#and then we have a glorious 2 week winter break

[slashthrashandcrash]

i just have to make it through this week...i just have to finish my two final projects and then i can draw again i promise i really promise please...

[foundtherightwords]

All Our Yesterdays - Chapter 9

Pairing: Ralph (Timewasters) x OFC

Summary: Thu, a museum archivist, only wants to escape her dull life in 21st-century Hanoi. The last thing she expects is to end up in 1929 Indochina via a time-traveling elevator and cross paths with Ralph, an Englishman on the run from the French Foreign Legion. Romance blossoms between them, but in a colonized country, unrest is always looming on the horizon, and Thu must decide if she wants to stay with Ralph in the past or return to the safety of the future.

Warnings: outdated/period-typical attitudes about women, mentions of war, mentions of pregnancy and abortion (involving a supporting character), some angst, some smut (non-explicit)

Chapter word count: 3.7k

Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Chapter 5 - Chapter 6 - Chapter 7 - Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Winter had finally arrived in Hanoi. For a few short, glorious weeks in November, the sky was a blue dome, the sun was a gentle glaze over the landscape, and everything was crisp and crystal clear. Then December came, and the Northeastern monsoon swept through Tonkin, changing the entire city in a single night. A merciless wind stripped the trees bare, leaving them to raise their skeletal frames toward a sky the color of tarnished silver. The traditional houses, not built for retaining heat, seemed to huddle closer together for warmth, as did the people on the streets. Vendors selling grilled corn on the cob and roasted sweet potatoes popped up on every street corner, and crowds flocked to them, for the fire from their stoves as much as the snacks. In the Western area of town, around Rue Paul Bert, Christmas decorations started appearing in shop windows and around doorways. For the locals, however, the real celebration—the Lunar New Year—was still about two months away.

The weather wasn't the only thing that changed. Thu sensed that something had changed between her and Ralph as well, in the days following his birthday and their outing at the dance hall.

On the outside, everything was the same. They still hung out (Thu tried not to think of their outings as dates)—eating at this or that vendor that they hadn't tried, going to the theater or the movies, even venturing to the Botanic Garden, though Thu was always careful to keep them away from the area around Robin Park. However, the easy friendliness between them was gone, replaced by a sense of tension, not just mental but physical as well, as both seemed to hold their bodies alert like a string, taut with wanting, waiting for the other to say something, do something, to break this terrible suspense, but neither dared to make the first move. It wasn't entirely unpleasant—it was like having a low dose of adrenaline constantly pumping through her veins—but it left her frustrated at the end of the day, when he walked her home, mumbled "Good night" and stalked off down the street, without even looking at her, without even shaking her hand, as if one touch would make them both spontaneously combust.

OK, so she liked him. She could admit that, at least to herself. He was cute and sweet and fun and she liked hanging out with him and taking care of him, and she even liked letting him take care of her once in a while. But it was no use entertaining the idea. This wasn't like meeting someone on vacation, because then at least there was always a chance they could see each other again. No, this was simply impossible.

It would be so much better if she could just sit him down and rip the Band-Aid off. "Listen, Ralph, I think you're great and all (what's that goofy 1920s slang word he uses? "Wizard"?), but I can't stay here forever, so how about we just kiss and get it out of our system and then go back to being friends?" But it was never that simple, was it? It wouldn't stop at just a kiss, would it? And there was always a chance that she had completely misread his signals, that he wasn't interested and was just being nice, and how humiliating would that be? And so she said nothing, and he said nothing, and they kept circling around each other in that limbo, taking both comfort and dissatisfaction from each other's company.  

Christmas came without much fanfare. None of the staff at the newspaper was Christian, and Thu didn't celebrate it either—though it had become an unofficial secular holiday in modern-day Vietnam, she didn't see any point in celebrating as a non-Christian. Ralph did though, so she made an effort to give him a nice time, knowing it would be the one day when he felt the most homesick. They didn't go to church—it was far too crowded and the risk of Ralph getting recognized would be greater. Instead, they stayed home for a Christmas dinner, French-Indochinese style. Ralph bought a bottle of champagne, a cake, and some sweets from Godard's, and she bought a Peking duck and side dishes from a Chinese restaurant.

"This is so good! Beats a roast goose any day," Ralph said, stuffing himself with the duck and pickles wrapped in crispy pancakes, while Thu watched him, smiling indulgently.

For presents, she gave him a dozen cotton handkerchiefs embroidered with his monogrammed initials, R.P. It was the most practical and least romantic present she could think of—she kept forgetting to buy some for herself, and Ralph was always having to give her one of his.

"I have something for you too," Ralph said, blushing a little, and handed her a long, rectangular package.

It was a photo album. "To Autumn, from Ralph" was written on the front page. The photos were all of her, carefully captioned in Ralph's own handwriting. Here she was, standing with the kids in front of the toy shop at the Mid-Autumn Festival. Here she was, leaning over a basket of flowers and smiling up at the camera. Here she was, standing at the balcony and looking over the street, deep in thought. There was even one of them together, reflected in a shop window like two ghosts floating over the busy pavement.

Thu looked from the album to Ralph, lost for words.

"A little memento for when you go home," he said. "I know you have all those pictures on your clever telephone already, but—"

"I love it," she interrupted, reaching across the table to squeeze his hand. "Thank you."

He beamed at her.

Later that night, back in her own room, as she looked over the photos again, tracing the captions with her fingers, Thu thought to herself, After the Lunar New Year. She would stay for the Lunar New Year. And after that, maybe she'd find the strength to say goodbye.

***

As the New Year—the "Western" New Year, as it was still called in modern day, as opposed to the Lunar New Year—approached, the office of Women's Weekly was abuzz with excitement. To thank the staff and to celebrate the paper's three-month anniversary, Madame Phuong was going to throw a party at her house on New Year's Eve. Thu realized that then, as it is in modern times, the Lunar New Year is for families, while the Western New Year is reserved for social gatherings.

It was Lien who came up with the idea of putting on a pantomime play, both to entertain themselves and the guests at the party, and to help the staff bond. Madame Phuong gave her approval, and the women had been rehearsing all through Christmas. Thu was glad to see that it didn't seem much different from the amateur shows she and her co-workers often performed at the museum on special occasions, except they were all going to be cross-dressing for maximum hilarity.

They decided to perform Thach Sanh, or the story of the woodcutter who braved monsters and won the hand of a princess, since it had more male characters than other fairy tales, thus more cross-dressing roles for the all-female staff. Lien even roped her henpecked husband into playing the evil adoptive mother, which left the role of the Princess. The other staff members were asked if they had husbands or brothers or male friends that could step in, but the women all laughed behind their hands and said, "Playing a princess? They'd rather die!" It was then that Lien suggested that Thu asked her "photographer friend".

"I'll ask him, but I can't promise anything," Thu said. She turned to Mai and lowered her voice. "Maybe you can ask Louis too?" she asked with a teasing grin. Louis with his mustache playing a princess, now that would be a laugh.

"I—I don't know if he can," Mai mumbled, looking uncomfortable, and Thu's grin immediately disappeared. The girl had been rather subdued and distracted lately. Perhaps her relationship with the dashing Louis wasn't going well. Thu felt sorry for her, and again wondered if she'd done the right thing, keeping quiet about Louis's lechery.

To her pleasant surprise, Ralph agreed to help right away.

"We used to put on a panto for Christmas all the time at home," he said enthusiastically. "It'll be a laugh!"

And so on New Year's Eve, laden with costumes and props and musical instruments, they all made their way to Madame Phuong's villa on the quiet lane of Chân Cầm Street. Thu was astonished to recognize the place—in her time, it was converted into a couple of boutiques on the first floor and a coffee shop on the second floor, but the interior was more or less the same, down to the floor tiles, the tall French windows that opened onto the balcony, the carved columns on either side of the door, and the painted moldings on the ceiling. So many times she and her friends had been there drinking egg coffee, wondering who the previous owner was. Never had she dreamed that one day she would be there when it was all fresh and new... The feeling of derealization, which she hadn't felt in months, was back, and it was only when Ralph touched her shoulder that Thu realized she was gaping at the house like an idiot.

"Everything all right?" Ralph asked.

"Yeah, yeah, just—you know. I know this place." She shook her head. "Sometimes this whole thing feels like the longest bout of déjà-vu ever."

"Come on, we have to get into costumes." He pulled her toward the back of the house. The "actors" had congregated in a guest room, which had been set up as the changing room, and were putting on their costumes with much laughter and teasing. The play was to be very informal. It would be easy to hire a theater troupe, but Lien insisted on impressing Madame Phuong with their enthusiasm and homemade skills, hence the amateurish preparations.

Soon, Thu found herself clad in a men's robe of navy brocade, borrowed from Lien's husband, with a crown constructed out of paper and gold foil. She was playing the king, but as Vietnam still had an Emperor then and the royal color of yellow was forbidden for the common folk, they had to settle for blue instead. Mai, who was in charge of make-up, whipped out a cooking pot, its bottom blackened with soot.

"What the hell is that?" Thu asked.

"It's for your beard and eyebrows," Mai said, dragging a finger through the soot and smearing it on Thu's face.

Ralph took one look at her and bust out laughing.

"I don't see what you're laughing at," Thu scoffed. "Look at yourself!"

Lien had lent him her wedding robe of red brocade, and a crown, similar to Thu's, was on his head. Even though the robe was loose-fitting, Ralph was still too tall and broad-shouldered for it, so he had to wear it open like a smoking jacket, and his wrists poking out from the sleeves struck Thu as adorably awkward. At least he was allowed to wear his own trousers underneath.

Mai was smiling along with them, but then she suddenly went pale, winced, and clamped a hand on her stomach, dropping the pot of rouge she was going to use on Ralph.

"You OK?" Thu asked, looking at the girl with concern.

"Um, yeah, just cramps."

"Why don't you get some air?" Thu said, picking up the rouge. "I'll take care of this. The King and the Princess aren't on until the third scene anyway."

Mai gave her a grateful look and slipped out the door. Thu sat Ralph down in front of her, dipped her finger into the rouge, and rubbed a circle on each of his cheeks.

"You're worried about her," he said.

"She hasn't been herself. No doubt that dick Louis has something to do with it."

"Maybe they've broken up."

"That would be for the best, honestly."

Then she glanced at his face and tried to suppress a giggle.

He narrowed his eyes at her. "What?"

"Nothing. You look like one of those Russian nesting dolls. "

"And you look like a chimney sweep," he said, grinning at her.

"Don't talk, or I'll get lipstick on your teeth."

As she touched his lips, however, all thoughts of Mai went out of Thu's head. She was all too aware that they were alone in the room, and she was tracing his lips with her finger, how full and soft and warm they were, and he was looking at her almost expectantly, and if she just leaned down, she could kiss him—

"Ready?" Lien bustled in. She wasn't going on stage, preferring to be the director instead.

Thu looked up, hoping the soot was enough to cover her blush. "Um, yeah," she said.

"Good. You're up next!"

***

Peeking through a gap in the door, Thu saw that the drawing room was full of people, both French and Vietnamese. They were a rather Bohemian-looking lot, some dressed up, others looking like they just came off of their easels or writing desks. Madame Phuong's own children wove in and out amongst the guests. The atmosphere was casual and relaxed, and Thu's nervousness about her performance dissipated a great deal.

It helped her, also, to see that Ralph seemed to be enjoying himself. Her own role consisted of nothing else but sitting on a wingback chair, lifting her hand, and pointing a couple of times, so she spent most of her time on stage watching Ralph. He took to the stage like a duck to water. It being a pantomime, there was no line, but his gestures and looks earned a great deal of laughter and cheers from the audience. The princess's heartbreaking sighs at being separated from her brave woodcutter were especially convincing, even if she tended to look over at her father the king quite often during that scene. Thu was only glad that she was not a good enough actor to play the lead role, or else she would've melted into a puddle when the princess was finally reunited with the woodcutter.

Afterward, the actors took to the stage amidst enthusiastic applause, bowed, and rushed back into the changing room, laughing and congratulating each other. The women crowded around Lien's husband and Ralph, heaping them with praises, and telling Lien and Thu how lucky they were that their men were so supportive. It hit Thu then, that not only the staff took it for granted that Ralph was her partner, but they were also jealous of her. Her heart swelled with something akin to proprietorial pride, as she watched Ralph taking in the compliments, looking a bit overwhelmed but pleased.

They got out of their costumes, wiped their faces clean of make-up, and joined the other guests for hors d'oeuvres and champagne. The children had been sent to bed, and the party became more boisterous. At one point, Thu overheard Madame Phuong and a few other people getting into quite a heated discussion in French, of which she only caught a few familiar words like parti and révolutionnaire. Then they noticed her looking in their direction and quickly changed the subject.

Thu knew the August Revolution, which led to Vietnam gaining independence from France, was still fifteen years away, but the nationalist movements that gave birth to it must have started around this time. She looked at the happy, amicable faces around her, wondering if any of them would be involved in the war to come. Her stomach twinged with the slight embarrassment of being too wrapped up in her own personal affair, while there were much bigger things going on around her.

Then she caught Ralph's eyes across the room, and that embarrassment vanished. She realized she hadn't talked to him since the play was over, and suddenly she missed him. It was ridiculous to miss someone who was literally five meters away, but she did. As she made her way to him, one of Madame Phuong's friends started asking her about her hair, where she'd had it cut. By the time Thu got rid of her and turned back, Ralph himself was locked in conversation with a French gentleman. Before she could try to reach Ralph again, there was a tinkling of glass, and conversations paused as people turned to Madame Phuong. "It's almost midnight!" she announced, first in Vietnamese, then in French, pointing to the big grandfather clock behind her. "Let's ring in the New Year!"

A countdown began, in both Vietnamese and French. The clock struck twelve, a loud cheer of "Bonne année!" went up, and then, to Thu's great surprise, the guests started giving each other hearty kisses on the cheeks. She had heard of the tradition of kissing at midnight on New Year's Eve, of course, but it was a purely Western custom, never practiced in Vietnam, and certainly not in 1930, when the country was only on the brink of modernization. This must be a very liberal, very Westernized crowd if they took to it so naturally.

She saw Ralph making his way toward her and panicked. True, she had fantasized about kissing him just a few hours ago, but ever since their accidental kiss on his birthday, she had gone back and forth between yearning for his lips and dreading them. What if he was to kiss her now and she didn't know how to behave? What if it was just a friendly peck on the cheek and she didn't know how to deal with the crushing disappointment? No, better not risk it. She spun around and dashed through the other guests, escaping to the back of the house.

Walking down the dimly lit corridor, Thu found her way to the toilet, intending to take refuge in it until the moment for midnight kisses had passed. But as she reached the door, she heard a sound coming from within—quiet, whimpering sobs, like those of a child trying to hide her crying. She paused, not knowing if she should knock or retreat in discretion. Before she could decide, the door opened and Mai emerged, her eyes red and puffy. Thu realized she hadn't seen the girl since the play began.

"What's the matter?" she asked, but Mai only sniffed, shook her head, and disappeared down the hallway.  

***

Her mind was still on Mai when she said her goodbye to Madame Phuong and met Ralph at the front door. Belatedly, Thu realized that he was waiting to walk her home. Ah well. He had done so over the past two months and nothing had happened; there was no need to make things more awkward now.

If Ralph had noticed her running away from him at midnight and was hurt or offended, he made no mention of it. He only saw her shiver in her quilted jacket, so he took off his coat and draped it over her shoulders. She tried to protest, but he shrugged. "It's only a short walk, I won't freeze."

"Thank you." She clutched the coat closer around her, breathing in his warmth and the familiar soapy scent, while Ralph walked in long, leisurely strides next to her, his hands stuffed in his pockets. Some of their easy silence had returned, and Thu felt herself relaxing slightly. Perhaps they could go back to being friends after all.

"What are you thinking about?" he asked.

She sighed and told him about catching Mai crying in the bathroom. "I really should've warned her about Louis."

"What happened to not getting involved?"

She gave him a sharp glance. "It's a bit late for that, isn't it? I've been involved in all sorts of things now."

"So if you return to your time and the robots have taken over, you're not going to blame me?" he said, grinning.

She couldn't help grinning back. "No, you're off the hook. Great party tonight, wasn't it?" she said, changing the subject. She didn't like talking about going back to her time.

"It was. You did a great job with the play."

"Me?" She waved her hand dismissively. "Pfft. Trying to look kingly isn't that hard. You, though. If this photography thing doesn't work out, you should think about going on stage."

"I wasn't acting," Ralph said quietly.

"But when the princess was leaning against the window frame? All that sad longing? That was so convincing!"

"Like I said, I wasn't acting."

He had slowed his steps and was looking at her rather wistfully, but Thu strode on, pretending not to see, pretending not to notice the throbbing of her heart. He was probably just thinking of Lauren during that scene. Yes, definitely...

She walked so fast that Ralph had to scramble to catch up with her, but they had arrived at her boarding house. She turned to him. "Well, good night."

Ralph looked down, deflated. "Happy New Year," he mumbled.

"In Vietnam, we say 'Chúc mừng năm mới.'"

"Chuc mung nam moi?" he repeated, trying to form his mouth around the unfamiliar words.

"Close enough." Thu smiled. "See you then."

He gave her a brief nod, turned to leave, then seemed to have come to a decision and turned back, stepping closer to her, crossing the gap between them with just one stride. "Do you know that if you don't get a kiss on New Year's Eve, you'll be doomed to a year of loneliness?" he whispered.

The string inside her snapped. Why did he say that? Why did he keep saying and doing these things that made it so hard to resist him? Didn't he know how painful it was for her?

"Damn it, Ralph." She grabbed him by his shirt, pulled him to her, and clasped her mouth to his.

Chapter 10

A/N: Finally, things are happening! Smut is coming next chapter! Although slow burn is my jam, this is the slowest burn I've written so far, and even I was getting a little antsy with these two, so thank you for your patience :))

[cinimon01]

Big splash but change in direction

On the 18th of June we were booked in for the splash from the boat yard back into the H10 berth at the Marina. Mai Tai was cleaned, pro speed was applied to the sail drive with new anodes and boot added. The batteries were in place, but needed a few extra days for testing and attaching the wind generator. It was a calm sunny day that we went in and had no problem getting back into boat life again.

That was until we were told to expect weeks of rain in winter and the damp that comes with it. On hearing this we were on the look out for a house to sit in or a cheapy to rent for winter. We met Rodger who was preparing his 52 ft yacht 'Swan' to sail to Fiji in the up coming weeks. He mentioned that his mate has a house in Okiato and would rent it to us for a fraction of other rentals in the area and it came with a car. We went to have a look and I fell in love with this little A frame house nestled in the hill if Okiato, over looking the bay towards Piahia.

We decided to rent this little cottage for 2 months and sail Mai Tai on non rainy days. Perfect set up. The little house is complete with a full kitchen with every appliance you could wish for and warm and comfortable furniture and my favourite thing, the garden. It is extremely overgrown but hidden under the wild Jasmin, that is about to burst into flower this spring, we found lime, orange and lemon trees. Just perfect.

The back veranda faces north so It gets the sun all day and makes for a warm spot on 13 degree days to sit and soak up some vitamin D. But as soon as the sun goes down, it can get really cold.

View from our back veranda.

Life for us now is in go with the flow mode. I see this little stay as a break from travelling and readying ourselves for the next stage in our adventure. We haven't stopped since March 2023 and being in Okiato feels like a home away from home. I've joined the Opua yoga group that was walking distance from the Marina, but from Okiato, I catch the car ferry. One of the ladies from Yoga lives across the road from us so we catch the ferry together with the teacher, Ines. On Fridays, after yoga and a coffee, we go for a walk along the track towards Piahia. Its absolutely glorious walking beside a beautiful water way and chatting about life and its possibilities with these young ladies. Karen is the youngest and then me. All of the others are near 70 or over and they can walk rings around me.

View from Piahia track walk.

Ines and Ann invited me to come and learn Mahjong. So Ann drove me to Ines's house in Russel, about 10 minutes away. Then from there we walked 25 minutes to the other side of the town to the bowling club, where we played Mahjong. It was very much like rummy to me where sets of tiles should be gathered to form a Mahjong. But the set you make must be in the book of rules and it must be exactly like it or your set is just a made up one. So in order to play, first one must know a few of these sets so they can aim towards the Mahjong hand. Was fun, I would do it again.

On the 10th of July with a few ladies from Yoga and Majong, David and I went to the Russel cruising club for dinner and to see a guest speaker Ann Hill who has sailed around South Georgia Island near Antarctica.

She and her partner travelled around this remote island for about 2 months experiencing the severe weather and rugged beauty of the island. Her talk was both informative and entertaining. I felt like a young sailor in this room of about 90 old salts, one being 97 years young. Most of the experienced sailors in the room had travelled the globe in their yachts, coming to New Zealand 20 or so years ago and deciding there was no place better in the world than here to settle and retire. I am beginning to think they are right.

Until next time, signing off on the 13th of July, ever grateful for our life and our family and friends. Cheers.

[ibtk]

Book Review: Witches of Brooklyn #2: What the Hex?! by Sophie Escabasse (2021)

4/5 stars

Winter break is wrapping up, and Effie Huchbolt-Walloo is officially a witch-in-training. As such, Selimene and Carlota are excited for their new apprentice-slash-family member to meet their equally magical friends: Sissi, Jezebel, Nattie, Sharpy, Tam, and the rest of the gang that makes up the NYC neighborhood witch watch.

Effie is shocked to learn that witches aren't the only supernatural beings who call NYC home: ghosts and dragons are real too! But the group's most pressing concern is a series of unfortunate "accidents" that have taken place on an intersection of Sixth Avenue. Cue: "The Case of the Stormy Corner."

At the same time Effie's magical life is heating up, her friendship with Berrit seems to be cooling down. Berrit ignored Effie's calls all winter break and, now that school's back in session, she knows why: it seems that new girl Garance has usurped her role as Berrit's BFF. Will jealousy get the better of Effie, or can she learn to like - and maybe even work with - Garance?

As far as sequels go, WHAT THE HEX is a pretty formidable one - I might even like it a wee bit more than WITCHES OF BROOKLYN. We finally discover the secret behind Lion, the tiny pink pup, and the introduction of other otherworldly creatures is aces. I love that Selimene and Carlota are vegetarians, although vegetarians that are not romantically involved. (I would say "just" BFFs, but there's nothing "just" about having a ride or die friend who shares your home, business, and assorted hijinks. Although the Avengers they are not, as Selimene is quick to point out.)

The other NYC witches run the gamut, from pink-haired, tulle-wearing Jezebel to the bearded and tattooed Nattie. Their collective concern over the influx of hobbyist witches - "[R]eally nice girls! Most of them are very eco-friendly ... they're respectful - and feminist obviously. That's good." - with their plethora of candles is charming AF. I'd love to see the other witches play a larger role in future volumes (and Escabasse sets Sissi up for exactly that). Especially Aunt Ma, in all her glorious foliage.

I also greatly enjoyed how Escabasse juxtaposed Effie's relationship troubles with the mystery of the week, imparting a really lovely lesson about friendship and cooperation.

https://www.librarything.com/work/26710588/reviews/247560766

[tharizdun-03]

Mob Psycho 100 III Watchthrough

#1: Future ~Career Paths~

Wonderful Mob Psycho 100 episode! Very strong start to this season.

#2: Yokai Hunter Amakusa Haruaki Appears! ~The Threat of a Hundred Demons!!~

I really like these episodic psychic stories, and tend to treasure them while they last before the long arcs (which are great too) come along. Hope we still get a few more this season.

#3: Getting Carried Away ~100%~

Another great episode! There was never any doubt about it, but this season is off to a wonderful start. It's very nice to have Dimple back too, his dynamic with Mob is always interesting.

#4: Divine Tree 1 ~The Founder Appears~

Fantastic episode. Literally went "holy shit" during just the first few seconds cause the atmosphere and colors just made it immediately apparent things were different. Super effective direction at display. Mob continues to be the best airing seasonal at the moment.

The first three episodes were pretty lowkey (which I also love), but it was about time that something a bit heavier kicked in. And Dimple has always been one of the more complicated characters in the show.

There's no doubt that he likes Mob and enjoys his company, but Dimple is still a spirit and has his view on things, and a goal he still wants to achieve. Those sides are clashing here. 

He did in fact even invite Mob to join him, and when he was rejected, I bet that hurt him. Angered him. Which helped spur him on to lash out like this.

And in Mob's case, he's never really dealt with not being able to rely on Reigen for emotional support like this. They had a bit of a break in S2 ofc, but this is a much more dire conflic where Reigen (seems) brainwashed to stand in opposition to him even, which is new. But every new challenge provides a new opportunity for growth.

S3 has not yet had one of those peak episodes that the series can certainly deliver, but it's just consistently excellent all over. I'm definitely hoping we can peak even higher somewhere this season, but I'm super happy with whatever we end up getting.

#5: Divine Tree 2 ~Peace~

Season 3 finally kicked things up a notch with this week's episode and reached those heights that the first two seasons did at the top of their game. Fantastic stuff.

It's quite frankly just sad, seeing Dimple so desperate to reach out to Mob, but because what the two of them value are diametrically opposed, whatever he tries to use to entice Mob just isn't effective.

They both care for each other, but in very different ways. Mob always saw the best in Dimple and considered him a good friend, while Dimple saw Mob more as a student, someone who needed him to set him straight. Ironic, how those roles have kinda exchanged with this confrontation.

#6: Divine Tree 3 ~Dimple Is~

Yeah, so pretty great episode.

I'll actually start by saying that I was slightly torn about the first half. It all felt in character and the subtext has always been there, but the whole speech just convincing Dimple, and the "I just wanted a friend", while accurate, I dunno, felt a bit cliche. 

I think the presentation sells the execution of it for the most part tho and again, it is accurate to the characters. The second half is just a glorious sakugafest. Yoshimichi Kameda, Hironori Tanaka, Yutaka Nakamura and everyone else that worked on this, bless you. 

The last sequence with Mob and Dimple was quite gutwrenching tho, and worked for me on pretty much all levels. I can't say I ever really cared much for Dimple so it's a testament that the episode still got me emotional.

Dunno if we'll see him again, but if not, this was pretty much the perfect way to go.

#7: Transmission 1 ~Winter Break~

Another lovely episode this week. I wondered how we'd follow up on last week, and while Mob is still quietly grieving, it has taken a bit of a backseat. But as usual, I really like these small, psychic SoL-like stories, and treasure them when we get them.

I'm not sure if we're gonna go for a dark twist here or if it'll keep being lowkey (I'd be cool with the entire season being this chill), but considering next week is the rumored 20k frames episode, we might just attract some aliens with less than pure intentions.

#8: Transmission 2 ~Encountering the Unknown~

Surreal episode this week. Was almost expecting it to have been a dream lol. Wonderful one-off story nevertheless.

#9: Mob 1 ~Moving~

Such a sweet episode this week (well, up until a point). I was just mentally hugging my boy the entire time. I AM ROOTING FOR YOU.

#10: Mob 2 ~Rival~

Good episode as usual. It's really more an action episode than anything, but it's setting up interesting things here. I'm mostly into how Mob will deal with all this in the aftermath.

Mob being trapped inside his body reminds me of that real-life locked-inside syndrome, which people in comas can have (went down that rabbit hole a few days ago). Sounds like the most terrifying thing, but most people report it's actually kind of pleasant.

#11: "Mob 3 ~Trauma~"

Another good Mob Psycho 100 episode this week. This final arc is a bit too much trying to stop crazy Mob and the fights that ensue, for it to hit especially for me, but it's still weaving in his struggles with adolescence and identity, so still doing an effective job overall.

#12: "Confession ~The Future~"

Mob Psycho 100 III was great all the way through. I can't say it had the same impact on me as the first two seasons did (well, I can say it but it wouldn't be true) but I really liked the mostly low-key approach this season took and respect the hell out of it. Finale was perfect.

[sarcasmsweetie]

A Better Life, Part 3

Here’s Part 3!! So happy to finally get this out. I also happen to have the day off of work tomorrow, so I think we can expect a quick turnaround for Part 4 :)

Pairing: Azriel X Oldest Archeron Sister

Word count: 4.9k

Taglist: @lunalilyf @londoneyes-glasgowbones @eerievixen @hollyismentallyillhelp @parker-natasha @tbmaybank @poison-iv3 @morks-watermelon

Part 2 | Masterlist | Part 4

I glared at Viviane as she laughed at me. “You’re going to pace a hole right through my rug if you don’t take a deep breath and relax.”

“Relax? I haven’t seen my sister in months. What if she’s disappointed? What if she isn’t impressed with everything I’ve done since I left?” I paused, looking at my fingers as they played with the hem of my sleeve. “What if she doesn’t like who I am?” I whispered, finally voicing the real fear that’s been plaguing me since receiving Feyre’s letter earlier this week to accept my invitation for a visit.

I heard Viviane stand from her chair and walk towards me. Placing her hands on my shoulders, I glanced up to see a kind smile on her face. “How could she possibly find any fault with the glorious female I see standing in front of me?” Keeping her hands on my shoulders, she began taking deep breaths, and I mirrored the action. After a few breaths, I began to feel my heart calm down ever so slightly.

“What would I do without you, Viv?” She smirked, brushing imaginary lint off my shoulders before taking a step back.

“Crash and burn, if we’re being perfectly honest. I mean, look at how much your fashion, at the very least, has improved since meeting me. The Y/N I first met all those months ago certainly wouldn’t have looked this fabulous as the Y/N standing in front of me right now.” I pushed her shoulder with a laugh, secretly agreeing with her. The dress I picked out for today is one of the finest things I own – white with a sheer fabric that covers my shoulders and serves as sleeves. The sheer overlay becomes a powder blue at the waist, growing darker as the fabric reaches the floor. Viviane tried to convince me to add silver gems to the top part of the gown, but I’m not exactly a “gemstone” kind of female, it turns out.

Our laughter died after a moment, and I began to fidget with my sleeve yet again. “Do I really look okay?”

She moved a bit of hair behind my ear and smiled. “Stunning.” I started to take another deep breath, but held it instead as I heard voices approach the sitting room Viviane and I have been in. I turned and looked to her with wide eyes, and she only rolled her own at me. “You will be fine,” she whispered. I watched as she moved to be more central in the room for when Kallias opened the double doors into the room, and I quickly straightened my shoulders and followed.

“We’re all so thrilled to have you visiting us – I know I can speak for Viviane as well when I say this is hopefully not the only fun visit we can have with one another.” Kallias opened the double doors, and behind him followed Feyre and Rhys. My eyes connected with Feyre’s, and I saw hers immediately start to turn silver, and I bit the inside of my cheek to try and prevent tears myself. Viviane stepped forward in welcome, immediately following along with her mate’s train of thought.

“This absolutely is not going to be the only ‘fun’ visit! We have spent so long fighting and rebuilding that we are all owed times to relax and just be ourselves with friends.” Feyre broke eye contact to turn to the Lady of Winter and greet her briefly before Rhys stepped forward to do the same.

I watched as Rhys made small talk with the High Lord and Lady, allowing Feyre the opportunity to break away and approach me. I didn’t realize I also began to move towards her until she was finally within arm’s reach. My gaze roamed over her, checking to make sure she was at least physically well, the habits I’ve built over the years not allowing me to do anything else other than confirm she’s safe and alright. She wore a black gown fitted in the bust, but otherwise loose and flowy. I couldn’t recall this style being worn around the Night Court, but maybe it’s new. My eyes came back up to her face where a small smile rested as she finished looking me over.

“You look wonderful, Y/N .” The weight I felt sitting in my chest vanished the moment I heard her voice, and I took the final step towards her to pull her into an embrace. She immediately wrapped her arms around me, holding on as tightly as I was holding onto her. “Oh, I have missed you,” she whispered and I tightened my grip ever so slightly.

“I am so glad you’re here. I was so afraid after I left, so scared you wouldn’t want to see me again.” Feyre pulled back and looked at me with her ‘stern’ face.

“There will never be a moment where I wouldn’t want to see you.” Her hand came up to rest on the side of my face, thumb rubbing gently along my cheek. “I just wish I could have helped you in the way you needed.” It was my turn to turn a stern gaze onto her.

“How could you possibly have known what I needed when I still don’t know that particular answer? Let’s you and I make a promise right here, right now: we will never try and shoulder the blame for something out of our control. Life is messy, and uncertain, and painful, but we cannot control everything. I hate that more than anything in this world,” Feyre laughed and I smiled, “but I at least have started to accept that unfortunate reality. Makes some days a little easier than others.”

Feyre nodded, silently agreeing to the promise I asked of her. Rhys walked up to us soon after, small smile on his face. “It’s good to see you, Y/N .” I turned and pulled him into a brief hug.

“Thank you so much for coming. I think a little family gathering like this is exactly what I’ve been missing these days.” He held out both arms in invitation to Feyre and I and led us to where Viviane and Kallias moved to sit, tea already on the table.

“I’m honored you consider me to be family.” I pinched his arm before separating myself to take me seat. He hissed slightly, rubbing his arm.

“I’ve always wanted a brother, you know. I can think of no better brother than the one who has saved my dearest sister in more ways than one.” He smiled as he made sure Feyre was settled in her seat before sitting in his own.

I could think of less painful ways to show your appreciation to siblings…” This time, it was Feyre’s turn to smirk.

“Welcome to the world of sisters, darling. Kindness can act as a declaration of war, and mild torture is the highest form of affection.” Feyre winked, and Viviane burst into laughter.

“Oh, yes. We absolutely must do this more often. If there’s ever a time you’re free to come to one of our weekly brunches, you are always welcome.” Feyre and I grinned in response. Keeping conversation light throughout the visit with Viviane and Kallias, I was beyond pleased that these two groups of my life got along so well. I shouldn’t be surprised – it’s not like they’re complete strangers, after all. But knowing these parts of my life were melding so well gave me hope that I could have a future of happiness. _________

The sun started to set beyond the horizon as the sleigh pulled up to my home. Feyre was immediately taken by Fenrir, and he was overly fond of her considering she kept providing him snacks throughout the 20-minute ride. Rhys laughed every time, ensuring Fenrir sent him a side glare before happily munching on whatever treat Feyre passed along.

“You’re right – I can see a bit of Cass in him.” I watched Rhys’ eyes light up as we all stepped out of the carriage. “I can’t wait to tell him there’s a reindeer in the world who could take his place in a heartbeat if he pisses me off too much.” I could practically hear the eyeroll coming from Feyre, but she opted not to comment.

“What can we do to help?” I had already started to unhook Fenrir from his rig as she approached.

“Stand there and look pretty. I just need to finish unhooking Fenrir, and he’s all set here in the stable. Food and water was replenished this morning, but he’ll probably fall asleep somewhat soon considering he spent the day playing with his best friends.” He nuzzled into the crook of my neck as I finished unhooking him, and he walked deeper into the stable where his water resided.

I turned out of the stable, beckoning to Feyre and Rhys to follow along. “It’s not much, but it’s home.” We walked through the front door into the living room that opened up to both the kitchen and dining room. Only the two bedrooms and connecting bathrooms were hidden down a hallway to the left, otherwise the bulk of the cottage was this open space. The walls of the living room were lined with books and various knickknacks I collected while exploring the different courts. A sofa and armchair were placed in front of the fireplace with a few different side tables. Behind the sofa and in front of windows looking over the forest behind my cottage stood a piano that Viviane and Kallias gifted to me when I bought the place. I spent most nights here, figuring out how to play old songs from the human realm while also trying to learn songs I’ve heard since being Made.

The dining room was simple – a table with four chairs, and a small liquor cabinet I bought from Aidon. But the kitchen was my favorite part of the house. Two ovens, a massive ice box, and seemingly endless countertops so I could cook, bake, and create to my heart’s content.

“Your home is lovely, Y/N . The location is nice as well – close to everything without needing to be within everything. One of the many reasons my ancestors built houses in mountains and whatever other oddly isolated spots they could find.”

I chuckled, remembering the House of Wind and the ridiculous 10,000 steps necessary to reach the house if you were unable to fly or winnow. “The perfect kind of home – easily accessible without being easily available.” I moved to the kitchen where they followed along. “Can I get you anything to drink? I have a few bottles of wine, but also Winter Vodka if you’re interested in trying out the delicacies of this court while you’re here.”

“Yes to the wine, and maybe tomorrow for the vodka.” I nodded, turning to look at Feyre to see what her preference would be. I watched as she glanced at Rhys before moving to lean forward against a counter.

“Water for me, please. I don’t think I’ll be able to enjoy wine, or vodka, for a while still.” I narrowed my eyes slightly, looking between the two. Feyre looked a bit nervous, but Rhys was smiling brighter than the sun in Day.

“Are you telling me what I think you’re telling me, little dove?” Feyre turned to Rhys, who pulled a wrapped package from his shadows. They both placed a hand on the gift as they pushed it across the counter to me.

“Open it.” I kept an eye on Feyre as I pulled at the wrapping paper. Once the paper was removed, I looked between the two of them one final time before looking down. The first thing I noticed was that this was definitely painted by Feyre. She pulled in hues of purples and blues to create a field of flowers that looked like they were pulled from both Night and Winter Courts. On the center of the canvas written in black, Feyre added, “Only an aunt can give hugs like a mother, keep secrets like a sister, and share love like a friend” I hugged the canvas to my chest, smiling.

“You’re going to be a mama?” She nodded, tears in her eyes. I ran around the counter, canvas still in hand, as I pulled her into a hug. “My sweet Feyre, you are going to be the best mother this world has ever seen.” She sobbed into my neck, though it also sounded like she released a laugh.

“I’m certainly the biggest crybaby of a mother this world has ever seen. I swear, I’ve cried more these last couple of months than I have my entire life!” I laughed as I pulled back, remembering our mother being incredibly emotional over every little thing when I watched her carrying my sisters.

“Unlucky for us that it runs in the family. The only proof I had of Mother being human was when she was pregnant and would cry at anything, even the sunrise.”

Rhys put his arm around Feyre’s shoulders, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. “Even when you cry, you’re still the most beautiful creature on this world, darling.” I placed the painting on the counter before turning to the ice box.

“This calls not only for a toast, but champagne. I think I have a bottle in here…” I looked around the shelves before spotting it in the back. “Aha! Rhys, can I hand this to you to open and I’ll get the glasses out?” Popping the champagne open, I placed three glasses in front of him to pour, then turned to fill a glass of water for Feyre. I figured a small sip of champagne for the toast won’t hurt her or the baby, and then she can have her water for the rest of the evening. Whether Rhys read my mind or was simply already thinking the same thing as me, he poured a small amount in one of the glasses before filling the other two.

“For you, ladies.” He passed us the appropriate glasses, and I held mine up in the air.

“When you were young, the greatest love you ever knew came from your family. As you grew, the greatest love you ever knew came from your mate. Today, the greatest love you’ll ever know is for your baby. A toast to you, little dove, and all your greatest loves, forever together as one big family.” _________

The next morning brought us into the city itself, showing Feyre and Rhys where I worked along with some of my favorite places to visit. We stopped in a few different shops where Feyre bought some small trinkets. Rhys said everyone back home made them promise to pick up something unique to Winter, despite the number of times they’ve all come for whatever reasons over the centuries. I smiled, thinking of Mor and Cassian begging Feyre to bring home souvenirs for them. While Feyre shopped for the family back in Velaris, I kept my eyes open for little gifts I could start collecting for my little niece or nephew. I may not have been around a baby for a while, but that doesn’t mean I’ve forgotten all the best supplies that parents should stack up on to make baby happy and their lives a little easier. I made mental notes of which stores sold which items so that I could come back when I didn’t have the nosiest new mother and father to be by my side.

One of the stores I had taken Feyre to was one of my favorite art supply stores where I’ve stocked up on tons of yarn and various sized needles for all of the knitting projects I planned out. Little did Feyre know that today’s trip wasn’t merely to stock up on yarn, but to specifically pull materials for her little one’s baby blanket. Feyre’s eye caught onto some brush sets and while she tried to convince herself she didn’t need any more, Rhys strode up to the store owner and purchased them before Feyre could talk herself out of wanting them. I laughed at her appalled look, though we all knew it was just for show.

After a few hours of exploring, we opted to have lunch back at my house so we could set our shopping bags down and rest comfortably for the afternoon after our morning of walking. I urged Feyre and Rhys to rest while I began pulling items from the icebox. I luckily prepared everything for stew before they arrived – all that’s needed is to heat it up. I figured a simple stew would be wonderful at some point during their visit since I know Feyre and Rhys aren’t too accustomed to these temperatures as a norm, so I wanted to make sure they’re comfortable.

“Let me help, Y/N .” I looked up to Feyre watching me, and I shook my head to the stove.

“All that’s needed is to heat this up. Planned this meal ahead of time.” She narrowed her eyes, but after realizing there wasn’t anything for her to do, she hopped up onto the counter next to me. “How is everything back in Velaris?”

“Things are going well. Mor has been traveling more to Vallahan than we expected in order to get them on board with the peace treaty, but that’s becoming more of a challenge than anticipated.”

“If anyone can get someone on board with a treaty, it’s Mor. I’m sure it’s frustrating for her, but I know she’ll pull through.”

“She always does.” I smiled back at Rhys who had just entered the kitchen. Stirring the pot a bit so nothing would stick and burn to the bottom, I turned to face Rhys while leaning on the counter next to Feyre.

“And everyone else? I figured I would have heard if Nesta burned the city to the ground, so I’m assuming no news is good news on that front.”

“She and Cassian have been dancing around each other for a while now, but she has made some pretty great progress with her training. She was against it at first, to no one’s surprise, but now that she knows she’s decent at fighting? The struggle now is getting her out of the training ring instead of into it.”

I chuckled, thinking of our fierce sister against an enemy, knowing her opponent would never stand a chance if Nesta planned on giving her all. “I’m glad she’s able to put her focus into something. She never did well just sitting around.” I stirred the pot a final time, thinking it only needs another minute or two to heat up. “And Elain? How is she?”

Feyre hesitated briefly. I noticed it, but chose not to comment on it. “She’s admittedly not that great. But the gardens help keep her grounded. Rhys and I are actually building a home all our own, and she’s taken it upon herself to plan out the gardens for the new house.”

I nodded, wondering what part of Feyre’s statement to comment on. Taking the cowardly route, I sighed as I pulled bowls from the cabinets. “That’s wonderful you’re building a new house. Knowing you both and your flairs for both style and comfort, I know it will treat you better than any of the other houses Rhys currently has under his name.”

They both chuckled, but I saw Feyre turn her attention to Rhys from the corner of my eye before she cleared her throat. “ Y/N , I need to tell you something.” I glanced up at Feyre, nodding for her to continue as I finished serving our lunches into bowls. “Nesta figured out that Azriel is your mate.” I paused, not at the news, but sensing Feyre had more to say.

“That doesn’t surprise me. When did she find out?”

“The day you left. She confirmed with me later on, but otherwise kept it to herself until earlier this week.”

“What prompted her to say something now? It’s been months.”

Feyre and Rhys looked at each other, and I could tell they were talking through their bond, or maybe their daemati powers. I never knew which, but I suppose it didn’t matter. “After we shared we were visiting, things got… heated. Elain’s been acting out ever since you left, and with the two of us visiting instead of all of our sisters, something was triggered with her. Everyone had enough of her childish behavior by this point, one thing led to another… Before we knew it, Nesta is yelling at Elain. Essentially saying she doesn’t get to have a say in how you choose to live your life since she stole your mate after rejecting her own.” Feyre flinched at the memory and my jaw dropped. Rhys rubbed his chin and offered a sheepish grin.

“She shut the room up real fast after that. Nesta was pretty fierce in defending you, once everyone processed what was really going on. Some more…words…were exchanged, most of which were pretty hurtful and brutal, if I’m honest.” Rhys and Feyre were silent for a moment, reliving the memory. I cleared my throat, debating if I was going to ask it or not, but since we’re here…

“How did he respond?” Feyre’s eyes softened. She took hers and Rhys’ bowls of stew and led me to the table, waiting for me to be settled with my own before responding.

“Not well. He knew about the bond, Y/N . Felt it snap into place the same moment you did.” My head shot up to look at Feyre, my hear breaking all over again. “For whatever reason, he convinced himself it was with Elain. That by her rejecting Lucien, it opened her up to the possibility of a different mate.”

“Rhys told me that’s not possible. You don’t get a second mate,” I said slowly. Rhys nodded in agreement, grief in his eyes. “So you’re telling me that he’d rather believe in some bullshit lie, would rather believe that someone who could never be his mate was all his, instead of even considering the possibility that the bond snapped in place with the only other soul in the room that day?” I stood from my seat and began pacing around the room. “You’re telling me that my mate has wanted nothing to do with me from the very beginning; that my mate would rather live out his life with someone else instead of acknowledging me?” I moved to the liquor cabinet and pulled out a bottle of vodka. Opening the bottle, I took a deep drink.

Feyre hurried over to me, placing a hand on my wrist. “Wouldn’t you rather have something inf your stomach first?” I looked at her for a moment before taking another drink.

I heard Rhys sigh before he moved next to us, reaching for a bottle himself. “I can’t possible leave a lady to drink on her own. Sorry to leave you as a babysitter, darling.” Feyre snorted, but otherwise didn’t say anything else. I sat myself down onto the floor, taking a few more sips as I processed what was shared with me. I know I don’t have the full story – I’m certain there was much more said than what is being shared with me. Yet I felt as if I knew enough.

“He tried to –“ I raised my hand, effectively cutting Feyre off.

“No more talk until I’m drunk. I think it’s the only way I can handle it right now.” Feyre sighed, but Rhys sat next to me on the floor, clinking his bottle with mine.

About two or so hours passed, and Feyre respected my wish to be drunk before starting up the conversation again. We had moved into the living room by this point, and I was sprawled over my armchair, having gotten through about a third of the bottle. “Rhys caught him twice trying to come to Winter to see you, talk to you.” I snorted.

“Like that would have done him any good. I don’t even know what’s going on in my own head most of the time – I’m not ready to hear his mumbo jumbo excuses.” I took another sip before getting up and bringing the bottle with me to the piano. “Did you know I’ve been teaching myself old songs from the human realm, little dove?” I sat at the piano, lifting the cover over the keys. “I hoped maybe remembering those songs, singing them as loud as I possibly could, would help my heart stop hurting so much. But no matter what I do, it keeps hurting.”

I set the bottle on the floor next to the bench and started lightly pushing at the keys. “I’ve been talking with Lucien, y’know? Try and get a sense of any tricks he may have to get past the burning hollowness. He unfortunately has no such tricks to share with me, but we did start a pretty nice friendship. We get together once a month to drink and cry over what could be.” I chuckled. “Let’s be real – I cry. He tries to stay stoic, especially since Viv and Kallias have taken it upon themselves to babysit us during these visits considering how much we drink and whine. But I think he’s finally loosening up around them.” I continued to softly play the piano, thinking back on some conversations I’ve had with the redhead. “I’m glad I reached out to him. No one else gets it, y’know? I know you’re always in my corner, little dove, but it's hard. It’s hard to try and explain what I’m going through to someone who is so happy.”

“We weren’t always happy like this.” I looked at Rhys, vaguely remembering the time Feyre was with Tamlin, completely unaware of Rhys’ feelings for her. I felt my shoulders droop at the memory.

“It’s so easy to forget that there were times you weren’t together. I completely forgot about Tamlin…” Rhys laughed loudly at that.

“Imagine how easy life would be if we could all forget about Tamlin.” Feyre smacked Rhys across the chest, though that did nothing to quell his laughter. To try and change the conversation, Rhys looked back over at me. “You say you’ve been practicing old songs from the human realm? Would you sing something for us? Feyre told me about how you would always sing her to sleep when you were younger, and I’ve been hoping to hear it for myself.” My fingers moved around the keys for a moment, thinking about which song to do.

Don’t know what to do anymore I’ve lost the only love worth fighting for And I’ll drown in my tears Don’t they see? That would show you That would make you hurt like me

All the same I don’t want mud-slinging games It’s just a shame To let you walk away

Is there a chance A fragment of light At the end of the tunnel A reason to fight? Is there a chance You may change your mind Or are we ashes and wine?

Don't know if our fate's already sealed This day's a spinning circus on a wheel And I'm ill with the thought of your kiss Coffee-laced, intoxicating on her lips

Shut it out I've got no claim on you now I'm not allowed To wear your freedom down, no

Is there a chance A fragment of light At the end of the tunnel A reason to fight? Is there a chance You may change your mind Or are we ashes and wine?

I'll tear myself away If that's what you need There is nothing left to say

But, is there a chance A fragment of light At the end of the tunnel A reason to fight? Is there a chance You may change your mind Or are we ashes and wine? Reduced to ashes and wine Or are we ashes?

Feyre had moved from the sofa to sit on the bench with me, resting her head on my shoulder as I sang. It was an old one I remember hearing when Mother was still alive. Funny how you can hear a song growing up and not understand what it means, until suddenly one day, it all clicks.

“I don’t remember that one,” she whispered. I turned my head slightly, placing a kiss on the top of her head.

“It’s an old one. I first heard it long before you were born, little dove.” She was quiet for a moment before speaking up, almost as if recalling the lyrics.

“Is this what it feels like for you?” I shrugged the shoulder she wasn’t using.

“Right now, yes. Most days, it hurts a lot more. The ‘shut it out’ line was sort of my motto when I was still in Velaris – shut everything down so that you don’t have to feel anything at all. We’ve gotten past that numbness, though there certainly are days I wish I could pull that over me like a blanket, just rise through the day hiding and not feeling a thing.”

The room was quiet for a moment. Too quiet. I began to play again, smirking down at Feyre. “I vote that the next song be a bit more upbeat, yeah? Remember the shanties father used to sing whenever he’d come home from traveling to some far-off land?”

Feyre and I laughed at Rhys, who stood and started hopping around as if he were dancing a jig to the opening of the first shanty I began to play. Surprisingly enough, he knew the lyrics as well.

While I still felt the hollowness in my chest after the first song, it began to feel a bit lighter, singing raunchy shanties with my sister and her mate. I don’t remember a time I laughed so much in such a small window, and despite the amount of vodka I’ve consumed, I knew this would be a night I could never forget.

[ary-se]

Mankai with a dog

i was staring at my dog earlier, aggressively barking at a plastic bag. that's all. the rest is history

• at some point taichi just mentioned something along the lines of, "hey, wouldn't it be more fun here if... WE GET A DOG!?"

• whenever an idea spreads around the dorm, whether it's a good idea or an utterly ridiculous one, it's always either taichi or kazunari.

• IT'S ALWAYS EITHER TAICHI OR KAZUNARI (2).

• sakuya is excited about it! he never knew what it feels like to live with a dog, let alone actually grow up with one. this pure bean just wants to experience it, c'mon man...

• muku also agrees!! 100% yes!!! wouldn't it be cute when you get home everyday from school with a dog greeting you? it's like that one shoujo manga...

• tsumugi likes the idea! he also grew up with a dog (gosh dachshunds are so cute... zabi ily with my whole heart) so it wouldn't be too bad to have a dog in the dorm! apparently dogs can help you out a lot when it comes to emotional problems :)

• the moment these three angels literally agreed with the idea, everyone is ABOARD. it would be like taking care of a child except it's 100x times more fun

• actually no scratch that, not everyone is aboard...

• cause there's SAKYO.

• "WHAT'RE YOU GUYS GONNA DO ABOUT THE DOG?? DO YOU EVEN KNOW HOW TO TAKE CARE OF IT??? IT'LL ALSO TAKE MONEY TO BUY FOOD DISPENSER, DOG FOOD, YADDA YADDA YADDA"

• see it's all about money in the end, but sakyo. we know you want it too. god just pls say yes.

• a LOT of pleading - either the boys shoot sakyo puppy eyes whenever they see him, or some of them (by some i only mean taichi and kazu) waits outside sakyo's room and bleed his ears off with saying PLEASE repetitively the moment sakyo goes out of his room

• sakyo murdered everyone who barged into his room but they always, ALWAYS do it anyways. they don't learn their lesson!!

• SAKYO GOT FED UP. begrudgingly, after this has been going on for a month, he says yes

• EVERYONE CHEERS, FREAKING FINALLY!!!

• taichi and kazu, the mankai boys already aborted their plan of holding a funeral for the both of you... before sakyo agreed on getting a dog, he always has this look of wanting to strangle them to death

• after a lot of debating, they decided to settle on a dog that has a friendly disposition. anyways they get a light brown labrador!!!

• the day the dog got in the dorm, everyone got so excited

• everyone is literally ALL OVER THE DOG. THE DOG LIKES THE ATTENTION BUT GIVE IT A BREAK!! JUST PLEASE

• they name the dog koro! it's simple enough

• (i just searched for popular dog names in japan... don't @ me pls sobs)

• that night the dog kept wagging his tail from being so excited with everyone's presence he deadass sprained his tail

• it recovered after a week

• everyone takes turns filling koro's food bowl and water bowl. the duty of walking the dog is also distributed based on when the boys are free. they literally have a calendar dedicated for koro

• tsumugi makes a list of what the dog can and can't eat! it's most likely that everyone will feed koro, so they better not kill him off early...

• everyone follows the list except juza, it seems like he forgot the existence of the list

• one time juza was eating chocolate cupcakes, and koro was giving him puppy eyes

• how could he resist that face!! his inner resolve crumbled so fast, he was literally about to give it to koro

• tsuzuru to the rescue! the moment he saw juza and koro, he yelled "JUZA NO DON'T PLEASE STOP DOGS CAN'T EAT CHOCOLATE"

• juza just looks at tsuzuru, shocked. what do you mean dogs can't eat chocolate?? how do they even live their lives without the goodness of chocolates?? WHAT?

• he fails to understand, but he doesn't give it to koro. the dog whimpers and just goes away,, juza felt so bad and silently apologized to koro, but now he learned his lesson

• omi spoils koro!! every time he has free time, he whips something up for koro. he makes it as balanced as possible, of course.

• everyone to omi: "please don't make the dog fat."

• omi: "haha i won't"

• cue next day koro kinda looks chubbier

• OMI. PLEASE WE KNOW THE DOG IS CUTE BUT PLS CONTROL IT

• no joke, tenma was excited at first but now every time he sees the dog barking he gets scared shitless.

• JUST BECAUSE THE DOG BARKS AT YOU THAT DOESN'T MEAN THE DOG IS MAD AT YOU. IT JUST WANNA BE FRIENDS YOU FREAKING DOLT

• when he got comfortable with koro, he hid from everyone and patted the dog for the first time, and ran away immediately from embarrassment

• that night everybody was questioning why tenma gets beet red every time koro gets near him. but nobody mentioned it.

• on a whim, itaru let koro pull for a limited banner, making his paw tap the button. who knows if this dog is kinda lucky, right? there's no way of knowi-

• HE GETS ALL THE LIMITED CARDS IN ONE 10X PULL

• itaru just gapes at the dog for five minutes. "koro, you are a godsend..."

• itaru hid the dog's insane luck from banri, but somehow banri caught on

• "THAT'S UNFAIR! WHY WERE YOU HIDING IT FROM ME"

• from that point forward whenever itaru and banri play together, expect koro to be with them. it occurs a lot of times, but koro doesn't seem to mind as long as he gets belly rubs.

• congratulations masumi!! you now have a new alarm clock, but a million times MORE annoying!!

• they trained koro so every time masumi doesn't wake up, koro will just pounce and literally jump on him while barking right on his ear

• masumi hates to admit it, but the dog is goddamn annoying and it's effective at the same time

• hooray to masumi for not being late ever again!

• tasuku just stares at koro dead in the eye while the dog looks at his meal. what if i also train him to..?

• one day during winter troupe's rehearsals, hisoka was actually super duper early and that NEVER HAPPENED.

• "HISOKA WHY ARE YOU SO EARLY?? IS SOMETHING WRONG??"

• turns out TASUKU TRAINED KORO FOR A SOLID MONTH TO FIND HISOKA.

• once tasuku says "koro, where's hisoka?" the dog nyooms to WHERE HISOKA ACTUALLY IS. is he on the tree? in the washing machine? in the long-lost, ever changing storage room? you name it sir

• the days of painfully looking for hisoka are over! tasuku can finally catch a break! this is a big win for winter troupe!!!

• homare just blabs his poems to the poor dog. always.

• it's been going on for five hours and koro is so tired of his shit he just settles on trying to bury his ears on the ground just to not hear him. i am so sorry for your loss.

• homare pets him after he is done with his long ass session so guess that's worth it!

• tsuzuru didn't necessarily train koro to do it, but somehow whenever tsuzuru is in a writing spree the dog just grabs a can of red bull from itaru and brings it to his room.

• tsuzuru doesn't even realize it's the goddamn dog. HE DEADASS JUST TAKES THE CAN AND SAY THANK YOU AND CONTINUE WRITING THE SCRIPT

• everyone just assumed tsuzuru trained koro to actually do that. PLEASE LET THE DOG LEARN NORMAL DOG TRICKS HE ISN'T YOUR MAID

• "I DIDN'T TRAIN KORO!!!"

• Whenever it's misumi's turn to walk the dog, koro joins him in his triangle hunting! koro picked up misumi's habits, so koro picks up triangular objects from time to time and gives it to misumi. d'awwww!

• misumi please don't expect the dog to join you running on walls. please don't. everyone's gonna hunt you down once something happens :)

• citron is super affectionate to the dog! koro is so attached to him and koro listens to citron babbling even tho he understands jackshit

• "back in my country, i am known as the glorious legendary master of dog b-"

• "yes citron. we get it."

• CITRON MAKES A KORO JR. MY HEART MY SOUL I OFFER TO YOU

• it's the dog's fave toy!!! he sleeps with it.

• yuki enjoys making anything for the dog. a dog bed? clothes? accesories? toys? HECK YEAH BRING IT ON SIR

• yuki isn't touchy feely with the dog but that's how he shows his love for koro!! it's okay, the dog understands!!

• koro is literally drowning in all those handmade stuff, spoiled by the only yuki

• whenever it's yuki's turn to walk the dog, he wears matching outfits with the dog as he buys more fabric for the next play (and for the dog but we don't mention that)

• THEYRE KINGS! literally a head turner. everyone just looks at them in awe. yuki wanna show off

• like citron, sakuya is super affectionate to the dog!

• he always gives bear hugs to the dog, especially when he is feeling anxious about something! koro's presence calms sakuya down big time

• please protect these small beans

• muku also loves the dog to death!! every time they arrive at home from school koro just jumps to them and he enjoys it so much

• at times when muku wants company when reading his shoujo manga, or just wants something to hug, koro does the job

• affectionate babies. please protect (2)

• koro is super affectionate when it comes to azuma.

• every after koro gets really excited about something, he gets dead tired so he goes straight to azuma's room.

• do you want to know what azuma does to koro? hmmmm? :---)

• they sleep together! duh

• taichi ALWAYS plays with the dog. it's like two dogs bonding smh

• taichi gets confused whenever they play catch?? whenever koro finally gets the ball, he runs back to taichi but doesn't give him the ball

• "umm, koro? we wouldn't be able to continue playing if you don't give the ball?"

• koro: NO GET ONLY THROW

• kazunari has a lot of aesthetic pics of koro! they're so wholesome, there was a point when his instablam is just full of koro

• ok he does have a lot of funny videos too, that's unavoidable

• best one so far was muku tossing the ball for koro to catch it, but he threw it too far and it hit sakyo's head at the back

• RUN FOR YOUR LIFE MUKU OH MY GOD

• sakyo was about to lose his shit but once he saw muku apologizing and rambling he felt bad.

• should it be mentioned that cleaning sessions are more of a pain than before?

• the dog sheds a LOT MORE than they expected. the fur is literally fucking everywhere

• how does one dog have this much hair??

• those ppl with big sisters (cough itaru and banri) SWEARS this dog's shedding is a hundred times worse than their sisters' hairfall

• speaking of shedding everywhere, everyone's clothes have fur ALL OVER their clothes

• most especially sakyo because he wears all black. poor old dude

• after a month of deliberation from sakyo, they decided to buy more lint rollers and all that stuff that are supposedly effective

• every time the students are late to school, the dorms get chaotic

• unfortunately for everyone the dog joins in adding more noise pollution

• THE DOG DRAMATICALLY BARKS WHENEVER EVERYONE IS PANICKING. IT FEELS LIKE WAR

• cue sakyo's very angry "KORO, SHUT UP!"

• koro didn't bark for a solid week... just pure whimpering. everyone was looking at sakyo like, "you better apologize, he doesn't deserve it..."

• when it was sakyo's turn to walk him, koro looks like he was about to shit. everyone was pretty concerned, but they wanted to see how it went

• the moment they came home, koro was all over him and sakyo is hiding a smile

• SOMETHING DEFINITELY HAPPENED.

• but what happened? nobody knew a thing. and it will stay that way.

• EVERYONE IS SOFT FOR HIM. not taking no for an answer

[mordoriscalling]

Secret pt.2

A follow up to my fanfic about Geralt talking (and eventually confessing his love) to Jaskier in Polish, thinking that Jaskier doesn’t understand. @artistsfuneral came up with that glorious idea in this fic! Now, pt 2 is about how Jaskier learns the language, as requested by blue_midnight on AO3. Hope you enjoy! 

(This fic also includes background, brief Lambert/ Aiden)

At the beginning, Jaskier suspects that it’s Geralt’s way of being as rude as possible. Why on earth act like that, he has no idea, but one thing is for certain: the rustling sounds leaving Geralt’s mouth, which Jaskier thinks are supposed to be words, are set to drive him insane.

It must be some kind of language. Geralt uses it when talking to his horse a lot. Jaskier almost finds the behaviour endearing but then the witcher speaks in that tongue when answering many of his questions. Jaskier just wants to get them better acquainted but Geralt couldn’t care less about the offerings of friendship, apparently.

Even though the witcher can be a right bastard like that, one thing is clear from the very start: Jaskier can only wish to be half the man Geralt is, but the world thinks it’s Geralt who is less than human. Jaskier finds he can’t stand by and let it happen.

It’s a simple exchange. They both need each other to prove that they’re more than what everyone thinks they are. The transaction is uncomplicated: Geralt fights monsters for Jaskier to sing about, Jaskier softens the hearts and the minds. As time passes, however, it changes and becomes more complex: they share food, rooms and coin, start caring for each other in all the small but significant ways.

Five years pass and it’s a friendship in full bloom, but Geralt still often talks to him and snaps at him in that damned tongue, like he doesn’t think Jaskier worthy of knowing his thoughts. It’s never stopped angering him but at this point, he’s also intrigued in what Geralt wants to hide and why the hell it seems to concern him so often. (A certain feeling that shall not be named blooms in his chest at the thought and he squashes it).

Then there’s that one bath. Geralt looks at him as if he was the most fascinating puzzle in the world which, fair, Jaskier is interesting if he does say so himself, but not that much. It’s on that day that he decides to learn that bloody language, even if it’s the last thing he does.

Jaskier goes to Oxenfurt that winter and searches the vast library through and through. The librarians shoot him looks indicating their suspicion about him being a maniac but Jaskier is simply a man on a mission. In the middle of winter, his madness finally bears fruit – he finds an ancient book written in a language he has never seen. “Wiedźmiński bestiariusz” the title says. Inside, there’s a loose piece of parchment with the first few paragraphs of the book translated, including the title – “Witcher Bestiary”. The book is full of sketches of monsters and descriptions, the words containing several strange letters. Many passages aren’t readable anymore because they’ve faded with age but Jaskier treasures the book anyway. He spends the rest of the winter copying all the legible pages, indulging in life’s pleasures much less, which only fuels the rumours of his insanity. All the while, he hopes that this is the language Geralt has been using.

The answer comes surprisingly quickly in the surprising shape of another wolf witcher. They stumble upon each other in late spring in Redania. It’s such a funny coincidence that there’s no way Jaskier’s not going to make the best of it.

“See, master witcher,” Jaskier says as they drink ale together, “When I rummaged through my university’s library, I stumbled upon an interesting volume.” He forgets to mention the translated passages as he pulls out his copy of the book and lays it on the table in front of Lambert. The witcher’s eyes widen when they rest upon the title and Jaskier knows this is it. He grins and carries on, “It seems to be full of precious knowledge and wisdom, yet it’s written in a language I don’t understand. It concerns monsters, so I was hoping a witcher could assist me in decoding this tongue.”

Lambert says nothing for some time, only regarding Jaskier with suspicion. “Why would you want to learn it?” he questions.

“Call it academic curiosity.”

The witcher’s eyes narrow. Hadn’t Jaskier spent so much time with Geralt, he would certainly squirm under the hot, searching gaze.

“It’s not a secret language of your guild, is it?” he asks to break the tense silence.

“It’s not,” Lambert answers, “But no one really bothered before, is the thing. Dunno what to make of you.”

Jaskier sighs and decides to reveal the malice of his intentions because, from what little Geralt told him of his brothers, he knows that Lambert will appreciate it. “Listen,” he says as he leans in towards the red-haired witcher, “just imagine how it’ll freak Geralt out when he finds out.”

Lambert lets out a delighted laugh. “Fuck, I wanna be there when it happens.”

Jaskier can’t make any promises of the sort, so he says nothing to that. Instead, he asks, “Do we have a deal, then?”

“We’ll see.”

Lambert’s reserve didn’t make sense at that moment but Jaskier almost wishes he didn’t find out why the witcher was so cautious about his enthusiasm.

It turns out the language is a demonic creation. Lambert starts explaining some basic words and phrases to him and it already makes Jaskier’s head spin – there are so many forms and conjugations that Jaskier’s task of achieving fluency in that damned tongue suddenly appears almost too daunting. Almost.

He still wants to see the look on Geralt’s bloody beautiful face.

Lambert lets Jaskier join him on the Path for a few weeks. Throughout that time, he teaches Jaskier a bit more, especially how to read in the language. The wonderful thing about it is that, once he knows all the rules of pronunciation, he can read everything out loud. The dreadful thing is that the pronunciation itself is so tough and tongue-twisting that it may as well be a form of diabolical punishment inflicted upon Jaskier for all the transgressions he committed.

Lambert laughs when he voices his frustrations. “Przyzwyczaisz się.” You’ll get used to it, the witcher answers, his voice producing the mad consonant clusters with ease.

“I doubt it,” Jaskier grumbles under his breath.

The two of them part ways as Jaskier pays for Lambert’s services with a song. Jaskier saw the wolf witcher take down a vampire in a truly spectacular manner, so it was no hardship. After Lambert leaves, Jaskier starts learning on his own. Whenever Geralt hunts, he reads out loud from his copy of the bestiary (and how Geralt never overhears it is truly beyond him. Melitele likes him calling upon her tits so frequently, it seems). He tries to decipher the words in the book using all knowledge he has, translating some more passages. He and Lambert also exchange letters but Jaskier fails at writing in the tongue miserably. The last one he wrote returns to him with a multitude of Lambert’s corrections and a short note from the witcher himself:

"Cały list do przepisania, skowroneczku." The whole letter needs rewriting, little lark.

Jaskier huffs at the nickname, ruffling his figurative feathers in indignation. Although a lark’s voice is beautiful, very much so, its plumage is too plain. Jaskier could never. He would be a blackbird at the very least. Or a siskin. A bullfinch, preferably. If Jaskier was honest, a peacock would best fit to describe his exterior, but the sounds peacocks make aren’t pleasant, so he would be willing to settle on some colourful songbird.

Damn Lambert, in any case. The witcher knows far too well how to rile him up. It’s a bit unnerving.

"Skowronek to nie jak ja." Lark doesn’t sound like me, Jaskier answers in the next letter.

"Rzeczywiście, tak ładnie nie śpiewasz." True, your singing isn’t that pretty, Lambert writes back.  

Damn him indeed. Jaskier responds to that comment with a simple, efficient “fuck you”, to which Lambert replies “chciałbyś” you wish.

Jaskier can’t exactly deny this. He would certainly show his appreciation for Lambert’s fiery spirit if not for one little, tiny problem. The problem is so minuscule that Jaskier does everything in his power not to think about it. He seeks out lovers constantly and falls into the Countess de Stael’s arms almost every winter. She wants his attention now, as it’s a puppy love no longer, but during his stay at her palace, someone else always catches his attention. She kicks him out the moment she finds out. And so their romance goes, rinse and repeat.

No matter whether Jaskier winters at the Countess’s court, Oxenfurt, or some other place, he always devotes much of his free time to search for any book containing the Witcher tongue, as Jaskier started calling it. There isn’t much anywhere, and Lambert’s letters are few and far in between. Jaskier can feel himself getting stagnant in his learning and he can’t afford it. Not now, after six years of gargantuan effort that he’s put in already. Not when Geralt sometimes says something to him in that quiet, warm voice, and he still doesn’t understand.

Jaskier seems to enjoy more of Melitele’s blessing than he really should because, just when he’s getting desperate, there’s a godsend dropped on his way on a lovely spring day.

Quite literally dropped, since that witcher falls from a tree Jaskier’s about to walk under as he’s on his way to find Geralt. There’s a cat medallion around the witcher’s neck, and his body is gravely injured. He’s unconscious and Jaskier takes the liberty to use his witcher potions to help him not die. After he finally opens his eyes the next day, he introduces himself as Aiden.

It takes Aiden two more days to stand back on his feet. Soon after he manages that, Jaskier makes him trip when he speaks in the Witcher tongue to him, and the poor Cat witcher actually falls to the ground when Jaskier mentions Lambert. Sensing some story there, he sticks by Aiden’s side for a week or two. They make fast friends and promise to write to each other frequently.

Aiden’s letters are just what Jaskier needs to improve. The witcher is more expansive than Lambert and a touch flirty, which is perfect. As their correspondence goes on, Jaskier grows to like him only more and more. Not that much, though; he’s still stuck in the merry old mess of admiration and friendly affection getting out of hand. At least he’s not the only one – the story that Aiden and Lambert share is there in the letters, between the lines, and Jaskier is clever enough to see it.

Jaskier and Aiden meet for a drink in Novigrad once. When they’re deep into their cups, they start whining about their predicament.

“Cholerne wilki.” Damned wolves, Aiden grumbles.

“Cholerne wilki.” Damned wolves, Jaskier agrees wholeheartedly.

Ten years of learning the Witcher tongue have passed when Jaskier finds Geralt fishing for a djin in the lake near Rinde. He’s known Geralt for sixteen years now, so it takes him exactly one moment to see through the sorry excuse of insomnia. Destiny can’t be trifled with like that, he knows, so he doesn’t let it happen.

When Jaskier sings his friend to sleep, Geralt wonders about deserving him, that silly witcher. As if it wasn’t Jaskier who could only dream of deserving Geralt. As if Jaskier wasn’t a cheater, a homewrecker and a bastard who shouldn’t even deserve to look into those warm, gold eyes that allow a peek into the heart of gold.

As they meet Yennefer, the chemistry between her and Geralt is so strong that Jaskier can almost see the sparkles fly. Jaskier holds his breath all throughout their stay in Rinde. After they leave and nothing happens, there’s no relief. Now the witcher and the sorceress can get together any time and Jaskier turns bitter at the ripe, sweet age of thirty-four.

He lets go of many things after that. The silly affair with the Countess, caring about what the educated think about his works. He lives, breathes and grows, at last, fuelled by the one thing that he’s driven by best – sheer, absolute spite. Jaskier’s learnt the Witcher tongue out of spite (among other motives that he refuses to think about), and out of spite he will survive now, no matter how much he worries about a purple-eyes sorceress being such a great match for the White Wolf that even he wants to write a ballad about it.

Jaskier doesn’t ask, of course, and Geralt doesn’t say. They keep travelling together and Jaskier basks in the glory of knowing exactly what Geralt says about him when the witcher thinks he doesn’t understand. It’s wildly satisfying indeed but only up to a point – until the day Geralt calls him beautiful. Jaskier accepts the compliment with a smile, since it is the truth after all, but he can’t trust his voice to answer. He tries to fight the idiotic hope blooming in his chest and blames the warmth in Geralt’s gaze on the firelight. He reminds himself that Geralt doesn’t see him that way because it’s only women that the witcher’s ever been interested in. Life goes on.

Then his world crashes around him as he hears the words about love leaving Geralt’s mouth. That is when he can’t hold it in anymore and his secret is out. Or both his secrets, really.

It’s so freeing that he’s heady. Or maybe the giddiness can be all on Geralt. Or perhaps on the fact that, when Jaskier bares his heart in the Witcher tongue, it touches the witcher’s heart to its very core. He can feel it, in the way Geralt clings to him, and he already knows he won’t find any words to describe it properly in any language he knows.

That's how he knows it's something worth living and loving for - it means too much for words.

***

A/N: Thank you for reading, hope you enjoyed it! This fic is also available on AO3. Part 3 is coming, hopefully soon. It will be a 5+1 kind of thing about Geralt and Jaskier using the language. 

Part 3

[literaticat]

With dual timeline novels, is it best to include both timelines in the query OR only the main one and let the agent be surprised by the secondary one?

I think it kind of depends on what the "dual timeline" situation IS. Like, if the book is set in the Now, but we are also alternating with flashbacks to what happened Before, you don't need to be getting into the weeds of that in the query, you can just say something like "what happened in the past affects them [in some way]" or something, we will figure it out.

If, however, it's two totally different time streams with totally different characters (that do or don't intersect at some point), then I think you talk about them both in the query.

Whatever way you choose to do it, just bear in mind that your goal with a query is to entice the reader, make them interested, and not confused.

Here are a couple of examples of publisher jacket copy for books that do it both ways (I happen to be reading the first book right now, which is why I thought of it!)

Example of Dual Timeline Scenario #1 - PEOPLE WE MEET ON VACATION by Emily Henry - employs alternating chapters of the same characters in the past and present, doesn't mention that explicitly:

Poppy and Alex. Alex and Poppy. They have nothing in common. She’s a wild child; he wears khakis. She has insatiable wanderlust; he prefers to stay home with a book. And somehow, ever since a fateful car share home from college many years ago, they are the very best of friends. For most of the year they live far apart—she’s in New York City, and he’s in their small hometown—but every summer, for a decade, they have taken one glorious week of vacation together. Until two years ago, when they ruined everything. They haven't spoken since. Poppy has everything she should want, but she’s stuck in a rut. When someone asks when she was last truly happy, she knows, without a doubt, it was on that ill-fated, final trip with Alex. And so, she decides to convince her best friend to take one more vacation together—lay everything on the table, make it all right. Miraculously, he agrees. Now she has a week to fix everything. If only she can get around the one big truth that has always stood quietly in the middle of their seemingly perfect relationship. What could possibly go wrong?

**

Example of Dual Timeline Scenario #2 - REVOLUTION by Jennifer Donnelly - employs alternating chapters with totally different characters and timelines, it's mentioned explicitly:

Revolution artfully weaves two girls’ stories into one unforgettable account of life, loss, and enduring love; it spans centuries and vividly depicts the eternal struggles of the human heart. BROOKLYN: Andi Alpers is on the edge. She’s angry at her father for leaving, angry at her mother for not being able to cope, and heartbroken by the loss of her younger brother, Truman. Rage and grief are destroying her. And she’s about to be expelled from Brooklyn Heights’ most prestigious private school when her father intervenes. Now Andi must accompany him to Paris for winter break. PARIS: Alexandrine Paradis lived over two centuries ago. She dreamed of making her mark on the Paris stage, but a fateful encounter with a doomed prince of France cast her in a tragic role she didn’t want—and couldn’t escape. Two girls, two centuries apart. One never knowing the other. But when Andi finds Alexandrine’s diary, she recognizes something in her words and is moved to the point of obsession. There’s comfort and distraction for Andi in the journal’s antique pages—until, on a midnight journey through the catacombs of Paris, Alexandrine’s words transcend paper and time, and the past becomes suddenly, terrifyingly present.

[kittyprincessofcats]

RWBY Volume 8, Episodes 8-12

All caught up with RWBY now! (Except for the premium only episode.)

So, two things first: 1. From now on, my blog will no longer be spoiler free for RWBY! I don’t have premium access, so no spoilers for that, but beyond that, I might now reblog spoilers for everything that’s been released to the public. Blacklist “#RWBY spoilers” if you don’t want to see them.

2. I was going to ask what the spoiler policy in this fandom in general is when it comes to premium access. From what I’ve seen, Youtubers usually wait a week before uploading their reaction videos, which I appreciate – but here on tumblr almost no one seems to hold back. I saw a spoiler for “Creation” before it was released publicly. The day episode 13 was released for premium access, I had to unfollow people for posting untagged spoilers for it. And when I went into a RWBY-related tag for one second, I saw a really big spoiler that put me in a very sour mood because it also happened to be very aggressively worded against fans of a certain character (basically, along the lines of “I’m glad X bad thing happened to Y character because I hate them and their fans”). So, that scared the shit out of me and I ended up looking up more specific spoilers about what exactly happened because I wouldn’t have been able to sleep otherwise. So, from what I’ve seen, this fandom’s spoiler policy is just “fuck anyone who doesn’t have premium access” 😒. Always nice to see people being so considerate.

With that said, let’s get into my thoughts on episodes 8-12. Under the cut, because unlike some people, I try to be considerate of others who might want to avoid spoilers.

- So, the Hound really was a person. Specifically, a person with silver eyes and that’s probably what happened to Summer. THANKS, I HATE IT. This is exactly what I feared it would be and what I didn’t want it to be. (I don’t want Ruby and Yang to have to fight and kill their grimm-ified mom, that’s too sad, okay?)

- I love that Whitley really came through and came up with a plan for evacuating everyone! He’s a good bean after all! And that he managed to press that button on the computer before running from the Hound? Amazing.

- Willow Schnee being one hell of a mama bear and summoning a thing to protect Whitley was epic. She was so close to breaking down before that, but then her child was in danger and she just jumped into action right away. Protective mom instincts ftw!

- Blake’s talk about how she looks up to Ruby and how she herself lost the youthful optimism Ruby still has was SO sweet! (Also, Ladybug is an underrated ship/friendship and I really don’t get why people say they never interact? Have you all just forgotten volume 1 and how Bumbleby’s first meeting happened because Yang was trying to wingman Ruby who was trying to befriend Blake??)

- Penny fighting the virus from the inside was amazing, she did so well! I also loved seeing Nora encourage her (and echo Blake’s earlier words back to her).

- Unrelated to these episodes specifically, but I tried to think about who my favourite RWBY charactes even are right now, and I find it super hard to narrow down because I love so many of them, but if I tried to somewhat narrow it down, then (in no specific order because don’t ask me to also come up with an order): all of Team RWBY (though Blake is a personal favourite), Ilia, Penny, Salem, Cinder. (But then again, I also love Winter and Qrow and Robyn and... you get it, it’s hard to narrow down. Oh, and of course Pyrrha, but... you know.)

- “Witch” was honestly my favourite episode of the bunch. That one was just so full of epic stuff. (And now I’m wondering if Salem being one of my favourite characters has anything to do with my love for witches. I used to be obsessed with witches as a kid. In every story I read that had a witch, the witch was always my favourite character.)

- Yang and her team sure found a way inside that whale fast! Also, really handy that Ren’s semblance evolved just in time for when they needed it. But hey, I don’t want to complain about convenient plot stuff too much. Sometimes the heroes are allowed to have a little bit of good luck.

- Hazel listening to Oscar and deciding to get both him AND Emerald out of there was amazing! He really does have a soft spot for kids and wasn’t kidding about not wanting more kids to die – we love to see it! I also think it makes for an interesting parallel that Hazel decided to do this right as Ironwood was sending students to fight on the front lines and Marrow was calling it out.

- I really liked Ren telling Yang she doesn’t have to hide her fear behind jokes. Ren being able to see emotions is going to bring about so many more good moments, I just know it!

- Emerald and “Hazel’s” talk with Salem gets so much better when you know “Hazel” is actually Oscar – Emerald has gotten so much better at illusions and fooled Salem herself! That’s impressive!

- It’s really practical that Ren could sense Emerald’s fear. But also, the group really didn’t have the time to discuss if Emerald was trustworthy – they needed to get out of there asap.

- The way Salem spits out the word “semblance” when she talks to Emerald shows again that she not only underestimates these “new humans” and their powers, but also considers them inferior. It’s a nice little detail how just her tone when she says that word says so much about her worldview.

- Yang straight-up running up to Salem and blowing her up was epic. It didn’t last of course, but it was still a super bold and epic move. I’ve talked before about how cool Yang is and she just keeps getting cooler.

- Yang calling Salem out was amazing and epic, too! And when she referred to Summer Rose as “my mom” that made me tear up just a bit 😢. (I really don’t like Salem’s smile when she says “her again”, though. I don’t want grimm-ified Summer, I really don’t want it, okay? keep it far away from me where I won’t have to see it.)

- I’m a bit sad about Hazel’s death, but it was a really fitting end for his character and a really cool way to go out. The way he looked at all of those kids in danger (proving again that that’s what it’s about for him), whispered “No more Gretchens” to Oscar, punched Salem in the face as she was about to hurt Emerald, injected all of those crystals into his skin (which looked epic, by the way), told Emerald to go, fought an epic fight against Salem and then grabbed her and set himself and her on fire, burning her like a witch – it was epic stuff! RIP Hazel, you died as a hero and went out in an incredibly epic way!

- Hazel’s sacrifice must have been super tough on Emerald. He died protecting her (and JOYR) and it worked. She got away from Salem, but only because someone else, a friend, died for her. Not only must it be awful for her to lose Hazel, she probably also blames herself. (And, as I’ve seen others point out, it was probably the first time in her life an adult did something to protect her. Wow. Someone get this girl therapy, please.)

- The whale getting blown up was an absolutely epic moment. From the music to the cinematography, I loved everything about it. (That said, I will miss the whale. RIP coolest villain lair ever.)

- I loved Watts’ speech to Cinder – and I’m saying this as someone who became a huge fan of Cinder this volume. I love her, but I also love roasting her, and a lot of what Watts said was stuff she desperately needed to hear. I honestly didn’t even like Watts before that moment, but that speech might have made me like him just a tiny bit. The way he just laughed when she dangled him from a building, the way he spelled it out for her that her methods haven’t been working and threw her failures in her face, the ending with calling her “a bloody migraine” – Like I said, I’m a fan of Cinder, but that was glorious and cathartic and beautiful to witness. But what makes it really perfect is Cinder’s reaction: The fact that you’d expect her to kill him or at least scream at him, but instead she spares him and just sits down and cries. I really love what they’ve been doing with Cinder this volume and that they’re finally showing her as someone way deeper than just a power-hungry villain.

- In general, let me quickly talk about Cinder, because even without having seen the last two episodes I can already tell you that she’s my standout character / favourite character of the season. (It was Ilia for Volume 5, Salem for Volume 6, Penny for Volume 7 – and now it’s Cinder.) I said back in my post about Volume 5 that I wish they’d do more with her because after becoming rather interesting in Volume 4 they just went back to making her a pretty flat villain – and I officially have to eat my words and apologize to RoosterTeeth right now! This volume proved to me that they know what they’re doing with Cinder and explained so much about her. I’m sorry for ever doubting the writing. I now want to go back and rewatch the whole show while paying more attention to Cinder and I can’t wait to see where her arc goes from here (yes, I want an eventual redemption, and what about it?). This volume is obviously setting up something big for her – I just have no idea what it is. And at the end of the day, she’s still the Maiden of Choice. She’s the key to the Beacon relic, and that’s going to become important eventually.

- Oh, and can I mention, just by the way, that I think Cinder looks amazing? I don’t understand all the people who say they miss her red outfits when this is clearly her best look yet. The black eyepatch, the cape, the earrings, the short hair, the high boots, the shorts instead of a dress, all the black – this is her absolute best look, period.

- I’ve also noticed that the scene between her and Watts is the first time Cinder has referred to Penny by name. She’s always referred to her with phrases like “some toy” or “Polendina’s creation” before, but this time she just called her “Penny Polendina”, then “Penny” again, and asked Watts how she’s supposed to take Penny’s power “if she’s dead” (not “destroyed”, which is what Watts said, but “dead” – something you say about a person, not a machine). I think somewhere down the line, Cinder has started to see Penny as a person and respect her as the Winter Maiden. Maybe it’s because of how Penny won the fight at Amity, or maybe (though this might be wishful thinking on my part) it’s because Penny questioned why Cinder serves Salem and showed her and Emerald mercy.

- Also, side-note: While I loved Watts’ speech, it sure is bold of him to call Cinder entitled when his own villain origin story is getting overlooked for a science project.

- Neo is an amazing little troll and I love her. From stealing the lamp and skipping along the ruins of the whale happily to those texts to Cinder, all of her moments were brilliant and hilarious.

- Some characters not just forgiving Emerald is totally fair and realistic. But, as I said before (and as Oscar also points out), they don’t have to. People think a “redemption” – or let’s just call it switching sides instead of using such a loaded term – has to include everyone’s forgiveness, but it doesn’t. If Yang and Jaune never want to personally forgive Emerald, that’s okay. They don’t need to forgive her to recognize that she’s changed and work with her. And, as Oscar and Ren point out, Emerald’s abilities would be very useful to have on their side. So, personal feelings are fine and all, but right now they don’t have the luxury to dismiss a potentially very useful ally. (And same for Oz, by the way. It’s fine if they’re still mad at him, but they also need his help.)

- Also, have I already said that I’m very happy for Emerald? Because I’m very happy for Emerald for getting out of there! (Mercury’s and then Cinder’s redemption next, please!)

- F*ck Harriet for trying to get Winter in trouble for letting JYR go. I’m hating her more every second. And then she seriously said “Who cares?” about Ironwood’s plan to nuke Mantle? She’s the most unlikable of them all.

- Everyone’s reunions were so sweet! I loved Ruby and Yang hugging 😭. And Yang cupping Blake’s cheek and their forehead touch had me all 🥰 🥰 🥰.

- After he threatened to nuke Mantle, I hope we can all agree that Ironwood is a straight-up villain now. The most infuriating part is that he didn’t even have to do anything! Whitley and Weiss had figured out a way to save everyone in Mantle and the SDC ships to evacuate people were already there. All Ironwood had to do was let them evacuate everyone to Atlas, and then Penny would have opened the vault willingly and Ironwood could have used the staff to raise Atlas as planned. Problem solved! He should have just sat there and ate his food – but he was so pissed about things not going his way (or maybe he just genuinely hates Mantle that much) that he thought sabotaging the rescue plan and threatening genocide was a better option.

- I loved Marrow’s arc in these episodes and how you could tell more and more that his conscience was making him turn against Ironwood. First he questioned Winter when she was going to nuke the whale before JOYR were back, then he seemed shocked when he thought they were dead, then he tried to talk sense into the other Ace Ops after Ironwood’s ultimatum, and then he straight-up called out Ironwood himself. That last one was dangerous though, and he was lucky Winter was quick enough to jump in and pretend to arrest him, because Ironwood was going to just shoot him in the back.

- Speaking of, I wonder how long Winter has been planning to double-cross Ironwood. How long was she already disagreeing with him, but waiting for the right moment to make a move? Either way, I’m glad she was there to save Marrow.

- The Renora confession scene was so sweet and got me a little choked up 😢. I’m glad they sorted out their issues and told each other how they feel. But like I said before, I think Nora’s arc of trying to find out who she is without Ren is really good and important and Ren respecting that was really good and important as well. It was just a very wholesome scene. Also, I like that we got a little bit more backstory for Nora (her mom abandoned her? that’s awful), and Jaune awkwardly leaving the room was hilarious.

- Robyn telling Qrow he’s a better Huntsman than Clover because he chose to do the right thing was a really important moment for Qrow, imo. (And just a side-note: I’m sure most Fair Game shippers are pretty chill – and I’m a strong believer in ‘ship and let ship’ – but a certain subset of them is starting to get on my nerves with how they ignore Clover’s canon character and story (acting like he would have rebelled against Ironwood if he were alive as if the whole reason he’s dead wasn’t precisely because he cared more about Ironwood’s orders than doing the right thing) and how they make every new plot point about their ship somehow (Oscar’s semblance? Better be a time-travel thing so Clover can come back. Staff of Creation? Better be able to bring people back from the dead so Clover can come back.) It’s so annoying.)

- Yang and Ruby’s talk about their mom was really intense. Ruby’s been holding all of these feelings in for so long, so seeing her say out loud what we’re all fearing (that Summer was turned into a Grimm) and seeing both her and Yang break down over it – that was a lot. I loved seeing Yang comfort Ruby and tell her that her plan for Amity wasn’t useless. Their sisterly bond is so sweet.

- Penny asking Ruby to kill her was another really intense moment. The look on Ruby’s face in that moment really said it all. Ruby has been through so much, has lost Penny before, so hearing that request – even though they fortunately didn’t have to go through with it – must have still been a lot for her.

- I really loved Emerald’s cute “newly reformed villain” moments. (“You guys have been getting your asses kicked… some of that my fault” & “I’m just going to be super pissed if you all finally decide to give up the moment I switch sides.”) I’ve said before (in my She-Ra posts) that my favourite part of any redemption arc is the “former enemies, now awkward around each other” stuff, so this was right up my alley!

- “The girl who fell through the world” was referenced twice now. Between that, the image of everyone falling in the opening, and the lyrics “sometimes it’s worth it all to risk the fall”, I’m going to predict that someone – most likely all of Team RWBY – will fall into that void and potentially end up in a different world.

- The group’s plan to defeat Ironwood, stop the bomb, and get to the vault was amazing all-around. I love the parts Emerald and Winter got to play in it, I love how we saw the plan’s execution before seeing how they came up with it and I love how everyone got to help, even the Schnees and Klein. I also love that the hole Oscar blasted through the ground of Atlas became relevant again.

- The design of the vault and the door are really nice and now I wonder what the other two are going to look like.

- Saving Penny like that was super risky, but they really were out of options. Just the fact that Ruby had to be quick enough to use her semblance and get to the staff before the virus kills Penny… jeesh, that was close.

- Ambrosius is a super fun character! I love that he looked at Penny and said “I’d love to meet whoever did this.” Also, the staff seems more useful than the lamp. The lamp only lets you ask three questions per century, while the staff can be used as often as you want – as long as you’re okay with whatever it previously created disappearing.

- I honestly still don’t completely understand what Penny is now. Is she meant to be human now? Or is she just a being made up of pure aura? How does this work? Ambrosius only created the copy that destroyed herself, so what’s left is Penny’s aura – but she somehow also has a body now? I guess we’ll find out more about what exactly this means later.

- Also, while I wasn’t sure how I feel about this decision re:Penny at first, now that I’ve thought about it for a bit, I think it works. It fits with the Pinocchio story, and I like that they didn’t phrase it as “she’s a real girl now”, but as “this is the girl who’s been in there all along”. Also, Penny saying “wow” after hugging Ruby and then going on a hugging spree was adorable.

- Watching “herself” self-terminate must have been really traumatic, though. Even if that copy was just a robot, it was still a disturbing scene.

- Who shut down communications in the middle of Jaune’s broadcast? I’m assuming it was Cinder, Watts and Neo.

- The whole dimension with the doorways that Ambrosius created looks amazing. (A while before watching this episode, I wondered if Raven could theoretically save Atlas by getting everyone to safety with her portals. It might not have been Raven, but I’m glad I was at least onto something.)

- “Do not fall.” So, about that… they’re all falling in the opening, (and we referenced “the girl who fell through the world” twice now), so I don’t have a good feeling about that. Also, Watts has been dangled from somewhere high twice now, so the third time has to be when he actually falls down.

- And Cinder is there to ruin the plan because of course she is.

[blossom-hwa]

Okay I'm super sorry if I'm requesting too many things but I was listening to holiday music while driving home from work yesterday and was suddenly struck by the need for some chaotic holiday/winter shenanigans with the boyz, if that's okay? Reader involvement isn't necessary! Pretty please and thank you sooo much ❤❤❤ -🌻

You’re not requesting too many things don’t worry Sunny!!! I literally owe you everything for half the fics I’ve written in the past year so there’s no way I could refuse, also this is what the drabble game is for!! I hope you enjoy this half-baked bullshit LMAO

3-year anniversary drabble game: send me an NCT/WAYV/Stray Kids/The Boyz member + a prompt (check out the post for ideas) and I’ll write a drabble for you!

(don’t think I've mentioned it but all of these text aus are in the same universe lol)

(also this ended up not being as holiday-ish as you probably wanted.... SORRY)

~

Title: Holiday Shenanigans

Pairing: no pairings, just the boyz being dumb

Triggers: a lot of cursing

~

quick clarification:

papi: sangyeon

angel: jacob

moon scribblez: kevin

new kid: chanhee

starbucks tissues: changmin

sundae: sunwoo

bread: younghoon

the better hyun: hyunjae

the better jae: eric

professional rollerblader: juyeon

foodie: haknyeon

~

new kid: I'm going to commit murder

sundae: who’s he making empty threats about this time

new kid: IT’S NOT AN EMPTY THREAT

moon scribblez: who wants to hear about the cockroach that fucking crawled out of my mop today!!

papi: pls don’t tlalk about it I was scarred for life

moon scribblez: IT’S YOUR TUTORING CENTER IT’S Y O U R FAULT WE HAVE A COCKROACH INFESTATION

papi: it’s not an infestation Kevin

new kid: is no one going to pay attention to my murder

angel: I will! but I won’t be an accessory

moon scribblez: I BEG TO FUCKING DIFFER

moon scribblez: THAT THING WAS HUGE IT WAS MORE LIKE A SPIDER JFC

new kid: I love you jacob

moon scribblez: IF I SHAKE THE FUCKING MOP TODAY AND COCKROACHES CRAWL OUT I’M QUITTING MY FUCKING JOB

angel: love you too <3

sundae: /barfs/

papi: #1 sunwoo just bc you’re allergic to emotion doesn’t mean the rest of us are

papi: some of us are capable of love

new kid: JI CHANGMIN ISN’T

papi: #2 I don’t own the center I'm just the center director therefore I do not take responsibility for any possible infestations we may have

starbucks tissues: I heard my name :D

new kid: sTOP FUCKING TERRIFYING ME WHEN I’M JUST TRYING TO WORK

new kid: IT’S ALMOST C H R I S T M A S HALLOWEEN IS G O N E

papi: therefore take it up with the owners @ moon scribblez

starbucks tissues: but it’s always halloween :(

moon scribblez: I TOOK THE MOP TO THE SINK

moon scribblez: PUT IT THERE AND TURNED ON THE FAUCET

moon scribblez: A FUCKING BROWN SPIDER-LOOKING COCKROACH BITCH ASS C R A WL E D OUT

moon scribblez: AND YOU WON’T TAKE RESPONSIBILITY??????????

papi: I just deal with the parents and the kids not bugs

new kid: it is NOT ALWAYS FUCKING HALLOWEEN

new kid: IF YOU WANT TO CELEBRATE

new kid: CELBRATE C RH SI T MA S 

moon scribblez: time to pin it on ella

starbucks tissues: :(

sundae: now look what you’ve done chanhee

sundae: you’ve made him sad

new kid: I GOT TERRIFIED BY A NUN MASK AND YOU CARE ABOUT IF H E’ S SAD????????????????

starbucks tissues: :(

angel: I think I'm going to head out

angel: I don’t think even I can heal this rift

moon scribblez: well if jacob’s out I'm out

moon scribblez: I have a solution to my problems 

papi: just don’t get me involved

moon scribblez: no promises !

starbucks tissues: I can scare ella if you want kevin :)

moon scribblez: YES FUCKING PLEASE

papi: I'm going to get fired

moon scribblez: maybe so :D

new kid: no one cares about my problems I see

new kid: everyone hates me

sundae: ya it’s bc you’re the new kid

new kid: I exist only for pain 

~

bread: so hyunjin told me to tell changmin to stop using various horror movie masks to terrify him at work

starbucks tissues: so out of work is fair game?

bread: idk he didn’t specify

bread: probably

starbucks tissues: :D

the better hyun: oh what the fuck this shit isn’t normal

the better hyun: it’s impossible for someone to be so cute but so terrifying

starbucks tissues: I'll take that as a compliment :D

the better hyun: it isn’t but whatever makes you happy ig

the better jae: changmin

the better jae: I only ask that you leave the nun mask and chucky doll at home when we have our christmas party

starbucks tissues: well that’s no fun :(

bread: changmin I'm sorry but your idea of fun is very different from ours

bread: Jacob back me up

angel: I'm sorry changmin but he’s right :(

starbucks tissues: :((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((

the better hyun: by the way for the party

the better hyun: who’s doing what???????

the better jae: I'm bringing the xbox!!

foodie: I'm bringing cookies !

papi: I'm cooking with Kevin and juyeon

professional rollerblader: yes it’s going to be fun

professional rollerblader: Kevin says he’s going to make a cheesecake

the better jae: can I save a piece for jisung??

moon scribblez: if we don’t eat all of it

new kid: why

new kid: why did I just hear screaming from the tutoring center

moon scribblez: oH MY GOD SANGYEON

professional rollerblader: TAHT WAS GLORIOUS

sundae: what happened

foodie: why do you only show up for chaos

sundae: I only exist for chaos nothing else is worth my time

the better jae: fair enough

angel: what happened? I thought I saw someone fall ??

angel: but I'm across the walkway so idk :(

angel: is everyone all right?

papi: I think I have a concussion

moon scribblez: oh please you just fell off a tiny stepladder

professional rollerblader: can’t believe sangyeon just fell off a stepladder trying to put up a fucking Christmas stocking 

papi: I hate christmas

papi: I hate everything

moon scribblez: the kids are laughing

moon scribblez: I think I'm going to bust a lung

papi: my dignity has been stripped and I no longer want to live

the better hyun: wait juyeon why are you even there 

the better hyun: you don’t even tutor

foodie: ‘does she even go here’

the better jae: ‘does she even go here’

foodie: ERIC

the better jae: HAK

sundae: oh wow amazing their brain cells conjoined into one single coherent thought and of course it had to be a mean girls reference

starbucks: how did this start out with younghoon telling me to stop scaring hyunjin at work

bread: honestly I don’t know

~

moon scribblez: winter break is upon us

moon scribblez: and I can now bask in the fact that I don’t have to teach spoiled rich assholes basic math for two whole weeks !

papi: speak for yourself

moon scribblez: your fault for being center director

angel: I hate to agree with Kevin and be mean but you really did bring that upon yourself sangyeon

papi: want death

professional rollerblader: no don’t die! we need your food for the party tomorrow

papi: can’t believe all you care about is my food not even me

sundae: did you expect anything different

papi: on a regular basis no

papi: but it’s the holiday season

new kid: holidays are a social construct made to force us into the world of capitalism and giving our money to fat fucking corporations like amazon

starbucks tissues: if I could give Jeff Bezos a heart attack with my nun mask I would

new kid: that’s the only use of that mask that I approve of

starbucks tissues: turn around

the better jae: was that

the better jae: was that new

bread: I don't think I've ever heard chanhee scream that loud

foodie: I’m at the food court and I heard that what the fuck

foodie: the build a bear is like all the way down the mall what the fuck

starbucks tissues: :)

bread: I think that scream rivaled changmin’s dolphin levels

sundae: brb still dying of laughter

sundae: I'm so happy I caught that on video

new kid: Kim sunwoo

new kid: don’t you fucking dare

sunwoo: [ 1 video attached ]

new kid: someone’s dying tonight

professional rollerblader: I can’t believe I missed this I'm so mad

foodie: I think the fake Santa Claus looking over in abject horror just adds to it

starbucks tissues: ^^^

new kid: someone’s dying tonight

angel: there there

angel: no one’s dying tonight

new kid: someone IS

new kid: AND NOT EVEN JACOB CAN STOP ME

the better jae: bet changmin’s mask can

new kid: I'm ripping that fucking mask to shreds

starbucks tissues: :(

bread: now he’s hugging the fucking mask like it’s his baby 

bread: [ 1 image attached ]

the better hyun: as I have said before

the better hyun: it is not normal for someone to look that cute while holding a fucking horror movie mask

papi: I've come to accept that none of you are normal

papi: I think it’s best for your sanity to accept that too

moon scribblez: I'm so late but I'm also rolling on the floor with laughter

papi: can confirm he’s actually on the floor

papi: Kevin you give our center a bad name

moon scribblez: I deadass do not care

moon scribblez: you gave me ashley today so I'm giving you chaos

moon scribblez: suck it <3

angel: she can’t be that bad?????????

moon scribblez: Jacob I know you’re an angel

moon scribblez: but you don’t understand

angel: I guess I don’t :/

~

foodie: I'm going into a food coma!

foodie: don’t attempt to contact me for the next twenty four hours peace <3

sundae: we wouldn’t have in the first place

foodie: :(

angel: sunwoo don’t be mean :(

sundae: fine

sundae: sorry hak

foodie: :)

new kid: the power of one Jacob bae

starbucks tissues: he prevents wars with just his smile

bread: all hail the angel

the better jae: *bows*

angel: guys pls

moon scribblez: no they’re right

moon scribblez: he took me home last night when I was drunk off my ass

moon scribblez: a true angel

angel: guys pls I'm blushing :(

papi: can confirm ! I'm sitting next to him

papi: also he made me hangover soup so can confirm the angel bit too

professional rollerblader: honestly if Jacob wasn’t here we wouldn’t have survived last night

professional rollerblader: he de-escalated Mario kart

professional rollerblader: stayed sober

professional rollerblader: took people home

foodie: all hail Jacob bae

the better jae: I thought you were in a food coma?????

foodie: came back to pay my respects to our lord and savior Jacob bae

the better jae: ok valid

angel: g u y s

the better hyun: has this conversation just become an all hail Jacob bae conversation

moon scribblez: do you want to fucking argue about it

the better hyun: no on the contrary

the better hyun: I'm joining

the better hyun: alL HAIL JACOB BAE

papi: amen

moon scribblez: aMen

professional rollerblader: a fucking men

angel: I'm going to start crying guys pls

new kid: NO DON’T CRY

starbucks tissues: Jacob don’t cry :(((((((((

angel: you guys are so sweet I can’t not cry

papi: I'm hugging him now no more crying

the better jae: two bros, chillin in a hot tub

the better jae: no feet apart bc they’re secure in their masculinity and love each other very much <3

moon scribblez: FIVE FEET APART BC THEY’RE NOT GAY

moon scribblez: fuck

the better jae: YOU RUINED IT

the better jae: yOU BITCH

professional rollerblader: didn’t Jacob call us sweet like one minute ago?

new kid: well he’s an angel he sees the best in us

sundae: there’s no best in you bitch

new kid: oh fuck you

bread: great way to end the holiday season ig

[normalg-irl]

When People Ask Me What I’m Doing After Graduation This Is What I’ll Say | May 3, 2019

So, I don’t have a job lined up for after graduation. I’m also not volunteering with the JVC or Americorps like some of my friends who enjoy helping people. I don’t have an internship, and I’m not traveling anywhere. I actually have no idea what I want to do? Like as a career, but also … in life? So I’ve decided to construct an honest answer to provide to anyone who asks me what I’m doing after graduation. If you, too, do not have a “plan” for post-grad, you are welcome to join me in the glorious city of Hartford, Connecticut, where these 5 post-grad steps will be carried out.

Step 1: Watch Game of Thrones.

Never having seen Game of Thrones makes me feel almost as shitty as never having seen any of the Harry Potter movies (never mind never having read the books). This is the first time I’m admitting that. I usually just play along like,

“I would be in Gryffindor, no doubt. My favorite spell is Leviosa. JK Rowling is honestly a legend.”

I’m embarrassed to confess how uncultured I am. But, with GoT, it’s way too complicated. You can’t just skim the surface like,

“Winter is coming. Jon Snow is my favorite character. Yeah, I’m not bothered by the incest either.”

I’m going to take the first three weeks immediately after graduation to binge GoT and get caught up to speed for the sake of the culture. And also for my own mental health because I’ve been feeling excluded and anxious every time Khaleesi is brought up around me. She sounds like a legend, almost more so than JK Rowling.

Step 2: Exercise lightly.

After the three weeks of binging Game of Thrones I’ll probably try and get my body looking right. No one tells you that going to Punta Cana for spring break turns you into a drinking-machine-party-fiend. The all-inclusive trip destroys all tendencies of eating vegetables and run-walking on the treadmill. For the latter portion of senior year all I’ve known, and all I’ve wanted to know, are Miami Vices (pina coladas and strawberry daiquiris mixed for the ignorant lames), permanent sunburns and foggy conversations with the same people over and over again.

So, with that, health and fitness has plummeted drastically on the list of priorities. Before entering the “real world” I’ll need to burn off all the fried chicken I swallowed whole while floating around in the Punta Cana resort pool. Step 2 is necessary in order to bury that part of the identity and embrace a classier manifestation of self.

Step 3: My high school friends and I become so bored that we go get frozen yogurt and have a really awkward encounter with someone random from our past.

Step 3 can be weaseled in at any point in the post-grad plan. Preferably I will complete step 3 multiple times, almost on a weekly basis. I envision a lot of days playing out like this:

11:00AM: Wake up.

11:04AM: Enter an “Instagram k hole” (This is a term I just learned. It’s when you get so deep into Instagram it feels kind of like you did too much Ketamine, and you’re seriously f*cked up).

12:10PM: Mom is getting home, so I quickly stage a job application workshop in the kitchen.

12:30PM: Mom really wants me to try harder at applying for jobs, I tell her I will.

12:45PM - 4:20PM: *Insert step 1 or step 2 here, depending on what level you’ve reached of the plan.* So this block of time can be filled with either culture binging, or getting the body right.

4:20PM: By this time culture = binged, or body = right. Both great outcomes. Send a text in the group chat, everyone’s down to hang, obv. No one has a job.

7:30PM: Not sure how those three hours were spent. Potentially was sucked into another k hole, but this time mind was completely erased.

8:25PM: Group unites at the friend’s house who has the most chill parents.

8:30PM - 9:50PM: Vaping, light gossip, and brief but intense Instagram k holes are accompanied by a random TV show playing in the background like Catfish or anything on TLC.

10:00PM: One friend suggests getting frozen yogurt. It’s the best idea she’s had in years.

10:15PM: Arrive at Sweet Frog dizzy off the vape. The smell inside is extremely nauseating. Someone might pass out in Sweet Frog.

10:16PM: Everyone fills up their cups with a mixture of flavors. One friend just gets a ton of those little balls with juice inside of them. She’s a psychopath.

10:19PM: I enter a frozen yogurt k hole. Halfway through the fro-yo I realize I do not like fro-yo. But then all of a sudden my cup is empty.

10:23PM: The awkward encounter the entire group has been anticipating finally happens. The middle school basketball coach enters Sweet Frog with his new girlfriend. He has no idea how old we are. He can’t even make a guess. He is intoxicated in Sweet Frog. He kisses us on the cheeks. His girlfriend is really pretty.

10:41PM: I leave Sweet Frog feeling awkward and sick. But it was something I had to do. And it’s something you have to do. It’s only right.

Step 4:  Shock my parents’ friends when I say, “I have no idea what I want to do” in the Big Y parking lot.

After the Sweet Frog interactions, awkward encounters will be nothing but a thang. I expect them to spice up the depressing post-grad days, and will probably become a favored activity.

So when my Mom asks me to go to Big Y to get a watermelon (she likes to give me random tasks), I’ll be kind of excited to go.

When I see Mrs. Miller in the parking lot, I won’t pretend not to see her. She asks me what I’m up to, what my “plan” is, and when I tell her about binging GoT and going to Sweet Frog and working out every few days, her face grows concerned and I am hoping she talks about my excellent plan with the other moms. I just want to be talked about, honestly.

I help Mrs. Miller put her groceries in her minivan so she thinks I’m still a good person even if I have no ambition.

“Good luck, sweetie.”

She nods empathetically from her minivan window as I stand alone in my pajamas in the Big Y parking lot carrying a watermelon.

Step 5: Read a life-changing book at the town pool.

I haven’t read a book in years. Reflecting on my life, I may never have actually finished a full novel. What if I’m in a job interview and the interviewer asks me what my favorite book is? I need to have something truthful and profound to say. The Fault in Our Stars isn’t going to cut it. I could maybe swing saying that the Game of Thrones series is my favorite, because I’m pretty sure they were books before a TV show? But that feels like it’d be super transparent at this point.

I can’t go into an intellectual discussion with some alternative, experimental book all confident like, “Have you read The Girl with the Chastity Belt’s Lullaby? It’s my favorite.”

No, you need something absolutely classic like To Kill a Mockingbird or Don Quixote or Fifty Shades of Grey. I’ll probably pick up War and Peace and call it a day. Been meaning to read that one. And then off to the pool I go.

I see myself spending a super relaxing time by the pool with my book. There are no annoying kids splashing around the day I decide to go and conquer my book. It’ll be closed off for academics on their sabbaticals just like me who want to peacefully read and feed their brains.

As I flip around War and Peace, I see a ton of pages, and a ton of words I don’t know. I suck at reading. I don’t know how to read. I can read the words, but the whole time my mind is thinking about potential boyfriends and potential parties and potential conversations. All which might never happen.

War and Peace spirals me into an anxiety k hole, which I think is actually just an anxiety attack, and I storm out of the pool without even buying french fries from the snack bar.

That’s as far as I’m going to make it into step 5.  

And there we have it my friends. Graduating without a job isn’t that scary if you embrace my perfect five-step post-graduation plan. Because, believe me, once you do it all - once you’ve watched eight seasons of Game of Thrones, hit Sweet Frog a couple hundred times, toned a few muscles, run into lots of moms, and “read” War and Peace … you will be ready to hightail it back to NYC - and maybe even land a job.

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

Published by The Rival at Fordham University on May 3, 2019

[epicstuckyficrecs]

Weekly Recap | April 6-12

I went on a bit of an Evanstan (re)reading spree this week as you can see!

Complete

character bleed by luninosity/ @luninosity​ (Evanstan RPF): In which Chris and Sebastian are cast as the leads in a Regency-era gay romance, and Chris has difficulty with a certain emotional scene...

ecce amore by Anonymous (Evanstan RPF | 3,8K | Teen): “You weren’t filming a sex scene in there.” Chris doesn’t have it in him to protest, anymore. Chris doesn’t think he even wants to deny it. He just needs this to be done. He’s not sure he’s going to last much longer with the pressure as it mounts again. “I think,” Sebastian tilts his head. “I think you might have been trying to make love.” (Inspired by luninosity's Character Bleed)

[End Scene] by Anonymous (Evanstan RPF | 2,1K | Teen): The Death of Captain America was, from conception to publication, one of the worst ideas Marvel had ever spawned. So of course: they film it, anyway. And he should not have been surprised by the way that it hits him. Runs him over and crushes him, skull to sternum, take after take after unforgiving take. The Death of Sebastian Stan is more accurate, to his mind. Admittedly, though: it doesn’t quite have the same ring to it.

Pleased To Meet You (Hope You Guess My Name) by Brenda/ @brendaonao3​ (TJ Hammond/Steve | 7K | Explicit): Or: TJ and Steve meet cute in a Starbucks and shenanigans ensue.

Seas(on) The Moment by luninosity/ @luninosity​, musette22/ @musette22​, paperstorm/ @paper-storm​ (Evanstan AU | 4,6K | Explicit): Quarantine coping mechanisms. Or: Sebastian watches Chris's internet cooking videos, and falls in love. And posts a video of his own...

Let It Be Glorious by brucespringsteen (WW2 | 8K | Explicit): The sign above the entrance to the large factory says American Army Men Who Desire Showers Are Welcome, and it is hanging haphazardly; the letters are big and blocked, and messy, and the bolts securing it over the big double doors are rusted. Steve turns to Bucky. “What do you think?”

it's this sunrise by howdoyousleep/ @howdoyousleep3​ (Sugar Daddy Steve | 4K | Explicit): He knows Bucky being grumpy and sleepy shouldn’t be so goddamn cute but, fuck, it’s the most adorable thing Steve’s ever been witness to (Part 11 of Modern Daddy Steve Rogers/Young Bucky Barnes)

WIP

Paradise Lost (& Found) by JJK/ @trenchcoatsandtimetravel​ (Modern AU | 30/? | 67K | Mature): Meeting at a tropical resort AU where Steve is there on a 2-week honeymoon package after his fiancee left him at the altar, and Bucky is there for his sister’s destination wedding but doesn’t have a room because there was a mix up with the reservations in the system.

💙 How to Fuck With (and Feed) Your Soulmate by BlueSimplicity/ @bluesimplicity73​ (Soulmate AU, Shrunkyclunks | 13/? | 73K | Explicit): It’s called the Grey Space; a patch of skin marking you as blessed and the first sign you have a soulmate. Steve Rogers didn’t have one when he crashed into the ice. But he did when he woke up in the future. The second sign is the Sense, a sharing of one the senses to help soulmates find each other. Steve’s Sense, taste, is rare, but he loves a challenge and a soulmate is a gift from the Fates. Except instead of a blessing, it’s a curse, since his soulmate is a dick. Bucky Barnes loves food and a homecooked meal is something he cherishes. When his Grey Space starts to itch, Bucky can’t help his excitement, since the Sense he and his soulmate share is taste. But not for long. Whoever he’s bound to has the blandest diet in the world, ignoring all Bucky’s messages. After weeks of putting up with tasteless food, Bucky decides to strike back.

The Mnemosyne Project by onymousann (Post-WS | 5/? | 15K | Explicit): Someone’s trying to talk to the Winter Soldier. Steve intends to find out who. (Part 2 of ocean eyes)

💙 four dreams in a row where you were burned by voxofthevoid/ @voxofthevoid (canon divergent, post-Endgame, 1945 alternate timeline | 10/? | 58K | Mature): When Steve uses the last of his Pym Particles to travel to 1944 and save his best friend, he doesn’t have a plan beyond leaving behind the battlefield and living his life alongside the people he loves. But the life that finds him is not the one he expects.

Re-read

💙 just a couple lovebirds (we got a good thing) by luninosity/ @luninosity​ (Evanstan AU | 55K | Explicit): Sebastian grabs his laptop, and opens a new client file, and names it Evans, Chris.

Bro by eclecticxdetour/ @eclecticxdetour (Evanstan AU, Uni AU | 3,6K | Explicit): Sebastian gets dragged to a frat party and catches the attention of an attractive fraternity brother.

💙 (baby won’t you please) run your fingers through my hair by luninosity/ @luninosity​ (Evanstan RPF, BDSM | 20K | Explicit): “I can’t just Google sex dungeons,” Chris says, “even if it is for a role.” Sebastian says, “I might know a place.” 

Commandments by eadunne2 (Evanstan RPF | 3K | Explicit): Thou shalt not fall in love with Sebastian. He makes it a rule even though he’s already broken it. He needs a reminder that it’s his own damn fault his heart is breaking. That he knows better.

Break Your Heart And Give You Mine by coloursflyaway/ @coloursflyaway​ (Evanstan RPF | 8,8K | Teen): Chris and Sebastian have never really been friends, but when Chris comes back to shoot yet another movie with Sebastian, everything changes.

when i'm with you by betoning (Evanstan RPF | 6,3K | Mature): In which a lovesick Sebastian is about to leave the dinner Team Cap filmed with Chelsea Handler.

What the Fuck, Why, What -- Fuck (and Other Boston Classics) by rallyonward/ @rallyonward (Evanstan RPF | 3,7K | Teen): So it happens like this: Sebastian calls Chris on a Tuesday.

notes from the in-between by radialarch/ @radialarch​ (Evanstan RPF | 4,8K | Teen): At some point, he thinks, he's stopped acting.

💙 It Takes Three (To Make A Thing Go Right) by Brenda/ @brendaonao3​ (Steve/Bucky/TJ Hammond | 10K | Explicit): Or: Bucky and Steve meet TJ Hammond at a fundraiser and take him home with them. It's the start of a beautiful relationship.

💙 Recipe for Demi-saster by Imagineitdear (Modern AU | 24K | Explicit): When Steve finally realizes he isn't broken, he settles in for a nice life of cookie-baking and kinky porn. Gone are the days of trying to push himself into flirting, no-strings-attached sex, or awkward dates with near-strangers. Gone is the nagging self-doubt that he should want things exactly how everyone else does. Years later, on one of his least favorite days of the year, he re-meets one of said no-strings-attached hookups from his past. Who just moved in down the street and seems to want to be friends now. After having a great time for *once* on a Fourth of July, Steve wants the same. But he’s forgotten something rather important: for demi-sexuals, there's no place more dangerous than the friend zone.

[iwantitiwriteit]

Love Lockdown - Part 3

Lovesick

Pairing: Chris Evans x Reader

Summary: Chris braces himself for his FaceTime with you.

Warnings: Angst, Pandemic backdrop, Profanity

Notes: First In My Feelings Monday™ on books! Hopefully there’ll be more musings as the weeks go on, but I loved the whimsy the mindset added to me day! 🥰 This part was kind tough to write cos it required me to get into an opposing mind frame from the Reader, but a fun challenge nonetheless! Read the previous part here!

As much as he loved Winter in Boston, it was Spring that really captured Chris’ heart.

He’d been watching the beautiful day pass by outside his home office window while he took a few remote meetings with his team. Lockdown didn’t mean shutdown, for Chris at least, as he’s in preparation mode for an upcoming virtual press junket.

However, as soon as those glorious words, “That’s all for today,” were uttered, he upped and gathered his jacket, Dodger and headed for the front door.

“Going for a walk!” He called over his shoulder, his way of saying he’d be back soon.

“Alright, let me grab my jacket!” Scott said in response. Chris sighed and laughed to himself as he waited by the door for his brother. “What?” Scott asked when he got to Chris, who was shaking his head at his brother’s self-invite. He just laughed lightly as they bounded for the street, locking the door behind them.

It took Chris some growing up to appreciate this season. Truly appreciate it. But he’s so glad he does now. There’s a polarity in its elements that make it unique from the other seasons. 

The bright sun peeks from behind thick clouds every so often, fully exposed and giving light gloriously. The flowers, shy and budding in March, are now in April, with just a little time, bold and in bloom. The trees billowing in the cold wind are unaware of their own fierce presence, so gentle in their saving grace that is their shade.

Kind of complex, Spring in Boston. Could be perceived as annoying in its inconsistency of temperature within a 24 hour period; cold one part of the day then hot the next. But he loved that not everyday or every hour was the same. Kept him on his toes in a way.

 He couldn’t help but imagine how you’d like it here at this time of year. How he’d like you here with him. To have you on this walk right now. To hold you close when the sharp wind cuts through, chilling you both. You’d say what you always say when you snuggle up to him for warmth; that your southern bones feel the cold more than he does.

Maybe it’s true. Or Maybe it’s a lame excuse to be closer to him. Either way, he’d never complain. He loves it. He loves you.

Chris smiles to himself at the thought. Yeah, you’d love it here in the Spring. Definitely more than you did in December. What a start to a shit show that turned out to be. Chris hates to think about it. But his brain can’t help but go back there sometimes.

“Penny for your thoughts?” Scott asks, walking alongside his brother.

Chris lets out a long breath. He’s back there right now. But it doesn’t start and stop there. December makes him think of January. January makes him think of February. Then March, and before he knows it, he’s been through the chain of events that led you two here: Him in Boston, and you in Tennessee. In love but hurting from it. In the midst of a pandemic? Your relationship is just as uncertain as the end to the world’s madness.

Chris kicks himself at the painful memories. Shaking his head, he looks over to Scott who is patient as his brother finds his words.

“I’m thinking that despite the craziness of the last few weeks, months even, and being on lockdown...”

“Uh-huh…” Scott says knowing there’s more

“In an odd way, I’ve felt more free than I have in a while.”

“How’s that?”

“Well… hasn’t it been kinda great being, ya’know, solo...?” Chris eludes, not wanting to say the actual words.

“Huh? Oooooh!” Scott says as he catches Chris’ drift.

Chris won’t lie; the last 3 weeks away from you have been headache free. The bachelor lifestyle coming back to him with ease. He’s spent enough years on his own to know how to revel in the perks of singleness. No side eyes when he’s yelling at CNN or football, no being told to do stupid, necessary chores that can wait til he’s ready, and no one to get hurt when he’s inevitably fucked up in some way or another.

“Only problem is, I’m the only one of us who’s actually single.”

“Right… I know, and don’t get me wrong! I feel really lucky she hasn’t left me yet, and that she’s stuck it out with me for this long. I really can’t imagine my life without her.”

“But…” Scott prompts.

Chris is hesitant as he starts again. “But lately, guiltily...I wonder if that would be such a bad thing. If we were to… ya’know,” Chris makes weird hand motions that Scott eventually interprets as “breakup”.

“It’s a wonder you’re any good at charades.”

As much as he feels bad and knows he could’ve done some things differently, handled some things better, Chris is sooo frustrated with you.

“Why won’t she just tell me what she’s really thinking— exactly what she’s feeling. I’m not a fucking mind reader! You would think it’d be easy for her, considering what she does for a living, I don’t get it man.”

Scott waits for his cue for Chris to ask the golden question, but when he doesn’t hear it, he looks over at his older brother. Chris looks every bit a boy that’s absolutely lovesick, kicking the rocks in his way, pouting down at his feet. “You want my opinion?” Scott eventually offers.

“Please. I don’t think Dodger’s gonna give me anything good.” Chris bends down to pet the pup quickly before continuing their walk

“I think she has told you what she’s feeling— just not explicitly from her mouth.”

“If that’s the case, then her shutting down every time we’re addressing an issue is supposed to mean…?”

“You’ve got to give her some room to emote, cos you can be a bit, well, you know.” Chris did know, but it didn’t make it sting any less.

Accusations from past girlfriends of him not listening, only hearing, what’s been communicated have not gone unnoted. That, coupled with his bubbling emotions have led to many a breakup in his life. Relationships demoted to damn near flings the way women have come and gone from his life. But what he has with you couldn’t just be another relationship for the books. Chris wants to break the cycle with you… for you.

“I thought I was doing that when I suggested we social distance separately. Then last night she made it very clear that I was very wrong.”

“I could’ve told you that you were very wrong. Tax free.” The two men make their way back to the house. Looking at his brother before him, all sad and distraught, Scott was not going to let him start his own pity party.

“I don’t want to lose her. She’s the one. She’s my one. I know it.”

“Then don’t lose her.”

“When’s anything EVER been that simple?”

“I’m not saying it is, but if you know she’s the one, don’t give up so easily bro. Try everything in your power to give her the relationship she deserves. And she will do the same for you. But, if the problems still persist, then maybe, it would be for the best if…” Scott trails off as he sees his brother’s eyes start to look like those of the dog by their feet. “Look, I’m just telling you from personal, very recent experience, that it isn’t all that bad being friends on the other side of it all.”

“Ugh, God! I think I’d rather have a limb caught off and force fed to me than try to be friends with her if we ever… I can’t even say it.” Chris pokes his tongue out like he’s tasted something awful.

“You’re being hella dramatic right now.”

“But bro, I’m not even exaggerating!” The brothers laugh as they walk up the driveway. As they cross the threshold of the front door, Chris’ reminder for your FaceTime call sounds off, echoing in the foyer. He turns it off and looks up at his brother. “That’s the call to my love’s fate” he tries to joke.

Scott wears a soft, empathetic smile “Everything’s gonna be just fine. No matter what.”

Chris tries to wear some optimism, but the possibility of this being the end of your relationship tugs at him. He won’t let it get a hold of him. “Thanks, bro. I’ll see you later. And DO NOT eavesdrop.”

“Whaaaat??? I would never!” Scott feigns offense. Chris looks unconvinced. “Dodge and I are gonna enjoy an afternoon movie, isn’t that right Dodgey Wodgey?” 

“Dodger’s not even buying it. Stop it.”

“Yeah, that was weird. See ya later, man.”

Chris takes the stairs to his bedroom two by two. He sets up his laptop, making sure to plug in its charger; wouldn’t want it to die on this call.

He paces around the space in front of his desk. As many video calls as he’s done the past few weeks, none of them were as important as this one. Nervousness washes over him. He decides to embrace it; it’s natural, and a good sign. He still cares. He can only hope you do, too. 

The digital clock strikes 2. It’s time.

He calls you, the laptop ringing for a while longer than his beating heart can take. His heart sinks and doubts creep in. Is this is it? Is she done with me? No fight, no… nothing? This can’t be it. But then the ringing ceases and the screen says “connecting”, a sigh of relief involuntarily escaping him.

He can’t help but beam, proud he knows you better than his negative thoughts do. Happy that you wouldn’t leave him high and dry. 

Then he sees your face. Your beautiful face. The natural lighting of your room bouncing off your gorgeous, brown skin. Your hair is the perfect combination of defined curls and loose wisps, neat but not overly so. You are the epitome of effortless, natural beauty. He almost feels like he’s seeing you for the first time.

“Hey baby! For a second there, I thought you wouldn’t answer,” he nervously chuckles. 

You smile at him but it doesn’t reach your eyes. He senses your apprehension, even through a screen. He hadn’t done a good job of setting up this conversation with peace of mind for you, now that he thinks about it. “We need to talk” is almost always followed by some heavy, unwanted shit. Not that this talk will be easy, but he most certainly doesn’t want you thinking the worst. He genuinely wants to talk; explain his fuck ups and frustrations. And try to listen.

He figures since he’s put you two here, it’s his job to steer this ship to calmer, nicer waters. Here goes. He tries some small talk, anxiety making him ramble. “So, how’s the… weather? That’s a stupid— ugh, I’m sure it’s, like, hot. You’re down south, where it’s hot—”

“Chris?”

“Yes honey?”

“I don’t wanna do this with you.”

There it is; his worst fear. Losing you. No. He was determined to let his optimism win. Determined that his ears were deceiving him in this moment.

“What do you mean?”

Chris is too all in to go down without a fight, and  fight for you he was prepared to do.

Part 4 | What’d you think?

[ramble-writes]

So here comes another valentine's gift for the glorious @franks-mixtape ! If y'all remember the 2 Franks that are brothers and werewolves that I wrote some time ago, this is going from that again because I thought about it randomly and felt like I then needed more of it sooooooo yeah! If you DON’T know, the gist is being that his Frank and my Frank are half brothers. Father being a werewolf to both which resulted in his Frank being a halfling, while mine is whole werewolf due to different mothers. 19 years apart until both came to Ormond where they met up and figured out they’re brothers. So there ya go!

Warning(s): probs just standard cussing, buuuut that’s it lol

Don’t forget to like, reblog, and follow if ya wanna see more! (◍•ᴗ•◍)❤

-

A Wednesday. Worst day for the 14th to fall on. Especially since it’s in the middle of the school week. Frank James Morrison sat there in the last class for the day, English. The teacher decided to focus on how Valentine’s day started from some dude who got executed in Rome or some shit. He wasn’t paying attention, finding it useless to learn about. Emerald green eyes lazily gazed around the room till they landed on his brother’s russet hair.

Frank Fenik Morrison was there a few seats to James’s left, amber eyes were trailing over the printed paper the teacher had passed out previously. As much as he was into literature, if he wanted to learn history on a subject of a man who was killed for trying to teach his religion to the Romans, he would’ve in his history class.

Fenik really was just idly taking his pencil to scribble a random design on a blank spot on the paper, the teacher’s voice seeming muffled in the background. Darkening some lines on the drawing, he felt a nudge in his mind, like someone nudging him with their arm. He lifted his eyes up and flickered to the side where gemstone eyes met and locked.

‘Dude. This shit is boring. Can’t we just.. skip out on this?”

‘I wish. But we can’t or shit’ll go down. Plus, they’ll know it’s us since we have the same exact name, minus the middle name.’

This made the raven-haired Frank sigh out loudly. He slightly scrunched his face up at hearing his other half chuckle both from a distance (thanks to his heightened hearing) and in his mind. Since figuring out the two had the same father, name, preference in tattoos, music, and other things, it made for the two getting along pretty easily. It resulted in a sort of bond to form. Since their father was a werewolf, it resulted in an animal like bond to form, that ran deeper than a standard sibling bond. Emotions, feelings, and thoughts were connected. It resulted in a mind link to have basically silent conversations.

‘Jesus fuckin Christ we have thirty minutes left of this bullshit. Feels like it’s taking foreverrrr!’

Fenik had to cover his mouth to stifle the laugh that bubbled up. Hearing him complain like a child made for lightening the boring mood. The internal complaining actually helped pass the time till the bell rang. Kids instantly got up with grabbing backpacks and shoulder bags alike and hurried for the door as the teacher called out that their homework from 2 days ago is due by Friday. Most likely, no one paid attention.

The two Morrisons waited at the bottom of the steps of Fairview, waiting on the other three of their odd pack in the snow. It didn’t take long for Julie, Susie, and Joey to come out. Julie adjusted her coat she has on as she hurried a bit down the stairs, being mindful of the snow-covered steps as she went over to the russet-haired Frank and planted her lips to his. This drew a very pleased growl from him as he kissed her back. Thankfully, those dreaded words to the holiday weren’t uttered.

“A’ight sluts! What’s the plan for today for shit to fuck up?” James asked, the name making Joey chuckle. “I’m lookin’ for chaos to burn down the grossness I feel from all this love shit.”

“I second that. There’s this jackass that’s been trying to feel Susie up in history when it comes to turning in work,” Julie huffed out. This made Joey look at the pinkett with concern on his face.

“And ya haven’t said anything?” Susie looked away at the tallest’s question which made him sigh. “Sus, ya gotta tell us when this kind of stuff happens..”

Her head only lowered before she pulled her hood up to hide her face. Joey had let out a sigh and draped an arm over her shoulders before looking at the other three. Amber, emerald, and brown eyes met and they all shared the same thought.

‘Trash the fucker’s place’

-

To cut things short, finding where the guy lives wasn’t hard. They did the standard: Egging the house, toilet paper thrown and draped over trees and parts of the house. But the brothers took it an extra step by managing to get up on the house with wadded up toilet paper, where they then shoved it down the chimney to block it up since smoke was coming out of it. And they were out as quickly as they came with a job well done. 

They all split to head to their homes, hearing distant sirens meaning the house called the fire department which was sweet music to them. Of course, the russet-haired teen snuck over to Julie’s place after her father passed out for their... usual time together. Raven, as another nickname to call James rather than by his middle name like Fenik, was laying there in bed till about midnight he heard his name being called through that mind link.

‘Thought you were busy bangin’ up Jules.’

‘Shut up and get your ass out here.’

‘Fiiine. But I still wanna hear about your adventures in the pussy caaaave!’

James snickered when he bet the other was rolling his eyes outside, but he got out of bed to get dressed in his usual letterman with an extra layer underneath since it is midnight and it’s still winter. Out the window he went and onto the ground below where his brother is standing and waiting.

“Alright, whatcha want butt sniffer?”

“Don’t. Anyway, thought it be nice to hang out since school has been riding out asses with work to get us “prepared for college” which I could care less for.”

The raven-haired teen nodded. “Yeah. It’s a lot of bullshit. Ffffuck I hate being a senior.”

“I feel that,” Fenik agreed with a nod of his head. As usual, the two headed into the forest since it is their escape, and the only way that the wolves within the both of them can be let out. It’s a nice reliever since a lot of the times going out was never an option and it would make them feel cramped.

Usually, they don’t speak when out in the forest unless they do their usual practice. But for now, it was nothing but a run. Fenik in full wolf with James keeping up at an easy stride. Surprisingly, there was no clouds which let for the moon to shine bright in the sky and reflect off the snow, practically lighting their path. 

They didn’t know how long they’ve been running, but they did come to a stopping point when the two Morrisons came across a big tree. It was there they stopped and flopped down at the base at the big roots, James leaning on Fenik and a hand running through the rust-colored fur in slow strokes.

“Ya know... I’m a bit jealous you can shift and I can’t..”

“Seriously? I dunno. I’d be pretty happy with just the heightened senses n shit.”

This made for emerald eyes to look at the wolf, which in return, amber looked back at the halfling. Concern was felt on both sides. Concern for how one felt left out of things, and concern for how the other didn’t care if shifting was a thing or not. James scooted himself a bit close to be able to wrap an arm around the back of the head of the large wolf and pressed his forehead to his, letting silence overtake the quiet between he two of them.

Something happened since one moment the raven-haired teen was small in comparison to the wolf with clothes on, to suddenly not and... the same size. It was like his body just relaxed for him to suddenly shift, but the realization got for the two to jump up onto their paws and look at each other.

James now was suddenly the same height, same build. Black fur made him look like a shadow o the white snow. Vibrant green eyes stood out like unknown lights in the darkest parts of the forest. The two were quiet, before sounds of excitement left them and they became nothing but giant mounds of fur and limbs with barks and yaps leaving them.

What felt like hours of nothing but romping around in the snow, they both flopped down panting with tongues hanging out of open mouths and tails swishing in the snow. Two sets of gemstone eyes gazed up at the night sky, the moon nothing but a white orb to the side of their vision.

“I hate valentine’s, but this? This is the greatest fuckin’ gift nature let me have haha!” James boofed out, letting his paws stretch out in front of him. It felt like all his limbs were sore from being contained, and finally was allowed to be out.

“Oh trust me. Being this way is heavenly. Feels like what freedom from the system should be. And now that you can shift, we can do this a hell of a lot more. And no one can stop the hell we’ll raise.” Fenik let out a chuff, a canine version of a chuckle. The black pelted one chuffed as well before rolling onto his side and laying close to the rusted pelt one and pressed close.

They were content like that, black mixing with rust, emerald and amber. It took only a nudge from Fenik to say that it’s best they get going. James got up and shook the snow from his fur, waiting for his brother to get up. Both standing, they trotted off to the edge of the forest where they shifted back to their human selves.

“This weekend. Can... we go running again? And... maybe teach me some wolf stuff since now I can shift?”

“Hell yeah man! I’ll be waiting ‘round seven. Sound good?”

James nodded with a slight smile before it fell. There was hesitation, but Fenik could feel it and brought his brother close for a hug. He melted into it and hugged the other back. They stood like that for some beats before breaking it off and headed to their homes with goodbyes through the link. Days and nights for now on were gonna be different, but they were gonna be hella enjoyable and that feeling of being left out vanished. Everything felt right, just as it should be. 

[dansnaturepictures]

15th July 2021: Purple and White-letter Hairstreak, Swift and Buzzard and more at Lakeside and home 

I enjoyed seeing a Buzzard soaring over out the back as I worked today. I hadn’t seen many birds of prey around for a while so this was nice. When going over to Lakeside at lunch time I saw probably the first Small Skipper butterfly I ever have on the green out the front before reaching Lakeside. When I got into Lakeside walking from the eastern meadows along to the visitor centre then around Concorde and the westernmost lake and out along the northern path, the meadows were like a pick and mix so bright and deliciously varied were their rich colours. Once again, so lovely to take in. And on Big Butterfly Count Eve species like Marbled White and the Small Skippers were out in great numbers again. I took the first three pictures in this photoset of views as I walked around with great willowherb making a great impression on the landscape looking pretty and pink. I took the fourth and fifth pictures in this photoset too of Concorde lake and the green and yellow carpet of grass and ragwort and bird’s-foot trefoil which looked nice with the bit of woodland looking nice looming behind. By the lake, with the cow parsnip making some nice scenes today all together to, I spotted some similar nice little yellow flowers fairly high up and I found via the PlantNet ID app its wild parsnip the first I ever recall seeing and I really liked seeing it did look beautiful. 

Walking beside the westernmost lake shown in the seventh picture in this photoset I saw some nice birds, Great Crested Grebe pretty well and some Mallards very close by I took the sixth picture in this photoset of one with another special Swallow over the lake. I took the final three pictures in this photoset going along the northern path within Lakeside to exit the country park. 

With the sun just hinting at poking through as it did this afternoon and the evening at the end of the lunch time walk the tone of the day would be set. As I mentioned on Friday night: https://dansnaturepictures.tumblr.com/post/656278778443628544/9th-july-2021-part-1-of-2-wildlife-photos-and I saw some butterflies which I thought were potential hairstreaks getting very quick views of them at the tops of trees either side of the northern path seeing them in and outside of the country park. I could just not see them for long enough or see them landed to confirm whilst I liked seeing them as they were and whatever they were of course. So I had no confirmation on if they were hairstreaks or which one they were. To slight relief then I enjoyed seeing the two potentials the rare White-letter Hairstreak and Purple Hairstreak at Knepp in Sussex alongside Purple Emperor at this brilliant place on Saturday. But all of a sudden today, I’d checked a few times in cloudy and sunny weather again this week, a hairstreak was in the air around the tops of the trees and did seem to come down for a minute too. And it had the bright brown glow of the White-letter Hairstreak. I saw it a few times and was happy it was this species as my lunch break came to an end but I wanted one view of it, even for a minute landed to really take it in and watch it. 

And this prompted me out for what turned into an amazing evening walk. Having done a bit of reminding myself of the trees the White-letter Hairstreaks frequent before the walk, I walked along to the trees I had seen the hairstreaks Friday and today or the probable hairstreaks on Friday and didn’t see any again. But on the way I had noticed trees which looked just like the trees at Peartree Green in Southampton where in a heatwave with England doing well in a senior men’s football tournament White-letter Hairstreak came into our life in one glorious summer week off where I first discovered Knepp and Yorkshire three years ago. So I thought these would be a good bet. And I was delighted to see hairstreaks gently dancing around the tree top, two small ones. And they were landing and I could just about see where. In this unique butterfly season for weather where maybe the changeable conditions means butterflies are seeming to be seen landed less, this was the most I’d seen any hairstreak land this summer (the only other hairstreak I’ve seen this year the Green Hairstreak as I often do one of the spring butterflies more so). And even though the trees they are found in differs to the white-letters, I was astounded to find that these were Purple Hairstreaks with their cute little spot, prominent white lines and violet stained markings! I got a photo of one which I posted on my Twitter Dans_Pictures tonight. 

I knew in my mind these were different to the lunch time ones so both species are here. I am thinking, whilst I would not change the fact that Knepp is where I ticked it this year because I really wasn’t sure here on Friday but at Knepp I could be, that what I saw on Friday night was most likely Purple Hairstreaks so the white letters possibly came out later. White-letter Hairstreak we were given information on the last two years were at Lakeside but still a big thing to see obviously but Purple Hairstreak was a real surprise. I could not believe my eyes as I saw one of these a little way up the path or maybe the same one again flying around and landed. With both of these monumental hairstreak species patch ticks for my butterfly section on that, its only the third place I’ve ever seen Purple Hairstreak and White-letter Hairstreak, after Bentley Wood and Knepp and Peartree Green and Knepp respectively. It felt amazing to be able to say that my local urban country park Lakeside is on the lists alongside some of the leading locations for butterflies in the country! It was fantastic seeing these hairstreaks especially the purples maybe after seven years and fourteen days since I saw my first ever at Bentley Wood. I was just so proud not only that Lakeside but the northern path which has given me some of my best wildlife moments this year recently with butterfly and flower species seen really well with a few firsts of years, that these rare butterflies are here and it was exceptional to see them. On my patch list for butterflies are over half of all the butterflies I’ve ever seen which makes me proud too.They are two of my butterflies of the year even just on the Knepp sightings and I felt they helped propel the day into insect gold for me. It felt like the butterfly version of my Tawny Owl, Lesser Spotted Woodpecker and seen on one day back in late winter* you get things that mirror each other interestingly in years I find. Some of my best ever moments of butterfly watching at Lakeisde, the place that has given me so much of my love for butterflies from the early days onwards. 

Also tonight, Swifts were delightedly gliding in the lovely bright conditions I got some smashing views of these dark brown beauties. There were other great insects around like bees high up on the trees too. A momentous day of butterflies for me and a great day all round. I hope you all had a good one. 

Willdife Sightings Summary: My first White-letter Hairstreak and Purple Hairstreak seen on patch ever, one of my favourite butterflies the Marbled White, two of my favourite birds the Great Crested Grebe and Buzzard, Small Skipper, Meadow Brown, Mallard, Black-headed Gull, a Lesser Black-backed Gull well from home out the front, Swift, Swallow, Starling, House Sparrow, Woodpigeon, Collared Dove, Jackdaw, bee and moth. 

*The explanation of that Tawny Owl/Lesser Spotted Woodpecker moment as I wrote about it on the day https://dansnaturepictures.tumblr.com/post/646225357122535424/20th-march-2021-house-sparrows-on-world-sparrow