#I will call them “Mimi's brothers” from now on

[strabuzov]

I love how in the manga Anastasia acts like a Mom and asks who Garfiel is.

And the fact that Mimi's brothers actually have a reaction to seeing her with Garfield, rather than the absolute nothingness that is in the anime.

It's nice to see detail like this, it helps you appreciate the characters more.

[inthedayswhenlandswerefew]

1968 [Chapter 7: Apollo, God Of Music]

Series Summary: Aemond is embroiled in a fierce battle to secure the Democratic Party nomination and defeat his archnemesis, Richard Nixon, in the presidential election. You are his wife of two years and wholeheartedly indoctrinated into the Targaryen political dynasty. But you have an archnemesis of your own: Aemond’s chronically delinquent brother Aegon.

Series Warnings: Language, sexual content (18+ readers only), violence, bodily injury, character deaths, New Jersey, age-gap relationships, drinking, smoking, drugs, pregnancy and childbirth, kids with weird Greek names, historical topics including war and discrimination, math.

Word Count: 8.7k

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💜 All of my writing can be found HERE! 💜

“My uncle, he is a doctor in Zabrze,” Ludwika says, red Yardley lips, Camel cigarette. No one cares if she smokes; she’s not campaigning to be the next first lady. Fosco is puffing on a cigar. Mimi sips drowsily at her Gimlet; you could use a few shots, but you’re making do with a Pink Squirrel, something sweet and feminine and without any bite. “So I go to him and he gives me a bottle of chlordiazepoxide.”

“Oh, Librium,” Mimi says, perking up.

Ludwika waves her hand dismissively; cigarette smoke wafts through the air. “Whatever. The next day I have my audition. A tiny man who thinks he’s God. And I give it a real shot, I try my best, I’m nice, I’m charming, but he doesn’t like me. He says my teeth are too big, like a mouse’s. This is very rude. I did not comment on his fidgety little rat hands. But okay, no problem, I have a plan. No one will stop me from getting out of Poland.”

“You drugged him?” you ask, incredulous, grinning.

“You are a criminal,” Fosco tells Ludwika. “I will call J. Edgar Hoover, you should not be so close to positions of power.”

“Listen, listen,” Ludwika insists. “Here is what I do. I thank him very much for his consideration, and then as I leave I drop my purse and things go everywhere. I filled it before I left my apartment, of course. Anything I could find, empty lipstick tubes and perfume bottles, old makeup compacts with broken mirrors, coins, hair pins, tissues, pens, gum, Krówki candies, it is an avalanche. And when he bends down to help me pick up the mess—I have to encourage him, ‘oh sir won’t you grab that, I am just a stupid girl in a very short dress,’ you understand—I put the pills in his tea.”

“How many pills?” you ask.

“I don’t know. You think I had time to count? Maybe seven.”

“Seven?!” Mimi exclaims, and you take this to mean it was a generous dose.

“What? He did not die,” Ludwika says. “I wait two days and then I go back to his office. And it is so strange, can you believe it, he does not remember my audition! So I remind him that he thought I would be perfect for the ad he is shooting in Paris. He keeps squinting at me and saying ‘are you sure, are you sure?!’ Of course I’m sure! A week later, I am standing under the Eiffel Tower with a bottle of Coca-Cola. And then I book a job in London, and then another in New York City, and one of my new model friends sets me up on a blind date with Otto. Lunch in Astoria at a horrible Greek restaurant. Who wants to eat pie made out of spinach?! Now I am here with you people, and the journalists love when I smile for them with my big mouse teeth.”

All four of you laugh at your table, an elite club, the ones who married in. It’s Alicent’s 60th birthday, and the ballroom of the Texas State Hotel in downtown Houston is raucous with clinking glasses and chatter and music and the shutter clicks of photographers. The DJ is playing Fun, Fun, Fun by the Beach Boys. Alicent is dancing with Helaena and the children, and it’s the happiest you can ever remember seeing her. Otto, Aemond, and Sargent Shriver are deep in conversation by the bar, furrowed brows and Old Fashioneds, today’s newspapers and tomorrow’s itinerary. Criston is standing with the men but watching Alicent, face wistful, silver streaks in his jet black hair, and it occurs to you that they must have grown up together: Alicent a 19-year-old bride and Criston her husband’s fledgling bodyguard, the person closest to her age in the household, near and trusted and forbidden, orbiting adolescent twins like Artemis and Apollo. You keep looking around for Aegon. No one else seems aware that he’s gone.

“Otto thought he died and went to heaven when he found you,” you tell Ludwika. “His Eastern Bloc defector princess.”

“He is going to bring my mother to the States. I would be anything he wanted me to be. I would be a model, or a housewife, or a nurse. I would be Bigfoot! But this…” Ludwika gestures broadly: to the ballroom, the city, the latest stop on the campaign trail. “It is not so bad. I never expected to serve the Polish people so far from home. You know how you stop communism? You show the world that capitalism can do more for them. There must be a path to a better life, wars must be ended, injustices must be dealt with. Aemond will do that.” She grins at you, exhaling smoke through her nostrils. “You will help him.”

You reply a bit wryly: “It’s an honor.”

“We are like four legs of a table,” Fosco observes. He points at Ludwika with his smoldering cigar. “You are a Slav fleeing the Russians. My family has ancient titles in Italy and yet no castles, no land, we are essentially homeless. Mimi’s father is a third-generation oil tycoon from Pennsylvania. And she was supposed to fix Aegon.”

“I don’t think I succeeded,” Mimi confesses.

“And then when it was time for Aemond to get married…” Fosco turns to Mimi. “Do you remember? What an ordeal. The discussions went on and on and on. She must be smart, she must be sinless, she should be from a self-made family, a real rags-to-riches story of the American Dream.”

“Right.” Mimi nods groggily, reminiscing. “And from the South.”

“Yes! But not the Deep South. No, no. Someplace Aemond could actually win. Texas, Tennessee, North Carolina. Or Florida, of course.” Now Fosco notices how you’re looking at him, because you’ve never heard this before. He quickly pivots. “But the weekend Aemond met you, it was settled. Nobody could compare.”

His tone is odd; it suggests backstories, history, mythology. Ludwika appears to be just as intrigued as you are, taking a drag off her Camel, her eyes narrowing until they are thin and catlike. You ask: “Who else was being considered?”

“No one,” Fosco answers—too quickly—and he and Mimi exchange an uneasy glance.

What did Aemond and I talk about the night we met? you think dizzily. In those first hours, minutes, thirty seconds? Where I’m from. What I was studying.

Fosco, a true Italian, then attempts to deflect by flirting. He makes emphatic, passionate motions with his hands. “You were just so captivating, so clever…”

“And young enough that Aemond could easily beat Aegon’s record of five children,” Mimi adds. Fosco clears his throat and glares at her. Mimi realizes what she’s said and gazes forlornly down into her Gimlet, mortified, groaning softly. You’ve had one c-section already, and no living son to show for it. At most, you might be able to give Aemond two or three more children; and you don’t even want them. You want Ari back. You want to touch him, to hold him, even if only for a moment, even if only once.

“It’s fine,” you try to reassure Mimi, but everyone can tell it’s not.

Ludwika breaks the tension. “You do not want twenty kids anyway. Your uterus will fall out onto the floor.” And you’re so caught off-guard that all you can do is smile at her from across the table, knowing, appreciative. It’s a strange thing to be grateful for.

“She’s right,” Mimi says mournfully. “They had to sew mine back in.”

Fosco pleads: “Stop, stop, I will need a lobotomy.”

Mimi slurps on her Gimlet. “It’s sad. I used to love sex.”

“Mimi, please,” Fosco says, wincing, holding up his palms. “You are like my sister. I prefer to think you are the Virgin Mary.”

Ludwika sighs dramatically and looks to where Otto stands on the other side of the ballroom. “I used to love sex too.”

Now you’re all howling again, rocking back in your chairs. The DJ is playing Go Where You Wanna Go by the Mamas and the Papas. Cass Elliot is the real talent in that group and everybody knows it, but of course any mention of her must be dutifully accompanied by: If only she was more beautiful. If only she could lose weight and find a husband.

“I think you like it, yes?” Ludwika says to you like a dare, puffing on a fresh Camel, red lipstick staining the white paper, blood on sheets. She combs her manicured fingernails though her voluminous blonde hair. “I could tell when I met you. You dress like Jackie Kennedy, but you are not such a statue. She belongs in a museum. I can imagine you at the Summer of Love.”

Fosco and Mimi shift uncomfortably. It’s not the sort of thing they would ever ask you. It’s too personal, too easily a segue into criticizing Aemond. It’s a usurpation of the natural order. Mimi guzzles her Gimlet and flags down a waiter to get another. Fosco takes off his glasses and cleans them with his skinny black necktie.

Sex. You think back to before you began to dread it. This is difficult, like trying to remember Greek words or British manners, which fork to use with each course. Memories from another lifetime come back in flashes: tangled up with your first boyfriend in his tiny dorm room bed, Aemond peeling off your still-dripping swimsuit on the floor of your hotel room during your honeymoon in Hawaii. You shrug and give Ludwika a nod, a brisk, ungenerous answer in the affirmative. “I always feel like I could keep going.”

Paradoxically, this does not end the conversation. Ludwika, Fosco, and Mimi study you with the same bewildered, gear-spinning curiosity. After a moment Ludwika says: “Not after you’ve finished, surely. I am half dead by the end if it’s good.”

“Finished?” you ask, puzzled. All three of them gawk at you, then at each other.

Aegon breezes into the ballroom wearing the Gibson guitar he bought in Manhattan, blue like the Caribbean or the Mediterranean or the crystalline waves off the coast of Hawaii, dotted with fish and sea turtles. Your eyes go to him immediately and stay there; you can feel the swirling warmth of blood in your cheeks. As Aegon passes the table, he squeezes your shoulder—brief, familiar, welcome—and Fosco raises his thick eyebrows. Mimi is too busy gulping down her Gimlet to notice. Ludwika chuckles, low and wicked, then slides a makeup compact out of her Prada purse to check her lipstick. Aegon goes to the DJ and yells something over the music. He’s fucked up already, you can tell, pills or booze or both.

Fosco stops a passing waiter. “Signore, did you hear who won the United Nations Handicap?”

The waiter stares blankly back at him. “What?”

“The turf race at Monmouth Park. I have $200 on Dr. Fager.”

The DJ abruptly cuts off the music. Aegon gives his guitar a few practice strums to make sure it’s in tune. He stumbles when he walks, he lurches and sways. His blonde hair sticks to the sweat on his forehead. He is woefully underdressed. His white shirt is half-unbuttoned, his denim shorts tattered; on his feet he wears black moccasins. There is a small gold hoop in each of his ears. Otto keeps telling Aegon to take them out, and every time Aegon ignores him.

“Happy birthday, Mom,” you hear him say to Alicent, and she presses a palm to her heart, her dark eyes wide and shining. “When I first heard this, it made me think of you.”

Otto and Sargent Shriver—the aspiring vice president—are glowering at Aegon. Aemond smirks as he nips at an Old Fashioned, amused; but he makes sharp, intentional eye contact with each of the three journalists. You will tell the right version of this story, he means. You will not print anything we wouldn’t want written, or my family will be your enemies for life.

As soon as Aegon plucks the first few chords, you recognize the song. “Oh, that’s really funny.”

“What?” Fosco asks.

“It’s Mama Tried.” You stand and begin clapping, then motion for the rest of the table to do the same. They obey without protest, though Mimi can’t seem to keep track of the beat. Aegon is beaming as he sings.

“The first thing I remember knowin’

Was a lonesome whistle blowin’

And a youngin’s dream of growin’ up to ride

On a freight train leavin’ town

Not knowin’ where I'm bound

And no one could change my mind but Mama tried.”

Cosmo sprints over from where he had been dancing with Alicent. He grabs your hand and tugs you towards the center of the floor. “Let’s go, let’s go!” he shouts impatiently.

“Call the FBI, I’m being kidnapped,” you say to Fosco and Ludwika as you let Cosmo drag you away.

“One and only rebel child

From a family meek and mild

My Mama seemed to know what lay in store

Despite all my Sunday learnin’

Towards the bad I kept on turnin’

‘Til Mama couldn’t hold me anymore.”

At the heart of the ballroom, Criston has swooped in to dance with Alicent, slow chaste circling. Helaena has floated off to the bar to chat with Otto, who keeps all his smiles for her. The children—Targaryens and Shrivers alike—are stomping and cheering and alternating between various moves: the Mashed Potato, the Twist, the Swim, the Loco-Motion, the Watusi, the Pony in pairs. Aemond whistles to a photographer and then nods to where you are holding onto one of Cosmo’s tiny hands as he spins around at lawless, breakneck speed. Of course this would make for a good image: you being maternal, you promising the American people that they will one day have not only a first lady but a first family.

“And I turned 21 in prison doin’ life without parole

No one could steer me right but Mama tried, Mama tried

Mama tried to raise me better, but her pleading I denied

That leaves only me to blame ‘cause Mama tried.”

Cameras flash and the crowd keeps clapping. Cosmo giggles wildly each time he almost falls and you pull him back to his feet. There is a hand skimming around your waist, a listless powder blue dress your husband chose for you. Aemond replaces Cosmo as your dance partner. Aegon’s 10-year-old daughter Violeta spirits Cosmo away; Aemond reels you in close, one palm pressed into the small of your back, his left hand gripping your right. When you steal a glimpse of Aegon—still strumming, still singing—he doesn’t look so triumphant anymore. His grin is frozen and artificial. His drunk muddy eyes go steely.

“I need you to do something for me,” Aemond begins.

Of course, you once would have said. Anything. “What is it?”

“I want you to cut your hair like Jackie.”

You’re so stunned your feet stop moving. Aemond coaxes you back into the steps. “No.”

“Think about how much more versatile it would be. Jackie is an icon, she’s sophisticated, she’s mature.”

“If you wanted a wife in her thirties, you could have easily found one.”

“Honey—”

“I do everything you ask,” you say, barely more than a whisper. “Everything. I wear what you want me to. I go where you want me to. I spend ten hours a week getting my hair fixed. I keep it up, I keep it presentable. But I’m not chopping it off.”

“You’re never going to be able to wear it down anyway,” Aemond counters, so calm, so rational, like your skull is nothing but incendiary feminine mania. “If I win, you’ll be surrounded by staff and journalists for years. You can’t be photographed with it down, you look about eighteen. And like you live on a park bench in Haight-Ashbury.”

“It’s my hair. I’m keeping it.”

Aemond leans in and says, cold and severe: “You’re my wife, and everything that’s yours belongs to me.” Then he kisses your cheek as cameras click and strobe. “Think about it. Now smile.”

You force yourself to. The crowd applauds as Aegon finishes singing and flees the dancefloor. The DJ puts on Light My Fire by The Doors. You and Aemond leave in opposite directions: he goes to talk to Eunice Kennedy, who is hugging her 3-year-old son Anthony to her chest; you return to your table to drain the last of your Pink Squirrel. You need something stronger. You need to be alone so you can collect yourself.

Now Aegon has shed his guitar and is standing with his back to the wall, smoking a Lucky Strike and talking to some campaign staffer—she looks like a girl, but she’s probably your age—who is gazing up at him worshipfully. She says something that makes him laugh, his head thrown back, his eyes sparkling, and you feel like you’re waking up from your c-section all over again, your belly split open and rearranged, aching, stabbing, nauseous.

“Are you okay?” Ludwika asks, scrutinizing you.

“I’m perfect. I’ll be right back.”

You hurry out of the ballroom, the music fading behind you. You slip into one of the elevators in the lobby and hit the button for the top floor, where Aemond’s entourage has booked every suite. As the door is closing—as only a foot of space remains—Aegon shoves his way into the elevator, startling you. The door shuts behind him and you begin the ascent. Aegon slams the red emergency stop button, and the elevator jolts to a halt.

“What the hell are you doing—?!”

“What pissed you off, huh?” Aegon taunts, stepping closer. You back away from him until you run out of room; not because you want the distance, but because you’re afraid of what you’ll do if it’s gone.

“Nothing. I’m so great, I’ve never been better, can’t you tell?”

He’s so close you can feel the heat rising off his flushed skin, you can see the miles-deep murky blue of his irises, open water, shipwrecks and drowning. “You want all this to be over? You want the women with their big, adoring eyes and their short skirts to disappear? Grow up. Stop acting like a kid. Ask for it.”

“Ask for what?”

“You know.”

If you touch him now, you won’t be able to stop. There’s nowhere for us to go. There’s no way out of this family, this year, this world. “I don’t. I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Aegon barks out a sardonic, cutting laugh. “Yeah, you’re definitely 23.”

“I thought you loved girls young enough to be your daughters. Isn’t that what gets you hard?”

“You’re a fucking coward.”

“You’re sweating on me, you pig.”

“You want it so bad,” Aegon whispers as he presses himself against you, his ribs and thighs and hips, and you clutch for the walls of the elevator so you don’t reach for him instead. His left hand is tearing your hair out of its clips and pins so it falls free like you used to wear it; the right is all over your face, your jaw, your chin, your cheeks, touching you ceaselessly, ravenously, a blind man reading chronicles of braille. You’re trying to turn away from him, but he keeps pulling you back in. You’re breathing his rum and nicotine, you’re gasping in low, starved moans. It might be more intimate than kissing, than sex. He’s already felt your body. What he asks for now is your soul. His words are warm and aching as he murmurs through loosed strands of your hair: “Tell me you want it, please, just tell me, just tell me, tell me and it’s yours.”

Your palms land on his bare, damp chest, and Aegon starts unfastening the last buttons of his shirt. Instead, you push him away. Aegon lets you. He surrenders. “I can’t,” you choke out. You hit the red button, and the elevator resumes its rise to the top floor of the hotel.

“I’m really fucked up right now,” he says with sudden realization, swaying, staring down at his feet like he fears he’ll lose track of them.

“I’m aware.”

“I’m sorry. I think…I think I wanted that to happen differently.”

“I can’t trust you when you’re like this,” you say. I feel like I can’t trust anyone. Aegon looks up at you, his glassy eyes large and wounded. When the elevator door opens, you step out and he stays in, riding it back to the lobby.

In the suite you share with Aemond, you turn on the radio and spin the dial until you find a Loretta Lynn song. You go to the minibar cabinet and down two tiny glass bottles of vodka, something that won’t make you smell like too much of a drunk. You’ll have to fix your hair before you go back to the ballroom; you’ll have to change your dress. You’re painted with Aegon’s sweat and smoke. You can’t risk your husband noticing. You slide open the top drawer of the nightstand on your side of the bed and take out the card you keep there, the one that travels with you to each stop on the campaign trail. Loretta Lynn croons from the radio, wronged and wrathful.

“If you don’t wanna go to Fist City

You’d better detour around my town

‘Cause I’ll grab you by the hair of your head

And I’ll lift you off of the ground

I'm not a-sayin’ my baby is a saint, ‘cause he ain’t

And that he won’t cat around with a kitty

I’m here to tell you, gal, to lay off of my man

If you don’t wanna go to Fist City.”

You lie on the floor and peer up at the card in your hands: jubilant cartoon cow, festive party hat. You know exactly what’s written on the inside; it’s etched into your memory like myths passed down through millennia. Nevertheless, you read it again. The original message is still crossed out, and there’s an addendum below it in hasty black ink: I thought this was blank…congrats on the new calf!

You graze your thumbprint across Aegon’s scrawled signature. It’s smudged now. You do this a lot. One day his name might disappear altogether from the stark white parchment, from memory.

You close the card and hug it to your chest like a mother holds a living child.

~~~~~~~~~~

“What’s going on between you and Aegon?”

Alarmed, you meet Aemond’s gaze, two reflections in the vanity mirror. It’s the next morning, and you’re finishing up your makeup. Your dress and jacket are striped with black and white, your jewelry is silver, chains on your wrists and small tasteful hoops in your ears. “Nothing.” There is a lull you have to fill before it becomes suspicious. “He’s been helpful, he’s been…you know. Ever since Mount Sinai.”

Aemond adjusts his cerulean blue tie, studying himself in the mirror. He’s still wearing his leather eyepatch. Putting in his glass eye is the last thing he does before leaving the suite each day. “He was a comfort to you.”

“Well, he was there.”

“Because I told him to be,” Aemond says, resting his hands on the back of your chair. “Someone had to stay at Asteria to keep tabs on things, to let me know what you were up to. Aegon was the most expendable. Mimi and the kids make for good photos, but Aegon…he’s not especially endearing to the public. Those few years as the mayor of Trenton just about ruined him. I’d love to make him the attorney general if I win, but I don’t think the people would stomach it. Maybe if he behaves himself he can have the job for my second term.”

Eight years, you think, unable to fathom it. Eight years in a fishbowl. Eight years lying under Aemond as he tries to get me pregnant with children neither of us can love.

Aemond leans down to touch his lips to the side of your throat. “I’m glad you’re finally friends,” he says. “Aegon’s not all bad. But don’t let him get you in trouble.”

“I wouldn’t.” What did you and Aemond talk about before Ari died? What was this marriage built on? The senate, the presidency, civil rights, poverty, the Space Race, Vietnam, Greek mythology. Everything but each other. Dreams and ideals that would dwarf any mortal, would render them invisible.

“And watch out for any reporters from the Wall Street Journal. They’d kill for Nixon. If they can twist your words, they will.” He gets something from inside his own nightstand: the bloodstained komboskini from when he was shot in Palm Beach. He places it in your right hand, all 100 knots. “Give this to someone today. You know how to do it, you’ve always understood this part. Pick the right person, the right moment. Make sure there are plenty of cameras around.”

“Where am I going? Lunch with the mayor’s wife, that’s this afternoon, isn’t it?”

Aemond nods. “And a few other stops. Then we’re going to the Alamo in San Antonio tomorrow.”

“Okay.”

He recoils, reaches for the left half of his face, kneads the scar tissue there as nerve pain radiates through his flesh all the way down to the bone. Once you felt such agonizing pity for him; now all you can think about is the matching scar you wear on your belly, hidden and shameful and a badge of your inadequacies: your body too weak to protect Ari, your mind too pliable to resist being ensnared by the crushing gravity of this man, this family, this life.

“How can I help?” you ask Aemond, because it’s the right thing to do. And randomly, you find yourself remembering the statue of Apollo in Helaena’s garden back at Asteria, the god of music, healing, truth, prophesy.

“You can’t.” Aemond goes to the bathroom to force his glass eye into its socket. You depart for the hotel lobby where Ludwika and Mimi, your companions for the day, are already waiting. Ludwika is wearing a rose pink Chanel skirt suit. Mimi—relatively functional, as she hasn’t been awake long enough to ruin herself yet—is dressed in delicate dove grey.

Alicent, Helaena, and the children are scheduled to tour a local high school and library; Criston, unsurprisingly, is going with them. Aemond, accompanied by Otto, has a series of meetings with local business leaders and politicians. Aegon and Fosco are headed to the Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center to promise maimed soldiers that Aemond will end the war that carved out bits of them and filled the voids with screaming nightmares. The limousine you share with Ludwika and Mimi ferries you first to the NASA’s Manned Spacecraft Center. Mimi is entranced by the reflective surface of the helmets, coated with gold to divert blinding sunbeams; in turn, the astronauts are entranced by Ludwika, who leaves lipstick smudges on their cheeks when she kisses them. Next is a tea party hosted by Iola Faye Cure Welch, the mayoress of Houston since 1964 and the mother of five children. And as you nibble daintily at triangle-shaped sandwiches and trudge through small talk about flowers and furniture, you can’t stop smiling. You can’t stop thinking about how ridiculous Aegon would think this is if he was here.

The driver mentions one last stop, then coasts through midafternoon traffic towards the city center. You spend the ride touching up your hair and makeup. Ludwika offers to let you borrow her seduction-red lipstick; you politely decline. You step out of the limo and shield your eyes from the glare of the Texas sun. It takes your vision a moment to adjust, and then you realize where you are. The sign above the main entranceway reads: Houston Methodist Hospital. The air snags in your throat, your lungs are empty. Your hands tremble violently. The earth rocks beneath your white high heels. Mount Sinai is the last hospital you walked into, and you left with your son in a casket so small it could have been mistaken for a shoebox.

“Alright, let’s go,” Ludwika says, linking an arm through yours. Mimi, badly in need of a drink, is looking deflated and edgy. “We are almost done. And I have been promised a medium-rare steak for dinner! Mushrooms and onions too! The Statue of Liberty did not lie. This country is a golden door.”

“I can’t.”

Ludwika stares at you. “What?”

“I can’t, I can’t go in there.”

“What is she talking about?” Ludwika asks Mimi, who shakes her head, mystified.

“I can’t,” you whimper.

They’ve never seen you like this. They don’t know what to do. They listen to you, that is the hierarchy; but it’s too late to change course now. Journalists are approaching in a swarm. Nurses and doctors are gathering by the front door to welcome you.

He knew, you think, suddenly furious. Aemond knew, and he didn’t tell me.

“It will be okay,” Ludwika says, patting your back awkwardly. “We are here with you. Nothing bad will happen.”

“Oh,” Mimi breathes, understanding. She looks at you with sympathy that shimmers on the surface of the opaque, polluted lake of her mind. Then she catches Ludwika’s eye and skims a hand down her own slim midsection. Ari, she mouths, and Ludwika’s face falls.

The doctors and nurses are whistling and applauding; the journalists are snapping photos and scrounging for quotes. You feel your conditioning over the past two years taking over: straight posture, gentle smile, hands clasped demurely together. But you are locked away somewhere underneath.

“Do not worry,” Ludwika tells you softly. “We will talk, we will make it easier for you.” Then she and Mimi begin boisterously shaking hands and thanking people for coming as you make your way through the crowd of journalists and towards the main entrance of the hospital.

People are saying things to you, but you don’t really hear them. You reply with words you won’t remember afterwards. You nod frequently and go wherever you are led. Doctors are explaining new research into placenta previa and c-sections. Nurses are showing you a state-of-the-art NICU for premature infants. Someone is placing a baby in your arms, and you can’t do anything but accept it numbly. You can’t look down at it, you can’t allow yourself to feel the weight of some other woman’s child. You wear your smile like armor and let the photographers capture their snapshots, painting a frame around you, deciding where you live.

Then you are introduced to the parents, women in hospital beds and men perched in chairs beside them, just like the one where Aegon slept at Mount Sinai. They take your hands when you offer them and tell you about their small children, sick children, dying children. One patient just delivered twins. The first did not survive beyond a few hours, but the second is in an incubator and gaining strength. You recall the komboskini stained with Aemond’s blood and take it out of your purse, give it to the suffering mother, watch faith rise in her face like dawn over the Atlantic. But you won’t remember her. You cannot allow yourself to.

Outside as you, Ludwika, and Mimi are headed back to the limousine, the journalists make one last attempt to poach a headline-worthy quote. “Mrs. Targaryen! Mrs. Targaryen!” a young man shouts, clambering to the front of the horde and jabbing a microphone in your face. “I’m from the Houston Chronicle. Can you tell me how the senator feels about the failure of the most recent phase of the Tet Offensive?”

You are in a fog; you don’t feel real, this moment and this city don’t feel real, and so you cannot remember what Aemond would want you to say. “The Vietnam War has claimed too many lives already. We should have never sent our men there to die. But since that is done, the best thing we can do now is end the draft immediately and then withdrawal from the region as soon as the South Vietnamese are able to defend their own territory, which is their responsibility.” The journalist already considers this effort fruitful and begins to retreat, but you have one last point to make. Ludwika and Mimi watch you anxiously. “I lost someone in Vietnam. I met him when I was in college. He had a good heart, and he joined because he thought it was wrong for poor men to have to fight while rich kids got exemptions, and he was killed in action in October of 1965.”

“This was a friend?” the journalist asks, eyes glowing hungrily. Then he adds as an afterthought: “I’m terribly sorry for your loss.”

“A boyfriend. Corporal Cameron Marino from Schenectady, New York. People called him Cam.”

A solemn murmur ripples through the crowd. Hats are removed, hands held to chests. “Rest in peace, Cam,” someone says. Maybe they have somebody they care about in Vietnam, a friend or a lover or a brother. You wave goodbye and climb into the limousine. The outpouring swells as you vanish: We love you, Mrs. Targaryen! God bless you, Mrs. Targaryen!

In the lobby of the Texas State Hotel, you tell Ludwika and Mimi not to follow you. They have to listen. After some hesitation, Mimi heads for the bar in the ballroom; Ludwika asks the staff at the front desk if she’ll be able to make a call to Poland with the phone in her room. You take the elevator to the top floor. Fosco is in the hallway, on his way back from one of the vending machines with a Fresca. When he sees your face, his jaw drops.

“Dio mio, what happened?”

“Nothing,” you say, tears biting in your eyes. You pass him, digging your key out of your purse.

“Are you sure—?”

“Fosco, please. I don’t want to talk.”

“Okay,” he says doubtfully. Then he seems to get an idea and strides away with great purpose. You take shelter in your suite, silent and dim; Aemond isn’t back yet. You brace yourself against the locked door and sob into empty, trembling hands, at last hidden away where no one can see you, where no one can be disturbed or disappointed. You know now that none of it was healed—not the loss, not the revelations—but only buried, and now it’s all been unearthed again and the pain shrieks like exposed nerves.

It’s not fair. Ari deserved better, I deserved better.

There’s nothing you can do. Your hands ache to hold someone that no longer exists. You can’t unlearn the truth of what your marriage is.

There are two knocks, quick and rough. “Hey, it’s me.” And there’s such pure intimacy in those words. You know my voice. You know why I’m here. “Open the door.”

“I’m okay, just, just, just leave me alone—”

“Open the door,” Aegon says again. “Or I’ll get security up here to do it for you.”

Swiping the tears from your face, you let him in. He’s dressed in baggy black shorts, nothing on his feet, an unbuttoned stolen green army jacket. You once thought he wore those to play the part of a revolutionary from the comfort of his East Coast seaside mansion. Now you understand it’s because he misses Daeron, because he believes he should have gone to Vietnam instead. There are several dog tags strung around his neck; some of the veterans at the medical center he visited must have gifted them to him.

“What’s wrong?” Aegon’s eyes sweep over you, seeking, horrified. “What did he do?”

You can’t answer, you can’t breathe. You back away from him as more tears spill down your cheeks.

“Hey, hey, hey, let me help you. Please don’t be upset. Did he say something, did he hurt you?” Aegon reaches out, and as soon as he touches you your knees buckle and you’re on the floor, trying not to wail, trying not to scream, and Aegon is pulling you against his chest—bare skin, borrowed metal—and his hands are on your face and in your hair, and his lips are against your forehead as he murmurs: “Shh, shh, don’t cry. It’s okay.”

“No it’s not.”

“Whatever it is, I can help.”

“I had to go to a hospital and hold babies and I, I, I never even got to touch him, not once, not ever, and I can’t now because he’s gone. He’s locked in some fucking vault, he’s just bones, but he was supposed to be a person, and those other babies are going to get to grow up but he isn’t, and it’s not fair.”

“You’re right,” Aegon agrees softly, still holding you.

“No one else knew him.”

“I did. I was there the whole time.”

“Only because Aemond made you stay.”

“No,” Aegon swears. “I was supposed to spy on you. He never told me to do any of the rest of it. I stayed because I wanted to.”

“You did,” you say, very quietly, weakly, conceding.

“And I’m still here now.”

Your lungs aren’t burning quite so much. Your tears are slowing. You unravel yourself from Aegon, averting your eyes. Now you’re ashamed; you aren’t in the habit of revealing to people how much you’re splintering like cracked glass, fresh fractures every time you think to check the damage. “I’m, um, I’m really sorry.”

“Look, I don’t mean to bring up unpleasant memories, but this is definitely not the most embarrassing thing I’ve seen you do.”

You laugh, only for a few seconds, and Aegon smiles as he mops the tears from your face with the sleeve of his army jacket. Then he turns serious again.

“Can I ask you something? It’s very personal. It’s offensive, honestly. But I have to know.”

“You can ask.”

“Do you want more children?”

More children. Because Ari was real. “Not now. Not with Aemond.”

Aegon nods, suspicions confirmed. “Can you do that sponge thing you told me about?”

“No. I think he’d be able to feel it, he’s…” You gesture vaguely. It’s difficult to say. “He’s big.”

Aegon didn’t want to hear that. He didn’t want to have to think about it. He flinches, just enough that you notice. But as much as he’d like to, he doesn’t change the subject. “What about the pill?”

“No doctor is going to write me a prescription without my husband’s permission. Especially considering who my husband is.”

“I hate this fucking country,” Aegon hisses. “Puritanical goddamn hellscape. Old Testament bullshit.” He drags his fingers through his hair a few times, then pats your cheek like he did before: twice, gently, playfully. “Come on. Let’s go smoke.”

“I can’t do it on the balcony. Someone might get a picture.”

“Okay. No big deal. We’ll go to the roof.”

You stare at him. “The roof?”

“You really think I haven’t already been up there?” He stands and offers you his hand. “You’ll love it. The view is fantastic.”

The view is good, but the grass is better. You know that it makes some people useless, others paranoid, but for you it’s always painted the world a color that is softer, kinder, lighter, more bearable. You and Aegon lie next to each other, smoking and watching twilight fall over Houston like a spell. You’ll have to shower and gulp some Listerine before Aemond gets anywhere near you. It’s interesting; each day you seem to acquire new secrets to keep from him.

Aegon asks: “Where would you be right now if you weren’t Mrs. Targaryen?”

“Probably married to someone worse.”

He raises an eyebrow. “Okay, but let’s say you weren’t. Let’s say you can do whatever you want.” He points up at the lavender sky and acts like he’s moving the emerging glimmers of stars around with his fingertip. “There, I’ve changed your fate. Who would you be?”

You ponder this. “I want to teach math to kids and then spend every summer break getting baked on some beach.”

Aegon cackles. “Hell, sign me up.” He lights a third joint for himself with his tiny chrome Zippo. “Those are the people doing the real work. Teachers, nurses, farmers electricians, plumbers, welders, firemen, therapists, janitors, public defenders. The normal, unglamorous types.”

“You don’t think presidents and senators make a difference?”

“Sure they do. But only like 5% of the job is actually helping people. The rest of it is schmoozing and tea parties and making speeches, because looking and sounding good is better than doing good. They’re addicted to vapid pretenses that make them feel important. You live like that and you forget how to be a human. I mean, look at Nixon. The man was raised as a Quaker, one of the most peaceful religions on earth, and now he’s planning to throw ten or twenty thousand more boys into the great Vietnamese meatgrinder and probably napalm the hell out of Cambodia and Laos while he’s at it to get the communists’ supply lines. The man’s got no idea who he is anymore. I’d feel sorry for him if I wasn’t so terrified he’s gonna start World War III.”

I wonder who Aemond was a few decades ago. “What makes you feel important?”

“Nothing,” Aegon says. “I’m not under any delusions that I matter.”

“I think you matter, old man.”

“Really?”

“A little bit. About this much.” You hold your hand up to show him the infinitesimal space between your thumb and index finger, and Aegon chuckles, his eyes glazed and bloodshot.

“Let’s do it,” he says with sudden, forceful conviction. “If Nixon wins in November, we’ll get out of here. I’ll go back to Yuma to teach on the reservation and you can come with me. You get a math class, I take English, or Music, or both, whatever. We’ll buy a bungalow out in the desert and make s’mores every night and look up at the stars. I’ll show you how to play guitar if you give me algebra lessons.”

You peek over at him, intrigued. “Is that all we’re going to do?”

“Well we’ll fuck, obviously.”

“Oh, obviously.” You giggle; it’s ridiculous, it’s paradisical, it’s insane how good it sounds. But surely that’s only because you’re high. “I don’t know how Mimi would feel about that.”

“She won’t care. She doesn’t want me anymore, hasn’t in years. Sometimes she just forgets that when she’s wasted. Mimi can go to Arizona too. We’ll load up the kids in a van and strap her to the roof.”

Now your voice is somber. “She was supposed to fix you.”

“Yeah,” Aegon says: slow, meditative, guilty. “I think Mimi and I have a few too many of the same demons.”

You roll over, push yourself up on your palms, and crawl to the edge of the rooftop. You prop your elbows on the ledge and gaze out into the city lights, the sky turning from violet to indigo to primordial darkness. Aegon joins you, staring down at the distant aquamarine rectangle of the hotel pool.

He asks: “You think I could make that?”

“No.”

“Should I try?”

“You definitely shouldn’t.”

“A few months ago, you would have pushed me off this roof.”

You shrug. “You’ve proved yourself useful.”

“That’s why you like me now? Because I’m useful?”

“Who said I like you?” you tease, smiling.

“You like me,” Aegon says, grinning and smug, radiant in the silver moonlight and urban incandescence. “You like me so much it scares you. But there’s no need to panic. It’s okay. I know the feeling.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

You want to touch him, you want him to touch you, you want to study every arc and angle of him like he’s a marble statue in a garden: too beautiful to be mortal, too fragile to be divine.

~~~~~~~~~~

Three nights later in Nebraska, there is a knock on the door of your hotel suite. The nannies have herded the children off to bed; the adults are unwinding downstairs in the courtyard of the Sheraton Omaha, designed to resemble an Italian garden. There’s a brand new Jacuzzi that you’re looking forward to taking a dip in. You finish pulling on your swimsuit, white and patterned with sunflowers, a one-piece with a flared skirt.

“Who is it?”

“It’s Richard Nixon,” Aegon says through the door. “Naked. Horny. Please love me.”

You laugh and let him in. He’s leaning against the doorframe in Hawaiian swim trunks and nothing else, pink sunburn glowing on his soft chest. He holds up a brown paper bag and shakes it.

“For you.”

“What is it, heroin?” Instead, you open the bag to find small, circular packs of pills. “No way. You did not.”

“That’s enough for six months,” Aegon says, smirking, proud of himself. “I’ll be back again in February. Guess that makes me your dealer, babe. I don’t accept cash, checks, or cards, only sexual favors. You want to get down on your knees, or should I?”

“How did you get these?”

“I told a doctor they’re for one of my whores.”

“Maybe they are.”

You’ve surprised him, you’ve got him thinking about it now. His face flushes a splotchy, charming pink. “So, uh, you coming down to the courtyard?”

“Yeah. Right now. Just let me hide these first. Are there instructions in here…?”

“Mm hmm,” Aegon says, still distracted, studying the entirely unremarkable carpet. You stow the paper bag of birth control pills in the bottom of your bras and panties drawer, then walk with Aegon to take the elevator down to the ground floor. You both notice the bright red emergency stop button and share a glance, smirking, taunting.

In the courtyard, Alicent is struggling to pay attention as Helaena identifies each and every species of plant and explains where in the world it is native to. Fosco is simultaneously teaching Criston how to yo-yo and berating him for not believing the Cubs will end up in the World Series. Fosco has apparently bet $500 on them. Ludwika is stretched out on a lounge chair like a cat and reading a copy of Cosmopolitan. Aemond, wearing his eyepatch and a blue pair of swim trunks, appears to be arguing with Otto over the contents of a newspaper article. Mimi is alone in the Jacuzzi, bubbles rumbling all around her as she slumps against the rim, a frosty Gimlet clutched in one hand.

“Mimi, get out of the Jacuzzi,” you order.

“I’m fine!” she slurs, and you groan, knowing you’re going to have to drag her out.

Aemond is approaching; no, not approaching, raging. “What the hell is wrong with you? What the fuck is this?” He hurls the newspaper at you, the Houston Chronicle. The headline reads: To Mrs. Targaryen, ending the Vietnam War is personal. “Why would you tell somebody that? Other papers are going to start reporting this. You gave them his full name. They’ve found his school, his friends, his gravesite in motherfucking Arlington National Cemetery—”

“You set me up,” you say. “You didn’t tell me about the hospital.”

Aegon takes the newspaper from you and frantically skims the article. “Hey, man,” he tells Aemond as he pieces it together, attempting to deescalate. It’s not a skill you knew he possessed. “She was rattled, she wasn’t thinking clearly. And there’s nothing bad in this article. It makes her sound invested and sympathetic, not…um…whatever you’re thinking.”

“You don’t get it,” Aemond seethes. “Journalists are going to start hounding his friends, his classmates, people who lived in his dorm building. Nixon’s newspapers will publish any gossip they can dig up about what she did when she was in school. Things people saw, things people overheard—”

“What, the fact that she had one boyfriend before she met you? That’s worthy of a nuclear meltdown?! Better prepare for Armageddon, a woman got laid, launch the goddamn warheads!”

“She doesn’t get to have a past! She should understand that, she signed up for this, she knew exactly what was expected of her!”

“And what about your past?” Aegon says, low and searing, and Aemond goes quiet. Their eyes are locked on each other: Aegon defiant, Aemond unnerved. You try to remember if you’ve ever seen that expression on his face before. You don’t think you have. Not even when he was shot and half-blinded. Not even when Ari died.

“What does that mean?” you ask your husband. Still staring at Aegon—tangled in a thorny, silent battle of wills—he doesn’t reply.

There are swift, thudding footsteps. Otto grabs Aegon by his hair, hooks a finger through the small gold hoop in his right ear, and tears it straight through the earlobe. Aegon screams as blood streams down his face, feeling the ravaged fringes of his flesh.

“I told you to take those out,” Otto says. “Now remove the other one before I rip it free, and go get yourself stitched up.”

You do something you’ve never done before, never even thought of. You strike out with both hands and shove Otto so hard he goes staggering backwards, his arms wheeling. The others are yelling and rushing over. Aemond is trying to yank you to him, but he can’t get a grip on your swimsuit. “I will kill you!” you roar at Otto. “I will push you down a staircase, I will slit your fucking throat, don’t you ever touch him!”

Alicent is weeping, appalled, trying to get a look at Aegon’s damaged ear. Criston is helping her, moving Aegon’s bloodied hair out of the way. Fosco links his arms around your waist and drags you out of Aemond’s reach just as he’s getting his fingers beneath a strap of your swimsuit. Helaena is covering her face with her hands and wailing. Ludwika is shrieking at Otto: “What did you do? Don’t give me that, what did you do?!”

You are engulfed with rage, red and irresistible. You’re trying to bolt out of Fosco’s grasp. You want to claw Otto’s eyes out; you want to put a bullet in him. As you struggle, you catch a glimpse of the Jacuzzi. You don’t see Mimi anymore.

“Wait,” you plead, but nobody hears you over the noise. You look desperately at Fosco. “Where’s Mimi?!”

Once he figures out what you’re trying to say, he whirls towards the Jacuzzi. “No!” he bellows, releasing you, and careens across the courtyard. You dash after him. Now the others understand, and they come running too. You see it just before Fosco dives in: there is a shadow at the bottom of the Jacuzzi. When he bursts up though the roiling water, he is carrying Mimi, limp and unconscious and blue.

Everyone is shouting at once. Fosco lays Mimi down on the cobblestones of the courtyard. Criston sends Ludwika to call an ambulance, kneels beside Mimi, checks for a pulse. Then he begins CPR. When he breathes air into her flooded lungs, there is no response, no resurrection.

“No, no, no, she has to be alright!” Aemond says, and everyone knows why. If she’s not, this will consume the headlines for days: no victorious campaigning, no speeches or photos, just a drowned alcoholic with a damning autopsy report.

“Oh my god,” Otto moans, pacing. “This can’t be happening, not this year, not now…”

Alicent seizes your hand and squeezes it until you think it will break. She is reciting prayers in Greek. Helaena is curled up under a butterfly bush, sobbing hysterically. When he realizes this, Otto hurries to comfort her.

“Don’t watch, Helaena. Let’s go inside, I’ll walk with you, there’s nothing more we can do here.”

“Mimi?!” Aegon commands, slapping her hard across the face. “Mimi, come on, wake up! Mimi? Mimi!” She’s still motionless, she’s still blue. Aegon turns to you, blood smeared all over the right side of his face. He’s petrified, he’s in shock. “I think she’s…she’s…”

“She’s gone,” Criston says; and he lifts his palms from her hollow body. The silent sky above is a labyrinth of bad stars.

[daddyslilchickenfingers2]

Kinktober (reuploaded)

Breeding (Chris)

Request: Baby fever with Chris I BEG YOU/omg when you write breeding Chris can you add Y/N saying she wants to have a baby with such pretty blue eyes like Chris

Warnings: Talk of pregnancy, breeding obviously, soft/slow sex

Y/n’s pov

Chris and I have been dating since we were 17 but I’ve known him and his brothers since we were 4 years old. From the moment we started dating, our families always joked saying we’d get married one day. Well, that was a future reality, since Chris had proposed to me in May of this year. Even though we’ve only been engaged for a few months and we’re only 20, I would love to start a family with him. We had this conversation the other day with Nick and Matt, for some reason the topic was babies and Chris was ecstatic.

“I want like four or five babies! I can’t wait until Y/n gets pregnant, she’s gonna be so cute with our baby in her belly” he smiled, poking me in the stomach. “Ow Chris don’t do that. We do have baby fever though” I laughed as Nick grimaced. “I hate babies and I hate children” he said, Matt smacked him, “Oh shut up Nick you know when they have a baby you’re gonna be the cool gay uncle” he laughed. “I’m not changing diapers” Nick grimaced again, “I wanna make Y/n fat and pregnant” Chris beamed happily.

That was like five days ago, today we were having a lazy day, we lived in the guest house behind Matt and Nick’s. They got it built after hearing me and Chris fuck too many times, but still, it was a nice gesture and we get to still live with them basically. “Would you really have babies with me?” I asked Chris as I cuddled up to his side. “I’d love nothing more than to get you fat and pregnant. Our babies would look so cute” I could literally hear the smile in his voice. I pulled away and sat up against the headboard, Chris doing the same right after, looking at me with a big smile.

“Our kids can’t call me daddy though, that would be fucking weird” he laughed, causing me to smack his chest. “They could call my parents Mimi and Papa, and yours Grammy and Pop-Pop. Those sound so cute!” I gushed. “My dad would love Pop-Pop” Chris laughed again. “You know what I would love?” I asked, earning a small hum for me to continue, “I’d love for the baby to have your pretty blue eyes and gorgeous pink lips” I told him as my eyes shifted between the two, Chris doing the same to me. “Yeah?” he asked breathlessly against my lips, “Yeah” I said back in the same way.

Chris leaned in and softly pressed his lips against mine, moving us to lay back. “Let’s make that blue-eyed baby right now! You’re off birth control right?” he asked softly, stroking my cheek with his thumb. “Yes, now let’s make that baby” I smiled, placing a passionate kiss to his lips, after a few minutes, Chris pulled away. He took off his shirt and sweats before pushing my shirt up to see my stomach. “You’re gonna look so good pregnant. Can’t wait to put a baby in your belly” he said while kissing all over my stomach.

“Chris— babe please hurry!” “Sorry, I’m just so excited to have a kid with you” he blushed hard. Chris pulled my shirt over my head before taking off both our underwear, running two fingers through my folds. “So wet already- can we just go straight into softly fucking?” he asked breathlessly, “God, yes” I whined back. Chris slowly slid in and started thrusting fairly fast right away, not too fast though. I pulled him down for another kiss and we let breathless moans out into it, having both a passionate kiss and sex. I was running my fingers through his hair softly while the other held onto the side of his jaw.

One of Chris’ hands moved down to my clit, rubbing it quickly. Pulling away from the kiss, he started talking, “This is like the slowest sex we’ve ever had but— shit! This is gonna be the fastest I’ve ever cum, want you to cum for me princess” he said lowly. I let out a few loud moans before I started cumming, “Oh fuck Chris, so good babe. Want you to cum in me” I moaned. Chris hid his head in my neck, whining as he came in me, pumping into me a few more times before pulling out. He immediately moved down to finger his cum into me, not wanting any to spill out.

“Can’t believe we’re going to have a baby” he said excitedly, kissing all over my stomach. “They’re going to have the prettiest blue eyes, just like their dad” I smiled while playing with his hair. “God, I love you so much Y/n!” he said, looking at the pretty engagement ring on my finger. “I love you so much more” I replied as we both cuddled up with each other and drifted off to sleep, hoping we’d have a happy little family soon.

<<< 12 months later>>>

A few months ago I gave birth to a beautiful baby boy, Chris was ecstatic to find out he was going to have a son. He does, in fact, have Chris’ pretty blue eyes, he’s so tiny but you can already tell he has his dads nose as well. We named him Nolan Cole Sturniolo, Chris is literally the best dad ever, he helps me with everything. Matt and Nick are so excited that they’re uncles now, Matt always offers to babysit him so me and Chris can go on date nights. I wonder if he’ll be confused when he grows up, having a dad and two uncles who look exactly the same and all. Anyways I’m very happy with our little family.

[lunaflowers]

falling (chanyeol x reader)

pairing: step brother!chanyeol x reader word count: 2.8k+ genre: smut, angst warnings: slightly dom!chanyeol, slightly bratty!reader, pseudo incest, cowgirl position, dirty talk, some degradation, name-calling, hickeys, breeding kink, lots of angst synopsis: you've fallen in love with the one person you can't have author's note: this ended up being completely different than what it was meant to be but i hope you guys enjoy it nonetheless. unedited.

It was your first time visiting home since you’d moved out months ago to go to grad school. You’d missed the place. You were looking forward to sleeping in your childhood bed and eating your mom’s cooking and playing with your baby half-sister, Mimi. You were even looking forward to your step dad's diatribes on politics and the future of the country. The one thing you weren’t looking forward to was–

“Hey YN,” Chanyeol, your step brother, opened the door with a small smile on his face. He was currently serving in the military and had a couple days off to be at home. Chanyeol’s father had married your mother when the both of you were 16. He and his father had moved into the house you and your mother shared and although it was initially an adjustment, you were happy to see your mother so happy after such a long time. You’d never known your own father, being the product of a one-night stand during your mother’s younger, wilder years, and your stepfather seemed to balance out her somewhat flighty personality.

“Hey Chanyeol,” you said, a little uneasily. The only issue was your super hot, tall, stepbrother. As soon as you met Chanyeol the first time, you felt an immediate attraction to him. And he obviously felt the same as within a few weeks of him moving in all those years ago, the two of you had ended up in bed together, losing your virginities to each other.

As time went on, you and Chanyeol began having sex whenever your parents were out. Every single time you swore it would be the last time, but try as you might, you couldn’t resist him. It wasn’t just sex. Chanyeol was funny and sweet and jovial and just so much fun to be around. You didn’t understand how you were expected not to fall for him.

He pulled your luggage from your hand without asking and began to carry it to your room. You followed him, “Where’s my mom? And your dad?” The house was quiet, not bustling with activity the way it usually was with a toddler buzzing around.

“They took Mimi to her dentist appointment,” Chanyeol replied, putting your bag down beside your bed. Mimi was the sister that you and Chanyeol shared, a cherub-faced two-year-old who was excessively doted on by both her mother and her father. It was sweet, like they were both desperate to do the parenting thing right this time now that they had a partner to do it with. “They just left so they probably won’t be home for an hour or two.”

You nodded, trying to ignore the feeling in your gut. “Well, that’s a shame. I’ll just wait for them then, I guess.” You were being awkward, which wasn’t like you. But you felt awkward and you didn’t really know how to hide it. Spending time alone with Chanyeol was dangerous. You were your weakest self when you were with him.

“YN,” Chanyeol said suddenly, grabbing your hand. You froze, looking into his eyes for the first time since you got home. “Come on. Shouldn’t we talk?” He rubbed the back of your palm with his thumb, a familiar gesture. It was enough to make you feel slightly flustered.

“Chanyeol…” you let out shakily, “There isn’t really anything to talk about, is there? It’s wrong.” You tried to end it last time you saw him. Really end it. You figured that now that you were going off to school, putting considerable distance between the two of you, maybe it would stick. But it still didn’t seem to do so for him.

Chanyeol’s eyebrows furrowed. “Is it?” He pulled you in closer, moving his hand so that it was gripping your wrist now.

“Don’t do that. You know it is. Don’t start trying to justify it just because you’re horny and–”

“No. Don’t fucking demean it like that. I love you. I’m in love with you. We’re in love with each other.”

“Shut up!” you said shrilly, terrified that someone would hear even though you knew that the two of you were alone in the house. “It doesn’t matter what you say or what you feel because it’s wrong.” You emphasised the last word as though Chanyeol were a simpleton and you were losing your patience with him. “You’re my brother.”

“Step brother. We’re not related by blood. Besides, it’s what you feel too,” he shot back, pulling you in even closer now and wrapping his arms around your waist. 

You couldn’t help it. You put your hands on his chest. He just felt so solid and familiar and yours. He was your weakness and you’d never been particularly good at resisting temptation but you knew you needed to try.

“Loey, please,” you looked at him, tears beginning to form in your eyes. “Please don’t make this harder than it already is. I said last time that it couldn’t happen again. It’s not right.”

“You say that every time,” Chanyeol said, ignoring your pleas. He forced a kiss onto your lips and just like that, it was as though a switch had been flipped in you. You melted into him, kissing him back. It was so fucking easy for him to make you surrender to him and you would’ve been ashamed if you weren’t so overwhelmed with desire. 

He picked you up and you wrapped your legs around his waist automatically, keeping your lips attached to his, tasting his familiar taste. The want for each other was palpable. You wanted this as much as he did and you both knew it.

Chanyeol put you down on your bed and got on top of you, moving down as he kissed and bit your neck. You didn’t stop him. You wanted to be marked by him. You’d figure out how to cover up the hickies later but right now all you wanted was to be owned by him, to be filled with him, to be fucked senseless on his cock.

You let him pull your top up over your head and expertly unsnap your bra. He pulled it off, throwing it to the ground and then grabbed your breasts with both of his hands and buried his face in them. He began squeezing and kissing them, biting them, taking your nipples between his teeth. Chanyeol loved your breasts. They were easily his favourite part of your body and he was like a kid in a candy store anytime he got his hands on them.

“Loey, let’s make it quick, huh?” you smiled, biting your lip. Even though Chanyeol had said your parents wouldn’t be back for a while, you were still slightly nervous.

“Sorry, you’ve just got perfect tits,” he said breathlessly. 

“I bet you say that to all the girls,” you replied, teasingly. You knew Chanyeol was popular with women and that he slept around. It wasn’t like the two of you were together in any real sense of the word so you couldn’t really be upset about it. And he’d never been in any sort of serious relationship as far as you knew. 

“I don’t,” he said, more seriously than you’d anticipated. He pulled his own shirt off, reaching behind his neck and removing it the way guys did. He then unbuttoned your jeans and pulled them down your legs, taking your panties along with them. He stuck a large hand between your legs and began rubbing your clit. “What do you want?”

“I wanna ride you,” you said, fully naked now.

He smiled, “Good. I need to see those tits bounce.” You rolled your eyes as pulled his sweatpants and boxers off, laying down flat on his back.

“You really need to work on your dirty talk, you know?”

“Don’t need to be good at dirty talk with a cock like this,” Chanyeol said, stroking it a few times, hard already. Chanyeol did have a great cock. Well, he had a great everything but his cock was particularly nice, as far as they go. It was proportional to the rest of him, which meant big.

“Yeah, yeah,” you replied, mockingly. You got on top of him and grabbed it, lowering yourself on to his length, moaning wantonly as you did so.

“I missed your pussy,” Chanyeol said, looking at you with lust-filled eyes.

“Yeah? You’ve been thinking about it?”

“I have,” he said, thrusting up into you. He grabbed your hips, pushing you down onto him and grinding up into you. “Have you been thinking about me?”

You stuttered a little, “N– Not at all,” you lied and Chanyeol smirked.

“Brat,” Chanyeol said, giving your ass a squeeze with both hands, making you let out a little squeal. You bent down to lock his lips in a kiss, a rough, sloppy one. He bit your bottom lip and tugged it before letting go. “You’re lucky I like you.”

You straightened up again and smiled, bouncing on his cock with your dripping wet cunt.. He eyed your jiggling breasts and let out a little growl. His cock throbbed as you continued to ride him gently, building up more intensity with each passing second. He watched his length disappearing inside you over and over again.

“God, your cock feels good, Chanyeol,” you moaned, throwing your head back. It really did. It sounded cheesy, almost comical even, but no man fit you quite like Chanyeol did. You felt waves of pleasure building up in your core.

“Fuck yeah it does. Ride me just like that,” he responded, thrusting up into you faster. You were meeting each other’s rhythm and you whimpered being hit in all the right spots.

No one knew your body like your step brother did, as fucked up as that was to say. You’d slept with a handful of other men and none of them had ever made you feel even close to what Chanyeol could. He took turns squeezing and smacking your ass. He wanted to leave marks behind, you knew that, a handprint or a bruise he could tease you about later. You quickened your pace, feeling yourself getting closer to your orgasm and Chanyeol did as well.

“Only I can get you like this, hmm? Coming apart on my cock like a dirty whore?” he said, speeding up even more. It was like he was so in tune with you that he could read your mind sometimes.

“Only you, Chanyeol,” you mewled and he looked at you with a satisfied smirk on his face.

“You’re so pretty like this… I’m gonna cum in this tight little pussy… Knock you up. Do you want that?”

“Yes, Chanyeol, fill me up. I want you to do whatever you like,” you said, knowing you were on birth control and the chances of you actually getting pregnant were minimal, but the breeding thing seemed to be a favourite of his so you always indulged it.

“And then with your belly round and your tits leaking milk, everyone will know,” he said, his voice low, “that you’re a dirty whore who seduced her step brother by acting like a slut.”

“I’m not a slut,” you protested meekly.

“Yes, you are,” he replied, punctuating it with a particularly hard thrust. “You’re the worst kind of slut. You’re a slut for your step brother’s cock.”

Shame filled you but so did arousal. You knew that the sinfulness of this was part of why it was so pleasurable, so thrilling. The fact that you had to keep this a dirty little secret between the two of you heightened every single feeling.

“I’m going to cum, Ch–,” you began but your orgasm interrupted you in the middle of your sentence, making you throw your head back and moan. This was enough for Chanyeol who followed soon after, thrusting quickly a few times before he came inside you with a groan. You felt his seed inside of you and you couldn’t deny there was a tiny part of you that wished he would get you pregnant so you could be marked by him in the most permanent way.

You lay in each other’s arms on your single bed with Chanyeol’s large body taking up most of it whilst coming down from your respective orgasms.

“It could work, you know? We could make it work,” he said. He didn’t have to elaborate, you knew exactly what he was talking about. You’d had this discussion many times before and it always ended the same.

“We can’t,” you said simply. “You know we can’t.”

“We could move somewhere far away. Another country even. It would be like starting fresh. We’d have no ties to anyone. No one would even have to know.”

You sighed. Chanyeol always got like this after sex. He’d always propose some far-fetched plan where your relationship could work and you always had to talk him down, to disappoint him. You hated doing it every time.

“I can’t abandon my mom. Or Mimi. Would you be able to leave all your friends and family?”

“For you, yeah,” he said and it felt like he’d reached into your chest and squeezed your heart in his hand. You didn’t expect him to say that, especially so nonchalantly. 

“Please,” you said, a little desperately, “Let’s just enjoy this… these stolen moments. I know it’s not ideal but it’s all we’re meant to have,” you said, trying to sound reasonable even though it was tearing you apart inside to do so. 

Chanyeol said nothing, tensing her jaw for a second before relaxing it again, “Yeah. It’s just not enough anymore.”

“Are you mad?” you asked, carefully. 

“No. But I need to tell you something.”

“Tell me what? You’re not pregnant, are you?” you joked, trying to add some levity to a situation that was feeling increasingly tense.

“I met a woman,” Chanyeol said. “She’s great. I like her a lot. She’s not you, but…” He trailed off.

He what? You could feel your heart pounding in your chest. Your throat felt tight. 

“But what?” you asked, not wanting to know but also needing to know. You were frightened of what you were going to hear and you almost thought he was joking until he continued.

“The relationship is getting serious. I can see myself with her in the future. I won’t say I love her, not yet anyway, but…” He cleared his throat. “If you really mean it, if you’re really serious about not wanting to be with me… I’m gonna make things official with her. Introduce her to the family and everything.”

“Oh,” was all you said. It was all you could say. Your heart was breaking in real time and you were trying not to cry. It was wrong of you to be upset, selfish even, but you couldn’t help it. Unwittingly, you’d always thought of Chanyeol as yours, even when you were ending things with him over and over again.

“So I guess I wanted to say it’s now or never. It’s up to you,” he said solemnly.

The choice weighed heavily on you. You couldn’t imagine never having Chanyeol again. The stolen kisses and glances. Sneaking out to the car to fuck in secret. The road trips that you’d taken together, the only times you two could play the normal couple you wanted to be. It would all be gone just like that?

Not to mention the fact that you hated the idea of him with another woman, touching her, making love to her, being in love with her. Simply put, it was soul crushing.

But then you thought of your mother, who’d worked so hard to raise you despite the difficulties of being a young, single mom. And your friends. And school and work and the life that you had here. And sweet little Mimi, the sister you and Chanyeol shared who looked at you like you hung the moon. How could you leave all of them behind? It would be horrible and selfish and you’d miss them terribly. It was impossible.

“I can’t, Loey. I’m sorry. I love you. I do love you. But I can’t. You should… continue things with this girl,” you said with a tone of finality. It was truly over now, your love story, you knew that.

Chanyeol said nothing, his face stony. He sat up and pulled his clothes on quickly, getting up and walking out of your room without looking at you. Saying you were devastated would have been an understatement. You were broken.

You got up and went to your bathroom, turning on the shower and stepping inside without even waiting for it to warm up. The water hit your body and you finally broke down in tears. You knew you’d made the right decision, but right now the pain was almost unbearable. You cried and cried, sitting on the floor of the shower until you felt like you were out of tears. You were grieving the loss of the only man you ever loved and you didn’t know when you’d ever be okay again.

☆*: .｡. o💔o .｡.:*☆

[mumuscae]

ArTw: Extraterrestrial! Pollux

More info on the Extraterrestrial project, and character info beneath the cut!

Extraterrestrial is a personal project for me to remake ArTw to be... Not as bad as it is. Basically making my ideal version of Arcana Twilight. A fan reboot except it's probably not getting any further than concepts, rambles, and art. I will be omitting things I personally dislike, giving more soul to the characters, attempting to write a coherent plot, WORLD BUILDING, and getting rid of some uncomfortable and controversial things within the games writing. Part of this project is rewriting and redesigning individual characters! I'll be going over the basics first for these next few posts, before getting into the nitty gritty of what I have to offer So up first is Pollux because... I like his design as it is ngl I don't really have much to change. And I'm SO NORMAL FOR THE POTENTIAL BEHIND HIS LORE AND CHARACTER

Disclaimer! A lot of this is my own personal tastes and how I, Mimi Mumuscae, would write and design these characters. If you do not like it, you do not have to! That is fine if you like the canon and original versions! I like them too! This is a completely self indulgent project.

Design Changes Made

Not much ..����

Not as pale (yes he's paler than this in game)

More saturated eye colors! I always liked to think his eye colors were meant to represent how the stars Castor and Pollux are Blue-White and Yellow-Orange in color. Wanted to make it more apparent.

I really don't think I did anything else to him??

Random Character info!

Personality wise, he's about the same-ish. less "OwO i-i totally don't like you!!! >w< " and he leans more into the trickster and "I don't make friends easily cuz I'm too cool for that or whatever 🙄" aspect of his personality. Although it's plainly obvious he's not truly meanspirited he's just trying really hard to feel cool... He acts troubled but it's mostly because he's surrounded by bad influences and needs better friends.

Other than that I mostly wanted to expand upon his magic and give him more reason to be in the guide committee, since in Extraterrestrial Ive made it so every guide sorcerer is exceptional in one way or another.

Ive taken inspiration from Castor and Pollux in mythology.... So our Pollux can now throw hands! His threat to beat up anyone who bothers summoner actually has some merit to it now. He's a dual gun wielder (his guns are called Dioscuri, meaning twins), he uses Destruction magic, and has some awfully powerful mana.

However powerful mana ≠ good sorcerer. He's still very new and lacks skill. And skill and range of abilities is usually what people consider makes a good sorcerer. Can't do much outside of destruction magic. His fighting style is also very reckless, unpredictable, head on, and doesn't mesh well with other sorcerers who don't know exactly how to cover for his weak spots and compliment his strong points. (There was once a sorcerer who could do this perfectly.... However he's mysteriously disappeared. oooooOoooOoOooooO whoever could that be.) So a good chunk of the reason he's gets to stay in the committee is simply because he has good potential. (Gets to stay. They thought about kicking him out after there was a "misunderstanding" about what kind of magic he uses. Apparently there was a misprint and they labeled his brother's magic instead of his own. Odd)

Much more to his redone character, but that shall come later✨

Ik this was a lot of rambling. However it will get worse. You are not prepared for the changes I will make to Sirius.

[mystic-writings]

emergency contact | jack hodgins

pairing — jack hodgins x fem!booth!reader

summary — hodgins hasn’t heard from you in over six months, after you broke up with him and disappeared. until he gets an alarming phone call in the middle of the night

warnings — angst, canon-typical violence, mentions of death

word count — 2,528

notes — a few things: i wrote this back in january, and it was rushed and poorly done but im being self-indulgent for this one | also im not tagging anyone bc i wanna see how far this will get on its own (except for my beloved @shmaptainwrites who indulged me ily mimi)

masterlist | navigation

2:47am

Despite his many years working for the Jeffersonian, Hodgins had yet to get used to his phone ringing at odd hours. With a groan and a stretch, his palm landed where his phone lay on the nightstand table. Without checking the caller ID, he picked up the phone and slurred out a tired greeting to the caller on the other line.

“Hello, Dr. Hodgins, I’m Marie, calling from the George Washington University Hospital.” Why was a hospital calling him so late at night? “You’re listed as the emergency contact for Y/n Booth, correct?”

Your name sent a shock through Jack’s body. “I— I guess so, yeah. Why? Is she okay?”

“Your fiancée was shot on duty, sir. She’s in surgery right now. We suggest you be with her when she wakes up.”

Without a second thought, Jack hung up the phone and flung out of bed. He didn’t care how things ended between the two of you, good or bad, but he knew one thing for certain: he needed to make sure you were okay. After scrambling for a decent set of clothing and his car keys, Jack rushed out of the house and down the near-empty streets to the hospital you were taken to. 

Even though his mind was running at a mile a minute, Jack managed to recall what the nurse had told him. Shot on duty. You took a sabbatical seven months ago, were you back in town? Surely Booth must’ve known, he was your brother and co-worker, he had to have. Did he spare telling Jack to avoid the inevitable turmoil? Obviously you’d been back long enough to take a case, so it wasn’t like you had decided to come back out of the blue. 

By the time he found parking, it was half past 3 in the morning, and Jack’s heart refused to stop beating out of his chest, his palms sweating rivers as he clenched and unclenched them. Despite all of this, though, he approached the front desk with a cracking resolve, trying his best to be put together for the sake of not distressing the night staff and lingering patient family members. 

“Could you tell me where Y/n Booth is?”

The nurse behind the counter glanced up at him. “Connection to the patient?”

“I’m her-” he stumbled on the words. “Her, uh, fiancé. Emergency contact.” 

She typed a few things into the computer when a voice from behind caught Jack’s attention. 

“Hodgins.” Booth called, approaching with a weary face and a cup of likely burnt coffee.

Jack nearly sprinted over to the man, blue eyes frantically searching for answers in his features. “What’s up, man? I mean, what the hell happened?”

Booth took Hodgins by the arm and led him down a hallway, over to the elevators. “We were going after a perp. I told her not to go in first, that I’d handle the hard part. She didn’t listen, the bastard got her from behind, shot out one of her kidneys. Been in surgery for almost,” he checked his watch, “three hours now.” 

Jack deflated just as the elevator doors dinged open. The pair stepped inside, the space empty apart from themselves. “I just— I don’t get it. Yesterday, she was somewhere even I didn’t know, taking some damn sabbatical. Yesterday, I was still pissed at her. Now? She’s in surgery because she was on a case. Because some asshole shot her. I mean, what the hell am I supposed to do with that, Booth?”

Unable to provide any kind of emotional support or response, Booth remained quiet as his friend tried his best not to break down in the elevator. 

When the doors opened, Jack attempted to regain his composure as best as he could while Booth led him down the hall. There was a separate waiting room here, for family members who had someone in surgery. He sat opposite Booth, next to a sleeping little girl and her obviously exhausted mother. 

He had no bearing of the passage of time, and felt as though there was no energy left within him to check the watch on his wrist. All he did was sit with his hands on his knees, head tilted to the sky, one leg bouncing like an infinite rubber ball. At some point, a doctor came out to notify the mother of her husband’s successful surgery — his tumor was gone, he’d told her, and there was little chance of it coming back. 

It wasn’t until the sun started to peek in through the waiting room windows that a surgeon called out your name. Booth had been asleep in the chair across from Jack, but he was wide awake. The pair jumped up and approached the doctor, throwing questions at him rapidly. 

“Y/n is okay. Surgery went well, though we’ll have to keep her here for longer than expected.”

“Why? What happened?” Booth asked. 

The doctor sighed. “Due to the location of the entry wound, the bullet caused too much damage to her right kidney. For now, she’ll only be functioning with one until we can find a donor match. She’ll be on dialysis weekly and some medication to assist the working kidney, but otherwise, she’ll be just fine in a week or so. The bullet did puncture the liver and small intestine, but the speed of the bullet slowed enough to only cause minor damage, nothing we couldn’t fix up.” He told them, and a wave of relief crashed over the pair. “She’s being brought up to her room now, if you’d like to go wait with her.”

Jack only nodded, Booth trailing him as the doctor led them up one more floor, where you were being transferred to the ICU. It was painful, seeing you after so  long, only for you to be hooked up to so many machines, laying nearly helpless in a bed. He pulled a chair up to your right side, reaching for your limp hand to hold, hoping you could feel him. 

Hoping you knew he was there. That you knew he always would be.

Booth leaned against the door frame, watching everything with anguish. After you left for California, you kept in constant contact with your older brother. But even in those months, you never explained why you broke off the engagement so suddenly. Why you took a surprise sabbatical, why you went to California specifically. Why you became so closed off, so cold to everyone, even to Parker. 

After a while, Booth left Jack alone to go pick up Parker from his mother’s house. He promised to be back later, your nephew in tow, and pressed a featherlight kiss to your forehead before he left. 

Jack, swimming in an ocean’s worth of thought, barely noticed the sun coming over the horizon in the window opposite him. All he could do was process the emotions flowing through him. Anger, that you left him so suddenly and without explanation. Despair, that you’d come back so long ago and didn’t come to see him, to work things out. Worry, that despite your life-saving surgery, you wouldn’t get a new kidney, or that you’d never be the same again. Anger again, but at the bastard who shot you. Triumph, that he was rotting in a cell right now. 

 Jack’s only comfort in the sterile, whitewashed room was the steady beeping emanating from the heart monitor, a small assurance that you were okay. His hand remained clasped over yours for hours, thumb stroking the smooth skin on the back of your hand. Partly as a comfort to himself that you were still there, but mostly, he believed, a comfort to you. He hoped you could feel it; that you could feel his presence. He hoped his presence comforted you. 

By the time you woke up, all the worry had faded from Jack’s body and exhaustion had taken its place. He was asleep, head supported by his arm on the side of the chair, when he heard the sheets rustle in the bed. 

Somehow, in all your years of work, this was the first time you ended up in the hospital due to a job-related injury. It wasn’t the first time you woke up dazed after a surgery with little memory of how you got there, though. 

The sheets, despite being thin, weighed down your legs and torso, providing warmth and comfort. You could feel the leads for the heart monitor stuck to your chest, irritating your skin in the slightest bit. There was a cannula feeding oxygen into your system, though it rubbed the skin on the back of your ears uncomfortably. The main thing, though, was that your torso hurt. 

Despite that, you managed to notice something weighing down your right hand. It was warm, warmer than the blankets. And heavier. Garnering the courage to open your eyes, you blinked to adjust to the sunlight and fluorescent lights, trying to shift yourself upward, wincing when it pulled on your wound. Instead, you glanced over at your hand, only to find another on top of it. Following the arm connected to it, your heart stuttered and cracked when you found a sleeping Hodgins sitting next to your bed. Emotion swelled within your chest and tear ducts just at the sight of him, sleeping so peacefully next to you, his hand over yours in a firm grasp, as if that was the only thing that assured him that you were really here. 

Slowly, quietly, you tried to pull your hand out from under Jack’s, only for the movement to wake him up. He stretched with a deep inhale, blinking rapidly as he took in his surroundings. It wasn’t until he noticed you were awake that he seemed to come to his senses. 

“Hey,” he nearly whispered. “How’re you feeling?”

You bit back a scoff. “Terrible. First job back and of course I had to get myself shot.” 

Jack fought a smile, scooting forward to raise the bed up for you to sit properly. “They said they got all the fragments of the bullet during surgery. You’re down a kidney for now, though.”

You only nodded, allowing yourself some time to gather your thoughts. “Why are you here, Hodgins?”

“Apparently, I’m still your emergency contact.” He told you, sitting back down and resting his elbows on his knees. “And apparently, I still care about you enough to show up.” 

“Don’t put that on me.” You whispered, chest restricting as tears fought their way back to your waterline. “You can’t say that to me. Not after what I did to you. You should hate me. I mean, really hate me. Like, praying for my downfall, kind of hate. You shouldn’t still care about me.”

“Well, apparently I do. I thought I hated you, for a long time. But I guess I don’t.” Jack sighed,  taking your hand. You wanted to protest, to pull away, but you let him. “I guess this was a wakeup call for me. Literally. They called me at 3 in the morning to tell me you were in surgery.”

You laughed, a wet sound underlined with sadness. “I’m sorry, Jack. Really, I am. I just…”

“What, don’t love me? It’s okay. I’ve learned to live with it.” 

Even when he should hate you, Jack still understood, and even worse, he still loved you. He was, somehow, the world’s most understanding man. God, you love him. 

“No, no I don’t hate you. Actually, it’s the opposite. I just wish things could’ve gone differently.” 

Now Jack was just confused. “What d’you mean? You broke up with me for a reason, right? You told me you didn’t love me anymore.”

“It’s too complicated, Jack. I want to explain it all to you, really, but it’s not safe. I don’t know if or when it will be, and I won’t blame you if you want to find someone else, or if you already have. You deserve to be happy, Jack. You should move on from me.” 

“I don’t want anyone else.” Jack said, emphasizing each word and squeezing your hand. “I just want you. From the moment I met you, I knew you were it for me, Y/n. Even with your brother breathing down my neck to not even think about pursuing our relationship. It was terrifying, but I ignored it. Because you were too important to have in my life. I couldn’t risk passing you up. I just don’t understand why you ended things so suddenly.”

The tears that you had been attempting to keep at bay for this entire conversation now flowed freely down your cheeks, the emotions you’d kept close to your chest for nearly a year now breaking free. Jack, like the gentleman he was, gently tilted your head toward him, reaching up and using the pads of his thumbs to brush them from your cheeks. 

“I’m sorry,” you whimpered, daring to look him in the eye. 

“Don’t be.” He whispered. 

“I have to be. I hurt you. I ruined everything. And it wasn’t even worth it. It  didn’t change anything.”

Despite his confusion, Jack said nothing. He simply stood to his full height and sat on the edge of the bed, pulling you into his chest — minding your wounds and stroking your hair. “It’s okay. You’re home now. We can fix this.”

“No we can’t.” You shook your head, looking up at him. “Jack, there’s nothing left to fix. Because if we fix it, you’ll die.” 

After what felt like an eternity of swirling, spiraling thoughts, Jack found his voice. “What?”

“That’s why I left.” You said. “I was ordered to. I was working on a case, some underground organized crime syndicate. I found out some stuff I shouldn’t have. My hands were tied, I had no choice.” Choking back a sob, you wiped the tears from your face and took a breath. “It was either break up with you, call off the wedding, and leave, or everyone I loved would die. They were gonna kill you, kill Seeley and Parker, and drain your accounts. There was nothing I could do.” 

Jack pulled you in tighter, his whole worldview shifting and turning on an axis. He couldn’t speak — hell, he could barely even think right now. Jack had spent months grieving your relationship, questioning why you broke things off, harboring a ruthless anger at what his life had become, and all of it faded to dust in an instant. 

“I don’t know what to do,” you whispered, pulling Jack back to the present. “I work with these people, Jack. They could ruin me in an instant.” 

“We’ll fix this, I promise.” Jack declared, and despite the fear that had overridden your senses for the past few months, you couldn’t help but believe him. 

You only nodded, curling further into him as best as you could with your incisions. Fidgeting with the strings of his hoodie, you listened to the beat of his heart beneath you and took a deep breath. 

Soon enough, you were drifting off to sleep with the firm belief that soon enough, with the help of your family, somehow, everything would be okay. 

if you want more jack fics, please feel free to comment and let me know!! writing for smaller characters is always a gamble but if people read this i’d be more than happy to do so!

[ateez-himari]

Hi bb!!! How have you been!!! I've been busy with exams but i still have 4 to go, anywayssssss I'm back for more questionssss because I'm nosy🤭🤭

1-has hima ever gotten into scandalous scandals(lol) cause they're some crazy scandals in the industry, especially concerning female idols

2-how is hima's relationship with the other members' families, ik woo's younger brother would love her

3-during her career has anyone spoken badly about mimi, cause the industry thinks it's funny to always look down on ateez and steal their whole concept 🤦🤦

4-this might be weird so feel free to not answer it, butt have mingri ever been called out for their acts, especially during their tours cause I'm guessing they now share a room tgthr

5-what was himari's reaction to THIS

HE SHOULD'VE GAVE US A WARNING DAMN IT

Love you bb take care mwahh💓💓

Hi sweet!! I've been under a lot of stress but overall I'm okay! I only have 2 more exams to go so I'm feeling somewhat relieved. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR QUESTIONS I LOOK FORWARD TO THEM EACH TIME!! 🥰

• One of the biggest scandals came during 'Kingdom : Legendary War' because her scars were visible (not by choice) and people were claiming that she was promoting SH, even though most were aware that these were from the accident. The most recent scandal was actually not that long ago; people were calling her rude for cursing at one of the BTS antis that set up the funeral wreaths outside of the HYBE building, but obviously Atiny could not care less. (One of the antis started taunting her seeing that Himari was shaken by the wreaths - this girl literally almost lost her brother several times - so she walked over to them and said "how about you get a fucking job instead of obsessing over someone that will never know your name ? go home and get a life bitch")

The rest were mainly dating scandals (especially with Jungkook which made the two of them laugh so hard), scandals about how close she is with the members or even about how she started wearing clothes that are 'too feminine' and 'too sexy' (she used to insist on wearing the same clothes as the members but when she got comfortable with her femininity she started wearing more feminine clothing)

• The members' parents are so glad that there's a girl in their life to keep them in check, but after learning about her past they've all taken on some sort of parental role in her life as well (she's very close to Mingi & San's parents). Hima is really close to Haneul since she only has brothers, so having a sister figure is a welcome change. Getting close to Kyungmin was a little more difficult seeing as she's afraid of being around young children (an irrational fear developed through her childhood trauma) but the boy took to her so quickly that she had no choice but to accept - now he thinks of her as an older sister. She's not actually that close with the other siblings but they're close enough to be called friends

• So many people, especially variety/talk show hosts since being the only girl in an all male group makes her an easy target for jokes such as "you're living with 8 hot men and you haven't slept with any of them" or even questions about how she got into the group in the first place - even though the survival show demonstrates the grueling effort se put into obtaining that spot

Many of those people used Yoongi as an insult, saying that she was probably copying his production style or getting tracks from him, etc., even going as far as accusing her of plagiarizing smaller artists (that they conveniently did not name). So many claims were made about her talent, her dancing, her stage presence, image, etc., but nowadays she's beginning to snap back at them (the first that took hits was "Sun" from My Teenage Girl, she was so pissed that she stated "maybe i should have given the producers the original demo tracks, i bet they would have loved to copy that too since they're so unphased about taking the chorus. what else do they want ? our music show wins ?" when people defended the song saying it was a sample error she showed the instrumental to prove it was all from scratch

• So many times that at some point gossip sites were having field days, especially now that they've gone public since as we know there are always going to be people who refuse to accept idol relationships. People were finding it 'inappropriate' that she would so casually sit on his lap during lives, that they kissed so publicly, etc. A lot of 'fans' even criticized them for most likely being intimate while they were sharing the same hotel room - which at some point Mingi had enough of and simply said "yeah, so what ? how do you think my verse in 'man on fire' was written?"

• Hima has seen Mingi in much less clothing many times over their relationship but these pictures had her going absolutely FERAL, she practically jumped his bones the second they were uploaded. She didn't even say anything, just dragged him into his room and the other members knew it was time to leave. This woman was practically drooling over them, she squealed so hard into the couch cushions that he came rushing out of the shower

HE REALLY SHOULD HAVE, I WAS HALF ASLEEP AND THE SECOND I OPEN MY PHONE THIS POPS UP ?? THIS IS MADNESS, HE WANTS US DEAD

Love you too Mina!! Good luck on your exams and take good care of yourself! Mwahhh 😘❤️

[ahundredtimesover]

Mimi I need to know how my asdoah are doing please 😭 they are 5 now right? I love this story so much and I miss them

A Still Day or A Hurricane

"Jinnie, what flavor do you want?" Jungkook asks his daughter, adorable in her braided pigtails - that he did - as she tiptoes to look inside the ice cream display.

She'd insisted that she's a big girl now and doesn't need him to carry her around all the time, and Jungkook felt the tiniest bit of heartbreak at the thought of the little one slowly growing up.

"I want bubblegum!" She squeals, before briefly looking behind her and then back at her father. "Hyun-jung and Hyun-woo want chocolate chip and strawberry, dada."

Jungkook scrunches his eyebrows at the little one who looks back at him with the sweetest smile.

"Your brothers are babies, Jinnie. They can't even talk!"

"But I know they want to try it," she pouts.

"And they can't because they're too young," Jungkook answers.

"But... I want to try it."

She flashes those puppy-dog eyes of hers that she does whenever she's not getting what she wants, and Jungkook is about to give in until he hears you clear your throat to remind him that he has to stand his ground. You're standing nearby with the stroller where your twin sons are, watching in amusement as Jungkook and Heejin have another one of their stand-offs that you have too much fun being a spectator of.

"That's too much sugar, sunshine," he says, kneeling down to talk to her. "You already had nutella pancakes this morning. Just choose one flavor and then we'll get that in a cone."

"What if we get them in baby scoops!"

"They don't have baby scoops," he responds, hoping she doesn't call his bluff. "Because babies can't have them."

"But I'm a big girl!"

"Yes, and big girls follow their dada when he says that you've had too much sweets already."

"But you eat a lot of sweets," she crosses her arms now, cute little eyebrows furrowing in frustration.

"Because that's dada's job, sunshine. And I'm an adult."

"But mama calls you 'baby'!"

You snort, unable to hold in your laughter at your daughter's arguing prowess, prompting Jungkook to turn to you with a frown.

"That's a term of endearment, Jinnie, the way I call you sunshine or how mama calls you bubba. We call you those because we love you," he explains. "And mama calls me that because she loves me."

"Sometimes I call him a child, too, when he's being stubborn and acting like one," you chime in, with Jungkook glaring at you this time. "But can you listen to dada, please? We can come back here tomorrow and try the other flavors, is that okay?"

"Hmm, okay," she says softly after a while, jutting her bottom lip in submission. "I want bubblegum today."

Jungkook orders it then gives it to her, her smile already bright as she hums in satisfaction. But he knows he won't get over the look on her face from earlier, so he turns to the guy behind the counter and orders strawberry for you and chocolate chip for him. Heejin doesn't notice, as she focuses on her sweet treat that she's been looking forward to all day.

"Hey sunshine, do you want to try? Mama and dada got strawberry and chocolate chip, too," Jungkook says, anticipating her look of surprise.

It doesn't disappoint, as she turns towards him with her wide eyes and excitedly opens her mouth so he could feed her. She turns to you after, licking from the top of your scoop then giggling in enjoyment.

"You happy now?" Jungkook asks, wanting to hear it from her.

"Yes!" She squeals. "Dada, can you carry me on your shoulders?"

"I thought you're a big girl now," he counters.

"But I'm dada's big girl," she says, leaving Jungkook a giddy mess and unable to resist.

He lifts her up and shifts her so she could sit on his shoulders, something he doesn't want her to outgrow even if she's getting heavier and heavier, but it's something he'll keep doing for as long as she keeps asking for it.

Next to him, you're pushing the stroller and eating the ice cream you don't mind having on this sunny day. "She's a stubborn one, isn't she?"

"A good negotiator, too. I wonder where she got that from," Jungkook laughs.

"Definitely me," you chuckle. "But she's so sweet and so clingy. She definitely got those from you. Even those puppy dog-eyes and that adorable smile. Are you sure you're not the other biological half of her? What if you donated sperm and you just forgot?"

"Babe, I'm pretty sure that's something I would remember," he looks at you blankly.

"Just saying. She just takes so much from you and it's amazing," you smile, knowing it's something that Jungkook loves hearing.

He hums in satisfaction, laughing as Heejin calls for him and then you to feed her your respective ice creams. He thinks he did well, explaining things to her even if he eventually gave in. He won't deny it though, he lives for these banters with her; it's something he knows is pretty special about their relationship. As is when she's on his shoulders and she softly places her hand on his cheek, like now.

That is, until he feels something sticky on his skin.

"Jinnie, did you wipe your hands?" He asks, prompting you to look up at your daughter with smudged ice cream on her chin.

"Oops," she laughs. "Sorry, dada."

[bwabys-scenarios]

Fixer Upper

Part 11

Perv!Kurapika x Fem!Reader

part 10

part 12

warning: reader is kinda in a bad place 😭 so if that seems like it could be triggering for you, you may not want to stick around for future chapters. because there are some sad reveals later on :(

taglist: @fabitheraven @tsukilover11 @ashdownunderscorebeloved @lemonslut @homeinmydreams @superweeniehutjrsblog @bugmomwrites @heartsforseo @lixiawinter @altaircc @itszenava @fiightforlovee @mimi-sanisanidiot @monainanuttshell @wow-im-gay @whorermoviestar @lightshowerrr @mama-m1na

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If you like my writing, come join my discord!! we watch HXH, play games, and spend all night writing sometimes!! there’s also lots of content there that I may never post here!!

BEFORE THE HUNTER EXAM

(Name) pulled her cover off and placed her sock covered feet on the cold floor. It was another sleepy Tuesday morning, the sun shining onto her messy bed.

Her legs were still tired from her long walk from her campus yesterday. She yawned into her hand as she poured her coffee into the cat paw patterned cup her little brothers gave her for her birthday.

(Name) sipped slowly. The cheap store brand coffee wasn’t amazing, but it was better than nothing. She glanced at her phone to see a missed call from her mother.

‘She never calls. Must of heard of the news from school…’

She pressed call, waiting a few seconds before her mother picked up.

“You idiot, I can’t believe you dropped out! After all the money your dad and I-“

“I’ve already sent a check reimbursing you for the classes you paid for.”

Her mother gasped. “You disrespectful little… I hope you know we’ll be cutting you off for this. We already had low expectations for you, and you couldn’t even meet those. What a useless girl you are.”

(Name) sighed. ‘Cut me off? Not like you were supporting me much anyways.’

She looked around her crappy apartment with a sigh.

“And you’re taking the Hunter Exam. Well good for you. You gave up being a nurse to take the most dangerous test in the world. How smart of you.”

Sarcasm and hate dripped off of her voice like venom. (Name) didn’t respond. She was used to this by now, only sighing.

“Is that all you wanted to say?”

Her mother was quiet for a moment.

“No. In fact, I wanted to let you know that any further contact from you will be considered harassment. You will not be contacting any members of our family after this call.”

(Name)’s eyes widened, her cup slipping to the floor. “Wait, you don’t mean-“

“Yes. You will not be able to see your brothers. Ever again.”

She hung up the phone. (Name) stared down at the shattered cup before quickly trying to call her mother back.

“Please, pick up mom… not my brothers. You can’t take them from me!!”

But she didn’t answer, and soon she wasn’t able to call her at all.

‘Must of blocked me…’

She sat down, not caring about the coffee that had splashed on her legs and began to burn her skin. (Name) could only stare down at the shards of the only gift she had from her brothers.

(Name) glanced at the Hunter Exam application, tears pooling in the corners of her eyes.

‘Why not, not like I have anything to lose.’

The next few months (Name) went about life in a blur. She trained for the exam, slowly distancing herself from the small acquaintances she had from college, and breaking her lease.

She packed her backpack the night before the exam, placing several pairs of outfits, some canteens of water, food, other various items, and a dagger.

It was enough to be a good weight against her back, but not too heavy to make running or climbing difficult.

The last thing she packed into her bag was an envelope, carrying a letter.

“…”

She stared at the letter for a moment before stuffing it into the bottom of her bag, where it would be safe. It was the most important item in there, after all.

And she didn’t want anyone to read it until the time came.

———————

The first few trials of the exam had been hard, but she’d managed to scrape through and finally arrive where the First Phase would be held.

(Name) held onto one strap of her backpack quietly. Her navigator had been a bit worried for her, asking if she was okay.

“Yes, I’m alright. Just nervous I guess.”

The navigator nodded slowly. “I see. I think you’ll do well, dear, and if you don’t there’s always next year! I’ll see you then, yeah?”

(Name) looked down at her feet, not answering the woman. The navigator sighed before smiling.

“Good luck, I hope you pass!”

(Name) gave her a small smile back, waving as the doors closed and she began to descend. Her heart began to race. So far, she’d only met a few other Hunter applicants, all of them unkind. She was beginning to lose hope that she’d be able to make any type of alliances.

Not that she cared all that much. She didn’t think she’d be passing anyways.

Or surviving.

She looked down at the badge the navigator had given her.

‘#406. That must mean there are over 400 other applicants. Great.’

The doors opened up and (Name) walked out. Heads turned to stare at her, a few whistles and nods of approval could he heard and seen.

It wasn’t unexpected to (Name). After all, she was wearing a short white tennis skirt, and a pink cardigan over a white undershirt. Out of everyone else in sight, she seemed to be the only one dressed in such a way.

(Name) sighed as she joined the crowd. She looked around, her eyes glancing between each applicant before she spotted someone.

‘Oh thank god.’

She ran forward and grabbed onto a blonde woman’s sleeve, tugging it lightly.

“Hey there! I’m so glad I’m not the only woman here. Would you like to team up? Girls supporting girls and all?”

The blonde turned to her and blinked, tilting her head.

“Oh, um… you can join us, but…”

She blushed lightly, obviously embarrassed.

“I’m not a girl.”

(Name) tilted her head as the person next to the blonde bursted into laughter.

The blonde scowled and turned to the man. “And what is so funny, Leorio?”

The man, supposedly named Leorio, continued laughing. “Th-the first girl we meet and she thinks you’re a girl too! This is priceless!”

(Name) tightened her grip on the straps of her backpack. “I apologize. You’re just so pretty, I thought you were a girl.”

Yet again, the blonde blushed. “It’s alright, I promise. You said you were looking for someone to team up with, correct?”

She nodded as Leorio’s laughter died down. “Well you can stay with us. I’m not sure if we’ll be together the entire exam, but you’re welcome to tag along.”

“I sure wouldn’t mind a pretty little lady like you being on my t-“

The blonde hit him over the head with some sheathed weapon. “Ouch, Kurapika what was that for?”

The boy called Kurapika huffed. “I won’t have you being a creep to our new comrade. It’s disgraceful.”

“New comrade?”

A boy, who looked no older than twelve approached the group. “Oh, Gon! This girl asked to join up with us.”

(Name) waved at him. “Hello, I’m (Name).”

“That’s a beautiful name for a beautiful lady.”

Leorio grabbed her hand with both of his and shook it. “Welcome to the team!”

She shook hands with the others as well, looking away shyly when her hand touched Kurapika’s.

‘He really is pretty…’

Kurapika smiled. “I bet the exam has been full of trials, did you come here alone?”

“Yes, the only other applicants I’ve met have tried tricking or hurting me into failing. I’m glad I’ve finally met some nice people.”

Kurapika’s face shifted into a grimace. “That’s deplorable. But I guess it’s to be expected. The applicants could be anyone, meaning there’s bound to be bad people.”

(Name) sighed, pulling out a water canteen from her bag and sipping on it. “Any idea on what the first phase will be?”

When she caught Gon staring at the canteen, she offered it to him. He took it with a smile. Everyone took a sip before handing it back to (Name).

“I see you’ve come prepared. If you don’t mind me asking, what else do you have in your backpack?”

She frowned slightly but pulled it over her shoulder and into her hands. “Not a ton of things, but I have some snacks and water, along with a few different outfits.”

Kurapika blinked. ‘Oh, I guess different outfits would be important to a woman.’

She offered the three some hard candy, which Gon and Kurapika took. As they waited for the phase to begin, they chatted amongst themselves to get to know each other.

“You dropped out of medical school!?”

Leorio seemed almost angry, but was calmed down when he saw the sad look on her face.

“Yes, I did. It’s not that I don’t want to go, I just… I didn’t really have a choice in what I was studying. I decided to take the Hunter Exam on a whim, really. I…”

She didn’t finish her sentence, quickly smiling to hide that she almost let her secret spill.

“I’m excited to succeed!”

Leorio’s eyes softened. She was hiding something, but he could tell it wasn’t sinister. It was more for their sake then her’s.

“I hope you do.”

———————

A sharp ringing sounded throughout the large room. A man named Tonpa had walked over and talked to the group a bit, (Name) not paying him much attention. She was much too busy chatting with Kurapika, who seemed happy to share his experience with the exam with her.

The group looked up to see a man with short purple hair and a curly mustache standing before them, holding the ringing alarm. He stopped it before speaking.

“As of this moment the exam is closed to any further applicants. I would like to officially welcome everyone here to the Hunter Exam.”

Gon grinned. “Alright, finally, it’s gonna get started!”

“Aw man, I can’t believe I’m getting nervous.” Leorio said, loosening his tie.

“Come with me. Let me take a moment to remind you all that the Hunter Exam is extremely demanding. If you’re unprepared or unlucky, you may well be injured or killed. If you are alright with accepting those risks, then you may continue following me.”

The group followed after him, (Name) sticking by Kurapika. He may not be a girl, but out of all of them he seemed the most trustworthy and reliable.

“Very well then. The number of applicants is 405. At least for now.”

(Name) thought back to when Hisoka had taken one of the applicants out, holding the straps to her backpack a little tighter as she walked.

Leorio glanced around the crowd. “I guess I should have expected it, but no one’s backed out yet. I hoped there might be a few.”

(Name) hummed. “If they’ve made it this far, I doubt they’ll be backing out anytime soon.”

Kurapika nodded. “Yes, I agree. Just the path to the Hunter exam is full of trials and tribulations that would make ordinary men- oh and women, give up.”

(Name) suppressed a giggle. “Mhm.”

The people in the front began to speed up. “Hey, he’s picking up the pace!” Kurapika said with a frown.

“Sorry for the delay, but allow me to introduce myself. I’m Satotz, the examiner for the First Phase. I’m also the one that’s leading you to the sight for the Second Phase. Some of you may have already realized that keeping up with me until we reach the Second Phase is in fact, the First Phase.”

Their light jog turned into a run, and thirty minutes passed with no change in pace.

(Name) sighed lightly as she kept pace with the group, having to hold a hand over her chest to keep it from bouncing too much. ‘Went through the trouble of wearing two sports bras for no change in the outcome. Annoying.’

(Name) paid no attention to Tonpa explaining that this phase was not only a physical test, but a psychological one. She didn’t really care, (Name) was too busy focusing on her breathing and heavy backpack.

A boy came racing in between them riding a skateboard. (Name) glanced at him from the corner of her eye.

“Wow, that’s cool!” Gon called with a smile.

“Hey, kid on the skateboard, that’s not fair! You’re cheating!”

(Name) hummed and ran a bit ahead. She didn’t really feel like hearing Leorio harass a random kid. Kurapika watched her for a moment before following behind her.

“Sorry, he can be a bit annoying sometimes.”

Kurapika gave her a small smile, running beside her. (Name) shook her head. “No reason to be sorry. I’m just… not in the mood to hear someone yelling right now.”

“Hmm, that’s fair. Leorio can be pretty loud and obnoxious.”

(Name) hummed. “I happen to usually like loud and obnoxious people I’ll have you know. It’s just hard to to tolerate when I’m already tired from running.”

They both laughed. (Name) reached into her backpack and pulled out her canteen. “You thirsty? It’s been thirty minutes.”

He nodded. “Yes, thank you.”

Kurapika took a drink before he handed it back. The girl immediately shoved it back into her bag, Kurapika raising an eyebrow.

‘Why did she take it out if not to take a sip for herself?’

He didn’t voice this question, instead focusing on his legs, willing them forward.

“So, Kurapika, how old are you?”

The blonde tilted his head. “Why do you ask?”

She shrugged, shouldering her backpack again. “Just curious. If you want to know, I’m 18 myself.”

“17, 18 in April.”

(Name) nodded. ‘So we’re about the same age. Interesting…’

“And apparently Leorio is 19.”

“19!? He certainly doesn’t look the part.”

The two laughed again, (Name) nearly tripping, but quickly being steadied by Kurapika.

“Woah there, watch where you step. It is dark in here.”

(Name) nodded, lightly flustered from his grasp on her wrist. He let go quickly, seemingly unfazed by the physical contact.

3 hours pass by, and (Name) was beginning to get tired. The group stopped when Leorio collapsed, (Name) immediately rushing to his side. She dropped next to him, patting his back and offering him some water.

“Leorio!” Gon began running to join Leorio when the white haired boy, Killua called out to him.

“Hey, what do you think you’re doing? He’s finished, so just leave him behind.”

Gon frowned. “Come on, you don’t know that! Besides I can’t just leave him here, he’s my friend!”

“Friend?”

“Uh huh. That’s what I said.”

After chugging the rest of the water from one of her canteens, Leorio began to stand. “I’m not giving up… I came here to become a Hunter and that’s what I’m gonna do!”

(Name) watched as he rushed forward, Tonpa sighing.

“Hey take it easy, you need a break.”

“Shut up! If you’re just gonna stand around here, I’ll leave you… in my dust… hah hah… aww great, my legs won’t move.”

(Name) walked forward and handed him a handkerchief to wipe his sweat away with. Kurapika watched this interaction, his eyes watching her face twist into concern for a man she’d just met.

“So you’re not just in it for the money.”

Leorio huffed. “No, it’s all about money. There’s no other reason…”

“We don’t have time to argue about this. What do you think we should do now, Tonpa?”

(Name) stood up straight again, stretching lightly.

“Hmmm, wait a sec, that smell! Do ya remember? There was a sweet smell from that tunnel. Hey, I think it might help you recuperate!”

“What?”

“I thought I recognize that smell, I think it’s the sap of the healing cedar tree!” Tonpa exclaimed.

“Healing cedar?”

“Yeah! The sap is used by Hunters who often become exhausted in the forest. All you have to do is smell the aroma for a while and you can recover and keep on going.”

Kurapika stopped Tonpa from carrying Leorio away. “Wait a minute, it could be a trap.”

“Maybe, but we can’t just leave him behind now, can we? It’s a chance we’re gonna have to take.”

The blonde frowned. “Yes, but…”

“I’m king of the flunkies. You wanna know why I failed the exam 34 times? I’m a sucker for anyone that needs my help.”

(Name) raised an eyebrow at this. She glanced between Leorio and Tonpa.

“It’s okay. As soon as Leorio recovers, we’ll catch up to you, I promise.”

“I’m sorry, Tonpa… Gon, Kurapika, (Name), don’t worry about me. Go for it!”

(Name) crouched down and rearranged her backpack as the others spoke, then stood as they began to leave, watching Leorio carry him away with a suspicious look.

‘Don’t trust him one bit.’ She thought.

“What are you doing, are you coming or not?”

“Oh yeah, sorry to keep you waiting. You can go on ahead.”

Killua tilted his head. “You mean you’re not going to keep going?”

“Yeah, not unless it’s with Leorio.”

(Name) nodded. “Me either. I’m still worried for him, he wasn’t doing too hot…”

Both Gon and Kurapika noticed her staring into the distance, clutching her cardigan tightly.

“Kurapika, I’m going to see how they’re doing. Tonpa said they’d be okay, but I’m still worried.”

“I’ll come with you. We can always catch up to the group later on.”

Gon nodded towards Killua. “Alright, we’ll be back. Then, if you want, you can tell me your name. Because I still don’t know what it is.”

Kurapika glanced at (Name). “Will you be coming as well?”

She gave him a quick nod. “Of course. I can’t just abandon someone in need.”

He didn’t respond, racing after Gon towards where they had last seen Leorio and Tonpa heading.

But he did feel something stir in his chest when his eyes met hers.

‘She’s kind. It’s… nice to see that in such a place.’

The three stopped when they spotted Tonpa lying on the ground.

“Tonpa! What’s wrong?”

He groaned and lifted himself up slowly. “Oh, it’s you. Hurry, they need your help!”

“What happened back there?” Kurapika asked, glancing between Tonpa and the hallway he pointed to.

“It was a trap. Worst I’ve seen. Hurry!”

(Name) turned and ran towards where Tonpa had been pointing, the two following behind her.

The three continued to run until they came across Nicholas, one of the applicants.

“Nicholas! What’s wrong?”

The boy slowly moved so he was on his hands and knees, looking back at them with a delirious expression. Kurapika subconsciously pushed (Name) behind him.

The man began to walk away while laughing to himself. Kurapika watched him for a minute before speaking.

“Let’s go, we have to find Leorio.”

Gon and (Name) nodded. “Yeah.”

——————

“Leorio, can you hear me? Leorio!!!”

Gon continued to call out Leorio’s name as they ran, (Name) noticing Kurapika beginning to slow down.

“Kurapika?”

She stopped next to him, Gon circling back when he noticed they were no longer running. “What’s wrong?”

Kurapika eyes became hazy, the blonde holding up his weapons to defend himself. “The Phantom Troupe…”

His breath came out in short pants as his eyes began to turn a deep shade of scarlet.

“Oh no…please, don’t do it…”

He collapsed onto the ground, (Name) quick to kneel by his side. “Kurapika, what’s going on? Are you alright?”

“Can you hear me?” Gon asked, concern lacing his voice.

Kurapika stared at the ground as sweat beaded down his forehead.

He fell, lying against the ground. “Make… them stop… please…”

He stared off into the distance, unable to move. (Name) wasn’t sure what to do, so she rubbed soothing circles into his back. “Kurapika, no one’s here. It’s just us.”

He didn’t relax though. His eyes remained that same scarlet color. “We have to get going. I’ll carry him.”

(Name) hoisted Kurapika up and over her shoulder. Gon blinked. “Wow, you’re strong.”

She nodded, a small smile on her lips. “I grew up with two younger brothers who looooved piggy back rides.”

“Can I get one too? Later, I mean.”

(Name) laughed. “Sure, after we find Leorio.”

They continued, now slowed down because of Kurapika’s weight. She didn’t seem to have much trouble carrying him, only occasionally grunting and rearranging him on her shoulder.

“So, Gon, why do you want to be a Hunter?”

The young boy hummed, adjusting the line on his fishing pole. “Mmm, I’m not sure yet, but I want to find my dad. He’s a Hunter too.”

‘Find? Did his dad abandon him?’

(Name) nodded slowly. “I see.”

“What about you?”

The girl paused, her grip on Kurapika’s thigh tightening ever so slightly. “Well… I didn’t have many options.”

Gon tilted his head. “Really?”

“Yeah. I… just thought it would be fun to try out.”

She sighed. (Name) didn’t enjoy lying, especially to an honest boy like him, but the truth about the situation wasn’t something a child should know. Gon didn’t respond.

The hallway was quiet for a bit, until Kurapika grunted loudly. (Name) turned her head a bit to see if he’d woken up, only for him to begin struggling against her and cry out.

“Kurapika! Are you alright?”

He wiggled out of her grasp, and just as she was about to lean over and help him back up, the white haired boy from before appeared, kicking the blonde in the face.

“Kurapika!”

She rushed over to his side, crouching down as he lifted his upper half onto his forearms to look up.

She helped him into a sitting position, the blonde leaning against her for support.

“Kurapika?”

Gon ran over, Killua standing in front of (Name) and Kurapika. The red had left his eyes, leaving them the pretty brown color she had noticed when she first met him.

“Oh good, you’re finally back to normal!” Gon said, smiling.

“But, uh…”

Killua watched Kurapika and (Name) with his blue eyes. “There is no healing cedar tree.”

“Huh!?”

“The sap comes from the tree of hallucination, it’s been used by assassins for a long time. It’s victims re-experience the worst events of their lives, and it eventually drives them insane.”

Kurapika blinked slowly, realizing he’d been leaning against (Name). He pulled back, the girl reaching out to make sure he didn’t fall.

“How do you know that?” Gon asked.

“So that means Tonpa must of…”

Killua nodded at the blonde. “Yeah, that’s right, he set you guys up.”

Kurapika growled in anger, gripping onto (Name)’s sleeve.

“We should go.”

“Sure, I think I know a way we can save the old guy you were with, and catch up with the group again with a single move.”

(Name) helped Kurapika stand, the blonde grateful for her help. She’d only known him for an hour but was risking failing the exam to make sure him and Leorio were okay.

“A games no fun unless there’s some risks.”

“I’m glad we met up again! Are you going to tell me your name?”

The boy smiled at Gon. “It’s Killua.”

———————

“Okay Killua, tell us your idea.”

He pulled out a small object from his pocket. “It’s a bomb, small but effective.”

(Name) pulled Gon back by his shoulders a bit by instinct. He didn’t react, only glancing at her hands before responding.

“That’s a bomb?”

“Let’s blow up this wall and all the disgusting sap covering it.”

He placed the bombs all over the wall, (Name) stepping a few feet back. Kurapika watched as she carefully maneuvered Gon to a safe distance, the dark haired boy not seeming to mind at all.

The explosion began, the four leaping through the opening created by the bomb to grab Leorio.

They all fell onto the ground, (Name) being caught before she face planted by Kurapika. He pulled her up slightly before letting go.

“It worked! Not the easiest way to travel but it is fast! I guess there’s no turning back now.”

Kurapika blinked as (Name) knelt next to Leorio. “You alright?”

“Gon? (Name)? Kurapika? … Pietro?”

She patted his back gently. “It’s just us, Leorio.”

“You were hallucinating as a result of inhaling the sap. Tonpa fooled us all.”

Leorio gave (Name) a smile, accepting her hand when she offered to pull him to her feet.

“So that’s what that was. Guess I owe you guys one for saving my butt. But how did you manage to avoid it?”

Kurapika shook his head. “It was a close call for me.”

“(Name) and I were fine!”

“I guess it wouldn’t work on Gon cuz he’s still a kid, so he doesn’t have any problems yet.”

‘But why wouldn’t it work for (Name)?’

Leorio and Kurapika glanced at the girl, who was pulling out a bandaid to place on Gon’s knee. The two seemed to already be friendly with each other, laughing when Gon nearly tripped again.

“Hey old man, we don’t have time to sit around chatting.”

“OLD MAN!? What are you-“

“His names Killua!”

“Ready for the next round?”

Killua threw more bombs past Leorio’s head. “What was that, I heard a click.”

(Name) covered Gon and Killua with her cardigan, then shielded her ears.

“THEY’RE BOMBS!?”

The group of five jumped through the hole the bombs left, Gon handing (Name) her cardigan after they landed. “Thanks (Name)!”

Killua watched her with narrow eyes. ‘What does she get out of protecting us with that flimsy cardigan? What is she after..?’

A plume of smoke dispersed through the hallway, the sound of the other applicants coughing echoing on the walls.

“What exactly is going on here?” Satotz asked.

“Oh, uh, I’m sorry, but we had to break through the walls.” Gon said apologetically.

“I never said you couldn’t destroy the walls, but tell me, how is it that you survived after wondering through the tunnels of hallucinations? I’m quite impressed.”

(Name) pulled some debris from her hair, sighing. Leorio spotted Tonpa and rushed forward, grabbing him by the collar. “How dare you! I have a score to settle with you!”

“Stop, Leorio!”

(Name) pulled out a piece of hard candy and began to suck on it as her new comrades argued. Killua watched her do this and crouched down next to her.

“You got candy?”

She tilted her head then smiled. “Yes, would you like a piece?”

She offered him a piece of butterscotch candy, which he took. ‘… maybe she’s not so bad after all. I’ll still keep my distance but…’

He didn’t sense any malicious intent from her, just… something. Something that honestly unnerved him a little.

——————

(Name) and Kurapika kept pace with each other, eventually reaching Leorio who had taken off his shirt.

“I see, so you were lying to us before.”

“Didn’t lie! My objective has always been to make a lot of money! And whatever happened in the past, happened in the past! I have no interest in doing anything that won’t make me any money!”

Kurapika sighed. “I wish you luck.”

“I don’t need luck, I’m going to become a hunter or die trying!”

“No, a doctor.”

(Name) giggled next to them.

“Could you please not look at me like that, Kurapika? It makes me a little nervous. Now come on, let’s go!”

The blonde smiled. “You alright now, Leorio?”

“Yeah I’m fine, check it out! I don’t care how stupid I look! I’d keep running even if I was naked! Pretend you don’t know me if you want!”

(Name) gasped when Kurapika threw off his tabard and stuffed it into his bag. Kurapika glanced at her. “Maybe we should follow his example.”

She pulled off her cardigan and stuffed it into her backpack.

It didn’t take long for her to catch up to Leorio, who instantly noticed she was no longer covered by her thick cardigan.

“WOAH! You’ve got a nice figure. Plump and soft, just how I like th-“

Kurapika kicked the back of his legs, causing him to crumple before getting back up and running behind them.

“WHAT WAS THAT FOR!?”

The blonde shrugged. “Sorry, pervert senses were tingling.”

———————

They reached the outside, (Name) instantly unbuttoning her undershirt so she could fan herself. It was hot, and even with just her skirt and top she was sweating. “Yeesh, I’m burning up.”

She crouched down and fanned herself with her hand, ignoring what was going on. They seemed to be distracted by some kind of “impersonator”, but she didn’t care all that much.

The magician disposed of the impersonator and they began to run again.

‘Ah, maybe I should have listened a little…’ she thought, watching as the people around her began to be attacked by mysterious beasts.

She glanced around to see she’d already lost her group, sighing to herself.

“You lost, little girl?”

(Name) blinked before turning her head to the left to see Hisoka leaning against a tree. He smiled at her, holding a card in his hand.

“Dunno, maybe.”

She shrugged nonchalantly, giving Hisoka a bored look. “Hmm…”

Hisoka stepped forward, looking her over. “Not bad… you certainly have some potential.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Potential? What do you mean by that?”

The magician tossed a card in her direction, the girl not even flinching when it sliced her cheek. She continued to stare at him, the look in her eyes making him shiver.

It was the look of someone prepared to die.

“I see… so that’s why you’ve peaked my interest…”

He pointed behind him. “You pass. If you continue that way, you’ll catch up to the group in no time.”

He began to walk in the opposite direction, quickly passing her by.

“Wait, if that way is the right direction, then why are you going that way?”

He only chuckled. “I have some… business to take care of.”

She sighed and took out her dagger. “Whatever.”

She continued running in the direction he pointed to, the man barely restraining himself from letting out a moan.

“God, I can’t wait until she’s ready to fight.”

He chuckled to himself before continuing on his run.

“(Name)!”

Gon yelled out, nearly crashing into the girl. She paused, catching him in her arms. “Gon, you’re okay!”

She squeezed him lightly before noticing Kurapika as well. “(Name)…”

He stopped for a moment to catch his breath. “Your cheek…”

She blinked before swiping at her cheek with her sleeve. “Oh, this? You can thank Hisoka for it. He attacked me, then said I passed and pointed to where I could find the group. Still haven’t found them, though.”

Kurapika gripped his weapons tightly. “He’d even hurt a woman? That sick bastard…”

(Name) sighed. “It doesn’t hurt that much, and once we get to the sight of the second phase I’ll put a bandaid on it. I guess I’m just lucky to have survived this long, considering I’ve been alone these past thirty minutes.”

She offered the two a drink from her canteen, which they took. After that they continued, Kurapika keeping a close eye on the girl.

Killua was waiting near the edge of the crowd, and was the first one to see the three arrive.

“Gon, (Name)!”

He smiled, putting his hands in his pockets.

(Name) bent over to catch her breath before rushing over to the still unconscious Leorio.

Hisoka had pointed him out seconds before, winking at the girl. Kurapika scowled when he noticed Hisoka watching her every movement.

‘That creep. I’ll need to stick by her so he doesn’t get any weird ideas.’

Leorio didn’t remember anything, but seemed happy to have (Name) taking care of his injuries. Kurapika pulled her back to gently wipe her cheek.

“Leorio can wait a second, you need to tend to yourself first.”

She looked to the ground, nodding. ‘But I don’t really care about my own injuries…’

Nonetheless, she cleaned the cut and applied a hello kitty bandaid before going back to Leorio.

Satotz left shortly after wishing them all luck. Killua watched her tend to Leorio before walking off and chatting with Gon.

“Alright, you should be okay. It’s going to take a while for the swelling in your cheek to go down, though.”

She helped pull him to his feet before pulling her backpack over her shoulders. “Thank you, beautiful. If I had you to tend to me, I’d get hurt all the time.”

Kurapika narrowed his eyes. “I think I’ll be taking care of your injuries after this.”

(Name) chuckled, poking Leorio’s good cheek. “Don’t get hurt on purpose, big guy.”

———————

“It’s almost time!” Gon said.

“I’m getting a little nervous.” Kurapika replied, holding onto his satchel tightly.

“I think you’ll do fine.” she patted his shoulder gently, a smile on her lips.

“Just about anything could be waiting for us behind those doors…”

The clock rang soon after Leorio finished his sentence. The doors to the building opened, a loud growling sound making (Name) jump and hide behind Kurapika and Leorio.

“Thanks for waiting. Buhara, how are you feeling now, hungry?”

A woman with greenish blue hair sat in front of a giant of a man, who’s stomach had been causing the loud noise.

“Yeah Menchi, I think anyone who has ears can hear that I’m starving!”

She smiled shyly at the group in front of her. “As you might have guessed, us two Gourmet Hunters are in charge of judging the Second Phase.”

“Gourmet Hunters?”

“What’s that?”

“Gourmet Hunters travel around the world collecting all sorts of exotic ingredients. They then use them to create new innovative dishes that have never been tasted. Before becoming Hunters, most of them were gourmet chefs.” Kurapika answered

‘Hmm, he’s smart.’ (Name) thought, watching the blonde.

“Hmm, so then this phase…”

“Right! So the subject for this phase, is cooking!”

“COOKING!?”

(Name) smiled. ‘This is actually something I can do!’

She listened to the two examiners, nodding along.

“Man, I’ve never cooked anything before in my life!” Leorio said with a sigh. (Name) was taken aback by this.

“Never? How are you still alive?”

Kurapika looked away from the girl. ‘I’ve never cooked either, but I’ll keep that to myself,’ he thought, not wanting to embarrass himself.

Gon smiled. “I know how to cook!”

The three turned towards the boy. “You serious? What can you make?” Leorio asked.

“I can make a lot of different stuff, but my specialty is macaroni and cheese!”

“Macaroni… and cheese?”

(Name) giggled. “Oh, Gon, that’s great for your age.”

“Well, I guess you could call that cooking.”

Kurapika gave the boy a smile as Leorio laughed. “Come on, it doesn’t take much of a chef to make a simple dish like macaroni and cheese.”

“Hey, that’s not true! Aunt Mito always said no one makes it like me!”

(Name) nodded along, patting his head.

“I’m sure she’s right. Maybe you can make it for me sometime.” Leorio said, snickering.

“Met too.” Kurapika agreed, seemingly amused by the innocent boy.

(Name) gave him a piece of candy, quickly grabbing a piece for Killua as well. “Here, I’ll want some of that macaroni and cheese as well. Is this payment good enough?”

She winked, the boy laughing. “Yes, this will do!”

“Listen up! My order is…”

(Name) quieted down, glancing back to the large man known as Buhara.

“A whole roasted pig! It’s my absolute favorite, and living in the forest is the great stamp! The most ferocious and delicious pig of them all!”

“The great stamp?” The entire group asked in unison.

The ground began to shake underneath them, a herd of pigs barreling towards them. Kurapika pulled (Name) out of the way just in time, the girl letting out a gasp as her skirt flew up from the gust of wind accompanying the stampede.

She was thankful she had worn a pair of shorts underneath, but other people weren’t.

“Aww, there’s shorts.”

(Name) and Kurapika turned to look at Leorio at the same time.

“Why do you sound so disappointed?”

Kurapika shook his head at (Name). “You don’t want to know what goes through that pervert’s mind.”

He ushered her away, glaring back at Leorio as he did.

They continued running away from the giant pigs, (Name) and Kurapika teaming up.

“It’s snout is tough, did you see how it launched all those grown men?”

Kurapika nodded. “Yes, but it should have some sort of weakness. Perhaps…”

From the corner of his eye, Kurapika watched Gon hit the stamp over the head, causing it to fall over dead.

“(Name), I have a plan, but you’re going to have to trust me.”

They hid behind a tree so he could explain. “You’re going to grab a thick tree branch, and I’m going to throw you onto the pigs back. Then, you’ll hit it over the head. We’ll repeat this twice.”

She seemed a bit uncomfortable with this plan, glancing to the pig sniffing around for them. “Oh um… are you sure you can pick me up?”

He tilted his head, looking her up and down. “Yeah, why wouldn’t I be able to?”

Too embarrassed to answer that, she agreed to the plan.

“Okay, on the count of three, we’ll rush out to attack.” Kurapika said, grabbing her hand. (Name) looked down, her face heating up ever so slightly.

“One!”

“Two!”

“THREE!”

They rushed out, causing the pig to run towards them. Kurapika grabbed (Name) by the waist and threw her into the air. “AHHH!”

She landed with a huff onto the pig’s back, groaning.

“You’ve got it, (Name)! Hit it now!”

She recovered quickly, bringing the stick down with as much force as she could manage. The pig collapsed, (Name) barely moving out of the way before she was crushed.

“You did it!”

Kurapika rushed over to help her up, smiling. The girl rubbed her bottom. “That landing hurt, I’m not excited to do that again.”

He gave her a sympathetic smile. “Sorry, it’s just the safest way to do it.”

The two repeated the action, Kurapika helping her off the second time.

“Owie…”

Kurapika could only gently pat her shoulder. “You alright?”

She nodded slowly. “As alright as I can be, after being thrown in the air and landing on a pig.”

Kurapika laughed at this, the girl joining him.

————————

Buhara ended up passing everyone that entered a roasted pig.

Menchi scolded him for passing everyone, but (Name) wasn’t listening. She was busy staring at Kurapika’s hand, that was placed on her shoulder.

“I’m not an armrest, ya know.”

Kurapika pulled his hand back, cheeks going pink. “Oh, sorry! I meant to say thank you for your help, but I got distracted by Buhara and Menchi.”

She giggled. “Well thank you for coming up with the plan. Now we’ve both passed half of the second phase!”

He relaxed, returning her smile.

“For the next part of this phase you’ll be filling my order, which is… sushi.”

Leorio tilted his head. “Sushi?”

“Sushi? Wonder what that is…” killua thought aloud.

“Any ideas?” Kurapika asked (Name), turning to her. She shook her head.

“No, unfortunately I’ve never heard of that dish before.” The two sighed.

“You guys look pretty stressed out! But I don’t blame you for not knowing what it is. Sushi is an ethnic dish from a small island country. I’ll give you a little hint. Inside you’ll find your work stations!”

(Name) tilted her head. “Work station?”

The applicants walked inside, seeing various kitchen work stations.

“Here’s where you’ll prepare the dish. Each station has all the essential tools and ingredients. I’ve even prepared the rice for you, which is necessary to make sushi. And now for one final hint! I’m particularly fond of hand molded nigiri sushi!”

(Name) stood at her station, between Kurapika and Leorio.

“Alright then, you guys can get started! This test will conclude as soon as I’m full. Until then you can serve me as many pieces as you want.”

(Name) watched Leorio stare at the barrel of rice. “Hmm… hand molded? That should give me some sort of indication of what it’s supposed to look like. But that still doesn’t tell me what other things I need to use.”

Kurapika hummed. “Nigiri sushi… I’m not sure exactly how this food is supposed to be made, but I think I’ve read about it somewhere.”

“Really?”

“Let’s see, if I recall, it’s made mostly of rice, mixed with vinegar and some type of raw fish.”

“RAW FISH!?”

(Name) jumped at the sound of his voice, Kurapika’s eyebrow twitching in annoyance.

“We’re stuck out here in the middle of a forest!”

Kurapika threw his spoon at Leorio, hitting his forehead.

“Would you be quiet? There are rivers in forests you know and we could fish in them!”

“Hmph.”

The two looked around, seeing all the other applicants staring at them. Menacingly.

They raced out of the building, leaving the three alone. (Name) set her bag down and began running after them, Kurapika and Leorio following her lead.

“It’s no fair! They were eavesdropping!”

Kurapika sighed. “It’s not their fault, I was the one who shot my mouth off.”

“This sucks! Now everyone knows what’s in it!”

(Name) patted Kurapika on the shoulder. “I’m sure they would have figured it out anyways. Considering we were about to leave and return with fish.”

He gave her a small smile. “Thanks.”

———————

The three returned with fish of varying types. (Name) traded Gon a few pieces of candy in exchange for a few fish.

“Well, all that’s left is to cook. Good luck boys!”

She gave them both a reassuring pat on the back before beginning her cooking process.

(Name) thought back to what Menchi had said, along with Kurapika’s limited information.

‘Does that mean the fish is supposed to be molded into the rice? Or the rice covers it?’

She tilted her head as she began to clean the fish. ‘Well, I assume I’ll at least need to cut it into fillets. After all, no one is dumb enough to serve her a whole, raw fish, right?”

Wrong.

(Name) watched with an incredulous expression as Leorio served Menchi an entire fish, still flipping around, halfway covered in rice.

Of course, Menchi rightly knocked the plate away. Leorio sulked back to his station.

“She didn’t like it…”

(Name) raised an eyebrow, but stayed quiet. ‘So he wasn’t kidding when he said he’s never cooked before…’

“What are you making?”

(Name) looked up to see Kurapika peeking over her shoulder. “Hey, no peeking!”

She bumped him with her hip, scolding him. “No cheating off of me!”

He pouted. “I wasn’t trying to… I was just curious.”

“Well be curious in that direction.”

“No, because you’re pointing at Leorio.”

“HEY!”

(Name) giggled to herself as she finished her dish, beaming. “I’m done!”

She carried her plate to Menchi, setting it down in front of her. “Here’s my entry!”

Menchi hummed, seemingly interested from the smell alone.

“It’s sushi! I um… think!”

Menchi looked down at the dish. It definitely wasn’t sushi, but the girl had obviously tried, and if Menchi appreciated anything, it was effort.

The blue haired woman took a bite. “Hmm… too salty, but good try. It’s not quite sushi, but it tastes good. Go back and try again.”

(Name) blinked, then nodded. She felt dejected, she’d tried her hardest!

She walked back to her station, grabbing her bag. “(Name), what are you doing?”

“I give up.”

The two stared at her. “You give up? Why??”

“I’m a failure, I couldn’t make sushi.”

“(Name).”

Kurapika patted her head. “Don’t be so hard on yourself. Your dish is the only one Menchi has even taken a bite of so far. Why don’t you try again?”

(Name) pouted. “… I’m going to go sit by the river.”

The two watched her walk away, her head hung low.

“Drama queen.” Leorio said, before getting back to his work.

“Well…” Kurapika stared in her direction for a moment. “She’s certainly… dramatic.”

But the blonde couldn’t help following her with his eyes, his eyebrows furrowing.

“Hey Kurapika, come try this! (Name) had some leftovers!”

Kurapika sighed. “You shouldn’t just eat the food she prepared…”

But he did join Leorio, taking a bite. “Oh wow, it is really good.”

The two snacked on her leftover food before getting back to work.

(Name)’s eyebrow twitched when she noticed Hisoka already sitting by the river. ‘Fuck it. Yolo.’

(Name) sat down a few feet away from him, tossing rocks into the water. She wasn’t even attempting to skip them, just throwing them into the river.

“… (Name).”

She hesitantly looked at him, raising an eyebrow. “What?”

“What are you doing here?”

She huffed. “Sulking.”

“Hmm.”

(Name) went back to her rock throwing, Hisoka now watching her. “Gave up that easily, huh?”

She paused. “As if you didn’t as well?”

He smirked. “Touché.”

The two sat in silence for a bit, before (Name) heard someone running up behind her. “(Name)- oh.”

The person paused a good distance away from her. “Can you come here? Away from…”

Hisoka raised his hand. “I’m not going to hurt her. We were just… talking.”

‘Oh now people are going to think I’m friendly with the murder clown.’

(Name) stood up, and stuck out her tongue at Hisoka for good measure. ‘There, now people will think I hate him! Orrr that I have a death wish. Which isn’t exactly wrong but-‘

“(Name), we know what sushi is now!”

It was Kurapika, and he was smiling at her. “Come on, now we’ve got a real chance to pass!”

Her pulled her back to the building by her hand, smiling widely. She couldn’t help but smile too.

‘He thought of me.’

———————

Though they all tried their hardest, even after figuring out how to make sushi, none of them could satisfy Menchi.

She poured herself a cup of green tea, sipping slowly. “Ah..”

(Name) had just given her the last piece of sushi, and had been rejected yet again.

“Sorry, but I’m completely stuffed!”

Hanzo blinked. “So then, what happens now?”

“Like I said, the test is over and this time no one passed. Thank you, come again.”

The air grew tense, (Name) too busy pouting to really care. ‘But I tried so hard…’

She only looked up when Gon stole Menchi’s phone.

“Oh dear.”

She turned her head when she heard someone destroy one of the cooking stations. ‘Sore loser.’ (Name) thought, munching on piece of candy.

“Alright, I’ll show you what it means to be a Gourmet Hunter.”

Menchi left, saying she’d be back in about an hour. (Name) took this as an opportunity to chat with Buhara.

“Sorry that people are being disrespectful. I’m actually a chef myself, but not on any level close to you two.”

Buhara seemed a bit surprised by her comment. “Ah, that makes sense. Menchi seemed to enjoy your dishes the best. If she hadn’t been so picky today, I’m sure she would have passed you.”

(Name) nodded. “Yeah, but that’s not how things went.”

She sat down next to him, taking out a piece of candy and handing it to the man. “Here, I know after I’ve eaten a savory meal I like to have something a little sweet to balance it out.”

‘This girl…’

He took the candy. ‘I’m starting to understand Menchi’s interest in her.’

(Name) and Buhara chatted, exchanging recipes and laughing over stories about cooking gone wrong.

“Is she becoming friends with the examiner?”

Kurapika watched her, eyes wide. Leorio cheered. “Yeah, butter him up (Name)! Use your womanly charm and get us a passing grade!”

Kurapika smacked him over the head. “First of all, she’s not doing that. Secondly, if she was, you screaming out her plans would foil them.”

“Oh.”

Menchi returned, momentarily glancing at (Name) and Buhara with a raised eyebrow before showing off her finds.

(Name) watched as the brute from before kicked the table Menchi had served the plate on over, nearly hitting (Name) in the face.

To her surprise, Buhara extended a hand to shield her. “Oh, thank you!”

He gave her a nod. “No problem.”

A few applicants attempted to get near Machi, but Buhara hit them with surprising strength. “Ooo get ‘em!!” (Name) called, cheering him on.

The wrestler Todo ended up pushing Buhara over, but the man seemed unfazed. “Ooo, you’re pretty strong. Guess it’s time to get serious. Think you can handle it?”

Menchi stepped in. “I can take care of him by myself.”

(Name) stared wide eyed as Menchi beat the absolute SHIT out of Todo, only using her legs.

‘That’s kind of hot.’ (Name) thought.

Kurapika pulled (Name) to safety. “Come here, it’s not safe over there.”

“Oh.”

She hadn’t realized, but it had become kind of a fighting zone. Kurapika noticed she kept staring at Menchi, but didn’t think much. Her and Satotz were arguing, (Name) only catching the end of it.

“I was trying to see how resourceful these guys were. Could they face a challenge for which they had little or no experience?”

“That may be true, Menchi, but since no one passed that test, don’t you think it may have been a bit too difficult?”

‘Oh god the sky is talking.’

“It’s an airship with the Hunter Association’s logo!”

‘Oh. That makes more sense.’ (Name) thought, being pulled outside by Kurapika.

“Oh shit an old guy!” (Name) gasped, pointing at an old man falling from the sky. “I was not expecting to see an old man die today.”

The man landed, seemingly unfazed. ‘Oh so he’s some sort of wizard. Wait did she say chairman?’

Killua and Gon seemed surprised he hadn’t broken his legs. “I’m surprised he isn’t a chairman pancake.” (Name) said, patting Gon on the head.

Apparently, he was the highest authority in the Hunter Association.

(Name) stood near Menchi, glancing at her at her as Netero talked. ‘She’s cute.’

“I have an idea. We’re going to give them all a second chance at the test, and I would like for you to continue being the examiner for this. But this time around I want you to demonstrate how it’s done before the applicants make an attempt. Does that sound reasonable? I think this will go a long way for everyone to accept your ruling.”

The group of five were relieved that they would be getting a second chance.

“The test is, a boiled egg.”

———————

The group rode on the airship to a large mountain.

“So, this is the spot.” Menchi said, standing before a cliff.

“What is this place?”

“How deep is it, I can’t see the bottom?”

Menchi smiled. “Not to worry, at the bottom is a deep river. Now, watch and learn boys.”

She fell backwards down the cliff.

“This deep ravine happens to be home of the spider eagle. And she’s gone down to retrieve one of its eggs.” Netero informed the group. (Name) peeked over the cliff.

“Wow!”

Menchi climbed back up with ease, pulling the egg from her bra. “You might want to be a little careful, the river runs very fast so if you fall you’ll be whisked out to sea before you know what hit ya!”

(Name) handed her bag to Buhara. “Could you watch this for me, please?”

He nodded, the group gasping when she rushed forward and jumped. “(Name)!”

They all followed after her, (Name) holding onto one of the strings and swinging up to stand on one. “Whew, I’m awful at the balancing act!”

Kurapika stared at her, blinking. “(Name), please be careful.”

She blinked. “Oh, sorry. I’ll try.”

Killua glanced at her from his spot, already finding an egg. ‘She should be alright…’ he thought, before going back to his task.

The boy furrowed his eyebrows. ‘Why am I concerned for her safety? She’s just some woman…’

Eagles began attacking the contestants, (Name) managing to climb up to Kurapika. The boy held onto her, keeping her steady. “Did you get an egg?”

(Name) nodded, pointing to her chest. “I’m following Menchi’s example!”

The blonde blushed, quickly changing the subject. “… let’s climb up before the eagles come back.

———————

Menchi had them drop all of their eggs into a large pot. “Don’t think the test is over yet! You still have to boil them. Over cooking or under cooking will fail you!”

Buhara began to sweat, staring at the pot. (Name) placed a hand on his arm. “You alright, Buhara?”

“I think he knows something we don’t!”

The group began pulling their eggs out, (Name) patting his arm after. Menchi seemed pissed. “You couldn’t have made it anymore obvious!”

Menchi glanced at (Name) yet again, calming slightly. “This is an ordinary chicken egg, and this is a spider eagle egg. Now go ahead and compare how they taste!”

(Name) glanced at Menchi, before halving her egg and handing it to her. “Here!”

The woman blushed, taking it. “Oh, um… thank you, applicant 406.”

“My name is (Name).” She said with a sweet smile.

“Thank you, (Name).”

The women smiled, eating together. “Menchi, this is delicious! Wow, gourmet hunters sure know their stuff!”

The woman seemed to become flustered from (Name)’s praise. “I appreciate you taking the time to speak with us. Buhara told me how kind you were to him earlier. I…”

She shook her head, turning her attention to the group. “Listen up, for the second phase, 43 pass! Menchi’s Menu is over!”

The all cheered, (Name) pulling in her four friends in for a hug. “Hehe!”

The group boarded the airship, on their way to the next phase.

[dellalyra]

can i request for a scenario where suguru is still good and brings mimiko and nanako to school, where he trains them together with satoru and guardian fem!reader, megumi and tsumiki? it would be cute all together and happy

A/N: HI THANK U ILY I am not 100% sure this is what u wanted but I just had this idea and ran with it also it was so fun to write a NOBODY IS DEAD WE ALL ARE HAPPY AU.

CW: Swearing? Fluff? Happy ever after kinda AU

Summary: The kids get to play with their cousins, Nanako and Mimiko.

“AUNTY Y/N!” Echoed across the field, the two high-pitched voices were only amplified by their excitement.

“Girls! Hi babies!” You kneel and scoop them both into a big squeezy hug.

“Where’s Uncle ‘Gogo?” The blonde girl asks. They both began calling your boyfriend Gogo when they were both only 3, and it stuck.

“He’s inside with your cousins! Where’s your papa?” You ask, wiping a smudge of chocolate off the dark-haired girl’s face.

“He went to go find Uncle ‘Toru, he has ‘Miki’s birthday present. Look what we got!” They cheer as both take out stuffed toys, one a ladybug and one a butterfly.

“Oh, they are so beautiful! Do they have names?” You ask, taking each girl by their tiny hands and walking inside to find the two men.

As you round the corner, you see them both smiling and laughing together, a huge box wrapped in yellow paper between them.

“UNCLE GOGO!” Your hands are left empty as the two girls barrel toward their favourite uncle (only uncle), he immediately scoops them both up onto his shoulders and spins them around, so you make your way to the other man.

“That is an exceptionally large box for a 9-year old’s birthday present, Suguru.” You raise your eyebrows at him, only to be met with a smirk.

“You’re the only good thing that came in a small package, Y/N/N.” He laughs, throwing a languid arm around your shoulders and pressing a kiss to the top of your head.

“Do you guys have fun seeing your parents this weekend?” You ask.

“The girls did, I think my parents can’t see me when the girls are around.” He huffs a laugh, the Geto parents absolutely dote on the two girls.

“NANA! MIMI!” Another young girl voice nearly deafens you all.

Tsumiki and Megumi come into the room to see you all, after you had sent them to wash up after playing outside for so long.

“So, fucking loud.” Came a grumpy grumble from the 8-year-old Megumi.

“‘Gumi, remember what I said about swearing.” You chastise.

“Only do it at home or if someone’s being a real dickhead.” He recites your rule.

“Hey lil’ man, what’s up?” Suguru asks, ruffling the boy's hair.

“Eh, not much. I can summon Toad now.” The boy shrugs, he liked his Uncle Suguru – he was pretty chill.

“Nice one, kid. Show me later? If that’s okay with your mama?” Your brother-in-all-but-blood asks.

“Fine by me, I promised the girls I’d make them all their favourite flowers anyway. So, we can all have lunch outside?” You ask.

You turn around to find your boyfriend levitating with all three girls.

“It’s like having another kid. Can everyone help me take some food outside so we can have Tsumiki’s birthday picnic?” The kids each took a plate of stuff and then the two grown man children started a competition of who could carry the most plates, to which you quickly put a stop to – they invite disaster and usually you are an equal agent of their chaos, but you worked hard on this party food, goddamit.

Satoru then grabs the bag of gifts and Suguru takes his giant box.

As you’re all situated on the blue and white gingham picnic blanket you light the ‘9’ candle on the strawberry cake your adopted daughter requested. You all sing happy birthday to her, and she blows out the candle with a big huff. Megumi rolls his eyes, as if he wasn’t equally excited last December when it was his turn. He’s like Nanami, you think, acts all cool and indifferent but is actually a total teddy bear.

“Wanna open your gifts, ‘Miki?” Suguru asks.

She begins to unwrap them, Nanami had sent her the box set of Nancy Drew books, Utahime got her a cute heart shaped purse with her name on it, Yaga had made her a doll that dances to music and Shoko got her a Nerf Rebelle Bow and Arrow set – with a note that said, ‘now you can match your mom, aunty Koko’. Next was the twins, Nanako produced a gift bag with a set of hair chalk in loads of colours that Tsumiki made you promise you’d do for all the girls and Satoru later on. Mimiko got her a Tamagotchi in blue, her favourite colour.

Next up was her brother, Megumi was a fiery red and grumbled out a barely comprehensible’Happy birthday Tsumiki.’ This was truly a testament to how much he loved his sister, because for Megumi this was the equivalent of a gushing profession of sibling love and bond. He slid a pizza sized box at her to which she opened in delight to find a 160-piece art set. He had insisted on using his own pocket money for the gift, and you just melted. Tsumiki was a talented artist, and it was by far her favourite hobby. She couldn’t contain her excitement and tossed her arms around her brother (who looked surprisingly happy at this sudden affection).

“Cmere, doll. Open mine next.” Said Suguru, pushing the large box to her.

She rips open the paper and once again, squeals.

“A SKATEBOARD?!?! THANK YOU SO MUCH UNCLE SUGU!” She threw her arms around his hips, the man almost as tall as Satoru who was practically a giant to the kids.

“Mama, dad – look! It’s blue!”

“What?! That’s so awesome ‘Miki! Now you can come skating with me and Uncle Sugu!” Satoru adds, equally as excited – he could now teach her something cool with his best friend.

After a moment of trying to balance on her new board, you usher her to you as Satoru comes back out of the house with an absolutely ginormous box. Of course, you knew what this one was. The terrible wrapping job was you and your boyfriend’s handiwork.

“Tsumiki, this one is from us.” Satoru says as he sits the box on the grass, and wraps an arm around your waist, pressing a kiss to your temple as you rest a hand on his chest.

“I hope you like it sweet girl, happy birthday!” You grin, the excitement for her to open it is bubbling inside you.

She rips off the paper and…

Silence.

Wait… silence?

Did she not like it? Oh my god, are they tears?!

You and Satoru rush to her.

“Babygirl what’s wrong? Is it not okay? Is it the wrong colour? We can get you another one! Or every colour? Do you want to get all the colours? I’ll go right now.” Satoru says, as you frantically nod in agreement.

Tsumiki just tosses herself like a rag doll between you both and wraps her small arms around you necks.

“It’s just so pretty! I wanted it so much and I can’t believe you guys got it for me, I love it so much. Thank you thank you thank you thank you.” She says between heaving sobs.

You both sag in relief. You’d gotten a similar, if more understated reaction from Megumi a few months ago when he opened his birthday present. You’d converted a walk-in closet in the spare bedroom to make him a library for him. The floor was covered in cushions and bean bags, there was space for his dogs to sit with him, floor to ceiling shelves filled with books lining the room and in a hidden compartment was a PlayStation for him to play on. You’d also gotten a mini fridge so he could have snacks in there. You’ve lost count of how many nights Satoru has had to pick him up after he’s fallen asleep reading in his ‘library’ curled up on a bean bag and tuck him into bed. The sparkles in his eyes as he’d opened the door to the room may have been the most special thing you’d seen ever. Your cottage wasn’t huge, but the spare room closet was just a wasted space, so it made perfect sense to use it as the introverted child’s escape while also encouraging him to keep up his love of books.

But right now, you had a happy sobbing 9-year-old on your hands. Satoru looked at you ever her shoulders, a huge white, dazzling grin on his handsome face. Some people might think you spoil the kids, but Tsumiki spent too long being the grown up in her house and Megumi spent too long trying to not be a burden to her – they deserved this. They’re the most amazing kids.

Satoru winks at you, mouthing ‘we did good, princess.’ To which you blow him a kiss, because yeah, you guys did good.

“Do you wanna open it?” You ask her, grin on your face.

“Fuck yeah!” She adds.

“I’ll let that one slide.” You laugh at her.

She tears the box apart, and there in all its glory is her present.

A 5 story, 4 foot tall, 5-foot wide, Victorian style baby blue dollhouse. It was something every little girl dreamed of you remember passing them in stores at Christmas and nearly drooling looking at them when you were her age. She’d always spoken about wanting a dollhouse, so you decided to go all out with it.

Inside the house was boxes and boxes of furniture, tiny wallpaper and paint, even tiny kitchen utensils and soft furnishings – all ready for her to decorate the interior however she wants.

You had used your technique to even make a little everlasting garden in the front before it had all been wrapped up.

It truly was absolutely incredible, Tsumiki had dived right in and was examining everything and pointing it all out to you guys whenever she found something inside it.

“Look! A tiny cushion! It’s so cute! And oh my, a tiny teacup!” She showed you guys.

She invited Nanako and Mimiko to look with her, and even Megumi was curious about all of the tiny household goods – smiling when he sees a tiny dog bed and tiny dog bowls and a tiny cat scratch post.

“My birthday present from you guys was not half as cool as that.” Suguru elbowed you both.

“You’re 22 Suguru, do you want a dollhouse?” Which made him laugh, but Satoru’s mouth was agape.

“Suguru – how you wound me! We brought you to Bora Bora!” He mocks cries at this.

“Eh, not a dollhouse though, is it?” He smirks at his best friends' antics.

You look at the kids all playing on the blanket.

“Who’s birthdays next?” Suguru asks.

“Mine.” You smirk, eyebrows raised at the boys.

“Ha! You better pull up, ‘toru.” Geto laughs as Satoru smirks.

“Already sorted everything. Only the best for my princess.” He says, lifting you onto his lap for a kiss as you laugh at him - you’d told him you wanted a new pair of gardening gloves – but he’d give you the world if you asked for it.

You kiss him back, hands on his cheeks, stroking along his jaw.

“Ugh, you two are so gross and in love I hate it.” Suguru drawls, rolling his eyes.

Neither of you break away from the kiss, just both lift up a hand in his direction and raise your middle fingers.

[tobiasdrake]

Digimon Adventure 01x04 - Scorching Heat! Birdramon! / Biyomon Gets Firepower

Previously on Digimon Adventure: The kids spent their first night on File Island, accidentally assaulted a sea dragon, and then slept in dirt. Also, Yamato loves his brother very much.

Now it's Sora's turn for a spotlight episode.

As the kids make their way through the woods, they hear a loud rumbling sound like a train coming from the sky. Looking up, there's a mysterious flying disc.

Yamato gets the best look at it, identifying it as some kind of gear. Sora suggests flying saucer, while Mimi splits the difference offers gear-shaped meteorite. Jou doesn't know what it was; He just gets a bad vibe from it.

In the dub, Matt suggests some kind of aircraft. Sora's the one who pegs it as a gear, while Izzy takes it as clear visible evidence for his alien theory. Joe agrees with Izzy and riffs on the show's art, declaring "They hit us with an antigravity way to make us all crooked; Or maybe that sign's just crooked?"

The conversation is interrupted when Takeru trips on a vine and hurts his ankle. Wilderness travel sucks.

Taichi and Yamato both rush to Takeru's side, but Taichi gets there first. One detail I really love in this scene is that Takeru visibly turns his head to talk directly to Yamato when he cries that his fall hurt.

Takeru tries to be tough, saying he can take it and it doesn't really hurt that much. Sora assures him that it's okay to be honest about his pain, and gives Takeru confidence to withdraw that retraction. It does hurt. Patamon, way too late on the uptake, suddenly screams "ARE YOU OKAY, TAKERU!?" and Tentomon calls him out for being slow.

The dub cuts this whole discussion of Takeru's pain. When Tai picks him up, he chastizes him because "That could have been a snake!" T.K. apologizes for being clumsy, then asks Biyomon if the island has snakes on it. She assures him it doesn't; There's just giant killer bugs and stuff, no snakes. Patamon then boldly proclaims that he'll fight those Digimon to protect T.K.

From here, we get into Sora and Piyomon's conflict for this arc. As the group discusses where we even go from here, Piyomon begins nuzzling Sora and declares that she'll be perfectly happy as long as she's with Sora.

Sora does not take this well. "Even if you're 100% happy, it'll be troublesome for me. I can't be held responsible." Piyomon doesn't understand what she means by that and eagerly asks her to explain, because she wants to know everything about Sora. Sora tries to wave off her questions; That was not an invitation for further conversation.

As the kids start walking again, Tentomon explains to Koushiro that Piyomon are highly social Digimon. Behind them, Piyomon takes Sora's hand while they walk and sings, "Sora~ Sora~ Sora~!" While Piyomon physically clings to her, Sora wonders to herself whether she's going to be able to get along with a "mushy Digimon" like Piyomon.

The dub cuts all of this. As the kids discuss where to go, Tai suggests looking for signs of intelligent life. Biyomon takes offense to that, asking Sora if Tai just insulted the Digimon. Sora assures her that Tai didn't mean it like that, then spends the rest of her dialogue explaining how important it is that they stick together and work as a team to find their way out of here.

As the kids start walking, Matt imitates a tour guide and introduces everyone to "The Forest of Irrelevant Road Signs". Sora rolls her eyes and complains internally, "We're lost and these guys are making jokes!"

Good news is, the kids finally find their way out of the Forest of Irrelevant Road Signs. Bad news is, the Desert of Inexplicable Telephone Poles seems much worse. I vote we stay here.

A quick cut shows us the gear crashing into a nearby mountain shaped like a layered sponge cake, because File Island is weird. In the dub, the kids see and comment on "the flying saucer again", with Matt proclaiming that it's "heading for a close encounter!" But this shot is for the audience's benefit, not theirs.

Walking through the desert, Koushiro compares it to the African savannah he saw on TV. This prompts discussion of whether they'll run into lions or giraffes, but the Digimon assure them there are no such animals here. Only Digimon.

Yamato asks Koushiro if the African savannah has phone poles in it. My heart goes out to him for that question. Like, you can hear the hopefulness behind the question, like maybe they've finally pegged where they are. But no. There are no inexplicable telephone poles in the African savannah.

Jou, however, takes the phone poles as a sign of hope. We flash back on the pay phones and the trolley. If there's so much stuff here then there must be people. Behind him, Tentomon whispers to Koushiro, once again reasserting that there are no people. Only Digimon.

In the dub, they head into the desert to purposefully follow the phone poles, then use the rest of their dialogue to complain about the heat. T.K. whines that he can feel the heat coming up through his socks, so Matt suggests putting his shoes back on. Mimi then complains that the desert air is bad for her complexion, providing the others another opportunity to yell at her.

Dub Sora points out that the phone poles aren't connected to anything. Izzy takes that as a chance to theorize that they're some kind of alien devices.

For the flashbacks on the pay phones and trolley, Dub Mimi abruptly asks, "Hey, remember those phone booths and the street car?" but she's not going anywhere with this. "I was just wondering if anyone else remembered!" This provokes Joe into suddenly proclaiming that everyone is doomed and the heat is baking their brains. Behind him, Tentomon whispers to Izzy that they need to find shade for Joe.

Amid all this, Mimi has an idea to help them navigate the desert. Remember that compass from the survival kit she stole from her dad? Mimi remembers.

The dub plays this for a joke. "You won't believe what happened to my favorite watch. The sun melted the numbers right off!" The way she delivers this suggests Mimi herself might be cracking a joke, but the way the dub treats her in general leaves it kind of ambiguous.

They also seem to think this is a different compass, as Tai cracks a joke about Mimi having "a lot of compasses for someone who hates hiking". No, Tai. She has the one. From the survival kit she stole from her dad.

Holding the compass out flat, it begins to spin wildly and can't find a direction. So. That sucks. Koushiro assesses the sand they're walking on and realizes it's actually powdered iron, which is throwing off the compass. So much for that.

Next steps: We should probably find water before we all dehydrate. Seems like that would probably have been a good thing to think about before beginning a death march through the desert, but these are children.

Here, the Japanese crew start suffering from the heat, joining the dub crew. Gomamon proclaims that he needs ice or, at least, water. In the dub, Izzy lands a good joke by explaining that he's taken a soil sample, measured the barometric pressure, and analyzed the relative humidity to come to the conclusion: "It's really, really hot."

Mimi takes off her hat and gives it to Palmon to protect her from the harsh sun. Dub Palmon gets in a crack about "If this goes on too long, I'm going to look like a wilted salad."

Mimi's kind gesture surprises Sora, who starts to say something but then stops herself. Piyomon then starts in, calling out Sora's name like a child trying to get her mom's attention until Sora finally snaps at her. Sora yells at Piyomon to quit clinging to her, because she's tired and thirsty and can't take it anymore.

Feeling guilty for hurting Piyomon's feelings, Sora takes it back and agrees to let Piyomon keep walking with her. Piyomon forgives her instantly, hugging her legs and proclaiming, "Sora, I love you!"

Once again I want to take a moment and comment on the art, as the decision to center Mimi and Palmon with their clear, visible gesture of care for one another on full display in this shot is perfect.

Though I also want to note that, while Sora's behavior towards Piyomon is hurtful and that's what drives the plot of the episode, it should be taken with the perspective that they just met yesterday. Piyomon is being pretty clingy. There's nuance here.

Again, the dub cuts Sora and Piyomon's emotional conflict out of the scene entirely. They use the screentime to make jokes. Matt cracks, "Now you know why they call them SWEAT socks!" while Mimi gets in a stellar crack, pointing out that this "beach" would be a lot more popular if it had a couple more things like an ocean. XD

When Biyomon stops walking in visible distress, it's because she's tired and needs to rest. Sora suggests pretending that it's raining, which gives Biyomon so much encouragement that she runs up and hugs Sora. She loves the rain so much.

Breaking out his telescope, Taichi finds the most wonderful sight in the distance. That's not just an oasis, it's a full-blown village. This is the brightest moment since the kids arrived on File Island! Let's get over there!

Jou triumphantly declares victory; He knew there'd be people here! Mimi's thirsty, Takeru's hungry, everyone's excited for an end to the desert.

Dub Tai and Joe are both more interested in the water than the village, but Izzy's interested in the village; He's the only one that suggests there may be people. Mimi wants shade, while T.K. is "hungry enough to eat broccoli!"

Meanwhile, the gear finds its way to its target. Slamming into this man made of fire, it grotesquely digs into his flesh and buries itself in his body.

The village... isn't exactly what they anticipated. The kids quickly realize that they will not find shelter here. The huts are like two feet tall and populated by dozens of Pyocomon.

This revelation naturally leaves Jou distraught; No people, once again. Mimi thinks it's cute, though; It reminds her of a faerie tale. Dub Joe's upset because they won't fit into the huts, while Mimi wants to take a Pyocomon home with her to put with the rest of her plushies. This gives them yet another chance to shit-talk her, with Matt wondering aloud if Mimi even hears the same things the rest of them do while Izzy accuses her of being an alien spy.

The dub is so mean to Mimi.

In fact, Piyomon used to be one of those Pyocomon, and takes the opportunity to catch up. While Sora listens in and seems genuinely touched by how much Piyomon cares about her. We watch her frown turn to a smile as Piyomon brags that she evolved because of Sora and she's learning new words from Sora.

But then Piyomon says she evolved to "protect Sora" and that offends her. Sora grumpily mutters to herself that Piyomon's too lovey-dovey to protect anyone. But then she flashes back on Greymon and Garurumon's evolution, realizing that something similar might happen to Piyomon if she's put in danger. That brings the smile back to her face.

The dub keeps most of this, but Sora isn't as mean about the "protect Sora" remark. She sounds more curious about what that means, then thinks about Greymon and Garurumon and she gets it. Grinning, she proclaims, "We're lucky kids!"

The Pyocomon offer to prepare a feast in the kids' honor. Koushiro briefly considers what the food will be, but his thoughts are interrupted when Takeru finds the water!

Tentomon explains that this isn't just any spring; This water comes from Miharashi Mountain, that odd layered mountain that the gear flew off to. Dub T.K. observes that it's a volcano, but the Yokomon assure him that "the heat boils away all the germs".

At this point, we see the gear finish burrowing into the fire man from before. Then the attack begins.

The kids try the lake that the derelict boat was sitting in, but it's completely dried up. They move to a well in the village, but fire pours out of that as well.

They quickly assess that this must be related to that gear they saw flying to Miharashi, seeing as it's the water source for everything here. The Pyocomon offer context that Meramon lives on Miharashi and he's supposed to protect it. How could something have happened?

Like Seadramon, the dub makes Meramon out to be more vicious than the original. Here, the Yokomon speak of Meramon with terror, saying they don't dare visit the mountain because of how dangerous he is. "He burns up everything he touches!"

Taichi scouts the mountain with his telescope and finds no answers, only a bigger question: Why is Meramon descending the mountain and coming right for us?

Meramon irrationally screams that he's on fire and burning up, while the narrator officially introduces him. He's an Adult-stage Data-type Digimon. This is where the dub got "He burns up everything he touches", but the narrator clarifies "in battle".

In the dub, Palmon handles his introduction but all she offers is that it's weird for his own flames to be causing him pain like this. Accurate, but also self-evident.

Also, while he's clearly out of his mind and screaming about burning up and being in pain in both versions, Dub Meramon starts throwing out violent taunts like "You're gonna need more than sunscreen to stop me!" that imply more deliberation in attacking the village.

Both versions do start laughing maniacally as they approach the village, however, so the dub isn't wrong with their take. The gear-infected Meramon isn't coming this way by chance.

Evacuating the village, the kids usher the Pyocomon to take cover inside the wrecked ship. But while they're helping these Pyocomon, Sora's struck with a horrifying realization: Piyomon's still up there, at the top of the cliff that the lakeshore's become, guiding the Pyocomon. She won't leave until the rest of her village are safe.

The intensity of Piyomon's peril sends Sora racing for the cliffside to come get her, but she's too late. While the Pyocomon all make it out, Meramon catches Piyomon on the cliff's edge and takes a swipe at her, sending her tumbling down the cliff. Sora catches her at the bottom, and the two share a moment as Sora expresses how worried she was for her friend.

But, up at the top of the cliff, Meramon prepares to attack. As he forms a fireball in his hand for his Burning Fist attack, Piyomon flies back up to defend Sora.

Piyomon's signature move is Magical Fire, a green spiral flame that proves absolutely ineffectual against the ever-burning and Adult-stage Meramon. The dub calls it Spiral Twister. Meramon shrugs off the attack and blasts Piyomon out of the sky with his Burning Fist.

The others offer cover fire with such moves as Baby Flame and Petit Fire, all of which Meramon absorbs and grows larger. It takes the kids a moment to realize that fire isn't going to work out here.

The dub here offers a reminder that Meramon's a victim in all this. Dub Meramon exclaims, "Why do I suffer so!?" which Tai overhears and wonders the same; He wants to help Meramon but they don't know what's afflicting him.

As the now-colossal Meramon descends into the lakebed to assault the ship and kids, Piyomon picks herself off the ground. Seeing Sora in Meramon's path, she finds her second wind and refuses to give up.

Piyomon SHINKAAAAAA!!!

The dub takes the focus of that moment off of Sora. Biyomon exclaims, "We're all in trouble; Meramon cannot be allowed to win!" and then digivolves because "My friends need my help now!"

Birdramon's name at this point is fairly self-explanatory. She's a Bird Dragon Digimon.

Returning Meramon to the lakeshore, Birdramon tanks multiple Burning Fists before returning fire with her own signature move: Meteor Wing.

This does not get a dub name; At least, not in this episode. Whoever did the script for this episode seems to have not liked the whole attack-calling thing, as both Meramon's Burning Fists and Birdramon's Meteor Wing go completely unnamed. Meramon's attack calls are replaced with exertion grunts, while Birdramon's is replaced by high-pitched bird cries. Later episodes will have Birdramon call Meteor Wing by name, however.

Somehow, despite Meramon absorbing fire moves and growing stronger, hitting him with six massive fireballs does the trick.

Meramon doubles over in pain, returns to normal size, and ejects the gear from his back. The gear flies up into the air, then explodes in a puff of smoke. The kids all see the black gear, but they don't really understand what they're seeing. Still, Yamato wonders aloud if the gear was the problem here.

As usual, the dub kids are quicker on the uptake. Izzy and Tai both agree in much more confident terms that the gear drove Meramon mad. Matt relates; "If you had a big black gear stuck inside of you, you'd act a little crazy too."

Sora and Piyomon reunited, and Sora's overwhelmed with gratitude for Piyomon's protection. When Piyomon declares, "I love you, Sora!' again, it's met with an appreciative smile.

This moment's gushier in the dub, because Sora never had any reservations about their relationship to begin with. She spends her lines gushing that Biyomon's always there for her and that she's super proud of her.

Offscreen, the lake fills back up with water. The Pyocomon return to their village and unpack what happened with Meramon. He's as confused as they are. Still, they have no hard feelings over it and ask him to continue protecting Miharashi as he always has.

Despite the dub making the Yokomon terrified of Meramon and portraying him as a violent, territorial menace, this scene is played straight. "You're needed to protect Mount Miharashi!" they say of a 'mon they previously said burns up everything.

In any case, Meramon returns to his mountain and the water is restored. There's just one thing left to do: Let's get to that feast!

All the grain and birdseed you can eat!

The kids quickly agree that this is not people food. But also that they're starving and desperate, so dig in, everybody!

To varying degrees of acceptance. Mimi, in particular, cries out that she wants to go home, giving everyone a chuckle.

Ironically, the dub makes Mimi the most gracious. "Be polite and just eat it; A gracious guest never insults his host's cooking!" she says from offscreen, criticizing the others for their reluctance. Joe, meanwhile, refuses to eat, saying he's probably allergic anyway.

We close on Sora contemplating Piyomon, acknowledging that she really did evolve to protect her, just like she said she would. Dub Sora, again, had nothing to learn in this episode so she closes with the observation, "For being so little, she sure has a huge heart."

Assessment: The dub butchered this one. The previous episode seemed to be going a different direction with Matt, seeming to make him more abrasive to T.K. so he has room to grow. This one does the opposite; They erased Sora's entire character arc. Which is. Y'know. The plot of this episode. So.

Sora having trouble with Piyomon's displays of affection is our first glimpse at a deeper turmoil that will become important in later episodes, so I'm not happy about having that removed.

I do, however, like the mid-fight reminder of Meramon's affliction. And the dub also landed some solid jokes too; I particularly liked Matt sarcastically calling their surroundings the "Forest of Irrelevant Road Signs", conveying that he's starting to get irritated by the bizarre and inexplicable geography of File Island. So it does have a couple things going for it in this one.

[archduchessofnowhere]

I'll admit long before "The Empress" existed I got confused on two of Sisi's sisters being named Maria Sophie (or Marie Sophia?) and also Sophie. I know, I know, but honestly did confused me. If the show can pick new names, I think Maria Sophie's third name Amelia (pronounced in the more Italian version of Amalie/Amélie) would be my own choice.

Hi anon! Honestly I think that, if on top of every inaccuracy in that series, they had also renamed Marie as Amalie, I would've become the Joker jfkf.

Ok for real, up to a level I understand wanting to avoid repeating names, specially with such a small cast. Calling Franz Karl just "Karl" is not the end of the world, specially since they didn't write Karl Ludwig into the series. He was a very minor character in season 1 anyway.

But "Princess Marie" is simply inexcusable bad writing. You're creating a series about Elisabeth of Austria and decide to include her brother-in-law Maximilian as a prominent character. You know that Maximilian will get married in 1857 to a Belgium princess called Charlotte who is just as known as him if not more, they're a basically package deal. You expect, I assume, to get multiple seasons. I would also assume, then, that you are planning in covering several years in those seasons. So you know that, eventually, you will have to write said Charlotte into your series, you signed up for that when you included Maximilian in the first place. You also want to keep things simple in your series, so simple in fact that you refuse to repeat characters' names. Ok, fine, those are your rules. Now tell me, with all this in mind, why, just why would you give a fictional minor character the same name as a character that will be far more prominent in the next season of your show?

It just betrays such a lack of planning that it makes me mad. If they didn't want to repeat names for fear of confusing the audience, then "Charlotte" should've been off the limits since the beginning. At first we speculated they were calling Josephine Thiesen's character "Princess Marie" to keep it a secret and make a big reveal. In reality, they were calling her that because instead of just having two Charlottes, or start calling the ficctional Charlotte by her title to tell them apart, they decided to rename the real woman. It's just so, so dumb.

And Marie's character ended up suffering from this mess as well, because she also had to be renamed to accommodate to the "no repeating names" rule. Now going back to what you proposed, that was also not possible for these screenwriters, because the redhead lady-in-waiting that Leontine kills in season 1 was called Amalie. So yeah I guess Mimi was the best they could came up with lol.

[princess-of-the-corner]

It's All Relative(s) - ML AU

Me & Mimi were just chatting, and then this smacked us in the face. It literally started with us joking that Bourgeois probably wasn’t even André’s real name. It’s something he came up with when he began his political career. Anyway, now we’re here and sharing.

(Please note, all OC names are placeholders, if someone wants to Actually do something with this idea and wants to change shit, go ahead)

So, Chloé actually has a very large extended family on her dad’s side. However, her dad is estranged from most, if not all, of them, so Chloé doesn’t even know these people exist. Until one day, her Uncle Bartholomew Bonheur shows up with his wife and kid, hoping to reconnect with his brother. Enter Chloé interacting with blood relatives who DON’T gaslight her or treat her like shit, while the extended Bonheur family is getting increasingly concerned about Chloé. At some point, Cousin Katelyn (who looks scarily similar to Chloé) gets front row, first hand experience with how Audrey and André treat Chloé, and the whole family flies into a rage. The grandparents are called in, custody rights are being challenged, André and Audrey are being taken to court. Sorry suckers, you just lost your parent rights!

-

On one hand I want her to have a family that loves her

on the other hand I know for a FACT that a man with a name like ‘Bartholomew Bonheur’ is 100% bullied all through school holy shit y’all are setting that man up for failure and getting his ass kicked on the playground.

[cannednoodle]

Guess who almost fell into the, yet another, hole while exploring!

So here they are! The siblings!!

So I finally got around to doodle, and draw, the three of them together! And started to think more about their relations with one another more than, ‘oh! It would be fun if they were siblings!’

Okay so! Yes that is Steven Stone, i don’t think he was ever given the official age so here he is, at 22 nonetheless! He is older than End by 5 whole years! And since both his and End’s, and by extension Nana’s/Mimi’s, families were close friends, Steven quickly adopted, first, End and then Nana/Mimi as his younger siblings, making him their big brother! Despite not even living in the same town they managed to keep up their usual shenanigans and get in troble, first just the older duo, and then the little one joining in as soon as she could walk!

The public is not aware of who Steven’s ‘unofficial siblings’ are but they are aware that they exist, and due to Steven never actually naming either of them nobody knows who they are, locals know, of course, they got to see the trio grow up, but due to changes of policies done by the local Hoenn league, and because, now both champions, Steven and Wallace, are more seen in public with countless of events, with both champions in the middle of them, Hoenn people stopped snooping around and realized that if something was important they would know about it one way or another as 2 out of 3 Hoenn champions are very engaged in the community. Cannot say that every tourist respects league officials though

Thats to say! End is traveling at the moment in Galar as they hit their 17th birthday, and Mimi is currently away from home to study in the next town! She doesn’t know what she wants to do yet, so for now she is sticking to studying how to take care of pokemon! End leaves one of their pokemon with her each week to take care of, so she knows how to take care of someone else’s pokemon and not just her own team, she doesn’t know their routine so it’s quite the challenge for her!

And those are nicknames and stuff they are calling each other the most! ‘Nana’/‘Mimi’ is easy as to it is a nicknames made from her name! As well as ‘Eve’, it was made by End when they were small so they could say Steven’s name easier! End actually is the newest nickname, and name, they go by now, they were trying to introduce themselves once and kinda panicked and blurred out ‘End’ as their name, so they are now going by that! Both Nana and Steven are used to calling them ‘Den’ and so is a certain younger sister, as Bonnie is calling them ‘Den Den’!

Additionally a little view into End’s current (18 yo) design! And what happened to them will be explained soon ;) ! (Hopefully!)

Little additional doodle of the sillies :D

And the original pic i drew over!

[sarahsmi13s]

Oma-Star

“I know what you’re doing, Neil.” / "But it’s working, ain’t it? You’re smiling because I make terrible jokes.”

neil vikander and y/n rogers met the same year half the universe was wiped from existance. they had been stationed in oceana together, meeting breifly on the tarmac before winding up on a career together for a two month long training stint. when they got back, things just took off from there (no pun intented) but when april rolled around and star was coming home from a deployment, chaos had begun. and both had been lucky to be with each other as people began to disappear around them. omaha even lost someone, his mother calling him to tell him his little brother had turned to dust right in front of her. it was hard... neil was extremely close with his siblings, his twin teenage brothers the most. y/n was neil's biggest support systems. and over the next five years, the rogers and the vikanders grew close to one another. and star and omaha only fell more in love. which leads us too now... as neil's family regained the son and brother they lost, y/n lost her father. omaha was getting ready for a deployment when steve took his last breath, and was gone during the aftermath... he felt awful that he couldn't be there for her. but now... now he can. and he's not going to let her be alone.

lt rogers tags <33 (i apologize if i missed anyone if i did please remind me in the comments):

@milesdickpic @roosterscockpit @luckyladycreator2 @hotch-meeeeeuppppp @twsssmlmaa

@malindacath @startrekfangirl2233 @indigodaydream @that-one-random-writer @hangmansgbaby

@nikkipea @a-court-of-roscoe-and-baby @yourlocalloser-core @mimi-8793 @scalesarenotbalanced

@carnationworld @bethabear12 @kmc1989

[atlyvryx]

Yuusona introduction to the tumblr since I plan on being here more, kinda.

The stray cat, who's absolutly not, reborn from blot homunculus and actually originated from Twisted wonderland- I mean, what ?

[ RAMSHACKLE DORM ]

Mikolaj Twardowski

Mikolaj Twardowski is an unofficial first year student of Ramshackle and a supposed school’s prefect. Most of the student body don’t know anything about him, due to his closed off nature.

‘’At times, you’re really on your own, huh.’’

Technical information

Name: Mikolaj Twardowski

Japanese: ミコライ・トワルドフスキー

Romaji: Mikorai towarudofusukī

Twisted from: Chernabog (Fantasia)

Other name: Mi, Prefect, The janitor, Seigneur du destin ( Rook ), Vanta Fishie (Floyd), Mimi (Ramshackle ghosts), Carbonados (Malleus)

(Jp) Voiced by: Megumi Ogata (specific, Sailor Uranos/Haruka Tenou)

Biographical information

Gender: GNC woman

Age: 18

Birthday: May 20

Star Sign: Taurus

Height: 167

Eye color: Dark brown

Hair color: Dark blond, black streaks.

Homeland: Poland (earth)

Family: Three unnamed younger brothers, Unnamed parents.

Professional status

Dorm: Ramshackle

School year: First

Class: 1-A. No. 9

Occupation: Student. The Nrc’s janitor. Ramshackle’s prefect.

Club: None

Best subject: Enigmics

Fun facts

Dominant hand: Right

Favorite food: Caramelised popcorn

Least favorite food: Tomatoes

Dislikes: Self-righteous people

Hobbies: Doing anything alone

Talents: Commanding

Appearance

(Book 1-5)

Mikolaj has dark blond, short with the dark streaks on the end of them. He has mostly cool expressions and lifeless-like dark brown eyes.

Mikolaj is mostly seen wearing a dark colored t-shirt with the black over it, with modified back which resembles wings with dark boots and full gloves. He wears yellow colored lenses glasses to see.

(Post book 5 and onward)

Mikolaj has dark blond, short in the end hair with the dark streaks on the end of them. He has mostly cool expressions and lifeless-like dark brown eyes but the facade keeps on breaking in recent days. On his right arm, from wrist upwards, he has multiple scratches from the attack he obtained from Grim.

Mikolaj is mostly seen wearing a dark colored t-shirt with the black over it, with modified back which resembles wings with dark boots and full gloves with bandages underneath right arm, to hide scratches sustained from Grim’s attack. He wears yellow colored lenses glasses to see.

Personality

Mikolaj's self-sufficient behavior made it so he finds it hard to open to most at all, with the belief that the only person he can rely on is himself. All of his true feelings are underneath a facade of eerily calmness at any given situation. While to most, he seems almost cold due to how he keeps everybody at arm's length, in fear of ruining everything again and being hurt, he does hold care for others, due to not wanting for anybody else to feel how he once felt. Even so, he has a hypocritical belief that everybody deserves kindness when he himself has to 'earn it'. While being a great leader, Mikolaj despises working in a team, in fear of making terrible choices that would affect everybody. In the end, he prefers to be told what to do and being given tasks, in hopes of gaining favor with others. He's cut off from everybody and everything.

Powers and abilities

Smooth talk: Due to his upbringing, Mikolaj has learned what to say, to get the best outcome for himself. Some may even call it manipulation and lies, but he simply calls it smooth talk.

Unique magic: ‘’Before the bells ring, before the dawn breaks, may all the monsters rise and dance along! Devil's Symphony!’’ ‘’Devil’s symphony’’, it should have been an advanced beast talk, where the nearby monsters and beasts would have been under [...] command’s, if he had a chance to learn it back then. Now, only those of blot will be under his command, mainly blot phantoms and possible other monsters. It also works on mages, but it depends on their blot level.

Unique magic got unlocked after he overblotted from blot that had gotten into his system.

Background

Childhood vr.1

Mikolaj, or what was once Mikolaj, originated from Twisted Wonderland. In his first 'form', known under a different name, [...] grew up on Sage island.

A promising young mage, with the promise of greatness being soon taken away from him, as he fell and died too quickly. All of the events in his short life, paired with his prowess, ended up in overblot at a mere age of 11, which soon ended up in his death, as nobody was there to help, instead fleeing and leaving him behind to fend for themselves.

In a new form of blot phantom, with the slight consciousness of who he was, he wandered around hidden in the forest. Still holding onto the mentality of a child, the phantom cried to itself, in bitterness, until he was found by an odd, but who he could describe as kind, man, long before S.T.Y.X could have gotten there. The phantom was given a promise of new life, with the blot stone being the fuel for their new heart, in a world without magic, but in exchange, it meant that he would have to give up his magic. Mikolaj didn't even think twice before agreeing.

With the echo of glass shattering, the ink from it was used to write a life anew, unbeknownst that the re-written tale will be similar to the one of his demise, without a way out of it, even if it was through death the first time.

Childhood vr.2

Mikolaj was born and raised on Earth. His family wasn’t anybody significant, with two parents and three younger brothers, with Mikolaj being the oldest. Due to that, with the expectation of being eldest daughter, Mikolaj was expected to help with his siblings, often being seen as more mature thus he was often treated like an adult.

The situation was similar and yet different at school. Mikolaj was also seen as mature by its teacher, which caused him to be ignored when he needed help, especially when it needed help due to bullying and ostracization from his peers and classmates. Everybody around him was treated like children, when he never got to experience being one in the first place.

Learning young in life that he only had himself to rely on, he shut himself off from others, to avoid any kind of betrayal or hurt. He put on a facade of cool and stoic, playing onto this mature idea of who he was, but also to hide that in reality he was rather childish and overly emotional which was the cause of him becoming a target. While over the years, due to change of environment, it slightly calmed it, most of his learned behavior stayed. In the end, he put all the blame on his past self, believing himself to be unlovable and unsaveable forever, leaving him with a bitter feeling.

When 18, Mikolaj got hit by the black carriage by accident, as he pushed the human meant to get carried to Twisted Wonderland, as he saw the black carriage as a car approaching them.

At Night Raven College

LONG IN WORK MY GOODNESS. He eats the blot stones idk.

Note: Mikolaj’s lore might change depending on book 7 n 8

Trivia

Mikolaj surname is a reference to Pan Twardowski or Mistrz Twardowski (to eng. Mr. Twardowski or Master Twardowski), a fantasy polish sorcerer who, according to folklore and stories, made a deal with the devil, exchanging his soul for power. It correlates with Mikolaj is how he did it in reverse, making a deal with ‘the devil’, exchanging his power for soul.

Mikolaj’s current glasses are a ‘gift’ from Dire Crowley, due to the fact that he lost his old ones when he got carried by the dark mirror carriage. Due to the fact he didn't know his prescription, Dire just gave him glasses that adapt to the wearer's eyesight.

Mikolaj knows how to ride magical wheels due to wanting to get around the sage island faster, especially with the amount of times he had to do stuff for others. He was taught by Deuce and Epel, but the two quickly regretted it, as Mikolaj started to rag on them for not wearing helmets for safety. Mikolaj had gotten a specialized helmet to wear for safe travels, also he got one for grim.

Mikolaj doesn’t attend any club activities due to the fact he was able to talk his way out of it. He claimed that if he’s going to leave soon, why should he join any club. Even so, he was made to attend them as a supervisor.

Mikolaj reacts badly to magical artifacts, but tries to explain it in the most mundane way. Examples being feeling sick after using the dark mirror to travel, explaining it by him easily getting motion sick or nearly fainting whenever the bell rang at Fleur city, saying it must have been because of it being too loud for him.