#agatas the only one who went all in on both

[nikkiissleepy]

all of the new lifetime suits so far

[lannaloveit]

Action and Reaction 🔥❤️

Part 2 ⬇️

The night ends with Hyunjin returning home thoughtful, Han taking an interest in Ágata and Y/N sleeping in the guest room of Cris's house, since she offered to help clean up the mess.

The girl wakes up to a message from Han: "Look, I don't know what happened last night, but I wanted to know if you're okay." She then replies with: "Good morning Hanji, I was fine, I just found it strange to see you "moving on", spending all this time with you made me think about our past." "I understand perfectly Y/Nnie, but I need to move on, I'm tired of running after you, it was making me feel bad, I'm happy for you and Hyunjin, he seems perfect for you," Han adds.

As the days went by, she really realized that every action has a reaction, that if she does something, something will react. Y/N liked Han but was in love with Hyunjin.

Or maybe not?

She felt confused.

Maybe she did see something in Hanji, he was so similar to her, so fun, funny and it seemed like they shared the same neurons.

She used to say that he was "my alarm clock" the one that makes her wake up every day, her "reason".

Hyunjin arrived so suddenly, it was good, energizing, but as the days went by that gave way.

"You seem sad" Cris said

"I'm not, just a little confused with myself, I feel like I lost Henri and I didn't want that." "Tell me what you want from him, do you want him? Or do you want to risk Hyunjin? I've known you since you were a child, Y/Nnie, and I know that in order for you to really like and want to be with someone, you have to know them for a long time. Do you know why you were sad about his kiss with Agata? Because you trust him, because you wanted him. Think again, maybe Hyunjin only showed up to show you who you really want, because the idea of being away from him scares you. - Cris She hugs Cris and cries "Hyunjin will think I'm an idiot." "No, you just have to talk to him, and if he does, that's his problem, you have to fix things with your best friend now." "Cris, you know that you're actually my best friend, right?" Cris kisses her head and smiles.

Hanji found himself thinking about the damned “truth or dare” kiss. He *wanted* to kiss the prettiest girl in his opinion. Y/N was the prettiest girl, but he simply kissed Ágata because she was the most desired among the boys and he was afraid of what Hyunjin would do. After all, this was before he knew that Ágata was dating a college student who picked her up every day on his motorcycle after school. He felt ridiculous for thinking that she would give him a chance. But what can we expect from a girl who shows up with a different boy every week?

°

Y/N spends recess with Han and he tells her about Ágata. Honestly, Y/N knew the girl’s nature and knew that she would be bad for anyone who got involved with her. Cris comes up to them and says:

“Y/N, baby, we need to talk.” He looks serious.

“What happened?”

“*Hyunjin,* it was all a bet.

“What?” Han answers.

“I was in the bathroom and I heard him talking to Seungmin at the door about whether Hyunjin would really be able to “get Y/N” and saying that it would be easy because you “fell for his trap.” To top it off, Seungmin said that he should try too because you seem to be acting like a saint, but behind his back you were hooking up with Hanji and trying to deceive Hyunjin, so one more wouldn’t make a difference.”

“They saw that I heard because when I left I threw some truths in both of their faces. Seungmin tried to punch me, but I was faster and punched him in the face, pushed them both away and left.”

“My God…I always had a bad feeling about Hyunjin…it’s a shame I was right.”

“I’m going to kill those idiots.” - Han

“Guys, you better calm down, it’s not worth wasting your time with them, I’ve already taken care of this.”

“I need to talk to Hyunjin” -Alanna

“Be careful, pretty” -Hanji

Y/N finds Hyunjin standing at the door of their classroom

“Hi, honey” -hyunjin

“Don’t call me that, idiot”

“Calm down, why are you like this? Are you nervous because of your friend Cris? Didn’t he fuck you today?”

“Fuck you!” Y/N ends up slapping Hyunjin hard in the face, who freezes there after realizing that everyone saw it. Including the girls he picks up. How could they trust him after that? They even *filmed* it.

Cris and Han get the girl out of there before the confusion gets worse and the three of them go to the cafeteria since the class was free.

“Y/N, I don’t want to see you get into this kind of trouble anymore, I know he deserved it but you could have gotten hurt, if you need anything call me and I’ll fix it” -Cris

“Honestly, you were amazing, princess” -Hanji

Cris gives Hanji a disappointed look

“What’s wrong? I’m trying to lighten the mood” -Han

“I’m sorry but I couldn’t let him talk to me like that, I know I don’t have many female friends but that doesn’t mean I’m a bitch who sits with every boy I see, especially because the only sluts here are Ágata and Hyunjin.”

“I agree, beautiful, but it’s true, when you need it, call one of us” -Han

°

Y/N goes home with Hannie and they decide to watch a movie, but the girl feels so overwhelmed.

They go to the kitchen to make a snack and she starts to cry

"Kitty, are you crying?"

He hugs her and she rests her head on his shoulder while he strokes her back

"And is this crying from happiness or sadness?"

"It’s just that…everything has been so “heavy” lately, there’s a lot going on and I didn’t expect this to happen so I felt horrible with each passing moment. I can’t explain it, I thought he could be a light but in fact he became the darkness that I run away from so much now, I’m sure he’ll try to destroy my image. I bet on a loser dog and realized that I was the loser" - Y/N

"Think about what makes you want to stay, not what makes you want to leave, everyone in that school knows what he did, everyone knows he lost and anyone who disagrees is a loser like him." -Han

"I discovered a new galaxy when I met you, I love you so much." -Y/N

"- I always loved you my love, I always knew it was you, I was always crazy about you" -Han

"- crazy?"

"- yes, crazy, completely crazy" -Han

He grabs her waist and lifts her chin delicately with his finger and kisses her slowly, passionately

She thought: “Hanji, how hypnotizing you were.”

-" Thank you for not give up on me." -Han

[pengychan]

Hi I just discovered all your work with Ernesto and Cheque, and I was wondering if there was going to be anymore or if you've closed the book on their stories

Oh man, it's been a while! There is one thing I started writing a looong time ago, as a response to this ask

I wouldn't say I have closed books, though it's been pushed pretty far into the back burner (also I haven't been writing a lot in general this past year). I might go back to it. In case it takes a while and if you're curious, though, I'll paste what I wrote so far below!

As far as her severely limited family tree went, having a murderer in it wasn’t even the worst part. That spot, if anything for the impact it had on her life, was still firmly reserved to Agata del Rio. As Agata had birthed her, Celia had called her mamá; in exchange she had called her a rather astounding array of things, none of which very flattering, since day one.

Not that Celia hadn’t tried to change it - she had, so hard. She’d tried to be obedient, to smile brightly when the house was gloomy, then not to smile at all when her mother had yelled at her that only fools smile all the time. 

“Risus abundat in ore stultorum,” she would tell her, usually underlining it with a smack to the back of her head. Laughter abounds on the mouths of fools. Agata did not know Latin, really, but those were sentences she would utter from time to time. It would be many, many years before Celia would think back of it and realize her mother must have had heard them from the nuns who had raised her in the orphanage. 

Her mother never spoke of those years, and Celia never asked; one time she did it had put Agata in one of her blackest moods yet, and she didn’t want a repeat of that. She wanted her to be happy with her. She tried to make her happy. 

On the other hand Celia’s brother hadn’t tried at all, or he had at a point but had grown tired of it by the time Celia was born. Bernardo was bold and loud and with a red-hot temper that was more and more of a match to their mother’s as years passed. He’d argue back, he’d shout back, and he’d fight back if Agata so much raised a hand on Celia in his presence; soon enough he was taller than their mother, strong as a grown man, and Celia could tell their mother feared him even as she kept spitting venom at him.

Maybe she should have feared her brother, too, but she never did. She knew, with absolute certainty, that he would never hurt her; that he was kind, and he didn’t deserve their mother’s hatred.

“Maybe you should try to get along, Dino,” Celia had suggested once, her voice hushed as Bernardo sulked, sprawled on his bed in the room they still shared. “And it will be all better if you try.”

Bernardo had given a low, bitter laugh. “Ay, cielita, there’s no point in trying. There is no pleasing her,” he’d said, glaring at the ceiling. “Whatever you do, you do wrong.”

Deep down, despite being just a little girl, Celia knew it was true; that something in their mother was broken at such a fundamental level, she may be incapable to really love anyone. But the part of her that longed for what her mother couldn’t give wouldn’t give up; maybe Agata could love her, if she only could fix what was wrong.

If she only tried harder.

“But don’t you worry - one day, I’ll get us both away from here,” Bernardo had said. “We’ll travel and see the world, and have a good time.”

Celia had nodded, smiled, hugged him - but she’d kept hoping. She’d kept trying.

She’d done her best to tidy up her room, to make her own bed, to cook her own meals as early as she could, to do well in school even though some things were hard for her to grasp, the words on the page all jumbled - without Bernardo sitting with her for hours, she wasn’t sure she could have ever learned how to read. He must have found it so boring - he loved maths, she remembered, but books rarely held his interest - but he helped her anyway, and she was so grateful for that, even after all those years. Even if he’d left, and she hadn’t see him again.

“If I could take you with me, I would,” he’d last told her, holding her tight. “Hang in there. I’ll come back to get you out of here as soon as I can.”

But she couldn’t hang in there; she had fled, in the end, before Bernardo came back for her, if he had at all, and what a mess she’d made of her life. No wonder her mother had been so disgusted last she’d seen her, last she’d showed up to try and beg for her help, to take in her child while she attempted to get her life back under control.

Then again, it wouldn’t have mattered if she’d done everything right. Dino had told her the truth: there could be no pleasing her. And it had taken far, far too long to realize what should have been obvious: she had not failed as a daughter, but rather she had been failed by a loveless mother. Trying to make things work should never be a child’s responsibility. 

And it broke her heart now, however no longer in her chest, to know that her Ezequiel had blamed himself for her troubles.

“He thought that if he could help, things may have gone differently.” 

“It will be all better if you try.”

And to think she had been so determined to make everything work, when she found out she was pregnant. She would not give the child up for adoption as she had been warmly recommended, she would not fail the way her mother had. She would show her baby all the love she never got.

Of course, she did fail her son in the end. All the love in the world was simply not enough.

“I told myself that as long as I loved him, all would be well. We can do anything out of love, no? Move mountains and all that. That’s what movies tell us, at least.”

“Heaven and Earth,” de la Cruz muttered, a shrugged at Celia’s quizzical look. “Movies lie,” was all he said, and she could agree with that. If only she’d found out sooner.

“… I’d have died for him if I had to.” Celia looked down at her glass and swirled it a little. Part of her wondered if she should accept a drink from someone who had rather infamously used a shot of tequila as his murder weapon at least once, then she determined being already dead would shield her from the worst side effect of poison, and she took a swig. “So I could clean up too, surely. I was able to replace it with… other things, after I found out I was expecting. I should have been able to keep that up.”

“But you didn’t.”

“I couldn’t. After a point it has nothing to do with feeling good. You need it to stay functional and if I couldn't stay functional, I couldn't take care of him. Have you ever been hooked on anything when you were alive?”

“When I was alive, we had cocaine in cough syrup,” Ernesto de la Cruz informed her, and it made Celia chuckle into her glass.

“Fair enough. Did you try heroin?”

“… Not that I recall.”

“I was… maybe sixteen the first time I tried it. It made my worries go away.”

[shishibloomy]

Hello! I love the Shishigumi and they don’t get enough love! I was hoping you could, if comfortable, how the Shishigumi members react to their s/o having a mental disorder (anxiety/depression etc.) and what they do to comfort them/how they react and or feel. If not then delete this :)

Ill stick with the anxiety/depression stuff cus thats what I’m most familiar with.

Ibuki I feel like Ibuki would be one of the best people to have with you if you’re going through an anxiety attack or a depressive episode.  He’ll be there with you through every thing and he’ll know how to balance letting you take time to rest but also getting you up to get you moving.  I think he would also appreciate that you’re showing this side of yourself to him and being vulnerable.  He’ll probably start opening up to you more as well and it’ll be more time for both of you to bond. Talking is going to be very important for him. He's had to hide his struggles behind the mask of being a strong lion so having someone he can open to is going to be refreshing for him; he might end up talking more than you because he feels so comfortable with you.  After the first couple of times of it happening, he’ll figure out a routine for you that will get you up and running. If you're having anxiety doing something, he'll be there with you through it all. If it gets very bad, he'll give you the comfiest hug in the world until you stop feeling so anxious. He keeps your hand in his and squeezes it to let you know that he's there with you. He's honestly a giant lion teddy bear, and one thats happy to be cuddling with you too.

Miguel

With Miguel, his first thought will be to get you up and active. He'll make sure to only do as much as you're comfortable with; he just doesn't want you to fall into a rut. He'll take you to walks and low impact workouts and use them as an opportunity for you to open up to him about whatevers going on with you. His usual intense gaze softens up incredibly; he doesn't want you to feel intimidated from him. He does a lot of comfortable touches that help you relax, like keeping your hand in his or rubbing your arm. If the two of you are walking somewhere, he'll have his arm wrapped around you the whole time and keep you flushed against him, it's especially nice during the winter time. Even though he tries to get you more active, he'll also be doing so much for you during this time. If you don't feel like eating, he'll make something for you that you'll like; if you're laying down somewhere and you need to go somewhere, he'll just pick you up and take you somewhere. If you have issues with anxiety, he'll work with you ot build up your confidence... by getting you to work out more. Not because it's anything related to your physical appearance but working out in a gym infront of people will make you more comfortable. He'll be with you the whole time so if you start getting very uncomfortable, you can tell him and he'll stop.

Free

Free suddenly becomes so serious with his s/o. Yes he is reckless himself but when it comes to someone he cares about, you bet he's going to watch out for them. He drinks and does a lot of silvervine, but in front of you he'll never do it because substances like that can make depression and anxiety worse. If you want to just lay down and not do anything, he's going to take that as an opportunity to lay with you and cuddle you. He's going to be talking to you a lot to keep your mind active and it's going to be the randomest things ever (most of which he got from Agata). He just wants to laugh with you and hear your happy voice again. He's not the best at talking about his feelings but he's going to try and open up so that you feel comfortable talking to him. It's going to be stuff like "I know shit sucks sometimes but it'll get better babe." Also, expect his regular affection do increase even more. If you're making breakfast, he'll hug you from behind the whole time or try to make it for you; if you're doing stuff in public, he'll never let go of your hand; he's going to be giving you kisses every minute too. He wants you to feel very loved the whole time.

Agata

Agata is someone who wants to be more comfortable talking about his feelings so when he sees you going through some depression or having anxiety, he'll spend a lot of time making sure you're feeling ok and asking how you're doing. He doesn't want you to have to hold everything in like he had to and pretend like everything was ok. He's very sensitive about things so he'll pick up right away if you aren't feeling ok. He's going to try to get you to play a lot of really fun, feel good, or goofy games with him. Think Mario Party, Animal Crossing, Minecraft, Roblox, etc. He'll bring you a lot of snacks you like and some new ones both of you guys havent tried before so you can eat them together. After you start opening up to him, he'll start telling you how he feels as well. He wants to bond with you and also let you know that you aren't alone in your feelings. I imagine him as someone who also has issues with anxiety stemming from all his pressures to be a strong lion so you’ll both be helping each other in situations where you’re anxious. Lots of hand holding, standing close together, whispering in each other’s ears. You’ll both eventually forget others are there because you’re both so focused on each other

Dolph

Dolph ends up being a leader to the Shishigumi when their actual leader isn't there so he has experience from members who occasionally come up to him and talk him (specifically Agata). He seems like someone who's very intimidating but when he wants to, he can be the sweetest person ever. Whenever you talk to him, it feels very intimate because he keeps very intense eye contact with you. He doesn't do it intentionally but he wants to feel connected to you; if you feel uncomfortable he'll tone it down a bit. Dolph will listen to you a lot and then if you ask for advice, he'll give some. He wants you to know that he's listening to whatever you're saying and that you getting better is the most important thing to him. You'll find him bringing up times when he's had similar issues and how he went through them and survived; he wants you to know that whatever it is that has you depressed is only temporary and you'll get through it. When it comes to your anxiety, he's also like Ibuki in the sense that he's a giant lion teddy bear that you can hug and hold whenever you get anxious. He's going to use his scar as an example; even though he has it over his face, he manages to get through public interactions.

Dope

Dope will know right away that you aren’t feeling good by reading your body language. Even if you don’t tell him, he’ll ask you if everything’s ok and offer you lots and lots of emotional support. He wants you to feel absolutely comfortable telling him everything so he can do something to help you feel better. If you thought that he was good with his words before, he comes to a whole other level to make you feel better. If you talk about yourself in a deprecating way, he's going to correct you right away. It might feel irritating at first but he wants to change your negative way of thinking and eventually you'll notice that you have less deprecating thoughts about yourself too. Until he notices that you start acting like you did before your depressive episode, he's going to dedicate time for you every day where you open up to him about how you're feeling. He'll also make sure to ask you if you want comfort or solutions so he doesn't say anything that might upset you if you just want to vent. If you want solutions, he'll sit with you until you two figure out what works best for you.

Hino

Hino is the king of self care and it’s going to reflect when he helps you during a depressive episode. If you aren’t feeling up for doing anything, he’s going to make sure you’re taking care of your personal hygiene. When you wake up, he’ll do a routine for you (face wash, brushing teeth, putting on some moisturizer and sunscreen) so you feel pampered. He wants you to feel good and fresh physically even if you aren’t feeling the best mentally. He’ll do the same at night and will get new products for both of you to try out; some of them are luxe and some are more silly (face masks that bubble when you put them on and sheet masks that have funny faces on them). He’ll be showering you with compliments the whole time, and they’re all genuine ones; none of those superficial ones. He’ll bring you some new clothes to try on, it’ll be cute outfits he picks out for you and all of them fit perfectly. Even though this all seems a bit materialistic, he does it all while giving you a lot of emotional support too. These things are just extra stuff to help you feel better because it’s things he likes himself and he wants to do things both of you can enjoy together. I imagine Hino as a very artistic person too so he’ll do art activities with you. Lots of painting how you’re feeling and writing out your feelings in poetry. He’s going to make sure you don’t feel the pressure to make your art look perfect and he’ll share his to show you that your art can be anything you want it to be. If you get anxiety in public, just take him anywhere with you and all the attention will be on him. He will make sure to build up your confidence so that you don’t need to rely on him all the time too and Hino is the best person for a morale boost.

Sabu

Sabu is better at telling you're feeling upset than Dope is. He has his years of experience under his belt and him being quiet means he listens more. You don't even realize it but he's been listening to a lot of the little things you say and from that he picks up that you aren't in the best state of mind. Before you even tell him, you notice that he starts doing a lot of things for you to make your mood better. Whatever he doesn't say with words, he shows with his actions and right now it's that he wants you to feel better. Once you do tell him and open up to him, he makes an effort to try and talk more to you. Similarly to Dolph, he'll mainly listen and then only talk if you ask him to. He's not used to talking about his past so it's going to be a new thing for him to be so open about it but he'll do it so that you feel comfortable. It'll still be short answers but you know that he's trying his best to open up. If you're having anxiety, Sabu will be your silent supporter through all of it. If anyone in particular tries to mess with you, he goes back to his intimidating self and will get them to back off of you right away. Just imagine a scary, scarred lion intimidating someone while holding his s/os hand.

Jinma

When you tell Jinma about how you're feeling, his first train of thought is to find the best therapist in the BAM that you can talk through all of this. He wants to help you through all of it but he knows he has his connections and he could find someone way more qualified. Even if you do go to a therapist, he'll still make sure to check on you through everything. If you really enjoy nature, he'll find the best nature area that the both of you can go to together. If you want to eat something good, he's going to find the best and most exclusive place and somehow manage to get you reservations the day of it all. Whatever you want, he's going to know where to get you the best one of it. If he doesn't know where to get it, he'll know someone else who will. If you're dealing with anxiety issues, he'll make sure to talk to the best therapist and figure out ways to get you comfortable in situations that make you anxious. He'll also try his own things by taking you to places with him so you get more comfortable being in new places. Of course nothing dangerous like gang deals but if he hears about a new place to check out, he's definitely making you tag along so that the two of you can experience it together.

[psychicdreamfriendoperator]

Going off from the free dating headcanon… how about some for Miguel and Agata? >.<

I’m so happy to see another blog writing for the shishigumi, they’re finally getting the character development they deserved

I'm happy to write for the lovable bastards, though it does seem like there's only 1 or 2 other blogs that write for all of the Shishigumi.

Speaking of blogs, @couldyouspeakmyname is a very nice one ü, please check them out if you haven't already!

I had to keep the word limit in mind (especially since there's 2 characters involved here), so, if this ask wasn't what you wanted, feel free to let me know and I can try again!

— Psychic

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General Dating Headcanons

Agata

Agata has had his fair share of partners. Society makes lions out to be good leaders, and so, many animals begin relationships with them. Agata's a darker-coloured lion, so this effect was multipled for him.

While he did have a “bad boy” phase, Agata is truly a nice person at heart.

That would have been more than enough for others to stay in a relationship with him, had he been born almost any other animal.

He was cheated on a lot by love interests who wanted to make a lion jealous, and by those who expected something . . . more passionate from a relationship with a lion.

As a result, Agata's very clingy, and mayhaps a bit bitter.

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Miguel

Miguel's relationships tend to last 6 months to 1 year, but never much longer than that. He doesn't have much of an interest in relationships, but he's open to love if it finds him first.

Previous lovers had a tendency to sexualise him— this is something that makes Miguel very uncomfortable.

He doesn't mind dirty jokes, etc, but more intimate actions have been partially ruined for him.

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Meeting Them

Agata

It's quite possible that you ran into him at a local community college.

I can imagine Agata taking a course there— perhaps it's related to technology?

It's also quite possible that the both of you shared the same, mandatory class.

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“oh shit oh shit oh shit . . .”

A noise that was more whisper than spoken word. You don't see it, but you can almost taste the anxiety that flows over from your colleague.

Your eyes moved involuntarily over to your left, where a dark-maned lion crawled on his hands and knees, as if searching for something.

You rest your head on your hand. “Looking for something?”

A muffled, “Dropped my pen . . .”

You fished about in your pencil case, pulling out one of your spares. It wasn't nearly as favoured as your gel pens, and, it also wasn't one you would miss if someone were to steal it.

“You can borrow this one . . . just give it back.”

You had never seen someone look so grateful; the expression was genuine, which filled your body with a cosy warmth.

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Miguel

Perhaps you met him at the gym.

Although Miguel had more than enough exercise equipment at the Mansion, he preferred to workout away from the Black Market.

It gave him the chance to organise his thoughts.

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“STAY FIT”— a simple, two word long mantra and a reminder of the New Year’s resolution you wanted to keep.

In order to achieve that goal, you signed yourself up for a gym— it was only a few blocks away on foot. Since it was so close, you were always the first one there . . .

Or rather, you were always the first one there, until recently.

“You must really love working out,” You struck up pleasant conversation whenever the both of you took your breaks. There wasn't anything else to do, really.

The feline, whose mane was tied up neatly behind him, took a swig of his bottled water. “I suppose you could say that.”

It was a curt response, yes, but it was also the start of a wonderful acquaintanceship.

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Growing Closer

Agata

over the course of several weeks, Agata racked up a fine collection of pens— all of them yours, of course.

Somehow, you didn't believe that you would get them back.

It didn't matter much though— you had more than enough to spare.

The pair of you studied together often; either on-campus or back at your place.

His notes were very neat, you noticed.

He divided his pages into three sections; one for definitions, one for summarisations of the text and one for miscellaneous notes.

When you expressed your interest, Agata is more than happy to explain the Cornell Method to you.

You were just pleased that all the pens you lent him hadn't gone to waste.

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Miguel

you actually had to put some effort in before Miguel felt comfortable enough instigating a conversation with you.

In the beginning, you talked to yourself, more or less.

Miguel gave short, curt answers in reply.

You both took note of what subjects the other person was interested in, and then went from there.

Polite conversation made to pass the time became deep and insightful discussions.

Miguel kept a neutral expression when speaking to you, but after a while, his lips curved into a pleasant smile more and more often.

You liked his smile.

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Going Steady

Agata

You didn't notice the way Agata’s hands shook until much later, when you were both reminiscing on how he had asked you out the first time.

You did notice that the lion had a few bags’ worth of stationery with him, though.

“Finally decided to return those pens you borrowed?” You were teasing of course — your friendship with him was such that you didn't care about those trivial things anymore.

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“Let’s go see a movie tonight!”

You blinked once. Twice.

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Then, you cleared your throat. “Ah . . . sure—” You turned around, intending to fetch a jacket. “I’ll just get a coat and—”

“Y-you can borrow mine!”

Thought it was several sizes too large, Agata's jacket was indeed very comfortable.

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Miguel

It just sort of happened.

One thing led to another, really, and soon, the both of you were bouncing ideas back and forth.

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“You're weird,” You snorted, playful as always. With the gentle push of a button, the treadmill belt beneath you began to move.

You thought you saw Miguel smile. He slung his towel over one of the machine's handle bars. “Maybe so, but, aren't you going to answer? It's not hard, right?”

“Well . . .” You clicked your tongue, actually thinking. “I've always wanted to go cycling at the park with someone else.”

“Are you free Thursday?”

You eyed the lion suspiciously, but nodded, “Mhm . . .”

But then, it clicked, “Oh . . .”

It really clicked, and you broke out into a wide grin, nodding up and down quickly.

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Dating

Agata

he was very nervous at first, and very, very clingy.

He felt as if he had to keep impressing you, and giving you gifts just to keep you around.

You didn't think much of it at first, but you drew a line when he arranged for a limosuine to drop you off at your agreed rendezvous point.

Where did he even get the money for a limo, anyways?

You called the date off, in favour of talking it out with him.

Though a part of you wanted to let Agata have it, the more sensible part just wanted to know why.

As the both of you stood in the parking lot of the movie theater, you noticed that several pairs of eyes were on you.

You grabbed him by the hand and, after a short walk, came to a more secluded area.

You sighed, and told Agata exactly how you felt.

In turn, he explained his side of the issue.

It wasn't planned for, but you both enjoyed the impromptu heart-to-heart under the stars nonetheless.

It was enjoyed so much so, that neither of you saw the black car which drove away, its scar-faced driver satisfied that Agata could handle things from there.

.

.

Miguel

dating Miguel feels as if you're hanging out with a dear friend — which you were, in a way.

Your dates are spent cycling around the district, dominating patronising the local basketball court and just enjoying the other’s company.

And then, you slept together.

It had been late, so, you told him that he could crash at your place until daylight.

Despite your insistence that he take the bed while you slept on the sofa, Miguel was adamant that it be the other way around.

You had shrugged your shoulders, and decided not to fight him on it further.

Come morning, you had successfully moved him into your bed— he looked mad uncomfortable on the couch, anyways.

To your surprise, Miguel awoke with a start, a hand over his chest and eyes wide.

He demanded to know whether or not the both of you had done anything the previous night.

You didn't know about his . . . fear at the time, but you knew that you had royally fucked up.

You promised not to do that sort of thing again, and the rest of the morning is spent in the other's arms.

[camdentown-library]

The flames in your eyes || ENG ver. Ethan Torchio x reader

❝ 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐚 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐬, 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐚 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞, 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐚 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐝𝐚𝐲𝐬. 𝐀𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬, 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐠𝐨 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐛𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐚. 

𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐨𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐬, 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐜𝐪𝐮𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐚𝐧 𝐮𝐧𝐮𝐬𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐛𝐨𝐲, 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐩𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐚𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐬𝐞𝐭 𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐨𝐨 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠. ❞

Genre: Fluff ;; romantic ;; slowburn

Pairing: Ethan Torchio x fem!reader

Warning: English is not my native language, I may have made grammatical errors. do not hesitate to correct me

N / A: The facts told are purely the fruit of my imagination, it is not my intention to do any wrong to any person mentioned, and above all the character of Ethan could (surely) not reflect the person in reality.

Happy reading to you all!

CHAPTER 1

The first rays of July had cast on the roofs of the houses in Rome, giving the off-white plaster and rosy tiles a golden sheen that tasted like honey. The wisteria were in bloom, as was the medlar tree under Marlena's house; the scent of life in the full act of her cycle, always knocked on her dining room window, filling it with sweet fragrances.

The girl used to take her place at the table during the late morning hours, surrounded by books and tomes quite old and gnawed by the dust, with the good resolution that even that day she would read and study those very boring pages of that equally boring examination. of Egyptology. The university summer session had already begun, she had just taken a couple of exams last June and was now preparing two more that she would take in the first weeks of September.

That time could seem apparently short, Marlena didn't care that much, what could ever distract her from her work? She had no friends, and by now, even though she had crossed the threshold of 21 years in the autumn, the girl was now completely extinct her naive youth, as well as her desire to laze.

The out of tune and unexpected sound of the intercom triggered her head bent over the books of the young woman, who after having heaved a sigh perhaps a little annoyed, she decided to get up from her chair, leave the dining room and cross the wide and not too long corridor in the shape of an "L" of his apartment, finally arriving at a brisk pace towards the device it had croaked in order to answer.

"Yes?" she asked quite firmly but not too cordially.

"I'm the postman, will you open me?" answered a stranger, as she pushed the button to open the gate.

Marlena therefore opened the heavy old door of her house, remaining patient to wait for the man to arrive at the door. Although she had lived in that condominium with her father for as long as she remembered it, she had not yet found a rational explanation for its lack of mailboxes. Was it because it was a palace built in the 1920s? Well that would explain the absence of an elevator as well, but a damn mailbox wouldn't be hard to add.

The man's gasping breath brought her back to reality as her eyes saw him peeking from the flight of stairs. Was he already that tired after not even crossing the second floor? The young woman wondered a little disappointed.

"Are you Madam Levavi?" the postman then asked, catching his breath and rummaging through her purse. Marlena wrinkled her nose instinctively.

"Ahm ... not madam, I'm her daughter" she replied shaking her head, what could that postman ever care if she was "miss" or "madam"? The girl lightly bit the inside of her cheek as a reproach.

"Here you are. How many floors are there still?" She asked the man wiping her sweaty forehead with a handkerchief after giving her the mail.

"Two more ..." Marlena replied disinterestedly as she closed the door, observing her letters.

Bills for electricity, water, the tax to be paid for the next university year and ... a letter?

Well, it certainly wasn't sent by her father...

The girl looked at the text of that letter once more, rereading it and rereading it several times, wrapped in a silence that was probably inherent in memories that clouded her common sense, while slowly after taking a few steps back, she gently placed her back to the wall.

"Dear Marlena,

I know perfectly well that it might have been easier to call you, but you know I've always enjoyed writing you letters.

Unfortunately I noticed that in the last few I sent you you didn't answer, I guess it's because the university keeps you very busy ...

However, I learned that your father is out of Italy on a business trip and he will be away until the end of August; It seemed only right to invite you to spend these last months of summer in our house outside the city.

I know that since your mom left, you haven't had the desire to visit us anymore, but I think it would do you good to change the air for a while. The place is quiet, there is the sea and also a large and extensive countryside with a pine forest and the locals are really friendly and helpful.

You can also bring Lapo if you want, I know you are very close.

Either way, let me know your verdict.

A strong hug.

Grandmother Agata.”

She had distant memories of that house, distant but still happy. He remembered when he woke up early in the morning with grandmother Agata and grandfather Laertes to be able to go to the sea and his little hands while looking for hermit crabs and shells on the shore, as he remembered the music in the square and the laughter echoing in the same way as the bells of the church on Sunday, everyone was happy ... and life seemed to be less unfair to those who deserved it less, it tasted like jam and fruit jellies, salt on the lips and bees flying.

Marlena's chest swelled with air, as if she had been holding her breath until then...perhaps because diving into one's childhood was like floundering in a stormy sea pretending to stay afloat.

The cheerful barking of her dog Lapo brought the young woman back to the present, who decided to place the letters on a window sill not far from the front door and set off together with the playful animal towards the kitchen. Lapo was a nice Bernese Mountain Dog, with a black, brown and white coat. It had been given to her five years ago, perhaps because her father had sensed that even his absence had created in the heart of his only daughter, a sense of distressing loneliness, which had consumed her to the bone making her totally apathetic for certain verses.

But Lapo, Lapo had saved her from her, with Lapo she spoke and shared gestures of affection, such as caresses and little licks between her fingers and hair. Sometimes Marlena fell asleep in her bed, with the bulky dog ​​on her, because feeling her warm and humid breath on her blankets reminded her in her sleep that she was not alone in the dark of the night. As long as Lapo's heart had beaten the young girl she was not afraid of having to wake up or sleep.

Although she tried to convince herself that staying in her comfort zone would be easier than answering "yes" to her grandmother's request, a part of her was again attracting her to that letter; her gaze was captured by the horizon of her mind, while in the distance she could almost hear the sounds and flavors of a place almost too fairytale to be part of the material world.

"I know I should answer..." she murmured as she was intent on washing the peel of a red apple in the kitchen sink. Meanwhile the dog sat up looking at her intensely while she wagged his tail waiting for her.

"...It's just that, that place...and then I should finish studying, I have an exam to take at the end of the summer, Lapo" but the dog tilted his head in disappointment and then got up and trotted out of the room, looking for of who knows what amusement, leaving Marlena to her thoughts, as she bit into the freshly dried fruit with the kitchen towel.

All of this would only be for a little over a month and a half, just a month and a half and then she would leave it all behind her again, as she did a long time ago.

“Hello grandma. I'm Marlena..."

Marlena after putting the letter back next to her bedside table, she grabbed the cell phone not far away and typed some numbers on the screen, not too convincingly, and then brought the object to her ear.

There were those ten seconds of waiting that seemed the stroke of half a century, until a voice said "Hello?".

Marlena had brought two large bags with her. One for clothes and the other full of junk such as: books, objects for the dog, tricks and everything that for her mind, not so familiar with travel, she considered indispensable. She was not so convinced that both of them would enter the trunk, but the exemplary ability to know how to adapt and make do with her grandfather always left her with amazement on the edge of her lips.

It took two days before grandfather Laerte's small and overly backward FIAT Punto made its peerless entrance next to the bottle-green gate of the small cloister of the Marlena palace.

The man had taken more or less ten minutes just to park, the niece had wondered how long it would take him to get there and start again.

The young woman was sitting in the back seats, together with Lapo. She held in her hands a small bunch of tulips that Laertes had brought her, made by herself. He said to her:

"I went for a walk in the countryside and tried to capture the most beautiful of all, like my granddaughter!" followed by a proud, croaking laugh. Laertes had always been a proud and incurable romantic, without ever giving up some of her drama, grandmother Agata did nothing but remind her of it in her letters.

Like when Marlena pointed out to him, that the steering wheel of the car was too damaged for the latter to be considered in accordance with the law, but he had always replied that a good soldier and partisan would appeal to his driving experience and a little 'of elbow grease, in order to be sure that the itinerary of the journey would be peaceful and without unpleasant hitches.

Lapo let out an enthusiastic bark when the croaking car left the endless concrete of the highway behind, and then took a narrow, winding, uphill road that would have led them to the small town.

Her gaze stared blankly at what was running, like tape in a movie camera, out the window; She saw the buildings of the city become less present, as well as the stench of smog, then there was a long stretch of highway, immersed in the wheat fields and every now and then some small farm or spare parts industry or other jobs would emerge.

In the car there would have been complete silence, had it not been for the old radio which played an entire disc of all of Lucio Dalla's masterpieces; Marlena's grandfather liked that singer, but not in the same way chatting while driving, because according to him it would have increased the chances of road accidents by 50%, and frankly, the granddaughter didn't mind at all this acknowledgment ... she didn't even know where she should have started and however much her relatives tried to make her feel at ease, she imagined herself as a stranger, a stranger, who had knocked on their door and was now just trying to learn and remember their common manners.

"If you look to the right you will see the sea, Marlena" Laertes informed her, while he struggled with the steering wheel at every bend, but he did not dare to make even a moan under stress. The girl decided to accept those words, and looking out (after rolling down the window) a crisp air of salt pervaded her nostrils like the balm of a mint. Her eyes tried to show as little as possible the defeat of an amazement that had overwhelmed her like a raging wave, making her heart pound.

The sea. Marlena loved the sea. And for a few moments she was wondering what she had forced her to shut up in the house all that time, but then her mind went back to static and clear. She knew why, and there was no other reason to get her back together, even if it was difficult.

Yet there seemed to be few people around the streets, perhaps because at that time anyone with a minimum of wit would have holed up in the cool four walls of their home, just to escape the scorching heat that did not yield until the stroke of five in the afternoon .

By now it was almost two in the afternoon when Laertes' car passed the threshold of the square of the small town, while the attentive (even if apparently lost) gaze of his granddaughter observed everything in detail.

Nothing seems to have changed in that place since the last one who went there. The street was always covered with the usual, old and coarse slabs of white stone and eroded by the weather, as well as the various shops that surrounded the square and the small houses side by side, glazed with a fresh off-white plaster and dark brown roofs, the fountain in the center, and the small restaurant with its balcony overlooking the long pine forest that extended at the foot of the modest hill that supported the town.

A jolt suddenly shook Marlena, when her grandfather decided to pull over and pull up the handbrake of his FIAT, thus causing a slight recoil unexpectedly enough to suddenly wake the girl from her thoughts. She cleared her throat, while she opened her door, so that Lapo could finally trot and wag his tail excitedly around, on the other hand she didn't blame him, it must have been hard for a dog to stay good in the car for so many hours.

"Here we are!" proclaimed the elderly man putting the car keys in his pocket and then ring the bell of the small house next to FIAT "Your grandmother will be so happy to see you, I bet she will have prepared ciambelle with red wine to celebrate your reunion" he added while he waited for the woman he mentioned to open to him, already anticipating on his lips the pungent and sweet taste of those sweets he loved so much.

"So I suppose you made at least thirty" commented the young woman ironically, as she dragged out the two bags with extreme difficulty, attracting the attention of Laertes who, hastily adjusting his frizzy white hair, hastened to reach his niece to give her your support.

“Ah don't worry, kid. I'll take care of it, maybe you can ring the door, your grandmother has now gone deaf as a bell...” he said as he gave a slight snort and then muttered something.

"C’mon, grandpa" Marlena replied then raising her eyes to the sky trying not to smile, how melodramatic could that man be?

After pressing her finger on the bell again, the girl waited for someone to answer and hearing the approach of some quick steps together with the rubbing of flip-flops on the floor, made her realize that Agata had finally heard their arrival. Marlena did not even have time to greet the elderly lady, who took her in her arms, wrapping her in an embrace that caught her unprepared and to which she did not respond immediately.

“Oh my love! I’m so happy to see you again! But look how you have grown! It seems only yesterday when you reached mid-thigh and now...” the hands a little gnarled, but from the soft fingertips of the woman, gently took the face of her niece like a cup, as if to feel if her presence was only fantasy or reality "...You are a woman to all intents and purposes" she whispered and then fussed with kisses all over her face, while Marlena whining pretending to be somehow annoyed.

After climbing a short flight of stairs that led to the house located on the upper floor, the girl's nostrils and consciousness were flooded with memories and sensations already savored. She observed the now old floor of the house, granite tiles that alternated with one hand painted and another not; Marlena rejoiced with a touch of amusement when she as a child she spent boring afternoons playing on them, jumping only on the decorated ones because according to her imagination those remains were made of incandescent lava.

The walls were always the same, covered with a light blue paint and slightly lumpy at times, she could feel it, when the index and middle fingers of her right hand absently brushed the surface.

The house of Marlena's grandparents was very simple and perhaps apparently a little cramped. Having opened the wooden entrance door, after having passed the landing and the stairs, she had in front of her a corridor that extended along to her right, thus marking the various doors of each room that the house gathered inside. Almost parallel to the entrance there was the kitchen door on the opposite wall, without doors, next to it the bathroom door, and then the door to the room of the two elderly spouses. At the end of the corridor there was a small balcony with the railing covered with hanging vases where, like a multicolored waterfall, a thick branching of coral red bucanville came out which, in addition to poetically letting itself fall from the small niche, climbed elegant and graceful on the handrail of the then hug the outside walls of the house.

Marlena took advantage of it, to be able to peep there, while she deeply breathed the fragrant and velvety scent of those petals, mixed with the sea breeze that came from beyond the pine forest that surrounded the town. She observed the small houses around her while if she winked she could distinguish the clear line of the flat and calm sea that merged in perfect alchemy with the clear sky on the horizon.

The young woman tried in every way to convince herself that that enchanted place, that little corner of paradise had never failed her...but she suddenly proclaimed herself foolish for having thought such a cynical thing in the least.

TO BE CONTINUED . . .

[ladynestaarcheron]

Fears All the Way Down - Chapter Six

ao3 - masterpost

Hey, babes! Here are our canon fixes for the week:

1. When Nesta was six, she met with a man who declared more or less immediately that she would forever be hopeless at playing an instrument or singing, but that she had a good ear for music. Bull.

2. Nesta is apparently so desperate for a friend that she gives the House life, but never really hangs out with the priestesses. Um. Okay? Sounds fake, but okay.

3. Both Gwyn and Emerie have never left their homes in Sangravah and Illyria, respectively, except for when the IC brings them to the library. Not exactly a fix, but something we will start to explore.

Enjoy!

---

Since Nesta's accomplished virtually nothing in her life, she expects her ideas of "new things" to try to be easy to come up with. But after an hour of brainstorming in bed that Thursday evening, she only has two things scribbled in the notebook Thalia gave her: Wear yellow and Learn to play the trumpet.

"Don't suppose you have a trumpet in here?" Nesta says to the House.

The House only pulls the curtains shut in answer.

"Bedtime," she agrees, shutting the notebook and placing it on her bedside table. "I think this one-per-day rule is a bit much, don't you? Especially considering these self-defense lessons. Do you think other girls will come?" Nesta doesn't always wait for an answer when talking to the House. It tends to interject as it pleases, generally by opening doors or magicking a cup of tea in front of her. "I think that Emerie girl would like to. From Illyria, I told you about her...oh, thank you," she adds, for the House has placed the novel Nesta started last night by her pillow. "Shall I read aloud, then?"

She does, until she falls asleep.

The next morning, she draws looks from the hood-less girls and slight double-takes from the veiled priestesses; no doubt courtesy of the bright yellow dress the House had pulled out of her wardrobe this morning. She ignores them, not stopping until she reaches Clotho's office. When she knocks, Thalia's voice calls for her to enter.

"Well!" Thalia says, smiling.

"I'm never wearing this color again. It washes me out." Ruins the detox and more regulated eating she's had this past month.

"I think you look lovely," she insists, and Clotho nods. "But that's certainly your prerogative. Is that the worst consequence?"

"Yes, yes," Nesta says impatiently, waving a hand. "It won't kill me to try new things. Lesson learned."

Thalia looks over at Clotho. Perhaps she can tell what the priestess looks like under her hood, or perhaps she talks to her mind-to-mind like Feyre and Rhysand do, but Nesta almost thinks they exchange a glance of some sort. Amused, perhaps?

"Can either of us help you with anything, Nesta?" Thalia asks pleasantly, and gestures for her to sit down.

"Maybe," Nesta says taking a seat. Her cheeks color slightly as she does; why is she bashful about this all of a sudden? Around Thalia and Clotho? "I...well, I've started some self-defense, you know."

"We know." They both did, had both asked her how it was going. "You're still enjoying it, aren't you?"

"I...I am-it's good for me." Enjoy is a strong word.

"You said it helps keep you focused," Thalia says. "Centered."

"Yes. It...makes me feel good." She doesn't normally struggle with her words so much, does she? Does she sound like an idiot to the two of them, or just to her own ears? No, Clotho and Thalia would never say that about her. Never even think it. It's only her who's like this, trapped in her own wretched mind, slave to something dark and horrible and become just as vile-

But no, that isn't true. It's not just her who feels that way. And that's why she's here.

"It makes me feel more in control," Nesta says finally. "Of my life and my body."

Thalia leans back, satisfied. Clotho doesn't move. Nesta wonders if they know, if they can guess at what just went on in her mind. Either way, they both wait for her to continue.

"And I thought," she says, pausing to draw breath, "that maybe some other girls might be interested. With...Cassian."

At this, Clotho does cock her head.

"We meet in the mornings. Not on Tuesdays and not over the weekend," she adds, just so they aren't sitting in silence.

After a few moments that feel ridiculously long, Thalia says, "I think that's a wonderful idea, Nesta."

For a brief, strange moment, something happens. Nesta breathes in as Thalia finishes her sentence-not in relief or any emotion in particular, just to breathe-and as she does so, something inside of her shifts. Un-constricts.

But it's gone just as soon as it arrives, and before Nesta has time to dwell upon it, one of Clotho's notes appears. For a select group of girls, perhaps.

"Yes, I think we have the same few in mind...Of course, Nesta, you're welcome to share this with all of the students, but just between Clotho and myself, I think we'll privately encourage four or five...yes, thank you for bringing this up to us, Nesta," Thalia says, finishing with another warm smile.

Don't go just yet, Nesta, please, Clotho writes as Thalia takes her leave. I wanted to ask you how you were doing.

"I'm well. Thank you."

I'm glad to hear these self-defense lessons have something to do with that...our own lectures and exercises too, I hope?

Nesta raises her head slightly as her cheeks tinge pink. "I-yes. I think so." Clotho waits, unmoving, until Nesta sighs and says, "I do like the lectures."

Wonderful. Which ones?

Nesta answers honestly, "All of them." It's...it's quite something, to learn things. Things she never knew, never imagined, from females who are so passionate about them. "And...I like the jewelery. I like working with my hands."

I'm so very happy to hear you're finding yourself here, Nesta, Clotho's pen writes out. Have you given any thought to a more permanent assignment?

"I...thought you were supposed to."

With your input, of course. We would never want you to do something you were uncomfortable with.

But Gwyn's not comfortable with Merrill, is she? "I don't know. There's not really anything wrong with any of the priestesses, I suppose." It's only when Clotho begins lightly shaking with amusement that Nesta realizes she probably shouldn't have said that. "That is...I like them." She does. Enough.

Well, I'm happy to hear that, too.

Nesta rises, rather abrupt. "I've got to sort books," she says, and doesn't wait for a proper goodbye before leaving.

---

The amount Nesta has improved after only a few short weeks of being in the library floors Cassian. Her weight gain, voluntarily asking him for self-defense lessons, her performance in said lessons, and she still manages to find time to ask if other girls can join. Not even touching upon the fact that she's said she doesn't feel so dependent on alcohol anymore.

It shows incredible strength of character, and it makes Cassian's heart swell so much that he almost doesn't care when he meets an unfamiliar, tipsy young male he realizes must be one of the rebels in Windhaven, glaring at him.

Almost.

"What are you doing outside of your camp, boy?" Boy, he says, because he is one. He's not yet participated in the Rite.

"Visiting family," the boy slurs. "Sir," he adds, mocking.

"Go home," he orders, trying to imitate Nesta when she's at her coldest.

Perhaps it works, because the boy blanches before sneering and turning away.

He has to tell Rhys they're getting more brazen. Normally Cassian wouldn't care at all what any of them say to him-or at least, say he doesn't care-but if these pricks are bringing Nesta into it, all bets are off. He's going to follow up on whoever that was and make sure he doesn't come back to this camp until this situation is under control. Until the threat on the throne, on Nesta's life, is vanquished.

Shaking himself, he pushes into Emerie's shop. "Good morning."

She looks up. "You're back. Hello," she adds.

He gives her a smile. "Who was that?"

Emerie does not return his expression. "My baby cousin, Bellius," she says, bitter. "But never mind him." Just like that, Emerie phases out of her ire and into a cool, detached expression. Just like Nesta, he thinks. Perhaps that was why they liked each other-if they liked each other. "What can I help you with?"

"Perhaps you can help me," he says. "Nesta-Lady Nesta-you met here a few weeks ago?"

"Yes," she says, careful. "I remember."

"Well," he says, unsure of how to introduce the subject. "She's...started taking some self-defense lessons. For exercise. With me."

Emerie looks unconvinced. "For exercise?"

"And she thought you might be interested in joining. And that you have some friends who might be interested, too."

Emerie's face doesn't betray anything. She studies him, and it's been about ten seconds before she says, "Did she?"

"Yes," he says, feeling only slightly like perhaps the two of them training together might not be good for him.

"Hm," she says. After another minute of her own quiet deliberation, she says, slowly, "I will attend one of these lessons...and then I will...consult with my friends."

"All right," Cassian says, thankful that it's over. "Someone will be along to pick you up Monday morning."

He doesn't dawdle too long in saying goodbye. He has a lot to cover before Monday-figure out the best way to introduce self-defense to very traumatized, potentially, females, and now he'll have Emerie, and Nesta. What kind of dynamic will that create?

But he's been a soldier his whole life. Surely he can handle a few young females.

Hopefully.

---

Nesta has taken to carrying around her notebook wherever she goes, just in case she gets an idea of some new thing she can try. A girl named Deridre approaches her and asks her what self-defense is like, and if it's at all like the meditative yoga they do with the priestess Agata, so she writes that down. She goes to one of Daphne's lectures for the first time and learns about resuscitation and scrawls the name of a method to stop choking that seems simple enough to learn. Gwyn sees her writing and says, "You know, your finger nails are shaped so nicely. How come you never paint them?" so she adds that to her list, too.

She finds, actually, that it's quite nice to carry the book around. It's nice to have an excuse to write with such a fine pen. It's been years since she has.

Her sisters visit her over the weekend at her invitation and they are thrilled by her new things.

"I could teach you to paint," Feyre suggests.

Nesta wants to reply that the idea is to attempt things that do not make her want to pitch herself off the veranda, but instead she says, "You already tried that."

"Right," she says, deflating.

"But," she says, oddly disturbed by this response, and grasping for something to say, "maybe we can...sculpt. Or something. One day."

Feyre brightens at this. "Whenever you have time," she says, happily.

"How's self-defense going, Nesta?" Elain asks, would-be casual.

Nesta rolls her eyes. "You've heard we're inviting other girls?"

"Oh, Nesta, I just think it's such a grand idea-"

"Everyone's really excited about it, honestly, they've been trying for something like this for so long-"

"And with the Illyrian girls, Cassian said-"

"We know it's not exactly a unit, but still so impressive-"

"And we hear you're doing really well!"

"Yes! Really well! Maybe I could join you one day, too," Feyre says, hopeful.

"I'd watch. Or, or maybe even try some!"

Nesta takes a sip of water. She forgets how much noise these two make, honestly. "I don't think it's as exciting as you've imagined," she says. "Sure, you can come one day. Maybe not while the other girls...I'm a bit nervous," she confesses, suddenly. "Clotho and Thalia wouldn't let if they thought it was a bad idea, but I don't know..." She looks out onto the rainy city. The House keeps the interior warm for her, but sometimes she thinks she can still feel the cold in her bones anyway. "I mean, I'm the only one who ever leaves the library, and it could go really wrong. Obviously, no one's going to force herself to do this, and they can just no, but-uh," she finishes on a stammer, as she turns back to look at her sisters.

For there are shining silver tears in Elain's eyes, and Feyre's face looks cracked.

What has she said? What horrible thing has she done?

"No, no," Feyre says hurriedly, reading her expression.

"Sorry, Nesta," Elain says, bringing her hands to wipe her eyes. "It's just...it's just so nice to see you like this...about something."

"Oh," Nesta says, eventually.

Her sisters leave in the evening, but the likeness of their faces in her mind do not. Their expressions, their...love.

Is she really so different now, she wonders all weekend. Is she so much better? She doesn't feel particularly much of anything.

If this is better, then what had she been before?

Monday morning rolls around quickly, and she is decked in the uniform the House has supplied her and finished with a light breakfast, waiting at the arena on the roof before the sun has even fully risen.

"Nervous too?" Cassian says from behind her as he neatly lands in.

"I suppose," she says, not turning around.

"How long have you been here?"

"Fifteen minutes."

He chuckles. "Maybe more nervous than I am. Well...shall we begin?"

"No one's here yet."

"So? We can start just the two of us." He shrugs out of his jacket. "Would put us at ease, at least, don't you think?"

Us, he says. Like they are the same. They get nervous by the same things and the same things calm them down and they do it all together.

"Yes," she says, clearly needing it.

The movements come easier than on Thursday. Each time she gets better, and it is, she will admit, a rare sort of feeling. To know that she is improving at something. To feel it in her blood and bones.

Cassian's instructions leave no room for worrying in her mind. When she slips out of his holds, breaks out of his grip, all she can think of are his body and hers, anticipation of his next move and victory when she gets it right, or disgruntlement when she is wrong. They move through the steps in sync, almost like the ballet she used to study, and she is so consumed with it that she does not notice until they are done that they have an audience.

Not a particularly big one. Gwyn, Deirdre, and Azriel has brought Emerie, but an audience nonetheless.

"All right," Cassian says. "So what Nesta and I just did is called the Grunge Hook." He launches through into an explanation of what it means and Nesta blinks as she realizes he must have known they all had arrived. Seen them, heard them.

Her cheeks go cold. She can never notice anything else when he's there. Certainly not as they were; touching, talking...

"So Emerie and Nesta, and, ah, Miss..."

"Gwyn," Gwyn says at the same time Deirdre says, "Deirdre."

"Right," Cassian says. "Well, you two pair up."

Emerie walks over to Nesta and they are ready faster than the other two. Nesta tenses. They have not yet been outside-perhaps this was a mistake-what will Gwyn think of her now? She won't sit next to her for lectures anymore, won't come help her put books away-

But it is only a moment, and then Gwyn turns to Cassian and says, "I guess we should have dressed differently."

"You can wear whatever you're comfortable with," he says. "And you don't have to do anything you don't want to, either."

So Deirdre keeps her hood secured on, but Gwyn shrugs her robe off entirely to reveal simple, like-colored dress. Perhaps she'd like leggings and a skirt like Nesta's, she thinks. If she decides to continue...if other girls decide to join...

Emerie's, surprisingly, not as good at the movements as Nesta is. Surprisingly because Nesta doesn't really think of herself as good at this, just better than before, and because, well, Emerie's Illyrian, and all the Illyrians Nesta knows...

"It's your wings," Azriel says, approaching. "They throw you off balance."

She droops. "So I can't. Because I'm clipped."

Nesta flinches-it's such an ugly word. But what to say?

Azriel answers before she can, his shadows clearing from his face. "Of course not," he says, patient. "Just hold yourself this way," and he shows her how to maneuver her wings.

Emerie seems as though her emotions sway easier than Nesta's, as she appears cheered up by this. "Let's try again," she says to Nesta.

And they do, but it is not like before, with Cassian. It is not as in sync, and she is not as focused. Over on the other side, under Cassian's watch, Gwyn and Deirdre are doing even worse.

When the hour is done, Deirdre hurries back down faster than she has moved throughout the whole lesson, and Gwyn shoots Nesta a small smile, and nods her head once at Azriel, before saying, "Good to see you again," and leaving. Emerie says, "Thanks for thinking of me," and perhaps sounds a bit more genuine, but she turns to ask Azriel to take her back right after, and then she is gone too.

"Brilliant," Nesta says aloud, miserable.

Cassian looks over at her, surprised. "What?"

"Are you kidding me? That was horrible."

Cassian laughs. "Are you kidding me? That was great!"

"Enough," she snaps, skin burning. "I don't need-"

"Woah," he says, raising his hands. "Woah. Seriously, Nesta, what's wrong?"

She clenches her hands into fists. "Stop mocking me."

"I'm not!" he protests, and his stupid eyes are wide and innocent and his stupid voice is confused and concerned when he says, "Come on, why are you upset?" so she has no choice but to answer.

"They hated it and they were bad."

Cassian laughs again. A real laugh this time, with his head tilting back, and the sound echoing in the mountains. Her heart lurches. She ignores it.

"They did not hate it," he says, eyes twinkling. "And they were not bad. They're novices. Not everyone's a born natural like you, with a perfectly paired partner in me," he teases, winking, almost as though good-natured.

"They couldn't get away fast enough." Deirdre didn't even take off her hood. So much for helping other females.

Cassian's grin falters. Shit. Had she said that out loud?

He moves closer to her. "Do you know how many clipped Illyrian females have agreed to come to anything remotely similar to this?"

"You know I don't," she snaps, but he doesn't rise to her bait.

"None," he says, calm. "Emerie is the first. Do you know how long Deirdre's been in here?"

"No," she says. Longer than Gwyn, but not more than that.

"Since before Amarantha took over."

Nesta winces. Over fifty years, at least, then.

"And she came...you convinced her to come."

"I didn't," she says. "Thalia-"

"She told me," he interrupts. "She told me you told her what it was like and she wanted to try it."

Nesta stills at this. "Well...what does it matter if she just tries it once?"

He laughs-again! Why does he laugh so often? "Aren't you doing that? Trying things once? Oh, no, I don't mean it in a bad way, Nes, don't look like that. I'm just saying...okay. So it's not for everyone. Maybe she tries it once and never does it again. But it's still worth a whole fucking lot that she tried. And that's because of you. And how do you know she's not going to try again, anyway? Because she left when the hour was up?"

Nesta reddens slightly.

"Fuck," he says, and this time it doesn't amuse her, his easy swearing. "I-shit. Nesta. I'm not trying to hurt your feelings."

She startles. "I-what?"

"I just mean..." He runs his fingers through his hair. "Look. You did a good thing. Whether or not they continue, you did a good thing. And I think they will, for the record. Emerie might not want to come every day, you know, she might not have time...but I think Gwyn liked it enough."

Nesta feels something inside of her flutter. "She did?"

Cassian nods. "Definitely." He looks at her for another moment, then shakes his head.

"What?" she asks, dreading the answer.

"Nothing," he says. "I just don't understand how you can't possibly be so proud of yourself. Especially today." He shrugs slightly, completely oblivious to what is happening inside of her. That feeling from Clotho's office. What is that?

But it is gone as soon as it arrives, just like last time. He says, "See you tomorrow, Nesta," and leaves. And then she does too.

---

Cassian, Nesta learns over the course of the next few weeks, is right.

Not about her, obviously. But about the females still being interested.

Gwyn's excited about it. "I didn't realize you were so good," she gushes.

Nesta huffs in amusement. "Hardly."

"Well, better than the rest of us!"

"Just a bit more practice," she says. And there is something about the lessons with Cassian...though they don't do as much together, though, anymore. Not with the others there now. She almost wishes that she had not invited everyone for each of the lessons...maybe one morning with him just to herself.

But that's-that's just absurd. He's hardly hers.

Deirdre finds her that Monday, too, and thanks her for convincing her to go. Nesta privately wonders what on earth it was she had said that worked, because the conversation barely stands out in her mind, but she tells Deirdre she's glad to hear she enjoyed it, anyway.

"I think Roslin and Ananke would like it too," she says. "Thalia told them it would be good for them, but they were too nervous. I'll try and convince them...I didn't realize how much fun it would be," she adds with a gentle laugh.

Fun?

"Oh," Nesta says. "Oh...well, good. I mean, good to hear. I hope they...join too."

And Cassian is right about Emerie as well. She does not come on Tuesday, but she does on Wednesday, and tells Nesta she thinks she can keep coming twice a week.

"And your friends?" she asks.

"They're interested," she tells her. "But I think I have to work a little harder at convincing them."

Nesta nods, not wanting to ask what they might have stopping them from coming. Whatever happened to Emerie's wings-whoever had clipped her-perhaps those females have someone like that in their lives.

It is on the second Wednesday that Emerie arrives that Nesta asks her if she'd like to stay a while longer. She'd already asked Azriel the day before if he could possibly take her back after lunch, and he'd agreed.

There was something odd about talking to Azriel, she noticed. Something about those shadows. Something about the way they-looked?-at her. Something...

But Emerie agrees, if a bit shyly, and she asks Gwyn if she'd like to take lunch with the two of them instead of in the priestesses' dining hall, and Nesta has her new thing for the day: hosting people for a meal.

They ogle everything openly, jaws dropping as the House pulls out chairs for them and food appears as Nesta requests it.

"Thank you," she says.

"You're...talking to the House?" Gwyn asks.

"Yes."

"Oh. Thank you," she adds.

"Thank you," Emerie says quickly.

The House likes them too. Nesta can tell. There's a bit more effort being made here today, she thinks, as she notes a fancy bouquet in the middle of the table and finer china than she normally uses. Nesta smiles to herself.

Nesta searches for something she can say, a safe topic that has nothing to do with self-defense, but Gwyn beats her to it. "So, how do you two know each other?" she asks.

"Nesta came to Illyria to scare some rebels who are trying to kill her," Emerie answers casually.

Gwyn jerks her head towards Nesta. "Really?"

"Not quite how I would have phrased it," Nesta says. "But true enough, I suppose."

"Why are they trying to kill you?" Gwyn says, eyes wide.

Wonderful. What a fantastic luncheon this is.

"They don't like me very much."

"They're scared of her," Emerie says. "And they want to overthrow the High Lord and High Lady." She turns to Nesta. "What do you think of that?"

Nesta raises an eyebrow as she cuts into her food. "Of killing my sister and Rhysand? Well, I've certainly thought of it myself, at times."

They both laugh. Nesta blinks. Then she smiles slightly.

"I have to assume I'm against them," she says. "But to be honest, I don't really understand any of the politics here. I'm...not very well-informed."

"Oh, neither am I," Gwyn says, shaking her head. "It's terrible. I mean, I've lived in this court all my life, and I'm so pitifully ignorant. It's ridiculous. I don't know the first thing about Illyria, like. Or even Velaris, really. And I have no excuse. I live in a library, for gods' sakes."

"I don't know of any books I'd recommend for you to learn about Illyria," Emerie says, thoughtful. "Not unless you read Illyrian, that is."

"See, I didn't even know there was an Illyrian until you just said that. Pathetic."

"Can you recommend other books?" Nesta says, latching on the chance to steer the conversation away from the history of the Night Court and into perhaps the only topic she might be able to contribute to.

"Oh, of course," Emerie says, pausing to swallow. "What do you like?"

"Romance," Nesta says, as Gwyn says, "Adventure."

"Ooh, The Knight Society. That's both. You can read that together."

Gwyn grins at Nesta. "Book club," she says. "What's it about?"

Emerie launches into a description of the book-the series, actually-and eventually, Nesta finds herself not looking for things to say, but rather just...talking. Not forced. Not desperate. Just a part of the conversation. Easy, flowing...fun, almost.

Funny, at least. Emerie is clutching her sides laughing as she describes the worst romance novel she ever read and Gwyn giggles, her hands covering her mouth, but Nesta says thoughtfully, "That's not such a horrible idea, though."

"You think-"

"No, no, the premise is atrocious, yes," she says. "But that exact scene...that has potential."

"Potential, right," Emerie says, laughing still.

"No, I mean it," she says, but she lets it go, lets the conversation drift naturally.

She is disappointed when Azriel comes to take Emerie back, but picked up by the fact that they all are. Emerie promises to make time to stay for lunch again, either Monday or Wednesday of next week.

"This was so lovely," Gwyn says to her, wistful, as they walk down to the library together. "So much nicer than in the dining hall.

"Really?" Nesta says before she can stop herself. "Well...I eat lunch every day. You can join...if you'd like."

Gwyn brightens. "I would!"

So after two weeks of lessons with other girls (Roslin and Ananke have joined, and Lorelei and Ilana, too, though the later doesn't participate so much as watch), and more random assignments from Clotho, and new things for Thalia, Nesta finally finds herself with a few hours of quiet after Friday evening's lecture has been canceled.

"Shall we read?" she says to the House.

Lights flicker in answer. Too many for the usual yes or no. This means Nesta has to follow.

"All right," she says, standing. "To the veranda?" she asks. But it's too cold out, so she hopes not.

Instead, the House leads her to a room she hasn't been in since her first stay, upon first exploration. She has had no need.

"Oh," she says at the door, softly.

The knob turns slightly, not fully opening. The House giving her the final decision.

But she doesn't want to hurt its feelings, so she opens the door.

The music room-a conservatory, it can be called-just by the sheer size of it-is grander than she remembers. She had opened the door and not even stepped inside, that first time. Just stood there, frozen, before snapping the door shut and hurrying away.

She takes a slow step in, but almost as though she is being walked by some other being, she takes another, and then another, and before she knows it, she is seated at the piano.

Ballroom grand. Enormous. Sleek and glossy and it would sound just perfect, she knows.

Lights flicker from behind. She turns and lets out a little laugh.

"Thanks," she says, shaking her head at the spotlight, "but I don't think I'm going to be learning the trumpet this evening."

The lights stop, as if the House is acquiescing.

The lights above her now flicker briefly. So will you play the piano, then?

Nesta inhales and exhales deeply. Slowly. Again. And again. The same way Cassian has her do after lessons.

There's really...there's really nothing stopping her. There's no reason not to. If she were to pick up her notebook and write down the reasons why she can't play right now, there wouldn't be any.

So why can't she do it?

She doesn't have an answer. So with another deep breath, Nesta closes her eyes and gently presses her thumb to middle C.

The sound is soft, and then that feeling, from with Thalia and Clotho, and Cassian, hits her again. But as she hits the second note, it does not fade away. It stays this time. So she plays.

[alstroemeriaxamare]

1) Send me some facts about your relationship with your F/O (fictional other) and I’ll assign a flower that reminds me of your relationship.

Agata and I are around the same age (late 20s), but both took very different paths in life. (High school dropout to lion Yakuza pipeline vs physics teacher/researcher.)

Despite this, we managed to bond over our mutual love of video games and long, lazy mornings (that occasionally go into the afternoon if we have no work to do that day...)

Ironically, our first meeting was in jail, during a science outreach event intended to get prisoners interested in jobs in science.

Agata may not have studied physics formally after he dropped out, but comparing the physics engines in his video games has given him a better than average understanding of the basics.

After that event, we kept in touch, and when he got out of prison, he crashed on my couch while looking for (legal) work.

Eventually, he started using my own gaming setup to stream (after asking permission, obviously), and started to become popular.

After his first round of income, he realised this was something he wanted to do, and so we started setting up a proper streaming kit for him.

In between all this, we'd been going out for clothes shopping, groceries, and coffee 'dates'. (Can it be called a date if neither person is aware that it's a date?)

Louis checks in every now and then, and always seemed irritated when I was around at first, although after realising I was as blind to the fact Agata and I were dating as Agata was, he just started chuckling to himself whenever he sees me.

About 8 months after Agata gets out of jail, we end up chatting about whether he should find a place of his own, which ends up with the revelation that he doesn't want to leave, and I don't want him to leave either.

It takes another 8 months before either of us admit that we 'might' be dating, and another 2 before we actually formally get together. (The love is requited, we're just idiots, Your Honour.)

Nothing really changes much after we officially start dating, except my bed suddenly has a lot more lion fur in it each morning.

Despite Agata's popularity as a streamer, there are still some animals who think he doesn't deserve a second chance.

The first time someone assaulted him in the street, he just let them, afraid that if he defended himself he'd end up back in jail.

The second time it happened, I was with him, and convinced him to not back down - self defense is a valid defense, even if he had a criminal record.

The attacks never really escalated beyond verbal abuse, until after we started dating.

The first trip out after Agata told his entire audience (because of course he did, the sweet little bean that he is), a particularly stupid herbivore (I want to say a horse, for some reason...) threw a bucket of red paint over me, intending it to look like blood.

They lost their grip on the bucket, though, and it ended up not only covering me in the paint, but hitting me in the head, splitting the skin and giving me a concussion.

Agata, obviously, went full berserker mode, never even coming close to physically touching the aggressor, but ensuring that we were never messed with again. There may have been a threat of forcing the idiot horse to devour their own grandmother at some point, but I was a little woozy by then.

All I really knew is, "That one. I want that one." Full on heart eyes, with sparkles and everything.

Being two males got us some flack as well, but it was relatively minor compared to the whole 'used to be a criminal' thing.

There was a brief investigation, but several dozen people came forward with evidence that Agata hadn't done anything wrong.

Louis in particular brought out a whole stalker's portfolio, showcasing every incident of abuse and Agata's non-violent responses to them all.

That, plus a suspiciously high-priced lawyer (anonymously donated to our cause, of course...) who just happened to share a name with one of the Horns Conglomerate's legal team, meant the whole investigation was a non-issue.

Agata definitely got some for his performance after the head wound was patched up.

Eventually, I ended up tutoring him to the point he could get his GED (or the Beastars equivalent).

Sorry if this is a bit too long, but you gave me an open mic to simp for Agata, I'm gonna take advantage of that

I love your story! SO WHOLESOME AND SWEET!

I choose, the cornflower!

What does cornflower symbolize? Cornflower flowers symbolize freedom, courage and resilience.

I think it really relates to your story, and the ability to keep moving despite obstacles and baggage.

[prettylittlethings25]

MY FAVOURITE CHARACTERS FROM NETFLIX SHOWS

[SPOILERS AHEAD]

1.    Monica Geller (Friends)

Monica is a chef who likes things to be clean; and is competitive, obsessive and compulsive in nature. She was always dedicated to her friends. She never turned away a friend in need; like when Rachel ran away from her wedding, she allowed her to stay at her house even though Rachel was not in touch with her for many years after high school. She always cooked for her friends. Whenever it was Thanksgiving or someone’s birthday, she was the one who organized a get-together and fed all of them. Her parents always favoured her brother Ross, so she always competed against him to gain their affection. Monica always supported her husband Chandler and believed in him, even when he quit his job and started an internship. She was shattered when she found out that they cannot have a baby but was still strong and later adopted twins. The character is portrayed by Courtney Cox.

 2.    Klaus Mikaelson (The Originals)

Klaus is an original hybrid, i.e., he is one of the oldest vampires in the world who is also a werewolf. He is an overly complex character. He has a thousand enemies from all around the world. Though some people might think of him as ruthless or heartless, he has a good side despite all his sins. He took care of people who were dear to him. The protection of his family was always his first priority. He was an excellent father, brother, and friend. Despite daggering his siblings at a regular basis, he protected and saved them from all harm. His closest ally was his brother Elijah, who never let go of him. He adored Hayley, his daughter’s mother and his friend, and always made her feel like family. But most of all, he was an extraordinary father to his daughter Hope. Hope was the only reason Klaus redeemed himself. He loved Hope so much that in the end, he sacrificed his life to save Hope. The character is portrayed by Joseph Morgan.

 3.    Nairobi (Money Heist)

Nairobi was an expert in minting and forgery. She was one of the robbers who participated in the heist of the Royal Mint of Spain. Her task was to ensure that the money that was being printed by the hostages are of the highest quality. Later, she briefly took charge of the robbery and declared the beginning of “Matriarchy”. She was the most disciplined of the robbers. Her real name was Agata Jiménez. During her teenage years, she started counterfeiting due to lack of money. She got pregnant at that time and gave birth to a boy, who she named Axel. He was taken away from her at the age of 3 by the child services when they found out Agata is a drug dealer. The Professor and the robbers decided to select codenames after cities, because the rules were of no real names. Agata chose to be called Nairobi. The character is portrayed by Alba Flores.

 4.    Richard Hunter (The Bold Type)

Richard is a handsome in-house attorney for Steinem Publishing, the company that publishes Scarlet Magazine. He is a tall man with short brown hair. He is very dedicated to his job and avoids doing anything hazardous to jeopardize it. He has a clandestine affair with Sutton Brady, a stylist. He loves her very much, and even made certain adjustments to stay together with her. Later, he and Sutton got married. Their 15 years age difference did not affect their relationship until Sutton revealed that she never wants to have kids because she loves her career and does not want anything that can affect it. This is where their marriage hit a roadblock as Richard wanted to have kids and he could not wait longer for Sutton to maybe change her mind. Though he was a passionate lover, his decision of being a father was much more important to him. The character is portrayed by Samuel Page.

 5.    Joey Del Marco (Grand Army)

Joey is one of the most popular students at her school. Among her close friends is Tim, Joey’s best friend Anna’s brother, with whom she has a flirtatious relationship. She was strong, confident, and independent until one incident turned her life upside down. One night, she went to the movies with Tim, George, and Luke and decided to get drunk. In a cab, Joey sat on George’s lap and started flirting with him and Luke to make Tim jealous. Little did she know what was supposed to be fun, would turn out to be her worst nightmare. She was raped by the boys she thought were her best friends, while Tim just sat in stunned silence. Later when she was tried to press charges, they were denied due to lack of evidence. Joey looked for Tim’s support but did not get any. She changed her school and joined a dancing class hoping she would get over this trauma. The character is portrayed by Odessa A’zion.

 6.    Berlin (Money Heist)

Berlin was the Professor’s half-brother, and one of the robbers. He oversaw the heist of the Royal Mint of Spain. He was the perfect blend of both charming and arrogant. His real name was Andrés. He was diagnosed with Helmer's Myopathy and had little time to live, so he desired to enjoy everything in the moment intensely. He had eccentric ways of commanding and punishing the hostages as well as the robbers, but those psychopathic tendencies were a facade to maintain his leadership. His character development forces everyone to despise him at the beginning and then sympathize after his ultimate sacrifice in the end to protect others. The character is portrayed by Pedro Alonso.  

 7.    Beth Harmon (The Queen’s Gambit)

Beth is an orphan girl who has a passion for chess. She discovered her aptitude for chess while living in an orphanage, where she met Mr. Shaibel, the orphanage’s custodian who taught her chess. The pills that were given to the children at the orphanage helped Beth to hallucinate the game on a level that most of us will never experience in our lives. When she was adopted by a couple and could not avail the pills, her susceptibility to substance addiction fuelled her chess proficiency. She was the only woman chess player of her time and expressed irritation with being solely renowned because of her gender. So, she proved herself to be the greatest chess player in the world. The character is portrayed by Anya Taylor-Joy.

 8.    Chuck Bass (Gossip Girl)

Chuck is notorious for his flamboyant and impeccable sense of style and charisma. Though he was selfish, manipulative, and sleazy sometimes, he was loyal to his friends and other close acquaintances. He was abandoned by his mother and was raised by a cold-hearted father whose approval he longed for. His love interest is Blair, with who he has a typical hate to love chemistry. The time where he voted for Blair 150 times so that she could be the prom queen, even though they were not together at that time, is probably the most selfless thing he had done in his life. He is an epitome of character development. The character is portrayed by Ed Westwick.

[recentanimenews]

FEATURE: What Does Pursuing Greatness Cost Us? Sound! Euphonium Has the Answer

  I’ve played the piano for over 20 years now. My parents were both gifted musicians, so my siblings and I went through the whole nine yards growing up. Private lessons, competitions, recitals, and school band — music was deeply intertwined with every aspect of my life from kindergarten through high school. I loved playing and definitely had a knack for it, so it seemed like a natural career path for me. 

  Long story short, things didn’t work out. I remember bombing my college audition so hard the professor spoke with me about pursuing a music minor rather than the performance program I’d originally applied for. It’s not that I was suddenly finding out I was bad at my instrument. The caliber of musicians I was competing against for admission was simply that much higher than my level at the time. I would’ve had to invest 10 times more effort into practicing than I already was if I wanted to keep up. That staggering realization marked the end of a journey that hadn’t even begun.

  Sound! Euphonium is an anime that, at its core, is about a high school concert band and the interpersonal challenges faced by its members. As expected from a series focusing on music and performance, the show gives us plenty of examples of talented people who are seemingly out of reach or destined for greatness. The most prominent is undoubtedly one of the series’ main characters, Kousaka Reina.

  Who is Kousaka Reina?

    Reina is the perplexing and aloof foil and friend to our main protagonist, Oumae Kumiko; the two have been bandmates since middle school. She’s a confident and virtuosic trumpeter who dreams of becoming distinguished in her craft. As she herself puts it, she wants to become special; she wants to stand out and doesn’t want to be the same as other people. 

In Episode 1, we’re thrust into a memory shared by both Kumiko and Reina of their final junior high competition. Their school at the time, Daikichiyama Middle, achieved a “dud” gold rating, meaning they earned the highest grade, but not with enough points to qualify for Nationals. Kumiko celebrates this news along with her classmates while Reina bursts into frustrated tears. She’s legitimately confused and infuriated that people are celebrating even though they failed to achieve their goal of qualifying for Nationals. This is made even worse when Kumiko responds to her reaction in surprise, asking if Reina truly believed they’d make it.

  We’re immediately shown the difference between Reina and her peers. She’s remarkably self-critical and hungry; she truly wants to become the best and refuses to accept results that are lower than the high standards she sets for herself. The scenes where Reina is shown, or heard, practicing her trumpet on campus while other characters go about their business are a constant reminder of that fact. This hunger is not only prevalent in her musical capabilities, but also in how she carries herself and interacts with others. Reina speaks in a direct and straightforward manner and sometimes even comes off as unapproachable to those around her.

    At the end of that opening scene from Episode 1, Reina is more frustrated by Kumiko’s reaction than the result itself and ultimately storms off. Fast-forward to their first year at Kitauji High School, where the beginning of the show is set. We find out that Kumiko has believed all this time that Reina disliked her because of their past interaction. When the two first reunite, Kumiko spends days trying to avoid Reina out of shame and regret only to eventually find out that it’s water under the bridge. Reina never shows signs of holding a grudge towards Kumiko after their reunion and, with the misunderstanding resolved, they eventually grow closer.

  A Different World 

  Reina walks to the beat of her own drum (no pun intended) and Kyoto Animation never shies away from a chance to show us the stark contrast between how she behaves in comparison to her classmates. She doesn’t place as much value in living the stereotypical high school life with her peers because she doesn’t want to be normal; she’s always looking at the stars. 

  That’s not to say Reina doesn’t want those things for herself. As she grows closer with Kumiko, and more comfortable with her friend group, we begin to see a softer and more unguarded side of her. Reina even quickly accepts Kumiko’s (accidental) invitation to attend the Agata Festival with her in Episode 8, not only because of her increasing interest and respect for Kumiko, but for the fun of it. Her blunt acceptance of this invitation is purposefully surprising to viewers because it goes against the grain of the proud and focused manner in which we’re used to seeing her present herself.

    When the night of the festival arrives, rather than hang out at the main event like everyone else, Reina has Kumiko meet her at a separate location with her instrument and go on a hike. The night ends with a declaration from Reina to Kumiko where she restates her goal to become truly special, not just someone who thinks they are, by practicing even harder.

  This scene solidifies that Reina is already special because of the type of person she is now and who she’s willing to become to accomplish her goal. At this moment, Kumiko is awestruck by Reina’s testimony and thinks to herself that she’s about to get sucked in. This realization is a turning point for Kumiko and a catalyst for her growth as a musician throughout the rest of the series leading up to the Nationals. 

  Becoming Special

  Sound! Euphonium’s portrayal of Reina’s passion doesn't prop her up as a symbol of perfection. Rather, her character is a shining example of what it means to truly chase after a goal for yourself with your entire being. Her infectious tenacity and first-rate skills as a musician continuously inspire those around her, whether she realizes it or not.  

    Personally, I wasn’t prepared to dedicate so much of myself to becoming a better musician all those years ago. I loved playing the piano, and still do, but I definitely wasn’t cut out to make it what I did for a living.

  Greatness is rarely attained by following a linear path. There are folks out there who live and breathe their craft. Those who view their work not as a passion, but as an obsession. They inspire others and their natural gifts serve as a means to push themselves to greater heights no matter what. 

By: Nick Ray

[drowning-in-dennor]

Answers

The gang's all here to answer your burning questions! Whether it’s the Oxenstiernas or the Wangs, or your favourite couples, they’re ready to face whatever inquiries you might have! [Written to celebrate two hundred and fifty followers.]

Question One: Literally anything about Bogden please uwu

Bogden: ...this isn’t really a question.

[Aleksander claps Bogden on the shoulder.]

Aleksander: Oh, whatever, just be glad we’re getting attention!

Bogden: Well, okay, but this is pretty weird. I mean, do they want to hear about my personal life, or my relationships, or -

[Aleksander muffles Bogden’s mouth with his hand.]

Aleksander: HIS MIDDLE NAME IS BORIS AND HIS BIRTHDAY IS THE THIRD OF MARCH ALSO HE REALLY LIKES YOGHURT AND HE REALLY LIKES ROSES AND ROSE-FLAVOURED STUFF OH AND HE HAS A PET BUNNY, IS THAT ENOUGH INFO?

Question Two: So what does the butter boy love doing the most with Henrik?

Stellan: I assume I’m ‘the butter boy’.

Henrik, sarcastically: Oh, no, I’m sure it’s Harald, or anyone but the one who stress-baked six hundred butter cookies after a final one day and mailed them to every person in the city!

[Stellan kicks Henrik under the table.]

Stellan: Well, to answer your question, I just love it when we cuddle while watching the sunset. We’re usually sitting outside, in this rocking swing we have in our front yard, watching the sky get painted all these pretty colours. It’s the most amazing feeling in the world to be able to see something so lovely with the person you care for the most.

[Henrik turns red.]

Henrik: Y-Yeah, those are really happy times. Holy fuck, I love you so much.

Question Three: What does Berwald like doing with Henrik?

Berwald: Fighting.

Henrik: Sometimes we just crack open a beer and talk about our husbands because we’re both awesomely lucky men. Then Stell has to pick me up the next morning while I’m hungover.

Berwald: Or we design some furniture together.

Henrik: We used to assemble IKEA stuff together until that time I screwed the legs of a chair on wrong and accidentally created a monster.

Question Four: Harald, how do you feel about Henrik and Stellan’s relationship?

Harald: When they got together all those years ago, I was too young to remember much, but when I got older and they got sappier, it was pretty annoying. Like, I’d be having breakfast, and they’d be across the table cuddling or something.

Stellan: Were we that bad?

[Harald crosses his arms.]

Harald: Yes, you were that bad. When you started high school it got even more annoying, because you two would be fucking like rabbits while poor me was right next door.

Henrik: Oh, yeah! We were pretty loud, huh?

Harald: Now, though, they have their own house, so I don’t really care. I get a cool brother-in-law, and Stell has a husband. Works out for both of us.

Question Five, from @kyrakira: What wouwd Stewwan wike mowwe? a pwug ow a couch owo?

[Stellan falls off his chair.]

[Henrik slams his fist on the table and bursts into laughter.]

Stellan, climbing back onto his chair: First of all, I hate how I understand what you’re saying. Second of all, I’d say the plug.

Henrik: HOLY -

Stellan: Fucking a piece of furniture is not as pleasant as it sounds, kids. Don’t try it at home.

Question Six: To Agata: sweet mother, I cannot focus; slender Aphrodite has overcome me with longing for a girl, how not die?

Agata: Nothing you can do about it. You will look at your pretty girl, and you will have an internal heart attack.

[Tille giggles.]

Agata: You know how I met Tille? I was riding my bike, I saw her. She was pretty. I hit her with my bike.

Tille: You cried, you big kitty cat.

Agata: Yes, I cried. I was overwhelmed by your beauty.

Tille: Aww.

Agata: So, you see a pretty girl, you’re helpless to her charms. Too bad. I can’t help.

Question Seven: How close and warm are y'all nordicks? óuò

Henrik: ...I assume that means us?

[Harald cringes.]

Harald: What the hell is that cursed emoji?

Berwald: You mean emoticon.

Harald: Whatever.

Tino: To answer your question, we go over to each others’ houses for dinner every Friday! Sometimes we do it with Leon’s family, too.

Henrik: It’s really awesome! But when Stellan gets a little too competitive with Vicente, things can get, er, messy.

[Stellan throws up his hands.]

Stellan: The egg tart situation was one time, Henrik! ONE TIME!

Question Eight: To any of you, when was the last time you cried in front of a lot of people? 

Antonio: Gilbert made a face at me in the middle of a presentation, and I laughed so hard I cried.

Ludwig: Pochi...

[Ludwig buries his face in his hands.]

Ludwig: Pochi just tottered up to me and jumped in my lap. It was adorable.

Kiku: Then I cried because Pochi betrayed me for him.

Feliciano: Then I cried because Tama scratched me. I still have the scar.

Question Nine: Harald, out of everyone in your family, who's death would you find most disturbing and why?

[Harald’s eyes widen.]

Harald: Why would you ask something like that? What on earth is wrong with you? Any of their deaths would be disturbing, by the way. I don’t think I could ever bear to see any of them die before me.

[He sniffles and reaches in his pocket for a tissue.]

[Henrik jumps, scowling darkly.]

Henrik: Okay, who made Harald cry?

Harald: Wait —

[Stellan joins Henrik and raises a fist.]

Stellan: They’ll have hell to pay for this.

Harald: ...I love you guys.

Question Ten: Henrik and Stellan, how are your relationships with your parents?

Henrik: Oh, we get along just fine! They were a little shocked when I brought Stellan home for the first time, but not any more. 

Stellan: Between Henrik and Leon, mine have, well, resigned themselves to the fact that they most likely will not have biological grandchildren.

Henrik: We’re not sure if we’re gonna adopt just yet, but if we do, I’m sure our folks would be thrilled!

Question Eleven: To Al, Matt, Arthur, Francis, Ivan and Yao, what are your favorite memories about school?

Yao: Well, it has to be every prize-presentation ceremony at the end of each year. I went on stage every time!

Alfred: Yo, stop flexing, we know you’re a genius already.

[Arthur smiles, clearly lost in his memories.]

Arthur: My time at the school’s literature club was truly unforgettable. I was the president, if you must know, and I finally got an excuse to hide in the library all the time and read.

[Francis laughs.]

Francis: Ah, surely I thought your dearest memory would be of that one time you thought you were carrying around a copy of Pride and Prejudice, but was in reality holding a very saucy volume of Victorian er —

Arthur: HEY, ALFRED! You never told us about your favourite memory!

[Alfred jumps, accidentally smacking Yao on the shoulder. Yao gives him a withering glare.]

Alfred: Oh, yeah. It’s got to be when the soccer team won the last game of the semester, in my senior year! Dang, just thinking about it brings tears to my eyes.

Matthew: And speaking of competitions, when I got first place in the school’s public speaking competition in grade seven, I completely lost it.

Alfred: You screamed, then hugged me so tightly I saw spots afterwards.

Matthew: I’ll never forget how it felt to win something for the first time.

Francis: My time with Yao in our school’s cooking club was magnificent. Yao, my friend, do you remember the mooncake project?

[Yao perks up.]

Yao: Yes, when we experimented to see how to make mooncakes less oily? That was fun. I still use that recipe to make mooncakes now. 

Matthew: Hey Ivan, you haven’t talked yet. What’s your favourite memory?

Ivan: My favourite memory? Let me think, now...

[Ivan taps his chin.]

Ivan: Meeting you all at the very start of the year, that was amazing.

Alfred: Oh, you big teddy bear!

Arthur: We love you too.

[The six of them collapse in a group hug. The sound of chairs falling fills the room.]

Question Twelve: Out of everyone, who was a dropout and who finished college?

Alfred: I, uh, never went to college. Just decided to go “fuck the system” and started a food cart that I still wheel around the States. If you wanna see me, look for Stars and Stripes!

Matthew: Like Francis, I survived culinary school, but unlike Francis, I only got a degree in the pastry arts.

[Francis rubs his temples.]

Francis: None of you have ever experienced pain until you’ve been through egg day. Nine hundred eggs, all gone to waste because the Chef thought they were bad!

Arthur: I got my degree in English literature at Oxford, and to this day I’m still surprised that I managed to get in.

Yao: I have a degree in medicine, but it’s pretty useless since I run my diner now. By the way, check out Wang’s if you have the time!

[Ivan rubs the back of his head sheepishly.]

Ivan: I got arrested in the middle of college. Now, I just help my sister run her store!

Feliciano: Kiku and I both went to art school! I went to culinary school with Francis after that, though.

Kiku: My student loans haunt me to this day.

Ludwig: It surprises a lot of people, but I dropped out of college while Gilbert’s the one with the degree. 

Henrik: I went to a super-obscure course, namely the textile arts. Most people don’t even know it’s a degree!

Stellan: I got a degree in creative writing at John Hopkins in the US.

Berwald: Went to trade school.

Tino: I don’t really remember much about college. I just remember a lot of coffee, screaming and complaining.

Question Thirteen: What do you love most about yourself, Henrik, Berwald and Stellan? uwu

Stellan: The next person to use “uwu” will have their spleens removed.

Berwald: Very threatening.

Henrik: Well, what I wuv mowost abowouwut mwysewelf is howow I’m able to awways pwiss owoff my bowoyfewnd!

Berwald: What.

[Stellan gets up.]

Stellan: I love you, but say “uwu” again and you’re sleeping on the couch.

Henrik: Why, uwu?

Stellan: OH, THAT’S IT —

[Henrik flees from Stellan.]

Berwald: I love that I married a sane person.

Question Fourteen: Why do you like your best friend, Tino? 3:

Tino: Oh you mean Ed? Well, we’ve been friends since forever, first of all, and we’ve stuck together no matter what! He’s helped me with homework and bullies and all that stuff since we were kids, and I’ve done the same. Best of all, he encouraged me to ask Berwald out, and thanks to him I now have an awesome husband!

[Nearby, Eduard is sobbing.]

Eduard: I love you too!

Question Fifteen: If a=b, multiply by a to get a²=ab, subtract b² to get a²-b²=ab-b², factor them (a+b)(a-b)=b(a-b), cancel a-b, and since a=b the equation is now 2b=b or 2=1; why does math exist? @the Wangs

Leon: ...what?

Vicente: I think I lost half my brain cells just by reading that.

Ling: This is bringing back trauma from school, and that question doesn’t even make sense.

Yao: I’m too old for this crap.

Leon: But to answer your question, math exists because once upon a time some asshole decided to invent numbers and make our lives difficult.

Ling: Seconded.

Vicente: Now, if you’ll excuse us, we’re off to make dinner.

Question Sixteen: Stellan, what's the most difficult decision you've had to make to see your dreams come true?

Stellan: Ohhh, that’s a hard one. I’ve had to make a lot of sacrifices to become the person I am today. But if I had to pick, it’d be picking John Hopkins over Oslo Uni, and leaving Harald and Henrik behind. It was worth it, though, since now I’m happy and successful and I can’t have asked for more.

Harald: Aww, I love you too, you bastard.

Question Seventeen: Which family does Peter belong to?

Arthur: He lives with the Oxenstiernas, which is fine with both of us.

Tino: Artie couldn’t handle Peter after his parents passed, so it started out with Ber just babysitting him. But after the two of us got married, Arthur decided to put Peter up for adoption so he could become our son!

Niklas: It was a great decision.

Berwald: What?

Niklas: I mean, it was a terrible decision because now I’m stuck with an awesome — er, annoying — brother for the rest of my life.

Question Eighteen: What do you think is the best thing about your personality, Berwald?

Berwald: Uh...

[He stares off into the distance.]

Berwald: Uhhh...

Tino: Well, I love how everyone’s so intimidated by you, but you’re so snuggly and sweet in reality! 

[Berwald appears to stop breathing.]

Berwald: Thanks.

Question Nineteen: To Alfred, Gilbert and Henrik: what’s the dumbest yet smartest thing you’ve ever done?

Alfred: Dang, that’s a hard one. I’d say the time we threw a dictionary out of the car window, just because.

Gilbert: No, the time we put a block of frozen maple syrup into Matt’s showerhead. But then we got yelled at, so maybe not.

Henrik: How about when we tried to brûlée salt and set off the fire alarm?

[The three of them consider.]

Gilbert: Yoo, what about the frying pan thing?

Henrik: Oh, riiiiight, the frying pan thing!

Alfred: So basically, we put a frying pan on the heart for too long and it melted. Then it turned out that the frying pan was made with unsafe material! That’s kinda smart, I guess.

Question Twenty: Which one of you (anyone ig) has a choking fetish?

[The entire room erupts into chaos.]

Harald: OH MY GOODNESS!

Leon: Who the hell asked this!?

Alfred: You know what? Y’all need Jesus.

[Someone hits the camera and it switches off.]

...

A/N: Yes I know I’m very unfunny but I hope this was at least the tiniest bit fun to read

[nanshe-of-nina]

Wizarding Russian Empire and USSR || Lesbian and Bisexual Women

Zlata Zoranovna Voloshyna (16 March 1871 – 13 July 1944) Voloshyna was born in the wizarding section of Odessa into a wealthy Halfblood family that had originally been of Romanian origin. She attended Koldovstoretz from 1880 until 1888, intending to become a healer, but instead became involved with revolutionary activities after completing her studies. In 1895, she entered in a marriage of convenience with Boris Lvovich Serebrennikov, but he was arrested shortly after and died in prison two years later.

Three years afterwards, Voloshyna began a relationship with a healer named Zemyla Perunovna Vitalieva. From 1903, they were based in Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Georgia, where they encountered the young Afanasiy Kostov. Voloshyna was not impressed by Kostov’s combative attitude and often complained to Nikolai Savvich Babushkin and Nestor Diogenovich Levandovsky about him. When World War I broke out, Voloshyna and Vitaleva went to Lysaya Gora. Vitaleva died of an illness in 1916.

During the Civil War, Voloshyna worked in the Aurors' Office and in 1920, was sent with the Crimea with the Romanian, Ileana Voinea and Vera Podgornova to try to sought out the VSDP Auror, Yelisaveta Patrikeyevna Korsakova. Upon arrival, they found that Korsakova and most of her supporters had already fled, so the three chose to massacre the rest of the VSDP supporters left behind along with much of the population there to punish them.

During this period, Voloshyna began a romantic relationship with Voinea, who was nine years her junior. Voloshyna and Voinea broke up in 1933, which was perhaps lucky for the former as Voinea as arrested and executed in 1938 on trumped-charges charges of being a supporter of the Lutsenkos and Zaria Krasavkina. What reaction Voloshyna had to the news is not recorded. For unknown reasons, she was one of the few to survive the Great Harvest. She died in 1944 after a long illness. 

Inessa Alekseyevna Ehrlich (21 January 1873 – 15 January 1937) The daughter of a Volga German from an Old Pureblood family and an Ukrainian woman, Ehrlich was born in what is now the Saratov Oblast. She attended Koldovstortez from 1883 til 1889 when she was forced to quit to marry Khoddey Torkanovich Avtaikin, a Mordvin potions merchant. Ehrlich had two daughters by Avtaikin, Vitova and Valdonya.

In 1895, she and her sister, Agata, both joined the BK against her husband's wishes. Ehrlich and Avtaikin separated in 1900 and she moved to the village of Kurinyyenozhki with her sister and daughters. Shortly after, she met and befriended the fifteen-year-old Koldovstortez student, Vera Sergeyevna Podgornova, to whom she introduced to revolutionary ideas. Shortly after Podgornova’s seventeenth birthday, however, she confessed to Ehrlich that she was in love with her, though when exactly they became lovers is unclear. Regardless, in January 1903, Podgornova was expelled from school and became living with the Ehrlich sisters in Kurinyyenozhki. In 1905, they were both arrested and sent Siberia and then spent much of the intervening years in exile, only being reunited with Agata and Ehrlich’s two daughters in 1914.

After 1917, they all returned to Russia and became involved in the Revolution in the Volga and Urals. After the end of the Civil War, Ehrlich and Podgornova, however, had a major disagreement in 1919 (though the cause is disagreed) and briefly separated, only reuniting in 1921, after Podgornova heard that Agata had been dumped by her husband, Samson Viktorovich Lekarev, in favor of Marpesia Timofeyevna Babochkina, the younger sister of the Auror, Mirina Timofeyevna Babochkina. During the 1920s power struggles, both of them were supporters of the Lutsenkos and then the Leftists in general. Ehrlich became extremely depressed and ill after the Lutsenkos were expelled from the USSR in 1928 and suggested that they should both follow the Lutsenkos into exile. However, like Podgornova she eventually seem to have come to accept the situation.

What should have been a happy life together growing old together, however, was shattered when Ehrlich was arrested on 31 August 1936 and charged with supposedly taking part in a vast conspiracy. Just before her arrest, Zaria. Krasavkina, Yefrem Levandovsky, a former Lutsenkoist named Germes Afinodorovich Golubtsov, and a clutch of their former supporters had been hammered in confessing to all matter of outlandish crimes and implicated Ehrlich and Podgornova, among others, in them. Shortly after Ehrlich's arrest, her daughters’ homes were both searched in hopes of finding compromising information. The only thing discovered was information relating to their former oppositional activities, but it was nevertheless used to intimidate Podgornova, who had been on a business trip to Siberia when her lover was arrested.

Ehrlich and Podgornova were both put on trial from 7-14 January 1937 alongside Lyudóvik Ul’rikovich Nemeczek, Volos Leshyevich Dubovich, Svetovid Svarogovich Zolotarev, Teshtela Tsyofksovna Golubyatkina,and others were they confessed to all charges. They, Dubovich, and Golubyatkina were executed afterwards while Nemeczek and Zolotarev were both sent to Vyraj where they would be murdered two years later. Afterwards, Ehrlich’s daughters and their families were arrested and also sent to Vyraj. Her daughters and their children survived, but their husbands did not.

Noyema Yenokhovna Koshkina (18 October 1873 – 25 November 1959) Born into a wealthy family of Jewish Purebloods from the Ukraine, Koshkina was expelled from Koldovstortez in 1890 and instead applied to study at Beauxbatons in 1891. After completing her studies, she married a French wizard named Raymond-Roger Lenormand in 1895. Like his wife, Lenormand was bisexual, but with a preference for men, and Koshkina herself was more interested in his sister, Marie-Adèle Lenormand. In 1897, Koshkina joined the BK, but continued to live mostly in France. In 1905, however, she left her husband in favor of pursuing a relationship with another revolutionary, Zaria Kresnikovna Krasavkina, who had been exposed the previous year as a lesbian. From early on, Koshkina repeatedly clashed with Zaria’s imperious older sister, Ursula, who was inclined to treat all of her sister’s romantic interests with extreme distrust.

In 1907, Koshkina and Krasavkina were both in France, visiting Yefrem Iosifovich Levandovsky and his wife, Draga Iosifovna Lustenko, when the former was arrested by agents of the Storozhey and kept for a year in prison in Russia before being released, sending Krasavkina into a tailspin of grief that her companions found a tad over-dramatic. Their relationship ultimately proved to be a rather fractious one and it officially ended in 1915 or 1916, after which point Koshkina instead became involved with the half-Armenian, half-Azeri journalist, Tsovinar Aramazdovna Zafranian. After the Revolution, Koshkina was based in Ledenets and supported Krasavkina and Levandovsky during the 1920s power struggles and was briefly expelled for it.

She and Zafranian broke up in the early 1930s, but her activities afterwards were obscure, both she was arrested again in 1935 and deported to Siberia before being arrested again in 1942 and sent to Vyraj. Koshkina was released in 1955, but not permitted to return to western Russia. Until her death in 1959, she was just about the only person willing to offer even a meager defense of Krasavkina, who she insisted had always been loving and affectionate toward her, even after their breakup.

Zaria Kresnikovna Krasavkina (23 November 1877 – 23 September 1936) The daughter of a half-Russian and half-Belarusian wizard and a Serbian veela, Krasavkina was born in Serbia and did not live until the Russian Empire when she was five-years-old after her parents’ marriage collapsed. She had no formal education, because of her non-human ancestry and was instead taught at home by her grandmother and a family friend, Yelisaveta Yeliseyevna Ivina, who was the mother of Krasavkina’s childhood friend and lifelong cohort, Yefrem Iosifovich Levandovsky. From the age of fifteen, she had worked as a cake decorator, secretary, and tutor. While working as a tutor in her late teens, she had her first physical relationship with Agafonika Mitrofanovna Rozhdestvenskaya, the sister-in-law of her young pupil, but Rozhdestvenskaya gave her the brush-off after three months and returned to her husband.

Nevertheless, Krasavkina first met Nikolai Savvich Babushkin in 1897 and made a good impression on him and became known as a particularly fierce Babushka (member of the Brátstvo). Between 1898 and 1901, she alternated between living in exile and living in the Russian Empire before finally leaving for semi-permanent exile in 1902. In February 1903, she was exposed as a lesbian by a group of irate members of the Shabash Volshebnikov who, sick of her vicious attacks on them, published a series of love letters she’d sent as a teenager to her first girlfriend, Ofeliya Pavlovna Sapranenko, that they had acquired from Ofeliya’s older brother and sister.

Shortly after, she met Noyema Yenokhovna Koshkina and they began a romantic relationship in 1905, but temporarily broke up in 1907 shortly before Koshkina was arrested. They resumed their relationship in 1909, but broke up again in 1916. Gossip of the time claimed the permanent breakup had come about because Krasavkina’s older sister and/or Babushkin disliked Koshkina.

In 1919, Krasavkina openly began a relationship with Violetta Dmitriyevna Solovieva, one of her closest associates in Ledenets, though it was commonly rumored that the two of them had been secretly sleeping together since the summer of 1918. Propaganda by the VSDP and rumors by the city’s disgruntled populace painted her as a sadistic sexual predator who defiled thousands of teenage girls. However, there was no truth in those rumors, as the Zhnetsy asked to look into the matter by Babushkin and Zakhariya Krapivin quickly found.

Within the BK herself, Krasavkina was not well-liked, being constantly perceived as a half-mad demagogue and shrieking hysteric and thus, she was easily thrown out of power. Her last years (from 1933 onward) were spent in a state of near-constant paranoia, fully believing that the Zhnetsy had had her older sister killed in 1932 and she was going to be next. Her one source of happiness was her relationship with Solovieva, who remained doggedly devoted to her throughout humiliation, exile, and imprisonment until they were both executed together in the early morning hours of 23 September for crimes they hadn’t committed.

Violetta Dmitriyevna Solovieva (23 July 1878 – 23 September 1936) Violetta Dmitriyevna Solovieva was the daughter of herbologists from what is now the Saratov oblast. She began attending Koldovstortez in 1888, but dropped out at 15 and moved to the wizarding section of Rostov-on-Don where she got a job as a seamstress.

At 17, she became the personal seamstress and companion of Yelena Pavlovna Malinovkina, a 23-year-old married to a man twice her age from an Old Pureblood family. Solovieva and Malinovkina begun having an affair by the following year, which Yelena’s husband knew about but tolerated as long as they were discreet, because there was no risk of pregnancy.

Solovieva left Malinovkina’s service in 1900 and married Arseniy Dmitriyevich Sokolovsky shorty after and they had two sons, Dmitri and Florentiy. However, in 1914, they separated and Solovieva and her sons moved to Ledenets while Sokolovsky went to Lysaya Gora. In the summer of 1918, Solovieva became the lover of her superior in Ledenets, Zaria Krasavkina. In 1920, Solovieva divorced her estranged husband, who had since began living with another woman, anyway, and began openly living with Krasavkina.

Not surprisingly, she was a supporter of Krasavkina during the 1920s power struggles and notoriously became extremely angry at a meeting in 1926, when she was formally deposed as the Vedma of Ledenets by the other members of the Sovet Koldunov. She was expelled from the BK in 1927 and sent into exile in Rostov with Krasavkina and Yefrem Iosifovich Levandovsky. They were both re-admitted in 1928 and assigned to work at Koldovstortez, Krasavkina as the non-humans’ diplomat and Solovieva as a supervisor of the school’s Domovoy. When Krasavkina was expelled from the BK again in 1932 and sent into exile in the Urals, Solovieva accompanied her and nursed her through a mental breakdown that began that December when she found out that her sister, Ursula, had finally died of illness.

They returned from exile in June 1933 and returned to work at Koldovstortez, but were expelled again in April 1934 and accused of plotting the assassinations of M.V. Kulchytskaya and D.K. Mironov and sentenced to ten years in prison in the Urals. They were transferred from their prison to Nawia and charged again with the assassinations. Solovieva behaved defiantly toward the Zhnetsy and court officials at first. During a preliminary hearing, Adrestiya Minosivna Dombrovskaya baldly accused her being a Lutsenkoist and plotting against Kostov and the SK. She replied that she did indeed hate Kostov and his cronies, but she hadn’t sought to physically harm them in any way and she was no Lutsenkoist: she instead had her own political beliefs.

However, she broke due to a combination of torture and threats made against her sons and their families. After signing a confession, the Zhnetsy deposited in Krasavkina’s cell, as one of her conditions for confessing to the crimes was being allowed to see her lover again. Krasavkina burst into tears at the sight of her and they afterwards curled up together on the small cot and fell asleep.

Throughout their trial, Solovieva attempted to comfort her depressed and mentally fragile partner, though without much success. After her execution, her sons were arrested and executed in 1937 while her grandchildren were all sent to orphanages. They were freed only in the mid-1950s. After their releases, her eldest grandson, Yuri, married Zaria Avtolikovna Golubtsova, the granddaughter of Germes Afinodorovich Golubtsov and great-niece of Krasavkina. They had two children and though they divorced in 1966, they remained friends afterwards.

Ilyana Zamfirovna Voinea (22 April 1880 – 14 July 1938) A Romanian, Voinea attended Durmstrang Institute from 1890 and until 1898, after which she became a journalist known for writing highly inflammatory articles that regularly got her into trouble. She first met Nikolai Babushkin and Zaria Krasavkina in prison in the summer of 1917 when they fled to Romania across the Black Sea from Ledenets. She was a longtime friend of their accomplices, the three Sideris siblings, (Avdotya, Stavros, and Yelevferiy) and so agreed to help hide them lay low.

Voinea and her son ended up returning to Ledenets with Krasavkina in the fall, while Babushkin continued to hide out in Bucharest. Not surprisingly, she was quickly taken with the fiery rhetoric of Krasavkina and the Polish agitator, Lyudovik Ul’rikovich Nemeczek. Voinea, during this point, had wild ideas of exporting revolution to Romania, but they never materialized. In 1918, she and Nemeczek were sent to Germany to help organize uprisings there. This backfired quite spectacularly, though, and the two were forced them both to flee for their lives. They did not receive a warm welcome after their return and served as scapegoats for the failure, although there was actually a lot of faults to be found everywhere.

Two years later, Voinea and Zlata Zoranovna Voloshyna were sent to the Crimea to sought out the followers of Yelisaveta Patrikeyevna Korsakova who had elected not to flee. The two of them, who later formed a romantic relationship, had virtually all of them slaughtered.

Her relationship with Voloshyna ended in 1933, as she had grown increasingly annoyed with Voinea’s love of picking fights with Romanian and Hungarian emigres. Her feuds turned deadly during the Great Harvest when she was denounced as a Lutsenkoist (though she was no such thing) and arrested 3 July 1937. After a brief trial, she was executed 14 July 1938, though this was hushed up for years after the fact.

Tsovinar Aramazdovna Zafranian (29 October 1883 – 4 September 1942) Tsovinar was the youngest of the three half-Armenian, half-Azeri Zafranian sisters, all of whom were Sestras. They were raised in Tifilis, Georgia, but moved to Ledenets after completing their studies at Koldovstortez in 1903.

Zafranian was a member of the Obshchina Ved’m i Volshebnikov from 1906 and then joined the BK after its schism. In 1908, she fled to Switzerland to avoid arrest by the Storozhey, but returned in 1910, only to be arrested and expelled. She returned to Russia again in 1914, but fled again after World War I broke out and took up residence in Switzerland again.

In 1917, she began a romantic relationship with Noyema Yenokhovna Koshkina and returned with to Ledenets in March. She was afterwards primarily based in Ledenets, but also worked in the Urals. From early on, she was a noted supporter of Zaria Krasavkina and participated in the Opposition, which meant that she lost her position in 1927 and was expelled from the BK.

Zafranian and Koshkina appear to have broken up around this time. In the early 1930s, she became close to Svarog Klementovich Kaminsky, another former supporter of Krasavkina, and formed a bloc against Kostov, communicating often with other critics of his policies, though whether the two were lovers or simply political allies is unclear. Either way, she and Kaminsky were both expelled again from the BK in April 1935 and sent to prison in northern Siberia for five years.

Afterwards, in an attempt to save herself, she acted as a witness and provocateur against, among others, Kaminsky; her own sisters, Astghik and Nane; Astghik’s ex-husband, Germes Afinodorovich Golubtsov; Nane’s long-time partners, Devkalion Afinodorovich Golubtsov and Vasilisa Saltanovna Lebedenko; and Asteropa Melanionovna Zeltabole. Zafranian disappeared in the 1940s and it was initially unclear what had happened to her. In 1953, however, following their own arrests, the Zhnetsy, Nane Aslanyan and Andronik Nikiforovich Orlov admitted that they had had Zafranian executed in the fall of 1942 on Kostov's orders. 

Vera Sergeyevna Podgornova (17 September 1884 – 15 January 1937) Podgornova was an ethnic Russian, but grew up in the Urals in a moderately prosperous Pureblood family where her father was a mining operator who worked in tandem with goblins and Kladenets. A tomboy from a young age, she learned a lot about mining from her father and the particulars of dealing with goblins and Kladenets. She attended Koldovstortez from 1895, but was expelled at the age of 16 for her radical politics.

In 1900, she met and befriended Inessa Alekseyevna Ehrlich and her sister, Agata. She and Ehrlich became lovers in 1903, but ran afoul of the local authorities and were sent to Siberia in 1905, while Ehrlich’s daughters were left with Agata. There, the two of them escaped and then fled east to China. However, they didn’t stay long in China because of the Boxer rebellion and instead fled to Japan, where they lived together for awhile before eventually returning to Europe. Nevertheless, their stay in Japan left both Podgornova and Ehrlich with a lifelong appreciation of Japanese history and culture.

During the First World War, they both lived in Switzerland with Agata and Agata’s new husband, S.V. Lekarev. Relations between him and Podgornova were chilly and he returned to Russia in 1916. After 1917, Podgornova and the Ehrlich sisters returned to Russia and became involved in the Revolution in the Volga and Urals. At the end of the Civil War, she helped Zlata Voloshyna and Ileana Voinea destroy the followers of the VSDP auror, Yelisaveta Korsakova.

From early on, Podgornova was noted for having a condescending attitude toward non-humans, whom she regarded as untrustworthy, having become well acquainted with them as a child and advocated the use of unlimited force when they rebelled during 1920 and 1921. This attitude appears to have disturbed Nestor Feodorovich Voinov, who recommended that Podgornova being monitored carefully, less she provoke further rebellions. During the power struggles of the 1920s, Podgornova and Ehrlich were both supporters of the Lutsenkos and then the Leftists. However, she grew more disillusioned with the Leftist leaders, as Oksana Iosifovna Lutsenko kept behaving condescendingly toward potential allies and thus alienated them and while Krasavkina also alienated people with her odd behavior and bitter, vindictive personality. Therefore, she accepted the defeat of the leftists in 1928. Ehrlich became despondent when Lutsenko and her family were expelled from the USSR, but eventually came around. In 1930, she became was appointed the Deputy Commissar of Mining under Armazi Ghmertiyevich Vashdaze, due to her experience in the field.

During the Great Harvest, however, Podgornova and Ehrlich were both implicated in supposed terrorist activity. In late August 1936, the apartment of Ehrlich’s daughter, Vitova Khoddeyevna Avtaikina, was raided and she herself was arrested on 2 September. On 11 September, V. V. Medvednikov confronted Podgornova with documents implicating herself, Ehrlich, and Ehrlich’s daughters on their past as Lutsenkoists. Podgornova panicked and proclaimed that she would kill Ehrlich and then herself if their families are left alone. Medvednikov was perturbed by the suggestion and Podgornova was herself arrested on 28 September, along with Lyudovik Nemeczek, T.T. Golubyatkina, and V.L. Dubovich. Podgornova, Nemeczek, Dubovich, and the previously arrested Ehrlich and S.S. Zolotarev were subjected to “alternative interrogation methods” until they all broke down and agreed to implicated Anfisa Zoranovna Krupina and Nestor. Voinov in their supposed conspiracy.

From 7-14 January 1937, they were all put on trial where they confessed to a series of outlandish and improbable charges. Both Ehrlich and Podgornova were executed afterwards. Afterwards, Podgornova’s sisters, Nadezhda and Lyubov, and brother, Timofey, were also executed and their children were sent to Vyraj. They were freed in the 1950s. Her eldest brother, Germes, however, was only exiled to Kazakhstan because of his work as an Unspeakable and was later allowed to return to Lysaya Gora during the GWW.

Alena Torkanovna Cheremisina & Melanippa Ippolitovna Chernyshova (30 June 1890 – 21 March 1938), (4 January 1892 – 20 March 1940) Cheremisina and Chernyshova were both from Mordovia. Cheremisina was a Mari and Mordvin halfblood whose father was a zemlyanin fisherman and Chernyshova was an ethnic Russian Pureblood whose father was an Orthodox priest. The two first became acquainted when they were 12 and 10, yet were not friends.

In the spring of 1917, the two re-met in Lysaya Gora. They became friends and Chernyshova, who had been involved in revolutionary activities since 1915, helped Cheremisina find work. In November, Chernyshova was wounded during the storming of Dubovaya Roshcha and when Cheremisina heard, she rushed to her friend's side and volunteered to nurse her back to health. According to Chernyshova’s recollections years after the fact, they became lovers during this time and it was she who made the first move. In 1919, they moved to Kiev together after Chernyshova joined the Zhnetsy and in 1921, Cheremisina also joined Kiev Zhnetsy on Chernyshova’s advice. However, their relationship went on hiatus when Chernyshova was transferred to the North Caucasus in November 1923.

This didn’t last. In the summer of 1924, the still-smitten Cheremisina (now based in Perm) visited the North Caucasus. The attraction between the two of them hadn’t faded and they decided to pursue a long-distance relationship, mostly by writing love letters to each other and visiting each other whenever possible. In the summer of 1927, Chernyshova was transferred to Lysaya Gora where Cheremisina had become a secretary in 1925, and the two of them began living together. Their living arrangements and pattern of lovers’ quarrels meant that their relationship was an open secret among the Lysaya Gora Zhnetsy, with the possible exception of the exceptionally dense L.K. Kardos. However, by the late 1920s and early 1930s, a rift had began to grow between the two. While both were mostly loyal minions of Vishnevskaya, Chernyshova had grown increasingly alienated from her and was becoming more inclined to the side of Alsu Andreyevna Zherebtsova. A further problem that was Cheremisina was becoming increasingly clingy, insecure, and jealous, which Chernyshova found incredibly irritating. In the fall of 1932, she was appointed as the deputy head of the Kazakhstan Zhnetsy to suppress uprisings there and took the chance to terminate the relationship permanently.

Cheremisina initially responded by bombarding her ex with letters begging for forgiveness, but Chernyshova ignored them. The two were not to meet again until the fall of 1936, when Vishnevskaya was sacked as the head of the Zhnetsy and replaced with Valery Medvednikov. The reunion proved to be rather awkward and promptly got even more awkward when Cheremisina was arrested with Chernyshova’s foreknowledge on 30 April 1937. After hearing of their former relationship from Zherebtsova, Medvednikov ordered that Chernyshova should try to convince her ex to testify against Vishnevskaya, Krupina, Voinov, and the others at the future last Show Trial. Chernyshova did so. She also (as she confessed two years later) told the other defendants what to say and promised them all that if they played along, they wouldn’t be executed.

After the trial, Chernyshova was supposed to intend the execution on the night of 21 March 1938, but couldn’t bear the thought of having face the people (particularly Cheremisina) that she’d lied to and so feigned illness. The next morning, Chernyshova shut the door to her office and cried. She was interrupted by Zherebtsova who had come to mock her convenient illness and then laughed at the sight of Chernyshova in tears and half-jokingly said that she should reported to Kostov for crying over dead traitors. Chernyshova responded by picking up a heavy bust on her desk and throwing it at the other woman while screaming, “GET OUT!” Medvednikov, who had counted Cheremisina as a long-time drinking buddy, was also upset about her execution and this period marked the end of good relations between the three.

Chernyshova herself was sacked from the Zhnetsy in the fall of that year and transferred to the Commissariat of Magical Sports and Games. By the end, she was suffering from symptoms of depression and burnout. By the time, she was arrested on 30 April 1939, she was in a state of complete breakdown and wracked with guilt about her betrayals of her former colleagues in the Zhnetsy. She confessed to all charges and wrote out a confession that expressed the opinion that the wizarding USSR was almost assuredly doomed now because of the many deaths during the Great Harvest would leave them open to being completely overrun by Grindelwald and his army. However, this confession was not publicized for being too honest, but Aslanyan secretly kept a copy of it in her personal archives. Chernyshova was executed 20 March 1940 alongside Medvednikov and Minfa Zabrodina.

After her death, her original confession (and the testimony of K.K. Zelinsky) were among the many documents used to overturn the convictions of many of those who had been condemned during the Great Harvest.

Ketevan Ashotanovna Shengelia (12 August 1893 – 13 September 1955) [See here]

[pengychan]

Agata and Celia del Rio both reacted differently to their upbringings. Agata couldn't have had the easiest childhood, growing up in an orphanage, but she took it out on her own children and seemed to actively hate them. Whereas Celia (and I think Bernardo) went the opposite route - she wanted to give her son all the love she never had.

Yep, their reaction was very different. Agata was raised by same nuns who had previously raised her mother, who kinda had a spark and appetite for life about her that they disapproved. Once Maricruz returned to give birth in relative safety and died (she never, ever would have left her child in their care if she had lived), they felt that they were justified in their dislike - a silly girl who got herself in trouble the way her own mother had. (Yay for early 1900s misogyny. I guess we haven't come all that far tho.)

So basically, in order to keep Agata from turning out the same as her mother, they set out specifically to stomp any of that spark out of her. She was already more on the sullen side by nature and the way they went about it damaged her deeply; she came out of it not only full of self-loathing, but full of loathing in general. She found nothing to love about herself or about anything that came from her - her kids included. Some people can rise above the damage that's done to them, or recognize their limits and try to do better. Unfortunately for Celia and Bernardo, Agata was not one of those people.

They did try to be better, on the other hand. Not always with brilliant results, but they tried. Any harm they caused their own kids was never out of malice.

(Yes I do overthink immensely minor OCs with limited screen time in any of my fics, how did you guess.)

[arvadthecursed]

May I ask you about Chiara’s backstory

of course!! I’m sorry that this took awhile to answer, I’ve been trying to flesh out details and bc there’s not a ton on Fiora, I’ve had to make up some lore. Her story is also pretty long bc it requires the background of her father and uncle’s story.

I put everything under the cut! The first part tells of her father and uncle then we actually get into Chiara’s story lol.

Ambrosio Acardi is the twin brother to Chiara’s father, Pietro Acardi. While Ambrosio always held an interest in politics, he was more strongly driven by knowledge and religion, so he happily let his brother be the primary heir to the family legacy. Ambrosio was drawn to the Custodi and threw himself into his studies.

Ambrosio was often the puppetmaster behind his brother’s actions in King Brago’s court. He never wanted to be the center of conflict; he was perfectly content to direct Pietro from the sidelines. He occasionally used his hidden talent of telepathy to influence Pietro’s actions in the court.

Their father, Leonardo, died when the men were 25 and Pietro ascended to lordship. Ambrosio continued to pull strings behind the scenes while continuing to study under the Custodi. Yet Ambrosio still felt as though the Custodi were missing something. That was when he discovered a box of tarot cards hidden away in a vault in the Custodi Library. These cards allowed him access to knowledge beyond his understanding. Fascinated by the cards, he stole them from the Library.

Calumia Azarola, the Azra planeswalker from Kylem, arrived on Fiora ten years later. Pietro became enamored with Calumia. Ambrosio, on the other hand, despised her from the start. Ambrosio warned his brother against becoming too close to Calumia, though Pietro didn’t listen.

Calumia became one of King Brago’s assassins. Again, Ambrosio warned Pietro, but saw that his brother was completely under Calumia’s control. Ambrosio resolved himself to freeing Pietro and began to plot Calumia’s death. His natural talent for manipulation through minor telepathy became much stronger, and soon, Ambrosio gained knowledge of abjuration, illusion, and conjuration through his studies under the Custodi. 

Ambrosio did a tarot reading one night and was terrified by the knowledge he received: Calumia was pregnant. Ambrosio went to Pietro and told him the news. Pietro thought that this was a wonderful thing, but Ambrosio told him that Calumia would seek vengeance upon him. Pietro insisted that their tryst had been consensual. Ambrosio said that he knew, but despite that, Calumia would not forgive him for getting her pregnant.

Calumia had left Fiora in an attempt to end the unborn child’s left through planeswalking, but was horrified and disgusted when she realized that the child had not died -- it also had a spark. 

During Calumia’s absence, Pietro married Lady Giovanna Damiani. Damiani became pregnant shortly after their marriage.

Calumia returned to Fiora months later, when the Great Plague had struck Paliano. She gave birth and threw the child into Pietro’s arms. Pietro was dying of the Plague at that time; Calumia told him that she hoped he died along with the “infernal bastard” he now had. She then left the Acardi residence, though she did not leave Fiora; she wouldn’t leave until she saw Pietro die the horrible, tragic death of the Plague.

Ambrosio took the child away from Pietro. Through his cards, he knew that Calumia was still in Fiora, so he had to be quick and secretive. Using his magical abilities, Ambrosio disguised himself and the child. He brought the baby to a Custodi orphanage and gave the child to Sister Agata. The Custodi would see Chiara and her demon blood as holy, and would love and defend her, so Ambrosio figured they would be the best option. When Agata asked what the child’s name was, Ambrosio realized the baby didn’t have one; he chose the name “Chiara” (beloved).

Once Chiara was safe with the Custodi, Ambrosio hunted for Calumia and found her sitting in the high tower on the Acardi estate. Calumia bragged that she had murdered Pietro, and was going to slaughter their “half-breed” child next. Ambrosio lied to Calumia and told her that the child had contracted the plague and that he’d killed it out of mercy. He then challenged Calumia to a fight. Their battle nearly destroyed the tower’s roof. Hours passed, and both were losing their strength. In one last bout of effort, Ambrosio grabbed Calumia and leapt off the tower with her. The Azra planeswalked away, satisfied that Ambrosio would die.

Ambrosio, however, sparked.

He wandered the multiverse, gaining knowledge and strengthening his magical abilities. Yet he always returned to Fiora to check on his niece.

He never directly spoke to her (or the woman he’d entrusted to care for her), but Ambrosio left Chiara little gifts to let her know that someone was watching out for her. On the night of her very first on-stage performance, he left a bouquet of flowers in her room with a note: “To my dearest Chiara -- excellent show. I’m proud of you.” Chiara thought that she had a secret admirer. Really, she had a guardian.

While Ambrosio’s schemes across the multiverse cannot be described as good or well-intentioned, his love for Chiara certainly can be. He sees Pietro in Chiara, and seeks to save Chiara from heartbreak and tragedy where he couldn’t save Pietro.

When Chiara is older, the two finally meet, and Ambrosio tells her everything. Chiara is the only person Ambrosio will be totally honest with.

---

Chiara Acardi, the bastard daughter of Lord Pietro Acardi of Paliano, was raised by the Custodi. She always knew who her father was, but was told that her mother was an unknown prostitute who had died during the Great Plague, shortly after Chiara’s birth.

The clergy saw her as being blessed by Asmoleth himself, so she was often given preferential treatment. Chiara was close with several clergy members such as Agata and Father Dulio. 

She began studying under the Custodi at the age of five, though she struggled greatly in school. Brother Ampelio saw Chiara’s struggles as being similar to his own at that age, so he became her personal tutor. With Ampelio’s help, Chiara saw great success and even skipped lower-level classes in favor of higher-level education. While she loved theology, Chiara’s true passion was performance. She led the girls’ choir for a short time until she realized her ultimate gift: electromancy.

Chiara was fearful of her power at first, Brother Ampelio taught her how to channel and control her lightning. While Ampelio was not an electromancer himself, he viewed lightning as moving like the spirits he summoned. Chiara’s fluid style of fighting is influenced by Ampelio’s elegance in summoning spirits, which is how he taught Chiara to summon and control lightning.

Ampelio was Chiara’s biggest supporter and encouraged her to join the High Theater as a theater mage at age 13. Chiara was a popular theater mage, though her happiness was short-lived.

Ampelio came down with a mysterious illness and died suddenly. Chiara was completely devastated, and for nearly a year she refused to perform. It was only after a heart-to-heart with Father Dulio that Chiara returned to the stage, though her performances were never quite the same.

When Chiara was 18, she fell for her director, Mateo Russo. Russo was a manipulative, cruel man who began to abuse Chiara. One night after a show, Russo’s wife confronted the duo, and stabbed Russo to death. She was about to kill Chiara when the Azra sparked, sending her across the universe to Ravnica. She arrived shortly after the War had ended.

Chiara was found by Ral Zarek, who took her under his wing. However, he knew he wouldn’t be able to fully train her, so he also gave her another mentor, a Viashino wizard named Pavel.

Ral knew that Azra weren’t native to Fiora, so when he asked Chiara about her backstory, he was shocked that Chiara thought her mother was a human. Ral suggested to Chiara that her mother was a planeswalker, and offered to take her to Kylem, where Azra were native. Upon reaching Kylem, Chiara broke down as she saw the countless Azra before her. Her mother could be anywhere on the plane -- or nowhere at all. Chiara fled back to Ravnica, and threw herself into her studies under Pavel, until she was called to join the Gatewatch by Jace Beleren. She reluctantly ventured out into the Multiverse, determined to make those who loved her proud.

[thisguyatthemovies]

Ain’t love grand?

Title: “Cold War”

Release date: Dec. 21, 2018 in limited release; Feb. 1, 2019, in full release

Starring: Joanna Kulig, Tomasz Kot, Borys Szyc, Agata Kulesza, Cedric Kahn, Jeanne Balibar

Directed by: Pawel Pawlikowski

Run time: 89 minutes

Rated: R

What it’s about: A man and woman, both musicians/performers, meet in post-WWII Poland and fall in love. But their romance, because of the politics of the time and their mismatched backgrounds and temperaments, seems doomed.

How I saw it: The star-crossed lovers in “Cold War” – Zula (Joanna Kulig) ad Wiktor (Tomasz Kot) – are a human smorgasbord of romantic relationships.

Theirs is an unlikely, borderline impossible, love. Wiktor is a sophisticated and highly trained musician who tours Poland in the years just after World War II recording the natives’ folk music. That’s how he meets Zula, a young, rural Polish woman with a beautiful voice who is willing to learn how to dance so she can tour with an ensemble that includes Wiktor. Zula might have a troubled past, though. She allegedly has done time – for stabbing her father, she says. This, of course, intrigues and attracts Wiktor (because that’s how men work), and the two quickly connect.

Their love becomes even more unlikely as events unfold in a remarkably lean 89-minute movie (including the credits; when I saw “Cold War,” it went by so quickly that I though perhaps director/co-writer Pawel Pawlikowski had duped the audience with a false ending, but no). It quickly becomes clear that not only are Zula and Wiktor going against the odds because of the Iron Curtain, but because they simply don’t seem compatible. And that’s apparent to them, too, especially when Wiktor is extradited leaves Poland for Paris and Zula eventually joins him. She still is impetuous and untamed, and she sees in him an adult who is afraid to be himself. Does this stop them? No? Does her marriage stop them? No. Does his French lover stop them? No. When she returns to Poland and he is sent to prison after trying to follow her, does that stop them? Well, you get the picture.

Their love is dysfunctional. During Zula’s stay in Paris, where Wiktor hangs with the beautiful people, she, a former peasant, is made to feel out of place and begins drinking heavily. Wiktor often stands at a distance while lusting after Zula while trying to figure her (and them) out. Their dysfunction reaches a zenith when, while walking along a street in Paris, she brags of having been made love to six times by one of Wiktor’s associates, and he slaps her in the face. Does this stop them? What do you think?

Theirs is a lustful love. Their inability to get along, and their penchant for bringing other lovers into their lives, only seems to fuel their desire. When they make love in Wiktor’s apartment in Paris, it heats up the screen, and you would think all was right in their world, and we want all to be right in their world. But some couples can’t stand prosperity. And Zula and Victor are one of those couples.

Theirs is a relentless love, one that endures all their own missteps and the circumstances thrust upon them. Only one thing can stop this love. And if you know anything about stories of star-crossed lovers, you might know where this is going.

Pawlikowski, who has said “Cold War” is based on his parents’ turbulent but long-running romance, is not breaking new ground here with plot. At its heart, this is a love story that has been told many times over. But it’s the way it is told that matters in “Cold War.” Kulig and Kot sizzle while playing it as chill as the French jazz music they perform together. Kulig is especially good here, pulling off the uneasy trick of being simultaneously tormented and charming, strong and vulnerable. And to say the film is gorgeous is selling it short. Director Pawlikowski and cinematographer Lucasz Zal (both up for Oscars) really know their way around black-and-white photography. The lighting is dramatic but never overdone. And they use bits of heavy black and bright whites, plus some timely selective focus, to set characters apart from backdrops that mostly are in dark grey. Pawlikowski also deftly uses silence to his advantage and lingers on shots that often are breathtaking. And that incudes the final shot. Especially the final shot.

My score: 82 out of 100

Should you see it? Yes, IF you like artsy movies, and IF you like critics’ movies, and IF you don’t mind reading subtitles, and IF you think quiet points are important to a movie, and IF you are into 1950s French torch songs and/or rural Polish folk songs and dances, and IF you want to watch ridiculously cool and ridiculously beautiful people do what ridiculously cool and ridiculously beautiful people do, which is mostly be ridiculously cool and ridiculously beautiful. That’s to say, “Cold War” isn’t for everyone. But if this movie is your type of thing, you won’t be disappointed.

[mazojo]

Kiznaiver Review

I just finished the Kiznaiver anime and I am not okay, so I decided to do a review with my opinions and thoughts on it, so beware the spoilers and rants on different aspects of it ;w;

Spoiler Free Overview ~

Before actually going into the spoilers, I wanted to leave a little spoiler free plot overview for those interested but not convinced on watching it. Basically Kiznaiver is about 7 teenagers connected by an experiment to their wounds and pain, making the pain of one, that of the others. The anime follows the story of these teenagers and their friendship with the mystery of the experiment and the future of it in their city, making it emotional and addictive to watch.

Although there is a lot more to say, if you don’t want to be spoiled on the anime do not click on read more but if you don’t mind, go ahead <33

Plot

So as mentioned above, the anime consists on the union of 7 characters (representing the 7 sins) through the Kizna system/experiment which bonds them through their pain so if one gets hurt, the other six will feel the pain too. Each of the teenagers choose represents one of the deadly sins, which I will go into further in my description of each character, and they all have to work together throughout the summer in order to free themselves from their Kizna. Everything is running smoothly and they all become friends until some of them begin falling in love with others and it all kind of crumbles. In the final episodes we discover that the experiments have been running for a while and in the past, they were done to kids but it failed miserably as some gathered too much pain from the others while others didn’t, making them feel numb and emotionless. Our main character, Katsuhira was originally connected to the first kizna experiment but became numb to any sort of pain due to another kid (now leading the project?) named Noriko taking all the pain. In the end, Katsuhira is able to convince Noriko to give back his pain and those from the other kids involved in the experiment through a f r i e n d s h i p speech and the whole group ends up becoming much closer, with Katsuhira and Noriko confessing their feelings to each other.

Characters

okay, so I will admit I kind of may have fallen in love with some of the characters from this anime and I am going to list them in order of which I liked the most explaining a bit on who they are and what I believe they must be protected. I also decided to place a song that reminds me of them in order for you to gather a feel of who they are in my opinion.

Katsuhira Agata (Kacchon)

Rise - Ashes Remain

So this gif pretty much describes his attitude and face throughout the whole series (except the two times he actually cries). His sin is “sloth” but referred in the anime as “the imbecile”. This is due to his apathetic behavior to everything happening around him due to the lack of emotions he has. He is precious and even as a kid he has always been looking for those around him (even in his kind of oblivious way) and I love how even after going through everythingg he went through, he is able to forgive Noriko and even loves her with all her faults and imperfections <33.

Nico Niiyama

Hello Kitty - Avril Lavigne

She is one of those characters you either love or hate, and I absolutely looove Nico! She represents the sin of greed I believe due to her wanting of attention and reassurance. I don't know if its because I see myself in her craziness or just her whole attitude throughout the series but Nico is in top place with Kacchon for my favorite characters. She is much more than the I-am-cute-love-me character as we advance through the series we began seeing her need to find friends in those surrounding her and how desperate she tries to fit into this “eccentric girl” stereotype to fit in (if that makes any sense). I also loved how she was one of the first to come back and unite the group after their Kiznas were released even though she was hurting over Tenga, which I thought was really brave and a bit underrated, thanks for coming to my ted talk.

Yoshiharu Hisomu

Highway to Hell - AC/DC

So hear me out, Hisomu is a bit of a weirdo but through the small things he did and said he was able to win me over. Hisomu represents the sin of lust as he is a masochist and finds pleasure over the pain inflicted upon himself. I was a bit skeptical over his character as he appeared on the third episode unlike the others but he grew on me. Not only do I l o v e his character design but I think he has a personal growth over acquiring friends. He is close to Kacchon and never “abandons” him or leaves after all the others decide to part their own ways. Yeah, he may be a bit apathetic and unconscious towards the situations surrounding the others but I think in his heart he is actually a really good friend and sappy as it sounds, he cares deeply about the others and their suffering ;w;

Chidori Takashiro

Camouflage - Selena Gomez

Chidori is our tsundere-ish character. She represents the sin of envy as she is always second best when it comes to her unrequited love towards Kacchon. I really like her character and I feel bad for her as she often throughout the anime feels things very deeply and through Kacchon’s apathetic attitude, she mostly ends up hurt.I enjoyed her reactions as I know in the situations they face, I would definitely react similarly and she is very lovable overall.

Tsuguhito Yuta

Someone you Like - The Girl and the Dreamcatcher

Yuta is a classical popular kid with a soft side character. He represents the sin of gluttony as when he was little he used to eat a lot thus was seen as the fat kid and becomes kind of obsessed with his appearance after the fact. He may seem superficial at first but he is very caring and notices a lot of things others take for granted (like being able to be there for Maki even though she is a tough nut to crack). Also being a fellow cancer according to the wikia he went up my list :3. That being said I felt his character was all about Maki and he never really shined if there wasn’t any Maki story line involve which was kind of sad as I thought he had a lot of potential, but I still love him <33

Noriko Sonozaki

Never Enough - Loren Allred

Noriko is a weird character to me, as in some moments I really like her while in others I don’t really understand her. She has undergone a lot through her childhood due to experiencing the pain of her friends altogether and the constant fear of being left alone and not being understood even though Kacchon often reassures her of this but whatever. She may seem kind of like a psychopath and cold at the beginning but as we learn about her past I guess her behavior is kind of understandable but honestly I prefer the kid Sonozaki version which is adorableee. I like her relationship with Kacchon however and how they are able to grow from each other through their connection.

Honoka Maki

I Found - Amber Run

Maki and Tenga are my least favorite from the group but I don’t totally dislike them, I just don’t connect with he way they act most of the time. Maki represents the sin of pride as she often acts as if she is above everyone and everything going on around her placing a barrier between her and the other Kiznaivers. She has a rough past as she wrote a manga with her best friend Ruru and through their friendship feelings began developing. Ruru had a terminal illness and as Maki was afraid of getting hurt decided to cut all ties with her, which brings her to be the coldhearted person she is. Throughout the series she often rejects the other Kiznaivers refusing to call them friends inserts dramatic eye-roll until at the end she realizes its inevitable and accepts letting people in slowly.

Hajime Tenga

Counting Stars - One Republic

Honestly Tenga is pretty neutral to me and I don’t have much an opinion on his character. He represents the sin of Wrath as he often acts impulsively and resolves his issues through rage and anger acting with his fist rather than his head. He is quite loud and a bit obnoxious at times with his tough guy act but he means good. We don’t get much backstory on him other than he is afraid of dogs? which isn’t mentioned again after the second episode sooo… I mean he is a good character and has good intentions but I more often than not don’t understand his reactions and think he goes a bit over the top in most of them.

Ships

Although I know Kiznaiver isn’t an anime focused completely on the romance but rather a science-fiction/mystery kind of anime, I still had to mention the ships through the series starting from the one I like the most. Also note that some of them are non cannon so keep that in mind and note that this are my personal opinions ;w;

NicoxHisomu (non-cannon)

You can’t even understand HOW MUCH I WANTED THIS TO BE A THING. From the moment Hisomu appeared and had the first interaction with the group I wanted him and Nico to end together sooo badly. I don’t know if its because of their eccentric ways or how they are often looked upon as the weird ones from the group, but I always thought they would make such a cute couple! Even at the end when Nico is ranting on about Tenga, Hisomu is attentive to her and I honestly think their friendship is so pure and perfect ;w; I will be crying in the corner until this becomes a thing.

NorikoxKatsuhira (cannon)

Although I will forever be frustrated that NicoxHisomu didn’t end up together trigger please consider making a second season, I am actually really glad these two did! It was pretty obvious the two wouldd en up being cannon as the whole show premise basically concentrates in their relationship, and I am glad they did. I feel like both complement each other very well and stabilize one another through their feelings (or in this case, the lack of). I feel like both Katsuhira and Nori are very mature and overall I love their pairing as they both deserve all the happiness <33

ChidorixTenga (Cannon-ish?)

I really like this two together and I feel like through the finale we can kind of maybe say its cannon? I mean they never actually confessed their love to one another like Sonozaki and Kacchon (well, Tenga did), but Chidori kinda implied that she was starting to develop feelings? I totally feel like they work together as they level each other out by their protective mama bear attitude of Chidori and Tenga’s impulses leading to him being defensive of those he cares about. Also can we take a moment to appreciate their red aesthetic, like common they are adorable together.

MakixYuta (Cannon?)

This is also an odd pairing, as we see Yuta’s clear interest on Maki since episode 1 and where she only corresponds his feelings at the end of episode 12. Although they never truly became a couple I believe they both like each other so its kind of cannon? I like how they both have rough pasts and they help each other grow from them (cue to Yuta’s scene at the beach were he runs in the water although he may look like a fool) and they level the other out.

ChidorixKatsuhira (non-cannon)

The following two ships are ones I don’t like but I found important to mention as many people do ship them. I honestly can’t see this pair due to Katsuhira’s strong feelings towards Nori. I feel like he sees Chidori as her best friend and will never be able to see her as more than that. Chidori’s often explosive and overprotective character just doesn’t mash well with Kacchon’s laid back apathetic vibe, which is why I wouldn’t see this pairing working at all.

NicoxTenga (non-cannon)

I do not approve of this. I honestly can’t see this working and lets be honest Nico and Hisomu deserve each other so I am too blinded by that. I think their personalities wouldn’t work as Tenga is too aggressive and Nico much softer. I feel like Tenga is most of the times confused by her behavior or just doesn’t understand her eccentric behaviors which would definitely cause a problem if this were to be cannon. I can’t with this ship and if there is a season 2 I really hope this doesn’t become cannon otherwise ill just go cry myself in a corner.

To finish off this review on Kiznaiver, I would like to point out the things I like and the things I didn't like so much.

Liked…

- The characters is one of the things to really highlight from Kiznaiver. They are all so different but so lovable in their own ways and with their own faults which makes everything 10 times better.

- I haven’t been able to mention this before but I really liked the intro and outdo songs, I think they are catchy and represent quite well the anime.

- I adooored the character designs, specially Nico, Hisomu, Sonozaki and Katsuhira’s. I feel like the tones and designs of the characters with their little quirks really lets the audience gather who they are and why they are the way they are.

- I think the concept of the experiment and the characters being connected by their wounds and pain is very interesting! I dint know what to expect at first but as the story developed It really got me thinking what the Kizna system would look like in the real world.

Disliked…

- I feel like the character development could have been a little better for some of them? Specially Yuta, Tenga and Hisomu which even though we got to know, never really learned much about their past other than some random facts.

- The fact that Hisomu and Nico weren’t cannon

- Sometimes due to the small amount of time the creators had to create the episode, I feel like some things weren’t explained very clearly (like Sonozaki’s reasons to try committing suicide when she was young) but maybe its just me being dumb idkk

All in all, I really liked the anime and would definitely recommended to those who enjoy good characters and a little of science fiction as well as troublesome pasts. Remember this are just my opinions and feel free to ask me my opinions on anything related as well as I would love to hear all of yours :33