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calligraphist-artemisia · 4 years

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14 | Ritual

Written for Kidgetober 2020. Week 2 Theme: Myths & Magic. Day 14: Ritual.

Summary: Alternate Universe - Magic. All Pidge wanted to know was who her soulmate was. And if all of her attempts at using divination to find out were not going to work for her, then she'd just have to develop her own ritual for it. Nothing could go wrong with that, right?

Also posted on AO3 under the username Kishirokitsune. Titled as “Magic of the Season”.

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14 | Ritual

The Castle of Lions was the premiere magical institute of Altea and notoriously difficult to be accepted into even for the best and brightest. They only accepted a maximum of five students per year and Pidge was blessed to count herself among the four chosen in the first year she applied. It meant there was plenty of individual training and enough room for everyone to have their own space to practice and study their chosen Craft.

Pidge loved her room. It was a circular space located at the top of the western tower and came equipped with a bathroom that she was rapidly coming to appreciate. Three windows allowed light to filter in whenever she pulled back her heavy curtains and there was a door that opened onto a tiny balcony that was perfect for stargazing.

Most important, it was her space and she could do whatever she wished without worrying about being interrupted.

She was especially grateful for that as she prepared for her newest ritual, one designed to allow her to divine the identity of her soulmate. It was a concept that fascinated her from the first time it was mentioned by High Priestess Melenor, but also one that felt completely out of reach for Pidge because of one very big reason.

She was awful at all forms of divination.

And from all of her studies, the tried and true method of ascertaining the identity of one's soulmate was through some form of that magical art. There was simply no other way.

Pidge threw herself into the process, taking the time to break down all of the steps and test out a few different ways. She'd gone through a full month of mediation and attempting Astral travel, but found it nearly impossible to quiet her mind long enough to achieve that goal.

When it became clear that meditating wasn't the right path for her, she moved onto the various forms of scrying, starting with the classic crystal ball. And although she tried it with several different types of crystal, she didn't find one that she “vibed” with enough for it to actually work and gave up on that path after two frustrating weeks. She spent another week with a shallow bowl of water and a quartz crystal cluster. And then a round mirror. And then a piece of hematite lit only by candlelight.

All of that brought her to the decision that the only way she would succeed in her goal would be if she crafted her own ritual. She'd had moderate success with Dream Magic in the past and hoped that it could be useful for what she intended.

Pidge took every step that she could think of the ensure the highest chance of success. Her room was already cleansed after her last ritual, so she began with a relaxing bath with purifying salts and herbs and remained there until her head felt clear and light, her magical energy brimming beneath the surface of her skin in anticipation.

She slipped on a simple cotton dress and clasped a band of hematite around her right ankle to help keep her grounded through the process. Next came a circlet crafted from silver, which had a sun-and-moon centerpiece made of sunstone and moonstone, locked by a small diamond on either side. It centered neatly over her brow.

She was ready.

Pidge gathered up the rest of her tools and began to arrange them in the center of the room, taking care with each item and focusing on her purpose. Using a piece of kunzite, she carved her chosen runes into the proper candles before setting them down around her. A stick of sandalwood incense was lit last and she stood with the kunzite in her hands and watched as the smoke curled up into the air.

She breathed in and then released that breath, feeling her magic rise in answer to her call, before turning to the north to begin the opening of her circle, calling in each elemental force to request their aid in her ritual as she lit each candle.

With energy swirling around her, Pidge slowly sat cross-legged in the center of the circle and closed her eyes. She held on tight to her intent, refusing to stray to any other thought.

She wanted to find her soulmate.

She wanted to know who they were and where she could find them.

The candlelight flared along with her magic as her spell took hold. Pidge could feel the heat of the flames. The thickness in the air. The scent of sandalwood, heavy around her.

It continued to build, higher and higher, until the next thing Pidge knew the soft early morning sun was shining in through the windows and all of her limbs were stiff and sore from apparently passing out on the floor.

Pidge groaned as she sat up, blearily looking around and taking note of the fully-melted candles and the stick of incense that was completely burned out. The kunzite was still in her hands, held onto so tightly that it left behind marks when she finally let it go.

As she examined the indents it left, she noticed something else unusual.

Encircling her right wrist was some kind of band of silver ink that was no more than a centimeter wide, comprised of intricate spirals that formed some sort of pattern, but not one that held any meaning as far as Pidge knew. She studied it for a moment, her tired brain working to try and make sense of it all, but a knock at the door interrupted her and she quickly jumped up.

“Just a minute!” she called out.

Pidge hesitated at the edge of the circle and then stepped back into the center. She took a moment to steady her breathing and then went through the steps to close the circle, taking the time to thank each of the elemental forces for their aid. Only then did she hurry around and prepare for the day.

Cleaning up would have to wait.

Another knock and the sound of her friend, Lance, calling for her had Pidge rolling her eyes at his impatience. She checked her reflection and took an extra minute to remove the circlet and place it back into its box before answering the door.

“You have got to learn some patience,” she said before Lance could open his mouth.

“Hey, I'm not the one running abnormally late,” he responded. “You didn't stay up all night reading again, did you? I don't know how you lose track of time doing that.”

“Some of us came here to actually learn and study.”

“Ouch. I'm wounded. My heart!” Lance placed one hand over his chest and dramatically swooned. “Your cruelty breaks my spirit! And after I brought you breakfast!”

Pidge's stomach growled when she caught side of the cloth-wrapped bundle in Lance's hands. “So should I profess my undying devotion to you now or do you want to wait until there are other people around?”

Lance laughed and handed over the food as they left the tower and headed towards their first lesson of the day with Alchemist Alfor. He chatted about whatever came to his mind while Pidge devoured the sandwich and made reaffirming noises so he knew she was still paying attention. She finished it as they passed under the arch marking the potions and alchemy wing of the castle and, coincidentally, came across the other two students of their year – all-around sweetheart Hunk Garrett and his more hot-tempered friend, Keith Hawkins, who also happened to be embroiled in an intense rivalry with Pidge.

The two pairs came to a dead stop beneath the archway.

Pidge was in no mood to deal with him so early in the morning and especially not after yet another failed attempt at divination spellcrafting, so she pretended as though he didn't exist as Hunk and Lance jumped into a lively conversation to try and lift the atmosphere around them.

“Anyway, there's a note on Alfor's door asking us to meet in the Four Seasons Courtyard for our lesson today. That's why we're on our way back through,” Hunk explained.

“Lucky for us that we ran into you!” Lance laughed as he slung an arm across Hunk's shoulders. “Do you think we're gathering ingredients for something? Or does he have another lecture on how our environment affects alchemic equations?”

Hunk shrugged. “Guess we'll find out once we get there.”

The two walked ahead, leaving Pidge and Keith to silently follow behind them. Pidge used every ounce of her willpower to keep her mouth shut and not look over at her rival, telling herself that it wouldn't be worth getting into an argument right before class.

It was when they arrived in the courtyard that everything went wrong.

Pidge tried to walk towards Lance to sit with him like she always did but was stopped by Keith grabbing her wrist and tugging her back towards him. She whirled on him, a snarl on her lips, only to be interrupted by his own furious remark -

“What the fuck? Let go of me, Holt!”

“I am not holding onto you! Why would I, Hawkins?” she snapped back.

In unison, they glared at their wrists, each seeking to prove that they were right, only to discover that they were both wrong. There was nothing there, though Pidge continued to feel pressure around her wrist as though there was something holding onto her.

“Is there a problem over here?” asked Alchemist Alfor as he approached.

Keith tried to yank his hand away from the invisible force but it only served to make Pidge stumble forward and throw a another glare in his direction.

“Alright, alright. Calm down,” Alfor said before either of them could start speaking again. He, like everyone else in the castle, was well aware of the animosity between the two of them. “I'm sure this is someone's idea of a prank and we can get it sorted out quickly. Lets take a look at what's going on, shall we?” He held his hand out over theirs and murmured a few words. Within seconds, a twisted braid of gold and silver appeared around their wrists, with a short chain connecting them.

Keith frowned. “What is that?”

“Fascinating... I've never seen anything like it,” Alfor admitted. “I would wager that the silver is related to some form of soul magic, but I'm unsure of what the gold represents. Melenor would be the best to ask about this sort of thing, unless either of you has an idea?”

Pidge's blood turned to ice in her veins.

Soul magic.

It couldn't be.

Not him!

“He is not my soulmate,” Pidge refused, unaware that she was speaking aloud.

Keith's eyes flashed with something Pidge couldn't define and he tensed his jaw before responding. “Who would ever want you to be their soulmate, Holt?”

Alfor must have called for backup while Pidge wasn't paying attention, because suddenly Battle Mage Shiro was there and was hurrying them to Melenor's office while Alfor stayed behind to teach Hunk and Lance the lesson he had planned for the day. It was there that Melenor confirmed her husbands thoughts that soul magic was involved, with the silver strand representing femininity while the gold represented masculinity – a perfect balance symbolizing the bond between them.

Pidge had no choice but the tell them about the ritual she performed and how it was designed to reveal her soulmate, and from there Melenor came up with a plan to help them.

“You will live together for one week. If you cannot learn to get along in that time, I will undue the spell tying you together. I want to make it clear that you will give this your best effort. Magic has bonded the two of you together for a reason and I should think that both of you would endeavor to learn why.”

So there they were, in the brand new set of rooms they were being allowed to borrow for one week while they lived together, unable to move more than a few feet apart. Neither of them spoke for the first hour, until Keith finally sat down and refused to budge, his violet eyes hard as he stared up at her.

“I don't understand what your problem with me is,” he said.

Pidge rolled her eyes. “Right.”

“I'm serious. From the very first day we met you've treated me like I'm the scum of the earth. What did I ever do to you?” Keith demanded.

Pidge opened her mouth to respond, but Keith wasn't finished.

“Imagine it's your first day in the most prestigious magical institute in the world and as you're leaving your first class you finally see your soulmate. And at first you think it's just another dream, like all of the others you've had since you were old enough to understand what a soulmate is, but when you try to talk to her it all turns into a nightmare.

“At first I thought you were just stressed, but that wasn't right, was it? Because you get along with everyone else in this school. Just not me. So what is it, Holt? What did I do to you that was so horrible that you need to turn every chance meeting into a confrontation?”

The hot flash of fury that Pidge felt when he first started talking dissipated the moment he spoke of his dreams. A heavy, cold weight settled in the pit of her stomach as her mind worked to comprehend what she was hearing. “You... you knew this whole time? Why didn't you ever say something?”

“What was the point? I knew it would only end in rejection. You proved me right about that earlier,” Keith responded. The heat was gone from his voice, replaced by a deep sorrow.

Pidge sat on the floor next to him and pulled her knees up against her chest, thinking back to her first week at the Castle of Lions. It had been a massive change from the rigorous structure and rules of the Galaxy Garrison where she previously studied and she remembered struggling to adapt to a new environment. It took her a moment to place when her first interaction with Keith, an event she blocked from her mind because it didn't seem worth remembering aside from it being the starting place of their rivalry. A rivalry she was starting to think was almost entirely one-sided.

She had volunteered to try and solve an alchemic equation Alfor presented to them and when she was finished, Keith was the first to speak up and offer a critique on her work. She remembered the flush of anger at being called out for making what, in hindsight, was a stupid mistake that spoiled the rest of her work, and then the embarrassment as two students of another year started sniggering to themselves over it. The fact that Keith completely snubbed her as they all left the classroom served to cement in her mind that he was challenging her intellect and from that day on she refused to show weakness.

She breathed out softly and pressed her forehead to the tops of her knees.

Had she really based their rivalry on a simple misunderstanding?

Had her time at the Galaxy Garrison really impaired her social skills that much? Lance was always joking about it, but maybe there was some truth to that.

The competitive atmosphere. The constant drive to do better and be the best. Maybe she carried that with her to the Castle of Lions and let it influence the way she interacted with her peers. She thought she was getting better at it with help from Lance and speaking with their instructors, but those first few weeks...

That first interaction with Keith, when he corrected her and then didn't say a word to her after that – so different from the Garrison, where rivalries were encouraged as a way to push one another to do better. That lack of acknowledgment for it made her feel as though he was looking down on her. Like she was unworthy of being considered an equal.

“Keith, I... I'm so sorry,” she murmured, unsure how to put all of her thoughts into the right words. “I don't know what else to say. All of this is my fault. Our fighting. This chain tying us together. I've never been great at divination and I've been trying for months to use it to find my soulmate – to find you – and after all of that I ended up making a spell and well... I guess Magic got tired of being ignored, so it found a way to make things more obvious for me. And here you've known all along! I can't imagine how that must have felt.”

She snapped her mouth shut and uttered another quick apology as she realized she had started rambling.

“I didn't mean what I said before,” Keith said after a moment of silence. “About how no one would want to be your soulmate? I didn't mean that.”

Pidge lifted her head from her knees. “I kind of deserved it. I've been awful to you.”

“And I was awful right back,” Keith responded, a sudden spark of passion to his voice as he twisted to look at her. “We've both said and done things that we regret. I'm not going to sit here and go over all of it when it'll only make us feel worse. Look, we're stuck together for at least a week, right?”

Pidge nodded.

“Then let's make the best of that time. By, uh, talking things through, I guess. I don't know how people normally do this sort of thing,” he admitted.

“Neither do I,” Pidge said with a grimace. “But we're smart. We can figure it out.”

Keith made a curious sound, but didn't voice whatever he was thinking. Instead, he stuck out his left hand to her – the one with the gold-and-silver chain clasped around his wrist. “Deal.”

“Deal,” Pidge agreed, grasping his left hand with her right.

The chain loosened ever-so-slightly between them.

#voltron #kidgetober #kidgetober 2020 #fanfiction #day 14: ritual #week 2: myths & magic #this one got a little long on me #testing out some ideas for an original work here

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janz3289 · 4 years

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ofcloudsandstars · 5 years

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IMBOLC was so MAGICAL!! Oh my goodness!!

It's a bit of a long story and I don't want to leave out too many details but I am so glad it all turned out more than ok!! I did not have enough time to put everything together easily and I had to whip up a ritual last minute and I was staying at a coworker’s BOUGIE apartment that is BEAUTIFUL and Ideal for an Imbolc setting (the color scheme is like all white, gray and cream with TALL ceilings, Huge french windows, fluffy white carpets, fireplaces I could put white pillar candles in, long sheer white curtains, you get the point lol) but literally I had a witch gathering party at his place while he was away and I had to make it look like nothing. ever. happened.. the next morning.

I bought these string candle-lights which everyone was laughing at how in theme it was but I strung some across window sills and over the fireplace that I've stuffed white pillar candles in. I stuck tea lights everywhere and found some silvery tealights at a corner shop that were "spa scented" which sounds weird but!! They smelled fantastic and made the space feel calmer. I topped those with sage leaves. I used vanilla incense sticks and this other scent called 'Divine' (that stamford masala incense brand you might see at every spiritual shop) that really elevated the space and made it feel calm and angelic. The whole apartment felt very angelic, light, white and fluffy. On their large screen TV I made a visual playlist on youtube of timelapse videos of nature thawing into spring and frost melting or flowers sprouting from the ground. I played a lot of winter meditative tracts and purifying binural beats.

I pulled strings to get out of work early so I could run to my coworkers place, feed his cats, and get to cooking!! I made a spread of cheese, (mostly brie), coconut cheese, cheese infused crackers and poppyseed crackers, black sable grapes and blueberries that I sprinkled silver bonbons in.

I prepared 3 tonics as a welcome drink that my witch friends could choose from to what potion will aid them for the seeds they are sowing and the cycles to come. They were syrups that were agave based and infused with herbs overnight. There was one for clarity to know what steps to take to achieve goals and that was an infusion of sage, juniper berries and rosemary. There was one for inspiration and sudden muse or creativity to help complete projects and that one was an infusion of valerian root, chamomile, blue poppyseeds and caraway seeds. (Seeds were also symbolic in this one lol), then lastly there was one for inner fire and a wake-up call to get the drive going to get tasks done. That was a black breakfast tea leaf with a sprinkle of pepper in it. They were mixed with Gin (gin being a juniper infusion actually has an interesting history with being used as a cleanser and medicine though its obviously not used that way anymore) and tonic so they were all really herbal and refreshing (non-alcoholic drinks were just gin-free) and they all had a pretty light golden clear color. The clarity one was the most popular though I wish I drank some of the wake-up call one myself.

For food I made baked macaroni and cheese with mozzarella, sharp cheddar, brie, sweet sauteed white onions, black pepper and truffle oil. The plant-based option was stuffed cabbage rolls made with this BEAUTIFUL cabbage I had no idea existed (it caught my eye in the store) called sweetheart cabbage. It was snow-white colored and each large leaf was somewhat heart-shaped. I stuffed it with a sauteed combo of white sweet onions, white mushrooms, chopped parsnips, cauliflower rice and coconut cheese. Lastly I made a salad of chopped fennel and the smaller leaves of the sweet heart cabbage and raw parsnips.

The whole table's food had a white and beige theme lol. We all caught up about our lives and ate food and coo-ed over the cats. When everyone arrived we got to the ritual which I dressed his coffee table in different tea lights and bigger candles. Since I am WIZENED from many previous disasters with candles on tables and witch shenanigans, I put SEVERAL covers on his glass coffee table which consisted of 1- bamboo mats, 2- a white blanket as table cloth (mostly for aesthetic) 3- a coat of aluminum foil 4- 2 layers of cream table cloths. Just to ensure nothing could damage his table.

I am not the biggest fan of leading ritual cause it feels uncomfortable to me to 'lead' everyone's energy but its nice cause this is the third sabbat in a row I've hosted and I guess my friends get the gist now so they all kind of contribute their own parts to it which is.. WHAT I WANTED IN THE FIRST PLACE lol. I take initiative to host sabbats or gatherings or create a community so sometimes people think I am a leader cause I am initiating something but honestly I just want to hold space for others. Anyway the ritual started off with us cleansing baggage from our previous cycle so we can move into the next one purified. I had a juniper bundle I bought in glastonbury that I smoke cleansed everyone with.

Then we spoke about what Imbolc meant for us and how its also reflective on the cycle of life and death when the spirit enters the womb and how seeds of life and hope are stirring. I asked them each to take a tea light and visualize it as a goal or project they wanted to accomplish for this year and to dress it in herbs and oils. I had sage for clarity, rosemary for abundance, blue poppy seeds for growth and inspiration, tea tree oil for protection etc and they could carve in symbols to their candle or whatever. When they were working on that I read everyone's spirit's incarnation crosses from their human design since I knew everyone's birth time lol. The incarnation cross uses some astrology to take into consideration the position of the planets during your third trimester when it’s believed that the spirit enters the body in the womb. It’s to illuminate what your spirit’s intention in this incarnation seeks to fulfill.

Before we lit the candle my best witch friend took us on this AMAZING guided mediation that was so creative and visual and wonderful. We grounded ourselves but she took us on this story-telling guided meditation journey of us being deep in the earth and smelling the damp soil but having our goal be this light or seed within us that grows and expands until it pushes us up and out through the soil into the wintery forest air. I really felt like some reborn forest faerie sprite after that like she should record meditation podcasts.

We then lit our candles and we used the flame to light the biggest pillar candle as our combined hope and it lit ABLAZED. One of my friends couldn't get her candle to light and we did divination for her to find out what was blocking her and did a road opening spell for her so that she could overcome the obstacles.

After we wanted to do some candle scrying so another friend who does these amazing sound healing ceremonies (I went to glastonbury with her) lead the candle scrying and Y'all.. it was INSANE Like none of us were READY for the fucking adventure.. Basically we thought we'd all be staring into a candle in a trance quietly but it literally felt like something took hold of her like a greater spirit used her as a vessel and it was incredible. She told us all to hold hands and we closed our eyes and did some breathing. We all had to pulse each others hands and visualize a white thread locking us together for protection and creating a circle. She then called on to our higher guides to protect us and create this link to our higher spirits to open a channel so that we may see and allow the fire to guide us. She then was speaking so fast but also with such precision on how the light is opening a door and whatever we will see will help us unlock our true potential and see how we are the light etc for what felt like 6 minutes nonstop and it was so hard to stay on cause I had the WORST PAIN come up in the center of my back where my heart was and I was feeling like it was the culmination of energy being blocked (I have been doing sound healing there to help my heart energy but its been a rough journey), and the fire just felt like it could not channel through me cause of that blockage, but though the knot still hurts even as I type this, I could not break the circle lol. My best friend to my right was staring so intently I knew she was off like astral projecting into this fire, and as I would catch glimpses of others around me everyone was just like.. ON a Journey. I felt like it was like that scene in Harry Potter when they took the port key like we were all locked in and spiraling through time and space and I just had to wait until it was done. I looked at my friend to my right and she was beaming with TEARS covering her face, and my other friends looked windswept for some reason?? We were all like goddamn.. Everyone had Some Shit they've seen in the fire. Even if some of us didn't see something we saw a lot of colors which I mostly saw since I was really focused on the pain in my back. My friend leading the scrying said that the back area I pointed out was a channel that was blocked and is connected to my throat energy so once I fix that it can be aligned/opened but its like.. healing is so hard guys haha.

Anyway we grounded ourselves after the ritual with dessert! :) There was cheesecake (of course) I decorated with white chocolate star sprinkles and the same silver bonbon sprinkles and pavlova that could be topped with blueberries. I also had a cookie spread of butter cookies, white chocolate chip sugar cookies and white chocolate twix bars. The rest were mostly vegan desserts which were lovely. I bought coconut rice pudding but my other friends got vanilla cupcakes with thick white vegan buttercream, there was vanilla soy icecream that was really creamy and light and my aries witch friend I went to Berlin with made home made vegan tiramisu which was fantastic! She also bought red wine.

We spent the rest of the evening chatting, playing with the cats and laughing about whatever, my Aries witch friend was upset I made the dresscode all-white but she was wearing her 'artist' shirt she does painting in so she didn't care that she got tiramisu ALL OVER IT lol. (which we pointed out that no one else had stains on their white outfits but I mean she's an Aries what do you expect), and when we were all getting drunk and sleepy I asked my best witch friend if she wanted to tell a story and Oh My God she fucking DELIVERED

Basically she took us on this adventure retelling the story of Baba Yaga cause it was a tale that does also have to do with crone passing power to a maiden and a cycle re-continuing. Plus it's a midwinter tale involving fire and illumination. Anyway I used to think about how sad it was that back in the day people didn't have movies and had to like tell stories and shit but she was so good at telling this story I was like damn I get it now why people just used to sit around and tell stories together cause this shit is lit.

Before everyone left I forced people to take home food (I mean I had to get rid of all evidence of anything happening in my coworkers house) and I made everyone white paper lanterns with goodies inside and I stuck an electric tealight in it so it glows. I put a bathbomb in there, white chocolate, mint crumbles, buttermints for the non-vegans and tiny spell-jars filled with salt flakes.

When I was finally alone and had to do cleanup it took me nearly three hours but I was also drunk at that point lol. I now have left-over mac and cheese for days but gladly my aries witch friend is vegan and took the cabbage rolls with her and everyone helped take everything else.The cleaner came in the morning and essentially all evidence of anything ever occurring in that apartment was cleansed away...

I hope everyone else had a fantastic Imbolc!! It was on such a perfect moon phase too since it's the first quarter moon!!

#imbolc #personal #the story is long but filled with details #it was a magical night #all I could have ever wanted

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marshmallowprotection · 5 years

Text

Petunia

Assistant Lila AU!

Link: AO3 | FFN

Pairing: Choi Saeran/Original Female Character(s)

Description: Unknown always wanted to have his own assistant. One that is bathed in wisteria and petunias, covering their throat until they suffocate or give in. There are some things that he can’t do by showing his face and that’s where someone who was very much his equal in sense of the word would be able to help him achieve the goals of Paradise. He’s got his eyes set on somebody and surely, with her, the success of Mint Eye is ensured.

Based on the Prologue’s Bad Ending. A standalone fic that can read without reading any of the other stories in the series.

Chapter One

2: Hostage

When Lila awoke the next morning she found herself in unfamiliar territory.

The walls were barren and the temperature was well below freezing in this room. She knew she was inside because it was fall and it was hardly this cold out yet. She involuntarily shivered and sat upright without thinking first, looking around the room to see where she was.

There were a lot of monitors and a mammoth hard-drive on the opposite side of the room. Apart from that, there was the couch that she was laying on, a couple of filing cabinets, and a couple of extra spare storage containers that she couldn’t see inside. It was like a basement or a dungeon, there was no window or any windows for that matter.

It was solid.

This place was built to keep things in and keep things out.

“I guess… he really did take me,” she whispered. "But, where did he take me?"

She rubbed at her eyes, wondering what had happened the night before that had caused her to wind up in this place. She could remember her interaction with Unknown and how he had forced her to walk with him until they reached a car, and then he covered her eyes.

It was a blur from that point as her body had been on autopilot.

The rest was… lost.

So, this was what she had to work with. She rose to her feet and began to inspect her surroundings to see if she could locate what exactly would explain the purpose of his room or if there was some kind of hint on how to get out of the room.

Pushing against the door didn't work as it seemingly locked from the outside.

That was a damn fire hazard!

The computer was password locked, so that was a moot point, and nothing else gave her what she needed. Frustrated, she sat down in the chair and stared at the blue light from the monitors praying for something to happen or materialize. It never did.

She sat there for quite a while until the door slid open and the sound of boots thudded against the floor. She seized and tried not to turn around. She knew that that had to be Unknown; There was no telling how he was going to react or what he was going to do when he realized she was awake.

His hand pressed to her shoulder and he chuckled at the way she tensed up and tried to remain calm, "Hello, princess. I see you've finally woken up. Good. I have work to do and you have a lot to learn."

She sucked in a breath, "Where the hell are we?"

He leaned in closer so that his breath ghosted against her ear. He chuckled, "Mmm. I know you're not really daft. Don't tell me you forgot what happened last night. This is paradise, remember? I brought you here to save you from those who continue to hurt you out there, and you're going to repay me by being my cute little assistant.”

"I- I never… agreed to that," she whispered, almost inaudible.

Lila wasn’t looking at him. She was staring at his reflection in the monitor and his wicked smirk only grew as her discomfort did. He just watched as she squirmed and slowly lost what remained of her composure.

Unknown’s hand caressed her cheek, cooing, "Oh, I knew you might say that. You never disagreed, either, cupcake."

Well, he was right.

She never said no.

✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿

“What am I supposed to do?”

“Go through those files,” he said, bluntly.

She stared at the back of his head with pursed lips, “And what exactly am I looking for in these, anyway?”

His patience was wearing thin. It was obvious that he didn’t like that she couldn’t read his wants and desires as soon as he thought of them. Lila was no mind-reader, and she wanted to know what the hell she was doing for him. She hadn’t exactly gotten much out of him since he would often leave her hanging without giving away much.

Mint Eye was a paradise for the down-trodden.

This was a safe haven for people that had been hurt, and it was supposed to be a place where pain didn’t exist at all, supposedly.

Well, the ache in Lila’s body seemed to prove that was wrong. She was hurting and exhausted to the bone. There was no sense of peace in her heart right now. She hadn’t seen enough of it to make her own conclusion. Unknown had her on a ball and chain.

She couldn’t stray far from him as his trust was low in other humans.

Lila could see that he was close to being rash. She changed her tone, carefully, and looked down at her lap. “I understand that your mission is very important to you. If you want me to help you, then I have to know something. What is this goal? What are we trying to achieve here? What exactly is it you’re all aiming for?”

His chair spun around and he faced her, one leg crossed over the other and head resting against one of his hands as if he were bored. “Let’s just say the goal is to show my Savior something amusing. There are people out there that don’t give a fuck about how much they hurt others and they reap what they sow, what goes around comes around, right?”

Lila still struggled to connect what that had to do with the messy documents about people that seemed very average. There was something about a student, a businessman, his assistant, an actor, an infamous photographer, and a hacker. It seemed like a weird group. It was like somebody was playing Mad Libs and grouped the strangest options.

She gripped at the paper in her hands, “What exactly do these people have to do with that? What did they do?”

His mint eyes narrowed.

Oh, that was the wrong question, wasn’t it? Quietly he rose from his chair and began to walk in her direction from across the room, and she went quiet. There had been a few times now that he had lashed out at her for saying too much or too little. She knew that she was walking a tightrope but she needed to understand this man.

Why did he want her so badly for this?

Unknown was a quiet man, most of the time, anyway.

He was swallowed up in his work and once he got to work on something that had to be done right then, thusly, he paid her no mind whatsoever and just continued to toil away on a very so-called big “important project”. She wasn’t even sure what he wanted her to take care of, as she was left to her devices most of the time.

It felt more like she was a glorified toy, rather than some assistant.

Though, it wasn’t like he was denying her anything that she needed.

She may have been stuck to his side like super-glue but she still could do basic human fun. Nobody will know how grateful she felt to be able to take a hot shower of all things after days of being trapped in this damp cellar of a room. She just ran on his schedule most of the time and that was no way for a to live.

Unknown took care of himself pretty poorly as far as she could see since he worked as long as humanly possible and beyond that, and she wound up spending a good amount of time making sure that he ate something when she did.

It took a bit of pressing to get him to agree to let her roam the halls. But, it wasn’t like she could escape when he could watch the cameras wherever she went.

It went a little something like:

She had been staring at him for some time and it still flabbergasted her that this man could push himself to the brink of passing out, and as much as she wasn’t sure how she felt about this guy, he couldn’t up and die on her in this room. “Hey, you haven’t eaten in hours.”

His fingers never left the keyboard and he continued to type the next set of the log, “What of it, princess? I’ve gone far longer without food and drink than a few hours. This is nothing to me.”

Her expression fell flat.

Just what was this place like if he felt like he had no choice but to starve himself? What had he gone through that made this a reality? She shook her head, “...That’s not okay? I don’t know what you’ve been through but you need to eat if you want to keep up your energy on this… project.”

“Tch,” he scoffed.

Unknown seemed less than impressed with her attempts at trying to be nice to him.

“You’re the one that said I’m your assistant now, well, part of that job means that someone makes sure you have everything that you need,” She said, pointedly. “So, let me out of this room and I’ll go and make you something.”

Unknown paused, and then finally, looked over his shoulder at the girl. “Fine. If it’ll get you to stop nagging me every couple of hours. You better not try and make a fucking run for it. You’ll be punished severely if you do.”

Lila stared at him, “I won’t. I know I’m in no position to do something like that. You’re the one that controls all the cameras. It’s pretty pointless to make a break for it when you’re with the strongest guy in the building. I just… figured you would benefit from eating something substantial instead of crackers. I know that’s not filling.”

Her gaze shifted away from him momentarily.

“You’re practically skin and bones, you know? I’ve... been there before and it’s not fun. It’s a really bad habit to stay off of it and reward yourself with it later. I spent a lot of time in and out of the hospital when I was younger for those types of choices, I’d hate to think of anyone going through that, even somebody like you, Unknown.”

Unknown didn’t know what to say to that.

He just looked over her face to see if there was a lie in any of those words. Most of their banter to this point had been about work and her constant inquiring of this and that. It led to a lot of bickering back and forth.

Perhaps it was that he didn’t know how to respond to somebody that had nice intentions. Nobody had ever thought of him enough to do something like that. He was always looking to do what others expected of him and all his other needs did not matter.

A part of him was sure she was doing this so that she could keep breathing here without worry, but her tone was so genuine.

“Fine,” he said, lowly. “Just don’t speak to anyone when you’re outside of this room or there will be a price to pay.”

Lila snapped out of her daze when Unknown stopped in front of her and reached out with both of his hands. She thought that he was going to touch her but instead he grasped from the loose papers from her hands and stared into her eyes.

“You’ll know soon enough,” his voice was haughty. “They’re a group of liars and traitors that work under the guise of helping others. They act high and mighty when in reality they throw every person that is in need under the bus. You may look for the good in everyone but I assure you that these people are rotten to the core.”

Lila was taken back by his tone. She flinched at the vicious vitriol and bitter animosity in his voice as he spoke of them. She had seen him become sour before but it was never like this. He was angry, but never like angry enough to seethe.

She slowly nodded her head to show that she understood his words.

“I… I understand,” she murmured.

Then, like the flip of a dime, his expression changed, and he brushed his fingers against her cheek in such a tender motion.

His lips curled upward enough to hint amusement or pleasure, but you would blink and miss it.

“You like to wait and listen, don’t you? You look for as much information that you can seize out of people before you speak to them. You know you can’t trust everyone, and you’re wary, cautious. It’s an admirable trait. That’s what I want you to do, princess. Learn everything about these bastards and relay whatever information that you can find.”

“...That’s it?”

“That’s it. I have to focus on more important matters. I’ve seen as much of these people as I need to see to know their type. Why waste my time when I have you here to help my mission? I’m a very busy man, princess. My Savior expects me to do better than I did before.”

Savior, again.

He wasn’t the boss of whatever this place was as he answered to a higher person and they often called him and told him what to take care of. He would listen so closely to the voice on the other end of the speaker that it seemed like he was hypnotized. Anytime she inquired about that person Unknown would tell her that she had no reason to be with the woman yet.

His Savior was busy running this place.

However, there would come a time very soon when she would be by to see how much progress she was making at Unknown’s side.

Unknown was a strong presence, already. To even imagine that there was somebody at this place that held more power and respect than he did with the believers? It was hard to think about. Every time she passed by someone in the halls they would duck their head and hurry away from her sight as fast as they could do so.

He made it abundantly clear that she was with him.

If anyone crossed him… well, she was scared to think about what may become of that person.

“Because… I’m here?” Lila supplied, unsure.

“Exactly.”

What was she supposed to provide to prove her worth to somebody like that?

She was hardly that great of a person in the first place and the fact that anyone had some kind of faith or expectations to be better than she was made the air more suffocating than it already was.

She was far from great.

Unknown seemed to sense her troubled thoughts.

It was like she was as open as a book without having to say anything. Cupping her face in his hands to give her the first gentle touch she had received from anyone in days was quite a shock. They were so close at that moment that she could feel his breath against her cheeks.

“I wouldn’t have chosen you if I didn’t believe you were worth the trouble,” he murmured. “I don’t waste my time on people that won’t satisfy my aspirations. I wanted you from the moment I saw your face. Don’t take that lightly.”

“I…”

He shushed her immediately. “Don’t open your trap, princess. We both know your weaknesses, and how you hate yourself. I see your worth. You should learn to see it for yourself. You could be so much stronger if you just accepted it.”

His praise didn’t come to just anyone.

She had seen the way he looked at the rest of the believers and seen the way that he was when he was alone and with her instead. He barked orders at those that were useless and not good enough to do what they had to do. She was different to him. As strange as it was, she kind of liked the fact that someone needed her so much.

She had never been needed by anyone before.

Nobody had ever thought of her as more than an annoyance. Even her big sister had to pity her for the trouble she caused. That was why none of them had even bothered to speak with her since she decided to leave.

They were probably glad that she was gone now.

Glad to be rid of something that stained their good family name.

It might have seemed awful at first to come to this place, but perhaps it wasn’t such a bad thing that she came here.

Unknown was different.

He saw something that nobody else did. He saw worth in her talents. He saw the person underneath the weakness and tears. He had chosen her out of anyone else he could have had. He could have had anything he wanted, it wouldn’t have been that difficult with his ability.

Maybe he was right, after all.

✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿

Lila peered over his shoulder at the monitor.

She could see bits and pieces of that messenger app that he had used to speak to her with, except this variation looked much less glitchy compared to what they had been using. “So, the app you tested on me was only the beta form of what you’ve been building over here?”

He didn’t seem to bother her inquiry if it was into her knowledge of his strength.

“Mmm. You could say that I’ve been building this from the bottom up from old traces that the Savior kept,” Unknown said, his voice was very matter-of-fact. “I’ve nearly uncovered what I need to get it stabilized.”

So, he had built this from nothing, only going off of images and photos. It was impressive. She could remember coding websites in high school and the numbers even then had been far over her head and too much for her to understand, she wasn’t ever the brains, she was always the creative one that made things look good.

This was a whole other ballgame compared to that functionality.

His goals right now are to build this from the bottom up and learn as much as humanly possible about the RFA. That was split between the two of them now, but he was making much more progress than she was if she was being honest.

She was backtracking social media and looking up as much reachable information was available to her as humanly possible.

Everyone has accounts but not all of them were active enough for her to find what she needed. It also made her sick to her stomach when she got too far into it. Lila had never really stalked anyone’s profile before. She never really saw a point in it. She was hardly active on her own pages sans for posting her work and fashion photos.

Unknown had made it sound so simple, easy, and without much issue.

“What’s going to happen when you finish it?”

A chuckle escaped from the back of his throat. “That’s when the real fun is going to begin. If you want to see a real wild adventure take place then you’ll love it when we get to that point. I haven’t decided yet how far I want to take it. But, I know what I want. It’s only a matter of time until it’s within my grasp.”

She knew what he wanted.

He wanted the destruction of those people… the RFA.

This group of people that supposedly held parties for charity and did good for the sake of others, but everything that Unknown said seemed to imply that that was a cover.

They all had different levels of issues and yet, there were two members that made him angrier than anything.

All of them were guilty by association in his eyes. Lila looked away from him and then blurted out without thinking, “You mean your revenge against Luciel? I-I mean, that redhead, right? That’s what you’re excited about? Right?”

She hadn’t meant to say that name.

“That’s what you’re looking forward to doing… it’s all you talk about so I just thought...”

Excuses.

If she so much brought them up he would begin to berate her and speak down of those people. She didn’t know them as he did. She was an outsider looking in trying to learn as much as she could and his help never went far enough to give her what she needed. What was so evil about a man who took photos or a man that seemed to work for an underground ring to survive?

What was it about them that made them evil?

All she was seeing was the surface.

A man who was quiet and too polite for his own good, and somebody who seemed to laugh and have fun teasing others. Where was the evil in that? She didn’t know. He would never tell her about the past at length. If she said anything that sounded even the slightest positive, her back would hit the floor and he would damn near wrap his digits around her throat.

Curiosity kept hurting this cat.

Today was no different than those times, the minute she spoke that name to him, it was like the gates and chains holding him down had been unlocked in the zoo.

She found herself pinned against the wall with his fist mere inches from the side of her face. Her breath was quickened and she stared at him with wide, fearful brown eyes.

“I told you not to say that name,” he hissed.

“I- I’m sorry, I forget,” she choked. “But that’s it isn’t? That’s why you’re working so hard. You want to get him back for what he did to hurt you in the past, right?”

He was every bit furious with the world as he was smart. His being was intimidating was that of fury and scorn. Everyone could see the hatred in his eyes and they treated him accordingly, but Lila could have sworn she saw a glimmer of something more underneath that pain.

Hurt?

Trepidation?

Dare she say, scared?

When he spoke of that man, it was like he wasn’t even seeing the room in front of him anymore.

It was like he was envisioning a memory or the past of the future, it was never entirely clear. He wasn’t looking at her with his rage. He was looking at the idea or the vision of this man that had hurt him in such a way that left him unable to explain it.

His voice was venom, and his fingers on her arm were as cold as ice, “I’m going to ruin everything that that redhead has built for himself out there in the world. He thinks he can live carefree when he knows what he did.. He’ll rue the day he fucking decided to do what he did. I can’t wait to see him burn down to ashes. It’s all I can think about. It’s all I’ve ever wanted to see happen to that bastard. It’s what he deserves. When that traitor is finally in my grasp, I’ll show him what hell is.”

Unknown meant what he said.

He wouldn’t stop until he destroyed that man.

✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿

Unknown had been gone for a long time.

He often left her alone to work in this room without so much as a goodbye and it would be hours before he came back. Her only liberty to leave was to go one place and then come right back; She wasn’t technically an inducted member of Mint Eye, yet, that would be coming soon, Unknown would remind her every now and again.

If she was a full-time member then a lot more freedom would be given to her to exist. For now, she was stuck under Unknown’s lock and key. It’s what his Savior dictated. He did whatever she wanted him to do.

Lila wasn’t sure she was a fan of that idea.

Freedom sounded great.

But, she didn’t believe in any of the ideology they spouted that came with that freedom. She knew that their intentions weren’t as holy as they seemed to be. She was trapped here without a choice, however, so what she wanted wasn’t going to be considered.

Her phone had been tinkering with so that it only worked to communicate with Unknown as far as that went. She never answered when he called and she always had to answer when he called or else he would scold her actions.

He was the only person in her world and without him around things got rather dull, rather fast.

When he wasn’t working, it was so easy to speak to him. He listened to anything that she wanted to say and he would expect the same of her. A lot of that talk revolved around work, but there were lingering moments when he would give her more information about himself as a reward for her hard work on this project.

She figured out that she had him read wrong from the start.

His past really had been horrible from what he did say. Years of not being allowed to eat or go outside, years of loneliness, years where he considered the only friends he would ever have flowers in the garden outside of Mint Eye. It wasn’t all of the pieces to the mental puzzle she was building but she was getting a better understanding of this man.

He was a mystery she wanted to unravel.

It was strange.

This person was more than just who he wanted people to believe that he was, and she couldn’t help but want to know more. He knew everything in the world that he could dig into about her due to his long research. She didn’t have that liberty with him. She wasn’t that smart. Sure, she knew her own way about things but he was another caliber.

Another class entirely.

With pursed lips, she stared down at her device with a frown.

Where was he now? What was he up to? Was he working in the field for more intel or was she speaking with his Savior? When would he decide it was time to come back? There weren’t many places that she could think of, and he wasn’t somebody to do things at his own leisure.

Her hours were defined by time with and time without. She couldn’t get a lot of work done without his help.

He knew that.

Time began to blur and she was lost in a daze until the sliding door opened and the room was illuminated with the natural light. She squinted at the doorframe and rubbed at her eyes until her vision cleared up.

She wasn’t sure who it was but that figure just seemed too small to be Unknown’s own, he was a lot taller than that. Still, her voice was ever hopeful as she stared at the person, quietly questioning the person, “...Unknown?”

Their face was still distorted from the light but Lila could see the hint of a smile, “Oh? Is that what he decided you should call him? Interesting. Though, I’m not very surprised. He’s not fond of that other name.”

Her voice was soft. She sounded like she was very kind, and gentle. She seemed to radiate the light that she was bathed in; It was strangely comforting and foreboding in a way. She stepped inside the room and broke the illusion. That was the first time that Lila really got a look at this woman and she noted her features.

She was hardly taller than Lila was when she stood up. Her long blonde curls framed her face in such a way that curved just right and what stood out the most were her eyes. They were deep emerald green, just as Unknown’s were in a way, but these were far more natural compared to the unnatural hue that he had.

She had this air about her that made you respect it. She may have been small but it was easy to see that she could be a force to be reckoned with if she so chose to be.

His other name?

Oh.

His real name.

There was something in her gut telling her that this woman was more than just a regular visitor, and that would stand to be proven. Lila bit at her lower lip, “...You wouldn’t happen to be his Savior, then, would you?”

The woman’s lips turned into a smile.

She began to walk forward, “Yes, that would be me. What a clever girl you are. I am the Savior of Mint Eye, and you’re the girl that Unknown chose to help him with his duty. I must admit, I was hesitant to believe that he went out to find a partner for himself. He’s very dedicated to Mint Eye’s cause, and if he thought he needed help I would have supplied it myself.”

Lila didn’t budge from her spot. She didn’t think that she could. Her voice sounded so sweet but the implication in her words was far from polite.

“So, when he told me that he found someone worthy of our cause on his own, I wasn’t sure why he would do such a thing. But, now I understand. You’re a pretty thing, and he’s always had trouble with that. I would hate for him to get distracted from his work because of some girl,” the Savior stopped in front of Lila.

She paused, reaching forward to gently brush a strand of hair behind the girl’s ear. “But, I’m pleasantly surprised. His work has gotten much quicker since he took you at his side taking care of things. You may just be a great asset to my boy, and to me. You haven’t even tried to escape, though Unknown can be a brute if he doesn’t get his way. You’ve just quickly dedicated yourself to our cause.”

Lila swallowed, “Well... Unknown made a very great spiel about Mint Eye. He’s very convincing and it wasn’t that hard to choose an allegiance from the way that he describes this lovely place you’ve created to protect others.”

The Savior did as Unknown would do, looking through her words and her expression to try and locate a lie of some kind. It might make matters worse if she thought she saw something she didn’t like. This woman controlled Unknown’s life by all accounts.

She was the reason he was working himself to death, the reason why he hardly ever slept or ate, the reason why he saw no option but destruction, the reason why he was fighting so damn hard, and the reason why Lila had to try and dodge a minefield of danger to ensure that Unknown was functioning as a human being.

This woman was dangerous.

Lila had to watch what she was saying.

“I don’t see why I shouldn’t help him or Mint Eye. He’s given me an opportunity to be useful,” Lila added. “It would be foolish on my part not to recognize something this important. It’s a pleasure to ensure your goals. I realize I am not privy to everything yet but I hope to prove myself worthy of his selection.”

She seemed satisfied with that answer, now. Her hands dropped back to her sides and she hummed thoughtfully.

“I’m glad to hear you say so. I would hate to think about what would befall of Unknown if you were to cause any trouble. After all, he vouched for you. If you make trouble then he will suffer for it. I can’t control what others may do… or think of him if you were to mess things up. It seems my worries were for naught. In due time, my dear, your ceremony will take place. I look forward to it. I hope you do as well.”

Ceremony?

Unknown had mentioned his once when she inquired. It was different for everyone who went through it and how you reacted to it would change drastically depending on who you were. It involved a small number of tests… as well as something else he wouldn’t say aloud.

The final test, perhaps?

Lila had a feeling though, that it had something greatly to do with his dependency on that glimmering bottle of liquid that appeared in his hand every couple of days. It was clearly a batch of something strong.

His moods would change drastically before and afterward. If she asked about it, he would never answer directly, he said that he only took enough of that to ward off the headache he had. It was his special medicine. A few swigs of something was one thing. But whatever that something was, it seemed like nobody should take it at all.

Those so-called natural remedies that people made never turned out to be good in any sense of the word. If they were making stuff like that, what else was going on in this place?

If she was going to have a ceremony soon…

Lila couldn’t stomach that thought.

What was worse was the realization that his Savior was holding his safety over Lila’s head.

She was making herself clear and she didn’t care what happened or how Lila reacted to it. If she messed up then somebody was going to pay. She didn’t want to be the reason that Unknown got hurt or the reason he got into trouble. He already had the weight of Mint Eye on his back, being the only person in charge of damn near all security.

Lila would give this woman credit for something:

She knew how to control people and bend them to her will whether they liked it or not.

✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿

Lila’s worry had been justified.

Unknown was gone for nearly two days straight.

She wasn’t entirely sure if the hours were right because she didn’t really have the sunlight to go by most of the time, just the clock on her phone that signified the hours and how long it had been since they had spoken. She didn’t have anything but her thoughts and worries to keep her up at night.

It was weird without Unknown.

She almost forgot what it was like to be alone with her worries and thoughts. She spent that time pilfering online to look at this and that. There was nothing interesting going on with the RFA that she could read over and that left her with just the option to look back home to see what everyone was up to there.

Did they miss her? Were they even worried? Did they even care that they hadn’t heard from her in weeks?

Lila clicked each profile one by one and her heart sank. There wasn’t even a mention of her name and they were doing all sorts of family events. It was like she didn’t even exist. It was like they were doing it on purpose. It was like she wasn’t even alive.

Nobody gave a fuck where she was or what she was doing.! She wound up tossing the device on the floor out of sheer rage and frustration. She covered her face in her hands and just wept. There had been a reason why she hadn’t even considered checking back home. Lila feared that this was what was going to happen if she dared to click open.

It was true.

It was all true.

Nobody cared. Not a soul had even been bothered to ask where she was or how she was or what was happening. It was a cruel reality. It stung and it cut into her insecurities like a knife. Unknown had been right.

Nobody out there appreciated her in the slightest, and she was a fool to think that she could just keep living like that. He had wanted to protect her from getting hurt like this, and that was why he brought her to this place.

Lila didn’t want to believe it.

But, the facts were right in front of her face and she couldn’t deny that.

This was the universe’s way of letting her know that she never really mattered to anyone and her life was just sort joke of cosmic joke. She hoped that whoever was laughing at her expense was happy with themselves. Because she understood now the truth that she had long been denying and lying to herself about.

For a long time, she just laid there on the ground and stared mindlessly at the ceiling. Her heart was so tired and weary she couldn’t even bring the tears to spill out anymore. It felt like this was all she was going to know from now on.

Unknown might not come ever back. His Savior might have finally punished him for bringing an outsider into their midst. He could have realized that she wasn’t even worth his trouble, either. So, it was much to her surprise when the door finally opened in the middle of the night and Unknown was politely shoved into the room.

He looked far different from the strong man that he made himself out to be. He staggered, stumbled, and fell to his knees. His chest heaved in and out, but whatever he had in him was all but gone from his body.

Unknown looked like he had been run through a wringer.

His face was pallor, hair was unkempt, and his clothes were disheveled. Whatever had happened to him while he was gone had not been good at all and it showed in the way he could barely pull himself off of the floor. It looked like he was hurting too damn much.

Lila almost immediately sprang to his side and the door shut as soon as she reached him, locking them both inside. She pressed the back of her hand to his forehead and nearly recoiled at how hot it felt to the touch. It wasn’t okay.

He wasn’t okay.

“Hey,” she whispered, mostly to herself because he seemed to be in a world of his own. “Hey, you’re really warm. I need to help you lay down, okay? Can you work with me?”

He grunted in response.

It wasn’t enough but it was something and she could work with someone who at least had some sense left. It took a good bit of energy for her to help him but after a few minutes of struggling to hold his weight up, he flopped over onto the couch with a thud.

It was haphazard, but hey, she was working with fire!

Lila glanced around the room for a moment. There wasn’t much in here that would help him and since she had heard the lock from the outside with an audible click, that meant that she couldn’t get out and get him anything to ease his fever.

“Shit,” she cursed.

There wasn’t a lot that she could do for him, now. It made her feel really helpless. Whatever they had done to him had really messed him up good. This was just a beating, they had given him too much of something and let it burn in him. There was no way he was going to be able to get up out of this on his own.

Lila would have to go through a list in her head and see what she had and didn’t have on her, first, that would be the smartest bet. There was a bit of water somewhere in this room that she hadn’t finished and she could probably makeshift a rag if she tore hard enough at something. He was in no state to do much besides sweat this out.

She looked back down at Unknown. Something in her chest stirred at the sight of him. She wasn’t sure what it was but it was one of those sensations that you couldn’t ignore.

He looked… vulnerable.

There was no scowl or mask for him to hide behind in this state. For the first time, she was really seeing him. His tired eyes, his worn expression, his feathered brows, how small he was, and how fraught with deep pain he was.

She tore her eyes away from him and went to work as quickly as she could manage, returning a few moments later to his side. Lila sank down to her knees and gently placed the rag against his forehead, smoothing out his tousled locks in the process. It wasn’t much at all, but it could ease some of his discomfort.

She wished that she could do more for him but this was all that she could do now. Lila found herself asking him as she lowered her face in her hands, “Is this because of me? Do they do this because you brought me here?”

His voice was as surly and blunt as ever, even in a state like this, “...No.”

Lila looked up at him, surprised to hear an answer so soon.

Unknown was looking at her but it seemed like he wasn’t all there with her just then. He was awake but he was looking right through her instead of at her. He winced and turned his head to look back at the ceiling.

She didn’t want to rush him, but she wanted to understand why they would hurt him if he was so important to everything. How was she supposed to believe in this cause of his if they were going to hurt him? He said nobody got hurt in this place!

Why would you put the strongest person out of commission like he wasn’t that important?

“Why, then? Why are you like this?”

“It’s a… reminder.”

“Of what?”

“...”

“Unknown, please…”

“...”

He didn’t respond.

Lila wasn’t going to get an answer from him.

She started to get up, thinking that she would check the room for anything she may have missed but was stopped when something grasped her wrist. It was clammy, but it was his hand.

When she turned her head to look back at him, his green eyes were far different than the ones that she had come to know these past few weeks. Lila didn’t see a hardened and calculated gaze of a cold genius, instead, she saw the eyes of somebody who was hurting badly and seeking some form of comfort from the ache.

It was like…

It was like he was an entirely different person.

Her breath caught in her throat. Until this point, there had only been vague glimpses of something more in his eyes and now she was seeing clearly what was underneath his cold exterior. Unknown was running himself ragged. He couldn’t keep doing this. He was tired, and he was looking for something to fix this.

He couldn’t do this alone, he had said.

“Don’t leave me alone,” he said, his voice quiet and so unlike himself. At least, the man she had come to know. His plea was desperate and it was seemingly all that he had in him. “Please, don’t leave me… please… please.”

Lila’s heart sank.

She knew that she shouldn’t let herself start to view this man more than her captor but it seemed more and more like he was trapped as well without a choice in the matter. His green eyes were as mysterious as ever and she found herself drawn into them like a river flowing out to sea.

She was drowning, being lured out in deeper and deeper water, so deep that her feet couldn’t touch the ground any longer.

There was no turning back from this point.

Lila gently removed his grasp from her wrist and laid back next to him. She maneuvered his arm a bit so that it rested over her hip. If she was drowning in this place, then she was going to be the one to drown herself within him, nobody else would make that choice for Lila.

“I’m here,” she told him. “I’m not going anywhere. I’m going to stay here with you. I won’t ever leave you, okay? I promise.”

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warpedglass · 5 years

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AMMUTSEBA

: relationship & plotter ad :

Things are going well on the queen of ghosts so I thought I’d write up a permanent plotter call to refer back to, set up some more long term relationships and give you lovely people some ideas of what they might entail. Liking this post means you’re down to interact and interested in setting up something a little more long standing. What you can expect from me:

IMs for setting up threads.

Unprompted starters .

Thinking about your muse or mentioning them to others.

Prompts on memeday.

Reaching out to you during events.

You can send me IMs any time, hit me up on twitter or send me a message and I’ll give you my discord.

The types of relationships formed could be:

FRIENDS: For a ghostly dragon that thinks incredibly highly of herself she is a very sociable creature. She likes seeing people and she likes being seen, she’s spent far too much time on her own unwillingly so she very much enjoys being around other people. Whether its at large gatherings with many or just hanging out one on one, she’s not particularly fond of being solitary unless she has a particular goal to achieve.

She’ll take you places, she’ll want to be taken places and she’ll often turn up just to hang around. Whether that’s knocking on your door or just letting herself in through one of your mirrors. It just saves time darling, we’re friends aren’t we?

Ammutseba will be friends with anyone as long as they’re not openly disrespectful or rude to her and provided they don’t view other sentient creatures as tools to be used. Those are basically the only criteria, regardless of other tendencies.

MISCHIEF SQUAD: In essence this is an extension of the above, just a little more focused. Ammutseba is the self proclaimed queen of ghosts, the most powerful (she believes) of an entire type typically fond of using their gifts and abilities to have fun at the expense of others in mostly lighthearted ways.

Pulling pranks, scaring people; she gets endless fun out of these. She’s a spooky lady when she wants to be and being able to move through and use mirrors for shenanigans leads to almost endless opportunities. Anyone willing to join her in these activities is extremely worth her time.

FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS: Look. This is exactly what it sounds like.

She’s here for a good time and she isn’t shy about it. She’s very open minded and as long as your muse is of the appropriate age, not in an exclusive relationship or hasn’t specifically rebuffed her then there’s a very real chance she’ll suggest becoming more physically acquainted. And she’ll suggest it very openly too.

While she can be quite forward she won’t press this if someone isn’t interested. She has no interest in making people uncomfortable (in that sense) and it’s their loss if they can’t appreciate divinity when they see it.

It goes without saying but I’ll say it anyway; both mun and muse are required to be 18+

PEOPLE WITH BENEFITS: Exactly the same as above, except now you don’t even have to pretend to care about each other at all. Purely physical hookups, casual one night stands, etc etc.

ROMANCE: Even though she finds it very easy to get along with people and is willing to get close (often very literally following the above section), it’s particularly difficult for things to move into romantic territory with this one. She has formed very tight bonds with her family and those similar in role and station to herself, her best friend is quite literally her soulmate but she has yet to ever develop romantic feelings for another, and isn’t even entirely sure she’s capable.

Probably because she loves herself so damn much.

That’s not to say it isn’t possible, just that it would be difficult. It would require time, compatibility, an ability to meet some unknown standards, a means to understand who and what she is and the capability for her to see similar things in any potential candidate. We’d be in this for the long haul.

ENEMIES: Despite her capacity to get along with many and an often suave and cool air, she can be incredibly vindictive, spiteful and absolutely superior. As touched on earlier she will refuse to give you the time of day if what she believes is not the proper respect is shown to her, and if the offences are repeated she will direct her energies to remind you just how much of a mistake you’ve made.

So, for the most part you have to earn her ire. She’ll likely just brush you off unless you put energy into it.

The exception to this is those that view and use other sentient entities as tools to be used for specific tasks or goals. Those that would see someone as a means to an end before who they are, disregarding their desires and needs to fuel your own.

MISC: AKA; do you have any other ideas? I’m open to all ideas and there’s many things that fall between these categories. More casual acquaintances, work associates if you go to or shop at Dressed to Kill, rivals, found family; don’t hesitate if you have something specific in mind that’s not really outlined above.

I thought about including a where to find her section, but honestly there’s few places in the city you wouldn’t find her. She considers herself to be quite high society but she’ll often pursue pleasure wherever she can find it. If there’s a reflective surface nearby she’s potentially only a moment away.

Also she loves food a lot, like wow. She intends to eat everywhere in the city that sells food.

And that’s all she wrote. For now anyway. If you give this a like you will certainly hear from me at some point soon.

#isola rp ad #isola plotting call

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spoons4spoonies · 5 years

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Story Time

My secondary school holds a leaving ball for Year 13 students every June after exams are finished. It is a lavish affair with free champagne and a private bar and is run jointly with the boy’s school. The tickets are expensive even if you choose to be sober (like me) or are underage (like a few of my friends), but it’s the last time you will see many of your peers and teachers. Unless of course you are the type to find endless excuses to come back to visit, and are also the type of student that the school wants to visit. It will not surprise you to know that I am both.

Anyway, though there is not technically a dress code (evidenced by the fact that one boy turned up in a long vest as some kind of joke that showed off an unseemly proportion of his chest hair and was skin tight in a very unflattering manner) most girls wear ball gowns and high heels. I myself chose to wear scarlet high heels – the kind that you only wear if you plan to be sitting down most of the evening – and a beautiful dress I’d bought in a sale from my favourite shop. It was black velvet (or velvet style, real velvet no doubt costs more than thirty pounds) with a wide skirt patterned with flowers and birds in gold and red and green thread. My sister was even convinced to wear makeup and do her hair for her ball, probably one of three times I have ever seen her wear eyeshadow.

For many years, it had been tradition for the leaving ball to be held on a river boat on the Thames. No doubt this was the decision of the boy’s school as they had control over all these things. (Just a little casual sexism, but that’s for another day). I had heard many stories about this notorious boat; people getting travel sick from the turbulence, people breaking ankles and other bones falling over getting into the boat (I.e. before they were even drunk! That’s high heels for you I suppose) and of it generally being a bit of a hazard. My sister was certainly fairly unimpressed by it.

As someone who could get motion sick on a bicycle, it is something of an understatement to say I was relieved when they decided to host it in the Museum of London for my year. Though I have to say I didn’t trust my peers to act sensibly around the exhibits once drunk.

I got my hair done that afternoon and my aunt arrived to look after me (I may have been eighteen but even at twenty I am still not entirely trusted on my own) as my parents and sister were attending her graduation ceremony in Cambridge. She received a double first, another in a long line of academic achievements that I will never fail to be proud of her for. I am sad that I couldn’t be there too, but with my energy levels it wouldn’t have been manageable.

I travelled to the ball in style in a black cab with my friend and neighbour who we shall call Corporal for their time spent in the Army cadets. They were wearing a tailored suit bought for them by their godmother that had a Praedae Causa embroidered under the collar – a Latin phrase that we translated to mean “For the sake of the booty”. A very private school joke.

For the first hour we gathered in an upstairs hall where the free champagne was delivered and tap water was surprisingly hard to come by. It was here that our teachers joined us (some for the free alcohol I suspect) and mingling was encouraged. My main concern was the lack of chairs, given my shoes and the weakness of my legs (though I had not yet been diagnosed with POTS at this point, I knew far too well how little I liked standing up for long periods of time). But I remember getting lots of praise for my outfit, something I bask in, and trying to get as many photos as possible with my friends.

A, one of my Kpop friends, was wearing a beautiful traditional sarong in red and gold and had huge false eyelashes on that greatly suited her. I believe this was before she shaved her head for charity so she would have had her long curly hair. N was wearing a lovely red dress – unusual for her – that she had some trouble ordering as the company got the measurements wrong and sent a damaged version. But she looked stunning regardless and she had the luck to be going with her girlfriend – they are still together, and are definitely what one might call couple goals.

Then we were carefully directed downstairs to another room with big, round tables and a section for dancing at the far end. The music they were playing wasn’t the best, as for licensing reasons they could only play covers of pop songs. Mostly I wish they wouldn’t play music at all during dinner as one can’t hear the conversation at all.

First course couldn’t come soon enough – by this point I was starving! – it was gravlax and grapefruit in not exactly generous portions. Luckily, my friends didn’t like raw fish, so I had several helpings! The main course was beef and potato dauphinoise, and again I had several helpings as N had just stopped eating dairy. Then came pudding, the best part of any meal, which was a chocolate brownie, ice cream and some coffee flavoured mousse that I immediately passed off to someone else. I ended up eating more than one brownie, so all in all I certainly got my money’s worth.

Then it was time to dance, and you can bet I was one of the first up on the dancefloor! I had decided that since this was a onetime occasion and I had nowhere to be for the next few days, I might as well go full out and enjoy myself. I naively assumed that I could ignore my energy limits.

After three years, you’d have thought I would have learnt by now…

But I was not to be stopped and I dropped it low on the dancefloor – much easier with high heels as the leg muscles have less work to do – to some classic 2012 hits and spun and jumped and shimmied my way into an asthma attack.

I should clarify at this point that I do not actually have asthma (though I shouldn’t tempt the devil by saying such things) but I had clearly pissed off my body sufficiently that it resorted to drastic measures. It had tried to warn me gently a few times that enough is enough – aching feet, stitch, out of breath, slight back pain, heartbeat out of control, dizziness… I could go on – but since I had ignored all the warning signs it had started banging pots and pans together to get my attention.

Now that I was quite short of breath and it had reached ten thirty, I decided that I had had my fun and that it would be a sensible time to catch a taxi home. Then my breath decided to get a little shorter despite drinking water and sitting down and I began to panic ever so slightly. I went upstairs to get a little cool air, having said my goodbyes to many and various, and was lucky enough to come across E – another Kpop friend and my spoonie buddy – who immediately proffered her inhaler.

This helped with the breathing situation, but it was becoming alarmingly clear that my body was not even halfway done with its little tantrum. For at that moment, I started to come out in hives. Now, this was not the first time I had experienced that dreadful, full body itch of despair and past mistakes – many a nut reaction had induced the same effect. However, I could not for the life of me figure out why I was being cursed with it today.

I had specifically requested a nut free meal, and double checked every course. Hell, I had even eaten two and a half brownies! (Not that that is much of an indication as I have been known to have terrible self-restraint at times). I had no other symptoms (which I suppose I must be thankful for) so it couldn’t have been a nut reaction.

I hastily took some piriteze (I carry them with me everywhere in anticipation of future stupidity) and geared myself up for going home. I was faced with a walk through the dark to the nearest busy road to find a taxi, or waiting long enough for my parents to come pick me up (by this time they had returned from Cambridge). Neither seemed appealing due to the heel situation and my desperation to crawl out of my own skin respectively. I did not feel I could wait any longer before getting in a hot shower and dousing myself in Aloe Vera, but I also suddenly had no energy.

Thankfully help arrived in the form of E’s father as she had also decided to call it a night, and in her naturally mother hen way had taken it upon herself to get me home safe. He drove us back to my house to drop me off and I was hastily bundled into the shower by a loving mother. Soon enough I was back in a cool bed and significantly less itchy.

It was only later, when I mentioned the whole debacle to my specialist, that she revealed the source of my suffering: mould and dust. That’s right ladies, gentlemen and non-binary babes, I had an allergic reaction to a museum.

Not my finest moment.

-Mod H

#spoonie #story time #london museum #nut allergy #allergies #cfs #pots #spoonie humor

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makeste · 6 years

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BnHA Chapter 068: Get In Loser, We’re Going Shopping

Previously on BnHA: We spent entirely too much time on Mineta and all you need to know is that he passed the final despite my best efforts at sending my Mineta-crushing energy out into the universe. Kirishima, Satou, Mina, and Kaminari did not pass, because sometimes life just hits you hard and shit’s not fair. Aoyama straight up asked Ochako if she was in love with Deku and she was like KYAAAAAA and flew away in embarrassment and ended up handcuffing Thirteen on her way out. I don’t know why we couldn’t have seen Iida and Ojiro’s exam instead of Mineta’s, but they also passed. Basically everyone did except the four I already mentioned. And Tomura made a couple of new friends.

Today on BnHA: Tomura meets Dabi and Toga and tries to kill them! Kurogiri sets him straight and Tomura slinks off to sulk. Aizawa announces that Kaminari, Kirishima, Mina, Satou, and Sero have all failed the exam, but that everyone will be going to the training lodge anyway because he loves plot twists. The kids of class A (minus a few holdouts) go to the mall. Everyone splits up. Deku meets some creepy guy in a hoodie. The creepy guy in the hoodie turns out to be fucking Tomura because of course it is.

(As always, all comments not marked with an ETA are my unspoiled reactions from my first readthrough of this chapter. I’ve read up through chapter 137 now, so any ETAs will reflect that.)

apparently Tomura doesn’t like his new friends

“it seems like the two types I hate the most came as a goddamn set” lol. and that’s saying a lot coming from a guy who so far seems to hate mostly everything

basically he doesn’t like bubbly creepy girls or rude assholes

dude even you have to admit they’re better than Stain though

Kurogiri says they should hear them out and that the guy that introduced them is a fairly influential broker. so that’s the hipster guy we saw earlier

this guy wants Kuro to pay him either way lol

okay so now they’re being introduced

holy shit

blood-draining. that’s nice

her name is Toga. she’s crazy and she likes killing things

and now he’s introducing Inside Out. this guy is extremely intriguing to me already and he hasn’t even said anything yet. let’s see what he’s all about

lol I already like him. he reminds me of that redshirt bad guy in Iron Man 3 who surrendered to Tony without a fight and was all “I hate working here anyway”

his name is Dabi. or rather, he says that right now he goes by that name

Tomura wants to know his real name and he’s like, ~too bad~

(ETA: okay so I know that there is a prominent fan theory about this guy’s true identity due to his quirk, his appearance, and the fact that he keeps his real name under tight wraps. and also, I think, due to one particularly odd moment in chapter 82. but I’m gonna refrain from commenting about said theory until I’m caught up with the manga, since I’d like to have the full picture first. as of now, my feelings on this are a solid, “I guess he could be?”)

I really like this guy. even though his name immediately made me think, “MASTER HAS GIVEN ME A SOCK”

to be honest I’d be a whole lot more on board with you doing it than him

uh oh Tomura is triggered by someone talking about Stain. he’s probably the only guy who hates him more than I do lol

wow this motherfucker is charging at my man Dabi now with full intent to disintegrate him for no reason

oh damn

thanks for that, Kurogiri. keeping that peace. Villain Mom

interesting panels showing all three of their hands here

obviously we already know Tomura’s quirk (or part of it), but Dabi’s hand is definitely doing something here too. and Toga’s holding a knife that she seems to have produced out of nowhere. she reminds me of that crazy bodyguard girl in Kill Bill

Kuro’s telling the kids to stop fighting in the backseat

he says Tomura need to expand their organization if he wants to achieve his goals

fine, be that way you cryptic assholes

(ETA: it’s a little more clear in the Viz version and the anime subs that he was talking about Stain. basically, take advantage of the PR push he gave you, even if you don’t like that it came from him.)

now Tomura’s storming off, presumably to sulk

ah well. as far as things go, that probably could have been worse

the broker guy is saying that Tomura is too young. yep. but he’s All for One’s son so what are you gonna do

(ETA: he’s adopted)

Kurogiri is so fucking polite and smooth

this is why I said he was a doctor

cut to U.A.!

aww

no lodge for you

Deku is trying to give them hope but Kaminari’s not having it

did he actually poke Deku in the fucking eye

here comes Aizawa!

so they’re all sitting down to wait for their exam results

Aizawa says some of them have failed

oh my god

THIS FUCKING GUY. I KNEW YOU WOULDN’T LET KAMI AND KIRI AND MINA BE LEFT OUT OF THE ANTICS. AND SATOU TOO EVEN THOUGH HIS PERSONALITY HASN’T BEEN AS WELL-ESTABLISHED YET. THAT’S WHAT LODGE ANTICS ARE FOR!!

Aizawa says that everyone passed the written exam, but that the aforementioned four and also Sero (who fell asleep) failed the practical

haha

he just wants to make it clear that all of the senseis could kick their asses, so don’t go thinking you’re hot shit

this fucking guy

did All Might get that memo lol

yay I’m so happy

Iida’s standing up and says that if Aizawa keeps pulling this shit, they’re never going to fucking trust him again

Aizawa is like yeah, true, I’ll think about that

he’s not going to think about anything. he’s going to keep right on pulling this shit

he does say that things are gonna be rougher for the kids that failed, and that they’ll have supplemental lessons

but I agree with Ojiro here!

except for Mineta! but we can just pretend like he’s not there!

they all need to go out and buy some of the things on their packing list, so Hagakure suggests that they all go shopping together!

look at these cute reaction bubbles omfg

(ETA: Mineta’s bubble was so conveniently placed for me to crop him out, how nice)

Bakugou’s mom buys all his stuff, sorry Kirishima

THE KIDS ARE AT THE MALL

THIS IS SO FUCKING CUTE WHY DID KHR NEVER DO STUPID SHIT LIKE THIS

I HOPE THEY’RE NOT SWARMED BY THE MEDIA

I’M SAD MY ANTISOCIAL EXPLODEY SON OPTED OUT AND MY GENTLE GOLDILOCKS SON WENT TO VISIT HIS MOM BUT OH WELL

HAS IIDA EVER LOOKED MORE FORTY YEARS OLD IN HIS LIFE THAN HERE IN THIS PANEL WHERE HE’S WEARING A POLO SHORT AND SLACKS AND CARRYING A MESSENGER BAG

FUCKING LISTEN TO THESE SALES PITCHES OMFG

YOU WITH THE MASSIVE CALVES!!!!

LMAO HE PROBABLY WAS LOOKING TO BUY A NEW PAIR OF KHAKIS

Deku’s looking around excitedly like he’s never been to the fucking mall before

oh shit, barely two minutes there and they’ve already been recognized

probably would have been even worse with Todoroki and Bakugou there

GASP

I’m a simple girl. I see a panel of these two being lesbians, I click the “like” button

Kirishima suggests that they split up, and all of a sudden Deku and Ochako are all alone and being cute and awkward

dammit Aoyama you broke her

now that she’s off on her own she’s thinking “that’s not it... probably!”

okay. it would be fine if it was, but I ship you more with Iida and Deku’s in love with Kacchan so

hmm there’s a panel of Deku all alone surrounded by people and feeling vaguely unsettled

how eerie

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

hasldkghalsihoihlk

holy fucking shit. right out in the fucking open. he’s got his bare hand on him. he could kill him instantly right here

shit shit shit shit shit

shit shit SHIT SHIT SHIT

I’M FREAKING OUT??!?!!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

SHIT

HOW DID PEOPLE READ THIS CLIFFHANGER AND SURVIVE FOR THE WHOLE FOLLOWING WEEK HOLY SHIT

the bonus is just a quick blurb about Toga and how difficult she is to draw. you really think I care about that right now??? jesus.

(ETA: actually it was apparently supposed to be the Mineta costume page for this chapter, and the Toga page for the next chapter. of course, I’m even less interested in the intricacies of Mineta’s costume. so)

#bnha #boku no hero academia #shigaraki tomura #toga himiko #dabi #aizawa shouta #uraraka ochako #midoriya izuku #makeste reads bnha #I know I give stain endless grief #but I do appreciate that he inspired all these new villains to join the league #I pretty much love all of the next arc's villains without exception #and these two are especially great

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greensconnor · 5 years

Note

rod + hero for the mc thing uwu

INTERESTING mix time to display what could have been and leak the ending of letterman verse let’s GO

rod mc: coretta cruz

how tall are they?

coretta is 5′5″! she’s pretty short, especially compared to the rest of the mercy park crew

how do they tend to dress?

blue langston sweater & jeans every day jk except not really. she has a really comfy kind of art heaux aesthetic? she loves vibrant coloured turtleneck and interesting scarfs and big overcoats and flare-leg pants in interesting colours or patterns. if you’ve ever been to a city that was a ‘hipster’ city she dresses like how those people dress now. yeah. also she wears glasses you will not take that headcanon from me.

do they like how they look?

yes! in highschool she was very shy about her appearance and pretty easy to make insecure, but since the whole thing with the mercy park crew and getting to college she’s become a lot more sure of herself and has really settled into her aesthetic.

are they an only child or do they have any siblings?

as established by rod canon she’s an only child, but in my personal canon her dad adopts logan and they really do have a sibling-esque dynamic

are they a morning person or night owl?

morning person ahskshs. her friends all rip into her for being like “well goodnight :-)” at 9:30 pm on the dot after having been poring over her biology textbooks for two hours with six different coloured highlighters and organized sticky tabs only to get up at 5 am the next morning to be able to watch the local news station’s breakfast broadcast

are they a cat person or a dog person?

cat person! she loves cats and she likes small dogs but she has a bit of a fear of larger dogs, and although she’s not terrified of them, her nervousness around them prevents her from loving them as much as cats.

got any favourite foods?

THE CORETTA SPECIAL OFC!!!! she loves anything with bacon in it, and she and her dad used to have ‘bacon wednesdays’ where they would try to cook a new dish with bacon in it every week. she also loves apple and rhubarb crumble, and she and her dad like to bake it together because it reminds them both of baking it with her mum before she passed on.

how about favourite drinks?

she loves tea! iced tea, hot tea, milk tea, whatever! if it’s tea based, she’ll drink it, and she also loves a good berry smoothie!

what are their favourite movies/tv shows?

coretta really likes romcoms! mona rolls her eyes at having to watch them, but coretta is a huge romantic and she loves that kind of stuff! she’s also a big fan of animated movies and has an interest in foreign films as well! she tries to go to as many film festivals at langston as she can!

do they have any hidden talents?

she has a really good memory! she can remember weird little facts that someone told her years ago that just stuck with her ahsksh.

do they believe in love at first sight?

yes! she’s a romantic and the world kinda sucks so she likes to believe in sweet, positive things like that. she doesn’t personally think she’s ever experienced that, but she also doesn’t feel like she’s missing out in that regard! even if it doesn’t happen to her, it’s nice to believe there’s something like that out there.

who is their love interest?

mona! i said fuck canon lives and basically everything is the same instead of mona getting shot it was logan & instead of dad being reluctant to help he was on board so with fbi questioning he says that he got coretta and the mpc crew to work as his informants in secret because he suspected jason was corrupt, because they’re just kids! anyway it all works out okay and mona comes with coretta to langston where both she & logan are doing bridging courses at a community college to finish high school while working part-time, and she and coretta are very happy together!

what are they afraid of?

she’s minorly afraid of large dogs, and she’s not really a huge fan of loud noises, especially not after the showdown with the brotherhood.

what are their guilty pleasures?

expensive berry smoothies... the healthy “organic” ones.... yeah.... and logan’s a filthy enabler so they’ll be in the supermarket and she’ll be like “oh i don’t NEED one” and logan is like “well... what if.... and just hear me out here pip.... but what if.... we got two”

what was their dream job as a kid? is it still their dream?

she wanted to be a zookeeper! now her dream is to be a zoo vet and so she’s studying veterinary science at langston to be getting on that! i actually don’t know how american colleges work but i know they are cracked but that’s her goal and her ambition and she’s on to it!

have they ever broken a bone?

nope! miraculously she didn’t even break anything when she wrecked her car to face the brotherhood!

have they ever been in trouble with the law?

w. well. yes and no... for a bit she was, but after her dad testified to say the mercy park crew helped out, they were pardoned and so she technically hasn’t been charged with anything, although obviously ride or die kind of hinges on the fact that she has been ahslshsjs

+ three other random facts about them!

because she’s so much shorter than the mpc, logan gave her the nickname “pip” which is short for pipsqueak. she had a crush on ingrid for most of high school, and she and ingrid have talked about this in college and had a good laugh about the fact that ingrid liked her back and they just never knew it. aaand finally she’s learning how to ride a motorbike! colt transferred to langston and he’s been teaching her!

hero mc: ronan bishop

how tall are they?

ronan is 6′1″! tall boy!

how do they tend to dress?

uhhh kind of a hybrid of casual and formal i guess? he has a lot of button up shirts, but whether he’s wearing them for work or personal purposes depends on whether he adds a sweater or a jacket over top! he likes a very clean aesthetic and he’s very neat in his style of dress (kenji likes to make fun of him by calling him a prep ahsjs)

do they like how they look?

yes! he’s quiet and a bit shy, but poppy is an amazing hype woman who really boosts his confidence a lot because if he ever feels insecure he can just message her a selfie and she’ll gas him up until he’s achieved god-like status of self-confidence

are they an only child or do they have any siblings?

only child! his mother fostered some kids in his late teenage years, and still does, and he still keeps in touch with a few of them who were either adopted permanently or outgrew the foster care system!

are they a morning person or night owl?

a night owl! he fights the good fight getting up in time for work, but not without a large amount of coffee and a lot of mournful stares back toward his bed.

are they a cat person or a dog person?

cat person! he likes dogs, but he prefers the more calming energy of cats! you just didn’t see her in hero but he has a pet cat named apple ! she’s a very small light ginger cat and he adores her! kenji and poppy have been taking care of her while he’s in the prism dimension. dax isn’t allowed to because he spoils her and overfeeds her ahsksh.

got any favourite foods?

BIG fan of soup. he made a lot of soup when he first started living on his own because he was working long hours at prescott industries and it was easy to refrigerate and then reheat with some toast and it was nice and warm and reminded him of home! he cooks more now that he has a more solid job and he doesn’t have to work ungodly hours, but he still loves soup.

how about favourite drinks?

coffee is his best friend! he drinks a lot of black coffee, but every now and again he’ll treat himself to a flavoured latte when at brunch with one of his friends. his favourite flavour is caramel lattes!

what are their favourite movies/tv shows?

ronan doesn’t really watch a lot of tv or movies. he didn’t have a tv in his apartment for a while, and he reads books a lot more, but since he finally caved and got netflix, he’s a big fan of documentaries, both tv shows and movies! he’s really interested in them ahskshs.

do they have any hidden talents?

being a superhero i guess ahslshsks! aside from that not really? he’s a really speedy typer but that’s not a hidden talent because it baffles grayson whenever he sees him typing at his computer he’s like “that’s abnormal. how r u doing that” and he doesn’t know. he just does it. he’s at 120wpm and climbing bro.

do they believe in love at first sight?

he’d like to believe in that! he’s definitely felt lust at first sight before, but he thinks it’s sweet to believe in having an instant connection, even if he’s not quite sure one could immediately translate that connection to love.

who is their love interest?

kenji! ronan had a BIG crush on grayson for a lot of their college years but he kind of figured it was unrequited, and kenji being so openly into him and so vastly different from him in terms of mannerisms just really intrigued him! they’re kind of an opposites attract couple, but they really care about each other and ronan was really surprised that he did end up loving kenji the way he does, but he wouldn’t change it for the world.

what are they afraid of?

never being able to get back from the prism dimension for one! he’s afraid of hurting his friends with his powers and also he HATES mice. he’s TERRIFIED of them.

what are their guilty pleasures?

sometimes he splurges on expensive underwear that he doesn’t need but he thinks they make him look hot but then he never has the courage to wear them ahskshs. kenji found his stash once and made him do a full modelling show so he’s gotten better with them a bit now but most of the time they stay in his drawer never to see the light of day.

what was their dream job as a kid? is it still their dream?

he wanted to be a cowboy, but he spent a summer in highschool helping out on a cattle ranch and decided that the life just wasn’t for him, mostly because he’s actually really bad at riding horses and struggled to get the hang of it. now his dream is to get into environmentalism, and he feels like he’s helping through working with grayson!

have they ever broken a bone?

he broke his arm in middle school but aside from that nope! no breakages.

have they ever been in trouble with the law?

aside from his brushes with authority while in his superhero persona... not really. he and grayson did almost get caught for underage drinking once at a frat party in college, but they jumped the fence into the neighbour’s yard and pretended to be watching the party get shut down instead

+ three other random facts about them!

ronan can play the piano! he has a sweet tooth and loves this little artisan bakery just down the road from his apartment block (their carrot cake specifically is to die for) andddd he’s a really strong swimmer! he was on the swim team for highschool and a lot of college!

ask me about my choices mcs!

#ty for the ask! sorry i didn't get this up sooner #sol.txt #answered #anon #mc: ronan bishop #mc: coretta cruz #ride or die #rod #hero #long post #Anonymous

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junionigiri · 6 years

Text

Work In Progress [BNHA] [Preview of Chapter 1!]

Rating: T for strong language (since Bakugou is in it )

Summary: For the year’s Interscholastic Fantasy Festival, Class 2A is working on a musical! The reluctant Bakugou is assigned to work on the script with Uraraka, who proves to be a more eccentric writer than he thought.

Relationship: Kacchako <3

Notes/Warnings: This is a preview of a part of chapter 1. Since there’s the main story and the story within the story, the chapters are pretty darn long. I’ll start publishing the chapters in full once I’m five chapters in ^^’ Apart from Bakugou’s language and liberal 4th wall breaks I don’t think there’s anything to worry about in this fic~

Bakugou seriously did not want to work on Uraraka’s dumbass script. It’s not that he was bad at writing--in fact, beyond his good grades, he knew he was pretty good at it. Principal Nezu had personally informed him that the essay he submitted on “Why I Want To Be A Hero” was one of the most well-composed ones he’s ever read.

It’s just that Bakugou hated fantasy. And hated fiction-writing (because fiction was not real, therefore it was a waste of his fuckin’ time).

Most of all though, he hated having to work with other people to achieve any kind of common goal. Look at his damn stats for cooperativeness in the character book and anyone with half a brain would get it. And to cooperate for a stupid ass waste of time like the Fantasy Festival? Who the hell thought up of the stupid Fantasy Festival anyway?! Weren’t there more important things in society to worry about?

And the fact that he was working with Uraraka fuckin’ Ochako was in itself pretty aggravating. It’s not that he hated her--in fact, she was one of the few to earn Bakugou’s (grudging) respect, since their infamous Sports Festival encounter when they were first years.

However, since their encounter at the festival, Uraraka learned not to be the tiniest bit afraid of him anymore. He knew that this girl wouldn’t be the type to just shut up and do what he tells her to, and he really didn’t feel like making such an effort just to write a stupid play.

But now that he knew that fuckin’ All Might was counting on him to write the script, well… he couldn’t get out of it now, could he? Bakugou was many things, but a disappointment to All Might, he’d rather not be.

So that was how he found himself stomping his way away from the common areas to his room, with Uraraka bouncing right behind him. They were going to sit down there to look over her draft, but it was overrun by the costumes, set-design, and props people with all their shit.

“Why your room?” Uraraka said, huffing as she struggled to keep up with Bakugou’s pace. “I don’t think girls are allowed there…”

“Let ‘em try to kick you out, Round-Face,” he growled as he tapped on the elevator button impatiently.

“If you say so, Explodey-face,” she teased, earning her a growl which was received with a giggle. This was what Bakugou was talking about. This damn girl knew no fear.

They eventually made it to his room, with Bakugou stomping the entire way and Uraraka skipping like an oblivious little red riding hood romping through the forest with a picnic basket, the purest picture of ignorance and innocence, unwitting of the ravenous wolf who lurked in the foreboding shadows of the dark, nightmarish wood.

Ugh. Really, Bakugou? Already gearing yourself up to write this fuckin’ fantasy shit? You guys haven’t even sat down yet. Don’t be too fuckin’ eager.

“Uwaa, your room’s amazing, Bakugou! I didn’t think it would be so neat and sparkly~”

Much to his annoyance, Little Pink Riding Cheeks was already making herself right at home next to his desk. He felt a vein or two pop over his forehead, like in animes if they were in an anime. “Why the fuck wouldn’t it be neat and sparkly?! You expect a guy like me to just live in a dump?!”

“I’m just sayin’, I wish my room was as neat. I knew you were great at lots of things, but even cleaning?” she said wistfully. “Hey, I have an idea! Next time, let’s go to my room, and--”

“I ain’t helping you clean your damn room, Round-Face.”

She pouted and innocently twiddled her thumbs. “I -wasn’t- going to say that, but, you know, now that you mentioned it…”

He grit his teeth so loudly Uraraka gasped and asked him if his teeth were okay. “Let’s just…!!! Get this fuckin’ script over and done with already!”

“Eh, fine, fine. Sorry for teasin’ ya! Watch yer blood pressure, a’ight?” She reached over to open her bag and pulled out a messy folder that was crumpled, filled to its limit with papers with tags pointing in all directions. A post-it with a messy scrawl on it flew out as she pulled out the mess. “So, this is what we’re gonna be workin’ on!”

“What the fuck is that mess? Did you fuckin’ sit on it and flush it down the toilet and set it on fire?”

“How rude!” Uraraka puffed her cheeks. “I only sat on it once! On accident! And I don’t bring homework to the toilet! That’s just unladylike.” She opened up the folder and revealed a disorganized array of handwritten scripts scrawled on legal pad, post-its, sketches, more post-its, reference photos of their classmates with post-its on them, receipts, a grocery list, and a few folded-up paper bags from Tokyu Hands.

Bakugou’s fingers itched. He spent so much energy restraining himself from fixing the mess that was now taking over his desk that he barely heard Uraraka’s spiel.

“So, in the meeting which you missed, we drew lots. Everyone’s working on the production and stuff but all of us will be acting in the play too. Some of us bit parts and stuff, but yeah. I asked everyone what they wanted their roles to be. Based on those ideas, I sketched out my ideas on what their characters would be.”

She pulled out the sketches, and Bakugou had to admit, they weren’t badly done. He would go so far as to say that she might have a talent in drawing. They were scratchy and messy, but Uraraka seemed to place great care in drawing out the likeness of each classmate, and the details of each character and costume and even background information were at least 70% fleshed out for each of them.

“So based on the lottery, Deku-kun’s the lead character. You, me, Tsuyu-chan, and Todoroki-kun are gettin’ large roles, plus we gotta pay attention to All-Might-sensei’s important cameo. We’re gonna write the story based on all of this! And, if we want to allot time for practice and stuff, we have to finish most of the script in a week!”

“The f-- I’m gettin’ a large role too?! Nobody said that!”

“It ain’t my fault you weren’t at the meeting, Bakugou-kun.”

The blonde boy scowled as he went through the sketches. The fucking nerd Deku’s role was that of a ‘Squire’ (but his costume made him look like a fucking hobbit). Uraraka had a hood (fuckin’ coincidence from his red riding hood fantasy earlier) and a staff, and she was a ‘Mage’. Frog was a froggy lookin’ barmaid. IcyHot was a Prince (probably of the Land of Half and Halfs where people were always shitty and constipated). All Might was a Legendary Knight in exile (also fitting, in a morbid sort of way).

And Bakugou was… a Bard. His sketch had him wear fuckin’ poofy pants and a stupid fuckin’ hat with a feather on it and a stupid shitty tiny harp that the chubby babies in those old fuckin’ European paintings had. He all but made the paper disappear from a blast from his fist. “Oi, Roundface. Who’s the fucker I gotta kill besides you for giving me this pansy-ass role?!”

“Hey, it’s your fault. You weren’t there yesterday.” Uraraka repeated, not even the least bit apologetic. “And that thing you destroyed was a brilliant joint effort between me, Kirishima-kun and Kaminari-kun. Nice goin’, Explodey-face.”

“Fuck y’all! I’ll kill those idiots!” He shredded the paper further. “Gimme that pencil!” Within seconds, he sketched out something different, muttering expletives the entire time. After he was done, he dumped the pencil on the desk, almost breaking it into tiny little pieces.

Uraraka gasped. “Wow, Bakugou! That’s really impressive! A Dragon Tamer, huh?” She traced his sketch with one finger, which showed him with a fur cape, tattoos, a necklace made of the fuckin’ skulls and teeth of his enemies, pants and boots, and lots of fire blazing in the background for extra badassery. She grinned at him teasingly. “So you have been thinkin’ about this so-called fantasy shit too!”

“Fuck you,” he said, shoving her in the face unceremoniously. “Now I know that I gotta change that fuckin’ script of yours. Let’s just get this fuckin’ shit over with.”

“Okay…” Uraraka pulled out the legal pads, but shielded them from Bakugou. “Um. Just so you know, Bakugou, these are really, really, rough drafts, okay?”

His jaw jutted out in annoyance. “The fuck you mean by rough drafts. I thought I was just gonna edit your shit.”

She gave him a ridiculous look. “Well, you are. But also, I started workin’ on this just a week ago sooooo you gotta help me finish like a teeny bit of it.”

“How fuckin’ teeny do you mean.”

“Um. Like. 50% of it, mmmaybe…?”

Bakugou could almost see the smoke coming out of his own fuckin’ nostrils.

“Anyway, that’s exactly why we can’t waste anymore time, right?” said Uraraka, a positive beam glowing out of both ears. “And don’t you worry! The story’s practically finished in my head!”

There’s probably nothing in there but a single light bulb struggling to survive, thought Bakugou in annoyance. He put his palm to his face and tried his hardest not to yell at her. “Fine, Uraraka. Let’s just fuckin’ start already. No matter what, I’m kickin’ you out of my room by 10 PM.”

“Okay! Glad ya see it my way, Bakugou-kun!” She smiled and pulled out the first page of the script, which read:

- Deku and the Final Fantastic Lord of the School of Wizardry!: The Legend of the Airbender’s Song of Ice and Fire -

(A Work in Progress)

Act One, Scene One: In Which Deku-kun Leaves His House and Adventure Begins

Written by: Uraraka Ochako

“The fuck? Are you trying to outdo Class B’s lameass play from the last year’s cultural festival, Round-face?”

“It’s a work in progress! We can edit it out later.” Uraraka said as she scribbled Explodey McSplodeface next to her name on the by-line.

#bnha fic #bnha #boku no hero academia #kacchako #kacchako fic #bakuraka #bakugou x uraraka #bnha fantasy au #kinda

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mbti-notes · 6 years

Note

You seem to study a lot on your own. In general, how do you choose which details of which subjects do you want to retain? Only the ones useful for work or interactions (like type theory for Tumblr)? Is it a problem for you if you study, say, astronomy, and then cannot remember what you studied? If not, why? Thanks for everything you write here!

In my mind, everything in the world is connected. When I learn, I’m figuring out those connections or forging them myself when necessary. When it comes to personal learning or learning for fun, I’m happy to simply know how things are connected. I remember details insofar as they flesh out the connections in my mind, and sometimes that turns out to be quite a lot of details if I’m very interested in the topic.

Interest in one topic often leads to interest in a related topic. For example, as a teenager I was always feeling stressed because I worked myself really hard, so I decided to learn some time management strategies, which led to learning about emotional intelligence, which led to learning about mindfulness, and on and on. My interests seem diverse at first glance but they are all very connected to me. I can tell you exactly why I find something interesting or how I came to be interested in it. For me, picking up knowledge is a “narrative” that tells the story of how I became the person I am today.

Using astronomy as an example, I would label my interest in it as very casual. I came to be interested in it because I was curious about the implications of quantum theory on human perception of time and space. I don’t need to know the physics behind how things in space work and, even if I did set out to study it, I wouldn’t remember the details anyway. It doesn’t bother me to not know those details because they’re not important to me. I trust the experts to do the math and I really appreciate that there are people who like doing the math. We have experts because one person can’t learn everything. When I listen to an astronomer, my eyes start to glaze over when they start talking formulas. But my ears will perk up once they start talking about “big picture” things like whether the universe is expanding, whether there’s extraterrestrial life, how space exploration is full of possibility, how amazing a particular object/phenomenon is, how human existence is so small compared to the vastness of the universe, etc.

I don’t want to be a person who knows every little detail about everything because that would take up an enormous amount of my time and energy that I believe is better spent elsewhere; I only need to know where I can find info should I need it. I have no interest in showing off or proving anything, I don’t equate being knowledgeable with being a good/worthy person. I want to be a person who knows how big and small connect and then use that knowledge to make wise decisions. In the most general terms, I’m interested in anything that can expand or flip my perspective about human existence. Anything outside of that I’ll leave to others to investigate and distill for me because it is not my chosen focus.

Make sure to clarify your learning goals and priorities, and also reflect on why you’ve set those goals (i.e. whether they’re good goals to have), then set out to achieve them. Different people learn for different reasons for different objectives and that’s fine.

#personal #learning #astronomy #ask

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malenkamyshka · 6 years

Text

The Paladins and Children/Parenthood

I’ve been thinking about what the paladins would be like as parents and wanted to share my thoughts. Obviously, this is going to reflect my preferred ships (Sheith, Allurance, and Hunay). I’m putting this under a cut since it got exceptionally long.

Pidge

So, I feel like Pidge is the type of person who doesn’t really want kids. It’s not that she dislikes them, per se, but she just never really got the point. She thinks they can be pretty cute with their chubby cheeks and stuff, but she also finds them pretty annoying with all the crying and whining they can do too. She would much rather focus on her work than have to deal with caring for small children. If she ever ends up with a partner, they’re totally okay with that and don’t really want children either.

That isn’t to say she isn’t good with other peoples’ kids though, once the children are a little bit older. Matt and her friends all have children, and once the kids are old enough to start having questions about technology and deeper topics and hold at least semi-intelligent conversations, Pidge is the best aunt anyone could ask for. Her nieces and nephews all adore her because she listens to their problems as if they were grown up and doesn’t patronise them. Also, she’s always up for a little good-natured fun and pranks, which makes her “the cool aunt”. Pidge is that aunt you go to when you can’t go to your parents because she won’t judge you and tells it like it is, no bullshit. She doesn’t babysit too often when her nieces and nephews are younger, but she gets on well with them when they’re older. Pidge may not want kids of her own, but she is a fantastic and awesome aunt and that is just fine with her.

Hunk and Shay

Hunk and Shay were made to be parents. Remember how good Hunk was with his little siblings in season 7? That is someone meant for fatherhood. Hunk and Shay both love children and have the patience to deal with all the shenanigans kids get up to.

They end up having three kids, spaced around 2-3 years apart. They agree that this is the perfect number of kids for them. They have a boy, then another boy, and then a girl, but they weren’t too hung up on what they would have in the first place. With three small children running around, their household can be a rowdy place, but thankfully these two have seemingly boundless patience and energy for dealing with their children’s antics. They’re the kind of parents who always seem in sync too, which is actually super hard to do, but they manage. Their discipline style is firm but gentle and they’re children are overall very well behaved (not perfect, of course, but really good). Seriously, Hunk and Shay are the parents that make other parents jealous. It just comes naturally to them. They aren’t perfect, but they are really good at what they do. One not so perfect thing that makes all the other parents feel better about their own failings? They are always running late! This is the family that is never on time.

I really like to imagine Hunk teaching his kids to cook, and Shay teaching them to commune with the Balmera. Can you imagine how cute?

Allura and Lance

Lance always knew he wanted to be a father one day. He adores looking after his sibling’s kids and can’t wait to have kids of his own one day. Also, he’s the kind of person who kids flock to what with all his hyperactive energy and sense of fun. He’s always figured that one day he’ll be ready to settle down and he’ll have three or so kids. He falls in love with Allura and he knows that she’s the person he wants to do that with.

Allura goes through her life assuming that she would have a couple of children one day, just because she is the Crown Princess of Altea and bloodlines need to be carried on. It’s not something she’s ever thought too deeply on. When she and Lance get married, she figures they’ll have kids at some point, and that is exactly what happens. They wait a few years before deciding they are ready to have children because they have time. They’re young and don’t need to start on babymaking immediately, but they do have kids eventually.

Only, it’s not as easy as either of them expected. Firstly, the first time she’s pregnant, Allura finds out that she hates pregnancy. It’s not even a particularly difficult one; she just doesn’t like it and finds the whole ordeal inconvenient and uncomfortable. She thinks that things will get easier once she has the baby, but they don’t. She’s never been around babies very much, and looking after one does not come naturally to her, unlike Lance who seems to know exactly what to do. She finds the whole situation extremely frustrating and demoralising. She also initially refuses to do some of the more unpleasant tasks associated with babies, leaving all of that to Lance, who is thankfully very understanding and patient. After putting a lot of work into fixing her hang-ups, Allura does eventually take on a more hands-on parenting role instead of leaving it all up to Lance. She does decide though, that she is absolutely not up to having another child anytime soon, if ever. Lance is a little sad and disappointed by this, but he knows that it’s probably the best decision for them and he supports Allura.

Parenthood doesn’t really get easier for them either. There is absolutely no doubt that they both love their daughter deeply, but she is not an easy child and is very stubborn and headstrong. This is particularly difficult for Allura as her daughter is very much like her in personality and they frequently clash. There is a brief period where there is a bit of a breather when Allura has settled into parenthood, but before their daughter enters teenagerhood, where things are fairly easy. It’s at this point that Allura decides she’s ready for a second child if Lance wants. He does, and they have a son. Thankfully, things are a bit easier this time around as they both know what they are doing. Also, their son is much more even-tempered and easygoing than his big sister.

When their daughter is a teenager, she is very rebellious, especially towards Allura who she is so much like. Her parents have many sleepless nights over her and Allura often feels like a terrible mother because their daughter always talks to Lance instead of her. This changes when her daughter reaches adulthood though. As adults, they are able to understand each other much better and come to an understanding. Soon enough, mother and daughter are very close and share everything with one another. Where once their relationship was strained, now they are attached at the hip and appreciate each other so much. Lance is so happy to see his girls getting along.

As for their son, well he’s an easy child, and later, teenager. He causes pretty much no drama, for which Lance and Allura are grateful after their experience with their daughter.

Before I forget, Allura is definitely the disciplinarian in that family and Lance is the soft parent who always gives in. We all know it’s true.

Shiro and Keith

Keith never really thought he would have or even want kids. He always figured they were cute enough, but he didn’t feel particularly drawn to them. He also felt like such a screw up. Why would he want to bring kids into that?

As a child in state care, he did have opportunity to meet a lot of small children, but he never really spent any time with them. In all the various foster homes he was in, the parents never wanted him to look after the younger ones, what with his disciplinary issues and all. And honestly? He wasn’t really interested in doing so anyway. He’d rather be alone then have to deal with little kids. When it came to kids within a couple years of his own age, problems always came up. Arguments, fights, the usual.

Keith also only had a few years when he was younger with his father and has few memories of him. He knows his dad was a great father to him while he was alive, but Keith doesn’t think he had enough time with him to learn how to be a good parent. Even after he meets his mother and they bond, he doesn’t really feel like he could be a parent himself as he doesn’t think he knows what a parent should be like for a child. He didn’t have any real examples when he himself was young.

When he was growing up, Shiro didn’t give too much thought as to whether he would have kids or not. Like Keith, he too was an orphan. Unlike Keith, his foster parents often had Shiro help with the younger kids as he was always well behaved and willing to be of any help he could with anything. Shiro proved himself to be good at looking after the younger ones and he found he really liked it. He liked having someone to look after and care for; it made him feel needed and good about himself. Plus, he thinks kids are adorable. So, he figured he’d have kids one day when he accomplished what he wanted in his career and didn’t think too hard on it. It wasn’t something that came to mind often.

That changed when he was diagnosed with his illness. Shiro was in his late teens when he was diagnosed, and, as one would expect when being diagnosed with a terminal degenerative disease, it threw his life and sense of self into turmoil. He had always taken the idea that he would be a parent one day for granted and not thought much about it, but now he found he really had wanted to have kids. Pretty badly, actually. It had always seemed like a distant thing, an amorphous future goal that he didn’t have to worry about. He was wrong though, and now it would never happen. He felt like he lost something he never had to begin with. It hurt. There was no way he would bring a child into his life when he would never have the chance to see that child reach adulthood and what few years he could possibly have with them would be spent with him in a very ill and debilitated state. Not to mention, finding out he was ill like that made him want to spend his few relatively healthy years achieving his career dreams before it was too late.

It wasn’t too long after his diagnosis that he and Adam got together. Adam had always thought he would have kids one day. He also thought he would have the chance to grow old and grey with his future partner, but falling for Shiro changed both of those plans. Adam decided that he would be willing to forego those dreams to spend what time he could with Shiro. Adam could have these things after Shiro was gone if he wanted, but the thought was unfathomable to him at the time. Even though he knew he would lose Shiro sooner than later, the idea of him not being there was something he couldn’t contemplate. And so, they resigned themselves to never adopting children together. It made them both sad at times, but they knew that they didn’t really get a choice in the matter. Sometimes you just have to move on with your life, and that’s what they did.

Fast forward to after the end of the series. The war is over and everyone is trying to rebuild their lives. Keith and Shiro are together. They’re in love and so, so happy. Shiro is no longer ill, as we know, and he really wants to have a baby. He thought this was something he could never have, and now it’s a possibility. If he wanted, he could actually have a child, but he’s not so sure that Keith feels the same about children and he doesn’t want to ruin the good thing they have going so he doesn’t bring it up. It definitely doesn’t escape Keith’s notice though. He sees the way Shiro lights up every time he sees one of the babies everyone seems to be having in the post-war period, cooing and fawning over them. It’s very obvious that Shiro desperately wants a baby; everyone can see it. Krolia encourages him to talk to Shiro about it, and Keith eventually works up the nerve to follow his mother’s advice.

As it turns out, Keith actually does want to have a child. He may have been unsure of his suitability for fatherhood before, but he feels like this is something he could do with Shiro by his side and he knows this is important to Shiro. Shiro is over the moon, just totally elated. I’m not sure what options for having children exist in their time or in their universe at large, but they decide to go with adoption. There are a lot of children without parents after the war and both of them know what it’s like to grow up without parents themselves.

They adopt a baby girl, half Galra to boot (what the other half is, I have no idea). It’s love at first sight, for both of them. Keith wasn’t sure what he’d feel when fatherhood became a reality for him, but he feels absolutely, overwhelmingly happy and full of love for this tiny being. Shiro is so happy he cries as soon as he gets to hold her. This is a dream he never thought he’d get to have, and here she is in his arms. Keith doesn’t want anyone to know, but he tears up a little himself while watching them.

A couple of years after they adopt their first kid, Keith notices that Shiro really wants to have another. He’s got that same look in his eyes. After some discussion, they decide to adopt another child. They end up with another little girl and they are just as happy this time around.

Their parenting styles mesh well, but they are little different from one another. Shiro is the parent that helps with homework and makes sure the kids get to all their activities on time and keeps everyone organised. He’s the parent the kids generally find easier to confide in due to his endless patience and non-judgemental attitude. His discipline style is generally very mild and focuses more on talking things through than anything else, although let’s be real, both Shiro and Keith let the kids get away with a lot more than they should.

Keith is the more intense parent, but not in a bad way. If another kid is mean to his daughter at school or something? He is there in a heartbeat to chew the teacher/principal out. When their daughters start dating, Keith is the one that absolutely grills their dates, making the other kid really nervous. I imagine Keith doing this while casually sharpening his blade for extra intimidating effect. He is the classic overprotective dad. Sometimes the girls get annoyed with it, but they overall actually like it.

Both Keith and Shiro think it’s important to teach their children self defense. They both train them, but Keith takes it way further than Shiro. This sometimes concerns Shiro, but he understands Keith is just doing it to make sure his daughters are safe and the girls really enjoy it, so he lets it go.

Another difference between Shiro and Keith as parents? You can always tell which parent is in charge of dropping the kids off. When it’s Shiro’s turn, they are always early and in perfect order, not a hair out of line. When it’s Keith’s, they are always late and rushing through the doors at the last minute and looking like they ran the whole way there. Keith may be good at organising Team Voltron, but he finds it a little harder to keep kids in line. He gets distracted by whatever adorable thing they insist on showing him at inconvenient time! He’s not sure how Shiro manages to both pay attention to what the kids are showing him and get them to do what he wants (me neither, Keith!).

And… that’s it! That’s what I’ve got for now. I’ll maybe add more if I think of anything

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