#also i found out from the novelization that he thought she was crying right before she throws her head back to laugh | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

thelunarfairy · 11 months

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A post about Hanene

These days I found some people talking about Hanene on the internet and how there are some who don't like this ship. It wasn't because they considered the novel poorly done, no, it was because they didn't like the way Yashiro treats Hanako.

I found it super interesting to read most of the reports, each with their own opinions and revolts against Yashiro and let's face it, most people like Hanene precisely because Hanako is the one who often goes after Nene.

What I noticed was that people weren't understanding the dynamics of their relationship. Let's remember that Yashiro was initially never interested in Hanako. She says this all the time.

"he's not my type"

What happens is that Hanako simply ignores her and does what he wants. Yashiro goes after him to make a request, she wanted a boyfriend, she wanted Teru, but Hanako didn't give her that.

He used dubious methods to make her try to win him over, but nothing too serious and we knew it wouldn't work. So they create a bond because Yashiro is naive and thought that "magic item" would make her wish come true. (naive and stubborn because Hanako said she wasn't supposed to swallow)

So she was stuck with Hanako against her will. Repeating, against her will. Or do you think she likes turning into a fish, or having to clean bathrooms every day?

She always asks Hanako for help because after she made that connection with him, she could see supernatural things and how these things put not only her but also her friends in danger. Yashiro doesn't know anything about the supernatural world so who would help her? Hanako, of course.

Then we see her saying that Hanako harasses her, and that's true. He takes on he has touched her several times without her consent. He always hugs her, squeezing her whenever he gets the chance, and gives her a kiss on the cheek too.

He flirts with her aggressively all the time XD but she has no interest in him. He's the one who insists!

Then we have this remarkable passage, the day of confession. Yashiro starts to suspect that Hanako likes her, she talks to Aoi about it and makes it clear again that he's not her type but she would be excited if he was her first boyfriend, not because she likes him, but because she wants a boyfriend! XD

This has been shouting since the beginning of the story, Hanako himself says that she would be with any guy, why would Amane be any different?

Do you understand what I'm talking about?

So she believes that he likes her, and when she finds out that the confession was false, she cries, but she doesn't cry because she likes him.

When I saw this scene for the first time (in the anime) I thought "Wow, poor thing, she was already rejected by the cute boys she liked, and now she's even rejected by the boy who isn't her type"

And that's exactly what happened. She talks about this in her monologue before breaking down into tears. Then she shocks Hanako, who has a crush on Nene, he understands that she wanted it to be real because she likes him.

So when he hugs her she is surprised too. And it is from here that she becomes interested for the first time in knowing about his past.

When she finds out a little about him, she fears and retreats, but Kou helps her not to give up on Hanako.

So her confession, she says she likes him and he interprets it in a romantic way, EVEN she saying right after that he was like a friend. Hanako is very emotional, so he fell in love with Yashiro first .

So when did Yashiro start liking Hanako?

I believe that after the confession tree she started to look at Hanako differently, she became interested in his past and even found him attractive when he took off his hat for the first time. Little by little Yashiro began to admire him at specific moments, but very slowly.

She constantly denies that she likes Hanako because she already got dumped by him in the confession tree and continues to show interest in cute boys because Hanako REJECTED HER XD

So she can hardly believe that the things he does are because he likes her, so she apparently takes it all in stride. She's had it in her head for so long that even when they actually went to kiss, she believed for a moment that she had been tricked again because Amane didn't want to tell her how he felt about her.

Yashiro didn't fall in love sooner because she was afraid of being rejected again. Because Hanako doesn't tell her how he feels. Even though he flirts with her or they act like a couple, she has a hard time believing it because he was already doing this before the confession tree.

Yashiro denies that she likes him until the day of their separation, when she actually realizes how painful it was for her to have Hanako away from her. So she does everything to go after him and bring him back. (Let's consider that she was also angry with him because for the second time he decided to save Yashiro his way without consulting her, in addition to other factors that I don't think need to add here because you should already know)

She stopped denying that she likes him. (although in previous moments she gave Hanako the opportunity to kiss her, but he didn't kiss her in any of those moments because he was holding back)

"Holding back" this is what Hanako does very often. He flirts with her a lot, but when things get more serious he runs away. He doesn't kiss her when he has the opportunity (even though he wants to) because he didn't want it to get so serious.

You know, that same conversation as always, he's dead, he's an evil ghost, he's a murderer, he can't grow up, he can't live alongside Yashiro, a cloudy past that he doesn't want to tell, etc, etc.

So they would have been together a long time if it weren't for him being so slippery. He provokes, but does not assume. So Yashiro has doubts

And let's face it, she likes to make Hanako jealous, she likes to brag to him when a boy talks to her, or she likes to make it clear to him that she's going out or doing something with another boy, or admiring Teru in front of him because Hanako can't hide his jealousy.

Yashiro doesn't care about Teru after Hanako disappears. She talks about it. She was so sad about being without her best friend and without Hanako that the entire time she was by Teru's side she didn't care.

But what did she think at the time?

and Hanako would say:

She wants to make him jealous.

So there is this duality between them. Yashiro is in love with him now, but she still doesn't feel the same love that Hanako feels for her because he fell in love first (and because he's pretty needy)

Then Tsukasa appeared and threw everything into the air XD

Yashiro is waiting for a confession from Hanako, so when they actually become a couple, I imagine Yashiro won't be fawning over other boys anymore. (Maybe)

She still likes the idea of having several boys being romantically interested in her, after all she has always been rejected by all of them. It's like she feels like she's worth something to the boys now.

She talks all the time about how she wanted slimmer legs, how she wanted to have bigger breasts, all so that boys would be attracted to her. And the boy who likes her the way she is simply doesn't say he likes her XD

He only said once

But most of the time he talks about her legs or makes fun of her when he can. Yashiro dreams of a prince because he will say nice things to her, that's not what Hanako does.

It's like one is punishing the other all the time "if you don't say you like me I'll be interested in other boys" while Hanako is like "I'll flirt with you a lot but I won't assume that I'm in love and I don't want anything Seriously, I'm going to make fun of you like the other boys because I'm ashamed to admit how I feel"

Did you understand? XD

That's the dynamic of their relationship, Yashiro is still developing and so is Hanako. She said she's going to confess to him, and I'm interested to know what his response will be.

And finally (because I thought this post would be shorter) I hope Yashiro stops fawning over Teru, as he is Hanako's main enemy who has already tried to exorcise him several times (and for thousands of other reasons that I won't mention here ) it would be more prudent for her to stay away from him. I hope she stops being so easily enchanted by other boys when (if) they officially become a couple.

I hope you liked it :3

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otomehonyaku · 5 months

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DIABOLIK LOVERS アニメ公式ノベライズ Official Novelization ☽ Chapter 2 Translation

[Previous chapter] ☽ [Next chapter]

Originally written by Yukuzuki Hiroha 結来月ひろは Translated from the Japanese by @otomehonyaku

STORY Following her father’s job transfer, Komori Yui is sent to live with the Sakamaki brothers. However, these six brothers turn out to be sadistic, ill-tempered vampires. The men are after Yui’s sweet and incredibly rare blood, and go to great lengths toying with her body and soul to get it. Before long, Yui finds herself trapped in an alluringly dangerous love game(1)...

1. 吸血愛戯 (ラブゲーム): Stylised as ‘love game’ but written with the characters for bloodsucking (吸血), love (愛), and play (戯). The latter character also has a connotation of playfulness/mischief.

─── ･｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

DISCLAIMER This is an unofficial translation intended for those interested in reading the story of the Diabolik Lovers game/season in a slightly more literary format in English. I have no affiliation with Rejet or Frontier Works whatsoever. All rights belong to them, but PLEASE DO NOT POST THIS TRANSLATION ELSEWHERE OR TRANSLATE TO OTHER LANGUAGES WITHOUT MY PERMISSION.

Now that that’s out of the way—have fun reading! ❤️

─── ･｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Episode 2

─── ･｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

The evening sun cast a warm glow on the mansion. By the time the chandelier was lit, Yui was sitting on a bed in an unfamiliar room.

Where am I?

Yui sat upright and looked around. In the corner of the room was the suitcase she had brought to the mansion, as well as her bag. The room was gorgeous with its pink tones and large bed with a lavender-coloured canopy that most girls her age could only dream of. However, Yui wondered why she had been sleeping in this room.

I arrived at the mansion, and then…

Yui gasped. Right. I found out that they are vampires, that’s why. Remembering the moments leading up to her losing consciousness, she inattentively pressed her fingers to her neck.

“Thank God, I wasn’t bitten.” Feeling reassured, Yui lowered her fingers to her chest, but suddenly noticed something. “Huh?”

She wasn’t wearing her own clothes, but instead wore a négligé that she had never seen before.

“Did I change clothes earlier?”

However, Yui had no memory of doing so. In fact, she didn’t remember anything after Ayato pushed her to the floor and she lost consciousness. That meant a stranger had undressed her while she wasn’t conscious.

“Why am I here? I want to talk to my father…”

Yui wrapped her arms around herself, a thought ran through her mind.

The fact that she is not my own child bears no meaning at all.

That was what her father’s diary had said when she found it in the forbidden room. I’m not my father’s biological daughter after all… Still, she wasn’t quite sure if she really believed that. She didn’t want to.

“Dad… What’s going on? Please come back home…” Tears started welling up in the corners of her eyes when she remembered the days she’d spent with her father, but the moment was cut short.

“Oh, Bitchlet. It’s no use crying, y’know?”

Yui yelped in surprise.

When she looked up, Laito was sitting there on her bed, watching her intently.

“You look hot in your little négligé,” he said, “and you smell delicious, too.”

Painfully reminded of her current lack of clothing, Yui scrambled for the bed sheets and used them to cover up her chest. Still, the smirk that had been on Laito’s face the entire time grew deeper.

“I wonder if you’re trying to seduce me, little bitch.”

“Why would I…” Yui made an effort to get away from Laito, but soon felt the headboard press into her back, and she knew she had nowhere to run. Oh no… If I don’t do something, he’ll…

The boy was only a hair’s breadth away from her face when he abruptly disappeared from her line of vision, along with the sound of an impact.

“Don’t go touchin’ my things without permission.”

Ayato was the one who had sent his brother flying.

Laito repositioned his hat onto his head and looked at him. “Ayato, you’re too rowdy.”

“Shut up.”

Has Ayato come to my rescue? If he hadn’t come in, Laito would surely have bitten me. But why would he help me? Even though Yui had not said anything aloud, Ayato called out her wishful thinking immediately.

“I’ll have her.”

So he didn’t come to save me… he was only acting because he didn’t want me swiped away from under his nose.

“Please, don’t!”

“You three. If you do not hurry, we will all be late.” In the blink of an eye, Reiji had also appeared by the side of the bed.

“Again, Reiji?”

“Aw, man, things were just getting good…”

Ignoring Ayato’s and Laito’s complaints, Reiji turned to Yui. “You too. Hurry up and get dressed.”

Yui was glad that the second son had saved her from getting bitten once again, but grew suspicious at his words. “Get dressed? Are we going somewhere?”

“Of course. We’re going to class.”

“Class… at this hour?”

“Please, Yui. Your dull-wittedness is astounding. Do you really not understand anything until I spell it out for you? We attend night classes.”

Yui cast a glance upon the clock at her bedside, and the hands pointed to 5:20 PM. Had she not been here, her classes would have already ended at this time.

“But… we still have an entire day of classes ahead?” Having attended a regular school until now, Yui could not hide her confusion.

“Contrary to what is normal to humans, going out during the day is bothersome for us. As you will be living in the Sakamaki household from now on, we expect you to conform to our lifestyle.”

“But…”

“If you have any complaints, you are welcome to leave at any time,” Reiji said. He then turned to walk away..

“But you said you’d kill me if I ran…” The complaint slipped past Yui’s lips in a voice that was too quiet for Reiji to understand.

“What was that?”

“N-nothing.” Yui shook her head vigorously.

“Then please hurry and put on your uniform.”

When she followed Reiji’s gaze, she saw that a brand new uniform had suddenly appeared on her bed. It consisted of the same blazer that the brothers wore, and a skirt that had white frills attached to the hem. The white shirt ribbon that came with it was tied together with another red ribbon on the centre of the chest. Did they go through all that trouble to get me a school uniform?

“Um…” When Yui raised her face, the three brothers had disappeared from her bedside. And now they’re gone. They really are vampires…

Alone once again, she sighed heavily. When she tried to get up from the bed, her hand grazed past her rosary.

“Right…” Yui tightly gripped her rosary. “This might be the time to look for the room where I found that diary.” The brothers would be gone, and she would have the room to herself. This chance might not present itself again.

Yui went to the door and eased it open the tiniest bit in order to check her surroundings. Good. Nobody’s outside my room. Ready to seize the opportunity, Yui prepared to leave the room.

“Yo.”

“Huh?” Somehow, Ayato was standing right in front of her.

No way. There was nobody here.

He looked at her scantily-clothed form with an amused grin on his face. “You’re still wearing that? C’mon, I’ll help you change.”

“I’m fine, thank you!”

Yui shut the door in his face and sighed again.

Not a chance after all… because I’m not dealing with humans, but with vampires. I should keep my head down for now.

Having given up the idea of going to the forbidden room today, Yui reluctantly got ready to head to class.

─── ･｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

When Yui finished getting ready and descended to the ground floor, a large black limousine was waiting in front of the mansion. Are we… going to school by limousine?

She hesitated for a second, but the driver opened the door for her.

Well, I guess I have no choice, then.

“Thank you,” Yui said to the driver before she climbed into the limousine, but he kept silent as he shut the door.

The limousine was spacious enough to fit all of the brothers, and Yui was the last one to arrive. When she sat down on a seat near the door, the limousine quietly departed from the mansion.

The brothers didn’t talk to one another. The only sound that could be heard was the car’s engine, and the lack of conversation was in stark contrast with their behaviour yesterday.

Yui looked at the brothers. They couldn’t have been more different from each other—they each had their distinctive hair and eye colour. Are they really brothers?

Reiji was reading a book, and Subaru was sitting next to him, staring out the window with a sullen look on his face. Maybe they just don’t get along. On the opposite side, Laito’s face lit up like he was scheming, Kanato was talking to Teddy, and Shuu was listening to music with his earphones in.

They really aren’t talking.

“What’re you thinking about, Pancake?”

Yui had been lost in thought until she was surprised to see Ayato coming towards her, and she instinctively held out her hands to avoid him. The vampire didn’t seem pleased by that.

Taking advantage of sitting right next to her, Ayato moved in closer. “You got some nerve trying to disobey me, Pancake.”

“All this time, it’s been ‘Pancake,’ ‘Pancake’… I have a name, you know. It’s Komori Yui. Please use it properly.”

“Shut up. Names lost their meaning to me about a hundred years ago, Pancake,” Ayato retorted, drawing out the syllables. Obviously offended, he suddenly bent over Yui, his mouth going for her neck.

SNAP!

The sound of Reiji’s book slamming shut broke the tense atmosphere.

“How many times do I have to tell you, Ayato? Take such behaviour to your own room.”

Grumbling, Ayato let go of Yui.

Thank God…

“And you. Take this.”

“Huh?”

Reiji held out a juice box for her. “It’s pure cranberry juice. It works best against anaemia.”

“T-thank you,” Yui said in earnest, feeling a little surprised at Reiji’s sudden kindness.

“No need to thank me,” he responded, sending her a cold glare. “You will have to learn that you are simply our prey, and drink that every day.”

Their… prey? Yui’s hands trembled. She had known it deep down already, but still, Reiji’s cold words struck a chord. Her body was seized by fear. Soon, she was shaking.

“You know, Teddy? When humans are scared, their teeth start ‘chattering.’ Interesting, isn’t it? Let’s observe closely.” Kanato held out Teddy toward Yui.

To these men, all I am is prey.

The one eye Teddy had that wasn’t covered by an eye patch gleamed at Yui.

─── ･｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

With her lips forming a tight line and her body absolutely rigid, Yui sat in the limousine for another while until it passed under the moonlit gate of Reitei Academy. So this is the night school they were talking about… This was her first time to attend a night school, but Reitei, with its courtyard bathed in moonlight, looked to be a particularly prestigious one.

Yui trailed behind the brothers after they’d gotten out of the limousine and followed them into the courtyard. It was bright and enormous, and the staff had done a good job keeping it tidy.

That’s good. Even though they teach classes at night, it still seems to be a normal school. Yui had felt a little uneasy when she was told to go to the school the brothers went to, but most of the students somehow seemed to be normal humans just like her.

The moment the Sakamakis entered the school’s courtyard, all students stopped and stared.

Well, if you count out the fact that they’re vampires, they certainly are handsome… When Yui looked at them properly once again, their outward appearance was very well-put together. It certainly wasn’t strange for them to attract attention looking this good.

However, nobody tried talking to them.

Even when they passed through the hallways and a group of female students looked over while chatting with one another in a low voice, they fell silent when Yui returned their gaze. When Yui averted her eyes again, the girls hurriedly moved past them.

What was that for? She turned around and looked at the girls’ backs as they walked away, thinking it strange. Reiji stopped in front of the staircase and called out, pulling Yui out of her daze.

“You are in the same class as Ayato and Kanato, so please go with the two of them.”

“Okay.”

In all earnest, Yui had been looking forward to some time away from the brothers, but she had no choice. She did as she was told, but Reiji’s cold voice stopped her before she could leave with Ayato and Kanato.

”I am not done talking yet.”

Yui reluctantly faced him again.

“If you do not wish to be struck with a whip, I would advise you to not do anything reckless. Understood?”

Meaning that if I tried to run away…

Reiji’s unrelenting gaze gave Yui the chills.

“Answer me.”

“…Yes.”

Feeling Reiji’s ice-like stare on her back, she walked away and headed to the classroom.

This should be it.

When Yui went into the classroom, Kanato was sitting at the very back, a book open in front of him as he cradled Teddy in his arms. Ayato was slumped over on his desk. For some reason, they were the only students there.

But class is just about to start. Why isn’t anyone else here?

Yui considered asking Kanato, but seeing him talk so animatedly to Teddy made her close her mouth again. She quickly glanced at the blackboard. It said Today’s Home Economics class is cooking practice. Please assemble in the school kitchen.

“So we’re doing a cooking class today.” That’s why the classroom was empty—everyone else must have already gone to the kitchen.

We should get going, too. I can’t be late on my first day here. But where is this kitchen?

“…Cooking practice?”

Yui’s voice roused Ayato from his nap, and his face twisted into a suggestive grin. “Hey, Pancake.”

“Ayato, please don’t call me weird names at school.”

“Shut up. You’re better off worrying about where to find the school kitchen.”

As if he had read Yui’s mind, she fell silent.

“Yours Truly could do you a favour and take you there.”

“Really?”

”Yeah. C’mon.” Ayato grabbed her by the arm and dragged her out of the classroom.

“Ah, wait!”

─── ･｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

“…Um, Ayato?”

“What?”

“Where are we?”

The room Ayato had dragged her to was filled with cooking utensils and supplies. However, there were no other students in sight.

“It’s the school kitchen.”

“Then why is nobody here?”

“‘Cause this is the old kitchen. They teach the cooking classes in the new one.”

In other words, Ayato tricked her into coming here.

“So why did you bring me here?”

“As for the reason…” Ayato stood up from the chair he’d been sitting on, and stalked towards Yui.

Oh no, not again… Yesterday’s events were still etched into the back of her mind, making Yui freeze in place, but the answer coming out of Ayato’s mouth surprised her.

“Make me some takoyaki.”

“T-takoyaki?”

…Like, actual takoyaki?

“Well, I don’t expect anything but the world’s best takoyaki.”

A takoyaki pan was already present on the table, making Yui realise the height of his expectations. So that’s why he brought me here? She wasn’t sure if this was the actual reason why, but this wasn’t the time to think about that.

”But… we should head to class, quickly.”

“Don’t talk back to me. Yours Truly will eat your takoyaki. Now get cooking!”

“You could at least ask nicely…”

“You say something?” Ayato clearly wasn’t intending to go back to class.

Yui did as he said, and started the preparations to make takoyaki. Fortunately, most of the ingredients were already there, and Yui somehow managed to make takoyaki with them.

“Here you go.”

Ayato stuffed the takoyaki into his mouth without hesitation. “So good!”

Next to an innocently grinning Ayato, who feasted happily on the takoyaki, sat a rather dreary-looking Yui. “It’s only my first day of school and I’ve already skipped a class…”

Yui had never expected it to come to this on her first day after transferring to Reitei. She had never skipped a class before, even at her old school.

“No use worrying ‘bout such small things. Have a bite.”

Before Yui could answer, Ayato pushed a ball of takoyaki into her mouth. “It’s delicious!”

“Right?”

For something she had made herself, it had turned out pretty well. As the two sat and enjoyed the takoyaki, Yui caught a glimpse of the clock hanging on the wall.

Their next class was about to start.

“We need to clean up. I don’t want to miss our next class too.” Yui began carrying the cooking utensils she used to make takoyaki to the sink. To avoid her getting wet, she took off her blazer, and hurriedly began washing a bowl. She had not realised there would be so much washing-up to do.

Ayato, satisfied with a belly full of takoyaki, stretched out his legs and reclined in his chair, watching Yui as she did the dishes.

“Give me a hand, Ayato. You were the one who wanted me to make takoyaki, right?”

Silently, the vampire got up from his chair and crept over to her. He stopped just at her back. Yet Yui had not heard him coming over the sound of the running water, and so she called out to him again.

“Hey, Aya—”

When Yui looked over her shoulder, Ayato was right there. He was looking down on her quite literally, and as soon as she saw the look in his eyes, she immediately squirmed away from him.

“What’re you running away for?” He stalked over Yui, who was now standing by the window. “I’ve been going crazy since yesterday. I don’t wanna hold off any longer.”

I have to run…

Ayato captured her in his arms with ease.

“Let me taste you.”

“Please, don’t…”

The words did not reach him. Ayato grabbed her chin and turned her face to the side, exposing the nape of her neck.

“No bite marks at all. Your skin looks delicious, really.”

Taking in the sight of her slender, pale neck right in front of him, a satisfied smile played at Ayato’s lips.

“Yours Truly will be the one to take all your firsts.”

The next moment, Ayato’s teeth hovered above the skin of her throat. A predatory gleam clouded his eyes before he buried his fangs deep in her neck.

Yui gasped. The pain of Ayato’s sharp teeth piercing her neck and the feeling of her blood flowing freely into Ayato’s mouth made her body tremble. Even if Yui wanted to run from him, he had a strong grip on both her jaw and her waist.

“Fuck… what is this? I’ve never tasted blood this sweet before.” Ayato briefly pulled away from her neck, his eyes twinkling with delight. “I like you.”

Before long, Ayato’s fangs brutally punctured Yui’s skin a second time.

“Please…”

Yui was not sure whether it was because he was sucking her blood, but her head began to grow numb, as if she was not herself anymore.

I’m… scared… If he keeps feeding on me, I'll truly become their prey… I’m so scared.

Yui gathered all her strength to push Ayato away from her. However, the force of her push made the skin tear where Ayato had punctured it with his fangs. The intense pain shooting through her neck knocked the breath out of her, and her face contorted in agony.

“Idiot. If you move around while I bite you, you’ll only make it hurt more, you know.” When Ayato looked up, his lips were stained a bright red when they pulled away from his teeth in a smile.

“Ah…”

His lips were stained the colour of Yui’s blood.

I’ve really been fed on.

With the pain and shock of having her blood sucked, the fear showed plainly on her face.

“Seeing you in tears with your face twisting in pain… It’s too tempting.” Ayato wiped the blood from his lips with the back of his hand, and then licked it off before reaching out to Yui again.

“Please, stop…”

“No stopping now.”

Ayato pushed her up against the window and bit down on the nape of her neck again.

The moonlight illuminated the two of them through the window, contrasting with the dark room behind them. The moon above Yui was the last thing she saw before her consciousness fell into a deep darkness.

─── ･｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

“You two are an embarrassment to do such a thing on school premises.”

Before long, Reiji was standing in the doorway with his arms crossed and his eyes fixed on Ayato and Yui. Ayato clicked his tongue as he turned around to face his brother.

“Damn it! Shit was just getting good.”

“Look at the state of her. That is your fault, Ayato. Take responsibility for your actions and take her home.”

When Ayato glanced at Yui, who was still in his arms, he noticed that she had already passed out. Might’ve been a bit too rough. The colour of Yui’s face was past the point of flattery, and she did not look like she would be waking up anytime soon. At the same time, Ayato could not simply leave her there. He knew exactly how Reiji would react if he did, and he wasn’t looking forward to that.

“Hmph.”

Ayato swept Yui up into his arms, and the next instant, they had disappeared from the room completely.

“Good grief. If only they could just behave.” Reiji let out a heavy sigh and walked out of the room.

─── ･｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

“Ugh…”

Yui opened her eyes on a bench next to the indoor pool inside the mansion.

Why am I here? I thought I was at school…

“Yo, you’re awake.”

Ayato was sitting on the armrest, lazily playing around with the uniform ribbon that had somehow found its way from neck into his hands.

Right, he fed on me…

Yui tried sitting upright, but the loss of blood had also drained the strength from her body. Seeing her struggle, Ayato walked over to her.

“S-stay away!”

Ayato halted.

The fact that vampires needed human blood for nourishment, Yui knew. But Ayato, on the other hand, only seemed to be toying with her.

“Why are you doing this?” Yui asked.

Ayato stood over her, staring at her coldly. “You still don’t get it?”

“Huh?”

In a flash, Yui’s body was raised in the air, and Ayato’s face was a hair’s breadth away from hers. He’d picked her up with ease and began walking. Yui struggled to have Ayato put her back down, but he leisurely strode over towards the pool. He came to a stop right by the edge of the water.

“Yours Truly is the one who controls you. Stop complaining about everything!”

Ayato had barely finished speaking before he threw Yui into the water.

Yui screamed. A loud splashing sound echoed off the walls of the indoor pool.

Oh no, I can’t swim…

To make matters worse, Yui was still wearing her uniform, and it weighed her down even more as it absorbed the water. She tried to wrestle herself to the surface, but despite her desperate efforts, she still felt herself sinking towards the bottom of the deep pool.

Ayato watched her struggle from the poolside.

“Tell me that I’m the best. Tell me that I’m better than anyone else, and that you’re mine.”

In a stroke of luck, Yui managed to come up for air. She begged for Ayato to help her, but she kept getting pulled back down.

“Ayato—I can’t—I can’t swim…”

Yui desperately screamed Ayato’s name, but she had already disappeared under the surface of the water.

─── ･｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Whether he had heard her or not, Ayato's expression remained unchanged as he stared down at the water. This is Pancake’s fault. She disobeyed me…

Memories from his childhood haunted Ayato as he watched Yui’s struggling form in the pool.

In his thoughts, Ayato travelled to a lake far away, one hand strenuously reaching out of the water, flailing desperately. The blurry shape of a woman seemed to come closer from under the surface of the water. Ayato fought his way up, and reached out a hand towards her.

However, the woman had not come to save Ayato from drowning. She merely looked on, her expression flat.

Help me…

Ayato’s face twisted in despair knowing that his words would not reach anyone, but rather disappeared into the lake.

Help me…

Yui’s screams for help lined up with Ayato’s distant memory and without giving it any more thought, Ayato launched himself into the water. He did not know why he did it. Even though he harboured a sliver of doubt about his own behaviour, he took Yui into his arms under the surface of the pool.

Well, he did tell us not to kill her.

Reminding himself of this fact, Ayato cupped Yui’s face in his hands, and pressed his lips to hers.

─── ･｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

It’s warm… and I can breathe again.

When Yui opened her eyes, she realised that Ayato had been transferring air to her with a kiss. Ayato pulled away as soon as he saw that she had regained consciousness.

Why is he looking at me with such a forlorn expression?

In the deafening silence of the water, Yui saw herself reflected in his eyes, which were clouded with sadness.

Don’t look at me like that, Yui wanted to say, but the air Ayato had given her became bubbles under the water.

I can’t breathe…

Seeing the struggle on Yui’s face again, Ayato undid the top buttons of her blouse to expose her shoulder, and sank his fangs into her skin.

“Nnh!”

Bubbles rose to the surface of the water again when Yui cried out. When Ayato switched to a different spot, biting her again and again, the blood seeping from the wounds in Yui’s skin floated around the two of them like a red ribbon that bound them together.

I have no air left…

Just when Yui was about to lose consciousness again, Ayato held on tight and pulled her with him to the surface. Yui coughed heavily to clear her lungs of water and desperately fill them with air at the same time. Ayato’s head was now above the water as well, and his eyes gleamed with a bewitching ferality that she had never seen of him before.

“Fuck, I can feel your blood flowing through my body… I can feel its power…”

“Please, no more…” Yui begged in a soft voice. Her face was white as a sheet, and the cold water and Ayato’s feeding had left her trembling incessantly.

“It can’t be helped. Let’s call it here for today.” Ayato held on to Yui as he swam to the edge of the pool, and hoisted her upwards onto the tiles.

Feeling an intense relief at being on solid ground again, Yui fell to the floor. Ayato threw a towel over her head.

“Huh?”

Yui was surprised by Ayato’s small gesture, but before she could thank him, Ayato turned his back on her and walked away without saying anything.

What does he really want with me?

Unable to figure out his motive, Yui tightly gripped the towel.

─── ･｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Around the same time, a man in a long, dark coat appeared in the woods surrounding the mansion. His motives seemed unclear窶派e merely stood there. However, as if he had noticed something, his head suddenly snapped up, and his red eyes focused on the sight in front of him.

Ah… Brings back memories.

The man’s eyes were trained on the Sakamaki mansion.

─── ･｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Yui had used the shower room adjacent to the pool, and when she returned to her room, she was stopped by the faint sound of a door unlocking once again. With suspicion, she followed the source of the sound, and reached another dilapidated spiral staircase.

“This staircase should lead to that room…”

Since then, Reiji had forbidden her from entering, but Yui was not prepared to give up on finding her father’s diary. I might be able to sneak into the room unnoticed from here, Yui thought as she ascended the stairs and found, as expected, the forbidden room.

Yui entered quietly, and immediately began the search for her father’s diary. It should have been right around here…

Carefully tiptoeing around the shards of broken glass, Yui eventually found the diary among the books on the floor.

“Gotcha!” She opened the little notebook without delay. “Huh…What’s this?”

Yui’s eyes widened in surprise. Her hands trembled as she flipped the pages.

The pages were all completely blank where her father’s handwriting had been.

“It’s all… gone…” So what on Earth did I see before?

In a daze, the notebook slipped out of Yui’s hands and fell onto the floor, the sound reverberating through the quiet, empty space.

#ok so this is where the bite play comes in right #but the thing is #I wish the bite play had a little more… oomph in this novel you know #I tried to make it sound a little bit better in English but if i were to translate it word for word it it would just be #He bit her. He sucked her blood.#like ma’am……..#i do have to admit that i’ve been picking up writing again too but idk i might post some excerpts at some point #it’s rukiyui stuff including y’know…. bite play #and after care and all that lol #idk if it’s any good but i’ve been eating up anything rukiyui lately anyway so if there’s more people like me please make yourself known he #diabolik lovers #dialovers #diabolik lovers translation #diabolik lovers translations #diahell #otomehonyaku #my translations #Diabolik lovers novelize #Diabolik lovers novelization

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skylark325 · 1 month

Text

Omniscient Readers View Point Read Through

Ch 73-92

Beginning: Ch 1-10

Note: This was so hype AHHHHHH so many of my favourite scenes

———————

"I am also like Dokja-ssi. We are on the same QA team. I heard the same nagging every time and lived with their contempt.

>when an ugly btch calls you twin

[The constellation who has been waiting for a harem carefully puts both hands together.]

>I…a what

WHO?

"You're not a woman."

>…huh?

She refused to admit that she plagiarized to the end. I grabbed her collar.

>ngl dokja i don’t think anyone ever would 😭

"There is no such thing as a meteorite in my novel!" It was surprising. I thought she would've copied this as well. "I have a sealing stone!"

>girl you’re really not helping yourself here

"By the way, I was in pain a lot back then."

Whenever I looked at this guy's face, I felt the '17 year old Kim Dokja' inside me shrink back.

>as someone who was bullied in hs i remember almost crying reading this scene in the manhwa. get his furry ass dokja

"Yes! I'm really really sorry! I-I was young at the time…"

>that’s BULL! you’re not the only one who was young! using your age as a mistake is only justifiable as long it didn’t hurt others. basic empathy isn’t taught with age, it’s something you should know or you’re just a shitty person. and like YOU WERE SEVENTEEN

"First, I will hit you until all my trauma has disappeared.

>oh yeah fuck him up dokja

[Some constellations are disappointed with your hypocrisy.] [Many constellations are questioning your judgment.] [The constellation 'Secretive Plotter' is watching your judgment.]

>it’s so interesting to me how sp never actually judges dokja on serious stuff. he’s just in the back secretively plotting.

[The constellation who likes harems is cheering on you and Han Sooyoung.]

>didn’t realise there were doksoo truthers in the book but pop off my dude XD

No matter how I thought about it, this was the sound of gunshots. Wasn't the army already wiped out?

>i…oh right this isn’t set in America

"You must be mistaken. My name is Yoo Joonghyuk. Kim Dokja is the name of the guy I hate the most."

> there he goes role playing again

I winked at her. If I knew Han Sooyoung, she would understand what to do from now on. The woman opened her mouth. "I already know that you are Kim Dokja. Stop the unnecessary lies."

> that’s just embarrassing man. it’s ok, you win some you lose some

"I needed something to tell her when I met her." I gave her a moment before continuing. "Because I had nothing else to say to her."

> 😞

Living things with less intelligence than a kobold should do their jobs!"

>Excuse you? WHAT THE FUCK IS A KOBOLD

"Protector… you don't have any qualities suited for Way of the Wind. No, to be honest, you don't have the qualities for almost every skill."

>that’s…damn what are you, my calculus teacher?

'You will be busy when you reach intermediate level'.

> Kdj: once you get that promotion you’re not going to pay attention to me anymore! i’m going to be a neglected wife!

"You are the first person who is more suspicious than Yoo Joonghyuk."

> why does kdj’s perception of ppl range from like-yjh, not-like-yjh and yjh

[The constellation 'Demon-like Judge of Fire' is looking forward to your companionship.]

The messages of the constellations, including Uriel, arrived. What was going on?

> oh gee i wonder what’s going on. wonder if there’s a possibly super hot *enter kdj’s long ass description* man possibly fighting and injured nearby

The bleeding Yoo Joonghyuk was waiting for me there.

> are we sure ways of survival isn’t a fanfic written by dokja?

Even if Yoo Joonghyuk was nearby, he couldn't be found in such a timely manner. It was clear that Bihyung had made a sub scenario to bring Yoo Joonghyuk over here.

>not bihyung sugar daddying his way through the scenarios for dokja. that or he’s the vice captain of our ship after uriel

Yoo Joonghyuk was staring at me with bloody and teary eyes.

> HELP what did I say about the fanfic part

Why was the protagonist of Ways of Survival such a person? The story would've been easier of it was Lee Hyunsung or Jung Heewon.

> bestie you gotta be attracted to them for this to work

"He was like this the whole time. He kept asking me to take him to Kim Dokja…"

> GUYS 😭

But I felt that some of my answers were being diluted in the soup. Did I know Yoo Joonghyuk at all?

>welp existential crisis let’s go

I scooped up the soup with the spoon and put it in Yoo Joonghyuk's mouth. Han Sooyoung watched me blowing on the soup. "You are acting like a wife."

> you see that’s because they’re already marrie- *gets run over by a truck*

I thought it was a loss to me but it turned out to be a huge honey event. Indeed, people should live a good life.

> that’s not…ok then. preach king XD

[The constellation 'Demon-like Judge of Fire' is impressed with your good deed.]

…Was this constellation really impressed with the good deed?

> oh yeah just the good deed dw. definitely not the yaoi you’ve provided in the middle of a shounen show

I frowned at Yoo Joonghyuk's words. Move to the east right now? I saved his life and now he was giving me an order?

> such be them dom daddies dokja

–Don't be so prideful. I really will abandon you.

> sure kdj. in fact i dare you to do it

–Why come to me? I honestly thought you would commit suicide. –Suicide? How ridiculous.

> is it though? like really think about it XD

> i stand corrected 🥲

–I wanted to make her a companion.

> oof rejection isn’t easy man i get it

–She isn't the person I remember. I knew it. Still, I wanted to believe for a moment that the woman in my memories was still alive. I wanted to be with her again.

> ouch think my heart just got ripped out

All the threads were connected to one woman. The woman wearing a tight black battle suit flew through the air.

> MY WIFEEEEEE

–Kill her.

–Then you will be unhappy. –It doesn't matter.

> 😭

"…It doesn't make sense." Lycaon exposed his fangs. "Antinus. The conversation ends here."

> damn my tragic ship 😔✊🏼

–You, are you that weak? –What? –All the words you told me were false. I reflexively raised my body. This bastard…

> yjh sure knows how to get dokja fired up XD

–The one who told me not to give up on this world will succumb to a disaster of this degree?

> did i mention i love their bond

the way both of them know exactly what to say to help the other is so precious to me

If you want to survive, don't answer his questions. But you are still going to die.

> BITCH?

> HSY certified yapper

Imagine being summoned to another dimension, suddenly receiving a powerful strength, spending a hot night with a cute elf girlfriend, saving the world and being loved as a warrior!

> Not all men fr 💀

–My attribute is a 'pro gamer'. What is yours? -What? –I'm asking what can you do well?

> one of my favourite scenes 🥹

"…Uh?" The Hunters Association people from before?" Myung Ilsang laughed.

> …?

does he think he’s in solo leveling?

What could I do well? It was to 'read'.

> i’m so hyped AAAHHHHH

Pathetic. Why the hell did I forget about this skill? Wasn't this the first thing I should've done?

> honestly yeah how did he forget that? it’s like one of the biggest cheat codes he has

I was a 'reader'.

> YEAH YOU ARE

READER REPRESENTATION ARISE!

"Get started." Yoo Joonghyuk stood before me as if he knew what I was trying to do. "I'll block him."

> did your heart skip a beat dokja? cuz i know mine did

A fierce aura started to crush Bihyung's body. The power of the dokkaebi depended on the size of the channel.

> OH THIS FUCKER

how dare he mess bihyung lemme at him. one swing that’s all i ask

[…Please choose a reward.] Bihyung told me with a grouchy expression. He was exhausted by the harassment.

–Personally, I recommend the Infinite Dimension Space Coat. There is one more hidden option. It is easier to transcend later.

> oh god plz let me give him a hug poor bby

–I will speak bluntly. Come to my channel. I am going to expand my channel to the Korean Peninsula. I will be happy to meet your desired items and conditions.

> I THINK NOT BTCH

Bihyung's face turned red and he was tearful as he looked between me and Dokgak. It looked like tears would burst out as soon as he was touched.

> THAT’S IT WHO’S COMING WITH ME

[Constellations. Incarnation Kim Dokja colluded with the channel's streamer, 'Bihyung'. He deliberately concealed his strength and manipulated the development of the scenario. He made the scenarios harder for malicious purposes.]

> i don’t…is this really such a big deal? like people are being murdered and super magical stuff keeps happening. is this really such a big deal in comparison? 😭

[The constellation 'Secretive Plotter' shrugs like it is fine.]

> SEE sp gets me

"Prisoner of the Golden Headband, Abyssal Black Flame Dragon, Demon-like Judge of Fire…"

> not kdj name dropping his fans

[The constellation 'Secretive Plotter' is somewhat annoyed.]

> DUDE SAME

"By the way. As a memorial to my channel, I will do a small event. I mean, a joint event between South Korea and Japan… If you are curious, please connect to #BI-7623 right now. I will draw tickets for the early constellations and give coins―"

> LMFAOOO

A voice was suddenly heard. I instinctively knew. The owner of this voice was now protecting me.

> fangirling so hard rn

Bihyung moved from behind me towards Dokgak. "By the way, were you this small?"

> Oof the burn

———

Previous: Ch 53-73

Beginning: Ch 1-10

#orv #kim dokja #omniscient reader's viewpoint #omniscent reader #joongdok #yoo joonghyuk #orv kdj #yoo junghyuk #the orv reading experience #orv read through #orv kim dokja #bihyung #orv novel #orv yjh #orv spoilers

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cameronspecial · 9 months

Text

Before The Last Petal Falls (Part 9)

Pairing: Rafe Cameron x Reader

Warnings: Mention of Getting Sober and maybe Drugs

Pronouns: She/Her

Word Count: 2.4K

Summary: A little snooping helps Y/N come to a major realization that changes the cousr of her life.

Masterlist

Y/N heard Rafe was released from the hospital and she hasn’t been to see him since she found the chain, which she still is wearing. She’s been thinking over everything and trying to sort out her emotions before she offers her help to him in a conscious state. She decides she is finally ready to face him and knocks on the door of Tannyhill. Sarah is the one to answer the door with a smile on her face. She reaches over to give Y/N a hug, “Hey, how are you?” Y/N returns the hug with a small smile. “I’m okay. I mean with everything going on, it’s as good as it is going to get. I’m actually here to talk to Rafe. Could you get him for me, please?” Sarah just shakes her head apologetically, “I’m sorry, but he isn’t here right now. But you can wait in his room if you want.” Y/N takes the offer and heads up to Rafe’s bedroom.

Waiting in the room she used to consider her own gets a little boring, so she decides to be her nosy self and look around. She knows she shouldn’t, but curiosity gets the best of her. She wants to see how much his room has changed since they broke up. The exploration begins with his dresser drawers. He still keeps it organized how she rearranged it one lazy afternoon. She then moves onto his desk. Paperwork litters his desk and picture frames can be found on the back edge of the desk. She notices that a few are empty and others are filled with family photos. She opens the top drawer to find photos of her and him. The ones that used to be in the picture frames on the desk. She gives a sad smile at the memories they made.

The final place she looks at is his bookshelf. There are a lot more books on it than the last time she saw it and she beams at the idea of him keeping the hobby even after they broke up. She glances over the books they read together, fingers trailing over the spines. Her fingers stop at a familiar-looking book set that is missing the first novel. It was the special Percy Jackson book set, which matches The Lightning Thief that Rafe annotated for her eighteenth birthday. She knew he probably got the other books in the set, but never really put any thought as to what he did with the other books. She takes one out of the books out and flips through the pages. She is surprised to see the same blue ink from her first annotated book. The page she lands on is the one where Percy talks about printing out the picture Annabeth sent him. Rafe had written: ‘I totally did that to every single photo Mason sent me with you in it. I definitely didn’t know that was why I did it, but subconscious me totally knew I was in love with you.’

Y/N didn’t know she was crying until her tears started to fall on the page. She closes the books to check the other ones for annotations. Every single one she opens is also annotated and not sparse. The pages are filled with blue ink, which Rafe uses to bare his soul to her. Even after their breakup, he still continued the gift that she loved so much. How did she know that he didn’t annotate the books with the one he had given her? Well, it’s because he had talked about the break-up in his annotations. He talks about how much he is hurting. How turning toward drugs helped him forget about her. How much he misses her. It’s all in there within the pages of four books. Her emotions run wild at the honesty in these pages because some of his comments aren’t sugar-coated.

Waiting for Rafe feels as though it is taking forever and with the overwhelming feeling she has right now, she needs to find him. And she knows exactly where he is like she is being pulled in by a fishing line.

——

She finds him exactly where she thought she would, sitting on the sandy beach. He is looking out to the sea so his back is facing her. Rafe hears her footsteps approaching, but he doesn’t turn toward her. She sits down beside him and brings her legs to her chest. He glances over to her, noticing his rose chain fall out from under her shirt. “So that’s where that went,” he ponders out loud. Y/N gives a shy grin, turning away from him to try to hide her embarrassment of being caught, “Yeah, sorry about that. I didn’t know you kept it, let alone still wore it.”

“Uhh, yeah. I… umm… tried to get rid of it, actually. I came down here when I was back home for Thanksgiving and threw it into the ocean. But I quickly realized how much I still needed it and spent hours looking for it in the water. I kept it as proof that you actually loved me.”

Y/N turns to him with unbelieving eyes, “Of course I love you. Cameron, you are my first love.”

“Y-you love me? As in you still do?”

“Yeah, I do and I think you do too. Cameron, I found the other annotated books.”

“The one in my room? The Percy Jackson ones?”

“Yes, I may have done a little snooping when I went to check on you at home first.”

He lets out a little chuckle and takes a chance by bringing her closer with his arms. She allows him to do so and rests her head against his shoulder. “It became like my therapy after we broke up. Every year, the day before your birthday, I let myself think about you in any way that I wanted. I didn’t try to suppress my feelings and instead, let myself feel them,” he explains to her. She nods her head in understanding. There is a moment of silence before Y/N breaks it, “I thought we lost you, Cameron. I was so scared when Mace called.”

��I know, my rose. I am so sorry that I scared you like that. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

They both smile at the usage of their old nicknames. They let themselves take in the feeling of nostalgia. It all feels so familiar and warm. “Cameron, you need to get sober. For good this time. We can’t go through a scare like that again, especially if we actually lose you. This time, I’m going to help you though. I promise that I won’t let you go through this alone,” she tells him, looking into his eyes.

“I know, you’re right. I want to get sober, not only for you but for myself. I have to let myself start feeling my emotions again. And I think your help would really be good for me. I think we are good for each other.”

“Just because I’m helping you with this, it doesn’t mean we are getting back together. I may have put a pause on my relationship with Cole, but I am still with Cole. I just think we are too different from each other. We aren’t a good match.”

She turns away from him to look at the ocean. He places his finger under her chin and turns her towards him. “That isn’t true. I know we have our problems to work through, but, my rose, there is no one else I’d rather work through my issues with. I know we are meant to be with each other and if I have to wait an eternity for you, then I will. Not that I’m trying to pressure you, but you are it for me,” he promises to her. Y/N looks into his eyes with tears swelling in hers, “If we do this, then we have to make some serious changes. You would need to get sober and I would need to learn how to talk to you about my feelings. We can’t keep making the same mistakes. We would have a lot of things to work through. Together.” “I can work with that.” He grins at her and begins to bring his lips closer to his, but she stops him.

“I know that I said we could give us another shot, but I am still technically dating Cole. Before we do anything, I need to break things off with him officially. Is that okay?” she asks. Rafe just smiles at her placing his lips on her forehead, “That is more than okay.”

——

Cole knew what was coming before Y/N even opened her mouth. The pitiful smile she gives him as she enters the restaurant is a dead giveaway of her plans. She sits across from him in the booth and takes his hands into hers. “You’re breaking up with me,” he states without a single hint of it being a question. Her smile turns tight-lipped and nods, “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay, I’m just lucky I got my time with you. At least I can say I dated a famous author. But I knew it was always going to be him.”

Y/N gives a little laugh at the joke he gives but gives him another small smile, “It’s funny how everyone keeps telling me that.”

“Well, anyone can see it. You guys would do anything for each other and I should’ve known the universe would eventually bring you guys back together.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right. Cole, I hope you know that I really am sorry about breaking up with you. You don’t deserve how I treated you while we were dating and when we went on a date in our first year.”

“Hey, don’t say that. You gave me all the love that you could and it is not your fault that you just didn’t have the same amount that I have for you. Maybe, if I had met you first, we would’ve been together. I like to think that in another lifetime, that’s what happened to us.”

“That would be nice, but in this lifetime, my prince is waiting for me at the beach.”

——

Rafe didn’t wait for Y/N the whole time on the beach like he said he would. Instead, he went to Tannyhill to get something he thought he desperately needed. He is back on the beach by the time she returns. She sees him down by the water with his feet in the water and takes off her shoes to join him. She runs into his arms. He picks her up and twirls her around as she giggles. He stops the twirling but keeps her up in the air. Y/N places her forehead against his and grins at him. He reaches up to kiss her and this time she lets his lips press onto hers. Rafe puts her back down on the sand.

“Let’s dance,” he whispers to her. She gives him a questioning look, “Cameron, there isn’t any music.” “That’s okay, the waves can be our music. Just dance, please,” he begs, taking her into his arms. They sway to the sound of the waves, her skirt gently kissing the sand as they move and his hair being blown in every direction from the light breeze. The moment is the most perfect one they’ve had since the break-up. They both don’t want it to end. However, for what Rafe is about to do, he needs to stop the moment. He pulls away from her and gives her a nervous smile. His nerves make her anxious. When he gets down on one knee, she finally understands why he looks that way.

“I know that you probably think I am crazy for doing this right now and that we just got back together. But I have known that I was going to marry you since I was five years old and I was blown away by your pettiness. Now, you are probably worried about this affecting how I get sober, but I promise we don’t need to get married until I am sober for however long you deem. So here I am, asking you to marry me because you are truly the only one for me,” Rafe proposes, pulling out the ring box.

He opens the box to reveal the engagement ring and she is astonished at the ring sitting within it. The ring that sits inside the box is one she recognizes from when they were twelve. Y/N, Mason, and Rafe went to the jewelry store with Cassie. She needed to get her wedding ring cleaned. The children were looking at the rings while Cassie was occupied with the store employee. Y/N had pointed out a unique engagement ring which had a red garnet gem instead of the traditional diamond. She loved that the gem was her birthstone and declared that she wanted her own engagement ring to be like the one in front of her. What she didn’t know was that after they left the store, Rafe returned the day after and bought the ring with the allowance he had been saving up for a new watch.

Y/N stares at the ring and feels the tears falling down her face. She drops to straddle the one leg propped up and wraps her arm around his neck. “I would love to marry you. I can’t believe you found a replica of the ring from when we were twelve,” she watches with loving eyes as he places the ring on her finger. He wraps one arm around her waist to keep her steady and awkwardly scratches the back of his neck with the other. “Umm, this is actually the same ring you saw. I went back the next day and bought it with the money I was going to use for my watch,” he admits. She looks down at him with a smile, “Cameron, you didn’t?! I remember how excited you were about getting that watch. If I remember correctly, it took you a year after we visited the jewelry store to get that watch.” “It did, but it was totally worth it if it led us to this moment right here. I got my fiancée and the watch, so I think I won,” he jokes. Y/N shakes her head and nudges his shoulder.

The two let out a laugh and looked into each other eyes. This moment feels like the entire world has been shifted back onto its axis. It feels so right and filled with love that they can’t remember what it was like when they weren’t together. They give each other another kiss to celebrate the moment they become soon-to-be wife and husband.

Taglist: @sublimepenguinpeach-blog @gillybear17 @f4ll-for-you @winterrrnight @maggiecc @magicwithaknife @loves0phelia @jiarapamuk @blisslove @baby19sthings @thelomlisrafecameron @nonbullshit-toleratingkindagirl

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vera-king-hrfl · 5 months

Text

I'm not really sure how to introduce this one. It's a continuation of the Zevlor story that's quickly becoming a novel. But I'm posting it for you guys because it's kind of a snippet. It's after we find our man in the illithid colony, and he finds out what happened while he was enthralled. A brief warning. There is some angst, emotional pain, a little self-harm, and major feelings here. No smut in this one. It's also a pretty long scene. I did cry while writing it. I'm not sorry.

Tav is based on my current, who is a noble high elf silver dragon disciple. Highfalutin, I know, but that's what was in my head.

You approach Gale with a bit of trepidation. You're not sure if he'll agree, or even if your idea will work, but you have to try. Zevlor needs his people on his side. Or, at least, for them to understand what actually happened in those dark lands, when he was taken by the Absolute. But you couldn't be the one to do it.

As you move to stand near the wizard, sitting cross-legged on a mat and reading some dusty book you'd found in the house of healing, he looks up and smiles. "Greetings, Tav." Seeing the expression on your face, he rises with a look of concern. "My, you seem agitated. How can I help?"

You bite your lip and take a breath, then speak, your voice tight and apologetic. "I need a favor. If it's not... if you can manage it."

He nods, taking your hand and pressing it. He can be so sweet sometimes. "If it is in my power, I shall do my utmost. What do you need?"

You nod and squeeze his hand, grateful for his friendly devotion. "How are you with... mental domination?"

His eyes widen a little, but he smiles. "I can cast the spell. Depending on the intended victim, I suppose I could maintain it almost indefinitely, as long as there are no other distractions. The power and duration really depend upon my concentration and the target's resistance. But so can you. Why? Who are we dominating today?"

You worry your lower lip with your teeth again and shake your head before continuing. "It cannot be me. They all know... look, Gale. We both know how powerful the elder brain is... with an unprepared mind, it would be almost impossible to resist its influence. Is that right?"

He nods slowly. "Yes, of course, but... oh, I see." He catches on quickly, you reflect, as he works out for himself what you want. "Let me see if I can guess your thought process. I assume this is in reference to your Hellrider and how his people have been treating him since... all that. You want to show them that what happened was not his fault, and you think a little demonstration of that kind of power would be a good way to do that. You can not perform this feat yourself because of your known association with him, so you want me to make a tiefling stand on one foot or something to demonstrate how easy it is to lose oneself in the face of strong magic." He ruminates for a moment, looking thoughtful, then shrugs and smiles. "I don't see that it could hurt to try. Courtesy dictates that I must warn the person I am to control, but even then, I should be able to hold them to my will for some time. May I involve another of our group?"

You nod. "If you think it will help. I can't really keep secrets from any of you anyway. Who are you planning to bring?"

He squeezes your hand and nods decisively before releasing you. "I had a thought to take Karlach with me. She's a tiefling, and she well knows how it is to be compelled to do things she doesn't want. I will go immediately. I saw a group of refugees in the inn recently. I imagine they haven't gone anywhere. I shall do my best to make them understand. Who is the intended target?"

You watch Gale as he nearly bounces on his toes, seeming eager, as always, to demonstrate his skill. "Whoever is the strongest. But... well, don't hurt anyone or humiliate them too much. Just... never mind, you know what to do. It is in your capable hands."

Gale grins and bows. "My lady, I live to serve. Rest a while. You've been burning the candle at both ends lately, and you're a bit overwrought. Stay near. I'll come find you when I'm finished."

You watch him as he heads off to find Karlach and the other tieflings. You are overwrought, nervous, your concern over Zevlor and the refugees, the remaining Chosen, and the Elder Brain mingling and draining your mental faculties. You wander back to your own tent, sitting on a cushion just outside the flap and trying to meditate for a little while to clear your head.

After what seems like ages, but is probably closer to half an hour, you sense Gale and Karlach returning, open your eyes, and struggle to your feet, trying to read their expressions. As they draw near, you can see that they are both smiling. Gale with an expression of satisfaction and Karlach a cheeky grin, bouncing a little as she approaches. She looks around when she arrives, before speaking at half her normal volume. "It worked! You're a genius, Tav. Cal volunteered. He hopped on one foot and everything! Gale was even going to make him slap Lia, but I stopped him, so he grabbed Dammon with the spell too and made them dance together! There was nothing they could do about it." She slaps Gale on the back, and the wizard wheezes, but looks pleased nonetheless.

"Yes indeed," he continues with a smug expression. "Rolan has the strongest mind, but I do not think he would have taken my meddling with it lightly. So I thought maybe, if I dominated two of them at once, when they were prepared for it... and I made it quite clear that my powers do not nearly match those of the brain. I think it's had the desired effect. I believe Tilses went to look for him. She has been on his side the whole time anyway, and the others seem prepared both to apologize and forgive."

You blow out a breath and sag with relief. It was a long shot, and could have gone quite badly, especially with Rolan being so protective of his siblings... But hearing that your plan had worked was a welcome bright spot in an otherwise trying day. You pull them both into a hug, Gale grunting with wounded dignity and with the pressure of the grinning tiefling’s muscles crushing you both, thank them profusely, and then head off to look for Zevlor. Maybe this news would help with the deep depression he'd been struggling with since you rescued him.

The soft call of the scale you'd planted on him leads you toward Rethwin Town. As you approach the mason's guild, you see that Cerys, as well as Tilses, are standing near the doors, heads together in a fervent whispered discussion. You are opening your mouth to greet them when you're startled by a crash from inside, and the crunch and rattle of splintered wood. Cerys notices you first, and waits for you to arrive with a concerned expression. They're both looking at you nervously as another burst of noise echoes from beyond the half open doors, causing them both to flinch as you hurry over.

Noting your concern, Tilses raises her hands, palms facing you. "He's not in any trouble. At least, not from fiends or undead. His only enemy is... well, himself."

Your eyes widen. "Zevlor is making those noises?"

She nods, voice low, "yeah, the Commander is in a state at the moment. We came looking for him and heard the crashes... we thought he was being attacked. But... He's alone in there. At first he was shouting about being weak and unworthy, but then... well, he just started tearing the place apart."

You turn to go into the building, but Cerys catches your arm. "You might not want to go in there, Tav. He's unhinged. I've never seen him in this mood before. He might be... dangerous."

You smile reassuringly and pat her hand. "He won't hurt me." Though, with the sounds coming from beyond the doors, you're not quite so sure as you pretend. "Go back to the inn. Please. If... if anything goes wrong... I can defend myself, but I don't want you in the crossfire. Just in case."

They exchange a long look, but then nod. "Very well," Tilses says quietly. "If anyone can help him, it's you. We know him, but he may be embarrassed... I know he thinks very highly of you." She grips your arm, a plea in her eyes, and then she and the other woman move off, looking over their shoulders once or twice. You wait until they are out of sight, and then take a deep breath and turn toward the doors.

It is dim and dusty in the building, golden motes drifting through the newly revealed sunbeams that are filtering through holes in the battered roof. There is a flurry of movement in the back room, and you pass through the second set of doors just as Zevlor seizes a thick, rotten log from a cradle by the ruined fireplace and rips it in half with his bare hands. He casts the pieces aside and paces the width of the room, his hands shoved into his hair. There is blood on his face and hands, spattered on his dully gleaming armor, and a wreck of shattered crates and tools is scattered about. Your heart aches for him, but you hold your tongue for a moment as you sidle through the door and stand next to it, leaning your back against the wall.

He doesn't notice you at first, so great is his distress, and in the relative quiet, you can hear him whimpering to himself, his voice hovering on the raw edge of sanity. "I tried. I'm so sorry. I wasn't strong enough. They're dead. They hate me. They're right to hate me. It's all my fault. If I had only been stronger..." He grabs another crate and sends it hurtling into the stone wall, where it explodes in a shower of splinters and small nails. You turn your head, but don't move, feeling a few shards pepper the side of your face. He turns back to pace in the other direction, stumbling and nearly falling over as he finally catches sight of you. He freezes and his eyes go wide, orange rings in deep black, shining in the gloom. His mouth wags for a moment, but then firms as he turns his face away.

His words are a low, pained growl when he finally speaks. "You shouldn't be here." His hands flex, and you see that some of his claws are broken, his fingertips bloody. "I couldn't bear it if I... I killed them. Leave, before I..."

You stand away from the wall, approaching him slowly, staying well out of his reach, but preparing a shield just in case. "We both know that's not true," you say quietly, your own hands wringing at your robes. "You weren't in control of..."

He cuts you off with a roar, swinging his fist until it meets a supporting beam with a loud crack of splintered wood. The edifice sways, and dust and bits of ancient birds nests filter down from above. He's not a big man, but in this extremis he's terrifyingly strong, and you hope he doesn't manage to bring the whole roof down on your heads. "But I am responsible! I led them, it was me that... I..." He winces, looking at his hand in confusion, and you see the flash of white bone peeking through his scraped, ruby skin. Dark blood drips onto the floor from his torn flesh, drops scattering among the dust and ashes. "I wasn't good enough for them. I'm not strong enough, couldn't resist her. They're dead because of me. You don't want to associate... I've failed everyone. You deserve someone who..."

He stands there trembling for a moment before looking up and quickly striding toward you, raising his wounded hand to shove you back against the wall, your head hitting the stone so hard you see brief stars drift across your vision. He's on you in an instant, mouth crushing yours, bloody fingers pulling at your clothes. You feel all of his rage and shame and desperation as he kisses you frantically, his teeth cutting into your lips. You let him tear at you, neither returning his violent kiss nor trying to push him away. You're slightly dazed when he suddenly gasps and rips himself away from you. He pants, eyes blazing... "Gods I... I'm... you see? Im no good to anyone. I could have..." He reaches out as if to touch the drop of blood oozing from your bruised lips, a horrified expression on his face, but the lowers his eyes and drops to his knees before you. He covers his face with his hands and keens. "You don't want to be near me. Nobody wants to be near me. I see their faces when... you should leave me. I could never... never be good enough for... I'm not the man you..." he stops, shaking silently in the dust, ragged breaths filtering through his hands.

You stand still for a moment, stunned, but then slowly let yourself sink to the floor, sliding your back down the wall until you’re sitting before him. You keep your tone gentle, "I am perfectly capable of judging for myself what kind of man you are. Here." You reach out and, ever so gently, ease his hands from his face, being careful not to put pressure on the broken one. He resists at first, but then relents. You inspect his bloody hand, lamenting to yourself that you cannot heal him, but you let coolness flow from your fingers, hoping to soothe him and ease the pain into numbness. "Hold still," you say as you release his fingers and reach beneath the hem of your robe to tear a strip from your linen under tunic. He flinches at the ripping sound, but keeps his hand stretched out before him, breathing harshly. You carefully wrap the linen around his hand, sinking a deeper cold into his inflamed flesh as you delicately press on the exposed little bone, easing it back into place and pinching the skin together before wrapping his palm firmly and tucking the end of the makeshift bandage under itself. You cradle the wounded appendage and reach out with your other hand, cupping his cheek lightly. His eyes are wide, sparkling with unshed tears, his mouth working in shock, lip trembling. You lean forward a little to hold his eyes, keeping your voice soft, soothing, "you do not have to carry the world on your shoulders, my love. Let me take some of the weight. Come here."

A silent tear tracks down his ravaged cheek, but he allows you to draw him toward you, laying his bandaged hand on your lap and shifting him so he's sitting before you before pressing his face into your shoulder, lifting your chin to avoid his horns. He curls his tail around himself and hesitantly wraps his good arm around your back, and you hold the armored tiefling close as his lean frame hitches and trembes with silent, heart-wrenching sobs.

The fading beams have crawled a long way up the wall before a low voice nudges you out of your doze. "My. Aren't you two a mess." Zevlor is cradled in your arms, having fallen into a deep sleep after crying himself out. Shadowheart crouches next to you, her expression unusually soft, and looks you over. You know you must look shocking, with your lips bruised and cut, and little streaks of dried blood on your face, your eyes puffy from weeping with heartache over Zevlor's pain. She reaches out and brushes a lock of hair out of your eyes, dropping her voice to a quiet whisper. "We saw the other two return, but it took a while to get it out of them. We waited as long as we dared, and then I came because, well, I'm the most subtle." She smiles. "Good thing too. You look like you both could use a little attention." You nod and shift slightly, letting her see Zevlor's hand, wrapped in the bloody bandage on your lap. He tenses a little, tightening his grip on you and murmuring into your robe, but doesn't wake, such is his exhaustion. Shadowheart reaches out, very lightly touching her fingers to his, and whispers the spell. His breath hitches and he shudders as the tingling power filters through him, but then sighs, seeming to feel the relief even in his sleep. She heals you next, the sensation making your skin prickle with gooseflesh, but you feel the small cuts close and the bruises fade.

"Thank you," you mouth silently, and she nods, leaning back on her heels.

"We will leave you alone as long as you wish. We just wanted to know you were safe." Her expression becomes thoughtful. "You love him." Her own nod follows yours, and she reaches out to brush one knuckle down your cheek before standing. "I'm happy for you. Truly. I will tell the others you are both alright. Take as long as you need. You deserve to be happy." Her smile is almost sweet as she turns away and silently exits the room.

The last light is fading when Zevlor stirs against you. Slowly he turns, easing himself around in your grasp until his eyes, just a flicker of fire in the darkness now, gaze up at you. His voice is a husky whisper, "did you mean it? What you said, before. You called me... or, maybe I was dreaming." He closes his eyes for a moment and sighs, a soft, happy sound. "If so, it was a wonderful dream."

You look down at him with a soft smile and bend your head to place a light kiss on his full lips. "I did. And you are. Ai armiel telere maenen hir, Zevlor, and I can only hope you feel the same." He sits up, keeping his arm about you and chuckling softly, looking at you with undisguised adoration.

"I don't know what that means, but I think I can guess. I can see it now, in your eyes." He cups your cheek with a gentle hand. "Are you certain this is what you want? Me? Because, I know... my heart is yours for as long as I draw breath. I love you. So very much." You nod yes, and he slowly leans toward you, taking a deep trembling breath before pressing his lips softly to yours.

Zevlor kisses you chastely for a little while, his lips and hands full of tenderness, before placing a kiss on your forehead, and then resting his own against yours. "Very well, my lady. Together, then." His words are a feather brush against your lips. "But you need me at my best if we are to prevail in this... I will seek the Oathbreaker Knight."

#zevlor #bg3 zevlor #zevlor bg3 #angst #hurt/comfort #self harm #feelings #fanfic #baldur's gate 3 #Zevlor nation

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frogizz · 11 months

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The Untamed Mind Dump (Spoilers duh)

(I have yet to read the novel for MDZS, and I am on Episode 47 of The Untamed so I want to do another mind dump like last time)

Jin Guangyao, I've been suspicious of him ever since I saw that face of his (I am not calling the actor ugly or anything like that, I can acknowledge its the acting that made him look suscpious not his actual face.) But I didn't excpect for him to be that sick of a human being.

Wei Wuxian being the scapegoat all over again

Damn these people love to gossip

I forgot about Wei Wuxian offering his Golden Core to Jiang Cheng

I miss Jiang Yanli bro

I also miss Wen Qing

At least I have Wen Ning, he is so awesome

I have the firm belief that while Wen Ning and Wei Wuxian are responsible for the death of Jin Zixuan, I know damn well Jiang Yanli's blood is not on Wei Wuxian's hands. Heck, I kind of think even though Wei Wuxian was the cause of Jin Zixuan's death, that that situation was obviously curated from the start, there was no intention to kill anyone that day because Wei Wuxian was doing this all in self defense. (Still sad that Jin Zixuan had to be a casualty).

I legit don't remember Su She before episode 45

The way I had to pause, sit up, stand up, walk around when that lady revealed Jin Guangyao tortured his father like that and what he did to Qin Su??? OH MY GOOOODDDDDDDD

Lan Wanji, you're the best supporter and best friend ever (I know in the novel he's Wei Wuxian's lover but in The Untamed their relationship is still amazing as best friends).

Wei Wuxian is such a great leader and protected those teens well (most of them are teens right? they all seemed kinda young)

I feel so bad for Jin Ling, all of his family's dirty laundry being aired out from both sides because his (defected) martial uncle is infamous for doing dirty tricks and is the supposed one who killed his parents, his maternal uncle being really hard on him, his paternal uncle being absolute scum and him doing things worse than what Wei Wuxian was ever accused for, and then to top it all off, he is constantly bullied.

To add to that, Jin Ling's outbursts are to be expected, he's just like his maternal uncle, really emotional. Jiang Cheng has had his outbursts of anger and aggressiveness (verbal and/or physical) and this could be the only way Jin Ling knows how to express himself.

At first I thought Jin Ling was an arrogant and stupid spoiled brat but I just want to hug this poor kid, the trauma of not having his parents and knowing that they died brutal deaths, the bullying, just everything. Just let him have a nice and warm blanket while snuggling with Fairy for once, please?

Speaking of Fairy, can people stop threatening the dog please? Like, they're such a good boy/girl (Netflix subtitles swapped them at somepoint from he to she and then it so I have no idea).

I WAS CRYING WHEN LAN SIZHUI STARTED TO REMEMBER HIS PAST AND THEN WEN NING WAS TRYING TO CATCH UP WITH HIM BRUH I WAS UGLY CRYING, SOBBING, THEY'RE FAMILY, THEY DESERVE TO SPEND TIME TOGETHER, THE LAST OF THE WEN FAMILY AAAA

I am such a sucker for reunited families, families with close bonds, found families, I don't know why, but it strikes me in the heart in such a painful and joyful way.

Zewu Jun, I always have mad respect for this man and I understand how he needs to make his own judgement and not only trust the words of others, I just can't blame him for that. But man was I afraid that he betrayed everyone by actually being 100% on Jin Guangyao's side knowing everything he did in episode 46, but he looked as confused and weirded out as ever so thankfully he isn't on his side anymore, I love this dude, I'm his biggest supporter.

I'll make each of these things their own post because I have so much more I want to say.

#the untamed #mxtx novels #wei wuxian #jin ling #jiang cheng #wen qing #wen ning #lan wangji #wen yuan #lan sizhui #mdzs #the untamed mdzs #jin guangyao #qin su #su she #meng yao #zewu jun #lan xichen

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thoughtfulfangirling · 2 months

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Indecent Exposure

Property: Gargoyles Characters: Goliath x Elisa Words: 3,634 Fics are for fun, so no I do not edit these or rework them. At least right now. My focus is just trying to write again despite very little motivation. This also means writing every silly little self indulgent scenario I'm inspired to contemplate. And that's what this was! Let's say that this is maybe between the first and second season? Still early on but not like, early early on. XD

The only light on in Elisa's apartment at this moment seemed to be a lamp in her bedroom. Goliath made his way to the slanted glass, to-ceiling windows outside that room of her place. He had asked once about human dwellings and found they varied greatly in size based on a number of different factors. The place she lived seemed quite small to him, but he was to understand that for the location and setup of this apartment, it was actually quite nice. Windows like this definitely did seem pretty rare, at least for spaces designated for dwellings. But, it was awfully convenient for his clan to have a place to land outside and large windows to enter through.

He tapped on the window before sliding it open in the way she had shown him. "Elisa?" He called, as he dropped into the room with the light on. He didn't immediately see her. He did hear some sort of fan running from behind a door connected to the bedroom that he knew did not lead to her living room. That was fine, as he was in no hurry. It seemed likely she was at home as there was light coming from under that door and light on in her room.

Goliath turned his attention to the lamp, for it seemed to sit upon a bedside stand with a glass of water, a watch, some smaller items he didn't recognize, a piece of cloth that seemed to run in a circle, and a book. He picked this last item up: "Eyewitness Testimony: Civil and Criminal." It had several authors listed. He flipped it open and found that her bookmark wasn't very far into the book. Either it was a new book, or it hadn't caught her interest. He made sure the bookmark was firmly in place before flipping the pages to the start and beginning to read.

Goliath was just finishing the introduction to the novel when he heard a 'click.' He looked up from his reading to address Elisa, but words died on his lips as she emerged in the doorway.

She was mostly silhouette, given the light behind her was much brighter than that of the lamp in this corner of the room, which was opposite the door, but there was enough light for faint details to reveal that the figure in the doorway was naked, head bent to one side, a long piece of fabric being worked around the hair draped to Elisa's side.

Goliath's wings flew up as, startled, he made to block her from his view, knowing he had managed to violate her privacy. The lamp crashed into the wall as his wings opened and he turned away. He heard a startled cry behind him, but he didn't turn toward it, knowing what more he could see if he did. Instead he focused on recovering the lamp, half fallen between the corner of the room and the nightstand, looking like it may already be broken, but the light was still on.

Goliath kept his wings partially raised, as much as the space would allow, to be a clear visual indicator that he was not looking her way as he fumbled the lamp back into place and began scooping up some of the smaller items from the stand that had been knocked down by the shifting of the lamp.

"Goliath?!" Elisa's voice was breathless and startled.

"I'm sorry!" Goliath said, closing his eyes and bracing his hand against the opposite wall. He looked up in exasperation and noted that parts of the windows, that didn't have the glare of the lamp and the room beyond, reflected the rest of the room. He dropped his eyes immediately, feeling a little dizzy. "I called out to you when I came in, but... I realize now you must not have heard me over that fan."

He thought he heard a slight, breathless chuckle before he heard Elisa say, "You gave me quite a scare there. I wasn't expecting anyone obviously. Lucky I didn't have my gun with me; I was ready to shoot." And this laugh sounded more natural.

He heard her shuffling around, some drawers opening and closing. Needing to know what was happening behind him caused him to lift his eyes to the reflections in the window without thinking. Elisa's back was to him now, and the cloth hung loosely around her, covering her lower half but showing most of her back. He couldn't make out what she was doing except that she was hunched over slightly like she was looking down. He lowered his eyes again. He hadn't meant to look. It was a difficult instinct to fight, not keeping an eye on movement behind him.

Goliath cleared his throat. "I should leave." But he didn't move immediately. To leave would mean to go back through the window and for the moment, that was where her reflection still was.

"Goliath, it's fine. Just give me a moment; I'm almost decent."

"Decent?" He asked, for he saw nothing about her actions that would deem her indecent. He was the one who had intruded.

"Covered up." She said in that way she did when she was explaining how a word was used colloquially without going into a long explanation. "There." She said, and he lifted his eyes to her reflection. It was even harder to make out fine details there than it had been when she was silhouetted by the room behind her previously, but it did seem she was wearing something at least.

"You don't mind if I turn around then?" He clarified.

She laughed as she assured him it was safe-another odd phrasing, but he believed he caught her meaning well enough not to question.

He turned around, and it seemed she had resumed the activity she had been doing as she came out of the room and rubbing down her hair with the cloth. She now had clothes on, but somehow he still felt like he was intruding. He'd never seen her in so little. Humans seemed to put a lot of importance on covering up their bodies, but she did not seem uncomfortable in the black, somewhat reflective shorts that seemed... well quite short. And the top, while covering her torso, only seemed to cling to her by little more than strings, with the neck looping low enough to reveal cleavage. And the way the fabric laid on her body seemed different as well.

"I was taking a shower. Between the water and the fan, it's hard to hear much outside of the bathroom." Elisa explained, finishing on the ends of her hair with the cloth. As she did so, she stepped back into the bathroom for a moment. "It's odd, I've never thought to ask you all about showering. You guys function like... well, like you're not magic. But I think you must be." As she emerged from the bathroom, she was without the piece of fabric she'd been using before and was using a much smaller piece that appeared the same fabric as her clothes to push back her hair from falling into her face. He'd seen similar hair pieces on women before, but they usually seemed to stop behind the ears and be of a rigid material.

"What do you mean?" Goliath asked, though he found himself distracted now by something of a very different nature. Another thing he had noticed about human females was that their breasts, while very similar in relative size and shape to female gargoyles, seemed to have a different property. They didn't... move the same. There was a rigidity to them. But suddenly Elisa's were moving like those of gargoyle women.

"I haven't heard any mention of needing a shower or a bath from you guys since you've been in the clock tower. I think the sun must refresh you over night. That seems awfully handy." She stopped as she reached the other side of her bed, and as he opened his mouth to reply to her assertion, he found himself stopping at the expression she gave him. He realized, with sudden intense embarrassment, that she had caught his gaze. He searched her face for discomfort as he tried to figure out what to say. He couldn't read the expression. Discomfort is not how he'd describe it. Much of it was amusement, but he did see some color on her cheeks which he thought probably did mean he was making her uncomfortable.

He looked down at her nightstand as an excuse to look away and noticed the book. He touched it. "Light reading before bed?"

Elisa sat down on the corner of her bed, leaving space between them.

"I try to keep learning." She said with a shrug. "You know Goliath, if you have any questions for me, I am always happy to answer what I can."

This caused him to look at her again. She was offering to him to address what had just happened but leaving him with an out. He didn't know why he was so embarrassed all of a sudden. Curiosity was natural, and there was a lot he didn't know. Elisa had always offered to fill in gaps where she could. In his previous world, it did not matter much what he did not know of humans or their ways. But now, if they were to survive in this world, humans were all they had for their communities, if they were to have any outside of their small group.

He gave a nod and turned more toward her, fighting off his discomfort at broaching topics that seemed taboo. "The clothes you are wearing." He started, but found he wasn't even sure what the question was he was trying to ask, or how to ask it. This was not embarrassment, just a lack in knowledge about human norms.

"My pajama's." Elisa offered with a nod.

"Pajamas?" Goliath questioned. This felt like a route that would get him answers.

"They're clothes we wear to bed. Well, that's normally how it's thought of, but honestly, many of us wear pajamas as soon as we get home. They're the most comfortable things we wear." She gave a wry grin. "If we decide to wear anything at all. Many people don't wear anything to go to sleep."

Which begged the question, if he had not interrupted her, would she have gone to sleep as he found her? Had she put these on for his sake? And if so, had she done so for his comfort or hers? He ignored these questions for the ones more relevant to interactions with humans more generally.

"So modesty rules do not apply in the home." It was a question, but he made it a statement to demonstrate that he was starting to understand, and that the conversation was going in the direction of providing answers to the things he was curious about.

Elisa gave a shrug, which with new revelations, did make Goliath uncomfortable. He tended to see the differences between gargoyles and humans more than he noticed their similarities, which did not seem to be the case for all of his clan. One of the more distinguishing differences to him when interacting with the women, was this oddness about the breasts. It wasn't like he ever stared. It's just a thing he noticed once, and then they meant nothing more to him than the color of one's hair or width of their shoulders. But suddenly the similarities stood out to Goliath as he acutely felt how long it had been since he had looked upon a woman he found appealing in a more sensual manner. He could never deny his attraction to Demona, but now seeing her brought so many painful feelings that there was no room for something as simple as attraction.

As he wrangled with these thoughts, Elisa had explained the various settings and modes of dress common among humans. He was able to gather peripherally that he had always encountered Elisa when she was dressed for work or a practical night out and about. That pajamas, or PJs as she'd started to refer to them, were one of the most casual of attires humans wore, and the degree of how revealing they run tended to depend on the relationships they had with the people they lived with, if any.

It made a certain amount of sense to him. He had just assumed humans were much more modest than gargoyles, and he would have to consider this new information. It certainly made some things he saw often on the streets make much more sense.

"Something I said seems to have made you uncomfortable." Elisa suddenly said, and Goliath realized that as she finished an explanation, they had lapsed into silence.

Goliath looked back at her and saw an expression of concern. "No. Not at all. I am merely... thinking. I am seeing that I have made many assumptions without realizing. I... understood less than I realized."

"Is that upsetting?" Elisa asked, drawing her legs up and wrapping her arms around them. It was a casual movement, but something about the movement or her posture belied a sudden discomfort she hadn't had earlier.

"No. Certainly not." Goliath replied, shaking his hand. He looked about the room. He had the urge suddenly to not seem to take up so much space, but his choices seemed to be to sit on the floor or on the bed, and after everything she had just said about homes and bedrooms and sleeping being the most intimate locations, he felt to sit on the bed might make her further uncomfortable. "I am more concerned, after what I learned, about your comfort. Does it... is it upsetting for you that I am here rather than your living room? That I saw you earlier naked?"

Elisa laughed, and that tension she'd had a moment ago seemed to ease. Her uplifted legs moved to a crossed position, and she leaned forward. "What would you do if it did?" There was a playful note to the statement that suggested she was not, but humor sometimes masked that which made us most uncomfortable.

"Well, I could certainly leave immediately. Perhaps that is what I should have done right away. I... don't know about the other, but if there is anything I could do that would... ease any discomfort, I would hear it."

Elisa chuckled at that, and Goliath found himself once again diverting his gaze. He found himself desperate to know what had changed about Elisa that she... moved different all of a sudden, but he had already stumbled into crashing into various sensitive topics. Though it was a relief at how remarkable Elisa was taking it. He wondered how grossly he had overestimated human modesty practices.

"What?" Elisa asked, her tone serious again. "Something keeps making you uncomfortable. Is it too strange seeing me like this? I can put on more clothes if I've managed to make you uncomfortable. Perhaps I’ve assumed too much about a lack of modesty among Gargoyles based on the attire I've seen?" There was genuine curiosity in her voice, but also a hint of frustration.

"No." Goliath assured her. "We do of course cover sensitive flesh, but it is mostly out of comfort than modesty."

"Then it's to see a human naked?" Elisa asked, and again there was something in her tone he couldn't quite interpret. "You have such an appreciation for the arts that I assumed you would have at least seen nakedness in art and photography."

"I have. Yes." He interrupted. "It's none of those things." He sighed. "I apologize. You have done nothing wrong. I am the intruder here. You are not making me uncomfortable. I simply find that I am confused, but I do not need to understand everything."

"Goliath, where else are you going to find answers to your questions? I don't know everything, but it's not like you can ask your books a question and get an answer. I at least could ask a librarian and find books for you. Look. I promise, I'll tell you if you ask me a question I don't want to answer, but you have a right to understand this world you live in, and I've offered to do what I can to help you. If I don't want to answer myself, if it makes me uncomfortable, I can try to find books on the topic for you."

Goliath sighed and readjusted his wings, uncomfortable. Elisa pushed some hair that had fallen over her shoulder back. She made to tuck it behind her ear, a gesture he'd seen from her often, but of course the piece in her hair already held the hair back from her ears.

"I don't know how to ask about it without questioning you... you're," He gestured helplessly at her chest and then jerked his hand back, realizing how brusque that must appear. It was embarrassing, but a relief when Elisa let out a burst of laughter at the gesture.

"Boobs? You want to know about boobs? Goliath, gargoyle women also have them. Or at least Demona does. Weren't you and Demona intimate before she went... well, you know." She shook her head in a manner that suggested she meant to say Demona was crazy.

Goliath shook his head as if to clear it. "Gargoyle women yes, they do have breasts. But they... move differently than yours. Or, I thought they did." He felt a bit light headed. This was not a conversation he wanted to have, but yet he found he was desperate to understand.

Elisa tilted her head and gave him a confused look. "I'm not sure I follow. I can't say I've noticed anything notably different, though of course I haven't seen Demona's naked breasts. Is that what you mean? You have referenced your kind lay eggs, perhaps gargoyle women don't have nipples?" Her voice was pure curiosity, but after a beat, he saw color rise in her cheeks again. He was actually comforted by the sight. He realized that part of his uneasiness was how much more composed Elisa had been than himself through all this, when it seemed to him their roles should be reversed.

"They have nipples." He assured her. "But when a gargoyle woman walks, her breasts move with the movement. When she laughs, they move. It's not something that seemed to happen with human women, only..."

Elisa had made a sound of understanding. "Mine have" she finished for him. She got up and walked to the set of drawers along the far wall from her bed. She pulled something off the top and tossed it to him. It appeared to be a top designed for a woman, only it looked like it was intended only to cover the breasts. He looked at it for a moment, then looked at Elisa again and raised a questioning eyebrow.

"Typically before leaving home, we put one of these on. It's called a bra. It keeps our breasts in place. It can get uncomfortable to do a lot of physical activity without something holding the girls in place. It also prevents our nipples from being visible through our clothes." She gave a shrug. "For some reason, it's considered inappropriate to let them be seen in public."

"But your men have nipples." Goliath commented on the discrepancy while setting the bra aside.

"Yeah. It's pretty dumb." Elisa said, returning back to the bed and sitting back down, this time one leg crossed under her. She gave a sudden laugh and shook her head. "All this time, and you thought our boobs were just stiff." Goliath gave her an embarrassed look, and she shook her head in response. "No it makes sense! How would you know? It's crazy how seamlessly you all have become such a normal part of my life that I forget how strange sometimes mine must be to you."

Finally, Goliath sat on the bed. It bowed a bit under his weight, but seemed to hold fine. The tension finally had seemed to evaporate enough that it didn't seem like an invasive gesture anymore. "It has been a learning curve." He admitted. "And I can only thank you for your candor. I think even among gargoyle women, to ask them about their bodies as I did yours would not have been very welcome."

Elisa just smiled at him then shook her head. "I suppose you dropped in just for the peak show then?"

"What? Oh no! I came to see if you wouldn't want to meet us in the park tomorrow. Lexington has finished another project and wants to show us. And I believe Broadway wants to ask you to track down some movie or other that he wants to see."

Elisa smiled. "I'll be there at dusk when you all wake up tomorrow. I have a pretty busy night coming up with some stake-outs we have to do, though I'd love to see what Lex has gotten up to. But I can check in with you all and see what movies Broadway's heard about now.

Goliath nodded and stood back up. "We will be pleased to see you. Next time I drop in, I will make sure to announce myself clearer and wait for you in your living room."

Elisa chucked and nodded. "Have a good night Goliath.”

Goliath gave her a smile and a short bow before bidding her a good night as well and taking his leave.

He supposed there was a lot he should consider now and think on, but as he took to the night sky, he found he didn't particularly care to keep contemplating on what he'd learned. It was good to know, but it was just enough that he did.

#la de da #don't mind me one bit #XD #furi writes?#why doe sit help to keep writing when we post it?#Even when we kind of hope maybe no one actually reads XD #Unless their silly self-indulgencies match one's own #I hate embarrassing shit and yet I love characters in these awkward situations #What contradictions we humans are lmao #poor Elisa LMAO #fanfiction #gargoyles #G!fanfiction #long post

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cauldron-of-oddities · 7 months

Text

After all the amnesia talk, this little idea wouldn't leave me alone.

There she was, cackling, enjoying the fight, with wild abandon. And while not on the same side, she was also in no way attacking him or the firelights.

Where had she been? After the last time…, he shook it from him.

The boy's distracted, so much so that one of those too chunky dressed enforcers was about to take him down. Now, that would be a loss, she decided as something pulled her to him.

A single bullet, lightning fast, ends the fight. It leaves them standing across from one another on an empty roof.

“Hey there, handsome, was a good fight, right? Taking down those too stuffy Pilties, think they have the run of it here, huh? Also, really cool board, can I see it? How does it work, oohhh can I look inside it?”

“Jinx…” it comes out a bit hesitant, a bit broken. He's on his guard even as relief fills him.

“Ooohh you know my name, my reputation precedes me” That makes her happy for some reason.

He's confused for a moment. Why was she acting like she didn't know who he was? As he looks at her willing her to acknowledge him, there's no recognition in her eyes, and for all the chaos she revelled in, her eyes were light, unburdened and so very different from the last time he'd seen her.

Realisation was sinking in and with his eyes stung with rising tears.

The pretty boy in front of her isn't looking too hot, no, he looks terribly sad.

“Hey, you need a hug? hugs always make me feel better, not that I get them much, but they do.”

What was it about this boy that made her ramble so?

Suddenly, she was wrapped in strong arms, warmth envelops her, and the scent of something like wood and cinnamon and motor oil filled her nose, and she's dizzy for a moment.

It was the best hug ever her rather stumped mind provided her, even if she could feel tears in the crook of her neck. She lets him sink into her. Seemed like he needed it, and maybe she did, too.

His grip relaxes slowly, the strange relief washing over him even as the realisation her memories are gone properly hits. She also feels a bit too slight, and he worried.

She's not protesting at how long he's been holding on. No, she thinks she would be mad if it ended too soon. This person didn't want to hurt her, and he smelled nice.

Eventually, he pulls away, and she feels utterly bereft and pouts. He doesn't move away entirely, though. He runs his hands down over her arms to her hands and holds them.

Wet warm brown eyes look at her, and she thinks she'd happily drown in them.

“Are you happy?” he asks her suddenly, and what a question to ask. Why wouldn't she be?

“Yes?”

“That's good” it's an odd feeling to have your heart break and soar at the same time. She's forgotten him, but to see her so unburded, he'd take it.

He raises her hands to his lips and leaves a soft kiss, like in those saccharine sweet novels she found and would never admit to reading or enjoying. A giddy blush rises to her cheeks. This was a good development.

But why does he look like he wants to cry again?

He lets her go and suddenly everything is entirely too cold and some niggling feeling at the back of her mind. Did he know her before?

She's pulled from her thoughts at the soft hum of the hoverboard starting up. He's going to leave, this wonderful feeling of a person is going to leave.

He can't stay. He needs to be somewhere safe, somewhere to work through all the feelings where he won't be tempted to turn around and wrap her back in his arms. He flies off and desperately tries not to look back. Before he's out of earshot, though:

“If you need another hug, come find me handsome!” (and what he didn't hear, “please”)

#timebomb #ekko x jinx #ekkojinx #and so a little post fight ritual starts #time for random plot ideas #some dramatic event took place before

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camels-pen · 5 months

Text

oh to dream a dream

summary: Careless words can lead to indulgent sleep.

based on @seaglass-skies' prompt "Jazz has never had a sibling. So who is this other teenager in the old photo album she found? And why is the bedroom across from hers so empty?"

Ao3 Link | Phight ‘24 series

The atmosphere was quiet, homey. Chirping birds could be heard through the cracked window off to the side and there was a low level chatter throughout the whole place.

Jazz took a deep breath in, smelling the scent of dark roast and vanilla bean that had permeated itself into the walls and floor, that drifted up to greet her like a tired lover.

Usually, she'd chide herself on such cheesy thoughts—maybe make a mental note to stop reading so many romance novels and crack open more psych textbooks—but she was feeling good today. Good and content.

So much so, in fact, that she didn't even feel the sting of embarrassment as someone nudged past her where she was standing, blocking the open door to the coffee shop.

She gave a short apology, tapped each pocket on her shoulder bag just in case, and then walked to the front register.

“Jazzy-babe!” Edward said, grinning wide at her. “Girl, I haven't seen you in ages!”

Jazz smiled back, tears pricking the corners of her eyes. “Ugh, I know right? Sorry—” She paused to wipe her face, sniffling a little. “I've really missed this place.”

“Oh honey.” Ed came around the counter to scoop her into a hug. He patted her back as he said, “There's no need to cry, you're here now, aren't you?”

Jazz laughed. She must really be a mess for Ed to come all the way around for a hug rather than just lean over the counter. “Yeah—yeah I'm here now. These are more happy tears than anything else, to be honest.”

Ed gave her a few more pats before returning to the register. “Good. Happy tears are the best kind of tears. We don't need anything else.” Actually, tears of sadness and frustration were also rather important to keeping a healthy emotional balance, but Jazz understood and appreciated the sentiment. “What can I get for you, hon?”

“Just a latte, I've got to—” Jazz paused. “Oh, sorry, I just started talking on autopilot. I don't have any chores or homework today, so I'm staying for the long haul.”

“From open to close!” Ed laughed. “Just like when you first started coming here.”

Jazz smiled. ”Yup, back to my old ways.“

”So we're going with a large latte and three chocolate and almond croissants?“

”Make it four, please.“

The shop was rather slow—an odd sight for a coffee shop at 9 in the morning—so while Ed and his new coworker worked, Jazz propped herself against the counter and chatted with him. Turned out he'd gotten himself a new boyfriend—long distance this time, all the way up north in Ontario, Canada in some place called 'Barrie'—and he's planning to renew his passport and go visit him some time this summer.

Jazz shared her own news—the hazards of 12th grade English classes with a substitute teacher for half the semester, all of her friends managing to catch the flu at the same time a few months ago, and her overbearing parents insisting she apply for some fake program called 'ecto-biology' at the University of Madison Wisconsin.

Ed laughed along and, traitor that he was, said she should give it a shot anyway and that it might be fun. Jazz wasn't so sure.

Soon, her drink and pastries were done and she said her goodbyes before ensconcing herself to the little corner in the back of the shop, far from the door and mostly covered by a massive bird of paradise plant.

She set down her things, took out a hefty book titled 'Psychology and You: A Look into the Self' and cracked open the front cover.

—

“...azz!“

“...ease, don't wan... urt y...!”

“...rry!”

—

Jazz felt a tap at her shoulder and she blinked. She groaned and rubbed at her eyes. “Geez, I haven’t done that since middle school.” And damn, that was satisfying.

Ed chuckled as she stretched out her arms. “Sounds like you needed it.”

Jazz packed up her stuff and gave Ed a goodbye hug before heading out. If there's one thing Jazz Fenton knew, it was when she'd overstayed her welcome.

She blinked, then furrowed her brows. Where did that come from? It was closing time so she needed to leave, it wasn't like she'd stayed too long at a friend's house.

“Maybe I conflated it with the feeling of being in someone else's home?” she mumbled to herself. “The place does feel like it's Ed's pride and joy even though he's not the owner.”

The owner himself was a crabby man who had hated Jazz since the first moment he spotted her walking in, all of 12 years old and looking for a safe and quiet place to do her math homework. She didn't have any money then, thinking the shop was similar enough to a library what with all the people she saw reading quietly through the windows. The man was ready to kick her out, citing that only paying customers were allowed to sit in his shop and that all children were rabble and ruffians regardless of age.

It was Edward then, all of 16 and newly hired, who had bought her a hot cocoa and claimed her dad had already bought a drink for her earlier in the day and Ed had been waiting for her. Ed was chewed out for it since apparently that wasn't a thing they allowed at the shop, but Jazz was allowed to stay. She learned for future visits to bring along her allowance and when the owner wasn't here, Ed would let her sit in the shop without buying anything.

Now if only a certain someone else would be so kind—

Jazz stumbled. “Dumb rock,” she grumbled, shaking out her foot. “What was I thinking about again?”

—

“You’re always in my business! It’s annoying!”

“I’m in your business because I care about you!”

“You sound like mom and dad! And didn’t you always say privacy was important to growing kids?!”

“It is! It is, but this is different; Danny, I’m afraid you’re doing something dangerous. Something that could get you hurt. If there’s some big bad ghost villain you should come to me—”

“Of course.” He scoffed. “You can’t fucking trust me to take care of myself, as per usual. I’m just your idiot little brother who would die a horrible death the moment you take your eyes off me, aren’t I?”

She gasped, putting a hand to her mouth.

“W-Wait, I didn’t mean it like that—”

—

“Oh Jazzypants!” Dad called. “You think you could come down and help your old man with something?”

“Sorry Dad! I’m doing something important!” Jazz called back, laid on her stomach on her bed, a chewed up pencil in hand as she hovered over a ‘Who will be your boyfriend? (NSYNC edition)’ quiz. “I’m doing this for Kendra, but man I hope I get Justin.”

She continued to circle the letters on the quiz and eventually finished and flipped to the back of the magazine. “Ugh, Lance? Maybe I should just burn this.” As she shifted her hand, she noticed neat cursive handwriting under the answer key that read: ‘Jazz, I don’t care if you got Lance, DO NOT BURN THIS.’

She was tempted to burn it anyway.

A gust of wind blew through her room, ruffling the pages of the magazine and throwing her hair all around. Jazz had to slap a hand on the book to keep it from flying away. The wind died down after a moment and she huffed, a bit of hair fluttering up with the action before falling back down. “Perfect, amazing, exactly what I needed.”

Jazz pushed herself up and slammed the window down. Her dad yelled if she was alright, but she didn’t answer. Flopping herself down on her bed, she flipped back to the quiz and erased her answers. “I’m gonna get Justin this time,” she grumbled, starting the quiz over.

Just as she had gotten to the second question, another gust of wind blew through her room. This time the magazine wasn’t safe and tumbled to the carpet. She pushed her hair back from her face and left her room to investigate.

Mom and Dad’s room was fine. The bathroom too. The storage closet didn’t have a window and the hallway one has been busted shut for years.

Jazz stood in front of the door across from her room. She slowly put a hand on the doorknob. Twisted it. Then pushed.

Peeking into the room, she looked around. It was empty and collecting dust, just as it always was. She always felt uneasy just looking into the room so hopefully the window was—

Ah, it was open. Of course.

Jazz gulped. She willed herself forward. Fear was just fear and there was nothing of any real harm in the room. She repeated that to herself over and over as she tiptoed inside, heading for the window.

There were no furniture, no decorations, no new paint on the walls. It was just a plain blue—

Jazz shook her head and rubbed her eyes. Beige, the original house’s wall colours were beige with a white trim.

She continued her journey and eventually made it, sliding the window closed as gently as she could, lest she disturb the stifling atmosphere she found herself in.

Jazz was about ready to tiptoe her way out—or maybe just run for it to make it quicker—when her eyes caught on a photo album on the floor. It was 4th of July themed and was laid spine up, as if it had falled off of something and landed on its pages.

And, well, Jazz was never one to leave a book like that, no matter the circumstances.

With hesitant hands, she picked up the book, her thumb automatically marking the open pages. She marvelled at the peeling silver stars on the front and back cover and the almost sparkling blue colour. 4th of July themed seemed like a stretch, now that she had a closer look; it had more of a space theme or a starry night sky, than anything else.

She flipped over the book, only to find it was a photo album. The papers where starting to become yellow with age and the photos curling at the corners, as if ready to fall off at any moment. It looked so old and well loved, yet Jazz had never recalled seeing such an album around the house before.

The photos all included pictures of herself when she was far younger, her mom and dad, and some of Jazz’s friends from elementary school. Sometimes it was just one of them, sometimes all of them, and sometimes even none of them.

But with each picture there was one consistent theme: some part of the picture was complete static. Like someone had taken a TV without signal and used that to colour in nonsensical shapes and silhouettes in each and every picture.

It was strange. Odd, even. Jazz wasn’t one to vandalize anything as important as a photo album, even as a child. Her parents were always quite adamant that she’d been a rather mature child since she was small. And she doubted her mom or dad would’ve done that.

Maybe one of her friends from the photos? Jazz could’ve invited them over one time and they could’ve scribbled all over the photos when she wasn’t looking. It wouldn’t be the first time.

She squinted at the pages. No, that didn’t seem quite right. The static colouring stopped right at the edge of each polaroid, not a single bit of it leaking into the white border edges of them. She doubted elementary schoolers would care so much about that, or be that precise.

Page after page she found different pictures, with her and her parents at different ages and different clothes, with new friends and old. And yet that same static colouring persisted. In fact, it seemed to be growing over time, getting consistently bigger and bigger, at times looking like the outline of a person just a handful of inches shorter than herself. She started to get irritated as the static got closer to her height, but by the time she got to the end of the album—with whiter pages and more firmly glued pictures—it never overtook her. She felt satisfied about that fact, for some reason.

Back to the original problem, she still didn’t know what the purpose was of this odd destruction of her family’s photo album. She didn’t even know where this album had come from, the pictures in it unfamiliar and foreign.

She squinted at the last picture in the album, using her nail to scratch at the static colour. Not that she was expecting anything from it—

The static started to flake off.

“What is this, crayon?” she mumbled. Though it felt simultaneously thicker and thinner than crayon wax. Smoother, yet rougher. It was easy to pick at it, but hard to peel off anything larger than a toothpick, the colours coming off in long thin stripes as they did.

She scratched and scratched and scratched at it. Jazz had just about had enough when no more pieces came off, but then—

The entire thing peeled off like an old sticker.

Staring back at her was a boy with messy black hair, annoyed blue eyes, and a contrasting grin with Jazz’s own arm wrapped around his shoulders.

“An… old friend, maybe? But this picture was taken recently and—” She paused to pick at another photo higher up the page. It revealed another picture of the same boy, mouth open like he was talking animatedly about something while staring into a small telescope. Another picture, a few pages earlier, showed the whole family in their hazmat suits, and the boy himself standing with them in his own white and black suit.

“I’ve never had any siblings,” she whispered to herself. It didn’t feel right, almost like someone else coaxed the words through her mouth.

She stared around at the empty room. Thought of how it really should be blue, since that’s the colour it’s always been. The house was originally beige, but this room was always always blue. A specific shade of lighter blue, with glow in the dark stars on the ceiling and burn marks on the carpet. A scuffed up desk plastered with enough free Nasa stickers you could hand them out at a convention. Not to mention a bed that had never been made since it was bought.

She thought of that room. And she thought of this one, the real one all around her. The one full of life and the one that had never seen it. There was only so much she could do to try and remember it. Imagine it? Think of it, and yet it stuck out so clearly in her mind.

She could hear the high pitched whiny voice calling her a nag. Could smell the dirty laundry ‘hidden’ under the desk. Could feel the ratty old cotton Star Wars blanket between her fingers. But none of it was here.

Something ached fiercely in her chest.

She gripped her shirt tight over her heart, tears welling up in her eyes.

She’d forgotten him. She looked out for him—cared for him—for so so long, but she’d forgotten him. Like some trashy teen magazine article.

And—and she needed to find him. He was always being reckless out with his friends hunting—hunting ghosts of all things (oh god, ghosts exist and she forgot and he had been fighting them without her help—).

She went for the door, yanking it open and trying not to hyperventilate.

Jazz needed to find him, she needed to help him, she needed to—

Jazz blinked. She stared at the open door to her own room with a frown. “Why did I leave my room?”

She jumped as she heard something swing shut behind her. When she turned she noticed the door to the empty room, shut and covered with cobwebs. She shuddered and inched away from it.

“Jazz, sweetie, would you mind closing the window?” Mom called.

The window?

A gust of air blew against her side, sending her hair every which way. Right, the window.

She pulled the hallway window shut, an air of finality settling in her bones.

—

“Nocturn!” The shout echoed down the long, stretching corridor along with the bang of the door slamming open. Within moments, a blur of black and white sped into the room.

“You know you could’ve just knocked,” Nocturn said. “I would’ve considered letting you in my second favourite dreamer if you were polite about it.”

“What’d you do with—” Danny paused. “Wait. Second?”

Nocturn swept open his cloak, revealing a figure just a tad taller than Danny himself floating close to his chest, her head bowed.

A swirling mess of dark purple, blue, and black speckled with shining white stars were painted on her skin. Her hair was a dark shade of orange and flowed freely around her, as if underwater.

“Well, my dear? Shall we entertain our guest?”

She lifted her head and Danny gasped. Her face was free of paint, but blank, bereft of all features save a waterfall of neverending black tears down her cheeks. But even without a face, Danny could recognize her. Could never not recognize the very reason he came here in the first place.

That—that was—

“Yes, Lord Nocturn,” Jazz said.

#danny phantom #jazz fenton #void jazz #phic phight #phic phight 2024 #nemo the writing ho

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llamawrites · 6 months

Text

Legacy

The warm tropical sun shone through the windows of the villa. Lucille Tracy sat at her desk. She let out a sorrowful sigh. I can’t believe that it’s his death date again. Lucille thought bitterly. Her vision blurred as tears spilled from her eyes. It had been years since her husband died, but grief felt like new. An ache pushed against her heart. He was her other half, the one whom she shared all her secrets with. He was gone, and all she could do was weep into her hands. She was so deep in her sad thoughts that she didn’t notice that she had company.

“Oh, mother,” said Scott, full of sympathy for his grieving mother. The oldest Tracy had an inkling that he needed to check on his mother. It was lunchtime, so Scot grabbed lunch for his mother. He set down the plate on the desk and went to give his mother a huge hug. Lucille leaned into the hug, and she couldn't help but cry even harder. They stayed like that for a good minute before the eyes in the third oldest son’s portrait started to glow.

Lucille looked up from her hands. She gave Scott a mournful smile. Gosh, he could have been Jeff’s twin. A new wave of sadness hit Lucille like a Tsunami. She swallowed the lump in her throat, but tears rimmed her eyes.

Scott let go of his mother. He flipped a switch on his mother’s desk and was greeted with the concerned face of one John Tracy.

“Ma, how are you doing?” John asked.

A sad sigh Escaped Lucille's lips as sadness flitted across her face.“I’m doing as well as I can be.” Scott stood beside Lucille. He gently squeezed her shoulder as if to say, ‘I’m here, mother.’

John’s heart twisted as he watched on from Thunderbird Five. In moments like these, John wished that he wasn't up in Thunderbirds Five so he could comfort his grieving mother.

‘I miss him terribly.” John said the whole family was grieving on this day. John himself had grieved in his own way. He had spent almost all morning talking to Virgil. They had talked about the bitter-sweet memories of their late father. He had found himself mourning the death of his father too.

Lucille gave a glum smile.” Your father came up with the idea of International Rescue. He told me about his wonderful organization that would save people. I was on board the moment he spoke the words "International Rescue.” There was a pause, a lump formed in Lucille's throat. “He told me about his International Rescue a few hours before his death. I made myself a promise when I saw Grant and his frozen bodies. That promise was to make International Rescue real so that no one else had to go through the pain that I went through losing my husband and father-in-law.”

After another pause, Lucille shuddered, holding back a sob. She gestured with her hands to the room around her. “Scott, John, this is your late father’s legacy, “ Lucille said,” if it wasn’t for your father’s ideas, none of this would be possible. At that moment, Lucille wished that Jeff could be here to see his sons now.

“He would be so proud of you guys,” praised Lucille as she wiped her tears with the back of her hand.

“Mother,” said Scott,” Father would be proud of you. It takes a lot to run a billion-dollar company. He would be proud.”

John nodded in agreement and added,” You’re also a great author. You made three mystery novels, two of which were on the bestseller list. Father would be so proud of your novels too.”

Lucille gave John a sad smile. She let out a sigh. The pain of loss was still there, but the pain was less.

Before they could continue talking, something caught John’s attention on Thunderbird Five. “Ma, I think I’m getting a call in for International Rescue, be right back.” With that, John hung up, and Lucille sat staring at John's still Portrait.

Thirty seconds later, John's face reappeared in the portrait. “Ma, that was the California Fire Department. They need help fighting a huge forest fire.”

Scott stood beside his mother, ready for action.

“Tell them that Thunderbirds One and Two are on their way.”

“F.A.B.”

With that, John ended his second call. Lucille checked the clock that hung on the wall beside her. It was noon, and the rest of the Tracys were enjoying lunch. There wasn’t time to walk to the kitchen with fire rescues every minute counts. So, she did the next best thing. Lucille slapped a red button on her desk, and all of a sudden, an alarm rang throughout the island.

Virgil was the first one to arrive behind him, Gordon and Allan. They stood by the desk, ready for their mission

“Boys, there is a wildfire in California," stated Lucille. ”Launch Thunderbird One and Two, Gordon, you go with Virgil. Alan, you stay. You might be needed on another call.”

With that, the boys rushed to their Thunderbirds, and Alan went out onto the patio to watch the launch. Rubbing the last tears from her eyes, she glanced up at the heavens.

“Keep watch over them, Jeff.”

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

Here my first fic of my Role Swap AU, where Jeff dies and Lucille lives. It has been sitting my drafts for a while, Enjoy.

#thunderbirds 1965 #tos au #thunderbirds #legacy au #I'm going to post on AO3 tomorrow

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greyspirehollow · 4 months

Text

Mother

Pairing : Procurator Volta x male!reader (if you really squint your eyes)

Fandom : The Arcana visual novel

Warnings : motherhood ; angst?

Summary : She had a bad feeling about her lover's next trip with Asra, and so, she asked him to give her a gift she could keep for as long as she lived.

(You can pretend this doesn't exist if you wish.)

No one ever noticed. No one could've guessed. No one could've possibly fathomed something like this happening with Volta. There were hints, of course. But nobody had picked up on them. The Procurator had always eaten a lot, and so nothing was out of the ordinary. She had mood swings, however, but everyone thought it was because of the magician's apprentice's death. Tragic news, for nearly everyone ; even more so that the majority of the court knew he and Volta were particularly attached to each other, even though their relationship had never been made officially public. When Asra came back alone to the Palace, everyone knew what dreadful tales he had to tell, and afterwards, Volta locked herself in her room for roughly two days, crying her heart out at the loss of her beloved. The Countess and the rest of the courtiers then interpreted her changes in attitude as a response to grief ; even if not everyone was too displeased by it. Vulgora was even happy that she finally dared to get angry sometimes. But well. Again, no one could've possibly thought there was another reason behind her sudden affirmative demeanor.

It was a day like any other. The sun shone in the sky, birds chirped, the people in the streets passed and went to tend to their respective businesses, but in the Palace, in the quiet hours of the morning, no one knew that someone would be seeing the light of day for the first time.

Valdemar was simply walking down the corridors, with the intent of going to the dungeons for yet another productive day of experiments, when a distant noise stopped them in their tracks. Cries. Infant cries. They blinked, confused, and followed the noise to the room down the corridor : Volta's room. Their heart beat in confusion and anticipation as they pushed open the door, which was already slightly ajar. There, they found Volta, in a simple cotton night gown, holding something in her arms and panting, beads of sweat adorning her forehead. The Quaestor's jaw dropped as they finally figured the source of the noises : a newborn, right in Volta's arms. They stood in the doorway, perfectly immobile, for a hot minute, looking at the bloody bed sheets and again, the infant in Volta's arms. The Procurator noticed them : "ah, you couldn't come in at a better time" she said. Her gaze held a sort of determination and maturity that had probably been hidden for a long time. "Volta doesn't exactly... know what to do from here." she said, looking between the baby in her arms and Valdemar. The gears in the doctor's head started clicking restlessly, trying to overcome the initial shock to start helping the Procurator out. "ah- y-yes well-" they looked around frantically. They knew they had to react quickly. They walked into the corridor and called out : "PORTIA!!" a little louder than they would've wanted. But the servant, hearing them from nearly the other wing of the Palace, hurried to them "y-yes?? what is it??" she asked, before a flicker of confusion flashed in her eyes as she heard the newborn's cries. Valdemar didn't give her much time to think and started giving instruction : "Bring me a basin of warm water -the cleanest you can find- I also need fresh and clean towels, and I have a box of pocket tools in the library -the right shelf- and new bed sheets too, hurry!!" and with that, they went back into Volta's room. Portia, sensing the urgency of the situation, called out to other servants to help her gather what Valdemar had asked as quickly as possible.

Once she came back with the basin and the towels, Portia managed to catch a glimpse of the situation and she was just as shocked as the Quaestor earlier. Speaking of them, they snatched the basin from her hands, and then their eyes quickly flickered between Volta and the infant. Their bare hands were currently cleaner - they'd have to remove their gloves, which they did, throwing them on the other side of the room. Portia went to sit down next to Volta, trying to offer some support by gently rubbing her back and holding her hand as Valdemar took the baby from her -with... shocking delicacy- and made sure the umbilical chord wouldn't be an issue. They then carried the infant to the basin and careful rinsed them -again, with shocking delicacy and gentleness- as it continued to scream its lungs out. But that was normal. Reassuring, even. Then, they carefully laid it down on a towel next to the basin "let's see..." they mumbled, as they checked for the child's heartbeat, breathing, and overall health. Gods- it was small. They weren't used to handling babies... After the small checkup, they carefully and not too tightly wrapped it in a clean towel, giving back the small bundle to the Procurator "It's a boy. Hold him against the skin of your chest, he'll... Get used to you and your scent" they said, as Volta smiled and nodded, sitting back in her bed and carefully cradling the small being in her arms. Portia smiled "aww, he's adorable" she commented, to which Volta agreed. Now that that was done, Valdemar allowed themselves to stand a little to the side, and finally give in to their shock and disbelief. They looked at the ground, brows knitted together as they tried to process what exactly had just happened. Their arms laid limp at their side and they were still as a statue. It wasn't... a bad kind of shock, at least they thought it wasn't. It was just... Like, this... How... They blinked a few times, trying to regain their composure. They still had to monitor both Volta's and the child's condition just in case. But for now, they'd let Volta and Portia alone for a little, as they picked up their gloves again and muttered a little "I'll be back" before leaving the new mother and her child. Mother. That's what they couldn't possibly wrap their head around. Volta, a mom. That just sounded impossible. Maybe she was fit for the task, they didn't exactly know about that but... But this was actually happening. What... What had happened for her to just... ??? They knew they were missing some piece of information, and that didn't help their confusion and shock. They took a deep breath and went to wash their hands before putting their gloves back on. They hadn't realized they'd been walking to the Countess' office until she spoke up, surprised : "Yes? Do you need something, Quaestor?" They didn't answer right away. They weren't even looking at her. Nadia seemed to sense something was off. "You look troubled.." she said, her brows furrowing slightly. "...Maybe... You should come see for yourself." They replied, as they started to walk back to Volta's room. Confused, Nadia followed them.

She too found herself highly surprised when she came in the room and saw Volta holding her child. However, she seemed to take the situation well. She came up to the Procurator and congratulated her, as she joined the discussion with Portia. The Quaestor's mind was still... Blank, as they once again left the room, and instead leaned back against the wall of the corridor. That's when they heard -very recognizable- footsteps coming towards them, and it seemed to wake them up from their shocked state somewhat. They stood in front of the annoyed Pontifex, who said : "Where's Volta?? I've been looking around the Palace forever for her ! She's not in the kitchen, she's not in the gardens, she's not-" ; "She's resting." Valdemar interrupted them. Vulgora raised an eyebrow "Resting? From what?? She's not done anything particularly special in three days!" they protested. Valdemar sighed. "It's... I don't know how to explain it to you. But you must promise me that you won't shout, that you won't make any kind of harsh movements, and that you'll remove those gauntlets -they're too sharp-" Vulgora looked both confused and annoyed "What the fuck are you yapping about??" and the Quaestor had to hold back the urge to slap some sense into them. They didn't try to stop them when they walked past them into Volta's room : "Volta ! what the hell have you been-" the Pontifex interrupted themselves as they saw the three ladies in the room, but their confusion quickly turned to shock when they noticed the small bundle in Volta's arms. "ah, Vulgora." she commented. It was true, she looked quite tired. "...wh.... are y-...." the Pontifex's voice became nothing more than a strangled whisper "i-it's yours???" but it did convey their shock well enough. the Procurator nodded "it is." she looked back at the bundle in her arms, while Vulgora stood there in confusion and something like horror. "wh- WHO DID THIS TO YOU?? I SWEAR I'M GOING TO SPLATTER THEIR BRAINS ON TH-" they started to shout, earning angry and disapproving glances from Portia, Volta and the Countess when the baby made a little noise of discomfort. Volta spoke up, her expression softening into a smile : "it was Volta's idea. My choice. It's all okay, Vulgora, I promise..." the Pontifex was still in shock and had to go for a walk, leaving the room.

When the evening came around, everyone progressively started leaving the Procurator's room. The servants had changed the bedsheets and Nadia had a little crib put beside her bed to put the baby in. The moonlight peeked through the window, as Valdemar still stood in the room. They had... questions. But they'd wait until Volta woke up. For now, they looked into the little crib, contemplating this brand new individual born at the Palace. He was... Little. Minuscule. They'd forgotten how small humans start. They'd noticed how this one was a little smaller than the norm too -he wasn't even bigger than Volta's forearm-, but since there didn't seem to be any other underlying issue, they didn't have to worry more than that. So they observed, and listened : the baby's breathing, the air coming in and out of those tiny lungs, those eyes shut and those big round cheeks, and those hands, those minuscule hands. There was... A strange feeling in their chest. They were still utterly confused, yes, but somehow, this tiny little being stirred some sort of protective instinct in them. They quietly removed their right glove and gently nudged one of the baby's hand with the tip of their finger. The tiny appendage instinctively gripped them, with so very little force... That's also when they noticed Volta stir in her sleep, and she turned around : noticing them, she sat up in her bed and scooted closer to the crib, rubbing her eyes "Valdemar...? What are you doing here at this hour?" she whispered. "ah, I... Simply had a question" they replied. The Procurator nodded "what is it?". Valdemar hesitated, withdrawing their hand from the crib -reluctantly-. "Who is the father? If I may ask..." Volta sighed and looked down in the crib, and started gently caressing her son's warm cheek "The magician." She simply answered. "...Asra's apprentice?" Valdemar inquired, which Volta confirmed with a nod. Well, that was a little sad, considering said apprentice had not returned from his journey. "..I'm sorry." They simply said, while Volta continued : "...Volta knew, somehow. I felt it. I cannot... Explain how, or why, but... But Volta knew he wouldn't come back this time." tears welled up in her eyes "I couldn't bear the thought of loosing him and not... have anything left of him. So, Volta asked him for a gift." Valdemar looked down at the baby in the crib "..." The Procurator continued : "When Volta learned what had happened, I was very worried to have lost him. The baby, I mean. But he's here. And he's alright." She gave a faint smile while the Quaestor pondered what they'd just heard. So this child was a sort of... final proof of love from both of the parents. That... Was touching, actually. They wouldn't admit it of course. "...I am simply... Surprised you decided to take on such a task." she shook her head "I knew what I was doing. Volta didn't care if it was going to be complicated, my goal was to bring him into the world." she smiled, looking down at her son "..And I did it." Valdemar had to admit, they were somewhat impressed by this side of Volta. They never knew that she was capable of making such... Mature and emotional decisions. "Why didn't you ask any of us for help?" they inquired, to which Volta smiled "Volta simply wanted to do it by herself. This was my task. My decision. My mission..." They nodded, still letting all that sink in. Their eyes landed on the child again, and a thought occurred to them : "...Does that mean he's part demon?" Volta's head perked up, and worry briefly crossed her features "...maybe. Does that mean... the Devil..." Valdemar shrugged "I am not sure. We'll just have to keep a close eye on that." they paused, seeing the worry in the Procurator's eyes "...I can promise you, none of us will let anything happen to him." This was one of the most sincere and serious statements they'd made in a while. And they meant it. They hoped Volta knew that. Her expression gradually softened back to a slightly tired look, and she nodded "thank you."

After a little while of silent contemplation, Volta returned to sleep, and Valdemar, although they stayed beside the crib a little longer, knew they'd have to leave as well. They put their glove back on, and as quiet as a shadow, left the room, delicately closing the door behind them, leaving the new mother and her son rest.

Author's note : I actually have a few little headcanons tied to this story,, so please let me know if you want to see them or not ! ; also sorry for Volta's speech, I'm still a little unfamiliar with that

#the arcana #the arcana game #quaestor valdemar #the arcana courtiers #the arcana valdemar #the arcana visual novel #fanfic #the arcana volta #procurator volta #pontifex vulgora #the courtiers #the arcana vulgora #nadia satrinava #the arcana nadia #portia devorak #the arcana portia #again #you can pretend this doesn't exist if you wish #I'm sorry

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mygeekcorner · 1 year

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Fine I'll give you some more book asks since you acted all pathetic and reblogged it again and begged for more: 18, 25, 30, 42, 43, 50, 51, 55, 61, 67, 68, 80, 86, 99, 100, 102 (lol), 104, 117, 118, 124. Also you must answer them all in one sitting (no drafting) otherwise the curse of the procrastinating tumblrina will fall upon you

Hahahaha omg yes, brilliant, love it, love you

18 your least favorite book ever

I mean there have been a fair few bad choices I've picked up along the way. But that I actually finished?

I really do think it might have been Twilight. Granted I did go in expecting to hate it, but it still managed to be blander and worse than I thought it had any right to be for a series with such devoted following.

25 a book by your favourite author

I said this in another answer but I don't really have favourite authors like that anymore. There are many good authours out there and I will read a series or two but I don't go looking for their names like I used to. But so far I guess Erin Morgenstern is a 2 for 2 author with very beautiful prose in both The Night Circus and The Starless Sea

30 your favourite middle grade book

So I've already talked about Narnia, HP, and my love for Eva Ibbotson but that was pretty much what I read back then. So I'll just mention Which Witch? by Eva Ibbotson as well. I don't remember many details from it, but I do remember that I laughed my way through it, which is never a bad thing.

42 a book that made you want to scream by the time you got to the end

I remember A Storm of Swords by George RR Martin made me call you and scream at your answering machine lol

It was bad enough that the Red Wedding happened, but then right after we've seen the massacre the next chapter is from Aryas point of view again and it's her and Sandor reaching Riverrun and she is So Close to being with her family again, to being safe. But he is mean and harsh and won't let her run off and if I remember correctly he takes out his fucking axe and hits her in the head with it. And that's how the chapter ends???

I mean obviosuly he hit her with the blunt side and only enough to knock her out, but we have Just Seen how you can't trust anyone, and then she's with this big mean killing machine who she doesn't get along with, and he hits her with an axe??? Fuck man! Rude-ass bitch is what Martin is. But what else is new, you know?

43 a book that you have read more than three times

Harry Potter. And yes, I am well aware about how much we're all hating on Rowling now, please don't misunderstand me. But I had read the first 3 books over 30 times before the series finished. I used to re-read them about once a year. There is not a single book that even comes close to the amount of times I've read them. No, not even Narnia.

50 a book that made you cry a LOT

The Glass Lake by Maeve Binchy fucking wrecked me when I read it in high school. Like it is off to a pretty grim start with a mother leaving her family and them thinking she killed herself as is, but then it gets even More emotional. I remember this one chapter that just left me sitting there shellshocked for the better part of an hour, those of you who have read it will know when.

51 a book that you found underwhelming

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. I know! I'm sorry! I love the movie and bbc miniseries as much as the next hopeless romantic but the book just kind of... didn't live up to it? Reading it you can kind of tell that it is her first novel and certain things are a bit rushed and clumsy. I still enjoyed it, but I was expecting to love it, you know?

55 a book with a satisfying ending

Chronicles of Narnia: The Last Battle. Them dying just felt right to me. Not that I wanted them to die-die of course, but the way that it happens? Yes. It all came full circle and I always found a certain comfort in the way he let them die and stay dead (to our world).

None of this rising from the dead bullshit. Just tell a good story and wrap it up like a neat little bodybag. Only cowards let protagonists rise from the dead. Looking at you JK, yes even when I first read the book.

61 your favourite horror novel

Ok so reminiscing on books I read as a kid has me thinking, one of the books that really had me Scared for real when reading was probably The Witches by Roald Dahl. And like yes, I know, it's a childrens book. But it's a Scary childrens book. And I was a Child. I just remember the horror as he found out he was stuck in a hotel infested with child-eating witches *shudder*

67 your favourite historical fiction novel

Rhett Butler's People by Donald McCaig, I really enjoyed Gone With The Wind, but this published fanfic/spinoff/prequel to that is just so good. It made me care for the characters in a whole new light all over again. And he always was my favourite out of all the original cast so it was nice to have some more ideas about what he had done before Scarlet threw that first vase at him.

68 your favourite piece of classic literature

Can I say Shakespeare here or did it have to be written as books-books? I'm deciding books-books is the premise so I guess I'm putting down Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë. I don't like the ending, but after the book mentioned in #86 a bit further down it is better now. And I think it's the classic I've come back to the most so...

80 a book that reminds you of a loved one

The Demon's Lexicon by Sarah Rees Brennan that @hobbitsus lent me in high school was just a blast to read and I remember it fondly. And the whole story is just so very Her from when we were growing up which adds to the love.

86 a book with an insane plot twist

The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde. Yes again with me bringing in published fanfic of classic works but the whole premise is so good! There are people who can jump into books? There is someone who manages to jump into an original manuscript, thus changing all the copies of the book? There are detectives working on putting the original Jeyen Eyre back into order when this happens to her? And that is the reason the book ends the way it does??? Amazing.

I never quite liked the ending in Jane Eyre, there is this bit that just seems to come out of nowhere to me. In this book? It's because Detective Thursday was there doing whatever she wanted. This fanfic makes the original work better. But the way it twists to do so? 11/10

99 a book with a strong female protagonist

The Deed of Paksenarrion by Elizabeth Moon gives us all that Girl power Asexuality Forge your own path representation and I am here for it. Does the last book feel like the same series as the first book? Not even slightly. But the books are still a fun ride and I recommend anyone wanting to read about a farmer's daughter running away to join the army and then being actually good at her job give it a try.

100 your favourite gothic novel

ok so in like my mind Gothic should be Old. Old as balls. But I will also admit to Wanting to read books that old more than I Actually read them. So I will be cringe enough to just go with Interview With The Vampire by Anne Rice cause that's the book I loved in high school and the internet lets me classify it as goth even if it doesn't feel right

102 your favourite dark academia read

What even counts as Dark Academia though??? I feel like it should be an ancient and heavy-ass tome but most things I read are quite modern? Can I say The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley? Like the book took up a good part of my backpack when I read it in school, that should count for something right?

I liked the way it spanned three generations' worth of stories and all the mysticism going on. It was my first Arthurian fiction as well which felt very Big and Impressive at the time.

104 a fluffy, sweet read

A Hundred Pieces Of Me by Lucy Dillon was a really comforting and nice read that I liked way more than I thought I would when it comes to chick lit. I think of that book whenever I try to pick out a vase now lol

117 your favourite anthology

So do we count fairy tales here or no? Cause I kind of want to say Bland Tomtar Och Troll which is that swedish collection of childrens stories that had the most exquisite art in it and I was especially obsessed with the story about the mermaid Akmea who saved the beautiful sailor, or the one with the kindly white lion who showed up in someones yard.

Sidenote: I went through these old books to find the pictures since google was no help and one has an inscription wishing me a happy 4th birthday, and one has me trying to write my name and it is the most stiltedly awkward penmanship ever and my gosh that's the cutest thing 🥺

118 your favourite short story collection

Hoo.. I don't read a lot of those but when I was in high school they would give out little paperbacks called "Färdlektyr" with assorted short stories and poems and I always looked forward to that semester's edition, does that count?

124 the book you’re currently reading

I started on The Forest Of Stars by Heather Kassner a while back, and realised that the first 5 chapters do not live up to my hopes and so have not read anything since I had to put it down at the end of a lunch break OTL

These were a lot to do in one sitting! I did take a short break for dinner, but otherwise I did do it all in one go, please be happy? :*

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gyllenhaalstories · 4 months

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Hi there! Love your blog 💕 How and when did you get into Jake? What was your first film with him? The film that made you become a fan? Thanks!☺️

hiiiii! thank you, i'm happy to know you enjoy it! oh my god, you're giving me another opportunity to ramble? you're too generous! 🥰❤️ short answer: i started mostly around 2019 and the movie that did it for me is demolition. long answer? this novel i wrote below!

my first jake movie had to be prince of persia although i have no memory of watching it as a kid. i just know i did because my dad played the video game and this sounds like a movie he'd watch too. when prisoners came out on dvd in 2013, i asked my parents to rent the movie because i liked hugh jackman as wolverine. if wolverine is funny, that means prisoners will be funny too, right? WRONG. i was so wrong. i spent almost the entire movie hidden under a blanket, i remember the stares my parents gave me. i was so embarrassed. but i also remember that one good looking man on the screen, wink wink (or well, blink blink) the only jake movies i watched after that were love & other drugs and brokeback mountain. both made me cry, so i loved them. i would stay up late (back in the day when i thought midnight was late) and watch them on television. other than that, my life used to be a sad dark lonely gyllenvoid.

ah, the glorious day when i saw the poster for spider-man far from home. i took a photo, i made sure to crop the guy with the cape, i didn't care for him. pff. i wanted spider-man! i kept telling myself that there was this one dude in the trailer that reminded me of someone, but i couldn't replace him. until i connected the dots!!! that hello quentin / yeah hi honey scene had me shaking in my seat. i came home, i tried googling his name in five different spellings until i got it right. i asked a friend at the time if she knew about jake because i had this new crush on him and she was like "this crush isn't new, you just forgot he existed" (i was juggling with other famous hot men who are double my age, i was busy). so apparently i was into him and i didn't even know about it! anyway! i started looking through jake's tag for gifs and photos, then for fics, then i thought it'd be nice to make a blog to appreciate and reblog the fics (this is when i became a fan of nat and maria from afar! and now they're my friends and i love them so much). a few months after that, i was like sure why not maybe i can write my own stories too. i made this blog at the end of 2019 and here i am, five years later!!! my obsession for jake is stronger than ever.

i stuck to mysterio and jake fics for a while, his filmography was intimidating and it lacked in barbie movies so i was not THAT motivated to get through it at first. i kept an eye on movies that played on television for something he could be in and i found one: enemy. i know jake recently suggested enemy as one of the first movies of his to start with but i could not disagree more. the spiders? yeah no. enemy was my enemy. i saw that it played on a different channel, in english this time, so i gave it a shot. i was intrigued... i went to his wikipedia page and picked one of the shortest movies in his register: demolition. i've said it before and i'll say it again, i loved demolition so much that i watched it twice in the same evening. demolition is the movie that got me hooked. i couldn't understand how underrated it used to be, people barely brought it up! it almost made me forget the spider debacle of enemy, i just wanted to see more of jake.

i'm almost through with his entire filmography now! it's taken me a long time, but i'm proud of myself for watching so many movies that are out of my usual taste. it made me discover so many sides of jake's talent and so many characters that live rent free in my mind. if i could go back in time, i would still choose demolition as the great leap into the jake gyllenhaal multiverse. you didn't ask for all this rambling but shhhh details. i'm curious to know your answer to this question too!!! thank you again, anon! 💖💖💖

#anonymous #others: about laurie

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haikyu-after-dark · 1 year

Text

Korai Hoshiumi x Chubby, Tall Fem! Reader (she/her pronouns)

Warnings: angst, swearing, sad bby Yn, self doubt, self hate, Korai having some major regret and being low key toxic and possessive but this is 🙌🏻 fiction 🙌🏻eventual fluff

WC: 3.7 K

AN: Surprise Im posting this early :D is this the climax? Is this the end of the pain? The world may never know 😌 also I recounted and this story is only 16 chapters instead of 17 :(

Broken Pipes Masterlist

9AM, Saturday Morning

You shouldn’t have been surprised to have woken up alone but you were, the last words Korai spoke to you ringing excessively in your ears as you tried not to cry for the 100th time in the past 8 hours.

I can’t do this YN-

Don’t wait up.

The weight of his words rang heavy as you made your way to the bathroom, pulling our your skincare products. Looking up, you saw the reflection of a young, broken women who was heavily at risk for under eye bags if she didn’t get her shit together. Everywhere your eyes glazed in the bathroom, you saw reminders of Korai. The entire hotel smelled of him, his clothes and lack of self care product’s haphazardly left out. Picking up your toothbrush, you touched it to your lips before feeling the stinging of new tears forming. Everything hurt, everything felt wrong.

Picking up your items, you texted Kai that you were going to pass on coffee until later, opting to spend the morning packing instead. You’d text her the name of your new hotel and room number later. On a whim last night, during a major blubber fest, you scoured the internet for available hotel rooms. You found one located on the opposite side of the city that was relatively affordable yet still extremely nice. You booked it until Tuesday, figuring that it would give you a few extra days to figure out your next move. You couldn’t possibly stay here anymore, not with what transpired last night.

This was your worst fears coming to fruition, a cumulation of all the nasty thoughts you’d been having over the past several days. Thinking about it, it was really all the thoughts you’d had over the past few months of knowing Korai and feeling like there was no way you’d ever be good enough for him. You saw what you did to him, how you’d interrupted his life with your bullshit. All the words Michael had spoken to you in the past had come back, smacking you right in the face. It was all true, he spoke the truth and you were just too dumb to realize it.

The fantasy of being with Korai, of your situation had clouded your feelings for the spiker. Maybe you’d misinterpreted your entire relationship with him and all he really wanted was to get laid? Even thinking those words made you cringe, finding it extremely had to believe that someone like Korai would behave that way. You packed up your skincare, putting the bag into the duffle with all your clothes. You didn’t have much to move, remembering the horrific fact that you were still, indeed, homeless as well as without anything of stability holding you to the area. Your apartment was it for you, the peaceful retreat away from your hectic life. Maybe it was time you thought about furthering your modeling career? While it’s definitely not what you wanted, what else did you have? You had very few friends and family, no real need to stay in Japan. You could continue to grow your wealth, maybe even retire by the time you were thirty.

But then what???

You sighed as you thought back to the fantasy life you’d dreamed of with Korai. Dating, having fun, getting married and even having kids. It all seemed like a fictional novel you’d written as your dream life scenario at this point.

You sat at the table, taking out your notebook and beginning to write. You needed to leave something for Korai, something telling him that you were ok and that you’d decided it was time to get out of his hair. The note would serve as a final farewell, the closure to a chapter you’d never forget.

Dear Korai,

I just wanted to thank you for all you’ve done for me the last few days. I truly appreciate everything and you are really an amazing person. I’ve decided that it’s best if I find a new place to stay, someplace away from here. I’ve caused you enough trouble as is and I don’t want to cause you anymore. The last few days have been some of the best I’ve had in literal years and I don’t think I’ll truly ever be able to pay you back for all the joy you’ve brought me. You made me feel good again, whole again.

Thank you for everything and good luck at your game ♥️

A tear drop fell on the letter as you set it aside, putting your room key next to it. Standing up, you wiped your teary eyes and took a deep breath. Today was a new start, a moving on. You grabbed your bags, heading to the door before turning around one last time. The memories played in your mind like an animated movie, from the first day you realized you’d be bed-sharing to your first kiss. Everything seemed so real as you closed the door on one of the happiest times of your life.

Korai sighed as he made his way back to the hotel. He had cooled down, spending the night at the gym with his team and crashing at Kageyama’s to gather his thoughts. He hated leaving you but he couldn’t take it anymore, he could no longer deal with that fucking idiot you called a manager.

“There has to be something there,” Heiwajima said shaking his head, “that man treats YN like his cash cow. He must be making millions off of her.”

Korai gritted his teeth as he spiked the ball again, this time so hard this it flew into the rafters.

“You think maybe he’s exploiting her? I’m having a hard time believing a manager would be this obsessed with a girl if he wasn’t getting something from it,” Romero chimed in.

“How would we even find that out? We’d have to do digging of some kind,” Heiwajima responded as Hirugami looked at Korai.

“What if we hire a private investigator? You know, someone who’d be able to look into this creep.”

Korai stopped, thinking for a second before responding, “that’s not a bad idea actually. We could look into him and see what’s up. There’s just something about him and how he treats her. I’ve never ever seen a manager so obsessed.”

“It’s not like the guy would know someone’s following him or even checking into him. Most investigators are super inconspicuous and good at their jobs,” Hirugami added.

“I think I know a guy who might be able to help,” Romero blurted out, running to grab his phone as the guys began to talk out their plan of action.

Within a few hours, the team had a guy working on actively gathering information on Michael. He told the team that the case seemed pretty straightforward and he could easily dig up some information, maybe even having something within 24 to 48 hours. The guy was a friend and big fan of the Adlers, so court side seats and a bonus fee was all he needed to get working quickly. He assured Korai and the team that he’d find something, remarking that people like Michael often have something to hide.

The hotel felt cold, way colder than it had before. The buttons on the elevator cool to the touch as Korai ascended. The floor was quiet and every step he took felt heavy as he made his way back to your shared room.

He had made a plan, a plan he hoped would work. He wanted to get you out of modeling and away from that slime ball. He wanted to show you how much he cared and wanted to be with you. He knew leaving last night probably wasn’t the smartest move but he needed to gather his thoughts. After talking with his teammates and friends, he realized that his feelings for you were real and stronger than he originally thought. You weren’t merely a friend to him, you were a million times more and he wanted that. He wanted to be there for you, to support you and for you to support him. If that meant he’d have to put up with your dickhead of a manager for a little longer, he’d do it. He made the decision to be with you and he was going to tell you just that.

Korai felt confident as he pulled out his key, opening the door to complete silence. Stepping in he immediately noted something wasn’t right. The room felt empty, the traces of your perfume the only thing floating around the empty room.

“YN?” He called, closing the door and walking in to see the bed made and completely empty. His heart sank as he repeated “no no no” in his head a million times. His bag fell to the floor as he ran to the bathroom and flipped the lights on. Everything you had was gone.

“Shit SHIT!” He swore, running over to where your clothes had been and noticing the entirety of your wardrobe and items were missing. He scanned for anything you might have left as his eyes landed on the key and note. Picking it up, his breathing seemed to stop as he read the words you had written to him, his heart breaking.

You really thought this was all your fault. Everything that had happened, you had blamed on yourself. Korai’s eyes read and reread the letter hoping to find something that might point to where you were but there was nothing.

“Fuck!” He yelled as he raked his hands through his hair and called Hirugami.

“Hello?”

“Dude she’s gone! She’s fucking gone!” Korai shouted into the phone, his panicked voice ringing thought the thin walls of the hotel.

“Wait what? She’s gone gone? Like she packed up and left? Maybe she just stepped out for a minute or something?” He responded as Korai nodded, pacing around the room.

“She hasn’t left this room for days man! She left a note and fuck- she thinks she’s ruined my life. She thinks I’ll be better off without her! Fuck man what if something happened to her? What if that fucking asshole took her and forced her to write this note? Shit we have to call the police!” Korai shouted, practically wearing a hole on the floor pulling at his hair.

“Ok dude first off, calm down ok? We need to figure out where she’d go,” Hirugami said, trying to calm his friend down.

“Where would she go? Dude she’s fucking homeless! Where the hell else would she go?!”

“Ok well she can’t go back to your apartment, so maybe she went to another hotel? Can you call her?” He promoted as Korai quickly remembered he had your number. How stupid was he?

“I totally forgot I had her number dude! I’ll call her now!” Korai said, hanging up after promising to let Hirugami know what happened.

Korai pulled his phone out, pulling up your number and dialing. It immediately went to voicemail, noting your cheery voice delivering the devastating news that you were available.

“Fuck fuck!” Korai shouted before another idea popped into his head. He ran from the hotel room, choosing to race down the emergency stairwell to get to the front desk. Surely someone had seen you leave, someone had to have.

In the lobby, Korai ran to the desk as the lady stared at him in shock, “YN LN, she was sharing room 1516 with me and she might have checked out! Do you know where she went?”

The lady stared at Korai before turning back to her computer, “I’m sorry sir, I can’t give private information away about our clients.”

Korai was pissed as he growled, his eyes burning with flames, “she could be in danger and you’re telling me you won’t give me anything?!?”

The lady turned back to him, her eyes narrowing in his direction. “With all do respect sir, how do I know that you aren’t the one harming her? I can’t just give out information like that, the privacy of our clients is very important to us. I’m sorry but I’m unable to help you.”

Korai was angry but he couldn’t argue with the woman. It was her job after all, and he wasn’t really being the most rational. He slammed his hands on the marble before running out to the valet. If he had to, he’d drive to every single hotel in the country to find you.

“Ahh Mr. Hoshiumi, how are you?” The man at the valet asked as Korai handed him his cars ticket.

“Not great, I’m kinda in a hurry right now.”

“I saw Miss YN leave earlier in a Taxi. I asked her if she was going to meet you but she said she was checking out. She looked tired and like she had been crying so I didn’t ask her anything more,” the man said as Korai’s eyes widened.

“Do you know where she went? I have to find her!”

“I don’t personally know but one of the drivers from the taxi company we contract with took her. Actually, he’s right over there!” The man said pointing at a taxi as Korai’s head turned to see.

“Thank you! Thank you so much! Can you bring my car around please?” Korai said, quickly running over to the Taxi cab and pounding on the window as the taxi driver pulled his window down slightly.

“Can I help you?”

Korai pulled up a picture of you from instagram and turned it towards the man, “this woman, where did you take her?”

The driver studied the picture before his eyes widened in realization, “oh yes! Miss YN. I took her to a hotel on the other side of town, the Gardens or Garden of something. Poor thing was trying to hold her tears in the whole ride.”

Korai’s breathing picked up as he thanks the driver and ran back to his car, jumping in and taking off. His mind was racing and his chest was heavy with guilt. If anything, all of this was his fault. His fault for leaving you last night, his fault for not telling you his feelings. He had to tell you everything, he had to come clean.

His phone sounded through the car as he accepted the call from Kageyama.

“Hey man, did you find her?”

“Yeah I’m on my way to get her now. I’m sorry to do this man but I might be late for warmups. Can you cover for me for a bit?” Korai spoke as Kageyama laughed.

“Of course man, go get your girl ok? And bring her to the game!”

A small smile creasted across Korai’s face as he raced to the hotel, avoiding as much traffic as he could. The hotel you were staying at The Gardens Regis wasn’t as fancy as the other place but it was still nothing to sneeze at. Korai pulled up the valet, quickly jumping out and tossing his keys to the man, shouting his name and running thought the doors. The lobby wasn’t huge but it was still decked out, hints of gold and marble accents littering the area.

“Hello sir, how may I assist you?” A man asked as Korai ran to the reception desk.

“I’m looking for a Miss Yn Ln. I was told she checked in here,” Korai asked as the man began to type.

“Ahh yes Miss Ln is here.”

Korai let out a relieved breath as he bent over, his chest feeling relieved as he took a few deep breathes. You were safe.

“I need to know where she is.”

“I’m sorry sir I can’t give that information away,” the man said as Korai groaned. Of course they can’t.

“Listen dude, I know it’s your job and I’m not trying to be a jerk here but I need to find her now! And if you don’t want me knocking on every single fucking door in this hotel, I advise you tell me asap!”

“Im sorry sir but if you do that, I’ll have to have you removed from the premises,” the man responded, picking up the receiver and going to call what Korai assumed was Security.

“Fuck!” He shouted as he turned around, his hands on his hips and wracking his brain for an idea. Thankfully, someone was on his side as a small voice called to him.

“Mr. Hoshiumi?” Kai called as his head snapped to her, running to her quickly.

“Kai! Do you know which room Yn is in? Please I need to talk to her!”

“Oh of course! She’s in room 1203, it’s a suite,” she said as Korai smiled, grabbing your coffee and running to the elevators.

“Thank you Kai! I owe you so fucking much!!” He shouted, waving as he banged on the button and quickly entered the elevator, hitting the 12th floor.

“Come on come on!” He whispered as the elevator dinged and he ran to find room 1203. It was relatively easy to find, located at the end of the hallway away from the other rooms.

He approached, knocking as he waited to hear any sigh of movement. He heard you talking as the door clicked open.

“Hey Kai- wait, Korai? What- what are you doing here?” You asked, voice shaking as Korai stared at you.

“I came to find you and bring you back. YN , I-I fucked I’m so bad and I came to apologize. I read your note and I want you to know that none of this is your fault. If anything, it’s mine. I-I care about you Yn, a hell of a lot and I just hate how that man treats you,” he blabs as you stare at him, trying extremely hard not to cry. Your hands are shaking and you are close to utter failure as the tears crest.

“Korai I’m not good for you. I care about you so much, more than just a friend and I don’t want to hurt you anymore,” you cried, tears streaming down your face as Korai forced you in the room, setting your coffee down and hauling you into a hug.

“Sweetheart, you’ve been nothing BUT good for me! Everything you said, how you’ve been so happy these past few days has been the same for me. I’ve never been so happy YN. For a long time, all I thought I needed was volleyball but you- you’ve changed that for me. I don’t think I could stand be without you YN. When I read your note, my heart dropped. I hurt knowing you were hurting and knowing I caused it. I’m sorry for running, I’m sorry for fighting with your manager, I’m sorry for everything. Please, just please, come back with me?” He said, squeezing you tight as you held onto him, tears flowing as you cried hard into his shoulder. He caressed your back, head buried into your neck as he shushed you.

“Korai- what if? What if you regret this? I don’t know if I can do this if you tell me later on that this was all a mistake,” you said, pulling away as Korai met your eyes.

“YN, I’m pretty sure I’m in love with you,” he said as your eyes widened and met his, “actually no, I AM in love with you baby and if anything, I’d regret walking out that door and letting you go.”

You smiled at him, your tears flowing quickly as he pulled you into a sloppy and quick kiss, the emotions of the last few hours finally coming full circle. He pulled you close, your body molding with yours as his lips moved smoothly and effortlessly against yours. Pulling back, you looked at him, your foreheads falling together as your eyes closed.

“I love you too Korai,” you said as he beamed back, hauling you up and spinning you around as you squeaked with joy.

“Korai put me down! Don’t you have a match today?!” You said as Korai out you down, pulling you against him again as if something was threatening to tear you away forever.

“Kageyama is coving for me because I had to find you and he told me I had to bring you to the game.”

You laughed and nodded, pulling away from him as you made your way to your bag and dug for something. Korai watched you, his brow cocked as he wonder what you were doing. Suddenly you turned, a short, curve hugging black dress in your hand.

“I picked this up because I thought it would be cute,” you said, face turning a little red as Korai looked over the dress and back to your body. He sat down on the bed, observing you as you watched him in confusion, “korai are you ok?”

“Me? Yeah I’m fine just trying to logistically figure out how fast I can win this game so I can take you out and brag to everyone that you are mine.”

You giggled as Korai stood, coming over to you and placing a sweet peck on your lips. You felt so good, so right. You were everything he wanted and more, everything he dreamed of and you were all his.

*RING RING RING RING*

Korai looked at his phone, rolling his eyes as he looked to you. You nodded as he slip his finger across the screen and answered.

“Bro did you find her?” Hirugami shouted, his voice echoing from inside the locker room.

“Yeah I did. We will be heading to the stadium soon,” Korai answered as he head Hirugami shout that he had found you, inciting an all out riot in the locker room.

“That’s great man! The box is saved for her and there is some security guards that will meet you at the entrance,” Hirugami added as Korai nodded and bid his captain a farewell.

“Well I better get dressed,” you said, grabbing your dress, bra and panties. Thankfully, you had just washed and styled your hair, meaning it needed very little to make it perfect.

You began walking to the bathroom as Korai followed, stopping right outside as you went to shut the door.

“Hey whoa- don’t deprive me of this view please?” He said as you laughed, slowly shutting the door in his face.

“Sorry babe but you don’t get a peek before you unwrap this present.”

Taglist: @thisbicc @missalienqueen

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