#Which is too soon to actually drum up support for it

[number-onekidqueen]

Hey!!!

Could you please do Luke x Goth!fem!reader where they are dating secretly, and Luke finds out she’s getting bullied for how she dresses he decides to confront the bullies and put them in their place 

𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐛𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞

Luke Castellan x goth!Hades!reader

apologies for the awkward spacing, my laptop is going through some glitch 😭

angsty fluff

warnings: bullying, verbal abuse ig, a few swear words, necrophilia mentioned (NOT A THEME), Stacey is a cliche warning, mentions sexual themes

summary: even if goth isn't his style, luke is happy to put a few haters in their place, if it means making you feel better.

"You don’t like it, do you?”

He shook his head insistently. You laughed.

“No, I think it’s cool, I just don’t listen to this kind of stuff. It’s new to me.”

You and Luke were sat on your bed in Hades cabin, listening to a cassette you had snuck in this summer.

It was actually how your mum had bonded with Hades. She always told the story of how she had been walking home from a shift, listening to her favourite album on her Walkman, completely lost in the bass and cacophony of drums, unaware of her surroundings. Too late she had noticed a drunk driver swerving towards her. And then a man had come out of the gloom, drawing her safely away by clutching her cassette tape and headphone wires. She’d been at a loss for words, and he’d simply walked away.

He’d met her the next night, returning her Walkman with praise for her music choice. And every night later he’d appear somewhere along their journey, and they’d converse about music and fall in love.

That very album was what you were listening to at the moment. And from the look in his face, it certainly wouldn’t be making its way onto Luke's playlist very soon.

“I know it’s loud, I get it,” you reassured, “I guess I just love the…. Passion.” You didn’t see while you were rambling, but the look Luke gave you then could only be described as adoring. He loved when you ranted like this. “These artists, they’re pouring their heart and soul into everything. Every word they scream, and string they play, they’re giving their best performance to do so. I find it so amazing.”

The sad thing was, not many people shared your view on that, which led to the predicament you were in.

Well, it wasn’t just the music. It was probably the way you dressed too.

Regardless of your explanations, people were always going to stare at your black shorts, choker and smoky eyes. They would always whisper ‘goth girl’ as if it was a swear word.

But you never thought they would be quite so mean. Come on, you were one of them, right?

Wrong, apparently.

"Hey, emo, anyone die lately, or just your style sense?"

This particular jab came from Stacey, an Aphrodite girl who just seemed to loathe you, and was your polar opposite with her glowy make up, tight camp tee and cropped shorts.

Usually you ignored them. Sure, some of their comments were mean, and sometimes you could hear them when you looked in the mirror, when you applied your mascara, when you lay in bed in the darkness. But today, you were done. You were so sick of Stacey sniping and sneering at you. You were going to bite back.

"I didn't realise dressing for men was considered style, but if so, then sure."

There was silence as she gasped at your comment, looking at her friends in shock and for support. She scowled then, and chewed her gum obnoxiously in what you guessed to be an excuse to think of a comeback.

"I'm sorry I get a reaction from men. Kinda sad that black and death doesn't turn anyone on, huh y/n? But I'm sure you don't care. Probably have some relationship with a dead body, right?"

There were muffled giggles as all the Aphrodite girls covered their mouths at her retort. She began to smirk at you as you blinked at her in shock, genuinely hurt.

"I don't get you, Stacey. Why would my style have anything to do with that? How do smoky eyes have anything to do with-with necrophilia or whatever you're suggesting? What the fuck?" You spat, and you walked away from her, hating that you had been defeated, that that stupid girl's words made your eyes feel heavy with tears.

Because to her, you'd always be weird. That one goth girl who always wore black no matter the occasion. Who barely got a first glance from boys.

It was then you wanted to scream to them how much you knew Luke cared about you. You wondered how much their opinions would change, if they knew camp's golden boy was sweet about you. But you never did, because you knew they wouldn't believe you, and so it led to tears and frustration, locking yourself inside your cabin and crying until your face was a runny, smudged mess.

You'd settled yourself against the wall for around half an hour, your hands in your hair as you bathed in misery and insecurity when you heard the first round of insistent knocks and urgent calling of your name. It was him.

Sniffling and wiping your eyes, you got to your feet and let him in, praying you looked better than you felt. His face fell as the door opened and he spotted your saddened features, so you guessed you didn't. Luke stepped in, shutting the door behind him, and immediately brushing the tears from your face with his thumbs, his eyes sad.

"Who did this to you?" he demanded, as he drew you into a hug.

"It was just some-some girls, don't worry, they always do it, I'm just-y'know, being dramatic," you let out a broken laugh into his shoulder and more tears fell, "I guess I should expect it."

"No you shouldn't. They shouldn't torment you regularly just because you dress different to them." He pulled away, his eyes furious now, the cocoa centres dangerously dark, "What the hell is wrong with them?! Tell me their names, y/n, their names."

"No, it's fine, you-you don't need to talk to them, it's-"

"Well, I'm going to either way, so you can tell me, or I'll just find it out."

"I-I-" you stuttered, your body shuddering as a wave of tears swept through you once again, "it was that group of Aphrodite girls, with like Stacey and-"

You buried yourself in his arms, and he squeezed you tight, fingers brushing gently through your hair. "You know you're so much better than them, right?" he murmured warmly, "you're smarter, you're prettier-"

"No, I'm not-"

"Yes, you are, and you should know it, because you are, y/n. You're worth a million of them." Luke's words were firm, and the way he looked at you then, resolute and as if he believed his phrase with every particle of his being made you soften. Made you almost believe him.

"I'm gonna come back with some soda, and we can chill out and listen to your tape, yeah? How's that sound?"

"Amazing," you said, with a watery smile.

"Great, well I'll go now, so I can be back soon," and he sent you a faint-inducing grin as he inched out of your arms that made you lose track of a few sentences.

"Luke," you protested, when you finally got your tongue under control, "no, you-you don't have to this, right? You realise you don't have to do this? It's ok, it's-"

"Yeah, of course," he responded calmly, that same grin on his face as he reached for the door, "I don't know where you think I'm going. I'm just off to get some soda."

And do some other things along the way.

He stormed over to the Aphrodite cabin, knocking rapidly before throwing the door open. Stacey was there, sat on the bed humming a pop song and fixing her hair in her hand mirror, frozen in place as she watched him barge in and shut the door. Her surprise smoothly transitioned into seduction, as was typical with a lot of Aphrodite girls.

"Someone wanted to see me," she cooed, sending him a flirty smile.

Oh yes he did indeed.

"So, I heard about some things with you and y/n,"

"Oh, yeah, that," Stacey waved the words away as if they were a pesky fly, resting on her elbows as she looked up at him with doe eyes, "she looked like a horror movie, Luke. Like, you know how much I care about the kids! They might get scared."

"Yeah, yeah sure, Stacey, I'm sure those were your intentions."

She frowned at that, her glossy lips and thin brows crinkled.

"Why are you even standing up for her anyway? It's not like she's nice, and she's so weird, like she's probably not even straight, like I've heard she has relationships with bats and graves and shit."

"And where did you hear that, Stacey?" He asked coldly, anger rising through him.

She quickly noted the negative emotions surfacing in his tone, and cocked her head. "I don't know, like just around the place. Look, I don't know why you care about this so much? I doubt she has a soul."

"Oh, she does, Stacey. And her soul is much more beautiful and amazing than yours will ever be," he sucked a breath in, trying to restrain his utter rage, "and I want you to never talk to my girlfriend like that again."

"Y-your-your girlfriend?" She spluttered, absolutely shell-shocked.

"Yeah, my girlfriend."

"But-what-?"

"She's the best girl at camp, so I don't know why you say all that stupid stuff about her. Anyway, I need to go now, Stacey, but I think you got the message, yeah?"

She nodded dumbly, her eyes still wide, and Luke smirked as he left the suffocatingly rose-smelling cabin and went into the open air.

With that done, he needed two ice-cold cans of soda.

[aoioozora]

Insomniacs

Content: Lt. Elias Walker x Civilian F! Reader, fluff, cuddling, playful banter, confession, takes place in mid-late 90s Note: I've never seen an fanfic for Elias yet so here's a silly-cute one uwu

You were not in your right mind when you called up Elias, you next-door neighbour to say, "I can't sleep. Cuddle with me."

You weren't stoned or drunk; just desperate.

There was a brief, deafening silence on the other end of the line. You gnawed your lip as your nails involuntarily drummed in anxious anticipation against the plastic of your telephone.

"Keep your front door open," he finally answered, voice soft but urgent. The call ended with a click.

You put the handset back onto the landline and let out a sigh. You were never this direct with Elias, ever since he moved to the next apartment a few months ago. He was a pleasant young man, blond, brown-eyed, helpful and kind. The two of you were just friendly neighbours, nothing more. You'd share your dinner or your baked goods with him, have friendly conversations and engage in small talk like a good neighbour would to keep up the good relations, and that was it, until just now, when you decided to be a little too direct with him about your feelings. You almost cursed yourself for it, worrying that you might've shifted the trajectory of your friendly relationship with him to something more but his approval came as a pleasant surprise.

You unlocked the front door as requested and made your way back to your bedroom. As you sunk into your bed and covered yourself with your duvet, your heart pounded loudly in your chest as you waited. Your ears buzzed in the deathly silence of your dark room, until it was disturbed by the toll of the doorbell.

You didn't have to answer, and you soon heard the front door open. Faint thuds in the hallways soon followed, and then the distinct click of the door handle resounded in your silent room.

A tall shadow silently slipped in. "I'm here," came a soft, breathless whisper of an announcement from him as he gently closed the door.

"Hey," you greeted as you turned over under your blanket to acknowledge him. You saw his large silhouette move towards you, broad shouldered; befitting a Lieutenant. "I didn't think you'd actually come," you said, staring at his shadow standing by your bedside.

He motioned his hand to the bed, as if asking for permission, which you graciously granted. He hesitantly sat down at the edge, his back turned to you. "I had to repay your kindness," he answered your comment, ruffling his short buzz as he chuckled, "After all, you've lavished me with food much better than Army chow."

"It's called kindness for a reason, Lieutenant," you said with a cheeky grin, loving to refer to him by his rank, "you don't have to repay it. It's free."

He chuckled; it was a deep, rumbling laugh that you loved to hear. "Okay, but still, I want to repay you," he replied as he shifted in his seat and pulled a part of your duvet from under him.

You smiled as you watched him put his hands on the bed behind him to support himself. "You're going to be deployed tomorrow," you said quietly, bringing your hand out from underneath your duvet and sliding it towards his rugged hand, letting your pinky finger meet his in a featherlight touch, "and yet you still came."

The nerves in Elias' limb buzzed and crackled all the way from his fingers to his shoulder like he had touched a live wire. His jaw clenched and his breathing deepened slightly as his head limply tilted downwards. "Yeah," he said heavily, voice trailing off as his train of thought was thrown off the rails.

He laid down on the empty space on your bed, laying on his back and lacing his fingers together over his stomach as he stared at the ceiling for a moment. You noticed how many times his chest expanded and contracted as he breathed deeply. Was he nervous?

He was nervous. Just being in your vicinity knocked the wind out of him; he wondered if he would even be alive to wake up in the morning. He felt the bed and the sheets shift a little as you moved a tiny bit closer; he wanted to turn to look at you, but his neck felt about as mobile as a rusted hinge.

He finally did, and found you looking at right at him, as if waiting for him to initiate the cuddle session. But he was again rendered breathless by your gaze. His lips pursed and then parted slightly to take in a breath.

"Come on, didn't you want to cuddle?" He managed to croak out hoarsely, trying to sound as calm as possible in contrast to his heavily beating heart as he raised his arm slightly to invite you.

You moved nearer and he slipped his raised arm under your head for you to use as a pillow while he laid on his side to allow you to have full access to his shoulder and his chest. The scent of orange and cloves filled your nostrils, an earthy, citrusy, and spicy scent that instantly warmed your body.

"Comfy?" he asked, respectfully wrapping his other arm between your shoulder blade and your waist.

"Yep," you shamelessly snuggled right against his shoulder to get a whiff of his perfume once again.

He smiled at how comfortable you seemed with him and his arms tightened around you to pull you closer. His chin rested on your head, and he could catch the tropical scent of shampoo from your hair.

"Elias?" you murmured.

"Yeah?"

"What perfume are you wearing?"

"Oh... it's just this orange and clove perfume my mom gifted me," he chuckled, "I bet I smell like a house on Christmas."

You giggled, and it sent a wave of warmth in his chest, a feeling similar to what a hot drink on a cold rainy day could hope to replicate. "It suits you," you compliment him, "warm, cozy..." you let out a content sigh.

He smiled and then let out a sigh of his own. "I can smell your shampoo," he murmured, hoping he wasn't sounding like a creep, "It smells like a mixed fruit juice."

"You're right, because it is."

He took another inhale of your hair as if to commit it to memory, and pulled you closer. Your hand slid across his waist to return the gesture, an action that left a trail of fire burning under his skin.

"What time do you have to leave tomorrow?" you ask.

He sighed, nuzzling his nose against your hair and mumbling into it, "Four thirty in the morning." With you in his arms, he didn't want to think of deployment.

"That's early. I shouldn't have called you then."

His arms tightened around you slightly. "No. I'm glad you called me," he admitted, "I... I kinda wanted to see you before I left."

"You did?"

He nodded, nuzzling his face into your hair a little further, as if trying to hide. His heart rate picked up speed as he tried to, ironically, come up with a suitable justification that wouldn't involve telling you his feelings outright.

Not knowing that his mind was buzzing, you interrupted his train of thought and said, being encouraged by his openness, "To be honest, I wanted to see you too before you left. That's why I called you." You found yourself gently pressing yourself into his shoulder in response to his nuzzling, feeling a little shy to admit it despite your bravery.

The revelation of feelings left both of your cheeks warm. Elias squeezed you gently and his fingers began to rub soothing circular patterns on your back.

He softly breathed out your name and you raised your head to look up at him. He had such a longing look in his eyes as he stared into yours. "I couldn't sleep either," he admitted. No wonder he answered your call so quickly. "And honestly..." he inhaled deeply, "With you next-door, I can never sleep because I can't stop thinking of you."

You stared at him, slightly wide eyed. His rubbing stopped and his words continued to tumble out against his will, "And it's the same when I'm deployed. You never leave my head."

Your heart couldn't help but flutter at his words. He now looked away, embarrassed, but you smiled. "Honestly, same here. Whether you're near or far, I can't stop thinking of you either."

He was speechless for a moment as he stared at you. He finally blurted out, "Really?" as his heart swelled like a overfilled water balloon. He saw the confirmation in the way you looked at him, eyes filled with adoration and awe, a look that sent butterflies raging in his stomach. He smiled widely, sheepishly, as he feet the heat rise to his cheeks; he was glad it was dark.

You lowered your head and smilingly, nervously whispered the cherry on top to him, "Elias, I really like you."

He was sure his swollen heart exploded at the confession. He was ready to get down on one knee at that instant to ask you to be the mother of his children and to make him the happiest of men but he cleared his throat and stanched the thought.

"I like you too," he answered breathlessly as he gazed at the lovely smile that graced your sweet face. His heart melted and he couldn't help but exclaim, dreamily smiling back, "Woah, that smile's sweeter than all your cakes and pies combined. Better take me to the hospital 'cause I'm diabetic now."

His ears rung with your cute giggles and his smile widened. He was so sure he could hear wedding bells ringing and angels singing. "Oh come on, you're making my diabetes worse. Have mercy on me, sweetheart," he begged with a chuckle, now initiating some playfulness.

Your heart fluttered at the endearment. "Aww, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to," you replied, very intentionally giggling some more.

He let out a poorly acted grunt of pain and he held his chest as if he was shot. "Oh no, you've killed me now," he said in a wail, flashing a toothy grin at you.

You playfully shove his shoulder. "We're supposed to be sleeping right now!" you exclaim, "You have an early day tomorrow."

His cheeks flushed with delight at how concerned you are for him. He shook his head slightly, "Come on, sweetheart, we're having a moment here!" he pouts, "I don't want to think of deployment. And besides, how can I sleep when I know we like each other? I'm way too excited."

You rolled your eyes, chuckling. "I mean… I get it. I'm excited too. But we both have to sleep, you know. You can't be late and I can't be nodding off at work tomorrow." You gingerly raised your hand and cupped his cheek, letting your thumb rub absentmindedly against his stubble.

Elias leaned into your touch and closed his eyes, breathing out a soft, "I know." You continued to do so as you stared at him, at the way his eyelashes fluttered against his cheeks, at his lips, at his nose. His eyes opened, staring into yours, half-lidded, gentle, sleepy. "I can't sleep if you look at me like that, darling."

You smiled again and pulled your hand away to grab the duvet and cover your face with it. "Alright, I'll just hide my face then," you suggested with a chuckle.

He yanked the duvet off your face. "No, no, no, no. That's not allowed," he said in a tone of mock sternness, "You're not hiding behind any damned duvet." He then pulled you back against his chest and wrapped his arms tight around you, giving you a gentle squeeze. "The only acceptable place to hide is in my arms."

Your heart fluttered a hundred times over, and you happily hugged him back, returning the squeeze. He nuzzled his face into your hair, taking another whiff of your tropical hair while you greedily inhaled his Christmas-y pomander scent.

"If I have to hide in your arms, where will you hide then?" you asked.

"In your arms."

"What if you need cover during a mission? Would you hide in my arms then?" you questioned, unable to keep yourself from chuckling at the absurd question.

His chest vibrated against your forehead as he laughed. "That's not anything for you to worry about, darling. I got it covered."

Both of you giggled at the pun he made until he said, now a little more stern, "Alright, alright, seriously now, it's time to sleep."

"Copy that, Lieutenant," you mumbled smilingly against his chest.

"Good rookie," he whispers, lightly pressing his lips against your hair and then mumbling into it, "If you'll be good, I'll come back quickly and we can do this again, ad infinitum."

P.S ad infinitum turns into dating, which turns into marriage, and you eventually become the mother of his two boys and make him the happiest of men hehe ;)

[masterlist]

[yenqa]

GLUE SONG!!

synopsis : love songs were definitely your favorite song to write. but with little experience it’s hard to get the right words out, so you search left and right for any opportunity. until you realize, he’s been hiding in plain sight all along.

warnings : swearing

wc : 959

009 : date date

Opening the door you’re met with Sunghoon’s shy smile. A grin breaks out on your face as you bring your hand up, waving “Hi Sunghoon!”, he greets you. Offering his hand to walk you to the car.

You slide your hand into his, interlocking each finger in between each other. He turns his head to look down at your hand, squeezing it before opening the car door for you. “What a gentleman,” you tease, and he does jokingly bows, responding with a quiet thanks before walking to his side of the door.

“Hey—Sunghoon?”

“Yes, Y/n?” He glances over at you, making sure you’re buckled before starting the car.

The car engine roars slighting, but it’s covered by the music playing in the background. “Where are you taking me? You’re not going to take me to a remote place, and kill me are you? Because I’m too young to die—”

You stop your words abruptly when he lets out a low chuckle, “I’m not going to kill you, Y/n. But it’s a surprise.”

“Not even a little hint?” You ask.

He shakes his head, trying his best to avoid eye contact with you. Suddenly, the recognizable drums and guitar start the next song, you whip your head to look at his phone which is playing music. Cologne, by Y/N.

Your eyes widen as you blink dumbfounded at the phone, “Gosh- didn’t know I was going on a date with a fan. Was this just to get my autograph?” His mouth opens slightly, unsure of what to say next.

“You remind me of a star.” He blurts.

Your eyebrows furrow, “A star? I don’t think I’m that popular.”

“Not like that—it’s just you light up every room you’re in” He shyly admits.

“How would you know? We’ve only talked a couple times?”

He chuckles, “I notice things, Y/n.”

You stay quiet until he turns into a parking lot. What else did he notice about you? Quickly snapping yourself out of your thoughts, you look up to see an ice skating rink.

“I’ve never been ice skating before. I’m going to be on the wall the whole time.” He laughs, getting out of the car, running around the front to open your door for you. “Good thing I’m an expert at it.”

Walking in, you expect to see the place packed. But surprisingly, the area is silent, empty except for the one or two workers. He leads you to the skate rental where he gets his skates and you get yours. You happily watch Sunghoon tie his laces, trying your best to copy him but he seems to be moving too quickly. A grin breaks out on his face, teasing you for your inability to properly tie the laces.

“I told you it was my first time! Why are you laughing?” You angrily hit his shoulder, he feigns hurt, kneeling down to fix your horrible attempt. “Only children can’t tie their laces.”

“Shut up! I’m going to kick your face.”

“Yeah right.” He finishes your other leg, proudly standing up to wipe the ice off his pants.z

He takes your hand, giving you support as you awkwardly walk on your ice skates. He opens the door to the rink. You feel the cold air wash over you as you walk in, cursing at yourself for wearing the thinnest jacket on planet earth.

“Are you cold?” He asks, noticing your very obvious shivers.

“Oh no! It’s fine.” You give him a thumbs up but he takes his jacket off anyways. Placing it on your shoulders.

“Sunghoon—You’re going to be cold, take it back!” He holds the jacket over your shoulders, justifying it by saying, “I’ll warm up soon. Don’t worry about it.”

You roll your eyes, begrudgingly taking his jacket. Placing your purse down on the bench, you hesitantly open the door, placing your foot to the ice.

“Actually? You can go first, Sunghoon” You rush, taking your foot back.

“Whatever you want, Star.”

You smile at the nickname, watching him casually step on the ice, turning around to offer his hand to you. You slowly step in the ice, tightly gripping his hand as you place your other foot on the ice.

“I don’t think I’m gonna move from here.” You chuckle. But Sunghoon had already grabbed your other hand, leading you around the rink.

“Sunghoon!” You scream, eyes wide at the unfamiliar land. You tightly grip his hands, scared to even look up from the floor.

Looking up, you see his mischievous grin shining brightly on his face, a small smile spreads to yours.

“How’d you even get the rink so empty? I thought ice-skating was popular.”

“I might’ve told my Coach I was sick so she wouldn’t come in.” He mumbles.

You gasp, “You did what?” That’s something new you learned, he ice skates. It makes sense now that you actually thought about it. His calm demeanor when he stepped on the ice, or the fact he literally said he was an expert on ice-skating.

He shyly nods, focusing on skating backwards. Suddenly, he slows down, not expecting it, you glide right into him, falling backwards into your butt.

Sunghoon breaks out into laughter, you frown, taking his hand to help yourself up.

“It’s not that funny.” You grimace. But his laughter overpowers your voice. Watching him laugh, you chuckle a bit too.

After a couple rounds around the rink, you decide to give your sore feet a break. Letting Sunghoon play around by himself.

Later you go back on, going in for another couple rounds before you both decide to go home, he walks you to the door and you wave goodbye. You giddily open your text messages, ranting about it to your friends.

back masterlist next

YENQA > hey guys…

taglist : @nicholasluvbot @latriii @wtfhyuck @wonqr @enhastolemyheart @luvistqrzzz @jiawji @miu-koi @fakeuwus @xharisrealm @yeokii @xrvrqs @wonfied @redm4ri @keikeu @melsjy @enhaz1 @wvnkoi @noascats @mrchweeee @collectaed @noirxraa @jakeists @sngvhs @yuemvi @delulu4-life @envirae @heelover5 @kjrcrz @darly6n @girlokarina @artstaeh @txtlyn @astrae4 @memooooca @luvmura @teddywonss @jungwon-real-gf @spilled-coffee-cup @jayujus @calumsfringe @samudan @nomniki @roseannjen

sorry if i missed u (if i did dm me!)

[hayatheauthor]

Update Regarding My Sudden Hiatus + Author/Publishing News

Guess who's back from the dead!

Jokes aside, I truly do feel terrible for going on hiatus without saying anything, and then I come back and see that I've hit 2k (which btw is absolutely amazing and left me shell-shocked) and that just made me feel worse for leaving unannounced. So, here's everything that's been going on:

(click read more if you want to learn about my experience at my first writer's workshop & pitching to an agent ++ publishing updates for The Traitor's Throne)

If you DON'T want to read more: long story short I'm back and will revamp this blog Monday onwards.

Would you look at that I'm finally getting the hang of Tumblr etiquette!

Anyways, I know if I took the liberty of casually explaining everything we would just be here all day and I would ramble endlessly SO, I'm going to summarise everything into a list:

One of the biggest reasons for my departure was because *insert drum roll* I graduated! That's right, your girl is officially a diploma holder and ready to conquer college! Although I've seen the 'finals week or my final week' meme enough times to start questioning what I signed up for.

My writing life has been a little...disappointing. There's no other way to break it to you folks, but when I started this blog, I was knee-deep in the query trenches, and now, I'm still there. Does that suck? Yes. Am I going to give up? Absolutely not! BUT I do have some changes planned:

I've officially decided if this final shot at traditional publishing doesn't do well, I'm going to give in and self-publish The Traitor's Throne in May-June 2024. Which means you might potentially be able to purchase my baby pretty soon!

BUT I decided to give querying one last shot and actually joined a writer's workshop (which is going on as we speak btw). I joined the online Boston Writing Workshop, I'll drop a review on that on Sunday, but so far I've actually learned A LOT from it, and have decided to give querying another go while implementing what I've learned. Dw I'll also be putting out a review about the workshop on Sunday.

So, here's a summary: I've created a self-publishing deadline for my current project while also giving traditional publishing a final shot. I also joined my first ever writer's workshop this weekend and will be pitching to agents for the first time.

Overall, I think my lack of success in the querying scene kind of made me feel like a fraud when giving writing advice. I'm the type of author who does A LOT of research when I write, which is why I have so many tips on so many topics, but that doesn't make me an expert.

This workshop especially made me realise I've been making some rookie mistakes and focused so much on my story that I forgot the query and synopsis are just as important. Maybe this realisation came too late and I've lost my chance of traditionally publishing The Traitor's Throne, but I am grateful for everything it's taught me.

ANYWAYS—see what I meant by we'd be here the whole day if I didn't use a list??

Let's get back to the important stuff; yes, I will start putting out blogs again, and answering my asks. I'm also thinking of launching a beta reader project where I'll beta read some of your works for free! Stay tuned to see that announcement since it'll come soon.

Thank you so much for supporting this silly little blog of mine, and I hope you have a good weekend! As always, I'll see you on Monday! 💕✨

[sieuneo]

[ PROFILES.02 ] く enha 🐐 ₊☆

ENHA : after forming in 2020, enha rose to fame. even people outside of their school were huge fans. the boys present themselves as kind and humble individuals but when they realize they are being threatened by the existence of heeseung’s half-sister’s band, that façade quickly crumbles. jungwon is the leader and a vocalist. heeseung is the main vocalist and he plays the bass guitar. jay plays the electric guitar and he’s a supporting vocalist/rapper. jake is the lead vocalist/rapper. sunghoon rarely sings or raps because he’s busy playing the drums. sunoo plays the keyboard and he’s a vocalist! riki is also a rapper and he, too, plays the drums.

YANG JUNGWON : to know why jungwon was blocked by y/n is to know what goes on in her head, which no one ever will. although jungwon is the second youngest in the band, he has some of the strongest leadership skills anyone at decelis has seen. jungwon had y/n blocked on bereal which she laughed at with her friends.

LEE HEESEUNG : ahh, the infamous older half-brother of y/n. when he first came to decelis, he was labeled the school’s heartthrob. as soon as he started a band with his friends, his popularity grew from there. if only he was as good at being a brother as he was at singing :(

PARK JONGSEONG (JAY) : although one of the more underrated members, he’s one of the most talented and it shows. he mainly sings background while playing the electric guitar, which his fans praise him for.

SIM JAEYUN (JAKE) : jake happens to be one of the most popular members of the band just by existing. the fans are in love with his aussie accent and his soothing voice. jake doesn’t play an instrument so he normally just runs around the stage and interacts with the members and fans.

PARK SUNGHOON : he’s a figure skater who happens to love to sing and dance! he’s known as a playboy to most but the rumors are never true. truth is, he’s never dated anyone but he looks as though he’d be a playboy. aside from all the rumors, he’s a very silly guy and always manages to crack up his members.

KIM SUNOO : he’s the sweet and quick-witted member who has a reputation of spreading gossip. if there are any rumors about the group, he’s quick to turn them right back on the person who spread them. sunoo is a visual arts student, but he loves to sing so he jumped at the chance to be in a band.

NISHIMURA RIKI (NIKI) : the youngest of the group and a japanese transfer student. he is at the school as a dancer but he joined enha for fun. this way, he can practice singing and rapping too. he’s the prankster and “class clown” which tends to get the group into a trouble. while on the stage, however, he plays the drums.

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[ description ]  く at decelis academy of the arts, a band called enha has risen to stardom. everyone knows that it's impossible to get on their level of popularity, except for you. on a dare, you and your friends started a band called secret kiss. when enha finds out, they're pissed. they know that their spotlight will be stolen as soon as a new group comes around so they try their best to sabotage you, which elicits an extremely long prank war.  ₊☆

[ author’s note ] く don’t laugh at my editing skills on the jungwon pic 😭 i tried my best to match it to the actual twt font but it was hard ₊☆

[ taglist ] く @loviiday @luvistqrzzz @j1nniee @pagesofmiracles @kjrcrz @mangowonyo @equalheart @yjwfav @onlyjw | open. (send an ask or reply to this post to be added!) ₊☆

© sieuneo. 2023

[writing-rat]

Danny's Breakdown

Pairings: Danny and Ellie, Danny and Bridget, Danny and Kassie

Content Warning: Homophobia, Transphobia, Homophobic attack, minor violence, blood, breaking down, family fluff, arguments

Summary: Danny's night was going to be bad. He just knew it. He didn't know how bad though...

WC: 1533

Danny knew it would be a bad night already. He had walked into his parents fighting as usual. He was aged 15 and had just finished school, which was stressful enough. He had failed some homework, had failed a test and had been beat up by bullies so this made the day even worse. Dinner would be late, he wouldn’t be allowed to listen to his vinyls (thank god Beth had got him some Sony headphones and let him join her plan of Spotify Premium so he could still listen to his music at least). 

He walked to his room, putting his head down, not wanting to be involved. Luckily he passed in time, glad that Bridget was spending time with her friend. He went into his bedroom and leaned back. Well, it wasn’t officially his bedroom, but it was his designated room with his electric guitar and drums as well as his DJ set that Beth had given him. His mom helped supply him with the drums and the guitar as well, which he was thankful for. He repaid his gratitude by doing extra chores around the house. His mother was thankful for that as he was doing her chores specifically hoovering the rooms and washing the dishes in the evening. She loved her children more than anything. Danny knew it was hard financially in the house as well, so it was double appreciation.

Soon enough the shouting stopped and the door was slammed, causing Danny to wince. He knew it was his dad who left. That’s when a knock came on his door. “Baby, it’s ok now. I’m sorry you had to walk in on that,” Ellie spoke through the door, not opening it and respecting his privacy. That’s when he opened it. 

“It’s ok Mom. Don’t worry about it,” he spoke gently, smiling at her. “It’s getting close to you divorcing him, hm?” he asked quite bluntly. Ellie sighed and nodded.

“You won’t have to deal with him no more, I promise sweetheart,” she spoke. She knew how he was transphobic and didn’t support his son. “You want to pick Kassie up with me? I assume Bridget is at Mark’s house?” she asked and Danny nodded. “Yeah, I can help you pick up Kassie. I can help make dinner too and Bridget is away at Mark’s for a bit of the evening. Group project,” he explained, putting on some casual trainers. “Thank you, sweetheart,” she spoke, rubbing his hair as a thanks before they went to pick up Kassie.

-

It was around 7 pm when their dad came back and he was still pissed and also was a bit drunk. It was obvious with the way he walked. Danny went silent as he ate his pasta, Kassie and Bridget were in their bedroom eating as they were wanting to eat there and Ellie allowed it. Ellie meanwhile was sat with Danny, talking about their days. Danny lied a bit about his day, however, not that he would admit to his mom. He didn’t need to stress her out more. 

Meanwhile, Ellie understood. “Your plate is in the stove, keeping warm,” she explained. 

“I’m leaving after tonight,” he gruffly spoke as he grabbed his plate and went to Ellie’s bedroom. Ellie sighed in relief, actually happy he would be leaving however that would be a more financial strain. As long as she had her kids she would be happy though. Danny was also relieved. “That’s good,” he commented with a smile, soon finishing his food. Ellie nodded to agree. “Yeah, it is,” she agreed and was kissing his forehead. “You’re safe here now at least,” she added and Danny smiled, understanding that she just stayed with Jay to help pay the bills of the house. 

Danny was just happy as long as his family was ok.

-

It was soon 11 pm and Danny was dressed for his midnight run he did around the block, 3 laps. He stood in front of the mirror, looking at his body. Fortunately for him, he had small breasts so he didn’t need a sports bra. He was wearing a simple black shirt and a pair of gold and blue shorts with his black and white running trainers. That’s when he walked out, seeing Ellie making a blanket. “Off on your run?” she asked. Danny nodded.

“Yeah, I am,” he spoke with a smile. 

“I’ll be up for a while so I probably will be here when you come back, just be quiet,” she warned, not wanting Danny to wake up Jay. Danny nodded.

“I will be,” he spoke with a soft smile before he started for the door, grabbing his key, ready for his run.

After his second lap, he was face-to-face with his bullies. He didn’t know how but they had found out where he lived. There were 3 of them. Henry, Evan and Charlie. “Shit,” he hissed as he was backing up. “H-hey,” he stuttered to them, nerves taking over. Henry smirked, being the leader of the group. “Hey tranny,” he spoke, looking him up and down and snickered. “God you look pathetic,” he spoke as the other 2 surrounded him. “Yeah, she looks like a girl anyway,” Evan spoke and Charlie cracked his knuckles, not one for saying words and doing the beating while Evan held him and Henry helping Charlie by punching at the same time.

They continued to say homophobic and transphobic stuff before Evan quickly grabbed his arms. “Get him boys,” Evan spoke, holding him. Danny was weaker than him, he knew he was fucked. That’s why he just took the multiple punches and kicks. Eventually, they stopped, laughing as they slowly walked away after taking a photo. Danny knew that would be shared.

In total, he had a bleeding nose, and bruises all over his face and also over his stomach. He was sure he was bleeding on his elbow from a wound reopening it too. His legs also hurt as they were kicked. That’s when he called for help. Grabbing his phone, he messaged his mom. ‘I got beat up mom, I’m just outside the garage on the main street. Everything hurts’ he texted. He was trying to stay strong, but after sending the text, he finally broke from all the pressure that day, not so much the pain. He was used to it.

Thankfully his mom was quick. It had been about 3 minutes and she came rushing over. She seemed tired and was even breathing heavily. He assumed she ran down the stairs. “Oh sweetheart,” she spoke quietly before she was lifting him up. “Come on, let’s get you cleaned up,” she spoke, not commenting on his crying (which was quite loud). They were soon in the elevator, some of his blood getting on her. He tried to apologise but Ellie just shushed him. She just wanted to take care of him.

Eventually, they were in the house, and Bridget and Kassie were in the kitchen with a first aid kit. Ellie admitted what happened in her rush so they were going to help him out no matter what. Danny just hid his face, still crying. “Everything will be ok, don’t worry. I know it hurts right now,” Ellie stated quietly. Jay thankfully was fast asleep.

“It’s not just the pain… it’s the entire day that’s gone wrong,” Danny spoke, ranting about his entire day as his sisters and mother helped his wounds. Ellie was mad to hear he was bullied, she would be going to the school the next day to deal with it. For now though she would help her son. 

Danny was thankful he had his entire family, and Bridget handing him his favourite stuffed toy. It was a shark plushie that was an off-brand Ikea one that she had bought him after he came out. Kassie meanwhile hugged him when she could and complimented him with all the masculine compliments. 

He felt loved, he felt like life would be better soon enough. Eventually, he was sorted out and that’s when Ellie lifted him again. “You both should sleep now. It’s a school night. I’ll be with Danny tonight so go to his room if you need me,” she spoke gently. The girls nodded as they said their nights, saying compliments to Danny (which was rare as they always insulted each other but in a sibling way showing they didn’t mean the insults). He smiled as he said night to them all, accepting his Mom being with him. He knew he would sleep badly tonight but having her around would help.

“Thank you, Mom,” he spoke gently as he was trying to help Ellie set up a sleeping bag in his room. He would be sleeping on the couch in his room and Ellie on the floor. Danny had tried to say he would sleep on the floor but she refused. 

“It’s no problem baby. I just want you to be ok. I will deal with it tomorrow I promise. Now let’s sleep ok? We can talk more about your grades tomorrow and see what would help. I’m not mad at you,” she reassured. Danny smiled and nodded.

He was truly loved.

[afpwestcoast]

9:30 Club, Washington, DC, 6/14/24

My friend Melissa, who has actually been to more shows this year than I have, had developed a theory. They have been playing the same playlist before all of the recent shows, and if the crowd sings along to ‘Say It Ain’t So’ by Weezer then it will be a good crowd. Tonight they not only sang along to Weezer, but just kept going and sang along to ‘I Wanna Be Sedated,’ by The Ramones and ‘The King of Carrot Flowers Pt. 1’ by Neutral Milk Hotel. We all looked at each other and were like Holy shit this is gonna be a good crowd! We were right. The band … went through some things this night, but the crowd caught them and supported them and prevented the wheels from coming off completely.

Since the Dolls reunited in November ‘22 a familiar pattern has emerged: torch through 6 or 8 old favorites without pausing for breath, a lengthy pause to check in with the audience, talk about the new album, and mentally brace for the new songs, play a string of new songs, then close with a few familiar bangers. That pattern, for reasons both technical and thermal, went out the window tonight. At the Patreon meetup in Philly I said that Amanda had “powerful songs rampaging through her soul and if she doesn’t release them they will destroy her.” This show was sort of the embodiment of that. It felt like she wasn't so much performing songs as exorcising demons. She was definitely going through … something.

According to tour manager Jaron (and later confirmed by Amanda) this was due, at least in part, to it being cold on stage. So maybe don't perform in just a bra? As Anthony used to say: There is no bad weather, just poor clothing choices.

When I made this comment to Amanda at the Patreon meetup on the 15th she said it’s not so much about her body temperature, but more about the effect of cold air on her throat, which seems fair.

Anyway, the set list was ignored, the energy was manic, the crowd was wild, and the overall experience was sublime.

Annotated Set List:

Good Day (Brian on guitar to start)

Sex Changes

There was a pause in the set uncharacteristically early due to Brian having an unspecified technical issue. Brian made a sort of Hamburglar noise and Amanda asked, “Fucking are you okay? What? What? What? What? WHAT?” and then said “Hold on!” in a sing-song voice and went over to the drums. Brian inaudibly explained the situation, causing her to exclaim, “Weird!” I yelled out, “It happens!” And Amanda replied, “It happens … to other bands too!” Soon enough Brian yelled, “Sorry!” and we were back at it. Gravity

Amanda started with a tinkly intro reminiscent of Trout Heart Replica, then teased Girl A before finally breaking into …

My Alcoholic Friends

Backstabber

Missed Me Amanda: How is everybody feeling? Crowd: <roars> Amanda: This is good. How’s everybody up in the balcony? Balcony: <roars> Amanda: How’s everybody down on the floor? Floor: <roars> Amanda: Balcony. Balcony: <roars> Brian: FLOOR! Floor: <roars> Brian <points stage left>: How are the two people in the VIP balcony? VIP balcony: yay? Crowd: <laughs> Brian: Floor! Floor: <roars> Amanda <in a high-pitched voice>: The balcony in the back! The little balcony! Hi guys! Little balcony: <tiny roar> Amanda: What the fuck? Brian: Isn’t this FUN? Crowd: <roars> Brian: Chaos on stage here. Cats and dogs, living together. Amanda: Cats and dogs, living together, mass hysteria. Fucking what even is … the Earth? What even is this city? What is time? I don’t know; we’ve stopped trying to figure out; the solution is just … music. The end! End of story! We literally are embodying the deck chairs on the Titanic here, it’s us. And we look FABULOUS!

While scanning the crowd for young people Amanda found 6yo Eliot in the balcony. “Eliot, we’re gonna be swearing a lot tonight. … My son is 8; his name is Ash. And I’ll tell you what I tell my son Ash about swearing … (because Mommy swears a lot): The rule in our house about swearing is that swearing is like a tool. It’s like a knife or anything else that you can use for good things or bad things. … And joyful swearing, or swearing for emphasis is totally allowed and even encouraged. But we are not allowed to swear if it is mean or hurtful to someone else.”

Welcome to the Internet (Bo Burnham cover)

Amanda <looks at Brian> What do you wanna do? Brian: Pirate Jenny. Amanda: Alright!

Pirate Jenny (Lyrics by Bertolt Brecht, music by Kurt Weill) While introducing the song Brian reiterated that they are planning to put it on the record, so that seems to be happening.

Amanda went over to the drums and said something to Brian, whose response was a genuinely shocked, “NOW!?!??!?” Yes, now.

War Pigs (Black Sabbath cover)

Modern Moonlight Girl Anachronism Mister God

Houdini

Boyfriend in a Coma

Whakanewha

The Runner Before the song Amanda remembered to exhort the crowd not to record the new songs, or at least to listen to them in private and not post them to the internet. A woman in the crowd yelled out, “I promise I won’t touch myself!” “You can touch yourself,” Amanda replied. “Why would I want you to not touch yourself? If anyone records these songs and goes home and masterbates to them (sorry Eliot!) I will give you extra points.”

The Nail (Amanda on synth) The normally reverberating bass was toned down a bit tonight.

Bad Habit

Half Jack

Photo Gallery:

I am very mature. (by Scott Hanes)

Good Day

The Dresden Dolls are a very expressive band!

Uh … you okay over there?

Brian is having a moment. With his hat.

Shenanigins!

The best drummer. IN HELL!!!!!!!

Half Jack

You’ve been a wonderful audience! Thank you and good night! <drops mic> <no encore>

[dollarbin]

Shakey Sundays #20:

Time Fades Away, Part 1.

I'm seeing my famous brother on stage tonight in LA; you should come. He's been making killer music for a full 30 years but, because we live far apart, this will be just the fourth time I've seen him play a proper gig.

Let's see...

First there was the Don't Call Me Judas show I set up for him and his fellow high school VU nerd buddies at Pomona College around 95/96: their lead singer was mostly too terrified to perform so my brother and this sweet guy took over the vocals while handling all the stringed instruments. I invited the whole damn college but only about 8 students actually attended. I got embarrassingly drunk (a guy who insisted his name was Cruiser had shown me how to shotgun beers earlier that evening), and so I demanded that they perform their cover of Frank Black's Freedom Rock twice. I was so wasted that I thought my name was Chip...

Then I saw one of his many college bands, The Freezermen, at Vassar College in the Spring of, I don't know, maybe 01. Picture Sweet Caroline, Shout, Happy Together and the like as performed by a Kim Deal type on drums and my brother and his soon to be Ph.D buddy fumbling in search of appropriate chords while the captain of the baseball team turned in fight club vocals. Happily they all leaned on a dude with a keyboard turned up to 11 to make everything recognizable. Everyone in the room, except for that keyboard player, had guzzled an industrial soup pot's worth of suspicious punch; after the show we repaired to the college radio station control room where I repeatedly risked FCC fines on air while attempting to describe the ineffable effects of the Incredible String Band on one's own sense of self for an audience of none; it was one of the better nights of my life.

Next came a Forces at Work show in Denver and I have no real idea when that was; probably ten years ago. They opened for a San Diego based touring party band who opened for... someone else. I clearly don't remember much but I've still got my Forces at Work t-shirt and I know they took a break from performing my famous brother's songs to play I'm Waiting for My Man at a perfectly glacial pace; it made Danger Bird sound like a dance track.

It too was unspeakably awesome.

I hereby call upon My Famous Brother to do three things: First, he needs to put all of the 20+ years of independently made music he's recorded under the name The Dwindling Party up on Bandcamp or YouTube or something so I can share it with all of you and write about it.

Secondly, he needs to name for us the two other bands from that Forces at Work show in the comments section below; he and his two fantastic band mates are touring without any physical or logistical support while surely keeping up their full time day jobs' professional work. Plus my brother is busy being a good husband and dad and writing his daily blog. At the same time Prairewolf just polished off their second, soon to be issued, full length LP which sounds like Dylan's Pat Garratt meets Alice Coltrane. And he interviewed none other than Linda Thompson earlier this week.

So he's clearly got plenty of time on his hands and nothing better to do than fill up the comments section below. Clearly.

(Wait! The Donkeys!? I think that was the name of one of the bands...)

Thirdly: he needs to get Prairewolf to cover a song from Neil Young's fabulous and maddening drunken fight of a record Time Fades Away tonight. Why? Well, obviously, they need to do so because otherwise there will be absolutely no connection whatsoever between what I just wrote about and the title of this blog post.

So get busy already, famous brother. I want Yonder Stands the Sinner reworked in Prairewolf's patented cosmic white guy instrumental cowboy free jazz vein, and I want it 12 hours from now.

I'll report back tomorrow after the show with Part 2 of this post. And I promise to actually write about Time Fades Away while doing so...

Dear Stephen Stills, you suck. See you at tonight's show!

[hannahhook7744]

Tiger Peony headcanons revised;

Tiger Peony, like her mother, was named after a flower.

Ironically, Peonies are her favorite flowers.

She's one of the few kids whose name is close to their parents' name that actually likes their name. 

She thinks it sounds cool and the fact she likes the flower also helps.

Her dad is Lampwick from Pinocchio.

Lampwick's mom married Geppetto, making Pinocchio his brother.

Which makes Pinocchio her uncle.

Pinocchio married Alice, which makes Ally and Pin, Tiger Peony's cousins.

Cacao is her favorite drink (in Neverland) and Maize is her favorite food (in Neverland).

Shining Pearl–the leader of another tribe on the isle– is a good friend of her mothers’ and is like an aunt to her.

She is also close to her uncle, Hard-to-Hit.

Her favorite food in Auradon, however, is Tofu.

And her favorite sweets are Corn cakes, peanuts, rice cakes, trail mix, and Jolly ranchers.

She is a vegetarian for the most part (even if some in her tribe do not agree with it).

Her mother, Tiger Lily, is only the coach of Neverland  because she's one of the few adults of Neverland who can do it. (The Darlings don't live in Neverland. Most of the mermaids are too childish. The fairies are too busy doing their jobs and teaching the kids of neverland. Her father is still running their tribe and will continue to do so until he dies as is the usual for their tribe. And any pirates who could do it were stolen from Neverland. And children aren't allowed to be coaches, so that left her. One of the few people who wanted/allowed herself to grow up). 

She is an activist (for equal rights, women's rights, children and animal's rights, the environment, etc).

She's the same age as Ben. Who she met a lot when she was younger because they are both future rulers (though she shares that responsibility with Peter and the queen mermaid and the fairy rulers).

She is one of the leaders of the Neverland club (this one is inspired by one of @dragoneyes618 's fics).

She was very supportive of Ben's proclamation.

She grew up hearing stories of Jake and his crew as well as the princess pirate and their three young mermaid friends who she never got to meet because of a certain kingdom who didn't care about consent of other kingdoms. She resents Auardon greatly for this.

She's very competitive and a big fan of tourney despite the fact she doesn't play.

Tiger Peony is dating Sherwood's star archery player, Robert Coran Hood of Locksley. Also known as Bobby Hood.

She met Bobby when Sherwood and Neverland's teams were playing one another. He was commenting on the game— angry about how one of the lost boys got away with a cheap shot towards one of his friends.

Which led to the two of them arguing after the game.

Bobby ended transferring soon after that to Auradon.

It took awhile for the two of them to get together and for them to stop getting into arguments every time they met. 

She can play the lute, the flute, the drum, and the pan flute.

Tiger Peony is also great at swimming and canoeing as well as dancing, singing, climbing, and giving speeches.

She is a Tom boy and an artist. Though she's not the best at it.

She is close friends with the Darling Children—Jane, William, and Daniel (Wendy's kids), Jeremiah, Wilma, and Diana (John and Luna's kids), Moria, Jonathan, Wallace,  Dalton (Michael's kids), Warpaint and Millie (Slightly's daughter—he was adopted by Wendy's aunt, Millicent in one of the movies).

As well as Tinkerbell's triplets—Terry, Tina, and Terra, and her youngest son, Tinzen.

She is not a fan of Slightly’s son, Warpaint, or the twins’ sons, Chains and Shelly, however.

Though she is friends with the remaining lost children—Rufio, Thud Butt, Ace, Don't Ask, No Nap, Pockets, Latchboy, Too Small, the other twins (Sooner and Later), Twins (singular boy), Chubs, Cynthia, Meera, Stringbean, Maya, Nibs, Tootles, and Baby.

She visits the fallen lost children’ graves often–like Fox–and thinks that she would have gotten along with most of them like a niece would with their aunts and uncles if they were still alive.

She's close to her cousin, Hototo.

She is also friends with  Armus and Sienna much to Peter’s dismay.

She’s even friends with the grandchildren of Maimie Mannering (an old friend of Peter’s).

[wicked-jade]

Curious about 'Should've learned to play them drums'.

Thanks for the ask! That one is actually one of my oldest WIPs - I started it while I was still writing 'Bad Luck.' It was originally meant to be a sequel to that fic, but then S4 happened and obliterated my plans, lol.

'Play Them Drums' was supposed to be my Johnny and Anthony bonding fic. It was inspired by that flashback in S1, when Sid is complaining to Laura about all of little Johnny's abandoned interests. He mentions a drum kit, and I'm a sucker for musician Johnny, so my brain ran with it.

The fic is set about a year or so after Johnny and Daniel started dating. Most everyone is supportive, except Anthony, who is rebelling. Both against Johnny and Daniel's relationship, and against the family karate legacy. Daniel is trying to be patient and supportive of his son's other interests, but is still kind of heartbroken that Anthony doesn't want to learn karate from him.

One day, Johnny stops by the house to drop off something with Amanda. She invites him to stay for lunch, but they keep getting interrupted by an unholy racket coming from upstairs. She explains that Anthony suddenly took an interest in music, and has decided he wants to be a drummer.

And Daniel (who doesn't have to live with the noise) actually bought him a drum kit.

Needless to say, she's not happy about it. Johnny tries to assure her it's probably just a phase - and gets deja vu when he recalls his mother telling Sid the exact same thing about him.

When Amanda has to go outside to take a call because of the noise, Johnny goes upstairs to tell Anthony to knock it off. They start bickering as usual, but Johnny soon realizes that the kid isn't just doing it to piss off his parents (though that's part of it.) He actually does want to learn how to play. The problem is, he's trying to teach himself from youtube tutorials, with little success.

Johnny realizes this might be his chance to improve his relationship with the kid, and offers to help. He's rusty, but he still remembers a little, and ends up showing Anthony the basics. Anthony is reluctantly impressed, and at the end of their impromptu lesson, he asks Johnny to teach him.

Johnny agrees, but with a few caveats. He'll teach him to play drums, but only if Anthony joins Miyagi Do and lets his dad teach him, too. And he can't let on that he's being put up to it - Anthony has to actually act excited about karate.

Most importantly, he can't tell Daniel about their little deal.

I still kind of love the idea of this fic, but I don't know if I'll ever get back to it. Which kinda bums me out, because it was such a cute idea.

[ronaldofandom]

A Love Eternal / Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna

Chapter 6 is up, guys. No warnings.

Summary: This is love and longing and feels and fluff and more love. Key dynamics are Sita-Jenny, Bheem-Jenny, and Malli-Jenny.

Hope you feel the love!

.............................................................................

Chapter 6

(Links to Ch 1, Ch 2, Ch 3, Ch 4, Ch 5, Ch 7, Ch 8, Ch 9, Ch 10 , Ch 11)

Three days had passed. Three very long days. The two men were supposed to return tonight, and the two women were palpably thrilled.

Today was also the day of the festival of nature spirits, as Sita had explained to Jenny. The villagers had gathered in the village square (which was basically a decent-sized clearing in the center of all huts) and were thanking natural forces like mountain spirits, river spirits, and animal spirits for their nourishment and care. The modest feast was a combination of everyday food plus some desserts - which were a luxury for them and were only prepared for special occasions. They were singing their folk songs, along with some makeshift percussion instruments like drums. All the while mindful of the surroundings - they kept the volume decently low so as not to disturb the peace of the forest. Jenny was amazed by their simplicity and wisdom every day. Most city people - whether in India or England - lacked the basic decency and etiquette that these tribals possessed. She wondered why the city people were considered more civilized and intellectual - it actually should have been the other way around. She was deep in thought and didn’t realize when Sita sat down next to her.

‘They will be back anytime now. You will see him soon. And he will love the surprise.’ 

Jenny broke from her trance-like state and saw her friend smiling at her. She smiled back immediately - Sita’s gentle yet knowing smiles were hard to resist.

‘And you will see him soon.’ 

While Jenny had no qualms in showing how much she missed Bheem, she knew Sita missed Ram too. Incredibly. Yet she was more restrained in her love and also her longing. She had gotten used to waiting for Ram. She never sought his time or attention and was grateful for whatever little of it came down her way organically. While they were childhood friends and were very close in some ways, expressing affection wasn’t one of their strengths. Far from it. Jenny had observed their dynamic from a distance. They behaved like a couple who had been married for decades - very reliant on each other and silently attuned to each other. Yet, their primary marriage was to their respective duties. To their country. Ram had chosen that path, and Sita had followed him wordlessly. While that arrangement worked for Ram, Jenny could see that it didn’t necessarily work for Sita. She wanted more of him.

‘Why don’t you tell him what you feel, what you really feel? That you want to have an iota of life beyond the never-ending mission?’

Jenny asked her finally. Sita was visibly taken aback by the question.

‘You know why. Back in my village, I told you. This mission is his life, his everything. He derives his happiness, his vigor, and his will to live from this mission. I love him, Jenny. And if this is his life’s purpose, then I will support him every step of the way. I am not going to bother him with what I want or need. I am just grateful that he is mine, but he still belongs to the country first.’

There was deep wisdom and melancholy in her voice as she said all this. Years and years of being by Ram’s side, as he killed himself to become the potent weapon that he was today, had given immense perspective to Sita. She had learned and accepted that she would only ever get a small piece of Ram, if at all. Jenny found it sad and unfair.

‘Is it so wrong to live a little? To have a semblance of normalcy and feelings and love? Do you think a person can survive if he is only fuelled by revenge/anger? Don’t you think he would get worn out and make horrendous choices, and others would have to bear the brunt of it? Don’t you think that has already happened? As the person who knows him the best, shouldn’t you be telling him this?’

Sita was amazed by how perceptive, and insightful Jenny could be. Along with her ability to not mince words. She said things as she saw them. Sita knew there was some truth to Jenny’s words, but she didn’t know Ram like Sita did.

‘Jenny, I have tried. But the burden that he carries is too heavy. Over the years, he has slowly turned himself into a machine. Not just to become a physical specimen for the mission but also to not get impacted by feelings or emotions. I saw this materialize gradually over the years. The only person other than me who has been able to break through the wall he has created is Bheem. He smiles a little now, laughs a little, and even lives a little. Bheem has shown him how to be true to the mission yet not burn himself in it. That gives me hope, Jenny. I see a small change, and that is enough for me. All in due time - I will not push him for it.’

While Sita was smiling fondly by the end of it, she could sense that Jenny was not convinced. That her smile was half-hearted. She nudged Jenny lightly with her elbow.

‘Listen - not everyone can be as romantic and attentive as your Bheem, okay? I will probably check Ram for fever if he starts making flower bracelets for me or leaves roses on my pillow.’

Sita laughed out loud, and Jenny joined her, genuinely this time. She told herself that maybe Sita was right - that everyone had different ideas of happiness. Who was she to really decide what constituted happiness in someone else’s relationship? It might seem dysfunctional to her, but maybe it worked for them. Maybe their way of showing love was something deeper, something she didn’t grasp yet. She just wished for her friend, her only friend, to be happy with the man she loved the most in this whole world. The man who was Sita’s whole world. 

The two women chatted and laughed over other things. Many random, silly things. Jenny told her stories of how different men had tried to woo her over the years and how she never felt anything for any of them. She told her about the party where she first danced with Bheem - and how Bheem and Ram took over the whole party. Sita clapped happily as she heard it all - the wooing stories, in particular, were very amusing for her. She had been with Ram for as long as she could remember, so she hadn’t had any of these experiences.

The environment had become even more festive as dessert was brought in. Everyone seemed excited, adults and children alike. Jenny pictured how happy Bheem would be while having the dessert - and wished for him to come back soon. Sita had assured her that they had sent word and that they would be back any minute now. 

At that moment, Malli came to them with two servings of kheer. The child sat in Jenny’s lap and started feeding her with her own hands. Jenny had fed her many desserts while in the palace. She would sneak to her room after dinner every night and bring along whichever delicacy was served that day. Jenny had hoped that maybe the sweets would make Malli happy - all kids loved sweets, after all. It used to lift Malli’s mood a bit, but she wasn’t sure whether it was because of the sweets or because of Jenny. Any time that she spent with Jenny used to be the only bearable time in that cage for her. So now, Malli wanted to feed Jenny the dessert of her place. And she chatted away in her lap as she told Jenny about all the times her mother had made kheer for her. Watching Malli smile so joyously made Jenny emotional - at the realization that for months, this child was deprived of this smile. But Malli brought her back to reality with a hand to Jenny’s face. Malli understood sadness all too well now; she recognized that look on Jenny's and kissed her softly to make her smile. Jenny had done the same for her every time she had cried over the last 6 months.

That was the moment when Bheem walked in. His presence was immediately noticed, and he was met with affectionate hugs. Jangu and Lachchu came to him instantly and enquired about the trip. The village elders also made a beeline for him. While he greeted everyone politely and answered all questions patiently, his eyes kept searching the place for her. When he finally saw her, his heart did a few somersaults in his chest.

She was sitting in a far corner, with Malli in her lap. Mail was kissing and caressing her cheeks while feeding her kheer. The child was smiling so preciously that it nearly brought tears to Bheem’s eyes. It had taken a while for Malli to stop crying. And even longer for her to not wake up from her sleep with nightmares. But it had taken the longest for her to start smiling again. That had only happened since she was reunited with Loki and the tribe. But he still hadn’t seen her laugh so freely as she was doing now. Bheem had noticed the sweet bond she shared with Jenny, a bond forged by pain and empathy. Jenny had been great with other kids also - they had all become fond of her. Jenny tended to smile wider and laugh harder with the children; they also loved playing with her and making her chase after them.

Just then, an image flashed in front of Bheem. Of Jenny sitting in the same spot. But in her lap was an infant, her own child. Who had her ruby lips. And his stubborn curls. And his tanned skin. The mother and son cooed fondly at each other while waiting for him to return home.

Bheem had to shake his head to break out of the image and was dazed for a good few seconds. It had come so unexpectedly and caught him completely off-guard. Yet he felt warm and fuzzy all over. Jenny had noticed the commotion by then and looked up. Their eyes met briefly. He was still surrounded by a few people, but he managed to nod slightly at her. She responded with a radiant smile. Malli also noticed Bheem then and ran straight to him. Bheem lifted her in his arms, and she climbed up to sit on his shoulders for her Anna to walk her around. And Bheem obliged, of course. 

When he put Malli down and turned around to look at her, he was rooted to his spot for a few seconds. Jenny was wearing a saree, a gorgeous red saree. He had to blink a few times to believe it was real, that he wasn’t dreaming. She looked ethereal. She looked stunning. He started to walk towards her but was suddenly surrounded by everyone else. Loki tried to feed him food, but he had already eaten. Others tried to feed him kheer, which he took happily. He wasn’t going to say no to sweets. When he finished one serve, he was readily served one more, and he gobbled it happily. 

Jenny had seen him notice her, but his attention was quickly snatched away by the group surrounding him. Including the young girls who fawned over his every move; she was more aware of it now since Sita had highlighted it. When one of them served him kheer and his face lit up, it tugged at Jenny’s heart. When the concerned girl leaned closer to help him with a second serve, Jenny couldn’t stand the sight and swiftly walked away. She spotted Sita and went straight towards her, keeping her distance from all the affection that was being showered on him. It bothered her because it made her face that ugly realization again, which her heart had thrown in her face multiple times - that Bheem would be far better off with one of the girls of the village. It would be natural, convenient, and logical. It would suit everyone. He wouldn’t have to stress over her well-being all the time. These girls would readily understand him - his language, his moods, his…needs. And they could fulfill all of those. Unlike her, who was such a misfit in that environment. 

She was lost in thought while walking, didn’t notice the uneven surface below, and ended up twisting her ankle. Thankfully, the food table was nearby, and she held on to the edge of it to keep herself from falling. Two seconds later, strong arms wrapped around her and steadied her. She didn’t need to turn around to know it was him - she could recognize his touch and his scent anywhere. She could also feel his presence. Most importantly, she knew no one else would dare to touch her like that. And most definitely not when Bheem was around.

Bheem turned her around in his arms to face himself, balanced her against the edge of the table, and bent down to take a quick look at her ankle. It was a mild twist, but she needed tending to. Jenny saw his next move in his eyes, a split second before he executed it. Before she could stop him, he had picked her up in his arms and was walking back towards their hut. All her apprehensions from a few seconds ago were forgotten. And were now replaced with red-hot embarrassment. She could feel all pairs of eyes turn towards them. People stepped out of their way automatically, wordlessly, as Bheem carried her back. Jenny was sure that if the villagers had any iota of doubt left about them, it won’t be present after this moment. Their imaginations would run wild, and she couldn’t even blame them. How was she going to face anyone now? How would she face Sita - that demon would give her hell for this. It was all too much. 

‘Bheem put me down. I will walk; it’s not that bad.’ 

She whispered softly in his ear, but he paid no heed to it. She struggled lightly in his arms, but he just tightened his hold. When she struggled one more time, he gave her a definitive look. She was still getting used to his decisive looks and tone. But she resigned to her fate then, wrapped her arms around his shoulders, and buried her face in his neck so as not to look at anyone else. The one-minute walk to the hut felt at least an hour long to her.

When they reached inside, he carefully sat her down on the edge of the cot and knelt in front of her. He took off her sandals himself, despite her protests, and kept her injured foot on his raised knee. When he lifted her saree a bit to inspect the ankle, he saw the silver anklets she was wearing underneath. Could feet possibly ever be this beautiful? He didn’t know earlier, but now he did. As his fingers started to prod around her ankle and she cried out in pain, he came back to reality. One of her hands was clutching his shoulder while the other had clenched in her saree; her eyes were shut tightly in the anticipation of more pain. He couldn’t bear to see her like this. His mouth moved of its own volition, and he bent down to kiss her ankle, placing a few gentle kisses around the area and one on her anklet as well. Her eyes shot open, and she looked at him in wonder - whether he was real or whether she had conjured him from all her fantasies of her Prince Charming. She continued to stare at him, dazed, and didn’t even realize when he maneuvered her ankle back into place. 

‘Zyada dard toh nahi hua?’ (Hope it didn’t hurt too much?)

She looked up then to meet his concern-filled eyes and shook her head to assuage his fears. He helped her stand up with his arms outstretched around her, ready to catch her in case she wobbled. She tentatively put pressure on her foot and realized that he had worked his magic again. She smiled at him, and he smiled back. How dearly she had missed that smile. Missed him. Jenny leaned forward and kissed his cheeks - the non-bearded parts under his eyes. He responded by wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close. Jenny could sense that there was something different in his touch today - he wasn’t as tentative. He wasn’t as hesitant. It felt like he had finally started to believe she was truly there and truly his. That she wasn’t some ‘memsahib’ but just another girl who was madly, hopelessly, unconditionally, and irrevocably in love with him. Who he could love back as well and not just admire from afar. The realization filled her heart with immense joy - she wrapped her arms around his neck and rested her face on his shoulder.

He nuzzled into her neck as he felt her lean closer. Because he had missed her too, like hell. He had missed her warmth, her affection, her care, her giggles, her touch, and the feel of her skin as he held her. He had missed coming back to her every evening and telling her about his day. The first time Jenny had asked him ‘how are you?’, he had started talking about everything that he was supposed to do for others and how that panned out. But she had stopped him and said that her question was different. She wanted to know how he was feeling and what he wanted for himself. The question had thrown him off - nobody had asked him that before. What he wanted was what was good for others. What he truly wanted for himself had never even crossed his mind. But she had nudged him to think of that, to think of his real feelings. And he had started doing that with her. He had started telling her about his innermost fears, his prayers, his hopes, and his wishes. He had told her stuff that he hadn’t told anyone else - like how hard it had been for him to kill people. Even bad ones. How his conscience had been heavy ever since. Despite what Ram had told him - that it was all a part of the mission and had to be done. But still, he didn’t feel comfortable playing god and deciding someone’s fate. It was all very tough for him, and it constantly played on his mind. What he hadn’t told her yet, though, was that she had become a large part of all his inner feelings. She was the only person whose world revolved around him completely. Her worldview was via his lens - via what he needed and via what was good for him. She never asked for anything other than his happiness. He never had someone like that in his life before. 

The last 3 days away from her had given him more perspective; he wanted to cherish their time together and live every moment to the fullest. He had started to feel closer to her. Her increased knowledge of his language helped strengthen their bond. But today, she had completely knocked the air out of his chest. Seeing her in a saree was a surreal experience for him. The red saree suited her so beautifully - she looked divine, like a bride on her wedding day. The feel of her bangles around his neck made his skin tingle. It felt like she truly belonged to him. There was a mushy sensation coursing through his body, the sensation of love. He wanted to be close to her tonight - as close as humanly possible. In every way that was humanly possible. 

‘How are you? Bohot thak gaye honge na?’ (You must be quite tired, no?)

She asked sweetly, blissfully unaware of the turmoils of his heart. His lips found the mole on her shoulder and nuzzled it briefly, making her whimper. 

‘Thak gaya tha. Par abhi sab theek hain.’ (I was tired. But I am feeling good now.)

She smiled at his implication. Her instinct was right - something had changed in him, but she didn’t know what had caused that. She didn’t care, though; she just relished the openness and freeness of his demeanor tonight.

‘I missed you - so so much.’ She sighed into his neck. He kissed the side of her face in response while his fingers played with her hair. It hadn’t missed his attention that she had been leaving her hair open from the day he had indicated to her that he liked it this way. 

‘Kya kiya teen din?’ (What did you do these last 3 days?)

‘Not much. I spent time with the kids. Did my reading - learned a lot of new words. Spent some time with Sita. Did some knitting, but I am not happy with how it has turned out - I will need to rework it. And I just stared at the roses you left for me; I tried to picture your face as you were picking those out. And I also prayed for you to return safely.’

He listened intently and understood a few words - which were enough for him to grasp the essence. The sound of her voice was so soothing. But he did realize that she couldn’t move around much - since he had asked her to stay put. He didn’t want to be that firm with her, but it was important for her safety. Now that he was back, though, he would take care of it.

‘Agar tumhara man ho toh kal shaam ko ja sakte hain - tumhari pasandeeda jagaho par.’ 

(If you are up for it, we could go to both of your favorite places tomorrow evening.’)

Her face lit up, and she jumped a little in his arms, making him beam back at her. He couldn’t help but wonder how innocent and childlike she was at times. She was just 20, after all, still so young. When she cupped his cheeks in delight, he noticed the vivid colors on her hand and instantly recognized it as Malli’s work. Jenny followed his line of sight and understood his question.

‘Yes, this was Malli. Yes, this was the first time she drew something after the palace. Actually, while she was there, I could never ask her to draw on my hand. While I didn’t know the full story, I could see the sadness in her eyes every time she was asked to do this. It was almost like she cursed her ability and loathed it.  But yesterday morning, after the class, she came to me with the colors, sat on my lap, and just drew this. I was speechless and just looked at her throughout. Her eyes were not sad, though, not anymore. She even smiled when she finished and took me to Loki to show her work. Loki was emotional too.’

Jenny narrated the full story, but Bheem kept looking at her hand. The little child was coming back to her own self, slowly. He didn’t think it would happen. He feared she would forever be traumatized and caught in her nightmarish experiences. But this gave him hope. This, and her laughter from the gathering today. He was also moved by the fact that Malli had chosen Jenny for this. He was well aware of the bond they had shared - but this was a step further. This was Malli’s way of showing Jenny that she saw her as one of them, that she wasn’t an outsider there. And he knew this had a lot to do with Jenny as well - how she had assimilated with all his people. He fell in love with her more with each passing hour. His hands moved to cup her cheeks, but she caught them midway.

Bheem was confused. And then dread hit him. She was eyeing his wrist intently and looked up at him - the question was loud and clear in her eyes. He looked down, and stammered.

‘Wo…darasal…samay nahi mil paya dawai lagane ka. Kafi cheeze chal rahi thi - us beech me bhool gaya.’

(Umm…actually…I didn’t get the time to put the ointment you had packed for me. A lot was going on, and I forgot in the middle of all that.)

She didn’t buy it for one second and kept staring at him intently. Bheem knew he couldn’t lie to her. He didn’t want to either, but she would be furious with the truth, and he was actually scared of facing her then. Jenny had crossed her arms now and was giving him a look to just come out with it. He took two steps back, and his fingers fidgeted with the borders of his kurta - all the while looking at the ground. 

‘Tum jaanti ho asal wajah kya hain. Anna saath me the - agar unke saamne main ye lagata ya apna kurta nikalta toh unhe pata chal jata ki…’

(You know the real reason. Anna was with me. If I had put this on in front of him or taken off my kurta, he would have gotten to know about..)

He didn’t need to say further. He didn’t even need to look up at her to gauge how angry she must be right now.

And boy, was she angry. She was downright furious. She was so livid that she could punch Bheem right now and Ram as well while she was at it. Some friend he was. She had half a mind to drag Ram here and show him the consequences of his actions. So that Bheem’s dilemma ends once and for all. Anger was not an emotion she felt for Bheem ever - and even today, the anger was layered - with her helplessness about his selflessness. So many days of tending to his wounds would have gone to waste because of the gap. She might need to start afresh. He might need to endure for longer. She was so angry she could cry right now. 

Bheem had been scanning her face throughout and was heartbroken with her reaction. He knew he had hurt her. He also knew that anger was just a front - she was actually sad. He had never meant to hurt her, but he had caused the most lovely person in the world to nearly cry. He trailed behind her like a lost puppy as she moved around the hut to look for the ingredients for the ointment. She was giving him the silent treatment - not saying a word and not looking at him at all. Which was making him even more anxious. 

‘Suno na, Jenny. Galti ho gayi. Aage se dhyaan rakhunga. Dobara aisa nahi hoga, pakka. Maaf kar do na.’

(Please listen no, Jenny. I made a mistake. Will be more careful in the future. I promise I won’t do this again. Please forgive me.)

She didn’t acknowledge that or turn around. She absolutely didn’t want to melt looking into his eyes - which she knew would be all big and doe-like right now. Because she was still so mad at him. At that moment, Bheem realized that in trying to spare Ram’s feelings, he had hurt Jenny’s. He had hurt the one person who cared for him most deeply. Who was his safe space. His home. His love. His partner. And the worst part was, she wasn’t even mad at anything he had done to her. She was mad because he had hurt himself. Bheem felt like the scum of the earth.

When Jenny couldn’t find the fresh herbs and realized she needed to wait till tomorrow morning, she pushed aside the bowl in frustration. He couldn’t take her agony anymore and hugged her from behind. She struggled in his hold and groaned, but he held her firmly, letting her thrash against him. She gave up after a while, and her shoulders slumped. Bheem slowly turned her around then and lifted her chin to get her to look at him. And he was met with moist eyes and a far-way look.

He cupped her cheeks desperately and smothered her face with sloppy kisses. 

‘Rona mat Jenny, main dekh nahi paunga. Tumhari kasam, phir kabhi aisa nahi hoga. Bas tum rona mat.’

(Please don’t cry, Jenny. I won’t be able to handle it. I swear on you, this won’t happen again. Just please don’t cry.)

She finally acknowledged him, and her hands came up to rest on his shoulders. He grabbed them, kissed her palms, and placed them over his heart, which was beating rapidly right now. 

‘LOVE. YOU.’ He said slowly, trying to remember how she had said it. 

That cheat. That bastard. That cheating bastard. He knew she won’t be able to resist that. He knew she would melt. Which she did. Instantly. Jenny threw her arms around his neck, and he crushed her against his body. His arms ran up and down her back, and her hand twisted in his hair.

‘I love you too. So much that it hurts sometimes. I can’t handle your pain, Bheem; it kills me. You hurt me when you hurt yourself. Please, don’t ever do this to me again.’

They just held each other close, neither ready to let go yet. The music from outside had started floating in now. The celebration was at its fag end, and the most cheerful songs were being sung presently. Bheem swayed them lightly in his arms. Subconsciously, they shifted weight from one foot to the other, following the beats of the drum. Both in tandem with each other. Both remembered the last time they had danced like this - at the party in Delhi on the first day they had met. So much had changed since then. 

Bheem suddenly remembered that he had a surprise of his own for Jenny, a happy one this time. He mumbled against her neck, still reluctant to let go.

‘Kuch laaya tha tumhare liye.’ (I got something for you.)

Jenny looked up at him expectantly and curiously. He released her from his arms, extremely unwillingly, and pulled out from his pocket the necklace he had made from the shells of the riverbed. She was moved beyond words - this was the most thoughtful and beautiful gift anyone had ever gotten for her. She looked up at him in wonder and again asked herself if he was really real, not a figment of her imagination.

He saw her expression and understood that she liked the gift. Giving himself a silent pat on the back, he turned her around, moved her hair to one side, and carefully tied the necklace around her neck. He turned her back to face him and was mesmerized by how the shells added to her natural beauty. She was glowing tonight. Like an apsara (angel) had descended from heaven straight into his arms. She was agonizingly stunning, painfully so. He had to tell her what she was doing to him.

He cupped her cheeks, pulled her closer, their noses nearly touching, as he looked into her eyes. She could feel his hot, shallow breath on her face.

‘Tumhe andaaza bhi hain, ki aaj tum kitni khoobsoorat lag rahi ho?’

(Do you have any idea how stunning you are looking tonight?)

She blushed and averted her eyes, but he made her look back at himself. His eyes were dripping with love and desire - burning her from the inside. Her face turned crimson, her skin turned hot under his touch and proximity. 

He leaned impossibly closer, lips nearly touching hers. One of his hands played with the thread at the back of her blouse while the other caressed her bare waist. She clutched his shoulders for support, to stay upright.

‘Meri chahat, aadat aur ibadat - sab ban gayi ho tum.’

(You have become my everything - my love, my habit and my worship.)

‘Itna - ki ab dar lag raha hain Jenny, tumhe khone ka dar. Mujhe chod ke toh nahi jaogi na?’

(So much so, that the idea of losing you scares me now. Tell me you won’t leave me?)

She opened her eyes and swiftly covered his mouth with her hand. His eyes were moist, and the said fear was evident in them. It tugged at her heartstrings. How could this silly man possibly think that she would walk away from him? Life without him seemed meaningless, purposeless, loveless, and lifeless. She kissed the top of his eyes and looked at him lovingly.

‘My love - I am yours. I have been yours from the day I met you. You claimed my heart that day, and you claim it more & more with every passing day. Walking away from you is unfathomable to me. You are my everything, Bheem. If it were up to me, I would spend every moment of every day with you and never let you out of my sight. I love you to the moon and back. I will be with you till whenever you want me. But I will be yours forever.’

Jenny leaned in and kissed his lips lightly. That was all the assurance he needed. He kissed her hard till she was breathless and pushed at his chest. His lips then moved to her face, her neck, and shoulders while she gasped for breath. In the next second, she found herself being carried to the cot in his arms. He laid her down gently, settled next to her, and half-leaned over her. His eyes roamed over her saree-clad body - slowly, hungrily, longingly. She shivered and crossed her legs at the alien sensations coursing through her body. When he looked back into her eyes, his orbs had grown a shade darker. The question in them was loud and clear - did she want him tonight? He waited patiently for her to respond as she took a few deep breaths to calm her nerves. Her heart was threatening to burst out of her chest. She knew the answer in her heart instantly, but it still took her a few seconds to work up the courage to tell him. She looked back into his intoxicating eyes, brought his hand to her cheek, kissed his palm, and then she gave him a small tentative nod. He held her face with both hands and looked into his eyes beseechingly, asking one more time to see if she was sure. She nodded more firmly this time, and his lips crashed against hers the next instant. As the night bore witness to their love.

..................................................

The rest of the action was supposed to be in this chapter. BUT I CANT STOP WRITING FLUFF AND FEELINGS for 6k words - what happened to the smut writer in me?

Couple of more chapters left in the series, I guess - but who knows, with the way I ramble :)

As always, your thoughts are more welcome!!

@irisesforyoureyes @rambheem-is-real @thewinchestergirl1208 @eremin0109 @eenadu-varthalu @rorapostsbl @anyavaramyr @yehsahihai @budugu @rasnak2 @fadedscarlets @maraudersbitchesassemble @juhiiiiii @justmeand-myinsight @mikabilis @rambheemisgoated @rosayounan @jrntrtitties @obsessedtoafault @rambheemlove @jjwolfesworld @alikokinav @iam-siriuslysher-lokid @bromance-minus-the-b @dumdaradumdaradum @lovingperfectionwonderland @annieginny @chaanv @ssabriel @sally-for-sally @bitchy-bi-trash @milla984 @doodlesofthelastpage @boochhaan @mesimpleone @carminavulcana @filesbeorganized @ladydarkey @meastradeur @teddybat24 @fangirlshrewt97 @stanleykubricks @stuckyandlarrystuff @burningsheepcrown @veteran-fanperson @voidsteffy @ronika-writes-stuff @beingmes-blog @yonderghostshistories @nisreenart

[itsthebethblogever]

an ode to San Cris

The light placed at the tip of the plane’s wing blinks red. Looking down onto the quilt of ant-sized towns, I notice there is another blinking light that seems to be speaking to the one so far above. Something speaking to someone.

Aha!

A third light begins to blink, now in my own brain.

San Cristóbal de las Casas.

A town that speaks to me.

That’s what I wanted to do on the plane! Write about San Cris, the town fading into the distance as I make my journey back north to California. A town that I called my home for 3 sweet months.

Like the flurry of inspiration stirred up with a new beginning, I find that endings have the same effect. My soul has been buzzing, asking me to please sit down and get some of this soon to be nostalgia into words.

San Cristóbal de las Casas.

My Gramma recently told me I have a knack for making the reader feel like they are really there with me; so, in her honor, I will invite you to Blue Skidoo, We Can Too into one of Mexico’s Pueblos Magicos.

You land, stumbling slightly, onto a street that smells faintly of freshly made tortillas and gas. To enter your apartment, you turn your key into the slot of a wide garage door, painted yellow.

The door creaks open and your eyes are met with the sight of a little haven: on the left, there are tree lined lawns that border either side of the groundskeeper’s standalone house. On the right, there are more trees and enough space for five cars to park. Walking forward towards the apartment building, you find a set of stairs and follow them up until you reach a rooftop. From the top, you get your first glimpse of the town: like water running up and over stones in a river, the town has waves of hills that lift the buildings uphill in some areas and down flat in others. There seems to be a trend of placing churches on the highest peaks, casting a feeling of godly surveillance.

Bordering the town are pine green mountains, embracing the town in an earthy hug. You bask in the strong sunlight which is reliably accompanied by a bright blue sky full of puffy white clouds. San Cristóbal de las Casas, you observe, perhaps got its name from all the technicolor shades of paint on the buildings. They beckon you to explore. Ooh, what are those murals you see? Time to dive in and get a feel of these new waters.

As soon as you start your walk, you begin to notice: Why does a town full of wide open gardens and ample rooftops have the most narrow, unpredictable sidewalks in history? Walking down any given block in this magical town will put you up against:

- slippery s

l

o

p

e

s

- surprise Stairmaster sets

- a forced surrender down from the serpentine slither of a sidewalk due to a surplus of strollers streaming through

- which subjects you to step down to the street

- while you’re adjusting to your new lower elevation, you hear the chain of a boy’s bicycle: him and his mobile fruit stand are suddenly a lot closer than you predicted! But, he maneuvers around you with effortless ease

- then, you think you’re in the clear, until a loud call for “AGUA! AGUA FRESCA!” meets your ear drums - the sound spouts from a loudspeaker perched atop a curious vehicle. It is a truck whose bed features a metal structure supporting 20 liter jugs of water, stacked on top of each other in the shape of pyramid

- activating your entire lower body strength, you propel yourself back up the high curb to give room for the water bearing vehicle to squeeze past

-you survive!

- and take a grounding breath of the 7,200ft/2,200m elevation mountain air

After the reliably short burst of traffic dissipates, you are left with a calm, cobblestone street. Set along the edges are… Well, actually you can’t tell. Are they shops? Or are they restaurants? Actually, they could be hostels? Or was it someone's family home converted into a combination of all three?

Ok, you walk into one - Ah, alright, it’s an upscale clothing shop.

Or, wait… is it?

Are they marketing to well off embroidered dress seekers, or Seekers wishing to peer into the next realm? Beside the racks of clothing, there are shelves displaying glass jars of every shape and size, offering promises of lucid dreams, lucious Macadamia butter, and ancient Mayan plant based remedies. Whatever you were looking for and twelve things that you weren’t have now ended up in your backpack. Those twelve treasures somehow materialized from the farthest corners of your imagination and turned up at an accessible price, of local, fair trade, organic origins. Obviously they were just waiting for you to walk in and buy them, thereby supporting this women-owned collective.

In one week, you’ll realize with dread that you accidentally left the amber bracelet you paid for at the store. No need to worry - when you return, they’ll have it stored safely under the counter, patiently waiting for you to retrieve it.

After a surprisingly fruitful shopping trip, you express gratitude to the shopkeeper, accept a farewell hit from the joint that she just rolled, and leave. Ah yes, those small sidewalks again. You enter the Tightwalk Tango and meet your dance partners:

- three workmen, each one seeming to belong to a different generation, lugging a ladder

- a woman and her young daughter: the mother wears a long, black sheepskin skirt, and the pair both carry babies swaddled snugly to their sides, secured with striped dark purple and royal blue cloth

- one thoughtful traveler: you

To live up to your thoughtful title, you quickly realize there is not enough space for even the most graceful ballerina to plié around them all, so you again yield down to the street by jumping from the toweringly tall curb. Rule one of the Tightwalk Tango: always let the locals lead.

Three minutes into your eight minute walk home, you run into your Irish friend that you met in Mazunte, another Pueblo Mágico. Simultaneously, you realize you forgot to respond to their text from yesterday, inviting you to a live music event. But, no problem, it’s usually easier to find someone here physically rather than digitally, due to the fact that foreigners tend to not have data plans. Plus, there’s only two main roads - chances are, if you’re running errands at the same time as your friend, your paths will cross. This is a Pueblo Mágico, after all.

A bear hug, a toothy grin, and a look into the windows of our souls begins the greeting ritual. You find out that this morning, you both made French toast from the same loaf of integral bread, purchased from the same Argentinian bakery. There are no coincidences, and you smile as you recognize the Universe is reminding you you’re on path. Next, as you exchange inventory of the day’s hunting and gathering, you are reminded that you that you’re actually missing one item: something fermented. You share this with your friend who asks if you know of a shop called La Fermentera. No, but you’re only one block away, so your friend offers to walk with you there, as they are friends with the owner and it’s on the way to the music venue.

You arrive just as the owner is packing up his truck to leave to make a delivery. Today is not Tuesday nor Friday, the only two days the shop is open; however, since your friend is an acquaintance, the owner invites you in. His name is Ingo, like Bingo without the B, originally from Germany but has called San Cris home for 14 years.

Moments after completing introductions, you suddenly find yourself immersed in a full blown astrology discussion. Turns out, Ingo is a professional astrologist, a subject that both you and your friend are studying. Time ceases to exist as the owner spins a cosmic web with his words, bringing to life aspects of your personalities in a mix of English, Spanish, and German.

Once achieving planetal and probiotic nourishment, the moment for the owner to remember his delivery commitment arises. You try to pay for the 90 peso bottle of beet kvass with a 500 peso bill, but since

Nobody

in San Cris

Ever

Ever

Has Any Change

you promise to return on Tuesday or Friday to pay.

Speaking of remembering plans, your friend’s ears are yearning for tunes, so you bid your friend Adeu and head back home. You swing the yellow door open and greet two of your neighbors that are having a smoke on the lawn picnic table. They ask how you are and you share that you have a slight headache. One of them knows a breathwork technique that is useful for pumping oxygen into the brain and offers to teach it to you. Gratefully accepting, in five short minutes, you now have a new, natural cure for headaches in your toolkit: Breath of Fire. Feeling refreshed, you put your things down in your apartment and head to the rooftop to watch the sun descend behind the mountains.

It has been a long day full of spiritual enlightenment so you feel like grounding yourself back down from the stars. You strike a match to light a candle, a stick of copal incense, and the stove to heat up some coconut milk and stir in cacao. As you wrap up in a wool blanket, your nervous system relaxes further as the deliciously warm, fragrant cacao enters your body and opens your heart.

This is All You Need.

A small town full of friends on every corner, shops stocked with locally made goods, nature a stone’s throw away, and a peaceful home to nurture your soul.

Thank you, San Cristóbal de las Casas, for casting your enchanting spell on all those who enter. Physically, we have parted ways; but internally, your tranquil spirit is forever present.

[rabbitindisguise]

Yeah I dunno why people who can pay purposefully won't on principle. I bought a couple more badges out of spite because fuck that noise

On the other hand: for people who are poor and can't afford supporting Tumblr . . . I totally get it, I've been there (and was there most of my life up until recently). But there is something completely free that I think would be a huge help that takes less than a minute to do though.

If everyone who can't afford to pay just posted one compliment- just one- towards Tumblr publicly, and don't say a single insult towards it for six months, I think that would radically change the culture around supporting Tumblr

The current biggest problem imo is how shitty people are towards the concept of subscribing or buying badges. If people secretly wanted them and asked for them as gifts and paraded them around? Then I would say our job as a user base was done and we did all that we could with our meager funds and it just wasn't enough. But we don't do that.

Because a lot of people don't actually openly admit they value the time they put into this website, or the fact that Tumblr was the place where we made lots of friends and cried about our blorbos

We can gush about mutuals and how much we appreciate the followers that always like our posts . . . but saying one good thing about Tumblr itself? From the people who use it the most? It's so rare. I basically only see compliments about Tumblr from people with checkmarks. There's so little whimsy about Tumblr, so little recognition of the qualities that drew fandom as a whole to it in the first place. Would it be so bad to celebrate it one last time? Just to see what would happen.

One compliment. It could mean an actual real difference. We could tag it something and make a campaign out of it for old time's sake, like fandom used to do all the time to drum up support and publicity for shows and like how people fundraise for ao3

I'll start: Tumblr helped me figure out I was queer by putting me in contact with other queer people. Today I'm on hrt because of it and happier than I've ever been. I've blogged through just about every crisis and never felt alone even if I couldn't talk about things irl. It's a beautiful place on the internet that I treasure pretty dearly and I'll treasure it long after it's gone, which he hopefully won't be too soon.

I don't know if you've seen the latest iteration of "tumblr is dying" but if you haven't, Automattic (owners of tumblr) have decided they will put the site into maintenance mode. This doesn't mean that tumblr will disappear, it just means that they'll keep the lights on and that's about it. They're taking the staff who have been working hard to try to make the site a success, and they're relocating those folks to other projects. A skeleton crew will remain on tumblr, keeping the site alive.

If we want tumblr to thrive, however, then we need to do something to support it - and that something is financial.

If you're someone who enjoys your time on tumblr and you're someone who has an entertainment budget, then consider visiting the TumblrMart and buying yourself a badge. Go ad-free. Choose the new option that I just discovered which is "Support tumblr" - that's the shiny t badge I now have that will change colour over time for the longer I subscribe.

This doesn't require every single user to pay for tumblr. Far from it. Just look at AO3 as the example. Time after time, they hit their fundraising goals and beyond, and I don't think they've ever had more than 10K individual donors for a userbase of something like 5 million.

I've been on this site for a decade. It's the only social media I actually like. I think the internet would be worse off if tumblr wasn't around. I'm going to pay what I can to keep this community around, and I'm going to encourage others to do the same.

If that's something you don't want to see, then feel free to block the tag subsidize tumblr that I'll use on posts like that. If you're open to the idea, then expect the occasional post from me on the subject.

Fandom has lost enough homes in my lifetime. If I can do anything to keep this one around, I will.

[mistypurplespark]

Chapter 42: Captive

Chapter 42.1: Captive

Translator(s): Zryuu

Editor(s): juurensha

The resentment was visibly gathering and rising; it looked similar to a whirlwind soaring into the sky. Chen Xing was shrouded by the bleak and intense gale, and he was trying his best to control the rattle drum. The resentment  first  put  up  a  pretense  of  an  intense  struggle  before  it transformed into a huge ancient mythical beast Zheng.

Five tails, one horn, and shaped like a scarlet panther —— Zheng's resentful spirit was constantly struggling inside the whirlwind, making a roar that sounded as if a boulder had crashed into something: a sound which traveled for a hundred li. At the moment when Zheng appeared, the living corpses stopped attacking the city. They all turned away from the battlefield and focused on Chen Xing.

"Get it back!" Zhou Zhen shouted desperately.

Unaffected by the rattle drum, the Rouran cavalry turned around one after another from the city and towards the battlefield. Karakorum, which had been  nearly  captured,  was  suddenly  under  less  pressure.  The  tribes weakened the enemies before coming out to support the Great Chanyu, Xiang Shu.

This resentment is too strong… It's even harder to control than the Yin Yang Mirror.

Even though Chen Xing had familiarized himself with all kinds of magic powers since he was a child, it was still extremely difficult to deal with this level of powerful magical artifacts. Not to mention that the resentment wrapped around the rattle drum was also constantly looking for ways to break into his heart, wanting to swallow and become one with him.

I can't hold on any longer! The surrounding living corpses were gradually showing signs of getting out of control. Chen Xing tried his best to shake

the rattle drum.

With a 'dong' sound, hundreds of thousands of living corpses followed the command of the rattle drum in Chen Xing's hand and changed directions. Xiang Shu urged his horse, swinging his sword as he rushed towards Che Luofeng.

"Shulü Kong?!" Che Luofeng was gasping for breath.

Xiang Shu held his broadsword in one hand, standing in front of Chen Xing and blocking Che Luofeng.

"Che Luofeng!" Xiang Shu suddenly shouted, "Explain all this to me!"

"Xiang Shu… Xiang Shu…" Chen Xing's heart suffered a heavy blow after activating the magical artifact. He gasped constantly and was already a little unsteady. Putting one hand on his chest, he kept swaying from side to side and was about to fall into the snow.

Che Luofeng sneered, stooping over a bit as he watched Xiang Shu's every move.

In front of him was Che Luofeng and behind him was Chen Xing who was on the verge of collapse. Xiang Shu was absent-minded for a split second. It wasn't the time to bother with Che Luofeng; he should take care of Chen Xing. Or else, when the Rouran cavalry returned, both of them would certainly be sandwiched between them. Once they charged in, even if Xiang Shu had heavenly skills, he wouldn't be able to guarantee Chen Xing's safety.

"Can you hold on?" Xiang Shu's eyes were all focused on Che Luofeng's movements.  To  carry  Chen  Xing  and  take  care  of  Che  Luofeng simultaneously was truly difficult.

"I'm fine," Chen Xing was really having trouble breathing and could nearly not keep his hold on the rattle drum, "You go… they'll come back soon… just leave me! Quick! Go!"

From afar, the Rouran cavalry returned and quickly gathered around them. Che Luofen's face was full of bitterness. Just as he was about to attack him,

Xiang Shu finally made his choice. He actually abandoned Che Luofeng and coldly said: "Xiao Shan! Go!"

Then he took Chen Xing onto his horse, turned around, and broke through the encirclement!

Xiao Shan grabbed a horse, got on it, then chased after Xiang Shu.

This  action  immediately  stunned  Che  Luofeng.  His  face  showed  a completely lost expression, staring blankly as he watched Xiang Shu leave.

Xiang Shu placed Chen Xing onto the horse before quickly changing the horse's direction. Nearly 200,000 living corpses suddenly changed their targets and advanced towards the Rouran cavalry! The army of living corpses was followed by Chen Xing and Xiang Shu. The two men were then followed by the Tiele, Xiongnu, and other cavalry members.

Zhou Zhen didn't expect that the living corpses would suddenly attack them instead. He thought that after the Silence of All Magic, no one would be able to activate any magical artifacts anymore. In a panic, he hastily gave out an order, but it was too late because the Rouran cavalry in front of him had already been crushed. The living corpses swarmed and trampled on them; the whole army was suddenly in chaos.

Zhou Zhen shouted: "How can you activate the magical artifact refined by the blood of My Lord?!"

"I am the Great Exorcist," Chen Xing said in a cold voice.

Xiang Shu had ridden his horse to the center of the Rouran army. In front of him, the heavy sword swept away five or six cavalrymen blocking his way. Chen Xing held Xiang Shu's waist, repeatedly gasping for breath. His heart faintly ached because the power he had used to activate the rattle drum had caused the Heart Lamp to become constantly eroded by resentment.

"Give me the power of Heart Lamp!" Xiang Shu shouted.

Chen Xing tightly hugged Xiang Shu's waist. He leaned on his back, closed his eyes, and immediately increased the Heart Lamp's strength.

Xiang Shu shook his broadsword, wanting to turn it into a longbow, but unexpectedly, the broadsword shone and changed shape again —— this time becoming a 6 chi pole. Xiang Shu was stunned at first, but soon, he wielded that pole as if he was wielding a long halberd. He swung it repeatedly from left to right, making it so that people could only see some light wheel clearing the army, and all the cavalrymen blocking the way were cleared away from the horse!

Zhou Zhen was immediately frightened and instinctively sensed that this divine weapon was the bane of his existence. He dared not fight anymore; he turned his horse and quickly retreated, but Xiang Shu, wielding immense power, rapidly closing in!

Then, when the pole was thrust, the Heart Lamp's pure light visibly released a raging fire. Zhou Zhen's back robe was in the blast radius, and it began to burn. At the last minute, just when the fire was about to completely hit Zhou Zhen and his horse, there was suddenly a 'hum' sound before they all faded away.

Chen Xing fell on Xiang Shu's back. His grip unconsciously loosened, and the back of Xiang Shu's leather armor was soaked by a mouthful of blood.

Xiang Shu: "Chen Xing?!"

"Bastard——!" Che Luofeng came back and shouted, "Shulü Kong!"

He ferociously bumped against the side of Xiang Shu's horse. Che Luofeng was dressed in heavy armor and thought Xiang Shu would fight him, but unexpectedly, the person he cared about the most didn't even look at him. The resentment in his heart had reached its limit, and at once, heedless of life and death, he slammed his horse with Xiang Shu's, clutching at the idea of taking Xiang Shu down with him.

Chen Xing had already fainted, and half of his body was hanging down off the horse. Being bumped by Che Luofeng, Xiang Shu immediately reached out to grab Chen Xing, but he was a step behind in the end. Reinforcements poured in, and since they were situated at the front of the two armies, Xiang Shu and Chen Xing were both knocked down. Zhou Zhen just wanted to take the rattle drum, and he shouted: "Che Luofeng! The artifact!"

Like a tide, the two armies collided with each other. Chen Xing's consciousness gradually disappeared, and there was only darkness before his eyes.

Am I dying? It's too soon… It's not time yet.

Chen Xing was about to completely lose consciousness, but he was still clenching the rattle drum in his hand and instinctively refused to let go. Right at the moment his consciousness blurred, he seemed to see an extremely strange sight.

It was a world seen from another person's eyes. The room was distorted all around, and the walls were covered in blood vessels. However, it only took a short time before the owner of those eyes found him. In an instant, it was as if he had looked straight into his heart, and somehow, their consciousness seemed to be connected to each other.

"The Heart Lamp's host?" A hoarse voice said, "Unexpectedly, you're able to come here through my blood. Well, currently, in the entire Divine Land, you and I are the only ones who have magical power."

"Wake  up!"  A  strange  teenager's  voice  said  inside  Chen  Xing's consciousness, "It's not yet time to give up!"

Chen Xing suddenly opened his eyes, and countless scenes loudly shattered. That sound seemed to expel his consciousness from thousands of miles away.

The scene in front of him was sometimes blurred and sometimes clear. A cold wind was blowing, and few snowflakes fell on his face. A hand covered in an ice-cold iron glove pinched his chin, slightly lifting up his head.

What's this place? The moment Chen Xing regained consciousness, he knew he was being held captive.

The surroundings were all shrouded by clouds and mist, and the clouds revealed a part of a mountain ridge: Yin Mountains' summit, Huhebashi Mountain's highest peak. On a small clearing stood two black-armored

shadow generals, as well as Che Luofeng who was sitting on the ground, disheveled and gasping for breath.

Zhou Zhen stood on one side, fixing his eyes at the rattle drum on the stone.

Chen Xing moved his wrist only to find himself tied up by an ice-cold iron chain. It was freezing to the point that even a drop of water would turn into ice, and there was a layer of frost on the iron chain. He thought to himself: You guys go this far just for me? Tie me up with such a heavy chain? Even if I wasn't tied up, I still couldn't get away ba.

As soon as Chen Xing woke up, Che Luofeng and Zhou Zhen guardedly looked at him.

Among the two black-armored generals, one of them tried to lift Chen Xing up, but the other stopped him.

Chen Xing vaguely recognized the armor and recognized that the person who had wanted to lift him up should be Sima Yue. As for the other one, he didn't know who that was.

The armor that these black-armored generals used was almost exactly the same, and they all wore helmets that covered their whole face, making it impossible to tell them apart.

Sima Yue turned around and walked towards Zhou Zhen. "Now what?" A hoarse voice came from inside the armor.

This guy can talk?! Chen Xing was startled when he heard the sound.

At first, when he regarded this group of people, he had just done it casually and thought they were the same as other living corpses driven by pure instinct. Turned out though, it seemed that they were more advanced than the usual living corpses. Being able to talk proved that they have their own will. Sima Lun, who he had met back in Chang'an, might have just been reluctant to speak.

Zhou Zhen didn't answer and only looked at Che Luofeng. Che Luofeng then looked at Chen Xing with a gaze full of hatred.

"I handed over the drought fiend army that Shi Hai-daren had built in this place into your hands," Sima Yue said in a hoarse voice that sounded like weapons rasping together, "because you told me that you still had the 60,000 Rouran cavalry. How about now?"

Translator's Comment:

I remembered when I first read this part… when I read that Chen Xing vomited blood and lost consciousness, my heart went thump thump thump like crazy huhuhuhuhu

Chapter 42.2: Captive

Translator(s): Zryuu

Editor(s): juurensha

There was another black-armored general standing next to Chen Xing, but he never said a word. Chen Xing shot him a quick glance. For some reason, he felt that the general seemed a bit familiar. He kept feeling as though he had seen this kind of armor somewhere before. Nah, I've only seen three so far: Sima Lun who is already dead, Sima Yue, and the one in Longzhong Mountain….

Sima Wei!

This man was the Jin Dynasty's Chu Prince, Sima Wei! And was also the first black-armored general that Chen Xing had seen! That night, he had looked at him in a hurry and wasn't able to see his face clearly, but sure enough, this guy had also appeared!

It was clear that Zhou Zhen had lost a bit of his confidence. He answered: "We've stationed the Rouran's invincible army in the Yin Mountains. Shulü Kong will certainly come to save this boy. At that time, we'll be hidden while they'll be out in the open…"

"You always theorize with no real practice," the black-armored general Sima Yue mocked. "You think you're one step ahead of your enemies, but in the end, you're still caught off-guard."

"I didn't expect this kid could use the Zheng Drum," Zhou Zhen moved towards Chen Xing, but the two black-armored generals stood in front of Chen Xing and kept him away.

Sima Yue replied, "Zhou Zhen, an army of 200,000 drought fiends is already in your hands. Can you and your companion capture Shulü Kong alive, or not?"

Chen Xing looked from between the two generals' leg armor and saw Che Luofeng's ferocious and angry eyes.

Che Luofeng suddenly said: "I have an idea."

"We can kill this boy," said Che Luofeng in a low voice. "If we hang his corpse in this place, when Shulü Kong sees it, he will be a mess. Take advantage of that…"

"Fool!" Sima Yue said coldly, "I feel like you're the one who should be killed!"

Sima Yue drew a sword, and Zhou Zhen immediately stood in front of Che Luofeng, saying in a deep voice, "General!"

Infighting, infighting… Although he didn't know the exact details, Chen Xing could roughly speculate a thing or two: these people were most likely sent by Shi Hai. Only, he didn't know whether the so-called "My Lord" was referring to Chiyou or to Shi Hai —— it didn't matter anyway. Maybe, Shi Hai had made enough arrangements in the North over the years and had resurrected 200,000 living corpses before handing them over to Sima Yue.

And now, Zhou Zhen had taken over the command of the army. With an addition of 60,000 Rouran cavalry, he wanted to make an effort to capture Longcheng. But at the last minute, Chen Xing had gotten the rattle drum and turned the tide of war. Currently, the drought fiend army had been exhausted,  and  the  two  black-armored  generals  had  become  very dissatisfied.

Keep fighting ah… You continue to fight among yourselves! Don't stop! Chen Xing was full of expectations.

Sima Yue said in a deep voice: "Step aside."

"Drought Fiend King," Zhou Zhen also said coldly, "this is Shi Hai-daren's order."

"Shi Hai didn't order you to entangle yourself with the Rourans again." Sima Yue said, "In this life and the afterlife, you've already belonged to Our

Lord. You must forget your past identity. If you keep persisting about the mortal behind you, Benwang won't mind dealing with him for you."

Zhou Zhen exhaled deeply. Sima Yue put down his sword, summoned a flock of crows, jumped off the cliff, and disappeared.

Zhou Zhen glanced at Che Luofeng, whose face was showing an extremely complicated expression, then said: "I'll set up an ambush for Shulü Kong. Capture him alive or what?"

Che Luofeng was silent for a long time and finally said: "If you can't capture him alive, just kill him and bring his body back. It's all the same."

"As it should've been a long time ago," Zhou Zhen said. "Things wouldn't have progressed this far if it hadn't been for your plea…"

"I was wrong!" Che Luofeng said, "I was wrong, all right?!"

Zhou Zhen turned around, also jumped off the cliff, and disappeared.

The top of the mountain quieted down again, leaving Sima Wei, Chen Xing, and Che Luofeng. Che Luofeng sat down, minding his own business. He bowed his head and applied resin to his bow's bowstring.

Chen Xing knew that currently, Xiang Shu must've tried his best to come up with a method to save him, and it was possible that he had already led an army to heavily surround the mountain. However, while the 16 Hu cavalry might be experts in fighting on the plains and weren't afraid of any assault, the same couldn't be said about fighting in the mountains.

This platform on the top of the mountain, which covered an area of no more than ten zhang, was covered in thin snow, and there were also several stone pillars jutting out all around the area. Chen Xing didn't know which group of people had offered sacrifices to heaven here. Chen Xing moved the iron chain and made a noise, thinking about how to find a way to escape.

Standing on the side, Sima Wei turned his head slightly and looked at Chen Xing.

Why isn't this guy talking? Chen Xing thought that maybe, by listening to him, he could find out some information regarding this Shi Hai's group. What about the scene I saw when I was in a coma? Who was that teenager whose voice spoke to me in the dream?

Chen Xing dragged the chain and moved about, making a small sound. Che Luofeng stopped his actions and looked at him.

Chen Xing stopped moving.

Che Luofeng looked at Chen Xing and said in a cold voice: "Do you know how the Rourans tortured prisoners of war?"

Chen Xing replied: "I don't know. But these days, I've seen how the Rourans torture their own people."

This sentence immediately stabbed Che Luofeng's sore spot, and his face changed. He said coldly, "Han dog, what do you know? You're all bastards…"

Suddenly, from the side, the silent Sima Wei turned and drew his sword. Che Luofeng at this time actually forgot that the corpse was a member of the Jin royal family before he had died; he instinctively got up and wanted to retreat.

Sima Wei moved his sword, and Che Luofeng hurriedly parried it, but the sword was as fast as lightning, and it was immediately put to Che Luofeng's neck!

Chen Xing, who was forgotten, watched the hustle-and-bustle. When he saw such a maneuver, he couldn't help but applaud in his heart. He didn't know martial arts, but after staying with Xiang Shu for a long time, he could roughly see that this kind of "not letting the opponent dodge and blocking their exit" move had an extremely high difficulty.

Che Luofeng dared not say anything more. Sima Wei withdrew his sword as if nothing had happened.

Chen Xing glanced at Sima Wei, and thus, he was no longer afraid of Che Luofeng.

"All of you have drunk the Devil God's blood ma?" Chen Xing thought for a moment and said, "How did Zhou Zhen sway you? Did he say that if you drank his potion, you would be able to lead your people to eternal life?"

Chen Xing observed Che Luofeng and saw that his complexion wasn't quite right anymore. When it came to those Rouran cavalries, most of them had this blue, gloomy complexion. It was a little different from the blue, ashen looks of Zhou Zhen, a man who had been dead for a long time.

Che Luofeng's body was slowly changing, Chen Xing just didn't know whether he still felt pain or not.

"Eternal life?" Che Luofeng smiled in disdain, "I just wanted to avenge Zhou Zhen. Now that Zhou Zhen is alive, what do you think is the most important thing to me ne? Han... it's you. Your death is near."

Zhou Zhen was tall and had good facial features, a mix of both his Han and Rouran's parentage. Judging only by his postmortem appearance, he had probably been a majestic and beautiful man, which was quite different from Xiang Shu.

Chen Xing knew that when Zhou Zhen was still alive, he was Che Luofeng's lover. However, he had always felt that Che Luofeng still seemed to like Xiang Shu. He didn't know whether Che Luofeng first fell in love with Zhou Zhen and shifted his affection to Xiang Shu after he had died, or if he had first fallen in love with Xiang Shu, got rejected, then got together with Zhou Zhen.

Or maybe Che Luofeng had always liked both of them all along.

"I'm just curious about something," Chen Xing probed, "Che Luofeng, you still like Xiang Shu? Since Zhou Zhen is already dead, can he still become hard?"

Chen Xing had just wanted to ramble about Che Luofeng's matters. He didn't expect Che Luofeng to shout, stand and even want to beat Chen Xing up, but Sima Wei turned around a little bit to keep Che Luofeng away.

Che Luofeng glared angrily at him. Chen Xing didn't know if it was the potion that had made him extremely irritable.

"Fine fine fine," Chen Xing hurriedly said, "I won't talk about it."

Chen Xing always felt that it was going against heaven's will to resurrect a dead person in this way. If the drought fiends could be called a "race", then the drought fiends would be the most peculiar race. They shouldn't be able to reproduce on their own, unlike other species of yaos.

"How long has Zhou Zhen been revived?" Chen Xing asked again, "When did you meet him?"

Che Luofeng didn't answer, Chen Xing asked sincerely, "Let's play a game? I'll answer your question, and in turn, how about you lick my chain?"

Chen Xing only wanted to play a trick on him. The chain was so frozen that right after licking it, his tongue would be glued to it —— just enough to deal with his opponent. Che Luofeng, of course, wouldn't be fooled. He mocked: "Are you crazy? You think I'm a three-year-old?"

"Then you ask me a question, and I'll answer one of yours," Chen Xing suggested.

Che Luofeng finally said: "You're an exorcist, right? You're here for the drought fiends. I really thought you were a doctor. You're going to die soon, you know? When they take you back to Huanmo Palace, you will be made into a sacrifice. You're going to die soon, so why do you have so many questions?"

Chen Xing unexpectedly got his first piece of crucial information: "Huanmo Palace". He casually replied: "If I were to gain knowledge of the truth in the morning, I would be able to die with no regrets in the evening. Even if I am about to die, I still want to satisfy my curiosity, okay?"

Che Luofeng then put down his bow and side-eyed Chen Xing. He then looked at him properly, raised his eyebrows, and said, "Ask ba, little bastard."

When Chen Xing first saw Che Luofeng, he thought he was very good- looking, with thick eyebrows and big eyes, but unfortunately, there was a touch of evil in his facial features, truly a pity.

"Where did you get your weapon?" Chen Xing was afraid that Shi Hai had given them another magical artifact like that rattle drum. If that was the case, he was afraid that Xiang Shu wouldn't be able to deal with them when he came to save him later.

"It was the token given to me by Shulü Kong when he made me his Anda," Che Luofeng replied coldly, "I will use this bow to kill you in front of him later. It's your turn, answer me, what on earth is your relationship with Shulü Kong?"

Translator's Comment:

Towards Che Luofeng, I feel super complicated… I hate him and what he did, but… well… you’ll see in the next chapter…

[deborahdeshoftim5779]

A crime that the world is keen to forget. But we will not let them.

This horrifying picture, and the many other horrifying images from October 7, stands as the final judgement of Palestinian society. It proves beyond any doubt that Palestinian society is a society of barbarians, drunk on the most despicable and inhuman ideology since the Nazis.

The claim that Palestinian society is oppressed with a desire for social justice is nothing more than the hallucination of Western intellectuals and fraudulent "social justice" activists who refuse to even investigate the ideas of the people they claim to support and know so well.

In reality, these self-deceiving useful idiots were astonished by the scale of Palestinian savagery towards the Israelis on October 7. This left some of the most cowardly, yet principled, intellectuals in a quandary. They knew these crimes deserved the most stringent condemnation.

Yet those around them were celebrating the carnage before the blood had even dried in the streets. If they went with their conscience, they would be excoriated. But they struggled to accept that such evil, from burning children alive to spitting on Shani Louk's half-naked body, could be acceptable.

Many chose therefore to keep their head down and remain silent.

Meanwhile, as further proof of the malign nature of Palestinian society, Jews around the world experienced a wave of hatred and violence even before Israel set foot in Gaza. In Sydney, a largely Arab and/or Muslim crowd shouted, "Gas the Jews!" in response to Sydney opera house lighting up with the Israeli flag to commemorate the victims of October 7.

In London, crowds (again, often Arab and/or Muslim) chased after "Zionists", but soon let slip that they were actually after Jews. In the United States, pro-Palestinian thugs on university campuses created such an atmosphere of intimidation that Jews were afraid to wear visibly Jewish items in public.

(I was working with a university in the United Kingdom around a month after the attacks, and staff were powerless in the face of pro-Palestinian intimidation, which they foolishly believed was just passionate and understandable reactions to the war in Gaza, while acknowledging that Jewish students were too afraid to stay in dormitories.)

The people who love claiming that they are 'fighting racism' did nothing to protect the Jews from this wave of genocidal hatred. They had already made clear that they sided with the Nazi disciples of Hamas, whether by immediately blaming Palestinian crimes against humanity on Israel, by ignoring the plight of Israel's hostages, ignoring or denying widespread evidence of mass rape published by Palestinians themselves online, celebrating the terror attacks as an act of "fighting for freedom", refusing to describe the attacks as terrorism, proudly posting or wearing pictures of Hamas parachutes used to invade Israel, and much more.

Jews on the political left quickly realised that their so-called allies wanted them dead and rejoiced with the murderers. It was a horrifying awakening.

Then we had the pseudo-moralists, who couldn't wait to deflect attention away from Palestinian crimes against humanity and onto Israel's war in Gaza. It wasn't long before they drummed up a campaign of hysteria, slander, and blood libel against the Jewish State for lawful self-defence against terrorists that had publicly promised to repeat October 7 again and again.

It wasn't long before cowardly politicians, though knowing full well that the evidence didn't support the claims of the crowds in the streets, decided to put pressure on Israel to stand down, rather than demanding that Hamas surrender and release hostages. Rather than calling for Hamas' assets to be frozen in order to cripple the terrorist group. Rather than confronting Iran for its funding of terrorism and implementing condign punishments if it continued attacking both Israel and other nations like the U.S. the U.K., and Denmark.

And of course, that beacon of moral confusion, the United Nations, along with with the politicised ICJ, and the ICC, realised they could get away with criminalising Israel's leaders if they could also be seen to punish Hamas terrorists as well. These nations, that were always sluggish when it came to punishing real criminals, like the Russian invaders in Ukraine and the anti-female terrorists of Iran, suddenly moved with alacrity to condemn Israel's fight against Hamas and falsely accuse Israel of endangering the entire civilian population, when Hamas was clearly guilty of this.

As of today, Karim Khan, of the ICC, is still pushing for arrest warrants against Israel's Prime Minister and Defence Minister despite not having heard all the legal arguments in advance and despite a total lack of lawful jurisdiction against Israel, which has a legal system that can investigate alleged war crimes. As of the last few days, legal challengers have provided evidence that Khan's assertions are unfounded, based on information he clearly didn't consider or didn't want to consider before requesting these warrants.

All of this--and more-- is worse than Orwellian. It is, as British journalist Melanie Phillips stated, a combination of Soviet disinformation backed by Nazi propaganda. It is the clearest proof of how hatred of Jews galvanises the Palestinians, the Muslim world, and even the Western world, which claims to have learned from the Holocaust. So we see clearly why the Jews have been singled out for a standard that nobody else is subjected to; why crimes against Jews turn into crimes by Jews; how the anti-Jewish criminals are sanitised as "freedom fighters" and the Israelis dying to defend their land are maligned as purveyors of genocide.

The best response to this shameful betrayal of civilisation is to support Israel's victory against the forces of evil. But those of us who have put our necks on the line to defend Israel should never back down. Never allow the world to forget October 7. Bring it up at every opportunity. Remind them of how Palestinian civilians joined in the carnage, including the burning of Israeli homes with civilians inside, the abuse of hostages brought into Gaza, and the desecration of the bodies of victims, such as the Palestinian men who removed almost all of Shani Louk's clothing and sat on her body, and the Palestinian civilians who cheered and spat on her body as she was paraded through Gaza.

Never let them forget it.

These pro-Palestinian enablers lied to the civilised world. They told us these people just had a valid complaint. They told us the Israelis were brutal and unprincipled.

None of this was true. The Palestinians they were supporting were the brutal and unprincipled ones, the savages whose crimes left Israeli first responders in a state of total shock as they struggled to identify victims' remains and had to prepare bodies as best they could for burial.

It was the Israelis who had the valid complaint: that their right to live in peace in their lawful and ancestral homeland was being attacked by Palestinians intent on murdering the Jews and stealing their land.

October 7 revealed the truth about the Palestinians and the nature of their society.

We will not forget. And we will not let anyone else forget it, either.

[glassydoor]

Don’t Tell A Soul

Euphoria x GN! Reader

A REQUEST🎉

Synopsis: Reader is new at school and is bombarded with the amount of crazy that is at east highland...what happens when they get wrapped in some drama they want nothing to do with??

Warnings: punching and fighting

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

I feel like I’m going around in circles as I walk down these hallways. If I can’t even find the principal's office then my teachers are just gonna have to accept the fact that I’m going to be late to every single class. With some help, I’ve found myself in front of Principle Hayes' door, I check my phone to make sure I’m on time before I knock. 

When the door opens, I’m greeted by Principle Hayes and a girl sitting in one of the chairs in front of his desk.

“y/n we’re so happy you could make it! I hope you didn’t have any trouble?” Principal Hayes swiftly writes something down and I wave to the girl. “Sir this place is a maze, but here I am” he smiles. 

“I’m really glad to hear that” He says, drawing my attention to the girl. “This is Lexi Howard, she’s one of our top students and she’ll help you on your first day. I’m not going to hold you back any longer...have a good day y/n and if you have any questions, find me or Lexi” and with that, me and Lexi are out of the office and start walking around.

“So I guess I’ll show you the most important part of the school first” As we start heading towards the cafeteria, a blonde girl nearly runs Lexi over. “Lex, oh my god, thank god do you have my lip gloss” Lexi gives me apologetic eyes before replying.

“Yeah, but it’s in my bag I don’t have it right now, I’m showing y/n around” bringing her attention over to me and the blonde girl smiles nervously as she realizes that she interrupted something.

“Oh my god I’m so sorry! I’m Cassie” Cassie’s voice grew bubbly. “Don’t worry about your first day! It can be a little crazy around here sometimes, but don’t worry, you’ll fit right in” She says her goodbyes and rushes off...presumably to Lexi’s bag.

Lexi sighs as she follows Cassie with her eyes. “Sorry that was my sister” She says as she looks at her watch and turns to me.

“I was going to show you the cafeteria, but class is actually about to start soon so can I have a look at your schedule?” Lexi asks sweetly before reading my schedule. This gives me a minute to recharge from the exciting encounter. I’m glad Lexi was here to help me today, if this morning was any indication, I would be LOST without her...plus she has a nice and friendly vibe about her.

“Oh nice! We have the same class...you’re going to like Mr.Levinson” right on cue the bell rings and the hallway soon becomes cramped with students left and right but luckily Lexi assures me that the class isn’t far.

Walking into Mr.Levinson’s class and looking around at all the tables filled with people talking and catching up made me realize I was probably the only new kid in this classroom but Lexi stayed with me and made me feel comfortable.

“Alright, you rambunctious kids, let’s not get too lit in here” everyone, including me, simultaneously cringed and groaned.

“Mr.Levinson please never say that again” I laugh at the comment made by a girl with dark hair a couple tables from me, it showed the students had a fun and comfortable relationship with Mr.Levinson to joke around like that. I was having a nice time just observing until Mr.Levinson put the spotlight on me.

“Well Ms.Katherin we actually have a reason to be lit today” He proceeded to drum roll at his desk which everyone followed suit. “We actually have a new student today! How exciting! y/n please wave to the class” I look at Lexi ,who gives me an encouraging smile, and I give a simple wave and when I look up from my desk I’m blinded by all the eyes staring at me waiting for me to say something.

“Hi I’m y/n” Lexi claps supportively. When Mr.Levinson realized that’s all I was saying he brought the attention back to him “Okay, perfect! Everyone please make them feel welcome! y/n, we’re very happy to have you here.”

4 more introductions later and it’s lunch time. As I’m packing my things in class, I see Lexi hanging around at the door waiting for me...I wave her over.

“Hey! How did everything go?” Lexi comes in to help me put my things away.

“It was good! I can’t wait to see this revolutionary cafeteria though!” Lexi excitedly grabs my arm.

“Great! We’re sitting with Kat and Jules today! You saw them briefly in Mr.Levinson’s class” As we walk over Jules moves her bag that’s next to her to free up space as soon as she sees us getting closer. Lexi leaves to get us lunch...which is a clever way to get me to talk to the girls at the table.

“Hey y/n” Kat murmured as she looked up at me then quickly back on her phone. 

“What class did you just have?” Jules asks.

I check my schedule. “I had chemistry with Ms.Morrison” The name drop of the teacher brings a reaction from both Kat and Jules.

“Oh my god Ms.Morrison is literally the worst.” Kat objected.

“Who’s the worst?” the shocking voice to my left questions, as a girl in a simple black hoodie steps over and sits next to Jules. “Ms.Morrison” Jules responded as she put her arm around her which resulted in the same disgust level as before. “oh she’s the worst.”

“See?” Kat gave me the -I told you so- face, “that’s exactly what I said! Thank you Rue for confirming that for me” Rue takes a bite of Jules’s french fries. “It’s like we’re telepathically connected or something.”

Lexi (finally) comes back with both our trays with pizza and fries. It wasn’t until then that Rue became aware of the entirely new human at the table. 

“Oh shit hi” Rue, with half a french fry hanging off her mouth, said as she brushes off the dust and crumbs of her.

“I’m y/n” I laugh at the gesture as Jules smiles ,sensing the stiff atmosphere. “I just moved here” 

“So are you guys going to the party this weekend?” Jules decides to ask to save Rue from the awkward introduction.

“Hell yeah” Kat answered, still immersed in her phone. 

“y/n are you going?” 

“Um maybe!” I turn to Lexi who is chowing down on her fries “are you going?” I was hoping she was because if I don’t have my guardian angel there, then I’m a goner.

 Lexi shrugs “Probably...since my sister is going.”

The rest of the week went swimmingly as I’ve gotten closer with the group. Kat is actually my ride to the party that Jules mentioned at lunch. Luckily the workload wasn’t too much since the school year had just started so I was able to get ready before I got the ping from my phone that Kat was outside.

The amount of trash and people passed out in the backyard was alarmingly high as we arrived at the party. I looked over at Kat ,who looked unfazed.

“Is this the right place?”

 “Yup.” she said with a hard P

I let out a nervous laugh. 

Walking into the purple tinted room with strobing lights filled with people dancing and making out. I stop to rummage through my bag for the money I owe Lexi for the lunch trays because someone didn’t tell me they cost money.

I turn to Kat but am stunned to see Kat is no longer by my side but it didn’t take long to find a familiar face as I see Jules dancing with Rue having the best time of their life.

I tap on Jules' shoulder softly as to not shock her. She turns and immediately hugs me while still swaying to the music playing through the house.

“Hey guys! I was just wondering if you’ve seen Lexi? I need to give her something real quick”  I repeated my question to Rue because it’s clear that Jules is a little out of it.

“I think I last saw her near the bathrooms?” Rue hesitated. I said my thanks and now my mission is to find the bathrooms.

With some help, I located the bathrooms but no Lexi in sight. I assume she’s actually IN the bathroom so I stood in front of the door and knocked.

“Hey Lexi?” between the chattering of the surrounding people and the booming music I couldn’t hear a thing so I jiggle the door knob and found it wasn’t locked so I opened it. I’m hoping she’s just touching up her makeup. 

“Oh my god!” 

I see Cassie and Nate Jacobs, who I luckily share no class with and only see at lunch, doing it on the sink.

“I’m so sorry!” I leave embarrassed that I caught the two in the most intimate moments people can share.

I run immediately to Rue and lightly smack her arm. She gives me the most betrayed expression until I tell her and Jules what I’ve just seen, keeping the names of the two out, they double over laughing.

“Stop! This isn’t funny! OBVIOUSLY Lexi wasn’t in there” As the two continue to mindlessly laugh I spot Lexi seated on one of the couches from the corner of my eye. “Okay bye you two are no help”

Their laughter slowly faded as I near Lexi.

“y/n hey!” she engulfs me in a comforting hug. “I’m so glad you made it!” We break the hug and she gently tugs my arm to join her on the couch.

She hesitates to accept the money but after three rounds of rock paper scissors, she admits defeat.

For the first time since arriving at the party, I was actually having fun while Lexi and I cracked jokes and sang whenever we recognized a song. However, the time was cut short when I sensed a pair of eyes looking at me. Nate Jacobs was drinking from the kitchen and gazing daggers towards me as I pretended to scan the room so he wouldn’t notice.

Lexi could see the shift in my demeanor and asked if I was okay. I expressed that I wanted to leave and she didn’t even hesitate to ask why and left immediately with me.

My schedule the following week  was surprisingly jam packed with homework assignments and tests that I had completely forgotten what had happened at the party. It wasn't until I got a visit from Cassie at my locker nearly giving me a heart attack.

“Hey Cassie what’s up” I close my locker and start heading towards my next class...Cassie follows.

“Hey y/n I’m good um listen about what happened at the party” she looks like she’s about to cry. I stop her to calm her down “Cassie, it’s okay!! Out of sight out of mind plus It’s not even my business.” I give her a smile.

“So you won’t tell Maddy?

“No? I don’t even know who she is?”

She takes a sigh of relief 

“Okay!” she says with a smile “perfect!” she starts to walk away, her shoulders much looser than when the conversation started.

Sitting at in the cafeteria with the same cast of characters I had to ask.

“Hey guys, who's Maddy?” 

“Oh!” Jules exclaimed, surprised that I don’t know her. “She’s riiight there” pointing using her french fry and I turn behind me in my seat to see who ‘Maddy’ is. Now having seen her...it doesn’t bring anymore answers. I wouldn’t have made it so obvious that I’m looking at her if I knew Nate was looking at me.

Cassie had told Nate that she took care of it and that they were safe.

Nate pushes his tray in front of him and mutters “fuck” under his breath. 

Nate meets Cassie after school “I thought you said you took care of it” Cassie looks innocently confused. “I did...I told you they’re new and they don't even know Maddy.”

“Yeah? Then why did I see them look at Maddy during lunch.” He storms off and leaves Cassie insecure and worried.

The next couple of weeks was uneventful. Jules messages me one lunch day me on a different phone saying that she lost her phone and that we’re eating in one of the empty classrooms. I thought nothing of it since the cafeteria can get pretty packed quickly...Lexi wasn’t kidding when she said it’s the best part of the school.

I opened the door and was utterly confused when the classroom was entirely empty...no tables or chairs and especially no Jules.

“Hi y/n” the unexpected voice of Nate makes me drop my lunch bag. 

“What do you want Nate?” I kneel down to pick up my lunch. Nate watches every movement. 

“I just want to talk.”

“I’ve heard a lot about you Nate, it’s never just talking with you.” I take a look at him and he’s propped up against an old desk. “If this is about what happened at the party” because no doubt that’s what it was about “I told Cassie already, I don't care, I'm not telling anybody.” 

“Well I don’t believe you.” He starts walking towards me.

“I don't have to explain myself to you.” I try to leave but he grabs my arm. 

“Nate you better let go of me...or you will be sorry.” That’s what pushes Nate off the edge. He suddenly pushes me hard against the door. I turn the knob so it opens and we fall out. 

The students roaming the halls and the deafening sounds of the teacher’s whistles were clear indicators that lunch time had ended but neither of us could hear anything as were throwing punches left and right.

As much as I try to get my balance, he’s relentless.

We get separated but I wasn’t going down without throwing the final punch.

“Cassie and Nate were having sex at the party!” 

Was it the right thing to do? No.

Did Nate Jacobs deserve it? Yes.

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