetic & platonic attraction. plus, he seemed like the fairytale prince of her childhood dreams. who wouldn’t be drawn to that?

i’ve written more about eliza, her feelings for maxwell and her backstory in this fanfic

Who is their biggest “shipper?”

surprisingly, liam!! he just wants both of them to be happy. in my canon, he realised maxwell’s feelings as well as eliza’s discomfort with courtly life earlier than they did. although he couldn’t say that he wasn’t disappointed, he managed to accept and get over it before he could develop any deep feelings for eliza.

When did they have their first kiss and under what circumstances?

so i may or may not be writing this, but in my canon, eliza doesn’t get chosen to be cordonia’s queen because liam can’t bring himself to do that to her. (he doesn’t know about house beaumont’s situation.)

eliza is devastated that she couldn’t save house beaumont. maxwell thinks he should be as well… but mostly he’s relieved that eliza wasn’t chosen, and he hates himself for it.

eliza apologzes for not being enough to save house beaumont, and maxwell apologises for not being enough to make her dreams come true.

eliza smiles tearfully as she says, “maxwell, you were my new dream.” 

and then she finally gets to confess how everything she did was for him (and bertrand but he’s off drowning his sorrows somehere off-screen). maxwell confesses that everything he did (even “rejecting” her earlier confessing) was for her (and liam, bertrand and the rest of cordonia… he thinks a lot about other people)

with nothing left to lose, they finally give in to their feelings and kiss. desperately, they clutch at each other and hurriedly talk about plans for moving to new york and starting anew, of eliza seeing hope in maxwell’s eyes, and him seeing determination blazing in hers. they talk about making it work, despite all the trials and tribulations they’re going to face, but knowing that they can overcome them as long as they’ve got each other.

Who confessed their feelings first?

^ eliza HAHA. maxwell has so many reservations about confessing & the fic i linked earlier has eliza attempting to confess.

maxwell feels so bad about that though. so after they elope to new york, he “confesses” his love for her everyday in unique ways. one time he wrote eliza a poem and emailed it to her while she was at work since she was working late and he just couldn’t wait! 

another, maxwell makes her a fancy meal and served as her “waiter” for no other reason than he just wanted to tell her that he loves her at the end of it!

another time is when he arranged the refridgerator magnets to say “i love you, little blossom”

What was their first official date?

the day the future queen of cordonia was announced, maxwell immediately asked eliza out to make up for all that lost time.

he talked about splurging the last of his money to take her on an epic date around cordonia, but eliza managed to talk him down for a simple cronut run. max and eliza reminisce about the last time they went there since, once in the middle of the social season, they snuck out by themselves to de-stress and ended up talking all night in that cronut place.

How do they feel about double dates/group dates?

surprisingly, it’s the more reserved, introverted eliza who prefers group/double dates over the energetic, extraverted maxwell HAHA

but that’s because when they’re on a date, maxwell just wants to lavish all his attention on eliza and apparently thats #Rude to the other people

generally though, he’s down for double/group dates (especially with hana and her gf aka my other trr mc ashanti HAHA) as long as he gets enough “Eliza Time" at the end of the day

What do they do in their down time?

they like to read together on the couch, with maxwell’s head on eliza’s lap. (also they game together in the college au)

What was the first meeting of parents as an official couple like?

um i hc maxwell’s parents are dead, eliza’s father & biological mother are also dea. there’s no way she’s gonna let maxwell meet her step-mom so… no.

What was their first fight over and how did they get past it?

again it’s related to this fanfic where eliza tries to confess her feelings but #spoiler maxwell cuts her off and shoots her down before she can get the words out. it’s not really a fight, but eliza sort of ices him out (it’s her defense mechanism) and he went through such lengths to get her to “forgive” him, even though she says there’s nothing to forgive. they sort of go back to normal, despite the lingering tension from their feelings… until the Confession above ^ happens.

Which one is more easily made jealous?

neither? eliza isn’t really the jealous type and she finds it amusing when people flirt with maxwell ‘cause he acts like he doesn’t know and finds interesting ways to let them know that he’s only got eyes for eliza. (he’s the king of friendzoning people nO IM NOT BITTER)

maxwell isn’t the jealous type either like, he’s more likely to get sad and insecure tbh. more of the “she deserves better” altruist. sometimes he asks her why she choose him and eliza never fails to provide him with a million reasons of why she choose such a sweet, thoughtful, hilarious man to be by her side.

What is their favourite thing to get to eat?

CRONUTS BABY

other than that, eliza’s favourite is whatever food maxwell’s cooking up. i headcanon him to be a great, if experimental, chef lol

Who’s the cuddly one? What their favourite cuddling position?

they’re hella cuddly!! maxwell is big spoon and eliza is little spoon! but they also like cuddling facing each other lol

Are they hand holders?

yes!! they’re a very casually affectionate couple so if they’re not holding hands, then either maxwell has his arm around eliza’s shoulders or eliza has her arm around his waist or something. more often than not they’re touching lol

How long do they wait before sleeping together for the first time? What’s the circumstances?

oh mann so in my canon they elope right? well they sleep together the first night they touch down in new york and get their stuff in mc’s old apartment. it’s not something they planned, they were just chasing each other around (they weren’t even properly settled in tbh, it was so messy) when eliza trips over a suitcase and falls on maxwell. 

their giddy laughter trails off as they stare into each other’s eyes… and end up kissing.

they’re just both so overwhelmed with emotion that night because fuck, they finally made it, their dreams of building a future together are becoming reality that they make love that night.

Who tops?

maxwell heheh

What’s the worst fight (?) they’ve ever gotten into?

oh man i haven’t really decided but maybe in the future they have a really domestic argument with eliza chastising maxwell for being too irresponsible and maxwell getting mad at eliza for prioritizing her job over him and their kids/dogs… and they end up saying hurtful things like “i wish i’d never chosen you” and “i wish i had never brought you to cordonia in the first place” but those are just words they said to hurt each other, they don’t really mean it

they spend a day or so apart, but the distance crushes them and hurts the kids, so they reconcile the next day and just spend a long time talking things out and straightening (lol i dont hc them as straight) their issues. their marriage ends up being stronger than ever since they commit to always communication and being bettter, more patient and understanding with each other #Goals

Who does the shopping and the cooking?

eliza is more organized and efficient so she does the shopping while maxwell, though inventive af, cooks the most interesting (if not almost always delicious) foods

Which one is more organized and prone to tidiness?

elizaaaa

Who proposes?

maxwell on the urging of liam, drake and hana HAHA. eliza was happy just by being with maxwell and marriage wasn’t exactly on her mind then, but she was e c s t a t i c when maxwell proposed. it was the thing in her life she never knew she needed. just like maxwell himself.

Do they have joined Bachelor/Bacheloette parties or separate?

JOINED BOI!! he and eliza are gonna kick in on the dance floooor

Who is the best man/maid of honour? Any other groomsmen or bridesmaids?

drake’s the best man & hana’s the maid of honor! liam walked eliza down the aisle though :’) i want to say that eliza kept in touch with kiara and penelope so they’re bridesmaids too! olivia and madeleine surprisingly showed up, hand-in-hand hehe

Big Ceremony or Small?

biggg! the reception was Legendary and was featured in the news LMAO

Do they have a honeymoon? If so, where?  

pff, cordonia of course! they wanted to go back to where it all started and maybe visit bertrand (idk what he’s doing in my canon though). eliza and maxwell go all around cordonia and re-enact what they would’ve done if they were open about their feelings for each other earlier. (like ice-skate romantically in olivia’s home turf, feed each other pie at the apple blossom festival, etc)

Do they have children? How many?

they get a bunch of dogs at first HAHA but also end up adopting like 5 kids since eliza always wanted a lot & maxwell’s so good with kids !! their household is always so full of fun and activity

[necromaniackat]

God Damn

Summary: Julie Delaney was thirteen when she had her first child, Jude, with a drug dealer who bailed on her when the baby was born. Two years later she has her second child, Lakelynn, at seventeen with an unknown man. Julie travelled all the way from Nevada to Charming, California with her two young children and dropped them off at her older brother's doorstep in '81. Otto and Luann raised her and Jude with the help of the MC. When Otto went to prison in '94 Jude began to patch in as a member of the Sons of Anarchy Redwood Original. In '00 Jude was killed during a surprise attack they had during a run, he was shot down.

The club has been a part of my life since the very beginning. It’s all I’ve known, it’s all my brother and I have known all our lives. Ever since our mom dropped us off at our uncle’s house in ’81, back when I was a baby and my brother was a toddler. My brother died for the club. While I, I lived for it.

Warnings: Strong language. Sexual references.

Word Count: 1,882

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

Prologue:

Since the dawn of time man has been at war with itself. A war with guns and knives, and a clearly drawn line between sides is easier to fight than a war that hides inside man, fought with thoughts and spills blood all over the lines that were once so clear but have since been blurred or all together, erased. The enemy is unspoken questions for seemingly motiveless actions. Doubt plays Devil's advocate. Nothing is as it seems. The only way to survive such a war is by unleashing unruly anarchy within one's soul. To, inevitably, rebel yourself from who you were. Like separating conjoined twins from each other; separate the past from the present, the good from the bad; to become an outlaw inside your own skin while fighting for the innocent and just. That is the only way to survive; to become someone you would never recognize and to silence what you do. Like Mick Jagger said, "Anarchy is the only slight glimmer of hope." 

Chapter 1: The Outlaw and The Barista.

Today I choose life. Every morning when I wake up I can choose joy, happiness, negativity, pain. To feel the freedom that comes from being able to continue to make mistakes and choices –today I choose to feel life, not to deny my humanity but embrace it.

I peddled through the first morning light of that Spring day, my courier bag slung across my body and sat against my lower back as I rode my bike to work that very early morning. Being a barista means my day starts before everyone else’s day starts. That usually means getting to work for five thirty in the morning to be ready for the seven-a.m. work and eight-a.m. school rush. In the Spring, Summer, and early Autumn I ride my bike everywhere while in the Winter I drive. It saves me a lot of money on gas and such.

I peddled down the main street to the small coffee shop planted between a charity store and a florist shop. Nobody was really awake yet, we should get our first customer of the day at about opening. Like usual, Janine, my manager, was already there getting ready for the day. I chained my bike to a small rainbow shaped bike lock out front of the shop then went inside, the bell above the door rang loudly; catching Janine’s attention. I wandered behind the counter, tightening my ponytail. Janine greeted me with a warm but slightly tired smile.

“Coffee?” She offered, her voice masked the quiet music playing through the shop. She handed me a freshly poured hot to-go cup of dark roast coffee with a little bit of milk and sugar in it. I gave her a crooked smile and took it from her. Janine allows the morning crew to have some coffee when they come in, just to help wake them up. After taking that first sip I set it down by the register and began the morning routine. Ben was in the kitchen making the pastries, he is usually here at five before Janine getting the food ready and then his two other co-bakers show up at six before the rush to help him get ready but then they have until nine maybe ten to get ready for the morning coffee break rush.

Janine got the change in the register ready while I made fresh pots of coffee and got the to-go cups ready. We hummed along to the radio playing in the background and did our jobs. My job isn’t glamorous or anything like what my aunt does but I like it. I like it because it keeps me tied to the real world so I don’t stray too far into the darkness that revolves around me. Everyone asks me if I actually enjoy working as a barista for however many years I’ve been here, I always reply yes. I’ve been working here since I came back to Charming eight years ago, about six months before my brother died. I was in Reno attending the University of Nevada. I majored in Criminal Justice, but I also studied sociology and psychology. But that wasn’t what ended up happening, unforeseen unfortunate events sent me running back to Charming before I could graduate that Spring. Everyone was all too happy to have me back home, especially my aunty Luann. She loved having my brother around but he was driving her nuts so she was happy to have me home. She was curious to know why I left literally days before I handed in all my final papers but she left it alone when I didn’t answer. I planned to go back and finish University so I could graduate but merely days before I went back to Reno my brother died, he was murdered and I was all Luann had left. So, I got a mediocre job in Charming, lived in a mediocre house and drove a mediocre car. Sadly, even with all of this normality around me, my life was far from normal.

Not too long after the eight-a.m. school rush my attention was drawn away from replenishing the cup sleeves when a loud guttural roar went by outside the picture windows. Jax was parked outside, straddling his bike. He unstrapped his helmet, putting it on the handlebars and unmounted the sleek black motorcycle. I couldn’t help the small crooked smirk from crossing my face.

“Mornin’ Janine.” Jax twanged as he sauntered into the coffee shop, his SOA kutte was on display for everyone to see. Janine gave Jax a smile and a nod then looked at me before going to the back of the shop. Janine didn’t really like who I associated myself with but she also understood that family is family no matter who they are. I turned my attention to the tall shaggy blond haired man on the other side of the counter.

“You’re up early.” I commented in a snarky tone. Jax sighed at me.

“Yeah. I have to go through the storage unit today. Mom says there might be some baby stuff I can use.” He explained plainly. I nodded, furrowing my eyebrows together tightly.

“Okay . . . –Why are you telling me this?” I questioned disconcertedly as I stopped working and gave him my full attention. Jax shrugged and gave me his famous puppy-dog look, his head tilted to the side and eyebrows furrowed a little bit with a slight pout.

“I was just wondering if you wanted to come with me this afternoon when you’re off.” He offered gruffly. I exhaled heavily and looked down at the counter from him.

“Why don’t you ask your ex-wife, y’know, the mother of your child. Her opinion is far more important when it comes to the child you two created.” I sneered coldly. I didn’t need to see it to know Jax was frowning at me.

“Because I don’t want to spend time with her. I want to spend time with you.” He pleaded but I wasn’t believing it.

“Are you serious? I’ve been back in Charming for how many years and now you want to hang out with me?” I was furious at this point. Jax and I have history, some really complicated and fucked up history.

“Lakelynn, I’ve apologized a million times,”

“–I don’t care if you apologize a million times a day for the rest of your life, it will never take back what you’ve done.” I told him honestly, scowling at his shifting expression. Jax went from looking like a lost puppy to giving me his notorious mildly peeved off stare. Jax’s facial expressions never fazed me, they were only looks after all.

“You were gone for two years after saying you weren’t going anywhere.” He spat at me in an equally cold tone of voice. I crossed my arms over my chest and narrowed my eyes at him.

“Yeah but I’ve been back for eight and I never promised I would stay. You knew I applied at Universities in other states, you knew what you were signing up for when you wanted some High School pussy.” I reminded him of what the truth was and what the risk he was more than willing to take was.

Jax frowned at me. It was evident he was upset but he had no one else to blame but himself. He knew very well that I was not planning on staying in Charming after graduation. I wanted to go to a good University and get a better grasp on what life outside of the club was like before I made any real decisions. He knew all of this and he was okay with it, until I packed my car and left for Reno. That’s when he decided that I was very easily replaceable.

“Have you heard anything from Wendy? She was supposed to be sending me the Doctor’s bills but I haven’t seen one in a while and she’s not answering my calls.” Jax swiftly changed the topic to his ex-wife’s usual absence in our lives. Sometimes she stays for a week or two before disappearing for God knows how long. It’s not unusual of her to have radio silence from her.

“Nope. I don’t keep track of the trash you throw away, Jax.” I mocked him blatantly. Jax grimaced at me with a subtle look of perturbed and annoyed painting his features boldly. He sighed heavily.

“Fine.” He spat as he began to back away from the counter. “–I’ll be at storage this afternoon. You know where it is.” He added before leaving the coffee shop. The bell jingling was a sign for Janine to come back to the front, she watched Jax carefully. I ignored him and went back to sorting cup sizes until I heard the loud motorcycle roar away. I looked up at Janine, who was frowning at me with her hands on her hips.

“Don’t even say it.” I warned her to stay out of this business. She already knew too much for her own good. She knew too much personal information, she can really hurt some people if she opens her mouth carelessly.

“You’re both fucking children, you know that?” She commented harshly. It rendered me paralyzed for a moment, taking in what she just said. I suddenly felt bad for being so cruel towards him. He’s going through a lot at the moment and he doesn’t need me being salty and stubborn added to that laundry list. Maybe I should go and help him this afternoon. Maybe I should put the past behind me and allow us to move on with our lives. Yes, it hurt to come back to Charming for the holidays my first year away to find Jax with another girl. We had a lot of good times together. We shared a lot of intimate moments that neither of us can take back.

I rutted my eyebrow together and shook my head. I had to remind myself that I have no intimate feelings towards Jax beyond the fact that we’re basically family. I thought I loved him back then but it was just giddy teenage hormones wanting a piece of older dick before I left for Nevada. That’s about it, nothing more, nothing less; it is what it is.