#fun fact: the brush i used in this is called dry ink :)

[magicicephoenix]

Can you do batim ink demon doing some terrors with #115 or #117? If you still doing these of course

Really love your art and fics by the way👉👈

oh he’s doing a terror alright

batim ink demon with #117 - power

and thank you so much!! :D not often my fics get acknowledged haha

[vodkassassin]

Can I hope for a little cucumber plane ficlet?? If it's eating me this much idk how much it's devouring u. No pressure tho

Dw my darling anon I gotcha back ;3

—

“You remind me of my husband.” Shen Qingqiu says one day, out of the blue, as he’s sipping his tea and watching Shang Qinghua do paperwork.

Shang Qinghua pauses. He lifts his brush up and away from the paper so that no excess ink drops and ruins all his work, and pin his bestie with a hard look.

“I’d hope so?” He says flatly, puzzled. “Because … we are married…. How many husbands do you got, bro?”

“I think the fact that we’re married and you still call me bro is grounds for a divorce,” Shen Qingqiu promptly replies, as usual. “No, I mean, in my last life. Back in… you know. Modern times.”

Shang Qinghua is quiet. Then, “You were… married before?”

“Yeah? I’m a total catch, you’re not special.” Shen Qingqiu scoffs, and then hurriedly adds, before Shang Qinghua has the chance to pull out the Devastating Broken-hearted Puppy Eyes — don’t give him that look. his husband had coined the term, not him — “Shut up, obviously you are or I wouldn’t have married you. But, yes. you’re my second husband. If we’re counting my past life. Which we are.”

“If we’re counting past lives, from before,” Shang Qinghua says slowly, setting aside his brush, “then you’re not my first husband either.”

There is a beat of silence.

“I think I shouldn’t be as surprised as I am to hear that, considering I married you myself here,” Shen Qingqiu says, after a long moment. “But, still. You?”

“What? I’m a catch,” Shang Qinghua defends mockingly, voice dry.

“I know that, shut up,” his husband smacks out at him absently with his fan, a thoughtful look overcoming his face as he stares across the room at the wall. “What was he like, then?”

A little awkwardly, Shang Qinghua shrugs. “Um. Well. You, I guess.”

Shen Qingqiu turns to look at him, eyebrow raised. “You really only have one type, don’t you?”

“You only have one type!” Shang Qinghua raises his hands and gestures air quotes with his fingers. “‘You remind me of my past husband.’ How can I remind you of someone I’m not like? You’re a hypocrite.”

“A hypocrite who is your type.” Shen Qingqiu points out. “What did he do?”

“Nothing, he was a spoiled rich trust fun baby and I had to teach him all about memes so he wouldn’t embarrass me in public. He didn’t know memes, bro, can you believe it? Lived under a rock before I saved him. At least you know about memes.”

“I’m glad I’m apparently a step up from your last marriage.” Shen Qingqiu says, dry as a desert.

“What did your husband do?”

Shen Qingqiu pats at his lips with the folded end of his fan. It’s a tiny fidget but it’s a cute as hell habit and Shang Qinghua loves watching him. “He was still going to college, when I died. Majoring in business and management. He did something on the side to make some extra cash because he refused to let me carry us with the money I got from my parents, but he’d never tell me what it was.”

“Oh.” Shang Qinghua says. He picks up his brush again, fully intending to return to the report he was marking over, when he stops. Sets the brush back down. “Wait.”

“Hm?” Shen Qingqiu blinks at him, head tilted. Adorable as hell. Shang Qinghua shakes his head slowly.

“Bro.” He says. “Husband. Love of my life, of my — What, might I ask, was your name? Back then?”

The slow and idle flapping of Shen Qingqiu’s fan slows to a stop. “What?”

“Just — Just humor me.”

“Okay,” his husband — his husband, wait wait wait, his??? Husband??? — says, slowly, like he thinks he’s stupid. “Shen Yuan.”

Shang Qinghua picks up his calligraphy brush and throws it across the room. It paints a long, thin black line down the wall. He picks up the ink stone and chucks it after it for good measure.

“Ummm, Airplane, what—?”

“Bitch!” He says, pointing a finger at his fucking husband accusingly. “We’re both stupid!”

“Um, slut? Don’t insult me without telling me why!”

“My name back then,” Shang Qinghua wails, tugging uselessly on his own bangs, “it was Shang Lei!”

Shen Qingqiu — Shen Goddamn Yuan — blinks. And then he splutters.

“Fucking what!” He shrieks.

“I married you,” Shang Qinghua groans, bending over to slam his face into his desk, and likely getting the ink he had painstakingly brushed over the report smeared all over his face, “twice!”

It takes a while, all afternoon and evening really, for the both of them to finally calm down. They’re still mindblown when they cuddle up in bed that night, but when Shen Yuan curls in to stick the frozen tip of his nose to Shang Qinghua’s neck like the icy bitch he is and always has been, he sighs.

“It’s gotta mean something, that in an entirely new universe we still ended up together without actually meaning to.” He says, and Shang Qinghua can feel the man’s smile against his skin as he wraps his arms around him. “Are we in a goddamn soulmate fanfic or something?”

“Aw, babe,” Shang Qinghua nuzzles downward and peppers his husband’s face with kisses. “That’s the sweetest thing you’ve ever said to me!”

“Don’t fucking tell anyone.”

“Nobody would believe me even if I did!”

“What’s that suppose to mean?!”

[fantastic-bby]

Drawings

Pairing: (F)Reader x Youngjae

Word count: 6.8k

Genre: Romance, soulmate AU!, kinda fluffy, Non-Idol!Youngjae, Art Major!Reader

Summary: Youngjae has lived his whole life communication with his soulmate through writing on his own skin. His soulmate, on the other hand, enjoys leaving sketches or drawings on her own skin whenever she’s bored. It’s only when their both working adults that they realise how helpful her drawings were...

Soulmate series: Jaebeom - Strings || Mark - Inked || Jackson - Bubbles || Jinyoung - Masked || BamBam - Footprints || Yugyeom - Pieces

Masterlist

He looked at the drawing of the cat on his arm, a giggle leaving his lips when he saw the tail starting to form. Youngjae thought it would be nice if he drew something back to the mysterious artist behind the drawing and snuck into his mum’s room, quietly stealing a sharpie from her desk before scurrying out. 

Youngjae sat himself at the coffee table and quickly drew a dog beside the cat with the word ‘friend?’ underneath it. He waited excitedly for a response and was ecstatic when he saw ‘friend!’ appear underneath the cat. He drew a shark above the dog, watching as the mysterious artist drew a dolphin beside his shark. 

Youngjae spent the next hour or so drawing with his newfound friend, animals quickly covering his arm and hand. He bit his lip as he admired the drawings that covered his arm. ‘Your drawings are cute!’ He scribbled onto his wrist. ‘Thank you!’ The response appeared at the spot right below his compliment. 

“Youngjae-ah, come help mummy with dinner.” His mum called as she walked into the living room, her eyes quickly widening when she saw the drawings that scattered his arm. 

“Mummy! I have a new friend!” Youngjae excitedly held his arm up to show her the drawings. She stared at him with her mouth agape as she tried to process it before letting out a soft chuckle and disappeared into her bedroom.

“Youngjae-ah, why did you use a sharpie? It’ll be difficult to wash off.” She smiled as she returned with a washcloth in hand, crouching down to inspect his drawings. “Do you know their name?” She asked as she gingerly inspected all of the animals. Youngjae shook his head in response. “One day, you’ll find out their name, and you’ll be able to meet them.” She explained as she gently wiped his arm. 

“I’ll be able to meet them?” Youngjae’s face lit up with excitement. His mum nodded, 

“They’ll be the only person in the world who will make you feel certain things. You’ll love to be around them and they’ll make you laugh harder than you ever have before.” She hummed out as she watched the drawings starting to fade slightly. Key word: slightly. Due to the fact that Youngjae had used a sharpie, these drawings wouldn’t disappear as easily. 

“Who are they?” He questioned as he watched her clean his arm as best as she could. 

“Your soulmate.”

»»————-　　————-««

Youngjae woke up to the sound of his alarm blaring, his face immediately contorting in annoyance. He slapped his hand onto his alarm clock and turned his alarm off before groggily sitting up. He rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand as he looked around his dark room. 

He forced himself out of bed and dragged himself into the bathroom to start getting ready for school. He stood in front of the mirror, his hair wet from his shower as he brushed his teeth. He felt a tickle on his arm and he looked down to see a message from his soulmate. 

Are you up?  

He felt his spirits immediately lift and he quickly rinsed his mouth, scrambling out of his room to find a washable marker.

Yeah, I am

He wrote the response underneath the message and smiled as he sat at the edge of his bed, not bothered by the fact that his hair was still wet, water sliding down his hair and dripping onto his bed. He was too focused on his conversation with his soulmate. 

Have you showered?

Youngjae watched as the question formed on his skin, the smile never leaving his face. 

Just got out. I have to get dressed for school :( 

He sat disappointed when a response didn’t come even after five minutes and he let out a sigh, finally deciding to just dry off his hair and finish getting ready for school. 

“Youngjae-ah, don’t forget your lunch.” His mum reminded him when she saw him walking down the stairs, a paper bag in her hands. Youngjae smiled as he took the bag from her graciously, 

“Thanks, mum.” He hummed out as he opened the bag to look inside. 

“We had leftover chicken from last night, so I made kimchi fried rice to go with it.” She spoke as she wiped down the dinner table. “Have fun at school and don’t spend too much time drawing on your arm.” She playfully warned as he quickly pressed a kiss to her cheek before leaving the house, waving as he bid her goodbye. 

Youngjae stepped through the gate of his house and made his way to his school. The tingle in his hand made him stop in his tracks and lift the sleeve to his blazer to see a long awaited response from his soulmate. 

Sorry, my mum forced me to get ready :( 

He quickly pulled the pen from the pocket of his blazer and wrote down a reply as he started walking slowly.

It’s okay! I’m actually on the way to school now. 

He quickly scribbled the response, trying not to trip on his feet while he was walking. He caught himself smiling like an idiot whenever he was writing to his soulmate; which he was doing right now. 

Youngjae sat at the bus stop and continued his messy conversation, watching as responses and questions started to scribble themselves onto his arm. 

Have you eaten breakfast? 

Are you paying attention to your arm or the street? >:c

Please don't trip

Youngjae bit his lip to stop himself from smiling any further. He felt like he had a genuine connection with this person even though he has yet to meet them. He really wanted to meet them. 

He climbed onto the bus, lucky enough that there was one empty seat left. He sat down and quickly got back to his arm. 

How do you get to school? 

Youngjae questioned his soulmate, the bumpiness of the bus making it difficult to write clean sentences. 

It's not far from my house, so I walk. 

The answer scribbled itself into his arm. Youngjae was about to think of another response when he felt a pair of eyes on him. He looked up to his side to see the elderly woman sitting beside him kindly smiling at him.

"I remember when I used to do that with my husband." She chuckled when she realised she had accidentally caught his attention. 

"Oh," Youngjae looked back down on his arm to see that he had almost covered his entire arm in writing. "I still haven't met them yet, so this is the only way we can communicate." He politely told the woman. 

"When I was a child, my mother used to scold me whenever I wrote on my arm. But I didn't mind because I got to talk to my soulmate." She let out a content sigh as she spoke to him. "Hold onto your soulmate, boy. No one else will be able to understand you as well as your soulmate." 

Her advice made Youngjae's eyes widen momentarily as he was a bit taken aback by her words. He struggled to find a response and decided to just politely thank the woman before turning his attention back to his arm. 

Have you reached school? 

Youngjae wrote on one of the last few empty spots on his left arm. 

I just got to class. I'll have to wash these off soon :(

Their response made him frown, but his spirits lifted when he realised he would have space for more conversation with them. 

It’s okay, we can fill our arms up again soon! :D

He stopped receiving responses just as the bus stopped at his stop, the responses from his soulmate slowly melting away as if they were being washed. Youngjae took this as his cue to quickly climb off the bus and walk his way into the school building, a few of his schoolmates climbing off as well. 

Youngjae lifted the sleeve of his blazer to see if there were any new messages, but to his dismay, there were none. He stepped into his class, sitting at his desk beside his very quiet desk mate and stared at the board as he waited for class to start. 

Halfway through the day, he felt a tingle on the back of his hand. He looked down and was surprised that the tingle was not from a sentence; it was a drawing of bones. His eyes widened as he watched the drawing of a skeleton hand slowly form on the back of his hand, the drawing becoming more and more detailed the further his soulmate went. 

By the time the class ended, there was a detailed skeleton drawing on the back of his hand that left him in awe. He quickly pulled his pen out of his pencil box and wrote a message on his inner wrist, 

Woah! What got you so bored? 

He meant it to be a joke. No one would spend the whole class drawing a skeleton hand on themselves when they weren’t bored. 

Algebra :/

His soulmate responded under his question. 

I’ve always wanted to tell you my name, but every time I write my name down, the ink disappears :c

Youngjae bit his lip as he stared at the message. He never actually tried writing his name down to his mystery friend; now would be the time to try. He wrote his full name down, he gasped and moved back as he watched the ink fade away into nothingness. 

Wow, I never realised that. That’s crazy

He quickly replied to his soulmate. 

“Youngjae, are you not going for lunch?” His teacher asked when he saw Youngjae sitting at his desk. Youngjae looked up to look at his teacher before turning around to realise he was the only student still sitting in the class. 

“Uh, I am. Thank you, sir.” He stood up from his seat and gave his teacher a bow before leaving the classroom. He looked down at his hand, seeing his soulmate starting to tell him about how boring their maths class was. 

I’m so bad at this, I just want to drop maths ㅠㅠ 

Youngjae chuckled when he read the message, his attention solely to his arm. He wanted to be there with his soulmate, holding them and helping them throughout class to make sure they were okay. He wanted to hug them. He wanted to be with them. He wanted his soulmate. 

»»————-　　————-««

Youngjae stepped into the lecture hall that was already mostly full. Most of the students didn’t bother looking up when they heard the door open but the one that did immediately waved him over. Youngjae smiled when he saw his classmate and quickly made his way over to the seat he was sitting at.

“Where were you? I went back to our dorm and you weren’t there.” Jaebeom pointed out when Youngjae took the seat beside him. 

“I was hungry so I went to the vending machine.” Youngjae shrugged as he offered the bag of half eaten chips to his friend. 

“No thanks.” He shook his head, “I had a heavy lunch.” He leaned back in his chair and raised his arms above his head to stretch. Youngjae had met Jaebeom when he started college. 

The two were taking different courses in the same field and ended up being roommates. While Jaebeom was majoring in film studies, he still had a few classes that would be combined with the performing arts majors; meaning Youngjae would have a few classes with his roommate. 

Their shared classes were one of the main factors that brought them together. Before, they were just roommates that would wave whenever they would see each other. Over time, they became closer whenever they needed help with their classes and turned to each other. 

“Youngjae, your arm.” Jaebeom pointed out. Youngjae looked down at where his older friend was pointing at and a smile crept onto his face when he saw a set of flowers starting to appear near his elbow. He leaned back into his chair as he watched the drawing grow. “Your soulmate’s quite the artist, huh?” Jaebeom pointed out as he leaned closer to see the flowers more clearly. 

“They are. Ever since we were in high school, they would draw on their hands whenever they were bored. They told me they’re an art major now.” Youngjae gushed. He absolutely admired his soulmate’s art. He would always see it appear on his skin whenever he knew they were most likely bored or just wanted to show him something. 

"They're really talented. I can't even draw a stickman properly." He joked as he saw how detailed the flowers were becoming. 

"They only use pens when they're drawing on themselves and sometimes they use coloured pens. Look!" He practically shoved his arm into Jaebeom's face when orange started to fill into the petals. "It's so pretty!" He squealed excitedly. 

"Woah," Jaebeom's eyes widened when he saw the tiniest of details being filled in with what they could only assume was an actual detail pen. "They really pay attention to detail." 

"How could they not? They're an art major." Youngjae proudly said, grinning from ear to ear. The professor walked into the classroom but Jaebeom knew that whenever Youngjae had started a conversation with his soulmate, it wouldn't stop anytime soon. 

As expected, Youngjae paid barely any attention to the lesson as he started to talk with his soulmate. Of course, they scolded him for not paying attention, but they soon got caught up with their daily talks as well. It was only when their class was dismissed that Youngjae realised he hadn’t paid attention at all and turned to Jaebeom with pleading eyes. 

“Okay, only because your soulmate’s really good at art.” Jaebeom rolled his eyes playfully as they left the class, Jaebeom promising to share his notes with Youngjae. “What did you guys talk about this time?” He asked as they walked side-by-side in the hallways of their university. 

“They’re gonna become an art teacher when they’re done with college.” Youngjae hummed out as he looked at the conversation that scribbled his arm. 

“Well, they have the skills for it.” Jaebeom pointed out when he saw a new drawing on the back of his hand. A tingle made Jaebeom lift his hand up to look at it, “I gotta go. Mark wants to meet up.” He turned to Youngjae who nodded, 

“How are you guys?” He asked as they stopped at the entrance to the performing building. 

“Like how you’d expect best friend soulmates would be. I can never stay angry at that guy and it’s weird because he does the dumbest things sometimes.” He snorted as he patted Youngjae’s back and the two parted their ways. Youngjae, on the other hand, didn’t have any other classes for the day and decided to get back to his dorm to finish a few assignments. 

Need any help with anything?

His soulmate’s question appeared on his right hand, the writing messy. 

Why are you writing with your left hand?

Youngjae questioned them as he sat at his desk and slumped his backpack onto the ground beside him. 

Running out of space on the left. Thought I’d try this instead. 

He let out a laugh when he read that. 

Maybe try writing on your foot so I can understand your handwriting properly :| 

>:( Do you not like my handwriting?? >:(((

When you write with your left hand, it’s hard to understand ㅠㅠ

How about I don’t write to you at all? >:(

NO WAIT I’M SORRY

That’s what I thought ;)

Youngjae let out another laugh, louder than the one before. 

I have to go, I have class :c 

His shoulders immediately slumped forward. He didn’t want them to go. He wanted to talk with them more, but when he saw the sticky notes on his wall that were reminding him about his assignments, he knew it was good that they had class. 

Youngjae pulled his notes and laptop out of his bag, and finally began his assignments.

»»————-　　————-««

“Are you excited?” Jaebeom asked, barely able to contain his own nerves as his knee was bouncing so fast, Youngjae was sure his leg would be able to run off on its own. 

“Of course I am. We’re finally graduating.” He nodded nervously, turning down to his hand to see a message his soulmate had written for him. 

I’m so proud that you’re finally graduating! You worked so hard, I know you did! <3

Youngjae felt his heart flutter when he read it. He had spent years working so hard and he was finally graduating. He knew his soulmate was proud, he could feel it. They had been there for him throughout all those years of blood, sweat and tears, and he felt like he honestly couldn’t have done it without them. He lifted the sleeve of his graduation robe when he felt the tingle move higher up his arm.

Don't forget me when you're famous >:((

His soulmate jokes. He let out a nervous chuckle when he read that. He didn't have any pens around him to reply and he felt like even if he did, he wouldn’t be able to think of a response from how nervous his graduation was making him. The anxious students watched as their chancellor stood on stage to give his speech as well as hand out the graduation scrolls, names being called one-by-one.

Youngjae and Jaebeom grew even more anxious when the creative arts department head was called onto stage to hand out the scrolls. 

“Dude, what if I trip?” Jaebeom turned to Youngjae with his brown eyes filled with panic. 

“You won’t trip. If you do, improvise.” Youngjae shrugged, raising his hand to give his roommate a reassuring pat on the back. 

“Improvise?” He raised an eyebrow. 

“I don’t know, hyung. Just… B-Boy, or something.” His shoulders raise to give him another shrug, “Spin around on your arm, do the worm, crawl on the ground like you’re from The Exorcist.” Jaebeom stared at him with his mouth agape and eyes holding so much disbelief and betrayal. 

“You’re supposed to help me, dude.” He grumbled as he turned back to the stage. 

“Graduating with a degree in Film: Im Jaebeom.” The chancellor announced. Jaebeom stood up from his chair and Youngjae watched as he shakily made his way up the stage. 

“Please, don’t trip. Please, don’t trip. Please.” Youngjae chanted softly as he watched his friend. He let out a breath of relief when Jaebeom managed to receive his scroll, stop to take pictures and safely walked off of the stage without completely embarrassing himself in front of the entire hall. 

Jaebeom returned to his seat, letting out a long breath of relief. 

“Dude! I graduated!” He excitedly turned to Youngjae and showed him the scroll that held his graduation certificate. Youngjae shared his excitement, watching as a sentence wrote itself onto Jaebeom’s wrist. He turned his attention down and read it out loud, “‘Proud of you, bro. Look behind you.’” The two turned around to see Mark waving from his seat a few rows back.

Mark graduated a year before but came back to the university to watch his best friend graduate. His face was beaming with pride as he gave Jaebeom a thumbs up and punched his fist up into the air. Youngjae watched as he did before looking down at his own wrist. 

I wish I could be with you 

His heart ached. He wanted his own soulmate to be there with him. He knew very well that this wasn’t the type of soulmate Mark was to Jaebeom. This soulmate held his heart in their hands, and he hates that they couldn’t watch him graduate. He also hates that he couldn’t be with them when they would graduate. 

“Graduating with a degree in Performing Arts: Choi Youngjae!” The chancellor announced. Youngjae made his way over to the stage, heart pounding, knees shaking and his palms sweating so profusely, he could’ve filled a pool. He stood in front of the creative arts head who bowed when he did and handed him the scroll, 

“Congratulations, Youngjae.”  The professor smiled, letting the photographers and Youngjae’s family take pictures before he walked off the stage. His heart was still pounding in his chest when he made his way back over to his seat. He stared blankly ahead for a moment before it hit him. 

“Oh my god, I graduated!” He snapped his head over to Jaebeom with the widest smile on his face. 

“Yeah! Youngjae, we’re graduated!” Jaebeom shared the excitement, the two looking like a pair of dogs that heard the word ‘walk’. 

“Congratulations, you two!” Mark’s voice spoke up from beside Youngjae. They both turned to the older man and high fived him. 

“Mark hyung, we’re graduated!” Jaebeom excitedly repeated. 

“I know! It’s exhilarating going up there, isn’t it?” He chuckled. “When the ceremony is over, let me buy you two dinner.” He offered. Youngjae looked down at his hand, seeing another message scribbled by his soulmate. 

Congratulations! Now that you’re graduated, you don’t have to cry all the time anymore ;) I’m joking. In all seriousness, I’m devastated that I can’t be with you, but I am so proud that you pushed through all of those hard nights. I know how hard you worked, I know how much you want to become a vocal coach, and I’m so glad that you’re one step closer to your dream!! <3

His heart melted, but it had also never ached so much. Youngjae wondered how much longer it would be before the two could finally cross paths and be with each other. He wondered how many more days he had to wait before he could finally hold them in his arms. 

»»————-　　————-««

“Okay, class. Open up your textbooks.” Youngjae ordered, his voice echoing off of the walls of the lecture hall. He watched as the students opened up their books obediently. “Now, throw that shit out.” The students snapped their heads up in surprise, all of their attention on him. “What do you use when you sing?” He questioned. All of their hands raised into the sky and he pointed at a random student. 

“Your voice.” The girl muttered out. 

“Correct.” He nodded and turned to the whiteboard, “You don’t learn from books. If you want to sing, you have to learn through experience. Not a book,” He lifted the textbook that was on his desk, waving it around, “Especially not a book this thick.” He snorted as he put it back on his desk. 

Youngjae sat himself on the edge of his table and looked at his class, “So, who wants to hear a song I wrote about my dog, Coco?”

»»————-　　————-««

“Youngjae,” A knock on the door to the lecture hall followed by the voice made Youngjae turn around to see Jaebeom peeking his head into the empty hall, a cheeky smile on his face. 

“JB hyung? What are you doing here?” Youngjae asked as he picked up the rest of his stuff and made his way over to the door. 

“I thought I’d pay you a visit. I haven’t properly seen you since you started working here.” He shrugged and moved aside to let Youngjae step out of the hall. 

"You're just in time. This was my last class for today , so we can hang out for a bit before I have to start marking assignments." The two of them walked down the hallway, suddenly being hit with a wave of nostalgia. "This feels like every time we had class together." Youngjae chuckles, missing the times before when the two of them were studying. 

"Yeah, it does." Jaebeom chuckled as well. "Never thought we'd be walking through these halls again to be honest." He laughed, reminiscent of the years spent there. The times they would walk the halls together either heading to the same lecture hall or to part ways at the stairs echoing through his mind as a memory. 

"I honestly wasn't even aiming to work here. I thought that maybe I would end up working at a music academy." Youngjae stated as they left the building. "What are you up to nowadays, hyung?" He turned his head to look at Jaebeom. 

"Well, here and there. You know how film directing can be." Jaebeom's shoulders raise and drop in a shrug, "Sometimes there's work, sometimes the script just seems so absurd I'm worried the writer will get bullied for it." He let out a sigh. 

He didn't like turning down scripts and ideas, and even if the idea was appealing to him, he was worried he wasn't a good enough director to bring the script to life. 

"Hey, we just started working around a year ago. It'll get better soon." He reassured him. "For what it's worth, I think you're an amazing director, hyung. The films that you have directed turned out amazing. Especially those short films we used to work on together in college." He hummed out as they strolled together along the pavement of the university. 

"You think so?" Jaebeom glanced over at Youngjae, unsure of whether or not he was being serious or whether he was simply being reassuring . 

"I know so." Youngjae nods certainly. "Just let me know if you need a singer. This kid in my class - my God, he is so talented." He laughed as he gushed about his students. 

Jaebeom listened intently, enjoying that they had never fallen out of touch even after they began working. The smile on his face never faltered. He hadn’t been able to spend proper time with Youngjae ever since they both started working. Unfortunately for the two, whenever Jaebeom was free, Youngjae had assignments to evaluate. Whenever Youngjae was free, Jaebeom had a film to direct. 

They walked through the open area of the university. It mostly looked the same as it did many years ago, but it felt weird for the two of them to walk down the path together as working adults rather than students. 

“There’s this one girl in one of my classes, she’s one of the music majors, but she’s so bitchy to the other students. It makes me feel bad for them since most of them are either as talented or, dare I say, more talented.” Youngjae sighed. 

“Just fail her, dude. She’ll get the message.” Jaebeom suggested with a shrug. 

“No, hyung. That’s not fair.” He shook his head and frowned at the older man. Youngjae didn’t like purposefully failing his students. It didn’t feel fair. He actually tried his hardest to make sure they would pass. 

“What’s her work usually like? Is it good?” He questioned. Youngjae thought about it before shrugging, 

“It’s…average I guess. She isn’t part of the top 5 in her class.” 

“Then, lower her grades just a little more. Show her that if she focuses on her work rather than putting the other students down, her grades will go up.” Jaebeom explained. Youngjae glanced over at him as he took in his advice. 

“I guess it wouldn’t hurt just to lower her grades a bit.” He nodded. They continued to walk until they reached the fountain in the front. “Oh, that’s her.” Youngjae gestured towards one of the girls amidst two others, sitting together at the bench in front of the fountain. 

“Well, she looks bitchy.” Jaebeom pointed out when he saw the way she tripped one of the other students as he walked past her. 

“She’s a lot to handle. She always wears those really short skirts to classes with male lecturers and it freaks me out.” Youngjae scrunched his face up in disgust. 

“For grades or…. Is she just kinda like that?” He questioned as they tried to steer clear of her path. 

“According to one of the students in my class, it’s for grades.” He stated. 

“Mr Youngjae!” 

“Oh god.” Youngjae froze when he heard her voice calling him. He reluctantly turned around to face her as she came up to him, the smell of her nose burning perfume wafting over the two as she stood in front of Youngjae. “Hey, Maya.” He suppressed his sigh as he greeted her. 

“Can I ask you about that assignment on music genres?” She batted her eyelashes at him. 

“Uhh, sure. Do you have any problems with it?” He questioned. 

“Are we allowed to write about any artists?” She asked. Youngjae nodded. “Are there any specific genres we shouldn’t write about?”

“Not really. It’s up to you. I mentioned this in class.” He pointed out. 

“I know, I just wasn’t paying attention to what you were saying.” Her voice lowered as she took a step closer to him. “You should wear this jacket more often. It makes your arms look nice, sir.” She whispered, causing Youngjae to recoil in disgust and take a step back. 

“Yeah, uhm, thanks for that, I guess?” He awkwardly muttered out. He quickly turned around to Jaebeom and with the urgent look in Youngjae’s eyes, he knew exactly what to do. 

“Jagiya~ We’re going to be late.” He cooed as he snaked his arm around Youngjae’s and gently tugged him. 

“Y-Yeah, sorry Maya. I’m a bit busy right now. If you have any more issues, just email me.” He cleared his throat and turned around, the two of them quickly walking away from her. Jaebeom kept his arm linked with Youngjae, 

“Wait until she can’t see us anymore.” He whispered to Youngjae. “Okay.” He pulled his arm away from him once they were out of her line of sight. 

“Oh my god, hyung, that was so weird, but thank you.” Youngjae let out a sigh of relief. “Did you see the look on her face?” He laughed. 

“She looked so defeated.” Jaebeom chuckled. 

“As fun as that was, never do that again.” He snorted. 

“Why not? It worked, didn’t it?” He raised an eyebrow as he hugged Youngjae’s arm, “Jagiyaa~ why don’t you like me?” Jaebeom whined out with a pout on his lips while Youngjae laughed as he tried to pull his arm out of his grip, resorting to taking his jacket off and pulling away. “Woah, you got a tattoo?” Jaebeom questioned, his eyes going wide when he saw the geometric peony design on Youngjae’s forearm. 

Youngjae looked down, realising that he had almost completely forgotten that he had actually gotten the flower design tattooed the year before.

“Oh, yeah, I did.” He hummed out as he extended his arm to let Jaebeom get a closer look at it. “My soulmate drew it on their arm. I thought it would be nice to get it tattooed, then it wouldn’t go away whenever they had to wash it off.” He smiled slightly as he looked at it. 

“Still haven’t met them yet, huh?” Jaebeom asked. 

“Not yet.” Youngjae sighed as he took his jacket from Jaebeom. “I don’t even know their gender. They’ve never seemed to try.” 

“Have you guys talked recently?” He questioned but Youngjae shook his head. 

“They’ve been really busy in the past few weeks.” He muttered out. “The last time we talked they said they have a lot of art projects that need to be done before the month’s over. I’ve been leaving little encouraging messages on my arms but I haven’t gotten much of a response.” He pursed his lips. 

“Give it time, they’ll respond soon.” Jaebeom reassured him. 

“I’ve been looking through art galleries if maybe I could find any kind of art that was similar to theirs, but I haven’t been able to find anything.” Youngjae let out another sigh. 

“There’s an art gallery happening this weekend in town. You wanna check it out? We can meet at the train station or something.” He suggested. 

“Sure. I don’t think I have much going on this weekend.” He nodded as he pulled his phone out to check his schedule, “Okay, I have nothing going on this weekend.” He clarified. 

“Great, okay, so I’ll meet you at the train station on Saturday.” 

“Sounds good.”

»»————-　　————-««

“Alright, so…” Jaebeom hummed out, his eyes stuck to the leaflet he had picked up right before they stepped into the exhibition building. “The art is by different artists. Their names are written beside the art.” He turned away to look at Youngjae, “Any one of these could be by your soulmate, you ready to go in?” He questioned. 

“Yeah, I’ve been waiting for them my entire life and this is the third art gallery I’ve been to.” Youngjae nodded. The two stepped into the exhibition, their eyes widening when they saw the art that was displayed. “Holy shit, this is the best gallery I’ve been to.” He muttered out in awe as they went further into the exhibition. The array of paintings and different techniques used made the hall they walked into seem almost magical. 

“Check this out.” Jaebeom spoke up as he stopped in front of a wire sculpture. . 

“Is that a bird cage?” Youngjae questioned as he tilted his head to try and understand what he was looking at. 

“Yeah, it is.” He hummed out after he read the description sitting beside it. 

“I’m gonna keep walking around.” Youngjae hummed out as he walked away from Jaebeom and started to walk deeper into the building, the different types of art seeming to engulf him as he did. The sound of his footsteps against the wooden floor echoed throughout the mostly empty hall, his eyes pleased with the sight of all of the paintings and sculptures that almost seemed to have life as he walked past them. 

His eyes scanned over the paintings before stopping at a particular one. His eyes moved over the way the flower was painted, the way the colours blended together and how the design seemed was obviously way more intricate than it seemed. 

“Hyung.” Youngjae called when he turned to see Jaebeom slowly catching up with him. His head turned when he heard Youngjae’s voice and he picked up his pace. “Don’t they look the same?” Youngjae questioned as he lifted his forearm to compare the two flower designs. Jaebeom took a look at the painting before averting his gaze to Youngjae’s arm. 

“A little bit.” He hummed in agreement before stepping closer to the painting to read the description. “It says here the artist behind the painting was inspired by a connection between her and her soulmate.”

“Her?” Youngjae questioned as he took a step to read the description as well. 

“Yeah.” Jaebeom nodded as he turned to Youngjae who had a finger on his lip as he thought about it. He looked down at the tattoo on his arm before turning back up the older male, 

“Does it say her name?”

“It doesn’t say her name. Just the description. Oh wait - this is a nickname.” He pointed out. Youngjae moved closer to read the name. 

“Peony Girl?” He read out the name but it came out as more of a question. “Do you still have that leaflet?” He turned to Jaebeom who nodded and pulled the folded paper out of his pocket. He unfolded it and opened it up, 

“Ah, here she is. There’s no pictures of her, just a picture of a flower.” He held up the leaflet to allow Youngjae to see it as well. “Says here she barely ever shows her face in stuff like this. She only puts drawings of flowers in the place she puts pictures down and she barely uses her real name.” 

“Does it have her real name?” Youngjae asked as he moved closer to read the description of this mysterious Peony Girl. 

“Nope, but it does have her Instagram and her Twitter.” Jaebeom pointed to the handles that were written underneath her description. Youngjae pulled his phone out of the pocket of his jeans and searched up her handles, her Instagram showing up almost immediately when he did. 

“This is her.” He scrolled through her posts, most of them flower related with a few of different more abstract drawings and paintings scattered throughout her feed. 

“Do they look similar to what your soulmate used to draw on their arm?” Jaebeom asked as he turned to look at Youngjae.

“Not really - wait.” He was about to shake his head when his finger stopped scrolling. He pressed on one of her posts and his breath hitched in his throat. It was exactly the same as his tattoo. “Hyung, look.” He muttered out and angled himself to let Jaebeom have a look at his phone. 

“That looks exactly like yours.” He gasped out and zoomed into the picture. “Youngjae, it’s the same exact design. Read the description.” He pushed the phone into his face. 

“‘Made a geometric peony design that my soulmate ended up getting it tattooed. I have yet to meet them and see how the tattoo turned out, but I hope it turned out well!’ Oh my god, I think this is them.” Youngjae could feel his heart starting to beat faster the more he scrolled through Peony Girl’s Instagram. 

The more posts he saw, the more he realised how familiar her art style was. From the very first few of her posts, to the more recent ones, he recognised many of them from the flowers his soulmate would draw on their arms whenever they had extra time or were bored. So many reminded him of his time in school, his time in college, his time during training. 

“Youngjae, I think we found your soulmate.” Jaebeom muttered out as he scrolled through Peony Girl’s Instagram on his own phone. 

“Can we contact her?” Youngjae asked as he turned to Jaebeom. 

“Send her a message, I guess.” He shrugged, not knowing how to approach the situation. Youngjae’s finger hovered over her DM, unsure if he should just message her out of nowhere or not. Just as he was about to send her a message, a voice called out from behind the two.

“Choi Youngjae.” The voice softly called out. Youngjae and Jaebeom whipped their heads around and Jaebeom’s face contorted in confusion when he saw you standing quite a distance away from them, your eyes fixated on Youngjae. The name that slipped past your lips was a name you didn’t know yet it felt so familiar when it rolled off of your tongue. 

Youngjae stared at you for a moment, suddenly forgetting how to breathe as he stared at you. The name echoed in his head as he stared at you. 

“(Y/n).” The name left his lips before he could even wonder who the name belonged to. It was when your name left his lips that Jaebeom realised exactly who you were and he took a few steps back as you and Youngjae took slow steps towards each other, both with pounding hearts, both with clammy palms. 

The bag that was resting on your shoulder dropped when Youngjae wrapped his arms around you and pulled you into a body crushing hug, holding you as though he was scared you would disappear. 

“I-I’ve been waiting for you for so long.” Youngjae breathed out shakily in your ear, his grip around you tightening. 

“I have too.” You whispered, your eyes closed as you relished in the feeling of finally being in his arms, breathing in his scent for the first time; the scent you didn’t even know you had been waiting for your entire life. Youngjae finally pulled away after what felt like minutes of just holding you, his face immediately moving to cup your face, 

“(Y/n): that’s the name that kept fading away from your arm whenever you’d write it down.” He breathed out with a smile on his face, his bottom lip caught between his teeth as he took in your features. 

“It is. I’ve been trying for so long. I’ve been trying to look for you for so many years.” You nodded happily, the smile on your face growing the more you took in the colour of his eyes. 

“What are you doing here? I didn’t think you’d come to an exhibition with your own art.” Youngjae questioned as his hands dropped to take your hands instead, his thumb gently running over your knuckles but his eyes never leaving your face. 

“I like to come here to see if anyone looks at my art. It’s nice to see people stop when they see my flowers.” You hummed out as you turned your attention to the flower painting on the wall. “I actually chose this because I was hoping that maybe you would come to exhibitions to look for me.” You explained, a blush creeping onto your cheeks as you realised how cheesy it sounded. 

“I’m glad you did.” He reassured you with a wide smile on his face, his hand squeezing yours. “Oh! My tattoo.” He lifted his arm to show you the design on his arm. “Your drawings did end up bringing us together.” He let out a soft giggle as he saw the way you traced the tattoo, your fingers ever so gingerly grazing his skin with a soft hum leaving your lips.

“Yeah, they did.”

[alindae-anne]

What Makes a Book?

I want to take a break from my novel and dive into a history lesson of books themselves. Why? Well first of all, I will be honest, this blog is for an assignment. But also because the way books have evolved over the last 5,000+ years is fascinating!

Of course no one ever really thinks about THE book, just the fact that the story within its pages--the mystery, the romance, whatever they happen to be enjoying--is a great read (or maybe not so great), but have they ever wondered what materials the book is made from? Who invented it? How the book has become one of the most common and most used items of all time?

No. Of course they didn't wonder any of those things. And if they did, they probably didn't take the time to research any of these burning questions, either.

How great, then, that I wrote this post?! Today is your lucky day! (Also, it is a good thing that Keith Houston, author of Shady Characters, decided to write a whole book about it (1).) I'm going to use the pages of a classic tale to explain some cool things you probably never noticed while reading a book before.

Gulliver’s Travels was originally published in London in 1726 by Benjamin Motte. The author, Jonathan Swift, used it to satirize London society and culture, poking holes at the social hierarchies and systems, basically making out everyone living in the 18th century to be fools--but mostly the wealthy and those who were obsessed with scientific progression (2). If you have not read it, I highly encourage adding it to your reading list, or at the very least there is a 2010 movie, featuring Jack Black as Gulliver, that you could watch. (It’s Jack Black, okay?)

This 2 page spread of Gulliver's Travels pictured above is actually found in The Franklin Library edition from Franklin Center, Pennsylvania, published in 1979. This is the first printing of this edition, and its pages, the way it is printed, and the way it is bound and presented, are all features of the modern 20-21st century book, plus some extra bells and whistles. The most interesting qualities come from the publishers themselves who specifically design their books to be very snazzy--meant for collectors’ editions! They include different kinds of leather binding, exclusive illustrations, and may be signed or part of a particular series specific to a certain author or genre (3). This makes the books published here very valuable and sought after.

Gulliver’s Travels is hardcover. Specifically, “fine leather in boards.” This means the spine and front and back boards (or cover) of the book are bound in leather. The leather is fine and and delicate and able to be decorated and engraved upon.4 Above you can see how fancy it looks with the gilt gold engravements. Even its pages are gilt!

This picture shows more clearly the binding, and of course the spine, which is “hubbed,” or ridged, for added texture.

At this point you may have notice that this version is much different than the original published in 1726. That is because over time, the materials involved in making books have changed slightly or the processes have become more efficient or cost worthy, etc. Either way, the anatomy of the book has not wavered. Keith Houston has dissected the book into certain components and we can see them in each book we read:

I have attempted to label it as best as I can, so hopefully you can follow along:

Chapter Number

a) this seems to be a description, more or less of the chapter, or the Chapter Title. b) “A Voyage to Lilliput” seems much more title-like to me, although this is technically called the “Recto Running Head.” The recto running head is a condensed or abbreviated chapter title, repeating on every right-side page to the end of the chapter.

Drop Cap. This would be the first letter of the first word of a chapter, which is usually exaggerated or embellished in some way.

Opener Text

Head Margin - the space between the top of the page and text

Foot Margin - the space between the bottom of the page and text

Folio - page number

It has taken quite a while for books to become so sophisticated. Because it was published in 1726, Gulliver's Travels is technically what you could call "modern" in terms of how long ago books began their journey to what they are today, but even between 1726 and 1979 the quality has improved. This edition published by Franklin Library is a perfect model for the modern book of today.

The 2 page spread we analyzed above is made from paper. But books were not always made with paper, or even in the book form, bound with anything at all, and they were not printed either. They were written by hand on papyrus.

Papyrus was the first material used as "paper" beginning in Egypt. The reeds were stripped, strung side by side and pressed together. Papyrus was durable and sturdy, and the water of the Nile was abundant in aluminum sulfate, which brightened it so that writing and scribbles could be seen better. There is no particular origin of when Papyrus had first been invented but it must have been around the end of the 4th millenium BCE (Houston 4).  

Parchment is made from animal skin that has been soaked, scrubbed, dried, and stretched for days and days, creating a more flexible, yet still durable, material for writing. It was also thinner and could be made "cleaner" and brighter by chemical means. Religion heavily influenced its distribution; some parchment use was literally banned because the type of animal skin used to make it wasn't considered "holy" or "good." For example, the lamb or a calf was acceptable, but how dare you use parchment made from goat skin? What is wrong with you?

Besides the fact that parchment is kind of gross if you think about it (although to be fair, you can’t be too choosy in times right before the common era), it was also expensive to keep certain cattle only for paper making, and the reliability of having new cattle at the time you may need more paper was not very high.

Paper was first introduced in China. It is made from bits of cloth and rags soaked in water, and after breaking down into pulp, strained through a wire grate and pressed to dry. Fun fact-- the Rhar West Art Museum in Manitowoc, Wisconsin has held classes showing how to make paper using this exact process.

There is a trend here: the materials used to make paper (and papyrus and parchment before it) become scarce or too expensive, or they are just not “good enough.” People want their paper thin and smooth, but still strong and durable; crisp and bright, but still able to last years and years without crumbling. There have been times that processes used to ensure these preferred qualities of paper included using chemicals that ended up negatively affecting some other quality. For example, the paper would be white as snow, yet the chemical that did this broke down the natural adhesives which kept the paper intact.

Have you heard that paper grows on trees? Well, that is partly true since after rags and cloths were nowhere to be found (unless people were about to start donating the shirts off their backs), wood pulp has now since been used... the higher the demand for paper, the greater demand for those materials used for its creation. 

This brings us to printing side of things. The first ways of printing weren’t of how we think of it now. Even before papyrus, people were still writing and making inscriptions on pretty much anything they could get their hands on. The earliest forms of writing were rather indentations or markings on clay tablets. Found across the Middle East, it is a cuneiform script of the Sumerian people from 3300 BCE (Houston 79).

Similarly, the Egyptians were also keen on developing their own writing system which today we recognize as hieroglyphs. A lot of these were found carved on the walls of tombs but also began to be used on papyrus in 2600 BCE (Houston 82-83).

The Egyptians celebrated their scribes and believed those who wrote with brush and ink on papyrus to be channeling power--that it was a gift from the gods--”wielded with respect and humility” (Houston 87). The hieroglyphs not only showed the intention of the writer, visually, but often the picture would be associated with or connected to certain sounds which emerged more formal use of letters as time went on.

The alphabet we use today can be traced back to the Phoenician alphabet (used by the Egyptians) which had evolved into the Greek and then Roman alphabets (Houston 91-92). At this point in time, scribes were using water based ink which was fine for papyrus, but during the transition to parchment they realized that ink smudges quite a bit. This led to the creation of iron gall ink that would darken and adhere to the parchment as it dried due to its chemical makeup in contact with oxygen in the air.

Jump ahead to 1400s and we are with Johannes Gutenberg and the printing press! One thing Keith Houston make sure to mention is that although Gutenberg invented the printing press itself, to help moveable type and mass printing, the idea of printing had not been new. Clay pieces used as stamps and similar objects had been excavated and dated back thousands of years before the clay inscribed cuneiform tablets were made. And a primitive version of a sort of printing press is mentioned being made by a man named Bi Sheng during the reign of Qingli from 1041-1048 AD (Houston 110). Obviously nothing great came from it, most likely because he was of unofficial position. Even so, movable type was still possible, although painstakingly slow with wooden blocks used as stamps. This was common for the next few hundred years in China.

Even though Gutenberg's press completely revolutionized the transmission of knowledge, it was still quite slow in comparison to the versions which came after, only being able to print 600 characters a day (Houston 118). From Gutenberg's printing press came other types of presses that improved the speed or efficiency of movable type immensely. These all came after the original publication of Guliver's Travels, starting in the early 1800s with the Columbian press, eventually the Linotype, and then lack of precision called for the Monotype, which could produce 140 wpm (Houston 149).

The 2 page spread above then, could possibly have been printed by the Linotype, but most likely, however, the Monotype, which is the more accurate of the two. Another possibility could be "sophisticated photographic and 'lithographic' techniques" or "'phototypsetting'" (Houston 151). Houston mentions that the printing press age has died and now faces a digital future.

I'm at my 10 image limit which means I better wrap this up with some interesting facts about bookbinding. On BIBLIO.com I was trying to see exactly what "fine leather in boards" meant which is apparently how Gulliver's Travels is bound. I didn't find any phrase that matched, but from my understanding, the leather is very supple and pliable, which is why it was able to be gilt with gold, and it was able to form nicely to the hubbing on the spine.

The website also explains that the first "book binding" was technically just putting the pieces of paper or parchment together and pressing them between two boards. Literally. Like just setting them on a board and putting another board on top of that. Eventually leather was introduced, first as a cord wrapped around the book to keep the boards in place. As time progressed, the practice was improved and perfected so it was less crude. This involved the creation of the "spine" where the pages meet together and can therefore open and close in a v shape without flying away.

This website helped explain some of the other embellishments and extra flair that can be added to a book's binding. It mostly goes over leather binding which is from most animal skin but there is a unique leather bound book that can be bound with seal skin. Some of the books on the website are so expensive because of the materials they are bound with and the effects that have been created in the cover, for example, Benjamin Franklin's observations on electricity, which has had acid added to the page, discoloring it for a lightning strike effect, and includes a key to represent his famous experiment.

Gulliver's Travels, although not quite so fancy, is still a very beautifully bound book with decorated endpapers, meaning the inside cover is laden with designed paper rather than boring white or some other neutral color.

I hope you found this journey of the book as interesting and as exciting as I did while writing this post! You must really love books because even my attention span isn't this long. I will admit I took at least 3 different breaks.

I'm back to my novel for now, thanks for listening😎

Bibliography

Houston, Keith--Author of Shady Characters, which I used extensively in my TikTok “history of punctuation” project--also wrote -> The BOOK - a cover-to-cover exploration of the most powerful object of our time, 2016.

British Library Website -> works -> “Gulliver’s Travels overview”

Masters, Kristin. “Franklin Library Editions: Ideal for Book Collectors?” Books Tell You Why, 2017 (blog).

BIBLIO.com -> “Leather Binding Terminology and Techniques”

[turtlepated]

The Handbook for the Recently Married (to the Deceased)

Chapter 7:

Tag list:

@sapphic-florals , @beetlejuicebeadoll , @do-ya-hear-that-sound , @imtherain , @imsuchahobbit , @pastelnacht , @tialanderrol , @sammyskip , @monsterlovinghours , @allmycrushesaredead , @missiheart23 

------

 It wasn’t the first time a Monday had seemed to stretch on forever. But this particular Monday, after the extremely unorthodox way I spent the weekend and the fact that there was a demon? man? something in my house while I was stuck at the office for the next… I paused halfway through the thought, checking the time again and utterly dismayed to see that it was still only mid-morning. Beetlejuice would have the house all to himself for the next 7 hours. It seemed like every time I looked at a clock, the hands stood still. Finally I pasted a sticky note over the bottom left corner of my computer monitor because I couldn’t stop glancing at it every few seconds.

I did my best not to dwell on it, since there was plenty of work to occupy my mind and my time, but I kept getting distracted by thoughts of Beetlejuice. He’d been docile enough this morning when I hurtled through the house getting ready to leave, but what might he be getting up to while I wasn’t there? I’d glimpsed the sort of mayhem he was capable of back in the Deetz house; morphing the Victorian home into a devilish fun house straight out of the seventh circle. 

Early on I planned to run home during my lunch hour, just to check on things, but that plan fell through when an overwhelmed coworker asked if I’d be willing to help them out instead. Which I wasn’t, but I agreed to help them anyway even while my own stress level continued to climb. By the time I left for the day I was wound tight as a bowstring, both gunning to get home and anxious about what I mind find when I arrived. But I’d also realized that if he was going to be living with me, Beetlejuice was going to need some things. So I forced myself to drive at a normal speed and to make a stop at the chain department store in town, consulting the list I’d put together as items occurred to me throughout the day. 

Once or twice I did think about the fact that I hadn’t told him when I would be back, but he hadn’t asked either. And I didn’t have any way of contacting him to let him know I’d be late. I could, perhaps, find the Deetz’s home number, but it might be…. awkward to ask them to drop in on the specter who had terrorized them. So I just did my shopping as quickly as I could, loaded it all back into my car, and booked it for home. 

At first blush the outside looked perfectly normal when I pulled into the driveway and I let out a sigh at the rush of relief. Leaving all the bags in the car for the time being I mounted the steps, rifling through my keyring to unlock the back door only to find it standing slightly ajar. Intrigued but not yet alarmed, I stepped inside and shut it behind me, my eyes roving every square inch of the room for anything out of place but finding nothing of note. The kitchen was still messy from where Beetlejuice had made pancakes: the island countertop cluttered with dried spots of dripped batter, bits of eggshell, dusted with flour with the bag left sitting open. The dirty griddle still sat on the stove where I’d put it for him, the sink full of used dishes. Overall, I’d been braced for worse, but it was nothing a wipe down with a hot dish cloth and a load in the dishwasher wouldn’t take care of. 

In the living room the coffee table had been shoved against the far wall and in the center of the room it looked as though he had gone through the whole house scrounging pillows and blankets which he had then constructed into some sort of enormous fort. The couch was bare of seat cushions, and I even recognized the pillows and blankets off my (our?) bed. At some point he must have gotten bored with it because the blankets and quilts and pillows were now strewn all over the room, as if he’d burst out from inside like some sort of larvae escaping its cocoon. 

The signs of his habitation and how he’d spent the day were in plain sight, but I’d seen neither hide nor hair of the man/ghost/demon himself. “Beej?” I called, belatedly realizing he might be lying in wait to scare me in some way like he had when we first met. Going a little more warily now, I proceeded into the bedroom only to freeze in the doorway, dumbstruck. 

It wasn’t quite pitch black in the room, but only because a ghastly greenish radiance seemed to be emanating out from under the bed, throwing long, twisting shadows over the floor and up the walls. The wallpaper had torn itself free, curling into ragged scrolls and exposing cracked drywall that looked like a stiff breeze would reduce it to dust. The skittering of many small things with many small legs made me flinch and recoil as I picked my way forward, unable to see the source of the skin-crawling sounds while I sidestepped puddles of viscous goo that seemed to be dripping from the ceiling in thick, foul-smelling ropes. Something dark was seeping down the full-length mirror by the closet door, and in the poor light I couldn’t tell if it was slime or paint or blood. 

More of the spectral light was leaking out from the cracks around and under the door, along with drifts of thick mist and shadows that curled along the floor toward my feet like tentacles reaching out to grab me. This was so similar and also somehow so much worse than what I’d encountered in the Deetz house. My heart was hammering in my throat, but I did my best to keep my breathing calm and slowly reached for the knob to the closet door.  

Steeling myself, I gave it a twist and pushed it carefully open. 

Inside was much the same as outside. All my hanging clothes were coated in the same sticky residue dripping from the ceiling, a veritable swarm of small shiny insects scattered to the shadowy corners of the small room as I opened the door, and huddled at the rear wall, crouched on the floor and curled into a surprisingly tight ball, facing away from the door was Beetlejuice. His broad back was rising and falling rapidly, his hands clasped around the back of his neck, his head ducked low and out of sight. I opened my mouth to speak but found that I couldn’t make a sound, snapping it shut and taking a moment to collect myself before stepping fully into the closet. 

“Beej?” I said tentatively, moving closer. He didn’t appear to hear me, utterly unresponsive except for his quick, shallow breathing. I took another step, reaching out a little apprehensively to give him a gentle prod in the back, softly repeating his name. At the touch, at my voice, slightly louder this time, he visibly flinched and gasped, uncurling with startling quickness and turning to look up at me. 

His eyes were red rimmed and puffy as though he’d been crying but his cheeks were dry. His chin, on the other hand, was slick and shiny with drool that had dripped down his neck and onto his shirt front. His messy hair, which I had come to understand possessed some sort of mood-ring quality with its shifting colors, was a deep, dull burgundy. I had jumped back, surprised by his quick motion when he spun around, but the state of him was so worrying that I forgot all about the mounting dread I’d felt when I saw the bedroom, the messes left in other rooms of the house. I moved closer, his eyes riveted to my hand as I reached out again and laid it on his shoulder. 

“Beetlejuice, are you okay? What’s wrong?” 

For a long moment he didn’t respond, blinking at me with a look of acute confusion. Then he made a sudden sound, a gasping sob that seemed torn from deep in his chest and scrambled up onto his knees in front of me, flinging his arms around my legs and clutching them against his body while he buried his face into my stomach. Thrown off balance by the grabbing, I staggered and braced my hand against the sticky wall while my other hand bemusedly settled in his unkempt reddish-purple locks. It took me a few seconds to realize that the vibrations against my middle where muffled words, rendered incomprehensible by Beetlejuice’s face pressed tightly to the fabric of my shirt. 

“Beej, I can’t understand you,” I said, chuckling as I brushed my hand through his tousled hair. “You wanna tell me what’s bothering you?” 

His arms tightened around my upper thighs, his head shaking back and forth as if he were trying to burrow in even deeper and I grimaced at the thought of the saliva that would now be soaked into my clothes. Sighing, I peeled my hand off the wall, regarding the thin strands of muck strung between my fingers before wiping them off on my pants, which I would now have to wash anyway. When most of the mess was gone I laid my hand on his shoulder again, squeezing softly, rubbing soothing circles into his upper back while my other hand remained tucked in his hair. 

“C’mon, Beej,” I coaxed gently. “Did something happen? I can’t help if you won’t tell me what’s the matter.” 

I felt him sigh harshly, a blast of warm breath against my stomach as he finally pulled back enough to look me full in the face. His eyes were still red and swollen, ringed with bruise-like dark shadows, though I realized now that it wasn’t just from inflammation, his irises had actually shifted to a deep and very inhuman bloody red. His face looked haggard and drawn, like he hadn’t slept in weeks even though when I’d left this morning he had looked perfectly – well, not normal, perhaps, but certainly normal for his circumstances. Beetlejuice stared at me hard for another long moment before answering. 

“You left,” he croaked, and my eyes darted from his to the roots of his hair where a fiercer scarlet color was bleeding slowly up the strands between my fingers, like spilled ink spreading over paper. I grew aware of his hands, gripping my hips, holding me against him, digging into the soft flesh through my pants in a way that was bordering on painful. “You left,” he repeated, his voice coming out stronger this time, gravelly as ever but with a much more bestial rumble than I’d heard before. Something primal in me tensed fearfully at that predatory growl, hair standing on end up my arms and at the nape of my neck. 

With a gracefulness I wouldn’t have thought to expect from him, Beetlejuice rose smoothly to his feet, never blinking or releasing me from his burning gaze or his tight grasp as his arms unwound from my hips and his hands moved to grip my elbows, dragging my hands from him. 

“You said you wanted me here but you still left!” Beetlejuice snarled between clenched teeth that were sharper than I remembered, flecks of spit flying from his lips. I couldn’t help flinching when some of the airborne saliva inevitably spattered my cheek, feeling the bite of his short nails gouging my arms. 

“Beej, you’re hurting me,” I said, fighting valiantly to keep my voice even, a tiny tremor escaping. 

“You left me!” he shouted, his voice harsh and accusatory in his anger but colored unmistakably with pain and despair. 

I struggled to understand why it should trouble him so much, why my absence for one single day would cause him this much panic and distress. Slowly, I brought my arms up to press against the underside of his forearms, my hands curling around his elbows. 

“I know,” I told him, not wanting to discredit his statement which was technically correct. “I went to work, Beej. We talked about it last night, remember?” I watched his brow furrow, could practically see him digging back through the recesses of his mind to recall our conversation.  

“You… you left,” he nearly whimpered, the anger literally draining out of his countenance as every spec of hair I could see on him shifted to a dark plum. 

Like a bolt from the blue, understanding struck me. In the house, when Lydia had gone upstairs to talk with the Maitlands, that was when Beetlejuice had apparently turned on her. He must have assumed that her departure meant she was choosing them over him, when all she had done was leave the room. I felt my fear evaporate, my chest aching at this realization, at the knowledge that he was so sure he would be abandoned and forgotten as soon as he was no longer in someone’s line of sight that it would reduce him to this. What sort of horrible experiences would instill such a fear in him? 

“Beej,” I began hesitantly. “Did you… did you think that I would leave and not come back?” 

A quiet, keening wail left him, involuntarily it seemed as he pressed his lips together to silence it and abruptly released me to sink his hands into his own hair, his eyes squeezing shut as he backed away. That seemed the closest I was going to get to an affirmative. It took everything in me not to rush right over and pull him into my arms, but I didn’t want to spook or stress him anymore than he already was so I went slowly, one step at a time.   

“Who would do that?” I asked, mostly speaking to myself. I hadn’t been expecting an answer, but Beetlejuice gave one anyway, seemingly unable to stop himself. 

“Everyone!” he burst out, his voice raw with hurt. “Friends, roommates, my dad, every girlfriend or boyfriend I ever had! When my mom wanted me to move out, she just stopped coming home!” With a small plaintive squeak he clapped a hand over his own mouth, his eyes wide and round and fearful as they searched my face. I sighed deeply and moved closer still, tugging his hand gently but insistently away from his face. It came away wet, strings of saliva trailing from his palm to his chin and bottom lip. I wondered if maybe Beetlejuice, as a ghost or demon or whatever he was, was incapable of producing tears even when he might want to and the excessive drooling was meant to be some sort of caricature of the very human act of crying. 

Pulling my sleeve down over the heel of my palm, I dabbed at his wet chin to give him a moment to calm down while I thought of how to respond. “I’m sorry, Beetlejuice,” I repeated softly, tracing my fingertips across his cheek before I lowered my hand from his face. “I’m sorry that happened. I’m sorry you were upset today, and I’m sorry I didn’t tell you when I’d be home. I didn’t even think about it, I’m not used to having someone waiting for me.” 

His eyes fluttered closed for a second when I touched him, and it didn’t escape my notice that he tilted his head to press his face into my hand, nor did I miss the oh-so-tiny mournful noise he made when I pulled away. I smiled warmly at him, though he didn’t see since he was avidly avoiding my gaze by staring at the floor, at his hands as they fidgeted with his clothes and with one another.  

“Would you like a hug?” I asked, spreading my arms in invitation, wondering if I was setting myself up for another awkward physical moment with him. But he just looked so forlorn and forsaken that I couldn’t stand it. Beetlejuice nodded adamantly and stepped into my embrace without a word, his face tucking into the curve of my shoulder, his arms lax at his sides as mine wrapped around him. He was tense, but after a beat I felt him sigh and relax against me while I stroked the back of his head and rubbed up and down between his shoulder blades.  

Gradually, tentatively, his arms came up as well and settled themselves around my waist. “It’ll be okay,” I assured him. “You’re going to be okay.” I said it that way very deliberately, since I was certain that at the moment he did not feel okay. His arms tightened around me, his fingers twitching against my back and fisting my shirt. I felt warm wetness against my collarbone, so he was probably drooling again but I muscled my way past the shudder that tried to crawl up my spine at the sensation. I noticed that, as Beetlejuice continued to calm down, the frightening transformation of my closet around us shimmered like a heat mirage and disappeared to reveal the small room exactly as I’d left it.  

Beetlejuice made no move to pull away or loosen his hold, and in all likelihood he would have happily stood there in my closet all night long as long as I kept hugging him. But when his stomach gave a long, loud growl powerful enough that I could feel his round midsection rumbling against mine, I broke away but made sure to keep in contact with him since he seemed to draw so much solace from it.  

“When’s the last time you ate anything?” I asked, and he have a lopsided shrug. 

“Dunno. Prob’ly the pancakes, I guess.”  

I shook my head and tutted at him with no real crossness. “Beej, you’re alive now. Not human, maybe, but alive. Which means your body needs things: like food, water, rest.” He shrugged again, rubbing his damp chin on the sleeve of his shirt. The violet tone had left his hair, which was green again but a pale, dull tone. I took that to mean he was feeling better, which was good.  

“Tell you what,” I said. “Let’s get some food in you, that should help you feel a little better, and then I’ll show you what I brought you.” At those words he perked up like a puppy hearing someone said ‘car ride’ or ‘treat’.  

“You brought me something?” he asked slowly, as if he was sure he’d misunderstood or heard wrong.  

I nodded, turning to exit the closet, tugging him by the hand after me and quietly relieved to see that the supernatural makeover in the bedroom had likewise disappeared like mist burned off by sunlight. “Sure did.”  

“Is it a bucket of spiders?” 

I laughed. “Not quite, but good guess.”  

“Two buckets of spiders?”  

I laughed again, clearing a space at the kitchen island to make him a sandwich while Beetlejuice settled on a bar stood. “Tell you what,” I said. “After you eat something, you can come out to the car with me and help bring it in.” 

-------

This was one of the very first parts I thought up when this story idea came to me and finally getting it out was so much fun! 

I am so soft for a soft garbage man. Hopefully you all are now too!

No ETA for chapter 8 but I’ll do my best!  Thanks for reading!!

Previous Chapters:

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

[kingofdirtandnothing]

@polyfacetious big ass Christmas Drabble Extravagaza: Day Nineteen

George has a damned fine voice. And it’s a good thing that he does, because the man talks about boring shit more than anybody that Atticus has ever known. 

Like now. He’s been droning on about chemical reactions for god knows how long. If they weren’t naked in bed, Atticus would get up and walk off. Go make a cup of tea or something. It wouldn’t deter George at all. He’d just keep on talking. 

Because it wasn’t really about having a captive audience. George just did his best work thinking out loud. God only knew how much chatter that little assistant of his heard. Hours upon hours would be Atticus’ guest. 

But you didn’t get to be one of the best chemists in the world by being white bread and butter normal, now did you?

Atticus waits for a lull in the onslaught of words, giving it a full three seconds before he speaks, just to be certain George had wrapped up his thought. (He’ll never admit to thoughtfulness out loud. That would ruin his reputation.)

“I’m getting leave again at Christmas.” George shifts onto his side, head resting on the upturned palm of his hand. He’s not what anyone would call beautiful, but there’s something about him that makes Atticus’ blood run hot. (He’s not a looker himself. Atticus figured that out young. He also learned that personality could get you the same bits with just a little more work.)

There’s a moment where George’s eyes are far away. Atticus waits, as patient as he ever is. You had to give the man time to come back to himself from wherever those rambling thoughts were. But there’s a blink and those clever eyes zero in on him, because George is clever, and he sees what’s being offered. 

A holiday. Together. 

Neither one of them had any family to speak of. Atticus had the crew, and George had his work socials and his bored rich housewives, but beyond that, there wasn’t really much to do on a holiday. 

Unless one of those bored rich housewives could sneak away from her family on Christmas day. Which if a woman could handle that, Atticus would concede his spot in the bed, because that’s some fucking logistics and deep lies to accomplish. 

“I could swing ‘round this way.” An offer. Because they’ve been doing this on and off for years, but it’s never been Official. It’s never been just the two of them and no one else. Atticus don’t mind it that way. He’s not jealous of saggy breasts or diamond earrings. A man had his urges. 

But there was something about asking to spend a holiday together that felt intimate in a way they tended to skate away from. Atticus was head over heels, there was no denying that truth. He’d been in love with George for a long time now, and he’s confident enough to say it’s mutual. But mutually in love and mum about it was a hair different than mutually in love and spending Christmas together like a pair of old queens. 

He brushes his fingers along the corded muscle at the back of a strong neck, his breath a sharp exhale when George clambers on top of him. “You aren’t exactly light as a feather here, Georgie.”

And that gets him an elbow right to the ribs for his trouble. “I’m perfectly shaped for all my activities, I’ll have you know.” George had a voice that made your toes tingle. It’s what drew Atticus in, back when they first met. Sitting a few blokes apart at the bar, nursing drinks in the quiet of an early morning. 

All the partiers were gone, the lightweights sleeping it off against the bar top. All that was left were the lonely men and the alcoholics. And when Atticus heard that raspy, dry paper grumble of ‘another, damn it’, his dick was already on board and half hard. 

There wasn’t much courting, then. But neither one of them were the type for romance. (A lie Atticus perpetrated because if George saw his notebook full of poetry, he’d never let him live it down.) Atticus had simply moved three stools down, knocked back the rest of his pint, looked over at George and said ‘I’ll jerk you off in the bathroom if you’ll do the same for me.’

And they’d been meeting ever since. A slow and steady escalation, because despite the drugs and the booze, George was as steady in spirit as he was in hand. Hand jobs in the bar bathroom became back alley blow jobs. Back alley blow jobs became backseat fucking in George’s car. Fucking in George’s car became a short drive to whatever hotel that Atticus was scrimping out to get him through leave. 

All to get them here. Legs tangled like mad drunk grasshoppers, fingers tracing muscle and ink. (George had a fondness for tracing the lines of the compass tattooed on the top of Atticus’ head. He said it helped him think.) Talking about spending the holiday together in a hotel room just like this. 

“Well.” The word is snapped off at the end, though the rasp of it is teasing. “If you’re going to be staying more than a day or two, it stands to reason that you should sleep at my place. That way, you can spend your money on getting me a proper gift.”

Another escalation. Atticus knows where George lives. He’d gotten the address back when they were still fucking in the back of the car, fogging up the windows like teenagers. He’d used it only to send the bastard postcards, though. Atticus liked to fill them out with useless facts about things he saw when they were out and about. The biggest thing he saw in a place, and the smallest. What the oddest local cuisine was. Atticus liked his little facts.

And he liked an excuse to keep himself in George’s thoughts, since the slimy git had a habit of taking up space in Atticus’ thoughts, whether he wanted to or not. 

But being offered to stay at George’s place? That was a big deal. Because it made this holiday bit even more serious. It wasn’t two men sharing take away on a shitty motel bed with A Miracle on 34th Street playing quiet in the background on an out of date TV. 

This was a proper Christmas. At home. In George’s home. For at least three or four days. 

“You’d do that?” It’s a stupid response, and Atticus sees just how stupid it is by the way that George is looking at him. 

“I wouldn’t have offered if I didn’t want to.” And he had a point there. It was like moving mountains to get George to do things he was indifferent about. Atticus couldn’t imagine what it would take to make the bastard do something that he really didn’t want to do. 

“Right.” Atticus murmurs, tracing the crow’s feet wrinkles where they crease the skin at the corner of George’s eyes. Some people said you could read those lines, the same way you read the lines on someone’s palm. But Atticus can’t be sure if those were lines of laughter, or lines of squinting behind goggles in a lab. 

He hopes it’s more laughter than anything. 

Atticus saw a fortune teller once, a little old woman set up on a blanket at the fringes of a bazaar in India. She had taken his hand and pointed out the lines to him in broken English. His life line was long, a few close calls written into the cracks in the line along his hand. His fortune line was more like Morse code, and Atticus felt like that was pretty true to life. 

But most of all, she earned those rupees when she pointed out his heart line. ‘Late’, she said with an all knowing nod. ‘Strong.’ 

It’d be years more before he met George. The old bag had been more right than Atticus could have guessed. Late meant he was in his forties before George Cholmondeley. (And another year plus before he could spell the bastard’s last name.) 

Strong wasn’t the half of it. 

Nothing was ever going to keep Atticus from being out at sea. But George was enough to lure him back to land more than he ever did before. This was the first year that Atticus was actually going to use up all of his leave, instead of having it converted and put onto his pay. 

“Right.” George agrees, and that’s the end of that. There’s a light in those clever eyes that says ‘argue with me and lose hours of your life and still do what I say’ and Atticus can’t argue with those facts. 

Arguing with George was like trying to shove a camel through the eye of a needle. You’d work up a sweat, you’d get pissed off and tired, but you’d be no closer to your goal hours later. 

No, it was settled. 

“And what does a man such as yourself want for a Christmas gift, hm?” Because Atticus has no earthly idea what to get him. He knew all the stupid tidbits, things that George liked to eat, the things that he loathed. What movie he’d roll over to watch, if it was on the television when they were done fucking. 

But none of those things equalled out to Christmas gifts. It’s not like Atticus could buy him a tie or a nice pen and call it a day. 

“You to figure it out.” And Atticus should have seen that coming. George was contrary, often just for the fun of it. And even more often, just for the amusement of watching Atticus get pissed off trying to figure it out. 

“Bastard.” He drops his head back against the overly starched hotel pillowcase and sighs, eyes on the ceiling. There were no stains up there, which was an improvement from the last time that they met up to spend the night together. But it was that popcorn style that reminded Atticus of being a little boy, spending his nights staring up at the ceiling in the boy’s home. Right out of the 1970s, it was. 

“You like it.” And again, Georgie isn’t wrong. Atticus loves the holy hell out of the bastard, not that he’s going to say that out loud any time soon. His silence is rewarded with George easing down into the crook of his left arm, cheek pillowed against Atticus’ chest. 

He wasn’t exactly a chiseled Greek god, but it was easy to not feel insecure about the softness of his belly when George was running his fingers through the soft, downy hair there. 

“A notebook is cheating.” Because he knows that George is going to buy him a gift too. There’s a huff of offense that blows warm air against his chest, and Atticus grins. “If I don’t get the easy out, then you don’t either.”

His notebook did need replacing, though. It was a battered old spiral bound number. In a few more weeks, it’d go in the bottom of his trunk with the other full ones. But he wasn’t going to carry around some expensive leather wrapped thing. Hell, just last week he dropped his notebook in the toilet. 

Not going to risk doing that with something that cost more than a pound or two. 

“Now you’re the one who’s being a bastard.” George’s irritation always has such a lovely bite to it. Atticus likes getting him riled up, though he doesn’t try too often. It wasn’t easy. But it was always worth his hard work, as evidenced by the blunt nails dragging deliciously down his belly. 

It’d be awhile yet before he was able to go again, seeing as they’d just finished fucking about ten minutes ago, but the spirit was really fucking willing right about now, regardless of what bullshit the flesh was on about. 

“Yeah. But you love me.”

And yeah, it was very much mutual. 

[scornedlove]

Chapter Twenty-Seven

CHRIS

A couple of weeks had gone by since I promised myself I’d give Tae some space. It was disappointing that she’d only hit me up once since then, especially after I revealed so much to her the last time she was here. I really opened up to her in hopes of gaining her trust, maybe that’s why I’ve been buggin. Without her conversation, it’s hard to keep my mind off of Robyn. The last time I saw Robyn, she not only looked like a stranger, but she treated me like one too. Between her and Tae, my heart was torn and it was all too much to deal with. 

Every time I felt myself getting in my feelings, I’d hit the studio, blast some music, and paint. It was like having a therapy session, which is how I was spending my Friday afternoon. I was in my zone, finishing up my third project this week when Taylor called, inviting me to go riding with him.

“Hell yeah! I had fun last time, but I wanna take it out where I can really put some gas to it.” I suggested, jumping at the chance to borrow his motorcycle again.

“Alright, I got you. I know just the place.” he promised, before we hung up. I finished the painting I was working on and stepped back to look at the finished product. 

Diamond always gave the cutest pouty face when I wasn’t moving fast enough for her. I couldn’t get it out of my head, so I put it in paint. I snapped a picture of it and sent it to Tae before leaving, hoping that would put me on her mind.

“This chick wants me to meet her at the A for some drinks” Taylor announced when I got to his place.

“When ya’ll planning on doing that?”

“Right now, I told her 8. ″

“Then why you ask me to ride with you?” I asked, noticing it was fifteen til. “I’m not trying to be the third wheel”

“You won’t be. She’s bringing her roommate, so I told her I’d bring my brother” he added, with a smirk.

“I’m not going on a double date with you man, you know I got a girl.”

“It ain’t a date, unless you want it to be. I know that long distance shit ain’t gonna last too long.”

“Shut up fool. As long as you don’t get me in no shit, it’ll last as long as I want it to.”

“We’re just gonna hang for a bit, then take em on a ride. The ladies love that shit and I’m tryna get some ass tonight.”

“Well I’m not-”

“-Stop being a tight fuck. It ain’t all about them, come chill with ya bro.”

“Alright man, but don’t be mad if they both feeling me and you end up coming home empty handed” I teased as he tossed me the keys to his Harley.

We arrived twenty minutes later than expected due to traffic, but the girls still hadn’t made it. We found a spot at the bar, ordered a couple of beers, and watched the Saints play the Falcons while we waited.

“It’s looking like you got stood up lil bro” I stated when I noticed it was nine and still no sign of the chick he described.

“There she goes” he nodded towards the door when a familiar, dark skinned woman walked in. “She bad ain’t she?”

“Oh, hell naw. I heard this bitch was fuckin with Anthony a couple of weeks ago. You need to be caref-”

“Fuck Anthony. That’s yo homeboy. Besides, I’m always careful.” he stated, gulping down the rest of his beer before standing to greet Kiki.

“Small world. I would’ve never guessed y'all were brothers. Ryan gonna be shocked as fuck.” she cackled, getting comfortable next to Taylor as Ryan walked in. She was on the phone, eyes fixated on Kiki as she strutted past a couple of guys checking her out. She didn’t even notice me until she ended her call, a couple feet in front of me.

“Hey” she smiled, surprised to see me. “When Kiki told me she set me up on a blind date I was nervous as hell”

“Oh, this ain’t that.” I explained, tossing back the rest of my beer. She rolled her eyes at my bluntness and sat on the stool in between me and Kiki.

“Obviously, you shut that shit down already. I’m just glad you’re not some fucking weirdo.” she admitted and I couldn’t help but burst out in laughter.

“I see ya’ll are on good terms again” I nodded towards Kiki, who was cheesing like a schoolgirl while Taylor whispered in her ear. “I’m glad I didn’t get involved in that”

“Yeah, it didn’t take long for Anthony to hop on the next bitch” she shrugged nonchalantly. “How do you even know him? He doesn’t seem like someone you would associate with.”

“Shit, we go way back.  He’s changed for the worse, that’s for damn sure. ”

“Well, at least one good thing came from him”

“What’s that?”

“He’s got some good connects. He introduced me to a DJ who’s been working with me on a couple of songs, even helped me land a couple of gigs when we were on good terms.”

“Good. Sounds like things are looking up for you.”

“You have no idea. I’ve been crazy busy. Matter of fact, I’m performing for this charity event in a few weeks, you should come.”

“Oh yeah? Send me the info. This is a crazy time for me too, but I should be able to work it in”

“Alright, but let me know either way. Don’t just leave me hanging.” she replied, before getting the bartender’s attention. They ordered margaritas and we settled on one more beer while we watched a little more of the football game. I wasn’t interested in the game, or getting drunk. I was ready for the adrenaline rush from flying through traffic, so after the ladies finished their drinks, we hit the road.

It didn’t take long for me to regret agreeing to do this with the girls. I’ve been abstinent for a solid five months now, and I haven’t seen Tae in over a month. Having Ryan’s double D’s on my back and arms wrapped around my waist had my man standing tall. I did my best to keep it to myself, but she got a couple of feels in. 

Nevertheless, we rode across the Pacific Coast Highway to the infamous Neptune’s net, where we hung out for a little while, had dinner, and smoked a blunt by the beach, before heading back to the city. That’s when I realized those couple of feels weren’t an accident, they were intentional. I don’t know if it was because she was tipsy, but Ryan couldn’t keep her hands to herself. I was cool about it the first time, but then she slipped her hands in my pants while I was driving, and I damn near wrecked trying to pull over.

"If you want to make it home without having to find another way, you gonna have to keep your hands above my waist” 

“Were you feeling violated? Because it looks like you were enjoying it.”

“Fuck that. I’m tryna keep shit platonic between us, but if you can’t handle that we can’t do this anymore. I’ll find you a ride, but I’m not doing this with you”

“Fine. I’ll stop.” she stated, throwing her hands up in defeat. She behaved the rest of the ride, but when we made it to her place, she invited me in and was offended when I quickly declined.

“Well, you know where I am if you wanna talk or whatever” she stated before sashaying towards her front door. The deep ass swing in her hips made it evident she wanted more than a conversation.

I waited as she dug in her purse, searching for her keys until she gave up and made a call. By the look on her face as she walked towards me, I knew bad news was coming. 

“Kiki has my house key and she’s not answering. Is it cool if I stay at your place tonight?”

“You gotta be kidding” I sighed in disbelief. “Ya’ll set this shit up huh?”

“Really? Don’t flatter yourself. A simple yea or no will do” she sassed, almost tripping over her own foot. 

“What other choice do we have? Let’s go” I shrugged, handing her the helmet back. She was fucked up and I didn’t want to be here all night waiting for a damn key, so I decided we’d deal with it tomorrow. 

ROBYN

“I can’t believe I’m doing this”

“It looks great and it’s almost done, no need to fuss now” I reassured Mel as I wrapped my arms around her for comfort.

Today I finally went through with covering the matching tattoo Chris and I’d gotten a couple of years ago on some drunk on love shit. Halfway through, I almost chickened out, so Mel made me a deal. She said she was done with tattoos before, but if I went through with this one, she’d get one of my choice blindfolded. So here we were, both with swollen hands, only mine was three times the size of hers.

“Alright, ya’ll know the drill. Keep it clean and dry.” BB, my tattoo artist, stated once he finished her design. “and you really need to baby yours Robyn, here’s some extra ointment. It should help with the pain too.”

“Awww shit! This is dope!” Mel grinned after uncovering her eyes. Capturing moments was inked flawlessly in script on the side of her left hand.The moment we were settled in the back seat of John’s ride, she snapped a pic and sent it to J.  

“I’m obsessed! Girl, fucking with you, I wasn’t sure what to expect, but it’s perfect. You did good”

“Give jack he jacket!  You know I don’t do you dirty!” I teased, grinning from ear to ear. 

“Yeah, but you been wilding ever since that shit with Chris and Dre.”

“Bitch, you not even supposed to be saying the C word” I snapped, narrowing my eyes at her.

“Speaking of Chr- I mean C. Has he reached out to you since?” she continued, ignoring my annoyance.

“No. I guess I scared the shit outta him when I mentioned the police, but Aundre’s ass won’t stop calling”

“So you’re not talking to him either?”

“Nope. I’m taking your advice and leaving both of they asses alone.“

“We’ll see how long that lasts” she snickered, rolling her eyes, as if she knew I was to weak to go through with it. I hated when she did that.

“Don’t do that.’

"What”

“Don’t play dumb. I’m sick of that shit.”

“Chill out, it ain’t that serious”

“I am serious Mel. Don’t shoot me down like that. Not everybody got they life figured out by 24.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” She quizzed, shaking her head. “I’m still figuring this shit out too. Everything ain’t smooth sailing over here either.”

“I find that hard to believe.” I scoffed, crossing my arms and wincing from the pain of brushing my freshly tatted hand against my clothes.

“I don’t complain all the time and I don’t wear that shit on my sleeve, but yeah Rob, I be going through some shit too.”

“Like?”

“Like my husband working seventy hour weeks and my married boss flirting and making passes at me all the fucking time”

“Michael?”

“Yeah, anytime we’re alone together he gets a little too close and happens to accidentally brush up against me the wrong way or says something sexually cryptic ”

“You lying! He’s fine as hell, but don’t fuck around with a married man. Matter of fact, you should just leave that job. These things always end up ugly”

“I’m not stupid, but I’m not leaving my job either.”

“Why not?”

“The amount of money I’m making with him is crazy, I ain’t gonna get that anywhere else.”

“Girl please, you have J. Who cares about the money? It ain’t worth the money, you need to quit”

“Easy for you to say. I’'m finally making good money and I’m not ready to let it go. Over a couple of ass grabs? Naw, imma milk this cow. Maybe I’ll be able to open my own shit one day.”

“Well all I gotta say is don’t slip up and lose ya husband over nothing stupid.”

“I would never jeopardize my marriage. J has made me a better person in so many ways, I’d be stupid to fuck up something this good. ”

“Fi true” I agreed, before John Legend’s All of Me started blaring from her phone.

“This my baby calling now” she gasped, a smile creeping across her face as she answered in her sexy voice. I couldn’t help but feel a little jealous as they flirted back and forth. I had to turn my attention to the starry sky in order to successfully tune her out. Instead of obsessing over my own sad love life, I  looked for constellations while reminding myself of all the frogs she had to kiss in order to find her prince. 

CHRIS

“CHRIS WHAT THE FUCK!” Tae’s unmistakable voice pierced my ears, snatching me from dreamland. It took a minute for it to register that she was standing right in front of me. Then I realized why she was screaming.

“Get up Ry-” I attempted to wake Ryan’s drunk ass up, but she was out cold. We passed out sitting up on the sofa watching Rush Hour, I don’t know how her head ended up on my lap. It may have looked a little bad, but Tae was definitely exaggerating.

“SO THIS IS WHAT YOU REALLY DO WHEN YOUR BY YOURSELF! I KNEW  IT. YOU’RE A LIAR! ”

“BABE!” I yelled over her to get her attention. “You buggin. We’re fully clothed. Nothing happened.”

“And that makes this okay? Your fucking ex is laying in your lap!” Lose my number!” she screamed throwing my key at me and running out the house.

My mind was yelling for me to run after her, but my legs wouldn’t move. Is that really all it took for her to walk out on me again? If so, what is the point of this long distance shit? What was she even doing in Cali? I haven’t talked to her in days and she just randomly shows up to act like this. I had so many questions, but at the same time, I didn’t care for a single answer. I felt a weight lift from my shoulders as I realized something. I’m single again. 

[always5hineee]

The Final Bell - Chapter 3: Baby Doll

Chapter warnings: none  

Word count: 1840

Story is also available under Taffysamg on Quotev and Wattpad.

To see the full chapter list, go to the “Final Bell” Tab on my page.

-----

       Y/N stared out the window, unsettled by what she saw. Everything was dry and windy, and the air was heavy. While she knew pollution must be down, everything had that solid tension about it. Taeyong and Taeil were making small talk, but she wasn't particularly listening. Every now and then, they'd pass an abandoned vehicle or a pile of trash, but aside from that she noticed no signs of life. While she was lost in thought, she was brought to attention by a voice.

       "...Y/N!" She sat up quickly, looking around. Taeyong was staring at her intently.

       "Sorry, I was... thinking."

       "It's fine- I was just trying to let you know that we're here." He said, pointing towards the windshield. Sure enough, there was a small campsite in front of them as they slowed to a stop. There were two tents, a few boxes, a small grill, and a black Toyota Tundra. She was nervous to meet this character, but didn't want to show it in front of her two associates. Stepping out of the van, they walked into the center of the space.

       "Hold on." Taeil said to her, moving to the tent on the right. Stomping in the dirt next to the structure, he said, "Johnny! We're here." After a bit of rustling, the front unzipped, and a man stepped out.

       He was certainly taller than anyone she had met so far- six feet if she had to guess. He had defined features and faded red hair, although- like Taeil- it was evidently not his real hair color. He was definitely thin, but stronger than Taeyong and Taeil. He wore a pair of old jeans, a green shirt, and a leather vest, with combat boots to match. Out of all of this, though, one thing in particular caught her off guard.

       His left arm- or rather, where his left arm should have been- there was a purple, twitching appendage, sewed on with black surgical stitches. While it's nails were clean and the flesh seemed to be staying on fairly well, it was unmistakable: a zombie arm.

       She involuntarily stepped back, but before she could move away, he grabbed her wrists, holding her arms above her head and turning her in various directions.

       "Hmm, interesting." He eyed her up and down, mentally measuring her. "I'm sure I can find something that fits you." Uncomfortable, she jerked her arms, ripping them away from his grip. He looked surprised for a moment, before his face settled into a questioning grin.

       "What's the matter? Can't you talk?" She tried to say something in return, but only managed to open her mouth slightly. Staring at her for another moment, his expression shifted to understanding.

       "Ah, I see. You think I'm turning." He waved his purple arm. "I assure you, sweetheart, you have nothing to worry about." Pointing to the stitching with his good hand, he said, "This isn't my real arm. I made her myself. The wound is closed underneath, so quit your shaking." Well if that wasn't the riskiest thing she'd ever seen, she didn't know what was.

       "What happened to your real arm?" She managed to mutter. He laughed, reaching up to touch her face with his left hand. The skin was disgustingly cold, leaving a tingling feeling wherever it touched. She knew it was probably in her head, but she already felt infected as he felt her face.

       "I cut it off." He whispered playfully. Backing up and spinning on his heel, he pretended as if he had not just been incredibly creepy. "Keeps you on your toes, you know? Reminds you how fleeting this all is. It does have a mind of its own, though." He admitted, evidenced by its twitching. She was more than uncomfortable at this point, staring at the seam between his human and undead bodies. So he had... cut off his own arm, and sewed on this zombie one, for fun? Or as he called it, a 'reminder'. This dude was unhinged.

       "Quit messing around, Johnny." Taeyong said, stepping in and pulling her back. Thankfully, his hands were warm, and undoubtedly human. "We just need new clothes for her, all our stuff at camp doesn't fit well."

       "Yes, yes, I know. Like I said, I'm sure I have a few things her size. So demanding. You won't be leader for long if you act like that."

       "I'm not the leader." Taeyong muttered under his breath, crossing his arms and shifting his glare."

       "Sure. Anyway, I'll return momentarily. Feel free to look around." He offered, turning to Y/N. "You can go wherever, but just be prepared for what you find." With a wink that sent a shiver up her spine, he moved towards the back of the setup to open a box.

       "Don't mind him." Taeil said, sensing her discomfort. "He's just strange like that. Plus, he's probably upset that we didn't bring Mark." She had practically forgotten about Mark at this point- she hadn't seen him since they exited the van the first time. Assumedly, he had gone to his own tent.

       "Why would he care?" She asked. "Are they related, or friends, or something?" Taeil shook his head.

       "Not exactly. Mark's just his favorite for some reason. He's never explained it to us. Still, Taeyong doesn't like them to be together for too long. I think he's worried that Johnny will make too much of an impression." That made sense. Mark seemed like a nice dude, and she couldn't imagine what Johnny could do if he got a complete hold on him. Before Taeyong could cut in to explain further, Johnny returned.

       "Here, I found four complete outfits of your size. It's not exactly ideal, but it's all that'll fit. I guess you guys will just start doing laundry more often, or suffer with ill-fitting attire. There are also two pairs of shoes, some makeup if you're into that, and some sanitary stuff." Holding out a bag, she reluctantly took it. As much as she hated it, it was all stuff she needed. "I also threw a few sets of earrings in there. Wouldn't want your piercings to close up."

       She breathed in sharply. In the few seconds that he had looked at her, he not only assessed her exact sizes, but the fact that she had piercings as well? Not only that, but she didn't actually have jewelry in at the moment, meaning that he had noticed the tiny holes. He was unnervingly observant, to say the least.

       "Do you need any earrings, boys? You've both had those studs in for quite a while."

       "We're fine." Taeil said shortly. Johnny sighed, almost like an annoyed child.

       "Shame. You two are so boring. Still, that reminds me-" He addressed Y/N directly again. "I can do pretty much any tattoo or piercing you might want, just let me know." Scrunching her gaze, she questioned,

       "Can you do a clean tattoo without proper equipment?" Johnny feigned offense.

       "My, do you have no faith? I happen to have done plenty of tattoos post-disaster. In fact, I've done more than a few for your friends over there. Speaking of which-" he walked over to drape his arms across the boys' shoulders. "Is she planning on matching you all?"

       "Matching?" She asked. Clearly without asking them first, Johnny grabbed both their shirts. Pulling up Taeyong's sleeve and the bottom hem of Taeil's shirt, he revealed very similar tattoos. Each was in a delicate script, a list of some kind. Looking closer, she read them.

Taeyong

Jaehyun

Yuta

WinWin

Haechan

Mark

Doyoung

Taeil

Jungwoo

Johnny

       The final two names were slightly brighter, alluding to the fact that they had been added later. The line through WinWin's name was also a bright shade.

       "Do all of you have these?" She asked, eliciting a nod from both of them.

       "We debated on the line, but decided that it would be appropriate. We'll be using it if, god forbid, anything happens to anyone else. Johnny added himself when we went to get Jungwoo added." Taeyong shot an annoyed look at him. "Still, he helps us out, so I have no right to complain."

       "So, will you be adding this lovely lady to your ranks?" Johnny asked, dropping their clothing from his fists.

       "I'd have to talk to everyone, but maybe if she sticks around." He glanced over. "Have you gotten a tattoo since all this started?" He asked. She shook her head. She was already dreading the idea of having Johnny's dead hand anywhere near her, not to mention a discomfort around needles. She would definitely have to think about it.

       "Well, I'm always ready to ink someone up." He concluded, gesturing to Taeil again. "I've done more than a few of his little art pieces." She had to admit, the tattoos covering his body were very skillful. Everything fell silent for a moment, but she was brought to attention by the clap of a hand.

       "So! To discuss my payment." Johnny smiled, causing her stomach to drop.

       "Payment?" Of course. No one gives anyone anything for free. What kind of payment did a psycho like this take?

       "Yes, honey, payment. I have to survive out here! Generally one earns something through the exchange of goods-" He snaked a hand around her waist, causing her to shiver again. "And/or services."

       "You owe us, Johnny." Taeyong said matter-of-factly, gently brushing him off and dragging Y/N back to where he was standing. "We saved your ass when you were clean out of food and three seconds off from getting eaten alive." He put a hand to his chin thoughtfully.

       "Oh, so you're cashing in for the little lady? He must really like you." He said with a shrug. "That's a shame, baby doll, but you'll be back. I look forward to it- you're intriguing." Leading her away from Johnny's camp, Taeil and Taeyong brought her to the van, facing away from the man. Still, he called,

       "Nice meeting you, sweetheart!"

       "Her name is Y/N." Taeyong shot back. "Have some decency." And with that, they got in and began their drive back home. She watched out the back window as Johnny simply stood, staring as they drove into the distance. He stood stone still until Y/N could no longer make out his figure.

       "I'm sorry if that was strange." Taeyong murmured apologetically. "I know he's not... ideal. Still, he generally has anything we might need, and honestly I don't know if we'd have made it without him. I would have talked to him myself, but he needed your size." She shook her head, trying to seem unfazed.

       "It's fine."

       "You'll only have to go again if you need a tattoo or something, other than that you can stay behind if you'd like." She nodded. She didn't really feel like talking anymore, and both the boys respected that. They had maybe an hour left on their three hour prognosis, so things would be busy when they returned. She wondered if she could find some monotonous task to help with to take her mind off the afternoon's events.

Go to Chapter 4

[evil-overlord-scriptology]

But I Don’t Want to be a Sensei! Pt 5 (ARCHIVED)

Chapters 16 & 17

Chapter 16: A Different Kind of Peach

“No.”

 Naruto pouted, “Awwww, c'mon, sensei! Please? I'll be extra careful!” The blonde little brat batted his eyelashes up at me with an innocent smile. I was not amused, mostly because of the fact that a twelve year old boy could flutter his eyelashes and I couldn't.

 “No.”

 Naruto opened in mouth again, but Haku interrupted him, “Naruto-kun, please don't irritate Yanagi-san. She is still healing.” Zabuza and I snorted at the exact same time. There wasn't much Haku could do to silence Naruto other than hitting him upside the head with a skillet like I was going on doing if the little shit didn't shut his trap.

 Surprisingly enough, Naruto listened to the older teen and edged over to where Sasuke was still resting. It had been three days since the fight on the bridge, or so Peaches said. I had been surprised that I had slept that long, but not so surprised about Sasuke. He had been to the point of complete chakra depletion, just barely alive. Not only was it past the point of no return, but this drain was Sasuke's first brush with chakra exhaustion so it would take a while for his coils to fill back up.

 The second Naruto was out of hearing range I glared up at Zabuza who was sitting against a wall next to my futon, “Bastard.” I snapped.

 He only smirked and crossed his arms, trying to maintain an innocent look like he didn't know what the hell I was talking about. I don't know why he even bothered, he was the only one here who even saw me use the Fan of Wonders so he was the only one who could have told Naruto.

 I bet he did it just to mess with me.

 Damn it, don't tell me this man was another Shisui!

 Haku sighed quietly behind me and cool hands gently grasped my shoulders, “Yanagi-san, please don't talk much. Otherwise the poultice won't stick to your jaw.” He chided as he forced me to slowly lay back down on the futon provided for me.

 The ice user had turned out to be a healer too. But unlike Konohagakure, which had a monopoly on medical ninjutsu thanks to Lady Tsunade, Haku didn't know how to heal with chakra. He simply got by with herbs and backwater remedies, which was what most Kiri nins learned in lieu of medical ninjutsu. It was better than Iwa's 'tough it out, it doesn't hurt' ideology at least.

 I was lucky really that Haku turned out to be what some might call a medic; otherwise I would have to suffer with a fractured jawbone and gaping chest wound all the way back to Konoha since I lacked the talent to heal myself– it was kind of pathetic that I was the best healer in the Uchiha clan, really; and it showed just how bad Uchiha members were at medical ninjutsu.

 The bratling had just better be glad that he never really meant to kill Sasuke, only put him in a temporary state of death. Otherwise I would be the worst patient I could possibly be.

 Peach-boy snickered at my quiet compliance to being manhandled by his student, and I threw Haku's pestle at the grey skinned nuke-nin in retaliation. It infuriated me that he caught it. Haku sighed in a way that made me think he was the adult and we were the children. Honestly I didn't blame him; other than Tsunami, Haku was probably the only mature person in Tazuna's house. Tazuna had been kind enough to offer his home to both my team and the Kiri nuke-nins while we recuperated; he also disregarded the fact that Zabuza and Haku had tried their damnedest to kill him not too long ago. Maybe I had misjudged the man.

 He must be more stupid than I thought.

 “Hey Frizzy-sensei! Sasuke-teme is waking up!” Naruto shouted from the other side of the room. I debated briefly between throwing the mortar that went with the pestle at the loud kid or joining him at my cousin's bedside.

 Haku decided for me when he leveled a stern look at me, “Don't get up, you might reopen your wound.”

 “Which?” I asked, deliberately being obtuse. I had only been wounded at the chest, and Haku's reaction was too hilarious to pass up on.

 Like I predicted, Haku blushed and stuttered. It had turned into a rather entertaining game for me to make Haku blush, almost as fun as irritating Sasuke. The ice user was at that awkward age where talking about the other sex's anatomy was very uncomfortable, and I milked it for all it was worth. The boy's visible eye started drifting to my chest before he abruptly jerked his gaze away and stared vehemently at the poor wall. There was a pause before the teen scrambled to his feet and hurried over to check on Sasuke.

 Or to get away from me, it was hard to tell.

 Which Haku out of my hair, I turned my head to eye the Demon of the Mist, who was trying his hardest not to laugh, “Now what?” I asked. I was really hating not being able to speak much, but at least I could speak again.

 Peach-boy shrugged and didn't answer me.

 Not amused, I reached out and flicked the man's big toe, since it was the closest thing to me. Zabuza gave me a funny look to which I returned with a lopsided grin. Now that we weren't enemies I planned to annoy the man to the best of my abilities. With no Kakashi-nii or Nii-san around, I was feeling a little deprived of annoying people. Team 7 didn't count, they were just traumatized whenever I pulled funny shit.

 After failed for several minutes of trying to get a reaction out of the nuke-nin, I reached to my left where Haku had placed my weapons pouch–why did that brat even touch a foreign ninja's weapons pouch was beyond me–and yanked out a my Fan of Wonders. It surprised me that someone, probably Haku, had thought to retrieve the weapon from the bridge; but I wasn't going to complain. The thing was expensive as hell and I would probably never earn enough money to replace the one I had; Kakashi and Obito had to split the cost of it when they had it commissioned for me when I made jounin rank. Besides, I was attached to the fan I had for obvious reasons. Planting my right elbow into the floor, I managed to push myself into a sitting position with the fan in my lap. I really wanted to just lay on my futon and bother Zabuza, but I had a stupid report to fill out.

 Kill me.

 Zabuza had a strange look on his face as he watched me take my field pen and ink block out of their hiding places. He had already seen the senbon launcher and the kunai blade during our fight, so it was no wonder he looked a little amazed at the fan's many hidden compartments. Peaches even choked a little when I twisted the heel sole of my discarded right sandal and pulled out a blank miniature scroll, the perfect size for a messenger hawk to carry.

 “Is there anything you don't hide?” The nuke-nin drawled as I made the ink.

 I gave him a dry look, “My temper.” I deadpanned then ignored Peach-boy as I hurried to write my post battle report. It had already been three days since the battle, if I waited any longer the Hokage was bound to strangle me for mimicking my brothers' habitual laziness.

 'Yellow Update

 Mission status: Complete

 Team: Genin Team 7

 Report: Team encountered A-class nuke-nin, Momochi Zabuza at Destination, with Identified Ally: Yuki Haku. Battle ensued, Team Leader heavily injured: Fractured Jawbone and Wound to Chest. Genin A heavily injured: Temporary Death State and Chakra Depletion. Genin A activated Kekke Genkai, will require Clan Guidance upon Return. Genin B has temporarily Accessed S-Ranked Secret; unknown to all members of Team. Battle concluded with No Deaths in either Party. Deaths of Mercenaries and Gang Leader: Gatou. Temporary Truce with A-class nuke-nin, Momochi Zabuza and Ally. Full Report Due upon Team's Return. Will attempt to solve remaining problem with Diplomacy.'

 I waved the unbound scroll in the air like a little ribbon to dry the ink faster, before rolling it up and painting two bands around the outside, marking it as Moderate Priority. The report was only a post battle report and didn't require the immediate attention of the Hokage; but still, Sasuke's activation of the Sharingan, Naruto's use of the red chakra, and Zabuza's change of heart were all important events that the Hokage should know about before Team 7 made it back home. Especially since he would have to inform the Uchiha clan about Sasuke.

 I was about to tie up the problem with Gatou too when Haku found his courage again and descended on me like a vengeful Ice Princess.

 Peach-boy was no help at all.

 vvv

 Another three weeks went by as we all waited for the bridge to be completed and for Sasuke to regain his strength to move out. The Hokage had sent back a response via my messenger hawk that Zabuza and Haku would accompany us to Konoha, not as prisoners but to work out a deal with the Hokage. I had used my sharingan and a pilfered slip of paper with Gatou's writing on it to forge a will stating that the deceased man's entire fortune went to Zabuza; to give the Kiri nuke-nin an excuse and a place to stay out of trouble. It was for Konoha's benefit; we would lose a customer, but gain an ally and a foothold against Kirigakure if the village ever needed it. After all, a shinobi never wasted an opportunity to plan ahead.

 Unless you were a numskull like Naruto.

 “No, no, no! I can't find it, it's gone!” Naruto cried as he rifled through his mission's pack with desperation to find something. Haku and Hinata were the only ones to watch the brat panic in genuine concern while Sasuke just glared at Haku whenever he thought no one was looking. Zabuza and I straight up did not care.

 “N-Naruto-kun... what are you looking for?” Hinata asked. She had been acting strangely ever since the fight and I fully intended to wring it out of her the second we got home. Or possibly throw her at Obito and let Mr. Feelings deal with the Hyuuga heiress since I already failed at the emotional buddy-buddy thing.

 At least she wasn't stuttering much anymore.

 Naruto groaned and jammed his stubby little finger into his hair in frustration, “Teuchi gave me a coupon for one free order of ramen and I know I had it on me!” I groaned quietly and pinched my nose. I should have known that this was about damn ramen. I was seriously contemplating on sending Naruto to therapy over his addiction to ramen; but I was sure Kushina would roll over in her grave if I did.

 Actually, knowing her, she'd just haunt my ass from the afterlife.

 I shuddered at the possibility and dropped the thought. The last thing I needed was Naruto's mother coming after me as a ghost. She had been scary enough alive and I didn't want to suffer through another concussion courtesy of a dead Uzumaki woman.

 Zabuza shot me a curious look, which I pointedly ignored. I didn't wish to add insanity to the list of things Zabuza thought about me.

 My sensei instincts kicked in by then and I looked up to see Naruto starting to run off, “Hey! Get your ass back here!” I snapped. There wasn't time for this; the Hokage expected us back in a week and I sure as hell wasn't going to let something as stupid as a misplaced coupon delay our return any further.

 “I'll be right back, I swear!” Naruto called over his shoulder. He was gone in a flash, probably thinking that I was going to chase him. I swear that kid was learning to quickly on how to evade my ire, I had a feeling that I was becoming predictable. And a ninja often created very bizarre situations just so they lost their predictability.

 Obito-nii was going to suffer from a butt load of pranks when I got home.

 Haku started after my brat, “I'll get him.” He said calmly before zipping off.

 I pursed my lips and grabbed Sasuke by his Uchiha collar as he began to walk in the opposite direction of Naruto and Haku, “You're going after them.”

 My cousin gave me a very teenager look, “Are you serious?” If I didn't know better, I would say he was whining. In the back of my mind, I groaned. Great, now Sasuke was getting to the teenage rebellion stage and Naruto would likely follow soon. There was going to be a lot of head bashing in their future if they didn't pass through the stage quickly.

 “Yes.” I deadpanned and shoved him back towards the Land of Waves. The boy heaved a sigh and started walking slowly back the way we came. My hand twitched and I came this close to finishing what Haku started. The damn brat was being difficult on purpose!

 Once the damn little cocky Uchiha prince of the brats was gone, Peach-boy turned to me, “You still don't trust us.” It wasn't a question.

 I scoffed, “I trust Haku, at least when it comes to Naruto. It's you I don't trust.”

 “When why-”

 “Why did I send Sasuke after the other two boys?” I finished from him. I shrugged, “Have you seen the was Sasuke glares at Haku? I don't want to deal with that drama for the rest of the week. They can all work out their problems away from me. I'm their sensei, not a damn therapist. Now come along, Hinata, if I remember correctly there's a tea shop around here somewhere.” I didn't leave the Hyuuga any choice as I grabbed her wrist and forcibly dragged her along. I could hear Zabuza sighing then fell in step beside me without a word.

 vvv 3rd POV~ Haku vvv

 “Naruto-san, please. Yanagi-san and Zabuza-sama are waiting for us. Yanagi-san is already upset, let us not anger her more.” Haku asked as he caught up to Naruto. Naruto didn't slow down in his tree jumping though.

 Naruto-san landed on a branch and was about to push off again when a barrage of kunai knives perforated the poor innocent tree limp. Naruto yelled in surprise then followed the trajectory to where Sasuke stood upside down on a branch twenty feet higher than Naruto's.

 “Hey, what's the big idea?! Watch were you're throwing those things, teme!” Naruto shouted as he waved his fist around at his teammate. Haku resolutely decided that this was a team conflict and stayed silent. He had already witnessed the odd dynamics of the dysfunctional Team 7 and didn't wish to be sucked further in to their insanity.

 Sasuke-san didn't sound very amused, “That's payback for not being a team player. You've wasted enough of our time already, let's head back. Yanagi-itoko is pissed.”

 Naruto slumped a little and Haku was mildly surprised that he was already giving in. During one of the many dinners that Yanagi-san practically twisted arms, particularly Zabuza-sama's, to make sure everyone was present, Naruto-san had declared his own nindo way: that he would never give up no matter what. The way the preteen had said it made Haku think Naruto would never stop, not even for the most trivial matters.

 “Okay, I get it.” Sasuke scoffed in victory, but it proved to be premature, “I will... right after I take care of my business!” Naruto-san exclaimed and leaped under Sasuke-san. Naruto patted his rear end in a very immature manner, “Like I'd ever take orders from you, bone-head!” He called to Sasuke, who looked a little bewildered.

 Haku sighed when Sasuke-san shot after his teammate. He had planned to return to Zabuza-sama now that Yanagi-san had sent Sasuke-san after Naruto, but it looked to be he was going to have to go after them and act as the mediator between the two stubborn genin.

 It didn't take long for the three of them to reach the little town where Gatou had been killed. Haku followed after the two younger boys from a short distance, just beyond hearing range. He had stopped for a moment earlier to put on his cracked pseudo hunter-nin mask to hid his burn scars and hadn't bothered to regain the distance it had cost him; he wasn't trying to stop Naruto like Sasuke-san was. Haku saw no need to since they were already in the town, it would just be better for all of them if Naruto-san finished his business and went back willingly. Why Sasuke didn't see that was beyond the Kiri nuke-nin.

 There was a poof of smoke that indicated the use of a jutsu and Haku nearly fell off the roof when he saw that Naruto had transformed into a busty naked girl with only scant puffs of chakra smoke to cover her...

 Haku blushed.

 Yanagi-san had already exploited Haku's aversion to the awkward topic of women anatomy ever since she regained her ability to speak. Zabuza-sama had been no help at all since he found the whole thing amusing. Haku had a sneaking suspicion that Zabuza had intentionally told Yanagi about Haku's dislike of the topic to get back at him for ignoring his master those first three days when Yanagi-san had been unconscious. Haku would have probably continued avoiding Zabuza-sama if Yanagi hadn't, almost literally, bashed their heads together and flat out told them what the other was feelings about Haku's near death.

 For such a surly woman, she did think of others... sometimes.

 While Haku had been trying to collect his dazed thoughts, Sasuke-san thankfully broke the transformation jutsu and had tied Naruto-san up with ninja wire. Haku quickly leaped the rest of the way until he was crouching on the roof directly above the Konoha genin.

 “Just give it up would you?” Sasuke-san asked in that emotionless, slightly condescending, voice he often used when around Naruto. Haku watched the Uchiha boy curiously. They were already in town, to drag Naruto-san back now would be just a waste of time. It was better to let the blonde boy get his coupon and head back, that way they killed two birds with one stone. Right?

Another voice spoke, “Hey! What are you two doing here?” The three boys looked at the speaker. Tazuna-san stood in front of Naruto, looking as if he were about to go on another journey, if the pack on his back was anything to go by. Now that the Great Naruto Bridge was finished, Tazuna would likely be raking in more commissions to build bridges, so it was no surprise to Haku. In fact, if Zabuza-sama decided to stay in the Land of Waves they would probably be escorting Tazuna-san around a lot. Kind of ironic, at least to Haku.

 Naruto brightened at the sight of his team's former employer, “Tazuna-oji! Talk about perfect timing!” He tried to move, but Sasuke jerked on his 'leash', “Ya see I left something at your place.”

 Tazuna-san leaned down so he was closer to Naruto's level, “Wait, let me guess. A little slip of paper?” Naruto nodded happily. “Inari-chan wanted to make sure you had so he ran off a little while ago to take it to you.” Haku mentally winced at that. If Inari-san caught up to the rest of their group, he would have to face Yanagi-san. During their time at Tazuna's house, Haku got the instinct impression that Inari was scared of Yanagi. Knowing the jounin, it probably wasn't unfounded.

 Really, Yanagi-san was just like Zabuza-sama.

 Haku leaped from the roof, surprising Tazuna-san, “Come on. Let us head back, Naruto-san. Maybe we'll come across Inari-san.” He suggested quietly. Naruto seemed to cheer up at the thought but Sasuke-san narrowed his dark eyes at Haku. Haku immediately backed away, he knew that Sasuke-san was touchy about the subject of his defeat and Haku had no intention on broaching the topic until Sasuke-san was more calm, if ever. Haku didn't like conflict of any kind, not even verbally.

 After a few tense seconds of silence, Sasuke-san reached down and cut the ninja wire from Naruto. He turned away and stuffed his hands in his pockets, “Let's go.” He ordered flatly before walking back to the way they came. Naruto-san shot to his feet, dusting off his orange jumpsuit and ran off after his teammate, pausing just briefly to wave good-bye to Tazuna. Haku watched the two genin go with fatigue before tiredly wondering after them. In the scant three weeks he had known Team 7 he had already seen more drama than the entirety of his time with Zabuza-sama.

 Haku seriously doubted he was going to survive the rest of the week with them.

 “Inari! Hey Inari!” Naruto-san was calling as the three of them walked calmly back up the road that they were taking back to Konoha. Naruto was looking left and right, trying to peer into foliage for the little boy. Sasuke-san and Haku walked flanked him, Haku was trying to help Naruto look while Sasuke-san just walked with his hands folded behind his head, he apparently did not wish to help. Haku did not blame him though. Sasuke-san didn't seem like the person to help unless it benefited him. He acted like a true shinobi, unlike Haku who was too soft.

 Naruto-san stopped and planted his fists on his hips, “Huh, I was sure Inari would be down this way...” He mumbled to himself. Haku startled when Naruto suddenly twisted around and pointed an accusing finger to the casual Sasuke-san leaning against a nearby tree. “Hey Sasuke! Get over here and help me look too, would ya?!”

 Sasuke turned his nose in the air, “Listen, Inari when looking for you. This doesn't involve me.” He said with mild contempt. Haku tilted his head to look at the younger dark haired boy. He had often heard that teenagers were rebellious, but he never had been able to witness it himself since he was always around Zabuza-sama who avoided other kids like the plague. He wondered mildly if this was what those people meant.

 Naruto gritted his teeth, “Ah c'mon! Whatever happened to teamwork, huh?!”

 “That's the only reason I'm here with you now, show some gratitude, loser.”

 Haku could hear Naruto's teeth gritting from a few feet away and he winced at the sound. “I'll. Show. You. Gratitude.” Naruto seethed as he stomped off into the woods, punctuating each word with a footstep.

 Haku wanted to comment but felt that it wasn't his place. Besides, Sasuke-san did not seem to like him and Naruto-san didn't look to be in the mood to hear advice from anyone.

 “Hey, where are you going?” Sasuke questioned as he watched his hot headed teammate stomp away.

 “Shut up! I need to go take a leak!” Haku grimaced at Naruto's uncouth manner. It was at times like this that Naruto reminded Haku of the Demon Brothers Zabuza-sama employed. Haku rarely used the word 'dislike', but he did not like those chūnin nuke-nins that followed Zabuza-sama around like unwanted filth.

 Naruto-san bent down to grab something and wondered aloud, “What's my ramen coupon doing out here?” That seemed to prick Sasuke's interest as the other boy came to look over Naruto's shoulder. Haku joined them a little later, but didn't get to close. He didn't feel like he belonged here, he almost felt like a babysitter really.

 Sasuke jerked, seeing something that Haku could not, “Wait a second, look there.” He pointed to the forest floor in front of the duo. Haku looked over the boys' shoulder and saw many footprints in the area. Some big and some... childlike. It wasn't hard to figure out that Inari, and possibly a few friends, had been kidnapped.

 Haku stepped up so he was Naruto's other side, “A fight. Likely a few thugs got a way and decided to take a cowards form of revenge.” He spoke for the first time since they had gone in search of Inari-san.

 There was only a moment's warning before the clouds that had been looming in the sky all day broke and poured their load down on all three of the boys.

 vvv Normal POV vvv

 “Just in time.” I commented as we ducked under the tea shop awning just as the deluge began. I was glad, I didn't have to worry about my hair frizzing up any more than normal. It was bad enough that Naruto called me 'Frizzy-sensei' I didn't want to give anyone else a reason to call me that. The hostess smiled at the three of us and waved us to sit down on the long bench in front before she bowed to us and asked for our orders.

 I rambled off mine and Hinata's, knowing that the little Hyuuga heiress probably wouldn't have it in her to speak up, and leaned back so Peaches could do the same; I was mildly astonished that he ordered water. When the old lady ducked back into the tiny shop, I turned to give Zabuza a look, “Are Kiri nin so obsessed with water they drink it everywhere?” I asked incredulously.

 Peach-boy gave me a glare that could evaporate the rain water off my clothes, “No.”

 I was not letting him get away with that for an answer. I didn't like talking to people much, but I hated awkward silenced even worse. “We're at a tea shop it's generally accepted that people drink tea here.” I pointed out slowly.

 For a moment, I thought Zabuza might actually try and hit me. If he did, then Zabuza vs. Yanagi Round Three would commence. “I don't like tea.” He snapped. Seriously, this guy was never social unless Haku was around and even then it was still a 50/50 chance.

 Now Hinata was giving Zabuza a look. People from Konoha practically lived on tea, especially those living in more traditional clans like Hinata and I. In Konoha, someone saying they didn't like tea was like Naruto suddenly declaring that he detested ramen and became a nuke-nin because the Hokage refused to outlaw it.

 Peachy didn't miss our shared horrified looks. He glare turned defensive and he looked away with a harrumph, mumbling something about stewed leaf water and pesky women. I smirked.

 Yanagi: 17 Zabuza: 12

 Another costumer ducked under the tea shop awning and flapped their soaked leather coat out, spraying the three of us in a fine cold spray, but he didn't remove his hood. Suspicious. Zabuza released a hissed breath and glared at the newcomer out of the corner of his eye. I pretended to ignore them as the lady came out sporting trays with our orders and came to take the order of the new costumer. Hinata gingerly took her cup of hot tea while I popped a stick of sweet dango in my mouth. Even from only two seats away, I could barely hear the newcomer as they spoke with the hostess and that only raised my suspicions.

 Without thinking about it, I nudged Zabuza and handed him his wimpy glass of water to excuse the action. In return he nodded in acknowledgment as he pulled down a few of his bandages to reveal his mouth and took a casual sip of water. The whole exchange was smooth and nothing was suspicious about it. Strange that only a month ago we were enemies and now we were working together as if we had been for years. But I guess being under the same roof for nearly three weeks did that to a group of enemies-turned-allies.

 “So when do you think those brats will get back?” I asked, to keep in character. It would seem suspicious to the tea lady, and possibly the newcomer if he had been watching us before, if we all just fell silent.

 Zabuza grunted and said nothing.

 I rolled my eyes, and not for show either. This man was just as annoying as Obito-nii, only in the opposite way. “Might as well be talking to myself.” I grumbled and popped another dumpling in my mouth, taking all my anger out on it by chewing the poor thing. My anger only elevated when I saw Zabuza's smirk before he brought his water to his lips.

 Soon the dango was all gone, eaten by myself really. Zabuza didn't like sweets apparently and Hinata said she wasn't hungry, though I suspected she only said that to please me. I would have forced her to eat one so she wouldn't be hungry, but decided against it to teach her another hidden lesson. Hinata needed to stop being a people pleaser, in the world of shinobi people would take advantage of her faster than she could blink. The Hyuuga needed to grow a little backbone and courage, otherwise everyone would walk over her more times than a welcome mat. I was sure her father already took advantage of her soft nature and it wouldn't be long before she broke if nothing was done.

 The newcomer had yet to take his hood off. Zabuza and I had already written him off as an enemy, but now Hinata was starting to get the drift. Though she was a green genin and not all the confident, I knew that Hinata was the most observant on out of my trio of brats. Having grown up in the Hyuuga clan and having a functioning Byakugan, Hinata had an eye for detail. A Hyuuga could look at a scene for three seconds, without their Kekke Genkai activated, and rattle back immediately everything in perfect detail. There was a reason why they were the ones assigned the missions that entailed guarding someone or finding lost items. So it was no surprise to me when Hinata began stiffening. Hurriedly I nudged her in the side so not to alert the mystery man.

 “Oi, wanna split a plate of dango? I'm still hungry, but I don't think I can eat all of it this time.” I said easily as I shot a warning look at my student. Hinata luckily caught on to it and nodded before looking down at her lap. Leaning back a little, I waved to the tea shop owner from the large window put behind the bench for that purpose. She nodded at me to show she acknowledged me and continued make the stranger's order.

 vvv 3rd POV~Haku vvv

 “Eh?! Inari did what?!” Naruto-san practically shrieked when Inari's friends told him what happened. Sasuke now looked concerned instead of indifferent about the whole thing. Though, Haku believed that Sasuke-san had been concerned ever since they found the signs of a fight, he was just showing that emotion now instead of suppressing it like he normally did.

 Haku stepped in before Naruto-san could question the obviously traumatized kids further, “Naruto-san, we must go. I know these men, if they find Inari-san...” He trailed off, not wishing to go into detail. Not only were there young kids present, but Sasuke and Naruto were still younger than him and obviously fresh genin. He doubted they had witnessed the true horrors of reality yet. To them everything was still good versus bad; with the bad losing horribly and the good getting away with no permanent injuries.

 Sasuke-san, however, seemed to have a notion of just how bad the situation was for he grabbed Naruto by the arm. “Go back and warn the town.” He ordered the kids before tugging his teammate along into a run. Haku zipped ahead of them. He had been trained as a hunter-nin before Zabuza-sama and he defected from Kirigakure, he was an expert tracker and following after thugs stupid enough to have marked a clear path with cuts in trees was probably the easiest thing he ever did.

 It was quick work finding Inari-san in the river, struggling to make it to shore, and with Naruto-san's numerous shadow clones, it was even easier work to pull him out. Haku felt almost useless standing there next to a line of Narutos and watching as the main Naruto struggled to grab Inari-san's hand. As soon as he had him, Naruto leaped out of the water and set Inari down.

 Immediately Haku scanned Inari-san for any obvious injures, but found none. The Kiri nuke-nin was confused, if Inari wasn't injured then why had he been in the river? He had thought that the thugs of Gatou had thrown him over a cliff to watch him drown, but by all appearances Inari looked as if he had jumped willingly.

 Inari-san was staring at Naruto in a daze. He looked at Sasuke, then at Haku and finally back at Naruto, “Why are you here? How come?” He asked.

 Naruto-san gave Inari his trademark, earsplitting grin, “How come? Cuz of you! You did an awesome job, your friends were able to escape and warn us what happened!”

 “The guys are okay?” Inari asked, but before any of the boys could answer, the sound of many footsteps came from their right. All of them turned to see the remainder of Gatou's thugs, a very small remainder, trotting up with the two filthy right hand men of Gatou leading them. Haku narrowed his eyes behind his mask. He did not like those two for trying to kill Zabuza-sama when he was healing from his first fight with Yanagi-san. The only person he hated more than those two had been Gatou himself. And with Gatou out of the way...

 If Haku liked killing, he might say he was eager to kill those two.

 The crowd came to a stop and one of them, the taller tattooed leader with a cutting fetish accused, accused “You're the brats from the Hidden Leaf!”

 The second leader, the one with the strange jacket and purple stripes under his eyes, yanked out his sword as if it were just a piece of metal and not an extension of his arm, “You've gotta lot of nerve coming back here.” Naruto and Sasuke-san both glared and tensed, ready for battle, but so far no one made a move. The two leaders hadn't seen how the battle of the bridge had turned out with Naruto-san creating thousands of shadow clones and the village showing up to take back their home; but the rest of the thugs had and they knew that Naruto wasn't just any ordinary kid.

 “It's just two kids you guys, go get them!” The second leader shouted when none of his minions immediately ran forward. As if they had been the magic words, the crowd of thugs charged forwards with pathetic battle cries. Sasuke immediately grabbed Inari and jumped back. Haku was glad that Sasuke wouldn't let something like pride put someone else in danger. Until now, the ice user had been worried if that would be a major problem for someone as competitive as Sasuke-san.

 Naruto scoffed, “So, you think you can out number me, do ya?” He asked rhetorically and made his strange hand sign. Multiple Narutos popped back into existence and Haku took a moment to admire the younger kid's stamina. Zabuza-sama had once told him that the shadow clone technique was very high in chakra requirement; that Naruto was able to use the Kagebushin Jutsu twice in so little time and still create more than thirty was something extraordinary.

 Haku waited until Sasuke-san had Inari safely out of the way before joining the fight. Luckily by that time some of the Naruto clones had already been popped and so a nice smoke, much like the Hidden Mist Jutsu, permeated the area. Perfect. Pulling out senbon in each hand, Haku began dancing among the thugs, striking out like a snake and putting anyone he hit in a temporary death state. Even if these men had been willingly with Gatou and not just in it for the money like Zabuza-sama and Haku had been, Haku would not kill them unless they forced his hand.

 Now that Zabuza-sama had given up on his dream and started a more peaceful one, Haku hoped he would never have to kill again.

 vvv Normal POV vvv

 I growled and gnashed my teeth, damn this rain! It was making everything cold and I hated the cold! “It's been hours since they went back, how long does it take for them to find one damn coupon?!” I hissed.

 Peaches shrugged, “Haku will find it even if your pests can't.” Really? He was still doing the whole fangirling thing?

 Ignoring his student posturing for now, I tugged at my ponytail and glared at the stranger still sitting at the end of the tea shop bench. I didn't care if it would alert him or not, I was pissed because he was here and I couldn't pop a shadow clone off to go see what the hell those trio of brats were doing.

 Peach-boy landed an elbow in my ribs, making me grunt. He leaned over and hissed in my ear, “Don't do anything stupid.” Damn it, how did this guy get to be so good at reading my mind in the few weeks we hadn't been trying to kill each other? My own brother, who raised me, wasn't as good a mind reader as Peachy was.

 “Elbow me again, Peach-boy, and I'll break your arm off and shove it up your ass.” I threatened. I heard Hinata whimper slightly behind me and shift away. I really didn't blame her. Hinata was a genin with two high classed jounin who weren't in a very good mood at all; one of which was an infamous nuke-nin who had only recently turned 'good' and the other was from an infamous clan known for their anger induced fights and rather horrifying genjutsu.

 My comment finally seemed to get the stranger's attention, who had, until recently, seemed quite content to act as if we didn't exist. “Interesting...” He said lowly. Zabuza and I both whipped around to glare at him in sync. This was it, most likely the hooded stranger would attack and I could take my pent up anger out on him and bash his brains in. I almost shivered in excitement.

 The hood turned a little, giving me the impression that the man might be looking at us out of the corner of his eye, “I thought you were a family, guess your not.”

 Hinata eeped behind me while Peaches and I exchanged dry looks. How this idiot stranger came to such a conclusion, or how he proved himself wrong, I did not wish to know. At all. Ever. Seriously, all three of us were wearing our haiti-ate, of two different villages no less, and Zabuza was lugging around Kubikiribōchō on his back. All we lacked was a sign that said WE ARE SHINOBI AND WILL KICK YOUR ASS. How this idiot thought we might possibly be a family was beyond me. Of course, he could be trying to get a raise out of us. But even then it wouldn't work. Shinobi had control over their emotions, most of the time, and trying to make a ninja blush was about the hardest thing to do and the most clichéd.

 “And I think you're an idiot, turns out I'm right.” I retorted. I was already irritated with my little brats and this never ending rain. Being associated to Peach-bastard in a positive manner was just the icing on the shit cake of my day. We could be out of the damn Wave Country already if Naruto hadn't gone after his damn ramen coupon!

 I swear I was going to kill the brat with training when we got back to Konoha. He'd never ask for another mission like this ever again.

 Unfortunately the hooded man seemed to find amusement in my statement and just laughed. My right eye started twitching then and I was contemplating bodily harm when the source of my ire finally decided to show their nasty little faces. I turned my glare on all three boys when they came up to the tea shop, completely soaked. Naruto and Sasuke paled while Haku stiffened. He might have paled too, but he was strangely wearing his mask. After we had first left the town, Haku had taken the mask off and hadn't put it back on since.

 No matter, he was dead in a few minutes anyway.

 I inspected the other two brats and found small scrapes and specks of blood on their clothing. I hung my head with a long suffering groan. Of course, they would get into some dramatic fight with random enemies. Team 7 was unlucky enough to land a falsely labeled A-rank mission on their first 'C-rank' mission, so why not add more drama to it already?!

 Damn karma demons. Why was I the one stuck with the unluckiest team on earth?

 Sasuke seemed to sense my exasperation for he opened his mouth, no doubt to report, but I just held up a hand, “I do not want to know. You little bastards are filling out your own paperwork this time.” I was not going to be doing paperwork over an extra mission that I didn't even participate in! Filling out paperwork on additional missions that didn't follow the primary objective were a pain in the ass to fill out, more so than normal.

 Naruto and Sasuke shrunk back behind Haku, who seemed to be eying the hooded stranger still sitting quietly off to the side. Zabuza laid money down for our food, which was surprising because I was sure he'd make me pay for what Hinata and I ordered. Peach-boy had struck me to be a big penny-pincher; but I wasn't going to complain if he proved me wrong. More money for me.

 Haku removed his mask to speak, but before a single syllable could leave his mouth, the stranger attacked. Immediately all of us reacted and reached for our nearest weapons, but didn't get the chance to attack. Mostly because we were all staring at the stranger hugging Haku. Not strangling. Not holding him hostage. Not even acting aggressive.

 Hugging.

 Zabuza and I exchanged confused looks. We had probably seen a lot of strange things in our careers, but a total stranger hugging a shinobi scarred by angry red burn marks had to be at least in the top five of most bizarre.

 And yes, this incident beat the time I had to accompany a nobleman's daughter to a local bathhouse, as the 'friend of the day', only to have her almost abducted by her ex-sumo-wrestler ex-boyfriend. Somehow there was also a chicken involved.

 “Oh you poor baby! Poor child! Who did this to you?” The man asked in an odd squeaky voice. His voice was still deep but it rose several octaves at the end of every sentence, almost as if he were talking in questions. Poor Haku looked bewildered and shot us pleading looks from his prison. I seriously doubted Obito, who was internationally known for his infiltration and evasion skills, could get out of that hug.

 “Eh?! Just who are you?” Naruto shouted, pointing a finger at the stranger.

 The man seemed to realize he had an audience, even the damn tea lady had come out of her shop to stare at him. He laughed sheepishly and put Haku back down on the ground, but didn't release the poor kid, “Oh... my name is Kurosawa Momoko.” The person pushed back their hood to reveal a pair of upturned eyes, much like Naruto's, and a mess of short chocolate brown hair. A scar, a nick really, slanted over Momoko's cheekbone and curved downwards towards his jaw like a sideways hook; that alone was enough to identify him as who he said he was.

 I blinked, Zabuza facepalmed and Haku blanched under his burn marks. Team 7 looked between the three of us confused, not understanding anything going on but I couldn't blame their ignorance for that. They were fresh from the Academy and barely knew what a nuke-nin was. Kurosawa Momoko was an infamous mercenary who was responsible for the fall of some country no one remembered anymore more than a decade ago. He... She got her name 'Nariagari Naginata' for the legend of starting several civil wars by using only her naginata and pepper spray.

 All for the fun of it.

 “Last the rumors had it you were in Grass Country causing trouble.” I said dryly.

 Momoko laughed and waved a hand, “I've retired from that business, dearie,” I twitched at the endearment, “there's no fun in it anymore. I got my fill of fighting, now I just wonder the world. I'm glad I did too! Cuz I wouldn't have met this cutie otherwise!” The older woman squeezed an extra ten years out of Haku.

 Peach-boy wasn't looking amused, “Release him.” He snarled. I pursed my lips and wondered if I should stop Zabuza before he did anything rash. It wasn't like he couldn't handle himself against Momoko; for all her skill, she wasn't a ninja and was thus as a great disadvantage, but killing someone just because she was touching his student was a little... well, stupid. Not that I could really blame Peaches for being overprotective, I'll admit that I was slightly overprotective of Sasuke since he had almost died.

 Momoko gave Zabuza a shit-eating grin that dared him to try something and my respect for her went up a little. Not many people could grin cheekily at a pissed off shinobi with a big ass sword and sharp, predatory teeth bared. “Sorry, hon, no can do.” From the look on Zabuza's face, I'd say he wasn't used to people telling him no.

 Though I found the encounter amusing now that I knew that Momoko wouldn't be a threat to us, I was still frustrated. I wanted to go home not stand around in front of some random tea shop in Wave Country and watching an infamous mercenary butt heads with an equally infamous nuke-nin.

 I snagged Naruto's collar and began dragging him away, “Duckass and Hinata, we're going. Those three can work their own problems out.” I ordered. I was so done with solving other people's problems, if I wasn't getting paid for it I wasn't going to lift a damn finger to help. My two slightly smarter students immediately fell in step behind me while Naruto struggled to break my grip on his jumpsuit, squawking with indignity.

 An hour later when Zabuza and Haku finally caught up to us, neither looking remotely pleased with me, I noticed that Momoko was still firmly attached to Haku. That's when I started laughing and didn't stop until set up camp. Even then I would occasionally start snickering again whenever I glanced over at Ice Princess and his involuntarily new mercenary friend.

 vvv

 Our little motley group made it back to Konoha two days behind schedule, and thus earning me a rather stern lecture from the Hokage about picking up my brother's worst habits. Team 7 made our mission's report, as well as Sasuke and Naruto's side mission, then stepped aside and let Peach-boy and Ice Princess lay out a rough plan on what they intended to do now that they weren't 'bad guys' anymore. Apparently they were planning on using Gatou's money to start something like the Academy, to teach the younger generations how to protect themselves properly. The Land of Waves was no where near powerful or wealthy enough to be a shinobi nation, but they wouldn't be at the mercy of people like Gatou anymore.

 Though half of his face was covered up again with bandages, I swore I could see Zabuza's eyes light up in surprise and respect for the Hokage when the old man suggested he meet with one of the Nara to discuss further development on the plans. Apparently that thing just wasn't done.

 Welcome to Konoha, Peach-boy. And get used to our bizarre flavor of insanity.

 As soon as both the verbal and written reports were done, which took two extra hours since I had to teach my brats the proper way to write a report, the six of us were released back into the dying sunlight and into Momoko's waiting arms–at least for Haku.

 I, on the other hand, was apprehended by someone else entirely.

 “Imoto!”

 “Damn it, let go of me Nii-san, before I crack your skull open with a blunt spoon!”

 Obito dropped me, knowing I would at least try to attempt my threat if I thought he didn't believe me. I landed in a pile at his feet and glared up at Nii-san from my spot on the ground. Obito grinned back, “I heard ya had fun. Oh, and Rin-chan as a few choice words for you when she sees you next.” I paled at that. Rin was probably the only medic I really trusted, but she took after Kushina and her hero, Senju Tsunade, too much. If she had somehow found out about the injuries I sustained during the mission...

 I gulped. The only thing I feared the most was Rin when she was pissed off about my medical state.

 Even Kakashi was scared of her then, and he feared nothing. Or so he said.

 “Come on, Haku, we should get your burns looked at.” I started and reached out to grab Haku's arm. I was totally using the kid as a meat shield from Obito's kunoichi teammate.

 Unfortunately Zabuza seemed to catch onto my plan and moved Haku, and by association Momoko, out of my reach. The glint in his eyes told me he meant to do it on purpose, and he fully intended to see me suffer. I was sorely tempted to sic my brother on him in retaliation.

 “Oi! Who the hell are you?!” Obito barked when his attention was drawn to the two Kiri nuke-nins and one clingy retired mercenary.

 Screw it, I was setting Nii-san on Zabuza anyway, just for the hell of it.

 Flashing Zabuza a sneer, I turned to Obito, “Nii-san, this is Momochi Zabuza... and friends.” My brother's goofy aura that he seemed to always emanate faded and his dark gaze turned steely. I always loved watching people around my brother when he went from an idiot to the hardened war veteran he rarely showed. It was a sadistic joy, but I reveled in their looks of horror and fright. I snickered when my team and even Haku inched a little away from the older Uchiha. Zabuza and Momoko didn't look all that bothered though.

 Now for the icing on the cake.

 “And he's the one who injured me.” I added cheerfully, like the helpful little sister I was. Quickly, to be just as helpful, I turned to Zabuza and introduced my brother, just in case he didn't already know him, “Peaches, this is my Nii-san, Uchiha Obito. Internationally known as the Uchiha Phantom or the Ghost of Konoha.”

 Wow, I never thought anyone could go white so fast.

 Momoko was giving me a reassessing look, apparently she approved of my throwing Zabuza to the wolves. I only smirked at the older woman and winked. I fully intended to take responsibility for this. If there was one thing I wanted to see in my life it was Obito butting heads with Zabuza, even if I had to throw them at each other myself!

 Unfortunately Kakashi had to ruin it all.

 “Obito, Rin said that you're to drag Yanagi to her no matter what. Stop glaring at grouchy minnows and do what you're told before she turns her ire on you.” Kakashi commented drily as he popped into existence with the help of a white puff of cloud beside Obito, his standard perverted orange book in hand, “I'll take care of the pest.” He added belatedly and with much venom.

 “Grouchy what?!”

 Nii-san forgot his anger with Zabuza, or at least he ignored it, and snagged me by the arm. “Let's go imoto, before Rin-chan really gets pissed off.” I struggled in his grip, but there was no escaping an escape artist like him. It looked like I was resigned to the fate of being dragged away to meet my doom.

 Just before Obito could walk away, Kakashi said nonchalantly, “By the way, she wanted to see Team 7 and Momochi's brat too.”

 Yes! There was justice in the world!

  Chapter 17: Welcome… Home?

Rin had generously decided to forgo trying to force me into a hospital and just told Obito to bring me, and by result everyone I had returned with, to Obito's and my house. Like my brother, I had a major phobia about hospitals more so than the normal shinobi, so Rin knew that the only way she could get me there was if Obito knocked me unconscious first. And I would not be happy if I woke up there. Our small entourage marched straight through the Uchiha entrance gates with suspicious looks from the guards. The three of us Uchiha weren't paid any mind, nor was Kakashi who was practically an Uchiha in all but name and looks; but Hinata, Naruto and Zabuza received the brunt of every Uchiha member's narrow gaze. Whenever I returned their glares tenfold each person quickly found something far more interesting than the Hyuuga heiress, the Kyuubi brat, and a famous nuke-nin walking around.

 I was the only one who got to glare at them and get away with it!

 I nearly cried in despair when I saw the crowd waiting around the house. Not only had Rin converged on the house, but Sasuke's entire family and Shisui as well. Itachi and Mikoto-oba I didn't mind, Fugaku could go to hell, and Shisui would most likely gang up on me with Zabuza if they were introduced.

 Just end my misery now.

 Rin descended on me before I could punch Nii-san for not warning me about my imminent doom, “Yanagi-chan! I've told you a million times, a million times, that your body can't withstand so much chakra exhaustion! You're going to kill yourself if you keep doing this!” For such a small woman, she had a large voice. No doubt earned from being the kunoichi teammate of two hardheaded stubborn mules commonly known as Kakashi and Obito. “And don't you dare tell me it's part of a shinobi's job like you did last time, this is the eighth mission where you suffered from it! I know you have above average chakra reserves, so how the hell do you manage eight missions in three months?! The expected amount for your chakra levels is only three missions in a year, a year do you hear me?! Not only that, but Obito-kun tells me you passed out from chakra exhaustion twice during your last mission! Well, what have you to say for yourself?!”

 “Sorry mom.”

 In a joint effort, I received three smacks upside the head from all members of Team Minato for my snide remark. I sighed under my breath and idly rubbed my abused head as Kakashi and Obito joined in Rin's lecturing. Sometimes I felt like I had three mothers instead of two brothers and their teammate, it was ridiculous when Team Minato teamed up on me. Most likely this would end with me having a head trauma, a result of the trio smacking me every time I said something snarky, and the three of them arguing with each other. It happened every time and it gave me the perfect chance to slip away though.

 Luckily Fugaku wasn't in the mood to hear three idiots ganging up on a poor defenseless girl and snapped, “Enough.” Team Minato fell silent immediately, but all shot me looks that promised a continuation of the conversation when Fugaku wasn't there to ruin their fun.

 Couldn't wait.

 “Report, Yanagi.” Fugaku ordered me. I glared at my clan leader, not in the mood for niceties. Why the hell did I have to report?! Fugaku-sama already had my post-battle report and the Hokage would be sending him a copy of Team 7's debriefing since it concerned the Uchiha clan.

 He wanted a report? Fine, I'd give him a report.

 “Uchiha Sasuke went above the line of duty and protected his teammate, earning himself the hallowed kekke genkai of our glorious clan. Then he passed out from chakra exhaustion.” Oh, you could taste the sarcasm rolling off me in waves.

 Zabuza shot me a subtle knowing look, of which Obito caught and reflected it back with a 'Big Brother Glare' probably thinking it meant something else. Okay so I was lying when I said that Sasuke passed out, but I was not telling the leader of the Uchiha clan, Sasuke's own damn father, that the person who had made an attempt on his youngest son's life was standing right beside the duckass boy. Especially not when the three strongest Uchiha in the clan were standing right there, one of which being Sasuke's overprotective brother. Haku wouldn't make it a step before he was put through the most horrifying genjutsu he could imagine, sliced into tiny pieces, and incinerated to the point that his ashes were microscopic.

 And he thought I was terrifying.

 Grabbing my brother by his flak jacket, I reached for the inside pocket and snagged myself a piece of candy before he could do anything. Obito squawked and tried to take the sweet back, but I evaded his hand and popped it into my mouth with a grin.

 “Yanagi! That was mine, damn it! You have you're own.” Nii-san snapped at me.

 I shrugged and said around the hard candy, “I'm pretty sure that brat Inari stole my candy stash I had on me. I need sugar before I go on a rampage.” I grimaced when I realized that the confectionery I had stolen was strawberry flavored, but I didn't dare spit it out no matter how much I disliked it. Obito would destroy me if I wasted candy, especially when it was his favorite flavor.

 My brother scoffed at me, “You let your candy get stolen? By a kid?” Funny, coming from the guy who couldn't even stop me from stealing his candy in plain sight.

 “Well you can't blame me, I can't really protect my stash when I'm unconscious.” Wrong thing to say, because that opened Lecture Yanagi About Chakra Exhaustion version 2; and this time Mikoto jumped in on the mothering too. I threw up my hands in defense and immediately started apologizing. I could get away with being surly when Team Minato lectured me, but I could never pull that shit with my aunt. Not without earning an earful from both her and Fugaku about respecting one's elders. I was really tempted to make the sign to ward off evil, but decided against it for the sake of keeping my head where it was.

 vvv 3rd POV~ Sasuke vvv

 Everyone else watched with varying levels of amusement as Yanagi-itoko began apologizing profusely once Kaa-chan joined Obito and his team in yelling at her. Sasuke felt very satisfied to see his sensei and cousin taken down from that high pedestal she put herself on, even if it was only for a moment.

 Yanagi-sensei had been more bearable after Sasuke's brush with death, but only a little. She had gone from treating him like scum under her sandal to being slightly overprotective. Sasuke couldn't really blame her for that, she must have been feeling very guilty if it showed even the slightest. So he endured it as best he could, even if it annoyed him to no end. Kaa-chan and Itachi-nii already smothered him, and having Sasuke's normally grouchy sensei doing the same was irritating. He expected Yanagi to treat him like he was any other genin, it was a refreshing experience from his mother and brother's babying or his father's negligence. Still, Yanagi was very arrogant, and Sasuke didn't like that. So he thought she was getting what she deserved.

 Shisui snorted from Itachi's side, “How long do you think it'll take before she's forgiven this time?” This time? Did this happen a lot? Sasuke hardly saw his two elusive cousins before Yanagi became his sensei. Honestly, he hadn't been able to recall their names at times. When Sasuke first asked his family why he never saw more of his cousins, they carefully changed the subject and he never thought of it again. He knew next to nothing about his cousins, Sasuke didn't even know if they were related to him on his mother or father's side! And he hated not knowing things.

 “Hn. Two episodes of chakra exhaustion is enough to worry anyone. Even if they forgive Yanagi-san, I doubt Obito-san and his friends will ever let her live it down.” Itachi-nii said quietly while casting an expressionless look at Zabuza standing a little further away. Sasuke could see the gears turning in his brother's head. The navy-haired Uchiha had no doubt that his Nii-san was coming to very accurate conclusions about Zabuza and his hand in everything. He wasn't called the genius of his generation for nothing.

 Shisui followed Itachi's gaze and grinned cheerfully at the grumpy nuke-nin, “Yo! Kiri nin, huh? Odd seeing one of you in Konoha. Did you have mission complications with Yagi-chan?” When Zabuza gave him a glare, Shisui's grin took on a devious twist, “Oh I see~! Let me warn you though, Obito-senpai is very overprotective about his little sister. He might actually try to kill you if you make a move on Yagi-chan.”

 The revulsion in Zabuza's eyes amused Sasuke greatly. Sasuke had wondered if Zabuza was interested in Yanagi-sensei romantically. In fact both Team 7 and Haku had often discussed the possibility of their teachers being together, even Momoko seemed to agree that Yanagi and Zabuza liked each other. Not that they'd ever admit it.

 “What was that?!” Obito's voice carried over from where he was cornering his sister.

 Shisui actually cackled, loudly. “Once again, Obito-senpai's sonic hearing strikes! Better run, Kiri nin-san, Obito-senpai has a habit of attacking first and asking questions later... if you can still talk that is.”

 Zabuza shot Shisui a nasty look and Naruto was staring at the goofy Uchiha in confusion, “Eh? Who are you?” The blonde idiot asked, rudely pointing a finger at the older Uchiha.

 Itachi's best friend didn't take offense though, Sasuke would be genuinely surprised when Shisui did take offense over something. He was the most easy-going person he knew of, and Sasuke still couldn't believe that Shisui was the strongest in the clan! “Why, I'm the great Uchiha Shisui! Nice to meet ya, Naruto-kun!”

 Naruto looked surprised that Shisui knew his name, but the young Uchiha boy wasn't paying attention to his teammate. He was more interested in how Zabuza stiffened up and stared at Shisui with an almost fearful look. Even the mercenary Momoko looked more alert now, her eyes sharpening over poor Haku's head as she continued to cling to him. It made Sasuke wonder just what Shisui did to earn his reputation as being the strongest Uchiha. Now that he had the sharingan, he could know the secret. That's what Yanagi-sensei had told him during their first team meeting.

 “Damn it, Obito! I swear I'll kill you!” Yanagi suddenly snapped and everyone not part of that particular conversation turned to see Yanagi glaring harshly at her brother, who's expression was an odd one of smugness and annoyance.

 “Oh really? And just how are you going to do that?” Obito asked sardonically. Beside him, Obito's teammates, whom Sasuke still didn't know the names of, rolled their eyes.

 There was a long moment of silence as the two hot headed Uchiha glared at each other before Yanagi threw her head back and announced loudly, “I declare another Prank War on you, Uchiha Obito!” Every Uchiha in hearing range, even Itachi, choked. It had been almost four years since the last prank war, but Sasuke remembered it very clearly. It had been one of the few times he remembered that his cousins existed, mostly because their pranks had been leaking out and fooling other clan members. It had gotten bad enough that Tou-sama finally ordered both of them to stop under the threat of being kicked out of the Uchiha Compound for good.

 Behind him, Sasuke heard Zabuza muttering under his breath, ���That's our cue to leave” followed by Shisui's loud cheerfulness of, “Allow me to escort you out! The Uchiha guards can be a bit nasty if you leave alone.” Somehow Sasuke didn't think that Shisui was escorting the Kiri nuke-nins, and Momoko, out of the Compound by the kindness of his heart.

 Sasuke debated if his parents would let him leave with Zabuza. He knew he was going to be in the crossfire between Yanagi and Obito when all hell broke loose and he wanted to get out while he still could.

 vvv Normal POV vvv

 While Nii-san was still stunned at my deceleration, I turned to his teammates, “Are you two staying for dinner?” I asked, a complete 180 from how I had been acting only a moment ago.

 Rin and Kakashi, however, were used to my mood swings. Kakashi shrugged his assent while Rin shook her head, “Sorry, I have to go check that Kiri boy before they leave. I'm worried that that eye of his might be infected, has it been bloodshot ever since the fight?” I would always be amazed that even when Rin was in the middle of lecture me she would notice an injury on someone twenty feet away. Must be a medic intuition or something.

 I nodded, not at all offended that she didn't trust my skill at medical ninjutsu. I didn't trust my skill at medical ninjutsu, I only learned it because Rin was determined that I had the basics down just in case. “Yes. I hit Haku with a fireball and that caused his capillaries in his eye to burst. You might want to check his chest too!” I told Rin as she took off. She waved her hand to show that she heard, already calling out Shisui's name.

 Mikoto rolled her eyes at all of us and shook her head, “Well if we're done then I guess I should start dinner for my own family.” She turned that hard eyed 'mother' look on me and I had to suppress the shudder going up my spine, “Remember what I told you, Yanagi-chan.” She practically growled and I was once again reminded that my aunt used to be a very powerful jounin before she retired to raise her boys.

 “Yes, ma'am.” I squeaked. The Uchiha matriarch smiled fondly at me and dipped her head in a good-bye before going to join her husband and sons. All four of the Main Branch family left quietly after that, and only Itachi-san bothered to say good-bye to his cousins. My eye twitched as I glared at Sasuke's retreating back.

 Rude little brat.

 Immediately after Fugaku was gone, Obito trapped me in a choke hold, “What the hell, ya little brat? Ya trying to get us killed by our uncle?! Don't you remember what happened last time?” My brother snapped at me.

 I glared up at him, “It's your fault, you shouldn't have said what you did, bastard.” I snapped.

 “Yeah, well I noticed you didn't deny it!”

 “NO! I did not like Peach-boy in that way, you sick pervert! Keep you mind out of the gutter! Just because I act friendly with someone of the opposite sex does not mean I like them!” I snapped and dug my fingers in Obito's left side where an old injury slashed across his ribcage. My brother hissed in pain and released me.

 I whirled on my two remaining genin, “Naruto! Hinata! Get cleaned up and stop gawking like idiots!” I barked. Both of them jolted and blinked at me dumbly. I rolled my eyes in exasperation and explained further, “Clean up for dinner, nitwits. Unless you have somewhere else to be, you're staying here for dinner.”

 Naruto immediately started whining, “Eh?! But I was gonna go to Ichiraku Ramen for dinner! I went through all that trouble for the coupon and-”

 Grabbing his earlobe, I yanked on it to shut the brat up, “Having ramen after a mission is not healthy. I'm not going to have the Hokage jumping down my throat later on in life because you die on a mission due to lack of nutrition. You're staying for dinner and that's final.” I snarled without any real anger in it. When I let go of Naruto's ear, he clasped his hands to the abused cartilage and danced around, howling in pain.

 Hinata was pushing her forefingers together again and I reflexively swatted her hands down, “F-forgive me, Yanagi-sensei, but I… my Tou-sama… I mean…”

 I rolled my eyes and waved her away, “I forget. Go on if your clan needs you.” Hinata gulped and made a quick bobbing bow before fleeing like the devil was on her heels. I watched her go and hoped that the entrance gate guards wouldn't give the Hyuuga girl any trouble. They were a real stickler about visitors, even to the point that visitors had to leave the Compound with an Uchiha escort so they weren't heckled.

 Grabbing Naruto by the collar of his jumpsuit before he could sneak away, I marched into the house, past the squabble that had started between Kakashi and Obito-nii. Honestly, those two were just a grown up version of Sasuke and Naruto.

 ...Or was Sasuke and Naruto a younger version of my brothers?

 I deposited Naruto on the common room couch, where I could keep and eye on him as I made dinner, with a warning not to break anything. The brat didn't move, other than to cross his arms and sulk. I said nothing as I went into the kitchen, the brat would eat whatever I cooked without complaining or I'd kick his ass tomorrow in training.

 After the mess of the Wave mission, I came to the conclusion that it was best if I started taking Team 7's training seriously. I hadn't expected to run into the problem of an upgraded mission rank so soon, and if this bad luck continued I had no doubt it would happen again. It was better to over-train the brats and let them be bored out of their skulls with D-rank than to have them die on a mission they were ill prepared for.

 “Damn it… where is that-!” I cut off with a yelp when a hand appeared over my shoulder, holding the chili powder I was looking for. I twisted around to find Kakashi-nii giving me his trademark eye smile. Cautiously I took the powder from my adoptive brother while giving him a wary look. Kakashi was a neutral party when it came to spats between Nii-san and I; while Rin normally took the side of whoever she thought was right, Kakashi took the side of whoever the hell he wanted to win. And that depended on who pissed him off the most. His loyalty often changed several times before the warring between Obito and I ended.

 Needless to say I didn't really trust the Copy ninja much when it came to pranks.

 Kakashi-nii went to the other side of the kitchen to stir the Miso soup. I watched him like a hawk, knowing this wasn't just about pranking my brother anymore. Kakashi tried to avoided my kitchen whenever possible because he claimed I was a slave driver to anyone who dared enter; but it was his last sanctuary from Obito and Gai since they never stepped foot in the room. The kitchen was my domain and I didn't like trespassers.

 I knew exactly why Kakashi was in here, and it had nothing to do with Obito being an idiot.

 I peeked out of the doorway to where Naruto was sitting. Obito had joined my blonde student on the couch and was listening to Minato's son as he talked animatedly, waving his hands in the air and imitating explosions–probably talking about the Wave mission. Unlike Kakashi, Obito seemed to be enjoying Naruto's company if his wide grin was anything to go by.

 Looking back at Kakashi, I debated on saying anything. Minato-san's death was a touchy subject for any member of Team Minato, but it was a personal issue to Kakashi-nii. Kakashi had known Minato-san longer than Obito and Rin; and even though all three of them saw the blonde Yondaime as a father figure, it was Kakashi that Minato practically raised.

 “So did you ever decide what to do with Netsui?” I asked casually as I returned to chopping vegetables. Even the most oblivious person could see the way Kakashi's shoulders relaxed at my question. I was sorely tempted to throw something at the silver haired jounin. I was rude and nosy with a penchant to collect blackmail whenever I could, true, but I wasn't dense like my brother was. I knew when some topics were touchy and best avoided at all costs; having quite a few subjects I liked to avoid myself.

 Especially when the other person had a very nasty mean streak that rivaled mine and my brother's combined.

 Kakashi hummed from his side of the small kitchen, “Yes. I gave him a trial run, which he passed. He starts training full time next week. Also,” Kakashi's voice turned a little colder, “why didn't you tell me that his twin sister was a fangirl? She wouldn't stop yapping about Sasuke-kun when I took her to Rin.” He hissed at me.

 I laughed, “Oh did I forget to mention that part?” I asked in false surprise then laughed even louder when Kakashi glared at me.

 “What did Rin-chan do to you to piss you off?”

 “Nothing. Really, it's more like what Nerai did to me. We know how Rin is when she's annoyed.”

 Kakashi-nii grimaced, probably remembering a few such instances. While both men on Team Minato had more leeway than most people when it came to Rin, she could only take so much of their incessant bickering before she started smashing heads together. Hard.

 I waved Kakashi away before he could say anything else, “If you're going to be in here, then set the table. And make sure you wipe it down before you do anything! I know how you and my brother are!” Obito and Kakashi were notorious for setting the table without cleaning it first. I always cringed at the thought of eating at a dirty table, but everyone always told me it was just my clean freak showing. I always responded by telling them to go to hell. It was my kitchen and my table. If they wanted to eat my food then they better listen to what I told them to do, damn it!

 “Ugh! No, I'm not eating it!” Naruto whined half an hour later after I finally managed to wrangle my student and Obito into the kitchen to sit down and eat. Already I was regretting letting those two idiots be friends instead of hating each other. All they did was just bounce their idiocy off each other until it was unbearable. I had to actually threaten Kakashi with blackmail so he wouldn't leave me alone with Idiot One and Two.

 Needless to say he wasn't very happy with me.

 I laid my hands flat on the table and towered over the blonde brat, “Listen here, Dumbass, you're going to eat what I cooked or you can starve.”

 “Ha! You can't stop me from eating when I leave! I can easily go home and eat ramen!”

 “Don't think I won't burn your ramen stash; and I am perfectly willing to blackmail Teuchi-san into banning you from his ramen stand. You can ask Kakashi and Obito how far I'm willing to go to get my way. Eat your vegetables, idiot, or starve.”

 “You're not my mom!”

 My eye twitched. This brat was really trying my patience, “No, but I am your sensei and legal guardian. If I say jump, you say-”

 Naruto cut me off, “Wait, really?”

 I blinked momentarily in confusion, thinking he was answering me. When I saw that odd look of eagerness and hope in the brat's bright blue eyes I understood what he was asking. This was Naruto I was talking to, someone who had only been treated with disdain and neglect throughout of his childhood. Underneath that loudmouth idiocy facade he had, Naruto was really just a lost little kid who wanted a family.

 Rolling my eyes, I sat back down with a scoff, “Duh. Did you even read the Shinobi Handbook? Law is that orphaned genin are automatically wards of their jounin sensei until they turn sixteen or become chūnin. Even if they have relatives, it's overlooked to prevent confusion and unnecessary conflict. The only exception is if the genin is part of a clan, and then they just become wards to the clan leader.” Like Nii-san and I had been when our parents died. But both Rin and Kakashi had been legally considered Minato and Kushina's wards. Technically, Kakashi, Rin and I all had joint custody over Naruto; as well as his godfather Jiraiya wherever the hell that pervert was at the moment.

 If a fight about guardianship ever broke out over Naruto, I had a feeling that all of Konoha would eventually be dragged into it.

 There was a silence over the table as Naruto stared at me in astonishment and slight awe, which made me very uncomfortable. I wasn't a very affectionate person, and while I enjoyed glances of wonder because the person thought I was amazing, I did not like being stared at. I glared at him, “Shut up and eat your stir fry.”

 Naruto pouted.

 “Get used to it, gaki. This is the way my imoto shows affection,” Obito snorted. I glared at my brother but said nothing as he took a large bite of his oyakodon Donburi, his favorite food. Immediately Nii-san spat it back out and lunged for his water glass, draining the whole thing in one fell swoop.

 Obito was a wimp when it came to spicy foods.

 “YANAGI!!!” My brother roared and I took that as my cue to flee the scene until further notice. It might be best if I begged someone for a place to sleep for the night.

 The Prank War had started.

 vvv

 “Alright, bratlings, time to get serious.” I said the moment the last member of my students, Hinata surprisingly, appeared the next day. I felt an odd mixture of pride and annoyance when all three of them went white as a sheet.

 ...Maybe I was being too harsh on them...

 Naw.

 I held up one bell, “If you get this bell by lunch I won't use you as training dummies for the rest of the day and I won't request the Retrieve Tora mission for a month.” I was going to pull a classic Team 7 Sensei maneuver, minus the hidden teamwork message since I didn't have time for that bullshit. After all, what was this generation's Team 7 if I didn't force them to do the bell test at least once in their lives? I had never personally experienced it, but I knew enough from when Nii-san complained about it.

 Needless to say I had their undivided attention now. My grin turned a smidgen more evil as I added, “and you better came at me with the intent to kill, because I'm not going to hold back.” Cue the 'oh shit' looks on my cute little genin's faces. “Ready… Go!”

 They lasted ten minutes.

 I casually eyed the slightly ruffled training ground with mild distaste. When Nii-san and I spared, on the rare occasion that we weren't at each other's throats long enough to have a friendly spare, there would be at least a tree or two uprooted and several burn marks. When Kakashi-nii joined us, Fugaku was forced to reconstruct the demolished training grounds. And he was never happy about it.

 But we were never as destructive as Itachi-san and Shisui. Fugaku actually banned the two from sparing in the Uchiha Compound.

 There wasn't even a broken tree limp from Team 7's rather pathetic attempt at fighting. It was a wonder how they had survived the Wave mission. I pinned each genin with a glare. “Up. Again.” I barked and fell back into stance. Naruto wasn't the only one to groan as they climbed to their feet.

 By noon I still hadn't broken a sweat and the brats still didn't get close to the bell. And that was only because Sasuke and Naruto somehow got it into their heads that this exercise was no longer about teamwork but a pissing contest between two idiots. Even Hinata was starting to get frustrated with the two of them when I called time.

 I was irritated enough by then that I bashed the boys' heads together hard to get them to shut up, “If I have to beat this stubbornness out of you I will,” I snarled, “even if I have to tie you together!” Both boys winced in horror at the thought. Maybe it would scare them into working together finally.

 Turning to Hinata, I opened my mouth to tell her how she failed the exercise and noticed her wide lavender eyes filling with horror. I grinned, sometimes it was just fun to traumatize kids. Not because they needed to face reality or because it was an accident, but it was just so damn fun-

 It was hard to describe what happened next. One moment I was smirking evilly down at the shy little kunoichi and the next I was wet, as in soaked to the bone. And not only that, I was cold. If I wasn't mistaken there was an ice cube sliding down the back of my shirt, along my spine.

 I fucking hated the cold.

 Turning around slowly I pinned my grinning brother with a deadly look. On either side of Obito, Naruto and Sasuke looked both horrified and amused at the same time. So they were in on it then. “...Obito...” I hissed through my chattering teeth. Steam rolled off my as the water evaporated quickly under my spiking fire aligned chakra.

 Nii-san cackled something about revenge best served cold and chucked the bucket he had used at my head before poofing away. Only a shadow clone then.

 But I was certain Sasuke and Naruto weren't clones. They might not be the instigator, but they would do in a pinch until I got my hands on that bastard.

 VVV^^^OMAKE^^^VVV

 Deadly Reputation

 vvv 3rd Person vvv

 “We don't need your help.” Zabuza snapped as the woman who had been yelling at Yanagi checked Haku's eye. The poor boy stood there awkwardly, trying not to blink as the stranger stared intently at his bloodshot eye.

 Rin ignored the grouchy man's comment as she produced a scroll from her weapons pouch. She handed it to the boy with a smile, “Apply this salve to your burns twice a day. The ingredients are listed on the scroll so you can make your own once you run out. And don't worry about your eye, it'll heal on it's own!” Haku blinked at the kind woman, he wasn't used to people giving him something with no strings attached.

 An arm snaked around Haku's shoulders and the ice user stiffened when he saw the owner of the arm was none other than the famous Shunshin no Shisui. Zabuza-sama had told Haku many stories of the Uchiha who made Ao, one of the best hunter-nins in Kirigakure, turn tail and run with little effort. Shisui was herald as being the Master of Genjutsu, praised even by his own clansmen. Haku didn't feel very safe with one of the strongest shinobi in Konoha standing right next to him.

 “Don't worry, Rin-san! My buddy Haku-kun will be fine, you can go back to yelling at Yagi-chan if you want.” Shisui said with a cheerful wink. Rin rolled her eyes at the goofy Uchiha as she left the foreign shinobi with Shisui. He reminded her so much of Obito before the war changed him. While her teammate hadn't changed too much there were times, Rin noticed, when he would grow quiet and stare off into the distance, probably remembering whatever had happened to him during the time he was thought to be dead.

 Zabuza growled at Shisui for his familiarity, but didn't dare say a word. As infamous as he was to Kiri nins, there was little to nothing known about Shunshin no Shisui; other than his ruthless genjutsu and his frightful speed. Kiri shinobi were naturally fast, probably the fastest of the five nations after Kumo, and masters of stealth; but Uchiha Shisui had no problem catching any Mist shinobi that crossed his path. Zabuza didn't know how the Uchiha would react if he snapped at him. After dealing with Yanagi, who would react with harsh violence and an explosion of insults that made Zabuza want to blush, he was leery.

 Shisui chose to ignore the former member of the famed Seven Swordsmen and kept his arm wrapped firmly around the awkward teenager's shoulders. Haku reminded Shisui so much of when Itachi was his age, so awkward and formal that it almost hurt. The Uchiha eyed the nuke-nin inconspicuously. Shisui knew from the moment he spotted the bandaged nin that he was none other than Momochi Zabuza, wielder of the Kubikiribōchō and known for having attempted a coup in Kirigakure. But Shisui didn't let on he knew; in his experience nuke-nin, especially those from Kiri, were a little touchy when it came to their missing status.

 Shisui had enough scars to prove their oversensitivity on the matter.

 “So Haku-chan, got a girl waiting for ya? Or did the lovely Yagi-chan scare her away?” Shisui inquired. Haku blinked in confusion, he didn't know anyone named 'Yagi'; the only name that came close was Yanagi and she- Oh.

 “No, Uchiha-sama.”

 Shisui made a peculiar noise in the back of his throat, something that sounded like a gag and a croak. “What's with all the formality? Oi! Do I look like Fugaku-sama to you? It's Shisui, just Shisui. I'm too young to be a '-sama', even a '-san'. Why, I'm younger than Zabuza-san!”

 Zabuza pinned the Uchiha with a look. He didn't know how Shisui knew who they were, he even knew Haku's name and Zabuza had made sure not to let Haku's name slip out in the bingo books, but Zabuza wasn't all that surprised. Uchiha Shisui was a prodigy, not one of the average Uchiha prodigies like Yanagi was, but a genius that was on par with Uchiha Itachi, the famed Genius of his generation.

 By then, the little group had reached the Uchiha Compound entrance. Shisui waved happily to the Uchiha guards, who dipped their heads in acknowledgment. Shisui pulled a face and leaned in close to Haku, whispering, “I even bribe them with sugar and they still do that.” Haku's mouth twitched a little in amusement. In the month he and Zabuza-sama knew Yanagi they learned one very important fact: no matter how powerful, violent, grouchy, or arrogant any Uchiha was, they all had one thing in common and that was a sweet tooth.

 With the exception of the oddball Sasuke.

 Zabuza twitched in irritation when Shisui made no move to let go of Haku, or to leave them. Even Momoko was starting to get annoyed as the Uchiha continued to bother them. They both tried to keep it to themselves, due to their protective instincts over Haku. It was no accident that Shisui had chosen Haku to bother. Shisui had seen the adults' parental instinct over the fifteen year old the moment he saw Yanagi leading her little parade to her house, no matter how miniscule it was. Every little twitch they made was in preparation to protect Haku from any potential threats. That was why Shisui flung his arm over the boy's shoulders. If the nuke-nin or mercenary made a move against Konoha, Haku would be dead before the first civilian casualty.

 Uchiha Shisui was a cheerful soul, but even he was not above murdering someone to protect his home, even if that someone was a teenaged boy with no heart to fight.

 “Hey hey hey! You know, Momoko-san, you should take Haku-kun with you! Haku's gonna need some help fending off the ladies when he gets back. I don't think even Zabuza-san can help!” Shisui chirped cheerfully as he finally let go of Haku when they reached Konoha's main entrance. He pretended not to notice how the nuke-nin or mercenary's shoulders drooped every so slightly now that Haku was out of danger.

 Momoko pretended to consider the Uchiha's offer, even though she had planned on it anyway. “You're right, I think I will!” She, at least, could pretend that the goofy Uchiha in front of her wasn't someone that could murder her in a blink of an eye.

 Zabuza sputtered, “What?! No! Haku is staying with me!”

 “Then you can both stay with me.”

 Haku blanched white, causing his burn marks to stand out even more than they already did, “Ano… why?”

 Momoko flashed him a smile that could rival Naruto's, “Because you're the cutest little thing! I've always wanted a kid like you, Ku-chan!”

 Shisui choked on his laughter at the nickname, but composed himself so he could speak, “Great! The three of you can be one big happy family!” He ended with a cheesy thousand-watt smile.

 Zabuza glared at the man, he had given up any notion that Shisui wasn't anything other than a goofy man who had a frightening reputation. Zabuza would even go so far as to question if Ao was hallucinating when he said it was Uchiha Shisui that made him run and not some other Uchiha that no one knew about. Even the Ghost of Konoha, Uchiha Obito, while as goofy as Shisui, was also known for being vindictive and slightly arrogant. Shisui was just… ridiculous. “Tch. Idiot.” Zabuza muttered under his breath.

 He spoke too soon.

 Shisui grinned even wider until his cheeks hurt, having heard the nuke-nin, “Unless your invited by the Hokage, please don't come back. Not everyone is as forgiving as Yagi-chan,” Shisui's smile slowly died and he stared at the three of them for the first time with a serious expression, “especially when their precious people are injured by you.” Shisui finished and pinned his sharp gaze on Zabuza. Obito-senpai had told Shisui what exactly the nuke-nin had done to Yanagi, and he would never forgive him for that.

 Quickly as his glare appeared, Shisui replaced it with another smile before cheerfully wishing the three of them a safe journey and shunshined back into Konoha, leaving the three of them staring at the small puff of dust disturbed by his quick use of Shunshin no Jutsu.

 Shisui returned to the Compound quickly, a smile on his face and happily greeting his clansmen with ease. He was Shunshin no Shisui and he protected Konoha from the shadows, even behind the shadow of a smile and veiled threats. He would never let anyone befall harm if he could allow it, especially those he considered closest to him.

[mysticsparklewings]

Sparkle By the Sea

Pardon me as I just barely squeeze a MerMay piece of art in. I'll be honest with you guys, I've been pretty lacking in artistic motivation since NaPoWriMo ended. Although if you've noticed my lack of uploads, you probably could've already guessed that.  This isn't abnormal for the aftermath of a month-long challenge for me, especially with a brand-new video game calling my name at every moment of the day, but even so I feel like this particular motivation drought was a bit different. Part of it definitely had to do with the changes to DeviantArt that I'm sure I don't need to remind everyone of, but that's been more of me dreading seeing what the state of the community is than anything else. (However, I have noticed I'm not a fan of the new tag system over the old category one, as confusing as the category system could be sometimes.) Rather, I think this lake of motivation has more to do with the fact that being largely absent from all social media during NaPo reminded me...well, that I hate social media. This is really a bigger discussion for a journal or something, but suffice to say it did not feel good to realize just how many literal hours I had previously been spending trying to desperately to scrape up just a little bit of support on other social media platforms (namely Twitter), versus the more natural growth I see here on dA that also feels a lot more genuine and less forced/obligatory. I can't really explain it, but that reminder/realization really helped my brain slip back into a place where I felt like creating again. And with that, I'll transition into talking about the art and save the social media talk for, as I said, a journal or something later on. Naturally, I've been seeing a lot of mermaid art this month and every year I feel the urge to get in on the fun, though I know better than to try actually doing the MerMay Challenge (especially not this year after having just done NaPo), so I usually either do a one-off drawing or if I'm too busy with other projects I just skip it. But I was starting to feel that need to make art in my brain again and I've had a specific set of stickers from the dollar store sitting in my stash for quite a while now that more or less sealed the deal for me. How do these stickers fit into the mix? Well, I originally fell in love with/picked them up because they are mermaid-themed and absolutely adorable--See for yourself! And I thought they would make for nice decals in a book project since they're wall stickers and therefore repositionable with minimal adhesive-yuck. And at first, I thought maybe I'd end up making them into said hypothetical book project in time for MerMay...except that felt a little cheap in combination with my lack of uploads. Did I really want to come back with a book project featuring mermaids I didn't even draw? And for MerMay of all things? So I sat on the idea and left the stickers out where I could see them, and eventually I sat down and took a closer look at them. The art style, upon further inspection, actually didn't look like it would be too far outside my usual art-making realms...Most of the coloring looks a lot like watercolor, except for the skin which I thought was flat and smooth like alcohol marker and the glitter accents which from my perspective pretty much had to be digital, but could potentially be replicated with glittery/metallic supplies... And that was the moment the idea hatched.  I decided I'd try drawing a mermaid myself in the same style. This would work for MerMay, have something to do with the stickers, and based on my plans would work well for me as a mixed-media project, which as I'm sure I've said before is where I think my artistic talent shines best. I thought the scariest part was going to be replicating the looser and less strict line style, and to a point it was, but it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be. I find it's usually kind of tricky to explain this, but really what this part of the process boils down to for me (if I'm replicating an existing style and not using my own), is really just studying the original artwork(s) and looking for patterns, then trying to stick to those patterns. For example, the style here features fairly large & rounded faces, and the hands are more like hand-shaped mittens (which was great news by the way because hands are always a pain in the butt for me), so I did my best to emulate those features. As per usual, I did start with a sketch, but I tried to keep it looser than usual, and then when I did the inking I started with my 0.2 Micron, again trying to keep things loose and no be too fussy if I could help it. Then I went back with a brush tip liner from Prismacolor to get more natural variation in the lines and to force myself to not have quite so much control over the line weight. I was also very careful with my choice of liners because I knew pretty much everything except the skin was going to see a lot of watercolors, which meant the lines had to be waterproof. And of course, I went with watercolor paper (my nice 100% cotton stuff this time) to make sure I didn't have any issues with blending or layering. Now, at this stage, I didn't know what I was going to do for the background, though I was leaning towards the idea of making one separately and placing the mermaid on top afterward, as sort of a nod to the original mermaids being stickers. But I wasn't totally sure yet. What I was sure of was how scared I was to just dive into coloring. The sketching and inking and gone so well I was thinking I was in for a rude awakening at any moment. So, just in case, I scanned my uncolored lines as a fall-back if I royally screwed up. With my paranoid mind set at ease (for the most part), I could begin with color application. I started with the skin since it was the easiest; Just one good layer of alcohol marker, leaving a little white space here and there like the artwork I was emulating. Although 1. The marker color turned out a bit darker than I was expecting and later blended too well with her tail, so I had to lighten it in Photoshop, and 2. because watercolor paper really soaks up the ink, I ended up with less white space than I thought I would. But beyond that, this step went off without a hitch. So then came the second-scariest part: The watercolor. I used a mixture of my Master's Touch watercolors and Mermaid Markers (yes, that was a very conscious supply choice ) and tried to take my time and be mindful of the color balance I was looking for. I'd decided ahead of time that I wanted to try and stick with a soft-ish palette like the original art, but I still wanted my choices to be different. Since yellow/gold is featured in the original but not used for a tail color, that's what I went with, and I opted for the blue-y-purple hair since a soft blue and purple are also prominent in the original and based on color-theory would be a nice contrast to the gold-orange tail. Though I did also try to get some pink in both the tail and the hair for a bit of unity and calling back to the pink in the original art. The trickiest part with the coloring was actually the tiny lips and blush spots. I ended up using a fluorescent pink for that turned out as more of a red originally and had to be touched-up via Photoshop because of that and also because of the lightening I did to the skin. It's more that it was a bit of a challenge to get the shapes of these much smaller areas right and in the correct place, since I had to use very minimal pencil markings, lest I end up with nasty graphite marks mixed into the paint. Getting the hair to be dark enough without being extreme compared to the rest of the drawing was also a great test of patience, but it ultimately worked out, I think. I also had a hard time deciding what color the piece of coral in her hair should be, which is why it ended up as this vague dusky-orange color. And I got more pink on the sand dollar next to it than I intended, but neither of those things is a huge deal. While I waited for all that to dry though, I had to decide how I was going to go about tackling all that extreme sparkle the original art had. I could have just added it in digitally and not even attempted it traditionally, but everything else had gone so smoothly that I decided to push my luck this time. Originally, I started with just glittery gel pens, but I found pretty quickly that they were sinking back into the colors underneath them too much and thus just weren't doing what I wanted. I wanted high-impact sparkle. After some brief consideration, I turned to the metallic watercolor sets I have made by Art Philosophy, which are very high-impact metallic and pretty opaque, which would work well over my failed gel pen and would work wonders for the areas where I wanted that high-impact over an opposing color. (I.E. Where I wanted the blue sparkle over a very orange-yellow area, which would normally make brown mud if the color on top wasn't opaque.) The funny part about that is that I originally used a different shade of purple and gold for those areas of sparkle that I ended up completely covering with different shades (the purple needed to be lighter and the gold needed to be darker/more gold and less yellow). And her eye shadow cover saw all three colors before I settled; The purple just seemed wrong, and the gold blended too well with her skin. I thought the blue wouldn't work so close to her blue hair, but it actually ended up looking the best out of the three. Although, I do have to make a full disclosure that the high-impact sparkle you see here is in fact where I went in and re-did it digitally once I scanned the artwork in. Unfortunately, glitter and metallic supplies just don't scan very well and usually end up looking too dark, dull, or flat by comparison. The metallic paints work just fine in person since you can move the art and see how they reflect the light, but it just doesn't work in a still image that's been captured by having a bright light uniformly shined over it. Still, re-tooling the sparkle digitally ended up being an interesting challenge, especially since it's been a fairly long time since I was messing with digital textures like this. Also worth noting is that I had to re-paint some of the metallic areas because they weirdly lifted off onto the plastic cover I used to protect the art when I pressed it onto the background to make the glue stick. I'm not sure if it's because those were the extra-layered areas and they hadn't fully dried all the way down to the paper, or if that particularly plastic just picks up this metallic paint really easily or what. And speaking of that background... Like I said earlier, I wasn't really sure what I wanted to do for a background for a while, but after reviewing my mermaid-centric Pinterest board I decided a simple rock seat and something to vaguely suggest the ocean/water without getting too detailed would suffice just fine. Based on that, I felt like using gouache would work nicely (and I just really felt like using the gouache since I don't find a lot of opportunities to use it) and that a color scheme that flipped her hair and tail colors would be best for the effect I wanted. I've found I really like the Strathmore 400 series mixed media paper for gouache because of how smooth it is, so I cut a piece down to size and got busy. For the most part, I just kind of went in with the colors doing whatever felt right, and trying to use some gouache I'd already mixed from past projects (since gouache can be reactivated and I've found this kind, in particular, seems to reactivate really nicely) either on their own or to mix the colors I felt like I needed. And I also tried to do a lot of blending straight on the paper to get more variations in color and make things a bit more lively. Oddly enough, this ended up being a good example of gouache's covering power because I accidentally started applying the colors upside down--using more greens and blues on top and more pinky-purple on the bottom--and not only had to flip the paper around but also had to do a fair amount of covering the colors I'd already put down with colors you don't really want to mix with them because they don't make very pretty results.  But it worked out just fine, so yay! I also added some clouds for a little extra ambiance, which I think looks quite nice. Believe it or not, the most difficult thing about the background was the rocks. I spent far longer than I care to admit (or bothered to document, for that matter) trying and in many ways failing to mix the proper shades of gray I wanted, and the end result didn't turn out quite as clean and graphic as I had hoped, but by the time I put the mermaid on top, you really can't tell because you can only see a fraction of what's actually there.  And I mean, the end result isn't terrible, it's just not quite what I was picturing in my mind's eye is all. Personally, I know it's kind of an odd choice, but I really like how there's no defining line between the water and the sky, and yet you still get a clear idea that they're separate and the rocks aren't just floating in space. I'm not sure how, but I think I'd like to work with this kind of ambiguity more often. It's like a step between abstract and more structured art. Anyway. With the background done, the next step was to attach the mermaid, which I felt like doing in a more 3D and less flat manner, so I chopped up a cardboard box that previously held a chocolate bunny I had on hand and glued some pieces together to boost the mermaid up a bit. This where those deep shadows between her and the background are coming from.   Here I feel the need to insert a comment about how difficult it was to get my tacky glue to dispense the glue for me, though there's a chance this is because I need to poke the opening in the tip to be a bit wider. (You have to poke it open yourself and I always felt like I never did get it open quite enough...unless you like strenuous hand exercises...) Of course, once all the above was done then I had to scan the art in, which I was admittedly a bit nervous about after the incident with the plastic cover peeling off the metallic paint (though fortunately, the scanner glass didn't have the same effect), and then all that was left wad the digital retouches. Overall, I'm really happy with how this turned out. It doesn't blend in as well as I originally wanted it to with the original art, but in the end, that doesn't really bother me. It's just a nice piece of art on its own that is also unique from what I normally do...except it's still got a lot of similar elements to how I normally make art. It feels a lot like the days when all I made was fanart. The key difference here is that I know myself better as an artist now and thus can use that knowledge to my advantage. I can't promise this a return to regular posting for me, though I do hope it's a gateway to me posting more frequently at least, but I can say I do intend on getting back to working on art more often and therefore being more present online again. At the very least, I can happily tell you guys that I have a couple of new art supplies en route to me that I've been wanting for a while and am excited to share with you once they arrive.  If nothing else, we at least have that to look forward to! ____ Artwork © me, MysticSparkleWings ____ Where to find me & my artwork: My Website | Commission Info + Prices | Ko-Fi | dA Print Shop | RedBubble |   Twitter | Tumblr | Instagram

[anuncertainnewkink]

My Kitten

I never know how to start these things so, Once upon a time in a galaxy far far away but not actually in another galaxy cuz how would we know what happened we haven’t developed inter galactic space travel but I digress. My name is Christopher or that’s what my wife calls me, says she likes the way it rolls off her tongue. When a woman with an oral fixation and a tongue piercing says she likes the way your full name rolls off her tongue you damn well go by that name from then on and be glad she didn’t like calling you bo-bo the clown. My wife Tiffany and I have vary different jobs that keep us away from home and our schedules don’t match up as much as we’d like. I’m a pilot and she’s a doctor if you want to be vague. After 2 months of us being apart I was going to have 5 days off but my luck she had a medical conference to attend. Well I’m a romantic and I missed my wife so I hatched a plan.

I arranged it so that my last flight of the week ended me in Miami where the conference was. I didn’t tell her I was going to surprise her, little did I know I’d get the surprise. When I landed I changed into a tailored black 3 piece suit she had got me black pants, black coat and vest red bottom up shirt. She’s a smart woman when I got in that suit I felt powerful as hell. The whole 20 minute trip to the hotel she was staying at I felt like my heart was in my ears. I had been texting her and she confirmed she was in the hotel bar. Ok so I knew where to go once I got there.

I walked into the lobby and quickly found the bar, I found a place with a good view of everywhere. I wanted her to casually notice me and come up to me. It wasn’t crowded but there were about 30 people in the bar. So it didn’t take long to check and recheck all the faces and notice that she wasn’t in the bar. I text her asking how her bar experience was going she told me that it was quiet. It was “soooo relaxing” I got a hint of sexual innuendo. She may have been drinking but it weren’t here. 20 minutes later my spot having a clear view to the elevators I noticed a drop dead gorgeous woman walk out of the elevator. 5’1” curvy hour glass figure fierce eye liner making her eyes dark pools that just kind of suck you in, a knee length black dress, low cut not to much to be slutty but enough to make men want to stare but not wanna get caught. A full tattoo sleeve on her right arm. She was a man eater I knew right away, top it off with a wedding ring and black heals framing her valuptuous legs I could only imagine what she was here to do. As she walked out of the elevator a man smacked her ass she turned around as they went separate ways and she gave him a naughty lip bite as they walked away from eachother. forget my wife I had to have this... this creature, this sexually charged goddess. By now I figured out why if not where my wife was if she was off having fun why shouldn’t I?

Stealing my courage I downed a glass of whisky and decided to walk over to her before my brain could sober and talk me out of it. She was sitting alone at the bar like a woman does that’s waiting for a man to pick her up. Back ever so slightly arched showing off her boobs and ass at the same time. I came up to her from behind. Putting my left hand on her hip and my right hand on her hand showing my inked up forearm (women tend to like seeing ink) I whispered in here ear “what would it take for a guy like me to leave here with a lady like you?” She let out a combination of a gasp and a moan, weather by my words, my touch, or my hot breath on her neck I don’t know but something I did was right. She turned to face me eyeing me up and down, licking her bottom lip she told me in a cocky tone “im all yours, for the right price.” My eyes went wide for a brief second, a reaction I hope I was doing well to hide. “You’re a pro?” I said stunned. “By night I am, here at least.” She made is sound so innocent. Glancing at her wedding ring I asked “what about your husband?”. “Oh he travels for business so a girl needs to have her fun, plus why would I bother him with my side business. I love him not them.” I stood semi shocked but it’s like having a side job that you enjoy in a way so who was I to judge. She glanced down “so what’s a married man doing talking to a “pro” I think is what you called me?” “I was going to meet my wife here but She seems to have misplaced herself, I suspect in another guys room.” I said matter of fact. I didn’t want her thinking I was a sleeze ball. I enjoyed being next to her I didn’t want her to walk away. “Mmm” she said with a bit of reservation, “revenge is a dangerous game for 1 let alone 2 married people to play in.” She said turning to go “NO!�� I said pulling her close “you’ve got it wrong I’m not talking to you for revenge, I’m talking to you because of 3 dozen people in this room you’re the only one that catches my eye.” I told her with which was I’m sure pleading in my eyes. She seemed like she wanted to go still so I pressed “being this close to you is driving me crazy, please no promises for anything after. won’t you just have a drink with me?” Her eyes kind of lit up, she smiled and I melted a little inside. “I’m Christopher by the way.” I reached out “Kat” she replied shaking my hand.

She sat back down and I got us new drinks and we talked for a couple hours, the whole time I had my arm around the small of her back us both leaned into eachother. We said it was to hear eachother which we both knew was a bad excuse in a half empty bar. I started abcent mindedly tracing shapes or just gently rubbing her thigh before she looked down and back up to me and bit her lip, I glanced down was horrified at first for not realizing what I was doing, then when I realized lip biting wasn’t a bad thing I continued and got even more bold. After the first hour I was torn between wanting to have her and wanting to keep talking after two hours I didn’t want to leave the bar. Watching her lips move as she talked to me, wanting to kiss them so horribly bad. Her cheeks as she smiled at me, the eyes that seemed every color at once. She was captivating I didn’t wanna take my eyes off of her for a second even if it was to go up to her room, being as I didn’t have one yet.

Alas all good things must come to an end... or so they say. The bar called last call and before our drinks went dry I got up the courage to ask her if I could go back to her room explaining I didn’t have a room and didn’t know it was a grand idea to go to my wife’s room uninvited. She looked at me but slowly got a cheeky grin on her face and told me “yes, but it’ll cost you” “how much?” I said kind of taken aback. “500 for the room, another 500 if you wanna get lucky daddy” the last part she said as a whisper in my ear as she slid off the stool brushed past me and walked for the elevator gently pulling my hand with her. $1000 I had a devilish grin when I though “what would my wife say.” I watched her plump ass as we walked to the elevator. Their could have been a dancing purple elephant in the lobby and I wouldn’t have known I was so fixated on her ass. When we got into the elevator we were alone, I decided to lean in for a kiss but she put her finger against my lips and “nuh uh uh, not yet” so I waited in utter frustration till we got to her room.

She opened the door and walked in ahead of me. “Forgive the mess I had another client before we met, wasn’t expecting to work a double tonight.” She said with a sly wink. Damn she was naughty. “Money first.” She said in a cold manner. Taking out my wallet I put the $1000 down, I had gotten money out for Tiffany and I to do something special tonight. “Shit wasn’t expecting this” I thought as the money hit the night stand. As soon as it did she transformed into a little sex kitten. The air around her changed and I couldn’t feel more drawn to her if I was pulled by a truck. I pinned her against a wall wrapping one arm around her waist and my right hand holding the back of her neck I kissed her and the fireworks flew! The world went black and it was just her and I in a void. Before I knew it we were against the bed my shirt was undone and her cocktail dress was coming up over her head. As it covered her head and arms I held her so she couldn’t take it all the way off. I bit her neck leaving my mark, telling the world least for tonight that “she’s mine” I heard her moan as I did, that made me want to do it again but I’m paying for the night so I might as well pace myself. Under her dress she had a black unlined bra showing off her pierced nipples, drove me fucking wild, a black garter belt with black thigh high leggings and no panties to be found. This woman was made for her night job. We threw her dress aside and I took off her bra, I had to get my mouth on her tits. The metal was warm in my mouth, I must have not notice I’d been making her so hot before we came up here. Kat pulled my head close and pulled my hair to manipulate my mouth on her skin. Once I had played with both nipples (symmetry is key) she pushed me down on the bed and removed my shirt. She moved her hands across my chest which drove me crazy when Tiffany did it but now that I’m watching Kats hands move across my chest watching her wedding ring move atop my nipple my mind went to mush.

Somewhere along the way she had undone my pants and started sucking my cock, slowly. Like she was teasing me. I love being teased but I needed her on me riding me, I took a breath cuz again I had to remember I payed for the night, take your time Chris. I did however pick her up and get her thighs to straddle my face in a 69 position. My mouth had been watering all night thinking of tasting her even after I found out she was moonlighting as an escort. Her pussy was wet and tasted like it should. I could even taste her lovers cum drip across my tongue from time to time, I almost came right then and there. She was so good at sucking my cock I had so hold on to her waist and almost put my mouth on auto pilot otherwise I’d not have been able to last long. After 5 minutes she came in my mouth, she made a halfhearted attempt to keep sucking my dick through the gasps but I flipped her on her back and got in between her legs. After I was fully in her she pulled me down and kissed me, deeply and lovingly. The next hour was more love making than Fucking and I was ok with that. I could hardly think but to this day I can still picture her figure as I fucked her from behind, her ankles in the air as I thrust into her as she was on her back. The look on her face as she came so hard riding me that she said she saw stars. What broke the flow was that every night before they went to bed I’d call my wife and kids so say goodnight so when my phone went off Kat asked “should you get that?” “Nah I’m pretty sure I know who it is, it’s ok” For the home stretch we had picked up the pace and were hard animalistic fucking when she said “give your slut your cum daddy” and hearing this slut call me daddy, and telling me to cum in her, sent me over the edge and in the moment it was the best choice I had ever made to cum in her. We lay down next to eachother gasping. I’m pretty sure we actually fell asleep next to eachother for a few mins. Then my phone went off again. So I covered her up and answered the FaceTime call. Our children were in their pajamas and we all smiled we told them good night and that we’d call them in their morning since they weren’t on the same time zone as us.

After we said goodnight I looked over at her and said “Kat?” She looked at me and said “well you call me kitten so it’s kinda my escort alter ego” innocently. God her being innocent about how naughty she was drove me crazy. “What made you decide to play along?” I asked “when I got out of the elevator with Cory I felt you in the room, I didn’t know where you were but I knew you were there and knew you’d find me but once he smacked my ass I knew I had been caught, so when I felt you behind me and feeling how warm you were to me I knew you weren’t mad and that it was gonna be an amazing night if I said fucking it and just went with it.”

It was an amazing night. I asked her how long she’d been working as an escort. “This is only the second...ish trip I’ve done it, I only do it on these trips so please don’t think this is a thing when we’re home except for what you already know about baby.” Her eyes kind of went wide explaining it to me and I realized she was starting to over think why I asked. I pulled her close in bed and kissed her deeply her tense body relaxed in my arms. Our kiss broke and I told her “baby it’s ok I’m not mad but thank you for telling me you don’t do this at home though, hadn’t thought to ask that yet.” “I know my daddy.” She said with a wink. Mmmm my cocky little slut. “So how did this start?”

“ well three months ago...” “wait 3?” She goes on a trip about every month. “I thought you said 2 trips or months?” “ I said 2-ish, this is the ish. Now hush and listen baby.” “Yes ma’am.”. She went on to tell me about how the group she normally hangs out with we’re drunk one night and one of the single girls picked up a guy that unbeknownst to most everyone else in the group was also apart of the conference. Upon finishing up the man mistook the girl for an escort and left money on the night stand “how he judged how much to give, id still really like to know” she told me as she recounted the story. While the girl was puzzled as to why he just put money down he quickly left before she could correct him. The next day while recounting the story to the others they could see how a married man being picked up at a hotel bar could think that. The bigger question was why was she surprised. But that night was a blow out party and all the drinks were on him, so to speak. That night, something clicked in Tiffany’s mind that night. Why are we funding our own fun on these trip? Half the girls were single the other half flirt enough that going the extra mile wouldn’t be out of the question. What if we do become escorts just for the group of people that come to these dreaded conferences... “and the rest is history as they say.”

I was kind of blown away my wife was the queen pin of an escort ring. She looked over at me again the pleading reassurance in her eyes “are you sure you’re not mad at me?” She asked. “Not at all baby.” I smiled and barried my face in the nape of her neck kissing and sucking and biting. Upon bitting she moans out “no marks.” I groan in frustration as I beat back my primal side that wants to leave my mark on her perfect body. I settle for causing her chills from my lips on her neck. She grinds her hips into me her pussy still warm and vary wet caresses my cock and brings him back to life. That night we make love as ourselves this time. Before falling asleep.

We woke as there was a knock on the door. Tiffany got up to answer it in a robe. It was her friend Stacy. Tiffany opened the door and stays was taken aback “well I was here to pick you up but I can see you’re not ready” She said as she looks her up and down. “I’m playing hookie today” “what? You never play hookie?” As I turned my head away Stacy noticed me. A knowing look came across her face with the smirk to boot. “How much is this one paying you?” “This one bought me a house.” She said with a wink as she closed the door. She dropped the robe as she climbed in bed with me. She kissed up my back to my cheek making me roll over to be able to kiss her properly. I wrapped my arms around her and held her like I’d never want to let go. Once our kiss broke and my head cleared because damn that spark when we kiss sometimes, wow. “So you have me to yourself all day what do you want to do today?” She asked me with a child like excited bounce in her voice. “I don’t know I spent a lot of money on booze and an escort last night” I told her smirking. “Well just so happens I made a few thousand dollars last night so let me spoil you daddy.” She said with pouty lips as she leaned in for another kiss. “Wait a second a few? How many did y-“ she cut me off with a giggle and a finger to my lips. “Hehe relax baby it was just you and Cory lastnight.” “But...” slipped out. “I gave you the family discount.” She said still obviously amused her own husband payed to have sex with her. Once the realization sunk in that a guy had payed $2000 for a couple hours with my wife, I was filled with a substantial amount of unexpected pride in her. She is damn good in bed.

[trashboatprince]

Another little one-shot for Ink Spots (posted up here cause its so short and not plot-heavy), this time it takes place after the previous one where Boris finds them, now showing Henry awake in the safehouse.

Summery: Bendy is happy to see that Henry is awake after that nasty fall, but he doesn’t like the fact that he sees another strange, ink-based mark on his creator.

Luckily, this one wasn’t from the studio, and it has an interesting story to go along with it.

Warning: mentions of drinking and drunkenness, mentions of war, Henry made some silly choices during his time in the service, headcanons and the like, you know the drill

I even included little illustrations for this, sketches actually, cause I draw for the main story. Also I wanted to show Henry’s tattoo.

On with the fic!

--

A Different Kind of Ink

Ink Spots one-shot

--

Bendy yawned loudly as he stretched out on the cot, rolling over to cling to Henry like he had done the last time he rested. Only he realized that there was no Henry with him. He gasped and sat up, looking around, seeing no sign of his human anywhere.

The door to the small room was opened, and he could hear water running down the hall, along with Henry’s voice. “I’ll wash these after mine dry. Thanks for lettin’ me borrow ‘em.” There was a bit of silence before Henry continued.

“Nah, it’s fine, you have a lot of extra clothes here. Were there more people here?”

“…”

“I see. Well, thanks, Boris. I’ll be done soon, just gotta make some attempt at the ink on my clothes, heh.”

Bendy blinked before stepping into the hall, seeing Boris happily walking back to the main room from the bathroom. The little demon approached the bathroom, peeking in to see Henry sitting on a chair at the sink, scrubbing away at his pants with a cleaning brush and a bar of soup. He was happy to see that the other was awake and moving around, he had been a bit out of it for a while since the hall, suffering from a fever from what Bendy could tell through Boris’ pantomiming.

He was coherent earlier but was still recovering from the back injuries he got. Bendy smiled as he watched Henry moving about with ease, seeming to not be bothered by any major pain and aches. From what Bendy could see, Henry was in a pair of boxer shorts and a tank top, allowing him to see the bandaged-up areas on the human. Though something caught the demon’s attention on Henry’s person.

On his upper left arm, near the start of his shoulder, was a black mark. From what Bendy could see, it was shaped like his head, like the inky mark on Henry’s right hand, only this one seemed to have his face instead of being a solid black. Oh… oh no! Did he have a second mark?! Did something happen after all that nonsense they went through the other day!?

He let out a small whimper, which seemed to catch Henry’s attention. “Oh, hey there, bud. Is somethin’ wrong?”

Bendy shifted on his feet before quietly approaching. He looked at the mark when he stopped by Henry’s side, examining it. It was clearly his face, signature grin, pie cut eye, though the left one was closed because the image was winking. There were even a few little stars around the image, and his bowtie was under his head.

“Henry, when did you get marked again?”

“Marked again?” Henry asked, raising an eyebrow, before he noticed what Bendy was looking at. “Oh! Heh, that’s not a mark!”

“B-But it looks like it’s made of ink! It’s gotta be from here!”

Henry laughed a little, shaking his head. “No, bud, that’s not from here. That’s from Belgium.”

Bendy blinked, confused. “Belgium? What do ya mean?”

The animator smiled as he picked Bendy up, setting him down on the counter as he returned to scrubbing at the ink on his pants. “Back in the early forties, there was a war going on and I got drafted. Well, a bit into my service, not too long before I got some nasty wounds that got me sent home early,” he gestured to a few scars on his leg and even lifted up his tank top a bit to show some on his side and stomach,

“I was stationed in Belgium, near the French boarder. My troop found a town to stay in for a bit alongside another troop, a French one, and we all went to a tavern that was open and still serving beer. A bunch of Americans findin’ a bar with beer? Heh, turned into one heck of a night for all of us and the French troop.”

The little demon watched, listening with interest as Henry continued. “Well, while I was there, I brought my sketchbook with me, finally getting the chance to just sit down and draw, ya know? Well, this one French solider sat down next to me, needing a break from his friends and some of mine, and he saw me drawin’ you.

“Turns out, he was a huge fan of the show, sayin’ he always went to the theater to catch the newest one. Let me tell you, the grin on that guy’s face when I told him I was your creator would rival yours, heh. His name is Maurice and we got to talkin’. Turns out he was an artist himself, he even ran a book store with his wife and brother, still does, I think. Anyway, he said he did tattoos as a side job, something he picked up from his father who use to do it himself.”

“Tattoo?” Bendy asked as Henry tapped his arm.

“This is a tattoo, it’s a drawin’ on your skin that’s made with a special kind of ink. A lot of people have them, often of special images and words. Sometimes… they’re not good things, but I won’t go into that. Anyway, well, when he said he did tattoos, my drunken brain thought, ‘hey Henry! You should get one’, and wow, did I not even give that a second thought.”

The imp snickered a little. “You picked to have a drawin’ of my beautiful mug, eh?”

“Well, I was really drunk and wanted somethin’ fun and hilarious, Maurice jokingly asked if I wanted you on my arm, and of course I said yes! He quickly made up a makeshift tool, turns out he had tattooed a few of his friends while on break from the battlefields a few times, and he got to work. I even let him pick out one of your sketches from my sketchbook to draw, and he picked this one.”

Henry smiled, looking a bit embarrassed. “Next mornin’, woke up hungover and found the tattoo. One of my friends who wasn’t hungover told me the story, and now I remember it after havin’ a cleared mind, but man was it embarrassin’ at first. Then it became a little symbol for the troop. We called ourselves the Smiling Demons, Maurice was nice enough to give a bunch of us little stars to match the ones around you. Cheesy, I know, but it was a nice gesture.”

He set the scrub down and looked at Bendy. “I’m actually still in contact with Maurice, ya know? We exchanged addressed and wrote to each other all the time, just updates on life and such. Sometimes we even would draw pictures for each other. A few years ago, me and Linda went and visited Paris, we ran into him and his wife and had a nice time.”

He chuckled a little as he sat back in the old chair. “Oh man, Linda was so furious with me when I told her about the tattoo, until she saw it. Then she just laughed, thought it was the funniest thing to ever happen to me. Oh, yeah, she was worried about my injuries and stuff, but that smilin’ face of yours cheered her up. We told this to Maurice and he looked so proud of his work, what a great guy, still a big fan of yours.”

Bendy smiled a little, kicking his feet as he leaned back on his hands. “Heh, nice to have friends, eh? Hey, whose Linda?”

“Oh, she’s my wife.”

“You’re married?! I didn’t know dat! Where’s yer ring?”

Henry dug into the pocket of his pants and pulled out a silver band. “I took it off on instinct when I came to the studio. I use to keep it off when I worked cause I always hated getting ink on it. I always felt bad about it getting messy when I came home, but Linda never seemed to mind, still, instinct made me pocket it. I’m surprised it survived all of that stuff we went through.”

Bendy nodded. “Say, when we get out, do ya think I’ll get to meet her?”

“Heh, of course you will. I’ll take us home and you’ll get to meet her, and hopefully the rest of my family. Gonna be hard to explain everythin’ that’s happened to us and how you came to me, and, well, hopefully our eyes will be returned to normal by then. Hm, she’s gonna be mad about me being home later than expected, and I doubt there’s a workin’ phone here…”

“Well, I bet she’ll understand when we tell her everythin’! Besides, ya got me as proof that crazy stuff happened!” Bendy grinned, looking excited now. “Golly, I can’t wait to get outta here, see da world, meet yer family, an’ spend time wit’cha without the chance of death bein’ around every corner!”

Henry looked at him, smiling a little. “Yeah, that’ll be nice. I’d like for you to see what’s beyond the studio, bet you’d like what we’ve got nowadays.”

“Tell me! Heck, tell me more about’cha, Henry! I wanna know all sorts of stuff about my favorite human.” Bendy happily yelled, if he had a tail, it would probably be wagging.

Blinking, Henry looked at him before laughing lightly. “Alright, let’s see… ah, when I was younger, I used to be a prankster and a troublemaker, like you…”

Boris peeked in on the two, having heard a lot of chitter chatter from the main room. He watched and listened to Henry as he talked to Bendy about his time at the studio when it first opened, seeming so happy to talk about the good stuff that had happened here. The wolf smiled, deciding to let them be, he was sure both of them needed a moment of peace together.

END

--

Just a little thing, I was thinking about the idea of my Henry having a tattoo of Bendy on his person, but I wasn’t sure what a good reason for it would be. Then I thought about this, and here we go!

That, and I almost, ALMOST wanted to give him something super ridiculous that he’d be embarrassed about cause I was re-reading my copy of Journal 3 and read about Ford’s tattoo. But I decided on Bendy being the design, a simple one, instead of something really silly.

Also, this fanfic was an excuse to establish a few things: Henry got hurt in the war but obviously lived, him and Linda are married (have been since 1930 in my au), and he already had ink in him before getting his mark. I also love the idea that Henry has friends from his army days (and most are still around, they remember Henry the artist, his nickname was Bendy as a joke)

Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed!

[ad-drew]

The Shaman Society | An Excerpt, Part 11

So, got another excerpt ready to go! But the big news here is that I’ve finally finished the second draft of the manuscript, which means I’ll be opening up to beta readers soon, I hope. I’m probably going to be using betabooks, as it seems like an incredibly organized and helpful tool for beta reading. I’ll be making a post about looking for beta readers later on, but if anyone would like to get in an early request, go ahead and shoot me a message!

Tagging:@mania-junkie-writes, @seamusings, @haline-penthorn

If you want to be added to my humble tag list, just send me a message and I’ll be happy to do so!

---

Rei glared at the yawning wound in the side of the warehouse. Harsh beams of moonlight filtered through the gaping hole, filling the otherwise pitch dark interior with a dull silver glow. Of all the places Saki could have taken her for training, did it have to be where two of her classmates had died yesterday? Bad enough to place looked like a scene out of a bad Duskwell horror flick at night.

“Could have picked a better spot,” she muttered.

Saki shook her head. “Normally, I would take you to Takama-ga-hara for training, but as we’re on an active investigation we should remain in the area in case another yōkai decides to strike. But this place is quiet and out of the way, and should provide a suitable substitute for the time being.”

“If you say so.” Rei wandered away from the busted wall, back into the warehouse. “So, we gonna start or what?”

Saki was already kneeling on the metallic floor of the warehouse, strips of blank paper tags spread out in front of her, along with a dish of black ink and calligraphy brush. “Whenever you’re ready to pay attention.”

Rei lowered herself to the floor with a grumble. “Get on with it, then.”

Saki dabbed the tip of the brush into the ink. “Shaman spells are typically an advanced form of training, taught only to those with the proper experience to wield them. However, you are correct in that all shamans must eventually learn them. Since you’re so eager, I don’t see the harm in teaching you the basics. Better you showing an interest in your work than running off on your own and causing trouble.”

Rei bit her tongue. “So, I take it you inscribe some sort of activation word on the tag?”

“As a matter of fact, yes. How…?”

“I’ve played a lot of video games, read a lot of books,” she said, with a wry smirk. “Easy enough to guess. No need to look so impressed.”

The slightest hint of a grin curled across Saki’s lips. “So, perhaps you’re not completely hopeless. But there is more to it. Both the ink and paper contain special properties making them highly absorbent of spiritual energy, and are found only in Takama-ga-hara. Combining ink with paper, transcribe a word insinuating the desired effect of your spell. For example.”

Rei tilted her head sideways, trying to get a better look at the kanji Saki wrote on the vertical strip of paper. “Kasai? Fire?”

“Indeed.” When Saki completed the calligraphy, she laid the tag flat over one palm and pressed her other hand over the top of it. “Finally, a shaman must channel an appropriate amount of ki from her soul gem into the tag, giving it the power to activate when called upon. A lengthy process, but necessary.”

“And by ‘lengthy’ you mean…?”

“Half an hour, on average.”

Rei’s brow shot upwards. “Per tag? Jeez, sounds like a nightmare if you want a full stack.”

“A good reason only to use them when you need to. Although, for the purpose of this lesson we won’t be so stingy.”

“Great, cool. Now what?”

“Now, you wait until I finish channeling so I can show you the next step.”

Rei pinched her thumb and forefinger against her eyes. Should have known asking for actual training would bite her in the ass. If these things took a half hour each to make, they’d be here all freaking night. Sounded about as much fun as watching ink dry.

“Try not to get too discouraged,” said Asami’s voice. “Spells are a vital tool for every shaman, even if creating them can be tedious.”

“Yeah, I get it.” Rei thought her response, keeping the conversation internal and private. “But I kinda imagined shaman training being, I don’t know, more exciting?”

“Oh, there will be plenty of that kind of training. Spell creation is more methodical. Give it time.”

“Got nothing but time right now.”

Ten minutes past. Fifteen minutes. Rei leaned back on her hands, fingers tapping the cold metal floor. She stared at the ceiling. Twenty minutes into the channeling, she’d finished counting each individual panel of the ceiling—four hundred and twenty-five, to be exact. Twenty-five minutes now.

“Sooo…” Rei lowered her attention to Saki, who hadn’t moved. “What’s the deal with your uniform? Why the whole shrine maiden motif?”

Saki glanced at her with curious eyes. “I work as a miko at Yasaka Jinja Shrine in Kyoto. Part time, since I was twelve. Always liked the design.”

“Oh, no shit? So what, you perform cleansings, and ritual dances, that kinda stuff?”

“On occasion, yes. I’ve assisted with weddings, funerals, even preparing for festivals. Mostly work in the gift shop, though, or answer visitor questions. And sweep. There is a lot of sweeping.” Saki’s lips coiled into a slow, almost not even there smile. “It may not seem like much, but I enjoy it.”

“Hey, wasn’t judging. More power to you.”

“In any case, my uniform is far more practical than the abomination you’re wearing.”

Rei’s eye twitched. “The fuck’s wrong with my uniform?”

“Nothing, I suppose. That is, if you were going for a goth ninja who fell blind into a Hot Topic.”

“You—” Rei stared slack-jawed at her cousin, words lost to her. Every time she went to retort, her brain fizzled over how bizarre those words sounded coming out Saki’s mouth. She’d call it a joke if she wasn’t certain Saki had a permanent stick up her ass making her incapable of humor.

The subtle, barely noticeable grin on Saki’s face curled the tiniest bit more. “Shouldn’t stare with your mouth hanging open. It’s impolite.”

Rei cocked her head sideways, gawking at her cousin. At that smug half-grin mocking her. Nausea bubbled like a bad aftertaste into her throat. “Is this you trying to joke around? Because you don’t get to joke around with me. Just because you’re training me, doesn’t mean we’re suddenly friends.”

As quickly as the grin had appeared, it vanished into flat indifference. “Of course, you’re right. But I am still your superior, so at least try to show respect for once. As difficult as that might be for you.”

“Respect?” Rei shot to her feet, standing over her cousin with clenched fists. The fucking nerve of this bitch! “You want to talk to me about respect? How about the ‘respect’ you showed at my grandparents’ funeral, huh?”

Saki lowered her head, staring at her closed palms. “Be quiet.”

“Quiet, my ass! A freaking oni would have been more respectful than you and your stuck-up family!”

“That’s enough.”

“Walking in here like the whole thing was some kind of burden, like you don’t even care they’re dead—”

“I said stop.”

“—treating me like I don’t belong—”

“Shut up!”

“—and you act like I’m at fault for not knowing about this whole shaman shit I was never told about? Well, screw you! My grandparents were good people, and they deserved better!”

“Our grandparents!” Saki’s voice thundered, an unnatural echo pulsing into her tone. She glared upward, tears wet in her eyes. She blinked twice, and they fell in a wet line down her cheeks. “They were mine too, and you know nothing about what I felt for them!”

[ncstings]

no prompt - zebby & elijah

She’s pretty sure it’s the first time it happened. And it was horribly embarrassing.

It was the second night there and she was having such a fun time and it was all good. She and Elijah went to bed with tangled limbs, Winston sleeping on the floor in front of them. It was good.

And then the nightmares came and she woke up the whole house, screaming. 

It had been so long, Zebby wondered if maybe things were better. Thankfully, the last time it happened, Elijah wasn’t around. Sure, she was alone and it was terrifying, but she’s always been nervous for the day he has to deal with it.

Screams, sobbing, trembling. And on a nice trip no less.

Atlas and Kermit, two who were familiar with the situation, jumped into action right away. Elijah, on the other hand, was helpless, and instructed by Kermit to stand back. So he did.

He kept asking if there was anything he could do. What he could be doing to help. Kermit, who was trying to get Zebby to focus on breathing, to bring her back down to reality, said no. Atlas was already off to the kitchen to get her a glass of water.

She screamed for twenty minutes in Kermit’s arms. Haunting wails that made her chest hurt until she tired herself out. 

Altas curled into the chair by the window and fell asleep before anyone else did. Elijah hadn’t moved from his spot near the wall the entire time.

When she was starting to finally click back into things, and she saw Elijah, trembling on his own, looking terrified, she cried more. Apology after apology leaving her lips.

Kermit stood from the bed, kissed her forehead, and told her she should sleep. Next thing she knew, he was leading Elijah out of the door. And she ahs no idea what they said to each other.

“She’s going to be okay?” His arms are crossed over his bare chest and he looks back to the door as if he can see Zebby through it.

“Yeah.” Kermit sighs. “She just needs time.”

“I can take care of her, you know.”  Elijah responds, looking towards her brother. “You can let her go.”

Kermit’s jaw tenses, and he holds his gaze over Elijah for a long moment. “It’s a lot harder than you think.”

“I think you could try at least a little. You didn’t let me step in there one bit. What am I supposed to do if this happens when you’re not there?”

“I know that.” He grumbles. “She just needs the person who’s best at handling her.”

“So why can’t that be me?” He shrugs

“You’re just her boyfriend.” Kermit shrugs.

Elijah raises an eyebrow, a huff letting out from his lips. “Do you have a problem with me or something?”

The door opens, nd Atlas stands there, rubbing a fist over his eye. “My fighting senses are tingling and you two need to stop.” He mutters, joining them in the hallway.

“We’re not fighting.” The two of them say together.

“Uh-huh.” Atlas nods, taking Kermit’s hand. “Mister grumpy pants needs to go back to sleep, I think.”

“Not until he answers my question.” Elijah adds, which makes Atlas looked between them, curious.

“I don’t have a problem with you.” Kermit grunts, only to make Atlas laugh. “I just want her to be happy.”

“And do you think I’m temporary or something. I can assure you, I’m not. I think it’d be easier for everyone if you start treating me like I’m not.” 

“Good points.”  Atlas nods. “Hey, maybe we can have this conversation when it’s not three in the morning? I think it’d be a lot more productive.” 

Both the men grunt, exchange goodnights, and go off to their separate rooms. Which leaves Elijah, standing at the foot of their bed, watching Zebby sleep peacefully, curled into a ball. And when he climbs in, carefully, so as not to wake her, he fears that maybe he’ll only cause this to happen again.

Instead, she unfolds, and curls into his side, laying on his chest. And all his nerves dissipate.

-- // --

“They’ve been gone a while.” Zebby says, pulling back the door that leads to the patio, and looks down the path. “And it’s raining quite a bit.”

“They’re fine, Zebs. They’re adults.” Elijah says from the kitchen, towel draped over his shoulder as he dries the plates. Considering the night before, Atlas and Kermit decided to leave for a bit. Giving everyone space. 

“Okay,” She sticks her head out, looking around. “When are we going to make s’mores?” Looking back to Elijah, she beams.

“Zebby.” He says carefully, putting down the rag and stepping out of the kitchen, in her direction. “We made s’mores last night.”

“What?” Her smile starts to fade, and she looks back.

“Yeah, I got dry firewood and I set up the tiny pit under the awning and the four of us sang songs and and made s’mores.”

Zebby’s eyes gloss over as she tries to remember, but she comes up with nothing. It shouldn’t be so heartbreaking, it happens all the time. But considering she has flashes of the night before, terrifying Elijah with her own brokenness. The reality that she’ll never totally be whole.

She can’t let that happen.

Without shoes, without anything, she walks out of the cabin, into the rain, and walks around the side to find this mentioned fire pit. If she sees it then maybe she’ll remember. It wont be just him with memories of the two of them together.

She finds the awning. The one she played under as a kid. She remembers that, why can’t she remember last night? 

And as mentioned, there’s the pile of dirt, charred logs sitting there to suggest there was, in fact, a fire that was recently there. She feels the rain flatten her hair, her dress starts clinging to her thighs as she stands there, looking at it, hoping that she’ll remember. 

“Zebby!” Elijah calls from behind her. Within moments, he’s by her side, touching her shoulder. “It’s okay, really.”

She flinches at his touch and shakes her head. “It’s not.” If it weren’t from the rain, maybe he’d be able to tell she was trying. Or maybe she’s just that obvious that it doesn’t matter. “It’s not okay. I can’t remember something as nice as having a fire all together, I can’t have a peaceful trip without traumatizing you. I just want to be good for you and to be whole and I’m not and I can’t fix myself for you.”

“Hey hey hey,” Elijah turns her towards him, hands on her shoulders, brushing back some of her wet waves. “There’s no part of you that I don’t want, Zebby. Good and bad.” His hands swipe back some of the moisture that’s collects on her cheeks. “You are everything to me.”

“But what if I can’t even remember half of the special things you do for me?” She sobs. “And you go to sleep every night wondering if this is the night that you have to deal with my outbursts.”

“Zebby, I don’t even feel like I’m dealing with you.” His eyebrows knit together. 

“I just---... I know I’m not easy.”

“Who is, Zebby?” He laughs. “But you’re kind and you’re funny and you’re beautiful and every day I spend with you is better than the last, and I don’t mind if you can’t remember things sometimes. I don’t mind if I have to take care of you during nightmares. If that’s what it takes to be with you, I’ll do it.”

“It doesn’t make you upset?” She sniffs. He’s starting to look deflated now too with all the rain making everything stick together.

“Of course it makes me upset, but only because I know it hurts you.” His arms pull her in to press them together. It’s damp and a bit sticky with their clammy skin, but he’s warm and he completely encases her form that’s always been comforting. “I want to be with you, whatever that looks like.”

Her arms slide around his torso, pulling them even closer together. 

“Can we please go back inside now?” He mumbles into her hair.

Their feet were both dirty, Zebby had to bring up not tracking mud into the house, so Elijah found the hose, and the two of them, still standing in the rain, helped each other to wash their feet. Her hand on his shoulder as she lifted her feet to get rinsed. His hand on her shoulder as he did the same. They giggled together as they got themselves clean, and eventually, they got back into the cabin.

Before she could shut the door behind them, she turns to face Elijah. “I love you.” She says, the words coming out soft and delicate, like they might break before they reach him.

He turns back around, looking over her expression. “Huh?” He must not have heard it.

“I said I love you.” And she looks down at their feet. Both bare. Both wet. Thankfully they’re not dripping from the rain but she can see all of his ink from his soaked white tee shirt and she wonders if they’re always be able to laugh in the rain like they did or if they’ll grow older and they’ll find it too obnoxious.

Elijah’s got a small smile on his face. He steps closer.

“Have I ever said that to you?” She asks, because she’s not sure. Her fingers fidget together and she’s nervous. Did she do something wrong.

He shakes his head. No. She hasn’t. And she wonders to herself why? She’s loved him for a while now, why would she not say? “I’m sorry.” She whispers. “I’m sorry I didn’t  say it earlier.”

His hands find her hair, and he bends down. “Zebby I’ve never loved anything as much as I love you.” He breaths, his mouth finding her’s without hesitation.

She hears the rain behind them. She can still stick her arm out the open door and feel the drops land on her skin if she really wanted. But she’s too busy feeling his body press into her’s. His mouth on her’s and everything trapped between them.

But she pulls back. Her eyes search him and she can tell he means it. That’s never been a worry. He’s always so honest and genuine with her. Her hand rests on his chest, feeling the warmth of his skin peak through. But she has to ask, “Is this the first time you’ve said it to me?”

His finger traces the bottom pout of her lip, “I think so.” He nods. “I’m sorry I didn’t say it earlier.” His eyebrows knit together. “I’ve known for a long time now.”

“Maybe we didn’t need to say it.” Her fingers reach up to scratch his beard, only to bring him down closer to her. “But I love you.” She whispers, right before their mouths mold again.

His arms wrap around her, lifting her from the ground to press her against the wall, kissing her fully. Legs wrap around his waist, their body heart mixing and mingling. Until the cold of their clothes starts to make her shiver under his touch. Mixed with his delicate fingers tracing down the exposed portion of her chest, she’s got goosebumps. 

She’s not cold for long when her fingers tug his shirt from him. Peeling the wet fabric from his chest and throwing it to the floor with a thud. His hands work just as quickly, pushing her dress up her thighs, and tugging it from her body to throw it to the same place.

He tags at her bra, she pulls at his waistline. They breath together and she moans at all of his touches. The breeze from the open door falls over her, causing another shiver, and her breasts to be all the more sensitive. 

He says he loves her into her shoulder and she says it back in his hair. 

Everything they do is slow and intentional. He enters her and she gasps, their kisses are long and deep and if it lasts like this forever, she wouldn’t be mad. But his hips move slowly, his fingers dig into her thighs, holding her close as he moves. Her chest presses against him and they’re still wet and clammy which leaves her all the more sensitive when her body moves.

His hand reaches between them and she moans and he says he loves the way she moans. He says he loves the way she feels. He says he loves the way she says his name. 

All she has the courage to do is beg him to let her go. Her thighs shake and she can’t take it. Can’t take the way he thrusts and how he touches. How he says things so sweetly. She presses her head back into the wall, eyes clamped shut. She begs him. Her nails dig into his shoulders and she’s never felt so filled with love. To be fucked against a wall, being told everything about you is loved.

She comes and he has to hold her up to make sure she doesn’t fall. She trembles in his arms and says she loves the way he makes her feel. 

He’s not far behind and his breath is hot and heavy in her ear when he finally does. 

Then they’re just two people, panting and clutching one another in this empty cabin. Her eyes finally open and her arm, as limp and as useless as it feels, extends to read for the sliding door, finally pulling it shut.

[umberoff]

HI HERE IS EVERY SAI BRUSH I OWN

sooo I tend to horde brushes, like, a lot. it’s been a slowly growing collection here, but now I’ve gotten to the point where I literally have next to no room and I desperately have to delete some. BUT I’m too paranoid of the fact that I’ll need one of them again some day. so I decided to dump ‘em all somewhere!

this is basically a reference for me in the future in case I need to remember That One Brush That Did A Thing that I may have deleted, but I figure I might as well also share them all since I’m saving them anyway and maybe someone will find something they like. you can take any of them if they interest you, and feel free to change ‘em as you see fit.

most of them aren’t mine, as I’ve basically always just swiped settings from a bunch of different places, so I have no idea where most of these came from. whoops!!

if you don’t have the texture/blotmap/whatever: I unfortunately don’t have a link to where I got all of mine, but most of them are here. if something’s missing, well, google’s your pal and I’m sure you can find ‘em.

anyway they’re under the cut. warning: there is. a lot. let’s go.

Brush

blotchy and neat. doesn’t blend much, but you can turn up “Blending” if you want it to. it’s pretty good for far away trees and bushes and all

Water

my usual blender, but I don’t really use it much anymore since I prefer manually blending nowadays?? still okay to smooth stuff out though

SpaceFoam

a really nice feelin’ brush!! I don’t even know what “space foam” means but it just ~feels~ it. just has this nice, dusty, foamy texture to it. I have another version of this brush that uses “Noise” instead of “Fine Flat 2″ if you want it more round instead of square.

Crayonz

used to be a general brush for sketching/doodling, but I don’t really use it much anymore. maybe you’ll like it.

Rough Chalk

super chunky, rough, and dry chalk brush

Speckle

self explanatory I guess! pretty good for texture or large skin blemishes

Chalk(Standard)

I really like this brush-- it’s great for making simple, blended backgrounds! keep in mind, because it’s a marker, changing its opacity works differently than other brushes, ie it doesn’t “layer”, it’s just a continuous tone

Badass Inker

OKAY I ACTUALLY DO KNOW WHERE THIS ONE IS FROM it’s here. mine is changed slightly but you figure out what you like. this was my main brush for lineart before I started inking in firealpaca. very sharp and crisp.

Marker

yep

RoughBrush

PKbrush

PKblotch

usually used it for a light, textured swash of color for an overlay layer or something. it’s supposed to be a big brush, but you can have it smaller I guess??

Acrylic

except it doesn’t really resemble acrylic at all, lol. in this state I use it as one of my blenders. BUT ALSO FUN THING: set that “normal” dropdown to multiply to get a subtle darkening effect. sometimes I use this for “lineart” in paintings.

Deliciously Dry

another brush from here. very nice rough texture.

Broken Chalk

I looove this weird little guy, lol. acts normal if you just go in a line, but it’ll get all “blocky” like that if you jitter your hand. because of this, it makes a pretty interesting leaf brush! it blends pretty cool, too.

BoneDry

aaaand ANOTHER from here.

Chalk

Chalk (... again)

Grass

it’s called grass but I honestly can’t imagine using it as a grass brush, lmao. stringy and soft though, may work as the flats for hair??

Clouds

this brush is...... kinda weird?? I mean, it’s clouds I guess. it’s not really perfect, but it’ll work if you spend enough time on it. I feel like it works better painting on the same layer than its own.

Gore

this brush is awfully light and soft for something called “gore”! actually I assume it’s called that cuz you use it as a patchy effect for wounds and stuff.

CG Smooth

named so because I think it’s supposed to resemble a brush used for very smooth, glossy, cg painting. (please excuse the shitty nose, I’m way rusty)

Paint

do you know how many random generic paint brushes I have

Paint 2

cuz it’s a lot

Paint 3

a loooootttt

Parrot

I’m weirdly fond of this one even though it’s not super special. I feel like it’d be good for smooth, bright, poppy blending.

Tint

this is another weird one. it’s like..... if you wanted to do a painty wash, I guess?

Chunky

like Broken Chalk above, this is another one that gets cool things when you jitter it. this one is a little more... jagged? reminds me of broken glass

CLead

this one works weiiirdly and maybe I should make a whole separate post about it?? well for now, this one’s basically like a dry marker or highlighter or something. I like it a lot.

PSPainting

I think it’s called that cuz it’s supposed to emulate painting in photoshop, even though it...... doesn’t, really, at all.

Copic 2

Water 10

another random blender. it doesn’t work on transparent areas though! (bring its dilution down if you want it to)

Copic

I have no idea if this is even remotely close to how a copic works (probably not)

TraditionalPencil

I’m never really 100% satisfied with most “pencil” brushes in sai, but here’s one anyway I guess.

Lead

and here’s another. this is the one that I actually tend to use

Acrylic (....... again)

and like our first acrylic, this is not really acrylic at all. super soft and light blender

BrushPen

SUPER rough and textured pen kinda thing

AmazingAcrylic

if you say so, name! actually this does look like it blends p cool

RIPbrush

why is it called this. what am I even doing with half these brushes. why am I here.

NEBULA

oh wait this one’s neat (neat enough to make two images even). good for all your spacey needs! the second one is a bunch of colors and set to “luminosity”, so you can get some cool effects.

shrugs (great name)

the marker tool is a strange being but I’ve really learned to love it lately. the key to this brush is setting that drop down up there to “multiply”, so you can get really deep darks with your base color where you need it. the downside to this being that you can’t really use preserve opacity to change it to a different color or you’ll lose the effect of those darks (you can use hue/saturation/brightness shift tho, but it might be a lil weird)

aaaand everything else I didn’t post were accidental duplicates! so that’s it!! that sure was a lot but maybe you found something in here you liked ;0

[allisenoble]

So, I was having a really rough week y’all … and then I got this in the mail.

I had gotten an artsnacks subscription for Christmas, and being a virgin to subscription boxes in general, was excited to see what it was all about and hopefully discover some awesome new products for art making!

The January box came with:

A Uni-Posca PCF-350 Brush Tip Paint Marker

2 Maribu Graphix Aqua Pens

A Tombow Fudenosuke Soft Tip Brush Pen

A Sakura SumoGrip Mechanical Pencil

And a cat joke: What do you call a painting by a cat?

A green Lifesaver

I decided to do what a lot of artsnacks subscribers do after receiving their box, and join the fun of challenging myself to create a little picture using only the products in my box for the month. This is also a great way to test out the materials, especially if they are unfamiliar to you. Another fun thing about artnsnacks is the fact that the colors of the products you receive are totally random … The royal blue was lovely, but that olivey/sage green and bright orange? – maybe ok separate but kind of yikes together. So, here is my unique green penguin, swimming beneath the chilly arctic waters.

All in all I thought this was an interesting first box, especially for someone like me who is primarily a drawing based artist but also holds a lot of love for watercolor. I’ll start with my favorite products, which were hands down the mechanical pencil and Tombow pen. I own a lot of black liner pens in a huge range of line weights, but I had never owned a pen whose line weight is dependent on the pressure you apply. This is a fantastic feature for adding more depth to outlines, and it is pretty intuitive. The brush tip is firm, and it is easy to control the weight you want. I.e. – it doesn’t suddenly “blob” out a big fat black line with the slightest pressure. The mechanical pencil has a fantastic eraser which is a huge plus – The quality of your eraser sometimes matters even more than the quality of the pencils you are using! The rubber grip, besides having a cute name, practically gives your fingers a massage as you are drawing – even for someone like me who holds their pencil wrong ;)!

Next, onto the Aqua Pens … The colors are super saturated and these are obviously artist grade. These were marked as a staff favorite. I have to say though, as far as pens that can be used with watercolors I still prefer Tombow’s Dual Brush Pens. The Aqua Pens seemed to not blend as well as with water as the Tombow ones I am used to – you could still see the original sketch marks though the color did spread with water. I noticed they washed better when I worked on smaller areas at a time without letting the ink dry as much in between. When you want more of an illustrative look with super BOLD color that doesn’t fade with the water, however, these would be perfect.

Lastly, the brush tip paint marker – marked on the product list as brand new to the market … I experienced a bit of sticker shock reading the retail price of these – 10 bucks for a SINGLE marker! But, they are unlike any paint pen I have ever seen given the fact that the brush tip is an actual bristled nylon brush. It is more rigid than a traditional painting brush and maintains it’s shape even when pressure is applied, so it is a true hybrid between marker and paint brush. I can see these being fantastic for the classes I manage with Express Yourself Artshop at Creative 360. The added control of using a paintbrush in pen form like this would be great for painters who have mild to severe dexterity issues or shaky hands due to age, injury, or disability, or anyone who struggles with fine motor skills but loves to paint. If it weren’t for that darn price tag … we are a non-profit after all. Donations, anyone? 😉

My assistant at work /slash/ really cool art friend /slash/ art educator teaches an art journaling class and has been trying to get me into starting an art journal. Another surprise Christmas gift I received was lo and behold, a mixed media art journal! It’s a sign. I’m a big reader, so, in addition to my monthly artsnacks challenges, I am going to play around with journaling some of my favorite quotes from books I’ve compiled. With my first two, I kept them mainly illustrative with a lot of white space but I am going to do more with texture/mixed media backgrounds for my next one, whatever that may be.

Be sure to check back for more unboxings! ❤

P.S. The answer to the joke was a paw-trait.

P.P.S. I may be so opposed to the orange and green color combo due to new home renovation trauma. This was what our mud room looked like when we moved in.

First Art Snacks Box, First Art Journal Entry! So, I was having a really rough week y'all ... and then I got this in the mail.