#and yeah yet another cover artist who i guess doesn't think of me as a priority or worth communicating with?

[sweetfirebird]

Kind of thinking of... not publishing this book now. There are constant delays with the cover (some of which were my fault, or at least, gmail's fault, some of which... my curse when it comes to cover artists maybe), I can't schedule promo or a release or anything because no idea when/if I will get a cover, and there doesn't seem to be much excitement about it anyway, and I already suspected it wouldn't sell much because of subject matter and stuff, so... I can make a crappy cover myself on like, Canva, if need be. But I just... do not feel motivated rn to promote it or talk about it. It would be a loss of income, but not much of a loss probably since, again, no audience for it. It kind of gives me like, Wicklow or Delf vibes and idk if I can go through that right now.

It means I'll have to rush something out before the end of the year, and probably put something else up on Kindle Unlimited (ugh) but... Yeah whatever excitement I felt about it is gone.

[spotsupstuff]

I have been encouraged by the fact that you seem to be tolerating my rants and I was literally JUST thinking about ancient hair so hi I'm invading your askbox yet again but this time with images to back up my chaos

here is a graffiti! Most likely of an ancient, judging by the humanoid stature, the stripes on its body, the little spots, the covered-up eyes (it bugs me how the ancients black out their eyes in artworks. I get that it's probably part of the whole 'abate thine self' mindset but I WANT TO SEE THEIR WHOLE FACES DAMN IT)

But this ancient is missing their tentacle-hair!! This leads me to believe that some ancients either straight-up lack this feature, have lost their tentacles somehow, or perhaps even choose to remove them.

While no other images (that I have currently found, there may be others) depict completely bald ancients, several show them no visible tentacle-hair.

Here is one of the tapestries:

The one on the right has very long and obvious tentacle-hair. The one of the left doesn't appear to have any (unless they do and I'm just blind). I would guess that this ancient just has the shorter variant of the tentacle hair, or be missing it entirely.

This image shows that ancients also canonically have tiny tails!!! This is shown by the ancient on the right, who appears to. um. not be wearing any clothing. My apologies for showing this indecency, it was either this or the Karma 2 tapestry.

Also their feet. Do not get me started on the pure confusion that is ancient feet.

Here is an image which you've shown several times now. In my opinion it's the best depiction of an ancient that we have. I refer to it as 'the holy grail of ancient imagery' (sorry, I'm a nerd).

This ancient has pretty darn short tenta-hair compared to some of the other art. Their bottom three tentacles have extra rings surrounding the little center dot which could be evidence at tenta-hair trimming (I'm kinda grasping at straws here but idk).

There are several other images depicting short tentacle-hair, but I honestly can't tell whether or not those images are actually ancients or just wacky blobs.

ANOTHER THING!!

This dude looks like a skeleton. Does that mean the tentacle-hair have little bones at its base????? The implications of this for the first graffiti I showed, with the ancient with no tentacle hair! The poor dude lost their head bones!

Before I slither back to my cave I would also like to deposit this graffiti:

It's clearly not an ancient, but it appears to have the tentacle-hair. Distant ancestor, perhaps? It may just be a very heavily stylized ancient (body modifications, maybe?) But I mean. Come on. That is pretty clearly some type of aquatic animal. And it looks vaguely like an ancient. ANCIENTS ARE OCEAN CREATURES. FIGHT ME.

This is all wild and rampant speculation, please correct me if I missed something, got something terribly wrong, or if none of this makes any sense whatsoever.

And my apologies for desecrating your askbox again. You may politely tell me to shut up at any point and I'll move my rampant speculation somewhere else

(and I just noticed that someone made Sparrows fanart. Why did I never think of doing this before arghhhh *runs off to find my drawing tablet*)

oh dear god why's there Bone in The Sasanka jaysus fuck video cult what have you done........

though honestly- if u're allowin my opinion- some things are most likely artistic choices. the skeleton hair thing is most likely to definitely an artistic choice of some dude goin "i wanna draw a cool skull but don't wanna miss out on the hair...- oh i know!"

the holy grail one is legit so fuckin good, gods bless- n i'm really sorry to bap at your straws, but yeah, that's probably not much

i can actually tell you for fact that those are attempts at gettin the end of the tentacle more defined/communicated to the viewer or it's leftovers of the sketch in some way. how am i so sure? cuz dear god.

shaking hands with this anonymous lost soul of an Ancient graffiti artist in these chilli's tonight

with feet i'm also pretty sure a lot of stuff is artistic interpretation tangling in! the most canonical feet pic glimpse we get are these

with the rest being so small EITHER cuz of that artistic decision shit or there might be another bound of body horror involved, from either cutting the toes off or doing similar feet binding technique that was a thing in real life China. i like to think the bottoms of their feet still have pedal disks that sea anemones possess n they gotta wrap 'em up like this to avoid sticking to floors cuz that shit is like suction cups

ah yes, karma three mural.... i've had that shit opened on my browser for a month now, i know that one intimately. yeah! that one is the culprit behind every single tail on an Ancient in the whole fandom n i adore it so much. the fact that it's so... sad (lookit the fuckin teeny nub, whatcha gon do with that) made me decide that the lower circles have more proper ones! and -tsk- AAAAAAHR who give a shit bout nudity up in this bitch, this just how we ball. all from the artistic, biological and religious sense, heavens know each time i draw Sparrows from behind without her jacket on i feel like i'm toeing Some kind of line. nudity is just a different kind of deal for them than for us culturally n i think that is super neat actually. taking things that are a given to us n flippin it all on its head is one of my favorite things to do, rule 180° bayyybeeee

n i do NOT mean this in a mean way, this is lighthearted but i'm JGSDKMCLKMKGKSDLCK i get handed a clam with a whale tale with lil geysers on top of it n told "this is Sparrows' great times 1000 grandpapa" JGSKLCKL

LIKE,,, NOT DISPUTING IT CUZ WHO THE HELL KNOWS ANYMORE. SEA ANEMONES WITH BIPEDAL BODY PLAN IS ALREADY SO FUCKIN WEIRD THIS MIGHT AS WELL HAPPEN. i just can't help but see some sorta looney tunes clam whale in it. -dreamy sigh- what if they had looney tunes-esque cartoons...........

but yes, these fucked up things Def came from the oceans cuz the oceans always spit out the strangest shit and i also adore to think that their whole society runs on water energy/steam so the connection of It Came From The Sea with that really tickles my worldbuilding enthusiast brain

[thesefourwallsstory]

Part 2: ???

The sun peeks its head through my blinds, pouring heat over my body and a bright light into my eyes, "I guess it's time to get up" I think to myself. I slowly rise from my bed and make my way to my bathroom. I brush my teeth, comb my hair and steal a long look in the mirror.

"Maaaaaaaaaan, when did I start looking so tired, these bags are huge" I say as I stretch out the skin beneath my eye, turning darker and darker from lack of sleep and constant rubbing. "I really should get to sleep at a better time but I'm always having too much fun dinking around on this thing" I exit my tiny bathroom and pick up my old, beat up guitar and strum the strings. What greets my ears is the most disharmonious sound I've ever heard, I wince. "Yeah, I should probably get you tuned before I try that again." I set the guitar back down and turn to face my mess of an apartment, "Same goes for you, I always wonder how you get so trashed when i'm hardly here." I finish my daily routine off with some half-burnt toast and sit down at my computer. I grab my headphones and put them on, and slowly get sucked into some games and social media. 

Before I even realize it, it's approaching noon and I'm starting to get hungry again. My phone dings. I pick it up off my desk and look at the notification, it's a text from Tanaka, "Hey Makoto-chan ;P, you up to get some food?" 

I hastily replied, "Don't mock me or I'll start calling you Tana-kun again around your girlfriend" 

Another message "Okay okay, jeez man when'd you get to be such a hardass?" 

"When you started calling me Makoto-chan, anyways I'd be down to get some food, I'm assuming you don't mean any food and you really want...." 

"Yeah... I'm craving that ramen place again, you can't blame me though, it's really really good, all the intricate flavors of the broth and the supreme texture of the noodles.........." He goes on for a while about how good the ramen is. At this point, I've learned not to stop him. 

"......I guess what I'm trying to say is, they just put a lot of love in every single bowl!" 

"Yeah yeah, all this hearing you ramble on is making me even more hungry, I'll meet you there in 20 okay?" 

"Sounds good to me Makoto-chan <3" 

"Didn't I just threaten you about calling me that?" 

"Yeah yeah, just don't forget your wallet this time, see ya there >:3", I seriously don't know how Tanaka does it, he doesn't have a job and still lives with his parents yet he manages to always have the money to stuff himself full to the brim with food, and I know he pays for it too! Well whatever, not like I'm complaining, he always reminds me to bring my wallet but he covers me every time we go out. I grab my laptop bag and make my way out of the apartment. 

Oh, and before I forget, my name is Makoto Shigeru, though you already knew the Makoto part. I’m fresh out of college and fresh out of a job haha. I’m 21 with bleach blonde hair and the most mediocre.. I mean the sexiest pair of brown eyes you’ll ever see. No matter what I seem to do I always get struck with bad luck, but eh that’s just a part of life. I’m learning the guitar to keep a promise to my late father. He always saw an artist in me, although I haven't seen it just yet. When his time was near he left me with his prized guitar and asked me to learn it so I could “free myself from my worries with music,” he was an odd one sure, but I knew he only wanted what was best and it’s not like I’m going to reject the wishes of a dying man. Soon after he passed, I picked up the old six-string and started to practice. One thing that irks me is self-centered people who don’t even try to get others. I don’t think I’ll ever see eye to eye with someone like that, even as much as I try to respect and show kindness to everyone. 

Speaking of self-centered people, I think my next door neighbor hates me, he hasn’t made an issue out of it yet, but I can hear him groan every time I start to practice. Though I’ve never seen him, he just strikes me as the type of guy to push his problems onto the world. I know he’s working for some tech company and from the unintentionally audible monologues, I don’t think he’s a huge fan. Maybe I’ll try to give him some advice….. Yeah, maybe I will.

0 notes

[stray-kids-react]

S/O likes enjoys writing/writing lyrics

Masterlist

...

Bang Chan

° You owned this special and locked diary for years, where you kept all your bottles up emotions and feelings in.

° One of those feelings evolving your long time crush on Chan, including the words 'Sexy, Cute, Inspirational, Hot, Prince, and A Literal Angel' all in quite a few pages. Luckily your now long time boyfriend has never seen these fangirl/boy paragraphs.

° Chan was all of those words, no doubt about it. But it is still hard to look at those paragraphs without cringing at how desperate you sounded in your mind.

° Chan however apparently loved your affectionate paragraphs, flipping through the pages as you walked through his studio door. Your heart sank as pure shock and terror rushed through your veins. No one wants their private thoughts to be read.

° The tips of Chan's ears were firetruck red, as a beaming grin flashed towards you. You noted that he read through the entire diary, knowing all the dreams and wishes you had that involved him. No skeletons were left in your closet anymore, it was bittersweet.

"So you really think I'm an angel who is also the sexiest person on earth?" he teased, cupping your face in his palms.

"Well duh, but you can't tell me you didn't think anything like that towards me-" You defended, cut off by his sweet kisses.

Lee Know

° Minho found out about your true feelings towards him while reading some song lyrics you wanted to show 3Racha.

° He needed to know who you loved and admired so dearly after reading this, constantly by your side questioning anything he could. After literal weeks of conspiracy, you couldn't take his suspicion anymore and admitted everything.

° You are now much more secretive with your songs that you've written, but that won't stop Minho from looking everywhere he possibly can. He is determined to find them.

° After so many large steps that were taken in your relationship, he wants to see how you truly felt throughout them. From the first date, first time, to the promise ring he fave you last week. Minho wants to say it's to tease, when it's truly because he loves you.

° He loved the way his stomach did kart wheels as his heart fluttered when he first read your words. He hasn't felt that amazing feeling in a while and needs to re live it, luckily for him he noticed a place he has never thought of checking.

"So kitten, you really want to marry me don't you?" he commented, a soft smirk across his glowing features.

"Why wouldn't I? You're you. And how'd you find those?!" you replied, tone changing as you saw how many he actually had.

Changbin

° Changbin was struggling to create a new song, he seemed to accidently make similar beats and lyrics to their past hits.

° You would sometime write up different songs when you were bored, but you never showed them to anyone thinking they weren't great. But Changbin looked in need of some type of inspiration, so you brought out your journal and placed it infront of him.

° His expression was unreadable, either about to thank you for the amazing inspiration or laugh at your cheesy words. You just wanted him to say something.

° Changbin began to smile shyly, showing you a page he just read over. That page happened to be the most recent and the one you completely forgot about. It was a draft about 10 different ways you could tell Changbin that you loved him.

° You really wanted it to be special when you would say it to him, but luck didn't seem to be on your side that day. You were at least glad that he was smiling, showing positive signs that he isn't feeling awkward or doesn't feel the same way about you.

"I love you too my adorable bean." He chuckled, pulling you into his lap as he held you close to his racing heart beat.

"I'm guessing he new comeback is going to be a love song now?" you teased, burrowing into his soft black hoodie.

Hyunjn

° Your relationship use to be a cat and mouse situation, one day you two were best friends and then the next you two were rivals.

° Your anger and frustration towards one another was simply a way to hide your true emotions. Both of you found each other attractive in and out, but were too stubborn to confess. That is until he walked into your room and pressed you up against the wall.

° Your rivalry left out the door once you started dating, the only ounce of it was left in the small playful bickering and teasing. Which happened every day of the week.

° You walked into the dressing rooms, noticing Han and Felix giggling as your presence became known. This wasn't a usual giggle of theirs, something was going on. You knew that for sure once you saw the way Hyunjin presented himself.

° A sly smirk across his lips as a couple crumpled peace of paper were in between his fingers. His steps were long and powerful, as he held his head up high while nearing you. This usually meant he found something to tease you with.

"I didn't know you liked me for five years, coming up with so many cute pet names if we ever dated." He teased, hiding his blush.

"First of all, you went through my desk without asking me. Second of all, I am whipped for you dumb dumb." You replied.

Han

° You weren't a very vocal person, having trouble expressing your thoughts and emotions through words everyday.

° That reason alone is also why people think you and Han are a perfect match. He helped you come out of your shell and be comfortable in your own skin. All of those actions sent your heart into a frenzy, finding there way into pages filled with emotion.

° Han knew about your habit of writing cute quotes on your palms and arms, or just randomly taking out your journal and starting a new page.

° He respected your privacy even if the temptation of knowing every little thought you have was very very strong, he held back and let you write in peace. However, when you dropped your journal without knowing. Han held it and the temptation took over.

° As you had a chat with Seungmin, he turned around from your eye sight and flipped through the pages. Many of them expressing how much you love him and how much he helped you without him even knowing. This effected Han immensely.

"Hannie are you crying?" you questioned, noticing the forming gloss over his sparkling chocolate orbs.

"Yeah, but it's happy tears. I just never knew how much you cared about me, and it makes me feel important." He explained.

Felix

° You cannot hide anything from this adorable koala, he knows you too well and can find anything you've hidden from him.

° You learned this the hard way when you asked him for help when forgetting where you left your journal, panicking since the last place you saw it was at Minho's. Felix knew you usually placed it near your bed and assumed it to be under the covers.

°His assumption was spot on, but you had no idea that he had found it yet. Felix took this advantage to skim through a few pages, smiling at the sight of his name in the book.

° His name was mentioned ever since the day you first met, January 7th 2017. He was written as this attractive aussie that had your knees weak, he laughed silently at the realization that you fancied him since the first day you met. He loved it.

° Felix walked out with the navy blue book tight in his grip, his ears a bright shade of red. You knew he must've read some sort of page about him, but you weren't nervous about it. It couldn't have been anything more cheesy than what you say on dates.

"I can't believe Han knew about your crush on me that entire time." Felix chuckled, shock filling his expression.

"And I can't believe you never knew how much I truly admired you." You teased back, kissing his freckle speckled cheeks.

Seungmin

° Seungmin met you at a library, you were working on a soft poem about not being able to find the right person.

° That whole meeting seemed like something right off of a romance movie or fanfiction novel. Writing about giving up on love as an amazing guy happens to cross paths with you. But both of you laugh at the whole cliché nature of your meeting.

° Seungmin loved how you wrote, taking him into the story each time. He felt so special whenever he found something referring to your relationship, feeling fuzzy inside.

° He liked to bring some of your poems on tour with him, reminding him to stay strong when being away from you. Letting him know that you'll always be there for him when he needs you, even if you are both countries away from each other.

° Felix once found his stash of poems that you wrote, he never teased him on it but would still smile excitedly at how sentimental Seungmin was becoming. Seungmin knew he was becoming cheesy and mushy, he hated yet loved it.

"Do you know how much you have effected me?" he questioned, tracing the curve of your jaw with his thumb.

"Or maybe you have an addiction to me, ever think of that?" you responded, smiling widely as he rolled his eyes at your words.

Jeongin

° You worked under JYP entertainment to help create songs for different groups, Jeongin noticed you during his break.

° You rarely got to work with Stray Kids since they made 99% of their own songs, but that didn't stop Jeongin from trying to get to know you. It worked in his favor, since you began to develop a living in him after two months of hang out together.

° Jeongin likes hearing certain songs you create or in the process of being created, cheering you on and telling all of his members when you created a song.

° He liked to give you the credit and appreciation you rarely get, most of the credit going towards the artist who performed the songs you created. Jeongin wanted to let you know how proud he was of you daily, even if you got shy from it.

° Whenever you showed him different samples of songs you were working on, he'd dance in his seat with a beaming smile. Even when you were tired and wanted the day to end, his admiration and addicting smile would make your mood change instantly.

"I am just worried because JYP has been pretty harsh on the past few songs." You sighed, tired and frustrated.

"He literally wrote a song about women's butts. I'm pretty sure you're more talented baby." He reassured, patting your head.

[infinitum-imaginaerum]

Ooh! How about 29: You look pretty hot in plaid with our boy Jae because dang dude he does. And I feel like he doesn't get hyped up enough for being the extremely handsome man he is

29: “You look pretty hot in plaid.” | Jae

LOL DRABBLE WHO? I could make this into a series. It’s kind of choppy because I tried to make a 12k fic fit into a drabble and yeah I had this idea in the shower the other day and I’m wrecked. Also kind of a song fic. Also based loosely on this. Anyway, be still my rampant heart. 

It’s Christmas Time!

Tuesday night was open mic night at the cozy little tavern you bartended at. It wasn’t typically a super busy night, just a few people who came for that type of stuff, a chance for smaller musicians to sell or giveaway some tapes and for patrons to expand their music horizons. Most artists who came in just did covers and you only ever saw most of them once—only a select few performed weekly.

There was one in particular you’d grown a liking to. His name was Jae and he was one of the regulars who came in every week. You’d talked to him quite a few times when he’d come sit at the bar after his slot was up to have a drink or two before heading home—he was becoming quite popular among the ladies who also frequented the place, and therefore bringing in more girls, bringing in more dudes, bringing in more money.

After pouring a few drinks for the patrons at the bar, the hairs on the back of your neck stood up when his smooth voice seeped from the speakers. He introduced himself, the way he always did, fiddled with the mic stand a bit and the stool he placed himself on as he got settled. A few of the regulars clapped, welcoming him, some of them artists who had performed prior—customarily they stuck around to support their fellow musicians. There was a familiar plucking of strings, testing the tuning, and then he cleared his throat. It was the same routine all the time.

He opened with an instrumental, playing around a bit before getting into vocals, and every time he began singing, you melted, but it got you in a groove. You became more efficient, more anticipatory of customer’s needs; like he got your blood really going.

“You should just ask him out,” your coworker commented,picking up a couple of drinks from the well, promptly stabbing her tickets ass he looked at you basically jamming out. It shocked you back into reality as you looked at her, and then looked past her to look at Jae—which was a huge mistake, because my god was he looking finer than the small print on a contract. His dark hair was messily pushed away from his face, his signature thick black glasses hanging on the bridge of his nose as he swung his head with the tunes, that cute thing all musicians did when they were really in tune with themselves.

“Don’t even start with me,” you laughed as his lips came back to the mic, his perfect vocals gracing your ears once more. The way he looked when he sang lit a fire in your stomach; he peered around the place and you swore a smile broke on his lips when his eyes met yours, looking past your server to watch him. It only seemed to get him more into the music because he owned the stage in that solitary spotlight that made the atmosphere entirely his to command.He played more passionately, sang with more gusto, and you tried your best to get back to your customers, especially the ones who were on their way out—typical for this time of night.

Jae always requested a thirty minute slot and never disappointed. He began his last song, a cover of Shape of You.

At this point your bar was empty; everyone had migrated to tables which was fine with you. You placed an elbow down on the freshly cleaned bar-top as you listened. Something about his voice put the right tinge on the song that made you love it, even if you hadn’t before. When he got to the chorus, his gaze met yours again, only this time, it didn’t leave.

“I’m in love with the shape of you, we push and pull like a magnet do, though my heart is falling too—”

Your heart was pounding in your throat, unable to blink or move a single muscle.

“Last night you were in my room, now my bed sheets smell like you—”

“That’s so cute, he’s singing to you!”

And the moment was over.

Your gaze slowly turned to your coworker and you were sure your face was as red as Jae’s plaid shirt, opened to a white undershirt that he wore oh so well. You wanted to scold her, you wanted to be mad at her for ruining the moment, but the smirk you caught on Jae’s face when he realized your attention was taken away from him was a distraction in and of itself. Your mind was going a thousand miles an hour as you snatched a glass off the bar to clean, almost throwing it on the floor in the process as you turned away from her and the stage.

The clapping and cheering was enough to drown your thoughts out, thankfully, because you almost broke that same glass in the sink and undoubtedly would have cut yourself. The screech of the stole signified that he was up and leaving the stage, even if the sound itself was almost silent. Along with the screeching of the stool, you could hear the sound of the clamps on the hard case of his guitar as he settled it back into the soft velvet.

Before you knew it, that sweet voice was in your ear again.

“Hey,” he started smoothly as he took a seat directly behind you.

“Hey, you,” you replied, turning to face him and pull a short glass from the cooler to place on the bar-top and filled it with ice. You popped open a can of ginger beer, grabbing the dark rum with your other hand and counted appropriately, finishing the glass with a splash of lime, and a wheel for garnish. After placing it on a beverage napkin, you slid it towards him,admiring the sweet grin on his face as he braced on the bar with his crossed arms.

There was a slightly awkward silence, but it may have only been awkward for you after the completely uncalled for comment from your coworker. He looked down at his drink, pulling off the lime wheel and swirled it around for a moment.

“I tried something a little different… what did you think?”

It wasn’t abnormal for him to ask for your opinion on his performances, but he’d never been so engaging with you during them like he was tonight. Not only that, but the thought swirling in your head that it was charged specifically towards you made it a little hard to think, so like word vomit, your response came out.

“You look pretty hot in plaid.”

He couldn’t help but laugh, especially when you realized what you had said. Funny thing was, you didn’t turn red, you didn’t even turn away, in fact there was no indication of your embarrassment at all, especially when he replied.

“I kind of thought that you thought something like that,especially when every time I was looking for you, you were looking right back at me.” He paused for a moment and took a sip of his drink. “Do you mind if I stay until you get off? I feel like we need to have a serious talk.”

The inflection he put on serious talk had your stomach all in knots, but you agreed and attempted to continue calmly until then. He made it pretty simple. He was extremely easy to talk to, funny, engaging, often asked about you and it was just making this whole thing harder. When he got up to use the restroom, it was time to spill the dirt to your coworker.

You should have known she was going to cause a scene—the place was empty, she was cut, but was there to listen to you tell her about Jae,squealing and shaking you exactly the way you guessed she would have and you almost regretted telling her anything, especially when she reminded you that she was right about him singing to you.

Patiently, Jae waited as promised while you closed. Your coworker was long gone as you put caps on all the bottles, listening to Jae quietly play guitar as you worked, enough to fill the silence but not loud enough to distract you as you cleaned and counted, mopped and put up all the chairs. He propped his guitar up against the bar and waited for you to return to him. The look in your eyes said you were ready to leave, but when you grabbed you things with your keys ready to lock the door and moved to shift past him, he grabbed your wrist.

Shock was the first look on your face as you looked down to your wrist in his burning hand. Slowly, your eyes shifted to his as he spoke, “Let’stalk here.” You nodded, accepting his request as he moved to the side for you to sit in the stool you hadn’t put on the bar yet because he was previously occupying it.

He shoved his hands into his pockets and for the first time you could tell he was nervous. He was looking down at his feet, kicking them around a bit as he took a couple of deep breaths—multiple times he opened his mouth to speak, but decided that wasn’t what he wanted to say and closed it once more after letting out a sharp exhale.

“This seems so easy in song,” he finally said after a few moments of silence and met your gaze with his.

“Please don’t say what I think you’re trying to say,” you replied, just as nervous as him as you gripped the hem of your shirt, almost tearing at it.

His brow drew together. “Why not?” he asked as you shifted in the stool. He took a half step closer to you, genuine concern on his face now. Though he was unsure that you knew what he wanted to say, the words out of your mouth made the knot in his throat preventing him from telling you almost double in size.

“I’m nervous!” you squeaked back.

“I’m nervous, too,” he chuckled, trying to lighten the mood,another half a step closer.

You stared at his throat, at his chin and lips, just trying to avoid his gaze as your brain started going again. Your heart was pounding loud enough for you to hear it, your hands still tight on the hem of your shirt until you could vaguely feel his warm fingers tentatively touch the back of your hand.

“Why are you nervous?” you asked him as his hand covered yours, another half a step closer.

Just barely and out of your peripheral, you could see him shake his head, those lips parting to attempt to say more words to you. “B-because.I… I feel so many things and I just… I don’t want to screw it up,” he stuttered, eyes scanning your face over and over, praying you would look him in the eyes because he begged to see those gorgeous glittering orbs of yours.

“Why are you nervous?” he asked you in return, almost as a whisper, another half a step closer, tentatively tracing the curve of your jaw with the back of his knuckles on the hand that had previously graced yours.

“Because you make my heart pound in my throat,” you replied confidently, a spark of audaciousness flowing through you from his tough. Your eyes met his, finally. He was so close that once you tilted your head up to look at him, your nose almost brushed against his.

“Then why are you so afraid of what I want to say?” he whispered.

Your hand shot out to catch him, to press firmly against his chest. You could feel the outside of his legs on the inside of yours as he stood between them. His one hand was still caressing your jaw; the other snaking passed the hand pressed against his chest to settle on your hip. His breath was warm on your face, his eyes glancing between your eyes and the sweet lips he was dying to kiss.

“Maybe you’re just better off saying without words; that way you can’t possibly mess it up,” you replied meekly.

He flashed his dazzling smile at you. “You’re right,” he muttered before your hand previously flat had curled up to take a handful of his white undershirt, inadvertently pulling him closer as his lips softly covered yours. You had always laughed at the cliché reactions to the perfect kiss that everyone talked about—the fireworks behind your eyes, the breathlessness, the lightheadedness, the need for him to be that much closer to you. If not fireworks, there were definitely stars behind your closed eyelids, even as he pulled away, letting you catch the breath you hadn’t realized you lost.

Your eyes stayed closed, waiting for him to depart, but he never did. His forehead remained pressed against yours, gauging your reaction,especially as his nose caressed yours, shuffling his feet even closer which only had him curling over to meet you further. His hand retreated from cupping your jaw to cover your hand tangled in his shirt to untangle it at settle it gently on his shoulder, just to return that hand to your cheek, stroking his thumb over it while his palm cupped the side of your neck, tilting your head back while his tilted to the side to steal another breathtaking kiss.

The small sigh you gifted him along with the shift in your chair was stellar enough a reaction for him. There wasn’t a need to gauge anymore as he pulled away far enough to look into your eyes which fluttered open for him soon enough. Both of his hands were tucking your hair away from your face, a dazzling smile across his lips as he looked at you utterly star-struck.

“Jae…” you trailed off, unsure of what to say, but attempted to fill the silence nonetheless.

He whispered your name just the same, stroking your cheeks almost obsessively with his thumbs, as if he’d just gotten new shiny toy he didn’t want to put down.

“Girl, you know I want your love, you love was handmade for somebody like me—”

Despite adoring the way his voice sent a shiver down your spine, you silenced him with another eager kiss, pushing yourself off of the bar stool and onto your toes in front of him. His hands steadied your hips,breaking the kiss with soft laughter, displaying the comfort level as if the two of you had been together for ages.

“Come on, be my baby, come on.”

“Jaehyung,” you laughed.

“Yes, baby?” he asked.

“Boy, let’s not talk too much, grab on my waist and put that body on me,” you sang back to him.

Your squealing laughter filled the emptiness of the bar as Jae buried his face in your neck, picking you up to spin you around while you begged him to put you down, hardly able to get coherent words out between your laughter and calling his name. His searing kiss under your jaw as he set you back on your feet brought you back to earth.

“I would never have gotten the courage if it wasn’t for today, you know,” he explained to you, swaying back and forth with you tightly in the confines of his arms, the comfort of yours finally wrapped around his neck permanently sculpted the smile on his face. “Between catching your gaze so often and your word-vomit earlier; I would have waited forever to see if you were going to make a move.”

“My coworker insisted you were all about me, but I kept laughing it off as wishful thinking,” you replied and reached up to brush his hair away from his eyes.

“And to think, you didn’t want me to tell you,” he teased,even just his chaste kisses left you breathless for a second as he placed one against your lips just before you were about to speak.

A few months had passed. You gave up your Tuesday shifts so that you could be there to really watch him perform. You sat at a small round table near the front closer to the stage and now you were sure, with every song he sang, he was singing to you. Now he opted to perform earlier, instead of close to last, so that he would have maximum time to spend with you at that table and enjoy the other musicians.

Before all the regulars knew the dirt, he broke a lot of girl’s hearts the first night you didn’t work; he got off stage, packed up his guitar and waltzed up to your table. He planted a hand on the table to his left and gently took your chin with his right—you still weren’t able to anticipate him properly and grabbed a handful of his shirt as he confidently leaned in fora kiss, slanting his mouth over yours to elicit all types of ooooh’s and hoots and hollers and claps and chants from the surrounding patrons, most of which had some idea that something would transpire between the two of you.

His kiss still sent sparks flying through your body and you were still sad when he’d pull away before you were ready, but lit up your heart with that gorgeous smile.

“You look pretty hot in plaid,” he told you, admiring the shirt you were wearing which happened to be his from that day the two of you finally confessed to each other.

“Funny, I could say the same about you,” you replied, noting the blue plaid shirt he opted to wear today.

He grinned at you and bit his lip, stealing another kiss for some more exaggerated hollering among the crowd.

[fanwarriorfictions]

One-

A Stranger Things Fanfic

Chapter Five- Part Three

Phina and Nancy make their way to the field, hearing Jonathan's gun going off. Once they get to the grassy area, they see him shooting at some cans set up on tree stumps.

Phina smiles at her friend as he misses every single shot. Nancy also smiles in amusement.

"You're supposed to hit the cans, right," Nancy asks as they get closer.

Jonathan looks at the girls and smiles, "no actually, you see the spaces between the cans? I'm aiming for those."

"Well then you're a perfect shot Jonathan," Phina smirks sarcastically.

He does a little fake bow, making Phina snort. She loved when he was sarcastic, he learned it all from her.

Nancy sets her things down, Phina following suit. Jonathan starts to reload the gun.

"You ever shot a gun before," he asks Nancy.

Nancy laughs, "have you met my parents."

Jonathan snorts, "yeah, I haven't shot one since I was ten. My dad took me hunting on my birthday, he made me kill a rabbit."

"A rabbit," Nancy asks.

"Yeah," he shrugs, "guess he thought it would make me into more of a man or something. I cried for a week."

"I remember that, I went over and had to take all of your meals to your room cause you wouldn't leave," Phina says.

"Jesus," Nancy whispers.

Jonathan looks at her, "I'm a fan of thumper."

"I meant your dad," she says, sighing a little.

"Yeah. Lonnie's a real PoS," Phina laughs, "doesn't care about anyone but himself."

Jonathan nods, "yeah, I guess he and my mother loved each other at some point. But I wasn't around for that part."

Nancy gestures for him to hand her the gun and he looks down awkwardly, "yeah, just uh, point and shoot."

Nancy nods and takes the gun, "I don't think my parents ever loved each other."

"Must of married for some reason," Jonathan says.

Nancy raises the gun up, "my mom was young, my dad was older, but he had a cushy job, money, came from a good family. So, they bought a nice house at the end of a cul-de-sac, and they started their nuclear family."

Jonathan shakes his head, taking a glance at Phina who just nods, "screw that."

"Yeah." Nancy closes one eye to aim. "Screw that."

She shoots, the bullet hitting one of the cans. She smiles and looks at Jonathan, who smiles back. Phina looks in between the two of them with a wide smile. Perfect.

-

The three teens walked through the forest, Phina leading about twenty feet ahead. Nancy and Jonathan hung back, together, and Phina didn't mind one bit. She looked around the forest ahead of her, admiring its beauty. By now, almost every single tree had lost all of their leaves, which now crunched beneath Phina's boots.

Phina sighed, she loved being in the forest, it brought her a comfort that couldn't be found anywhere else, it even soothed her ever on going headache. Something about the way the trees reached for the sky, as if grasping for heaven, with its claws out. The roots of the tree shielding her from the damned below.

Not to mention the colors. Her artists soul yearned for any and all color she could find, the forest bloomed with it. Even this deep into fall, the fiery oranges and reds calling out to her fiery heart. She wish she had her sketchbook and her colored pencils. She'd capture the essence of its beauty on a page.

She was brought out of her mind by the sound of Nancy's voice, "you never said what I was saying."

"What," Jonathan asks her, confused.

"Yesterday, you said I was saying something, and that's why you took my picture," she explains.

"Oh, I don't know," he says, flustered, "I guess I saw this girl, you know, trying to be someone else. But in that moment, it was like you were alone, or, you thought you were. You know, you could just be yourself."

Silence, and then Nancy speaks, "that is such bullshit!"

Phina turns around as Jonathan says, "what?"

They had all stopped, and Nancy turned to Jonathan, "I am not trying to be someone else. Just because I'm dating Steve and you don't like him."

Jonathan shakes his head and starts walking again, "you know what, forget it. I just thought it was a good picture."

Nancy walks after him, "he is actually a good guy."

"Ok," Jonathan says sarcastically.

"Yesterday, with the camera." They both stop again. "He's not like that, at all. He was just being protective."

"Yeah, that one word for it," Jonathan says, waking away again.

Phina rolls her eyes as Nancy says, "oh and I guess what you did was ok?"

"No, I never said that," he defends himself.

"He has every right to be pissed," Nancy shouts at him.

Jonathan stops again and turns around, "ok, alright, does that mean I have to like him?"

Nancy stops, "no."

"Listen, don't take it so personally ok," he says and steps towards her, "I don't like most people. He's in the vast majority."

He turns and walks away, again. How long are they gonna play this stupid game? Phina groans to herself.

Nancy looks around, "you know, I was actually starting to think you were ok."

Jonathan stops, again, "yeah?"

"Yeah," Nancy answers, "yeah. I was thinking, Jonathan Byers, maybe he's not the pretentious creep everyone says he is."

"Guys," Phina groans, trying to stop their stupid bickering, she was getting irritated now.

Jonathan starts to walk back towards Nancy, "oh I was just staring to think you were ok. I was thinking, Nancy Wheeler, maybe she's not just another suburban girl, that thinks she rebelling by doing exactly what every other suburban girl does, until that phase passes and they marry some boring one time jock who now works sales, who lives out her perfectly boring life at the end of a cul-de-sac, exactly like their parents who they thought were so depressing."

"Would both of you shut the hell up! Right now, you both suck, and I couldn't give a damn about who's wrong or right. I'm out here to find whatever took Will and Barb, so save your petty bullshit for the high school where all these stupid little arguments belong. Got it! Good," Phina yells at them fed up with their crap.

They look at her like scolded children, both of them nodding.

"Now shut the hell up and look for this gods damned thing," she growls and turns on her heel in the direction they were previously walking.

They follow her with their heads down, not noticing the shift in the trees. Not noticing how the branches coiled and uncoiled, copying the motion of Phina's clenching and unclenching fist.

-

Night time had fallen, and Phina had slowed down to be next to her sister and Jonathan, for safety. They pointed their flashlights ahead, walking and listening to the forest around them.

Phina stopped, listening to a noise she had heard. Nancy stops to, also hearing the noise.

Jonathan turns to the girls, more so towards Nancy, "what, are you tired?"

"Shut your sarcastic ass up Byers," Phina whispers, listening harder.

"What," Jonathan asks, a little shocked at her words.

Nancy sushes him, "I heard something."

Phina nods, pointing her light in the direction the noise is coming from. She walks towards it and the other two follow.

The noise becomes clearer, a distressed and painful whimper. As they got closer, Phina felt her heart painfully lurch.

A deer lays on its side, injured, bleeding everywhere. Phina covers her mouth, to keep a small cry from escaping. She kneels down next to the doe, reaching a hand out to stroke her.

Nancy kneels besides her, "it's been hit by a car."

Phina nods, tears building in her eyes.

Nancy looks back at Jonathan, "we can't just leave it."

Nancy grabs the gun she had sat down and looks at it, Phina shifts back a little as her sister aims.

"I'll do it," Jonathan says, noting Nancy's distraught face.

"I," she starts to protest, remembering his story from earlier.

He grabs the gun, "I'm not nine anymore."

Phina looks into the animals eyes, you'll be ok. The animal stares back, an almost thankful look in its eyes. Then it's being pulled back, almost to quickly for Phina's eyes to process. She falls backwards and into her sister, who helps her up from the ground.

They all breathe heavily, "what was that?"

"I'm willing to bet that's what we came here for. Come on," Phina waves, tracking the trail of blood the deer left behind.

The other two hesitate, glancing at each other before following. The blood on the leaves glisten in Phina's light. Jonathan and Nancy shine their lights around, Jonathan holding the gun up as well.

The trail suddenly stops, making Phina stop and look around.

"Where did it go," Nancy asks shakily.

"I don't know," Jonathan breathes, "Do you see any more blood."

"The trails gone, like it vanished into thin air," Phina answers.

Phina turns and walks away from the two, Nancy almost doesn't notice, but when she does, she follows. Jonathan, unfortunately, doesn't notice.

Phina shines her light on a tree, for some reason, it calls to her. At the base of to tree is a hole, which emits a low noise that sounds more like a growl than anything.

"Phina, what are you..."

Nancy looks at the tree and then at her sister. They creep slowly over to the tree, bending down to look at it. A gooy substance is all over it, and blood. The girls look at each other, the same question on there mind, should we go in?

"Jonathan," Nancy shouts, but they had gone to far, he couldn't hear them.

"What could go wrong," Phina shrugs, she's read enough horror novels to know those where the most fatal words she could've said, but, she didn't give a damn.

She starts to climb into the whole, a sputtering Nancy going after her. They climb through the tunnel, coming out on the other side. Phina helped Nancy up and looked around.

It looked like the forest they were just in, but different, more sinister. Particles float around them in the air, the color of the forest void. It felt utterly wrong to Phina, yet familiar, like she had seen it before. No, she shakes her head, that's crazy.

The girls look around and start to walk away from the tree, their flashlights beginning to flicker. Phina hits hers a few times and it stops.

They jump as a noise comes from their right. They whirl their lights on it, and are met with the monster feeding on the deer.

Phina grips Nancy's hand, so tightly that she'd probably leave a bruise, but Nancy squeezes back just as hard. They slowly back away, one step at a time, staring at the monster. Nancy steps back and a strange vine thing crunches under her foot.

The monster turns towards them and roars loudly, it's mouth opening up just like the drawing Phina did of it. The girls bolt.

"Jonathan!"

-1868 words-

[otakween]

I'm Standing on a Million Lives - Volume 5

Keita low key looks like a Tales of character on this cover. I'm just happy there's another man in the party so it's not such a blatant harem situation. Not really sure what to make of his character though. I think he's supposed to be tough and dumb, but the fact that he's literally always smiling makes him feel a little weird.

Ch. 20

-We get some more info about how orcs work in this chapter. Sounds pretty similar to bees, with them mostly being male except for the queen.

-That dick joke either didn't translate well or just wasn't funny to begin with.

-Yusuke has another internal monologue about how much he "hates humanity." I feel like his personal philosophy doesn't add up to the other stuff he's said and it's very confusing. He previously talked about how valuable Kusue and Iu's lives were and how they're great people (or at least useful). How does that add up? This dude needs a therapist.

-Honestly can't tell if Yusuke's misanthropy is supposed to be cool and edgy or if the author is trying to legitimately show someone who's mentally ill. He just comes off as pathetic to me...

Ch. 21

-Damn, this is the 2nd time they've made a villain sympathetic as we watch them die. I guess they're going for a very gray morality here. It's an interesting angle, but it also gives every battle a depressing tone. I was rooting for the Orc Queen more than the gang towards the end :'( probably cuz I knew she couldn't win.

-I think I like character designs like the orc queen's because women aren't allowed to look masculine in manga, so it feels refreshing. (Even though she isn't human).

-That new villain's design is pretty ugly. I feel like a lot of mangaka can't draw bald people lol

-Finally the girls get a bit of the spotlight! Iu was so badass showing up in her swimsuit (or maybe underwear?) Also, Yuka's "I'll be back" reference gave me a chuckle.

Ch. 22

-More of Yusuke's "I hate humans" monologuing, cuz obviously we didn't have enough of that! This is only volume 5 so maybe he grows out of this?

-Damn, the orc child's death was even more tragic than the queen's! D: whyyy

-Okay, that ending where the bald bad guy prematurely blows his cover was pretty funny. It's not often we see Yusuke caught off guard like that.

Ch. 23

-Finally we reach the end of the battle! No one really got defeated though, the baddies just kind of ran away so I guess we'll be seeing them again.

-The sudden romantic spark Aoiu felt for Yusuke was super annoying:

A. Who the heck gets all blushy and wants a kiss when they're seconds away from almost dying!?

B. He's a literal child (14) and she's a grown ass woman in her 20s. Stahp it Japan >:/

-I did find the explanation of the magical catalyst bugs interesting. I feel like that's something I haven't seen before. It does make me wonder though. If wizards are only magical because of their items, how come non-wizards can't just use those items?

-Kosue and Iu celebrating was wholesome :') I guess Yuka's still dead lol

Ch. 25

-They said their goodbyes and Yusuke's harem grew a lil bit. I honestly don't really get what the "he meets people on their level" was referring to. Both Aoiu and Kahvel basically fell for him because he saved them, right?

-They're attempt to help the Jiffonians with future natural disasters was pretty dumb lol (writing tips on a stone tablet and making villagers read it...what a half assed plan).

-Hell yeah Fatina's back and even more badass this time! She's low key the best character so far even though we've only seen her in like 4 panels lmao

-Yusuke reminds us YET AGAIN that he "despises humanity." Cool story, bro.

-New girl is named "Glenda the good witch"? Honestly, the naming sense in this series is kinda wack. Also, why could Yusuke understand her English?

-Kinda sad there's no author/artist's note this time :'( I feel kinda ripped off