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linxuelian · 7 months ago

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Anime Fest Plus 2024 Convention Experience Log - With Photos!

Hi, hello! As I've recently (as of this post, yesterday morning) attended Anime Fest+ 2024 at Tropicana Gardens Mall, Petaling Jaya, Malaysia, I've decided to write an experience log about my day there! While I will be posting a few different cosplays here, since my blog is currently primarily about MDZS, TGCF and SVSSS at the moment, most of the cosplays I'll be sharing will be from these three titles. To add to the fun, I'll also have commentaries on them!

To preface, the largest anime convention in Malaysia is Comic Fiesta, an annual mecca with 70,000 attendees as of the year 2023. Anime, games and comics are popular in this country, so there are smaller cons dotted throughout the months.

Anyway, the crowd wasn't as large as Comic Fiesta. As the structure of Tropicana Gardens Mall is rather narrow, you'd technically have to file through in two to three lines to be able to walk in and out of the place.

The exhibition hall at the fourth floor hosted all performances as well as cosplay booths. You'd have to ride one of the two escalators up to the hall - plebs without a ticket are doomed to be stranded at the bottom of said escalators, unable to sop up the merriment held exclusively above.

Here are some pics though, just in case you were a pleb that day, or just didn't attend the event:

Main hall programs and booths featured mostly Hololive and sexy pretty girl cosplayers and figurines, given the regular, expected fare when it comes to the anime consuming demographic (yes, I'm calling you out, my anime-watching brothers). I didn't take pictures of the doujinshi market out of respect for the art sellers there, but I did buy a beautiful print and got some lovely free stickers from that ONE vendor who sold BL stuff among the throngs of moe girls/Genshin Impact.

Yes, there was only one stall. But that one vendor made my day! Bless your heart, sister!

Now, I'll move on to the highlight - the cosplays. Nothing fills my heart with more joy than seeing happy people wearing colorful costumes and having a blast just being part of the convention scene. To be honest, it's so common to be wearing cosplay outfits nowadays that folk don't even notice you when you're dressed up - and I say this from experience; nobody noticed at all that I was in costume (or they were far too polite to laugh at how shitty I looked LOL, I didn't even dare take pics of myself). These events usually become scavenger hunts for me, to identify the ones from series I know or my tribe (fellow MXTX fans aha!).

First up is an oldie that's a goldie - Mr. Spock from Star Trek (credit: FaceBook user Yasuhiro Orihusay):

Honestly, I did NOT expect to find any Star Trek cosplays there. My dad's a Trekkie, so this was one of the first pics I sent him at the con itself. Live long and prosper, Mr. Spock!

Next, a furry OC:

I wasn't able to get their social media account as they were waiting in line for an autograph by a cosplayer, so unfortunately I'm unable to credit here.

Furries are currently still a new thing in Malaysia - but I'm glad to see them appearing more frequently at our cons, since they do diversify our pop culture scene quite a bit. Furs Upon Malaysia (FURUM) is held annually in Kuala Lumpur. The tickets are always sold out within an hour, so it's definitely growing and also contributing to tourism (Indonesian and Singaporean furries gather there too).

Also, they're fluffy. I love fluffy things. Much thanks, furry fandom, for being fluffy!

Moving on, here's a group cosplay of Jojo's Bizzare Adventure's Six Pistols (Mista from Golden Wind's Stands, if you're wondering which season it's from):

Vibrant and very spot on! I was unable to get their social media account due to the crowd and disorientation on my part. Do try to look them up, though! They were pretty popular, so I'm sure someone would have shared some info if you're interested.

Anyway, here's a White Mage from Final Fantasy (credit: https://www.instagram.com/yari_hayashi/):

Final Fantasy's one of the older franchises, but it's definitely rising again due to the new FFVII remake. I thought he was Garnet until I saw the blond wig. Bless the mages, healing power plus!!

Next in line is one of my all-time favorites, Sailor Moon (credit: https://www.instagram.com/jiahuab0719_cos/):

I'm a Moonie so seeing a Sailor Moon made me pretty excited! I don't see too many Sailor Moon cosplays even in Comic Fiesta - cosplays at our conventions are pretty seasonal and tend to follow trends, from what I've seen. She definitely caught quite a bit of attention with her wings, too. I saw her getting stopped quite a bit, so I'm glad I got a pic before a line formed!

Aaaand! I've saved the best for last! I'll be showcasing the MXTX stuff now. To start off (with a bang), here are two cosplayers of the number one seasonal love interest of the BL world, Hua Cheng a.k.a. San Lang Didi (Grown Up Version):

Credit: https://www.instagram.com/karry.1213/ (donghua version) and https://www.instagram.com/kopiii_cos/ (manhua version)

Remember how I said cosplays at Malaysian conventions tend to be pretty seasonal? Well, the current flavor of the month for the BL world is definitely TGCF - and the hottest flavor is now San Lang didi. You're going to get stopped for photos pretty often for dressing up as this flashy guy, and for good reason too. Donned in striking red, Hua Cheng is the Ferrari of the danmei world.

I overhead Kopiii_cos' friend saying so many people have been asking for photos! Viva Fafa!

Next, we have the ever beautiful WangXian couple cosplays:

Credit: Wei Wuxian (https://www.instagram.com/purple_384/) and Lan Wangji (https://www.instagram.com/anson1510/)

WangXian's a staple when it comes to the MXTX fandom. There's nary a person who doesn't love these two soulmates, and with these elaborate costumes, they've certainly stolen the show! They were the first couple I saw at the entrance of the exhibition hall, which makes sense since there was an OTP contest going on that afternoon.

Moving along, we have the main character of his story, the Crown Prince of Xian Le, Xie Lian (credit: https://www.instagram.com/arkutagwa/):

I gotta admit that this Lian's the sweetest of the Xies so far. Had a field day calling each other cute (what can I say, we both had cute personalities)! Gotta love that charming dimpled cheek, bless!

Speaking of cute, there's also this whole cute pose thing going on with certain attendees (credit: https://www.instagram.com/chzesin/):

I won't lie - I didn't recognize the character at first. But with the dark-gray-to-white ombre, black and red colors to tell you that's a Wei Wuxian, I'm just going to take a gamble here and deduce that yes, that is indeed a Wei Wuxian and include it. Let me know if you don't think it is.

Last but not least, we have our MXTX OTP group:

Credits: https://www.instagram.com/ayafvrvv/ (Luo Binghe) and https://www.instagram.com/close0402/ (Lan Wangji) - the rest didn't share their social media accounts but they did say you can find them through each other's accounts.

Turns out they're a group who'd entered the OTP contest that afternoon. If you're wondering, no, Binghe isn't paired with air (this is Bing-mei, not Bing-ge). There was a large number of attendees that day as it was Sunday, so their Shizun was still looking for parking. I'd gotten lucky since I'd arrived there just as they'd opened up Basement 3 so ZOOM I parked near the escalators with plenty of space to spare. Until today I chalk it up to being last-minute dressed as Xie Lian, the god of good luck for hobos like myself (or, according to popular belief, Hua Cheng's blessed every Xie Lian cosplayer out there no matter how much we look like we've just stepped out of a jungle). I also had plenty of space to sit for a lovely lunch of salad and green tea!

Granted, there were actually a few other Xie Lians there as well (he's the current flavor as well), but I didn't want to chase after them from afar since the flow of human traffic in this particular mall wasn't too conducive for trying to get pictures, unlike KLCC's garden. Usually, more fans are dressed as the two main characters, Wei Wuxian and Xie Lian - or the shous/bottoms in popular danmei. Surprisingly, I actually saw quite a number of gongs/tops this trip round.

So as a bonus, here's a pic with all our dandy gongs/tops together:

A dashing lot, aren't they?

Anyway, this wraps up my experience log as an MXTX cosplay hunter! Hope you enjoyed it! Bless!

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andy-15-07 · 11 months ago

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Since I met you { Chapter 1}

masterlist ! pairing: Sam Claflin x oc!reader

SUMMARY : When a student meets a famous actor, what can happen? They fall in love, they don't care what the world says about them, they swear their love and that they will be next to each other regardless of the situation.

The story follows the beginning and formation of the love story of Sam and Andrea.

GENRE: fluff, love at first sight

When you ask yourself if you are making the right choice in life, you always ask yourself the question "Am I making the right choice?" , but for me it was not a good choice but an excellent one, I study what I like, photography.

Here I am studying at the University of Arts London, for a good career in this field, I am glad that I have taken this important step in my life.

My name is Andrea Lawson, I'm 20 years old and I'm in my first year at university, as expected, I live in the dormitory, I have a roommate Louisa.

Me and Lou are the complete opposite, she is always invited to campus parties, anyone who knows her, she is popular and I am the one who stays in the dorm room and studies, my personality is that I don't go to parties and I am not known by the people on campus.

But today is not one of those lucky days, Louisa and her boyfriend are in our room and I decided to leave them alone, after all they need privacy. As for love, it doesn't exist for me, I don't have a boyfriend, no one would look at me.

"Andrea, why do you have to leave? We can have a movie night with the three of us, you know we don't mind." Louisa tells me who was in the arms of her lover, Alex.

"I don't want to disturb you, you also need time together, maybe you have other plans and I don't want to be in your way." I tell them calm down while putting on my boots.

"Well let's say you're right. But where are you going?" Alex asked me.

"I'm going to that cafe I told you about."

"And you're going with someone?" Louisa asks me curiously

"Who should I go with? I'm going alone, I still have a few things to finish on a project." I tell

"You always do this, when you go out somewhere, you do all the work related to college, go out a little more, go to a party, have a drink and maybe get together with someone. You're living life!" She tells me and gets up from Alex's arms.

"Lou, you know that this is your lifestyle, not mine. Even if I meet someone, I meet them in my own way and you know this very well. Stop forcing me with such things. Please!" I tell her and look at her.

"I know, sorry! But I want to see you happy, not only with your head in books. You know I only want the best for you, right?"

"I know Lou and I thank you for this. Thank you!" I tell him and give him a hug.

"I'm glad we met, we make a good team" he says and hugs me.

Lou and I didn't know each other but since I started university, we are like two sisters, different but at the end of the day we tell each other everything and give each other advice.

"Now I know that I will speak on behalf of myself and Louisa, but be careful what you do," Alex tells me.

"I will, don't worry, I know what I'm doing. Have fun!" I tell them and leave the room.

I leave the room and meet the typical London weather, it's raining but it doesn't bother me, the rain calms me down.

The road to the cafe is not too long but it is 3 streets from the hostel, usually by the time I get to the cafe I listen to music with headphones, but today I didn't take them with me, but this doesn't bother me because instead of listening to music, I listen how it rained

Around me, the people in the dorms go to the club or others go to have a drink, it's normal that it's Friday. But what do I do? I'm going to finish a project.

As I was thinking, I didn't realize that I had arrived in front of the place where I can call it my favorite place in the vicinity.

Not many people come to this place, only a few, the owner was an old lady who always tells me that this was her dream.

I order a coffee and sit in my favorite place, by the window, to watch the rain. I look around the room and notice that there are few people today, something usual.

I take out my laptop and the files I need and spread them on the small table.

I think it's been an hour since I've been here and I decided to take a break, when I look up from my laptop I realize that someone is looking at me.

A boy, I think he has the same age as me or is 2 years older than me, I look at him and smile, lowering my eyes to the file. Suddenly I hear someone clearing his throat, when I look up I see the boy looking at me.

"Hi! Can I stay?" He was asking me, easy to guess that he is from here, he had an English accent.

"Yes, you can sit down, I don't mind" I say and smile.

To my surprise, I smile for the first time when I'm not forced, this boy has that something that makes me smile, he's cute, even very handsome.

"What are you studying?" He asked me and looked at a file that was fixed in front of him.

"I study photography, and what you see there are pictures taken by me for some exams, some are taken just out of passion." I explain to him but my smile doesn't disappear.

"The pictures are very beautiful, even excellent. You are very talented."

"Thank you very much!" I thank him.

"I'm Sam, Sam Claflin." He says and extends his hand towards me.

"Hi Sam, I'm Andrea, Andrea Lawson, nice to meet you!"

"The pleasure is only mine Andrea," he tells me and I blush, I have never blushed from a small talk.

"Are you studying somewhere? I haven't seen you in this place before." I ask him and look at him carefully.

"I'm not studying, actually I studied but I finished last year. But I like coming to this place, it's quiet and has that something that tells you to come again, and the owner is wonderful, she reminds me of my relatives. Not you I saw you here, I remembered a beautiful girl." he tells me and I start to blush even more.

"I haven't seen you either until today, maybe today is our lucky day. I don't want to seem too curious, you can not answer me if it bothers you. What did you study?" I ask him and look at him as if he were the last person on earth.

"Don't mind, I studied at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art." he says and approaches me, with a smile that could not be erased from his lips.

We look into each other's eyes and I feel like my heart would jump out of my chest, I look at his green eyes, like a forest in spring. I feel his hand when he takes mine and at that moment let's get even closer to me. This has never happened to me, but it was a pleasant feeling.

"What do you say if you want to go for a walk together in the park, don't worry if it's raining, I have an umbrella. Do you want to go Andrea?" he tells me very slowly, telling me almost in a whisper and squeezes my hand a little in his.

"Yes, I would be delighted to go for a walk Sam." I tell him the same way he asks me, like a whisper.

I see that his smile seems to increase upon hearing my words, as if he knew that the answer would be 'Yes'. I remember the discussion I had with Louisa and her boyfriend, I think I was right not to listen to her and to do things my way and this I did.

"Let me help you pack your things." Sam tells me and I nod my head.

He helps me pack my things, then he gives me his hand to stand up, I see him go behind the chair where I left my coat and take it and motion for me to put my hair aside and help me with the coat , he also gets dressed and looks for something, but I can't figure out what.

I see him take his scarf from next to my bag and put it around my neck, a gesture that left me speechless.

"It's cold outside, so I don't want to hear you say something against the scarf, okay?" he tells me with a smile.

"Ok Sam, I trust you." I tell .

We say goodbye to the landlady and head for the exit, Sam smiles and opens the door for me, going out I realize that he was right, it's cold outside, he opens the umbrella and extends his hand towards me.

Out of instinct I put my hand around his hand and I approached him, I feel him looking at me. I look up and look straight into his eyes and smile.

"Sam?"

"Yes Andrea? Is there something wrong?" he tells me, his tone of voice is worried.

"No! Everything is perfect, it's more than perfect. I wanted to ask you something." I tell him and in my mind I think if it is a good idea or not.

"You can ask me what you want my dear." he tells me, and when I heard how he told me those words, I was even happier.

"What do you do? You mean as a job?"

"My dear Andrea, I'm an actor. But keep calm, it's not too well known yet, not many people know me yet, I've been part of a few films and series, I'm not that famous yet. That's why we walk around without we are disturbed." Sam tells me and I am a little shocked.

"I didn't think you were an actor, yes you are very handsome and attractive, I'm not saying you're not. But I didn't expect it."

"You think I'm beautiful and attractive, Andrea, you're already making me fall in love with you," he tells me and we stop.

He turns to me and looks into my eyes then he looks at my lips and at that moment he leans down and captures my lips in a passionate kiss, I didn't expect this but I kiss him back. It's like a scene from a movie or even from the books I've read.

Sam breaks the kiss and looks at me and puts his arm around me and hugs me, I put my head on his chest and we stay like that for a few minutes. The first to break the silence is Sam.

"Andrea do you believe in love at first sight?"

"Since I saw you, I knew there was something special with you, I had to find out, but after this moment that we shared, I know what it is." I tell him and look at him.

"What is special about me?" he asks me and I look at him attentively.

"You're not like the other boys, but you're not a boy, you're a man, a gentleman, a romantic. I know we've only known each other for a few hours but I really like being with you, I told you that you have that something how do you make a person sit next to you regardless of whether you are an actor or not." I tell

"And you have that something that makes a person talk and sit next to you. Ever since you entered that cafe, I have seen a person passionate about an art that many people do not understand, when I came to your table I realized I was right, you're that type of person who focuses on something. I like that in a girl." Sam told me and I realized that he was telling the truth as he looked into my eyes and caressed my cheek with his thumb.

"You know something Sam? I'm lucky to have met you."

"I like you Andrea! Maybe we have the opportunity to get to know each other better, what do you say?"

"I like you too, Sam, and I agree that we should get to know each other better." I tell him and kiss him on the cheek, but Sam makes a face that knows what he's asking for.

I look once more and put my arms around his neck and press my lips to his in a passionate kiss in which Sam does not hesitate to respond to this kiss. It's as if our lips are two puzzle pieces that have finally found their match.

We break the kiss and look at each other. Maybe in the end I found someone with the same passions as mine.

"Where are you staying? It's already getting dark, it's cold and I don't want you to go home alone and catch a cold. I want to go with you to make sure you get there safely and to hold you in my arms."

"A real gentleman and I want to stay in your arms and I live in the dorm, it's 5 streets from here."

"Staying in the dorm? That's cool, I hope you have a roommate or more," says Sam and takes my hand.

"I only have one colleague and the reason why I left the dorm is that she came with her boyfriend to our place and I thought I'd leave them alone," I explain to Sam and put my head on his arm.

"I understand! You always have to leave when her boyfriend comes or do you leave of your own free will?" she asks me

"I'm leaving, they also need privacy and if I didn't leave today I wouldn't know you anymore, right?" I ask him looking at him.

"Yes, you are very right, my dear, and unfortunately I have arrived." he says a little upset because our walk is over.

"Oh, I don't like it." I tell him and pull him to a side where he was covered to leave the umbrella down for a few minutes.

"We'll see each other, I promise, give me your phone so I can pass on my number, then I'll give you my phone so you can do the same, ok?" He tells me and takes his phone from the pocket of his brown coat that he is wearing.

First I give her my phone and she gives her number and she gives it back to me, when I look at the new contact, the first thing I see is the name 'Sam♡', I am surprised but I love this. I look up from the phone and see him smiling at me and holding his phone for me to take. I take it and give him my number, I gave him the name just as he gave me 'Andrea♡' on the phone and I give him the phone back.

"I'll give you a message, I promise," he says and puts his arms around my waist.

"Ok and I promise I'll send you a message" I promise and put my arms around his neck.

We look at each other and I see Sam lean down and kiss me passionately. We break the kiss and I head towards the entrance but I suddenly stop.

"Sam, wait, I have to give you the scarf back!" I tell him and take it down.

"No Andrea, I want you to keep it, it suits you better, it suits your style. See you tomorrow, yes?" He asks me and I nod and watch him leave.

I like him, he is the kind of man I like. I enter the dormitory and head towards my room and my thoughts remain with Sam. The person who stole my heart

#sam claflin x reader #billy dunne x reader #billy dunne imagines #sam claflin smut #hunger games fanfiction #daisy jones and the six #billy dunne #finnick odair x reader #finnick odair smut #sam claflin #finnick odair imagine #finnick odair x you #finnick odair #finnick x reader

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leclerqueensainz · 2 years ago

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A Family of Three (C.L 16) - Part.I- Discoveries, Reunions, and Surprises

Paring: Charles Leclerc X OC!Marie Anderson

Synopsis: Charles and Marie ended any chance of a relationship years ago. They just didn't expect to have to share custody of a child after the death of their best friend.

⚠️ Warnings: Mention of death and murder, swearing, Charles being a little aggressive in his reactions, mention of sex and drug use. (This chapter may contain triggers!) (+16)

**In this story, Jules Bianchi died in 2019, not 2015, which changes some facts in the careers of the drivers.

A.N: Hello! How are you doing? After a long time, I finally brought Part 1 translated into English! Remembering that English is not my first language, so there may be some mistakes! I tried my best!

Feedback is always welcome. Let me know if you liked it!

Word Count: 7.882

Read the prologue here!

🇮🇹 🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹

January 15th, 2023 - Milan, Italy

"Good morning, Marcella!" I greet my secretary as I enter the office. "Any news for me?" I ask the blonde girl who is sitting with her eyes fixed on the computer in front of her.

"Good morning, Marie! And...HA! I did it!" Marcella suddenly jumps, startling me. "I'm sorry! It's just that I managed to schedule the meeting with Fred Lacroix for next week." She says, trying to compose herself, and I smile."

"That's great! You're amazing," I say, leaning over next to her at the table and taking a peek at her computer. "Do you think he'll be in a good mood? He's not exactly known for being pleasant when it comes to selling and buying his art," I ask and Marcella just shrugs.

"I don't know, and honestly, I don't worry about it," she says, and I can see a smug smile spread across her face. "Either way, we're awesome! We always get what we want," she finishes, and I laugh at her enthusiasm.

I agree with Marcella. We are awesome and always get what we want when it comes to work.

After Jules died, I moved from Monaco to Italy. I felt like I needed to leave it all behind, even if it meant burying a part of who I was with my past. I needed a fresh start, and I closed my eyes to my old life. I had nothing left in Monaco. Nothing held me back or was even worth staying for.

I needed time and a new life, and that's exactly what I found when I came to Italy, where I was able to enroll in arts just in time to continue the school year. And a year and a half later, I graduated and started interning at one of the best galleries in Milan. Shortly after that, I realized I had a lot of potential for curating and dedicated myself to the field, of which today I am still a part, with the highest success rate in recruiting and selling new artists.

Today, I can say that my life is more than comfortable, and I spend so much of my day occupied with work that I hardly have time to think about everything I left behind a few years ago.

"Ah!" Marcella screams and catches me off guard, making me take a few steps back.

"Oh my god, Marcella! You're going to kill me, girl!" I say and put my hand on my chest, feeling my heart skipping like crazy.

"Sorry! I just remembered you got a letter this morning," she says, and I swear my confusion is written all over my face. "I mean, you didn't really get it, it's more like 'they passed the envelope under the door while we were closed, and I stepped on it when I got here'," she says and pulls out a crumpled white envelope with a half footprint on it. "I tried to clean it up, but as you can see, it didn't go very well. Seriously, someone should clean the streets of Milan more," she says and hands me the envelope.

I examine the envelope to find the sender, but I only find "Marie Anderson" written in delicate handwriting.

"There's no sender. That's strange." I say and Marcella nods.

"I thought it was kind of creepy too. I mean, who still sends letters In 2023? Isn't it easier to send a message on Insta? Or like, an email?" I nod my head and shrug.

"Well, let it be," I say and start walking towards my office. "Please let anyone who wants to speak to me know to leave a message. And that includes my mom, okay?" I say and Marcella nods. "Great, thanks," I say, entering my office and closing the door behind me.

I throw my bag on the desk and sit in my chair. I analyze the envelope in my hand again and for a moment, I feel a strange sensation as I stare at it.

"Okay, let's end the suspense, Marie," I say to myself and I grab a staple remover from the pencil holder, passing it over the glued part of the envelope.

Opening the envelope, I take out a sheet of paper with the same handwriting as the envelope, and two photos of a little boy with dark hair and eyes who I swear I've never seen before, but who somehow seems very familiar to me. I turn over the photos to see if there's anything written on the back.

"Vincenzo. 24/12/2021"

Was written in one of the photos. The little boy was sitting next to what looked like a Christmas tree. I took a look at the next photograph, where the same boy, who seemed a bit older, was sitting on a mat surrounded by toys. "Vincenzo. 19/12/2022."

Feeling even more confused and with a strange sensation spreading through my chest, I picked up the letter I had left aside on the table and began to read it.

France, January 2nd, 2023.

Marie,

I can't even begin to tell you how many times I've thought about how I would write to you. You don't know me, and to be honest, I don't think anyone in his circle of friends and family has even heard of me.

My name is Cecilia, and that's all you need to know about me right now, aside from what I'm about to write to you next: I was engaged to Jules Bianchi.

I know this is strange and perhaps even unbelievable, but it's true. Jules and I had a brief but passionate love story. I loved Jules, and I can say that he loved me too.

Two days before his death, I found out that I was pregnant. I gave birth to Vincenzo on December 24th, 2019. He was a healthy and strong little boy, very similar to Jules.

I loved him from the moment I found out he was growing inside me. The result of something so pure and beautiful, from my relationship with Jules.

I know it's a lot for you to process right now, but so that you can know that I'm telling you the truth, there are two photos of Vincenzo. I want you to look at them and see Jules, just as I do every time I look at my son.

"I've been wanting to write to you for a long time. Jules saw you as a sister. I'm sorry I hid this from you and his family too, but I was so afraid. Afraid of rejection, of being seen as a liar. I couldn't go through any of that. I only had Jules, and after he left me, there was no one else I could trust, so I've been raising Vincenzo alone until now, but I don't think I can do it anymore. Vincenzo has a family besides me. And I need him to grow up knowing that he is loved.

I promise I to explain everything you need to know. Please meet me at the café where you used to meet every time you came together to Nice. January 18th at 4 pm.

- Cecilia.

My hands tremble as I put the letter back on the table.

What the hell is this? Is this some kind of sick joke?

I take the two photos back in my hands and stare at them, now realizing why I found that boy so familiar. It was Jules. That boy is the spitting image of Jules.

But how is this even possible? Why didn't Jules tell us he had someone? That's not like him. Jules was always an open book to us. He told us everything, just as we did with him. He wouldn't hide this from us...would he?

With my head swimming with questions and my heart heavy as lead, I found myself shouting Marcella's name, and less than a minute later, her short locks appeared through the door.

My hands tremble as I put the letter back on the table.

What the hell is this? Is this some kind of sick joke?

I take the two photos back in my hands and stare at them, now realizing why I found that boy so familiar. It was Jules. That boy is the spitting image of Jules.

With my head swimming with questions and my heart heavy as lead, I found myself shouting Marcella's name, and less than a minute later, her short locks appeared through the door.

"Yes?" She asks before looking at me for a moment and entering my office complete with a worried expression. "Are you okay, Marie?" She says kneeling by my side.

"Book a flight for tomorrow morning. I need to go to France."

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January 18th, 2023. - Nice, France.

I stare again at the clock hanging on the wall above the counter of the small café. 3:45 PM.

15 minutes. Just 15 minutes until I could find out who Cecilia was and why she decided to contact me now, after all this time. And why me? Yes, Jules, Charles, and I were always very close despite the age difference. But why reach out to me? If she intended to introduce the boy to Jules' family, why didn't she contact Christine or Philippe?

I hadn't seen Jules' family in a long time, we didn't even exchange messages. I left them behind when I decided to move on to Italy. They were buried with my past in Monaco.

The bell on the entrance door rings, indicating that someone has entered the premises. My head quickly snaps toward the sound.

And it's like in one minute, everything I struggled so hard to forget and leave behind comes back with force and without control like waves of a tsunami.

Standing just a few meters away from where I'm sitting, my gaze meets Charles'.

Charles. My ex-boyfriend whom I haven't seen in almost four years. The part that hurts the most from my past, besides the death of Jules.

He looks different. So different from the last time I saw him at Jules' funeral. This time he's not dressed in mourning black, no. He's wearing casual clothes, dark jeans, and a moss green sweater with the word "FERRARI" stamped in black. There's a scruffy beard on his face and his eyes...damn. The eyes that last time reflected so much hopelessness were now more alive, but still with certain traces of concern.

Charles walks up to where I'm sitting, his steps quick and wide as if he wanted to corner me before I could escape again. He stops half a meter away, and his gaze curiously roams over me. His expression is stern but also covered in doubt. I bet that, like me, he wants to understand why I'm here.

"Charles..." I'm the first to say, my voice low and uncertain. He nods slowly, his gaze still fixed on me, as if he wants to uncover all the secrets I gained during the years we were apart.

“What are you doing here, Marie?" he asks, direct and determined, without any hesitation. It's a tone I would have never expected to hear from the Charles I left four years ago. Yes, he really has changed.

I wished I could answer him with the same intensity, but honestly, I don't think I could. There's so much going on here and my head is spinning with so many questions and emotions. Why is Charles here? What the hell is going on? Did he set all this up?

"Is this some kind of joke? Because if it is, I swear to God it's not funny," he says, his tone now rough.

I sit there staring at him, completely confused.

Charles runs his hand through his hair, messing up his brown locks even more. He sighs heavily and closes his eyes, his tongue quickly passing over his lower lip. He used to do that all the time when he felt anger or frustration. At least that hasn't changed.

"What are you doing here, Charles?" I ask, and he opens his eyes, once again staring at me.

Charles's hand reaches into his back pocket and pulls out an envelope identical to the one that was left for me in the office in Italy. The difference is that I can see that this one was addressed to Charles, only his name, and also without a sender.

"Please tell me it wasn't you, Marie," he says as his eyes shift from the envelope to my face. I look at him with all the sincerity I can muster and answer, "No, it wasn't me." He nods his head, his expression softening a bit. He moves and sits in the vacant chair in front of me, his hands going up to his face to rub it.

"Jules has a son," he says.

"I know," I reply.

"Charles lowers his hands and stares at me once again, confusion etched on his face. Before he can say anything, I reach into my bag on the table, open it, and take out the white envelope. Charles looks at my hand for a moment before reaching over the table to take the envelope from me."

"You got one too," he says, not looking at me, even though it's not a question, I nod my head in agreement.

"It seems she arranged to meet with both of us. I think it's easier if we hear the story at the same time, that way there's no risk of getting the wrong versions," I say, and his gaze shifts from the envelopes on the table to me.

"Do you think it's a lie? That the boy isn't Jules's son?" he asks seriously, and I just shrug in response.

"I believe it could be Jules's son. I just don't know why she waited all this time and why she chose us. Obviously, we're not the best people to show Vincenzo that he has a family on his father's side," I say, and I see Charles's jaw tighten.

"We were friends with Jules. He trusted us," he says, once again his voice sounding rough.

"It seems he didn't trust us enough to tell us he fell in love," I say, and immediately regret it.

I look at Charles and if we were part of a cartoon, he would have flames in his eyes.

“You don't know what happened. You don't know his reasons, just like me,” he says through gritted teeth. “Don't doubt his motives. Not when he's not here to defend himself.”

In all the years I've spent by Charles' side, I've never seen him so angry. And if I didn't know him, I'd be scared.

But do you still know him? I silently ask myself.

"That's not what I meant," I defensively reply. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean for it to come out that way. Of course, Jules had reasons and we'll find out when Cecilia arrives." Charles relaxes his jaw and adjusts in his seat.

I look at the clock on the wall again. 4:10 PM. She's late. I look at Charles, a little anxious.

"Do you think she's coming?" he shrugs, but his hand goes into his hoodie pocket and pulls out a cell phone.

"She's late," he states what I already know. "But I think so, she's coming." Charles carelessly tosses the phone onto the table, his anxious fingers fidgeting with his rings.

"Congratulations on the runner-up, by the way," I say, trying to ease both of our anxieties, and he looks back at me.

"Did you follow the races?" he asked, a little surprised.

"Yes," I admit, somewhat embarrassed. "My secretary is a huge Formula 1 fan," I add, which is not a lie.

Like all Italians, Marcella is a devoted Tifosi. And even though I wanted to leave everything I knew behind, I couldn't escape one of the most beloved sports in Europe, especially in Italy, the home of Ferrari.

Charles lets out a low laugh, his look adopting the expression of a mischievous boy. Oh no.

"Your secretary, huh?" he says with a teasing and suggestive tone.

"Ah, shut up, Leclerc!" I say, trying to sound serious but failing when I let out a laugh. "I'm serious! My secretary is a diehard Tifosi. She can't shut up for a minute about Ferrari and makes me watch all the races," I say, shrugging.

"Yeah, yeah... And I bet I'm your 'secretary's' favorite driver, right?" he says, making air quotes with his fingers and having a smug smile on his face.

"Actually, she prefers Sainz," I say, and instantly his smile turns into a serious expression, which makes me laugh.

Soon, Charles' dimples appear on his cheek and my heart skips a beat at the sound of his typically somewhat flawed and exaggerated laugh. Oh, how I enjoyed hearing that horrible but at the same time very cute laugh again.

At that moment, even though I hated to admit it, I realized how much I missed that feeling of familiarity and lightness. And even though just a few minutes ago, I was doubting whether I still knew the person that Charles had become, I could see that regardless of the years and tragedies that life had subjected him to from a young age, that kind and playful boy that I had once fallen in love with was still there. And maybe he would never leave. And I liked that.

Looking at Charles smiling, sitting in front of me, I wonder for just a second if it would have been different if I hadn't left. But as soon as the thought came, I pushed it away. Because even though I was happy to know that Charles still had something familiar to me inside him, we were not meant to be even before Jules' death. And I doubt that we could have maintained a good relationship with all the pain and mourning that surrounded us. I made a good choice. Yes, I did the right thing.

Leaving Monaco was one of the hardest things I had to face. But it made me grow and become a strong woman. I learned to deal with loss, even if it may not be the healthiest way, it still worked for me. I was able to finish college, got the job I wanted, and met new people. I fell in love, and even though I didn't love them like I loved Charles, I still allowed myself to feel and try happiness. Clearly, it didn't work out, but the experience was worth it.

And I can also say that Charles has achieved what he wanted, or almost everything. He is one of the best Formula 1 drivers and drives for Ferrari, which is almost every motorsport athlete's dream. He has a successful career and is known worldwide for it. And even though he didn't get the title he so desperately craved last year, he may get it this year. He is focused, grateful, and kind. The golden boy. Il Predestinato.

Even though Charles is so young, he has given his family and friends everything they ever dreamed of. Pascale must be so proud of him, and if Harvé were still alive, I'm sure he would also be proud of the son he raised. And Jules would also be proud to see Charles' progress.

And then the emptiness appears again. Jules. I try my best not to think about him. The memories are still painful even after all these years.

I think I let my thoughts reflect too much because Charles, who was laughing before, now looks at me with a compassionate expression. He probably thought of Jules too.

"I miss him too," he says and I nod my head. "And I missed you too," his hand meets mine on the table.

There were no ulterior motives. Just a gesture. A gesture to affirm what he was saying. And it hurt. It hurt in my heart and soul.

I quickly withdraw my hand from his and stare at the table. Charles withdraws his hands and keeps them close to his body.

"I know you didn't owe me anything, Marie. No explanations, not loyalty," he starts, his voice a little broken, making my heart tighten. "But Jules died and you left. Why did you leave?" he asks, and I can hear the hurt in his voice.

I wished I had the strength to lift my gaze and tell him while looking him in the eyes that everything I did was out of fear and thinking that there was nothing left for me in Monaco. That I still loved him even after he broke up with me and that losing Jules to death destroyed me, but knowing that I would lose Charles while he was still alive would only ruin me even more. I couldn't see him every day and know that he no longer belonged to me. And that every minute I spent mourning and heartbroken without him reminded me that love was impossible for me. That I didn't deserve to be loved. That there would never be anyone to love me.

"I had to go," I say, still staring at my hands. "I don't expect you to understand or forgive me. Because I'm not asking for any of that, Charles," my voice sounds firm but my eyes burn.

I take a deep breath and hold it for a few seconds before releasing it. I raise my gaze to meet his when I'm sure the tears won't fall.

"I had to make a choice and I did. I chose myself," I say simply, perhaps trying to convince myself.

Charles nods his head and goes back to fiddling with the rings on his fingers. This time it was difficult for him to look at me.

"I'm happy to see who you've become, Marie. And I hope you've achieved what you wanted when..." he pauses for a second, unsure of what to say, "when you left Monaco." A tired laugh escapes his lips. "I'm not going to judge you, especially since when you left, we were no longer a couple. But I was an idiot to think that we were still friends." He looks back at me. "I was foolish until I realized that there would be no possibility for us without Jules being here."

I wanted to scream. I wanted to stand up and throw everything in front of me at him. I wanted to curse at him and tell him that he didn't have that right. But to be fair, I could never do that. Not when I left, when it was me who left what was left of the three of us. Jules had died and I had fled. When I left, I didn't think of Charles or his feelings. I only thought of myself and how I could never live with that.

I don't regret it. I did what I thought was necessary and would do it again. Charles might have needed me, but I needed to leave and heal. And that's what I did. Charles still had friends and family to rely on, and I had no one. No present family, no friends, and no boyfriend. Charles and I both mourned, of course, but we mourned in different ways. He had lost a friend, and I had lost everything.

There was no one to come home to and hug. There was no one there to tell me that they were sorry for my loss and that everything would be okay. So I went after what I thought I needed and I got it. I went in search of myself, a new life, new choices, and opportunities, and I found them. I found myself. Of course, I let go of a lot, and the void left by Jules and Charles was never filled, but I learned to cope and use it to my advantage for other things, and that was enough, at least for now.

Before I could respond to him, I'm interrupted once again by the sound of the damn doorbell.

Charles and I turned our attention to the door at the same time. Both of us were staring at a slim blonde woman, wearing a green coat and leggings. But what caught our attention the most was the little boy in her arms. He was about 3 or 4 years old, with dark hair, lying with his face hidden in the woman's neck, and his small hand clutching onto her collar as if he were afraid she would leave if he let go.

Charles and I stood up in rehearsed gestures, all at the same time. He stopped beside me, his hand resting on my shoulder, covered by my own coat this time. The woman looked at us and came slowly towards us. When she got closer and stopped about a meter away from us, I could analyze her.

Her face was thin and perfectly symmetrical, and even though it seemed like she hadn't slept in days, her tired eyes were a beautiful shade of greenish-brown. She is very beautiful. Her lips opened in a small smile, and there I could see that she easily fit Jules' type.

"I assume you are Charles and Marie, right?" She says, her voice sweet and tired.

My gaze moves from her to the little boy in her arms, and then they cross with Charles'. He tells me through his eyes the same things I am thinking. We return our attention to the blonde in front of us and nod.

"Great!" She clears her throat before continuing, "I'm Cecilia, and this little guy here is Vincenzo." She gently shakes the child, who tightens his grip on her coat collar even more. "Jules' son."

Charles' grip on my shoulder becomes stronger, and I swallow hard. I can't take my eyes off the little boy, and now up close, I can see his profile. His chubby childlike cheek and long eyelashes, just like Jules'.

Cecilia shifts uncomfortably, her feet shifting the weight from one to the other, and she adjusts Vincenzo's position in her lap.

"I know you must have thousands of questions, and I promise I will answer them all. But before that, would you mind if I sit down? Vincenzo is a bit heavy, and I walked here with him in my arms," she says, embarrassed.

"Of course not. Please," Charles approaches her and pulls the chair he was sitting in a few minutes ago. Cecilia sits down, careful not to make any sudden movements and wake Vincenzo.

Charles points to the empty chair, and I sit down. He takes a few steps hto the table next to us and takes an unoccupied chair to sit on. Once the three of us are seated around the table, Charles calls the waitress, whom I only now notice has been staring at us this whole time. The redheaded and smiling girl, who probably can't be more than 19 years old, approaches with her gaze fixed on Charles- she probably recognized him.

Charles is the one who orders. A cappuccino for me- which causes a sensation in my stomach that he still remembers- an iced tea for himself, and he asks Cecilia what she would like to drink, to which she responds that coffee would be enough. The redhead writes down the orders and asks for permission to leave. Her eyes still glued to Charles.

I roll my eyes internally, but I know I can't blame her. After all, it's probably not every day that she serves a public figure. When we used to come here with Jules, the employees were different, and the small café is located on a somewhat isolated street in Nice, so it's unlikely that many famous people come here.

I take my gaze off the waitress and turn back to Cecilia, who was already looking at me attentively with a small smile on her lips.

"Well..." Charles begins. "Why are we here, Cecilia? Why only now have you contacted us?" He leans forward a little more, his arms resting on the wooden table.

Cecilia shifts in her chair carefully and her eyes briefly glance at Vincenzo before turning back to us.

"I wanted you to meet Vincenzo. While he was alive, Jules always mentioned you as part of his family. He loved you both very much," she says, and I feel my chest tightening.

"But why only now?" I speak for the first time. "I know you wrote in the letter that you were afraid, but it still sounds strange that you would come looking for us now, without any reason," I say, trying to keep my voice steady.

Cecilia falls silent for a few seconds as if she wants to formulate the next words carefully.

"There's a reason," she confirms. "Look, I know it's strange, and I assure you that I'm not looking for any money or anything like that." Her gaze shifts from me to Charles, as if she wants to confirm the latter part specifically for him. "Jules and I met about six months before he died, and it was love at first sight."

"He never told us about you," Charles responds cutting her off and she nods.

"I know he didn't. I asked him not to," she says and Charles and I exchange confused looks before turning our attention back to her.

"What do you mean? Why would you ask him not to?" I ask, finding it all very odd.

"When I met Jules, I was in a complicated time in my life," she answers and I see her face darken. "I was only 19 and had run away from Italy." Her voice trembles as if it's hard for her to mention those times again.

I wish I could tell her that she didn't need to tell us if she wasn't feeling comfortable, but the truth was that it was really necessary. After all, that's what Charles and I are here for.

Charles nodded for her to continue and I could feel his tension.

"I got involved with the wrong people in Italy," she continues. "There was a boy I had been in love with during my teenage years, Paolo was his name. We were very young and stupid, you know?" Cecília laughs and her eyes fill with tears. "Like every teenager, we thought we were invincible, but we weren't. When I was 17, I spent most of my time at parties and clubs with him. We drank and did drugs, and everything was fun and happy until it wasn't anymore. Over time, the drinking and drugs stopped being just for parties and began to become necessary for anything. From being able to concentrate on studies, to being able to get out of bed. My parents assumed that Paolo was to blame for my addiction and banned me from seeing him. I obviously went against them and they made me choose between a life with them or my ruin with Paolo. I, being young and foolish, chose love and abandoned my parents without looking back. I left the life I had to chase adventures with Paolo and he did the same, running away from home. But the thing is, we were two addicted people without a home and money. There was no more money from our parents, so we started doing whatever we could. Small thefts and even..." She stops for a moment, thick tears streaming down her face.

"Here." Charles extends a napkin and she takes it, wiping her face immediately after.

"Thank you," she says and he offers her a half-smile. "Even prostitution," she continues, and I feel my stomach churn. It wasn't disgust, but rather a pity for imagining someone in that situation. Beside me, I could see that Charles was equally uncomfortable. It was hard for him to put himself in her place.

Charles grew up with great parents who did everything for their children, and even though they weren't millionaires at the time, they still managed to have and offer a comfortable life for them. And I bet that if any of the three, Charles, Lorenzo, or Arthur, had gone the wrong way, Pascale would never have abandoned them.

And me, well, I was lucky. I spent my teenage years with Jules and Charles, who had a structured enough family to share with me because my parents were absent.

Obviously, Charles and I had our rebellious phase with occasional drinking and smoking weed. But Jules, being almost ten years older than us, always kept us in line like a good older brother. And if he knew that we had crossed the line at parties or anywhere else, oh God! He would freak out.

- "Cecilia, I know it's difficult for you to say this, but I think it's important for Charles and me to understand," I say and she nods.

Cecília takes two deep breaths before continuing, and that's when I'm sure the story would only get worse. I try to prepare myself to hear what she had to say.

"I prostituted myself a few times without Paolo's knowledge. Some traffickers gave me drugs in exchange for sex and since many times I had no other choice, I accepted. But one day he found out and that ended us. With us." Tears returned to stream down her face. "Paolo went crazy when he found out and went after the trafficker I had slept with. He got a gun and killed the guy. We were on the run for a few weeks, but it was too hard for two homeless addicts to hide in Italy. Soon they found us and..." She closes her eyes and sobs.

I stretch my hand across the table and take Cecilia's hand. There was a lot of pain there and part of me wanted to curl up and stop listening, but I couldn't. I glance at Charles and he meets my gaze, his eyes reflecting distress at hearing everything that came out of her mouth. It was too surreal for him to hear all of that.

"They killed Paolo and thought they had killed me too. But by some miracle, I managed to survive and ask for help at a church. The priest there was friends with my parents and managed to find a family in Nice who were willing to help me. So I came to France, went through rehabilitation, and started attending meetings for drug addicts." Her eyes become distant again, and I continue holding her hand. "It was on the way back from one of those meetings that I met Jules, and that's where I understood the reason why I survived. We fell in love, but he had a public life and I couldn't expose myself because I was afraid that they would come after me. I told Jules what had happened and unlike what I thought he would do, he embraced me. He promised me that he wouldn't tell anyone, not even you two until I was ready and safe. And he did that. He kept us a secret for months. We saw each other every time he came back to Nice, after the races." She finishes.

Charles and I watched as Cecilia tried to calm her breathing, her grip on the sleeping Vincenzo's body tightening as if afraid he might disappear from her arms at any moment.

It breaks my heart to see all her pain and gives me a completely different perspective from when I walked in here today. She loved Vincenzo, and that was clear, just as she had loved Jules. And that's the part that hurts me the most.

Knowing that the reason Jules never mentioned her to us, his friends and family, was sole to protect her, made my heart heavy and warm at the same time. That was so Jules.

I remember months before he died, he started to spend more time in his hometown and whenever we asked him about it, he said he wanted to spend a little more time with his family. We even found it a little strange, but Jules always had a great relationship with his parents and closest relatives, which made us simply let it go and just enjoy the time we spent together before he and Charles had to go back to racing.

"I'm sorry for all of this, really, Cecilia," Charles is the first to say after she seems calmer. "But we still need to know why you're only coming to us now," he says, and I agree.

Cecilia nods and looks at Vincenzo in her arms. The tension emanating from her makes me shiver, and Charles probably noticed it too as his hand finds my thigh under the table.

"About two days before Jules' death, I found out I was pregnant with Vincenzo," she says and I nod in understanding. "Jules was racing in Shanghai and I was scared and alone here." The tears that had ceased returned in stronger waves.

My mind teleports back to 2019, to Jules' last race. He was so happy to finish seventh that day. But, all of a sudden, he just wanted to go home and rest, not even celebrating with the boys on the grid.

"I sent him a message after the race. I said I needed him to come to Nice as soon as possible because something had happened," Cecilia looks at Charles as she speaks. "Then he sent me a message saying he would take the first available flight back to France."

As Cecilia talks, Charles' grip on my thigh gets stronger. I look at him from the corner of my eye and I can see the moment his Adam's apple goes up and down.

"So that's why he left so quickly that day," Charles' voice sounds low. "He left before I could talk to him..." His eyes fill with tears and his breathing becomes a bit unstable. Cecilia just nods and closes her eyes tightly before continuing.

"When Jules arrived in Nice, it was already early morning and it was raining heavily. He tried to get a taxi or Uber, but couldn't get either," this time I feel my breathing falter a bit as she continues. "He managed to rent a car from a nearby 24-hour agency and sent me a message saying he would arrive soon and that I didn't need to worry because no matter what was happening, everything would be okay and that he loved me."

Charles stood up abruptly. His face adopted a look of disbelief.

"It was you..." his voice was weak and accusatory. "It was because of you that he... My God!" He flinches and his hands pass through his face and his hair.

"Charles..." I try to calm him down, even though I am also anxious. "Charles, please sit down and try to calm down." I try to grab his hand, but he recoils in a sudden movement.

"Calm down? It's her, Marie!" he says, pointing to Cecilia who only shrinks into her chair and holds Vincenzo even tighter, as he moves uncomfortably in her lap. "She killed him! IT'S HER FAULT THAT JULES DIED!" he screams.

My breathing becomes difficult and my heart races. In front of me, Cecilia sobs and holds Vincenzo even closer to her body.

All that commotion made some employees start to appear and approach at a safe distance from the table.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," Cecilia pleads. "I swear I never wanted this to happen, I was so scared and..." She stops when she hears Vincenzo's low cry.

Charles' attention goes to the little boy as he realizes he is now awake. He shakes his head in a negative motion and leaves the café in a hurry, slamming the door hard behind him. We are startled by the noise and the little boy cries even louder. I quickly get up to go after Charles, but before I do, I turn to Cecilia.

"Please wait here, okay? I'll try to calm him down. Don't leave," I say, and she nods, her face stained with tears that continued to fall, and her breathing accelerated as she rocked Vincenzo, trying to calm him down.

A dark-haired waitress approaches with a glass of water in her hands and places it in front of Cecilia. I thank her with a gesture and quickly leave through the door to find Charles.

It doesn't take me long to find him, he was in front of a black car. His body leaned against the driver's side. Even from a distance, I can see his body shaking and hear the sound of his erratic breathing. I approach him slowly, so as not to startle him.

When I get close enough, I think about touching him, but the thought leaves my mind when I realize it's not a good idea.

"Charles..." I call him softly to get his attention. "I'm sorry, but we need to go back there. She-"

"No!" he exclaims. "Please, Marie! Don't ask me to go back there. She killed him! It was her fault!" He stares at me with red and swollen eyes.

My heart tightens at the sight of him like this. I find myself being sent back to the year of Jules' death, specifically to the day of his funeral.

I wanted to hug Charles and tell him that everything would be okay, but in reality, I didn't know if it would. Jules had died almost four years ago, and yet it still hurt every time his name was mentioned. And hearing today from a stranger the reasons that resulted in his death was not easy. But there was a reason why Cecilia wanted to contact us after all this time, and we needed to know.

I take a deep breath and decide to approach Charles more. One of us had to try to be rational at this moment, and if it had to be me, okay. I wasn't going to go back to Italy without an answer.

"Charles, I understand that it's difficult to hear all of this suddenly," my hands go to his face. "I know it hurts, Charles. I'm feeling it too." He closes his eyes and I feel tears rolling down my face. "But we can't blame her entirely, Charles. She was scared and just wanted to talk to him.”

“And it resulted in his death." He says, his eyes opening and meeting mine. "Marie, if she hadn't done what she did, he would be here now. He would be alive and he would have met..." His voice trails off. "He would have met his son." He cries and I pull him into a hug.

Jules died without knowing his son. Jules died without knowing that he would have a son. Jules died in the dark without knowing what was happening to Cecilia. Jules died alone and worried, and nothing we can do will bring him back. He died. It's over. But Charles and I are still here.

"Jules died without knowing his son, but we're still here and we can do this for him," I say and he squeezes me tighter.

"We're still here, Charles. And we can do this." He breaks the hug and looks at me with a face full of sorrow. I nod.

"We need to go in there together. Together," he looks down at his feet. "Charles, I need you to go in there with me because I can't do this alone." His eyes come back to me and he understands that I used the same words he did a few years ago. "Please, Charles. I don't want to do this alone. I can't." He nods and I take his hand and slowly lead him back to the cafe.

When we walk through the door, my eyes meet Cecilia's. I nod my head to let her know it's okay, and she nods in understanding. I look at Charles who stares at her expressionlessly. His gaze is icy, totally different from the one I once knew.

Still holding Charles' hand, I walk toward the table where she uncomfortably waits for us. I notice that Vincenzo is no longer in her lap and feel momentary concern that quickly passes when I see him playing with the same red-haired waitress who had served us.

We sit in our chairs and I see that our orders are placed on the table. I feel my stomach churn just looking at the cappuccino in front of me. I take glance around and notice the employees trying to avoid looking at us. I make a mental note to "solve" this problem so it doesn't follow us when we leave.

"Just say what you want," Charles breaks the silence, his eyes still staring at Cecilia who nods and swallows hard.

"I understand your anger, and I know I have no right to ask for what I'm about to ask," she says and my hearing sharpens. "I live with guilt for years. Whether it's for Paolo or Jules, guilt and remorse follow me wherever I go. No matter what I try to do, they're always there." She looks at her hands. "Last year, I relapsed. I used heroin, once, but I used it. After years of resisting and not even going near drugs, I let my messed-up mind fall into the hole and I shot up." She lets out a desperate laugh and her eyes fill with water.

My body freezes and Charles makes a sound of scorn beside me. When he opens his mouth to say something, Cecilia cuts him off.

"Yes, I know I'm a whore, and I deserve the worst shit life has in store for me. But that's the thing. I deserve the bad things, but my son doesn't," she says firmly, looking at us seriously. "I need Vincenzo to have a good and decent life. I need to make sure he grows up loved and that he never lacks anything." She looks away for a moment to the table where Vincenzo was happily playing with the waitress and then back to us.

Cecilia takes a deep breath and leans forward. I could swear she was capable of asking for anything at that moment. Money, a house in a distant place, a period in rehab, anything.

"I can't take care of Vincenzo anymore," she asserts, her tone exuding bitterness. "I promised Jules that I would do everything to make him different from me. And that's why I came to you after all these years."

My head spins. She's asking for...? No, it's not possible.

"What do you mean by that?" Charles asks anxiously.

"Cecilia wipes the tears from her face with her hand, blinks a few times, and adopts a determined look, a look that I knew well. The same look I gave to myself in the mirror when I decided to leave Monaco. Suddenly, I feel afraid because my suspicions are confirmed.

"She wants us to take care of Vincenzo," I say.

#charles leclerc smut #charles leclerc x black!reader #charles leclerc x reader angst #charles lecrelc #pierre gasly #carlos sainz fanfic #f1 x reader #f1 imagine #lewis hamilton #formula 1

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omegasmileyface · 3 months ago

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The Foleys' Incredible Crisis

Chapter 1: Call It Stormy Monday

Call It Stormy Monday (But Tuesday Is Just as Bad) was written and performed in 1947 by T-Bone Walker. It is one of the most popular Blues songs ever, and has been performed and reiterated by countless other musicians. It has been credited with inspiring B.B. King to take up electric guitar, and it is included in the Library of Congress.

Happy Invisobang!!! This should have been posted earlier in the week but I couldn't make myself get to the computer to finalize/format it. Hehe. This year I had the INCREDIBLE experience of working with Shadow and Sharks, who were such wonderful artists— they have a whole smörgåsbord of art to please your eyes in this story! They have kept me on my toes— as I write this, the final, collaborated illustration is still a secret to me 👀 Lola is an OC I named once I realized Tucker absolutely feels like he has a little sister. Since then she's been in my heart and I can't let her go. My wonderful girl Lola. It's a treat whenever I get to see her in the wild— I almost had a heart attack when she appeared in Lex Luthor's Ascent from Supervillainy to Fatherhood by halfagone!

For a directory of all currently posted chapters and related content, check out the Table of Contents!

fic summary: After a whole week of vacation stuck together, the Foleys were more than happy to have some time apart. So when they each found themselves caught up in ghost business, that meant handling it alone. Angela wasn't planning on improvising a ghost conspiracy, Maurice was hoping to avoid working IT, Lola didn't think playing a hero would take her out of school, and Tucker would really have liked to focus on his own problems. But, really, what else did they expect from Amity Park? Home, sweet home.

words: 2269

AO3 link

next chapter [pending]

Tucker dropped his bag with a thunk. He was far beyond caring to be delicate, despite the electronics inside— he just wanted to shed his shoes and jacket and maybe the memories of the trip along with them.

"Ohhhh-kay," said his mom, grimacing at the trash can. Nobody had thought to empty it before they left. "What a vacation!" She laughed emptily. "I'm going to bed. You can fend for yourselves for dinner."

Tucker's dad popped back out from behind the bathroom door. "Before you go," he called over the rush of the faucet, "can we all just agree? Real quick, get in the den and then we can all ignore each other."

Lola sighed loudly and gave up untying her shoe, just kicking it off. Tucker agreed. He couldn't wait to wash his hands after the long trip.

His dad dried off his hands and joined them in the den, looking each of his family members in the eyes one by one. "I propose we never talk about this trip unless we have to."

Everyone agreed with as much fervor as they could muster after the fraught day.

"Also," said Lola, "I think we should try not to talk to each other for a whole day."

"Works for me," said Tucker.

His mom yawned. "Much as I love you all, I'm good with a day pretending you don't exist. Tucker, can you walk with Lola to and from school tomorrow?"

He looked at his little sister. She shrugged.

"As long as she plays nice, yeah."

His dad clapped. "Cool. Alright. So, unless one of us needs something, we all mind our own business tomorrow? Okay. I'm gonna order a pizza, and... I'll sleep in the guest room tonight. Pleasure doin' business with you all."

Tucker closed his eyes and sighed, pleased at imagining taking a shower and sleeping in his own bed in a few hours.

They had just wanted to see family in Chicago. What a disaster.

The library was quiet when Angela Foley came in. That made sense, she worked weekday mornings, so they usually only saw adults and the rare preschooler. As much as she liked helping the spread of knowledge, it was nice not to have too much to do at the front desk. Maybe she could get a crossword puzzle or two done.

She had made it about halfway through the puzzle (Angela knew a lot of things, but wordplay was never her specialty. What on Earth was she supposed to get from "gift for a blue lady"?) before someone walked in, paused, and went straight for the front desk.

She put on her smile. "Hi! Can I help ya with anything?"

The man was tall, wearing a clean white button-up shirt and jeans. His brassy skin and black hair caught strangely in the fluorescent lights, turning almost orange at their edges. She was pretty sure he was a ghost in disguise, but she had helped ghosts before. Usually, if one was asking for help using a library, they weren't intent on doing anything violent.

Usually. She still reserved a little caution.

"Yes, I'm looking for information on a very distant place. Where might I find something like that?"

"Well, what place is it?"

"It's called An Aghaidh Mhòr."

Angela blinked at the unfamiliar sounds. "I'm not familiar. Is that... Gaelic?"

The man fiddled with his sleeves. "Scottish, I believe, yes."

"Alright." Angela stood up and moved toward the computer monitor at the desk by the door. "I'm going to check in our catalog for books on Scotland."

The man watched silently as she searched. Angela hummed. "It looks like, in house, the only books we have on Scotland are travel guides covering the whole of the UK or Europe. I don't expect they'd have many details on smaller places— well, I'm assuming An Aghaidh Mhòr is small, since I haven't heard of it. If you'd like, you can check anyway, or I can contact another library in the system, and they can send over some more specialized books, but that might take a few days."

The man said nothing, but his eyebrows furrowed in thought. Angela recognized the face of a person with a wide, potent array of bad options.

"Or, if you're more pressed for time, we do have a few computers and Internet access here. I can help you find some web sites that might have what you're looking for."

"And this wouldn't take any longer than looking through a book?"

Angela smiled and headed toward the public computers. "Faster, even, if you know what you're doing. I can help you if you've never done it before."

They began their search, and the man caught on quickly to what Angela was doing and how. She helped him for a while, long enough to find out that An Aghaidh Mhòr was a place in the woody North of Scotland, usually called Aviemore, and was something of a tourist destination. Beyond that, she left him to do his own research and went back to her crossword.

She just had a pesky few clues left when the man started muttering curses in another language and walked back over to her desk.

With panicked eyes, he said "I have to be honest. What I'm looking for is, ah… evidence that An Aghaidh Mhòr has an open community of ghosts alongside its humans. I'm certain that it once did, and I know that it still must. But I have chased every tail of information I could find that led to pages on the computer, and none of them, regardless of detail or experience with the town, has mentioned it."

He looked down and seemed to weigh something in his head. "It must be some sort of secret. Whether to protect the ghosts or to protect themselves from ridicule, the living people of An Aghaidh Mhòr have hidden their ghost society. You have to help me find it."

The little hairs on Angela's body all stood up. Warning bells were going off in her head. There was nothing to do but remain calm. "If that's the case, I don't know about anything like that. I can send out a question to my colleagues to see if they know anything, but I'm afraid I can't–"

"No!" The man swung out a hand, and the inner doors swung shut, silvery light weaving across them like fishing nets to keep them in place. The lights dimmed and his skin faded to a deep, fiery orange, layered and complex like agate. His eyes glowed like the moon. The few library guests gasped and looked at him in shock.

"You are a keeper of information, from a city with a striking connection to ghosts. I need to know the truth about ghostly An Aghaidh Mhòr, and you must help me find it." His silver eyes were full of fear, but Angela couldn't bring herself to care how the ghost who just trapped and threatened her was feeling.

She had to think fast to get out of this safely. Something to keep his hopes up…

"Fine. Fine." Angela held up her hands. "I'm not confident in my own grasp of the situation, but I do know of some secrets like the one you're talking about. It'll take some time– say, a couple hours– to put together anything meaningful, and I'll need to call in an expert, but I can do it. I will do it."

She could only hope her friends were any good at improv.

Maurice was never one for early mornings, but he always made the best of his hour alone after the kids went off to school and Angela's shift started. That was his time to make coffee and goof around. He could prance around the kitchen in ways that would make Tucker gag if he were there, and as long as he couldn't see his neighbors, he could put them out of mind enough to sing as loud as he wanted.

Before work was the blues hour. Today he put on Lucille. Whole album, on tape, from the top.

If anybody asked why he started his days with the blues, he'd probably say something about the sad lyrics reminding him how lucky he was. How no matter how embarrassing the family vacations or boring the work or sleazy the boss, he still had a clean house around him and a faithful wife beside him.

In reality, though, he mostly just liked the beat.

Once he got into work, it was just the same as ever. Double-entries and journalizing. He didn't even get to mix up which accounts he dealt with. VLADCO was too big for that. It was Accounts Receivable, 140-180, day after day.

But at least it wasn't IT.

Then, after almost an hour of swimming through "Axiom Labs, Ltd. $1,300 Debit" and "Hey, Maurice, how was the weekend?" and "Nugreen Ectosuppliers, LLC $400 Credit" and "You get that last letter? Crazy what Masters is trying these days, yeah?", everything went dark.

(Or, at least darker than usual. The grainy white of every surface in the office never lent itself to anything deeper than a cloudy grey.)

After a few seconds of quiet shock, the lights came back. Now, however, there was a ghost floating in front of the door connecting the Finances and Supplies department to the rest of the facility.

He seemed to be well-muscled and of average height, though it was hard to tell exactly what a ghost looked like when they were putting off that much of an aura. His skin was dark green and rough-looking, like bark, and there was a reddish halo around his head like some sort of spectral hair. His blood-moon eyes looked over everyone in the room individually before anyone dared speak. Finally, he opened his mouth.

"This is the center of a company that arms humans againsts ghosts and similar threats. Yes?"

Shocked, a few people nodded.

"And you are all from the department keeping stock of supplies. I do not know where your weapons are kept, but I know that you do. Someone in here will retrieve them for me. I need them, if I am to bring my people, ghosts and humans, together again."

The tension finally broke the membrane freezing time, and several office workers started to move for phones.

"Don't bother trying to get help. I have severed all the lines of communication between you and the world outside this office. I will leave you alone, as soon as someone leads me to the armory."

Maurice glanced at the little LCD display on the phone on his desk. No signal. His computer, too, had nothing when he clicked over to the Internet settings.

No one said anything. Some kept trying with their phones, but not a single person offered to explain how scant and useless the actual in-house ecto-equipment supply was or show the path to it. Maurice imagined they were all thinking the same thing he was; yes, complying was generally the way to stay safe in a hostage situation, and panic was strong, but a ghost coming into town and getting their hands on even just half-assembled ecto-equipment never went well. And, maybe even more importantly, VLADCO had terrifyingly strict regulations on safe ecto-tech policy. Unless the immediate threat of being personally hurt for information increased, the consequences in the long run were the biggest monster here.

The ghost crossed his arms. "Fine. You have one hour to bring me to the weapons. I can wait. I have waited this long. If you take any longer, or if you attempt any trickery, then I will start going through with threats. Until then, you may have your time to panic and fantasize about ways out that don't involve giving up company supply. I will be standing here."

He leaned against the door, and his gaze stayed rock-hard on the workers and their cubicles.

Maurice caught the eye of his most tolerable coworker Jacob. Jacob widened his eyes in some silent look of panicked questioning. Maurice shrugged. He was scared out of his mind, but what was there to do? Freaking out wouldn't do anybody any good. He could wait here and see if any ghost hunter showed up, and once they got closer to the end of the hour, everybody could meet up and decide if it was worth giving up the ecto-tech.

For now... well, he certainly wasn't going to do more accounting. This was as good an excuse for a break as any.

He toyed around on his computer for a bit, fidgeting with whatever programs he had. Maybe if the ghost noticed him, he could say he was looking for office schematics explaining where the ecto-tech was held. Really, he couldn't think to do anything but let off stress.

He played around in the rudimentary E-mail client for a bit. Mimed sending goofy messages to his coworkers while he knew he couldn't accidentally send them. But there, at the top of his inbox, was the automated morning office update. It had just come in four minutes ago... after the communications were shut off.

Was there some kind of hole in the ghost's anti-communication measure? The intercoms weren't working, and normal E-mails weren't going through, even within just Finances & Supplies. But the daily updates worked on a different system than the normal E-mails, so nobody had to send them at a consistent time each day, just queue them up.

...Was there something about the different setup that made it immune to the ghost's blackout?

Maurice got to investigating.

#expect chapter 2 tomorrow!! PLEASE YELL AT ME IF I DONT POST CHAPTER 2 TOMORROW #omg its edited and everything im just putting it off...... but i MUST shower #danny phantom #danny phantom fanfiction #tucker foley #lola foley #angela foley #maurice foley #invisobang 2024 #my writing

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harmonytre · 8 months ago

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What to Expect Coming Up

I am still sick, but thought it’d be fun to mention all the projects I have going on and my sort of process.

I’ve gotten into the flow of 3 art -> animate an hour -> 3 art -> reference sheet; and repeat! Now the “3 art” doesn’t include warm-ups, which I’ll discuss in a moment. This usually varies but does have a pattern of priority to it.

Commissions (none atm, but one has discussed interest) -> Deadline art (contest entries, featured character, birthday gifts) -> “Required” art (raffle prizes [2 remain], Benrey project, 11 Bulbasaur gifts, 42 late Artfight attacks) -> Other stuff

When it comes to warm-ups, I’ve gone 32 times in a row of purely HLVRAI. It’ll still be thrown in the mix, but I’d like to add Pokemon and OCs as a chance too! Warm-ups include any requests I get, and those increase in chance the longer they’re there. Meanwhile there’s still the chance my random wheel will choose something like “Sunkist” three days in a row lol.

Now to discuss all the projects! First off, my next three art will be: raffle prize, a small special RTVS animation, and a doodle of my next hyperfixation which I’ll then open up for requests as well!

HLVRAI

“Cabinet Man” Animatic: A more long-term project that’s fully storyboarded so far, but I plan on making rendered (or at least colored) illustrations for.

I have two parts in my Multi-Animator-Project! One part is Benrey and Gordon focused, while the other part is Tommy, Bubby, and Coomer focused, so I get to animate the whole Science Team and that excites me!! (One part still open by the way, hint hint.) The MAP itself is a third of the way complete let’s goooooo!

Other animation projects include: “Two Birds” Tommy and Benrey friendship animatic (fully written), “Eighth Wonder” Tommy animatic (just an idea, focusing on the others first), and occasional clips or mini animations.

Benrey Fanart (and then the other characters too!): I have 12 people left to reach out to, but I gotta do it slowly so my account doesn’t get shadowbanned again (that was scary ngl). But once I do, the sign-up post will be updated regularly as I work and I’ll DM everyone individually as I finish theirs!

@sweetvoicecafe ! I am very excited to get this up and running! I have 3 references remaining, and then I can work on the introductory comic. (I mayyyyyyyy call for voice actors.)

HLVRAI-based OCs: This is a more minor thing, but I want to finish 9 more designs before Artfight, as I’ve only finished Joshie.

Pokemon

It’ll be a while longer until it’s ready, but I’d like to restart my Shiny Living Dex Challenge. And it’ll no longer be discord only, I’ll extend it to tumblr as well! Especially since there’s art prizes involved.

I have 11 remaining Bulbasaur/Ivysaur/Venusaur gifts to finish!

The occasional warmup, request, doodle, etc.

“Close Up Meme” Phanthop AU Animatic that I would love to polish and color.

“Never Love an Anchor” Hop and Leon animatic that I have indeed started (just an animatic this time, not polished)

I’ve started releasing collab (with @mr-web ) Art Podcasts on my youtube channel hint hint ;)

Misc.

Streams: Over on my Twitch (same name): I stream weekly (maybe more, depending on my new work schedule, just finished moving after all). At the moment, I’m taking turns with Half Life (nearly done with game one) and Omori (collab with Doglord15). Soon it’ll (hopefully) include Pokemon, but I’d also like to try Undertale Yellow, Portal, Hollow Knight, and more! As well as a return to art streams, that’d be cool.

Artfight Prep: I am mostly done, but remaining I have: 3 SVC refs, 9 HLVRAI OC refs, and fully updating my spreadsheet, which will also be updated on tumblr! (I may do this today, as it’s something I can do while bed-ridden.) Plus the 42 leftover revenges.

Among Us “Bark Bark” Animatic: nearly 3 years in the works but it’s chugging . . . there were complications with the cameos involved that hurt my motivation and the progress, but it’s still in the works haha…

“Haunted House” Vent Animatic: This is 2/3s of the way complete! As it’s something personal, I worked on it quickly after a certain event, but I’d still like to finish it. <3

New Hyperfixation: Surprise reveal! It’s Wreck-It Ralph (and specifically Hero’s Cuties). It won’t be a huge thing, but I’d like to doodle here and there, open requests for it, and draw up three AU designs that have been in my mind for nearly 13 years.

@theairshipexperiment : Yes yes, I knowwwwwwwwwwwww y’all are mad at me. It’s been three years and I still get people upset that it hasn’t continued. It’s not completely canceled, just very very slowww. I’m nearly done writing chapter 3, but that means there’s 7 chapters to go. At least I’ve started giving myself completely random reminders for times to write haha. It’s my only writing project atm, but writing takes so much more effort from me than art, I’m sorry.

@absurdamongus : Very low on my list, but I still enjoy their designs and would one day like to continue finishing their refs and maybe reopen an ask blog. An animated series would still be cool, but it’d be a long way off if so.

So yeah, a lot of projects and a lot of excitement! I’m going at a fair pace (when I’m not sick) and art continues to be my passion! <3

#hlvrai #pokemon #among us #ocs #artfight #wreck it ralph #HarmonyTRE

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roguesscribbles · 9 months ago

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Sorry I've been so dead recently! I've got a little project going on that's taking up my art time. Hoping to unveil it soon!

In the meantime, here's my new OC! I made her for a Mass Effect DnD group I'm joining! Her name is Raina Akiyama, she's a human engineer that abandoned her smothering military life to explore the galaxy, settling on Illium following the Reaper invasion.

You can read the full backstory under the cut:

Raina Akiyama was always destined to join the Alliance Military. From the day she was born on an Alliance ship to two parents with a decent military ranking, she spent the majority of her formative years on various Alliance ships or bases following wherever her parents were stationed.

At the time, she could count how many times she has been to Earth on one hand. Her father was from Japan and her mother was from Britain, so she had been to visit family members that she doesn’t remember the faces of. Her upbringing was lonely at times, her parents were busy working and other children were not that common. However, with the absence of people, she found her love in the mechanical instead.

She could always be found tinkering away at some piece of tech she found, sneaking into the engine room to look at the inner workings or pelting the engineers with all sorts of questions. And the Alliance were happy to support these dreams of hers, educating and pushing her towards a career as an Engineer.

There was just one problem, Raina didn’t like the way the Alliance ran things. She was never a fan of the authority, of the training exercises and the expectation to give it everything she had, with instructors and crew members who were always a bit too strict with a child, most likely already seeing the soldier she would become. She always felt trapped, forced into enlisting, because where else would she go? She was raised here, with a line of family all expecting her to join as the next generation as they once did, and she knew very little of the habited planets that dotted the galaxy.

Eventually, when she turned 18, she enlisted officially as an Engineer, continuing her training and enhancing her skills. If there’s one good thing she can say, it’s that the Alliance provided her with almost unlimited funding to tinker with whatever gadgets were put in front of her. She became intimately familiar with both the massive hardware of the Alliance vessels to the weapons and armour the troops relied on. She never fully felt like she belonged, but she could at least surround herself with the things she loved.

Things changed about 2 years later. She was stationed on a small base with an equally small squadron. Something that was meant to be safe, somewhere to train her and other recruits. For the first time in her life she felt like she had friends, people she could rely on and actually talk to, who had her back. Things finally started to fall into place, and she started to feel that yearned-for feeling of belonging.

Then, the raid happened.

A group of bandits attacked the base in the night, where there was minimal activity. They wanted the equipment that they had in storage. It wasn’t even very much, they most likely saw them as easy pickings, and they weren’t entirely wrong. Almost all of her squad was killed in the incident, though in the end Raina’s squad managed to barely win. During the scuffle, a confrontation with one of the assailants left her scarred after they slashed her face with an omni-blade. When she came to in the medical wing of an Alliance vessel, she found herself blind in her left eye.

Her entire world came crashing down. Almost all her friends were dead, that belonging ripped away from her in an instant. She was back to the cold, sterile vessels with people who saw her as little more than an asset, who wanted her back up and running as soon as possible as if a great tragedy hadn’t just occurred. As soon as they were able, they installed a cybernetic eye in the one she lost, patching her up like a broken piece of machinery.

Not even her parents were here. They contacted her as soon as they knew she was awake, but neither of them could leave their post to see her. Something in Raina just snapped. She needed away from this place, away from the military. She expressed her concerns to her parents, but they disapproved, encouraging her to just get better and push on. This was the family way. That just made the need to leave even more prevalent.

She was able to push for her to be medically discharged, quoting physical trauma and PTSD. She sent one final message to her parents telling them she was leaving and not to contact her. She grabbed all her belongings and money that she saved, grabbed the first civilian shuttle she could and started exploring the galaxy.

Over the next few years, she moved from planet to planet, exploring and experiencing and just living. She met so many new people, made new friends and went on her own adventures. She used her skills for work, either taking on odd jobs or temporarily joining a crew, which improved her abilities even further. She began to discover herself more as a person, get better at social interaction and just breathe for the first time. Life was good.

Then, the Reapers arrived.

Once more her world came crashing down, but this time it was different. She wasn’t alone. She had been staying on Illium when the news spread, and it wasn’t long before the Reapers made their way to them. Raina sprang into action, helping wherever she could to help the planets militia fend off the invasion, as well as help the people who had been displaced and evacuated to the planet. It kept her busy, and when the Reapers eventually fell, her positive presence put her on a lot of people’s radars as someone who was reliable.

Following this, she decided to take up a more permanent residence on Illium. They may have fended off the attack, but there was always work to be done. Plus, as a mercantile hub, other planets more affected turned to them for aid. She never found herself short for work, and she was keen to continue to improve her skills with the variety of machinery and tech that passed through. She dreams that one day, she can open her own mechanics shop, and make her role on Illium that much more permanent. Because she belongs.

#mass effect #mass effect oc #mass effect engineer #mass effect dnd #mass effect 5e #original character #my ocs #raina akiyama #rogue does art stuff

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daydreaming-en-pointe · 1 year ago

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Meet my OC Spider-Weaver (Spider-Woman, Earth 50513)

For the next few paras I’m gonna rant abt my spidersona :D this might not make any sense at all bc I’m just rambling at this point but here we go anyway! (a small warning, this is going to be a LONG post)

All images are from Pinterest!

TW: Mentions of death, some queerphobia/homophobia (judgemental aunties suck)

Name: Nikita Raina (pronounced Rhi-na like rhino but with an ‘a’ at the end instead of an ‘o’) (yes she’s South-Indian and yes this is me projecting)

Alias: Spider-Weaver*

Basic stuff to know:

-She’s loosely based off of a golden silk orb-weaver spider! I’m not going to attach an image but if you don’t mind staring at spiders then I suggest you look them up, they’re actually really pretty!!

-She’s been learning ballet since she was 3, picked up gymnastics for 2 or 3 years and then quit

-South-Indian

-Complete empath

-INCREDIBLE at knitting/crocheting/macramé knotting - basically anything involving thread + working with your hands. She literally works magic with yarn. She crocheted matching gloves for all of the Spiderteens one day after finding out that Hobie’s universe is COLD and his fingers are COLD and if she’s going to be holding his hand when it’s like that then she’ll freeze

Fighting Style:

Her fighting style is more aerobic and dynamic than the regular Spider-Man swings; she incorporates jetés and leaps from ballet into it while also using mid-air somersaults and other high-speed flips she picked up from gymnastics. She also teaches herself kalari adimurai (a South-Indian martial art similar to kalaripayittu) later on so she uses a few moves from that as well.

*The reason behind her alias being Spider-Weaver is that her web style has more of a lacy crochet feel to it than a regular spiderweb. This is what one of her webs would look like:

Her webs are bionic and on her web shooters she has built-in settings for the thickness and stretchiness of the crochet web. For example:

She can also switch up the style of her webs depending on how she feels yk? Like if she’s not vibing with any of the more plain ones she can switch to ✨ fancier ✨ stitches like

Arcade Stitch:

Lacy Stitches:

Fan Trellis Stitch:

And lots more. She’s basically got almost all crochet stitches as different settings on her web shooters. An added bonus is that they’re not only unique and quite pretty, but they’re also stronger and more durable than the average single-thread (unwoven) webs.

Backstory:

(canon events will be in red)

-She was bitten at 13. Her older brother (he’s 20, they have a 7 year gap) Ravi figured out something was wrong fairly early but she played it off as nothing, put his worries to rest and found her way as Spider-Woman on her own

-She was best friends with her universe’s Gwen Stacy since they were in kindergarten. She started freaking out few years into their friendship (they’re in middle school now) once they had become basically inseparable because she started feeling giddy and bubbly and getting butterflies around Gwen.

-Poor girl was basically terrified because her aunties (mostly her mother’s sisters) would constantly pressurise her by asking her if she had her sights set on a boy yet or discussing how her marriage to a boy would go once she was older - those prodding conversations and speculations only reinforced her fears that she wouldn’t be accepted and instead would be frowned upon if she told her family that she had a crush on a girl. So she became more withdrawn and distanced herself a little, so as to not to lose the favour of her family.

-Nikita is 14 at this point

-One day she accidentally told Ravi and she went quiet, expecting him to shame her or mock her but instead he just hugged her and told her he loved her no matter what, and guess what,, he’s queer (pan) too :D

-Fast forward to a few weeks later after an almost-death scare as Spider-Woman fighting her dimension’s Vulture (she slipped up, miscalculated a leap and almost got herself killed) she finally worked up the courage to tell Gwen because it seems like she returns her feelings too! So she goes up to her and they hug and they’re talking and she’s about to confess- But noooo

-Green Goblin attacks in the middle of the school day, during a student art & drama exhibition thing (the parents are all there) and hahaha guess what Gwen’s right in the middle of it

-So Green Goblin basically splits the school building in two and she’s on the terrace and she falls down almost 15 feet because the whole thing’s cracked and Nikita doesn’t have enough time to swing to reach her since there are so many people and she’s on the far, far side and-

-Gwen hits the ground at full force. Niki gets there just in time for her last breath and it’s a little bit like the Gwen-Peter 65 scene from ATSV (Niki’s Gwen slowly figured out that she’s Spider-Woman, she just didn’t say anything) yeah I might write out this scene sometime idk

-She manages to deal with Green Goblin for the moment but she loses her dad in the chaos too (basically instead of losing her uncle she lost her dad)

-So she lost her best friend and her father in one go

-She closes herself off and withdraws completely into herself and distances herself from everybody (except Ravi),, & starts going to ballet more to take her mind off things and to get lost in ballet, with the graceful, controlled movements so she doesn’t have to think of how everything’s gone wrong

-During the mourning period she and Ravi grow closer; they both start leaning more on each other and are able to tell each other anything

-Ravi has also started training to be a cop at this point

-Her relationship with her mother grows slightly strained and shaky the older she gets, because of how closed off she’s become

-Fast forward to when Nikita is 16 and a half and the Vulture attacks particularly viciously one day, right on the bridge (the Brooklyn Bridge variant in her universe)

-Her brother (who is now a police captain, despite being a little young) is in the middle of the maelstrom of cars being flung and buildings at the end collapsing. He - a police captain close to Spider-Woman - dies saving a child from falling rubble.

-That does a number on Nikita mentally and she just. Shuts herself down in terms of feeling emotion for a bit

-Like she just goes numb, like she’s in denial about how many people she’s lost in such a short time

-Terrified to make friends or get attached because her losing someone she cares about deeply seems to be a recurring pattern

-The only one she has left is her mom, and she’s grown really distant from her

-Little bit irrelevant but she takes up psychology. She studies how the emotional part of brain works, studies some basic therapy and other think-y stuff like that, and some of her Spider-Woman ‘jabs’ (not really but I can’t think of a word for them rn) are things like “did something formative happen to you as a child? yeah I thought I sensed some childhood trauma, would you like to talk about it?” And stuff like that (she’s pretty genuine about it too, if they start talking instead of just attacking her then she will sit down with a mug of chai and just listen to them rant)

-Anyway fast forward to a year and a half later when she’s 18

-Jessica Drew ends up following an anomaly she’s been tracking into Nikita’s dimension, the anomaly manages to get the upper hand on her and has almost overpowered her when Nikita finally swings in (probably during/right after a psychology exam too) and uses the element of surprise + her speed to get the upper hand on the anomaly and web it up

-She was recruited into the Spider-Society by Jess after she saw how capable and quick-thinking Niki could be. She saw her as someone who could be a useful asset to the society.

-It’s there where she met Hobie, Gwen, Pavitr, Margo, Miguel and Peter B. + a few other spiders she became friends with (I’ll expand on their relationships in a different post)

Suit design:

(I will be drawing this out properly sometime soon, don’t worry!! Feel free to skip this part if you think it’s too complicated ^^ I really have no idea how to describe it in a simpler way lmao)

-mainly shades of gold, black highlights

-on her arms there are black “cuff” markings like a golden silk spider’s legs

-on her wrists she has black bangles (more like cuffs bc they fit around her wrists, they aren’t loose & dangly)

-wears black fingerless sleeves, they look a little bit like Gwen’s but they have black splotches (a little bit like spray paint blobs) instead of spiderwebs

-has a black spider on the front of the suit

-wears a necklace! it’s colourful and has some mismatched colourful beads on a chord and two pendants in the centre, one pendant is a paint-splashed red electric guitar, the other pendant is one of Hobie’s rings

-wears black ballet pointe shoes

-the eye outline is black, the ‘eye’ inside is pastel golden

-black 🕸️ patterns on the side of both of her shoulders (like painted pauldrons)

Abilities:

-Along with the super-strength, super-speed and accelerated healing of the average Spider-Person, she can sense emotions and thoughts.

Not mind-reading exactly but if she focuses hard enough she can sense whatever emotion is radiating out of that particular person’s mind (she used to get very overwhelmed in middle school bc of the sheer amount of envy and insecurity and other emotions in raging hormonal teenagers’ brains and somehow studying psychology helped her figure out how to tune it out a little bit, since every time she can sense too much of intense emotions it’s like constantly blowing a dog whistle around a dog,, and she also gets horrible migraines and headaches from it)

She can even read thoughts if the emotion associated with it is strong enough.

An added ability that stems from being able to sense emotions and thoughts (to some degree) is that she can sometimes predict the moves that an enemy might make before they actually make them. It’s not 100% accurate every time but it’s still pretty useful

I’ll write out her relationships (everyone already knows that Hobie’s no. 1 on that list lmao) and the world descriptions later, but for now here’s the character that’s been living in my head since I saw ATSV :D

Oh also she’s besties with @hobiebrownismygod ’s sona Maitreyi :D desis gotta stick together yk (putting this here so I don’t forget to mention it in the relationships post ^^)

#⋆·˚ 🕷️🌟 ༘ * — 𝙨𝙥𝙞𝙙𝙚𝙧-𝙬𝙚𝙖𝙫𝙚𝙧!#it’s 1am #and i have to be up by 6 tmrw #whoopsies #not proofread at all btw #atsv #across the spiderverse #spidersona #spiderman oc #atsv oc #atsv original character #spider oc #oc x canon #hobie brown x oc #<- implied #nikita raina

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lutzlig · 2 years ago

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Tumblrwoman Election Wrap-Up

To celebrate the end of this election, I'm gonna answer the rest of your questions!

First off:

Thanks everyone for participating! This ended up way bigger than expected. It was pretty exciting, seeing everybody chime in and participate.

Shoutout ESPECIALLY to all the people making fanarts, memes, etc... you people are incredible!!! Most of it can be found under #twe23, be sure to check it out, everybody!

Here's some highlights you people have made:

this github live number tracker made by @twilight-sparkle-irl during the vriska/katya poll. A THRILLING read!

this hollow knight miku oc by @anonymous-utility!! shes so cute...

@seasoned-cabbage made a wiki sandbox for the polls... it's so satisfying to see the stats laid out like this : D

@unidentifiedfroggy wrote fanfiction that just perfectly encapsulates the whole experience : ' )

General Q&A

"Who did you want to win?"

I myself think Vriska deserved the title most! I think vriska is just as integral to tumblr as Cecil is, if not more.

As for the other 2 involved, they didn't really care who won!

How often did you hear "Why are you pitting 2 bad bitches against each other"?

Often! One of us was going to count, but he got so annoyed that he stopped. You people need to get a new sentence.

"Why are there minors in a tumblrsexywoman contest?"

It's not a tumblr sexywoman contest, it's a tumblrwoman election! Before we made the poll, we considered whether it's better to throw out the minors or remove the "sexy" angle. We decided on the latter, mostly because this kind of competition would feel incomplete without tumblrgirls like miku and vriska.

Will you be doing this again next year?

Hm, not sure. Probably not! At least, I wasn't planning on it. We did this on a whim, and this is (SUPPOSED TO BE) my art blog.

I might make a blog for it next year, if these are still relevant and the demand is high (which i highly doubt).

Why didn't you answer my question?

I got like 130 asks this week and most of them were cries of pain and outrage. I was also incredibly busy irl until a day ago. If I didn't answer your question, Sorry!

Concerns about Corruption

According to the tags on these, every single one of the polls was rigged in some way or another. Particularly grievous examples of this were Miku's loss (I suspect Vriskavoters doing foul play (I am vriskavoters. I voted Bayonetta to sabotage Miku. Then i spent the whole day listening to Miku voicebank comparisons.)), and Marcie's win (Somebody accused the Adventure time subreddit of having swamped the poll. The post in question had 19 upvotes. The poll on tumblr had 92,123 votes).

What's more, I've been offered bribes!! Several american dollars! The political landscape of tumblr sure is a scary place...

Manners

Some of you really don't know how to act. This goes out to a small (but very, very vocal) minority - don't be a dick! Just because it's the internet does not mean you can just insult random strangers! This is a poll about fictional women, this is NOT a place to call people the r-word or imply someone is stupid for liking a character.

Some people left pretty graphic, violent messages. Most of these were jokes, but still. Take caution with the words you choose. This should go without saying, but telling strangers to "eat glass" and the like is not acceptable behaviour.

In the end, this was a competition between fictional characters, so seeing people arguing in the replies and trying to gain some sort of moral high ground was a little bit saddening.

Most of you were nice though, luckily : )

Thanks

To everyone who left kind messages, to everyone engaging and having fun, the fan art, the posts, to everyone expressing their thanks to us - thank you!!!

In the end, this was a lot of fun, and it was nice to see the website come together like that!

What's next?

For the next few days, I'm going to be promoting my friends' projects as much as I can to scare all of you people off of my blog.

I got WAY too many followers from this and frankly, that is simply not acceptable. You all need to leave NOW, because I want to get back to posting art eventually and I would rather not be on everybody's timeline.

That's why I have decided to become a massive sell out and reblog my friends' stuff on main for a bit. Peace!

#twe23 #tumblrwoman election asks #tumblrwoman election 2023

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myers-meadow · 1 year ago

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Severus Snape and his assistant: More than the sum of ingredients (ch. 1)

Title: More than the sum of ingredients

Chapter title: Introduction

Pairing: Severus Snape x his assistant, my female OC.

Summary: The start of a new year: fresh and bright! And this year, students are allowed to practice potions in the classrooms after hours - to great joy of many studious witches and wizards. To help Snape cope with the added workload, Dumbledore hires an assistant for him. Soon there will be more brewing than just potions.

Wordcount: 1341

Warnings: nothing for this chapter. This story will have it all: angst, fluff, and especially smut ^^. There will be warnings for future chapters, of course. This is probably not canon timeline wise.

Divider by delishlydelightfuldividers

For Hermoine, the new schoolyear started off ripe with promise. She was determined to excel once again, and with a new, hopefully better, Defence Against the Dark Arts professor – things were looking up. And as a cherry on top, during the first Potions class, professor Snape announced that he now had an assistant.

“Professor Dumbledore and I have come to an agreement,” he said it like it disgusted him, “to allow students to use this classroom outside of classes, to practice potions for the final exam. To make this go smoothly, I have appointed an assistant.”

Murmurs started in the back of the class. He swiftly ended those with a sharp stare.

“Groups of maximum four students can schedule a timeslot with her. Use of ingredients also goes through her. I strongly urge you to make use of this opportunity, since some of you seem to forget you need an Outstanding in this class to succeed in your O.W.L.s. Only the best can take Advanced Potions classes next year. Class dismissed.”

The word spread fast. Hermoine wasn’t the only hopeful student wanting to make use of this new opportunity and the timeslots filled up fast in the first week (as long as it didn’t clash with quidditch practice). What spread even faster, was that the new assistant was a cold-hearted and impatient young woman, named miss Medea Pimpelmees, and was almost as bad as Snape. The buzzing enthusiasm to improve Potion grades faded quick.

For Snape, it was easy to refer to her, so he didn’t have to deal with students himself, but for the students it was a puzzle. She was never at the place they expected her to be, so finding her was the first obstacle. Then there was hoping she was in a good enough mood to let them write their name on the sheet – at times it laid prominently on the desk while she simply said she didn’t have the parchment with her and they’d better come back another time.

After that step was completed, and it was time for brewing, she guarded the ingredients closely. When you needed something from the stores, there was a chance she’d give you something else, purely to mess with you. “Should’ve paid more attention and you’d know what horklump juice looks like,” was all she’d say, barely hiding the meanness on her face.

“Miss Pimpelmees, it says here we need wormwood, but there’s not any left,” said Neville, steeling himself, looking down at his feet in front of the desk where the new assistant sat.

She glanced up at him, “Wormwood? I could’ve sworn I refilled the vials yesterday.”

Standing up, she pulled Neville’s hand towards her, almost yanking the poor boy over her desk, to examine the empty vial, then went to the shelf to look for the rest of the supply.

“There really is none,” she muttered. “I’ll have to bring this up with Professor Snape. Thank you Neville. If it isn’t too late for your schedule, you may practice another potion. Amortentia doesn’t have wormwood as one of its ingredients.”

“But miss, what about the group after ours?” asked Neville.

She waved him off. “They’ll just have to wait. And I will have to search for the wormwood thief.” The venom in her voice returned at the mention of the thief.

Once back at his table, Neville barely sat down before Harry and Ron leaned towards him.

“What’s gotten into her? She hates us.”

“Do you think it’s some sort of trick? That she’s secretly telling Snape?” said Ron.

“I think she likes Neville,” Hermoine said, already cleaning up the remains of their failed wormwood-less potion.

And so it became that when a group had to put their name down on the list, or had to ask for specific ingredients, they sent Neville.

“Please, just this once?” begged a fifth year Hufflepuff. “I’ll do your Charms homework for the rest of the week!”

“You said that last time,” said Neville, begrudgingly. It did sound lovely to be able to go to Hogsmeade during the weekend with less homework to be done. “I can’t promise anything.”

“Thank you so much, Neville!” and they ran off with a bright smile.

“Why won’t you let us make Amortentia?” asked Draco, during one of the sessions he booked with Crabbe, Goyle and Pansy. The golden trio and Neville sat at the other end of the classroom. The way Draco seized up the new assistant, it was clear he looked to play a prank, ready to push and prod until getting a reaction.

Not looking up from her book, she said: “I hardly think a guy like you should need it, do you?”

Satisfied with the answer, Draco looked at the other table, wearing a triumphant smile.

“A Wit-Sharpening Potion might prove useful instead,” she said, which wiped the smirk off his face. The snickers at the Gryffindor table were silenced similarly quickly by a sharp glare. The mess they left for her to clean up, however, had her cursing them out at the end of the lesson.

“Neville,” she called out, before anyone had a chance to leave the room. Of course they expected him to have to stay behind to clean it, even though Draco caused the mess. The group was used to such favouritism from the Potion's professor, so it wasn't at all surprising. He was met with grins from the Slytherins, and pitied looks from his friends, but he obediently trudged over to her desk.

“Yes?” he gulped, focussing on anything but the frown on her face.

“You need to negotiate with your peers. When they’re trying to get you to do something, you should say; ‘you do both Charms homework and History of Magic, then we have a deal’. Understood?”

Surprised, the boy nodded.

“Good. Leave.”

That night, professor Snape sat at his desk, grading essays, as his assistant, Medea, noted down which supplies needed restocking.

His low voice shook her from her thoughts. “I’ve received some complaints today.”

She just hummed, leaning the ledger against the shelf to make a note to order more wormwood.

“It was Draco. He said you insulted his intelligence.”

“And complimented his romantic prowess.”

Unbothered by the interruption, Snape continued: “By suggesting which potions he would or wouldn’t do well to brew.”

“I suppose so, yes,” was all she said, finally putting the paper down and walking to his desk. “If you want me to go easier on your Slytherins, I’ll keep it in mind, although I prefer to treat them like everybody else.”

Snape stared up at her for a moment. It all seemed too easy: she was quick to yield to him, despite that spark in her eyes. There was no ‘Malfoy deserved it’, nothing of the sort. No apologies either. He knew she was still testing him, seeing how far she could go before pissing him off. His demeaner invited that challenge. She wanted to see what made him angry, what he cared about, what he would do if she crossed a line.

“That won’t be necessary,” he said, eventually.

“Thank you, sir,” she said, looking him over once again, and walked to his side of the desk, until she was right next to him. With a rough movement, she opened the top drawer – it was often stuck – and got out a few sheets of parchment to write the orders on, to send them in the morning.

This close, Snape caught her scent. The potions of the day had clung to her, hiding her natural smell. A woman… She smelled like woman, like metal, something heady, and an amber and honey perfume. He hated her. He hated Dumbledore for assigning him an assistant.

Sometimes at the end of his classes, before she’d come to clean, he mixed up items in his storeroom on purpose. Her frustration at the mess outweighed his annoyance that it kept her around him longer in the evening – and he’d tell himself that as he fell asleep with images of her before his eyes.

#pro snape #severus snape #severus snape fanfic #harry potter fanfic #severus snape x oc #snape #snape x oc #snape fanfiction #snapedom #pro severus snape #meadow's writing #severus #snape fanfic #severus snape fanfiction #severus snape fandom

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