#OBVIOUSLY EXCLUDING SERVICE ANIMALS!!!!

[high-in-the-tower]

My personal hot take is that those living in college dorms shouldn't have dogs actually

[angelofchaos001]

Wave to your local chaos idiot!

Hi, I'm Angel, artist, writer, and dumbass extraordinaire! I mainly stick to Fandoms for my works, since I'm not the best at coming up with strictly my own ideas (Ask some of my friends, I've been trying to make my own world not based in any fandom for two years now with almost no success). Just because I stick to Fandoms does not mean I don't enjoy seeing stuff outside of Fandoms, I love seeing fun ideas bloom into something the creator truly enjoys!

Like my profile says, here's some basic things about me! I go by She/Her, and I'm somewhere on the LGBTQ+ spectrum (Still questioning it, it's just not straight I know). I'm a minor, and a furry as well, but some other neat things to know that aren't on my profile include that I'm American (Send help this country is burning down), and neurodivergent (Anxiety is amazing).

Also, wave to your other local chaos idiot, @doodlebug091 (My beloved)

I'm on ArtFight!

Wanna try your hand at my shipping bingo card?

I migrated from Fandom to Tumblr, though you can still find me on the former as Angel Of Madness 001. I've even spotted a few people I know from Fandom on here!

When Can I Talk to You?

You can send in asks whenever they're open! Here's a list of some stuff I do commonly.

-AU/OC Ramblings (I'll talk about my things for hours if you let me)

-Roleplays (I'm bored usually)

-Legitimate questions (Of course, I don't bite!)

-Talking about my interests (Fuck yeah, I'd love it)

-Art requests or trades (Yep! I don't do art for money yet, mainly due to lack of a proper online money service such as Venmo or Paypal)

Don't feel like you have to stick to the list, either!

Here's some other questions to get to know me better!

What do you do on Tumblr?

I write fanfiction, make OC's, draw/write comics, and make AU's for various pieces of media I enjoy. I also love to find others who make similar content, especially AU's, since others' ideas can be so cool at times.

Tumblr happens to be my catch-all for sharing new ideas, making jokes, and meeting others who share my interests.

What do you enjoy outside of the internet?

When I'm not online, I like to keep a busy life still! Usually I'm drawing-traditionally or digitally-, reading, cooking, or thinking up new ideas for my art, AU's, or other projects! Sometimes, I hang out with my friends, though we mostly keep in contact through the internet.

Obviously, I also like to game. Excluding my video games, I play Magic: The Gathering and Dungeons & Dragons the most. Including them, however, I mostly play Rain World and Pokemon. The kinds of games I tend to like are ones with heavy lore, but from an actual gaming standpoint I tend to play 2D and 3D platformers, deckbuilders, and turn based RPG's.

What do you want to do in life?

My hope is to become an ecologist, since I've loved animals for my whole life and have been branching that out to loving anything nature related. Biology often finds a way to creep itself into my fictional works, and I tend to look at things through a very scientific eye.

Tell us some more hobbies!

Alright, okay. I love Dungeons and Dragons, even though I'm stuck as the forever DM. I sing, travel, play the violin, and love watching mildly educational YouTubers (Oversimplified and such). I'm also quite the animal lover, with two precious cats and five snakes!

What Fandoms are you part of?

Alright, here's the list, broken into sections! Note that these are just the media that I actively talk about/participate in chats about/make AU's or OC's with. I still watch, play, or read other things!

Shows/Movies

-Helluva Boss

-Hazbin Hotel

-Murder Drones

-The Amazing Digital Circus

Games

-Hollow Knight

-Rain World

-Slime Rancher

-Outer Wilds (I'm normal about this game)

-Pokemon

-A Hat in Time

-Inscyption

-Dicefolk

-Worldless (I'M NORMAL)

Books, Comics, and Other

-Bugtopia (gotta love the bugs)

-Wings of Fire

-Warriors (I do not mind spoilers for this one. I've read up to Midnight.)

Side Blogs

@monarchtonone (RW Iterator)

@nine-drops-of-iron (RW Iterator)

@ask-wings-of-rain (Ask, Chat, or RP with anyone from my Wings of Rain AU)

@the-rot-parasite (Ask, Chat, or RP with The Parasite)

@ask-the-splitmind-au (Ask, Chat, or RP with anyone from my Splitmind AU)

Unique Tags

#Wings of Rain (Wings of Rain content, WoF x RW AU)

#season of blood (Season of Blood content, Warriors AU of 'If Scourge Won')

#shared sparks (Shared Sparks content, a Firecracker fancomic)

#splitmind au / #rw splitmind au (The Splitmind AU for Rain World, where Iterators have shared bodies with the slugcats)

#fallen-angel-rambling (Vent posts; Very rare but do happen)

#art-of-chaos (Art by me!)

Links to all current comics (on Tumblr)

The Story of the Iterators

Within a local group of iterators, there are stories to tell and lives that unfold, hidden just beneath a layer of dust settled on old memories. Taking a glimpse into their lives, these purposed machines of flesh and iron to solve one goal, may reveal why they turned out the way they did.

Shared Sparks (A @firecracker-pup fancomic)

Blight was the lucky pup. The one who survived at the cost of her sister's life. Ever since, she tried to live up to what she thought her sister could have managed, but was stuck in her shadow. Timelines away, Firecracker had been left to the mercy of scavengers after stealing a pearl from them as a pup, only to end up adopted by them. A call inside of it, however, still wants to learn from slugcats the things it never got to.

When their paths cross, when timelines collide, both slugcats get a glimpse into a world they never knew existed, and find similarities buried in the vast differences of their lives.

Season of Blood

Scourge has won the Battle of Blood clan with the death of Firestar and all who oppose him. The Clans are united in the forest once more, but under the cruel rule of the small tom cat. He rules with an iron paw and has no sympathy for others. Every cat has been stripped of their warrior name and given a more fitting one, by Scourge's definition. Many have been killed for displeasing him, or for minor physical imperfections. Anyone with open ties to StarClan have also been killed.

Because of a Medicine's Cat's close ties to the spectral clan, only one remains. Racoon was only a Medicine Cat apprentice when Scourge took over, but now that she's grown, all duties of the job fall to her. Tending to a massive, bloodthirsty clan isn't a small task. It's demanding, exhausting, and the whole time, she has to hide every notion that StarClan still visits her in her dreams. A single meek kitten must find a way to grow up and face the challenges ahead, persist through times of hardship, and find it in herself to risk her life to save the forest-and all the cats in it.

Greenleaf is over. The Season of Blood has begun . . .

All Current AU's (On Tumblr)

Wings of Rain (Wings of Fire x Rain World crossover AU)

Splitmind AU (Rain World, Iterators live in the slugcats' heads as a last-ditch effort to ascend)

Season of Blood (Warrior Cats AU, 'What if Scourge won?')

Starless Nights (Worldless x WoF AU)

Link to fanfics (Yep. I'm on Ao3)

Stranded in the Rain (Outer Wilds and Rain World crossover)

Starless Nights (Worldless and Wings of Fire crossover)

[sunlightamed]

𓆩⟡𓆪 ━━━━━━ PROMPTS.

scrambling in here to send this now before i forget! sorry in advance for mistakes since i'm mobile-bound, living by a prayer, and packing for a trip, godbless.

mun notes.

with lantern rite finished and the related threads sitting in my almost full queue, i'm hoping to put klee and kaeya ( @ocelberich ) into more interactions. though primary focus will be on klee, as i am not quite confident in my kaeya voice yet to churn out as many threads. whether you'd like to grab them for a mission board prompt or a simple, general thread, give this post a like or comment OR simply knock me over the head in dms. preferably discord, since i do not check tumblr often.

for klee,

liyue commission. this will be treated as klee's second happenstance of foreign community service. the milleth has come to the agreement with the adventurer's guild that she must spend a few days helping clean the docks since there were many instances of klee setting off too many fireworks, creating her own firework formulas, and testing the compatibility between firework and jumpty dumpty. so! your muse has either been assigned as her guardian / community service partner or someone she's recruiting personally.

fontaine commission. if there's anyone willing to give the institute a messy handbook full of explosive ideas and formulas, it's klee! she's very excited to have the chance and will happily drag your muse around to be her inventor sidekick! she's open to sharing and listening to ideas, unless they're boring and exclude jumpty dumpty in any given way ( /j )

slumdog fishing cup. klee's been preparing for this moment her entire life. they said that any method of fishing works so OBVIOUSLY, she's allowed to manipulate her usual fish blasting habit into something tamer! is so excited for this that the poor girl keeps forgetting that the fish needs to be alive first before it can be deemed worth the point. whether you're a fellow competitor or a spectator floored by her performance, come watch her fish!

for kaeya,

mondstadt commission. as the cavalry captain, i'd like to format this in a manner of kaeya recruiting your muse to help, as he would be one of the first to know of the incident. likewise, his affinity for animals and talent for horse taming will come in hand! he's quite worried about the wellbeing of the horses, before and during the attempts at guiding them back, so i'd want to explore his tendencies of self-and-ally-sabotage in moments of stress. up to us how much danger the horses and us are in during the trip back to the stables!

boat savvy fill-ins. is adept at holding his breath and unsurprisingly very willing to help, especially since the trade between nations is very vital to the economy. not to mention that certain businesses in mondstadt thrive on overseas trade. honestly, i do not doubt that he would know a bit on the topic, but really, he's here to fill-in for the knights of favonius and jean, since she isn't here to assign a mondstadt representative to the task.

[androdragynous]

slightly strange question, feel free to ignore if it's too weird/makes you uncomfortable in any way.

hi i'm also a mobility aid user who loves character customization and also video game design. i kinda. collect? posts ppl make where they talk about how character customizations have excluded them or failed to account for the true range of human experience (ex, weight sliders that go from thin to not-quite-as-thin, lack of black hairstyles, lack of mobility aid options, no limb difference options, no hearing aids, etc). and i know that no character customizer could ever TRULY cover the entire range, but i also am fueled by spite and don't like assholes telling me what is and isn't possible.

so. with that as the background, i would genuinely love to know 1, what kind of mobility aid you use, 2, other grievances you have found with character customizers in the past, 3, other things you don't think are included often enough even if it's not something that applies to you/that you would ever use, and 4, anything else you don't see enough of in terms of video game accessibility

no pressure to respond, of course, and feel free to only respond to some of these (again, zero pressure at all!) but i love collecting data from ppl who don't see themselves in character customizers, and i love knowing what can be done to help 💖

I don't mind answering, at least the basics!

At the moment I have a cane and a rollator, though I'm hoping to get a wheelchair for prolonged outings; I mainly end up just using the cane when I go out for transport convenience, to the chagrin of future me

I don't think I have any unusual sentiments on character creators. I don't usually try to make myself or specific characters, so I'm usually just messing around with what I'm given rather than trying to replicate options that don't exist. Don't like that eye patches usually take up the single head accessory slot, even though you can stack them with other things in real life, including other eyewear.

The ones you mentioned are definitely ones missing a lot. I don't think I've ever seen a game that lets you have a service animal even purely cosmetically, like a seeing eye dog. Not a lot of options for facial asymmetry. I think it would be neat to be able to select the amount of facial expression your character does in games where that's shown, like Dragon Age or Fallout, or to be able to select sign language for your character rather than speaking.

Is "everything" a sufficient answer for missing accessibility? Honestly, there's not a lot that's in there to start with. Flash / strobe toggles, distortion filter toggles, particle effects toggles, UI and caption font + scaling options. Hmm. Button mapping obviously. Motion controls or one handed controls when possible. Sound cues for collisions with walls / objects, or sound cues to indicate you're on the right path to a destination or something important is nearby (Nirnroot, for all of the jokes about it, makes a good example). Color / contrast adjustments beyond just overall brightness scaling - being able to darken the backgrounds so objects and NPCs stand out more, for example. Spoken UI options. Sound effect + directional captions. Saving at any time and pausing at any time. Volume scales broken down into sections instead of just one master volume slider. Ui dark / light modes. Icon-heavy UI having text along with the symbols. Warnings for anything that might have to be toggled (like flashing) so it doesn't come as a surprise later. UI for accessibility settings being clear and accessible in itself - if I can't find the settings for limited vision because I have limited vision, it's not accessible.

That's all I can think of off the top of my head; hope it's useful to you!

[yellingart]

I've been seeing a lott of discourse recently around adopt your pet vs shop from responsable breeders and I won't rest my head until I give my two cents on it-

First, this obviously excludes people who need their animal for their job or in their life, in which said animal has to perform a set of very specific tasks (herding dogs, police dogs, service animals, etc). I'm only talking about pets.

I see a lot of people defending buying from reputable breeders as a better option to adoption because they don't want to put up with the unpredicted beheavour that might come with an adopted pet, or that they dont find in shelters the kind of animal that would suit their household and while I undersstand wanting to find an animal that suits your household these arguments irk me in a very specific way.

Like these people think of getting an animal as a right, as if they needed to get an animal to justify being picky. Sometimes its just aesthetics sometimes it's beheavours, I don't care, I think is about time people stop feeling entittled to have pets. Maybe if you cant find a good suit for your household in a shelter then you should also consider that it might not be the right time for you to have an animal.

And this goes for any situation, even people that defend "I'm alergic to dogs so I NEED a portuguese water dog because theyre hypoallergenic" I get that!!!! but as heartbreaking as it is you don't NEED it you WANT IT!!! there's a difference!! you'll be fine not owning a dog if you aren't in a situation to own a dog!!!!!! It gets to a point in which it is lowkey ridiculous the lenghts people will go to justify their selfish desire to own a certain kind of dog.

I won't go after anybody who decide to buy (from responsible breeders) if they so desire to do that, you do you, if you're ok with it then so be it but I think it is about time we start calling things for what they are, nobody needs a pet bad enough to justify not even wanting to give a chance to shelters first.

I can't bring myself to justify buying, even less buying without even giving a chance to shelters, however I understand this is my personal choice and as long as people is responsible I have nothing to saay about it. But I'd like more people to consider owning animals is NOT and will NEVER be something you need bad enough to justify being so nitpicky about their characteristics unless youre in a field of work that requires working animals or need a service animal with you for medical reasons.

So now that it is clear that it isnt a need,it is a want, a desire, I hope thats enough to make people understand that theres no excuse, no possible excuse, not the money, the time, the effort, the energy, nothing justifies doing less than everything you can to ensure youre obtaining that animal from the most ethical place possible. And that might not always be a shelter, because I am aware not every animal is "adoptable", theres a lot of animals, fish, reptiles, birds, that aren't adoptable but it still isnt an excuse to not do everything you can to ensure youre getting that animal from an ethical place. Because you'll be fine wothout it. You dont need to run. It isn't your "only option". Do your research. Check yourself. Consider option 2, 3, 4, 5. Nothing justifies cutting corners.

Hopefully this will make sense, idk!

Thats all I wanted to say really

[melishade]

🌻?

I'll talk about some of the other shows and movies that I like to watch and music I listen to.

I know I focus a lot on the Transformers fandom and Attack on Titan, but obviously they are not the only shows I watch.

Sometimes I'll watch mindless humor like American Dad, Family Guy, and Ridiculousness. Because when you're doing full time work and full time school, sometimes it's just better to turn your brain off after grueling hours of work.

Shows that I love to watch are Craig of the Creek, The Amazing World of Gumball, Bluey, Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, ROTTMNT, B99, Arcane, Lego Monkie Kid, ATLA. I'm certain that I'm missing some, but that's what's usually on my radar.

Movies I like: Snowpiercer, Everything, Everywhere, All At Once, Black Panther 1 and 2, Coraline, The Woman King, Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse, that Santa Claus movie where Santa just beats the shit out of everyone, Jordan Peele Movies like Us and Nope.

I've also watched a lot of anime in my years since 2009. Sonic X was how I got into it and the list just kept growing. I watched and read every anime/manga I could get my hands on. I don't do it at the same frequency that I do now, and as you get older, you realize how problematic anime is Lol. So, I've watched Sonic X, Dragon Ball Z and Hellsing Ultimate (Both original and abridged: Go TeamFourStar), Xenoglossa, High School of the Dead (Too much fan service but interesting take on the zombie genre), Death Note, Cowboy Bebop, +Anima (I did some drawings for that when I was on Deviantart and I still have them), Something about a Dark Angel that steals a bunch of art work, Tokyo Mew Mew (with some toxic ass love interests), There was a manga about a train, Aventura (Never continued, disappointed), Spy X Family, Clock Striker, Full Metal Alchemist (Kind of. Never watched it in full but I've come across the major plot points), Naruto (simply because my cousins were into it. The Kayuga plot line was bullshit), started Bleach (Never really got past the Aizen reveal), A lot of knock out mecha anime shows ironically excluding Guren Lagan, My Hero Academia I only keep track of because I like the Todoroki family drama, Future Diary (Toxic as hell), Akame ga Kill (Kind of like Attack on Titan: everyone is a red shirt), Maid-Dragon Kobayashi (used to like it, looking back hate the wizard kid and the dragon and whatever the fuck is going on with the red hair dragon and the big tits), King of Thorn, the Pokemon Movies only, and I'm blanking on the rest since a lot of them were obscure manga I found at my local library. I'm surprised I remembered this much.

Games I play: Pokemon Go and Sky Children of the Light (If you want to play with me, PM me.

Music I listen to: Imagine Dragons, Les Friction, Hadestown, Cody Fry, Tobe Nwigwe, Soundtrack Music like Samuel Kim (ADHD brain. It scratches an itch), AJR, the rest is kind of obscure. It might be an album of collaborating artist for a movie, like the Lion King: the Gift or the Arcane Album.

Shows I don't like/won't watch: Reality TV like the Bachelor, cheesy long-winded high school romance dramas that clear do the whole back stabbing/will they won't they. My sister watched it a lot and I always hated how it dragged on. Degrassi was way too much. One Piece is too long. I'll sometimes check in the fandom to see what's going on. Last time I check, Amalee was the Uta chick. Game of Thrones. Not a fan of the back stabbing and *nc*st. The Walking Dead seems like a show that just dragged on for too long.

I am certain I'm blanking on some shit right now but that's all I have to say.

[ailingwriter]

Help Desk

Wrote this on stream and was pretty proud of it, so here you go.

Prompt (Via the Armsmaster Random Excuse Generator): I'm a victim of crime. I'm here to complain that my sister has been asked on a date by a member of the League of Door to Door Salesmen.

Some days, I wondered why I ever thought working for the GPO was a good idea. More than likely, it was because I had powers and, well, obviously someone who has powers should join up with the heroes if they have any shred of decency. As those old ads said, it was the only decent thing to do.

Even if your power is being able to change the color of objects with a touch.

Yeah, as you can imagine, I wasn’t exactly much of a combatant. Or a support unit. Really, in practice, I was just some underpaid desk jockey.

And if the field workers thought that excluded me from experiencing the weirdest the city had to offer they were damn wrong.

It was about 3:20PM, on a Sunday. To the field-working heroes, Sunday tended to be less stressful than most days. There weren’t as many newly established villains on Sunday, and a few of the regulars weren’t as active. Probably because they weren’t so damn stressed from their day job. You wouldn’t believe how many folks decide to become villains because they’re pushed too far at work.

So yeah, not as much insanity for the field workers. For me, though? It was the opposite. Sunday afternoon seemed to bring in everyone who had some minor complaint that they deemed worthy enough to be sent to the superheroes to deal with. And to be fair, sometimes it was valid. Money going missing from the till and also the wallet of every worker at the fast food stop? That wasn’t something the heroes would notice, but it’s still probably the work of a Powered. Seeing ghosts in town wasn’t always caused by something supernatural, but when it was, the sooner it was rooted out the better.

Here’s the thing though. Those times when the problem is a valid concern? They happen all days of the week. Sure, it’s a bit more frequent on Sunday, but that’s to be expected, some people don’t realize that their problem could be serious enough to warrant immediate attention.

The problem is that the flipside is also true. There are some people who just don’t understand that their problem is just too mundane for the heroes to be bothered with. Honest to god, I had someone barge in insisting that a hero come and help them because their house was too messy. Twice. With different people.

And it always seemed to happen on the weekends. When they had enough energy to bitch to someone they believed was obligated to help them with every single inconvenience they were suffering.

I waved off a woman whose dog had gone missing after telling her I’d forward the issue to Fauna. (I would have to do that eventually, too, since Fauna was one of the few heroes who worked on street level, and the Houndmaster had broken out of containment recently. Goddamn animal villains.) I tapped the mic. “Next.”

A young woman walked forward. She had brown hair, and an all-too-perfect face, the kind that scream that they used makeup and claimed it was all natural. Heck, I could see spots on their face where their skin was a slightly different color, way too sudden a change for it to be a natural skin condition or something. It always bugged me how nobody seemed to notice those discrepancies.

“I’m here to report a crime,” the woman said. Her voice was forceful, not in the way that suggests experience, but rather in a way that suggests stubbornness.

I nodded dutifully, putting on my customer service smile. “Alright then, can you describe what happened to you?”

“Not to me,” the woman replied. “To my sister.”

“Okay, what happened then?”

“Yesterday, my sister was asked on a date I was watching from the second story window, and I recognized the uniform the person was wearing.”

I nodded. This might actually be serious, though I wasn’t so sure. Most henchmen weren’t actually all that bad, and the few that would do something untoward to this woman’s sister wouldn’t do it in full uniform. That kind of thing tends to reflect badly on their boss.

Except for Cupid’s crew. Honestly, fuck Cupid.

“So then,” I said moving my mouse to the “Cupid’s done it a-fricking-gain” button, “Can you tell me who that uniform belonged to?”

“The League of Door-to-Door Salesmen.”

My mind screeched to a halt. “Come again?”

“The woman who asked my sister out was wearing the—”

“No, I heard you there.” I could feel a headache starting to come on. “But… why exactly is this a problem?”

“What do you mean, why is this a problem?” The woman huffed. “Isn’t this your job? Dealing with villainous organizations intruding on normal people’s lives?”

I rubbed my forehead. There were so many things wrong with that statement. “Look, miss…”

“Karin Larisse.”

Of course her name was Karin. “Mrs. Larisse, the League of Door-to-Door Salesmen aren’t considered villains, legally.” Or publicly. Or at all, aside from a few moral absolutists. “Unless this woman has done something more nefarious to your sister, I’m going to have to ask you to move so I can keep the line moving.

Apparently, Mrs. Larisse did not think this was the right answer. “Why you—I demand to see your manager!”

Of course. “Just a moment, then.” I dialed up PR. After a bit, I got a response. “Hey Cam, what’s up?”

“Hey Erika, we’ve got a woman here with a case 41-G.” That sounded serious, but it really wasn’t. 41 stood for ‘overprotective family member’, while G signified someone attributing villainy to a neutral party. Any code that ended with 1 or 0 wasn’t serious. It was a nice, efficient way to sort the actual issues from those who were just blowing things out of proportion.

“Oh, a 41-G? Who’s getting accused this time?”

“A member of the League of Door-to-Door salesmen,” I replied, trying not to flinch at the resulting laughter.

Eventually, Erika managed to calm down. “Alright, I-I’ll send someone in to rescue you, alright? Just have them sit in chair 105 and hang tight.” She snickered a bit. “They seriously think the League of Door-to-Door Annoyances is a threat?”

“Yep. I’ll give the details later, alright?”

“Okay, g’bye.”

“Bye.” I hung up the phone and turned to Mrs. Larisse. “Alright then, just sit in chair 105, someone will be with you shortly.”

“Finally,” she huffed, stomping off. I sighed and leaned back in my seat, stretching a bit before tapping the mike. “Next.”

Really, it was just another Sunday at the GPO help desk.

[curioushabitforarivergod]

If I may add.

I don't know how many people have read the 2001 book of Fantastic Beasts (or even take it as canon — it's almost the precursor to Pottermore), but there's specific stuff on the relationships between creatures and wizards in the introduction under the subheading What Is A Beast? Honestly, its the only part of the book I enjoy really (I find the creatures very Western-centric and boring). It's all very political and stupid, failing multiple times in the way because of wizards being stupid, etc.

Anyway, wizards have always been racist about 'beasts' — (should we really be surprised?) — and tried to sort everything into either beasts or beings. Brief timeline for convenience:

14th century A being is anything that walks with two legs. Anything else is a beast. (This obviously leaves out centaurs and mermaids which we know are intelligent. The goblins, amusingly, bought every animal that had with two legs to a meeting hall that they could find.)

Later that century A being is anything that can speak in "human" tongue. Anything else is a beast. (Centaurs are now included but mermaids are still excluded because they can only speak Mermish above water. The Goblins, again cause havoc, teaching various creatures English.)

Several centuries pass Presumably there are other attempts at classifying beast and being, not listed for simplicities sake, all of which fail.

1811 A being is "any creature that has sufficient intelligence to understand the laws of the magical community and to bear part of the responsibility in shaping those laws." Anything else, with the exclusion of ghosts who are classified as has-beens, is a beast. There is debate over where to place werewolves, who flit between the beast and being categories for years after. (But by this point, it seems everyone is fed up with the wizards anyway — the centaurs distant themselves from any wizard councils, offended by being placed in the same category as hags, vampires, etc. and a year later, mermaids follow suit.)

By the early 20th century The Werewolf Support Services is part of the beings, while Werewolf Registry and Werewolf Capture are part of the beasts.

What I'm trying to get across is with so much difficulty deciding what creatures classify as "intelligent", I can't see any creatures wanting to work with wizards. Furthermore, it's clear there were prejudices from the start — wizards have always seen themselves as superior.

Many creatures already had natural defences or avoided humans and muggles altogether. Others were anti-social enough to not involve themselves in the first place. Additionally, the International Confederation of Wizards (ICW), completely erased species from muggle records from 1692 until 1750, when it was determined that individual governing bodies should be in charge of hiding them — I imagine most, like the Ministry of Magic, chose to simply obliviate any muggles while also establishing 'safe zones' like Hogwarts and the Forbidden Forest.

Anyway, if anyone wants to read Fantastic Beasts, I've linked it as a pdf here (hopefully it works), so you can view it without giving any money to JK. Honestly, only the introduction is worth reading, but there's a few animals in there anyway if you care for it (although again, I think it lacks depth or nuance).

i have hc that somewhere back in history, wizards and magical species cooperated to hide from muggles, bc only wizards magic acts as a repulsive force for muggles. and bc of this wizards came to think of themselves as superior (through fear or something) or species were not ok with hiding and as a result wizards began to oppress and/or enslave them. maybe they believed violence is the way out, and this can be seen even today in purebloods, at least partially

I mean you can headcanon whatever, it's not my personal headcanon.

The reason I don't think it's the case is that the Statute of Secrecy (when wizards and magical creatures went into hiding) was only enacted in 1692, way too recent for something like this to have been forgotten. And we know that there was at least one Goblin Rebellion before the Statute of Secrecy, in 1612, meaning the tensions between wizards and goblins predate the Statute. And we know, before the Statute the wizards weren't in hiding and quite a few muggles knew of their existence.

So, again, headcanon whatever you want, but I don't think this is the case.

[rouge-la-flamme]

A snowy day in M-sur-M (Umi-no-Kodera in this AU). Though still not definitively located, this town is near the northwestern coast, facing foreigners across the sea, like its French counterpart. [1] The town is on the mountain slopes, and its rice harvest is not enough to meet its subsistence needs and tax obligations: it relies on industry, which was weak before Valjean’s arrival. Valjean’s town is (probably) governed by a domain in Dewa province. The daimyō (domain lord) is on call to supply military service against northern enemies when necessary—Russians, or the Ainu who live in Japan’s colonial buffer zone against Russia. Javert’s mother was one of the Ainu living at the northern tip of Japan (excluding Hokkaidō), and Javert’s ancestry is thus entwined with the military-colonial importance of this region. The daimyō is financially strained by this same military role, which makes him grateful for the prosperity that Valjean brings to the region. [2] Valjean’s business is glass in this AU as in the original, but glassmaking has a different dynamic in Japan than in France. As we shall see, this industry reflects Valjean’s antipathy toward the authorities who would now like to include him in the very system that has oppressed him.

Javert, as we know, has already been coopted by the system that oppresses him. A prologue on Javert and Japanese-Ainu relations is under the cut. [3] (tw for descriptions of colonial racism)

Japanese-Ainu relations. At the start of the Tokugawa era (about 1600), Japanese society did not extend north of Honshū (Japan’s “main” island). Ainu inhabited Hokkaidō (modern Japan’s northern island), some islands farther north (Sakhalin and the Kurils in modern Russia), and the northern tip of Honshū. In Japanese, Hokkaidō and the northern islands were called Ezo or Ezochi—barbarian land—reflecting the mainstream Japanese view of the Ainu and nearby peoples. With the aid and blessing of the bakufu, the Matsumae family and their contractors progressively subjugated the Ezo Ainu through violently enforced isolation and exploitation both economic and ecological. (Disease also helped.) The Honshū Ainu were caught on the Japanese side of the border confining their northern brethren. They lived in the Nanbu and Tsugaru domains, where they had outcaste status. Over the course of the 18th century, bakufu fears of Russian encroachment became acute. Tsugaru reacted by assimilating its Ainu residents, promoting them to commoner status and ordering them to adopt Japanese customs. (Nanbu no longer contained differentiated Ainu communities.) By the 1780s and ’90s—while the bakufu was heading toward direct takeover of Ezo—Tsugaru Ainu had adopted all outward Japanese culture, though private Ainu customs were rumored to survive.

Javert in Japanese society. Javert’s mother is one of the Honshū Ainu. Her community has outwardly assimilated to Japanese culture by the time of Javert’s birth, about 1780; and Javert’s adoption by the Japanese authority system further alienates him from his ethnic roots. In Japanese at this time, the word “ningen”—“human”—is used to distinguish the Japanese from the Ainu. (“Ainu,” ironically, is the Ainu word for “human:” so “ningen versus ainu” means “human versus human.”) In referring to la face humaine de Javert, ostensibly in juxtaposition with his animal parallel, our Japanese Hugo makes a bold statement on the sly, because that face deliberately includes traits emblematic of Ainu otherness—most obviously, Javert’s wavy hair. Tokugawa depictions of Ainu place emphasis on their hair, rendering it unbound and fluffy with a gentle wave, in contrast with the sleek and tightly bound hair of Japanese figures in the same images: hair is a central focus of Japanese attempts initially to demonstrate Ainu barbarity and then to assimilate the Ainu to Japanese culture.

Notes.

[1] The location and economy of this AU’s Montreuil-sur-Mer is inspired in large part by the home region of Suzuki Bokushi, Valjean’s real-life contemporary and fellow businessman. His story is told in Moriyama, Crossing Boundaries in Tokugawa Society. (Valjean’s snow-resistant boots and hood come from illustrations in Bokushi’s book about his region. Javert is inadequately dressed because he refuses to supplement his miserable wages by the traditional extortion method.)

[2] Info on northern domains’ military duties and related status and expenses comes from Howell, Geographies of Identity in 19th Century Japan. A domain’s rank in the Tokugawa hierarchy was determined by its kokudaka, or official yearly revenue, which might differ from actual revenue. Tsugaru’s and Nanbu’s kokudaka were deliberately inflated to give them prestige befitting their military importance: an expensive honor, as it brought inflated obligations to the bakufu in taxes and military support. The domains’ location was not only colonially important but also far from Edo, which made travel to Edo extra expensive��and the daimyō all had a legal duty to live in the capital during alternating years. (This duty of “alternate attendance” was designed to keep daimyō too poor to finance a rebellion.) Saga domain, with corresponding military duties and expenses in the south, encouraged industry in order to relieve its financial pressures: see Ariko Ota, “Porcelain and Power.”

[3] The information on Japanese-Ainu relations can be found in Brett Walker, The Conquest of the Ainu Lands: Ecology and Culture in Japanese Expansion, 1590-1800 and in Howell’s Geographies of Identity. Tokugawa depictions of the Ainu tend to serve the Tokugawa imperial aspirations, just as—in the milieu of the original Les Mis—orientalist works tend to serve French imperial aspirations: in both cases, the depiction suggests that the foreign group requires the guidance of the supposedly more capable and enlightened civilization at home. Such depictions exaggerate the foreigners’ strangeness (and inferiority) and pander to the audience’s expectations about the foreigners’ appearance. Even photos are staged for this purpose. Meanwhile, the foreign group is silenced, unable to counteract the misinformation. It’s a nightmare for research, and one must tread carefully. Javert’s character design picks a couple of traits that are plausible, and yet sufficient to prevent him ever from blending into the society that he serves and guards.

[dreaming-of-assclass]

So, um, hi. I've sent in askes before, and usually wouldn't be shy to let you know who I'm am, but I've had a really crappy day (my mom made me legit burst into tears) and my birthday is in two days, so I've decided to cheer myself up.

Do you have any hc for the 3-E boys (specifically underestimated Okajima/ Okajima is more than his flaws?) Thank you!

Aww baby I’m so sorry :( That sounds awful

I hope it gets better, and happy birthday love!! I hope you have a great day! My dms are always open if u wanna talk!!! Wishing you tons of love 💕

Okajima is always in a rush every morning because he has to have long morning showers. No, he’s not forced to but he’s a huge diva and it helps him feel/look his best everyday

And because of that, he’s often doing random things on the way to school or in first period. Like putting lotion on, hair gel, eyebrow tweezing, etc 😭 Everyone clowns on him so much lmao

Mimura has a lot of old collectible film stuff, like Star Wars ship models, stuff like that. He gives away some of the less valuable ones to some of the kids at the school they help in canon.

Sugino and Maehara get into origami together, to prove to the other athletes that they can be “delicate and dexterous and not at all clumsy.” They end up getting addicted and make a million paper animal figures that end up in every corner of the classroom

This tiktok is literally Okajima and Maehara energy (Okajima is the one on the bed lmao)

Itona is always wearing a million layers because he’s used to it :( from when he was homeless and had to conserve warmth somehow

Yada, Kurahashi, and Nakamura film makeup videos for fun, and the most frequent of their victims clients is Okajima. He always volunteers if they need someone, and it’s fun for him. He likes learning about new hacks and how to use it.

Okajima always offers to sharpen any of his seatmate’s pencils if he’s getting up anyways for his own. It’s a little sweet gesture!

Muramatsu, Nagisa and Okajima help each other pick out beanies whenever they do online shopping in class.

Karma texts Isogai at the most random times saying the oddest things just to bother him lmao. But jokes on him bc at this point, nothing fazes Isogai lmaooo

Karma: would you still be friends with me if I were a worm?

Isogai: please leave me alone it’s literally 4am, also the answer is yes

Speaking of texts, Okajima texts like the girls. He uses a lot of “heyyy” and “omggg” and it’s completely unironic. 

Basically I feel like Okajima is a very fluid individual lol. He doesn’t care to conform to gender norms. He has no shame, except for when he does something obviously wrong. But I mean, he’ll crossdress, wear facial masks, try out makeup, etc.

The guys definitely go on a fishing trip in the future, either right after graduation or sometime during college. Actually no, they do it once every summer after graduation. And it’s very chaotic every time 😭

If there is a plan to hang out, you best believe Okajima will invite everybody he can lmao. He cannot keep word down. He always protests that “the more, the merrier!” But really he doesn’t want anyone to ever feel excluded. And if he has to throw himself under the bus for that, then so be it

He also has a really soft spot for nature. He’s always had it, but wasn’t really around people who would encourage it. After getting in 3-E and hanging out more with someone like Kurahashi, he grows to unabashedly adore bunnies and cats and everything.

He also definitely gifts cat-themed stuff to Hayami. He plays it off like his mom bought the wrong ones or something like that, but really he loves seeing Hayami’s face light up.

Okajima’s love language is acts of service, hidden under words of affirmation and big over-the-top gestures.

[chiefguideandcentre]

PSA: Just because you think your dogs are your precious little babies doesn’t mean everyone else does too. Keep them out of restaurants and public places where animals should not be especially if your dogs cannot even handle being in public which btw includes being around other dogs. I don’t want your dog around me, barking/growling at other dogs trying to get to them especially when I’m in an enclosed space. You can survive without your dog for an hour or two, it won’t kill you, leave them at home. This obviously excludes REAL service dogs who serve an important purpose (and I emphasized real bc everyone and their brother can tell that your clearly untrained, barking demon dog isn’t a service dog)

[falinscloaca]

ok i actually unfurled my “receipt” talons but this person is an incest apologist and you should fucking block them. shit under the cut

ok i went to check them bc i basically go to check *everyone* now (regaurdless of if their points are good or bad. like having a shit awful opinion is inherently suspicious -duh- but i’ve been around the rodeo enough to know that holding people i agree with to high standards is actually fucking reasonable bc without it you get the fucking ocean of incest wierdos who giggle and traipse through the transgender aisle at the supermarket) and like. one of the first things i *see* (without having to like. search.) is:

and like. this sets off alarms immediately bc this person is reacting this dramatically to a claim that like. not all, not most, but *some* kinks are “disgusting”. i’m pretty sure even legends of the “kink” world would still agree that, yes, *some* kinks are disgusting. its not that hot a take. And while i *get* that they’re trying to say that whatever kinks this person is alluding to in particular aren’t disgusting, WELL, UM, LETS JUST actually i took a look further down the blog at this point in the “””””investigation”””””” and like 

i already left commentary in the thing itself. like i do *get* it, the fact that stardew valley is trying to be inclusive by having all the romance options be available to everyone, or fucking fallout 4 is trying to be woke pogchamp by letting you “romance” as many people as you want, while simultaneously never fucking once giving lip service to the *existence* of us homos, is in fact actually fairly dehumanizing (though my reaction to such is based almost entirely in how much goodwill i have towards the developers, stardew valley dev yer ok and its not that big a deal, monster prom i hate your explanation that you used in marketing years ago when you just could’ve said that you won’t have any gender specific romance options and left it at that but yer Alright, fallout 4 die in a hole for literally giving the protagonist a requited happy suburban straight marriage and yet having tons of journos at the time praising you for being progressive and queer-friendly die die die die in a hole), but good fucking god OP of this not all stories centering solely around bi/pan/mspec women are doing that *for male gaze* and phrasing it like THAT is effectively repeating the “available to men” rhetoric that treats bi women like god damn grocery store zucchini FUCKING *ANYWAYS* BACK TO THE INCEST SHIT

ok so at this point i just search incest on the blog. its super easy as a way to vet people since theres a lot more people around in the same spaces i wind up in who are willing to offhandedly support *that* than some of the other pervert shit (probably because defending the fetishization of children or dogs is a angrier bees nest than even the bigger wierdos are willing to swing at lmao). 

i don’t have much to say about this one i just think the way the person frames their laughing about all this is fucking weird. the screenshots kinda confusing (also terrible quality sorry) but everything about “tumblr is the funniest etc etc” is screenshots, and unless i’m *completely* misunderstanding the order of operations here Beaky is the transmasc exclusionist (??? exclusionist against what. excluding transmascs???? are they a trans masc who excludes???? what) and the pink anime girl bitch is the “trans lesbian (why are you bringing up the persons orientation unless yer taking this as some sorta attack on trans women thinkingemoji) who did incest roleplay with her partner” . its framed fucking weird and also yeah sure “calling for the death of a trans lesbian” is when someone says that a proudly, shamelessly incest glorifier should be put on a “block/kill list” (noteworthy thing that totally isn’t a turn of phrase born out of frustration with this shit- ALSO I SHOULD ADD THAT I HAVE NO CLUE WHO ANY OF THE INVOLVED ARE SO WHILE I OBVIOUSLY CONDEMN THE BROTHERFUCKER I DO *NOT* NECESSARILY ENDORSE THE OTHER PERSON LMAO) 

ok now these are actually just acting like being against the fetishization of incest is puritanical

AND LIKE WHAT IN THE GOD DAMN IS THIS, THE OP GOES AT LENGTH TO SAY THAT THE CALLED OUT PERSON *APPROVES OF “ADULT, CONSENTING” INCEST* AND THE REPLY CGFORESKIN IS AGREEING WITH IS TALKING ABOUT THIS BEING MORE ‘FRAMING ALL TRANS WOMEN AS PEDOPHILES’ SLANDER. i don’t even know if the OP of that is operating in good faith or not but the fact that they’re all perfectly fine with completely skipping over incest is cartoonish. and given the rest of this shit i’m not giving them the benefit of the doubt. 

honestly just doing this because between here and my nsfw twitter experience theres way, way, WAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY too many people in “progressive, trustworthy, we’re all a bunch of solidarity-loving queer folkz” spheres that seem way too comfortable cozying up to fetishes that like- kinda are actually inherently bad. 

[thecreativepoppy]

Sparbossa modern!au

So I found an old fanfiction plot about one of my favourite ship and I feel shameless enough to post it. I dunno if I actually write it in the future, but this is what I got now- I warn u that is trash and needs some adjustments haha

-------

Hector Barbossa is a bastard business man, manager of one of the most important shipping company in the Caribbeans- the Black Pearl Company, of which he owns 48% stocks. One night, he is suddendly summoned in an hospital where Cassie Smith, a 33 years old woman, has just died for birth complications. Cassie has mentioned him as a possible father of the child, Pearl, that she has just barely seen before death. Just after Barbossa, also Jack Sparrow, his ultimate work, owner of the other 48% stocks, arrives at the hospital. He's been called for the same, exact, reason.

None of them has any intention of keeping the baby, until a notary (maybe Norrington or Beckett, I dunno) comes to them with the Cassie Smith's last will: the 4% remaining stocks of the shipping company were for some reasons in the hands of Cassie. They will go to the baby's guardian until her majority.

At that point, the situation changes. Both Jack and Hector want badly those 4% stocks: having them means owing the "Black Pearl", being its damn captain and, above all, being the boss of the other. Both of them runs offering himself as baby Pearl's guardian. And so, after some controls, each gets a weekly provisional custody. The only agreement Hector and Jack have is to not get a dna test- secretly, each of them strongly doubts about his own paternity as is sure that is the other the true father. So, the most convenient thing is doing no official check. For some problems, the weekly provisional custody increases in time. Hector tries to sabotage Jack as Jack tries the same to him. This results to a kitchen on fire, different fights between them and against the notary (they kinda become allies against him). They both risk to hurt the baby- and, to their discomfort, they both start to become fond of little Pearl. They share time together: Jack shows his love for make up and extreme sports, Hector his for animals and poisonous plants.

After some months, a bigger problem arrives. It could be summarized in one name: Blackbeard.

Blackbeard is the biggest shark in the lawyers' world. He is known for his army of subordinates, so efficient and flawless that they're considered clearly undead. He and Hector had some meetings in the past: it didn't go well at all. With his daughter Angelica's help, Blackbeard decides to bypass Cassie's will with some legal cavils. He wants the 4% stocks. Having them means holding in check the "Black Pearl" company, as also Sparrow and Barbossa. To do that, he has simply to demonstrate that little Pearl's guardians aren't able to look after her. In that case, Pearl with her stocks would be give up for adoption- to him.

Getting Blackbeard's plans, Jack and Hector form an alliance, temporarily moving together in Jack's house- the nearest to the company’s principal headquarter. The relationship between the two men strangely increases in quality, returning almost to the old times’ one (before Hector’s betrayal against Jack) and also the love for little Pearl becomes stronger. They celebrate together her five/six months of age, with lots of baloons and also a little party with the Tuners’ family. But with the passing of time, Jack starts to feel a little excluded, above all when he starts to think that is actually Hector the biological father of the baby. He struggles and says nothing… and this leads him to fall for Angelica’s flatteries: and so, they sleep together. More times.

At the same time, Hector starts to be more aggressive towards Blackbeard, investigating deeply his actions: he even builds a sort of file on him, working on it at the “Black Pearl” headquarters. But one night, he’s attacked by Blackbeard’s henchmen, that set the building on fire. To save himself, Barbossa injures his right leg, becoming lame for life. After been saved by firemen (and maybe also by Elizabeth Turner), Hector is hospitalized and there Jack goes to meet him, with a sorrowful regret. While they were both busy, baby Pearl has disappeared- no one has the slightest idea about where she could be. Hector, enraged, kicks out Jack, ending with him every type of relationship. He then goes away from the hospital, against every doctors’ warning.

Meanwhile, Jack follows, assaults and threatens Angelica, to force her to reveal where little Pearl is. After some tricks between the two, she reveals that Blackbeard has actually kidnapped the child- but also that she doesn’t feel right about this. Angelica and Jack reach together a sort of agreement: he will give her and Blackbeard the 4% stocks, if they give him the baby and keep the silence with Hector about the stocks. Also, Jack won’t hurt Blackbeard and will help him to pay the therapy against a rare illness that is slowly killing him. In this, Hector disappears, returning to one of his old job, at the service of an English investigation agency, with the purpose of destroy Blackbeard. Jack, thanks to Angelica, manages to come into contact with Blackbeard himself. He agrees to return him the baby, but he wants not only the 4% stocks: he wants Jack to help him in a experimental therapy for a rare disease that is slowly killing him- or, in alternative, Blackbeard wants Jack to give him his own 48% stocks. Jack has actually thought this turn of events: he smiles and brings out an already prepared contract with those conditions. Blackbeard and Jack sign the paper and then the first commands Angelica to take Jack to the place baby Pearl is kept. Angelica tries to protest, because she doesn't think that Blackbeard's actions are right, but it's Jack himself to take her out of the room and to make her lead the way to the place- in which he strongly believe also Hector is kept prisoner. They go to the "Fountain of Youth" manor, where Jack finally gets to see Pearl. In that moment, however, Angelica receives a call from her father: answering at the phone, she suddenly becomes angry and she threatens Jack, Pearl and even the manor's au pair with a gun. She accuses Jack to have cheated- and he says that well, she should be more accurate in defining in what he has cheated.

In the meanwhile, the place where Blackbeard was is literally on fire: the contract has been revealed written with disappearing ink and just the moment Blackbeard realizes that, part of the building explodes. He manages to escape, just when Hector and the agency's troops arrive. Seeing the place, Hector is sure that Jack and Pearl have perished. He decides then to follow Blackbeard to his own manor, with the promise of gold and truth for the men with him.

After arriving at the manor, he and the others break out in all the place, destructing it and fighting against Blackbeard’s henchmen. Hector manages to enter a secret room, where he finds Blackbeard in the middle of his experimental cure: he’s getting operated, using blood and bone marrow that are going to be taken after a strong and astute man (who’s currently in another room). Hector, taking advantage of the confusions, kills the voodoo doctor and the other two guards and then shoots a poisonous bullet to Blackbeard- brushing at the same time Angelica’s arm. He then leaves father and daughter in there, struggling in the pain, to search useful documents and papers to end for ever the name of Blackbeard in the world. After he exits the room, Jack enters: he was supposed to be used for transfer blood and bone marrow to Blackbeard, but he has obviously free himself and he’s currently searching Pearl. Seeing Blackbeard and Angelica dying (and knowing Hector) he kinda gets what poison has hit them and searches in the doctor’s instruments something that could use as an antidote (at least, until they arrive to an hospital). He finds one and Blackbeard claims it for him. Pretending to give him the cure, with a trick Jack hides the true in a baby Pearl’s toy he has, giving the man some acids. While Blackbeard is screaming and dying, Jack hands out the antidote to Angelica. She cries and, when her father finally dies, tries to stand up to reach Pearl and kill her in front of Jack’s eyes. But before Jack can move, she suddenly passes out, due to the shock and the poison’s effects. Jack freezes, insecure about what to do.

And in that exact moment, he hears crying. A baby’s crying.

He runs away, following it, and he arrives in a sort of nursery, in the other side of the house. He opens wide the door, only to find a passed out au pair on the floor and. And Hector. A frozen Hector standing in front of the crib where Pearl is crying inconsolable.

Jack can’t believe his eye, seeing Hector there, seeing he has actually returned for the baby- and, maybe maybe also for him. He moves close to him, arriving to touch his shoulder. Hector jumps as burnt and raises shining eyes to him. «Both» he murmurs. «You’re both alive». There’s a single tear cutting his cheek, just before he collapses on the floor.

[tmhcharlie]

another traitor theory post

Alright, I know by now that the traitor theory is old news in this fandom, but I don’t believe we’ve seen the last of this plot point. I was discussing this theory with a mutual last night, and I decided to compile my evidence and my thoughts into one post. Without further ado, let’s get into it.

For starters, let’s talk about the reason why Present Mic brought up the theory to begin with, and what can be deduced from that. Present Mic presents his theory of a traitor among those at UA after Bakugou is taken from the summer training camp, a camp only select staff and students knew the location of. From there, we can obviously gather that the traitor had to be either in Class 1-A or 1-B, or among the staff who were privy to this location. However, the League didn’t only attack at the summer camp; they also attacked at the USJ, precisely when Class 1-A was in the building. Now, it’d be one thing to attack randomly in the middle of training, but the League arrived exactly when Class 1-A showed up. From here, we can glean that the traitor can only be a member of Class 1-A or Aizawa, since the League had such intimate knowledge of their arrival and planned lesson at the USJ. 

Furthermore, the League seemed to know about Yaoyorozu’s Noumu tracker, which only certain members of Class 1-A and one member of Class 1-B knew about, as well as the pro heroes involved in the hideout raid. However, only a very select amount of teachers and pro heroes knew the location of the training camp, as well as the schedule the students kept to during the camp. The fact that the Vanguard Action Squad attacked on the one night students would be spread thin throughout the forest doesn’t indicate a coincidence; it seems more likely that the traitor told the squad when to strike. This indicates that the traitor, if it’s a pro hero, can only be Aizawa, Vlad King, or one of the Wild, Wild Pussycats. As stated previously, the traitor can’t be Vlad King or one of the Pussycats because of the timing of the USJ attack. However, it’s highly unlikely that the traitor is Aizawa, as he almost died during the USJ attack and it would be unwise for the League to risk killing its informant. Thus, we can narrow down the suspect list to a much smaller pool: the traitor can only be one of the students present in Midoriya’s hospital room when Yaoyorozu confessed to planting the tracker. 

This automatically eliminates Bakugou, Hagakure, and Jirou, as the girls were unconscious at the time of the confession and Bakugou was with the League by this point. This also further cements the fact that the traitor can’t be another staff member or pro hero, as all of them were too busy plotting Bakugou’s rescue to possibly listen in on what the students were discussing. 

This finally leaves us with: Aoyama, Ashido, Asui, Iida, Kaminari, Kirishima, Kouda, Midoriya, Mineta, Ojiro, Satou, Sero, Shouji, Todoroki, Tokoyami, Uraraka, and Yaoyorozu. 

If we’re looking at this from a narrative standpoint, we can easily rule out several characters, including Ashido, Kaminari, Kouda, Mineta, Ojiro, Satou, Sero, and Shouji. These characters can be ruled out because all of them are side characters at best, and therefore do not have enough development or significance to play such a large role in this plot point. They’re also not close enough to Midoriya, our protagonist, to truly be considered important characters. The traitor, from a narrative standpoint, must have a significant connection with not only the main character but the readers as well, and therefore must be a well-developed and well-rounded character. However, all of the characters I’ve just listed are not nearly as developed as other characters like Uraraka or Todoroki, and therefore aren’t as easy to connect with for the reader. This can also be applied to all of the pro heroes, excluding Aizawa and All Might. 

Also coming from a narrative standpoint, we can rule out Midoriya. When Midoriya started this story, he started it by declaring that this is the story of how he became the #1 hero, already aligning himself with the good side for the duration of the storyline. Not to mention, we spend too much time operating through Midoriya’s point of view for Horikoshi to be able to hide the fact that Midoriya is in cahoots with the League of Villains. 

Now back to the in-world evidence. The League knew about the summer camp’s location, and they knew about the tracker, demonstrating that whoever the informant is, they have an easy means of communication, as all of the events happened in a fairly short time span. However, one thing the League didn’t seem to account for was the group of five who staged a rescue for Bakugou: Todoroki, Iida, Midoriya, Kirishima, and Yaoyorozu. This indicates that the traitor is not among this group, as we’ve already seen that the traitor does have an easy way to communicate with the League and would’ve been able to discreetly tip them off about the rescue attempt. 

Now our list is getting much smaller . The only possible suspects for the traitor at this point are: Aoyama, Asui, Tokoyami, or Uraraka.

Aoyama is almost definitely not the traitor, and for proof I will once again cite the summer training camp arc. When the attack has come to a head and Compress and Dabi have Bakugou and Tokoyami while the students are helpless, Aoyama is disguised in the bushes. So disguised, in fact, that nobody actually knows he’s there. Not the students, not the villains. But still, Aoyama overcomes his fear and shoots a laser at Compress, temporarily delaying the mission’s success. Tell me: If Aoyama was the traitor, and nobody knew he was there, why would he reveal himself only to jeopardize a mission he undoubtedly helped to orchestrate?

I believe Asui can be ruled out as well, simply because while she is one of Midoriya’s closer friends and she is frequently shown in the manga and anime, she’s never truly been given her own arc or time to develop. There’s also no real evidence supporting the fact that she’s the traitor; she has no clear motive, and there’s nothing in the story to indicate this is even a possibility for her character. From a narrative standpoint, this would make her a poor culprit, as it just wouldn’t make sense. A reveal as heavy as a traitor among Midoriya’s friends and classmates would take seeds sown far in advance (as in, before Present Mic even said that there might be a traitor) in order for it to be a quality reveal and pay-off. 

Finally, this leaves us with only two possibilities: Uraraka and Tokoyami. 

First, let’s talk about reasons why Uraraka being the traitor makes sense. The biggest reason is that she has motive. During the Sports Festival, Uraraka revealed that the whole reason she wants to be a hero is for money, so that she can support her parents. However, being a hero is not the only way to make money, and I’d imagine that a school as high-end as UA would have a costly tuition, thanks to all of the included amenities (hero costumes, shuttle service to places like the USJ, extravagant training grounds on campus, and cafeteria food, just to name a few). It’s not impossible to believe that young Uraraka met up with a villain who promised her money, if she only infiltrated the heroes for them. From a narrative standpoint, Uraraka makes the most sense as being the traitor, as it’s undeniable that she is Midoriya’s best friend. Even if she doesn’t get as much screen time as Todoroki or Bakugou, she’s still a very important character. Hell, without her, Midoriya would’ve died during the entrance exam and this whole story wouldn’t exist. An important, central character like Uraraka who isn’t necessarily always in the spotlight and under scrutiny would make for the perfect traitor. 

The final character to discuss is Tokoyami. While Tokoyami isn’t as central as Uraraka and doesn’t have quite as much development, he does come into the spotlight every once in a while, despite not being incredibly close to Midoriya. In addition, while he doesn’t have a clear motive, there is at least one instance in the story that might point to him being the traitor. Allow me to paint you a picture: The League of Villains has an informant who’s been helping them all year long in their goal to defeat All Might and take down hero society. The informant knows that UA staff and pro heroes aren’t naive, and will start to make connections and suspect a traitor among UA. Class 1-A will immediately be under scrutiny, as they are the newest batch of people and haven’t earned everyone’s trust yet, and it’s undeniable that the League always seems to arrive when Class 1-A is present. Thus, the informant plans with the League for the Vanguard Action Squad to take not one but two “victims” from the summer training camp, providing the informant with the perfect escape without anyone every finding out the truth. And isn’t it odd that Compress seemingly randomly decides to take Tokoyami as well? If the Vanguard Action Squad is supposedly so prepared, why would Compress (arguably one of the most level-headed members of the squad) so randomly risk the mission by taking another student? Unless, of course, it was never random at all, and Tokoyami had always been the informant. 

In the end, we won’t know for sure until Horikoshi reveals it himself, but it’s fun to theorize! Personally, I believe the traitor to be either Uraraka or Tokoyami. 

[sneksue]

Official Post About Lifestyle Changes

The date is January 28, 2021. 

I have not had chickens for a while. It will be 2 years in August. I have been meaning to write something here about all of it, but I either have not had time, or the willpower to go through with it. I was in grieving. 

In June of 2019, I took a trip from my shared homestead in Mississippi to Colorado to do some long distance hiking. I left all of my animals in the care of my ex husband’s mother and her then boyfriend. 

I trusted them to at least do the bare minimum in my animal’s basic care. 

That didn’t happen. They failed night after night to close and lock the coop’s door. They wouldn’t change their water during the day and they did not collect eggs. 

When I had service on my phone during the hike, I checked in with them to find out that because they had not closed or locked the coop door at night, several birds were “missing”, with more missing every day. 

Instead of simply closing the door and providing a safe space for my dear, darling animals to sleep at night, they decided to buy a game camera to see what was happening to them at night. 

Their reasoning had absolutely zero logic, and I was pretty pissed.

They found that raccoons were simply just waltzing into the coops and grabbing birds. The raccoons would drag them away into the woods and feast. 

By the time our trip was almost over, all of my ducks were gone. There were only a few chickens left, and the guinea fowl were all intact due to roosting 50ft up in oak trees. My cat was also “missing”.

I was heartbroken, devastated. I had spent so much money, time, energy, and love to build this flock. I wanted to provide my “family” and myself with sustainable, renewable food in case of a natural disaster. No one seemed to value my efforts, or even care to see what my end goal was. 

On top of grieving for the loss of my feathered babies, my then husband’s younger brother decided to GO OFF on me during our drive back to Mississippi. He claimed I was selfish, psychotic, uncaring, and manipulative. He screamed at me while we were all stuck in the car. He called me a bitch, he called me a liar, he called me a leech. I was stunned in silence. I had been struggling with my mental health for years, and had contemplated suicide more times than I could count. So, it is no surprise that while we were driving 70mph on the interstate, I seriously contemplated opening the car door and leaping out into traffic. 

I turned to my husband, my partner, the love of my life, my support system, to back me up. Defend me. Tell his brother that he was wrong. My husband did nothing of the sort. He remained silent as the verbal barrage from his brother continued. 

Everything clicked for me then. My mother in law was a complete nutcase, she blamed me for all of my husband’s shortcomings. She viewed me as a failure for not being the perfect housewife. She only saw me as a burden on her son’s happiness. My husband maintained an emotional distance from me for several years. He refused to be intimate towards me. He never showed an interest in me, my thoughts, my feelings. He never stood up for me or was proud to show me off. He never commended my strengths and triumphs, he only pointed out what he viewed were my failures. My brother in law was more of a nutcase than his mother, physically abusing his dog and neglecting his cat, leeching off of his mother and getting handouts at every possible opportunity, spending his days smoking hundreds of dollars of marijuana, drinking booze, playing videogames. 

I had no social life, I wasn’t allowed to have a social life. 

I had no friends I could hang out with, all of my friends were online. 

No matter how much I did for these people and how much I excelled at everything I did, nothing was ever enough. I was never enough. 

No wonder I struggled with mental health, eh?

I came to this realization instantaneously, and demanded to be dropped off at my dad’s house in Westminster, CO. 

I had none of my personal belongings besides my hiking and camping stuff. I didn’t care, I just had to get away from these toxic monsters. 

My husband and I loosely decided that this would be a “break” for our relationship, and that he would go back to MS to work and save up to move here with me. I agreed and I began working and saving up myself. 

We both knew he was never going to come here. We were never going to be together again. 

We remained in close contact for a few months after the separation. But the contact and our conversations became fewer and less substantial. 

One night, as I was walking home from work, I called and told him that I thought we should break up. He admitted to me that he had removed his wedding ring over three weeks prior. I was understandably hurt by that, but I did understand. 

He also informed me that all of the birds were gone or dead except for a couple roosters. 

I was more devastated by the loss of my birds than the loss of my marriage. If that doesn’t tell you enough, I don’t know what does!! 

My cat never returned. 

I asked him if we could keep in contact, and he told me he did not want to talk to me or hear from me for several years. I was once again hurt by this, but with his own mental health issues, I again, understood. He did say he can see us being friends in the future, but now that its been some time, I don’t want to be friends with him. I want the best for him, but I can’t bring myself to expose my mentality to his toxicity and negativity. 

I asked again and again, over a period of months, for him to return my belongings. He kept putting it off. I told him I was going to drive down there myself and gather everything i could and dispose of the rest. 

He agreed, initially, then banned me from coming only after I requested the time off from work and had friends to accompany me on the journey, He promised he’d send all my stuff in several shipments after he sold my car. I told him he could keep the profit from the sale of my car and use it to send me my stuff. 

He ended up sending me ONE box of my stuff. And most of it wasn’t even mine. I was appalled and disgusted that he’d be so careless and inconsiderate. 

I sent him messages and requested SPECIFIC items after I received the first box. I got no reply, and no more packages to this day have been sent. 

He and his family stole my property, killed my pets, and broke my heart. 

Thieves, liars, and extremists, the lot of them. 

I grieve daily for the loss of my animals and the torture I was put through for nearly 6 years. 

All of that out of the way, let me move on to tell you what this blog will now feature. 

I have obviously had a change in lifestyle. I no longer live on homesteading land, I live in a roomy two bedroom apartment with my AMAZING fiance. 

My love of chickens, I discovered, was a love for reptiles in general. Cuz birds are reptiles and all that jazz. 

When I met my fiance, I was already blown away by his attitude, confidence, and view on life right off the bat! He inspired me, made me want to be better to myself. 

Meeting him felt weird, at first. It felt weird because I was waiting for this amazing person to... have a catch. There’s gotta be a red flag somewhere. And if there isn’t... he is probably a psychopath who will eventually turn on me and kill me. No one is that... good. 

So I thought to myself, “Welp, gotta find out. I’ll go to his house!”

He had a couple little snakes in his room which I demanded to play with. He happily got them out and I was like “THAT’S the catch? Nah, this just convinces me this guy is... my kind of guy.” 

I’ve had a love of snakes since early childhood. Not an interest of passion, but I truly loved interacting with and watching them. I’ve never had an innate fear of any insect, (exclude honeybee, because I didn’t know better at 6 years old), or animal. I love them all and everything they do to contribute. All they experience. 

I used to catch wild garter snakes and rat snakes in nets, pet them, show them to my mother occasionally to freak her out, and release them. Then watch them. 

There were a mating pair of Oteekee Corn Snakes in my HS yard. Every summer we’d see them, out and about hunting, hiding, climbing... growing. They were bright red and jet black with specks of yellow. I could tell these guys were pretty smart and maybe there was more to snakes than I really thought about ever. 

So, being sold on this amazing guy, we up and moved in together. Nice. My paycheck kept going up and up. I was saving a ton. I wanted a car and an apartment as soon as possible. 

I got bonus after bonus for working hard at my job and everyone hitting labor targets. 

We got a place. Nice. 

Both got steady jobs. Nice. 

There’s uh, a lot of room in this new place. Nice. 

Hey it’s my birthday and I can get myself a snake. I have more than enough for supplies and the animal itself. 

I browsed on morphmarket for what felt like ages.... 

I had no idea that there were.... so many complicated genetics with ball pythons. I was highly interested, because if you know me, you know I’m interested in genetics and selective breeding. 

I found there were THOUSANDS of genetic combinations, each with unique names. It was like alien code. The animals were beautiful but I had no idea what I was really looking at. 

One night while going to our local reptile store to get feeder rats, I was looking around at all the glass window babies, as I usually do. 

I made my way around the scorpions, tarantulas, cave scorpions, frogs, lizards, the store’s companion burmese python, and my eyes landed on a little... adorable puppy-eyed baby ball python. The signage stated that it was a Puma. Seemed simple enough. Easy name to remember. I looked into the glass at the lil noodle, and talked all baby talk and shit. The sweet little thing came right up to scope at me, then yawned. 

I called an employee over and said I’d like to handle this animal right here. The employee obliged and I fell in love. Sexed as male. Easy buy. 

I cried on the way home, It was amazing. I have one picture on here of him a few days after I got him. His name is Mallow, and he is bigger now, but still just as sweet. 

So yeah. It went from there. Now, including the boa and ball python that are my fiance’s, and Mallow, we have added 3 more to our family. We are done now, as these animals may live a loooooong time. And they require space and attention just like any other pet. They’re not expensive, and they’re low maintenance care is nearly brainless if you set it up right. They’re statistically and actually safer than dogs or cats, and are absolutely therapeutic and entertaining. 

This blog will from this day forward be dedicated to snake content, reptile content, and a lot more fun, actually good pictures. I will also share genetic related stuff I find relevant. 

Not having a shitty phone camera is pretty great, tbh. 

TLDR: No more homestead. Ex is evil (yeah yeah), New place new animal new me. SNAKES! SNAKES!!!! SNAAAAAAAAAKKKKKKKKEEEEESSSSS!

I know this post is just for me but whatever, if I make myself laugh. Cool. G’night. 

[softsichenghours]

summer lovin’ {l.j.}

summary: in which the boy your grandma hires to take care of her property, lee jeno, becomes more than a friend for the summer. 

word count: 9.8k 

warnings: mild swearing i think, mentions of abuse, a bad dad, some suggestive jokes

you groaned internally as the rickety, white house came into view among the thicket of lush pine trees. your plan wasn’t to spend the summer at your grandma’s house in the middle of nowhere, but your parents insisted you spend time with her. you didn’t understand. she worked most days and then when she was home, she hid away in her office doing more work. she was successful and wealthy, so why did she keep this old house and farm? you guessed it had to do with your grandpa who had passed away many years before. you could barely even remember him you were so young, but memories and his voice would always stick in your heart. you knew he loved the farm and always put so much work into it. maybe grandma kept it up and running in his memory. whatever it was, you weren’t happy to be spending the summer there.

“here we are, honey.” your mom glanced over at you as she stopped in front of the house. she had to be back to work for that afternoon so she couldn’t stay to visit your dad's mother, not like she wanted to anyway. you simply glared at her, your arms crossed over your chest.

“listen, i know this isn’t ideal for you, but do it for your father, please? and—i know it’s hard to believe, but she gets lonely out here all by herself. she’ll love having you around for the summer. be good and have fun, okay?” she said softly.

“yeah, yeah.” you sighed and opened the car door. you grabbed your bags out of the backseat and ducked down to look at her in the window. “if you’re not here in 71 days to pick me up, i’m going to run into those woods and become a fairy.”

“____, is that you?” a voice called from the kitchen as you opened the storm door and stepped inside. the smell of fresh pine and pumpkin spice hit your nostrils, the smell of home. you had a lot of memories at this house.

“yeah, it’s me grandma.”

   the older lady rounded the corner, flour on her black apron. she embraced you, making you drop your bags and wrap your arms around the frail woman.

“oh how you’ve grown!” she smiled, pulling back and smoothing down your hair. “i haven’t seen you in such a long time.”

“how are you?” you asked, your eyes wandering around the house.

oh, i’m alright. same old same old i guess. how are you?” she took a step back from you, her eyes still examining your face.

“i’m okay, grandma. school’s good but i’m glad to be on summer break.” you laughed.

“that’s good, dear. i’m making something special for dessert, so why don’t you go get settled into your room? it’s the last door at the end of the hallway.” she explained, glancing at your bags on the floor.

   you trudged up the creaking stairs and down the hallway, your duffel bag weighing down one of your shoulders, your knapsack weighing down the other. you twisted the doorknob on the last door and opened it to be met with…another person?! you jumped back in shock and an accidental shriek left your lips. the boy turned around with wide eyes and stopped fluffing the pillow in his hand.

“who are you?” you questioned, stepping back in caution. why was there a random boy in your room at your grandma’s house? his wide eyes softened and a grin crept onto his gentle face.

“you must be ____? i’m jeno, lee jeno, your grandma’s… well, i do a bit of everything. i tend to the house, help with the farm, grow the garden, cook sometimes, etc.” he explained, his smile growing wider. grandma hadn’t told you she hired more workers. you knew about the farmhands, but the last time you were there, jeno wasn’t. he seemed about your age, maybe he was keeping grandma company. if so, then what was the use of you being there?

   you hadn’t realized that you were consumed in your thoughts and hadn’t spoken.

“sorry if i scared you,” he laughed sheepishly and rubbed the back of his neck. “i was just getting the room ready for you.”

“it’s okay…i just wasn’t expecting someone in here.” you breathed out, noticing the aching in your shoulders.

“here, let me help you with those!” jeno offered and rushed over, grabbing the strap of your duffel and sliding it off your shoulder. you complied, sighing at the weight being lifted off. he placed it at the foot of the bed and you dropped your knapsack there, too. you stood there for a moment, avoiding jeno’s gaze and shifting your weight from one foot to the other.

“i should be going. i live in the guest house, don’t hesitate to come over if you need anything.” he smiled.

“thanks.” you looked at him and grinned, liking his kindness.

“i’ll be seeing you around, ____.” he opened the door and left, but you could still hear him walk down the hallway and down the stairs because of the old house floorboards.

    as you unpacked your clothes and put them into the closet and chest of drawers, your phone buzzed in your pocket. there was still service out here in the middle of nowhere? your eyes wandered to the newest notification on the screen. @ leeminha_ just posted a photo. lee minha was one of your closest friends, but lately, she had been very hostile and aggressive towards you. maybe it was because you couldn’t hang out with her all summer. you and her, along with your other bestfriend, park yunhee, had plans for the summer to be the greatest. but when you were told you had to spend it at your grandma’s, she got mad. even though it was out of your power and you had explained that to her, she distanced herself from you and openly made plans excluding you.

   you were brought back to the present when your thumb subconsciously tapped the notification. it was a picture of her and yunhee with… hyunji? hyunji was your school’s most popular girl. you and minha had talked about how much she annoyed you with her long clacking nails and her ever-changing boyfriends. and now they were hanging out? your eyebrows furrowed and you double tapped the image anyway, before seeing the caption. “had fun with @ park_yunhee and @ peachyhyunji at the beach. too bad that @ ____ couldn’t make it lmao.”

   your heart sank at her seemingly sarcastic tone. she wasn’t missing you. who knows, by the end of the summer, minha and hyunji might be best friends.

   you sighed and held down the button on the side of your phone before sliding your thumb across the screen, turning it off. you opened the top drawer of the nightstand and threw the device in, not wanting the negativity of social media to ruin your already bad summer. 

“i see you’ve met jeno?” grandma smiled, laying a slice of decadent chocolate cake in front of you after dinner.

“yeah, he made quite the lasting first impression.” you chuckled, delving your fork into the chocolate icing. this was your favourite dessert, she must’ve remembered.

“he’s a sweet boy. very helpful around here. i think you’ll find a friend in him while you’re here.” as soon as she spoke, the back door in the kitchen opened and footsteps sounded on the linoleum.

“did you save me a slice, grandma?” jeno asked with humour in his voice as he walked towards the table. grandma? you didn’t think they were that close.

“of course i did, sweetie.” she cooed and cut a thick slice for him. he grabbed the plate and sat across from you, sending a playful grin your way.

“hey ____,” he shoved a mouthful of cake into his mouth. “you’ve got icing on your face.”

   your eyes widened and you picked up your napkin, wiping furiously at your face with your head down in embarrassment.

“oh jeno, don’t tease her.” grandma chuckled from behind you, her hand resting on your shoulder.

“i was thinking after this you could help me in the barn? i have to feed the animals and it would be quicker with two.” jeno suggested through a mouthful of cake. he wanted you to help him? is that what you were sent here for? to do chores and manual labour all summer? was this some form of punishment?

   before you could respond, grandma spoke up.

“that sounds good. i have to finish up an article so that should keep you occupied, ____.” she patted your shoulder and headed down the hallway to her office, leaving you alone with jeno.

“y’know, i was just joking about the icing. just wanted to see how you reacted when embarrassed.” he chuckled, scraping icing off his plate and licking it off the fork.

“why?” you furrowed your eyebrows and pushed your empty plate away from you.

   he shrugged. “always nice to know how people react.” with that, he stood up from the table and grabbed your plate, putting both of them in the sink.

“you’re really going to make me do chores with you?” you raised an eyebrow and crossed your arms over your chest, watching his every move.

“yeah?” he turned around to look at you. “don’t think you’re sitting around here useless all summer.”

    that’s how you ended up with a bag of scraps in your arms as you followed jeno to the barn.

“okay, fill up the trough for the pigs,” he pointed. “and then come meet me in the barn.”

   you followed his orders and emptied the food scraps into the long trough, watching the pigs come running.

“here little piggies.” you said monotonously, obviously bored. when you finished that task, you heaved open the barn door to find jeno. for the second time that day, you were shocked with what you found. jeno had opened the chicken coop and now what looked like a million chickens were running towards you. you shrieked and tried to run out of the barn but the door was stuck. jeno just laughed.

“don’t worry, they’re not violent. they’ll just peck your ankles and cluck at you.”

“still!” you cried out.

“don’t open the door, ____! they’ll get out and we’ll have to round them all up!” he scolded. now that the chickens were closer, you realized there was only about 10 or 15. they got too close and you squeezed your eyes shut, ready for your most immediate death. their beaks dug into your ankles and you tried to shake them off without kicking any in the face.

“okay, okay, i’ll get them.” jeno laughed and started scooping the animals into his arms and then putting them back in the coop. you stayed frozen in your position with your arms wound tight to your chest and your eyes squeezed shut. jeno could see how anxious and unsettled you were, so he made his way over to you after securing the coop door.

“you’re still alive, don’t worry.” he teased, grabbing onto your wrists and gently removing them from in front of your face. you frowned and opened your eyes.

“why would you unleash them on me like that?” you huffed.

“oh, please. c’mon, let’s take a walk to cool you off.” he joked and let go of your wrists. he pulled seamlessly at the stuck door and walked into the cool air of the evening. you followed him but he waited for you to join him at his side.

“you ever been to the river?” he questioned, shoving his hands in his pockets and heading towards the dark woods.

“have i? i spent most of my childhood summers in that river, i even learned to swim there.” you replied, glancing over at him.

“oh yeah, i keep forgetting that you’re grandma’s actual grandchild. you’re nothing like her.” he chuckled, running a hand through his thick, black hair. why did he call her grandma?

“is that good or bad?” you asked, a little too aggressively.

“it’s not bad per se. she’s just more free spirited and open to getting a little dirt on her hands.”

   you went silent. your lack of connection to nature wasn’t your fault. your dad wanted you to grow up on the farm and when you were younger, you wanted that too. but your mom wanted you to experience the city and have everything at your fingertips. they had settled on the most boring suburb in the whole world and you still disliked it.

   you made it to the river and you couldn’t help but smile at the memories returning to you. the soft trickle of the water and the birds chirping reminded you of your childhood.

“grandpa used to love it down here.” you sighed happily, forgetting jeno was even there.

“he did? what was he like?” jeno asked, kicking rocks. you looked at him, wondering if you should open up so easily to the boy you had only met hours before.

“he was nice. you really had to know him.” you said, deciding not to.

“oh…how old were you when he…passed?” he questioned with caution.

“i think i was 10, or around there. i don’t remember it all that well. i just remember leaving the farm and it was the first time i’d seen my dad cry. but i understood. i wasn’t so young that they had to explain everything to me.”

   jeno was quiet.

“i’m sorry. i can tell that he was important to you and grandma. she doesn’t talk about him much but there’s a lot of pictures of him around the house.” he said quietly.

   you continued walking along the banks of the river, a silence settling over the both of you. you watched the sun set over the horizon and sighed contently. your mind wandered back to the post you had seen earlier. we’re minha and hyunji still hanging out? had they already replaced you with her?

   before your mind could go deeper in thought, your ankle rolled underneath you. before you could catch yourself, you were falling into the river and your high squeal pierced the air.

   jeno’s head turned at the sudden noise and his mouth hung open as you splashed into the water. he knew it was shallow, a little up past his knees.

“____!” he laughed, rushing to the edge. you landed on your hands, the rocks at the bottom of the river digging into your palms. you shook the wet hair out of your face and huffed.

“are you alright?” he couldn’t hold in his laughter and clutched his stomach as he knelt down.

“i’m fine. can you just help me up please?” you scowled, your eyebrows tugged together and your lips curled into a frown. jeno reached out his hand to grab yours and helped you out of the water. you were soaked through and the cold wind made it feel like your bones were covered in frost. you brushed yourself off, trying to stop the shivers from overtaking your body.

   what you didn’t notice is the gashes in your palms from the jagged rocks. jeno noticed when he pulled his hand away and a smear of blood was on his palm.

“hey, did you hurt your hand?” he questioned, his eyebrows furrowing and his hand reaching out again to grab your wrists. he hauled them towards him to see in the now moonlight, causing you to stumble forwards, closer to him.

“you did…i have some bandaids. it’s closer than the house.” he said, gently letting go of your hands. you tried to wipe some of the blood into your wet jeans but jeno halted your actions, saying that the river water shouldn’t get into the cuts.

   you trudged back to the guest house and when he ushered you inside, you could tell jeno lived there. it wasn’t messy but also not neat, with sweaters tossed over the couch and in a pile on the floor. you almost stepped over the mat, but realized that you were soaking wet and didn’t want to get water on the floors. jeno proceeded through the house but looked back when he didn’t hear your footsteps behind him.

“are you coming?” he raised an eyebrow and then realized what was stopping you. “don’t worry about getting the floors wet. i’ll get you some dry clothes, okay?”

   you nodded and followed him in, looking around the cozy cottage. he disappeared into a room and you almost sat on the couch subconsciously but refrained from doing so because of your damp clothes.

   jeno was back in a couple minutes, a white box in one hand and clothes in the other. you watched as he laid the items on the coffee table. he put his hands on your shoulders and pushed you down to sit on the couch.

“hold out your hands.” he commanded, grabbing the box and opening it. you let him take each of your hands into his own and clean out the cuts. you winced at the stinging of the alcohol, to which he mumbled apologies and squeezed your hand comfortingly. your hands continued to shiver, which didn’t help. when he was finished, he gently placed bandaids on each of your palms.

“there, you won’t need your hands amputated,” he joked. “but you might freeze to death if you don’t change out of those wet clothes.” he rose from his spot across from you on the couch and picked up the clothing he had brought out.

“go change into these and throw your clothes in the dryer.”

   you found yourself staring at your reflection in the mirror in jeno’s bathroom. the sweater and sweatpants he gave you were too big on you, probably even too big on him. you raked your fingers through your wet, stringy hair, trying to make it look more presentable. you looked down at your hands, the bandaids standing out on your skin. you couldn’t get the feeling of jeno’s hands on yours out of your head. you had only known him for a few hours, why were you feeling this way?

    when you got back to grandma’s house, she was still awake. she sat in the corner of the living room in her rocking chair, a book in her hands and her reading glasses sitting atop her thin nose. she looked up when she heard you come in.

“what did you do?” she raised an eyebrow when she saw your baggy clothes and wet hair.

“i, uh, fell in the river.” you admitted.

“now why on earth would you do that?” she laughed, setting the book on her lap.

“i wanted to see if it was too cold for swimming.” you joked. “but jeno was nice enough to give me some dry clothes and bandage my injuries.” you exaggerated, holding up your hands. grandma just smiled, like something was working out in her head.

“i told you he’s a sweet boy. go on to bed, now. i have a feeling you’ll have an early rise in the morning.” oh god.

“____...” grandma’s sing-song voice drifted into your room the next morning. you knew it was way too early to be awake on summer break. the sun streamed through the old windows, making little designs on the walls. you could hear the birds chirping beyond the glass. the smell of fresh bread hit your nostrils when the door opened.

“come on, up and at ‘em. jeno wants you to help collect eggs for breakfast.” she said. you groaned, shoving your head into your pillow. so much for a good summer.

“catch up, ____!” jeno called, walking much faster than you to the barn. you let out a quiet whine. the sun was already beating down on you so early in the day and the buckets he was making you carry were already heavy without eggs in them.

   when he opened the coop, the chickens didn’t fly out at you, making you suspect even more that he had unleashed them on you the night before. there were also many more than the ones that had attacked you.

“okay, first collect the ones without chickens on them, then gently lift the hens and grab the eggs underneath them. got it?” he looked over at you with a grin, his dark eyes sparkling.

“got it.” you nodded, wanting to get all the ones without chickens on them before he did so that he’d have to deal with the hens. you went into the coop first, bucket in hand. you were collecting eggs from exposed nests when you heard jeno…murmuring to the hens? you stopped for a moment, just listening to him praise the hens for laying. you tried to stifle your laughter, but failed.

“are you laughing at me?” jeno asked, acting offended. “i will throw one of these eggs at you.” he warned, holding one in his hand.

“i’ll throw all of these eggs at you if you do.” you challenged, holding up your heavy bucket.

   you dug into your breakfast, the egg collecting that morning making you hungry. farm breakfasts were always so good. toast made from fresh bread, homegrown eggs and milk, and your favourite, freshly picked strawberries and blueberries. when you were finished, you looked up to see jeno and grandma looking at you.

“what?”

“do they feed you at home, girl? you act like you haven’t eaten in months.” grandma laughed.

“i can’t help it. i missed food this fresh.” you sighed contently, a smile on your face. grandma reached over and plucked a feather from your hair. you chuckled and shook your head for anymore to fall out. soon, she was getting up from the table, having to head out for work. she warned for you two to be good, but she knew you’d be fine.

   you continued eating from your bowl of berries, but noticed jeno’s eyes piercing into you. you met them and raised an eyebrow.

“cute braids, pippi longstocking.” he teased, rising from the table.

“oh shut up.” you pouted, shoving a strawberry through your lips.

“hey, at least i said they were cute.” he clucked, tugging on one of the braids as he passed by.

“ouch!” you feigned being hurt but jeno didn’t buy it.

“come help me do the dishes.”

    after hanging around and helping jeno all morning, you finally got a moment to yourself. you decided to go up to your room and read the novel the boy in your english class, haechan, had recommended to you. haechan was smart and sweet and always read the best books. this was the third book he had lent to you and there were more in your bag. he was always on the lookout for you in class, looking to tell you about the book he was reading. haechan was intelligent and witty and you had enjoyed the few coffee dates you had with him. whatever you had with haechan was completely platonic, although you couldn’t deny his boyish charm and cute face.

   you were a few chapters in when your mind wandered to your phone trapped in the drawer of the nightstand. you wondered what your friends were up to.

   you couldn’t help yourself from turning on your phone and standing on your bed next to the window to get the highest signal. the first thing you seen when you opened instagram was a picture of minha and hyunji. they were in minha’s room and hyunji was wearing…your pyjamas?! she was wearing the pyjamas you had left at minha’s for when you slept over! that—that—!

“what are you doing?” you hadn’t even noticed the door open and you jumped at jeno’s voice. you looked over your shoulder and realized how stupid you looked.

“trying to get a signal…?” you laughed.

“what for?” he raised a thick eyebrow.

“um, instagram?”

“what’s that?”

“you seriously don’t know what instagram is?” you couldn’t help but laugh at how naive he was. you plopped down on your bed and motioned him over. he sat across from you and glanced at your phone.

“who’s that?” he asked as his eyes scanned over the picture of the girls.

“oh, that’s—my bestfriend,” you sighed. “well, i guess she is. she’s not too happy with me being away for the summer so she’s hanging out with more popular girls. i guess you think they’re cute?”

“eh,” he shrugged his shoulders and looked at you. “you’re cuter, pippi longstocking.”

   you felt your heart flutter at his words, even though he was teasing you. he reached over and tugged on one of your braids, his hand lingering for a moment. it was almost like time stopped, like everything around you went blurry except for his smiling face.

“i’ll let you get back to your reading.” he grinned, glancing at your book. “but i’ll be back later to get you to help feed the animals.”

“don’t be lazy, ____!” jeno called to you as he trudged through the long grass later that evening, you following behind him. you had just finished dinner with grandma and it was time to feed the animals.

“does anyone ever cut this grass?” you asked, a bucket of seed in one hand and a bucket of silage in the other.

“yes.”

“why do i have to carry this?” you whined. you weren’t used to doing work like this.

“because i'm carrying the water? the water’s a lot heavier if you’d rather carry that.”

   you groaned in response.

   when you finally got into the barn, you placed the buckets on the floor, your arms almost aquiver.

“you’re not done yet. feed the cows, chickens and pigs. i’ve got the water troughs. then i’m going over to the horse stalls to muck them out.” he explained. why did you have to do more work than jeno? you weren’t even getting paid! you sighed, but got to work.

   when you finished, a thin layer of sweat had set on your face and you were spitting feathers out of your mouth. the chickens still hadn’t gotten used to you and kicked up a fuss when you opened the coop.

   you set out into the cold air of the night, the slight breeze cooling your warm skin. you walked over to the horse stable, wondering if jeno was done yet. the doors were open and you could hear grunting coming from inside. you stepped into the doorway quietly to see jeno working on mucking out the stalls. he had shed his red flannel for the white muscle tank that was underneath. you couldn’t help but watch how the muscles in his arms clenched and moved with each lift of the shovel. you couldn’t help but be entranced by the hardworking boy, so much so that you didn’t notice him stop and look over at you.

“like what you see?” he smirked playfully, flexing his muscles.

“oh shut up.” you rolled your eyes, looking down to hide the blush on your cheeks.

“did you get the work done?” he asked, getting back to work.

“yeah. why’d you make me do it all?”

“why do you complain so much?” he came back at you without skipping a beat. you furrowed your eyebrows and crossed your arms, leaning on the doorframe of the wooden structure.

“i–i don’t complain!” you denied, but knew it was true.

“yes, you do,” he stopped his actions again and looked at you, digging the shovel into the ground next to his foot. “you complain so much over the smallest things. you don’t know what it’s like to do hard work like this because you’ve probably never had to work a day in your life nor will you ever have to.”

   his words felt like a knife through the heart. you didn’t take criticism well and you hated people raising their voice at you. you had been so consumed with emotions lately that this sent you over the edge. you looked away from him as you felt tears pool in your eyes.

“you don’t even know me.” you chuckled bitterly.

“i don’t need to know you to see that. you’re a big-city person who can’t get dirt on her hands and can’t go a day without her beloved cellphone. why did grandma even want you here?” he said. another knife in your heart.

“why do you call her grandma? she isn’t your grandma?” you spit, avoiding eye contact.

“she doesn’t mind. she probably likes me more. i actually want to spend time with her and don’t complain about every little thing.” he replied and heard his footsteps in the hay until they were right in front of you.

“and she told me you were ‘such a sweet boy,’” you looked up at him, embarrassed about the tears now rolling down your face. “y’know what, she probably does like you more, you’re the grandson she always wanted.”

   jeno was surprised by the tears in your eyes and on your cheeks. he hadn’t meant to make you cry, he thought you could take it. he was just trying to make your skin thicker and didn’t know you were so sensitive about it. he didn’t say anything as you walked back to the house, leaving him standing in the doorway. he should’ve said something. but he had a better idea to apologize.

you were woken up the next morning by knocking on your door. you thought it was grandma just waking you up. you groaned in response and closed your eyes again. then there was more knocking, but this time faster and louder.

“okay!” you called. you glanced at the clock and realized you had slept in, breakfast was done and grandma was already gone to work. you hesitated getting up and answering the door, knowing it was jeno, but the knocking was now loud and persistent. you got out of bed and stumbled to the door, your eyebrows tugged together in frustration. but when you opened the door, he wasn’t there. that little–!

   before you could race out of your room to find him, your eyes wandered down to the floor, where there was a tray with breakfast and a vase of flowers on it. you picked it up and went back in your room, kicking the door closed, a confused expression on your face. your eyes landed on the note propped against the vase. “i’m sorry for insulting you like that. i insisted that grandma let you sleep so i could bring you this. please forgive me? -jeno.”

   how could you stay mad at him? yes, he said some hurtful things, but doesn’t everyone? your smile grew as you looked at the colourful flowers you knew were from grandma’s garden. you carefully placed the vase on the windowsill and tucked the note into a drawer, not wanting to lose it, before digging into your delicious breakfast in bed. what you neglected to do was realize your newly developing feelings for jeno.

    a week passed and the regular farmhands were back, meaning jeno had a lot more free time on his hands and you had to do less work. he still had to feed the animals, but most of his tasks were inside now. cooking, cleaning, keeping you company.

“you should put your hair in those braids again, like pippi longstocking.” jeno chuckled as you read your book. it was the first one haechan had recommended to you and you had a hard time putting it down. you looked over the pages at his form, his head dangling off the couch and his legs curled across the back. his dark hair stuck out, making you giggle. it was obvious that he was bored for once.

“why, you like it?” you raised an eyebrow and set the book on the cushion in your lap.

“yeah, i do. they make you look cute. not that you’re not cute without them–!” he rushed to explain, looking over at you. you glanced at the hair ties on your wrist and combed your hair out of your face with your fingers.

   as you braided your hair, jeno watched your every move. he watched the way your fingers moved so delicately, the way you tugged them tight, the way your tongue stuck out of your mouth ever so slightly when you concentrated. he couldn’t help himself from falling in love with each of your little mannerisms.

   when you were finished, jeno looked like you had just found the cure for cancer.

“will–will you show me how to do that?” he asked sheepishly. you laughed at his dorkiness and set your book on the coffee table before getting up from the rocking chair to join him on the couch.

“sit up and i’ll teach you.” you laughed. he did as you said and shook his hair out of his face.

“do you know where grandma keeps her yarn?” you questioned. he got up and found it quickly, tossing a ball of it to you. you measured out three equal sections and started to instruct him on how to braid.

   an hour later and he still couldn’t get the hang of it. why did he even want to know? whatever the reason, he was determined to succeed. you were mostly sitting back and telling him what to do, but you decided to help him after a while.

“here jeno,” you started, putting your fingers over his. “like this.”

   he seemed to perk up at your skin against his. you wove the strands, one over the other, your fingers slowly wrapping with his.

“you think you got it?” you asked with raised eyebrows. when he nodded, you took your hands away, just for him to pull them back immediately.

“i think i need you to show me that again, actually.” he smiled, just wanting an excuse to basically hold your hands.

“this is flicka, rusty, and–” jeno started, but you interrupted him.

“princess.” you smiled, carefully stroking the muzzle of the horse with the shiny black coat. you and jeno were in the horse stables, and he decided you needed to be properly introduced.

“grandma already told you?” he questioned, coming to your side.

“i may be a city girl, but i think i’d recognize my own horse.” you poked fun.

“wait, princess is yours?” he asked, shoving an apple into your hand to feed her.

“yeah. i’ve only ridden her a handful of times but grandpa made sure she was mine, even letting me name her. i was only 6 or 7, so princess seemed to fit.” you laughed, holding out your hand to the animal.

“you know a lot more about things around here than i thought you would.” jeno teased, watching you.

“flicka was my dad’s horse when he was younger. she’s the oldest of them all. princess is mine, and rusty was grandpa’s.” you sighed. you made your way over to the copper coloured horse and smiled at all the memories flooding into your mind.

“he was?” jeno said in disbelief.

“grandpa loved rusty. grandma always said he should’ve made him a show horse, but grandpa didn’t want to put him through that.”

   jeno was silent for a moment. “tell me more about your grandpa.” he said softly.

   you hesitated. a lot of what you remembered about grandpa you kept held in your heart and the back of your mind, afraid that if you said it, it’d slip away from you.

   you cleared your throat and looked back at rusty. “he was amazing. a lot like grandma, but nothing like her at all, y’know? they kept each other in line. he was kind hearted, adventurous, brave. when i was a kid i thought he was a superhero. well, he was my hero. we did arts and crafts together, he would take me fishing, and if there was ever a time i wasn’t glued to his side, it was rare. he was the most gentle soul you’d ever meet. he had this affinity for nature and all things in it, and that’s why he bought the farm. he was a hardworking man who loved his farm, but loved his family more.”

   jeno was silent again. had you said too much?

“you okay?” jeno asked softly, moving to see your face. “you miss him, don’t you?”

   now it was your turn to be silent. you hadn’t even noticed the tears in your eyes until one softly fell onto rusty’s nose. you let your hands drop from the horse, not wanting to look at jeno. you didn’t want him to see you cry again.

“it’s okay to miss him.” he said quietly, the hay crunching under his feet as he approached you.

“i’m fine.” you said, hostility in your voice.

“____…” he sighed. before you could back away, he wrapped his arms around you and pulled you to his body. you tried to pull away at first but then realized he was hugging you. you limply wrapped your arms around his neck and tried not to cry into his shoulder.

“y’know what? when it gets warmer out, we can take the horses for a ride. does that sound good?” he suggested, pulling away from you for a moment. you looked up into his smiling eyes and couldn’t help your smile from growing, more memories in your mind. now that you thought about it, jeno reminded you a lot of grandpa.

  you and jeno were both silent as you sat in the living room a few days later, your nose in a book and jeno’s eyes stuck on you, when he got an idea.

“hey ____?”

   you lowered your book. “yes jeno?”

“can you come over later and watch movies with me? it’s no fun watching movies by myself.” he asked, puppy dog eyes pouring into you. you weren’t going to pass up an opportunity to be with jeno, let alone alone with jeno.

“hmm, let’s see if i can fit it into my super busy schedule.” you teased, raising an eyebrow as you pretended to think.

“____!” he exasperated, a goofy grin on his face.

“of course i can, jeno. i’d love to, actually.”

   jeno was more than ecstatic for you to come over. you spent most of your days together, but it always felt forced, like you had to be together. but now, you wanted to hang out with him. the truth was, jeno couldn’t care less about movies, he just wanted an excuse to make you laugh and see your smile.

“but he was the bad guy!” you exclaimed, another fit of giggles racking your body.

“but he wasn’t!” jeno argued, leaning in closer to you. you were watching some superhero movie and you weren’t sure if the main character was supposed to be good or bad. the whole setup was quite cute, for jeno at least. he had at least a million blankets and pillows thrown on the couch and had dimmed the lights to the perfect cozy atmosphere. he had popped two huge bowls of popcorn and brought you each a can of soda. it was nice eating junk food once in a while.

   even though there were a ton around, you both somehow ended up under the same blanket while watching the movie. your body had found its way to jeno’s side, his arm nonchalantly finding its way around your shoulders. but now, you were sat across from jeno under the same huge blanket, arguing playfully about the ending of the movie.

   you watched him ramble on about how his theory had to be true, but couldn’t really absorb what he was saying. you nodded along, but you focused more on how his voice sounded when he got defensive, how his lips formed a pout after every sentence. you couldn’t take your eyes off his lips. they looked so pink, so plush and soft.

   jeno only stopped talking when you leaned in to fill the gap between you and attached your lips to his. your eyes fluttered closed at the feeling and you felt utterly intoxicated by him.

“you talk too much.” you teased when you pulled away, your face still inches from his.

“woah…” he breathed out, a blush spreading across his cheeks. you had rendered the lee jeno speechless?

   he took your face in his calloused hands and pulled you back into another kiss, wanting to taste your lips again. you were almost unable to pull away from the boy, each tug on your lips making you want to kiss him more. you had imagined this since the first day you met him. when you eventually had to pull away for air, jeno looked very pleased with himself.

“i think that’s the best way you could’ve told me to shut up.” he grinned, caressing your cheek gently with his rough thumb.

“oh shut up.” you laughed.

“shut up? did i hear ‘kiss me again, jeno’?” he teased. you gave him one more kiss, your lips melting with his.

   little did you know that jeno had been dying for that moment to happen. when you made the first move, his feelings for you only deepened.

   not long after, jeno had decided to put on another movie, but you fell asleep with your head on his chest within 10 minutes. he admired your sleeping state, wondering how you could look so adorable with you mouth hanging open slightly and your hair a mess. when he started to feel himself getting sleepy too, he slipped out from underneath you before taking you carefully into his arms. he brought you to his bed, laying you down slowly and gently, and tucking you in so that you’d be comfortable. he took one last look at you, still not able to believe the events of the night, before retreating to the couch.

   you woke up the next morning not aware of your surroundings, but you could pick out familiar voices in the distance. you soon realized that you were in jeno’s bed. you got up, and upon noticing how cold the air was, you wrapped a blanket around yourself before heading out to the kitchen.

“jeno, do you ever turn the heat on here?” you whined as you padded down the hallway, trying to find a thermostat.

“it’s summer, it’s warm enough outside.” grandma’s voice sounded from the kitchen. what was she doing here? when you turned the corner, you saw grandma sitting at the small table with a newspaper in her hand and wearing overalls and a flannel shirt which was different from her everyday work attire. jeno was standing at the stove cooking what smelled like bacon, wearing plaid pyjama pants and a white shirt that clung to his back muscles. suddenly you were reminded of the kisses you had shared the night before and your cheeks started to heat up.

“morning ____.” jeno smiled, looking over his shoulder at you. you huddled deeper in the blanket and sat at the table, not sure of what to say with grandma there.

“morning jeno…” you smiled softly, glancing at him again. jeno soon slid a plate of bacon and eggs in front of you, to which you mumbled a quick thank you. grandma snapped down her newspaper, her eyes darting from you to jeno and back to you. then, her lips formed a pleased grin, like something was coming together in her mind. 

   later that morning while jeno tended to the garden, you decided to continue your reading. the perfect spot to read was at the picnic table near the house, where the sun could hit your skin. the breeze blew through the trees and the birds chirped nearby, making everything feel so peaceful. you put down your book and closed your eyes for a moment, letting the sun seep into your veins. you took a refreshing deep breath and when you let your eyes flutter open, jeno was in front of you. you flinched back, not expecting him to be there.

“you scared me.” you chuckled, leaning forward on your elbows.

“sorry.” he smiled and you realized that he was holding something behind his back.

“whatcha got?” you raised an eyebrow, grinning at him.

“oh! i found these in the garden and they’re one of the most beautiful flowers that grow there and they reminded me of you.” he rambled on and you felt your heart stutter. he pulled a small bundle of little blue flowers from behind his back and moved closer to you. with one swift movement, he tucked them behind your ear and let his eyes fall to meet yours.

“so pretty.”

“jeno…” you blushed. “what kind are they?”

“forget-me-nots.” he said, his hand cupping the side of your face. he leaned closer across the table and kissed your lips softly. “so, forget me not.”

new message from minha.

   your phone buzzed and your stomach twisted when you seen the notification.

minha: “omg who’s the guy on your instagram?”

   you had forgotten about the picture of jeno you had posted earlier that day.

you: “his name is jeno. he works for grandma.”

minha: “no way is there boys that cute in the country.”

minha: “i’m bringing this to the groupchat.”

minha sent a photo to you, yunhee and hyunji.

minha: “oh yeah i added hyunji.”

   so now hyunji was part of your friend groupchat?

minha: “thoughts on this hunk of hotness?”

   you felt yourself getting jealous at the way she spoke about jeno.

yunhee: “who even is that?”

minha: “ask ____ ;)”

yunhee: “____ who is that??”

you: “omg guys his name is jeno and he works for my grandma ok.”

minha: “country boy i love yOuUu.”

minha: “you should get his number for me, ____.”

hyunji: “oh my god that’s one hot yee haw boy.”

   you wanted to turn off your phone and shove it in the drawer again. either that or throw it at a wall.

hyunji: “not if i get his number first minha ;)”

you: “guys stoppp.”

yunhee: “lmao does he even know how cellphones work? he’s a country boy.”

minha: “hands off hyunji i have dibs on him.”

   you were tired of hearing them talk about him like he was their property or something. so you did something bold. you typed out the words and let your thumb hover over the send button for a moment. then you did something even bolder, you sent it.

you: “no use dibsing him, he’s my boyfriend.”

   after a second, your phone started blowing up.

yunhee: “oh my GOD REALLY??”

minha: “shut up!”

hyunji: “HOW?”

minha: “holy crap.”

yunhee: “damn yee haw!”

hyunji: “baby lock the door and turn them lights down low ;)”

minha: “so you’re riding more than horses-”

   before you could read anymore of the disgusting texts they sent you, jeno walked into the living room, his white t shirt sticking to his frame with sweat. you quickly put your phone down on the end table next to the rocking chair, not wanting him to see anything they said. he removed his hat and ran a hand through his damp black hair. you tried to rid your mind of their texts as you stared at him.

“hey.” he nodded, collapsing onto the sofa, his chest heaving with deep breaths.

“it must be sweltering out.” you laughed, watching him.

“that, and i had to mow the lawn. all the lawn.” he sighed. there were fields all around grandma’s house, it had to be almost an acre of grass.

“i’ll get you some cold water.” you offered, standing up from your seat. you had forgotten about your phone being on.

   jeno got curious at the buzzing coming from your lit up phone screen. he didn’t mean to snoop, but his curiosity got the best of him. his eyes widened as he read the messages, most of them about him. he scrolled up, laughing at some of the dirty jokes. he stopped scrolling when he seen what you had called him. your boyfriend. he definitely didn’t think that your relationship was at that point yet, even though he wished it was. he wanted to be your boyfriend, and wanted you to be his girlfriend. although, he didn’t know how grandma would react… he was shaken out of his thoughts by you entering the room again.

   you came into the living room with a tall glass of cold water for jeno, just to see him with his eyes glued to your phone that he held in his hand.

“jeno!” you exclaimed, almost dropping the glass in your hand. you hoped he hadn’t seen anything. he almost dropped your phone and looked at you like he was innocent.

“why were you snooping?” you scolded, taking the phone out of his hand and replacing it with the glass of water.

“i’m sorry, i couldn’t help myself.” he said as he tried to save himself. you looked at the screen and seen that he had scrolled up to your last message, about him being your boyfriend.

“when did we make things official?” he smiled smugly, taking a sip of water.

“i–things aren’t official, jeno. i just had to make them stop talking about you.” you said. his heart dropped with your words.

“why? you want me all to yourself?” he smirked, trying to get his confidence back up. you were silent.

“just keep your nose to yourself next time.” you scolded, turning off your phone and walking out of the living room, your face flushed in embarrassment. yes, you wanted jeno to be your boyfriend, and yes, you wanted things to be official, but you didn’t want to scare him away so soon. you didn’t know he felt the same way.

“so when are we going to tell grandma about…this?” jeno questioned as you brushed down the horses. you had just gotten back from a ride across the lush, green pastures, which was very freeing for the soul.

“about what?” you raised an eyebrow and glanced over at him as he stroked rusty’s mane.

“about us, idiot.” he teased. you thought for a moment. would grandma really want you together? maybe she thought you would be a distraction to jeno and he wouldn’t get any work done, maybe she didn’t want jeno to date her only grandchild.

“she can’t know about this.” you sighed, avoiding his gaze.

“why not? are you embarrassed of me or something?” he chuckled.

“no jeno, it’s just—i don’t know, she just can’t know, okay?”

“but i want her to know! i can’t keep sneaking around with you. she already has her suspicions.”

“wait, she does?” you whipped your head around to look at him.

“yes! when you fell asleep in the guest house and didn’t go back to the house, she came over the next morning and thought it was kind of suspicious that you wandered out of my bed.” he explained. you sighed, knowing she’d end up knowing sooner or later. you turned your attention back to princess and continued brushing her silky mane. jeno opened the stable door to let some light in, but furrowed his eyebrows instead.

“what is it?” you questioned, looking past the horse at him.

“do you know anyone who drives a red pickup?” he asked, confused. oh crap.

“no way…” you muttered, putting down the brush and pushing past him. of course your parents were there. they must’ve already gone to the house, as they weren’t in the truck.

“who is it?” jeno asked, nudging your side.

 my parents,” you sighed. “just great.” you raised your arms and let them fall in an action of frustration.

“let me guess, we can’t tell them either?”

   your heart dropped at the tone of his voice. you knew he only wanted to be with you, but your parents didn’t want you to have a boyfriend. they wanted you to do well in school and have zero distractions.

“i’m sorry jeno, but we can’t tell them either.”

“so this is the jeno you told me about!” your mom chuckled as you two entered the house. you shot a look at her. she knew and didn’t tell you?

“jeno, this is my daughter in law. ____’s mom.” she smiled, introducing them. you watched nervously as he shook your mom’s hand.

“it’s very nice to meet you.” he smiled politely.

“what did i say? such a sweet boy.” grandma cooed, ruffling his hair. he glanced at you, your silence concerning him.

“hi sweetie.” mom pulled you into a hug. “you thinking about running into the woods to become a fairy still?”

“y’know, it’s always an option.” you said sarcastically. “where’s dad?”

   they fell silent.

“is he not here? i know he said he was doing a lot of overtime shifts.” you busied yourself, not wanting to know the reality.

“he’s, um, in one of his moods, ____.” she said lowly, glancing nervously at grandma.

“is he… bad again?” you asked, your voice almost a whisper.

“just—don’t worry about it. i’ve got him under control.”

   ever since grandpa died, your dad had been in and out of stages of depression and alcoholism, even violence at times. grandpa’s death affected him the most, but it had been years, and he still got bad moods like it. luckily, there was no alcohol out in the middle of nowhere for him to drink.

“what was your mom talking about? about your dad?” jeno questioned, pulling you aside as you entered the barn to collect eggs before dinner.

“nothing, jeno. don’t worry.” you shook your head and tried to smile.

“no, ____, it’s not ‘nothing’. there’s something going on.” he furrowed his eyebrows and it was the first time you’d seen him look genuinely upset.

“okay, okay, sometimes dad gets in these moods where he just wants to isolate himself and he doesn’t want anyone telling him what to do. if you try to speak to him or try to help him, he gets angry.” you sighed, leaning against the barn door.

“does he get violent?” jeno questioned, his eyes staring into yours. you hesitated.

“____.” jeno urged.

“no! he never gets physically violent. he would never lay a hand on me or mom. he just gets…mean.” you assured.

“what do you mean by that?”

“he just yells and says mean things. he doesn’t hurt us, jeno.” you fidgeted, looking away from us. jeno’s jaw clenched, his stone cold gaze shooting daggers into you.

“verbal abuse can lead to physical abuse—”

“jesus christ, jeno, he’s not abusing us!” you sighed in disbelief, looking back at him.

“i’m sorry for being worried about you,” he said roughly. “it’s just that i only get you for another month and he gets you for the whole year. i don’t know what happens to you when you go home, but i want you to be safe.”

   your heart ached because you knew how much he cared about you. you lunged forward, wrapping your arms around his neck and breathing in his scent.

“thank you.”

    you slid into the seat next to jeno at the dinner table, the aroma of a home cooked dinner making you smile. it was almost peaceful, until he stumbled in from the living room.

“who’s this?” your dad barked, nodding towards jeno.

“this is jeno, i hired him to help out around the house.” grandma explained. dad just pulled out his chair and sat down, rubbing his face with his hands.

“help out around the house? what are you, sick? are you retiring soon?” he sighed, looking at grandma. jeno’s hand reached for yours under the table. you tried to brush it off, but he trapped your smaller hand in his bigger one, slowly intertwining your fingers.

“i’m fine,” grandma assured. “i just don’t have the time to do some things.”

   dad looked at jeno, analyzing him, like he was good at. he was always good at making anyone feel small. you gave jeno’s hand a comforting squeeze.

   you stayed quiet during dinner, listening to dad ramble on about how nuclear annihilation will soon end the world. it was nothing new. he was so pessimistic and always had something to complain about.

“all i’m saying is that the government doesn’t know what they’re doing. they’re screwed.” he mumbled, pulling a flask out of his shirt pocket and twisting the lid before pouring some into his drink.

“do you really have to do that here?” your mom interjected, sending glances at you and jeno. you watched jeno’s expression turn from neutral to stone, like he was angry. you squeezed his hand again, looking up at him. he looked back down at you and his face softened, a smile forming on his lips. and you knew everyone noticed.

“____, get in here!” your dad’s voice boomed across the field from the house to the barn where you and jeno has found solitude. you sighed, knowing you probably did something wrong.

“i’ll be right back.” you frowned, leaning up to kiss his cheek. when you did, he turned his head and connected his lips to yours. you blushed, smiling as wide as your face would let you. you hoped your father hadn’t noticed from the porch.

   as you entered the house through the kitchen door, your eyes widened slightly in a confused expression. mom and dad were sitting at the table, grandma leaning against the counter.

“what’s up?” you questioned, lingering near the door and glancing between them.

“don’t do this to her, she’s only being a teenager and having fun like she should—” grandma started but dad cut her off.

“sit.” he growled. you obeyed, sitting across from them at the table.

“what is it? stop being weird.” you furrowed your eyebrows.

“whatever’s going on between you and jeno has to stop.” mom sighed, sending a weary glance at grandma.

   your breath hitched in your throat and your movements stopped as your eyes went wide.

“w—what are you talking about?” you laughed awkwardly, trying to brush it off. “there’s nothing—”

“cut it with the bullshit!” dad yelled, making you flinch. mom laid a hand on his shoulder, making him calm down.

“don’t act like we don’t see you two being all lovey dovey. the hand holding, the kisses, it all has to stop.” he demanded.

“dad, jeno and i are friends!” you exasperated, but not even grandma bought it.

“i was going to let them be. she’s happy, isn’t that what you want for her?” grandma tried to elaborate with your dad.

“you’re not allowed to have a boyfriend. you have to stop seeing him.”

   you were sure you went white, your nails digging into your palms as you held your fists right at your sides. your eyes watered with tears but you didn’t want to show weakness in front of him.

“dad, please.” you said quietly.

“or else you’ll be coming home with us.” he pierced holes into you with his sharp gaze.

“you can’t be with jeno.”

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