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[durjoy123579]

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[syndrossi]

Halloween trick-or-treat prompts masterlist

For my own personal tracking, a semi-up-to-date list of the prompts and whether they've been filled for eventual treating on Halloween! Feel free to chime in in the replies with ones you'd particularly like to see filled if it's not getting love. I kinda picked the first one in the list and will otherwise do them as fancy strikes me.

Eventually I'll probably link these to their actual fills once published on Halloween.

What is trick-or-treat?

It's basically me sourcing a bunch of prompts for short fills (likely around 100-500 words apiece) in the Resonant 'verse that I can give out on Halloween as "treats" when people send me a "trick" ask!

Note that it's highly unlikely that I'll get to all of them, since there are over 60 of them, and I probably won't do more than 1 a day. Bold = complete, bold italics = up next.

Original post with prompts if anyone wants to comb through the replies to read the "fuller" prompts.

Missing Scenes

Caraxes POV of growing fond of the hatchlings

Laenor + Rhaenys + V boys discussing twins

Viserys POV of learning of boys

Random person's POV of the court discovering Rhea's treason/Daemon has trueborn twin sons

Erryk, Arryk or Harold's POV/thoughts on Jon and Rhaegar

Ser Willam's POV/thoughts on anything at all

Laenor POV when he found out about Daemon's twins

Laena's POV on being told that her betrothal is over and a match with Daemon might be incoming

Aemond’s POV about the twins, seeing his perspective of how wonderful Rhaegar is and his slow dawning resentment of Jon

More courtier reactions to Daemon and the boys

Jeyne’s reaction to Rheas confession and the arrival of Otto to the Vale

Ser Perkins' POV during the time the boys were "reborn"

Watercooler discussion of Daemon’s prodigy children

Alternate POVs of Canon Scenes

Caraxes POV of meeting the boys

Viserys POV of debrief scene

Rhaegar POV of first waking up/meeting Jon

Viserys POV when the twins take him to task and he’s left alone with the crown

The kidnappers’ POV 🚧

Rhaegar's POV when Jon gave him the bracelet

POV of Aegon/Aemond on the new family members

Ser Kelwyn arriving at the keep or POV on Daemon and the twins

Rhaegar from Daemon's vision reacting to him in his final moments

Halloween-themed Prompts

Qelebrys + apple cider round 2

Shadow + discovering a pumpkin

Twins + hatchlings + piles of colorful leaves

Cousins telling scary stories around a candle in the dark

Jon&Rhaegar discovering an old spooky room lost in the tunnels

Daemon + kids who swear they are not scared but also who can't seem to sleep because of Things That Go Bump In The Night

Rhaegar + singing and/or harp playing (bonus: if it's a ~haunting melody~)

Shadow (and Qelebrys) meeting a stray black cat

Jon and Rhaegar dressing up as Ser Erryk and Ser Arryk, bonus points if they convince Cargyll twins to play along

Jon and Rhaegar going to a costume party as Caraxes and Vhagar to echo Aemon and Baelon

Daemon dreams of Aemon and Baelon meeting the boys

What-ifs

What if Rhea didn't die?

What if Rhaegar was also 19 when the twins get Summerhalled?

What if Jon and Rhaegar’s pre-Summerhall ages were flipped?

Reversal!AU: Daemon's reaction to suddenly having eight-year-old twin little girls

What if the twins were born right after Rhea and Daemon's wedding? plus bonus Jaehaerys POV/reaction

What if Ghost is reborn in the Resonant 'verse and finds Jon?

What if the boys wake up at age 5 and Daemon finds them earlier?

Miscellaneous Prompts

Rhaenys rescues twins from Otto

Jon&Rhaegar + dancing

New Otto POV in which he schemes and/or thinks about how smart and gifted and annoyingly perfect Daemon's children are

Daemon POV wherein he thinks about how smart and gifted and perfect his babies are

Candle's POV on being dropped to the bottom of the ocean where it can only watch the fishes

Jon having another Little Lord Commander moment and/or punching someone who deserves it

Jon + Jace/Luke/Joffrey playing with his new wooden ship toys

Viserys + Jace/Luke besieging him with requests for Vermax/Arrax to be allowed in the Red Keep too

Jon + Rhaegar + Daemon + hugs, tears and manipulation tactics for nefarious purposes

Jon + getting his hair braided

Jon and/or Rhaegar getting sick + Daemon being traumatized by every sneeze/cough/etc

Jon + Rhaegar introducing Jace/Luke to the words "stick 'em with the pointy end"

Rhaegar + Alicent or Daemon with harp playing/singing

The boys foiling someone’s attempts to flirt with Daemon

Some funny scene related to Daemon's marriage hunt

A scene from Jon/Rhaegar's past lives, people reacting to their disappearance

POV of someone from the Kingsguard watching the children play 

Helaena, Jon and Rhaegar interactions? She deserves to have a twirl around the ballroom or play with the hatchlings again.

Someone “joking” that Otto is besotted with Daemon the way he keeps talking about him

Another sleepover? Daemon and/or Rhaegar catching Jon trying to get up early and just squishing him

Daemon learning what the twins gave each other for their last name day

Sassy and manipulative Rhaegar scene (destroying Viserys or random courtier)

Rhaegar singing to a larger audience and the reactions people give

Jon biting someone who’s keeping him and Rhaegar from their dad, bonus points if it’s a TG member

POV of someone thinking how similar the twins are to their father

Daemon accidentally overhearing the twins being sad, feeling destroyed, and trying his best to cheer them up

A meeting between Daemon and canon!Rhaegar in a vision

Daemon running on instinctive dad-mode rescues one of the Green kids from a minor peril

Daemon overhears an upsetting song

[violetasteracademic]

An In Depth Look at the Gwyn/Lightsinger Theory

As always, we are bringing a text based analysis straight from the books!

Full disclosure, I have mixed feelings about the Gwyn Lightsinger theory. It definitely could be the case, but I also have an alternate theory about her powers that I'll share at the end. The reason I don't love it 100% is because it is founded in a bit of a messy way. My understanding is g/wynriels started this theory because: Lightsinger and Shadowsinger! Light and dark! Cute, meant to be. Then us Elriels replied by saying babes, lightsingers are evil AF and that's not a good thing. Thus Evil Gwyn was born which I do not subscribe to.

Lightsinger *is* totally an option, but there is some context both for and against and I'll share my take on both sides! That being said, not a whole lot is actually said about lightsingers and the manner in which their power functions.

Here is the only passage describing lightsingers in the book (and this is their description on wiki):

Key words that stand out to me re: Gwyn- ethereal, friendly faces.

Now let's read the chapter where Gwyn's singing lures Nesta into a spell-like trance where she then begins to scry completely against her will or knowledge:

Key words: The bells ringing at 7 pm. A faint glow radiating from Gwyn.

Key takeaways: Gwyn's song beckoning and calling only to Nesta, lulling her into a place down into her own bones which are somehow then used to scry. Scrying with your own bones is *not* generally possible!

Key takeaways: Doors and pathways trying to be opened by Nesta's own body and the stones of the mountain becoming scrying tools while listening to the 7 pm service.

Key takeaways: Nesta literally collapses and everyone is looking at her concerned. She was the ONLY one who has been affected by the priestesses service in this way.

Now let's take a look at Azrie'ls bonus chapter:

Azriel and his shadows can hear a song, and his shadows replied to it. One of the most critically important elements to this occurring that I feel very few people discuss is the importance of Cauldron made items being the only ones having this reaction to Gwyn. Nesta herself is Cauldron made, and Gwyn's song literally controlled her entire person (I'm not saying intentionally! That is just what happened.) Azriel bears truth-teller, a Cauldron made weapon. There is a lot of indication that his shadows are also closely linked with truth-teller, they are all commonly described as a part of him. Only Made beings or beings with Made objects on their person can hear Gwyn's song, and it absolutely lures Cauldron made power. Is this lightsinger power? Maybe. We simply don't have enough context to the nature of lightsingers or Gwyn to say for sure, but it is compelling.

Now Azriel, bearing a Made object, finds himself present as the bell chimes 7 pm for the evening service. Exactly as Nesta had.

I do think an important mention is also this:

Does Azriel sing because he's a shadowsinger? No, it's just a being/species/whathaveyou. As lightsinger is just a being. The fact that they do sing is irrelevant to singer in their alleged respective titles.

So key items *for* Gwyn being a lightsinger: She is described as an ethereal beauty, containing a secret beneath her lovely face by Nesta. She has some sort of spell like power in her song. Is it luring specifically? Or is it something that calls to and controls Made objects?

My personal opinion is that the latter is more explicit in the text. There is no conversation around lightsingers having any specific impact on Made objects and Made objects alone. Why are only these two experiencing Gwyn's impact on their powers? If she could have had a luring effect on Cassian as well, in his POV book, I would have loved to see it.

I also think Gwyn being part river nymph might prove more relevant. Lightsingers are creatures of the Bog of Oorid, and they lure their prey into the bog. River nymphs are different water creatures entirely. So when would a fae or river nymph have gone to the Bog of Oorid to mate, when lightisngers eat both human and fae alike? I think it's possible we may see she is a Siren or some other yet to be discovered being.

I also think her proximity to the Cauldron in Sangravah, which we now know was corrupted and leaks dark power, is *extremely* interesting. I'm here looking for the connection for why only Nesta and Azriel experience this with Gwyn, and I think the Cauldron will prove relevant!

Whether Gwyn is a lightsinger, whether she is something else, I can't wait to find out! Please know I love Gwyn. My being an Elriel does not detract from how beautiful I thought her story was. Her being evil would honestly devastate me. However, I don't quite understand why g/wynriels are against the notion of Gwyn's secret powers and it being reflected again in the bonus chapter. It only serves to actually make her relevant to the plot, which is otherwise very lacking for our cute ginger Valkyrie!

What do you guys think? Are you still team Gwyn lightsinger after reading or are you seeing other options?

I'm leaving my usual Elriel tags on here to avoid getting unprompted boomer yelling style all caps DM's again from angry g/wynriels, even though I always try to be respectful to her and all ship opinions while also passionately sharing my own, but feel free to share!

[the-100-days-of-junkan]

Day 12

Got real close to having another Junkan minus the Kan, however I did draw a silly little doodle of Mikan in the picture frame so guess what it still counts! Sorry No.7 you are still a freak of nature among the 100 days.

This is just some more of Junko crushing super hard on Mikan, so since I have no interesting details for the pic itself, time to discuss more personal behind the scenes stuff! So I’ve mentioned a few times that when I was first making these pics I was extremely paranoid about showing anyone, especially the public, these Junkan pieces. So I might as well go into more detail about what I mean when I say that. 

My fear was never fully based in stuff like “Oh people are going to think I’m weird” or “Oh I’m going to get harassed.” When it comes to how people perceive me as a person I care more about the opinion of close friends and the people I respect rather than the general public. I wouldn’t like it if everyone thought I was some weirdo, but I can live with it. I’m hopeful that when this project starts (as a reminder these posts were prepped before the the announcement went up, I have no idea how people are reacting as I type this) I won’t be harassed or threatened for this, but I feel decently confident that I will be okay in the long run. It’ll be annoying and definitely stressful but it could be worse. 

My fear at the time was based on how it could affect my career. I have for a long time set out with a goal to make art with the intention of bringing a positive vibe to peoples lives, and the main way I hope to do that is by working on a webcomic. That said if I post Junkan and it causes people to perceive me in a negative light, my art would forever have that roadblock. I’m sure I’d still have fans, but people are less likely to partake or look fondly towards something created by someone perceived as a bad person from what I can tell. There’s also the worry of how it could affect me financially but even back then I was certain that I’d be pretty safe on that front. I’m of course long over this, that was a result of my extreme paranoia from earlier in the year. I’m content with the possibility that this event could shift public perception of my work. How that happened will be brought up much later.

Have a great day!

BONUS MESSAGE FROM FUTURE JEM: Hey there! I haven't been making major additions to these pre-scheduled posts, however I just wanted to chime into say, yeah! Past Jem was way too paranoid! I admit this blog hasn't exploded enough to attract crazy attention, but I'm happy to say I've received a lot of nice comments and the like from people as it continues. We're only 12 days in out of 100 so who knows what the future might hold, but I'm real glad to have started posting now. Take that past me!

Reblogs, Comments, and Little Notes in the tags are always appreciated!~

[satancopilotsmytardis]

squeezing them like stressballs akskfksksafgy— 💖

Kink(s?): Teasing, poker face.

Dabi's phone ringing just as things are getting warmed up (literally and figuratively). Some recruitment business he couldn't care less about at the moment but Duster is a Goddamn Menace™ and tells him to take the call while he keeps having his wicked way with his firefly. Dabi's pissed off enough at being called when he Explicitly Said He Was Busy™ and is just. making terrifying threats on the phone while Duster is making an absolute mess of him. eventually it's a bit unclear who he's cursing out when as he's alternating. probably grabbing at Duster's hair to try to slow him down (joke's on him, he's into that).

Tomura is very entertained. 10/10, very fun side quest, worth it to go slow and let his mouth have a proper exploration of those ladder piercings. He occasionally chimes in with Villain Advice™ re: the recruitment thing, mostly just to tease Dabi even more. He's having a great time down there.

Bonus if the caller tries to ask where Shigaraki is and Dabi responds with a very pointed, seething, slightly choked, 'he's busy.'

'so busy,' Duster agrees, taking his merry time spoiling his firefly on his fingers.

No | rather not | I dunno | I guess | Sure | Yes | FUCK yes | Oh god you don’t even know |

I genuinely snorted at the last line, this is 100% something that they would do if I did x+1 fics this would definitely be "X times Villainy ruined Dabi's Orgasm (And the one time it didn't)"

[littleroaes]

Boys In Cat's Clothing pt.2 (100 note special), l.jy pt.1

PAIRING ➤ lee juyeon x fem!reader

— how the season that comes to change, takes his life with it. Strangers that passed him by has now come to effect his own life, paint it in colors and forms outside his own framework. And when his new found friend at the bakery, and a strange girl during the setting sun, asks him about love. He desperately wants to name the sensation in his heart, and hope that Y/n will too.

GENRE ➤ FLUFF, cat shapeshifter!juyeon, mutual pining(as always), clingy juyeon, juyeon just want to be loved, soft angst?(fight for your love!), Eric feature, cute jealousy, happy ending

WARNINGS ➤ none, proofread once so probably missed something!

WORD COUNT ➤ 8.7 k

it is here! Part two of boys in cats clothing plus three extra scenes! (The bonus scenes doesn’t have a specific timeline in their relationship) As pt.1, it isn’t much of a complicated story, just fluffy feels! Boys in cat’s clothing was my first story as littleroaes, so I took to the opportunity to celebrate it! Shoutout to @blue-rainydays and @from-izzy for cheering me on lol. I really went through it a couple of times, enjoy!

TAGGING @blue-rainydays for you my blue!!

like and reblog are highly encouraged !

“YOU'RE NOT TOGETHER” THE DOUGH FALLS BETWEEN THE FINGER GAPS DOWN ONTO THE SILVER COUNTER.

"Together?" Juyeon asks while he watches its color reminiscent of vanilla, fall to the center and spread from its mit. 

“Yeah?” 

The sunlight reflected in a specific window and the pattern of tiles he steps onto everyday, has become all the more familiar. At the start of his time at the bakery, he refused to go alone. Y/n woke up about an hour earlier than what the time on her squares in row told her to. It was all, just to let Juyeon out of the four walls that, at some point, crossed the line of customary and took his mind and forced it in full circles. So when she stood with him before the pink painted walls and windows from floor to ceiling, Juyeon became determined to come home and tell her everyday about his passionate way of life. 

When Juyeon for the first time in his life stepped onto the wooden floor and heard the bell chime from above. He fell another centimeter closer to Earth. Before him, centered without need of a net, a guy similar to himself(Y/n being his reference). At the time, he behind the counter reached out his arm and waved to him from across the room. Another chime goes off before Juyeon forced his arm up in a rigid manner, greeted him in a voice stale, similar to bread in the open air for two weeks. 

Y/n stood beside him, with gentle force pushing his side with her elbow. Juyeon looked down at that moment, but refuted back to his habits of scratching his nape and desperately giving Y/n his eyes curved so that every bit of sunlight passed through them.

Though, now, Juyeon has lost focus of the cream-white dot on the desk. Instead he has found interest in the youngest shirt. The highest point where the lines of his arm and shoulder meet. Fabrics and hands covered in flour. Eric’s blue gloves that  shine with snow like flour and crystal sugar, reach out for the silk ribbon tied to his neck, allusive to a spring girl in middle school, her name being First Love. Juyeon’s eyes follow Eric’s finger, to the point below his chin, and back to his face. 

“No…we’re not.” Juyeon’s lips, luscious as the green sprouts converting to rose petals in spring. To bring to touch the mark on his life. Juyeon, without gradual rendition, let his hands, painted in sugar, fall away from the ribbon without as much of an allude to the others essence. 

“Why?” He asks while Eric finds his voice and demeanor to be of the angel on the right side of his shoulder.  

”Should we be?” Juyeon, whose back falls a bit curved over the counter, shrinks even lower. All words articulated by him in this moment yearns for the youngest perspective on the world and the correct answers for the obviously wavering nature of his question. Eric abruptly loses focus on the dough again, and right as it comes out of his grip, the edge between his two fingers tear off. And the bell chimes when another colleague comes through the door. Somehow, when the colleague fades behind the door and Eric lets him wander, the bridge between their eyes is fully horizontal, with no diagonals. 

“No…?” Eric knits his eyebrows, “you two just looked like it.” 

The single corner piece that teared off, melts together with the essence without seems, when Eric starts shaping it once more. To force the cream-white fragile fragment in sphere shape, and all at once let Earth take a bit of the curve when it falls onto the tray. And Juyeon’s vision suddenly changes direction and once again, lands on his own work space. His arms hover over the counter, hands gently shape a crater-mit to watch space fill it up,  and his red apron hangs above his knees. Just as Eric's question runs through the secret corners of his mind. 

/

The curtains work as a filter for their screen to the outerworld. And how the TV radiates mellow blue shades throughout the entire room. The screen, with colors he didn’t know existed before, spread its blueprint onto the objects closest to it. 

In the beginning, Juyeon couldn’t work out the change in ambience when the curtains were down. But he knows now, the exact position of the not so bright room, and therefore the light would shine through their secluded corner, if it wasn’t for the flimsy fabric separating the two. 

On the rectangular screen, it has captured a picture of their own world and built it up with every pixel. But still, the camera shifts over the highly saturated landscape without details. With loss of this reality, their world is built with grain spots and rigid edges. The couple in this saturated world on the TV sits on a dark bench. How the camera stands in a slight high-point to capture crowns of the city beneath their feet. The camera angles itself for the audience to kindly discern the top part of her dress, most of the dull fabric is covered by her brown locks. The single shot drags on without dialog, she simply stares out over the loud space before her. Juyeon takes up his legs on the sofa, he squints his eyes and feels how that world calls him. The horizon reflects the lead's eyes, but somehow, something else, other than the city pours over them. 

Finally, the two on TV bring their hands together as the sunlight, through all hills, clouds and man made structures, illuminates them. How the Earth and Sun have fallen into position, makes the two, on the bench seem even more destined. 

Juyeon looks over towards Y/n. 

Her face has the artificial light cast up on itself. Dialog on the TV fades to whispers of weather on a windy day. The fabric of her shirt makes a stark contrast against the fabric of the couch, and her hands hold her lower legs. As the scenery on the TV passes, the entirety of his attention follows the single details of her pupils intensely dissecting the TV world. 

“Y/n?” Juyeon’s voice reaches her ears like the morning sun on a rain-covered leaf. How the smell of petrichor radiate a sense of belonging, his call compel her own existence to get a fragment of his own. 

“Hm?” She faces him. 

The words tail end somewhere in his throat and tears at the edge of his lips. Passing conversations in his new life crowds his mind. It pulsates deeply and torments the pressing surfaces. Juyeon closes his eyes. How the world becomes non-existent and the thoughts become less vivid, outlined and with colors.

At the same time, Y/n lies her eyes on his fingers. One starts to bother the left and she shifts herself closer to the full moon outside their window. And another star falls when they intertwine hands. Juyeon watches the couch mit, where their hands touch from above it. At the same time, his heart falters and it becomes a rhythm reminiscent of the clock during midnight. Y/n looks at him with immense eyes, how everything outside the four walls carrying them seize to exist. 

His eyes look at hers with a fluorescence sort of filter, complete with yearning, “Y/n, what does it mean to be ‘together’?” 

When the words leave his lips, it opens her heart as a flower visualizing the world for the first time in spring. But as it does that, Y/n force the petals to compulse, seem itself from the world like it has never existed. His eyes with curiosity refuse to leave her own. And the effect arises as her eyes change direction of the room and legs fall to the floor to touch the rug beneath them. 

While her vision casts itself in every direction, it lands on the TV screen, “It’s like them.” Y/n points at it. How the scene before them portrays them in a landscape so dull and devoid of color, but as one has their chin on their palm at the other mirror, the person over the table in their rectangular vision must be vivid of colors.

“Caring and comforting the other and receiving the same love back.” Y/n nods and looks back at Juyeon. To stare at a different world with a tilted head and let it be the answer to its questions. His eyes fall back to Y/n. In moments of understanding his new life, Juyeon wears this demeanor, similar to his true form. 

“Like us?” 

How his face sparkles in light. Another light that makes the natural shadows, highlights of the world and its fabricate stand as desolate. Juyeon’s essence is in this novel moment and her words, trapped in glass. Even when the spotlights are off and the sun has fallen under Earth, Juyeon still makes out the faint rosy pigments forming under her eyes. Just as she observes the rug beneath them and scratches her head, Juyeon’s back straightens and his arms in his lap become aligned, symmetrical to the other beside it. 

Back when he took the first step into her house and he started asking questions that had Y/n inspecting things in her own home. Juyeon genuinely believed she fell in curiosity over the details of her life. That rosy stains, abrupt silence, and eyes diverting towards the corners of the room was a language of interest in daily life. But as one kept passing the other each morning sun and he gently started through the looking glass, into the people like her. Juyeon realized that the pattern in her behavior, that the out-of-world state wasn’t a deep concentration of understanding, rather, his own life’s effect on her. 

The moment that euphoria came crashing right through him, his eyes fell and he moved closer to Y/n. Asked her with great eyes and slight forward posture if he keeps making her sick like this. If the rosyness on her face will spread to her inner self and contaminate every part of her body until she can’t breathe. Y/n got even redder by that at the time, and described with overlapping words and unclear hand motions. By somehow, Juyeon understood her colors are not a bad thing, not what they are, but it’s something positive, because of him. 

Therefore, he smiles endearingly when she faces the flower vase on the table. 

“No-I-not like us.” 

His face drops in an instant, and Y/n purse her lips in and forces her eyes closed. It all sets as a desperate and pained expression in the dark complex of the night. 

“We love each other a lot right?” She opens up her arms, “And there different types of love.” Y/n sighs before she continues, “All of them are good, and we describe them differently.“ ”‘Together’ is just not ours.” 

The atmosphere from before has shifted. The moment Y/n put an end to her sentence, a wind came opening the two windows and a cold, winter season lies over the room. Y/n’s left hand starts scratching the edge of her right nails. The distance between them seems even further, though it’s just 50 centimeters. For a moment, Y/n looks up towards him, his face speaks of someone looking out into the fading distance when the Earth’s collapsing. She bites her lip and looks away. Them on the TV, talk about love and a single sentence runs between the silence in their apartment. 

Could I be yours forever?

Y/n coughs before she stands up. The controller lies on the coffee table and reaches out for it. 

“We should sleep right, you need to work well tomorrow too.” 

Juyeon looks up from his spot on the couch beneath her. Her smile like it always is, making flowers grow in cold seasons or convert light when all the sources of the world withers. When she looks at him like that, all in this moment, an unfamiliar feeling runs through him. Sensations he can’t connect back to either his new or old life. Y/n comes closer and pet his head. 

“Let’s go to sleep.” 

Juyeon’s hand pushes his own weight off the couch, without words, he takes a step away from the warm spot. As won’t take his hand in hers, Y/n take one step closer and gently lace them. To walk towards the bed and wrap themself in fabrics. 

“Good night, Juyeon.” Y/n whispers. The yearning for an answer coats her heart as one second fabricates onto another. And when she opens her mouth to whisper it again, Juyeon returns the sentence in a voice devoid of that serene tulip feeling she gets every time he speaks. 

How the room falls in complete silence. Despite the sheet forcing warmth to cling to the abundant parts of her body, a coldness from the window pierce right through it. Y/n looks over towards Juyeon, to face nothing but his hair. As the moon motions over the sky, the right side of the matter becomes lighter. The fabric falls towards the mattress surface and he on the other side is now so small to fit on the pillow instead. 

And when the rain starts falling on their windows, Y/n can only feel that it’s her heart making motions over Earth. But despite storms and endless puddles forming on the street corners. Y/n put a bandaid on her inside, meanwhile forcing tape onto her own mouth and tie ropes on her wrist. There is a thought. That has been folded into the deepest part of her consciousness. That Juyeon’s affection, despite the adrenaline it gives her, is compatible with an innocent child confessing to their teacher. It is a part of growing up. 

/

And the sunset stands at the lower end of the sky and spreads its vivid colors over the horizon. Y/n turn away from the painting-like view and stare at Juyeon’s expression when the orange shade leaks from the horizon line and bleeds throughout the ocean. The scenery to their right as they walk past unknown conversations, and couples with knitted hands. In the other end of two directions, are painted signs, booths and hangers of clothes in shades reminiscent of the scene beside them. 

“Should we get something to eat?” Y/n looks up at Juyeon who returns the same expression with, in contrast,  a lowered head. To stand at the railing over the ocean edge as he nods. She smiles and releases his hand to walk towards the booth with a blue fabric sign and smoke escaping from the open points. Though, one step from his being, and his hands come back to her own. She looks behind her again and sees his immense eyes looking back at her as if watching disarray. Together with how his hand consoles her own like he misses it. 

“I need to buy it.” Y/n smiles. 

“Can’t I go with you.” He takes a step closer while still holding her hand. 

Y/n look at his eyes and slight pout. How the wind braids itself with his hair and takes it, but miserably fails, so it settles before his eyes. Y/n thinks of the near past, and remembers all decisions. How at this time in this space, herself one month ago would have sighed and gripped his hand a bit tighter. To secure him that there is never an empty space beside him. But as another moth went by and the moon changed its patterns, she came to think of his fragile heart and first discovery of the world around him. To let his person grow beautifully, he too should stand before Earth with his own feet. Look at its sides and discover its beauty, not her. 

Y/n shakes her head, “Stay here, I’ll be back soon.” She pats his head and runs away. This time, Juyeon lets her hand escape his own. 

For a second, Juyeon looked in the opposite directions of his surroundings. Life as complex as his own passes him as if it all is nothing. The faces of the people become stranger and they all merge into one. The very real presence of others makes him shake his head and concentrate on the back of Y/n’s figure and how she stands in the queue. A bit less than a minute and the sun has fallen another centimeter towards the water, in contrast to Juyeon who has stayed in the same space she left him in. 

“Hey?” He feels a touch to the shoulder of his shirt. A girl stands beside him at the railing, staring at him with rather dull eyes. Juyeon turns behind him, but none of the people on the forever long railing turn to face her. 

“Hey?” She says again and Juyeon points at himself. 

“Yeah, you.” She nods and his eyes widens. 

“My friend thinks you’re cute.” 

The girl five centimeters beneath him wears an expression contrasting to the sun's drowned path. Juyeon watches her, who shows no emotions, therefore he slowly brings his hands closer to his chest. To break eye contact with her, his eyes yearn for the person under the smoke and thin roof. But to his heart that flows continuously and hands that grasp whatever’s familiar, she stands with her back towards him. 

“So?” Her voice overpowers the incoming wind and the waves crashing against the edge. How her body stands frozen as they’ve stared at each other, but suddenly she releases her crossed arms and motions her shoulders. His hands tightly knitted together come even closer to his chest under the sweater. When she sighs quietly, Juyeon feels a rush to bring him one meter below where his eyes fall now. To become out of reach towards human emotions and run under the nearest flower pot. 

“Yes or no?” She asks again. Juyeon’s eyes grow larger and the ends fall into a sort of curved motion. At this point, a white question mark has drawn itself over his head. 

“Are you going out? Taking her number?” She looks over her shoulder and tilts her head towards the friend again, “You think she’s cute too?” 

His eyes insist on keeping themselves open. To switch between hers and the girl’s presence underneath one tree. The two scenes start fading into one, colors leak into the other’s surface and the forms of the world become curved. Juyeon finally closes his eyes and feels the water accumulate on its end. 

“Forget it.” The girl sighs. Her white shoes hit the wood beneath them. How her hair follows the motions of her heels turning the other direction from his. 

A tension suspended to his shoulders, falters as Juyeon watches how her silhouette will falter from his vision. A bicycle passes him to grab his attention, and as it leaves the framed world, his eyes fall back on Y/n who talks with the person in white cloth behind the cart. At that moment, Juyeon’s hands let go of the other one and he takes for the first time one step closer to the other person leaving his sight. 

“Can you help me with something?” The girl turns back to Juyeon standing with one hand over his nape. 

She stays quiet for a few seconds. 

“Sure,” she sighs, “what do you want?” 

To search the world for phrases and listen to the conversations behind him, “Is that a good way to ask someone to be your girlfriend?” 

Her eyes dissect his life and his inner self. It uncomfortably tickles his shoulders and withers his height.  

“I mean…” He scratches his nape again, “what your friend did.” he clarifies. 

The silence that comes after his questions is rather painful. Despite constant talking and surrounding them, it can’t save the dying air between them. The sunset is right between tier two silhouettes, but is all but magical. 

“Yeah…” she looks at him weirdly, “I guess.” 

“Okay.” He smiles brightly, “Thank you.” 

“No problem.” The girl walks away with furrowed eyebrows. 

Juyeon, paints and sculpts the world in his mind when the friend under the tree eagerly walks towards the other one. He doesn’t see how she waves her hand before her friend’s face and turns her back onto the sea. 

When the sun has moved another centimeter down the horizon, Juyeon stands watching it falling towards its death. He hears footsteps become all the clearer from behind, and while smiling, he turns his back on the scene in order to become a background, and fully faces Y/n. In both her hands she holds a rectangular cardboard piece. The plate with its fascinating textures and worldly colors. 

“Sorry it took some time.” She hands him one of the plates and Juyeon receives it with both hands. 

“Did it go well?” 

She watches how his head lifts when he stops staring at the food in his palms. A wind comes right the moment he looks up and catches some of his hair strands. A part of her heart drowns in the sunset when he smiles after her question. Juyeon nods so that his fringe follows his motions and Y/n reach her hand out for it. She forces one strand to the left and Juyeon watches her face as she does. Thereafter, Y/n follows the patterns of his hair and comes to the highest point. Her hand gently brings the strands down to his scalp, and Juyeon closes his eyes and brings his head down to her height. 

/

“Eric?” 

The youngest at the table looks up from his phone to see Juyeon with his arms folded over the table. Those eyes, immersive and bright from the sunlight behind the store window. Juyeon is slightly leaned over the white table and Eric, naturally, forces his eyes wider to mirror Juyeon before him. 

“I need your help,” He says with seriousness. How Juyeon’s posture lean on the rest of his chair, and his eyes on a single point as if everything else has faded from him. Eric lets go of his phone fully, resting with the screen down against the white painted surface. 

“What is it?” To fully reciprocate his question, he too leans forward. Eric’s full attention lands on his friend, even when the bell from the front door chimes, he won’t look away. 

“You need to make me Y/n’s boyfriend.” 

Juyeon watches how Eric’s posture sinks in the single second those words leave his mouth. That expression, Juyeon thinks. It's all evocative to the girl from the sunset ocean. 

“Okay…?” He leans back into the chair, knitted eyebrows and a confused look towards him on the other side of the table. “Why?” Though, the question leaves his lips and his eyes observes Juyeon’s, a view of himself in bird’s eye perspective takes him off the back rest. Instead Eric leans forward again. 

“Or I guess that’s obvious,” Eric says as Juyeon looks at him with hands in his laps, “Why can’t you do it on your own?” 

Juyeon’s eyes across the table, looking at Eric himself, turned his back on God. At some point, Eric tilts his head and lifts one eyebrow. To live in the same apartment should be enough to find confidence in one's own relationship, he thinks. But as Eric finds no sympathy in Juyeon’s condition, the one with a confused way of looking at the world, earnestly shakes his head. Those eyes alone and the stare that reaches across the table, is enough to make Eric lean back again. 

“It’s not the right way.” Juyeon still shakes his head. The palm of his hands land on the plastic surface of the white table. 

Eric, once again, knits his brows and brings his arm to cross one under. 

“There’s a ‘right’ way to do it?!” 

Juyeon nods. 

Eric sighs, his head directs itself towards the ceiling. One square of the white patterns sits two centimeters off its white border. His vision falls back to where it was before, and Juyeon once again becomes the center of it. Eric lets his hands drop from the cross over his chest and he asks; 

“Okay, tell me then, what should I do?” 

His hands in his lap. How his fingers have started to fiddle with the other and Juyeon is enchanted by the motions and fabrics that follow it, “You tell her that your friend thinks she’s cute.”

Eric stares with wide eyes, lost its vigor during the ten steps the minute visor has moved on the wall behind him. Another coworker passes them by, asking them to walk over to the counter to take the next person who chimes the bell. Eric watches how, the second those words leave the person's mouth, Juyeon stands up from his seat to face him, the one that gave them order fully. How the fabric of their aprons lifts when he who has them orders turn back to the colorless door three meters away. Juyeon looks back at Eric who still hasn’t stood up. Juyeon’s arm reaches to his mid tight, and they hang awkwardly there like decorations when he asks; 

“Can you do it?” 

Eric wonders whether the older guy before him has a dating life more depressing than the rusted bench outside the window, as he sits there. Or hold some sort of romantic power, too strong and creative for his simple mind. 

“Sure, I’ll do it.” 

/

Two friends sit in the inner corner of the room, right by the pink letters on the window. How the r&b playlist paints time in this space and to Eric, who stands at the register without current purpose, each word becomes distinct despite its faint presence. Eric watches the clock on the right side of the room. How the second visor completes another round of teh silver frame, and the minute visor lands on a perfect number. Behind him is another one of their workers in white apron, but Juyeon is nowhere to be seen. And before Eric leaves the register, the clear chime of the golden bell goes off and casts itself over the bakery. 

He turns away from the backroom and sees Y/n wave at him from the white frame. A bag decorates her left shoulder and her hair in turn falls over the fabric straps. It is a slightly colder season than before, so with time, her clothes have gotten all thicker to protect the skin from the cold. Y/n comes up to the counter and greets him, similar to the birds singing when the first flowers in spring grow. The hands on the counter fall to his sides and he greets her too. 

Another second passes and the expression of spring converts into something differently. To look for the sprouts of life in mid-winter, there is nothing for her to find. Eric sees how her chin lifts to see the space behind him. 

“Where’s Juyeon?” Her eyes speak of liquid moonlight. 

“He’s getting something, outside.” Eric looks around, “He’s here soon.” 

She nods. With only the barely one meter register between them, there is a silence created when two desperately try to solve a sentence in desperation to fill time. 

“I need to ask you something.” Eric stammer. The counter surface covers the patterns drawn by his white shoes. Y/n opens her eyes a bit wider and grabs the single strap on her shoulder. Juyeon’s question runs circles in his mind. To keep reaching back towards the kitchen.

“My friend thinks you’re cute.” Eric finally says.

Her eyes widen while her arms become rigid. 

“I-that’s flattering” Y/n stammer, “but…” 

Her voice fades to silence as Eric tilts his head. Y/n continuously blinks as the side of his head desperately leans towards the left. To look at the erratic behavior, until she catches how a silhouette comes out from behind the metal. His hand on the silver side and the strands over lustrous eyes, it all that has carved itself a space in her heart. Y/n see it all, only for a second, but it is enough to understand Eric’s exact language and square demeanor. 

“Oh.” Y/n smiles and looks at Eric. He, in contrast, furrows his eyebrows and leans towards her. Seek for another soul in the room to connect over his, what Eric thinks is, love-drowned behavior. 

“Tell him to meet me outside then.” Y/n straightens her posture and walks outside. The bell goes off again and Eric is left staring at the empty spot without traces. 

The second the chime from the edge reaches the far corner of the kitchen. Juyeon comes out from the metal covering his presence. That the skin of his hands cover a significant part of the outer edge of the metal machine. Eric’s back faces Juyeon and he fully frees himself from the cover and walks up to him. 

“What did she say?” Juyeon asks, his eyes drowned in moonlight glitter. 

Eric, at the register, finally stops staring at the point Y/n departed from. 

“To meet you outside.” Eric says without any sort of surgarcoat lining between his words. As his face watches over Juyeon’s, the bright light from outside becomes uncovered by the clouds just as his lips beam.  

How the two last digits on their phones count upwards as they bring the chairs over tables and take the mop to clean off the irregular pattern over the wooden floor. The bell chimes endlessly as the workers leave the room with windows from floor to ceiling. Juyeon and Eric are the last two out of the bakery, and Eric brings the keys to the door and a low sound comes from within the door when  he turns his wrist. 

Juyeon turns away from the frame and out over the city. As the buildings ascend above the square bakery and between the towers that pierce through the atmosphere, the setting sun beams its last warmth for the day. The two of them take their step down the stairs. Only four steps or two until they reach the sidewalk concrete and wave the other goodbye. And when Juyeon sees Eric’s back face him and his shadow paints itself over the street and reaches the cars on the other side, he turns behind him.

How the tiles of the sidewalk and sunlight lead him straight to the bench where she stands. The shadow beneath her feet follows the motion of her right hand as she waves to him. For a single moment, Juyeon stands on the tiles as if they’ve forced him down onto them. But in reality, that the earth round the sun in a forever circle seems unbearable. Because, when Y/n takes a step closer towards his existence, the entire solar system could circle around her. 

“Did work go well?” Her voice is soft and familiar of daily life as she stands before him. When she looks at him attentively, he nods so that the loose fabrics around his body follow it. Soon after, Y/n take the end fabric of his sleeve and gently pull his body towards her own. Sounds of shoe surface scratching against the rough tiles reach his ears, and then, they’re letting the street guide them further down the city. 

People become faceless as they enter the immense circle in the middle of the city. Juyeon grabs onto Y/n’s arm and she looks up to see his eyes follow the paths of strangers. How they cross red light and half way through, then color turns on its spectrum and the green light illuminates the concrete. The constant pitched sound pattern grabs onto his mind and torments a part of each senses. Y/n watches how his eyes closes. Without another second between the two cars and two groups of people before them, Y/n brings the left side of his body closer to her right. By nearly running, the two of them get to the end edge of the street. 

Juyeon finally opens his eyes when a wind blows past his lids. The maze of skyscrapers, signs and music have opened up before them. And now they stand on the path dividing the capital into two. Once again, they stand by the side of the city river and soon walk where the railing paints the edge of the water. Like the couples, parents with children in neon blue padded jackets and high school friends on bicycles, they follow the railing up towards each bridge that decorates horizontally over the vertical river. 

Conversations of people without faces crosses their life and fades before they get to comprehend it. They walk past one bridge, and how the pillars underneath it shows its true massiveness. Though, as they walk there, side by side in the illuminated city center, Juyeon continuously takes glances at her beside him. 

To go through the scene in intricate detail. Count the seconds and paint the motions, Juyeon can’t find the strings attaching Eric’s help at the bakery to their moment by the river. Despite receiving his question and answering it, in what he guesses, is a positive manner, she once again is by his side without a mention of his action. Though, he thinks back on the scene during the sunset, when the girl said her friend thought he was cute. She never got beyond that. What is supposed to happen after that? he thinks. Has the universe now, with that acknowledgement at the bakery woven together their existences? Will a sensation from another world visit his dreams? 

The thoughts rushes from his mind out towards his fingers and radiate to the deepest corners of his body. Juyeon once again looks at Y/n when they come to the next bridge where three benches stand in a pattern of two meters in between. 

“Are we together now?” He asks suddenly. 

His voice binds her heart to his own, therefore, her body, with just a small measure shifts closer to his own. Y/n looks up towards him with eyes mirroring the open river and chin a bit higher as if to compare each feature under his fringe. When they walk like this, Y/n waits for his lips to imitate the crescent moon that stands before them. But instead, a midnight streak in his eyes pulsates before her and his lips slightly apart. 

“What?” She asks. 

Juyeon stops one step before her in the midst of the river path and asks again “Are we together?”

Another wind comes between them when they stand one meter away from the other. How the couples and workers walk past them without lending a lens towards the two of them in the midst of the open path. Y/n’s vision covers when the wind takes one of hair strands, and without looking away from him before her, she forces it back between her ears. 

“You need to tell me.” The words fall desperately as his fingers begin fiddling with the other. His eyebrows fall into a sort of outward motion. Another flash before the pupil pulls on her heart and forces her to breathe out. 

“I-we’re not…” She stammers. 

Juyeon’s shoulders falter even deeper. Tragic weather has taken on the single square where they stand. The continuous motions of her chest is the only part of her that can be seen from outside, as she watches how his eyes fall to her shoes. 

“It hurts me, Y/n.” He breathes, “can’t you feel it too?” 

Despite standing in the midst of the overcrowded city, a silence only at the edge of the world has fallen over it. Y/n opens her lips as if she’s about to answer him, but the silence draped over the buildings that circle them like walls, spreads like poison through her veins. To voice so much of a vowel, she’s afraid venom will falter. 

“But it’s not like that, Juyeon.” She takes a step closer, “You don’t love me.” 

The calmness of the sunset evening is gently wrapped between her fingers. And when her hand reaches out to his shoulder, it tears off in one motion and falls to the floor and withers. Juyeon backs away. The evershining in his eyes that she has come to adore, has melted off his pupils, becoming liquid starlight at the end of his eyes. 

“What should I do for you to believe me?” He finally breathes, “that I love you.”  The transparent wall suffocating them two, shatters in a single flicker as Juyeon walks out of it. Left before her is an empty space and a cold wind. She looks to the left to see his silhouette become smaller and fall in line with the bench. Her hand between sky and floor, desperately  calls for someone to take it. 

Y/n can feel something gripping at the parts of her lungs as Juyeon walks towards the bench. His silhouette is ever so small against the immense river. When her feet stand in the same position still, and another person brush shoulders against her own to get through. It too, takes onto her skin and forces a deep, cold, metal lining into her heart. Somehow, it turns to the left and Y/n can feel her own knees desperately standing still. 

When her heart aches, Y/n looks back over the beautiful scene. How in every preservation, she would want to see him in the center. She sees him like this, and the sunset falls over him as if it is their only purpose. In the midst of her existence, he has become smaller. And when standing still at the edge of the world, Y/n realize this sudden fear. That he’ll walk along the path without her, and at the end another day, he will have faded like summer when it grace to autumn. 

Y/n finally leaves the spot behind her without traces. She holds her eyes on his hair as if to make sure that every moment he’ll continue to exist. 

Juyeon looks towards her when she takes the spot beside him. 

“It’s okay if you don’t want to be together.” he looks down, “Just say no.” He says while looking out over the lights in colors to form a path at midnight for those who wander, “Because, I just…want you to know that I love you.” 

When they sit by the river, his profile shows no sign of awareness of her own existence. Memories from before come back to her from every side and force itself into her heart. The scene up on the hill before the same river they’re beside now, plays behind her lens like a film from before. And when he breathes for a second time and the breeze from the water perfectly lies one strand behind the other. Y/n realizes how much he has grown. His emotions were gently wrapped in three sentences, ending in a yellow silk bow. A sort of sincerity in the golden lining threads her broken parts.

She finally smiles, when she looks at his hand that has reached out for hers. His smile that for the first time falters when he’s with her. At last, another conversation behind them fades and the world has fallen silent. 

Y/n takes his hand in hers and leans towards him with lowered head. He looks up at her through the hair strands and waits for her words to torment the deepest parts within him. 

“I love you too, Juyeon.” 

For a second, the line between the two falls in complete silence. It is this pitched sound that vibrates in the ceiling of one's ear, and it lingers there as each second passes. Though, finally Juyeon lifts his chin even a bit higher. His eyes clear as the sky curved over their heads and how the edges of his lips have formed a rose pink cradle. 

“You do?” 

Y/n nods. 

At this moment, Juyeon fully lifts his legs from the grass growing out between the tiles and crosses them over the bench. His front faces hers without a hidden feature and at last, he takes her other hand in his. And as they sit there under the falling sky, Y/n looks down onto her legs drawing circles on the gray concrete. How Juyeon sees his own life paints hers and he feels that sensation in the hidden corner of himself. 

The same feeling he recalls from their daily life. A sensation intimate with his new life takes his breath from the lowest parts within him before letting out. And his chest seems to bring him life for an eternity.  

“Can you feel it too?” Juyeon asks curiously and Y/n looks back up. 

Her eyes fall wider when he, without signs, brings his hand onto her heart protected in layers. Where the sensation mirrors his own. And an empty field without wind, Y/n watch him without motions. She looks at his eyes that concentrate on the pulsating on his palm. 

And he gasps with immense eyes, “You feel it too?” 

Y/n nods now with a smile reminiscent of his own. How the melted starlight died. But in the corner of his eyes, she sees the small shine of a newborn star. So delicate but enough to reach her own. 

And they sit there, legs over the ground and hands intertwined like the bridges beside them. Another pair of people walk past them, and Juyeon looks at her without words. Y/n tilts her head while knitting her eyebrows  with her smile. 

“What’s happening now?” He asks as he thinks of the movies playing hours on end by the TV screen. Her own mind fills in the blank spaces where two ears would perk up in union. 

She smiles even wider and Juyeon can’t seem to understand why she does so. As he tilts his head even lower and eyes grow wider, she finally leans forward. 

“This.” 

Her knees force the rest of her body up a bit higher. And her hands hold him even tighter when her lips fall on his own. Or, she overestimates the height in between them, and instead kisses the upper part of his lip, right underneath his nose. Y/n comes back down with redness from his own lips. At first, he stares at her without words. Expression the same as   before, all until his face lights up like the street lamps in every corner of their city.  

“It’s so fun kissing you.” He gasps. 

Y/n herself nearly falls onto the rest behind her, when Juyeon leans forward to press his lips against her own. She laughs and pushes him, the part of his chest right beneath the yellow ribbon. His eyes, like the city, shines up the passing darkness of the season, all while he pouts. 

“Just once.” She holds up one finger, “Once.”

_

Cat gets jealous :(

Y/n sees how his eyes move on from her own down to the spot beside her feet. She too looks down, Juyeon is brushing his head over her ankles and walks in circles around her. 

“This is Juyeon.” Y/n says. 

Her neighbor kneels down and reaches out his hand. The hand becomes all the more larger the closer he gets to Juyeon. The smell of his skin and light in his eyes. Juyeon’s fur stands up, he takes a step forward as the sharp teeth behind the soft fur shows. Juyeon’s eyes are formed like sirens and stare deeply into the man before them. 

“Juyeon.” Y/n quickly bends down and takes him in her arms. The stern tone fades into an awkward laugh before she looks down into her arms. 

“Sorry.” The man before her has gone back to the door and holds own hand, “He’s not usually like that.” Y/n smiles and looks down in her arms cupped to hold his light fur. His paws curl up under his chin and his eyes close when Juyeon can tilt his head onto her shoulder. 

“It’s okay.” He laughs, “Where is the leaking?” 

/

His hoodie falls over his shoulders like a blanket. In securing warmth from the material, he stands against Y/n’s back, watching how she cuts strawberries. The oven glistens in warm tones and it spreads over the four walls. He calls the sweet aroma from sugar and berries. 

“What is it, Juyeon?” Y/n turn her head back towards him for a second, then focus back towards the fruit. A familiar spark rushes through him when she talks to him with that high voice. He comes even closer and rests his head on her shoulder. 

“Is it something special?” He asks her. Y/n, despite looking at the plastic board and can only hear his whisper-like voice, sees his ears fold up. 

She smiles, “The plumber is coming over again.” 

The space on her shoulder becomes cold and she barely feels the edges of his shirt brush against her own. As a divider has moved between the two, Y/n looks behind her again and puts down the knife. In oversized fashion, hair strands scattered over his eyes and a small pout, Juyeon watches her attentively. Despite his disheartened demeanor and distance(distance being in juyeon’s world), Y/n laughs. 

“I need to thank him, Juyeon.”

His shoulders are still hanging low and the pout on his lips won’t go away. Y/n tilts her head and leans onto the counter.

Juyeon has circled her legs before, held her hand a bit tighter in public or strengthened his posture when someone else exchanged words with her. But when he stands before her right now, there are no walls or filters. With a yearning so transparent and a heart craving for her own, she can’t help but adore him even more. Y/n half a strawberry from behind her and walks up to his figure. Because of her motions, Juyeon’s eyes have formed from dissatisfied ones to asking questions. His own head tilts to the side and Y/n looks up at him before bringing the strawberry up to his lips. 

“Don’t sulk, Juyeon.” 

He bites down onto the strawberry and nods so that his fringe moves with it. Before bringing her attention back to the counter, Y/n reach her hand out towards the spot where his hair blossoms to all sides. 

_

Cat wants a pet name >:(

How the white curtains lie like a filter over the city during sunday morning. There are no calling responsibilities until another hour has passed them by. Y/n because of that lies with closed eyes, still under the covers. A sort of relief and satisfaction washed over her thirty minutes earlier as she thought she was late for university. But before Y/n could even throw off the sheet, Y/n felt her arm being pulled towards the bed-mit. She fell onto the pillow again and her hair scattered over the fabrics. When she took a glance to her left, she saw Juyeon with closed eyes and his soft skin up against her own. 

“It’s Sunday.” He whispered and shifted his head closer to hers, between her neck where Y/n felt him breathing deeply. 

Because of his low voice and silk skin, she could close her eyes without thoughts of dilemma grabbing her neck. Though, now the morning sun has struck her once again, and she shifts her head one step closer to the pillow, as to make sure she’s alive. Aside from the sun, there is someone else to bring warmth in the room she is in. Y/n has her face immensely close to Juyeon’s. So much that his breathing appears to move her own strands of hair. 

The clock continuously passes them by when time has stopped in the bed. Juyeon’s hair tickles her bare skin and she takes her hand to comb through his silk strands. His head falls backwards with eyes closed. In this angle, the sunlight strikes him perfectly, she thinks. 

“Y/n?” He whispers and she hums. 

To take notice how his skin shifts in pink and how his eyes open just to close as quickly. 

“What is it?” Y/n asks. 

He hesitates, “Why did you stop calling me kitten?” 

“Why?” He looks through the strands of his fringe. 

Y/n shifts away from his person, her face towards the white wall and the fabrics in a familiar shade folds over her. “It’s weird"...", she laughs. 

Juyeon won’t say anything more, or make a sound. And she conceives the way his scent intertwines with her own, that he has gone back to dreaming. But as the white paint of her wall fades from sight and her lids closes, the sheets fall a decimeter lower. The mattress shifts in weight and a sort of coldness comes from the empty spot and makes her pull the covers closer to her essence. Soon, Y/n opens her eyes as the left side of her pillow shifts closer to the morning sun and another presence in the same room affects the poi8nt below her collarbone. As it strains her body, Y/n makes a pained expression before opening her eyes and looks up.

“Juyomi?” 

He stays on her chest and takes one step after the other. To walk in circles on her upper body and sway his tail in her face. Y/n sneezes and takes her arms from under the covers and tangles within his fur. 

“Juyo?” Y/n sighs. Though, her grip around his thin body loosens as he stops turning and takes a seat on her chest. As he sits there, she references all the moments they’ve spent in  the same room staring into each otheräs eyes. Juyeon’s head won’t tilt to the left, but behind his small figure waves the tail from left to right in a slow rhythm. 

“Juyo?” Y/n says again, this time, in a tone much more playful. 

He walks even closer to her face and disappears beneath her vision. Instead, Y/n senses how his soft fur touches her neck. How Juyeon reaches his head between her chin and chest and lets the warmth of her self affect his own life. And when his face comes up to her ear, she hears faint breaths covered in white silk. 

“Okay, Juyo,” she says, “I'm tired.” 

Y/n wraps her arms around his fragile body and forces him down when she falls to the side. To look slightly down when her hair scatters over the pillow. She sees his eyes up towards hers, how the color spreads large over the white and sparks in the piercing sunlight. A second passes them by and Juyeon lets out a fragile sound before taking his head in her chest. 

Y/n  smiles how he falls blushy and gif eye contact with her in this state. Therefore, she hugs him a bit tighter before closing her eyes and falling asleep again on Sunday morning. 

_

mischievous cat :)

Y/n sits on one of the chairs at the white table. Her chin hangs over the computer as she stares at the black cursor. Though she has fallen into the digital world and nothing seems to be able to force her out of it. All at once, her shoulder falls backwards and she lets out a pained sound as a weight with cold claws lands on her shoulders. Her hands let go of the keyboard and grab the silk fur of the one higher up. 

“Juyeon, go off.” Y/n says, in which she only gets a meow for an answer. 

“Juyeon, seriously, we’ve talked about this.” 

Her words don't seem to reach him, or he doesn’t want to listen. His paws start to play with her hair and the collar of her shirt. 

“I’ll give you attention later, I need to work.” 

_

a/n: def not my best work. I promise to come back with something better! This took way to long than it should have🫠 thanks for reading💗

[sgiandubh]

I actually am a shipper so I wasn’t trying to make the rounds to stir shit. I haven’t been around for too long only about 2 years or less. I just got upset when I saw the Getty pictures of Sam’s hand on Eleanor’s hip and hand on her back and then the fan pictures and video too of his hand on her back and giving her hug made me start to question everything since he does that with Cait too. I’m sorry for giving the wrong impression.

But I took a little time to reflect and remembered videos and images we got of Sam and Cait from Outlander promo this year. Between the moments at 92Y where Sam gave Cait a kiss on her temple and rubbed her back as well as the end when posing with Sophie in Rik. To the looks and knowing glances he gave her during interviews and even giving her a pat on the leg I believe in one interview. I overreacted initially and now that I put things into perspective, I can see the difference. There’s an intimacy and connection between Sam and Cait that comes across in promo that isn’t there with Eleanor.

Sorry again for coming across the wrong way. I truly was just looking for some reassurance initially

Dear (returning) Weary and Distraught Anon,

That would be very strange, because it really (REALLY) looks very similar to an Anon @bat-cat-reader showed me perhaps ten minutes before you chimed in.

However, since this is a plausible deniability situation, please accept my apologies, even if I still am not 100% sure about you.

I was just writing a post about body language at tonight's BAFTA preview of TCND, but since you've made reasonable amends, I am including it here for you, Anon:

S&C at OL's S7 Premiere in New York, June 9, 2023:

S & Tomlinson tonight:

Please note the following:

Tomlinson is completely disengaged, watches confidently the press people in front of her. She does not smile. Translation: I am a woman who just showed the press, the PR people and potential employers my latest project. I am a pro. I am very married and I know this hunk belongs to someone else. I am only playing PR games in *urv's mind.

S does the same. He uses his left hand as a completely non-committal blocking shield. Colgate smile is somewhat too calibrated to be spontaneous, the result is pleasant (which is to say 'decent bordering on meh'). Translation: we are all buddies and I (S) hope you liked our wee series. I really, seriously enjoyed working with these people and I am relieved we were allowed to promote this series in the middle of the strike turmoil. My well-rehearsed Optimistic Gaze Nr. 4 hides very well my real thoughts, that even @sgiandubh can't telegraph to her readers. And these thoughts have nothing to do with being here (note to readers: above thoughts probably involve a living-room near GLA).

Alfred Enoch: he is the only relaxed person in this picture and the only one whose smile perfectly aligns with his eyes (both sincere, open and enthusiastic). His arms' position is completely natural. Translation: I am over the moon to be here, I managed to work during a really rough patch and I really hope someone has noticed me tonight. Maybe I'll get another gig soon. These people are my friends, but tonight, it's all about myself: it is me I am showing off, selling and promoting here. Hire me: I am the funny one.

Bonus (dotted arrow shows where S's gaze is directed):

I think that needs no further comments. I rest my case, Anon.

Thank you for clarifying, I think you were brave to come back. Don't be a stranger, if I managed to not scare the bejesus out of you, yet.

PS: who knew my Business Intelligence uni credits would come in so handy, in the most unlikely of situations?

[ivanttakethis]

Before Round 7 - Tov’s Log (Bonus Scene)

Daiki (?) vs. Tallis (?) - ??? Win

————————————————————

Cassio was a hopeless romantic.

They loved soap operas and romance novels and sappy movies that Tov found too cloyingly sweet to stomach.

They loved love.

Tov never understood it.

When she would ask Cassio: “What does romantic love feel like?” or “How do the characters know they’re in love?”

Cassio always answered, with a wistful smile on their face: “You just know.”

Tov didn’t believe that.

At least.

Until…

Until she had Tallis’s face in her hands and he was looking into her eyes and he said: “I love you too.”

His words struck something at the very core of her. Like he’d plucked a harp string too hard.

Oh.

Oh.

Tov knew now.

She knew with the same certainty that she knew suns were also stars. That humans bled red and warm. That she and all of her classmates were doomed from the moment they entered Anakt Garden.

Tov knew she was in love with Tallis.

It wasn’t a world altering realization, like in the films Cassio watched all the time.

There were no fireworks or chiming bells or fluttering hearts.

Instead, it felt like laying beside him under the warm sun in the fields of Anakt Garden.

Like not having to speak to be understood.

Like reaching out to grab a hand you know is always there.

It felt like home.

But how could she tell him all of that?

Tov wasn’t even sure she had the words to explain it properly. It was all tangled up in her chest.

Maybe she could kiss him on the forehead, like that time Tallis had gotten really sick when they were younger.

She’d been trying to comfort him.

His skin was hot to the touch. He probably couldn’t remember it at all.

Or.

Maybe.

Tov’s gaze fell to his lips.

Characters in Cassio’s shows kissed all the time. It was a common expression of romantic love.

Maybe Tallis would understand what she meant by it.

She looked back up at him, and found him doing the same.

Was he just—

Tov’s thoughts screeched to a halt at the look in Tallis’s eyes.

Sick of these nights to come

To be engulfed in silence

In your gaze, where I'm seen

Consume me, yes, me

“I love you too.”

All of her nerves settled then. The chaos in her mind quieted for the first time in days. Tov was certain.

She closed her eyes and leaned in.

Tallis met her halfway.

He always did.

Back and forth.

Push and pull.

Take a piece of me and I will keep a piece of you.

The kiss felt like home too.

It wasn’t much more than a simple press of lips together, but Tov’s stomach flipped anyway.

Tallis’s cheeks were even warmer than before.

His hand curled around her wrist, and his thumb brushed over her pulse point.

Tov’s medical band beeped in response.

She wasn’t sure which one of them pulled back first, but Tov didn’t let him go very far, still cradling his face in her hands. He still had a loose hold on her wrist. They were both still alive.

“I believe in you.” She whispered.

Tallis gave her a shaky, but genuine smile. “I know.”

Tov smiled in return, “Good.”

————————————————————

Tovallis kiss!! We won!!! (purposefully ignores what happened during Round 7)

This is a follow up to Before Round 7 and is 100% CANON!!! @lookatmysillies and I decided it would be and no one can stop us 😁

I included Cure lyrics in the log because it fits Tov and Tallis’s relationship during Alien Stage well. One of them will leave the other first, but it’s hard to come to terms with that.

Sick of these nights to come? To be engulfed in silence? In your gaze, where I'm seen?? Consume me, yes, me???

It’s all very Tovallis coded.

I actually wrote a whole post and lyrical breakdown of Cure in the context of Tov and Tallis’s relationship overall, if you want to read that.

Chronologically, End of Round 7 comes after this. Though it’s probably even more of a devastating read now knowing that Tov not only told Tallis that she loves him for the first time, but also just realized she’s in love with him. Oof.

Save me Tovallis modern AU, save me!!

[necromycologist]

tbh making “violin player/prodigy” a shorthand for a certain kind of intense/clever/high-parental-expectations character always feels so lazy to me. it’s just a set piece and the actual interesting ramifications of the character being musically skilled are never explored. SO in that vein here is a (non-exhaustive and slightly bitchy) list of things that being a violin prodigy ACTUALLY gives to a mfer:

rigorous practice schedule. like an hour a day minimum. innate talent is a myth they are PLAYING that thang!!!

binder/ipad full of sheet music. like full-to-bursting full.

knowledge of musical theory/history, but it probably doesn’t come up in conversation.

similarly, knowledge of a small but surprising amount of italian.

probably doesn’t have a favourite composer. might have a least favourite composer. definitely has a least favourite key.

playing is never perfect! they’ll still have some kind of technique bugbear.

music education is standardized… to a certain degree. 'self-taught violin prodigy' is, while cool, extremely unlikely. they might not have certificates/done a music program but they DEFINITELY had a teacher.

like. instrumence is be??? it feels common sense but I remember reading one book where a violin was used as a weapon (…just. why.) so apparently not. a quick primer: violins are expensive as shit and depending on how prodigy your prodigy is may actually be 100 years old/on loan from a music school. this makes them DELICATE and SENSITIVE! violins will react to changes in ambient temperature and moisture— it makes them go out of tune, and in some cases actually warp. a bow needs tightening and loosening and also rosin (google it just trust me ok.) bonus points if you make a "rosin delicious" joke. endlessly funny idk what anyone says.

(again, disclaimer that i'm no expert or scholar myself, just wanted to clear up some particularly grating misconceptions i've seen! those with other experiences please feel free to chime in/elaborate/correct me as needed)

[blazing-dynamo]

I spent the night making a Listening Guide for the 8th Doctor for my partner, and figured I would share. I made it as a checklist in iOS. The numbers/abbreviations are connected to my Plex Audiobook server so might not line up with the names/numbering of the official releases.

8th Doctor Order

Charley Era

Main Range

- [ ] 16 - Storm Warning

- [ ] 17 - Sword of Orion

- [ ] 18 - Stones of Venice

- [ ] 19 - Minuet in hell

- [ ] 28 - invaders from mars

- [ ] 29 - Chimes of Midnight (Christmas Special!)

- [ ] 30 - Seasons of Fear

- [ ] 31 - Embrace the Darkness

- [ ] 32 - The Time of the Daleks

- [ ] 33 - Neverland

- [ ] 50 - Zagreus (Season Finale!)

- [ ] 52 - Scherzo (best one bring tissue)

- [ ] 53 - Creed of the Kromon (new companion!)

- [ ] 54 - The Natural History of Fear

- [ ] 55 - The Twilight Kingdom

- [ ] 61 - Faith Stealer

- [ ] 62 - The Last

- [ ] 63 - Caerdroia

- [ ] 64 - The Next Life (Season Finale!)

- [ ] 72 - Terror Firma

- [ ] 75 - Scaredy Cat

- [ ] 77 - Other Lives

- [ ] 80 - Time Works

- [ ] 83 - Something Inside

- [ ] 88 - Memory Lane

- [ ] 101 - Absolution

- [ ] 103 - The Girl that Never Was (Season Finale. End of Era.)

Charley Era Bonus content:

Charley is a fan favorite so she has a whole bunch of side content compared to the other eras.

Eighth Doctor Adventures

- [ ] CPFA1.01 The Mummy Speaks

- [ ] CPFA1.02 Eclipse

- [ ] CPFA1.03 The Slaying of the Writhing Mass

- [ ] CPFA1.04 Heart of Orion

- [ ] 8DA1.00 Living Legend

These are Charley stories made after the end of Charley’s era. Charlotte Pollard the Further Adventuress is brand new. Living Legend was like a year after she left (don’t fact check me)

Main Range

- [ ] 111 - The Doomwood Curse

- [ ] 114 - Brotherhood of the Daleks

- [ ] 116 - The Raincloud Man

- [ ] 124 - Patient Zero

- [ ] 125 - Paper Cuts

- [ ] 126 - Blue Forgotten Planet

This resolves the charley cliffhanger. She travels with the Sixth Doctor for some timey wimey further pissing off of the web of time. If you still don’t have enough Charley she has her own series that follows after her adventures with Sixie.

Main Range

- [ ] 123 - The Company of Friends

- [ ] 153 - The Silver Turk

- [ ] 154 - The Witch from the Well

- [ ] 155 - Army of Death

Eighth doctor in the main range without Charley. 123 is with his comic/book companions. The others are the Mary Shelly companion stories! Fun fact he mentions these travels as just happening in Storm Warning so they are a direct prequel.

Main Range

- [ ] 100 - 100 (technically only in part 4)

- [ ] 275 - End of The Beginning

One offs

- [ ] The Light At The End (50th anniv special)

The Legacy of Time

- [ ] 1 Lies in Ruins

- [ ] 2 The Split Infinitive

- [ ] 3 The Sacrifice of Jo Grant

- [ ] 4 Relative Time

- [ ] 5 The avenues of Possibility

- [ ] 6 Collision Course

This chunk is all big anniversary cross overs that feature charley. Some with 6. Some with 8.

Companion Chronicles

- [ ] 4.12 Solitaire

Short Trips

- [ ] 2.8 Letting Go

- [ ] 5.8 Foreshadowing

- [ ] 6.11 The Man Who Wasn’t There

- [ ] 9.11 Hall of the Ten Thousand

- [ ] 10.8 These Stolen Hours

Classic Doctors, New Monsters

- [ ] 3.4 If I should die before I wake

This last selection is all small short stories that take place during the Charley Era.

Lucie Era

Eighth Doctor Adventures

8DA Season 1

- [ ] 1, 2 Blood of the Daleks

- [ ] 3 Horror of Glam Rock

- [ ] 4 Immortal Beloved

- [ ] 5 Phobos

- [ ] 6 No More Lies

- [ ] 7, 8 Human Resources

8DA Season 2

- [ ] 1 Dead London

- [ ] 2 Max Warp

- [ ] 3 Brave New Town

- [ ] 4 The Skull of Sobek

- [ ] 5 Grand Theft Cosmos

- [ ] 6 The Zygon that Fell to Earth

- [ ] 7 Sisters of the Flame

- [ ] 8 Vengeance of Morbius

8DA Season 3

- [ ] 1 Orbis

- [ ] 2 Hothouse

- [ ] 3 Beast of Orlock

- [ ] 4 Wirrn Dawn

- [ ] 5 Scapegoat

- [ ] 6 The Cannibalists

- [ ] 7 The Eight Truths

- [ ] 8 Worldwide Web

8DA Season 4

- [ ] 1 Death in Blackpool

- [ ] 2 Situation Vacant

- [ ] 3 Nevermore

- [ ] 4 The Book of Kells

- [ ] 5 Deimos

- [ ] 6 The Resurrection of Mars

- [ ] 7 Relative Dimensions

- [ ] 7b An Earthly Child

- [ ] 8 Prisoner of the Sun

- [ ] 9 Lucie Miller

- [ ] 10 To the Death (end of the Era)

Lucie Era Bonus

8DA Season 5

- [ ] 1 The Dalek Trap

- [ ] 2 The Revolution Game

- [ ] 3 The House on the Edge of Chaos

- [ ] 4 Island of the Fendahl

This season is technically not an 8DA release but is called “the further adventures of Lucie miller” and takes place before Human Resources. But I wouldn’t slot it there, and instead just listen as a bonus.

Short Trips

- [ ] 3.8 All the fun of the Fair

- [ ] 6.4 The Curse of the Fugue

- [ ] ST7.7 Flashpoint

- [ ] SST 2014-06 Late Night Shopping

- [ ] SST 2013-03 the Young Lions

- [ ] SST 2015-12 The Caves of Erith

Liv and Helen Era

Yes technically this was the Molly era but she got too famous between dark eyes part 1 and 2 so it’s really Liv’s Era, and Helen joins soon after. This era is a string of box sets so basically just Dark Eyes >Doom Coalition >Ravenous > Stranded, but what follows is a checklist so you can keep track.

Eighth Doctor Adventures

Dark Eyes

- [ ] 1.1 The Great War

- [ ] 1.2 Fugutives

- [ ] 1.3 Tangled Web

- [ ] 1.4 X and the Daleks

- [ ] 2.1 The Traitor

- [ ] 2.2 The White Room

- [ ] 2.3 Time’s Horizon (Hello Liv!)

- [ ] 2.4 Eyes of the Master

- [ ] 3.1 The Death of Hope

- [ ] 3.2 The Reviled

- [ ] 3.3 Masterplan

- [ ] 3.4 Rule of the Eminence

- [ ] 4.1 A Life in the Day

- [ ] 4.2 The Monster of Monmarte

- [ ] 4.3 Master of the Daleks

- [ ] 4.4 Eye of Darkness

Doom Coalition

- [ ] 1.1 The Eleven

- [ ] 1.2 The Red Lady

- [ ] 1.3 The Galileo Trap

- [ ] 1.4 The Satanic Mill

- [ ] 2.1 Beachhead Track

- [ ] 2.2 Scenes from Her Life

- [ ] 2.3 The Gift

- [ ] 2.4 The Sonomancer

- [ ] 3.1 Absent Friends

- [ ] 3.2 The Eighth Piece

- [ ] 3.3 The Doomsday Chronometer

- [ ] 3.4 The Crucible of Souls

- [ ] 4.1 Ship in a Bottle

- [ ] 4.2 Songs of Love

- [ ] 4.3 The Side of the Angels

- [ ] 4.4 Stop the Clock

Ravenous

- [ ] 1.1 Their Finest Hour

- [ ] 1.2 How to make a Killing in Time Travel

- [ ] 1.3 World of Damnation

- [ ] 1.4 Sweet Salvation

- [ ] 2.1 Escape from Kaldor

- [ ] 2.2 Better Watch Out

- [ ] 2.3 Fairytale of Salzburg (Another Christmas Special)

- [ ] 2.4 Seizure

- [ ] 3.1 Deeptime Frontier

- [ ] 3.2 Companion Piece***** See Below

- [ ] 3.3 LEGEND

- [ ] 3.4 The Odds Against

- [ ] 4.1 Whisper

- [ ] 4.2 Planet of Dust

- [ ] 4.3 Day of the Master 1

- [ ] 4.4 Day of the Master 2

I highly recommend skipping to the Bliss Era before Companion Piece. They were released simultaneously and have a crossover in companion piece and it makes it better. But you could always “Spoilers sweetie” and find it out later.

Stranded

- [ ] 1.1 Lost Property

- [ ] 1.2 Wild Animals

- [ ] 1.3 Must-See TV

- [ ] 1.4 Divine Intervention

- [ ] 2.1 Dead Time

- [ ] 2.2 Unit Dating

- [ ] 2.3 Baker Street Irregulars

- [ ] 2.4 The Long Way Round

- [ ] 3.1 Patience

- [ ] 3.2 Twisted Folklore

- [ ] 3.3 Snow

- [ ] 3.4 What Just Happened

- [ ] 4.1 Crossed Lines

- [ ] 4.2 Get Andy

- [ ] 4.3 The Keys of Baker Street

- [ ] 4.4 Best Year Ever

Liv and Helen continue into What Lies Inside and Connections, but I don’t have it yet so I don’t know the episode names.

Liv Era Bonus Content

Main Range

- [ ] 149. Robophobia

Liv was actually an almost-companion for the 7th doctor. She told him no, and kicked herself until the 8th Doctor showed back up.

The Robots

Liv’s Spin off. Takes place during Ravenous 2 when the doctor has to leave her for a year. I haven’t listened yet so I don’t know the titles but there are 6 seasons of 3 episodes

Ninth Doctor Adventures

- [ ] 2.3 Hidden Depths

Crossover with the Ninth Doctor Range.

Short Trips

- [ ] 7.1 The World Beyond the Trees

Bliss Era

Aka the Time War! Can technically be listened to whenever because it doesn’t directly reference things but it’s best after Doom Coalition, but Before Ravenous.

Eighth Doctor Adventures

Time War

- [ ] 1.1 The Starship of Theseus

- [ ] 1.2 Echoes of War

- [ ] 1.3 The Conscript

- [ ] 1.4 One Life

- [ ] 2.1 The Lords of Terror

- [ ] 2.2 Planet of the Ogrons

- [ ] 2.3 In the Garden of Death

- [ ] 2.4 Jonah

- [ ] 3.1 State of Bliss

- [ ] 3.2 The Famished Lands

- [ ] 3.3 Fugutive in Time

- [ ] 3.4 The War Valeyard

- [ ] 4.1 Palindrome 1

- [ ] 4.2 Palindrome 2

- [ ] 4.3 Dreadshade

- [ ] 4.4 Restoration of the Daleks

[aces-and-angels]

An It Lives Within Holiday Special: Amalia Edition 🎁

Title: Lemon Drops 

A/N: Y’all ready for some besties turned lovers action? Because it’s time to show Amalia some much needed love♥ I started writing this fic so long ago.  Technically, it was never meant for ILAW. But I figured since I’m done with Abel’s fic, I’d spruce up the draft I had for this beauty. 

For Day 4: Favorite ship(s) @ila-appreciationweek

Pairing(s): Amalia x MC (M!Rowan), Connor x F!Devon (briefly mentioned) 

Summary: A bonus scene for ILW by @itlivesproject; Set pre-finale (Blood Route); Rowan recreates an old memory

---

“$5.00 is your change. Do you need a bag?”

Rowan proudly held up his pillowcase. “No thanks. I brought my own.” His smirk was met with a quizzical look, followed by a careless shrug from the cashier. The cotton stretched as he packed everything into his ‘bag.’ Tightly holding the ends of the fabric in his fist, he slung the pillowcase over his shoulder. His foot was halfway out the store when a voice called out. 

“Wait!” Rowan turned around, confused. His cashier jogged up to him, a large pack of lemon drops in their hand. “You almost forgot this.”

---

Bright headlights illuminated the dark road ahead as Rowan drove. It wasn’t long before he found himself parked outside the cabin. The spot where Connor’s car should be was noticeably empty- just as he intended. For the most part, his roommates were agreeable to staying elsewhere for the night. Though Devon did make him pay her $100 as an ‘entertainment fee.’ 

“Drinks are expensive, Burke. And so am I,” she reasoned.

“Sweetheart, we don’t need-”

“Connor, hush. A business transaction is in progress.” Rowan rolled his eyes, but complied. After a few quick taps on his phone, Devon’s phone chimed in her pocket. “We’ll be out by 6.”

Grabbing his pillowcase from the passenger’s seat, he made his way to the front door and knocked. A few seconds pass before he heard the floorboards creak from inside. “Ro, is that you?” Amalia called out. 

“Yeah, I left without my keys again,” he lied, holding back a grin. His heart thudded with anticipation as her footsteps grew louder.

"I told you to check your...” her words died out when she took in the sight of him. 

Standing in front of her, still in his pajamas that he’d left in, he gave a small, but hopeful smile. The contents in his pillowcase jostled slightly as he held it up to her. “Wanna have a slumber party?”  

“I... you... what-”

“As much as I love leaving you speechless, it’s freezing out here,” he chuckled, his breath coming out in a fog. 

“R-right,” she stuttered, stepping aside so he could pass. The heat inside the cabin instantly warmed his cold skin. He faintly heard the front door click shut from behind, but not another set of footsteps following him into the living room. Amalia stood frozen in place, her mouth slightly agape.  

“A lady at the store gave me that same look,” he tried to joke with her. 

“Huh?” 

“I had to go to a couple of stores, actually. For some reason, none of them had UNO.” 

“Wha-?”

“I know! It didn’t make sense to me either. Anyways, I bought all of the essentials.” He began to take out the snacks in his pillowcase, listing them off as he did. “I’ve got Takis, salt and vinegar chips, honey buns-”

“No,” she interrupted, her shocked expression unchanged. “I mean, what is all this?” 

His shoulders slumped ever-so-slightly. Was this too much? He fidgeted with the edge of his pillowcase. “I just thought- I wanted...” he trailed off, unsure how to explain himself.

“You wanted to do what?” Her tone didn’t hold any judgement. It was soft, encouraging. She walked over to him, gently placing her palm on his cheek. He instinctively leaned into her touch, its comforting warmth easing the tension that had formed in his shoulders. Taking a deep breath, he lifted his head from the floor. 

“I’ve been having these... thoughts,” he started, wetting his dry lips with his tongue. “My memories- they’re not really mine.”

“Ro, that doesn’t-”

“I know, Lia. In the end, I’m still me. But that doesn’t change the fact that there are gaps. Things that I only think are true.” He anxiously chewed on the inside of his cheek, glancing down at the pillowcase in his hand. After a moment of hesitation, he pulled out the pack of lemon drops. “I just wanted to remember, really remember, our slumber parties.” 

Amalia’s eyes softened. Wordlessly, her arms circled tightly around his frame. He melted into the hug, burying his face in her hair. The sweet, familiar scent of lavender filled his senses. A content sigh escaped from his lips as she rubbed his back soothingly. “Is that why you kept asking me what snacks I liked?” Her words were muffled into his shoulder.

“I had to make sure I bought the right things,” he mumbled sheepishly. With their bodies pressed so close, he could feel her laughter through his chest. The joyous sound made his heart flip. She pulled away just enough to look up at him.   

“You really have UNO in that pillowcase of yours?” 

Stepping away from her hold, he took out the deck of cards. “Prepare to eat my dust de León.” 

"We’ll see about that, Burke.” Snatching the box out of his hands, she made her way to sit on the couch. “First trip down memory lane: you were always shit at shuffling.”

His lips stretched into a playful smirk. “Did we also make each other draw cards until we got one we could put down?”

“That’s the only way to play, Ro. Now, sit down so I can kick your ass.”

Several rounds of UNO and many, many betrayals later, the two decided to set the cards down to preserve what was left of their relationship. Rowan’s arm draped over Amalia’s shoulder while her head rested on his chest. Her fingers absentmindedly traced random patterns on the back of his hand. A movie that neither of them were really invested in played on the television. “Wanna split the last honey bun, honey bun?” He snickered.

“God, that was awful,” she groaned, slapping him half-heartedly. 

"Well,” he scoffed, giving her the most affronted look her could muster. “I don’t feel like sharing it now. Not after that.” He wiped a non-existent tear off his cheek. 

“Too bad. Because I’m still hungry.” She moves off him, grabbing the last bun from the package. Her eyes gleam with mischief as she takes a large bite. “Mm- so good.” Rowan’s gaze follows her lips. They glistened from the glaze, her tongue jutting out to lick the crumbs from the corner of her mouth. She dances happily in place, her head bopping side to side as she hums with delight. Warmth pools in his chest as he watches her. A sudden need to be near her washes through him. 

“I wanna try,” he whispers. Instead of taking the half-eaten honeybun, his fingers lightly pull her chin towards him. Closing his eyes, he kisses her softly. Amalia gasps, allowing him to slip his tongue between the small part of her lips, relishing the sweet, sugary taste from the dessert that lingered. “You’re right. It is good.” He rests his forehead on hers. 

“Mm, glad you liked it,” she sighs. After a moment, she adds, “I’m still eating the rest of it.”

Rowan snorts loudly. “What happened to splitting everything 50/50?”

“You got to eat the last Taki. So I get the last honeybun.”

“What did you want me to do? Break a singular Taki in half? That’s ridiculous! Plus, Takis are smaller than honeybuns,” he counters. 

“Them’s the breaks, Ro. We shook on it years ago.” 

“Past me should’ve haggled for a better deal,” he grumbles, crossing his arms. 

“I don’t know. I think things turned out all right for him,” she said, her gaze tender. 

His breath hitches. He looks back at her, his expression cautiously hopeful. “You really think so?” 

Amalia nods. “I know so.” There’s no stopping the smile that breaks out. She didn’t need to say it outright for him to know what she meant. Despite everything, he was still her Ro. And that was enough. The little details of his past may be hazy, but Rowan wasn’t upset about that. Not anymore. Because there was a whole life he had left to live. New memories to make. And he’d get to do it all with her.   

[sanzu-sanzu-sanzu]

hello! your works continue to send me to a happy place and i’m grateful you’ve shared your writing :) breakfast with ran continues to be one i think of when washing the dishes and songs about toxic people one that keeps me up at times just thinking about how detailed it is. songs about toxic people, each piece and section felt like a breeze. the kind you feel when you’re outside and have a moment to be present yet u feel a lot and some of it is nostalgia. this makes zero sense and it all is meant as a compliment from the bottom of my heart. essentially if for me it’s comforting to hear wind chimes ringing with autumn breezes, then that’s how i find your writing to be. i would love to know if u have any literature, movie, or song recs if you don’t mind sharing. take care 💓

this message is so sweet 😭💖 i'm very happy my writing brings you to such a happy place 😭😭😭😭😭 i also find it very hard to explain how my love for something makes me feel haha and i think as long as it makes sense to you, it shouldn't matter however you express it! hehehe it makes me happy either way 💖

also, i'm so sorry for answering this so late, but i hope you still get to read this now! here are some media recs from me:

(i'm just gonna list my top 5/top 10 so it isn't overwhelming haha)

MOVIES

crouching tiger, hidden dragon

millennium actress

memories of murder

little miss sunshine

the beach

TV SERIES

midnight mass (horror)

succession

mad men

the haunting of hill house (horror)

the midnight club

(bonus) white lotus!!!

edit: and omg how can i forget: CHERNOBYL

LITERATURE

100 years of solitude (gabriel garcia marquez)

her body and other parties (carmen maria machado)

klara and the sun (kazuo ishiguro)

story of your life and others (ted chiang)

the haunting of hill house (shirley jackson) - trust me the book is a whole different experience

(bonus) the solitude of prime numbers (paolo giordano)

MUSIC (i’ll just list down my top favorite artists hehehe + my fav album/s by them!)

asian kung-fu generation (sol-fa)

my chemical romance (the black parade)

fall out boy (folie à deaux; so much (for) stardust)

yoko kanno (cowboy bebop soundtrack)

radiohead (in rainbows; hail to the thief)

alt-j (an awesome wave; this is all yours)

nujabes (modal soul)

paramore (brand new eyes; after laughter)

florence + the machine (lungs)

chopin in general!!!

i hope you're having a nice day!!!!

[frenchyberry]

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[saving-word-crawls]

The Night Owl Crawl

By: Reticent

I’ve posted this crawl for a couple of years now but am a bit late with it this year! Someone beat me to it and reposted the companion crawl already, so you can find The Early Bird here: Early Bird Crawl 25

(saving-word-crawls notes: It'll be the next one posted here, so don't worry, early birds!)

Are you up writing when the clock chimes and suddenly today is tomorrow? Is daylight abhorrent to you? Maybe you just can’t sleep. Whatever your reasons, this is the crawl for those of us who write our best at night. (Companion crawl: The Early Bird/Morning Crawl). Let’s begin!

The rest of the world is slowly drifting off to sleep, but you’re wide awake and ready to write! What time does the sun set in your country right now? Make a guess! Now check your answer. If you were within 2 hours, write 100 words. If you were more than 2 hours out, write 300 words.

Sleep? What’s that? Pick a synonym for ‘awake’ (e.g. conscious, alert, wakeful – or you can use the thesaurus here). Now write however many letters are in the word, multiplied by 50 (so for ‘alert’ there are 5 letters, which means 250 words). Bonus points: Try to include the word you picked in the passage you write.

Question time! Have you ever pulled an all-nighter because of NaNo?

Sure/I pull all-nighters pretty often: Don’t forget to sleep when you can! Write 400 words. Maybe? I don’t remember: Let’s be honest, being awake during witching hour can do strange things to our memories… Write 300 words. Not me! Nano can wrestle my beauty sleep out of my cold, dead hands: Good on you dude! Fight the power! Write 350 words.

So what’s the time right now anyway? Take the last three digits of whatever your clock reads and write that number of words (so if it’s 23:03pm, write 303 words – it’s your choice whether you use analogue or twenty four hour clock).

Have you had a caffeinated drink in the last hour?

Yes… I’m not even ashamed: Someone’s ready to take on the world! Battle a fifty headed hydra. Yes… I’m a little ashamed: Happens to the best of us – use it to fuel a song sprint to this: Natalie Cole - Coffee Time - YouTube 4 (or any other coffee/tea/caffeine themed song). Nope, I’m just running on adrenaline and Nano nerves: Sometimes that’s all you need! Write 100 words for every pillow that’s on your bed.

How much noise is there at night where you live?

It’s nearly silent here. You might hear the hoot of an owl or some bats if you’re lucky: Wow how peaceful! Write 300 words and see if you can include a mention of wildlife. There’s a bit of noise here. A few cars or occasional train noises, but nothing super loud: – Just enough noise to remind you there are people around, huh? Write 250 words and try to include someone getting woken up by a surprising noise. This city never sleeps! Ambulances, cars, rowdy youths; we’ve got it all! It’s an acquired taste, but I find it hard to sleep without: That’s cool; ambulances are your ambience! Write 450 words and include a description of what your current setting sounds like for bonus points.

Feeling sleepy yet? No? Good, because it’s song sprinting time. Use this: Thank the lord for the nighttime - Neil Diamond - HQ - YouTube 7 or pick an upbeat song that you love and sprint to it! Sprint like you mean it! And maybe do a little dance to shake off any sleepiness that’s trying to creep up on you (just try not to wake anyone up!)

I think all us night owls can agree that there are few things as beautiful as the night sky – grab a piece of notepaper and doodle the night sky (it doesn’t have to be perfect!)

insert elevator music here

That was fun– how many celestial bodies (‘natural objects located outside the Earth’s atmosphere’ e.g. moon, stars, planets) are there in your picture? Write 10 words for each celestial body (Optional: colour them in as you write their corresponding words).

Woah, what time is it? It got late pretty fast – has it been midnight yet?

Yep, midnight has been and gone. I’m living in tomorrow: You know what that means? You can get an early start on your word count! Shush you, it absolutely is exciting. Write the last three digits of whatever time your clock reads (so if it’s 01:17, write 117 words). Midnight has, just this second, happened: Really?! Either that’s a lie, or you’ve been incredibly lucky. Write 50 words and congratulate yourself on timing this crawl so well! Ha nope! Not midnight yet: Good! More time for some last minute words! If you’ve reached par for today, write 150 words. If you’re not at par yet don’t worry, we’ve all been there! We believe in you! Write 350 words.

You’re nearly there! A short, warm-down song sprint to this: Mary Poppins Soundtrack- Stay Awake - YouTube 8 as you ease into feeling sleepy… (don’t drift off just yet!)

You did it! You beat the crawl! Now this might be proof that you’re probably nocturnal and should be partying with the night creatures, but you should treat yourself with some well-deserved sleep anyway.* Goodnight! Sleep well! Congratulate yourself on an evening of great productivity!

(Unless you’re some sort of extra-terrestrial/supernatural being that doesn’t need sleep, in which case, I hope you enjoyed this crawl and will recommend it to your other supernatural sleepless alien friends (potentially on their own celestial bodies) who want to write novels this November – thanks for stopping by!)

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[crazyfilterlady2024]

“15 Tips for Earning and Saving Money in 2024!” & More!

The Power of Reciprocity: Building a Supportive Online Community

In our digital age, we're all striving for success and recognition. However, true fulfillment comes from giving back and supporting one another. Let's explore the importance of reciprocity in nurturing a positive online community.

Embracing reciprocity: When we give and receive support in equal measure, it creates a symbiotic relationship that benefits everyone involved. Instead of solely focusing on personal gain, let's prioritize lifting each other up.

Following Back: If someone follows you on social media, reciprocate the gesture by following them back. This simple act shows appreciation and fosters a sense of camaraderie within your online network.

Engagement Matters: Don't stop at following back—engage with your followers by liking, sharing, and subscribing to their content. Building meaningful connections is key to fostering a supportive community.

Leading by Example: By embodying the principles of reciprocity, you inspire others to do the same. Together, we can create a culture of generosity and mutual support in the digital realm.

Conclusion: In a world where self-promotion often takes precedence, let's stand out by prioritizing reciprocity. When we give back to those who support us, we contribute to a thriving online community where everyone has the opportunity to succeed.

With love always, Maria D.C. Santiago

Photo Credits Pixabay

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