#at the very least so you can understand what the comic means by soul mates

[caligvlasaqvarivm]

Serendipity should be required viewing material before anyone tries to analyze Homestuck; not only is John Cusack a universal constant, but the themes and vibes of Serendipity are so fundamentally woven into Homestuck's DNA that several of Serendipity's thesises and conversations could be lifted directly from one to the other.

In particular, the way Serendipity utilizes coincidence and circumstantially simultaneous events in order to suggest - nay, decree - that the two leads belong together, is highly reminiscent of the way Hussie uses foreshadowing, and not just for romantic couples. It's also a major window into the ultimate stance Homestuck takes with regard to romance, fate, and destiny, and also more specifically, a really good look at Karkat's own personal philosophies of romance. There's a running theme in his movies of meeting someone that perfectly matches your freak, someone you don't ever need to compromise yourself around, who brings out the best in you.

Also, some of yall need to watch a shitty romcom every once in a while and develop some emotions

[sammysdewysensitiveeyes]

Back again, with my opinions that no one asked for.  This time, it’s my takes on the animated versions of Pyro.

1. X-Men: The Animated Series Pyro

This, this is my boy right here.  Look at this dork with his terrible 70′s fluffy hair, hanging out at the bar with his not-so-hetero life-partner Avalanche.  This was my first introduction to the character (in fact, the cartoon was my first introduction to X-Men in general, and sent me down the path of reading comics). 

This version of Pyro is an established career criminal and professional lackey, usually working for Mystique but not above a bit of robbery or kidnapping on the side if he’s bored.  He and Avalanche are presented as buddies who have probably been working together for awhile.  They first show up in the episode “The Cure,” hanging out on Muir Island waiting for Mystique to give  them orders, then completely screwing up Mystique’s plans when they decide to kidnap the scientist Dr. Adler for extra cash . Apparently Mystique can’t leave them to their own devices for even a day.  

Pyro also hilariously tries to flirt with Rogue by setting a chair on fire and making a bad pun.  It goes about as well as you’d expect:

Get your hands off of her, Pyro, she is too good for you.  (The best part about this is, I don’t think he even used his powers here?  He just tried to impress Rogue as “guy with a flamethrower,” rather than “fire-controlling mutant.”  No wonder she throws his dumb ass through the wall.)

Pyro and Avalanche both show up again later, alongside Blob, creating a distraction so that Mystique can try to assassinate Senator Kelly in the animated series version of the Days of Future Past storyline.  In a much later episode, the same trio cause trouble again to lure the X-Men out so that Mystique can try to win Rogue back to their side.  That episode feels out of continuity to the rest of the series, since a flashback shows Rogue previously working with the Brotherhood (alongside Pyro and Avalanche), but none of them recognize each other when they “first meet” in “The Cure.”  I can assume that maybe Rogue lost her memories in the trauma of absorbing Ms. Marvel, but I don’t know what Pyro and Avalanche’s excuse is.  Frequent head injuries?  Maybe they’re both just really dumb? 

I am fond of TAS Pyro, and he’s probably the closest to comics Pyro out of the animated adaptations, despite being portrayed as British rather than Australian.  He looks fairly similar to his comics counterpart, and fulfills the same role of being a hired pain-in-the-ass that annoys the X-Men, mostly for money, as well as being Avalanche’s BFF.  He’s also clearly a full-grown, experienced adult who’s probably somewhere in his thirties at least, which is about the age I estimate for comics Pyro.  He’s kinda dumb, but practical.  He just wants to commit crimes with Avalanche, get paid, and run away before the X-Men can beat him up.  That’s a reasonable dream, right? 

X-Men Evolution Pyro:

Well, at least the guy loves his work.  I give him an “A” for enthusiasm.

I have mixed feelings about this Pyro.  He’s a lot of fun, but not really the Pyro I know and love from the comics.  This Pyro is one of Magneto’s Acolytes rather than a member of the Brotherhood, working alongside Gambit, Colossus and Sabretooth.  He really, REALLY enjoys setting things on fire, and doesn’t seem to care who gets hurt in the process.  Or rather, he seems to also enjoy people getting hurt, and tends to laugh maniacally while torching things, to the point of seeming really unbalanced.  I can’t tell if he’s completely detached from reality and is viewing things like a video game, without a real understanding of consequences, or if he knows exactly what he’s doing, and just likes to hurt people.  Either way, Evo Pyro seems much less stable than comic book Pyro, who can also be pretty wild and over-the-top in his fights and probably enjoys fire a little too much, but still acts an an overall rational person. 

Meanwhile, Evo Pyro repeatedly watches a video of Magneto seeming to die and laughs hysterically at it:

He is delighted when Wolverine shows up looking for a fight (because he was “bored out of his skull,”), and seems disappointed when Wolverine leaves abruptly afterwards.  It’s interesting that, after Magneto’s apparent death (not really) in Evolution, the other Acolytes all go off on their own, but Pyro hangs out alone in their base, as if he doesn’t really have a life to go back to, or any real identity outside of being “Pyro.”  When the series ends, he is shown in the future as having joined the Brotherhood (with Toad, Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, Blob and Avalanche), apparently working for SHIELD in some kind of Freedom Force style team.  I’d like to imagine that he’s super cheerful and friendly when he first joins up, and they are all a little bit terrified of him. 

The character design is different, but looks pretty good for a re-imagining of the character.  They’ve remembered the most important aspects of Pryo, namely “scrawny,” “fire colors,” and “crazy blond hair all over the place.”  He also seems to be actually Australian, judging by him using the term “down under” at one point.  In fitting with the “teen X-Men” theme of Evolution, this Pyro looks very young.  If the Brotherhood are all in high school, Pyro looks like he’s college age, like a couple of years older at most.

Like I said, Evo Pyro is fun, and surprisingly popular (I find a lot of Evo Pyro fan-stuff when I’m looking for comics Pyro), but it kinda feels like he got shafted, story-wise.  In both this series and Wolverine and the X-Men, cartoons where the Brotherhood got a bigger role and more development, Pyro didn’t make the cut as a Brotherhood member and wound up in a minor role as an Acolyte.  He feels kind of under-developed, and is mostly there to either be menacing or comic relief. 

Wait a minute....menacing....comic-relief....under-developed.......laughs hysterically at violence......

Maybe Duggan has actually been writing Evolution Pyro in Marauders this whole time?

I don’t want to take anything away from fans of Evo Pyro, but I kinda wonder what we could have gotten if he’d been a Bayville high school student and part of the more sympathetic teen Brotherhood.  Would he have a better developed character?  Would they have made him an annoying twerp like Toad (I say that with great affection, Toad is probably my favorite Evo character) or a smug secretly-insecure hot-shot like Quicksilver?  Or anger issues like Evo Avalanche?  Would they let him keep his original name and nationality, or would he be an American teen with a cutesy on-the-nose name like Ash Embers or Flameo Hotman?    We’ll never know!

Wolverine and the X-Men Pyro:

Again an Acolyte rather than a Brotherhood member, this Pyro has even less development than Evo Pyro.  He shows up in the first episode being rescued from the Mutant Response Division (along with Boom Boom, Dust, and others).  In that scene, he’s clearly meant to be Australian (saying “mate,”), and appears to be on friendly terms with Boom Boom and Dust.  Later on Genosha, he seems to be one of Magneto’s guards/lackeys, and doesn’t appear to mind Dust being thrown in prison.  He’s either a true believer, or is mercenary and practical-minded like comics Pyro, and has decided that following Magneto is his best chance for survival,  Pyro does apologize to Nightcrawler and offer a quick “Nothing personal,” when Magneto sends the Acolytes after him, so maybe he doesn’t revel in his work the same way Evo Pyro does.  The only other notable thing he does is get in trouble for telling Lorna news about Wanda going missing (Magneto is pissed enough to throw him into a cell for that), so I assume that this Pyro is also a massive gossip.  It’s the best I can do with what very little we get of him.  The X-Men don’t seem to have any issue with Pyro (or even recognize him) when they first rescue him, so I’m guessing that he didn’t have any criminal history before joining Magneto in Genosha?  Unlike TAS series Pyro, who’s overall attitude is, “Be gay, do crimes!  And by crimes, I mean arson and kidnapping!” 

I’m not fond of this design.  It’s a nice updated look, and really more stylish than what he’s worn in the comics, but the hair is too douche-bag frat-boy for me, and I can’t get past the little soul-patch on his chin.  Shave that nonsense, Pyro, you can’t pull off facial hair.  He looks older than Evo Pyro but younger than comics Pyro - maybe mid-to-late 20′s? 

This Pyro is sadly kinda forgettable.  I’m not sure why Pyro got largely skipped over as a Brotherhood member in later X-Men cartoons, but the fact that the character was long dead in the comics by the time the cartoons aired probably had something to do with it.  Kinda sad that they wasted the potential they could have gotten out of teen Bobby vs. teen Pyro in Evolution, though. 

(Come to think of it, Gambit got similarly shafted in Evolution and Wolverine and the X-Men, since they pushed him into a minor recurring side-character role.  At least in the original X-Men TAS, Gambit actually got to be an X-Man and main character.)  

Obviously, TAS Pyro is my favorite out of these, but I don’t want to step on anyone’s toes.  Nothing wrong with being a fan of Evo Pyro or even the barely there WatXM Pyro, they’re all good!

[thezodiaczone]

Scorpio Compatibility

SCORPIO + ARIES (MARCH 21 - APRIL 19) Aries' ruler, passionate Mars, also wields minor command over Scorpio (whose main overlord is Pluto). Fierce physical attraction draws your signs together, but it's a game of sexual gunpowder and erotic explosives. Not that either of you is afraid of such things. No sign is as darkly intense as watery Scorpio. When mixed with Aries' concentrated fire-power, you stir up quite the hydroelectric charge. However, this match can only last if Scorpio has evolved from a ground-dwelling, vengeful scorpion into an elevated "eagle" state. Here's the fundamental challenge: Aries takes; withholding Scorpio takes away. When Aries reaches out his grasping hand, Scorpio's first instinct is to jump back, which wounds the sensitive Ram. Aries energy is consuming, which leaves Scorpio weak-kneed but scared. Aries will need to temper the raw desire, or at least mask it to avoid overwhelming Scorpio. Jealous Scorpio will need to stop Google-stalking Aries and hiring private detectives whenever the independent Ram goes out for a beer with friends. One way in which you're alike? You're both hyper-sensitized to abandonment, and may even shun each other in a self-protection paradox: "Go away before you leave me." (This tactic only guarantees another hot reunion tryst.) Selfishness can also be this couple's downfall. Scorpio is the sign that rules other people's resources—his karmic job is to create wealth from another man's pocket. Aries is simply born entitled. In a sense, you both live by the credo "What's mine is mine; what's yours is mine." Who will refill the coffers once you empty them?

SCORPIO + TAURUS (APRIL 20 - MAY 20) You're opposite signs who can fall into a real love-hate dynamic, mainly since you both like to run the show. Taurus is the bossy Bull, and Scorpio rules power and control. It's like two mafia kingpins trying to rule the same territory: it works as long as you're loyal, but cross each other and you're getting whacked. Differences can be a turn-on for some signs, but for this pair, they're often a deal breaker. Taurus and Scorpio are both "fixed" signs, gifted at perseverance and holding your ground, terrible at adapting to other people's personalities. This inflexibility can lead to serious power struggles and enmity that burns bright after the relationship ends. If ever a couple needed a prenup, it's you. Better yet, you'll need to be extremely self-aware and conscious of your personal power. If you can avoid arousing the sleeping dragon in each other, there's plenty of rich material here. You both love music, food and sensual delights. You're equally intense about your beliefs and passions, and sex is a lusty, no-holds-barred affair. You'll give each other the attentive listening both of you crave. The Bull's earthy nature can be grounding for watery Scorpio, whose emotions can warp his perspective. Practical Taurus will pull Scorpio out of depressive slumps, and Scorpio will help Taurus look below the surface to see hidden motivations and agendas. You're loyal and protective of each other, so stay off each other's sacred turf and respect your differences.

SCORPIO + GEMINI (MAY 21 - JUNE 20) You live on completely different planes, which either turns you off or utterly fascinates you. Both of you are accustomed to reading people like flimsy comic books, then tossing them aside. Here, your X-ray vision fails to penetrate each other's psychic shields. Mutable Gemini is the shape-shifting Twin, home to a traveling cast of personalities. Intense Scorpio is shrouded in mystery and bottomless layers of complexity. Being baffled leaves you without the upper hand, but it also stokes your libido. You're piercingly smart signs who love a good puzzle—this is your romantic Rubik's cube. The challenge sets off sexual dynamite. You tease each other with cat-and-mouse evasions, neither of you making your attraction obvious. This prickles your insecurities, daring you to strive for the other's unbroken gaze. No two signs are as quietly obsessive as yours! There will be frustrating moments, too. You're both prone to depressive spells, and swing from giddiness to unreachable shutdown. Clever mind games edge on cruel or callow, breaking the trust that Scorpio needs. At times, airy Gemini may not be emotional or sensual enough for watery Scorpio; in turn, the Scorpion's emotional and physical passion can be overwhelming to Gemini. However, if you combine your strengths, you'll go far. Gemini is dilettante and a trivia collector who's always got a pocketful of creative ideas. Instinct-driven Scorpio rules details and research—this sign hones in like a laser and masters his chosen field. Whether it's starting a family or running a business, you can be an indefatigable team, with Gemini playing the rowdy ringmaster and Scorpio running the show from behind the scenes.

SCORPIO + CANCER (JUNE 21 - JULY 22) ♥♥♥♥ You're an ideal match, twin Water signs with deeply complementary natures. Highly suspicious and protective of your privacy, neither of you trusts easily. As a result, you intuitively trust each other. The good news is, you've bet on a winning sea-horse. These two signs can mate for life, and the emotional facets of your relationship deepen into an intimacy few couples reach. Romantic and sentimental occasions never go uncelebrated: birthdays, Valentine's Day, the five-month anniversary of the first time you said "I love you." Sex is a sacred, erotic act that can transport you on a one-way trip to Tantra-ville. You feel safe enough together to try anything. The challenge will be breaking the ice, since you both tend to clam up in a red-faced fluster or any icy aloofness around a new love interest. It helps to talk about music, books, films—anything but your feelings. Once you get past the awkward phase, it's smooth sailing. You genuinely enjoy each other's company, and like to do almost everything together. As parents, you're incredibly nurturing and hands-on, and may struggle to cut the cord when your kids reach adolescence. In fact, control is the big challenge for your signs. Jealous and possessive, you know how to avoid your mate's hot buttons—or to push them when you're feeling spiteful. (The Crab pinches and the Scorpion stings; both can wound the relationship fatally.) At times, Cancer's sulking seems childish to Scorpio, and Scorpio's sharp edges can maim the Crab's tender feelings. Fortunately, you know how to win your way back into each other's good graces once the moody spells pass.

SCORPIO + LEO (JULY 23 - AUGUST 22) This combustible combination drips with power plays, a white-hot dynamic you find infuriating and sexy in equal measure. In many ways, you're complete opposites. Secretive Scorpio is a private soul who rules the night. Leo is an exhibitionist ruled by the sun, and his piercing rays expose Scorpio's hidden shadows. Scorpio hates to feel this vulnerable—especially in public—yet, behind closed doors it can be thrilling. You're both passionate and imaginative in bed, with very little you won't try. As business partners and collaborators, you can make a dream team, too. You're both super intense, outdoing most people with your drive and focus. Leo plays the glamorous showstopper, and Scorpio acts as producer behind the scenes. (It worked for Leo Jennifer Lopez and Scorpio Diddy, who collaborated on her breakout album.) At least you don't compete for the spotlight, which can be a saving grace. But you'll struggle for the upper hand, since Scorpio likes to be in control and Leo is the bossy ruler of the jungle. Flirtatious, charismatic Leo can also spark Scorpio's jealous streak. Remember: darkness absorbs light. Leo must be careful not to get swept into Scorpio's powerful undertow and vengeful obsessions.

SCORPIO + VIRGO (AUGUST 23 - SEPTEMBER 22) ♥♥♥♥ Virgo and Scorpio are two of the zodiac's shrewdest signs. Your collective gaze misses nothing, and your conversations can be as hair-splitting as Freudian analysis. You're both insatiable when it comes to understanding the human soul, and examining your own neuroses can keep you busy for weeks. While your obsessive natures would drive other people mad, it only makes you more fascinated by each other. You're like two scientists in the lab of love, researching, analyzing, and measuring data. Moody and introverted, you both have spells where you crave total privacy, and you'll grant each other that space. You unconsciously absorb so much energy from your environments, and you need to clear yourselves on a regular basis. Nature is soothing—Scorpio is a Water sign, and Virgo is Earth—and you may enjoy a healthy or outdoorsy lifestyle. That can mean renting a private chalet on a pristine European lake, or devoting yourselves to raw food, vegetarianism, and yoga. Virgo is the zodiac's Virgin and Scorpio is the sex sign. In bed, Scorpio can be a bit too intense for earthy Virgo. You're both lusty sensualists, but if Scorpio breaks out the dungeon props and dominatrix gear, Virgo draws the line. The Virgin may indulge a fetish with strangers, but he keeps a strict boundary about how far he'll experiment with a partner. No matter. You're good friends and supportive partners who find beauty in the smallest details—the makings of a quality life commitment.

SCORPIO + LIBRA (SEPTEMBER 23 - OCTOBER 22) Libra is light and Scorpio rules darkness, but your searing sexual chemistry blazes through borders. As a couple, you're quick to bed and slow to wed. In many ways, the long prenuptial pas de deux is a mutual choice. Romantic Libra loves an extended courtship—long dinners, vacations and lavish gifts. Shrewd, suspicious Scorpio will subject Libra to a battery of character tests, gauging whether Libra can be trusted. Libra is an incurable dilettante whose surface skimming can feel lightweight beside Scorpio's obsessive, detail-focused nature. Because your temperaments are so different, your initial phase can be fraught with misunderstandings. Libra is an outgoing butterfly and an unrepentant flirt, provoking Scorpio's jealousy at every turn. Possessive Scorpio prefers passionate bedside confidentials to paparazzi and parties, but Libra quickly feels smothered without a social scene. To say you'll need compromise is an understatement. Combine your strengths, though, and you can also make a powerful society couple—with Scorpio dominating the world from behind the scenes, and Libra presiding as its lovely, doe-eyed diplomat.

SCORPIO + SCORPIO (OCTOBER 23 - NOVEMBER 21) We like this combination, for seldom can any other sign so skillfully navigate your unspoken power dynamics. Talk isn't just cheap between you; it's unnecessary. You understand each other's wiring based on pure primal instinct, much like a dog leaves his scent as a calling card. We forget that human beings are animals, an amnesia that plagues modern civilization. Yet, Scorpios know that the one you love might also become your prey (if you're hungry or threatened), or could attack you by night. Your ruler is Pluto, god of the underworld; learning your mate's shadow side is a prerequisite to trust. Scorpio is a master at subtle cues, emotional intelligence, and feeling your way through each other's dark depths as though reading Braille. When it's time to let the other be the Top, you submit, then artfully ease him down to the mat when it's time to rule again. Power glides into your gullets like oysters, every bit the aphrodisiac. In the bedroom, you sexy, spiritual stinger-tails make a Tantric twosome with a twist. There's a hint of force and a danger to all you do, even in the way you fiercely protect your children and property. The real threat of this relationship is to the outside world, for you make an invincible familia that could send Tony Soprano on the lam.

SCORPIO + SAGITTARIUS (NOVEMBER 22 - DECEMBER 21) Level with us: Would you really be interested in each other without the element of danger? There's always something that feels a little dirty here—and it's not because you share an aversion to showering (although the musky pheromones might play in…). Your combined willpower—enough to combust a small village—can yoke you together despite your own best interests. The issue is anatomical: Scorpio rules the crotch and Sagittarius rules the hips and thighs. From the waist down, a magnetic field pulls you into insatiable sexual attraction. Above the midsection, it's a love-hate drama as you battle for mental and emotional domination, one-upping and offending each other at every turn. You both love to have the last word, and deep down, you're pretty sure you're smarter than the rest of the population. As friends, this makes you smugly superior comrades, but in love, you tend to unleash your intellectual weapons on each other. Sag's sarcasm and Scorpio's acid-washed retorts will leave you both wounded and estranged. Yet, a good shag seems to erase your short-term memory between attacks. For best results, remain naked at all times, and only discuss problems in the afterglow. Grant each other your own turf and never cross the line of demarcation.

SCORPIO + CAPRICORN (DECEMBER 22 - JANUARY 19) ♥♥♥♥ If you were to sign a pre-nup, Schedule A must clearly designate who will play the "Top" and who will be the "Bottom." After your attorneys haggle over the prone position, you may just call off the engagement. An inability to reach settlement is likely for two uncompromising Alphas such as yourselves. Although your business-savvy signs can make quite the contemporary Napoleon and Josephine, LLC, there are terms that must be negotiated in advance. For one, you'll need to swear off secrecy—and that will be the true test of your relationship. Scorpio and Capricorn are masters of underhanded power plays that could topple this merger fast. Your first job: learn and practice direct communication ("whip me like THIS" or "no, darling, the leather corset, not the PVC"). Master it, and the rest is a cakewalk. You can lash each other to bedposts, tryst on the conference table in your glass-paned office tower, or earn your mile-high wings with nary a flight attendant knowing. The 2.5 kids you produce will have some interesting conception stories, that's for sure. Not that you'll ever tell. A little secrecy with the rest of the world is fine. Just make sure to erase those sex tapes before the housekeeper finds them.

SCORPIO + AQUARIUS (JANUARY 20 - FEBRUARY 18) Years after their modern-day Mrs. Robinson relationship ricocheted the term "cougar" into cliché-dom, the Scorpio-Aquarius pairing of Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher can still baffle the naked eye. Scorpio is an intense, seductive creature with ruthless ambition, eagle instincts and a complicated psyche. Aquarius is a silly prankster and a cold-souled nomad who avoids emotion, then releases it in embarrassing blurts of sloppy sentiment. You're certainly an odd couple, down to your values, style and interests. Then there's the power issue to settle. Scorpio wants ultimate control over everything, while rebel Aquarius chafes at any restraint. While Aquarius is happy to hand rulership of the household to Scorpio, any breach of personal freedom will be an instant deal-breaker. Possessive Scorpio must accept that Aquarius is a social creature with friends from all walks of life, and curb the jealousy. Aquarius will need to cut off a few friends (the ex you met at a strip club, the swingers "who are actually really cool") and adopt a few of Scorpio's interests, like Kaballah for Ashton. So where's the click? Different as you are, you both prefer a mate who's hard to figure out: it staves off boredom. To keep this strong, borrow each other's strengths. Aquarius needs Scorpio's depth, and Scorpio lightens up from Aquarius' outrageous jokes and impersonations.

SCORPIO + PISCES (FEBRUARY 19 - MARCH 20) ♥♥♥♥ You're both "spiritual beings having a human experience," Finding an equally sensitive, divinely connected soulmate feels like coming home. Scorpio and Pisces are compatible artistes who love music, drama and romance. Like a lighthouse for two ships adrift on the emotional high seas, your relationship is an anchor and a haven. However, it's not immune to the turbulence caused by your secretive, Water sign natures. Emotional withdrawal is a self-protective act you've both honed over the years, but this tactic backfires when used against each other. The trick is learning to catch a bad mood when it starts, then processing the feelings instead of lashing out. Once the righteous anger and wounded egos kick in, you're like two runaway trains waging a war of domination and submission. Scorpio control tussles with Pisces guilt, Scorpio withholding wrestles Pisces evasion, and so on. Yet, you both want the same thing: a partner who inspires absolute, unshakeable trust with a money-back guarantee. What you need to learn is how to give it before you get it. To adapt the saying, be the change you want to see in your partner. It will keep you together for lifetimes.

[thecandywrites]

Jewel Of The North Part 6

Now that things are nice and happy and peaceful, what a shame it would be for the floor to start dropping and our little love birds get thrown back into reality. Well as real as this fantasy can get. lol. All this sweet fluff needs some angst. For the plot. For the balance. 

How I feel now that I’ve built up everything, lets knock a few things down and see how it stands. Don’t worry too bad, this will have a happy ending. Eventually. Hehehe. Always thank you to @monstersandmaw​ for sharing ice orcs with me. Enjoy. 

Jewel Of The North 

Part 6

You woke up on Noah’s shoulder, drool pooling around your open mouth. You had slept like the dead. Not even the gods could have woken you up before you were ready. You noticed your drool and wiped it up with the sheet and no sooner had you done that before Noah stirred, his arms tightening around you before he rolled over to his side, facing you. 

“Good morning.” You cooed and all you got was grunting hum and a crooked grin as Noah didn’t even open his eyes, he just hugged you tighter for a moment before he used his hold on you to bring you up closer to his face and used his sense of touch to find your face before cupping your face and leaning towards it before his lips finally caressed and pressed into yours, the most delicious moan spilling from his throat as his body folded over yours, partially pinning you to the bed as the kiss deepened and you hooked your leg around his hip before he pressed his manhood into your center and you got to feel all of that amazing morning wood and just as your hand snaked down his front to the base of your prize and he slipped his hand under your shirt to fondle your breast, there was a loud, insistent knocking on the front door and you both whined in protest as you paused. 

“Whoever it is, they can wait.” Noah insisted as he rolled all the way over you and started grinding himself at your center as he kissed you deeper before you heard someone knocking very loudly on the back door. 

“Noah! I can’t find the spare!” You heard a female voice holler before you heard Sakura wake up and go downstairs before she opened the door.

“Daddy! Aunt Sesi is here!” Sakura informed you both. 

“Oh may all the gods damn it.” Noah growled as he rested his head on your breast before he nuzzled into it as he held onto you. Reluctant to see one of his sisters which got you to snicker a laugh. 

“Go away, we’re busy up here.” Noah complained. But not loud enough for anyone but you to hear. 

“Noah?” Sesi called up. 

“He’s in bed with my new Mama!” Sakura informed her proudly. 

“Oh!” Sesi replied. “So she stayed the night?” Sesi asked. 

“Yup, they spent all night making me a little brother or sister.” Sakura revealed excitedly as you started snickering as Noah looked up at you questioningly as you shook your head ‘no’. ‘I’m on birth control’ you breathed as Noah nodded in understanding. 

“Come on, let me meet your sister before Sakura tells her much else.” You urged him as Noah reluctantly rolled off of you so you could at least put a bra on and get some pants on before you both came down the stairs before Sesi did her best to look around Noah to see you. 

“Hi, sorry to wake you guys up, I had no idea you’d be here, I didn’t see another car so…” She tried to excuse herself. 

“It’s ok, I didn’t rent a car while I’m here and I’ve been staying with Taylor Kizzo and her family, up until obviously last night. I’m Zara Kingsley by the way,” you graciously answered as you gave her a pleasant smile and shook her hand. 

“And you’re the priestess of Aura?” She asked excitedly.  

“I am, only I’m a private one though, I don’t belong to any individual temple but I am in the Rushaka order,” you confirmed. 

“Oh, well, that’s still pretty awesome.” She smiled. 

“Otherwise my day job is- I’m an LMT and I run my own practice out of my home.” You volunteered. 

“Oh that’s wonderful, so are you going to be moving your practice up here then?” She asked expectantly as she looked from you to Noah who gave her a softened warning look because Sesi was the nosiest of all his sisters.  

“Noah and I still have to discuss that.” You answered delicately. 

“Oh well you better hurry because winter is coming early this year and if you’re not moved up here by September, October by the latest, you won’t be able to until spring next year.” She insisted as you bit your lips and a forced smile to keep yourself from arguing about it because maybe in your mind, he could just move down with you in the fall before he got snowed in up here. 

“Hey, can you let her at least get some coffee and breakfast in her before you start grilling her and playing 20 questions?” Noah butted in as he gently tried to usher you into the kitchen as he gave you an apologetic look before you tried to fall into a usual routine. 

“Sorry, we’ve never had a priestess or an LMT in the family before. So, Mom said that Noah flew you in so that’s how you met, why were you visiting here in the first place?” Sesi asked. 

“Because I’m good friends with Taylor and decided to come up and visit her and treat her and her family.” You said simply. 

“Well I just came to tell you that Mom invited Neena’s family too tomorrow so you’ll get to meet everyone.” Sesi revealed happily and if you had been drinking coffee you would have choked on it and spit it out comically. 

Stay calm Zara, don’t freak out, don’t freak out. Don’t. Fucking. Freak. Fuck. 

“Oh, ok, how many people will there be in total then?” You asked. 

“Like all of Neena’s family or just her immediate family?” Noah asked as your stomach dropped. Oh gods please help you. How was this going to go? ‘Hi, I’m a stranger here to replace your daughter and take your precious granddaughter a thousand miles away’? They’re not gonna like that. Not one bit. 

“Uh, just her parents and her siblings, and their kids so far.” Sesi reassured both of you before her phone rang. 

“Hey Mom,” she greeted. 

“Where are you? I need you to help me with the dinner tomorrow.” 

“Oh, I’m over at Noah’s...meeting Zara.” Sesi admitted a little sheepishly. 

“Actually can I talk to your mom?” You asked her. 

“Sure,” Sesi handed her phone over. 

“Hey Nana, it’s Zara, how are you this morning?” You asked pleasantly. 

“Oh I’m good, I’m sorry if she’s bothering you, she wanted to get the inside scoop on you from Noah.” Nana explained. 

“It’s ok. So Sesi told me that you invited Neena’s family too?” You asked trying to remain calm and pleasant even though your anxiety was whirling in your chest and dread filled your soul as you got a really bad feeling about this and your instincts were telling you not to go but you knew, logically at least, that the sooner you met them, the better.  

“Oh yes, they’re so excited to meet you.” Nana reassured you. 

“Ok, so how many people are coming to meet me?” You asked before she started listing people off and you quickly had to write it down. 

“Ok, so what should I bring?” You asked. 

“Whatever you want to, everyone’s bringing a dish to pass so don’t worry about feeding all of us yourself, this is us trying to welcome you not you begging for a chance to be welcome with us. It’s just a casual family dinner.” Nana tried to reassure you but your unease did not leave you. You needed to win them over. You needed them to meet you and like you otherwise prying Sakura away from them would be like pulling teeth with no anesthesia. You needed to prove to them that you were trustworthy and that Sakura at least would be in safe in your hands, that you could take care of her and Noah and care for them like a good and proper mother and wife.  

“Ok...What should I not bring?” You asked. 

“Well Alorna already said she was bringing crab so don’t bring that, otherwise, bring whatever you want. But don’t feel you have to get too fancy, it’s just family. What would you bring if it was a family dinner with your parents and your siblings? And whatever that would be, just bring that.” She urged you. 

“Ok,” You agreed. 

“And you can call me on your phone too, I don’t get that many calls from people I don’t know.” She gently and warmly invited you. 

“Will do.” You confirmed.

“We’ll see you tomorrow then and I’ll call if I have any questions, talk to you later Nana, bye.” You assured Summer before you handed the phone back to Sesi. 

“Ok, so I need to go to Taylor’s just to pick up my luggage and toiletries and things and then I need you to take me to a really big, really good grocery store, preferably that big box store.” You requested. 

“Why? You just went grocery shopping the other day.” He asked. 

“Because I need to make a gosbe.” You answered as you tried not to sound as panicked as you felt unease settle over you.

“What’s a gosbe?” Noah asked curiously as Sesi seemed keen on knowing the answer to that too. 

“You guys don’t have gosbies up here?” You frowned in confusion as you looked from Noah to Sesi and they both shook their heads no. Which didn’t make sense. Everyone who was even partially orc knew about gosbies. Right? 

“Uh, no, never heard of it.” Noah shook his head which made you take a deep long inhale through your nose before you measured-ly blew your breath out to keep yourself from hyperventilating. How did they not know about gosbies?

“Ok, so in my clan and just about every other clan I’ve ever been in contact with have a tradition called a gosbe, gosbies are wooing feasts for courting individuals. Like, what you had on Tuesday? That was a gosbe.” You informed Noah who blinked in surprise and was suddenly beaming an excited smile as realization dawned on him. 

“And what it is- is basically the prospective mate cooks a feast not for just the intended but for their family to prove that they can cook and provide and it’s wooing- but with food.” You explained. 

“Ooh!” Noah realized. “I’m so sorry, I am so dense, I didn’t realize that’s what that was on Tuesday. I mean it worked, I was ready to nail you to the table, and then the couch and then the wall and then to the bed.” Noah apologized as he pointed around his house which got you and Sesi to laugh and Sesi to go midnight in her own blush. 

“Why would you nail her down? So she doesn’t leave?” Sakura asked.

“No baby, it’s one of those terms that has two meanings. I’ll let your dad explain what he means, but probably later.” You pacified her. 

“Well I better go and help mom, what do you think you’ll bring tomorrow?” Sesi asked. 

“What was your favorite dish on Tuesday Noah?” You asked him. 

“Uh- everything, it was by far, the best meal of my life, you could bring anything you made on Tuesday and it would be a big hit, but maybe not the tomahawk steaks, that would get way too expensive.” Noah reassured you. 

“Ok, so mom told me that just the leftovers in the fridge on Wednesday were really out of this world good, so I second that.” Sesi piped up. 

“Ok, well then for sure I want to make a mushroom risotto then, some candied yams would be good.” You began to think it over. 

“And the veggies! Those were really good!” Sakura insisted as Sesi seemed touched that you got her to like veggies which is a challenge for any child. 

“Well then definitely veggies.” You happily agreed. 

“Awesome, I can’t wait to eat it all, let me get out of your hair, and sorry for barging into the house, I’ll just see myself out, see you tomorrow.” Sesi excused herself. 

“OK, see you then,” Noah nodded. 

“Bye, it was really nice to meet you.” You called after her. 

“Likewise!” She cheered before she quickly left. 

“We need to get cleaned up then.” Noah said before he put on a movie for Sakura to keep her occupied then grabbed your hand and led you upstairs to get ��a quick shower”, a task made a little more complicated with Noah pinning you to the wall of his shower to pick up where you had left off before you had gotten so rudely interrupted by Sesi this morning and you had to bite down on Noah’s shoulder to keep from crying out too loudly which turned Noah on and up to 11 as you almost feared he was going to fuck you through the shower wall but to hear his pleasured grunting moan in your ear as he pumped you so full of cum you felt beyond stuffed, was amazing, especially to see it drip down the drain from where it was seeping out of you. 

“So are those strings I feel inside you- your birth control?” He asked as he slowly let you down because he was big enough he could feel them at your cervix. 

“Yup, I have an IUD, it’s my second one, the first I had in for five years, this one, I’ve had in for three and I love how effective it is.” You beamed. 

“No buns in the oven yet big boy.” You winked as you clicked your teeth which got Noah to start laughing. 

“Yes Ma’am.” He laughed before he kissed you sweetly before you guys got dressed and got Sakura dressed and loaded you and Sakura up in his truck and drove you where you wanted to go before you had him stop at the liquor store so you could get some really good beer and some other goodies and while Noah tried to pay for most of it, at least with the food, you absolutely insisted on paying for the alcohol because it was ridiculously expensive and on the way back to his house you dropped by Taylor’s house to get your bags. 

“I’ll be two minutes,” you told Noah and Sakura as you quickly got out of Noah’s truck to go inside and grab everything you needed. 

“Well hello stranger.” Taylor greeted you happily. 

“Hey, I just came to get my bag real quick, Noah and Sakura are waiting in the truck.” You greeted as you came in and gave a her a quick hug and a kiss on the cheek. 

“So? How was it?” She pressed as she followed you around helping you pack what you could.

“Amazing!” You sang happily. “I’m having trouble walking straight, that’s for sure.” You cackled which got her and gasp and cackle with you. 

But no sooner had you finally gathered your things and your toiletries before Doug came hauling ass into the driveway, dressed in his nicest suit, his hair slicked back with the biggest, most obnoxious bouquet of flowers and acted like Noah was invisible as Noah just frowned as he watched Doug hurry into Taylor’s house as his own gut was telling him something was off. 

“Baby stay in the truck.” Noah urged Sakura as he got out of the truck. 

“Oh, hey Doug, what are you doing here?” Taylor asked when she saw him in her house, hunting through it for you as you were talking to her from inside the kid’s bathroom where you had put most of your toiletries. 

“I’m here to see Zara,” he answered. 

“Uh, she just came to get some of her stuff, she’s about to leave again.” Taylor told him as you frowned inside the bathroom. 

‘What’s going on?’ You breathed to Taylor before she slipped into the bathroom with you. 

“For the last two days he’s practically been camped out at the house waiting for you to come back. I think he got wind of the settlement because he’s been talking about how he’s willing to do anything you ask him to do because he’ll do anything it takes to be your kept man. Like he’s become obsessive.” Taylor whispered warningly to you. 

“Damn it.” You growled angrily. “It’s Alex, all over again.”  You spat in disgust. 

“Noah is waiting in the truck, in the driveway right now, like this is the worst time to ever try to make a big romantic gesture on Doug’s part, did Greg just like, text him the second I came in the house?” You asked. 

“Oh I can guarantee it, Greg has his brother’s back and even though I pointed out that if you guys had had more chemistry, you would have reached out to him on your own but they won’t listen.” Taylor revealed. 

“This isn’t going to end well. Like I was riding Noah’s glorious dick only a few hours ago and it was the ride of my life and from where I stand, it would take an act of the gods to get me off Noah. I mean I’m meeting his family and Neena’s family tomorrow for crying out loud. Like Noah and I are together- together, dating, courting, like I’m making a gosbe for his family tomorrow, he ain’t got a snowball’s chance in hell.” You complained in a whisper. 

“So what should we do?” Taylor whispered back. 

“You know what, let’s just do this and get this over with, take this stuff and get into Noah’s truck and only Noah’s truck and then get the police on standby if you think Doug will make things physical.” You urged her. 

“Won’t let you down.” Taylor reassured you as she grabbed what she could as you followed her out, your bags rolling behind you. 

“Hey Doug, what are you doing here?” You asked him just as Noah came into the house but was still in the entry way as he made his way towards your voice. 

“I’ve come to sweep you off your feet.” Doug announced as you looked from him to the flowers and you started to get flashbacks. Bad ones. And suddenly adreniline was pumping into your system as your fight or flight response started to kick in. 

“Yeah, my feet are no longer available to be swept off from.” You informed him evenly. 

“Look, I was having a really bad day on Monday and I had a headache and I wasn’t at my best and I’ve been slammed at work all week and this is the first opportunity I’ve had to get back in touch with you. Please give me another chance to prove that I can be whatever you want me to be and whatever you need me to be.” Doug desperately pleaded as he came forward, the flowers in his hand like a sacrificial offering in his hands. 

Nope. Nope. Nope. Get out.

“Dude, you’re too late. You had your chance and you blew it by your attitude when you thought I had nothing else to offer you than what I had already disclosed. And if you had been feeling so awful when we met on Monday, you could have said something but instead you didn’t say anything. And when we met on Monday, there was nothing there for me. No chemistry, no connection, nothing. The only thing I felt was relief- when you left. I have no interest in you, especially romantically. So take those flowers, give them to Taylor because she’s an awesome mom and deserves them or give them to someone else who is going to give you the time of day because it sure as hell ain’t gonna be me.” You told him frankly as Noah hung back, just barely out of sight by you and Doug and grinned victoriously when Taylor simply handed him your stuff as he readily took it. 

“Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a gosbe to make for Noah and his family.” You smiled like ‘fuck you’ was written on your teeth. 

“A gos- No! No! You should never have to cook another day in your life! They don’t deserve a beautiful, perfect jewel like you in their family.” Doug argued. 

“Hey!” Noah barked as he came around the corner and into view which made Doug nearly jump from his skin as you smiled in relief that he was there as his presence gave you more strength and resolve in your stand. 

“First of all, don’t be disrespectful and if you have to put others down to build yourself up, you and I will never get along, because I don’t respect people who can’t show respect and common decency to others. Two, I’m cooking because I want to. And this jewel will decide which setting she wants to be in and you are not it.” You insisted before you went around him to get to Noah. 

“But they could never give you what I can give you.” Doug pleaded as he tried to follow you. 

“Which is what exactly?” You posed disbelievingly as you handed Noah one of your bags as Noah was looking at you to make sure you were ok and even he could see there was a lot going on inside you. 

“That I can take you on any kind of vacation you want, I can worship you like the goddess you are every moment of every day and I can step into your family and show your son what it means to be a real man with responsibility and honor and how to treat women with love, and dignity and respect and nurture your daughter into wonderful young woman who respects herself and be there to protect her from the world.” He insisted. 

“My children already have that role model in me, and my income is large enough so I can already take them on any vacation they want and I already protect them from danger. So maybe a better question would be why do you suddenly have such a strong and extremely drastic change in heart and attitude? Because on Monday, you seemed disinterested in what I had to offer you, so what changed between then and now to result in this, frankly, pathetic grand romantic gesture?” You asked as you gestured to him and the flowers and you could see Doug was offended but trying to remain nice as Noah huffed a laugh through his nose as a proud beaming smile radiated off his face because you realized what was happening and you were calling him out. 

“Honestly Doug? This exact scenario has happened way too many times to me already. Because guys meet me and they’re less than thrilled with me in person and less than impressed about what I choose to disclose to them. And then usually, they get curious and then they google my name and start digging, they find out about my assets and then this exact scenario plays out. Suddenly guys who were uninterested become super interested and are willing to go to any lengths necessary, they’ve quit their jobs, they’ve sold everything they had to buy a sports car and pull up into my driveway thinking they could put my kids into a summer camp while they whisked me away on a whirl wind tour around the world to romance the shit out of me so they can move in and be a kept man and get all they access they want to my imagined fortune and assets. And it has always ended in them stalking me or stalking my kids and putting them in danger and the guys feeling like I owe them for repaying them for the measures they went through to get to me in the first place and the police always get involved because I don’t owe you or any of them, jack shit and it’s always a fight and a restraining order and police charges on their record. So, you can either leave now with what little bit of dignity you have left and leave me the fuck alone or I’ll have Taylor press call since she already has the police queued up on her phone. What’s it gonna be?” You put to him. 

“Well what about Noah? How do you know he hasn’t googled you and found out about everything?! Don’t you think your relationship with him has moved faster than it should have? Don’t you think you should at least have a choice? Do you even know how little women are given up here? Every woman up here dreads the summer festival because they knew they would be auctioned off like cattle and matched up with men usually ten even twenty years older than them, sometimes twice as old as they are. It’s archaic. Did Noah tell you that him and Neena were going to have Sakura matched like that this year? It’s just two days away, I know you’re attached to Sakura, it’s hard not to be, but did Noah tell you that you only get to keep her for two more days then she’s practically off to get engaged and belongs to another family after that?” Doug revealed and you inhaled sharply and looked from him to Noah and you saw that Noah was close to punching Doug’s lights out because Noah had already put your things down and his hands were already forming fists. 

“Doug, do everyone a favor and shut your mouth, and stop talking about things that you don’t know anything about.” Noah warned Doug and you could see the anger burning in Noah’s eyes and you knew that if either of them took another step, it was going to get ugly and you looked to Taylor who looked genuinely scared and you needed to diffuse this situation before you went to Noah and grabbed his fist and forced your fingers inside of his hand so his hands couldn’t be fists anymore. 

“Noah, please put my things in your truck, I’ll be out in a moment.” You urged Noah calmly. “Please, just wait out in the truck, I’ll be right there.” You promised and you waited until Noah turned away from Doug and picked your things up and left before you turned to Doug. 

“Is what you said about Sakura, true?” You put to Doug as you narrowed your eyes at him. 

“Yes, I swear on the lives of my own boys, Neena’s mom is the matchmaker. She’s the one that matched Noah and Neena and used their happiness to make countless other matches, and their happiness was markedly less, mine sure was.” Doug insisted before you turned to Taylor who nodded in confirmation. 

“But it’s not like Sakura would move into another home or anything like that, you’re making a mountain out of mole hill, it’s a tradition that died out a long time ago.” Taylor reassured you as you dropped your eyes before you just closed your eyes and took a measured breath before you opened your eyes again and looked from Taylor to Doug. 

“Ok, well, thank you for letting me know about any of it, but from now on, I’m going to let Noah and his family explain their own customs, traditions and cultures on their terms. But I swear to every god in the realm that if you come at me again Doug, I will not be this composed or calm and if you touch me or any of my stuff, I’ll come for you and rip you to shreds and you won’t like me after that. So, keep your distance from me, and we’ll be just fine.” You assured Doug before you grabbed the last bag and left out of the door before you chucked it into the bed of the truck. With the other things you had gotten and if you had the space in Noah’s truck you would have packed everything then and there. 

“What’s going on Mama?” Sakura asked you once you got in the cab of the truck. 

“Doug was just making an idiot out of himself, it’s ok. It’ll happen to you one day, guys will be so impressed and blown away by your beauty that they’ll make idiots out of themselves too if it means you’ll look at them more than once.” You reassured her, your tone so comforting and soothing as your heart ached at the thought of Sakura being a child bride. There was no way in hell you were going to let that happen to her. No daughter of yours was ever going to go through that. As you realized that’s why they wouldn’t know about gosbies. That should been a red flag. The first, and hopefully only one. 

“Let’s go home.” You urged them as you wrapped your arm around Sakura’s shoulders and squeezed her to your side before she nuzzled into your shoulder as Noah left Taylor’s house and drove to his own as the car ride was quite quiet as your head swirled with doubt which started to creep into your heart.  

Once you got home you got straight to prepping, having Sakura help you as you taught her your recipes for things which she was eager to learn. 

“So how does a gosbe work?” Sakura asked you. 

“So in my clan and a lot of other clans, a gosbe was a tradition where someone, usually a woman who wanted to marry into a warchief’s family, would make a ‘wooing feast’ for them and it would be for the warchief, his family and all his captains and generals too to prove she could support him and his military endeavors too. And usually the greater the feast and the bigger the portions and more lavish ingredients ensured her success. This went on for countless generations. Until Warchieftess Gosbe, her father was warchief to the Red Typhoon Clan and she was the warchief’s only surviving child, a daughter, she had, according to legend, was the lone heiress because all of her siblings had died in battle and she had all these other warchiefs interested in her, trying to forge alliances and win her hand because all they wanted was what she was heiress to, but she didn’t want any of them, because she could see their greed in their eyes and she saw how they lusted over what was hers, all of them dreaming about what was hers- being theirs, and she didn’t want anyone to control her or her destiny, her future or her happiness. She was known as the perfect warrior. Her skill was unmatched and unequaled and she could just look at a man and know instantly what he wanted and no-one that she saw, ever really wanted her as a person.” You began once you put the sliced onions in the pot to caramelize with the butter and the beer which would take a while and washed your hands before you brought her to the living room and cuddled with her on the couch. 

“Except one man that when she looked into his eyes, she saw that he would really, truly love her- so to her, he was the only one she did want, and he was just a lowly shepherd boy. He wasn’t a fighter or a killer or a warrior because he wasn’t even full orc, he was a halfling and his family was more of a mismatched group of people who had been a family found rather than a family born into. And this was considered a strange match to everyone else because she was a warrior with an impressive lineage and she had whole sets of armor for every season and terrain and possible enemy, she had every weapon imaginable and knew how to fight with each one and she had a brand new castle full of modern convieniences and lands and money and power and influence- she had everything anyone would think they would want in life. But she didn’t have someone to love her for herself. And when she saw this shepard boy, she saw in his eyes that he would be that one person who could give that to her and she knew without a doubt that she could give him the same. So she held a feast in his name and honor and invited him and his “family”. And his family were very honored by it, and they ate it and thanked her for her hospitality and then left and went back to their lives and Gosbe was a little put off because this shepherd boy should be willing to sell his flocks and move right on into the castle with her, she even offered to buy all of his sheep and put them into the care of the royal herders. But he politely refused her and gave the ‘i’m not worthy of this honor and praise from you’ line and excused himself. So she did it again, this time, she included not just his family, but his actual family that she had hunted down and brought together and all his friends and held the greatest feast in all of history and tried to “prove” to him that he was worthy becuase in her eyes he was and that’s all that mattered. And everyone else ate, drank and was reasonably merry and grateful and gracious but still, this shepherd boy was unmoved and seemed indifferent. Polite so as not to cause offense but indifferent all the same. And all her advisors and friends told her-’ look honey- he’s just not that into you, move on. You can have literally any other man you want. Why are you focusing on this shepherd boy?’ And all she could answer was ‘he’s who my heart wants’.” You explained. 

“So what did she do?” Sakura asked. 

“She ended up leaving the castle, joined him in the field and just watched him with his sheep to try to see what he found so amazing about being a shephard that he would rather be a shephard than be with her and because she never left the castle without being fully armored up, the sheep took one look at her in her armor and her weapons and could practically smell the leftover blood on them and wouldn’t have anything to do with her so therefore, the shepherd boy basically ignored her in order to tend to his flock. So after a day of sweating in the sun, she went home, got a bath, went back, this time carrying only a sword on her belt. She wore one of the prettiest dresses she had and the shimmer of her gown scared off the sheep, the shepherd boy still kept with the sheep. And again, she got nowhere. The next day after that, she dressed in the same plain clothes as he did, brought a simple knife on her belt, and finally, the sheep came over and checked her out and finally the shepherd boy came and sat next to her on the boulder and remarked how hot the afternoon sun was and how hard the heat was on his sheep  before he introduced her to each member of his flock, each one had a name and a history and who each sheep was friends or siblings or mothers or sisters or whatever to because each one was basically a person to him and once he introduced everyone, the sheep had already eaten all there was in that area so then he got up and walked away and led them to a new spot. So she got an idea. So she went back to the castle and got a simple canopy and came back the next day to his new grazing spot with it and worked all morning setting it up so that by the time the afternoon sun got fierce, he and his flock would come and rest and it worked. He came and his flocks came and they rested under the big but simple canopy and she finally got to ask him why he was denying her.” You continued. 

“What was his reason?” Sakura asked. 

“He said that ‘he was a simple man who took delight in simple pleasures’ and that ‘the feasts were of delicacies he had never had before and he left both with stomach aches that lasted for days and that she was trying to woo him the way others had tried to woo her, thinking that it would take some special object to finally win her affections and if she really wanted to woo him, she should get to know who she’s trying to woo instead of assuming that what would work for everyone would work for him’. So for a month, every day, she would go back out with her canopy to whatever spot he had chosen for his sheep and they would just talk and get to know each other with only the sheep to overhear and every day, she brought food and drink with her, in the beginning, it was always some special dish from her kitchens so he could slowly become acquainted with her favorite foods and together they found favorites and he encouraged her to actually try to make these herself and praised that whatever foods she made herself, were his favorites, She was warcheiftess and commanded armies since she could walk so she had never cooked a day in her life. But for him, she would learn. And every day after that, she grew happier and happier because she had him in her life and never cared what she looked like, what she wore, what she had, but he cared about what kind of person she was and who she was as a person rather than anything she possessed and then Gosbe realized her mistakes in the first two feasts. When she hosted the first two feasts, she delegated everything, and when you’re feeding an army you have to. But for Gosbe’s shepherd boy- she realized that if she cooked their favorite dishes herself and she made sure that the sheep would also have good pasturage so that they were happy too? He would probably be moved to accept her proposal. So she sold some of her more prized treasures but to her, compared to the prospect of finally having the love of her shephard boy, they were mere trinkets and paper weights and she bought a field for the shepherd boy’s flock that was both close to the castle and close enough to his home then she tried a third time. She pulled down the canopy and she loaded it into a small wagon and walked with him to the field, and it was perfect. The hill sides weren’t too steep, there was plenty of water, it was protected from predators and it was ideal. She set up the canopy over the fresh lush grass and then she spent all morning making their perfect meal, with all of their combined favorites.” 

“Aww,” Sakura fawned.  “Yeah, she finally figured it out but here’s where things went wrong. There’s whole mini legends how everything went wrong that day, like it rained and got really cold and then started to snow, so she put extra wood on the fire to keep it going and tried to put walls on the canopy to turn it into a tent for the sheep but the walls meant the smoke from the fire couldn’t blow away and it filled with smoke that made the sheep freak out that there was a fire and run away so she had no choice but to pull the walls down so that wouldn’t happen any more but she was chilled to the bone.There was a bear who came to eat the flocks that she defended them with her life, knowing the name of the sheep that was in danger and thanks to the mighty blade on her hip, she defeated the bear but the price for her victory was lunch was burned because all the wood she put on the fire caught all at once and the winds blew feircely over the fire making it even hotter and burned all the food. It was a disaster. But the point was she did her best despite everything going wrong and she realized that in order for it to be “perfect” she had to include who her shepherd boy loved. And it was his sheep,  that on her previous to attempts she had never considered. And even though her ingredients were humble and her techniques were barely executable, it was her success because her shepherd boy was wooed that day because instead of throwing a fit that everything went wrong, even though she was upset, she just laughed it off and promised that the next day when she would try again, it would hopefully go better and that’s when her shephard boy told that she didn’t need to keep trying, he was wood and he loved her and he accepted her proposal without any hesitation or reserve because her intentions were pure and therefore this attempt was a complete success and they spent the night under that tent and every other night after that together. And after that, whenever someone, no matter their station or sex or whatever would throw a “Gosbe feast”. It never has to be perfect, it doesn’t have to be lavish but it does have to be from the heart and it has to be for someone who your heart has chosen because you know in your heart that you truly love this person and they truly love you back and both of you are grown consenting adults. They’re not someone who has been chosen for you and it is ideally done with not just your intended but your intended’s favorite people, whoever and whatever they might be which is why most gosbies also involve feeding all the pets involved in modern practice. And a gosbe feast  might include their family they were born into or it might be the family they’ve found through their lives or it just might be their friends or it just might be you and them and all your pets, even if it’s a gold fish. But it should embrace everyone all around it with open arms, open hearts and open minds.” You informed her proudly. 

“That’s so beautiful, I want to throw a gosbe feast for you then.” Sakura fawned. 

“I thought that’s what we’ve been doing all afternoon.” You reminded her which got her to giggle with glee before Noah started pulling other ingredients out. 

“What are you doing?” You asked him as you looked from the couch into the kitchen. 

“If it’s gonna be a proper gosbe, I’m gonna do my best to woo you with food too. So, I’m not nearly as good of a cook as you are, I’m gonna try, it doesn’t have to be perfect, just from the heart right?” Noah furthered and you didn’t even bother fighting it, you just got off the couch and walked over and grabbed his face and kissed him good and hard. 

“I will happily eat anything you make for me. It could be my most hated dish and I would still wolf it down.” You insisted. 

“Which is?” He asked curiously. 

“Radishes and beets, like I don’t grow them at home, I barely eat the tiny slivers of radishes on my salads in restaurants and I only ever had beets once and they were in a can and not good at all.” You confessed with a shudder at the memory. 

“Well good news is, I don’t like those either and the nutrition that’s in both of those are in other things that taste way better.” He reassured you before he kissed the tip of your nose sweetly which got you to crinkle it and you to giggle. He was so romantic. And then he did something unexpected, he handed you his phone. It wasn’t locked, it wasn’t coded, nothing. 

“Why are you giving me this?” You asked him as you looked from his phone back up to him. 

“So you can look at my search history and anything else you want to look at, I’m an open book and I don’t want to keep anything from you. I’m all in.” He answered. 

“Aww,” you fawned before you took a leap and unlocked your own phone and put it in his hands. 

“All in,” you repeated before you went through his phone, and his google search history and were relieved that he had not googled you and besides a few games on his phone, all there was were thousands of pictures of Sakura. He had both a personal and a business Facebook which you recognized because that’s what you had dug up when Taylor had suggested him and you got to see more pictures of Neena and of the summer festivals in the years before. He was...honestly, tame and “boring” in that he was just a normal guy, he didn’t have any red flags pop up. Nothing suspicious and nothing that gave you pause, except for the whole Sakura child bride thing but you would be asking his family about that tomorrow.

“Woah.” Noah murmured as he watched the latest video of your daughter in mixed martial arts. 

“Yeah, Skylar is...well since her dad died has had a lot of anger issues, she gets into a lot of fights because she has a temper and she’s a slave to her feelings and she gets it all honest because I’m that way and she found a good outlet through karate and other fighting disciplines and since putting her into those classes she’s improved leaps and bounds because she’s learning self control and boundaries. When Andy died she just...exploded. All her feelings and emotions and moods were just explosive and she was sensitive before and after she was even worse but thanks to the martial arts, she’s getting so much better and all her teachers and senseis took her under their wing and practically adopted her and she has a “gang” at school where she teaches all the other girls who aren’t allowed to go into martial arts- self defense and she is the bully’s bully and every boy who isn’t half in love with her is scared shitless of her because they’re intimadat. She’s my kid where I worry about her sneaking out at night and fighting in underground fight clubs even though she’s only 8. If she was ten years older she would absolutely be doing that.” You revealed. 

“What about Xander?” Noah asked curiously. 

“He’s usually a very gregarious, fun loving, easy going snuggly cuddler. But when Andy died, when Skylar was exploding, he was imploding. He just shut down and he got way too quiet. He would get up for school, cook and eat a king’s breakfast, get to school where he would just space out and daydream all day, come home, cook himself a king’s feast, eat it all and then go right to bed. He would be asleep for the night by six pm and then not wake up again until 6am. And on the weekends, all he did was sleep. He would sleep 20 hours a day on the weekends. And it was because he was just trying to force himself to dream so he could dream his dad back to life so he didn’t have to let go. And while I was worried about Skylar snapping other people’s necks, I was deeply worried that Xander would snap his own and I couldn’t lose him too, Skylar was already under threat of going to juvy because of all the fighting. So I took all the time off of work that I needed to and I took both of my kids out of school and I loaded them up and took them to the beach house, because one of my adopted grandparents left me a beach house on the east coast so we just went there and I just laid in bed with them and held them both and we just...cried, we cried and cried and we had a come to the gods meeting, where we were all just perfectly honest and transparent with each other and bared our souls to each other. And I begged and pleaded with them to tell me what it would take for them to smile again because the idea of being happy again felt like an impossibility at the time. And all I wanted was for them to stay with me. For Skylar the answer was martial arts, and hockey and she’s one hell of an enforcer, and music lessons, because she’s a rocker, so she’s learning guitar. And for Sky, she’s into the whole- guns, knives, archery, hunting and fishing thing . Because that’s what her and her dad were into together. And she loves construction too, like my dad will take her on jobs like he did with me growing up and is teaching her things and she’s in a love affair with power tools and blow torches and when we go up and visit my brother, who’s a builder, she goes to work with him and his boys and she runs circles around them. And for Xander, the answer was dance classes, ballet especially. Andy had enough toxic masculinity that he would have never been ok with Xander being in ballet. Tumbling and gymnastics and modern dance was as close as Xander could get while Andy was alive. And then when Xander finally opened up and told me that he wanted to be in ballet, I immediately called every ballet studio and found the perfect one that was right next to the dojo Sky wanted to be in so as a mom I literally go from one room to the next to keep an eye on them both and overnight I turned into a ballet mom because that’s what he needed me to be. And low and behold he’s a natural and he loves it and all the girls absolutely adore him and let him into their fold and practically adopted him because here he was this adorable wounded duck and he became the instant favorite that those dance girls would go to war defending him because he is a big boy and twice their size and he’s really strong and he can do all these lifts and holds and he’s steady and stable and he treats each and every single one of those girls like queens and he’s worries about them like they’re his sisters and he’s always buying food for them and fighting the ‘bulimic ballerina’ stereotype and he’s still in the modern dancing and gymnastics and the ballet has improved everything else and he’s so happy now. Where martial arts taught Skylar self control, dancing did the same for him but it also taught him how to express himself and use his words and actions to do so because they’ve already buried their father, which is more than anyone should ever have to bury, I couldn’t have them bury their feelings too. So now they’re happy and I’m happy that they’re happy which is all I wanted for them and now I turned it into a side business because I set my massage chair up in the hallway between the two spaces so I can still look in on both classes because they’re in the same building downtown and I do chair massage on all the parents for both because it’s a captive audience and it allows the parents to self indulge and practice self care and they all leave after the classes and everyone’s happier and I barter my treatments to all the instructors in exchange for a deep discount on the classes themselves so it works out and I treat all the kids too because they’re all mini athletes too.” You explained before you took the phone back and showed him the pictures of Xander in ballet and the videos of him dancing and being with the girls and smiling so bright and laughing and having all the girls practically hang all over him on the breaks which Noah thought Xander was living every little boy who liked girl’s dream of having a sea of gorgeous girls all around you. But Noah could still see so much of you in him. And while Noah did have his own reservations about boys being in ballet because it wasn’t necessarily traditional for male orcs especially, this was a new perspective and for you and your family, he would keep an open mind and accept it with an open heart too and forgo any judgement on his part because it wasn’t his place to judge in the first place. 

Then your phone rang, it was Xander. 

“Speak of the devils.” You giggled before you answered it. 

“Hey, I was just talking about you. What’s up?” You cooed. 

“Just got done bringing in the horses for the night and fed the chickens and did my chores and I got invited to go out to dinner with Gwen and the other girls after weekend worship, can I go?” He requested. 

“Of course,” you immediately agreed. 

“Can I please also get an advance on my allowance? Because they want to go to Cela Ve.” He asked hopefully. 

“Sure, how much do you think you’ll need?” You asked. 

“Well um, like a hundred dollars?” He asked hopefully. 

“Ok, you better be tipping your waitress really good then.” You agreed. “Hey while I have you on the phone, there’s someone I want you to meet, I’m with Sakura and Noah and we’re making a gosbe together.” You informed him. 

“What?” Xander asked before you heard him start running in the background. 

“Sky!” He started hollering before you heard him running through the house. 

“What?” Skylar asked when he barged into her room. 

“Mom is making a gasbe with Noah and Sakura.” He blurted. 

“Is she with them now?” Skylar asked. 

“Yeah,” Xander confirmed. 

“Give me the phone.” Skylar demanded. 

“Mom, what the hell? A gosbe? Really? We aren’t even there! For it to be true and proper gosbe we should be there!” Skylar demanded. 

“I know, so when we get together and you guys meet them, we will have a big official one with everyone involved.” You placated. 

“When and how?!” Xander argued. 

“Just... give the phone to Noah, Xander and I have something to say to him.” Skylar insisted. 

“Oh no, not with that tone, I don’t want the first words out of your mouths towards each other to be angry and hateful. We all deserve to get off on the right foot.” You urged them. 

“Fine, we will give him the same respect he gives us.” Skylar determined. 

“We are owed at least a conversation with him since we aren’t there in person.” Xander added. 

“Only if you both will swear to me that you will not bring shame or dishonor on us or our family.” You returned. 

“We just want to ask him some questions, if he can’t answer them truthfully, he’s the one who doesn’t have any honor.” Skylar returned calmly but even you could hear the storm brewing in the background.  

“My children want to talk to you and please take whatever they say with a grain of salt.” You bravely professed as you offered your phone over to Noah since he was still right next to you. 

“Ok,” Noah nodded as he got your phone from you. 

“Hello.” Noah greeted pleasantly. 

“Hi Noah, first of all, if you know anything about a proper gosbe you would know that it would not be whole without us there. And without us, and especially without the rest of my mother’s family and friends there, it’s not complete. Also, I’m telling you right now, we’re not moving up there. Not now, not ever, we have our own lives down here and if you want to be with our mother so bad, you’re gonna have to come down here and there will be a lot that you will have to compromise on and third, when we meet you, it will be on our terms. Fourth, if, and this is a giant IF. If we meet you and if we like you and if you prove to us that you’re worthy enough to be in our lives and that is only after you meet and hopefully exceed our expectations, you will not ever be a parasitic leech. You will earn your own way the way our mother makes us earn ours and the way she earns hers and you will have to put in so much work to earn not just our respect but our trust too. And may all the gods help you if you are using your own daughter to weasel your way into our mother’s heart because she is a bleeding heart. And if you are using your own daughter to get to her, you are the most disgusting worthless waste of flesh on the planet and we will make you so sorry you ever met her in the first place." Skylar snarled as you ran your hands down your face. At least she wasn’t cussing him out. 

"OK. I understand that and I get it. You guys have suffered a lot in the last few years and have had to grow up fast to protect yourselves and each other and especially your mom and all three of you have had to be on your guard against everyone new you meet and you’ve been wise to be that way becaues you guys  and your mom have been vulnerable in the past and you don’t want to get hurt or taken advantage of so your guard is up and you should keep it up as long as you feel you need to because you guys and your mother are very precious and special and should be protected. And you're right. The gosbe isn't complete without you guys. And that's a problem that should have a solution that we can all find agreeable. So. Since I am in the middle of cooking dinner for your mom and my family, and since it's almost your bed time. Here's what I'll do, I am going to give you all the personal information I have that you want. And I'm going to give you all my references and all my social media stuff and important dates and stuff and I want you to take all of that and with all of your grandparents and aunts and uncles and with whoever you trust the most- look me up and investigate me and dig as deep as you feel you need to and then all together, I want all of you to write down all the questions you have for me, they can be as basic or as complex or as personal as you want. I have nothing to hide and I swear I will be as honest and forthcoming as possible because I appreciate honesty and transparency myself and I’m not a fan of head games or toying with emotions or anything like that. And after I’ve answered all your questions to your satisfaction- then I want you guys to think of a way for our two families to meet for the first time and I want it to be somewhere where you guys will feel safe and secure and comfortable so that if you meet me and you guys don’t like me and want to walk away- you have that option and that ability, because you guys should have a safe out. And I want you to know, that the only money I have taken from your mother was my fee for flying her in, if you feel that since we started dating since then- that I should refund her, I will, she also bought a few groceries for us when she watched Sakura on Tuesday, hopefully she kept the receipts and I will pay her back for all of it and then I will pay her for watching Sakura in the first place and I will not be accepting any money or any gifts or anything like that from her from now on but I will be taking care of her and every need she has for the remainder of her visit here. Now she did buy some beer for my own family gathering which we’re having just a normal sunday dinner with my family tomorrow, should I be paying her back for that?” He proposed and then waited for their answer as you just stood there, surprised and so impressed by how he handled that. His tone was friendly, calm and soothing. He was offering them the olive branch. Now it was up to them to take it and he was putting the ball in their court and what you would have given to see their faces. 

Meanwhile Sky and Zan just looked from the phone to each other in surprise. They weren’t expecting that. But they were still a little weary.  

“What do you think?” Xander asked Skylar as Skylar pressed mute on the phone so Noah couldn’t overhear their conversaion. 

“...I hate to say this but that’s fair and that does sound like mom. And I don’t think she would even accept it if he tried. He could give her cash and she would turn right back around and give that cash to Sakura. Or he could write her a check and she’d chuck it into the fire.” Skylar realized. 

“True. Honestly, with you coming at him like that and him still being calm and he didn’t sound upset, if anything he sounded genuine and understanding. He sounded like he gets it and he sounds like he’s at least empathetic. Which...and I hate to say it, but that’s what we all need. And Sakura did sound pretty awesome when we’ve talked with her before. If he’s a good enough dad to raise her, maybe he’s not so bad. I say give him just enough rope to let him hang himself with.” Xander decided. 

“Agreed.” Skylar nodded before she pressed unmute just in time to hear Noah ask ‘hello? You guys still there?’ 

“We’re here, we wanted to talk without you overhearing so we put it on mute. But we talked and we decided that we don’t think that’s necessary for you to pay her back for what she’s done so far. She’s usually a natural giver who likes to take care of everyone around her, however we are just worried that you are a natural taker and won’t give as good as you’re given. She likes taking care of people and if she hasn’t given you a receipt for what she’s done, she probably used the reciept as a gum wrapper and won’t accept the payment back if the recipt is even in her possession anymore. But that means a lot to us that you’re willing to go that far. Ok, deal.” Xander caved. 

“So what’s your catch?” Skylar asked Noah.  

“My catch is that I want you to be nice to my daughter. She’s been through what you’ve been through only she doesn’t have any siblings to lean on and she gets lonely. So when we meet each other, she will want to be glued to you guys and all I ask is for you to treat her with kindness and respect and dignity.” Noah resolved. 

“We can do that, that’s perfectly reasonable and that should never be a problem. Ok, we both have pens and paper, give us everything you have and then give the phone to Sakura so we can say hi.”  Xander urged before Noah got his phone back and went through his contacts and gave them everything from his social security number to his birthdate and parent’s names and their birthdates and his wedding date so they could look it up in the newspaper along with Neena’s information and the day she was born and gave birth to Sakura and when she died so that they could look that up in the newspaper too along with his full name and his clan’s name and once they were satisfied- Noah handed the phone to Sakura. 

“Hi Sakura, how are you?” They greeted happily. 

“I’m good, I can’t wait to meet you guys! I hope I can meet you guys soon!” Sakura said before they started getting to know each other as you and Noah continued to prep the food together for dinner. 

“Thank you for handling that the way you did, it goes a really long way that you’re willing to be so open and honest.” You thanked Noah. 

“Well, to be in their shoes, I think I would freak out a little too if my mom went on a long vacation and met some guy that I knew nothing about and considering your shared past, I would be on high alert too and gosbe’s are obviously a big step and for them to feel like you’re making such a big leap of a commitment without them, that would freak me out too. So all there is for me to do is since you’re taking a leap of faith with me, is to catch you and then prove with my actions that I mean no harm and that I’m not a threat to you or them. But they did make several good points, the first being that it wouldn’t be a proper gosbe without them, so we need to figure out when and how we can make that happen. Two, they want me to prove myself and earn my own way which I have no issues with at all, in fact it was something I was going to insist on anyway, so I need to figure out what other skills I have that I can use down there besides piloting. Because commercial piloting is a different ball of wax and I don’t like even the concept of it because I would be gone all the time and never get to see you or Sakura.” He allowed. 

“Sakura mentioned on Tuesday that you were a ferrier.” You recalled. 

“Uh, I don’t have my ferrier license, I know enough to trim my own horses feet and that’s about it.” He revealed. 

“Oh, well there’s a few ferrier schools around me, you could always go and learn.” You proposed. 

“I could and I’m not opposed to that, however I had another idea. So I built this house, and I helped build my sibling’s houses and I really enjoyed building all of them. By any chance, when you inherited all those estates from when your adopted grandparents passed away, do you still own them or did you sell them?” He asked. 

“I did not sell any of them, I literally cleaned all the pantries, fridges and freezers out and cleaned out their closets and dressers and donated all their clothes and all the food that was edible to food banks and gave all of them a good cleaning and then winterized them and locked them up and I’ve been paying a landscaping business to mow their lawns so they don’t look abandoned and I’ve been paying all the taxes and insurances and stuff on all of them ever since too and I had my brother in law sell most of the cars because I didn’t need three dozen vehicles all at once. In my wildest dreams I would have the time to flip all of them but I just don’t have the time or the energy lately, but they need some updating like upgrade the appliances, paint the walls, get some new flooring put in, cosmetic stuff. Like there’s still furniture in all of them, there’s still dishes in the cupboards and cleaning supplies in the cabinets under the sink and there’s still bedding on the beds. And I would love some help with them. But here’s the deal, you will never work for free, you will pay yourself the same wage any other builder gets paid for being on the job. Otherwise if you built this house and others, you know how estimates and building permits and budgets work and I will happily fund that, and if one of them comes in under budget, you can either give yourself a little bonus or roll that over into the next house because one may need less than another and I know things come up- like furnaces break or plumbing issues or termites or mold or something can come up out of nowhere and blow the budget in the process of getting it taken care of. So create a budget for each one and then you will get a percentage of each sale. And to make this seem fair to the kids, give them options, you can either get paid a “lower” hourly rate but a higher percentage of the sale like fifty percent, or, a higher hourly rate and a lower percentage of the final sale like 10-15% or somewhere inbetween, and chances are they’ll be somewhere in between. But don’t undervalue your time and effort. I already know you have a good work ethic so I don’t worry about you sitting on the job getting paid to twiddle your thumbs.” You reassured him. 

“Good. I never want you to worry, about me at least.” Noah nodded. 

“So when would you want to get started?” You asked.

“Well, my season up here ends in September and by October, we’re basically snowed in till spring but I know school starts in August. If we could move Sakura and all the animals and stuff down in August, that will give her time to adjust to the time zone and the weather and she can start school and it’ll just be a few weeks of that while I finish out my season up here and then when the season ends, I can either fly my plane down there and find a hanger or I can sell the plane and hop on another to get down to you.” He suggested. 

“Don’t sell your plane. We can find a hanger, hell I’ll build you one, I can build you a runway out of one of my fields if I have to or even, if you just let me at this point. Because I don’t want you to feel trapped and that you don’t have an out and that you’re giving up everything because moving away from your ancestral home is already asking so much of you. Because if you move down there and can’t stand the heat because I know some orcs who can’t stand heat get really sick from it and ice orcs keep layers of brown fat all over just to insulate them and can run hotter than most to counteract the cold.” You recalled from your LMT training going over all the anatomy from the different species. 

“And if you try your best to make it work down there and it won’t work down there, then we’ll find another way to make this work. Even if we have to move back here. So don’t sell this house, don’t sell the plane or anything else, not until we find a way to make this work to everyone’s happiness and satisfaction. What about all of Sakura’s lands and inheritances?” You asked. 

“Well how that works is every member in the clan has a share in the tribal lands but we don’t necessarily have plots assigned to us, usually when we actually get married and we want to build a house to house our mates, then we ask the clan for a plot from the tribal lands and then they assign however much land that share is worth according to your need, so I asked for this lot in particular because it was so close to town that it could be on the grid and because it was so close to the airstrip. But because of the way things went down with Neena dying, um all of those...I would also call them adopted grandparents, they gave their family “shares” to Sakura. So Sakura, instead of only having one share- has 11 shares across three of the seven clans up here. So if she were to ever move back up here and get married and want to build a house up here, then she would ask for either one share or potentially cash in all 11 and get a massive chunk of land.” Noah explained. 

“I understand, so what’s all the dispute about then? Because Taylor and your mother both said that others have come after her for her inheritance.” You prodded. 

“Ok, so what happened there is with about half of them because orginally Sakura got 21 shares is when those adopted grandparents died, their kids who had moved away had come back to cash in their parent’s shares and then wanted to auction off the land to either the forestry or to gold miners or to one of the hunting reserves that aren’t run by the clans, make a quick buck and take the money and run.” He explained. 

“Wow, that’s really disrespectful of a sacred birthright.” You concluded with a frown. 

“Yeah, exactly, now there was a few of them that had come back, fell back in love with their homeland and wanted their family’s share to do the traditional thing of build a house, have a family and live up here and for them, Sakura and the elders had no issues with giving that share back because of those intentions but that didn’t stop three of them from once they got their shares back and got the lots in their names tried to move their families up here, their families couldn’t take the harshness up here and then they sold the lands to a developer and now a few of the others are trying to do intentionally fail to move back up here, they’re really just after the lots to sell and they are demanding that either they get the lots to sell or they demand the value of the “prospective” lot.” He explained. 

“Because it’s always about the money. Ok so Sakura doesn’t have any specific plots of land that are in her name and her name only with others practically drooling over them and waiting for an opportunity to dupe her out of what’s been inherited to her.” You clarified. 

“No, that’s not the case, even though the tribal lands are all finite because there are maps that show which lands belong to which clan and the elders do what they can to defend the lands and keep them pristine so that in future generations, they’ll have lands to inherit because a hundred years ago, there was a few clans who sold their lands to the pipeline, to the forestry, to the gold mining and to especially to developers and that’s how you got the “civilization” up here to begin with but there have been others that in “modern” times have done something a little different, Gold Horn for instance is Sungilak’s answer to get money coming in to satisfy the needs of the clan and the few members who feel they have the right to demand the value of their birthright without selling the land itself and so far that is the best way to handle that and that’s why my dad flies all the hunters in and around because they turned a specific portion of the lands and turned it into a big game reserve and that was copied by the other clans which is why there’s hunting and gaming reserves all over. Even though there’s a few anglo ones, most of them belong to the tribal clans. Plus I helped build Gold Horn, most of the men in my clan worked together to do it and I flew myself and some of the others around to the different hunting lodges to see how they were set up and run so we could set up and run Gold Horn successfully.” Noah explained.  

“Aww, that’s awesome.” You fawned before Sakura finished talking to your kids and handed the phone back to you. 

“Here’s your phone Mama,” she chirped and noticed she had hung up with them. 

“And? How were they?” Noah asked. 

“They were really niceI I can’t wait to meet them in person.” She beamed happily.  

“Did you guys have any idea what you would want for that?” You asked her. 

“Nope, I don’t care either way.” Sakura insisted before she got her coloring books out and started coloring as she waited for dinner to get ready.

“Well whatever they decide, we’ll figure it out and find a way to make it work.” Noah reassured you. 

[chelsfic]

Chapter 5/18 - Safety - Bucky Barnes x OC Soulmate AU

Masterlist

Summary: Soulmate AU! Bucky/OC. Our soulmarks appear at the moment of our soulmate’s birth. The Asset’s mark appears in the Spring of 1987. The words imprinted into the skin of his forearm. “Please! Don’t hurt me…”

A/N: I wrote this fic over the course of 2017-2018 and it was originally published on AO3. Recently, I decided to do some light revisions in order to fix inconsistencies in the POV, some awkward diction and typos. Please note–I’m aware that a lot of people love this fic just as it is. This is not a rewrite, I won’t be changing major plot points and I’m purposely leaving most of the writing alone. Just sprucing it up. Since I wrote this before I started posting fic to Tumblr, I decided to take the opportunity of posting the revised chapters here as I edit them. If you got to the end of this A/N: thank you!!!

Warnings: Kidnapping, Angst, Violence, Eventual happy ending

The next morning, SHIELD HQ, Washington D.C.

Director Fury sat behind a desk, fingers steepled, watching as Steve Rogers absorbed the information on the tablet in his hands. Natasha Romanoff sat beside the Captain, glancing at the screen over his shoulder, face impassive as always. 

Steve’s eyebrows knit together in confusion, “I don’t understand what I’m seeing here. This is…”

“James Buchanon Barnes,” Fury finished the sentence. “Alive and apparently untouched by time, if nothing else.”

“But how?” Steve looked even more like a golden retriever puppy than usual as he sat there in confusion and sorrow, his eyes shining with the sting of unspent tears.

Fury sucked in a short breath, “The short answer is...science. SHIELD has kept files on the assassin known as the Winter Soldier for about sixty years. Many good agents have died trying to gather intel on him. A lot of people in the intelligence community think he’s a ghost. Well, I can assure you, as can Ms. Sophie Reynolds, he is most definitely flesh and blood...and metal.”

Natasha spoke up, “The girl, where does she fit in?”

The images on the tablet showed grainy surveillance footage of James Barnes, the Winter Soldier, exiting an apartment building via a fire escape with a woman thrown over his shoulder. 

Fury looked uncomfortable for the first time, “She was a mistake. We never should have let her leave the Tower, even with a tail. They met two days ago....she’s his soulmate.” 

“WHAT?” Steve almost shouted. “He...Bucky’s soulmate? But he never had a mark…” 

Steve’s words drifted off as he realized the reality of the situation. Natasha spoke, picking up the thin file on Sophie Reynolds, “Well, no, he wouldn’t have. Says she was born in 1987.”

“That’s right,” Fury responded, “and she was our best bet at a capture until he made off with her in the middle of the night. Cap, you’re the closest thing we have to a connection to this guy, where would he take her?”

Steve Rogers shook his head. He didn’t have the answer. The Bucky he knew wouldn’t kidnap a young woman out of her home. Or murder intelligence agents. Or launch an assault against SHIELD in the middle of downtown Manhattan. He didn’t know this person at all.

Natasha glanced between Steve and Fury before speaking up, “I have some ideas.”

---

Sophie was awake and pretending to be asleep. She’d conked out almost as soon as they entered the hotel room last night and hadn’t had a chance to reflect on...everything. But one thing was becoming very clear to her: she could not trust this man. She could feel that he was close. ‘God,’ she thought, ‘this soulbond thing is weird. Also the whole not having a name to call my new soulmate...weird as well.’ 

She kept her eyes carefully closed and tried to regulate her breathing as thoughts crashed through her head. ‘So, the number one rule about this kind of situation was that you were NOT supposed to allow your kidnapper to take you to a second location. So, obviously failed on that.’ But she knew where she was. So the big thing now would be to absolutely under no circumstances allow him to take her wherever the hell he thought they were going. 

She felt a stab of guilt thinking these things. Her rational self was screaming at her to escape this crazy person. But her very soul was singing out that he was the missing piece she’d searched for and he would never harm her and they should just hurry up with the whole happily ever after thing. She felt the urge to cry again but she didn’t have it in her. Why would she be fated for someone who treated her this way?

“Get up, we’re leaving.”

‘How romantic, I feel like Elizabeth Bennet in Pride and Prejudice. The beginning part where Darcy is still an asshole.’

Sophie stretched her limbs under the thin hotel blanket and cracked her eyes open. The man was sitting in the same chair he’d sat in when they arrived last night. 

“Did you sleep?” she asked incredulously.

He narrowed his eyes at her and grumbled, “We’re on a deadline, let’s go.” 

She took a deep breath before responding. She felt a little ridiculous having this standoff with him while laying in bed with the covers pulled up to her chin. “No. I can’t go with you!”

There was a long moment of cold silence. Sophie felt her stomach drop and for the first time since they’d met, she felt truly afraid of him. Up until this moment the warm blossom of their soul bond had been a continual comfort. But when she’d directly refused to go along with his orders she felt the bond constrict, almost as if it was shrinking in her chest. It hurt. 

The man, her soulmate, stood up and slowly stalked to her bedside using all his height to loom over her. His face looked like a thunderstorm.  

“Get. Up. Now.” He ripped the blanket away from her and pulled her out of bed by her arm, wrenching it painfully. She felt the skin pinch where his metal fingers met. 

“Ouch! Stop it, let go of me! Please!” He dropped his arm abruptly away from her as if he’d been scalded by the contact. She staggered several steps away from him, backing into a corner in fright. She felt the aching constriction in her chest ease a little and the twang of his emotions just barely reaching through. She watched him standing still in the middle of the room, chest heaving, staring down at his own hand as if it were a foreign object. 

He turned toward her without meeting her eyes, “I’m...get ready we’re leaving in five minutes.”

With that he turned and started to re-equip himself with the dozen or so weapons he’d apparently been categorizing, or cleaning, or whatever you do with weapons, while she’d slept. They were arrayed on the small kitchenette table. Knives, guns...grenades? Sophie was in way, way...way over her head. She cursed herself for ignoring the grave warnings her SHIELD interrogators had given her about this man. She’d been so blinded by the newly formed bond. 

A minute passed with Sophie staring, mesmerized, at the astonishing assortment of weaponry this man apparently found necessary to bring along on a trip to visit his soulmate. She spoke, her voice coming out thin and small, “I can’t go with you. I won’t.”

He straightened his back and sighed. “What did they tell you about me? When they interrogated you?”

She spoke to his back, “You’re...a spy or something.”

“Wrong,” he said, turning to face her, “I’m not a spy. I’m a weapon. I’ve been trained to do one thing very, very well. I hurt people. Most of the time I cross them off entirely. I...I don’t want to hurt you. But it won’t be difficult for me to subdue one small, weak girl who’s being stupidly defiant. Time’s up. Let’s go.”

Ouch. When Sophie was a little girl she imagined her soul mate as this knight in shining armor character. He would save her from some nondescript danger and carry her in his arms to safety. Never, ever had she imagined that her soulmate--the one person in the whole world who was meant to love her unconditionally--could be so...mean. She felt stricken . Her face contorted in pain but still...she had to resist. 

There was nowhere for her to run. He stood between her and the door. She was literally backed into a corner. But she was also feeling increasingly desperate. The adrenaline of last night was gone and now all that was left was the cold, plain observation that this man did not have her interests at heart. He was clearly following orders to bring her some place. And she would bet her last dollar it was some place...unpleasant. Sophie had never been in a fight in her life. Never even taken a kickboxing or self defense class. So...she fled. Or tried to.

It was almost comically pathetic how quickly the man responded to her attempt to dart out around him. He simply put out his arm to block her. He was so solid she would have fallen right over if he hadn’t caught her. As soon as his arms closed around her she began to struggle, screeching, scratching, hitting and bucking. The only good it did was to at least assure Sophie that she was doing her damnedest to fight him. It just wasn’t enough. By a lot.

When she’d exhausted herself she fell limp in his hold and--again--started to cry. He tightened his hold on her and growled, “Are you going to walk out of this hotel room with me or do I need to incapacitate you?”

Even if Sophie was in a calm state of mind she wouldn’t have known how to respond to such a question. Instead she let out a keening sort of wail and slumped over, trying to move as far away from him as his grip would allow. Slowly, he let her go and stood as she sagged onto the floor. She heard a metal clicking noise before she felt him take hold of her wrist and lock a handcuff around it. She barely reacted as she watched him attach her to the foot of the bed. She watched him stand up and walk to the door of the motel room. When he opened it she could see the sunlight flooding the parking lot outside. He paused for a second, “I’ll be right back.”

Oh, good.

@watsonwise​

[maatikikhushboo]

Kasautii Flashbacks Aur Promises Kay

Disclaimer: A lengthy frustrated post (2500+ words) on your way. Has lots of grammatical errors and is not proof read. So please read on your own discretion.

After watching 69 episodes of Kasautii Zindagii Kay, I decided that I will quit watching it regularly, but I continued watching it intermittently. I very well knew the implications of signing up for EK’s shows. But still, I wanted to give it a try, and honestly, for the pretty faces of the leads because they screamed chemistry. Look at these pictures launched initially - especially the down section of the picture --

Backstory :

KZK1 was one of those disastrous stuffs ever made for ITV. Pathetic aesthetics, horrible make-ups (that didn’t change for this season as well), lackadaisical writing, multiple assassinations/butchering of characters, having sudden 180 and 270 degree turns and the offscreen dynamics kinda influencing the plot and what not? I used to watch KZK1 because 2001 was when I was residing in Kolkata. My love for Bangla had signed me up for that stupid show which I stopped watching after certain point of time (Waise, there is nothing Bangali except the names in both the seasons, it was just used to make it attractive and avant garde. Bangali people in general don’t wear these Devdas-inspo clothes and jewellery. Every time I see Mohini and Nivi of KZK2, I feel sorry for them because jewellery must be really heavy and wearing them on daily basis is bit uncomfortable even when you are getting paid for it.). The only saving grace of the show were the actors and their performances (which cannot be matched by the new season), otherwise no one was going to watch the show for its stupid story. Except the much popular title song, Shwetha Tiwari’s performance, Moloy-Rajesh’s bromance, there was nothing worthy in KZK1. Anurag and Prerna got united only when they died. Some felt that they were true OTP, and I beg to differ here.  

It is 2019 and everything is so out-of-place with KZK2 since its inception. Ekta’s much ambitious project is a flop show. It was much evident and we all knew that EK is EK and she will take the same S1 way. KZK2 proved itself to be a mere aesthetic-improvised photocopy of KZK1. There are many scenes in the show which are filmed same-to-same. The editing is pathetic and the noticeable bloopers are increasing day by day. These promos and claims of going the different way were just marketing gimmicks. In KZK1, AnuPre getting to know each other, falling in love and getting physically intimate, all happened in just 20-25 episodes. This time they wanted to avoid that and hence went the Naveen way, only to get back to the quintessential track of Anu marrying Komo and Prerna becoming pregnant. Naveen babu and his creepy tactics were much dragged and the writers deliberately elevated Anurag’s character and turned him the great saviour. Even the SitaaraPlus Instagram was full of Anurag’s gun-gaan. I bet that the channels’ PR team are a bunch of fangirls. We see that the so-called smart Anurag Basu is perhaps the dumbest ML of 2018/19 whose all plans were epic fails. I mean come on, Moloy was lot better than him in finding proofs against Komolika. I miss Moloy man, he was such a comic relief (although I must agree that the character has some serious issues like him being okay whenever Nivedita or Mohini badmouths Sharma’s, at least he can knock some sense into them about etiquette if not there, then in private). I keep forgetting that it’s a Hindi TV show and that too a Balaji show. Tellyworld mein itna dimaag kahan kisi ke paas hota hai?  😂

Anurag was given heavy dialogues which were full of promises. Sentence ke aage ek promise and sentence ke peeche ek promise (if possible I would like to go into the TV and smack his head if he daresay that word again 😤) Prerna was shown as that abla majboor naari of 2019 who is so gareeb that she had to resort to marriage to ensure that unke sar par chhat rahe. She was never given the character growth she deserved (why does Hindi TV revolve around shaadi? matlab har problem ka solution either function or shaadi?). It is natural that audiences started feeling that Anurag was the only one who contributed more to this story because we never were shown Prerna’s side of story. During the track, Anurag kept giving Prerna mixed signals (dosti ke liye aaj kal, in 2019 koi bhi itna sab nahi karta like jaan jokhim mein daalna especially when Prerna herself told you initially to back off). Getting engaged to Mishka whom he clearly didn’t love while being so confused about Prerna was the first downfall. Anurag didn’t bother to tell Mishka that he doesn’t want to marry her. On top of it, he promised Prerna of marriage and got physically intimate with her and then asked Veena, her hand for marriage. He publicly insulted Prerna and married Komolika. How ugly is this!!! How do the writers expect people to connect to him, how much ever good or noble his intentions may be? There is no doubt he is selfless and has the best interests of everyone in his heart especially Prerna, but is that enough? He can’t be redeemed after what he did to Prerna, because actions speak louder than words. What makes this sequence worse is the damn FLASHBACKS! AnuPre consummation was shown to a viewer as a FB when a pregnant Prerna recollects this at the hospital. This makes it more weird and gross! Like, how on earth people get busy getting intimate when some gunde are after your lives? I know, that you have confessed your love to each other, but itni urgency kis baat ki? Writers have destroyed that innocence and purity which was there at the time of confession. The editing and song sequence was so terrible. The only thing that is bearable is the actors who are making the characters believable, otherwise the storyline is just chutiyaapa.

Writers, have degraded everything just because you wanted to highlight the much-hyped character Komolika? Hina is a pretty woman who has achieved a lot in her career and deserves the love she gets from her fans. I kinda really liked her makeup (it was inspired by Bipasha Basu) as a Bong Bride but the costume was again meh. But the character portrayed by her was an iconic one and she has been a huge let down. I don’t get any vamp feels from her. She appears more of a comic character who only knows to make faces. And a special mention to her style statement which is just like her role. Costume designers, please, rich people like KoMoNi never dress like that. Those costumes are everything but sophisticated and classy.

Also, I think it’s high time that these fangirls stop idolising Anurag Basu 2.0. A person who cannot clarify things and take a stand for his love and keeps listening to all the accusations and taunts thrown at her by the ladies of his family and later justifies it by saying that it’s all because they were concerned is plain bullshit. He may be a gentleman and loves his family, and Prerna, but he is not worth stanning!!! Is this the same Anurag Basu who warned Naveen Babu that “Agar Prerna pe mera dil aa gaya na, toh aap, aapki sagaai, aapki daleelein koi nahi rok paayega mujhe Prerna ko apna banana se.”? If he is, then why did he fall prey to Komolika’s blackmailing? Naveen was also equally creepy, dangerous and comical (Saajan ji ghar aaye dance was EPIC). See what the writers have done!

Even during Naveen’s track, they desperately wanted to introduce Komolika but couldn’t do it due to Hina’s prior commitments. To venture Komolika they again brought Mishka (who was actually that London wali shaadi-shuda ladki whose name is Sarika 🤣 ). To link Prerna and Komolika, they planned Ronit-Shivani’s angle which is long forgotten (Shivani doesn’t remember that she is pregnant 🤣 ). So many loose ends are conveniently forgotten. Also, what kind of a mother is Mohini?😳  She is so ignorant. Can’t she understand what her son wants and I am bewildered by how she accepted Komolika without any problem when technically Anu was engaged to Mishka? Terrible!

At least after Naveen track, they could have explored AnuPre. I remember that one small snippet in Prerna’s sangeet with Naveen where we get to know that Anurag stopped talking to Prerna because she cheated him in a game in their childhood. We could have been shown many such things instead of that stupid Naveen track. Although the journey of AnuPre in KZK1 was only 20-25 episodes, it was satisfying because there were no other parallel tracks going on and they concentrated on AnuPre bonding.

When the channel dropped the shaadi wala promo (only to get transformed into No-Shaadi-Only-Tika later), it became a rage and people were like happy that it is not going the S1 way only to get disheartened. The confession was subtle and beautifully shot. Yet, I couldn’t feel the depth. Dialogues were always out of place and meaningless in this show. Just fire the dialogue writers man, it’s making everything more confusing because there is no sync between dialogues, story and character progression! Also, I knew that you were gonna bring that pandit to legalise the tika marriage, I mean by-the-virtue-of-air-maang-got-filled-by-sindoor-marriage on an auspicious muhurat after 15 odd years. That was a nice move to legalise the existence of Prem.🤣

The AltBalaji’s synopsis of the show was screaming since eons – “An epic saga of Anurag and Prerna’s soul-stirring romance. The story begins with one unintentional betrayal that spoils Anurag’s relationship with his soul-mate Prerna and is followed by the wicked twists added by Komolika. Their lives go through a whirlwind of emotions, trials, sufferings, twists, and terrible confusions, which destiny plays out for them. Only time will reveal how they are destined to live for each other, but not with each other.”. Coming to this unintentional betrayal, let me clarify that there is NO UNINTENTIONAL BETRAYAL here because Anurag intentionally chose this to save his family and business. When two people are in a relationship, one person has no right to take decisions for both. Prerna asked him, begged him literally but he just slammed his decision on her. I don’t give a damn to this stupid sacrifice “Thorn Bird” kinda love. People feel sad for Anurag being the Thorn Bird here, but he is the one who had landed himself into this worthless sacrifice as Anupam notes.

People are excited to see strong Prerna. I could have been happier if they went ahead with S1 way here instead. She was always initially taunted for being stupid, having small brains and of lower class. Proving her mettle and becoming successful on her own would have been a befitting reply. It is so against your self-respect to land yourselves again amidst of those Basu’s. I am not surprised that you like Shivani have forgotten about your pregnancy and how harmful it could be for your child to survive especially when people like Komolika are living in the same house. And there is nothing new in this track. EK's saalon purana same formula hai - Mix and Match. Apne serials mein hi naye serials ke stories revolve hote rehte hai. In her show, Kya Hua Tera Vaada, the same thing happened. When Vihaan married Anika, Bulbul entered along with Anika and did all the grihpravesh rasams and started living with them. Of course, this new Prerna is a treat to watch (she has shown everyone their place with sass) and it is worth watching for all entertainment. Erica nails such scenes and through this track she is gonna get her due. (I loved her stint in KRPKAB post leap). Also, what is with this Anurag planning to get rid of Komolika by getting closer to her? Like really man!? You appear like a milksop. The lollipops of AnuPre flashbacks or eyelocks which they are inserting in the middle of the 21 minutes of bakwaas is not gonna get them TRPs. For me, they have ruined it. Everything is beyond redemption now.

We all know what happens when a thing is excessively marketed/promoted. It unnecessarily increases the hype and expectations of people, which when not met will lead to utter disappointment. EK has hired SRK to do the honours, which must have costed her a bomb. Heavy social media promotion through various videos & BTS scenes has ignited curiosity and they wanted to play with this and all fell for it. Some wanted to explore it as a new show and some were there to draw comparisions because of nostalgia with a hope that things would be different this time coz it’s 2018/2019.  😂 😂 😂 Be it 2001 or 2019 things have not changed in TV. Film Industries are gradually transforming themselves and are producing films with unconventional concepts. They are churning out good amount of content driven/art films every year. We know that TV actors don’t have many choices. Both Parth & Erica are good actors. Actors get paid irrespective of whatever they portray. Still, I sometimes do feel bad seeing all the potential being wasted. But yeah, the casting is on point. The chemistry is so good. But, what we get in the name of the great KZK 2 is just the same recycled shit. Balaji didn’t need to inaugurate, the statues of love everywhere (like really?). If it were other producers, (well, they won’t be spending mammoth, but let us hypothetically assume) and they are not able to meet the expectations, to continue their stint, they would succumb to ratings based instant-noodle-tracks-twists-turns kinda plots. But EK is EK, whose team loves to cook noodles from Day 1, toh itna fizool karcha kyun karna bhai? She could have been a little prudent and invested some money in hiring better script writers and agar kismat acchi hoti hamari aur actors ki toh, acche story mil jaati. Also, many dynamics could have been explored. Khair, chhodo, main bhi kiske baare mein bol rahi hoon 😂 😂 😂 What else can we expect from a Balaji show? It’s just villains, multiple MUs, separations and sacrifices all over the place. I just wish TRPs teach her a lesson.

P.S: Okay, some people say that Prerna should have understood that Anurag has some majboori like she had while almost marrying Naveen babu. No one in their right state of mind would think about majboori and stuff after getting humiliated publicly and getting mocked for her love. And, agar tellyworld mein itna brains leads ke pass hote toh yeh shaadi mandap tak nahi pahunchti.

P.P.S: I just don’t understand what is the problem with SitaaraPlus. Come on man, why on earth do you love showing all the wrong messages to the society under the tagline “Baat Nayi”? Everyone is aware of your partiality towards Gul and Ekta’s shows. However regressive they might be, you just keep extending them and you simply pulled the plug off for the Dopahar shows which were good content wise and concept wise. Everyone here is to do business and so you are, so stop bluffing people under your stupid tagline. Also, don’t mislead people like you did here. Thank God I didn’t subscribe to Star Value Pack of yours. Bye-Bye.

[btsiguess]

Womyn with a ‘Y’ (m) - 1

Summary: You weren’t quite sure how you ended up working with the aloof Yoonji on your student council campaign, but you did know that that girl was starting to make you question yourself. I mean, if she’s even a girl at all... 

Pairing: Yoonji/Reader Yoongi/Reader

Genre: Smut, Fluff

Word Count: 4477

Warnings (if applicable): None yet

A/N: Haha, here’s a Yoonji fic because I’m gay trash. Just to clarify though, Yoonji is actually just Yoongi dressing as a girl in this fic. That’s p important.

Chapters: 1 2 

“Please be sure to vote for me as student body president!” You say, handing what feels like the thousandth button out to what feels like the thousandth student. The boy merely nods politely at you, but he does pin the button to his lapel. So you consider that a success.

You’d been doing this all day. And now it seems like there are a sea of students with your tastefully printed button pinned to their jackets and backpacks. You aren’t particularly worried about winning; the other student running against you tended to rub people the wrong way. Still, you refuse to just rest on your laurels. You were going to put your all into this race, just like you were going to put your all into the presidency - if you won it, that is.

“Hey, oh my god. There you are!” You turn towards the sound of the voice and find your friend Soonmi standing before you.

“We have a problem, lady.” She pants, and you briefly wonder if she’d run to get to you. “It’s Eunyoung.” Your running opponent. “She’s gotten Jimin to run as her VP!”

You could have sworn time stood still. Jimin? Run with Eunyoung? This was certainly a prospect that had never crossed your mind. You haven’t even begun considering running partners yet!

Jimin was the most popular boy in your grade, possibly in the whole school as well. Even with Eunyoung’s generally intolerable disposition, people would still vote for her if Jimin was by her side. You are screwed. So screwed.

“I didn’t think Jimin even knew Eunyoung? Why is he running with her?!” You hiss through your teeth, trying to retain your composure.

“Yeah, he basically didn’t.” Soonmi responds. “At least, I knew he wasn’t a fan. Eunyoung basically bribed him by convincing him it would impress Yoonji.”

You scoff under your breath. Impress Yoonji? Not likely. But I guess you have to give the kid points for trying.

“What the fuck are we going to do?” Soonmi bemoans and you internally agree with her.

“I guess I just have to get a running mate that boosts my campaign as much as Jimin did?”

“Where are you going to get that? Jimin is the most popular boy in school… you’re basically the most popular girl! It’s like you can only go down.” Soonmi cries.

“I’m not quite the most popular girl in school, Soonmi. But maybe I can get who is to be my VP.” You flick your hair over your shoulder as Soonmi’s mouth drops open.

“Y-You can’t be serious… there’s no way.”

“There has to be a way. If I want to win I need her. I need Yoonji.”

That’s how you find yourself waiting outside of the infamous Min Yoonji’s classroom at the end of last period. It hadn’t been hard to find out her schedule. Just asking one of the boys in her weird little fanclub gave you more than enough information on the girl.

You stood awkwardly as the room began to empty, a bit relieved that she hadn’t been the first person out, forcing you to make cause more of a scene than was necessary. When she exits the classroom, you almost chicken out - almost. You need her to join your campaign if you want to win. You need to do this.

You can understand why so many people fawn over her. She’s basically like a real-life porcelain doll. She always looked so effortlessly flawless. And not in the way that you tried to, either - where you put hours of work in every morning just to look put together. But really, genuinely Min Yoonji put no effort into her appearance. And it totally worked for her. You’d be jealous of her, if that wasn’t so 2004 of you. Instead you try to extol her blase nature, at least to yourself anyway.

Her eyes pass over yours as she walks out of the classroom, not pausing even for a second.

“Ah,” you try to keep your voice calm, “excuse me! Min Yoonji!”

The girl pauses momentarily turning briefly back towards you, tilting her head minutely to the side in question.

“I, uh, I wanted to talk, um, to discuss something with you.” You stutter out. “If you’re free, that is.”

You’re a little bit surprised at the way your voice quavers as you speak. You haven’t had trouble with your stutter in years. It only came out when you were particularly nervous now. Like really nervous. It didn’t even happen in front of crowds or for oral presentations anymore. So Yoonji must truly be a force to be reckoned with.

Her eyes flicker over to yours.

“I’m not.” She says simply, before turning to walk away.

Trying to remain undeterred, you follow her as she walks. She was tall - for a girl - and so you have to maintain a slight jog to keep up with her. Yoonji doesn’t slow down when she sees your predicament, and so you just have to do your best not to pant as you speak.

“I’m not sure if you knew this, Yoonji,” you start, but her quick glare has you backtracking, “M-Min Yoonji, s-sorry. I’m uh, running for student body president.”

“Yeah, I’ve seen the pins.”

“O-Oh good.” You’re starting to run out of breath so you decide to just spit it out. “Well, you see, I need someone to run as my vice president with me and well I think that if we ran together we’d--”

“No.”

“Please, Min Yoonji, just hear--”

“No.”

“You’ll get to beat Park Jimin if we win!”

The taller girl suddenly stops, and you nearly walk straight into her. She turns to face you, a small grimace gracing her lips.

“What the fuck do you mean?”

You flinch at her language.

“Well, I heard that Jimin is running as Eunyoung’s VP, so if you ran with me you’d, you know… beat him. M-Maybe that’s not something you want, but I just heard he’s always all over you or whatever. I don’t know. I’m sorry.”

You watch with baited breath as Yoonji’s tongue pokes into her cheek. Her eyes aren’t on you, they’re focused on something in the distance. The side of her mouth quirks up just briefly before she schools her expression, and then she’s looking directly at you. Her dark eyes seem to gaze all the way into your soul and it all but takes your breath away.

“S-So?” You ask hesitantly.

“Fine. I’ll run with you,” she dismisses, “but you better learn how to stop stuttering all the time. Don’t you have to do a lot of public presenting as student body president? I don’t want you to embarrass me.”

Your mouth opens and closes a few times like a fish, and Yoonji’s lips pull down in annoyance.

“I’m sorry, Min Yoonji,” you look down hard at your feet, “n-normally I’m not… I haven’t stuttered for a long time. You just…”

“I make you nervous?” She supplies, and you glance up to see her utterly impassive face.

You simply nod.

“Good.” She sighs out. “Then you won’t try to bother me or anything. Here, give me your

cell phone.”

“M-My ce-”

“Yes. Your cell phone. We are running partners now, aren’t we? We’re going to need to be able to contact each other.” She holds out her hand impatiently.

“Oh, right. Yeah. That’s great thinking Min Yoonji, thank you.” You quickly shuffle your

your phone out of your pocket and hand it to her.

She enters her information, then sends herself a text, in case she needs to get a hold of you as well.

“There. I’ll contact you later and you can fill me in on the details more properly. I don’t just want to beat Jimin. I want to annihilate him.”

Your eyes widen comically, but you nod your head nonetheless. Anything Min Yoonji wants from you, she would get. She was your ticket to the top, so to speak. You can’t afford to lose her, not if you want to win.

She had already walked away as you pulled yourself out of your daydream, and it’s only the bright light of Yoonji’s contact information on your phone that lets you know the interaction even happened in the first place.

What a weird day this was turning out to be.

“I can’t fucking believe you got Yoonji to agree to this?” Soonmi nearly shouts over the phone.

“Yeah, she must really hate Park Jimin if she’s this desperate to beat him.” You respond flopping back on your pillows.

“I totally feel bad for him. I mean really, he’s definitely the hottest boy in school… I would bang him.”

You chuckle and hum in agreement.

“I was talking to Taehyung, and he said that Jimin has like.. Legit abs. I tried asking about his dick, but Tae wouldn’t say anything.”

“Jesus Christ Soonmi. Why can’t you let any of these men live?” You chuckle again, and Soonmi scoffs. As if the very prospect of it had never occurred to her.

“Babe,” she coos, “it’s been ages since we’ve gotten laid. I mean seriously! You haven’t even tried dating since Jihoon broke it off with you! And that was like, six months ago! I have to get my thrills where I can, and that’s imagining that Jimin’s dick is just as sexy as the rest of him!”

Before you can respond, your phone vibrates against your ear. You expect it to be the singular buzz of a text, but the accompanying tone signifies that someone’s calling you. You briefly pull your phone away from your ear to check the caller ID.

“Oh fuck, Soonmi I gotta go!” You say frantically. “It’s Yoonji.”

Soonmi’s following shriek is cut short as you disconnect your call, and switch over to where Yoonji is waiting.

“H-Hello?” You mentally kick yourself for stuttering, even after she’d told you not to.

“Still nervous even over the phone, I see.” Comes Yoonji’s gravelly tone. You’re always so surprised when you hear her voice. It’s much lower than you would’ve expected. Nevertheless, it seems to suit the girl.

“I guess so. I’m sorry.” You finally choke out.

“It’s fine, it’s kind of cute.” She says in response and you shoot up from where you lay on your bed. Cute? Yoonji had just called you cute…

“Anyway,” she continues, “I’d like to discuss some of your ideas for this student council bullshit. If I’m doing this, I’m doing this. Are you free now? It’ll be brief.”

You’re sure your soul leaves your body at that, and you peak a glance at the digital clock on your nightstand. It was only 7:30, and you still have hours left of free time. You’d originally planned to spend it binge watching the Kardashian’s - a guilty and oh so secret pleasure of yours - but… You don’t think you could say no to Yoonji even if you wanted to.

“I-I’m free. Why?”

“Good then. I’ll come over. What’s your address? Nevermind just text it to me.” And with that, Yoonji hangs up the phone, leaving you no chance to argue.

You do as she says, texting her with trembling hands. Your parents won’t mind if you have company, especially if it’s for student council. Then you call Soonmi back.

“BITCH!” She screams as soon as she picks up her phone. “Spill that tea! What’d the mysterious Min Yoonji want?”

“She’s coming over. She called me cute.” You respond weakly, your stomach turning at the prospect of Yoonji being here. In your room.

Your phone’s speaker crackles at how loud Soonmi’s voice gets. She’s always been very excitable.

“Oh my god! Literally no one has ever been able to crack Yoonji, if you do it, you’ll seriously be like… the most popular girl in school. What the fuck? And she called you cute? I’m seriously shook. Who knew Yoonji had a heart buried under all that ice.”

She kept rambling as you stare blankly. You glance around your room. It was decidedly feminine, pink curtains, cream colored walls, a pink bedspread. You’d always liked your room, likening it to a page out of one of those garden magazines your mother used to buy. But imagining Min Yoonji standing in here, like the queen of darkness herself, you felt a bit faint. She would think it was childish, wouldn’t she?

“Bitch??? Hey bitch, you there?” Soonmi’s voice manages to break through your worried daydream.

“Sorry, I’m here. I’m just nervous!” You respond and Soonmi calms down immediately.  

“Why are you nervous?” She asks.

“It’s just… Yoonji. She makes me really nervous, like… stutter nervous. I don’t know. It’s so lame, but she’s really, like, cool? I guess? I want her to like me. Plus I need her help if I want to win this election.”

“Listen. You really shouldn’t worry so much. Yoonji is just a girl, you know? She’s just a tough nut to crack. Just be yourself and it’ll be fine. If she doesn’t like you then she’s a goddamn idiot, I’m serious. Plus… she at least likes you a little bit? She called you cute, didn’t she?”

You smile softly. Even though Soonmi can be a handful, she’s always supportive when you need her to be.

Before you get the chance to tell her so, there’s a knock on your door. You hear your mother answer it, and your stomach drops down to your feet.

“Oh fuck, I gotta go, she’s here.” You don’t wait for her response, hanging up and bouncing to your feet. Soonmi will understand, she’s done the same thing to you a bunch of times. Usually that’s when she has boys over, but still.

You straighten your skirt and blanche as you realize you have the first few buttons of your blouse undone, something you’d done as you’d taken off your bowtie when you’d come home.

There’s no time to fix it though, because your door swings open. Your mother smiles at you, before shuffling Yoonji inside your room and closing the door as the exits.

Yoonji’s still in her uniform, and she gives you a once over, her eyes lingering at the top of your shirt. Then she takes a cursory look around your room, smirking slightly at it.

“This is cute.” She says. “Just what I imagined your room to look like.”

You don’t respond, and Yoonji doesn’t expect you to. Still though, your cheeks heat up at the thought of Yoonji imagining being here, in your room.

“So,” she says, taking a seat on the edge of your bed, crossing her legs demurely, since she’s still in her uniform as well. “What were your plans on the election. How are we going to announce our partnership?”

“W-Well, by this time next week I have to report my running mate to--”

“No, that’s not quickly enough. It’s already public that Jimin is running with that girl. They can’t be afforded any more of a headstart than the one that they already have.”

“You’re really taking this seriously, huh? Thank you.” You blurt out, and you feel your cheeks redden more at your careless words.

“Are you going to keep standing in the middle of the room?” Yoonji scoffs in response, choosing not to acknowledge what you’d said. “You’re being annoying. Come here.” She reaches out and grabs your forearm, pulling you toward the bed with surprising strength.

Her touch catches you off guard and you stumble a bit, tripping and awkwardly crashing into Yoonji’s body. She heaves an exasperated sigh as she easily steadies you, her arms catching your hips and maneuvering you easily into the space next to her on the bed. Much to your surprise, she doesn’t admonish you for your clumsiness, and in your mortification, you’re too overwhelmed to apologize either.

She doesn’t seem to care either way, though, and as she lets out another sigh, you realize how close you are to her.

You scooch yourself back quickly, crossing your legs and sitting so you can face the older girl before you. Yoonji moves as well, shifting to rest gently on her hips so she can face you as well. You’re unsure of what to say, and Yoonji trails one of her hands through her short dark hair. You’re struck with a pang of jealousy at how beautiful she is. No wonder all the boys at school are trying to sleep with her.

“So?” She tries again, with slightly less patience. “Do you know how we can announce our running together? Or do I have to come up with that on my own?”

“N-No, I can think of something!” You retort. “What if we just… old school announced it over the intercom at the beginning of the day? Soonmi does morning announcements so…”

Yoonji nods swiftly.

“Fine. And another thing… about your buttons…” She says, glancing to the visible one she can see adorning your backpack.

“What about my buttons?” You’re immediately defensive, you can’t help it. You worked hard on those buttons! Yoonji can’t come in here and just take over completely? The buttons are important to you!

“Relax, princess.” She says, and a shiver shoots up your back at her pet name. “They’re cute,” her eyes briefly rake over you, “like you. I don’t want to change them. I was going to say, don’t you think we should add my name to them too?”

“Y-You like my buttons…?” You question incredulously.

“Yes.”

“And… you want your name to be on my buttons?”

“Yes.”

“With my name and everything?” Your heartbeat, which had been racing like a rabbit’s since Yoonji had entered your room, was now pounding. Soaring, almost. You aren’t sure why the prospect of Yoonji’s name sitting snugly with yours was so appealing, but as your cheeks flush once more, you can’t deny that the thought makes you happy.

“Of course. I’m running with you, aren’t I?” She huffs.

In an uncontrollable gesture, you leap at her, wrapping your arms around her neck and hugging tightly. She’s visibly taken aback by the gesture, and you immediately feel her hands venture to your hips to push you off of her. She hesitates though, and at the happy little squeak you emit, she changes course and wraps her arms around you as well.

The hug is brief, but you don’t think you’ve ever felt happier. You whine slightly as Yoonji undoes her arms from around your waist, holding onto her neck tightly, unwilling to lose the moment. Her movements are gentle at first, but soon she becomes impatient.

You’re not quite sure how it happens, but Yoonji flips you quickly, your back pressing into the bed beneath you as she hovers above you, your arms still around her neck.

You’re paralyzed, Yoonji’s dark eyes piercing into yours. She slowly pulls your hands off of her, but pins them down to the bed in a word of warning.

“Don’t be a brat, princess.” She whispers. “You wont like what happens.”

“Y-Yoonji, w-what are you--” you stutter, trying to rationalize what had just happened.

“I have to leave.” She says, again in that uncharacteristically quiet voice. “I’ll come back tomorrow. After we’ve announced we’re running. We can talk more then.”

With that Yoonji is up, and out of your room before you can even bid her a proper goodbye.

You however, are still frozen on your bed. Wondering what the actual fuck just happened.

Yoongi stumbles into his house blindly. It’s just late enough for him to be shrouded in darkness when he enters, but he doesn’t mind. He lets his back fall against the door and tries to breathe. He needs to get a fucking hold of himself.

He’s never been more grateful to have parents who are never home.

He dashes up to his room, locking the door behind him as he enters. Geez, you had really gotten under his skin - metaphorically and literally, he supposes. He’d known you were cute, obviously. That’s why he even bothered to listen to you talking in the first place. And then the idea of Jimin losing to him was too good to pass up, that aggravating creep. He just couldn’t get a clue, no matter how many times Yoongi rebuked his advances. Yoongi had almost blown the whole thing one day, when he had had enough. How satisfying, he imagined, it would be to watch Jimin’s face twist in horror when he learned that Yoongi had a dick, was a man…

If only that was a possibility.

You though, were another story. Yoongi had noticed you the year before. You had always been kind of popular, but after you broke up with your long term boyfriend, your popularity had  skyrocketed again. Yoongi had admired the way you’d politely declined all the skeevy teenaged school boys’ advances. He was never that nice to them.

He knew you were pretty, he wasn’t blind. But he tried to respect you. He didn’t like getting leered at, so he imagined you sure as hell didn’t. Especially when you were actually helpless when he wasn’t. So he kept his distance.

Plus there was that whole thing where he was a girl, or whatever.

But today, god. It was too much for him to deny, really. You were so nervous around him, and he hated that it turned him on, but it did. He chalked it up to unavoidable exposure to toxic masculinity or something. But damn if you didn’t look cute as hell, stuttering away, blushing. All because of him - or… her, as it were.

And your room. Your pretty pink room. Fuck, he was just one man. How many fantasies could one girl encompass? You were going to be the death of him.

He flops down on his bed, pressing his forearm down over his eyes. For a few moments, his mind stays blissfully empty, but soon enough, you pop back in.

You always looked so fucking happy when he gave you what you wanted. That cute little smile that scrunched up your nose a bit. Jesus, he’d really give you just about anything if you’d always smile like that. It was almost as good as when you blushed.

And it was so so easy to get you to blush. The red colored your cheeks and trailed down your neck. Yoongi couldn’t help but wonder just how low that flush would dip.

His dick twitched in his tight boxer shorts at the thought and he groans in annoyance. Still though, he allows himself the pleasure of trailing his hand down to the hem of his uniform’s skirt, flipping it up, and palming over his semi-hard length.

Yoongi thought of the tantalizing way your shirt had been unbuttoned; just two innocent little buttons and it had his mouth watering. He could imagine your sighs and gasps as he unbuttoned it the rest of the way. Soft little mewls escaping from you as his mouth explored inch upon inch of newly exposed skin. You would whine his name, he’s sure, in that sweet, soft, lilting voice of yours. Just begging him to touch you properly, to make you feel good, in your own innocent way.

He thrust his tights and boxers down his legs, throwing both over the side of the bed. He hated those tights, and it only added to his arousal to have them off. Yoongi slowly trailed his fingers up his thighs, the way he imagined you would. Your shy little hands shaking slightly as you try to work up the courage to touch him properly.

When he finally grasps his length in his hand, he lets out a shaky breath. In his mind’s eye, you are looking at him. You’re wide eyes meeting his.

“Y-Yoongi, is this okay?” You ask and he nods, trailing his fingers along your jaw to ease your nerves. Then there was that smile from you again.

That devastating smile.

“You’re so big, Yoongi,” you coo, and Yoongi allows his hand to speed up slightly, and he lets out a small grunt.

You’re under him again, his fantasy rapidly changing, It was still so vivid in his mind, the way you had looked so shocked and adorably confused. And when he’d held your hands down, he had felt the proverbial nail in his fucking coffin. You’d unknowingly squeezed your thighs together, Yoongi had felt the movement against his thighs.

Yoongi had gotten hard right there. The skirt that was now hiked up around his waist only did so much to hide it and he couldn’t let you see. So he’d run.

He’d left you there all wet and wanting. Not that you even realized it yet. He was Yoonji afterall. He’d never heard of you swinging that way.

He wants to fuck you in your school skirt, and he hates himself for it. But he just knows that his dick would look perfect pressing into your tight pussy, your panties pushed to the side and your skirt still sitting on your hips. Maybe you’ll even let him fuck you at school. Let him cum inside of you and walk around the rest of the day smelling like him.

His hand twisted as the images in his head got dirtier and dirtier; you crawling into his lap and moving your hips, grinding. Throwing your head back as his name spilled from your lips over and over again; your perfect rosey mouth wrapped around his length, your eyes watering as he uses your hair to fuck into your throat. But he knows you’ll love it, he just fucking knows you would; Him spanking your ass till it was as red as your face got when he talked to you; He imagined Jimin walking in on the two of you, leaving horrified as he realizes the two most fuckable girls in school were fucking each other; Him eating out your sweet pussy whenever he wants. In school closests, on top of your pretty pink bedspread, in public restrooms; You begging him to let you cum, to fuck you good and hard like no one else had before, to fill you up with his cum and make sure the only thing you could remember was how good it felt to get pounded by his cock; your sweet voice keening in his ear as he fucked you, “Yoongi, Yoongi, please cum inside of me, god! I need to feel you! Want you to fill me up!” The thought of such a good girl, his good girl, getting dirty just for him, only for him.

“Oh fuck.”

Yoongi cums suddenly, with a sharp grunt. It’s an earth-shattering orgasm, one he was sure would only be topped by actually fucking you.

He’s soiled his uniform, he notices as he calms down. God fucking damn it, what in the hell were you doing to him?! Now he had laundry to do.

A/N: Haha, here you go! I’m super into Yoonji. Also, I am sorry to leave it on such a.... note. Let me know what you think ;)

[drexodthegunslinger]

Why is it only Cayde you focus on? What about other destiny characters?

Okay, that’s a fair point. Let’s go shall we?

1: The Speaker.

Said literally three things in the entire franchise. He told you to fight but that we can’t win, he gave a speech nobody listened to because we were all thinking “is this it? Really?”, and then he told Ghaul to kill himself. Yeah the Speaker dies but who really gives a shit? We’re not given any reason to care are we?

2: Zavalla.

Apparently this boy does not understand promotions. “We killed all the Cabal leaders, why are they not gone?” Idk mate, maybe because that’s not how that works. “We stepped into a war with the cabal” yeah and you’re doing pretty shit mate. Sure he’s supposedly busy managing and planning shit, but really it doesn’t translate well in game. He might as well have two lines in the entire game where he alternates between “mah walls” and “we stepped into a war with the cabal” and he’d be the same.

3: Ikora.

Good in the crucible apparently? All she does these days is stand around looking stern and running an intelligence group that can be brought to a grinding halt by a fucking storm. Ikora, listen, if your satellites can’t withstand a storm they’re not much use are they?

4: Cayde.

TLDR, Bungie killed your fave.

5: Eris.

Creepy Hive lady. Very convenient for her to turn up in time for the Hive DLC’s and then disappear when they weren’t at the forefront. Will admit, I was mildly surprised she wasn’t brought back for the Warmind DLC because it has Hive. What did she really do though? She gave us some advice on Hive, had her shit stolen, and was looked down on by pretty much everyone. Only redeemable feature I can thing of is the rule 34 fan art of her which is great if you like generic rule 34 art where the woman’s chest and ass are exaggerated to shit.

Speaking of which, Bungie, I know the Destiny Franchise takes place in a period where food shortages are probably frequent, but mix it up with your fucking character designs. Not everyone is the same height and build you cowards.

6: At this point my mind went blank and I had to google “destiny characters”

7: Ghost.

Look at what the Speaker did. It took a multitool and gave it sentience.

The Ghost is really inconsistent, let’s be real. You want me to hack a lazer grid on earth, sure but that’s going to take precisely three waves of enemies and you’d better not miss one. You want me to access Cabal consoles on our very first time accessing the computer shit of an alien that likely has a numerical system that works off of base 3? Easy shit, no waiting involved.

Yeah, the “talk to your ghost” thing was great and honestly, I liked that. It was a moment for you to sit down ant talk to your Ghost, the one constant companion you have. It was a good moment.

And then they go right back to alternating between being a torch and a lockpick.

Bungie really fucked up with the Ghost-Guardian interaction in vanilla D2. The two of them nearly died, Light was lost, and the two don’t sit down and have a “talk to ghost” moment at any point? That’s theft of a possibly great emotional moment.

8: Crota

He is bad because he kills people

9: Oryx

He is also bad because he kills people and he’s mad you killed his son who he can bring back because We didn’t destroy Crota’s soul or something?

10: The EXO Stranger

In going to find the tweet I wanted I found something worse. Luke Smith had said he felt they had wrapped up her arc and quite frankly I haven’t heard a more objectively wrong thing come out of a human beings mouth with regards to games in a long time.

But it gets worse. Because 4 fucking years later, bungie dropped clues to who she might be if you paid enough attention to the shitshow of the Warmind DLC. According to lore from the dlc and the rasputin arg, there are hints that the EXO Stranger is Ana Bray’s sister who went back in time from the future as an exo to?

No, you know what. That’s bullshit. Bungie thought they finished the exo stranger arc, which was a shambling corpse of writing itself, then learnt actually they were wrong and tried to wrap it up.

Except none of it’s confirmed and explains nothing. Fuck the stranger, and fuck everyone involved in the creation of her character and her arc, learn how to write a story.

11: While we’re here, Ana bray.

Bungie’s first confirmed non-straight woman. I don’t know if it was confirmed if she’s a lesbian, bi, pan, or what so I’m using non-straight until I get confirmation otherwise. Had her girlfriend introduced on the fourth day of pride in a comic where she died. Great start.

But what about Ana herself?

Honestly, I couldn’t tell you. I tried to play Warminds but the Hive ruined it because Bungie is quite frankly not great at writing their own game are they?

12: Ghaul

Quite frankly, my favourite character. I dropped enough money on D2 to get the collectors edition cabal book which gave quite a lot of backstory to the campaign, however I’ll keep this to what Bungie actually make accessible in their game.

He’s an arsehole. He’s just the antagonist of the day, let’s be real. To understand that his behaviours and attitudes might somewhat stem from how he was shunned in mainstream cabal society and how this loneliness and bitterness from being an orphan as well as a runt was used to manipulate him into being how he is today, is completely lost on anyone who didn’t read his lore.

The game doesn’t put any significant thought into him on the actual disc that you play because, like Crota, like Oryx, like Skolas, he’s just an episodic villain.

13: Osiris.

Local Man Who Says He Doesn’t Need Help, Actually Needs Help.

How bad was this dlc? I mean, sure, we ran through the same area repeatedly, killed a Vex reskin of Oryx, and watched a Cabal jump on a vex. Twice. Once in a mission and again in a strike.

I can’t think of what Osiris did in this DLC except think he was able to do this himself, and then be the only reason we could damage Oryx- I mean, uh Panoptes.

Wait. Did they give a Vex guy that tries to simulate all the universes a name after an ancient Greek figure who was the source of the “eyes of Argus” stuff? I think they did.

14: Panoptes.

Bungie aren’t even trying at this point. He’s just Vex Oryx.

15: Amanda Holiday.

She has a robotic leg, an american(?) accent, and didn’t stop Cayde from doing his stupid bullshit plan that she knew was illegal. She also had a quest for an exotic shotgun that makes her different from other vendors. I get that as a vendor she doesn’t need an in depth backstory but Bungie, come on. If you’re going to make her important to parts of the story, give us reason to care about her.

16: Tess Eververse

Is there an actual ingame reason for her to be there? Is Silver explained? Is Bright Dust? As far as I can tell, no. Literally bolted on because Activision couldn’t let EA one-up them in microtransaction bullshittery.

17: Mara Sov

Cold, aloof, had fallen as pets. Was it confirmed how dead she is?

18: Uldren Sov

The only episodic villain I like aside from Ghaul. Uldren is great once you realise that he is how he is because of a bitterness towards Guardians. I mean, we turned up in his house demanding stuff, and the City on at least one occasion, let the Reef take a big loss for us with no acknowledgement. I can understand why he’d be pissed off in the first place and if he was somewhat possessed then sure that’s not going to help.

Most people are just pissed with him because he killed Cayde, but now he’s back as a Guardian that anger seems to have calmed. I’ve stopped playing the game since Warminds and I can’t say for anything that happened since, and while I hope Uldren as a Guardian grows as a character I won’t hold my breath.

19: Variks.

He stayed loyal to the reef and was helpful for a brief stint before we all shamed him for his mine dismantling kink.

20: Is that it?

I can’t think of anyone else. Sure, there are vendors and other side characters, but honestly, those are cardboard cutouts of a character with no depth of anything to them.

Sure, you could say “but drexmun, what about The Drifter, or the Spider, or Obb the Soulcarver?”

And I would say “yes, but two of those are from after I stopped playing the game and I can’t make an analysis on characters I know nothing about, and also you leave Obb out of this.”

[opalai-pixel-witch]

Part 2 ;)

“I don’t know about Anubis, but Life reviving people without Shreds makes sense to me o: I think that Pesto might have seen or heard rumors about Death doing that, but she doesn’t know everything about how to do it so she’s just like “you throw the Shred at the dead person and they come to life, done” :P Not to mention the fact that while Death is doing the spell on peoples’ souls, Pesto did it on Bjørn’s body, so I bet that has to factor in somehow too >o> Death’s probably been making these “deals” for a long time so he must have gotten the hang of it by now |D”

-- According to the comic, Anubis receiving Shreds for reviving people, so it must be an ability of his own, he doesn't need anything else

About how Pesto knows about Death's work, it must be something more personal, I mean, they are work mates, surely she has seen him but she never pres attention to him and she assumed that you said XD Although I don't think to do the spell on a soul or a body make a difference, Death cast a spell on the body of Salmon guy and he came out well, traumatized, but he's fine. Same, the state of the body is still different, Salmon guy died for an instant and Bjorn for a thousand years.

This is going to sound "muy flashero" (very random) my friends would say but, I think being able to tear the paper is a way of symbolizing your soul has an escape, that is, at some point you are going to die, your soul is going to leave your body and like Pesto didn't rips the paper, it's like Bjorn's soul has no way out, he's never going to leave, he's never going to die

Death would say something like "I've been working for an eternity, literally" I'm sure Death has been working since life exists, so he must know a lot ;)

  “That’s what I’ve been thinking too—then again, in the gerbil comic Death says “I be too young to die!” which sort of implies that it may still be a danger for them??? Some mysterious circumstances that not even the immortal know about >o>”

-- And here I come with another random theory! :D Something I played with for a while: The horsemen have essences / energy inside them, something that functions as a soul but from them, this essence can be removed by rituals, sacred places or things, or mystical creatures, this is very complex and it can happen the horseman only loses its personality or becomes an inert pile of bones (in my case, I thought Death stumbled in a sacred place and there he lost part of his essence, and returned with his mates in a more somber way wearing his old black robe)

And another thing is, that it makes more sense, he was simply exaggerating, PP's humor is based on irony and we can say "I can think of at least two things wrong with that line" (Simpsons joke):

- Death isn't young, I would say Death is as old as the Earth or more;

- He cannot die because he is a skeleton and the skeletons are already dead XD

  “Yeah, I can picture it now—a fight or something’s broken out in Hell and as War is getting her weapons ready Death jumps in front of her and he’s all “YOU GOTTA GET THROUGH ME FIRST IF YOU WANNA HURT HER, YO!” only for whatever’s threatening them to just toss him aside and War’s just like “Death…let me handle this stuff, okay?” |D”

-- What would actually happen is he would try to fight against that thing and end up very hurt cuz fighting isn't his thing, and that's where War tells him to leave it to her XD

"Aaahh I’m really sorry to hear that! I hope my writing hasn’t been too difficult ;;_;; English is pretty much the only language I’m fluent in, but I can definitely understand it being a weird one to translate!"

No problem, in my school, and in almost all of them in general, they teach a very basic and structured English, it doesn't cause me problems, in fact, being on the internet I learning a lot of idioms. I hope, one day, to be able to read and speak in English from right backwards, for now I depend on the subtitles and the translator ^^;

When I can, I answer and translate the rest, it's a lot of fun talking to you ^^ ♥

--------

I have seen that, I just didn’t really understand how exactly that worked for him :P It would definitely have to be his own power though, or maybe things work differently in the Egyptian afterlife? Again, I haven’t really taken the time to research this stuff >_>

She has a talent for ignoring/brushing off what other people say, if she doesn’t care about what you’re talking about she will let it be known |D Now that you mention it though, that does sound right, I didn’t even consider that part when I wrote to you earlier o: It was a pretty quick scene to be fair, so it was easy for that to slip my mind

That makes a lot of sense to me, also I wonder if the state of Bjørn’s body when she resurrected him has anything to do with his condition? The scene where Bjørn decides to put it back together before passing on is quite strange I think, is he actually reattaching them there or…what’s really happening?? Because I’m pretty sure it’s impossible to reattach a severed limb to a body just like that, especially with only your bare hands >o>

I feel that maybe his body constantly falling apart after his revival might have less to do with Pesto’s botched spell and more to do with the shape it was in after he died, a bit like those souls you see getting jobs from the gatekeeper in Manual Samuel (I feel kinda bad for them too…do they have to feel that pain or deal with that injury all throughout their afterlife?? I’m thinking about that one Helheim Hassle trailer with the impaled guy, uuuughhh) Again I fail to see how his limbs would remain attached to his body after just putting them back where they were but maybe after he died and came back to life his body adjusted himself somehow so that it’d be slightly more resilient??? (Sorry to sidetrack from the talk of souls and resurrection to Bjørn’s body…as you can probably tell, I have no idea what I’m talking about >A>)

Hmmmm, interesting theory :o That sounds rather scary to be honest, I can’t imagine what losing one’s personality would feel like…I just hope that the hypothetical inert pile of bones wouldn’t have any awareness, I hate “and I must scream”-type situations ;;OAO;;

It seems like that line from MST3K applies to a lot of PP stuff: “Just repeat to yourself, it’s just a show, I should really just relax” |D

He doesn’t care if he’s not as skilled in fighting, he will do his best for the one he loves!! Even though they’d both really be better off if he just let her handle it :P

Just be sure to go at your own pace and not push yourself too hard ^_^ It’s a lot of fun talking with you too!!

[toughguywithbossygirlfriend]

What if ... ?

First, I want to say that I was actually considering to post this on both the wonderbat and the wondertrev tag as some kind of peace offering, some kind of bridge between the two ships, but the more I read their hateful and self decieving posts the less I think they would be able to accept any peace offerings. I would dare to say it must be a young, thus very passionate,  public who discovered Diana Prince through the movie. They are bashing on wonderbat and batman and have no idea that their dreams may actually been crushed to death with Diana Prince killing their beloved Steve Trevor during the movie Flashpoint (that is if the movie makers will dare to use the real comic/animation story). I could tell them to chill down because they are lucky that until Flashpoint Diana was still symbol of hope, compassion and feminism after that ... polygamy with Aquaman, cold blooded murder of his wife, not to mention the whole SuperCheezyWonderThing ... but I can’t find it in myself to deny them the time left until the upcoming Flashpoint movie.

It must be my “Batman” side : staying in the shadows, percieved as the bad guy, the “asshole” or the “dickbag” as they call Bruce Wayne, but still watching over them from the darkness and making sure they don’t get hurt ...

So, only for the Wonderbats and more specifically for those who like “past wondertrev” and “today’s wonderbat”, here it is ...

What if Steve Trevor's eternal soul was mated to Diana's ?

Its a bit sad to see wondertrev bashing so much over wonderbat even if with Diana's immortal life it makes sense. I have the feeling most Wondertrev mix up the face of Chris Pine with Steve Trevor. He is just an actor and the next time someone else could play his role. The fact that some people try to pair her up with Captain Kirk is a sign that they actually ship more Chris Pine then Steve Trevor. Remember William Shatner was James Tiberius Kirk a Hell of a lot longer than Chris Pine. Diana Prince with William Shatner ?

But that's not the point here. Lets use our imagination a bit and look at things with another perspective.

What if Diana's father Zeus decided to ground his Immortal daughter by bonding her with an ever returning mortal's soul ?

Note : a similar concept has been used in DC’s “Dark Days : the Forge”  a prelude to the “Metal” event, except it is the Nth Metal that brings Carter Hall and his mate Princess Sheira into a cycle of contineous re-incarnations from ancient egypt back to the current time.

Zeus could have decided to give his daughter eternal love, but eternal loss as well to remind her the weaknesses of the mortals, to remind her every time that she needs to protect them. Zeus knowing how hard it is some times to keep peace between genders but that if you make it right it can be the most beautiful of relatioships ... He knows himself and Hera aren't the best examples, but he knows someone needs to show the mortal human beings how to do it right so he binds her immortal soul whith the one of a human mortal man that will return only when her loss has been settled and the time has come for her to find a man's love again.

Steve Trevor died a hero in the movie during WWI, and his soul departed that body. Now lets just imagine that 100 Years after this first loss Diana is ready again to open up, so Steve Trevor's soul returns in a new different body. A body that is able to fight at her side the new immense threats that she will face, just like his previous incarnation did during WWI. Maybe some of you have already seen stories with different incarnations of souls ? Then you know the incarnations don't have the same names (they have often the same face because it is easier for people to understand the concept but they actually should have different faces as well ... only the soul is eternal not the body) Lets imagine that, this time Steve Trevor's soul find his incarnation as the boy of a wealty physician. To be up to the task of sharing Diana's upcoming future, the boy gets genious level intelligence and he needs to be the most capable of mortal man in combat. He has to be hardened to face a world where threats are overpowering any other mortal and no matter how broken he gets in the process, Diana will be able to heal him slowly with her love.

Steve Trevor's soul will enable this man to be selfless and sacrifice his own life for others without a second thought. He will save the day even if that means leaving Diana to save the World. this new Steve Trevor will believe in justice, and truth and fight for it without ever backing down. And his new name will be Bruce Wayne.

If you look again at all the movies from BvS to WW and the Justice League with this perspective you get a Hell of a Fantastic Romance:

Imagine Steve Trevor and Bruce Wayne’s Soul is one and the same and then remember the moment they see each other for the first time after a 100 years at Luthor's meeting. The moment their souls recognise each other. The moment he knew he could trust her and share with her the higly sensible data he uncrypted. The way Diana just can't return with her flight to Paris knowing somewhere inside of her, that this man would get killed by Doomsday because he wouldn't run away. The moment she knew she had to uncover herself to the world because he was already trying to save it alone and getting killed by doomsday's heat vision. When they meet later at Clark's burial and she decides to trust him and to tell him where she was all this time. Even when he told her that she would have to fight again she didn't run away. How Bruce Wayne couldn't get over her and had to find that Picture for her knowing deep down this was very important. How confortable he was having her in his most secret place, the batcave. How she felt at home with him. How they were tip toeing around each other still not knowing what to do with each other. Fighting together over guilty feelings but regretting it deeply the second after. Superman “deserved” to rest in peace, and again he shows her "it isn't about deserve it is about what you believe". It is about saving the world again and again. Like in the WW movie when Diana refuses to keep up the fight, he doesn’t back down. She refuses to take the lead, then he does. She refuses to raise superman, he does it anyway. She thinks Superman is gonna kill him, and he prooves her wrong with the love of Lois Lane. But this time, when he decided to “save the day” alone, attracting all the parademons and sacrificing his life to allow her to “save the world”. This time she just wouldn't let him go. Together they build the Justice League. Together they will lead it Diana on the battlefield and Bruce outside of it. They will fight together until one day, fate breaks them up again. Leaving their souls to find each other again and again for eternity ...

How is that not romantic ?

At least untill the dreaded Flashpoint kills “wondertrev” AND “wonderbat” in a row with aquawonder followed by superwonder or whatever other “Justice league member”wonder DC sees fit ... maybe we get lucky and they won’t do to Diana what they did to her in the comics.

[everlarkficexchange]

Tripple Dog Date Him!

Written by: @alliswell21

Prompt #57: Katniss is dared to ask nerdy!Peeta out on a date, she ends up actually enjoying her time with him. By: Anonymous.

Rated: T for some language.

Triggers: None

Word Count: Around 7500

Summary: Katniss has known of Peeta Mellark since they were little, but not until her roommate Johanna decides Katniss has had a too long hiatus from the dating scene, she dares speak to the boy.

This piece has not been betaed. All mistakes are mine.  

I make my way to Greasy Sae’s, the diner I work at five days a week; I get a discount on my bill if I eat here… the life of a college student doesn’t support luxuries, like passing up ‘discounted prices’ on hearty meals and if Old Sae, the owner of the diner, is here without her watchful granddaughter, my meals become free, which is an even better value for my wallet.

My friend and roommate, Johanna, is already seated at our usual booth, so I make my way towards her and slide in on my side of the bench. We don’t speak, merely grunting our greetings to each other and burying our noses on the sticky menu we already know by heart. Jo introduced me to Sae, that’s how I got the job of waitress at her fine establishment, which means, Jo gets free meals too, making Sae’s diner our favorite place to eat.

The old woman comes herself to our table and sits a mug of mint tea in front of me and a cherry Coke in front of Jo.

“You girls need a second to peruse the menu, or should I just go ahead and bring out your usual?”

We both look at old Sea’s smirking face, and say “Usual” at the same time, which causes the old lady to guffaw all the way back to the kitchen.

Having nothing better to do, we go back at staring at the menu.

Johanna and I had a little impasse this morning, and we are giving the cold shoulder to each other. Or at least I thought we were.

“Was the night you went out with Gale, the last time you went out on a date?” She asks breaking the icy standoff.

I scrunch up my face, “Nah. I went to that frat party with Darius. A big, fat waste of my time.” I sigh remembering the disaster that date was.

“Mhmm.” She’s frowning at the chili section of the menu, then she clears her throat, “Fine, then it’s high time you went out on a date. That debacle with Darius was almost four months ago.”

“I don’t wanna go on a date!” I protest slapping the menu onto the table.

“Why not? You go on a date, I get the dorm to myself for a few hours where I can invite some willing guy, to get me off this dry spell… both figuratively and literally!” she places her own menu down delicately, staring me down.

“No!” I cross my arms over my chest like a brat.

“Why?”

“There aren’t any guys I’d like to go out with!” I say harshly.

“Then try a girl. I’ve always say, there’s fun in diversity,”

“I’m not attracted to girls, Johanna,”

“Then I’ll choose a dude for you, Brainless. What do you say?” She grins deviously.

“I said no!” I stomp my foot under the table, but she’s on a mission.

Johanna scoots upwards in her bench, and her eyes make a wide scan of the place. Is a Sunday evening, and the diner offers student specials when the cafeteria at campus is close on the weekends. The place is packed with kids from every year.

“Aha!” Johanna shouts delighted, “Him!”

I turn, only because of morbid curiosity forces my head, but once I locate the guy she’s pointing at, I snort derisively.

“Big fat no!” I tell her.

“What’s wrong with Jack Marvel?” She asks arching an eyebrow.

“Ugh! No. He was in my literature class freshmen year, he’s got two cockroaches playing ping-pong in his head instead of brains. Pass!”

“O-kaaaay…” she looks around the room. “Ooh! I got it!”

I look again, and this time it takes me a second longer to shut down her candidate.

“I’m not going out with Alexander Cato. He’s a misogynistic pig! He got offended because I got top marks on our last math test. He called me a cheat, even though he was the one asking every soul in the room, what they had answered on number four. Parasite!”

“But you looked at him. That means we are on the right track,” Jo says shrugging one shoulder.

“He’s okay looking, if you ignore what a big jerk he actually is.”

“So, you like blondes now?”

I scowl at her teasing tone and roll my eyes. “I don’t really have a type per say… I actually thought it was someone else until I realized his shoulders weren’t the right breadth,”

“What does that even mean?” She asks arching a brow, and I know I’ve said too much.  

“Nothing. It means nothing.”

“Fine, how about…” she pauses for a moment.

I don’t like how easily she’s dropped the subject. She’s never this easy. Then, I see a broad smile form on her lips before she looks back at me.

“I found the perfect guy,” she mock whispers.

I’m scrambling up, trying to twist all the way around to see who she’s talking about, then I cackle at her choice.

“Puh-lease!” I chant, “Odair? Are you serious? Get real, Johanna! What makes you think I’ll even try it?”

“Okay, now what’s wrong with Finnick?” She actually looks indignant. “I’ll have you know, Finn and I go way back, and he’s an alright dude!”

I roll my eyes, “If you must know, Finnick Odair is too pretty. He knows he’s pretty and takes advantage of it. I wouldn’t touch his narcissistic ass with a ten foot pole, even if he was the last guy left in school. He’s too easy to get, or maybe too easy to lose… I haven’t decided which is worse yet.”

“You’re wrong about Finn,” Johanna says annoyedly, “He’s engaged to his high school sweetheart. He might be a big flirt, but he’s no cheater.”

“Then why did you pointed him out as an option?” I ask aggravated.

“I didn’t.” She hisses, “I was pointed at the guy sitting with him.” And like that, the smirk is back on her face.

I turn in my seat, straining my neck to see who’s she talking about.

I freeze.

Then just as fast as I turned to look, I drop into my bench and try to shrink myself as small as I can.

I can’t believe Johanna!

She starts chuckling quietly, no doubt laughing at my discomfort.

“So? What do you think of my pick, Kitty Kat?” She asks.

I glare at her. “No.” I grit between my teeth.

She whines, “Awww. Why? He’s got everything you kind of like,” she says smirking, “actual brains in his head, sparkling baby blue eyes, muscles that go on forever, a boyish smile, and that wavy ashy mop of blonde hair covering his nerdy brain!” She laughs full on, “He’s perfect!”

I turn back to spy on him and make sure he’s not aware we’re talking about him. Lousy Johanna is right. He is pretty perfect, and completely out of the question, don’t get me started on how out my league he is.

“That is an absolute ‘hell no!’” I say through gritted teeth.

To my horror, Johanna waves.

“What are you doing?” I screech trying and failing to lunge myself across the table to stop her.

“What? Stop!” She snaps. “I’m just trying to get Sae’s attention you maniac!”

I cover my face with my hands in embarrassment, and plop sideways into the bench.

“Jeez! If I knew little baker boy had your panties in such a tight knot I would’ve made you talk to him sooner.” She bites, not one bit amused.

“I- he- is not that. He’s out of bounds.” I say lamely.

“Out of bounds?” She repeats staring at me as if I’ve sprouted a second head, “what are you talking about?”

I take a deep breath to calm myself. “My friend Delly, she’s always had her eye on him. They were next door neighbors growing up, their parents still live next to each other. They were very good friends. She always got invited to his place to play with his action figures. They used to exchange comic books, even though Delly couldn’t care less about them, her brother used to tell her all she needed to know to get by.”

Johanna is still staring at me as if I just said the stupidest thing ever. Which she promptly voices after I’ve finally gone mute.

“That’s ridiculous, Brainless. You won’t ask a guy out because a girl you knew in elementary school had a crush on him?” Her tone is disbelieving. “Isn’t Delly the one girl with the humongous boobs?” She asks.

“Yeah, so?”

“Last time we went to your house, she was talking non stop about this Thom guy she met at work. She sounded pretty serious about him, Katniss.” She says in a patronizing tone I hate.

“Jo, you don’t understand. Peeta Mellark and I have nothing in common, other than we come from the same town. But I grew up on the wrong side of the tracks so to speak, while he was the rare, golden boy, who could be both a brainiac- debate club president-  and a jock- wrestling champ- at the same time, and everyone loved. Me– I wasn’t popular. Hell, I would’ve believed I was unlikable, if it hadn’t been for Gale, Delly and Madge insisting on sitting with me at lunch all through high school. I have no business messing with that boy.” I deflate.

Sae places our food in front of us, and I smile at her gratefully, because Johanna is nothing but a one mind track sort of being, she’ll drop the whole thing once she starts eating, and then she’ll concentrate in the next thing that happens, except, she doesn’t.

Johanna finishes her greasy double steakburger with cheese, sucking a stranded piece of finely sliced onion into her mouth as if it was a single spaghetti noodle with a pop at the end.

I try not watch her disgusting eating habits while I try to finish up with my bowl of lamb stew over rice, poking around for a plum. I believe I may be the only patron under sixty to ever order the stew, but it just reminds me of home in rainy days, but my peace is disturbed when my dinner mate starts slurping obnoxiously the last dregs of her soda through her chewed up straw.

I glare at her, she knows I hate it when she does that, but she smirks, letting me know every nasty sound she’s made in the last five minutes were all for my benefit. Sometimes is easy to for me to see Johanna as the annoying older sister I’m grateful I never had.    

“So,” she says smacking her lips loudly, “I’ve been thinking.”

I groan, sliding my food away from me. It’s never a good thing when Johanna’s sentences start with ‘I’ve been thinking’, so I brace myself for whatever crazy idea has been floating around her idle mind.

“I believe is time for you to go on a date, so I can go forth and get laid.”

“Oh please, Johanna, don’t be crass–”

“No, no! Hear me out.” She toots haughtily rising her hand. “I know you don’t believe in casual sex- hell, I know you didn’t give it up to Gale, and he’s been after that shit since he could jerk off–”

“JOHANNA! Good grief.” I hiss, “I don’t think the people in the table across the diner heard you! Could you, please, mind your words?” I shake my head, because she looks too gleeful when she shrugs.

“Fine, have it your way Mother Teresa. As I was saying, it is my expert opinion, that is in both our best interests if you went out on a date. I seriously don’t care who you go out with, as long as you let me have the dorm to myself for a couple of hours.” And then, she pulls her big guns against me: her huge, brown puppy dog eyes! “Pretty please with a cherry on top?” she sounds pitiful.

I rub my face with both my hands, and finally acquiesce to her pleads. I hate the smug, pleased smile she throws at me right after, but I figure she’s right. I haven’t been out on a date since forever, not that I date much, but nothing can go as wrong as Darius puking on me- twice- in less than thirty minutes, which was how long it took me to drop him off at the Campus infirmary after confirming his food poisoning. I shudder at the memory.

We leave our booth, and shuffle behind a group of giggling sorority girls trying to skip on their meal check, but Sae fixes them with her deadly accurate impersonation of a neapolitan mastiff- the breed is truly harmless, but so intimidating. When she sees us standing there, she waves us off smiling and saying we our dinner was on the house, causing the sorority sister to glare daggers at us and a male full laugh to bubble up behind us.

I turn around to see who’s the idiot that actually dares to piggyback a laugh on our moment, and I’m surprised to find myself face to face with the most stunning ocean green eyes I’ve ever seen in my life, accompanied by the whitest, sparkliest perfect row of teeth, in the history of the world. Damn that Finnick Odair is unreal.  

“Great! Good going Finn! You broke my roommate!” says Jo next to me, except her voice is too full of mirth to be a tell off.

“Hey Jo! How’s it going sweetums?” He asks allowing his lips to fall into an easy smile, framed by dimpled cheeks.

He reaches an arm past me, and I freeze, his eyes honed on mine, which may be the size of flying saucers judging by how dry they feel right now.

“Hi there, roommate. Although I rather call you by your real name, Katniss?”

Okay. Now I’m officially in shock, the most gorgeous man on earth knows my name somehow, but we’ve never been introduced before. Who cares if he just dragged the ss at the end of my name in the most obnoxious manner ever!

He finally pulls his arm back to himself, and I see he’s got a small pile of sugar cubes on his hand. He pops a cube into his mouth and asks me in the smoothest voice I’ve ever heard directed at me, “Want a sugar cube, Katniss?”

The crunching sound he makes while chewing, finally brings me back to earth. I frown at the noise and take a step back.

“Leave her alone, would you?” says another voice, male, deep, not truly harsh, but still rings like a command.

Finnick’s megawatt smile dims immediately, his eyes do a quick take of who spoke and then turns back to me, with a friendly grin. He step back, popping another sugar cube into his mouth he most likely stole from the counter behind me.

But I’m back to catatonic state, staring at my knight in shining armour, giving his friend a stern look before facing me, but as usual, Jo has to be the one to open her loud mouth.

“Hey there, handsome,” She says in a sugary tone. When Peeta ‘freaking’ Mellark doesn’t answer, she turns to his companion, “Hey Finn, does your friend have a name?” she asks coyly.

Finnick laughs, “Of course, Jo!” He obliges before I can turn to give Jo a searing glare of death.

She knows full well who Finnick’s friend is.

“This is Peeta Mellark. Outstanding dude, my best friend, second only to Annie herself, and my roommate.” He turns to Peeta, who’s eyes keep flicking back and forth between me and Finnick. “Peet, this Johanna Mason a long time friend of mine, and you know this lovely lady standing next to Jo is–”

“Katniss Everdeen.” Peeta finishes the sentence apparently out of breath, while Finnick’s lips lift on a devilish grin he can’t quite hide fast enough. But Peeta keeps talking, bringing my spasmic attention back to him. “Very nice to finally meet you. I’ve heard many great things about you from Dells.”

My response is to nod followed by a very pitiful “Likewise,” that comes out as strained and congested. It’s not my fault, really. He’s taken my hand in his to shake, and I’m overwhelmed by how warm and big it feels around my own. As soon as he lets go of it, I wipe it on my pant leg because suddenly my palms are sweating uncontrollably immediately regret my action, because I don’t want to wipe away the feeling of his touch just yet.

“So, tonight is Peet’s turn to pick up the check, and I figured I’d ask if we could take yours as well, lovely ladies… but I see Old Sae beat me to the punch,” Finnick says sending a smile to Sae still sitting behind the register.

The old woman, cackles mirthfully, “You can still do the gentlemanly thing and pay for the girls’ grub, you know.” But since she’s still laughing when Peeta passes her his credit card, we all know she wont charge him for our food.

Jo thanks Finnick and Peeta anyway for their offer, which I would’ve refused anyway if it came down to it. I like free meals and all, but a girl has to have some dignity.

Jo and Finn truly are friends, and for some crazy reason decide on staying in the middle of the diner lobby catching up. I catch Peeta’s eyes several time, but he averts his eyes so fast is a wonder he hasn’t lost one those baby-blues so far. My face starts to feel warm with his confusing attention, and I start to squirm as sweat starts to bead on my forehead and around the collar of my shirt. I need to get out of this place quickly, before I do something stupid, like tell Peeta Mellark I used to have a crush on him almost my whole childhood.

I’m grateful when we finally part ways after an awkward goodbye exchange between me and everyone else. I practically run in the direction of campus, listening how Johanna turns down Finnick’s offer to drive us back to our dorm. Apparently Finnick Odair and Peeta Mellark are living in a rented house with two more guys somewhere close by, I just don’t sit there long enough to learn any details.

Johanna finally catches up with me, and while I try to ignore her pointed stares, I know that sooner or later she’s gonna open her mouth to say whatever crazy thing she thinks she just saw, so I don’t give her a chance.

“I’m not gonna ask him out on a date, if that’s what you are thinking about.” I say firmly.

“Oh come on! The guy couldn’t keep his eyes off you, as if you were Gal Gadot in your skimpy Wonder Woman costume straight out of the big screen. Plus I didn’t say anything.” she counters nonchalantly. “Not yet at least.”

“Well, you’re wasting your time, Jo. I won’t ask him out. If he was staring at me, was probably wondering why I was staring at him like an idiot”

“You are an idiot, brainless! But fine!” she snaps grabbing my arm and forcing me to stop mid step. “Lets fix old school.” She says flatly.

“What do you mean ‘old school’?” I ask dubiously.

“You’ll see as soon as we are back in our room. And since it’s old school, there’s no ‘givesis backsis’ and no double crossing the deal. You can’t back out!” she says.

For some reason this whole conversation is so childish and immature, I chuckle, and like a chump, I agree to her ludicrous terms. Because that’s what I am: a chump.

We finally arrive home, and that’s when everything goes downhill for me.      

“Sit!” Johanna commands.

I make to sit on my desk chair, while she goes shifting stuff behind her bed, where I know she keep her hidden booze- we aren’t allowed alcohol in the dorms, but that doesn’t mean people don’t have a secret stash somewhere.

“On the floor, Brainless!” she growls at me as soon as my ass touches the chair, making me jump startled.

Once again, I do as she says, and slide on my butt on to the gross carpet, we try to avoid by placing our own area rugs everywhere we think we will be barefooted.

Soon, Johanna is joining me on the floor with a bottle of something amber that’s only a third full. “Pass your laptop here.” She demands unscrewing the bottle open.

“What do you want my laptop for?” I ask. “I thought you were solving this old school. A computer is not very old school, in case you didn’t know.” I snort a little, thinking up something clever, “I thought we were gonna play spin the bottle or something,”   

“Shut up, Brainless. We can’t play spin the bottle just the two of us, that’ll be stupid!” She chugs a generous pull of whatever liquor she’s got and passes the bottle to me, taking the computer in turn.

I’m not much of a drinker, so I just hold the bottle for her, while I see her signing in on my facebook account.

“Hey! That’s personal! I could report you for that you know?” I scream at her and try to grab my laptop from her, but in one of her Johanna moves, she holds me away by placing her foot on my chest while stretching away from my reach.

“Stop, Katniss, I’m looking for your friend Delly, so quit being a whiny brat and let a woman work in peace.”

“I don’t know what you want with Delly, but whatever it is, you’re going too far!”

“Aha!” she crows jubilantly, jumping up and keeping the computer away from me still. “Okay, Brainless, time of truth! You said the reason for refusing to talk to Bread Boy, is because Delly used to like him when they were kids.”

“Yes. So?” I grumble and sit back down crossing every limb of my body until I’m a human knot.   

“So, this is a modified game of Truth or Dare.”

I shrug. Truth or Dare doesn’t scare me. “Do your worse then,” I taunt.

She sits down across from me sporting a mirror image of my facial expression. I see her eyes go up and down as she scrolls the page currently on display on the screen, and then I see her smug smirk make an appearance.

Jo knows almost everything about me, we managed to stay roommates since my freshman year, she had been in school for a while before I came in, with classes scattered about every semester since she had become an orphan just a month after starting her first year and had to drop off until she got her life back on track. We became reluctant friends after a while, and then I invited her to come home with me during Thanksgiving break, since I thought it sucked she had nobody else to go home to. My family practically adopted her on the spot, despite her potty mouth and boisterous personality. In no time she had met everyone in town, and thanks to my sweet, big mouthed little sister, Prim, that included everything there was to know about one Peeta Mellark, youngest son of the best known baker in my home county.

She deduced pretty quickly I had a schoolgirl crush on the guy growing up, and has never let it down since. I didn’t use to mind her harassing jokes until tonight though.

“What?” I ask loosing patience.

“Truth: Delly Cartwright is madly in love with a Thomas Miner. Both their profiles say they are ‘in a relationship’ with each other, which means is pretty serious. Serious enough to take a nice, long cruise together to the Coast of Mexico as an engagement gift!”

“No way!” I exclaim, climbing on all fours and crawling to her to take a peek at the page she’s looking at. “Holy shit! You’re right!”

It’s true. Delly is somewhere sipping margaritas with Thom in some beach in Mexico, sporting a rock the size of Texas on her ring finger. She looks good!

“She looks very happy,” I say absently.

“She does. Power to her.” says Jo. “Now that we’ve got the truth out of the way, let’s bring in the dare!”

“Hey, I never said this was my truth. If anything it’s Delly’s truth.” I protest.

“No takesis backsis, Brainless. A deal is a deal!” She glares at me. “I never said I was going to ask you any truths. So, listen up, buttercup, here’s your dare:”

“Ugh, please… don’t call me Buttercup. That beast of a cat hates me!”

“That’s because you antagonize him. Prim’s cat is perfectly sweet to me and everyone else.”

I roll my eyes at her, but I’m unable to do anything else, because she goes off stating her Dare:

“I dare you to say hello to Peeta Mellark next time you see him,”

I take a second to think this over, and come to the conclusion than saying hello to Peeta is a perfectly innocent dare, It shouldn’t be that hard now that we got officially introduced to each other. I nod reluctantly, “Fine, dare accepted. I’ll say hi to Peeta next time I see him around.”

“Cool. I’m glad we could come to an understanding, Brainless. Now let’s get ready for bed. I gotta be up at the crack of dawn tomorrow.”

I lift myself off the floor feeling Johanna was oddly easy to appease just now. Usually she’s like a hound with a prey scent in her nose. I don’t know why was she so agreeable and her dare so easy, but I’m not gonna argue about it, specially since she dropped the subject, finally!

————————————————

Two days go by before I see Peeta again, and to my utter horror, he’s chatting with Johanna when I spot him at the library. I try to duck out of sight before they notice me, but as is my luck, his bright blue eyes shift up right into mine at the precise moment I think of my escape route at the other side of the room. Unfortunately for me, Johanna follows his sight and smirks as soon as she sees me, then she squeezes his arm saying something to him, and slinks in my direction like a kitten spying a bowl of cream.

“Hi, Katniss,” she drags the ss like Finnick did the night we met, and I already hate the sound of it.

“Jo,” I deadpan.

“Come on, Brainless. It’s pay-up time!” she links her arm with mine and I swear she skips gleefully the whole way back to Peeta, who’s just watching us interact as if it was the most interesting thing he’s seen all day.

We finally stop in front of him, and I feel my cheeks flame for a second. I hope my tongue decided to cooperate so I can say hello and get Johanna off my back for good, but she starts blabbing about something I can’t quite follow, giving me a chance to find my nerve.

“So, Katniss, Peeta here was telling me about his amazing gaming system collection. He says he’s got one console of every system released–”

“Um, more like I have one of each consoles I could afford with my allowance money starting on seventh grade.” He corrects Jo with an embarrassed chuckle, his cheeks tint a slight pink color that actually suits him pretty nicely.

“Yeah, but didn’t you say some of them are now considered classics?” She prods smiling, twisting my arm in hers painfully.

He chuckles again, averting his eyes to the floor. The pink in his cheeks intensify, and it finally clicks with me, that what Jo is saying is embarrassing him for some reason.

“Hi!” I say too loud and seemingly out of the blue, but I finally  get him to look at me and erase a bit of his embarrassment to boot. “H-how are you? I love your buns, I mean, the cheese buns your dad sells, you know? The ones with the gooey cheese on them, those are like my favorite treat ever. My sister is more partial to the cakes, because they’re so pretty and all, but I rather eat something less sugary… not because I’m watching my diet or anything, I hate diets, is more the fact that I enjoy cheese… um… okay, so, I know nothing about video games, but I’m sure you were very popular in school for having all those consoles–”

The only reason my freaky word vomit stops is because Johanna’s nails dig into my forearm viciously. I’ll have a huge, ugly scar there when she finally lets go of it, but right now I’m glad she’s put an end to my running mouth.

My eyes are watering slightly, and I can see the puzzlement in his face clear as day. Poor guy looks like he’s been hit on the face with a rubber chicken: a mix of disbelief and the same curiosity that forces you to watch a train wreck from beginning to end.

“Excuse us a sec, Blondie?” Johanna pulls me away, but my eyes remain unblinking staring at him in utter horror.

“Shit,” I groan just loud enough for Johanna to hear.

“Shit is right! The hell was that? Is that what nervous-Katniss sounds like? Because it’s absolutely horrible.” She wrinkles her nose, and I finally manage to tear my eyes away from Peeta’s face.

“Thank you, Jo! I hope you’re happy now! I told you I was no good at saying something to people, especially him!”

“Hush, is a good thing he’s got a thing for you, otherwise you would have blown it just now, miss awkward.”

“What are you talking about, Johanna? He doesn’t have a thing for me.”

She rolls her eyes and tells me in her most aggravated voice, “You truly are brainless.” she softens her tone a little after taking a generous breath, “Alright, everything’s not lost. If the way he looks at you is any indication, he doesn’t care one bit how tongue tied you are, so all you have to do now, is go up there and ask him out on a date!” She sounds like she’s been planning this for quite some time now.

“Not gonna happen, Johanna. I can’t ask him out!”

“Why? And please don’t tell me it’s because of Delly, since we’ve already ruled Delly out of the equation.” She glares at me.

“Well, as you clearly see, I scared the daylights out of him. I will not make an even bigger idiot out of myself. We both saw how it was when I tried to say hello. It was supposed to be a simple greeting and it went totally wrong. So it’s not about Delly anymore, but about my inability to act like a normal person when he’s around.”

“Brainless, if you don’t go out there and ask him out this instant… I swear to Jebus I’m gonna make it my life mission to remind you of your yellow belly for the rest of your life.”

“I, dare you!” I retort brattily.

“No! I dare YOU to ask him out. In fact, I call in the yard law, and triple dog dare you!”

I gasp astonished, like the immature idiot I’ve become in the last few days once the challenge has been issued.

“You wouldn’t!” I say lowly.

“Is done!”

“Fine!”

I march back to Peeta, he’s been watching us curiously the whole time. I stand in front of him, crack my neck, square my shoulders and open my mouth. Only a squeak makes it pass my lips, so I clear my throat and lick my lips stealing myself.

“Date. Saturday. Greasy Sae’s. Seven o’clock. You and me. Bye now.”  I don’t wait for his response, as my throat kept getting dryer with each word I said, and my voice was coming out as raspy and unattractive as a trucker dude with an allergy. I didn’t want the size of his eyes, that kept getting wider the more he heard me, be an indication of what his answer would be, so I hightailed out of there as fast as could before I started crying and perspiring. No reason to freak him out more than I’ve already have.

My next move is to go send Delly an apologetic message through facebook, for going after the boy she liked back home, but Johanna catches up to me, gasping and holding her sides.

“Can you please stop? I haven’t run this fast since my softball league days!”

“I didn’t know you played softball,”

“Every kid needs some bullcrap sport they can play before they can drive themselves.” She takes a few extra precious gulps of air, before getting on to me. “So, Peeta will be glad to go out with you to Sae’s Saturday, not that you’ll know since you didn’t wait around for him to say anything after that… whatever it was. Very smooth by the way.” now she’s laughing, but when her side starts clamping, I only scowl and start walking faster, leaving behind to hold her aching sides.

Serves her right!    

————————————————

When I get to Sae’s on Saturday, I’m surprised to spy Peeta’s mop of blonde hair carefully combed back, already sitting in my regular booth, on Jo’s regular bench. My hands start sweating immediately. I take a step back, and when the panic takes over I turn on my heel ready to make a beeline for the door, but my path is blocked by a very intimidating looking Jo, wearing my server uniform, since I was scheduled to work today, and somehow forgot about it. Jo of course was not gonna let that conveniently forgotten detail derail my date with Peeta, so she cajoled Sae into letting her take my shift at the diner for the night. Of course when Sae heard why Jo was so invested in this, she simply gave us a toothy smile and told her to be there a half hour earlier so she could feed her something before her shift.

Traitors!

“Go to your table, Brainless!” Jo hisses at me.

Without a word, I turn towards the booth, and walk quickly. I practically plop into my seat without much decorum, flinging the purse Prim demanded I used instead of my usual messenger bag, paired with a vintage blue dress that used to be my mother’s when she was single, but still holds its charm and is probably the only girly piece I own in my entire wardrobe.  

Peeta tries to stand when I arrive, but he finds himself impeded by the table between us. He plops back down again and gives me a smile, shy and sweet and full of hope I can feel my heart flutter.

“Hi,” he says quietly, “I brought this!” he hands me a small box, and like a little eager child I open it, in the most impolite manner ever.

I gasp when I see four perfectly cheesy cheese buns sitting over a blanket of tissue paper. “Peeta! You shouldn’t have,” I let my voice linger, staring at my favorite treat sitting there in front of me.

“I figured, it was better than bringing you chocolates. I mean, I brought flowers…” he produces a pretty bouquet from next to him and hands them to me. “But you said you didn’t like sweets that much. And I don’t care if you are watching your diet at all. I think you are the prettiest girl I’ve ever seen.”

“Oh… um, thank you.” I say feeling the heat return to my cheeks with a vengeance. I look at him and notice he’s turning lobster red as well, and that’s no good at all, so when I see him try to form words with his mouth, I jump in ahead, “You didn’t have to call home for this, you know.”

“I didn’t,” He says cocking his head curiously.

“Is there a bakery here that serves them? I’ve ever only had them at your dad’s.”

He smiles shyly again, and brings his hand to his hair, pulling it away as suddenly as he remembers he styled it today. “Actually… I baked them.”

“You did?” I sound like an awestruck little girl even to my ears.  “Wow. thank you so much for saving me some. That’s awfully nice of you,” I say sincerely.

His deep blue eyes fix on mine, so intensely, I can’t look away. “I made them specially for you, actually. You said they were your favorite, and those, next to the cake decorating your sister loves so much, are my area of expertise at the bakery,”

Johanna comes to take our order, winking at me and giving the thumbs up when Peeta’s eyes are occupied with the menu and I’m glad for the interruption, because this is all too much.

Our date goes on inmensibly better after our drinks arrive, he orders a cup of hot tea, no sugar, and I order my regular mint tea with honey. Sometime after our meal sits in front of us, I notice Johanna is talking to Finnick and a pretty redhead two tables away. They’re all looking at us, smiling smugly.

“So, your friend does have a girl?” I ask Peeta, prompting him to look in the direction my eyes are glaring at Jo.

He makes a noise, half growl, half sigh, one hundred percent annoyance. He then gives me an apologetic look, his bright blue eyes full of embarrassment and regret. “I guess, I should inform you that apparently our roommates are a pair of con artists, who think themselves clever and entitled to rule our romantic lives.” He takes a deep breath, and elaborates before my brain can jump to any sort of conclusion, which given the circumstances, I consider a good move for him.

“Johanna and Finnick have been plotting to have either of us ask the other out for weeks.” He says shaking his head, “I’m sorry. I’m sorry they dragged you into this. I should’ve known better, is just… you asking me out was probably the highlight of my life. I like to think that, at some point, I would’ve gathered the courage to ask you out myself without anyoe’s intervention, but now I’ll never know. I’ll go talk to Finn, tell him to leave you alone–”

“So, you did WANT to go out with me?” I cut him off before he can stand up. My mind is swimming, but usually when I let my impulsive nature take over, I achieve better results than when I don’t.

He looks at me with curiosity in his eyes, I can tell he won’t lie to me about this, “I’ve had a crush on you since kindergarten,” he says in a deep voice that cuts through me, “I kept asking Delly to come play with me, in the hopes that she’ll invite you over one day. I had amazing plans of what I would’ve done, if you ever showed up to the playdates. I would’ve given you my Red Power Ranger figurine plus his vehicle. It was my most prized possession at the time. Then I graduated to Pokemon cards, and I had my mint condition Pikachu, all safe for you. Then I realized, that girls didn’t necessarily cared for things I did, and started observing you. You joined the Archery team, then the track team, so I decided I’d join wrestling, I figured we should have something in common to talk about for whenever I stopped being a chicken and said hi to you.” He stops, his eyes finding a home on his fidgeting fingers on the table.

I scowl, “How would joining the wrestling team give us something in common to talk about?” I ask with more curiosity than I would imagine I would have, if a boy practically confessed to semi stalking me all throughout our school careers.

His face snaps up to find mine. His forehead wrinkles for a moment. “Well, you were an athlete. We would’ve had stories about hardass coaches, or rigorous practices. We could’ve trained together after school,” He shrugs, “Wrestling was the no brainer option for me. My brothers had done it and I knew all of their moves since the practiced them on me. I don’t think I could’ve ever master a bow and I’m not physically built for races,” he gives a self deprecating smile that melts my insides.

“I see,” I say finding the grain of the wood under my hands very interesting suddenly. I can feel my cheeks flame, “You seem to have thought of things a lot,” I say quietly.

He releases a choked chuckle, “This must be so creepy for you. I’m sorry. I– I’m gonna just go. Thank you for–”

“I asked Delly to take me with her to your playdates more than once. She had her own crush on you, so she said she couldn’t really woed you, if there were other people around during your play times, so I was never invited.” I chance a glance at him, I can’t read his face at the moment, but I think there’s a slight raise to one of his eyebrows. “My favorite Power Ranger was the green one buy the way.”

“It’s your favorite color.” Is not a statement, but more like he’s fishing for an answer, so I nod.

“Yup. Your’s?”    

“Orange,” He says smiling easily, “muted, like the sunset.” He adds when my nose wrinkles.

“I wouldn’t have taken your Pikachu. I would’ve traded you for it. I don’t believe in getting stuff for free. I would have make you a good deal for it.” I say trying to relax with all my might. “I wouldn’t have known anything about comic books though, just like I have no clue about video games or systems.”

He smiles crookedly, “That’s no problem at all. I can teach you everything you need to know… if you teach me how to shoot an arrow.” His eyes are so hopeful.

I pretend to think about it, “I don’t know… maybe we have to talk this a little more, preferably over hot chocolate and more cheese buns,”

He smiles brightly now, nodding happily. “Sounds promising,”

We continue talking about pretty much any and every topic there is to talk about for two people just meeting each other; our banter is easy and comfortable, and when Sae clears her throat, three feet away from our table, we realize is closing time and the place is completely empty.

Peeta walks me back to my dorm, his car is still at the diner’s lot, but he insisted we walked because he figured it made me feel more at ease. By the time we reach my building, we have entered into more personal territory in our conversation. I’ve told Peeta Mellark more things about my late father in fifteen minutes, than what I’ve said to Jo in all the years we’ve known each other, which is quite a lot.

We stop at the front entrance, and stand there awkwardly for a moment.

“Thank you so much for not running away after my creepy story?” he says sighing.

“Have you really had a crush on me all this time?” I ask.

“Yup,” he says nudging a pebble with the toe of his Chucks while staring at his feet, “ever since you sang the valley song for the entire auditorium on our first day of school. You were everything I wasn’t: fearless, pretty, talented and you sounded like an angel.”

He won’t look at me but I can’t stop staring at him. “Hmm… well, you were always everything I wasn’t,” I say. “Smart, well liked, physically strong, and with an endless supply of freshly baked cookies,”

He smiles at that, and lifts his face to look at me. “My mother would only let us eat cookies that had gone too stale to sell, but I know a few recipes I can whip up for you, if you allow me another date,”

Is my turn to smile, I let myself be impulsive again, and surge up on the tip of my toes, plating an awkward kiss square on his unsuspecting lips. As fast as I attacked him, I retreat a foot away from him and virtually jump inside the building, but before the door can close behind me, separating us for the night, I throw him a wink and cheerfully call back, “I’ll allow it! Tomorrow at seven o’clock, pick me up here!”

I get a small glimpse of his face as it goes from shocked, to pleased, to confused, to surprised, back to happy and smiley. Something tells me, this is just the first of many more dates, kisses and fun times with Peeta Mellark.                  

[sonofapitchblack]

Nightly Knocks

My name is Kevin and as I am writing this my hands are shaking and my sight is a blur. Yes, blur due to the tears that are slowly running through them. Tears of fear, sadness, and pain. First of all, I want to apologize to you whoever you are. If you are wondering why I am apologizing, do not worry as it will all make sense later. I want you to understand that I am doing this as this is my only choice and that this is something that I am doing against my will.

Everything was normal for me until last week. I might just be like you, I wake up for my morning coffee and rush to work. I have workmates but really just a few of them. I work in a law firm so, that keeps my mind really busy all throughout the day. After work, I clock out and if I just want to stop by the neighborhood café. I do that to make sure that my mind is at least relaxed and is relieved from the stress from work. Aside from the stressful current events that I have to read for work, I divert myself to reading funny mangas and other action-packed comics.

This is when it all started to change, it was a cold Sunday night. I was sitting down on my couch just browsing online for funny memes and to check on my mates’ posts too. My ginger cat kept pacing from the front door to me. From time to time he hissed violently as if he was trying to keep something away. I asked, “Gin what’s wrong with you?” and he’ll just walk towards me and rest on my shoulders while staring really hard at the front door. His eyes watch the windows and the doors. I was so curious to find out if there was anyone outside, but whenever I will try to stand up he hits me with his paw and snarls at me. 

I thought he might just be having a bad day so I decided to put him in the room and leave him there. Big mistake. I noticed the time, it was 5 minutes past 2am. I realized I had spent too much time browsing. As I was getting ready to sleep, I heard a knock at the door. You read that right a KNOCK. Just one knock. So I disregarded it and decided that I will be calling it a day and sleep. As I was walking back to my room, I heard it again. Just one, so I walked towards the door and asked if there was anyone, but nobody answered. Since nobody was answering and nobody was outside I retired to my bed and slept. Before I shut my eyes, I noticed that Gin sat down just in front of my bedroom door like he was guarding it. Guarding it against what? Or who? I shrugged it off and decided to sleep as it was already 3:00am.

The next day, was a busy Monday as Frank, our boss, had decided to treat all of us since it was his birthday. I came home late and noticed it was already half-past two. As I was putting my things down, there was a loud knock on my door. Yes, a single loud knock. I thought someone might accidentally bump the door. So I decided to shrug it off. As I was in the shower it happened again, but it was louder. I was able to finally lay on my bed. As I lay on my bed, Gin was restless. He went back and forth my door and the room window as if there was something that wanted to come in. I realized that I was already getting the chills and I was beginning to be restless. Take note this happened for the whole week. The knock on my door kept getting louder and louder each day and my cat kept getting more restless as so did I. 

Early today I just cannot take it anymore, the clock hit 2:00am and right on cue, the knock that I heard on my door was the loudest. I decided to finally open the door. There was a gush of cold wind with nobody at the doorstep. I tried to look behind me for my cat, he was nowhere to be found and when I brought my site back to the doorstep, there stood a pale-skinned young lad. Standing still, in his well tailored gray suit. He slowly looked up my way and stared at me for quite some time without any reactions. My whole body was shaking like his mere presence is something that I cannot handle. I finally got the courage to gaze into his eyes which by the way is one of the bad choices I have made today aside from opening the door. The moment I gazed into his eyes, I noticed that his eyes were fiery and yellow at the same time. Slowly, hie face showed a very sly smirk that turned into a devious grin. His eyes turned dark but still had the pupil as fiery and yellowish at the same time. I cannot move a muscle.

“What do you want?” I finally caught the words to say out loud, but my voice was obviously crackling due to fear. He grinned even wider and answered me, “I only wanted to play a little game with you. I thought you were going to last longer than this.” 

“What game are you trying to play with me? Fine! How does it go? How can I make you stop?” I muttered and asked to the best I can.

“It’s simple really.” He answered while slowly stepping closer to me. “I call it pass me or your soul. That means that the moment you opened that door you allowed me to get your soul. Since I am generous I will give you a chance and see if you can do something about it. If I find a different person with a stronger soul than yours I will leave you alone, but if none then your soul is mine.” He explained. “There is a bit of a twist, I do not want to go places by exerting my own effort. As clear as you can, try to share my visit to others and anybody who thinks they can withstand me being a nuisance then I will leave you be and pay them a visit.” He further explained. 

As I said earlier, I am sorry. I hope I was clear about what happened to me as it is my only hope of saving my soul that is why I apologized to you earlier. If in case I fail, then there is a chance that whoever you are reading this, is safe from whatever this thing is. Or are you?

[purplesurveys]

197

Do you own a full set of colored pencils? No. I wish I had one, I love colored pencils and I’ve been wanting to have a coloring book for so long. Who’s the most attractive female you’ve ever seen? My girlfriend and Hayley Williams. Have you ever seriously questioned your sexuality? Yeah, several times in high school. I still have random bouts of it here and there. Red, white, yellow, or pink roses? Red. What’s the worst name your mom has ever called you? Useless? Stupid? Demon’s spawn? I don’t know, you decide.

Do you think someone would ever want to marry you? No idea. There are days Gab is open to the idea, there are other days where she’s hesitant to bring it up. I understand completely, seeing as we’re too young to be having such a discussion. Do you know who Jim Morrison is? I do. Have you ever done acid? Nope. Were you at a rave? Ever? No. Can you usually tell when someone’s lying? Usually. Years of observing people have taught me how to. Have you ever made a mistake just so you could feel miserable? There are times that I do that to myself, yes. Do you like Thanksgiving? I don’t feel anything about it. How about Christmas? The holiday break is probably my favorite part, everything else stresses me out. Do you believe in soul mates? Yes, but I also believe that it is not for everyone. Do you post pictures where you look good but your friends look bad? Hahahaha nooooooo they would hate it. Are you friends with any of your exes? Meh I’ve only had one ex at some point and I’ve gotten back with her. Have you ever thought you were drowning? Yes, once when I was nine. We were messing around in the pool but didn’t realize my cousin was tugging on my legs while I had my head underwater. He has a strong grip, I didn’t take in much air to begin with, and we were in the deep part of the pool as it is so I started panicking and flailing my legs around. What’s the most embarrassing artist you have on your iPod? Man I disowned my iPod six years ago. Would you ever wait for someone for more than ten years? I think I might actually be able to do that, yes. So long as I’m guaranteed a happy ending. Do you know someone in the army? Not right now, no. Do gay people make you uncomfortable? No. Do straight people make you uncomfortable? No, unless they are homophobic. Do you ever wear colored eye liner? I don’t even wear black eyeliner anymore. Target or Walmart? I’ll stick to Philippine malls, thx. Have you ever used crest white strips? Did they work? Haven’t tried those. Who’s the last person you made a mixed CD for?  I never made one since I’ve never been any good at computers and stuff :/ Did you ever have a thing for any of your teachers? I had a massive crush on one of them and people teased me about it for years. It was pretty awkward the whole time I was studying in that school, but when we saw each other earlier this year (me already in college) I was able to talk to him for a while without outwardly cringing. Progress, I guess? Do you exercise every day? That’s so not me. Have you ever used a darkroom? I never had to, but I’ve so badly wanted to enter one. We have a darkroom in the film department but I don’t have a friend to bring me there, haha. How many hours of sleep did you get last night? Six, which is the most my body can get. Have you ditched any classes today? No. What does the word ‘Candy’ mean to you? I dunno, hard sugar? Have you ever listened to Christian music? Forcibly. Are you the 'creative child’? No, that’s my sister. Would you ever dye your hair pink? I could if I suddenly had the muse to. Do you have a dirty mind? I can have one. Do you ever masturbate? Yep. Are you embarrassed about your sex life or lack thereof? No...it’s intercourse with my significant other, I don’t know why it has to be embarrassing. Who’s the last person you said I love you to? My girlfriend. What’s your stance on spooning? I only love it when I’m the one who has my back turned hahaha. Have you ever seen a shooting star? Maybe as a kid. Did you make a wish or do you not believe in that crap? I can’t rely on my memory to answer that anymore. Did you like your life when you were in middle school? I’m guessing middle school is equivalent to our 5th to 7th grade, in which case I absolutely hated it. Those were the building blocks to my present mental health issues, and I felt very, very alone. The only light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel moment I had was befriending Gabie in Grade 7, but otherwise those years were a nightmare. Have you ever been 'popular’? I was part of the popular crowd in my latter years in high school but I hate to call myself that. Has someone ever tried to convert you? My private Catholic school life was basically a 14-year converting experience for me. Are you thin? Yes.

Do you like big earrings? Depends on the style. I know hoop earrings are the trend nowadays though. At least in my community. Are you scared of your future? Not really. Are you a whiskey person? I really really really love one brand of whiskey but dunno if that’s enough to qualify me as a ~whiskey person~ haha. Are you a coward? I can be. Do you ever listen to oldies? I get my moods. Are you good at making conversation? I’ve been better in recent years but I’m still not sure what counts as good. At least now I don’t shy away from people. Have you ever been told that you dress like a slut? No. I would be rather impressed if someone was able to say it to my face. What’s the best compliment you’ve ever received?  Being told I’m more than enough. Do you still watch cartoons? Of course. We Bare Bears is a must. Are you a comic book geek? Nope. When’s the last time you had Starbucks? Last Tuesday. I feel so empty. Was it worth the ridiculous pricing? No. The cake slice was too small for ₱150...but I was hungry and craving for that one cheesecake so I went for it. I’m okay with the coffee prices though. Are you a fan of muffins? No, there’s only one brand I enjoy. Did you just think of sex? I was thinking of how to word my previous answer, but to each his own. Have you ever heard of The Cranberries? Yeah but whenever I hear about them the only thing that plays in my head is “My father, my father...” repeatedly. What’s your most recent obsession? The Song triplets from South Korea. Are you feeling okay today? I’m fine. I have doughnuts. It’s enough to make me happy. Does anyone care?  About?