#I was surprised to see so many people interested!!! lol I have a never-ending supply of weird stuff

[djnicklesanddimes]

Since tumblr is going to be a jerk and not let me post my cosplay, I'll go ahead and write down my review for the movie.

I'm writing this a couple days out, so sorry (and correct me, i love discussing this movie :3)if something's not correct. I was also writing this in-between breaks at work lol.

There will be spoilers, so you know the deal. I will tag it as such but you have been warned. :3

I'm also putting a read more divider cause it is looooong lol.

My fiancée and I went to go see the dub. He hasn't seen the series since s1 and I made him watch the recap but I felt the recap didn't explain everything to really get a full understanding of the importance of this movie and the characters, but I do appreciate having it. (I think I'll use it in the future for explaining to those I talk to that haven't seen the series, cause have you ever had to explain the series to someone that has never watched it before? Lol)

So we'll start with The Dub

I was favor of the dub in the beginning. I don't mind either sub or dub, but dub is easier for me sometimes when I'm drawing or doing a craft and don't have my eyes always on the screen. I was happy to see that all the original cast came back for this, as I know through their dvd commentaries that they have a real passion for the series. The start of the movie felt a little awkward to me, almost like the VAs were trying to find their way back into their voices. Frederica's voice I think was a little off, a little quieter and softer than I would have imagined hers to be. I know a few people don't like Kate Oxley's voice for Akane but I think she did an excellent job at Akane's break down in the end. It felt very raw and believable.

Plot

Overall I was very pleased with the plot of the movie. After getting context for everything in the movie after reading spoilers from Japanese only showings with no subtitles, I felt that the movie went way deeper than my first impressions. It was a nice surprise to have what feels like a less all over plot that we have gotten in recent years. My fiancée throughly enjoyed it even though he didn't know most of the backstory and I had to fill him in on a few things. His comment for Shindo after the wedding was "nooooo, he kills himself?" Which I replied "yep". There was foreshadowing for both Saiga's and Shindo's deaths but I felt that it was done right. Not too obvious, but enough that it wasn't overdone and you could pick up on it. One piece of context that was filled in for me that I found interesting is that Shindo was an upperclassmen to Saiga, and Saiga warns I think Akane? About Shindo and how he uses people and in sometimes dangerous ways, and that Saiga wonders if one day he'll end up getting hurt from it. And then guess what happens!! I know Saiga warns Akane about Shindo because of his shady methods to get what he wants, and I can't remember when in the timeline, but she asks Mika to do a background check on him.

As for Shindo's foreshadowing, he has a conversation with Akane and invites her to Kei's and Mai's wedding, where he gives that weird speech lol. Sadly I can't remember too many details but I know the way he has his last talk with Akane made me pick up that his suicide was soon, a product of sibyl supplying him with a gun and making him accept responsibility for all he tried to do. You couldn't wait until maybe a day or two after the wedding?? Lol.

I liked that Saiga and Kogami got to talk again. One of the only remnants of shinkane in this film (yeah there wasn't a lot sadly :() comes from Saiga telling Kogami that he shoukd apologize to Akane (which leads to that awkward phone call where it seems like he kinda? tries and fails as they made him a stoic and manly pride type of personality. I don't really like how cold he is at the start of the film either but I almost see a little bit of it as maybe he's been away and around so much violence for so long that this is the only, in his weird Kogami way for him to act. I do think it's no excuse tho for erasing any trace of the shinkane we have, as that relationship is special to many of us and not always for romantic reasons.) I did have a laugh at later when Saiga asks him if he did apologize to which he replies "I don't know what you are talking about". Come on Kogami! You know he can tell you are lying!

I did like that our bad guys had a more religious and cult like approach this time. I feel that's a topic that hadn't been touched in the series yet and finally the movie's title Providence made sense. These guys are dangerous enough to pose a threat, and our heroes get hurt several times. Plus they were a special group for SAD that went rouge, which is so interesting to me. Tonami is the leader of this group and aims to get the Stonskaya documents that can predict wars before they happen or can escalate them to one's favor. He also either helped develop or came across an ai (can't remember details) that he found could pose as a God and he controls his soldiers with a chip(?) in their heads that he can turn on and off at will. Kei's brother Akira is part of this group but is revealed later that he was a double agent( I was surprised at that!) And that he burned his face so he would not be recognized. Shindo sadly kills him later as he fights control for his body from Tonami.

(Trying to finish up here, god this review is long, thank to those that are still with me lol)

I'm gonna try to jump ahead to the end. The scene of Akane's unspeakable deed (lol) was very well done. You have Sibyl forcing her to take Shindo's position, which I got the impression that she didn't want it. And yet it was another Sibyl covering up something bad, sweeping it under the rug and trying to silence Akane more. Akane's whole thing through this movie is that there still needs to be laws, cause Sibyl will and has failed to protect people. So she realizes that she has to do the unthinkable and show that Sibyl is not as invincible as people are pushing for it. Her letter to Kogami was a great scene, with him realizing at the last minute what she was going to do and that he couldn't do anything to stop it as he was locked up. My fiancée was so surprised and it was great to hear his reaction, as he hadn't seen s3 and didn't have the context clues that we all have had lol.

Overall, I thought it was a very good film and great tie in to some pieces missing. I'm still not sure why Sugo and Gino joined SAD tho? That part might have gotten lost on me.

Shinkane

Sadly there wasn't much. I could say that was my only disappointment, along with Kogami's character towards Akane. As other's have said, it seems that he realizes too late. Like maybe he was trying to keep his distance so he can continue to think that she's the same pure inspector he's always known. I love Saiga's quote to him that "she's not God or Budda" so hopefully moving forward there will be something (despite what the writers say!!) as he greats her so warmly at the end of s3. As he swears to get her out and then he's not the one who does it! He might have some competition lol.

I also want to point out that I loved the soundtrack! I was happy to see Ling Tosite Sigure and Egoist back, cause I feel like it's not fully Psycho Pass without them. But! I was listening to the Providence soundtrack before I saw the movie and it's soooo beautiful, so give it a listen if you have always loved the soundtrack like me. :3

So those are some of my thoughts. I will gladly discuss them with anyone if they want. Also to correct anything I got wrong lol.

[acrosstimeandspace]

hi olivier ! i was looking thru ur doc for fae eisner, and wanted to ask- how do you think he would be like in the game, three hopes, if youve played it ? would there be a different fourth route like jade sea, would fae's fate be different depending on what the player decides to do regarding byleth, etc ? - @dmclr

hi clara! sorry for taking a while to get to this. and also thank you for these questions about fae eisner!

i’ve played a bit through three hopes & know some spoilers, so i think i have a bit of an idea of how i’d like them to fit into the game. i’m putting this under the cut bc it’s going to be a lot lol

so based off of some 3 houses lore from leonie & byleth and some inferencing, i’d say it’s pretty common that byleth and jeralt, and therefore fae, would split up for different missions that jeralt’s mercenaries would take on. it’s not like a super often occurrence but it’s something that happens when needed. and i imagine something like this happening during shez’s first encounter with the jeralt mercenaries, only seeing jeralt and byleth in the battlefield (primarily bc i don’t know where to throw fae into that and for plot).

what’s the plot? well, i think it’d be interesting that right after the brief timeskip, for shez & whatever leader they’re running with to run into fae and a small number of jeralt’s mercenaries not actively going under his banner (bc why would they announce themselves?). shez and the house leader recruit them temporarily to help out with a battle or two and shez grows into friends with fae! but then they have to leave because their leader/dad/jeralt is calling them back since their mission’s done.

and then several chapters later when the choice to defeat byleth comes up, fae also pops up with them on the battlefield unlocking some dialogue between them and shez. shez’s surprise and slight hurt that their friend was one of their enemies in the end, and the conflict of knowing about fae’s family (who also killed their merc group) but also somehow growing to care about them because it’s their friends family. but also wanting that revenge.

if the player pursues killing byleth, i think the next mini objective would to be to kill fae, with dialogue between them and shez talking about betrayal of their friendship and fae following shez’s path seeking out revenge. and this is where shez is given the choice of killing him or not.

if shez doesn’t kill them they’re recruited temporarily, so the player has the opportunity to finish their supports. and it changes their supports together as fae points out that he won’t forgive them for their actions, that they can never be the same. he’s only sticking around because byleth would want him to, but after the battles end he disappears back to jeralt’s mercenaries. shez never hears from him again, and the route runs very similarly to how it would’ve before (and same would go for if shez does kill them, with an added dialogue of shez talking about their regrets about betraying their friend, and how terrible it is that battlefields can come this way).

however! if shez doesn’t kill byleth and instead recruits them & their company, that’s when things can change towards a new route (i have no idea what to call it as of now though). at this point jeralt, byleth, and fae have come to know a little bit more than they should as outsiders to this conflict, but hey who wouldn’t be curious about what’s causing this war?

fae tries to convince shez, and the two try to convince the leader, that trying to eliminate all sides isn’t the best option for the people. with the shez supplied info about what happened to monica it becomes obvious to them both that there’s more going on in the world, and that many things can be traced back to one common enemy.

in edelgard’s route specifically i think it’s about convincing her that the two armies she faces are better as allies, as claude’s already disillusioned against the church & their secrets and dimitri probably has discovered his uncle’s connections to the force behind the massacre of duscur not being duscur’s fault. that they all have something in this against their true foes.

also their supports in this route cover shez’s feelings about loosing their merc guild. the blame they put on byleth and themself, and the complicated emotions they have towards the entire situation and fae. because at the end of the day they understand it wasn’t like byleth was targeting their group for fun, but also just like jeralt’s mercenaries are fae’s family, shez’s merc group was their family. so that loss has been hard on them, but it’s strange that fae’s also here for them? but also really nice and comforting?? and yeah maybe they don’t know how to feel now but they don’t want to let fae go as a friend.

[prodigalsonheadcanons]

You were in marching band? (I am rn, which I think is great). Any good band stories?

Aw no way!! Marching band is so much fun, what instrument do you play?

There are so many, haha. I’m asking around my old friends for some of the best highlights, so there will be more to come! Which is okay because I got a surprising amount of asks asking about these! So here are some I have right now! 

My first performance I was hit square in the face by a flag. My nose and my mouth were gushing blood by the end of it; afterward, when my section leader ran over to me in horror all I mumbled out was, “Did I do good?”One of our tuba players was a scientologist. They were really into it. It was awkward. On one of our trips, I shared a room with a french horn player that was scared of my flat iron. Legitimately. She started crying when she walked into the bathroom and realized it was still on. On another one of our trips, Gary Busey was staying at the same hotel we were. We found this out after he got onto the elevator with us. On that same trip, we went to a theme park and had to stay in groups of four or more. Another tuba player was in our group and at one point we turned around and saw he was gone. We looked for him frantically for twenty minutes. We were just about to go tell our director, when he walked up out of nowhere. When we asked what happened he said, “I was watching the whole time. I just wanted to see what you guys would do if I went missing.” Couple of years later, he did go missing for three days. Again…just to see what people would do. One practice, after a disappointing competition, our director was angry. It was rainy and muddy…we could barely march without slipping but he was so angry he just snapped, “If you marched correctly, you wouldn’t have trouble balancing.” We tried our best. Not even an hour into practice, a saxophone player tripped and fell face-first, onto her instrument. Her reed went down her throat. After that, we got to go back inside. A woodwind player was forced to eat lunch alone every single day during band camp because he had a hair fetish. He was known as ‘Creepy Clarinet Kid.’My director once had a barking match with a dog. It continued for some time. We all just watched, mystified. For one of our biggest performances, one of the assistant directors set up our stage an entire yard line off (which for those of you that don’t know, ruins the entire show in terms of where you march). My group recognized it, because we had to start in a circle around it. We tried to tell her but she was already running off and the drum majors were preparing to start. We all looked at each other in horror; one of the french horn section leaders whispered: “May God have mercy on us all.” Apparently, he did; nobody fell over it somehow.We were banned from senior pranks when a senior class took all the cases in the band room and duct-taped them into one huge wall of instruments that they’d somehow fit into our director’s room, wall-to-wall. It took them ages to figure out how to get inside again. They were not pleased. Our visual coordinator was having an affair with a junior in the clarinet section. As soon as he got fired, our other visual coordinator got arrested for ‘public indecency.’ ….After that, we just stopped trying to get a visual coordinator. 

[simluvbot]

Enhypen as dates they would take you on <3

tags: gn!reader, established relationship au, fluff, bf! enha

members: all members !!

wc: 400-800ish for each member ?? this is very long uh I’m sorry I got carried away

a/n: hi, welcome to my first piece of writing on this blog 😁😁 I tried to write so that these matched the members and their personalities the most! Also as this is my first post any interaction is so cherished 🥺 but anyways,, I hope you enjoy :D

open to read

Heeseung

he would take you to so many fun places!!

Your dates would consist of going bowling together, theme parks, a walk in the park — you can count on having a fun time with heeseung!

He would just want to impress you );

He’s be always so attentive to you and remember even the littlest of details about you

You’d be in a shop together looking around and he’ll tap your shoulder, showing you a lace shirt that you instantly fall in love with

It’s just your style!

You’d ask him how he knew you would like it, to which he would simply mumble  with, “you told me a few months ago that you like shirts like this.”

You’d just stand in shock like :ooo

Not even you remember telling him that ):

Please he loves you so much, if it’s something that you tell him you like or don’t like, he’ll immediately store it in his memory! He wants to know so much more about you 🥺

Your dates are definitely what you look forward to whenever you see him!!

As much as you love fun day outs with him, you also love your chiller night dates at him <3

Meeting each other late at night after practice? A must!! No way can you let your hee go home alone when he’s the last leaving the practice room after a long day ):<

You would often surprise him by showing up at belift at ungodly hours, and as much as he would scold you with a light frown for coming to see him when it’s already half past midnight,,

You still always catch that small little smile he has whenever you do surprise him hehe

to be aware of just the fact that youre there? is enough for him. you ground him and its especially those spontaneous dates youll throw upon him and inevitably show him without the words uttered that you care for him and you love him? 

those are secretley his fave (: but he doesnt have to tell you that - youve already guessed :D

But at the same time on those late night after-practice dates he just wants to make sure that you’re not staying up too late all the time just to make sure he’s doing okay after practice, his y/nnie needs their sleep too ):

And what you’ll do together? Eat ramen of course!!

Although these little late night dates with him usually dont last no longer than an hour, he still treasures them so dearly in his heart ):

Hee sometimes needs a lot of love and assurance, even if he doesn’t mention it

And you’re the best at making him feel better instantly 🥺

but we seriously cant forget about your daytime dates too! each date of yours is always filled with so so many jokes and giggles that your hearts burn with longing for the other whenever you part ways ):

i can see that he’ll even store the memory of your dates even weeks after they’ve happened - he’ll store those memories of you; all in his heart (and the polaroid he took of you in the back of his phonecase 😳) and tucked close.

Jake

as for dates, to me he seems the type to be into really spontaneous and random things!! He’d love going somewhere fun or just simply randomly travelling with you without a destination!

He especially loves to sneak out of the dorm late at night and meet you at you and his favourite park.

It’s located at the top of a really tall hill, and you’ll both spend hours sitting on the swings, chatting away with little care for the rest of the world or the time as you both simply giggle at each other’s jokes and contentedly talk about anything and everything; watching the city lights glow from hundreds of metres below you

He’d offer you his jacket when the temperature drops by a few degrees suddenly

You’d be like no!! It’s okay you should also stay warm, I’m okay 🥺

But then because he is such a sweetheart he’d huff and sit next to you on the swing, making the single-seater far too cramped as he tries to supply you with his body heat if that’s the only way that you’ll accept not freezing to death 😠

But then you’ll both slip due to there not being enough space for both of you on the wing, and your both fall flat down on your butts lmao

You’d both freeze, staring at each other blankly on the floor

but then you’d both crack up and laugh for the longest time — hushing each other in-between giggles from the fear of maybe you were being a bit too loud and could wake some people up?

But then you’d both fall into giggling messes once again as you blame each other for causing the other to fall down ):

You’d eventually sit together huddled on a bench, sitting in silence and simply staring out at seoul’s twinkling night lights as you share his leather jacket: heavy and warm as it drapes across you and his’ shoulders

But eventually you’d both finally head home! — your eyelids soon growing too heavy and both of you afraid of accidentally falling asleep at a park at 1am lmfao

idk why but i can just see a lot of late-night dates with jake,, such as

baking cookies together at 1am???? probably has happened twice already in your relationship aha 😁

honestly you both spend so much time together casually that you end up arguing on whether that time where he randomly showed up at your house wanting to make relationship bracelets together was really a date or not lmao

he is also so <3 so incredibly sweet too though uGH. he is a sweetheart and like heeseung he will remember every little detail of you which will be useful for when he comes up with more date ideas in the future (

on dates such as eating at a restaurant together he will always bring you flowers like the gentleman he is.

it’s kinda funny because when youre both on a date together alone with no other people around you both become complete crackheads

but when meeting in front of others he acts so mature and serious suddenly lmao ?? 

but honestly he just trusts and loves you so so much that he doesnt even feel like he needs to act a certain way or try to become someone complteley different on a date just to impress you

but its okay because you love the duality of jake sim <3

someone get me him pls. i want one </3

Jay

With jay, shopping dates ??? yes of course (;

he’d simply love taking you out either down a road with many well-known clothing brands or maybe even the mall, entering several clothing stores with you

he never mentions it, but its obvious how much he simply adores seeing you wear the clothes he picks out for you :D

oh and matching couple outfits are obviously always chosen whenever you go out on these fashion dates!!

he will pick out a selection of items he thinks will look good on you, and - to admit it to himself: he does a pretty good damn job

tell me why this boy will get so flustered whenever he sees you walk out of the changing room,, looking so pretty in what he chose for you ??

he’d also one day surprise you on a date with matching couple bracelets :D

you’ll get so excited and he’ll get so shy and try to hide his smile as you compliment how good his sense of style is !! and as much as he denies the fact that he’s blushing you luckily do manage to snap some pics as evidence of the rosy colour in his cheeks hehe

and especially earlier on in the relationship, he’ll always try his best and prepare cute little dates for you both )): and the members would tease him to DEATH for how unbelievably soft and considerate he is when doing things for you when he is so cranky towards them lmfao

chill dates (:

walking in the park together, getting ice cream, going for late night drives and listening to music together </3 with jay it never has to be complicated

Just as long as he gets to be with you, talk with you and touch you then that’s more than enough for him (: he just likes to be in your company

and Idk why I can just see this but he wILL have playground dates with you. dont question it

Because like ?? hanging out on the swings or climbing frame of a kids park at 11PM when there’s no one else there but you both?? Talking and swinging quietly next to each other? very romantic to me hmm

Yes <3 

he will stare at you as he silently swings a back and forth a little; brushing the hair out of your face and looking at you with so so much love in his eyes it’s unbelievable

he especially loves just relaxing with you. watching a show on the tv together while cuddling and staying close to each other is something he loves

hearing your giggles and listening to you talk while engaging in teasing banter where he’ll pretend to think the things you say are stupid by scoffing and rolling his eyes when in reality his heart is swelling and he’s trying so hard not to laugh at how cute you are? 

shut UP

those are definitely one of his favourite types of dates with you

he’ll constantly try to impress you and will be willing to try so many different things with you

i can see him as either being openly interested about going on typical couple dates together such as painting or eating at romantic restaurants,, or every time you mention something of the sort he’ll be groaning at yet another mention of the ‘couple bucket list’ you had created lol

but actually he’s secretly really excited for that couple mug-painting session you booked for you both. but he will never tell you that 😳

in conclusion, with jay it really never has to be something complex for you both to enjoy your dates <3 he just loves being in your company, even if its one of those nights where you both share no words between the cuddling and content sighs and various little soft kisses he presses to your forehead.

sunghoon

with sunghoon gOSH

whatever you two get up to, it’d be so so soft and gentle and perfect and just ):

he would always ask the members what to take you out on as a date and you bet his naver search history would consist of questions like ‘what does my s/o like’ and ‘where should i take out my partner on a date’ lmao

he just wants to make you happy and comfy ):

dates with him are usually really cute!! Like going to cafes, going ice skating etc!

But you’d also love those dates at home with him, giggling shyly as you both sit together and watch a film 🥺

he LOVES those dates! he always gets so shy whenever he comes over and it takes him a little while to get comfortable enough with you to even hold your hand pls

So when he one day pulls you in closer from where you’re sitting side by side on the couch,, bringing you closer and tucking you under his arm ??

You’re so so surprised, and you feel your heart clench a little at how gentle he is with you and how he’s finally opening up ):

And from then on,, he only will become more and more comfortable with you!!! To the point where he’ll start pouting a lil when you don’t snuggle up next to him on the sofa like you usually do );

So cuddle dates with hoon? Yes you bet they’re his fave!!

and then when its quickly approaching your 100 days anniversary, he’ll be wracking his brains for so long trying to decide what to do for you

but then it will hit him like a light bulb switching on!

he’ll suddenly remember you mentioning this specific thing that you really liked and would want to do one day, and guess what he would plan for u both!!

he’d prepare 💔💔 a picnic 💔💔 for you 💔💔

ugh youre so lucky

he’d text you the day before your anniversary telling you to expect to go on a date with him the day after and to dress up prettily :D

he’d wake up super early on the day of the date, preparing all of your favourite foods and meals into a cute lil basket ):

and when you finally both meet at a really rEALLY pretty secluded area that you somehow had no idea existed despite you living in the area for so long - you’d maybe start tearing up?? 

because your boyfriend is so so sweet and you never saw this coming from him at all ): 

and he’d just stand there shyly in front of the picnic he set up, hand at the back of his head and looking down; cute lil blush tainting his cheeks from how nervous he is!

but then you’d run over and give him a big, big hug, exxclaiming how much you appreciate what he did for you and how youre so so incredibly sorry for not bringing him something as well to celebrate your anniversary (you were dying inside fo guilt please!! how could u forget to get him something when he went out of his way like this for you )):  )

but he’d simply shake his head, smiling and not minding at all

because if he gets to see you happy, gets to see those twinkling eyes of yours that just stare up at him with so so much love before bringing him in for a sweet kiss - then he simply doesnt mind at all.

r u crying at this like i am lol

sunoo

sunoo absoloutely adores you.

and he cant stay away from you !! lmao

you’ll leave after a date and ten minutes after youve arrived you’ll get a text from him saying how much he already misses you and wants to see his bun again ):

but its okay!! because y’all would meet up again really soon again :D

sunoo really doesnt mind what you both do together, he just loves being in your company !! if he’s doing something with you, its certain that he will have so much fun and be so so comfy!

you often like to go to cinemas together, watching a film

film/drama marathons are also something that you both do very very often as a date! he loves it when you hug him tight and throw a leg over his as you both lie down in his dorm bed/your bed, watching something on your laptop

he is very very cuddly and whenever you both do have cuddle dates/sessions (which is all the time btw) he’ll like it when you absentmindedly play with his fingers or stroke your hands through his hair soothingly

and then he’ll complain and whine when you stop lmao

seriously though, without a question if either of you meet at either his dorm or your house - its always:  ‘so what are we gonna watch?’

he also likes doing very very cute couple-y activities with you! of course he does,, youre his baby ): 

(he’s more YOUR baby actually - but he doesnt need to know about that shh hehe)

funfair dates where you will go on a ferris wheels and eat cotton candy together? sharing a kiss when you reach the top? yes! and so is going to those sets designed for couples to take cute photos together as a lil photoshoot!

he is so so sweet with you ): 

and has it been mentioned yet that you’ll go on food dates? this is a very obvious date you both do very often !! 

going to food markets and trying out different street foods from different vendors? yes.

having mini dates at the korean convinience store late at night where you’ll both sit by the window and eat tteokbokki & ramen together? yes.

its all honestly really really chill, but he also knows when to be serious when he needs to (:

he’ll take you out to the your favourite restaurants often!

and whenever youre celebrating something he’ll take you to a really good and famous restaurant with mouth-watering food, and you’ll be left wondering for the longest time how on earth he managed to get a seat in since its always so booked

or ordering take-out is good too :D

in conclusion (because i just realised how long this is help 😭): dates with sunoo are always a variety of fun activities which always leave you feeling tired yet so, so happy and content at the end of the day !!

he loves you so much <3

Jungwon

Since you both go to the same school, a lot of your little dates are actually spent there

He’s pretty shy with you at times,, but when you’re both alone it’s then that dates with him are usually so so goofy and silly; days filled with his teasing and your eye rolls and giggles.

Meeting at the rooftop before school to simply talk and giggle and drink chocolate milk? Yes.

Staying after school for small study sessions in the library? Yes.

With jungwon, you’re not able to see him as much between school and him being an idol, so every little moment together means so much to both of you ):

To me jungwon also seems like a cuddler!!! cause like?? Have you seen him ?? Tell me he doesn’t look so soft 

So, dates at home when he’s free where you can both cuddle together in your bed while eating and doing homework? They’re so so cosy,, and definitely your favourite kinda dates!! not to mention that your parents absolutely adore him too

With jungwon, lots of lil spontaneous dates are definitely his and yours trademark (‘:

He’ll turn up at your house randomly with a grin and dimple poking at his cheek, holding a bag of convenience store food and asking you if you want to go on a date with him even if it’s 10pm and dark outside lmfao

And then he’ll take you to an arcade!

You’ll be the only ones there and he’s keep flexing about how he’s going to win you this cat plush from the claw machine because he says it looks like him

He’d try several times and end up spending almost 8,000 won on the machine trying to win you this plush and at this point he’s already making up several excuses about how oh, ‘it’s rigged’ or ‘give me one more chance I will get it this time!!’

You’d giggle at how he grows flustered, gently asking him if you could have a go for fun, sighing and with him and agreeing on the fact that the claw machine is definitely rigged

You’d complain together; scolding the machine and asking it to please be nice and stop ruining your date when it’s then that the claw actually picks up a plush and you’re both like ;oo

You’d both stay stood in shock as the cat plush is dropped into the receiving box, before laughing loudly

He’d stand there flustered, blush tainting his cheek before he just walks away 🚶🏻‍♂️

You’d quickly pick up the cat plush and chase after him, giggles tumbling out your lips

and uhm after that you beTTER go check up on your boy and see if his ego wasnt too damaged by that 😤

so of course you’d wrap your arms around him from behind, tucking your face into the back of his neck ): and pressing gentle kisses where you know he’s ticklish until he finally relents, a small grin and dimple lighting up his face

and phEW because you thought he was upset ): but he laughs and says youre better at the claw machine than he is so,, all good dont worry !! 🥺

It’d end up being him taking the cat plush home, which you both name ‘jungwon-two’ because of how much it actually looks like him 😭

Expect many references and inside jokes to that date and jungwon-two in the future

and tbh you love dates with won so so much. theyre so fun plus they’re always secret.

and whenever you’re out doing whatever the hell you both get up to,

It’s like there is no one else in the world. It’s just you, and him, and the blooming you both feel in your chests.

Niki

I don’t know but I can just see niki as being so romantic

You’re both young, and although niki is the biggest dork and always likes to play around and make jokes 24/7 - he’s also so mature compared to the other boys your age

So would he take you out to a date where he’d set up classically romantic candles and rose petals for you both to eat at for your 1 month anniversary? Yes ):

And you’d be so speechless and shocked as you blush quietly and thank him before he‘s accidentally knocking over his glass of water all over the table cloth and you’re laughing out loud

But expect every other date with him to be filled with so so much food and comfort!

He’d feel so comfy around you, and really the only word he thinks is perfectly able to describe you is home. He thinks you feel like home to him.

So he’d show you all of this favourite things, the things closest to his heart and you can’t help but feel your own heart clench at how much you adore this boy

He’d take you out to traditional Japanese restaurants and show you his favourite foods from back home and teach you the customs of how to eat sushi

You’d 100% be so so interested and excited whenever he reveals to you a vulnerable part of him, and he’d stare at you so lovingly as he kisses your cheek, blushing and smiling like the 15 year old he is

Ugh ): niki ):

Dance dates!!

You claim you can’t dance to save your life LMFAO (or maybe you can 😳?) but he only grins shyly instead as he takes you to a small dance studio he rented (he didn’t want to take you the belift building where there would be other people - he’d want you to feel completely comfortable).

You’d simply stand there with your mouth dropped open as you watch him freestyle to a random song he put on like it’s nothing

You’d spend the day getting taught some moves by him and although you’re sure you look like a cat getting electrocuted, he still smiles and  nods and even claps, giving you compliments and teasing remarks

Overall, dates with niki are so so fun and goofy and perfect. You feel your heart swell every time he takes you out on another little adventure, feeling so complete and carefree between his warm hugs, jokes and words that he has to say to you

(’:

[lisinfleur]

Things I do for her

The request:

Author’s Notes | I hope you can forgive me for how long it took to be ready. Loved this piece! I hope you guys like it too! Universe | Vikings Pairing | Alfred x Ivar’s Sister Reader Info | Viking Age AU, requested by anon for 5CW Ivar II, posted for HTGI Event Words | 1246 ⁑ Warnings: None

"I could marry him."

She saw him what? Twice in a lifetime?

And there was my little sister: wanting to solve a whole conflict between Englishmen and our men by marrying that thin rag of a man the English had the guts to call "The Great".

Beyond the phlegm of looking me in the eye and smiling at that idea, I couldn't see what else in Alfred was really that great.

"It sounds like a plan to me."

The stupidity, maybe.

"Are you suggesting you would marry my sister for an alliance with my people, is that it?" I asked in disbelief.

"I'm saying I think her idea is pretty good once it would not only avoid unnecessary slaughtering between our people but, perhaps, establish a solid relationship between our crowns, my friend."

I'm not your friend! Don't call me "friend"! I wanted so bad to cut his belly open right there!

But Y/N was smiling so proud of herself and the recognition she was receiving from that stupid smile on his face... I couldn't do it.

Although it would be a pleasurable end for that content - definitely a thousand times better than seeing my sister getting married to that thin stick of a king! - I couldn't be the one responsible for the tears I would see in Y/N's eyes for him.

It was true that she never stopped babbling about Alfred since the first time she saw his slender figure.

"Have you seen his pale tone?"

"His hair is so beautiful!"

"Oh, he has a sweet smile!"

"His voice is so peaceful."

Fucking shit.

More praises and I would stab my own ears not to spend my time hearing about that Christian prince.

I knew her heart. Y/N's could have my eyes and my traces, but she wasn't like me. We were the perfect opposites, and I knew it!

She was placidity where I was wrath. Her eyes were the blue sky of a sunny day, while mine were the thin blue of the furious sea. And I knew it.

Her place wasn't beside me.

And, although it would hurt me forever, I knew it.

"What grants me my sister won't end up being burned like a witch by your superstitions bunch of Christians you call a people? uh?"

I knew it! But I wouldn't give up on her so easily!

"First of all, I'll make her the Queen of Wessex, which is already reason enough for her to be safe from the peasants," Alfred started.

"You're gonna have to give me more than that if you want me to trust you, my friend," I mocked the words. "You're asking me to give you my most precious treasure in exchange for something I could easily get by cutting your throat and slaughtering your men. Besides sparing me from the pleasure of the bloodshed, you're asking me to trust you will care for my sister and keep her safe the same way I have been doing since our father was killed. By your grandfather, by the way!" I remembered.

"Which is nothing but the second reason in my arguments, my friend. Ivar, we have been at war with each other since before we were born. Our fathers were enemies, our grandfathers before them would've been. But I'm not my father nor my grandfather. I recognize my ancestors wronged yours. And unlike them, I'm up to fix these mistakes."

"Go on," I said, bothered.

But interested in what he had to say.

He giggled, noticing my boredom.

"I've tried this first with the Danes and your brother Ubbe. But his power wasn't the same as it is yours. He wasn't the king of Kattegat. You are."

Massaging my ego won't make you come closer to my sister's skirt, my friend... I wanted to say that. But Y/N was there, beside me in my chariot. I didn't want to be... Unpolite.

"And from a king to another, I know your people want the lands I have idle around my town. I know your people have techniques that could increase our production. And I know pretty well, from my experience among the Danes, that our people can coexist. A marriage like this could turn real the dreams of your father and my own."

"And what are these dreams you call your own, King Alfred?" I asked, curious. "I know my father's dreams your kind many times has tried to use against us, to manipulate our people into believing in your God and the false promises of the same land you promise me now. But I know no dream of yours... Clarify me."

"What are the dreams of a king other than making his kingdom the greater, King Ivar?" he answered me.

Showing me some of that ambition I thought he didn't have behind that peaceful facade.

"Your people have been showing your military superiority throughout the years. Mine has the fields necessary to feed the armies, materials, and resources to supply them, the finest smithery to increase your power... Follow my thoughts, king Ivar. We've been fighting for years. What could we do together?"

Here was a fire I wasn't expecting to see inside that man's eyes. I leaned my head, looking at him with surprise.

And I rose my hand, mutely ordering my men to lower their weapons.

"I think you have something in mind that might interest me enough to make this matter something I want to discuss longer. Let us propose a truce among our men, my friend. Set the chess table for two and let us talk about these ideas of yours."

Alfred smiled, and so did my sister. His smile was full of hope. Hers was full of an amount of passion I didn't want to see in my sister's eyes towards a Christian.

"But I have to advise you..." I warned. "Do not invite me into your home planning a trap, my fellow king. I may have a huge army behind me, but I'm more than enough alone to make you pay for breaking my trust."

He knew I wasn't kidding. And Y/N knew I wasn't doing that by my own will.

But what would she ask me to do that I wouldn't do with a smile on my face? Uh?

"The truce is settled then," Alfred declared.

His men inverted the spears around us, showing the flags instead of the spikes as a sign we wouldn't make war.

My men did the same as I sighed on my chariot.

"We'll see each other again tomorrow," Alfred stated. "At the dawn, in my castle."

With what I agreed, although it was clear I wasn't willingly giving up on that fight.

"Chamomile, and wildflowers," I said, getting Alfred confused for an instant before I turned my chariot, looking at him from upon my shoulder. "Sweetened with honey. It's her favorite," I completed.

Rolling my eyes at the way Alfred's smile became a mirror of happiness reflecting my sister's blushed cheeks.

Fuck.

It would be hard to get used to how delicate my brother-in-law would be.

"Thank you, brother," Y/N's voice echoed right before her warm lips kissed my cheek.

Her body bouncing on her heels in that habit she inherited from our older brother Hvitserk to show up when she was happy.

I sighed. It would be hard indeed.

But it was for her.

I could change the whole Midgard for her.

I could do it.

For her.

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[sabrinathe20somethingwitch]

Rivetra Week 2021

lol not me completely not knowing that Rivetra Week was happening THIS week and frantically trying to put something together. but on a more serious note, everyone in this fandom is so incredibly talented, I am in constant awe of all of you. always and forever, thank you for reading.

August 25th - Day 2: Jealousy

Levi had never considered himself to be a particularly possessive person. Sure, he had grown up in the pits of the Underground and he had learned how to protect what was his, how to prevent people from sticking their noses into his territory. He had established such a strong and deadly reputation for himself that once he arrived at the surface, there were few that dared to challenge him and his authority, especially when he had someone like Erwin at his side vouching for him. He didn’t want for much, he was used to surviving on next to nothing, he didn’t have many possessions to his name and besides, no one would dare to touch his things or even enter his room without permission anyways. He certainly wasn’t possessive of his friendships with others, if he could even call them that to begin with. He was protective of his squad in the sense that he didn’t want to see the shitty brats get devoured by titans, but they were free to do what they wanted otherwise. Really, he wasn’t a very possessive guy, he never had any reason to be. 

So he didn’t quite understand the strange feeling that had coiled tightly in his chest and the way that his blood seemed to boil beneath his skin when he saw one of the Garrison officers chatting up Petra. 

Levi had permitted his squad to have the day off, claiming that he needed to make a trip to the local market for supplies because “rations only give us the shit kind of everything anyway” when they had all agreed to join him. Begrudgingly, he had accepted. To be honest, the entire excursion into town didn’t end up being as bad as he had expected. He had found his tea, special soap, some extra cleaning supplies, and even a nice bottle of whiskey; he even considered sharing some with the rest of his squad later in the evening and they were just about ready to depart when the local flower stand had caught Petra’s eye. “They remind me of home,” she had said softly as she eyed the yellow chrysanthemums, a wistful look on her face, and she was quickly drawn to them, promising him that she would only be a moment. He had turned his back to get the horses, only a few minutes, but when he was just about to see what was taking her so long (“Oi, Ral, how long does it take to buy some fucking flowers?”), he was there. 

He was tall, blonde, radiating with boyish charm and wearing a goofy grin that made the captain want to sink his fist into his face for some unknown reason. His lips were moving, he was saying something to her, and Petra’s hand flew up to cover her mouth, but he could see the way her lips curled upwards at the corners, the way her shoulders shook slightly. She was giggling. Her face was flushed. Was she blushing too? Levi watched as the boy dug his hand into his pocket and pulled out a coin, pressing it into the vendor’s palm before plucking a flower at random, a daisy, from the bouquet. He reached forward, tucking it behind her ear, stepping closer to her.

Levi was pretty sure this bordered on sexual harassment.

Before he was even aware of what he was doing, he felt himself striding over to the pair with purpose, a murderous scowl etched across his features. Petra turned to greet him with a smile, but the boy didn’t even notice him at first, still staring at her with that stupid look on his face, before Levi cleared his throat, noticing with smug satisfaction how the boy sputtered violently, thumping a fist over his heart quickly.

“Captain Levi! I’m sorry, sir, I didn’t see you,” he squeaked.

“I can see that,” Levi said, a bite creeping into the edges of his voice. “Ral, it’s time to get going, c’mon.”

She laughed nervously, twisting a piece of hair between her fingers. “Sorry, Captain, I was just going to grab some flowers when I got to talking with-” She gestured to the boy beside her before she blinked in confusion. “I’m sorry, you didn’t even tell me your name.”

“Henri.” He nodded his head at her before turning to Levi, extending a hand. “Henri Augustine, sir. It’s an honor to meet you,” he said, flashing him a toothy grin.

Levi only glared in response and Henri slowly dropped his hand, wiping his palm against his trousers and glancing at Petra out of the corner of his eye.

He jerked his chin towards the horses. “Petra, let’s go.”

She nodded in agreement and offered Henri a small wave and a soft smile before the boy quickly snatched her wrist, tugging her towards him. “Petra, wait!”

Contrary to popular belief, Levi also didn’t consider himself to be an unnecessarily vengeful person; he only used the right amount of vengeance when the situation called for it. But when he saw the punk’s fingers close around her wrist, he prayed to whatever deity he could think of that a titan would wreak havoc through the marketplace and the little shit would become lunch.

Henri pulled her closer to his chest, far too close for Levi’s liking and far too close to be considered appropriate in public, and bent forward to whisper something into her ear. Levi couldn’t quite hear what he was saying, but he caught snippets of his words, something like “love to see you” and “keep in touch”. She was blushing furiously and it made his stomach churn. Violently.

He was just about ready to put an end to their little conversation and insist she come with him, they did need to make it back to the barracks before sundown, when the boy brought her fingers to his lips, giving the back of her hand a soft kiss.

Levi saw red.

Within an instant, he was beside her and shoving the soldier backwards. Henri stumbled for a moment, his arms flailing wildly, before recovering and staring at the captain in bewilderment. 

Levi seized Petra’s upper arm and began dragging her towards the horses. He knew that his grip was far too tight, but he didn’t care, choosing to ignore her hiss of pain.

“Captain - ow! - What’re you doing?!”

“We’re leaving,” he spat through a clenched jaw. “Now.” He spun her around, grabbing her hips and forcefully hoisting her onto her horse. She squeaked in surprise, her cheeks flushing bright red as she hastily adjusted herself across her saddle.

She tossed one last look over her shoulder at Henri, who still stood there seemingly petrified, and offered him a pitying glance before the bright yellow flowers caught her eye once more. 

“Wait, Captain! I didn’t get the flowers!”

“Tough shit, Ral.”

If she were standing on the ground, and feeling an extra bit childish, she would’ve stomped her foot in indignation. Instead, she gave a small huff, offering the captain a subtle lift of her middle finger behind his back and muttering curses under her breath before she joined the rest of her squad. The boys exchanged confused, and concerned, looks between them as Eld rode beside her, leaning in.

“Should I even ask what the hell happened?” he mumbled from the corner of his mouth.

“Nope,” Petra replied, popping her lips at the end of her word. 

Eld nodded tersely before shaking his head at Oluo and Gunther, imitating a slashing motion across his neck.

It was going to be a long ride home.

——————————

Petra had always known that she was a beautiful girl: she knew about the effect that she had on the men around her, how they would turn their heads when she entered a room. She knew that they found her desirable, something that her father had cautiously warned her about as she reached maturity and reminded her of as she enlisted in the military (“Really, Pet, the only girl in that entire squad?”). However, even though she was beautiful, she wasn’t a particularly feminine woman. Her brazen confidence, strength, and thirst for vengeance, coupled with her Scout uniform that was usually covered in blood and guts, had most men running for the hills before she could even introduce herself. It was alright, she reasoned; they weren’t worth her time anyway. Besides, she didn’t have time for romance, not when she was risking her life everyday for the sake of humanity. Still, she sometimes found herself daydreaming what it would be like to fall in love, get married, raise a family, like normal people do everyday, like she could do when the war ended. 

She flopped onto her bed, having retired for the evening and changed into her nightgown, twisting the nearly-forgotten daisy, the source of all her current woes, between her fingers and plucking the individual petals with a tad more force than necessary. She hadn’t actually been interested in Henri, he was far too tall and lanky for her taste. But for a brief moment, her heart had fluttered at the mere notion of loving someone and being loved in return, especially when the focus of her affections was being an absolute ass.

She groaned in frustration, rubbing at her temples as she pushed away from her pillow. She needed to talk to him, she needed to set a boundary and tell him that she didn’t need him rushing in to defend her honor like she was some sort of damsel, she could handle herself perfectly fine.

But when she opened her door, she nearly yelped in surprise to see the very person she needed to talk to was already standing in her doorway, his knuckles raised to rap against the door. He looked at her with a similar expression of shock before his face melted into his usual bored, impassive look and he quickly shifted something behind his back before Petra caught a glance of what it was.

“What’re you doing here?” he said in a low voice.

She gestured to the nameplate on her door. “This is my room.”

The tips of his ears burned red, the only sign of his apparent awkwardness. “…oh, yeah.”

She folded her arms across her chest, feigning nonchalance. “What do you want?” she asked. Her tone was dry.

He narrowed his eyes at her. “Is that how you want to talk to your commanding officer?”

Petra gave him a pointed look, pinching the bridge of her nose in exasperation, another habit of his that she had picked up. “What do you want, Captain?”

He swallowed audibly, she could practically see the knot that had wound itself in his throat. It confused her; in all the time that she had known him, she had never seen Levi quite so… nervous.

He threaded a hand through his hair. “I just, y’know, wanted to say that I’m-” He pressed a palm against his chest and grimaced, almost as if the words brought him physical pain. “I think I owe you, um… an apology… for today.” He scowled. “Even if that little shit was being a brat. And um, here, I guess.” He thrust something into her hands and Petra blinked once, then twice, then three times.

Yellow chrysanthemums.

“You said they reminded you of home, right?”

Flowers. He had given her flowers. Instantly, all of her anger and annoyance and frustration towards him seemed to melt away and an unfamiliar, yet pleasantly warm feeling swept into its place, pooling low into her gut and heating her from the inside out. 

“You never picked them up when we were in town so I doubled back and got them for you.”

He had gone all the way back into town for her. To get her flowers.

“Just don’t expect something like this ever again, Ral, because that vendor charged the fuck out of me, so if you want flowers, I’ll just go pull you some weeds from the forest next time-”

“Captain?”

She stepped closer to him until they were nearly touching and lifted up onto her toes, quickly placing a chaste kiss against his cheek, desperately hoping that he wasn’t close enough to hear the pounding of her heart against her sternum. His skin was surprisingly smooth beneath her lips, she noticed faintly, and she smiled softly at him. “Thank you,” she whispered, feeling the heat rise to her cheeks and fighting back a blush.

He nodded, muttering something under his breath akin to “get that shit in some water or it’ll dry out” before promptly bidding her goodnight. He turned on his heel, retreating quickly back to his office but not before he could notice, from the corner of his eye, her beaming smile, the kind of shit that lights up a room, as she stared down at his flowers. The sight brought a small smirk to his face and the tightly coiled tension in his chest that he had felt all day, ever since seeing that Garrison punk sidle up to her at the flower stand, finally unraveled, replaced by a faint stirring that made his heart beat just a little faster. 

Sometimes, being possessive paid off.

He noted that for next time.

[ao3komorii]

Tangling with the Boss (Sett/Reader)

Finally, my Sett story! This one is in two parts so I’ll be posting the other part either today or tomorrow. Some little notes for this; Sett’s mother doesn’t have a canonical name as of right now so I made a name for her, and Sett’s full name is Settrigh (canon, I didn’t make that one up lol). Also, there is smut at the end. I hope you enjoy! :)

----

Navori, Ionia had not always been your home. You had been a respectable young Demacian citizen, from a good family. You were spoiled, but had never caused any trouble, never created any waves. You had a good education and a supportive family, at least until you woke up on the morning of your twenty-second birthday.

Everyone in Demacia was familiar with the mageseekers. The squad that captured and confined anyone found to have magic powers; magic was a danger, and anyone who possessed any must be removed from society. You had been taught that from an early age, and had seen the mageseekers around in their half-masks, easily accepting their purpose in society. But that day you had woken up in a sweat with a scream, your clothes in tatters from the fire that engulfed your arms and legs. Your parents had burst into the room just as you realized that the fire didn’t hurt.

Your mother gasped and your father stared at you with disgust and hatred in his eyes. They both turned and ran back into the hallway, and you knew the mageseekers would soon be upon you. Everything in your mind had screamed at you to do what was right and wait for the mageseekers to come and take you away forever, but in this moment, you finally realized what a broken system you lived in. If these so-called dangerous mages were anything like you, then they didn’t deserve what had happened to them. And if you stayed, you were looking at life imprisonment at best, and a slow, painful death at worst.

And so you ran. With nothing but a dress hastily grabbed from your closet, you had fled your home and Demacia altogether. Noxus was no friend to Demacia, but the violence that raged there told you that it would not welcome you with open arms. From your years of schooling, you knew that the island of Ionia, across the Noxian waters, would be your only option. Ionia was a place that tolerated magic, which had been a source of disdain for your teacher when it had come to geography lessons. It was just unlucky for you that to get to Ionia, you would have to cross Noxian territory and then find passage on a ship at the Noxian shores that was headed to Ionia.

You had no choice but to cross Noxus, staying on the far borders and attracting as little attention as you could. As someone who had grown up in a wealthy household, it had been a big change for you to suddenly forage for your own food and shelter, your only comfort being your new fire powers keeping you warm in the cold nights. You were slowly growing better at controlling it, but not good enough to avoid a few close calls with suspicious Noxians that you then had to flee from. You were sure that you looked awful, filthy, and tired, but you eventually reached the Noxian coast and managed to sneak onto a small passenger ship as it loaded some barrels.

Getting to Ionia had been a huge culture shock for you; here, magic was everywhere, and people of all kinds roamed the streets. It was such a difference from your old life, but watching families walk the streets reminded you sadly of what you had left behind. You had nothing here but your freedom, which stirred complicated feelings in your heart, but being here alone was much better than rotting in a dungeon or losing your head to the executioner’s block back in Demacia.

You had nowhere to go, and so you had wandered around until your feet hurt and your eyes were tired of being open. You had found an only somewhat grungy alleyway and collapsed in sleep as soon as you had sat down. You had no idea how long you had slept for, but you were awoken by a gentle hand grazing over your hair. Your brain hadn’t fully accepted your fall from Demacian grace, and you opened your eyes expecting to see your mother, but you were instead greeted by a beautiful middle-aged woman with light purple hair and matching soft furred ears atop her head.

You had never seen a Vastayan before, only read about them in books. Your Demacian teachers had only referred to them negatively as barbaric creatures that embraced terrifying magic. But your status as a fugitive mage had you questioning what you had been told, and so you had agreed to the woman’s offer to bring you to her home to patch up the wounds you only now noticed you had, adrenaline keeping the stinging pains at bay until then.

Ciorah had noticed right away that you were not from Ionia, and she had later told you that she saw something of herself in you that day that made her feel that she couldn’t leave you alone to die on the streets. She had taken you to her modest home, insisting on giving you food and some of her spare clothes. She was nothing but nice to you, and in return you had told her how you came to be in Navori. She had listened, and comforted you in a way that was not unlike your own mother. And she had told you about her son, who she had explained was off building a school at the time, and how sweet a boy he was.

You had talked with her for quite a while, as you had nowhere to be in the first place. When it started to get cold as the night rolled in, Ciorah asked you to show her your magic, and you had obliged only after she had reassured you that Vastaya were creatures of magic, and therefore it was harder to injure them with it. She smiled gently as you allowed a small flame to light in your palm, and helped guide your hand to light a simple blue-tinted candle with ease.

You had been surprised with how easily she guided your magic, unsure of how you had the luck to come across her in the first place. She would not let you leave her home that night, insisting that she had a friend that you had to meet the next day. You were ushered to sleep in her son’s childhood bed, Ciorah silencing all of your protests that you didn’t want to trouble her.

The next day, she took you to see a proud Vastayan woman with a stern gaze and a blonde braid laid over her shoulder. You had been invited into her home, where you noticed delicate glass works displayed around the rooms.

The woman, Inora, became your mentor. She had been creating glass works to sell for years, and had once belonged to the same Vastayan community as Ciorah before they had both been expelled. While Inora looked outwardly intimidating, she sympathized with your situation and had readily offered to help you harness your powers in exchange for working as her apprentice and helping her shape glass with your fire.

You had accepted the apprenticeship, and began to train under Inora, your powers slowly becoming easier to manipulate. Ionia had become your home, and eventually it became easier to avoid thinking of where you had come from. You were often sent out to deliver orders, and it made you happy that Inora trusted you with more responsibilities.

You had just finished your deliveries for the day, and had one more stop to make. When you had some extra materials, Inora would let you make little glass trinkets to give to Ciorah. You had made her a small cat out of glass this time, and fished it out of your bag carefully as you knocked on her door.

Ciorah welcomed you in happily, placing the glass cat beside the other animals you had made for her in past. As with every time you visited her, Ciorah had you seated with a cup of handmade tea in front of you.

“I am always happy to see you doing well,” she said softly, taking a small sip of her own cup of tea.

You smiled, knowing better than to tell her the only reason you were okay was because of her. You had told her so many times already that you didn’t want to get on her nerves, so instead you visited her often and brought her new glass pieces whenever you could to show how much you appreciated her kindness.

“How are you doing?” you asked. You had been worried as of late with there being an increased ruffian presence in town, and Ciorah was an ideal target for those with compromised morals looking for an easy mark.

“Everything is fine,” she reassured you, before looking over to the door with her brow furrowed. “I told Settrigh to come by, but I do not think you will get to meet him today.”

You waved her comment off with a smile. “It’s alright, I know his job keeps him busy.”

In the year you had been in Ionia, you still had yet to meet Ciorah’s son despite all the time you had spent in her company. You knew that he worked hard to provide for her, so you could forgive him for never being there when you were. Though it didn’t make you any less curious to meet the kind, hardworking young man. If he was anything like his mother, you were sure that you would get along well with him. You had Ciorah and Inora, but a part of you lamented no longer having any friends of your own age category.

“Be careful on your way back,” Ciorah’s voice broke through your thoughts. “I have heard that some of the brutes from the fighting pits have been causing trouble lately.”

The fighting pits. You had heard of the brawling arena in the Noxian district of Navori. You hadn’t been in that part of Navori, let alone in the pit itself. You had seen loud, tough-looking men around town, and if they were any indication of what their place of employment was like, you weren’t interested.

“I’ll be careful,” you promised her, changing the subject to something lighter. “Inora wanted me to ask if you needed any supplies…”

Talking with Ciorah caused time to go by without you noticing. It came as a surprise to you when you decided to look behind you to a window and discovered how dark it was outside. Ciorah was quick to notice as well, and insisted that you head home before it got potentially dangerous outside.

“I’ll come by tomorrow,” you promised her as she saw you off with a smile.

The streets of Navori were fairly busy, as it was barely evening. Your walk would only take around fifteen minutes, ten if you took the side streets, which you had opted to do this time. It wasn’t late enough for you to get into any trouble, so you felt safe enough to take your usual shortcuts. Maybe you were being naïve, but although you had heard stories, nothing untoward had happened to you in your time in Ionia. Still, you avoided meeting anyone’s gaze as you maneuvered around a mother and child perusing a fruit cart and entered the alleyway just behind them.

The alleyway was darker than normal, so after a cursory look around, you lit a small flame on your palm after seeing nobody else in the area. With the light of the flame as your guide, you walked to the end of the alleyway, turning the corner as usual and stepping over the dip in the stone floor. You had been mentally going over the list of things you had to remember to tell Inora when you got back, so caught up in your own thoughts that you didn’t notice a large frame move to block your way. You collided with the man who was right in front of you, stumbling back and into another man who was suddenly behind you. You hurriedly looked between them as they both leered down at you, closing in on you.

“We got a little mage here,” the one in front of you taunted, jerking his head to his buddy, which made his choppy, greasy hair bounce.

You gasped; you hadn’t realized that the flame in your palm was still lit, and quickly extinguished it. You had nowhere to go, and they knew it. You could only shudder as the man behind you brought some of your hair to his nose as he stared you down in an intimidating manner.

He dropped the lock of hair as he noticed you looking back at him in terror. “Too good to talk to us?” he jeered.

“She ain’t too good for the fightin’ pits,” the first man added. “They straighten out bitches with their noses in the air.”

“Even if she dies, we’d get a finder’s fee,” the second man replied.

You tried to dash around the man in front of you, but he caught your arm and threw you to the ground. You were about to scream, but silenced yourself with a whimper as a knife was thrust close to your face. The large, greasy man stared down at you with a predatory grin as his friend moved the knife down to press slightly on your neck.

“Yer gonna earn us enough money to pay all our debts!” he announced as you were grabbed and forced back on your feet.

“Or die tryin’!” the other man joked, both men cackling with laughter.

You were dragged out of the alleyway, the knife at your neck replaced by a too-tight grip on your arm to arouse less suspicion. You looked around with eyes wide in terror, hoping that someone noticed you were out of place and needed help. But no matter how much you tried to catch someone’s eye, nobody spared you even a glance. As you were dragged along further, you suspected that this was the seedy part of town, because it seemed like everyone was ignoring you on purpose as you passed them. Everyone here had their own illegal business to conduct and none of them had any care for one girl in trouble.

The next turn opened up to a densely crowded area, packed with women with sharp eyes and men with muscles bigger than any you had seen before. There was not a friendly face in the crowd as you were jostled by the men dragging you through the throng of people and towards a side entrance that was manned by a heavily muscled man with thick eyebrows and tattoos littering his arms.

“We got a late entry,” the man with the vice grip on you stated.

The assumed-bouncer raised a thick eyebrow. “You think she has any chance?”

“If she do, we want our cut of it!” the skinnier captor cackled.

You looked pleadingly at the bouncer, hoping he could see that you were not willing to be here. “Please, help me, I don’t want to–”

You were cut off as a fist to the back of your head caused you to bite your tongue, the taste of iron filling your mouth at the same time as you felt your skull ring with pain.

“Shut it, bitch,” the larger captor shouted.

You felt tears prick your eyes as you silently cried, blood dripping from your mouth and onto your chin. You risked one more look at the bouncer, who stared at you impassively for a moment before standing aside and opening the door. You would get no sympathy here.

“See Dedric’s till, he’ll check you in,” the bouncer grunted, and you were quickly pushed in the door, the man slamming it shut behind your group.

The two men immediately rounded on you and you were shoved against a wall. The skinnier man leaned in towards your face, his chipped and dirty teeth on full display and way too close when you had no room to move away. “You try anythin’ like that again and we’ll kill ya right here.”

“Ain’t no one in the pits gonna care about one dead bitch,” the larger man chimed in.

They wasted no more time, grabbing you and pulling you through the barren hallway and up to a man with an eye patch and shaggy black hair who sat at a desk with a large chart in front of him and a surplus of coins just behind him in a chest.

“Got one more for the lineup,” the skinny man told the man at the till; Dedric, you had to assume.

Dedric grinned as he stared you down. It was clear to you where on your body he was staring, and it wasn’t your eyes. He looked down at his list for only a moment before looking at your captors. “I s’pose you’ll want a finder’s fee,” he drawled. “Ya can get it now, or double after the fight if she survives.”

The brazen talk of your fate sent a shiver up your spine. You let a few more tears fall as the men discussed details, just wishing that you were back with Ciorah; you’d even take a scolding from Inora over the likely awful death you had coming.

“We’ll do the double,” the large captor sneered.

“Ya might get lucky,” Dedric replied, jotting something down on his list. “We got a lotta amateurs on tonight.”

After he finished writing, Dedric finally looked you in the eyes. “Ya got a stage name?”

How dare he even ask when it was so obvious that you were not here of your own free will? You felt anger overwhelm the fear you felt for a moment. You glared at him, refusing to answer his question. You would have no willing part in this murderous spectacle.

Dedric looked annoyed with you, gesturing dismissively to the side. “Take her to the stage. Lookin’ forward to watchin’ the attitude beat out of her.”

The skinny man held his knife to your neck again as you were then pulled down another hallway and towards the competitor’s area, several men in flashy outfits scattered around, sharpening weapons or talking amongst each other.

“Please,” you tried one last time. “Please don’t do this!”

“Please!” the larger man said in a high-pitched mock imitation of your voice, both men breaking out in obnoxious laughter.

“Looks like yer up first!” the skinny one said as they handed you off to another burly man, who you assumed was overseeing the competitors.

“No!” you protested uselessly.

“Use that firepower and maybe you’ll earn us double!” the large captor taunted as they made their way towards the spectator stands.

Without any say in the matter, you were shoved out into the large arena, rows and rows of people staring down at you as you stumbled and fell onto your hands and knees, palms stinging from the impact. Looking around, you noticed no friendly faces in the crowd, just a large group of intimidating strangers that were all sizing you up.

Just as you were standing up, chatter and applause rang out from all around you, and you looked for the source, since it obviously wasn’t you. You didn’t have to look far as a man strutted out from the pit entrance behind you.

He strutted around the ring, giving you an opportunity to assess him as well. He was a large figure, muscles prominently on display from his lack of a shirt, red paint splashed across his skin like blood. Or maybe it was blood, he was too far away from you at the moment for you to tell. He was clearly Noxian, a large Noxian crest tattoo visible on his back when he turned his back to you in order to face the crowd. He flexed his muscles for the loudly cheering crowd for a few more minutes before he finally acknowledged you, although your attention had been turned away from him to look for any escape routes.

“Too bad we gotta fight,” he remarked offhandedly. “You’d make a real nice ring girl.”

He said it loudly, despite being ten or so feet away from you, obviously intending to impress the crowd with his trash talking. You just rolled your eyes, feeling bitter and angry that you had even gotten in this situation in the first place. You would never see Ciorah or Inora again because two criminals decided to target you, and it wore down any spirit you had left to think that you had made a happy life here just to die in the fighting pits.

The announcer then declared that the fight was to begin from his cushy podium, sending your heart rate skyrocketing. You were very clearly trapped; scaling the twenty foot walls that led up to the stands wasn’t going to be an option. Your opponent walked to the opposite side of the arena that would be his starting point, readying himself by materializing two very sharp daggers out of thin air and sending a bloodthirsty smirk your way.

This practice was barbaric, and you took one last look at the crowd for any hope of someone who would understand that you weren’t here willingly and want to help you, but all you saw in their eyes was their eagerness to watch you die. You felt disappointment radiate from within you as movement caught your eye; a large man entered a relatively barren area of the stands, and you noticed the furred ears atop his head immediately. A Vastayan in the fighting pits? The only Vastayans you knew were the opposite of anyone who would ever come here. You realized that he was looking back at you as your eyes drifted from his ears to his eyes. You weren’t sure what to make of his cold, calculated gaze, but a loud whistle brought you back to your current problem; the fight was on.

Your opponent began to run at you, faster than you thought possible, and you threw yourself to the side just in time to dodge the first swipe of his blades. You had no combat experience at all, all you had was your magic. Magic that you sparingly used and had never used to hurt anyone before. The thought of using your magic like that scared you, but you didn’t have a lot of options at the moment. You scrambled up and were about to make a run for it, but found yourself pinned in place as the Noxian threw both of his daggers, which struck both sides of your loose-fitting shirt and then embedded in the wall behind you, one dagger grazing the flesh of your side as well. You cried out in pain, too scared to form tears as you tried to pry the daggers from the wall to free yourself.

The man sauntered over lazily to screams from the audience for him to finish you off. “We had some fun, sweetheart. But I think it’s time to show you how we say goodbye in Noxus.”

You didn’t understand his reference, but the crowd got noticeably excited as he cracked his knuckles, now only a foot away from you. Even if you escaped the daggers, he was too close for you to get away from him. This brute would take your life to the sounds of thunderous applause unless you did something now. You took your hands off of the daggers and raised them up, palms facing towards the Noxian.

“Please stop…” you begged him. You really didn’t want to hurt him, but you didn’t want to die. You would have to put up a fight.

“Little late to be beggin’ for mercy!” he cackled, and one of the daggers pinning you disappeared and reappeared in his hand. “Time’s up!”

His dagger didn’t have a chance to get closer as you let go and he was blasted with a spray of searing fire.

It was turning out to be a bad night for Sett.

He had been disturbed on the way to his ma’s house by one of his men in a panic, who had informed him that the two competitors for the crowd-drawing fight of the night had gotten in a drunken brawl earlier and had both been arrested by the Ionian authorities. His knuckles twitched as he changed course and made his way to the pit earlier than he had intended to. He knew that his ma would forgive him, but he hated breaking promises that he made to her. Sett had a way he liked doing things, but without a headlining fight, his options were slim; get in the ring himself, or put on an amateur night.

His momma had been worried about the influx of Noxians to the Ionian shores lately, and he knew she would be on high alert for any new injuries on him. The one thing he hated above all was being the cause of her worries, so he gave the orders to scout out competitors for amateur night. Maybe he’d find some new talent to replace the two drunken morons permanently. He wasn’t worried about either of them complaining about being replaced; it was a well-known fact that Sett didn’t give second chances. Not to anyone that messed with his money.

Once a group of men had been dispatched to spread the news that they were recruiting for the night, Sett made sure everyone was aware of the change. Newbie nights always drew in a lot of overconfident braggarts who spent more time showboating than they lasted in the ring, so everything would be timed carefully. The more fights he could pack in one night, the more bets they could take in. Amateur nights almost never had clear winners before the fights began, so the house won more than on nights where the big names came to fight. It sorta made up for the smaller crowds on amateur nights, but some money was better than no money.

Ensuring everything was ready took longer than usual, and by the time Sett had taken his place in the stands, the first fight was about to start. He already had a distaste for the muscle man with the Noxian tattoo. They never seemed to stop reminding him of the father that had abandoned him and his ma. He didn’t feel the need to fight Noxians in general, but he never minded watching them lose in his pit. The Noxian was parading around; not unexpected for a rookie to go heavy on the taunts but light on the punches.

Having had his fill of assessing the Noxian, Sett turned his gaze to the other competitor, only to discover that she had been staring at him already. They met eyes for a few moments, which was enough for Sett to notice how out of place she looked. Last minute nerves happened sometimes, but this girl was on another level. He was across the pit from her, but he suspected that she was crying. What kind of idiot had booked this crybaby for a fight?

“Who did she sign up with?” he asked one of the till masters, Ryo, who had also come to watch the fight.

“I saw her at Dedric’s with two other guys,” was the answer he received.

Dedric… Dedric had been working at the pits since before Sett had taken them over, which was something he knew the man had been unhappy about. Sett didn’t insist that everyone like him, but he expected obedience to his rules. And signing up weaklings for fights that lasted ten seconds was not good for business. If fights were short, the spectators got bored, and his tills got lighter.

“Do you want to stop the fight?” Ryo asked carefully, knowing better than to force any opinion on the pit boss.

“Nah,” Sett replied. “Let it go on. But I want Dedric’s till checked at the end of the night.”

Bets had been taken, and Sett wasn’t going to stop the fight now and lose out on the coin it generated. He would talk to Dedric later; for now, he was interested to see if the cocky Noxian had any skills to back up his mouthing off.

The Noxian brandished two daggers from thin air and charged at the girl. Sett stared her down, waiting for her to do something worthy of interest as she dived to the side to avoid a direct blow. Well, maybe the fight would last twenty seconds instead of ten, he mused.

The Noxian’s next move pinned the girl to the wall with his daggers, and he began to taunt her as she cried and begged for mercy. Sett had thought something was up before, but now he knew. Dedric would have to be out of his mind to book this girl, unless he was counting on fixing some easy matches. Nobody would volunteer for a match to the death that they didn’t think they could win, and Sett smelled a rat. He kept his business away from the Ionian authorities’ grasp, but shit like kidnapping local girls for pit fights would bring attention that he did not want. He wouldn’t stop this fight and draw attention away from the matches, but Dedric was gonna learn very soon why he should’ve played by Sett’s rules.

He flexed his knuckles as he watched the Noxian go for the killing blow; the corpse cart standing by, ready to collect the girl’s body. But the cheers and chants from the crowd died down to a whisper as the Noxian let out a terrified scream. Sett only had a second to duck as a wave of fire shot out from the girl, which travelled all the way across the room and ended at the wall directly behind where he had been standing.

At first he thought it had been an attack meant for him, but as he glanced down to the pit, he saw that the fire had hit its intended mark. The Noxian was unrecognizable, a black human-shaped figure. Sett couldn’t tell if he was alive or dead, but the corpse cart was wheeled over as the girl collapsed on the floor, the remaining dagger in her side disappearing, a clear sign that the Noxian was no longer alive. Her clothes in burnt tatters, the girl curled up on her side and sobbed. It wasn’t a sight he had seen in the pit before, and he was taken aback.

“Guess she ain’t as weak as she looks,” Ryo remarked with a low whistle.

The crowd remembered to breathe again as the body of the Noxian was wheeled away. There was a mix of cheers and boos, the latter likely from those who had bet against the girl. The doors to the pit opened up, an enforcer entering with two men at his heels. The men were out of place, looking more like con artists than pit fighters. Ryo was looking out at the same scene as the two men attempted to haul the girl to her feet as she resisted heavily.

“Those were the guys who brought her in. You think…?” Ryo prompted.

“Yeah.” Ryo didn’t have to finish his sentence for Sett to know that they both suspected the same thing about the situation. “Invite those two to the back office. I want the girl separated from them. I’ll deal with Dedric later.”

Ryo immediately left to oversee the orders, and Sett watched as Ryo appeared in the arena and had the two men and the girl escorted out of the pit so the next competitors could fight it out. He trusted that Ryo could handle the problem for now; any action on his part would have to wait until the crowd had gone home for the night. And with more fights to come, Sett settled back into his chair and kept his focus on the pit.

You were not being dragged away by those creeps again, not after barely surviving the fight at the expense of taking a life. You struggled, hoping the pressure of the crowd would keep them from pulling the knife on you again.

“Get up!” the skinny one screeched at you. “Get your ass up!”

Their tugging on your limbs paused as a man with dark hair in a low ponytail and an overly pleasant smile approached.

“Gentleman, the boss would like to talk some business after the rounds,” he explained smoothly. “We may even triple your finder’s fee.”

Your heart sunk. So nobody here was a decent person? You would get nowhere being on the floor, so you reluctantly stood up, your captors taking an arm each to allow you no chance of escape. You could only do what you could to avoid further violence being inflicted on you. You followed the smooth-talking man down the hallway you had been in before, up until he stopped in front of a door.

“You can wait in here for the boss,” the man announced, but didn’t stand aside for the men to enter. “She’s gotta go in another room. Can’t have the talent present while the men talk business.”

Your captors seemed to accept his logic, stepping into the room, obviously mentally counting their imminent profits from your enslavement. Whereas all you could think about was how you were going to get out of this. You were reluctant to hurt anyone, but maybe if you threatened this man with your powers, he’d let you leave. You followed him to the room next door, readying yourself to throw a fireball and run if necessary. But before you could work up your nerve, the door was shut and you were left alone with a promise that the boss would be paying you a visit soon.

You paced around the room, trying to think of what to do. Inora must be so worried that you hadn’t returned home, but you had no way to contact her from here. And even if you did, you doubted that she could get you out of this viper’s den. You would have to do something. You had lost track of time, stuck in your own thoughts until you heard muffled shouting from the room next door. You couldn’t make out what they were saying, but the voices sounded angry. You crept closer to the wall to try and hear better, but just as you put your ear to the wall, there was a heavy impact to the other side of the wall, which jolted you backwards, landing on your back and knocking the wind out of you.

You had to get out of here. You had heard the click of a lock earlier when the smooth-talker had left, but maybe you could just burn the door down? You ran a hand along the door; it was unfortunately solid. You had never tested your powers like this before, so you were unsure of if you could accidentally enflame the entire building. You had no idea what had happened in the room next door, which was now eerily quiet, but you weren’t about to be next. Not without trying to get out of here. You placed both palms to the wooden door, ready to burn right through it, when it was opened from the outside, sending you flying forward, eyes shut reflexively for the impact to the floor.

“And here I thought you were done fightin’.”

Your eyes snapped open at the deep male voice and sudden grip on your forearms, only to see the Vastayan man from before. You were eye-level with his very muscular chest, and looked further up to see him looking down at you with an eyebrow raised. Up close, you could make out every little scratch on his ruggedly handsome face, your eyes drawn to one small white scar that ran down one side of his bottom lip and ended just a bit above his chin. You came back to yourself all at once, flushing with embarrassment as you realized that you had been staring at him too long.

You remembered your situation, jerking back and out of his grip, which surprised him. Your need to separate yourself from him resulted in you falling to the floor again, and you began to quickly scramble away from the man.

He brought a hand up to itch at the back of his neck as he casually stepped into the room. “Relax,” he said, moving closer to you. “I ain’t gonna hurt ya.”

“Please, please don’t–” You were babbling, and you knew it, but you didn’t know what else to do as you curled into a ball on the floor, keeping your eyes on his approaching figure.

He looked somewhat annoyed, halting where he stood a few feet away from you. “Look, we beat the story outta those scumbags that brought you here. You’re free to go.”

His words swept away your fears of immediate and swift peril, which was quickly replaced by confusion as you slowly sat up. “But…”

“I know what good girls like you think ‘a the pits, but mine ain’t like that,” he explained. “We only take willing fighters.”

“I didn’t…” you trailed off, deciding not to voice your half-hearted protests. You definitely had thought exactly that, so you weren’t sure why you had tried to deny his assertion. “You’re going to let me leave?”

“I would invite ya back, but I don’t think the pit is the right place for a cryin’ city girl,” he replied.

“Thank you!” you exclaimed, ignoring the insult. You weren’t sure what to say, but you didn’t want him to have any reason to reverse his decision. He ran a fighting pit, so clearly he wasn’t all there morally, but you didn’t want to stay here and access him further, not when he was giving you a free pass to get out of here.

You stood up, keeping your eyes on him as you inched towards the door, the man staring back at you with what looked like amusement, keeping his gaze on you as you passed by him and into the hallway. You weren’t sure where to go from here, but you were afraid to seem like you didn’t know what you were doing.

“Wrong way,” he called out when you were halfway down the hallway in your chosen direction. You flinched at his voice, turning around and sheepishly walking back in his direction as he chuckled.

“Down the hall and to the left,” he said as you passed by him.

You walked a little faster at his words, but followed his directions. You were too nervous to look back, and you hurried around the corner, feeling his eyes on you until you fully left his sight. You were grateful that there was one decent person in this place, but you wanted to be out of here as soon as possible.

The air outside the arena was stale, but welcome to your frazzled nerves. You walked among the crowd of exiting patrons, hoping that they wouldn’t take notice of you if you kept your head down. Luckily for you, it was a busy night of betting, and that’s all the crowd around you could talk about. You stuck close to a group of women that were discussing how attractive one of the fighters was until you were back on the main streets again. You were grateful for all the loud people on the streets, because nobody paid any attention to you as you took only well-lit paths back to Inora’s home, eyes flitting around as you kept watch for any more goons in your way. You weren’t sure what the man had meant when he told you that he had dealt with your kidnappers, but if they were out on the streets, then you needed to be off of them as soon as you could be.

Inora was in her favorite chair by the front door as you unlocked the door and came in. She practically leapt from the chair, rushing over to you once she noticed your appearance. You hadn’t had a chance to look in a mirror, but you knew that your clothes were dirty and ripped, a patch of your shirt stained with your blood from the Noxian’s dagger. You must have looked awful, and would likely have bruises all over once you woke up tomorrow.

Inora sat you down and began to fuss over your injuries, washing your cuts and bandaging the worst of them as you told you what had happened to you.

“Those dirty kidnappers,” she growled. “They are a scourge on Navori!”

You didn’t want to make her any more stressed, so you shortened your summary of the fight and skipped to the part where the Vastayan man let you leave. Inora had only calmed down slightly, her protective nature setting in as she made you some dinner, despite your offers to help her. You sat patiently in your chair, hoping that being as calm as you could would keep her from acting on her threats to go down to the arena and give them a piece of her mind.

You had to beg her not to tell Ciorah about what had happened. Ciorah was a sweet lady who already worried too much about the dangers of the streets, and you didn’t want her constantly stressed with worry for you every time you left her home. Inora was reluctant, but understood why you wanted to keep the experience a secret from Ciorah. You were eventually allowed to go to bed after Inora had finished fussing over you, and you were so tired that you passed out almost immediately.

The next day, you were anxious to get out of the house and visit Ciorah. You had woken up in slight pain from bruises all over your body, but otherwise you were feeling better. Unlike you, however, Inora had woken up even more protective than the day before. She hadn’t let you do any glass work, stating that since you had used your powers to the extreme yesterday, using them today would be too much of a strain on you. You had tried to tell her that you felt fine, but no amount of convincing would lessen her worries. She barely let you make your own food, and you were trying to be patient, but felt like you were going a bit crazy with her constant hovering around you.

“…and if you’re still there when it gets dark, stay there and I’ll come get you,” Inora instructed you as you stood by the door, ready to leave for Ciorah’s home. She had been talking at you for several minutes now, and you decided to just let her talk until she got it all out. Only after agreeing to all of her conditions did she let you leave at last, and you took only busy streets to get to Ciorah’s house.

You had tried to wear enough clothing to cover all of your bruises and cuts, but you hadn’t worn a bag over your head, so Ciorah noticed the scrapes on your face and hands immediately. She fretted over you as she ushered you into her home, and you were immediately reminded of Inora, who had done the exact same thing. You gently refuted her worries, sitting down opposite her at her small table.

“I tripped and fell into a thorn bush,” you carefully stated your rehearsed lie. “I’m fine!”

You felt bad at just how easily Ciorah believed your lie, but you knew it had to be done. She didn’t need the extra stress, and you didn’t want to make her even more concerned about the ruffians at the pits. You bit down any urges to tell her the truth, covering up your guilt with a smile just as a knock came at the door.

You felt unease rise up within you as Ciorah excused herself to go to the door. The only person who had ever visited when you were here was Inora, and your mind began to race, trying to think of what to do if Inora was here to tell Ciorah tell truth. It seemed like you couldn’t escape the awkward conversation, and so you stared at the wall that was blocking your view of the entrance and tried to think of any possible way to explain to her why you had lied without damaging her trust in you. You thought you were doing her a favor, but now that your plan was backfiring majorly, you were feeling even worse.

You listened intently as Ciorah opened the door, waiting to hear Inora’s voice that you knew was coming. Instead, you heard a man’s voice, and an excited coo from Ciorah, which derailed your train of thought entirely.

“Sorry I wasn’t here yesterday,” the male voice said. “The boss’s daughter was sick, so I did his share of work too.”

“I am just happy to see you, Settrigh,” Ciorah replied warmly.

As soon as you heard the name, you realized that it was Ciorah’s elusive son at the door. You admittedly could use the help in distracting Ciorah from your injuries, but more than anything you were interested in finally meeting the son that Ciorah often spoke so fondly of. You let a smile light your face in excitement as Ciorah came back into the room, and the large figure just behind her sent your heart racing.

You barely heard Ciorah introduce you to her son as you stared at him, eyes wide and skin feeling cold with dread. Settrigh stared back at you in shock, neither of you breaking your shared gaze until Ciorah asked her son if he would like some tea.

“Yes, ma,” Settrigh answered politely, and the blatant change in his personality from last night shocked you.

The calm didn’t last long, because as soon as Ciorah left the room to prepare the tea, Settrigh quickly crossed the room to get in your face, voice threatening despite being at whisper volume. “Did you tell her?”

“What?” you whispered back.

He glared at you, unamused by your lack of answer. “Did you tell my ma about what I do?”

“No!” you squeaked, backing away in fear. “I didn’t want to worry her… and besides, I didn’t know you were her son!”

“You better not be lyin’,” he threatened, and the implications of his words were clear. You say anything and he would do the same thing to you that he did to your kidnappers last night. You didn’t know what to do to get him to understand that he could trust you.

“Settrigh–” you tried to plead, but his growl shut you up.

“Sett,” he grunted. “Momma’s the only one who calls me Settrigh.”

“I… I’m sorry.” You didn’t know what else to say to abate his sudden anger.

He scoffed. “Relax, I’m not gonna hurt ya. Just remember that my momma don’t need to know what I really do.”

You nodded definitely too many times for it to look casual as Ciorah came back into the room with a tray of three teacups with a soft purple flower pattern dotting the rims. With Ciorah here, you felt a little safer than being left alone with him, and could take the time to examine him more closely. You sat back down at the table and tried to stifle a laugh at the sight of the heavily-muscled man sitting in a chair half as wide as he was and drinking from a dainty little teacup. Sett caught your nearly-silent giggle and frowned at you.

“Settrigh, do not grip the cup so hard!” Ciorah scolded him, and Sett hastened to apologize to his mother, his furry ears drooping down in a way you realized that you found cute. Such a fierce beast in his pit, but a tamed puppy in front of his mom.

As you sipped your tea, Ciorah fetched your newest figure from its position on a small stand and held it out to Sett, who took it to admire politely.

“She brings me these when she has extra materials,” Ciorah said proudly, smiling at you as she addressed her son. “I told you that she helps Aunt Inora?”

Sett stared at you like he was seeing you for the first time. “The Demacian girl…” he muttered to himself.

Ciorah had told him about you? You felt shy as you wondered exactly how much she had told him about your life. Other than Ciorah and Inora, nobody in Ionia knew your shameful history. You really shouldn’t care, but you felt shame at this man who had grown up with a loving mother knowing that you had travelled across a continent because your family didn’t want you. You tried to ration with yourself that you didn’t need his approval, didn’t need him to like you, but you found yourself longing for any connection with someone your own age. But you didn’t want to seem desperate, so you pushed your emotions away for now and chatted casually with Ciorah, too scared to talk directly to Sett and give him any more reasons to dislike you.

Watching him interact with his mother made you feel happy, but also empty and jealous. Eventually, you were content to just let them talk as you nursed your tea, sinking into thoughts you hadn’t allowed yourself to dwell on in a long time. Thoughts about your family, of how you’d never see them again unless you wanted to give yourself up for death as a Demacian fugitive. That even if you did, they would only ever see you as a black mark on their otherwise-perfect legacy.

You didn’t notice as a tear fell from your face and into your now-cold tea, but both sets of sensitive Vastayan ears perked up at the tiny sound it made. Only when Ciorah called your name did you realize that you were crying.

“Sorry!” you cried out, embarrassed at losing control of your emotions. You stumbled out of your seat, rushing towards the front door, not stopping at the calls of your name from Ciorah as you opened the door and rushed out into the street. You only slowed down when you reached an empty alleyway, wiping your face with your long sleeve as you cursed your own judgment. Less than a day after you had been kidnapped in an alleyway, and here you were being careless yet again.

“Hey!” a shout startled you as your upper arm was gripped firmly, and you looked over to see Sett looking sternly down at you. “What are you doing? You nearly gave ma a heart attack!”

You didn’t have the strength to pull your arm from his grip, and you looked at the ground as you answered. “…it’s nothing.”

“You think I’m stupid?” Sett growled. “Nobody cries without a reason. I understand if you don’t wanna tell me, but I don’t like it when ma worries.”

He wasn’t going to drop it, so you finally looked up at his face, surprised to see that he didn’t look as angry as his voice had sounded. He raised an eyebrow at you, which finally prompted you to talk.

“I don’t know how much Ciorah told you about me, but…” You struggled for words for a moment. “Seeing you two interact just made me miss my family back in Demacia. Which is stupid, because they didn’t want me the second they knew I had magic…”

“Savages,” Sett remarked darkly. “All ma told me ‘bout your past was that you came from Demacia, but after seein’ your magic, I’m not surprised you’re here. Those fools think they’re above lowly magic and then imprison any inconvenient mages that slip through the cracks of their lineage.”

You inhaled sharply, surprised at his words, and he released your arm at last, leaning back against the alley wall. “Besides the pits, ma’s all I got. My pa wanted money more than his family, so he ran off to be a big shot pit fighter in Noxus.”

“Sett…” you whispered, and he turned his sharp gaze to you, arms crossed in front of his chest.

“I don’t need your pity, fireball. As long as I have coin for ma, and keep my pit runnin’, I’m not worried about my pa. As long as he doesn’t show his face back in Navori, that is.”

“Sorry for running out,” you said quietly, feeling very embarrassed about your childish behavior.

“You don’t need to say that to me,” he said casually. “But you really worried ma.”

“I don’t know if I can face her now,” you admitted honestly.

Sett laughed. “She won’t be mad, if that’s what you’re worried about. I’ve gotten on her bad side before and you ain’t even close.”

Sett turned to leave the alleyway and you trailed just behind him. His legs were much longer than yours, but he was obviously slowing his stride to allow you to keep pace with him. You made sure that your eyes were dry when you arrived back at Ciorah’s house, and were embraced by her as soon as she saw you. Somehow, Sett silently standing nearby gave you the confidence to tell her what had upset you. She had held you very tightly, much more than you had thought capable of a woman of her small stature.

By the time she had gotten the full story out of you, the sun had begun to set. Remembering Inora’s warning, you reluctantly admitted that you should head back home.

“Settrigh will escort you home,” Ciorah said sweetly; her tone kind, but firm. You didn’t dare disagree, but you were surprised at how Sett immediately agreed to her request.

He was so clearly a momma’s boy. You felt bad for judging him so harshly upon first meeting him. Though that didn’t excuse him running the violent, thug-infested pits, but you forced yourself to take comfort in the fact that he seemed to only allow willing competitors to fight in matches. You realized that he had never explicitly told you what had been done to your kidnappers, and your fear of running into them on the streets again prompted you to ask him as you departed Ciorah’s home.

“Are they… dead?” you asked quietly, scared of what his answer would be.

Sett shrugged. “I didn’t kill them, if that’s what you’re asking. They’ve been banned from the pit, and encouraged to leave town.”

Your eyes widened in surprise. You were so sure that he had killed them. It was the pits, people died there all the time and nobody ever questioned it.

“Before you go thinkin’ I’m a saint, I did rough them up a bit,” he added. “Can’t have scumbags thinkin’ they can get around my rules.”

It was somewhat reassuring; you felt bad to be disappointed that they were still alive, but hopefully they wouldn’t be in any shape to try and get revenge. You didn’t want to experience any more violence; it was bad enough that you had killed someone, even though you had no choice. Silence dragged on as you walked alongside Sett until you were almost home.

“Y’know, if you ever get tired of Inora, I’m always lookin' for capable fighters,” he said, startling you out of your thoughts.

You stopped in your tracks, gaping at him as you tried to think of how to answer without offending him. He let out a bark of laughter as he stared back at you. “Sorry, city girl, just wanted to scare ya. You’re strong, but I know the pit fighter life ain’t for ya.”

He just said that to bug you? You had genuinely been worried that he would make you fight again! Fortunately, you didn’t have to wait long for revenge as Sett winced with a yelp as he was smacked in the back of the head by a strong hand.

“Settrigh!” Inora scolded. “You never visit anymore, and when I do see you, you’re out here picking on my apprentice!”

“Aunt Inora…” Sett greeted weakly.

She smacked him again. “I don’t tell your mother about your work and you repay me by allowing innocent girls to be forced to fight? What if she didn’t have powers and died!?”

“I’m sorry!” Sett yelped, before noticing you snickering at him again. “Hey!”

“I’ve ignored your seedy business long enough because you take care of Ciorah! You will apologize to this girl, not me!” she demanded.

Sett looked very defeated, and you were taking a bit too much joy out of watching the intimidating man be taken to task by a woman much older and smaller than him, though you would have to ask her how she knew that he ran the pit. He turned to face you with a grimace; he must have been used to her wrath if he folded so easily. Luckily, nobody was around at the moment to see his suffering but you and Inora.

“I’m sorry,” he said, sounding at least halfway sincere.

“Settrigh…” Inora warned, but you couldn’t help but jump in on his misery.

“I’ll forgive you if you let me pet your ears!” you teased him.

“What?” he snarled. “I’m not a–”

“Settrigh!” Inora scolded him with a smack to his biceps. “She’s being a lot nicer than your mother would be if she knew what you did to the poor girl!”

Sett growled, his eyes telling you that he would get you back for making him submit to your request. But you were having too much fun with the large half-Vastayan man and reached a hand up as he bent down to allow you to reach his furred ears. To your glee, they were incredibly soft. You ran your hand along the silken fur until a quiet noise from Sett stilled your hand as you looked back down at his face to see a flush to his skin that wasn’t there before. When he noticed you staring at him, he swatted your hand away at last, muttering something to himself and brushing past you to walk in the direction you had come from without another word.

“That boy is so predictable,” Inora mused as you followed her inside.

“You knew he ran the pit?” you couldn’t help but ask.

“It was hard for him when his father left,” Inora answered. “Hard for Ciorah too. People feared his father, so they were accepted, but they were not liked. After his father left, they no longer tolerated Settrigh. He had no choice but to grow up too soon.”

He had mentioned his father had left, but you didn’t realize he had been bullied. You weren’t sure what to say, so you said nothing and let Inora continue to talk.

“He used to get in fights all the time. Kids would say things to him about his mother and it would upset him. He grew up eventually, but I suspected he hadn’t really stopped fighting. I asked around and found out that he had taken over the pit,” she explained.

“And you didn’t tell Ciorah?” you wondered aloud.

She shook her head. “He begged me not to. With his money, she did not have to work gruelling jobs to support them anymore. I hate to admit it, but this way, Ciorah is safe and healthy. She struggled for a long time after we were forced to leave our tribe, and all Settrigh wants is his mother’s happiness.”

“I can see that,” you agreed. “I was really scared of him yesterday, but after seeing him act like an obedient puppy with you and Ciorah…” You couldn’t help but laugh as you recalled him being bossed around by the women.

“He’s a good son,” Inora assented. “I admit that maybe I went a little far with the ear pats.”

She noted your confusion and giggled. “Vastayan ears are more sensitive than human ears, and Settrigh’s even more than average. His mother used to pet his ears to calm him down when other kids would tease him.”

“Oh, I didn’t mean to–” you started, but silenced you by waving off your concerns with a smile.

“He hasn’t come by in so long, so he deserved a little teasing as my revenge!” she joked. “He needs a break from being a big scary pit boss occasionally!”

“You’ve been distracted lately,” Ryo told Sett bluntly. Other men in his pit would be too afraid of insulting the pit boss to talk to him like that, but Ryo knew that Sett trusted him, and liked to think of himself as the closest thing the Vastayan brute had to a friend. They did not see each other outside of the pit, but they both spent so much time there that it didn’t matter.

Neither one of the men pulled punches with each other, and Sett’s personality change had not gone unnoticed by Ryo. He knew that it had started sometime around when they had dealt with those woman-nappers, but Ryo hadn’t been able to pinpoint what had changed his friend. Sett was as focussed on the coin as ever, but Ryo had caught him lost in thought much more often over the past month. Sett, however, kept his thoughts stubbornly hidden, no matter how hard Ryo tried to pull the secrets from him.

“Caiyana finally make you an offer you couldn’t refuse?” Ryo teased, knowing that there was no chance that Sett would answer in the affirmative. Caiyana, the deadly assassin-turned-pit fighter had her keen eye on Sett since she found her way to the pits. Sett had been cordial, even friendly to her, but Ryo knew the boss well enough to tell that he maintained a professional distance from the beautiful murderess, as much as a pit boss could be called professional.

Sett scoffed. “That woman ain’t into anythin' but Noxian gold.”

“Then you two have a lot in common,” Ryo replied dryly. Sett was blind if he thought Caiyana wouldn’t give up her booking fee for the night if it meant that she could jump the boss’s bones.

Ryo allowed silence to overtake the room as they double and then triple checked the coin count from the night’s lost bets. Ryo focussed his attention on organizing the coins, until everything was all set in its rightful place and Sett had no business to use as an excuse to not answer his friend, so Ryo tried again.

“I’m not stupid, Sett,” Ryo said smoothly. “If not Caiyana, you’ve got someone on your mind. You’re not smooth enough to hide your schoolboy crush from my eyes.”

“You wanna say that again?” Sett growled, and Ryo was confident that Sett prized the bag of coins in his grip too much to throw it at his head for that comment.

Ryo had always liked to get the last word with his burly friend, so he stood up with his modest cut of the night’s profits, sauntering to the door with confidence. “Bring her around sometime. I want to meet the woman that puts up with a momma’s boy like you.”

Sett noticed that people in the streets gave him a wider berth than usual, and he figured he must look as pissed as he felt. He valued his friend’s honesty and loyalty, but Ryo really loved pushing his buttons. They liked to bug each other often, but Sett hadn’t expected Ryo to bring up his love life, non-existent as it was.

Sett had never had flings with women, even after his rise to popularity within the dregs of Ionian society. When his father was still here, nobody really talked to him out of fear. But after the scumbag had run off on them, all hell had broken loose. No girl would look at the fatherless half-breed bastard with anything but scorn in their eyes. And then he had grown some muscles and taken over the pit and only then women became eager to throw themselves at him. He could see through their flattery as if they were made of glass; he wasn’t egotistical enough to believe these women truly had any interest in any part of him other than his prestige and his wallet. They liked the pretty package, but would balk if they got a look inside his damaged soul. None of these women had any time to waste on a bastard with thinly-veiled daddy issues.

He wasn’t about to tell Ryo, but he did have more than the pit to think about as of late. He had run into you a lot lately when he visited his momma in the daytime. He hadn’t noticed it himself, but he had begun to expect you to be there when he stopped by. The last time he had been by to bring ma some more coin, he found himself looking at your usual chair as he entered the home. Ma had noticed immediately, informing him that you were out making deliveries. Sett couldn’t pretend he wasn’t looking for you, but he bristled at his momma’s next sly comment about you being unattached. It seemed that his pensive mood had followed him into the pit, and it annoyed the hell outta him.

Sett didn’t have a crush. He wasn’t a boy anymore, nor an awkward teenager. He had never bothered with women, not unless it benefitted his pit. He was annoyed with himself for wanting to be around you. But he wasn’t about to trust Ryo with that information and open himself up for his friend’s teasing. The pit would be closed for cleaning the next day; it had been a bloodier week than usual, but Sett would welcome the time off so he could have more time to spend with his momma.

You had been too busy to see Ciorah lately, and by extension Sett as well, since you only ever saw him at his mother’s house. A rich collector had come upon your work, and had been commissioning you and Inora to make him various glassworks, which on top of your usual amount of work made you so busy that you had no time for anything else. The worst part being that the collector was sleazy; he insisted that you deliver the finished pieces, and would then make various excuses to keep you in his home as long as possible. You had wanted to tell Inora, but the man had been paying you well, money you knew would really help Inora at the moment, so you put up with it. You had survived the pit and the journey across the Noxian sea, you could take one so-far harmless creep.

You had just finished delivering another sculpture, following the man around his house until he finally decided where the perfect place for his new glasswork would be. You had hoped that would be the end of it, that he would for once have mercy on you and let you leave, but it was never that easy with this guy. You had been standing outside of his house, trying to excuse yourself for around twenty minutes as he continued to ignore your excuses and talk over you.

“…I do paint sometimes, you know. You should come model for me, you’re beautiful enough. I’ve always wanted to paint a nude model in a field of flowers. You’d be very happy as my model, happier than dirtying yourself with glass dust,” he rambled.

“I… I don’t…” You weren’t sure how to refuse him without losing his business; he had never been this bold with his creepiness before. “I like my work…”

“You can’t possibly think you’ll get anywhere in life working in that tiny shop,” he said, and you bit your lip in frustration at his patronizing tone. You needed to get out of here before you really lost it on him.

“You’ve got such a beautiful body,” he drawled, either oblivious or uncaring as to how hard you were trying to exit this conversation. “Your breasts were made to be painted–”

He was startled out of his speech by a large hand on his shoulder. You gasped in surprise, relief coloring your cheeks with warmth as you saw Sett right behind him. You hadn’t even seen him coming. The creep had an entirely different reaction as he stumbled away from the very angry half-Vastayan. The collector fell backwards in his urgency to get away from Sett, falling onto his butt in shock, but still had the nerve to speak.

“Y-you beast! Beasts like you don’t belong in the presence of civilized folk!” he bellowed, pointing an accusing finger at Sett, who lifted an eyebrow, his gaze still sharp and angry.

“You gonna apologize?” Sett growled lowly.

“Apologize?!” the man screeched. “Why should I apologize when you’re the one harassing civilians?”

“To her,” was Sett’s reply as he stared the man down. “That ain’t how ya talk to women half your age.”

“Excuse me?” the man exclaimed, getting red in the face from all the shouting he had been doing. “Mutts like you need to mind their own business!”

Sett’s eyes flashed dangerously at the insult, and your gaze flickered down to his fingers as he flexed them in what you assumed meant that this was going to get ugly. You quickly grabbed the hand closest to you before Sett could reply, and after a moment’s resistance, he allowed you to drag him away from the flustered man who was still on the floor.

“Thank you for your patronage!” you called out in the sweetest tone you could manage as you turned the corner, leaving the creep to cower and sputter on the ground.

“Sett, what were you…?” you queried him as soon as you got what you hoped was a good distance away from the creepy collector’s home.

“Ma needed more milk,” he answered, holding up a small woven bag that you hadn’t noticed that he had been carrying.

“Oh…” you replied stiffly, feeling awkward as you noticed that you were both still holding hands.

Sett looked down at you sternly, and you weren’t sure if he was aware of your joined hands or not. “You shouldn’t let people treat ya like that. Who knows what that bastard would’ve done if I hadn’t stepped in.”

“I know,” you groaned. “He buys a lot from us and Inora really needed the money to replace a torch I broke by accident…”

“Inora wouldn’t take his money if she knew what he was sayin’ to you,” Sett retorted darkly. “No coin is worth a woman bein’ treated like that.”

For such a big, intimidating guy, he sure was sweet to you lately. Sett took you out of your thoughts, tugging your hand to get you to follow him down a familiar path.

“Ciorah’s house isn’t…” you protested in confusion, but Sett’s steps didn’t falter.

“We’ll get there,” he replied. “But first we’re gonna go explain to Inora why you won’t be goin’ on deliveries to that freak anymore.”

You couldn’t bring yourself to protest; after that escalation in creepy behavior, you didn’t want to be anywhere near that guy ever again. You couldn’t help but feel like you were letting Inora down; the creepy guy was the most profitable client in a long time. But there was not a high likelihood that he would be commissioning you in the future after Sett had nearly beat him up. You followed him back home, finding Inora in the workshop finalizing a piece that would go to a sweet older lady who bought works from you for her grandchildren.

“How was–” Inora greeted you before noticing your companion. “Settrigh?”

“She didn’t wanna tell you, but that old creep has been flirtin’ with her,” Sett explained while you awkwardly fiddled with your fingers just behind him.

“What?” Inora gaped. “I knew he had been ordering a lot of pieces, but I never thought…”

Sett nudged you forward, and you figured you should tell her the truth. “Sorry I didn’t tell you… normally he just rambles stories at me and stands too close, but today, he…”

It was too weird for you to say out loud, but Sett didn’t have the same reservations. “The bastard was tryin’ to convince her to model naked for him.”

“He what!?” Inora snarled. “If I could get my claws on him…”

“I was tryin’ to, but she stopped me,” Sett replied, gesturing to you with a jerk of his head.

“Sett!” you scolded him, but Inora barked out a laugh.

“For once, I approve of your violent streak!” she grinned.

You knew they weren’t biologically related, but you couldn’t help but note how familial their bond was. Inora was more outwardly tough than Ciorah, but both women fit so well into Sett’s life.

“Ma’s waitin’ on me to bring her milk,” Sett changed the subject with a sly smirk. “Gonna take her with me so she doesn’t run back to her boyfriend!”

You gaped at Sett, him and Inora laughing at the disgusted look on your face. “I would never–”

“Relax, princess,” Sett snickered. “I’ll protect ya from him.”

You lost all will to argue, his words flustering you into silence. You couldn’t tell if his tone was flirty or not, but the sudden nickname made you blush. Sett seemed oblivious, but you met eyes with Inora, who smiled knowingly at you, and you quickly looked down at your feet.

“You can take her with you, but you’ve gotta promise me you’ll punch that asshole if you see him again!” Inora joked.

“Can do,” Sett answered affirmatively.

“Don’t be too late!” Inora added, winking at you in a manner that left you no room to doubt what she was really saying. You were relieved that Sett had already turned to the door and had missed her wink altogether.

You still weren’t sure why he was insistent on bringing you along, but it had been a while since you had seen him and you had missed the big brute. You followed Sett out of the front door, waving goodbye to Inora as you emerged back onto the early afternoon streets of Navori.

“…how is the pit?” you asked, wanting to say something but couldn’t think of any interests of his besides his mom and his work in your flustered state.

“’s good,” he answered with a chuckle. “Didn’t think you wanted to hear about the pit.”

What could you even say to that? That you just wanted to talk with him and weren’t sure what else to say?

“I…” you trailed off as you entered the streets that made up the marketplace that led to Ciorah’s home.

“I told you I won’t make ya fight,” Sett laughed. “The pit is a place for degenerates like me, not little mages.”

“You’re not a degenerate,” you refuted softly. “If you hadn’t saved me, I would probably still be with those kidnappers.”

Sett scoffed as you both turned onto the street that Ciorah’s house was on. “With your firepower, they didn’t stand a chance in a fight with you.”

You just stared at him, dumbfounded by his confidence in you. You still weren’t sure how you had beat the Noxian in the pit, but it was a weird feeling to have someone who brawled for a living complimenting you on your combat prowess, however little you felt that you possessed anyways. Maybe you should start having more confidence in yourself; he had certainly given you something to think about. Sett knocked on Ciorah’s door as you stepped onto the landing by his side. You felt a sudden onset of emotion as you reflected further on what a good thing it had been for your life for you to meet Sett.

“Hey… are you cryin’?” Sett said, looking panicked.

Before you could answer, Ciorah opened the door to see you wiping away the small tears that had developed in your eyes. Sett looked infinitely more panicked as his eyes darted from you to his mother, and you watched as her eyes narrowed as she looked at the scene in front of her.

“Settrigh!” she scowled. “What did you say to her?”

Sett’s eyes widened in panic at his mother’s ire, an ear in her grasp before he could think to pull away. You quickly followed them into the house, shutting the door behind you.

“It ain’t like that, ma! She just started cryin’!” Sett protested.

“I raised you to be kind to women, Settrigh,” Ciorah replied sternly.

“He didn’t do anything, I promise!” you corrected Ciorah’s impression the best you could, trying not to laugh as Sett rubbed his sore ear when Ciorah released it upon hearing your words. “I was just thinking about… how nice Sett has been to me and I teared up.”

You were embarrassed to have to be so honest, especially since Sett was now staring at you with a look in his eyes you couldn’t read. Ciorah finally abandoned scolding her son to give you a tight hug, which only served to make you feel more embarrassed. You had never cried this often back in Demacia, but that was hardly unusual for Demacia. There was always a high importance placed on being proper and not embarrassing your family. You had grown up with the notion that it was normal to keep emotions – even happiness – out of the public sphere and away from troubling anyone. Thinking back, you realized that you had never even seen your parents cry. Ever.

The only emotions they displayed often were fear and anger. You knew now that was how they kept Demacians in line. By making them fear mages like you that just wanted to be accepted in their twisted society, by making families turn on their kin because of powers they could not help. Ionia was not free of cruelty, but you would never have the entire island turn against you just for using your powers. All of the people you were close to here openly embraced you, powers and all. You would never go back to Demacia as long as you lived; Navori was your permanent home as far as you were concerned.

Ciorah happily accepted the milk that she had sent her son to buy, insisting that you both stay for dinner. You chopped vegetables with Sett while Ciorah oversaw the stew that was simmering. You were having fun, other than Sett dangling cut onions in your face, which made you tear up yet again, Ciorah smacking his shoulder when he teased you for crying. You hadn’t had so much fun in a long time, just sitting around the table with them and chatting as you ate, which was only made sweeter by the fact that you didn’t have to put up with that creepy customer’s behavior anymore. It definitely felt like too soon when it was time to head back home, and this time Sett offered to walk you home without Ciorah’s prompting.

“I’ll see you again soon,” Ciorah told you warmly, giving you a hug.

You stepped back from her and Sett quickly took your place, giving her a kiss on the cheek as she wrapped her arms as far around his broad back as she could reach.

“Love you, ma,” Sett told her.

“And I love you, Settrigh,” Ciorah replied in kind. “Stay safe.”

“Are you going to the pit now?” you asked him as Ciorah closed the door and you both exited her hearing range.

“No need,” he answered. “I can trust those knuckleheads by themselves for one night.”

“If you say so,” you answered in a singsong tone.

Sett playfully raised an eyebrow. “Ya know the pit ain’t all I ever think about.”

You weren’t sure if you were reading too much into his words, and the glint in his eyes. You were paranoid that you were over-analyzing what wasn’t romantic intentions on his side. But no matter what you did, you couldn’t help but hope that Sett would make a move, because you just didn’t have the confidence.

You decided that it would be worth a try to see if you could fish any more information out of him. “So, what else do you think–”

You would not finish your sentence as your arm was grasped roughly from behind, a hand clamping over your mouth and muffling your surprised cry.

Sett snarled and made to dash over to you, but a long, sharp blade to your neck had him pausing in his tracks, feral anger plain on his face. You still couldn’t see the man who held you captive, as any movement from you had him inch the blade closer to the flesh of your neck, and so you kept painfully still. Your situation fully illuminated on you when men began to trickle out of the shadows, including two ugly faces you remembered in detail, even a month later.

They looked even more rough than the night they had kidnapped you. It seemed like Sett’s lesson hadn’t gotten through to them as they closed in on you alongside a dozen or so men who looked just as intimidating.

“Let her go,” Sett snarled, and the venom in his tone shocked you cold, but unfortunately did not have the same effect on the group of men.

“You won’t protect your bitch this time, half breed,” the taller kidnapper sneered to supportive chuckles and jeers from the rest of the group of men.

“Navori is tired of your iron fist,” the other kidnapper added tauntingly. “So we’re gonna do the pit a favor and make sure you never step foot in it again.”

“You can try!” Sett growled, muscles flexing dangerously.

“Fightin’ fair just ain’t in the cards anymore,” the tall man replied, and before Sett had time to react, one of the men dashed forward and threw a sickly yellow powder in Sett’s face, which had him fall to his knees coughing and breathing heavily before he collapsed on the ground. The hand on your mouth tightened as you screamed and struggled. All your struggles did was draw the attention of the men back to you.

“Poor girl,” one man drawled. “About to watch her boyfriend die.”

Your eyes widened, heart beating overtime as you watched the men begin to crowd around Sett’s unconscious body. What had they thrown on him? Ionia definitely had its own drug trade, but you had no knowledge of what the yellow powder could be. But as you watched the men brandish weapons of all sort, you realized that the drug must have been a means to an end. A knockout drug strong enough to render even the large half-Vastayan unconscious. Sett was defenseless, and showed no signs of waking up despite your mental pleas.

“She’s gonna cry,” one of the men articulated with a cruel laugh.

“With him gone, she’s gonna be real lonely!” another man jeered.

“Not for long,” the tall man sneered. “She’s got a big debt to pay us, so we got first dibs. You all can have what’s left.”

You couldn’t lose Sett. You could barely hear what they were saying around you, eyes locked on the gleaming silver of their weapons as they raised them in unison to strike at the downed man you cared so much for. You didn’t wait a moment, because Sett didn’t have a moment to spare if you were going to save his life. The thugs were gleefully unaware, and even the cry of pain from their buddy that held you captive was too late of a warning to save them from your desperate fury.

Your fire reached an inferno in a split second, and the man who held you captive fell back as every part of him that was in close contact with you broke out in burns so hot that this skin bubbled and peeled right off. His last scream would come too late for his friends as you rushed at them, your hair whipping around your face as you slammed into them with the force of an erupting volcano. Your intense fire melted their flesh as you came close, their cries of agony a chorus you were all too happy to hear.

You knew that your kidnappers had been in the mass of men that stood around Sett, but in your fury, you did not see their faces. You did not watch their expressions as they melted away to nothing; they were dead, and not worth any more of your attention. In seconds, you had wiped out every last one. You stood before the ruined men, chest heaving, as you finally came back to yourself and realized that Sett too had been in the center of your inferno.

Shaking your head to clear yourself of your murderous focus, you dropped to your knees beside Sett, who you immediately realized looked completely fine. He had been in the middle of your fiery wrath, but he had not so much as a burn on him anywhere. The only sign that your powers had affected him at all was the slightest beads of sweat on his forehead. How could he be okay? Your fire never hurt you, but this was all-new territory for you.

“Sett!” you cried, placing your hands on either side of his face, tears dripping down your face and onto his jacket. “Sett, please –”

“’s warm.”

His whisper was almost too quiet for you to hear, but his eyes opening ever so slowly confirmed that you hadn’t been hearing things. Sett slowly sat up, rolling his shoulders. He grunted at the impact as you buried your face in his chest, and he slowly sat back up, placing a hand on your back.

“…should go,” he muttered, and you pulled back to look at his face. He clumsily pushed some hair out of your face as you noticed his pupils looked dilated. “We should… we should go,” he slurred.

“Are you… drunk?” you ventured a guess, and he smirked lazily, leaning in to nibble on your neck, which sent a blush to your face and a shiver down your back.

“Nah,” he answered, and you didn’t believe him for a second.

“Can you stand?” you asked him, and he only answered when you backed away from him until he couldn’t kiss at your neck anymore.

He scoffed, lifting himself up a little too fast, his drugged state putting him off balance. You quickly got up as well, grabbing hold of him before he fell over and slinging his arm over your shoulder. Ciorah’s home was close, but you knew that Sett wouldn’t want her to see him in this state.

“Sett, where do you live?” you asked, hoping he would have the mental facilities to properly answer you.

He stared at you intensely for a few seconds before sighing and beginning to walk, forcing you to keep up with him so neither of you would fall over. You were thankful that he just led you silently; you weren’t sure if you could take any more of his drunken flirting. You let him lead you, surprised when you bypassed the wealthy district entirely; you had just assumed that with all the money he made, Sett would live in the most expensive part of town.

The neighborhood Sett finally led you to was one you hadn’t seen before. It was very quiet, only a few people walking around, none of which even bat an eye at you supporting the large pit boss as you walked by. You wondered what kind of a place this was for the sight of the two of you to not be out of the ordinary.

Sett led you up a stony walkway to a very modest home, and you let him off of your shoulder at last so he could lean on the wall and fish his keys out of his pants’ pocket. When he finally managed to retrieve the small silver key, you took it from him. If the walk here was any indication, his coordination was not the best right now. You unlocked the door with ease, and Sett sauntered in, you quickly following behind him and locking the door.

You had clearly underestimated Sett’s recovery time, because as soon as you turned around after hearing the click of the lock, Sett caged you against the door with his body. You stared wide-eyed at the predatory smirk on his face, giving you nowhere to run. You couldn’t tell if this was his true feelings spilling out or if it was the drug. You knew which one you hoped it was, but you couldn’t take advantage of him in this state, not when he could do something he would regret if he weren’t under the influence of the weird powder.

“Sett, you should rest…” you protested, pressing your shaky palms on his chest, ready to push him away if you needed to.

“Nah,” he purred with a grin. “I think I’m good right here.”

“But I don’t know what they gave you, it could be–”

“Stop talkin',” he grunted, and it was all the warning you got before he crushed his lips into yours.

You gasped in surprise, and he didn’t waste the opportunity, sticking his tongue in your mouth and playing with your own. Your fingers gripped at the fur of his long jacket, breaking away from the kiss with a moan when his hands moved down to your hips, pulling your lower body closer to his, a rapidly hardening part of his anatomy brushing obviously against you with the motion. Sett chased your lips, kissing you breathless several times over as you tried desperately to keep up with the rough pace he had set.

You still couldn’t believe this was happening, but you were starting to feel more comfortable kissing him. You wanted him to be as wrecked as you were, and so you did the only thing you could think of that might fluster him and grabbed one of his ears, rubbing it between your fingers. Sett didn’t stop kissing you, but groaned against your mouth. A few more seconds of you repeating the motion had him finally break away from your mouth, and you stared at his beautiful golden eyes as he opened them at last. You were breathing heavily as you watched his gaze trail down your body. You realized that you had once again singed your clothing with your earlier outburst, your top a lot more low-cut than it had been when you had left Ciorah’s home, the singed edges of the fabric hovering at the tops of your breasts.

“Hold on!” Sett grinned.

You stared at him, confused by the mischief in his eyes. Sett wasted no time, his strong arms going around your back and under your thighs as he lifted you into a princess carry. You squeaked in surprise, holding your hands at your chest, unsure of what to do with them.

“Doubt I’ll get tired of this,” Sett remarked, turning around and heading down the hallway. “Last chance to back out, princess.”

He was really testing your newfound commitment to honesty. Your face burned with embarrassment and shame, so you buried your face in his chest as you murmured your answer. “…I don’t want to back out.”

Sett laughed, the vibrations from his chest against your ear as he pushed open a door with his shoulder. You brought your head back up to look upon a rather modest bedroom. The room was dim with the day’s waning light coming through the window, illuminating the large bed that sat in the center of the room. You weren’t given a further chance to examine his bedroom as you were laid on the bed, staring at Sett as he stood just to the side.

“Hope you’re ready, baby,” Sett purred, unlatching his gauntlets and letting them drop to the floor as he shucked his shoes off. “I don’t do anythin’ half-assed.”

You sat up on the bed, figuring you probably shouldn’t be wearing shoes in his nice bed, reaching down and gently removing them and setting them on the floor as Sett removed his jacket. Sett rolled his shoulders back as he stared down at you, unashamed by his own partial nudity as usual.

You had no time to feel self-conscious as Sett was on you again, hand fisting through your hair to angle your mouth against his better. You kissed him back with everything you had, but his efforts overwhelmed you and it was all you could do to grasp at his neck and thread your tongue with his. You wrapped a leg around his hip, and he happily ground his pelvis into yours. You cried out as the bulge there hit against you in just the right spot to send a spark through your body. Sett pulled back, golden eyes dark as he combed a hand through his hair.

“I want you bad, princess,” he growled.

“Sett, I–” you tried to answer him, but then his thick fingers were slipping beneath the skirt you wore and past your underwear to rub at a spot that had you squirming and moaning as Sett stared down at you proudly.

“Betcha never had this in Demacia,” Sett growled as his fingers moved from your clit to push a finger inside you. “At least those jackasses did something right when they drove you to Navori.”

You couldn’t reply, could only moan his name and weakly grip at his arm as he pushed another finger inside you, the pad of his thumb brushing against your clit as he continued fingering you.

“Sett, please–”

“Can’t wait any longer, baby?” he taunted, and you glared at him to the best of your lust-addled ability.

“Fine,” he sighed. “I can’t deny ya anythin’ when you look at me like that.”

Sett rolled over so that he sat at the edge of the bed, licking his wet fingers clean while staring at you haughtily. Standing up from the bed, he peeled his tight pants off of his legs, and you were flustered anew to discover that he hadn’t been wearing any underwear. You couldn’t help but stare at his cock, which looked rock hard as it jutted out proudly from his pelvis.

Sett easily caught you staring, his eyes raking over your still-clothed body. “You need some help?”

You felt overcome with a burst of shyness at what was about to happen. Sett climbed back onto the bed, and you blushed as his cock brushed against your hip. Sett noticed how stiff you were, leaning in to give you short, soft kisses until he felt you visibly relax.

“C’mon,” he prompted. “’s only fair I get you naked too. Been thinkin’ about this since ya melted those thugs.”

“What?” you replied.

“Came to as you torched ‘em,” Sett answered, nuzzling against your neck, mouth at your ear as his hand crept to the bottom of your shirt. “You have no clue how hot you look when you fight.”

Sett’s fingers gripped the hem of your shirt, and you lifted your arms to help him take it off of you. Your shirt was made of thicker material than you usually wore, so you hadn’t worn a bra underneath. Sett was very appreciative of that fact, palming your breasts with his large hands as he looked down at you with the hunger of a predator.

You were so worked up that you couldn’t wait any longer. You wiggled your hips, trying to shuffle your skirt down because Sett was so close that you couldn’t fit a hand between your lower bodies. Sett took pity on you, taking his hands off of your tits to help you shimmy your skirt and panties down and off. Your underwear was feeling a little too damp, so it was a relief to have them off at last.

“No shame if ya need to claw my back up,” Sett teased as he lined himself up with you. “I know I’m a lot to take.”

You frowned at him; there was no limit to his self-confidence, was there? Your irritation only seemed to further bolster him as he grinned happily. You couldn’t even stay mad at him; he was such an overgrown puppy. You hated that all of his quirks just made you more infatuated with him. You would have to rub his ears again and take him down a peg.

But Sett would make the first move, as always. He grasped his cock, holding your gaze as he began to ease himself into you. You closed your eyes, nails digging into your palms as you adjusted to the feeling. He went slow, inching in further and further until your hips met, his legs on either side of yours.

You felt so full, and for all of his grandstanding, Sett wasn’t doing much better. He let out a low groan, moving his hands to either side of your face to keep himself from crushing you with his well-muscled body.

No more words were exchanged as Sett began to move his hips, dropping his lips from yours to nibble at your neck, his hair tickling your cheek. The position brought his furry ears closer to you, and the temptation proved too much and you reached up and pulled on his ears, and Sett’s hips snapped up to yours harder in surprise, the resulting feeling making you moan.

“Should’ve known you’d go for the ears again,” Sett growled.

“They’re so cute,” you replied, barely able to get the words out when Sett moved back to grab onto your thighs and encourage you to wrap them around his hips. He pushed back in, and it was all you could do to grip at his biceps as he got even more brutal with his pace, leaning down to kiss and bite at your breasts, the sensations only heightening the pleasure you felt.

You shut your eyes tightly as you felt your pleasure climb higher and higher, your unintentional clamping of vaginal muscles earning you a groan from Sett as he reached a hand down to rub at your clit as he chased his own end.

“Sett,” you moaned, opening your eyes to pull his face to yours so you could kiss him again.

You could only hold out a moment longer, the kiss getting slower as you reached your peak, your legs tightening around Sett’s waist and walls clamping down on his cock. Sett growled against your lips, slamming down into you a few more times before he stilled, parting from your lips to rest his forehead on yours, grinning like the cat that got the cream.

“I’d say that went pretty well,” Sett declared.

As the haze wore off, you began to wonder exactly what this meant to Sett. You had no knowledge at all of his romantic history, and so you didn’t know what to think.

You tried to sound confident, but your voice came out as a weak whisper. “Sett… what are we?”

He didn’t reply, but leaned down to kiss you. You frowned, dodging so that his lips landed on your cheek. If this was just a fling, he needed to tell you now. You wouldn’t let him avoid the question.

Sett’s eyes opened when he realized that you had moved your face. You gave him a hard look, and he returned it with a toothy grin and a laugh. You felt your heart drop; was he going to laugh at you for wanting more? Was this the last content moment that you would have with him before it all came crashing down?

“Don’t know why you’re even askin’,” Sett said, and you just stared at him, too scared to even breathe. “Ma likes ya… I like ya. You ain’t gettin’ away from me that easy.”

[chalkrevelations]

Huh.

Well, this is not the next episode reaction you were expecting, but a while back, in the middle of the night, while I was ready to cry from working on a pharmacology paper, out of nowhere, Youtube threw up Street Dance of China S3 Ep1 at me. And yeah. I am, admittedly, f’kn weak for a dance show. (There are enough SYTYCD episode reax on my old Livejournal that I feel there’s no point denying this.)

So – no, actually, wait. FIRST of all, I do NOT believe the “towel vote” we ended up being given for the opening routines from the four captains. That was the most blatant bit of bullshit chicanery I’ve seen in my LIFE, and I say this as a person with a ton of SYTYCD episode reax on my old Livejournal, and I also say this not because Wang Yibo ended up last (well, not entirely), but because I saw Wallace Chung’s routine. As someone closer in age to him than to the other three captains, I have to give him props for trying, but come on, man. The critique that Yibo got from random contestants – if the subtitles are to be believed, so I realize this needs a grain of salt - basically boiled down to “it was too good for the stage lighting.” :hands: Also, I saw your face at the reveal, Wallace, and you were as shocked as I was. No way you got more towels/votes than Wang Yibo. Not unless there’s some super wild undercurrent of nostalgia propping you up, which, I guess could happen, because literally all I know about pop culture in China, current or otherwise, is filtered through Tumblr and Youtube, both notoriously suspect, but … anyway. There’s got to be a TON of behind-the-scenes manipulation going on for Yibo to be rock-bottom with last pick of teams but then also to end up with THAT pool of possibles. Are you kidding me with this?

ANYWAY, what I wanted to say is that I actually really like Wang Yibo here, and it’s not just because he’s the only captain I have even a sliver of familiarity with, and it’s not just because Lan Wangji was banging Wei Wuxian. I do realize all of this is influenced by whatever edit they’ve decided to give a particular captain or contestant, but I’m impressed with the way Yibo immediately starts team building by getting his group into a warmup, getting them dancing together, getting them dancing with him before they have to worry about dancing for him. (I mean, come on, Jackson Wang. The way to get people to stop being nervous is not to say “Stop being nervous! It will make you fuck up!”) The way Yibo immediately recognized and responded to his group’s concerns about that one dude copying someone else’s routine probably also bought him a lot of return investment. He’s dressed to work it, in his sweats and his flannel (what IS that fake-leather TAC vest and random leg holster-looking thing, Jackson Wang?). He’s convincing me he really loves to dance, he can’t hold still while he watches the contestants, he’s wandering over into other captains’ turf when it sounds like there’s a dancer performing who he might like to see, he’s being the best Yibo he can be, and I’m grooving along, wind in my hair, totally down for this ride. He’s also adorable at the beginning when all the other captains are like, my goal for this season is to slaughter the competition and dance on their graves! And he’s like, well, I’d like to … make some friends? And learn some new stuff? I don’t know if the perpetual Humble Student schtick is natural or persona, or whether it’s general or specific to dancing, but it’s working for you, my dude. This is also made better (read: ironic), by the fact that it’s immediately before the towel reveal, when he flips over to utter disbelief and gets all sulky for a while over the “fact” that his dance routine got the least votes.

Also, OH WAIT. This is where that clip of Yibo dancing with his crew ALL OVER HIM came from that I saw floating around a few months ago, isn’t it? You’re telling me those guys had never danced together before and had like, three minutes to throw together that routine? I’m even more impressed than before. Meanwhile, the towels symbolize courage and challenge, Mr. Emcee? OK, fine, cheesy reality show blah blah whatever. Can we get to the dancing now?

I’m going to put the rest of this behind a cut, because it got super long, because it turns out, when you watch in 5-minute increments, it takes two and a half weeks to get through a single episode, but you actually can see and have opinions on all 5,328 contestants, plus every single one of the captains’ battles. Meanwhile, I’m trying to convince myself this is not going to be another series of episode reactions, but 1) I do have the benefit of not having a ton of hometown media giving me a next-day play-by-play, so even though this is six months old, everything’s a surprise; 2) I am, admittedly, f’kn weak for a dance show; and 3) it’s easy to watch in 5-minute increments between researching drug interactions in hypothetical hypertensive patients with stable ischemic heart disease, erectile dysfunction, and seasonal allergies. So, I guess we’ll see. It’ll be slow going, though, because I don’t ever have two and half hours to sit down and watch an ep cover-to-cover – if it happens, it will likely keep happening in 5-minute increments. Meanwhile, there is a metric shit-ton of nattering below the cut, so caveat lector. No, seriously, I kept adding to this little by little until it became a monster. Hashtag long post (remorseful).

OK, I am generally out of my depth here, as this is not at all my area of dance not-really-expertise, but some reactions:

Team Wang Yibo: I can see why he didn’t want to choose between Colin and Dian Men – Colin might have been a touch better technically and a better showman, but Dian Men didn’t seem to have a single wasted move – but, also, my dude. Yibo. You maybe should look a little bit less stunned and overwhelmed by the mere presence of Colin, it’s giving me ideas about your taste in men. Continuing with the powerhouses, I probably shouldn’t even attempt to critique Klash, but I did feel like he was a bit stiff in some of his footwork; that final V kick, though, shit, that’s what having that kind of upper-body strength is for. Bouboo … I mean, excellent flexibility and control, of course, but mainly I’m just terribly amused that Yibo got last pick of teams but somehow ended up with the guy who’s literal world champion, and who’s just as useful for getting into the other captains’ heads – without even trying – as he is for his talent. And then there’s a montage of Yibo giving out towel after towel after towel, and my dude, you cannot keep up this pace. There are still too many dancers to see, and you don’t have that many towels. AAANNNND Towel Battle #1 (See Footnote 1).

Team Jackson Wang: I do like Gai Gai, although that may be influenced by the fact she’s working in the twilight area between hip-hop and contemporary that I have more familiarity with - but also, I suspect she’s pretty good in her genre. I thought Xiao Jie was inconsistent and didn’t stick the landing on his initial attempt, so I have to give you that hesitation, Jackson, even though you’ve somehow ended up the villain in my inner narrative for this show, for no particular reason I can yet discern. Maybe it’s that you’re the direct competition for Yibo’s team in the towel battles. Good enough. Anyway, Xiao Jie definitely stepped up his game for the battle with Bingo, so I can kind of see why both of them got a towel, but we’re not even halfway through this, and most of y’all are giving away towels like you have an endless supply. Yang Kai is a fucking menace with fantastic musicality, and I’m just gonna say it and take the fallout - I think he gave a better performance first time out of the gate than any of Yibo’s powerhouses did. Whatever power Klash has got, whatever skill Bouboo has got, Yang Kai feels more explosive and engaging, at least in these initial showings. He’s going to be one to beat, I’d hug him too, if he was on my team and was going to help me WIN. Yibo’s probably lucky that happened during his little stroll over to check out the competition, so that he can see they’re definitely competitive and be prepared for it. Also, Jackson, I have to admit - that face you made when Chao really kicked in? That was the same face I made, because wt actual f, you have a literal secret weapon – secret because he CAME FROM NOWHERE and NO ONE EVEN KNOWS him, how is that even possible, how did he get that good – fluid, creative, controlled, incredible musicality - without anyone having any idea who he even is? And then there’s a montage of Jackson just giving out towel after towel after towel, and my dude, you need to slow down. You can’t just be like, “THEY LOVE DANCE WITH ALL OF THEIR WHOLE HEARTS!!!!1111!!!!11!” I get it, but everyone there loves dance with all of their whole hearts, and there are not enough towels to send all of them on to the next round. ANNNND, Towel Battle #1 (See Footnote 1).

Team Lay Zhang: lol at how diplomatic you’re being, Lay Zhang – your team’s fierce roar startled you, OK. At this point, I suspect you’re the street most likely to have a knife fight break out before this is all over. I do like Alex, I think he’s got a lot of interesting, super-clean details in his moves, and he’s engaging - I cannot BELIEVE you made him battle that dude whose moves were so mushy, Lay Zhang, it leaves me doubting your ability to judge this thing. At first I thought maybe you were just looking for an excuse because you wanted to see Alex freestyle, but then you actually said something about both dancers being equal, and my estimation of you plummeted, and also sadly, my sound dropped out for the actual battle, including the part where the clearly inferior dancer fell over and then accidentally POPPED ALEX ONE IN THE EYE, and I TOLD YOU SO. I do agree it’s a good idea to make dancers in the same genre do some battling, so you can kind of plan out your towels and put together a team with broad strengths, instead of giving out towels like you’re making it rain for the first 20 contestants, and then you have 1,375 more people to get through, with 3 towels left, as EVERYONE ELSE seems to be doing, so it’s nice that at least one of you guys is thinking – if not actually acting - strategically. That was clearly not even a contest, though, GIVE ALEX HIS TOWEL and send him to the next round. Xiao Bao is hilarious, with his concern that his team captain, who’s into krump, which is “beating,” isn’t going to appreciate his waacking, which is “slapping.” I also don’t know a whole lot about waacking, so thanks for the primer, Xiao Bao, and don’t worry, your performance is just as engaging for those of us who don’t know what we’re watching as you are generally. You deserve that towel for your ability to interact with and engage your audience, alone. Lingo is a good solid performance, although he’s got his team captain strategizing edited over some of it, and here’s the thing: we are 1:56:00 into this, at this point, with another half hour to go, and all of you are starting to disappear into the sea of dancers who are very good at what you do, but at generally the same level? Anyway, Lingo, I approve of your ability to interact with your audience (read: your captain) to ensure engagement, too, so keep that up. Annnd, we actually haven’t seen that much of you guys, but it’s time for Towel Battle #2 (See Footnote 2).

Team Wallace Chung: I’m glad Su Lian Ya insisted on performing, I thought she started off slow but warmed up, and that ending was creepily fantastic and had me spontaneously grinning at the screen in delight. Then we lose sight of this group for a really long time, actually. We go back to find Wallace putting through a couple of urban dancers who we barely see, but who apparently claim to have some choreography experience, and he really likes that. TI shows up, and they’re solid, but honestly, not as good in this performance as they were in some of the stock footage the show threw up to introduce them, but Wallace remains super-excited about the idea of choreography and sends at least choreographer Zhang Jiang Peng through to the next round. And then, we really haven’t seen that much of you guys, either, which maybe doesn’t bode well, but it’s time for Towel Battle #2 (See Footnote 2).

FOOTNOTE 1, aka TOWEL BATTLE ONE, Team Yibo vs. Team Jackson, 3V3 freestyle: First of all, I have to say, I love Yibo - Mr. I Just Wanna Make Some Friends And Have Some Fun - being all, “I have three crappy white towels I’m stuck with for coming in last place that I can’t use to send dancers to the next round and that I DO NOT DESERVE, and I am getting BACK the colorful towels that ARE RIGHTFULLY MINE. I am coming for whoever is in my way.” Team Yibo is Bouboo, Klash, Dian Men, and OK, given what we’ve seen so far, that’s the safe choice, but honestly, I think we’re just taking some things for granted right now, and I’m not sure they actually have given the best performances so far. Yeah, I said it. Team Jackson is Yang Kai, Chao, and Xiao Jie, and … ok, on that last one, I think you probably could have substituted Bingo, but all right. Yang Kai is a definite yes. Chao will be great if he can stay out of his own head and not psych himself out, but given what we’ve seen so far, he’s an obvious pick. First round, Yang Kai vs. Klash, and Yang Kai is still a fucking menace, with super lines. Klash definitely stepped up his game for the battle, and I can’t get over the upper body strength he’s got, to get that kind of airy bounce in his moves, but to be honest, I can’t even be mad the first round went to Yang Kai and Team Jackson. Second round, Yang Kai is still … y’all, the beautiful lines from this guy in his poses, I can’t get over them, but I think he doesn’t have the stamina, his footwork is getting sloppy. Bouboo also steps up his game for an actual battle, his fluidity and control is amazing, and yeah, round to Team Yibo. Round three, Xiao Jie gives it a decent effort, but the polish isn’t there; meanwhile Bouboo is still in champion mode, and I was kind of surprised this was a split vote and went to another round. Xiao Jie absolutely surprised me, coming back stronger on his second try, although I suppose a more familiar genre helped, but Bouboo continues in champion mode. Round four, Chao looks like he’s going to throw up right before he steps out there, and then as soon as the music starts, it’s like, he doesn’t even think. The music just moves him. I feel like his dance vocabulary is more limited than Bouboo’s, though, and Bouboo’s flow is amazing at this point, so I feel like the judges just want to drag this out and see more dancing when we go to one more round. Strong effort all around, but yeah, round four and two towels to Team Yibo. I can’t really complain about that. I do feel like Yibo’s powerhouses have been holding back until now, though, and I’m not sure how I feel about THAT.

FOOTNOTE 2, aka TOWEL BATTLE TWO, Team Zhang vs. Team Wallace, 3V3 w/ captain: lol, Team Zhang really wants someone to pick the Sailor Moon song because they know Xiao Bao and his waacking will tear it up. Anyway, Team Zhang includes Lingo and Xiao Bao, who does not get his Sailor Moon song and continues to be hilarious in his disbelief about being chosen to participate in this battle, when he’s not looking almost as sick as Chao from Team Jackson before HIS performance. Team Wallace includes Su Lian Ya – and honestly, despite how I’m getting ready to bag on him for the entire rest of this battle recap, I like that Wallace put one of his female dancers up there for the battle - and some dude named Ba that they haven’t given us any footage of, up ‘til now, at least that I can remember and who I … don’t even know has been formally given a towel and sent on to the next round, yet? Oh wait, he must have, because there’s talk in the pause for choreography about somehow using the towels during the battle. Wallace relies on Su Lian Ya and Zhang Jiang Peng to choose Ba, and then Ba ends up choreographing a lot of the performance, at least from the edit we see. I continue to feel you may be in over your head, Wallace. This feeling … is not assuaged by your performance in the first round, which is fine, but not really up to the level of almost anyone whose name I’ve bolded so far in this entire recap. Also, using the towels was a cute idea, but it doesn’t translate well, and Team Wallace has a lot of wasted time throwing the towels around instead of actually. You know. Dancing. Lingo gets a credible solo during Team Zhang’s performance, and even though Xiao Bao is clearly lost during a good bit of his backup dancer duties, he manages not to throw up, which – given this team’s general skill level – should be enough to give them the first round, EXCEPT SOMEHOW Team Wallace gets the point from the judges, who then try to justify this inexplicable decision by saying Team Wallace had better interaction, I guess because of the hot mess with throwing the towels around, but adding that Team Zhang was more scattered, which what? More scattered than the hot mess with the towels? I’m not buying this. I can’t tell if they’re propping up Wallace or fucking with Lay Zhang’s head, but I’m having bad acid flashbacks to the many and varied ways dance show judges will try to gaslight you, telling you that things you just saw with your very own eyes did not actually happen when it’s right there! On camera! Visible, despite whatever edit bs you’re pulling! ANYWAY, they’re definitely managing to fuck with not only Lay Zhang’s head, but Xiao Bao’s, and Xiao Bao still doesn’t seem to have his choreography down, but they manage to pull it together enough to take the second round, which to be honest is kind of a muddled mess on everyone’s part. The only one who really stands out to me on this go’round is Su Lian Ya, but OK, Team Zhang might have had it slightly more together as a unit. And then, yeah, OK, I think they were fucking with Lay Zhang’s head, because we then find out that, holy shit, the song the show powers-that-be chose for the tie-breaking third round is that gd Sailor Moon song, and we can all see the writing on the wall. Poor Team Wallace is no match for Xiao Bao, who frankly, carries this entire round on his shoulders without breaking a sweat and barely needs any backup dancers to do it. There’s some ridiculously dramatic reveal of scoring, with the judges dragging out their decisions like this was any actual contest - I’m beginning to suspect that some of them grew up with Wallace Chung posters on their bedroom walls - but finally, round and towel to Team Zhang.

Cut to a little bit of Next Time On, and wow, the first two-and-a-half-hour episode is over, and we aren’t finished with the initial round yet. It’s gonna be Christmas before I make it halfway through this season.

[ichika27]

Mairimashita! Iruma-kun s2 ep21

Last episode for this season!

It’s strange we’re only getting 21. It feels like an awkward number to end on since many other anime that goes on for 20+ episodes have at least 24-26. Oh well, s3 has been announced so it’s all good I guess.

It's still the Apocalypse (the last day of it) and Iruma is trying to finish all of his homework which seem to be going well. He had a lot to do due to homework being doubled.

Why was homework doubled? It's the consequence of a past action...

It was due to the bet from back at the Walter Park arc! They remembered about it (I kinda forgot about it, honestly, since so many things happened since then).

Grandpa Sullivan is the one to choose the winners and decided it was all of them making them all both the winners and losers of the bet. With this, both the prize and punishments applied - they were treated to an expensive meal but they also have to deal with a ton of homework. Kalego-sensei is pissed he had to pay for everyone’s food but was very happy to tell them that they will be suffering for the rest of the apocalypse.

Iruma worked hard and got through all the homework though.

This Apocalypse Iruma had: gone on vacation with his friends, went on a sleepover at a friend's house, and went on a date... so naturally, this time around he's spending time with family!

He and Grandpa are gonna go buy school supplies. I kinda missed when me and my family did that back in the day. I always found shopping for school supplies fun.

Due to the season's earlier events, Iruma has gotten pretty popular it seems so Grandpa gives him anti-recognition glasses for a disguise. Ain’t the boy cute? I dunno why but with anime characters, glasses actually either add or subtract from how good or bad their appearance is.

Haha this reminds me, there’s this anime called “Castle Town Dandelion” and the MC is a girl who hates standing out and in one episode, her sister gave her glasses that could allegedly do the same thing Iruma’s glasses here could. It doesn’t work like that and everyone just acted as if it does to make her feel better. Akane needed this version lol.

They're headed to Magical Street to go shopping! A new area has been introduced to both us and Iruma.

This is apparently where shops, parks and also teacher's dorms are located. I’m wondering why the teacher’s dorms are here when back in the episodes where Iruma joined the student council, it seems he and the student council members were staying over at school. Why isn’t the dorm for faculty members at school, too then? Weird.

Iruma's Grandpa is pretty popular, too. People crowded around him as soon as they saw him but doesn't recognize Iruma due to the glasses. Makes me wonder why Grandpa didn't wear ones himself lol.

Grandpa Sullivan isn’t just popular as he’s well-liked, too.

First, clothes shopping! Iruma tried on a coat as they need some for the upcoming winter. Grandpa decides these were good and takes an entire rack. Damn they're rich lol. He tells Iruma to just wear a different one everyday.

They're buying accessories next and Opera suggest that Iruma buy a collar for his familiar which is Kalego-sensei lol. Iruma knew it would not end well if he actually did that and declines. Opera is disappointed by this... they really want to mess with Kalego, huh?

I think it’s funny but I also pity Kalego-sensei. Having to deal with his senpai’s antics long after graduating. The nightmare of many former students.

Next they're buying books! God this makes me miss going to book fairs.

Grandpa tells the staff at the desk what books he wanted and each one he lists off automatically flies down next to him (pretty cool). Grandpa explains that Iruma would need a lot of books to learn more spells. They talked about the spell Fractal (which Iruma used to princess carry Ameri last episode) and Grandpa tells him that with enough practice, Iruma could also use it to be able to fly. Grandpa takes this chance to show-off to Iruma by using it to take down a shoplifter. Everyone in the store is amazed but Iruma's praise is the one Grandpa cares about the most.

They continue shopping for stuff. This was funny cause the way Grandpa said the lollipop's name reminded me of how Doraemon introduces the items from his pocket. Also, does this mean that lollipop has no expiration date?

The day ends with the two having a talk (Opera went and got the carriage). Iruma says he had a lot of fun at school which made his Grandpa happy knowing Iruma has gotten used to living here. Grandpa tells him that the new semester would be even more eventful than this one and showed him a poster of what I assume would be the festivals the other fans have been mentioning.

In the middle of their talk, Iruma suddenly asks Grandpa about how to become a Demon King (likely cause he overheard some people wondering aloud why Sullivan, a powerful demon, didn't want to take the job despite being qualified for it).

Grandpa is surprised and speechless for a moment but then becomes happy and says if Iruma is asking cause he wanted to be Demon King then Grandpa will support him. Iruma explains he’s just curious.

Flashback! It seems Grandpa used to work for the former Demon King, Delkiller.

Too bad his face is covered. I’m curious to know what he looked like when he was younger.

Oooh... we finally see him - the infamous Delkiller that's been talked about for a long time. His face isn't completely properly shown for now, I guess but he’s shown to be pretty huge. He seems lazy but he also takes pride in the Demon World he's created. The flashback ends here though.

His hair color reminds me somewhat of Evil Cycle! Iruma’s hair color...

We get a bit of lore info from Grandpa about Demon Kings.

Grandpa explains about the 13 Crowns - representatives of the Demon World who help govern it - and that to become a Demon King, one must possess the trust of every single one since they'd be the one to rule the Demon World.

He also explains the role and power of the Demon King - their word is law and they are the Demon World itself. Demons will do as they commanded. The Demon World is a reflection of whoever ruled it and right now, the Demon World is a fun place because Delkiller-sama was a fun person.

Grandpa explains that with all these in mind, he doesn't know if he'd even get the role someday if he wanted it or if he ever did, if he'd be worthy of it. It’s such a big thing after all.

If he did become the Demon King though, he says he'd do this: make the Demon World "Iruma"-themed lol. Seriously though, he says he'd support Iruma if he'd become the Demon King and would like to see what kind of world Iruma would create.

These statements are very ironic considering who would end up being future Demon King haha.

While Iruma said he didn’t want to become Demon King, he did end up thinking about it. What if he did become the Demon King?

Hmm... for someone who isn’t interested, he looked like he was thinking deeply about it.

They get back home and later that night, Iruma checked the stuff Granpa bought him.

Iruma finally gets a hold of the Demon King Prophecy! We've heard about the prophecy before but Iruma probably hasn't yet until now. After listing the stuff about the future king, there’s a shot of Iruma’s hand with his ring haha. Upon reading this, Iruma thought more about it: What kind of world would it become if he were to become the Demon King?

You’re not the only one wondering Iruma. I’m sure the rest of the fandom is wondering that, too.

The new semester begins! The entire Abnormal class is told that they now have to attain Dalet (4) rank before their second year begins as it's the minimum they'd need to graduate - failure results in them losing the Royal One classroom!

--

Not gonna lie, the shopping part of the episode reminded me of the scenes at the beginning of the firsts Harry Potter movies with them shopping at Diagon Alley. It’s fun and I got to see more of the Demon World. I wonder if they’d show us other places in the Demon World in the next season.

Grandpa happily doting on Iruma made me think that maybe it’d have been better for him if he had gotten to adopt Iruma as a child. Iruma is already a teenager and so their time they could spend together wouldn’t be as long or as often since Iruma had friends and busy with school. On the other hand, Iruma gained a lot of experiences in his crappy life before getting here and it did help him become the person he is. I guess the problem here is that he’s human and he probably ages faster than everyone else. :P

Like I mentioned before, it feels weird we only got 21 episodes this time. I was hoping there’d be another arc before the end of the season. There’s already a season 3 announcement and for next year, I think, so its all good. It might feel like a long time but I thought the same back when season 1 ended and now the finale for season 2 had just aired. Time flies fast.

I just wanna point out that in the last scene at the classroom when they were being told about the rank raising they gotta do, Agares is shown with his eyes visible. I’m glad they never put that mask back to cover his face cause he looks good haha. Glad they kept this detail.

Well, thank you for reading this and the other posts, too if you did. I guess we’d have to wait for season 3 now. I’m glad this show is popular enough to gain another season so fast. :)

[war--lords]

“I have a confession to make.”

(Since there’s no sign that anybody has checked out the surprise yet, well, surprise...?)

(For the sake of story, I’ve placed a piano inside Mozart’s room instead of having it be in a separate room lol also I know that Ikevamp is set in the 19th century, but is there mention of any year specifically? Please let me know!)

Upon hearing your words, your lover, who already looks downright icy to people who aren’t well-acquainted with him, locks eyes with you in such a way that inexplicably lowers the temperature of his bedroom just enough for your slightly clammy hands to notice. What you don’t know, however, is the jump in his regular vampiric heartbeat—something he doesn’t know his body is capable of doing anymore, at least until his life was so instantaneously intruded by your time-travelling presence. Your words, however, have sown the seeds of distress in the soil of insecurities he knows all too well. 

Insecurities that you also possess, and that you make apparent, because now you stumble with your words as he watches silently.

“I—I have considered the possibility of not sharing this... information with you for quite some time, and the idea doesn’t sit right with me, because I know you always prefer honesty above all things, and, good lord, now that I’m actually going to say it, I’m starting to doubt if I actually should even though I want to—”

Mozart’s hand reaches to cup your face, the other delicately lacing his fingers with yours. He draws you closer next to him on the side of the bed until your thighs touch. There’s authority in his voice, per usual, but you know enough to hear that gentle coax when he tells you:

“You can tell me anything.”

Even if it hurts me, you hear him continue, though unspoken. And although you’ve never doubted it, you’ve come to know and experience that Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is a man of his word. The relationship you have with him didn’t come together as easy as the meet-cute in movies make it, and even now when you’re officially together, it’s still going to be hard, which is why your trust for each other has been tested through trial and tribulation. You can tell him anything.

And seeing him so serious like this, sitting next to you in his bedroom late at night with your nightclothes on, you feel your ‘confession’ is not that big of a deal anymore, but it’s too late to back out. You don’t want to be one of those people who makes a big fuss only to say “nothing, forget it”.

“Okay,” you breathe out. “I hope you’re not gonna be... mad at me or anything.”

At this point he’s absolutely panicking, the fingers laced with yours gripping you slightly tighter than before. Why do you sound so grave? Did he do something wrong? Was it at breakfast this morning, was he much too curt? He’s never been good at displaying his emotions for you in public. Has he been neglecting you far too long? Yes, his work of passion looks like a never-ending stream, but surely you understand it’s because you’ve inspired him so? 

“Never, liebling. You know I love you.”

You give him a kiss—an easy feat, given your proximity to each other—but let go before he can bring you any closer. He hears you blurt out a string of words so fast he’s not sure he understands the language you’re speaking anymore.

“Before I came to this mansion, you weren’t my favorite composer.”

Ah.

Just like that, it’s as if the metaphorical knots in his shoulders loosen and fall apart, letting him breath comfortably as he did before this conversation started. Simultaneously, however, a new, much smaller knot appears at the back of his mind. He knew of your musical endeavors in your life while you were in your original timeline, and although he tries to be mature about it, he can’t help but feel slightly jealous. Who could it be? he wonders. If he finds out that it’s Paganini—that wretched womanizing devil—he honestly won’t know what to say. Or is it Lizst? Mozart inwardly scoffs—the devil’s friend can’t be better than the devil himself. But he knows you’re not a creature of superficiality, and both men are in fact extraordinarily reputable musicians, he admits, so it’d be no surprise...

You watch his lilac gaze like it allowed you to peek into his mind. If he’s mad, he’s doing a good job showing zero signs of it, but it’s obvious that he wants to know.

“He’s not... around yet, I think.”

“I see.”

“But he’s going to be around here! In Paris!” Mozart’s lips purse into a small smile at your display of enthusiasm, despite it being over another person. “His style is quite jarringly different compared to yours—and to many of his peers, too, actually. It’s beautiful, though.”

“Sounds interesting.”

“His name is Claude Debussy.”

“You know now you have no other choice but to play for me, right?”

You let out a chuckle as your lover wraps his arm around your waist, gently bringing you up with him as he stands to move towards the piano nearby, pulling out the bench for you to sit on. He takes a seat next to you, peering into your face from beside you as you acquaint yourself with the ebony-ivory keys, humming to yourself with indecision.

“Ah, here’s one of my favorites.”

You play the opening four bars to ‘The Girl with the Flaxen Hair’—a song that, for the complex key signature it’s in, bears a simple thematic melody. You watch as his eyes sparkle after your phrase. 

“La fille aux cheveux de lin,” you supply the title in French. “He puts his titles at the end of his songs to avoid pre-judgment from whoever is playing.”

“Very unorthodox of him.”

“One of his greatest works still resonates in my current time,” you continue whilst nodding at your boyfriend, “I can play the whole of that one for you, if you’d like...?”

At your sheepish expression, he smiles openly, leaning down to press a comforting kiss. First on your cheek, lingering on your skin oh-so-lightly before moving to the crook of your neck—a place he’s become all too familiar with, at which he press his lips with hidden passion. The amount of vulnerability you’re willing to expose yourself to—a student offering to play for the acclaimed prodigy—is something he appreciates almost as much as your presence in his life, for it’s rare and precious. Speaking of precious, the blush dusting your cheeks makes you look rather lovely, and he can’t help but lean his head so that yours is tucked under his chin, but lightly, lest he wishes to disturb your performance.

You take a deep breath, and begin playing.

Mozart finds himself being taken on a journey that sounds a lot like walking along the Seine in the quiet of the night. A night much like this night, an hour like this hour, at a part of the city with families in their houses asleep, hearing nothing, not even the river. Only the pavement against your heels. Only the crisp air of approaching autumn. And it might be slightly cloudy, but they travel swiftly across the cobalt sky, so you can look at the stars twinkling above. 

Streetlights. Cobblestone. Water. The moon.

The song ends on a soft, high note, reminding him of the gentle gradient of the skies as dawn comes closer, while the mistress of the night and her children begin to fade away, content with their inevitable return.

He looks at you, and you’ve never been more beautiful. You smile at him.

“Clair de Lune.”

Moonlight. The title of the song always comes last.

Mozart has a hand at the back of your head as he leans down for a kiss, deeper than the one you gave him before, and though he intend to persuade you to come closer, the encouragement isn’t needed. You’re already melting into him like you truly belong, fingers slowly combing through his silver-white locks, and he feels you smile against his lips. He grows more passionate by the moment, the frosty exterior long forgotten only when in your presence as he presses your bodies together with the hand around your waist. You part with a reluctant sigh and a dire need of air to replace that which has been knocked out of your lungs by his kiss. He presses his forehead against you, letting the two of you share each other’s breath.

“You should play for me more often, liebling. I love it when you do.”

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

“Now that I’ve gotten to know you, I appreciate your work a lot more, though!”

“I see.”

“Your pieces are diverse! You wrote a super grave Requiem, but on the other hand many of your other pieces are so playful—”

“Thank you.”

“—and I don’t care what they say about K545, I enjoy playing it!”

“...”

“...”

“(Name)?”

“...Yeah?”

“What do they say about K545?”

“Um—”

“Not that I care, of course, that would be moronic—”

“Y-Yeah, exactly what I said!”

“—but what do they say about K545?” 

[reachfolk]

HOWDY! We’re mutuals now! Anyway!!

Firien is my main OC, my Bosmer Last Dragonborn! She’s very angry as a result of trauma but it slowly working on healing! She’s snarky and sassy and has a lot of spark in her. She enjoys sparring, botany, and lighting things on fire. She’s 26 years old currently and she left Valenwood at 15 (if I remember correctly) and slowly made her way through Tamriel to Skyrim. She’s also a Companion and has a white raven friend named Croak! Oh and she hates being the LDB. Not sure if this is relevant?? (or very obvious by my blog lol) but I paired her with Farkas!

Tahir is Firien’s BFF, and a Redguard born into nobility. He found the noble life suffocating and left Hammerfell behind to pursue adventure and met Firien in Helgen, and they’ve been together ever since! He’s more invested in the Companions than she is, and eventually becomes Harbinger. He’s cocky and funny and pretty easy-going about most things. He’s also very promiscuous, confident, and vain. He enjoys the finer things in life and just likes to have a dang good time. He eventually ends up with Vilkas because the best friends dating brothers trope is hilarious to me.

And now I wanna hear about yours!

💛 from @korvanjund

ask game: send me an ask telling me about one of your oc's and i'll tell you how i think they'd get along with my own oc's

aaa hi friend !! ok first off i absolutely adore both ur oc's and i think my main girl alexandria would too ❤ (which is not surprising lol, she's a very agreeable person).

when it comes to firien, i think alexi would be able to handle her really well. even though alexi is only a year older, she would see a little bit of her younger sister in firien (due to their hotheaded nature), and she really likes people like that!! she'd see firien as interesting and fun, and i think her cheery demeanor would balance out firien's more rough (?) vibe, if that makes sense lol. alexi is usually in a playful mood and doesn't take snarky or sarcastic comments very seriously, so she'd just hit back with more banter and keep the tone light and breezy. whether firien finds that irritating as shit or endearing is up to you, it makes no difference to alexi who firmly made up her mind that she likes firien lmao. and if, for whatever reason, firien is having a particularly rough day, alexi knows when to put down her goofy attitude and go all Big Sister mode. she's a good listener and good with conflict mediation in general (thanks to ✨ family trauma ✨) so she'd offer whatever comfort she can.

also, the two def. share some interests so that's a plus! alexi always loves a friendly duel, and as an alchemist, she'd also be interested in botany. she's never been to valenwood, so she'd be SO interested in learning about the flora there. she's a chaotic little shit, so she definitely also has a pyromaniac streak in her lol. you have good ol' sybille stentor to thank for lighting that spark, and alexi would share that dumb story to try to get a laugh out of firien (hell, she'd make it her personal mission to get firien to crack up as many times as possible. she has an endless supply of dumb stories and awful puns)

as for tahir, i feel like he and alexi would get along right away thanks to their somewhat similar backstories! alexi isn't a noble per se and her mixed ancestry kind of muddled how people viewed her, but she is a silver-blood and that's about as close as you can get, ykwim? i think they definitely have an appreciation for the freedom that living on the road gives because they've experienced how suffocating and draining life as a noble can be.

they also have pretty similar personalities, so i think they'd mesh well! alexi is a super playful and loves to goof off, and back when she was living as a noblewoman it was seen as unseemly and inappropriate, but i feel like tahir would enjoy it or even play along. i can definitely see the two of them swapping funny stories and playful banter late into the night over a mug of ale and absolutely cracking up together.

i will say, alexi is also a bit of a prankster, and i feel like poor tahir would be the victim at times, especially after he becomes harbinger. my girlie just finds it too tempting to fuck with authority figures 💀 she would genuinely like him so she'd never go too far, and she'd absolutely apologize if she ever crosses a line. but, yk, she definitely at one point mixed in netch jelly with his fine wine and laughed her ass off when his romantic date night with vilkas ended with both of them toppling over in paralysis for a hot sec. for what it's worth, she's a good sport if he ever decides to mess with her in return. hell, she'd take it as a compliment lol

[korkro]

Escape!

The start of the apocalypse. The start of his life in the wasteland

(This character has spiraled into something far beyond my original idea for him lol)

~~~~~

Their mutterings are of no real interest to him. He listens because he has nothing else to do but wait. It’ll be at least a few more Earth hours before they leave for the surface. His mission--his sole purpose for creation--will begin. Study the Earthlings, mark decent ones as test subjects, report back to his creators periodically, and keep his true nature hidden.

He’s a wandering artist--not a robot constructed on a spaceship to spy on humans. They say the artist cover will give him some room to be...eclectic. He’s programmed to speak five different languages, proficient with multiple weapons and a paintbrush, can touch and taste and feel. They tell him not to submerge himself in water for too long though, just a few minutes to wash any Earth debris off if necessary. His name will be James Dustice.

He hates it.

Suddenly there’s shouting and scrambling and it’s enough to pique his interest. ‘The bombs, the bombs!’ they keep screeching. He knows the situation on Earth is getting progressively worse but the Zetans hadn’t predicted nuclear war for a few more years still

He stands to find the nearest window but someone yells at him to stay. His lips curl into a snarl but he obeys. He closes his eyes, weird shades of blue and orange and red that don’t look like any human eyes he’s seen before. They remind him more of a laser on one of those assaultron robots. Maybe that’s just one more way they’re similar.

Eventually, a backpack gets thrown at him and disturbs his rest. A finger pokes at his head too and he wishes they wouldn’t fucking touch him.

‘We’re leaving. Now.’

He picks up the bag of Earth supplies and follows to the shuttle. As he walks through these ugly corridors, light glints against the bracelet on his wrist. It’s plain and unassuming but the reality of it is much more menacing to him. It’s his tracking device.

He hates the Zetans.

Three accompany him onto the shuttle, hurriedly shoving him inside. They’re talking excitedly, taking guesses at how the landscape will change and how many people died. This isn’t the first planet-wide annihilation they’ve witnessed. Some were even orchestrated by their own three-pronged hand.

There’s only three seats and the Zetans sit. One points to a bar he can hang onto. No one notices the way his fingers clench around it. The backpack straps dig into his shoulders but the heaviness doesn’t bother him. The lightweight bracelet agitates him more.

The coordinates they’re traveling to are input into a computer and the confined ship handles the rest. They explain that his mission is largely the same but now to keep an eye out for any potential mutations within the population. What’s the point if most of the population is probably dead?

There are no windows but a screen projects the estimated time of arrival and distance from the ground once they enter the atmosphere. His gaze stays on it until a loud siren goes off.

‘Something’s found us!’

‘How’d it get past the sensors?’

He’s not too sure what it is, something with the ‘government.’ Former government? One of them types in new coordinates for an emergency landing. The ship jerks in a new direction and he stumbles into a Zetan. It calls him something close to clumsy idiot and shoves him away. He lands on the ground and just sits there. His eyes stay on the screen. They’re descending rapidly, trying to outmaneuver the other aircraft. Lower, lower...

‘Up!’ one orders, clicking its fingers at him.

‘Did we lose them?’

‘Affirm-’ But an alarm goes off and this time, their sensors do work.

One takes its shock baton out, another their gun. They might have to fight when they land.

‘Don’t I get a weapon?’ he asks. He recognizes his own voice but feels so disconnected from it.

They laugh at him. It’s a rare sound aboard the ship but it is always condescending. He’s trained in unarmed combat but this isn’t the Zetans’ first skirmish with the government. The humans have managed to steal some of their technology in the past, they’re going to have much more than fists to fight with.

‘We lost them for now.’ They ignore him completely.

They’re very close to the surface now, less than a minute now. He doesn’t look directly, but in his peripheral vision he sees the shock baton hanging at the third Zetan’s side. He’s been on the receiving end of them--when he’s not moving fast enough for them, when he answers a question wrong, when his combat training isn’t good enough. They hurt, even when it’s just a prod to activate the electricity. That’s why he’s going to enjoy this.

He lunges forward and in one swift movement, yanks the baton off its belt and spins around to connect it with another one’s skull as hard as he can. The moment of surprise allows him to grab the other’s arm before it can shoot and break it. He shoves it at the other Zetan and they tumble onto the computer. For all their technology, their bodies are still pathetically fragile. Something presses and the shuttle door opens. As they scramble up, he grabs his backpack and leaps out with them shouting behind him.

The impact jolts through his robotic limbs but it’s nothing he can’t handle. Then he runs. He’s only a few seconds ahead of them and whatever pinged their radar might be lurking too. Lots of trees provide cover and the sun’s position tells him he’s moving east and that mountains block his path west. That’s all he knows about his location. The air’s hazy but he doesn’t think a bomb landed nearby. But it’s eerily quiet, shouldn’t animals live here? Shouldn’t there be sirens and screams from people injured in the blasts? He’s not sure if being far from people is a good thing or not. But it doesn’t matter right now. He just runs.

He’s not a tool. He’s not a prisoner. He’s not James.

He will never willingly return to the ship. He’d rather die, whatever that means for something like him. He jumps into a ditch and crouches behind some boulders. Sunlight reflects off the bracelet that’s taunted him since they welded it around his wrist. It seems he’s lost the Zetans for now but if he wants any true escape, he needs to destroy this thing. It’s seamless and made of some type of compound they mock the Earthlings for not possessing. There’s no way to simply take it off.

His fingers tighten around the baton still in his hand. Before he can second guess it, he lifts the weapon and smacks it against the bracelet. Shock waves immediately course through his body and his vision erupts into a sea of bright colors.

When his vision settles and he feels coherent again, he’s staring up at the canopy of trees and his body rests against the dirt of this dried up creek. Shakily, he raises his arm towards the sky. The bracelet crumbles into pieces and falls from his wrist.

He smiles.

But he still needs to get away. Pain hums through his body to tell him something’s wrong, as if he wasn’t the one responsible for shocking his system. But he ignores it and continues running east. One of the many advantages of not being human is that he needs much more infrequent breaks.

The first noise he finally hears as he runs is from an aircraft. His body tenses before he looks up but it’s a black vertibird that continues on its way. He sees more of them in various directions and distances. They must be the remnants of survivors. More government aircrafts trying to escape to safety? Is there any safety left in a world like this?

The trees eventually start to thin and he misses the cover of the forest. But he can’t linger there, not right now. His eyes pick up a highway in the distance full of cars and he doesn’t want to draw attention to himself yet. But as he carefully moves closer, he realizes quite a few of them are empty and unmoving. Still, he doesn’t want to follow it directly. He’s not sure whether to go north or south. He picks north, there’s no time for hesitation. His gaze returns to the road and a sign hangs over it, looking ready to fall at any moment. With his enhanced vision, it easily tells him that this path will take him to somewhere called Reno. That’s as good a place as any, maybe he’ll find some real transportation.

But until he gets there, he just runs.

[you-are-worth-the-wait]

man...typical get together when it comes to my auntie bernadette.  ordered waaay too much food.  8 adults total.  there was a full tray of crispy pata, shanghai lumpia, kare kare, sinigang, a desert dish, a tray of some kind of fish, pancit, chicken adobo, and maybe 1 or 2 extra things.  i know...overkill.  i didn’t even put a dent into it after coming from the gym and being hungry.  the backyard is amazing.  it’s so kewl.  it would be awesome if we just used it as a getaway for the weekend.  go and swim in the pool, relax in the jacuzzi, maybe utilize the place to make food and then just spend the day relaxing together and having our own outdoor picnic literally in “our own backyard” as yo ucan see is pretty awesome.  they leave this thursday and i’m kind of shame to ask for any access right away.  but he has reservations of turning over the keys to the people who are literally begging and letting it be known they want to “house sit” just for the fact that they may be able to utilize the place.  me, i’d just use it for the backyard.  i wouldn’t even have to do in the house.  my uncle is okay with that.  so i told him about maybe utilizing a lock box so technically he wouldn’t have to turn the keys over.  yeah, they’d still have access to the house anytime they wanted but at least i wouldn’t have to go through them just to go into the backyard.  we’ll see.  they plan on coming back again next month so i’ll prolly inquire more about it then.  

nope...no hair cut...it’s growing in wild...and it’s pretty crazy long...and awesome...*lol*  i mean, my dad hates it, my mom is indifferent or maybe likes it cuz my dad hates it :P  me, it’s getting long but i’m kinda okay with it.  i think i get looks and i can’t tell if it’s the good or bad kind.  hard to tell.  not like i ask the girls in the gym what they may be talking about when they keep looking over at me.  maybe it’s because i run in the serenity room?  but no one ever uses the treadmills in there.  and i run and do my own thing, don’t bother anyone, it’s prolly the “safest” place there since it’s tucked in the corner and not many people utilize the machines around me.  i figure as long as i don’t do anything stupid or harass anyone, i should be okay, right?...*ws*  i am curious as to how it will be when i start palying basketball again though.  

i don’t think i bothered to ask about smoking or drinking preference and i don’t think i bothered to look at that.  i just talk with whoever chooses to talk to me so the smoking thing did catch me off guard.  

did i sleep with her?  haha...what do you think? :P  i spent a total of maybe 2 hours or so with her.  i met her at 99 ranch because she needed to pick up kimchee supplies and other asian food items for her daughters.  we went to the boba place where she tried avocado and she was surprised that avocado could even be made into something sweet like that.  all she knew about was guacamole as a dip with chips.  we talked in the car and we never left the parking lot of 99 ranch and i only hung out with her for a couple of hours or so because i was supposed to do something with family and the way she scheduled coming into town, i had to kind of fit her in to my schedule since i had already made plans.  she knew that i wouldn’t be able to dedicate much of my day to her but she decided to come down anyway.  i felt really bad that i couldn’t spend more time with her.  i wonder where your curiousity and question stems from.  i only wonder because i wonder if it reflects the same reason why i may wonder that some question about you.  

yeah...it is unfortunate that my encounter didn’t necessarily have me wanting more or sparking that interest in me that i would have with others.  i was thinking about you trying to motivate me to try some more/again in reaching out to her and seeing if maybe what i’m feeling is incorrecet and maybe that i was passing judgement on her and my view on her too early or whatnot.  so then i started to think about how many “regrets” have i had in where maybe my intuition of “losing interest” may have been wrong and if i had nay regrets in not pursuing anything further with anyone.  i can’t count you and Taylor aas regrets because what happened was out of my control.  i didn’t end up with the ending that i wanted with her not because i made a mistake and regret it.  it was out of my control.  much as it is with you.  i may or may not have a chance with you.  but still, it’s not through any fault of my own or letting you go ir making the decision to not pursue you.  thinking about every person that i “lost interest” in and decided not to pursue, i actually can sleep at night and not necessarily lose a lot of sleep wondering “what if”.  sure i think about what could have been, but it’s not something i dwell about that keeps me up at night.  every girl i’ve “lost interest in”, i’m okay with having not pursued them any further and whatever happens in their lives, i’m not going to kick myself in saying i made the wrong decision.  there are maybe 3 girls i can say that i maybe i wish i had pursued but for one reason or another, i contiously chose not to.  and it’s not because i lost interest in them.  it’s because i never even got or took the chance with them.  for those reasons, i can look back and say that i regret not trying more/harder.  so whatever may happen with this girl in the near future or in the long run, a part of me is already okay with having let go and not necessarily feeling i need to pursue her any more in order to convince myself that i like/want/need her in my life.  if she still wants to pursue me, that’s a decision that i can’t/don’t want to make for her.  

yeah...that “excited feeling”...i totally feel that with you.  i still do.  we mainly communicated through snap so everytime my snap alerts me for a message from someone, for the slightest moment, my heart will beat a little faster, and i wonder if it could be you.  i try to keep myself grounded and try not to get too carried away but then there are days where i don’t chat with anyone and then my snap notification will sound and i get that excited/scared/random/anxious feeling again that it may be you.  and then i see who it’s from and i slowly have to calm back down and orient myself to reality.  truth...i sometimes can or can’t tell when you are calling from work.  there are a couple numbers i feel like i can recognize and some i don’t so i answer not knowing if i’m answering because it’s you who is calling.  sometimes i’m wondering and waiting for it to be an automated call or a tellemarketer.  i wonder what you would think of me if you sa my reaction every time i see a call coming in from a number i think may be you.  or like i said, when snap sends me a notification.  i can’t believe even after all this time, i still react that way.  but yeah...i don’t get that feeling of excitement from her the way i get in regards to you.  it’s nice to know that you understand what i’m saying since you feel that way about me and my messages/interactions with you.  i always told you that you were the highlight of my days.  my interactions with you, even though extremely limited, it makes me feel like i still have that chance with you.  it may be a fool’s logic/reasoning but it kind of makes me believe i still have a chance.  so trust me, there are girls i talk to who still have that chance of keeping my interest.  this girl does say a lot of great and amazing things and she is a very kewl person.  but as far as captivating me, keeping me interested, and wanting more...i’m not feeling it.  like you said, it’s not to say that i may not change my mind or she may be able to change my mind.  but as of right now, if we were to remain just friends, i would be able to move on with my life and say that i gave her a fair chance and i kept an open mind about things.  in the end, there was something/s that i couldn’t get past, and for that, it’s my lose, not hers, but i’m at peace with my choice.

[another-sonic-blog]

When Disaster Strikes

Part 1 : Before Disaster Strikes

Link: https://another-sonic-blog.tumblr.com/post/617890070494642176/before-disaster-strikes

Situated between Sonic IDW Issue #11 & 12

Synopsis: After the Battle with Metal Sonic, Shadow went back home just to find out that his Chaos Emerald was stolen. This gets Amy's interest and she decides to help the black hedgehog. Will Amy and Shadow's friendship develop?

ShadAmy (Platonic, but can be romantic if you want lol)

6k

When Disaster Strikes

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The Restoration Headquarters was everything but a quiet place. Members of the organization went in and out of the building sometimes running and others screaming. It was a place were world heroes came to meet whenever the world was in danger. The rookies always hoped to see a sneak peek of their idols, maybe Sonic, Tails, or Knuckles. Although it was still unbelievable to them that Amy Rose was with them most of the time.

After Metal Sonic was defeated, Amy didn't doubt on going back to work.  

It was a bit stressful but the need to help others was greater than the need to rest.

The day was lively just like any other summer day and the members were running around doing errands, carrying papers and boxes. Some of them even had to do solo missions and help a village in need. Amy was up and down giving, planning, and executing orders.

Our pink hedgehog was looking down at a map, trying to plant out their next move. The Restoration wanted to provide food supplies to a nearby village but it was getting complicated due that this village was remotely placed on a mountain. Thus, making it complicated to transport supplies.

"Ms.Rose, you have a call coming from Floral Forest Village,"

Suddenly, Lanolin stood in front of Amy holding a phone on her right hand as her left hand covered the speaker. Amy's mind immediately went to Cream and Vanilla as she knew that they lived there. She didn't even think about it for a second, she extended her hand as Lanolin handed her the phone. Praying to Chaos that it wasn't bad news, the pink hedgehog answered the call.

.

.

.

Floral Forest Village was known for its beautiful and extensive categories of flowers and wild animals. Scientists from all over Mobius came to this village to experience the natural scenery of the place. With only 1500 Mobians living in the village, it was a perfect place to live for someone who wanted a quiet life.

Until now.

Amy rarely went outside the Restoration because she always thought she was needed there to keep order. However, she allowed herself to go out once in a while on a special occasion. Today, it was one of those occasions because Shadow the Hedgehog decided to keep everyone locked in the village's town hall.

The pink one wanted to give the black one the benefit of the doubt. Last time she saw Shadow they ended in good terms. He even said that he would visit her at the Restoration but he never did. It must have been because he was busy doing his own thing, besides she saw him when she called everyone due to Metal Sonic's attack. She was busy and couldn't say her greetings, Amy wanted to talk to him after the battle with Metal Sonic but to her no-surprise, he left without saying goodbyes.

It was strange now, she didn't know in what terms they were but the only thing she was sure about is that she needed to talk to Shadow before jumping to any conclusions.

When she arrived she wasn't surprised to see no one in Floral Forest Village. She ran as fast as she could to the town-hall. The biggest building in the village.

It was a three-story building, navy blue painted on the outside walls and windows decorated the outside. Amy tried to open the double door entrance but it was locked. Not like it surprised her and it wasn't like this was a difficulty. She snapped her fingers and her hammer appeared in her hands, it took only one hit for the doors to smack open.

Finally, she was in. Her eyes landed on the scared villagers who were all quietly sitting down on the floor, in rows. They were terrified but hope-filled their eyes as soon as she walked in. It didn't take long for the guy who was behind this to appear. Using Chaos Control, Shadow appeared at the back of Amy. She had to admit that she would be just as scared as the villagers if it wasn't because she actually knew Shadow ... to an extent.

"In the name of Chaos, what do you think you are doing?"

Her eyes encountered vermillion ones, the ones she liked deeply and even admired. She wasn't backing down, opposite from it actually. The pink one got closer to Shadow, her chest almost touching his but the black one didn't even flinch at the act.

"I need to keep these people here,"

After a few seconds of intense stares, Shadow decided to speak in the most serious tone she has ever heard so far. "Someone in here stole the Chaos Emerald I was hiding and no one is getting out until they return it."

There were a lot of questions that popped in Amy's head. However, logic was triumphant on her mind. Amy backed away slowly and looked at the villagers who were intensely looking at their brawl.

"You can't keep them here, whatever the reason is ..." Amy looked back at Shadow who stood quiet. She knew that his stubbornness was one of his main traits and it was going to be hard to go against that. "The only thing you are accomplishing is to scare them ... They won't tell you anything unless they trust you."

"I need that Chaos Emerald, it can be dangerous if it falls in the wrong hands," Shadow replied.

"I understand that, but you are not thinking logically ... Do you really think you can keep 1500 people in here? What if they start to get hungry? How are you going to feed them all?"

If Shadow was being honest, he didn't think about that. Since eating wasn't a necessity for him. He had forgotten that food was a necessary element for the survival of the regular Mobian. Shadow let out a sigh as he placed a hand to his forehead, showing his frustration. After a few seconds passed without a word being shared, Amy spoke once again.

"I'll help you find the person who stole your Chaos Emerald ... I promise, just let them out of here, please."

As if Amy had done a spell on him. Shadow only nodded and Amy gave him a reassuring smile.

"Alright, everyone out!"

As soon as the words left her mouth, the Villagers stood up from the floor and began to exist the town-hall. There was not a single one who didn't thank Amy on their way out. As well that every single one of them gave Shadow either a judging or scared look. He felt the stares of them pierce through him. Even when he tried to not think about it, a part of him did.

Amy just couldn't stop the feeling in her heart that told her that she needed to protect the black hedgehog. There was just something about him ... his eyes, his stance ... He just looks as lost as the moment she first met him.

"Miss Amy!"

A young voice, which the pink one recognized, happily made her way through to meet her pink friend. It was Cream and Vanilla, her mother, follow closely.

"Thank you for coming, Miss Amy!" without thinking the soft orange rabbit hugged her and although the action took Amy by surprise, it didn't take her long to return the gesture.

"It's nothing, taking you for calling me," Amy said as she bent down to look at Cream at an eye level.

"Now, that you are here, would you like to stay for dinner?" Cream asked as she twirled around happy to see her friend. She got closer to Amy and in her ear, she whispered, "You can even bring Mr. Shadow."

Amy let out a giggle as she nodded and patted her head. The pink one stood up and looked at Cream's beautiful mother. "I hope I am not intruding."

"Of course not, we love to have you over," Vanilla said.

"I'll be there, I just need to finish somethings first with Shads right here,"

At the mention of his nickname, Shadow felt a shiver run down his spine. He had been watching the pink one interact with the rabbit from afar. Shadow did not take any interest until Amy mentioned him.

"We will wait for you then,"

With that said, Vanilla and Cream exit the building. Happy that their day could continue without any more interruptions.

"Thank you for letting us out Mr. Shadow!"

The black hedgehog snapped his head at the orange rabbit. He watched her smile and wave her small hand at him. No show of remorse nor hatred on her face. Shadow looked away immediately, not knowing how to react as Cream and Vanilla disappeared out of sight.

Teasingly, Amy approached him, a smile decorated her face. There were many sides of Shadow that Amy found amusing. He was a bit awkward and didn't know how to properly communicate with others. Sometimes his actions may be seen as aggressions, but in all honesty, it was just his way to show that he cared.

"I am surprised you managed to get every single villager in here," Amy said. "Even the mayor and village officials."

"It was easy, they just look at me and they run away," Shadow said. He rolled his eyes still a bit annoyed that he let Amy get through him. "It would have been easier if I had questioned everyone ... Someone must know what happened to my Chaos Emerald."

"No, you were going to scare them and they wouldn't tell you anything."

The red stripped hedgehog rolled his eyes. Mentally, he knew that she was right but was he ever going to admit that out loud? No.

A few seconds passed where there was just silence. An awkward atmosphere overtook the place and it was something that Amy couldn't stand.

"Why are you here?" Shadow asked.

"Cream called me-"

"I mean, why didn't you send Rouge, Omega, or someone else? Why did you personally come?"

Amy wasn't expecting that question. How was she possed to respond? A part of her was telling her that Shadow was expecting a good answer. Like a deep, emotional answer.

"I didn't think it was necessary."

Damn it, Amy, that's not a good answer.

"I mean, they were busy ... Everyone is and I just didn't want to bother them ... So, that's why I came."

Mentally cursing, Amy found herself to be struggling to find the correct words. There was something about Shadow that just made her nervous. Maybe it was his vermillion eyes that pierced to every part of her soul. Amy should have been used to Shadow's intense stare by now but for some reason, the rosette one felt that she was trapped.

"Then leave now, I'll find the Chaos Emerald by myself-"

"Yeah, that's not going to happen, I'll help you."

Finally, Amy felt herself go back to normal. Her preppy and happy go lucky personality shone the moment she felt Shadow's eyes soften on her. She began to walk towards the exit, ready to start an adventure with the black hedgehog.

Shadow sighed in annoyance, it wasn't like he didn't appreciate the help of the pink one. However, he always worked better alone ... or so he thought. "No, you will just make it worse, I don't need your help."

"Are you sure about that?"

Amy looked back at the black hedgehog and it was this time that Shadow was lost at words. The sunlight coming from the outside and inside the door landed on Amy. Her entire body was outlined with a golden aura, a few string of her quills were placed all over her head creating a small halo above her. A little bit of the sunlight entered on her pupils, making her green eyes twinkle and Shadow's heart skipped a beat. He realized that the green Chaos Emerald that was stolen from him would never compare to Amy's eyes.

Shadow looked away, trying to forget the unusual, strange thoughts on his mind. He had never seen Amy in that light, nor any other female. The feeling was strange to him and he definitely didn't like it. He tried to erase Amy's picture on his mind and he did, finally getting back to his senses. Mustering the strength to look at the pink hedgehog again, the black one just knew that there was no way to escape from Amy Rose. Just like she convinced him to stay for dinner that day at the village. Even made him eat that soup she made and talk on the rooftop of the village's town-hall ... He just couldn't say no to her.

"Just don't get in my way."

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.

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A small wooden cabin was placed in the middle of the forest where only if you look hard enough, you could find it.

It didn't take long for the pink one to realize that the cabin must be Shadow's home. After all, someone like Shadow would like to live in a place like this. It was quiet, beautiful, and very peaceful. It had a certain level of convenience as well because a few meters away, Floral Forest Village was at his disposition. For someone like Amy, it would have hard to find his place but she was sure that for someone like Shadow it was a piece of cake not getting lost in the vast forest.

"After the battle with Metal Sonic, I came back here," Shadow said. The rosette hedgehog was surprised that Shadow was even starting a conversation. She had thought that she was going to have to squeeze the answers out of him.

"The Chaos Emerald was hidden on a cube locker that only I can open ... It wasn't there when I checked."

"Any clues?" Amy asked as she looked at the wooden cabin in front of her. She had many questions going around her head. The first one was whether Shadow built the cabin himself or not. It looked very cozy and a part of her smile internally when an image of Shadow drinking hot cholate during a cold day popped in her mind. This was his home and she felt honored to an extent to be in such an intimate place fo him.

"Only one thing ... A small pair of glasses" said Shadow. "Everything else is clean ... There was no sign of struggle to get in nor to get out."

"Like teleportation."

"Exactly, so this person can either use a Chaos Emerald's power or something of those likes."

Shadow watched the pink one inspect his house, she walked around it. Her eyes never leaving the structure of it. A certain amusement was placed on her face and to an extent he understood her. After all, it wasn't every day he brought people over to see his house ... Not even Rouge nor Omega had come in.

"I know what to do ..." Amy said, she turned around and gave him one of her classic smiles. "We are going to camp tonight!"

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.

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There were many things about Amy Rose that intrigued Shadow the Hedgehog. However, it wasn't just her ... It was him as well. He reacted differently to her. At first, he thought that it was the fact that she was a female that he had a soft side for that. Nevertheless, he never treated Rouge like this. It may be the fact that Rouge was like an authority figure and the urge to defy her was strong. He still listed to her and admired her, but that sense of not listening to his 'elder sister' was there.

So, what was about Amy Rose that made Shadow, the Ultimate Life Form, bend the knee in such ways?

He didn't know what it was ... but he couldn't do anything about it at this point.

"Tell me why are we doing this again?"

It was dark already and the only thing illuminating the place was a bonfire that they had done earlier. From time to time the sound of crickets and nocturnal birds could be heard but both hedgehogs were comfortable about it.

"Whoever stole the Chaos Emerald was very careful about everything. No clues, no signs of struggle, not a single mistake was made ... but the small round glasses they forgot," Amy was sitting next to Shadow, not too close nor too far. They were nearby Shadow's house. The two hedgehogs were careful about not making too much noise nor the flame of the bonfire too big. The vast density of the trees around them made them almost invisible to the normal eye. Not only that but thanks to Shadow's good hearing abilities, he was able to tell if anyone approached his house.

"This person is very meticulous, obsessive even ... They will come back for the glasses and we will be here when they do."

Maybe this was why Shadow couldn't say no to the rosette hedgehog. She wasn't only taking time out of her busy schedule to help him but she genuinely seemed intrigued and concerned about the matter at hand. It was on Amy's nature to help anyone in need, out of the kindness of her heart. Maybe that was why Shadow is so attracted to her and complied with her requests and accepted her ideas even when they seemed a bit radical.

And she was trying her best to help him out.

"And that's why you should help them out! Helping them is a good thing!"

A strong pain came revolting through Shadow's head. Again, it was that sweet voice he wanted to remember but it pained him whenever he tried. He placed both of his hands on his forehead as if that would help with the immense pain he was feeling at the moment. Different images began to cross his mind ... The ARK, Sonic, Eggman, Rouge-

"Shadow are you alright?"

Amy

Shadow's head stopped hurting the moment his vermillion eyes met Amy's emerald ones. There was such concern on her face that Shadow even thought about apologizing for making her feel like that. However, the thought went away as soon as he realized that Amy was too close to him for his comfort. He looked away trying to hide the mixed feelings he was having. Shadow couldn't describe the feeling but he didn't like it ... but he didn't hate it either.

A few more seconds passed where Shadow mustered the strength to ask the question that has been floating around in his head.

"Rose ... Were you at the ARK?"

It was Amy's moment to be confused. More than that, Amy was panicking because she had sworn she had never talked to Shadow about it. About her making Shadow remember his promise to Maria. About her being the one to witness him cry and being vulnerable. About how she was one of the reasons he saved the world that day.

It was a secret she never wanted to share and she had her reasons.

"Why do you ask?" the pink one mentally thanked Chaos for not stumbling on her words. She didn't know that even if she were to stutter, Shadow wouldn't even notice. He was too concentrated at her being so close, her shoulder almost touching his.

"I just remembered ... I think I saw you that day at the ARK," Shadow said, getting the strength to look at her in the eyes. "Were you there?"

"I ... No, I-"

"Please ... Don't lie to me."

Amy gulped a little but still, her mouth felt dry. Shadow's red eyes shone even more brightly as the flames of the bonfire reflected light upon them. Almost too mesmerizing to get lost in them forever. However, a certain sadness was predominant in them. Regret, pain, betrayal ... Lies ... Amy could tell that Shadow was tired of all of that.

"Yes, I was there," Amy said.

"Did we ever ... talk?"

She just couldn't do it. Amy had only interacted with Shadow a few times but she could already tell so much about him.

If Shadow knows that she was the one that made him remember his promise and because of that he saved the world ... Would he feel less? As far as Amy knows, Shadow believes that he saved the world out of the kindness of his heart. Because he wanted, not because of a promise he remembered.

Shadow wasn't one to give himself enough credit. Yes, he would say he was The Ultimate Lifeform whenever he could but that was just a facade. Shadow felt the judging stares of others on him, the hate glances, the scared looks.

The black hedgehog never did anything to clean up his name because even after saving the world multiple times ... He still believes he is the monster people make him to be.

"No, we didn't talk," the rosette replied. She just couldn't take away one of Shadow's greatest relief. If Shadow ever finds out that Amy made him remember Maria's promise, then he would credit her. Amy didn't want that, she wanted all credit to go to Shadow. The world was saved because of his sacrifice and only that and Amy was going to make sure he believes that till the end.

"I went there to follow Sonic, you must have seen me with him."

As soon as the words left her mouth, Shadow was faced with another question.

"You always follow him don't you?"

A few seconds passed in which the cracking of the wood of the bonfire could only be heard. Shadow mentally cursed as he didn't plan to ask that question out loud.

"Well, I used to. Not so much now ... But, I still love him a lot!.."

To his surprise, Amy wasn't angry. All the contrary, there was a certain sparkle in her eyes indicating that she was happy.

"Why?"

"Sonic is free to do whatever he wants and so do I ... He values his freedom and I appreciate that."

"Doesn't that make you sad?"

Shadow didn't have the slightest idea as to why he was asking her these questions or why he was concerned about her love life. Maybe it wasn't her love life at all, but her feelings that intrigued him.

"No, I love everything about Sonic," Amy said as a warm smile decorated her eyes. "I love the way he is free as the wind, his confidence, his flaws, his quirks. I even love the way he runs away from me from time to time ... I love him regardless of everything. Even if he ever loves another, it doesn't matter. I love him unconditionally."

There was something about Amy that Shadow just couldn't get enough of. The way her eyes sparkle, the way her face shone and the soft blush that landed on her face. He was never one to care about love, he didn't think about it either ... until now.

Maybe this was the thing that attracted him to her. Amy knew something and did something he never could. To love.

Shadow didn't believe he is capable of loving someone as Amy does. The subject was a mystery to him, an unknown topic ... It did intrigue him.

And Amy was the one who knew about it all.

"I wonder what that it's like ... to love and be loved unconditionally." One again, Shadow said that without thinking. Nonetheless, he felt safe with Amy. He knew that no matter how stupid the question is, or how pathetic he looks, Amy won't judge him. She won't tease him either. Amy made him feel like he could be vulnerable in front of her once in a while.

"I love you unconditionally too Shadow!"

Her words came to Shadow like lighting. What surprised him the most was Amy's confident face. Not even for a second, she doubted herself.

Without having anything to say and watching that Shadow was at a loss of words, Amy proceeded.

"There are different types of love not only romantic and all of them are equally important," she said. "You can be rude at times, arrogant, and insecure ... But you are also loyal, determined, selfless, you put others before you and I love all of that about you. You are my friend even if you don't consider me as one ... I'll keep loving you regardless and I'll do anything for you. My love for you it's unconditional too!"

There were no words to describe what Shadow was feeling at the moment. He hasn't felt like this in a very ... A very long time. His heartbeat raised, adrenaline going through his veins and his fur shriveled. Was this happiness? A part of his heart shrieked when he remembered past thoughts. The thoughts that told him that Amy was annoying and childish. He regretted ever thinking like that about such a kind-hearted girl. Shadow knew he didn't deserve her in his life but from now on he would do anything to keep her by his side.

A peaceful moment was shared between the two where they didn't say anything but only stared at each other with fondness.

Amy smiled at her companion, once again breaking the sweet silence between the two.

"Maybe, one day you will love me unconditionally too."

There was no question about it. Nor it was hard to understand for the black hedgehog. If he could choose who to love then it would be Amy. Maybe, if his heart ever desired he could love Amy the way she loves Sonic. There won't be any protest, no contradiction, he will follow his heart and let the rosette hedgehog take over it.

But it wasn't that type of love now. At this moment, he only wanted to appreciate her person, her being. To enjoy the unconditional friendship she was offering and accept it.

And that type of love, he could give back.

"Yes ... I would like that very much."

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.

.

It has been a while since Shadow got a night of proper sleep. After all, he didn't need it to survive, the black hedgehog could go for three weeks without sleep and then we would start to feel the after-effects. The scenario was strange for him as well because he just doesn't remember when he fell asleep.

And he definitely didn't remember Amy falling asleep on his shoulder. Heck, he doesn't even remember until what time they stopped talking nor when they stopped caring about the issue at hand.

The bonfire they had started last night was reduced to ashes, the black hedgehog felt Amy trembling from time to time once again a feeling of guilt overtook him. He had forgotten that Amy was a normal Mobian and like such, it was easy for her to get cold. A thought of wrapping his arm around her and bring her closer to him crossed Shadow's mind. However, the thought quickly went away. It would be better for her health to wake up and get her body moving.

Shadow tapped on her shoulder delicately and it didn't take long for Amy's green eyes to outshine the morning's sun. Vermillion and emerald eyes stared at each other, lost in each other's colorful pools. Nonetheless, it took a few seconds for Amy to realized what happened.

"Shadow ... we fell asleep!"

"Yeah, no joke."

Amy stood up from the cold grass, patting the dust away from her red dress. She regrets wearing this dress in such cold weather but to be honest she didn't have any idea she was going to stay. "We didn't even check if the guy who stole the Chaos Emerald came back!"

Another thought crossed Amy's mind. She had been so engrossed in helping Shadow that she had forgotten that yesterday she was going to go to Cream's house for dinner.

"Chaos, I forgot yesterday I was going to have dinner at Cream's house! You must be worried about me." The rosette hedgehog walked around in circles to keep her warm and to release a bit of anxiety due to the situation at hand.

"I am going to go to Cream's home and then I'll come back! I promise we will find that Chaos Emerald! Have you checked if the person picked up the glasses we left at your house-"

Shadow sighed at Amy's reaction. She was getting very worked up and it was comical even to see her determination in helping him. He stopped her midtrack as he placed his right hand on her shoulder, even the gesture was surprising to him. The black hedgehog was being very delicate with the pink one.

"It doesn't matter,"

Amy saw a change in Shadow's voice. It was soft and fragile as if he wanted to reassure her. She listened carefully not wanting to forget his words.

"Yesterday, you taught me there are more important things than a Chaos Emerald."

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.

.

It was an extremely busy day at the Restoration HQ. With the recent outbreak of the Zombot Virus, many cities were on the verge of collapsing if they weren't already. It was even worse because the hero of Mobius, Sonic the Hedgehog was also infected with the virus.

Amy noticed that her blue love was indeed tired and she was scared that he might make a mistake that can cost him his life.

"Rose?"

The pink hedgehog turned around to face the red striped one. They were currently at the Restoration's Main Room, planing on the rescue of Sunset City.

Shadow walked towards Amy. He was concerned about her lack of self-care. He had noticed that Amy was getting tired and even looked sick. She wasn't eating, nor sleeping, always working. Of course, he knew that this wasn't healthy for the regular Mobian.

"Do you need my help?"

Amy and Shadow had grown closer after that night at Floral Forest Village. They were good friends and Shadow wasn't shy to visit her at the Restoration HQ. It warmed the pink one's heart to see that her friend was trying his best to keep a relationship with her.

"Yes ..." Amy made a pause. "Sunset City has been attacked by the Zombot virus ... Sonic is there helping uninfected civilians get out of the city safely ... Will you and Team Dark help him?"

If there was one thing Shadow couldn't do was to say no to his pink friend. He still wanted to help regardless but what he didn't want was to encounter the blue blur. It was because of Sonic that Amy was looking like this ... Like she was ready to faint at any second now. Maybe he could take this opportunity to punch him or make him apologize to her and to everyone but knowing the blue one, that was far from happening.

"I am sorry,"

The words caught Amy by surprise. She was expecting anything but that. Speechless, Shadow continued.

"If I hadn't let Sonic convince me to let the Doctor live ... We wouldn't be in this situation ... You wouldn't be so tired," Shadow looked down to the floor.

The dark hedgehog knew that part of the current situation was his fault as well. He felt that his hands were equally tainted as Sonic's. Although anger was the only way he could show that he felt guilty at the moment, Shadow was unable to show that side to Amy.

"It's not your fault, nor Sonic's,"

Amy placed a hand on Shadow's chin and picked up his head, making him look up to her eyes. "This is just a bad dream ... I know you and Sonic won't let us down and you will resolve everything ... Just like you always do."

Instantly, Shadow grabbed Amy's hand. Softly holding it with both of his. Although the action caught the pink hedgehog by surprise, she didn't pull away. Shadow was more and more open to her now and she appreciated it.

"I only have a favor to ask in return," Shadow said. "When I come back ... You have to tell me everything that happened in the ARK."

"But, I already told you everything-"

"No, I know you haven't told me everything ... You are a horrible liar."

Amy was caught red-handed but the pink one now knew that there was no way to escape. Although she had tried to keep what happened between them at the ARK a secret as long as she could, she should have known that Shadow was very perceptive.

As well as that the black hedgehog had learned Amy's small little details. Her ears would lower and she would look around the room nervously whenever she lied.

There was no way to escape Shadow and if he was the one who wanted the truth, who was Amy to prevent him from getting it?

But it wasn't only the truth. It was the unintended promise that was made between the two without realizing it.

"I promise to tell you everything when you come back," Amy said.

Shadow smirked, letting go of the rosette's hand already missing her touch. "I'll be on my way then, I'll tell Rouge and Omega."

Amy nodded, a sort of reminiscent feeling overtook her. As she felt that she had live through this already, she almost did not want to let him go. The pink hedgehog watched Shadow walk away and almost like an instinct, she raised her voice.

"Don't you dare do something reckless and get infected," Amy's voice almost cracked at the thought of her new and dear friend being at the mercy of the virus. "Sonic got infected ... If you were to get infected too ... I don't think I will be able to handle it."

"I am the Ultimate Life Form, I won't get infected," Shadow said. His voice was monotone but in all honesty, everything he wanted to do was to reassure her.

"This could be different ... Sonic runs to keep the virus from fully infecting him, do that in case you get infected." Amy said. "Be careful, if things get difficult, run."

"In case the situation becomes difficult, I should prioritize the civilians over me and you should know that." Shadow turned around, appreciating Amy's green eyes. Something inside of him was telling him to take his time in appreciating her features, everything. Because it would be a long time for him to see her again.

Amy let out a defeated sigh and then she smiled again at her friend.

"You know what is one of the things I like about you?"

Shadow shook his head, curiosity getting the best of him.

"That even when things get hard, you don't run away from your problems."  

They just didn't want to let go of each other. They had been friends for a short amount of time, but their bond was special and they just didn't want the moment to end just yet. Their heartbeats at the same rhythm and looking at Amy's face, Shadow doubted himself for the first time. There were many things he was insecure about but for Amy, he was willing to put that aside.

Appreciating her face one last time, Shadow smiled at her. He mentally promised to do the thing Amy liked about him.

"You know I don't run."

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A/N: Finally, the second part of this short story. This wasn't meant to be romantic ShadAmy but just them trying to figure out each other and how they start to become friends and such. However, if you want to see it as romantic, feel free to do so. Until next time!

[surveys-at-your-service]

Survey #300

that’s a lot of time wasted, lmao

If you were a witch, which animal would be your familiar? Could I have like, a melanistic barn owl? That'd be dope. They're fuckin gorgeous. If there's a design on your shirt, what is it? Ha, speaking of owls... Would you ever visit a ghost town? MOTHERFUCKER would I. Bringing my camera, too. What would you do if you found out your life was only a simulation controlled by someone else? I have a very much Detroit: Become Human (phenomenal game, btw) outlook on this: I think, therefore I am. It honestly wouldn't affect me terribly. I sure would hate my creator though, jfc, lmao. What's the scariest thing you've accidentally found on the internet? Okay so there is this one video filmed by some guys who had this really strange, sulking guy in black stalking them, and it ends with the suspected murderer slinking over to the guys (who were by this point finding it almost funny, due to how the man was acting) and charging with a knife, I think, once he was very close. I believe the men were never found afterwards. It is SO goddamn unnerving. Is there anything bothering you right now? Not to be a Negative Nancy, but when isn't there lmao. Thinking of every Halloween costume you've had, which one was the most creative? I never had creative ones, really. What's the picture on your calendar for this month? I don't have a relevant calender, just old meerkat ones on a wall in my room. If you were a mythical creature, which would you be? As much as I love dragons, they're targeted too much in fantasy to kill, so let's not, haha. Being a dryad would be cool. Or druid. Either/or. If you were an animal, which would you be? A housecat, ig. Were you ever bullied when you were younger and how did you handle it? I consider myself very lucky to have not been. Have you ever thrown something away and then wanted it back? Okay so it's "deleted" versus "thrown away," technically, but there are two senior prom pictures in specific I desperately want back because fuck my low self-esteem, I look beautiful in them and so damn happy. I even tried Facebook restore programs that supposedly recovered all pictures you ever removed, but I couldn't salvage them. I'm still pissed about it, haha. What's one random city you want to visit? I don't have a specific city, per se. More so just countries in general. If you owned a store, what would you most likely sell? I think owning a pet supply store would be really cool, with some animals that are actually very well-cared for, unlike chain pet stores. I HATE those, vehemently. So unspeakably ignorant and neglectful. If you had a garden, what sort of plants would you grow? I don't want a garden, but hypothetically, I'd love orchids, dahlias, tiger lilies, a weeping willow tree, some strawberries... What's your favorite phase of the moon? Full, of course. What's the song for your life right now? I've felt extremely connected to Seether's "Weak" lately. Do you believe that when you die, you get to see all your loved ones again? I hope so... Who would you be the most excited to see? DO I ACTUALLY NEED TO ANSWER THIS QUESTION?????????? Do you enjoy reading National Geographic magazines? If I'm like, sitting in a waiting room and they're available, I'll go for them. Do you know anyone who's serving in the military right now? Welcome to the South, baby. The boys graduate, they're going straight for the military. I only have one real friend who was one but left tho because he fucking hated it. Does or did either of your parents serve in the military? No. Has anything in your house ever caught on fire? Not in this house, no. As a small child, did you ever feel as if you were different or weird? Absofuckinglutely. I have A LOT of bad memories of instances where I felt like "the weird kid." Can you say "happy birthday" in another language? Omg... I forgot the German phrase. Wow, I'm rusty. What subjects do you or did you get the worst grades in? Math. Do you have photos to go with all of the contacts in your phone? I don't have pictures that go with any. Who was the last person to comment on one of your photos on Facebook and how did you meet that person? I just checked, and it was my friend Summer. I met her because she was actually first friends with my younger sister in pre-k, but we grew closer than they did in our teen years. What career paths are you considering? I just want to be a photographer. So badly. But I've felt super, super discouraged lately. Do you watch music videos? I pretty much never do, but rather listen through the artists' Topic uploads or lyric videos. I don't generally like official music videos because they tend to have other sounds/parts/breaks/etc. in them that distract from the song. Have you ever clicked on those banner ads that promise a prize for clicking? Probably by accident at some point in time. What kind of computer are you using? Acer Nitro. What kind of computer do you wish you were using? I'm fine with what I have. Have you ever had a weight change so drastic you went to the doctor? .-. How cold does it have to be before you put on a sweater? Depends on how long I'll be outside, but in most situations, in the 50s. Do you eat things off the floor? Um, ew. Who do people say you look like? My sisters. Do you usually get your homework done on time? When I was in school, I was very serious about having my homework finished by the date it was due. Have you ever framed your old movie ticket stubs? I've kept some, but never framed any. Do you have a digital camera? A Canon, yeah. Have you ever stuck something inappropriate in an electrical outlet? Bitch I ain't tryna get electrocuted. How many days has it been since your last birthday? My b-day is actually coming up soon; the 5th of February. Do you want any more siblings than you have now? Well, considering both my parents (and stepmom) are in their 50s... How easily shocked are you? VERY. I am extremely jumpy and on edge at like all times. You like the color blue, don't you? I mean yeah. Particularly the lighter tints. Who was the last person who asked you something that made you think? My therapist REEEEAAAALLY makes me do this. She's an absolute pro at getting me to dig deep into myself. Ever fired a gun? No, and I don't want to. From 1-10, how would you rate your cooking skills? Is 0 an option? Do you notice the heat or the cold more? HEAT, JESUS FUCK. It can be one or two degrees above what I consider stable and I'll be sweating. I'm hypersensitive to it I know from being in such a consistent temperature in my room like 24/7. Do you believe in miracles? Probably no. What hurts more: scratches or bites? Bites, if you're talking serious ones. Do you prefer rabbits to mice? No, mice (and especially rats) are absolutely amazing, intelligent animals. Bonus points for being mega cute too, though I do find rabbits cuter. Who out of all the people you know reasonably well is the most "dark?" Sara, haha. Favorite chocolate-based candy? Reese's. Do you call anyone babe or baby? My pets sometimes. Name me a food you used to like that you now don't: Peas, olives. Name me a food you now like but never used to: Mashed potatoes, IF prepared very well (by my standards, obviously). Would you rather live in Europe, The US, or Australia? By this point, take me to Europe. If it wouldn't be such a huge life change and leaving so many people, I would 120% move to Canada, but out of these, Europe will do. Would you rather have a big house, a lot of kids, or a high flying job? Give me the high-flying job, 100%. I don't want kids, and I have no need for a large house. Is crime a big problem in your area? Oh yes. What’s your town/city most well-known for? By the locals, being the crime hub, actually, lol. Name 5 objects that you don’t have but would like right now: Hmmm... I want a 40g tank as an upgrade for Venus, a gaming chair for when I turn the extra room into my "office" so I don't destroy my back sitting there, new glasses and a driving permit, and don't forget a gd tattoo needle pounding my skin. :^) If you were given the choice to choose your child’s gender, would you? Yes, I would absolutely want a girl just because IF I wanted kids, I'd want a daughter named Alessandra. Do you get along well with your family doctor/your doctor? Yeah, she's nice. What types of soups do you like? None. If a color could reflect your current mood, which would it be? Grayish blue. The last time you saw fireworks? I really don't know; it's been years, at least. Have you ever gone to a movie premiere? Possibly for Silent Hill: Revelation, but I'm not certain. Who was the last person to make you laugh out loud? My mom, because she made me remember something funny. What was the last commercial you heard selling? *shrug* Do you prefer fairly common names or a bit out of the ordinary ones? Oh, definitely rare and unique ones. Would you rather have a pet cat, dog, horse or tortoise? At this current time, a dog for Mom, which we're actually probably getting. She misses having one super badly. Is your laugh loud, normal or very silent? My laugh is loud and obnoxious as fuck. What are you interested in that most people would be surprised to know? Tarantulas, probably. I love them, even though spiders kinda scare me. Last movie you watched the whole way through? Elf, I think, with Sara's fam. What's your favorite fruit? Strawberries are where it's at. Last time you drank coffee? I've only ever sipped coffee to try to see if I liked it. Never have. I THINK I last took a sip of Sara's when we went on a breakfast date? Has anyone ever called you rich? Calling me rich would be entirely ludicrous. What makes you feel beautiful? Nothing. How many bathrooms are in your house? Two. Last time you were on a plane and where did you go? A couple years ago, coming home from Illinois. Favorite flavor muffin? Uggghhhh chocolate. Do you prefer stripes or polka dots? Polka dots. I tend to find circles visually appealing. Did you take Music when you were in school? I think all the elementary school students did. I was also in band in middle and high school; I played the flute. Why did you last feel like crying? I'm just sick of how my life is going. Do you find being alone with strangers scary, interesting, or indifferent? I find it either awkward or terrifying, depending on the gender. It's not a willing thing or intended sexism whatsoever, I'm just naturally afraid of men. Do your initials spell a legitimate word? If so, what? No. Does someone’s background affect whether you'll be friends with them or not? Well, it depends on what they've done. How about their religious background? No. If someone admitted cheating in a past relationship of theirs, would you trust them? Nope, bye. Did you ever want to be a cook as a kid? No. How about a fashion designer? No. Do you prefer fire or ice? Fire aesthetically, but ice is certainly less intimidating. When happy, do you become more talkative? OH yes. Are you offended easily by non-politically correct language? No, really. I wouldn't say derogatory terms, but I really don't understand why most people put so much weight into a single made-up word. But again, you won't hear that language coming out of my mouth because I understand that it just does hurt some people, and I respect that. Do you think the censors/fcc go a bit too far or are just right? It's gone overboard, imo. What's your I.Q? I don't want to know, haha. Have you ever taken a martial art? Which one{s}? No. Do you know anyone who is scared of you? Um, no. What person who has died would you bring back and why? Probably Steve Irwin. His children have done FUCKING FANTASTIC at carrying on his legacy and purpose, but I feel he could've taught the world so much more than he had time to... Do you like watermelon? No. Too watery. Can you remember the month of your first kiss? Yes, actually. March. What do you think is the most interesting thing about you? I'm unsure, really. Do you like being complimented or does it make you uncomfortable? Both. What artist's paintings do you find the most beautiful? This is an impossible question. What about the most disturbing? Oh man, I watch this one person on deviantART that makes especially creepy artwork. I follow a loooot of dark artists, though, so it's difficult to pick. Have you ever gone to a camp or summer school? A church-related summer thing, yes, as a kid. What was your favorite cartoon as a child? Pokemon was/is where it's at. What was your biggest fear as a child? Thunderstorms, holy shit. Would you rather be able to fly or breathe underwater? Be able to breathe underwater. What about invisibility or mindreading? Definitely invisibility. Mindreading would just... suck. Hurt. Especially if you couldn't control it. Which stereotype do you dislike the most? Good question, considering I hate a shit ton. Can you remember all your past teachers names? No, not all of them. Do you like talent shows? Which ones? I don't mind watching 'em. I particularly used to love America's Got Talent. Have you ever failed an important exam? In what? Yes; I failed horribly at my final math exam the last time I was in school. Are you on any meds? Too many. Just way too many for someone my age. I'm really starting to think I'm over-medicated to where it's dulling my senses, feelings, and also destroying my memory. But I kinda need like... all of them. I'm talking to my psychiatrist in just a couple days though, actually, and I'm going to talk to him about maybe trying to wean me off my OCD med, since I haven't had big symptoms in a long time. I wanna see how I deal without it. What color is your razor? Black and orange. What is your fave frozen treat? Just the classic ice cream. Which supermarket do you like to shop at? We tend to get our groceries from Wal-Mart. Do you struggle to say ‘no’ to things you don’t want to do? YESSIREE. Are you friends with someone a lot of people dislike? I don't think there's anyone that is widely disliked, no. Have you ever had to deal with someone close to you going off to war? No, thankfully. Other than yourself, who did you last buy something for? Mom. What's something you complain about frequently? My legs hurting. It's hard to ignore when taking one step is painful. Have you ever talked about your period with a guy? Were they okay with it, or grossed out? I certainly haven't talked about it in-depth, but it's been mentioned in some way when I was with Jason. I mean we were together for three and a half years, sexually active (and I ain't doing jackshit if it's that time of the month), and I spent as much time with him as possible, so... it woulda came up. I'm sure he was indifferent about it, he was a mature guy. Have you ever been to an Asian (any type) market? If so, what is the closest one to you? No. I've never even heard of one around here. Have you ever slept with a member of the opposite sex without having sex? Back up two questions, haha. That was normal. How would you feel if your significant other had tattoos? Shit man, I love tattoos. I'd obviously not care. How have you been feeling today? Depressed. Where’s your phone right now? On my chest. I'm lying down. Is there a certain person that makes you feel safe? ugh When you drink alcohol with friends, do you play drinking games? I never have. What are the best kind of Girl Scout cookies? I don't remember their names, honestly... but the chocolate and peanut butter ones come to mind.

[starblazerm31]

Apprentice April Asks #1 Azalea/Imalia

Here are my answers to my Apprentice April Asks #1.  Thanks so very much to @leis-main-blog​ and @verysoftthings​ for sending me asks!  I honestly wasn’t expecting it.  ^^;  I tend to write books about these two, so I made a separate post.

1. The Basics.  What is your character's name?  How old are they?  How tall are they?  Skin color?  Eye color?  Hair color?  Gender identification?

Azalea Larinya Nevra.  30, female. 5'6"; medium skin tone; eyes blue with gold around the pupils; hair aqua to coral ombre; medium length

Imalia Vilyana Gabriev. 36, female. 5'10"; fair skin tone; eyes crimson; hair brown with burgundy ends; very long (art by @carowhitewolf​)

2.  Love Interest.  Who does your character love?  What attracted them to that particular LI?

Julian/Lucio (different universes).  

Julian - she loved how kind he was, and she adored his bumbling.  She was compelled to help him because his cause was right.  He couldn't be guilty, he was too much of a good man.  She really wanted to help him with his own inner demons as well because he didn't deserve to suffer, even at his own hand.  That glorious chest didn't help either, lol.

Lucio - she thought he was overall adorable.  Yeah, he was hot as hell, but it was his personality that got her heart thumping.  He really was brave and skilled, and she had a feeling that not many others had appreciated it much.  Yeah, he had done some horrendous things; but Azalea could see the actual changes happening in him and she knew that he had hope.

Asra.  She had known Asra since she was 15 and he was 8.  They had a good 20 year friendship and she knew him very well.  She fell for him when that friendship veil lifted after the events of The Arcana story and she finally really noticed how beautiful he was.  "He's smart, kind, talented, awesome...AND hot?!  THE WHOLE PACKAGE?!  I'm such an idiot..." 

3. Familiar.  Does your character have a familiar?  How did they meet?

Corva, a white raven.  She met Corva when Malak led her to an alley where Corva was lying on the ground with a broken wing.  Azalea nursed Corva back to health, and Corva refused to ever leave. (image c. Mike Yip)

Balthazaar, a phoenix.  Balthazaar was one of the phoenixes in the magical menagerie at the University of Prakra.  He was ornery, and the handlers had a hard time with him.  Imalia liked how stubborn he was and over time developed a rapport and closeness with him.  The university allowed her to claim him as her familiar and take him home. (image c. Kiss Clip Art)

4. Hobbies.  What kinds of things does your character like to do for fun?

Parquor.  She loves running around, slipping up buildings, jumping over rooftops and sliding down poles.  XD  She's a very high-energy person and parquor keeps her healthy and mentally sharp.  She also enjoys writing.  She will write on just about anything that has her attention at the moment.  Magical theory is one of her favorite subjects, but she does enjoy writing fiction.

Her hobby...is harassing bandits.  She gets perverse joy out of robbing robbers blind.  If she can find the original owners of things that were stolen...awesome.  If not...hey, this is an ancient Drakrian fertility statue!  I'm gonna put this on my shelf at home.  Oh, and leaving off-color messages in ancient languages in ruins.  "Here I sit all broken-hearted..."

5. Hidden talents.  Is there something neat that your character can do?  Tie a cherry stem into a knot with their tongue?  Say any word backwards perfectly?

Azalea is kinda like Sherlock Holmes.  She can look at a person and form their entire story in her mind.  She never uses it against someone; she just uses it to be more friendly.  But if you're annoying her and won't go away...she will scare you with what she has figured out about you.

Imalia secretly loves to sing and isn't terrible at it.  She's one of those people who will sing in the bath, and if someone mentions it, she acts like it didn't happen.

6. Magical talents.  Is there a specific type of magic that your character excels at?  Any magic they aren't so great at?  Or do they actually shy away from magic altogether?

Lightning.  She's good at conducting the currents and utilizing its explosive capabilities.  She also uses lightning as a personal shield while in battle.  She is also really good at enchanting things; like her hair.  She makes enchanted dreamcatchers that actually catch nightmares.  Both Julian and Lucio appreciate this ability.  (Lucio's dreamcatcher needs to be cleansed more often than Julian's)

Fire and Darkness.  Imalia is in tune with fire and is extremely good at using it to its fullest potential; absolute destruction.  As for the darkness...that will be explained in number 12.

7. Interaction.  How does your character typically interact with people?

She is very polite, but not overly so.  She tries to come off as someone you can actually have a conversation with.  Sometimes if she's feeling nervous, she will go into overly-polite mode, but if the vibe starts to feel calmer, she will loosen up.  She is very energetic and sometimes hyper with her friends.

She is ingratiating and very proper until you piss her off.  Then you get things like "Why don't you get a horse, move up to the mountains, and don't bother anybody?  You have the personality of a dead moth." (RIP Don Rickles)  With friends, she's very laid back and frank with what she says.

8. Romance.  What is something that your character and their LI love to do together?  How do they show affection?

Azalea x Julian - They LOVE to read together.  They have spent hours cuddled up together over a good book.  Azalea shows Julian affection with gentle touches, kisses, and koala hugs.  (she really loves how tall he is)  She also makes sure he eats and gets plenty of rest.  More than once, she has brought him dinner to his clinic while he was working late.

Azalea x Lucio - They love to spar.  They are so different in fighting style that sparring really helps them improve their skills.  Also, the prize at the end for the winner is quite nice.  ^_~  Azalea shows Lucio affection by listening to him and holding him.  She also likes to try to out kiss him.  He reaches for her hand, she spins away and plants two on his cheek instead.

Imalia and Asra love to travel the Magical Realms together.  They get into really long and in-depth conversations about the things they see and experiment with how their willpower affects the realm around them.  Imalia shows affection by constant words of praise and sneaky touches and kisses.  The more she can surprise him, the better.  She also keeps a hefty supply of Lapsang Souchong tea at her estate for him and loves giving him little trinkets and things she has found on her travels.

9. Travel.  Does your character like to travel outside of Vesuvia?  How often?  For how long?  What kinds of things do they do away from home?

Yes.  She loves to see more of the world and meet new people and see different cultures.  She will travel maybe once every year or two.  When traveling, she will typically stay away for 1-2 months.  She loves adventure, but she does love her home more.  Azalea loves to learn new types of magic or new methods of spellcasting from different cultures.  She finds that certain techniques make her own magic stronger.

Definitely.  She herself is originally from the northern hemisphere, so travel isn't something new to her.  She gets wanderlust sometimes and has to get out into the world.  She will be gone typically for six months when she decides to travel.  She has been gone for three years before.  She HAS to investigate old ruins wherever she goes.  Who knows that treasures or knowledge lay inside?  She must find out!

10. WTF.  Has anything just...weird ever happened to your character?  Something that made them stop and go "What just happened?!"

She was trying to brew a potion that would allow the drinker to become a mermaid for a short while.  She ended up spilling it on a plant before it was done.  The plant sprouted tiny muscular hairy legs and arms, stood up, walked to the window, shook its fist at her, and jumped out.  Turns out she had forgotten a key ingredient in the early stages of brewing the potion.  Mazelinka made fun of her for a solid week.

One time, she and a rival mage were about to have a battle.  Right before they were to begin, this strange fellow wearing a sentient red cape fell from the sky and landed in between them.  He promptly stood to his feet, apologized for the intrusion, and left.  (Yes...I do mean Doctor Strange fell from the sky)

11. Crime.  Has your character ever been arrested?  If so, what did they do?  Have they ever helped stop a crime?

She has never been arrested, however, she is guilty of petty larceny.  It's not something she does often...just when some jerk needs to be taught a lesson.  They always get their stuff back, but she will make sure they are thoroughly inconvenienced.  She has stopped another thief before.  The thief took the purse of an elderly individual who was trying to buy food.  Azalea scaled up to the rooftops and cut the thief off, holding him down until the guards caught up and arrested him.  She gave the money back to its owner.

Yep.  She's been arrested plenty of times.  Usually for assault and/or destruction of property.  Hey, that jerk deserved to have his carriage set on fire.  She has stopped several assassination attempts on her cousin, Queen Dreen Suval of Seiruun.  She has also stopped dark plots at the Magical University in Prakra.

12. Secrets.  What is a secret your character has?  Are they in line for the throne in a far off land?  Was there this one time at band camp...?  Are they secretly involved in an assassin's guild?

Azalea secretly writes smut.  She loves it.  And her actual hair color is gray.  The aqua-coral is an enchantment.

Imalia actually is in line for the throne of Seiruun; second in line, to be exact.  But she HATES this.  It's why she continues to live in Vesuvia rather than her home country.  Imalia is also no longer entirely human.  During an adventure that went terribly wrong, she summoned the Lord of Nightmares while inside the Magical Realms.  (The Lord of Nightmares or "Lon" is an eldritch goddess) Lon then proceeded to implant herself inside Imalia.  Lon is a being of pure darkness and nightmare, so Imalia has control over darkness when she taps into Lon's power. Through some creative wording, the contract between the two of them allows Imalia to use Lon's power and form when she needs to; however, Imalia is forever plagued by terrible nightmares that not even Azalea's dreamcatchers can stop.  The dreamcatchers just catch on fire.

13. Overcompensation.  Is there something that your character just HAS to do better than anyone else?  Or are they just that dang good without trying?  If they see someone else showing off, what is their kneejerk reaction?

She's actually quite humble.  If she sees someone showing off, she really just concerns herself with their safety.  "Please don't be careless and die, please!"  But she IS gifted.  Her magic is insanely strong, she just doesn't like to make a big deal out of it.  She gets embarrassed.

She is the best in the room, and you'd better damn well know it.  Unless she respects you.  Then she will tone it down.  But if she sees a showoff...she's got to mess with them.  She's got to show them that they aren't all that and a bag of chips.

14. Fight Club.  Is your character a good fighter?  What kind of skills do they have?

She's pretty decent.  Her attack magic is awesome, but her physical fighting mainly relies on how quick and squirmy she is.  Her punches hurt, but they don't incapacitate.

She can fight pretty damn well.  Her father made sure of it after most of her family was killed by assassins (it does sometimes really suck to be royalty).  She is a heavy hitter and her intent is to end a fight with one strike.  It doesn't always work, but hey...second, third, maybe fourth time is the charm.  Or maybe you should just blow it the hell up.

15. The Arts.  Is your character a creative type?  What kinds of things can they create?  Can they act?  Street perform?

She is.  Like mentioned earlier, she writes and makes dreamcatchers; she also gets into stage acting with Julian (when he's her LI).  She's not a solo performer though.  She has to be in a troupe or else she gets massive stage fright.

She can draw very well, almost photo-realistically.  She mainly uses this skill for documentation when she's studying something.  But every great once in a while she will draw a political cartoon making fun of some noble.  Once she drew a penis on the face of one of Lucio's statues.  He snapped back "I'd never put something that small in my mouth!"  She retorted by drawing a full body penis on a different statue.  It got misinterpreted by many townspeople as "Hey, look!  Lucio is a dick!!"

16. Goofy.  Is your character a clown?  Do they like to make people laugh?

She does.  She doesn't see herself as funny, but when she slips in something humorous into whatever she's talking about it usually takes whoever is listening by surprise.  Spit your drink kind of humor.

YES.  She has such a strange way of speaking sometimes that you can't help but snort at the things she says.  Yes, it is entirely on purpose.  She loves to crack jokes and has a self-deprecating sense of humor at times.  She will also be hilariously over-confident as well.

17. Language.  Is your character multilingual?  How many languages do they speak?  Do they have an accent?  Is it sexy?  Is it silly?  Do they have the multilingual lisp?

No.  She only speaks her native language.

Yes.  Imalia speaks ten different languages.  In her normal language, she doesn't have a multilingual lisp; but in about four of her other languages, she does.  It drives her nuts, but she just can't seem to fix it.

18. Embarrassment.  What is something really embarrassing that your character has done/said?

Azalea can't remember this, because it's part of the memories she lost.  But Imalia remembers.  One time she was going to meet one of the magisters of the Magical University of Prakra to see if she would be accepted.  She spent weeks preparing how to introduce herself.  On the day of, she mentioned how excited she was to meet Magister Asshole.  Imalia blinked and said, "It's pronounced Ah-shole."

One time she said something quite rude about Lucio in front of Azalea (when Lucio is Azalea's LI).  Azalea proceeded to tear her a new rectum, claiming that for someone so smart, she was incredibly closed-minded.

19. Memory.  Has your character gotten any of their memory back?  If so, what?  Did it change them?

No.  She insists that she doesn't want her memories back because she likes who she is now.  She gets the important information from Asra and Imalia...her parents’ and aunt's names, what they were like, and how they died.  That's all she feels that she needs. 

*looks at me*  "I'm exempt from this question.  I'm your OC, not your MC."  *walks out*

20. Family.  Talk about your character's family.  Who were they?

Her mother (Etoile) and father (Galen) were traveling merchants.  Her mother was the one with magical talent.  Her mother's sister (Sylvaine) owned the shop and taught Azalea most about magic.  When Azalea was 13, her parents were robbed and killed by bandits just outside of Vesuvia.  She lived with Sylvaine until she died of pneumonia when Azalea was 20.

Imalia's father was Vitalric Gabriev and her mother was Narsial Trevallan.  When Imalia was 14, her father's family (the Sairuun royal family) were murdered by assassins sent by a rival country.  Only Vitalric (and Narsial), Imalia, Vitalric's older brother Rhemun and his daughter Dreen survived.  Rhemun and Dreen remained in Seiruun to run the place while Vitalric and his family moved to Vesuvia as a failsafe in case there were other assassination attempts.  Vitalric started studying to become a doctor, while Narsial started grooming Imalia to wed into a noble family.  Narsial was extremely abusive.  Long story short, King Rhemun died of a hunting injury, and both of Imalia's parents died in the Red Plague.