#also am o tripping or is he wearing eyeliner??

[nxsmss]

fuck, he looks so good in this episode🥵🥵

[hwangsies]

LIMERENCE

(n) the state of becoming infatuated with another person

pairing: hyunjin x female reader

summary: you haven’t spoken a word to hyunjin since he ghosted you after a fun new years eve together, so what’s the worst that could happen when fate (or chaeryong,...well, same thing) pairs you up for a road trip across the country?

warnings: e2l (ish), university student!au, non idol!au ,a lot of swearing. alcohol consumption,long flashback, mentions of infidelity, hyunjin is a giggly sweetheart, smut as in: dom!hyunjin, unprotected sex (wrap it up luvs),fingering, oral (f recieving), slight choking, praise kink, hand & strenght kink (manhandleing oopsie), slight overstimulation, hyunjin is really enthusiastic about consent (as you should be, periodt), reader is nervous and scared of hyunjins big pickle (ew i hate myself), motel sex (but it’s not trashy i promise!)

8.6 k words ,meaning grab a snack and a drink,

and enjoy!<3

---

"alright everyone" your professor rubs his hands together "that was it for today... i hope you all have a great break and i'm very exited to see all of you again next semester. hopefully in person again" he chuckles.

You and your classmates exchange goodbyes with him before one after the other exits the zoom call.

"fuck" you sigh after closing your laptop and lean back on your bed.

"you did it girl" your dormmate chaeryong claps, at which you giggle before shifting your eyes to her on the other side of the room.

She's sitting on her bed, folding her clothes before putting it in her suitcase thats placed in front of her.

"finally" you sit up and watch her roll up a pair of socks.

"my last class was yesterday and mrs kim teared up" she giggles "it was kinda cute not gonna lie"

"oh god" you snicker.

"hey did you find someone to take to yongin?" you ask, remebering chearyong talking about wanting to find someone to share gas expenses with in exchange for a ride to her hometown.

"oh yea, i did" she turn to you "i think you know him, seo changbin?"

You furrow your brows in thought, you feel like you've heard of the name.

"he's a music major, one year above us, hes also from yongin" she continues folding a pair of jeans "funny you'd ask actually cause he told me one of his friends was looking for a ride to seoul, isn't that where you're going?"

"Yea i was thinking about finding someone honestly because gas is really fucking expensive if you aint rich" you say, placing your laptop onto your nightstand.

"Mm you aint gotta tell me girl" chaeryong mumbles, folding a sweatshirt.

"so who's that friend?" you ask, stretching out on your bed.

"he's in his grade, hyunjin"

Your neck almost cracks from how fats you whip your head “hwang hyunjin?”

"Oh yea" she points at you "you know him?"

"unfortunately" you huff.

"o-oh, what"s the tea?" your roommate wiggles her brows at which you shake your head.

"nothing much really" you sigh, leaning back again "he's just like the most arrogant and stuck up fuckboy ever"

"wow, well thats not nothing" chaeryong laughs "any reason as to why you think that?"

"you could probably ask any girl on campus and she'll tell you the same" you scoff.

"really girl?" chaeryong squints an eye at you playfully "cause i've only heard of him being hot but never of him being a hoe. And you know i'm the first to know the hot gossip" she winks.

Laughing defeatedly, running your hand through your hair.

"it's just- we hit it off at the campus' new years eve party, like really hit it off- at least thats what i thought"

"oooh spill it spill it" chaeryong leaps over to your bed to sit at the end of it.

"well there's really not much to spill, i gave him my number and he was talking all that smack about taking me out and stuff aaand to make a long story short i never heard from him again"

"well" chaeryong speaks slowly, biting her lip guiltily "i dont think you'll be very happy about me giving changbin your number for him, then?"

"you did what???" your eyes almost pop out of your head.

"sooorryy" she jumps up from your bed, clutching her hands apologetically "i didnt know"

"aaaaarghh" you whine, burying your face in your pillow.

"maybe he won't even text you though" chaeryong tries to console you, but the damage is already done...

-

unknown number - hey i got this number from changbin, i heard you're driving up to seoul, i'd love to tag along if you're looking for someone to share expenses with -recieved at 9:12 am

You huff looking at the message on your phone.

After chaeryong had left last night you really convinced yourself that he couldn't possibly dare to reach out to you.

But here you are reading his message after just waking up, and your day is already ruined.

you - who is this? - sent at 9:56 am

You know who it is, but you're not going to give him the satisfaction of thinking that you do.

Scoffing when he answers almost immediately.

unknown number - this is hyunjin, did i reach the right person? - recieved at 9:57 am

You have two choices at this point.

1. be petty and bitter about a boy who probably doesn't even remember you.

Or 2. move on and help someone who is also just trying to get home and also maybe get some closure.

So you curse your mother for rasing you so well and suck it up.

you - yea sure, i planned on leaving tomorrow at around 6 pm - sent at 10:02 am

Damn you and your common human decency.

he sus - oh okay great :) i only have one suitcase and a backpack btw so i wont take up alot of space or anything - recieved at 10:05 am

he sus - also i feel weird bc i dont know ur name or anything changbin literally just sent me the number and nothing else lol, also 6 sounds good should we meet at the main building then? -sent at 10:06 am

You're quite honestly not shocked that he seems nice over text because he was the same when you met on new years eve.

you - sure lets meet at the main building, my car is white and my name is y/n - sent at 10:09 am

Cringing as you press the send button because you are 99% certain he won't answer anymore; not that you'd care, obviously.

he sus - alright y/n see you tomorrow at 6 then :) - recieved at 10:14 am

You raise your brows when your phone lights up with his message, does he really not remember you?

Was he that drunk?

Well, it doesnt matter because you don't want to pay for all this gas alone and he seems to be the next best option to fix that.

So you shrug it off and get out off bed to run some last errands and start packing.

-

Your heart is beating unreasonably fast when you take a turn towards the main building at 5:55 pm the next day.

Calm down y/n it’ll just be 5 hours and who says you have to talk to him?

However you do know deep in your heart that you only wanted to arrive just a little early so you could complain about him being late.

That plan got cut short because your eyes fall on him as you pull up to the main building.

He’s- oh my god he’s blonde. You stop your car and he looks up at you.

“it is you!” hyunjin smiles at you when you step out of the car.

“who else would it be?” you ask, a little irritated at his reaction.

His face drops a bit when he sees you clearly annoyed by him, but the doesn’t blame you; he’d be mad too.

You open your trunk for him to put his weirdly small suitcase into, looking him up and down as he lifts it inside.

He’s wearing dark baggy pants and a windbreaker jacket, the top part of his chin-length blonde hair is pulled back into a messy ponytail.

He seemed to have bulked up as well, shoulders looking broader than what you remember.

The hair is different than the jet black hair that you remember on him, but it suits him very well; to be honest he would look good in any hair colour, not that you’d care though.

The first thirty minutes of the ride go by agonizingly slow and in complete silence.

When you drive onto the freeway you can’t take it anymore and mumble something among the lines of ‘wanna listen to some music?’.

You don’t wait for an answer, pressing the radio button right as you finish your sentence.

“uh, actually” hyunjin starts, his hand lifting to turn the radio back off, your eyes snap towards him, is he serious? Turning off your radio in your car?

“I wanted to address this situation” he says rather quietly.

You scoff “what? You realized that this is awkward just now?”

“no- I mean- yes I understand why you would think that but I just really want a chance to explain myself” he stutters.

“explain yourself” you repeat after him before mumbling “sure because there’s so much to explain”

“listen, I know you think I’m an asshole who just ghosted you b-“

“listen, I can handle rejection, you could’ve just said that you weren’t looking for something serious and I would’ve accepted that. The thing I’m mad about though is you literally making false promises and shit” 

Hyunjin blinks at you “can I please just explain to you what happened?”

You let out a long huff “sure” you wave your hand “go ahead”

“when you and your friends left at around 4, you wrote your number on my arm with your eyeliner, correct?” he asks.

Glancing over at him, you nod.

“after you where gone, I was already pretty drunk but then my friends decided to drag me with them to a different party that was still going” you see him fiddling with his hands in your peripheral “well I got super fucking shitfaced at that party and ended up puking on this one guys shoes”

You raise your eyebrows and hold back a laugh, which he notices.

“its okay you can laugh” he chuckles as well.

“anyways that guy was not very happy about it and busted my lip before kicking me and my friends out, so then back in the dorm my roommate sat me in the shower because I was full of alcohol, blood and puke”

“ew” you chime in.

“and when I woke up the next morning your number was gone” hyunjin looks over at you “we don’t have any mutual friends, I didn’t know what your major is so I couldn’t even asks for you in the administrating office, and then the covid lockdown happened and here we are”

“you called the administrating office?” you look over at him, he nods a little smile on his stupid pretty lips.

“yep, so, sorry to tell you but your eyeliner is not waterproof” he jokes at which you playfully knit your brows at him.

“believe me, I wanted to text you. I really wanted to take you out; and when you sent me your name yesterday I didn’t know if this was a lucky coincidence or if you’re a different y/n, that’s why I didn’t say anything” he explains.

You take a deep breath as you realize you have to apologize for going off on him just now, you believe him but you hate apologizing.

“well, I feel like an ass for going off on you like that after hearing all this” you chuckle “I’m sorry” you eye him shortly before looking back on the road.

“it’s okay, you don’t have to apologize I get how it looked, very much sus” he laughs with you.

-

Coming back to your car after you took a bathroom break on a highway rest-stop, you see hyunjin sitting in the drivers seat.

“what do you think you’re doing?” you smile as you sit down on the passenger seat.

“I thought maybe you’d like to sleep since its dark already and you’ve been driving for almost 3 hours” he suggests while putting on his seatbelt.

“well, I wont say no to that” you shrug and put your seatbelt on as well.

“so when did you go blonde?” you ask curiously.

“uh- around end of june” hyunjin chuckles “it was a dare if I’m being honest but I ended up liking it and got it redone”

“oh okay” you check out his profile once more and follow his hair with your eyes “I like it”

“yea?”

“yea, which is weird cause I’m usually not into blondes at all” you wonder.

“hm” he grins “must be me then” he says before winking at you.

“pfff, in your dreams” you rebuttal playfully, at which he laughs and mumbles a ‘true’.

You don’t react to it because you think your ears are playing tricks on you.

“hey I have a question too” hyunjin says.

“what’s up” you lean your arm against the window as you look over at him.

His face is slightly lit by the lights of the other cars, no seriously, how can a side profile be so perfect?

“why did you even agree to take me with you if you thought I ghosted you?” he grins.

You laugh “well, I’m a nice person and I know not a lot of people there are from seoul and my mom raised me right, okay?”

“okay okay” he giggles, the way his eyes crinkle when he does makes you smile everytime.

“or…did you have such a good time with me on new years that you just had to jump on this opportunity?” he quips, carefully stealing a peek at you.

“sure, why do you think I was so upset when you didn’t text” you feign sadness.

The both of you laugh before falling into comfortable silence.

When looking outside your window, you think back to said new years eve.

-(flashback)

“oh my god” you said, stepping into the big hall that usually is the universities gym. But whoever planned this outdid themselves.

A dj was placed on one of the tribunes and a whole buffet of drinks and punches on the other, as well as a big disco ball hanging from the ceiling, making the room shimmery and shiny.

You could see people coming out of the doors that connected into the universities hall on one side and into the locker rooms on the others, as if it wasn’t already packed.

“this is fucking insane” lia, your roommate from last semester, squeaked while grabbing your arm and jumping a little, her voice overpowering the blasting music..

“I wanna get fucking hammered tonight” you turned to her.

“oh babe don’t worry,  we didn’t come here to drink soda” she laughed before spotting some of your other friends.

About five minutes before midnight you and some more girls gathered at the buffet of drinks and started doing shots.

You all had decided that instead of kissing someone at 12 o’clock you’d ring in 2020 with a shot, because alcohol can’t cheat on you.

You were laughing at something when some people started the countdown.

10!

9!

8!

7!

6!

5!

4!

3!

2!

1!

“HAPPY NEW YEAR”

Every one shouted and celebrated in union as you downed your shot.

“happy new year babe” lia hugged you after downing hers.

“happy new year!” you shouted into her ear, full of relief that this stressful year was over.

“lets do another one” she grinned widely after your whole friend group had shared their wishes with each other.

A girl you didn’t know very well handed you another shot, just as you emptied your glass you heard a guy yell something before stumbling into your back.

“jesus” you stumbled forward a bit before turning around, ready to throw someone a dirty look.

“I’m so sorry, are you okay?” in front of you suddenly stood a tall dark haired young man with almost too perfect facial features, frowning a little out of concern.

“nothing happened” you smiled, taking a step towards him so he’d hear you better.

“I’m glad” he replied, a grin slowly stretched across his handsome face

“I’m y/n” you giggled as you held out your hand.

His eyes crinkled with his smile as he took your hand in his “I’m hyunjin” he said before pressing a kiss to the back of your hand.

“okay guys let her have her fun lets go over there” you hear lia usher your friends away from behind you.

“happy new year y/n” he said before instinctively pulling you a little closer to him when a group of people passed behind you.

“happy new year hyunjin” you replied, a slow blush creeping on your face from how intensely he was taking in your appearance.

“well yea happy fucking new years to me for running into you” he joked before taking a sip, your brain wasn’t able to function anymore so you just giggled and nervously pushed your hair behind your ear.

It had been way too long since you’d talked to a guy, especially someone as attractive as him

“you’re fucking stunning” hyunjin complimented you and lifted your hand with his to make you spin for him, to which you complied because you took a long time getting ready and always appreciate being appreciated.

“thank you” you were crimson red by now but hoped he wouldn’t see because of the dimmed lights.

“how come I’ve never seen you around? I would’ve remembered you” he tilted his head.

“oh this was my first year here and I live on the other side of campus so…” you nodded slowly “but yea I would’ve remembered you too”

He grinned before downing his drink and putting on the table next to the both of you.

“wanna dance?”

That’s how you found yourself on the dance floor with hyunjin pressed against your back.

Slowly but surely the alcohol made you braver; and it didn’t take long for the dj to play perfect songs to grind yourself against his toned body to.

His reaction was instant, hands gripping even harder at your waist and his own movements matching your own.

You looked back at him just to have the air knocked out of your lungs, a barely there sheen of sweat was covering his forehead; his pupils were dilated and his lips were slightly parted before his tongue swiftly swept over his lower lip.

He looked like sex on legs and moved like it too.

His plump lips formed into a grin when he noticed you staring, you didn’t know if it was the alcohol running through your system but you so desperately wanted to kiss him.

“can’t stop looking at you either, pretty” he lowered his head to mumble against your cheek before pressing a kiss there.

“you’re so goddamn sexy” you blurted out as you turned around to face him, running one of your hands through his dark hair before positioning them on his firm chest.

He threw back his head as his chest vibrated with laughter.

“don’t laugh at me” you laughed as you locked eyes again.

“you’re cute when you’re drunk” hyunjin brought one hand to your face to tuck a strand of hair behind your ear.

“you dont even know me sober” you giggle “also i’m not drunk!” you protested playfully, his hands found your waist in the meantime to pull you flush to his body; at which you gasped almost inaudibly.

“oh really?” he looked down at you, clearly amused “didn’t you drink like 5 shots half an hour ago?”

“well well well, I didn’t know I had an audience” you countered, looping your arms around his neck.

Hyunjin prodded at the inside of his cheek with his tongue before looking away for a swift second, slightly embarrassed because he just exposed himself.

You felt yourself gush a little when he licked his lips again after bringing his gaze back to you.

“so you almost knocked me over on purpose?” you grinned even bigger when he shook his head laughingly.

“listen” he chuckled, leaning down unnecessarily close because you could hear him perfectly fine but you weren’t going to complain.

“I actually didn’t run into you on purpose, that was my friends doing after he saw me notice you” he said.

You mouthed an ‘ahh’ while nodding, feigning disbelief.

“I’m serious” hyunjin laughed “I still have to thank him later; I would’ve probably chickened out”

He got quieter at the end of his sentence, his eyes jumping to your lips when you wet your lower lip with your tongue quickly.

“i-m glad he pushed you then” you replied, trying to hide the fact that your heart was pumping your blood in record time.

“yea” he inched his face closer to yours as you tilted your chin up to meet him in the middle “me too”

His eyes switched from your lips to your eyes one more time before closing the gap between the both of you.

His lips were firm but soft at the same time in the way they moulded against yours, you swore you could hear lia squealing from somewhere but maybe you were just hearing things.

But when his tongue touched yours in the most tentative way you lost contact to what was going on around you, slinging your arms tighter around his neck and deepening the kiss.

A tiny groan escaped hyunjins throat when you carded your fingers through his hair to tug on it and release some of the adrenalin that rushed through you.

He was slow and explorative and let you take control from time to time before sucking on your lower lip and making you loose it.

You didn’t know how many songs had passed; to be honest you didn’t even remember what song was playing when you started kissing.

All you knew in that moment was hyunjins lightly flushed cheeks, swollen lips and dark glistening eyes.

“let’s go somewhere else?” he questioned in a whisper when you bit your lip, nodding at his question.

He grabbed your hand in his before manoeuvring the both of you through the dancing and celebrating crowd.

Before you knew it, hyunjin pulled you into the entrance hall of the university where multiple people had the same idea as you.

Couples scattered across the big room, some just talking, most of them however making out heavily.

“come on” he softly tugged at your hand, smiling when your gaze falls on him.

He lead you up the big flight of stairs onto a floor of the building you’ve never been to, stopping in front of a random room before pulling a small set of keys out of his back pocket.

After unlocking the door, he opened it to let you step inside.

It was a dance studio, the wall right across from you was just one huge mirror through which you could see the big couch in the back of the room and the water dispensers next to it.

“why do you have the keys for this room?” you asked, giggling.

Hyunjin grinned as he closed the door “I’m a dance major, we all have keys for the practice rooms”

“that’s so cool” you beamed “I wish I could dance” you looked around the room, walking towards the mirrored wall a little bit.

“you were moving just fine earlier” hyunjin came up behind you, nimble hands finding your waist as he looked you up and down through the mirror intensely, now that you were under the bright lights of the room.

You couldn’t help but to smile a little at that, the tight little glitter dress that you had chosen really did accentuate your curves in the best way possible, paired with the cute black heels which made your legs look way longer than they actually are.

“but that was like club sexy dancing, you know?” you elaborated.

“hm” he hummed amusedly “whats wrong with sexy club dancing?” you turned around to him.

He didn’t look to shabby himself, all in black, a chic button up with some jeans and a belt; accessorized with rings on his pretty fingers, a  dainty silver necklace and some small earrings.

Some might say he was underdressed, but the way he carried himself with such confidence, and that face of his must for sure be a panty dropper, you thought.

“nothing but… I don’t know, teach me something” you pleaded.

“what do you want me to teach you?” he laughed.

“I don’t know a pirouette or something” you suggested, laughing as well.

“okay” he grinned “this is like the base stance” he positioned himself correctly before looking at you to see if you were following his instructions.

“mhm” you hummed, replicating what he was doing.

“and then you get momentum with one leg to be able to swing yourself around, like this” hyunjin explained before executing a perfect pirouette and ending it back in the base stance.

“that was fast” you chuckled.

“your turn” he grins before moving behind you “try to keep your eyes on yourself in the mirror otherwise you’ll loose balance”

“okay” you said unsurely.

“I’ll catch you if you fall” he winked at you, at which you scoff playfully before carefully swinging yourself into a pirouette.

You landed on wobbly legs but before you could tip over hyunjin stabilized you with a firm grip on your hips.

“you’re a natural” he grinned at you through the mirror.

“well thank you” you playfully feigned cockiness before he spun you around himself.

A few seconds pass of the both of you taking in each others features in silence, the only thing you could hear was the faint music of the party downstairs, before hyunjin spoke up.

“can I kiss you?”

You fell into giggles again as you let your forehead rest against his collarbone before looking up again “we’ve kissed before”

“yea but that was like a moment and I don’t want to catch you off guard or anything” he mumbles cutely.

“mm” you nod “ you can kiss me”

And with a smile, he does.

You weren’t surprised when his first gentle ministrations turned into more desperate ones rather quickly because you could feel the warmth spread in your lower regions as well.

He walked the both of you over to the couch, only parting from your lips when he sat down on the black leather material of the couch.

“come here, pretty girl” he took your hand to help you straddle him, your dress riding up but you couldn’t care less if he saw your safety shorts, and he didn’t seem to care either by the way he feverishly connected your lips again.

His hands travelled down to squeeze at your waist before smoothing over your ass and grabbing a handful of each cheek, you moaned into the kiss when you realized how big his hands were.

Your own hands were squeezing at his shoulders before one moved into his soft hair while the other softly rested on his cheek.

The kiss was messy and desperate, teeth clinking together and tongues licking at each other.

The things that riled you up the most however were his groans and praises.

“you’re so fucking sexy” he groaned before moving down to kiss at your jaw and down your neck.

A needy whimper escaped from your throat when he started suckling the sensitive skin at the base of your throat.

“fuck-hyunjin” you moaned when his teeth grazed over your clavicle.

Your hands fumbled before landing on his belt, at which he pulled away from your skin, gently taking your hands off of his belt.

“I’d love to take you out first, actually” his pretty kiss swollen lips twitched up into a shy smile as he pants.

“oh” you were taken aback, you were almost certain that this was something regular for him “I thought-“

“I mean if you just want to fuck we can fuck of course” he chuckled “but- I actually think you’re really cute and fun and I’d love to get to know you better”

Your mouth stood a little agape “uh- I mean-I” you stuttered, your brain not functioning properly because of the alcohol running through your veins but also him!

“its okay if you just want, you know-“

“no!” you blurted out all over sudden, making him flinch a little “sorry, uhm- its just been a while since I had a date” you smile apologetically.

His expression visibly brightens “that’s okay” he giggled “so is that a yes?”

You grinned, leaning in to just barely brush your lips with his, his head twitching upwards in an attempt to connect them fully.

“yes” you whispered, at which he smiled brightly before pulling your in for a kiss by your neck.

-(flashback end)

“y/n”

“hey, y/n” you grumble when you feel someone gently rocking your shulder.

“mmm-what?” you peek your eyes open just to see hyunjin smile at you.

“good morning sunshine” he teases as you sit up in your seat when you realize you aren’t driving anymore.

“just kidding its not morning” he says as you look around your car, realizing your on a parking lot.

“where the fuck are we?” you whip your head towards him “did you bring me here to kill me? kidnap me?”

“wha?- no” he laughs “no, I’m sorry. Right after you fell asleep there was this huge traffic jam because of an accident and we stood there for almost 3 hours so I drove off and found this” he points out the rear window, where you see a small motel building.

You look back at him before checking the time on your phone, seeing it was indeed almost midnight.

“fuck” you swear to yourself.

“I didn’t know if you wanted to keep driving because I was getting tired so I thought maybe-“ hyunjin starts rambling guiltily, not wanting you to thing that this was an attempt to get in your pants.

“hey” you put your hand on his shoulder after taking off your seatbelt “this is good, you made the right decision I think we both could use some sleep” you say.

You each take your suitcases and walk inside, it’s an old building but it looks pretty clean for a motel off of the highway.

“good evening you two” an old lady sits behind the, probably just as old, reception.

“good evening, could we get 2 single rooms, please” hyunjin speaks up politely.

“I’m afraid we only have 2 double bed rooms available, if you’d like to take them, they will however be more expensive than the rooms for one” she explains politely.

“its okay, we’ll take one of those, please” you decide, hyunjins head snapping towards you.

“is that okay?” you ask him.

“yea- sure” he nods.

“alright, room 301 it is” she hands you the key before stating that you’ll have to checkout before 12 pm and what the room costs.

“do you accept card?” hyunjin asks at which the friendly old lady nods before taking his card and swiping it through her little machine.

“I’ll venmo you half of what you paid” you say after unlocking room 301.

He tsk’s at you before shaking his head “don’t, it was my idea so I’ll pay”

“are you sure?” you ask closing the door behind you when he turns on the lights.

“yup-oh” he exclaims.

“this room is cute” you say, it’s small but the walls are a soft sunflower yellow, decorated with paintings of autumn leaves .

The bed looks clean, and when you smell the mouse gray blankets and pillows, they smell fresh as well.

“stop smelling the pillows” hyunjin laughs.

“I’ve never been to a motel, I thought everything would be dirty or ancient” you confess comically.

He chuckles as he comes out of the small bathroom “the bathroom is clean too, don’t worry” he says when you look at him expectantly.

“I’ll sleep on the floor if you want” he offers as you open your suitcase to get out your toothbrush and pj’s.

“it’s fine, hyunjin I’ve slept in the same bed as a male before” you joke.

“well how am I supposed to know that?” he counters, at which you throw your pj shorts at him out of reflex.

When you realize what you had done it was too late, he was already holding them out in front of him before giggling.

“very cute choice” he mocks the small white shorts with red hearts all over it.

“stoop” you whine, trying to fish it out of his hands but he holds them over his head like a kindergartener.

“I remember why I don’t like you” you pout, crossing your arms.

His face drops alongside with his arms “I thought we were past that”

You use his moment of weakness to snatch your shorts out of his hands “gotcha”

-

“see I told you I was gonna take you out” hyunjin beams at you before looking down at the various snacks he took from the motels vending machine, which were laying in between the both of you on the bed.

“and so luxurious too” you joke, crossing your legs.

“only the best for you” he grins when you open a pack of fruit jellies.

“you know, I was thinking about new years” you say “ and I realized that it was your fault!”

Hyunjin throws his head back as he groans playfully “why?”

“if you hadn’t lost your phone when we got back downstairs, I wouldn’t have had to write my number on your arm; or you could’ve just given me your number and I could’ve text you. But you didn’t even know your own number!” you laugh in reminiscence.

“listen” he laughs “I was drunk and you’re hot! I couldn’t think” he defends himself before taking a bite off a chocolate bar.

You blush a little but play it off with a laugh.

“but yes, I admit, it was indeed my fault” he dramatically holds his hand in front of his eyes.

“yeeees!” you exclaim victoriously.

“I’m kidding though” you pat his knee “I forgive you”

“I’m glad” he smiles.

After the both of you are done eating way too many sweets, you find yourself being really comfortable when talking to hyunjin.

He’s funny, doesn’t seem like he’s full of himself and just in general seems like a very kind person.

“I thought you were a fuckboy when me met” you confess, looking at him.

Propped on one elbow looking down at you, while you lay on your side towards him, his face illuminated only by the little lights on each of your nightstands.

“you did?” he asks confusedly.

“yea” you chuckle “you were so confident and…sexy I don’t know” you place your hand over your face in embarrassment.

“oh that was the liquid courage talking, I’m usually pretty shy” he shakes his head smilingly when you peek through your fingers.

“don’t lie” you push his shoulder softly.

“I’m serious!” he laughs.

“you were the first guy to approach me at a party” you pause “like ever”

“no way, you’re lying now” he furrows his brows.

“nope” you shake your head.

“but I was really close to not talking to you as well, I’m sure there were many guys before me that just didn’t have the liquid courage, like I did” he speculates.

“maybe” you say.

“have any exes?” he asks after a few seconds.

“yea, one”

“well how did you meet him?”

“he showed me around on my first day of freshman year, I transferred like in the middle of the first semester so I wasn’t with any other freshmen” you tell him.

“why’d you break up if I may ask?” hyunjin asks carefully.

“oh we were only together for like three weeks, you can’t even call I relationship. He used me to make his hot ex jealous and cheated on me with her” you say “but hey they’re back together at least” you scoff.

“i’m sorry” he mumbles at which you look up at him.

“it’s not your fault” you chuckle.

“well, still no one should feel that way” he says “you know that you were way too good for him right?”

You nod.

“what about you? Have any exes?” you ask back.

He snickers “only one in seoul”

“why didn’t you last?”

“it was a long distance situation, she was super jealous and couldn’t trust me. which I can understand to a certain degree but everytime I went out she wanted me to facetime her and show her what kinds of people were there with me. That was just too much” he explains.

“wow” you chuckle “that doesn’t sound fun either”

Hyunjin shakes his head “nope, but hey we got rid of ‘em, didn’t we?”

“yea” you giggle “plus if I hadn’t broken up with him I would’ve probably never gone to the new years eve party”

“I guess I owe him something then” he grins as you scooch up on the bed.

“can I kiss you?” you ask after a few seconds of silence.

“hm?” hyunjins eyes almost spring out of his head.

“I don’t want to catch you off guard” you grin as you repeat his words from the night you met, sitting up.

He licks his lower lip as a grin stretches over his face as he sits up as well “do your worst”

You get up on your knees to shuffle over to him, when you get close enough hyunjin grabs one of your thighs and lifts it over his legs so you’re straddling him.

Once you sit down on his lap, your eyes lock again and you’re once again baffled as to how someone can be so god damn attractive.

His eyes flicker from your eyes to your lips expectantly, a shaky breath leaving his lips when you lean in.

Your lips connect and it feels like all the pent up energy of liking him since that night finally gets set free, sparks glowing behind your lit and his hands leaving a trail of fire where ever they go.

They squeeze at your thighs and waist, pulling you impossibly close to himself.

A whimper tears from your throat when his tongue licks at yours, he tastes like chocolate and what could only be described as him.

He moans into the kiss when you tug at the blonde locks that weren’t pulled back into the ponytail; before pulling the hair tie out of his hair to free it and finally card your fingers through all of the blonde glory.

Before you realize what’s going on, hyunjin lifts the both of you before dropping you on your back and crawling above you.

The fact that he just lifted the both of you from a sitting position as if you weigh nothing makes you feel all types of hot.

“you’re so hot holy shit” you pant as you push his long hair out of his face.

“ditto” he only grins before attaching his lips to your exposed collarbone and sucking a bruise into the skin.

“take it off” you moan as you tug on the dark blue calvin klein shirt he’s wearing.

His lips release the skin of your collarbone before sitting up to pull the shirt over his head.

If your mouth wasn’t already open from your heavy breathing, you would’ve opened it now because his body is more sculpted and toned than you had expected.

Your hand lifts to smooth over his abs, muscles flexing as he connects your lips again.

His one hand slides from your waist up to cup one of your breasts, gently palming the soft flesh.

“I know I said I wanted to take you out first but-“ he mumbles against your lips.

“you bought me a lovely dinner” you interrupt him, threading your fingers through the hair that’s falling down into his vision.

He grins, dropping a short peck to your lips before his the grin gets wiped off his face “I don’t have a condom with me”

“I’m on the pill” you let him know “I got tested before the lockdown and I haven’t been with anyone since soo…”

“yea, me too, I was tested a few months ago” he nods.

You nod back, biting your lip as you absently play with his hair.

“do you trust me?” hyunjin asks, observing your demeanour.

“yea- yea I do I’m just nervous” you smile awkwardly.

“no” he coos before kissing you “why are you nervous?”

“just haven’t been with anyone for a while” you confess.

Hyunjin nods understandingly “if you don’t want to do this we’ll stop”

“no I really want to” you look into his eyes as confidently as you can.

“okay” he smiles, planting his lips on yours again.

“can i?” his voice gives you goosebumps when he mumbles against the sensitive skin under your ear, his fingers slowy undoing the loose knot of your heart shorts.

“yes” you say when he locks eyes with you.

“I love these shorts” he softly presses a kiss to your knee, trying to calm your nerves a little, before he gently rocks your hips to pull them off of you.

You blush a little out of embarrassment but smile when you lift your hips to help him.

“cute” he whispers when he see’s your panties have a little bow on the front.

He chuckles when you hide your face in embarrassment, pulling you closer to him again by your thighs before you let him kiss you again.

“can I take this off too?” hyunjin whispers, softly pulling at the fabric of the tank top you’re wearing, at which you nod.

You are still wearing a bra when he pulls it off so you take it into your own hands and unclasp your bra.

Your nipples stiffen a little at the sudden exposure to air, as well as to hyunjin’s admiring gaze.

“fuck” he muses when palming your breasts in his big hands, gently pushing them together an running his thumbs over your nipples.

A whimper involuntarily leaves your lips when he wraps his plump lips around one of the perked up nubs and sucks gently.

“so fucking pretty, princess” you feel yourself pathetically clench around nothing at his praise.

You feel one of his hands wander downwards to provide some friction for you, he slots his lips against yours when you tentatively roll your hips against his hand.

Hyunjin feels his cock get even harder when an almost desperate moan tumbles from your lips against his. So he ads a little more pressure and starts circling your clit with two fingers, your sighs of pleasure mixing into the kiss.

“you’re so sensitive baby” he whispers as he parts his lips from yours “can I go down on you?” he grazes his lips over your chest, looking up at you seductively.

You nod as you bite your lip, hyunjin placing a few kisses on your tummy before shortly sitting up to also free you from your soaked panties.

The first stripe he licks up your slit, and how he swirls the tip of his tongue around your clit expertly sends you to heaven.

His hands are gripping your thighs to prevent you from closing your legs, your hands are tangled in his hair and the sheets.

“hyunj-fuck” you cry out when his tongue enters you.

He carefully prods one finger at your entrance “is that okay?” he asks, his voice hoarse and dripping with lust.

“yea” you sigh.

Once you adjust to one finger, he adds a second one, curling them upwards to search for that specific patch inside of you.

“yes-fuck right there” you moan when his fingers press onto the sweetest spot inside of you, tugging at his hair a little harshly. But you feel him moan against you, getting lost in your taste as he sucks your clit in between his soft lips.

Your hips buckle against his mouth as your eyes roll backwards, feeling the warmth of your orgasm approach rapidly.

“fuck fuck yes-hyunjin” you cry out just before he tipped you over the edge with his skillful ministration, your orgasm rushing up your spine and into your head, endorphins spreading everywhere.

A cry of pleasure fills the room as your thighs starts trembling with the aftershocks, clamping around his head when he drives you into overstimulation.

“oh-shit-“ you pant as you softly pushed on his forehead to get him away from your clit, his fingers still inside you, guiding you through your high.

He nibbles on your inner thigh apologetically. You can still hear your heartbeat in your ears after hyunjin removes his fingers from you and sits up, gently holding your legs together to help you calm down.

“fuck” you mewl, a soft smile tugging at his lips.

He’s wanted to do this for so long and there you are, with all of your naked glory in front of him.

While he’s daydreaming about you, you sit up and start fiddling with his sweatpants.

“you want more?” he quips, once he realises what you’re doing, leaning in to kiss you.

“mhm” you humm into the kiss affirmitavely when his hand holds you close to him by your jaw.

With a quick last peck to your lips he simultaneously shimmies the soft black sweats and his boxers off of himself.

You apparently visibly gulp at the sight of his cock because hyunjin smirks cockily “like what you see?” as he crawls above you again, his lips finding yours again and not waiting for an answer.

“I don’t know if you’ll fit” you mumble when he suckles at the soft nook of skin under your ear.

“we can stop here” he offers softly before locking eyes again.

You shake your head as you reach down to fist his length, slowly pumping it and smearing the few drops of precum around.

“no, you’re just really big” you huff with a shy smile on your lips at which hyunjin groans.

“you’re gonna be the death of me, you know?” he mutters against your lips before kissing you deeply, his hand smoothing over the slope of your waist before coming up to gently pinch at one of your nipples.

Eliciting a soft high pitched moan from you, this only spurs him on.

Rolling his tongue against yours desperately and making you taste yourself before sinfully sucking at the wet muscle.

All the while you’re stroking him with your small hand before cupping his balls, as if he didn’t already feel like he’s gonna blow his load way too early.

“please” you whine, guiding his reddened tip towards your entrance.

Hyunjin releases a shaky breath before replacing your hand with his, rutting his hips against yours a few times, coating his length in your wetness.

This already had your toes curling, suppressing a whine as you lock your legs around his waist.

“tell me if it hurts, yea?” he breathes, only pressing inside you after you nod, dropping a kiss to your swollen lips.

“fuck” he swears softly, tucking his face in the crook of your neck when he breaches your tight walls for the first time.

Your fingers tighten in his hair at the back of his neck when a subtle sting flares up inside of you.

“ah-“ your body flinches a little when he presses further inside, hyunjin notices, observing your expression before kissing your cheek and sitting up slowly.

“you’re doing so good, baby” he lifts his thumb to his lips, swiftly kitten-licking the digit before bringing it to where your bodies join.

Gently rolling your clit under his thumb to distract you from the pain.

“you look so perfect like this” his other hand travels over your stomach to gently squeeze at your breasts “all spread out for me”

You whimper, arching your back when hyunjin thrusts into you carefully; the pain slowly subsiding and the ache to be fully filled up by him growing exponentially when his cock rubs against your g spot.

“hyunjin” you moan, gripping onto his hand, which is resting atop your breast.

“yes baby, I’m here” he groans at how tight you feel once he’s balls deep inside of you, abandoning your clit to grab you by the hips for leverage.

His other hand resting on your cheek now, after a few trusts you moan “harder, please”

Hyunjin groans and fulfils your wish, at one particularly harsh thrust, you latch your lips around his pointer and middle finger, sucking at them.

“oh my god-that’s so fucking hot” he grunts through clenched teeth.

His cock dragging along your walls deliciously, filling you up to the brim as you hum around his slender fingers in pleasure.

“you like my hands that much baby?” his jaw is clenched and the grip on your waist is rough , the contrast to how sweet he was just a few minutes earlier had you clench around him furiously.

“fuck-“ he breathes when you nod to the best of your abilities, eyes wide open and holding his gaze.

You only release his fingers from in between your lips in favour for a loud high pitched moan when his other hand finds your clit again, rubbing harsh circles into the bud.

“-gonna cum-huynjin” you dig your nails into his biceps, eyes squeezing shut.

“yea?” he grits through his teeth the fingers that were previously trapped in your mouth now wrapping around your bared throat.

Not squeezing tightly, just resting there as if to show you that you’re his now.

Your thought gets confirmed when he rasps “you’re gonna date me after this, right pretty girl?”

You do look so pretty right now, tits bouncing and skin slapping because of the fast rhythm that he’s snapping his hips into yours, not to mention the subtle sheen of sweat that’s coating the both of you.

A desperate breathy chuckle tumbles from your lips “ yes-yes fuck” you feel your second orgasm creeping up on you.

“cum for me princess, all over my cock” he urges you on, his tip hammering into the sweet spot inside of you repeatedly before you crash into your second high of the night.

Your body convulses in pleasure as you call out his name mixed with profanities, your toes curling so hard you’re not sure if you can ever uncurl them again, and your nails probably leaving painful indents in his skin.

His thumb on your clit slows down until you grab his hand for him to stop, his hand around your neck grabs your free one, holding both of your hands over your head now.

“so good, baby” he mumbles, kissing your lips; mostly just breathing into each other as he rocks you through every wave of your orgasm.

Hyunjin looses himself in you not long after with a guttural moan and his eyes squeezing shut.

You coax him through it when he rests his face against your neck again, running your fingertips through his damp hair and over his broad back, muscles tensing under your gentle touch.

i“don’t fall asleep on me” you whisper sneakily, grinning when he chuckles against your neck, tickling the soft skin there.

He props himself up again to scan over your features, pushing some hair out of your face before kissing you tenderly.

“you okay?” his hand resting at your temple as he gently runs his thumb over your hairline.

“more than” you assure him, cupping his cheeks to pull his lips onto yours again.You think you can never get enough of his lips, anything about him for that matter; not when he makes you feel so cared about and safe.

“so does this mean we’re dating now?” he whispers after he has cleaned you up and tucked the both of you in bed.

“hmh” you nod your head sleepily, positioned on his bare chest.

“so I can spoon you once we fall asleep?” he asks, grin evident in his voice.

“you can spoon me but you can’t wake me up in the middle of the night if you get horny” you mumble jokingly, enjoying his fingers running down your spine as your eyelids get heavier.

“okay” he giggles softly, pressing a kiss to the crown of your head before you whisper your good nights to each other.

And as promised, he doesn’t wake you up in the middle of the night because he’s horny.

It’s you who wakes him, because after 10 months of wasted time, you have a lot of catching up to do.

-

a/n: oml this is my first ever long fic so pls pls pls give me feedback, i had so much fun writing his even though it made me feel even more single but hey :))))

allsooo i waited til after work to publish this and i just saw i hit 500 followers?!?!?! thats crazy to me omg i started this like 2 months ago and so many ppl liked my stuff so much that they decided to follow me?? so i just wanna say thank u thank u thank u for hitting the follow button even though im very unorganized and everything i do is spontaneaous and not thought out well. but hey i guess there is a reason that u followed me so thank u!

(i’d love if u sent me an ask with the first one of my writings that u stumbled across, and how <3 ...only if u want tho no pressure) 

anyways thank u so much for reading if you’ve made it this far! i hope you have a great day/ night! much love

-aj

(this is a work of fiction and does not represent the real actions of stray kids or hwang hyunjin)

[yelenasdog]

talk to me? (spencer reid x fem reader)

genre: fluff 

summary: cold nights and warm coffee can be so compelling.

words: 2.2k 

warnings: mentions of having intrusive thoughts and spence being insecure, reader and spencer sleeping in the same bed. that’s all i can think of, lmk if there’s anything else!

a/n: yo! so uhhh i kinda love the start of this and dislike the end of it, but idk i think it’s still pretty snazzy!! also SPENCER IN GLASSES HAS MY HEART ok bye enjoy!!

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It was the type of cold where no matter how brightly the sun was shining, you could still feel the fresh molecules of coolness linger on your skin, hiding under the tip of your nose. It made horribly irritable little dry patches that would have to be remedied with some form of lotion, but that wouldn’t quite return back to complete normal until the end of the winter time.

But despite this, Y/n and Spencer were out and about, doing their jobs in total normalcy.

Minus being stationed in France, that is.

Although it was rare that the BAU was called overseas, Emily had needed the team’s help, and who would they be to decline a trip to the beautiful France, no less to see Prentiss as well.

So after a grueling day of blood and bad-guys, the pair made their way back to their Parisian hotel room, walking (quite wobbily, Y/n would add) along the cobblestone walkways, both of their boots clicking loudly against the rain coated stones.

It was ironic, as Spencer had attempted to wear his converse, but was denied by a worried Y/n, hearing her say “You’re going to get those things soaked, and you’ll freeze your toes right off, Dr. Reid!”

And as not to disappoint the girl, never wanting to see her mood turn as gloomy as the French sky, he complied begrudgingly. Though Y/n could swear she always saw a hint of a smile at her telling off.

Spencer was also advised by her to wear his contacts, to avoid the fogging up of his readers, but he refused, not wanting to bother with said contacts. He grew to regret that as he walked, every so often and reaching a large hand up to wipe his glasses, almost like the wind shield wipers of the bug that had been driving them around.

He chuckled at the not so distant away memories, thankful for the girl and her requests, as it turned out.

The hotel was far different from the usual dingy motels the team usually occupied when traveling, that was for certain. This one happened to be a master suite with ivory walls and silky sheets, quite opposite from the thin and scratchy yellowed covers they usually made do with.

And even though It was early in the day, the mixture of odd sleep schedules and just the heavy weight of sleepiness pressing down heavily on their shoulders, they opted to go to bed at the oh-so late time of 1:37 PM.

Daredevils, those two are.

Ignoring the first bed by the door, Spencer made a beeline for the plush queen size mattress he knew Y/n and himself would be sharing in an effort to cuddle up for warmth, sinking down into it. (After removing his shoes, of course.)

He was originally donned in just a grey Caltech shirt and some blue pajama pants, but due to the chillier weather (that he couldn’t quite seem to shake despite the thermostat in the hotel room being turned up to 76) he layered on a maroon MIT hoodie, one that he was aware Y/n would try to thieve from him, perhaps even sneaking it back in her own suitcase.

Y/n walked out of the bathroom in pale green shorts and a large and worn Led Zeppelin shirt, earning a very confused stare from Spencer. She simply shook her head and continued on her way over to the large window that was currently projected bright streams of melted gold through the glass, that would have been heated if it wasn’t for that damn cold.

“I get warm when I sleep, it bothers me.”

He nodded, watching intently as she opened and shut the blinds a few times, soft krrrrs and clicks sounding through the room as she did.

“You doing alright?” He asked, his eyeline never faltering. She turned and he picked up his copy of “A Farewell To Arms,” something she had been the one to reccomend to him, ranting on and on about Ernest Hemingway and his precious 6 toed cats. 

It was one of Spencer’s more realistic goals in life to take Y/n back to Key West to visit the Hemingway House, after her having said a childhood trip there was one of her happiest memories.

He quickly flipped to a random page, not wanting her to catch him being what he considered to be creepy, even though Y/n thought it was quite adorable.

She bit back a giggle and a smile, settling on leaving the window half open half closed. She padded over to where Spencer was, laying back onto what she imagined a cloud would feel like.

She reached over, taking the blue colored book from his hands and his thickly rimmed glasses off from where they were resting on his perfect button nose. 

She smiled to herself fondly at the items in her hands, particularly at the novel. She placed them on her bedside table (why hers and not his, Reid wasn’t too sure, but also was not going to complain), and then moved to slide between the slick tightly-tucked sheets.

“Our options were A, not be able to sleep because of Mr. Sun being out right now, or you freezing to death because Mr. Sun was blocked totally by the curtains.”

He looked over at where she had been messing around with the heavy drapes.

“I see you went in between.”

She smiled graciously, which Spencer returned immediately.

“That I did.”

A few more awkward moments of silence (not including the occasional yelling and honking from those riding on motorbikes below) passed, before she finally settled into the sheets.

She turned to the side table to her left and tugged on the chain of the old timey lamp. The room went quiet, but the pair’s minds were anything but.

Y/n’s head was swimming in intrusive thoughts, while Spencer’s was a hazy cloud of self deprecations and his own voice keeping him awake, staring at the painted ceiling.

“Spence?”

“Mmhm?”

“Can you talk to me?”

Spencer’s brows furrowed. He shifted around in the creme sheets of the bed, finding a cold spot quite quickly.

“What do you want me to say?”

Silence.

“Anything.”

She turned over to now be facing the lanky boy, their noses nearly touching. She held her breath, sucking in a bottom lip.

He looked to her eyes, to her lips, and back to her eyes again, quickly gathering a list of things to ramble about.

“Well,” he began, “Paris was originally founded in the 3rd century BC, and was a Roman city called Lutetia, and to prove it, there’s even remains of Roman ruins in the capital. And speaking of monuments, in total, there are 1,803 of them, and 173 museums in Paris alone- Y/n?”

To his surprise, Y/n’’s idea had worked. Spencer looked over to see a sleeping Y/n, a peaceful expression resting upon her features.

He smiled at the idea that he had played some role in that, closing his own eyes. The cloud that was previously keeping him from long awaited slumber was now a light film, nagging at the back of his head quietly. 

He simply told the voice to quiet down and was then able to lull himself to sleep, Y/n’s presence calming him to no end.

It wasn’t until 8 hours later that they had woken up, first Spencer, followed by Y/n. She peeked open her eyes, pleasantly surprised by the lack of light shining through the curtains. 

She wiggled around, stretching from her neck down to her toes. Spencer smiled at this, finding her resemblance to a cat who had been sunnapping, quite endearing.

She moved to her side, placing a hand under her chin to get a better look at the Doctor who was nearly finished reading her copy of “A Farewell to Arms”.

“Did you at least mark my spot?” She asked, voice raspy from sleep.

He scoffed, flipping to and then showing her the bookmarked page of the story.

“What do you think I am, a monster?”

She chuckled, sitting up next to Spencer.

“I mean, I don’t know, sometimes it seems like it”.

He rolled his eyes, setting down the read and hopping out of bed.

“What are you doing, Spence?” She asked, not amused in the slightest by the idea of having to get out of bed.

“We are going to get coffee.”

She shook her head of messy hair, the wispy bits flowing around her like a halo in the hotel room lighting.

“You can go get us coffee and bring it right back over here, alright? Thanks, you’re a doll.”

He did that thin lipped smile that seems to be his equivalent of a smirk, grabbing a hoodie from the inside of his suitcase that was perched on top of a dresser.

“Come on, we’re going on an adventure. Use this and the idea of coffee as an incentive.”

He tossed her the hoodie, the jacket landing by her feet with an audible plop.

She loudly groaned, shrugging it on and pulling herself out of bed. She also managed to tug on some jeans and an overcoat, as well as her boots, shaking her head at Spencer’s lack of preparation for the cold temperatures, as always. 

“Spencer, I am not about to go to this and have you complain about being cold the whole time, put on your coat, please.” She gestured to where it was hanging in the closet with her hand still concealed by her trench coat’s pocket, her eyes shutting and her head lolling to the side.

“If you insist.”

“Yes I do, put it on, lets go.” She said drawing out the “o”.

Spencer’s eyes widened and he lifted his hands in mock surrender. “My apologies, good morning to you too.”

She only rolled her eyes and smiled, opening the door to the room and leading the way.

By the time she had found a coffee shop on Yelp that she had deemed satisfactory, (which was extremely difficult due to the language barrier) the time had passed even later, and the temperature was even lower.

The lights on the streets sparkled, reflecting in the puddles of the water that lined the asphalt. Y/n was quite enchanted by the little light shows, slowing the journey to the shop significantly. Spencer didn’t mind, though, he enjoyed every second he got to spend with her to the absolute fullest, and found her fascination with every part of life inspiring.

When they finally reached the quaint little coffee shop, they walked inside, finding refuge in the warmth of the establishment.

Spencer ordered for them, and Y/n found a table (as that’s what they always did, taking turns between ordering and scouting a place to sit).

She located a cozy little corner by a window, a perfect place to observe those who bustled about at night, watching them and coming up with back stories, whatever they may be.

She enjoyed doing that, it made her believe she had a better understanding of the world around her, why those she works on catching every day behave in the manner they do.

And what better place to do so than Paris?

So she flagged Reid (who now was in possession of the two drinks) over, taking hers from his hand. 

“Latte with two creams and 4 sugars for the lady.”

She smiled graciously, allowing the heat of the cup to spread through her system.

“And what did you get? Let me guess, a shot of espresso with 12 sugars?”

Spencer rolled his eyes, not wanting to admit she was more correct than he had hoped.

“Ha ha, very funny, Y/n.”

She smiled over her small mug, quirking a brow.

“Oh, I know.”

He shook his head and glanced out the window with a low chuckle, watching as people from all walks of life went about their business, some with dogs, some with children, some of them even walking along with a cup of coffee in their hands, similarly to Spencer and Y/n. Some of them, in fact, had all three.

As the two sat observing, sipping away at their respective concoctions, Y/n spoke up, her voice soft, although considering they were the only two in the shop, it didn’t need to be.

“Spence?”

“Hmm?”

Only then did she tear her glance away from those on the street, her full focus now on Reid. She admired his bone structure, in awe over the way the soft light reflected off his strong jaw and high cheeks. At that moment, he looked like he belonged in the Louvre.

“Thank you.”

“What for?” He finally looked towards her, his hand never moving from where it was positioned under his chin.

She simply shrugged, wrapping her coat tighter around herself.

He darted his eyes to the table and then her eyes, taking a deep breath. “Well, you’re welcome, I guess.”

She smiled and nodded at once, satisfied with his response.

While she looked out the window once more, she began to wonder about those around her. If they felt the same strong emotions that she did, if they held the same hope and desire for the future that she did.

And as she took another sip from her drink, closing her eyes and slowly was drifting off with the sounds of the city, she could only hope that they did.

🂦∙🂦∙🂦

i hope u enjoyed that bc i feel like the imagery in the first paragraph was immaculate 😁 also! i ask that in the reblogs no cussing (and on my blog now in general) is used for personal reasons :) kk luv u bye bb! go take an electronics break and drink some water+ eat some protien (cashews, cheese, whatever ur feeling!)

xx hj 

[starlitami]

suna hcs <3

→ not a hc but i wanna shotgun w him

→ 7/11 slushie trips at 3 am </3

→ dancing around in your socks at 2 am

→ HIS MUSIC TASTE IS REALLY DIVERSE but around the twins its just what THEY like

basically he absolutely listens to charlie burg and 5sos

→ FUCK SO KISSING HIM IS NEVER JUST KISSING HIM ITS ALWAYS VERY SENSUAL

→ hes attentive and learns his s/o’s skincare routine…

he also learned how to do makeup for them if they wear it…

→ UH???? THAT ONE DRESS I WANT INCORPORATED INTO A MATCHING OUTFIT WITH HIM ON A DATE?????? GOODNIGHT. GOD IM COMING UP.

→ grrrrr when you cuddle with him you are LITERALLY tangled together

sometimes he lays on top of you </3

please play with his hair. he will tell you he loves you while you do

→ i doubt he says i love you a lot so its usually just quick forehead kisses (or crown of the head kisses bc he is big man)

→ if ur sad he just holds you.. sometimes he’ll rock you in his arms

→ he is WHIPPED just so you know. i genuinely dont think rin would do meaningless relationships.

→ he likes holding hands but you know what he likes more?

interlocking pinkies.

yeah.

→ okay but suna leaning down to whisper in your ear at dinner with the twins or sumn asking to leave…

“theyre fighting again baby.. they wont notice us leaving”

“rintarō no!”

→ if you can't sleep he’ll hum to you if you ask him to :/

→ calls you every nickname there is.

around the twins he calls you lovey dovey ones to gross them out.

it grows on him and how he calls you darling and sweets when he asks for something </3

when yall are alone he uses the classic babe/baby and then the mean nicknames couples use

if possible he will make so many nicknames out of your name..

→ please call him a nickname like honey. he will short circuit.

“rinta. honey, come to bed”

suna: uh uhm uhm uhhh uhm hmmm huh uh i- GRRR BARK BARK RUFF RUFF AWOOGA

“taro? baby?”

→ please just hug him.

while he's washing dishes

when he gets home

when yall are just sitting on the couch

anytime, anywhere. hug this man

→ just like...hold him

→ basically give this man your everything bc he will give you his is what im saying

→ he loves just holding you. it reminds him that youre his even when atsumu flirts with you constantly (only to get a rise out of rin)

→ god fuck arson with suna?

→ hes so pretty. do his make up.

i cant guarantee itll go that well though…

“rin stop moving i swear to god”

“(y/n) my eyeliner better look good. or ill send you to the twins.”

“taro your eyeliner wont look good if you dont stop moving”

basically just tell him itll look like shit and mans will shut up immediately

→ OH MY GOD????? HE WOULD ABSOLUTELY TEAHC YOU HOW TO SKATE IF YOU DIDNT KNOW HOW TO

→ he would propose so stupidly goodnight.

“yk what would be cool and sexy?”

“what rinta..”

“marrying me <3”

→ okay i know i was talking ab kissing earlier but like SOFT MAKEOUTS????????

→ okay wait… dates with him… fuck...

skatepark dates…

at home takeout movie dates…

study dates…

this man calls facetimes a date. goodnight. i love him

→ 3am facetimes when you cant be together :(

please fall asleep on call with him

hes never felt more in love

→ he probably has a habit of telling you shit you do wrong so :/

→ this man is as bad as me when it comes to his favorite artists dropping songs

“the harmonies…”

“THE BASS?????????”

“the background vocals. goodnight.”

→please i love him </3

[onf-headcanons]

ONF and their high maintenance S/O (mostly about makeups and manicures)

dislcaimer : I dont support the mentality of aegyoing/manipulating/sabotaging your partner to buy you stuffs. Gifts are gifts but its not their are not full responsibility. It is also not a duty/obligation for your partner to recognize delicate makeup product when they can't and buy you your makeup product as well.

What i am saying even though here is that bf gifting lipsticks it does not mean guys should do it and also does not mean that if your own bf could not do it then they dont love you. ok let go to hcs.

Hyojin

I think he will ask you to drop the heavy makeup after you two are comfortable with each other. To him it was not your makeup that impressed him to date you.

He is the type that "I don't get make up but ok you look good" type of person, I mean have you watched how he get ready to go out in the Berlin trip? He just do basic stuffs not even a delicate touch XD

I think because he has a sister back at home? But if you think he will at least know a bit of stuffs because he has a sister then you are wrong lol

But he does understand if you wanna doll up a bit. I think he personally appreciates those times when he caught himself felt that you are dazzling.

I think its cute that maybe you only do basic light make up when going out with him but then when you join him with his friends, you wanna look good so you will put on proper make up (not over heavy ones). But Hyojin be like , " oh, come on... Its just my friends XD"

He is the type that waits for you, unless you have really bad time management, he will come over to rush you. "Hey hey hey, we are gonna be late"

Does not interested at make up or beauty stuffs so he would always questions with curiosity when he saw stuffs like.. " Glue? for what? Eyelashes? Won't it be dangerous?" (Especially you are the type that watches make up vids)

Bonus, you are in charge of his skin care, most of the time.

another bonus, the type that laughs at you if you are the type that opens your mouth when you are drawing eyeline

Changyoon

Very similar to Hyojin so I will skip make up and focus on the nail polish

(Also expanding the Changyoon who loves your hand hcs)

He knows of nail polish and the basic stuffs like base, polish and top, but did not pay full attention on manicure and pedicure stuffs

So when the first time you brought out mini UV light to cure your nails, he goes " Woah they got stuffs like that? why no one told me? I spend minutes blowing at my nails to dry during BB era"

Bonus if you work in nail salon or pick up manicure as hobby, i think you might share a bit of design you found online and ask him his opinions. His will comment a bit.

Also you might grasp his hands and try out newly thought designs on his hands

Bonus if he blushes and burst into laughter until you jokingly snap at him, "Ya, its not the first time I do design test out using your hands? Why are you beet red?"

To go deep into his mentality, he does not hate make up, he gets it. But for manicure he acknowledges it as art expression of oneself as well.

I think he prefer short nail manicure, once you get a longer sharper designs and you cant do your task like how you did normally, Changyoon nags you.

Also Changyoon thoughts on fake nail stickers, "Super convenient!"

He would love to try do your manicures if he got the chance. Not just painting plain color, he might also try following designs that your show him.

Seungjun

He is a delicate boy hahahah (watch leaders Berlin trip then you will get it)

Not the type that can recognize different shades of lipstick or foundation, but he still have basic knowledge. I do see is the type that will keep in mind what color you uses and will present you your favorite lipstick color. Or even randomly choose 1 color that he thinks it might look good on you.

I think you two will stand side by side in front of mirror and do make up and help each other check a bit. Especially eye shadow color, and hairstyles (if it is outdoor date day)

The type that notices changes on you but will tease you by keep saying the wrong answers. "Hey you look different? Is it the eyeshadow? Or was it a new earring? eh I was wrong?*devilsh smile"

He has two sisters so he is used and knows that girls and high maintenance people wears makeup. BB cream at least.

Fascinated when he first time sees you do your own manicure, he saw Changyoon paint nails during BB era, but if it is his first time seeing you painting quite complicated nail design from scratch, he goes "OOOOOOH so thats is how it done? 0A0"

I think he might introduce his sisters to you if you are a makeup artist or if you work at nail salon

Bonus if you are the type that do really minimum skin care, because of his (idk if i am using the right word) eagerness of doing facial mask, you might pick that up too lol

Both of you having facial mask on and chilling on the couch watching TV

another bonus, you two bickering because either one of you made the other one laugh too much making the mask cracked if it is dried up cream type.

Jaeyoung

He is like a combination of Hyojin and Seungjun?

Not sure on his skin care stuff but he will do basic stuff and I think he focus on stylizing his hair more? (but unlike Seungjun, Jaeyoung is more on styling using wax and hairspray)

the type who cant tell difference in lipstick shade lol

He thinks light makeup with less procedure/product look good on you. Especially if you are the one who is super insecure and wakes up super early to do heavy but natural looking makeup before work

Owh special mention, natural shade/nude shade themed makeup is his favourite

He has high respect on people who are high maintenance, but if you are too over enthusiastic he will tell you to slow down and go light heart on it, "Its to boost confidence/feel good about yourself right? Its not to impress others by overdoing it right?"

If you are a tiktok-er. I think you might ask Jaeyoung to do the my boyfriend did my make up challenge (To add, you cant trust Hyojin and Seungjun on this cos high chance if their prank mode kick in, rip. Changyoon will do it tho but you need to persuade him. Jaeyoung and Minkyun are the easiest to ask)

If sometimes Jaeyoung caught seeing you watching manicure design vids or you happened to try out a new manicure design from tutorial you saw online, he will sit beside, try hard to not disturb you. But while watching he will goes "Uwa, Shingi hada/ this is intriguing/amazing." (Try watch Mini game heaven season 2 0316, when he is the one holding the word board, the face he make as he is watching the leaders appeared in my head when writing this lol)

bonus, if you are doing really intricate work like placing a small sticker or draw a small design or sticking a small trinket? on your nails, Jaeyoung will also focus with you by holding his breath as he watches you doing your tasks

Minkyun

You trusted this boy to do BF do my makeup challenge and you regret it soon after, but the view results are amazing lol

but i think their S/O might lowkey get trauma lol and always decline Minkyun offer to help do makeup hahah

But again, when he do try to do it properly, he is ok

bonus, you two had to get another mirror because Minkyun is standing in front yours to check himself out every time he styles his hair a single bit, and it delays your pace of doing your make up.

Appreciate effort of you wanna look good, also he is the type who sits behind S/O while waiting them to finish up makeup (others will wait outside, But Minkyun is the type I want see whole process of how their S/O "transform")

Also the one who will sit beside you as you do your own manicure, or, the bf who will sit beside their S/O at nail salon watching the whole process.

But his hands are busy as he is also curious, so he will reach out to check the nail polish bottle or even the UV cure machine

So, he is also the type that will follow you into Sephora or makeup selling shops (is not that the others wont follow, but I want to highlight specifically for Minkyun). Hands busy, checking out stuffs.

Unlike Seungjun, the type that really cant tell if you change new lipstick or switched new eyeshadow.

BUT I THINK THIS PERSON, HE WILL SUDDENLY DROP A NEON EYESHAOW OUT OF BLUE IN FRONT OF YOU WHEN YOU ARE PAYING. You are gonna fluster if you are not the type who do daring colors. Minkyun only giggles and say " You wont know if you don't like it if you try?"

the funny bit, its not even him paying when he wants you to try lol

He is more of skincare type person. Similar to Seungjun, both of you cuddling with sheet masks on.

Yuto

The one who sticks to basic stuffs, skincare mostly

Also the type who will try to do makeup challenge diligently, asking you how should he do it rather than making a mess on your face.

The type that gives you thumbs up and affirming nods when you ask him how do you look.

He won't comment too much or nags/persuade you to stop doing heavy makeup eventually because he respects effort and confidence boost behind your makeup/high maintenance mentality

But he is flustered when you suddenly did a "I did a instagram summer gal makeup and show my bf" (for example) as it was way different and you look different. The moment you suggest to make this makeup theme as your usual, YUTO PANICKED, "Stop, stop, Mon sori yo? / What did you just say?"

IF you are office worker, he will nag at you if you are thinking straight to wear that makeup to office lol

The type that just quietly follows behind you when you are doing your shopping tour at Sephora or makeup shop.

But he will stop you if he sees your eyes gleaming as you stand at lipsticks corner lol (If you are the type who loves to collect and have too much lipsticks)

Occasionally surprise you with your fave lipstick color as well. Especially on early days of the relationship, you think he is the type that does not care. But turns out he is observant (because it is you so he is observant at your favorite stuffs)

Owh... i think he will be the perfume sensitive type person? He will mention what type of fragrance that he think you will go along well with.

Also I think the type who will recognizes if you changed perfume. Also the type who recognizes if you used his.

He might ask you to try on a sample and then you two might get a couple lover perfume/fragrance.

A/n : finally T^T this draft is in draft for like what... 6 months??? T^T

[fukurodaze]

can i have (timeskip?) kuroo with a fem! s/o who is a sophisticated introvert that intimidates people because she doesn't smile or talk much but when she's with friends she's actually really nice, funny and outgoing, and she has really good fashion sense? (i'm sorry if this is too specific lmao you can ignore this i'm just yearning for kuroo HAHAHAHA)

this is so funny because this dynamic is literally THE cutest

so you know how kuroo works in pr right so this is The Office Romance Of The Century

the meeting <3

so kuroo works on the ninth floor and you work on the twentieth floor

though you guys work in different departments, you guys are both around the same age so you guys kind of have the same workloads because yall are still starting

different departments eventually do have different schedules, but as newbies you guys kind of follow one (1) basic timetable that is really just 9 to 5

one thing you never expected about the office: good ass food.... like you thought the bread at your school canteen was good? wait till you find the sandwiches on the fourth floor

and since you quite literally have no friends in this big ass building and there aren’t many co-workers who are your age you kind of hold onto the nice yakiniku sandwiches on the fourth floor

it gets rough in a new workplace for the first time ://

so the sandwiches become your routine - around 5-6pm, you’re coming down a whole sixteen floors otw home but also to get that nice thick yakiniku sandwich

guess who else comes? 

YA GUESSED IT!! UR FRESH OUT OF COLLEGE KUROO TETSUROU!!!

despite telling himself that he’s really easing into the work life well because his senpais tell him he’s smart, he really doesn’t know anyone

he also finds it weird asking his co-workers to drink as he feels like they should be the ones inviting him so he ends up just chillin it out with some surprisingly good sandwiches downstairs

he likes the chicken ones bc they’re just so nice n crispy yay

he kinda feels shit about it sometimes but thats just how it is huh... corporate work... no friends... and all the rest of his friends r like in other places... yeah

ay but at least he finds this cute girl ordering the same thing over and over again at the same time he’s there

he ignores it at first but you know the saying that the more you see someone the more likely they become more attractive in your eyes?

yeah... that’s kuroo @ u...

and usually he’s doesn’t really pay no mind to people who just do their own business

but your fits r just too cool for this workplace... like mans has been coming to work with suits and youre out here with some combo streetwear power suit... sometimes u wear the highest heels and sometimes you wear the chunkiest sneakers but still manage to look so sleek n sophisticated like 24/7

could it be... he finds you... attractive??? even though you don’t smile much?

kuroo doesn’t stall, so he just goes “i like your style”

my my... you love hearing that dont’cha

but u were like “thanks” 😐

he’s like sheesh

and as he’s about to leave you ask, “what department do you work in?”

kuroo does a double take and is like “um... PR...?” he literally looks over his shoulder to see if you’re talking to anyone else because yo... is this you showing interest???

spoiler alert this is the introduction to his chapter in your love life <3

look it’s not hard for kuroo to get along with quieter people because he used to be siiiiilent, and he’s also grown up with kenma, who was much more introverted throughout middle school and high school

god, you felt so comfortable

and he was SO hot.... WTF

but yeah you’re always like 😐 but make it chic because your fits r fire and your eyeliner SLAYS

this may or may not have turned into a little date at the bar nearby

yes the sandwiches are good but you know what’s even better? drinking some good food in tokyo as Official Employees of the Japanese Volleyball Association

this night was pretty flirty, what can u expect... compliment here, hand brush there, cute laughs n chuckles everywhere

hahaha when kuroo saw you laugh and get super talkative... is that a turn on or what... youre also like funny too??? oh cmon...

safe to say you said yes when he asked you out again, and he swears he would do anything to see you laugh again 🥰

and yes, he does see that laugh again. a lot of times, actually.

the relationship <3

first off: he likes seeing u all professional... good food 

second: him in a suit??? yessir. him making connections??? YESSIR

you guys end up hanging around a lot with each other at the office even when you’re busy. and yknow, since it’s the honeymoon phase, might as well sneak a kiss. or a lot of kisses.

people get so surprised when this happens at first, since theyre like... why r they both disappearing 24/7... they cant be going together bc hes... kuroo... and you’re... you... aren’t you guys are supposed to be DIFFERENT??

he always goes heart eyes for u even though it seems like you’re always shooting daggers at him from everyone else’s pov

eventually, as you two get more comfy with each other and spend more time, you find yourself at his place like 4 days out of 7... his place is closer to the office anyways so it’s just convenient especially when you’re busy with your department when kuroo isn’t, and it demands later nights and earlier mornings

when BOTH of you are busy... expect stress makeouts in the kitchen

the way yall would shower together not because of sexy vibes but because yall both overslept and literally have no time 😭

but that doesn’t mean yall dont enjoy it!! u think he’s hot, he thinks you’re hot, works well (you two still end up arriving late)

eventually people see how you guys walk to work together in the mornings a lot... and go home together a lot... and drink at bars together...

and they’re like holy fuck how did kuroo snatch her... like other than the fact that he’s hot... she literally doesn’t smile and is so scary

the sandwiches on floor four have become breakfast burritos because none of yall go home at 5 all that often anymore

but on a lucky day where destiny aligns itself with the stars and time and the volleyball league you’re lucky to get a yakiniku. or maybe chicken.

you guys influence each other, and it’s so funny seeing kuroo come in with some more colourful suits after you told him to experiment with colour

the other people at work r like: kuroo ur gf controls u

kuroo’s like yeah she’s like powerful huh 😏

you kind of laugh it all off, since now you have your own friends at work too, and so does kuroo

they surprisingly ask a lot about your relationship... and though you would like to brag about your very good boyfriend, you keep it pretty vague

you do like to talk about important days though, like anniversaries

but being with kuroo has genuinely made you more comfy in the workplace even though yall are in different departments

you love hearing kuroo’s stories about his co-workers, and you wondered if you could kind of have those kinds of relationships with your co-workers too

your closest co-workers have always been kind to you, albeit intimidated at first

but they’re great shopping buddies, great listeners, and great gossips <3

you normally wouldn’t care about gossip but it’s fun to laugh about sometimes when you’re getting ready for bed and he’s like “by the way... have you heard of [person A] doing ... ” on call

and you’re like oh yeah, actually i have

even he’s surprised at first because you seem like that cool introverted employee but you do have your fits of laughter and bouts of humour

you guys become more comfy with your jobs, and before you know it, a year has passed

you’ve moved in lol

kuroo’s just 100% heart eyes for u pls

the vibes you guys are as a couple?? immaculate. everyone looks at yall like holy fuck. opposites attract and it’s HOT

and it’s so good because you guys know each other so well, from personalities to bodies to work

when you’re on a low, he holds you close and tells you such sweet things, but makes sure to give you space

when he’s on a low, you make sure to talk to him to take him off of his thoughts, to reassure him

kuroo kind of realises he’s actually... like REALLY in love with you and it just hits him a week before christmas when he looks into his cupboard and hates how it’s so messy but ends up swooning 😭

so the next day LIKE FIRST THING IN THE MORNING he’s like “hi. im renting a car. and i am in love with you. do you wanna go on a christmas trip together?”

you don’t even react when he says that... it’s just two seconds of silence and then “okay. i’m in love with you too.”

he’s like “cool. cool.”

proceeds to smother ur lipstick when he kisses u right after work... 

but u love him anyway 🥰

and in that trip... just you two in a strange place together... with nobody else...

he sees you with him for a long, long time

and honestly, with the feeling of his hand in yours, you don’t think you’ll be going anywhere either.

[toxickimi]

CH 7 Ceremony

Quick note: Princeps diu vivere means Long live Princess and Vivat regina means Long live Queen also see notes/message bubble for links to the outfit for Kimikyo

The following weeks were met with Kimikyo reading books and being fitted for the ceremony outfit. Azumiral would test her knowledge through out the month. A couple of times Preston or Piper would arrive. Piper had brought Kimikyo a camera though it didn't work. Hancock also came through but then disappeared. The royal court assumed he went back through the portal. Kimikyo at one point stood in the building with the portal wanting to step through but the guards stationed there stopped her.

The last time Piper had visited Azumiral handed her invitations to the ceremony. "Please make sure to invite Elder Maxson and Paladin Danse. We haven't seen them in quite some time. I do believe a certain little princess is missing her friends." Azumiral winked as she giggled lightly. Piper also giggled lightly at Azumiral's words. "As far as I know those two have been busy brahmin but the Brotherhood aren't exactly social people." Azumiral tilted her head at Piper's words. "Right, different world. So the Brotherhood of Steel is who Maxson is leader to and Paladin Danse is among their ranks. I won't go into detail about what their about. "Either way, please ensure they are invited. We hope to see you and the others there." Piper had soon left through the portal back to the Commonwealth.

Soon they day came. Kimikyo had tried her best to rest the night before but all she could think about was how badly it could go and all the laughter that will be received once she turns into a fish. Before the sun could rise Azumiral along with Kimikyo's personal maid entered her room. "Ah, good you are awake. Let's get something to eat then we can start." Kimikyo sat up in her bed though she was looking out side. "Do I have to...? Can we not call it off today, say I'm sick or something?" Azumiral sat on the edge of Kimikyo's bed. "What is the matter?" "I didn't sleep well...everyone there will laugh once they see I'm a fish. I mean you turned into a griffon, Kigra is a unicorn and Kai...he turned into a pheonix...THE pheonix...." Azumiral ran her hand down Kimikyo's hair as if petting her. "My dear little sister you compare yourself to others and are too hard on yourself. My wings get wet and I'm useless, and unicorns can't swim underwater." Azumiral tapped her sister's nose gently. "I will talk to mother and see if we what we can do about showing your form but the ceremony must happen today. It is your birthday after all." Kimikyo sighed brushing her hair out of her face. "Very well." The three females walked to the dining hall to have a light breakfast before they made their way to the bath house. They walked past the public area where they would normally be to a smaller room off to the side. "Here you will take a milk bath then scented oils applied. Mei, if you will take over I must getting going to over see everything else." Mei bowed before helping Kimikyo.

Kimikyo shifted uncomfortably as Mei helped her undress. "You need not worrying. I have been made aware of your conditions and have been sworn to secrecy." Mei had her head bowed until she heard Kimikyo climb into the milk bath. Mei began helping Kimikyo with her hair. "Won't I be sticky after this?" "My lady you will be rinsed off with water after you get out." Kimikyo sunk down in the milk a bit. "O-Oh...that makes sense." "Please do relax, you have time to do so." Once Mei was done helping Kimikyo she walked over to the door to wait. Kimikyo tried to relax before looking at Mei. "It's hard to relax while you stand there waiting...come sit and talk." Mei hesitated before following what she thought were orders. "What do you wish to speak about, my princess?" Kimikyo shrugged at her. "I don't know...where are you from? What do you like?" "I am from Mudos. I like serving the royal families." "Mudos. I've heard of that place. It's said it a highly spiritual area. Is that true?" Kimikyo looked at Mei who was staring at the wall. "It is. We are taught from a young age about the spirits and chi in all life. Everything living has a name and a purpose." Kimikyo smiled lightly. "Please go on. I'd love to hear more." Mei looked at Kimikyo with shock before averting her eyes. "M-My apologies, princess. I will not look again." "Mei. It's alright we're both females. We have the same parts. Did you serve others before coming to La Tempo?" Mei tightened her fists on her lap. "I did. I served in Windhelm before being relocated here. I must say however you seem more...relaxed here. The royal family that is." "I heard Windhelm was uptight and that the queen there was rather strict." Kimikyo ran some of the milk up her arms. "That is true. We were not to do this." "Take baths?" "Talk." Kimikyo stared at Mei before slowly standing up. "Let's get on with our day. Oh and Mei, we welcome talking, laughter and joy here. So please don't hesitate to reach out to any of us." Kimikyo smiled happily at Mei who stood to help her new mistress to rinse off.

Once Kimikyo was rinsed off from the milk bath and lightly wiped down with rose and lavender oil, Mei helped her into a light tunic to wear until it was time to dress. "You are to meet with the hair dresser then with the make-up artists. Miss Azumiral has also scheduled you for a light lunch." "Us. She's scheduled us for a light lunch. If you don't eat I won't." Kimikyo took Mei's hand in hers causing Mei to stiffen at the touch. "Let's go get out hair done!" "M-My lady?" Kimikyo dragged Mei with her to meet the hairdresser who looked at Mei before snapping his fingers. The two were seated before the hair dresser and his assistant began working on the two's hair. They hair dresser had straightened Kimikyo's hair, curling the ends with large curls. They then braided two sections of her hair that met in the mid section of her hair. The braids were adorned with gems that looked like stars. Mei's hair was braided on the sided of her scalp with the remaining hair fluffed and put into a pony tail. They had put rune gems in her hair. Mei looked in the mirror to see her hair before tearing up. "Mei are you alright?" "How...how did you know?" Mei looked at the assistant who smiled at her. "My wife is a Mudakon. She would style our daughter's hair like this all the time before she moved out. I'm well aware of what Mudakons look and sound like." Kimikyo smiled at the assistant. Mei hugged the assistant, not letting go of her for a long moment. "May I ask?" "I apologize my lady." Mei turned to Kimikyo before explaining. "This hair style and these runes are traditional to Mudos. We would wear this style for rituals and weddings. I...haven't been able to wear it for quite some time."

After they were done with the hair dressers the two left to meet up with Azumiral. "Mei, how long has it been since you went home?" "It has been ten years, my lady." "And how old are you?" "Twenty-three." Kimikyo nodded before stopping. "After today, go home. That is an order." Mei froze in her place. "M-My-" "I will not hear of it. I will fund your trip home and back if you wish to return. You deserve to be with your family just as much as any one else." "My lady that is generous of you but...I couldn't. It is too much to ask for." Kimikyo put her hand on Mei's shoulder. "I'm a princess, I have the funds and means to do what I wish and I wish for you to go be with family. I can manage on my own here." "Thank you my lady." the two smiled and began to walk once more. "It is good to see you've taken to Mei so well Kimikyo." "I am glad to have her by my side, sister." Azumiral smiled at the two before rushing over to the maids. "Ah! The flowers should go over here." Azumiral ushered the maids to the area before retuning to Kimikyo and Mei. "Mei, how are you adjusting? I see Kimikyo forced you to have your hair done." "I am enjoying myself madam. I will admit I was unsure of all this at first." Azumiral nodded to her. "Well I am glad you are enjoying yourself. Now please go finish getting ready then to lunch with you. I will meet up later."

Kimikyo and Mei walked to meet the make up artists. "Do you have a dress for the ceremony, Mei?" "Are servants allowed to attend?" "Of course! Mama loves everyone, so everyone is invited." Mei looked at the floor before shaking her head. "I have no dress wear. I only have the clothes provided by Pheilo." "I bet if you ask Pheilo, she'd have something for you. We always donate our old dresses and clothing to the community and maid's quarters. After we get our make up done we'll go ask her." Mei thought back on her time at Windhelm and how she along with the others were treated. They were beaten and starved at the slightest mistake. When she was sold off to the slave traders Pheilo was the one to buy her along with the others in her group. Azumiral then took her as Kimikyo's personal with Aiko swearing her to secrecy. Mei began to tear up as she thought about how her life is already going better then before and how her people are often stolen and put into slavery. Kimikyo turned to Mei to see her crying. "Mei...?" "I-I apologize, my...my lady." Kimikyo patted Mei's head, trying to calm her down as Mei explained why she was crying. "We will speak with my mother and see what we can't do for Mudos."

The two made it to the make up artist who began their work. The didn't do much to either of the girls other than adding eyeliner and eye shadow to Mei. "It is now lunch time. Lady Azumiral requested that you return after eating to finish." Kimikyo and Mei had left to the dining hall where Aiko was already eating lunch. "Mama!" Kimikyo rushed over to Aiko with Mei tailing behind. "I'm glad you're here. I actually wanted to talk to you about Mudos." Aiko looked at Kimikyo with shock before setting her eyes on Mei. "Oh and what is it you wish to speak about?" "This is Mei, she's from Mudos and she's made me aware of the hardships that go on there." Mei stepped behind Kimikyo letting her explain. "They are taken and sold off as slaves or worse. Mudos is one of the most spiritual lands and are being taken advantage of. So I was pondering on what we could do to help. We are already working on expanding our kingdom, why not expand to Mudos and give them protection and give back their freedom?" Aiko smiled at Kimikyo, gently patting her daughter's head. "Then I suppose this will be your first step as second princess. You are in charge of this and Mei here will assist you with it but for today let us not dive into it. We will discuss all of this tomorrow." Mei looked at Kimikyo who gave her a thumbs up. The two girls sat down and began to eat lunch.

Once lunch was finished Mei was told to stay behind by Aiko, leaving Kimikyo to go back to finish her make up by herself. The make up artist had placed lipstick on her as well as small gems under her eyes, three on each side to line the shape of her eyes. As Kimikyo finished with the make up Azumiral arrived. "Look at you.." Azumiral teared up. "You look so grown up." Azumiral gently hugged Kimikyo. "Come it is time to get dressed." Azumiral led Kimikyo to her room where the dress maker and her assistant were waiting. The assistant gave Kimikyo a corset and an under-slip to put on. They turned away while Azumiral helped Kimikyo with the corset. Next the maker laid the dress on the floor which Kimikyo stepped in the center of before the maker and the assistant pulled the dress up. While the assistant held the dress in place the maker tightened it to Kimikyo, lacing it to the corset. The assistant place a belt at the base on the top that was made of different sized stars. The two then stepped back allowing Kimikyo to look at herself in the mirror to comment. Kimikyo turned, to look at the back seeing a small scar showing. She frowned that Azumiral took notice. "We can have it covered with make up." The aslant and the maker were holding a long length of fabric. "No need madam. We made a cape as well." Kimikyo looked at the cape, running her hand across it. "It's like the night sky." "And it suits our young Princess. We were told you like to map out the stars." The dress maker smiled at her before the two helped clasp the cape the the shoulders of the dress before adding a thin sash from shoulder to shoulder in the front. "One last thing." Azumiral walked over, opening a small box. "Mother had this made once she saw the plans for your dress." Inside the box was a brooch of two crescent moons connected by a diamond in the center. The dress maker took the brooch, pinning it to the front of the dress. Kimikyo sat on her bed, allowing Azumiral to help her put on her silver glittered brushed heels. "You ready?" Azumiral looked up at Kimikyo who nodded to her.

Azumiral led Kimikyo to the stairs. Azumiral quickly made her way down the stairs and to her spot next to Kigra and Aiko. What music was playing came to an end and all that were attending looked up at Kimikyo who lingered. Panic washed over Kimikyo as she stared down at the massive group of people. She franticly shifted her eyes from person to person, glancing of Maxson and Danse who were there. A slow melody began to play which snapped Kimikyo back to what she was supposed to do. She began slowly and carefully walk down the stairs. Once at the bottom Haku met her ,leading her to Aiko and the others. The four of them led the group to the throne room where a tiara was waiting on an ivory pedestal. The tiara was rather simple and smaller then what Kigra's was. Kigra and Azumiral walked past the pedestal, standing in front of their thrones while Aiko stood, facing Kimikyo and the crowd. Kimikyo was standing in front of Aiko, mere inches away. "Welcome all our guests. We thank you all for joining us on this my youngest daughter's coming of age ceremony. She is now officially able to wed and make royal decrees. She will rule over the element of water as my late husband, King Takito once did." As if on queue the crowd spoke all at once. "King Takito, may he rest in piece." Aiko smiled gently as she looked at Kimikyo. "With this tiara I, Queen Aiko, grant you royal control over water and I appoint you as a royal ambassador over neighboring kingdoms and land we claim in the future." Kimikyo kneeled down slightly so that Aiko could place the tiara on Kimikyo. She then stood and turned to the crowd. "Princeps diu vivere Kimikyo. Princeps diu vivere Kigra. Vivat regina Aiko." The crowd spoke in unison once more before Aiko raised her hand. "Please enjoy festivities for the remainder of the evening! We will have the royal dances soon." Aiko sat on her throne as a few of the earth magic servants began moving the walls of the throne room, opening it up to the main area.

Kimikyo stood silent for a moment before looking back at Aiko who beckoned to her. Kimikyo leaned down to Aiko who whispered. "Azumiral said you weren't feeling well enough to transform earlier but how do you feel now?" Kimikyo hesitated before whispering back. "I don't want them to laugh at me mama. I'm a fish..." Aiko nodded to Kimikyo before Haku stepped forth. "My lady Queen, if I may be so bold to ask her princess Kigra to a dance?" Kigra jolted in her seat before nodding. "I'd love to." Kigra walked over to Haku who lead her to the dancing area. Aiko smiled, watching the two before looking at Kimikyo. "Go, have fun darling. I'm sure you'll be happy to see Elder Maxson and them again." "Wait...they're here?!" Kimikyo raised her voice, beginning to panic again when she looked over to see several woman talking to Maxson and Danse. Kimikyo felt a knot in her stomach as she watch the girls giggled and talk away as Maxson spoke back to them, though he was trying his best to just be polite. Azumiral was already talking with Preston and Piper, having a grand time. "I...I'm fine here." Kimikyo stood next to Aiko, looking out over the crowd. "You can sit you know this dear?" Kimikyo smiled nervously, her eyes shut for the time. "I'm afraid if I sit down I won't be able to stand back up." "Double corset?" Kimikyo nodded to her mother who knew all too well the pains of being laced into two corsets.

After an hour had passed Aiko stood, allowing the music to slowly stop. "I would like to welcome any princes, noble men, or leaders to dance with Princess Kimikyo as is tradition. Please feel free to ask for her hand in dancing." Aiko smiled happily though Kimikyo was slowly dying inside. One by one Kimikyo was stolen away to dance with noble men. There was a light taping on her shoulder. She had turned around to see Preston, smiling at her with a goofy grin. "May I?" Kimikyo nodded, taking his hand. The two began to dance, the two of them tripping a few times and laughing it off. "Hancock, the ghoul you met, asked me to dance with you in his place. Guess he was too nervous to come here after your mother interrogated him and Nick." "That sounds about right, but please tell him and Nick to come back. They are my welcomed guests and I'd love to learn more about them." Preston nodded to her before smoothly passing her off to Kigra and Azumiral. The two sisters caught Kimikyo, the three of them laughing. "So miss ambassador who do you want to dance with next?" Azumiral joked lightly with Kimikyo. "Oh! I bet she wants to dance with Maxsoooon~ I saw the way you looked over at them. You where green with envy at those of woman." Kigra snickered, poking Kimikyo's cheek lightly. "Psh! As if. I wasn't jealous! Besides I don't care whom he speaks to." "Really? Because I see Lady Julia over there with him now and you know how she is." Kimikyo nearly snapped her neck to look over at them and sure enough the infamous Lady Julia was talking to him. She was known to be a smooth talker to the men, getting them to join her in bed came easy to her. She stood tall and proud with her gifted body that many woman, Kimikyo included, were jealous of. She had the perfect hips, legs, curves and all. Her hair was a dark auburn and her eyes were brown like owl's.

Kimikyo not realizing it had began to walk over to them. Kigra had actually reached out to stop Kimikyo however, Aiko had shook her head, catching Kigra's attention. Aiko sat watching and wondering how this would play out. "Your so tall and muscled, with battle scars too. I bet all the woman flock to you-" "Excuse me." Julia turned around with an annoyed look and tone. "You're excused. I was here first-oh! Princess Kimikyo. I apologize." Her attitude had changed the moment she looked at Kimikyo. "I would just hate to interrupt but if I could steal Elder Maxson away for one moment. Captain Haku would like to speak to you." Aiko, Kigra, and Azumiral all face palmed at once, something Haku took notice of before rushing in between the group. "Ah, there you are, sir. Thank you Kimikyo for finding him so quickly." Haku led Maxson away from the girls. "Just what was that about?" "Remain quiet, sir." Haku led Maxson and Danse over to Kigra and Azumiral. "I mean...she tried." "Tried what?" Maxson was becoming annoyed at not getting answers before Kigra spoke up. "Uhm...hello? She approached you...on her birthday..." Kigra had crossed her arms giving Maxson a moment to realize. "I see." Azumiral cleared her throat. "In all fairness Lady Julia is intimidating. I wouldn't be shocked if Kimikyo chickened out half way through."

Kimikyo went to go walk away but not before Julia could comment. "Good luck, Little princess." Julia made a snide remark, poking fun at Kimikyo's body. "I won't need it, Lady antique." Kimikyo retorted. Julia placed her hand on Kimikyo's shoulder not allowing her to walk further away. "Excuse me?" Julia was smiling though it was clear Kimikyo hit a sour note. "Oh, you mustn't of heard me. I'll speak louder next time. I know how hard it is to hear for aged women." The room fell silent. "I see. Well, little princess, you must not understand with age comes experience that men want and are after." "Experience with what, knitting?" Kimikyo had a dead pan expression on her face. The people that were gathered around the two took a step away. Kimikyo not wanting to cause further trouble, bowed to Julia. "If you'll excuse me, Lady Julia, I have to visit my sisters now." Kimikyo turned and walked off, the music and chatter soon returning.

Kigra looked at Julia who was fuming before looking at Kimikyo. "You do know what you just did?" Kimikyo looked at Kigra before shaking her head. "No? I've been over here?" Azumiral and Kigra looked at each other before smiling at Kimikyo. "You just accepted Maxson's offer to dance!" Azumiral shoved her towards Maxson, the two being confused before walking to the dance floor. "Inform mother of this, Azumiral....and have the guards keep a watch on her." Azumiral had nodded before going over to Aiko, explaining what had happened. Aiko watched Kimikyo and Maxson, the two awkwardly dancing to the slow music. "I'm...glad you could make it...all of you! It's nice to see everyone again." Kimikyo couldn't bring herself to look up at him. "I'm afraid it's only for the night. When we got back last time my crew where in a chaotic state. You are welcome to visit yourself when you like." "I can't...mama forbids it." Maxson tucked some hair behind Kimikyo's ear causing her to flinch, clenching her eyes shut as she feared he'd strike her. "You're now a royal ambassador aren't you? Use that as an excuse to visit." Kimikyo looked up at him with the realization she could do just that.

Kimikyo smiled at Maxson, for once feeling like her world was complete. "So when do we get to see her creature form?" "I can't wait. I hear her dad was a kelpie, do you think she's one?" Whispers began to spread through the crowd like wild fire. Kimikyo let go of Maxson, she bowed and walked away. Aiko watched everything before looking at Lady Julia who stepped forth. "My queen." Julia bowed, awaiting for Aiko to acknowledge her. "Lady Julia." Aiko bowed her head. "If I my be so bold as to ask, when will the grand event happen? Everyone is excited to see our princess's form. I heard it is something of splendor." Julia smiled innocently at Lady Aiko. "I'm afraid that Princess Kimikyo will not be showing her form tonight. She is unwell." "Unwell, then why is she here tonight? She should be resting. Surely she is well enough to transform if she is able to attend." "Enough Lady Julia." Azumiral stepped behind Julia. "Our queen has given her answer. Her word is law here." Julia turned around to Azumiral. "I wasn't asking the princess drop out." Aiko stood from the throne, the room going silent. "There will be no transformation tonight. Princess Kimikyo is unwell and there for too weak. If she were to change tonight it wouldn't be of her true self." Lady Julia bowed to Aiko before walking back into the crowd seemingly disappearing. Aiko sat back down, sighing. "Mother?" "Keep an eye on her, she is bound to stir more trouble tonight." Azumiral nodded to her mother before going to search for Julia.

Azumiral found Julia now flirting with Preston, causing Azumiral to bite her lip but stayed back. Kimikyo was by the dessert table munching on some cake. "Shouldn't you slow down?" Piper walked up to Kimikyo. "You're unwell after all." "I suppose you're right..." Kimikyo put the plate down before Piper held up her camera. "May I?" "O-oh! Yes by all means." Piper smiled as she took a photo of Kimikyo, who looked uncomfortable. "You know...you look rather grown up with your make up." "I'm not a fan. It makes my face feel heavy..." Piper chuckled lightly. "Well you do have diamonds on you. I can't imagine they're light." "Oh...these are not diamonds. They are just simple crystals." Kimikyo tapped on them gently. "Either way...you're pretty lucky, Red. No one in our place has this luxury. Everything's so clean." "Red?" Kimikyo tilted her head before looking around. "I'm Kimikyo?" "It's a nick name since your hair is so red." "Oh...Does it look bad?" Piper giggled lightly before shaking her head. "It's unique."

Kimikyo and Piper continued to chat as a hooded figure walked past them. Kimikyo turned to watch them before her heart dropped. She heard Azumiral gasp as the scent of blood filled the room. Kimikyo was beside Azumiral in an instant, cradling her in her arms. "A-Azumiral..." Kimikyo looked at her hand that was covered in blood, tears falling from her eyes. She looked up to see the culprit who was grinning down at them. Without realizing it Kimikyo had transformed into a large dragon. Her scales matched that of her koi fish form. A screech could be heard from the door way. "D-Dragon!" Everyone began to scatter out of the throne room except for Aiko, Kigra, Maxson and Preston. Kimikyo lunged down and snapped up the stabber. She shook her head back and forth as the man struggled. She flung him across the room. A loud crack could be heard but it was from the tiles under her claws. Kimikyo was blinded by rage and it was clear as a freezing mist fell from her mouth. With out much warning she let out an icy blast that blocked the door. She coiled her tail on the floor around Azumiral.

Aiko was moved as far back from the chaos by Maxson. Preston and Kigra were stood, watching Kimikyo for a moment to see what she'd do. "I thought she was a fish...?" "Yes well sometimes this happens. It's not the first time this has happened, her grandfather had a similar experience happen." Kigra looked at Azumiral, seeing her bleeding out. "We need to get out of here and get medics." "How are we going to do that? She iced our exit." Kigra transformed into a unicorn. She ran into Kimikyo's line of site. "Kimikyo you need to let us out! Azumiral will die if you don't." Kimikyo growled, swiping at Kigra who barely dodged her sister's claw. Kigra charged at Kimikyo but turned at the last second causing Kimikyo to chase her. Kigra ran straight for the glacier at the door way but turned at last second again. Kimikyo was too big to stop or turn into, she ended up crashing through the glacier, shattering it. Kimikyo skidded across the floor, leaving long claw marks on the floor. Everyone that was there, began to scatter once more.

Kigra reared up, letting out a loud braying noise. Kimikyo looked over at Kigra. She got low to the ground, growling at her sister. The freezing mist began to seep through her teeth ounce more. "Kimikyo." Maxson's voice boomed through the halls. Kimikyo turned to look at him. Her growling had slowly stopped. Maxson walked up to her, staring into her eyes. "You kept your sister safe, don't fight your other one." Kigra had slowly walked up to Kimikyo, gently putting her horn on Kimikyo. A light flashed and Kimikyo had fallen asleep, transforming back to her human form. Maxson took off his coat, wrapping Kimikyo in it. "I sapped her mana. She won't be able to do any magic for the next few hours." Kigra watched Maxson but only for a moment before Kimikyo woke up screaming in pain. Tears were streaming down her face as she yelled. "Burns!! It burns!" Kigra rushed over to her sister, picking her up but was pushed away as Kimikyo struggled. Kigra looked at her hands seeing a purple liquid on her. "Maxson, grab her." Maxson did just that, scooping Kimikyo in his arms. The two made haste to the bath house. Kigra stepped into it using her earthly powers to make the water medicinal. "Hand her here." Kimikyo was struggling to get away from Maxson who walked into the water still holding her. Kimikyo struggled for only moments before she ended up falling asleep once more.

The two remained silent as Kigra made a floatation bed of vines. "You can put her on this...it'll keep her in the water to heal but she won't down." Maxson slowly moved her to the float before the two climbed out of the water. "What happened to her?" "You saw. She turned into a dragon. The transformation took a tole on her body." Maxson looked at Kigra, his stare was cold. "I'm talking about those scars." Kigra fell silent. "Tell me!" "I can't." Kigra bit her lip before pulling her dress up to show scars on her legs. "All I can tell you is that it wasn't because of mother or our fathers. It's not a story we talk about and it's up to her to tell her side." Kigra pulled Maxson away to her room. "When Kimikyo and I were younger we were kidnapped, held for ransom. We were split up...they thought we were stronger together. I was whipped day and night on my legs, I wasn't allowed to sleep and I barely ate. They kept me weak...I don't know what all happened to Kimikyo but you can already tell she had it worse." Kigra stared at the floor, tears forming in her eyes. "That day...the day Takito rescued us was the day he died...and we lost out brother too. It's not my story to tell...they targeted Kimikyo, I just happened to be there too that day." "I'm leaving Danse here. I want him to alert me the second she wakes up." Maxson walked away, going back to the Commonwealth after informing Danse to stay.

[almaasi]

reaction post typed while watching SPN 15x08 “Our Father, Who Aren’t in Heaven”

THEY JUST. SENT DEAN AND CAS. TO PICK SYMBOLIC “BINDING” FLOWERS ???

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06:16pm

probably gonna have to stop in 1 minute for dinner but let’s see what’s happening this week in Mr. Taco/Hotdog Pines For Angel But Isn’t Sure If God Commanded It

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06:18

OH YEAH ADAM

forgot about him

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06:19

hmm “lucky elephant” casino/bar

1. pink elephants  = drunk baby dumbo trippin balls

2. kinda looks like a dick

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06:23

the hell is wrong with sam’s face?? he’s looked SO tense and uncomfortable these last episodes

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06:24

sam eating salad and eileen eating a burger

given how much food symbolises in this show......i...... kinda wanna say that it means sam sees eileen as a sibling??????? given burgers are bro dean and cas’ thing

either that or she’s one of the family, but then what does it mean about sam’s salad being the odd one out?

....i typed samily there

ha

anyway i wonder if, given how eileen/sam parallels dean/cas, it’s gonna become a thing like “hey eileen i see you as a sibling” vs. dean and cas “cas i love you like a brother” / “BUT DEAN I LOVE YOU IN THE ROMANTIC WAY”

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06:27

does dean not know what “achilles heel” means

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06:28

why is there porn music playing as cas knocks on a door

is dean gonna be naked on the other side

are they playing babysitter and affronted neighbour housebreaker

.....just saying okay that comedy sting was weirdly placed

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06:30

i love that cas is like straight-up Still Here

he was like I’M LEAVING FOREVER and then dean’s like “hey i know i said you ruin everything but uhhhhhhhhhhhhhh”

wish we could’ve had that as an actual scene though

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06:37

dean: but cas if u wanna stay here, why don’t you stay here

RUDE

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FUCK I HATE THE KNIFE HAND THING

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they almost........ touch hand.........

/14 blush emojis

cas uses last of power to make dean feel okie dokie

IS HE GONNA FALL FOR DEAN AGAIN

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06:40

welp dinnertime back laterrr

_

07:50pm

watched the end of “the prince of egypt” and my father (an atheist) was very insistent on proving it factually incorrect while I JUST WANNA WATCH THE ANIMATED MOVIE DUDE

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hokay where were we

oh yeah cas was trying really hard not to hold dean’s hand

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07:54

team free will enter hell and are attacked by three lady demons

for some reason i’m thinking of cerberus, the three-headed dog who guards the gates of hell

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07:55

OMG OMGO OmG OmG ROWENA

DID SHE BECOME QUEEN OF HELL

OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH YES

THIS IS THE CHARACTER ARC SHE NEEDED

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THOSE BRAIDS

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07:57

someday i wanna do makeup as well as rowena’s makeup magically manifests. that glitter eyeliner over the black wing is mmmmmmmmmmmm

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08:00

ahh bless

a bechdel test pass

it’s been too long

*edit* BUT DID THIS EVEN COUNT??? IF SUE IS NOT SUE

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queen of hell suits rowena better than any dress she’s ever worn

so we’ve got rowena as queen of hell, billie as death.... need one more lady in charge of heaven to complete a power trio OH YEAH AMARA. god yes give me that......... pun intended i guess

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08:03

rowena after looking at dean and cas for 1 second: “what am i picking up from you two? tell auntie rowena”

ROWENA IS THE BEST I LOVE HER SO MUCH

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two grumpy grumble butts: “it’s fine”

WOW

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YOU HEARD THE QUEEN OF FUCKING HELL YOU TWO

FIX YOUR DAMN PROBLEMS THIS INSTANT

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SAM WHAT TERRIBLE TIMING

jeez they really don’t wanna have that conversation in front of an audience

someday they better get NOT FUCKING INTERRUPTED

knock knock

who’s there

interrupting moose

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08:09

adam’s facial expressions look so much like dean’s

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08:11

for some reason i was just watching dean say “i didn’t wanna jinx it” and looking at his eyelashes and then involuntarily imagined him wearing rowena’s fake lashes

it was a good look

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dean looks so, sooo pretty in this blue shirt

maybe blue for cas’ eyes

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08:17

cas says to micheal “your father is certainly not who you knew” but not “our father” as in chuck is no longer his father

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“you called me assbutt and set me on fire”

yeah pretty much iconic, no?

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oohh jeez poor michael, poor adam

sent to hell, comes back and is aggressively greeted by the same assholes who sent him there

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dean put a black armour jacket over his vulnerable blue one to talk to adam

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08:32

dean sees cas sitting alone and gets himself a beer without offering one for cas

ohhhh that hurts

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/takes screenshots of cas’ side profile

what a good profile

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dean’s back in his blue vulnerability shirt

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OHHHHHHHHHHHHH SEND DEAN AND CAS BACK TO PURGATORY TO FETCH A FLOWER OF SYMBOLIC “BINDING” YES

FIX THE STORY WITH THEIR LOVE

*edit* ............hey. heyheyheyhey does anyone remember those promo posters from season 8 of dean poking his head out around a tree in purgatory and there was a flower there?? and as far as i know we never actually saw the flower in canon and it was Weird? foRESHADOWING or ?????? hindshadowing?

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no michael’s not coming on your gay flower road trip, dean

no third wheel this time thank u

TALK ABOUT YOUR FEELINGS WITHOUT BEING INTERRUPTED PLEASE

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michael is literally just....sending dean and cas to pick flowers together

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08:41

it’s over

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAS 10/10 THAT WAS GREAT 

I LOVE THE SETUP FOR WHERE THIS IS GOING

rowena as queen of hell 15/10 best thing that ever happened on this show

adam getting his apology and peaceing out yes good

SENDING DEAN AND CAS TO PICK FLOWERS IN FUCKING PURGATORY THE LAND OF THEIR YEAR OF PINING HELL YES

i love how self-referential this whole story has become and it’s so GOOD to have all these loose ends come back to hopefully be tied up one by one

i just....... i just checked the writer for this episode and i AM AMAZED it’s a deadly duo episode??????????????????????  H O W

bechdel test pass?? holy shit (well...... i doubt this now but still)

only woman who died was lilith and she was awful

unless you count sue but i don’t think sue was real to begin with

and there was a black guy.... with lines.... who didn’t die??? astonishing

also the pacing was like... good or whatever. at least i didn’t think it was patchy like their episodes usually are. and the script wasn’t bland and boring ?? what is happening here

PLUS ROWENA POINTING OUT THAT THERE’S soMethING GoiNg On between dean and cas which draws attention to it for later resolution, despite the audience already knowing they had a tiff

colour me impressed, anyway

[burningyetbeautifuldaydreams]

Host of The Toast

Episode Uno

Warnings- Cursing/Swearing, Deceit warning

Summary- Because the Crofter’s musical was such a huge hit, The sides decided it would be fun if Logan Sanders, The man who truly loves Crofters to run a talk show, but this isn’t any normal talk show.

Words- 2001

haha sorry, Logan but you're toast.

Welcome! To Host of the Toast! A loud voice boomed from a speaker as suddenly the black setting lightened up and a man with dyed purple hair, glasses, and a blue tie sat on a black office chair with a comforting focused smile as his chair turned to face the viewers and a black desk sat in front of him with a red pencil holder, few pencils, and paper that had Game! Wrote on it. He had deep brown eyes that showed his excellence of being incredibly wise. He had a smile on his face that turned into a smirk every once In a while but it definitely wasn't a real smile.

Featuring your host Logan! And special guest Patton, Roman, Virgil, and Thomas! The speaker yelled as the glasses man stood up from his chair and watch his foes slowly walk in as their name was called. First, Patton ran into the room flustered at the slight applause from the audience and went right next to Logan so he could see his friend again, Then roman walked in with confidence as he blew kisses at the crowd and bowed every once in a while like he was at the end of a play. When Virgil came into view he had his hoodie covering his flustered nervous face, his hands stuffed in his pockets as he quickly paced to stand next to one of the sides, desperately wanting to be out of the attention. Lastly, Thomas came in with the confidence of Roman, the cuteness of Patton, and walked calmly to stand next to one of his buddies as his huge grin almost killed a bunch of fans. He was already adored, just like all the rest. They all had brown dyed purple hair and the sane brown eyes, but two of them had glasses, one was wearing gold eyeshadow, one has dark eyeshadow and dark eyeliner, and the other one had a completely natural face. They waited for the crowd to come to silence as Logan walked to the front of the stage where there was a long line of crofter's jams placed all different flavors.

"Salutations," Logan began saying his casual line as he grabbed one of the crofter's jams. "I am Logan Sanders and I'm here with my comrades today because we have an important announcement." His smile begins to become real as he takes in a spoon full of Crofters. Roman is if on cue walks to be near Logan, with the royal confidence he wears. "We have officially became sponsored by Crofters! Check Thomas' channel for a video we made about it," he excitedly yells slightly promoting Thomas' channel as the youtuber smiled and look flustered for a moment. Logan, who has gulped down the entire jar, smiles for a slight moment before saying his next line. "And we have gained our own jam" Logan excitedly exclaims, practically the first time he ever looked really excited or showed any emotion at all. "So to honor this achievement, were playing a game." he unsurely adds, slowly waiting for the mysterious voice to start talking but instead he could feel someone scooching next to him, he had quite the bright comforting energy.  It was Patton.

"Its gonna be so fun kiddos!" he exclaims as his bubbly energetic personality shines through, which the logical character admires. A soft smile is placed as he sees Patton grab a jam and smile, "now let's get started I bet everybody is berry excited" he chuckles brightly making the rest of the group smile except for a certain emo who just smirked. Yes, it will be Patton because today we're- Logan rolled his eyes, he ever liked the weird voice that has not been revealed to be yet- starting the first challenge of today!  Who can steal the most bites out of logan's crofters toast? The mere sentence confused Logan, and he went right to stare at Roman, whos the creativity side. Roman stared back and shrugged and looked at Thomas who was also as confused as both of them. He mouthed the words I swear I didn't do this. Patton looked excited either way, even if he was as confused as the others, and Virgil just slowly baked into away and disappeared. Now at the control room, not wanting to participate. "Wait, no I do not think it necessary to do that-" the poor shocked bookworm got interrupted by the totally not suspicious voice. Haha, it laughed and Logan can tell by the tone the voice was now smiling Let's Get started!

The basics of the rules are, no cheating, no sabotage, and the objective is to steal as many bites out of Logan's toast after he makes it. Good luck! Now the three other had stayed at the front as the nervous logical side walked to his desk that now had a toaster, two slices of bread, and a jar of Loganberries Crofters jam. He followed the basic routine of making toast he does every morning, slide the two bread slice onto the toaster, let it toast for exactly sixty seconds, giving the bread a light golden texture that smelled satisfactory to the bookworm. Lastly, he spread the jam onto the crispy golden toast, making the smell now quite fruity with the smell of hot baked bread. Logan thought it looked quite satisfactory, and that he probably could eat it now- Start the game!! but right now he could see a determined prince charging towards him with eyes, blazing of determined passion. Quickly, Logan observed the way Roman charged at him and understood was happening. The game had begun and now they were daring to get close to his precious toast. Logan realized quickly, that the determined prince would only charge at him for an about a minute because Roman had quite a great running pace. He could run the other direction, to stall for time but he had a feeling another of his comrades was waiting for him to do so. He came to the conclusion, that he can just stand there, wait for roman to try to grab his beloved toast and quickly protect it from the prince.

Roman ran right in front of the Microsoft nerd as he went to grab the toast, Logan slowly yet carefully spun in the opposite direction, leading the toast away from the other's hand and as he spun he could see another one of his comrades who wore the exact same glasses he wore. The man was running towards him as he giggled like a child, he most likely was skipping but Logan didn't have enough time to make sure of. Roman, now out of balance, shocked at logan's quick reflexes, has fallen, face flat, on the floor and is just laying there in pure shock.  Such a huge fall given by Roman as Logan dances his way out of that attempt The voice echoed, as Logan practically grew gradually annoyed with the mysterious voice but he knew it was only because this whole thing has turned into pure nonsense where he's afraid has no logical reason to it at all. Patton was nearly close to him as Logan was deep in thought, furious of the randomness currently happening, and before he could notice the bright sunshine aura there was already a bitten mark on his beloved toast. He was about to scream.

Patton had skipped past logan and was now near where Roman lied, refusing to get up as he groaned dramatically. One point to the man in love with cats but is allergic to them! Patton being the cute man-child he is giggles at the remark of the voice and starts swaying back and forth staring at Logan as he stares at Patton with the most unreadable expression. Logan really wanted to kill him, his beloved crofters' jam toast was stolen of its first bite and it was the happy character's fault. He's so dead. Logan, out of his wanting to murder him thoughts slowly came out of the space near his desk and quietly walked to the front of the stage were currently nobody was as he prepared himself to get attacked even more. What he hadn't realized before is that there was soft footsteps following his own as he walked, soft hums, and maybe even a slight chuckle. "Hey, Logan" A familiar voiced hummed as he chuckled a little, now in front of the logical side. Even if Logan wants to kill him for eating some of his toast, he needed to face the facts; this was probably a distraction and he's too adorable to kill.

"i don't see the point of saying hello when we already said that before," Logan noted to Patton as he quickly backed away, even though a small part of him wanted to continue seeing the contagious smile plastered on Patton's face but he gets this feeling that it's a fake one based on his eyes squinting which usually didn't happen when he smiled. "I know but still" he sang scooting closer to logan, and once his eyes stared at something behind logan but it was a quick glance. Them suddenly he could feel the weight of the toast disappear in his hand as a certain youtuber chuckled and ran the direction behind Logan. OoooooooOOOooooh Thomas has stolen the toast, What would the bookworm do nooooOOOOOoooooow? The voice as annoying as always sang as Logan prepared to make a plan to get the toast back, he could act immature and chase after Thomas or could act devious and trick Thomas to stop so it'll be easier. Before he can make that decision, from the corner of his eye, he could see that Roman after his quite dramatic fall is now at his feet, catching up quite quickly to Thomas as Patton lagged behind chuckling like this was a game. Princey in one quick movement snatched the Toast, took a bite quite quickly as he ran almost near Logan. This seems quite the right moment to snatch the toast, so he did but ended up tripping the prince.

And the prince is down yet again! He is berry clumsy

Logan as of on cue groaned at the pun and went to grab the toast that has now three bite marks on it. One point to Gay and Princey this is getting real jam-packed of tension!  As now Logan, knew that Thomas was out of breath and that Patton was checking on Thomas since he really cares about everybody. Roman was on the ground, slowly getting up as Logan walked away from the only man right now that is actually a threat right now. He was barely out of breath and was getting quite tired of these shenanigans but he had no idea how it will end and he isn't gonna give up this.

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

After MANY many attempts from the three and Virgil enjoying this endlessly watching from behind the scenes, Countless jam puns, one Disney song sang, kittens charging at Patton, Thomas eventually joining Virgil on the sidelines as Patton hopelessly enjoyed his time and got a lot of bites while Roman kissed the floor quite a few times, a lemonade break given by yours truly, Logan obtaining countless Crofters jar in his very tiring run from the cheerful and determined sides,  and now a popcorn machine existed in this hell of a mindscape.

Thomas- Three toast bites

Patton- Six berry good attacks

Roman- Four jarring attempts

Virgil-                           ..Wait.. he was there?

Patton had won, and he just giggled shyly as he was given a GOLDEN Crofters trophy that had a soft teddy bear inside it and it held three small teddy bears that looked identical to the other sides. It was now Patton's as for how now Logan might've been done with crofters jam and toast for a while after this episode. Yet, the logical side believed that the show couldn't get worse. Oh you’ll be surprised

[lumiereswig]

Please do the ENTIRETY of Forgotten! Hahaha I’m joking, pick your favorite part because that fic is v long 😍

happily, this gonna get l o n g

“The ball was flawless. In the garden, the roses continued to reach to the sky, and the storm brushed away; the lights shut off in the palace, one by one, and the music faded to silence. The prince went to bed with one or two or three pretty women he wouldn’t care for by the next day. Up in his room, Lumiere popped open a bottle of champagne.”

I set the opening to take place almost immediately after “Lit By The Sun,” though this time showing the evening Lumiere and Plumette never got—the stolen croquembouche up in their bedroom, the sharing of champagne among the servants. In the original timeline, obvs they didn’t get that—they got fire and feathers instead—but yeah. I am totally alluding to my own goddamn fics.

Plumette, lighting the candles by the bed, grinned at him over the flames. He laughed and raised his glass.

It’s not a lumiereswig post if there’s not a fucking fire reference.

“He’s turning just like his father—the prince’s father was like this, too,” Mrs. Potts explains to the musicians, who know nothing about the palace or its politics. They nod and move closer to each other on the bed. “We don’t know what he’d do without us. He’ll be fine, though; we try not to intervene. D’you only have wine up here, Lumiere? I could use a cup of tea.”

Foreshadowing of future bullshit, and also reminding the readers that Garderobe and Cadenza WERE NOT PART OF THIS PALACE-POLITICS SHIT. They did not deserve to be cursed!! fuck you agathe!!!! #justiceforgarderenza2k18

“If you cannot take a little sparkling wine, get yourself to bed, grandmother,” laughs Lumiere, and she swipes at his arms and makes him laugh. He eases into a seat between Cogsworth and Plumette and throws his arms around them.

Really trying to remind everyone how fucking close the staff is. The fam. Also, fuck you bill condon for not letting lumiere hug cogsworth every .3 seconds

“Think how long it has been!” he says. “Forty years for you, Cogsworth, but most of my life for mine. Why, I came here as a teenager—imagine me, only a little older than Chip! Fresh out of Paris and still reeking of the apothecary shop.” He grimaces, thinking of his father’s dusty store in a side-street of the city. He had fled, then, looking for the glamor his missed; in his room in Paris he had practiced dance steps, reveled in fashion, adopted the graceful movements of the court as rebellion against the bourgeois facts of an ordinary existence. He had come to this palace, and he had lit into life; dancing and feasting and glowing like gold made Lumiere’s heart sing.

EYYYY IT’S A HEADCANON I TOTALLY MADE UP

but tbh it makes sense to me (and has always made sense to me) that for all his glamor-gold, courtiers-and-candelabras bullshit, lumiere is not from an upper crust background. he’s too extra to have been born to it. That level of golden eyeliner and tequila has to be aspired to.

“We met in this palace, do you remember, mon trésor?” Plumette is close in his arms; her scent—fresh and light, like candy and macarons—right beside him. “I was only fourteen, and I loved you right away.”

“I loved you before I met you,” murmurs Lumiere. “I could never forget.”

Lots more foreshadowing, and also backshadowing. Gotta remind the idiots in the audience which motherfuckers in this story are in love.

The next day is their day off. It is their one day off in the year.

honestly this makes no sense (one day off a year???) but it’s adam. pre-curse adam. i can write him to get away with pretty much any bullshit and be like “””*shrug* uhhh he’s a beast, dudes, of course he banned puppies and kittens from the palace and hates daisies and sunshine”“

also tbh i hate the whole adam dialogue sequence, it’s really badly written

Adam stands in the lonely, empty halls. If he stands in the tower, he can see them weaving their way through the forest and down to the village, to spend their day in the company of each other, in Lumiere and Plumette’s case, or with loved ones, in the case of Mrs. Potts. No matter what, all the servants have each other. And Adam has nobody.

casual evermore references whenever we can’t get in a flame pun

….after all, at least when he yelled they looked at him.

someone told me this line broke them and i am forever pleased. yes mofos!!! relish my very slipshod, mostly shite grasp of the english language!!!!! revel in my poor grasp of human psychology!!!!!!!!!!!!!

“Lumiere! The night grows old.”

 The crone grows young.

to make up for the shit in the previous chapter, I really enjoy this bit. the whole bashing-between-the-palace-and-the-village nonsense just makes me happy.

Belle wakes up to a jolt in the road, and the rough wool blanket on her face, and the smell of cheese and paint and horse and wind clinging to her skin. She rubs her eyes and tries to wipe away the sleep. They’re in the wagon, again, and Maurice is hunched up in the bench, encouraging Philippe to trot faster. The contents of Belle’s entire life are jammed in around her, a moving nest of drawings and gear-boxes and packets of cabbage-seed.

aaand we’re with belle. I had to rewrite this chapter about five million times because it wasn’t working—I had planned it out too much in advance, you know, and was just like regurgitating the writing rather than writing it—but I’m happy with the textural detail of this bit. Again, sometimes it pays to use the words around what you’re going for rather than the literal sensation; in this case, cheese and paint and horse and wind, and that rough wool blanket. Home, but also chill, and travel, and being uncomfortable, and the 18th century equivalent of going on a road trip and eating crackers in the backseat while dad’s up front and the crackers making the seat all gritty and reading books in the light of the passing streetlamps, ya feel?

Lilles, Reims, Amiens

i don’t understand french geography

A tiny, delicate gesture from his long fingers; it is a surprisingly sophisticated movement for a man in a yellow peasant’s vest, with candle wax creased in the dirt between his fingernails.

this whole chapter is slightly hard to read because it’s clearly trying too hard, but i hope i got across (or at least, whacked you across the forehead with) the bits i felt were important: lumiere’s current emptiness, but the last imprints of who he ought to be hanging around. i also tend to mention the peasant’s vest too many fucking times, just because the image of lumiere wearing anything that’s not satin & silk is fucking devestating. also, it will be important later, and i need yall to remember that LUMIERE DOESNT LOOK LIKE HE NORMALLY LOOKS

“I am nothing now,” says the man, in a flash of vehemence so sharp it is like seeing a flame in the middle of the forest. He looks up to her—his face broad, and white; and it is an empty face, and beyond the fire in his words there is nothing there at all. It is as if someone washed out all his color, and left him only with his yellow vest.  

you can tell, again, this is a lumiereswig fic because suddenly the language is all about fires and flashing and flickers and flames and there’s probably going to be a reference to the sun fucking setting at some point

also, honestly, this was hard to write because i was seeing it as a fucking movie in my head, and transcribing ‘ewan mcgregor lies on a village stoop looking fucking dismal’ is not what literary writing is made of

He welcomes her to the stoop with the flick of a wrist and a tiny nod with the pipe,

just to remind everyone once a-fucking-gain, Lumiere Is Not Normal, And You Can Tell Because He’s Not Being Very Welcoming. like honestly if you don’t say hello by doing a song and dance what the fuck are you doing

“I knew someone once who treasured books that way as well,” he says, and a smile drifts across his face, homeless. Something in him is sparking up at the story: dim, and faint, but laughing. “He once made me read the whole Odyssey—”

ok yes thank god the fic is finally getting good again

Sorceresses turning people to pigs, and the lily-eaters forgetting their homes, and Penelope undoing the days until her husband returns

ON. THE FUCKING. NOSE

also if i make a literary reference in a fic i am almost 100% of the time trying to make an obvious as fuck connection between the two

Deeply, deeply frightened. Not of the man on the stoop—she has never seen anyone more harmless, to be quite honest; he is such an empty man, with such silent, lifeless limbs—but of the thing inside his eyes when he speaks of his past. It is Other—a thing not rooted in a Parisian background, or the empty face, or the subdued soul. It is a large streak of gray inside the man’s blue eyes, a gray empty and unnatural and as hollow as cold ice. Staring at his eyes, Belle finds herself clutching her arms with fear.

ahhhh fuck subtlty has gone totally out the window. yall are kind and see what i was going for, but i swear this could be better done if i knew shit

It is obvious to Belle that this is a practiced ritual, the sharing of the secret wine.

in retrospect this fic would be sadder if cogsworth or lumiere weren’t friends, but uhh…i just couldnt bring myself to it.

“Oh là là, he acts as if the French accent is difficult,” says Lumiere, puffing smoke….

LIKE YOU CAN SPEAK FRENCH ANYWAY, YOU SCOTTISH DIPSHIT.

“Get off my stoop!” yells the woman. “D’you have wine down there, Lumiere?“

“If you cannot take a little cheap wine, get yourself to bed, grandmother,” calls Lumiere.

and that’s called taking yourself too seriously and referencing your own fic from a few chapters ago

“Mrs. Potts, the crockery-man’s wife,” says Lumiere, and takes a large gulp of the wine. “I barely know her. Thank God.”

PROBABLY THE BEST LINE IN THIS FIC SO FAR. fucking love the simplicity that does so much more than every labored reference to emtpy fucking limbs or colorless eyes beforehands. one simple line and we’re all fucking realizing THE EXTENT OF ALL THIS SHIT

i gotta head off now but i’ll do the rest later tonight

[send me one of my fics (or a bit from a fic) and i’ll do director’s commentary on it—ask here]

[purplesurveys]

316

Hi college is eating me up and it’s finals week so there literally has been no time at all to sneak in a survey and I have been so miserable all week–all I want is to write my thoughts awaaaaaaaay. I do have this small break (although I shouldn’t even be having one; I have another PowerPoint presentation that I should be making right now) but I miss surveys way too much. Think back to yesterday, what were you doing around this time? I was having an early dinner with Gabie at this fried chicken place. They have the best umami chicken. What was the last thing you watched on the TV? I don’t watch TV anymore, but I watched Friends on Netflix last. Do you think pets can get annoying easily? No. Ever since having my dog, I’ve always liked having animals as companions. He drives me crazy when he goes in and out of my room at 3 AM though, but he’s still my son. Did you know that pickles have no calories? Cool, but has no effect on me because I hate pickles. Do you enjoy family get togethers? It’s alright when it involves going for out-of-town trips, but in terms of spending quality time together in the living room or just bonding with each other, the thought makes me uncomfortable. My family has never exercised that and just the idea of being emotionally close with family doesn’t exactly make me feel good.

In a group of three, do you often feel like the third wheel? Depends how close I am with them. Going out with people I barely know that also happen to be in a relationship sounds insanely boring. What color are your pants? The jeans I wore today were light blue, but I’ve since taken them off. Is there snow on the ground where you are? No. There is never snow anywhere near where I live, and there never has been. What is keeping you warm right now? Philippine humidity. Has anyone bought you a piece of jewelry? Yep. That’s my favorite form of gift, so my girlfriend has gotten me a couple of necklaces. How far away is your next birthday? 11 months away. I just celebrated it. Do you have plans for that birthday yet? Hahahahaha no. I guess a lot of drinks? Or maybe another beach trip. I dunno. Do you think it’s attractive for a man to wear eyeliner? I haven’t really seen a guy do that in a while so I wouldn’t know how to find it. When did you last take a shower? This morning, before going off to school. Have you ever been to the Grand Canyon? I haven’t. It would be nice to visit it one day. Have you ever flown somewhere alone? Nope. Too scared to do that. I’d rather have Gab with me; she can take care of everything. Are you more serious or funny? Serious, but I have my funny side with people I’m close with.  Is there someone that annoys you but you haven’t told them? Yes oh my god. I thought I’d be the person that never gets peeved by their orgmates, but some are showing their true colors now that I’m a full-time member and they just getttttttt on my nerves and everyone else’s. When is garbage day in your area? Friday. I always see them out on that day when I drive out to school. Who/What was the last thing to really irritate you? It was really warm and humid awhile ago and I was in skinny jeans, and it was the most uncomfortable I’ve felt in a while. Do you think people either love or hate spongebob? No, I think a large amount of people not care. I genuinely enjoy SpongeBob and watch old episodes, though. Have you seen that new “Lie To Me” show? I have never heard of such a show. What is something you’d rather be doing right now? EATING. I’m starving. I was in a workshop all day and didn’t have room to eat. My last meal was last night’s dinner. Do you find that people are too hard on you? I don’t think so, no. Do you take surveys often? Oh man. I used to take like five a day. I’m busier these days, so I can’t take as many as I want as often as I want. I take an average of one every week and a half now. Who was the last person you yelled at? Maybe my girlfriend, but it was playful. Do you tend to slam things around when you’re mad? A little bit, yeah. My anger is more manifested through my driving though; I get dangerous and reckless. I need help with that. Do you know anyone who hates/dislikes chocolate? I know one who claims she does but I just think she wants to be special. > This made me smile. Haha, no not really. Gabie doesn’t eat chocolate but she doesn’t despise them. Do you know anyone who is racist? Welcome to the Philippines, where racism and sexism is propagated on a regular basis to the masses. Could you vote in this last election? I did. I turned 18 two weeks prior, so I was really lucky. Have you taken a shower today? Yep. Answered this already. How much sleep did you get last night? 6 hours. Do you have more girl friends or guy friends? Girl. What is your current mood? Hungry. Is there anything on your mind at the moment? Now that I know my mom is coming home with burgers, all I can think about is my order. Are there any movies out that you’d like to see? The Incredibles 2 and Ocean’s 8. Have you ever been on a website called Stickam? Doubt that. Have you ever hated yourself? For the past eight years, my friend. Are you hungry? HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM Did your parents ever ground you? They used to whenever I would get bad marks, which in retrospect I deserved but I still feel that for most of the time, they went overboard with it. They took away every avenue for me to have fun and I just performed worse as a result. Thankfully I got out of that cycle and just had all my grades improve one day, and they haven’t grounded me since. Where was the last place you went out to eat? It’s this local fried chicken place called Bad Bird. Have you ever felt like you needed a better life than the one you have? I have. I still do. I feel that I deserve a better life at this point. Do you own an MP3 player of some kind? I used to own one of the fake kinds hahaha. Do you have a moment in your life you wish you could replay over again? Many, many. Have you ever been in a play? If so, did you like it? Yeah but only because my entire batch was required to take part in it. I’ve never had a solo part, nor do I ever want that. What is one musical artist you wish wasn’t making music? Meghan Trainor. When was the last time you cleaned something? I cleaned some dishes yesterday. Have you ever been so sick you had to be taken to the hospital? Yes, once. Do you like your smile? I can live with it. Do you have someone that you think truly understands you? Yes. When was the last time you doubted yourself? Right now. I’m doubting myself right now. I’m running for a position for my org’s elections and I’m thinking of the worst that could happen, as always. Is there anything currently bothering you? Yeah, this damned elections. Would you say that you’ve got something ‘special’ about you? Don’t we all have something that we could claim as our own? Who was the last person to cheer you up when you were down? Gabie. Are you scared of what you do not know? I think we all are to some degree. But I try not to let it affect me. > Pretty much. Is there anything in the next six months that you’re looking forward to? Yes, I’ll be going museum-hopping when this semester ends, and I will be seeing Paramore this August <3 Were you/are you popular in high school? I was in the popular crowd but I hated being in the spotlight. Do you really care what people think about you? No. Only the people that mean the most to me, and that’s not a very huge circle either. Do you find yourself treating others like you’d want to be treated? Yes. Whenever I find myself bordering on being a bitch to anyone I just sort of unconsciously remember how I would hate it if I was treated the same way. If anyone needs extra help with something I go above and beyond to help them out because I know I would appreciate it too if someone went out of their way just to assist me. Are you constantly envious of others? Yes but it just stays in my head. Are you more of a whiner with things or a do’er of things? I whine a lot but I go right ahead and do things. List three of your favorite TV shows: Friends, Breaking Bad, Kitchen Nightmares. Would your friends say you’re a relaxed person or stressed? Stressed. What do you find yourself worrying most about these days? I’m always worrying about my grades and whether I’d still be running for Latin honors by the end of the semester. Thankfully I’m in the running for magna cum laude, so I still have cum laude as a fallback if ever I do absolutely awful for one semester. Would you say it’s hard to earn your trust? Not really. I’m very generous with people to begin with, but it’s almost impossible to earn it back. There’s a difference. Who was the last person to compliment you? My girlfriend told me I looked good yesterday. Anything interesting happen this past week? I went to my first Community Journalism Workshop today! To explain, CJW is my org’s flagship campaign- go to a community-level school and teach them journ basics, hopefully get them to improve their media literacy. It’s the first CJW ever since I got inducted as a member so I made it a point to go to finally see what it’s like. When was the last time you felt scared? Awhile ago the driver of our van got into an accident with this dumb jeepney driver so I felt scared for a bit. What’s on your mind this very second? “When is my burger getting home?” Do you know the difference between ‘your’ and ‘you’re’? Cue Ross Geller screaming, “By the way, Y-O-U-apostrophe-R-E means ‘you are,’ Y-O-U-R means your!”

Do you correct other people’s grammar/spelling when talking to them online? Not online, but personally. Is bacon one of your favorite foods? No, I’m quite tired of it already. Are you one of those people who like to sleep in on the weekends? When I can. Do you like things vampire-related? Just the Twilight Saga hahaha. Have you ever cussed at a parent or teacher? I’ve cursed in front of a parent, but not thrown the cuss word at them. I’ve never curse in front of a teacher. When was the last time you saw snow? Never. Have you ever felt stupid after saying something? Always. Do you find yourself cold at the moment? Never these days. Are your nails currently long? They’re pretty long for someone in a girl-girl relationship lmfao. They’re  objectively short though. Are you the kind of person who does not like talking about their past? Depends on what part of my past. > Yes. Do you have long slender fingers or short chunky ones? Slender ones. Do you think your foot size fits your body type? I guess? I’m generally a petite person and my body type is slim, so I guess? Are you the competitive type? Poisonously. Are you more of a mommy’s person or a daddy’s person? Neither.

[thestaffofgrayson]

1-100 for the unusual asks, you meme lord

Mmmmkay so I cant help being sassy but also wanna give a real answer so we gonna do this -> Anything in parenthesis is a real answer everything else is sass central station

1) Spotify, SoundCloud, or Pandora?  Im a dank soundcloud rapper check out my soundcloud at nobodycares540.soundcloud.fuck (I dont really use any of em tbh)

2) is your room messy or clean? *glances over* clean (m e s s y)

3) what color are your eyes? All 16 of em are different colors actually (blue)

4) do you like your name? why? No because its not Jojo (Yes!!! Love the name Perrin gonna be honest)

5) what is your relationship status? *sets status to its complicated* you could say im a bit of a player (deathly single)

6) describe your personality in 3 words or less? Im sorry who? (Described meme lord)

7) what color hair do you have? Minecraft Steve Brown (Ver Ver Pink)

8) what kind of car do you drive? color? No I run like sonic next question (nope fuck driving fuck boulder)

9) where do you shop? Uuuuuuhhhhhhhhhhh (For what Next question)

10) how would you describe your style? Goku Black cosplay (Goku Black cosplay)

11) favorite social media account? The one with the Z U C C (Tumblr fuck snapchat)

12) what size bed do you have?  Uuuummmmmmm my size OBVIOUSLY next questions (Dont know tbh queen maybe?)

13) any siblings? Little shit brother (thats not even a joke)

14) if you can live anywhere in the world where would it be? why?  Why this world fuck you what about mars (uuuuhhhhhh no idea gonna be honest)

15) favorite snapchat filter? Oh man! Love this one altho its not well known what ya gotta do is hit the delete button and when it asks if youre sure say yes :D (they change so often I dont pay attention)

16) favorite makeup brand(s)? Whatever it is Genji uses as eyeliner (dooont wear makeup)

17) how many times a week do you shower? I get clean by rolling around in the snow so maybe like 3 times a year (depends usually once a day with exceptions)

18) favorite tv show? I dont watch tv I AM the tv (The Office or if its Anime then Jojos Bizarre Adventure)

19) shoe size? M Y   S I Z E (size 10)

20) how tall are you?  hOWs ThE wEaTHEr dOwnTHeRe (5′9 - 5′11 somewhere in there)

21) sandals or sneakers? Gadget Shoes (legit those are cool but sneakers)

22) do you go to the gym? I think theeessseeee muscles speak for themselves (nope but I do martial arts)

23) describe your dream date  Killing all mortals and achieving a state beyond that of a god (iiiii dont know I dont really see myself going on a date)

24) how much money do you have in your wallet at the moment? Why do YOU wanna know (no really why tho)

25) what color socks are you wearing? Well I’m at home on the sofa playing sonic the hedgehog and typing up responses to an ask on tumblr that about 5 people are gonna see. That being said, Dragon Ball orange. (not wearing em but I have a fuzzy pair of polar bear socks my friend Ana sent me that I love!)

26) how many pillows do you sleep with? Wait what do you mean not everyone sleeps with 25 pillows are they mad? (One for my head, one on each side, smol pillow, pillow pet)

27) do you have a job? what do you do? I am assistant regional manager at a paper supply company named Dunder Mifflin. (Not currently but I’m gonna apply to Gamestop and Costco here soon)

28) how many friends do you have? Toooooooooooooo many I hate mortals (honestly I’m too lazy to try and count rn)

29) whats the worst thing you have ever done? Well I haven’t seen Mulan don’t call the cops (Iiiiiiii’m not sure I guess cheated on my Chinese final freshman year but hey I needed to pass that)

30) whats your favorite candle scent? V o i d  (I dont use candles that much and I shooouuulld)

31) 3 favorite boy names Jo[seph] Jo[estar], Jo[taro Ku]jo, Jo[nathan] Jo[estar]  (uuuuhhhh I like my name so it would be Perrin, Joji, Donovan)

32) 3 favorite girl names Jolyne Kujo there is no 2 and 3 (Jolyne yes I know but I actually really like the name, Perrin is also a girls name so, Milly)

33) favorite actor? Shrek from Shrek the musical (Robert Downey Jr and Chris pratt)

34) favorite actress? Taylor after she sasses me and acts like nothing happened (Millie Bobby Brown)

35) who is your celebrity crush? McCree (Matt Mercer)

36) favorite movie? UM IS THIS A QUESTION LIKE??? OBVIOUSLY THE SHREK AND BEE MOVIE CROSS OVER SHREK B: HONEY AND SWAMPS (I LOVED Black Panther and Thor Ragnarok but Secret Life of Walter Mitty’s stuck with me for a loooong time)

37) do you read a lot? whats your favorite book? I don’t read cuz I’m not a NERD (I mean actual books I don’t ask me about it another time but comics I sure do I love the Marvel Civil War storyline)

38) money or brains? They say Money can’t buy happiness but it can buy me more games! Eat that SUCKERS (Honestly brains because then you can be smart which can make you a lot of money. So many more benefits)

39) do you have a nickname? what is it? Perriushium, destroyer of life and bringer of the new age (Pey given to me by my brother when he was still a baby and couldn’t say my name)

40) how many times have you been to the hospital? Enough to be immune to every disease known to man NOW IM UNSTOPABLE MWAHAHA (none for any of my own conditions or injuries but for family stuff about twice)

41) top 10 favorite songs All Star, All Star, All Star, Chum Drum Bedrum, All Star, All Star, All Star, Never gonna give you up, All Star, All Star (Bloody Stream, Sono Chi no Sadame, Flying Battery Zone, Stardust Speedway, Stand Proud, Goku Black theme, Halo theme, The Apparition, Shovel Knight main theme, Hooked on a Feeling)

42) do you take any medications daily? I take a shot of cold hard whiskey when I get up (nope I dont have anything)

43) what is your skin type? (oily, dry, etc) The largest organ of my body I’ll tell ya that much (I honestly dont know?? Smooth and soft I guess?)

44) what is your biggest fear? The Communists lol jk Communism is the only way (I’m not so sure on this one gonna be honest I do fear something I just cant think of it at the moment)

45) how many kids do you want? I mean I’m a 16 year old teenager in high school with no job and no relationship that being said 5 (NONE EVER NOPE 0 KIDS)

46) whats your go to hair style? Super Saiyan 3 (Idk I just kinda comb it to the left)

47) what type of house do you live in? (big, small, etc) All Star. Wait fuck wrong quest- (Two floor medium sized house) 

48) who is your role model?  Uuuuuuuuhhhhhh (uuuuuhhhhhhhhhh)

49) what was the last compliment you received? A like on my post we did it guys we hit one like so I’m here making this 1 like special (I was told that everytime my friend see’s my dyed hair it absolutely makes his day :D) 

50) what was the last text you sent? Yeah that’ll be $5000 for the kill nice doing business with you (Maaaannny pictures of Genji Shimada)

51) how old were you when you found out santa wasn’t real? WHAT SANTA ISNT REAL????!!!!!?!?!?! (It kinda faded over the years my last strands of belief were gone by 12)

52) what is your dream car? Odie’s car from Garfield Kart (The Mach 5 from speed racer there’s a street legal car look it up)

53) opinion on smoking? Jotaro does it so I do it too (PSA: Smoking doesn’t make you cool or look cool you’re just killng your lungs. I won’t try and make you stop as long as you’re aware I don’t want you smoking around me and you understand the consequences)

54) do you go to college? After that SAT I meeeaaaaannnn McDonalds might be hiring (I’m still in High School but I want to)

55) what is your dream job? To stand in a corner for 8 hours with a lamp shade over my head and make a clicking sound every so often (I would like to be able to draw, animate, design and/or play games for a living. Achievement Hunter would be a fantastic job but I doubt that’s happening)

56) would you rather live in rural areas or the suburbs? I wanna live in a cloud In the sky and abduct people to harvest their DNA and make clones which I can fight to the death with (eh somewhere quiet and disconnected from people tbh)

57) do you take shampoo and conditioner bottles from hotels? They fetch pretty high prices on eBay you’d be surprised (Nope I dont use them at all I bring my own and take my own)

58) do you have freckles? My face is a giant freckle little known fact (not really thank god I would look real bad with em)

59) do you smile for pictures? *leans in* I’m gonna let ya in on a secret kid. I wait until the photographer is just about to take the picture and then I hold a middle finger over my face to block the proper shot. Do it enough times then they’ll be payin YOU to get the picture done (I do but I only open my mouth slightly)

60) how many pictures do you have on your phone? They’re all of people I’ve killed because they showed me a stale meme dont worry about it (960 exactly and they’re all either memes, fan-art, or my cute friends)

61) have you ever peed in the woods? Ew no I don’t go outdoors thanks (Yep once on a school field trip in which we hiked to the top of a mountain it was fun)

62) do you still watch cartoons? Well I mean SOME ONE spoiled my belief in Santa earlier so I’m a bit too old for that now. I have a boring desk job thanks LAZLO (I do spongebob is really funny to me still and I LOVE the original Teen Titans)

63) do you prefer chicken nuggets from Wendy’s or McDonalds? McWendy’s next question (I dont eat either so)

64) Favorite dipping sauce? Drip dip dip I’m boutta rip please i want to die (I dont use dipping sauce either call me a heathen all you want)

65) what do you wear to bed? Well I take off the clothes I wore for the day, take off my earring, ring, necklace, eyes, hair, 3 layers of skin, and call it a night (Pajamas mostly and sometimes sweatpants)

66) have you ever won a spelling bee? *Obligatory Bee Movie Joke* (I’ve never even heard of a spelling bee in any of the schools I’ve been to)

67) what are your hobbies? Well I like to kill all mortals #ZamasuWasRight  (I enjoy martial arts, drawing, video games, game design, and walking around my house with nothing to do)

68) can you draw? UH BOI YOU DONT KNOW WHAT ART IS UNTIL YOUVE SEEN A SHITTY JOJO DRAWING OF MINE (I mean yeah but not well)

69) do you play an instrument? Electric Triangle (Actually, I play the Violin but not super well)

70) what was the last concert you saw? SORRY WHAT I CANT HEAR YOU OVER THE SOUND OF THE CONCERT (I’ve never been to one that seems like the opposite of fun for me personally I hate hyper loud music, people, and crowds)

71) tea or coffee? Coftea next question (tea. I don’t drink caffeine if i can help it)

72) Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts? I need my sugar sonic rings (Again, Don’t drink caffeine)

73) do you want to get married? I’m already getting married. MARRIED TO THE LIFE OF CRIME THAT IS UP TOP (I mean I would like to one day)

74) what is your crush’s first and last initial? My  Self (I don’t have anyone I’m crushing on)

75) are you going to change your last name when you get married? What’s crimes last name? Smigglesworth? (If my partners last name is something with an S cuz then I can be PJS)

76) what color looks best on you? You know the color mario turns when he uses the super star? T-that (Pink and Black)

77) do you miss anyone right now? PPFFFFFT NOOOOO WHATS A FEEL *CRIES* THOSE ARENT TEARS ITS JUST SWEAT IVE ANSWERED A LOT OF QUESTIONS OKAY (I miss all my internet friends :(  *cries*)

78) do you sleep with your door open or closed? It is neither open nor closed it is in a hyper dimensional state between open and closed in which no mortal can enter or exit but also cannot be blocked from passage (clooossed because otherwise the cats are gonna kill my fish)

79) do you believe in ghosts? I mean how else would I make a long and successful career as a ghost buster (I do!)

80) what is your biggest pet peeve? My pet, Peeve! Biggest one I know! (depends on for what tbh the other day a guest speaker was talking to the class and this kid was playing music in his headphones really really loud and it pissed me off)

81) last person you called? Called what? Called them a nerd? A good bean? A meme? MAKE MORE SENSE YOU ******* **** *** ******** (Well according to my phone, the name listed is “Mom”)

82) favorite ice cream flavor? I’ll ice your cream if you’re not careful (Vanilla with chocolate syrup mixed together is hella everyone GO TRY IT)

83) regular oreos or golden oreos? The fuck is a golden oreo?? (No seriously, what the actual is a golden oreo)

84) chocolate or rainbow sprinkles? *mario invincible star song plays as I flash color and dash down rainbow road* I’ll have to think about it (rainboooowww!)

85) what shirt are you wearing? Well I…. You see… The thing is…. excuse me for one second (yeah I can’t think of sass to this one but my favorite shirt! Sonic mania that my friend Tasha bought for me and I love it!!!)

86) what is your phone background?  RYUJIN NO KEN WO KURAE!! “What do you think of this color? Is it not beautiful?” If you dont know those HOW DARE YOU LEARN THEM AND WE ARE WATCHING DRAGON BALL (Genji lock screen and Goku Black home screen)

87) are you outgoing or shy? Does THIS answer your question >:D (Outgoing when I want to be, but I’m antisocial so it’s like I CAN be outgoing and personable but it’s highly on my terms ya feel?)

88) do you like it when people play with your hair? My hair is a pride to my race the Saiyans hair is a sacred thing I will advise you not to touch it (YYYEEESSSS I LOVE IT WHEN PEOPLE DO THAT BUT THAT HARDLY EVER HAPPENS)

89) do you like your neighbors?  …..the what? Never heard of it before is that a type of appliance? (I mean they’re chill we don’t interact a lot which I’m cool with)

90) do you wash your face? at night? in the morning? Nothin can cure this ugly face fest of spring 2018 (I use face wash when I shower which is typically right after school not sure why it matters but there ya go :V)

91) have you ever been high? “I’m high on LIFE maaaannn” -Incorrect Shaggy quotes (N o p e  never have don’t plan on it)

92) have you ever been drunk? shots ShotS SHOTS SHOTSSHOTSHOTS (nope but I will one day maybe in College years)

93) last thing you ate? The shattering realization that my friends will keep saying OWO to me every chance they get (Pancakes! asked for french toast but I loooove the breakfast food so no complaints)

94) favorite lyrics right now someBODY Once Told Me The World Is Gonna Roll Me… (The lyrics to Bloody Stream dude it’s a  g r e a t  op)

95) summer or winter? Sorry I’m on Mars weather its ZXAR right now (eeehhhh winter cuz then I have an excuse to be inside and it’s also the ski season)

96) day or night? I am the darkness. I am the night. I am BATMAN (Night honestly I’m a fan of the darkness)

97) dark, milk, or white chocolate? Plllleeeeaaase its like asking if you’re heart is pure of evil or not. Dark Chocolate is a sin (Milk chocolate is the best chocolate fight me on that)

98) favorite month? See, some may argue for their birthday months, christmas, new beginnings to the year, but I say there’s only ONE spooky time :3 (Altho I’m one of the fools that’s gonna have to go with March because it usually has my favorite kind of weather for where I live)

99) what is your zodiac sign  I refuse to go by Zodiac signs until Ted Cruz is proven to be the Zodiac Kill————–”OLD MEME ALERT THIS IS THE MEME POLICE”   “I AINT GOIN BACK TO JAIL”  (Cancer! I wear a necklace of my sign all the time fun fact for ya)

100) who was the last person you cried in front of?  Me after writing all these (Don’t know actually I try not to cry in front of people ever)

[k4rtana]

thank u @se34r5 for tagging your favorite little goblin

Rules: answer these 30 questions about yourself, then tag 20 blogs you’d like to get to know. 1. Nicknames: i'm mostly known as morado on here so that's that 2. Gender: female 3. Star sign: leo B) 4. Height: 5'3" 5. Time: 5:52PM 6. Birthday: august 12th 7. Favourite band: i don't have one atm 8. Favourite solo artist: i don't have one atm x2 9. Song stuck in my head: weeee are fuxkin super star from the bnha s2 ost lmao 10. Last movie you watched: the shitty death note remake, with a couple o pals 11. Last show you watched: forensic files lol 12. When did I create my blog: i dont remember the particular date?? all i know is that it was early 2016 maybe 13. What do I post: ive recently been rbing lotsa bnha!! but also fmab, nice outfits, pretty visuals and ridiculous videos 14. Last thing I googled: mirio togata 15. Do you have other blogs: ya!! @crimson-crossing is my old acnl blog.... it's sleeping.. shhh don't wake it 17. Why did you choose your url: bc of my darling boy monoma neito.... he has such a dapper and fancy hero name im in love.... 18. Following: 913 19. Followers: i believe 47 20. Favourite colours: primary colors and neon in general. also black 21. Average hours of sleep: 7-4 (10+ on a weekend if i'm lucky) 22. Lucky number(s): ironic, but 13 lol.... also 7 23. Instruments I played: a fucken recorder in 5th grade. im beethoven reincarnated 😤 24. What am I wearing: a somewhat crop-top ish version of this 6th grade field trip shirt, pj shorts (it's hot in my house binch ;( ) and My Signature Little Ponytail... oh ya and lotsa eyeliner 25. How many blankets I sleep with: either 2 or, like, 0 26. Dream job: i want to be the mysterious creator of a popular animated series someday man,,, i've got fairly big dreams in this crumbling shithole of a world lmao 27. Dream trip(s): france (im learnin french right now!), Big US Cities™ (i. love. urban. stuff.), Spain (its in europe, which i'd love to explore AND im a lil familiar with the language?? litty) and japan ofc. Im Going To Get My Little Grubby Hands On That Cafe Selim Charm. Just You Watch With You're Little Eyes. One Day 28. Favourite food: oh boy there's lots.... refried beans, TACOS AL PASTOR, takis, hot cheetoes, steak, chicken and shrimp 29. Nationality: mexican american... my mother is from sonora if i remember correctly... and my dad is from ohio 30. Favourite song: forever and always the super paper mario soundtrack because i'm too particular about music and uhhh It Good... uhhh i can't think of too many people but uhh if y'all wanna then go ahead @selims @father-peeper no pressure but i can only think of you two atm lmao

[foundcarcosa]

cxcvi.

Why did you close the door the last time you closed one? >> If you’re thinking about reading this, I’d consider passing unless you’re ridiculously fascinated by my every word or something -- it’s extremely long. Anyway, I actually closed it by accident, because I didn’t compensate for the change in air pressure when I swung it behind me.

Stripes or polka dots? >> I prefer stripes.

Do you care if people touch you when they’re talking to you? >> I do care. I’d prefer not to be touched. Exceptions exist, but they’re so few and so specific that it’s easier to just start from “don’t touch me” as a rule and then write in the amendments as they become relevant.

What is your gender? >> I don’t have one. Except for Sparrow’s interpretation of my gender, which is “a .gif of a twerking spider”. It’s acceptable.

Do you think that people think its obvious? >> I think that my lack of fucks given re: gender is plenty obvious by my appearance, but at the same time, it’s probably better in general if people don’t assume.

How long did your first date last? >> I don’t remember. It was almost 12 years ago.

Is your favorite color within 10 feet of you? >> I don’t have a favourite colour.

Highlight of your day? >> The high point of today was getting to three-quarters done with WoW’s Loremaster of Draenor achievement. Spires of Arak was a pain in the ass.

Would you rather be on a boat or a plane? >> That would probably depend on the length of the voyage and where to. I do love flying, though.

Can you tell when girls (or guys) have eyeliner on? >> Whether I can tell if someone has eyeliner on or not depends on how closely I’m looking at their face and also how much I care.

Can you cook? >> I can.

How high is your ceiling? >> I don’t know.

Whats the worst job you can think of? >> The worst job for me would be janitorial work, especially if bathrooms are involved.

Do you swear a lot? >> I do.

Does the last person you texted have an O in their name? >> Yes.

Is everything working in your house? >> More or less, I assume.

Would you rather have a pool or a trampoline? >> I’d rather have a trampoline, as I’m more likely to use that than a pool (seeing as I can’t swim and find the rituals surrounding pool usage -- the showering, the drying, the changing of clothing, the uncomfortable sensory bits -- to be overwhelming most of the time.

Does pop give you energy? >> Not that I’ve noticed.

TV show you love with a passion? >> Metalocalypse is one. So is Vikings. And Person of Interest. And Hannibal. And Tremé. And Carnivale. And...

Do you think you learned anything from the worst night of your life? >> There are no such things in my life. Perfect age to get married? >> The age you feel like doing so. Is it safe to say you own over 20 pairs of shoes? >> It’s not safe to say that. I own two.

Name a career path that women are known for taking. >> I’m not confident enough in the veracity of any demographic-based statistical data to answer this.

Favorite type of cookie? >> Thin Mints are the only cookies I can eat more than one of in a sitting.

A quality you look for in choosing a significant other? >> I don’t look for specific qualities, I look for well-crafted and intricate and intriguing tapestries -- and then I mine the details.

What would I find if I looked in your pocket? >> A lip balm.

What was your first word? >> I don’t know.

A musical instrument you wouldn’t mind learning how to play? >> I’m fine with not knowing how to play one. Singing is more my thing. And rhythm-based music games. :p

Last time you went to 7-eleven? >> I don’t remember. I was probably in New York.

A fast food restaurant that you hate with a passion? >> None.

Does everyone in your family have a job? >> I don’t even know everyone in my family, let alone their employment status.

Going anywhere this weekend? >> Not that I know of / can recall.

Is your room ever clean? >> The bedroom is generally some level of clean. More cluttered than I’d like, but that’s because I’m inclined to minimal possessions and Sparrow is not.

What does it mean when youre being quiet? >> It means I don’t feel like being loud. Which is usually.

Last person you had a face to face conversation with? >> Sparrow.

Wheres your phone? >> On the bed beside me.

Do you know the difference between your and you’re? >> Yes. I don’t find it worth arguing about, though.

How late did you stay up last night? >> I went to sleep sometime around 1a EST, I think.

Anyone you’re ready to kill? >> I’m ready to kill whatever mobs I need to kill to continue grinding out these achievements.

Do you need to get a tan? >> No. I certainly wouldn’t complain about getting a shade or three darker, but I don’t think I spend enough time in the sun for it to happen regardless.

What do you want? >> A slight decrease in humidity. A stone-and-glass shower that could feasibly fit a dozen people comfortably. A giant Snorlax plushie. Her.

Favorite TV show as a kid? >> I don’t think I had one. Whats a show that you absolutely refuse to watch? >> Sherlock.

How many times have you been in love? >> I don’t know.

Go camping or go to a party? >> Partying while camping is a lot of fun.

Do you remember how old you were when you started swearing? >> Yes. I started in earnest when I left my dad’s, because I wasn’t allowed to swear while I lived with him. So, 17.

How many years older than you would you date someone? >> My general guideline is no more than 10 years older than me.

What was the last thing you pinky swore on? >> I don’t.

Would you consider yourself a nice person? >> I don’t consider myself a nice person. I don’t want to be a “nice” person. I want the adjectives that describe me to be more... detailed. Less fake-sounding.

Are there a lot of mirrors in your house? >> There are three.

Has there ever been a serial killer in your house? >> As far as I know, no. Do you know anyone who looks like Adam Sandler? >> No.

True or false: Glee is annoying. >> I don’t know, I’ve never watched it.

Last thing you cooked? >> Half of a bag of frozen potatoes and onions and peppers.

Do you use slang often? >> Sure.

Wear glasses? >> Sunglasses, and sometimes clear lenses for aesthetic. About how old was the last person that hit on you? >> I don’t remember the last time I was hit on.

What color are your headphones? >> One pair is black, the other blue.

Would you make a good teacher? Why? >> I don’t know. I’ve never really thought much about it, but I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be socially acceptable enough for any established educational system.

Don’t you hate those commercials that try too hard? >> No. I don’t understand a lot of them, or what their target demographic is, or what the hook is supposed to be, but I accept them as a quirk of modern society.

Is the fan on? >> Yes.

Any special reason why you’re taking this survey? >> No special reason. I was in the mood to take one and I found this in the tag.

What does the last text message you sent say? >> I don’t remember and don’t feel like finding out. Your friend needs you to run to the store to get a pregnancy test. Do you? >> In this highly improbable situation, I have no real problem picking up a pregnancy test for someone... as long as I have a good reason to. I’d be more interested in why they couldn’t go get it themselves.

Do you log out on facebook when you leave the site? >> Except for the very rare times I’m on a public device or someone else’s device, no.

What color are your underwear? >> Black.

How short are your nails? >> They’re about a centimeter extended past my fingertips.

Do you like the opposite sex to be dominant or you the one in control? >> I’m too lazy to manipulate this question into one remotely answerable by me.

Favorite holiday? >> Christmas.

If I asked you to point to Ohio on a map of the US do you think you could? >> Yes. I remember Ohio’s shape.

Youre locked in a room with spiders. Do you have an issue? >> How many spiders? How big are they? Are they venomous? Also, why am I locked in a room at all?

Do you wear your most expensive item of clothing often? >> I think my most expensive item of clothing is either my winter coat (which I only wear in... winter... so no, not often) or my Tripp coat (which is too small for me, so now I don’t wear it at all until I can figure out how to repurpose it).

Do you eat a lot of food? >> I eat as I’m compelled to. /shrug Have your parents ever tried to control your relationship? >> I was an adult when I started having those kinds of relationships, so there is no way he could exert control over them.

Have you ever had to give someone directions before? >> Yes.

Speaking of which, are you good at understanding driving directions? >> I don’t know how good I’d be at understanding driving directions, seeing as I don’t drive. I understand most directions pretty well, if multiple frames of reference are given (compass directions and landmarks as backup, for example).

How many people do you text daily? >> Zero, usually, unless Sparrow texts me something.

Do you play any instruments? Which instruments do you play? >> No.

Is there anyone who you call by their last name? >> No.

What did you do on your last birthday? >> On my actual birthday, I didn’t do anything. My birthday trip was at the beginning of that month.

Which of the Seven Deadly Sins do you commit the most? >> I don’t know.

Has anyone ever told you that you’re incapable of whispering? >> No.

What is your least favorite subject in school? >> All of them.

Have you ever been involved in a custody battle before? >> No. My father won custody of me pretty easily when I was a baby, considering my mother didn’t even show up to court.

Do you know a couple who constantly sucks on each other’s face? >> No.

When was the last time you watched a YouTube video? >> Earlier today. I watched the Leeroy Jenkins video.

Have you ever babysat a newborn baby before? >> No. When was the last time you held someone’s hand? >> I don’t remember.

How many meals have you eaten today, so far? >> I don’t eat meals, I just eat when I’m hungry. I ate on about four separate occasions today, but not much.

Do you think it’s stupid for people to call others “hot?” >> No.

Do you personally think Wikipedia is a reliable source? >> It’s reliable for what I use it for.

Have you ever shopped at Wet Seal before? Did you like it? >> Yes. I thought it had some cool things.

Do you care about spending money if it’s someone else’s money? >> I respect people’s financial limits, especially if they’re clearly defined (”ok I only have 20 to spend so”), but I don’t make a big deal out of trying to order the cheapest thing on the menu. I order what I want, and if they don’t want to buy whatever it is, then I’ll pick something else. --Or pay for it myself.

What is your favorite Disney movie of all time? >> Lilo and Stitch.

When you were a child, did you ever want to become a wizard/witch? >> No. I didn’t really have a context for that.

Would you rather have hardwood floors or carpet? >> I’d rather hardwood everywhere except the bedroom, I think. I just find it so much easier to keep clean, and also... I can just put rugs down if I want soft. (Rugs are also easier to clean for me, because they can be taken outdoors and beaten and aired out.)

Who was the last person you yelled at? Why? >> I don’t remember.

As a kid, did you ever go to camp? >> Day camp, sometimes. And church camp once, when I was 13.

Have you ever made out in a movie theater before? >> Yes, once. Wouldn’t mind doing it again.

Are you currently trying to learn to play any instrument? >> No.

When was the last time you went somewhere you thought was haunted? >> I don’t know.

Who was the last person to compliment you? >> I think that was Krister, on Instagram sometime in the past week or two.

How old were you when you got to go on your first date? >> I was 18.

Would you call your parents over-protective or under-protective? >> My father was overprotective and strict.

Did your parents ever let you play in the pits of those multicolored balls? >> No.

Have any of your siblings ever had a crush on your significant other? >> No.

Do you still watch cartoons on television? >> Yes. I especially like to watch them on the bathroom TV at the in-laws’ house when I use their shower.

What do you usually order at Taco Bell, if you go there? >> A couple of soft tacos and/or a quesadilla or something. Nothing too extravagant.

Is there anyone currently annoying you? >> In general, yes, but now there is a finish line in sight.

Have you ever felt like someone was following you? >> Yes. Do you like short or long surveys the best? >> I like the 30-50 question range best. Any longer than that, and questions start to weaken and get repetitive. Case in point: this survey, which has asked me about instruments three times already.

Have you ever bought fake money and tried to make it pass for real? >> No. That doesn’t strike me as an intelligent move.

Are your siblings nice the majority of the time? >> ---

Do you freak out when a thunderstorm comes along? >> No. I often get excited, though.

How often do you shower? >> Two to three times a week.

Have you ever had to sell something for a school fundraiser? >> I don’t recall ever doing that.

How many sodas do you usually drink in one day? >> Zero.

Have you ever met someone who was completely weird all-around? >> I don’t think I have a context for that kind of opinion.

Do you ever watch any soap operas? >> No.

Have you ever met someone who was mean to everyone? >> Well, probably.

Do you think long surveys are boring or entertaining? >> If the questions manage to remain interesting, as I said before, then I’m fine with them. This one is pushing my patience.

What color is your significant other’s hair? >> It’s usually purple or red or some shade in between the two.

Have you ever applied for a job at Walmart before? >> Probably at some point.

Would you ever become a foster parent? >> I’d rather become an adoptive parent. I prefer the long-term investment model of parenting; the short-term investment model does not appeal to me.

Are you ashamed of anyone in your family? >> No, but a couple of them ought to be ashamed of themselves, probably.

When you get married, will you convert your last name? >> Yes. Provided Sparrow does what I think she should do, and change hers before the legal proceedings. Otherwise it just won’t make as much narrative sense, god dammit.

Are your parents divorced, married or separated? >> My parents were never married.

Has someone ever left a relationship with you for someone else? >> Probably. I never paid too much attention to that.

What’s the most painful thing you’ve ever experienced? >> Superlatives and me don’t get along.

When was the last time you went shoe shopping? >> It’s been a while. I can never find shoes I want to wear.

When was the last time you cried? For what reason? >> I don’t remember.

What is your favorite shop to go to at the mall? >> Hot Topic, Barnes and Noble.

Would you ever consider becoming a marine biologist? >> No.

Did you carry a lunchbox as a child? >> I did. I was raised vegan and sugar-free so I had to take packed lunches.

What is your favorite ‘sweet’ to eat? >> Sea salt brownies are pretty good.

Are you someone who usually eats when you’re bored? >> Sometimes.

Have you ever eaten your way through a breakup? >> No.

Who was the last person you texted? >> Sparrow, most likely.

Do you usually buy popcorn when you eat at the movie theater? >> No. I don’t really like popcorn in the first place, but especially not for those prices.

Did you sleep alone or with someone last night? >> Alone until Sparrow went to bed. We have Venn-diagram sleep schedules.

What kind of dressing do you eat on your salad, if any? >> Balsamic vinaigrette, or Italian in a pinch.

Are you someone who constantly likes to wear hats? >> No. I like my floppy hat, but that’s it. And that’s just for winter, when my short hair can’t protect my head from the elements.

Have you ever seen a Lifetime movie that relates to your life? >> No.

Is it your summer vacation right now? >> I don’t have vacations.

Do you like traveling? >> Yes.

What color are the walls of the room you’re in right now? >> White. Do you go to church regularly? >> I did for a few months, but I don’t think it’s something I could keep up for long. Dragging myself out of bed in the morning just to go get frustrated at Christianity can sometimes be fun, but mostly I’m too lazy.

Who’s your best friend? >> I suppose that is Can Calah.

Are you determined? >> Determined to do what, exactly? My personality traits are dependent on the circumstance. Are you always looking for/in a relationship, or do you like being single? >> I have been in at least one relationship for the past five years, and I don’t see that changing any time soon.

Ever had your heart broken? >> I’ve felt like that, yeah.

Even broken someone else’s heart? >> I don’t know. No one’s ever told me that, to my recollection, so I assume not.

Are you confident? >> I don’t know. Probably. It’s not something I put a lot of mental energy into. It strikes me as a largely unimportant trait to focus on at this time in my life.

When’s the last time you smiled? >> I don’t remember. I also don’t really... keep track, ya dig.

Are you tan? >> I am dark-skinned. Any big plans for today/tonight? >> No.

What’s the background on your computer? >> It’s a slideshow. Right now, it’s some cool space art I probably found here on tumblr.

Do you have days where you just want to listen to sad songs? >> Not whole days, usually. Periods of time in general, though? Certainly.

Who’s the last person you kissed? >> Sparrow.

Are you hoping they will also be the next person you kiss? >> I mean, at this point it’s kind of assumed.

[bard-of-worlds]

Beginning in Kalos 11

Sorry about Ladybug, it’s due out tomorrow, real life and my muse sorry

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Here’s chapter 11, hope there’s no problem with the text this time.   I finished this at Midnight and I promise that I will have the next chapter finished before August, but I have a few RL problems that I hope to tackle this month so it’ll be there when I can finish it.  So thanks to all my readers and please drop a few reviews. One more thing, I changed a few minor points of grammer in chapters 5 and 9, just telling you all.

[Telepathic Communication]

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  A boy with black hair in a white robe ran through a crowd of people, swiftly dodging each and every person in his way with a small Flying type with a black head resembling a musical note flying above him.  This is it; today I set sail on my ship first voyage! It’s taken me years but I finally have it, my Graceful Traveler is finally mine.  And today I depart with my first cargo, a simple transport job to Ca’Volg just up the coast!  Sure it’s not a cargo that’ll give much money beyond upkeep, but it’s a start and that’s important most of all.  He thought as he ran through the crowed towards the docks.

 “Be careful youngster, whatever you’re after will still be there when you get there!”  An old woman called as he ran past her.  He laughed as he ran, for years he and his friends had worked like dogs for their shared goal and finally after so long they had it! He ran and spun around and jumped as he moved about, he was so happy he could burst into song.

 “Excited, Captain?”  A voice said and he turned back around and smiled when he saw the figure of his brother standing before him.  Taller than him, his brother was a solid five foot tall with a black mustache on his olive colored face.  He was wearing a white vest over a blue shirt and pants.  He looked at his best friend, his brother in all but blood and his first mate Doubar.  He smiled a grin that reached his blue eyes.

 “Of course I am brother Doubar!  Today we depart on our first voyage, our destiny’s begin now!  As soon as the cargo is loaded we’re leaving port…”  He trailed off as he saw the sheepish look on his friends face as the Flying type landed on his shoulder.

 “Sorry Squall, but our departure has been delayed a bit.  One of the city lord’s ships was found adrift a few miles off shore, the ship was louted down to the hull with the crew held in the hold.  The lord has decreed that all ships are to stay at port until noon, thankful he sent a copy of his decree with his seals so we won’t be penalized when we deliver our cargo.”  Squall could only stare at his friend and shake his head with a frown on his face.

 “Chatot, chat tot.” His Chatot chatted at him as it rubbed its head against his.  He rubbed its head and looked at Doubar with a no nonsense frown on his face.

 “But the cargo is loaded right; we’re ready to go as soon as we can?  And I’m guessing the ship was marked by her wasn’t it” Squall asked as he moved towards the docks, his Chatot taking flight and Doubar falling into step behind him with a laugh.

 “Little brother everything is ready to sail, as soon as the gates open we can leave the port and sail to delivery our cargo.  And your never guess who was the captain of the ship that was found.”  Doubar said with a grin on his face.

 Squall looked at the grin on Doubar’s face and went slack jawed.  Slowly a grin started to form on his face as he looked at his friend.

 “No… Not him!”  Once Doubar nodded Squall leaned against a building and started to laugh madly as he started to cry.  Out of every one of the lord’s flunkies, she had to humiliate him!  Oh how I wish I could have seen his face when he realized what had happened, I wouldn’t want to be him right now.  Squall thought as he laughed.

  “Francisco El Yutra! You said you would capture that pirate bitch the next time you ran into her but instead she knocked you out, looted your ship and took my cargo!”  Francisco’s tan skin went white as he wilted under the tongue lashing his master; Lord Sadri Don Rodruss was giving him.  Francisco had been under his master’s command for years, dealing with problems that affect his masters business for most of his employment.  The pirate whore was the one person who had foiled him again and again; he had hoped that his sea trip would have gone unnoticed.

 “I have no excuses m’lord. She knocked us out and moved us all while we were unconscious.  The only thing I am happy about is that no one was injured at all.”  Francisco said as he looked straight ahead. Lord Sadri looked at his follower and turned to him with a snarl, meeting Francisco black eyes with his golden ones.  

 “IF ANY OF YOU WERE INJURED THEN THIS DEBACAL WOULDN’T BE SUCH A TOTAL FAILURE YOU FOOL!”  Lord Sadri bellowed as his face grew red. His black hair was

 “If any on you were hurt I would be able to make her bounty for the entire continent, but so far her actions only let me put a bounty in this single domain!  I need to get rid of her before she begins to attract the wrong kind of attention!”  Lord Sadri snarled out as he walked back and forth.

 “My lord, anything to make up for the failure that I have caused.  Any mission, any punishment you desire to give me I will accept without question.” Francisco said as he bowed before his master.  Lord Sadri looked at him before turning to look at the ship floating docked at the peer.

“That ship that you let her loot, it’s your vessel now.  Repair it, crew it, rearm it, it’s all on you.  I won’t spend a single dollar on it!”   His lord’s words caused Francisco to look at him in shock before he looked at the ship a cold smile on his face as he thought of the opportunity that he was being given.  The black markets whole sellers would by anything, even stolen cargo so raiding the shipping of those against his master would help and give him capital to start out and the bounties on Chimera, pirates or Wild Pokémon was also a possibility.  His smile grew as a name for his new ship appeared in his mind, a name that would strike fear in his enemies and would show the world what he truly was.

 “My lord, the Deceptive Avenger will become the one of the greatest of your fleet.”  Francisco bowed as Lord Sadri walked away from him and got in a limo that moved away from the docks.  Francisco watched his master leave and turned towards his new ship, not noting Squall and Doubar had been eavesdropping from the crowd and each exchange a look as Francisco

  “This is going to be trouble sooner or later little brother.” Doubar said somberly as he followed Squall along the docks.  Squall just nodded as he led the way through the hustle of the docks.

 “Did you hear his tone of voice, he was thinking of how much he could use that ship to further his master’s agenda.  How much that idiot could make on the side is probably just a bonus for him.”  Squall said as he walked as his Chatot landed on his right shoulder. Doubar put his arms behind his head and though out load.

 “We do have a few defensive armaments, and our friend was making a few plans for refits to increase our bite.  After we make our delivery to Ca’Volg we should look into what we need to make ourselves stronger.”  Doubar mused as they walked

 “That is if he comes after us.  All right so he will eventually.”  Squall said as he caught the look his friend was giving him.  He and Francisco had a bit of a history.

 “You two have been fighting for years, the only thing that kept is the war between you two so low key was that you two always had different objectives and goals.  If we’re on the same stretch of ocean out of sight of the Laws, I wouldn’t put it past him to try and sink us or loot us.” Doubar said calmly.

 “Don’t think too much about it brother, once we reach Ca’Volg we’ll look for a cargo taking us farther up the coast, see if we can’t find a free trade routes farther away, and we’ll try and keep tabs on where our friend is.” Squall said as he smiled as they came into sight of their ship.

  Sadri Don Rodruss got out of his limo, the snarl on his face not lessening as he looked over the beauty of the garden around his house.  That pirate bitch has been getting on my last nerve! Where is she selling them, everyone I have looking for my merchandises are coming up with nothing!  And that foul Francisco failed completely!  How did she get them asleep?!  That whore Nightsprout is ruining me!  She has to be dealt with soon!

 “Welcome home O Lord!” Many female voices with a bland tone called out, caused him to look up with a smile.  Before him in two lines were many seemingly female teenage humans in form fitting maid uniforms.  A black haired woman wearing a black dress with a transparent shawl around her shoulders walked towards him between the maids.  Her black hair followed down her back and she had on black lipstick and black eyeliner that drew attention to her red eyes.

 “Welcome home master, how was your outing?”  The woman asked with a sensual purr to her voice as she bowed to him, revealing the tops of her breasts as she did so.

 “Terrible, it was simply terrible.  That bitch Nightsprout took my cargo again, and I’m still no closer to finding where she’s selling them!  But more importantly has my daughter returned my message about the ball?  I need her here, Lord Magnus might be coming and I want to get a good impression, the Prince is what the game is about now!” He declared as he walked past her.

 “The Lady Nudar sent a replay not long after you left master.  She said she was finishing up her homework and that since she had a test tomorrow morning she decided to remain there to finish that and she would be back the day before the ball to allow her time to prepare properly.  There was a delivery of beasts while you were out from her.”  She said as she followed after him.

 “The composition of the delivery was what was promised?”  He asked as he walked through his mansion towards his study, noting the preparations for the grand ball he was to have in three days.  That woman had better have delivered what she said she could or else I will have payment in her hide!  He swore as he listened to the report.

 “Yes master, the order is complete; the Flower Cats are the Bewitching Aroma verity from what I saw, the Ruby Eagles are of Fire and the Diamond Hounds are second White, the Guardians have shields and spears and there was one in a rather large crate that I was told was too opened by you alone my lord.”  She purred as they walked towards a door guarded by two tall figures in full plate armor wielding Spears and shields.  Passing by the Guardians through the door, a ten foot cube stood in the center of the room the two walked into.  Marveling at what was before him, Sadri smiled as he walked around the ten foot box, if he could get that pirate bitch in his sights then this monster would kill her, finally ending the problems she had been causing to his busness.

 “And how was our trace attempt?”  Sadri asked as he ran his hand over the crate.  While using, owning or making Homunculus wasn’t illegal, the makers of them were usually in the public eye so the fact that the marker he had been dealing with only operated in the underground presented him with an opportunity, finding who they were would grant him some power over that person that, power that might help him to finally ascend higher in station.

 “I have to report a complete failure Master Sadri. Whoever made them sent Guardians to carry the cargo and put the payment into a Blue Ruby Eagle.  As soon as it and three Ruby Eagles took off the Guardians started to decompose and soon were nothing but slime.” The woman’s voice caused Sadri to turn and glare at her.

 “That’s not good enough Orchid!  I need something to change; I need my daughter to make a good impression on Lord Magnus, if I can get the maker under my employment then I might become a Highlord!” He bellowed at the woman.

 “Rest assured master some of our operatives are following the Eagle as we speak, we will at least know the direction it’s going in at least.”  Orchid said as she bowed before her master.  Sadri snarled as he looked at the crate and clenched his right fist as it started to glow brown and struck the crate.  The wood crumbled to dust, revealing an 8 foot tall form that radiated danger.   Sadri merely looked at the papers and looked the 8 foot Homunculus and turned to his assistant.  

 “Miss Orchid, please call back all operative you have tracking our payment.  Send a message that I would like to purchase two more of these wonders.  I will be in my study, do come and tell me if anything else happens would you.  Oh, please call my daughter and tell you to keep to the main paths, I don’t want one of my procurers to target her, use an inventive reason for why I asked.” Orchid watched her master walk away and she just huffed and shook her head as she walked out of the room, a thousand other details to be done before the party, never noticing the eyes of the Homunculus glowed red in the darkness of the room or that the two Guardians eyes glowed as well.

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  A door opened to a darkened room, until suddenly the lights came on, revealing the room had pink painted walls, a vanity mirror and makeup table next to a dresser in front of a bed with pink curtains.  An area in the center of the room seemed to simmer and a bipedal, gray-brown, fox-like Pokémon with a crimson main with spikes and a tall woman with a voluptuous build with a large chest appeared from the simmer. She had on a visor over her eyes and a bandanna mask around her and was wearing a tight black cat suit with three Pokéballs on her waist.  She had two cutlasses on her back and her long black hair flowed down to the small of her back.  The woman nodded to her Pokémon and sat before the vanity and as her hand started to glow black she opened a drawl and removed a hair brush with a crystal on its back, half golden and the other black.  As she moved it along her hair with her glowing hand her hair turned golden blond and started to curl at the ends.  As her Pokémon looked at its trainer she smiled and gave it her orders.

 “Go ahead and get the food for the others ready girl, the supplies I brought should last you three for a month so tonight we’re all eating together.    Still with everything our last mission gave us, a day off is just what I need.”  She said as she walked over to her dresser and pulled out some blue jeans and a white blouse as her Pokémon left the room.  She chuckled as she channeled a little Aura into her hair and smiled as it started to flow into braids.

 “I am so glad Lady Camilla published that book on how to use Aura manipulation to handle your hair, it makes changing my appearance so much easier.”  She said to herself as her started to undress.

 She walked into a kitchen wearing the cloths she had pulled out with three more Pokéballs and saw her Pokémon put down two dishes full of Pokémon food and go back for two more, her trainer walked by and put down the final two dishes and threw her Pokéballs. Out of them came a brown avian Pokémon with a vulturine neck and broad, powerful wings, a white humanoid Pokémon that looked like it was wearing a kimono, a feminine looking humanoid with white skin and looked like it was wearing a green dress and a large bouquet of ornate yellow flowers around its neck, a Bellossom and a white marine Pokémon that resembles a cross between a sea lion and a mermaid with a blue tail. She smiled as she got out a sandwich for herself.

 “Dig in girls, after the meals done we’re relaxing for the rest of the day before Team Noble and I go back to the mansion!”  She called as she started to eat her own food as her Pokémon celebrated.  She smiled as she saw them talk about themselves as she ate. I can’t believe that it’s been going so well.  We’ve been saving so many of them and getting them out of the Old Bastard’s reach will take at least a month for the crew to get back here, enough for me to do some digging into his work again for a new target. Still how long can I keep my double life going, I need to find a way to keep finding his ships, maybe I could hire Happy Grandbull for a virus.  Her thoughts were running around her head as she reached for a remote and turned her TV and put the Contest channel on.  A battle between a Charizard and an Incineroar was appeared on the screen as the girl and her Pokémon started to watch.  The Charizard dodge the Incineroar and grabbed its arms, taking flight and throwing the Incineroar into the ground of the stage, sending a dust cloud.  The crowd was silent as the dust cleared, revealing the Charizard with its right leg on the unconscious Incineroar, roaring its victory to the cheers of the stadium.

 “And there you have it folks what a game!  I wasn’t sure about his chances, but here you have your Infernos Cup Champion!”  The speaker was a man with dark skin and ruby collared hair in a black suit.

 “Last year’s Infernos Cup? I would have thought that one of this year’s Contests would be shown about now.” The trainer mused as she pouted as she ate her food.  The screen changed, the award ceremony disappearing to show a screen that showed who was competing in this year’s Region Tournament.  The woman frowned as her eyes flew over the names, not finding the one she was looking for.

 “So Lilith isn’t competing this year, or is she the final boss at the Festival?  She earned that at least.”  The girl muttered to herself as her phone started to ring.  She sighed when she saw who was calling, her father’s assistant, just what she didn’t need right now.

 “Girls, it’s her, so stay quite you three.”  The woman said as she looked at her Zoroak, Froslass and Fearow as she put it to her ear.

 “What do you want now Ms. Orchid?  I already told you that I’ll be home a day before the ball, what, did my father tell you to remind me to stay to the main streets?  I always do that, really is he trying to insult my intelligence much?” She said as she started to gain a frown on her face.

 “The master just wants you to be safe Ms. Rodruss.”  Orchid’s voice came through the phone.

 “Ms. Orchid, we both know he worry about me too much and please, call me Nudara.”  Nudara said as she sighed.

 “Ms. Rodruss calling you by your first name would be a breach of my contract.  And yes he did instruct me to remind you to keep to the main roads, but only because of a rumor that he heard when he was inspecting the damage Nightsprout did to his ship.” Orchid said calmly as Nudara shot a smirk to her Pokémon who return it with their own.  

 “So what has she done now, sink the ship or leave the crew naked and asleep?”  Nudara asked her Pokémon started to snicker.

 “Please be safe mam, I will see you when you return.”  Orchid said as she ended the call.  Nudara smirked at the phone and put it away,

 “I guess she didn’t take our performance on the raid that well girls, so that’s another reason to have a good time tonight.  So eat up and let’s watch some TV before we get some sleep.”  Nudara said as her Pokémon started to cheer.  And with that Nudara Rodruss, also know about the underworld as the pirate Lynda Nightsprout, sat down and relaxed with her team.

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  “Where are those three?” Dante snarled as he stalked around the campsite, the remaining Squires doing everything they could to not draw hi attention.  A patrol group had failed to return last night and three groups had gone in search of them, and already two had returned empty handed.   Dante considered this a personal insult to him, how dare those fools stay out so long.  Nicolas had gone with the last group and they still hadn’t returned with any news about the missing Squires.

 “Calm yourself brother, we’ll find out what happened to them sooner or later.” Sylvestre said as he tried to calm down his friend, but only caused Dante to turn to and grab him and pull Sylvestre close to his face.

 “Why are you so laid back, this is your punishment, and what will the queen do if you come back without the bounty that you were told you needed to bring back?” Dante snarled as he looked at Sylvestre.  Sylvestre merely tried to calm his friend down as.

 “We have already reached that goal my friend and brought down a Nidoking!  And remember Dante that the party that Nicolas went with still isn’t back yet, we just need to wait and then we can decide what to do.  We said we would send out three groups to find the missing patrol, so far two of them came back, we just have to wait for the last one to return before we can do anything.  And let me go before my friend does something that we both won’t like” Sylvestre said as his eyes went to their right.  Dante’s eyes moved and saw Sylvestre’s Nuzleaf holding a Leaf Blade ready to strike in defense of its trainer.  Dante quietly let Sylvestre go and walked off in a huff, while Sylvestre merely watched him walk as he rubbed his Nuzleaf’s head as his thoughts ran in circles.  Dante’s always been hard headed, but I can guess why this is so hard on him.  He was the one who set the groups up; he probably sees this as failing on his part.  When will that fool learn not to carry so much weight on his shoulders?

                                                                                                     “Sir Sylvestre, we found something!”  Nicolas voice caused him to look up and spot him running into the campsite, a bundle in his arms with the Squires he had left with following behind him. Sylvestre frowned when he heard the wording Nicolas had used.

 “What did you find?!” Sylvestre demanded as the others gathered around Nicolas, frowning when he notice the look of horror that Nicholas had. His frown grew when he noticed that Nicholas was clutching something green in his hands.

 “This.”  Nicolas said as he dropped a tabard onto the ground back first, a large hole revealed to the others.

 “We found two more like this, but no sign of any bodies but the ground looked wet what the hell could it mean?!” Nicolas demanded as his eyes grew hard as he looked at Sylvestre as the others started to mutter among themselves.  Sylvestre brought a hand to his face and started to think.   Something killed my men, but what and how is the problem.  A Chimera could have knocked them out then eaten them but where are the bodies, why are their cloths in such a state?  I don’t like this, not one bit.  Sylvestre looked around and when he noticed the looks on the others faces he made his choice.

 “Right, everyone start packing up!  Something out there killed three of our own in a way I can’t even guess at, so we’re leaving the area before more of us fall.  We’re heading back to base, I want everyone to keep an eye out for anything to kill as we move, we leave as soon as we’re done breaking camp!” Sylvestre barked as he moved toward his own tent and started to put it away.  He kept working when he heard two people walk towards him and he heard Dante start to speak.

 “I don’t like what the kid found ether Sylvestre, but to leave like this, without finding it?” Dante demanded as he and Nicolas started to help Sylvestre put his tent away.  Sylvestre gave a sigh and locked eyes with Dante and gave him a level stare.

 “Can you think of anything that could leave remains like what Nicolas found Dante, because I can’t. If these thing is that strong, I can’t guess what would happen if we fight against it.  I won’t risk the lives of my men on a fool's errand.” Sylvestre said with a forceful tone that caused Dante to look down and cursed to himself.  The boss it right damn it!  A creature that strong and able to devour the bodies so neatly that the remains are gone with no sigh on their clothing beyond a puncture wound, I can’t even think what could cause it.

 “So what if we run the thing that attacked the missing Squires Sir Sylvestre?“ Nicholas asked as Dante looked at him and remembered the conversation the two of them had recently, where Nicholas had asked him about the Squires and frowned.  

 “I’ll be out in front, if we find that thing I’ll take its attention and let the rest of you escape. But for that to work we need a strong rearguard….” Sylvestre began before Dante interrupted him.  

 “The me and the kid will take the rearguard, we should keep the Carriers in the center as we travel, plus it’ll give us some time to finish a discussion we were having before.” Dante said as he looked at Nicholas whose eyes started to gain a look of worry to them.

 A few minutes later the party had finished packing up camp and got on their golems and were soon moving, the Carriers were in the center as discussed and Sylvestre was leading the way with Dante and Nicholas in the rear, the Squires all had a bow and quiver on their backs ready to use if they spotted any prey.  An hour after they had started to move and had added a few birds and Flying types to the bounty they were bringing back Dante moved his Charger closer to Nicholas, signaling him to slow down.  Well, time to find out if I’ll live as myself I guess.  Nicholas thought as he slowed his Charger.  When the Squires were far enough ahead the talk Nicholas had been dreading began

 “What do you know about the Squires that made you ask me about them?”  Dante said quietly and bluntly.  Nicholas looked at Dante before he started to speak.

 “How good are you at Sensing, really?” Nicholas asked as Dante looked at him. Dante looked forward at the Squires on their golems and before he said anything had a look of confusion on his face before he started to look concerned.

 “I’m terrible at it come to think of it.  In fact I don’t know anyone in the team who is good at it.  Why, what is it?”  Dante asked as he looked at the party.

 “They all feel as if their brothers.  And by all I mean every single Squire I’ve moved past sense I joined up.”  Nicholas said as he faced forward, not looking at Dante as they traveled.

 “Every single one of them?” Dante asked with a frowned as he looked at the Squires, noticing two of them were talking and one had told a joke that caused his fellow to laugh.  How the hell is that even possible, I can’t even think beyond…. Dante’s thoughts stopped as a sudden spike of pain caused him to lean his head against his Charger’s head, grabbing his head as he moves, his Charger slowing to a stop.

 “DANTE! Are you okay?!” Nicholas’s voice caused Dante to look up and notice the kid had stopped his charger and was looking at him in concern as Dante fought through the pain and grabbed a few memories in his head.

 “IS EVERYTHING OKAY BACK THERE YOU TWO?” Sylvestre’s voice echoed from the front of the pack, causing Dante and Nicholas to look at the others had slowed down and Slyverstre was looking towards them from the front of the group.  Nicholas turned and stopped when Dante raised his hand toward him. Dante took a deep breath and yelled

 “WE’RE FINE SLYVERSTRE, I JUST TOLD THE KID AN OFF COLOR JOKE THAT SHOCKED HIM!”  Dante called back and within a few minutes they were moving again. Dante turned to Nicholas and gave him a stern look.

 “Don’t tell the boss about that episode, I’ll tell him about it later.  If that was what I thought it was then I need to talk to a friend back at base.”  Dante said as he moved his Charger forward, leaving Nicholas behind him.  Nicholas looked after Dante with a frown on his face and soon his thoughts came to his own fears.  That looks like what happened to me when I realized I didn’t remember why and how I joined the Team.  Who was that woman I see in my dreams, how do I know her, where did I grow up?  Nicholas just sighed and moved his golem forward, falling back into line behind his comrades.  

 A few hours later as they neared the area where their home was Sylvestre started to look around and grew concerned.  An hour ago Dante had come forward to talk to him after they had taken down an eagle that was carrying a rabbit.

 “Shouldn’t the sentries have stopped us before we reached this point Dante?”  Sylvestre asked as he looked around. Dante looked and noticed a few places he had stood guard since their Queen had brought them to their base, and frowned as he noticed a few signs that people had left in a hurry and that something had attacked them.  Sylvestre stared ahead and stopped when and explosion sounded ahead of them.  He shot a glare at Dante and was relieved when Dante sent a nod at him and drew one of his sickles.

 “We’re going. Nicholas!  Stay here and protect the others!  Dante, get ready, WE CHARGE!”  Sylvestre roared as he and Dante increased the speed of their Chargers, both of them worried beyond all reason that something could have happened to their fellows.  As soon as they passed over the last hill they saw a scene of horror that stopped them in their tracks.   A flood of wooden humanoid and beasts were charging at a line of Team Gaia Knights, their Pokemon and Golems at the bottom of the mountain, elemental blasts and weapons met wooden claws and green blobs flying through the air and splattering.

 “What are we seeing?” Sylvestre wondered softly as he and his friend looked upon the battle.  Dante said nothing as they watched, leaving Sylvestre to try and figure out what was happening, looking at it as he thought.  Okay, they have a line so they had warnings so there’s that.  But the sheer size of the things they’re fighting makes me wonder how they learned about them in the first places. And are they forcing us back, how can they…. Sylvestre thoughts died as he looked at the battle and suddenly realized just what he was seeing.

 “Those things attacking, their following orders from something.”  His words caused Dante to look at him before noticing the same thing Sylvestre had, whenever the defenders had pushed back the attackers more came at them, but unlike normal Chimera these things came at the defenders in groups, the things were trying to pierce through line by over whelming their opponents, but so far the defenders were making the things pay for every step they took.

 Dante noticed that most of the things seemed to be coming from one section of the forest and made a decision and grabbed two of his Pokéball.   I can move faster on my own, the boss can do the most good on the battle line.

 “Sylvestre, go.  Me and my team will work our way over there and see if we can take out their commander, I’ll send up a flare when I find it. Go help the others hold the line and if we’re wrong about this I’ll fight my way back to the lines and we’ll go from there.”  Dante said as he released a Haunter and a Bug type with a yellow head with two crests on its side, veined wings with triangular, red tipping and two gray insectoid arms extending from its chest ending in small, yellow claws.

 Jacquelin blocked a blow from one of the tree things stone like claws{[Treeslasher]} with his shield and cursed in his head as he fought.  It had been perfect, he had brought the remains of what he had fought and even Mathis had said an expedition to discover if more were in the area was a good idea, and no sooner had that decision been made then they discovered a flood of them marching towards the mountain!   Thankfully they had been able to create a defensive line and but they were slowly being pushed back, for some reason they were using tactics of all things!  He looked up and saw more of the Treeslashers and copies of the thing he had faced before with the vines for a left arm{[Treegrabber]} and clenched his hands, ready to weather the attacks when he was saved.

 “Bullet Seed, give them some space!”  At the called command he looked up and for the first time ever was happy to see Sylvestre. He was riding his Charger with his Nuzleaf standing behind him, firing its attack at the creatures as his golem charged at the place Jacquelin was defending.  Jacquelin just panted as the yellow seeds struck down the Woodmen.  

 “Enjoy the hunt?”  Jacquelin asked as he started to catch his breath, the Bullet Seed having brought him a few seconds to gather his strength.

 “It was bad, but what’s this then?” Sylvestre asked as he prepared to meet the enemies charge.

 “I found some of these things a while on a hunt of my own; I was organizing a patrol expedition when the lookouts saw the horde coming at us.  We’ve been trying to hold them back for the last few hours with limited success, we started a few feet from the woods.  But these things, their obeying commands from something.”  Jacquelin said as he looked at the enemy.

 “Dante thinks he saw where their getting commands from, he’s gone to deal with it, and we just need to hold on as long as we can.”  Sylvestre was able to say before the horde was upon them and battle gave them no time to talk.

 Dante slipped through the trees, having left his Charger behind him as he led his two Pokémon towards when he had thought the enemy was getting their directions from.  He would either find their leader or discover just how many of them there were, but he would find out.  He slowed as he reached a clearing and looked out and saw a wooden centaur with three eyes on its head, four long arms with the lower two ending in claws, the top right one ended in an open log and the other ended in grasping leafy vines {[Treelord]} stood looking out at the battle, two Treeslashers stood next to it while behind it a group of Treegrabbers and Treeslashers stood before the Treelord gestured with one of its arms towards one part of the battle and the group thundered towards the battle.   Dante looked around and nodded when he didn’t see any other groups and turned towards his Pokémon and shot a few signs at his Pokémon and when they nodded back at him he drew his weapons, nodded at his Pokémon and charge forward with a yell, the creatures only turning towards him calmly.  Dante ran at his foes, his sickles out when blue fireballs flew past him and hit the Treeslasher on the right while his Ninjask flew by him outlined in a white glow and slammed into the Treeslasher on the left. The Treelord shot a glob of purple at Dante but he jumped over it and his blades started to glow pink as he slashed downward at the Treelord, slicing the trunk arm away from its body.

 He spared a glance at the battles his two Pokémon were having and noticed Ninjask flying around its opponent while it firing a black ball at its opponent while his Haunter grappled with its foe, its hands clenched with the Treeslasher’s claws. As he switched his vision back to his own opponent he realized what he needed to order.

 “Haunter, take its head! Ninjask, stay above and fire down at it! Whoever wins first helps the other then signal the others then gang up with me!”  Dante called as the Treelord charged at him and he started to dodge the claw strikes, vines and globs of purple shot at him.  Haunter’s hands started to glow black and with a savage cry its hands crunched the Treeslasher’s claws and tore its hands away from its body.  When the Treeslasher raised its torn arms, a river of green liquid dropping from the wounds Haunter opened its mouth and shot black and purple circles that punched through the Treeslasher’s body and it crashed to the forest floor, not moving.

 Ninjask meanwhile had flown upwards and started to generate a yellow-orange ball in front of its face and a yellow-orange beam shot downwards at the Treeslasher that tried to dodge it but a blue fireball hit its back, sending it forward and the beam went through the Treeslasher’s right arm, tarring the arm off at the shoulder.  As Haunter moved to back up Ninjask Dante dodged a vine from the Treelord that tried to pull him into the range of its claws. Dante slashed at the vine and cut off a length of it, green liquid pouring from the cut vine.  We can do this; all we have to do is take this thing out before reinforcements come. If we can keep the pressure on this thing, then we can weather this storm.  Dante thought as he blocked a claw strike and dove backwards and sent a pink energy slash at the Treelord’s vine arm, cutting it off at the shoulder.

 The final Treeslasher tried to charge at Dante but blue fireballs from Ninjask sent it to its knees before a glowing black claw from Haunter broke through its body, a small glowing gem in the center of Haunter’s hand that stopped glowing before the body started to fall apart.  Haunter stared in shock before it turned its hand and saw the stone in its palm and stared at it before it closed its hand and brought it close to its body protectively, it felt that its trainer would want to see what it had recovered and turned to Ninjask and nodded, it would have to send the signal now.

  Sylvestre passed by his final foe and turned and pierced its body, killing the Treeslasher in one trust. When the reinforcements had hit the line where he was he had realized that his and Dante’s observations was right, something was sending more forces at the parts of the wall that had beaten back the attacks.  Dante I really hope that you found something, I want this to be something smart not a lot of them smart.  Sylvestre thought as he and his Nuzleaf looked for creatures to fight.  A ball of light rising from the forests caused them to look and realize that Dante and his team had found what they were looking for and had called sent a signal for some reason.

 “THERE!  Our enemy is there!”  Jacquelin called out as he ran towards the light, his Shiftry and Grandsword following, causing Sylvestre to just shake his head as he watched a few people he knew were some of Sylvestre’s followers run after him, he always was someone who tried to do the politically correct thing to advance his position. He felt his Nuzleaf grab his leg and looked at it, turning his head when he saw it pointing back from where he had come from, turning his head he saw Nicholas leading the squires from the hunt on a charge down the hill.  Sylvestre watched as they hit the remaining creatures like a tidal wave and sent a small smile to his Pokémon.

 “They must have noticed the flare and decided to come and help out…Well, they have the cleanup under control and we can’t let that idiot save Dante on his own so let’s go partner!” Sylvestre said as he ran forward after Jacquelin, his Nuzleaf by his side.

  Dante dodged backwards as the Treelord tried to hit it with blasts from its trunk arm as it dodged blue fireballs and black and purple circles.  Since his Ninjask had sent that flare into the sky the Treelord had started fighting more savagely and he was worried that…  a crash behind him caused him to curse and dodge to the left so he could see what had made the sound and yes, more Treeslashers and Treegrabbers were coming at him.  

 “CHARGE KNIGHTS!  TAKE THEM!”  Jacquelin voice was all the warning Dante had before Jacquelin led a charge of Knights into the clearing, most of them running at the reinforcements while Jacquelin and his Grandsword charged at the Treelord, prompting the Treelord to fire a point blank blast at the Grandsword that hit its head, melting it and sending it crashing to the ground.  Jacquelin merely looked at his downed golem as his Shiftry started firing Focus Blasts at the Treelord.

 “I just got that fixed!” Jacquelin snarled as Sylvestre and Nuzleaf entered the clearing and started to move around the Treelord toward where Dante.  Jacquelin charged with a yell and sliced at the open log and cut through it.

 “Has this thing reacted to anything you’ve done Dante?”  Sylvestre asked as he looked at the creature Jacquelin and his Pokemon were attacking.

 “Barely a sound and barely reacted when I charged it, I don’t like this boss.  Eh, what’s the matter Haunter?”  Dante asked as his Pokémon gathered around them and Haunter moved its closed hand in front of its trainer’s face.  Haunter opened it to reveal the gem it had taken from the Treeslasher and Sylvestre went white when he saw it.

 “What the… Did you get that from the thing you were fighting?”  Dante demanded as he looked at the gem.  Sylvestre looked at the Treelord and his rapier started to glow pink as he tried to find an opening to end this.  As Jacquelin sliced at one of the Treelord’s claws Sylvestre shot forward a pink comet formed around him and he shot through the Treelord’s body and he had just stoped moving, a gem embedded on his rapier’s blade when the body of the Treelord started to disintegrate.  Jacquelin looked from the body to Sylvestre blade and nodded at him when they locked eyes, they would talk about it later, before he turned and ran towards the others fighting the creatures, Dante and Sylvestre with their Pokemon flowing behind.

  A woman in a long sleeved black shirt under a yellow tunic dress that is edged with green, blue tights and purple ankle boots lowered their spyglass and gave a short sigh as she put away her telescope.  The battle had been going badly before something had changed, and while it had been dangerous to follow the signs she had seen of their passage, by tracking the horde she had found the base of Team Gaea, something that a lot of people would want to know the location of, and she couldn’t say it was bad that they had fought off their attackers but the person who had come at the end at the head of that party….   A powerful looking wingless, three-headed avian Pokémon cooed at the woman when it sensed its trainer’s distress, who then just sighed and scratched one of its heads as she thought about what she had just seen.

 “So those things I was hunting led us to a base for Team Gaia, and they are a lot stronger then most people would think.  But why was Nick there, he disappeared months ago looking for something to help heal his father, did they brainwash him?  Still this is something that we needed to know.”  The figure mused to herself, suddenly going still when she heard a branch breaking.  She turned and saw a wooden form walking towards them, this one looked like it had a cannon where its right arm would be and a clawed left hand{[Treeblaster]}. In its left claw was a knocked out child in a green smock, the sight of which caused the trainer to start to glare at the creature, and then suddenly she jolted backwards with a look of shock

 ”Dodrio, use Drill Peck on the trunk arm!”  Dodrio ran at the Treeblaster as its becks stared to spin, dodge blobs of purple that the Treeblaster shot at it and when its becks hit the Treeblaster’s trunk arm at the shoulder and cut it away from its body.  The Treeblaster dropped the child it was holding and tried to claw at the Dodrio but the Pokémon dodged, ran around the creature and grabbed the girl and carried her a few feet away from the creature before Dodrio deposited the child gently before its trainer and stood definitely in front of the humans. The creature started to move towards them when the trainer gave her next command.

 “Finish it with Tri Attack!” She cried.  Her Dodrio heard the command and opened its becks in a triangle formation and a red energy triangle formed that Dodrio shot at the Treeblaster, the attack destroying the upper portion of its body, the remain falling to the ground, a green liquid flowing out of the remains.

 The woman walked towards the dropped child and started to gently wake her up, noticing a bump on her skull as she did so.  She positioned the child so she wouldn’t see the battles results; she could be spared that much at least.  Within a few moments, the child started to wake and open her eyes.

 “What…Miss Leaf, where am I? I was gathering barriers for mom when something hit my head, did someone carry me to you?”  The child asked as she rubbed her eyes.  Leaf smiled at the girl and gestured for her Dodrio to bend its knees.

 “Come on kid, I’ll give you a ride back to your home.  I think I should talk to your guardians about how you got hurt.”  Leaf said as she helped the child on to Leaf’s Pokémon and got on behind her, Dodrio then swiftly carried the two on its back away from the clearing and away from Team Gaia’s mountain base.

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  Brock looked around the area they had chosen to place their camp.  It had access to fresh water from a spring, it had a way down the mountain and the clearing was large enough for Steelix to lie down and strike at anything that came at them so why was he so worried.  He turned and noticed Yuji glaring at Agalia and her brother as they were setting up their tent. That’s why I feel something’s wrong.   Brock frowned as he looked at Yuji.  The sheer suspicion that Yuji had was going to be a problem if a Chimera like they recovered from the cabin attacked the group, they needed to trust the others to have their back.   Brock nodded when he saw that the camp was set up and looked around, he knew what he had to do now.

 “Okay everyone, gather up!” Brock called out as he drew forth a Pokéball and released his Steelix as the others gathered around him.

 “With Salma gone back to Viridian we’re down a body so our plans have changed, not counting the stampede we saw earlier.  Kunz, Yuji, I want the two of you to do a short patrol  not too far out, and bring back or record anything that you think might be evidence about what is happening up here.  Agalia, you’re stay here and help me defend this place if anything attacks us.” Brock said as the others. Yuji just snorted as he crossed his arms and looked at Kunz.

 “What are supposed to be looking for anyway?   More webbing, a corpse or evidence of battles?”  Agalia asked sarcastically as she locked eyes with Brock.  

 “What we already found will prove something is happening here, we need to find definite proof about the threat or at the very least we need to find evidence that something is wrong here, something that the League will believe.”  Brock said as he looked at them. Agalia just looked at the others before she sighed.

 “I know you said this before but I can’t believe the League is that hard to react, what we’ve seen so far has to be proof that something is happening up her.”

 “Then you’ve never met Pecker before.”  Yuji muttered as he put his hand on Kunz shoulder and pushed towards away from camp.

 “Come on partner, the sooner we do this, the sooner we can get something to eat.  And after last night meal I so want some more of Brock’s cooking.”  Yuji said as he walked past Kunz and moved out onto the mountain.  Kunz started to walk off when he felt his sister’s eyes on his back and looked a little sheepish when he looked back at her.

 “Well, it was very good.” He said as he walked after Yuji, leaving Agalia to simmer as Brock blushed as his Steelix grinned and chuckled. None of them noticed a black shadow moved silently after the two leaving the group, a silent protector following after the person he thought was in the most danger.

 A few minutes later they were out of sight of the camp and Yuji started to look around the area, trying to find anything that would give him a single clue about what was happening up here.  As the two of them walked around the area, Kunz looked about blankly while Yuji started to notice a few things that really worried him.  Okay, so there’s no sound of anything living around here like after we ran into that pack.  And the trees, most of them have leaves that are losing color, and it looks like it started from the stem.  I so need to talk to Brock about this, maybe he’s seen something like this on his journey.  Yuji thought as he used his PokéGear to record a few pictures of the trees.

 “Found something?” Kunz flat voice caused Yuji to jump slightly at the fact that Kunz had moved so silently.  Yuji looked at Kunz for a few seconds before he gestured around him.

 “What is wrong with this place?”  Yuji asked as he looked at Kunz, who looked around then looked at Yuji with a blank look, causing him slap his face.

 “Oh for the love of….Listen, there aren’t any animal, birds of Pokémon around here!  And the trees, their sick or something!   Look around I mean!”  Yuji said as he turned away from Kunz and walked towards a tree, never noticing that Kunz’s eyes had lost their blank look and had a look of rage in them. Not good, this brat is noticing the Chimera’s affects.  And it noticed that something drained the Aura of the trees. If that brat figures out about Aura then I’ll have to say that a Chimera jumped him.  Kunz slowly moved his right arm towards his axe as he looked at Yuji. He stopped when he saw Yuji push back a bush and look behind it before he stood and gestured for Kunz to follow him. Kunz blanked his eyes and walked next to Yuji and looked at what Yuji had found and saw a white web line lead away from the tree and out into the woods.

“We should head back soon; I want to find where this is going.”   Yuji said as he walked into the woods.  Kunz merely looked at where Yuji had walked off, before he followed after him, not even registering that someone had seen him reach for his axe, and had drawn a knife.  Shadow jumped down into the clearing after Kunz had left and put away his throwing knife and put a hand on one of the trees.

 I was right to follow those two, that kid found something that almost made the other try to kill him.  But what was that about the trees that caused that reaction…Wait this tree, its Aura was drained by something, no it’s still being drained.  Shadow looked around the tree and found the white web line that lead into the forest.  Shadow looked after the two people he was following and moved into the trees, continuing to follow after both a possible enemy and a possible friend who was walking beside his possible murderer.

  Rosette caught her breath as she watch her traveling complains as they rest.   Since they had saved her they had given first aid to both herself and Aracanine and she had been traveling with them as the climbed the mountain, they had final stopped to feed both themselves and their Pokémon and she smirked a bit as she watched Cameron interact with his Lucario as the two grappled with each other over a bag of snacks as their other Pokémon either called out encouragements or told them to stop as Riley laughed, those two didn’t fit the tales of Aura Guardians.  She still couldn’t believe it, actual Aura Guardians.  According to legends the Aura Guardians were heroes who saved people, warriors who were able to use Pokémon attacks and healers who save those near death, legendary figures who were said to have beaten the worst threats to life and who legends said had died to the last killing a terrible Chimera.  But if they had died so long ago then from where and whom had Riley learned their arts, and how he had described them, the last, that raised all kinds of flags in her mind. And then there were the looks he had been sending her since she had told them she was a member of the Kanto League’s Defense Forces.  That had raised so many alarms that she was starting to get worried.

 “Okay, we’ve rested enough! We still have to find out at least the general areas of where those things are coming form, if we can learn that we can try to take care of them.”  Rosette just stared at the two, shocked at the words they were saying. She and the people at the cabin had been members of the Defense Forces and all she could do was runaway when the Chimera had attacked them.  Sure the two and their teams had handled the Chimera, but they had surprised them and kept them off balance, but did they really think they could handle the Chimera on their own?

 “Are you serious?! You think you will be able to handle those things on your own?!”   Rosette exclaimed as she looked at the people and Pokémon before her.  Cameron looked at her and tapped a bag he was holding.

 “Lady, our predecessors were able to seal them away, and with some more modern knowledge we’ll kill them this time.  All we gotta do is drop a few bombs down a hole and their den is done.  Of course we have to find them first, which is the hard part of this whole thing.” Cameron started to say only to stop when Rosette started to stare at him in shock and a bit of anger before she exploded.

 “’Seal’?!  Then the Aura Guardians dealt with these things before and just put them to sleep?!  But wait, wouldn’t you know where they were if your group sealed them away in the first place?”  Rosette trailed off as she saw the looks Riley and Cameron were trading with each other. I can’t risk it, I have to ask him before we move on, I need some solid answers that I can trust these two.

 “Listen, you called your selves the last Aura Guardians, I’m guessing the answer to my questions have something to do with that?” Rosette asked as she looked at Riley.   Riley meet her eyes and after few seconds turned to his student with a hard look.

 “Cameron, go scout ahead a bit with Lucario, if you see anyone or anything come back, you got it, and I don’t want any backtalk.” Riley said with his hand raised, stopping Cameron from saying anything.

 “Yes master, I’ll make sure the way is clear.”  Cameron said, shooting a look at Riley before he nodded and dashed ahead, his Lucario just behind him as they moved out of sight.  Riley just sighed and turned back to their new traveling companion and looked at her with a hard stare.

 “I don’t want Cameron to hear this again; the kid had nightmares for a while when I told him about it and was as nervous as a Fighting type around Psychic types for weeks whenever we went for supplies, cause it really isn’t a good tale.” Riley said, causing Rosette to start to frown as she thought about what he had just said.

 “A battle where most of the other Guardians died wouldn’t cause a case of nerves but might cause nightmares, so then were the Guardians betrayed?  And what part did the League play I noticed your reaction when I mention my employers so don’t try to underplay it.” Rosette said with her arms crossed when Riley jolted in place at her words.  Riley just looked at her and chuckled as he shook his head.

 “Yeah it does but it’s a long story so please bear with me for a bit.  A long time ago, before the Defense Treaty was even thought up a powerful Chimera and its hordes threatened all of Kanto, I think it could be called the Zero Siege.  Anyway according to the records the battles lasted for years, until one village a Guardian’s family was in was destroyed, there were zero survivors.” Riley said as Rosette closed her eyes and winced.

 “I’m guessing he went over the deep end as some would say.”  Rosette said causing Riley to snort.

 “And how!  See, back then the ability to use Aura was more common, at lot of people could do it, the Aura Guardians were just the first people to record it and he was one of our archivists.  He blamed the pace of the war and he gathered around him others who shared his beliefs.  Now this is where it gets strange, there were a lot of ‘brotherhoods’ like his so most people ignored them and that was how he liked it, let him and his experiment with a few practices that after according to the book let him create something that would create a force to counter the Hivers, that what they called the Chimera that attacked you, were ever released.  As for why they were sealed and not destroyed, it was a suicide technique that created the seal, the ‘Leader’ of them and its guards were to powerful and after the seal was in place, if it was tampered with the Chimera would either be released or the entire Kanto region would experience an earthquake that would sink half of it, at least.”  Riley said as Rosette started to go white with shock.

 “Half of Kanto would sink into the ocean?”  She whispered in horror, imagining the loss of life.

 “At least, but that was the final straw for the Archivist and his people, they attacked what was supposed to be a ceremony to honor the fallen and declared that their Order would destroy the ‘blights of the world’.  It became a battle that after a while went into the shadows of history and about three hundred years ago the Guardians thought we had defeated them for good.  In reality they went even deeper into the shadows and started to infiltrate the league. I’m the only survivor of an attack that killed the entire Brother of the Aura Guardians, and the person who led the forces against them were at that time current Champion of Kanto, and members of the Elite Four of Johto and Unova plus a few Gym Leaders from those Regions.” Riley said with a hard look in his eyes. Rosette just stared at him and then she threw her hands over her mouth to keep from throwing up.  A few years ago the Champion died suddenly, they said a Chimera got in a lucky shot in on a hunt for it.  Was that just a lie to advance this ‘Orders’ schemes? Rosette thought as she looked at him in shock.

 “How did you survive?” Rosette final was able to wasp out the one question that was blaring through her minds, prompting Riley to smile and chuckle weakly

 “Would you believe because of bad book keeping?  I had just joined a few months earlier and my teacher was sick that day and he had already said that he would be there and we were marked as attending.  And the only way that worked was that the leader had used a suicide device that activated when all the Guardians were killed in the meeting place.  Since then I never trusted that any member of the League wasn’t be a member of the Order.” Riley said, causing Rosette to look at him as he stared her down.

 “And telling me what you before you knew who I worked for right.”  Rosette said as causing Riley to chuckle.  

 “Not as much as you would think, any member of the Order would have tried to kill us by now.” Riley said dryly as he looked forward, seeing Cameron coming running towards them.  Once he reached them he panted as he looked at them.

 “I found a pathway up wards, it looked like it was being used heavily, Lucario sensed something coming and we hid and saw a group of them charging towards something, there were at least as many as the group that we beat to rescued Ms. Rosette.”  Cameron said as he

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   “That lightning bitch must have gotten off the mountains by now; we should head for Viridain and meet up with the others!”  The speaker was a tall woman with black hair said to three other women as they moved along the mountain path.

 “Yeah so let’s go already girl!”  The woman who said this had blond hair and was speaking to a woman with red hair as the final woman, a brunet nodded.  The redhead looked at the others and nodded and started to lead them towards the setting sun.  They had just started to move through a forest on the mountain when a rustling in the bushes caused them to look up as a buxom woman in a torn kimono with long black hair and a look of fear on her face come running towards them.

 “Help, they killed my Pokémon!  They were going to rape me, their right behind me help!”  The woman screamed as a rustling started farther back.

 “Get behind us, girls let’s get ready, Go Flareon!”  The redhead said as she threw a Pokéball, the others releasing a Jolteon, a Vaporeon and a Leafeon.  The woman with long hair merely smiled an evil looking smirk.  

 “Thank you so much, I was so worried.”  The woman said as the four Pokémon started to growl in the direction of the rustling.

 “Don’t worry; the four of us will be able to handle any kind of thugs.”  The blond said as she looked over into the forest.  The woman behind them started to move closer the four women.

 “Yes I was so worried that I wouldn’t have any meat for my daughters.”  The woman said as she trust a hand through the back of the redhead and out clutching the redhead’s heart, causing her to gurgle and go still, and the others and the Pokemon to turn backwards as a from the darkness a spider leg speared the Jolteon through its heart.

 “Ambush!”  The blond cried as she saw the leg as spider Chimera charged out of the woods and started to slay the three remaining Pokémon.  A Chimera dropped onto her from above and soon breathed her last as the Chimera bit into her neck, severing her spine.

 “Sister! No NO NO!” The black haired woman cried as she stared at the red head’s corpse until a Chimera trust one of its legs into her eyes killing her and threw the Leafeon that jumped at it with one of its legs. The Leafeon flew through the air and crashed to the ground and had two fangs driven into its brain before it could do more then try to stand up.

 The long haired woman looked up and saw the final trainer running into the woods with the Flareon and formed black spider legs from her back to run after her when the brunet’s corpse flew through the air with a hole where her heart had been.  As the spider Chimera gathered around the woman as black chitin formed clawed gauntlets on her hands they looked towards where the corpse had flown from.

 “Well this is a genuine surprise, after all this time I never thought that you were still alive, much less still in Kanto.”  A deep voice called from the darkness.  The woman looked around and started to gain a glare on her face as she tried to find the source of it.

 “Whose there, who do you think I am?” She demanded as she looked around as she brought the spider legs on her back up and moved her head.   She suddenly lunged for a part of the woods to her left and thrusted her spider legs at a point when the figure she was striking at jumped upward and formed bat wings made of energy that carried it to a branch in view of the everything in the clearing and breathed a stream of fire into the air above it, shocking the woman who looked at the figure and stared in shock as she realized just what she was facing.  The figure looked to be a human male in a dark clock with spikey white hair and solid black eyes and pupils, in its hands was the Flareon with its head twisted backwards.

 “You’re like me, you one of the Ascended.”  She breathed in shock.  He knows me, how where did we meet?  A powerful Ascended could kill me and my girls and it has those wings so it could fly and strike when he wants to.  Why does that remind me of something I meat once?  She thought as he chuckled.

 “Indeed I am, I would wonder how long you’ve lived around here, when last we had crossed paths it was in the forests to the west near the Tower of Ghosts when we were in that horde so many years ago.”  At his words she went still and her eyes went hard as her spider legs started to glow green.

 “There are only five beings that I am sure survived of that time.  Three of them had wings like yours, but there was only one of them that I liked, so please tell me who you are before I decide to kill you here and now.” She purred as the spider Chimera started to back away from her as she started to glow a mix of purple and black. He looked at her and chuckled as he threw the Flareon corpse into the center of the clearing.

 “Even back then you had such a way with your communication.  How about that I saved your life when the horde was ambushed when it was supposed to attack the city that fought us off?”  He said as he dropped to the ground as raised his right hand and had two points of scar tissue on it.

 “You survived! And Ascended! What are you calling yourself?”  She asked as she rushed and gave him a hug.  He returned it with a chuckle as the Spider Chimera watched in confusion.

 “Nice to see you too old friend.  So I’m guessing your helping your spawn evolve, and you just need the human element for that.  As for my name the humans in the land I ascended in called me Dreadwing and I decided to keep it.”  Dreadwing said with a grin as the other Chimera in the clearing looked at their mother who gave a laugh

 “Good name!  And I’ve been thinking of myself as the Lady of Poison Webs, the Great Dokugumo!  But where were you, after the battle and my ascension I tried to find you but only found legends that spoke of you.”  Dokugumo said with spin that she ended with a bow.

 “’Poison Spider’, so after the horde broke up you hunted around the city of the Poison gym then, they are one of the only people on the continent that speak the ancient tongue. As for myself after the battle I was blown out to sea and gain the abilities of an ocean dweller and moved and feed until I reached a new land.” Dreadwing said as Dokugumo looked at him with a smirk on her face.

 “Yes I had such a fine nest in a place where so many different Pokémon lived, unfortunately the humans found out about me, thankful I was able to escape, went by the location our former leader had his den and slipped by the city nearby and found a good den.  It had a protection on it that kept most humans from seeing it, those who did come in usually had some such good food with them, some of my girls even ascended and gone out on their own or left to seek their fortunes on their own power, and these are just my newest brood.” Dokugumo said as she motioned to the spider like Chimera.  Dreadwing turned and looked at them, noticing the differences between them.  One had a flower on her back from which two vines that went from under the flower’s buds and were waving in the air as it chittered at her sister, one that was red and bulky, another that was purple and seemed to be moving with grace and the final one blue and was smaller than the others but she glowed to his senses.  He turned to Dokugumo and smiled at his friend.

 “I can tell just what these girls need is the just a bit of aura for their next stage, right?”  He said as he looked at Dokugumo who nodded and gestured to the others to decide who ate what amongst themselves.  As the spider Chimera started to look over the bounty before them as Dokugumo watched with pride before Dreadwing gestured for her join her him away from the girls hearing.  Once she joined him he gave her a stern look.

 “Listen, once their doing ascending to their next stage I would move on from this area if I was you, there’s something awakening around here, a breed of Chimera that are as mindless as the worst of the ones we fought with back then.  At least I’m hoping their just mindless.”  He muttered

 “You hope, wait why do you hope?”  Dokugumo asked as she started feel uneasy as she looked at what her daughters were doing. They had chosen what they would eat and were deciding on the order they would eat individually.

 “They were stupid. They just used wave tactics and didn’t react but throwing themselves when trainers got between them and their target, a lone girl riding a fire wolf.  A pack of at least twenty of them gave their lives on the hunt for one human and one Pokémon, it was just so stupid.” Dreadwing said as he turned towards the darkness, his eyes looking towards the darkness, trying to spot anything that might.  Dukogumo merely looked at him before she turned and followed his gaze into the darkness of the forest; the forest hat seemed more evil and savage then before. Maybe it’s time to go farther west; we could slip into a village, find a place…wait, why is Dreadwing here, why did he come back?

 “Why were you even around to see them, what brought you back to this land?”  Dokugumo questioned as she turned to Dreadwing who only smirked and walked into the darkness.

 “Look after yourself old friend, you and your girls.  I would hate to learn you fell to things like them.”  With those words Dokugumo was left alone, shivering as she held herself and started to make plans to protect her daughters.  She looked at her girls and clapped her hands, they needed to advance to their next stage, then they would leave, perhaps what the humans called Johto would be a good place to hunt for a while.

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  Ryouta and his wife Sayeko finished washing up and securing their garments before looking at each other and the door. Ryouta was sure the worry his wife had in her eyes was reflected in his but he tried to put on a brave face and tried to reassure her to their student’s chances.

 “We can’t let ourselves worry too much about Brock right now Sayeko, we have to stay focused on this. And he’s a former Gym Leader with a full team and a party of four other trainers to back him up, I’m sure he’ll be back before the hurricane hits the region.”  Ryouta said with a confident tone.

 “But still, he’s out there, and the member who came back was ambushed on Route 22, Route 22!”  Sayeko said as she looked at her husband.

 “We’re not trainers strong enough to make a difference out there.  This place is how we can fight this time, find out everything they can tell us and find a way to kill them safer.”  Ryouta said confidently as he walked towards the operating theater’s doors and walked through them.

 “What did I do right to find you?  Just what did I do right?”  Sayeko said softly to herself as she walked after her husband, a small smile on her face behind her mask.

  Giovanni and Miranda walked into the observation room over the operating room, Miranda clutching a clipboard and wearing a square pendent around her neck.   Giovanni noticed Officer Jenny was standing by the windows, a frown and a dark look on her face that told him all he needed to know.  He walked over to her when she didn’t react to their presence he coughed, causing her to look up and when she saw the two of them she looked away with a shamed look on her face.  Giovanni stared for a few seconds before he started to look murderous as he realized where the shame had come from.

 “I’m guessing that the Mayor decided not to ask for help from the other cities.”  Miranda said as soon as she saw the look of shame on Jenny’s face. Giovanni meanwhile was doing everything he could to keep his temper under control, all the while cursing in his head the person who had to be responsible for this.

 “I was barely able to get him to send a message out to the homesteaders about the possibility of roaming Chimera and to think about calling up the Militia before that idiot butted in and started talking about the damages a panic would cause to the citizens and the tourist industry.  Before I could say much more he had a vote and the council voted to adopt a small defensive stance and keep the curfew in affect for all Pokémon.”  Jenny said only for her words to be the trigger to let Giovanni let go.

 “Off course he would say that!  Sometimes I wonder just who and how representatives are selected if he’s one of them.  It’s a perfect strategy, the Chimera take out the Pokémon and then they go in and harvest anything they can.  The wind currents carry the outbreak to the city then they strike, its textbook!  Why can’t they wake up and see that!”  Giovanni cursed as he heard the door open behind them and knew just who it was without turning.

 “Now, now.  I’m willing to admit that it was possible for a pack of Chimera to have attacked your trainer on Route 22, but for it to have any connection to that terrible outbreak affecting our city’s Pokémon, really Giovanni it’s just not possible for a Chimera to plan something that complicated.”  The speaker was a chubby man with grey hair in a modest looking suit that walked into the room with a blissful look on his face.

 “We fought off at least five of those things!  Are you going to let a threat like that multiply until we fall?!” Jenny demanded, he had been there when Salma had told of the ambush, how could he be so stupid!

 “And here you are, whatever those things were their not that big a threat if you survived them without injury.  I’m sure that when the doctor sees that the DNA profile of that abomination doesn’t match. The league will of course deal with the Chimera once Hunters are available beyond the current issues that need their services.”  He said with a smile on his face.  

 “And if the DNA matches, what will the League do then, Pecker?” Giovanni asked as he locked eyes with the obvious official.

 “Then the League will take action and please, I’ve told you before, call me Al.”  Albert Peck said with a smile.  Giovanni stared at Albert Peck, this man had been a constant pain to deal with A sigh from Jenny caused them to look down and see Professor Oak appear on the monitor on the wall, he would be observing the dissection and offering what help he could from his lab.

  Ryouta and Sayeko walked into the room, Sayeko activating the devices as Ryouta began to document the procedure.  As Sayeko turned on the view screen and sent the signal to Oak Labs she looked around the room, after the Siege the hospital had set this place up as a backup theater and to deal with Chimera dissection, this would be the first time it was used for what it had been created for and she wasn’t sure how she felt about that.

 “This is Doctor Ryouta Panacelon, recording a dissection on a Bug Type Chimera recovered on one of the Mountains along Victory Road.  Nurse Sayeko Panacelon is assisting with Professor Samuel Oak observing from his Laboratory in Pallet Town.  Before I begin, I have taken a DNA sample from the specimen am currently having it compared to the DNA of a spore that has infected a majority of the Pokémon in Viridian City.”  Ryouta began as he slowly walked around the specimen on the operating table.

 “First observations; the subject has a hard outer shell of chitin, black in color that covers the whole body. The body is normal when one considers both regular insects and Pokémon with one deviation, two grasping limbs with five fingers on the front portion of the body.  The body has wounds that seem to be from gunshots, one of its eyes had been destroyed, I would estimate that that was what killed this specimen.  A bit mark is along the back of the body just before what appear to be wing coverings.  Coverings appear to be an armor featured as inspection revealed that there is no way for them to open on their own, as of right now I am put that off to the end, and will be using the remote operating devices in Theater 5.”  Ryouta commented as he stopped with the corpse between him and the view screen to allow Professor Oak to observe unhindered

 “The limitations the operating is under Dr. Panacelon?”  Professor Oak asked as he watched from his lab.

 “None at all.  Once the examination is finished and the gene test is done, I will personally be throwing this specimen into the inclinator off site at a class 1 bio hazard disposal facility.“ Ryouta said flatly as he locked eyes with the Professor.

 “Then I would suggest that you begin by removing the head from the body, start there and work your way down.  After all if you’re thinking about the facility I believe you are that would work out far easier for you.  And remember to use face shields, you must have proper sanitation methods in this kind of thing.” Professor Oak said calmly.

 “Yes I believe that would be logical, the saw and shields please Sayeko.”  Ryouta said as he reached a hand which accepted the offered face shield and after putting it on was handed the saw and in a few minutes the head was removed from the body and moved to a smaller table and sat up right on it.  Looking at it for a few seconds he saw the where the brain was and started to cut around the head until he gone in a circle.

 “Now let’s start with the hole that the shooter left us with shall we?  Hole on opposite end, given what I can see through it a simple cut here should let us see the brain and here it is.”  Ryouta said as he pulled off the top of the cut and looked down before he shared a look with Sayeko.

 “Sayeko, would you mind getting the mobile camera I believe Professor Oak needs a better picture of this.” Ryouta said Sayeko got a small camera from the wall and angled it so that it had a view of the exposed brain.

 “What is it?   Oh my, that brain, am I receiving this right Ryouta my boy?” Oak’s voice sounded shocked.

 “Yes it its. Examination of the brain has revealed an abnormality; the hemispheres of the brain are…the only word I can use is malformed, with the right side much healthier then then the left side.” Ryouta said as he examined the revealed brain.  The right side of the revealed was healthy and pink but looked malnourished and there were dark pink spots here and there.  The left side looked normal, with no markings or spots but was paler then the left side.  Ryouta removed the brain and turned it over in his hands and continued his observations.

 “Abnormality of the brain is constant on the top and bottom, beside the spots observed so far there are no other marks of discoloration on the brain.  The both side look malnourished, has this specimen not been eating the right amount of food, or has it come out of a long hibernation?” Ryouta said as looked over the organ in his hands.

 “I remember the cleanup of the Siege, some of the Chimera’s that died with their maker had brains like this, but those were so much worse.  The markings on the brain remind of me of them, I think it keeps the creature from have any kind of independent will of its own, this thing is a dedicated servant or…… slave, yes I would even use that word to describe them.” Professor Oak said as he rubbed his chin.

 “But giving the healing abilities that have been recorded and their mutation potential, couldn’t these structures die and release its sense of self?” Sayeko asked as she looked on. Ryouto looked at his wife and exchanged a look with her; no one noticed Professor Oak went white for a few seconds before he got control of his face back.

 “I think we’ll have an idea about that when we’re done.  Besides obvious issue, the brain seems to be healthy, for a giving value of course.  I have no basis for a standard of this strain of Chimera so I will have to mark this as an average specimen.  Sayeko, would you please open that…thank you.”  Ryouta said as he dropped the brain into a small box that his wife had opened.  Turning towards the head and swiftly cut the head into two at the mouth.  He removed the top half and put it on the table next to the bottom and started to observe the jawline.  He picked up a piece of wood from a sample table and moved it across the tooth, cutting through like a knife through butter, a piece of raw meat met with similar results.  He cut into the mouth and removed a section of muscles along the jawline and put them into a separate sample box.  

 “Two fangs along the front on the top half, no venom sacks at the roof of the mouth so I would rule out venom bites, a sack for… silk is just behind the mouth before the throat, predictable.  The teeth are quite sharp, tests show their able to cut both plant and flesh, I would say its molars are able to crunch bones and a sample of the muscle along the jawline has been removed for further investigating later on before disposal, after cleaning up the remains of the head I will be moving onto the ‘chest’.” Ryouta said as he moved the head into varies bio waste boxes.

  “So far it seems to have been nothing, just like I said didn’t I Gio my boy?” Albert said a laugh in his voice.   This was Miranda’s first time being around the League’s representative to Viridian City and she couldn’t see how this idiot could have been given the job.  He was so out of touch that it had to be an act, if it wasn’t then how could he function.

 “There were at least three separate kinds of these things that attacked my trainer when she was returning, and the webs they left might have been stealing the life of the plants they were on according to my trainer. You have to wake up and realize what’s going on!”  Giovanni said with a scow on his face as he stared Albert down.

 “The two types we fought were straight up combatants, this thing was an ambusher at best! And we only survived because we ran away when they got reinforcements!  If there are Chimera on the region in the numbers that we think there might be then they constitute a threat!”  Jenny snarled as she started to flex her hands.  Before Albert could say anything a loud buzzing startled them, causing them to look down at Ryouta who walked over to a monitor and answered it, revealing the face of Joy who had a look of sorrow on her face.

 “The tests are done Doctor. The DNA sample matches the spore at a ratio of 80%.  Whatever released the spores, they’re related to your specimen.”  Joy reported loudly for all to hear, causing those in the observation room to glare at Albert who started to sweet and look concerned.

 “Well, with this new information the League will take appropriate actions to defend….”  Albert trailed off as Giovanni walked to the intercom and called down to the operating room.

 “Ryouta, I’ll need a copy of the results of the DNA test and the data from the autopsy, I’ll arrange a meeting with the Mayor and force him to ask for help.”  Giovanni said, turning after he saw Ryouta nod at him.  He walked by Albert towards the door, Miranda and Jenny following behind him.

 “Miranda, when you get the data about the DNA call the Rangers, use the data to have them send anyone they can, Jenny, I’ll be sending some of the Gym’s Trainers to the exit to Route 22, I would appreciate it if they had some support.”  Giovanni said as he left the room, leaving Albert alone, and after the doors closed he suddenly gained a look of rage on his face as he looked after where the others had gone.  He reached for his phone and pressed a button, talking as soon as someone answered.

 “Albert here.  They have evidence on the connection between the spore and Chimera; the Leader’s calling the Rangers and meeting with the Mayor. No I don’t think I’ll be able to talk him down, yes we’re going to have to move up our plans.”  Albert said as he walked out the room, never noticing that a camera had been trained on him.

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  Professor Oak turned off the monitor with a frown, removed a data storage unit from his computer and got up and stretched.  That had been interesting, and the DNA results might not be enough for the League but it was enough for him.  He would tell everyone in Pallet to try and keep their Pokémon inside until after the Hurricane.  He frowned as one of his scars started to burn, that comment she had made about ‘unlocking their will’ could that have been the result of that battle?  He walked towards a door he kept locked and put in the code, unlocking the door and walked into the chamber beyond. Opening the door with the chamber he walked down a staircase and entered another code at the bottom, the room he entered was where he did his most secret research, his study on the history of Chimera. He passed many ancient looking drawings of Chimeras of all types; he passed recreations of weapons that had killed Chimeras and books that held legends from all corners of the world. He finally reached a computer at the far end of the room and sat down before it and started to pull up files on directions, focusing on brains.  He frowned at the records he had.  Birds, mammals and insects; there were spots on all brains from all of those specimens that were shown to have been under the command of other Chimera.  This was something he had been researching for years, and he hadn’t even thought that the brain spots had an effect.   Quickly pressing a few keys on the keyboard he started to monologue.

 “The enigma of Chimera biology has been my obsession for years now, even since I almost lost my life in that encounter so long ago.  My recent consultation with the Viridian Hospital has answered some of my many questions and but it created more.  Research into the question offered by one Sayeko Panacelon has raised many of those new questions, study of my records have shown similar signs in other specimens observed obeying others without question, there is no common origin, there species and age, where they were active, there is nothing that connects them. Possible connection between spore outbreak and Chimera unknown as of this time, will update as new data is gathered.”  Professor Oak said as his hands flew over the keyboard, looking over data he had collect over his lifetime.  Professor Oak slowly went towards a pen and in a quick movement threw it and got up and looked around.

 “WHO’S THERE!?”  He demanded in a forceful tone. As he reached for a sword on the wall next to him a throaty laugh caused him to go still.  Wait, that voice is… Professor Oak thought before grinning and laughing. “So you’re back early my dear!”

 “I still can’t get anything by you, hu Sammy?  Still trying to understand those things?”  A voice said as an old woman in an old fashion purple dress seemed to appear from nowhere with a purple Pokémon with a gaseous body and two remote hands hugging her.  

“Agatha, I was getting worried about you when Delia told me about Brock’s expedition into your mountains.” Professor Oak said with a smile at her as he sighed and sank into his chair.

 “My mountains, what’s he looking for up there?” Agatha asked as she walked towards him.  With a small sigh Professor Oak opened a file and revealed a spore in a blood sample, its genetic information came up next to it. Agatha read what was on the screen as data of its effects on Pokémon was shown next, a frown starting to form as she absorb what she was reading.

 “The source of this I’m afraid, it’s probably a Chimera.  Currently it’s the source of an infection that’s affecting each species of Pokémon differently” Professor Oak explained as Agatha listened and sighed and shook her head in denial.

 “This is from my mountains? I can’t believe something moved in there and I never noticed it, and you say it’s affecting Viridian like that. Even with the problem they’ve been giving me for a few days, I wouldn’t have missed something like that!”  Agatha said, causing Professor Oak to turn to look at her.  Agatha just sighed and closed her eyes.

 “About a week ago I pulled a girl and her Electric type out of one of my fishing traps.  I got the kid dry and was feeding her a meal when some scum who were looking for her came along. I sent her out the back and went outside to buy her some time; the poor dears out there didn’t know who I was, so when they insisted that a poor old feeble woman get out of their way, I decided to entertain them until the poor dears had to leave, they had stayed with me so long they were so late for their next appointment that they had to run so fast, you’d think a Chimera was on their heels.”  Agatha said with a smirk on her face.   Professor Oak just shook his head and turned to his computer, not noticing the pain in Agatha’s eyes.  Sorry Sam but I still can’t break that Geass keeping me from telling you about Aura users.  Dam you teacher, why’d you have to do that to me?!

 “And I’m guessing that these guests you weren’t the run of the mill thugs for hire?”  Oak said with a small frown.

 “Some more of those people who had a problem about that wild fruit we found.  It seems that those people were part of something larger than we thought   The way they were acting as they demanded I hand over my guest, there was no way I was going to let them have her!  And they were after her for a reason, called her Abomination for Arceus sake.”  Agatha snarled as she remembers the looks of hatred those people had on their faces as they spoke of who they were hunting.

 “Concerning that they were active since we meet them, more concerning they were after a person.  If the current members are anything like the ones we fought together, I’m worried about what they’ve been doing in the shadows over the years.”  Professor Oak mused as he leaned back and let his mind wonder.

 “Enough doom and gloom Sammy, what’s been happening in the old homestead since the last time I’ve been home?  Has that grandson of ours comeback from his trip yet?”  Agatha asked as she looked at him, prompting him to laugh and stand up.

 “A long story my lady, one I will start over supper, how about take in?  But you will of course be my guest until the situation with the hurricane and the Chimera’s are dealt with my dear?”  Professor Oak said as he offered his arm to Agatha who took it with a smile.

  “But of course, good sir.  So, is there anything new in the village and any new specials at Pallet House?” Agatha asked as she walked with Oak out of the room, letting the pains of the past fade away for the brightness of tomorrow.

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  Machop ran with tears in its eyes, the bow and quiver on its back not even registering to it.  Its four comrades were dead, and what’s worse was that they had failed.  This thought was all the Machop had as it ran through the woods as it ran from the mountain. It had been the last day of their duty shift when those three Chimera had invaded the ruin, how they had gotten in it couldn’t know, but it had picked off its team.  It had been briefed on the Goblins and their sire in the mountains, they weren’t supposed to have been that strong, and one alone had done all that, just what did that say about their strength.  There was no way around it, it had to let its queen know about this as soon as possible, and to do that it had to run through the others territory to get there. The pack who claimed this part of the forest was particularly strong, with their alpha, a Sandslash that had been able to go move for move with the Champion himself the few times they had meet in battle, all it could hope for was that the pack wasn’t anywhere nearby and that it could slip by them.  As it was running suddenly six yellow balls flew out of the bushes and unfurled into Sandshrews, the pack. Where was the leader, it always attack from the front!  Machop started to look around for the Sandlash that lead them and was shocked when the Sandshrew right in front of it walked forwards and to its surprise bowed down before it.

 “Sandshrew, shrew, shrew.” Machop stared in shock, these six were all that remained from their group, and they were asking to be brought before its queen to join forces for vengeance against the ones who killed their leader.  Looking at the Ground types it could see the wounds on their bodies, and with the hidden hope that its punishment wouldn’t be too great if it brought back new soldiers so it nodded and gestured for the Sandshrew to follow it, breaking into a run, the Sandshrew following behind it.  Soon they left the forest behind and after a while came upon a ruined tower that had falling over a river.

 “MACHOP!” The Machop screamed out to the world, startling the Sandshrews who turned to look at it and then turned when they sensed something.  They turned and saw five Machoke materialized out of the woods wielding swords and shields and look at the six Sandshrews

 “Ma choke mack?”  One of the Machoke asked the Machop as it looked around for the others, only to stare at the Machop when its tears started to flow down its face.

 “Machop, Machop.”  The Machop’s words caused the others to look at it and look beyond it and the Sandshrews, growing more alert as the Machokes started to lead the others toward the falling tower.  As they entered the falling structure the Sandshrew were led through a window on the floor into a slopping tunnel.  After a while they came out into a large cavern that seemed to stretch for miles, a crude looking castle in the.  The party moved through the cavern and reached the castle, being let in by two Machokes holding spears.  As the party moved through the courtyard they were watched by the Machokes and the Machops training or standing guard as the party moved towards a door to the castles interior.

 Going inside they walked towards a large door with two large suits of teal armor with oversized hands, it is only when the party gets closer that the Sandshrews realize the armor are both Pokémon.  The two armor Pokémon opened the door to reveal a large throne room.  The throne room had a semitransparent silk curtain at the fall end where a female figure that seemed to be wearing a flowing gown was in the shadows behind the curtain sitting on a throne.  Along the walls in rows 10 strong on both sides were Machokes wielding spears and wearing armor.  Before the curtain a white, bipedal Pokémon with a red horn on its chest and its arms were shaped like tonfas, a collar with a gemstone around its neck and it seemed to be dancing as it moved around the throne room, delivering devastating blows to the air with its hands and feet.  The Sandshrew stared in awe at one who had fought their leader to a standstill on more than one meeting, this was the Champion of the Queen.

 [How was my performance my Queen?]  A forceful and powerful voice said as the white Pokémon stop and bowed before the figure on the throne.  The figure on the throne gave off an air of grace as her hand was raised and a glowing goblet hovered over to the Champion.

 [Impressive my Champion, your skills have grown well. You are one of the strongest among our forces.  But I see that there are others who would speak with Us.] A feminine voice said as the Pokémon that had been dancing before the throne shot to its feet and turned towards the party that had entered the throne room.  The group released that they had been noticed by the Lords of the castle and the Machop, Machokes and Sandshrews bowed. The Champions eyes widened slightly as it saw the Sandshrews, it recognized some of them, and then its eye narrowed when it saw the Machop and the bow on its back.  

 [You.  You were add to the squad we had guarding the ruin, why are you here, where are the others?] The male voice said as the Champion looked.  The Machop fought back its tears and knelt before the Champion and fell forwards, its arms the only thing holding its body up.

 “Machop, Mach.  Chop Mac Machop Machop!  Machop chop!”  The Machop said as it knelt before its leaders.  The Sandshrews looked at the Machop with pity and understanding in their eyes while the guards along the wall gave no hint of their thoughts.  The Champion looked at the archer and then Champion turned towards the Sandshrews.

 [While the events that our soldiers just told of are concerning, I would like to know why you six are here, and where is your leader?  Have you come here to run from him for some reason?] The Champion inquired as the guards along.  One of the Sandshrew walked forward while the others knelled before the throne.

 “Sandshrew shrew. Sand sand sandshrew.”  This time the Champion’s eyes went wide and they moved towards the figure on the throne before they returned to the Sandshrews spokes-mon.

 [I grieve that a worthy rival has been slain, and the fact that it happened the same time as the decimation of one of our defensive bases is worrying.  But what are your thoughts on this my queen?]  The Champion asked the figure behind the curtain as the others around the room looked at the throne.

[My thoughts, my Champion? That the old Ogre in the mountains spawn have suddenly become more active, that they have started to roam father then they ever did?  That just one of them was able to kill one you said was a rival; that some of them found the ruin and took the fruit from the tree? I would think that this shows that his forces might soon fracture my Champion.  While our war with her is a concern if events play out the right way we might soon be able to use the mountain to handle it.] The feminine voice said as the figure behind the transparent curtain raised a hand.  From the left side a Pokémon that looked like a bipedal pink blob with long rabbit ears and a tuff of hair between its ears walked towards the knelling group with four bipedal, pink-and-cream Pokémon with oval, blue eyes following in her wake.

 [Wigglytuff and her staff will take you all to the healing chambers, Archer when you are recovered you shall be resigned as the leader of a new squad that has just finished training. As for the Sandshrews, they are welcomed to join our ranks.  I pray that we meet and kill that which killed your former leader.  The audience is over; all of you please leave me, guards included. My Champion will you attend me?]  The feminine voice asked as the curtain glowed blue and parted, revealing the shadowed chamber beyond.  Wigglytuff bowed to the Sandshrew and the four Pokémon following her started to help the injured Pokemon out of the audience room.  The guards banged their spears against the floor and marched out of the room, leaving the Queen and the Champion alone.

 [Of course my Queen, it would be my honor.] The Champion said as it walked between the curtains as the others left the chamber following the pink Pokémon.  As the curtains closed a glow formed along the bottoms as a seal activated, closing off all sound from leaving the room.  Suddenly the items around the room started to glow blue and fly around as the feminine voice started to rage.  The Champion stood still as he let her vent, and sighed as she turned to him, her eyes glowing.

 [A SINGLE CHIMERA KILLED ONE OF OUR SQUADRONS!  WHAT’S MORE IT WAS THE GUARDS OF THE TREE!  AND THAT MACHOP SAID THAT TWO OF THEM STAYED IN OUR OUTPOST AFTER EATING TWO OF THE OTHERS!!  WHAT IS THAT IDIOT DOING, WHY HAS IT DECIDED TO MOVE NOW OF ALL TIMES, JUST WHEN THE FRUIT WAS READY!?!] She raged as the

 [Calm down my lady.  While this is troubling I’m sure we can deal with it.  This is an opportunity to gather the other packs that are independent, if the Ogre’s forces start to move, some might come to us.]  The Champion said trying to calm his Queen down.  The queen’s eyes started to lose their glow as she turned to look at him, a devious smile growing on her face.

 [And we can make sure they are targeted by that one’s forces, can’t we?]  She sent to her partner as she offered him her hand.  He took it and gave it kissed it before he met her eyes.

 [My thoughts exactly my Queen.  Might I suggest that we move on the dual Poison pack that one of our patrols encountered recently near the humans city?  The leaders seemed strong and we could make them serve you my lady] The Champion said as he lead her towards a table with a pitcher and two goblets.

 [Yessss, those two.  Send an emissary, if they declaim the honor we offer them, then we shall lead one of the Chimeras towards them, let fate decide if they live.]  The Queen said as her eyes and the pitcher glowed blue and poured the liquid into the goblets.

 [If they are such fools then it would be their fault that they would lose their lives.] The Champion said as he raised a goblet to his Queen, who raised her own to their vision of the future, a future where they would rule all of Kalos.

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P A treon.com/bardofworlds for special rewards for all patrons

  Aura Skill: Sensing: Ability to use Aura to sense where others are without seeing them.  High level users able to know what is there down to what they sense and if they have active Aura or are related to each other. Homunucles feel like they’re all related to each other if made by same person or creature.

[krissysbookshelf]

Enjoy An Exclusive Sneek Peek Of: Dress Codes for Small Towns by Courtney Stevens!

As the tomboy daughter of the town's preacher, Billie McCaffrey has always struggled with fitting the mold of what everyone says she should be. She'd rather wear sweats, build furniture, and get into trouble with her solid group of friends: Woods, Mash, Davey, Fifty, and Janie Lee. But when Janie Lee confesses to Billie that she's in love with Woods, Billie's filled with a nagging sadness as she realizes that she is also in love with Woods...and maybe with Janie Lee, too. Always considered "one of the guys," Billie doesn't want anyone slapping a label on her sexuality before she can understand it herself. For Billie—a box-defying dynamo—it's not that simple.  

LEARN MORE

  THE SHORT PART before PART ONE

  That’s the way things come clear. All of a sudden. And then you realize how obvious they’ve been all along. — MADELEINE L’ENGLE , The Arm of the Starfish

  NINE YEARS EARLIER

Three-hundred-year-old oaks were good for two things: hiding from playground fights and kingdom-watching. Billie McCaffrey climbed skyward and settled into a sprawling fork to observe her classmates. Over by the four square concrete slab, Janie Lee Miller sat cross-legged with her nose in a library copy of A Wrinkle in Time. Across the field, Woods Carrington was campaigning for a kickball game. Just below, two third-grade boys, Mash and Fifty, fought over a fourth-grade girl in blue bows and light-pink sunglasses. Other boys swung from the monkey bars while a herd of girls huddled, giggling and happy, around the adults. Their teacher, the center of the girls’ commotion, was dressed in a plain denim jumper and wore a bouquet of smiles. She produced from an ugly black handbag her newly awarded Corn Dolly. “Ooooh,” said the little girls. “Ahhhh,” said other teachers, who asked if they could hold the doll. They treated that decorated corn husk like Billie’s daddy treated a Bible.

Billie oooohed and ahhhhed like everyone else, her voice barely above a whisper. No one even glanced up.

Before the end of that school year, Billie had learned from her daddy that if she wanted friends, she couldn’t stay in tree forks. So she stopped climbing up, up and away, and befriended every boy in her grade by either brute force or voodoo charm. Woods, Billie’s new best friend, claimed it was her kickball skills. By God, that girl could kick a ball farther into Mr. Vilmer’s cornfield than anyone in the class. Even the most competitive boys loved her for it. The girls were a different story. They didn’t quite know what to do with her. And Billie didn’t know what to do with them.

Late summer brought water-gun fights, fishing at the quarry, and biking to and from the dam to skip rocks along the mirrored surface of Kentucky Lake. All this good fortune sparked a happy question from Woods.

“Hey, B, will you come to mine and Janie Lee’s wedding tomorrow?”

Billie chomped on an apple they’d smuggled from Tawny Jacobs’s orchard. Juice ringed her lips. “Do I have to wear a dress? ”

“Nah,” Woods said. “You’re my best man.”

After passing the last bite to Woods and wiping her mouth with her shirtsleeve, she considered his request. Seemed fair. Seemed important. “Sounds good to me,” she said, even though it sounded worse than awful.

“Promise? ” He looked concerned that she might go back to her tree-climbing, avoiding-everyone ways.

“Promise.”

She made the mistake of spit shaking. That night she asked her dad, “Will I go to hell if I break a promise? ” He’d assured her that hell did not work that way. But she didn’t know which way hell worked yet, so she tore up all the notes she’d written asking Woods not to marry Janie Lee.

The next day, Woods Carrington stood behind one of those sprawling playground oaks and wed Janie Lee Miller with a grape Ring Pop and a peck on the lips.

Billie wore her cleanest jeans and stood by Woods’s side.

She looked up to her old perch and thought this friend thing was very hard.

  PART ONE HEXAGONS ARE TRIANGLES

First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do. — EPICTETUS

  1

  I’m waffling on my tombstone inscription today. Elizabeth McCaffrey, born 1999—d. ? R.I.P.: She found trouble. Or. Elizabeth McCaffrey, born 1999—d. ? IN LOVING MEMORY: Trouble found her.

“This is a bad idea,” Janie Lee tells me. Which is her way of saying we’re going to get caught.

“We will not be contained by a grubby youth room and pointless rules,” I reply.

Janie Lee peers down the hallway. There’s no sign of my dad, but her expression indicates she’s voting for retreat. The dingy carpet beneath her feet is patterned with repeating arrows that all point the way back to our assigned sleeping room.

I tickle-poke her in the ribs. She giggles and leans into the tickle instead of away. “I’ll protect you,” I tell her.

That’s enough prompting for her to skitter down the hall with me—two handsome thieves on a wayward mission.

We stand in front of a door labeled Youth Suite 201. It’s 3:12a.m. Janie Lee is wearing a sweet pink sweatshirt, flannel pants, and UGGs, which always make me ugh. I am wearing a camo T-shirt, jeans I stole from Mash last weekend, and combat boots that I found at a local army surplus. Clothes I can sleep in. And, well, clothes I can live in.

Elizabeth McCaffrey, born 1999—d. ? IN LOVING MEMORY: She died in her boots.

I perform the prearranged triple knock.

Davey props open the door, and behind him the rest of our boys offer various greetings. He’s the newest of the gang and we’re all still learning him. There’s an awkward pause while we work out whether we’re supposed to fist-bump or shoulder punch or hug. I up-nod, and that seems to be acceptable enough for him to duplicate.

I turn my attention to the rest of the room. I’ve just noticed that Einstein the Whiteboard is leaning against the mini fridge when something hits me. It’s Woods, tackling me to the decades-old carpet.

“Hello to you, too,” I say from beneath him.

He licks my face like a Saint Bernard and then pretends to do an elaborate wrestling move that I don’t evade. (Even though I could.) Without warning, a two-person dog pile becomes a six-person dog pile. Davey hesitates, then lands near the top. He must be learning us a little. Boys really are such affectionate assholes. I am crushed at the bottom and Janie Lee is half-balanced on top of Davey’s back.

“Love sandwich,” she mouths at me.

It is. It’s not. It’s more. Labeling and limiting something as big as us feels somewhat impossible, but usually we call ourselves the Hexagon. On the account that sixsome sounds kinky and stupid.

“Up! We’re crushing Billie,” Woods says, because he’s always directing traffic.

Fifty farts in Davey’s face in a momentous fashion, and just like that, the jokes begin and the dog pile ends, boys sprawling onto the two couches as if it never happened. I digest the scene as I slouch against the door. Boys. My boys. I’ve been collecting them like baseball cards since third grade.

Woods. He’s not pretty, but he’s stark and golden and green like a cornfield under noon sunlight. Tennis shoes; low-cut, grass-stained socks; ropey calf muscles; blond leg hair; khaki shorts; aqua polo; and an unmatching St. Louis Cardinals hat tamping down floofy blondish-brown curls: he is these things. He is so much more. I know exactly what he’ll look like in thirty years when he’s sitting on our porch drinking peppermint tea.

Davey, elfin and punkish in smeared eyeliner, sits next to his cousin Mash, who looks nothing much like him. Fifty always appears a bit smarmy, and tonight is no exception. His dark hair is oily and he hasn’t shaved in a week. Janie Lee sits slightly apart, cross-legged and petite in a papasan chair. She takes up about as much room as a ghost. Then me. Knees up. Chin up. Happy. Taking their mischief like the gift that it is.

Some lock-ins are for staying up all night and playing shit-tastic games. This one is for parental convenience. The youth group is cleaning up Vilmer’s Barn tomorrow—early prep for the upcoming Harvest Festival—and Dad didn’t want to run a shuttle at six a.m. Tyson Vilmer, barn owner, patriarch of Otters Holt, grandfather of Mash and Davey, will be there waiting with his enormous smile and incredible enthusiasm. Despite the fact that we were supposed to be in separate rooms and asleep by two a.m., I am pretty damn excited to help. Two a.m. bedtime was wishful thinking on my father’s part. We are not true hellcats, but the Hexagon is particularly bad at supposed to when we’re all under one roof.

The other four can’t decide who will open the meeting: Woods or me.

I copy Dad’s southern drawl and say, “Let’s start with glads, sads, and sorries and then say a prayer.” They all laugh, except for Davey, who hasn’t been to enough Wednesday night Bible studies to get the joke. I gesture to the writing on Einstein the Whiteboard. “Dudes and Dudette, I predict this lock-in ends poorly.”

Woods will hear nothing of my prophecy. Einstein is among Woods’s favorite things on the planet—a medium-sized board that technically belongs to the youth group but practically belongs to him. Woods developed leadership skills in utero, and he thinks in dry-erase bullet points. Currently, Einstein says: THINGS TO DO WITH A CHURCH MICROWAVE. Five bullets follow, and most of them look like a one-way trip to a stark-raving Brother Scott McCaffrey, my father.

In the bottom corner, someone has drawn a sketch of a Corn Dolly being lifted on high by a stick figure. They’ve labeled the stick figure Billie McCaffrey, which makes me label them all idiots. The joke is so old it has wrinkles.

A Corn Dolly is only a corn husk that has been folded and tucked and tied into the shape of a doll. In the town of Otters Holt, the mayor handpicks this husk on the morning of the Harvest Festival, which is an annual event the town treats like Christmas-meets-the-Resurrection. The dolly is then assembled and bestowed during the middle of the Sadie Hawkins dance to the most deserving woman of the year.

Hence, the joke.

“Ha. Ha. Ha,” I say, slow clapping.

Woods is positive THINGS TO DO WITH A CHURCH MICROWAVE is suitable 3:15 a.m. material. “You say ends badly. I say ends brilliantly,” he says.

Fifty has an opinion on the matter. “The only thing farfetched is Billie actually winning a Corn Dolly.” He laughs at himself. Too hard. We are often forced to forgive this failing since his facial hair allows him a fake ID, which allows us the beer that comes along with that privilege.

I’m eye-rolling. “You asshole.” Just because it’s true doesn’t mean he needs to say it.

Fifty stands up as if to challenge me while Janie Lee buries her face in the nearest pillow and reminds us that teenagers don’t, won’t ever win the Corn Dolly—Gloria Nix, twenty-three, was the youngest.

I wave Fifty forward with both hands, ready to wrestle him down.

“Back to Einstein,” Woods announces before Fifty and I go for a real row. This may have happened a time or two in the past.

“Back to Einstein,” everyone, including Fifty, choruses. The merriment rises to previous levels.

“This microwave thing.” I point to the first bullet point: Cook Pineapple Bob. “I do like it.”

Woods is beaming proudly. “He’s had a good life.”

I agree. Pineapple Bob is, well, a pineapple. Frozen these three years in the youth fridge. Named by yours truly.

“We’ll burn down the youth room,” Davey replies. He doesn’t say it in a distressed way. It’s more of an FYI. Like he’s maybe done something like this before. I’ll light fire to that backstory eventually and smoke out some truth, but right now, it’s all Bob, all the time.

The youth room microwave is from the eighties, black as coal, and built like a tank. No doubt donated by some senior church member who moved to assisted living. Its smell is a mix of baked beans, ramen noodles, and burnt popcorn (with the door closed). So if we properly execute bullet point number three (Melt 50 Starlight Mints), its condition will drastically improve.

Janie Lee laughs nervously, her UGGs bouncing against the wicker of the papasan. She’s sipping hard on some vodka–wine cooler concoction Fifty has made. I give her a little fist-bump love for showing initiative. On both the rebellious drinking and the microwave. She doesn’t offer me a drink. I don’t need alcohol; I get drunk on schemes.

We begin.

The first three steps are disappointing. Pineapple Bob pops pretty loudly, as does the handful of Monopoly houses and hotels we’ve stolen from the game closet. The Starlight Mints have to be scraped off the microwave walls. It’s more eventful when Mash pukes up wine cooler on a half-eaten bag of Twizzlers.

“Come on, man,” Fifty says. “I wasn’t done with those.”

“You okay?” Janie Lee comforts Mash, which is pointless. Every group has a hurler: he is our hurler. He is used to puking. She is used to babying him. They are a very good team.

“Shhhhh with the upchucking,” Woods orders.

Woods and I turn our attention to step four, which is seeing How Many Peeps Is Too Many Peeps? The answer: more than forty. It’s messy and delightful.

Woods and I clean, reload, and move on to bullet five. Fifty moves on to more vodka. Typical. Step five involves boiling a used sock—Woods’s, because he has the worst-smelling feet—in Dad’s newly purchased World’s Best Preacher mug. Two minutes in, we’ve got gym smell and no action. It’s a little anticlimactic to be bullet five.

As we watch the mug-and-sock do its nothing, Woods says, “In basically three hours we have to be in the barn.”

Fifty lifts his head from a plank position on the floor and says, “In three hours, we could be walking Vilmer’s Beam.” This makes Mash throw a blanket over his own head. Everyone is tired of hearing Fifty bellow about walking the loft beam in Vilmer’s Barn. It was a dumb dare in fifth grade. We’re seniors. We’re over it.

I say, “I hate mornin—” and the sock catches on fire.

“Heck, yeah!” Mash says, too loud, and then laughs.

Janie Lee says, “The other room!”  Because there is a group of our fellow youth snoozing in Youth Suite 202.

The fire is small—barely more than a magnifying-glass-on-grass sort of spark—and entirely worth the four steps that came before it.

“Hot cup of sock, good sir?” I ask in a British accent.

“Don’t mind if I do,” Woods says, reaching for the microwave door.

Davey sits bolt upright. “Do not—!”

The moment Woods opens the door, the small fire becomes a larger one. The mug rockets out of the microwave and explodes on the carpet. The fire—well, most of the fire— lands on a fuzzy blanket. The flames poof. Woods snatches the other sock—the one whose mate is now ablaze—and beats at the fire. He only fans the flames.

We are all screaming. There is more fire. More sparks. Both shoot out of the microwave; the antique appliance dismounts the counter and lands on the carpet with an explosive bang.

I imagine my father sitting up down the hall, scratching his head, lifting his nose toward the ceiling, sniffing. A yell gathers in his throat.

“Give me something to beat it out!” I shout, and Mash laughs so hard that he vomits again.

“Puke on the fire, man,” Fifty says.

Davey shucks his jacket; Janie runs into the bathroom and returns with a damp towel. The jacket is working but not fast enough. Janie Lee throws the towel over the whole mess in a big Ta-da-I-will-fix-this fashion.

The fire is suddenly enormous.

“Was that the towel off the floor?” demands Woods as Davey rolls his eyes and says, “I’m calling 911.”

Janie Lee shrinks from Woods’s tone, nodding furiously. There’s commotion in the hallway. The counter, where the microwave previously sat, is also on fire. The alarm begins a high-pitched wail and the sprinklers descend from the ceiling as if they are Jesus in the second coming. We are all getting soaked as Woods yells, “We used that towel to mop up vodka!”

It’s hard to tell what is fire and what is smoke and what is microwave, but incredibly, I see the toe of the sock that started it all. Dad is going to kill me.

“Time to peace out,” Davey says, gesturing toward the exit.

The fire alarm continues to pierce our eardrums. Woods throws open the door to the hallway. “Abandon ship!” he shouts gallantly. Always directing traffic. He’s glistening with sweat. We all are, but he’s glorying in it.

Mash throws last week’s bulletin onto the fire before heading to the hallway. Fifty gives the wall a pound and yells, “Wakey, wakey. Church’s on fire.” Davey issues me a long look. He’s got some I told you so in those eyes. I’ve got some I know, I know in mine.

I grab Janie Lee in her sweet pink sweatshirt and UGGs and drag her behind me into the hall. She’s as soaked as the rest of us and not wearing a bra, and that’s gonna be a problem when we hit cool autumn air.

I think: I didn’t mean for all this to happen. I also think: I effing love Einstein the Whiteboard adventures. I have a moment of true fear when Woods plunges back inside the youth room. Before I even have time to process this, he reappears, coughing, and says, “Help me, Billie.” He darts into the smoky room again.

In I go to rescue Woods, who wants to save his precious whiteboard. Einstein is too near the fire. The edge is already melted, and I assume too hot to touch. “I’ll get you another one,” I promise him.

Not what he wants to hear. I drag Woods away and shove him toward the back stairs.

Around us, kids are evacuating. They’re carrying phones and sleeping bags and pillow pets. Two sixth graders are getting on the elevators while Fifty screams at them, “Take the stairs! Didn’t you learn anything in kindergarten?” A very familiar form is swimming upstream against the evacuees: Brother Scott McCaffrey. My tired and scared and angry father frantically counts everyone he sees. He flings opens doors, yells, moves to the next room. Precise words are impossible to hear over the fire alarm. But as I watch him check Youth Suite 201, I see he’s putting two and two together.

Likely conclusion: where there’s smoke, there’s Billie.

Janie Lee and I quick-walk toward the exit. She pulls me against her and says right in my ear, so I hear it over the noise, “Billie, I think maybe I’m in love with Woods!”

“Jesus,” I say, and hope it counts as a multipurpose prayer.

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