#I’m guessing blue’s tree dad is part of this. which still fits because they’re both virtually static and emotionally unavailable lol…. | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

12boogaloo · 1 year ago

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Okay, I cant take it anymore. The brain rot is REAL

Been on a writing hiatus since 2019 or 2020 (I honestly don’t remember so don’t @ me)

And what gets me to finally start writing again?

You guessed it ladies, gents, and serpents!

Fucking TROLLS 3

Let’s get this bread or die trying y’all 😈

~•~

So first things first: I didn’t come up with the AU’s I’m using here! They were created by TheMiraculousMat and Keebsification on here and AO3

The AU’s in question are The Eldest and The Youngest and Out The Train Wreck

I just love it when people see John Dory and think “hmmm yes this grown man can fit so much eldest daughter energy in him” cuz SAME

So I thought: what if I just… put em together? OTT! JD and E&Y! JD have a grip on my soul and I’m filling a formal complaint in the form of fanfiction for not just 1, but 2 other pieces of fanfiction!!! Cuz why not

I’m gonna post the notes I’ve had about this idea for the past 2 week, at least the first part.

Well… it’s half notes, half chapter really…

Maybe. MAYBE. I’ll clean it up and post it on AO3. Maybe… probably lets be real

Anyway. Y’all can call me Boog and this is Project: Hyperfixation Won

Actual story name pending…

~•~

Part 1: Author’s Actual Notes because they are a nerd

Got an idea

Gonna scratch the itch

Half brain rot dump and half story here

Combination of the Eldest and Youngest JD and the Train Wreck JD

I also head canon that trolls have tails and claws and fangs

They’re lil creatures

Basically the same stuff happens in TW with the manager and John being Branch’s father.

Branch grows up knowing JD is his dad while everyone else thinks they’re brothers.

He and Luka are dating. He’s basically Branch’s other dad.

Luka gets taken and John thinks he died. He keeps his glove to remember him.

The fight still happens. John still leaves but promises Branch that he’ll come back.

He goes to the Neverglades for the next four years.

When he gets a letter about Rosiepuff and Branch he immediately heads back to the tree to take care of him.

Pretty much all of E&Y happens but with the change of Branch knowing JD is his dad.

Makes the trauma of him leaving worse in a way which adds to the angst of the first parts delicious, but it also makes their bond really solid later on.

John forgot that everyone in the village knew them as brothers until Poppy asks him if John is Branch’s daddy out of the blue. He panics and says “no” on instinct and they both decide to just go with it. Easier than explaining it to everyone.

She still doesn’t know. Nobody does.

John still loses his arm trying to save Creek(nasty ass).

One morbid silver lining John felt was that at least it wasn’t the hand he wore Luka’s glove on. Small miracles. Lol I’m sorry

Branch doesn’t remember Luka anymore, at least not really. He sorta remembers a burgundy haired troll that he thought was important but couldn’t remember anything else about them so he didn’t think too much about it.

John doesn’t really like talking about him and Branch hasn’t ever asked so he doesn’t bring it up.

He starts dating Hickory and he does tell him about Luka. He admits that while he definitely is falling for Hickory, a part of him will always belong to Luka and their relationship will always be really important to him.

Hickory is more than okay with that and even tells him that he would’ve loved to have met the man that made his sweetheart so happy and kept him safe before it was his turn. (John just about cried when he said that same buddy and agreed that they’d probably get along pretty well.)(He shows Hickory pictures of him and Luka one day and they laugh over the fact that John clearly has a type.)(And, based on Hickory’s own light blush, same.)(He immediately said Luka was ‘real cute’ and John still laughs at him for it.)

He also tells him about Bold and how Branch came to be. (Hickory spent solid hours comforting him afterwards and spent an equal amount of time thinking of ways he could get Dickory to help him torture the bastard if he ever saw him.)(He decides in that moment that he’d do anything to protect his boyfriend and his son. Anything.) (He’s also even more grateful to Luka when he hears about how he protected his love the day they met. He really wishes he could thank him…)

Branch makes jokes about not calling Hickory his stepdad till they get married, which makes John flush bright blue. (Hickory just laughs and winks, the traitor.)(Hickory secretly really wants Branch to call him ‘Pops’ and he’s so obvious about it.)(Branch finds it hilarious and doesn’t on purpose. He’d actually love to call him that, he’s just being an ass.)(You’d think he wouldn’t ever want to but no. For some reason, it’s only thinking of Hickory as ‘Papa’ specifically that makes him feel wrong. Like that’s not available to him. I wonder why.)

After saving Floyd, the boys all start spending more time together as a family. Floyd and Clay move into the bunker with John and Branch. Bruce still lives on Vacay Island but he tries to visit at least once a week, even bringing his wife and kids with him if he can.

They still love doing shows together and will do a big one every two weeks at least.

A few months later, they’re getting ready to hangout together after a performance in PopVillage. Hickory isn’t with them, he was actually watching with Tiny in the crowd, so he can’t see them.(Lil dude is really attached to his “Uncle Cowboy” and “Uncle Johnny” it’s adorable.)(And yes Guy is close by, Tiny is still very very grounded.)

Poppy wants to introduce them to a former stage manager that she’s worked with before that had come to see the show from TrollCity. Branch has met him once before and thought the guy was weird and a little creepy but nothing else made him feel suspicious so he kinda just ignored it. He figured if Poppy trusted him, it was fine. (Obviously he still kept an eye on the old bastard, cause your boy isn’t paranoid for nothing. And you never know.)

They all agree to meet and when they get backstage… it’s him.

Bold.

The bros old manager. The man who hurt their eldest unimaginably.

JD basically shuts down as his younger brothers immediately shield him from view.

They need to get out of here without causing a scene. Fast.

“Poppy, I think we need to go…” Floyd mumbles, his usually soft features twisting in both anger and slight fear as he stared the old troll down.

Poppy looks at them in confusion, “Wha- but you guys said you wanted to see everything we set up!!” She looks between the brothers and the older manager, Branch joining her as his eyebrows furrowed.

“Sorry, kids, I don’t think we can do that…” Bruce doesn’t take his eyes off of the old man as he steps back, closer to Clay and Floyd who were holding John Dory’s arms and hands to keep him steady in their safety bubble, their tails wrapped around his waist. “Not when he’s here.”

Poppy blinks in confusion. “What do you mean? Have you met Mr. Bold before?” She asks.

The old bastard chuckles. “Don’t worry, Miss Poppy.” Poppy huffs a bit at being called ‘miss’. (She’s Queen, dammit. Only Hickory calls her ‘miss’ and it’s always as a joke.) “I was the boys’ manager back in the day! It’s just been a while since we’ve seen each other.” He looks over each brother, clearly trying to get a look at John Dory and noticeably souring when he’s blocked. Then he smirks, taking a few steps closer, his wooden cane thunking against the floor. John flinches with each tap, tap, tap. “You’ve all grown up so much.”

Bruce holds his ground, crossing his arms and rolling his shoulders, his bigger body blocking most of JD from view. Clay was growling behind him, both him and Floyd curling closer to John and their ears pressed back in irritation. Bruce gives a humorless chuckle. “Heh. Yeah, we’ve grown up, Bold. We grew up and you’re fucking old now.”

Poppy gasps. “B-Bruce, that’s not nice!” She turns to Bold and smiles nervously. “I’m so sorry-“

The man waves her off. “Don’t fret. I’m sure he didn’t mean anything by it. He’s right after all.” He looks at them again all smugly, leaning on his cane. “Like I said, it’s been a long time.”

Floyd scoffs. “Not long enough.” He growls, baring his teeth. His claws start coming out and he’s thankful he’s holding John’s prosthetic arm as he feels them scratch the metal.

“Woah, okay, what the hell is up with you guys?” Branch finally steps in. That was so unlike Floyd to say something like that. He’s never seen the older troll that angry before, he’s never seen any of his uncles that angry before.

Bruce huffs. “What’s up is that we’re leaving. Now.” He goes to turn around to start steering his brothers out of the room when he hears Bold chuckle, making them all freeze.

“You all really have changed so much,” He says, his tail swaying side-to-side behind him. John looks up and they manage to lock eyes, Bold smiling sickly as John stares in horror. “Especially you, Johnny Baby.”

John feels sick. He feels like he’s gonna pass out. He feels his legs start giving out as Clay and Floyd rush to hold him up. He feels his body going completely limp and his vision blurs and his chest hurts and he can’t breATHE-

Bruce tackles the old troll, immediately landing brutal hits to the bastards face. He screams between punches, “DON’T TALK TO MY BROTHER!” Bold tries to hit him back, only managing to smack Bruce in the side once with his cane before continuing to get pummeled.

Branch and Poppy jump in frantically to pull him off of the man and the three of them stumble back. Bruce shoves them off and glares at Bold again. He was lying on the ground, groaning and clutching his nose, there were scratches and bruises on his face and he was covered in his own glittery copper blood. “Stay. The FUCK. Away. From John.” Bruce pants and shakes out his hands, flexing his exposed claws. He spits on the ground. “Bastard.” He turns back to his brothers. “Cmon, let’s get out of here.” He lifts JD up bridal style and Clay and Floyd follow him as he starts rushing to the door.

“Wait, hold on!” Branch runs after them, leaving Poppy standing in confused horror at what just happened.

~•~

That’s what I’ll give for now lol

I have like wayyy more written out but I’m mean so 😈

Anyway

Thank you for coming to my ted talk

Lmk what y’all think ig

Check out the folks that created these AU’s plz @matmiraculous and Keebsification (idk their tumblr so plz don’t yell at me) both on AO3 where I found them

Later yall

#trolls band together #hickdory #eldest and youngest au #out the train wreck #trolls john dory #holy shit what has happened to me #hyperfixation ftw #trolls clay #trolls floyd #trolls branch #trolls bruce #my fav besides John Dory

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weirdthinkingdragon · 4 years ago

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Welcome To The Family (2/???)

Should tw be a thing for a bit of mind-control? Oh well, I'll put it as a warning here just to be safe.

Three weeks have passed. I've been informed by Eri that Shinsou has a mind control quirk. In all honesty? That doesn't change anything with the way I see him. He doesn't know I know his quirk. He doesn't need to since it wouldn't really change anything. He still seems rather untrusting of me though. I wish to change that, but how? More progress has been made with one of the adults, and he's around the least amount from working three jobs! Ugh, this is rather frustrating.

There is still plenty of time for that to change though. Remember Y/N, it's only been three weeks. At least the bond between Eri and I has grown substantially. We even already made our own little code thing by putting our right pointer finger on our nose, closing our left eye, and slightly poking out our tongues in a silly manner. It makes her giggle every time. We haven't shown that to the others yet. Not because there's anything wrong with it, it just never came up since I leave right after they come home. Shinsou almost saw it twice. No big deal if he does.

I even got to meet the two she thinks so highly of, and they're both adorable rays of sunshine themselves. They even brought dresses for an extra interesting tea party we had that day. The green one- the one whom of which I found out is named Deku, or Midoriya- is rather uncomfortable with wearing the dress, but seems to do it for Eri. The blond, Togata, has a short strapless pastel blue one that he doesn't seem to mind wearing in the slightest. He told me it's because he's rather used to suddenly being naked from his quirk. I can only wish to have that confidence. They told me more about their school, which honestly makes me wish to visit them and their friends someday. Sadly, that's not my place though.

Tonight is a night that I have to babysit them a bit longer, and have to put Eri to bed. Something about extra paperwork. I decided to be good for them and do some cleaning of their house. Nothing major, just the dishes that seem to of been sitting for a bit longer than they should have, and maybe even sweep the living room since there are a few visual piles of cat hair.

I start with sweeping the living room now while Eri watched more of her favorite show with her stuffed animals. It took a bit longer than it should have taken to find the broom in the utility closet. Oreo comes up to me and starts trying to swat at the broom, catching Eri's attention.

A smile starts to form on my face. Why not have a little fun with this? I start to drag the broom around, making him chase it. It doesn't take long for the other two on the cat tree to catch interest. I lean down and shake the broom side to side. Sundae jumps off from the highest point of the cat tree and lunges towards the brush of it, scaring Oreo in the process. Oreo jumps high in the air and angrily starts to bat at his brother.

Eri starts giggling and I get rather close to joining her. Mochi comes over from his box on the floor of the cat tree and starts to lazily bat at the broom as well. Oreo didn't seem to like that, so they jump onto Mochi. He wasn't being aggressive, just playful. I use the broom and gently sweep it on the two of them. They start trying to bite the bristles of it.

Their attention wasn't kept by the broom long though sadly. Sundae attacked Oreo, who was still focused on Mochi, then took off out of the room. Oreo then follows in hot pursuit. Mochi surprisingly trudges after the two of them. I laugh and shake my head while locking eyes with Eri. "They're sure lively today!" She giggles in reply.

There was a giant pile of fur after sweeping the living room. A ball of it big enough to barely fit in my palm. Nothing but a fluffy swirl of black, white, and orange. It's not in my palm though since there's most likely a bunch of other dirt too that wouldn't be pleasant to touch. I get it all in the dustpan and go to dump it in the garbage.

Eri is still rather interested in her show, so I decide to let her watch it a bit longer before cooking and having to put her to bed. Shinsou stayed at his school for a while longer today. My guess is he helps Aizawa or maybe even trains with him there since he doesn't seem like he'd have much time here.

I start doing the dishes, which doesn't take too long. A bit of green mold on one of the dishes makes me recoil in disgust a bit though. Okay, maybe they've been here a bit longer than I thought. Eri came into the kitchen half-way through me doing the dishes and sat on one of the chairs at the table to be by me. "Eri, you don't have to be in here you know. You can keep watching your show."

She shakes her head. "But I like being with you. I get so sad when you leave."

A quick twinge panged through my chest at that information. "Aw, I miss you when I leave too. Don't tell anyone, but you're my favorite to be around!" I inform and see her being really happy about that.

It's true though. She's been incredibly easy to take care of compared to so many others from before. Like the brother who kept ripping the heads off the dolls of his younger sister, or the one I kept having to keep a very sharp eye on to not find the hammer to test out how durable the windows of the house were. Or even the one who kept trying to put Play-Doh in their hair. Her past might have some to do with it. I focus my sudden new anger on thinking about the vile man to scrub the stained dishes more thoroughly.

It doesn't take too long to finish the dishes and start dinner. I decided to make dinner for the others too, even though it might be cold by the time they get to their home. Keeping it in the oven for a while might work. I get it ready and put it inside the oven. My stomach growls a bit at thinking about food. I don't feel right eating their food though, so I always bring snacks to eat while Eri eats what gets made. Luckily, she doesn't seem to be picky and sometimes asks for something that can be made. They told me anything for her is fine so that just makes it all the easier.

A familiar purple-haired teen enters the kitchen in the corner of my eye. "Ah, Shinsou! You're back! Your dads told me they wouldn't be back for a while. Hope you don't mind what I'm making for dinner. Eri said she wanted it."

He only replies with an uncaring shrug. He sets his backpack on the table and takes out homework to start on. Ah, homework. Don't miss it. Sadly though, even as an adult homework is still a thing, just in a different way. A part of me also likes to think he's only in here to watch me with Eri again. That's a very common thing I've noticed. He'll be around, but never want to join us. He'd probably hate me more if I told him, but I find him rather adorable in that aspect.

"Hey, Eri. Did you have fun again today?" I pretend not to see it, but that caring smile towards her didn't go past me, boy!

Eri goes over and hugs him. He hugs her back, and I'm pretty sure my heart melted a little again. I can get behind this being a common occurrence. I'm so happy to be the one gifted with taking care of these two children.

I must have lost track of time focusing on the two of them since the stove starts beeping, informing me the food is ready. I mumble out an "already?" and go over to the stove, taking it out. It gets placed on the stove to cool a bit as I grab hot pads, cups, silverware, and everything else needed for the table for the two of them.

Shinsou looks at me quizzically. Eri seems to notice his look too. "They never eat the food they make. Don't know why. It tastes so good!" His eyes narrow at me accusingly.

"I just don't feel comfortable eating your guys' food, you know? I usually just make Eri something and bring a few snacks with me to eat instead," I go off to think in space a little bit. "Okay, maybe that does seem rather suspicious now that I think about it."

"Suspicious?" Eri questions.

"Means like something is not right. Like if a person kept the following someone. A person watching the two would find that suspicious." She tilts her head, maybe more confused. "What does that do with food?" Oh, her dear innocence.

"Don't worry about it, Eri. It's nothing important right now. How about we just eat, and this time I guess I'll join you?" She looks down for a second at her empty plate, then back up at me. "Okay!"

I bring the food to the table and grab another plate, sitting down next to Eri despite Shinsou's glare at me again. Shinsou puts some on his plate. He only seemed keen on eating it after I took a few bites of it.

"Oh yeah, Shinsou?" He looks at me questioningly. "Could you wait here after dinner? I need to talk to you."

He replies with a nod and continues eating. Eri smiles at him. "See Toshi! It's so good!" He gives her a toothy smile. "Maybe even better than Hizashi's." Um... which one is that? I only finally memorized their last names!

Don't think he will tell me, so I decided to pretend to know which one it was. Either way is a 50-50 chance. Maybe I should ask Eri to remind me of which is which.

Eri nods. "Much better than the time daddy tried to make that gross stuff."

Shinsou gets an amused smirk. "You mean that homemade dish he burned beyond belief? heh, he wouldn't let it down for weeks."

I stay silent as I let the two of them talk. Hopefully, I'm not coming off as creepy just by still being here. I do wonder why they want me to stay with the two of them. Shinsou seems much more than capable of taking care of Eri himself. Even if he doesn't know how to cook, it could be learned.

"Y/N?" Eri's voice saying my name snaps me out of the thought of Shinsou cooking and struggling by burning it. "Yes, Eri?" I ask. "Could you read me the princess and the frog tonight?"

"Of course!" I smile at her. "You must be really excited, huh? I've never read to you yet, have I?"

She shakes her head. "Alright, grab the book after dinner and I'll be up there soon after." Her hands shake in excitement. She starts eating her food faster.

"Slow down! It's not going anywhere." I tease.

She only replies by slowing down slightly.

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

I tuck her in and started to read the story to her while laying on the bed above the covers so she could look at the pictures in the book too.

We start to read the book. Well, mostly me reading it out loud to her. I don't even get halfway through the book to notice her falling asleep leaning against my shoulder.

She's rather stubborn though and refused to fall asleep until the book was finished. Laying her down fully, she falls asleep almost instantly.

Turning off the light, I then proceed back to the kitchen. There Shinsou sat, still doing his homework.

It's quiet between us with me sitting in the same chair as earlier. The only sound being the scratching of the pencil he's using on paper. Now is the best time to bond with him, but how? Could talking about his quirk work? Maybe him knowing I'm not afraid would help?

He looks up from the paper, straight into my eyes. "Do you truly like Eri?"

What's with that sudden question? Hasn't it been shown well with my interactions with her? "Of cour-" Something akin to icy claws felt like were wrapped around my head, leaving a numbing and foggy feeling over my body. My body is no longer in control of itself. The only explanation is it's his quirk. So this is his quirk in play. Does he want truthful answers? Then so be it. I've got nothing to hide.

"Be honest," His voice takes a sharp tone. "Do you like Eri?"

"Yes." my voice is monotone, and it honestly sounds rather strange.

He becomes ever-so-slightly less tense. "What is your goal?"

"To take care of you and Eri."

"In what way?" His eyes narrow. "Are you secretly hired to take Eri?"

"No. I am doing my job, and more." His brows furrowed into a look of confusion instead of accusing. "More?"

"My goal is to befriend you and take care of Eri." The foggy feeling goes away from my mind, most likely his quirk losing control as his eyes widen. It's hard to tell whether he willingly stopped, or it was caused by shock. "I'm also aware of your quirk. You should know that makes you no different to me."

He abruptly stands up from his chair like he's never been told such a thing before and can't believe it. I can only imagine how many children probably tell him it's a villain's quirk or something. Poor kid. Er, well... Teenager. In all honesty, that makes it worse. "How long have you known?"

"A week maybe? I'm not afraid of you or your quirk. I know you're trying hard to be a hero, and you'd never do anything that would harm me unless needed. You've most likely been told before, but you're not a villain, nor will you ever be," I smirk at him. "If you are, you're doing a terrible job at being one."

He gives a small and rather happy smile in return. There we go! We're getting somewhere! "Your guardians are usually around, but if you ever need anything and they can't help, you can always come ask or tell me, Shinsou."

He remains quiet for a moment. "Hitoshi."

"Pardon?"

"My name. Call me Hitoshi," He rubs the back of his neck with his left hand. "If you're serious about being with us, then I suppose it wouldn't hurt to call me by my first name," he lets out a sigh. "I also suppose it would also be problematic to find another sitter since Eri is rather attached to you already."

Well, he changed his mind rather suddenly. I'm not complaining though! I nod. "Hopefully I can be close with you as well someday. I know we're still rather rocky, but thanks for giving me the chance to grow better with you."

He replies with a nod in return. The pencil still in his hand writes down a few more things, then he puts it back into his backpack and looks at the time on the stove. "We might as well wait in the living room for their return."

I nod, and we both go into the living room. Shin- Hitoshi is much more relaxed around me now. Man, wish he could have used his quirk for confirmation earlier. Then again, this is the first time Eri hasn't been around, and she probably wouldn't be too happy to see him use his quirk on me.

The T.V. is mostly background noise as the two of us sit in silence. "So, Shin- Hitoshi. Are you more of a comedy person or a horror person?"

He shrugs. "Comedy can help me get into the minds of others by saying things that might make them reply, but horror is more interesting."

"Ooh! that's actually really smart to do! I didn't think of that until you mentioned it!" He smiles and rubs the back of his neck again.

A hand is suddenly placed on my shoulder, making me jump out of my skin. I sharply tilt my head up to lock eyes with Yamada. Seriously! How is their door so silent when it opens!? And more importantly, how can such a loud man be silent enough to sneak up on someone!?

"Glad to see the two of ya gettin' along!" He says with Aizawa slouched beside him.

I smirk at him. "It's been a bit of a challenge, but nothing I'm not willing to try going up against! Also, you scared the daylights outta me! How could you sneak up so well?"

He laughs. "All in a hero's work, even if I'm supposed to be a more noisy one!"

"I bet! Oh! Also, I did the dishes for you and made dinner, which is in the oven. I did it to keep it at least a little warm for when you guys got back to your home. Hopefully, you guys don't mind." They seemed rather surprised by that. Checking the time, it's almost midnight. There isn't school for them tomorrow. Eri told me they always take non-school days as family days. Well, unless either of them are called in for a patrol.

I get up and put my shoes on and look at Hitoshi before I go. "It was great getting closer with you today! See you soon, Hitoshi!" The adults' eyes widen greatly, and Yamada's mouth hangs so far open he might as well be a pelican. It makes Hitoshi laugh. Huh, he must not let many call him by his first name or something.

I leave, even more excited for what the future holds with this family than before.

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#Yandere EraserMic household #yandere erasermic x reader #yandere present mic #yandere eraserhead #welcome to the family #yandere hitoshi shinso

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amazingphilza · 4 years ago

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DSMP!OC HEADCANNONS

i dunno if ppl on here make dsmp!ocs for themselves outside art but here’s my long list of headcannons?? idk what to call this, but assume all names have c! before it ofc :]

,, this is kinda messy & probably has a lot of plot holes but i just needed a space to write out all my thoughts LOL

also cw / ment of manipulation & ib: dsmp wiki <3

character origin :

previous life was the l’mantree :D

allegedly planted by schlatt, we will never know who’s my canonical parent(s)

reborn as a dryad after niki burns the l’mantree

i think being a dryad would fit especially since they’re typically nymphs of oak trees :]

appearance :

my character’s mc skin has long light brown hair & is seen wearing a flower crown with petals that are around the color of a pale violet and navy blue

clothing would consist of black shoes & a long light grey sweater that falls down to the legs and covers most of the hands which adorned with 2 black stripes on the upper arms

lore / history :

since my past life was the l’mantree, i would’ve known the ins and outs of the history when l’manburg was still standing, up until niki burned the tree

after witnessing everything, i’d hold a grudge on niki (+ allies?) and loyal to wilbur since he’s the whole person that made a meaning of the land of l’manburg

however i’d still be on edge w any side because i could sympathize with everyone to some extent after seeing some sort of distress from everyone at some point

i think seeing both sides of the spectrum when l’manburg/manburg still stood could change my perspective of some other characters

but at the same time, not everything was completely centered in l’manburg so i wouldn’t know the whole story of everyone’s character

i’m currently writing this just after tommy has left the prison & mostly everyone is treating him differently, so i’d try to befriend him by not showing that i dont care about his past & trauma but also not being fully faithful about our friendship ahaha,,,

he seems like the type that needs someone to see through his past history but tommy would definitely disapprove of my character visiting dream at the prison (i would do it anyway :))

vowing my current life to wilbur, i would help dream escape to revive wilbur & follow along with their plans of chaos

i don’t fully support dream but he is the only way to wilbur, making me comply with dream’s decisions

“growing up” in my past life and witnessing endless conflict, it is the only thing i know and understand; chaos

but i think during the process of helping dream & wilbur i’d keep my connection with them secret, being the person to obtain all the inside information they need

i could see myself as a type of equilibrium like ranboo but in a bad way, i don’t know how to explain it

but i would try befriending ranboo since he seems like he is involved in many things and would know a lot, despite his short term memory

unfortunately i’m not sure how much his character actually knows since i haven’t been able to watch his pov that much but i’m sure there’s a lot in his memory book...

to blend in as a normal person within the rest of the characters, i’d surround myself with connor a lot

not only because he needs more lore, connor is one of the “normal” citizens of the smp so i believe being with him doesn’t bring as much attention to myself, unlike people that’s related to the egg and their noticeable features after associating themselves with the egg

he is currently only on bad terms with techno which is rly good when comparing that to other characters and their relationships with other people

connor could probably sense my real intentions eventually & tell everyone else that i’m not who i say i am but if that’s my flaw & my downfall is caused by connor, so be it! sorry dream & wilbur

i feel like for being a young dryad, i’d still fool around with dream/wilbur & help give tommy an small “advantage” to defeating the two ?

like yes i’m supposed to be on your side but where’s the fun if tommy can’t do anything to begin with?

i honestly don’t know if wilbur was revived he’d actually be his vassal but let’s assume that happens, but either way i’m with wilbur on his decisions

but ya dream seems like the type to punish me for helping tommy and send me to the afterlife to learn & become smarter like wilbur had done or smth

in the end, i just want to give tommy bits and pieces that tease him from ending all the wars and problems he has been faced with

like here’s some info about dream and wilbur but it won’t be no where close to enough

but who knows, ghostbur said ‘villains are just heroes that aren’t convinced yet’ & maybe tommy could eventually grow on me & change my ways,,

maybe me fooling around & teasing tommy with answers he’s been searching for is a way to mask that i want to be a good person

ok but imagine after knowing so much about dream/wilbur, the revive book, & the afterlife & then i switch sides,,,

surely if tommy can’t put and end to them, dream would make sure i’m gone for good instead

but also if me & connor are in good terms & he’s canonically a necromancer & can bring ppl back to life,,,,

personality :

to all besides dream & wilbur, i’d try to act passive and friendly on the outside to get on everyone’s good side

however under the mask i am more mischievous & strive to cause more problems for everyone on the server from the inside out

in a way, i’ve taken up some of dream’s manipulative personality but still very understanding

i’d like to think of my character as a good listener,, trying to do less talking than others so i do not open up about my true self and intentions

i’ve seen rumors about schlatt & mexican dream also being revived along with wilbur & i feel like i’d have some soft spot for schlatt & pick up a few things from his own character, not sure what though

schlatt planted l’mantree theory, dad!schlatt au part 2 !! /j

because of my character’s closed off and quiet personality, i feel like i’d be pretty analytical

i would know how to slip between the cracks with some characters & notice the smallest things to make them question themselves

maybe my character is good at holding their composure, and not that susceptible to being “emotional” in a way so it’s easier to face people

like i understand when a situation is sad, etc but i can’t show emotion towards how i feel about it (i don’t know if that makes sense but ya!)

i wanna try to elaborate more,, like imagine my character before tommy visits the prison, i would be unfazed from when i found out he died to the point he’s released and we find out he’s been revived

everything is a constant blur hehe

i just can’t fully process everything i guess? i dunno if that’s helpful but yeah!

in the end though, my moral compass has been very tainted; despite wanting to show my loyalty, it can be slightly easy to sway me, making me internally feel guilty to other people

but me trying to get on everyone’s good side to impress wilbur/dream to seem useful to them would ruin me before i would even realize that i’m another “pawn”

we know damn well dream is faking it till he “makes it” but yk,,

but i’d be stuck in this kind of dilemma of not knowing what thoughts are my own or just something trickled down from wilbur or dream

there’s like maybe something that clicks in my head like “maybe i wanna think for myself for once” or smth

like who am i really?

powers , bonuses , etc :

since dryads can technically manipulate plants in some ways, theoretically i could control the blood vines to some extent ???

i’m pretty sure dryads can communicate with plants so i could understand what the blood vines are saying as well

maybe i could get a good sense of what the egg is all about and stuff

assuming that i understood anything that was happening with the egg in the first place but anyway—

i guess similar to ranboo like how he can’t really be around water without some type of amour or something, it would make sense for me to primarily reside in a type a forest or be near one ?? who knows

seems a bit morbid in a way because of the whole history but if i can somehow easily get rid of the blood vines without it affecting me (if there is still some there) i think it would be kinda pretty to build a tree base in the middle of the l’manburg crator (iskall tease)

like it can show a sign of some rebirth, not the same government repeated once again but a new era in general

you know how you see like destruction years after it the disaster or smth happened and it gets all overgrown with plants and stuff? ya that’s what i’m going for in my head (mumbo jumbo s7 tease)

i know it’s covered in glass already but i dunno, some broken glass and a giant tree emerging from the whole thing and all the rubble seems cool

i’m not a good builder but i have the vision LMAO

omg puffy is like a sheep human hybrid im pretty sure & like there’s a specific type of dryad that are a protector of sheep & other animals?? i’m not exactly sure but that seems like an interesting element to incorporate somehow

also glatt randomly planting a oak sapling in quackity’s lore stream yes pls feed my nonexistent dsmp character lore /j

i honestly dunno how to incorporate the fact dryads can turn shapeshift into trees when trying to escape something but i read something that if a dryad stays in a tree form for too long they’ll forget who they are and stay stuck as a tree?? which like woah that’s cool & some material but at the same time what—

since everyone’s backstory is kinda a mess, mr beast parent tease bc he planted a bunch of trees /hj

i have realized wilbur saying like “the whole reason i built this nation is gone” & blowing up everything or whatever is kinda a plot hole in like ‘why would i follow wilbur if/when he’s revived when he said this?’ but i’d like to think he was the one that made some meaning of the area lmanburg was on, which includes the lmantree

like he was the one that started everything and created that sentiment of that land, and however he views it now is how i would see it now

he gave meaning to my past life and now in my current life, i feel this obligation to repay him for it

not really lore bc i think it was cc!tommy talking to cc!ranboo about his height & age when he first joined but yk it would funny to make my dsmp character than his just to slightly spite him anyway

canonically 6’4 dryad yes . /hj

also i have no idea anything about hannah and her lore but we do be flower buddies :D

also omg like this isn’t at all important but the way ranboo can pick up grass blocks will just have me at awe, i dunno seems in theme with the forest/plant stuff

and i remember reading like there was something about dryads and apples but i can’t remember but i’d give tommy a bunch of apples /hj

apples am i right chat,,,,,

i’ll just have infinite apples in my inventory, like kill me in game, not like losing lives kinda deal but just in general and boom stacks of apples

“bee i get you’re half tree but do you just poop apples out like they’re nothing??” “girls don’t poop” /j

ok but like no matter how many streams i watch i cant grasp where everything is but omg but no if i was new to the server & stuff, canonically & not, i would feel my character to be the curious kind to explore everywhere

like besides a mini tour from some other person in the server, since my character only knows things in the bounds of lmanburg, i’d go off exploring different places like pogtopia, the sewers, showchester, etc

i feel like my character would be really into history, like they would have questions about what happened to lmanburg after the last war? what was life like before wilbur? what was the whole history about the antarctic empire? i dunno but reading a bunch of books from a library seems really interesting

oh but in theory, me and tubbo are loosely related if you wanna count schlatt as my “dad” because he supposedly planted the lmantree ???

i mean could make sense but it seems like a stretch

also if my character ever got close to schlatt, i’m not sure if this is canon, but i swear one time he mentioned how the whole dsmp sever is just a game/server in a game & he’s the only one that knows that ??? but like imagine if i found that out canonically,,,,,

big existential crisis pls

and i’m not 100% sure how dryad shifting works with like going from female to tree form and stuff but if i’m able to morph into different girls on the server & act as them,,,, the about of problems that can cause in the lore omg

lemme frame niki real quick and get inside information /j

oh ya and like hey bee do you support the government then? yes but no. whatever my “fav” person is canonically (assuming this is based in the beginning of this whole hc) whatever wilbur thinks, i think. head empty. but subject to change as the dsmp storyline progresses and stuff :]

ngl i wanna throw in some like random lore that doesn’t make sense to throw people off but i can’t think of anything

not actually really lore related but my choice of stream music like how ranboo has his undertale stuff that makes everyone cry, i will have in love with a ghost

yup i like in love with a ghost sm & i’m pretty sure their music is like not dmca too which yay but yk theoretically never gonna stream on the dsmp but still a fun aspect to think of bc i love listening to music & it’s very impactful to a story & associating something to it makes it more meaningful :D

like i could imagine the chill pop lofi piano stuff fits witha few lore streams of like exploring the whole smp before my character would really go out with being this lost villain in a way?

tubbo’s gangnam style who?

like i feel like i made my character bad/evil so they could have potential to get better in the future

on one hand, i’ll end up w dream and/or wilbur for the rest of my life, which is okay but i could also switch to be with tommy or even disregard all of them and be with techno/phil or quackity & potentially schlatt even who knows

also i cant wait for more connor lore tho, like as much as i tried to make my character give him more content i wanna see how everything goes with him having connections to schlatt & stuff

anyway i would’ve made concept art for my character but i honestly don’t rly like my art currently but who knows LMAO

and lastly if u read all of this ily /p

i might update this later when there’s more lore but ya

#bee for dream smp 2021 /j #dsmp headcanon #dream smp oc #dreamsmp headcanon #dsmp hc #mcyt x oc #dsmp x oc

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therainroguefanfiction · 4 years ago

Text

🍂 Never Too Late (Best Jeanist / Tsunagu Hakamada)

Genre: Fluff, Slight Angst, Family, Slice of Life, Halloween, Autumn

Word Count: 3,884

Pairing: Quirkless Reader x Best Jeanist

World: Boku no Hero Academia

Prompt: [x] “You answer the door when I’m trick or treating and at first you say I’m way too old to be doing this but somehow I convince you to come out and join me.”

Author’s Note: This was written for the “Sweater Weather” collab over at the BNHA Sanctuary discord server. You can find the masterlist post [here] – make sure you check it out to read the other awesome entries for this collab! Thank you very much @pluviophile-imagines for hosting this collab. Happy Autumn everyone! For reference, I picture [this] and [this] for him out of costume. I tried finding the original creators and couldn’t, so if you know please let me know!

October 5th, 10:20 am 🍂

October had finally arrived, bringing with it a slew of brisk weather and a kaleidoscope of vivid oranges, reds, and browns. This was your favorite time of year, a time where you got to fully enjoy yourself, free of the shackles of adulthood. It felt so freeing, as if you were once again a child, ignorant of the ways of the world and just wanting to have fun.

Your eyes scanned the walls, lined with all manner of costumes. The back wall was dedicated to the top heroes, of course, the right wall featuring the usual suspects – cats, witches, zombies, even minions. The opposite wall was dedicated to characters from shows and movies.

Despite having been thinking this decision over for months, you still weren’t sure what you wanted to dress up as. There were just too many choices!

‘Maybe a pirate? Pirates are pretty cool. Ah, but black cats are a Halloween staple!’

After spending more time than you cared to admit, you eventually settled on a black cat pirate – which was just a pirate with black cat ears, a tail, and whiskers drawn on your face. With your costume now acquired, you left the back of the store to fill the basket with various decorations and as many different types of candy that you could find.

Satisfied that you couldn’t fit anything else in the basket, you headed for the front to check out, excited to get home and start decorating.

October 29th, 8:10 pm 🍂

“Ne, Katsuki -” you paused in the doorway of his bedroom, giving him a sheepish smile when multiple pairs of eyes turned to you. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know you had your friends over.”

“Try fucking knocking next time,” Katsuki grunted angrily but his tone lacked its usual bite. “What do you want, Y/N?”

“Oh, right! I was going to ask if you wanted to go trick-or-treating with me!” you chirped happily, clapping your hands together.

“Like hell I want to do that dumb shit! I’m not a damn kid anymore!”

“A-Ah, right…” your expression fell but you tried your best to keep your smile intact. You should have known that he wouldn’t agree. Seeing this made his resolve falter but he was in front of his classmates and refused to show weakness to them. If he gave in to you, they’d never let him live it down.

“I’ll go with you!” Kaminari’s hand shot up into the air, eyes sparkling with excitement.

“Like hell you will!” Katsuki snapped, smacking the blonde on the back of the head. “You’re a damn adult, you shouldn’t even be doing something so stupid.”

“Yeah…” your smile fell an inch, knowing that he was right. Was it really so wrong? Just because you had passed over into adulthood, you weren’t allowed to have fun? To relive the best time of your life?

“Come on, Bakugo, I bet it’d be fun!” Kirishima commented from across the table.

“Yeah!” Mina agreed, sending you a smile.

You shook your head, giving them a soft closed-eye smile. “It’s alright. Katsuki’s right, you’re not kids anymore! Whatever you guys choose to do on Halloween, please be safe!” You turned on your heel and left the room before anyone could say anything else.

Mina frowned at the closed door before turning to the ash blonde. “Your sibling is so sweet! You shouldn’t be so mean to them, Bakugo.”

“Just shut up and do your damn homework!” he snapped, vermillion eyes narrowed at his notebook as he crossed his arm across his chest. A small pool of guilt was settling within his gut, but he pushed it back just as he always did.

October 31st, 9:30 pm 🍂

You checked the clock as you adjusted your costume in the mirror. It was getting late and most of the kids had already returned home, their parents not wanting them out too late. You honestly felt nervous about going out trick-or-treating, not knowing how people were going to react. The negative part of your brain was telling you that it wouldn’t go over well.

So what if you were an adult? You just wanted to have fun for one night! To forget that you were quirkless and sheltered. To forget how unfair life had been.

Trick-or-treating reminded you of simpler times when your brother was more manageable and kind and was still friends with Izuku. You remembered fondly how your friends would always complain because you had to take the two out trick-or-treating instead of hanging out with them, but you didn’t mind. It was fun for you – plus Katsuki looked adorable as a werewolf and Izuku as a pumpkin.

Now they were both teenagers. Even if they did still want to go trick-or-treating, they would certainly rather be with friends rather than you. They didn’t need you to look after them anymore. They were heroes in training, after all, and you were just a quirkless adult trying to keep it together.

Shaking your head to rid yourself of the bad thoughts beginning to form inside your mind, you forced yourself to smile before stepping out of your room and down the stairs.

Masaru, your father, was just shutting the door after handing out candy to some kids. He smiled when he noticed you. “Heading out, sweetheart?”

You nodded. “Yup! How do I look, dad?”

“Gorgeous, as always!” he pulled you into a hug before pecking your forehead. “Be safe and don’t stay out too late, okay?”

“Okay~” you tried to hurry out the door before your mom realized that you were leaving the house, but she seemed to have a sixth sense about such things. Just as you tugged the door open, she came waltzing out of the kitchen.

“Y/N!” she cried, making your shoulders tense up as you turned slightly. She stood just inside the doorway, her brow furrowed. “You’re really going to go trick-or-treating? You’re too old for this and you…”

“And I’m quirkless and weak,” you finished for her, lips formed into a thin line. “Yeah, I got that, mom. You feel the need to remind me every day.”

“That’s not…” her vermillion eyes landed on her husband and she scowled. “Masaru, tell them that they are too old for this!”

“Honey,” he spoke softly, putting his arm around her shoulders. “Y/N isn’t hurting anyone, they’re just enjoying the season. Go on, Y/N. Have a fun night, sweetheart.”

You sent him a grateful look, ignoring your mom’s sputtering as you quickly slipped out of the house, slamming the door behind you.

The air outside was moist and cold, wind whipping through the trees and robbing them of their leaves. The ground was littered with them, each one a vibrant shade of orange, brown, or red. Despite the sky being covered by clouds, the bright light of the full moon managed to break through in streams.

While the streets were mostly empty, there were still several groups of kids scattered about, talking and laughing loudly. You decided it would be best to leave the neighborhood since most everyone knew who you were. You worried about them complaining to your parents. You already caused them so much trouble, you didn’t want to bring anymore onto them.

October 31st, 10:49 pm 🍂

As the night wore on, more and more people turned their lights off to indicate that they were no longer giving out candy or that they had run out. It was getting hard to find people still participating and most of the kids had given up by this point, deciding to hang out in the cemetery or return home.

‘I haven’t even been out that long, but… I guess I should head home so mom doesn’t end up hurting dad trying to come looking for me,’ you sighed, about to turn around when a light caught your attention from the end of the street. ‘It’s the only house on this street with its lights on. I guess one more can’t hurt!’

You steeled yourself, walking down the dark street toward the house. The street lamps were spread far enough apart to leave darkness between them, the bulbs dull and flickering as they tried to die out. The only decoration on the house was a cute little sign on the door of a pumpkin covered in glitter. The words Happy Halloween were stitched on the top in what looked to be jean fabric.

You had visited quite a few houses and had procured several different types of candy into your bag. Most of them, surprisingly, hadn’t given you a second thought when you knocked on their door. Others just gave you the stink eye but said nothing. There were a few, though, that had given you a stern lecture or cussed you out before slamming the door in your face.

For the first group of people, you believed you had just gotten lucky because you had walked up with or behind a group of kids and they most likely just assumed that you were with them. With no more kids around, though, you couldn’t exactly pull that stunt.

Taking a breath, you brought your hand up, rapping your knuckles on the wood. A minute or so passed before the door was pulled open, revealing a tall, thin man. His blonde hair was swept over his left eye and he wore a tan-colored turtle-neck sweater with a pair of blue jeans. He looked so… familiar, but you couldn’t quite place who he was.

You put on a bright smile, holding up the bag. “Trick-or-treat!”

He quirked a brow, leaning against the doorframe with his arms folded across his chest. “You’re a bit old to be trick-or-treating, don’t you think?”

Your smile didn’t falter because you had expected this already at every house. “Last time I checked, there was no age limit on having fun. I’m not breaking any laws, either. Now, if you don’t mind sir, please give me candy or tell me to leave.”

His blue eyes observed you for a moment, a spark of amusement within them. “Tell me, is it really so fun to do this?”

“I think you,” you nodded. “It reminds me of simpler, happier times. Maybe I’m stupid for trying to cling to that each year, but I’ll be damned if I give up now.”

His gaze locked with yours, softening at the pained look within your eyes. You hid it well, but he was trained to pick up on such things. He pushed away from the doorframe, stepping back inside the house to grab the candy bowl before holding it out to you. “Take what you want. I doubt any other kids will be coming around.”

“Thank you,” you offered him a smile before picking out a few pieces of your favorite candy. “Have a good night.”

“Wait a moment,” he held up his finger before disappearing into the house. When he returned, he was shrugging on a black jacket. “Let me walk you home.”

You quirked a brow as he pulled the door closed, sliding the key in to lock the door. “It doesn’t seem very smart to let a strange man know where I live.”

“That’s true,” he chuckled, keys clinking as he slipped them into his pocket. “Allow me to walk you to your neighborhood, then.”

“What a gentleman,” you smiled softly, beginning down the street with him at your side. “With that kind of attitude, you should be a hero.”

Amusement flickered through his eyes, lips twitching upward. “Hm, I hear being a hero is quite dangerous, though.”

“Yeah…” you turned your gaze to the ground, feeling a frown come to your lips. “That’s what worries me about my brother becoming one. It’s his dream, though, and even if I said anything about it, there’s no way he’d listen. He’s such a hard head.”

“I’m sure he’ll be a great hero one day.”

“He definitely will.”

Silence settled over the two of you as you made it back toward your home. As you passed by another street on the way, you suddenly paused because most of the houses on this street were still lit up and decorated to the nines. Several groups of older kids were making their rounds around the cul-de-sac.

“Ne, sir, do you want to experience trick-or-treating?” you grinned at him, excitement dancing within your eyes.

Blue eyes flickered from your own to the cul-de-sac and back. There was something about the innocent, pure gleam within your eyes that made it hard for him to say no. And it’s not like he had anything better to do with his night. “Sure, I’ll give it a try.”

“Great!” Without much thought, your hand slid into his, tugging him toward the first house. He didn’t understand why, but his heart started to pick up its pace upon feeling your warm skin on his despite the cold weather outside.

October 31st, 11:30 pm 🍂

Katsuki paced around his room, narrowed eyes darting to the clock every few minutes. Where the hell were you? The neighborhood was dark, the neighbors no longer handing out candy and no kids had come by in the past thirty minutes. You should have been home by now, so why weren’t you?

He could hear his mother in the living room pacing back and forth as she loudly voiced the thoughts within his head. The regret that was pooling within his belly from the other day was now getting worse as worry clawed at his insides. What if you had been captured by a villain? His eyes widened at the thought and he tore out of his room, feet stomping down the stairs.

“Katsuki! Where the hell are you going?!” Mitsuki shouted, pausing her pacing to look at her son. “It’s late!”

“None of your business, hag!” He snapped back, flinging the door open.

“At least put on a jacket!”

But he was already out the door, slamming it behind him as he took off in search of you. His heart was thundering in his chest and he could only hope that you were safe. If something had happened to you, he’d never forgive himself for not being there to protect you.

November 1st, 12:00 am 🍂

You giggled as you fell onto the swing, watching the blonde as he settled down beside you. “Thank you for indulging me.”

“You’re welcome,” he smiled softly at you, crossing one leg over the other. “I have to admit, it was more fun than I expected it would be.”

“See~? I told you!”

He chuckled, poking you in the forehead with a slim finger. “So humble.”

You grinned, sticking your chest out. “One of my best qualities!”

“Did you have the night you were expecting?”

“No,” you shook your head, tilting your head back to look at the sky. Some of the clouds had cleared up, allowing more of the moon to shine down on you. “I never expected to meet such a nice person and convert them to the ways of trick-or-treating.”

He propped his chin up in his hand, smiling warmly at you as his eyes slid across your face. With the moonlight shining down on you, you looked so magical and he briefly wondered if you might actually be a witch. It would explain why he felt such a strong connection to you after only having just met you. He most definitely wanted to see you again.

“You never told me your name.”

“You never told me yours, either,” you grinned at him before holding out your hand. “Bakugo Y/N. Nice to meet you.”

His eyes widened at your last name. The image of his first meeting with Bakugo Katsuki filled his mind and it was almost laughable. There was no way such a sweet and kind person could be related to someone so loud and angry. He refused to believe it was anything other than a coincidence.

You tilted your head curiously. “Is something wrong?”

“No, sorry. You just reminded me of something.” His hand slid into yours, his skin ice cold from the wind. “Hakamada Tsunagu. It’s a pleasure to officially meet you, Y/N.”

Your cheeks warmed at the way he said your name. It was like honey flowing from his lips and you could definitely get used to hearing it.

November 1st, 12:10 am 🍂

Katsuki huffed as he ran down the street, eyes snapping from one side to the other as he desperately searched for you, calling out your name. He didn’t care that his voice was cracking or that the cold was turning his skin numb.

He was running past the park when he caught movement from the corner of his eye, head snapping around to find the source. Relief flooded him when he saw you walking away from the swings with a smile on your face. Without a second of hesitation, he rushed toward you, screaming out your name as if he hadn’t seen you in years.

Your eyes widened at the familiar voice of your baby brother. “Katsuki, what’s – oof.” His body slammed into yours, arms tight around your body as he buried his face in your neck, holding on to you for dear life. Your heart picked up speed, feeling your nerves begin to fray. Had something happened? “Katsuki -”

“Where the fuck have you been?!” he barked angrily, tightening his grip on you.

“Y-You knew I was going out tonight…” you gently rubbed his back. “Did you forget?”

“No I didn’t forget, dumbass!” he huffed, fingers digging into your back. As badly as he wanted to pull away so he could scold you properly, he was too afraid that you would see the worry and the fear lingering within his eyes. He hated feeling vulnerable, especially around you. He was supposed to be strong, a hero that could keep you safe no matter what. “It’s almost one in the morning!”

“Is it really?” your eyes widened and you understood why he was acting so worried. “I must have lost track of time, I’m sorry, Kat.”

Tsunagu didn’t know how to feel about the sight before him. He felt frustrated that Bakugo Katsuki was, indeed, related to you. He felt amused by how Katsuki was acting, surprised to see something other than plain annoyance within the boy. He also felt a bit sad knowing that his time with you had come to an end.

“You better be sorry!” When Katsuki felt like he had enough control over his emotions, he finally pulled back, keeping a firm grip on your shoulders as his narrowed eyes bore into your own. “You’re going to pay me back for this.”

You smiled sheepishly, rubbing the back of your head. “I will, I’m sorry.”

“Great, now let’s go home -” he had grabbed your hand, turning toward the entrance of the park when he finally spotted the tall blonde whom he had failed to notice in his relief to see you. His eye twitched, a shitty look coming onto his face as he pointed his finger in the man’s face. “What the fuck are you doing with my sibling?!”

Tsunagu sighed, putting his hand on his hip. “Still as tactless as ever.”

“Wait,” you glanced between the two, blinking curiously. “Do you two know each other?”

“No!” Katsuki snapped, beginning to stomp away but you didn’t budge, turning your gaze to the taller male.

“Tsunagu? How do you know my brother?”

“You’re on a first-name basis already?!”

His blue eyes met yours and his expression softened. “I’m the hero he interned with after the sports festival, Y/N.”

“Don’t you dare use their first name, you bastard!!” Small explosions went off on Katsuki’s palm but the older male just rolled his eyes at him, more focused on how you were taking the news that he was, in fact, a pro hero.

Your eyes widened. “Oh… oh my god. You’re… you’re…”

He smiled warmly, his voice soft. “The number three pro hero, Best Jeanist. At your service, Y/N.” he reached for your hand but Katsuki smacked it away, putting himself between the two of you.

“I don’t know what the hell you’re planning with my sibling, but you can forget it!” Katsuki tugged on your arm. “We’re going home, Y/N!” But you still didn’t move, staring wide-eyed at the tall man before you.

Now you understood why he looked so familiar and you wanted to smack yourself for not realizing it on your own. You had treated him so normally, as if he were just some average person. He isn’t an average person, though, he’s a great and powerful hero, one that had looked after your brother once upon a time.

Tsunagu shifted, his lips tugging down. It was subtle, but he could sense the change in the dynamic between the two of you and he didn’t like it, taking a step closer to you. “Y/N -”

You suddenly bowed, eyes screwed shut. “I apologize for being so flippant with you, Best Jeanist. I didn’t realize who you were.”

He reached for your shoulders and noticed Katsuki reaching for his arm. He was feeling annoyed now, tired of the boy interrupting him and getting between the two of you so he activated his quirk, the threads of his jeans unraveling to bind the younger Bakugo in place. He growled from beneath the cloth, struggling to break his binds.

Your eyes shimmered with wonder as you saw his quirk in action, taking note of the small holes that allowed you to see the milky skin of his outer thigh. You felt your cheeks heating up again when his hands rested on your shoulders, lithe fingers gently squeezing your skin beneath the costume.

“You have nothing to apologize for. Please don’t change how you act around me just because I’m a hero.” His eyes were so sincere and warm as his hand slipped up to your cheek, smiling at the warmth he felt there. “I may be a hero, but I’m still a person. I really did enjoy my time with you tonight.”

“I did, too,” you responded softly, offering him a smile before glancing at your brother, who was still struggling against the fabric. “We really should get home, though. Our mother’s going to have a fit…”

“Of course,” he reluctantly released the boy, dodging backward when Katsuki tried to attack him with an explosion.

“Katsuki!” you scowled, grabbing the back of his shirt without any hesitation, tugging him backward before locking your arm around his neck. “Don’t be so disrespectful!”

“Che, whatever,” he scoffed, fingers wrapping around your wrist as he tugged you toward the entrance of the park. You let him for a few paces before you stopped, turning to look back at the blonde that hadn’t moved.

“Are you coming, Tsunagu?”

He gave you a surprised look. “You want me to?”

“Well, you did say you were going to escort me home,” you smiled, biting your lip in thought before finding the nerve to say the next thing you wanted to. “Besides, you need to know where I live if you’re going to pick me up for our date tomorrow.”

His eyes widened a fraction before he chuckled, easily closing the distance with his long legs. You held your hand out to grab his, fingers lacing together. Katsuki grumbled loudly, aiming insults at the blonde as the three of you headed to the Bakugo household, but neither of you were paying attention to him.

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twdmusicboxmystery · 4 years ago

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TWB 1x08 + TTD Clues

Hey Everyone! So here, at last, is my TWB post. Sorry it took me an extra day to get it finished. But before I get into the awesome TD symbolism, I want to say something. Today is Thanksgiving in the states. It’s a day we eat lots of good food and appreciate everything we have and tell each other what we’re thankful for.

So today, I just want to say that I’m extremely thankful for this fandom and for all my lovely followers and fellow TDers. It’s been such a huge part of my life for these past years. It’s kept me company and shaped me in ways even I probably don’t appreciate. So thank you so much for all being on this journey with me. I’ve no doubt that our girl is coming home. And soon!

Okay, onto the episode. First, a quick run-down. Most of the episode is centered around whether or not Silas killed Tony and what they’re going to do about it. We do get a humdinger of a twist at the end: Huck is a double agent.

I rewatched part of episode 1 because I thought I remembered the lieutenant colonel (Julia Ormond – I’ll just call her LC, okay?) saying something to the girls about having a kid. And she did. It’s in the scene where Hope and Iris talk to her in the dark, still back at the University, and she gives them the map. She says she has a daughter who’s older than them and who is a soldier from the CRM, so she’s away from her mother a lot and LC misses her. Guess who that daughter is? It’s Huck. So, she’s been a spy for LC this whole time, and has been living at the university colony specifically to do her spying. When she “scouts ahead” of the group, she’s often reporting back to her mother.

LC asks Huck how “the asset” is and Huck says the asset is fine. My fellow theorists and I talked about who the asset actually is, and we’ve agreed that it’s probably Hope. I think the most obvious answer is Iris, because she’s more the “main” character and the one LC connected with the most in episode 1. But I think that’s misdirection.

Not only because of the flashback conversation Hope had with her dad, where he hinted there might be something she needed to know that he hadn’t told her, but also because Huck is always with Hope. She’s the one Huck is friends with. Anytime the group splits up to check things out or look for supplies, Huck goes with Hope. Like she’s protecting her or something. So for now, our theory is that Hope is the “asset.”

But let’s turn to Silas. We finally get flashbacks as to what happened with his father. And this is where more his Daryl-ness comes in. His father was super abusive. Silas beat him up in a fit of rage/self-defense. And while his father didn’t die immediately (it wouldn’t be fair to say Silas actually beat him to death) he died later of his injuries. And then as a walker, he attacked Silas’s mother and Silas had to put him down. It’s all pretty brutal and you understand why Silas is kinda messed up.

The point is, he has rage blackouts. That’s what happened with his dad. Silas goes into a rage and actually blacks out and, for at least a time, doesn’t remember what happened. So in the episode, even Silas thinks he probably killed Tony and Percy. I don’t think he did. The best evidence is that, when it happened with his dad, he didn’t remember what happened immediately, but within a few minutes, it does come back, and he remembers what he did.

In this episode, he doesn’t remember what happened with Tony and Percy, and it never comes back to him. And they specifically show us that that’s not how it worked with his dad. So, I’m thinking someone hit him over the head and that’s why he doesn’t remember: he didn’t do anything. But even he doesn’t believe that.

So, this struck me as being Silas’s Them episode. He’s super sad, hates himself, grieving a lot of things, and at one point even sort of gives up and is going to let a walker bite him until Hope shows up and saves him.

But the biggest thing is that he leaves at the end. Felix and Huck are trying to decide whether to leave him behind or not. They don’t want to, but they don’t know much about him and, in their eyes, he could be dangerous. Even if he doesn’t mean to, he could have another rage blackout and hurt someone.

Iris talks to him and says “just tell me you didn’t kill anyone and I’ll believe you.” He says he can’t because he thinks he might have done it. Then he just leaves so he’s not a burden on them anymore.

TONS of Beth dialogue at this point. Iris says he’s “gone.” He says he’s glad he got to know Iris (what Beth said of Zack in 4x01). So he leaves by himself and Elton wants to go with him (Hope finally confesses to Elton about his mother, so this episode ends very sad).

But here’s the real kicker, guys. At the end, we see Silas walking through the woods by himself, and he’s wearing his headphones. A walker comes toward him. The walker immediately caught my attention because it’s blond and female. Truly, it wasn’t any more or less Bethish than any other blond walker we’ve seen, but it still jumped out at me after all the other Beth symbolism around Silas in this episode.

He grabs a board or a branch and kills it. Doesn’t seem like that big a deal. He does injure it in the forehead, but it’s on the right side. And you know, no gun or anything.

But then, at the VERY end, it shows the walker lying in the road up close and we see Silas walking away in the distance.

And then it pans over, and his walkman and headphones are on the ground next to the walker. He left them behind.

And the thing is, I don’t know why. Did he just abandon the music? Or did it stop working? I almost wonder if the walkman broke when he was fighting the walker.

If that’s the case, it’s a MASSIVE parallel to the broken music box. Lying next to the blond walker. With the forehead wound.

See why I’m having feels about this episode?

So, either he’s just a massive Beth proxy, or he’s heading toward wherever she is. I almost feel like the writers are telling us Silas is heading toward Beth. (And granted, I’m not at all objective about this; it’s totally my TD hopefulness kicking in. But there’s one other reason I think this could be a thing. I’ll come back to it in a minute.)

Huck said something weird, too. When Iris told everyone Silas had left, Huck asks Felix, “Do you think he’ll change his mind and come back for us?” It’s just a weird way to word it. Why would he need to come back for them? Besides, they’re going to look for the girls’ dad, so they’re not going to hang around in the same place.

I feel like that’s definitely a foreshadow on the writers’ part. And it really may just be a Silas/plot thing. But it suggests that at some point he’ll return to save the group in some way. …Which is exactly what we’ve always thought about Beth, no?

Let’s talk about Percy for a minute. They couldn’t find his body, but there’s a trail of blood that ends at the river. The thing is, they’re all assuming Percy is dead. They think either he’s a walker and staggered away, in which case the river current simply took him. Or that even if he was alive when he staggered away, he was wounded, and no one can survive the river’s currents and undertow. If he went in wounded, he’s probably dead anyway.

It just stuck out to me that that’s EXACTLY what we think happened with Beth. The group went back for her, didn’t find her body, but maybe some blood or a trail that Daryl followed for a time, searching for her. But they’re assuming she died/staggered away as a walker (hence blond tree walker in 5x15) but they never found a body.

I siriusly doubt Percy is actually dead. It’s just meant to look like he is. And my main theory throughout the episode was that Percy must have killed Tony and framed Silas. No idea why he’d do that, but we’ve already discussed that Percy has kind of a sinister vibe about him, and I’m happy just going with it and waiting for them to eventually explain what happened and why.

But the reveal about Huck at the end throws a wrench in things. We have a second suspect, now. I still don’t know why, exactly, she would kill Tony and either kill or attempt to kill Percy, but the two of them did know a lot about CRM resources and were kind of flouting their rebelliousness and thievery. If she’s loyal to the CRM (because LC is her mom) maybe that would be enough for her to kill them. Or maybe something else went down we have no idea about yet (kinda like at Grady?). Or maybe it really wasn’t her. No way to know, yet. But it’s an interesting possibility.

There were plenty of other symbols to be had in this episode, but I don’t think I need to go over most of them, because by now you all know how to interpret them. Lots of stars.

Boots. Pig references. Clocks. The scene where Elton and Iris talk and he tells her the stars she THINKS are dead are actually very much alive. (If that’s not on-the-nose, I don’t know what is.) And don’t forget the title: The Sky is a Graveyard. Lots of focus on the stars, including a shooting star indicative of Sirius, a blue bird toy at the playground, a song called “The Crosses Made.” Oh, and there were tons of dinosaurs behind Silas, especially in his room in flashbacks, which was interesting.

So yeah, you get the idea.

I said I had one other reason to think Silas might be heading toward Beth, right? Well, this didn’t come from the episode. Rather, it came from TTD, which they did for both FTWD and TWB this past week.

Among others, the actor who plays Silas (Hal Cumpston) was on. At the very end, as Chris Hardwick always does, he asked what the actors could tease about the rest of the season. Various answers were given, but Hal Cumpston said, “Rick.”

Now, don’t anyone freak out. The way he said it, laughingly, made it obvious he wasn’t being serious. He was teasing. It actually reminded me a lot of Lauren Ridloff being asked about Connie and Daryl and teasing a shower scene. The huge grin on her face is what let’s you know that’s not actually happening. She’s just having fun teasing fans about it. This was similar.

And let’s be real: if Rick WERE going to show up in TWB, no way they’d let this kid spoil that for everyone.

But one other possibility comes to mind: Beth. I have no idea if she’s what he was alluding to, but given the “new sheriff in town” symbolism and how interchangeable Rick and Beth symbolism is, it wouldn’t surprise me. I could be wrong, of course. I’m just throwing it out there as a possibility.

And given how many Beth parallels were in this episode, to have him say this on the TTD right after? Yeah, giving this a long, hard, side-eye.

That’s all I have for today. Happy Turkey Day, everyone!

#beth greene #beth greene lives #beth is alive #beth is coming #td theory #td theories #team delusional #team defiance #beth is almost here #bethyl

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be-ready-when-i-say-go · 5 years ago

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In Sorrow and In Joy- Part 7: Human

Luke learns the hard way what it means to be a dad and how to keep his family safe and together. Dad!Luke with a South Asian Reader. This is a collaborative experience with A Family of Five.

CW: Over the course of this series, themes of racism and prejudice on the basis of religion are present. Please read or skip as necessary.

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_____________________

Zeek and Noor are adamant about a bike ride. Zahra prefers to get her nails done. Luke had hoped to send more time together as a family on his day off. But unfortunately there’s not enough hours in the day to do both together. You agree to take Zahra to a nail salon close to the hotel. Luke grabs some bikes with the twins and they agree on a path around time. Hopefully by the time you two are done, they’ll be at the frozen yogurt place everyone agreed to meet at. Helmets acquired, Luke wrangles the kids, kissing you on the cheek.

“Have fun. Be safe,” you chime, watching them shuffle out the hotel door.

Noor walks directly beside Luke, smiling as they walk down the hallways of the hotel. “How’s the comic coming along?” Luke asks Zeek, nodding for him to catch up.

Zeek sighs a little. “Alright, I guess.” It’s not going anywhere really. He’s stuck. It’s mainly inspiration. He doesn’t feel inspired enough to take his character. He goes to so many places, but honestly none of those intrigued him. He could make his character the typical superhero who saves everyone but not himself. But that feels tired and making the hero the villain in the end seems obvious too. Not as obvious as the first option, however, it feels unoriginal to Zeek. But he can’t seem to find the thing that makes his character accessible.

“Just alright?” Luke asks. “What’s going on?”

“I just think I need to clear my head for a little bit, you know?”

Luke nods, looking down at his son. Placing his hand on Zeek’s back, Luke prays that the bike ride will help. Noor takes his other hand as they descend down the elevator. The sudden dropping sensation still catches her off guard. He gives her small hand a squeeze, smiling down at her furrowed brow. The second they step out of the hotel, Luke can hear the click of cameras. He tucks both kids into his side. They know this drill unfortunately. Both keep their faces buried in the cloth of his t-shirt.

With a stern glance to the papz, Luke manages to keep them far enough at bay. It’s moments like this that Luke wished he wasn’t famous. Not even for his sake, but for the sake of his family. Every little thing they do automatically becomes a news headline. They breathe the wrong way and it’s blasted across tabloids and blogs. He wishes for his kids to have normalcy, a childhood they don’t have to recover from. Though he might have fucked that up just a little with Zahra. But he’s trying. At the end of the day, no matter what mistakes Luke makes, he tries his damnedest to give them a normal life. If only the fucking paps would politely be on the same page as him.

Far from the paps, and flashes, Luke let’s them pick out whatever bike they want from the rental shop. “Daddy, can we ride that one together?” Noor asks, pointing up high to a baby blue tandem bike.

“Of course, sweetheart.” Luke has the worker pull that one down and then tries to find Zeek. It shouldn’t be that hard to do since the shop is practically empty besides them. But it still takes a moment to find the red flames on Zeek’s helmet.

Luke walks over, Noor in toe. “So let me guess,” he starts, looking at the two bikes in front of him. Luke rubs a hand over the beard. “You’re gonna go with the black one. Because the red doesn’t quite match the red in your helmet.”

Zeek grins. “Or maybe I could go with the red one just because you said something.”

A chuckle falls from Luke’s lips. “You’re just saying that because I was right. So which one is it? Prove your old man wrong, huh?”

Zeek looks back to the bikes. His dad is right. The red doesn’t quite match the color of his helmet. But does he really want to prove his dad right? Zeek looks between them before spotting something gold. He looks up to see an employee setting out a new bike. He grins, pointing it out. “That one.”

As Luke settles his gaze onto the bike, he grins a little. Of course, Zeek would. “Alright,” he nods, “that one it is then.”

The three of them hop onto their bikes. Luke takes a selfie while Zeek takes a moment to get balanced. “Say cheese,” Luke warns, barely giving the boy enough time to look up.

“Take another one!” Zeek demands horrified at how dumb his face looks.

“I like that one. But I’ll take a spare one,” he angles the phone up again. Noor pokes her head out from behind Luke. Zeek is able to smile this time. Luke sends it to you, even though you may not see it for a while. He knows you’ll still gush over it the second your nails are dry and free to use.

The wind starts to blow over their faces as they gain some speed. Noor pedals as hard as she can to keep up with Luke, but as they travel, she gets distracted by the numerous brightly colored shop displays. Zeek keeps up the pace. He’s less intrigued by the stores and finds himself thinking up scenarios for the people who walk around them. What time did they wake up? What do they eat for breakfast, if they eat at all? He wonders what they’re childhood was like. Did they ever break an arm falling out of a tree?

One woman sits waiting for the bus. Zeek imagines she works in some sort of office building by the gray dress pants. Not the boss, unfortunately, but one day she’ll take over. She works hard. Maybe she’s an architect. Yeah, that fits her. She designs skyscrapers; she’s working on the tallest building ever right now. Her boss will love the design, but try to steal it as his own. So she quits and starts her own company. Soon it becomes the number one architecture business in the world and her old boss comes crawling back in need of any sort of work. She could easily turn him away, or give him a job scrubbing toilets. But she can’t, she’s too nice. She’ll give him an entry level position. She’ll advance him as she sees fit. She will kill him with kindness.

“Dad,” Noor starts, “look.” She points to a candy shop they’re approaching. “Can we stop for candy?”

“Sure thing. Only something small though,” he warns before crossing the street and turning left down the block towards the shop. Right next door is a comic book shop. As they unload off the bikes Zeek hovers outside the door.

“Can I go in Dad?”

“Once Noor picks her candy out, you can head over.” It’s fair, so Zeek lingers behind them.

Noor looks with awe at all the large displays. She points out a giant ring pop, laughing. “It’s small, right?.”

Luke chuckles. “That is most definitely not small at all.”

“You’re no fun,” she teases.

“Daddy is tons of fun!”

Zeek laughs. “Yeah for your age, you’re tons of fun. Just not after 9 pm.”

Luke whips around, mouth agape and the start of a snort catching in his throat. “Oh, someone’s got the sass today.” Zeek laughs, shrugging his shoulders. “Well, I was going to grab you a reese’s but I guess now I’ll put it back,” he jokes with a huff. Luke starts towards the chocolate display, orange wrapper in hand.

“I’ll trade the reese’s for a comic anyway,” Zeek offers.

“Cherry or grape?” Noor asks, looking to her brother. She’s holding up two blowpops.

“Both. One for now. One for later.”

She huffs. “Why do I ever ask you?”

Wrapping her in a hug, Zeek chuckles. “Because you love me.”

She wraps her hands around his forearms, a return gesture to his hug. “Unfortunately.” She eventually settles on the grape, though Luke argues for cherry. The red will still be noticeable on her tongue, but far less than the purple dye. He can’t say no to her pout though. They’ll have to figure out a way out of your rage when that bridge arises. Luke can already hear the lecture you’re going to give him about how they were already getting frozen yogurt before even having dinner. He can already see the huff pushing out from your shoulders.

The door to the comic book store chimes again. Zeek looks up from the copy he’s holding to see Noor and Luke walking in. “Heads up,” Luke calls out, holding up the reese’s. Luke tosses it and Zeek manages to catch it one handed.

“Thanks, Dad.”

“You’re welcome. See anything cool?”

Zeek holds up the comic he’s reading. “Newest edition.”

Luke nods, looking through the comics. The only ones he truly recognizes and can follow along with are things like Captain America, Deadpool, and Batman, the mainstream ones really. But Zeek takes a particular interests in the ones from Dark Horse. So Luke tries to keep up with them, though they do sometimes become lost on him. Luke still listens to Zeek explain all the actions sequences, the plot lines. He watches with a smile as Zeek comes alive, talking, the smile that takes over his boy’s face, the way he talks with his hands. The pure excitement and rush of being listening too.

“Hey, you see that one?” Luke points out with a cover he hasn’t seen in Zeek’s collection. A tribal leader of sorts, the headgear is faded out and made of something Luke can’t quite see from here.

“I’m reading that series with a friend. He’s a couple issues behind and it’s his turn to get the copy,” Zeek answers.

“Let me know if it’s good? It looks interesting.”

With a nod, Zeek watches as his dad looks over more titles. He knows his dad isn’t into this, comics and drawing aren’t what get his dad out of bed in the morning. It’s normally an alarm, or the need to write or play music. And yet in still, he puts in so much effort. Was he afraid that touring somehow made Zeek forget how much love was there? Was his father afraid that Zeek would be angry? What was it? Not that Zeek minded, but he knew something was propelling his father.

As the set back on the bike around the city, after purchasing two new comics, Zeek watches his father. He tries to pull to the surface what the reason for this. The traveling didn’t make Zeek upset. He liked it actually, he liked seeing new places. He liked getting things in the mail from different countries from Luke. He liked seeing his dad happy. He could never be angry about that. Yes it hurt to always feel like his father was so far, but it was days like this when Zeek could join him on the road and steal small moments together that made that distance a little easier to bare.

They return the bike rentals, pulling off helmets. Noor quickly reaches for the bag in Luke’s shoulder to grab the hair brush. One of the few times the girl actually cares about her hair. The walk to the frozen yogurt place is short from here, thankfully.

Zahra flashes her orange nails in line. “Very pretty,” Luke gushes, titling her hand in the light.

“I couldn’t convince Mum out of her color,” Ra laughs with a roll of her eyes.

“There is nothing wrong with the color I choose,” you defend.

“But you always choose it; always the same nude pink with a brown tint.”

Luke pulls you in for a kiss. “It’s a nice color, as always,” he grins, tucking some hair behind your ear. Noor wraps herself around your legs, wanting in on the hug as well. Ra sighs, but smiles. She likes this, her family complete, like it was always meant to be.

Zeek watches on, happy, but still unsure of what his father fears. All gathered onto a bench outside, it doesn’t take long until spoons are scraping the bottom of paper cups. “Should we head back?” you ask.

Luke goes to nod, but Zeek cuts him off. “Can I talk to you, Dad? Go to the park maybe?”

“Of course, bud.” You and the girls head back to the hotel room. Luke remains seated, gazing on at Zeek. “What’s going on?”

Even though the sun is blazing and the beams are blinding him, Zeek stares out in front of him. His face scrunched up and eyes centimeters from closing, he gazes on into the horizon. “I’m stuck with the writing.”

“How can I help?”

“I need to make him more human. And I was just thinking about how you’re so invested in all our hobbies and interests. It’s great, but it made me think, something scares you. Like, more than just the normal parent things. You know? Something happened and it made you really scared.”

Luke hangs his head a little. His boy was always observant, always watching. A small piece of Luke’s hair falls into his face. With a sigh, he lifts his head, Zeek’s gaze zeroed in on him. “I made some mistakes, Zeek. I’m not perfect.”

“No one is.”

With a sad chuckle, Luke nods. “Yeah, that’s true. But I really messed up. I married your Mum twice,” Luke starts. He goes to clarify that the married twice isn’t wholy correct. He married once, divorced and then they got back together. But you weren’t for a second marriage. The legality of it all was pointless to be fair. Besides, Luke knew there was some fear. What if things went to shit a second time? What if there had to be divorce papers again? No one wanted to deal with lawyers, and child support, and dividing assets a second time. So the two of them left it alone the second time.

“What?” the question falls softly from Zeek’s lips, barely enough breathe to get it out. What was his dad talking about? What did he mean married her twice?

“We got married really young and had Zahra. But I wasn’t ready for a kid. I was out drinking, partying. I was never home. Your mother was raising two kids when she should’ve had a husband. We got a divorce. She couldn’t handle it and I wasn’t even mad at her. I went to counseling, still do. It’s not that we stopped loving or having love for each other, but she couldn’t take me back until I got myself together. And I didn’t want to get back together until then. The pictures we have are from the second time. I was ready then.”

Luke looks to Zeek, grabbing his son’s hand. “I make a conscious effort to be so invested because I wasn’t there for nearly a year of Zahra’s as much as I would’ve liked to be. She still remembers what it was like to have me so close, but so far away from her. I have tried to make that up to her. I have tried to fix those scars. Ultimately, there’s not much I can do to reverse what I did. But the future, I can always do better in the future. I can be there for her when she paints her nails and has debates. I can be there for you and your comics. I can be there for Noor when she wants to run lines. I can be right there in the future. I may only be human, but I’m a human with a beautiful wife, three amazing kids, and a big future.”

Zeek slides into Luke, wrapping his arms around his torso. This is what terrifies his father, making the same mistake twice, not learning from his mistakes, from falling back into whatever man he was before. “I love you, Dad.”

Gently rustling the black strands, Luke smiles and kisses the top of Zeek’s hand. “I love you. Dad tries. I’m not perfect, but I try my hardest.”

“I know. I can see it.”

“Still wanna go to the park?”

“No, I got an idea for my comic now.”

Right as Luke calls for dinner, pizza being the order of the day because a debate over food was sure to ensue if the planning kept going on any longer, Zeek rushes out from the bedroom of the suite, tablet in hand. Luke cradles his phone into his ear using his shoulder and takes the drawing tablet. “Okay, thank you,” Luke says concluding the phone call.

Zeek takes the cellphone and ends the call, hovering close by as Luke slides through the panels. It’s a monologue of the character, after coming home from a mission. Most of the panels are black and shadowing, but depicts him removing the superhero costume. “I’m human, not in a physical sense, but in a mental sense. Hearing screams still make my heart jump. I wake up every morning terrified. Terrified of failing, terrified for that one person I can’t save. I am terrified. I am human. I am terrified of becoming human,” reads the last panel.

Luke pauses and look up to his boy, smiling. Tears are still to collect on his lower lashline. “Keep going, Dad.”

A hard sniffle echoes throughout the room and Luke swipes to the left. ‘For Dad--it’s okay to be human.”

Luke slides the tablet to the cushion next to him, before dropping to his knees. Zeek doesn’t resist the hug his father pulls him in for; instead, he wraps his arms tightly around. “Thank you, Zeek,” Luke whispers, rocking the boy’s frame side to side.

___ The radio blasts inside the car. Luke’s settled into the driverseat, the majority of his hair pulled into a bun. Some is left out, hanging in front of his face. You reach out and twirl the loose strands. “Need a haircut, babe.”

Luke fakes on offended sound. “Are you saying that you don’t like it long? That’s not what you said last night.”

“Gross!” Ra shouts from the back seat. Zeek snickers, pulling out his phone. Luke’s laughter fills the car. It’s his last day off and a trip downtown was in order before dropping you guys down at the airport, which was your current destination.

As the heat creeps up your cheeks, Luke turns up the volume on the radio. He reaches out for your knee, giving it a squeeze. “C’mon, we’re how old now? You’re still not blushing are you?” he teases.

Zeek records from the back as his dad’s start singing along. Ra huffs from beside him, attempting to get their dad to stop. “This is a car, Dad. Not your concert,” she laughs as he starts doing a poor shoulder shimmy. Zeek turns to the camera to Noor who’s copying the dance way better. She grins at the camera.

Zeek taps for the selfie mode. “This is it. This is what my family is like. Tickets on sale now.”

Another loud laugh from Luke bounces around in the car. “It’s not that bad is it, Zeek?” he asks, glancing into the rearview mirror.

“No,” he smiles. “It’s not. I just like poking fun.”

Pulled in front of the airport gates, Luke helps unload the bags from the trunk. It’s not a lot, only a three day trip for you all. But still he insists of pulling each of the backpacks out of the trunk. He slides Noor’s bag on and kisses the top of her head, the first to fly out of her seat. “Love you, Daddy! I’ll send pictures of me in my costume!”

“I’ll be looking forward to it, pumpkin. Sorry again, I can’t fly in time for your play.”

“It’s okay. We can record, so I’ll send you that.”

He grins. “I’ll be sure someone films my reactions, so it’ll be like I was right there.”

She kisses his cheek, stepping out of the way. Zahra grabs her backpack from Luke’s hand, kissing his cheek. “Love you. Try not to fall on stage again,” she laughs.

“No promises. Love you.”

Zeek motions for you to go next. So Luke hands over your bags, kissing your lips repeatedly, a series of pecks, dramatically adding the ‘mwah’ sound at the end of each one. It earns a fake gag from Ra. Noor just coos. Finally, is it Zeek’s turn. Luke hands over the gray and black backpack. Zeek unzips it pulling out a stack of paper. Luke takes them, noticing it’s the comic. “I want you to have the first copy. I printed it out at the hotel with Mum’s help.”

The grin is watery, Luke knows by how his lip quivers a little and his vision blurs. His chest squeezes. The first copy, Luke looks back down to his hand. The gray, white and black cover art, the shadow of a man, sitting in the middle of a room, a mess scattered about him of clothes and cigarette buds. Zeek’s art skills are impeccable. But Luke knows what’s on that last page. The last page that reminds him of how okay it is to not be okay sometimes. How okay it is not to be perfect. How okay it is to make mistakes. How okay it is to be human.

“I’m proud of you, bud. You know?” Luke whispers, voice thick with the tears that haven’t quite fallen yet down his cheek.

“I know, Dad.”

“Thank you. I’m humbled to have the first copy.” They share a long embrace. Luke watches the four of you travel through the glass sliding doors. He watches until your shadows disappear from sight. Settled back into the car, Luke flips to the last page again. His phone buzzes with a message from Zeek. It’s the video he took on the drive over. Luke smiles, replying with a question.

After the show, Luke scrolls through his phone, clicking out of the Instagram app to twitter. His mentions are a mess as always but the majority are about the sticker, “It’s okay to be human.”. Luke asked Zeek to send him a digital copy of the last page to him. He then found a printing shop nearby that made stickers. He got one made to go on his guitar of the dedication. One user gushes how sweet the gesture is.

Luke writes a reply. I need a reminder sometimes. And I think others do. I’m proud of my bud.

#luke hemmings #luke hemmings fanfic #luke hemmings fic #luke hemmings imagine #luke hemming series #dad!luke #dad!luke series #5sos #5 seconds of summer #h writes #luke hemmings x south asian reader #luke hemmings x reader #5sos fanfics #5sos fanfic #5sos fic #5 seconds of summer fanfic #5 seconds of summer fic

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untaemedqueen · 5 years ago

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Peregrination > j.jk

Chapter 11.

Tenderness (n) - feelings of deep affection ; devotion

Jeongguk wakes up with a jump as the door upstairs slams closed. He groans quietly before feeling your naked body press closer to him as you tuck your face closer to his chest. Yesterday feels like a dream, a beautiful experience that Jeongguk couldn't possibly wrap his head around. He finally did it, you were his girlfriend! He smiles up at the ceiling raising his eyebrows, you wriggle against him and he takes this opportunity to look down at your naked figure. "Wow." He whispers tracing his fingers delicately over your tattooed arm. He almost had an idea of how this would be but now that he fully gets to experience it is something so amazing on its own. You turn away from him as you continue to sleep. Your hair splayed out over the pillow. Jeongguk sits up before leaning in a kissing your bare back. He slides out of bed trying not to wake you before slipping on a t-shirt and sweatpants getting ready to sneak over to the door. The room smelled like sex making him smirk, he really got to do that with you. He opens the door quietly opening his mouth as he sneaks out.

He steps into the hallway trying to be feather footed and slowly closes the door behind him. Jeongguk peaks down the long hallway, his eye drifting all over to see if he could locate your parents. He was nervous to see them after what you both did last night. He guessed they they heard you both, it was pretty loud as he replays the night in his head. As he walks down the hallway, he takes in the childhood pictures of you. The ones of you with your parents at Disneyworld Japan, you on a set of swings, you without three front teeth as you smile making him chuckle and lean back against the wall. Jeongguk smiles to himself as he pushes himself off the staircase wall and continues down the hallway. He looks at a picture before doing a double take, your parents had put up the picture of your birthday two years ago. It was a selfie of you and Jeongguk smiling on the London Eye. He folds his arms before sniffing, “Aish, look how cute we are.” He mumbles to himself before sighing happily. Jeongguk finally gets to the end of the hallway before peaking up the winding stairs. The house was very quiet. He scurries off towards the kitchen before finding a note on the fridge. “Gone out for the day, see you both tonight! Mom is making samgyetang.” Jeongguk smiles widely before thinking back to what your dad was saying to him yesterday. Your dad was making jokes about how his son-in-law needs to know the business of ginseng so he could pass it on. He also made a joke about how ginseng is good for a mans sex drive. Jeongguk snorts before opening the fridge and grabbing a water bottle. Maybe if they’re out of the house you both could go on a date!

Jeongguk jogs back to the room before opening the door, you were just getting up, rubbing your eyes. “SEXY LADY!” Jeongguk screams loudly in English with a smile before jumping on you. “Kook!” You yell laughing, smacking his arm. Jeongguk looks down at you as he fixes his position. “Hi, sexy.” He mumbles before bending down and kissing you gently. You kiss back before smiling. “Parents?” You ask him as he jumps up and down above you, “They went out for the day.” You look at your phone before nodding. “It’s Sunday. They went to church and then they’ll go to a bible barbeque.” Jeongguk snorts before bending down and kissing you again. “So then, I know how to start our day.” You raise an eyebrow, “How?” Jeongguk licks his lips before looking at your breasts, “The best way possible.” He whispers rolling off of you. He pulls you on top of him before putting his tongue to his cheek. "Let's go on a date." He says before wrinkling his nose. He giggles as you lay down flat on his body. "Unless you want me to fill you up again." He whispers gently into your ear, making you blush. "It's a bit sore." You admit making him chuckle, "A date it is then. Put on some clothes." He says before tweaking your nipple. "Yah!" You yell smacking him on the shoulder. He chuckles before picking you up and setting you down on the floor. "We can to the garden that you like or we can walk by the water." You tell him as you open up your small luggage. "Ah! That sounds fun!" Jeongguk cheers clappily quickly. You grab a black bra and panties before slipping them on. "I'm not going to put on any make up on today, you'll have a fresh boyfriend look today." Jeongguk says happily before jumping out of bed. "You don't need make up." You tell him as you grab your ripped black jeans and a short at the front, long in the back t-shirt with the Gucci symbol all over them. "Oh! I got you that shirt." Jeongguk says smiling widely you slip it on before twirling around. "How does it look?" You ask as he walking towards you putting his arms out. "You look beautiful, as always." He says before bending down and kissing you wrapping his arms around your shoulders. He pulls away before smirking. "Baby?" He whispers before wrinkling his nose, he tilts his head looking at you expectantly. "Baby." He says louder making you snort and nod. "Yes." "Baby." He says seriously before fixing your hair behind your ear, "Yes?" You ask louder. He puts his tongue to his cheek before widening his eyes. "BABY?" He yells and you snap your fingers before nodding understanding. "Babe." You say back and Jeongguk gives you his bunny smile. "I love that word from your mouth." He says before picking his suitcase up off the floor and throwing it onto the bed. "The garden will be beautiful today. I brought my camera so we can take pictures!" Jeongguk says oulling his camera out of his suitcase. "What should I wear today?" He asks as you comb your hair. "Anything you want. You look good no matter what." He tilts his head before looking back down at his clothes folded nicely. "I'll go simple." He says pulling out blue ripped jeans and a black t-shirt. "Which belt?" He asks holding up two designer belts. You swallow looking at the expensive items. "The black one." He nods happily before slipping on boxers. His whole aura oozes confidence and sexiness making you bite your lip. "Are you going to fix my hair today hairstylist or can I wear a hat?" You smirk over at him before grabbing your comb. "I don't have all my stuff to do your hair." You say as he sits on the bed putting his head back so you can comb his hair. "I'll be so sad when management tells me to cut your hair." You say as he scratches over his half sleeve of tattoos. "Oh, so you like me because of my hair? Shallow." You roll your eyes before kissing the top of his head, "Shut up." You mutter before combing through his thick brown hair. "I want a cool hair color." You raise an eyebrow. "Do you mean cool as in when you fucking dyed your hair half red on your own to get back at me for not being able to hang out with you that night?" Jeongguk chuckles silently opening his mouth wide and nodding his head slightly while laughing. "Should have just said you were going to hang out with me." You shove him with a breathy scoff. "Wasn't my fault that you're a baby. You were filming!" Jeongguk wrinkles his nose before turning around and hugging your waist. "But now I'm your baby." You laugh putting your head back as he rests his cheek on your breast. "Oh, comfy."

The garden as you presumed earlier was gorgeous, so many flowers were in bloom on this fine spring day. "Look at these flowers!" Jeongguk says happily picking up the camera around his neck. You smile folding your arms as he pulls down his face mask. Your parents town was relatively quiet and the people that owned houses around here had lots of money, not many people went to the garden but just to be safe you both wore face masks. "This is a very healing place. You remember when we came here with the guys? The day when Taehyung was chased down by the bees?" You laugh with a nod recalling the incident. “You guys always have so much fun going out. It’s so nice to see.” Jeongguk picks the camera up and takes a few shots of you walking ahead of him. “You’ve been a big part of that too, y’know. You are a big part of us even if ARMY and others don’t see it. You, Jisung hyung, Ha Won, you all make us who we are. You’ve been with us for so long that you’re our family too.” Jeongguk says looking down at the pictures he took of you before smiling. You turn your head towards him and smile widely. “You’re all my family too.” He smirks before tilting his head quickly. “If it’s family we’re talking about I would be the equivalent to your husband while Namjoon hyung is your annoying older brother, right?” Jeongguk asks stopping next to some white daisies. You roll your eyes with a snort. “Yeah, yeah. Exactly.” Jeongguk winks at you before pulling down his black face mask. “Let’s go sit down. My legs hurt.” Jeongguk mutters before walking next to you, “Why is that?” He stops for a second before intertwining his fingers into yours. This was your first time holding hands and it just felt... right. Your small hand fitting perfectly into his as he begins to swing them cutely as you continue to walk. A small smile plays on his lips as he scratches at his neck. “Because fucking you really took a toll on my legs.” “Yah!” You say smacking his shoulder with a laugh. “You asked.” He mumbles before spotting a bench betwen two shaded trees.

You drape your legs over Jeongguk’s as you lay back on the bench your arm underneath your head. “I still can’t believe you’re my girlfriend.” He says more to himself than to you. You lay there happily before your brain begins to run scenarios that were less than ideal. You feel guilty on one hand because you really aren’t from this life but at the same time you are. It’s almost as if your brain was fighting, one half on one side and the other half on a different side. If Jeongguk were to find out that you wren’t the same Y/N one hundred percent how would he feel? Would he be okay with it or call you a liar? Would he leave you for not being exactly the you he liked? You pick at skin on your lip as Jeongguk runs his tattooed hand over your clothed calf. “I’m going to ask you a question, and this time you have every right to say no.” Jeongguk says out of nowhere as he stares off at some multicolored pansies. This takes you out of your own thoughts as you look up at him craning your neck to look at his handsome face.. He turns his head and looks down at you, his big doe eyes boring holes into yours. “Do you want to move in with me?”

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jinsung-doyum-1the9 · 5 years ago

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UP10TION BLUE ROSE; DETECTIVE AU PT3

The 9 members of up10tion walk away from JUST and Wei. JUST head into their company car except for A, who continues walking a couple steps behind Wei.

“Yah A! you not coming? Wei wait up we could give you a lift too!” KU suggested. A continues walking without giving them an answer. Wei turns back to say “no thank you” and gives them a small wave before continuing forward.

M sends the two off and runs after A. “You can’t be walking alone at this time” he stated when he reached her side. Wei turned back to them, “Especially after what we just saw, who knows if the culprit is still around?” he added. A pays no attention to their concerns and says she’ll be fine. “Well I guess I’ll just have to get some exercise with you then..” M sighed.

JUST and Wei eventually split ways. They wish each other a “goodnight”, a couple waves and smiles as a farewell. Once they’re both out of each others view their manner changes.

Wei starts running and meets up with two men, both couldn’t beat Wei’s height but Wei still felt intimidated even if this wasn’t the first time they met. “I lost them” Wei informs. “Good, Up10tion don’t seem to suspect you of anything even with JUST’s suspicions” Kookheon said. “you still need to be careful..” Chunjin warned. Kookheon seemed to be Wei’s boss, he got the info and tasks from him. While he only saw Chunjin a few times with Kooheon, he seemed more serious and precarious than Kookheon when they would meet Wei.

Kookheon:” I think it’s time for you to understand the whole mission..”. Chunjin leads the way through the dense trees they were surrounded by, while Kookheon explained a bit more of Wei’s role as their inside man. He clarifies that their mission is a form of revenge for the Boss against A and how Wei mostly has to get info on their progress in the case that their Boss has created for A’s downfall.

The boys reach two heavy metal doors, Chunjin is first to enter holding the door for them before continuing down a flight of stairs that lead to another pair of doors. “but wait why would the Boss want revenge on a little girl like A?” Wei inquires. Kookheon and Chunjin exchange a look before Chunjin replies with “Maybe she’ll tell you..”.

“SHE?” Wei exclaims as he’s greeted by more members. Lucas opens the doors from the inside and Wei is met with a giant table across from him, the table proportionally too big for the young girl sat in the middle who greeted them after looking up from what seems like paperwork.

Wei chuckles slightly, “you’re kidding, right?” he commented. Not because ‘The Boss’ was a female teen but the fact that she looked very much like A. “I wouldn't disrespect her.. especially in your position” Lucas cautioned.

Wei turned serious and followed the others towards the giant table to accompany the Boss. He looked around the rest of the space, to his left there were a few steps followed by a small circular space for computers, cameras and other sorts of tech being watched by another teen, this time male. Moving further from that area he saw what looked like the kitchen and dining area, the kitchen part looked small but the dining area looked like it could hold at least 20 people. Wei’s eyes were lead towards a commotion to his right, where 3 different flat-screen TVs lined in a row that was situated in front of a few other boys and another girl, all around A’s age.

------

Once Wei was seated the boss began speaking, “so this is our inside man that’s unfortunate enough to have to work with my sister for the next few weeks... maybe months if I feel like it..” She askes as a rhetorical question but then talking to herself towards the end of the sentence. “I’ll make this quick we all have things to do, just keep doing what you’re doing for now, I'll give you more specific orders when the time comes but for now gain more trust, from what I’ve seen Y/N is definitely still sus of you, be careful with JUST but Y/N especially” she finishes quickly before getting up from her seat and calling over one of the boys who were focused on the TVs. “I.N it’s time” she said ominously as I.N returns her nod then stands up from the group on the floor.

“I’m off with I.N, you guys continue your work, I’m sure Wei has met our front men MYTEEN and Lucas.. it’s time for you to meet the rest of the gang, Chae you’re up” She continues to order. Wei notices that his boss who looked like A didn’t act like her from the short time they saw each other earlier. A seemed more fit to be a leader, his boss who was still stood in front of him didn’t seem professional or seemed to care much about her ‘employees’ or the work they’re doing, unlike A who was sure to double-check and was meticulous about her job. Even the way they talked and walked was different, other than their slightly different styled hair his boss and A looked very much like the same person.

Kookheon left with the boss and some others he had quickly met before the only other girl in the place, Chaeryoung, came to him with the rest of the crew he hadn’t yet met. Although they all looked younger he was still intimidated by their presence before they all went back to their video games and phones.

Chenle, Mashiho and Siwoo. Chaeryoung introduced the 3 boys as the ‘01 liners, which included their boss, herself and I.N who had left with the older MYTEEN members. She also explained how Hanseul from MYTEEN is also technically a ‘01 liner by age but he was also a newer member along with Wei and Lucas.

Chaeryoung: “Questions?”

Wei: “I don’t mean to offend anyone.. but you guys are ‘01 liners? aren’t you kids? how did you end up here?”

Chae: ”Technically we’re adults most of us are already 18.. except Chenle, but I guess we all did come here when we were all quite young but, Nyra, our boss, if she didn’t introduce herself properly cause she never does.. but anyway she was given this job by the former bosses when they died, they were named MYTEEN, as you can tell she would’ve been the youngest surrounded by much older people and none of them wanted the youngest to become the leader so they all left but Kookheon and some of the others stayed. Nyra needed more people and wanted more people her age soo she recruited us.. don’t ask how she found us or got us to join, long story short she’s very persuasive.. but a good friend.”

Wei: “okay.. and shes A’s sister? Twin?”

Chae: “Yup they were both raised by the same adoptive parents.. they didn’t get on well hence the Revenge.. not only on A but also towards JUST and UP10TION.. Nyra is supposed to be Dead but A knows the truth”

Wei: “are you gonna be this vague for every question?”

Chae: “You’re the new guy! you aren’t supposed to know all the details! but fine.. A, M and Nyra were on the same detective team before JUST was created because the twins’ Dad is head of the company, they were on a case that ended badly, N was caught up with gang activity.. and then we eventually get to where we are today”

Wei: “and this revenge..? what exactly is it about?”

Chae: “phase 1 is to mess with A, phase 2 show her weaknesses to the public make her crumble, phase 3 is N’s return to blame A and make A look even worse and N would be our insider at the company for another mission.”

-----

[PT2] {PT4}

#up10tion #up10tion scenarios #up10tion imagines #up10tion au #produce x imagines #produce x scenarios #produce x 101 #x1 scenarios #x1 imagines #x1 wooseok #x1 au #kpop #kpop scenarios #kpop imagines #kpop au #lee jinhyuk #kim wooseok #kim wooshin

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axispheydra · 5 years ago

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Prompt 7 - Pardoned

“When the Amalj’aa become more aggressive, it’s because they’re plotting something. There’s already been several skirmishes, and it’s only a matter of time before there’s reports of abductions, I think.”

“Then we’d best thank the Twelve they’re being predictable. Though I suppose you don’t always need to be clever when you’re nine fulms tall and have arms like tree trunks. Still, if we know they’re coming, we can do something about it. For now, let’s get some patrols between here and the encampment, to try and cut them off.”

“Should we send word to the Hall of Flames? They might send us additional personnel if the need is dire.”

“Well it isn’t, not yet. And hopefully it stays that way. But the Adventurer’s Guild said they would be sending someone to assist us in the meantime.”

“Just one? Hells, we’ll need a whole party to fend them off once they realize we’re onto them. What could one person do?”

“That’s just it, they’re sending someone special. They’re sending a paladin.”

It had been some time since Orara came to this part of Thanalan- even her work with the Immortal Flames over the past few years hadn’t taken her near her old home. Now, outfitted in the sleek white-and-blue armor of the paladin order, she found something like guilt gnawing at her heart. She often spoke of wanting to help the weak and needy, and the people of Drybone and the Golden Bazaar we’re often short on supplies as well as protection, so why hadn’t she come back?

Her family was part of it. She hadn’t spoken to her parents, even via letter, since she’d left for Ul’dah, and she didn’t even know if they were still alive or not at this point. In the end, Orara decided that maybe it was for the best that she tried to move on from what had happened. Being back here just dredged up old memories that would get in the way during this request, and if peoples’ lives were at stake, she couldn’t have that.

She arrived at the local Flames station in the middle of their strategy meeting, and they were glad to see her.

“Ah, you must be Orara, yes?” said the Hyur at the head of the table. A map of the area lay on top of it, with several stones of various colors dotting its surface, as well as a number of ink marks. “I am Captain Kerl, and I am overseeing this- well, I don’t know if I’d call it warfare, but I’m afraid it may come to that at some point.”

“That’s why I’ve come,” she said, situating herself between another Lalafell and a Roegadyn at the other end of the table. “I admit I don’t have much experience leading a battle, so I’ll defer to you.”

The captain nodded and continued the meeting, which went in the direction Orara expected. The Amalj’aa prided themselves on their strength, so a show of force typically cowed them enough so the Flames could reinforce nearby trading routes and hamlets before they regrouped. Orara could easily act as the vanguard of any fighting force sent to raid their encampment.

“If everyone is clear on the plan, then we’ll strike tomorrow night,” said Kerl. “The beastmen tend to be less active when night falls, so that will give us all the opportunity we need.”

It was a straightforward exercise, and Orara wasn’t concerned about its outcome. The encampment at the edge of Camp Drybone wasn’t large enough to have a significant number of Amalj’aa, and with a handful of Immortal Flames soldiers, combined with her own battlefield expertise, it would likely end in victory. Although Orara had enjoyed being part of the Flames, she was enjoying this kind of freedom even more. The soldiers would remain here even after the assignment was done while she was free to leave and pursue her own code of justice once more. Perhaps she should’ve become an Adventurer sooner.

When she asked one of the Flames about a place to spend the night, the Roegadyn just shook his head. “Only place in town’s the Eternal Sleep,” he said. “Not much of an inn, though. 'Course, this ain’t much of a town, either. Should be enough for now, just make sure you lock that door at night.”

Even with the Immortal Flames around, this place could never be “safe” the way Ul’dah could. It was too far out, too small, too desperate for survival. The desert did that to people, made them struggle and fight for every scrap they could, and while the Immortal Flames could deter most, they couldn’t be everywhere at once. Even the local vendors fought tooth and nail for every coin they could, and Orara found herself paying a few thousand gil for food she could get for half the price in Ul’dah. Was parting with her money like that its own type of helping people in need?

As she ruminated, scraps of conversation nearby caught her ear, especially since they were about her.

“I’m sorry, I just sold the last one,” said the Roegadyn manning one of the stalls. “To that paladin over there. Maybe if you ask nicely she’ll be willing to cut a deal, I hear they’re all about helping people in need.”

She could part with the food, Orara thought. There were other places to fill her belly in Drybone, and if someone really needed what she had, she couldn’t allow herself to say no.

“Excuse me, adventurer?” came a voice nearby. “I’m so sorry to bother you, I only heard that you bought some meat from that merchant, and it was the last of his stock and-”

“Say no more,” said Orara, turning around. “I couldn’t allow myself to do nothing while you- oh.”

She stared at the woman who had approached her, who stared back. They both had that same dark skin, ebony hair, and golden eyes. It was a face Orara hadn’t seen in years.

“Ma?” she managed.

The other woman’s eyes widened. “Orara? Is that- oh my gods, look at you.” Her hands went for Orara’s face, feeling her cheeks and hair as if proof of her daughter’s identity could be found there. “You’ve gained weight, I see.”

“Ma! That’s not- Nevermind.” Orara reached up and took her mother’s hands in her own, sifting through her feelings. “Why are you here?” she said, unable to find anything more meaningful to say.

“Well, meat’s cheaper here than at the Golden Bazaar, and it’s not too far, so I don’t mind. What about you, what brings a paladin of the Sultansworn all the way out here? By the Twelve, the Sultansworn, your father would have a lot to say about that if he were here.”

“If he were here? Is dad-”

“Oh, he’s just at home. I don’t mean to worry you.”

Orara nodded, letting go of her mother’s hands. She hadn’t expected this reunion, but she wasn’t sure what to think about it either. The way her mother spoke, this wasn’t how you normally talked to your estranged daughter, was it? This was catching up with someone you hadn’t seen in a few weeks.

“Why did-” She stopped short, thinking about what she really wanted to ask. There was a number of things she needed to know: why her mother hadn’t been willing to support her even a little, why they had refused the money she offered, and why was her father so upset in the first place? Her mother waited for her to speak, and Orara finally settled on something she’d been wondering since she enlisted in the Immortal Flames.

“Why did you never respond to my letters, ma?”

The woman’s face fell. “Oh, that. Your father-” She looked away, biting at her lip. “You saw how angry he was. When you left, he didn’t want anything to do with you. When your letters came, he didn’t want me to respond. He even wanted to just throw the money away, but I thought you didn’t deserve your hard work to just go to waste.”

Her father, again. And her mother, doing nothing about it, again. Orara sighed. “I was worried. I didn’t even know if you were still alive. So it’s... it’s good to see you, ma.” She forced a small smile, feeling an old knot in her chest coming undone. She’d forgotten it was there in the first place, it had been so long.

“It’s good to see you too, Orara. And I’m glad you’re doing well.”

It felt nice to talk to her mother like this. It was like they were on equal ground now, not just an unhappy daughter and her mother, but rather two adults who had found their own ways in life.

Her mother smiled. “You know, Orara, when you’re free, if you want... you could come and visit. Your father, he was angry before, but now he’s gotten over it, and himself. I imagine it would do him some good to see you like this.”

“I... I might like that.” Maybe if she showed up in her armor, her father would understand that he wasn’t right about everything. Ul’dah wasn’t a perfect place, but Orara had made it there. She’d climbed the ranks of the Immortal Flames and found a role as a paladin, as a protector of the realm and its people.

Her mother nodded, now encouraged. “Yes, if you apologized, I imagine he would even forgive you.”

“If I... apologized?” Orara looked up, almost laughing to herself. “I don’t- why would I apologize, ma? Why would I even need to?”

“Well, it’s just that-” Her mother sputtered, realizing she had said the wrong thing. “I only thought that, since you know how stubborn he is, that it would just be easier that way.”

“But I wasn’t wrong!” Orara gritted her teeth as she felt that old indignation, that old anger bubble up in her. “I found something good in Ul’dah, I’ve been helping people. I made something for myself, he should be proud of me!”

“Well, I think he will be, but you know how he is-”

“Just because that’s how he is doesn’t mean I need to bend backwards for him! And neither do you!”

Her mother was silent in response, a hurt look on her face. Orara was suddenly aware that most of the eyes in Camp Drybone were on her, that she’d made a scene. It definitely wasn’t fitting for a paladin.

“I have to go,” she said, surprised by the coldness in her voice. “Here, take the meat, ma. I don’t need it. And I’m sorry for shouting.” There was a gap that begged to be filled with more words, but Orara couldn’t find the right ones to say. “I’m glad you’re doing alright. Goodbye.”

She hadn’t expected any kind of reunion, but this wasn’t how she would’ve guessed it would go. Turning away from her mother, she headed towards the inn before the other woman’s voice stopped her one last time.

“You’re a lot like him you know,” said her mother. Orara could hear the tears in her voice. “Stubborn as all hells. But you always do what you think you need to do. I don’t... blame you for wanting more. I’m just sorry we couldn’t give it to you.”

Orara sighed. “Please don’t apologize to me,” she said, unwilling to turn around. “Just promise me something. If I write again, please respond. I don’t care what you say, just say something.”

“Okay, Orara. I promise you. You deserve that much.”

Orara nodded, and walked towards the inn. Her limbs now felt sluggish, as if the knot inside her had tightened, pulling her muscles and spirit along with it. She needed rest now, if she was going to be ready for the battle ahead, because the Amalj’aa wouldn’t care what kind of familial troubles she was having.

But it took some time before sleep finally found her. Orara’s mind buzzed with thoughts of a potential meeting with her father, and she turned the scenario over in her mind time and again, and found she had no idea what to say.

#FFxivWrite2019 #writing #orara ora #ff14

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zebraslovescupcakestoo · 6 years ago

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An entry journal of a normal kid.

(A Kingdom Hearts/SVTFOE/Harry Potter/ Epic Mickey/ BBTIM AU)

Entry of an earth kid, day 106.

Hello private journal. It's me again, Felix Lockheart.

Before I start writing in another crazy adventure I had that sounded that came straight out of a fantasy magical princess fiction, although in this this case, magical 'princes,' I wished to revised on the summary and reflect on these past few months since then.

Before my life took a twisted 'magical' turn, it was almost upside down. I was just a quiet, average teenager that is one year away to get my beginner’s licence for a 50cc scooter. I don't have many friends apart from acquaintances and my family consisted a chief policemen who's my father, a older single mother of a sister who's doing just fine and kids of her own that are twins, which are at the time, quite a hand full!

What I meant is that I was almost a lone wolf, awkward socialist. I was one of those type of teenage boys who tried to be cool yet I have that geeky side of me who's interested in detective novels from Sherlock to Poirot, and Nancy Drew to Case Closed. I have an unusual talent of finding the details that most people missed and sometimes... it makes me distant from people. No matter how hard I tried to be normal, the other kids were treating me as an outcast, without the 'bullying' part on most days.

I tried numerous times to have some shed of acceptance until that one faithful day that I met my two new friends.

Oswald and Mickey Disney.

It started almost three months ago, March the XX, I got called in the principal office during a history test, which I luckily finished before the announcement was made. I was a bit worried, I do wanted to be noticed among my peers but NOT as a delinquent.

Upon arriving at the principal office, my first impression is 'what are those two who's appearances look like they've just graduated from kindergarten here and what does it have to do with me?' and there was my father and the principal himself.

Long story short, I was 'elected' by the principal and the teachers to be their tour guide while my father, who's constantly very busy at work, had explained to me that we will be having these 'foreign exchange students' living in our home... and that 'I' was the one to take care of them... I was in complete shock, mentally disturbed and thought is my life going to get weirder than it is?

That would be one of my biggest asking mistake I would have ever made.

I told myself at the time, that this is nothing special and that it will pass. It all started when we, me and the two bizarre guys, had just finished showing around the halls and a couple empty classrooms.

I wanted to write here a couple of reminder notes about the two 'foreign kids' that turns out to be unique if anyone new.

The first one I want to talk about is Mickey Disney, the younger sibling. I would describe him as the up-beat, enthusiastic, sun shine, positive, semi-innocent, lovable little brother. He is a very popular, well-liked kid even in my world. (I will explain in a bit!) Although sometimes, he acts like he's younger than his age but it is without cruel intention.

The second one I needed to talk about is the elder sibling, Oswald Disney. Also known as 'the type of guy I wished to be but can't cause it ain't happening!' He is what I describe the 'dark mysterious prince' type. He's the calm and collected, down-to-earth guy and he's probably likes to get on my nerves from time to time just to tease me... He's what I'd like to called the blue power ranger type. He's probably fit in with the cool kids much better even with whatever he's wearing at the time.

Back to the first day flash back, it was in the cafeteria that sparked our first 'mishap adventures' of the day and so on.

I've just finished showing and explaining the function of the cafeteria and which seat to avoid due to the 'clique systems' that was still a tradition in this school. While it's true that the faculties had enforced anti-bullying and zero tolerance policy, some of the kids had found some loop holes and it was a bit sneaky from one stand point.

The two brother's asked why but before I had to explained, the lunch rush started and the popular kids were at the front of the line. Upon look at me, they were snickering, laughing and they must have thought that I finally 'belong' to a group... of weirdos.

Mickey then asked me why are they laughing and I lied to him that it was nothing. But Oswald on the other hand, told him the cold hard truth that they were laughing at us and that they were mean. That made his unusual, heart shaped, cheek marks glow in a deep red tone when he made an angry expression and he 'marched' towards the popular kids. I immediately tried my best to pull him back but he was very strong and didn't even flinch when I pulled him back. He's smaller than I am yet I'm older...

Upon sawing their 'new' younger student, they just raised an eyebrow before he asked why are they laughing at me. One of them just plainly yet made some sort of an mocking English tone like Mickey doesn't understand our language, just when he clearly said it flawlessly to them. That triggered him to cast some sort of spell from his hands and into the tomato sauce which cause the saucy food to transform into one of those slime looking monsters. It almost attack one of the now frighten kids until the other 'foreign' student, Oswald cast some other spell that caused the tomato sauce monster disperse into a big splattered mess all over them and the cafeteria. He also cast another spell that makes them 'forget' on what just happened after Mickey ducked me down and then once he cast it, they quickly made the popular kids hold big spoon to look as if they were the ones who caused it before pulling me away from the scene. I remembered those 'star struck' dazed look when they had their memories erased while I was dragged out to the nearest empty classroom.

Just when the people outside of the classroom were all coming after the situation in the cafeteria, I almost blasted out until Oswald covered my mouth to keep quiet a bit longer while Mickey cast another spell that causes the room we're in to be 'inaccessible' for the normal people like me... THEN I started to freak out and demanded what the heck are they REALLY are.

That’s when Mickey revealed with a rainbow effect magic that they are magical princes from another dimension. I was still in a blank state of mind until Oswald snap his fingers to appear his Compact Communication and showed me a video message of their grandfather, who is the current king of the 'other dimension' they said they belong to.

I've already mentioned this at the beginning of this journal, but I will rewrite it in this part again for a better understanding.

It began with his introduction as the king of the place called Toonland. His name is King Yen Sid. He is currently the ruler of that world until he retired his crown to his son-in-law when he had his coronation after weeks marrying his daughter. Years passed and they have kids together which is Oswald and Mickey until one faithful day, there was the horrible Black Ink Disaster that invaded their kingdom, almost destroyed the whole kingdom with it's powers until their parents had to made a very difficult decision. They had to 'sealed' the black ink disaster in exchange of their lives...

I remembered that moment when I glanced behind Oswald's Compact Communication device, I can see Mickey's eyes filled with sadness and Oswald's painful expression upon the mention of their parents.

Since then, Yen Sid had to reclaim his position as king due to the fact that his grandsons were still too young at that time and they needed to complete their magical training before they can try for their Keyblade training at the age of sixteen. This was a needed requirement in their world in order to become the next king.

And here I was thinking that there's nothing more dangerous than my sister's first attempt in driving lessons. I was proven wrong again.

So upon the years they were growing up, they've developed in their separate ways their unique skills. If all worked well, both the brothers would be able to stand a winning chance against the black ink monster and freed their parents.

So just to keep it short, they decided to 'train' them with a compatible 'familiar,' which was needed for training, and among the counselors, Keyblade masters, sorcerers, yadda yadda yadda, they pin pointed- drum roll please....

Me. I was the only person in the whole 'dimensions' who can help them. BOTH of them.

Yeah, I know. Quite a load full to take in...

Looking back, it was quite a school year for me. Not only in my daylight hours, but also in my evenings and weekends.

Like my father had said, they moved in our home. I wondered if he ever asked any questions beyond their appearances, like how and why are they're here. Later I found out from Mickey who innocently said in a private conversation between us two that Yen Sid had 'convinced' him to take them in in my care... Guess the apple didn't fall off far from the family tree...

Since I was old enough to be left alone at nights, I was used to being on my own. I ordered take outs or cook my meals for one and then spend my time to do almost whatever I want due to the fact that I did mentioned that my father is a chief policemen. I also wanted to write a statement that just because my dad is a high ranking policemen, doesn't mean I can get away with anything and that I am responsible enough to take care of myself.

The only new problem was is that these two, at the time, weren't exactly the best roommates. When we first arrived at my house, Mickey was like a child who'd seen the outside world and visited his friend's house for the very first time. Oswald on the other hand, just stands there and examined every details from where I was standing. When he walked up to the door and reached the handle, it was locked. He kicked it down before I could get the chance to take out my house keys.

It was also the same time that I had to lay out the rules starting no kicking down locked door unless it was an emergency.

I've already written many of our early adventures from the beginning of this journal, but here were a few short stories to remind me:

Our founded 'neighbor's club' from day two with just us three.

The lecture of the Toonland history and reenactments of certain events.

Learned more about Mickey's life and Oswald's.

The second part of our tour guide to the gym and how we barely escaped the jocks for using dodge balls. By the Disney's magic again!

The library trip that ended up in a unicorn brawl.

Learned more on their life stories.

Learned about one of their adversaries, the ink minions and heartless, that travels from worlds to dimensions and 'attack' the normal people.

Help them with more complicated spells by being at their side.

Learned MORE about their lives....

And more stories goes on and on. I also wrote in this journal about the time our bonds grew deeper which I've already wrote it several times before...

Mickey have grown to be more responsible and well behaved since coming to my world. I knew in the beginning that he was thinking about his citizens, his family and that he loves them a lot. Especially to his big brother he said that he looks up to. He eventually learned to control his magic well and learned that he needs to think before he acts. Especially if he's willing to help others.

One story time, he told me that he wanted to grow vegetables even bigger to combat a famine crisis from one town over in his dimension. He did the spell successfully, but unknown to anyone, there was a praying mantis that got caught in his spell... Just to show he IS a nice guy, just sometimes things got off sided for him and that he didn't meant any harm.

Oswald also had grown in his personalty as well. At first, I thought he just needed to learn not to kick down doors. Boy, was I wrong! I will not lie, he was so bad with people that it made me more of an approachable person! I then learned more about him that he had lost a dear friend from an early age and he was almost over it until the 'Black Ink Disaster' happened that took their parents. It almost made him shut down completely if it wasn't for his grandfather and his little brother to come around, but it made him became more distant from people, including his own people.

I wouldn't be lying in this entry if I never understood why he would felt that way. If I'd lost someone who's dear and close to me, I'd be avoiding anyone just for not feeling the fear of losing someone again. Eventually, he learns to be more opened and kind to other people, after we had a conversation or two.

He was much more mature and on my level, but he was just as difficult to handle as much as his little brother sometimes.

Despite all of that, they manage to grew stronger in their magical abilities and in their character developments. I would almost considered them lucky to have those responsibilities from someone like me who's just an average kid that involves trying not to get into trouble and getting good grades. Which is another bundle of stories that I can always read back from previous entries.

The only problem is that their main threats, now including mine, were the Black Ink Minions and the Heartless that I've previously mentioned over and over again in here. Seems like these low level monsters are after the princes' lives, but unfortunately for them, they are NOT underestimated when it comes to combats.

Among training lessons stories that I wrote in this, I also wrote their battles, especially the big and special ones that stood out most.

At first they were mostly going after them. Over time, they became aware that I was a friend of them and from then on, I was their target too. Eventually, I did manage to learn self defense thanks to them, but I was still a bit short from the big leagues where they are since I don't have magical abilities.

After one high school year passed and one week before summer vacation starts, we had an unexpected visit from their grandfather and my old man who wanted to discus all three of us spending time together in their home country for the summer since we are such close friends and that I deserved a 'peaceful retreat.'

Which was understood in this world among the normal people who doesn't know the 'REAL' story...

When my father went to the kitchen to make a phone call arrangement for my passport, the king had cast the 'casing' spell just for all four of us to prevent future interruptions from the real time. Like it's frozen in time except for us.

Now the REAL reason on why us three needed back in Toonland is cause the princes were needed to aid the now immediate threat to all of us. Turns out there was two people who are commanding the Black Ink Minster's minions and then there was another one who commands the heartless. Despite their King's magical abilities and his best warriors at hand, they still needed help.

Thus came a big yet risky decision from the counsels and Keyblade masters alike that the princes will be required to learn the art of the Keyblade as soon as I finished my school days...

Just my black, cat luck! I spent most of my year in a school and I will be spending my summer vacation in another school. The only highlight is now it's my turn to take a breather since I'm their 'familiar' and I don't need to do much. Their subject studies and mines were very separate 'subjects' from each other, OK?

Then, fast forwards to my last day of school, I was relieved for a brief moment once the final bell rang. I sat at that desk a few more seconds while the rest of the kids bursts out of that door frame. It looks like a scene where the puppies were going all out at once, only this time the door was almost ripped off. I left second last kid from school so that I don't get run over from heels and wheels. When I arrived home, I was mentally prepared to face another three months in another school unknown to my family. What I DIDN'T expect is that the two brothers had already packed almost everything in my room in one of their own trunks that happens to be the same ones they've packed with when THEY arrived. (If I have a 'realistic' wish, I want those kinds of suitcases. It will help me move much better in the future!)

My family, included my sister and nephews at the time, wanted to wish me a safe and fun summer in their 'foreign' country before I left. Inky and Winky wanted to go with me, but my sister wanted to let me have my own time...

If only they knew them just as well as I do. They both had SUCH a hard time on understanding personal space in the first few days!

I have already wrote down there the method on how the heck did we traveled in another dimension, so just to keep it short recap, They ran THROUGH that brick wall in that naked part of a museum. I almost felt like one those stupid guys in JACK@&& that got caught in one of their pranks. The only saving grace from getting our face smashed in was their magic to open up the portal. We were then landed in the royal court of Toonlan's castle.

I was greeted by the whole kingdom. I'm talking about the commoners, royalties, merchants, aristocrats, you name it under one big castle!

...and my first interaction with them is that I arrived landing on my face on the red carpet. You know, THOSE first awkward impressions. Welp! I had worse...

Thankfully, they were in great cheers when they noticed that the princes arrived with me. So I guess that means that they were popular and very well liked. Unlike me who's aside a stranger in their land, I was an outcast as usual... even if I'm right in between them the entire reunion.

If ever I ask for a brother complex, these guys would be at the top of the list. Mickey was the center of attention without making a scene and everybody was attracted to him. Oswald on the other hand, I wanted to say he's more like 'playing it cool' and he's surrounded by the mature audiences and the 'cool kids' crowd... Even in this dimension, I would still be out of place. The only thing I did was standing near the appetizers that looks almost like a buffet for aliens... I'll skip the details of it to spare you from vomiting in this journal.

Suddenly Mickey rushed over to get me and dragged me to his circle of variety of friends. They seemed like they've been from a kid's cartoon characters with bright, colorful and positive attitudes. I also heard that Mickey will be enrolled in those Keyblade mastery classes in a day or two and that he's gonna be in the Hufflepuff Sorority in that school called Hogwarts. Sounds too familiar... I think I've read it in a book ages ago. Then Oswald came and asked them if he can 'borrow' me for a while too. Almost everyone's attitude changed except his little brother, like one of THE coolest older kid just walked in from their Pokemon trading card game. I way stared down by the 'cool kids' like in my world, but they didn't picked on me like they would. At least not yet. They seemed like they were fine with me and my awkwardness and then got introduced by one of the teachers of the sororities. Oswald was accepted in the Ravenclaw Sorority... That got me worried when I realized one tiny problem.

If I'm both their familiar, how can I be at their sides if their houses host different classes from each other? I mean, I've haven't been in colleague yet and have zero idea of their life styles, especially here, but if they're in different houses, how can they practice without me being there? Even if they can do it on their own, they still need me for backup.

It was more than their spell boosts. One time when we fought off a blueberry jam glob monster that Mickey accidentally cast a multi-spell to make more blueberry jam cause we ran out and it was big and it nearly ate him. I unconsciously grabbed a peanut butter jar and it was afraid of it. He lets go of Mickey and thankfully Oswald can in to save the day by casting an oblivion spell. (This spell is hard to master from what they said. Yikes!)

But my worries were then put to rest when I was told later by their grandfather that they'll be taught together and that we will not be separated. Also, most of the teachers will be visiting here instead of us coming over unless we came for a visit. Part of me was a bit relieved that I don't NEED to be in another prison cell like school, but at the same time, I wanted to see what it's like in there... I mean, one of them had a dragon at the party as a familiar for Pete’s sake! And it was only a few months old when I asked.

Anyways, I think I've sum it all up for now. We are indeed to start those training in a day or two. All of the things from my room is now set up by magic and that 'our' bed is a king sized one that can easily fit all three of us... I sometimes asked why can't we get a separate one. Then I was told is to 'bond' to my 'user' and that it eases them...

Sounds like it's an excuse for a 'too close for comfort' resort. Anyways, I will write in a new journal soon since this is my last entry here and I need more space to write.

I hope that in my next journal, I can write my adventures here in Toonland and discover more stories about the royal Disney family.

Singed: Felix Lockheart.

----Author’s Notes------

I hope that you like another one shot. I used multiple AU universes but it’s mostly on Star Vs The Forces Of Evil. I really LOVED the third and fourth season and that I wished that I would have watched the first two before that.

Now, I just wanted to say one thing before I forget, I did heard about the Harry potter series but I’ve been ‘banned’ to read/watched them when I was growing up. For separate reasons. I’ve only used the wiki fir house sororities references and a couple of movie clips for story purposes.

Anyways, I hope that you enjoyed a fun fanfic and I hope you have a fantastic day!

Kingdom Hearts, SVTFOE, Harry Potter, and Epic Mickey are under Disney.

BBTIM AU and Characters belongs to Marini4.

#kingdom #hearts #kingdom hearts #star vs the forces of evil #harry potter #epic mickey #Bendy and the Ink Machine #bendy before the ink machine #alternate universe #humanized #felix #felix the cat #mickey #mouse #mickey mouse #oswald the lucky rabbit #oswald #fanfiction #marini4

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fiercyy · 6 years ago

Text

We Need To Talk

A Viktuuri and Viktuuriyuri family fic <3

When Yuuri receives a text from Victor one morning, he tries very hard not to panic.

Vitenka (Blue heart, purple heart, gold medal, eggplant, hearteyes emoji): We need to talk tonight after dinner with Yura.

Perhaps Yuuri has been exposed to too much pop culture during his time in the States, but to him ‘we need to talk’ never spells out anything good. He resists the urge to immediately text back a thousand questions and demands about what they would be talking about, if he was okay, what Yuuri did wrong and if he would find his own suitcase packed and left by the door, or would he have to pack it all up himself when Viktor kicked him to the curb?

Yuuri had a really good morning. He woke up on his own, which was a miracle unto itself. To celebrate beating Viktor to consciousness, he kissed his fiancé awake. And maybe they were a little late getting out of bed because of it. “I’m sure my coach won’t mind,” Yuuri had teased and touched his nose to Viktor’s, then kissed his cheek. When he pulled away, Viktor was bright pink, from nose to ears and his smile was soppy and sweet. “You can’t say things like that!” Viktor had complained before throwing his arms around Yuuri, “It’s too adorable, I won’t survive. You’re trying to kill me aren’t you? Is this so I won’t make you do suicides again? I knew it! My Yuuri is so cruel!” All the while, smothering Yuuri by rolling on top of him.

A really good morning. They’d skipped their run because of it, went straight to the rink (where Yuuri and Viktor both cleanly skated their new programs for the first time). Then lunch together before parting ways for cross training.

That was fifteen minutes ago. What could have changed that Viktor could possibly want to talk about?! Or maybe it was about lunch or practice or this morning and he just hadn’t worked up the courage to talk to him yet. Maybe he’s been plotting a way to let him down easy. If so, Yuuri feels terrible about this morning, but also, incredibly glad that at least he’ll have one last time to remember him by.

But maybe it wasn’t as good for Viktor as it was for Yuuri? If Yuuri was doing something wrong, why wouldn’t Viktor just tell him? He could get better, probably. He hears there are advice columns all over the internet. He listens to podcasts on long runs now, there must be one that tells you how to be better in bed so your five-time gold medalist, perfect specimen of manhood fiancé stays in love with you.

“Katsudon, you’ve been in that forward split for ten minutes, are you showing off or did you fall asleep?” Yurio is sharing his ballet session. He hides his worry poorly. Or maybe Yuuri just knows him well at this point. His heart sinks. He’ll miss him so much when Viktor dumps him and he has to move back to Hasetsu and retire.

Yuuri shrugs and hopes he doesn’t pry further. The sixteen-year-old doesn’t. Instead he nudges him into pair stretches.

The anxiety chews on his heart, feral and unrelenting in its hunger. Yuuri’s own mind won’t rest until it consumes him one rending bite at a time.

While he does a pas de bourré into a plié, then saute, he circles back to the way he felt when Viktor first came to Hasetsu. He’d wondered then, how this could possibly be his life. He kept his distance out of self-preservation, because when Viktor eventually grew bored and left, any closeness would be ripped away, taking parts of him along with it. Yuuri could not afford to become dependent on Viktor’s kindness. Or later, Viktor’s love. Except it didn’t matter what Yuuri could and could not afford to feel. His foolish heart learned to beat for him, to the rhythm of the programs they choreographed together.

Yuuri’s stupid soul would suffer now that the inevitable had arrived.

Yurio clearly doesn’t want to leave Yuuri alone. Their cooldown session is quiet and punctuated by the boy starting a sentence and interrupting himself. It’s unlike him. Yuuri wants to pull him into his arms. That’s unlike him too.

“Stop looking at me like that. It’s freaking me out,” Yurio spits. “Why do you look like someone died? Is the idiot—” he means Viktor, “Ill?” he seems unconcerned by the prospect, but then he pales as something occurs to him, “Are you ill? Is Makkachin?”

And because Yuuri does not want to lie to him, but also does not want to tell him the truth at all ever, he throws his hands up and shakes his head. “No, no, nothing like that. Just in my own head today.” This is true every day, but it would be impossible to explain the day to day torment of living inside of his own brain. Plus, it might traumatize Yurio and make him second guess his decision to allow Yuuri and Viktor to ostensibly, semi-non-officially adopt him. Oh no… who gets to keep Yurio in the divorce?

Divorce? Oh god. Divorced before they’ve even made it to the altar. Maybe, now that Viktor is feeling inspired and skating again, he doesn’t need Yuuri in his life after all.

Yurio neatly answers the question of ‘who gets custody in the divorce’ by dragging him out the door and declaring that he’s going to drive Yuuri’s car home. Maybe custody is relative and Yurio takes care of himself.

He’s supposed to be supervising said driving since Yurio technically does not have a license, but instead Yuuri stares on the passenger window until he gets nauseous and has to close his eyes. The car stops and he opens them to find they’re at a grocery store.

“Your moron husband forgot to pick up garlic.”

“Not married,” he says and swallows down the bitter yet that gets stuck in his throat.

Yurio groans, “Have you not gotten that over with yet?” He knows very well that they haven’t. They once joked about eloping, which Yurio pretended not to have an apoplectic fit over. Viktor promises they’ll make Yurio their flower boy. Privately, Yuuri eggs him on because he knows that deep down, beyond the fury, he’s actually very touched.

Yurio takes one look at him and rolls his eyes, “Wait in the car,” he orders and slams the door. Yuuri listens and tries to take on the terrible spiralling tornado of fear. He needs to at least find the eye because it’s starting to suck the oxygen out of everything.

We need to talk we need to talk we need to talk we need to-

Soon, the door opens again and Yurio slides in. “Finally, the line was so-“ Yuuri startles and realizes there are tears on his cheeks. “Why are you crying?! Stop it!” He’s still not very good with Emotions™, but he’s doing his best. Yuuri and Viktor just have so many between them, it’s unreasonable to expect him to keep up. Generally, when the tears arrive, Yurio shoves him into Viktor’s arms. Yuuri’s not keen on that option at this moment.

They make it home with only a few awkward glances between them. The teen has his own key so he lets them in.

Yuuri doesn’t know what he was expecting to find upon returning home.

(Lies. As previously noted, he expected suitcases and packed bags and Viktor’s solemn face as he handed the ring back. He imagined kindness and pity but not love in his eyes. He wondered which would be his problem, if he’d be able to beg or be able to stop himself from begging. He knows he’d have cried, he doesn’t know if he’d have been able to speak at all.)

But Viktor is bustling around the kitchen, singing to himself. In the span of this moment, Yuuri exists outside of his worries. Ten feet away, the love of his life is making a family recipe that Hiroko passed on to him. He sings, and Yuuri’s not so far gone that he thinks Viktor a nightingale, but he loves the sound all the same. His bangs are clipped back behind his ear, his cheeks are rosy from the warmth of the stove. He dances around the kitchen, swaying his hips to the rhythm in his head. Then Yuuri realizes that he hasn’t looked up because he’s wearing headphones and hasn’t heard them yet.

Yurio aggressively removes his hat and launches it at Viktor in one motion. The older man startles and catches it, right before it falls onto a burner. “Vot tye na!” But then he sees them and his whole face lights up. It’s like watching dawn break over the mountains back. “You’re home!”

He’s not going to leave him. When Viktor looks at him, it’s hard for Yuuri to deny that he is loved because Viktor lays it all out in the open. He has never hidden his regard or intentions for even a moment. He loves wholly and without reservation.

The moment ends. The demons pipe up. Yuuri has been wrong before.

He tells himself all the things his therapist told him to. That he is safe. He is loved. He can trust the people around him. He’s going to be okay.

Dinner is a trial. Yuuri usually loves these dinners and he’s furious with himself for ruining what might be their last one. Because Viktor wants to talk. He gets quieter and quieter and shrinks down into his chair until he can’t take it anymore.

Viktor keeps the conversation going. He is cheerful and upbeat, but he keeps sneaking glances Yuuri’s way. Can he not wait to get this over with? Is he itching to be rid of him? He’s bad company, he knows it. He should be a better host, for Yurio at least. Who wants to be with someone who’s always sad and anxious, dragging down everyone around them. Viktor asks about Yurio’s day like the proud dad he is. Viktor would make such a good dad. In the vague way that he considers his future after skating, Yuuri hoped he’d get to co-parent with him someday. Again. From the beginning. Not that having a 15-year-old rage monster drop into their laps wasn’t a blessing. Maybe that’s part of it, who knows? He wouldn’t choose himself as a co-parent either.

Viktor holds his phone aloft, loudly reading all of Otabek’s tweets that Yurio has liked in the past 48 hours, while the kid tries to climb him like a tree to steal it and throw it down the garbage disposal. “Give it here old man, at least my twitter’s not some disgusting shrine to Katsudon like yours is-!”

“No, you took down the shrine to Yuuri in your locker when we moved to St-Petersburg!” He teases, “Is the one in your room at your Zaida’s house still up?”

“SHUT UP!”

And that’s all it takes, it’s all over for Yuuri. He starts to laugh and he starts to cry and the two men in his life stop roughhousing immediately, to stare at him in abject horror. They’ve both gotten better at dealing with crying, in their own ways, but they’re still terrible. They glance at each other, then back at him, then back at each other.

“Hey! Don’t cry! Look what you did asshole, you made Katsudon emotional!”

“Yuuri, oh no, are you okay? What should I do? Do you need-?”

Yuuri hiccups and tries to calm down, but he’s suddenly hyperventilating. “I…hic…I’m just…hic… I’m so happy,” he sobs. “I don’t want this to end.”

“Twice in one day? Why are you always crying?”

Viktor looks nonplussed, “You were crying earlier? He was crying earlier? When?” his gaze switches back and forth between the two Yuris, worry blooming like a bruise. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

Yurio doesn’t seem to know what to do. He can’t drive himself home and he clearly does not want to be here for this conversation. He pushes back from the table, and because he was raised right, he takes his plate with him and deposits it in the dishwasher. “I’ll be in the guest room, he better not be crying when I come out.” It seems silly to Yuuri, to refer to it as the guest room, when he’s the only one who ever stays in it.

He was worried before, but now Viktor looks panicked, “Yuuri…”

“What did you want to talk about?” he says in a rush. He wants to get this over with. He doesn’t want to get this over with.

Viktor ignores the question.

“Zolotse,” Viktor switches to the chair closest to Yuuri and scoots it even closer, so he can get his hands on him. “Why are you crying if you’re happy?”

Yuuri accepts the hug, lets himself succumb to it, “Because I want to keep it. I don’t want anything to change. Please just… can we not talk about this?”

Viktor pulls away suddenly, violently, to look him in the eye. “We don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do, I just thought…” He closes his mouth and looks grim. “Never mind. It’s fine. Forget I said anything. Everything is fine. I am fine.”

Yuuri is not convinced. Viktor’s pain enables Yuuri to function in a way he can’t for himself. He wants to reach out, to comfort him now. Why is Viktor’s heart breaking before his very eyes?

“Wait,” he orders, grabbing his hand to keep him from running away. “I’m sorry. Anything you need to tell me, you can tell me. I’ll listen, I’ll always listen to you. What did you want to tell me?”

“It’s not about getting married,” Viktor swears, and it’s a crack in poor Yuuri’s resolve to listen. It’s cruel of him, to reject him so blatantly though. “I promise I won’t pressure you. Whenever you’re ready. I know I said when you win gold, but just because you won doesn’t mean we have to. You owe me five after all,” Panicked, “I’m joking! Everything can stay exactly the same. I’m lucky to have that much. I won’t ask for more, I won’t.”

“…So… you don’t want to marry me.” He thought he was prepared, but he was not.

Viktor once accused him of willfully misunderstanding him when they fight. He reminds him of this now. “That is not what I said! I’ve wanted to marry you since the day we met. You can even ask Chris. I said that to him. At the banquet I told him, ‘I am going to marry that man, unless he is straight. Please Chris, tell me that he is not straight because I will cry’, I swear.”

“So you’re not leaving me?” Yuuri is wary of getting his hopes up.

“Leave you?!?!”

The way he says it makes Yuuri defensive, like he’s being ridiculous. “You texted me that we need to talk!”

“Yes. Admittedly, your English is better, but how does that translate to breaking up?”

“Everyone knows that ‘we need to talk’ is code for ‘it’s not me, it’s you’, which is code for ‘it’s definitely you’!”

“What.” Viktor scratches his nose. “This is an American thing?”

“Yes.”

“So what do you say if you really just need to talk about something?”

This gives Yuuri pause, because he actually doesn’t know. He shrugs, “Not fucking that.” He might still be a little hysterical.

“Yuuuuuuuriiiiii!”

He sighs, “You know how my mind can be. I guess when I read your text, it got away from me, I thought of the worst case scenario and I spiralled.”

“Okay,” of course, Viktor is ever on a quest to be accommodating of Yuuri’s mental illness. “Then I won’t do that. I won’t prepare you. I’ll just surprise you!”

Wait. Is that worse? That might be worse.

“Surprise! I want to get a puppy! Thoughts?”

“What about Makka?”

“I think Makka could use a little brother or sister! She gets so lonely.” Upon hearing her name, Makkachin, who is very spoiled for attention, woofs from her fancy premium dog bed and prances over to join them. She drops her chin on Yuuri’s thigh, in an oddly accurate representation of her dad’s pout. “Look at her Yuuri, don’t you want another?”

He can’t believe he questioned whether or not Viktor wanted to co-parent with him. They share custody of a poodle.

“And the angriest kitten in all the land!” Viktor adds, when Yuuri verbalizes this.

“HEY!” They all jump and spin around. Yurio stands in the kitchen, holding a cup of water, peering suspiciously over the rim. “You better not be talking about me!”

They are definitely talking about him.

Later, they’re halfway through a movie and Yurio is asleep on the other couch. Viktor and Yuuri snuggle beneath a blanket and Makkachin snoozes on the ottoman by their feet. “I love you,” Viktor says into Yuuri’s hair, “And I want things to change,” he admits bravely. “But only if you want those things too.”

“More dogs?”

They smile.

“More dogs, more rings, more moody teenagers maybe?”

“Can we get those as puppies too?” Yuuri asks, lips against Viktor’s temple.

“Yuuri!” he cries in delight, “Are you asking me to be your baby daddy?”

“YOU TWO ARE DISGUSTING!”

Oops. The kitten is awake after all.

#viktuuri #victuuri #yuri on ice #yoi #viktuuriyuri #yuri!!! on ice #fanfiction #anxiety #yoi fanfiction #texting #my fic #yuri plisetsky #yuuri katsuki #viktor nikiforov #katsudon

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nikfix · 7 years ago

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Cranking Up the Gain with Neverdie’s Tani Cariño and Bren Pasamba

(Photo source: http://www.redhorsebeer.com/index.php/blogs/article/5-local-releases-to-watch-out-for)

NEVERDIE might be over, but hopefully, posting my gear feature about them isn’t too late. I’ve seen these guys around, and I’m really impressed with what they‘ve done as a unit. They brought the house down the moment they played the first set in their second to the last April 14 at Saguijo, Makati. They played their last gig the week after at Mow’s, Matalino, Quezon City. The energy and power these guys shared onstage is something I strive to have with the gigs I play. In this gig, I made some new friends with guitarists Tani Cariño and Bren Pasamba.

(This interview was done last month, the week after Garage Morning’s gig with them)

Fun Fact: their bassist Lip Dalangin is my trusted luthier, as well as with my band Garage Morning.

How did you start making music and playing guitar?

Tani: I started in the late 90’s after my older brother taught me how to play “Basket Case” by Green Day. I guess after that it’s never been the same.

Bren: Originally I wanted to play the drums, but a kit was too expensive and our house at the time wasn't big enough to have space for one... or handle the noise. So as a compromise my mom borrowed an old classical guitar for me instead. But my first real guitar was a Rockstar classical guitar where I learned and played Eraserheads songs.

How did your band start out?

Tani: Neverdie started out as a skate crew. After accumulating enough guys in the crew we decided to form a band. I guess after the last show, we’ll go back to being a skate crew.

Bren: I wasn't supposed to be part of Neverdie initially, just a seessionist. But since my schedule was more flexible, I got in haha.

Who are your main influences? And how did they inspire you to play better?

Tani: I’m a huge Blink guy so my first primary influence would be Tom DeLonge and Mark Hoppus. I also took a bunch of ideas from Rufio, Mock Orange and Moneen. More recently, I’ve been influenced by bands like Title Fight, Transit, You Blew It! and The Menzingers.

All these bands are quite melodic in the midst of grit which is what I lean more into. I love the melodic stuff and I always try to listen to new bands so I can get new ideas from them. My foundation for riffs are the Tom DeLonge influenced ones then I just expand from there.

Bren: As a kid my main influences were Ely Buendia and Tom DeLonge haha. But as I grew older and started discovering more music (thanks to Myspace and Limewire) it introduced me to those who influence my music and playing now. From the top of my head: Taking Back Sunday's John Nolan, Brand New's Jesse Lacey, George Harrison, Nothing's Brandon Setta, Title Fight's Jamie Rhoden, Mong and Diego from andwich, Steve and Pakoy from Typecast, David Gilmour, and Kevin Shields, the guys from You Blew It!, The Flatliners, Joyce Manor, and lastly Beast Jesus' Francis Maria and Raphael Pulgar are my inspirations to play although I'm aware it doesn't show in my playing haha. Listening to the songs they've made just inspire me to play in general, nothing in the terms of technique or technicality, pero their playing gets me in the mood to play.

Tell us more about your music.

Tani: Aside from Neverdie, I also play in Irrevocable and Lindenwood. Unfortunately, both Neverdie and Lindenwood are currently calling it a day for different reasons. I personally felt that us in Neverdie just overstayed our welcome. We decided to just finish the band off and start a new band with a slightly different sound. It’ll be our last show / 2nd full length release on April 21 at Mow’s.

As for Lindenwood, our vocalist just decided he wanted to try different things outside of music. Maybe at some point we’ll be back but at the moment it’ll be good for us to take a break. We put out a full length last year.

I’m currently active in Irrevocable which is a band my girlfriend is also in. Featuring members of Nyctinasty (now 3/3), Behind Bears, Beast Jesus, Past Forward, The Oemons, Browse in Bridge and Disquiet Apartment. We have a Singapore show and an album release coming up. We’re planning more fly shows after that so I hope we pull through!

Bren: Neverdie has and always has been a pop punk band though we are and have been influenced by math rock, emo, post-hardcore, hardcore, etc. So whatever happens after, it will be in the same spectrum. As for my future plans, hopefully I get a job soon after my masters because I've been eyeing so many guitars and pedals online haha. GAS is too strong.

Tell us about your guitars. Which is your favorite one and why?

Tani: I’ve been a Tele player for the longest time but I’ve recently started using Rickenbackers for many reasons. I like how not a lot of people use them and they sound different. I do have to work harder to make them sound amazing but it’s always a great pay off. They’re durable as well because of the all maple build. Here’s my current lineup of guitars:

1) 2000 Rickenbacker Fireglo 330 – My first Rick. I was actually supposed to trade a bunch of guitars for a 60’s American Vintage Tele but when I saw this in the room of the guy I was trading with, I asked him I could grab this instead and he agreed. Rickenbacker stopped using Bubinga for their fretboards so I’m stoked I was able to grab one. I also got lucky with this one because it has the Toaster pickups.

2) 2014 Rickenbacker Blue Boy 330 – If you ask me, it looks more like a Seafoam Green 330. This one has the High Gain pickups and the newer Caribbean Rosewood fretboard. I like Bubinga but I actually prefer the color and feel of the Caribbean Rosewood more plus it’s sustainable.3) 2007 Rickenbacker Blue Burst 360 – I actually had to ask around for this guitar because I saw the dude from Oh Flamingo! use it. He borrowed it from a friend and I sent that dude a message. This one has the High Gain pickups and Bubinga fretboard. To me, if my 330s feels like a Gibson 335 then this one feels more like a Les Paul.

3) 2007 Rickenbacker Blue Burst 360 – I actually had to ask around for this guitar because I saw the dude from Oh Flamingo! use it. He borrowed it from a friend and I sent that dude a message. This one has the High Gain pickups and Bubinga fretboard. To me, if my 330s feels like a Gibson 335 then this one feels more like a Les Paul.

4) 2008 Fender Custom Shop Custom Classic Telecaster – My first Custom Shop. I fitted a Miles Anodized Gold pickguard in it. It has the premium ash 1 pc body and the flamed maple neck. Serial number says it’s made in 2005 but the paperwork says it’s 2008. Easily the best Telecaster I’ve ever owned.

5) 2015 Fender Mexico Classic Series 72’ Telecaster Custom – A birthday gift from my folks. I got this in Tom Lee HK. It’s heavily modified at this point. I added Graphtech string trees, Graphtech 3 barrrel saddles, 1 meg pots on the neck, a Bareknuckle flat ’52 on the bridge. I might get a Wide Range neck pickup that’s spec’d more like the vintage ones down the road.

6) 2011 Fender Mexico Blacktop Telecaster – Another birthday gift from my folks. I got this in Tom Lee HK as well. Also, heavily modified at this point. I added Graphtech string trees, Graphtech 6 saddles, Graphtech Nut, Tesla PAF on the neck, Seymour Duncan Prails on the bridge, anodized black Miles pickguard, Ernie Ball knobs. I have a Bareknuckle humbucker sized P90 on the way and I’ll be fitting it on here. I’m also thinking of swapping out the tuners for the locking ones.

7) 2014 Miles Interloper – I have a guitar business called Miles (currently in hiatus) and this is the first prototype. It’s a Jazzmaster body with a telecaster neck. Fitted with a roller bridge, tune-o-matic stoptail, one volume knob and, Seymour Duncan Jazzmaster Antiquities. Pine body and a maple neck with a kamagong fretboard. I used this on the road so much. It’s pretty beat up so it’s retired at this point.

As for favorites, at the moment it’s both 330s and the Custom Shop Tele. All guitars are fitted with DiMarzio Cliplocks and Elixir Nanoweb strings.

Bren: Initially I was a Les Paul guy until Tani forced everyone in Neverdie to get Telecasters. Prior to that I always dreamt of getting a Les Paul though my first guitar was a Strat copy (which I think is the most common starting point for beginners?). But I discovered and fell in love with Offset guitars, particularly Jazzmasters. I love how they look and feel being a bigger guy. I have a White and tort Squier VM Jaguar, a Red and Tort Squier VM Jazzmaster, a Black and tort Riverhead Jazzmaster, a Miles Guitars Interloper (Telemaster), a Black on Black MICSIS Custom Jazzblaster, and a Black and Gold Fender Blacktop Jazzmaster, my "Number 1", on my rotation. But my current favorites are my Stratocasters. I fell back into them a year ago thanks to Nothing. Whenever I feel like switching things up I use either my Black on Black MIM Fender Squier series Stratocaster or a Cream on tort MIJ Fender Stratocaster. I bought a white on mint SX Stratocaster on a whim because I loved the color haha though I've never used it. Still on the hunt for a Telecustom haha.

Let’s take a look at your pedalboard. What effects do you use live?

I used to run with a bigger pedalboard but after doing one fly show wherein I had to pay for my overweight baggage, I decided it wasn’t worth it anymore especially since I always bring my amps to non-fly shows anyway. Nowadays, I just run with a boost, a small reverb that’s maxed out to act both like a delay and a normal reverb depending on the situation, an amp based OD (or parametric EQ), a tuner and a wireless rig.

For this year, the mainstays on my board are the following:

Shure PGX14 Wireless Unit – My dad gave this to me as a birthday gift back in 2006 if I’m not mistaken. It’s the piece of gear that I’ve had the longest and still use to this day.

Korg Mini Tuner – I’ve been using regular sized Korg Pitchblacks for awhile now so going with the mini tuner just made sense especially since I downsized. I absolutely hate clip on tuners for live use so I just prefer pedal tuners as they react faster.

Vitoos ISO8 – I only got this last week. It’s my first time using an Isolated PSU since I recently got a pedal that requires it. Most PSU’s are made in China so I had no issue with getting a relatively unknown brand. It’s my second Vitoos PSU and I’ve always had a great experience with them. Also helpful when you need to play shows in other countries that don’t use the same power voltage you normally do since it’s rated internationally. Get one at Guitar Pusher. Highly recommended!

Orange Two Stroke – Another pedal I just got this year. I’ve been eyeing this one for awhile now but I couldn’t pull the trigger just yet because It was so confusing to use then one day I just decided to go for it and I’ve been using it ever since. It’s a great Parametric EQ / Clean Boost pedal which dials my tone better and makes use of my amp more. Orange amps are typically dark amps so I use this to raise a bit of the high mids. Probably the most versatile pedal I have because it can do so much it’s insane. You can place it anywhere on the board, you can use it for acoustic or bass, you can turn your single coil guitar into a humbucker or vice versa, you can use it as a regular OD or boost pedal, etc etc. Highly recommended!

For my boost, I switch between a bunch of Wamplers (Euphoria, Pinnacle, Plexi Drive), a 65 Pedals Colour Boost and, a JHS Superbolt. For future fly shows, I might use two Wamplers instead of the Two Stroke. One for boost and the other to act as my preamp since I can’t bring my amps with me. I also have an Orange Amp Detonator which is an ABY pedal. I haven’t used it live but I will if I’m suddenly lacking one guitar player in any band I am. I also use Lava cables.

I also have a separate board at home. I just plug in my live board beside it. For my home board I have a NUX JTC Looper on that for practicing and writing songs. I also have one of the ODs above on it as well so I can play with different tones at home.

Bren: From the guitar I go into my Devi Ever Hyperion to my Snark Tuner then to a Diamond J-Drive MK3, to a TC Electronic Flashback X4, to a TC Electronic Hall of Fame Reverb. This is where my board really ends, but I have 2 loopers at the end: a TC Electronic Ditto and a Boss RC-3. The Ditto I use at home when just playing around, and the RC-3 I use live as a sampler, for comic relief haha.

I’ve seen Tani bring this amazing Orange TH30 Head with a 4x12 cab. What amps do you use at home and live?

Tani: It’s actually a 4x10 cab and I love how it looks like a 4x12. I only started using 10”s last December 2017. I find that the 10” speakers have more detail compared to a 12” so that’s what I’ve been using recently.

I still use my TH30 head and 4x10 cab at home as well as an Orange CR120 head, Orange Dual Terror and an Orange 2x12 open back cabinet. My tube driven Orange heads are setup to have more head room. I placed a 12AT7 tube in the first gain stage rather than a 12AX7 to give the amps a bit more breathing room. All the Orange gear I have sound great both on stage and at low volumes. Tough as nails too.

Bren: I currently have an Ibanez TSA15H paired with a Miles 1x12 Cabinet with Eminence Red White and Blues and an Orange Tiny Terror with an Orange 1x12 Cabinet. I primarily use the Oranges, and mix it up with an Orange Micro Terror as a back-up when I'm feeling lazy. I also have an old Kustom 2x12 Cabinet but it is too bulky to bring to shows.

What are you listening to right now?

Tani: A new record by a band called Fiddlehead released last week called “Springtime and Blind” featuring members of Have Heart and Basement. Scott Sellers of Rufio also put out something new called “The Judge”.

Bren: I've been listening to The Wonder Years’ new album since it came out. Then on rotation I have Daniel Caesar, Citizen, Basement, Modern Baseball, Code Orange and Knuckle Puck when driving. Also Hop Along's new album is good too. I also discovered this new band yesterday called Any Name's Okay, they're good haha. Yeah so far they're who I listen to on a daily basis nowadays.

What advice can you give to your fellow guitar players and musicians who want to play like you do?

Bren: My advice for other players and myself is stop comparing your playing to other people. It'll help you find your own "voice", but it'll help you relax as well as a person and as a musician. Just relax and be comfortable in your own skin... or fingers haha. Learn from those you watch and who's around you, don't compete because it really isn't a competition haha.

Tani: Never skimp out on tuners. Get a high quality pedal tuner because the cheaper ones just don’t react as fast. The more time you tune on stage, the less time you have to play so make sure to get one that tracks well. I’ve had a good experience with the Snark Tuner pedal. I think that’s the cheapest tuner pedal that can track almost as well as a Pitchblack.

Avoid displaying guitars in your room. Keep them in a case when not being used. Always check everything in your gear if it works before the show. Bring a back-up of a back-up because you never know if something will go wrong. Study your gear well to a point that you know if it’s making noise, you can instantly pinpoint the problem. Buy a can of contact cleaner. If it’s making noise, it’s most likely dirty. A quick spray of contact cleaner will usually do the trick.

Practicing regularly with the band is important but it’s also important to practice how to setup and tear down your rig the fastest way possible. I absolutely hate it when bands take so long to setup and tear down.

If you’re going to try and play like someone, don’t just pick one and try to keep an open mind so that you can find your own style in playing.

Most importantly, have fun. If you’re in a band that writes original songs, don’t focus on profit or even if people will like it. Write songs that YOU will like.

#neverdie #music #opm #band #tani cariño #bren pasamba

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coutelier · 4 years ago

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Another excerpt, a bit longer than the last couple I posted. According to Scrivener exactly 3000 words, which pleases me (although proofreading and editing may uncover some missing words etc - whatever - I’ll just take some away some place because I’m keeping that number).

Summer had ended. Now the skies were gray, the leaves brown, and from here on the days would only grow shorter and darker still. Kaya had ignored Sergeant Daramy’s warning, taking Greenback out to a clearing in the woods. She wasn’t one hundred per cent sure what instinct had brought her back; maybe she just wanted to return to the last place she remembered being happy - the site of her last great adventure. The clearing looked a different now - smaller - and the last time she’d been here there had been stars above. All of her life was here in the car, so after some rummaging she had a screen on her lap with an old hard drive hanging from it’s side.

“You’re looking at the past,” a girl inside the computer said. Jennifer, her voice made a little tinny by the machine’s speaker, but Kaya could her as clear as if she were in the car next to her. This would have been over ten years ago, when twilight still lasted forever. They’d ridden out here on their bicycles to find a fairy circle, then clasped hands and swung each other around until falling from exhaustion to look up at the twinkles in the sky.

Kaya’s younger self also lay on her back, leg kicking to a beat only she ever heard, face scrunched as she responded, “huh?” Her hair had been brown back then.

“The stars,” pretty blonde Jennifer answered, one arm already reaching for them. “They’re so far away that the light from them takes years to reach us, so what we see now is really how they were a long time ago. We wouldn’t even know the Sun had exploded for eight minutes.”

Little Kaya bolted upright, gasping, “the Sun has exploded?!”

Jenn seemed to catch some of the panic, flustered and confused as she too gasped, “What? No! I don’t think so. At least not for a very long time, probably.”

“I don’t get it,” little Kaya relaxed again. “Why are you so weird?”

“It’s not weird,” huffed Jennifer, “it’s science.”

“It’s freaky. Remember you made Cass cry because you said her cat was a zombie?”

“I said there was a fifty-fifty chance it was alive or dead,” Jenn sighed, “I just wanted her to let the poor thing out of the box. It was just a thing I read.”

“Didn’t you also read we’d see fairies out here?”

As the twilight dream came to an end, both girls had been disappointed. Jennifer’s book, ‘The Hidden People’, had indeed promised that being in the circle at twilight would allow them to glimpse the fae realm. Alas, the only lights they saw were the stars above and traffic lights from Irongate in the valley below.

“I guess not everything in books is true,” Jennifer conceded. “That’s why we have to test them. Maybe the camera saw something?”

Big red Kaya watching the scene on her laptop hadn’t yet seen anything unusual, cracking open a beer as the girls on screen lay in the circle a while longer. “We’re not little kids anymore,” her younger self said. “Maybe we should think about doing things a little more, you know, normal.”

Jennifer’s nose wrinkled, “that doesn’t sound like fun.”

“It could be; music, parties, games.”

“We do those things anyway.”

“But I mean with other people. It’s,” young Kaya chewed as she searched for the right word, “it’s networking.”

“Networking?”

“Uh-huh.”

“I don’t get it.” Of course Jennifer would only understand that word in the context of machines and computers. Big Kaya chided her younger self for being a dumbass - she was never going to have it better than she had then - and waited for Jennifer to finally stand as the last of the Sun’s rays vanished. “We should get back,” she said, “dad’s probably looking for us.”

Little Kaya groaned having just gotten comfortable, “Do we have to?” She was never in a hurry to get home. Still wasn’t.

“We should have been back hours ago,” Jenn explained, holding out a hand to help Kaya up, “I’m probably going to be grounded again.” Unlike with other fathers, Jennifer never had cause to be fearful of her dad’s threats.

Young Kaya took the hand, but waited a moment to gaze up at Jenn with her fair skin and hair, almost silver-white now in the moonlight. “You look like a fairy,” she said. Jennifer obviously didn’t know how to respond to that, blushing nervously until Kaya was up and she went to pack away her book and other things.

This was the part big Kaya had been waiting for. As Jennifer picked up her backpack there was faint noise that reminded Kaya of hearing a tap left running in the bathroom at night. Then a gust of wind forced Jennifer’s dress to wrap tightly around her body pulling her backwards a few steps. Only there was no wind - Kaya rewound and played the video again to be sure, and indeed the trees and bushes behind Jennifer hadn’t moved. It was more like something had run past her very fast. Something that neither they or the camera could see. Jennifer at the time knew something was off as well, her blue eyes fixing on the shrubs and undergrowth. In particular there was a gap where branches touched to create a door, a portal to an inky black realm beyond. Before young Kaya registered what was happening, Jenn had already gotten her flashlight and was sticking her head in.

“What are you doing?” Little Kaya ran to her friend and the thorny arch, but Jenn was already through and searching the undergrowth.

“There’s something here,” she explained.

“What thing?”

“I don’t know, but it whispered to me. It said my name…”

“Okay, whatever it is it sounds creepy. Get back here!”

Unable to see anything, it seemed Jenn was going to comply. Then the ground beneath her shook. Jenn struggled to keep her footing, but then she was standing over nothing and being swallowed by the Earth, Kaya lunging to catch her but just too late. Young Kaya was then on her knees staring into a gaping hole, crying desperately, “Jenn! Jenn Air! Are you okay?!”

It was a minute before a faint plaintiff echo replied, “I’m okay! I think I’m in a cave.”

Irongate had started it’s life as a mining town, with shafts and tunnels as well as natural caves scattered all over the surrounding hills and valleys. Most were abandoned now as the town’s economy changed to technology and a university, leaving behind just a few remnants of its past, like the few elderly folks that still recalled the ‘good old days’ when most of their friends were crushed or choked by natural gas - while bemoaning the youth for not wanting to literally put their lives on the line everyday to help a billionaire fill his liqueur cabinet.

But big Kaya was digressing. Her younger self out of concern for her friend decided - without much thought - that she couldn’t leave Jenn alone and jumped into the hole after her. The camera however had been left in the clearing, so to confirm if what she’d seen down there was real she was going to have to leave the car and find another way into the cave - she was too big now to fit down the slide.

She remembered back then that, after bouncing down the tunnel with flecks of dirt tumbling all about her, Jennifer had jumped out the way just in time to avoid getting kicked in the face. Kaya had landed triumphantly on her feet, but Jenn seemed less than impressed.

“What are you doing?” She’d asked.

“What do you mean?” Little Kaya was genuinely surprised by her reaction. “I’m helping you get out of here.”

Luckily Jenn still had her flashlight or they wouldn’t have been able to see a thing. She illuminated the hole they’d fallen through, nearly a foot above their heads, asking, “suppose that’s the only way out?” Sure enough, even if they could have gotten up there the slide was too steep and the sides too loose to climb all the way back to the surface. It was a rare occasion when Jenn lost her temper but she did then, repeatedly slapping Kaya’s arm, hissing “idiot!”

But Kaya had always been the stronger of the two, easily shoving Jenn to the ground. “Relax,” she’d urged her friend, “there are loads of tunnels around here. Bound to be another way out.”

“Really?”

“Uh-huh. Gangs use them to hide all their stuff from police.”

Jennifer had eyed her a little suspiciously, “how do you know that?”

“Networking,” young Kaya exclaimed with her finger pointing up. “You can learn a lot from people you know. Not everything is in books.”

Although reluctant to put her trust in the sayings of ‘people’ Jennifer had seen they had no choice regardless, so that night they set about exploring the caves for an exit. What they found was another world. As they’d ventured forth, it soon became apparent that there was no need for Jenn’s flashlight as ahead of them the tunnel lit up. Thinking they’d found the way out they ran, and when they burst out the tunnel’s mouth they were in a forest. But not like the forest they’d started in - this was a forest made of luminescent mushrooms of all sizes, all glowing in various hues of pink and blue, all nestled in a cavern the size of a village.

The girls joined hands, dumbstruck until Kaya exhaled, “was this in the book?”

Jenn shook her head. “I think we have to go through it,” she’d said.

There had been a steep slope between them and the strange effervescent forest floor which they tackled the same way they’d tackled stairs when they were even younger - bouncing down it on their butts. It was then that Kaya cut her hand on a sharp, triangular piece of stone, spitting and swearing as the burning sensation spread across her palm. Fortunately, Jennifer had been prepared, coming to her with plasters from her backpack.

“A fairy arrow,” Jenn had said upon inspecting the stone. “Good find. It’s supposed to protect the holder from evil magics - here,” she offered it to Kaya who, after all, had found it and was still trying to shake out the pain.

Little Kaya pocketed it in her jeans. “You really think there might be fairies here?”

“I don’t know,” Jennifer admitted, “but, we’ll find out together.”

The mushrooms had been all sizes, some tiny ones forming a thick carpet across the cavern floor that squelched beneath their feet, while others grew to the size of a tree. Some were thin and tall, others wide enough to lie on. Jennifer fished her book out of her backpack to compare, but none of the illustrations in there were as bright and vivid as this. Young Kaya began thinking of her stomach and eyeing the bio-luminescent fungi like candy. “Think we could eat these things?” She asked. “They could be, like, magic or something.”

“Best not,” Jennifer answered. The fungi covered the walls and ceiling too, creating the illusion of another starry canvas. Awed Jennifer was taking it all in, not seeing the thing creeping behind her. Kaya did, Jenn gasping as she was yanked by the arm away from a sofa sized mushroom, dropping her book. Over the fungal seat the thing came crawling - a translucent glass spider as big as their heads. It reared back, pedipalps reaching out as if sensing the girls, as Jenn peered and squinted with Kaya making sure she kept a safe distance.

“It might have poison,” young Kaya whispered, “come on - let’s go.”

There were a few other tunnels around that might possibly have led to the surface. As Jenn was being led away she remembered her book, breaking free to run back, only to find herself looking at an empty floor. “It’s gone,” she said, perplexed. A search was off the table however, as then the cavern filled with a puffing sound like that of a hot-air balloon, then a jet of orange flame erupting from the mouth of one of the tunnels, instantly melting all the mushrooms it touched. Running was in order.

And so they did, sprinting from the gushing flames until they came to a wall, which they followed hoping for an exit. They did find another tunnel, but as they rounded the corner the girls screamed and immediately fell back, holding onto each other. Before them was a human figure covered in a silver space suit, a small blue flame in front of the nozzle he was brandishing. He looked down, the clutching girls reflected in his helmet then raised a hand as a voice crackled from inside, “Hold! There are kids here!”

A decade later, big Kaya entered the cavern the same way the spaceman had, carrying only a beer can and a lamp. The mushrooms, forest, glass spiders - all gone. All that was here now were cold stone walls and darkness. Kaya had convinced herself that her imagination had exaggerated the things she saw, but there had obviously been a clean-up operation going on here that night. After the girls were found, they’d been led outside where more people in space-suits and doctors bustled around vans that bore the logo of Stag Corp. Jennifer fell quiet in the face of so much activity and noise, holding onto Kaya’s arm more tightly - she should have chosen her confidante more wisely. She relaxed when they were taken into a tent with just one of the doctor’s examining them. They paid particular attention to Kaya’s cut, took a blood sample from each of them, then they were left alone until Jenn’s father came to collect them.

Jonathan Airhart had been what you’d expect a scientist to look like; glasses, tweed, minimal amount of hair maintenance. On that night he’d looked sweaty and exhausted, Kaya assumed out of worry for his daughter. She recalled yet another awkward moment when Jenn ran to hug him while Kaya was left sitting on a fold out table alone, kicking her feet and just staring absently at the corners of the tent. Of course he started to tell her off for disobeying, Jennifer performing a little furtive dance as she apologized and his stern demeanor quickly subsided. The only strange thing about him that night, Kaya recalled, was that he’d swiped the blood samples from the little machine the doctor had placed them in.

“Neither of you has any infection,” he’d said, “we should all just be grateful for that, I suppose.”

Then Jennifer asked, “what’s going on?”

“Nothing,” he assured her. Then he took something out of his pocket - a small wood carving of an owl. “I got you a present.” With that, Jennifer seemed to forget about all the strange things they’d seen as she was hypnotized by the image of the silent bird of prey in flight. “Long ago,” her father told, “humans could only dream of what it would be like to fly high above the Earth. They couldn’t just grow wings of their own, but in time would learn to make balloons and planes and rocket ships flying higher than a bird ever could. That’s the power of the human mind - we can turn dreams into reality. Although, it doesn’t always turn out how we imagined.”

Jennifer sagely noted, “some dreams are scary.”

“I know,” Jonathan patted her softly on the head, “but we’re all fine now. Let’s get home.”

In the empty cavern in the present, big Kaya watched all this play out through the projector of her mind, but it seemed there really was no other trace here of anything that had happened back then. She couldn’t even ask Jennifer about it - they hadn’t really spoken since shortly after this and Kaya had no idea where she was now. But Jenn was smart - Kaya had no doubt she would have done well, despite her. Or in spite of her. In any case, when the phone rang it was Kaya’s mom.

Kaya put down the lamp, taking a moment to be mildly impressed that she got a signal down here - but then it wasn’t really that deep and it seemed another hole had opened in the ceiling since she was here last. “Hi mom,” she answered, sipping from her can whenever she had to wait for a response. “No, I’m fine… really… uh-huh… yes I’m brushing my teeth. You know I’m twenty-one now, right?” It seemed all she wanted was to check-up on Kaya, then shame her by telling her what all her friends from church and their kids had accomplished. Kaya knew that if she asked, her mother would help her find a place to live, a job, getting all her life in order. Or would try to. Unfortunately, it would mean having to deal with that other asshole she used to live with. “Is that dad?” Her face soured the moment she heard his voice in the background and she began to twist and dig her toe into the ground. “Yeah? Well you tell that bloated, decrepit, piece of human garbage, that I’ll-” Kaya bit her lip, realizing she was only going to create problems for her mom. “Look, I’ll see you soon, okay? Goodbye… love you.”

Kaya placed the phone back in her denim jacket as she began to pace like she could just walk off all the venom she had built up for that man. She couldn’t, so she crushed her beer can and with a snarl threw it across the cavern, gasping in shock and horror as it flew through Jennifer. Of course, she wasn’t really there - it was just a memory.

Coming here had been dumb. There was nothing to see. No revelation, no reconciliation - nothing. She was stupid, and was just going to have to live with that.

#writeblr #writers on tumblr #am writing #i am writing #wip #my wip #science fiction #Irongate

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artificialqueens · 7 years ago

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64.2008° N, 149.4937° W (Katlaska) - matryoshka

A/N: This fic is pretty vague and confusing. But i’m leaving it up to you and your interpretation and explanation on the events here.

I know this is not yet the Christmas fic, but it was something that went to my head, and I’ve written in my phone.

Again, it’s all over the place because it’s by me. It is a bit Katya-centric, and she is trans here, the story kind of revolves around baby Brian figuring it out, and throw in some Alaska, so it’s Katlaska.

The title of the fic is actually just the GPS coordinates of Alaska (accdg to google at least, im not a geographer,) and it will make sense once you’ve read it. So, hope you enjoy!

She doesn’t know when it all started and when it all stopped, but she’s back. Katya’s back and she doesn’t know why, where. All that she was able to recall was that when she was still a tiny little boy, she had this place. She would always want to be tucked early because she had this place, where little boy Brian turns into this princess Katya, and she had Alaska, and everything feels right.

The first time she’s been in the place there were snowy mountains enclosing a giant field of grass, and there was a lake. She thought that she’s seen this pace before. It was Alaska in photographs from her geography class. But she knew this wasn’t Alaska because it feels too personal, that place was all hers, until someone pulled at the hem of her sleeve.

“My name’s Alaska, what’s yours?” “…Alaska,” she remembers the first time she saw her. She hasn’t seen this Alaska in photograph before. She was actually convinced she ascended to heaven and saw an angel. Alaska was this tiny little blonde girl, with fair porcelain skin so unlike Brian’s bruised ones from playing outside, big doe eyes compared to Brian’s deep dead blues, rose pink lips, wearing all white and smaller than her, and somehow she thought that the name Alaska doesn’t sound fitting for her. She was so awestricken that all she could do was repeat her name. Alaska was the prettiest girl she ever saw, still is, and at that time, little Brian wanted to marry her and also wanted to be her. “Silly, you’re not Alaska, I’m Alaska!” that was the first time she saw her laugh and smile, and her eyes and nose crinkle when she does that, and it’s the best sight and the best sound ever. Since then, she made it so that Alaska always smiles. “I don’t know what my name is, I don’t want to be called Brian here.” “Brian? Why don’t you want to be called Brian?” “Because that’s my boy name, and I don’t want that,”

“why do you have a boy name?”

“because I’m a boy?” “But, are you a boy?” Alaska had asked that question with pure curiosity, looking up at her, and it struck baby Brian that no, she wasn’t a boy. It explains baby Brian’s love for pink, envy for his sister’s dolls and ribbons and shoes, why he wants to grow long hair, and that it was alright, Alaska is fine with her being a girl, then it should be fine, right? “Hmm, never mind. I’ll call you Katya. Because see,” Alaska grew impatient at her silence, and grabs her wrist and grins, pulling up the wrist she’s grabbing to show Katya, “caught ya,” and this place was suddenly her favorite place, containing her favorite person, so she breaks into laughter, feeling genuinely happy. She can be Katya.

When she returned that first time, she remembers being the little Brian who had excitedly told his parents that he’s not a boy only to be slapped by his father. She didn’t understood then why she was slapped, how come back there things were so easy, dresses, dolls, dandelions, daisies, but in here, it was as if dresses, dolls, dandelions, daisies, and she were wrong wrong. Father had hit him, and mother told her to stop talking about it. She obeyed. Pretty soon she got addicted of sleeping because sleeping would mean being there, being herself, being with Alaska. She slept and slept and wished she would not wake up to leave. Wake up in the body of Brian, in the clothes of this boy, go to school, listen to his parents, interact with people, but not Alaska.

“What do you do when I’m not here,” “Nothing, It gets really lonely without you here, so I just lie down and sleep, I guess. The grass is really soft here, and the weather is always nice and perfect.” “You mean, you just lie down here? Don’t you go home or something?” “What do you mean, this is home. Silly Katya,” and there she believes that she is actually just silly Katya, not a trace of the poor boy, Brian. Don’t get her wrong, she loves Brian, but Brian just feels wrong, like a curse, a cage, and she knows she’s not him, but Brian also needs help. By being the cage, the poor boy is also caged, trapped. She feels like Brian was his own mistake, and she doesn’t want him to feel that anymore. And to do that, she needs Brian gone, they both need him gone, at rest. When she’s awake, she feels dead, and when she sleeps, she feels alive and truly herself. She started skipping classes, sleeping, skipping meals, just sleeping. The school warned her of expulsion, she became very skinny, and that was okay, she gets to be at that place, as herself, with Alaska. Years have passed, and they basically grew up together now. But then her parents decided to intervene. That’s when they forced her into therapies, sessions, school, and the church. They made her drink pills and tablets. Until she just got sick of it. When she sleeps now, she doesn’t always see Alaska, which was weird. She suspected the pills being given to her were the reason. And she can’t take them anymore, so she throw them away, but her father saw it. “Son, we love you, and we worry about you. Please do this for us, but more so for yourself” She wants to laugh at that. It’s funny how they claim to love, care, and support her when they don’t recognize the first thing about her. She decided she’s been “I’m not your son, please. Dad, I’ve told you, I’m your daughter, Katya.” “Brian, we’ve been through this. Listen, son–” “Call me son one more time!”

Her father decided that that was enough. They forced her to forget about the conversation (if you would call slapping your child a conversation) they had when she was younger, took him shopping, strictly making sure she shops in the men’s section, introducing her to their neighbors, giving her strict monthly haircuts. It was suffocating, and she thought that she was doing them a favor by letting them do what they want because at least she still has that place and Alaska, but now, they’re taking her away too, and she can’t have that. Alaska is probably the only person keeping her sane, accepting her, and she can’t lose her. So she lost everything else, but her heart feels light, she feels free. She’s a she. She moved out. And got rid of all of Brian. At that moment, there was only Katya. But then she stopped seeing her, she stopped getting back to their place. She thought she’ll wait for the pills to stop working, then she’ll be able to be with Alaska every time she sleeps. But she felt like life just fucked her over, when it’s already been a month, and she was never able to return. That’s why she started doing drugs. She never understood how she got there, maybe she was just crazy, ill, she doesn’t know, but she thought that it was a magic of her brain, so why not help my brain remember, get there. She did all the jobs she could get, prostitution, stole from the shop she worked at, became an entertainer, well, the funniest jokes usually had the darkest foundations, she got high and very high each day. She was just so desperate to be back. She promised Alaska, she’ll see her tomorrow.

“Hey, Katya, mawma, let me hook you up with this,” a friend from one of a club that she works in approached her one day. “What’s that?” “Oh, it’s strong, mama, okurrr, I heard you’ve been looking for real strong ones, so” “oh, sure, give me, what’s it called,” “Alaskan Thunderfuck”

Katya thinks this is it. Her key to getting back to her. She could finally be pulled out of this chaos, this storm, and be with her. In her calm, warm presence. She probably took too much of it, but fuck it. If death’s the only way back to Alaska, so be it. She’s coming home. She imagines Alaska lying down, for years and years, waiting for her. Alaska’s lonely. Alaska. She thinks of her as she sees how near she is from finishing the pack. Alaska. Where does she live, how did she get there. Did Katya just created her, designed her in her brain, was she just crazy? Were everyone else right? Fuck that, the question Katya wants answered most know is would she still be there, lying down, waiting for her? Katya realizes that the person she’s been obsessed for in so long was a total stranger to her. But at the same time she’s not. Katya knows Alaska’s favorite time, her greatest fears, she knows how she whines when she loses, and so Katya lets her win, most of the time. The other times, she’d just love to tease her. Katya also knows, for a fact that Alaska is the most beautiful being she would ever lay eyes upon. She remembers almost crying at how much she misses Alaska so bad, it’s like losing her own person; Alaska’s actually been a huge part of Katya, just Katya, never Brian, and she needs that. She remembers plunging into her sofa and watching her ceiling melt into goopy colors before she is being pulled into a very nostalgic sensation, and then she’s back. She forgot how long it has been. The place is still the same field of dandelions, the pleasantly warm sun, the single tree, and beneath it, within its shade was Alaska. It was her. Her heart sinks at the thought of Alaska staying there, thinking she’ll never be back, and shit, she missed Alaska. Katya thinks she’s probably been away for a very very long time because gone was the naive little girl, gone was the pretty blonde, this Alaska is gorgeous, probably already taller than Katya, and she looks so peaceful. Katya just stood there watching her until she stirs and opens her eyes. Katya could feel every emotion coming back to her all at once, she felt her knees weaken and buckle, and she’s kneeling now. “Hey, I’m back,” Alaska just watches her as she sits up. Not sure what to do when the person she’d been expecting the most and also the person she’d been expecting least shows up in front of her. There’s so many emotions welling up inside of her right now, emotions she’d tried to calm and diminish, but proved to be stubborn, just like the woman, in front of her. Katya had changed a lot, but she still owns that perfect smile that Alaska loved so much, and the smile that she’s searched for and missed the most. “Are you… just a figment of my imagination, like if I close my eyes, do you disappear, am I the only one who can see you, do you–” Katya grabs her hand and Alaska immediately has her eyes open, not sure when she had it closed because she was overwhelmed. Alaska focused on the girl touching her hand, Katya’s blues, and she was not surprised that it still has that calming effect on her. But she’s not calm. She’s way far from calm. The love of her life has returned after so long. Alaska felt like she’s been saved once again. Thoughts of spending all her time alone as a kid, popped up until Katya had saved her by taking her into adventures, swimming in the lake, treasure hunting, and believing that she exists before, and she is saving her from that same loneliness again. She was real enough for Katya, and that is the only validation that she wants, and all that she needs.

“I’m here, Alaska” Katya says as Alaska looks at their joined hands. Warm, Alaska closes her eyes and Katya squeezes her hand. “Alaska, pl–” ‎ “You’re real, Katya,” Alaska says as she opens her eyes, pure wonder and joy in them and Katya is overwhelmed at how beautiful her name sounds in Alaska’s lips. “You’re actually here, it took you long enough, I–” Katya did what she’s been wanting to do for a long time now. She’s crying now, she thought she’d never be able to taste her lips, hold her. Sure, Alaska’s taller than her now, which was not how she imagined it to be, but she’s reciprocating with as much passion, and it finally sinks in. Katya has Alaska back in her hands, and damn, it’s the sweetest feeling ever. Like all of her hardships and hard work and patience paid off. “Can I do that again?” Katya asks once they’ve break apart. “Depends on when you’ll be back.” “I don’t think I’m going anywhere else,” and as promised, Alaska kisses her then, and Katya feels like she’d finally completed Katya.

**A/N: So it’s kinda vague did Katya die, did Alaska really exist in the first place, was Alaska an imaginary friend of Katya, where did Alaska come from, is Alaska an actual alien, a ghost, was she stuck in the purgatory. See, i have all these questions too, and I didn’t want to establish anything so idk feel free to tell me what you think about it, i hope.

#matryoshka #katlaska #alaska thunderfuck #katya zamolodchikova #trans!katya #lesbian au #girls au #tw transphobia #tw drug addiction #tw slight hints of depression #rpdr fanfiction #submission

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maxfieldparrishes · 8 years ago

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present mirth

@deathberryprompts; prompt: please (mood music)

People-watching is a hobby of Rukia’s. Ichigo thinks it began as an observational learning tactic for her to better fit in among his classmates, but once they all got used to her he assumed it would stop.

It didn’t.

Every Friday evening she would sneak up to the rooftops of one of Karakura’s towering skyscrapers, or sit for hours on a park bench, eagerly watching strangers go by. It was always a toss-up where she’d be, but Ichigo tries not to be too aware of how good he’s gotten at guessing where she is. It doesn’t mean anything that he’s been 3 for 3 this month.

It totally doesn’t mean anything. Other than that he’s become way, way too used to her.

Today is a Friday. Last Friday was a Skyscraper Day, and the Friday before that was a Lake Day, which means that today is most likely a Park Day. He knows Rukia likes the benches across from the willow trees and the crossroads where the paths split, so that’s where he heads. She’s probably already there - the park is full of young couples and young families and the sunset is a red-blue-orange watercolor bleeding into the edges of the sky.

It’s a perfect night to “observe” some strangers.

Sure enough, she’s sitting on the damn bench, bubble tea in hand (tapioca bubbles and matcha with honey, he remembers), knees folded up under her. He might (teasingly) call her a creepy stalker for her weekly ritual, but he’ll be damned if she has fun without him. Some nights where he hasn’t gone along with her she returns full of stories, outlandish and crazy and more than a little bizarre, and she always laughs at him for pouting that he missed the entertainment.

Rukia sees him coming over, but doesn’t do or say anything except raise an eyebrow. Her attention is on a young woman whose nose is buried in a book. Ichigo sidles up to the bench and says, with all the delicacy he has in him, “Oi, move over.”

Rukia’s response to this is, naturally, to extend her legs completely.

She’s not even looking at him as she does it.

Fucking rude.

So he merely grabs her ankles and rotates her body to the side, ignoring her protests (which, come to think of it, aren’t as loud or violent as they could have been) and squirming.

She pushes herself upright and glares at him, but still doesn’t say anything. It’s not like her to be this quiet, preoccupied attention or not.

“Is everything all right?” he asks.

Rukia nods.

“You’re quiet tonight. I just wanted to make sure...”

She looks away, and that’s when he knows something is bothering her. This isn’t Rukia being annoyed or irritated. She’s clearly upset, and he wants to know why.

“What happened? Did someone bother you? Do I have to punch someone?” He’s shooting off at the mouth because it’s not like her to be sad and quiet. Sad and rambunctious, maybe, but definitely not sad and quiet.

“No, Ichigo. It’s fine. I’m fine. Really.”

He snorts. “Clearly.”

“Really. Just let it go.” She’s still staring at the still-reading girl.

“No. I want to help.”

Rukia exhales through her nose at that, then says, “Fine. Tell me a story.”

Ichigo is taken aback. A story? That’s out of left field, even for her.

“A story about what?” he asks.

“About her. About the reading girl. Tell me something about her. Anything. Come up with whatever you want. Please.”

... Alright? It’s a tall order, but not one he can’t fill. So he sits back, crosses his legs, and lets his mind wander as he watches the girl engrossed in her book.

“She’s 23. She’s just graduated from college in America because she’s reading in English. She has a cat named Jiro who’s old and cranky but she loves him even though he throws up on the rug a lot. She has two older sisters who went into different fields and are successful and her parents wanted her to do the same. She studied some liberal art and probably something like business, but her parents really wanted her to get married, because both her sisters found boyfriends at university. She likes sashimi and french fries. Sometimes she gives the fish to Jiro.”

He hazards a glance at Rukia. “Go on,” she says. “Don’t stop.”

“She spent a semester in Paris and went to the Musee d’Orsay at least once a week to sit by Monet’s paintings. What is she reading?” Ichigo leans forward and squints at the book in the dimming light. “Shakespeare? Good choice.”

“Which play?”

He squints again. “As You Like It. Not my favorite comedy, but pretty solid.”

“What’s it about?”

“A girl named Rosalind and her cousin Celia flee into the forest; there’s cross-dressing and political intrigue; they find love and hijinks ensue. That’s... about as much as I can remember. Has a lot of good quotes, though. ‘All the world’s a stage’ and such.”

Strangely enough, ‘all the world’s a stage’ is not the quote he’s thinking about. He’s glancing at Rukia’s hair in the lamplight and says, almost on autopilot, “We that are true lovers run into strange capers; but as all is mortal in nature, so is all nature in love mortal in folly.”

“What?”

Ichigo quickly shakes his head. “Nothing. Just another quote. From Touchstone, the jester.”

Rukia turns back to the girl, who is slipping a bookmark between the pages and patting the pockets of her messenger bag. “I wonder what it says about her, that she chose that play. I hope she likes to laugh.”

With that parting note, she hops off the bench and throws her empty cup into a nearby trashcan. Ichigo doesn’t miss a beat as he gets up and follows her.

The walk back to the clinic is a bit longer from the park than the school, but it’s a warm night and they have nowhere to be. He’s glad, actually, because it gives him more time to find out just what the hell is going on with Rukia.

He waits until about a quarter of the way there before he asks her, “Why did you ask me to tell you a story?”

Rukia counters him. “If I answer, can I ask you a question?”

“I guess that’s fair. Sure, why not.”

She’s silent for awhile. Then she answers him, and her words make it clear she has his heart in the palm of her hand. “When I first came here, it was... hard. Everything was loud. Everything was fast. There was too much, too quickly. I would watch them, seeing how they acted, how they lived. I don’t remember being... here. I don’t have a foothold. Nothing to ground me.”

He’s stunned.

“I would watch them, and I would make up stories. I would watch them, living their lives, wondering who they were, what they did, what they loved. I felt... connected to them. Their lives became my life. I gave them the lives I wanted. When I watch them and guess what they do, what foods they like, what music they listen to, I feel like I belong here. Like I have a place.”

He can’t process this. He’s totally not having heart palpitations because Rukia has just done the most un-Rukia-like thing she’s ever done over the course of their entire relationship and bared her soul to him. He cannot fuck this up.

But he still doesn’t know what to say? Well, he does know, he just probably shouldn’t?

Oh, what the hell. Ichigo just goes for it.

“You have a place. Your place is at the clinic, with us.”

“Is it?” Her voice is wistful. “I can’t stay forever.”

“Well... Dad will lose it if you go. I don’t think I could deal with him if you left. So don’t leave.”

Rukia chuckles. “I suppose I can’t deny that.”

They walk in silence for a few more beats before Ichigo starts murmuring again. “She walks in beauty, like the night of cloudless climbs and starry skies...”

“That’s not Shakespeare. Tennyson?” Her voice shakes him out of thoughts of purple sunsets, snow, stars, and lamplight.

“Byron.” He has “She Walks in Beauty” half-memorized.

“Oh.”

More silence. He feels he has to break it somehow. “Didn’t we say you could ask me a question?”

“Oh, right. I guess... why Shakespeare? Why all the poets and the poetry?”

“That’s two.” He’s grinning, but he’ll indulge her. “I like that Shakespeare... I like that Shakespeare was for the common man, but he also felt that just because you catered to a certain crowd didn’t mean you couldn’t be profound. That truth is truth and feeling is feeling no matter the audience. And as for the poets... I like the language. I want to understand the way they felt, why they felt that way. It’s my version of people-watching, I guess. Picking their lives apart through their poetry.”

Rukia still doesn’t say anything, but he can feel the air around her change. She’s smiling, and he’ll take it. It’s enough.

“My favorite Shakespeare comedy is Twelfth Night. My mother took me to Tokyo to see a production - I was really little, but it stuck. If there’s one on, I try to go see it.”

Ichigo feels like he has to keep talking. He feels like he has to keep being honest with her in return. It’s only fair.

Rukia glances up at him then, curiously, a searching expression on her face. Then her eyes go back to normal and the faint lines on her face go smooth, and her smile is so heartfelt yet resigned that he has to do something.

Apparently, “something” means that he opens his mouth and makes a fool of himself.

“O mistress mine, where are you roaming? O stay and hear, your true love’s coming, That can sing both high and low. Trip no further pretty sweeting. Journeys end in lovers meeting, Every wise man’s son doth know.”

Rukia is gobsmacked. Her jaw hangs open loosely and Ichigo knows, in that moment, that his humiliation (present and future) has been 100% worth it.

“What is love? ‘Tis not hereafter, Present mirth hath present laughter. What’s to come is still unsure. In delay there lies no plenty, Then come and kiss me, sweet and twenty. Youth’s a stuff will not endure.”

They’re still walking, and it’s never taken so long before. The clinic is in sight. Rukia is smiling nervously, eyes darting around like Chappy the Rabbit’s. She’s still not saying anything, and all things considered it’s probably for the best.

He didn’t mean to freak her out - he just wanted to make her laugh at his scratchy, untrained voice. Hell, he just wanted to make her laugh at him singing at all.

“Thanks.” He twists his head down to look at her while Rukia still gazes at the clinic’s sign in the lilting streetlights, her voice completely deadpan and measured as she gently insults him. “That must have been embarrassing for you.”

Ah, there she is.

She crosses the threshold ahead of him while he stops in the kitchen for a snack. When he comes up to his room, the curtains are drawn and the blinds are closed and his closet is open just a crack. He sticks an eye to the sliver and sees a head of dark hair.

“To sleep, perchance to dream,” Ichigo whispers, and turns out the light.

A few days later, they sit in the park. Rukia has gone back to her old acerbic self, and Ichigo has gone back to mountains and mountains of homework.

“Fucking hell,” he hisses. “Who cares about vectors?”

Rukia, lying on her stomach on a blanket, looks up from her book. “Vectors are important, Ichigo. For example, what if you need to calculate the size and direction of a Hollow...”

“All I need to know is where it is and where it’s going. I don’t need to do all this weird math shit to kill a Hollow.”

Rukia snorts at that. “Suit yourself. I’m going to get a snow cone.”

He watches her walk away, legs slender and colty in her yellow shorts (stop it, Ichigo) before he glances down the book left askew on the Chappy blanket, and he can’t help but smile at the cover.

Twelfth Night.

#ichiruki #deathberry #deathberryprompts #ichiruki fanfic #GUESS WHO DIDN'T WRITE ANGST #it is 100% canon that ichigo is a huge poetry-reciting shakespeare-loving nerd #and we all deserve Secret English Nerd Ichigo in our lives #bleach

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