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donnajons · 5 years ago

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Leave Paris, Move to Gotham Chapter 2

So, this is over due, but it’s here and it’s alive! I couldn't post all the tags, it was a fully mess. Please tell me what you think about. it

It was too late to change her last name.

Her landlady registered her under that name, so the bills came under that name. Her boss, Miss Prince, wrote her checks under Marinette A. Wayne, and she got a fake ID under that name and her photo.

But why the last name Wayne was such a bad thing?

Well, turns out that the last name was well known in Gotham thanks to an eccentric playboy billionaire, whose company hold the 87 percent of the jobs in the Gothic city. At least twenty people asked her if she was related to Bruce Wayne last week. Even Miss Prince asked her if she was one of Bruce’s children. Apparently, the man had adopted a dozen children with black hair and blue eyes like her.

Well, she couldn’t change her last name, but she had the option of change her appearance. That was one of the reasons why she changed her hair color to a pastel pink. She kept her bangs just to divided in two and hold them with pins, so she could show her forehead. The pink was a good choice. It made her look like a totally different person. The only thing that didn’t match were her black eyebrows, but she didn’t want to dye them too.

After paying and say goodbye to Selena, Marinette still had more than a hundred dollars in her pocket, and it was still early, so after a whole internal debate and some encouragement from Tikki, Marinette went to a Hobby Lobby and bought a bag of embroidery thread and some needles. She felt guilty when she gave the money to the cashier and walked home with her knew embroidery set. A strong part of her wanted to go back to the store and return the threads, but Tikki was stronger than that part of her.

“Remember, Marinette. You deserve to have pretty things and hobbies. You can buy embroidery thread and not feel guilty about it. Think of all the pretty pattern that you can sew in your clothes! Tell me one.”

Marinette smilled. What would she do without Tikki?

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Marinette was nervous, and this time it wasn’t because of Char Noir, the miraculous, or money.

The Pink haired girl was about to ask her boss if she could use the sewing machine in the back to fix some of her clothes in her free time. It wasn’t that her clothes were ragged. The thing about her clothes was that they were too plain. She bought them in the discount section of Walmart in the men’s and women's section. Some of them were way too big for her, and others were just… not her style. After she came back from the store and checked the miraculous box, Marinette started to decorate her clothes… well the ones that fit her. That’s why she wanted to ask Miss Prince if she could use the sewing machine, so she could fix her clothes.

It was lunch time, and Marinette was as ready as she could be.

“M-miss Prince.” Her voice lacked confidence even though her boss was kind to her.

A tall woman with black long hair turned around to see her.

“Oh, Marinette. You change your hairstyle! Pink suits you well!”

The girl shyly moved a piece of hair from her face. “T-thank you, Miss Prince. Miss Prince I-I was wondering if you are okay with it, but of course if you don’t that’s fine. I would totally understand, and I don’t want to bother you…”

For someone that wasn’t a native English speaker, Marinette knew how to bladbling like a pro.

Miss Prince put a hand on her shoulder and said “Hey, breathe. You can’t ask me what you want if you don’t breathe, breath, Marinette, breath.”

And she did.

“Good. By the way, your English is getting better. You’re speaking more fluently.” Her boss smiled, “Now, tell me what you need.”

Marinette took a deep breath, “I-I was wondering if you could let me use the sewing machine on the back. I want to fix some clothes that I bought, b-but of course it would be in my lunch break and only if you let me.”

Quickly, Miss Prince smiled to her. “Of course, you can use the sewing machine but not at lunch time. You are a young woman still developing, so take your last hour to fix your clothes.”

Marinette opened her eyes in surprise. “B-but, Miss Prince, we have some clients at 3:00. You told me that you want me to take measurements and star the pattern for their suits. I could fix my clothes tomorrow if you let me.”

Her boss choked her head, “And you will, but you will only take measurements. I have seen your work. You are quick and precise when you take measurements. It would take at most ten minutes per customer. The pattern will take you less time. Now, don’t argue with me and eat something.”

As Marinette walked to the back store, she couldn’t help but be grateful for having a great boss like Miss Prince. She was always comprehensive and kind to her like the time she forgot her money lunch. Miss Prince bought her favorite sandwich and didn’t took it from her paycheck. Oh yes, Miss Diana Prince is an excellent boss by caring about her employees, well employee.

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Bruce Wayne was a patience man… most of the time.

There were just a few things that could make him lose his cool. One of them was getting gala clothes for his oldest sons. Tim and Damian, his youngest, were easy to dress because they had a style. While Tim liked a more classic suit, Damian preferred a little bit more extravagant style and yet elegant. This was what made easy to dress them: they had a good taste in fashion. His oldests, for the other side, had not taste whatsoever. Dick was too extravagant for his own good (If it wasn’t for his father and Alfred intervention, he would be planning on buying a pink suit with falcon feathers. His next son wasn’t better. Jason’s concept of a suit is a clean letter jacket, jeans, and a bow tie.

There was only one person who could help this fashion disasters, and that person… wasn’t, Bruce.

Diana Prince, AKA Wonder Woman, has a boutique with pretty high standards, and by God’s sake, the warrior was the only one that could tame his sons and at the same convince them to use a fucking tuxedo.

“On other news, there has been another victim from the mysterious serial killer, The Jewel Panther, this time on the city of Nice, France. The victim was a nineteen-year-old Japanese girl and was found on a local jewelry store in the same way the other victims of the Jewel Panther. We recommend all young ladies from the age of thirteen to twenty-two that have Asian heritage, fair skin, prominent freckles, black hair, and blue eyes to take precautions in France and neighboring countries…”

Bruce turned off the radio.

It was bad enough that the league didn’t want to take that case, but to hear it repeatedly was just tiring. The league didn’t consider this Jewel Panther to be a menace worthy of them. He was “too normal” for they, but what could be normal about a fucking serial killer that some how ripped off all the organs from the thoracic are of the victims without making an insertion of any kind just too leave their skin flawless.

That wasn’t fucking normal.

Bruce finally arrived at Diana’s boutique where his oldest sons were waiting for him.

“Finally, you are here. Two more minutes and I was going to leave.” Jason, his second oldest, reclaimed the three men got inside of the boutique. “For somebody that preach about responsibility, you’re late.”

“Knowing that you two aren’t a bit punctual, I told you two to be here by two thirty. You will probably arrive at two fifty. We have an appointment at three.”

“You know I would be offended if it wasn’t true.” Dick said as he sat down on one of the chairs. “So does Diana have the suits?”

“No, she is going to take your measurements to make them from scratch.”

“Do we have a saying on the style” Jason asked without hope because he knew that answer would be:

“No.” Unexpectedly, this answer came from Diana Prince, who got inside the room with a small, very small girl.

“As long as I am alive, you two will dress properly… at least just for the gala. For what you two are wearing, I cannot do miracles.” Diana said as she looked like them like if she was judging their appearances (Little note, she was.)

She got an offended hey from the brothers at what she only smiled.

“This is Marinette. She will take your measurements in the changing room. Marinette can you take them there?”

The small girl gave a shy nod “I-if you could follow me.” She said with a thick accent that neither of the brothers could identify came from. Dick and Jason followed the tiny girl.

Once his sons were gone, Bruce asked Diana “Since when do you hire help?”

“Since the business grow up” Diana knew that tone. It was the I-know-that-you-doing tone.

“Not likely, you like to do your clothes by all yourself. The only people that you have ever hired is a few Amazonians, and she has a French accent. Her physique is not anywhere near an Amazonian.” He gave her the look again. “So, what’s her story?”

Diana signed. He wasn’t the best detective just to don’t live it up.

“It’s good that you bring up the topic because I was going to tell you anyway.” She stood up closer to him “Three weeks ago, she came up looking up for work. You should have seen her. She looked so lost and even thinner than she is today. She told me she needed a Summer job, but by Artemins’ sake, she looked like she was starving for weeks. It was obvious that the money was for food and a place to sleep.” She bit her lip. “Her story had holes like how her parents haven’t move from France yet because they were busy or how she couldn’t give me her ID because she lost it in the airplane, but what gave it away was her last name.”

Bruce lift an eyebrow, “Her last name?”

“Her full name, or the name that she gave me, is Marinette A. Wayne.”

Marinette A. Wayne. What are the chances?

Bruce was about to ask when Diana interrupted him.

“I asked her if she is related to you. I mean at the time she had all the Wayne’s characteristics: black hair, and blue eyes. She seemed like one of your children, but she told me that she wasn’t related to you. She didn’t even know who you were until I told her that Bruce Wayne was a rich influence man that basically rules Gotham, which makes it even more weird.”

“There is a lot of people with the last name of Wayne, what would be weird?”

“Because, not offence, but anyone knows that the last name Wayne bring problems in Gotham. Nobody in their right set of minds would move to Gotham having that last name.”

She had a point. The Wayne family had a lot of money and prestige, but they also had an immense number of enemies. Having that last name was dangerous, and more for a teenager without supervision.

“What are your theories about her?” Bruce asked her.

“She is an immigrant, maybe illegal if she didn’t want me to see her ID. Probably from France, her accent gives her away even though she tries to sound Chinese. She is running away from somebody because her parents are not in the picture. She is always alert and ready to hide. I have seen how she shakes and jumps every time something makes a loud noise. She cries in the bathroom sometimes. She is trying to survive, but she can’t do it alone for more effort she tries to put in.”

Marinette had another characteristic of the Wayne family: Psychological trauma.

“You said you were going to tell me eventually, why?”

Diana stopped for a second.

“I’m leaving for France after the gala for two weeks. If the League doesn’t want to do something about the Panther, I will. Those girls didn’t deserve that end, and their sisters don’t deserve to live under all that fear,” For the look on his face, Diana could tell that he was with her on this. “and that’s why I need you to ask you a huge favor.”

She put her hand on his shoulder.

“I need you to keep an eye on her while I’m not here.”

“You want me to babysitter her?” Bruce asked her.

“Not babysitter her, I just make sure that she is fine without letting her know. I will leave Gotham with more peace knowing that you and your sons will keep tabs on her.”

“And what would be the excuse to come to your boutique for three weeks? Another suit?” The trillionaire asked her. He was on board to keep an eye on this girl because somehow this girl reminded him of her other daughters… I said somehow.

“The boutique will be closed, so I’ll give her three weeks in advance and the materials, so she can work from her apartment. I also will talk to her about a mandatory Summer fashion course in Gotham University that will began a week before I go. I understood that your son, Damian, is taking Summer classes there to get ahead. So that would be a good excuse to keep an eye on her. Don’t you think?”

Bruce smirked. Diana was a sneaky woman.

“You planned this pretty well, didn’t you?”

“I like to be prepared. You better than no one should know it. So, can I count on you?”

Diana offered her hand to him, and Bruce willingly accepted.

“You can go without worrying about her.”

Diana gave him a small smile. “Just please, don’t adopt her before I come back. You have enough children.”

Bruce was used to this constant running joke about his obsession, as Jason liked to call it, but never tease Bruce Wayne about adopting more children because it would end in him preparing the adoption papers.

“You are very funny.” Diana could swear that she saw a little smile on his face. “Lets go, before my kids start bothering your ward.”

The two of them started walking to the changing room. “I wouldn't be worried about her. Under that shy face, I can see a ferocious warrior. I kinda want to teach her how to fight when I come back.”

“Carefull, you may end up having a daughter” This time she could swear over Athermis that she saw a smile on his face.

Diana just smiled. “That wouldn’t be so bad.”

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Diana was right about her; Marinette was good at taking measurements.

It took her eight minutes to get Dick’s and another eleven to finish with Jason. It could have been eight, but the man was too ticklish and too tall. She had to stand up on two boxes just too get the measurements of the two men.

“Soo, do you like working with Diana?” Dick said trying to break the ice. Noone have something since they arrived to the changing room, well except a few reprimanding words from the little girl with pink hair.

Marinette finished taking the last measurement from Dick’s waist. She tried not to look at them in their eyes. The less attention she got, the better.

“I-it’s good. Miss P-prince is a kind boss.” She said as she wrote down the measurement on Diana’s notebook

“How long have you been working with her?”This time it was Jason who asked.

Was this an interrogatory?

“N-not long. Three weeks I think.”

“That’s good. Does she gives you a discount in the store?” The man with a few white hairs asked again.

“I-I don’t think so. We have never talk about discounts, but she lets me use the sewing machines to fix some oversized clothes and finish the embroidery. She also buys me lunch most of the time and doesn’t take it out of my paycheck. So I guess that’s better than a discount.” She kept her look on the notebook even though she finished writing down on it.

Dick and Jason shared a look. The way that she said the part about the lunch was, sad and full of gratefulness. Both men look at the girl more carefully. She was thin, at the point that they could see the bones or her hands. Maybe they should avoid that topic.

“You said you put embroidery on your clothes. Are those like the ones that you have on your blouse?” Dick asked pointing at her.

She looked down her clothes. She was wearing an orange blouse with pretty blue patrons on the collar.

Marinette gave a shy nod.

“Did you used a sewing machine?”

She shocked her head.

“No? Well, I’m impressed. This is a pretty good job. Do you think you can put something like that on my suit for the gala?”

Marinette’s blood cold down and her heart almost stopped. The idea of disobeyed Miss Diana terrorized her.

“I-I don’t think that Miss Diana would let me. She already has your suits figured out.” She passed to them the photos of the suit. They looked really formal, elegant, and expensive… and boring for Marinette’s taste.

“In your opinion, what would you change about the suit. In the hypothetical case that Diana ask you to make some adjustments for the suit.” Dick asked her.

“I don’t know if I should. I-I may get in a problem.”

“You won’t. That’s the beauty of the first amendment. Tell us your thoughts, Stephanie. It’s not like Rovin Rotten it’s gonna appear.”

Marinette didn’t understood the reference, but somehow it gave her the it gave it the valor to tell what was on her mind.

“I-if was unto me, I wouldn’t change the design of the suits, but rather the materials. Like for example for you uhm…” Marinette pointed at the tallest.

“Jason”

“Yes, Jason, Sorry. I would change the material to a more shining, like the leather jacket that you are wearing, but it’s not actually leather. It’s lighter. And you…”

“Richard, but call me Dick.”

“Right… W-well Dick, I’m t-thinking that you would look good with some metallic blue embroidery pattern on the lapel, and...and the pockets…. But I-I guess the original design is more proper for that kind of gala.“ She could feel how her face redded at the look of the two men.

“You know…” Dick said as he gave her a polite smile… “your ideas are pretty good. Maybe if we tell Diana about it, she could put ‘em on the suit.”

No, what if she gets mad? What if Miss Prince gets so mad at her that she decides to fire her?! How could she keep the miraculous box safe if she didn’t have money to sustain herself?!

“N-no. I-I don’t want to disrespect her. S-she worked so hard in those designs.”

“Never be afraid to speak your mind if you think that you can improve something” Marinette’s blood cooled again. She quickly stood up and bowed. It was forced habit that she did every time she apologized.

“Hey, Diana. We were just takin’ with your talented girl. She has great ideas.” Jason said.

Diana crossed her arms and gave her a sneaky smile. “Is that so?”

Marinette wanted apologize, but before she could even open her mouth, Dick spoke.

“Yeah, she is talented. Like the ideas she has for our suits. I bet that you heard them?”

The woman nodded.

“I did, and I think they are really good ideas. You have a lot of future in the fashion field so much that I want to talk to you about a great opportunity to improve your career. We can talk about it after our guss are gone, which remind me did you finish taking their measurements?”

Marinette couldn't believe this. It was too good to be true. Maybe it was true, and miss Prince wanted to talk to her about something good, but there was also the chance that she wanted to be alone with her, so she could fire her in private and not in front of her clients.

“Marinette.” She turned at the Diana and the other. Their faces seemed concerned. “You okay?”

She spaced out. She should stop doing that.

“Y-yes, I just got lost in translation. I finished taking their measurements.”

“If we are no longer needed, my sons and I will leave.” Bruce stepped up avoiding to look at the girl to not make her uncomfortable.

“Of course, we will have your suits for the first fit in by Friday.” She and Bruce shaked hands.

Marinette saw his two sons stand up and cme closer to her. Maybe, this was the last time that she would see them again.

“It was a pleasure to meet you Pinkie Pie.” He put his hand up waiting for a high five. “Pss, this is the part you high five me back.”

The girl shakingly high fived him.

“Hey, I want a high five too.” Dick put up his hand, and Marinette awkwardly high fived him.

“Dick, Jason we got to go. Alfred is making dinner.”His sons left the room while saying goodbye to Diana. Then Bruce turned to Marinette to shake her hand. “Miss Marinette it was a pleasure to meet you. I hope we will meet again.”

“L-likewise, Mister…”

“Bruce Wayne, but call me Bruce, Miss Wayne.”

Marinette opened her eyes while open. Bruce Wayne as the Bruce Wayne, and he knew her last name.

“P-please, c-call me Marinette.”

The man just smiled and left the room letting Diana and Marinette alone.

So the worst things that could happen today may happened at the end. She may lose her job and get sued by the Bruce Wayne for taking his last name, and lets not forget that she is using a fake ID. Scratch that, she is an immigrant. Marinettes has seen enough news to now that that country is in thin line with immigrants She was in soo many problems.

“Marinette,” The older woman took her purse. “What do you think if we go out for dinner?”

Well… Marinette didn’t expect that.

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Marinette couldn't say no to miss Prince. She was just too nervous to reduce the offer.

The restaurant was fancy and expensive. Only the beverage was worth more than three months of rent. The people there were dressed in fancy outfits from Versace to Oscar de la Renta; it made Marinette feel underdressed with her orange T-shirt and cheap jeans.

“So, Marinette, you told me you are interested in the fashion field.” Miss prince said as the took a sip from her glass of wine.

“Y-yes miss Prince. I do ever s-since I was a little girl.”

“And what do you plant to accomplish them?”

Marinette froze. What were her plans?

Months ago, she had a prosperous future. She commissioned big pop and rock stars like Jagged and Clara. She won many design competitions from Gabriel Agreste. She was building a name, but now, all her work and effort was worthless. She had to start all over again, but the difference now is that she didn't have the same motivation. Before Gotham, she did it because she has her parents supporting her. Today, she did it to hold to the little sense of normality in her life of chaos.

“I-I don’t know ma’am. Maybe I could start by designing clothes and maybe sell them on Etsy. I h-hadn’t have the time to think through it. Moving here was too time consuming.” The girl said as tried not to shiver. If Miss Prince was going to fire her, Marinette hoped that she did it quickly, so she didn’t have to live with this fear any longer.

Miss Diana put her glass down. “Marinette I’m am gonna be sincere to you. You have talent and dedication. Those two qualities can get you somewhere good, but that can bring you to the glory, to your golden dream is passion. And by Arthemis’ sake, you have more passion than a hundred people together. I have seen how you enjoy creating new clothes and fixing them like if it was a way to get away from everything. That’s why I want you, if you allow me, to support you to become a fashion designer.

Okay… okay.... That took Marinette by surprise. She expected miss Prince to fire her for over speak, not to offer her support.

“I-I.. Y-you want to help me?”

Diana smiled. “Of course, in fact, I have a proposition to you.”

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Marinette locked the door of her apartment, put her key pack at her purse, and started happy dancing.

Diana (she insisted to be called by her first name) told her that after the Wayne’s gala she was going to close the boutique for three weeks. While this made Marinette sad because she would have to live from her saving can, what Diana told her next made her really happy. Diana offered her to work with her not for her.

Here was the deal, for the next three week after the gala, Marinette would be working on her usual tasks but at her apartment while she attended a course about fashion design in Gotham University, fully paid by Diana. At the beginning, Marinette refused telling Diana that she felt that she would be abusing her kindness, but the older woman said that she saw this as an investment. Paying for her education was an investment so Diana and she would sell her clothes on her store under the girl’s name. They both would win. Marinette gets an education, and Diana a new brand for her boutique.

For Marinette this was like a dream come true. In fact, this was the best thing that has happened to her since… well since she defeated Hawkmoth. She will be studying in one of the most prestigious schools of fashion in the world, and if everything goes well, she will sell her clothes at Diana’s boutique, which is one of the most prestigious boutiques in the US.

“I still cannot believe it, Tikki!” Marinette said to the goddess, “this feels like a dream come true!”

The Kwami giggled, “I’m so proud of you Marinette! You deserve this!”

After putting her pajamas, Marinette let her body fell on her hard bed. She smiled like in a way that she hasn’t in the last month. “Tikki, please tell me that this is not a dream.”

The Kwami turned off the light and put a blanket over her body. “You aren’t dreaming, but you should do it soon. Diana wants to hear your ideas for the suits tomorrow morning.”

Marinette closed her eyes while she smiled. For the first time in a long time, she felt that she could just fall asleep and worry about nothing.

“Hey, Tikki?”

“Yes, Marinette?” The kwami said as she lay beside her hodder’s shoulder.

“Thank you for everything.”

The kwami gave her a kiss on her cheek. “You don’t have to thank me for everything. You deserve the best.”

Eventhught her apartment was cold, sink in the kitchen dropped all night, and her neighbors screamed like if they wanted to kill each other, Marinette felt more at peace for the first time in ages…

Sadly this wouldn’t last long.

@cyborgcandy

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#damien x marinette #daminette #ml x dc #maribat #lpmg

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dragonrajafanfiction · 5 years ago

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Dragon Dancer Chapter 6: The Walking Dead

Deep down we all know our lives can change in an instant. We all hope it will change for the better. We hope that we’ll find that dream job. That girl we’ve been searching for will show up, smile at us, and agree that she’s was searching for us too. That some prince will come and whisk us away from our problems.

We also know that things can change for the worse. In that same instant, our lives can be taken, as if by some strange magic, and everything we’ve been working for crumbles to dust. All we can do is pick up the pieces, start over again, and be grateful we survived.

When I woke up at the hospital, I couldn’t talk about what happened. Nono, at my bedside, tried to get me to say something about it, but my mind could not form the words to describe the chaos I remembered. If I focused on the memories too much, they overwhelmed me the way the strongest emotions do. They were pure sensation, coming over me faster than my intellect's ability to register them.

There were details, focal points that my mind latched on to after the world went blurry.

The shocked look of a young man’s face when he realized he was going to die the instant before he did. The pulsating waves that were visible when blood oozed from a severed artery. The life and death struggle of a living person between my hands. Despite the clarity of these memories - or maybe because of it - their horrific nature stunned me into speechlessness.

When Nono was unable to get me to answer her questions, she said, “I think we need to get you some help.” She stood up and left me alone in the room.

I laid on my side picking at the thin threads of the soft pillow case. When the door creaked open and footsteps approached, I didn’t turn to look.

“I am Doctor Toyama.” A gentle male voice greeted me.

When he didn’t say anything more, I turned my head to see if he was still there. He had light brown eyes in a young face and a thin well manicured goatee that traced around his upper lip and chin. He wore a lab coat with a tag hanging from his pocket as an identifier. He held a notebook and pen.

That much acknowledgement of his existence was enough to make him smile. “I have a few questions for you. You don’t have to say much about this incident. The College is well aware of many details about Isaac and his… activities here. It’s unfortunate that it had to end up this way.”

He pulled up a chair and sat next to my bed. I averted my eyes from him as he continued to speak. “You’re probably blaming yourself for what happened. I’m here to tell you that it wasn’t your fault.”

He didn’t wait for me to respond. “People here all have a certain percentage of dragon DNA. The higher the percentage the stronger they are. But there is a cost.” He kept his tone soft and clear.

“If someone’s percentage of dragon DNA is too high, it begins to overwrite the human. It grows, much like a cancer and they cease to be recognizable as a human. They turn into what we call a death servitor. That is what happened to Isaac.”

“It happened to Isaac because of what I did though,” I whispered. My throat squeezed shut. My lip trembled. I could feel his eyes on me, but I couldn’t return his gaze.

“Oh? How so?”

I chewed my lip and pressed my face into the pillow.

“I’d really like to know. There are surveillance cameras in the library. As far as we can tell after watching the footage, you walked into a conference room together. The rest is hard to make out but it’s clear you disappear. You went…” He let the sentence hang.

“I wanted to see my family.” I said shakily. Tears wet the pillowcase around my eyes.

“Why? You were only here a day. You miss them already?”

I nodded.

“Hmm…” I hear his pen click. “Did you inform one of your class advisors?.”

“Yeah. He told me that… I couldn’t see my family because the rules said I had to stay on campus… I couldn’t even call them.”

“Ah… I see. You’re very close to them then?”

“Mhm…”

“You must be if you were willing to follow a stranger into the dark on the off chance you might get to see them. Tell me, what do you plan to say to them?” There was genuine curiosity in his voice.

“Everything here is secret… right?” I peeked up from the pillow.

“That’s right.” He's writing in his notebook.

“Well, I’d … tell him that there’s a lot of boys here. And they make me nervous.”

He stroked his goatee. “Ah… I see. What else?”

“Everything is really extravagant… and I don’t think I’ll fit in. And that I failed my first exam.” Now that I’m looking at him, he offered me a tissue box. I sat up to accept it.

“Very good.” He made a few more notes “I’ll submit this to the board members and see if they can make a bit of an exception for some forms of communication. It’s… rare we get people like you. Who actually come from loving non-hybrid homes.”

He clicked his pen and put it back into his breast pocket. “But since you still have so much to say to them, that means you didn’t go back to your home, did you? Where did you go?”

“I don’t know where it was. There were others too. They were dressed in Japanese clothes. So maybe Japan?” I blew my nose.

“Japan? Hm…” He made a note. “That’s … odd. Why do you think he would take you there?”

“Maybe that’s where his family lives?” I looked to him for confirmation of my guess.

“His family? I thought you were going to meet yours?” He raised his eyebrows.

I explained. “He said I shouldn’t have failed my test. He said he wanted to test me… before I went home.”

“There was no way you could have known what that meant.” He told me. “You must have … fought hard to escape.” He looked at me expecting me to fill in the blank, but I fell into an abrupt silence. My eyes were downcast. My fingers kneaded at the pillow case.

“Alright…” He said quietly. “What’s one thing you can tell me. Just one.”

My continued silence stretched on.

“Just one thing? I promise, I won’t ask any more questions.”

I didn’t reply but Doctor Toyama continued to sit and wait. My mind remembered, indexed and sorted what happened into a large pile of secrets. There was one memory that I felt comfortable revealing.

“He saved my life. I would’ve died. But when he held me, my wound healed. He brought me back before he turned into that monster.”

He watched me wipe away tears, keeping his expression neutral. “I see. Thank you.” He made another note. “I’ll leave you now. Feel free to contact me any time.” He left his card on the table next to my phone.

After he was gone, I examined the card. His title was Campus Psychologist. My phone lit up, attracting my attention. It displayed an overwhelming number of notifications. I ignored them in favor of visiting my social media page.

At the top of the feed, the official administrators had pinned a message.

This page is now restricted, only those with access may view it. If you have questions about the restriction or feel you’ve been blocked in error, keep it to yourself because you haven’t been.

Below that stretched a long string of posts by other Cassell students.

“How does one kill a servitor in a single hit?”

“Well, this new student is promising. Anyone get her number?”

“Wish she’d left some of that fight to me.”

“How can I date her please.”

“DMs are blocked :(“

“Anyone have her phone number? What about email?”

“How do you even get that strong?!”

“10/10 would watch again.”

My heart dropped to the pit of my stomach. I didn’t want to talk to or meet any of these people.

In my notifications, I found a text from Nono. “Hey, hope you’re feeling better. You’ll be getting a message from the Principal soon. Don’t be nervous, just do your best. If you need me, just call me alright? Please, if you want to talk, don’t hesitate to call me. I know you miss your family, but you can’t go back to them right now. Not without talking to him.”

The phone sang its jaunty ringtone. The caller ID was just ‘EVA’. “Hello?”

Her voice was cheerful but her words were to the point. “You passed your E3 exam with a high level of resonance with a draconic cipher. This along with your unique dragon ancestry puts you at Rank S.”

“What do you mean I passed? I didn’t write anything?”

“Most record their ciphers. In your case, this was not the correct medium. Determining your ability will take further research. Therefore, we are admitting you. Welcome to Cassell College. I’m EVA, the school AI butler. Let me know if you need help or have questions."

“AI…? A computer…?” I stammered but couldn’t form a complete sentence so she continued.

“Your meeting with Principal Anjou is in half an hour. I’ve sent Mingfei Lu to guide you there. Your uniform is there in your room. Please dress and get ready to meet him. Don’t worry. He’s very nice.”

“Wait! Who is…?”

The phone beeped to tell me there was no longer anyone on the other end. I returned it to the nightstand and slid my legs over the edge of the bed to get up. I found my purple and black uniform on a hanger in the open closet across the hospital room.

When I put the uniform on, I examined myself in the room’s bathroom mirror. The open collar displayed my pendant over my collarbones. I turned my back to see if there was any sign of where that man had knifed me. There wasn’t. My heart began to pound as I remembered the spear of light impaling my attacker, how his jaw dropped open in shock. I started to wonder how much of that really happened, hoping some of it was a dream.

A knock on the hospital room door frightened me so badly I stumbled backwards into the wall. Trembling, I peeked outside the bathroom to see a gangly young man with brown doe-like eyes and a mop of messy brown hair. He gives me a cheerful wave. “You must be the newbie!”

He slowly lowered his hand when I didn’t echo his enthusiasm. “Don’t be shy! I don’t bite! I promise!” He gave a little nervous laugh. “I’m not good at this…” He mumbled.

“Good at what?” I asked him.

His eyes snapped back to mine. “Huh? What? D...did I say that outloud?” He looked at me for confirmation so I nodded. “Sorry. Um. So, You can just call me Lu. I’ve been here for a little less than a year.”

His shoulders sagged at my silence, “So…” He steeled himself, forcibly perking himself up. “My roommate happens to run the gossip column at school. He told me what happened. It was pretty incredible. Where’d you learn to do that?”

I closed the door again, wondering if he was one of the people who posted on my feed. I leaned against it, glaring at the ground. “I wouldn’t say it was ‘incredible’.”

His voice sounded from the other side. “I know it's hard but I can help you. I… I know what it’s like okay? Just bear with it. You’ll do fine!”

I took a deep breath and cracked the door open. “Sorry…” I whispered.

“You’re fine okay?” He said, peering through the small space, his voice trembling with nervous laughter. “We just need to get you to the principal’s office. You don’t have to do anything. Oh and don’t forget to grab your coat. It’s pretty windy out there.”

As we walked down the campus paths, Lu kept glancing down at me like he wanted to say something but didn’t know how to start. “So… what’s your name?”

I felt a chill run down my spine, recalling the results of using my childhood name. “I don’t like my name.”

“Oh… then… what do you prefer to be called? I feel bad just calling you, newbie.” More nervous laughter.

“Newbie is fine.” I told him. “But if there’s a name you like, just call me that.”

His nervousness turned to surprised dismay. “What? I can’t just call you whatever I want! What if someone else calls you something different?”

The corners of my mouth turned down. “You’re Mingfei Lu, right? You said, just call me Lu. Does everyone call you Lu?”

“Ah… good point.” He rubs his chin in thought. “But… What if I call you something you don’t like?”

I chuckled. “Then I’ll tell you. Like I said I didn’t mind, ‘newbie’.”

He rubbed the back of his neck but didn’t continue to object.

The administration building grew larger into view, fronted by a stone staircase. People hurried up and down, anxious to get out of the cold.

Once inside, Lu led me to the main office. We paused at the wooden door carved with the word ‘Principal’. Lu knocked before going in. Like most things at Cassell, the principal's office was larger than it needed to be. It was fancy, with black mirror tiles and a sleek glossy desk. Behind it sat Anjou who greeted me with a sympathetic grin. I couldn’t bring myself to smile back. That man fooled me into coming here and denied me access to my family. This was all his fault.

Johann and Caesar stood in front of the desk. Johann crosses his arms at my dour expression.

Caesar was bemused at my silent snarling. “It’s good to see you up and healthy. We are all grateful you made out alive.”

“Yeah. Thanks.” I mumbled, my shoulders rising to my ears.

Johann's soft voice echoed in the roomy interior. “That’s Mingfei, he’s our other S-ranked student.”

“You’re S-ranked too?” I turned to him in shock.

Mingfei Lu held up his hands in self-defense.“ Don’t look at me like that! I’m just ranked as S! I don’t actually have any abilities at all.”

Anjou stood up from behind his desk, as tall as I remembered, smoking a cigar. He paced, massaging his beard as he began. “Now that we’re all here. We can start the mission briefing.”

My eyes lifted at the word ‘mission’, glancing at the others.

“Our intelligence is reporting the signal of a dragon embryo off the coast of Japan. This signal may be what we have been dreading. Analysis indicates that it is the signal of a first generation dragon lord. So we’re sending you as a team to meet with the Cassell College Japan division.”

He took a drag of the cigar and let it out slowly. “This mission is Grade SS. We will need all of you."

My hand tentatively rose but he ignored me and continued.

“Our Japan branch is very secretive. This situation calls for the utmost discretion and sensitivity. However, I have maintained contact with Masamune Tachibana. He welcomes our assistance. Please, view this as a stepping stone for bringing our branches into closer cooperation.”

Filling with dread, I recalled Isaac’s Japanese companions and wondered if there was some connection to what I had done.

“Caesar, you’ll be the one leading on this mission.” Anjou nodded to him.

Caesar opened his mouth to speak but Johann responded. “Of course, that’s for the best.”

Caesar scowled at him. “Don’t steal my lines!” He cleared his throat. “We’ll complete the mission in no time at all, Principal Anjou! With time to do some souvenir shopping!” The blue-eyed hybrid waved a hand at me and flashed a smile, “In fact, I’d like to outfit you in the finest silk kimonos…”

“If that’s what you want to do.” I replied, reluctantly smiling back.

His eyebrows rose to his hairline. “This is your first mission as part of our team! That’s surely something to celebrate.”

“Wait… I'm going?" My smile turned to confusion. Somehow, I’d passed my E3 without writing anything. I killed my fellow students the night before. Now, he assigned me to work with top students and sent me to Japan.

While I struggled to grasp my new reality, silent seconds ticked by. Johann cleared his throat. Caesar glared at him. “You have something to say?”

Johann returned his gaze with a calm expression. “Nothing at all.”

“If you have something to say, you should say it!”. Caesar turned to fully face him.

Johann looked at me instead. “I promised you I would show you a frozen dragon specimen. But now you’ll be seeing the real thing.”

“When was this?” Caesar demanded of him. "Don't ignore me, Johann Chu!"

I looked between them both, baffled at Caesar’s sudden aggression. Lu hid his face behind his hand in embarrassment.

Anjou puffed on his cigar chuckling. “I have to interrupt.” He addressed me next. “My dear, your performance in the library tells me that you qualify for this dangerous mission.”

I frowned at his use of the word performance. “But I…” I couldn’t finish the sentence, my voice trailing off.

He turned to the others. “I’d like to have a private word with our new student.”

As they walked out, Caesar continued to menace an unflappable Johann. “Keep in mind that it was Nono and I there at her arrival here…”

Lu followed them, glancing over his shoulder at me in worry before he was forced to jog after them to catch up.

Anjou sat down and gestured to a chair for me.

“You know,” he said. “Of all the recruits, you have outstanding resilience. You come to my office after everything you’ve been through. After you hear that I’m sending you on a dangerous mission after this incident, you don’t immediately object.”

“Do I actually have a choice in any of this? You’re just throwing things at me and I’m trying to just survive here!” My voice shook. “You’re not going to let me leave, are you?”

He settled his cigar down on a silver ashtray. “Your talent is a Class S… the strongest kind. But it is extremely unstable. The injection Johann gave you is a temporary experimental measure. I’m hoping that the Japan Division might be hiding research that can aid us in preventing you from turning into a monster like Isaac.”

“What are you talking about?” My voice lowered to a whimper.

His uncharacteristic seriousness lent weight to his words. “What happened to Isaac could just as easily happen to you. I am committed to preventing that. You’re here to today because of that effort. Had you turned servitor after the injection, we would have had no choice but to eliminate you. You did not. So there is still hope.” He said this frankly, looking into my eyes. His expression turned grim. “I cannot keep you here against your will. I can only tell you the truth. Your chances of survival are slim outside of Cassell College.”

My self-protective sense of humor faltered and I found my desire to contact Robbie lessened. If this was to be my fate, then it would be better that he never saw me again. “And if there’s no cure?” I asked quietly.

“Let’s take courage and hope. We’re working on it.” His positivity returned. “You remind me so much of my friend Manecke. When I look at you…” He took another puff. “I see brilliance. Something will come up.”

My throat started to close and my eyes burned. “Can I go?”

He nodded. I stood up and rushed out of the office.

Lu was waiting for me, but I pushed by him before he could say a word.

I managed to make it back to my apartment before I gave in to the shattering grief inside. My shadow twin appeared, kneeling next to me. She tried to catch my tears but they fell through her hand to the carpet. I wished I had never accepted the offer to come to Cassell. But if I hadn’t accepted, who knew what might have happened? Had I blissfully gone through life, I might have suddenly turned into a beast. I imagined myself as a ballerina, graceful and elegant, only to morph into a horrible monster a few years into my career. Maybe even on stage. It would have been awful.

My emotions began to subside and I picked myself up off the floor. Packing for the trip wasn’t difficult. Most of my things were still in my suitcase. As I went through my belongings, I wondered what I wanted to wear on my last few days on Earth. ‘Whatever felt comfortable on a plane’ won out.

I wrote in my school notebook what I wanted people to find after I was gone. I confessed that I hadn’t just killed Isaac, but possibly six or seven other people. I was a waste of everyone’s time and effort, especially Robbie and Mom’s.

My phone buzzed. Nono was trying to talk to me but I didn’t want to anymore. It was better if she forgot I ever existed. I turned the phone off.

My heart beat fast all the rest of the day and into the night. I spent most of that night pacing around my apartment. The racing pulse made it impossible to sleep and robbed me of my appetite in the morning.

The next morning while I was turning out the lights and getting ready to meet the others to go to the airport, someone knocked on my door.

I opened to Nono, her crimson eyes narrowed. “You know, I don’t take it lightly when someone ignores my messages. Especially someone I’ve tried to be nice to.”

My shoulders lowered and I sighed. “Nono, I…”

She cut me off. “No, you need to listen to me. I know what happened was hard. Maybe even harder than most. But you have got to pull yourself together.”

“Life as a hybrid will never be fair or easy. Not one of us has had an easy and happy life. You’re one of us now. So buck up and do what needs to be done!”

I shrunk under her stare, swallowing hard.

“You’re going on a dangerous mission with Caesar and the others. And I can’t have you getting into a funk, slipping up and then someone else dies because of it.”

When I stood silently she took a step forward, her voice rising. “Do you understand? Do what you have to do to stop moping. If something happens to Caesar, I won’t forgive you.”

“Yes ma’am.” I whispered.

She turned, her heels clicking against the tile as she departed.

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#Nono #Luminous #Dragon Raja #fanfiction #writing #EVA #Anjou #Caesar Gattuso #Johann Chu

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lastbluetardis · 6 years ago

Text

Chemical Potential (10/11)

Summary: Slightly homesick and stressed about her abysmal chemistry grade, Rose Tyler meets quirky James Smith, the boy who sits in front of her in their chemistry class. They become fast friends as James makes it his personal mission to help Rose get through the semester.

Ten x Rose University AU

This chapter: ~5100 words, teen

Notes: This was written for the lovely @thegreenfairy13 as part of the @dwsecretsanta gift exchange. Also tagging @doctorroseprompts.

The chapter we’ve all been waiting for! Just the epilogue left after this, folks.

AO3 | Ch1 | Ch2 | Ch3 | Ch4 | Ch5 | Ch6 | Ch7 | Ch8 | Ch9 | Ch10 | epilogue

“You’re so brilliant!”

Rose was still in shock even as James swept her into a crushing hug in the middle of the lecture hall. He’d pinned her arms to her sides, so she couldn’t really reciprocate the embrace. But even if she could, her brain was too wrapped up in the memory of the little red 89%—Great improvement! Well done! that was scribbled at the top of her exam.

“I’m so proud of you,” he crowed into her ear, a little too loudly but she didn’t mind.

Still not completely convinced she wasn’t dreaming, Rose pulled back from his embrace to glance at her exam again. The same 89% was staring back at her.

“How…?”

“Because you’re brilliant,” James said with a decisive nod. “You, Rose Tyler, are a genius.”

“Well, I wouldn’t go that far,” she said, even as a grin stole across her face. “But I am pretty good.”

James rolled his eyes at her and held out his hand for hers.

“This is cause for a celebration. Let me buy you breakfast?”

Rose followed James to the dining hall. When they were settled in one of the few empty tables, James pulled out his iPad and tapped at the screen for a few minutes before his face lit up.

“With this newest exam score, you now only need a fifty-nine percent on your final exam to get a passing grade in the class.”

Fifty-nine percent. That was doable, she hoped.

“What’s your exam schedule like?” Rose asked. “I’ve asked my boss to have off until my finals were over, and she graciously agreed. Hopefully that’ll make it easier for us to find days to meet up, but I don’t want to take away from the time you need to study for your other classes.”

“Chem is my first final,” James replied.

“Mine too,” Rose said.

“The exam is Tuesday morning, so let’s meet up both days this weekend? And then we can use Monday to take practice exams.”

Rose blinked. “How do you have practice exams?”

“Remember, Professor Young said the final is standardized. That means it’s a national exam that the ACS—the American Chemical Society—puts out for colleges and universities across the country. It’s done this for decades, so there are loads of past exams and practice exams on the internet.”

“Oh. That’s helpful.”

“Indeed. Almost every science class uses an ACS exam as their final,” James said. “Hopefully this will help you get the feel for how the exam will go. It’s all multiple-choice, and designed to fit within two hours, so the problems aren’t all that complicated.”

“Maybe for you, they’re not,” she muttered.

His eyes widened when he realized how that came out.

“No, no,” he said hastily. “I merely meant that they problems are designed to take a couple mathematical calculations, is all.”

Rose nodded and continued tucking into her omelet.

oOoOo

During the last week of classes, James and Rose didn’t see much of each other. Rose had a final project in lieu of a final exam in two of her classes, and she was swamped with work as she frantically finished everything that was due on the last day of classes.

But finally, she turned in a painting project and final report, leaving her free to meet up with James to study for their chemistry exam.

Finding a place to study was trickier than normal, as the entire student population was on the hunt for a quiet, secluded room. James, however, knew that the science buildings were fairly empty during exam week, and so they took over a small room tucked away in the basement of the physics building.

“I’ve brought snacks,” James proudly proclaimed when he and Rose met up on Saturday morning to begin their first study session.

To call it ‘snacks’ was an understatement; he’d brought a huge tote bag filled with not only pretzels, crisps, trail mix, and granola bars, but microwaveable meals so that they wouldn’t need to abandon the room for a lunch break. He’d also brought a cooler filled with drinks, as well as his electric kettle and all the makings for tea and instant coffee.

“You’re such a mother hen,” Rose teased, even though she was grateful for all of the food he’d brought.

He stuck his tongue out at her and said, “If you’re gonna be rude to me, I’m not gonna share my food.”

She rolled her eyes. “My humblest apologies. I am forever in your debt and am grateful for the bounteous meal you have scavenged for us. I grovel at your feet and beg your mercy and pray that you share your wealth of sustenance.”

James broke out into peals of giggles that had Rose laughing too. She loved the way her chest warmed at the sight and sound of his happiness.

“I suppose you’re forgiven,” he said after a minute.

“Brilliant!” Rose immediately reached for a tea bag and began to make them both a cuppa.

They saw very little of the outside world for the next couple of days. Rose had never worked so hard at anything in her life, and by the time Tuesday morning rolled around, she was utterly exhausted but determined to get that fifty-nine percent she needed. She refused to let one stupid class get in the way of the rest of her time at uni, or between her and James.

Their friendship was the most important thing to her, and they were right on the cusp of becoming something more. Ever since Thanksgiving, they’d both been aware of the electricity between them, but, true to his promise, James kept their friendship strictly platonic.

But Rose was impatient to get finals out of the way and hopefully go on a date with James. If he still wanted to.

They sat in their usual seats in the lecture hall as they waited for their professor to arrive with their exams. All around them, students were frantically cramming and flipping hastily through their notes in a last-minute study session.

“How are you feeling?” James asked as he twirled his pencil end over end across the table top.

“Okay,” she replied. “I just want this to be over. I never should’ve taken this class in the first place, but this nightmare is almost done.”

James nodded silently but didn’t say anything else. He instead faced the front of the room. Before Rose could ask what was wrong, their professor stepped into the lecture hall and began speaking, telling them to put everything away except for a pencil and calculator.

Minutes later, the exam booklet was passed out, and Rose began filling in her student information. When she was finished with that, she waited impatiently for the professor to tell them they could start.

She watched James out of the corner of her eye. He was on his phone, copying down his student ID number. A moment later, he tucked his phone into the front pocket of his jeans and continued playing with his pencil.

Rose reached over and rested her hand on his thigh. He let out a muffled squeak and flinched.

“Good luck, James,” she whispered, giving his leg a squeeze. “Thank you so much for everything you’ve done for me this term. No matter what happens with this exam, meeting you was the best thing to come from this class.”

His face softened and a small smile tugged at his lips.

“For me, too,” he replied, and he reached down and covered her fingers right as the professor told them to begin.

The exam passed in a blur of words and numbers and bubbling in her answer sheet. She was so focused on taking her test that by the time the professor told them time was up and to turn in their exams, she realized James had already left. With a slight headache building behind her eyes, Rose turned in her exam and walked out into the lobby, where she assumed James would be waiting for her.

He was, and when he saw her, he beamed and held out his hand for hers.

Despite the fact that their chemistry exam was over, she and James continued to meet up for the rest of the week to study for the rest of their classes. While they didn’t speak very much, Rose was glad to have his quiet company as she prepared as best she could for her other exams.

The week passed relatively quickly and uneventfully. James’s last exam had been Thursday evening, while Rose’s wasn’t until Saturday. Because there would be nothing for him to do and he would undoubtedly get bored watching her pour over her books, Rose stayed home all of Friday to prepare for her Shakespeare final the following morning.

A few minutes before eight o’clock, Rose stumbled groggily into the classroom along with the rest of her classmates. She wasn’t at all nervous for this exam; it was the class she was doing the best in and one she genuinely liked.

But that didn’t mean she enjoyed taking the test. It was all essay-writing, and Rose’s hand was sore by the time she turned in her test booklet. She flexed it and her shoulders as she walked out of the room, taking care to not let the door slam behind her. She’d made it a step into the hallway when a tall, lean body invaded her personal space.

Before she could reel backward, the familiar scent of soap and laundry detergent pervaded her senses.

“You’re done!” James crowed loudly. He then winced, realizing there were still people trying to take an exam. His voice was much more muted when he said, “Congratulations.”

“Thanks!”

She skipped up to him and wrapped her arms around one of his, hugging it to her chest.

“So. Are you hungry?” James asked.

“Starved,” she said. She hadn’t had time to eat breakfast that morning.

“The university is serving free breakfast until noon to anyone still here. Want to go take advantage?”

“Absolutely!”

Arm in arm, they made their way across campus to the dining hall. It was utterly dead inside; there were two other students milling around the food court and three more sitting at their own tables.

James and Rose each grabbed a tray and loaded it with food. Waffles, eggs, potatoes, sausages, fried tomatoes, flaky croissants. Rose wasn’t sure whether she’d be able to eat everything, but it all smelled incredible, and her stomach was growling nonstop.

Rose found James at the coffee station, filling up his travel thermos. She opted for tea instead. When they were each satisfied with their platters of food, they walked past the cashier with a friendly smile.

“Got any more finals to take?” she asked.

“Nope,” James said, as Rose answered, “Just finished my last one.”

“Congrats to you both. Enjoy the break.”

Rose followed James to a table by the back wall of windows very near to the table they’d sat at the first time James had treated her to breakfast earlier in the semester.

For a few minutes, silence enveloped them as they wolfed down their breakfast. It was all delicious and sated Rose’s hunger quickly.

But even as they both slowed down their eating, James still wasn’t saying much. Instead, he was fidgeting with his thermos, flipping the lid on and off repeatedly.

“You all right?” Rose asked.

“Fine,” he said a little too quickly. He stopped playing with the lid, as though realizing what he was doing. “Have you been on the grade book portal yet?”

“I took a final at eight,” Rose reminded him. “Why?”

“Well…” James’s eyes darted back to the table as he murmured, “The chem final is up.”

Rose’s ears rang and she thought she might throw up everything she just ate.

“Oh,” she whispered faintly.

“Do you want to check it?” he asked quietly.

“I dunno…” Rose kneaded the heel of her hand into her forehead. Did she want to know how she did, or did she want to live in blissful ignorance until her final transcript was released? But surely she’d achieved at least the fifty-nine she needed, hadn’t she? “Can you look and tell me how I did?”

“I could,” he said. “As long as you don’t mind me seeing the rest of your grades.”

Rose snorted. “You literally have a spreadsheet of all of my grades.”

He stuck his tongue out at her. She took her phone out of her pocket and tapped through it to get to her online student portal. She entered her login information and handed the phone to James.

Her heart thudded against her ribs as she watched James flick his finger up the screen. Rose folded her arms on the table and rested her forehead on them.

What was she going to do if she hadn’t gotten a high enough grade? What was she going to do if they revoked her scholarship? Could she plead her case to the university? Tell them she’d made a horrible mistake in trying to take chemistry and that they should put her on probation until she could prove she could keep her grades up?

“Rose!” James’s excited voice was in her ear and his hands were roughly shaking her. “Rose, look! Look! You did it! Look!”

Rose lifted her head cautiously, not quite believing what he was saying. He thrust the phone under her nose, and she blinked rapidly to try and focus on the blur of black letters on the screen.

Final Exam: 72%.

“You did it!”

Rose’s jaw slackened and she grabbed her phone from him.

“Impossible,” she muttered, and she refreshed the page—twice, for good measure. But the little 72% was still there.

“That’s thirteen whole points above what you needed!” he exclaimed, grinning like a loon at her.

He jumped to his feet, then grabbed her biceps and tugged, urging her to stand too. She followed, feeling weak to her knees, but that didn’t matter, because soon she was enveloped in his arms. His comforting scent filled her lungs and she buried her face into his shoulder as he held her fiercely.

“I’m proud of you,” he said, squeezing her. “So proud.”

“I passed,” she rasped, shaking slightly. All that hard work had finally, finally paid off.

“Yes you did! You’re brilliant, you are!”

Rose pulled back to look up into his face. It was bright with joy, and her stomach did a little somersault. She would never have been able to do any of this on her own. And through some sheer luck and James’s unending patience, kindness, and intelligence, she met all of the requirements to keep her scholarship. She could stay at the university.

She didn’t have to leave James, her best friend. She’d never met anyone like him, and nobody had ever made her feel as good about herself as he did. She felt like she was the very best version of herself whenever he was around, and she loved him more than she’d ever loved anyone.

Standing there, with his hands resting at the small of her back, his eyes bright, his mouth curved in a smile, and their bodies invading each other’s space, Rose’s control snapped. Between her promise to herself—that if she passed, she would try to make something with James work—and her almost certainty that James was interested in a relationship with her, it was inevitable.

Their hips were pressed flush together as their arms remained around each other’s waists. As though realizing how intimately they were standing, James’s face flamed red and he pulled his hips back a fraction of an inch. But his eyes were dark as they darted from her lips, to her eyes, then back again.

“Rose…” he croaked.

His voice was breathy and made a thrill of heat shoot from her heart into her belly. He licked his lips, making them shine invitingly. Rose sucked in a trembling breath and, with her heart beating through her entire body, she rocked up onto her tiptoes, settled one of her hands around the nape of his neck, and pressed her lips to his.

He let out a muffled sigh as his muscles relaxed and he melted into her arms. He clutched at the fabric of her jumper, pulling her impossibly closer as he angled his head to the side to deepen the kiss.

Of all the times she’d imagined this—and she’d imagined it embarrassingly frequently—none of it came close to the real thing. His lips were soft, warm, and full against hers, moving in time with her as though they were already familiar with kissing each other.

Their lips danced together, tugging and releasing, chasing and yielding. Nothing had ever felt this good, and Rose never wanted it to stop. Heat sparked down her spine as he let out a helpless whimper when her tongue tentatively probed his bottom lip. She echoed the sound when his fingers tangled into her hair, massaging her scalp as he held her tenderly, reverently.

Oh, God, how am I ever going to stop?

She felt like laughing and sobbing all at once, because this was the most perfect moment in her entire life. The weight of the world flew off her shoulders and it seemed as though it would never settle on her again. Being in his arms was the only place she ever wanted to be and she prayed he felt the same way.

She caressed her hand up his jaw, gliding along the smooth skin before landing in his hair. It was even softer than it looked. She grabbed a handful of it, her nails scraping across his scalp, and he let out a wrenching groan as his entire body shuddered in her arms. Her core ached and throbbed with desire.

Oh, God.

Half a second before she was going to hitch her leg obscenely around his hip, James broke their kiss that was actually probably more of a snog now. Her chest heaved as she struggled to catch her breath; little black dots were swirling in her vision, and she wanted nothing more than to wrap him into a tight hug. And possibly another kiss.

He was deliciously rumpled. His hair was sticking out at all angles and a happy, dazed glint had entered his eyes.

Rose licked her swollen lips and breathed, “All right?”

He nodded quickly, and he reached out to cup her cheek in his palm. His thumb brushed across her bottom lip, and she had to restrain herself not to suck the pad of his thumb into her mouth. Instead, she settled for pressing a quick kiss to it before he dropped his hand to his side.

“Yeah,” he whispered, his voice cracking. He cleared his throat and tried again. “Yeah. I just… I wanted… did you… did you want to do that?”

Rose furrowed her brow as her heart sank a little. “What d’you mean?”

His cheeks were bright red and his eyes darted across her face, then to her lips, then to a far-off point behind her shoulder. They traversed this path several times. He looked terrified and helpless, and something in her chest cracked at the sight.

She reached out and took his hand, hoping to offer him some bit of comfort until he could tell her what he was thinking.

“It’s just… did you want to kiss me like that? Or were you just happy about your grade?”

Rose frowned at him. Did he seriously not know? He had to know. He had to realize she’d been wanting to kiss him for weeks. That she was irrevocably in love with him. That she wanted to spend the rest of her life kissing him and being with him.

“Both,” she said firmly, giving his hand a reassuring squeeze. “I’m overjoyed I passed the class, but I also wanted to kiss you. I’ve wanted to kiss you for a while now.”

His face morphed into an expression of utter delight, and she debated her next words for many long seconds. She was tempted to leave it at that, then return to kissing him in the middle of the dining hall, but she swallowed her nerves and said, “You’re my best friend, James. And I know we’ve only known each other for a few months, but I… I’ve fallen in love with you.”

His jaw slackened in surprise and his hand went limp in hers. Her cheeks burned, but she forced himself to keep his stare as she tried to parse through the emotions flitting on his face while trying not to vomit with nerves.

“You… you love me?” he squeaked.

She nodded, and his face slowly bloomed into the widest, most beautiful smile she’d ever seen on his face. The sight of it sent her blood thrumming as hope swelled though her.

“Oh, Rose. I…I…” He reached forward and cupped her cheeks in his palms. His thumb idly stroked her cheeks as he tilted his head down until his forehead was flush with hers. His breath puffed against her lips, and the closeness of him made her eyes flutter shut. “I… I’ve fallen in love with you, too.”

He shifted and hugged her closer, burying his face into her shoulder. Her heart raced at his words, aching with love for him as she held him just as tightly.

“I’d thought maybe you fancied me,” he whispered into her ear. “But I hadn’t been sure if you were just a really affection person who hugged and held hands with her friends all the time. And I’ve tried asking you out on dates, but I would either chicken out or you would stop me. I barely dared to believe… to hope…”

“Believe it, mister,” she teased, taking one of her arms from around his waist to poke his belly. He squirmed and giggled, then pulled back to look at her. His fringe had fallen onto his forehead, and she reached up to brush it back. “I wasn’t sure if you felt the same way, either. Then I worried that if I said something and you didn’t like me like that, it would make studying awkward and uncomfortable. So I’d decided to wait ‘til the end of term, just in case you weren’t attracted to me, I could run away and avoid you for the rest of my time here.”

He rolled his eyes.

“And then I was terrified I wouldn’t pass chemistry. I didn’t want to fall in love with you only to have to move back to London a month later. It would break my heart.”

His face softened, and he leaned down to brush a kiss to her forehead.

“I love you,” he murmured. “So much. I don’t care if we’ve only known each other for three months. You’re my best mate, and I always want you to be my best mate. Even if you’d had to move home again, I wouldn’t have let you go without a fight. Or at least without making sure we would stay in contact.”

“Sap,” she teased, but she couldn’t help the grin that split her face.

He blew a raspberry at her, but then his face went solemn.

“I, er, I should probably tell you. I haven’t really, er, done this before,” he said in a rush, his face flushed pink.

After her initial confusion faded, a lump settled in her stomach. “Was that your first kiss?”

She was mortified. If she’d known that, she would’ve made it gentler, sweeter. The kind of first kiss he deserved to have. And she would’ve asked if it was okay that she kissed him, rather than yanking his face into hers. But for his first time kissing, he was sure good at it…

“No, no, ‘course not,” he said quickly. “I’ve had a few girlfriends, and we’ve kissed. But… but that’s it. None of them were ever serious enough that I wanted to do anything more with. Y’know… anything physical. Never been in love like this before.”

His cheeks had somehow turned redder and he looked uncomfortable and vulnerable.

“I… I’m not really sure how this works,” he mumbled, embarrassed. “Because I want everything with you, Rose. Everything. But I don’t want to muck anything up.”

“It works however we want it to work,” she said simply. “I want to do everything with you, too, but I only if you want it and are ready for it. We can go as slow or fast as we’re both comfortable with.”

His shoulders straightened a bit. “Yeah?”

“Yes,” she said firmly. “That’s what it means to be in a relationship. We’re in this together, James. Together.”

He smiled, his body relaxing. “I like the sound of together.”

She beamed. “Me too.”

“So… d’you think maybe we could get back to the kissing thing?” He towered over her and leaned down far enough that the tip of his nose brushed hers.

“It was rather marvelous, wasn’t it?”

“The best kiss I’ve ever had,” James said honestly.

“Me too,” Rose admitted.

James’s eyes widened, but he looked pleased and slightly smug. Rose rolled her eyes, then pressed herself closer to him until their lips slotted together.

This kiss was gentler than their frenzied first kiss, but the knowledge that he wanted to kiss her—that he loved her!—made shivers rocket down her spine. She trembled in his arms as she looped her hands over his shoulders, scrabbling for any purchase to pull him closer.

He moaned against her mouth as his hands dropped to the small of her back. His fingers clenched and loosened repeatedly into her jumper as they made slow passes up and down her spine. It was as though he didn’t know what to do with his hands. For that matter, neither did she. They ran through his hair, then went to his jaw, then cupped the back of his neck. Anything to keep him close. Anything to keep him kissing her.

His lips moved gracefully with hers. The only evidence that they were new kissing partners was the occasional bump of their noses and missteps when they each went to adjust the angle of the kiss. But it was still perfect, and they each automatically corrected any errors they made.

Rose’s mind was empty of anything except the man in her arms. Her body fizzed with pleasure and endorphins, leaving little room for anything else except for the unending mantra of I love you, I love you, I love you looping through her head.

The words were bursting to escape her mental filter, and she eased them out of the kiss. James’s breath came in choppy pants against her lips; hers wasn’t much better. Her lips felt deliciously swollen, and she licked them, still able to taste him on her tongue.

“I love you,” she said softly, reaching out to rest her palm on his chest. His heart thudded steadily beneath her palm. “I love you, James.”

His breath caught in his throat and he lifted his hand to cover hers. He wrapped his long fingers around hers and squeezed them, then brought her hand to his lips to place a delicate kiss to each knuckle.

“I love you, too,” he croaked. “I’ve never felt this way about anyone.”

“Neither have I,” she admitted.

Something flashed behind his eyes. “Not… not even Jimmy?”

Rose shook her head. “No. I thought I loved him. And maybe I did, as much as my teenaged self could. But you… my God, James. It’s like my body is way too small to contain this. I’m overwhelmed in the best way possible.”

“That’s how I feel.” He ran another line of kisses along the ridge of her knuckles. “I’ve felt like this for so long. I’ve been terrified you might not feel the same.”

Rose couldn’t help but chuckle. “I was worried about the same thing.” Then her brain caught up with what he said. “When did you realize you were in love with me?”

James tilted his head to the side. As he thought, his tongue pressed to the backs of his teeth.

“I think I’d known for a while,” he said at last. “Or I suspected. I don’t entirely know when the transition from ‘friend’ to ‘more’ happened officially; I just know that I loved our study dates and mate dates and wished they were real dates.

“But the point of no return for me was the night you stayed with me on the anniversary of my parents’ death. You stayed with me even though I was miserable company. And you spent the night. When I woke up and saw you asleep on the recliner… I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you. I wanted to wake up every day and see you first thing.”

She smiled softly at him.

“Your turn,” he said, pinching her waist lightly. “When did you fall in love with me? It was immediate, wasn’t it? You just couldn’t resist this foxy body and suave, sexy charm, eh?”

He winked roguishly, and Rose burst out laughing. He pouted, but the effect was ruined with the smile creeping across his face.

“After our trip to Philly,” she said when her giggles subsided. “I was looking through the photos we took together and I realized that was the most fun I’d had out with someone in a very long time. And I wanted to spend a lot more time with you outside of studying.

“And then on election night, when I told you about Jimmy, you didn’t judge me for anything.” His brows furrowed, and he opened his mouth to argue. But she placed her finger over his lips. “You’d be surprised how many people wanted to give me a lecture about how I should’ve left sooner than I did. But you… you just listened. And you gave me a hug and didn’t make me feel stupid for anything that happened.”

“I think you ought to rethink your friend choices, if you fell in love with me for common decency,” James huffed, talking through her finger. “Er. Not to be rude or anything.”

“Though that is a teensy bit rude,” she teased.

He stuck his tongue out at her, then licked her finger. She pulled it back with a shriek, wiping the wetness off on her jeans.

“You’re disgusting!” But she was laughing, which softened the reprimand.

After a beat of silence, James asked, “So… since it’s the end of finals and we’ve cleared the air about our feelings, could I take you out somewhere? A date-date. No more mate-dates. Not that you’re not my mate. You’re my best mate. But you’re more than just my mate now and…”

Rose’s chest warmed with affection for the man babbling in front of her. She rocked onto her tiptoes and brushed a kiss to his cheek.

“A date-date would be wonderful,” she said, then she pressed her lips to his once more.

#ficandchips #thegreenfairy13 #doctorroseprompts #dwfic #doctor who #ten x rose #ten x rose au #au #uni au #my fic #chemical potential

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chipped-pixel · 6 years ago

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Couple Interview Tag by @shysimblr. Rules: 'Answer the questions from your OC otp's point of view and tag as many people as you want. You can do as many couples as you want, it could be an otp you intend to get together but hasn't got together yet or whatever haha... I'm just nosy and wanna know about your oc's, so tag me if you want! You can be as creative as you want, make a story out of it, whatever, do it however you want just answer the questions simply it's up to you!!'

1. How did you two meet? Brooke- "ooh my favorite question!" Tonya- "well I was making a statue for the dance studio she practices at." Brooke- "all the dancers had to go to the unveiling and there was a little party afterwards. I was still pretty new to this studio so I didn't know anyone. So I grabbed a drink and a few snacks on a plate and sat in the corner on my phone." Tonya- "I saw her from across the yard and I couldn't stop staring. So I went over and introduced myself. Brooke- " I was so shocked that such a beautiful woman was at my table and I got like so nervous..." Tonya- "She went to shake my hand and spilled her drink on me and well the rest is history."

2. Who is the most jealous of you two? Tonya- "Oh me for sure. If I see someone flirting with Brooke or staring at her.. I like to grab her ass and glare the other person down till they back off." Brooke- "She almost puched a guy at one of my performances because he was hitting on me afterwards." Tonya- "happily would have knocked his teeth out.."

3. What are your three favorite physical things about your partner? Brooke- "Ooooh good question! Its so silly but the way her hands feel after she's done working on a new sculpture. They're all rough and have calaces on them. hmm. Oh her smile. It melts me every time. Lastly.. I think id have to say her upper arms. They're so tone and strong." Tonya "easy. The small of her back right above her butt. It has a nice little curve to her that my hands fit perfectly in. Her little button nose. Finally...her Ass..." Brooke- "Tonya!" Tonya- "what? Its nice and round and easily squeezable!"

4. Who's more likely to be running late? Brooke- 'Tonya. 100%" Tonya- "ya because you take forever to get ready and I fall asleep waiting then I have to get ready."

5. Who is the most organized and who is the messiest? Brooke "Tonya is so messy! I always have to clean up after her. Especially in the kitchen!" Tonya - "mess is good for the soul."

6. Who is the bigger flirt? (flirts the most?) Brooke- "Tonya. she's always being flirty with me." Tonya "that's because I can't help myself you blush so easy. Besides how else am I gonna keep you if I don't tell you?"

7. Who does the most cooking? Brooke- "I do? It really depends week to week. If I have ballet practice or a performance then Tonya cooks more for me because I'm too tired and sore." Tonya- "if I'm doing a lot of work and my arms are sore then she makes me food because I can't do much. she's a great cook by the way. She makes this amazing Korean rice and meat bowl. Its like the perfect comfort dish."

8. How do you feel about kids and do you want them? If so how many?

Brooke- "hmm like 100. Like right now." Tonya- "What she means is maybe like 3 or 4." Brooke- "I want to be a mommy so bad! I can't wait to have them. That is if Tonya ever puts a ring on it...." Tonya- "we can't start any processes till after we get married." Brooke- "we've already decided ill carry. Unless I can't. Then Tonya will try."

9. Who wears the pants in the relationship? Brooke- "oh Tonya 100%. I love when she's in charge of everything. When she opens doors for me. orders my food for me. pays for me. It makes me swoon." Tonya- "I like to think of myself as the more... Masculine one because I am I guess? I was raised to respect my partner and treat them with love and affection. So I spoil her. I take care of her because she's my whole world ya know? If that means wearing the pants and making her feel cared for then I don't see the problem with that."

10. What's your partner's least favorite housework task? Brooke- " she hates dishes. like she will buy paper plates and plastic silverware to avoid doing dishes. I don't mind though. Its relaxing. Tonya- "Brooke... Doesn't really not like housework? I mean... If I had to say id say cleaning the bathroom? She loves chores like the weirdo she is."

11. What was the first thing you noticed about each other? Tonya- " her stunning eyes against her pale skin. I don't know what it was but I saw her eyes and it took my breath away. Brooke- "the way she carried herself. With such confidence and so self assured. It was what made me so nervous when she sat at my table."

12. What does your partner do that pisses you off? Brooke- "how much time do you have?" Tonya- "I'm not that bad" Brooke "I hate ASMR. It makes my uncomfortable. So she'll do those nasty mouth noises in my ear. She loves to embarrass me in the store. She'll walk away only to come back and say something like 'hey wanna go do some gay stuff?' LOUDLY IN FRONT of people while grabbing my butt! or She'll grab underwear and be like "ooh these would look great on the floor' I just have to walk away from her when she does. Tonya- " she leaves her ballet slippers on the kitchen table. Her nasty sweaty bloody ballet slippers. where we eat! Oh my god the way she bends her feet and toes. Its like a ballet thing where she like bends her toes back and stands on her toe knuckles. It looks like she's breaking them! She does it while doing dishes or cooking. She uses the table to do her leg stretches on and again puts her gross feet on the table" Brooke-" I'm stretching my toes and making it easily to dance on. Its just practice when I'm not in the studio! keeps me limber."

13. Where's the craziest/weirdest place you've ever had sex? (NSFW answer beware!)

Tonya- "oh her least favorite question. she's shy about our sex. Brooke- "oh my gosh. don't tell them." Tonya-" oh I'm gonna. I'd say... The movie theater. Now youre asking yourself how do two lesbians have sex in a theater. like a straight couple has a hard time." Brooke- "I'm dying of embarrassment." Tonya- "well I had snuck one of our double toys into it in her purse. It was a early movie so no one was in there and I knew that. I talked her into wearing a skirt that day." Brooke- "ah! this is like the worst!" Tonya- "I started kissing and touching and then I told her about the toy. by then she was so in the mood her shyness went away. And well... I'm sure you can assume the rest. Brooke- "OK done. Next question please!!!!"

14. Do you know your partner's love language, if yes what is it? Tonya- "Our what?" Brooke- "Our love language. It's basically the type of love that speaks to us most. It's super interesting. You guys should look it up. There's 5 types of love language. Acts of service, doing stuff for your partner. Receiving gifts, well that explains itself. Quality time, explains itself. Lastly physical touch. Tonya's is totally acts of service. She gets so grateful when I make dinner or do her laundry when she's too tired and her body aches." Tonya- "In that case Brooke's is either gifts or quality time. No matter what gift I give her she gets so excited and tears up every time. Even if it's a bag of candy I bought on the way home. I think we both value quality time alot since we both get very busy and sometimes don't see much of each other."

15. Where do you see the 2 of you in 10 years? Brooke- "married. a big house with a big yard. Dogs. Babies ya know. Tonya- " Hopefully being happily gay together for the rest of our lives."

Brooke- “Is that all? That was fun! We don’t get to do this alot since we tend to be busy or because we tend to be kind of quiet about our relationship...Not because any bad reason. Just...”

Tonya- “we’re a normal couple. Like everyone else so we don’t throw our gayness in peoples faces and brag about being two woman in love. Anyways we enjoyed doing this. feel free to ask us anything else!”

Thank you @tsimmi4 for tagging me!!!

#sims4 #ts4 #the sims 4 #lgbtq sims 4 #sims 4 couple #simblr #ts4 simblr #chippedpixel

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kaleis-kingdom · 3 years ago

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My Stance on Disabilities PSA!

(Plus related changes going to be made for this blog)

So some of you might of noticed the giant rant and/or photo transcript added to Mellow’s post. (My FNAF security breach oc.) So I’ll be explaining!

I have several mental disorders. Granted, all on my List™️ aren’t officially diagnosed but rather what me and my mom have noticed that I possibly, if not most likely have. If you want, I can say those as an addition to this post later or as a separate post.

I have, however, been officially diagnosed with Anxiety and ADHD. M I take medication every day (or I try to…) for ADHD and Anxiety. It’s a struggle, always has been, and probably always will be to an extent. Especially since I might have more in the future, not including unofficial disorders.

So naturally, I am very supportive of people with disabilities! To me, it doesn’t matter if it’s mental or physical. Any disability is a struggle, even more so when they overlap and pile up. I’m grateful I have a supportive guardian who can help me to learn how to work around and with my disorders, both from an outside perspective of my emotions and as somebody who has the same disorders.

That being said, I will be making my blog more disability friendly! I hadn’t thought of it before today, seeing as I was mostly focusing on improving how I deal with mine. Plus, it hadn’t clicked that this was something I could do, ya know? How sometimes things just don’t click until later?

Now that I have made that connection though, I’ll be doing my best to help with disorders! I won’t lie, some days might have less effort in them then others. I do struggle still with motivation and what I focus on. But I will try. And at a later time or day, when I feel more up to it, I’ll try to remember to go back and put more effort in!

Do I know much about how to make my blog more disability friendly? Not really. It’s taken a long time for me to understand how my disorders effect me as I currently do. Other disabilities are harder for me because I don’t have much, if anything to go off of since I lack experience with it. Plus the emotions those that do have it made it harder, since I struggle with just my emotions.

But I am going to try, I promise you all that. If there is something that helps you when it comes to your disability, let me know! I’ll see if I can implant it in my posts or help find a solution! I’m needing to head to bed for the night, but when I get up I’ll be adding photo ID’s/ photo transcripts to everything I can find on my blog. If you don’t want to send via ask, send a dm! (Not sure if they’re currently open.)

Despite this, please don’t use my DM’s or inbox to vent. I’ll gladly help find or use something that helps, like colored text for longer posts since I can ramble or adding tags to posts. But I am in school (Might be old and in collage, you don’t know) and have my own stuff to deal with. I’m sure there’s others out there who allow people to vent to them, but I don’t. Unless you’re a close friend who I have known for awhile and interact with constantly and/or I specifically say you can, I’m not fine with that.

I’ve tried before and that pressure just ruins my mental health, especially when being able to physically say no to a request is a recent development for me. Not to mention the days where I just don’t feel like interacting with others. Tomorrow I’ll be rebloging this post with more stuff I am and aren’t fine with since it’s getting a bit off topic. (Story of my life.)

If you know somebody who’s answered something about a disability you want to share or you have questions, feel free to send an ask! I’m always up to learning to understand others! And if you’re uncomfortable with something, let me know and I’ll try to tag it properly so you can block it. Even if it’s a random new tag. Just know I won’t be able to please all of you.

And while I will try a little, I won’t do anything to make my blog perfect for you. And if you send hate about any disability, the ask will be removed. The 3rd time it happens, you’re getting blocked. If I feel like it may be just misunderstanding or curiosity but might come across hateful, I’ll answer privately to try and help you understand.

TLDR: This blog is disability (mental, physical, both, etc) friendly and will be implanting changes to help! I’m up to doing things to help with disorders, like formatting long posts, tagging more, etc. Also up to learning about others disabilities, especially what is and isn’t okay to do! If you are mean about it, your ask is deleted the first two times and you’re blocked on third. Ableist’s (those who think disabilities are fake/excuses/not impactful) are blocked immediately, misunderstanding answered privately.

I’ve already started tonight, and will be continuing, doing Photo ID’s for those who use screen readers. Dm’s and inbox is open for questions and info sharing, but motivation instability, not up for dealing with humans, my irl life, and need for sleep exist do though. DM’s and asks are not open for venting, for the sake of my mental health. Don’t like this, leave. I have Anxiety, ADHD, and I’m willing to share the disorders I think I have without being tested on yet.

If you hate disabilities, you hate who I am.

Now I need to go pass out for the night. Let me know if the colored text helped with anyone’s disability or not! I can always not change the color as much, keep doing it like this, not at all, or something else. And while I’ve done a photo transcript for Mellow as of now, let me know how to improve or send/tag me in some examples!

Might talk to you guys when I’m up, Cya! Kalei, off to vibe and lurk!

#kalei speaks #PSA #disabilities #Anxiety #ADHD #mental disorders #mental disability #physical disability #mental and physical disabilities #Because I’m getting through what I can with them.#If you hate disabilities you hate who I am.#You hate every struggle I have gone through #You hate my entire life #You hate the little girl who was bullied for being different #You hate the little girl who struggled to go in her school because her anxiety was so bad.#You hate my second grade teacher because she was the only one who calmed me from a panic attack without making me more panicked #Disabilities are not fake.#Disabilities are not made up.#Disabilities are not excuses.#Disabilities are very real things in many people.#Disabilities are a challenge.#Disabilities are a war you fight your entire life.#If you think disabilities are excuses or are made up or are people being over dramatic #then get the fuck off of my blog and out of my life.#We haven’t suffered this much just for you to say we’re lying. Because we aren’t.#I think the colored text might help those with dyslexia or anything similar.#I know long text hard to focus/read.#I get it.#my posts

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miloticforever · 7 years ago

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Prompt #7: Valentine

@fransweek

This took a lot longer than I thought it would, as testament to just how long it is. But for Valentine's Day I thought a first date worked. As such I am putting the whole thing under a keep reading tag because it’s incredibly long.

Anyway Without Further Ado: Prompt #7: Valentine

A Gift of Love

The year after Frisk got her new family and friends free was when she started to make Valentine's for them all. A certain skeleton noticed though as the kiddo got older, the valentine's he got from her got bigger including candy or fancy bottles of ketchup. It confused Sans to no end, she was just a kid compared to him easily.

That changed 4 years ago when Frisk had gone off to college to study political science so she could be a better Ambassador. He still received a Valentine every year but seeing the girl herself was rare except at Christmas and sometimes during the summer. When he did he noticed she was growing older and he was oddly attracted.

That attraction just built as he got to know her again when she came home for good at Christmas. She was intelligent, beautiful, kind, and punny as hell. He just hoped he wasn't to late, he had to surprise her and pull out something amazing for that night. Time to break that lazy outward appearance he worked so hard to maintain for once.

That morning he found a ceramic coffee mug with blackboard paint around the bottom sitting on his desk. It was covered with little doodles but written on the side facing his chair was I Lava You – Frisk. And filled with peppermint mocha, which the girl knew was his favorite. He couldn't help the small blue blush that grew on his face even as the students entered his Science Classroom. He heard all the students going on and on about their Valentine plans all day. All while he was just hoping Frisk found the star shaped sticky notes he had shortcutted into her office to place the night before. Ones that said to meet him at the park that night and she received the fruit basket that had fruit based puns like I go Bananas for You, Your the Apple of my Eye, and Orange you go out with me throughout it.

He was glad as the day finally round down, and was happy to hear his phone going off with Frisk's caller id. He picked up the phone saying, “Howdy, kiddo. Thanks for the coffee this morning.” Fixed the bag hanging off his shoulder as he headed from the school building, nodding to his students as he went.

“Your welcome, Sansy,” Frisk said with a happy voice through the phone to him, “So I found a few star shaped sticky notes around my office today and got a fruit basket with a note that had a lot of puns from you. It was sweet Sans, I didn't think you liked me back.”

“Yeah well if you meet me at the park, you'll see kiddo,” Sans said with a chuckle even though he was in a panic hoping Legs came through with the reservations for the private room at the restaurant in his new hotel.

“Why am I worried?”

“I don't know, don't trust me Frisky?”

“I do, but you are known for pranks Sansy.”

“This isn't a prank, I honestly want to give this a try,” Sans said as he took a step shortcutting to the park by her work. He hung up as he saw her with a smile saying, “Heya kiddo.” He slipped the phone in his jacket, it dropping into his inventory, then waved to the brown haired, tanned skin ambassador.

“Hi Sans,” Frisk said with a smile glad she was just in jeans and a sweater, “So what's this big plan of yours?”

“Well I figured I would pick you up around 6 and take you out to dinner, to a semi-formal establishment,” Sans said with a grin up to her as he pulled off his glasses slowly.

“Really? Not just Grillby's?” Frisk asked in surprise because 9 times out of 10 that is where they normally got together at before she went to college and since she got back. The rare other time would just be at the local fast food place Met had, Burgerpants always ran.

Sans slipped his hands into his pockets with a grin saying, “Nope I have something better in mind, considering first real date and all Frisky.” He was glad this was going so well, but he knew he had to go home and get dressed in the dress shirt and slacks that Pap helped him pick out. The tie was a clip on at least.

He was also happy that Fish, Tori, and Al was going to help Frisk get ready since he knew well she wasn't one for dresses.

“Alright than, I'll expect you at 6 I suppose,” Frisk said with a soft blush to her cheeks. She came over quickly and gently kissed his cheek. His magic sparking against where her lips met. It felt nice he had to admit, and he would enjoy feeling that more.

“Yep, let me take you home at least,” Sans said offering a hand to her as he did every night now since she came back. He would escort her home because it was for safety what he said to her. Actually it was more just wanting more time with her.

“I guess you do have a shortcut,” Frisk said with a grin taking his hand and feeling him pulling her through to in front of the house she lived with Toriel in.

Sans slowly let go and grinned at her saying, “See you at 6.” He made sure she got inside and heard the voices inside with a grin. He then shortcutted back home that he lived in alone. Ever since Pap got with Legs and moved in with the robot, he just felt the place was empty anymore.

It would be nice if this worked out with Frisk, even if it was just to give him company in the evening. He sighed as he headed up the stairs to his room going inside to change. It would be a good night, he was really wanting it to be.

He slipped off the black hoodie he wore with the grey sweater and slacks at work. The black slacks, blue dress shirt, and black tie that had a faded periodic symbol for Titanium on it laying out on his bed. Pap insisted he wear that tie since it was his only non-pun tie, but the thing was that was the pun it was his tie-tanium tie. He was glad it was clip-on like the rest.

He grabbed the slacks and slid them on, using a bit of magic to fill them out and make them look normal on his bones. He then slid the dress shirt on and carefully did the buttons up. He clipped the tie on his collar then slid the silver cuff-links on, grinning at the small police box on each one. Dr. Who was a great show that he got into when they got to the surface, among other nerdy things that introduced him to humans that he could stand.

He glanced to the time glad it was almost 6, he would just call the restaurant and make sure the reservations went through. Because if they hadn't, it would either require a call to Mettaton which was easy to get a hold of due to that relationship with Pap he had, or planning something else. Once he confirmed it was a go, he grabbed onto a shortcut to in front of Frisk's house and knocked on the door. Just before the door opens he remembers the vase of Echo Flowers he had sitting in his inventory. He quickly pulls them out as the former queen opened the door.

“Hey Tori.”

“Hi Sans, come on in. Frisk is still getting ready upstairs with Undyne and Alphys. She was so excited when she came home,” Toriel said with a soft laugh moving out of the way to let the skeleton in. “Though I trust you Sans, I'm sure you will take care of my child.”

“Of course I will Tori, I’ve protected her for years after all.”

“I meant her heart as well, she has been wanting this for years after all. Even all the time she was gone to college, she still held on hope you would one day give her a chance.”

His response was caught behind his teeth as Frisk appeared at top of the stairs. He let out a breath at her tanned body in the deep purple knee length purple dress. Her brown hair long down her back, the first time he had ever noticed the blue streak down the side. It was always normally up in a ponytail or bun. Never in a position to see the streak, the same color as his magic. He grinned as he came over saying, “Your gorgeous Sweetheart.”

The blush that went over her cheeks and nose was adorable. “You don't clean up bad yourself, Sans. Very handsome.”

“Thanks, so shall we go?” An offer of his hand to her. He glanced to Toriel saying, “See you later Tori.”

When he felt Frisk's soft hand in his own, his eye a lit with magic as they appeared in Mettaton’s massive hotel outside of town. He heard her gasp at where they were.

“Sans, are we going to the restaurant here? It is so expensive though.”

“You are worth way more than that. But I have both the family discount and because it's for you in my favor.”

“So you are taking advantage of your brother’s relationship status?”

“Maybe,” He grinned as they walked to the elevator to go to the roof. He just hoped it would keep impressing her. He was trying so hard.

Frisk gently hugged Sans saying, “Hey stop panicking. It's just us and I like you for you. Not like it's the first time we went to dinner together.”

“I know but I just want to treat you like the star you are.” Pun on what the restaurant was, maybe.

“Sans. I am sure it will be great whatever you planned.”

Sans shot her a grateful look as the elevator opened on the roof garden that had a large glass dome over it. He watched her face light up to the magic lights floating around, the rose bushes littering the garden, the single table in the middle with the a single red candle in the center. Their waiter pouring water into the glasses.

Wait.

That shape was very familiar and his hunch was confirmed as his brother turned to face them with a very fake mustache on his lips. “Pap…” Sans muttered as his skull met his hand.

He heard Frisk giggling beside him and he caught the snort. He glanced over to his date and ok, so his brother was acting as waiter. This was fine. At least he wasn't making spaghetti for them, right?

He glanced ahead hearing his brother exclaimed in a bad french accent, “BONJOUR, I AM YOUR WAITER FERNANDO.”

“And who gave you the name Fernando?” Frisk asked between giggles.

“METTATON.”

Sans shook in silent laughter because his brother was ridiculous. It did help relieve his nerves at least. He guided his giggling date to the table saying, “I think I mustache you a question about all this later Fernando.”

He grinned at his brother’s eye socket twitching to the pun. And the launch of another giggle attack Frisk was having. At least he could make her laugh so one win. He pulled out her chair with just a bit of Magic before sitting down himself.

“WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO DRINK TODAY?” Papyrus asked after calming down from the pun. He looked at Sans like he was daring him to say ketchup, but he's been good about breaking his addiction to the stuff.

Sans grinned before saying, “A bloody Mary and a glass of water.”

“Echo Flower Tea.” Frisk looked over the menu.

“RIGHT AWAY.” Papyrus went to get the drinks even though he glared at his brother for getting alcohol.

“It's sweet that Papy wants your date to go well,” Frisk said with a smiled over to Sans as she grabbed a breadstick that was complimentary.

“Yeah well he was so happy when I told him I was going to ask you out, he knows I've wanted to since before you came home even,” Sans said as he looked over the menu. He paused though as his cheeks turn blue to that admittance.

“R-really? I never thought you would like me like that,” her tan skin turning pink in a blush as she looked down, “I have liked you for so long.”

“I figured but when you were a kid it was different Frisk. You really matured those 4 years of college and just talking to you when you came back for Christmas and Summer or on skype really sent that home. I started to become attracted to you too,” Sans muttered as it was really feeling hot in here. This was way to soon in the date to start to have this conversation.

Frisk smiled as she reached over taking his hand in hers saying, “Well hopefully we can have more dates beyond this where Papy isn't spying on us.” She motioned over to where Papyrus was just peaking around the door to the kitchen while someone else made their drinks.

Sans glanced over and sighed before chuckling softly as he squeezed her hand. He looked to the menu saying, “I think I'm going to get one of the samplers.”

Frisk just smiled to his change of topic before looking to the menu saying, “I'm leaning to the shrimp alfredo.” Because that sounded amazing with bread sticks. “So how's teaching going?”

“It hurts me deeply at seeing most of the the kids get.”

“I have a feeling anything below an A would hurt you deeply.”

“You are right, but when I can get those who have a B or lower to understand everything and want to try. It's the most rewarding feeling I can get. Plus them groaning to my puns is always fun.”

“Of course it is for you, Mr. Gaster.”

“It's Dr. Gaster,” Sans said with a chuckle as Papyrus headed back over to the table with their drinks. Sans took his Bloody Mary and sipped it with a grin at the look on his brother's face under that silly mustache.

“HAVE YOU BOTH DECIDED WHAT YOU WANT TO ORDER?” Papyrus said as he sat the cup of tea in front of Frisk. The faint whispers from the echo flowers that were used in it could be heard.

“Yeah, a shrimp alfredo for my date and the sampler for me,” Sans said as they both offered their menu back.

“GOT IT,” Papyrus said writing those down before taking the menus and walking away to give it to the kitchen.

Sans grinned before looking to Frisk asking, “Want to admire the sunset with me while we wait?” He motioned to the garden and the dome that was over them that showed the setting sun.

“Sure,” Frisk said with a smile as she got up as did Sans going over to the edge of the area sitting down on the side of the deck looking out of the glass dome into the sky. She smiled over to Sans beside her slowly leaning into him. To her this date was already a success. And had made her valentine's day.

Once they were done eating and were on their way home under the stars. Frisk paused asking, “Sans does this mean we are together?”

“I suppose so sweetheart, guess you have this bag of bones as your boyfriend now.”

The giggle that met his ears made him smile. If he could hear that more than everything was great now. Even as they approached her house.

“You really made this a great Valentine's Day, Sans.”

“Well I'm glad you agreed to come with me, Frisk. You really made my day by doing that.” He looked to her house before slowly leaning in to kiss her lips with his teeth. The sparks of magic against her lips, he didn't know how this would feel for her but the soft moan from her was worth it. Stupid need to breathe though as she pulled away.

“I better get inside before mom comes out,” she muttered softly.

“Sure, see you tomorrow for a movie night maybe?” Sans said with a smile and that just grew as she agreed. He watched her inside and stuck his hands into the pockets of the slacks. “Happy Valentine's Day,” he said after her before disappearing in a shortcut.

#fransweek #frans #sans x frisk #frisk x sans

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scurvgirl · 7 years ago

Text

What’s Normal Anyways?

More Wall AU!

Melarue belongs to @justanartsysideblog

They end up closing on the “modest” chateau quickly, and Melarue is quick to bring in contractors to get the work done in the house. The kitchen needs updating and a powder-bathroom needs to be added to the first floor as well as other general fixes around the house. The initial quote involved a six-week timeline that Melarue was not happy about. There were discussions that Kass was not a part of but the time has been halved and they will be moving in in three weeks. In the meantime, they live in the swanky apartment in the heart of Old Val Chevin.

There was a very polite argument on who should have the actual bedroom. Melarue won the argument and now Kass begrudgingly wakes up feeling ridiculously pampered in a gorgeous room bathed by warm morning sunlight. It’s not right, it’s their apartment, their money, they should be waking up in the gorgeous room bathed in warm sunlight, not lounging in the office that doesn’t even have a window.

They dedicate the rest of the house hunting day to procuring furniture and things to live by until they can move into the house. Among the things Melarue purchases are a TV, a large couch that she’s pretty sure they only purchased because she mentioned how nice it cushioned her back, and two thousand dollars’ worth of knives because “one should never skimp on proper cutlery.” By the end of the shopping trip, Kass felt sick – sticker sickness, she’s decided to call it, because it’s just…so much. Halfway through, they just started concealing price tags from her and always sent her on errands while they paid so she wouldn’t see how much they were spending.

It’s just another slap in the face of how ridiculously wealthy they are and how there is no way she is ever going to repay them. She locks herself in the bathroom that night and cries as quietly as she can, entirely too overwhelmed. It’s not that she isn’t grateful, or that she wants to leave them, just…she wants to know what it’s like to be completely free, to not be tied down by someone holding a chain or by guilt through a checkbook. And she knows that it isn’t going to fix itself immediately, that she needs to work and incur as few costs as possible, pay rent, her share of the utilities, buy her own food…but right now she feels like she can cry about it a bit. Also, she’s pregnant, she gets some leeway there she thinks.

To their credit, they don’t confront her about the crying and let her go to sleep without fuss. When she wakes up, she finds they’ve set the TV up. They smile at her and show her how to work the thing and together they find a movie they both like. They curl up on the large couch together and end up watching movies for the rest of the day, eating sandwiches for lunch and ordering cheap pizza for dinner. And by the end, she feels calmer, less shocked and more comfortable. They are wealthy, but not lofty, and they hold no ideas of keeping her captive or indebted.

The Monday after they arrive and settle on a house, Melarue’s job begins. They are bustling through the house, gathering their things, and eying her as they move from room to room. Kass sips her tea, curled up on the couch, trying not to chuckle.

“The first day is always the scariest, imekari. You’ll do fine,” she chides playfully. She sees them rolls their eyes as they pull out a pad and begin to write on it.

“I have a class from 10:30 to 11:30 then a class from 1:00 to 2:45, then I have office hours and meetings until six. Feel free to order any food you want, if you need me, you have my number, and my office is in Ameridan Hall, third floor, room 316.”

“I’ll be fine, Melarue,” she says, trying to ease some of the tension in them. She doubts they are nervous about their work which means they are nervous about her. For what? She is used to being left at home to her own devices. They went grocery shopping the other day, there is food and with the phones they just bought, she can order anything so…everything will be fine.

She has things to do, like job research and potentially looking into learning Orlesian. Still, Melarue pauses at the door.

“Have a good day, I know how to reach you if I need you. Go, mold the young minds of tomorrow!” She encourages them. Their lips twitch upwards.

“Alright. Do call if you need.” They turn and leave, taking a significant presence with them.

The apartment feels very, very large suddenly. The ceilings are impossibly high, the fireplace is too fine, and when she sneaks a peak at the street below from a window, she’s reminded very much of how she’s in Val Chevin. Adjustment is going to take an annoying amount of time.

Kass retreats from the window to the computer resting on the dining table and begins her search. She runs into the problem of not knowing Orlesian much more than she was expecting. Also, qualifications…she basically doesn’t have any. When she initially moved south with Qal, she worked at a sandwich shop. Then she got pregnant and Qal got a promotion at the same time, so…he wanted her to stop working.

Former Tamassrans don’t work in sandwich shops.

But now she needs work, but she doesn’t know the language, she doesn’t have a bank account, she doesn’t have really anything. Is she even here legally? She doesn’t know.

Panic tries to well up in her, but she squashes it quickly. Not the time, not the place. Instead, she pokes around until she finds the Qunari, Tal-Vashoth, and Vashoth Cultural Community Center of Val Chevin. It’s a mouthful, but everything on the website has Common and Qunlat translations available and they advertise aid in job finding, language courses, and even counseling.

Her day is decided then. Kass showers and dresses, then heads out with the directions to the community center written on a page from the notepad. Google told her that walking would only take twenty minutes, so she goes on foot, heading towards the university campus. The center is located across the street from the main library. It’s a beautiful area, with old roads and trimmed trees that are beginning to change in color with the season. There are students milling about, some are splayed out in the grassy areas with books surrounding them.

The center itself is slightly underwhelming. It’s a small white building with a modest sign out front declaring its name. She heads inside, a bell clinks announcing her presence and a cheery looking person pops up behind the welcome desk.

“Hello!” They say in accented Qunlat, “welcome to the together center!” They’re clearly vashoth, Kass thinks, with their accent and using the wrong word for ‘community’. That is a common mistake though, qunlat has roughly twenty different words surrounding the concept of community.

“Hi,” Kass replies and their eyes widen a bit.

“My name is Kassaran,” she says in Common. Qunlat, or at least the Qunlat she knows, doesn’t have phrases for names.

“A pleasure to meet you, Kassaran. I am Kalit, are you new to Val Chevin?”

Kass nods and her hand lands on her stomach, “I am. I um…it’s a bit of a complicated story…I was really just hoping to get some help with a few things?”

“Of course! What are you looking for?” Kalit shuffles over and sits expectantly at a computer.

“I need a job, but I don’t know Orlesian, and I don’t even know…” she purses her lips and wonders what she can and should not say. Her pause is long enough that Kalit stands up and comes around from the desk. They’re very short for a qunari, and they have exceptionally round features, she wonders if one of their parents is a dwarf.

They gently take her hands and smile up at her.

“You’re Tal-Vashoth, right?”

Kass nods.

“We don’t get many who have actually left the Qun, mostly we get vashoth students trying to find a place in a university that largely still doesn’t get it. But we can help, Shokrakar is in her office, who is really the best when it comes to counseling people on this.” Kalit releases one of Kass’s hands but holds the other as they lead her down the hall to a room with the door propped open.

“Dr. Valo?” Kalit says, pushing the door open.

“Yes, Kalit?”

“There is someone who could use your counseling services. This is Kassaran, she’s Tal-Vashoth.” Kalit guides Kass into the room. It’s a nice room, painted a soft blue decorated with black and white photos of various happy qunari people. Behind the large white desk sits an impressively tall qunari woman. Kass guesses her to be from Seheron, rather than Par Vollen with her black hair and dark eyes, the low-riding horns.

She looks up from her computer and smiles immediately Kass before rising.

“Hello, Kassaran. I’m Doctor Shokrakar Valo, please call me Shokrakar.”

“Nice to meet you,” Kass replies, shaking her hand. The doctor gestures for Kass to take a seat, thanks Kalit who leaves, shutting the door behind them.

“So, Kassaran, what can I help you with today?”

Kass swallows and fidgets with the hem of her shirt, “I really just need a job but I’m finding that to be unrealistic?”

Shokrakar nods, “Yes, unfortunately in Orlais, ninety-five percent of jobs require you speak Orlesian. But there are a few that don’t require it. I have a checklist of things I like to give people when looking for work – things like a bank account, payment plans for any debts, financial planning, those sorts of things that I have found many Tal-Vashoth specifically have a harder time with.”

“Yes, I…don’t really understand any of it. You know, under the Qun, everything is taken care of – you have your role, your monthly stipend dependent on your role that is attached to your citizen ID number, and that’s it.”

“Right, but it isn’t as different here as you think it is.”

For the next thirty minutes, Shokrakar explains as much as she can about the financial system in Orlais in how it will relate to Kass, even with the baby. There are apparently things like tax breaks for having children, and even programs for single parents to help support them – all dependent if she is here legally of course. Kass still doesn’t know, and she explains as best she can that this all happened in a way that she still doesn’t fully understand. The thirty minutes after that, Kass finds herself telling Shokrakar about how she left the Qun with Qal, to start a life happy and free from the toxicity plaguing their souls in the Qun.

“It wasn’t even a week ago that I was with my husband, locked in our apartment, and now I’m here and it’s great, but it’s just…”

“Overwhelming. You went from the Qun to Qal, that must have been…”

“Difficult, yes.” Kass rubs her stomach where the baby presses against.

“But I’m here now, and my…” what exactly is Melarue to her? Her friend? Rescuer? Roommate? None of the words seem right. Friend and roommate feel small for what Melarue is, and rescuer makes them seem like a superhero. Which…maybe they are, they have the aloofness of one, and the potential required tragic backstory – why else would they have their passenger? But friend…friend is closest.

“My friend, Melarue, they are very kind and are helping me.”

“So, you have a place to stay? Food? What about doctor appointments?”

Kass nods to the first two but pauses on the last. Doctor appointments, right. She shifts around and Shokrakar clicks around on her computer.

“I have doctor recommendations for you – when was your last appointment?”

Kass bites her lip. About that.

“Um. Qal said that women have been having babies since the beginning of time without doctors so…after we got the confirmation, he just said to keep indoors and eat well and I would be fine.”

Shokrakar blinks then nods very slowly, “…Alright. Well. That dathrasi can’t hurt you or your baby anymore. This is the information of a very trusted OB/GYN in the community. I will tell her to expect your call, she works at a clinic on the other side of campus that offers affordable care.” Kass takes the note, reading the name of the doctor carefully. Her brow furrows and while it seems like such an odd thing to be able to pick out….

“Forgive me, and you don’t have to answer, but…were you trained as a priestess?” She asks softly. Priestesses always had very specific looking handwriting, it was supposed to mirror that of Koslun’s.

Shokrakar pauses for a moment then smiles the sort of smile that Kass knows too well.

“Yes. But I loved science and the Qun and the priesthood…you know. I left to pursue science. I got a doctorate in sociology and now here I am, guiding people like a priestess would.” Her face is sad for a moment before she shakes it off.

“I think that’s good. The rest of us…we still need guidance, and while you aren’t serving the Qun, you’re still serving, you’re being true to yourself, and no matter what the Qun says – that’s good. You make the community strong.” It is a favored saying in qunlat to describe one who is valued and good. While it’s a remnant of the qun, she can see it light Shokrakar’s face up.

“Thank you, tama,” she replies. Kass’s face flushes, not in embarrassment but in acknowledgement of what she was. She knows that certain habits die hard, and some ways of being never change.

The rest of their talk goes well, she gets some information on how to enroll in Orlesian classes and some places that will hire her. Shokrakar tells her about a support group she has for specifically Tal-Vashoth persons. There is a qunari women’s support group as well, though it isn’t specifically Tal-Vashoth.

After their talk, Shokrakar decides to take her out for lunch. Because she has a class after lunch, they head to a café attached to the library where Kass orders a large spinach salad.

By the end of lunch, Kass feels like she’s made a friend and promises to keep in touch. Shokrakar suggests that perhaps Kass and Melarue come over for dinner some time. Shokrakar’s wife, Aada, would be more than happy to have them.

“It’s been great meeting you, Kassaran, feel free to call or text or email me any time – Tal-Vashoth have to stick together right?” Shokrakar jokes and Kass nods.

“Definitely. Thank you for everything!” Kass replies. They part ways, Shokrakar heading to her class and Kass heading back to the apartment. It is a beautiful day, the sky is filled with soft white puffy clouds, barely concealing any of the sun’s light. There is a gentle breeze rolling through the streets, ruffling Kass’s hair.

Today’s already been a good day, and it still has hours left! Speaking with Shokrakar has made her nostalgic for the better parts of the qun. Like the food. Kass believes that everyone is preferential to the food native where they grew up, there’s emotions and flavors there that other cuisines don’t have. And while the qun didn’t work out for her adult life, it wasn’t bad for her childhood. Like most children under the Qun, she enjoyed the feeling of having many children her age to play with, all under the care of the same Tamassrans.

When Kass arrives back at the apartment, she sets to work to creating a dish that takes hours upon hours to make. Not all the ingredients can be found at Orlesian grocery stores, she found, but she makes do with what was available.

She turns on some music and dances along as she cooks, feeling light and bright and happy. The apartment is filled with music and the smell of spices by the time Melarue arrives home. She hears them stop and pauses her singing before leaning over the kitchen island to wave at them.

“Welcome home! I hope you don’t mind, I went to the Qunari, Tal-Vashoth, and Vashoth Cultural Community Center today and it made me miss traditional foods so much. I hope you like spice!” She declares happily, dancing back to the large pot on the stove. She stirs the pot then tosses in the chicken that had been previously pan-frying. She covers the pot, checks on the rice, then sets to heating up some bread to go along with it all.

She turns to see Melarue’s wandered into the kitchen, sniffing the air with a smile.

“That smells delicious,” they say and she beams in return.

“Good! I hope you like it, if you don’t that’s fine though! Qunari foods tend to be polarizing for non-qunari,” she babbles, reaching up into the cabinets, pulling out several dishes for them to use.

“Normally there are several other spices, but I understand that Par Vollen doesn’t quite like letting them go. If you leave the qun you shouldn’t have any of its comforts – as if the qun owns the plants on the island as well,” she continues, bitterness lacing her tone. She blinks then shakes her head.

“It still has fifteen more minutes, if you would like to get changed into something more comfortable.”

“I can help, if you need. I was not expecting you to cook dinner,” they tell her, rolling up their sleeves, revealing long elegant hands.

“Um,” she hums, trying to think of things for them to do. She ends up handing over the warming of the bread which is busy work at this point. She apologizes though, it’s just that this last part is really nothing – the chicken just needs to simmer in the pot with the sauce for a bit. They seem understanding enough about it though, which is reassuring.

They do end up changing before dinner and by the time they’re back, she’s making their plate. They take a bite and hum in happiness.

“This is delicious, Kassaran, thank you.”

A small flicker of pride and happiness flares up in her chest, as well as some surprise. Qal had always expected dinner when he came home. But Melarue seems surprised and to be genuinely enjoying what she’s made.

Worry and tension eases from her shoulders as she digs into her own food.

“What did you do at the Community Center?” They ask.

“I talked with a Dr. Valo? She’s a sociology professor at the university. I wanted to see if they could help me find a job. Um, I…don’t think it is going to be simple? A lot of jobs require proficiency in Orlesian, which I am going to learn. Dr. Valo said she could get me enrolled in language classes at the university, so…hopefully I’ll be able to get a job and start maybe paying you back for everything you’ve done and that’s a lot and I am so thankful for everything really and I want to pay you back but it’s probably going to take some time and I am really rambling, I’m sorry!”

Melarue blinks then wipes at their mouth a napkin, “Kassaran, you don’t need to feel indebted to me. If you acquire a job and find means to leave and that is what you want, I will not stop you. I will not hold any debt over you. But thank you, you are very kind to want to pay me back.”

“I want to pay rent,” she blurts.

They pause then nod, “That is fine, as long as it is proportional to your income and does not impair you.” That is more than fair and she bows her head in thanks.

“I-I also need to go see the doctor.”

Their attention snaps to a point at that, “Is something wrong? We can go now.”

“No, no, everything is fine right now, I just…haven’t been able to go since getting the pregnancy confirmed…” The concern in their face does not wane, if anything they look even more concerned. After a moment, they release a long breath.

“Did Dr. Valo give you any recommendations?” Their voice is even but there is a sharpness to it and Kass wonders if their passenger is responsible for it. But there aren’t any cloying shadows or anything and their nails a normal length, so…maybe not?

“She did. A Dr. Merev – she works at the clinic on the south end of campus?”

“Alright. Do you know if you’ll need payment for it?”

“Probably, Shokrakar, uh Dr. Valo, said that she is affordable but probably still needs money, I’m sorry.”

Melarue waves her off, “It is no trouble, you and the baby need care, I’m more than happy to help.”

“Do…do you want to go with me then? Since it’ll be your payment information. I-I wouldn’t feel comfortable just using it myself,” she says, shifting uncomfortably in her seat.

“I can go depending on the time.”

“What time would work for you?”

“I have nothing on Friday after three.”

“I will shoot for something after three on Friday, then.” Kass smiles and they both return to their food. After a few minutes, the silence draws on for what feels like a damning amount of time.

“How was your first day?” She asks.

Melarue shrugs, “It was good. I’m excited to be teaching again, even if some of the professors are…well let’s just say not all of them are aware of their history as they should be.”

“Oh dear.”

“It’s nothing dire, more annoying than anything. I’m afraid I frightened some of my human students off already,” they chuckle in a way that say that they are not in fact afraid about anything, or annoyed, but delighted at their current state of affairs.

“Well it sounds you are where you’re supposed to be. Those kids are lucky to have you,” as am I, she thinks.

“What classes did you have today?”

“Introduction to Elven History and a seminar course – The Dales: An Elven Perspective. The introduction course is the one where I am sure some of the human students are less than pleased, but then if they want their human-centric and friendly history they can take that oaf Dr. Renaudin’s class.”

Kass chuckles, they are so passionate about it!

“They would be fools to miss out on your class. But then, oafs do tend to attract fellow fools.” She tears her bread and begins to sop up the sauce, spooning some chicken along with it.

“What makes him oafish?”

They finish chewing and sigh, “Where do I start?”

As it turns out, there are many things that make Marcel Renaudin an oaf – an ignorant, racist oaf at that. Kass is by no means an expert on history, particularly elven history, but she knows that marginalized populations often get their history…reworked to fit in with the oppressors’ history. It happens in the Qun, even, mostly erasing the legitimacy of rebellions lead by Tal-Vashoth and Saare – mages.

This Marcel Renaudin is the sort of historian to endorse such…revisionist history as far as Kass can tell. Sure, Melarue is biased but Melarue is also sharp and Kass suspects they have lived through a lot of the history they’re talking about. So…she’s going to take their word over his.

Their conversation lasts past dinner, and they help her clean up. They’re rather insistent about it since she cooked. She “needs to get off her feet”. It is…a very different change of pace. She’s used to cleaning up. Qal would sit in the living room, winding down from the day, watching TV, and then she’d slip into the bedroom to read.

But Qal isn’t here and Melarue is kind. Kass sits down on the couch and clicks on the TV. There is…a ridiculous number of channels. How does she even choose? She settles eventually on the Home and Gardening channel. There is a show featuring a couple searching for a home in Denerim, Ferelden.

After Melarue finishes with the dishes, they take a seat next to her with a stack of papers.

“You already have things to grade?” She asks incredulously.

“No, I took a survey in the classes on some of the common misconceptions about elven history. I’m going through them, taking notes to see what I need to focus on.”

“That’s clever,” she says. They smile and they fall into a companionable silence as Kass watches her show and Melarue works through their papers. Every so often she looks over at them, sometimes their face is relaxed and simply reading, nodding along and making marks on a little notepad, others their brows are drawn and their lips are pursed. Sometimes they look to be incredulous, pen hovering indecisively over the notepad.

Their eyes flick up to hers behind their glasses, and she blushes. She quickly turns back to her show – the couple picks the second house, which seems silly to Kass since it was so out of budget.

The night continues quietly like that until Kass decides to head to bed. Melarue smiles at her and tells her to sleep well. For the first time in forever, Kass sleeps diagonally on a bed and it is glorious. She wakes up with a smile, stretching her body out over the bed. It is her domain! Her little kingdom of sheets and blankets and pillows – and she is the queen of all things soft and happy…for all of five minutes before her bladder screams in protest.

She relieves herself, showers, then heads into the kitchen for breakfast and her morning tea. Melarue’s nose wrinkles at her tea and she cocks her head.

“Do you not like tea?”

“No, it is odorous leaf water.”

She laughs at that, “It can be stinky, this is true. This blend is supposed to help the baby though, so, down it goes.”

“Well, of course if it’s for the baby,” they reply, reaching for their travel mug of not-tea.

“Did you eat breakfast? I’m going to scramble up some eggs if you’d like some,” she offers.

“Not this morning, I have early class, but I will be home earlier.”

“Alright, I was thinking maybe pasta for dinner?”

“Sounds delicious.” They grab their bag and wave bye to her as they leave, much easier today than yesterday she notes. Good, she doesn’t want them to worry.

The rest of the week follows in a similar pattern – she wakes up in time to tell Melarue to have a good day, she has breakfast, then leaves to go explore the city. She finds she really likes the university campus and a small square that’s a five-minute walk from campus. She enjoys getting all the fresh air and she spends a fair amount of time of walking through the university’s gardens. The house has such potential for a truly lovely garden, she needs ideas of what grows well down here.

She brings up the gardening ideas with Melarue who seems very eager to begin their garden. Wonderful! It’ll be a good weekend activity, and if she stays with them, the baby will have a gorgeous garden to grow up in and hopefully tend to themselves.

Kass makes dinner each night and Melarue cleans up. She begins to explore more of the channels and finds some programs she likes. It is amazing to her that there is a section dedicated to being ‘on demand’, full of shows and movies that she can just say ‘I want to watch this’ and boom – she can.

She discovers the amazing terrible-ness of Lifetime movies and honestly? She’s hooked.

The only day that ends up being a bit odd is Friday when she heads to the clinic with Melarue for her 3:30 appointment.

She wasn’t nervous before about it, partially because she hasn’t felt bad because of the pregnancy. She had some morning sickness at the beginning, but everything she read said that was normal. But now she keeps fidgeting with her sleeves, her purse, nibbling on her lip. The baby moves, seeming to know that their mama is nervous.

They take a seat in the waiting room and Melarue sets to filling out financial information.

She’s called back at 3:45. She stands up but Melarue does not, she looks at them quizzically.

“Do…would you rather not come back?” She asks. She knows that it is a bit…out of the ordinary to ask a friend to come back with her, but, well…she could use the support. But only if they don’t mind!

“I can come back if you’d like,” they offer carefully and she bites her lip before nodding wordlessly. Asking for help is difficult, particularly after everything else. But Melarue doesn’t hesitate – they grab their things and step up next to her. They follow a nurse back into a room where various measurements are taken. Blood pressure, height, weight, oral medical history (that is difficult to give since she has to translate everything from qunlat and medical terminology is always weird with that).

She changes into the typical paper gown for gynecological visits.

“Why are these offices always cold for these visits? Like they know we’re going to be pretty much naked, why is it cold?” She bemoans, pulling the robe closer to her body in a vain attempt to feel warmer.

“Like they expect me to expose myself not just their prying eyes but also to the cold air? They are asking too much,” yes she is whining, and no she doesn’t care. She’s cold, she’s pregnant, and she’s freaked out. She can whine.

“It is oddly chilly in here,” Melarue murmurs, looking up. They cock their head and their eyes flutter shut. After a moment, Kass hears something shift in the ceiling. Melarue opens their eyes and warmer air begins to flow out from a vent in the ceiling.

“OH!” She turns to them, “you’re too sweet! Thank you…and thank you for coming back, I know it’s weird but…we’re not exactly normal.”

“I do not mind, Kassaran. I’m…glad you feel comfortable having me here.”

There is a nervousness to them that has been present all week. As concerned as she has been about them letting her stay, she’s beginning to think they’ve been equally concerned on her leaving or somehow rejecting them over their condition. And her insistence on getting independent can’t be helping that.

“I really appreciate it, everything. You’re a wonderful friend.”

The doctor of course decides to come in before they can reply.

“Hello! I’m Dr. Merev.” The doctor billows in, quickly shaking Melarue and Kassaran’s hand. She looks down at Kass’s belly and glances at Melarue.

“Is the baby –

“Not theirs! Um, I mean…I have, had, a husband and he’s qunari so the baby is on a total qunari baby track. Ten months.”

“I’m a friend,” Melarue clarifies and the doctor nods, going along with it while she pulls on some gloves.

“That’s fine, I was just checking because elven-qunari children usually have different gestation than a qunari-qunari baby. Normally shorter with more heartburn for some reason, but that’s not the case. So, how far along are you?”

“Twenty-one weeks and…six days,” Kass answers. Dr. Merev goes through several more questions and it doesn’t take long before Kass has to explain that no, she hasn’t had doctor appointments because of Qal. Like Shokrakar and Melarue, Dr. Merev pauses for a moment and Kass shifts around awkwardly.

“Alright, you’re here now and we’re going to make sure you and the baby are healthy.” Dr. Merev goes through what feels like pages of questions, everything from diet to lifestyle to how easily Kass conceived, if she’s noticed anything unusual, as well as any pre-existing conditions she’s aware of.

Then comes the joy of having cold goo being squirted onto her abdomen.

“Since you haven’t had any doctor appointments, I’m guessing you haven’t heard your baby’s heartbeat.” Kass shakes her head. She knows that it’s normal to have heard the heartbeat months before now but then again, ‘normal’ doesn’t include Qal, she guesses. Dr. Merev moves the wand thing over Kass’s abdomen and then –

Wub wub wub wub wub wub.

“Oh,” she breathes. She’s not sure if the reaction is the same since she’s felt her little baby moving and kicking around already, so this isn’t the first real confirmation of life in her but it is…something else. That’s her baby’s heartbeat, a strong, happy heartbeat. She stares at the screen, watching her little one’s head and body and oh! There’s a little hand!

“Good news, everything looks good – ten fingers, ten toes, the skull looks good for proper future horn development. Your child is not going to be hornless,” Dr. Merev says, which Kass was expecting. Hornless children are rare for qunari, hence the stance that hornless children are ‘special’. She likes the horns anyways.

“A very normal looking baby, congratulations. Now, for some news you may not like – because of the lack of prenatal care, and because of the high stress environment you have been in, it has greatly increased the risk of this pregnancy. Your blood pressure is high, which is a risk factor for preeclampsia. Qunari pregnancies outside of the Qun are already higher risk pregnancies that human, elven, and dwarven pregnancies. So, you need to be in low stress environments. Not bed rest, but no strenuous work, low sodium diet, make sure you take your prenatal vitamins.”

Kass nods, she will make sure to take the vitamins, but the low stress environment…

“We just moved here and I don’t have a job, I wanted to get one, help pay rent, utilities, can I still do that?”

“I would strongly advise against it. If you need it to live, then do what you need to do.”

She leans back against the examination table and takes a deep breath. Dammit, dammit, dammit.

You can’t work while pregnant! Qal had yelled at her, demanding she turn in her notice at the sandwich shop. In some sick way, he was right – but because of what he has done. She knows that. It’s not…he’s…. Just dammit. Dammit it all.

She can just see her debt to Melarue, whether they recognize it or not, rising and rising. She’s not a small woman, she eats, and she’s growing a person, so she’s probably eating more than normal. She incurs a cost of utilities, shit they even bought a house because of her and she can’t even work to help them.

“Kassaran, there is no issue with this. Your and the baby’s health come first, I am happy to share my home with you,” Melarue tells her softly. She covers her face and works on breathing so she doesn’t cry.

“I know, and I am so, so thankful. I just…I’m this lump. I don’t want to be this burden that just weighs you down when you want to do things.” She sniffles and tries to hold the deluge back. It’s just not fair to them to have her laying around the apartment or the house doing nothing. Sure, she can cook and clean for them but she hardly sees that as enough.

“No, no, you are not a burden, Kass. The farthest thing from it. Even when we had that wall between us, you made every day better. I am more than happy to help you.” She feels their hand gently rest on her left horn, slowly running their hand back in a reassuring gesture. She leans into their touch for a moment before moving her hands from her face.

“…Are you sure?”

“One hundred percent.”

They haven’t given her any reason to doubt them. From just taking her all the way here to buying the house to…every day, spending time with her.

She exhales a long breath and turns to the doctor.

“Alright, but I am going to take Orlesian classes, I might as well with all this down time for the next five months.”

“That is an excellent plan,” Dr. Merev says and proceeds to clean Kass up and revert the room back to normalcy. Kass is given a prescription for her prenatal vitamins and sets up her next appointments before leaving with a cute little sonogram of her baby.

She can’t work but…she’ll make it work. She’ll cook, clean, keep the house, and it’s just because it seems fair. If Melarue is going to be working and bringing home the bacon, so to speak, then she can keep a nice home for them.

#my writing #kassaran #melarue #caserole #domestic slow burn here we gooooo #wall au #shokrakar

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brxknqce-blog · 7 years ago

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Rules

1. This blog is:

Semi-Selective: Everyone is welcome to follow, however I might be a bit choosy about whom to follow back. IM and inbox are openfor everyone though, so feel free to drop by.

Multiship: I’m a shipping whore and open to any sort of relationship, from platonic to romantic. If you’re interested in shipping, ask away. In the off-chance I say no to a ship, please DO NOT try and force a ship. In Canon Verses, romantic relationships will be exclusively with Akira Kurusu / Persona 5 Protagonist muses, both male and female. With the way I write him, I can’t really see this muse falling for anyone else but Akira in those verses. Regarding platonic relationships and AU Verses, however, consider this blog multiship. I headcanon my muse as homosexual, so romantic ship will occur only with other male muses (the only exception are fem!Akira muses).

Multiverse: Interactions with different muses tak place in a different verse, unless it’s agreed between muns to have a group RPs in which multiple muses interact with each other in the same verse, or the mun has a multimuse blog or various rp blogs and wants to have their muses interact with mine in the same verse. Same goes with shipping, each ship takes place in a different verse, so there’sno cheating involved.

OC-Friendly: OCs and Self-Insert muses are more than welcome! There’s an entire verse dedicated to Persona OCs, so if you want to join the party, feel free to, you’ll be welcomes with open arms!

Crossover-Friendly: Muses from diffeent fandoms are more than welcome here as well. I might take a little longer to follow back in case I’m not familiar with the fandom it comes from (see rule #20 for fandoms I’m familiar with). Like above, there is an entire verse for Crossover characters, especially if you have a Persona 5 AU verse.

NOT Ship-Exclusive: If we ship our muses together, you’re not obliged to be exclusive with me, especially given my muse being an AU. You’re free to ship with whoever you want to, and that includes other Goro muses. It’s fun to see how differently a muse interact with the same individual roleplayed by someone else.

2. I’m 21+ and open to RP smut, which will be tagged and put under ‘read more’ if necessary, as long as the other mun is at least 18+ and comfortable with it as well. At the same time, I’m more thanokay if you’re not comfortable with smut, just let me know.

3. If I say no to a ship, please don’t try and force said ship on me.

4. I’m not much comfortable with teenage/adult romantic relationships. There might be exception to this rule if our muses seem to have good chemistry, but by default my muse’s relationships with adult muses will be strictly platonic. Even in case it were to become a romantic ship, I’d rather the age different be no more than 10 years between our muses.

5. No godmodding (controlling my muse yourself) unless we both discussed the plot of the thread/RP via IM beforehand and you know how my muse would act in that specific situation.

6. No metagaming (using knowledge of someone’s muse that a character has no way of knowing) outside of dash commentaries.

7. Do not reblog my OOC posts, Rules, About, Verses, Headcanons, Tag Dump etc. or threads you’re not involved into. Seriously, it's annoying as hell, so do. Not. Do. It!

8. IM and inbox are open for anyone, be it for plotting, asking random questions IC or OOC or just chatting and getting to know each other. I love to plot and chat via IM/Discord and will not hesitate randomly popping into your IM/inbox. You have been duly warned ^^

9. Speaking of which, I’m okay with RPing via Tumblr IM and Discord as well. If we’re mutuals, feel free to ask for my Discord-ID. It’s easier to reach me there than on Tumblr.

10. I don’t care about reply length, just write whatever you feel like. Mun is perfectly okay with one-liners, para, multi-para and drabble-length replies, whichever floats your boat.

11. When you reply to a thread/RP, please tag it with this blog URL if you can so I can be notified when you reply, since she happened to have lost threads because either her or her RP partner missed each other’s reply.

12. Please let me know if you want to drop a thread or RP, and at the same time I will let you know if I want to drop a thread or RP.

13. Triggers will surely be present given the game rating, the muse and the setting of this blog and will be tagged accordingly as ‘tw:’ (ex. tw: blood). Trigger warnings will be tagged even if mentioned. If you have a specific trigger you’d like to have tagged, just ask away.

14. Speaking of triggers, I don’t really have any, although I get uncomfortable about topics like divorce, child abuse/neglect and domestic violence. They’re not triggers for me, but I’d be grateful if you could still tag them for me.Thank you in advance.

15. I’m also not really comfortable RPing angst. Hurt/comfort is okay and my go-to type of thread, but angst isn’t really my cup of tea. Given the blog’s contents, it might be present, but I’ll tend to keep it down to a minimun unless I really feel it and the thread calls for it.

16. I’m always happy to turn asks into threads, so feel free to let me know if you’d like to turn a specific ask into one.

17. This is not a spoiler-free blog, given it takes place after one of the game’s endings and reveals major endgame spoilers, and spoilers will be left untagged unless they’re in regard to another fandom. To avoid non-Persona spoilers, look for the rivers in the desert [spoilers] tag.

18. No hounding/pressuring for replies/answers. I won’t do the same with you and asks the same courtesy from you. If I haven’t replied for a while, you’re welcome to ask me via IM. Chances are I’m busy with real life (I’m an university student currently finishing my last batch of exams necessary to get my degree), my computer/phone don’t work, I need more time to come up with a proper reply or I’m working on my other RP blogs. If you don’t find me there, you’ll surely find me over at my personal blog, @delphine-le-dauphin.

19. I’m up to interacting with duplicates, so if you’re another Goro mun and want to interact, you’ll be welcomed with open arms. I love multiverse mayhem XD

20. Regarding crossovers, here’s some of the fandoms I’m into and know very/decently well:

Harry Potter

Pokemon (mainly games)

Other Persona games (including spin-offs such as Arena/Arena Ultimax and Dancing All Night)

Ace Attorney (the whole series, including Investigations, except for Phoenix Wright vs Professor Layton)

Fairy Tail

Naruto

Artemis Fowl

Danganronpa

Ouran High School Host Club

X-Men Movies

Marvel Cinematic Universe

Lollipop Chainsaw

Ace Attorney (this one I’m still getting acquainted to though)

21. I headcanon my muse as an abuse survivor that went through various forms of abuse (emotional, physical, sexual...) in his backstory, so be warned that there might be mentions of rape / sexual assault, child abuse / neglect and bullying, always tagged as explained in rule #13, but never explicit scenes, as I myself don’t like writing / RPing such scenes.

22. For more rules / psas, look for the oasis in a singer land [psa] tag.

#heart and mind [rules]

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thestylistcoop · 6 years ago

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Stylist Spotlight: Mary Arch

By Jessica Agulló

Mary Arch and I are contemporaries and we have both been prop stylists for more than 20 years. It’s weird but not altogether surprising to find out that we have been crossing paths for decades; literally passing one another through the doors of prop houses, accounts and studios. I have more than a few vivid, frustrating memories of visiting prop houses to find that the perfect prop that I wanted for a job was already tagged for ARCH. So it’s strange to have met her only recently through the stylist coop (thanks Celine!) …it almost feels as though we’ve been stalking each other all these years…only now to become fast friends and mutual admirers.

Mary looks and acts exactly how you would imagine a stylist should look and act (whatever that means) – casually elegant, dressed all in black, skinny jeans, oversized shirt, interesting jewelry, well worn Prada boots, and her long blonde hair carelessly mussed. She arrives at my place in a flurry of upbeat, frenetic energy, casting a sweeping gaze around and taking in every detail of my apartment…so lets get started.

JA: What is the first memory you have that made you aware of still life styling as a career, and what made you want to become one?

MA: First I did not know it was a career, I fell into it in a way but then I was hooked. I started in fashion, but then I realized I loved the set and prop department. In looking back I must thank my mom. She was training me as a prop stylist before either of us knew it. Being the youngest of 5 children my mom was very thrifty and we went to garage sales, thrift stores and antique stores. We would buy old furniture and change it - changing the knobs, the upholstery, repainting, you name it. That’s where I started a lot of my collections some of which I still have.

JA: What inspires your own sense of style?

MA: High end/ low end and good quality pieces are key. I especially love accessories: jewelry is my first love, then bags and shoes. Labels do not define my style, in fact I would rather have a great piece that atracks someone’s eye and they have to ask about it. I just love finding that one piece that makes your heart skip a beat, its movable, wearable art.

JA: You’ve raised your now teenage kids working as a freelance stylist. What do they think about Mom’s job?

MA: When they used to come to set with me they would think I had a really cool job, and even an easy job. They think all I do is play with cool things, paint, set up and talk to my friends and eat free catering. Cool job Mom!

The beauty of being a freelancer is that you can spend time with your kids when you need to, and you can work around their schedules. The hard part is it is always changing, good for a Gemini.

JA: Do they ask you for style guidance and tips?

MA: My daughter will ask me and I will tell her and she will do the opposite. She’s 16. But she’s hitting my accessories. She likes my jewelry and now we have the same shoe size. She says I wear too much black and would love to do my makeup but I rarely wear it. She now she wears black, is a thriftier and gives style advice to her friends. The apple did not fall far. My son, he’s 19, has his own style and thinks all black is boring, hence he loves color and he has a wicked T-shirt collection. I now hit his stuff.

JA: If you were not a stylist what sort of work would you be attracted to?

MA: That’s the million dollar question. I’d love to be a jeweler, who knows maybe someday I will. I also love animals and children. I had a great childhood so I would like to help those who are less fortunate and our planet. She needs our love and support, definitely doing more for her is in my future.

JA:Tell me about your property in PA and the role it has played and continues to play in your life.

MA: It’s my happy place, I’m blessed. It is a 100 year old farmhouse which we have had for 17 years, I literally fell in love at first sight. I saw its potential and it has been and will continue to be a work in progress, but a happy creative work in progress. The baby trees are now huge, there is now a beautiful man made 2 acre pond, and a few gardens. Nature is a magical healer and a grounding force and releases a lot of creative energy. Much needed when being a stylist, mom and living in Manhattan plus my friends love coming and shooting there, we have had a few fun ones. It has soul and energy. I’m grateful.

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potential-zine-blog · 8 years ago

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Lead Creators

Lead Creators are people who are helping the mod run the zine. If you can’t get a hold of the mod feel free to ask them your questions.

Mintless - Lead Editor

twitter : @FeedMintless

tumblr : feedthemintless

portfolio : http://feedthemintless.tumblr.com/

Err, hello ? I'm Mintless, and I am use to live under pressure so don't worry about giving me more work and less sleep. Beside that I am grateful for any person who give me food and fluff. Please listen to the mod, Nika, or else i will imaginary Slap you and give you a "you-deceive-me" stare.

Mebuki - Page Creator

My main socials are:

http://meteorysh.tumblr.com

http://twitter.com/Meteorysh

Hi! I'm Mebuki and I'm an artist. I love Keith more than everything in the entire galaxy. And also Shiro!! They're the lights of my life. All of my work can be viewed on my artblog, http://meteorysh.tumblr.com ~ Everything's properly tagged so you can easily browse, too. (e.g. tagged 'voltron', tagged 'sheith' etc). Looking forward to help saving the universe with this amazing team!!

Grayson/Gray - Lead Cosplayer

https://twitter.com/ghostyjpg

http://ghostyjpg.tumblr.com/

Hey there, my name is Grayson but I also go by Gray or Keith. I'm an

artist and cosplayer and will be your lead cosplayer for this zine!

You can check out my cosplays over on my instagram @ghostprincecosplay

if you're interested! I have a lot of free time and am probably the

most awkward Canadian you'll ever meet. I look forward to

participating and helping out in the zine!

Kat - Lead writer

Hi, thank you for the opportunity for a lead position!! I'm so excited for this zine and can't wait to see it come together.

My preferred socials are twitter.com/jedimasterkat7 and jedimasterkatwrites.tumblr.com

You can see all my work on Ao3 under the name jedimasterkat! Here's a link just in case: http://archiveofourown.org/users/jedimasterkat/works

And here's a little description for me (this was harder than I thought lol):

Hey cool cats, my name is Kat and I'm a writer! Voltron has single handedly saved and ruined my life. I love the whole Voltron team, but Keith and Lance make me cry on a daily basis. You can see my work on Ao3 under the name jedimasterkat, and I encourage you to check out the amazing work of the mod, Nika, and my fellow leads as well. Feel free to message me or talk to me, I'm the chillest of chill and love meeting more people!

Viperfish/Viper - Lead Artist

Tumblr - https://viiperfish.tumblr.com/

Twitter - https://twitter.com/Viiperfish

Artwork - https://viiperfish.tumblr.com/tagged/viperart

Hey! I’m Viper (they/them) and I’m an animation student from England! My hobbies include drawing monsters and demon boys as well as crying over fictional characters haha. As much as I love all of the Voltron characters, my favourite character is Pidge, with Lance being a close second!

The best place to contact me is through tumblr messenger/tumblr ask (but you can still contact me through my gmail or twitter!) I’m happy I can help and I look forward to working with you guys!

Sam/Aether - Page Creator

here are my socials:

twitter: aetherlogic

tumblr: aetherlogic

discord: aetherlogic

Ii post most of my doodles through twitter and only a select few pieces on my tumblr, but most of my stuff would be in my portfolio: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B1GfWM8hTySqQTM3ZDZ5dkszbjg

Hi! I'm Sam/aether and I'm really excited to be a lead creator for this zine. A little about me: I'm an artist who basically runs on no sleep and is stressed 24/7. I really enjoy participating in Voltron fan events, and I will actually throw myself off a cliff for (especially) Pidge, Coran, and my ships.

I'll do my best to make sure that everything runs smoothly and effectively! I'm an artist for the zine as well; I post my doodles on my twitter and some finished pieces on my tumblr.

Brii - Lead Editor

My works can all be found on Ao3 - archiveofourown.org/users/StygianLotus/works

Hey, my name is Brii (they/them), and I'm a writer. You can find my works on Ao3 under the name StygianLotus, but I also encourage you to check out the other amazing leads and the mod, Nika. Voltron dragged me back into fandoms (not that it's a bad thing), and my favorite character is Shiro, with Lance and Hunk not too far behind. Feel free to send me a message whenever!

Hannah - Page Creator

My work will be here (it will be soon, I will post the rest as soon as possible): https://www.wattpad.com/user/phoenixninja978

twitter is: https://twitter.com/hannahzgrace

main tumblr is: https://startled-seastar.tumblr.com/

second tumblr it is here: https://trouvaille-love.tumblr.com

Hi there! It's Hannah! I am an avid fandom nerd and figure skater (not a very good one, I believe), and I'm glad to help with this project! Reading is one of my favorite pastimes, and I would love to just sit on the couch and read all day. Realistically, though, I'm probably either stressing about where my life is going or distracting myself from that by watching VLD, attack on titan, or yuri!!! on ice. I'm awkward, my inbox is always open, and I'm excited to get started!

Kayt - Lead Writer

Socials @Sleeping4tNight on twitter and tumblr. Um... a self description? I like to proofread I guess. That's a thing...I'm not good at describing myself. I love being in fandom and participating in stuff because that's fun. I love music so I like making playlists and writing stuff. I'm pretty open to talking whenever. Oh dear, I promise I'm not as boring as I sound.

Ninna - Lead Writer

Twitter: https://twitter.com/annattata

Tumblr: https://ninnani.tumblr.com/

i all, I’m Ninna (she/they). I’m a creative writing major in Florida. I’ve been writing for most of my life, and I have two original short stories pending publication in my campus literary magazine.

I live and breath AU’s, I’m a huge multishipper, and I love Lance a perfectly healthy amount. I’m always available if you need to talk through a plot hole or need a quick beta read. I give really in depth critiques and constructive criticism, and I try to give the feedback that I would want to receive as a writer. I’m a big fan of comment sandwiches, I’ll tell you want works and what doesn’t and I’ll give you advice on what to do next. Don’t let the intimidate you though, I love, love, love encouraging other writers and helping them grow

The best way to contact me would be through discord and tumblr. Twitter works just as well, I just check it less often.

Cara - Lead Editor

Kay - Page Creator

Twitter: twitter.com/futuresounclear

Tumblr: fallenangels181.tumblr.com

Discord: DarkAngels181 #2821

YouTube: http://youtube.com/user/fallenangels181

Hello, the name’s Kay! I'm so happy to be a part of this zine! I am a writer and an AMV editor who is very invested in the Voltron and loves to see positivity for our beloved Paladins. I'm Shiro and Sheith trash, though I am a multishipper too. Please feel free to check out my channel or social media. I will respond as quickly as I can on twitter or Tumblr, so feel free to message me to just chat anytime! I look forward to working with everyone!

Jax - Lead Artist

Tumblr: flyingmintbunny32.tumblr.com

Instagram: instagram.com/jaxarts32/?r=sun1

My insta is also the best place to see my work as well

Ciao, Jax here and I'm one of the Lead Artists. I'm about as socially adept as Keith in real life but I tend to be easygoing online so feel free to chat with me. I do get distracted or off-topic easily but otherwise I'm pretty chill about most things, just respect me and I'll do the same with you. I'm also nonconforming so use whichever pronouns for me you'd like. Art wise I love drawing backgrounds and thighs mostly but I've definitely been trying to reach out more so if my art changes or looks different that's normal. Also I literally love all ships so if ya need to fangirl I'm your human.

Danu - Lead Artist

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/danuqq/

Tumblr: danuqq.tumblr.com

Art Tumblr: danuqqart.tumblr.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/danuqq?s=09

Hi, I'm Danu! I love cats and pastel things, I'm an artist but I'm still learning, so don't be afraid of sharing your WIPs with me, we're all friends here.

I'm gay for Allura and Pidge, but I love all my Voltron boys too .

If you want to contact me the best way of doing so is on Instagram or Tumblr, I don't really use Twitter but if you can't contact me in the first two socials go there, I'll try to check it once in a while.

Raven - Lead Artist

Tumblr: http://emptyfishtanks.tumblr.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/emptyfishtanks

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fishtanksart/?hl=en

Hello! I am Raven/Mikey and I go by They/them! I am a digital art and animation student, and have been seriously doing art for about 3 years. My current occupation is being a student and doing art commissions. My favorite Voltron character is a tie between Pidge and Keith. I love talking to new people, and anyone can feel free to message me at my social media!I am looking forward to working with everyone on the zine!

#vldzine #potentialzine #vld #voltron legendary defender

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