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naluwalker · 3 months ago

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Rinbachi, Rinbachi, Rinbachi

I have a lot of love for Rinbachi, so I suffer a lot from it being a somewhat strange couple within the fandom. This love comes in part from Rin and especially Bachira being my two favorite characters, so I like to constantly visit this couple's tag on Ao3.

My taste for crossover stories also makes me regret that there really aren't any good crossover stories about this couple, or at least I haven't been lucky enough to find any, so I'll start throwing out ideas here, to at least expel the insects that eat away at my brain.

Let's start:

Some time ago I found a Rinbachi fic in which after his fight with Sae, Rin simply sends everything to hell and leaves football to start dedicating himself to art, which surprised me quite a bit because considering that Rin is a person who literally he lives and breathes football one would think he would never give it up and continue like in the manga, using his anger as a shield and moving forward with determination and spite, but on the other hand, Sae also hurt him a lot and a normal person could also just let it all go and distance yourself from the sport simply so as not to be hurt again. If he doesn't have to play then he wouldn't have to see Sae again, right?

Knowing Blue Lock's Rin, he would never do it, but a Rin from a different universe could make this decision, and that's how this starts.

Attention to the crossover with Welcome to the Ballroom.

After the admittedly traumatic fight with Sae, Rin simply sinks into depression and abandons football completely. Just seeing a ball is painful, being on the field causes him a panic attack and he has a complete collapse. In another universe, the Itoshi couple does not pay much attention to how the relationship between both brothers deteriorates and the damage this causes in the future, in this Mayuri Itoshi, totally concerned about her son's mental health, but without knowing how to help she talks to her husband Jun to do something before Rin gets worse than he is and they both feel that staying in the house causes more damage than Rin can bear at the moment, so they send him to Rei Itoshi's house, the Jun's recently widowed mother, thinking it might be good for both of them in the long run.

In this way, Rin Itoshi ends up moving to her grandmother's very large mansion in Chiba.

Rei Itoshi is a woman of regal bearing, strict and cold like her name, without his grandfather by her side to soften her thornier side, Rin does not know how to interact with his grandmother and cannot even say that he knows much about her.

Despite this, Rin spends the first week of his new life peacefully, until Meguru Bachira arrives knocking on the door and making a fuss, disrupting his life again.

In another universe, Meguru Bachira and Rin Itoshi would meet years later in the middle of a survival of the fittest project created to test their desire for victory and, above all, their egos, in the Japanese soccer world. In this universe, Meguru Bachira was born with the opposite gender.

Having been born a woman, in a country like Japan and involved in a sport like soccer, no matter how much drive, talent or love for the sport she had, things were not on Meguru Bachira's side and unfortunately she was crushed by people's expectations around her, and the ensuing bullying caused her to leave the field halfway through her second year of middle school, even though she never put the ball down.

In the midst of the biggest downturn of his life, while dribbling around town, Meguru found himself helping a grumpy old woman find her lost purse. Having spent the next few hours helping said old woman find her lost bag, Meguru found herself approached by the old woman, who, having noticed her depressed state, sat her down next to her so she could tell him her worries and in that way, Meguru found herself minutes then crying profusely and spilling her guts in front of a total stranger.

The old woman patiently listened to the girl talk and vent for the next hour, about her situation, her desires, her dreams, and the damage that other people's expectations were doing to her, and that sometimes she felt like she was simply sinking, unable to handle her own feelings emotions and sometimes not even her mother's support could get her out of the spiral of anger, pain and sadness in which she was drowning.

By the time she finished, the night was closing in on them and Meguru's throat hurt, the old woman stared at her with her eyes the color of the frozen sea and she was beginning to feel uncomfortable. When she finally spoke, the old woman told her to see her the next day and gave her the direction of her house before simply getting up and leaving Meguru sitting on a small bench.

Meguru found herself the next morning standing in front of a mansion that was probably worth several times her own house and was beginning to feel nervous. When the old woman opened the door, Meguru was beginning to wonder if they were going to sell her organs somewhere before the grumpy old woman led her into the house and guided her towards a specific room, and when she entered, her mouth dropped open. what could only be a large ballroom.

The old woman introduced herself as Rei Itoshi, declared that Meguru would become a competitive ballroom dancer and that she was not allowed to refuse.

Even though any complaints she might have had crashed into the stone wall that was Rei Itoshi, Meguru decided to listen to the old woman and dove hard into ballroom dancing, and before she knew it, she was totally in love. It wasn't football and it would never be the same, but suddenly, Meguru didn't feel so alone or so pressured by others, and even if they still saw her strangely, Meguru found solace in the intensive training and muscle soreness that came with each day of training as she moved tirelessly around the room..

She learned a lot about dancing, and found herself becoming close with the woman who had forcibly brought her to the ballroom. She discovered that despite her strict and perfectionist character, Rei Itoshi was a bleeding heart and could not help others when she had the means to do so; that she had recently lost her beloved husband and was too stubborn to follow him so quickly, but the loneliness of his departure still haunted her strongly; that she loved her family, but without Kiyohiko there to soften her strong character she didn't know how to connect with them without being scorching and prickly; that she was worried about her eldest grandson, who was pursuing his dream abroad and barely communicated with his family; and mainly that Rei had been a competitive ballroom dance teacher for over fifteen years and had a gold medal at the World Games. She swears her jaw dropped when she heard that last bit.

As Meguru moved forward with competitive dancing, she ran into the annoying wall of her peers not lasting long. Either they couldn't keep up with her or they found her strange or creepy, and while the latter hurt her, the former were her main source of irritation. In soccer she could do things alone without them being a total impediment, here the partner was essential and she would throw a giant tantrum at Rei-baachan if she couldn't support her next partner for the time necessary to participate in competitions.

Then, while she was complaining about her situation she was informed that Rei's youngest grandson was moving into her house indefinitely and that she needed the boy to settle in and relax, so she had a week off and used it to find a competent companion or she wouldn't be allowed to train until she got one, much less participate in a competition. Meguru sometimes thought that Rei-baachan was a first-rate tyrant.

After a week of going around and asking every male acquaintance she had, Meguru finally returned with her tail between her legs to report her failure in her quest and face Grandma Rei's judgment, until she was met with the most turquoise eyes and the most toned legs she had ever seen.

Meguru Bachira only needed one look to decide that Rin Itoshi was the man she needed and she was determined to make her teacher's grandson her definitive companion.

On the other hand, Rin doesn't know how to get rid of this crazy girl who watched him for two seconds before jumping on him and asking, begging and crying for him to become her dance partner. His grandmother on the other hand doesn't even try to help him and she simply compliments the girl on her excellent eye for finding good men, Rin doesn't really want to know what that means. Thus, Rin Itoshi, like Meguru Bachira years before, finds himself thrust suddenly into a dance hall.

#fanfic ideas #blue lock #bachirin #rinbachi #itoshi rin #rin itoshi #meguru bachira #bachira meguru #headcanon that each cranky and irritable Itoshi family member has their own cheerful hyperactive sunshine #rei has kiyohiko jun has mayuri sae has shidou and rin has bachira #if shidou counts in any way #then rin and bachira become competitive ballroom dancing partners.#mainly by force and because he desperately needs a distraction #because his life is shit right now #but he honestly underestimated ballroom dancing #he didn't think it would be so exhausting #and he says it in many ways #sae's jaw is going to drop when he sees his brother in a fancy suit dancing like his life depends on it #in reality his life depends on it because grandma will kill him if he loses this competition #shidou absolutely can't believe this guy would have actually quit soccer to dance but he thinks he wants to join #even if it's just to annoy sae

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washipink · 2 years ago

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Rain by Jocelyn Samara D Year 1: 2010-2011

erSo I recently found out that 1 year ago, a comic that was INCREDIBLY important to me as a trans middle schooler who went to catholic school had wrapped up. This year, I’ve decided I’m going to read through and review Rain by Jocelyn Samara, 1 year of the comic’s run at a time. First up: Year 1, which covers Chapter 1 (The New Girl) through Chapter 6 (Fallen Angel). I’ll be summarizing the story and characters for those unfamiliar, so feel free to follow along.

There’s a LONG-ASS post under that read more. If you have any experience with the comic or enjoy the post, please talk about it with me. It’ll be a good time.

Year 1 Summary

The star of the show is Rain, a transgender 17 year old girl who moved in with her Aunt Fara after her mother’s death. It starts on the first day of her senior year of high school, the first time she’s ever tried to pass as female in front of... anyone???

Based on some of the language used in the character bios, I should be very clear that this comic is from 2010 and written by a trans woman who is most likely older than most of my followers. There may be language used that you personally don’t agree with. I’m not a fan of being called transsexual myself, but there’s nothing wrong with saying it.

Anyway, the basic gist is that Rain passes EXCELLENTLY and attracts a lot of attention from her male classmates, much to her dismay.

But the men aren’t the only people with their eyes on Rain. Lesbian classmate, Maria and her fake boyfriend, Gavin make a bet of 5 United States Dollars out of who can talk to Rain first.

Here’s the rub: During Role, Gavin seems to recognize Rain’s last name. It’s the same as his childhood best friend, Ryan. Gavin and Maria then banter a little bit, jokingly saying “what if that IS Ryan? could ya believe that?”

Little do they know...

One thing about Rain is that its cast of characters is by no means infallible. Even characters that I came to love, like Maria, are kind of insensitive. Just about no one in this cast has ever MET a trans person in their lives prior to Rain. It’s very true to life in that way. You meet a lot of people that are ignorant or accidentally insensitive. And sometimes, they learn to stick up for you.

The realistic portrayal of how trans teens can be treated by other teens is one of my FAVORITE things about Rain.

Anyway, Gavin brings up Ryan Falherty to Rain, which causes her to panic and run away.

And Crash Directly into the fifth member of our main cast, RUDY!!!!

A rather gossipy gay boy that sees up Rain’s skirt and thinks she’s just a REALLY brave gay dude. He tells Gavin and Maria pretty much right away and Gavin does not take it well. The majority of Year 1 is spent on Gavin and Rain repairing their strained friendship after years apart from one another. That begins here, with Gavin confronting Rain about her identity.

Gavin’s super upset about the whole deal, but Maria and Rudy are some of Rain’s biggest shooters going forward. Even if they can ask a LOT of invasive questions.

If I’m being completely honest, there’s no MAJOR developments in Chapter 2. Fara gets a call from Rain’s older Sister about how their older Brother hasn’t talked to either of them in forever. This lays a few seeds for later events, but it is PRETTY unimportant for a while. There’s some really good emotional dialogue in it though.

In Chapter 3, Rudy’s meddling directly causes Rain and Gavin to reconcile. They have a discussion about how the reason she never told him was just that she was scared to lose her only friend.

MEANWHILE, in an attempt to make some actual friends, Fara reaches out to her neighbors and meets Ky(lie) and Heather Coven, a Gender Ambiguous Teen who goes to a different high school and her less approving older sister.

Kylie, also known as Ky, swaps gender presentations incredibly frequently, not really showing any bias for one or the other. So do not expect me to be consistent with their pronouns. Their gender is kinda messy. Almost like he’s some kind of... real person with a real life gender. Crazy.

Anyway, Fara invites them over and she and Heather get drunk, which means she can’t pick up Rain from the mall. Rain needs a place to sleep that night and Gavin invites her to stay with him.

This begins Chapter 4, in which Gavin and Rain realize that things may be different from when they were kids... but there’s a lot that hasn’t changed. Gavin remarks about how much more feminine Rain is than when she was a kid and how that’s WEIRD for him... but they end up playing a game from their childhood pretty much all night. It reminds them of all the good times and ignites within them the hope that they can have MORE good times going forward.

As an adult with friends I’ve had on-and-off relationships to, this speaks to me way more powerfully than ever before. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

The next day, during her hangover, Fara sees Rain’s older brother on an ad for a dating website with his new fiance.

And on the way back to her apartment, Rain meets Ky for the first time. Neither one of them is aware that the other one has ANY kind of Gender going on and they won’t be for quite some time.

The chapter ends with Aunt Fara telling Rain about what happened with Aiken.

Chapter 5 is a simple one, Popular prep girl, Emily is giving out invitations to a Halloween party for her “perfect senior year”

Everyone but Rudy gets one, which causes Maria to give Emily a talking to. She assures Maria that he wasn’t intentionally excluded and it definitely wasn’t because he’s the only openly gay student in the whole school.

Oh, also a dude beats Rudy up for that exact reason, earning Maria’s fury later on. Rain invites Ky to come with the rest of them to the party.

Like I said, pretty simple chapter.

The last chapter of year 1 is Chapter 6: Fallen Angel.

Everyone is showing off their Halloween costumes before they leave for the party. Rudy’s reads as a bit insensitive to rain, as he goes as.... a high school girl.

We’ve all heard this one, right? young queer person that wants to toy with their gender expression uses a Halloween costume as an excuse? It can hit different watching your friend do this when you’re a stealth trans person and especially when you’re one as self-conscious as Rain.

When they reach the address for the party, they find out that Emily... has an older Boyfriend. Like, a WAY older boyfriend. Who lets all these literal teenaged children drink at a party in HIS HOUSE.

also he’s dressed as the devil in case you needed any more signals he was BAD NEWS.

This sounds like a good time for an aside: Fara is on a date with someone she met online. He works at a manga translator and offers to get Rain a meeting with her favorite mangaka.

Meanwhile, at the party, Chase seems to recognize Rain from somewhere. What could this mean?

Anyway, remember how I mentioned the underage drinking? Yeah, Rudy is HELLA drunk. And the results are not pretty.

The whole school sees this and is... BAFFLED. Because of course, Rudy is gay. how could he kiss a girl? Did he do it because he was dressed as a girl? Was it the alcohol? was RAIN Gay? Who knows?

The chapter ends on Rain riding home in tears.

Thus ends the first year of Rain.

Art

Ok, let’s talk about the elephant in the room. This art is... not too impressive. Every character looks like they jumped out of a How to Draw Manga book and Rain’s design is VERY 2010. Backgrounds are infrequent and many panels feature just 2 characters next to each other against a flat color.

But I think that’s okay. While the visual design of Rain is not immaculate, it’s certainly passable. Samara had a story to tell and she didn’t let her art hold her back. She just took pen to paper and let it go. As the comic goes along, you can tell she’s trying different things and experimenting with drawing a variety of poses. That said, the art style never really changes at all during the comic’s run.

Pure Unfiltered Story Opinions

Rain was one of the first real queer stories I’d gotten a chance to read. At the ripe, young age of 12, every word of it was unreal to me. A girl like me made REAL friends in spite of it all and got to be who she was. And now, reading it again, it really holds up.

Rain has a depiction of queer friendships that’s very true to a lot of peoples’ lived experience. Not everyone GETS each other, but they try. Sometimes, they ask a stupid-ass question. Sometimes, you get into fights.

Also, sometimes people in your high school get prayed upon by creepy weirdos in their late 20s who think they can get easy tail from CHILDREN. (Trust, people. This gets addressed. This is NOT a fucking glorification and if anyone in the notes says it is, they’re blocked.)

I look forward to seeing where the comic goes from here and I hope you’re ready to take that journey with me.

#Rain Webcomic #Jocelyn Samara #lgbt comics #Transgender #Webcomic #Amy's Rain Review #Long Post #lgbtq #queer art

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daisychainsandbowties · 2 years ago

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what are your favorite pieces of sci fi and/or fantasy media? (can be either books/comics/movies)

i didn’t read many comics because i lived in a rlly small rural town & comic books were too expensive with my reading speed. i had to pick the biggest books i could to make them last or i’d end up reading the cook books again by the end of the month. also i added video games bc that’s where a lot of my fav universes are.

books: (i could go on for 20 years but i’ll stick to a few)

wheel of time -

i got the first book i think when i was 8/9. it took me a week to get past the prologue bc i did not appreciate feeling confused but once i got to Rand & the road and the figure in the cloak i was HOOKED. i brought it to school that week & a sub teacher (legend, in hindsight) came up & was like ‘oh! that’s a great book’ and i mostly glared distrustfully at her bc teachers liked to take books off me or (hate hate) take me aside when the rest of the class were doing sums or whatever and make me read a passage to them, then drill me about the meaning of different words. i get they were trying to see if i actually had that reading level or whatever but it was mortifying. so yeah, glared at her, so sorry bc she was right. it took me years to acquire and read all of the books but been so so normal about them ever since. my favs are probably moiraine (shocker), lan, elayne (actually love her so much an unreasonable amount), mat (gender reasons) and siuan (obviously).

the book of the ancestor -

THESE BOOKS. there are nuns in this too. they are badass ninja magic nuns and a lot of them are so so gay. it’s about the found family and a little girl called Nona who probably would bite you but she’s actually the kindest softest best person in the world. her friends are all kind of gay for her; she’s kind of gay for all her friends. there are two older nuns called Apple & Kettle who are just flagrantly massive lesbians and it’s so so funny. Apple is a poisoner & Kettle is a spy and they have just such a THING going on i adore them. this trilogy is wonderful & the magic is so cool & the character dynamics are !!!!! feral there’s a Judas character there’s rivals-to-lover/ friends-to-lover. it’s a meditation on where we find meaning and in whom and what we fight for. has everything i love love love. also like… can think of two men off the top of my head in a cast of like 40 deranged women. amazing.

the fitz & the fool books -

got this on family holiday to Rome when i was 10. ignored rome in favour of reading this day and night. i read it three times in one week. barely stepped foot in the pool. it’s a gorgeous character-driven story. fitzchivalry farseer is ultimate himbo rep. also magical bonding with a wolf will get me every time. there are like two trilogies now. they r so good.

the murderbot diaries -

ghdklskdsl killer robot gains sentience. just wants to watch their TV shows & be left alone. sadly, stupid humans get in stupid situation & secunit has to endure the mortifying ordeal of being known. SECUNIT i’d die for u. the novels are pretty short but there are quite a few now & each one has a new and awesome take on artificial intelligence and self-advocacy and found family and what it means to be alive.

the broken earth trilogy -

these books ripped my heart out of my chest and i said thank you. gorgeously written. deals with rlly rlly interesting & important themes. the main character is just so cool, she’s also, like, an older woman with kids but she’s the hero and the main character and i think that’s kind of awesome. the magic SLAPS. it’s plate tectonics babey.

the black magician trilogy -

these & wot were my gateway to the fantasy genre fr fr. my friend’s mom bought her the first one and she fobbed it off on me (we were 9. she was only interested in this webside called Howrse where you pretended to own horses??) i got locked outside my house after walking home from hers and spent two hours tucked into a narrow nook outside the back door while it bucketed rain down around me. best two hours of my life. first canon queer rep i ever read. there r a bunch of trilogies now. great stuff on healing magic & sonea is so stubborn i love that for her. don’t let anyone reason with you darling.

movies:

star wars: yes yes yes we know that casper likes star wars. but casper LOVES star wars. obi-wan is my favourite character in the prequels. in the og trilogy probably han solo (i am not immune to THAT), but also as i got older Luke Skywalker too. c3po for that bitch boy energy. i owe him a lot. there is only one movie in the third trilogy & i love Finn. shame they never made the last two movies.

pirates of the caribbean: ELIZABETH SWAN. we can all blame her for my lesbian behaviour. we can all blame will turner for my gender.

the alien movies: 1 & 2 mostly, but i will watch the others with my eyes. i can’t help myself. lots of blood & gore = casper happy. blood + actual good storytelling is like porn with plot to me but i will take porn without plot. i am a simple creature. i loved NEWT because talking can be evil sometimes and also living for weeks in a deserted compound with a killer robot - what?? like it’s hard?? obvs Ripley is a legend. bush representation.

lotr: i love the books too but i grew up on the movies & my uncle only loaned me his 3-in-1 version when i was 10. i don’t know what to say don’t ever talk to me about boromir don’t ever talk to me about gimli and legolas don’t EVER talk to me about sam or frodo. unless you are prepared for a sleeping-beauty type situation where you blink and your kingdom has fallen into darkness bc i’ve been talking for 35 years.

i LOVE the movie Arrival: linguistics & aliens, non-linearity of the narrative. CHOMP CHOMP CHOMP. it’s the good tasty stuff. also mood when she arrives to teach & there are like 4 people and she’s like ‘hmm. okay.’ that’s every day of my life teaching obscure bs. i also kind of want her house. badly. and LISTEN the short story is also good but i rlly like the weird feral energy she had going on in the movie. sign me up so fast for a deranged woman in stem. (she’s in linguistics but let me have my joke. it’s basically math)

video games

mass effect: if you were here with me on tumblr in 2014 1. i’m sorry and 2. you know that liara t’soni is my wife and i’d die for her. these games gave me the most severe brainrot. no i cannot ever be mean to anyone ever but i do push that guy off the Dantius tower in ME2 because it’s funny. Aria t’Loak can [redacted] me if she wants. but yeaaaah. these games are amazing and i still genuinely burst into tears every time Leaving Earth comes on my playlist. there’s just something abt it. played the game on rec of my hot physics teacher. to nobody’s surprise. my favs are Liara (going to tell you humiliating anecdote now. one time i was talking loudly to my friend in my room while playing ME and i said ‘hey, that’s my girlfriend’ loudly and my mom burst in like !!!! YOU HAVE A GIRLFRIEND I WANT TO MEET HER. imagine her disappointment when it was a collection of pixels on my tv. she was like ‘…. cas. go outside.’) i also like Jack, Miranda (love a woman who is mean to me), WREX BOI, tali bc i want to smooch her helmet and because of that time she gets drunk it’s so funny. i like garrus too okay but my friend never shut up about him so i was sick of him in the same way she was sick of Brynjolf after the 500th time i said he could [redacted].

jak and daxter: aaaaahhh. the mild child neglect game. basically my mum got this when i was a toddler & one time got so engrossed trying to cross Fire Canyon she let me fall asleep in my walker. i was fine but my dad never let her or me or anyone forget about it. it’s his measure for how good things are. ‘oh, is it fall asleep in your walker good?’ i think i learned my motor skills playing this game. my hands were sucky clumsy bastards so actually it helped. i was bad at it for so long but now i can 100% the game without dying once in about 3 hours. not speedrun territory but still. it’s just!!! visually incredible. the story is so funny. whatever gender Jak has i want. Daxter was my comedic role-model so you can see how that turned out for me. it’s totally worth watching Jak & Daxter (the whole trilogy) on YT or playing it. the games of all time to me. the kind of fantasy worlds i create are still massively influenced by this. also Jak didn’t speak for the first game so he was autism rep to me as a kid even tho i had only bouts of being non-verbal & other times never shutting tf up.

ratchet & clank: same vein as jak & daxter. made by naughty dog who yes also made TLOU. so funny, so visually stunning. A Crack in Time is the best game come and fight me. but also LOVED Rift Apart bc one character had a prosthetic limb & she was rlly rlly cool. idk the sci-fi world in Ratchet and Clank is basically a shitpost but it’s also so gorgeous and so fun and makes no sense but (Daniel Craig voice) compels me though. i love the second and third games also and ALSO tools of destruction. HAS AMAZING MUSIC. such bopping. best track is probably novalis imo.

horion zero dawn: this is more recent. drives me insane. there are kind of mechanical dinosaurs and you have a bow and arrow and you fight them and Aloy is so sarcastic and so clever and so (looks into the camera like she’s on the office) about everything. it’s an amazing world & i love her little found family and the BIG ‘go the fuck to sleep’ energy she has. so stubborn love that for her.

pokemon: like i said. neighbour wanted to play GTA on PS2 without traumatising me so gave me his red gameboy and pokemon gold. then i learned to read. got sapphire for my 7th christmas + the GameBoy Advanced SP. got every game since then & I JUST LOVE POKEMON. it’s THE autism game (sorry stardew. sucks to suck) you collect little guys and you battle and you walk around and you shiny hunt and there are like 900 different pokemon now. i mean we all know pokemon anyway but yeah i was obsessed my whole life. wanted to be ash ketchum i love his attitude imo he’s a very ava silva character and i like how he says “i like carrots and peppers and bugs” he’s so valid for that.

skyrim: hehehehe. 2011. got this for christmas based on the cinematic trailer (god’s strongest soldier i am not) and was so scared of the draugr i emerged out of my room at 3am on st-stephen’s day in a pose like i was holding a greatsword WIHOUT REALISING i was doing it. i git good at the game tho & learned to mod. aaaaahhhh it’s one of my fav worlds to get lost in. my mum sent me this text when i texted her a pic of the official skyrim guidebook

#gosh there r so many more but these?? are the main ones??? i think??#also httyd and atla get a s/o #but also this little bastard did not have the good kids channels growing up so i missed atla #kind of resented it honestly bc my friends talked about it & i was like ???#casper writes #thanks anon!#long post

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voidingintotheshout · 6 months ago

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I need to write this down, and I figure I might as well do it here because I might forget otherwise.

Here’s how I think owning your gender works. There’s a temple or whatever and there’s a gatekeeper at the temple and there is a pile of male gender laurel wreaths, and a pile of female gender laurel wreaths. I was born male, but I never really identified as male not because I’m non-binary but just because I didn’t feel I was male enough to qualify. As a result, other people kind of treated me my whole life as this Gender-neutral, non-binary entity that wasn’t really male or female. I got really frustrated that I wasn’t really treated like a guy like everybody else and I became kind of obsessed with masculinity. Why did some guys pass as male and I couldn’t? Do I need to force myself to be interested in sports? Was that it? I had no idea.

Going back to the temple. So what I figured out is that claiming your gender is just inherently an act of theft. I don’t mean that in any kind of transphobic way whatsoever. I mean that as a statement for everything. Like I’ve been spending most of my life asking the gatekeeper if they will give me that laurel wreath of the male gender from the pile. There’s no shortage. The gatekeeper will not give it to me. “You cannot have it.” I feel dissuaded and try to work up the courage and I ask again if I could just take one. A small one. The most puny male gender that you have. Just one of them. You won’t miss it. I promise. “You cannot have it.” The gatekeeper responds again. I retreat away to all of the people in the shadows, working up the courage to grab the gender that they want, and every once in a while, a new group of teenagers, male and female, will go up and grab their gender. They plunk that laurel wreath on their head that indicates male or female, and they will strut away.

I spent so much time there, that I saw a woman come by a few years ago and took the female laurel from her head and say that she didn’t want it anymore. “You can’t leave that here. I don’t want it.” The gatekeeper responded, barely looking at her. She had more practice than me at dealing with gatekeepers so she did a huff of annoyance and said “I don’t fucking want it.” She threw it in the pile of other female laurel wreaths. They were non-binary. I don’t know why I couldn’t see it before. They sauntered out because they had to renounce their gender and didn’t ask permission.

Feeling emboldened, I would go back up to the Gatekeeper and I would try to explain that I’ll just grab a small one and if I see a male Laurel I’ll try to pay you back and get one and bring it back so that you don’t have less than you’re supposed to. I don’t wanna make things difficult I just wanna have that male gender that I’ve always wanted. I feel like it’s mine. Can’t I just have it. I’ll promise to try to pay you back somehow. “You cannot have it. You cannot take it.” I slink back to the shadows feeling so many people like me afraid to claim the gender they want, and I start to feel like I have a community of other people like me and so I don’t feel so awkward or indecisive. I’m part of community. Some people have been here for years. Some people die here. We sometimes complain about others being so unreasonable with the gatekeeper who won’t give us what we want. Mystified and sometimes angry at the people that just take because good people shouldn’t take.

A little while later the non-binary person comes back. The same one that dropped off the female laurel wreath because they didn’t want it anymore. Of course, they didn’t want it, they were non-binary. Now they’re coming back and they want the male one. They have some scars right below their pectoral. They are shirtless. They tell the gate keeper they’re taking one of the male laurel wreaths. The gate keeper tells them the same thing that I am told. “You cannot take it. I will not give it to you.” The person expresses a huff of frustration and just grabs the biggest and prettiest male Laurel, and he places it on his head. He walks out and I am envious, but I can’t be as much of a man as he is. Other people who are slinking in the shadows complain about him as he walks away. Bad mouthing him. Worried that his insolence might upset the gatekeeper and make things difficult for other people. Wondering why he has to be so brazen and flaunt it. Those in the shadows slink in the dark, muttering to themselves. For the first time in a while, I choose not to listen.

Eventually, I realize that the only way to have a gender is to steal it and that I’m never going to be given permission, and I am never going to be offered one. I just need to take it. That’s the only way to get one so I walk up and I tell the gatekeeper that I am going to just take one of the male laurel wreath. “You cannot take it. It is not allowed.” I respond that. I don’t care and I grab one near the back of the pile. It’s very symmetrical and has beautiful leaves because I like order, beauty and control. I place the Laurel on my head and I am a man and I wonder what I am doing in the temple of gender because I have so many other things to do so I walk out feeling at peace.

#lgbt #lgbtqia+#gender #transgender #lgbt stories #the temple of gender #The photo is of a transgendered sky #I took the photo because I thought it was beautiful #I wrote this and I’m proud of it and I hope you like it

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bumblee-stumblee · 2 years ago

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I just got sent your post by a friend. Through the rambling, I picked out a few things that confused me and made me realize why people push out TERFs.

1. Sexual attraction is based on the body, not chromosomes, so if a sexual partner is sexually attracted to the body presented to them and consents, what is the problem? Linked to this, why wouldn't sexual partners communicate about their wants and needs? You don't consent to gametes, that's just fucking weird.

2. Stop painting trans people as predators and groomers. That's recycled Don't Say Gay rhetoric and you know it. You're just feeding into the far right and giving them more ammunition against the LGBTQ community. Mermaids and others providing support to kids being kicked out by their families and gaslit by their doctors is a positive thing.

3. The lesbian community has driven off so many lesbians (biological females, to use your incel phrasing), because you're unwelcoming. 44% of lesbians have endured physical/sexual violence at he hands of an intimate partner (same-sex). I was abused by two female partners before meeting my now male partner who has been loving, kind and patient as I work through the trauma of being abused by those women, and I have never felt more valuable and loved for being me, not just because I have a vagina. Don't even get me started on your "gold star" lesbian rubbish. The power you ascribe to a male penis to "ruin" a woman while saying you think men are inferior is hilarious.

4. Kids aren't your property. They have the right to see their GP and access medical care without parental consent. They aren't stupid. They aren't brainless. By telling them they can't consent and don't know what they're talking about, you are alienating them from your cause and making them hate you more.

5. No one tells GNC people they are trans. That's not how being trans works. Sometimes a GNC person might want to shed pronouns or use different words, and that's fine. Why are you equating that with gender dysphoria? They're completely separate. Butch lesbians aren't vanishing, there are still plenty of them accessible to you.

6. People have the right to do with their bodies what they want. The most telling experience I ever had was with my lesbians friends: I told them I wanted a mastectomy, they made a massive deal out of it, because they felt entitled to my breasts and it was "ruining" my body (what the fuck? How does not having breasts ruin a body?). It was disgusting and invasive. I got a hysterectomy for comfort. Again, they made it into "denying my womanhood". Thanks for boiling my womanhood down to my womb, real progressive of you.

The biggest reason people hate radfems is because of their entitlement to other people's bodies and experiences. If you spent less time telling people how to behave and feel about themselves, and telling them they were brainwashed and you know The One True Way, you might stop driving people in the opposite direction. You're your own worst enemy and I am really glad I realised I'm bisexual, otherwise I would be voluntary celibate rather than go back to lesbian spaces. They are choked by toxic radfems.

1. Just like sex based oppression, same sex attraction is real. Transwomen will never be women. Transbians will never be lesbians.

I enjoy honesty in my relationships, i disclose anything important or anything that may be considered a deal breaker early on as to not string others along. Transpeople need to disclose that they are trans 1- to be safe and not get murdered by homophobic men and 2- so their partners can make an informed decision.

2. There are predators and groomers in your community tho. That's just factual.

Mermaids huh?

3. The Lesbian community has driven off lesbians? I never said there wasn't domestic violence within same-sex relationships? Um okay good for you? This is coming out of nowhere, are you sure you've got the right blog lmao

4.)Never said kids are my property, i said kids cannot give informed consent and lack the emotional and cognitive maturity to give consent. Kids that are suffering through gender disphoria to such a degree that they are claiming to be suicidal should not be able to consent to medical procedures while their mental health is obviously compromised.

Kids aren't stupid but they can be groomed and coached to say things that would not be beneficial to their well-being. Suck a lemon. I don't care if kids hate me.

5. Yes they are. Especially within younger groups, where this social contagion is more likely to be rampant. Especially within religious groups that see homosexuality as sinful and would rather transition their kid rather deal with their kid being gay. Why are you mentioning butch lesbians? Are you under the impression that GNC women would only be lesbians or something?

6. IDC what you do to your body if you're an adult. I only care when you try to convince children that they're born with the wrong body and need to take puberty blockers that makes me speak out against it. Y'all are teach kids to hate their bodies and you don't even see it.

Ah but calling women uterus havers and pregnant/bleeding people isn't reducing you down to your womb or genitals when it's done for the inclusion of transwomen i see i see. Coddle men and what not.

You don't know shit about radfems and i wish you'd stop pretending you do. I'm embarrassed for you.

#radblr #radfem #feminist #radfems #feminism #radfems please interact #trans #gender critical #transgender #radical feminist

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wakatvshi · 4 years ago

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Hey! I saw that you receive requests so.. I would love some marley warriors + jean (because i love him) with an s/o who's really.. Touchy, please? Could be headcanons or imagines🥺 thank you so so much! 😭

Yeah! I would love to! They’re kind of rambling but I hope you like them and that this is what you wanted! I didn’t do Annie because I just couldn’t really figure out what to write about her but if you really want her send a seperate message and I’ll give you annie with a touchy s/o!

Heads up though I’ve never written or read for Zeke before because he’s not personally a favorite so I hope he’s okay in this!

JEAN KIRSTEIN ══▸

Jean would LOVE a touchy s/o. He’s a very touchy person himself so having someone who’s as touchy as he is would make him so happy.

When the two of you are alone he’s all about touching you and always wants to be touching you. When you’re working on something and he can’t be touching you all the time he’ll sit next to you or as close to you as he can be and just be near you. Which helps you both because you’re a touchy person.

Something both of you love is when you’re sitting in his lap, just doing whatever you’ve been doing. He’ll walk in and you’ll give grabby hands and want to be held and he’ll want to hold you. Doesn’t matter what gender/size anything he wants to have you in his lap and it makes him happy.

In public, he’s more shy about touching because he’s actually a huge baby and his ‘flirty’ persona that some people think he has is 100% real. He wants to act like he’s smooth but he’s not. He’ll hold your hand and walk with you in public but anything more it’s not going to be him initiating it.

If you’re with him in public and you want more affection than holding hands then you’ll have to do it and he will turn bright red and stutter if he’s supposed to be talking. It’s adorable and he’s so happy even if he’s bright red.

Another one of his favorite things is you playing with his hair, it turns into a big puddle when you play with his hair and when you compliment him in basically anyway.

If any of his friends catch him being super cute or you being cute with him (aka Sasha and Connie) they’ll laugh and tease him and he’ll get defensive but doesn’t actually mind it. Even if he did you’d just hug him from behind or wrap your arms around him and he’s glaring at them but also super focused on the attention he’s now getting.

Sleeping with Jean is basically a cuddle fest as well, thankfully for you he’s touchy as well so when you both wake up tangled in each other neither of you really mind it.

BERTHOLDT HOOVER ══▸

Bertholdt with a touchy s/o would be so good for him but also something that he has to get used to.

Eventually he finds out that he loves it but at first he doesn’t expect it. He’s very shy and stand-offish even if he doesn’t mean to be. So any physical affection for the most part will have to be done by you. Even years into your relationship you’ll have to be the one who makes the moves.

The first time you initiate any kind of touch he goes bright red and has no idea how to react. Outside he’s frozen and staring at you, sweating a little. Inside of course he’s beyond happy and he wants nothing more than to move and do the same, he wants to hold onto you too. He wants to touch you and be affectionate but he doesn’t know how. It isn’t until you try to move away that he finally acts and grabs your hand.

Even years into your relationship most of the affection will be initiated by you so it is a good thing that you’re not afraid to be the one who reaches out for him. It also brings him out of his shell quite a bit.

When the two of you are alone he loves the affection you give him. He doesn’t know how to ask for the affection he wants but he does give small signals and you know him well enough to reach out and grab his hands or crawl in his lap.

PDA is a no go for him completely, he’s obviously a shy person and being super affectionate is outside of his comfort zone as it is so adding anything else would just be far outside his comfort zone

I also do feel like physical affection is his love language so him having the freedom to act on that and having someone who wants that affection like he does would make him so happy.

Sleeping with Bertholdt is always a fun experience. You might start holding into him or him holding onto you but you’ll end up in a dozen different positions before you wake up.You’ve got no real say in how you sleep when you’re with him.

REINER BRAUN ══▸

Literally a teddy bear and would LOVE to have an affectionate s/o. Needs an affectionate s/o.

Reiner feels unlovable, he feels worthless and he is very depressed and I’m by no means saying you can fix him or fix anyone like that, but affection is everything to this man even if he doesn’t think he deserves it.

You’ll have to be the one to make the first move for the first time but as soon as he realizes how much you do love affection he’ll be happy to initiate as well. Sometimes he’ll surprise you by being the one to reach out and hold you first.

Obviously you love that, you’ll just be doing something and possibly not even paying attention to him and Reiner will be the one to walk up and wrap his arms around you and just stand there.

To him affection is proof of love and comfort that he desperately needs. It would take him a little to get used to at first im sure, he’s not used to it like his mother isn’t very affectionate but he craves it.

With Reiner it’s easy to be touchy. Even in public he doesn’t mind, he’s more in awe of the fact that you want to be seen with him and want to give affection.

He’s not super huge on over the top PDA but he does love holding your hand or kissing your cheek. Also piggy back rides, I can see him being a fan of that because it’s touch and that’s what he loves and craves.

Sharing a bed with Reiner is always the two of you tangled in each other. He likes to be the big spoon and likes to hold you but he’s 100% okay with you holding him, sometimes he even prefers that.

Reiner needs to feel loved and affection is the best way to do that in his mind. So being touchy would be perfect.

PORCO GALLIARD ══▸

To me Porco is literally the embodiment of “disgusting. do it again.”

Now not because he’s not a fan of affection but he has this cool guy persona that he puts on around people. He wants people to see him as the tough guy when it’s only half true. You can see it with the kids that he’s actually a super affectionate guy.

Porco needs validation and having an s/o who’s super touchy would give him that. When you’re touching him he feels like he’s number one. He’s your main focus and it means the world to him. Of course he’d never tell you that.

You’ll have to be able to read him a little to be able to tell when he wants something because he’s stubborn and sometimes it takes a lot for him to ask you for something if he’s not sure how.

Now if he’s just in the mood to be affectionate himself he’s good with just holding you or grabbing your hand. He’s also big in kissing, he loves kissing but usually he tries to make it more suggestive or almost casual.

For just cuteness you’ll have to be the one who holds his face and kisses him or who just holds his hand or hugs him. He has to lean the importance of cute nonsexual affection.

PDA to him makes him blush a little also super proud that you’re the one on his arm and he wants to show you off and loves that you want to show him off. Being the “most important” to you is important to him.

When Porco sleeps he’ll sleep holding you for a few minutes but he’s not one who likes to hold onto someone when he sleeps. Biggest surprise when sleeping with him is that Porco LOVES to be the little spoon. He’ll deny it with his dying breath but he adores it.

Also random cutsey headcanon for Porco that will never leave my head is that Porco loves when you baby talk to him. I have no reason for this hc but I just feel like he would love it.

PIECK FINGER ══▸

A queen of physical affection honestly. Lives for it and lives to give it.

She’s in her titan form a lot and when she’s finally out of it she has trouble walking on two legs so you being there for her to lean on when she’s not walking with her crutch and just actually physically supporting her would mean the world to her.

She also likes that you want to be affectionate with her after being in her titan form for so long. she wants to be held and wants her hair played with. If you let her just lay in your lap and play with her hair or hold her hand she’ll be the happiest woman in the world.

A lot of your affectionate time is spent with you both laying or sitting somewhere together. If you’re giving her attention or letting her give attention she’s loving it.

Another thing she loves is walking around with you, she doesn’t shy away from PDA. If you’re together and if you want to kiss her cheek or something she’s more than happy about it. She’ll laugh softly and get the faintest of pink on her cheeks

She does have to make sure that she’s professional about it because she is a warrior and has to keep up her professional persona.

Of course, you’ll have people who are beyond jealous watching her with you and honestly she thinks it’s kinda cute that people are jealous because to her it doesn’t make sense.

Sleeping with Pieck is just cuddle city for both of you. She likes to be hold and be held and you’re happy to do both as well. There’s nothing either of you like better than the intimacy and connection that the two of you have laying there and holding each other.

ZEKE YEAGER ══▸

This man takes a while to get used to physical affection. He’s not really had affection before so you’ll have to work at it.

When he was younger he didn’t have much affection, we know that grandfather spends a great amount of time in the hospital for mental issues and we saw from how they raised Grisha that they’re not super affectionate.

His life has mostly been spent working towards his goals and trying to do what he could to make sure he could complete the goals. So he’s not really put much attention to romantic relationships.

Having you be super affectionate would for sure throw him off a bit but he’s good at hiding that. I do think once he was used to it, he’d just lean into your touches and want to stay there.

He doesn’t like PDA at all, he’s the captian of the warriors and he’s respected even by some of the people of Marley. So it is hands off in public. He will walk close to you though, if your arms are brushing and you’re close to him he is happy.

Alone though he does love affection. You playing with his hair is a good one but what he really loves is getting massages from you. He works hard and if you’ll just stand behind him rubbing his shoulders and kissing the top of his head he’s the happiest man ever.

When you’re sleeping Zeke is 100% big spoon. He wants to hold you, if you want he’ll let you hold him but he’s most comfortable when he’s able to hold you. That’s when he shows his real affectionate side. He wants you close to him, and he loves holding you. He feels like he can rest when you’re in his arms.

#jean kirstein x reader #reiner braun x reader #zeke yeager x reader #attack on titan x reader #aot x reader #porco galliard x reader #pieck finger x reader #bertholdt hoover x reader #bertolt hoover x reader #attack on titan imagine #aot imagines #aot imagine #attack on titan x you #my writing #headcanons

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comrade-meow · 3 years ago

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LYNNE WALSH looks ahead to the biggest radical feminist conference in Europe, FiLiA, which takes place over two days in October

SOME of us have cynical definitions of “conference”: interesting people talking about boring things or boring people talking about interesting things — or the worst combination of those two.

You get the picture. Let’s face it: we’ve all been there. There are conferences where you leave more exhausted than energised; there are events which turn out to be uneventful, there are summits which plummet.

And then there is FiLiA.

This is a two-day event, the biggest radical feminist conference in Europe, which delivers a breathtakingly fine series of speakers, as well as providing opportunities aplenty for women (and a few male allies) to plan, regroup, support one another, spark new ideas and action — and dance.

This year’s event, on October 16 and 17 in Portsmouth, includes sessions from journalists Jenni Murray, Julie Bindel and Joan Smith,lesbian feminist scholar Sheila Jeffreys, and Harriet Wistrich, founder and director of the Centre for Women’s Justice.

There are stalwarts of the women’s movement at every turn. Gill Hague, activist, practitioner and researcher on violence against women nationally and internationally since the early 1970s, is the professor emerita of violence against women studies at the University of Bristol.

She co-founded the Centre for Gender and Violence Research, School for Policy Studies at the University of Bristol.

Her book, History and Memories of the Domestic Violence Movement, published in May this year, is a passionate and assiduous account of this arena.

Its strapline is “We’ve come further than you think” — just what we need, to encourage us to persist.

She tells it like it is. When she speaks about her international work, and perhaps especially that involving Uganda, Hague is uncompromising, though there is “honey in the rock”; she cares deeply about injustice towards women and girls, and that has clearly always fuelled her dedication.

She says of her work: “As I get older, I feel I can look back with pride; this is a fantastic way to spend the one human life we have.”

And so say all of us.

Choosing from the FiLiA conference agenda is no easy task. Here are only a few of the sessions: Misbehaving: Stories of Protest Against the Miss World Contest and the Beauty Industry; Not Dead Yet: Feminism, Passion and Women's Liberation; Political Participation of Migrant Women, and Police Perpetrated Abuse.

It’s no wonder that one woman attending the 2019 event said: “FiLiA galvanises women — it is without a doubt one of my lifelong conference experiences — and I have been to many.”

Lisa-Marie Taylor, chief executive officer, sums it up: “FiLiA is a place where local, national and global women come together to network, learn from each other, plot the overthrow of patriarchy and to party!

“We’ve received messages from women in Norway, Germany, Spain, the US and more saying they’ve heard about FiLiA and they are coming over — this is incredible to us, and a testament to global consciousness-raising around the rights of women and girls, as well as the desire to gather together wherever and whenever we can.”

These annual gatherings have always had a real international feel, and with good reason.

Delegates greeting one another may be social media mates, but that’s never all they are.

There are campaigns and actions linking women’s rights activists across the world, from Kurdistan to Latin America to Ireland, Israel, India and Ukraine. There are speakers from all these movements on the FiLiA conference agenda.

Typical of this ongoing, FiLiA-inspired, global campaigning is a project focused on a refugee camp in Kenya.

Lesbian refugees escaping violence and lesbophobia in their home country were sent by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to the Kakuma camp, in Turkana County, one of the poorest areas of Kenya.

It’s been a refugee camp since 1992, and currently has 160,000 displaced people. Those facts stand alone as a damning indictment.

As the women were seeking asylum due to their sexuality, they were put in the LGBT Block 13 — named with a grim irony.

This, of course, identified them to other refugees in the camp; they’ve suffered violence and abuse as a result.

The women have told FiLiA about a lack of food, constant physical and sexual abuse and lack of basic shelter for them and the other LGB&T refugees in Block 13.

Also recently announced as a speaker is Joanna Cherry, the SNP MP for Edinburgh South West since 2015.

She said recently, of LGBT+ history month: “…these days the L is very much an afterthought and many people have forgotten the contribution made by lesbian feminists of my generation to fighting homophobia and discrimination.

“At a time when the SNP was still undecided about Section 28, I was out on the streets campaigning against it. A large part of my career as a lawyer was spent standing up for women’s rights and prosecuting sex crimes against women and children. So it is particularly galling to be misrepresented by those who have come late to the field of the battle for equality.”

Feminist philosopher Jane Clare Jones speaks in a session called The Radical Notion: Female Class Politics / Founding The Countess, Advocating For Women And Children In Ireland.

The countess in question is Constance Markievicz, the first woman elected to the parliament at Westminster, in 1918. Then representing Sinn Fein, she did not take her seat.

Founder of “The Countess” Laoise UI Aodha de Brun points out that Markievicz “attended her first political meeting aged 41 — it’s never too late to effect change.”

The agenda promises this session will get to the heart of some tight issues: “Many people claim feminism is a form of ‘identity politics,’ but women’s oppression is not a matter of ‘identity,’ but of the material exploitation of women’s bodies and labour.

“This panel will explore why feminism is better thought of as a type of class politics.

“What are the implications for feminist activism and theory of understanding feminism as ‘female class politics’? How might this help us rectify some of the mistakes feminism has made in the past, and reimagine the future of feminism?”

In the session FiLiA Stands with Sex Trade Survivors, Yulia Dorokhovah will speak about the work she does as director of the sex workers’ self-organisation in Ukraine.

This is the NGO All-Ukrainian League “Legalife,” aimed at combating sexual slavery, human trafficking and violence against sex workers.

The two-day happening is to be Covid-compliant, with proof either of vaccinations or of a negative test. The extra regulations are not daunting delegates, many of whom registered as soon as they could.

Another delegate to the 2019 conference told organisers: “FiLiA is Radfem Glastonbury: you see all your mates, get to see the living legends, and it takes three weeks to recover.”

True, in some ways — though we can’t really afford that long recovery time. There is work to do. Thankfully, there are great women to work alongside.

Conference details: filia.org.uk/tickets. You can support the Kakuma refugees here: filia.org.uk/kakuma-campaign.

#Anglo.txt

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sevenseasofbangtan · 4 years ago

Text

BTS REACTION — HOW YOU MET (IDOL VERSION)

Summary: Idol!BTS meet Foreigner!Reader

Warnings: None, except maybe light cursing, reference to a car crash and mentions of alcohol being consumed.

Note: In these scenarios, all members are fluent in English (or they can at least hold a good conversation). I tried to keep all the scenarios gender-neutral, although I had a specific vision in mind for Hoseok’s and Jungkook’s one, which involved a girl. If anyone wants me to write new scenarios or to rewrite these ones in a gender-neutral form, feel free to let me know.

KIM SEOKJIN (JIN)

It was a rainy day and clouds were filling the sky, hiding any trace of sunlight. As you walked through the streets of Seoul with your friend, an umbrella in one hand, you listed different possible activities you could spend your free time on. You both had just arrived in Seoul and although you hadn’t seen much yet, you had already fallen in love with South Korea’s capital.

Seokjin had a few days off from promotion, glad to get a short break from his hectic schedule. Even though he loved his job to no end, he sometimes needed some time off to himself, so he could go back to work feeling more inspired and relaxed than ever.

He had recently opened a restaurant with his brother and had decided to go lend a hand to the staff, seeing as someone couldn’t make it to work that day. He knew this was far from the stress-free day he had envisioned for himself, but there were two reasons why he felt compelled to head to the restaurant as soon as he woke up that morning, the first one being that he was one of the directors of said restaurant and that it only seemed natural that he visited and helped around from time to time, the second being that he was a generally very caring being and that refusing the request would simply be choosing to go against his core values.

Both your friend and yourself hadn’t yet thought of an appropriate way to keep yourselves occupied, but all you knew was that you were beginning to get quite hungry, your stomach grumbling every once in a while. You didn’t want to disrupt the course of your friend’s thoughts, but you thought it might be relevant to bring up the idea of stopping by a small restaurant to take a bite. As soon as you voiced your suggestion, her face lit up, and with a mysterious and excited tone, she declared, “Oh, I know a place where we could eat!” You agreed with a shrug, thinking to yourself that any restaurant would do at this point.

You walked in the streets for a good twenty minutes before finally reaching your destination, your friend becoming more and more excited with each step, but categorically refusing to tell you why. You entered the friendly-looking restaurant, analyzing your surroundings. On the outside, it looked as any other Japanese-style restaurant, but the inside was harmoniously decorated, suggesting the owner had great taste in accessorizing and inside decoration. A few plants were randomly displayed throughout the restaurant and the wooden touches gave a warm feeling, in contrast with the overall modern style of the building.

As you sat down to your assigned table and began flipping through the pages of the menu, after having spent a good half-hour waiting in line and complaining to (y/f/n), she called out your name and finally decided to tell you what had been on her mind ever since she came up with the idea of stopping by this particular restaurant: “You know about BTS, right?” “Of course! Who doesn’t?” “Well this place just happens to be owned by Jin and his brother!” You chuckled and commented, “Well now I get why you were so excited all of a sudden and why we had to waste thirty minutes of our precious time waiting in line! It’s certainly what’s causing all the hype surrounding this restaurant... This food better be worth the wait though!”

After having spent an overall total of forty five minutes waiting, the food finally came. You furrowed your brows in confusion as you heard several people gasping in unison when the waiter arrived with the numerous plates of meat, vegetables and other side dishes you would be sharing with your friend. As you looked up, you nearly choked on the water in the glass you were drinking from, quickly identifying your waiter as Kim Seokjin, Jin from BTS himself.

Seokjin had finally decided to step out of the kitchen, unable to stand the heat of the crowded area anymore, and as he saw two physically distinct woman sitting at a table, he specifically requested to attend to that table, intrigued and interested in the unusual situation.

In an attempt to make a nice first impression and as to project a good image of his restaurant, he formally introduced himself, trying to remember all that Namjoon and his English teachers had taught him about the English language over the years: “Hello! Welcome to Ossu Seiromushi! My name is Seokjin and I will be your waiter for today. Is this your first time here?” “Yeah,” the both of you answered at the exact same time. He quickly exclaimed, “Oh this is great! I hope that you will enjoy our food and that you will want to come back here next time!”

As your meal went on, Seokjin periodically came back to check on you, way more often than a usual waiter would, trying to hold some sort of conversation as much as possible given the fact that some fans occasionally interrupted the discussion to interact with their idol, and you had to admit that despite the situation, you enjoyed yourself quite a lot and already planned on visiting again soon, as suggested by Seokjin himself. You also had to admit the food lived up to your expectations, much to friend and your waiter’s delight.

When it was finally time to leave and to carry on with your day, it was with a heavy heart that you left the cozy building filled with delicious smells, knowing you might not be met by your friendly waiter the next time you stopped by in the future.

As you left the restaurant and as he headed back to the kitchen, Seokjin made sure to inform his brother about his lovely encounter and to make sure he kept an eye out for the two charming foreigners next time they came back.

MIN YOONGI (SUGA)

After having spent almost a year without seeing his family, Yoongi was finally returning to Daegu, having a brief pause in his busy schedule. As soon as he entered the familiar building that used to be his own house, he was greeted by Geumjae, his older brother, who had come over for the night knowing his younger brother was visiting, his dog, Holly, and the scent of his favourite dish, that his mom had so kindly decided to cook. Memories began flooding his mind and he couldn’t help but feel nostalgic about his past life, before he even though of becoming an idol. He was glad to have a break, even if it was only for a few days, so he could remember what being normal feels like, although he knew deep down he would never be seen as a ‘normal’ person anymore, even in his hometown. In fact, he was almost an heroic figure there, seeing as it almost seemed like a miracle that a young man from this small neighbourhood had succeeded in the international music stage.

You had arrived a while ago in Korea, settling down in a small apartment in Seoul. However, your desire of seeking new challenges and to explore the unknown led you to smaller cities, including your current location: Daegu. You had rented a hotel room nearby for a few days and had instantly fallen in love with the more modest buildings of the residential neighbourhoods and the flora of your surroundings, even though this town technically wasn’t half as impressive as South Korea’s biggest city, Seoul.

You had decided to go out and explore the city once the sun began to set, so the streets would be nearly empty and you’d be completely immersed into the peaceful atmosphere of the area. You aimlessly wandered around the town, stopping in a quiet park to sit down on the grass, staring at the sky.

Yoongi had dragged his brother out with him, still feeling the nostalgia from his childhood. He knew the only time he could come out of his house without getting noticed by locals was in the late evening, so he waited until it was pitch black outside to leave the familial residence. As soon as he stepped out, the light breeze surrounded him and the sound of silence rang in his ears, making him feel at home again. He carried a conversation with his older brother while walking on the sidewalk, the only lighting being provided by the small shops on the other side of the street, the lampposts lined along the sidewalk and the thousands of stars in the sky. Soon enough, the both of them reached the park where they had shared so much memories back when they were still children.

You got up from your spot on the fresh grass, beginning to walk again. At this point, you had to admit you were a little lost, after having mindlessly walked through the city for an hour or so. The once warm temperature had decreased, leaving you shivering through the thin fabric of your shirt and your partly exposed legs, and you could barely see where you were going as the sun had completely set.

You were so absorbed in trying to find your way back, that you had completely ignored your surroundings. You suddenly heard some noise directly coming from behind you, yelling in surprise. Your screams were answered by those of two manly voices. You looked up, meeting the eyes of two young men, seeming as surprised as you did. You quickly apologized, embarrassed from causing such a scene, but the boys assured you there was no harm done and you shouldn’t worry about such a thing.

Soon enough, you initiated a conversation with the two men you found out turned out being brothers. The oldest was named Geumjae, while the youngest, who seemed to be relatively close to your age, was named Yoongi, a name that sounded oddly familiar to your ears. Having nothing better to do, you sat back down in the grass, carrying on with your discussion. It was definitely close from midnight, but it didn’t seem to bother any of you. The boys were intrigued about what had brought you to their city in particular, seeing as you weren’t from the area, so you shared your story without neglecting a single detail, as the boys sitting in front of you questioned you from time to time, seemingly interested in your adventures.

After spending so much time outside, you could barely feel your arms anymore, your body not being able to keep you warm for much longer. You kept shivering and Yoongi soon noticed, offering you his hoodie, as the well-mannered man he was. After having made sure he didn’t mind, you gladly accepted his offer, the soft fabric warming up your skin at the very first contact.

Yoongi finally asked you where you were staying and as you answered, his brows knit in confusion. “But that’s at the other end of town... How long have you been walking?” he asked, staring at you. You shrugged, having lost track of time. “You’re really going to walk all the way back there?” he questioned you, seeming perplexed. You finally admitted being absolutely lost. At your confession, Yoongi suggested he and his brother gave you a ride back to your hotel. You felt terribly embarrassed at the thought of having to burden the kind strangers with your own issue, especially at such a late time in the evening, but you were also very tired and definitely couldn’t make it back to the hotel by yourself, so you gladly agreed, endlessly thanking the two brothers for their kindness.

About twenty minutes later, Yoongi dropped you off to the address you had given him. Before you left, he stopped you and stated, “You should keep my phone number as well as my brother’s in your phone. You never know what could happen and since you’re far from home, this might be useful. Don’t hesitate to let me know if you need anything. I might not always be available, but it might be worth the try anyway in case there’s a problem.”

With one last ‘thank you’, you exchanged your goodbyes and wished each other a great night, hoping you might get the opportunity to meet each other again in the near future.

JUNG HOSEOK (J-HOPE)

You had moved to Korea a few months ago to begin a student exchange program in university and you were definitely enjoying the new culture, as well as the new people you had met.

You did not expect to meet so many friendly individuals you had so much in common with and you had definitely become a more sociable person over the course of the past few weeks, much to your surprise.

You had met Dawon through mutual friends at a party and you were surprised at how well you both got along almost immediately. She was very warm and welcoming and her English was definitely above average, which made it easy to communicate, though you were also improving in Korean. You knew nearly from the start that she was Hoseok’s sister, but you never truly brought it up, well aware that she must hear about him and be compared to him more than enough as it is and there is no need to make matters worse.

Dawon’s parents were soon hosting a big gathering over at their house and Dawon had decided to invite her closer friends over, as well as her fiancé, since they were already expecting a large number of guests, and you felt incredibly blessed and honoured that she considered you as one of said close friends.

On the night of the house party, Dawon had texted you, claiming that one of the friends she had invited could not make it and that you were free to invite someone else to bring along. However, by the time you noticed her message, you were almost ready to leave and didn’t bother trying to reach anyone else.

Dawon, who was living in her own apartment, came to pick you up a bit early, as she had promised her parents to help set up the decoration and cook the different meals that would be served that night. As you got in the car, you noticed she was on the phone with someone and definitely seemed displeased: “What do you mean you’re not coming? I told you not to plan anything too time-consuming today so you’d be ready for the party! I already told my mom you three were coming! On top of that, Ga Young is sick and won’t be able to make it either...” The voice on the other side of the line replied, “I know, I’m truly sorry but I can’t make the cars in front of me go faster. I’ll do as best as I can, but don’t assume anything. If we can’t make it, have a great night and I’ll talk to you later!” Before Dawon could add anything, the other person you had recognized as Eun Hye hung up.

Dawon turned to you and said, “Sorry about that, I don’t want to ruin the mood or anything, but Eun Hye just called to tell me she, Soo Ah and Ye Rin got stuck in the traffic on their way back from I don’t know where, when I clearly told them not to plan anything today so they could come to the party and I already told my mom they were coming, but they’ll most likely not make it. Now you’re going to be the only friend of mine to come over...” She kept ranting, so you reassured her, “Hey it’s okay. It’s definitely not your fault and I don’t mind staying with you and your fiancé all night. I don’t think your mom will mind having a few less people to cater to tonight either...” “Thanks (y/n), you’re way too kind,” she answered. You smiled back at her and loudly declared, “Now let’s go get your fiancé so we can make it to the party on time!”

You soon left the city and reached the nice suburbs of Gwangju, where you were greeted by Dawon’s parents who excitedly welcomed all of you, glad to see their daughter and her lovely fiancé, and intrigued by the foreigner they both had brought along. You were scared of their reactions to your obvious cultural difference, but you were pleasantly surprised by the fact that they were very kind and interested in knowing about you.

Dawon dragged you inside, where you were met by a very familiar face, which left you speechless as Dawon exclaimed, “What are you doing here? Weren’t you on tour?” He frowned in confusion, replying, “What are you talking about? I told you I was coming back on the 5th.” “Oh I thought I had heard the 15th, my bad,” Dawon stated, chuckling. She then ran to hug her brother tightly. They were definitely a close pair. “Hoseok, this is my friend (y/n). You better be nice to her because all our other friends ditched us for the night and she doesn’t know anyone here but myself and my fiancé. By the way, just saying ... she’s single,” Dawon introduced you to her sibling with a playful tone. She then turned to you, saying, “(y/n) you probably already know my brother, but nonetheless, this is Hoseok.” You bowed to her brother and he did the same, the both of you smiling a bit awkwardly at Dawon’s introductions.

You all went on to assist their parents before the guests began arriving. Throughout the night, the four of you stayed together in a peaceful corner of the backyard, as Dawon stated she “would rather avoid the intrusive aunts and uncles constantly asking her about her private life”, to which Hoseok agreed.

You all discussed your latest stories and experiences, often having a good laugh at each other’s expense. The wine and soju you had all drunk surely helped loosening everyone up and making everything sound funnier than it really should be. Hoseok was very sweet, charismatic and down to earth, and it might’ve been the alcohol speaking, but you couldn’t help thinking to yourself that he definitely was very attractive. You thought it had been easy becoming friends with Dawon, but befriending Hoseok had proven being even easier. There was something about him that was so strongly compelling.

As the party came to an end and Dawon’s fiancé drove you all back to her place, she poked your shoulder, still a bit tipsy, commenting, “You know ... My brother really seemed to like you.” You turned to her and told her to stop saying such nonsense, but she continued: “N—No I’m not even kidding! Haven’t you noticed how he kept staring at you ever since you stepped foot in the house, how he laughed a bit more at your jokes than anyone else’s—“ “That’s because my jokes are funnier than yours and he knows that. And he was staring at me because I’m obviously very different from all of you guys,” you interrupted her. “Shhh — don’t interrupt me. He always filled your wine glass first and he kept leaning towards you. I know my brother, I know he’s not like that with just anyone,” she finished. You rolled your eyes and replied, “Dawon, I think you’re tired, just go to sleep and I’ll wake you up once we get to your apartment.”

She ignored your comment and before you could even react, she reached for your phone and unlocked it, already knowing your password by heart, and typed something in. She gave you your phone back and declared, “Here’s his number, since you seemed to be just as interested as he was.” You did not dare say anything, as you knew Dawon would not take any argument if you tried to prove her wrong. Were you being this obvious? As if she read your mind, she carried on, “You were way too smiley and giggly for your usual self, even when drinking. You should give him a chance, he can be a pretty nice guy sometimes even if he often purposely annoys the hell out of me. Anyway, when’s the last time you’ve been on a date?” “Hey don’t be so mean! I’m waiting for the right person, alright?” you affirmed in a jokingly offended tone. She laughed and claimed, “Well that right person might be my brother, who knows...”

Maybe Dawon was right, maybe you should give her brother a chance after all.

KIM NAMJOON (RM)

It was nearly midnight as you stared at the digital clock resting on your nightstand. After almost having spent a full hour tossing and turning in bed, you decided you had had enough and threw the blankets off your body, sitting up in the process. It had only been two days since you arrived in Seoul and you still hadn’t quite adjusted to the jet lag yet.

You threw on some very casual clothes and headed out the door, thinking some fresh air would do you good and maybe even help you fall asleep. You loved the fact that a lot of shops were open until very late, as you enjoyed the calm of the night. You abandoned the busy streets of Seoul’s most popular districts and soon reached the much more peaceful atmosphere of a mostly residential neighbourhood, taking advantage of the quietness that surrounded you. You had seen more than enough crowded places in the last two days and desperately needed a break from the obnoxiousness of the most famous landmarks.

You eventually spotted a small café on the other side of the road that seemed quite nice. As you entered the building, you were hit by the strong but pleasant smell of freshly ground coffee as well as the emptiness of the place, though that did not surprise you, considering that it was getting late.

You went through the list of possible selections on the wall behind the order counter and eventually settled for something simple as to not excite your brain more than it already was.

You stepped forward, greeted the lady in front of you and placed your order. As you were speaking you could clearly read on the woman’s face that she did not grasp a single word of what you were saying.

Although you had learnt some of the basics of the Korean language prior to your trip and that you were still studying the language to this day, you did not consider your skills good enough to have this kind of discussion, especially not at this time of the day, when your brain could barely function normally. Ever since the beginning of your trip, you had managed to avoid speaking Korean to anyone, as there was always at least one person available who could speak in English. However, as you looked around, you soon realized that it was only you and the barista, and that you had no choice but to find a way to communicate with her.

As you were reaching through your pockets to grab your phone in order to write down what you wanted to say on a translation app, you heard a manly voice behind you, making you jump slightly, “Excuse me, do you need help?” You turned around and had to do a double take. There was no way this man standing behind you could be Kim Namjoon, or was there? You decided to keep quiet and not bring this question up just yet. After having frozen for a few seconds while you processed your thoughts, you finally answered, “Ummm, actually, yes I do. I’d like to order something, but the employee only speaks Korean and I don’t master the language enough to hold this conversation.” He smiled sweetly and nodded, questioning you about your order.

Once you told him everything there was to know, he stepped forward and began discussing with the barista, who also seemed shocked by the man’s presence, ordering for the both of you.

“How much was it?” you immediately asked as he finished ordering and paying. He looked at you and smiled once again, declaring, “It’s free. I’m paying for you. Take it as a gift.” You quickly shook your head, arguing, “Oh no, I can’t accept that! You had to go through the trouble of ordering for both yourself and myself. If anything, I should be the one paying for the both of us.” He chuckled and replied, “This is non-negotiable. No matter what you say, I won’t change my answer. If you really want to make it up to me, why don’t you just keep me company while I drink my coffee? I’d sure love to chat if you want to. Get my mind off things, forget about my stressful day, you know?” “As long as you don’t have bad intentions, I’ll gladly accept this offer,” you playfully said, making him laugh.

You both found a clean table at the back of the room and sat down with your orders, chatting about anything and everything. At one point, you couldn’t help but ask him: “Is there a possibility that I’ve seen you somewhere before?” “There is, actually. My name is Kim Namjoon—“ “From BTS, right?” He nodded, as you continued, “Wow, I just want to say that I really enjoy listening to your music and that all of you guys are amazing artists!” He smiled shyly at your compliment, still not used to receiving such positive feedback from anyone, even after all this time, and then thanked you for your kind words.

As you had both finished your drinks and as you started to feel sleepiness weighing heavy on your shoulders, you decided to call it a night and head back to where you came from. However, right before leaving, Namjoon stopped you, cleared his throat and said, “Hey, um. I could give you my number, you know... just in case you ever need anything, or if you ever wanna chat again.” You nodded, answering, “Yeah, that would be nice...” And so you both exchanged your phone numbers before leaving.

As he watched you exit in front of him, Namjoon had a feeling he would be dialling that number soon enough.

PARK JIMIN (JIMIN)

You had just landed in Seoul no more than two hours ago, accompanied by your close friend. As soon as the luggage pickup and the customs were out of the way, the two of you headed off to retrieve your rented car from the car rental company located right outside of the airport, at a three minutes distance in the shuttle bus.

After nearly waiting for an hour in line, the both of you trading places between standing in line and a nearby seat every ten minutes, you were finally done signing the contract papers and had finally gotten a hold of the car keys that would belong to you for the next month.

A kind employee directed you towards the right car and then helped you pack your luggage into its trunk and backseat as necessary, before leaving the both of you by yourselves with this unfamiliar vehicle. You settled yourself in the driver’s seat, in common agreement with your friend, and began discovering and adjusting to its features.

It had been a long time since you both had last gotten any sleep and the darkness settling outside did not help at all. As you drove out of the car rental garage, you immediately noticed the heavy rain pouring from the evening sky, sighing deeply. Then, you were hit with the sight of the immensely dense trafic of the very populated city of Seoul, groaning in annoyance. Nothing seemed to be in your favour at this instant and you were quickly regretting your decision of taking the wheel in these conditions.

You had slowly gotten adjusted to driving and were slowly making your way towards the hotel where you had booked a room for the next few days in order to finally get some rest.

You reached an extremely crowded intersection and tried to pay attention to all of the surrounding cars as you turned around the street corner. However, you forgot to switch your focus back towards the front of your car quickly enough and suddenly —

BANG

Your car suddenly hit the one right in front of yours, making you and your friend scream in shock at the unexpected impact.

BTS were on their way back to their shared dorms after having performed on a music show. All of them were exhausted as it was getting late and they had been up since the early hours of the morning. As they sat at the back of the van, some fell asleep, some stared at the window and some kept chatting despite their low energy level. A sudden impact startled the passengers of the van as the driver let out a string of curses under his breath. Thankfully, the collision was not strong enough to cause any significant harm to anyone, but they definitely knew that the car would not be left intact.

You sighed, hiding your face behind your hands before brushing your hair back in despair. This was definitely not the most ideal way to start off your vacation and you were surely not planning on spending an important sum of money in car repair for a vehicle you had just gotten not even an hour ago as well as paying for the damage occasioned to the other driver’s car.

As you got out of the car and noticed the consequences, you couldn’t help the “Oh crap” that escaped your mouth. Soon after, the other driver also came out to inspect the damages. After eyeing the back of the van for a good fifteen seconds, he turned around to face you, angrily muttering in Korean, as you stood still, staring at him in confusion. Noticing you did not understand a word of what he was saying, he resolved in going back to the van to request an English speaking person as to discuss the incident with the foreigners who had bumped into their vehicle.

You had no idea what was going on and why the driver left you standing there without any explanation. Soon, you found yourself crying from anticipation, feeling a wave of panic overtake you, which was definitely uncharacteristic of your usually composed self. When all of this would be over, you would surely blame it on the lack of sleep, the stress occasioned by travelling and the jet lag. Your friend walked over to you, resting a soft hand on your shoulder in reassurance and questioning why you were in tears, but all you could manage to do was to gesture at your car and the van. You were so caught up in your thoughts that you did not notice the men coming out of the car.

BTS all sat in the van, curious as to what was taking so long. The driver soon came back and requested the only English speaking manager to come out, as the other individuals involved in the situation did not seem to speak much Korean. Said manager then turned to Namjoon and asked him to join him, as he wasn’t fully confident of his own English skills. Taehyung had fallen asleep on Jimin, who was beginning to feel restless and slightly bored. He decided to follow the two other men out of the car, despite the orders he had received to stay seated.

Namjoon approached you and your friend, firstly asking if you could speak English. The both of you nodded, encouraging Namjoon to continue. Your vision was still blurred from the tears and you were frightened by the situation, so you barely noticed the shocked look on your friend’s face and the three men standing in front of you. The manager began speaking, but didn’t know how to finish his sentence, so Namjoon took over once again: “Would you mind telling us what happened?” Your friend immediately responded, seeing you weren’t exactly in a right state to speak much, explaining the full situation in details to the good-looking man in front of her.

Jimin had always been extremely empathetic, a trait that would sometimes betray him, as he would excuse people that did not deserve forgiveness or as some took advantage of him. However, as he listened to your friend’s story and saw you standing on the side with tears pooling in your eyes, he couldn’t help feeling the need to walk over to you and try to comfort you as best as he could.

You felt someone resting their hand on the side of your arm, so you looked up from the ground, freezing as you finally realized who the men standing in front of you were. Jimin smiled softly, asking if you were feeling okay. As you shook your head and once again motioned at the two vehicles, he spoke up again: “Don’t worry about it too much, it happens to everyone... My friend, Jeongguk, could definitely tell you something about it.” He chuckled, then carried on, “Seriously though, we can definitely afford the repairs that need to be done to the two cars. Don’t worry about it, we’ll take care of that so you can peacefully enjoy your vacation.” You quickly shook your head, embarrassed at the thought of them paying for your own mistake, but Jimin was having none of it and dragged you back to where the others were standing, suggesting his idea to the two other men.

The manager refused, saying he was being too kind, as you were still the one who had caused the accident. Jimin did not give up and quickly thought of a seemingly fairer deal: “What about we pay for our own car and they pay for theirs? I can handle the cost for the van without a doubt.” The manager still felt sorry for you, and easily agreed to the offer.

You gratefully thanked Namjoon, Jimin and their manager, as Jimin walked back to you. “Please open your phone and give it to me.” You did as told, not knowing what to expect. Jimin seemed to be writing something down, and as he gave it back to you, you realized it was a phone number. He glanced at your slightly confused face and claimed, “Here. In case you ever need anything, you can call me, alright?” You thanked him and you both exchanged one last smile before parting ways.

As you sat back in your car, your friend turned to you and asked, “What was THAT?!” To which you replied, “You sure we’re not asleep and dreaming?” It came out as a joke, but you truly felt as though you were in some kind of dream or unconscious state since the situation felt so unreal.

You finally drove to your initial destination, the hotel, and right before falling asleep, you stared at your phone screen, a fond smile on your face.

KIM TAEHYUNG (V)

BTS had just started filming a long awaited new season of Bon Voyage. In the past few days, they had learnt how to cook traditional foods, competed in an obstacle race against one another and flew over the area in an helicopter, trying to spot important features that were listed in a document that was handed out to them.

Today, they were yet again racing against each other, but this race was much different than the one they had previously done. They were being given a map of the city they were currently in and had to orient themselves without the help of electronic devices in order to get to a specific landmark before the others did, requesting help from locals if needed. The boys all started at an equal distance from the target, but they were all separated as to avoid some members following or helping out others, which would be considered as cheating.

Taehyung looked at the map in his hands, immediately drawing over what seemed to be the quickest path to take to reach the final goal from his starting point, then searching for the right street to head on. After walking for nearly ten minutes, Taehyung noticed that the road in front of him seemed to be going uphill on a long distance. He decided he would find a new itinerary, as the one he was currently on would significantly slow him down because of its increased difficulty.

He walked for another twenty minutes, before he stopped to take a small break. He stared at the street signs, then back at his map with eyebrows knitted in confusion. It seemed he had been going the wrong way all along, despite him making sure to look out for the different streets and avenues that would lead him to the landmark. With a deep sigh, he decided he would not waste time trying to find his way back by himself and would instead resolve in asking a local for guidance.

You were getting out of a small shop, a water bottle and your phone in hand. You had planned on meeting a friend in a park at the other side of town and thought it would do you good to walk the whole distance instead of going by car or public transportation, a choice that you were deeply regretting as you felt overly thirsty and tired not even halfway towards the destination. You had forgotten to bring something to drink, so you resigned in buying a water bottle and then kept heading towards your destination.

Taehyung noticed you walking out of the store and thought that you looked nice. He walked over to you, hoping you could help direct him.

You felt someone gently tapping your shoulder, then an unknown voice said, “Excuse me, do you live around here?” Confused, you turned around and nodded at the stranger’s question. As your eyes met his, they widened in surprise. You thought you knew who these eyes belonged to, yet there was no way Kim Taehyung could be standing in front of you right this instant, or so you thought.

He smiled shyly, then continued, “Sorry to bother you... My friends and I are not from around here and we’re competing in some kind of race. I’ll spare you the details, but now I’m — kinda — lost. Could you maybe direct me the right way?” You kept your excitement to yourself, not wanting to bother him while he was on some kind of vacation, and simply asked where he was heading, so you could help him out.

As he showed you his map with a big red dot on the target location, you realized it was relatively close to where you were meeting your friend. “This is going to sound weird, but I’m heading approximately the same way, so if you want, I could walk with you and accompany you until you reach your goal, then head off to my own destination,” you suggested. You knew this was not exactly the most prudent decision, as you barely knew the person standing in front of you, at least, not personally, and he might as well have been a psychopath that was planning on abducting you, but there was something about his charming face and genuine smile that radiated trustworthiness, reliability and kindness and you couldn’t help trusting and assisting him. Too bad if you end up getting killed, at least you’ll have spent your last minutes with a handsome man. Besides, he had a cameraman with him, so what could truly go wrong?

Taehyung gladly agreed to your offer, before stating, “Well, since we’re going to spend the next minutes together, might as well introduce ourselves properly. I’m Taehyung. Nice to meet you!” His introduction sounded so simple that if you didn’t know any better, you would’ve never guessed he was part of the biggest boy group in the world. “Nice to meet you too Taehyung, I’m (y/n),” you replied with a smile, handing out your hand for him to shake.

You didn’t waste any more time and started walking towards Taehyung’s destination. However, the man did not seem to be in such a hurry as he was before. He was fascinated by everything your city had to offer, even in the smallest details, and he often stopped and pulled out his expensive camera to snap a picture of something he thought was worthy of being captured. You had to admit he really had an eye for that and seemed to take some amazing pictures that you could only hope to ever achieve. He was very interested in anything you had to tell him about your city’s history, attractions and current events, as well as stuff about yourself and your life. He was very attentive, yet revealed very little about himself. Maybe it was the fact that he was constantly in the public eye that made him that way, so you did not insist on asking him more personal questions.

As you reached Taehyung’s end goal, you both figured he was clearly not going to win the race, but he didn’t seem to mind at all. He wasn’t much of a competitive person. Before you left and he went to join his other members, he cut out a small piece of the map and took his pen out, scribbling something on the paper and handing it to you. It seemed to be his phone number.

“Thank you so much for your time and help, I promise I’ll repay you for that. Just think of anything you’d like and let me know. Have a nice rest of your day and hopefully we’ll speak again soon,” he claimed, walking away before you could argue that it was not necessary of him to repay you for anything.

You went on to meet your friend and had to explain your late arrival as they gave you a skeptic look, but believed you anyway in the end. As you got back home that night, you plugged Taehyung’s number in your phone, a wine glass in your hand. As you were about to press send on your text message, you thought to yourself that it was definitely worth giving it a try and that the worst that could happen was that you’d be left with a funny story to tell.

JEON JEONGGUK (JUNGKOOK)

You had recently gotten a job at a relatively famous club in your city through a friend who already worked there. You weren’t exactly the type one would imagine working in a club, but you were gradually getting used to the loud music, the drunk people stumbling around and the flirty individuals, who’ve had one too many drinks and who seem to forget about personal space. Not that you were complaining about it, but working a few nights in a row could be quite exhausting and you definitely enjoyed your days off even more than you used to.

It was Friday night, which was already a busy night to begin with. However, at some point, you could definitely feel the crowd getting bigger than you had expected and the atmosphere being filled with an unusual level of excitement, which had you wondering what could be happening that had gotten people so thrilled.

It wasn’t a rare occurrence that celebrities would come and visit the club, but there had never been so much enthusiasm linked to it. Although you were curious as to what was happening, you couldn’t leave your spot behind the bar unoccupied, so you kept your curiosity to yourself and kept doing what you were supposed to do and what you had been doing all night: serving drinks.

It had been about an hour since the crowd’s intensity had reached a new high when two young men came to sit on the bar stools right in front of you. As you turned to face them, you immediately recognized Jimin and Jungkook from BTS, and god were they even more gorgeous in real life than you could ever have imagined! You thought to yourself that this must be the reason why clients had been so excited all night. Feeling slightly intimidated by their presence, you minded your own business, waiting for one of them to speak to you first.

After a few awkward seconds that seemed to last for hours, Jungkook turned to you, grinned and said, “E–Excuse me miss! Y–You really have n–nice hair!” He then turned to face Jimin, who was giggling uncontrollably at his friend’s behaviour. They were both very clearly drunk. You nodded and smiled, murmuring a quiet ‘thank you’, hoping the dark lighting would cover the fact that you were extremely flustered at his words. Drunk or not, Jeon Jungkook had just complimented you.

Turning back towards you, Jungkook carried on, “Can I pleaseee have um... maekju?” “I’m sorry, what did you just say?” Jimin quickly corrected his friend: “Beer. He wanted to say beer. I want one too please.” You nodded and left to go and get the beverages, confirming that this was what they wanted as you came back.

Before giving them their orders, you jokingly claimed, “Just because you complimented me, doesn’t mean that you’ll have this drink for free!” Jungkook exaggeratedly gasped in a silly manner and replied, “Oh noooo! Why?” You rolled your eyes, although your smile clearly gave away your amusement. “Because that’s not how it works, sir.” “You can call me J–Jungkook and... and this is my friend Jimin! And Jinnie-hyung, Namjoonie-hyung, Hoseokie-hyung, Yoongi-hyung and Tae are somewhere else. It’s Yoongi-hyung’s fault if I’m like that now! He gave me all these drinks Ma’am!” You almost felt as if you were talking to a child and you couldn’t help but laugh at the thought of it. “What’s your name, Miss?” “(y/n).” “Lovely (y/n),” Jungkook drunkenly mumbled.

It seemed as though the two friends were not there to party, since they spent half an hour discussing with you and drinking a few beers. Jungkook suddenly stopped you mid-sentence, asking, “M–Miss! I want your uh... phone number!” As soon as he finished speaking, he reached for his phone, handing it to you. “You need to put in your password so I can have access to it,” you stated. He quickly grabbed his phone back, unlocked it, and shoved it back in your face. You plugged your number in and gave the phone back to him, as he asked for your phone so he could give you his own number. He then insisted on giving it a try, to verify that all was working well.

After a while, you could see Jungkook dozing off on the counter in front of you, his excitement slowly being replaced by sleepiness. Jimin asked you if you could keep an eye on his friend, so he could go and gather his other friends, to which you gladly agreed. He soon came back with the other members of BTS who introduced themselves to you, all chuckling at Jungkook’s sleeping form on the counter.

You delicately patted his head to wake him up, so he could join his friends. He smiled up at you, then awkwardly hid his face back into his hands once he became aware of his surroundings and noticed his band mates staring at him.

When the time came for BTS to leave the club, Jungkook decided to pay for all of his friends, giving you definitely much more money than needed, adding, “Extra tip for an extra-nice barmaid!”

The next morning as you woke up, you tried texting Jungkook:

“Hey! It’s (y/n), the barmaid from yesterday night, in case you don’t remember. You seemed pretty drunk... How are you feeling this morning?”

You laughed at the short answer you received from his end:

“Sick :(“

You were glad he at least remembered you despite the drunken state in which he had met you. This seemed like the beginning of a pleasant and exciting friendship, and you couldn’t wait to see where this would lead you.

Author’s Note: Hi! I used to be excusemiihatesnakeu, but I recently changed my username. I haven’t written on this blog for a long while, despite having promised to come back with some content soon after having posted my first reaction. Truth is, not only have I been extremely busy with school, work, relationships, social life, etc. but it also takes me forever to write anything because I keep doubting my writing and lacking inspiration, which deeply discourages me of even trying to write anything to begin with. Despite still being extremely busy, I will challenge myself to write more, as it is somehow calming and freeing for me, and I will try my best to post more content in the near future, but please be patient with me, I swear I’m trying my best! By the way, sorry about the excessively long scenarios (and the uneven, varying length of those scenarios between the different members), I seriously cannot stop myself from writing once I begin. I’ve literally spent hours on this and I feel like I’m slowly losing my mind (lmao)! If you have any thoughts or (constructive) criticism that you would like to share, please do so in the comments or in my ask box (in which you can also request content). Thanks for reading my work and I hope you’ve enjoyed doing so! If you’ve read up to here, you clearly deserve an award! :)

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levbug · 4 years ago

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𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐋𝐃'𝐕𝐄 𝐁𝐄𝐄𝐍 𝐔𝐒 — 𝐦𝐢𝐝𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐲𝐚 𝐢.

#pairings ー pro hero! midoriya izuku x gender neutral! reader (slight izuchaco)

#warnings ー terrible angst lmao (this is my first lolol). also, did i name this after a meme? y e s

#wc ー 2.1k

the heels of your formal shoes clicked against the linoleum tiles, echoing softly around the empty hallways. you much rather preferred this peace and quiet as opposed to the loud and energetic home of the wedding goers outside. they were beginning to give you a migraine with all the excitement and happiness that they radiated. that, and the overpowering scent of overpriced perfume and leather shoes.

you hummed quietly to yourself, leisurely making your way down the hall. the bride and groom's rooms were just about here, if you remembered correctly. you chuckled softly as you heard the loud squeals from one of the rooms, presumably from the bride and her bridesmaids, which only confirmed your assumptions.

you were so deep in your thoughts that you didn't hear the faint creaking of the old wooden door, nor the hand that shot out to grab your wrist.

your training at u.a and had given you exceptional strength and reaction time, but whoever had grabbed you was at least ten times stronger. you thrashed and struggled as much as you could, hoping your captor would lose their grasp over you, but to no avail. their grip only tightened.

"calm down, will you?" a soft voice whispered in your ear. a smile formed on your face at the familiar voice, and you immediately stopped trying to land blows on him.

"izuku!" you exclaimed, wrapping your arms around him. the taller boy returned your hug, nuzzling his face into the nape of your neck. you did the same, relishing his familiar cologne and the way his unruly hair, despite it having been gelled, tickling your cheeks gently.

"i missed you." he mumbled, bringing you closer. "i've missed you, too, big guy, but uh—" you wheezed, tapping his shoulder to tell him he was holding you too tight. he let go of immediately, shyly scratching his pink tinted cheeks. his hand was still on your waist, as if he didn't want to let go of you, but you didn't say anything.

"s-so, how are you?" he asked awkwardly, trying to look you in the eye but failing to do so, instead opting to stare at the space behind you.

you smiled at the sudden shift in his demeanor, finding it endearing. even after all these years—even though izuku had grown more confident in himself, he was still that same shy boy you met in middle school all those years ago. it was nice to see that the fame and money hadn't gotten to his head, unlike some other heroes who had let their ego grow too big for their own good.

"i'm doing wonderful, izuku!" half-lie. you could have been doing better, if you were being honest, but now didn't seem like the time to tell him that. "how about you, 'zuku? seems you've gone and gotten yourself a wife!" you took his calloused hand gently from your waist, rubbing your thumb across the scars that had marked him over the years. though he had learned to control his quirk, it seemed that he still went 'plus ultra' at times.

you stared at the man before you, smiling at his flustered state. he was dressed in a suit and tie, since they had decided on a western-themed wedding. he looked extremely attractive, albeit a little uncomfortable in the formal clothing, you had to admit, all with his unruly hair contrasting his pressed clothing.

midoriya cleared his throat, moving his hand away from your waist. you were slightly disappointed, but didn't say anything, nor did you show it. "uh, well, future wife." he corrected, chuckling softly. "though, not that it really matters." midoriya began to mutter. "ochaco's gonna be my wife in a few hours anyway, so there's basically no difference. oh my goodness, i'm going to be a married man in less than a few hours! i don't think i can handle that!would i even be a good husband? i think we should call off the wedding—"

"woah, buddy, calm down." you held the now-hyperventilating midoriya by the shoulders, helping him to sit on one of the nearby couches. the apple of his cheeks were now a bright red, and his chest was rising and falling rapidly with each breath he took. your mouth formed a small slant as you frowned.

"i don't think i can do this, (first name)." he said, tears trailing slowly down his cheek. "i don't think i can carry on with this? what if ochaco suddenly decides she doesn't want to marry me? what if we aren't as perfect for each other as we thought?" he turned to you, green eyes wide and frantic.

as much as it pained you to see midoriya end up with someone else, it hurt you more to hear him doubting himself. midoriya was one of the bravest, kindest, and most considerate people you knew, and to see him in such a vulnerable position just reminded you that even the greatest people had their insecurities.

"oh, 'zuku." you sighed, resting your forehead on his suit clad shoulder. he smelled faintly of aftershave and like flowers, which you hadn't noticed previously. midoriya nuzzled his face into your neck out of habit, the moisture of his tears gathering on your nape.

"i know you may not see it yourself, but you're truly wonderful, izuku. ochaco's one lucky gal to have snatched you up." you chuckled softly, ignoring the bitter taste in your mouth. "i don't understand how you can doubt yourself, 'zuku. you're so brave, and kindhearted, and you've always put others before yourself. you're literally made of hubby material." you felt the low rumbling of midoriya chuckling against your collarbone, the sound alone bringing a small smile to your face. "and if you seriously think that ochaco would leave you, bakugou might have hit you harder than necessary."

midoriya had begun laughing now, removing his face from your neck. his previously sorrowful and anxious eyes were now twinkling with amusement. you smiled at the sight, glad to have been of service.

"thanks, (nickname), i really appreciate that." he chuckled breathlessly, holding your hand between his. you felt your cheeks warm at the way your hand seemed to mold perfectly in his, as if the world was mocking you, saying 'this man could have been yours.' you two sat in silence, just enjoying each other's company.

"you know," midoriya spoke after a while. "i used to have the biggest crush on you." he admitted with a light blush on his cheeks. you cocked your head to the side, slightly confused. midoriya continued. "to be honest, i only ever accepted ochaco's confession because i thought i never had a chance with you, as bad as it sounds."

if you didn't the universe was playing with your feelings before, you were sure that it was now. "o-oh?" you choked out. "why'd you think that you didn't have a chance with me?"

ever since you had met midoriya on your first day at u.a, you had been attracted to him instantly. his shy yet determined personality just drew you in, like a moth to a flame. for years you had desperately hoped that he would one day confess that he returned your feelings, and even went as far to wait for him even after your graduation. but it never came.

until today, it seems. on his wedding day.

the irony of it all pained your heart. here was the moment you'd been fantasizing of since you were a first year at u.a, but it didn't go as you had expected. you didn't feel the butterflies that you had expected to feel. you didn't hear the birds singing. you didn't feel sickeningly in love. you just felt sick.

"i don't know," midoriya sighed, leaning back in his seat. he ran a hand through his curly green hair, mussing it up even more. "i guess i just thought you were always too good for me." inwardly, you screamed at your past selves for being the densest humans on earth. "that, and whenever i came near you, bakugou would always stare daggers at me." he chuckled awkwardly.

you disregarded his last comment, sitting rigidly beside midoriya. your eyes burned with tears that couldn't seem to fall, and your heart was beating irregularly slow in your chest. there was a weight on your shoulders that made you feel like you were carrying the entire world's burdens on your shoulders, alone.

"(first name)?" midoriya placed a hand on your knee, looking at you with concern. he stared at you with those damned green eyes. the same green eyes that you had fallen in love with. the same green eyes that you had spent nights thinking of. the same green eyes that stared back at you as if he hadn't just confessed his past feelings for you. "are you okay? you're looking a little pale."

"i-i'm fine." you tried to smile, but you couldn't find it in you. it was so selfish of you, to be honest. this was another woman's groom, and here you were about to cry because he had returned the feelings that you had assumed were unrequited? 'that's real shallow.' you reprimanded yourself.

"are you sure?" he tilted his head innocently to the side, looking like a cute puppy. you stood abruptly, unable to handle to pain in your chest. unfortunately, you were feeling a bit woozy and swayed a little as you rose to your feet. "hey, why don't you sit down? i can go get you some water—"

"i said i'm fine!" you snapped, pushing his hand away from you. the hurt look that flashed across midoriya's face made guilt envelope your entire being. "i'm sorry. i suddenly got very dizzy, is all." you lied.

midoriya pursed his lips into a thin line. he knew you well enough to know that you were lying. still, he didn't say anything, knowing it would get you nowhere if he forced you to tell him the problem. "are you sure? can i get you water, at least?”

you shook your head, eyes not meeting his. "it's alright, izuku. we've got to go now anyways, it's almost time for your wedding." you said with a small smile. it didn't quite seem right, though, midoriya noted. it didn't seem to reach your eyes.

"o-oh, right!" he scratched the back of his head, checking the time on his watch. he noticed your stiff movements as you hastily scrambled out of the room, muttering a small, "good luck, izuku." on your way out. he could only call out for your name as you stepped out of the door, not knowing why you had suddenly gotten so strange. was it something he had said?

you watched with tear filled eyes as uraraka slowly made her way down the aisle, the ever present blush on her cheeks made more prominent as she made eye contact with her groom. she was dressed in an elegant white gown, her short brown hair styled flatteringly around her face.

you snuck a glance at the groom, who had glassy eyes as he watched the love of his life make her way towards him. a small pang of hurt echoed in your chest as you watched him take her hand in his, just as he hand done with you just a few minutes previously. you bit your lip to suppress the low cry that threatened to escape.

the rest of the ceremony went by in a blur for you. the words of the officiant barely registering in your brain. you were too busy imagining that it was you standing with midoriya at the altar. that instead of uraraka, you were the one holding his scarred hands, staring into his eyes lovingly and giving small shy smiles if you would catch the eye of some of the guests that you had invited.

but you were launched back into reality as the officiant called out for any objections. you were tempted to raise your hand and profess your love for the green haired pro-hero, but held out, knowing you'd not only ruin your friendship with him, but also your friendship with uraraka, who was beaming with joy as everyone stayed silent. you loved midoriya, but you treasured uraraka just as much.

your tears seemed to finally be able to flow freely as you watched midoriya cup uraraka's cheek gently, as if she were the most fragile thing in the world and one wrong move could destroy her. you looked around to see that you weren't the only one crying. though, you were sure you were the only one crying for your own selfish reason, as opposed to the other guests who were crying from the sweetness of the now-married couple.

a lump was caught in your throat as the two newlyweds descended down the aisle, the green haired man catching your eye briefly. the only thing that echoed in your mind as he looked away was the reminder that it could have been you walking with him.

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tessagracerichards · 4 years ago

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I saw [TESSA RICHARDS] at a coffee shop in [MANHATTAN] today. I forgot how much [SHE] looks like [ZOEY DEUTCH]. They are a [TWENTY-SIX] year old [CHILD LIFE SPECIALIST] who’s been in NYC for [THREE YEARS] now. Every time we run into each other, they are always [TENDERHEARTED AND NURTURING] but I’ve heard people say they can also be [BLUNT AND GUARDED]. [SHE IS LOVE BY PARACHUTE] reminds me of them every time it comes on the radio. — [saxon, she/her, 26, cst]

Out Of Character

Hello hello bbies! I am Saxon and this is the absolute labor of my love Tessa, please love her even though she doesn’t deserve it! I am very open to connections, ideas and plotting so please, please, please do not hesitate to hit me up if you want to conjure something up with my disaster child!

Also please forgive the mess that is this intro and her Pinterest, she’s been around for years so things have built up and gotten chaotic over time. I really told myself I would shorten her intro but I didn’t manage much, please look away.

Basic Information

Full Name: Tessa Grace Richards.

Nickname(s): Tess, Tessie.

Date of Birth: November 10th, 1994.

Gender: Cisfemale.

Pronouns: She/Her.

Orientation: Heterosexual.

Language(s) Spoken: English, Sign, Spanish.

Background

So Tessa was born to an unwed couple who were in their mid 30′s at the time, her mom thought the two of them were hopelessly in love until Tessa was four and dude just dipped? Her mom came home one day and all his stuff was gone, no note or anything, he emptied their account and they haven’t ever heard from him since.

Her mom is an absolute saint of a woman however (think Lorelai from Gilmore Girls meets Donna Sheridan from Mamma Mia), just an absolute quirky angel of a woman who definitely took in and helped abandoned animals but was also the place all the kids in town knew they could go if they had shitty parents/living situations or just a bad day and they needed a safe place to go? So obviously she stepped up and took down all dudes pictures and just raised Tessa like the single boss she is.

Tessa grew up into like an angel of a kid but oh buddy was she a chaotic one. Total tomboy, full of insane energy and personality, always on the move and exploring and doing things she shouldn’t be. Definitely the type to show up back at home as the suns going down just covered in dirt and bumps and bruises. 100% knocked her own baby teeth out from falling and slamming her face and had two front silver teeth as a little kid.

She was never very girly and because she grew up in this southern town that was just full of very critical asshole kids from more well-off families than her own was, particularly the girls who were very prissy, she definitely ended up clicking more with boys and quickly became ‘one of the guys’. Like undoubtedly had an all male friend group and was definitely the girl that girlfriends would be paranoid about while all the dudes were like confused as to how their girls were jealous because Tessa was just like another guy/little sibling, there was no interest on either end.

Has slight anger management issues? Like she’s chill but when she blows up man does she blow up. Pushed a girl down a flight of stairs at school after she made a remark about a friend, the family pressed charges and Tessa had to go to anger management classes and serve community service hours. She also got kicked out of school and just decided not to go back, went online and just got her GED at seventeen instead.

She realized her hometown didn’t have much to offer her and it wasn’t where she belonged, nor was she ready for college, so she took what money she had saved and instead purchased a sprinter van and began road tripping around the U.S.

At some point along the way, dumbass met a boy that wormed his way into her heart and it was a kind of a slightly unstable relationship because she would try and push away from him and her feelings but he always drew her back? Already has a shitty relationship with love after her father and two not ideal high school romances. Dude tried though and even proposed after like months of them being together and she panicked and ran but still he drew her back and they agreed that they should chill with the idea of engagement/marriage? There was always another girl in the picture though and even though he assured her that his feelings were with her, his actions often seemed to show otherwise.

After yet another break, the two ended up sleeping together but she definitely realized that he wasn’t in love with her at all/anymore so she saved herself the conversation and just dipped before he woke up and ran, spent a solid week just out partying/drinking and ended up sleeping with some stranger and then ended up pregnant with no clue as to which guy was the baby’s father. Whether fortunately or unfortunately, it was the one night stand’s who decided he had no interest in being around.

Obviously she knew she needed to change her course and focus on becoming a mother and setting up a future for herself and her child, but not being financially independent enough, she reached out to a lifelong friend who allowed her to move in and began to figure out school.

She’s always been a big fan of kids (worked for a daycare after school, got involved with a charity that worked with orphans/orphanages while traveling) and so she decided that she wanted to be a child life specialist and is still in school but also working an internship with Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital.

Ended up having a little girl named Addison (Addi), this child is her whole world and she’s definitely the mom that posts about their kid too much on social media but she’s just turned Tessa’s life around and helped her mature in ways she wouldn’t have without her and she just loves her kid more than anything/anyone else.

Personality

A dork? Literally the biggest dork, the dorkiest of dorks, just a whole friggen dork. This child rambles like you wouldn’t believe and her mouth 100% works faster than her brain so like you never know what to expect but she’s just a happy, friendly, sarcastic little bean with social anxiety and a heart of gold tbh.

Also an aggressive lil’ lady though, like 12/10 chance she’ll throw hands if you want to fuck with or say something about the people she loves.

A chaotic soul as well like down to party and have a good time and will definitely drink a dude under the table, definitely broke her ribs two summers in a row from a drinking game because this child doesn’t know when to slow down or chill out, she’s just trying to live.

But also the mom friend? Like even before becoming a mom, she’s used to taking care of people and making sure everyone’s good like? 100% convinced her friends to do dumb shit as a teenager and then turned around and tended to their wounds. Also if you’re in her house and it’s meal time, you’re eating. It’s not an option, like sit and eat dinner and tell me about your day.

Emotional as hell, like definitely cries during commercials and Disney movies, but like if you’re trying to tap into her serious emotions she’s gonna shut that shit down. She keeps people locked out tbh and just jokes about the serious shit in her life if she does talk about it.

Desired Connections

Friends; could have lived in/visited Texas and met when she was younger, met while she was traveling, met through her charity work or just after her/them having moved to New York recently.

Exes; so her most recent ex is off limits because it’s based off a real connection but like either of her exes from high school? The first one (cheated on her) would have had to have lived in Texas for some time but the latter (only with her on a bet to see how long it would take to get in her pants, she broke dude’s nose when she found out) could have been visiting friends/family for a summer? If anyone has a character that works for these I’m down for the drama.

Hookups; Tessa is very weird about hookups/one night stands so this is a little limited but my girl definitely needs a few.

Half siblings; so Tessa’s dad basically bailed when she was little - maybe he had another family? He could have had a kid before her who he also bailed on, could have started a family during the same time or after, he could have stayed there for them or bailed on them as well? They could know about Tessa, or neither could know about the other? Tessa pry wouldn’t know about them because she made it a point to never bother searching for this man let alone any family but literally I’m down for whatever other ideas you’ve got on this one!

Patients; if anyone has any younger siblings or kids of their own that perhaps Tessa helped or is currently helping take care of through her internship? She does everything from work in the hospital to house calls and works with both the medical and therapeutic aspects of things.

#villageintro

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loudsuitlover · 5 years ago

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Doctor Harry VII. Hoy te la meto hasta las orejas

Part VI and the rests are linked in there :)

INDIE’S POV

I told Coco everything in the morning. She woke me up. She called me at 9:30 am and my phone started vibrating like crazy on the bedside table. I don’t remember leaving it there. Actually, I don’t remember taking my phone at all since I entered Harry’s house, but I must have.

I didn’t wake him up this time either but he looked so peaceful. I just couldn’t bring myself to disturb him and anyway I really had to run. I had to meet my family at the gallery at 10 am so I most definitely didn’t have time for anything other than a goodbye and that was not worth waking him up early on a Saturday morning. I did leave a note though.

I had to stop by at Olivia’s and Marie’s place for them to let me something to wear and Ollie invited herself over to the meeting. I’m glad she did because as much as I love my mum and her work. I’ll admit most times these things are rather boring. I mean watching all the lights and deciding on where to place the paintings and where to place the tags and where the lights don’t hit the painting right… It’s not something anyone particularly enjoys I think.

Ollie’s spent the first hour trying to get Rio’s attention but she seems to be tired by now. She refuses to understand my brother won’t have anything with her just because she’s my friend. I bet if he met her on a bar and he didn’t know anything about her, not only would he pay attention to her but he would most definitely hit on her too. Olivia is gorgeous. She’s got the most beautiful nose I’ve ever seen and her face is just so symmetrical is crazy, but she’s just his little sister’s friend to him and I know the way he sees her won’t change.

After the meeting, my sister, Ollie and I went to the city centre to have brunch at the café Coco likes. Somehow we silently agreed that Mum and Rio needed this alone time. I don’t know if I like Coco’s and Ollie’s friendship much. I mean of course I do because Ollie is one of the best people I know and I want my little sister to have that kind of people around too but I don’t like it when they both gossip about me like they’re doing now.

“No, seriously, you would do it with a man like him.” Ollie tells my sister.

Coco’s mostly found this hilarious. The fact that I’ve slept twice with my mentor, I mean. They’ve also been stalking him on Facebook like two school girls. I don’t want to be a part of it though but I can’t help but have a look when Ollie’s eyebrows raised. Harry’s ridiculously hot, like seriously sometimes I even wonder how he’s even real.

Harry sent a photo.

I pretend to casually grab my phone when really my heartbeat fastens up as I see his name on the screen. I don’t want them to butt in our texts thread. It’s a picture of the note I left him on the bedside table.

Harry: You need to stop doing this.

Indie: What?

Harry: Leaving after sex

Indie: I was in a rush.

I frown.

Indie: And I stayed the night.

Harry: What would you think if I did that?

It suddenly hits me. He’s right. I’m always embracing gender equality and then here I am treating him differently just because he’s a man. If he left without telling me while I was asleep I’d think he’s a jerk.

Indie: You’re right. I’m sorry.

Harry: Where are you?

What does he care? I lock my phone and place it facedown on the table and look at my sister and my friend. They’re both smiling at me.

“Was that him?”

I roll my eyes.

“It was him!”

I smile. They both laugh.

“Do Jason and Marie know?” She asks.

I nod.

“They don’t know you slept with him last night though!”

“Marie does.” I correct her.

“Marie’s Marie. She might have thought he was walking you home.” Ollie shrugs.

I laugh. She’s right. Marie’s so naïve she might have thought he was waiting for the uber with me or even driving me home himself.

“They won’t believe it!” Ollie laughs.

“Yeah about not believing… What the hell is going on with Mario?”

“Who’s Mario?” My sister asks.

“Her mentor.”

“What?” Coco laughs.

I think Coco’s got the most mesmerising laughter in the world. You can’t hear her when she laughs. You can see her laughing, because she laughs with her whole body, her thin arms hold her flat belly and her dark thin eyebrows come together and her wide smile parts but she doesn’t make a sound.

“Okay, what’s going on with you girls?” She jokes. “Is there another mentor for me?”

It’s funny that she’d ask that because she’s been in love with the same guy for ages. A guy that for some reason doesn’t pay attention to her. Even though she’s younger than me, Coco’s physically everything I’ve ever wanted to be. She’s thin and slender. She’s the same height as me but almost two sizes thinner and her hair is dark and straight. She’s got thin lips but I think they look great on her and it’s one of those things that make her perfectly imperfect. It’s like God puts them on her so people would know her beauty is natural.

“There’s nothing more than what I told you last night.” Ollie is blushing!

“Oh my God, you like him!”

She hasn’t liked anybody since Jack left her. Back then, I would have never imagined it was going to affect her that bad but then again a year ago I didn’t know Olivia as well as I do now.

I still remember that day she was late to class, so far everything normal, and then as soon as the lecture finished she wrap her arms around me and started shaking. I had never seen her crying before and I didn’t know how to act- I’ve never known what to do when someone cries- but I wrap my arms around her and took her outside and the four of us skipped the rest of the lectures and condemn Jack for hours. He had slept with a girl from his class and then he had broken up with her.

Ever since then, she’s just seemingly been happy with not being attached to anyone and I’m not saying she hasn’t really been happy this far, but for a person who was so romantic to turn into someone so naughty…

“Indie” Ollie’s little whisper makes me frown. She’s going to ask me for a favour. “Jason the gossip girl and Marie the prudish are not here so…. Will you finally tell Coco and me Harry’s penis size?”

Coco throws her head back and laughs out loud. In comparison to how we’ve been raised, in a house where we wouldn’t allow to eat bananas without a fork because it looked distasteful, she must think Olivia is so coarse.

I remember that was one of the things I love the most from Olivia’s family. When we went to Paris with her family for the first summer and we got to meet her mother, I thought that was where Olivia’s grace came from. She’s very French too. I’ve never seen her wearing a sweatshirt.

“Did it hurt? You can at least tell us that!” She insists.

The truth is it didn’t hurt because I was beyond ready but it’s definitely the biggest penis I’ve ever seen. I giggle at my own thoughts and she takes it as a yes. It didn’t but she doesn’t need to know that. It does leave me with a feeling of emptiness when it’s gone I hadn’t felt before.

“It must be good sex for her to almost be late at Mum’s meeting.” Coco teases and I roll my eyes.

“And he texts you in like what three hours?” Ollie smirks.

They both seem to be conspiring against me.

“Yeah, I thought he just wanted a shag and that was it but he seems to be insatiable.”

“Well you must be doing something right.” Ollie shrugs. “He so looks insatiable anyway.”

“So there’s a way of looking insatiable?”

Coco laughs too and I shrug as I look at her. She then stares at Ollie as if waiting for an explanation. I do the same.

“You’re telling me you don’t guess those things before you sleep with someone.” She frowns. “What’s with the Anderson girls?”

“Do you always guess?” Coco asks.

“Well, yeah, and not only with them.”

I frown.

“Please tell me you haven’t guessed what we do in the bedroom.”

The way she smiles confirms my suspicions.

“I do it with everybody!” She defends herself. “For instance, see that man over there? Well he likes anal.” She shrugs. “And I mean he likes to be taken from behind.”

“Olivia!”

Coco’s laughing in Coco’s way as she takes discreet glances at the man.

“But that woman is with him!” My sister laughs.

She’s very observant. It only took her a few looks and before she said it I hadn’t realized the way he touches her hand every now and then or how their knees are unnecessarily touching under the table.

“So?” Ollie’s light eyebrows raise on her forehead. “Don’t be old-fashioned! She could very well get one of those strap ons and fuck him hard.”

“You’re delusional.” I tell her.

“And the waiter? The waiter’s totally been checking Indie out the entire time. He’s stared at your breasts every single time he’s come over here. He’ll probably touch himself thinking about you later.”

“Olivia!” I swat her shoulder and she laughs.

I hate wearing low necklines. I never wear them. They make me feel exposed and uncomfortable but since today I had to wear Olivia’s clothes if you didn’t know that already you wouldn’t guess it today. Ollie’s got smaller boobs than me, not only boobs though she’s got smaller everything, even though we can share most clothes- just maybe not bras.

The next time the waiter comes by, I notice him looking at my chest but it was impossible not to after my friend’s comment. I take a sip from my tea as soon as he’s gone.

“No comments.” I warn them.

“So what do you think of me?” Coco asks her with a playful smile on her face.

“Coco!” I feel like all I’ve been doing is calling these two out.

“What? I’m curious!” My sister laughs. “She seems very imaginative.”

What scares me is how quiet Olivia’s been. She’s been staring at Coco with her lips pursed in a thin line as if she was performing some sort of bed habitudes scanner. I bring my hand to my forehead and try not look at them. I don’t want to be a part of this.

“You play innocent but you love dirty talk.” Olivia states.

My sister blushes. Oh my God, she’s right. Olivia throws her head back and laughs. Now I can’t take the image of sweet Coco getting off to someone calling her slut. Geez.

“You look into his eyes.”

Oh, no. I didn’t ask for it. I give Olivia a look that I hope says you can’t be doing this.

“During blowjobs” she adds “you look into his eyes.”

So it didn’t work. I roll my eyes and shake my head as Coco and Olivia laugh out loud.

Olivia decided to join us for lunch as well. I caught Rio trying to hide a smirk as he saw her entering our house for lunch. He knows damn well. As usual, Mum and her have been chatting for most of the night, Coco joining in and adding some comments. I bet she wouldn’t talk about this kind of things if she knew how much Rio hates them. He hates everything that has to do with ostentation and what he calls “luxury so as to differentiate”; but I think it’s unfair to judge someone because of those things. Olivia is not to blame that her parents were rich, none are Coco or me or even Rio and anyway, isn’t what he does precisely what he criticizes?

I mean I agree with most of what he stands for, I also think the fact that someone has a lot of money and someone else doesn’t only means that and nothing else and that’s why it’s stupid for him to think that all rich people are snobs. He says is not so much about having money but about doing things that people with money does. I wish he would start criticising people who pay 35 dollars for a salad that costs 15 tops just to see if her myth with Rio would drop. Nah, she’d probably think for him to have an opinion is sexy.

After lunch, sitting on my bed ready to watch a movie, I wait for Ollie. A comedy of black police officers. She got a call and went out to the balcony to answer. She closed the crystal door behind her so I can’t hear her but I can see her. She’s been smiling the entire time, giggling too and she’s been curling her hair around her finger.

“What?” She’s even blushing when she comes inside and our eyes meet.

“I thought you said there was nothing more to tell about Mario.” I tease, pretending not to look at her as I bring the popcorn bowl closer.

“How do you…?” Her blue eyes look into mine and I giggle.

“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.” I shrug.

She smiles and intertwines our arms on my bed before she leans her head on my shoulder.

“We’re having dinner on Wednesday.”

“That’s great, Ollie!”

“I don’t know.” I feel her shoulder against my arm as she shrugs. “He’s very sweet and all but I think we’re just having dinner.”

I feel the heat running through my body as she says that. If only she knew that’s what Harry said to me. I hope Mario didn’t use those words and I hope that’s not something they say and do with students.

“He seems like a nice guy.”

He really does. I don’t want to talk badly about Harry mostly because I don’t really know much about him but somehow Mario seems like a nicer guy. I don’t know, it must be the fact that Ollie’s seen him out twice and they still haven’t had sex. But that’s just silly. What Harry and I had was just sex and it’s no fair that I judge him because of that. He wanted sex from me and he went for it. That’s a fair thing to do.

“He really does.” Ollie goes on.

“You don’t usually go out with the same guy twice.”

“Technically Mario and I have never gone on a date.” She shrugs. “Plus, maybe it’s time for me to change that.”

I almost laugh at that. Ollie is just like Harry. She just wants what she wants but then she’s like a kitten. Affection on her terms.

She hands me my phone with a playful smirk and I smirk at her before I look down at the screen. It’s a text from Harry. He’s relentless.

Harry: Are you alive?

Indie: Sorry, I’ve been busy.

Harry: I just talked to Danny. You need to hand me the essay on Monday.

So that’s what this is about. I feel so dumb. But why does he think he can text me to talk about an essay?

Indie: On Monday? But I’ve barely started it.

Harry: Well I could help you. I’m still your mentor.

Indie: No way. I don’t want any special treatment.

Harry: I’m not writing the essay for you. I just offered to help. I have work to do anyway.

Indie: So do it.

I don’t know why I’m so stupid to him all the time. Well, no, I do.

Harry: Do you wanna come over for lunch tomorrow?

My hand goes numb. Did he just invite me over for lunch on a Sunday? I feel my cheeks heating up. I know one thing he said he wanted to eat…

Indie: I can’t. I have an essay to do.

Harry: hahaha

I smile. Did I smile?

Harry: You know I’m a good cook and if you came over you wouldn’t even spend time cooking…

Indie: I’d spend time doing something else…

Harry: You said that, not me.

Indie: Right.

Harry: Well, you do you. I’m going to send you an email with useful information for your essay. Make it a good one.

I roll my eyes and place my phone on my bedside table before I lay down and press the play button to enjoy the movie with Olivia. It’s still a Saturday evening and I won’t let any tutor ruin that for me, even if that tutor has the hands of a sex god.

After Olivia leaves, I start working on the essay and I don’t even stop for dinner. If he wants a good essay, he’ll have a good essay. My phone illuminates once again with his name. It’s 1 am on a Saturday night and he still finds the time to text me. I let my smile take over my face as I grab the phone. There’s no use in fighting something that’s not even real.

Harry: I didn’t get any emails from you…

Indie: Well I’m working on it.

Harry: What are you doing up?

Indie: Finishing your damn essay!

Harry: hahaha Do you want me to come over? Give you hand?

I bite my bottom lip.

Harry: Or two?

I can almost see him smiling from ear to ear as he annoys me. I wonder if he’s out somewhere or if he’s shirtless in his kitchen like he was last night.

Indie: You do know I live with my family, right?

That wouldn’t really be a problem though. I have an entire wing to myself so I could have someone over without my family knowing about it. I don’t have to see my family if I don’t want to in a day for my mum moved to the centre villa months ago and now Coco and I have an entire wing each. He doesn’t need to know that though.

Harry: I don’t care. I’ll go if you want me to.

I think about his hands on me. I think about how he makes me feel and how much I’d kill for him to stop my mind again tonight. But no, this is crazy. We can’t keep doing this.

Indie: No, I don’t need your help. I got this. I just need time.

Harry: Leave it. Go to bed. You can finish it tomorrow.

I ponder for a few seconds as I let my eyes fall on the cover of my quilt. I feel my cheeks tinging pink as I think about what he would say if he saw it. It’s a crochet rug from Barbie and The Nutcracker my Nana knitted for me when I was about ten years old. I should probably keep it in the attic like normal people do with things they had from where they were little but this quilt is so special for me. My Nana and I had the most incredible connection and this quilt’s been with me through so many hard moments in my life and anyway I don’t have sex in here so it doesn’t really matter.

Harry: By the way, my shoulders still ache.

Harry sent a photo. It’s a picture of his bare back and it looks like it’s been attacked by a feline. Under the pink scratches though, I can see his pale, soft skin and even some freckles I hadn’t even noticed in our times together. The silver chain from his necklace rests above his shoulder blades and I want to run my hands along his skin and feel every corner of it and press my lips against his shoulders and against every single pink trace of my nails.

Harry: You have some explaining to do young lady.

I chuckle at that. I can’t believe I have done that to him. I’m not that kind of girl. I’ve never marked anybody like that.

Indie: If you want me to send something, you should get popcorn and a comfy seat. The waiting might take forever.

Harry: I already knew that. You don’t impress me, Sorry.

Indie: You asked me how come I’m up at this ungodly hour…Why are you up?

Harry: I was waiting for an email that didn’t arrive…

Indie: Go to bed then. It won’t arrive tonight.

Harry: I’m already in bed.

Harry: Are you?

Indie: No.

Harry: Are you wearing your hair down?

Oh, God. He has such a thing with my hair. I touch it and bring it to my face so I can inspect it. I’ve always liked my hair. Well, no, not always. When I was younger I used to want to have it straight like my mum and Coco but I grew to love my wavy locks. I remember Javier used to say his type were girls with bright eyes, straight and blond hair. Nothing like me and everything like Ollie. I realize know how much of a jerk he was. That’s not something you tell your girl… I wish I had seen it then.

Harry: I wish you were wearing my shirt… It still smelled of you in the morning.

I smile.

Indie: Are you wearing it now?

Harry: If I wear it then it won’t smell like you anymore.

Indie: It was comfy.

Harry: It looked so good on you too. You were fucking sexy.

How can he make me blush even through texts?

Indie: I’ll send you the essay tomorrow.

Harry: Are you sure you don’t want to come over?

Indie: Hahaha, take a cold shower, Harry.

Harry: Are you always so blunt? Or is it just with me?

Indie: You’re not different.

Harry: So you’re going to try to tell me you don’t want to scratch my skin again as you cling on my shoulders while I fuck you against a wall?

Harry: That you don’t want me to hold your hips and move you up and down so I’m deeper inside you until you feel so much pressure you have to scream?

Harry: You mean to tell me you don’t want to run your tongue down my neck and suck on my mouth like you did last night?

I’m gasping. I feel myself getting wet at his words. Who would have thought he’d be such a good writer? But I can see everything he’s saying. If I close my eyes I can see us against the wall, the mirror, the steam from our previous shower, his skin, his hands…

Harry: If you were here right now I would take my time with you.

Harry: I would touch you through your fucking lace underwear that drives me insane like I know you like, because you like that, right? You like it when I worship your fucking perfect body like the goddess you are.

Harry: And then I would run my hands across your soft skin, because is so soft Indie is crazy, and I would inhale the way you smell, so sweet… And I’d dream about the way you taste.

Harry: And then I’d kiss you, long and deep, until I suffocate because that mouth of yours… And your tongue… Fuck… I can get off just thinking about how they’d feel wrap around my cock.

I swallow. I’m on delirium. I don’t think I can take his teasing anymore so I take my hand and bring it down to my pussy and I gasp when I notice how wet it is. It even sounds against my fingers. I wonder if this is what he feels when he touches me and I’m afraid this is too much lubricant… I might be dehydrating myself..

Harry: But I would have to get my mouth away from yours even though I know you’d pout like a little girl and that’d drive me crazy but I would kiss down your neck until I wrap my lips around your soft hard nipple and I would suck at it as if I could drink from you

I push my laptop away with my leg and lay my back against the headboard as I collect my own wetness with my fingertips like he does and massage my clit, spreading my arousal on my own burning hot skin.

Harry: And then I would kiss that belly of yours until my mouth was face to face with your fucking warm pussy and I could only dream about the scent… Fuck, Indie, you have to let me do that.

I roll my eyes on the back of my head. I imagine the two fingers I’m moving up and down just pressing on the right side of my clit is his tongue and I want to scream even if I’m alone in my own room. Fuck, he’s turning me on like a monkey.

Harry: And then I would lick you dry and I would get my fingers inside your tight pussy just to watch your reaction because I love it, the way your lips part and your brows crease and your whole face flushes… You’re so gorgeous, Indie.

Harry: And then before I fuck you, I know your impatient hands would find my cock, because you’re so impatient, Indie, you always wanna run… But I wouldn’t be able to do anything as your hand pumped me because I would melt on you…

I want to tell him I too would worship his body and his soft, warm skin and that I would run my tongue against it and I would kiss his hard on and lick it like ice cream on a summer day and I would get it inside my mouth as if I hadn’t eaten on days and then I would suck him and I would enjoy the salty taste of his precum before he spurted white, thick shots of cream down my throat. And I would swallow it all.

But instead of writing that down, I feel my lips palpitating, as if I had another heart down there, and the movement of my wrist becomes frenetical and the massage turns into hard and fast rubbing until I feel the knot in my belly untying itself and I feel and hear myself releasing.

Harry: But then after that I would still manage to muster the strength to bore you against the mattress without ever leaving your hazel hungry eyes and I would suck in your moans on my mouth until you cum again all over me and then minutes later I would cum inside you and still be inside you while we come down from the haze

Harry: That’s what I would do but since you don’t want to come over or have me over I have to wank while I just think about it.

Indie: Were you touching yourself while you wrote that?

Harry: Of course I was. Were you?

I blush even though he can’t see me. It would be mortifying for me that he knew he just gave me another orgasm without even seeing me. What is this man doing to me? I lick my lips, but they’re dry as a desert. I need water but I don’t even trust my legs yet. I’m so tired too, my eyelids are giving up on me.

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moghedien · 5 years ago

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Could you recommend some adult sff? Love your blog btw!

Thank you!

And ok, I could give you better personalized recs if you give me some idea of what you’re looking for or what you like, but I’m gonna give you some general recommendations. Also I only really feel comfortable recommending books that I have personally read, and there are tons more out there than what I have read. If you want to find more, looking at recent Hugo nominations over the past few years might be helpful. Also one of the reasons why I know anything at all about the SFF world is that I’ve been listening to the Sword and Laser podcast for like, a decade. I never really mention that podcast, but its literally why I started reading at all and also they have a pretty active goodreads group as well.

So recommendations:

Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie:

This is one of my favorite books period. This is a far future space opera about an artificial intelligence who used to be a spaceship and now is only one human body, and she is ANGRY ABOUT that. I don’t really want to say more than that, but if you like AI shenanigans and being sorta confused as to what is going on the entire time, then this is the book for you! It’s the first book in a completed trilogy.

The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan:

Obviously I’m gonna recommend the Wheel of Time. This is the first book in a 14 (actually 15) book series and if you need something to do with the next 1-5 years of your life *motions toward EoTW*.

So the Eye of the World, I think is uniquely good as a book if you kinda want to get into adult fantasy for a few reasons. For one thing, its kinda considered to be one of those “classics” of the genre but its not too old to be offputting to some readers. It’s a 30 year old book, so its not reflective of the genre now, but you can definitely see its influence all the place, even outside of just books. The Eye of the World specifically, also goes out of its way to make readers comfortable. It leans heavy on Tolkien references and tropes at first without being a straight up copy of Lord of the Rings like some classic fantasy books are. Its done very purposefully, in my opinion, to make the reader feel like they have some idea of what’s going on, and the series quickly drops the Tolkien references as soon as its established itself enough.

Also the Gandalf parallel for the series is a smol bi lady and there is 24 year old rage healer who wants to fight everyone with her own two fists.So many women to stan.

Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey

This is the first book of the Expanse, which is a nearish future space opera that takes place in our solar system. Mars has long ago been colonized and is a completely separate government entity than Earth, and conflict between the two planets has been stirring. The Asteroid Belt has also been colonized and have long been little more than tools of corporations that run their colonies. A group of ice haulers working in the outer planets get in the middle of one of the biggest secrets in the solar system and find themselves in all kinds of trouble.

I don’t really want to say more than this, but this is probably the only SF series that I actively keep up on when a new book comes out. There are 8 books our currently, and the 9th and final book will be out sometime in the near future. There are also several short stories and novellas set in the world, and there’s a TV show that I really like though I need to catch up on it.

The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin

Hello, this book comes with content warnings for literally everything, but it is such a good book/trilogy. This is book about a woman trying to find her daughter again in the middle of the apocalypse. Definitely a heavy read but absolutely brilliant. The world has a magic system based on geology and the people that can use that magic....saying they’re discriminated against is an understatement. I don’t want to say much more about it, but if you have any kind of content you can’t read for whatever reason, I’d check before picking this up. This is the first book in a completed trilogy

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

So this isn’t really super SF heavy and is actually sold as a literary book, but it takes place after a flu pandemic has wiped out a large portion of the population...so maybe this is a bad time to read this book, OR its the best time to read it. Depends on how you’re dealing with *motions at the world*

The book flashes back to before and during the pandemic a lot, but is largely about art’s importance and is actually quite optimistic in its messaging, and this is another of my favorite books ever. But yeah, might be a bad time for you to read it of you can’t deal with the content now.

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

I just remembered that this book also has a plague, but its a subplot and not the major thing. So this is a big ol’ chonky standalone book that is high fantasy, deals with multiple cultures having to interact and work together, and has dragons. Also there’s a genunine slow burn f/f romance and *chef’s kiss*. I can’t really say much else, mostly because I struggle to explain this book, but its very good and probably my favorite book from last year.

The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal

In this house we stan Mary Robinette Kowal, ok?

So this is a science fiction that is more an alternate history that poses the question, hey, what would have happened if an asteroid slammed into the east coast in 1952 and the world had to scramble to colonize Mars so that everyone didn’t die on earth when the climate got catastrophic, because that’s the inciting action of the book. The main character is a Jewish woman who was a WASP pilot in WW2 and is a computer for the space program when all this happens. The book deals with sexism, and racism, and xenophobia, and all the social issues that are gonna come up with it being set in 1952, but Mary Robinette doesn’t flinch away from addressing social issues in any of her books, even when it makes her main characters look bad. (Also if you like Pride and Prejudice, she has a series that is just Pride and Prejudice with magic and like, yeah, its good).

A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan

This is a book which poses a question, what if dragons were like weird animals that were real and an eccentric woman spent her entire life traveling the world to study them and then told the stories of that in her memoirs when she was too old to care about the consequences of publishing all her scandals. That’s what the book is about. This one is probably actually the weakest in the series, just because it deals with so much set up. It’s a great series to get on audio because Kate Reading is a fantastic narrator, and the prose works so well as audio, because it’s just someone telling you her life story. There are five books in the series.

All Systems Red by Martha Wells

So this is a novella and is the first in the murderbot series. Basically a killer robot gets addicted to television shows and accidentally became sentient. I haven’t read the others in the series, but I really need to reread this one and get to the others.

Jade City by Fonda Lee

This is a fantasy set in world sorta inspired by the early 1900s but is in a fantasy world. It’s like a mafia movie and kung fu movie had a baby and it was this book. The sequel is out currently, but the third book is set to release next year.

An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon

This is another heavy read. This is a SF story set on a generation ship that has a society very heavily inspired by the antebellum south. There’s class issues, race issues, gender issues, mental health issues. All kinds of things intersecting here. Its fantastic, but a heavy read.

Assassin’s Apprentice by Robin Hobb

This is another fantasy classic, and is the first of the Farseer Trilogy. The title is sort of also a description of the book, so like. I’m not sure what else I can say. I haven’t read further into the series, but people I trust love it, and honestly I need to reread this and read more of the books.

Doomsday Book by Connie Willis

So if you think that Station Eleven might be a bad book to read at the time, then this is THE WORST POSSIBLE BOOK TO READ RIGHT NOW. Or, maybe the best. Depends on how you cope. This is a book about time travelers based in Oxford and the main character accidentally gets stranded in the past right as the Black Plague is about to hit. And it hits. The book is horrific. The second book in the series is much funnier. This one ain’t funny, but is good. Just, oof.

Mistborn or Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson

So if you want to get into the Cosmere, which is a series of series that interconnect and will ruin your life, then then my personal opinion is to either start with Mistborn or Warbreaker. People might not agree with me, but that’s my personal opinion.

Warbreaker is currently a standalone (a sequel will come out eventually but its not set up for a sequel so you can 100% read it as a standalone). The magic in this world is based on colors, and the story revolves around two sisters. One of them is betrothed to the horrific God King of their neighboring kingdom. The other sister ends up being sent in her place because their dad hates her. I adore Warbreaker so much. It has it all. Two women discovering their true places on the prep/goth spectrum. Talking swords. Vivenna. Everything you can need right there.

Mistborn is a trilogy that is very emo and will ruin you. Its about people who swallow metal to get magic powers and live in world where the dark lord won already, so they’re all emo. And that was the worst description of Mistborn I ever could have written, but I find it too funny to change.

So if you’re interested in the Cosmere, but are afraid to commit long term, pick up Warbreaker. If you want to get into a series right away, pick up Mistborn.

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