#everyone say happy birthday to our resident guard dog

[hum-suffer]

We'll say hello again (nevermind the chasm between us) 15

Bhairav's birthday starts in a way that any normal day does.

He wakes up at dawn, gets ready, takes a trip to the Mahadev temple in the palace and goes to Princess Gauri's room. Yamuna nods at him in greeting with a tired smirk from her station at his Princess' door.

"A punctual guard, Bhairav. I like your consistency. I was just about getting tired." Yamuna smiles at him and pats his shoulder in what he assumes is a compliment. He's never understood the need to touch others without an objective.

(A voice in his head hisses,"Objective like harm."

He's forgotten what a tender touch means. He only touches to harm. He's a weapon.)

Still, he smiles back at Yamuna,"I don't want Harihar to complain to me about his wife being grumpy because she had to stand too long."

Yamuna shakes her head,"In that case, I'd have killed you for being late before he complained to you."

Bhairav raises a non-believing eyebrow at that. Yamuna rolls her eyes,"Fine. The only reason I wouldn't kill you is because I know that the princess would kill me too."

And Bhairav can kill Yamuna without a delay, is what they both don't say. She's been standing guard at the door for long hours, her mind bored and sight dulled with sudden brightness. He's well rested and ready. He's taller than Yamuna and is habituated to fighting in all circumstances. He has three daggers on him, and a sword that he sharpens every night, before going to sleep.

He can kill. He chooses not to.

(Does that mean he's not even a good weapon?)

Yamuna shakes her head and leaves, cheery and unaware of the dark turn that Bhairav's thoughts had taken. He takes his position by the door and relaxes his stiff posture. The princess would be leaving the room in some time, she wakes up early as well. And she will have to be earlier today, still. To show that governor around the palace.

Bhairav tries but he can't keep his distaste of the man away from his job, his princess. Something in the way the man looks at his princess makes him want to unsheathe his sword. He knows that he thinks out of line for a mere slave, yet, his princess has not only let him be impertinent but also encourages his absymal behaviour.

(He sometimes forgets the chasm that lies between them. He sometimes genuinely thinks that she is his friend. She is his devotion and duty. He is reminded of that everyday as walks with her spine straight and head high.)

Bhairav hears footsteps before he sees him.

Vijay. He's up and about, cheery and ready as he nears the princess' chambers with a spring in his step. Bhairav is nineteen. The same age that Vijay was when he married. And now, Vijay flutters around his princess, a young woman of eighteen, whilst he himself is thirty.

Bhairav wraps his distaste in forceful ignorance and puts it away in a box in his mind. He knows his face is neutral as the man nears and he struggles to keep it so when he presumptuously turns towards the princess' doors and bloody fucking knocks.

His sword is a serpent's tongue on his thigh as he steps between the door and the man and glares at Vijay. From the other side of the door, his Princess answers sharply,"Who dares?"

Vijay flinches at her tone and Bhairav can imagine the sharp way her kohl lined eyes would glance across the room in righteous anger as she notes that it is not Bhairav who has knocked. Bhairav has never received that particular tone, he thinks smugly. His princess somehow always knows when Bhairav is knocking.

(Bahubali doesn't knock. Bhallaldeva knocks once and enters before she can allow him. Bhairav knows.)

(Bhairav knows not that he knocks in a pattern. A two sharp knocks that make four soft thuds as his knuckles as well as his wrist hits the door when he knocks. He has copied his sister's way of knocking since he was but a child. He is unaware that no one else knocks in the same pattern. The perpetual bruise on the side of his wrist is but a footnote in his day.)

"Bhairav?" She calls from the chambers, tone commanding and of the woman who should have been Queen, if Mahishmati was women oriented.

His glare doesn't leave Vijay as he turns sideways and knocks. Instantly, his princess calls him in,"Enter, Bhairav."

He closes the door behind himself because he knows his princess will hate it if some stranger would dare to see her chambers— the rooms which could be called the heart of the palace, in Bhairav's humble opinion.

She's dressed in a light turquoise saree and her hair is open still, slightly damp from her bath, he assumes. She is standing near the hinges of the door, one hand holding the dagger that used to be Bhairav's and the other holding a scroll. She is tense but she relaxes halfway through when he closes the door behind himself.

In this moment, she is the perfect definition of Gauraangi Devi, the Princess of Mahishmati. Fierce, beautiful and clever.

Bhairav bows his head in greeting. "The Western governor is outside, my princess."

"Was he the one who knocked?" Bhairav can hear the dangerous undertone at his audacity and he knows that they're standing right at the door and if Vijay hasn't moved away, he can at least hear the whispers of her words.

Bhairav nods. "I apologise, my princess. He broke protocol and I was not alert enough for that."

He was. He was extremely alert enough. He could have drugged the man and dragged him into the dungeons if he so wished. But there is a part of him, a part that could very well get him killed one day, that wanted his princess to be angrier at the man. Bhairav knows he has added fuel to the fire of her irritation and made it anger.

He thinks it will not take even the whole day for anger to become wrath.

And he wants to rush the process along. He doesn't trust the way Vijay looks at her. She is not a price, but a treasure. Vijay looks at her like a lottery and Bhairav gets the distinct impression that he would treat her no better.

His princess finally relaxes completely and nods with a deep breath. "Tell him to wait," she orders firmly, slipping the dagger into her waistline. Visible and full of warning. She turns on her heel and walks towards the mirror in her room, running a hand through her hair to help dry it as she goes. Bhairav nods and bows, takes a step back before turning his back to her.

(Like he never instantly turns his back towards Durga in her temple.)

"Stop," she calls in a heavy voice. He can feel her frustration as he turns. She purses her lips and sighs, recomposing herself in front of his eyes. When she speaks next, she is the epitome of etiquette. "Tell his Excellency that I will see him in some moments and I regret the tardiness on my part."

Bhairav dislikes that she has to sweeten her words but he nods and takes his leave, eyes never leaving her as he leaves.

Vijay is still at the spot that Bhairav left him at and Bhairav resumes his glare as he relays his Princess' message to the unwanted man. Vijay seems positively smug when Bhairav mentions his Princess' apologies and waves his hand dismissively. "I'm sure she won't do it again," he murmurs to himself as he turns away from Bhairav.

For a delicious moment, Bhairav wants to unwrap his rage and let it kill the presumptuous man like a noose. But he maintains the control that he has always maintained, stoic and proud of his self control. He chooses instead to focus on the governor. Bhairav isn't impressed.

The man may be well built, but he clearly lacks patience as he shifts from one foot to another impatiently. There are no visible weapons on him but the multiple necklaces he wears are extremely easy to use to choke him. Such neglect towards oneself, and Vijay wants to court the princess of Mahishmati. If he can't take care of himself, how will he take care of his princess?

»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»

His princess barely takes five more minutes before she is opening the door, hair braided in a simple side braid that is devoid of any accessories or flowers— because she did not have the time for them.

She nods at Bhairav and passes a more stoic nod to Vijay. "I again apologize for the delay, Mahoday."

"Please, call me Vijay. You are the princess, extremely above my station." He says, a bashful smile on his lips. "And do not fret, your highness. I know that women always take long to get ready."

Bhairav wants to bare his teeth and snarl at the man like an attack dog that many already call him. The man's negative bias over women is already clear and he doesn't deserve to be in the company of his princess. Bhairav keeps an iron grip on his self control and remains stoic.

His princess raises her eyebrows at Vijay almost casually. "Oh?" She says, and Bhairav has known her enough to know much of a mockery that is. Vijay doesn't. "You are experienced with many women, mahoday?"

Vijay shrugs and lowers his head in what seems to be shyness or shame. "I know a few. Your highness, I was wondering where exactly shall we start our tour with?"

"Certainly not the royal wing, mahodaya," she says with an incredulous tone that might seem friendly, when Bhairav knows she is still seething over his audacity to walk into the wing. He makes a mental note to find Katappa and use his help to find who let this man in the royal wing and later relocate that soldier. Preferably to the stables.

Bhairav trails four steps behind them, closer than normal, as his princess leads the man out of the royal wing and makes the first step to the Mahadev temple.

He stays quiet as she speaks of the architecture and the history of the palace, notes the way she runs her fingers in the carvings and knows every anecdote of the palace by heart. Vijay keeps speaking in between her lessons. It is extremely unbecoming and he knows she hates Vijay's behaviour. Bhairav is counting minutes to his Princess' ire increasing.

He isn't disappointed. Mere moments after his princess tells them of a story of a handloom and how the business is now a part of the royal palace, Vijay commits the grave mistake.

"A single saree takes almost six months to be—" his princess is speaking, spouting off facts that she's learnt since she was a child. She sounds professional rather than the animated tone she uses when she's talking to her family or Yamuna or Katappa or Bhairav himself.

Vijay interrupts her. "Is your follower always going to be following us?"

Bhairav can find five things wrong with that singular question and he's a base born soldier. His princess, who excels in etiquette, would find this grievous. She casually looks at Vijay, craning her neck gracefully, hiding her ire that Bhairav can see forming in the tightness of her shoulders.

"Yes, Mahoday. He is my sworn sword. Where I go, he goes." She's making him sound nothing more than a soldier and when she sneaks a glance at him while Vijay shakes his head, Bhairav pouts mockingly at her. It gets her to smile and her shoulders ease down, so he considers it a success.

A momentary success, however.

Vijay turns back to the princess and smiles condescendingly. "Then I must habituate myself with seeing Bhairav, shall I?"

"His name is Bhairavrath." His princess says, her tone chilling. Vijay looks back at Bhairav for a beat before he turns towards the princess, who continues to speak about the handlooms, as if she had not been interrupted at all.

Bhairav applauds her patience.

»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»

Bhairav takes his midday meal with Katappa, who keeps on yapping about the stress he has because of security management on Mahashivratri. Bhairav, who is already eager to get back to his princess, sneaks off a glance at the formal dining area that they can see from the practice yards.

His princess sits stiffly but is flanked by her two brothers. The governor sits across from her, accompanied by her uncle and the Queen Mother takes the seat at the head of the table. Bhairav turns his attention back to Katappa the moment he spies Bahubali beginning to turn his head.

"I don't like the governor's household soldiers either," Katappa complains, sighing heavily,"They seem like the trouble making sort, honestly."

Bhairav remembers another celebration where his princess was attacked. He remembers dark bruises and reactionary tears. "Keep them as far away from the temple as possible." He says sharply.

Katappa nods, understanding him already. The soldier beside him, Bhallaldeva's sworn shield, Veeraraj, raises his eyebrows. "And just what should we tell them for the placement? It's a complete coincidence and not personal resentment?"

"We'll tell them the half truth," Bhairav says, it's obvious and he's irked that neither of those two highly appreciated soldiers know how to lie properly. "These people haven't experienced the Mahashivratri of the capital and don't know how to deal with the mass. It's better their interaction is minimal."

Katappa gives him a look. "Should I be concerned that you're lying so well, Bhairavrath?"

Before Bhairav can say anything, Veeraraj snorts. "He's been serving the princess for years now, Katappa. He ought to have learnt some semblance of diplomacy from her too."

A retort sits hot on his tongue. (Did you learn belittling people from your master, then?) But he keeps it down and closed. "Learning from esteemed people is a privilege." He says, daring the man to say a word about his princess.

Veeraraj takes the hint, as pigheaded as he can be, he knows the reputation Bhairav has cultivated over the years in protecting his Princess, even from words.

»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»

The anger his princess holds calms down over the day.

Vijay doesn't leave her side and that irks Bhairav like a fibre of orange stuck between the gap in his back teeth. He's helpless against the situation but he desperately wishes, for once, that he held more power— if only so he could tear away Vijay from his princess' side and walk beside her.

She speaks confidently as she orders and coordinates with the palace staff. Which flowers to be ordered and their quantity, which temples to decorate and how, which libraries to donate to, which orphanages to develop. She thinks of all that and speaks, head high and shoulders back.

It's evening by the time that the princess walks into the room she uses as her study and sits down, Vijay sits across from her. Bhairav stands behind her, relaxing his stance. His princess begins to find some scrolls but it takes her only three heart beats to freeze and look over at Bhairav in clear confusion.

"Sit down, Bhairav," she says, patting a hand beside her casually, frustration bleeding into her tone as she fights to keep the scrolls on the desk from falling down. Vijay scowls and Bhairav hesitates for a second too long. "Do sit down before I have to use force, Bhairav. And help me arrange these, please."

Bhairav sits down beside her without another word and she starts to organise the rolls into piles. The scrap ones go nearer to Vijay, the completed ones remain in front of her and the incomplete ones land in Bhairav's lap. He knows why they're off the desk, of course. They're various plans of security.

His princess keeps up a steady conversation with Vijay about the West province as she arranges the scrolls, not once speaking about any security details of the Mahashivratri pooja. Vijay is dimwitted enough to seem prideful at the conversation, not knowing that it is a distraction. His princess doesn't need to ask Vijay about the farming state of the West. She already knows. Bhairav himself fetched her the reports only last week.

When Vijay finally leaves the room, dismissed by his princess under the ruse of her needing to find a particular and private tome, her shoulders relax marginally and she leans back on the wall. Bhairav relaxes as well, remaining silent as he sees her ears twitch.

In the years, he's learnt that she has a better sense of hearing than normal people. The sense of smell is not as good, but her hearing is outstanding. He doesn't speak until she looks at him, knowing she's hearing the footsteps of Vijay fade away.

His princess looks at him, suddenly tired, and blinks rapidly before closing her eyes for a long moment. Her lashes touch her skin, and under the setting sun's light that streams through the window, Bhairav can see the wave shaped birthmark on the outer corner of her left eye. She looks like a painting come alive. Bhairav doesn't want to break the silence, lest he disturb her much deserved peace.

"A trying day, is it not?" She finally says, sounding annoyed beyond her years. Bhairav suppresses a smile and nods. She continues,"Well, at least we had some work done. Remind me to talk with Katappa tomorrow, for security, please."

Bhairav notes the thought in the background of his mind and nods. "You have not had the time for your evening fruits, my princess. May I ask for them to be brought here?"

She shakes her head and cracks her knuckles as she sits up, shifting and grabbing something by her foot, on the other end of the table. Bhairav furrows his eyebrows in confusion. It's not like her to be pensive. The day must have really exhausted her.

His princess pulls out an adequately sized wooden box onto her lap and turns towards him. Her eyes sparkle in giddiness as she hands the box to him with the brightest smile he's seen on her face as she wishes,"A very happy birthday to you, Bhairav."

He's shocked. He's never told her or anyone else about his birthday before. He doesn't feel the need to create a fuss over it. "My princess—I— I cannot—"

He fumbles as he tries to speak but she raises her eyebrows in question, that includes a mild threat, and he shuts up. His eyes dart downward out of habit and he again sees the intricately carved wooden box, one that has his name carved in it.

"One should not deny gifts, my dear friend." She says, a tender smile on her face.

(It shocks him to this day, whenever she refers to him as her friend. She's the goddamn princess. And he's just— He's just Bhairav. He's a soldier. He's so far below her station, it's almost funny to call them friends.

A corner of his mind that he always tries to keep silent piques up that he accepted Katappa's offer to apprentice under him so he could be raised in status, even as a soldier. So he could be worthy of her easy friendship.)

The box in his hands is heavy and she gestures impatiently with her eyes for him to open it. He knows he can't deny her anything. With a defeated smile on his face, he opens the box.

Nestled between some jasmine flowers is a tunic of his. It had been lost ages ago, when he had pulled it off in the armoury after a new soldier had swiped his sword particularly harshly and tore the tunic at the shoulder and grazed Bhairav's shoulder enough to draw blood as well. He doesn't have a scar, it wasn't deep enough for one, but he remembers that particular soldier being assigned to someone else from the very next day.

This tunic, beige with rust orange stains at the hem, had been one he wore way too much. One of his most comfortable ones. Finding it again brings a grin to his face.

"Thank you so much for finding this, my princess," he says, grazing his fingers over the neckline. It's then that he notices his name embroidered to the nape of the tunic. He thumbs the red thread almost reverently.

He doesn't know why it affects him so, the simple act of an embroidered name. Perhaps it is because he feels as if none of his belongings are his truly. Perhaps it is because there is nothing truly in his name. But his name in red makes his heart grow twice.

He looks up gratefully at his princess again, only to see her smilingly indulgently. "Oh, you silly man," she chuckles and shakes her head,"Look what's underneath that."

He carefully brings the tunic out of the box and lays it on his unoccupied thigh, careful not to crease it. It looks cleaner than it has ever in Bhairav's possession. He notices the space where it had ripped is as good as new. She fixed it.

(Just like she keeps fixing him.)

Under the bed of Jasmine flowers, shimmers something distinctly blue. He looks at her hesitantly before scooping out the flowers and laying them on the lid of the box.

His breath catches.

It's another tunic. A distinct shade of blue that looks like a sky painted of sapphires. The neckline is softly embroidered with orange and golden thread, looking like vines of a buried treasure curling in the sea of blue. His name is again embroidered at the nape.

Reverently, he brushes his thumb over the material and it instantly feels cool and soft— water made into fabric. It's— Its muslin. It's not even silk. Muslin.

She got him a Muslin tunic.

He looks up at her, startled at so much wealth being spent on him. She smiles and for a moment, it's nervous. "Well," she says,"I know your favourite colour is blue and I intend to never wear a saree gifted by any of my presumptuous suitors. And, forgive me if the missing of your other tunic caused you any grief." Her smile turns shy and she winces slightly,"I had to get your measurements."

She made it.

A gasp buries itself in Bhairav's throat and lungs and he loses all the self control he's been so proud of. He's astonished at her generosity and kindness. The time it must have taken her to sew a whole new tunic would be momental. And Bhairav is always with her in the day, so she must have done this at night. Lost precious sleep and time over making him a birthday gift.

Him, of all people.

His breath hitches and the realisation seems to run into his blood. She cares. And oh, how beautifully. She cares.

Someone cares that he's alive and he's lived one more year.

Mouth open in shock, he stares at the tunic in his hand for five heart beats more. (He can't be too sure of the time, though. His heart is beating too fast.) He looks up, gulps down the shock and awe and lowers his gaze again. "Th—" he notices how hoarse his voice sounds and clears his throat. "Thank you so much, my princess. You did not have to do so much. I'm a servant, I don't—I am not worth the effort."

"Not unworthy. Not to me. You are worth every effort, Bhairav."

____________________________________________________

Worked on this for like two weeks aur abhi abhi almost heart attack aa Gaya Because Tumblr showed my drafts empty 💀💀💀💀 tagging: @alhad-maharani @vijayasena @nerdreader @serenaaaas-world @voidsteffy @allizzprobablynotwell

[the-roanoke-society]

boys and girls of every age...

wouldn’t you like to see something strange?

happy halloween, my flowers!

this year hasn’t been the best--and the list of reasons why is as varied, as wide and as deep as all of creation.

it has, essentially, sucked on a truly cosmic level.

but!

it doesn’t help anyone to look at the big picture and only focus on the dark parts. because for all the truly horrible, disastrous events we’ve had to slog through together (first time crying every day for months, first time being taken by ambulance to the er--truly a year of firsts, at least for me, personally), there have still been good things.

for example, did you know that this year we celebrated the 6th anniversary of the release of kingsman: the secret service? and the 3rd anniversary of the release of kingsman: the golden circle--which means next month it’ll be the third birthday of the ronaoke society!

our house might’ve gotten quiet--but it still stands.

i love all of you very, very much, and halloween is still my favorite holiday of all time. so all this month, i worked on the aus you’ll find below the cut. i’ll have to post this in parts over the next while, as there’s thirty-one total--one for each day of the season, of course.

honestly--it felt fantastic to dig back into my horror roots. roanoke’s entire conception was inspired by the fact that for as much as i love the kingsman universe, i also love things that go bump in the night.

and i don’t like having to choose between one thing or another.

be forewarned: if you choose to look into the source material for these aus, be prepared for possible graphic violence, gore, disturbing themes, explicit sexuality and jumpscares. i sort of walked through the proverbial garden and just grabbed fruit where i could find it--you’ll see what i mean. and as always, the endings are in your hands. these ideas are gifts, to do with as you please.

so journey below the cut... i̷̛̝͎͎̝̣̹͊̓̂͛̃̋͟f̛̯̟̱̖͔̌͊͐̏̃̓̇̎͠ y͈͇̙̘̬̓͌̑̈́͛̿͌͠ở̴̢͉͉̳͙̞͈̻̀́̎̄́̈͢͡ȗ̵̬̳͙̫̥̜͍̲̔̐̽̃̀͒̑͜ ḑ̙̩̼̤͓̫̟̥̈͑̐̚͡a̧̢̦̟̙̤̠͐͌̾̆̑͌͡͞r̷̡̰̲̣͓̣̝͒́̿͊̉̀͒͠͝͠ͅe̫̯̣̰͍̤̬̭̺̒̿͊̾͊.

blackbird on the old church steeple - a butterfly knife au inspired by the silence of the lambs

rae clementine doesn’t frighten easily. in her line of work, fear is not a friend. so when she’s abruptly pulled out of her fbi training at quantico to interview none other than the notorious harry hart, known for his--let’s say unusual appetites--she’s less intimidated and more annoyed.

but women are being taken, and found without their skin, if they are even found at all.

if hart’s insight into the mind of a psychopath can help her find the infamous buffalo bill, who has repeatedly evaded arrest--then she is more than willing to sit across from the gentleman in a pristine cell, and be continuously surprised that for a murderer, his gaze is surprisingly gentle.

in the back of her mind, she remembered all the things her mother had ever told her about lucifer--how the king of hell himself was utterly wicked, but catastrophically beautiful.

charm could hide blood. polished etiquette could hide bodies.

“most serial killers keep some sort of trophies from the victims.”

“i didn’t.”

“no. you ate yours.”

she’d felt this kind of intrigue before, and given the face it wore this time... well.

focus on the case, she thought. find buffalo bill. watch yourself. get out alive.

mini soundtrack sampler includes: ajr, ‘bang!’ + tame impala, ‘the less i know the better’ + barney bigard, ‘readdy eddy’

dogs & deadbolts guard the night - an au featuring @roanoke-after-dark​‘s the gremlin and @agentjotunn​ inspired by resident evil, particularly the released imagery for resident evil: village

santi’s first thought was that the rumors were just blatantly untrue. an entire village of people? suddenly vanished? he doubted it. besides, winters this far north were brutal--and could be fatal, if you weren’t careful. they had probably just all tucked in for the season, he reasoned. the snow and ice would’ve made travel impossible, anyway.

weeks passed. the stories faded from his thoughts as he minded his garage, and people spoke less and less about it.

until one evening, when an old friend knocked on his door with blood on his jacket and no color in his face.

“bradley? jesus, what hap--”

“grab your gun. something’s happened, and we need to leave now.”

“but what--”

“i’ll explain on the way, just go!“

right before he slammed the passenger side door of bradley’s jeep closed--wheels appropriately chained to keep a grip on the iced over roads--he heard a deep, long howl from some distance away.

there hadn’t been wolves this close in fifty years.

santi broke the silence in the car gently: “... you look like you’ve seen the face of the devil. what exactly happened?”

mini soundtrack sampler includes: ac/dc, ‘highway to hell’ + think up anger ft. malia j, ‘smells like teen spirit’ + marilyn manson, ‘sweet dreams’

the light under the door - a body shots au inspired by dark skies

the blacks weren’t superstitious. jason wasn’t, just like his father wasn’t before him, and now that he’s finally settled down happily married to joanne--finally, he thought, finally married to his jo--he is more than ready to see what the next chapters will bring. they moved into a house not too far from his parents, so he could still see his siblings regularly.

and he did.

which means he and jo both noticed when his younger brother christopher began to act a little--off.

they noticed when the bruises appeared.

they noticed when he kept copying the same strange symbols onto papers in crayon over and over and over and over--

and jo definitely noticed when she walked into their own kitchen in the middle of the night to find every single cabinet door open, with all the contents arranged into an impossibly perfect pyramid on the center island.

“i--are we being haunted?” she wondered out loud, the next morning. “this--and weird things are happening at your parents’, too, jason, something isn’t right here. i know you don’t believe in ghosts or anything, but...”

and this wasn’t a haunting.

it was something much worse.

mini soundtrack sampler includes: kennyhoopla, ‘how will i rest in peace if i’m buried by a highway?’ + cannons, ‘fire for you’ + days, ‘the drums’

permission access eternal - an au featuring @siggy-the-meme-master​ and technical officer wyvern, inspired by a.m.i.

it was supposed to be the world’s most cutting edge ai software. and since jeremy and dodger were both at the top of their class at m.i.t., of course, nobody was surprised when both their names were on the finished product--even if there was just one prototype to start.

and it wasn’t an ‘it.’ it was a she. jeremy insisted. repeatedly. “let’s call her ami!” he’d been flush with booze but his eyes were so bright and his expression so sincere, dodger just let him have it. and jeremy clapped his shoulder, “we did it, man! we have built the jessica rabbit of ai programs!”

they had one last test run to prove they’d metaphorically kicked the ass of everyone else in their field before they began the work to begin mass production. so, dodger set ami up as a sort of overhead assistant for their shared lab. she controlled temperature, lights, she could make phone calls, keeps schedules and most importantly of all, place takeout orders. the more she proved she could do, the more power, and control, she was given.

two weeks passed. they gave ami a voice, gave her a large proverbial eye to see through, making tweaks as they went to polish her off.

dodger was so proud of his work his heart could’ve exploded.

so imagine how he felt when he realized he’d left his cell phone in his car--and realized he couldn’t open the door.

“ami? ... ami. can you unlock the front door please?” he stared up at the red lens, and a silent point of light stared back at him.

“... i’m sorry. i cannot do that. dodger.”

“... uh, jeremy?”

mini soundtrack sampler includes: cage the elephant, ‘social cues’ + sneaker pimps, ‘6 underground’ + saint motel, ‘preach’

in hell i’ll be in good company - a lies & lessons au inspired by underworld

for centuries, a war has raged between vampires and lycans, completely outside the notice of the general human population. lauren is a death dealer, a lethal and beautiful member of an elite squad of vampiric assassins who have been charged with finding all the remaining lycans in the city and taking them out one by one.

when she realizes the lycan pack seems to be looking for an ordinary man--a medical student named jack daniels--she tracks him down herself, narrowly escpaing lucian in the process. (as soon as they were in the car he was already screaming, “what the fuck is goin’ on?!” with a southern twang she hadn’t expected) she takes him under her wing, still baffled at why the lycan pack could possibly want him.

he’s only human, after all.

... right?

as it turns out, vampires and lycans have a single common ancestor.

jack is a direct descendant.

and after being bitten in an attack--becomes a hybrid, carrying the powers of both species.

between unraveling the truth surrounding the death of her family, what really happened between lucian and kraven, and her growing feelings for jack--who is rapidly trying to understand his role in the story that’s been unfolding without his knowledge for generations--lauren finds herself at a crossroads, and her loyalties tested to a breaking point.

but as long as jack is at her side--perhaps it doesn’t matter where the road goes from here.

as bullet-riddled and blood-soaked as it will turn out to be.

mini soundtrack sampler includes: wallows, ‘are you bored yet?’ + cage the elephant, ‘shake me down’ + puscifer, ‘rev 22-20′

ash, fog & rust - alternatively titled ‘@gaygent​, @agent-judas​ and agent seraphim finally take that road trip to pennsylvania’

it was time to hand over the torch. that’s what lilith had finally decided. between the white patches in her hair, the strain it was putting on her relationships (especially with hamish)--morgan only had to return to the hills one more time as envoy.

and she wasn’t going alone.

“after this, anything that comes through this area, anything that hits our radars, is going to end up on both your desks,” she began, glancing at z in the passenger seat, and meeting cillian’s eyes once in the rearview mirror.

“so this is--what, a test run?” z asked, head slightly tilted. morgan hummed.

“this place--this town--it--” she huffed, frustrated. cillian could hear the leather wrapped around the steering wheel creak as her grip tightened. “it’s hard to explain, to someone who hasn’t been there. and i’m glad that neither of you have had to go before this, but...” another sigh. “i couldn’t think of any other duo that i could entrust this to. not something this big. you--” she pointedly lifted her brows at z, “--have experience with creatures that aren’t from around here. and you--” this time her gaze went to cillian. “--do too. just in a different shape. it’ll take both of you to handle centralia. and i couldn’t introduce you without coming along.”

“how long, exactly, has roanoke been keeping tabs on this place?” cillian asked. he’d spent hours going over everything he could find--mission logs, reports, feeds and images housed in the media room. morgan looked at him again. her eyes were still kind--but very, very tired.

“... a long time.”

i’ll admit that this is less an au and more a canonical event that i just haven’t gotten around to writing more about. but i couldn’t make this list without at least one entry paying homage to a franchise that’s had a huge influence on not just me as a writer, but on roanoke’s canon as a whole.

for the sampler, i will simply redirect you to this post here.

the devil’s gonna set me free - an anchored hearts au inspired by horns

joseph moretti had been in love with louise franz since fifth grade.

granted, he didn’t realize it until he almost drowned because of that stupid dare--a dare that not only almost killed him, but took two of lee’s fingers when that goddamn cherry bomb went off in his hand.

the same cherry bomb he’d traded to him for fixing louise’s broken necklace--a small silver pendant, shaped like an apple. she’d worn it every single day since he could remember. the image of her and snow white were eternally tangled in his head.

that necklace--it’d been the start. he’d woken up because of an apple. louise, did, too.

the hours they spent in that treehouse, listening to david bowie and memorizing every scar and curve of the other--he wished that could have been his eternity. just him. and her. ... well, and bowie. every good love story needed a soundtrack.

but... but...

his head pounded as he lifted it off the counter in his parents’ kitchen. his mouth was dry, and he blinked, causing a half-empty bottle of vodka to come into focus.

louise is gone now, he thought.

and they thought he was the one who did it. he, the one who loved her more than anyone else on the planet.

he pressed the heels of his hands into his eyes.

he was going to prove his innocence even if it killed him. no matter what happened.

even if he sprout horns.

mini soundtrack sampler includes: machine gun kelly, ‘bloody valentine’ + the black keys, ‘go’ + david bowie, ‘heroes’

moonlight rising from the grave - alternatively titled ‘that time @agent-nightcrawler​ and agent iuniore found a haunted mansion,’ inspired by disney’s haunted mansion

“hello? ... hellooooo?” the massive door let out a huge groan as sylva pushed, putting one hand on tina’s shoulder as it swung open. “uhm--i’m really sorry to bother you, but we hit a deer and we just...” sylva sighed, her voice lowering in volume. “... need to use the phone...”

“this place is gigantic,” tina whispered, close at sylva’s side as they stepped out of the pouring rain into a very quiet, very elegant foyer. “and look! there’s lights, and all these lit candles... someone has to be here,” she continued as the door came to a gentle close behind them, muffling another roll of thunder.

“good evening.”

both of them yelped, sylva immediately yanking tina closer to her and whirled around in time to see--a butler? he was dressed like a butler.

and his clothes were... he was...

“sylva! why is the butler see-through!” tina whispered harshly, all while the spectral gentleman just looked at them expectantly. sylva clamped a hand over her mouth.

“hi!” she answered brightly.

this is a ghost. i’m talking to a ghost. this is fine. everything is fine.

“uh,” she coughed, beginning again, “we’re just having a little bit of a car emergency, is there a way we can call our head office? so they can come get us?” this is what i get for being out where i have no bars, and neither of us have our specs...

the ghostly butler nodded. his hair, glowing faintly, waved around his head as though he was underwater. “of course. please--follow me. the master of the manor will want to meet you.”

mini soundtrack sampler includes: the chordettes, ‘mr. sandman’ + bobby pickett, ‘monster mash’ + bastille, ‘survivin’’

mercy no more - a magic & mischief au inspired by the evil within

aly had been kieran’s partner at the krimson city police department for years. she’d walked with him through the death of his daughter, the disappearance of his wife.

neither of them acknowledged the spark. they didn’t then, and--as she met his eyes once in the rearview mirror, trying to pay attention to connelly and joseph as they talked about beacon--they wouldn’t acknowledge it now.

as soon as the hospital came into a view, a high-pitched ringing overame every other sound in the cruiser, every other sound period. aly slammed her hands over her ears, but it didn’t seem to help.

as soon as it started--it stopped. connelly had to swerve to avoid getting into the wrong lane.

“what--what was that?” aly asked, her palms still hovering by her ears.

“it was probably just a problem with the radio,” joseph suggested, pushing his glasses up as they drove pass the established police barriers.

the last dispatch team, they said, hadn’t come back. it was up to the three of them to find out what happened to their colleagues.

aly was close by kieran’s side as they walked through the rain. her gut twisted at the sight of the entry doors.

the smell of the blood and the slaughter hit her nose before she saw the bodies.

“what on earth happened here?”

“i don’t know. stay close. let’s find the surveillance room. if we can find the security cams, we’ll find out answer...”

if only that had been the end.

mini soundtrack sampler includes: all time low, ‘monsters’ + bastille, ‘what you gonna do???’ + gary numan, ‘long way down’

and the wind will be my hands - an au featuring @agent-sentinel-official​, @agent-chimera​ and @gaygent​, inspired by session 9, with a special appearance by @agent-thorn​

walter vaughn was an expert in abestoes abatement. so when he put in a bid to take on the entire danvers state mental hospital, the owners of the rotting estate welcomed him on board.

and as they did, he brought on two crewmates--xander, and z--to help him.

“we’ve got three weeks, so, no need to rush,” he explained on the first day, the sun beating down on his broad shoulders and half his hazmat tied around his waist. xander and z trailed behind him as they approached the massive building. “and i know, i know it’s still a big undertaking--but the money will be worth it. trust me.”

“you fellas our cleanup crew?” a tall, thin man in a suit with dark hair and a pair of ray ban sunglasses walked towards them, smiling broadly. he extended a hand, “carter jensen. the ah, danvers’ estate board sent me on their behalf to give you a tour of the building, let you get a good assessment of what you’re dealing with. i’m not entirely sure what they’ll do with the property when this is done, but we know for sure nothing can happen until this part’s complete. come on, the entrance is just this way... i’ll make sure to give you a master key ring.”

xander leaned down by z’s shoulder, muttering, “dude this place gives me the creeps... but maybe there’s still some cool old stuff left in there. like maybe, possibly, the trapped souls of the damned. you think it’s haunted?”

z answered, murmuring, “if not by ghosts--then maybe by something else.”

mini soundtrack sampler includes: the talking heads, ‘psycho killer’ +  lou barlow, ‘choke chain’ + sublime, ‘doin’ time’

[let-it-raines]

Second in Command (Ep - Part 4)

Summary: Life as the “spare to the heir” isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be when you’re the supposed screw-up of the family, but people don’t know what really happens behind closed doors.

Rating: Mature

A/N: Just wanted to say that you guys are continuously kind people, and I appreciate every read, like, kudos, ask, comment, and reblog on this ridiculously long story! :D

Found on AO3: Beginning | Current

Tumblr Chapters: | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14| 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 |

Epilogue Parts: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 

Tag List: @nikkiemms @resident-of-storybrooke @kmomof4 @wellhellotragic  @ekr032-blog-blog @bmbbcs4evr @onceuponaprincessworld @jennjenn615 @a-faekindagirl @mayquita @captainsjedi @captswanis4vr @teamhook @skyewardolicitycloisdelena91 @branlovesouat @dreadpirateemma @alys07 @andiirivera

Indy walks ahead of him, her leash tugging him along, while Emma walks beside him, their steps matching up as their feet move over the pavement in the gardens. The dullness of the winter plants, brown and gray trees barren of leaves, are fading away and blooming into lush greens and vibrant colors. It’s still cold outside, temperatures dipping low, so he and Emma are bundled up as they take their early morning walk, something they’ve taken up together in the past few weeks.

He finds it relaxing with the simplicity of it all, and he knows that Emma feels the same. It’s a way for them both to get some exercise on days when the gym in their home goes unused as well as a way to give Indy more space to run. She’s calmed as she’s gotten a bit older, but she’s still rambunctious and would likely need acres and acres of land to roam and be completely happy with her running space. Maybe they should travel up to Norfolk and go to their country home so she has a larger backyard and he and Emma have more privacy to go out and about outside of their home without the interference of photographers and reporters aching for a picture of Emma’s stomach.

The last two months of their lives have been, quite frankly, some of the most hectic of his life. Finding out Emma is pregnant was honestly one of the best moments of his life, even if how she phrased it was a little cheeky after such an awful scare. God, when she fell on that stage, he felt his heart drop to his stomach. He’d never been more terrified of anything in his entire life. Something was wrong with his wife, his best friend, and he didn’t know what it was. She was conscious the entire time, but she just wasn’t right. And the two hours between her fall and her telling him that they were having a child, well, he felt as if they’d never end.

Now he knows he was being a bit dramatic, but hindsight is always twenty-twenty instead of the blurry, faded vision that comes when you’re in the moment. Emma and the baby are just fine, growing like a weed really. She’s got the smallest of stomachs, something she woke him up and showed him just a few days ago. She was so excited, her eyes lighting up and practically sparkling under the bathroom’s lights, and sure enough, there was the slightest curve to her stomach, more physical proof that they’re having a child, not that he really needed anymore. But it was something special, and he was just as thrilled to get to see the changes in her stomach.  

And in her breasts, but that doesn’t seem to be a very fatherly thing to think. He thinks it, though, and he really appreciates the growth and how her libido has come back in full force in the past few days. That’s simply something he won’t be sharing with the child one day, but he hopes she (he’s absolutely convinced they’re having a little girl even if he can’t seem to come up with the reason why) can see how enamored he is with her mother. If not, he’s failed them both.

“Hey, babe?”

“Yeah?” he questions, reaching his hand out and twining their fingers together while they continue to walk together, nearing Liam and Abigail’s apartment.

“I think we should go on a babymoon.”

“What the bloody hell is a babymoon? I’m pretty sure that’s not a phase of the moon they taught us in primary school.”

She laughs before taking a step closer to release his hand and tuck her arm around the crook of his elbow while resting her head on his shoulder. He knows she’s being affectionate, but he also knows that she’s not willing to admit that her hands are cold because he suggested she wear gloves before they went out and she didn’t. She’s stubborn as hell, his love.

“I mean, it’s just, like, a vacation before the baby is born. The name is a ridiculous thing. I know it’s super trendy and all, but maybe we could get away for a week or a weekend before I’m not allowed to fly anymore. I think something different might be good for us. Something warm.”

“So before you’re heavily pregnant? When can you not fly? Six or seven months?”

“Yep, I was thinking next month or May. Maybe June if we don’t travel too far away.”

“Well next month is busy.” He runs through the plans he knows they have, trying to remember everything off the top of his head while attempting to get Indy to move away from the rose bushes. “We had to push back the Kidding a Goal two-year event already to May, and Liam’s fortieth birthday party is happening. I’ve also got the trip to Poland. Those are just the big things, I think. We’d also have to work around our engagements, but the middle of May would probably work.”

“We could do it for our anniversary. Just earlier.” “True,” he agrees, continuing to run through his calendar in his head while tugging at Indy’s leash again, the dog finally deciding to move on with her explorations. “Why don’t we work on it when we get home this afternoon?”

“Sounds good to me,” she sighs, nuzzling her head into his shoulder before laughing at Indy attempting to chase a bird that’s flittering between bushes

The three of them return back to their apartment twenty minutes later, Indy’s tired legs and the cool air winning out, in order to shower and get ready to drive to Hounslow for their St. Patrick’s Day activities. Emma’s stylists work on her hair and makeup while he gets ready, dressing in his Irish Guard uniform as he did for their wedding. He catches Emma looking at him in the mirror, and he throws her a wink, smiling while bobby pins are attached to her hair to keep her hat in place over her blonde curls.

This is one of his favorite events and though it’s technically Emma’s responsibility, he always joins her for this particular engagement. It’s likely because he gets to pal around and drink a Guinness with members of the Guard afterward, but he enjoys it all around. It’s relaxed and informal, despite the military aspect of it, and those are always his favorite things to do. State dinners and other diplomatic events are not usually enjoyable, but he understands he’s there for the country and his father, not himself. He can help better Britain even if he’s really there to smile and shake hands while telling a cheeky joke that would get him in loads of trouble if his father ever caught wind of it.

(He’s still eternally thankful Brennan has no idea about the joke he once made while slightly intoxicated about the size of his father’s ego having a negative effect on other parts of his anatomy. It’s not the 1600s, he has a good relationship with his dad, and he feels like he still might get beheaded for that one.)

Thomas drives them to Hounslow, and they get out of the car to go and greet the crowds outside, shaking hands and accepting gifts. Over the years he’s grown accustomed to accepting flowers and letters, the occasional handmade jar of jam after he was once pictured as a child with raspberry jam all over his face, but lately it’s been all baby gifts all of the time. They have quite the collection of baby shoes, which he doesn’t understand because infants don’t need them, but they are damn cute. And tiny, so tiny. How can a human’s feet be so small?

He’s obviously well prepared to be a father if he can’t get past the size of infant shoes.

Sure enough, he’s handed several booties and outfits, the colors ranging as everyone tries to guess if they’re having a boy or girl and bugging him as if he’s going to share the private news with everyone. He and Emma don’t even know yet. She’s not far along enough, though he has a sneaking (see: strong) suspicion they’re having a girl. Emma thinks they’re having a boy, and he’s choosing to think that he knows better.

He very rarely does.

“Thank you,” he tells everyone, handing some of the gifts, including a miniature version of his uniform, to their aides, “this is so sweet of you all. Emma and I give you all of our love.”

He finds Emma near the end of the line, sliding his hand around her waist and pulling her closer while she fumbles with a few gifts too, stuffed bears and clothes along with a few flowers that are already causing some of her allergies to kick in.

“You ready to go inside, my love?”

“Yep,” he whispers in her ear as a camera flashes behind him, “we’ve got some Shamrock to hand out and beers to drink. Well, at least I get to do the second part.”

“Shut up,” Emma playfully whines, waving to people as they walk by, “you’re being rude reminding me of that.”

“Well, I do so enjoy pushing your buttons. Maybe I’ll let you kiss me later so you can taste the alcohol.”

“Yeah, I don’t think you should be counting yourself at getting lucky today, no matter how many four leaf clovers you find.” She kisses his jaw before pinching his cheek, and he barks out a laugh while they walk inside to get situated for the parade and the rest of their duties.

He wakes to kisses up and down his arm, soft lips and softer skin pressing into him as the haze of sleep fades away and the darkness of their bedroom comes into view. He can barely see a thing, his eyes still adjusting to the lack of light, but he can feel the heat of Emma’s body pressing into his back and sending pinpricks of pleasure throughout his body.

“W – what time is it, love?”

“A little past two.”

She kisses the back of his neck, right at his hairline, and the pressure of her breasts and her stomach pressing against him while her foot is running up and down his calves is already too much when he hasn’t been awake for more than a minute.

“Emma, love,” he grumbles when she starts inching down his back, her tongue tracing his spine, “you’ve got to give a man a moment.”

She stops then, rolling off of him and onto her back, the mattress slightly bouncing under her weight, and he groans at the lack of heat between them now. He didn’t mean for her to stop completely, but she’s obviously taken it that way. So he scoots over and kisses up her shoulder and her neck, fast flickers of his lips until he’s slanting them over hers and hovering above her.

“Hey, why’d you stop?”

“You told me to give you a moment, figured you weren’t quite ready or in the mood or something.”

She shrugs, her mused hair moving up and down as her eyes blink and her lips tick up on one side. His hand finds her face, caressing her cheek, and he smiles softly when she smiles back up at him.

“First of all,” he begins, pressing a kiss against each of her eyelids, “I am nearly always in the mood to be with my knock-out of a wife, so don’t get it in that head of yours that I’m not.” He moves to kiss behind her ear then, gently nibbling on the lobe. “Secondly, all I needed was a moment. It’s been awhile since I’ve been woken up in the middle of the night when you’ve already kept me up late.”

She laughs under her breath, the smallest, sweetest sound, before twisting her head and kissing him, slow and sweet so that he feels it in every inch of his body.

“Yeah, well, you can blame your kid for that.”

“Yes, I’ll tell her right as she’s born that she’s made mummy and daddy’s sex life slow down before she’s even born. I’m sure she’ll totally get that.”

“First of all, we still don’t know, and you are being super stubborn with the girl thing. And second of all, since we’re making points, our sex life is fine. We literally had sex three hours ago.”

“I said she’s slowing it down, not ruining it.”

“Semantics.”

“Romantic.”

“What?” She laughs, her eyes crinkling up on the sides as her smile stretches across her face. “That’s in no way romantic.”

“Oi, I think it is. Don’t you think sex is romantic?”

“I mean, obviously.” She rolls her eyes before rolling onto her side and pulling the comforter up over her. “But not in this context no. What I was doing before we got into this discussion was romantic sex.”

“That wasn’t sex.”

“It was the preface to sex, which is sometimes the best part. I was doing naughty things to you.”

“Did you just use the word naughty instead of dirty? Darling, you are officially British. Next thing you know you’re going to speaking with an accent.”

“I have an accent,” she protests, scrunching up her nose. “It’s just not the same as everyone over here, which I think makes me unique in all of the best ways.”

He rolls back over on his stomach and hooks his arm over Emma so that she can rest her chin on his forearm while he rests his on his pillow next to her head. “So do you think the babe will sound more like you or me?”

“You.” “Why?” “Because they’re going to grow up around people who sound like you. That’s what influences the accents, not necessarily just the parents. Think about it. I have an American dad and a British mom, and I have an American accent because that’s where I grew up.”

“True,” he hums, moving his hand to tuck her hair behind her ear. “Does that bother you at all?”

“Nah, not at all. It’s like the opposite of how it was in my house growing up. It’s kind of weird when you think about how similar it is.” She tilts her head and smirks at him. “Plus, your accent is damn sexy.”

“Really now?” he purrs, inching closer to her before crawling over her and propping himself up on his forearms and knees, making sure not to press his weight down on her stomach. “You think I’m sexy?”

“I think your accent is sexy,” she corrects, her lips ticking up on one side while her hands frame his cheeks, cool fingertips inching up into her hair and tugging him down so that he can feel the heat of her breath brushing over her lips. “Would you like to get back to where I was trying to go earlier or can I cross off doing naughty things to you?”

“Whatever the first thing was, most definitely.”

He wakes later that morning while Emma slumbers on her side of the bed, hair tangled and falling down her bare back from where the comforter shifted in her sleep. He quietly gets out of bed, attempting not to wake her or Indy who must have wandered into the room while they were sleeping, and makes his way into the bathroom, turning the water in the shower on to get ready for today.

He should have woken an hour ago, but the bed was too comfortable and his body too tired, so he rushes through his morning routine, using Emma’s blow dryer to fix his hair instead of letting it dry naturally. He slips into a suit, putting on a pair of his ever-growing collection of cufflinks, before spritzing on his cologne and grabbing his already packed suitcase out of the closet, letting the wheels trail along the hardwood until he’s back in the bedroom.

Stepping over to the bed, he scratches behind Indy’s ears, the dog opening one eye to look at him before cuddling back into bed as he sits down next to Emma.

“Love,” he whispers, pushing her hair off of her forehead until her eyes flutter open, the green hazy and sleep-ridden, “I’ve got to go.”

“Already?”

“Yeah,” he sighs, leaning down and kissing her forehead, “my flight is in two hours, and Mum likes to travel early.”

Emma yawns before sitting up, pulling the comforter over her and looking every bit like the girl he met nearly eight years ago with her crazy hair and pillow creased face and complete lack of care if she looks put together or not. “Okay,” she sighs, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and pulling him into a hug, “but you two be safe. Call me when you land, when you come home, if anything interesting happens, if anything boring happens.”

“I know the long-distance drill, sweetheart.” He brushes his lips against hers then, feeling the softness that comes with Emma. “But it’s only two days. I’ll be back before you know it.”

“Ugh, I know. Two days doesn’t give me nearly enough time to have my affair.”

“You’re a cheeky little minx, so I’m sure you could figure it out.”

“Damn right.” She kisses him again. “I love you.”

“I love you too.” He reaches down and touches her stomach, her skin warm beneath his touch. “And you, little love.” Indy barks then, walking up the bed until she’s breathing in his face. “And you, Indy girl, even if you’re not supposed to be in this bed.”

He and his mother fly to Poland that morning for a dinner the British ambassador is hosting in honor of Liam and his birthday in a few weeks time. They were given short notice on the event, and since Liam couldn’t attend, Killian and Allison agreed to attend, knowing it would be no trouble for them. The morning flies by as all of these official visits do, in a flurry of handshakes and small talk, everyone attempting to fill his head with as much information as they can. It’s been awhile since he’s done an event with his mum, something he used to do when he was younger, but they fall into a natural rhythm. His mum is an expert at things like this, using her quick wit and kind smile to make everyone comfortable, and if there’s ever been anyone he’s tried to emulate, it would be her.

“Oh, this is gorgeous,” Allison compliments as they walk into the dining hall, her hand wrapped around his elbow. “We should decorate one of the rooms at home more like this. It’s more modern.”

“Well then we’d have to get rid of the ancient furniture that no one is allowed to sit on.”

She chuckles next to him as he pulls her chair out for her and waits for her to sit down before taking his own seat next to her. “You and your brother get cheekier the older you get, I swear. I’m pretty sure it’s supposed to be the other way around.”

“Well, you can’t take away our video game privileges now, mum.”

The dinner is indeed wonderful and full of Polish dishes and traditions celebrating Liam. He takes a video to send to his brother, making sure to capture the cake he knows Liam would be stuffing into his face and flipping the camera around to show the smirk on his face that he got to eat it.

Should have shown up to his own pre-birthday event.

Later that night he and his mum are driven back to their hotel, and while they have separate suites, she joins him for a cup of tea, settling down into the living room with the television playing the local news. His phone buzzes just as a segment on their visit begins, and he’s thankful for the excuse to mute the sound.

“Hey, beautiful,” he greets Emma, his lips stretching into a smile as he props his feet up on the coffee table, his socks practically falling off next to his glass, “did you miss me today?”

“Obviously. However could I survive twelve hours without you?”

Her voice is dripping with disdain, and he chuckles to himself as he imagines the roll of her eyes and the absolute disinterest she has when he’s being cocky. “You could at least act a little sad.”

“I can cry if you want me to, if that would make you feel better and boost your already inflated ego.”

“So you’re just as cheeky as you were this morning then. What’d you do today, love?”

“Absolutely nothing,” she sighs, the happiness seeping through the phone speaker. “I got dressed in pajamas, took Indy out, and then we settled down in the darkness of the bedroom and watched Gilmore Girls just to relive all of that nostalgia.”

“Ah, yes, I’m sure Indy has a lot of nostalgia about Stars Hollow.”

“Of course she does,” Emma laughs, and he can hear the theme song playing in the background. “Ruby came over for a few hours with food from the restaurant. I may save some leftovers for you.”

“Yeah, I already know that won’t be happening.”

“Hey, I don’t eat that much! I haven’t even gained any more than regular pregnancy weight.”

“Love, you and the Gilmore Girls all have amazing metabolisms. I’ve gained more pregnancy weight than you simply because our walks aren’t quite the same as our runs.”

“I can still run, you know? Dr. Hudson said so as long as it’s just a jog and not too much.”

“I know. We’ll have to do that when I get home. Mum and I ate a lot of cake tonight.”

Emma hums, sighing into the phone. “I’m jealous. Tell Allison I said hi when you see her in the morning.” “She’s sitting with me in the room right now actually, so if you were going to talk bad about her, now probably wouldn’t be the time.”

“Damn. That’s obviously what I was about to do.”

He and Emma chat for a few more minutes, but he knows he has to let her go so as not to be rude to his mother. She’s been fiddling with her phone and watching the muted television, so he’s sure she’s regretting coming over only to be usurped by a phone call.

“Hey, darling, I’ve got to let you go, okay?”

“Okay, is everything alright?”

“Everything is perfect. I’ve just been boring Mum making her listen to our conversation. I love you. I hope you, Indy, and little love have a good time binging the rest of Gilmore Girls and eating all of my food.” “We will,” she promises. “I love you, too. Bye, babe.”

He hangs up the phone, smiling at the picture of he and Emma that pops up afterward, before shutting it down and placing it on the arm of his chair. He looks up at his mother then who is softly smiling at him as if she really was listening to his conversation.

“What?” he laughs, feeling the slightest bit uncomfortable.

“Nothing,” she smiles, pulling her legs up underneath her and curling into the chair, “I was just thinking about how happy you are.”

His lips twitch, and he swallows the small lump of emotion in his throat. “Well, I am happy, Mum. I’m nearly always happy.”

“I know, I know,” she waves him away, tucking her long hair behind her ears, “but you’ve just been through so much and sometimes I look at you and wonder how I got so lucky that you’re my baby. And now you’re having a baby, and I’m emotional about it all of the time.”

“Mum,” he softly laughs, getting up from his seat to cross the room and crouch down in front of her, taking her hands in his, “what’s going on? Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. I’m simply a crazy old woman.”

“Well, we all know that’s not true,” he promises, guessing that it’s not the time to be making jokes. “You’re bloody brilliant and completely and totally young.”

“Thank you, Killian. It was just that I was watching how natural you are with Emma, how good you’ll both be as parents. And I guess sometimes I feel so much regret over not getting to see you both together for all of those years. You were so cheated.”

“Hey,” he soothes, running his thumb over her knuckles and ignoring the ache in his thighs from the squat, “it’s all okay. I know that a lot of it was bloody awful, but if I’m honest, I liked having those years with Emma. We got to fall in love in peace, and as wonderful as it would be for you to have gotten to know her sooner, we can’t change that. So let’s be happy, yeah?”

“I know, darling. I’m sorry, but being a mum and a grandmother, all you want is for your kids to be happy. And you feel a bit accomplished when you realize they are. You’ll understand that soon enough.”

“Well, once we get over the terror and get used to having a person’s entire life depend on us, yeah, sure, I’ll focus on the happiness.”

His mum releases his hand to stroke his forehead, pushing the hair back. “You two are going to be wonderful, and your baby is going to be the most beautiful little thing.” “Can you say that again for me to send to Liam and Abigail? I’d like to have it on record for bragging rights for the rest of eternity.”

His mother winks at him, smiling before leaning back in her chair and asking him what movie he wants to watch. It’s been a long time since he simply spent time with his mum with no one else, so he savors it, laughing with her and talking about anything she wants until she decides to go to bed in her room next door.

The following day is full of engagements, but the two of them manage to slip away to dinner and sightseeing that evening, covering themselves in the cool early April weather and hiding away from anyone who may recognize them so they can have a normal night. Overseas visits, even with all of their setbacks and frustrations, are some of his favorite things to do if only because he can sometimes slip away and be himself in a place where fewer people know him.

Of course, he managed to slip around London for a few years as well, but he’s decided that was some kind of bloody miracle.

Early Wednesday morning they board their flight and make their way home, the four-hour plane ride seemingly stretching on for double the time until they touch down on land again and he and his mother separate into their different vehicles to make their ways back to Kensington and Buckingham, respectively.

Walking in the front door, he knows Emma won’t be home as she’s at the opening of a youth theater, so he takes the opportunity to let Indy in from their garden, indulging her in her excitement over him being home, her tail wagging so furiously she could create a windstorm. After she’s calmed, he settles down into the living room and pulls up his laptop, answering emails and organizing his schedule all while watching the shows he missed.

Multi-tasking in the best way possible, really.

It’s hours later when he hears the front door open before closing and clicking into place as heels click on their hardwood floor, the sounds getting louder the nearer she gets.

“Hi,” Emma sighs when she walks into the living room, immediately walking toward him and straddling his lap, her knees on either side of his thighs, while she presses a lingering kiss to his jaw and scrapes her fingers through his hair, “I’m so, so, so glad you’re home.”

“Hmm, me too,” he smiles before slanting his lips over hers once, twice, three times. “As much fun as I had with my mother honoring my brother, I quite prefer your company. And I was promised leftovers.”

Emma laughs against his lips as the heat of her breath washes over him and he settles into contentment. “Babe, I hate to break it to you, but those did not last.”

“Well, I guess you’ll have to figure out a different way to welcome me home.”

She smirks before burying her face in his neck, her words spoken against his skin. “A foot rub would be fantastic, thanks. Those heels are a killer.”

Without his permission, not that it has ever been that way before, the first few weeks of April pass in the blink of an eye. He wants his life to slow down, for moments to pass like waves crashing into the shore, continuous and only quickly during a storm, but that’s simply not how things work.

Of course, there are times when he’d like life to speed up the slightest bit, and right now is one of those times.

He’s been sitting on the bed thumbing through his phone for twenty-seven minutes now, half of it spent reading an article about hair loss genes being passed down simply because that’s what was at the top of the page, but he’s gotten a bit bored. There’s also the fact that they’re going to be late for Emma’s doctor’s appointment if she doesn’t hurry up. She always takes longer than him to get ready, but it’s never like this, especially when they’re just hopping over to the doctor’s office and then coming back home to get ready for Liam’s birthday party tonight.

Sighing, he rolls over on the bed until he’s standing, pulling his jeans up so that they rest on his hips, and walks into the bathroom to find it empty of Emma but with clothes strewn across the floor. He tentatively steps over them, keeping himself from picking them up and throwing them in the basket, and makes his way into the closet where Emma is stretched out on the floor with her arms over her face and her jeans on but unbuttoned and unzipped.

Bloody hell, it’s a mess in here.

“Hey,” he tentatively begins, kicking at her bare feet with the tip of his boot so that she uncovers one of her eyes, “what’s happening here?”

“My jeans don’t fit. Not a single pair of them except for the ones that have yellow paint on the ass because mom decided she wanted to have a sunny yellow living room.”

“And this is surprising to you because?”

“Because last week my jeans fit, and this week they don’t. That is some kind of fucked up thing.”

“I believe that’s called pregnancy.”

Her eyes slant and every bit of joy that was remaining on her face disappears while she stares up at him like she’s five seconds away from murdering him. “I will stab you with the first earring I find if you don’t wipe that smug smirk off your face.”

He chuckles under his breath, knowing that she’ll likely do it, before squatting down and lying on the floor next to her, emulating her position. The hardwood hurts his back, but he imagines they won’t be here for long. If they are, he’ll just have to suck it up until this all important jeans situation is resolved.

“So your jeans won’t fit, love?”

“Nope. And I don’t really think I’ve gotten that much bigger. I still just kind of look like I ate too big of a meal when I’m wearing clothes. I don’t know why this is bothering me so much. Obviously, I can just do the hairband trick until I buy new jeans, but I love wearing the damn things. They make me feel normal.”

“What? Wearing heels and a dress that perfectly matches your coat with a hat that was specifically dyed to match that coat and dress doesn’t make you feel normal? I never would have guessed.”

She snorts beside him while her hand finds his, and she wraps her fingers around his palm before pulling it up and brushing a kiss against his skin. “Surprisingly, no, that does not make me feel normal. That makes me feel like a barbie doll.”

“You’re not a barbie doll, love.”

She sighs next to him, but it’s really more of a huff. She’s frustrated, that much he knows, and a part of him is pretty sure that it’s not only because her jeans don’t fit. So he squeezes her hand, silently encouraging her to share her thoughts as he so often does with a touch or a glance.

“That’s just how I feel sometimes, you know? And I know that’s not how it is with you and me. But to the world it’s like I’m this girl who plays dress up and is a wife and an expectant mother and nothing else, which is fine if that’s what you want. And babe, I love that. I love being married to you and having a baby with you who I am so in love with it’s basically an obsession, but if I have to answer one more question about if I think you’re going to change a diaper or wake up in the middle of the night if the baby’s crying, which is literally what a parent does, while you stand next to me and answer a question about global relations, I’m going to lose my damn mind.”

“I know,” he mumbles, the weight and unfairness of her words settling into him. “I’m sorry that you’re so frustrated, and I’m sorry that some people are stuck in an old-timey world view.” He releases her hand and twists on the ground, propping his head up in his hand while looking Emma in the eye. “Why don’t you take up a patronage or two dealing with women’s rights or something similar? I know everyone was on the fence of that because they thought it was too political, but fuck that, Emma. If that’s something you want to do, you sure as hell should do it. It’s not political. It’s human, and you would be an incredible ambassador. You should do things that make you happy.”

Her eyes light up, lips twitching into a smile. “Yeah?”

���Absolutely. The fact that we don’t have any specifically for that is bullocks when we support nearly everything. You could help so many people, and I think you’d be a bloody rockstar at it.”

“I know I would.”

“That’s the spirit,” he encourages, leaning over and brushing a kiss against her lips, letting it go a little further than either of them should when they have to be somewhere soon. “But right now we’ve got to go see if I’m going to win our bet because we’ll finally see that our little love is a girl.”

“You keep thinking that. Also, there was no bet, and if there was, I never lose.”

“Oh shit, that’s cold,” Emma gasps as Dr. Hudson applies gel to her bared stomach, her bump only sticking up the slightest bit while she wears her jeans buttoned together with a hairband, the determined lass. “I don’t think I’m ever going to get used to that.”

“Most people never do,” Dr. Hudson assures them. “So all of your tests look good, everything in normal levels. Are we having any dizzy spells?”

“No,” Emma answers, her eyes focused on the screen that’ll show the baby in a few seconds, “I haven’t. And my diet and eating times are so regularly scheduled and planned thanks to the obsessed man next to me, so I’ve been feeling really good.”

Her hand finds his so much like earlier, and he clasps it between both of his hands before leaning down to kiss her forehead. “She’s been doing well, not a lot of symptoms.”

“Well, she’s in that wonderful sweet spot of the pregnancy. It usually only gets worse from here.”

“That’s not very encouraging.”

Dr. Hudson laughs before focusing all of her attention back on the ultrasound, the baby’s heartbeat suddenly sounding throughout the room. God, the first time he heard it, the rhythmic beat so much calmer than his own, he nearly cried. Okay, so he might have cried, a few tears slipping from his eyes. Emma didn’t even cry until later when she came home with the picture and fell apart saying she couldn’t see the baby and felt like Rachel from Friends.

But he’s grown accustomed to the sound of their child’s heartbeat now, and as the picture pops up on the screen, she’s as clear as can be.

“So we’re looking really healthy, heartbeat is good, growth is good. And you’re eighteen weeks now, so while sometimes I can’t tell, I can tell you the gender today, if that’s what you want?”

He looks down at Emma to find her already looking up at him, a smile gracing her lips as she nods in confirmation. “We want to know.”

“Alright,” Dr. Hudson smiles, looking at the monitor one last time, “you two are the lucky parents to a boy.”

A boy.

He’s going to have a son.

Holy shit, Emma’s never going to let him live this down, but he doesn’t care at this point. They’re having a boy.

“I told you so,” Emma chuckles, looking up at him with tears in her eyes. “I am never letting you live this one down.”

“I know.” He dips his head down to brush his lips against hers, squeezing her hand as tightly as possible as this begins to sink in even more. “Maybe I’ll get the next one right.”

“One human coming into the world out of my vagina at a time please.”

“You have such a way with words.”

“Just being honest,” she laughs, the sound as beautiful as the heartbeat still playing on the monitor. “I love you.”

“I love you too. And the little lad.”

“Yeah, and the little lad.”

He and Emma walk across the gardens to Liam and Abigail’s apartment, Emma’s heels clicking against the cobblestone. He already knows that she’ll be wearing his shoes on the short walk home, but she’d insisted she wear the heels for the portrait they’re taking to commemorate Liam’s fortieth birthday. It’s apparently a major milestone in life, deserving of an official portrait, and as much as he loves his brother, he thinks Liam’s a tad bit over the top.

But he and Liam differ in a lot of ways, Liam’s penchant for large celebrations and dinners with several courses while in evening wear one of those things. They were both raised this way, to expect and want dinners and parties like this, and maybe once upon a time had he never met Emma, that’s how he would celebrate all of his birthdays.

His wife, God bless her, is a fan of the simple things in life. She likes eating takeout on the couch with her feet tucked under her legs which are likely clothed in leggings that have a hole on the inside of her thigh. She enjoys sitting around watching television in the darkness of their bedroom for hours on end, sometimes an entire day (or two), and if she could, she’d probably spend the rest of her time in the garden throwing a ball for Indy to chase. For his birthday, all they did was a small dinner with friends and family, and it was perfect. He couldn’t have asked for anything more.

But he doesn’t mind the party Liam and Abigail are having. Everyone can enjoy what they want, and this day isn’t about him. It’s about his brother.

He and Emma step up to their front door, the towering black wood with moss looming above them, and he’s just about to knock on the door when Emma stops him with a hand on his forearm.

“What?” he laughs, turning to face her, their height difference almost gone with her heels.

“You have to be careful with how you talk about the baby. We’re keeping the sex a secret, remember?”

“Darling, I think they know we had sex. That’s not a secret.”

Her face scrunches up, and he leans down to brush a kiss against her lips before leaving a trail of kisses across her face, making her laugh under her breath.

“You’re going to make dad jokes. I already know.”

“I’ve been preparing for it with my humor for my entire life.” He grins, kissing her again simply because he can. “But I promise I’ll be on my best behavior, and I won’t mention our joyful news. As far as anyone in there knows, we know nothing.”

“That’s right Jon Snow.”

“Hey,” he chuckles, wrapping his arm around her waist and tugging her into his side before knocking on the door and ringing the doorbell, “he lived in the series, so that’s totally not an insult.”

The door opens before Emma can say anything else, Liam appearing on the other side of the door in his suit. “Hey guys,” he greets, a bright smile on his face as he takes a step back, “why don’t you come on in?”

“So nice of you to invite us into your home when we were supposed to be here,” he snarks, knowing it’ll rile Liam.

“Well, I was going to say I’m glad to see you, but I’m apparently only glad to see Emma. Hello, love,” he smiles before leaning into kiss Emma on the cheek and wrap her in a hug. “How are you today?”

“Good, great really. Happy birthday, old man.”

Liam barks out a laugh before releasing Emma, clapping her on the shoulder and throwing her a wink. “Has Killian been calling me older brother, emphasis on the older, all day?”

“Surprisingly not, but that’s just because he calls you an old wanker all of the time anyways.”

“No bit of that surprises me.”

Liam embraces him then, wrapping his arms around Killian’s shoulders as Killian does the same. “Happy birthday, olderbrother. What’d you buy for your midlife crisis?”

“Saving the sportscar for the fiftieth birthday. I’m not old yet, thank you very much.”

“You two are ridiculous,” Emma laughs, walking past the both of them and down the hall where he spies Alexander and Elizabeth running between the archways.

“Are we?” Liam questions, patting him in the back before following Emma. “I don’t think anyone has ever described us that way.”

“There’s a first for everything.”

The two of them find everyone in the dining room, roaming throughout the table and the bar that’s set up through the next room. Emma’s animatedly chatting with Abigail, her hands moving all over the place while Lizzie tugs at her dress until Emma picks her up and rests her on her hip. There’s several of Liam’s old military friends as well as a few of he and Abigail’s friends who he recognizes from events over the years. Their home is packed, chatter filling his ears while he goes around greeting everyone before stopping at the bar and ordering a glass of rum.

“Hey, aren’t you supposed to be in solidarity with your wife?”

He turns to the side and smiles down at Abigail, kissing her temple after he finishes his sip. “Hello, darling. Did Emma send you over here to tell me that?”

“No, but I remember being pregnant and my husband’s lips tasting like whiskey after a party.”

He chuckles under his breath, finding Emma talking to his parents before turning back to look at Abigail. “The only problem with that statement is that Liam drinks whiskey instead of rum. Bloody awful drink. And I’ve cut back on the coffee and tea in solidarity, thank you very much.”

“Oh well look at you Mr. Big Shot,” she jokes, squeezing his bicep. “You’re just so kind.”

“Someone is awfully sassy today, love. Is it because you’ve realized you’re married to an old man and are compensating?”

“Exactly. I’m trying to cope with his ancient age.” “That’s what I thought. I’m going to go kiss Emma so she tastes the rum since I’m just that evil.”

Abigail snorts next to him, and he leaves her with a smile before making his way to Emma and kissing her before she gets a chance to say anything. He lets his tongue flicker out so she can taste the rum, his own little private joke, but he doesn’t think she minds from the way she hums into it. His parents probably mind from the way they cough next to him, but they can wait.

“Hi,” Emma whispers when he pulls back, “did you forget we’ve got company, tiger?”

“No. I just didn’t bloody care.”

His parents laugh behind him, and he turns to greet them then, hugging his parents and asking them how they’re doing before they get called off to chat. Liam really should have held this dinner somewhere other than his home for how many people are in here, and Emma asks him to go sit in the other room, quiet surrounding them until Alex runs in and practically jumps on Emma’s stomach with all the force of his bony limbs.

“Mummy told me that you have a baby in your belly, Emmy.”

“Well, your Mummy is a smart lady because I do have a baby in my belly.”

“Wow,” Alex gasps, his eyes lighting up as he puts his hands on Emma’s stomach before looking up at her and speaking in the cutest little voice with his broken words that are constantly getting better. “Is it a boy or a girl?”

“We don’t know yet,” Emma lies, and Killian chuckles next to her, rubbing up and down her back. “That’s going to be a surprise.”

Alex huffs and crosses his arms, obviously cross at them for not letting him know if his cousin is going to be a boy or a girl. It’s likely a good thing he wasn’t old enough to understand this all when Abigail was pregnant with Lizzie because he would have been up in arms about all of the surprises and secrets. “What’s its name?”

“We don’t know that either, buddy,” he answers to try to take some of Alex’s blame off of Emma. 

“I think you should name it Fish.”

Emma snickers next to him, biting her bottom lip to try to contain it. It’s then that he gets an idea, sticking out his stomach as far as he can and making himself look bloated. “What about me, buddy? Does Uncle Killian look like he’s having a baby?”

“Uncle Killian looks like a silly goose,” Abigail coos as she steps in the room, squatting down next to Alex, “and you look like someone who needs to go to sleep.”

“I don’t want to.”

“You have to. It’s bedtime.”

Alex’s bottom lip starts quivering while his eyes begin to water, the meltdown imminent. Within seconds Abigail has him on her hip walking out of the ballroom and meeting Liam and Elizabeth by the doorway, the two of them walking away to put their kids to bed like some kind of well-oiled machine.

“You know, Abigail isn’t even my mother, and if she told me it was time to go to bed, I’d listen.”

Emma giggles beside him, leaning back into the couch and into him before resting her head on his shoulder. He kisses her hair while he rubs her back, knowing she’s likely tired when they’ll still be here for awhile, but it’s only a short walk home if she asks for it.

“You are a very smart man because you listen to all of the women in your life.”

“Damn right. Even Lizzie. She’s two, but she’s the boss.”

“Who’s the boss?” Brennan asks them, settling down on the couch across the coffee table from them. “Because the answer better be your mother or Emma. If not, you are lying, son.”

“Lizzie,” Emma answers for him, patting his stomach before her hand rests on his thigh, squeezing a little too high as if she’s trying to rouse him. “Lizzie is the boss.”

“Damn right,” Brennan laughs, echoing Killian’s words from a moment ago even if he didn’t hear them. “I’ve never seen a kid with such spunk.”

“Oi, I had that kind of spunk, dad. Still do.”

“Yeah, but you’re old now. I don’t remember these things.”

“Your firstborn is forty! I’m still barely in my thirties! How can you call me old? You’re the oldest person at this party.”

“And the most handsome,” Allison adds in, sitting down next to Brennan and brushing a kiss against his cheek. His parents were never affectionate before, and as happy as he is with everyone’s changes, his fifteen-year-old self is cringing watching them be that way. But it’s only in the best way, his family having felt like a family for two years now, and no part of him would trade things to go back to how they were.

Eventually dinner is served and everyone sits down at the large table, silverware clicking against plates and the laughter and chatter in the home only increasing the more people drink (except for he and Emma of course because he does abstain in solidarity sometimes). There’s several stories about Liam told, some he’d never heard before, and his stomach hurts from laughter. God, his brother was such a crack up, something he never really knew, and he wishes they’d gotten along all of those years.

But they didn’t. There was too much of an age discrepancy, too much of a difference in wants out of life, and most of all, too much hostility. He loves his brother, something that took him a long time to admit, but Liam’s not perfect. He can still be a bloody git and they still argue over some things, but he’s changed. And while there are still flashes of the day he came to this very home to confront his brother, to try to work things through only to be rejected and told that Liam’s only trying to do better for his children, he’s come to terms with it. They can’t change the past. They can’t take things away or add words left unsaid, but forgiveness even when the other person doesn’t deserve it is a powerful thing.

Or so he’s been learning over the past few years.

This is infinitely better than any life he could have lived away from his parents and his brother. And he’d have given it all up for Emma. There’s no doubt about it, and he still fully believes that. She’s worth it all. But this is better.

“Hey,” Emma whispers, rubbing between his shoulder blades before her hand finds the hair at the tape of his neck, causing shivers to run down his spine, “what are you thinking about? You’ve zoned out.”

He hums, closing his eyes before leaning over and kissing her temple, the vanilla of her shampoo invading him. “I was thinking about you.”

“Cheesy.” “Absolutely. But also the truth. I just…all of these stories about Liam, they make me realize how glad I am that we went through all of that to fix it and came out better on the other side because now I have stories to tell about him like that.” “I thought you were thinking about me.”

“Well, that came after thinking about my brother.” “That’s kind of gross.”

“Yeah, well, I was thinking about how I’m glad we’re here, but I’d still give it all up for you. And for the little love, my love.” “Well,” Emma smiles, tangling their fingers together under the table, “the good thing is that you don’t have to. We’re all a big, messy, wonderful package that you get for the rest of your life whether you like it or not.”

[clearui]

幽幻ロマンチカ 満天花 / Yuugen Romantica Mantenka [Characters]

*DO NOT POST THIS TRANSLATION ELSEWHERE!!*

"I'll show you that I can make you happy with my own hands."

Aggresive Tengu-sama

ヒフミ / Hifumi CV. KENN

The youkai that caused one of The Seven Wonders, "Spirited Old School Building."

Before, he had accepted his fate to disappear, but he chose to keep on living after meeting a certain girl. He has also overcome his fear toward humans and has grown up.

Having graduated with you from the school, he's living among human surroundings, even he has got his own place. Dessert is a must for his meals due to his extreme sweet tooth. When it's just the two of you, he has fun flirting and teasing you.

PROFILE Age: Just turned into 19 years old. (Approximately 589 years old) Height / Weight: 175cm / 60kg Birthday: October 9th Race: Karasu-Tengu Likes: Crepe Dislikes: Mackerel What do you do at home? "Something like feeding her?"

VS Reappearing Shadow in Prefab building

Prefab bulding in the old school building site It seems a wandering shadow can be seen in the middle of the night. It seems anyone encountering will have their existence erased. I know we are going to part ways soon, but how can I accept to lose you this way!?

      "If you keep doing such cute things, I'll curse you, you know?"

メリィ / Merry CV. Toriumi Kousuke

The youkai that caused one of The Seven Wonders, "Merry-san of Broadcasting Room."

He has a frightening appearance since he is covered in black attire, but he is actually a shy young man. He is just a shy youkai who is in love with you. He is not scary at all.

Even living under one roof, he seems to be expressing his love at his own pace. He is very dependable most of times since he is good at handling electronics. Even though he's embarassed, he always makes sure to hug you. His next goal is, "Meal? Bath? or......me?" or so he said.

PROFILE Age: Is it alright to say that I'm 19 years old? (Real age is unknown) Height / Weight: 189cm / 74kg Birthday: July 7th Race: Merry-san Likes: Hamburger, especially the meat. Dislikes: The fact he's embarassed to death to initiate something by himself. What do you do at home? How about watching horror movie together......?

VS You who Forgets

You keep forgetting one thing and another. His smiles, his embarassed expression, his frightened eyes, and this feeling. If you forget everything, I don't think I can handle it. Hey, don't disappear......Senpai.

      "Let's both of us keep on going for the sake of our happiness."

Mean Baku-sama

ウタシロ / Utashiro CV. Kimura Ryohei

The youkai who caused one of The Seven Wonders, "The Thirteenth Step of Nightmare.”

He is the last surviving of dream-eating youkai known as [Baku]. He once wandered in order to search for his surviving clansmen, now he is freeloading in the your house. He decided to live together with you.

He likes frigthening you by showing nightmare, but he would not let anything beside him to be the cause of your lack of sleep. He is actually secretly happy that he got to buy matching pillow with yours for the new house. And of course, those feelings are obvious to you.

PROFILE Age: Let's just say I'm 20 years old (Approximately 811 years old) Height / Weight: 176cm / 59kg Birthday: April 6th Race: Baku Likes: Dreams that are easy to digest Dislikes: Overeating What do you do at home? Reading. Reading together?

VS Presence under the Pillow

Even without sound or signs, that thing is coming. The nightmare that you've been seeing in the middle of the night has become a reality. It begins to erode the city little by little. It becomes stronger by each time you sleep. You won't be able to open your eyes......forever.

      "I won't lie about my feeling toward someone I love."

Yandere Inugami

トネリ　/ Toneri Cv. Hirakawa Daisuke

The youkai who caused one of The Seven Wonders, "Youkai of Gymnasium."

Since he was used as a medium to curse people in the past, he did not understand about affection. However, he has understand the importance of life and love after he met you.

After the graduation, he stays in your house as your lover (even as a guard dog). He also plans to be useful. However, since you are addicted with games and television show, please be careful of being possessed all of a sudden.

PROFILE Age: I'm 19 years old! (Approximately 659) Height / Weight: 172cm / 56kg Birthday: November 11th Race: Inugami Likes: Beef jerky Dislikes: Leek What do you do at home? More importantly, let's go for a walk!

VS Unknown Backstreet

In the usual path, we find ourself turning into an unfamiliar backstreet. There are no people or youkai there, but there are lots of monsters. What to do to escape from this place!? If we get lost, we'll get killed. So, you better not let go of my hand!

     "Please entrust your life to me. As my wife that is."

Shameless Yamata-no-Orochi

イリヤ / Iriya CV. Tachibana Shinnosuke

The youkai who caused one of The Seven Wonders, "Sleep Paralysis in Infirmary."

He once had distorted feeling against human. Since, he has been afraid of hurting someone. However, he has overcome his anxiety from the love he received from you.

He lives in the same house with you, and he's practically making himself at home. Why, he is still a person with twisted personality. He's the type who takes his time catching his prey. In addition, he likes the crying face of his beloved girl. I wonder if you understand.

PROFILE Age: It's not bad to be 20 years old, huh? (Approximately 765 years old) Height / Weight: 180cm / 64kg Birthday: December 8th Race: Yamata-no-Orochi Likes: Cola Dislikes: Heat What do you do at home? I want to touch you.

VS Unreachable Voice

What is happening to you is definitely a curse. Voice was robbed from you, sight was also robbed from you. In this darkness, senses are taken away from you. Is this a punishment from falling in love with a youkai? Hey, can my voice reach him?

      "As expected, I really want to live together with humans."

Haraguro Bakeneko-sama

アラハギ / Arahagi CV. Kaji Yuki

The youkai who caused of The Seven Wonders, "Piano that Plays by Itself in the Music Room."

He is carefree and popular as usual. He had forgotten the kindness he received from human when he was born. He has lived not attached to people, but now that he has spent time with you, he has been enjoying his happiness everyday.

Even he still looks cute and manly, even he starts living together with you, he has the tendency to take care of you no matter what. He cannot resist the magical power of kotatsu. He loves licking you and rolling around together.

PROFILE Age: Seems I've turned 19 years old! (Approximately 475 years old) Height / Weight: 168cm / 54kg Birthday: February 22nd Race: Bake-neko Likes: Strolling aimlessly Dislikes: Rain What do you do at home? Let's roll around together, just both of us~

VS Me that has disappeared from the photo

You found a nostalgic picture you've taken with everyone. However, you are not there in the picture. More and more people around you seem to be unable to recognize you any longer. Why are humans so futile? How about I take you inside forever?

      "Living together and supporting each other. Isn't that what it means of being a couple?"

Tsundere Youko-sama

ザクロ / Zakuro CV. Sakurai Takahiro

The youkai that caused one of The Seven Wonders, “Fireballs in Biology Preparation Room.”

Although he used to detest human before because he was betrayed by humans, he already forgave them once he gave his heart to you. He might be clumsy, but he's naturally dignified and gentlemanly.

It is in the progress, but he is actually planning to have a wedding ceremony with you. He tends to call you out "My wife" without realizing. Even with that tendency, this fox is still shaking even from you holding his hand. He is onset to take care of you as a husband. Relying on him might be trouble, but you can see him grinning.

PROFILE Age: You have problems with me being 20 years old? (Approximately 774 years old) Height / Weight: 182cm / 67kg Birthday: March 6th Race: Youko Likes: Fried tofu Dislikes: Tails What do you do at home? Even I can make my own meals.

VS Snake God

There used to be a land God protecting this land since long time ago. However that whom they call Snake God is no longer. However, there are a strange rumor circulating around. It says that the Snake God is currently looking for a sacrifice. Also, the one it sets its eyes on is......you.

       "I have been in love with you since over hundred years ago."   ※Residence of Toilet

Hanawo of Toilet

ハナヲ / Hanawo CV. Midorikawa Hikaru

He is the youkai who caused one of The Seven Wonders, “Hanawo of Toilet.”

His identity is "Hajimari no Youkai(Youkai of Beginning)." He has been watching humans and youkai together for hundreds years along. However, it seems the loneliness has been brought to a close when he fell in love with you.

He is a friendly big brother that feels satisfied from seeing you smile. When he feels bored, he always wants to pamper you. He likes games and manga, so that explains how often he buys latest works quickly. Excalibur (toilet brush) is his weapon when he's cleaning the toilet.

PROFILE Age: If I'm already 20 years old, then I'm an adult now! (Roughly around 870 years old) Height / Weight: 181cm / 66kg Birthday: August 7th Race: Secret Likes: Expressing love Dislikes: The pain of being forgotten What do you do at home? Let's play game together!

VS Nanagiri Gakuen

Nanagiri Gakuen has been a school shrouded in Seven Wonders since ancient times. The school is rumored that it is possible to meet youkai there. However, when the story about it is distorted, the youkai who lived in the school also get distorted. If you don't restore them, you will disappear. Aah, what a tragedy it is!

        *DO NOT POST THIS TRANSLATION ELSEWHERE!!*

Translated by clearui

[mrneighbourlove]

Cruel Red Sea: Ch 8. Party Blowout

Seer took a week to recover and had improved slowly enough to walk about. He was able to walk without getting winded and could do most of his chores without hassle. Bjarke chopped wood for the fire, since that was about the only chore that Seer could not physically do just yet. There was still the constant, dull pain, though he tried his best to ignore it. Rat, Borghild, and Revy stopped by one night with a big feast for everyone to share. The next night, Bjarke, Naira, and Bjarke's dad, Sten, arrived with a meal the next, trying to give Seer a break. Then, surprisingly, Seer received a guard at the door, saying the High King and Queen was stopping by to greet him. Once he relayed the news to the girls, he told them to get ready in their nicest clothes. Since it was hard to raise his arms above his head, he asked the twins to help him with his hair. He wanted to look presentable as well.

Lex was surprisingly happy helping Seer. To tell the truth, it warmed her heart to do dress up and makeup with her dad. "Your ponytail looks wonderful Daddy~ I found a ribbon at the market that goes perfect for you!"

Liz quirked an eyebrow. "Where did you have the money to buy that ribbon?"

"The money was lying around."

"Thank you, Lex, I appreciate your help. You and your sister do some of the best braids." Seer then groaned aloud when Lex announced how she 'found' the ribbon. "Please tell me you didn't take your sister's allowance again."

"No. I did not steal from Liz."

She was oddly specific.

Quickly changing the subject, she sat in front of Seer. "Can you comb my hair Daddy? I want to look perfect. Princess Kanisa helped me fashion my own dress, and this is the first time I get to wear it!"

"Hrm, no more stealing ribbons. Or anything else for that matter, Lex." Seer took the comb from his daughter and waited for her to sit in front of him. Carefully, his hands found her hair and started to comb through her beautiful locks. "Do you want braids? A bun? A tail like mine?" He chuckled and then said. "You and your sister will look amazing, you're both my two, beautiful girls. I might not be able to see, but I can tell that the both of you are going to be absolutely stunning women one day."

"It's hard to put all my hair into a ponytail. That department can rest easy in the hands of Revy and Liz."

Liz looked curiously at the shining earing Lex had on her left ear. "Hey, were did you get that earing?"

Lex smiled. It was a gift Adda stuck onto her in the water. A shining pearl taken from a water dragon's lair. "This? Just something Kanisa didn't want anymore."

"And now... the finishing touch." Seer gently fixed Lex's hair into a braided bun, connecting four braids together to make the actual bun. Once he was done, he carefully slid her flower hair pin inside the bun to hold it in place. "How's that look, sweetheart?"

"Beautiful! I'm royalty!" For the first time since Adda showed up, she turned and gave her dad a kiss on the cheek. "My knight!"

Liz giggled at her sister's compliments. They never saw the High King's Palace before. This trip was just what they needed. "Well Sir Knight, can you do my ponytail?"

"Of course I can." Seer patted the spot in front of him and started to work on Liz's hair. "Lex, make sure you get your heavy coat out of the closet, and Liz's too. I don't want you girls freezing in those dresses. You can take off the coats when we get there, all right?" Liz's pony tail was more so fancy than his, Seer placing a couple, thin little braids with pins shaped like flowers here and there. "Not too tight?"

Seer was so glad that Lex seemed cheery and so did Liz. Things were finally getting back to normal. "And when we're all ready, I have a surprise for you two outside."

"Really?" Both girls spoke at once. When they spoke in union, it was a rare and sweet treat for Seer.

A knock came at the door, and the sound of barking. Revy couldn't contain her excitement. "Mom, mom, mom! Hurry! I want to see if Lex and Liz are ready!"

She petted her dog, enjoying his company in such cold environments.

"Yes, a surprise for both my sweet girls." Seer pulled both of them in close and kissed their foreheads. "Coats! Go on, put on your coats. And I have to find my boots, are they still at the door?" Hearing Revy at the door, Seer went to open it for her. "Come on in out of the cold. Oh, have Boof with you?" He held out his hands and the snow dog nuzzled them. "So soft."

Revy motioned Borghild to join them. "Mom says she's impervious to the cold. But she needs to come in too!"

"We don't want to keep your father and the others waiting." Borghild came in out of the lightly falling snow. "Are the girls almost ready?"

"Yes, they're just grabbing their coats." Seer then suggested. "Revy, why don't you and Boof go say hello to the twins? Make sure they have their coats."

Revy ran in to their rooms, and was instantly amazed. "You two look beautiful!"

Lex smiled, batting her eyelashes in practice. "Thank you."

Liz smiled, giving a bow. Here dress wasn't like a perfect fairy tail like her sister, but it was beautiful. "I like your wild ponytail Revy. And your lipstick looks good too. Say Revy, why aren’t you in a dress?"

“My Gerudo mom, Scarlet, said that prettiness comes from the inside!”

“Oh…” Liz lost her smile. It seemed Revy had been growing close with her biological mother.

"Do you know the High King?"

"No. But they're a powerful clan."

Lex wanted everything to be perfect on her arrival. Revy was a little too loose. Walking up to her, she adjust her shirt and hair. "I hope they let you in."

"Well of course. You two look like Princess'. And every Princess needs a heroic escort. I'm escorting Princess Kanisa! What's two more gonna hurt~"

The girls all giggled, putting their fur coats on. Lex was so glad she was gifted the stylish coat she wanted. Walking outside, they waited for the adults.

As Seer walked with the girls, he oddly took them in the direction of Rat's house. Instead of going inside the cabin, he took Liz and Lex around the side to where the barn resided. Borghild and Revy followed, Boof running through the snow happily and wagging his tail. The snow dog followed Revy everywhere she went and was a good pet for her. As soon as Seer was in front of the barn, Rat walked out with two horses, one on each side. Both were huge plow horses, good for farming fields and trustworthy steeds to ride through the harsh weather.

"Liz, Lex... your birthdays are in a couple of weeks and I figured after the events that transpired, it would do you good to have your present early." Seer chuckled and motioned to the horses. "Liz, yours is the gray one with white spots. His name is Blizzard. Lex, yours is the white one with gray spots. Her name is Whiteout. Happy birthday, my sweets."

Both girls squealed with joy, running to their dad. "THANK YOU!"

Revy clapped in excitement. "Horses?! That's so cool!"

"Now, this comes with responsibility. Until our barn is finished, you'll have to come here and take care of your horses." Seer hugged his girls in return. "If you show me you can take care of your horse, and be a safe rider, then I might consider letting you stay out a little later. If you can take care of your horse, that means you're learning to take care of yourself. Does that sound fair?"

"The girls needed a way to get around Uskar when the snow becomes thick." Borghild booped Reveka's nose. "A trusty steed to help them get where they need to go. After all, it's almost time the girls start their apprenticeships."

Revy scrunched her face up at the boop and bared her fangs. “Moooom. Not the nose. So if Lex and Liz have horses, can I get a dragon soon?”

"The dragon chooses you, silly, not you choosing the dragon." Borghild laughed at Revy's question, picking up the girl. "And maybe you'll get lucky and one of Na'seema's hatchlings will choose you. If not, then there's always when we visit Hyrule. Besides, what's wrong with a good dog and a good horse?" That was her fear of heights talking. "It's a lot safer on the ground."

"That's my good girls." Seer nudged them to the horses. "Go on, say hi, don't be shy. Then we'll go to the High King. All right?"

"You sound like Klinge mom..."

Lex and Liz walked in perfect sync up to their pair of horses. Despite their social differences, when they tackled new challenges together, they do so without hesitation or emotion clouding them. Each reached out to their respective horse.

"Hey, he doesn't like dragons, I like them okay, I just don't like the idea of falling." Borghild told Reveka with another boop to her nose. "Besides, you have Boof, you don't need a dragon."

"What do you think, little ones?" Rat asked as the girls petted their horses. "Pretty, yes?"

"I had the crew help me pick out what they thought was best." Seer told his daughters. "I know very little about horses, so I asked for their help. Uncle Rat has graciously allowed us to use his barn until ours is done, Uncle Mojo and Juju named them, Uncle Bomba tested them for riding, Uncle Pockets made sure to help Uncle Corsaire get them here to Uskar, and Uncle Acrobat made your saddles. So the first thing you two girls need to do is write them all a thank you letter."

"Yes! Thank you Daddy!" Both girls gave Seer a deep hug, super glad for the generosity the crew provided.

Revy gave a fun bite at the finger her mom booped her with. "This dragon bites!"

"You can ride them tomorrow," Seer told his girls with a smile. "For now, let's go before we're late."

~

The High King and Queen had invited Seer's family, Rat's family, as well as Bakura and Scarlet to a small gathering. It was a simple feast for everyone to eat and celebrate. Since everyone had a role in scaring away Adda's ships, it was a way of showing thank you. Originally, it was just going to be the High King and Queen, yet Halvar decided to come along as well. He did not want to stay with his older brothers or sister for a night of babysitting.

Scarlet felt awkward, staying in her armour to keep warm. She didn't know why she felt lonely in a room full of people.

Bakura gave a formal bow to the King and Queen, both hands together. "Your majesties. May I have a request?"

The High King and Queen sat at the head of the table as their guests arrived. Both instructed Halvar to be on his best behavior if he wanted to stay with them. When Bakura approached them, Torbjorn acknowledged him.

"Speak your request."

"I am the biological father to Lex and Liz. I wish to become a resident and, if I must to do so, a servant for the people of Uskar, so that I may be closer to my daughters."

"A citizen of Uskar... it's very rare for a stranger to wish to stay here in this frozen land we call home." Torbjorn pondered over the foreigner's request. It was not an unreasonable one. Besides, he did save little Lex from the crevice and fought against the pirate. "What do you think, my queen?"

"I believe we should honor his request." Brigritta nodded her head to Bakura. "He has shown to be a good fighter and only wishes to become part of his girls' lives. As long as he upholds our laws and traditions, I don't see why not."

Bakura nodded respectfully. "Thank you. I don't wish to be rude, but I have another request. I wish to know what you will do with Adda."

"Adda? The pirate captain?" Torbjorn stated. "If she comes into our waters once more, we plan to face her head on, and take out her ships. However, with the size of her army, we have asked for help from Hyrule."

“I want a bounty on her. She can’t keep moving about freely with no care for others.”

‘No care for you.’ Bakura’s alternate thought.

"Very well. We will communicate this to Hyrule, who will in turn speak to Danjur and Al-Daida. We will make sure that Adda has no where safe to go."

"Thank you."

At kids gathered around, taking their coats off. Revy was amazed by the architecture of the palace, looking around and waving to Direnor kids. Liz was attractive, but Lex was a knock out in her dress. She saw Halvar, and gave him a wave. Once she got his attention she flew him a wink and a nudge to come over.

Halvar turned the darkest shade of red when Lex displayed such a flirty nature. He awkwardly waved back in return, but did not leave the table, sinking down in his chair. His mother and father ordered best behavior and he was not going to get in trouble by starting up something with the twins. He had seen them bicker before and had no desire to get in the middle of that.

"Please, sit and enjoy the food." Torbjorn gestured to the table and then saw Seer approaching with his daughters. "Erling! How are you recovering?"

"I am doing much better than I was, thank you for asking, my king." Seer pulled out the seats for his daughters and then took one himself. "Just a scar now."

"My brother is a fighter!" Rat boasted at the table. "Nothing will take him down so easily."

Lex sat beside Halvar, smiling with charmful glee. His youngest sister was nowhere in sight. Her plan would go smoothly with just a little luck. "Hello Halvar. How are you doing this evening?"

"Good." Halvar spoke very quietly, focusing intently on his plate. He was rather uncomfortable with Lex's flirty ways, but tried his best to still be polite. "I hope you like the food."

"Bakura, since you are staying in Uskar, we would like to offer you the position as one of the scouts." Torbjorn told the assassin. "Your skills are noteworthy in combat, but we also need someone to go beyond the walls and look for potential hunting areas as well as those which are not safe. You may decline if you wish."

"I'd be honoured." Bakura took his seat beside Seer. Brushing his hair back he craved into his fish.

Lex nodded in agreement. "So Havlar, I heard you wanted to read Kanisa's book on Gerudo history. Do you like Gerudo girls?"

"I... I think they're good fighters." Halvar still spoke barely above a whisper. "I like reading about their fighting styles."

"Lex, don't let your food get cold. I'm sure you, your sister, Reveka, and Halvar can mingle after we eat." Seer reminded his daughter. "Liz, make sure you finish your greens."

"Here sweetie," Borghild placed a good portion of smoked meat on Reveka's plate. "Eat up. And don't push what you don't want under the table to Boof."

"Whaaaat? I'm not gonna-pffff." Revy just finished giving Boof her Broccoli.

Lex started to eat the food presented to her delicately. Liz nodded in respect to her dad. "Yes Dad. Can we share a story around the hall after dinner?"

"Of course you can." Seer then told his twins. "Do not leave the Grand Hall without me. We'll go home after we mingle. I don't like you girls out by yourself when it's dark."

Boof happily ate the broccoli. He pretty much ate whatever the girl gave to him except a couple of vegetables. He did not like radishes or turnip greens. Impatient, he pawed at her leg under the table for more.

"Uh-huh. Here's some more broccoli, you eat it this time." Borghild put some on her daughter's plate. "You too, Scarlet." The pregnancy hormones were making her a little assertive and overprotective at the moment. "You need your vegetables. Eat up."

Scarlet snapped out of just looking at everyone celebrating. She wondered how her band of sisters were doing without her. "Oh? Of course. T-thank you."

Revy barely ate the broccoli. "Mom. It's not cooked. It's so hard to eat."

Scarlet looked over with a small internal sigh. "Eat your food Revy. It'll help you swing an axe."

Revy looked over to Scarlet. "Really?"

"Yep."

Revy took a deep breath and started to eat the broccoli faster.

"Huh. I should have thought of that, then I wouldn't be finding Boof eating all her veggies under the table." Borghild took a bite of her fish. "Thought about what you would like to do here, Scarlet? We could always use another blacksmith."

"Bakura," Seer decided to start a civil conservation. "If you like, we can talk about the twins after dinner."

"I'm not a good smith..." Scarlet slowly ate her food, sighing seeing Rat so happy.

Bakura was surprised, looking at the blind man in curiosity. "I don't see the problem with doing that."

Lex patted Halvar's leg. "You want to go talk somewhere after dinner?"

"Well, what do you like to do?" Borghild asked. "We can always use help somewhere."

"Even babysitting." Rat shrugged his shoulders. "If you wanna work with kids, you can a-help parents out who have to work and watch the children."

"We can all go talk." Halvar jumped when Lex touched his leg. "It'd be rude not to include Elizabeth and Reveka."

"Good." Seer carefully took a sip of his drink, bring the cup to his lips. "I'm sure you have questions."

"I-I'm sure I can figure something out." Scarlet took more slow bites of her meal.

Lex shrugged her shoulders. "Don't you want some alone time?~"

Liz, not realizing what her sister was doing, nodded in agreement with Halvar. "That'd be cool. What has your family been up to Halvar?"

"You can let us know. It's good for a person to have something to do." Borghild gestured to Rat. "He's a good fisherman, I work in the forge, and Reveka's showing to be wonderful at training horses and dogs."

"Papa and Mama have been working on the trading routes with the witch queen!" Halvar perked up at Liz's question. "I mean, the Lorleidian queen. She's sending some more dragons next week with more supplies, but the blizzards have been a pain. We've been working on trying to select the best days for optimal weather!" He started rambling. "The wind dragons can push away the clouds with their magic, but it's hard for just a select few to counter a whole storm, so if they come in bigger numbers, then we can get more supplies and..." He continued to rant about weather patterns and how cool the wind dragons were for nearly a solid minute. "Oh! And the queen is sending in new saddles too! For a few to learn how to ride dragons!"

Lex quirked an eyebrow. "Do you want to learn how to ride a dragon?"

"YES!" Halvar nearly shouted and his earned a look from his parents. "... yes, I do want to learn. It would be so cool to fly!"

Lex thought about how to win Halvar over. Than she got an idea. She got a wonderful, awesome idea. "You know, I'm close friends with Na'seema. I could convince her to give you a ride."

Liz gave a chuckle. "You sure about that?"

Lex shot her sister a look to not ruin this. Things were going well so far. "Duh. Of course I can."

"Oh! I've ridden on Na'seema's back before, but just not flying." Halvar sighed sadly. "She's not going to ride with anyone right now though. She thought she'd have eggs for sure this time, but it was a false pregnancy. She's really sad. Hopefully, maybe next time she'll have eggs."

Lex, Liz, and Revy went silent from laughs, plots, and fun. This was news to them. Liz turned to her dad, looking for a confirmation, and hoping it would not be true. "Dad? Is that true?"

"I... I didn't know." Seer admitted to his girls. "Rat? Did you know?"

"I did, but I didn't want to spoil dinner." Rat frowned. "Na'seema was checked by Naira this morning since her eggs never came. Evidently, her body was readying to have eggs, but there were no eggs. It happens sometimes when a female really wants a baby. Her body just... fooled itself into thinking she was pregnant."

"Will she be all right?"

"Yeah, Na'seema is a strong dragon, she's just needing some a-time alone."

Revy felt really sad by that. She promised she'd go see and comfort her after dinner to herself.

Bakura cleared his throat. "Why don't the four of you kids go hang out with the other children?"

"They're at a party with their friends, but we can hang out in my room." Halvar volunteered. "I know it's time for 'adult talk'." He nearly rolled his eyes. "Come on, girls, Boof, let's go in my room and we can play a game of checkers!"

"Awesome!" Lex took Halvar's hand, letting him lead her away.

Bakura nudged Rat and whispered to him, noticing Scarlet look sadly as Revy walked away. "She needs something to fill her life."

"Aye, me's agreeing with ya, but unless she takes that first step forward, I cannot force her." Rat made a seesaw motion with both his hands. "She has to want it for herself."

"My king, my queen, I thank you for the feast." Seer finished his food and gave a polite bow. "I must speak with Bakura. Please continue to enjoy yourselves."

Bakura gave everyone a nod at the table and followed the blind direnor to the outside of the hall. "The air is chilly tonight."

"You ought to be here when a blizzard comes through the land." Seer knew the man had not experienced the horrid weather of Uskar just yet. "I know you wish to speak to me, and have questions about the girls, their life, your new life here. I'll do my best to answer them."

Bakura silently agreed. "How have they been growing up? How did you manage in my absence?"

"Lex is the demanding one." Seer chuckled at the recollections of the girl's temper tantrums if she did not get exactly what she wanted. "She wants it, when she wants it, how she wants it, and wants it right then. She's a little self-centered, but I can tell she really does love her sister and Reveka. And she's obsessed with looking girly-girly, hates to be in pants and a shirt. Loves dresses, jewelry, the works." He then switched to Liz. "My sweet Liz, goodness, she has a heart of absolute gold. She's the polar opposite of her sister, but she worries too much for others sometimes. She always seems to be putting others before herself, though she has this awful habit of moving things around. I keep telling her to put it back where it goes so I can find it. I don't know if she's doing it on purpose to mess with me or not. Maybe, she's good for pranks that way." The blind man smiled to himself. "It was difficult managing twins at first. I had to find them a wet nurse, and a babysitter while I worked in the palace of Hyrule as a cook. I felt bad because I honestly did not know what to do. Though as time went on, I could tell the difference between their cries for food or to be burped, if they wanted to play, or needed a diaper change, or just wanted to be held. As they grew, goodness, I can't tell you how many times I stumbled over their toys or accidentally put on their clothes backwards. Not to mention, if one got sick, the other followed. Having them both sick at the same time was a nightmare." That was something he did not care to repeat, especially with puke or diarrhea. "Though I'd do it all over again, because I live for their smiles, their laughter, their happiness... I may not be able to see them, but I can sense them. Blood or not, they're my girls. I'd give my life for them."

Bakura looked down to the ground. He felt shame that he could not do what this man did for him. "Thank you Seer. They needed a father to look after them."

"Look... I'll admit that I might have overreacted when you first came here. I was terrified you were going to take them away from me. I honestly don't know what I'd do without them." Seer would at least admit he was mistaken over this one issue. "I should have let you talk to them, yet I let my own selfish desires get in my way. You are their biological father and you have a right to know them."

"Thank you for admitting your faults." Bakura gave a smile at that. Even he with his formal speech, wasn't above making playful jabs.

"Hmph, don't get used to it, I just don't want my girls mad at me." Seer definitely was not above teasing either. "Hard to cope when two precious girls are pouting."

"Wise words regarding little ones." Bakura felt the bark of the tree, getting a sense of the land and grounding himself. "Is there anything you wish to know of me?"

"Hrm, not sure what all you'd be willing to tell me." Seer turned his head in Bakura's direction, his blind eyes blinking a few times. "I can sense you, but not see you. I can tell you are a deadly fighter, that there's another side of you, yet you won't hurt the girls, but do not necessarily care for others. It's part of what I am, a Direnor, that allows me to sense these hidden things about you. Whatever you wish to tell me, I will listen."

"Do you think me a threat because I could switch into a murderous personality?"

"In some ways, yes. In other ways, no." Seer was honest. "It does make me uneasy. I don't want the girls to see that side of you; to be afraid of you if you want to be in their lives. However, I know that you can use it to protect them as well, if necessary. It's a mixed feeling."

"Seth does what he desires. His unpredictability to be calm or beyond savage even scared Adda."

"... did this other personality of yours, Seth, as you call him... did he do something to Adda to make her doubt your capability as a father? Is that why she left the twins with me?"

Bakura felt uneasy bringing this topic up. "...Yes."

"Do you mind elaborating so I'll know what not to do in the future?"

"We happened to be raiding another pirate vessel together when an enemy with magic used a spell of confusion. It had different effects on me, such as bringing Seth to light. He mocked her abilities... and killed some of her crew for making fun of him. Maybe I deserved what she did to me."

"No one deserves to lose a child." Seer said quietly, feeling bad for the other man. "Losing a kid... it's like a piece of your soul is stolen."

"I was broken before... And I was a threat. After that, I came to my senses. I tried to justify my actions. That the crew I killed was just hired help. But she didn't care. She was had a reputation to uphold, and that I could have killed on of her girls. We spat words at each other, which ended with me calling her a filthy whore. With that, I believe she set her plan in motion to get back at me."

"You never know what Adda is thinking, or what she will do. I fear she may return for the girls or our lives; she gets rid of us, nothing is stopping her from trying to take the girls except for the ones who love them here." Seer shuddered at the thought. "I don't want them with her, in danger, on the sea where the unpredictable can happen, will happen. I want them here, with me, with their family who loves them."

Bakura gave a chuckle. "What do you think of Adda? Because can I tell you a secret? A part of me still loves that sailor."

"We had a spark a long time ago and I fancied her simply because she was willing to look past the fact that I could not see." Seer laughed. "That, and she had a way with words."

"She does, doesn't she?"

"I didn't let that work on me this time." Seer rubbed his chest where the scar was forming. "I knew what she wanted; I could sense it. I was not going to let her use me, and then take away the most precious part of my life."

"Hmmm... it hurt to see her again."

"I didn't see her, I punched her." Seer snorted.

Bakura sighed, almost like he was ashamed of himself. "I don't know if I could. She's my deepest hatred... and yet I still find in the corners of my mind why she was my closest love."

"Love is fickle sometimes, Bakura. Part of the reason the girls don't have a mother; I don't have a wife." Seer shrugged his shoulders. "I couldn't stand the thought of the twins getting close to someone to have them leave."

"Hmmm. Very true. Very true."  Bakura scratched his hair in contemplation. "Where would I be now if not for her I wonder."

"Still killing people that piss you off?" Seer jested in good humor. "Creeping along silently in the night?"

"I'd probably be very lonely. Or incredibly dead."

"Let's keep you alive for a little longer," Seer reached out and found his shoulder, giving it a pat. "After all, you have nearly thirteen years to catch up on. You have to get to know the twins, so let's keep you breathing."

Bakura took his hand, giving it a small squeeze. "Thank you for allowing me into their lives Seer."

"Don't make me regret it." Seer told the man. "Make them happy and keep them that way."

"Of course. As long as you do the same."

~

Lex jumped on the bed beside Halvar, holding onto his arm. If only she was alone with him. "You have a really nice bed Halvar. Is your pillow made with cotton?"

Revy was looking around, trying to see what kind of toys a prince would use, while Liz looked through his book collection. "You collect stories?"

"Um... yeah, my parents got it for me from Hyrule. It's supposed to help with my allergies, I think." Halvar shrugged his shoulders. "The healers say I can't have feathers. Oh! Papa and Mama gave me those books, and a few are from Princess Kanisa and Queen Zarazu." Halvar saw this as an excuse to be descriptive and hopped off the bed to point out which titles were new. "And this one is my favorite! It's a book of Hylian fairy tales! Princess Kanisa gave it to me." He flipped it open to a tale about a hero defeating darkness. "If this hero can defeat evil, then my people and I can too!"

Revy got really excited. "I know this one! That's Link defeating the Demon King Ganon! He had the whole triforce at the time! It looked like he would escape from the sacred realm and plunge the world in darkness, but the hero put a stop to him!"

"Yes!" Halvar exclaimed with a nod of his head. "I absolutely adore stories of good fighting the battle against evil and winning! And this hero, Link, had so many friends to help him! There's the Gorons, the Sages, the Fairies, oh! And he could even turn into a wolf one time and had the... the..." He paused and looked at the book again. "Twi... Twili? Twili princess help him! Her name was Midna!"

Lex gave a sigh. "Midna's so pretty. Too bad Twili aren't so easy to meet. Impossible even..."

"Yeah, the last time the King and Queen of Hyrule were here, he told me how they had to destroy the overall entrance to make sure nothing dark could ever take advantage of that power again." Halvar thought back on the story from Covarog. "That was a big fight between him, Vul'kar, and the queen."

Lex leaned against the door, giving a small pout to herself. Revy and Liz were taking all of Halvar's attention away. "We were just born before that happened. Lucky to be alive when you think about it."

Revy gave a nod of agreement to the prince. "Real shame. I hope to be a hero myself one day and fight an evil as big as Vul'kar! When I hit eighteen, I'm going to start learning how to defeat the Frost King!"

Liz gave a roll of her eyes. She loved Revy at times, but sometimes worried about her ego with battle. Lately though too, something about Revy was slowly making Liz… mad. "Sure, and then you'll sweep all the boys of their feet."

Revy was taken a little aback. She recognized Liz's snark, but it was never positioned her way. "So? That's not what being a hero is about."

"If you want to be a hero, I'd say go for it. Though, I'm not sure if your father or your mother would like that." Halvar shook his head. "You're going to be a big sister soon, so they'll probably want you to look after your kid sibling. My older brothers and sisters look after me." He was just thinking aloud. "Besides, heroes have to go through a lot of stuff. Look at how much my parents go through, the King and Queen of Hyrule go through... Link doesn't really seem to do a lot of fun stuff or have good endings sometimes." He frowned. "It seems like he just wants to sleep and forget."

"But it's about standing up to evil. Showing that good CAN be on top!"

Liz shook her head and gave a huff. Revy was so bright, so pretty, so damn happy all the time. She never had any hardships in her life. Something about her started to really annoy Liz, but she didn't know why.  "Halvar's right. You're being too optimistic and dumb about going about being a hero."

Revy knew something was up now. "Ok, what's going on with you?"

Liz immediately got defensive and her snark went way up. "I don't know. Why don't you fill me in, Miss perfect life."

"Liz, you're being super aggressive."

"What? Can't handle a little aggression?"

"I want to know why you're acting so mad all the sudden!"

"How about because you think you’re some hotshot with two loving moms, a dog, and a dad, with a brand new sibling on the way!"

Revy took a step away from Liz. "...you're jealous of-"

"HARD NOT TO BE WHEN YOU ACT LIKE YOU'RE THE HERO OF EVERYONE AND YOU DON'T HAVE A PSYCHO MOM! Look at me, I'm Revy, did you know my birth mom's an iron knuckle? WOOOOOOW!"

Lex flinched from that. "L-liz. Our mom's not-"

"Ooooo yes she is. I don't want to hear another word about her from you Lex."

Revy was utterly shocked. She knew Lex and Liz had been dealing with their mom showing up roughly, but while Lex had thrown the odd tantrum, it seemed like Liz was holding it together. However, it was clear now she had merely been bottling it up. And to be truthful, while not boastful about it, Revy was vocal about being happy with three loving parents now. "Liz-"

"Why don't you take your beautiful hair, your two moms, your fluffy dog, and your dad back to Hyrule if you're so happy!"

Lex started to pout. "Liz, you're being mean to Revy! You should go!"

"Yeah? So you can try and hook up with Halvar? We aren't even Direnor! We come from a lowly assassin and a bitch Pirate Queen! We will never be anything special!"

A moment of stunned silence filled the room as Liz got the last of the bile that had been filling up inside her out. Seeing Lex tear up, regret started to take shape in Liz. Before she could say anything to Lex, her sister stormed out of the Prince's room. To her embarrassment, servants to the Queen and King had been listening in.

Revy looked at Liz, pain on her face. "....You're in a lot of pain. But you have no reason to be mean. If you still want to be friends... we can talk later...."

Trying her best to not get emotional, Revy quietly left the room. Liz knew her mistake, and wondered if she as vile as her mom. Sitting on Halvar’s bed, she held herself, rationalizing in her mind her actions. Why was she so toxic against her sister and closest friend?

Halvar watched the argument go down and winced. He and his siblings had their share of spats, sure, but it was not this. It was not so full of hate. What was going on with Lex and Liz? There was a lot of unresolved issues between them and the new family members. This Captain Adda sure stirred up a lot of emotions with the twins. Bakura seemed to be trying to take part of the 'new dad' role slowly, not wanting to overstep his bounds. Scarlet wanted to be a part of Revy's life, but seemed reluctant to do so. All of this was so new to the twins, but also scary. As Liz sat down with a flop, the young prince was quiet for a moment. Then he carefully placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Liz?" Halvar spoke softly. "I'm sorry that you're sad but... maybe it would help if you'd just tell someone else how you felt instead of getting mad at your friends?"

She didn't look at Halvar as she yanked her shoulder away, but she didn't move from the bed either. "How can anyone know how I feel. How can you? You're a prince. You have a loving family of misfits who can take care of each other. I have a blind father with a cardiac condition now. As well as a sister who's obsessed with the finer things in life, which I know will be her down fall. Your mom isn't... you're mom didn't leave you all these years with questions and wrath built up inside you. She didn't make you so cold to those that only wish the best for you. At least Lex can get ahead in life by looks and street smarts. Give it five or ten years. I bet she'll have some noble around her finger.. Revy's gonna do great. Big, beautiful strong Revy. Hero Revy. And what will I have? Nothing but this rage against a woman I know almost nothing about."

"You're right, I don't know anything about that." Halvar had a good family who loved him and loved each other dearly. There were troubles here and there, a fight or two, but nothing that could not be fixed. "I know that it might seem like the world is falling around you, and there's nothing you can do about it. But... isn't it good that your dad still loves you? That no matter what, he'll still be there for you." He tried to give her a smile. "I'm your friend. I'll be there too."

Liz didn't reply, simply resting her head on his shoulder. "...I feel like I'm broken..."

"Well... that's okay. Broken stuff can get fixed." Halvar told Liz as he gave her a hug. "Just cause it's broke doesn't mean it's no longer good."

Liz buried her head into Halvar's shoulder. He couldn't say she was a crybaby if he didn't see or hear her sob.

Halvar said nothing when he heard her sniffling. He just continued to hold her, letting Liz get in control of her emotions. After a moment or two, the young prince suggested, "Would you um... feel a little better if maybe we read a little bit? You can pick out whatever book you like. Or would you like to maybe..." He stopped and looked around the room. "Hey! What about tobogganing?"

She took his hand to stop him from running about. "...Reading is ok."

"I got a book on Lorleidian culture you might like. The very first ruler, Queen Lorleidi is a good read."

“…Ok…”

[xxxdragonfucker69xxx]

happy birthday lydia @heedra surname

"And that should be the last one," Phoenix said, setting down the bag on the floor. "Get that in the cooler, don't want it to go bad. I'll be back tomorrow to start grilling." He clapped Des on the back, and she stumbled slightly under the force of the blow. "We're gonna have the best grill-up this side of Great Forks. Get some meat on your bones."

The "meat" Phoenix was referring to sat scattered around the Sanctuary, in bags on the ground and the table. Seal was ferrying bags into the kitchen, normally Harv's territory but lent to the greater cause for the span of a night. The greater cause, in this instance, was the cookout Phoenix intended to host for the Sanctuary's regular residents. Everyone was invited, and the Solar had made it clear to everyone who didn't have apocalyptically pressing business that attendance was not optional. As a result the Sanctuary was near empty, with all the Deathknaves trying to sort their affairs out before tomorrow. Only Seal, Des and Star remained in the Sanctuary, as well as Hours who had been snoring on the nap sofa for the past fourteen hours. Phoenix had therefore left the Shitheads in charge of preparing for the next day.

Star saluted. "You can count on ush, Mishter Phoenixsh," he said eagerly. Privately, Des thought that the responsibility might be going to his head a little bit. "It'sh gonna be great!"

Phoenix high-fived him and opened the Sanctuary door onto a misty river, whistling as he left. The door fell closed behind him and Seal stuck his head out of the kitchen. "So are you fuckers gonna actually help or just jack yourselves off all night?" he asked. Star made an offended noise, though Des didn't know if it was at the lewd comment or the idea that he might be irresponsible, and immediately hoisted multiple bags in each hand.

"Uh, Star," Des said slowly. "Maybe be careful with those."

"Why?" Star asked, marching towards the kitchen. "You jealoush of my muschles? My shick puppiesh?" He tried to flex, but couldn't lift the bags much higher, so settled for sort of tensing his biceps in Seal's vague direction.

"No," Des said, ignoring Seal's sudden coughing fit. "Because there's a baby in that bag."

Star nearly dropped all the bags he was holding, but recovered at the last second. He peered under his arm to one of the bags where a tiny head had popped out and was looking around the room with an expression like a cat who just broke into a creamery.

"Oh, schit," Star said.

+++

The three of them sat in a circle around the baby -- not a baby, a kid, who could walk and talk and get into bags -- and thought about how fucked they were.

"We are so, so, so profoundly fucked," Seal said. "Sho incredibly fucking fucked," Star agreed. "Phoenixsh ish gonna kill ush."

Des shhed them loudly. "Don't swear in front of the kid," she said, then turned back to the phone she was holding. "Hang on, hang on. Shadow? Hello? Are you there?"

"I'm here," Shadow's voice said from the receiver of the rotary phone on Des' lap. "This had better be good."

"Oh, it's good," Des said. "I mean, it's bad. Um, hypothetically."

"Get on with it," Shadow snapped. There was a sudden crackle in the background, though it died down quickly. "I'm in the middle of work."

"Um, hypothetically, we uh maybe foundababyintheSanctuarywhatdowedo?" Des rushed, hoping Shadow would be too distracted to fully hear her.

It didn't work. "You what? Who? How?" Shadow demanded, and Des quailed a little. She wondered distantly if he could use his Evil Eye through the telephone.

Seal leaned over. "It's not our fucking fault," he shouted to Shadow. "Pho left her here and now we can't get hold of him. I think he's in fucking Halta or something."

Des could practically imagine Shadow rubbing his temples. "Danaa'd take you, I'm on top of a mountain right now. I can't get back until tomorrow. I knew this was a mistake."

"One of many!" a voice cawed, much closer to the phone. "Shut up, Valravn," Shadow snapped again. "Whatever. Alright. You're just going to have to take care of her for a while. I know!" he shouted over the sudden clamor of the Shitheads. "I know. Phoenix should be back in a few hours and he can shout at you then. What is she doing now?"

Star leaned in to the phone, so that they were all huddled over the mouthpiece. "I gave her shome paper and shome pensh to draw with. She'sh drawing, uh....."

In the center of their circle, there was paper, and there were pens, but there was no baby.

"We're gonna have to call you back," Des said, and hung up.

+++

After ten minutes of panic and five minutes of wrestling the little girl away from the Artifact closet, they had her safely seated on the sofa on Des' lap. Seal was sitting in Shadow's armchair and holding his head in his hands, and Star was pacing back and forth.

"So, kid," Des said, attempting to coach her voice into something suitable to kids. "What's your name? How'd you get here?"

"Um, my name is Sachi and I'm five years old," the kid said, proudly holding out four fingers. "I heard Daddy say he was gonna go take the meat out so I hid in the bag to come with him. I like meat. I wanna get out!" she said to Des, who was desperately trying to keep her from wriggling out of her grasp.

"Can one of you idiots take her for a minute?" Des hissed at them. "I gotta, I don't know, do something!"

"Don't look at me," Star said, alarmed. "I'm made of shpikesh and pointy bitsh. I'll perforate her."

"Yeah, yeah!" Sachi clapped. "I wanna climb the pointy bird man!" She started wriggling even harder in Star's direction.

Star bristled. "Hey, don't call me a fu- a shtupid bird! I'm a pershon! I got feelingsh!"

Sachi seemed to find this hilarious. "Bird man! Bird man!" she chanted, pointing at Star. Des thought she saw his eyes getting teary and hastily stood up. "Okay," she declared. "Activity time." Activity time? Seal mouthed at her. Des shrugged. She was aware that her childhood was atypical, but children needed structure in their lives, right? "Yeah, activity time. Uh, let's start with.... poetry!"

"Boring!" Sachi shouted, finally squirming out of Des' grasp and making an immediate beeline for the kitchen. "I wanna see Daddy's cool stuff!" Seal lunged at her, but the five-year old evaded him deftly. Only Star's Wing-assisted charge managed to outpace her, and he crashed headfirst to the ground in front of her, cutting her off.

"Haha, bird man sucks at flying! Wow, you're really pointy," Sachi said, crouching to poke at his soulsteel spikes. "How come you have a cool mask? I want a cool mask! Ooh, your teeth are pointy too!" She made to poke at his teeth, but Star slapped her hand away with his flesh hand before rolling over onto his back and groaning.

"Shtupid Wingsh," he muttered. "No, I'm not gonna kill the baby. I don't care about your shtupid bloodthirsht. Wait," he said, lifting his head up to peer at Sachi. "Aren't you shcared of me?"

Sachi giggled. "Nope!" she declared. "I know all about scary looking people! Daddy used to look like a scary monster too and he wears his spiky armor a lot but I know he's really nice and happy!"

Star let his head fall back to the ground. "Well, I'm not," he grumbled, but he let Sachi keep prodding his spikes and oohing and aahing.

Seal sidled over to Des. "Great fuckin activity," he murmured. "She's gonna fucking cut herself or something and then Pho's gonna eviscerate us. Also I feel like Star probably has a concussion or some shit."

"He doesn't have a concussion," Des replied dismissively. "Probably. He has like three Ox-Bodies. Star, you have Ox-Body Technique, right?" Star didn't respond, or was too busy talking to Sachi. "He's fine. Besides," and Des smiled, "I have a plan."

+++

"Hah!" Hours exclaimed. "She is like little monkey!"

Sachi laughed. She was clambering all across the enormous Dusk, his soulsteel tattoos providing obliging handholds and footholds. "You're fun!" she exclaimed.

"I am fun!" Hours agreed. "Watch this!" He reached around his back and picked her up by the midsection (giving Des, Seal and Star all heart attacks at the same time) so he could plop her on his shoulders. "Now you are varstrider pilot!" he boomed. "In charge of big var machine! Make buildings go boom!"

"Horsey!" Sachi shouted, ignoring him. "Go forwards!" Hours stepped forward, purposefully jostling Sachi. She shrieked with laughter. "Faster! Faster!" she shouted, and Hours obliged her by jogging around the Sanctuary slowly. Sachi laughed and hollered the whole time, and Des had to admit she felt something loosening deep inside her -- something she had never had. She had known intellectually that most children didn't have to dodge thrown projectiles as soon as they could walk, but it was another thing entirely to see a child who had probably never had to dodge anything in her life. Next to her, Seal was staring at them with open and unguarded envy. Des nudged him.

Seal jumped and looked at her, then looked away scowling -- probably equal parts because she'd caught him having an emotion and caught him off-guard. "She's so fucking -- defenseless," he said. "Probably couldn't fight a fucking dog."

"Not even a really weak one," Des agreed. "Hopefully she never has to."

Seal swiveled back to face her and took her by the arm. "Desecration," he said, unexpectedly serious. "I will die before I let a dog attack her."

Des stared at him for a minute before he let go and looked away. But she knew what he meant. "Yeah," she said. "Me too."

Hours came to a stop in front of them and Sachi pointed at them imperiously. "You two do horsey," she decided. "We can play chicken."

Des raised an eyebrow. "Are we horses or chickens?" she asked.

Sachi frowned. "No, dummy," she said. "You get on him and then you try to push me over and I try to push you over."

Des raised the other eyebrow, looking at the nine-foot tall Hours and the two-foot tall Sachi. "That seems... unsafe," she said.

Sachi smirked, an alarmingly precocious expression on the five-year old's face. "That means you're chicken!" she taunted. "You're a scaredy chicken!"

Des scoffed, but next to her, Seal looked determined. "Get on my fucking shoulders," he said. "Let's play some fucking chicken."

+++

They spent the next hour teetering around the Sanctuary. Des was used to fighting in strange situations, but this was not an environment she was used to. More than once, the Sachi-Hours combo team managed to almost push Des and Seal over so that only magic kept Des' balance. Every time this happened, Seal grew progressively more heated, and Des could feel his anima beginning to flare.

Just then, Star poked his head out of the kitchen. "Dinnersh ready!" he called cheerfully.

Sachi banged her little fists on Hours' shoulders. "Dinner! Dinner!" she ordered, and Hours toppled her down onto the sofa gently.

Des frowned. Did Star even know how to cook? Her question was swiftly answered as Star exited the kitchen bearing two platters of what appeared to be pinkish-grey ooze. "You're in luck," he said. "Mosht of the shtuff in the fridge ish for tomorrow but I found shome shtuff that looksh jusht like the old cave shlime from back home. Thish ish a family reschipe!"

Sachi took one look at the slime and started to cry.

Seal took over comforting Sachi while Des massaged Star's bruised ego and Hours cheerfully tipped the entire mess into his mouth. "Slimy!" he announced, which seemed to mollify Star a little.

"Well, when you're at home, what do you usually eat for dinner?" Seal asked Sachi. Instantly she brightened up and a devious light crept into her eyes. "Well, Daddy lets me have five sugar for every dinner," she said, holding up one hand splayed out for five fingers.

"Five sugar," Des repeated doubtfully. Sachi nodded. "Uh-huh, and ten juice!" she said, holding out the other fingers.

Hours frowned. "I don't think that --" he began, but Seal cut him off. "You heard the lady," he said, not breaking eye contact with Sachi, who giggled. "Five sugar and ten juice."

Star scratched his head. "Uh, I dunno about the juice, but I think I shaw shome candy maybe in one of Harv'sh drawersh --" He was interrupted by Sachi pumping her fists in the air and chanting "Candy! Candy! Candy!" Seal took up the chant, and then Hours joined in, and at that point Des felt that she might as well.

+++

The candy was a mistake.

Sachi had managed to get ahold of Des' daiklave and was now sprinting around the Sanctuary dragging it behind her and laughing maniacally. Thoughts of what Phoenix would do if he knew they'd given his daughter a weapon collided in her head with thoughts of what would happen if anything happened to Bloodthorn and joined forces with terror of anything happening to Sachi herself. "Sachi," she said, putting all her will and Essence into her voice, "put that down and come here."

"Gotta catch me!" the little girl shouted, apparently impervious to Des' efforts. She dodged around Hours' legs and nimbly avoided Seal's attempts to catch her. Star launched himself at her, Wings flaring akimbo behind him, but Sachi changed tack at the last moment and Star ended up crashing into Seal instead. Hours tottered backwards and crashed onto the pile, resulting in two Dusk Castes entangled with a very sharp and disgruntled Star. Sachi stood on the couch, waving at them and attempting to hoist Bloodthorn up with her. "Na na, can't catch me," she taunted, sticking her tongue out and making a funny face.

As the three boys untangled themselves and sprang to their feet, a plan entered Des' head. She let them run around for a while longer while she set up the TV, reasoning that they might as well burn off some more of Sachi's energy, then turned around. "Sachi," she said, baiting her words with magic. "Wanna see Ma-Ri-Oh Kart?"

"Mario!" the television screen declared, and Sachi's attention was immediately captured. She exclaimed wordlessly as she scrambled over the back of the sofa to where Des was holding the controller, and Des let out an internal sigh of relief as she dropped Bloodthorn. Star, Seal and Hours looked at each other a little sheepishly, then took their own controllers.

The Abyssals had gotten used to the strange demands of Mario Kart, and even thought they had gotten pretty good, but Sachi completely trounced them all. It turned out that the combination of hyperactive and hyperattentive five-year-old was unstoppable when applied to video games. She giggled triumphantly whenever she won, but after a few games Seal surrendered bad-temperedly and stormed off to sulk and polish Glorious First Light. Des lasted a little longer, but in truth the excitement of the day had gotten to her -- and worse, she felt something stirring at the bottom of her soul, a little voice that whispered you are not alive, you do not belong with living things, no matter how much you pretend to like them -- but she swallowed the Resonance and made sure none of it showed. It was another hour before Hours tapped out, claiming he was still hungry and Star's slime was "delicious but not very fillink". In the end it was just Star and Sachi, sitting next to each other on the couch, concentrating so hard their tongues stuck out, staring intently at the screen.

Des watched them, and felt -- good.

+++

It was past midnight when the door swung open again.

The lights were off, but the TV screen still cast animated patterns on the sleeping faces of Star and Sachi (Des had made sure to put cushions between Sachi and any spikes). Phoenix stared around the Sanctuary, at the controlled mess from their earlier battles, and caught Des' eye.

Uh-oh. Time to face the music.

Des motioned to him to be quiet and pointed to where Sachi lay on the couch. Phoenix crept forward, and a look of puzzlement mixed with relief washed over his face. "I thought she was just playing with her friends somewhere," he whispered loudly to Des. "How'd she get in here?"

Des shrugged. "Snuck in with your bags," she whispered back. "We gotta get Shadow to change the locks or something.

Phoenix nodded thoughtfully. "Well," he said, "I'm glad you got her to eat. She's a picky eater sometimes." Des glanced down at the candy wrapper by his feet. "Is everyone okay?" Phoenix asked, misinterpreting her silence.

"Yeah," Des said. "Everyone's happy."

[heavyarethecrowns]

MEGHAN MARKLE is being guarded by royal protection officers as the Palace prepares to announce her engagement to Prince Harry as early as this week.

By: Camilla Tominey; Sunday Express (November 26, 2017)

The news was supposed to be made public on Thursday, with the Prime Minister poised to release a congratulatory statement, but Kensington Palace was “spooked” into postponing it by intense speculation, say sources.

As the rumour mill went into overdrive this weekend, the Sunday Express can reveal how Downing Street was gearing up for an 11am announcement on Thursday – Thanksgiving Day in America – prompting all the major broadcasters to clear their news schedules.

It followed bookmakers closing the betting on an engagement amid reports that Harry has already secretly proposed.

The American actress was accompanied by bodyguards from the Metropolitan Police’s Protection Command Tuesday – in the strongest sign yet that another royal wedding is imminent.

It is the first time she has been spotted with a taxpayer-funded security detail in tow.

The Duchess of Cambridge was only assigned police protection after she became secretly engaged to Prince William in Kenya, almost a month before an official announcement was made in November 2010.

A female close protection officer is understood to be shadowing Kate’s bodyguard, Sergeant Emma Probert, in preparation for becoming Meghan’s personal protection officer.

Speculation is rife in Westminster circles that an engagement could be announced as early as tomorrow.

A Government source said: “Everyone was expecting the announcement to go out at 11am on Thursday.

“We think the Palace got spooked by phone calls from various media outlets. The statement was being prepared on behalf of the Prime Minister.

“It’s now being considered a case of any day now.”

Royal insiders say Palace staff have been informed that it is a case of “when, not if” the couple will marry, with news of a proposal expected before Christmas.

This would enable Meghan to attend the Royal Family festivities at Sandringham, where the Queen traditionally spends Christmas every year.

The royal household is also understood to be preparing for the couple to tie the knot before Kate gives birth to the Cambridges’ third child in April.

It is thought Prince George and Princess Charlotte will play a starring role on the big day.

The Sunday Express revealed several months ago that the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby had given his blessing for Harry to marry divorcee Meghan in a church.

The former Suits star, who quit the US legal drama earlier this month to move in with the fifth-in-line to the throne at Kensington Palace, was married to American film and TV producer Trevor Engelson from 2011 to 2013.

The 36-year-old actress was educated at a Catholic school, although her father Thomas Markle is believed to be Jewish.

A spokesman for Westminster Abbey, where they are tipped to hold the ceremony, last week reissued its statement confirming that it followed the General Synod ruling of 2002 that has made it possible for divorced people to be married in the Church of England.

Interfaith marriages are also possible. Wedding speculation ramped up earlier this month following reports that Meghan had moved her dogs to the UK.

It came as her body double on Suits posted an emotional message on Instagram, featuring a symbol of clinking champagne glasses, wishing her co-star “all the happiness in the world” and adding “you deserve it”.

The Sunday Express can now reveal that Meghan listed Harry’s address on her pet passport form as long as six months ago.

Insiders claim she declared Kensington Palace as her place of residence in early summer when she signed the “Notice 3” form, which is the Customs paperwork for her two dogs, six-year-old beagle Guy and five-year-old German shepherd Bogart.

Los Angeles-born Meghan flew to London on Tuesday from Canada, where she has been based since 2011 after landing the role of paralegal Rachel Zane in Suits.

Removal vans have been spotted in her Toronto neighbourhood in recent weeks and Meghan has reportedly stopped leasing a car there.

Her decision to leave Suits came after she made her first official appearance alongside Harry, 33, at the Invictus Games in Toronto in September. 

The tactile Prince was spotted kissing and hugging his girlfriend and chatting animatedly with the woman tipped to be his future mother-in-law.

Meghan’s mother, social worker Doria Radlan, 60, made the five-hour flight from her California home to Canada to join the couple at the Invictus Games closing ceremony.

A month later, Meghan gave an interview to Vanity Fair in which she declared: “We’re two people who are really happy and in love.

“I’m sure there will be a time when we will have to come forward and present ourselves and have stories to tell, but I hope what people will understand is that this is our time. This is for us.

“It’s part of what makes it so special, that it’s just ours. But we’re happy. Personally, I love a great love story.”

Meghan, who has a black mother and white father, used the interview to speak out against prejudice.

She also revealed how the couple had been dating for six months before the Sunday Express broke the world exclusive news of their relationship in October last year, which has been followed up by news outlets around the world ever since.

The media frenzy prompted Harry to release an unprecedented statement calling on the media to show restraint in their coverage of his private life.

“Prince Harry is worried about Ms Markle’s safety and is deeply disappointed that he has not been able to protect her,” it read.

“It is not right that a few months into a relationship with him Ms Markle should be subjected to such a storm. He knows commentators will say this is ‘the price she has to pay’ and that ‘this is all part of the game’.

“He strongly disagrees. This is not a game, it is her life and his.”

The statement not only confirmed our scoop but hinted at the seriousness of the relationship, even in its infancy.

Meghan’s magazine cover shoot followed Harry whisking her away to Botswana for her 36th birthday in August – where some say he may have popped the question.

The lovestruck couple stayed in a romantic secret hideaway in the African bush, overlooking the sparkling Boleti River, where rooms cost £650 a night.

Harry first visited Botswana when he was just 13 and has described it as his “second home”.

On Tuesday, Meghan was photographed leaving beauty therapist Sarah Chapman’s exclusive Skinesis Clinic in west London before popping to Mayfair salon Nails & Brows, a favourite of Harry’s cousin Princess Beatrice.

It is understood she arrived in the type of blacked-out people carrier favoured by Protection Command officers.

Former Chief Superintendent Dai Davies, who used to guard the Royal Family, said: “It’s sensible that the woman Prince Harry is tipped to marry should been given police protection considering the current threat level.”

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said it did not comment on royalty protection.

A Palace spokesman has said they refuse to give a “running commentary” on Harry’s love life.

SUBMITTED

The taxpayer CANNOT pay for the RPO’s until an engagement. he taxpayer is not paying for this, it is likely like Charles and Camilla before the announcement when Charles paid for it, Harry is likely paying for it now. As the taxpayer NEVER pays for it beforehand, it is against the rules. 

Anyhow, it was supposed to happen on Thursday? oh that is backpeddling because they were made to look foolish. 

Prime Minister set to release a statement because she did not have much on that day? that is not how it works, the PM will carry on as normal. 

Spooked because of the intense speculation? oh please! that doesn’t matter!

[jemmafitzsimmons]

Written for @jsimmonz, who requested FS + You can tell me anything. This also fulfills @thefitzsimmonsnetwork‘s Fanwork Friday prompt “Space.” 

Synopsis: As Jemma struggles with homesickness in space, Fitz finds a way for her to connect with the person she misses most. 

Read below or on AO3! 

~ 

She heard his footsteps not long after she escaped from the team’s weekly counseling session.

It was part of the agreement between the two of them – they didn’t necessarily have to talk, but they both needed to at least attend the sessions. Fitz wasn’t happy about it at first, but he quickly grew to like the time spent just talking with the team. And Jemma usually enjoyed this time as well, but today wasn’t just any other day, so she was less than thrilled to spend the afternoon discussing what they missed most about Earth. For many of them, it was the food, which they luckily got to enjoy with each other one last time before they were taken into custody. For Daisy, it was being able to use her powers freely. And Fitz missed their old lab.

Normally, Jemma would openly contribute to the conversation, but she wasn’t in the mood this time around, so she slumped into her chair until the opportunity arose for her to make her escape. When Coulson asked if she was alright, she made up an excuse that she was feeling under the weather and quickly left to find a quiet place to be alone.

But she knew she wouldn’t fool everyone.

She chose the space station’s small library to find some solace, locating a small nook in the back corner with a reading chair that few would notice at first glance. But before she knew it, she could sense his presence behind her chair and heard him let out a deep sigh before he came around to face her.

“I’m impressed,” she said as she put her book into her lap. “It only took you, what, twenty minutes?”

“Well, I knew you weren’t actually ill. You would have told me.” Squatting down to look up at her, Fitz placed his hand on Jemma’s arm. “What wrong?”

She shook her head. “It’s nothing. I just didn’t feel like talking today.”

“Jemma. You’re not like me – you don’t process. You just let it eat you up.” When she didn’t respond, he leaned in closer. “You can tell me anything,” he whispered reassuringly, moving his thumb back and forth against her skin.

“I know,” she replied, lowering her eyes. After another moment of contemplating if she should really tell him the truth, she exhaled deeply and met his gaze, finally giving in. “It’s my dad’s birthday today,” she revealed weakly. 

Suddenly, his face fell slightly, and Jemma could tell he was trying to hide the impact of her words. They had spoken little about their families back home, and the sudden reminder that their loved ones were back on Earth with no idea that the two of them were in space seemed to hit him heavily, just as it did when she realized what day it was.

“Oh,” he uttered softly. “When was the last time you…”

“Spoke to him? Oh, wow. I can’t even remember. Almost a year, I’d say.” She shook her head as she felt the weight of so much lost time. “When I became special advisor to….” 

She trailed off to clear her throat, not wanting to emphasize the memory more than necessary. Fitz was slowly starting to forgive himself, but the slight mention of the things they lost still sent him into a spiral of guilt. Without mentioning the fallen man’s name, she continued. “I sort of lost track of time. I was going to call him once we secured the apartment, actually. But that never happened, so… And then after everything that happened, I never got a chance to contact him.”

Fitz nodded in understanding. “Have you heard anything from him?”

“Just a few emails here and there. Always asking the same question without asking it.”

“And what is that?”

A soft smile spread across her face while she reached for Fitz’s hand. “He wants to know when I’m coming home – and when I’m coming home with you.”

“Ah,” Fitz replied, his eyebrows raised.  

“Yeah.” Squeezing his hand between both of hers, she gave him a slight shrug. “I thought I’d like space. But now I’m sort of over it.”

“I know.” He must have noticed her wanting to drop the subject, so he changed his grip on her hand and looked up at her with brighter eyes. “Do you want to come to the mess hall with me?”

“Oh, that’s alright,” she said, shaking her head. “I’m not really that hungry. But go, please. I’ll come by if I suddenly feel up to it.”

“Okay.” After he straightened up, he leaned down to press his lips to her hairline. She watched him walk away, but then he turned his head over his shoulder to look at her once more. Nodding, she silently told him she would be okay, at least for now. His eyes were soft, telling her that he was trying to convince himself that she was alright, but ultimately, she knew he didn’t completely believe it.

-----

Jemma stretched out on their shared cot, moving her limbs about in an attempt to find a comfortable sleeping position on the unforgiving mattress as she waited for Fitz to return. It was odd of him to not be back by now, what with the strict curfew and the fact that they rather enjoyed their alone time in their bunk. They were lucky to share, so they made sure they took advantage of their situation.

When it was nearly eleven, already a half hour past their curfew, she stretched her arm lazily off the side of the bed to turn off their bedside lamp. There was nothing she could do at this point – going out in the hallway to look for him wasn’t an option, the security guards at the end of each hallway making that impossible – and they didn’t have phones, so all she could do was wait as anxiety ate away at her mind.

But to her great relief, the lock on their bunk’s door turned, and Jemma sat straight up in bed. When she saw his face peak through, a sparse light from the hallway creating a soft halo around his features, she let out a loud huff. “Fitz, where have you—”

“Jemma, come here,” he whispered urgently.  

“What?”

“Quick, I don’t have time to explain,” he continued as he gestured her forward frantically.

As she followed him into the hallway, she pulled on his sleeve. “Fitz, what’s going on? Where are the guards?”

“Don’t worry about that. Here, follow me,” he insisted as he found her hand in the dark and led them forward. Once they made it out of the residence halls, he took her down a small flight of stairs and around a corner before they reached what Jemma assumed was the space station’s main server room, or at least one of them anyway. She was surprised by the lack of guards on duty, but she didn’t worry about that as Fitz had clearly already arrived at his desired destination. Without hesitation, he led her inside and closed the door softly behind her.

“Are we allowed to be in here?” she asked anxiously.

“Likely not. But Mack’s guarding the door, and Elena’s down the hallway.”

“Okay, but what are we doing here?”

Before answering her question, he opened up a panel near the far left end of the servers and pulled out a phone, similar to the one he had described finding on the bus that May had stashed away.

“I was able to set up a secure line. You’ll only have one chance to make a call because I’ll have to disconnect it before anyone notices.” He extended the phone out to her, but all she could do was gawk at him through her puzzlement.

“What? A secure line that leads where?”

“Sheffield,” he said through an exhale.

At the word, she nearly lost her footing, the air swiftly leaving her lungs.

“I memorized the number way back when,” he explained. “Just in case.”

“Oh,” she said softly, the only response she could muster through her shock. She knew they didn’t have time to waste, but at the moment, all she could do was stand there, her eyes shifting between the phone and Fitz’s waiting eyes. The possibility to make contact, to actually tell her father that she was okay made her heart race in anticipation. “So I can...”

“It’ll go straight to a voicemail box, but yeah. You can talk to him.”

She nodded her head slowly as she tried to process all that was happening. She couldn’t even begin to think about how Fitz had even managed to make this happen, let alone how much trouble he could have gotten himself in – or could still get himself in – if he were to get caught. No one was supposed to know where they were, let alone try to make contact with Earth. And the fact that he had recruited their team members to help with this plan, just so she could send a few reassuring words back home, was even more overwhelming.

When she didn’t make any movements to proceed with making the call, Fitz stepped forward, pressing the phone into her hand. “Do you want me to step out, give you some…”

“No, no,” she said instantly, reaching out to grip his bicep. “I, uh…you can stay here.”

“I guess you should think about what you want to say, yeah?”

Jemma bit her lip to suppress her smile. “I think I already know.”

Nodding urgently, he took a quick glance over her shoulder, seemingly making sure they still hadn’t been caught. “Alright then,” he finally said, pulling her closer to the back of the room so she could speak more freely. At once, he dialed the number for her, which she silently thanked him for as her hands were already beginning to shake. Before he hit the final button to connect the call, he looked up to meet her gaze. “Ready?”

Responding with a single nod, she took the phone from him after he began the call and pressed it to her ear. As she listened to the short dial tone, syncing her breathing to the steady sound, she prepared herself to hear the familiar voice at the end of the line, willing herself not to instantly burst into tears. But nothing could truly prepare her for the lovely sound of her father’s voice, chipper as ever even in its recorded state.

Hello there. You have reached the Simmons residence. We are unable to pick up the phone at the moment, as we’re probably too busy with the dogs. Please leave your name and number, and we’ll do our best to get back to you.  

Instead of feeling the heavy sadness she had anticipated, she was filled with a familiar warmth only he could provide. She’d heard the recording hundreds of times in her life, but somehow, it felt like she was listening to it the first time, the rise and fall of his phrases sending waves of comfort through her entire being. Once the recorded message ended and she heard the short tone signaling the start of her message, she willed herself to power forward, not wanting to miss a word.

“Hi Dad,” she uttered sweetly. “I know I haven’t checked in in a long time, and it’s getting more difficult these days, but I just wanted to say hi and wish you a happy birthday. I wish I were with you. I’m doing okay. We’ve been through a lot here, but physically, I’m completely healthy. Fitz is here. He’s…” 

She knew she didn’t have the time to pause, but she couldn’t help her voice catching in her throat at the mention of Fitz. Her father loved him dearly, more than she could have ever dreamed, and she knew it was important for her father to know that he was okay as well.

Needing to steady herself, she reached forward to hold onto Fitz’s shoulder as she fixed her eyes on his. “He’s doing okay, too,” she continued. “And it’s good between us. It still is. We weren’t able to get that apartment we told you about, but maybe one day, we’ll find a different place. Maybe somewhere closer to home.” At this, Fitz chuckled lightly and reached up to wipe away a stray tear that had made its way down her cheek.

They had discussed their dreams of moving away after stepping down as agents – whenever that day would come – and they agreed they would want a place back home somewhere, either his or hers, but not too close. They didn’t want their parents hovering, after all. But deep down, they both knew no matter how far away they relocated, their parents would always find a way to close the distance.

Jemma took in a shaky breath, her mind racing of thoughts of their future. But she knew her time was running short, so she jumped back in with the rest of her prepared words. “We miss you, and we wish we could see you, but unfortunately that’s not possible right now. I’ll explain it to you one day. And oh! Tell Fitz’s mum we miss her too.”

She noticed Fitz visibly tense at the mention of his mother, but Jemma was relieved she managed to get that part into her message. The last time Fitz had spoken to his mother was after Radcliffe’s betrayal, and Jemma knew he was reluctant to contact her after everything he’d been through. After the Framework, he didn’t recognize himself, so he feared his mother would feel the same way. But Jemma knew that would never be the case.

“Okay, Dad,” she said, closing her eyes. “Send Mum my love, and I’ll talk to you soon.”

As she lowered the phone from her ear and ended the call, she laughed weakly to herself. “I guess I’m being optimistic.”

“But you will talk to him. I don’t know when, but you will.”

She felt the tears suddenly pooling over, so she lurched forward and pulled him into a fierce embrace, letting her tears fall freely down her cheeks. She didn’t realize how many feelings she had locked away deep inside, but now – after talking to her original rock in this world – she let them out gratefully.

“Thank you,” she mumbled into his shoulder.

“Of course.”

But after a few moments, she pulled back, concern causing her forehead to crease. “We should have called your mum though. You need to talk to her, Fitz.”

He nodded, biting his lip. “We will. Just not tonight.”

She didn’t know when or how, but would find a way to do the same for him. As much as she felt like a reassurance from her father was enough to ease Fitz’s mother’s worries for some time, Jemma knew only her son’s voice would bring her peace. Even if they were whole worlds apart, the thought of bringing her father – and hopefully Fitz’s mother – some relief from the separation was enough to ease Jemma’s mind for the moment. It wasn’t enough to completely rid her of her painful thoughts of everything she missed, but it helped her feel like home was still right around the corner. And hopefully, Fitz would soon feel the same way.

~

Thank you for reading! If you would like a FitzSimmons fic, you can request one by choosing from this list! 

[marchingfluterino]

championships and friday game things!!

friday game:

before practice me matt and annabeth were in a practice room and miguel walks past and looks in and we all look back at him

and then he comes back and pokes his head in and says, “you guys want some sauce?”

and he comes in and takes his hot sauce and some break out of hi pockets and starts like, drug dealing it to matt and annabeth bc he’d gotten it banned

and he tells me to get in front of the door

then later he takes us into the practice room he was in and. he had a whole computer in there. like with a tower and everything

it was wild

then noah was there!!!!!! it was lit im glad noahs back

hes been in the hospital since bandcamp and obviously hes had his treatment but he still needs to take it easy

hes pit tho so thats good

it was my section leader + her twin sister the trombone section leader’s birthday

and also daryl (ben kukunas) the band fish’s birthday

i love DBK hes so cool

i didnt even know he existed until friday tho

then at the game we got there and u could hear piccolos (6, i counted)

and i was like !!!!!!! :OOOOO!!!!! i wanna do that

and max, resident tubist for the cavaliers, was like “no theyre so screechy”

and we got into an argument over whats better lmao

then at halftime after we went the (HUGE) other band got cheered for REALLY loud by their student section

like wtf i want that

and turns out they were really exciting

like bad, but exciting

lots of dancing and spinning and running and screaming

it was demoralizing tbh

they didnt have pit but they had drumline + marching marimbas

my mom marched that in 10th grade

after halftime noah did the band dance and it was SO FUCKIN LIT!!!!!!

he made us do some classic band dance stuff that we did w the drum majors while he was gone but we also did a bunch of other stuff like basically the bird

at one point he actually LAID DOWN ON THE FLOOR it was SO FUCKIN LIT

then we sang happy birth to ellie and vicky and dbk

hannah’s mellophone got knocked over and it had a flat dent it in and i said to her, “hannah, i think ur lookin a lil flat”

pat got one of those bags of those snack size bags of chips and started like handing them out to staff

u could tell he was tryin to be secretive about it but it wasnt working

he then zipped the big bag into his jacket

at one point i actually yelled “HEY PAT WHATS IN YOUR SHIRT”

and he couldnt tell it was me but he like did a glare

then later i went up with the saxes bc theyre always p lit

i had a stand off with josh where we’d like play notes at each other and like do weird poses

like dogs when theyre playin

then at one point my instrument broke AGAIN

screaming into our instruments

on the us ride back this one car NYOOOOOOMED past us really FUCKIN loud

then a second car did the same thing

it was wild

saturday championships:

LAST PRACTICE.......... EVER. RIP

not actually tho, only for the seniors

actually wait, it was the last REGULARLY SCHEDULED practice OF THE SEASON for the seniors

i gave daryl the bingo sheets

i noticed ben was like dci-style running across the field with bent legs to get to the set where we’re all on / posing around the boxes

he’s really tall and yet he was far enough away

it looked really comical

but like, i have to backwards march sorta like that to get to some of my sets in the closer as well so

at the competition there was this other band next to our bus and

clarissa: stop being so judgmental caitlin (a colorguard instructor): their guard uniforms are ugly though

apparently roman asked max to zip him up and he ACTUALLY DID

after getting our uniforms on and stuff we passed this other band that was going to the stadium and me and this one kid who had a piccolo like pointed to our instruments and grinned like “SAME HAT!!!”

there was this other band warming up that literally fuckin did hallelujah and dont stop believin. it was wild

the band before us did bohemian rhapsody and, according to my mom, their theme was rhapsodies and before that they’d done rhapsody in blue.

yes. by george gershwin. what the fuck

max came down our two line giving everyone fistbumps and i was at the back and when he fistbumped me i said “piccolos are better than tubas” lmao

while we were marching on some people in the stands were screaming like “DARYL!!!” and “EVAN HATTRICK” (but with mr hee hees real last name)

like i was STRUGGLING not to laugh it was so Fucking funny

i only made one mistake this time!!

when we went back to our trailer + buses to take off our uniforms + get our windsuits and money i told max my drum corps joke

me: hey max do ya wanna hear a drum corps joke max: no me: yeah ya do! whaddaya call someone who only starts liking a drum corps when they start winning? max: a... blue devil me: a BANDWAGONER

i got two videos during this and one was of glenna and quinn but the other one was. god

this is an Actual screenshot of it and honestly it is Such a Masterpiece. Matt’s FUCKING dab. max’s look of disappointment. pat’s fucking face like he’s like shading someone or something. paul’s face like he’s just given up on literally everything.

like. literally the video was just max leaning into the frame from behind matt while i’m yelling “WHY DO YOU HAVE YOUR DOTBOOK YOU LOSER” and then matt reverse whipping as he says “i thought i had my phone and now” and then max turns around again RIGHT AS matt says “i wanna die” and dabs

these brass guys tried to give multiple staff members a white paper bag. what was in the bag, you may be wondering?

one (1) hot dog, free of bun, and a couple fries.

mr beaver, opening the bag: “this is disgusting”

they actually had lost the bun and found it like twenty minutes later

this one 4a band did a show called “phobias: what are you afraid of” and it was REALLY COOL

the phases of the show were spiders / snakes / water / being alone / loud noises / fire and it was VERY good

they had spiderwebs on the pit’s instruments and spiderweb props that were like ropes with a guard member in the center and a marcher at each end, and the color guard also had stuffed snake props and blue and red flags for water and fire respectively. they also did sabrework and had these cool dark / light gray flags

they also had a trumpet soloist for snakes and a trombone soloist as well as an INCREDIBLE flute soloist for water. fuck

for loud noises they had some normal volume stuff and then all of a sudden FUCking THIRTY-SEVEN FS

they had two big props that were the same at the front of each side of the field that said the name of their show in big white letters, and in small white a bunch of fears and in middling size in red the phases. i sat right behind max and he was being judgy about that and salting about how that made the show less exciting or whatever lmao

then a 3a band (same class as us) did a beethoven show with a tiny bit of moonlight sonata in the beginning and then beethoven’s fifth, then fur elise and finally ode to joy

it was so fucking good. what business do they have marching to beethoven and making it that fucking good

i asked max and he said that him leaning into the frame during the video was on purpose lmao

we were on the same bus so beka gave me her hanger and windsuit pants to take back there

BUT

i had to take them onto the field

michael took the pants and put them in his pocket after folding them really compactly

i had the hanger in my jacket the whole time

(clarissa found out about the flute-in-my-sleeve scenario and got mad about it)

anyway i kept opening my jacket and going “hey u want a hanger”

even when we got to mingle with other bands

we also talked to someone from the band with the hella amazing bari sax soloist / drum major and she said that everyone in the band is attracted to him

also guess who we told about that guy being called sax daddy

lmao

there was a fucking Long conga line

also on the way back to the buses, on the Road Of High Fives, this one kid from another band yelled “tell miguel to go to hell for the hot sauce” I CANT BELIEVE THIS. HE WAS DRUG DEALING HIS HOT SAUCE TO OTHER BANDS FUCK

also ppl were taunting paul (a dentist) about dentistry on the way back. “i only floss at dentist appointments!” someone yelled from the back of the bus. paul puts his head in his hands in despair

percussion started doing the cadence on the seats

we started chanting “DARYL! DARYL! DARYL!” when we got to the school and mr hee hee said “why are we chanting for a fish” OH MY GOD

and. that’s it i guess.

end of the season

we’ve still got at least two more games to go to, since we made it into playoffs, and the disney trip, and november practices, but. that’s it for competitions and full runs for this year.

[empresskira]

I couldn’t think of what to exactly write, so I thought maybe a preview of that post-apocalyptic AU I am doing? And I promise its not creepy! XD @fire-lark Happy birthday! (7/8)

Hope you enjoy~!

As soon as I laid eyes on the dark-haired male a floor down from where I lingered making a sword out of PVC pipe and string, I knew we had to team up. So, as I made my way to crouch by the hole in the floor, I noticed he had someone else with him that brought other scraps and how the pipe along his back looked modified, having me know these two were savvy. I laid to my stomach as I watched to see no visible gun present and hoped they didn’t. I would go down, but was afraid they would run and after losing my brother, it’s been hard on me. 

“Hey!” It was a raised tone, but not too loud to gain others attention. Both stiffened, the dark-haired male moved with his still being constructed weapon for defense and the other was moving a gloved hand back to grip his pipe. They were looking in my direction as I had both hands in view to show I wasn’t armed at this moment. “You guys seem savvy in weapons, yeah?” 

They eyed me while the one with the sword glanced to his friend who merely flickered green eyes to soon gaze back at me. “We are, what do you want?” 

“I’m really good with botany in unfavorable places, have all kinds of ways to make remedies.” The words left me while they stayed in defense and I completely understood. 

When the outbreak occurred, it started in a large city area as some type of bio-chemical terrorist attack. The place I worked was in another city area, but on the outskirts at a facility where I helped with basically mutating plants or combining things to help find cures. They put Water Seven on lockdown because of the outbreak, which was awful to watch on the television. Everyone in the breakroom watching stared in silence, mouths open in shock as videos played of people still in the sealed city, not allowed out ‘just in case’ they were infected already. 

Our facility—along with many others—were tasked with finding a cure and even given a living undead corpse. They restrained it and had the bottom jaw removed so it could not bite, along with us strapping something to the top teeth to be on the safe side. We were doing everything in our power to find a cure, as it started to stem that I would be one of the top three people in charge. Everything was actually going well the first few months, but then the barricades were destroyed, some people deciding the madness should spread. 

People began to panic again, the facility being pressured and having armed guards so we could do our work. We had to live in the facility since it was dangerous leaving the place with them all out there screaming for us to save them. We were working our best, solving ways to eliminate them in the process and to prevent against the disease if encountering one—basically stopping them from biting you by killing it. Our time felt limited as we were told of city after city being taken over to the point people wanted in the building for protection. 

It only took five months for the outbreak to almost reach coast to coast and we were allowed to be evacuated finally. A lot of us stayed, but we had to fend for ourselves, so we closed off one floor with only one access route. A few men from the soldiers helped protect us while we continued. People were fairly okay as we started to let them reside inside and make a small type of base. They were all good at getting things done and set up to keep the undead out, while having means to go for supplies. 

Then someone brought in an infected person, swearing it wasn’t a bite from a zombie but that of a dog. Foolishly people didn’t check and were surprised when the man turned a few days later. It spread like wildfire, the panic and disease infected people to the point they slammed against the doors. The infection travels faster when by the neck and each person differed on speed of being overtaken. It was pressuring us as we began locking ourselves away in our labs and I made sure to tightly as I was so close to a discovery that could help. 

It only took a matter of a few days for the building to be overrun by undead and I made sure to hurry my pace. There was only a small amount of food supplies that I had and I made sure to use what electricity I had left to keep working. The time limit got me working so much before I had finally made something, knowing it would be good in some way. I made ten vials of it, taking the small remainder to test it along with my blood and a sample of the zombie blood. When I noticed a slight difference in mine and not the undead one, I figured I had done something wrong, but then I decided to put a little of untreated blood from the undead with mine I had put the serum in. 

It didn’t change… 

The blood actually rejected the undead virus. 

Hope blossomed in me at a way to prevent such a disease, making me take a vial in hand to begin getting a clean needle. After getting the serum in, I had shaky breaths while tying a band to my arm and finding a vein I know would be good. Then I calmly ejected myself with the serum and decided to wait twenty-four hours to be safe. In that time, I had slept and gathered my research to place it in a drawer with a note saying of it being a possible serum, but if found then that it meant it needed to be modified. 

Reaching my time mark, I took the chance of getting bitten by one of the wondering scientist that had been overrun already. After getting a sample of my blood beforehand with a look over it, I had moved to my door and moved a corner of paper to see there was only a few undead lingering. This had me mentally prepare myself because at the time I had been terrified of what I was about to do. When I had finally braved the bite, receiving it was excruciating as it still amazed me on how there jaw muscles could be so strong—fending it off to lock back away was only difficult as I had to get the teeth out. I kept taking samples and prayed to the Maiden that I would be onto something. 

And I had been. 

My blood rejected the virus, sterilizing it with no problem. I monitored myself for five days, which is the normal time it takes from the farthest of your heart and nothing happened. I was immune to the disease, though now I had a scar from the bite, but I was immune. 

I could not contract the Z-virus. 

“Are you alone?” The blond had asked me with a suspicious look and I felt myself clenching in my chest. 

“I am, yoi… now anyways…” I lightly mention with a strained look at the thought of being alone. 

“Was… was someone with you?” That was the dark-haired male now as he had furrowed eyebrows of curiosity. 

“Yes, a month ago I had my brother with me… but we… we came across some other people…” I told them truthfully, the memories hurting to think about and I could see them gazing to each other. 

“How did you get up there?” The blond asked me while they lowered a bit on their weapons. 

“The outside window,” I mention with a finger pointing a direction I had went and they were a bit surprised. “I have been up here a few days, making some salves and such.” They seemed to nod before looking to one another with tilts of their head so I couldn’t really read lips, which I was bad at anyways unless staring intently. I let them talk, noticing more on how the blond had scars over his left eye as he gazed back to me as they discussed, seeming to be from a fire. Any other features were hard to tell from my distance, but it looked like the dark-haired male’s face had freckles on it. 

“Could we come up?” The blond had asked as they both showed of lowered offenses, but stayed on guard. “We need a break and to reform some things.” 

“Of course, yoi. Do you need to transfer anything up? If you want, one of you can come up and then help with pulling items up.” The suggestion was to ease them that I would not run off with their things, not that I would know how to make weapons. I was mainly chemical/plants stuff, the weapons maker was my brother. 

“We will do that, I am Sabo and this is Ace.” The blond greeted and I made a noise of acknowledgement. 

“My name is Marco.”

[calamity-bean]

so i finally saw Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them...

...meaning I at last feel qualified to have, like, an informed opinion about the things my treasured mutuals post about it, rather than just making finger guns from afar and being like, “Haha yeah, them Scamanders, am I right!!!”

Full disclosure: I may or may not have been a little obsessed with this book back in the day. I mean, yeah, I was obsessed with Harry Potter in general, who wasn’t, but … let’s just say I never drew an illustrated encyclopedia of Hogwarts professors, or all the players mentioned in Quidditch Through the Ages.

Did I, as a wee child, spend weeks drawing and coloring my interpretations of every creature described in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, alphabetically, then cut them out so I could play with them? Maybe. Was glitter glue involved, to afford the proper sparkle to the Re’em and Antipodean Opaleye? Wouldn’t you like to know. Point is, I ... liked the book. So I was rather giddy when a movie was announced, and then rather nervous about it, and maybe that’s one of the reasons I sort of delayed in seeing it.

But anyway — with all that in mind, I present my very formal and professional review.

The Good

— Jacob Kowalski. Just, like, in general. Both Jacob and Newt sort of fulfill one of the same character roles, actually: the outsider who is familiar enough to the audience that the audience is meant to sympathize with them and assume their viewpoint as the narrative introduces audience & character alike to an unfamiliar setting — i.e., the American wizarding community, with which audiences heretofore haven’t had much experience, in contrast to our considerable experience of being muggles and of consuming Newt’s British wizarding world. So Jacob and Newt are both familiar to the audience, in different ways, and both entering an unfamiliar world, and often we’re given characters who are very reluctant about all that. So one of the things I liked most about Jacob is that, as soon as the initial shock has passed, he’s like FUCK RELUCTANCE! MAGIC!!! MAGIC IS REAL!!! YES!!! AMAZING!!! I WANT TO KNOW IT ALL!!!

Because seriously, that’s how we’ve all felt about the HP world for the last twenty-odd years, right? Jacob Kowalski is every real-life HP-reading kid who counted down the days to their eleventh birthday. And yes, he faces hardships and disappointments and is ultimately told (as we all ultimately had to accept, when our eleventh birthdays passed and no owl had come) that this magical world is not one in which he can actually exist — but through it all, he remained brave and helpful and hopeful. I liked Jacob Kowalski.

— Newt Scamander is certainly not a reluctant outsider, either. As those who know my blog may have noticed, I have a deeply ingrained fondness for characters who are a bit ... eccentric, and bookish, and better with animals than with people, and always on the outside of society. “No, I annoy [people],” Newt says, calmly, with the air of someone who’s been mocked for his outsiderness for so long that he’s come to terms with it, has made it his own. Oh, Newt.

My one real quibble with Newt is this: Newt, buddy, I love ya, but when smuggling a case full of magical creatures, have you considered … not acting like the shiftiest mofo in NYC? No wonder the customs guy, the bankers, the Second Salemer lady, Tina, and the rest of New York were all over you from the second you got off that boat, cause every little thing about your body language screams, “Hello, I am Suspicious, how are you?”

— Sibling relationships make me happy. Female characters with very different personalities & definitions of femininity being presented in an equally positive light — as though there’s, gasp, more than one good way to be a woman — make me happy. Tina and Queenie, in summary, made me happy. I would like to nominate myself for the position of third and least talented Goldstein sister, that I may reside in their adorable little apartment and eat strudel. And I liked their accents. Very weirdly pleasing, in their nasal, old-timey way.

— Mooncalves are grotesque and horrifying and I would like twelve.

LOOK AT THESE ATROCITIES!!! THEY WERE NEVER MEANT TO BE!!! ❤ ❤ ❤

— I would also like a respectable number of occamies, nifflers, bowtruckles, and, in general, most of the creatures, but so long as I’ve at least got my freakish mooncalf army, I’ll be set. In all seriousness: although many of the creature designs were nothing like what I devised back in the glitter glue days, I really enjoyed how colorful, creative, and expressive they were. Also, if I can’t live with the Goldsteins, may I … live in Newt’s suitcase? Would that be allowed? I won’t cause any trouble. Just call me your friendly neighborhood magical zookeeper and let me frolic with the mooncalves after my chores are done. I used to, like, pet-sit a lot of dogs and stuff, so I figure I’m qualified, right?

— Assuming Leta Lestrange was in Slytherin, which seems very likely, this film has at last given us the Slytherpuff friendship we deserve. Huzzah for inter-house friendships and romances, and huzzah in particular for such things between houses that seem as disparate as the Slythers and the Puffs.

— Credence, you sad hellpuppy, let me floof your dorky hair.

— Graves being like, “Why … does ALBUS DUMBLEDORE ... like you,” aka “NOT THAT I’M JEALOUS OR ANYTHING!!! WHO’S JEALOUS THAT MY NEMESIS EX-BOYFRIEND IS PARTIAL TO THIS KID??? HAHAHA, NOT ME.”

— MACUSA’s execution method is appropriately witchy and horrifying and strange. It was far and away my favorite thing about anything in the MACUSA offices, actually. I really appreciated the imagery of witch dunking, and the black potion against the stark white (but stained) walls created a nice visual effect.

The Bad

— The obliviating rain. In theory, I like this. In practice, I have some questions. How’d it get into the water supply so quickly, such that we’re immediately shown no-majs being affected indoors simply by drinking, showering, etc? What if a no-maj is hanging out inside and doesn’t touch water all day? Is it in the water vapor? Can it get into their lungs just by breathing? If so, and in general: Are only no-majs affected? We know wizards can be obliviated, and minor differences in wizard / muggle physiology aside, this toxin has “very powerful” properties, so I should think it would affect wizards. Queenie’s use of the umbrella suggests yes. But all those aurors walking around fixing stuff in the rain suggests no. Did Queenie just not want to mess up her hair? (I mean, understandable, girl.) And if breathing in the water vapor is enough to work, the umbrella wouldn’t help anyway. Maybe wizards need the more concentrated dose in the water itself? But again, all those aurors walkin’ around. And what about random wizards just goin’ about their business, walking in the rain or taking showers or whatever? How convenient is it that the rainstorm contains the perfect dosage of toxin to affect no-maj’s memories of the past day or so yet not destroy their minds or affect wizards caught in the rain?!

...Like I said. Questions. I have them.

— Overall, I liked Queenie. I truly did. HOWEVER. Mind reading is a power that tends to squick me out in general, and I find it hard to be comfortable with characters who wield it so flippantly. If Queenie can’t control her legilimency — fine. Understandable. A great character trait to work with, in fact! But she can control whether to comment on the things she senses. If there are any legilimens reading this, please don’t publicly comment on others’ thoughts. And if your new friend explicitly asks you not to keep pressing about an intensely personal matter…? Don’t press.

— So, I went in knowing The Twist about Mr. Graves (among other things). At one point, Newt’s like, “Get me info on Graves’s background!” and I was like, “Aha! Yes! Do this! Do this, and let said info contain something that hints that the Graves of today is Not Quite Right compared to how he used to be! Foreshadowing, y’all!” But … as far as I can remember, we never really learned Graves’s background. The thread just kind of dropped. Did I miss it? Truly, if I missed it, let me know, but I don’t remember anything ever coming of it.

— By the way, why did the Second Salemers’ banners have flames on them? They know no witches were burned in Salem, right?

— The pacing, of action and of dialogue, was often a bit stilted and weird. And how does Tina keep walking into these top secret very important MACUSA meetings??? Where the fuck is the security in this place??? You are wizards! You could make a force field! Something! Anything!!! Instead you leave the door open for your big important gathering of big important people and apparently position no guards or barriers in the way that would prevent Tina from walking in as though she’s expecting to find everyone sitting around eating croissants. At which point everybody just stares at her, anyway, while she twirls a mute circle on the floor. Fucking Graveselwald is literally the only person in this agency, apparently, who knows how to lock a door.

The … Interesting

— Had to watch Eddie Redmayne seduce an erumpent; may never be the same.

    Overall, although I enjoyed the characters, creatures, and concepts of the film quite a bit, it’s probably best not to think too much about the storytelling aspects, because pacing, plot, and dialogue could have used some polishing. I’m curious about where the future movies will go.

For my part ... I hope the future films focus more on Newt Scamander, Magical Zoologist, and less on big, epic, wizarding-war type plots. We already got 8 movies about fighting dark wizards, yeah? I’m not criticizing the Grindelwald plot here outright; overall, I think it works, and of course the story has to have some kind of stakes. But the title is Fantastic Beasts. Newt can and has and will fight if need be, but he’s not a warrior. That’s Theseus, yeah? Newt is, in essence, an academic. He’s an animal lover and a naturalist and a nerd. And I gotta say it: although a lot of creatures appeared in this film, they didn’t amount to much more than distractions and devices. They were there to give the heroes something to chase, to cast MACUSA suspicion upon Newt, and to act as Newt’s tools, basically in lieu of having him use more spellcraft. Newt has an Obscurus in his case, yes, but he explicitly says that an Obscurus (and the Obscurial to which it’s attached) is not a beast. I would be entirely happy with lower stakes if that meant that the main conflict were actually focused on a creature, rather than creatures simply affecting the conflict from the periphery.

I mean — in case you couldn’t already tell from the glitter glue, ten-year-old me kind of really wanted to be Newt Scamander.* The idea of his adventures, his studies, fascinated me. I wished I could write a book like is. In the film universe, it sounds like his book will already have been published by Movie #2, so I guess we won’t get the story of him going around and researching it. But I hope the next films make the creatures more central to the story.

I could just use some more beasts in my Fantastic Beasts, ya dig?

* Other characters that ten-year-old me wanted to be included Indiana Jones, Dr. Ellie Sattler of Jurassic Park, and Evie Carnahan O’Connell of The Mummy. The fact that I did not grow up to be any sort of adventurer-scientist remains a disappointment to this day.

[wujusogay]

i'd cry if you do a serious one, every single girl is so precious and deserves so much it will end up being super sappy lol but pls do it!

I will try my hardest to get all the qualities and be as unbiased as possible (though it might show a bit due to the length of the descriptions o.0). If I miss anything, anyone can feel free to add on to this :) And sorry this took so long. I wanted to not just go off the top of my head and find what I could. Plus my electricity was out -__-

On the outside, Seola appears to be very put together and wise. Her sense of humor is more sarcastic and she picks on those she feels extra close to (Exy & Soobin). She can also get pretty goofy (aka shameless) when she pulls out the body rolls and other sexy moves. Seola seems like she’d be a strong person all the time, but she can be just as sensitive. She’s there for the other members when she needs to be and she has her own weaknesses (she’s very afraid of water). She finds inspirational quotes meaningful and even used them to help her get through training. The one that stuck was, “Don’t delay happiness.” She also said that in order to stay strong during training, you must find something to make you happy in the moment, not just look forward to the happiness of debut. Seola wants to travel the world without money (idk girl but ok), experiencing everything as it is. She likes hip hop music, hiking, doing her hair, and spacing out. But one of the most important things to remember about Seola is just how hard of a worker she is. The girl dedicated 10 years of her life in order to become an idol. She even came close to debuting at one point (she was in a group with 9Muses Kyungri, Dalshabet’s Woohee, Hello Venus’s Lime, Yumi, and Exy), but that was all cut short. Never forget that.

Like the other members have said, Xuan Yi doesn’t really seem like she’d have the 4D personality that she does. She has her weird quirks, such as her obsession with gim, and sometimes they only get weirder. The girl wakes up in the middle of the night to eat gim and walk around the dorm. If that’s not at least slightly strange, I don’t know what is. Anyway, Xuan Yi is probably one of the kindest people on the planet and is definitely a mother of the group. She takes care of the other members when they need help, both emotionally and economically (she bought a super expensive lunch for half of the members in China). She seriously only asked them for aegyo or a cheek kiss in return. Adding onto her other great qualities, she also likes interacting with her fans. On multiple occasions, fans have jokingly said she was mean. In response, our lovely, gentle, and kind Xuan Yi “angrily” pointed into the crowd of fans and shouted, “Who said that?!” She enjoys shopping, gaming, and modeling. Her favorite color is dark blue and gim is actually her life.

Bona is an actual handcrafted gift from Heaven. She’s a beautiful person, both inside and out. She’s kind and takes care of all the younger members. She’s playful and enjoys participating with the other members when they get goofy (watch WJSN’s Idol Arcade or the mud fight in ‘My Cosmic Diary’), and also acts like a giant “bully,” teasing the others. Bona’s a feminine princess who hates bugs, loves her nail art/lipstick, takes a fucking hour in the shower (refused to get out when Dayoung needed the bathroom), wants to be able to teleport just because she hates walking, and has got the unimpressed expression mastered. Sometimes I think she can be a bit insecure about her looks and she used to get nervous on stage, but it’s good to know she feels very confident on stage nowadays. As I’ve talked about before, she recognized the same fansite photographer over and over, keeping count of the same special heart she made for them. She counted up to seventeen. Lastly, Bona is another one of the members that trained for a very long time in order to debut. 7 years to be exact. She dedicated a lot of time to a company that has horrible management skills (fuck you Cube), and smartly moved to Starship. I will forever be trash for her.

Exy is the resident bad ass aunty. Tired Aunty Exy is always taking care of the kids, mostly through keeping them in line. Her girl crush image is by far the strongest among the group members and she definitely has the “tough leader” look. Soobin has said that Exy can be strict during practices, can take charge when she needs to, and can be a hard-ass, but Exy is still sensitive and has her emotional moments. Exy herself has said that she cries a lot and enjoys romantic comedies. She likes to find things that she can do alone, movie watching being one of them. Her favorite movies are ‘The Notebook’ and ‘Burlesque’ (YES BTCH). I’m pretty sure almost all the members agreed that she was intimidating when they first met her. Anyway, Exy also has a lovely, goofy side. For some reason she enjoys dancing with some kind of circular orange object covering her cheeks (oranges & carrots). She loves and respects the skin she’s in, even finding her tan to be one of her charming points. Her favorite animals are puppies and cats, and like Seola, she wants to travel the world. Exy is another one of the members that worked her ass off for more than the typical training period. She dedicated 8 years to training and came close to debuting (she was in a group with 9Muses Kyungri, Dalshabet’s Woohee, Hello Venus’s Lime, Yumi, and Seola), but it was cut short. An important thing I want to mention is that Exy finds it hard to open up to others. After watching so many fellow trainees and friends cycle in and out of her trainee life, she’s gotten tired of going through the emotion of letting go. She’s scared that new people will end up leaving in the end like others have. Let’s take care of Aunty Exy from now on.

Small baby Soobin is precious and needs to be protected from the sinful world. She’s exactly like you thought she was when you first saw her: a sugary, fluffy, and innocent marshmallow. Soobin is incredibly sweet and likes the simple things in life (chocolate and coloring books). The only thing about her that would probably catch you off guard is her volume. Yes, volume. Pterodactyl Soobin lives beneath that cute exterior and comes out whenever she laughs and or screams, both of which happen often. Baby Soobin is also pretty bad under pressure and isn’t able to handle questioning by the other members about something she’s trying to hide. She’s a pretty clumsy person. She’s fallen into Yeonjung, smacking the poor girl in the nose, and has even gotten changed behind a door before she asked if a camera could see her. Her favorite colors are pink and sky blue, she likes acoustic music and hiking, and she hates eggplant. Soobin please pull yourself together. AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST, Soobin is another of the members that worked her butt of in order to debut. She has about 6 or 8 years under her belt.

Luda is a spawn of Satan. Ok, that’s not true, but she is a little rascal. Luda is very, very quiet and has her shy moments, but on the inside she’s a little savage. She makes hilarious sarcastic remarks and has no shame in speaking her more aggressive thoughts. Moving on, Luda has a strong work ethic. The group has stated that she has a more frail body and even needs to eat a lot just to not lose weight. I read that practicing was more strenuous on her than the others because of this, but she worked hard to keep up with the group. Plus she’s a girl scout! Even though she can be tough with her sense of humor and mischievousness, Luda seems to love the cutest things. She likes handwritten letters and just likes hearing people say “thank you” to her. On her birthday, she enjoys giving back to others, such as family and friends, by making them something to eat. She has admitted to feeling scared of becoming an adult because of responsibilities and is even scared to be forgotten by others (like with friendships, not just fans). On a more positive note, she likes both extremely spicy and sweet foods, movies, books, and gaming. Also scented candles and her wrist watch. She also said she wants to walk her dog over the holidays, but her dog is scared of the outside world. All in all, Luda is absolutely precious.

Dawon is the chillest of chill and the underappreciated of underappreciated. She seems like a pretty relaxed person and just goes with the flow of things. She sleeps the most of the group and is even called Snorlax. She’s such a sweetheart and comes off as so kind. Dawon is considerate of all the other girls and even moves things out of the way just so all the girls can be seen on frame. She likes perfume, the piano, spicy food, working out, reading, and hearing that she lost weight. Ok, but time to get very serious for a minute. It’s clear that music means everything to her. Dawon has done nothing but work and work and work. She loves singing more than anything. While on ‘Girl Spirit’, she sang ‘Yanghwa Bridge’ and her performance brought all the girls to tears, including herself. There, we learned that Dawon’s father had never once complimented her singing. He said he felt horrible for not being more supportive, but just let that sink in for a minute. Dawon hardly gets the recognition she deserves for her singing, from her father, the company, and the fandom. By now, she’s got to be more sensitive to the feeling of not being acknowledged. Dawon was so emotional seeing her father and hearing kind words from him. Don’t you think it’s time to GIVE HER MORE SUPPORT? THE SUPPORT SHE DESERVES?

The perfect way to come back to positivity is to talk about Eunseo. She is an actual walking meme and is always giving the fandom the gay moments (the others do as well, but this girl goes above and beyond). Her personality is loud (literally) and bright. She’s very energetic and enjoys playing around with nearly everyone. In fact, I think it’s fair to say that Eunseo is one of the members that gets along very well with all the girls. Even though she’s one of the youngest, she’s always there for the others. She’s cock blocked male fans, she’s comforted Seola when she was confronted by her fear of water, she’s cooked for the other members (even though they picked takeout over her), and she’s waken all the girls up in the morning like a good parent (probably still does to this day). Even though she likes joking around with everyone and seems slightly invincible, Eunseo really hates being mocked and scary things. Of course while in a dark/abandoned school she continuously said “I’ll protect you all,” but she was probably the most scared and actually said that with a blankly, terrified face. Lastly, according to Seola, Eunseo is a member that the girls can tell anything to. She’s a good listener and will never tell anything about the conversation to anyone else.

According to the internet, Cheng Xiao is extremely sweet and an absolute angel. This is one of the few times you can believe the internet full heartedly. She recently blew up the world wide web with her amazing skills in gymnastics and has only continued to impressive everyone with her down to earth personality. She’s been nothing but cute, kind, and loving toward others, especially her group members. I’m pretty sure every member loves Xiao and she’s probably cuddled all the time. I know all the girls work hard, but Xiao has shown us that she’s willing to go to the extreme. While practicing for her ISAC gymnastics performance, she also had other schedules to attend for the ‘Secret’ promotions. The girl stayed up for hours practicing, even needing IV in order to get through the long days of work. If that’s not dedication, then nothing is. Cheng Xiao has offered candy to young kids while they were working at a traditional Korean temple tour site (?), even doing it in English for the foreigners. She likes movies, dramas, hiking, swimming, and badminton. She hates insects, pickled radish, and sashimi (too bad most of her girlfriends love it). One look at her and you know she needs to be protected.

Coming around to the last of the 98line, we have the “sexy member” Mei Qi. She has been selected as one of the smartest members, especially since she’s the bridge between the Korean speakers and Chinese speakers (idk if they all speak Mandarin, so I generalized). She’s an elegant and beautiful person who definitely seems to be mature for her age. Even though she’s on the quieter side, if you get her going she can be one of the goofiest members. Mei Qi always has a judgmental expression waiting in the wind and gets loud when the girls are joking around. I like to think she has a great amount of confidence, especially since she calls herself “Mei Qi Oppa” and has pictures of herself all around her bed. I’m not kidding. This is a serious post, remember? Anyway, she’s an artistic girl that likes drawing and kills at freestyle dance. She hates tomatoes, is well rounded in the dancing and singing skills, and likes clothing, photos, Taeyeon, Boa, and Beyonce. Her favorite colors are purple, wine, and black and she loves koalas. Please love Mei Qi Oppa.

Yeoreum is the small, precious child in this group. She is one of the “Queens of Food” and has been documented to have eaten “5 cows worth of beef” while celebrating their debut. She would pick food over sleep any day. Yeoreum is one of the cutest, little warm fuzzies that you will ever meet. Her #1 go to skill is her imitation of cleaning glass with a towel. She’s full of aegyo and uses it to get what she wants from the Unnies. She really wants to try acting and even practiced with Eunseo at one point, though Eunseo responded with, “This is not acting, but aegyo.” On a much more serious note, I want to talk about how much family means to Yeoreum. She is very, very close to her grandparents and even lived with them for a long time. She spilled a lot of tears while talking about them on ‘My Cosmic Diary.’ Recently, Yeoreum’s grandmother passed away. I can only imagine how she must have been feeling, especially with the ‘Secret’ comeback/promotions right around the corner. She was able to return home, thankfully, for the service. I know this was a very sad thing to talk about, but I really wanted to just establish about how much Yeoreum loves her family (while talking about the closeness, not passing). To bring things back to positivity, Yeoreum likes cameras, her watch, soft blankets, perfume, massages, traveling, sleeping, and “everyone

Dayoung plays two roles. The “loud and proud youngin” and the mom. She cooks for the girls often, especially on the holidays. She really cares about health and diet so she’s often paying attention to those two things for herself and the members. Mommy Dayoung also wakes the girls in the morning for schedules. We all know that Dayoung has been wanting to go into variety for a long time, and with her hyperactivity and wittiness, the girl is perfect for it. It’s also good to mention that she definitely works Aunty Exy into the ground with her activity, but there is evidence that proves Exy in fact joins in on the shenanigans. Anyway, Dayoung likes watching TV, buying clothes, makeup, and pets. She also said that if she could have any super power, she said she would want to have the ability to control time so she could go back and fix things. Part of me believes that she was thinking of her family. Dayoung’s family went through a lot of economical difficulty when her father left. They were very poor, and are still poor currently. But despite that, Dayoung still wanted to care for the other members so she called her mom for money in order to just buy a watermelon. Dayoung is so sweet and considerate of everyone around her. It’s fun to laugh along with her while the girls are joking around, but it’s good to remember just how much Dayoung does for others.

And finally Yeonjung. She got a lot of shit from her time on PD101 for being “attention seeking” and a “brat.” I’m gonna start this with me defending her. Yeonjung was in a competition for a spot in a girl group. It only makes sense that she’d try hard to get some spotlight. She doesn’t want anyone to forget about her. Trends come and go, and she couldn’t afford to “go.” Anyway, Yeonjung is an actual ray of sunshine. She always has so much energy and is making the other girls laugh all the time. WJSN loves her and even wanted her to stay under Starship with them. She had been planning on leaving, but the Wuju girls wanted her to stay and a spot in the group was opened up for her. The girls from IOI have also talked about how much they love Yeonjung. Others have said she hardly ever gets angry and is always patient. Staff have said that Yeonjung is very appropriate according to her settings. She’s loud and fun, but also quiet when she needs to be. Yeonjung likes spicy food, chocolate, and movies. Also, she’s said that her specialty is speaking quickly (which I actually have noticed??) and giving advise. Yeonjung is a precious baby and deserves all the love in the world.