#THE MERMAID SISTERS SHOULD HAVE WON

[bringingtherain]

Hello everybody, I wanted to share a little (modern) Linked Universe AU that have been living rent free in my head for months. It’s based on a reddit story (that I don’t know if it’s true or not, but it still very interesting anyway).  If you have some time, please give it a little read <3

Also, I’m sorry for my English :’)

Legend and Ravio met at college. It was now the end of finals week, so of course they wanted to celebrate. Not only that, Legend was going to – finally-  ask Ravio out. Like, c’mon, he was not a coward, why had he hesitated so much?!

They are walking together on campus, passing by Twilight and Wild who were playing a game, Twilight waved but Legend was way to nervous to notice. Finally, he looks at Ravio and thinks “this is it”. He opens his mouth, feels a sudden intense pain in his head, and falls like a sack of potatoes.

He wakes up maybe 10 seconds later, with Ravio desperately calling his name. To his left, he sees Wild looking worried, and Twilight looking mortified. Before he can even think of saying anything, Twilight starts apologizing profusely. Turns out he and Wild were playing football, and he accidentally hit Legend right in the head with the ball. Legend sits, shakes his head, and comes to the conclusion that besides a strong headache, he is okay, despite Ravio’s protests that he should go to the campus nurse.  

He didn’t asked Ravio out that night. Legend is paranoiac at best, and that ball in the head felt maybe like a –literal- sign from above that confessing to Ravio wasn’t the best idea. Not only that, Hilda, Ravio’s sister, always looked at him like she was silently but strongly judging  if Legend deserved to be so close to her dear brother; and Shadow, Ravio’s best friend, looked like he had already left the judgment phase behind, and the sentence was that he hated Legend guts. Maybe they were right.

So Legend tried to move on. After another year and a half he finally finished college, and in a bout of luck, he won first prize at his favorite music store: a one month vacation to a isolated and beautiful paradisiacal island; Koholint. What better way to celebrate the conclusion of his college life? Ravio accompanied him to the ship, and looked sad to see him go. Legend calmed him, it’s only a month. He will be back soon. Ravio hugged him, and that hug lingered for perhaps more than it should, but no one really wanted to let it go. But then, way too soon for Legend’s tastes, it was time to board the ship. It’s okay, Legend thought.

It’s just a month.  

As he left the ship and looked around, Legend felt like he was walking right into a dream. Koholint island was way too perfect to be true. Even though he wasn’t the biggest fan of summer, the heat in his skin felt gentle, and he felt all the tension leave his shoulders.

And there, he met her. A beautiful singing voice called for him, and he couldn’t stop himself from talking to her.

Marin was beautiful. A long red hair that moved like sea waves around her shoulders, shiny brown eyes and a happy, gentle smile. Her voice was so surreal and sweet that Legend would often think that Marin was actually a mermaid who just got tired of living on the ocean. He called her attention by using his trusted ocarina to play the song she was singing, and she was overjoyed to have his company.

And just like that, one month passed. The ship was there, waiting for him. He didn’t want to go.

So he didn’t.

It didn’t take long for them to start officially dating. Also didn’t take long for Legend to ask for her hand. It was everything so perfect, why would he waste his time?  

As he kissed his now wife on their wedding day, he got himself thinking that if this was a dream then he never wanted to wake up.

Three years later, the world welcomed a little baby boy. His little baby boy. As Legend took his son in his arms for the first time, he asked himself in wonder how could he feel such intense love so quickly. He would die for this boy’s happiness if needed. The touch of Marin’s hand on his brought him back from his dazed state. He looked at her, his eyes full of tears. He never felt so complete in his whole life.

The years passed quickly, but the days extended for what seemed like years. Each precious memory burned forever in his brain. His little boy first steps. Marin’s delicious food after a long day of work. The days spent playing at the beach. The cold nights cuddling by the fireplace. The day his little baby boy –now a 19 year old man- left the island to pursue his college dreams. Every night falling to sleep to her smiling face, and everyday waking up to her gentle voice.

He was walking home, slow but steady. His walking cane on one hand and flowers for his wife on the other. Today was their 50 year anniversary , and his son was going to visit.  As he was walking, a seagull passed dangerously close to him, and he accompanied it with his eyes. When his eyes guided him to the top of Koholint’s tallest mountain, Legend stopped.

And he looked.

There was something wrong. He couldn’t for the life of him tell what, but there was something deeply wrong. He kept looking, hoping that this would somehow make the gears in his brains start to move, but it didn’t. He felt the answer at the tip of his tongue, but he couldn’t translate it into words. So he looked.

When he felt a hand on his, he finally moved his eyes from the top of the mountain, and looked at his wife, worry visible in her eyes. She asked him what was wrong. Why was he taking so long to go back home. That’s when Legend discovered that apparently he stayed at the same place, looking at the top of the mountain for hours. 3 hours to be exact. It haven’t felt like more than five minutes to him. It must be his age, he thought after some time, so he went home with his beloved. The mountain stand taller behind him.

That night, after a long celebration and the news that he was going to be a grandad, Legend stayed lying down on his bed, unable to sleep. It was that damned mountain fault. He couldn’t stop thinking about it. Before Legend could notice, he was already up and out of the house. And soon he was at the same place of that afternoon, looking at the top of the mountain.

Time got a little blurry after that. His family came to see him, increasingly more worried about his well being. But he couldn’t leave. He needed to find out what was wrong.

One day, as he felt Marin desperately beg for him to go home, to just look at her, to please, please stop giving it attention, it finally hit him. He couldn’t understand how it took him so long to see something so surreal.

There, at the top of Koholint’s tallest mountain, sit a gigantic egg.

He turn his eyes to Marin, ready to ask if she was seeing the same thing he is. That couldn’t have been there this whole time, right? As he looks in Marin’s direction, he sees nothing.

Marin is gone.

Did she leave? He was sure he had listened to her voice right now, like white noise. He went home. There was no sign of his wife or his son. Worried, he decided to look around.

It wasn’t just his family, he found no one. The island was empty.

That’s when he heard a distant voice. Hope bloomed in his heart that maybe it was Marin, but as soon as he listened close, he realized it wasn’t. However, it was familiar. A voice he thought he had long forgotten.

“Ravio?���

And he woke up.

He had his head nested between Ravio’s tights, who desperately called his name. To his left, he sees Wild looking worried, and Twilight looking mortified. Panic arises at the sudden sensation of dejavu, but before he can even think of saying anything, Twilight starts apologizing profusely. Turns out he and Wild were playing football, and he accidentally hit Legend right in the head with the ball. No, he thinks. Nonononono. This already happened, this is already long in the past.

Where’s Marin?

He tries to get up, but is hit by a wave of nausea and falls back into Ravio’s arms. Legend looks at him, despair thick in his voice.

“Where’s Marin?”

Ravio looks at him, worried, and asks “Who?”  Ravio then asks Twilight for help getting Legend up. He needs a doctor. It’s possible he have a concussion and might be delirious. Legend tries to stop them, but he is feeling way too sick and way too scared to do much. Twilight is too strong for him to be able to escape, so he just go limp, crying.

“Where’s Marin?” He asks again, but no one answers him.

“Where’s Marin?”

-----------

So yeah, Legend suffered a concussion that made he vividly fee like he lived his whole life in a place that doesn’t exist with people that aren’t real. I mean, the idea of living your whole life and then suddenly waking up in the past, in a body way to young for you, feels terrifying. Like, if this happened to you, could you just let it go? Would you be able to have a relationship without thinking that you’re cheating somehow? Are your feelings real if the person you have feelings for isn’t? Idk, I think it’s pretty fucked up. If you have any questions, ask away, because I really don’t know how this would end lol  

[chimcharstar]

.

[set-wingedwarrior]

Mood of my life

Need the full song NOW

[thomacrumbs]

vincit qui se vincit.

various boys (albedo, diluc, aether, xiao, childe, gorou, kazuha, thoma) x gn! reader. fantasy! au. blurbs, mostly fluff. nouns used: sorcerer (childe) & witch (kazuha) w/ gender neutral pronouns. ♡s & ↻s appreciated!

notes: i brainrotted. i was listening to joy's album while writing this ^^

albedo.

the great alchemist albedo is just a myth, or so people think. cursed to live forever as a spirit bound to a teapot by a witch, he sits, bored out of his mind, on the shelves of a dingy antique shop. until one day, against the warnings of the antique shop owner, who warns of bad luck & misfortune, you purchase the quaint teapot & rescues him from his prison. he clatters menacingly on your countertop, only to be ignored by you for days on end before you finally lift the lid off the teapot, releasing his spirit into the realm of the living (its not as bad as it sounds. he is neither threatening nor scary). he doesn't have the heart to tell the human he's grown quite fond of that he's slowly disappearing.

diluc ragvindr.

the ludi harpstum is a festival of wine & song, celebrating the long history of the city of mondstadt, filled with games & song. this year, it seems like the knights of favonius has gone all out with their preparations, even calling in the famed circus of performers that has travelled every corner of teyvat, wowing people with daring flips mid-air, disappearing limbs & tight-rope on the thinnest of threads. the music & laughter of children is so loud that you could hear it from the windows of the dawn winery. an unwilling diluc is dragged against his will to at least view the once in a lifetime circus act, only to be charmed by the cute magic performer who winks at him from the stage as poker cards fly into the air. suddenly he finds himself going to bed thinking about them and wakes up in cold sweat wanting to talk to them. but, the ludi harpstum is only 15 days, can he catch you before you slip through his fingers?

aether.

yeah. maybe you shouldn't have tried to summon a guardian angel, but to be fair your friend put you up to this. now this blonde biblically inaccurate angel is bound to you by contract, and you have another headache to worry about alongside your minimum wage job, messy apartment and the neighbour from next door who keeps taking your flour. not to mention his constant rambling about his sister who you've unceremoniously torn him away from, and suddenly you're repeating this entire ritual, because you cannot say no to those eyes (and maybe you did want to impress him, what about it?) it didn't work, but he doesn't seem that peeved, especially when he settles on your bed after you've fallen into deep sleep, pressing a kiss to your forehead and affectionally calling you cute. he is your guardian angel, at the end of the day.

xiao.

you're the famed dragon rider in the skies of liyue. the winner of several races, competitions & illustrated celebrity in the devoted dragon owner scene. afterall, you ride the only remaining off-spring of morax, a gift from the emperor himself. you boast that no one else could tame your dragon except for you, and for a long while, this seems true. it blows curling flames at anyone who dares come close & curls it spiked tail protectively around you to ward off any unsavoury people. that is, until an unknown melody that carries over the wind calls your dragon down from the skies, and suddenly you are hurtling through the skies at insane speeds.

childe.

he came to liyue for one reason only (two, actually, but morax is dead now, so no boxing him), to challenge the great sorcerer branded by the archons. he's heard about their miracles from a young age, the ability to call down thunder from the skies, resurrecting the dead, moving the entire earth with a simple flick. the only obstacle in his way is that this sorcerer is near unidentifiable, with not even a name to put to a face. imagine his shock when the very sorcerer saves him from certain death, and he finds out they're not an old man hobbling around with a cane, but a young person around his age. oops can't fight if you're too distracted by how good your opponent looks. damn they look good kicking my ass i should do this more often.

gorou.

his dog has had enough of his single shit, crying into an empty bowl of icecream after watching the notebook, wailing about how he "wishes that were him". the animal whisperer who likes hanging around the local dog park is very surprised when they hear a yapping dog bark that his owner needs a significant other stat, he's desperate and alone, applications open please help my mess of an owner. but hey, you aren't complaining, he's pretty cute, and you find it cute that he tries to stop his tail from wagging whenever he sees you.

kazuha kaedehara.

from a young age, he's heard of the immortal witch that hides in their cottage in the thick of the dark forest nears the borders of inazuma. and nothing stops him from pounding on the door of the run down cottage, not even the animate vines that snap at him and trees that uproot themselves to stop him from advancing further. afterall, an immortal being must know the answer to bringing back someone from the dead, right? he near sobs when they tell him that it's impossible, the dead have to stay dead. he doesn't understand at first, but the witch is kinder than he expected, helping him through the memories, painful & happy. but he doesn't miss the flit of pain behind their eyes whenever he talks about losing someone, afterall, time is cruel to all.

thoma.

thoma thinks he's being seduced. afterall, isn't that what sirens do? sing of a pretty future, the numbers to win the future lottery. even though thoma has never won the lottery with their numbers, he stills himself entranced & walks down to the beach everyday to listen to them talk & sing, sitting on the edge of the rock as cold water clashes with his temperature that naturally runs high. finally, he gets the courage to confront them- he doesn't want to fall in love because of magic, that's not right. only to be met with a confused look, you're a half human half mermaid, not a siren. thoma fucking dies of embarrassment when he realises that he was simply in love all along.

[teawaffles]

There’s No Business Like Show Business: Chapter 2

The next day.

After finishing his work at the mansion, Bond headed to Whitechapel’s Leman Street, where Maya and her company normally held their rehearsals. [1]

Walking down the noisy street was not just Bond, but also three other employees of the Moriarty household. One of them was Fred Porlock.

“It would’ve been fine if only you came along, Fred…… But thanks for joining us anyway, you two.”

Bond directed that to Jack Renfield and Sebastian Moran, who were walking a little behind him.

As Fred was a master of disguise, Bond had asked him to contribute his opinion on the performance too when Jack and Moran decided to tag along. Now the four of them were on their way to the rehearsal — with Louis’ permission of course.

Jack roared with laughter.

“No, you don’t have to thank me. I’ve watched my fair share of theatre, so I thought I could help them out, even if it’s from an amateur’s perspective,” said the old butler, nodding as he reminisced about those good old days.

“You’re probably just after the young girls from the theatre company, aren’t you old man?” Moran said, half in disgust. “Bond said this Maya chairwoman is a dashing lady in her own right, so I came along to feast my eyes on—— Ow, that hurt!”

Jack had clapped Moran on the head, as a warning to not shoot his mouth off.

“The only one here chasing women is you. Really, you didn’t even finish your chores properly before coming here.”

“I did my part just fine. For once, I’m not skipping out on work.”

“Rubbish — I did a check before we left and found some cigarette butts in the hallway. Don’t you dare annoy Louis any further.”

“……W-Well, the more the merrier, right?”

“…………”

Listening to their usual argument at the back of the group, Bond smiled wryly, while Fred was silent.

Finally, they had reached their destination. Waiting in front of the theatre was Maya, and her little sister Mae.

“Mister Bond!”

“Hey, haven’t seen you since yesterday.”

Mae waved her arms up and down in excitement, while Bond greeted them with a smile.

“S—sorry. Normally, she would play with the other children near our place, but today she insisted on coming with me…… By the way, um, who might these, d—dignified gentlemen be?”

“Ah, they work at the same household as me. The short one here is Fred. The somewhat scary-looking one is Moran. And this dandy old gentleman is Mr Jack. If you’re alright with it, I thought you could use their input as well.”

As Bond introduced them, the three men also greeted their host. But Maya seemed a little perplexed.

“……Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to come here in a big group,” Bond admitted, looking slightly uncomfortable.

“No, no.” Maya hurriedly waved her hands. “I—I’m really grateful to be able to, hear valuable feedback from, so many people. For now, let’s not stand here to talk, please come in……”

Maya guided them into the theatre, stooped in a self-abasing posture. Her faltering voice was much as the same as from their previous encounter, but today, nerves seemed to have crept in as well.

“She has a sort of shadow about her, but that has its own charm. Like the transient beauty of a young widow, don’t you think?”

“She’s pretty, for sure, but not really my type. More like the kind of woman who complicates things when you break up with her.”

“Um, sorry you two, but if you could just keep your voices down,” chided Bond, as Jack and Moran whispered about the chairwoman behind her back.

Right after the entrance was a cramped space. The box seats above them looked hastily constructed; in truth, the interior decorations made it seem more appropriate to call this place a playhouse, rather than a proper theatre.

But their guide had only praise. “The manager here is, a really nice person; whenever we say we want to practise, he’s always happy to lend it to us. There are performances held at night, so we can only use it during the day.”

“He trusts you, doesn’t he.”

Hearing her speak with such sincere gratitude, Bond was quietly impressed by her character. Perhaps her dark aura easily invited misunderstanding, but she was definitely genuine at heart.

“Speaking of which, Miss Maya, you said that you’re the director for this performance, but surely someone else is responsible for the sets and the arrangements at the other theatre during this time?”

“Another member is in charge of the sets, but the negotiations and the like, w—were handled by me. Even so, the manager of the larger theatre — a nobleman — had actually approached us to be the opening act for another company, and I just accepted his invitation.”

“Still, isn’t it great to be invited to perform on a bigger stage, even if it’s just as an opening act?”

“Yes; for people like us — a theatre company from the slums, we don’t have many chances to show the world what we can do, so everyone’s doing their very best.”

Saying that, Maya secretly clenched her fists. Surely the one working the hardest was none other than Maya herself.

There was no audience in the stalls, and on the stage were a number of men and women — likely the company members themselves — doing light warm-ups and vocal exercises. A few of the children he’d met yesterday were also frolicking about on stage.

One exceptionally tall man on the stage had noticed Bond and the others enter the hall, and spoke up.

“Oh, is that the rumoured theatre master?”

Moran whistled at this unusually grand title.

“Theatre master, eh. A fitting name considering your experience, Bond.”

“Fufu, I’m honoured.”

Bond accepted it with his innate courage and composure. Then, he went onto the stage with Maya, while the other three sat in the stalls at the far end, so as to not stand out and interfere with the rehearsal.

The company members each stopped what they were doing and lined up in wait.

“Everyone, this is Mr Bond, who will be watching our performance today,” introduced Maya.

Right then and there, her voice had become clearer and stronger. A little taken aback by the sudden change in her attitude, Bond took a quick look around the room.

“Hello to you all. I’m looking forward to what you have for me today,” he said solemnly, as he bowed.

“We’ll do our best!” The company members bowed their heads in unison.

From their greeting, Bond could feel the the quality of their bearing, and the strength of their cohesion. Not only that, the tension he himself once felt when he stood on stage came rushing back in waves.

He switched his frame of mind from that of a special agent, to that of an actor, and looked over Maya and her company with an earnest gaze.

“Well then, without further ado, please show me what you’ve got.”

“Yes!”

Even though his instructions had been given with no introductory remarks, they asked no unnecessary questions, and jumped straight into preparation. Even though they had only put up plays in cheap theatres, Maya’s company already displayed the high level of professionalism they had developed.

“Miss Maya, what’s the programme for today?” Bond asked, as he moved to the row of seats right in front of the stage.

Maya was also directing Mae and the other children to sit down. “We’re starting with ‘The Red Shoes’, followed by ‘The Little Mermaid’, and lastly, ‘The Little Match Girl’.”

“Hmm, fairytales, I see.”

The unexpected subject matter piqued his interest.

In a time when Shakespeare was all the rage, to perform children’s literature in a proper theatre, and a serious scripted play at that — now this was a bold move.

But as someone who liked to do things unconventionally, that was precisely why their play intrigued Bond. Yesterday’s playful rendition of “The Little Match Girl” was probably inspired by it as well.

Then, the tall man who noticed Bond earlier spoke up.

“Ain’t it interesting? Maya always makes sure to write plays that even us poor dumb folk understand. Today’s script is also entirely her work,” he said cheerfully.

“Weren’t you in charge of creating the play too? You should be able to write at least one decent line of dialogue.”

At the man’s self-satisfied tone, a woman beside him sighed. But he ignored her pointed comment and carried on.

“There were a bunch of people who’d always thought ‘Hamlet’ and ‘Macbeth’ and the like were plain boring; but after Maya broke them down into something easier to follow, they’ve gotten hooked onto Shakespeare.”

“Being able to interpret works in a way that everyone can understand…… A wonderful talent indeed.”

But if you were to put on a proper production of Shakespeare in an unregulated theatre like this, you would be caught by the censors. To avoid that, incorporating music and the like into their productions was a brilliant adaptation on their part.

Bond had said that last part out loud, and the man thanked him for his words of praise. The members of the company had shown their admiration for Maya, but the woman herself took in a deep breath, as if to hide her embarrassment.

In other words, in order to put on a play that everyone could follow, the answer she'd arrived at was “fairytales”. Although it may be the best choice given the short length of the opening act……

“I’m sitting next to Mister Bond!”

“Hey, no fair!”

Bond had been absorbed in thought about the contents of the play. Nearby, the children were scrambling for the best spots. Having won the seat to the left of Bond, Mae asked him a question.

“Mister Bond, do you like ‘fairy tales’?”

That pulled him out of his thought process for a moment, and Mae smiled.

“Yeah. I read them when I was a child.”

“I like them too, because Maya and the rest always read them in a fun way—”

“Me too!” The other children raised their hands and shouted. Reading stories aloud while acting out the roles was indeed a theatrical way of reading to children.

However, Mae immediately pouted in frustration.

“But I really hate that story.”

“……Why is that?”

“The little girl always looks so sad. I tried asking Maya to give it a happy ending, but she just said that we have to ‘respect the intent of the story’ and didn’t listen.”

Her words helped Bond discern the true nature of the incongruity he'd felt.

As Mae had said, all three stories had their protagonists fall into unfortunate circumstances and perish. It was true that many fairytales were cruel, but there were others with happy endings too. Was there some hidden intent behind these choices?

As Bond pondered the new question that surfaced in his mind, Mae leaned in towards him.

“Mister Bond, do you also think it’s important, what Maya said? No matter how sad a story is, can’t we make it happy on our own?”

She asked that question with clear eyes. Bond thought for a few seconds, before responding.

“It’s true that it’s important to understand the intention of the original story. If you change its contents haphazardly, the fans of the story would be upset. I think your sister is the type who would take that very seriously.”

Mae glanced down in disappointment at his level-headed answer, but Bond continued.

“However, if we were all afraid of criticism, then nothing new would ever be made. If you have something you really want to tell others, then I think it’s possible to add a new interpretation to a story. After all, one form of respect is to show the world how you would’ve done it.”

“……Oh I see!”

Mae brightened up, and Bond smiled. Her question was one that had always, and would continue to vex all interpreters of stories. But at the very least, he didn’t want to make a decision on which way was right.

Just as their conversation had come to an end, it seemed the preparations for the performance were now complete.

“Without further ado, let us begin.”

Standing on a platform, Maya gave a bow, and with that the curtain rose.

Footnotes:

[1] Leman Street is a little to the north-east of the Tower of London and St. Katharine Docks, and within walking distance of both.

T/N: Is this chapter some meta-level commentary on the series itself?! omg

[sykilik101]

Moments With You

There's no such thing as coincidence. I don't believe for a second anyone else besides her was supposed to be there that day. Fishing and owning a bike that just happened to have a Pikachu-sized basket?

We were meant to meet.

xxxxx

"Sorry I'm late!"

We'd already been traveling together for a few months now, and I'd gotten a pretty good idea of who Misty was. Quick to anger, an unwavering sense of right and wrong, and a love of water Pokémon that even I couldn't hope to match. We were past the point of simple acquaintances and could now be considered friends, but there were sides to Misty I had yet to learn about.

One of those was her with her hair down.

Her voice pulled me from my PokéDex, a speechlessness overtaking me as Pikachu's gleeful exclamation blended with the music and crowd. Everything in the background was blurry from the lantern smoke and lights, but Misty standing in her pink kimono, fan in hand, was immediately seared into my mind. For a second I was reminded of when I'd seen Giselle at that Pokémon Tech place we'd visited; she was pretty in that "make my face warm" way. I'd never gotten that feeling from Misty before, but now-

"Come on, Ash, let's dance!"

Her hand found its way into mine, and a dizzying warmth accompanied the softness of her fingers. My voice trembled a bit as I agreed, and with her extended invitation to Pikachu I couldn't help but laugh. She pulled me onto the dance floor with an infectious jubilance that suited her better than I could have thought. It was the first time that the two of us, together, whittled the hours away in the company of food, dancing, and a budding best friendship.

That was also the first time I felt soon-to-be-familiar nerves in my stomach around her.

xxxxx

"Okay."

"Right."

Traveling through a foggy forest towards a town that was supposedly home to ghost Pokémon didn't have the same energy as "summer festival," but at least I was holding Misty's hand again. It was Brock's idea, which was the perfect excuse for me to hold hers for longer than a few seconds. Even with my glove in the way, the tips of my fingers pressed into her skin, and I felt an abnormal heat surge through my cheeks. I wondered if I could convince the others that we should come through this forest on the way back.

I'd held out my hand to Brock so he wouldn't get lost; leave it to him to grab Pikachu's tail and ruin the moment.

xxxxx

"What are you two doing here?"

At this stage of our friendship, it was easier to hide any displays of enamorment behind a curt answer or a crude decision. I'd had enough practice with starting arguments after being caught staring, but I still hadn't gotten many opportunities to compliment her while maintaining plausible deniability. It was next to impossible to say something like "Your eyes are pretty" inconspicuously, so any chance I could get to say something about her, even hidden behind sarcasm or jokes, was something I wouldn't let go to waste.

I wasn't sure why Misty even agreed to help Melvin out in the first place. Misty's not an especially kind person, so agreeing to be some magician's assistant, in a Goldeen dress of all things, would definitely be high on my "things Misty would never do" list. Despite that, I couldn't help but think that she looked really...really pretty. Like, "the Maiden's Peak festival" pretty, but this time, I wanted to tell her. Hiding a compliment behind an annoying tone sounded like a good idea, and since starting an argument with her was easiest when she was in a flustered state, this was the perfect cover for me to say-

"That's a real cute outfit, Misty."

Surprisingly, I managed to keep a straight face and not stutter my words, despite inexperience threatening to wipe away the snarky tone I was going for. I was ready for the verbal retaliation she was famous for, but the sudden complaints of the audience demanding a show was a welcomed distraction. Taking a front row seat I savored the feeling of victory at having been able to call Misty cute and not end up with her mallet on my head.

It's too bad she didn't put her hair down for the outfit, though...

xxxxx

Every story I've heard of mermaids says that they're always extremely beautiful. Mermaids probably aren't real, but I think Misty is making me a believer.

xxxxx

"Careful, Ash, all that food can make your belly as big as your head."

I like that we're now at the point where her teasing comments are all in good fun. Of course, even if it wasn't, nothing was gonna bring my mood down. I'd already won my first two rounds, and I even got to eat for free thanks to a fan of mine. After having not had a meal for the entire day, all Pikachu and I wanted was to dig in.

Misty's company wasn't unwelcomed, either.

I wanted to answer her, but she happened to catch me mid-chew. My response was automatic and ready, but before I swallowed, a thought came to me. It was a nickname I'd thought about before, and I'd never found the right moment (or courage) to try it out. However, my post-battle elation made my worries feel insignificant, and I figured even if she didn't like it, I could brush it off as me just being too happy about my success to care.

"Thanks, Mist, but I can't help it! I got all this food for free! That's 'cause she happens to be a big fan of mine!"

Mist. I like the way it sounds, and the fact that she didn't immediately get that Misty eye twitch means she didn't dislike it. Although, maybe it's 'cause I'm so used to calling her Misty, but Mist feels a bit...awkward. Almost like how you'd call your girlfriend a cute nickname.

...Misty as my girlfriend...

"Ash, everybody in the Pokémon League gets to eat here for free."

So much for the fan of mine. I think, maybe, I'll keep Mist in my back pocket for future use, when it feels right to give her such a cute nickname.

xxxxx

"You're crazy!"

"Crazy is right! Never in a million years!"

She didn't have to deny it that hard...

xxxxx

"You and I will be married someday, too."

"Mhm…"

I didn't really register what Misty had said right away. My thoughts were more focused on how we were going to stay overnight in this park and hearing this girl - Temacu, was it? - talk about marrying Brock. For some reason I half-expected Brock to be going along with her imagination; after all, wasn't he always talking about cute girls and how he'd want to be with them? Did he not consider Temacu cute? Maybe he just doesn't want to marry her right after meeting her. I guess that makes sense. It would be kinda weird to want to marry someone if you're not in-

...wait, her and I, married?

"Huh?!"

I recognized that look in her eyes. Throughout our travels, anytime Misty messed up or said something she didn't mean to, her eyes always did that same thing; I could practically hear her screaming "I didn't say anything!" in her head.

The thing is, she did say it, and my brain started spinning all sorts of ideas on what she was implying by that. She could have just meant, in the future, I'd be married and she'd be married, but not to each other. That'd probably be just what she'd say if I brought it up. But...what if she was actually thinking that her and I would be married to each other? Was that something Misty thought about? Would she want to marry me?

Temacu's dad showed up, and after some talking we were invited to stay at their house instead of the park. I should have been more excited at being able to sleep in a bed instead of my sleeping bag, but Misty's response kept replaying in my mind. Even if her words hadn't registered to me right away, her voice had been calm with a bit of that daydreamy tone she used once in a while. I couldn't remember her sounding like that when talking about me.

Having packed our camping gear back up, our group began heading into the town. Brock and Temacu lead the way, with her dad shortly behind, and Misty and I bringing up the rear. As we walked I stole a glance at her from the corner of my eye. She seemed lost in a thought, her hands absentmindedly rocking Togepi to and fro as the little Pokémon looked on the brink of a nap. Eventually her gaze caught mine and she turned towards me.

"Is something the matter, Ash?"

I could ask her right now. With the others ahead of us, we had the privacy to have such a conversation. It wasn't a hard question at all. Were you really thinking about us two being married together? My mouth started to open, but something about the way she looked at me held my voice back. If I was wrong, it would just end in another argument, which would fit the status quo between her and I like usual.

But, deep down, I think I couldn't handle the idea of us fighting about marrying each other.

I needed more time to see how she felt about me. I'd spent enough time with an erratic heartbeat around her to know where I stood, but something about not knowing how she felt about this scared me enough to close my mouth, turning back towards the others.

"It's nothing."

Maybe her and I would be married someday. First, however, I needed to find out if she even liked me the way I liked her.

xxxxx

"Will I...see you again?"

"You will. I swear."

The dirt was quieter now, disturbed by two feet rather than six. The road from Viridian City to Pallet Town was familiar to me; the loneliness wasn't. The tears had subsided, but the ache in my chest was still as strong as ever as I slowly trekked down the dusty road.

I'd been ready to tell her. The mood had been perfect, if a bit more somber than I would have hoped for. Shades of purple and orange painted the sky, the sunset burning to match her hair. There was no hint of teasing or malice in the air, and the bike stationed by her side felt nostalgic; it made me think of how far we'd come since the first time I'd taken it from her. That time together, however, had come to an end, as a phone call from her sisters had sent us our separate ways.

However, it wouldn't last forever.

The handkerchief felt soft in my hands, wrapped around the bento Brock had given me. The corners were tied up perfect and sweetly, as if she'd done this for me a million times before. Her fingers had moved so effortlessly to fold the cloth, knot it tightly before offering it to me. What she'd really given me wasn't just tangible, and I think we both knew that. I know I can be a little dense, and I usually let my optimism take over when I'm unsure of something, but I think I got the message pretty clearly this time. In that moment, I could see exactly what I was looking for in Misty's eyes. Even if I hadn't said anything, I felt like she knew what I wanted to tell her.

There was something she wanted to tell me, too.

My heart, still deflated, skipped as a flush clawed its way up my face. I could be crazy and wrong on a million levels, but I'm pretty sure she feels the same way. Even if I'm either, or both...I can tell her now. Maybe I don't need a perfect moment or the right words, but I'll be ready when I see her again. She'd found her way into my life once before, and she'll do it again.

After all, there's no such thing as coincidence.

______________________________________________________

I gave myself permission to be less “strict” about trying to write Ash in character, deciding I’d let myself kinda run wild with maybe using words or descriptions you might not expect from him. This was fun to write, and I hope you enjoyed it.

[the-fiction-witch]

I Know

TV SHOW ACCUSED COUPLE: JAKE X READER RATING: DARK + SWEET

REQUESTED: xxtiredlikeusualxx

I stood fighting back tears, I had known Shaun since I was a little girl and standing here in his apartment was strange when he wasn’t here. 

“Tally Ho!” Shaun smiled holding his stick “Hoist the mainsail Mr Murry!” 

“Land ho!” Jake yelled behind him in the little box 

“What did you call me jake!” I yelled back 

“Uhhhhhhhh Look a beautiful mermaid!” Jake quickly corrected 

“What’s what I thought” I snapped “Mermaid kisses!” I giggled spraying my water bottle on them both

“Y/N!” Shaun complained 

I stopped thinking about it, the three of us grew up alot like siblings due to our mothers working together, admittedly we had grown apart a little as we got older mostly because I ended up in another school to the boys. But we still always saw each other and remained close often the three of us would go to Shaun’s or Jake’s and sit and play video games or just have movie nights with popcorn. Me and Shaun would hang out alot on our own mostly because Shaun knew about my crush on jake. I headed into his bedroom the usual place we would all hang out everything as it was last time I was here and I saw jake sat on the bed fiddling with the little Rubix cube 

“Hey”

“Hey” He nods 

“How are you doing?”

“Fine” 

“It’s okay, it’s gonna be strange,” I said going over and sitting next to him

“Yeah, strange”

“I think we should stay together, It helps I think,” I said “And Jake?”

“Yeah?”

“I don’t think you should go out with your friends for a while”

“.... what are you talking about?”

“I don’t think you should go out too much I mean we don’t know who did this to Shaun or why”

“y/n you don’t understand” 

“Jake what-”

“Just leave me alone alright!”

“I- I’m sorry jake” I nodded hurrying back out into the apartment, 

I sat fiddling with my pen, trying my best not to yawn. I couldn’t stop thinking about it all I had hardly seen jake he wasn’t talking to me, he wasn’t answering when I called, He never came out or came over anymore. I knew how hard losing Shaun was and the two of them were like brothers I can’t imagine how he feels. I looked at the computer watching the little video they paid on the news about what happened to Shaun, it was dirty and muggy, a terrible street camera that could see the gate and little else. It was horrible to watch him he ran and tried to talk to someone but fell he to the ground. I couldn’t stop watching it even if I hated it, I looked at it looking at the street and the gate and I remembered, we have a camera? In fact, it looks at that alley, but from the other angle. I went onto our camera and tried to get the view for that day, I found the video luckily it was there going to be auto-deleted tomorrow. I put it on fast forward going through the day from midnight watching it go on Until I saw Shaun he was running from something, more importantly, someone. It was grainy and half-broken but I saw that face I knew…. Jake. He was following him. What was he doing there? They stood talking in the alley, what were they talking about? I almost jumped out of my seat as I saw what happened, he took a gun from his hoodie pocket and shot him. Pulling up his hood and disappearing as Shaun desperately called his mother. 

“You alright y/n?” My boss asked as she came around 

“Uhh yeah, Yeah sorry” I said wiping my eyes shutting the window

“It’s about what happened isn’t it?” 

“Yeah”

“I think you should go, take the rest of the day off don’t worry yourself about it. Get your stuff and get home” she says so I nodded and started gathering my things, I noticed it was due to be deleted by the end of business so I grabbed my old school flash drive I had bouncing around in the bottom of my bag uploading a copy and heading home. 

I sat on my bed unable to escape the images in my head, the boy’s I had plaid pirates with, the boys I cuddled with between blankets for movies, the boys I had gone on a thousand swimming days, and arcade days, and park afternoons, The boy’s I had seen as my best friends, my brothers, my sweet boys. Killing each other. Over what? I’d never seen the two of them fight over anything, the most I had seen them argue about was over pizza or x-box controllers or over the odd opinion about things, But… the most I ever had to do was get between the odd tussle, or offer a solution that know one won. 

‘Ohh come on jake season two’s shit!”

“I like it!”

“We’re not watching it man, Come on we’re watching the new supers”

“No! Come on it’s the same old bullshit, Shaun!”

“Boys!” I yelled stopping the argument “we are watching Disney and both of you are gonna shut the hell up and your gonna cry with me else I am shoving this remote up both of your asses” 

“Fine, just don’t put the princess one on I had that damn song in my head for a week” Shaun complained 

“And please do video me crying again!” Jake complained 

I got my jacket and headed out the house going down the street hurrying along to the little house I knew so well, knocking on the door and his mother answered 

“Ohh hiya love, I think he-”

“I need to see him.” I snapped “Please, It’s important” 

“Alright” she nodded letting me in “I uhh I’m heading out okay?”

“Okay” I nodded watching her walk out and lock the door, so I headed upstairs and spotted his bedroom door open and him sat on his bed clearly ready for bed 

“What are you doing here!” He yelped jumping off his bed 

“I had to see you” “Y/n will you just fucking leave me alone” 

“Jake! Listen to me to little shit!”

“Whatever is it. I don’t wanna know” He says I sighed shutting the door and dropping my bag 

“I know jake”

“Know what?” He snapped 

“.... I know what you did” I said and the colour drained from his face as I showed him the flash drive from my pocket 

“...What is that?”

“Ohh now you wanna know?” 

“Y/n. What is it?”

“A flash drive. You can have it. When you answer me” “Answer what?”

“Why did you shot Shaun?” 

“... Who told you?”

“Knowone told me”

“Then how do you know?”

“Camera’s work has a camera that looks into that alley. It’s in our back window guess we had a better view than the street camera”

“So You’re work knows?” “No, Just me.” I explain “I check the camera know one else. I didn’t check because I’ve been a bit everywhere, the footage gets deleted after so long, it was the last day. At five it gets erased without a trace. This… is the only copy that will remain” 

“Give it”

“What?” “Give it!” He yelled trying to lunge for me but I thought with him the whole time before I pushed him to the floor and ran across the other side of his room shoving the flash drive down my bra “Y/n… you have to give it to me”

“No. You have to listen to me. And you have to be honest with me. Or else” “Or else what?”

“Or else I take this to the police station.” “... What do you wanna know?” he sighed sitting on his bed 

“Just tell me, why did you do it? He was your best friend? You were like brothers?” I asked going closer to him 

“You think I don’t know what I’ve done” He said tears trickling down his face I sat beside him and held him close 

“Who knows?”

“Cormack. Me. You”

“That’s it?”

“That’s it” 

“Why did you do it”

“.... he made me” “Shaun?”

“Cormack”

“What did he say?”

“He said I had to. Because of mum and sue, because of what they did he said I had to, or else” 

“Or else what?” 

“Or else” 

“Or what jake? Do they shoot you? They shoot your mum?”

“They gave me a choice,” he said “Do as I was told and shoot Shaun. Or they’d make me”

“How would they make you?”

“... they’d take you” 

“W-what?”

“He said he knew where you worked, what days you worked, where you lived.”

“So what?” “He said, I could do as I was told, Or He’d take you and… make me, they’d hurt you or worse”

“What’s worse?” “Y/n-”

“What’s worse jake?”

“He didn’t say, But.. I know what he meant” “What did he mean?”

“The last time something like this happened. One of the boys had to shoot a guy from one of the other gangs and he wouldn’t do it.”

“So what did they do?”

“They took his sister, cut her hair, beat her up, and… made him watch while they”

“They what?”

“Did. things to her.” 

“Why would they take me?”

“Becuase he knows, how I feel about you.”

“What did he say? Exactly?”

“He said, Jake, you take this and you make sure that Shaun doesn’t get far, I told him no I wouldn’t do it, he said you’ll do it, or I’ll go pick up that pretty girl of yours and… and I’ll make you watch while I take her flower, and I’ll make you put a bullet through her head.” He explained “I didn’t want them to hurt you. He was waiting outside your office while I did it. To make sure I did it. I tried to talk to him I did I tried to reason with him, and… Shaun, he told me to do it” “What? Why would he tell you to?”

“I told him the truth that if I didn’t they were gonna hurt you. So he told me to. You’re like his little sister y/n, neither of us wanted anything bad to happen to you, why do you think we stop seeing you so much both of us, we wanted to keep you out of it all, we both knew they’d use you against us and you’d end up getting hurt” he explained “It’s why after… I left you alone, I didn’t want you getting involved” he says “so… now you know” 

“Now I know”

“So, I guess you’re taking that to the police.”

“No. I’m not” 

“Why not?”

“I lost Shaun. I’m not losing you too jake” I told him getting the flash drive holding his hand to keep it between us “Our secret. We take it to the grave.

“To the grave” 

“And you’re getting out of there”

“Y/n-”

“Please jake, for me” 

“... for you, I’d do anything” 

“You swear?” “I swear” 

“On your life?” He nods 

“I solemnly swear, Not a word of this will pass my lips, this drive stays between us, our secret, till death” 

“I solemnly swear, not a word of this will pass my lips, it stays between us, our secret, till death” 

“You swear?”

“I swear. On my life, my soul, everything I have in this world.” 

“Prove it?”

He smiled briefly leaning forward and giving my lips a little kiss I blushed hard and kissed back gently “I swear, on us, On the way, I feel about you, on my heart and soul, so long as we both shall live I swear it” 

“Then I swear, On us” I smiled giving him a gentle kiss too “I didn’t know”

“Neither did I” he blushed “I thought you… didn’t like me like that”

“I thought you saw me… like a little sister” 

“No, like a little girl I had a crush on. Since she was the little girl giving me mermaid kisses in our pirate ship box” 

“Since our cuddles up to the lord of the rings and Disney movies” I smiled 

“Y/n. Can you stay with me, Tonight?” 

“I’ll stay as long as you want me too jake” 

I got home a little worried, I wanted to leave them be god knows what they needed to talk about, I hope he hasn’t got her in trouble or anything, I went up quietly noticing the light in his room still on but the bed had the two of them laid together locked in a sweet lazy embrace, noses touching smiling widely as they laid deep in sleep, I smiled and shut off the light leaving only the little lamp on his side table on with the shadows of stars and moons that they had drawn on the shade years ago reflecting on the walls and ceiling, I shut the door quietly and left them to it. 

[capesandshapes]

"snowflake the fairy and her boyfriend BRAD" capes no

Fuck you, this is an invitation and since you asked for it on anon everyone else has to suffer through it too.

Learn about Snowflake and her mystical boyfriend Brad below the cut.

I'm going to give you some background, and by that I mean, I'm going to humiliate myself awfully beforehand: When I was a kid, I freaking loved the Winx club and I would wake up at six am on Saturdays to watch it. Since Winx club began to air with I was eight years old and took a long hiatus in America around the time I turned ten/eleven and my parents also coincidentally had a bunch of computers laying around for me to play around and type on since my dad worked for IBM-- it's safe to assume that I spent nearly every free moment of those three years thinking about this cursed concept and plotting these awful books.

So like, the Winx club was aired on PBS in the midwestern market at an ungodly hour since they also served the east coast, and I would literally go to sleep the second the sun went down to watch it. I was kind of a weird kid, so I always pretended that I was tuning a tv to turn to my favorite channel before bed and so forth, then I'd have these dreams that I was pretty in control of.

And again.

I was obsessed with Winx.

So, obviously, I had these dumb dreams about winx fairies and all of that, but the show wasn't going exactly how I wanted it after like a season (thanks freaking RIVEN) so I drifted away from that and started dreaming about, writing about, and obsessing about my own rip off winx.

Enter, Snowflake. Red hair, blue eyes. Fire powers, even though her name was Snowflake. A clear rip-off of Bloom, but like picture more dresses and she's a fairy who lives in a fucking igloo.

Snowflake started out clearly interested in two men who, I shit you not, were named Brad and Joey. Brad had blonde hair and blue eyes, he was a rip-off of bloom's boyfriend but shirtless 90% of the time and fucking useless. Joey broke my heart. Joey was a rip-off of good old Riven, the love of my young life, only add a cool, tough tattoo on his arm that was a literal knife with the word 'hurt' underneath it.

Snowflake started out as a princess who went to a boarding school, but eventually, I realized that I didn't need the rest of those bitches around (by that I mean literally all of the other students). So Snowflake was a princess who hung out in her kingdom and had like three friends who were decidedly beneath her; Stacey, Edna, and Kay. Kay was Joey's twin sister. They were basically yes girls with one note personalities, save for Kay, who was like Snowflake's best friend and had light powers that were totally ripped off of the Dazzler and useless 90% of the time.

The meat of the story is that there was this older fairy who wanted to melt Snowflake's home and flood the world. She was named Carly because, surprise, I was bullied by a girl named Carly. Carly (in the story) bit people, but like, not as a vampire thing, she just like ate them? You didn't die or even bleed, and the part would grow back, I think I just thought that cannibalism was a pretty mean thing to do.

And also Carly wanted to abduct Snowflake to make her melt the world because Snowflake was basically a glorified lighter.

This all sounds twice as stupid when I write it out.

Anyway, so Snowflake's main boo was Brad, since Joey would have random fits and decide to be evil every once in a while and that was 'annoying'. The problem with Brad, however, was that he was a classic himbo and always got captured and had to be saved from the evil lair (an apartment inside a literal volcano) -- They always caught Brad because, I have no idea why, the idiot of the year was always hanging out in a hot tub and I'm pretty sure that's because that was the only way that my little brain could comprehend him being shirtless all the time as I needed him to be.

But eventually, like the eighth time Snowflake came to rescue him, Brad died. Like, Snowflake saw him across the clearing and this villain literally pushed a fucking boulder on him. I outlined in word and printed out on one of the five pieces of paper my parents would let me have every day (To keep my sister and I from stealing and printing on a whole ream) that this man literally had a boulder rolled on him. Like, Carly climbed up the stairs, went to a ledge, and had the fucking time to roll a boulder on him while Snowflake was talking.

And her spirits were crushed almost as flat as Brad was.

So like Snowflake decided to go out with Joey who was like, "have you ever considered being evil idk it's occasionally fun" and became evil and melted the world? Listen, trauma can change a girl.

Then she became a mermaid and brought her friends back as merzombies

But she wasn't happy, even though she could now wear black and cut her hair? Also Joey kissed with tongue and Brad didn't, so that should have been a major plus.

I really think it was just because Joey wore a shirt all the time, but who knows.

Snowflake's dead parents who died off-screen sometime showed up as ghosts and told her that she could do anything with the power of love. She asked them to stay, AND THEN THEY LITERALLY SAID SOMETHING LIKE, "sorry, we can't be here with you, you can do anything with the power of love, but we're not in love with you, DAUGHTER."

So

UNDERWATER

Snowflake cried on Brad's FLAT body and the tears somehow touched it and he was brought back to life and then immediately started to drown because I had a baseline understanding of biology, and by that I mean I understood that people did not breathe water.

Brad dying a second time in front of her made her powers explode

so, somehow, she unlocked all the powers of the HTRAE (THAT'S THE WHOLE UNIVERSE'S NAME, NOT THE PLANET. It's Earth backwards, because technically the planet is just inside earth-- Listen I can't explain this shit very well) and froze her kingdom again

and then suddenly like, controlled all the elements. Like bam, she is nature, bitch. This includes metal. No idea why. Just elements plus metal, which again, not an actual element there.

But it couldn't be over, because I'm from the midwest and my grandma is the head of the church commitee. Ten year old Beth knows how love and romance work, okay, she knows how to craft a fucking story and where to end it.

so I was like I guess her and BRAD get married. And then Joey came back to fight for her hand and he won, but Snowflake didn't love him so she froze him? EVEN THOUGH SHE LIKED HIS TONGUE KISSES.

SHE CRIED BECAUSE OF THE TONGUE KISSES I SWEAR.

And then her and Brad literally got onto a horse to ride into the sunset and made out-- With tongue.

and that's just like a really brief summary of my actual hundreds of printed pages (10 pt font) of nonsensical plot that was going to make up the Snowflake Series, and as an eleven year old I was convinced that this would sell for millions of dollars and everyone would be so impressed that they'd carve, 'Creator of Snowflake', into my tombstone.

[mommymooze]

The Dating Game!

Lights are flashing different colors on the words written on the wall. Cheezy trumpet music blares as the announcer speaks,”“Welcome! Welcome! to Fodlan’s greatest craze, the Dating Game, and here’s your host, Chuck Margolis!!”

“Hey, Hey lovers, its Chuck Margolis here with you again for the Dating game! We have a new lucky lady as our contestant and three available bachelors ready to play our game. At the end of the show, our lucky lady will choose who she will go out with on their date!” The MC is boisterous and walking quickly about the stage.

“First, let’s meet the men that are vying for our beauty’s attention.

A light shines brightly over the head of the first seated male. The announcer begins, “Hailing from Fraldarius territory in the Kingdom is none other than the son of the Duke himself, Felix Fraldarius. Felix is a swordsman.”

The announcer goes quiet, you can hear him talking to someone “but that’s all he wrote, what else can I say?”

Chuck steps up, waving in the direction of the men. “Welcome Felix!” he announces too boisterously for the succinct introduction. Felix grimaces in return

A second light comes on, shining on the next seated male. The announcer, “Hailing from the Leicester Alliance is Raphael Kirsten. He is studying to be a Knight but hopes someday to open his own restaurant. He loves his little sister and building his muscles.”

“Greetings soon to be Sir Raphael!” Chuck bows dramatically. Raphael waves eagerly and smiles widely.

The light finally illuminates the last chair on the stage revealing a sleeping male. Our announcer, “Direct from Enbarr to you is Linhardt von Hevring. A proven healer and self-proclaimed genius, Linhardt’s interest focuses primarily on the study of Crests. He also enjoys fishing and naps.” The green haired man is fast asleep sitting up on his chair.

Chuck chortles, “He seems to be enjoying himself with a nap right now!”

Now we will bring out our fair maiden, we’ve kept her in a silenced room to not find out about our handsome bachelors. She will have to ask them questions in order to determine which one she will invite on a date at our expense.

“Let’s welcome the lovely--- Sailor!” Chuck proclaims.

The announcer reads her details, “Born in the Kingdom’s territory our guest originally hails from the Kleiman region. She’s 20 years old, 5’11’’ tall and until recently worked as a ship hand on the Flying Mermaid. She’s come to Garreg Mach to find her destiny and also to find true love!”

“Welcome, Sailor! Aren’t you a beauty. I bet you would love romantic strolls along the beach, eh?” Chuck makes waggly eyebrows at her.

“I suppose.” She smiles, quite confused at all of this.

“Well, Miss Sailor, it’s time for you to ask questions of the eligible bachelors on the other side of the wall in hopes of gaining a date with them, and who knows, perhaps you will fall in love…” Chuck waggles his eyebrows.

Sailor gets comfortable in her chair. “Okay, Bachelor number 2. What is your favorite time of the day?”

Raphael thinks for a second. “Well, I gotta say lunch time, no, dinner time, wait. MEAL TIME. That’s the best, makes me hungry just thinking about it.”

She nods while listening to him speak. “Bachelor number 1, same question.”

Felix groans. “When it is time to spar, or time to fight. You must spar to get strong, if you are not the strongest, you will die.”

Sailor nods at his response. “Bachelor number 3, same question.”

Raph nudges Linhardt in his very loud whisper voice, “Dude, you’re up.”

Linhardt yawns and stretches. “Is it nap time yet? That’s my favorite time of day.”

From him that seems to Make sense. Sailor agrees. “Next question If I were to turn the tables and get you flowers, what kind should I get you? Number 1?”

Felix, “Why am I here? I don’t care about flowers. I just need a sword and a target and I’m fine.” He grunts, crossing his arms and frowning more fiercely.

“Number 3?” Sailor asks.

“Urughhh” Lin yawns again. “Camomile is a wonderful flower, it makes the perfect tea to relax you and give you pleasant dreams when sleeping.”

Sailor, smiling: “Number 2?”

Raphael is all excited, “I was at this amazing restaurant and this Chef made flowers out of meat sticks and bacon! It was the most beautiful thing I ever seen. Give me those flowers,yeah!”

Sailor laughs pleasantly. Just like it said on the card for her to do. “Bachelor 3, what is your favorite smell?”

Linhardt looks wistfully into the distance, “Freshly laundered sheets, hung out in the sunshine, they smell like a beautiful day, perfect for sleep. “

“Bachelor 2?”

Raph drools, “The smell of pure protein cooking! Gotta build my muscles, I got lots but always need more!”

Bachelor 1?

Felix grunts, “The smell of steel, sweat and hard work. “

Sailor reads the card, “Ok. I am making a huge beef roast. Perfectly spiced, rare in the middle. Will you be joining me for dinner?”

Bachelor 1? “I suppose”

Bachelor 2? “Yeah, let me at it. Sounds delish!”

Bachelor 3? “Eueggh blood. Count me out.”

Ding!! Ding!!!

Chuch stqnds next to the girl, having her stand and moving the chair back. “That is our signal. That is all the time she has! Our beautiful contestant must now choose the lucky person she will go on an all expenses date with. Will it be bachelor 1, bachelor 2 or bachelor 3?

Sailor looks a little panicked. “Oh. This is so sudden..hmm. Who should I pick” :::Nibbles on fingernails::: “I choose….I choose…Bachelor 2!”

Chuck pats her on the shoulder. “Okay. But first let’s meet the 2 you did not choose. Bachelor 1, come on over. It’s the son of duke Fraldarius himself, Felix!”

Felix stomps around the corner nods his head and walks off the other end of the stage. Chuck keeps the show rolling. “Here is bachelor 3, Linhardt von Hevring. An aspiring crestologist in the territory that shares his name.” Linhardt politely walks up to the girl, shakes her hand and kisses her cheek. He then notices the comfy chair behind her and lays back on it to get more sleept.

Chuck waves his hand, “And here is the big reveal, you chose bachelor 2, Raphael.!! A knight in training and loving brother to his baby sister maya!!!”

Raphael comes around the corner and is all smiles and flexing his muscles. He shakes her hand then turns beet red when he kisses her on the cheek.

Chuck continues: “Congratulations you two! You’ve won an all expense paid holiday in Remire Village!. The quaint getaway spot at the foot of the Oghma mountains. The wildlife is plentiful, and the feasting is incredible!”

Raphael gives a cheer. “I can’t wait.!!” He gets so excited he picks up his date and starts lifting her up and down over his head. “Yeah!”

See you next time on the Dating Game!

Side note: My husband watches too many old tv shows. Got this stuck in my head. Enjoy.

[sweetcircuits]

I would love to hear about your design for the HypMerForce AU! Ramble away! :)

Thank you for enabling me, Acara! :D I'm not sure how much of this is new info for you, but it'll be good for me to at least get this all down in a post so I don't forget it!

Let's start with the Robot Mer-Monkeys!

To preface, I really wasn't sure how much of the mer-monkeys I wanted to change from the regular mer-monkeys! so there isn't really much difference. I mainly streamlined the designs some (to make it easier to swim, I guess? to smooth out the designs so they're not so sharp and sticking out? idk)

ANYWAY

so I did smooth out the designs, the antennas don't have the round tips that stick out, they're more compact! same for the points on the top of their heads, they're a little more smoothed out! and same for their shoulders, they don't have the ball-joint shoulders in this design.

I gave them all different types of tails, and there is no deep meaning for each tail, I just wanted them each to look unique! since their canon designs are all the same.

You probably noticed for Sparx that he has a lightning bolt design on the back of his head! That's something I did design for each of them, something a little decorative that I wanted to add for these mer-monkeys!

No rocket packs, since they don't need to fly, and they have fins and can swim already using those! so instead of rocket packs I added a bonus dorsal fin on their backs!

Each of the Monkeys has a little accessory, that was something else i wanted for this design, something special for each of them!

Antauri - a special Power Primate crystal

Nova - a shark tooth - she picked a fight with the shark and won!

Sparx - a flute (in this au I thought he would be a good musician since he can't be an ace pilot!)

Otto - a bunch of washers and gears on a string (in this au, Otto isn't so much a mechanic as he is just an all-around handyman? and he also likes exploring and picking up human things - like Ariel does in The Little Mermaid - hence the metal washers!)

Gibson - a satchel (still a scientist of some kind in this au, he needed something for storing samples of things he picks up here and there!)

Chiro/Amber/Jinmay

Mermaids are fun because you can take any combination of human or fish traits and cobble them together in a design you like! So for Chiro, Amber, and Jinmay, they have a few interesting traits to their designs!

Chiro still has his yellow comm, but instead of being pinned to his shirt (bc he doesn't have one) it's tied around his neck like a necklace instead!

He also has a little orange cloth tied around his arm, it's reminiscent of his Hyper Form scarf and it added a little something to his design!

He has little freckles on his face and down onto his shoulders, blue because of his tail color! He also has a bunch of these little dashes down his spine, and the idea I had for those is that they would grow into spines as the merperson got older!

Chiro and Amber both ended up with blue tails (similar color, since they're siblings) and have two small fins on the side of their 'hips.' (fun fact, I had a REALLY hard time deciding what tail color Chiro should have, whether it would be orange as reminiscent of his Hyper Form design, or blue to match his sister!)

Chiro DOES have a Hyper Form in this au! I just still have to design it XD

Amber has her usual silver comm necklace, and her shells are white to contrast her black hair, and bc of the white shirt in her standard design!

Jinmay has a differently styled fin, a single large tail fin instead of two smaller ones like Chiro and Amber; and that doesn't have any deeper meaning except that I wanted her to have a slightly different design than Chiro and Amber!

She doesn't have any freckles (for a slightly "cleaner" design? again to contrast Chiro's design) and I also had a hard time deciding what color her tail should be, since her canon dress has pink, white, orange, and green all in it! and I think the green tail and orange shells was a good compromise!

Her little shell earrings were really cute, and I wanted her to have a little something like Amber's pearl earrings and Chiro's gold earrings!

[sandrinehbrt]

BARBIE MOVIE HEADCANONS

why am i doing this? oh, believe me, i am asking myself the same question. i have no idea but every time i watch barbie movies i also think of how sandrine would appreciate them and review them and yeah i guess this counts as character development and what not.

top five favourite movies

barbie and the magic of pegasus (ice skating, cute baby polar bear, kind of gay for the queen)

barbie as princess and the pauper (the SONGS the story the animation the everything, hands down the best barbie movie in the entire universe with swan lake as a close second)

barbie as the island princess (very adorable baby elephant, friendships are more important in the end than a semi pointless male interest no offense antonio but yeah full offense go away and colonize another island who cares)

barbie & the diamond castle (one word: LESBIANS)

barbie: a fashion fairytale (the terrible french accents deserve a special mention they made her laugh)

top five least favourite movies

barbie: videogame hero (it’s too high tech for this actual grandma)

barbie presents: thumbelina (the animation of the small creatures is very scary like their heads? are too big)

barbie fairytopia: the magic of the rainbow (they should have made a spin off about lesbian mermaid nori instead this was pointless laverna just go get lost for fucks sake)

barbie in the pink shoes (very confusing)

barbie: spy squad (she pays allegiance to totally spies, the ultimate female spies)

top five favourite characters

blair willows / princess sophia > princess charm school (the whole storyline is a dream: she was a waitress, won a contest to study at the royal school & ends up being the lost princess everyone thought died years ago.

annika > magic of pegasus (brave, bold & looks good in lilac)

clara > the nutcracker (she’s the sugarplum fairy, enough said)

viveca > three musketeers (very lesbian, very fashun, very hot)

sandrine > mermaid princess (for obvious reasons, also represents sandrine’s whole ‘i fall for people i can’t have’ since barbie sandrine has a lot of attitude and seems very hard to approach)

top five least favourite characters (excluding villains)

prince louis > three musketeers (sexist dumb pointless no chemistry with the main character whatsoever go get lost in your hot air balloon and complain it’s hard to be a prince bc you can’t talk to birds anymore)

the twins love interests > diamond castle (forced heterosexuality is boring make it stop)

janessa > 12 dancing princesses (she collects bugs BUGS!!!!!! nope not allowed)

eden starling > a christmas carol (great redemption arc and explanation of why she is pure evil but still, she gets a 0/10 for not being sweet like we get it eden you can sing and so does sandrine and yet she doesn't act like a diva)

stacie > great puppy adventure / great puppy chase (she's way too into sports child just chill and watch some cartoons give everyone a break pls)

best romantic relationships

liana & alexa > diamond castle (they live together they sing love songs to each other they sell flowers they find matching gems and make engagement necklaces together they lose their joy once they are separated, the whole movie is about liana wanting to date the muse melody and have a throuple and alexa wanting to keep their couple closed and alexa and liana finds out they don’t need anything else to be happy other than each other and this is gay)

odette & the fairy queen > swan lake (i feel like sandrine would call the fairy daddy for some reason, and odette bakes and dances? nice. swans are cute, good opportunity to say look at all those chickens)

rosella & luciana > island princess (full offense to antonio go back on your boat and let the two women in charge of your kingdom)

elina & nori > fairytopia: mermaidia (they “fight” for the same ugly merman but they end up having more chemistry together i stan! also nori becomes a better person and elina makes great sacrifices for her so it's perfect good girlfriends content)

geneviève & derek > 12 dancing princesses (listen LISTEN LISTEN this is prime romance, derek is attracted to geneviève, the misfit of the family despite all her other sisters being absolutely gorgeous, he gives her time, he shows his affection through small attentions, his own parrot ships them like this is goals and he does anything he can to make the whole family happy and to save them putting his love for gigi second)

in brief: sandrine your bisexuality is showing

(i disagree with the best top 5 especially but for the rest i feel like we would agree on most of this, especially about prince louis I HATE HIM WITH A BURNING PASSION like ;;;;; sir you are so flat and you have 0 personality and french monarchy? i don’t stan ~ also here’s the link to the barbie wiki page if you want context or u can ask me i’m a connoisseur phd in barbie movies i bought a barbie for my birthday does it validate my knowledge SHE’S LIKE “SWEET ORCHARD” THEME THAT IS SO ADORABLE idk what i will name her? thinking of cinnamon bc she comes with a basket of apples)

for reference:

gif 1 = liana & alexa from barbie & the diamond castle

gif 2 = annika & aiden from barbie and the magic of pegasus

gif 3 = princess annelise & erika from barbie as princess and the pauper

gif 4 = elina & nori from barbie fairytopia: mermaidia

gif 5 = geneviève & derek from barbie and the 12 dancing princesses

gif 6 = odette & the fairy queen from barbie of swan lake

[differenceonlyyoucanmake]

If you’re still doing HCs could I please get some Rip/Calissa HCs? I wanna know what they were like before they had their daughter.

Sure! It’s been a while since I’ve watched Mermaid Tale, so I hope nothing is contradictory here.

Rip/Calissa HCs

- I usually don’t attach music to headcanon lists, but the song “Anything For You” by Ludo reminds me of them.

- Rip was always fascinated by things like cryptids, aliens, and the paranormal (though whether this started as a genuine interest or a way to annoy Break is debatable).

-He always felt like there was something more out there. He didn’t hate his life by any means. If you asked him, he would have said he was perfectly happy. This might have even been true! But he was unfulfilled before he met Calissa.

-Their first meeting was a mixed bag of emotions. It was a magical night out on the water. The stars lit up the sky and some energetic quality in the air told Rip things were about to change.

- That was when he caught a glimpse of the love of his life and fell off his board.

- As soon as she saw the human lose his balance, Calissa regretted her decision of approaching him. What was she thinking? She shouldn’t be up here. Imagine the scandal it would cause if anyone found out! It might even endanger her role as the ruler of Oceana. She had recently formed a dangerous habit of visiting the surface, which was bad enough, but trying to interact with a human? She must have a death wish! Death... like humans die... if they drown.... She should probably check on that human, actually.

- There was no need. As she was about to swim down to look for him, Rip came back up from the water. He looked like a mess. His hair flopped in front of his face, and he spat out some water as he tried to rest his elbows on his board. Once he was settled, he looked at Calissa in awe.

- Unsure if he could understand her, she asked him if he was alright. He sputtered out that he was, then asked her what she was doing by herself out here: with no boat or board in sight.

- Calissa panicked and said that she should go. As she dove away, Rip could have sworn he saw... a tail. He had no way of knowing for sure, since he slipped off his surfboard again shortly after.

- That night stuck with him, so he decided to go back to that spot.

- Calissa had the same idea.

- They met again. Rip was absolutely enamored with Calissa, and he managed to not fall into the water this time.

- Calissa was still amazed they spoke the same language. There were differences in dialect, but nothing very noticeable.

- In fact, conversation with Rip seemed to flow more smoothly than with her own kind.

- She would float as he sat on his surfboard, and they talked about all sorts of things.

- This continued for a week or so. Then Calissa revealed her identity.

- Rip was less surprised than she expected. He had suspected something like this for a while. She was very well-spoken, but her lack of knowledge about simple aspects of human culture gave her away. That, and he couldn’t believe a human could be so beautiful, so otherworldly in radiance and energy.

- They spent time together as often as they could. It was an invigorating experience of first love. They had had crushes before, but nothing like this. This was monumental. It pushed everything else into perspective. Their love was a force of nature. They were willing to sacrifice anything for it.

- Rip offered to go down to Oceana with her, but that would be almost impossible. Calissa feared the backlash they would receive. If her sister Eris was placed on the throne in her stead... she didn’t want to think of how her subjects would suffer.

- Besides that, items that allowed humans to breathe underwater seemed to exist only in legends. She tried to search them out, but other merpeople were becoming increasingly suspicious every time she attempted to find anything that could help.

- Even though they wanted forever together, they could try to be content with being with each other now.

- They found some caves to meet up in. The open ocean began to feel too exposed. Calissa worried someone was watching them.

- Rip didn’t know what sort of food mermaids ate, but he came in one night with as much junk food as he could carry. Calissa had eaten the most sophisticated underwater foods, but she cared for human soft drinks and candy more than she’d like to admit.

- Another night, Rip brought the guitar he hadn’t played since high school, and tried his best to serenade her. Calissa caught herself humming these songs from time to time.

- Underwater, Calissa was expected to be poised and put-together. Around Rip, her walls fell down. She felt free to be vulnerable and silly and all the things a queen couldn’t be.

- They knew they couldn’t have their marriage recognized by either mer or human society, but they tried to have their own “wedding”. They exchanged jewelry Calissa had commissioned in the style of the pieces she wore during her Changing of the Tides Ceremony. The cave was lit around by candles and decorated. They exchanged vows they had written, and sealed it with a kiss. Her emotions were so high, Calissa spun her most potent merillia that night.

- Break loved watching Calissa make merillia. It was a beautiful process, and an astounding thought that he was indirectly fueling the life force of the ocean by making the one he loved happy.

- When Break noticed Rip wearing his piece of jewelry, he asked him about it. Rip told him the truth.

- Break brushed it off as another one of his son’s elaborate stories. He had to admit, he had noticed a change in his son. He seemed more at ease, like he had a purpose that was driving him forward. He was sure there was some other explanation, but Rip had adopted a sort of nocturnal lifestyle.

- Rip and Calissa would race each other from the cave and back. Calissa always won, but sometimes she would slow down so they could swim side by side.

- Rip was amazed at her speed and strength. He joked that if they ever had a child, they would be an amazing athlete. With his competitive spirit and her amazing abilities, their kid would take the world by storm.

- Though they both wanted children, they weren’t sure that was possible. Calissa had heard of half-mermaids before, but mostly only in horror stories.

- Rip reassured her that whatever was meant to happen would happen, and that anything (or anyone) they made together would be amazing.

[monkey-network]

Splatoon: The Series Final Season Episodes

21 Episodes; Season 3, Season 2, Season 1

Kindred Splash: Pearl reminisce about her childhood and how ink colored up her life.

Wife of the Warrior: A demigod turns to Off the Hook for help with their literal goddess of a wife.

Shortfuse: Marina is for some reason angry and this is causing her to shrink. Pearl looks for a solution before her wife becomes ant sized.

Sauce up Samba: Off the Hook get addicted to a bistro’s new special gravy, so they try to recreate it when the head chef refuses to share the recipe.

The Mermusical (Half Hour Special): Magic helps Marina and Pearl transform into mermaids, giving them the ability to liven up a lost underwater city.

Stuffed Subconscious: Marina becomes real clingy to a stuffed toy Pearl won for her in a crane game, so the latter and the Squid Sisters go to her mind to understand why.

Tsiwt Eugnot: esrever ni trecnoc a od ot si kcab hceeps lamron rieht teg ot yaw ylno eht dna sretsiwt eugnot ni gnikaeps ylno ot meht mood taht sciryl etirw aniraM dna lraeP

Zombie Zoul Train: It’s the zombie apocalypse, and everyone’s making the most of it, whether they survive or not.

The Missing Link: Challenged to make a song out of an apparently universally hated genre, Off the Hook works to make everyone believe that no genre should be left in the dust.

Music Makes You Be: A fan turns to Off the Hook in need of a song to give to his boyfriend, so the two help him write one to shares the best of their love.

The Pearled Piper: Pearl has found a way to summon worms with a certain type of music.

Calamari Swing: Marina has found joy in being a lounge singer.

Speed Demon: The Goddess of the Run comes back once more to curse Off the Hook to run at an increasingly high speed until they can rap at the similar speed.

The Old Inkling and the Sea: The Cap’n retells a story of his fight versus the largest and wiliest zapfish in existence.

Legends Game: Pearl gets into a MMOBA and is considered one of the best in the community, even when she barely does anything.

He’s the Star of the Show: Kirby arrives in Inkopolis with Dedede in pursuit, and Pearl and Marina in the chaotic crossfire.

Dancing the Nightmare Away: Pearl helps an inkling overcome his fear of the dark through music.

Pearlnocchio: A need for a new sound has Off The Hook look to a gang of whales for help, but their stubbornness proves to be a challenge.

Operocky: Marina creates an opera dedicated to Pearl but unfortunately doesn’t have the best actors/singers on board.

The Galactic Groove Part 1: Pearl and Marina accidentally creates a song that manifests into an omnipresent being that opens other dimensions to sing to them all. Off the Hook must blast off to space to stop the musical terror or the else dimensional riffs will collide and destroy the fabric of reality.

The Galactic Groove Part 2 (series finale): Pearl and Marina finally develop a song to stop the musical terror, and gets the help of their other dimensional counterparts. Then again, Marina doesn’t feel comfortable destroying the being outright, so she leads everyone to help the being understand music is cosmically all about.

[sincerlypadfoot]

Drummer Boy (2)

Word Count - 1608

“I found it!” I shouted to Cedric holding up a book and sitting up from his bed. “I found out how you can breath under water,” I paused turning the book around to the half asleep Cedric. “Bubble-Head Charm, I can do it for you,” I said sitting up and smiling.

“Thats awesome Danny, can we please go to sleep now,” Cedric said taking the book out of my hand and placing it on the floor. “Please,” He smiled pushing over for me.

“The yule balls tomorrow, I think your right,” I huffed tossing my text book on the table and laying down beside Cedric. “We have all winter break to figure this out,” I yawned laying on Cedrics chest.

“Goodnight love,” Cedric whispered in my ear, he kissed my head and leaned back, I listened to his ragged heart beat and cleared my mind of everything, but the yule ball and christmas day tomorrow.

~ 

I looked at the two dresses that were placed infornt of me, a long black tailed dress, at the right angle sparkles were shown and would catch the eye of anyone who was near. The other dress was just a simple straight green colored dress that showed my right leg off, i’d be matching with Cedric with both but which one to choose was the question.

“Hey Danny,” Draco said walking into the room dressed for the ball. “How are you not dressed and ready, the yule ball is in a hour and you haven’t stopped talking about this moment for weeks?” He asked coming up behind me and looking at the options.

“I don’t know what to wear, I know this is important but something about it makes me feel uneasy,” I  said confused and turning around to look at Draco. “I like your outfit,” I chuckled looking him up and down.

“The green one, mom would love it and you’ll be showing off your house to the other schools, and they match your dark eyes,” Draco walked passed me, grabbed the green dress off the hanger and folding it on his arm.

“I don’t know what I would do without you in my life you know,” I confessed wrapped my arms around him. “Don’t follow in our father's footsteps please,” I whispred letting go of him with a smile.

“Your gonna look beautiful tonight Danny, i’ll see you later,” Draco said kissing the top of my head and leaving my room, I smiled to myself in the mirror then shook my head. The yule ball was in a hour.

~

“Hermione!” I called out picking my dress up and jogging over to Hermione who was standing outside the hall doors. “You look wonderful,” I huffed out of breath, letting my dress go and wiping my hands.

“Your dress matched your eyes completely, I love it,” Hermione said bringing me in for a hug. “Do you wanna walk in together?” She asked letting go of me.

“I was hoping you would say that, I didn’t wanna walk alone since Cedric is already in there,” I chuckled looking down at my shoes then around the area. “Come on,” I huffed taking a deep breath.

Hermione and I both gave each other a look then walked forward and down the stairs, everyone stopped and looked at us, I spotted Cedric who walked casually towards us, Victor Krum walked towards Hermione causing me to give her a bit of a smile.

“You look beautiful,” Cedric whispered slipping his hand under mine as we walked to the dance floor. “I forgot to tell you that we need to lead the first dance,” He said under his breath causing me to look up at him.

“Cedric,” I said in shock looking up at him. “I am the worst dancer in the world,” I laughed following Cedric's moves and getting in position. 

“Just follow my lead Danny, trust me we’ve been practising and your not as bad as Harry,” Cedric joked placing his hands on my waist and pulling me closer to him. Everyone sooned joined in and we were blasted from our thoughts as music rocked the room.

“You look really nice tonight,” I yelled to Cedric as we both danced around, letting the music take control of our feet. “I was thinking we should get out of here soon!” I yelled again jumping in the air.

“Yeah I was thinking the same thing, when everyone started slowly leaving we can leave too!” Cedric yelled grabbing my hands and jumping in the air with me. Hours passed and we were all still dancing and nothing was calming down, The Weasley twins had taken me to dance, Harry and now I stood alone sitting on a chair watching Cedric get us a drink.

“You look nice tonight,” Draco said casually sitting down beside me. “I think I’m gonna take off soon, just wanted to see if you wanted to come to a little party back in the common room, you can bring your boy toy if you’d like,” He said giving me a smile.

“Hello Malfoy,” Cedric said coming around from behind us and  butting in on our conversation. “Danny and I were just about to head out,” Cedric said sitting down beside me and handing me a drink.

“I’ll have to decline your offer Draco, i’m not really feeling the party type tonight,” I joked running my fingers threw his neatly done hair.

“I’ll see you later tonight then,” Draco said pulling my fingers away and walking away himself leaving Cedric and I to chat.

“You know I thought he would get the hint by now that I don’t like the Slytherin common room partys,” I laughed taking a drink. “Do you wanna get out of here?” I asked turning my head and looking at the door, Hermione had the biggest smile on her face.

“Yeah come on, we can go back to my room, I wouldn’t mind you spending another night if you don’t talk about books,” Cedric joked standing up and taking my hand. 

“You two are unbelievable!” Hermione yelled turning away from Harry and Ron and towards Cedric and I. “Danny come here and tell these two buffoons that Victor isn’t the enemy!” Hermione said grabbing my arm and dragging me over to her.

“What is going on?” I asked giving Harry and Ron a slight smile and turning to Hermione whos smile was faded and her face was red, the three didn’t speak but just looked over at me. “Victor isn’t the enemy, Ron if you wanted to ask Hermione to the ball you should have manned up, Harry loosen up and stop stressing and Hermione, go have the time of your life with Victor, no one's opinions matter but yours,” I said taking a breath then turning to Cedric. 

Ron got up and walked away dragging Harry with him, he gave me a slight wave before leaving the ball. “Thank you,” Hermione said hugging me. “You two have fun tonight,” She yelled letting me go and walking away.

“You know, I think i’m a pretty great friend,” I laughed interlocking my hands with Cedric and walking the both of us back to the hufflepuff common room. “I’m glad I keep some clothes in your room, I don’t think I could stay in this dress much longer,” I joked opening Cedrics door and walking in.

~

The water in the black late was cold on my feet, I couldn’t move or see anything around me but what was straight ahead. Mermaids and Sirens swam by, some looking at me face to face, others touching my feet. I was tied down by a loose rope not knowing how I had gotten down here, the last thing in my memory was teaching Cedric the charm then heading the McGonagall's office for a meeting.

I closed my eyes and reopened then, Cedric appeared infront of me with Sirens all around, I tried speaking and moving but nothing came out, he nodded his head at me then pulled me up to the surface where I took my first breath.

“What the hell just happened!” I asked grabbing onto Cedric as we both swam to the dock where people were screaming and cheering at the both of us.

“This was the second task, are you okay?” Cedric asked helping me up on the dock first then helping himself up. “We’re the first ones here!” He said making more people scream at me. McGonagall wrapped a towel around me and Cedric took me into a hug.

“I’m fine, I never thought about this for the second task” I chuckled hugging him back. A couple seconds later Hermione and Victor came out, catching my attention that Fleur was also up here, with no one with her. “There are still three people down there,” I whispred to Cedric whos attention was ahead also.

“Look there's Ron!” Someone yelled pointing to the ginger haired boy and a little girl beside him swimming together. Fleur took her sister in a hug and kissed Ron on the forehead causing me to chuckle.

Everyone was silent for a moment, no one knew what was about to happen, was Harry Potter dead or was he alive and the Sirens were slowly killing him down there. I looked over at Cedric who was in the same intersipation as everyone else, waiting and hoping Harry Potter was going to come up. 

“He’s alive!” Neville Longbottom screamed as Harry Potter came flying out of the water, everyone screamed and cheered, Cedric wrapped his arms around me and we watched as everyone praised Harry and won second place well Cedric took first.

Tags- @andhamy​  

[kokomiin]

i made it to the fucking bullshit song in carole and tuesday and i’m just saying the mermaid sisters should have won

[santoteez]

The Dormant Beast - Jongho (1)

Part: 1 of ?

Idol: Jongho of ATEEZ

Genre: Fantasy, Romance, Friends to Lovers

Word Count: 2,071

Warnings: Slight prejudice and bullying (non-racial and it’s not bodyshame either) MC is Black Female, Mentions of murder

Crescent walked through the halls, ignoring the snickers and looks of disgust from the other students. It wasn’t because of the curves of her body. It wasn’t even her melanin-rich skin that caused this reaction. No, this world wasn’t plagued with body shaming or racism. But, there was prejudice. And it was due to a lack of aura.

Where Crescent lives, each and every person has their aura. An animalistic force that overtakes the body on command. Humanity was supposed to devolve from humanoids back into apes, in reverse of how we allegedly came to be. Whether or not that’s true is up for debate. What is for sure, is that somewhere along the line, technology and science mixed into the biological DNA of the human race, and rather than reverting into animals, they became animalistic humans. The closest thing to a hybrid, but not quite centaurs or mermaids.

Everyone has their aura develop sometime in elementary or middle school, and most have perfected it by senior year. Crescent’s sister, Eclipse, had the aura of a cheetah. It allowed her to move faster than any land animal aura, and gave her bright, gold eyes and a slender frame. Her parents were both hyenas, making them manipulative and, contrary to popular belief, rather violent and predatory towards others. They were very boisterous; their voices sometimes being heard from miles away. Even Jongho, Crescent’s best friend, had an aura. He was a gorilla, making him incredibly strong and highly intelligent. His incredible strength and broad build made him the most popular in the school, as well as the strongest. Just like real gorillas, though, Jongho was a big softie and rarely showed his true strength. Sometimes you would forget he had the ability to rip you limb from limb and destroy the entire school without breaking a sweat.

Then, there was Crescent. From the beginning, Crescent knew something was wrong. When all her friends were running and flying to school, she was taking the bus. When there were battles for dominance during recess, she cowered in the library. It all came down to one day, she was challenged by Desire, the strongest girl in school, to a battle.

“Come on, Crescent. Everyone knows you’re just hiding your aura. You never want to show it. You probably think you’re too good for battle. Show us what you got.”

“Desire. I already told you I FORFEIT my battle. You already won. Why do you keep seeking me out?”

“Because I know you’re just mocking me by not fighting me. You probably think I won’t win because of whatever aura you have. In order to win, I must assert dominance. So get in position.” She said, channeling her aura. The astral projection of a howling wolf appeared in the air, and she adopted a dominant stance.

Crescent, on the other hand, just stood there. What was she to do?

“If you won’t power up willingly, I’ll have to beat it out of you.” Desire ran, pouncing on Crescent. She pinned her down, bearing her sharp teeth.

Crescent, aware of how damaging a wolf bite can be, shut her eyes tightly and braced herself for the pain.

It never came, though. Crescent opened her eyes to see Jongho with Desire in hand. He was holding her up off the ground by her neck, but not in a chokehold way. The group that had formed to view the fight between the girls had dispersed into the corners, scared of what Jongho might do, but still nosey enough to watch.

“She said she didn’t want to fight you three times, didn’t she? That’s surely going against the rules if you attack her anyway, right Crescent?” He smiled at the much shorter girl, who had yet to get up.

Jongho set Desire down, reaching out a hand to help Crescent up. Once Crescent was on her feet, Jongho spoke. “Crescent, maybe it would help if you just showed your aura? You already forfeited, so it wouldn’t lead to a battle, but it might help to ease some of the ambiguity.” He shrugged.

For the first time since realizing it, Crescent burst into tears. “I don’t show my aura…because I don’t have one!”

Gasps were heard all up and down the corridor.

“That’s impossible!” Desire shouted. “If you’re something weak, like a mouse or something, just say it. But don’t say you have no aura.”

Crescent sighed. “I’m telling the truth. I’m not a mouse, or a cheetah, or even a hyena. I’m just human. No aura.” She said, sobbing harder.

Jongho embraced her, pulling her close and rubbing her back. “What are you all still staring at? There’s no fight. Get to class!” His voice boomed against the walls, causing the crowd to scurry, even Desire.

“Hey, it’s okay. Maybe you’re just a late bloomer? I know some people that didn’t get their aura until high school! Or maybe it’s a medical thing! Whatever it is, I’ll help you figure it out. We’ll find your aura, together.”

That was four years ago. They were best friends ever since. No matter what rituals or remedies Jongho and Crescent tried, they couldn’t figure out what was up with her aura. Doctor after doctor told her there was nothing wrong with her, she was just auraless. There were cases of something hindering an aura, such as a lean animal in a curvy body, or vice versa. But none of that applied to Crescent. They tried potions made by the black cat auras, but after a food poisoning scare, they decided not to continue down that path.

Now in junior year, Crescent and Jongho decided to put their aura search on hold as they prepared for college applications and senior year.

Crescent opened her locker, sliding out the way immediately as a bucket of water fell out, which would’ve drenched her if it wasn’t for her quick reflexes. Chuckles and snickers were heard around her as she stepped into the water to stand in front of her locker.

Grabbing her books, she paused to look at the picture in her locker. It was her and Jongho from the previous Valentine’s Day. Every girl in the school was asked out to the town fair that day, except Crescent. Despite her reputation, she was still hopeful someone would be nice to her, just for that day. She was laying in bed, tears seeping into her pillow when there was a knock at the door. She opened it to find Jongho with a bouquet of sunflowers, knowing she hated roses.

“Were you seriously crying? Geez, didn’t think I had to formally ask you to the fair. Thought it was obvious I’d take you.” He said, stepping into the house. “I’ll wait for you in the living room. There’s no way you’d want to go out looking like that.” He said, referring to her pajamas and puffy eyes. They headed for the fair after Crescent changed, getting on the rides and playing the games. Jongho beat the ball toss, despite the glass bottles being glued together (because of obvious reasons) and won Crescent a huge teddy bear with a red ribbon. He asked the booth owner to take their picture with the prize and, lo and behold, that’s how the picture came to exist. Crescent cuddling into Jongho’s arm with the teddy bear in between and the two of them with bright smiles.

It was that night that Crescent realized her feelings for Jongho. At first, she thought it was hero worship, a feeling caused by Jongho saving her from Desire. But that night, under the city lights, spending the entire evening together, she realized it was something deeper.

She sighed. It’s not like it could ever happen. Someone with such a powerful aura as Jongho’s wouldn’t be caught with someone of a low aura, let alone someone as auraless as Crescent. Jongho had proven to her time and time again that he didn’t really care for the hierarchy, but Crescent knew better than to hope that high.

Suddenly, her locker was slammed closed by Desire and her minions.

“Crescent! Good morning!” She said in an overly sweet tone that was anything but.

“No aura, still. No fashion sense either.” She said, glancing down at the girl’s sneakers and overalls. “With no aura, you’re not much of a looker, you know.”

“Even with all the Chanel and Prada in the world, you’d look down on me.” Crescent said, matter of factly.

“That’s a fact!” Desire said, bumping shoulders with Crescent just as Jongho turned the corner.

“Jongho, my love! How are you? I missed you all weekend!” She said, draping her arm over Jongho’s pathetically.

“Missed me enough to come harass Crescent again?” He asked.

“What? No, no, no! I just came to tell her that her overalls are so chic! 90s are in right now, you know. I should get myself a pair!”

“Maybe you should, I get them from Levi’s.” Crescent smiled.

“Maybe I will.” Desire said, clenching her teeth.

“I’ll be looking forward to seeing you in them. They’d suit you.” Jongho lied.

“Really? I’ll look into it!” Desire said, walking away. “Great now I have to wear those things? Do you think they would go with my heels? Why does he always hang out with the challenged one anyway?” She asked her minions as they walked away.

Jongho and Crescent burst into laughter when she turned the corner.

“Like she’d ever wear overalls,” Crescent said.

“I hope she does, it’d be funny to see her pretend to be comfortable,” Jongho replied. “How was the weekend, Cres?”

“Pretty good, I sparred with Eclipse again. I was sore yesterday but I’m feeling better.”

Ever since they realized she was auraless, Eclipse took it upon herself to train Crescent in hand to hand combat, teaching her how to block and dodge hits as well as serve them. Crescent hated it at first, but it turned out to be beneficial at times when people turned to her as a punching bag. They never expected her to fight back.

Jongho nodded. “That’s good. It’s important you can defend yourself, especially when I’m not around. I don’t want anyone messing with you.”

“I’m fine, Jongho. I can handle myself.”

“I know, doesn’t mean I’m not gonna have your back.” He said, swinging his arm around her shoulders as they walked into class.

“Good Morning Strongville Campus! This is Desire with your morning announcements.” The girl screeched through the P.A. system, causing Crescent to roll her eyes.

“Crescent, I know you’re rolling your eyes. Don’t.” Crescent looked up at the speaker, mouthing ‘How?’ “Anyways, I’d like to start off with a moment of silence for Strongville High alum Hyunjae Kim, who was brutally murdered by The Void, making him the 7th victim to succumb to the unknown assailant. The moment of silence will start now, please refrain from speaking until you hear my voice.”

Crescent’s mind wandered to the victims of The Void. Those with strong auras have been slain one by one over the course of three months. Those who were in the area of the murder have reported a lightless darkness around the time of death, causing the media to aptly name the faceless suspect ‘The Void.’

“Thank you for participating. In other news-”

“Hyunjae might’ve moved out of town, but he still lived pretty close. Do you think The Void will pop up here?” Crescent asked Jongho.

“No idea. Some say he’s looking for the OmniAura. The one that possesses the aura of the entire animal kingdom. The One True Ruler.”

“Do you really think someone that possesses that much power exists?” She asked incredulously.

“No one really thought someone who possessed NO power existed, and yet here you are. I say anything’s possible.” Jongho shrugged.” Hey, did you hear back from those colleges? What did they say?”

She sighed. “The same as the rest. That they’ve never encountered a spiritually challenged person, meaning auraless. They thanked me for applying and said they’d keep in touch when they researched how to better accommodate the auraless.”

Jongho squeezed her hand. “Don’t worry. We’ll figure it out.”

Crescent smiled, despite being worried about something entirely different. She stared out the window. What did The Void want? Is there really an OmniAura? If he was seeking out all the strong auras, how long would it be until he came for Jongho?

Stephie back at it again with the fanfics! I posted earlier today too, I’m on a ROLL. I took a mini and unannounced hiatus, but I’m back to stay! I realized how much it was stressing me out not to write, but ya girl got a new job and was finding it hard to adjust and time manage. So bear with me while I get back into the groove.