#debu talks

[danwhobrowses]

TK decided since NXT were throwing everyone and their uncle into tonight that he'll just throw in a murder grandpa for a buy in, shades of when he did Bryan vs Suzuki when Rampage was on at the same time as Smackdown. Plus he also announced 30 minutes ad free.

For all that's said and done, fans are winning for this, but imo even if NXT beat Dynamite in the ratings if it's a small margin then AEW still win; because if you need John Cena, Asuka, Cody Rhodes, Becky Lynch, Paul Heyman, the Judgement Day (since Dom is NA champ again) and rumors of the Undertaker to buff up NXT against a Dynamite card TK has at his disposal on the regular (maybe minus a title match) then it's still pretty embarrassing.

[monty-glasses-roxy]

Oh yeah when my phone broke a while back, I was looking for other ways to get the time and stuff when I wasn't on my laptop (can't read clocks so sue me) and happened to pick up my DSi again. I got bored and it had New Super Mario Bros in it and I thought "hey fuck it" and started playing it and well it turns out I misremembered and actually didn't beat it before

Well guess who has every star coin, every world and level completed and has now beaten the last castle with Luigi?

[ofoceansandtombsanew]

this might be weird to ask on a writing blog but do you have any manga recs?

yeah i got some recs! i'm gonna assume you mean less talked about titles rather than more well-known but quickfire popular recs i have are: chainsaw man, fullmetal alchemist, jjba, fruits basket, jjk and hell's paradise. but onto my other recs:

seinen

children of the sea**: a troubled teen named ruka embarks on the summer adventure of a lifetime after meeting two boys raised by dugongs at her dad's aquarium in the middle of a mysterious event taking place in the ocean.

the summer hikaru died: it's been months since yoshiki's childhood friend and secret crush, hikaru, went missing in the mountains for a week. hikaru's the same as usual, with his jokes and silly rambles and yet, yoshiki can't shake the feeling that whoever came back from that mountain, it wasn't hikaru. much to his horror, it wasn't. but rather than face reality and grief, yoshiki decides to play along with "hikaru's" act (body horror)

dorohedoro**: in a world where there are humans and magic users, humans have it rough being virtually treated as second class citizens. day after day, year after year, magic users come to the human realm to experiment on them with their magic. and after having his head turn into a caiman, kaiman, wants to get it back in blood and have his true form restored (body horror)

witch hat atelier*: in a world full of magic and witches, it's always been normal human girl coco's dream to be one. but after accidentally discovering a truth of this world and her mom getting caught up in the spell, coco becomes an apprentice of witch qifrey. (it was recently announced there's an anime in the works!)

skip & loafer**: desiring to become a government official to revitalize her hometown in the japanese countryside, iwakura mitsumi's first step to accomplish this goal is by going to a uni prep high school in tokyo. she's got a foolproof 10-step plan to boot! but of course, life hardly ever goes as plan, not even for a prodigy (mc's aunt has great trans rep)

jousei

sign of affection*: as someone deaf all her life, yuki has dealt with discrimination in both small and broad strokes. nor has she ever experienced romance. this all changes when she meets backpacker itsumi, a guy who goes to the same uni. just as he opens her world, she opens his

debu to love to ayamachi to***: after waking up in a hospital with no memories to her name, plus sized yumeko is told she is there after surviving a suicide attempt. the thing is, yumeko isn't sure why when she's just so beautiful! with a strong desire to live life to the fullest, yumeko decides to do everything the past her was to afraid to do. all the while it is revealed that her suicide attempt was more of an attempted murder... but who could have wanted to kill her?

my love story with yamada-kun at lv999**: nothing is worse than getting cheated on especially after akane invested a lot of time and energy into her shitty ex's gaming hobbies. but through gaming, not only does akane find herself healing, she managed to get herself a pretty cool boyfriend too

NANA**: 2 women, 2 different lives, 1 name shared. komatsu nana is quick to fall in love and after a series of less-than-lucky relationships, she finally has someone she thinks is the one. abandoned by her mother and her ex leaving her band, osaki nana hasn't had the easiest life. but on the same night, on the same train, these two women meet and their lives become deeply intertwined

shoujo

a condition called love*: when it comes to romance, hotaru's never experienced it besides stories of her friends relationships. but she soon finds herself about to experience the whirlwind of a lifetime when hananoi, the most popular boy in school, asks her to be his girlfriend

a bouquet for an ugly girl***: as her class' resident big girl, hana isn't expecting a blossoming spring in her high school career. and she's okay with that. she has everything she needsー otome games and gardening. but after her class' pretty boy catches her in the midst of changing the class flowers, their lives become a bit more intertwined

uruwashi no yoi no tsuki: yoi is quite popular at her school because of her neat short hair, beautiful face and overall princely appearance. in fact, it's gotten her dubbed 'prince' many times. but when the other prince of the school finally meets her, cupid's arrow quickly knocks him on his ass

shounen

frieren**: a manga that picks up after the journey has ended. the demon king has been defeated and the heroes have saved the day after 10 years of traveling together. 10 years? that's not even a 10th of elf mage frieren's life. but as her companions begin dying one by one of old age, she finds herself desiring to learn more about humans and the short yet impactful lives they still manage to have

dungeon meshi*: when a dungeon raid goes terribly wrong and laios' sister gets swallowed by a dragon, those that remain in his party decide to get it back in blood by saving laios' sister before she gets digested. in the mean time, there's nothing wrong with gordon ramsay-ing miscellaneous ingredients found in the dungeon along the way, right?

and if you like manhwa or would be down for some manhwa recs these are titles i don't see getting recommended enough

concubine walkthrough: a scifi & philosophical spin on the otome isekai genre that asks 'what is reality truly?', 'is your life any less real if you found out all your experiences were a simulation?' and 'what is reality to you?' where protagonist lee yona finds herself stuck in a VR edition of a game she only played once

a wicked tale of cinderella's stepmother: usually when someone wakes up in the body of a villainess, she's the same age as the protagonists. mildred, on the other hand, is stuck in the body of this story's cinderella's stepmother. with no husband and three daughters to take care of, there's only one thing she can really doー build up her daughters' sisterly bonds with one another and make sure they marry into good families (or that they can at least live lives they're happy with)

tricked into becoming the heroine's stepmother: at least mildred got the body of an important character, daisy on the other hand? she's in the body of an NPC you never even see in the story. bright side? this is a story she helped write and after meeting the presently six year old protagonist's father, she and father of the year decide to team up for the ultimate mission: making sure his daughter never meets any of the love interests

inso's law: ham dan-i is in a bit of a pickle when she wakes up and her new school uniform is completely different than the one her mom bought weeks ago. there's a drop dead gorgeous girl next door who claims to be her childhood best friend. even worse, like something straight out of a drama, there are four heavenly kings that rule her school. by the end of the day, dan-i has no other choice but to accept the fact........ her real life has somehow turned into a web novel. even worse, she's a side characterー the main character's best friend

webtoons

plum: in a world where fruit stacking is a major sport, little plum decides to be the very best like no one ever was and moves to the big city to compete in the fruit stacking games along with making some friends and rivals along the way

webtoons that are probably popular enough if they have hardcover copies at my local bookstore but i wanna talk about it anyway

cursed princess club: as the youngest princess of the pastel kingdom, gwendolyn loves her family. her protective papa, her oldest sister maria who often awakes to woodland creatures doing her hair. her older sister lorena who makes flowers bloom with her every step. and her younger brother jamie who's so pretty, he sparkles. and they adore her just as much. but things come to a very reality shattering halt when their father introduces maria, lorena and gwen to blaine, lance and frederick, the princes of the plaid kingdom and gwen overhears frederick call her ugly, something she's never heard in her entire life. somehow, gwen finds comfort in a club full of cursed princesses (and one prince) who teach her how to start loving herself again

key

*) receiving an anime adaptation

**) has an an anime series or movie

***) receiving an anime adaptation & contains a story with a plus-sized protagonist that doesn't involve weight loss

[ntls-24722]

Domesticated crops! (and secret not-plants)

This post is more for me and actually putting to paper the things that the Bolur species would eat. I had more fun than I thought I would've.

cw? tw? for unsanitary mentions sorta

Going from top-to-right,

Land Barnacles

Exactly what they sound like. Did you know that Earth barnacles are arthropods? That they're crustaceans? I got inspo from that. Juveniles, like Earth barnacles, are mobile and have very inefficient, blanket-y wings that they will use to one day cement themselves onto the ground, hopefully next to another one of their barnacle colleagues for reproductive purposes. Their abdomens are actually folded so that their anuses are right next to their mouths, because like an aphid, they have a very sugary, liquidy waste that (alongside their floral-looking heads) brings in a lot of bugs for them to eat! When bugs try to feed on their waste, they use the remnants of their tube feet to grab them and eat them.

Zebrapeople cultivate land barnacles in order to drill holes right into their abdomens and harvest their honeydew sewage. It's like a gross version of drilling holes in maple trees for maple syrup. I imagine they view it kind of like hot dogs, so tasty but so grossly made...

Floor Climbers

They're these kind of "flatworms" that eat underwater plant growths and store them in their skin to be able to photosynthesize for themselves. Their blankety backsides is the part of them with the most, so they evolved to completely have that part of them be a solar panel blanket and just walk with their front.... well, they never had legs, but they now have "legs." They're handstanding everywhere

They're invasive little shits that reproduce like rabbits. They're introduced to small, usually music man-made bodies of water in order for them to completely take over, and for the music men to harvest. They're really chewy and savory if you cook them right. Might be a little poisonous if you undercook them, so it's better to burn your climbers than have them medium rare.

Bucca

THATS TUBER, BABY

They evolved that Phat Root in order to anchor themselves in the water. They have flowers at the base of their main stem for bugs that walk on water to pollinate, and to make sure they don't move around too much, their stem and leaves became super aerodynamic to the point it looks like a big red feather coming out of the water.

Amber Tree

MISNOMER. NOT A TREE. LAND CORAL! Sometimes called "cow sails" from the way its topmost "branches" and leaves just hang down over everything like a debu's sail does. Since its branches are thin, its limestone outer layer is at risk of breaking a lot, so it evolved this really thick sap so bugs don't try and take advantage of its downfall.

Except, well, Debu took advantage of its sap. It's a cash crop! Badlands Debu harvest its super thick, fast drying sap to kind of make instant-amber, dipping various things in it to make jewlery. Things like...

Thansum

Imagine if a sunflower, when it got pollinated, became a giant dandelion. That's thansum, the complimentary Debu cash crop to amber trees, which is the most popular thing to dip in its amber. But it's not just a Debu cash crop, it's also used to make paper and cloth for zebrapeople, mostly zebraelves. They crush its seedlings up and add water to make a thansum-meal out of it - if they use more seedling and dry it, it becomes paper. If they use more fluff, then it becomes cloth! Or they can eat thansum-meal straight up if they're desperate. It's not poisonous, but it's a very sad meal, don't eat thansum-meal

Spittle Berries

So, i've been excited to talk about this, because lemme tell you the more popular way that Bolur plants reproduce. Spittle berries are fruits, they are Bolur fruits, but bolur fruits are special - they are the flower, the leaf, and the fruit all at once. The method is that fruits are made through leaves, leaves that're inflated full of gametes covered in a soft shell (think like a pomegranate seed) and fruit "meat", which in turn also colors them a striking (ususally cool) color. When something eats a Bolur fruit, the soft shell that their sperm and eggs were covered in gets dissolved and they meet up together in the stomach. The gametes themselves are made of some gross, hard-to-digest material so that they remain unharmed, and so that they can become embryos by the time whatever ate it passes them through their system, right into some fresh fertilizer that they can grow out of. Spittle berries are the least interesting fruit in that it's just a fruit, but they're a perfect introductory fruit for the weirder ones, like:

Seeing-Squash

The only fruit actively being selected for cuteness! It's also a debu specific - the squash evolved to be eaten specifically by mountain cows since the shell their gametes are covered in are too tough to be digested by most other animal. So if a zebraperson wants to eat, they might want to take those out lest those bigass "seed" gametes gives them blockage.

It's less cuteness, but more "liveliness," if that makes any sense? Looking more and more like a little animal, a little dude. The eyes are getting bigger and the originally modest striping is becoming more exaggerated to look like a spitting monkey.

And finally,

Bempo

The only plant here to have a skeleton. It's the "shrub" version of a land coral where its base will have a dense limestone skeleton for its photosynthetic parts to pop out of, and soft pith to be protected underneath. Bempo actually takes forever to grow, because it takes years for it to build up its "pyramid" base. But when it does, then you are set, because fruit-bearing coral-shrubs like bempo have the shortest growth times for its fruit to the point where you can watch and hear the growth of its giant fruit plates that adorn the top of its base.

Those fruit plates also have a skeleton of their own, but it's only a single "bone," like if a plant had a baculum for its fruit.

[edgarhamas]

Ketika Rasul ﷺ Ngajak Deep Talk Tentang Makanan

Ayat itu singkat, hanya satu hembusan napas saja untuk membacanya; tapi maknanya dalam dan meringkas banyak hal, "Maka hendaklah manusia itu memperhatikan makanannya." (QS 80:24)

Pernah mentadabburi bagaimana jauhnya proses makanan itu hingga sampai di hadapan kita?

Ikan yang beberapa hari lalu masih berenang-renang di lautan lepas, sayuran yang sebelumnya masih menyatu di kebun ranum entah pegunungan mana.

Dan itu semua, sampai ke hadapan kita dan siap disantap. Prosesnya, jalannya, lika-liku rezeki itu hingga sampai pada kita; memesona.

Ibnu Katsir menguraikan dengan tadabbur yang mendalam, dalam makanan itu, "ada bukti: Allah Mahakuasa menumbuhkan tanaman dari tanah yang hitam, maka Dia pun Mahakuasa membangkitkan jasad yang tadinya telah jadi tanah usang dan debu yang berserakan"

masyaAllah...

Suatu hari Rasul pernah bertanya pada seorang sahabat, Adh Dhahhak bin Sufyan namanya, "wahai Dhahhak, apa yang suka kau makan?"

"Aku suka daging dan susu", jawab sahabat itu. Rasul bertanya lagi, "lalu, pada akhirnya makanan itu jadi apa?"

"Ia, akan jadi sesuatu yang engkau pun telah tahu, wahai Rasul...", Jawab Dhahhak dengan sopan.

Ini tanya jawab tentang makanan. Tapi uraian Rasul begitu dalam setelahnya, "Sesungguhnya, Allah menggambarkan dunia ini adalah seperti apa yang keluar dari tubuh Bani Adam..."

Manisnya, asinnya, pahitnya, getirnya; pada akhirnya akan berakhir jadi "sesuatu yang engkau pun tahu."

Dunia pun begitu, kan? Kayanya, kurangnya, tinggi kedudukannya, mapan dan bangkrutnya, kuat dan lemahnya: semua berakhir di liang lahat.

[naomi-nana]

── REGRETS🎐SHIKANOIN HEIZOU ༉‧₊˚✧ .

SUMMARY . you liked your best friend, you've always wanted to tell him that. but maybe you're too late now.

warning : unrequited love, angst, lowercase intended. might be ooc

a/n: i love writing angst for heizou- it's inspired by an indonesia song i liked! Sampai Jadi Debu by Banda Neira. the last line of this fic is one of the lyrics <33

"hey, what's with that face?" you almost fell off your chair when your friend, heizou, suddenly comes up to your seat with no warning. you send him a glare jokingly.

"it's nothing. i just felt..left out. that's all." you muttered the last part as you don't want him to worry too much. he sat beside you and hummed as a respond, encouraging you to continue. "i mean..you know."

"..no one wants to talk to me." you answered hesitantly. he sighed as a respond and lean back to his chair. "huh. I guess i'm non-existent then.." he said, you stifle a laugh to yourself as you look at his face.

his pretty, handsome face. he is your first friend in middle school and you guys have been together ever since. even going to the same high school. you've taken a liking to him in your first year of high school, and you still do. but you can't bring yourself to say it. you want to wait for the right moment.

"i know. but, what if we go to different college..or..you know, stop talking suddenly?" you looked down and tried to hold back your tears, thinking about how one day he could've just left you alone.

he breathe out a laugh. "heh, are you kidding me? of course not." he sit straight up and pulled you close to him. really close. "we're going to stay together, obviously." he leans down at you and smiled.

"i will be staying over here with you." he whispered. you smiled warmly to yourself and leans on his shoulder. "yeah..and i'll stay here with you." you muttered to yourself quietly. you feel really calm at this moment, sitting together with the man you love.

whispering things to each other as if it's only the two of you there, everyone is just a mere background character to you. you hoped that you're able to stay like this. With him, forever.

always.

though, i guess there is a reason why people always told you to not get your hopes up. "hey, guess what!" heizou surprised you from behind with a wide smile on his face.

"woah..never seen you this excited before." you let him sit beside you and you put down your phone, "what's up?" heizou pulled something from his pocket and showed it to you. it's a letter.

"i got a love letter." He smirked, waving the letter on your face. you breathe out a laugh as you wondered who would have sent him a love letter. Well, maybe you would. but other than you, who will?

"nah, really?" You took the letter from his hand with a smile on your face, ready to laugh at whatever cringe letter someone just send to your best friend. "yeah. it's from someone i like."

you stopped opening the letter halfway and looked at him with a questioning look. "what..you liked someone?" you asked hesitantly. he nodded at your surprised face, his smile widening.

you froze midway and didn't try opening the letter. there's no way. he actually liked someone? but you didn't know anything about it. aren't best friends supposed to tell the others about stuff like this? does he not consider you a friend anymore? does he have a new someone to talk to now?

"hey what's the matter? stop looking at the letter like that and start opening it!" you snapped back to reality and opened the letter slowly. surely he is just joking with you, right? he said it himself. he will stay with you forever, no?

reading the letter and each word carefully, you almost cried on the spot. but you held back. because you don't want him to think that you are a possessive freak. "wow. i didn't..expect that." he smiled at your respond and snatched the letter back. "congratulations.."

"thanks! i will talk to her about this. wish me luck." he exclaimed as he left the bench both of you are sitting on earlier. as for you, you are still sitting there by yourself. a feeling of getting betrayed, sad, angry, regret. all mixed up into one.

betrayed as a friend, sad as someone who liked him, angry at him for not telling you sooner about the girl he liked, and regret. regret for not confessing sooner. "honestly..why should i get mad at him anyway? It's my fault." you said to yourself.

you leaned your head back on the bench and sighed. 'i'm going to stay together with you'. your tears started to drop slowly, closing your eyes as you try to forget about him. about his laugh. his smile. his voice. and think of him only as a friend.

"yeah..and i'll stay here, by myself." you muttered to yourself quietly as you looked over to the distance, seeing him with another girl.

naomi-nana 2023. all likes, comments & reblogs are appreciated!

[bigredsweetiepie]

Various Kane themed scans from archive.org….

Part 1

Ft commentary from me❣️

My sweet sunshine, my favorite photoshoot ever.

Awww i love this kayfabe interview. Using ain’t is such a cute character trait for Kane written here❤️

How he says he had to use a lot of courage to speak in front of everyone for the first time😭 I’m imagining him practicing with X-Pac ❣️

His beautiful eyes, that intense gaze❤️

Him talking about his mother. ❤️‍🩹💔❤️‍🩹Our boy saying what’s on his mind, and addressing the verbal harassment from Jerry during this time :( He didn’t deserve to be called that, no one does.

I love it when he lifts ppl up like Shane there 🥰

Summer slam ad ! Isnt this when Kane debued his new fit in 2000?

Aww bless, Paul Bearer responding for Kane. 😭😭❤️

Also gross.. the Droz thing…🤢

If you have read Mayor Kane (at least the first half lol) , i think he talks about how there was a watermelon he smashed in the dumpster, to make it look like he was actually smashing Mankind’s head.

Aww baby you get his mask😭 then put it on Paul Bearer…. Kinda want to make a gif set of that, Paul Bearer Time.

Our baby playing with gasoline…… be careful ❤️

Also the way that Taker looks set up for that piledriver… 😋 i have more where that came from…

[equallyshaw]

word vomit | connor bedard - based of kenzie Ziegler's song "word vomit - takes place in the 2024-2025 season - they/them pronouns! - im extremely rusty, so pls be kind! haha - hope you all enjoy xx

- also f the format omg

Word count: 3.3k

Warnings: none!

The thought of who I thought you were It makes me sick I'm feeling like I lost a limb A piece of me is gone and I don't think I'll re-attach it

_

phoenix had been blindsided. blindsided by it all. they did not understand, at all. the version of connor that they had apparently dreamt connor up to be was false, oh so very false. they'd never thought once that connor would or could do such a thing. especially with who his parents and sister were, his friends on the team who thought of him as a young brother and pulled him under his wing the second he got there. but all hockey players are the same, right? phoenix believed they'd never move on and heal from this, there was no way right? phoenix didn't know how they could move on as if nothing had happened, especially since connor didn't think twice or think to think of them.

-

But nothing hurts like that shit It's hard to wrap my head around The fact that you've been making me look back Playing the victim like it wasn't you who fucked up what we had And lit the match like it was nothing Left me feeling gutted

_

since the moment they'd figured out about connor cheating, they could not help but look back at the two year relationship. was every moment a lie? was it all fake? was phoenix just a place holder until the real one came along? it hurt them beyond belief, to have to do all of that. how could this be? is this for real? were the two questions they played over and over in their mind, for the next few months afterward. phoenix was just confused about it all.

then connor, oh sweet innocent connor debued the perfect pictured esque girl to the world, and made everybody believe that the girl was his light at the end of the tunnel. that it was phoenix's fault that they were not together anymore and that it was phoenix's fault that connor had moved on with her. phoenix let their thoughts and feelings be heard with kevin korchinski's girlfriend taylor, who had been even more shocked to hear what connor had done. taylor couldn't believe that the connor that kevin gushed about, was completely different.

||

"oh fuck you, connor! what the hell were you thinking?!" taylor screamed at connor as kevin tried to pull them to leave the dinner that connor threw for a few of the young guys. alex vlasic, frank nazar, phillip kurashev and nolan allen. not to mention their partners. "you're gonna act like an angel when you're far from it?!" she screamed, "and you! you're not much of a girl's girl as you claim to be!" she screamed at the girl that had been introduced to the group tonight for the first time. "you fucking pig, connor!" taylor screamed before kevin grabbed her hand and pulled her out of the luxury apartment. "fuck you kevin, why didn't you let me finish, huh!" she screamed at her boyfriend who only sighed in response. she was about to talk back towards the door as she saw red, but kevin only held her hand to keep her from going. "because if you do that, then ill have to answer to connor. and possibly harm our friendship, tay." he said pulling her into the elevator. "if it was any other circumstance, and us getting along was not apart of our job - i'd give him even more of my mind babe." kevin said as the elevator closed. "what?" she questioned, looking at her boyfriend. "when he told a few of us, oh i was seeing red, i heckled him so badly he had to leave the room. and then when he posted her, i gave him more of my mind as well." he said and taylor calmed down a bit. "come on, lets go see phoenix." he said pulling her out onto the 2nd floor and pulling her towards phoenix's and her roommates apartment.

-

"he fucking ruined me." phoenix said as they nursed their spiked drink, before chuckling. "i should of known it was coming, fuck." they cried. taylor frowned while kevin looked at the ground, "he claims to be a victim but he's far from it." phoenix's roommate natalia said walking in and sitting next to phoenix on the couch. "god, i wish somebody could break him like a twig." natalia said grimly before chugging her drink. "he ran with it, without a second thought. no care in the world for me especially since our relationship wasn't as private as i had wanted. but what connor wants, he gets." phoenix sighed. taylor nodded understanding and knew how much she fought with connor and how much he 'flaunted' the relationship via social media. "he didn't care how much it broke me, not a second thought or look back to see how it affected me."

_

phoenix had been finishing cleaning up the kitchen when connor had gone to take a shower. once they were done cleaning, they headed towards their room to get ready for the evening. connor's phone had been placed on his nightstand, and it was buzzing by the time phoenix had finished up the kitchen and headed towards the room. their eyebrows crinkled as they peered over to see who it was and if it might be urgent. the name popped up with a single '🌹' for the name. the call ended, and then they called once again. by that time, connor had missed 3 calls. phoenix swallowed harshly before picking it up, "hello?" they questioned. the person on the other line gasped, "who is this?" phoenix questioned.

connor opened up the ensemble washroom door, with just a towel on. his curls drenched and pressed against his forehead. he felt his body run cold.

"who. is. this." phoenix asked once more before the call ended. phoenix's mouth opened as they pressed their tonight to the roof of their mouth, biting their tongue essentially. trying to figure out the word they wanted to say first.

phoenix tore the phone away from her ear, before chucking it at him and was surprised that beneath the shock his reflexes were still sharp, as he caught it. "don't lie connor, don't you dare." they threatened with a snarl. connor swallowed his panic, once he saw the single rose on his notifications. he clenched his jaw for a tense moment, "she's a girl...I've been talking to." he said vaguely and phoenix let out a sob they'd been holding in. it was a jab to the heart. almost like a dagger. "I've done nothing wrong." phoenix began in a soft whisper, "why?" they followed up quickly trying to search connor's face. he shrugged.

that fucker, they thought.

"seriously? seriously." their fists clenched at their sides, and connor met their eye. "what do you want me to say, phe? want me to lie and say that i still love you, that you are it for me? it was a moment of stupidity? that i regret it all? that you didn't give me reasons to step out?" he deadpanned and phoenix's head tilted to the side, studying him. "I've given you everything. all of me. why this? what did i do to deserve this?" they rambled, beginning to run through everything over the past two years. nothing suspicious came up.

"phe-" they cut him off with one look, "you don't get to call me that, not anymore!" they screamed at him, knocking him dead in his tracks. they let a sob out before clasping their hand over their mouth. with a shake of their head, they turned away and began their descent out of the shared apartment. "phoenix!" connor called after them, and they abruptly stopped in front of the door - before turning around. "i never want you to speak to me ever again." they announced before opening the door and stepping into the hall, with a slam of the door. phoenix heard towards the stairwell and headed downstairs to the apartment they shared with their friend.

||

Now my thoughts are pouring out Wondering what you talked about Late at night back at your house Did you really think I wouldn't have found out?

_

phoenix poured themself a tall glass of wine, now two months after they'd found out about connor cheating. they'd had enough of sitting nightly with the thoughts and feelings that ran wild and threatened her soul. they pulled their laptop onto their lap, as the sat against the floor-length windows that showed the skyline of chicago. their notes app opened, they began to write. anything and everything. they thought in particular back to that dreadful night, once they had already skimmed through their two year relationship. now they had remembered something, something that now seemed strange.

||

phoenix sat across from alex vlasic's girlfriend, ella and taylor in the lake house. the three of them took the weekend before the season began and headed up to michigan, an hour and a half from chicago. phoenix finished her drink and stood up, announcing that they were getting another from the kitchen. they made their way from the all year round porch and heard whispers coming from their designation. their eyebrows furrowed before stepping into the kitchen and heading towards the fridge. kevin eyed his friend as alex looked towards phoenix. phoenix laughed, "yes alex?" they questioned opening up the seltzer and taking a few sips. alex shook his head before walking out of the kitchen. kevin continued to send daggers towards connor was who his so called 'best friend'. "i think taylor wanted to talk you bout something, kev." they said leaning on the counter. kevin pulled his gaze from connor and nodded at phoenix before slapping connor across the back of his scalp, and then left the room.

phoenix watched kevin walk out and then looked back at connor who was rubbing the scorned place.

"everything okay?" they questioned with slight humor locating their words. phoenix walked up and wrapped her arms around his neck, "yeah." connor breathed before kissing their forehead. "dumb bet on a golf game that's all, sunshine." he hummed and they nodded looking up at him. "come on, lets go upstairs." they teased quietly and pulling connors hands and he finally moved with them.

||

What does she give you that I couldn't? If you'd asked me, well I would've

_

the first time phoenix saw the girl with connor in public, couldn't have happened soon enough they thought. taylor and phoenix were out with one another before taylor and kevin headed back up to canada for the offseason, and the two had gone to lunch before shopping for a bit and then see a movie together. the two of them had walked into lulu lemon for taylor to find a pair of sneakers, and phoenix felt their body run cold.

taylor walked back up behind her friend and then followed her eyesight, and froze with phoenix. "hey, we can-" taylor was cut off by the blonde in question, and phoenix moved away quickly behind a rack of clothes. "hey naiomi?" taylor said in slight surprise as she saw connor walking up behind her. "how have you been? you and kev excited to go back home for the summer?" they questioned and taylor gave her a tight lip smile and nodded softly. "you?" taylor questioned and naiomi smiled. "yes - super excited, especially since connor wants to show me vancouver, since I've never been before!" naiomi explained, and taylor nodded. "sounds fun! but if you'll excuse me, I have some more errands to run before i leave, but i wish you guys safe travels!" she said to the both of them before finding phoenix out of the corner of her eye. she headed over towards them and pulled them out of the store.

"im so so sorry about that." taylor apologized but phoenix waved her off, "you didn't know nor did i. its fine, i promise." they said with a slight smile before the two stood at the cross walk. "how about we head to the theater?" phoenix offered and taylor nodded.

yet, throughout the movie phoenix could not help but question what was wrong with them, or what they lacked for connor. even 3 months later, they were questioning everything. why weren't they good enough? was it because they weren't blonde? was it because they didn't fit that 'ideal' or stereotypical wag picture?

the movie ended too quickly for phoenix's liking, and soon enough they found themselves back at their apartment nursing a can of spiked lemonade. natalia came home and found her best friend quiet, too quiet. as soon as she found phoenix in their room, she knew something had happened- they hadn't been this silent for some time now. phoenix met natalia's eye, "i saw him..and her." they said as their voice cracked, which then opened the floodgates. "why wasn't i good enough, natalia? what didn't i have or give that wasn't enough?" they sobbed as natalia wrapped her arms around phoenix. "i i don't know, phe. but you are enough, just the way you are. the world loves you for who you are." natalia whispered, hoping it could bring some sort of comfort, but it didn't.

instead, they grew angry. hoping, connor would regret what he'd done. because they would have done whatever to have kept him.

_

Now you call me screaming, laughing, screaming, crying On the floor, you say you're dying It's delusional, it's all on you for lying Yeah, it's all on you for lying

_

it was december of that following season when phoenix received a call. their eyebrows creased when they heard sobbing on the other line, and heavy breathing. "hello?" they questioned, hoping to grab the other person's attention. "phe?" they heard softly on the other line, and felt their heart stop. the simple and soft beloved nickname of his was followed by bouts of sobbing and heavy breathing. phoenix turned off the stove and sat down against the kitchen cabinet, trying to collect their own thoughts. "connor?" phoenix said his name for the first time in months. connor felt his breathing stop abruptly before it picked up once again.

"connor...are you ok?" they questioned softly and heard sniffles, before clearing their throat. "im sorry-" they began before letting out a cry, "im sorry for what i did, it was wrong of me and you never deserved any of that." connor rambled, "you were the best thing that had ever happened to me and threw that away and ill never forgive myself for doing that. and im sorry i never apologized phe, i really am, you have to believe me." connor finished and phoenix sighed. they had finally reached a point where connor's name never flashed before their mind nor thoughts, and he didn't mean anything to them anymore.

"you cant do this connor, you can't." they now began, before resting their eyes for a brief moment. they let a soft whimper, "you can't change what you did connor and im not obligated to believe you after all these months. when i fin-finally, stop thinking about you, you swoop in and try to suck me back. im not obligated to forgive you for something you lied about and kept doing for so long- i don't have to believe you, and i will not. for all i know you're calling me while still being with her, she should be the one receiving this phone call not me." phoenix stated before letting out a shakey breath.

"i dont know what im feeling phe, i don't i feel like my chest is on fire and i cant breathe and-" they cut him off, "connor - go find alex or somebody else. not me, it cant be me and never will be again con." they said with a slight pause, "it wasn't my fault connor, and this isn't my job." phoenix said before hanging up. they quickly texted alex, letting him know what was happening and alex said he'd go check on him.

phoenix's head fell back against the wood cabinet, and sighed. what had they'd done to deserve all of this? nothing.

_ Hope it's weighing on your conscience _ march, 2026.

phoenix and taylor walked in with ella to a hawks game, after a year of begging them to come out with them. they knew that they had loved the game before connor and would love it, even afterwards. phoenix felt calm as they sat down in the stands, and took in the sights and sounds of the united center. they thought of all their memories pre connor and chuckled to themself, and smiled over the many many memories they had made with their family.

"can i just say the dark brown is hot." ella said inspecting their hair once more, making phoenix giggle. "no for real, its SO good." taylor said commenting, before fluffing their hair up. "it was either go blonde again orrrrr do this, and i absolutely love it." phoenix smiled at ella as taylor snapped a picture. "oh hey, did you wanna go out to eat with alex and kevin with us later?" ella questioned and phoenix nodded, "i'd love that." they smiled genuinely.

it was a few hours later, after a gritty win against the detroit red wings- they found themselves at one of their old stomping grounds when connor and them were together. the girls left on their own in an uber to get to the restaurant instead of waiting for the guys. they all sat down at a long table in the back and quickly ordered drinks. phoenix and the girls were in the middle of laughing when the boys started to show up. kevin hugged phoenix from behind before sitting down in between them and taylor. "so glad you could make it out nixie." kevin said smiling wide before phoenix responded with a grin.

"im always down for a night at boka." they grinned before sipping some more of their cocktail. "oh! i hopes it okay, i invited somebody." they said and taylor smiled widely before it turned into a grin. "who?" kevin questioned, looking between the two. phoenix went to go speak before they heard their name.

taylor clasped her hands together as kevin looked between phoenix and his girlfriend, before taylor stood up to greet the person. phoenix stood up and met the guy as he stepped closer. phoenix melted into his hug, which they'd come to adore these past few months at this point. "nicklas!" taylor said behind the two, and phoenix playfully rolled their eyes. "nick- but good to see you again taylor." he said giving her a side hug while still holding on phoenix's hand. "oh i know, i just like the name." taylor mused before heading back to the table. unbeknownst to phoenix, she whispered a "be nice" to the table, and then eyed the one and only connor bedard, who swallowed tensely.

"hi guys, this is nick my partner, nick this is everybody." phoenix said smiling softly nick said hello and a good game, and apologized if he was overstepping but alex butted in, "the more the merrier man, welcome." he said standing up to introduce himself. phoenix sat down next to kevin and to an empty chair to her right, for nick.

phoenix pulled some stray hair behind her ear, before meeting the eye of connor from the other end of the table. he gave her a small smile and slight nod, in acknowledgment. their brief moment was interrupted by kevin, "now now, tell us how you and miss nixie met." he grinned as nick threw an arm around the backside of their chair. phoenix hid her face in his shoulders and the group took in their reaction with a chorus laugh.

"yes lets, miss nixie." nick mused.

hope you enjoyed!! going to be posting more as my last semester finishes and i graduate with my undergrad, but until then it might be sporadic!

[bichambered-reservoir]

i do NOT know how to tag this one folks. it is schrödinger's v,ore; you can only find out if it's fatal or safe when you look inside the stomach. If you are offput by anything resembling fatal, don't take the chance

Full image + backstory under the cut [Gore (mild visual depiction, explicit description) warning, description/mention of suicide, drug use]

+ DOOZY of a ramble

This is Moe and Perrai from my m,usic man speculative biology project: Homo mousike. The reason why I have no idea what this counts as, safe/fatalwise is because the prey in question(Perrai) did get digested, which is why his bones are exposed, but he's not digesting now. Because he's already dead. He's reliving the event that killed him in the afterlife, knowing he can't die from it again.

OKAY SO. HOOH. IM SO GLAD THAT I CAN FINALLY TALK ABOUT THESE 2. I CAN'T V,OREPOST ON MAIN.

Okay so. Moe and Perrai were disowned+kicked out from home when their families found out they were in a relationship. Perrai was first, and Moe could support him, but when Moe was disowned shit hit the fan really quick.

A big problem in the modern era of Bolur where everywhere is now a triad society is the problem of purchasing power. Zebraelves are always at a slight advantage because they need less of everything on account of being 2 feet tall, but Debu are usually at a disgusting disadvantage because they need WAY more of everything when they're the size of a small house. Debu in modern societies are often disadvantaged and are in cultures of poverty, where there often has to be a seperate circle of government to actually work with their needs, but while these two are in their modern era, they're not in the social equivalent of our modern day, more like in their 1960's while technologically they're comparable to our late 90's-early 2000's.

This is all to say; When Moe, the 20 ton mammoth became homeless in a time where a combined Debu and Zebrapeople society was just barely working to actually support their debu, they very quickly became shit outta luck, especially with the tension on interspecies and homosexual relationships (both zebrapeople and debu look down on interspecies relationships, but debu are unique for homophobia) barring them from what limited help that there was for the both of them. Unfortunately they turned to making a suicide pact to escape their situation.

The both of them had this... fantasy? Fantasy has a sexual connotation but that's what it was? Their species' are very incompatible when it came to kissing or any sort of intimacy and the method they did for "making out" was just Moe ravenously stuffing Perrai into his mouth, and that sort of escalated to the respective desires to eat and be eaten by the both of them. What made it even more potent is that Debu actually practice mortuary cannibalism; When Debu die, the deceased are decapitated to preserve the consciousness inside the head, bled out to preserve the medium for their new bodies in the underworld (their blood), and then the rest of the body is prepared and eaten. Debu culture is based around scarcity, and when a Debu is lost the entire community will be worse off, and this way they give one final contribution to their loved ones, whom a part of them will always live inside. The fact that this is a legally recognized and accepted form of cannibalism will be important later, but know that whole spiritual jar of bees where Moe believes Perrai would be one/live within him is making their v,orey desires (and future issues) all the more potent.

Moe and Perrai took this poisonous stimulant both to kill Moe and help Perrai with the pain of, yknow, digesting alive (and to also overdose if digesting was too slow), but what Perrai also did was bring a camera in there.

Perrai proceeds to create the most infamous footage in Bolur's modern era, a 4 hour long manifesto against what lead him and Moe to this point also containing the rarest perspective on the most difficult death to record.

Debu cannibalism is a war crime since they have evolved osteophagy, they digest everything and don't leave any body or keepsake of the victim behind, and unfortunately there were already videos depicting this. However, these other videos were comparably dogshit because 1. it's very hard to get a camera in there 2. victims of murder are not focused on staying still to get a video, and are generally focused on trying to survive. Perrai took care of the camera problem, and alongside being a willing participant, he also stayed incredibly still because he had a message to send, anger to express, and that he did because Moe underdosed.

Moe overdosed, but didn't die, and was arrested for possession of possession fruit (lol), but while he was held in jail, he passed the camera, revealing a whole war crime but more importantly: a dilemma. Usually cannibalism as a war crime would be punishable by death but there was documented enthusiastic consent and since mortuary cannibalism was legal, why couldn't this be allowed?

... This dilemma, which was only delaying his actual proper trial and sentence, was to the dismay of Moe, who was desperately trying to get the death penalty to the point he was famously confessing to outrageous fake crimes like eating babies and running over the elderly. Partially because, yeah, he was suicidal and was already set on death that day, but also because of the fact that Moe wanted Perrai to be his last meal, and was incredibly tender to the fact that he would be. If his death was prolonged for much longer, that might not be the case anymore, and that's exactly what happened. Debu are also known for being dead last when it came to establishing laws in war and illegalizing torture, and Moe was forcefed during his fast, only making him more desperate. The whole thing only became more sensationalized when he was interviewed, providing the whole context and, to Moe's further dismay, charming those who were following along with his monotony.

After many pleads, though, Moe got the guillotine like he wanted. Bittersweet ending.

They did it again as ghosts so Perrai could focus on experiencing it, since the first time Perrai was just kind of letting out the accumulation of months of emotions in the 4 hours leading up to his death.

[elejah-verse]

_elejah au

Love is in the Air

_a tvd fanfic_Part 2

a/n: I am already in Valentine's Day mood...hence this story...lol

Hope you'll enjoy it.

It's a light-hearted love story.

xoxo

*

Like clockwork, Elena was up at six and showered quickly, underwent her morning beauty regime, and packed most of her casual clothing. She then looked at the book and picking it up from the night stand. "All right, Elijah Mikaelson  or Smith, whatever you like to call yourself nowadays. Hope you can write as good as you can dance." 

She then whipped the book in the suitcase. Though they had met just this once so many years ago in Mystic Falls, this man left a mark, though she had only met him for the day.

She now took her phone and called Jo.

"Yes, I am at cafe acriss road. I thought you'd sleep a bit linger" Jo said as she picked up the call.

"I just want to get out of here. Ok. I will see you in five." Elena said before she hung up.

She now picked up her bag, slipping her phone in and looked around to check once more if she had everything.

"Ok. I think that's it." the brunette muttered to herself and then rolling her suitcase behind her, she got out.

*

In New York, Elijah finished getting dressed and walked out of his apartment rolling his suitcase behind him. In the taxi cab to J. F. K Airport, he fumbled with his phone, opening Elena's instagram. He looked at her picture she had posted about the last day of her movie shoot. He looked at her photo, transfixed, his mind travelling back to the night after his sister's college designer debu night.

Flashback

"Dance?" - Elijah said as he came up to Elena, who had just waved bye to her friend Caroline, scampering away with her boyfriend.

"What?" Elena looked surprised at this question without innuendos.

"Would you like to dance? Unless you don't dance - well, can I buy you a drink? I feel that this morning I intruded on you -"

"Yes, I'd like to dance" Elena now cut in mid-sentence.

The band played the Kings of Leon's 'Closer' as Elijah's hand slid around the brunettes back, taking her hand in his, smoothly sway and turn to the rhythm of the song. He found himself lost in a gaze  as their eyes met. Elijah smiled at Elena, who smiled shyly at him. Rhythm of their bodies danced slowly with the music. He twirled her around, dipping her as he had lean forward closer to her at one moment. Staring at the beauty before him, his breathing became shallow and his heart had suddenly felt vivacious inside his chest.

Stranded in this spooky town

Stoplight is swaying and the phone lines are down

Floor is crackling cold

She took my heart, I think she took my soul

With the moon I run

Far from the carnage of the fiery sun

...

Over the years, every time he had heard this song, he remembered that one moment. Like the song said it felt like this woman took his heart and his soul, as that same heart of his was like a ghost ever since that evening. 

Elijah swiped the phone closed. He took a note book out, and wrote a few notes for his new book. 

Flashback

Two years back

"Who is Angel really?" Camille, Elijah's editor asked as she sat down on her desk chair. 

"No one particular. I've just invented a character." Elijah fibbed. He knew all too well, who the heroine was.

"The book is amazing and it is going to print immediately. This will be a smash. It has everything, suspense, mystery, erotica. I am amazed that you have not thought of historical genre before." the blonde said.

"I thought that everyone is into murder mysteries." Elijah said.

"Well, your series of CSI detective Ross, was gripping, but this one will make it into a block-buster."

"All right. If you say so."- Elijah said and continued-"Is there anything else you need."

"I will talk to Gia about the whole promotion thing - well, you know it all"

"Yeah." Elijah nodded and got up.

"Erm- I just wanted to say sorry about your divorce."

"Thank you- but - it's not a big deal - Hayley and I had already separated - just didn't post it on any of tge social media." Elijah said.

"I know - but I thought that maybe you will get back together." Camille said.

"No. We've actually never really been compatible - it just took me a long time to realize that." Elijah said and turned the subject around to ask about if he would have a meeting with Gia.

"I'll call you when I speak to her." Camille said.

*

In Florence, Italy

"A fiat 500" Elena said as Jo now handed her the key cars over.

"You're apartment is in the old part of Rome, and the roads are quite narrow, and trust me you will be grateful to have such a small car."

"Oh - I love it. It's perfect. I want the ultimate Italian experience. Thank you." Elena said smiling."I hope it's red"

"It's a red one - yes. I don't know why the rented car always has to be red"

"It's to do with ladybugs - and good luck," Elena explained, and now sipped down the rest of her cappuccino,"ok- I am so ready. Can I ask you one last favour?"

"What?"

"A week without any phone calls and - about this new movie - I'd like to put money in it " Elena said.

"You want to co-produce it?" Jo said a tad bit surprised.

"I read the reviews and - the prologue - I have a feeling this will be huge."

"You got it. Right. Have a great time- and I hope you really enjoy yourself. And don't do anything I wouldn't do."

Elena raised and eyebrow at her friend as to say Please- do I ever do anything that is crazy?! And Jo nodded a little with a chuckle.  The two women now hugged and Elena went away.

Though she had travelled extensive through Europe, visiting France and Paris numerous times, as well as Spain, and Portugal, the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Iceland, Greece, also North Italy, somehow she had never had the time or moment to go to the eternal city. And since her college days in Mystic Falls, she was forever pumped up to go to the heart of the most romantic places on the planet. There was one more thing that had a particular reason she wanted to see it. Being a huge fan of vintage movies, she admired the most divine actresses the big screen had ever seen. It was Audrey Hepburn. She had even played Holly Golightly on London's West End.

Three hours later, after a steady drive down from Florence, she arrived. Already, as she drove in, the whole feel of the busy city, it's ancient vibe, made her feel like she entered a world where old met new. Unlike any other places, this one gave her a jolt of adrenaline in the tired and somewhat weary soul of hers. 

Flashback

A year ago

Paris, France

"Here is to me - lucky in everything but love." Elena said and sipped down the champagne.

"Oh, come on, 'Lena" Caroline said, "Kaleb is the one - you should just so go for it. I mean he is the sweetest."

"Yes, he is sweet and lovely - but -huh- I don't feel - you know the fire - like I did with Elijah Oh, God - and we have just danced- we didn't even kiss"

"You are forever thinking of p 'EM dance thing' - God, Lena that was a thousand years ago -will you forever compare all the guys to something that never happened." Caroline shook her head.

"I need more Champagne" Elena said and waved to the waiter to bring her another glass.

"You have this dream-like thing in your head about this - and you have to stop it."

"Says you, who talks nothing about how love is fire and walking on clouds." Elena reminded her friend about her own views about love, romance and couples.

"Touché," Caroline now said,"but, seriously, Lena - you had this one dance- he left and he most probably never thought twice about it. Have you forgotten that Rebekah told me that he got married a year later."

"Yes. I didn't say that I pine after him or think what if - I am just saying that - Oh, God - I am actually thinking what if, aren't I?" Elena sighed, her eyes shining as if she finally had an epiphany.

"Yep. What if - Rebekah didn't pull him away, and what if - the next day you were not offered the role that kick started your whole career- and you jetted off to L.A. - what if - what if - but you can't live with what ifs." Caroline said.

"I know. Ok. Today is the day that I will officially forget the 'EM dance thing'" Elena said, but her heart fibbed. 

Now, she walked into the apartment on the last floor. It was a cute, quaint little apartment. It was exactly what she wanted. She put her case down and went out on the little terrace, her gaze smiling at the sun dancing on the rooftops of the bustling city. Refreshing herself a bit, a minute later, she was out, and lost herself in the cobble-stoned labyrinth.

*

Meanwhile in Stefan Salvatore's Apartment

Elijah's phone rang and he picked it up from the nightstand, "Hello"

"Hey," Stefan said,"sorry - you're still asleep?"

"Hey- ah, I am- well - so jet-legged- and I worked when I got here - already got two chapters down," Elijah replied rubbing his eyes,"what time is it?"

"8 p.m." Stefan said, adding,"go back to sleep. We can talk tomorrow."

"No. Need to get up. Anyway - all is good. How are you?"

"We are fine. Damon says hi. If you have time pop to Amsterdam one weekend, you are more than welcome" Stefan said.

"Yeah- I'll do that. Thank you so much for this. It's not that I could not afford an apartment, but -"

"I know, you wanted a home-like feel, and I told you that it's not a problem. We are best friends - and stop thanking me. Ok. I got to go. Talk in a couple of days - a friend of mine, Stella has managed to get you to the Roman Historical Institution, to the archives that are closed to the public. She will give you a call."

"OMG- thank you." Elijah moved to the terrace.

"Hey- seriously, you don't need to thank me" Stefan said.

"Right. Say hi to everyone and we'll talk later. I need a pizza and a good glass of red."

"Down the street in Campo di Fiore, there is a great old-new bar, I can recommend. I don't know if you remember it - it had that Audrey Hepburn poster on the wall" Stefan reminded his friend.

"Yes, I do. Why do you say new bar?"

"The old guy died and his son redesigned it a bit, but it is still the same place, food is still good and the wine is even better." Stefan explained.

"I will definitely check it out."

And with that their conversation ended, both hanging up.

Elijah showered and changed. As he said, he was ready for something to eat, and he made his way down to the bar, he and Stefan hung out so often when he came to visit right after his separation, two years back.

The streets of the old part were bustling and though it had rained a tad bit, everything still looked so sparkly and inviting, with dancing cobbles under the feet, made Elijah feel like he was at home already, like there was an everlasting theatre on display as he walked through the labyrinth of the ancient streets. 

And in his head he was writing out scenes for his book.

Plunging into the bar the next moment, with his imagination in full flow of the next chapter, his eyes, and his heart stopped still as they descended on Elena sitting by the large window. 

_to be continued

[vexx-the-egg]

More people should be talking about Debu to Love to Ayamachi to! Being a damn good manga with a plus sized heroine who is never forced to change her body thought the serise while still getting the guy. Even though it's still ongoing, from what I've seen there's zero gotcha, people genuinely like her and find her more endearing and charming thought out the serise. And yeah I know it's a low bar but damn it's so hard to find a plus sized women treated well in romance manga.

[dancinglikepirateking]

It Won't Always Be Like This

Prompt: Not all promises are meant to be kept, not all forevers are meant, and he learned it the hard way. They shared a dream once, but not all dreams are meant to be fulfilled, no matter how hard you try.

General tags: multi chapter fic, hurt (maybe with or without comfort idk<3), nightmares, depression, idol au, ateez pre debu<3, yungi (platonic)

CHAPTER 1

Chapter tags: SLIGHT ed (forgot to eat), SLIGHT sh (digging nails in palm towards the end), lmk if i missed any pls!

Word count: 2.8k

It was so dark. Mingi was standing in the middle of nothingness and everything surrounding him was pitch black, with occasional faceless people bumping into him and making him stumble, almost fall on to the ground, scared of what could’ve happened if he did fall. All Mingi managed to do was stare down and take little steps forward, but the mass of people pushed him back and made all his efforts pointless. He was starting to feel a lump in his throat as he was getting more frustrated with it all. Why is it that no matter how hard he tried to push forward, more people swarmed in to push him back. He felt like screaming, but the moment he opened his mouth no noise was leaving his throat, instead the faceless beings next to him started letting out a painful, loud screech, which made Mingi cover his ears and squeeze his eyes shut as he fell to the ground, the ringing in his ears continuing, the very same ringing waking him up from his nightmare, instantly standing up from his bed and reaching for his phone. It was just another nightmare, unfortunately not the first one he woke up from tonight, however Yunho was the one to wake him up from this one. 

He looked outside the window and it was sunny outside. The night has passed, so the chain of interrupted sleep can at last be broken. Mingi zones out watching the wind blow through the leaves in the trees as the phone that was in his hands stopped ringing only to start again a second later. Yunho again. Mingi instantly answers the call, trying to steady his breathing so that his friend doesn’t get worried. Yunho thinks Mingi’s nightmares were dying down.

“Did I wake you?” asks Yunho, obviously trying to contain his excitement, Mingi observed, while he was still somewhat zoned out, mindlessly watching the scenery outside his bedroom window. “No, did something happen?”

“Did you check your emails?” asks the older boy while smiling like crazy, looking at the screen of his laptop. Mingi rubs the sleep off his eyes with one hand while with the other hand he removes the phone from his ear and checks his emails, the sight making him gasp.

“From: kq.entertainment@email.com

To: song.mingi@email.com

Congratulations! After having seen your online audition that you sent two weeks ago, we would like to get to know you more and see what you can do in person!

Please prepare a rap or a song to sing and be aware that we will ask for you to perform a free style dance!

Let us know when you would be available for this. Have a good day, signed KQ Entertainment Recruitment Team.”

“No way.” is all Mingi manages to say. Becoming a trainee and debuting as an idol has been his and Yunho’s dream for the longest time, but now that it’s so close to his reach he’s terrified. What if he fucks it up, what if he touches this dream and it breaks under his finger tips.

“We are so close, Mingi. So close that I find it hard to believe. We just have to get past this step and we will be trainees. Isn’t that amazing?” says Yunho excitedly, pacing around the room, being so full of energy and feeling like he could burst at any second.

In a perfect world Mingi would be genuinely excited with him, and one part of him is still excited, but fear and anxiety are overwhelming him and have been overwhelming him so much more as time went by. When they were kids, they would talk so often about debuting together, it actually felt real and doable. But Yunho grew up to become this sociable and talented person, with an amazing and stable voice and incredible dancing skills and body control, not even to mention his breathtaking visuals, while Mingi felt like he didn’t bring anything new to the table. Sure, he was praised by some people for his rapping and dancing style, but what was the point if he didn’t believe it? There were so many other rappers in the industry, why would he be anything new and special?

But telling Yunho that he actually has given up was something that he couldn’t do. This was their shared dream, one of them giving up would mean that they both gave up, and breaking Yunho’s hope was something Mingi couldn’t do.

“I didn’t expect them to reach out after the first half…” Mingi whispered while still looking at the email. He was so conflicted. “Don’t say that. Of course you passed the first half, you have everything it takes to debut, Mingi-ya.” says Yunho and Mingi could already see him frowning at him. There was no point in arguing with Yunho, especially on this topic.

“Are you coming to today’s dance class?” asks Yunho. For the past year and a half the two of them have been going to all sorts of dance classes in attempts to get better. That’s also when Mingi was starting to lose confidence: noticing how everyone else around him was doing better so effortlessly, his best friend included. He really didn’t wanna go today, not after the nightmare he just had. “Yes, of course.” is all he managed to let out.

“Great! I will come pick you up so we can go together. Will be there in an hour.” and then he hangs up.

Mingi lays back in bed, staring blankly at the ceiling. Why are the nightmares more often and stronger than before? He has to be getting better. If not for his sake, for Yunho’s sake. He would get so worried and concerned hearing about Mingi’s nightmares and felt so useless as the thought of not being able to help him in any way, so much so that it made Mingi feel guilty for not being easy to help and deal with.

Mingi let out a deep sigh and got out of bed, making his way to the bathroom to take a shower and get ready for the dance class. Mingi felt like in a trance whenever he did all these common tasks, like he was in autopilot mode and momentarily left his body to work on its own while his mind would wander someplace else. As of late, it especially happens more often than not, but he tried to keep it in check while he was with Yunho. Yunho would notice if something was off, he always does. Yunho is too observant for Mingi to even try and hide anything from him.

And just like that, the hour passes by and Mingi is brought back to awareness by Yunho calling him. He doesn’t answer the phone, instead he just grabs his backpack with the change of clothes and water bottle and rushes outside, seeing Yunho from the window.

Once he gets outside he is pulled in a quick hug by Yunho and then they start making their way to the class.

It was a quiet walk. And that’s something Mingi really appreciated about Yunho, the fact that they didn’t have to force conversations. Their friendship was so much more deeper than words and they both understood that. However conversations were the only thing that kept Mingi awake and engaged in reality, and silence, especially when he got little to no sleep, such as today, only made him completely unaware of his surroundings, which was what he hated most to happen when near Yunho.

“Mingi-ya, are you listening?” is what brings Mingi back, Yunho’s hand resting on Mingi’s shoulder, both of them stopped walking. Yunho searches Mingi’s face with slight concern in his eyes and Mingi just shakes his head and puts on a reassuring smile. “Yes I’m sorry. I just didn’t sleep that much tonight. Sorry, what were you saying?” the boy asks, trying to pass by the reason why he didn’t pay attention to what his best friend was saying.

“Nightmares are back?” asks Yunho worried, squeezing his friend’s shoulder right after. ‘They never left to begin with.’ is what Mingi wanted to say but couldn’t. Saying that would have Mingi admit that he lied to Yunho Mingi just nodded defeated. “Then why did you agree to come to the dance class? You should’ve stood this one out and rested instead.” slightly scolds Yunho.

“No way I give you the opportunity to get too ahead of me! It’s fine, dancing will wake me up. Come on, we’ll be late.” and with that Mingi starts walking, being a few steps ahead of his friend.

“Did you think about what to prepare for the next step of the audition?” Yunho asks once he is caught up with Mingi, lightly bumping his shoulder to his friend’s, an excited smile plastered on his lips. Right, the audition. “Not yet. It still hasn’t hit me that I passed the first stage. I had no doubts about you though. What am I even supposed to do now? Call them? Email them to set a date for the second stage? Did they decide the date on their own and they will just let me know? How is it-” Mingi rambles with questions that are clouding his mind, but Yunho is quick to shush him before he loses his mind with all these questions.

“Let’s take them one at a time. I have a few options as for my audition, but I will need your help to pick one. And what I did was just email them to ask when the audition will take place and they replied shortly that they will call at some point this week and discuss it over the phone. And of course you passed the first stage, what are you talking about? You will even pass the second. Don’t forget the promise we made to each other, hm? You’re not one that breaks promises now, are you Mingi?” says Yunho while trying to somewhat ease Mingi’s mind, seeming to have worked a bit. Yunho then puts an arm around his friend’s shoulders and pulls him closer to him, to some extent to cheer his friend up but to also reassure him that he will also be there for him and he can safely lean on him when needed.

The rest of the walk was silent, which was nice and comforting. Yunho at times would hum the songs he was thinking to audition with, providing the walk with some background music, which also made Mingi stay aware of his surroundings, suppressing his yawns whenever he felt like one was approaching. The two take the last left and then have in sight the dance studio.

“You sure you don’t wanna sit this class out?” asks Yunho once more while stretching with the whole class, looking concerned and Mingi’s tired eyes. “Why are you trying to shoo me away? You're afraid I will steal your title of main dancer?” teases Mingi with a challenging smile on his lips, which also makes Yunho loosen up. Surely Mingi is okay and Yunho is worried for nothing.

“I am actually. Give your all and I will give my all. First to pass out, buys dinner.” says Yunho confidently, now standing up and stretching his hand out towards Mingi, waiting for his friend to shake it and make this bet official. “Get your money ready.” and with that Mingi shakes Yunho’s hand, a big smile on his lips. Maybe he can debut after all, maybe he is worthy.

Mingi was so excited and overfilled with hope of debuting with his friend that he didn't notice straight away that he was getting lightheaded. He didn't mind the way his breathing got heavier and how his vision got blurry. He didn't mind the way he was unable to move his limbs consciously, he felt like a marionette while following the instructor's indications on the moves, and he certainly didn't mind when he closed his eyes and his body hit the cold wooden floor of the dance class. He did in fact pass out. Last thing he heard before falling into unconsciousness was Yunho screaming his name while trying to soften his fall. Because the truth is that Yunho was keeping his eyes on Mingi the entire time, in a way maybe expecting this to happen. He does know Mingi best, at times it seems that Yunho knows Mingi more than Mingi knows himself.

Mingi was once again dreaming, but this time he was alone in what seemed to be a waiting room, it felt extremely eerie. He was sitting on a chair and around him there were a bunch of closed doors. He got up and tried to open them, but none of them budged. The silence was becoming deafening, each step he took becoming more and more loud, banging on every door and pushing himself on it, hoping it would maybe at least break, but no luck.

Mingi was starting to get more frustrated by the second, his forehead was now stuck on the door, banging with his fists on the dark brown wood, but with every other bang he would grow more tired, his breathing heavy and throat sore from all the yelling, his face red and some tears staining his cheeks. Suddenly the door opens and he takes a step back, straightening his back, the person in front of him startling and confusing him. He was more scared by each second that passed. The person in front of him was still him, but slightly deformed. “When will you give up, Song Mingi?” is what the figure repeats, while still standing in place. Mingi takes a step back trying to put more distance between him and his clone, but with each step he takes back, the figure takes another forward, imitating Mingi's mannerism, but never actually touching him. Mingi shuts his eyes closed, wishing to disappear from this moment, hoping that maybe not seeing the figure would help him escape.

“You should wake up now.” whispers the figure and when Mingi opens his eyes seconds later he sees the ceiling of the dance studio. Awake again. The figure’s voice kept echoing in Mingi’s head again and again, until the voice distanced and became an echo and then a whisper until it fully vanished from Mingi’s mind, making it seem as if it never happened.

Mingi turns his head to the side, confused and slightly scared of maybe seeing the figure again, but he sees Yunho instead. Mingi squeezes his fist, digging his nails into his palm, a habit he picked up during the time he had nightmares very often, the pain he would feel was what made the difference for him between reality and dream. His palms were rough from the amount of times he managed to break skin, having faint half moons on his palms. He was awake now. He loosens the grip, putting his hand palm down on his thigh. Yunho hears the movement and turns around, now facing Mingi. Mingi saw as some of Yunho' worry from his eyes melted away, some of it turning into some sort of annoyance.

“What happened?” Mingi asks as he puts his weight on his elbows as he tries to stand but fails due to his head spinning. Of course he knew he passed out, but playing dumb is the only thing he can do now. Maybe he won’t be scolded that much.

“Take a wild guess. When I said the first to pass out I didn't mean it literally. Did you even eat anything today?” Yunho said irritatedly, his voice ever so slightly raised. Ok maybe Mingi won’t escape the scolding.

Yunho examines Mingi’s face carefully this time, slight panic still visible in his features, Mingi’s body visibly tense, Yunho catching on that his friend had another nightmare in his brief state of unconsciousness which makes Yunho uneasy as well, guilt of not being able to help him the way Mingi needs it overfilling Yunho. Yunho’s features gradually soften.

Mingi tries to act as calm as he could, trying to make it look as if he is all better now. He straightens his back and rests it on the wall behind him, quickly noticing that they are still in the dance class, now empty. “The instructor was worried and said we can stay here until you recover.” answers Yunho quickly when he sees the slight confusion on Mingi's face. He then hands Mingi his water bottle and he takes it gratefully.

Mingi sighs defeated. “I didn't but it wasn't my intention. The nightmare I had took everything out of me and it left me feeling numb. It simply slipped my mind.” Mingi wasn’t exactly lying. Whenever he enters autopilot mode he doesn’t need anything, it’s as if he’s self sustained, and it doesn’t hit him until someone reminds him or if something happens.

Yunho just looks at Mingi's face, with his frustration and concern filled eyes and just sighs, now sitting up straight and stretching his hand towards Mingi to help him get up. “Fine. Then let's go fix that. Come on, let's go eat.” is what he says and starts walking, Mingi a few steps behind.

A/N: And here's the first chapter! I was kinda scared of posting this fic but it's fine. I'm usually a bit scared of multichapter fics but it's fine, we power through! Again pls do let me know if I missed anything that should be tagged!

Until next time! (hopefully I don' drop this..)

[amber-vanth]

make it to the finish line

Mercury raised his brows, somewhat surprised. When his team had brought up that they were urgently going to find and hire a new PR manager, he wasn't all too worried.

He hadn’t even been remotely concerned, considering the fact that this would be his.. fourth PR manager? Fifth? Ah, who knows. Point is, this new hire would certainly be added to the list of who held this position.

PR manager of the infamous racer bad boy Mercury Meyer. He was a hotshot on the track, with a number of records to his name even at his rather young age.

However, his reputation out of the car was admittedly not as hot.

“You're kidding, right? There's no way.”

One of the men of his team coughed awkwardly at the racer's bluntness, gesturing to Mercury with his hand. “Mercury Meyer, as you know.”

The woman before him blinked with shining eyes. She was dressed modestly in a simple blouse and pencil skirt. Her short hair had been combed neatly, and she wore a polite smile on her pink lips.

If she had been fazed by his words, she hid it rather well.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Meyer,” she greeted, holding out a hand expectantly. “My name is Debu Jang. I'll be your new PR manager from now on.”

There was a pretty bracelet decorated on her wrist. Mercury eyed it as he let go and watched her arm fall back down to her side. When their eyes met, he felt the corner of his lips quirk up.

No one had told him his new PR manager would be cute out of all things. He blinked once, then twice. With a smirk, he tilted his head to the side.

“Oh, no, no, the pleasure's allll mine.”

It hadn’t even been two weeks and Debu was losing her mind.

She knew this client would be the most difficult out of all the ones she had taken and supervised over her short time in this position. And to be frank, she was surprised she even managed to score this one.

Mercury Meyer was famous whether you were in the business industry or not obviously. He had tons of fans at his beck and call; the racing entertainment industry had seen its audience viewership skyrocket into new numbers ever since he stepped onto the track.

Debu was used to taking lesser known clients. Clients who weren’t on every news coverage nearly every week or so, and certainly not as troublesome as this racer.

She had no idea where he was half of the time and had to learn from others that he was either on the track practicing for an upcoming race or just for the hell of it, partying off in some bar or penthouse, or lounging around at his penthouse.

It didn’t help that he was handsome of all things. He was so handsome, those cameras and interviews and such did no justice to actually seeing this man stand in front of her. (But we won’t talk about that.)

“He’s where??” Debu sighed into the phone, rummaging through her purse to look for some papers she had tucked away.

The lady on the phone—Debu had forgotten her name already—sounded just as tired at her. “He was last seen at Repullo’s Glass. Some kind of high-end bar, I think.”

She didn't want to mess up her simple makeup today, so she resisted rubbing at her eyes with a groan. “Got it, thank you. He’s gonna need to agree to this sponsorship deal whether he likes it or not.”

Debu heard a soft, “Good luck, ma’am,” from the lady before she ended the call and stored her phone into her purse.

Debu didn’t do parties. She could count the amount of parties she had been to in her entire life on the fingers of one hand. They weren’t really her thing. (Sure, she attended formal parties for business matters only, so those don’t count in her book.)

It hadn’t been all too difficult to find the place actually. But it’d be harder to find the blonde in this place. It was practically bustling with people in every corner.

Luckily, it seemed like fate was on her side, because she ran into Mercury right near the actual bar where drinks were being served, and she almost laughed at the surprise that took over his face.

“My, my, princess,” he greeted her, his voice a low purr, “I’ve never had any of my PR managers chase after me into these kinds of places.”

Debu tried to ignore the petname, coughing softly to clear her throat, but the faint blush was obvious on her cheeks. “Well, um. I hope I won’t have to do it again in the future. I’ve- I’ve been trying to contact you over the past few days.”

Mercury raised a brow. “Oh? I had no idea, princess.”

God, how she wanted to wipe the smirk off his face. Was he telling her that all her ignored phone calls and messages didn’t exist? How dare he!

“What?” Debu frowned, “But I’ve been calling and texting your number. You’ve just been ignoring all of them."

Mercury’s smirk only widened. “Don’t frown, pretty. Y’got cute dimples,” he commented cheekily, “And that’s the number my company gave you. I don’t use that one.”

His compliment had her blush increasing and she refused to look him in the eye, focusing on his lips. Oh crap, bad idea. She coughed and looked to the side.

“You didn’t think to give me your real number when we first met? I’m your—"

“PR manager, yeah, yeah.” Mercury waved her off and lifted his hand, palm facing upward.

Debu looked back to him, confused.

“Your phone, pretty. Thought you wanted my number?” He waggled his eyebrows.

“N-not like that!” Debu cried out, flushed. However, she began fishing for her phone out of her bag with a grumble.

She handed him her phone and he dutifully entered his number on her contact list. “Theeere we go. You should be excited, not a lotta girls get my actual number, y’know.”

Debu resisted the urge to roll her eyes but sighed in relief. Okay, so she could actually do her job now. “Thank you, Mr. Meyer.”

“Oh, boo,” he huffed, “Just call me Mercury, princess. I don’t mind; no need to be so formal.”

“I’ll call you whatever I like, Mr. Meyer,” she responded professionally. She didn’t know how much longer she could last with his teasing.

“Ooh, whatever you like, huh?” he chuckled. “Well, you got what you wanted, princess. So if that’s all, I’ll be on m-”

Debu jolted. “Wait! Not so fast, I actually came on behalf of something else,” she informed him.

Mercury pouted but stayed put. She’d be damned if she was just going to let him walk away after wasting so much time trying to reach him.

“Let me buy you a drink then, princess.”

So she told him about the sponsorship deal and what it entailed. (She wasn’t normally a drinker, but perhaps she had a drink or two. Or three.)

“Mm, alright. I’ll agree to it,” Mercury finally answered after she had finished. He tilted his head to the side. “On one condition.”

Debu nearly sighed. “What is it then?”

He grinned a pretty grin. “You call me Mercury. And you let me take you out just once, yeah?"

If she wasn’t blushing before, she most definitely was now. If she had been drinking a drink, she would’ve probably spat it out. “What?????” she squeaked out, jaw almost dropping.

“What do you say, pretty?” Mercury hummed, still grinning. God, how did he look so perfect? “Make it worth your time, promise.”

While Debu’s love life—well, lack of one—wasn’t entirely sunshine and rainbows right now, she had set herself some rules. Never date a client.

“Th-that’s two conditions,” she pointed out meekly.

“‘m not hearing a no.” Mercury smirked. Damn him.

She must be drunk. Yeah, that must be it. That must be the reason because she didn’t allow herself to dwell any longer on it and said, “Fine.”

You must be wondering what this sponsorship deal is even about.

Debu was actually very familiar with the fashion and brand industry. Most of her clients were involved in that kind of business. And some friends. Diva Aubry being one of them.

Diva was a model she had grown up, being best friends since childhood. She had seen him pursue his dreams despite his father’s disapproval and was doing pretty well in the industry.

Anyway, this sponsorship deal in particular was with Calvin Klein, who had been eyeing Mercury to do some shoots for them. (Debu was positively sure that if Mercury hadn’t been a racer, he would be doing just fine being a permanent model.)

It was honestly perfect; it was a notorious brand, Calvin Klein, that nearly everyone knew of willing to do a partnership with the racing industry of all things—though it was understandable because it was Mercury—and again, the fashion industry was something she was familiar with. There would be benefits on both sides.

All she had to do was play along with this little request of his.

Should be easy enough. Right?

Mercury grinned down at his PR manager. Ah—his date, actually.

“Mr. Mey-”

“It’s Mercury, princess,” he lightly scolded her in jest, pouting, “How many times am I going to have to tell you? You still want that sponsorship deal, right?”

Debu’s eyes widened at the false threat and she corrected herself hastily. “No-!” she stuttered out, “I- I mean, yes. Yes, I still want the sponsorship deal to go smoothly.”

“Relaaax, princess,” he chuckled, letting his eyes study her somewhat casual formal attire for a bit. She was wearing what she normally wore on the job.

“Hmm.. while I do think you’re cute in anything you wear, you remember we’re going on a date, yeah? We should get you changed out of those office clothes.”

He watched eagerly as the pink dusted over her face, and she spluttered incoherent words as she tugged at the sleeves of her blouse. “I- uh, I’m fine! Really, I don’t need to change.”

Mercury shook his head. “No, no, pretty. I said I’m taking you out, which means you’re my date for the day, not my PR manager.” He grinned.

Debu blinked at him several times and began to stammer out more excuses but before she could really protest any further, he grabbed ahold of her hand and tugged her along.

Mercury had dragged her to some store and made her buy an outfit he deemed more suitable for their date. She had insisted on spending her own money but in the end, it was his credit card that had been used.

And now here they were, eating out at some secluded but pretty high-priced restaurant. They ordered off the menu and Mercury took it upon himself to learn more about his new pretty little PR manager.

“Don’t be offended, princess,” he started, resting his chin in his hands with his elbows propped up on the table. “But you don’t strike me as a person who would take this kinda job.”

Debu blinked. “O-oh. Well, I don’t blame you. I can be a little.. timid.”

“S’cute.”

She blushed, ignoring his gaze shyly. “I, uh.. I didn’t think I’d be in this position either. But.. but I’m organized and um... I like taking care of people,” she confessed.

Mercury hummed, genuinely surprised. “Huh. I didn’t really think of it that way.” And then he smirked. “Well, pretty. ‘m sure you’ll take care of me juuust fine.”

The innuendo flew over her head and she merely smiled softly. “That’s my job,” she said sweetly. Oh, how precious, really.

“And you, Mercury?” she inquired, now curious herself. It sounded nice; his name coming from her. At least she had stopped calling him by his last name now. “Why did you decide to become a racer?”

Mercury slumped in his chair and laughed, shrugging halfheartedly. “I honestly dunno, princess. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do most of my life and it just came t'me.”

Debu nodded lightly. “Well, I’m glad you find something to do with your life. And I might not know much about racing, but I saw some clips! You’re pretty good.”

Mercury heard praise from his team, other racers, the media, his fans—you name it—all the time. But for some reason, he liked it even more from her.

Smug, he leaned forward. “Oh? You’ve looked me up? My, my, princess.”

She blushed—so easy to tease—and coughed in an attempt to cover up her flustered self. “Don’t- don’t flatter yourself. I was only curious. I need to know who my client is after all.”

“Riiiiiight.”

She sighed and shook her head, but there was a small smile on her lips. “Also, I was thinking about your conditions. If you’re going to have some, then I should too.”

He straightened his posture and raised a brow. “Oh? You name it then, princess.”

Debu looked him in the eye. “In order for us to get the sponsorship deal with Calvin Klein, you have to be on your best behavior.”

The blonde stuck out his tongue childishly. “Oh, please. I might not be a goody two shoes like you, princess, but I’m not that bad!”

“I’m serious, Mercury,” Debu sighed, and there was something in her eyes that made him simply listen, “I really mean it. You’ll still be able to do whatever you used to do just.. moderately. Okay?”

“Easy peasy, princess.” He winked at her as their food arrived. “I won’t let you down.”

Their relationship actually started improving after that date. And the one after that. And the one after that. And another.

Okay, so what if Mercury kept saying “one more” to make the sponsorship deal work? He immensely enjoyed his PR manager’s time.

Besides, he was sure this was helping her job anyway. She had a better eye on him and could actually discuss some of their other plans and advertisements and whatnot with him.

They were even comfortable enough to spend time together out of work hours. Well, Debu’s work hours.

“Princess, you should totally come and watch my next race!” he suggested to her one day, all giddy and excited. He was munching on the lunch he had brought her to her office, chilling on the sofa there.

She blinked. “Silly, I have to go to your races.”

It was his turn to blink. “Oh. Right.” He winked at her, throwing a fry into his mouth. “Was just makin’ sure, pretty.”

The cheering from the people was loud, but Debu paid no attention to it. She had been directed with some of Mercury’s team to one of the private boxes where she could watch the race happen.

At first, it was hard to keep track of which car was Mercury’s—the vehicles were mere blurs on the track at times—but she could make out his signature red colors amongst the others. It was honestly exhilarating.

And of course, he scored first place. It was no surprise, but Debu still cheered as if he could hear her, watching his triumphant reactions on one of the screens as he departed from his car.

Mercury managed to find the camera with his deep blue gaze and winked at it. It was something he did often after he won races, and it surely made some of those in the audience swoon.

(Perhaps the wink was directed at certain someone though. Debu wasn’t sure, but it was enough to make her blush.)

Debu knew how to handle messy situations. Most of the time. Especially messy situations that involved her clients. That was part of her job.

She tackled her job with a firm mindset, a clear head. But now, this was different. This was drastically different. Her heart was involved.

As Mercury Meyer’s PR manager, she had to keep tabs on things that he was involved in. Yes, he did have a right to privacy. But if there was something about him, she had to be and usually was the first person to know.

There were multiple tabloids and articles all over the media. Something about how Mercury had gotten entangled with some bimbo actress at some club doing some kind of shit and—

Debu’s phone started to ring.

She ripped her eyes away from her laptop screen to look at the buzzing device. She blinked and felt tears clinging onto her lash line with gasp.

The caller ID read: merc 😉 and she maybe felt like throwing up. Just maybe.

She debated whether to answer or not. Against her better judgement, she picked up her phone and answered the call.

Mercury’s voice came out rushed and hurriedly, and she actually felt like throwing up right then and there because why did he sound like that?

“Oh my God, princess, I’m so sorry— I don’t know wha-”

Debu hung up on him.

Fuck. Mercury was actual grateful for being a race car driver for once. Because he was speeding down the streets with a speed that would surely score him a couple of tickets.

But currently, he didn’t really care about that. He was more focused on getting to Debu because she was clearly upset. It didn’t matter if he was speeding on the city streets at 10:39 pm—he was going to see her.

Eventually, he made it to her apartment complex in record time and was knocking at her door.

“Princess, please open the door,” he pleaded, unsure if she could even hear him, “We need to talk. We both know we gotta confront this.”

To his surprise, the door opened, revealing a distraught Debu. It looked like she had been crying and Mercury felt his chest throb at the sight. “Oh, princess.”

Her stare hardened at the petname and she looked like she was halfway through of considering shutting the door. “What do you want, Mercury?” she demanded pointedly, ignoring her sniffing.

“I swear I didn’t do anything,” he stated firmly, “I saw all the stuff on social media and I swear it’s not me. I would never do that to the sponsorship— to you. I swear it, Debu.”

She looked conflicted, hand still on the door and eyes flickering to stare at him and the floor. Finally, she inhaled sharply.

“Fine. If you are telling the truth.. I’ll— we’ll fix this.”

Someone had framed him.

The tabloids were always hungry for the next big scoop, and someone thought it would be funny to make it about Mercury. And possibly ruin his partnership with Calvin Klein.

When they had learned the truth that night, Debu immediately got to work and was waking everyone on the PR team up to tackle the issue.

Mercury had simply sat aside and watched her work, feeling a mix of relief and worry.

It was worrying obviously; someone had spread malicious rumors of him but he was glad that they were actually fake. Out of all the things they chose to frame, they had to choose him sleeping with another woman.

After it was all over, Debu closed her laptop and hung up with the last person on the phone before sighing heavily. She looked back to Mercury, tired.

“Well, I’ve had some of the team contact those who published some of the articles and posts. We’re going to release a public statement addressing it tomorrow morning.” Her brows furrowed. “And you’re probably gonna have to make a post about it or something as well.”

Mercury didn’t say anything, opting to stare at her.

Debu sighed and looked away, hugging her arms to her chest. “Look, I- I’m sorry that I hung up on you earlier. I was- I was just overwhelmed. Yeah.”

When he still didn’t say anything, she began to ramble.

“I mean, what else was I supposed to think? I was so- I was so upset! I- I thought.. gosh, I don’t even know what I thought. I’m your PR manager and here I am- catching feelings for y-”

Debu gasped and clasped her hands over her mouth.

Mercury’s eyes widened. “Princess?”

She shook her head fiercely and began to talk away. “N-nope! I didn’t- I didn’t say anything! And now that everything is alright for now, y-you should probably go and- and-”

He grabbed her hand before she could get far and tugged her close to him. “I don’t think y’want that, princess,” he said softly, “And neither do I.”

Debu’s lips parted in awe as she stared up at him, “M-Merc?”

“Don’t worry your pretty lil’ head,” he chuckled, but there was genuine fondness in his voice, “You’re the only PR manager I want from now on.”

His smile was enough to sweep her off her feet, but he had done that a long time ago already. “But you gotta be my girlfriend too.”

The press had learned the truth and that someone had framed Mercury—it had went smoothly in the end and with the scandal being proven false, the Calvin Klein partnership was still on the table.

Mercury had released his own statement on the matter too. It was something Debu had been embarrassed to agree to—he had officially announced something amongst the words of “happily taken” and that he wouldn’t be doing such things.

Of course, her identity was concealed and kept private. She was still his PR manager after all.

Though, Mercury would be damned if he couldn’t show off his pretty girl in some way. And he did have to prove that his announcement was truthful—he had a girlfriend. People weren’t gonna buy it if there wasn’t something they could see.

Debu miraculously allowed him to post something of them together at least every now and then. (With her face covered because Debu was used to working behind the scenes, not being shown on them. Mercury respected that obviously. Until they were ready to actually go public, he was happy with the little moments.)

“One more condition, princess.”

Debu couldn’t help but laugh, and the sound of it made his heart swell, knowing he was the cause of it. Mercury grinned as she looped her arms around his neck.

“You’re a temporary Calvin Klein model, Merc,” she giggled playing with his blonde curls absentmindedly, “There aren’t any more conditions to make. You made it to the finish line, didn’t you?”

“My prize then.”

Debu pretended to think. “Mm, okay. What do you want?”

“Just you ‘n your pretty lil’ self.” He began peppering kisses down the side of her jaw, making her giggle and making him smile into her skin. “Whaddya say? I think that’s a prize fit f’me. Better than any sponsorship or trophy.”

Debu’s heart fluttered and she leaned into his touch.

“Your prize is all yours then.”

[ntls-24722]

Bolur's mountain cows! Debu still read as "cows" to me, even though nothing about them reads as such, and as aliens, none are actual cows. Essentially the lineup of everything in the Debu's family, all members sharing the double sails, failed ungulacy, mouth-glow (either flashing or constant), and the lack of a tail.

Also, their scientific names are english translations! Even if common names suck to make, making meanings for their names is at least a little fun to play with.

The Freak of the lineup, the malmou (yeti yeti). It's the largest and most elusive mountain cow there is, originally not even thought to be real but a mythical equivalent to the "yeti" in the northern parts of their planet. It's also the only carnivore, with its tusks curving to make a sharp beak for piercing prey, its "hooves" becoming sharp claws, and flashing its mouth-glow to attract prey underwater. They actually still have their double sails, though often covered up by their thick fur. They're the 3rd closest relative to Debu, which lends to the uncanny valley impression debu get from its prescence. When it was officially discovered, it was named after their monster name, "malmou."

Debu, one of the homo mousike, and one of the two sophonts of the family. Obviously, they're not in genus homo, neither is the next guy, but their genus was named the same - "man." Debu earned their specific name "mousike" as their emergence as a species was signified in the prescence of instruments, just like the other 2 music men. They also sport the most vibrant mouth-glow, a constant white. I've talked enough about them but since these are the mouthglow champions, I'll explain why the family has it in the first place.

Despite mountain cows' opprotunistic eating habits, they actually have really shitty detox systems, they're particularly susceptible to poisonous plants (some trees actually have evolved against mountain cows specifically!) and what sucks even worse is that their eyesight is piss poor, so they can barely tell the minute differences in what will or won't kill them. Instead of taking the normal route in, yknow, getting better livers and kidneys, instead they evolved this mouth-glow and eyes that prioritize color over sharpness to pair with it, beaming UV light and visible light to see the minute differences in the color of their food. This worked somehow and it also came with a lot of other advantages, like recognizing eachother within social groups, getting ladies, and attracting prey.

The Simmon, Homo ignis, the 2nd sophont in the family who live in the tropical rainforests of Bolur, which aided to their smaller size and sails. Interestingly, this species doesn't have as much sexual dimorphism as the other species do, retaining the back hairs that are usually reserved for the females of the species and both sexes being generally the same. They were almost named something along the lines of "homo minor", or "lesser debu" as a common name during the very racist climate that bolur's taxonomy and naming conventions really began to take off. It was thankfully very quickly shut down, and Simmons were officially globally recognized as "Simmons" and their scientific name became "homo ignis," something along the lines of "fire man" to honor that they are the "bovine" credited with discovering and using fire first.

The frazi, "brooj imperator", the closest living ancestor to the Debu and Simmons. The frazi and the next cow have more "alien" scientific names because I don't think there would be an english translation for them - "yeti" makes sense for the yeti mountain cow and "homo" makes sense for the alien version of "mankind". They live in the same environment as the Debu, so they're just as wrinkly, they have the same hump, and their sails are just as long. Male frazi have this section of hair in front of the hump that they prick up to impress the ladies, and their flashy sails, facial hair, and actual mouth-flashing do the same.

The Cloe-mena (per bec), aptly named after their tusks, jutting forward into a flat "beak" because these mountain cows actually graze more than the others, who usually eat entire trees and shrubs and any small animal that crosses it. The cloe-mena actually is beginning to evolve away from mountain-climbing as their population begins to drift towards the plains again, and perhaps it's the fact their new environment is so large and less densely populated that they are one of the loudest land animals on Bolur, for their obnoxious mating calls can be heard for miles on the flatlands, to everyone's dismay. Albeit annoying, it's damn successful.

Metric (meters + decimeters) and imperial (feet) height charts

[carnivalofglee]

In episode 92 of IT'S A PODCAST, CHARLIE BROWN, Luca Debus and Francesco Matteuzzi talk about their new book "Funny Things: A Comic Strip Biography of Charles M. Schulz".

charliebrownpodcast.libsyn.com

[keping-keping]

Talking to yourself will help God guide you.

-sinanta

Bebaskan

Biarkan akalmu yg terbatas itu bebas

Biarkan jiwamu yg kurang murni itu bebas

Biarkan hatimu yg kurang bersih itu bebas

Bebaskan dari belenggu yg dibangun oleh manusia lemah seperti dirimu

Biarkan mereka menjelajah

Berkelana kedalam palung lautmu

Bertemu 'nur' mu

Dan mendengar ucapan Tuhan, bimbingan Tuhan

Biarkan domba tersesat dalam dirimu berpikir

Dan menemukan arti kehadiran ruh - mu

Jauh lebih dalam dari tanah merah jasad yang nantinya akan membusuk

Karena walau kau mungkin hanya serpihan debu dalam semesta Tuhan

Syahadatmu akan menolongmu

Menemukan jalan dan arti hadirmu

Jadilah serpihan berlian

Walau itu terjal dan menyakitkan

Karena takkan ada manusia terpilih tanpa hadirnya ujian