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gascon-en-exil · 4 years ago

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Three Houses 100% Completion: The Joys of Spreadsheets

The idea that someone like me would ever write a gameplay guide to any Fire Emblem title is somewhat ludicrous on the surface. While I’ve finished nearly every mainline game in the series I also freely confess to being a filthy casual except ironically I ignore Casual mode because resetting/rewinding after death was ingrained in me back in the GBA era who only plays these games on their lowest difficulties, ostensibly because I find the lower challenge to allow for more flexibility in how I pick and develop units. This is of course entirely true, although it’s also no surprise that from a completionist perspective FE is much more approachable when you can make it as easy as possible. For most of the games 100% completion is nothing more than filling out a support log, music library, and other features of an Extras menu, and while there are certainly some tedious times to be had with that - I hope you like popping out the same kids over a dozen times for that many generic parent-child supports in Awakening and Fates - none of it is what anyone would call challenging. Shadows of Valentia has in-game achievements, but the worst of those involves weapons with low drop rates so it’s otherwise a manageable endeavor to get them all.

Three Houses, however, is something else altogether. In a stroke of brilliance that may presumably not be attributed to the developers who expected most people to only play through the game one time, this is the first in the series with a New Game+ feature. This allows you to carry over much of your units’ development over multiple playthroughs, and to catch up instantly where you left off by spending Renown to buy skills, supports, class masteries, etc. that you’ve obtained in previous runs. Thus it is possible to build up a NG+ file over many runs in which all of the game’s forty playable characters have all of their skill ranks maxed out and all their available classes mastered - or at least available for purchase. That’s how I’m defining 100% completion here, and I’m delighting in a very nerdy way to report that not since The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask has a game so tickled my love of efficient scheduling and careful management of available resources to achieve such a substantial goal. I wouldn’t call it hard per se, not in the same way as the built-in difficulty of Maddening or any number of self-imposed challenge runs, but there’s a lot of planning that goes into something like this - to say nothing of how well you need to know the relevant mechanics.

EDIT: After a lot of playtesting I’ve made quite a few updates to this guide, so some of the information here may now be outdated (or less efficient, more like). See here for the updates.

Parameters

New Game+ saves your units’ progress over multiple runs in its journal, although as this is limited - you can only see the progress of units currently in your army, and because of how availability works in this game you’ll never be able to see them all at once - I strongly recommend keeping a separate log of your own. Other than that the only other way the game records your investment is the timestamp on save files, and while that might be helpful if you’re interested in speedrunning this it’ll probably take around 300 hours minimum though so why bother I find it more useful to keep track of how many times you’ve run through the game. The least number of runs needed to fulfill this achievement, and therefore the number to shoot for as a goal, is 29. Why 29? That’s the number of characters who can be dancers, and of course you can only have one dancer per run.

29 runs sounds long but generous on paper. After all, when I did this more or less blind over the course of a year and with the DLC coming out progressively during that time I finished it in 35 runs which isn’t that much higher. It’s a tighter requirement than you might think however, particularly as I’m not accounting for the grinding on infinite skirmish maps that Normal allows for. I feel like the challenge, such as it is, of something like this comes in the form of plotting everything out and knowing how to use the limited time and resources the game gives you as effectively as possible, and grinding throws that out the window. I admit that during my first time doing this I did have to grind out some stubborn skill ranks with skirmishes in the last chapter, but optimally that shouldn’t be necessary and you should be able to work to avoid that.

I’m not including the support log, music library, or event library (i.e. the Goddess Tower events) as points of consideration. Strange as it sounds to exclude what is often the only draw FE presents for completionists, all of those save to the cartridge and not to individual files and are therefore irrelevant to the concept of building up a “perfect” NG+ file. None of them are particularly difficult as it stands - most S ranks can be bought with Renown after you’ve filled characters with enough furtive gay thoughts for the same-gender Byleth, the Goddess Tower can be save scummed, and for the soundtrack you just have to remember to switch the audio to Japanese at a few points to get every track - so I’m going to overlook them. I am however assuming DLC content, and that you already have a completed file of Cindered Shadows on the cartridge. Most notably this allows you to recruit the Ashen Wolves and access the DLC classes, but it has a very important third benefit I’ll get into a bit later.

Also, a final note on difficulty: this guide obviously assumes Normal (Classic vs. Casual is basically irrelevant with Divine Pulse). You might be able to do something like this on Hard, although I’m not going to attempt it. Maddening is completely out of the question, as you have to level every single character through suboptimal skill ranks and classes, both for themselves and in general.

Routes

Regardless of what you might think of all the controversial discourse surrounding it, Crimson Flower is by far the worst route for unit development. It’s a full three/four chapters and three/four calendar months plus one week and weekend (contrast CF Chapter 13 vs. non-CF Chapter 12) shorter than the others. Of the remaining three, Verdant Wind marginally edges out Azure Moon as the longest route as it has one extra instruction week and free weekend in the last chapter...because Dimitri and Edelgard take that entire week for their parley in AM. Silver Snow’s last chapter is as long as VW’s - but it infamously skips out on an entire calendar month (four free weekends, three instruction weeks, and the Gronder rematch) because your army is off having a drug orgy or something equally unproductive.

Still, despite this objective evaluation running through VW 29 times isn’t a possibility. This is mostly because all of the routes except SS have exclusive units who have to be accounted for, and also because other units have small but significant availability advantages on certain routes. On top of the perk of not having to spend Renown to recruit them, students in a route’s affiliated house get to appear in Chapter 1 (the mock battle) and non-CF Chapter 13 (the infamous bandit hunt map right after the timeskip). Seteth slightly favors SS as he appears in Chapter 13 in place of your house leader, while conversely Hilda, Catherine, and Cyril should be avoided on SS as they’re not available until much later than they are in VW and AM. Then there are, again, the route-exclusives: Claude for VW; Dimitri, Dedue, and Gilbert for AM; and for CF Edelgard, Hubert, and....ugh.

Do you hate Jeritza for his weird voice acting, terrible characterization that spills over onto all of his support partners, and the same tone problems from which all of CF suffers? Prepare to hate him all over again as a unit, because Jeritza single-handedly makes 100% completion in a timely fashion much harder. Not only does he have the worst availability in the game at a mere six chapters and essentially four calendar months, unlike his fellow Part 2 exclusive Gilbert he has skill weaknesses - and one of them is in authority, which as I’ll get to later is even more annoying. Compounding this, Jeritza being locked to CF means you have to run CF far more than you’d like, giving him a disproportionate share of time and resources in Part 2 at the expense of whoever’s being used alongside him. This is why a Gotoh unit just doesn’t work in conjunction with FE16′s core design philosophy.

With this in mind, my theoretical plan - and note that some of this guide is indeed still theoretical, and I’m plotting it out as I go along based on my first time through - for a 29 run 100% is 8 runs of CF and 7 of each of the other routes. This sounds counterintuitive in light of the objective ranking of route length, but Jeritza really is that much of a headache.

Cross-Run Planning and Renown

One of the most important points to maximizing efficiency for 100% is knowing what carries over between runs and what does not - or in other words, thinking more in terms of the overall goal of maxing out your units than of the individual needs of each run beyond what’s needed to finish the game with no deaths. This being Normal mode of course that’s not a high bar to clear, but it’s still worth noting that many of the traditional parameters used to measure the development of your army in FE outright do not matter in the grand scheme of things. This includes your units’ levels and stats, money, and your inventory.

Money isn’t too hard to come by particularly with auxiliary battles, increased earlygame money with auto-leveled professor rank (see below), and other sources. Stats only matter to the point that you have enough of them to finish the game, and standard leveling, certifications, and the +1 stat booster drops from auxiliary battles will take care of that for the most part. Getting specialized weapons and equipment can occasionally be useful, but it shouldn’t be a priority especially lategame when you’re not going to have much time to use what you get. In any case the quick pace of these runs means it’s unlikely that you’ll have much material for forging/repairing beyond the basic buyable ores, so forged silvers are usually the way to go unless you feel like breaking out a brave weapon or Relic or something similar if you need a really powerful hit. As for levels, other than the stat boosts they only matter insofar as different class tiers have different benchmarks for certification. The highest of these is 30, so after that point levels are all about the stats. That said however, with Normal experience being as high as it is your units will likely end the game in the 40s or even 50s, especially with the EXP boosts from the saint statues.

This brings me to Renown. Renown is the main resource for 100% completion, and is in fact what makes it possible in the first place. In a new game you can only spend Renown on restoring the saint statues, and while this is very important to do in your first two or three runs for the boosts it adds to EXP gain, skill points gained during instruction, and most crucially of all class mastery EXP (by far the top priority - drop 2000 Renown on the Saint Cethleann statue for this as soon as the statues become available in Chapter 5 of your first run) later runs allow you to spend Renown on the journal in Byleth’s room. This is how you save and continue progress on skill ranks, as well as how you can instantly max out your professor rank at the start of the game which is crucial for getting the most out of the monastery.

Now for some numbers...and here’s where that Cindered Shadows file comes into play. With a completed run of CS you unlock a reward that appears at the start of each run including 10000 Renown (as well as the very useful Chalice of Beginnings accessory - sword and gauntlet users love this thing earlygame). Each NG+ run starts you off with 10000 Renown multiplied by how many times you’ve completed the game, and each run you can get the CS reward again on top of however much Renown you had unspent from the previous run(s). You also get a small amount of Renown for completing battles and quests around the monastery, although this is minor compared to starting your second run with a minimum of 20000 Renown, your third with 30000, etc. By the last few runs you can expect to hit the cap of 999999 Renown, which is more than you could ever reasonably use at a time. So what to spend it on?

The saint statues: Each has a one-time cost of 10000 Renown to fully restore and can be done incrementally. This costs 40000 total and should be finished no later than your third run, because as mentioned almost all of the bonuses granted by these statues are absolute necessities for a fast 100%.

Professor rank: On the first free day after choosing your house, complete Sylvain’s quest to eat in the dining hall to instantly level up from E to E+ professor rank. After that it takes 4000 Renown to max out your rank at A+, easily manageable from your second run onward with the CS reward. This gives you ten activity points in exploration, seven instruction sessions, three points on battle weekends, the ability to assign up to three adjutants in battle, more flexible dining hall options (both neutral and liked dishes will restore full motivation), and access to master classes and high-end forging as soon as you unlock their other requirements. It’s an essential expense for every run.

Skill ranks: The value here is obvious, but as it costs 500 Renown per rank it’s important to be sparing and only spend on what you’ll actually be using in a particular run. The exception here is Byleth - see their section.

Supports: Mostly unimportant unless you’re recruiting a student from another house (just make sure to get these Byleth/student supports in a previous run first) or if you’re running CF and not using either Byleth or Edelgard in which case you’ll need to buy the Edeleth C(+). Supports cost 400 Renown per rank which is fairly cheap, although if you’re doing cross-house recruits it’s best to spend 1200 to get their A in which case they’ll always agree to join your house when asked. Note that non-student characters whose recruitment is dependent on Byleth’s level can have that requirement lowered with supports, but this is unnecessary - again, see Byleth’s section.

Class masteries and Crests: Ignore these. While the gameplay bonuses can be nice none of them are worth spending Renown on, especially in earlier runs. The class mastery menu is however what you’ll use to keep track of which classes units still need to complete, so bear that in mind. Incidentally, unlike the skill ranks menu the classes don’t update until you clear the game, so you’ll have to check your units’ status screens to see which classes they’ve mastered on the run you’re currently doing.

Abyss: Finally, Abyss has a few one-time Renown costs for its various facilities, similar to the saint statues. It’s only 8000 Renown to unlock everything (although for some of them you’ll have to wait until Part 2), but honestly only the pagan altar really matters at all so it’s not a huge priority. Generally speaking the weapons and equipment purchasable at the altar aren’t worth the Renown cost until you get multiple runs under your belt and have resources to burn, but Master Seals and Abyssian Exam Passes may be an exception as they’re limited in availability otherwise. Optimally though you should plot out your classes such that you shouldn’t have to spend Renown on seals.

Last but not least, a word on battalions. Battalions do carry over in NG+, as do their levels. It’s therefore important to build up a guild of strong max level battalions early on, mostly by completing paralogues. Assigning these to units in the earlygame gives them massive stat boosts, to an even greater extent than equipping silver weapons or high-level spells - which unsurprisingly come with serious weight issues early on, so best to stack with battalions for more OHKOs and better defensive parameters.

Building Your Army: Active vs. Classroom Units

It’s common knowledge for the games in the series (except FE5, because Fatigue is weird like that) that it’s rarely worth it to use all the deployment slots available to you, and that concentrating your resources into a smaller number of units will yield better results. This is true of FE16 as well, and I’ve determined that the best active army size for 100% completion runs is 5-6 units. This allows space for everyone you’re training to get the attention they need at the monastery and in the classroom, and it also dovetails nicely with how many runs it will reasonably take for each unit to master all of their classes. As I’ll go into in more detail later, it’s best to split each unit’s classes into four groups, and 40 characters x 4 = 160 which when divided by 29 runs works out to 5 active unit slots for about half of the runs and 6 for the other half. As regards composition, a core of two or three of the route’s house units and/or Byleth is important for Chapters 1 and non-CF 13, with the remaining slots free for the Wolves, non-students, and if absolutely necessary cross-house recruits although these are not optimal owing to the support costs. Recruitment should always be done as early as possible; this isn’t Maddening where it’s important to consider that auto-leveled growths sometimes make units better if you wait to recruit them. For the Wolves and students from other houses (except Hilda in SS, but don’t use her there) that means Chapter 2, with the non-students coming in at various points up through Chapter 13.

As is the case with every FE though you’re also going to have units in your army who you’re not using. I recommend recruiting everyone you can on each run except for cross-house students, for this reason: units not in your active army, hereafter called classroom units, can still be trained...in the classroom. Simply setting their goals appropriately when you first get them is all the effort you’ll need to put into them passively gaining valuable skill experience that can be put toward runs where you will use them, and between skill ranks and classes the former are going to take considerably more time and effort overall to max out. This is because class certification never asks for anything higher than A in a skill, but there are three additional ranks beyond that. Also, skill weaknesses are a thing, and while they cease to matter to class mastery once a unit is certified they’ll continue to be a problem on the long slog to S+. The thought of individually assigning classroom units goals may seem daunting, but in practice there’s a priority to skills that helps out considerably, as follows:

Authority: top priority for several reasons - it grants access to high level battalions which as mentioned makes earlygame a joke, it’s the only skill that can’t be leveled as an adjutant meaning that once a unit maxes it out they can be comfortably leveled in the back full-time, and it’s the skill that matters least to the class system so maxing it out won’t lead to any awkward situations, ex. a unit with S+ bows still needing to master sniper

Authority can be comfortably pushed to S+ solely in the classroom and rarely needs to be focused on as a goal by active units (Jeritza being a notable exception). The skills below however should only be raised up to A, A+, or S to allow room for some active training, and should be switched once a unit has reached a benchmark around that point so as to have more skills worked on overall. Also worth pointing out - it’s generally easier and more efficient for classroom units to train only one skill at a time.

Heavy armor: everyone who isn’t Edelgard only has three classes that boost it, and of these classes (including Edelgard’s) the only one without terrible movement is great knight

Flying for male units: except for Claude they have just two flying classes, although since wyvern rider and wyvern lord are pretty much the best physical classes in the game this isn’t as much of a hindrance as it is with heavy armor

Brawling for female units: there are only three unisex classes that boost brawling apart from f!Byleth’s enlightened one, and two of these (fighter and brigand) only give +1 putting a lot of pressure on war cleric to compensate

Skill weaknesses: this is where it gets more individualized, but as weaknesses slow down a unit’s progress in both the classroom and on the battlefield it’s very helpful to build up a good base when they’re not being actively used

To use Dimitri as an example, on AM runs where I’m not using him I would first max his authority, then boost up his flying or heavy armor (these two, or brawling and heavy armor for females, are about equal in priority and should be attended to with skill weaknesses/proficiencies in mind), then the other one, then either axes or reason as those are his weaknesses. If you want to really break it down bows, brawling (for males)/flying (for females), and riding take precedence over the remaining skills for having fewer classes, and faith is slightly more important than reason for the same, er, reason, but realistically classroom units aren’t going to be getting that far without much more substantial active growth taken into account.

Active units on the other hand can afford to be much more dynamic in what they learn during instruction, especially as they’ll be motivated to receive private instruction. Ahem. One thing to note is that if an active unit is working on a budding talent it should always be instructed enough to unlock as soon as possible, even if you plan on leveling the skill passively/in battle afterward. Gaining a proficiency really does pay dividends, and sometimes the ability is useful too. Group tasks are also important to keep in mind, and ideally you should plan each run to have at least two active units training the same movement skill to take advantage of the weekly boost.

On Byleth

Byleth is in many respects a special case. I frequently rail on their defects as a flat self-insert who makes every story they’re in worse because it has to accommodate their wooden presence, but here I’ve really only got good things to say. It should be pointed out that the journal treats Byleth as one character despite the gender difference, which is good as the male and female versions do not have to be worked on separately. Byleth can’t gain skill experience from instruction, but instead they gain it from faculty training which costs activity points but is on the whole a faster process. As noted below faculty training is the primary way of dumping excess activity points during exploration, because maxing out Byleth’s skill ranks is very high priority. Units receiving instruction get an extra +2 to their base skill growth if Byleth has a higher rank in the skill, hence it’s in everyone’s best interest for Byleth to max out their skills first. This is also the big exception to the rule about spending Renown only on skills you’ll be using in a run; Byleth’s ranks should always be topped out as high as you’ve gotten them at the start of the game, to give this bonus as often as possible. Admittedly you won’t be able to do this earlier on as it costs a hefty amount of Renown to get all of a unit’s skills up to S+, but in later runs it will pay off considerably.

Something else to consider about Byleth is their level. There are three reasons to level up Byleth even if they’re not an active unit in a run: recruiting non-student characters, the Proper Conduct Tournament, and making them less likely to die instantly if they get attacked in battle lategame since they’re force-deployed on every chapter map and paralogue. The highest level required to recruit anyone is 15 (if in AM or VW doing so in Chapter 4 gets you Catherine, but this might be unfeasible and it’s not a big deal if you have to wait a chapter for her), but you should aim for 20 by Chapter 8 in order to win the tournament. These levels are entirely manageable with Byleth soloing the Prologue and then spending the rest of the time as an adjutant, or playing a minor support role when they’re force-deployed (I favor giving them the Stride gambit personally). For the tournament I recommend certifying them as a fortress knight first for the massive DEF boost and then certifying and changing to swordmaster because they’re required to use a sword and therefore appreciate that class’s abilities. Winning gets you the usual quest rewards as well as a free brave weapon, not to mention the inherent humor of the game itself mocking people clutching their pearls over the teacher/student relationships.

What Matters and What Doesn’t at the Monastery

Learning how to streamline exploration is a key component to keeping these runs fast-paced and cutting down on real time spent. Bluntly, a fair bit of what goes on at Garreg Mach is irrelevant when you’re thinking on a cross-run level. Here’s what actually does:

Quests: should be done all the time as they increase Renown by small amounts, award resources and some inventory items, and in some cases unlock monastery facilities or other features like the White Heron Cup. Most of them also don’t take very long to complete, and once you’ve run this game enough you’ll develop a good rhythm for the quests in each chapter. Quest battles are also worth doing - see the calendar section.

Dining hall: the best way to increase your units’ motivation for instruction. Fishing and the greenhouse are for the most part wastes of time since you don’t need to manually grind out professor rank (important note: except on your first run, where it’s probably better to do them) and the rewards from them are either negligible or, in the case of the greenhouse’s stat boosters, can be replicated with auxiliary battles. However, you should get enough resources for meals from quests and such to be able to carry you through a run without much trouble, and if you do start to run out note that you can also buy poultry and wild game from one of the vendors.

Choir practice: comparable to group tasks for the faith skill, and as with those you should preferably plan to have two active units leveling faith each run to take the most advantage of this. Byleth also gains both faith and authority from choir practice, so you can make use of that as well.

Lost items: usually more trouble than they’re worth to remember where they are and when they appear, but technically they function as one-time liked gifts if you want to restore motivation without eating or spending money on regular gifts.

Faculty training: how Byleth raises their skills outside of battle. This is the main dump for activity points in earlier runs once the dining hall and sauna are taken care of, but it’s important to note which characters increase which skills and to spread your training out accordingly. This is a major reason why you should recruit non-student characters even if you don’t plan on using them, because they’re more reliable sources of this training than the student characters even into Part 2. Obviously once Byleth has maxed all their skills this can be dropped from your task list completely.

Special vendors: unrelated to activity points, but once you do the quests to unlock the NPC vendors and Anna’s secret shop at the monastery it’s important to stock up whenever you’re exploring since you can’t buy this stuff from other menus. Important items are gifts if you lack the activity points to feed your active units, Smithing Stones for basic forges and repairs, Arcane Crystals lategame for magic weapons if you’re using any, meat if you’re running low on dining hall provisions as mentioned, and Master Seals from Anna once you’ve exhausted the free one plus the five you can buy from the regular shop menu.

Saint Statues: see the above section on Renown.

Sauna: also starting in Chapter 5, provides an important boost to skill gained during instruction or faculty training that month: +2 for refreshed or +4 for very refreshed. Getting very refreshed is more a matter of RNG than anything as there’s only so much skill involved in this minigame, but most of the time you can at least aim for +2 on all your active units. This should always be done the first free weekend of the month, but if the sauna decides to be finicky with a unit and deny them a boost you can try again on a later weekend.

Mark Your Calendars

You’d think that the in-game calendar would be the centerpiece of my mania for scheduling and thus this entire guide, but in actuality it’s quite simple. Events like saints’ days and special meals cost you nothing to attend, but who joins you is totally random from among your current party so there’s no guarantee the associated boosts will go to characters you care about. Birthdays are negligible, but if you just have to have teatime for whatever reason it’s more efficient to do so in honor of a character’s special day than by wasting an activity point on a weekend.

I find that the most efficient way to spend your free weekends is that all but the last of each month should be used for exploration, to pick up and complete quests, recruit new characters, raise motivation for instruction each week, and do the sauna on the first weekend. The last weekend, the one before the chapter battle, should be used for battling. What kinds of battles depends on what’s available:

Quest battles should be gotten out of the way, especially those that bring new vendors to the monastery, but they scale poorly with your units’ levels and are generally very easy. A prominent exception exclusive to CF is a quest battle where you can only deploy Byleth and Jeritza, which Jeritza should always solo because he needs all the favoritism he can get.

Paralogues are hit or miss overall. Some are absolutely necessary - Sothis’s for a Knowledge Gem (see below), Dedue’s unless you’re completely finished with him and are also a heartless monster - but for the most part it’s up to your discretion. Some offer very good rewards and some have very good battalions to add to your guild, but on the flip side some paralogues are more annoying than others thanks to odd initial positioning, more level scaling issues, and/or fog of war. The cutscenes before each paralogue are also unskippable, so they cut into real time as well. Still, paralogues do have one benefit over every other type of battle available on weekends in that they restore full motivation to their non-Byleth MVPs, just like story battles. It’s therefore possible that if you have a bunch of paralogues available at once (common late in Part 1) you can do three of them on one weekend in place of exploration and come out of it with some extra combat experience as well as three characters with full motivation for the next week of instruction.

Auxiliary battles are DLC-exclusive and are distinguished by a yellow exclamation point on the menu. Compared to regular or red exclamation point skirmishes the enemies in them scale much better with your army (making them the best battles for grinding your units up to 30 for master classes), and they offer bonus gold and stat boosters that can sustain your army in the absence of facilities like fishing and the greenhouse. There are also only about half a dozen of them overall and each follows a quickly recognizable pattern of enemy placement, so they are by far the best source of regular, reliable unit development outside of story content.

Apart from Chapter 2′s month which is structured like a tutorial there is only one major hiccup to how you plan your weekends. If you’re planning to go CF then in Chapter 11 you’ll have to watch Edelgard’s coronation, but doing so takes up all the rest of the month up to the story battle. In order to skip the least amount of content you’ll therefore have to either forego a battle weekend entirely or else do one earlier in the month and accept that not all of your active units will be motivated the following week.

And Now for Some Actual Standard FE Gameplay

Skills may be the focus for long-term goals and development over multiple runs both in active armies and in the classroom, but it’s class progression that frames a unit’s development in a given run and is, relatively speaking, easier to plot out and manage. I say that...but the reality is rather messier than that, which I will prove with a live demonstration.

Before that though, the numbers: each unit can access 35-42 of the 52 total playable classes. As before mentioned four active runs is the number to aim for based on optimal army size, and that number of classes divided by four means that units will be expected to master 8-10 classes per run. One of the advantages to a four-way division is that it allows you to split up classes approximately according to the four beginner classes: each unit will have a myrmidon run, a soldier run, etc. As shown below however, these are very loose descriptions and are better thought of as a framework to aid development than as a set formula.

With regard to class and skill EXP gained in battle, the formulas are a lot more set in stone. Every time a unit engages or is engaged in combat, uses white magic or a gambit, or dances they gain 1 class EXP, increased to 2 with the bonus from the Saint Cethleann statue which you should definitely unlock early in your first run. There are two ways to increase this number further. The first is by equipping a Knowledge Gem, undoubtedly the most important item to 100% completion. You get one in a chest in Sothis’s paralogue, which should be obtained your first battle of Chapter 8 when it’s first available, and another after Chapter 11 provided you don’t let any enemies escape with Crest Stones. Equipping this item doubles the amount of class EXP gained, so 4 after the statue bonus. The second way to increase this the Mastermind ability, Lysithea’s personal ability as well as one in Jeritza’s starting list that he must equip in order to use. It has the same effect as a Knowledge Gem on its own, and if the two are combined they stack additively for a maximum of 6 EXP at a time.

Skill EXP has a few more parameters but is similarly straightforward. When dealing damage or using white magic units will gain skill EXP with the weapon/magic type they used, their movement type if their class boosts one (and they’re mounted in the case of riding or flying), and authority if they have a battalion equipped - and as mentioned, all of these except authority also apply to adjutants. The base depends on the unit’s proficiency in the skills in questions: 3 for strong, 2 for neutral, and 1 for weak. The Knowledge Gem and Mastermind work in the same way to increase this base: 6/4/2 using one of them and 9/6/3 using both. Then class boosts are added to this, with each class boosting affiliated skills by +1 to +3. Putting this all together, the most skill EXP that can be gained at one time is 12, if Lysithea or Jeritza w/ Mastermind equips a Knowledge Gem and raises a skill they are strong in in a class that grants +3 to that skill. Gremory!Lysithea with a battalion and a Knowledge Gem using her favorite meme Dark Spikes on Jeritza’s obnoxious serial killer ass would give her 6 class EXP, 9 authority EXP, and 12 reason EXP - and this is why Lysithea levels so fast.

Now then, to build some class sets. I’ll be using Hubert for this example, and for a different reason other than shameless favoritism mostly.

Logically a unit’s first run should play to their strengths as much as possible, to ease them into development with skills they’re naturally inclined toward. Hubert is a default magic user, so his monk run should be his first. To start:

Noble (this or commoner should always be a unit’s first mastered class because it’s so quick to get out of the way)

Monk

Mage

Dark Mage

...And here’s the first problem. As is contractually required for CF exclusives Hubert is an edgy atheist and is weak in faith, making the expected combination of a monk run difficult to pull off without prior investment as a classroom unit. But wait - Hubert has a budding talent in lances that a therapist could have a field day with, and his most feasible master class is easily dark knight. This encourages something like so:

Noble

Monk

Mage

Dark Mage

Cavalier

Warlock

Dark Bishop

Paladin

Dark Knight

There we go, nine classes which is entirely reasonable for Hubert’s total of 37. For his first run he can focus on reason, lances, and riding, safe in the knowledge that he doesn’t have to max any of those skills here as there are other classes that require them. Looking ahead to his second run, soldier might seem like a logical second pick...but if he spent some time working on his faith as a classroom unit there’s a better run of classes to knock out.

Myrmidon

Mercenary

Thief

Priest

Swordmaster

Assassin

Bishop

Trickster

Mortal Savant

Holy Knight

After this he’ll be done with all reason-boosting classes and should be comfortably finished with that skill, along with having high ranks in swords, lances, faith, and riding as well as with authority probably maxed out as he’s strong in it. Assassin might seem like an odd stretch here, but note that he’s strong in bows so it shouldn’t be hard for him to reach. With his third run it’s finally time to go back for soldier.

Soldier

Armored Knight

Archer

Dancer

Hero

Fortress Knight

Sniper

Bow Knight

Great Knight

Lances and bows frequently pair well together as they converge at the end at bow knight, and bows don’t have many classes overall and pair less with axes or brawling than those two do with each other. Axes are one of Hubert’s weaknesses, but at this point he should have built up his rank in them and in heavy armor to make this more manageable - but since these are far from the only axe classes heavy armor is the bigger priority along with lances, bows, and riding. Dancer seems rather random here, but I looked ahead to which run needed an extra and it’s a pretty flexible class anyway requiring effectively only 8 CHA (or 13 in some cases that will never apply to Hubert). Consider it one last chance along with hero for him to work on swords. And now for the last one.

Fighter

Brigand

Brawler

Warrior

Grappler

Wyvern Rider

War Monk

Wyvern Lord

War Master

Flying is Hubert’s other weakness, but as with axes he shouldn’t be starting from scratch with them. He might be with brawling, but he’s neutral in that skill and has lots of opportunities here to work on punching people to death. I wouldn’t recommend war monk/cleric to do any more work with his faith however, as both it and trickster have halved spell uses which makes them highly inefficient for raising magic levels.

That, by the way, is just one way to go about building these class sets. I went back and forth on a few of my own choices as I was writing that up. The thing about classes in Three Houses is that they don’t flow smoothly into one another, so there’s a lot of room for experimentation with different paths and a lot of variance based on each unit’s strengths and weaknesses.

Finally, a note on adjutants. Smart use of adjutants substantially increases overall unit development as it effectively doubles the amount of skill and class EXP your army can gain from each battle. Units who have 1) maxed authority and 2) are not in danger of falling behind the pre-30 leveling curve (units receive less regular EXP in the back) are prime candidates to be adjutants, and in later runs as more units finish authority it will become more common to have characters who’ll spend the majority of their time in the back. Of course you’ll always need two or three solid frontliners to actually complete the battles, but this is a useful way to play around annoyances like the bad movement of armors or the limited spell lists of most physically-oriented characters.

So About Those Spreadsheets

I know this is a ton of information to handle, and the game offers only the bare minimum for cross-run organization. This is where developing your own system comes into play if you’re aiming for a quick 100%. Personally I decide which set of units I’m going to be actively using on a given run, then plot out and write down which classes each is going to master and which skills they’re going to work on. I also note what skills classroom units will be building, and I keep separate track on overall maxed skills and mastered classes so I’m not dependent on the in-game journal to do that for me.

How rewarding is all this? That depends on how much you enjoy breaking down a game like this and really wringing the most of its mechanics to reach entirely personal goals. Just writing this guide has inspired me to attempt a 29 run 100% sometime in the near future, and it would be interesting if anyone else were to take on this excessive, overly meticulous process. I know there are other ways of approaching this concept, and even some things I could afford to improve myself especially for earlier runs as the first time I did this I was still getting a feel for the game and wasn’t playing at anywhere near as optimal a level. All the better for all the plot and characterization discourse I’ve gotten involved in over the past year, naturally, but there’s room to better my game.

And with that I am done...hmm, do Tumblr text posts have character limits? Only one way to find out, I suppose.

#Fire Emblem #FE16 #Fire Emblem Three Houses

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etherealwaifgoddess · 4 years ago

Text

One In A Million - Chpt.2

Summary: Rose navigates her first few hours in 1941 and makes an unexpected discovery in an alley way.

Word Count: 3.6k

Author’s Note: Hello lovelies! We’re back in 1941 now and the plot set up is rolling! I did a lot of research on the 1940′s when I was writing this fic because I wanted it to be as authentic as possible. So I hope that comes through as the fic progresses. Also, can anyone guess who Rose stumbles across in an alley? Hehe... I just can’t image who... XOXO - Ash

Chapter Two

Your eyes struggle to adjust in darkness after the blinding light and you hope for a minute that you didn’t blow the electricity in the lab. The faint smell of dampness and dust gives you hope though. You take a tentative step forward and collide with a piece of furniture, a desk you realize as you run your hands along it. You fumble around finding a lamp and switching it on, thankful for the gentle illumination. The basement is filled with shelves of boxes and two desks. The manila envelope on the desk bears the SSR logo and you realize you’ve actually done it. You check the watch in your pocket and mark down the time on your notepad, subtracting ten seconds for your fumbling around. The devices to set up are barely visible tacks which you quickly place in spots not easily seen. Now you just need the date and to find Agent Wilson.

The first floor of the SSR office is buzzing with people. It’s four thirty and everyone is scrambling to finish their work before the office closes at five. The late day sun shines through the large glass windows that line the far side of the room and you feel like you’ve stepped onto a movie set. The room around you feels surreal, even as it dawns on you that you’ve done it. You actually time traveled.

“Can I help you, ma’am?” a young man in a pale blue suit asks you.

“Yes, have you seen Agent Wilson around?” you ask, hoping your search for him doesn’t take too long. You have a few bills in your pocket just in case you don’t find him right away but not enough to get by for more than a week on.

The man nods and points back to a closed wooden office door, “He just got back this morning, should still be in his office.”

You thank the man and weave your way through the room to the office. Knocking twice firmly, you wait until a gruff voice calls out, “Come in.” You let out a breath you didn’t realize you were holding and open the door.

Agent Wilson is a tall older gentleman with salt and pepper hair and a lithe build accentuated by his neatly tailored suit. He’s hunched behind his desk, squinting at a file and only looks up once you’re right in front of his desk. “How can I help you, Ms….?”

You extend your hand politely but shake your head, “I was told to give you this.” you tell him and hand over the card.

Wilson appraises you for a moment with a quirked brow, “I haven’t had any Sparrows show up here in quite some time.”

You nod but don’t give him any further information.

“We’ll get you set up then. I’m assuming you need a permanent placement?”

You nod again, “Yes, please.”

“Give me a few minutes and I’ll be right back.”

“Thank you.” you call after him. The heavy door swings shut and you’re left sitting in the quiet office.

True to his word, Wilson returns less than five minutes later with a file in hand. It had been just enough time for you to locate his day calendar and write down the date, November 6th, 1941. You’ll have to make a few adjustments to narrow down the window of time for jumps when you get back. You’re about eighteen months off of the intended target date. “You’re all set Miss Miller.”

You look down to the file and see your new name for the first time. “Please, Agent Wilson, call me Rose.”

Wilson chuckles and returns your cheeky smile. “Your apartment is four blocks from here. You’ll have all weekend to settle in and then you’re due in at 8am on Monday for work. I trust you have some skills that we can utilize here at SSR?”

“I’m great with data entry.” you offer, knowing a lifetime of using computers will put you at a distinct advantage.

“Excellent. Talk to Marge when you get in and we’ll find something for you.”

“Thank you.” you say earnestly, so grateful that the plans you laid in place are going smoothly.

“Of course, Rose.” He gives you a kind, sympathetic smile, “We’ll see you Monday.”

You nod and bid him goodbye, leaving the SSR office and heading out into the brisk November air. The streets are busy with people heading home for the weekend and you find it easy to lose yourself in the crowd. The accents around you sound thicker, more authentically Brooklyn if that’s possible, and the clothes people are wearing in varying pastels and neutrals are fascinating in how different they are from what you expected. You’ll have to go shopping over the weekend and get a few things. First things first though, you need a winter coat and to find your bank to withdraw some money.

You trade a dime for a cup of hot coffee and a Hershey’s bar from a news stand and realize the twenty dollars in your pocket will go a bit further than you had expected. You’re strolling down a block of shops looking in the windows trying to find one that sells coats when you hear a scuffle coming from an alleyway. You hurry over to see a broad shouldered man looming over what looks like a boy, pummeling him and tearing at the worn leather bag he’s clinging to. You know you should keep moving, it’s not a lady’s place in this time and you don’t want to risk causing a scene or getting yourself seriously injured. But you never did follow rules very well. “Hey!” you yell down the alley as you stalk towards the man with more confidence than you feel. “Knock it off you asshole!”

The man whips around, fury plain on his face, “You got quite a mouth on you, girlie.”

“Yeah and I got quite a fist too. You wanna stop beating up kids and try your luck with a woman instead?” you glare, challenging him.

“How about I teach you some manners instead?” The man comes towards you with a slow predatory gait and you breathe through the fear rising up in your throat, remembering your self defense training. The man’s hand reaches out to grab your hair and you use your speed and momentum to twist his hand back sharply and force him down to his knees, howling in pain.

“What the fuck lady?” the man screams, clutching his wrist. He stares at you for a moment before hurrying out of the alley, still holding his injured hand close.

“You okay?” you ask, turning around to check on the boy who was being attacked. He pushes his flop of golden blonde hair back from his face and you realize he’s not a boy at all. “Oh shit.” you murmur.

“I had him on the ropes.” Steve Rogers tells you as he pulls himself up from the dirty asphalt.

“Well, I apologize for intervening then. I’ll just leave you be.”

He’s bleeding and unsteady on his feet and you want to help him but you can’t risk altering timelines. Of all the alleys in Brooklyn, you had to stumble across Steve freaking Rogers himself. You curse yourself mentally as you go to leave, stopping only when you hear Steve call out “Wait!”

You turn back, unable to refuse the plea in his deep, smooth voice.

“I should be the one apologizing, not you. I appreciate you stopping. No one else ever does.” he tells you while wiping the blood off his hand onto his threadbare jacket. He extends the cleaned hand towards you, “Steve Rogers.”

“Rose Miller.” you tell him and shake his hand briefly.

“Thank you, Rose. That was quite the trick you pulled on Jimmy.”

“Oh it was nothing, really. I should be going.” you force yourself to turn away from those piercing blue eyes and head towards the opening of the alley. You’re less than a dozen steps away from freedom when a dark haired man comes barreling into the alley almost knocking you over. He looks terrified and runs over to Steve, assessing his cuts and bruises while tutting like a mother hen. “Jesus, Stevie. I saw Jimmy going past and I thought he’d finally done you in. He was furious.”

“I’m fine, Buck.” Steve says pushing him off, “There was an angel nearby who intervened.”

Bucky looks over at you, studying you for the first time and you’re frozen in place. You should be running away as fast as your legs can carry you, going back to following through on your mission and not making any more waves in the past than you already have. But Bucky gives you the most charming smile you’ve ever been on the receiving end of and you know you’re a goner.

“I didn’t know we had any angels left in Brooklyn.” he says smoothly, taking a few steps forward to shake your hand. “James Barnes, but you can call me Bucky.” he winks at the last bit and you are pretty sure your ovaries have exploded. You had seen footage of the illustrious super soldiers before but nothing could ever compare to being on the receiving end of Bucky Barnes’ flirtations.

“Rose Miller” you tell him, shaking his hand firmly. The new name flows with ease the more you use it and you find you actually like it.

“Thanks for saving my buddy here. He forgets he’s all bark and no bite sometimes.”

Steve huffs and shoves at Bucky, “I’ll bite you, jerk.”

“Yeah, yeah. I’m real afraid.” Bucky shoves him back but then tucks him under his arm affectionately. They share a long look and you wonder for a second if there really was any truth to the speculation that the pair were more than just best friends. “So what can I do to thank you for saving my friend?” Bucky asks you.

You shake your head, you need to stop this before it gets out of hand. “Nothing, really. I’ll just be on my way.” your shiver despite yourself and both men pick up on it immediately.

“Well least I can do is lend you a warm coat.” Bucky shucks off his dark wool coat and drapes it over your shoulders. It smells like man and sea, an oddly exhilarating mix. “Now, what do you say to dinner? Our place is only a block over and I’m sure Stevie has something delicious planned.”

“I put ham, potatoes, and green beans on the stove this morning to simmer. It should be done about now.” Steve tells you quietly.

“What do you say, doll? That’s one of Steve’s specialties; best dinner in the city by a mile.”

They both look so hopeful it tugs on your heart strings. You are a modern, twenty first century woman, you remind yourself. You have a masters degree and are halfway to a doctorate. You don’t fawn over men like a teenage girl. You have more self restraint than this. “Sounds great.” you find yourself saying.

Both men break into blindingly bright smiles and Bucky throws his free arm around your shoulders, leading you down the street with them. So much for self restraint.

Bucky and Steve’s home is a quaint two bedroom apartment over top of a garage. It’s chilly but Bucky is quick to throw on the heat once you’re inside. “Make yourself at home.” he tells you and Steve retreats quietly to the kitchen to check on dinner. Bucky reemerges a few minutes later having changed out of his worn work clothes into a simple button up shirt and slacks. His hair is shiny and slicked back and you’re once again stunned by how much more attractive he is in person. You set down the sketch you were looking at, a little embarrassed to have been caught looking around. “This is beautiful.” you say, motioning to the rough outline of a city skyline.

Bucky crosses the room to see what you were looking at, “Oh yeah, Stevie did this one last week. He’s talented, that’s for sure.”

“Talking about me?” Steve asks, poking his head out of the kitchen.

“Rose here was just admiring one of your drawings. I was telling her how you’re gonna be a famous artist pretty soon and we’ll be living all the way uptown and going to fancy parties at the MET.”

Steve rolls his eyes and retreats back into the kitchen.

“He really is brilliant.” Bucky insists, “He just needs to catch a break instead of a cold for once.”

“You’re a good friend.” you say with a warm smile. It’s hard not to get swept up in his charm.

Steve pokes his head out again announcing it’s time for dinner and Bucky leads you to their table which is sitting at the far end of the kitchen with two chairs and a stack of crates around it. “We don’t have company much.” Steve explains motioning at the stack of crates.

“It’s okay.” you assure him, “Dinner smells wonderful.”

“You two take a chair. I’m fine on the crates and I can serve.” Bucky busies himself dishing out the food and setting tall thin glasses of water by each place.

You settle into your seat facing Steve across the table and take a moment to really study him. He’s all angles and pale skin with bright blue eyes shining out from beneath his mop of blonde hair. You knew he was short before the serum and had seen the pictures, but seeing him up close he isn’t quite as frail as they made him out to be. Sure, he looks like a strong wind could knock him over, but there is a quiet strength beneath his exterior. It’s no wonder that Erskine chose him for Project Rebirth.

“Rose?” Steve prompts, breaking you from your thoughts.

You realize you’ve been caught staring, Steve is looking at you curiously while Bucky just smirks from his makeshift seat.

“Sorry, don’t know where my mind went for a minute.” you demure.

Bucky huffs a suppressed chuckle and moves on, asking Steve how his day was.

You learn Steve has been looking for work as an illustrator at various papers and magazines around the city. He works a few days a week at the neighborhood grocery store stocking shelves but they just don’t have enough hours for him anymore. He’d been out for a month with the flu last spring and the owner had hired more help to cover while he was sick. They let him come back but with half the hours he had before. Bucky caught a lucky break down at the docks around that time and picked up extra shifts, eventually earning himself a promotion over the summer. He wants Steve to pursue his art more and is willing to work 24/7 to make that happen if need be. His fierce devotion to Steve pursuing his dream is sweet but he brushes it off as nothing when you call him on. You give the guys vague details about your life when they ask. You try to stick to as much truth as you can but it’s difficult. You share that your parents died shortly after your eighteenth birthday and that you’re new to the city. You tell them you have a new apartment nearby and that you are starting a job on Monday at the SSR as a typist.

The night wears on and you move from the dining room to the living room so you can listen to the radio with Steve. Bucky insists on cleaning up after dinner since Steve had cooked, brushing off his kindness as “only fair” when you compliment him. It’s blissfully easy spending time with the guys. They are obviously close but make an effort to make you feel included in whatever they’re talking about. There are also little signs that you would have missed if you hadn’t been studying them so intently. A shared knowing smile, the “accidental” brush of a hand, the way they orbit around each other closer than most people would be comfortable with. When you wander down the hall looking for the bathroom you notice only one of the bedrooms looks lived in and it doesn’t surprise you in the least. Oh, what the historians would say if they knew.

You’re headed back down the hall when you hear fierce whispering. You pause a few feet from the end of the hall, wanting to give them their privacy. The apartment is small though and you can hear everything.

“Ask her out, Stevie.” Bucky demands in a hushed voice.

“She’s more your speed, Buck. She’s stunning.” Steve whispers back.

“And she’s been makin’ eyes at you all night.”

“Come on, you know I don’t need anybody but you.”

“I know but one day you’re gonna have to settle down with somebody. Somebody you can take out to a movie without getting arrested. Do the whole wife, kids, and a desk job thing. You deserve a good life, Stevie.”

“I have a good life now. And what about you, huh? What happens when I go off and settle down?”

“Then I’ll settle down too. Probably with one of your wife’s friends. We’ll still spend all the holidays together, get houses next door, vacation with each other every summer at the beach, our kids will grow up together.” Bucky says this with all the confidence he can muster. In reality, he thinks, Steve will go settle down with some wonderful woman and pop out a brood of perfect little blonde babies to whom he will be Uncle Bucky; eternally single and hanging around on holidays because he’s got nowhere else to go. Steve Rogers is it for him, he’s known that since he was fourteen and he doubts anything will ever change it.

“You paint a nice picture, Buck. You left out a few things though.”

“Oh yeah, what’s that?”

“How I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night without the sound of you snoring away next to me. How it would never really feel like Christmas without getting to watch you unwrap presents in your stupid ratty robe. How vacations would be unbearable having to do all the cheesy romantic tourist things with someone that isn’t you.”

Bucky swallows past the lump in his throat. “You always were a maudlin little punk.”

Steve knows he’s won and gives Bucky’s hand a quick squeeze. It’s an old argument but it doesn’t stop them from rehashing it from time to time. They both just want what’s best for each other.

You take that moment to rejoin them in the living room, making sure your clicking heels on the hardwood announces your arrival. The tips of Steve’s ears are tinged pink and both his and Bucky’s hands are stuffed into their pockets. They had jolted apart quickly when they heard you coming.

“Well boys,” you tell them, “You sure know how to show a girl a good time but I’ve got to get going.”

“We appreciate you joining us. Maybe you can stop by another time if you’re free?” Steve asks.

You know it’s a bad idea but your mouth is saying yes before your brain catches up.

Steve smiles broadly at your agreement, “Great. I know you’re close but it’s late. Let Bucky walk you home, okay?”

Bucky nods, on board with the suggestion. “I can get my coat back once you’re home then. You don’t want my work coat stinkin’ up your nice apartment.”

“Alright, thank you Bucky.” you agree, knowing it’s only proper in this time period.

Bucky collects his coat and wraps it around your shoulders with practiced ease.

Steve takes your hand for a moment before thinking better of it and dropping it. “Thank you.” he says softly, “For stopping today.”

“I’m glad I could help.” you shoot him a small smile.

Bucky motions to the door and you follow him out into the early November chill.

You give Bucky your address and he leads the way. You’re thankful to not have to pretend to be familiar with the area. You’re only one block down and one block over from their place but the cold night air has you shivering even under Bucky’s coat. You mentally add a hat, gloves, and a scarf to the list of things you’ll need. “Thank you for walking me home.” you say from your apartment stoop.

“Any time, doll. I’m real glad you helped Steve out today.” he drawls.

“Of course. I couldn’t just walk past and do nothing.”

“Most people do. You share that with him though.”

“Share what?” you asked, confused.

“Not being able to stay out of it when you see something wrong going on.” he explains.

You smile at him, blushing a little despite yourself. “Guilty as charged.” you admit.

“Come over and see us again sometime, okay doll? I know Stevie would appreciate the company. He’s a great guy and I think you two would really get along.”

It’s blatant what he’s trying to do and your heart melts a little at the devotion he has for his friend, even at his own expense. “I’ll come over again soon.” you assure him.

You shrug off Bucky’s jacket, handing it back to him, and he bids you a goodnight as you close the apartment door behind you. Resting on the inside of the door for a moment you can’t decide if you want your words to him to be the truth or a lie. One thing is certain though; whether or not you go see them again you’re never going to forget those sweet Brooklyn boys.

#steve rogers #bucky barnes #reader insert #captain america #steve rogers x bucky barnes x reader #stucky #stucky x reader #fanfiction #stucky fanfic #captain america fanfiction #marvel fanfiction #time travel #1940s setting #named reader

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bbk-writes · 5 years ago

Text

Notes: approx 2k words of an extremely fluffy and over the top story where Magnus tries to find a nickname / appropriate term of endearment for Alec. Magnus never looks through his mail. “It’s all mundane trash,” he says. “Everyone in the building gets it. If someone actually wants to send me something, there are much easier ways of getting it to me than sending it through the American postal system. Even bills get sent directly to my email now!”

This leaves it up to Alec to rifle through the fliers, sales papers, and community notices that get delivered to the apartment over the course of the week.

“Oh, this sounds nice,” says Alec one morning over breakfast. “There’s a harvest festival happening in Westchester in a couple weeks. You interested?”

“When is it?”

“Second weekend in October,” reads Alec off the notice. “Featuring mazes, a farmer’s market, hay rides, and over a hundred local vendors.”

The more details Alec learns about this, the more charmed he is and even before Magnus nods, Alec can tell by the pleased look on his face that Magnus is in. It’s the kind of thing Magnus clearly loves even though he always feels the need to qualify that enjoyment by contrasting it with the other, grander experiences he’s had.

As if on cue, Magnus says, “Sounds like a plan, pumpkin. It’s not quite the Tết Trung Thu, but what is?”

The, “Great, I’ll put that on the calendar,” that’s at the tip of Alec’s tongue is abruptly cut off, replaced instead with a confused, “I’m sorry, what?”

“Hmm?”

“What did you just say?”

Magnus looks as though he has no idea what Alec’s talking about. But Magnus is also a master conman, so Alec’s calling bullshit. “I said we should go?”

“Not that,” says Alec. “I meant what’s with the–” Alec makes what he hopes is an explanatory hand gesture, “the pumpkin– thing–”

“Oh!” Magnus brightens. “That’s just something I’m trying out. I quite like it, I think.”

Alec still doesn’t fully understand what’s happening, or why it’s happening, but he knows what his response is. “Magnus, no.”

“But,” says Magnus, looking meaningfully toward Alec’s ass.

“No,” repeats Alec, face getting hot. “Also, inaccurate.”

“I’ll be the judge of what’s accurate or not when it comes to your behind, thank you very much.” Then, somewhat slyly, “Though I will leave you to be the judge, jury, and executioner for mine. And while we’re on the topic. Alexander, if you had to describe my assets using a singular, all encapsulating word–”

Joke’s on Magnus if he thinks he’s going to catch Alec off-guard with this request. Alec, who has spent perhaps an inadvisable amount of time thinking about Magnus’ assets during the time they’ve known one another, already knows what his answer is.

“A ten,” he says immediately, and Magnus looks immensely pleased. Alec’s opinion on this matter can’t be a surprise to Magnus though, and when Alec points it out, Magnus doesn’t pretend otherwise.

“Well, no. But it’s always nice to be told something nice, even if it’s for the forty-fifth time.”

The number can’t be that low, but Alec has more pressing matters at hand. “Okay, we’re getting off topic. Don’t try and make this whole… pumpkin… thing… into something.” The words sound familiar to his ears, and Alec remembers why. “Didn’t we already talk about this before?”

Magnus suddenly seems to find his forgotten breakfast very interesting. “I can’t recall.”

“Hmm,” says Alec. “Well, all right. Try and remember this time please. This sort of – nickname – isn’t really for me.”

And immediately, Magnus’ eyes snaps back to Alec and Alec knows he just said something wrong. Magnus doesn’t look like he heard what Alec had been trying to say at all. He doesn’t look resigned or disappointed or playfully grumpy at Alec.

Instead, the sparkle that’s always present in Magnus’ warm gaze is suddenly brighter, more mischievous.

“Oh?” says Magnus, intrigued. “So the problem is that it’s just not the right name for you?”

Alec realizes his mistake.

No amount of Alec insisting that that’s not what he meant will convince Magnus otherwise. “I’m going to find the right one if it’s the last thing I do.”

“You really don’t have to make a promise like that about something like this,” Alec tries to say.

“It’s not a promise, Alexander. It’s a vow.”

Magnus says this as though calling this fool’s quest a vow is supposed to have the whole thing suddenly make sense to Alec. It doesn’t. When Alec, in no uncertain terms, tells him, “Vow or not, there’s no way I’m changing my mind about this,” Magnus had taken it as a personal challenge.

Except not a challenge in the truest definition of the word. Mostly Magnus just starts suggesting things that are so nonsensical or outright terrible that it’s become some kind of game for him, and the way Magnus measures success is by how broadly he manages to make Alec smile.

“A-ha!” says Magnus, when Alec can’t quite hide his reaction to hearing ‘angelcake.’ “That goes on the shortlist, then. We’re making progress, Alexander. You’re partial to names which highlight your temperament and racial makeup.”

“I’m not having this conversation,” Alec says loudly, pressing his lips together so they don’t betray him. He focuses on his task at hand, cutting carrots into little cubes to put into the stew they’ll have for dinner. Don’t break, he tells himself. Stay strong.

“Hummingbird,” tries Magnus next, broaching into another category. “No, swan. Tiger. Lioness. Beautiful, ferocious creatures like yourself.”

He looks at Alec in question and Alec just stares back. Those don’t even warrant a verbal response, which Magnus takes with surprising grace.

“What about stallion?” muses Magnus and Alec almost cuts off his whole hand. Magnus immediately takes notice. “Oh? Do you like that? My sexy, warrior stallion–”

“Magnus. No. Absolutely not.”

“Perhaps I’ll save that for the bedroom,” concedes Magnus. “Just between us. Although I’m sure everyone suspects your achievements, best not to give potential suitors any concrete facts.”

Alec should really be putting a stop to this more firmly but he recognizes that he’s the absolute worst at ruining Magnus’ fun, even when it’s at his own expense. At least Magnus very courteously only plays this game when they’re by themselves, which is quite sweet.

And so Alec says, “I’ll tell you right now that nothing based on food or animals is going to be a winner.”

“Oh?” says Magnus. “Are you saying that I should be trying a different tactic?”

“I’m saying that this is a lost cause and you should be very discouraged. Maybe you can slice some of these zucchinis instead of–” Magnus carelessly waves a hand and the zucchinis disappear and re-appear in a bowl, washed and cut into little half-circles. “Oh, is that how we’re doing this now?.”

For a moment, Magnus is silent. He’s looking at Alec thoughtfully, chin resting at the heel of a palm. Alec can almost see the wheels turning in his head. It makes Alec nervous, but also, bizarrely curious. Magnus’ mind is something else, and even in this context Alec finds it incredibly sexy.

And then Magnus says, “Light of my life.”

“No,” says Alec automatically. It’s his instinctive response, but also– “That’s not even a noun. That’s a – that’s a whole phrase.”

“Apple of my eye,” persists Magnus, ignoring Alec’s completely valid points. “Lily of my pond.”

“My God,” says Alec. “No.”

“Beat of my heart, sun of my sky–”

Alec can’t help it – he throws a dishtowel toward Magnus’ general vicinity to stop his menacing. In response, Magnus makes a show of pulling out a little notebook.

“Suuun-of-my-skyyyy,” he recites as he writes the words down. Alec really should be putting a stop to this, but he ends up just shaking his head instead. “That’s another one for the shortlist.”

Magnus takes to this new angle with renewed enthusiasm. Which is saying a lot, since it’s not like any of his enthusiasm had actually diminished at any point since he gave himself the job to find a term of endearment Alec would be comfortable with.

“You should pursue a career in poetry,” says Alec, even as he just refused a series of Magnus’ latest epithets. “Clearly you’ve got a talent.”

“Yes, well – sometimes a man’s heart is just bursting with songs about his love,” says Magnus. “A love so vast that it can’t be kept quiet, a human – or, well, warlock – body too delicate to rein it all in. What am I supposed to do when I have to express such a feeling?”

“Well, when I get that way, I usually just come and kiss you,” answers Alec frankly. “I say, ‘Magnus, I love you.’ Sometimes I try to take your shirt off. Those kinds of things.”

Magnus looks terribly, unexpectedly charmed. “Oh, stop it. You can’t be so sweet when I’m teasing you, Alexander. That takes the fun out of it.”

“Does this mean you’re going to stop with this?”

“Never,” says Magnus solemnly.

It’s an accident when Magnus finally stumbles onto something that works.

“Did you see my grimoire, darling?” Magnus asks, digging through his meticulously organized shelf. “Volume four, covering my discoveries from 1862 to 1907?”

Alec hasn’t, but instead of saying so he goes, “...That works.”

“Hmm?”

“You know.” Alec’s face is very hot. He needs to power through this conversation. “That. Your self-appointed mission to call me something that isn’t my actual name. That one. That one is okay.”

Magnus slowly spins around to face him. He looks a combination of confused and disgruntled, and Alec can see him rewinding the last few seconds in his mind.

Alec can also see the exact moment everything slots neatly into place.

“Oh,” says Magnus. His whole expression brightens and he sounds absolutely delighted. He seems to have forgotten about his missing grimoire as he starts toward Alec. “Oh, I’m a fool. How could I have not considered the fact that Alexander Gideon Lightwood is traditional man in all the right ways? Darling. Darling Alexander. Is that right?”

“Well.” Alec’s not going to say that that’s right, but it’s definitely... it’s nice to hear Magnus say that in reference to Alec. Always has been. Alec should’ve taken some initiative, done some self-reflection, and suggested it himself. “It’s nice. Normal. Nothing crazy.”

Magnus nods along to all that. “Yes, you’re right, it’s perfect.”

“Great,” says Alec, releasing a deep, relieved breath. “Now that we’re done with that–”

“And what about… beloved?” Magnus tries it out. The look on his face as he gazes at Alec is far too gentle for what is essentially a joke gone too far.

The way Alec reacts to it is even worse. Suddenly flustered, Alec has to clear his throat before he can say, “Good. That’s also… that’s fine. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” says Magnus, taking Alec’s face in between his hands and pressing a kiss to his mouth. “Sweetheart,” murmurs Magnus, thumb stroking along Alec’s flushed cheeks. Even though he states it, there’s still a question in his voice.

Heart hammering in his chest, Alec nods. It feels like giving too much away, but – but it’s Magnus. What’s there left inside of Alec that he hasn’t already given to him?

“Sweetheart,” repeats Magnus, and kisses Alec again. “Dearest. Darling.”

“All – all good contenders there.”

This is. This is definitely a thing. Alec closes his eyes, blood rushing in his ears.

He definitely has a thing for this.

And then Magnus says, “Alexander,” and the way he does – well. He’s clearly not just trying to get Alec’s attention.

The four syllables are said with the same trace of suggestion as all the others before it. If Alec had known this was in the running–

“I didn’t know this was an option.”

“No? It’s always been my favourite one.”

That spark of mischief is back in Magnus’ gaze, and Alec is ready to have this be the happy ending of this roundabout journey.

“Well, then,” he says. “Looks like you have your winner.”

#short-fic #shadowhunters #endearment

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studyburst · 4 years ago

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Hi! I've been reflecting on how to be a better employee/co-worker, and I've been having trouble going above and beyond my regular tasks and connecting with my boss. So I was wondering if you had any tips? In other words, how have you been able to be a "stand out" employee?

Hi anon! I think this a great question and I wanted to sit on it for a few days to give you the best answer so I apologize for answering a week later. While I do have some advice, I want to put a disclaimer that I’ve only held student employment and internships at companies. I haven’t yet graduated and held a full-time position and while I work with full-time people, my experience is still fairly new. With that disclaimer in place, here are some general tips: 1. Get to know your manager and coworkers personally, but only as much as they’re comfortable sharing. You can ask about how their weekend was and the information they offer up should help give you an indication of what they’re comfortable sharing. Some people like to talk about kids, some talk about spouses/partners, some people talk about their hobbies, etc. Don’t pry too much because it can make people uncomfortable, but you should build a healthy rapport with the people you work with. If your coworkers/manager thinks you're pleasant and enjoy talking to you, it’s easier for them to rely on you/ask for your help/or bounce ideas off with you.

2. Get to know your manager and your coworkers' professional goals or objectives. One of the most important ones, that I often directly ask, is if they have any strategic goals for their position or any personal goals of what they want to accomplish while in this role. For example, maybe your manager wants to find ways to increase efficiency in routine tasks or like decrease the number of meetings or decrease raw material costs, etc. The goals can be really small or really large, but it helps to know what they are. Why? Because often times these goals are something *extra* that they’re trying to do to go above and beyond in their role and if you can help contribute to that goal, it will make you a more valuable team member.

3. Pay attention to the calendar of your whole team in advance. In an ideal scenario, employees should be proactive rather than reactive. If you have tasks that you routinely do on a reoccurring basis, then before someone asks you to start on it if you’ve already taken a look at it/done a rough cut/outlined it, it helps you stay ahead of the curve.

4. Learn about people’s jobs on other teams that support your own. For instance, maybe you always work with the finance team, even though you don’t do that work yourself, having a basic understanding of what their job is like/what challenges they face/how you can make their jobs easier working with you (i.e. maybe they’d like you to call them about certain requests instead of email, etc) is crucial to helping you become a go-to person on your team. Once people who work with you feel that they can trust you to get the work done correctly and efficiently, your plate will naturally start to get full.

5. Document your process. There are many employees who are doing a great job at their role, but they don’t properly document it and it’s hard to remember so when supervisors ask for accomplishments (like in an annual or semi-annual review), people give them a lackluster list of the things they can remember. Since I’m doing an internship, I keep a small log every day of the tasks I worked on (nothing super detailed so it takes a long time, just something quick). At the end of the week, I turn them into bullet points that show what I accomplished. Think of the bullet points at the end of the week as a more detailed and in-depth version of bullet points that would be on a resume -- you want to show the problems your solving, you want to be specific, and you want to identify an impact. I know full-time employees on my team do a similar process but instead of every week, they do it every month. Even if you don’t show anyone these bullets, they can help with your performance reviews, they help you prove the progress you're making if anyone asks and if you refine them/condense a bit, they can go on your resume!

6. Most importantly -- ask and communicate!!! Ask your manager/coworkers for honest feedback, listen to them, and make genuine efforts to act on their feedback. I’m not saying that you should blindly take their opinions as gospel, but if there are honest critiques of your work, you won’t know until you ask and you can’t improve on it until you know. Don’t wait until the end of the year to ask for feedback on your performance, be proactive! On that note -- if you want to stretch yourself or try something new, communicate that with your manager. Sometimes there are tasks that don’t “fit” into anyone’s job description but could be really helpful to the team. Or sometimes other people in the company are looking for a little extra help. You can read more about stretch assignments here.

Another note: I realize that I talk about getting to know people and talking to them but I didn’t expand on exactly how to do that so here’s some ideas (depending on what works with the context/person)... treat them to coffee. Treat them to lunch. Ask to set up an informational interview, which you can read more about here (I’m also happy to share more info about this). Ask them if you could set up a meeting on their calendar (obviously this is one that only works for the getting to know you professionally ones). Smile at people and say hello in the hallway. Ask people about their day while you wait for the coffee to brew. Go to after hours work events like volunteering/happy hours/company functions/lunch talks/etc. so you can just meet people who work outside your team or ask people who you’re friendly with on the team to go together.

I hope I was helpful anon. There’s a lot of different answers and especially without knowing the more nuanced details, these were some ideas that came to mind generally. If you’d like me to go into more detail or have any further questions, just send me another ask (or message me!).

#asks #job advice

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allie1804-fan · 4 years ago

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New Beginnings (Chapter 6)

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New Beginnings Baby Drabble

New Beginnings Baby Drabble No2

Warnings: Smut, explicit, mentions of childbirth and babyloss

Back in LA, May arrived and Emily agreed with her agent to take on a new project. She was trying very hard to re-balance her focus, doing more exercise and reconnecting with friends including Chloe who was now 8 months along in her pregnancy. She and Keanu started the counselling sessions which included some sessions together and some alone. Being able to voice their hopes and fears together helped and airing darker thoughts separately made it less daunting for them both to open up.

Keanu agreed to try to stop smoking or at the very least cut right back and they both agreed to reduce their drinking. Emily also put away the charts, thermometer and ovulation tests. Counselling had let her see these as part of becoming obsessed with getting pregnant and she had shared her fears about that meaning she wasn’t able to be a good partner to Keanu.

At the same time, they also focused more on having some little pleasures to look forward to in between work and whilst they weren’t going to stop trying, they hoped to put it more in the background while they enjoyed themselves on day trips or weekends away. A key thing they had also both agreed on was that sex needed to be about making love not just making a baby.

Some of the weight of worry was off their shoulders and Emily smiled as she packed a bag ready for a long weekend up in Sonoma county at the Lambert Ridge Winery.

Keanu had been there on an Arch owners trip and said it was just the get-away they needed. Yes it was a winery but they weren’t being teetotal so a weekend away there was allowed! She remembered her conversation with Chloe about tricking the fates into allowing her to get pregnant – maybe this trip would work the same way for them as the Hotel George V had for Chloe and John.

The trip has been wonderful. There was a wonderful tasting and education session where they hung out with a tutor and a group of other patrons tasting different wines and learning how to identify different scents and flavours. There was good food, walks in the woods and some mind blowing sex on their last day. They’d basically spent the entire morning on one session, Emily lost count of the orgasms she had from his hands and tongue before he finally fucked her until she had what felt like an out of body experience as she came, his cock filling her and his thumb pulsing on her clit. The sensation was an all encompassing thrill as she watched him let go too. Afterwards was almost as good as they just lay under the breeze from the ceiling fan, their fingers drawing lazy circles on each other’s cooling skin as they recovered.

“Never stop doing this part” she said softly

“Never” he agreed kissing her gently.

June came around and Emily was on edge every day waiting to hear from Chloe as she and Keanu would be looking after Jamie when time came for her delivery. The call came on 6th at 11pm, and they hurried over to Chloe and John’s having agreed it would be easier on Jamie to stay in his own home while they were gone. The labour went right through the day of 7th with slow progress for Chloe. She’d had a C-section for Jamie and was hoping she might be able to deliver naturally this time but it wasn’t to be this time either and she had another section on the morning of 8th delivering a girl they named Rosie. Keanu and Emily were finally able to hand over to John that evening returning home with some take out Chinese to enjoy.

As they lay back on the sofa watching TV, Emily was scrolling through her calendar on her phone when she gasped.

“what?”

“I’m late!” she said

“late?”

She nodded vigorously, “late for my period, at least a week” I haven’t been focused on it what with Chloe’s baby arriving”

“Oh my god, do you have a test here?”

Emily gulped and nodded, going a bit pale.

“well come on, let’s see, Emily this might be what we’ve been waiting for!”

They went to the bathroom and found the test in the cabinet. She sat on the toilet to pee on the stick then set it down face down and Keanu set a timer on his phone, sitting on the edge of the bath while they waited.

The tension was palpable as they waited in silence and they both jumped when the alarm went off.

“Ready?” he asked.

She nodded, picking up the stick and turning it over to reveal two faint blue lines.

“Oh my god, it’s positive – it’s kind of faint though don’t you think?”

“I’ve never seen one before in real life” he said

She giggled

“Me neither, I probably don’t know what I’m talking about!”

“Em, Em we did it, we’re going to have a baby!” he practically shouted, throwing his arms around her. Tears of relief were falling when Emily pulled back to look at him.

“yes we are!”

The next week passed in a daze. Emily made an appointment to see her OBGYN and Keanu seemed to be on cloud 9 as well as super concerned that she was OK. Truth be told Emily didn’t feel well but she couldn’t put her finger on what it was. It wasn’t morning sickness but she just didn’t feel well in herself.

On 15th, Keanu had a script read through in the morning and he left her sleeping in bed. When she woke up she was burning up and confirmed quickly that she was running a temperature. She was unsure what to do, not wanting to take any medication given the pregnancy. She went to the bathroom thinking a cool shower might help. To her horror, when she went to pee, she saw she had some spotting. It was only light and she tried to stay calm but she had a sinking feeling that all wasn’t well.

By lunchtime she’d started to get abdominal pain and a pain in her shoulder. By the time Keanu returned she was bent over the sofa in pain. He took one look at her, his heart thumping a mile a minute and sprung into action to take her straight to hospital.

In the ER they said the symptoms suggested an ectopic pregnancy where the egg gets stuck in the fallopian tube, not making it to the womb and causes extreme pain. This was soon confirmed when the obstetrics specialist arrived to do a scan. Emily was rushed to surgery to remove the baby in the course of which she lost her left fallopian tube.

Keanu was left reeling. They showed him to a private room where he could wait and he called his sister for moral support. Karina came straight there and sat with him until Emily came out of surgery and was moved to a private room.

Keanu sat and held her hand until she came round but she was still very woozy. Not so much that she didn’t know what had happened and she kept saying how sorry she was as the tears flowed for both of them.

The next morning, their doctor came to see them and explained what had happened and what it meant for the future. Their chances were significantly reduced though not by half. Still if it had taken a year to get pregnant with 2 tubes Emily didn’t want to think about how long it might take to achieve another pregnancy.

As they both shed quiet tears, Keanu felt helpless - like all he could do was hold her hand, part of him wishing he’d never asked her if she wanted to go for it after that day at the party.

Back home after she was released from hospital, he tucked her into bed and they lay holding each other, crying until their tears ran dry.

The next morning over breakfast Emily had made a decision.

‘let’s stop, please let’s just stop and go back to how we were, I can’t take it anymore’

‘you wanna go on birth control again?’

‘’yeah, at least for now, I’m too scared of the same thing happening again”

“Ok” he said quiet and sad “OK”

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New Beginnings Baby Drabble

New Beginnings Baby Drabble No2

#angst #romance #trying for a baby #babyloss #keanu #keanu reeves #keanu reeves fanfic

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jackednephi · 5 years ago

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On daily scripture study

Kind of a long post. I'm on mobile so no cut. Sorry :(

Ok so I'm gonna try doing something this year that I haven't in the past and that's reading my scriptures every single day. In the past, I've been hindered by like approaching it as the Ideal like we learn in seminary which is Deep Study every single day. Obviously, I ended up failing because that's such a lofty goal. I mean, it always ended up being good for me because it would inevitably deepen my study. I'd involve Google in with the footnotes and get really deep into things. Like the post I have forever ago about Nephi's sword type of thing. But research rather than happenstance and it's part of why I know so much about kosher laws off the top of my head

Something else I think has been a hindrance to this goal has been the idea that I need to bust out my physical scriptures to do so and, at least when I was in high school, the only comfortable place I had to do this was the couch in the living room. Also, if I'm being honest, I was definitely doing Way Too Much (as is the common Mormon trap tbh) But I'm not doing Way Too Much because what work I get is by no means full time. I do what I can around the house, but that's limited to weather, spoons, and so on. I'm in the process of applying for disability but that's not an all day, every day type of affair. I'm going back to school eventually and studying for the GRE in the meantime but, again, even with all this, I have a lot of open time. And I have a comfy bed if nowhere else

ALL THAT SAID, I wanted to know if anybody used the LDS library app for reading and how that worked out. I figured if I can make time to read bits of fanfiction/otome apps every day, then I can try to read the scriptures every day. Also, is the app good for study? I know it's good for church use so will be good for casual reading but a big reason I haven't relied on it for daily reading is that I'm worried about relying on it for regular study

I mean, I've always been partial to physical books and scriptures (I can write in them and I like the heft and can use them even when headaches crop up) but I need to be realistic with myself. Sometimes I can't even get out of bed for hip pain and can't even prop myself up to read a physical copy. Plus, I do NOT want my kids (the buns for those of 6ou unaware) thinking it's something they can destroy cause we give them phone books and stuff to shred and scriptures are similar enough. But again, not sure if the app is good enough for me to kind of "retire" my scriptures so to speak. Especially since I really, really, REALLY like marking them and writing notes in them. I know there's a little notebook thing but, again, I've been reluctant to explore it because I was pretty sure there was no way it could be as good as physically writing

How does everyone else approach what to study too, by the way? Do y'all go "I will study what we are in Sunday school this year" or do you just eat up the BOM year after year instead? Do you switch it up from day to day just going wherever? Do you start with the ensign and work from there? Conference talks? Because that's technically scripture too, right? Also, would it be a good idea to maybe record my progress in my journal I use for scriptures and study maybe? Like the date, where I read from and to, maybe some quick notes? Or would that be too ambitious for now? I was thinking it would be good to see if I've been actually accomplishing reading every day and adjust accordingly if I wasn't. Maybe printing out a little calendar or chart and giving myself a cute little sticker as a reward for that day to mark my progress

Like the goal is to get myself to make this a habit. It has never ever been a habit for me and that definitely needs to change. Like I do read scriptures but never daily like we're told. I want to give myself as much opportunity for success as possible and, considering I'm 25, I clearly have yet to figure out what I need to do for success. I'd tried every day in the mornings in high school but needed to wake up at 430 to do that due to morning JROTC practice three days a week and seminary the other two. Then, who's going to wake up that early on the weekends to keep that kind of habit? Not a growing, anorexic, overscheduled teenager, that's who

Then, I'd have after school stuff. Drama, choir practice, viola practice, fencing, or karate depending on the year, piano practice/lesson every day except Sundays, JROTC stuff depending on time of year and if stuff was coming up, a MOUNTAIN of homework, and by the time all that was done, it wasn't like I was in any shape to do more studying. I wanted to play video games or draw or read or otherwise destress. Then, I was inactive in college so why would I go out of my way to form (let alone keep) a daily scripture habit

So do I go for a same time every single day type thing? I attribute the past failure of that to circumstance. A set time is fine when I have/remember to take my meds. But that will probably fall apart other days and habits are consistent things. Maybe I should aim for, instead of a time, more of a "as soon as I wake up, have had food and meds" type of flexible thing so I'm not beating myself up for sleeping in until noon when I meant to get up at 8? Or do y'all find later in the day better because you're not having to worry about the Rest Of The Day setting in on you? I'm thinking after me waking might be best so I'm not feeling guilty for taking time away from my family

Regarsing frequency, should I start with doing it as often as possible? Shoot for once a week then slowly increase it? Go whole hog and get it done daily even if it's just a couple minutes? I genuinely do not know. The year my family and I read the BOM every day together, I was in elementary and not doing too much. We did four chapters a day, more if they were short and less if they were long, but my parents really were the ones who dictated that so I don't really know how to do that myself

Anyway, I really want to make sure this goal sees success and then, in time to come, I can deepen it to be rigorous study rather than just reading every day. Thus all the questions. I also know different people are different and what may work for y'all may not work for me. But I would like real answers as to how y'all do your scripture habits as opposed to like Advice y'know? Like get real specific with it so I can have a good idea of what works for different people so I have a concrete idea of things to try

Nobody is obligated to answer any of these questions by the way. Just I wanted to ask them and throw this out there to all of tumblrstake so I could get a good range of answers. Daily scripture study is such a nebulous concept to me that I definitely need concrete examples as opposed to vague advice. Also no I'm not gonna pray about how to know how to do things. HF doesn't work like that. I mean I will pray for guidance to know when things are working or not but I can't do that until I'm actively Doing The Thing and how am I supposed to actively Do The Thing if I don't really even have a starting place

Like do I hit up the church website and comb through conference talk after conference talk about "read your scriptures daily" in hopes of finding a more practical how to? I'd think there would be less of that and more admonishing. I was also born in the church so idk if converts get some kind of lesson from the missionaries the rest of us don't about how to read daily. If so, can we like spread that to the general populous? Cause I would appreciate it

Anyway, sorry for the wall of text. Vann had Questions

Feel free to hit up my inboxes by the way. I do read everything even if some asks sit there for like months at a time because I never get around to answering them

#queerstake #tumblrstake #lds #scripture study #ask to tag #i think i got all the ones needed to try and get people seeing this in the tags to answer me questions #feel free to tell me how your family members study too #i need all the concrete answers i can get

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glaivenoct · 5 years ago

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Swept Away

Relationship: Nyxnoct Rating: T Words: 2,124 Summary: Nyx plans something special for Noct on his birthday. Something better than sitting through meetings

Also over on (ao3). Please, pretty please consider to stop by a drop a comment or maybe give this a reblog if you enjoy? I appreciate it and would love to hear your thoughts :) (I’m not late, Noct’s birthday is all weekend what are you talking about)

“Where do you think you’re going, birthday boy?”

Noctis nearly drops the notebook in his hands when he collides into Nyx, who he swear appeared out of thin air. Nyx, with quick, heroic reflexes, steadies him before he can stumble backwards in his startlement. A soft gasp and Noctis is tugged close so they’re inches apart, looking up into the suave, steel blue of the glaive’s eyes. The subtle curve of Nyx’s lips is far more captivating than Noctis could have prepared himself for, and it has his own parting in love-struck awe like a bad romcom cliche.

“Nyx, what the hell?” is all he can think to say in reaction. There’s a blush waiting to shoot from his neck to his ears, but he stops it short with a meager glare, forcing a little distance between them.

“Sorry.” Nyx leans close like he wants to kiss him but waits for some sort of permission. “Didn’t mean to scare you.”

Noctis glances over his shoulder and past Nyx for any crownsguard or citadel staff. You can never be too sure in these long corridors. When he’s sure the coast is clear, he turns his head just enough to give Nyx the okay and gets a kiss on the cheek. “You know where I’m going, hero.”

“That I do, and I’ve decided you’re not going.”

“You can’t do that.” Noctis snorts, prepared to step around Nyx and be on his way, but his path is blocked.

“Oh, but I can! What kind of lover would I be if I let my little king work on his birthday?”

“We went over this. I have a meeting.”

“Right. With me. Pretty sure it was supposed to go a little something like this.”

Noctis has nowhere near enough self control to stop Nyx from capturing his lips in a leisurely kiss. To not melt into the brief touch of fingers propping beneath his chin to tilt his head back to deepen it. To fight the urge of jumping right into his arms and respond accordingly to the tease of tongue and the graze and nip of teeth. Noct doesn’t even care that anyone could turn the corner at any given moment and see them.

He should care, though. He really should. He has a meeting, damnit.

But he still has to stop himself from whining when Nyx finally parts from him. Noct stares at him like the unreal man he swears he is sometimes, breath almost catching in his chest.

“There might be a few more finer details to go over.” Nyx says with the cock of his brows and a suggestive grin. “Y’know, in private. Where I can take my time.”

Noct resists the shiver fluttering through his spine at the insinuation. Straightens himself and clears his throat, ducks his head to stare at the notes scribbled on the open page of his notebook.

“We were supposed to do all that tomorrow…”

“And we will. But it’s your birthday, and you’re crazy if you think I’m letting you sit through meetings all day.”

Believe it or not, Noctis is a firm believer in not working on one’s birthday.

He recalls being six years old and all but demanding that his father’s birthday be declared as the king’s “Do Not Disturb” day. Being not much older and pleading with Cor and Clarus to take a day off for once, that he would look out for his dad just fine so they didn’t have to worry about a thing! The “As your Prince, I command you” line worked well enough on Ignis as they grew up together, and Prompto in high school. While he saved the more sarcastic reasonings for Gladio, claiming with a grin that he was only looking to get out of training.

There was less control when it came to Nyx. Noctis knows there were years where Nyx spent his birthday behind enemy lines, treated to makeshift dinners and celebrations around the campfire of their secret headquarters. Though it’s been years since such a thing happened, there was always the possibility. But if Noctis could help it, none of his loved ones were allowed to work on their birthday.

Noctis isn’t excited about the idea of spending his birthday stuck in meetings either. At the same time, he brought this on himself and felt obligated to face the consequences of his organizational blunders. He’s usually better than this. Or so he likes to believe, but he really should’ve looked at a calendar when he said “Yeah, Friday works.”

Rooted somewhere beneath that overwhelming sense of obligation, Noctis knows no one would dare to question him for rescheduling. He was the Prince and it was his birthday. How could anyone say no to that? They wouldn’t. And that was just it. Despite it all, Noctis takes his charity work seriously. Knows that the people he’s meant to meet with have been eager to brainstorm with him for a special project that’s been in the works months now. Prince or not, it didn’t feel right to delay the progress of the project out of his own selfishness.

Plans with Nyx and his father and friends were set up for the weekend. He could tough it out this one day. It’s not like they were council meetings.

“Nyx, I have to be there…” Noctis insists, though the hesitance and indecision is clear in face and tone.

“No, you don’t.” Nyx insists with far more confidence and a smile that hypnotizes Noctis further to the thought of resignation. “Because Ignis agreed to take care of it in your place. Already has copies of your notes and everything. Said he’ll fill you in on everything later and schedule another day you can meet with them yourself.”

“But -”

“He also said no buts. So did your dad. And me.”

“But -”

“Nope!” Nyx slaps his hand over Noct’s mouth, muffling an outraged yelp. “None of that. Don’t make me kiss you.” Noct narrows his eyes and huffs against the warm fingers, tempted to bite them out of spite. Nyx laughs as his hand is pushed away instead. “We’ll still do everything we planned to do tomorrow, Noct. But I wanted to do something special for you today too.”

“Special?” Noct tries not to sound too curious.

“Well, I hope it’s special. What do you say, little king?” Nyx offers a hand to him. “Let me sweep you away?”

There’s not another dimension or universe in which Noctis has the heart to refuse such gesture. A dashing smile sprouts across Nyx’s face, accenting the hopeful kindness in his eyes and making Noct’s heart buzz. Nyx was like his emboldened knight, stealing him away from the confines of his responsibilities within the citadel. Off to their own fantasy land where the only thing Noct cares about is the press of his lips, the caress of his fingers, the scratch of his beard, and the dopey things Nyx says to make him laugh.

There’s not much else Noct could want on his birthday. He doesn’t need anything grand. Nyx being this adamant about it is already special enough for him. Meeting’s and guilt be damned. It’s his birthday! He bursts into a smile as he allows Nyx to take his hand and squeeze it.

“Everything’s taken care of?”

“Everything’s taken care of.”

“Then lead the way, hero.”

Nyx leads him with all the thrill of fugitive lovers on the run. Off to the sanctuary of his small apartment tucked discreetly into the city’s lower districts. He doesn’t let go of his prince’s hand until they reach the door, and each second he spends fishing for his keys and fiddling with the lock feels like an eternity to Noctis. It has him eagerly shifting his weight from foot to foot.

The first thing Noct notices when the door opens is the smell. Something that reminds him of the crisp morning air of a forest after rain with the faintest hint of syllelblossoms. There’s an incandescent flicker cutting through the abnormal darkness inside, and Noctis looks at Nyx curiously, waiting for an explanation. It’s all in the step Nyx takes out of the doorway and the gesture for him to enter first.

Noctis only hesitates because he’s unsure if he’s prepared to face whatever sweet thought and effort Nyx’s clearly put in to this.

One step past the threshold and Noctis stills in that spot, taken aback at the pathway of tea light candles before him, paving the short route to Nyx’s bed. The two windows in the apartment have been covered up to minimize the amount of sunlight peering in. Ahead are spare sheets and blankets draped and hung strategically above the bed, enveloping it like a tent with a perpetually open flap. Old, white holiday lights Noct recalls bringing for the winter holidays are strung inside, turning the area into a cozy, golden cove. A blanket fort, he should say. A cozy, golden cove of a blanket fort. Noctis blinks, lets out a stunned huff and drops his notebook.

Meetings are the farthest thing from his mind now.

“I’ve got three movies picked out.” Nyx says just as Noct notices his armchair pushed aside near one end of the bed. On it rests the small TV that’s normally mounted on the wall. “They’re all ones you’ve mentioned wanting to see. Got all your favorite snacks too. Don’t tell Ignis.”

Noctis can confirm for himself that Ignis would not approve as soon as he spots the small table near the other end of the bed, covered in an array of junk food and sweets that have his stomach ready to grumble any minute now.

Down the flickering path of soft candlelight Noct goes. He hears the door shut and Nyx following quietly behind him. The closer he gets to the bed, the wider he finds himself smiling, and the more he notices the plethora of pillows and fuzzy blankets stuffed inside. It’s more than Nyx has ever owned and Noctis soon recognizes that most of them have been hijacked from his own apartment. He moves one of the flaps aside to peek in further, noticing a folded article of grey clothing. A knit sweater. He picks it up and presents it to Nyx with the rise of one brow.

“Your favorite, right?” He asks. “Can’t give you a movie night without something to get comfy in.”

It’s one of Nyx’s sweaters. Noct’s favorite to steal and snuggle in after a shower or enduring the cold of winter and rainy days. Set out for him like a warmhearted invitation. Noctis could’ve tackled him then and there, pinned him to the ground and kissed every dose of gratitude into Nyx’s lips before the rush of it threatened to make his own heart implode.

“Nyx…” Noctis starts without quite knowing what else to say beyond it.

“I know, I know. Crowe said it was dopey. After she helped me set it up, but it’s still better than sitting in a meeting. Right?”

“Way better.” Noct rises on the tips of his toes to gift the start of many grateful kisses. “It’s perfect. Thanks for sweeping me away on my birthday.”

“Allow me to sweep you into bed next.” Nyx smirks and grabs him a sudden bear hug to topple into their blanket fort together. Noct’s stifled yelp turns into a string of giggles once he feels Nyx’s hands at his waist, encouraging the removal of his current shirt in favor of the sweater.

In their own time, they settle down. After Noctis is comfortably down to the sweater, his boxers and socks. After Nyx finds the self control to pull away from his kisses to wheel the snacks closer and move the armchair with the TV accordingly. After they’ve worked through Noct’s indecisiveness on what he wants to watch first, and Nyx teases him for already knowing he’d end up picking sci-fi. After they’ve picked the snacks they’re craving most.

They meld together in their cozy fort, Noct’s back to Nyx’s chest, an arm slung around his waist and legs sloppily intertwined. Noct doesn’t care to move from the position throughout the entirety of the first movie, only wriggling every now and again throughout the second to stretch. Halfway through the third, when he’s struggling to keep his eyes open, he finally moves. Turns around completely so he can tuck his face into Nyx’s chest and escape the bright light from the TV.

Both arms come around him this time in another squeezing hug. Noctis smiles drowsily into Nyx’s shirt and feels a kiss atop his hair, drifting off to sleep on the thought of this being a birthday well spent. The best part being that it’s just the beginning.

#nyxnoct #author entries: fics #noctis lucis caelum #nyx ulric #hbd noctis #hbd noctis 2019 #ffxv fic

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birlcholtz · 6 years ago

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12 + 48 and zimbits

Roommate + Fake Dating oho i am excited for this one. here comes more actual writing are y’all ready?? 2.1k

edit: apparently i posted this on ao3 and forgot to link it here so here it is

On the one hand, Bitty loves the fact that the team just doubled the number of beds per bedroom in the Haus. Sure, it doesn’t seem quite as luxurious as the individual rooms, but it means that even more people can fit in the Haus and that means a couple of things:

First of all, he has far more people nearby to make go to Stop ‘n Shop and buy him butter.

Second of all, there are many, many people around who are perfectly willing to hang out with him, which means as long as he doesn’t tell them that he needs to do homework, he has a house full of willing accomplices in procrastination.

Unfortunately, the second thing doesn’t work on Jack.

He and Jack weren’t even supposed to be roommates— in the Hausing lottery, Bitty had been assigned to share with Wicks, but then Ollie asked to switch so he could be with Wicks and Bitty is pretty sure they’re together or at least FWB and he definitely doesn’t want to be sexiled so he said yes. And now here he is sharing a room with Jack.

Usually they don’t get in each other’s way; as long as Bitty plays his music quietly, they make it work. But Jack has a pretty much perfect bullshit detector when it comes to how much work Bitty is avoiding, and part of that may be due to the fact that it’s just impossible to make eye contact with Jack and lie to him, and part of it is probably witchcraft of some sort.

But they make it work.

The day Jack gets a letter is a day of note in the Haus, because the only physical mail they ever get are catalogues (for many things, among them clothes, kitchenware, and fishing supplies) and bills. However, Jack is working on his thesis and refuses to come downstairs to accept the letter in a grand ceremony Shitty wants to improvise, so Bitty is tasked with bringing the letter to Jack since it is, after all, also his room.

“Ugh,” Jack says upon opening it.

That’s unusual. “What?”

“I’m invited to my cousin’s wedding.”

“Do you not like your cousin?”

“I like him, but my aunt is convinced I’m dating Kent Parson, and every time I see her she interrogates me to try and get me to confirm it.”

“Why does she think that?”

Jack sighs through his nose. “She thinks we’ve been going steady since the Q.” He doesn’t answer the question, but Bitty knows how close Jack was to Parson then, so it makes sense.

“Can you just tell her you’re not? Like, I don’t know, say you broke up, or that you’re dating someone else.”

“I don’t think she would believe me.”

Bitty flops down on his own bed, because it sounds like this is a problem worthy of letting Bitty procrastinate on everything else and that fact alone is definitely worth some attention. “Why not?”

“Because she doesn’t believe me about not dating Kent Parson now, so how would I convince her? It’s not like I can make a significant other materialize out of thin air.” Jack puts the card on his desk and tosses the envelope into the trash. “I usually just endure it. It’s not like I see her that often, anyway.”

“I mean, you don’t have to make someone materialize, just ask someone to go with you and pretend. If the food is good I’m sure they’ll agree.”

The corner of Jack’s mouth quirks up. “Or is that just specific to you?”

“I am nobly ignoring your attempts to chirp me.”

“You just acknowledged them. And they’re not attempts, they’re successes.”

“Are not.”

“I’m not getting into this with you.”

“I win.”

“Fuck.” Jack drums his fingers on his desk and says, “Still not getting into this with you despite you baiting me.”

“Who says ‘despite’?”

“I do.”

“Fair point.”

Jack frowns, which is an unusual expression for him when Bitty has just confirmed he’s right about something. “Can you go?”

“Huh?”

“To the wedding.” Bitty must look nonplussed, because Jack says, “I mean, we’re used to sharing a room, and I would ask Shitty but he’s really stressed with applying to law schools and everything and I don’t think an event with free alcohol would be good for him.”

And those are all excellent points, but this is Jack. Bitty is genuinely not sure he can make it through the wedding pretending to date Jack while still maintaining his composure and dignity. Add that to the fact that Jack went through that whole conversation they just had about Kent Parson without a single ‘no homo’, and frankly Bitty is not in the right emotional state to do this.

“I’ll buy you Annie’s for a week,” Jack says, and fuck it, Bitty is sold.

“Okay, I’ll accept your bribe and do it. But only for the food.”

“And the Annie’s.”

“I’m counting that.”

It’s really a good thing that Bitty and Jack are roommates, because they automatically have a place to practice faking couple-dom.

“Okay, first question,” Bitty says. He’s sitting cross-legged on his bed, and Jack is mirroring him on the other side of the room. “How long is this whole thing? Like, is it a whole weekend? Is it a morning thing? Evening thing?”

“Evening, but we’re invited to the rehearsal dinner, so it’s pretty much the whole weekend.”

“Okay. Next question, are we going to be faking to your parents or telling them?”

“Uh, my dad is not good at keeping secrets.”

“Faking. Okay. Will people be speaking French?”

Jack furrows his brow. “I mean, some people probably will be, but the wedding’s in New York. It’s my mom’s side.”

“Thank the Lord. And the next question is, can you dance?”

“If I say no, does it mean I don’t have to?”

“Yes.”

“Then I cannot at all. And that’s the truth.”

“That’s honestly what I expected.”

“Rude.”

“Well, anyway, we won’t dance, then. That’s good, that means we don’t have to practice that.”

And so the plan is born. They won’t tell anyone, not even Jack’s parents, and they won’t bother explaining the whole situation to the rest of the team because Shitty will insist he’s doing fine and then they’ll have to deal with that. They’ll practice a relatively subtle level of PDA, because it’s not like it’s their wedding, and there will be absolutely no dancing.

They start with just being in each other’s space. The team is not big on personal space as a whole, but this is different— sitting next to each other, touching from knee to shoulder, leaning on each other, that sort of thing. And then handholding, which Bitty needs to practice a lot because it messes with his head and his composure and both of those are unacceptable.

He has no idea how he’s going to function when they get to kissing. More importantly, he has no idea how he’s going to conceal this irritatingly persistent crush. He thought it would fade away after a week or so (and to be honest he had fully expected it to happen at some point), but that… is not what is happening. Instead, Bitty’s heart does physical activity ranging from a flutter to intense aerobics every time they touch, and frankly this is not sustainable.

But he can’t back out. Jack really does need him to do this. Bitty can see how whenever Jack’s gaze lands on the invitation, which is still lying on his desk, he tenses up a little, and Bitty has the feeling that there’s more that Jack isn’t saying.

But that’s none of his business.

He muddles his way through couple practice fairly well, for a while. Jack has made a calendar (because of course he has) detailing their schedule and when they progress from one level to another. It’s endearing, and the fact that it’s endearing instead of annoying is pissing Bitty off.

Day One of kissing takes place a week before the wedding, because Bitty has asserted that he needs time to get used to it and Jack has agreed. Thank heavens for small favors. Except that just means that he’s going to spend even more time kissing Jack and— well, Bitty is just not thinking about that.

He determinedly not-thinks about it until the day of, when they’re sitting in their room facing each other and Jack says, “Ready?”

And Bitty says, “Yeah,” because waiting longer will not help at all. He just needs to do it, and then he can get used to it and it won’t be an issue at the wedding.

And then Jack kisses him and Bitty becomes immediately aware that it will definitely be an issue for him personally, because honestly?

Kissing Jack feels right, which is fucking terrifying and definitely not what should be happening. Because Bitty has been secretly hoping all this time that when they get to this part, it’ll just feel awkward and silly and he can finally let go of this stupid crush. But instead it feels comfortable, simple in the way that making a crumble is simple, and Bitty definitely should not have gone with the crumble comparison because now he’s coming up with all sorts of figurative language that incorporates sugar and dessert and just overwhelmingly unnecessary ideas.

I can’t fake this, Bitty thinks, and then he pulls away, or Jack does, because he doesn’t consciously decide to do it but it still happens, and then he opens his eyes and looks at Jack, who…

Who doesn’t seem any more coherent than Bitty, and Bitty has no idea if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.

They just look at each other for a minute, or maybe two, and then Jack looks away and says, “This isn’t fair.”

“Huh?” Bitty says, because he genuinely has no idea what Jack is talking about.

“This,” Jack says. “Fake dating. I mean—” he sighs. “It’s not fair to you, because you just agreed to do it as a favor to me. I should have stopped it when I—” And he stops.

Bitty waits, because it’s clear that Jack is going to say something, and the last thing he wants to do is mess that up by saying something.

“When I asked you to help me, I was being honest,” Jack says. “I really just needed a friend to help me get through this weekend. And then I thought… I just thought, well, it’s been a long time since I’ve dated anybody so I’m just reacting to that but… that’s not what happened. I guess…” He pauses, takes a breath, then says, “It’s not fair to you because I’ve been letting you think I’m just in this to get my aunt off my back, when I… I really want this to be not fake.”

“Oh,” Bitty says. And then he says, “Oh, God, that is so noble of you, because I was just going to not say anything for the rest of my life and bottle everything up until I died, but… I want this to be not fake, too.”

Jack looks back at him in surprise, and then whatever he sees on Bitty’s face must convince him that Bitty is being genuine, because he says, “Okay.”

They make eye contact for a long moment before Bitty feels himself starting to laugh. “I can’t believe that just happened.”

Holding on to a semi-straight face is a challenge, but it’s worth it, because Jack starts smiling too, and then he laughs, and then Bitty can’t help but laugh too, and their second kiss is, if possible, even better than their first.

The wedding is lovely.

Bitty isn’t really sure of what the bride and groom’s names are (they introduced themselves at the rehearsal dinner, but by the time the hors d’oeuvres were served at the reception, those names had flown out of Bitty’s head), but they seem nice, and they put on a damn good wedding, so as far as Bitty is concerned they’re excellent people.

Also, the food is really good.

They still have to lie about how long they’ve been together, because Jack RSVP’d a while ago, but compared to lying about being together, it’s a piece of cake.

Bitty expresses that out loud (but quietly) to Jack, who says, “Literally.”

“You’re holding a macaron, not a piece of cake.”

“Close enough.”

They also do a very good job of not dancing— they talk to various family members during the fast songs, and shamelessly raid the desserts during the slow songs, and maybe a quarter of the guests have left when a very familiar song begins.

“Okay, I know we said no dancing, but I’m changing both of our minds,” Bitty says, standing up. “Come on, it’s a slow song, you don’t have to do anything.”

Jack lets himself be pulled up from his chair, and then he says, “Is this… Beyonce?”

“Yeah, that’s why we have to dance, come on.”

Jack just laughs and goes with him.

#my stuff #my inbox #zimbits #omgcp #fic

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wardencommanderrodimiss · 5 years ago

Text

Witches, Chapter 9: snippets of a day at the WAA, except the day is April 20, and nobody’s making weed jokes because all of them but Athena have something else to associate with this particular day.

Actually Clay’s making weed jokes but he doesn’t work here. You don’t even go here!

[Seelie of Kurain Chapter Masterlist] [ao3]

[Witches Chapter Masterlist] [ao3]

----

Apollo wakes in the morning, before his alarm, to the refrain of “I’m Clay Terran and I’m fine!”, which means that he isn’t fine, at all, and also that Apollo isn’t going back to sleep even if he had time.

He rolls out of bed and pads into the kitchen in time to watch Clay, considering the coffee maker on the counter, turn away from it and grab an energy drink out of the fridge. “Rough work week so far?” he asks.

“Not your level yet,” Clay replies, “but pretty damn close.” He cracks the can open and drinks from it for four entire consecutive seconds. “The director’s been getting progressively more unhinged since Monday morning, and then that gets Mr Starbuck anxious, and then there’s a feedback loop, and then yesterday I was around to get to hear the director and one of the robotics engineers yelling at each other and she told him to go fuck himself - which, honestly iconic, you go, Aura, do it for all of us—” He pauses for breath and another sip of caffeine. “But it’s. Y’know. Not good, all considered.”

“Sometimes I feel like you shouldn’t be telling me all this,” Apollo says with a laugh.

Clay shrugs. “Whatever, dude - you know the director and Mr Starbuck, and I’ve only signed NDAs for tech stuff and the like. Nothing about fun personnel, uh—” He waves a hand and nearly knocks over a glass that was left on the counter by the sink. “Eccentricities. Anyway I hope you didn’t want to eat before work, because we have caffeine, and that is it.”

Apollo nods. He was supposed to do the grocery shopping on Sunday. Then Trucy dragged him out and it turned into three exhausting days of chasing yokai.

And the chase isn’t over, either. He’s relieved, the part of him that isn’t hypocritical and dead; ease his conscience for the low low price of tramping through the woods to find an actual giant bird monster and being forever afraid of how Blackquill managed to eavesdrop on that conversation. (He would swear Taka wasn’t there until it was.) That, and the higher price of knowing that it took the chief prosecutor to get them to move, that without him, and Blackquill, Apollo would’ve just stayed laying in the dirt. Athena might’ve gone mad, though.

“Maybe I’ll just get brunch at Eldoon’s,” Apollo says.

Clay feigns gagging, which turns into a real cough when he tries to stop too quickly. “It’s what you’d deserve.”

Apollo flips him off as he leaves the kitchen to shower and do his hair; Clay remains there to get caffeinated and scream. He has migrated to the living room when Apollo returns with dried and gelled spikes. “You know what day today is?” Clay asks.

All month, Apollo watched the calendar, watching the date come closer and closer. The twentieth of April, and a year ago, something. “The anniversary of me getting my boss arrested and starting down a path that ends with me working at the world’s worst law office, and you driving us on a road trip to pull a soul out of a tree stump?”

Clay blinks. “Dude,” he says. “No. It’s the day that we’re obligated to make stoner jokes even if you’ve never snorted a weed in your lives. Four-twenty bl—”

“Fuck you,” Apollo interrupts, very solemnly. Clay cackles. “‘Snorted a weed’, are you serious—”

Clay throws his empty can at him. Apollo catches it and hurls it back, missing Clay entirely and bouncing it off the coffee table. “Trying to give you something to think about that isn’t how fucked your life got this time last year! You’re welcome, dude!” Apollo snorts. “Or I’d try to regale you with more stories about the Center imploding but we’d be here for the rest of our lives.”

“Oh.” It’s not the route that Apollo would go for distraction, but that’s because he isn’t Clay, and that’s how they manage to be both best friends and a mostly-functioning household. “I’m gonna pass on that when I see Trucy, though. Not sure the thought counts when it’s weed jokes but her biological dad’s death was the thing happening last year.”

“Hard pass,” Clay agrees. “Just scream for a while.” He snaps his fingers. “It worked for us!”

It wasn’t the twentieth, though, Zak’s death. It was a few days before: a weekend interim, and Apollo notified late Sunday night that Phoenix Wright wanted him to head up his defense. He slept for about four and a half hours. And if he remembers correctly, the actual date of Zak Gramarye’s death, in the early hours of the morning, was the seventeenth.

And surely Trucy remembers that. A few days ago she would’ve started thinking of that. A few days ago - the seventeenth, Sunday, she called him up and told him he had a job and that job was coming with her to Nine-Tails Vale. Was that her choice of distraction - which makes him her choice of company. Because Jinxie was working, and Athena wasn’t here yet and Phoenix was picking her up. But surely Trucy has other friends?

(But Apollo’s the one who knows. Just like with Klavier; coincidentally, someone else Apollo needs to check in with on this particular day.)

“When does screaming not work?” Apollo asks, going to get the grocery list from the kitchen so that he can deal with it after work, try to set his life back to a normal schedule.

Trucy lies on the couch, her feet dangling over the arm, already there in the office under the dimmed lights when Apollo walks in. “Hey,” she says, without moving, without looking up, and most worryingly, without the mask of a smile forced onto her face.

Apollo drops his briefcase next to the other couch, unwilling to bother getting to his desk right now. “Hey,” he replies, sinking down into the cushions. The lights flicker like a blink and have a warmer tone to them on their return.

Trucy’s hands unclasp and the blue mitamah falls onto her chest. “We met a year ago today, remember?” As if Apollo could forget. She handed him a playing card and he stepped out of one world into the next.

“I didn’t know who you were that day, though,” Apollo says. A girl in a top hat handing him suspicious evidence; that’s the way Phoenix fell, too.

“Yeah, Daddy didn’t tell me your name either,” Trucy says. Of course he didn’t. It stings more than it should. “Said to give it to the red guy with the hair and the bracelet.”

So those are his most prominent characteristics - those and his voice. “I see,” Apollo says, spinning his bracelet around his wrist. Trucy watches with big staring eyes, the mitamah back cradled in her hands. So damn complicated for both of them. “This bracelet was my mother’s,” he says. Clay knows this, Clay and no one else in this hemisphere. “It’s the only thing I have from her or know about her.”

Trucy blinks. She raises her head up an inch and falls back. “Not even her name?” Apollo shakes his head. “My mother’s name was Thalassa.” This, Apollo knows. Phoenix told him. “Everything I know about her, someone had to tell me. Daddy, my other daddy, didn’t like to talk about her, but Uncle Valant said that she had the most beautiful singing voice and that’s why I’m so good at it too.” Pause. Looks away from Apollo, again opening her hands to ponder the mitamah. “I can sometimes hear this - humming, kind of? Like some faint echo voice. Like she’s still trying to sing to me.”

Apollo can only remember how unnerving he found the sound. Unnerving, and more unnerving for the way he wanted to keep listening. A siren’s song, reeling him in. Better not to say that. Better to let Trucy just have any comfort she can take from it.

She closes her eyes, faced turned to the ceiling. “I want to be a stage magician,” she says. “Like Uncle Valant. Do tricks that entertain people, not trick them to hurt them and be selfish. He made a career out of it alone for seven years. Sort of. Somewhat.” Her eyes open, remaining fixed above her. “But I bet I could. I just have to find my audience here. My Youtube audience is good but not really enough, but I bet I can make a niche. Like you have a niche, all the most impossible and complicated cases.”

Her tone is that of talking to herself, of talking without wanting response. Apollo leans against the arm of the couch. Not even 8:30 in the morning and they’re both exhausted and sad. What a week, and only half done. “Like we generalize that people in LA don’t trust magic but that’s just a generalization, you know? I want a spotlight. Disappearing acts, escape the coffin before the sword goes through - all that. Not just like Uncle Valant did, working in the wings for Lamiroir and Prosecutor Gavin.” She finally props herself up on her elbow. “I wondered if Prosecutor Gavin brought Uncle Valant on to try and ask him about Daddy’s last case, when Daddy disappeared. But that would be a really sneaky thing to do and Prosecutor Gavin is too pretty to be that sneaky.”

“You think so?” Apollo asks. “I think he knows he can get away with it because he’s pretty and everyone’s too distracted by that.” In a literal magic way. He’s pretty because he’s sneaky, and sneaky because he’s pretty, all because he’s glamourous. And all it cost him was his birthright.

“Are you texting him?” Trucy pushes herself up the whole way, her eyes narrowed and assessing whether she can leap the coffee table between them to rip the phone from his hands. “Don’t tell him I said that!”

“I’m not telling him you said that!” Apollo is too complicit in that to be able to mention it. “You just reminded me that I was going to tell him about this last case.”

“That’s gonna be a really long text,” Trucy says.

“It’s not like I’m gonna put the entire trial transcription in it!”

You would not believe the case I just went through. Also, have you ever met prosecutor Blackquill?

“It’d be simpler to ask him on a date and just tell him about it.”

“I’m not doing that.”

“Why not?” Trucy leans forward and Apollo instinctively presses his back into the couch and pulls his phone close. He can only begin to imagine what she would do if she got her hands on it. “You’d be able to see how he’s doing with…” She swallows and slumps backwards. “Y’know.”

He does, and speaks past a lump in his throat. “Yeah.”

All three of them, inextricably linked. And Apollo should be the one who has it together, at least relatively speaking, in this regard. It wasn’t his family.

(Just reminds him of it. Take solace in the fact that Nahyuta and I look nothing alike. Don’t think about the fact that Dhurke looked nothing like Nahyuta, either.)

Athena whirls into the office at 9:05 am with what Apollo now understands is her base-level excitability. He and Trucy cleaned up the residual evidence of their feelings before she arrived, anticipating her arrival. Lock it all away; Athena doesn’t need to know what they’ve been through. Trucy reattaches her smile; Apollo shoves his phone back into his pocket. “Am I late?” Athena asks, stumbling straight into the couch. “I’m sorry! It won’t happen again!”

“You’re not late unless Daddy’s here before you,” Trucy says. “No need to apologize! We’re all friends here!”

Athena, beaming now, ventures further into the room, her eyes casting around with the same attentiveness she used for a crime scene. Her gaze lingers on the portrait of Zak above the piano, and then the piano itself, table as it is for Trucy’s smallest stage-magic props and a small half-finished canvas that Vera left the last time she came to visit and they ended up playing blackjack instead of Trucy doing her homework and Vera her painting. That was two weeks ago. Not much gets done promptly if it isn’t for a case. “Do we have desks or do we just work from the couches?” Athena asks. “Because I mean, I totally—”

“Next room,” Apollo says.

“Oh,” Trucy says, suddenly downcast. “That means I don’t have a desk anymore.”

“You never use a desk,” Apollo says. “You just work on the floor.”

“Oh,” Trucy says again, brighter now, and she follows Athena back to the desks to point her to the right one. “Yeah. I do. Anyway!” Athena dumps her bag on what is now her desk. “Welcome to the Wright Anything Agency, Athena! I was planning a speech over the weekend and then the case happened and you weren’t even at the office, so I’ve forgotten it by now. But that’s the WAA way! That’s Daddy and Polly’s court style, make it up as they go!”

“I resent that statement,” Apollo says.

“Yeah, I saw it right from the bench these past two days!” Athena doesn’t sit down in the chair and instead hops up onto her desk, kicking her heels off the side of it. “I kept thinking we didn’t know anything and we were gonna sink, and then bam! Apollo’s turned it all around again!”

“That’s what he does best!”

“Ah,” Apollo says. The girls both grin at him, this once, alarmingly sincere. “Th-thanks.” He’d rather be properly equipped for a major case, the way he’s occasionally fortunate to get a client not accused of murder, and so not have a worrying number of adrenaline spikes per court session - but he’ll take what he can get.

“Speaking of court,” Trucy adds, crossing the room and flinging herself into Phoenix’s desk chair, the momentum rolling her back into the wall, “Daddy said that we’ve got to track down the real Tenma Taro now, too?”

“He mentioned that?” Apollo’s heart leaps back up to his throat. And just after he had his confidence bolstered, too.

(Phoenix came back from the Prosecutors Office and called it “an unfortunate necessity”, but none of them could argue that it wasn’t a necessity. For their consciences; for the proper administration of justice; for the safety of the entire town of Nine-Tails Vale. Mayor Tenma might be its guardian wrestler-yokai, but he’s also the mayor of Tenma Town, and herding a yokai back to its prison is not a one-man job. Phoenix and his fae friends have the plan, or will at some point; depending on how much demonic activity they see out of the Vale, the timetable will move up or down. “Ideally, we deal with it in June, wait for the summer solstice,” he had said. “Fae powers fluctuate some with the seasons; yokai shouldn’t be much different. Hit it when it’s weakest, if we’re lucky.”)

“A little bit.” Trucy shrugs. “But I can help too! I’ve never known anything to get out of my panties if I didn’t want it too, so if we need a more secure place than the Forbidden Chamber—”

“Why did they have to be magic panties?” Apollo asks. “Why couldn’t it be magic literally anything else?”

“Don’t look a pair of gift panties in the waistband—”

“Enough!”

Phoenix arrives some time after 11, bleary-eyed though he has coffee in hand. “‘Morning, everyone,” he says, sounding as dead as he looks. He blinks a few times. “Athena. Truce. Apollo, how’re you doing?”

Is that question just for him or all of them, and Apollo the last to be listed? He wouldn’t know how to answer that question today were it anyone else asking, either. “Uh, fine,” he says. Phoenix’s eyes narrow slightly and drift around Apollo, assessing him in some way. “Except for the part where Athena’s making us up a workout regime to prepare for yokai-fighting.”

There is a moment's delay, Phoenix still pondering him, and then the words must finally hit and he laughs. “Athena,” he says, “are you really trying to get everyone in on punching Tenma Taro?”

“No!” she says indignantly. “It’s a couch-to-5k plan, basically. So that everyone’s got enough stamina to run away from yokai when we have to bait it out, and then you can run a race with me after!”

“We’re not using people as bait,” Phoenix says. “Overruled.” Athena raises her hand like they’re in a classroom and Phoenix is their teacher and not a lenient boss and absent mentor. “No, not even if you’re volunteering to be the bait.”

Athena lowers her hand.

3:43 pm, Apollo’s phone buzzes, removing him from the outskirts of Trucy and Athena’s discussion, continued from the prior afternoon, about how one actually manages to purchase a vehicle (they don’t know) and heckling Phoenix for not having a driver’s license. At this point Apollo realizes he doesn’t know how or if Athena is driving legally in America and decides that he’s rather glad for any distraction.

-heard some unfortunates had to face him -you and fraulein??

Something about the messages bothers him, something he can’t put his finger on.

Not Trucy. Agency has a new girl who just passed the Bar and she and I had to deal with the crazy magic murder samurai. Everything about it felt like an unplanned hazing ritual

He expects an answer right away; once Klavier starts talking, he usually keeps going. A minute ticks past, then another. Apollo figures out what isn’t right. Fraülein isn’t properly accented. Klavier usually takes more care than that. Appearances are too important to him, even - or maybe especially - when Apollo can’t see him.

Another minute. Apollo doesn’t look at the calendar. He looks at Phoenix, hunched over some books to study for the Bar, as Athena recalls as much as she can about taking it earlier in the year, in Europe. Her, speeding along in her career, and him, trying to make up for seven years of lost time that never should have been.

Apollo sends another text.

Are you all right?

(It’s not too presumptuous a question to ask off of one typo, not today, and not when they both know full well that through text, Klavier can lie to him.)

Phoenix leaves not long after four, telling the girls now that he’s actually trying to read, they are far too loud and distracting and he’s going somewhere quieter. Apollo assumes he must mean his apartment, except Phoenix doesn’t take any books with him, and Trucy shouts, “Say hi to Mr Edgeworth for me!” so she obviously knows or guessed something more than Apollo could.

“And me!” Athena adds. “Wait, what happens if we get a client in the next hour and you’re not here?”

“You were emailing Edgeworth this morning,” Phoenix says to her. “Didn’t you include ‘hi’ anywhere in there? Anyway, you’ve got Apollo. Unless you think there’s magic involved, I’m not the one to ask for help.”

He waves over his shoulder and closes the door, leaving Trucy plunking away without rhythm at the piano and Athena wincing at each new out-of-tune note. And Apollo, waiting.

“I’m co-opting your office for study space, since you’re the one who’s pushed me into this,” Phoenix says.

“All right,” Edgeworth says, which is the lack of reaction that disappoints Phoenix even though he expects it because they’re adults now and Edgeworth keeps himself so much more tightly guarded, except where his ability to fold paper cranes is concerned, still. Then he meets Phoenix’s eyes and a shadow crosses his face, left over from their conversation yesterday. Should I bring it up again, this matter of trust? that expressions asks, and then the decision, no, and the lines between Edgeworth’s brows smooth out some. “How’s Trucy doing?”

He had asked the other day, too, and the answer is still the same. “She’s been pretending that nothing happened, that there’s no significance to these past few days, even to me.” Phoenix sighs and slumps deeper into the couch. “I know she always opens up to me when she’s ready, but…” She might not. She hasn’t let him in to her thoughts about Zak beyond that one night after she and Apollo found Thalassa’s soul. He doesn’t know if there’s more than love and grief, if her feelings are turning conflicted.

(Phoenix’s opinion of Zak isn’t conflicted. Neither is Edgeworth’s.)

“And Apollo’s hung up on it all too,” Phoenix adds. It was written plain on his face, if the Psyche-Locks when he said he was fine weren’t indication enough. (Though the one of the three did break when he talked about Athena’s hoped-for running regime.) “And I’m pretty sure I’m the worst person to talk to him about anything, and if I try I’ll dig myself deeper in his opinion.” Hell, forget saying anything. Existing around Apollo is probably a jackhammer to the bedrock at the bottom of the grave Phoenix has dug. Best to stay out of his way, let him and Athena now do their thing. He’s a smart kid. He’ll be fine.

Phoenix doesn’t like the expression that Edgeworth is making again and pivots quickly to something he meant to ask at some point anyway. “And how’s this side of things holding up?”

“You don’t need to be so obtuse in asking,” Edgeworth says. “Gavin’s seemed fine. I lightened his case load last week and this, anyway, to give him room to breathe if he needs it.”

“That’s kind of you,” Phoenix says. Edgeworth’s frown returns, deeper than before, as though the implication is that he usually isn’t. “I’m glad you’re not holding a grudge.”

(“Anymore” is the word they both know fits silently at the end of that sentence.)

“With the information I was given, you understand why I drew such a conclusion,” Edgeworth says.

(And “if you had let me in, I would have acted differently” hangs in the air, a ghost over them both.)

Phoenix picks himself up to go investigate the law tomes on Edgeworth’s shelves. “I know.”

(The punchline: “And I’m not sorry because I’m afraid Kristoph would have killed you if you tried to get involved.” And then the words he won’t ever say, “I’d spend seven more lifetimes disbarred and disgraced than risk losing you again.”)

Behind him, Edgeworth sighs. And all he says is, “Though Gavin did call out today. I’m not sure that’s a good sign.”

“No,” Phoenix agrees. “I’m not either.” His hand twitches to move toward his phone instead the books in front of him. Give Apollo a call, tell him to check in on that.

But he’s pretty sure Apollo wouldn’t appreciate him micromanaging his personal relationships, either. (Any more than he’s already given him nudges regarding Klavier. The way he wishes someone had nudged him to reach out to Edgeworth, not that he’s sure if Edgeworth back then would have accepted the offered hand.)

You can’t save everyone, whispers the bitter voice of his hard heart, calcified from years of drowning. Pick a priority, it sneers. Stop bleeding for every sad sorry soul that comes your way. Athena. Klavier. Vera. Blackquill’s blacked-out case file on his desk, not so much for him but for Edgeworth, who hopes they can piece the legal system back together if they just keep digging.

And for once, he tells that voice to shut up, because if he can bleed he’s still alive. That’s how he can even know he is - not that he’s necessarily still human, but that he’s anything at all.

“Do we have food at home?” Athena asks.

“We did,” Trucy says. “And it was enough for Daddy and me for a week. And you ate it all the past three days.”

It’s like in high school, in the last class of the day, with just a few minutes left on the clock and everyone getting antsy. Except it’s a law office, even if Athena is the age to still be in high school, and Trucy is still in high school. And yeah, maybe at the end of the day sometimes in the Gavin Law Office, some of them would be itching to go home. But they’d never dare show it. And Apollo still feels culture shock, sometimes, both from the memory of working for Kristoph, and from his concept of what he’s pretty sure a law office should be like.

He’s mostly used to it, mostly. It’s just odd, to have Athena here - another actual lawyer here. Like she’s part of an attempt to make this into a respectable business, but nothing else has changed.

“So what you’re saying is that as soon as we’re out of here I need to go buy more chicken,” Athena says.

“You want to do my grocery shopping too?” Apollo asks. “You’ve got the car for transporting it all.”

“If you give me your credit card, sure.” Athena’s grin says, in bold type, that she should absolutely not be trusted with anyone’s credit card.

“No.”

She blinks at him with poorly feigned innocence. “But that’s the fair way to do it, if some of your groceries are gonna be taking up the trunk space that I need to use for chicken.”

“How much chicken are you buying?” Apollo asks.

“I need protein for my workouts!”

“I can’t believe you got a gym membership here before you even looked for an apartment.” Trucy raises her eyebrow at him. Apollo considers what he just said and lays it against everything he knows of his new coworker. “Actually, I can,” he amends, and he has to laugh with her at her obvious pride in this fact.

She’ll be nice to have around. Good company. It gets quiet when Trucy isn’t around, and when it’s quiet he has even more time to wonder, to ask questions of people who he’ll never again see to answer them. And sometimes in the quiet he finds himself talking out loud, knowing there’s someone listening and not knowing how much capacity she has to repeat what he’s said. She can flicker lights and shatter mirrors; can she use a keyboard? An ouija board?

He likes the prospect of always having someone around who can talk back, even if he won’t be saying to Athena anything like the ponderings he’s put to Mia.

“We’re heading out,” Trucy says. “It’s not quite five but I’m the boss here.”

“Okay,” Apollo says. “I’m trying to finish writing up what happened this case.”

“How’s that going?” Trucy asks.

Apollo frowns at his journal and the ink that’s smudging in his haste to write. “It makes even less sense to me this way.”

“Oh, I’m glad I’m not the only one getting more confused trying to remember what all we just did,” Athena says. “What a needlessly convoluted murder plan.” She lingers with her foot propping the door open after Trucy has already gone out. “See you tomorrow! Good luck with your grocery shopping! Just remember I offered!”

“You offered to commit credit card fraud!”

The door closing doesn’t fully muffle her laughter. Apollo returns to his desk, finds that he’d left his phone there and in the fifteen minutes he had slowly migrated up to the front room with the girls, he missed several strings of messages, all from one particular person.

-have you ever been to kitaskis bakery -pretty sure its not even a money laundering fromt -but if it is its the best front I’ve eaten at -love to say it wins by being the only but - :| -lets not talk about that

He’s pretty sure that between the lines, all these read “not all right”. He keeps scrolling. The next set are timestamped just five minutes later.

-Vongole was mad I wouldnt give her muffin -so she ate salt packets -threw up the salt pakcets -now sticking her head in every trash can in the park -will update you if she finds panties -if she does I think this parkr is cursed -even if she doesn’t

Apollo closes his eyes and leans his head back until the ceiling lights bleed bright through his eyelids. He did ask, and here, the answer. Tossing his journal and pen in a drawer and deciding he’ll deal with the write-up tomorrow, he grabs his bag and heads for the door. If Athena isn’t arriving late unless she gets there after Phoenix, then Apollo isn’t leaving early if he’s the last to leave.

The lights in the room blink out before he hits the switch, but when he looks back, they spring back on and again flicker off, like a question. “Yeah, I’m done for the day,” Apollo says. The blinds drop down over the windows and hit the sills with a loud clattering sound that makes him jump. Whether she meant to startle him or not, he has the urge to explain to her, justify himself. Better to be safe. Better to be sure. “Gavin’s finally lost his mind, I think.”

He waves his phone screen at the ceiling. He has no idea how she knows what’s happening in the office, whether she can see everything or hear or something else, but he’s found himself imitating Phoenix, orienting himself toward the ceiling to address her. Their office, a shrine, and she, their patron god. The Holy Mother of the Wright Anything Agency.

The front door swings open for him, and the rest of the office darkens behind him.

#i know i keep saying it but i PROMISE next chapter is the one where klavier finally personally shows up #this is another split chapter where i thought it would all be ch 9 #and then like 8000 words in with so much more of klav and apollo's convo to write i'm like.....hm.#roddy fanfics #fic: the witches of los angeles

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elusivexo · 5 years ago

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vision

A lot of recent conversations with friends - about relationships, priorities, and balance - have forced me to reevaluate what I’m doing with my life. Where am I on the path of becoming the person I strive to be? What are my future goals, and am I on the right track? Does my vision of my future align with my partner’s? During orientation, one of our attendings asked us to write down the five things that were most important to us in order, draw circles proportional to their importance, write down the five things we spend the most time on, and draw proportional circles for those. She wanted to remind us that we invariably spend the most time on our careers when it’s not actually the most important priority for most of us, and to make time for our true priorities.

I think more deeply and introspectively when I talk or write things out, and one of my priorities is certainly to be more introspective and self-aware. Having Sharon visit me this weekend was incredibly rejuvenating; I love the earnest, real conversations we’re able to have. I’ve made some pretty good friends here in Arkansas, but we’re not quite at that level. So here’s my list for me to revisit regularly, and it’ll be a little different from my resolutions because it’ll be less concrete.

Traits

Compassionate/kind - This is fairly important to me, and I think I’ve developed it through reading and taking the time to hear people’s stories. It’s become almost second-nature to try to put myself in other people’s shoes, to pause and think “Why did they do that?” through their context rather than mine. Although it’s one of the most important skills that I bring to psychiatry, it is also the one that is most at risk of deteriorating. It’s easy to become jaded when confronted with people who malinger or try to be manipulative. I have to constantly check myself to make sure that I don’t confuse hard-heartedness with cynicism.

Self-sacrificial/generous - I’ve been lucky to surround myself with people who are easy to love. For them, it is easy to be generous, but I want to continually push myself to be self-sacrificial to those who are difficult to love as well. Through this year, I will definitely be challenged to do so with my patients on internal medicine. I will have to remind myself that even the most difficult patients are also God’s beloved.

Introspective - I’m always on the lookout for self-improvement, but I can’t really do that if I’m not taking the time to check my progress and see where I am. I’m hoping to do so more concretely by writing more and having these kinds of conversations with friends.

Flexible - As a strong J, I get rattled when my plans are disrupted (unless they’re canceled entirely :p). I’ve always wanted to be more P, and I think I’ve made a lot of progress towards that in the last four years. I want to open more spontaneity in my life, but that will mean not cramming my schedule with overflowing bits.

Honest - I lie to myself. I try not to lie to other people, but if I’m being willfully ignorant or in denial, I confuse other people. I want to work on being clearer with my actual intentions and pushing myself to admit difficult truths.

Assertive - I’m assertive when it truly matters; I had no qualms pushing back against my attending when I disagreed with him regarding patient care, or speaking up to advocate for someone. It’s often the little things that I let go because “it doesn’t matter” and it’s easier for me to just suck it up. I’m not sure how assertive I want to get, but I do know that I don’t want other people thinking of me as a pushover.

Reliable - I’m so forgetful that I’m kind of clueless sometimes. I operate fine in the work setting because I take careful notes and make sure that I do everything that I’m supposed to, but I know I am less than reliable in personal life. I often forget to respond to long texts/emails and fail to deliver on promises. I’m the person who says “Let’s catch up!” and then forget to follow through unless something jogs my memory (or if I put it on my calendar). I’m trying to actively use my reminders and take notes for my personal life in a notebook/my calendar more often.

Intentional - I don’t want to be thoughtless or passive; the kind of life I want to live requires discipline and intentionality. I need to think more carefully about what I choose to do instead of mindlessly drifting over to Facebook or Hearthstone.

Priorities

Faith - I always say this is the most important thing to me, but I often forget to actually make it so. I thought it would be easier with time, but it isn’t. Even after 10 years as a Christian, I still fail to be disciplined with reading devotionals, praying, and seeking accountability. I need to work on this.

Career - I do expend the majority of my time on this, but I’ve been lazy about expending more because I’m selfish about my time. To truly be where I want to be, I need to work on my medical knowledge by reading more.

Friendships - I don’t take my friendships for granted, but I do feel comfortable picking up where I’ve left off even if it’s been months or years. This year that I’m in Arkansas, I do have more time to be intentional. I’ve been better about reaching out to friends to schedule phone calls and vacations.

Family - Not much I can do from afar, but I do want to spend more time with my family when I go back to New York.

Health - This goes into lifestyle, but I genuinely want to take care of both my physical and mental health. I’ve always taken the time for emotional self-care, but I haven’t been so great about my physical health. I want to work on eating more healthily and exercising more regularly. So far, I’ve been able to do well with this.

Hobbies - When it comes down to it, there are some hobbies that matter more to me but are a little harder - and I’ve been picking the easier ones that don’t matter as much. I want to spend more time on reading, writing, photography, and cooking. I want to spend less time mindlessly scrolling on fb/insta or playing Hearthstone/Candy Crush.

Lifestyle

Minimalistic - I don’t intend to Marie Kondo my life, but I’ve lived out of a suitcase for 6 weeks at a time. I can live on less. This one is hard for me because I like to have a stocked pantry and I don’t like throwing things away, but I need to remind myself that there’s no point accumulating trash. I also need to be more mindful about what I purchase.

Hyggeligt - I absolutely LOVED The Little Book of Hygge. It completely captures what it means to socialize as an introvert, and it really fits what I want for my future (but without all the candles). I want casual comfort, small gatherings, and low-key/low-effort chilling.

Physically active - Now that I’ve started strength training, I realize how utterly embarrassing my physical strength is. I’m excited to see the progress I’ve made in the past month, and I hope I’ll keep this up not only this year, but for the rest of my life.

Cooking more, eating out less - I’ve always loved cooking, and I treasured my nightly dinner at home with my parents’ cooking. Not only do I want that for my children, but I also want that for myself. It’s so comforting to eat at home and know exactly what went in the food. I do love eating out, but it has always been an indulgence and I need to relegate it to what it is instead of doing so thoughtlessly.

Hosting - This is such a big deal to me that it is one of the biggest dealbreakers for me in a relationship. If my significant other doesn’t like having people come over or stay over, then it’s not going to work. Even though I came to Arkansas with no friends and I’ve only been here a month, I’ve probably hosted 30+% of the nights that I’ve been here. Hospitality is incredibly important to me, and encompasses two of my primary love languages (quality time and acts of service).

Engaging with the arts - Although I am starting to see the appeal of living somewhere rural, I do struggle with my relative lack of engagement with the arts. I’ve heavily overcompensated by listening to a lot of music, but I do want to get back into reading - not just on interesting topics, but also beautiful writing. When I’m back in NYC, I want to seek out thought-provoking plays and exhibits.

There are definitely more traits I want to work on, but for this period of my life, I do want to focus on these. Priorities and lifestyle-wise, I don’t think that’s ever really changed, but I do want to make sure that I am living the life I think I want. And if I’m not happy, then I need to reevaluate that.

#lists #focusing on the future #but also the present

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quicksilversquared · 6 years ago

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How to Fake A Marriage Outtakes: Ch 2

So this was a deleted chapter from HTFAM that I discarded in favor of a bit of a time skip and then decided to keep and turn into an outtake. It's set after Adrien and Marinette decide to move in together for the remainder of their time in London.

(AO3) (FF.net)

One of the funniest things about Adrien and Marinette, all of Marinette's team members agreed, was that the two of them were not anywhere as smooth as they thought they were. The two of them hadn't even remotely tried to hide how friendly they were with each other during Marinette's first year, and everyone had seen how their relationship had gradually progressed from a simple close friendship into something more.

And everyone had seen how suddenly, they were working to keep a little distance between them, like they were trying to pretend that they were back to just normal friend status- but when they thought no one was paying attention, they gravitated right back towards each other with little touches and fond looks. It didn't take a genius to figure out that they were dating but for some strange reason, had decided to keep it secret from the world- or, rather, as secret as it could be when speculation about their love life was being published in the tabloids every other month.

None of them asked why. It had become a kind of source of amusement for the group of them, watching as Adrien and Marinette scrambled to act innocent whenever there were other people around. But everyone could see how Marinette lit up at the mention of Adrien and how she was always happy to go home and spend time with him, and how protective Adrien was of Marinette and how eager to please her he was.

Even if they weren't actually living with each other, the two of them acted like newlyweds and not all of the acting in the world could hide it.

Abbey Bernard's lips twitched in amusement as she thought about her most recent visit to Adrien and Marinette. She had mostly wanted to swing by to tease Marinette about the most recent slew of tabloid coverage about her and Adrien- their spa visit hadn't gone unnoticed, and wasn't that the cutest thing ever? Abbey wished that she could find a guy that would treat her as well as Adrien treated Marinette- and Marinette hadn't been over in her apartment. Instead, to the surprise of absolutely no one, she was hanging over at Adrien's apartment across the hall.

And- wasn't it the funniest thing?- it rather looked as though Marinette lived over in Adrien's apartment. Her things were scattered all over, her work ID tossed casually in a bowl on a table near the door next to the apartment keys and Adrien's school ID and bus pass and two sweaters of hers over the back of the couch. The last time that Abbey had seen the inside of Marinette's apartment, it had looked curiously bare.

"Hey, Abbey!" a voice called, and Abbey internally groaned, re-focusing on her work. She had a whole pile of paperwork that she had to get done- most of it having to do with fabric orders- and any interruptions would drag it out that much longer before she could finish and return to actually designing. "I had a question for you!"

"If it's about the editing on the latest photoshoot, I don't have a clue, ask Shannon," Abbey said automatically, and then she glanced up and saw Marinette hanging over her cubicle call. "Oh! Marinette! Hey, what's up?"

"I had a non-work question, but first- uh, could you keep something a secret?" Marinette cringed as soon as the words came out. "That sounds weird, I'm sorry, I mean-"

"If this is about you and Adrien dating, everyone here already knows- or, well, they all suspect, at least," Abbey said, cutting her off and making Marinette's eyes fly wide in surprise. She just internally shook her head. Had Marinette really thought that no one had noticed? Good lord. Well, maybe now they could stop the acting, now that they knew that their secret was out. "You two aren't subtle with the flirting, you know."

I- but-" Marinette spluttered, looking incredibly flustered. "We haven't flirted here-"

"You two never stop flirting." Abbey grinned, shaking her head. Even as sickly sweet as Adrien and Marinette could get at times, it was still cute. "But I'm guessing you didn't just come over to update me on your relationship status after-" she checked her calendar- "what, almost ten months of dating?"

Marinette spluttered even more, looking completely taken off guard. Abbey just waited patiently, knowing that it shouldn't take too long for her to recover. Thankfully Marinette managed to recover, though her cheeks were still a bit pink. Abbey watched as she straightened her shoulders, visibly composing herself before speaking again. "I, uh- well, I was wondering if you were still looking for a new apartment to move to."

Abbey made a face at the question, remembering her latest attempts to get out of her (rather terrible) apartment. It wasn't that the space was a mess or anything- it was just cramped beyond belief, was freezing all the time because it was always in the shade, and it wasn't in a great location, considering where she worked. The only opening that she had been able to find at a slightly better location had gotten snatched up before she could get it, which was actually worse than not being able to find anything at all. "Yeah. I gotta re-sign my lease by the end of the week, though, if I can't find anything. And I haven't been able to find anything. Why?"

"I'm planning on moving," Marinette told her, and Abbey's eyes went wide and hopeful. Marinette was moving? Oh, but that would mean that one of the lovely prefurnished apartments in the Rosalie workers' preferred building would be open! "Into Adrien's apartment, so mine will be open."

"But your lease isn't up until- what, the fall? Isn't that what you said last year?" Abbey's mind raced, trying to figure out how she could make sure that her lease would line up with Marinette's apartment opening. If she went for a month-to-month, maybe-

"I've been cleared to sublease," Marinette said before Abbey could think about it too much, and she immediately perked up. "And subleasers get approached first when the main leaser's contract is up and they aren't renewing."

Abbey was grinning. "Oh, I officially love you," she told Marinette. "Not as much as Adrien does, probably, but- oh my god. I've been trying to get into that building for forever. My current lease is up at the end of the month, but I can extend for a week at a time if needed. When can I move in? And will I need to sanitize every flat surface?" she added impishly, her grin turning wicked.

Marinette snorted. "No, we've kept that to Adrien's apartment- I mean!" she corrected quickly, catching herself just a few seconds too late. Abbey snickered in amusement. "No! We're- we've- that's- I mean to say that that's not a concern and also I'm cleaning before I move out anyway, so there!"

Abbey howled with laughter, cackling at Marinette's red face. It took her a minute to calm down and wipe the tears from her eyes. "Right, right. So, anyway- when will I be able to move in?"

Marinette stepped into the cubicle so one of the senior designers could get by, pushing a rack of clothing. Abbey waved to them sheepishly as they gave her a look. Clearly everyone in their section of the floor had hear her laughter. "We can probably manage at the end of the month. I just have to get a few more things out-"

"-aka you've been living with Adrien for a while, then," Abbey filled in, grinning.

"-and then clean and get the inspection done before you move in. It shouldn't take long. Adrien and I can clean this weekend." She giggled. "I'm sure he'll love that I'm volunteering him."

Abbey grinned at her, excitement starting to properly brew in her chest. "That's so great! I'll have to talk to my landlord, then, and tell him that I'll be moving after all. And then I'll start packing, and maybe move some boxes over? Would I be able to store a few small things in Adrien's apartment until the inspection is done? I mean, I can definitely wait, but if I could just move a few things per day so the final push isn't so hard..."

"I'll ask," Marinette promised. "And then I'll text you tonight to let you know. We could probably store some stuff under the couch or maybe in the hall closet. And I'll try to get the apartment cleaned up soon so I can get the inspection done."

"Wanna go over the details at lunch since we're technically supposed to be working right now?" Abbey suggested. She glanced down at her pile of paperwork a bit ruefully. "I want to know everything about the contract, of course, but I'm also supposed to be reviewing a bunch of paperwork right now."

"Of course!"

"You really don't have a ton left in here," Adrien commented as they surveyed Marinette's apartment that evening. "I mean, I think a lot of your clothes are over at my apartment anyway, and your blankets and pillows and towels, too, and- I mean, I think your apartment is basically just a sewing room at this point, and it's only even that much because we haven't moved the sewing machine back yet."

Marinette nodded a little sheepishly. "Sewing room and extra kitchen, really. And extra room so that Nino and Alya don't realize that we're living together when they visit."

"I'm so glad that Alya won the competition," Adrien said as he and Marinette headed back to the bedroom to see what she had left there. "Not just because I'm proud of her, of course, but she'll be preparing for her trip and then gone for a good chunk of the year, and all of Nino's trips will be to see her. We'll just have to figure out how to keep them from coming over after Alya gets back in- what, January?"

"I just figured that we would make a lot of trips to Paris under the guise of getting most of our stuff back home before the end of the school year," Marinette offered. She checked the first drawer, then reached in to pull out a pile of socks and underwear that she then promptly deposited in Adrien's arms. "And if I find any jobs to apply for, then I would go back for tours or interviews. Hopefully that would be enough visits for them."

"Hopefully," Adrien agreed. He had to think that their trips to Paris would be enough. Nino would be wanting to save money for his trips to see Alya, so if they just resolved to visit Paris several times a semester- which was more than what they had been doing- then maybe they could get away with living in the same apartment. They could maybe schedule more Skype calls as well, so that they could talk... well, not face-to-face, exactly, but as close to face-to-face as they could. "It's funny- like, I want to see Alya and Nino in person, of course, yet I don't want them to visit. That sounds so bad."

Marinette laughed.

It didn't take long for them to clear out the bedroom, even with Marinette's rather extensive wardrobe, though it took longer to puzzle out where they could store things in Adrien's apartment. The rest of the apartment took a similarly short time to clear out, even the living room. Marinette had apparently spent a couple evenings cleaning up and packing away the scraps and leftover fabric into bags before she went back to Paris, so it was no big hassle to move all of the sewing things back to their normal spot in Adrien's apartment.

By the end of the evening, Marinette's apartment was sitting empty and was ready to be cleaned- especially the living room, which had bits of fabric fibers everywhere thanks to all of the cut fabric from the commissions, and the bathroom which, despite their best efforts at the time, had some of the screen-printing chemical residue still smeared on the floor and in the tub.

"That wasn't that bad," Adrien commented as Marinette locked her apartment for the night and they headed back across the hall to their apartment. "But it's going to be harder to move out of our apartment once we're done in London," he added, making a bit of a face. "We'll have tons of stuff to carry back and we'll be cleaning and still living there at the same time."

Marinette made a face. "Oh, don't think about that now," she said. She kicked off her shoes at the door and tossed her keys on the table while Adrien locked the door. "I know we'll have to bring stuff back gradually, like most of our summer things going back to Paris at the end of summer and most of our fall things going back at Christmas, but it's still going to be so much."

Adrien couldn't help but laugh. "Funny, you say that we shouldn't think about it, and then you start talking about what we should do to get ready to go back."

Marinette just stuck out her tongue.

The next evening, they started the cleaning. Adrien attacked the bedroom and the living room with a vacuum while Marinette took on the bathroom. It wasn't fun work, especially when Adrien had to pause in his vacuuming to unwind a ribbon that had gotten overlooked and sucked into the vacuum and was very much stuck, but since Marinette had kept the apartment in such good condition for so long, it didn't need a deep cleaning. The kitchen just needed a quick wipe-up, a thorough scrub of the fridge, and a check to make sure none of the cooking things or silverware had migrated across the hall before it could get crossed off of the list of things to do, and the hall closet just needed a quick dust.

"Marinette, can you come help me move the couch so I can clean behind it?" Adrien called, flipping the vacuum off for a moment. "After those are done, the bedroom, the hallway, and the living room will all be finished."

Marinette came trotting out, wiping her hands on a towel. She was grinning. "Really? That's great!"

"And then I'll finish up the closet and work on the kitchen," Adrien told her as they moved the couch and the armchair away from the wall. He flipped the vacuum back on and quickly cleaned the newly exposed carpet. "It helps that most of the apartment hasn't really been used much for a while. There's not a bunch of grit and grime built up. Everything is just a quick clean, really."

"Says the guy who isn't cleaning the bathroom," Marinette said. She waited until the vacuum was off again and in the corner before grabbing her end of the couch so they could move it back up against the wall. "I've gotten most everything off, but there's a few stubborn spots, and I need to clean out the drain."

"Fun, fun."

"Not even remotely. I'm almost tempted to transform into Ladybug so I can have super-strength for the scrubbing. It might go a little faster that way."

Adrien couldn't help the snicker that slipped out. It was just a funny mental image, thinking about Ladybug super-cleaning a bathtub. "Somehow I don't think Tikki would be happy about that."

Marinette's lips twitched upwards in a small smile. "No, probably not."

Despite Marinette's grumbling, it didn't take long at all to get the rest of the cleaning done. Marinette went over the entire apartment again, making sure that that the windows were fully closed, nothing had been left out on the balcony, the adjustable dimmer light over the table was fully off, and all of the chairs were pushed into the table straight. Once that was done, Marinette joined Adrien at the door.

"I thought it would feel weird to be pretty much officially moved out of here, but it doesn't, not at all," Marinette told Adrien. "It feels more like well, at last."

"Well, you haven't exactly been living there for a while," Adrien pointed out, holding the door so Marinette could leave. "It'll probably be weird to move out of our apartment next year, though." He paused when Marinette didn't leave the apartment, eyes still scanning the room. His voice softened. "Marinette?"

She startled, as though she hadn't realized that she had checked out for a moment, and then reached over and took his hand, smiling up at him as she did. "I'm fine. I'm just really tired from all of the cleaning today and I just zoned out for a second."

He scanned her expression. She looked exhausted, almost like she was going to fall asleep standing up. Hopefully she could make it through the shower before falling asleep. "Are you sure?"

"I'm sure. Let's go home."

#Miraculous Ladybug #My writing #How to Fake a Marriage #Adrien Agreste #Marinette Dupain-Cheng

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