#god it's actually really nice to look back and see everything I've managed to create

[lexydakitten]

thinking about lakuta again tonight. particularly this question i put in the tags originally. i had the beginnings of an answer to it at one point but i think i've mostly lost what was good about him here. it's midnight so i'm gonna be incoherent

i think i think i think. because his "unforgivable" things are that he corrupted himself and took his sister down with him, she's effectively a pawn to him. he made the problem, it really did not exist before - he incorrectly identified a problem and started trying to solve it himself, and that led into it becoming a whole separate problem that he turns a blind eye to. in his eyes the problem is "we are led by someone incapable, useless and incompetent and i could fix all the faults if i were in her place". but the problem that all of them face actually is, "one of us has turned into a rampaging monster who, instead of fulfilling his role, is trying to tear apart everything to replace it his way". and his methods are extremely crappy and unforgiveable, he absolutely could be described as heartless and i would not call it a mischaracterization. but he wasn't always to that nature. at one point he stayed in his place, filled his role, contributed as he was meant to. i don't think he was ever "nice" but i can't say any of them are.

but a lot of his choices are made out of rage, i think. i don't think lakuta is a very secure kind of character, just considering his role alone. sg manages all the gaps and is the final say; xeilren was, i think i've since decided, managing time; whisk is life and death/creation/biology, not really a good label for that; terchu is all things weather. lakuta is, however, the balance of light and its respective magic. the deity before him can cause famine at a whim, the deity after could cause a world ending storm if she so pleased. what can he do? flashbang you? make this side of the globe unbearably bright for a century, and this other side cast in some sort of eternal dusk? trick you with a mirage? it's absolutely not the same. he's not on par with any of the others in regards to what he can do, what he stands for. i imagine maybe he really doesn't feel godlike compared to them at all.

whether or not he was aware of it, internally he craved that sense of worth and power, i think. calling him a god is only words, does he actually reflect that? so in the instance he perceived a problem where the issue is power, even if the problem didn't actually exist.. maybe to him that's a real problem, because internally he wants it to be, regardless of how much he's actively thinking or showing that.

i don't think that reaches the point where he's a character that makes that question difficult. i'm working on thinking more i think . i might even throw all this characterization out and go a different route. this is the route i'm pretty set on right now afaik though. im almost certain that "he ruined everything and thinks that manipulation and bloodthirst will solve his perceived issue but it's because he has self-worth issues and probably eventually crashes hard and in his eyes this is the only way to make things better" is not enough to create that question. i'm gonna look back on previous thoughts abt him i think and try to recall more. very glad i have the ability to post endless rambling about riftlore again, it makes it much easier to go back and see things i otherwise would've forgotten, even if it's just me looking at it lol

its dark out and i just had a thought abt riftlore again. i cant EXPLAIN currently what implications it'd actually have it's only more of a realization. that i have not thought much on because it Just entered my brain, but i am in fact going to ramble about it anyway

was thinking more about the relationships between the deities. how they see each other. and they definitely do have a small hierarchy based on age, that's smth i thought of a long time ago. going snake god <- xeilren <- whisk <- lakuta <- terchu, because that's age order. and snake god is a superior to all of them, though she tries her best to make sure everything is balanced there isn't much she can do, she made all of the others, and is typically final say. if there was anything she could do about that perception the main conflict probably would not exist, it's a major source of lakuta's frustrations that ended up corrupting him. it's definitely something i see as important

however, there is an exception to this - snake god and xeilren. in my eyes, with the other three deities, snake god is clearly an authority even though they're all peers. but i think snake god and xeilren are probably the closest to being on truly equal standpoints to each other, on account of the fact xeilren is extremely wise and mature compared to any of the other deities. not only are they oldest by a very sizeable margin, they're meant to be the most distinct from any of the others in general. the first is something completely alien to all those that came after. and also because i think snake god made xeilren's image out of nostalgia for an old friend of hers that i haven't touched on much. simply bc i haven't touched much on snake god's past in general, it doesn't have a lot of relevance and even she's generally moved on by the time anything happens in the rift. point is, xeilren and snake god relied on each other a lot

and each deity learned from the others that were around before them. yes, snake god taught/guided them all when they were young, but they primarily looked to whoever came before them. that's why i noted age order, because it was only one made at a time. i see that part as important for why terchu takes to mindlessly following her brother as well despite the obvious feeling that his side is extremely wrong, both because they're family (none of the others are) and because he was the main one she had to look up to when she was young.

so with that context, if wisdom or guidance were needed from their peers, the other deities would probably have been more likely to reach out to xeilren for advice than snake god. (that's one of those newer parts i'm thinking on) because even though snake god is trying to level the playing field, xeilren is closer to understanding them than snake god is - snake god doesn't exist to fulfill any roles or represent anything other than being a leader, and filling in the broad range of gaps that the other deities don't cover. xeilren is one of them, snake god is also one of them but less so.

and then. well before lakuta became corrupt by his own whims, probably around the start of actual tension between him and the others, xeilren steps down. they become entirely uninvolved in the others, still doing some tasks just to not be doing nothing, in a small pocket dimension. they won't take sides in any discussion, they're minding their own business as a former/retired deity someplace else. it's a decision that they don't explain, though a strong sense of foresight is something that comes with them as it relates to their role. and so, while it is accepted without fuss, and snake god doesn't demand an explanation, they leave. and that's also been established since i made xeilren, basically

but even if it's without fuss, even if snake god accepts it gracefully and allows them to do so, and even if the others don't speak much on it. it absolutely has to have an effect on them ALL. (that's part of the new thought.) while they're, by that point, fairly matured in their perspectives and they're settled into what their lives are. that now, if they need advice, if they have an issue or concern or anything, they can only go to snake god. xeilren doesn't want to be bothered and while they can be helpful, they aren't going to give real answers to problems that involve even the slightest amount of taking sides. i dont think they'd actually notice that it's a major effect on them all, they've got other things to think about, maybe a comment or so about it, but it definitely affects them. whisk adjusts to it a decent amount, maybe with a bit of unease, but he respects snake god enough to settle into that change. lakuta, however, having his main grievances being all against snake god, would probably be more negatively impacted. i don't think he'd adjust to that at all and it'd drive tensions further. that'd also hurt terchu, because if the brother that was a role model for her previously isn't adjusting, she'd absolutely struggle to figure out how to adjust either. on her own she probably could just fine, i think she'd be nervous to, but considering she also goes to him more often than she'd go to anyone else, and he's not going to help her in an unbiased way, she'd take notice to his tensions and apprehension to reaching out to snake god. and probably go from very torn on what to do to not being able to adjust at all in a similar way

idk rn im super tired its been dark out for a few hours. got me incomprehensible and sleepy. i don't have the energy to think on this more, hence the statement about the implications . furthest i can go is how they adjust and even then thats kind of ehh barely anything currently. i'll think more on it later i think maybe idk. this could be one of those things that i come back on later in the future with a whole other conclusion simply cuz its so small too

[perkynurples]

2020 Creator Wrap: Favourite Works

Rules: It’s time to love yourselves! Choose your 5 (or so) favourite works you created in the past year (fics, art, edits, etc.) and link them below to reflect on the amazing things you brought into the world in 2020. Tag as many writers/artists/etc. as you want (fan or original) so we can spread the love and link each other to awesome works.

This is so fun! Thank you @rinielle for tagging me!

1. A February Face

This fic really marked my renewed passion for writing those in general - I can’t believe I actually started it at the beginning of this year, before the pandemic. 2020 apparently existed before that? Wild. Either way, I’ve had a blast returning to one of my favorite fic universes I’ve ever created, and yes, it still counts as ongoing, even though its progress got interrupted by my foray into a whole another fandom, as evidenced by the rest of this list.

2. Ineffable Quotes #2

Holy shit, apparently 2020 DID exist before the pandemic. Good Omens made me want to start giffing again, and this was the result - I love me some cheesy quotes, and I’m super proud of the coloring on this set!

3. MDZS Fanfic Appreciation #1

Man, I’ve wanted to start this series for ages, and I finally got around to it. I used to do this for the Hobbit fandom, but it didn’t stick back then - the template was too nice not to use again though, and I’ve already amassed quite the list of fics I wanna give the edit treatment.

4. Lovers Left Broken

The beginning of the first lockdown all the way back in early March really aided my meteorite descent into the MDZS fandom, and this was the first result - I fell in love with Xichen’s character so very quickly, and I still think back fondly to being allowed to just sit down and crank out one chapter a day for his character study.

5. Welcome To Gusu

What can I even SAY. Among the list of things I once thought 2020 would bring, writing an AU about xianxia characters at a summer camp was about as likely as a global pandemic throttling the world. I was so adamant it wasn’t going to turn into a longfic, but wading through endless memories of my own time growing up summer after summer proved cathartic not only for me, but for my readers as well - even those who had never been to a summer camp before, which is still fuckin astonishing to me. Here we are, 100k and a belated Slow Burn tag later, after I’d been so adamant this was never going to be a longfic, three chapters from the end, and it’s beautiful.

I tag, if you like: @piyo-13, @sweetlittlevampire, @acute-bird <3

[stay-tinystars]

Kissing Lesson

Ship: Changbin x Older Fem reader. (Ft. Chan)

Word count: 1,814

Fluff, college au, best friends "sister"

Warnings: kissing, mentions of broken bones, nbk reader.

A/N: I've been really busy lately so sorry I haven't posted anything. This idea was based off a dream I had. The last bit is the dream. Anyways enjoy the random mentions of other idols, and the dynamic between reader and Chan (platonic). As always any comments are appreciated.

Ever since Chan walked through the door with my younger brother, Jungkook, when they were 8, Chan had always been there. Between him and Jungkook, they always had my back; stepping up when I needed them or in making my life complete hell. The three of us became inseparable after the day I saved the two of them from complete humiliation in middle school. Best friends, despite the good and bad. When Jungkook went to study abroad, Chan stepped in as my "brother".

When Chan decided to attend the same university I was attending I tried to help him get the lay of the land. However by the end of his first semester he knew twice the amount of people I did on campus. Gathering quite the assortment of friends. Including two friends who named themselves 3racha. Creating their own space in the small music scene around campus.

He was there when I broke my ankle after stepping into a hole after one of my classes. He quickly took me to the hospital, and held my hand as they set it and put a cast on it. I smiled as he seemed to take the step towards being a kind brother figure. However the next week he released footage on the university's social media of me on the meds at the hospital. Effectively ruining any chance I had on dating on campus. Chan was always there, good and bad.

When I graduated Chan threw a party for me, everyone in attendance was kind, however few I felt were actually there for me. Changbin, who was one of 3racha kept me company at that party, and the parties that I attended afterwards. I always felt a small spark but being as he was even younger than Chan, and was one of Chan's best friends I never felt I could cross that line.

As I progressed in my career working a hybrid schedule in the office and at home I made friends in the office. Chan was still my brother, and my confidant. However it was nice to have girls to chat with.

The company went all out in a celebration for our manager who brought in the most sales in over ten years. They rented out a 5 star restaurant, and had an open bar. I always tend to forget how much certain drinks affect my inhibitions. The thoughts I'd been harboring for over a year came into my mind. In hindsight I should've known not to ask Chan for help. However, drunken-stupor me, and sober me rarely see eye to eye.

"So, when are you coming over for your lesson?" His voice mocked, as I answered the phone.

"Chan, I already told you. What I messaged you over the weekend was a mistake" I sighed as I placed him on speaker phone and continued working. I had ten minutes left of my work day, I just wanted to finish this project.

"Please. It's not a crime to ask for help." The laughter in his voice barely concealed. "Especially when I know you have no experience in the field."

"How do you know I have no experience!" I huffed, as I tried to focus on the screen.

"Kissing Namjoon at your 16th birthday party doesn't count. You barely caught the corner of his lips. Plus, you tell me everything." I could practically hear his smirk. "So when do we start your lesson?" He chuckled.

"I swear to God Chan, drop it! I drank too much at my company party! It was a mistake, a drunken mistake." I gritted my teeth as I quickly saved my project. Not wanting a keyboard smash to ruin my hard work. I just felt grateful that today was one of my work from home days.

"Most people hook up with friends when drunk. Not text their best friend saying you wished you knew how to kiss because Changbins lips 'always look so kissable'" He said dreamily before laughing. I took a deep breath and pushed myself away from my desk. I'd have to call it a day.

"Ugh! I hate you. Let me survive in peace." I groaned.

"Are you sure you don't want to die in the peace of Changbins lips against yours?" He teased, paraphrasing one of the many texts.

"Chan, if you don't stop I will tell everyone what happened on your first day of middle school." The threat was met with silence. I finally felt like I had the upper hand.

"I swear I'm just messing with you." Panic lacing his words. "Seriously though, I'd be more than willing to help you learn about kissing. You've got to learn somehow."

"Why did God curse me with you?" I asked, as I looked towards the ceiling he chuckled in return.

"Not sure if it was God or just Jungkook. Just come over in an hour."

"I hate you." I muttered as I stood and grabbed my phone.

"Of course you do" I could hear his smirk before the line went dead.

—---

Chan stood there smirking, leaning against his kitchen counter, as I jumped up on the wobbly bar stool. The small wall behind me gave us some privacy from his two nosey roommates, Han and Felix.

"So, tell me. How long have you been wanting to kiss Binnie's plush lips?"

"Chan I swear if you say something like that again, I will spread every detail about how Kook and you both-" he cut my threat off.

"Fine, fine, fine, I will stop." He held up his hands in surrender. "May I ask one thing?" He raised a brow.

"One thing" I crossed my arms, as I leveled my gaze.

"I knew you liked Bin, I've seen the flirtatious looks. Why have you not made a move?"

"Because," I sighed as I looked up at the ceiling, then back at my best friend. "Because, I've seen the girls that crowd you guys after any of your gigs. The girls he drapes his arms around. Don't get me started on how his Ex was. He's out of my league." I placed my head in my hands. "I'm nothing like his usual type. Plus you two work together, have classes together, you're really good friends. You've likely told him every embarrassing thing I've ever done."

"That's not true, you are way better than his Ex. You are an amazing woman, I'd say you're out of his league." I heard him say as he placed his arm around my shoulders. "Also i haven't told him all of the stories" i looked at him as he gave me a comforting squeeze. "I've only told him the funny ones" he joked, and I shook my head.

"Look, can we just drop this? I'll even buy pizza and lava cake if you just let it go." I hopped off the stool.

"As much as I like the bribe. I feel it my duty to help you." He placed his hands on my shoulders, and I sighed.

"Fine. So tell me, what is the first thing I need to know?" I shook his hands off.

"Well first, kissing should really only be done between two consenting parties" He placed a hand on my cheek. "Second you should be prepared for the kiss" He pulled out lip balm from his pocket and put some on his lips.

"Woah, Chan. I don't want to kiss you." I pushed him away, and he chuckled.

"How else will you learn?"

"How about you just tell me what to do and I'll figure it out myself." He shook his head softly, and rolled his eyes.

"How about this? I need to know what I'm working with. So I can coach properly. So come over and show me how you would kiss Changbin. Pretend I'm him" he closed his eyes and stood there.

I took a deep breath. It's just Chan, I'm comfortable with Chan this should be fine. I took a few steps towards him. I could feel his breath as I leaned closer. This feels so wrong, he's like a brother to me.

My lips met his, and he didn't move. Was I supposed to move? I tried to picture myself as the protagonist in one of the many books I'd read. I tilted my head and moved my lips. He still didn't move and I broke away. I glared at him in a huff.

"What the hell Chan. You didn't even do anything." I threw my hands up, and he laughed.

"Well I had to see what I needed to coach you on." He laughed.

"Was it that bad?" His expression told me everything. I wasn't good.

"Just try it again"

So I did. I went in and he just stood there. No movement yet again. In fact he seemed to be tucking his lips between his teeth. As I broke away I shoved him. He shrugged.

"You are so infuriating Chan! I just wanted some advice. This was your stupid idea!"

"Well, I didn't want to kiss you." He found a spot to lean against the counter again.

"I didn't want to kiss you either! So why did you tell me to pretend you were Changbin, and how I would kiss him! You're making me feel like a fool!" Hot tears threatened my eyes. The sound of someone clearing their throat made me look towards the doorway to the living room.

"So, noona. Mind telling me why you didn't just come ask me for a kiss" Changbin asked, the corner of his lips creeping upwards. My eyes grew wide, as I floundered for words.

"Bin, I thought I told you to come in here when I said 'pretend I'm him'." Chan shook his head. I looked between the two.

"Wait, you were here the whole time!" I felt my cheeks heat up.

"Well I was with Chan on Saturday when he got your messages. I figured I could maybe help you with the lesson myself." Changbin smirked, as he looked towards the ground then back at me.

"You couldn't have stopped me before I kissed my best friend?" I placed my hands on my hips.

"Well I didn't kiss back so I don't think it counts" Chan chimed in.

"Well how about I help with your lesson? I've been trying to get Chan's approval before I even tried anything with you." Changbin stepped forward, and the world seemed to melt around us.

"Why get his approval?" I asked, my eyes darting from his eyes to his lips.

"Because, you're practically his sister. I didn't want any bad blood between us." He was so close, his breath intermingled with mine.

I felt like my brain was malfunctioning. I thought back to any thoughts about kissing, and all I came up with was, "May I kiss you?"

Changbin chuckled slightly. "Anytime you want" He mumbled, then our lips connected.

[natromanxoff]

Queen live at Elland Road in Leeds, UK - May 29, 1982 (Part-2)

Fan Stories

“We got a coach from my home town (about 2 hours from memory) and drank an ocean of lager on the way, by the time we got there we needed the toilet so badly we could have exploded! We got into the stadium and waited for the first band of the day. Soon enough a not very well known (to me) American band came on called Heart. They weren't bad but did nothing for me. Then came The Teardrop Explodes who tried and who I reckoned did quite well despite the flying bottles of liquid being hurled at them from the crowd. After them was Joan Jett complete with Blackhearts who got the crowd going with "I Love Rock'n'Roll" mainly because Brian appeared at the side of the stage with his daughter to have a look. Eventually after a long wait the stage lights dimmed and a strange cranking sound started up and then you were suddenly aware of the drum beat to Flash thumping out and spotlights chasing around the stadium. This went on for a minute or so and the excitement was unbearable. All of a sudden in an explosion of smoke, lights, guitars, drums... Brian, John and Roger are there blasting out the opening part of The Hero. Seconds later in a gleaming white leather jacket out runs Freddie and it begins... A moment I will never forget along with many others from Queen shows since and before it. I can't say which show was my favourite as I loved them all but that moment WAS Queen, the sheer power, the anticipation, the fantastic musical ability and above all else the way they gave people what they crave more than anything... wonderful memories.” - whiteman

“29th May 1982 - a really nice warm day. We only lived a few miles away so walked down to Elland Road - I can't believe it - Queen live in my home town at the home of the greatest football team in the country (well maybe not now!). Got to the ground early and were allowed in by security, such a relaxed atmosphere. Saw band's soundcheck - great! So hot sun, never went behind stadium roofs. Got best suntan I have ever had! Heard Teardrop Explodes - not bad. Then you are aware of the beat of flash thumping out around the stadium, the smoke rises and bang - they are on! The greatest gig I have ever seen from the greatest live band in history. God bless you, Brian, Roger and John. Rest in peace, Freddie - we will never forget.” - Michael Quine

“This was my second ever gig, the first being Rory Gallagher the year before (I am sure I once read that Rory was one of Brian May's favourite guitarists). Anyway, being only 14 and not yet in the habit of getting off my face at gigs,I can remember that day very clearly. I am convinced I saw someone throw a hamburger at Julian Cope (Teardrop Explodes were going down like a lead balloon), and just as Julian was opening his gob to sing, he CAUGHT IT IN HIS MOUTH. A huge cheer went up, then they stomped off. Somebody, possibly Queen's manager, came on and told everbody to behave. I also remember a fan getting on stage and Freddie expertly rolling him off the stage. I didnt like the Hot Space album much but was chuffed they were still a hard rock band. I bought the next edition of Kerrang mag and the write up of the gig said STUNNING. Great memory.” - Edwin

“I was 15 years old in 1982 when I attended my first ever concert. Fortunately for me, it was QUEEN's show at Leeds AFC ground in the North of England. I remember when my ticket arrived in the post, possibly 2-3 months before the concert, as was often the case in those days. I stuck my ticket on a cork notice board in my bedroom and could barely contain my excitement over the coming weeks. Every morning, I would wake up and look at the yellow ticket, wishing the days away. I imagined everything that could go wrong would. Queen would cancel the gig, I would break my leg, the family pet would die on the morning of the concert and it would be too insensitive of me to go, the transport wouldn't turn up or would break down, there would be a pile up on the motorway, I'd lose my ticket en route, etc, etc. As it turned out, May 29th 1982 was a hot and sunny day, perfect weather for an outdoor gig. I was CRAZY about Queen and had been since the age of 9 but I really didn't know what to expect on that day. Myself and three friends took a coach organised by my Dad's company from Lancashire across the M62 motorway to Leeds. Our excitement began to really take a hold when we arrived at the football ground and we followed the droves of people towards the turnstiles. To me, this was something on a really big scale and I could already hear the hum of the crowd inside. Not really believing that we were actually about to witness a Queen concert, we found our seats on the West Stand, offering a great view of the stage. I remember marvelling at Queen's new lighting rig and the equipment that adorned the stage, shining in the afternoon sunshine. The ground was almost full at this point and the pitch was heaving with people. The atmosphere was relaxed as people bathed in the sunshine. I remember two guys climbing the fence from the stand and attempting to get a better spot by running into the crowd and losing themselves on the pitch. Their efforts were in vain however as they were quickly located and ejected back into the stand by two security guards. We bought some black Hot Space tour shirts (I wore mine with pride until it literally fell apart) and a programme from a vendor inside the ground and waited for the first band to take the stage. A guy near us shouted and punched his way through Heart's set and then left just as they vacated the stage. Obviously not a Queen fan! The Teardrop Explodes suffered at the hands of the Queen congregation and found themselves battling against a shower of bottles and assorted missiles. Other than that, I don't really remember much about the support bands. I think that Bow Wow Wow were billed to play (an odd choice) but I can't recall if they actually turned up. No matter, we were about to witness what is still one of the best gigs I have ever attended.

As the dusk descended upon us, the giant floodlights were extinguished one by one and the memory of the roar that followed still sends shivers down my spine. Dry ice drifted across the heads of the crowd on the pitch as the intro tape of Flash thumped out of the PA and the strange 'grating' noises added to the recording created a foreboding atmosphere. Two of our party were on the pitch and to this day remember their chests thumping in unison to the powerful rhythm. A sea of hands clapped in perfect time to the beat. To me, this was already an amazing experience. And then the big moment. Freddie, resplendent in dazzling white made his entrance to The Hero and the blaze of the lights. An apt number to start with. Before he had even sung a note, the audience were locked tightly in the palm of his hand. Such an entrance, such a showman. "You're a F***in amazing crowd", he exclaimed after the first rush. The beginning of the gig is, in truth, my strongest memory of the show itself. In particular, the "Flash!!!" vocals cutting through the night air with so much volume. I recall being shocked at the sheer power of Queen's performance and the clarity of the huge sound they harnessed. Morgan Fisher's keyboards during 'Action This Day' sounded bright and hypnotic. Freddie's intro to Fat Bottomed Girls caused quite a response too; "the bigger the t*t the better it is!". I also remember the follow spots darting wildly over the crowd during 'Tie Your Mother Down' and everybody going crazy. Oddly enough (and this is something I still swear by to this day), I was in a Maths lesson at school the following Monday and I swear I had a flashback of this and could actually 'hear' the music being re-played in my head. It was a weird moment and life was never quite the same again. We talked endlessly about our experience for months to come and one of my biggest regrets is not jumping on a train to attend the filmed Milton Keynes show a week later. Having been to so many gigs since, I can honestly say that there is nobody who has been able to top Queen live; I was lucky enough to see the band five times between 1982 and 1986, including Wembley Stadium and their last show at Knebworth. I think that my personal favourite was their performance at the NEC in Birmingham on 'The Works' tour in 1984. People were literally stood there with open mouths, unable to believe how good they were. Leeds is definitely up there too. I recall Brian May stating that he thought it was one of their best performances ever. I can't argue with that Mr May. I've often wondered if an audience shot cine film or even just photographs exist from the Leeds gig. It would be a dream come true to see my memories come to life again.” - Keith Lambert

“I can't believe it was 30 years ago that I attended my first ever gig at Elland Rd Leeds in 1982. I was 17 years old at the time, I was into Queen when I first heard seven seas of rhye, which was so different to all the other stuff around at the time. I'd heard them live on tv, and had Live Killers. Also I used to buy bootleg cassettes of all of their tours from 74 onwards. But nothing could prepare me for that day. They should have played this gig at Old Trafford Manchester, my home town, so I was gutted when the residents opposed it. Tickets were very easy to come by, believe it or not, cos Queen were not seen as a relevant band at that time. Also touring the Hot Space album didn't seem to excite anybody. So, Billy no mates had to go on his own, haha. My memory is a bit hazy, but I will try my best. I got to the ground about 1pm, and was lucky enough to have a pitch ticket. I got right to the front, well about 10 yards from the stage, slightly off centre and to the right. If I told you I never moved from that spot all day and never spoke to anyone, would you believe me? One of the reasons for this is the rivalry between Manchester and Leeds, also I was only a kid, haha. Not sure who was first on, probably Teardrop Explodes, Julian Cope, I remember while they were throwing bottles at him, picked one up and started hitting himself with it and stretching his arms out saying he was an Argentinian bomber or something. It was during the Falklands war, remember. Then Heart came on, not really my cup of tea, and I had a lie down on the tarpaulin and tried to go to sleep. Then Joan Jett, who was better than the rest, but not really exciting. During the band changes, I remember the roadies polishing Roger's drum kit and climbing up ropes and those threepronged lights, which before I saw them move I thought they were cameras. Queen took ages to come on. From my recollection and I might be wrong, they didn't come on until 10pm and went off around Midnight. I heard later that they got fined so much per minute for being late on stage but they wanted to wait until it was dark for the lighting rig to take effect. If you watch the Bowl DVD you will notice it was light when they came on stage there. But that was being filmed by Channel 4. But it was absolutely pitch black when they came on stage at Leeds. Then the floodlights went off, smoke started to appear and strange noises started, which I can't describe, sorry. Then Flash's Theme started, it was loud, very, very loud. I knew they were supposed to be loud and this was the part that scared me. The ground was thumping, the bass just pumping away. The these 'cameras' flicked into life, with men on them. The intro seemed to last for a very long time. Then BANG Brian appears with the first chord of The Hero and a flash of the biggest white light I've ever seen and will never forget and the absolute loudest noise I have ever heard just hit me. The intro was quite in comparrision to this. When I play Live at the Bowl, I tend to repeat the intro and The Hero, virtually every time, because it was definitely a life changing experience for me at that moment, just incredible. Then Freddie appeared in brilliant white again, I was that close, I swear His hair seemed blue because of the mass of white lights. His voice, so loud, so clear, honestly, I can't describe that moment properly. I heard Freddie swear, saw Roger spitting, quite a lot, over his drum kit and onto the stage, I was bewildered.

When they did Play The Game and also Somebody To Love, when Freddie was doing the intros for them and it will sound strange to those that weren't there, but I didn't know what the songs were. I thought they was new unreleased songs. The reason was they was so loud, It kind of deafened you and then kind of sunk in what they were about to play. Then the rest of the gig flew by and I was singing my head off. Everyone was, but you could only hear Queen. Again my memory may be wrong, but I read afterwards that Queen had paid for residents to move out of their homes for the day. These houses were monitored and they said that the sound was like Concorde flying 10 feet over your head... Yep I will buy that. For all that and for all the bad things said about it, The Works tour, which I went to all the 4 origional England gigs they had planned, was the best tour they ever did. The set list was fantastic and the lighting rig was incredible. Not as loud, I also add. I also saw them in Manchester, 86. They had to be off stage by 10pm and noise levels had to be adhered to. I was too far awy to see them and the screens didn't come on because it was too light. Also I couldn't here them properly. I've watched the mMagic Tour gigs on DVD etc, but for me, that was the poorest tour they ever did. So that's it, hopefully some of you can confirm my bad memory, or say I'm wrong. Hopefully not bored you all. But it was the greatest musical experience I ever witnessed and I am proud I was there.” - Paul Wakefield

Part-1

(x)

[jamesbuchananbarnesslut]

Monster Hunter Ch. 1

Pairing: Will Ransome x Female Reader

Words: 1,516

Summary: The year was 1893 in Aldwinter Essex and William Ransome, vicar, has been battling with his towns people and the myth of monsters. Especially, after strange things keep happening in town, most recently an earthquake and even children and locals reporting the sighting of a blackwater beast. Although Will, himself doesn't believe in monsters he's been struggling to convince the town people otherwise. The problem further escalates when men of the town all begin having similar dreams and describe the same woman appearing in them. After each person has these dreams, they seem to be weaker either physically or mentally and, in most cases, have been found dead. The dreams also only started occurring after a new spinster named Y/N moved in on the outskirts of town. With all the increasing rumors, Will is forced to step in and begin to decipher what's happening especially whether he believes these things are real.  

Warnings: yes there is smut in the first piece, but it’s just with Will’s wife. Fingering and P in the V

Tiny Tag List: @venusofthehardsells @spooky1980

Notes: This story first of all wouldn’t be happening without @venusofthehardsells she was the on who first introduced me to these Tom Hiddleston photos. Which in thus created a thirst and need for a fic. But the fic is now a series! I also have not actually read The Essex Serpent and have no idea how the show is going to go, so this is my OWN interpretation and telling of his character. Please enjoy, like, reblog, and leave lots of comments!

Master List

Series Master List

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Will's P.O.V

I had spent another long grueling day arguing with the members of my communion about whether the myths and monsters circulating our small town were real. The rumors began last summer and only thus worsened. I'm at my wits end with it all, and just need a way to qualm what the town is currently feeling. As I worked my way back into my office, I couldn't help but think that the new spinster, Y/N, on the outskirts of town had to have something to do with this all. Considering she had moved in around last summer when the blackwater beast stories first presented themselves. But now that she, herself, was appearing in men's dreams, and then a lot of those men found dead. It was suspicious and she surely has something to do with it all, maybe if not monsters and myths than some type of black magic or witchery.  

By the time I made it back to my office I couldn't help but pull out my hidden bottle of gin and pour myself a drink before I sat down. I manage to swallow the drink all in one swig and end up pouring myself another. Sitting down at my desk with the bottle, I press my fingers to my temples and hunch over the desk. Pondering what's been happening to my small town and why everything's suddenly topsy-turvy. I also can't help but think about how this is going to further affect the towns faith in God, especially thier view him. While my thoughts are still swirling, I throw back my second drink and decide to pour another.  

As if I have a chance to relax though, there's an overflowing pile of paperwork on my desk I still need to sort out. As well as a stack of mail that's been neglected for far too long. That's when I decide it's time to down my third drink and start sorting through the paperwork and at least categorizing it. By the time I finish organizing I have a stack of marriage certificates, christenings, new memberships, and even a decent amount of death certificates. The mail will have to wait until the morning I haven't been home all week; I keep falling asleep in my office or waking up somewhere in the pews. But I know my wife is beginning to worry and I should probably make my way home before I get stuck here.  

I pour myself one final drink for the road, throw it back and begin to push myself to my feet. I tuck the gin back in its hiding place within the bookshelf and begin to shut down the building while heading out. Specifically, blowing out all the candles, turning off oil lamps and locking the doors. Even in a buzzed stupor those are things I never forget.  

I stumble down the steps of the church and make it to the cobblestone street heading towards home. Even though there aren't many streetlamps providing light, there's a clear sky and a full moon making everything gleam and glisten in the dark. As I continue my march home, I pass one of the local pubs and see none other than Y/N, herself outside it. Conversing with John Smith, one of the older blacksmiths. It seems to be a deep intimate moment, that I interrupt by holding my gaze towards them too long. Catching their attention and weird glares back. I tip my head to them and continue walking, hoping I haven't soured their mood.  

By the time I make it home, I can see all the oil lamps are off and two candles going, one in my bedroom meaning the Mrs.'s is up reading or waiting for me. And one in the kitchen, she must have put leftovers out for me. How many times has that this happened this week? I don't want to disturb anybody, so I enter the house through the rear door that leads directly into the kitchen. There's a plate of cold food on the table for me, that I scarf down ravenously. With how little I've been home; I really haven't been eating either. Once I'm done, I rinse off the dishes, setting them aside to be washed in the morning and blow out the candle.  

I slowly make my way upstairs and begin to plot ways to get myself out of this argument with my wife. Maybe because the kids were still sleeping, she'd put off the spat and wait till she sent them off too school or her parents. Either way I wasn't prepared to walk in and find her sitting naked in the candlelight. It's almost like she knew I'd finally make my way home tonight. That or she's been truly waiting each night like this for my return home. Either way I didn't deserve a woman as good as her.  

Her sultry voice broke my shocked stupor, "I was beginning to wonder when I'd ever see you again."

I run my hands through my hair, a nervous habit, and work up a response, "you know, I can't rest easy until I convince everyone that this blackwater serpent isn't real. And now I have reports of Y/N appearing in men's dreams and a lot of those men begin found dead within a couple days or weeks shortly thereafter."

I must have been running my mouth because by the time I look to my wife again she is already up from the bed and stripping me of my clothing.  

"I understand that this is a huge deal honey, but you can't keep burning the candle at both ends and pushing yourself like this," she states while finishing pulling the reaming clothes from my body. "Come, join me in bed maybe if I provide my wifely duties, I can help break you out of this stump." Which is followed by her hands caressing my chest and moving up towards my neck, face and into my hair. Where she pulls my gaze to hers to get a clear look in my eyes. I know she can see how tired and stressed out I am.  

I let her pull me into bed, she makes it so I land on top of her, and I can't help but agree that now would be a good time to have sex. It also means she isn't mad or at least she's trying to amend things this way instead. I begin to kiss her and settle myself in between her legs where my member begins to harden against her. Our kissing becomes passionate, and I feel her entrance slicken. I slide my fingers along her slit and begin to spread her wetness around causing mewls to spill from her mouth into mine. Once she's decently wet, I slip a finger and then two into her, working them at a steady pace. While I move my lips to her chest and tell her she must quiet herself or else she'll wake the children in a hushed mummer.  

After I feel her cum around my finger, I work that same hand over my member, making sure to get it nice and wet. Then I line myself up with her entrance and push in slowly, while putting my hand over her mouth.  

"You just can't help yourself tonight my dear," I mumble into her ear while giving her a chance to adjust to my member in her. She bites my hand, a clear sign I need to get a move on, and I begin to push myself in and out of her tight channel. The pace isn't slow for long though and I begin pounding into her. Her whines spilling out but muffled behind my hand.  

"I know your close again, cum with me yeah?" She nods and with that I drop my hips lower changing the angle. Which immediately triggers her orgasm, causing her tight channel to milk me and pushing me into my orgasm. I pump my seed into her and then roll of to the side. Pulling her tightly into my arms I drift off into sleep thinking about Y/N, John Smith, and the rumors circulating our small town.  

[leahseclipse]

The Reichenbach Fall: Aftermath - Chapter One: Happy Death Anniversary, Detective.

Series Masterlist

Pairing: Sherlock Holmes x GN!Reader (With some Fem mentions)

Warnings: S2 FINALE SHERLOCK SPOILERS, Major character death; death topic, mourning, suicide mentions, depression mentions... (lemme know if I missed stuff.)

Summary: Two years after the death of Sherlock, what could be next?

Word Count: 4.0K

A/N: Hey there! I've finally found the motivation to post my Sherlock fic here. If you prefer AO3, click here :)

++

Sherlock used to call at midnight, he never cared whether you were trying to sleep, or if you were actually sleeping- he’d just call.

Sometimes to complain that technology was futile given the multitude of defaults it contained (his phone, for example)- or to talk about an article in a newspaper, thinking we’d be interested in it.

It’s been two years since the last call. No one could bring themselves to delete his number since; and I understand the reason for it. We all had some hope inside us, it was small given all the time that went by, but it was there.

We all wondered if he wasn’t alive. Movies aren’t real, so the whole fake-death scenario couldn’t have been real but we all thought “why not?”, it could happen. That was over a year ago, but I still believed it, I wasn’t quite planning on giving up; and when my phone rang a bit after midnight, I still had a glimpse of hope, each time.

That glimpse was cut short when I read the caller ID. It was John. I did like him, he just wasn’t who I expected to see, but I picked up the phone, just to not be rude. Voicemail is awful. “John? What’s going on?”

"I...I don’t really know, actually. Guess I...needed to feel less alone. I don’t even know."

“Hold on.” I glanced at my bedside as I put the phone on speaker before sitting on the bed. "...so, you couldn’t sleep?"

"Yeah, I’ve been trying for an hour, certainly because of..." He stopped, hesitating with his words.

Who else other than Sherlock would it be, honestly. The man’s always been in our thoughts, and now that he’s gone, we have to be reminded that he’s stuck in our minds. The only way to hear him is through memories, and probably some of us are afraid to forget what he sounds like through time. He wasn’t the guy to make documentaries on him, film himself- hell, he rejected every interview he was offered. The only thing we have is pictures, which isn’t enough.

"It’s him, isn't it?" I presumed.

"Yeah, Sherlock." He confirmed. “It’s the anniversary of his death, in two weeks.”

See, that was the kind of thing I didn’t want to recall as it made me think of what I didn’t want to accept, but at the same time, if I stopped thinking about that, might as well forget Sherlock completely.

"It kept me awake too." I admitted.”I can’t believe it.”

No one really does, to be honest. We all wish that it could be fake, that’s what we would need, even if it’d hurt to see him while we mourned all this time.

"It still feels a bit weird without him, even after basically two years."

“It didn’t seem right without him, at first."

"It took us a bit to get used to it, and still...I think I didn’t get used to it fully to this day."

"Neither am I, John. I don't think I ever will. Time will make the pain less...painful, but it’ll never erase him, he'll be in our thoughts from the moment we wake up."

"I wish it was all a dream. I hate to wake up and not see him. He annoyed me sometimes but...he was my friend."

"He was annoying but a good friend, yeah.” I said, “It’s just...not right. Nothing is right. I feel like everything has gone cold. I swear that I haven't seen a single ray of sunshine."

"It's probably time fooling around, I don't know." He said.

"It could but, when he was there, there would be some sunny-ish days. I haven't seen one since. He left, and it's like he took the sun with him, John. The whole world is falling apart.”

"I felt that too, for a moment. But, I don't really trust whatever I think about these days. I don't pay much attention to whatever I do."

"You should be careful though, I don't need you to die because you didn't pay attention out there. And before you say anything, there's no joke in there. I mean it, Watson.”

"I wasn't going to say that, trust me."

"You better. I need you there."

"Same goes for me. You've been of great help since…"

"Yeah. Since." I paused. "It sucks."

"It does.” He agreed. “Well I...I’m gonna go back to sleep, I don’t want to bother you all night.”

“You didn’t bother me, don’t worry. It helped to talk. I could even stay a bit more, if you’re not planning on going back now.”

“Alright, then.”

++

It’s like the weather watched me plan the day, rain is on time. It couldn’t be more depressing on top of me dressed in black, but I just didn’t feel like coming in rainbow clothes would be appropriate, even if he wouldn’t care how I dressed anyway, even if he’s dead, yeah.

It feels weird to go, I always expected this was all a dream, or that it’d just...never happen. He’s the kind of person that outlives everyone, and Sherlock was this kind of person, he’s always been that person. He even used to say he’ll always be there, that he’d never leave, and now I guess we’ve both made mistakes, he’s not here anymore.

I never thought that would happen, I can’t tell how bad I prayed to whatever god to wake up, but that did nothing but make me a fool, nothing changed.

His apartment remained empty, as ours, he’d consider each house he could sleep at, his. I remember that he stayed at John’s for a week, before having to go back as John was “not entertaining” enough because he slept too much- As if we got to sleep all day.

He used to think everyone was like him, barely sleeping, barely tired, because I don’t think I’ve had the opportunity of seeing him elsewhere other than a room full of piles of papers.

He did sleep, but not at night, it was kind of like a cat, throughout the day, when possible. I always laughed about it along with John, and he never minded, he’d either pretend to not care, or join the conversation, and I already miss this kind of talks.

They’d either be incredibly short, or extremely long, you really had to clear your schedule for an hour or two when he’d talk. It’s not that it bothered me, it was more the others, those who didn’t know him. They’ve always found an amount of weirdness in him, which I had when I was like them, a stranger.

I never thought we’d get close, I didn’t even think anyone was close with him, he seemed quite the lonely guy, very private. Even after getting to know him, he remained quite private, as I thought, he wouldn’t share much, even with John and Mycroft; but, it didn’t matter that much, we still managed to have a great friendship, and I’ll always miss it.

Not any person will be like him, he was one of a kind. Not anyone could copy him without being seen as a fool. Sherlock Holmes was unique, he didn’t copy anyone to rise up, didn’t take anyone as a model, he did it all himself, he was a model himself.

He didn’t wish to be like anyone, it was the contrary, everyone wanted to be at his level, have the recognition he had, the fame, all the things that made him known, that made Sherlock be him. Even I won’t find a mentor like him, not any of them will be better, they’ll all seem ridiculous to me, even if they have more experience than him.

Nothing will be the same. This world won’t be the same without him being here, he’s gone now.

He took a big piece of whatever thing, when he left, and whatever thing he took was a big one, because it left us all empty. The kind of empty feeling that won’t quite go away, we’ve all been so used to having him around so much that it was a habit.

And now that he’s gone, nothing feels right, even living doesn’t feel right. It won’t ever feel right without him.

I almost feel guilty for being alive, I’m not as smart as him, I won’t contribute to anything. He was the smart one, we really lost an important person and I don’t think it wouldn’t have changed much if I had died instead, people would just be sad, I think.

It wouldn’t be that bad.

His death is bad to the point that the world he left behind can’t function as well as when he was alive. The whole puzzle is missing, hell, the whole world, if I go out of the metaphor.

...Sherlock would have been the corners of it, the foundations of it, what made it whole, what gave a start to get the rest of the puzzle.

He would have corrected me with hundreds of better metaphors if he could hear me, I really suck at this. He never did, though.

In fact, most of his talking contained metaphors, it was his signature, his day couldn’t feel right if he wouldn’t tell at least one.Now the whole ‘no day without a metaphor is a bad day’ is falling on us, and nothing or no one will make that feeling go away.

It’s strange, and funny that he managed to create all of those special feelings, memories, that we only felt with him. Sherlock’s had quite the special part in our lives. He changed our lives in such a spectacular way, and to be honest, life felt less depressing, even if our job is full of dead people and mysteries that make our sleep schedule non-existent, quite rare.

He made us forget all of that shit, whenever he could. That’s why I looked up to him, and thought about him so much. Whenever I had a problem, I’d call him first. Of course, I did call John, and Mycroft, but Sherlock was like my emergency contact, he’d always pick up, if possible.

Somehow, he always knew the answers to everything, and when he was clueless (which only happened twice, in five years)- he'd attempt to find something close to it, and even if his explanations didn’t solve anything, I didn’t care.

It probably made him sort of happy to explain it, share his big knowledge, so as long as he enjoyed himself, that was enough. I did hope he did enjoy himself, I never thought about asking and now that I think about it, I probably should have, it’s too late now.

If he can hear me, a sign would be great, probably. A good thing if he enjoyed talking, and a bad one if I annoyed him? It’d be nice to know even if he probably won’t answer, he must still be working; I know it.

He would be bored if he didn’t have his face in newspapers and whatever case. I always said Sherlock not to overwork, but he never listened. I hope he’s not doing it right now, that man was a total workaholic, right to his last breath, he never stopped.

I just hope he’s okay, wherever he is.

He deserves peace, enough things happened to him, he almost died a couple times, almost lost us if we hadn’t survived all of the wounds and things that happened, almost lost himself because of depression- all of these could have killed him.

He would have stayed alive, but he would have died inside, I just know it even if he didn’t show it much. But he did feel, he did have feelings.

I know he liked us a lot, even though he didn’t show it much; he did enjoy living even with all of the problems he had so, let’s hope he’s not in pain, stressing, suffering, whatever feeling that makes him feel bad.

You can take it easy now, we’re taking care of what you couldn’t finish for you, we’re taking care of the legacy you couldn’t pursue for you, we’ve got your back, Holmes. John, Mycroft, myself, and whatever person you know will tell you everything that happens so you don’t miss anything. You’ll be able to debate about the events, you won’t miss a single thing of what’s happening.

Even if I have my pride, and don’t want to admit I’m depressed about you being dead, I’ll tell you everything, I know you’d be here to tell me how to deal with the death of a person, the whole five stages of grief. You said them to me so much that I always have them in my head.

Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression and Acceptance.

I’d say that I’m at the last phase, but a lot of anger comes in it. I still wish it had been me, sometimes. It’s not fair it happened to Sherlock. I just hope he’s not too mad. If it had been someone else, he’d probably try to talk some sense into me, get me to tell more logical things.

If ghosts were real, I know he’d tell me to stop putting the blame on myself, even if I don’t even know why I blame myself, we don’t even know what caused him to jump from a damn building. And even if someone explains it, we won’t know if it’s real no matter how much they’ll prove it’s the truth.

The only person that can tell us that is gone.

So, unless we don’t find...a diary, or a note, proving it all, we won’t know.

The last thing we’ve heard from him was an apology, the ‘note’ he left behind was the call John received, which means the presumed note I mentioned doesn’t exist, only the call does.

After leaving his note, he fell from the roof and he died on impact, his pulse was long gone when he reached the floor, and it didn’t come back. I didn’t believe all of it happened, even when I heard John telling it, none of it seemed true...until I saw the death certificate.

The whole world stopped, and it still is frozen now. I wish the grave I’m standing in front of wasn’t real, I wish that my eyes were betraying me.

If only.

“Turns out you lied, Sherlock. You left.”

I hate you for what you did.

“You could have explained all of this a bit more. Even if I would have preferred not to, I would have prevented you from dying if you gave me a note...before.”

I wish I had known, I should have known. He didn’t have to die, he wasn’t supposed to die, certainly not like that.

Not now, that wasn’t his time. He was supposed to die of old age because of natural reasons, after all of us. Outlive us all.

Damn Sherlock Holmes wasn’t supposed to die at 35 years old. It's too young, too soon, Too much to bear.

“What am I supposed to do now, I mean- what are we all supposed to do? None of us can replace you, we’ll take twice the amount of time you barely took to resolve cases on our own, you left us in a really bad situation, you know that? It’s not going to be the same if you’re not here with us.”

And I miss you like a little kid.

“You could have made us take classes to become a close version of you, at least. I’m saying ‘close’ because no one will ever be like you. Not even that detective that had 30 years of experience, he wasn’t even close, really. I’d say he looked like a newbie, next to you.”

I even started to lose the habit of calling him when he’s not directly on the field and I hate this. I’ve only known him for a couple of years, and yet, he’s going to be ironed in my mind for a lifetime.

That man, I swear.

He didn’t think that sticking so close to us, getting to know us, sharing things about him would affect us so badly now that he’s gone. Real gone.

It hurts to say that, I wish I could just pretend he wasn’t gone, but that’s not really...healthy? It’s not really healthy in the way that if I pretend he’s still there- while he’s six feet under ground would drive me crazy, it’d completely destroy the whole ‘acceptance phase’ I’ve been working on. He’s dead, and there’s nothing we can do to bring him back.

That’s what my brain has to acknowledge, pretending he’s alive wouldn’t do any good.

Sometimes life gets to an end, and we have to accept that. I know that Sherlock, his brother and even John wouldn’t want to see me like this- ignoring reality, building a fake world to protect me from the real one.

Hurting sucks. Getting reminded that I won’t be seeing him anymore sucks, but everything sucks in life, and that’s what happens when you live. You can’t have a perfect happy life with all the shitty problems, that doesn’t exist.

But even if this sucks, I also get to remember all of the great things Sherlock has accomplished, the hundreds of memories we’ve made all together, whatever makes me happy- but there’s still a lot of hurt to go through before being able to think about them without crying because I miss them.

I wish that could be happening right now, I must have filled an entire bottle of water with all my tears. It’s even worse when that happens at 2am after you wake up from a dream about them.

Speaking of dreams, I don’t think I’ve ever had so many dreams with him compared to when he was alive. It’s as if he's haunting me, and even if I like him, I’d wish he wouldn’t do that so often, a little peace and quiet would be nice, even if I don’t want that to stop.

I’m afraid I’ll forget Sherlock if I stop thinking about him, block the memories to prevent me from the hurt that comes with it. I don’t want that to happen, he doesn’t deserve to have his legacy ignored because of my stupid feelings that hurt, he deserves to have his legacy remembered, discussed about, shared, not to have it trapped in newspapers, or in a corner of my head.

I like to imagine him being proud when I do that, even if I wouldn’t have known he was. He wasn’t the expressive kind, but he liked to show he was proud of you through a facial expression, a word, whatever could be ‘decrypted’. He wasn’t as cold as people saw him, he was extremely kind, even if he was broken in millions of pieces inside.

But yet, he overcame everything and came back even stronger. Every single time. He was amazing in so many ways, and that’s why I wish I could be like him.

So much.

I sighed, adjusting the grip I had on my umbrella, as I squatted down in front of his grave. “Did you know we went through your closet yesterday? There’s really not a lot, your clothes are so...similar. We can easily buy the same to be ‘like you’. But I don’t want to touch them, they’re kind of like precious pieces you can find in a museum.”

I hope he doesn’t think I’m crazy because of that.

“And...yeah, we went through your place because we can’t bring ourselves to sell it, I don’t want someone else to live in there and ruin it with their own belongings. But at the same time, living in it would be weird, I don’t know. I can’t find an explanation, just that it’s weird, living in the apartment of a dead person. Kinda creepy.” I explained, looking up from my umbrella as I realized the rain had gone down, letting a few rays of a ‘somehow’ sun. “Look, the sun listened to me. It’s coming up so I can give my emotional speech full of hope.” I sighed. “I don’t...I don’t even know what to say anymore. Kind of ironic as I always have something to say.”

I actually kind of know, but I don’t want to say it.

He’s gone. No miracle will bring him back, but I’ve kept hearing John saying it, I heard him last time we came; and even though I can’t bring myself to say that, I want to so badly. That’s all I’ve been wanting to happen since you died, I don’t want anything else and I don’t care about love anymore even if you always wanted me to be happy.

You’re what made me happy, you were the definition of love. Maybe what I’ve been feeling was that but I never brought myself to admit it.

I have loved you since the first day, but you always said that whoever fell in love with you should find better as you considered yourself a forever loner, unable to feel and give love, but I know you were capable of it, if you had tried, I believed you could have done it.

“Look at me, in front of your grave, exposing the feelings I’ll never have the answer to, I don’t even know if you liked me back. You really took all your secrets to your grave, huh? What a selfish prick, you could’ve shared that, at least.” I complained.

I don’t think I’ve ever known someone that hid so much stuff, he really was a whole mystery to himself, that man.

We can’t even solve what caused you to commit suicide, we’ll probably never solve it. You were the only one that knew why, and yet he can’t just pull a miracle and live again for a few minutes as a zombie to explain. That would be of great help, even if I’d prefer he’d live again.

That’d be an awesome miracle, even better than what happens at Christmas.

“Can you do that for me, though?”

Just that, I won’t ask for anything else.

“Just one more miracle, Sherlock, for us.” I said, putting my hand on the polished surface. “...don't be dead.”

It’s too easy, you can’t be dead, Nothing can kill you. I know John, and a shit ton of people saw you fall, but...let me believe all of that isn’t true.

Just a fake accident, Do that for us. Please. We need you more than you can ever imagine, you were so important to us, you were family.

A reason to fight for, to live for.

“Don’t be, please.” I pleaded, as I got up from the ground. “I uh...I’ll be back whenever I can, okay? Work’s been crazy since you’re gone, it’s incredible. I don’t know if it’s because we don’t have your help, or because it’s always been like that.”

Probably a mix of the two, I don’t really know, it’s been complicated to think properly these days. Sherlock would be the one to help with that, usually.

“I’ll have to ask someone else, I guess.”

I still haven’t found this ‘someone else’, by the way, It’s been two years, I know. But I still haven’t found someone that can help me the way he used to.

He still remains unique after all this time.

“I’ll be on my way, then. You’re awfully quiet today, guess you’re not in the mood, so I’ll go.”

I wish I still didn’t have to say goodbye, but this is the only thing I can say when I leave.

The weather had even gotten better, as if it only rained to have a full dramatic effect, there was only wind, which didn’t seem to announce a storm, for now. The sound of the leaves being crushed by my feet as I walked was to be heard, as no other sounds were around, it was very quiet today.

The silence did feel weird, I never liked it.

Not when it caused me to think of…

“Got time to spare for me?”

...him.

“Sherlock.”

++

|Chapter Two|

[a-blue-secret]

CHAPTER XXIII

BACK TO MASTERLIST

Chapter XXII | Chapter XXIII | Chapter XXIV

GENRES: royal au; fantasy au; magic au; friends-to-enemies-to-lovers; king!beomgyu, vizier!taehyun

PAIRING: taegyu

WARNINGS: (as always) swearing

WORD COUNT: 6.5k+

AN: On a scale of 'Filler Chapter' to 'A Shit Ton Happens Here', this is a firm 'Without This Chapter, Nothing Would Make Sense'. Fun fact, this chapter was the whole reason I wanted to write Court of Lies in the first place! Enjoy :)

SUMMARY: Best friends turned enemies, Kang Taehyun has managed to trick Choi Beomgyu into his service, and to rule for a year and a day, until his youngest brother would be old enough to take the throne. Choi Beomgyu has no intention of being obedient however, and tries to thwart Taehyun’s orders at every turn. With a growing amount of distrust and lies within the court, will Taehyun manage to keep the kingdom of Gojongja from falling apart?

The voice laughed. "You are all so entertaining! I've been watching you, you know. Some of your spy techniques are, I'm afraid, a little shabby. Climbing the palace ledges? Please. I'm surprised no one woke up from the racket you created."

Yeonjun snarled. "Stop mocking us and show yourself!"

"Fine." The voice sounded amused by Yeonjun's authoritative tone. “Allow me to reveal myself.”

.・゜-: ✧ :-

The three boys had formed a circle, all positioned to fight. Then a tall, lithe figure nimbly landed in front of them, as silent and as poised as a cat. He raised his head, ever so slowly, and stared at Taehyun. A tall frame, slender shoulders, familiar dimples and twinkling eyes… Taehyun, Yeonjun and Hueningkai all gasped at once, unintentionally lowering their guard.

Taehyun stared in shock. His eyes were purple .

“Soobin?” Taehyun said, at the same time that Yeonjun and Hueningkai both said, “Wolfsbane?”

The man (Soobin? Wolfsbane?) chuckled. “I see our dear little Kang Taehyun recognises me.”

Yeonjun glared at the man. “So it was you! I saw you in the palace!”

The man bowed mockingly, violet eyes twinkling maleficently. “Indeed you did,” he said. “And so did Hueningkai, when you all went down to the basement of the library.” He gave a small laugh. “I’m afraid I scared you a little, didn’t I?”

Hueningkai didn’t answer the man. Yeonjun didn’t say a word, either. Both of them glared at the man, tension evident in their muscles, while on the other hand the man looked completely relaxed.

Soobin’s lips formed a mocking pout. “Why, I thought you spies would be delighted to see me! After all, I am a legendary spy, aren’t I?”

Yeonjun bared his teeth. “You and your clan are infamous for bringing down royals and corrupting Kingdoms,” he said darkly. “I’m afraid you’re not welcome.”

Soobin pouted again. “Oh that’s not very nice! And I thought you found me cute.”

“That’s before you showed who you truly were,” Yeonjun glowered. “Now you’re anything but cute.”

“Oh, that is a shame,” Soobin laughed. “I would have been more than happy to give you a kiss, but it seems that it is not wanted.”

Yeonjun only scoffed in disgust, crossing his arms.

Hueningkai hadn’t said anything. His eyes never left the stranger, but he spoke to Taehyun. “Taehyun, how do you know him?”

“Lord Soobin’s a member of our court,” Taehyun replied in a confused tone, eyes fixed on the man’s crystalline eyes. “But… he didn’t look like this. I don’t know who this person is.”

“I’m still Soobin, don’t you worry. I am a member of your court, in a way,” he chuckled. “And indeed, I didn’t look like this! Ugh, I hate wearing contacts. They hurt my eyes.” His violet eyes sparkled. “But it was all worth it, if it utterly deceived you.”

Taehyun blinked, confused. “But, you… you’re good? You told me you were the good guy!”

Soobin sighed sympathetically. “Dear me, you’re so naive. And here I thought you were smart. Kang Taehyun, did it not strike you odd that I entered the scene at the exact moment you needed me? Did it not seem a little strange how I was coincidentally there at the same time as Beomgyu when he was lost in town? Did you not become even a little suspicious of me when it were my cakes which made you sick?”

“You did that on purpose?” Taehyun asked, shocked.

“Oh, no, no!” Soobin chuckled. “God, no. My intended target was someone different. But your interference caused a little… setback regarding your health.”

Taehyun blinked, at a loss for words. No one spoke. The two spies regarded Soobin carefully, as if he were a dangerous explosive which could kill them any second. Soobin on the other hand, looked at ease, hands behind his back as he rocked on his heels carelessly, watching them. It was almost as if he were waiting for someone to speak. Taehyun narrowed his eyes, tilting his head to the side. He was the only one who had no idea who Soobin really was, and it was frustrating him. What he did know, however, was that Soobin was now Bad™, and he needed to know how and why.

“Are purple eyes a trademark of your clan? I don’t remember any clans having purple eyes,” Taehyun finally said to break the silence.

“Indeed,” Soobin said in an amused tone. “My eyes are a trademark, which is why I had to disguise them. Your eyes, also… they too are infamous. So piercing, and striking. And when you spoke… it sounded like you knew everything in the world.” He sighed sympathetically. “What a shame that you were barely educated in the history of spies.”

Taehyun raised his dagger point. “You’ll be surprised to know that my knowledge on spies is actually not that bad, despite what you may think.”

“Oh, you’re even more adorable when you’re acting scary,” Soobin laughed. “And I assure you, if you do not know me, you do not know spies at all.”

Hueningkai twirled a crystal ball on the tip of his finger, the rugged edges catching the light of the lamps. “Quit talking. How did you get in? Why did you get in?”

Soobin turned his purple gaze to the youngest spy. “Oh, I almost forgot! Since you spoke, I now get the chance to say the ‘stupid thing about you being mixed’. How has life in Aruyeo been for you, young Kamal?” Hueningkai flushed with rage.

“I left that name behind years ago,” he said, shaking with fury. “My surname is not Kamal anymore. How dare you bring it up!”

“You left it behind, hmm? Well you didn’t do a very good job, I have to say. Isn’t it your middle name now?”

“Shut. Up,” Hueningkai seethed. His grip tightened on the glass in his hand. “I’ll ask you again. How did you get in? ”

Soobin strolled around the three, seemingly at ease. He walked a full circle around them, before coming to a stop in front of Taehyun again. A small smile played on his lips.

“Oh, with great difficulty, I assure you,” he said. “That’s quite a power you have there Kamal,” Soobin added. “Matter manipulation. Fancy.”

“ Stop. Calling. Me. Kamal. ”

Soobin ignored him. “But why am I here? Now that is a more interesting question. I suppose I am here to… merely provoke you. For you see, I have already won.”

“Stop with the cryptic messages, you asshole,” Taehyun said. “What are you talking about?”

Soobin smiled wider, clearly delighted by their ignorance. “Why, His Royal Greatness Beomgyu, of course.”

Taehyun flared up, eyes sparking at the mention of Beomgyu’s name. “If you’ve so much as harmed a hair on his head, then I swear that I will kill you,” he seethed, gripping his dagger fiercely.

“Oh my, that’s a rather bold statement,” Soobin commented amusedly. “For these past months, I have been a trusted friend and ally, but I make one wrong move and suddenly I’m receiving threats? How very odd.”

“If Yeonjun and Hueningkai don’t like you, then I don’t like you either,” Taehyun replied coldly. “I trust their judgement.”

“You trust two seasoned spies over me?” Soobin said, widening his eyes and blinking them innocently. “Me, Lord Soobin? The Lord that you have been conversing with quite closely for some time now?” He leaned forward, eyes twinkling maleficently. “You should never trust spies like them, you know,” he said in an almost confiding manner. “You never know when they may stab you in the back. Figuratively and even literally.”

Taehyun hesitated, glancing at Yeonjun. Taehyun was closed off and hesitant to trust by nature, and the Aruyeonan could only imagine the doubts running through his mind at that moment.

“Don’t listen to him,” Yeonjun said insistently. “He’s a spy too, remember? He’s a much more seasoned spy than we are. Besides, you’ve known us for longer. We’d never betray you.”

“I know,” Taehyun said, and his eyes hardened. He turned back to Soobin. “You’ll have to do a lot more than that if you want me to turn against Yeonjun and Hueningkai. I trust them with my life.”

Soobin hummed, shrugging carelessly. “I like games,” was all he said. “I like entertainment. What I say is not always a basis for a manipulative scheme, no matter what you may think. Even the smallest game is of utmost interest to me.” His eyes sparked, as if he’d remembered something. “Speaking of games, I suppose now is time to tell you about my grand scheme. The one in which your King’s life is, unfortunately, something which I have no use for.”

Now. Taehyun was not an emotional person: far from it. He knew how to handle his emotions, and to keep his cool in the face of smug Lords and vile foreigners. But Soobin managed to rub him up the wrong way, getting on his nerves and making him feel increasingly more irritated. It was strange: he was never an outwardly emotional person, but when it came to be about Beomgyu, he couldn’t control it.

Letting out an outraged yell, Taehyun threw his dagger at Soobin, blinded by momentary anger. Soobin smoothly leaned to the side, and the blade missed him completely, hitting the metal wall before clattering onto the floor.

“Well, someone cares about the king a lot,” Soobin commented amusedly. “A great deal, I would say.”

“You have no idea,” Taehyun said darkly. He drew another dagger from one of the many hidden pockets of his uniform, raising it in the air. “And you’d better explain what you mean right this second before I throw this dagger at you. This time, I definitely won’t miss.”

Soobin raised an eyebrow, as if Taehyun’s statement amused him. “A nice threat, Kang Taehyun. You certainly have a considerably intimidating glare. And to answer your question, you might want to turn to your little spy friends. They would probably know. Am I right, Yeonjunie?”

Yeonjun hissed at the mocking nickname, but it was weak. His face had grown pale.

“You fucking monster, ” he spat at Soobin. The violet-eyed male only laughed.

“Oh, no, I’m not the monster here.”

Even Hueningkai had gone white. The hand holding the explosive trembled, and he quickly tucked the ball away before it fell from his grip and smashed on the floor.

“You… Why?” Hueningkai whispered. “Why Beomgyu?”

“Oh, I’d forgotten how fond all of you were of the king,” Soobin said casually. “Whoops. And why? Because it had to be done.”

“Not to Beomgyu, it didn’t,” Hueningkai said, voice wobbling. Soobin sighed condescendingly.

“Of course to Beomgyu, you idiots,” he explained. “He’s the start of a new line. He’s weak. When they’re young, and inexperienced, it’s so much easier. That’s why it has to be Beomgyu.” No one said a word. Soobin raised an eyebrow in amusement. He strolled around the bare steel room, taking in the rusty oil lamps and shelves of explosives which took up the whole of one wall, from top to bottom. He noted the tiny greenhouse in the corner which held rare and common herbs, acknowledged the small furnace and bags of sand which were used to make glass, glanced at the lead box filled with ancient books. Soobin sauntered over to the shelves of glass bombs, delicately tracing the veins of each of the handmade crystal balls.

“If you break them, this whole room will explode or set on fire, and then everyone will know you’re here,” Hueningkai called out.

“Oh, I know,” Soobin dismissed. “As dear Yeonjunie said, I am a seasoned spy. I can recognise explosives when I see them.”

Again, Yeonjun hissed at the mockingly affectionate tone, its degrading quality jarring against his nerves.

No one spoke as Soobin leisurely walked around the room, running his finger along the dusty shelves and rolling some of the smaller marbles in his hand.

Throughout the whole time, Taehyun had been growing increasingly frustrated. He still had no clue what was going on, and it was making him more and more infuriated.

“Will someone please enlighten me as to what the hell is going on?” he exclaimed finally, frustration and irritation bursting out of him. Soobin turned his violet eyes to the vizier, and laughed aloud with delight.

“You really don’t know who I am?” he asked rhetorically. “Gosh, they truly didn’t teach you, did they?” He stalked towards Taehyun and leaned down so they were eye-to-eye, purple irises sparkling with mirth. “For all the rumours and tales of your wisdom, you really are just a clueless young boy, aren’t you?” Taehyun growled and punched Soobin in the stomach. The elder let out a small ‘oof’ and doubled over slightly, chuckling. “For a young boy, you still pack quite a punch.”

“It’ll be more than just a punch in a minute,” he snarled.

“Easy there, pet,” Soobin chuckled. When Taehyun growled again, he mockingly growled back. “You don’t even know my clan, do you?” he asked, eyes twinkling. “My, you are indeed clueless!” Before Taehyun could make some cutting statement, Soobin carried on, still smiling. “And think, my dear Kang Taehyun. Does ‘Wolfsbane’ really mean nothing to you? Think. If Wolfsbane is hard to think of, consider the flower it is the nickname for. Think Aconitum. Think bedtime stories. Think flowers. Think poisons. I’m sure if you use your brain you’ll figure it out.”

Taehyun opened his mouth to snark back, eyes fierce, but Soobin’s eyes flashed warningly. It was obvious he would only play nice for so long. Taehyun glared, closing his mouth. He cast his mind back.

“The maids told me stories about a beautiful yet deadly Queen called Aconita,” he bit out, still staring at Soobin with suspicion.

Soobin smiled. “Ah yes, Queen Aconita of the Four Kingdoms. The Queen of Poisons. An intriguing story. Sadly, Aconita was never even a person. What about flowers?”

Taehyun hesitated, beginning to actually think about what Soobin might be getting at. “Flowers… The poisonous purple-blue flower called wolfsbane, whose Latin name is Aconitum .”

The violet-eyed male chuckled. “Now we’re getting somewhere. They're the reason I make flowers for a living, by the way. It's almost like a homage to my spy name, Wolfsbane. Now, what about poisons?”

“Um, poisons…  there’s this one poison named after the wolfsbane flower, Aconitum, which Hueningkai thought I’d had when I’d been sick.”

Soobin nodded amusedly. “Yes, but what about ‘wolfsbane’?” When Taehyun looked unsure, he turned to Hueningkai. “Would you care to help Taehyun out?”

“The potion ‘Wolfbairn’, which renders people insane, is of most similar spelling to wolfsbane. Wolfbairn is an extremely old potion which has gradually stopped being used overtime, since the effects of the potion only drive the person into insanity, rather than kill them. People have had no use of an insanity potion, so its uses have eventually died out.” Hueningkai spoke quietly, as if the words were being forced out of him. Even now, while sharing information he did not want to say, Hueningkai still spoke about everything he knew. It was almost like an instinct: ingrained into him from such a young age. “It is often described as having… werewolf fever,” Hueningkai said, still rather pale. “And they call it werewolf fever because it’s similar to the state of insanity werewolves go into just before the full moon.”

“Very good,” Soobin said. “And now Taehyun, does ‘Jeju Choi clan’ ring any bells to you? Specifically, alarm bells?”

Taehyun paused. “They– they refused to teach us about that clan,” he said. “I even looked, but no records held any mention of the clan, so I assumed they died out.”

“We have almost died out,” Soobin sighed regretfully. “As of now, it is just myself and my sister left. And the reason why you could never find anything about my clan is because I took it out.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a crumpled ball of parchment. He tossed it to Taehyun, who caught it in one hand. Taehyun unfurled the ball to find the parchments were all ripped-out pages of textbooks.

“These… these are all pages from the books the scholars use to teach us about clans,” Taehyun said, confused.

“Indeed they are,” Soobin said, folding his arms casually. “I had to take them from Beomgyu’s cottage, you know. For some reason he had the books at his house, and I needed to take these pages out before he found them.”

Taehyun glared at him. “You broke into Beomgyu’s house?”

Soobin gave a lazy chuckle. “This was after he’d been crowned. Don’t worry.” Taehyun continued to glare at him, before Soobin gestured to the pages. “Go on, read them.”

Taehyun hissed angrily, before turning his attention back to the textbook pages in his hands. His eyes widened as he scanned through the pages. “Your clan is so old… you have two abilities?”

“My sister, rather,” Soobin said. “Only a rare few have both. Most have one or the other. Mine is to curse.”

“You… you curse people?” Taehyun said, eyes wide.

Soobin almost laughed at Taehyun’s dumbfounded expression. “Dear me, you really are adorable. Yes, Taehyun, I do.”

“How so?”

“Well…” Soobin shrugged carelessly. “I make people unlike themselves. Turn them angry when they should be happy, or insane when they should be sane.”

“So was it you who turned the public so suddenly against Beomgyu when he announced the alliance?” Taehyun demanded, eyes turning fierce. He threw the papers at Soobin’s feet, the crumpled-up ball rolling pitifully. “Do you know how many days Beomgyu hid himself away after that? Do you know how guilty he felt?”

This time, Soobin really did let out an amused laugh. “Taehyun, dear, do you know what a curse is? It is something of supernatural power which is used with the intent of harming or punishing something.” He paused. “Well, if I put it that way, it does sound like I cursed the people, but I did not! I simply… convinced another Lord to do it in my stead.”

“Ah, so Lord Namjae’s son must be the spell-caster,” Taehyun said, scrunching his nose in disgust. “So when he said, ‘It was Lord Soobin’s idea’, he really meant it.”

Soobin laughed again, violet eyes sparkling with malevolent mirth. “My, you have a good memory! Indeed, it was my idea. I even suggested the explosives in the chandeliers. I held the triggers in my hand, you know. That Lord really did trust me.”

“I don’t know why anyone would trust you,” Taehyun said, glaring. “Did you have everything planned out? Did you orchestrate everything from that day?”

“Oh, way before that.” Soobin grinned maliciously. “Whose father do you think came up with this plan? Whose sister do you think holds a considerable amount of power in Aruyeo, and ordered the sending out of ambassadors to Gojongja? Who do you think talked to Beomgyu in an abandoned hallway under the guise of an apology? And…” He bent down in front of Taehyun, until they were practically nose-to-nose. “Who do you think cursed the King?”

Taehyun gave an outraged cry, punching Soobin across the jaw. Soobin’s head jerked back, and he clutched the side of his face, chuckling.

“I’m going to fucking kill you!” he yelled, launching himself at the taller male. Hueningkai and Yeonjun quickly grabbed his arms to stop him from punching Soobin again, holding the furious vizier back. “Hueningkai– Yeonjun– let me go!”

“Taehyun, no, he could literally curse you in the blink of an eye,” Yeonjun hissed as Taehyun continued to struggle.

Soobin had taken a step back, rubbing at the reddening spot on his jawline with an amused smile still on his face. “Yeonjun’s right, Taehyun dear,” he said. “Besides, you need me to tell you what’s going to happen to Beomgyu.”

Taehyun snarled, but stopped resisting and let the two Aruyeonan spies pull him back. “Go on then,” he spat. “What’s your plan? What do you want? Tell me.”

Soobin grinned. “Not with that attitude I won’t. Here, sit down.” He gestured to the velvet carpet. Taehyun scrunched up his nose, crossing his arms defiantly.

“Just hurry up and fucking say it.”

“Hmm, should I?” Soobin mused. He folded his hands behind his back, and began to walk around the room again. He inspected his reflection in one of the larger marbles, sighing. “Oh, that’s annoying. I will most definitely have a bruise on my cheek tomorrow.”

By this time, all three of them were glaring daggers at the famous spy. Soobin looked back at them, raising an eyebrow. He chuckled again, walking back up to them.

“Let me tell you, then. The Jeju Choi clan dates back several hundred thousand years. Though we are not as old as some clans, we are old enough to be known for two abilities. However, one person can only ever have one ability. Though some rare ones, like my sister, have two.”

“I didn’t want to know your clan’s history,” Taehyun interrupted. “What’s your plan?”

Soobin tsked. “Patience is a virtue, dear vizier. Be patient.”

Taehyun bared his teeth. “Fine. I’ll entertain you. What does your sister do?”

Soobin paused, before chuckling. “Well, I suppose there is no harm in telling you. Even if you did figure it out, it would be too late.” He leaned forward, eyes sparkling with mirth. “Her abilities are to curse and to transform. She can transform herself into any shape or person she likes.” Taehyun frowned, about to speak again, but Soobin was already moving on.

Soobin folded his hands together, nudging his foot against the ball of papers on the floor. “These papers will tell you all about the history of our clan in relation to royal families. Over the centuries, we have accumulated a vast amount of wealth from our times in court, all of which my sister and I now own. Which is a lot, I assure you–” he spread his arms, revealing the several silver rings adorning his long fingers– “as you can see. My sister is busy gaining more wealth, and I’m here to complete the most important part of the plan.”

“What’s your plan, then?” Taehyun scoffed. “World domination?”

Soobin’s eyes flashed. “Domination over all the Four Kingdoms.” He leaned forward, violet eyes practically glowing in determination. “Do you know? Each of the crowns hold power. The reason the Four Kingdoms work in harmony is because each Kingdom has their own power. However, being the oldest and most successful, the Gojongja crown is more powerful, which is why its monarch remains at a higher position than the monarchs of the other Kingdoms.” He gave a grin. “If one person were to potentially gain access to all of these crowns… well, they’d be invincible.”

“Well, you’ll never be able to take the Gojongja crown,” Taehyun said, crossing his arms. “You need someone of royal blood to crown you, and you need to be of royal blood yourself to be able to be crowned.”

Soobin stared at him, before laughing. “Dear, Taehyun, please read through your facts before you start to try and find holes in my plan.” The smile dropped from his face, and his eyes flashed maliciously. “I am of royal blood, idiot,” he said. “Why do you think I was only a rank below Beomgyu, in court? My ancestor was the son of one of Gojongja’s Kings.”

Soobin gave a dramatic sigh, staring into the distance. “My clan used to be a favourite in court. We were favourites in all of the courts, once. But then Gojongja turned on us, calling us witches because they thought we had cursed the late King.” Soobin paused, giving a chuckle. “We had cursed him, but that was not the point. We were banished from Gojongja after that. Even the King – my ancestor – was murdered by the citizens, simply for being one of us. But even with this banishment in place, we managed to live in Gojongja still, patiently waiting to strike back.”

“Let me guess, you were resentful for having been banished and vowed to take over everyone?” Taehyun snarked, raising an eyebrow, unimpressed. “That’s a shit reason, by the way.”

Soobin chuckled to himself. “Why, you…” He suddenly leaned downwards, until he was nose-to-nose with the vizier, who didn’t even flinch. His face was hard and cold, completely unlike the smiley, warm Soobin that Taehyun had once thought him to be.

“Look down on my family again and I may have to get rid of you,” Soobin said in a low, dangerous voice. “You’re of no use to me. The only reason you’re still alive is because I want to see you be destroyed as Beomgyu is taken away from you.” He leaned closer, cold breath tickling Taehyun’s ear. “Imagine how much fun that would be, hm? He’ll crumble away, slowly forgetting who you are, and you’ll be powerless to do anything about it. And it won’t matter to me, at all. It’s just one little game within this grand scheme of mine. You’ll be insignificant. To me, and to Beomgyu.”

Taehyun flinched, breathing in sharply. Soobin smiled darkly, leaning away. Yeonjun and Hueningkai looked at him worriedly, neither of them having heard what Soobin said. Judging by Taehyun’s shaken expression, however, they knew it was something bad. Hueningkai reached out to Taehyun, concerned, but the vizier brushed off his hand.

“I’m fine,” he said quietly. “I’m fine.”

Yeonjun glanced at Taehyun, still slightly worried, before glaring at the elder spy.

“Why Gojongja first? Why didn’t you go after one of the smaller Kingdoms, like the Barumin Kingdom or Yeojing Kingdom? Those would have been easier. Why come to Gojongja first?” Yeonjun demanded.

Soobin stared at him for a few moments, eyes twinkling maliciously. “Wow,” he said, in disbelief. “You truly didn’t know?” He laughed to himself. “You're a spy for Aruyeo, but you didn’t notice what happened in…” he trailed off, waving a hand. “Oh, nevermind, nevermind. You don’t need to know.”

“What? What happened in where?” Yeonjun said, narrowing his eyes.

“Oh, it doesn’t matter. You’ll find out later. And to answer your question, Gojongja is the largest, most powerful Kingdom. If I can take this Kingdom, it’ll be a breeze with the others.”

“What about Aruyeo, then? They’re almost as powerful as Gojongja.”

Soobin grinned, violet eyes triumphant and mocking. “What about Aruyeo indeed. I wonder how I would have been able to take over such a Kingdom all by myself. Unless, of course, I had help.” His eyes flashed. “It would be difficult, unless I could transform their mindset.”

Yeonjun narrowed his eyes further. Suddenly he gasped.

Soobin leaned back, pleased. “So you finally understood.”

“You! I can’t believe you– argh!” Yeonjun jabbed his finger in Soobin’s direction angrily, before running his hand through his hair.

"Don't worry. When you and Hueningkai were recruited, it was under good intentions," Soobin said, smiling maliciously. "It's only after your recruitment that things... transformed."

Yeonjun growled, stalking up to Soobin. Though he didn't quite meet Soobin's height, his rage made up for those few last inches. "I swear, I will fucking kill you."

Soobin just gave him a dimpled smile, unruffled by the Aruyeonan's close proximity. “Please try to calm down, Junie. I’m just getting to the best part.” Soobin grinned, violet eyes flashing in the light of the oil lamps. “This is the part where I tell you what my curse is going to do to Beomgyu.”

Yeonjun glared at him, muttering a string of curses under his breath, but stepped away from Soobin.

“Ah, you’re right. Say it, before I cut your leg off,” Taehyun glared, spinning his dagger in his hand.

Soobin ignored him, eyes crinkling. “But if I think about it, I’m not the only one who knows what will happen. Yeonjun here knows what curse I’m talking about, as does Hueningkai. Which brings about the question: should I explain it to you myself? Or…” He tapped a slender finger against his chin, eyes alight with cruel mirth. “Or am I evil enough to make one of the spies say it? How about you, Hueningkai? You’re fond of the King, aren’t you? It would most likely break some part of you to have to detail Beomgyu’s demise.”

At that, Hueningkai looked up at him, gaze sharp. “Don’t you dare make me. If you do, I swear...” He showed Soobin a small glass marble. “This will just kill you, and not any of us. You don’t want to die, do you?”

“Alright, alright, I won’t,” Soobin chuckled. “It’ll sound more dramatic if I tell you, anyway.”

He leaned down in a confidential manner. He paused, and leaned back teasingly. “Hang on, should I tell you or should I not?”

Taehyun’s hand tightened around his dagger, and thorny vines began to appear on the metal floor around Soobin’s feet, growing and snaking up around him, threatening to strike. “Fucking say it before I have to force you to,” he snapped. “And I will force you, you know.” The thorns on the vines thickened, becoming more gnarled and vicious. A threat.

Soobin smirked amusedly. “Fine, I will. Put away your thorns, Jeo.”

Taehyun barely flinched from the use of his surname. “Hurry up with it then, Choi.”

“Alright, calm down. I’m getting to it.” His eyes sparkled, clearly delighted with how irritated Taehyun was getting. He leaned forward again, and Taehyun almost instinctively leaned towards him.

Soobin paused, smiling. “You really want to know, don’t you?”

Taehyun gritted his teeth. “Get on with it.”

“As you wish. There have only been five known cases of this curse throughout the whole of the Four Kingdoms’ history. There’s no official name for it, so most people call it the ‘Beast Curse’, because, well, I’ll get to that later.” Soobin grinned as Taehyun snarled at him again. “Once the curse fully takes place, he will rapidly lose his strength. The symptoms can often be misdiagnosed as Aconitum – which is partly why I took up the name Wolfsbane, by the way – and this misdiagnosis can become fatal for the person. But the one thing which differentiates the original symptoms from Aconitum are his feral days.”

Soobin leaned back, folding his arms. Taehyun almost punched him again, thinking the spy was done speaking, but Soobin continued to talk, this time addressing the Aruyeonans.

“You all know what happens next, don’t you? Would anyone else like to take over the storytelling?”

Yeonjun was white in the face, but he still spat at Soobin viciously. “You already said you’re going to say it,” he said, glaring. “So go ahead and fucking say it. Stop stalling.”

Soobin grinned. “Very well.” Then, the tone of his voice changed, becoming more sinister as his smug grin darkened into something scarier.

“From this point onwards, he’ll become weaker, at an even faster rate than he is right now. He’ll barely be able to speak. There will be no wild outbreaks, but he’ll become so weak he can do nothing but lie down. Breathing can even become difficult for him. This will go on for a few days, and then…” Soobin gave a grin, dimples doing little to soften the malicious edges of his smile. “There’s a reason this is called the Beast Curse. One day, he’ll change. You all know the unexplained monster which is always present in the tales of the Four Kingdoms’ histories, right? That’s the product of our curse. He’ll become that monster. He’ll slowly become insane, losing all parts of himself, until he’s just a beast: a crazy, destructive monster who you can’t stop. And then, his own people kill him. With you, Taehyun,  at the head, giving out this order.”

Taehyun didn’t get angry easily, nor did he get scared easily. But what Soobin said made him the most terrified he’d ever felt. He stared at the spy, eyes wide, as Soobin leaned back, grinning maliciously.

“You…” It was only a single word, but his voice shook.

“After that, you’ll be too broken to do anything. Yeonjun and Hueningkai will be killed by my sister, and I can take over Gojongja. Then…” Soobin shrugged, looking smug. “Yeojing and Barumin will be a breeze.”

Yeonjun cracked his whip angrily. “There’s no way in hell that Hueningkai and I are going to be killed by your stupid sister,” he hissed. “We’ll kill her first.”

Soobin stared at him, eyebrow raised, before slowly bending down in front of Yeonjun, their noses inches apart. “Talk like that about my sister and I might kill you right this second,” he hissed. “No one talks about my sister like that.”

Yeonjun, undeterred, raised an eyebrow. “Ooh, looks like I hit a nerve there. You must care about your sister a lot.”

Soobin rolled his eyes, leaning away. “I could say the same thing about you. You care about your brother a lot, don’t you? You wouldn’t want something to happen to your poor brother, would you?”

In a flash, he was lunging for Hueningkai, but the younger managed to spin out of the way, pinning Soobin against the wall, arm on his throat.

“I can fend for myself,” Hueningkai glared. “And try to threaten my brother like that again and I might kill you right this second.”

Soobin stared at him, before laughing. “Alright, alright. I yield. For now.”

Hueningkai slowly released Soobin, still glaring at him.

“You might want to start saying your goodbyes to Beomgyu, you know, instead of messing around threatening me,” Soobin said, rubbing his neck. “He doesn’t have a lot of time before he turns. And what’s up with you lot harassing me? Along with a bruised jaw, I’ll most likely have marks on my collarbone too.”

“Shut the fuck up, you deserve it,” Yeonjun said.

“Whatever you say,” Soobin grinned. “But I’m going to go now.”

“What? You’re leaving?” Yeonjun scoffed. “Why did you come for a chit-chat if you’re going to leave not even an hour later?”

Soobin smirked, stepping into the shadows. His eyes sparkled bright purple. “Why, to waste more of your time! Your king now has less than five days left!” he called gleefully. “And time is precious, you know!”

Yeonjun let out a yell. “Come back here, you son of a–” he rushed towards the darkened corner, trying to find Soobin and drag him back. But he was only met with an empty wall, the infuriating purple gaze and mocking silvery voice having already disappeared with their owner. Nevertheless, he punched the wall angrily, still muttering curses.

“Yeonjun, just stop,” Hueningkai sighed. “He’ll only show himself if he wants to.”

“That prick,” Yeonjun snarled. “He’s been deceiving us this whole fucking time. I can’t believe he was Wolfsbane.”

“I know right? I– wait Taehyun, are you okay?”

Taehyun had collapsed onto his knees, feeling too weak to stand any longer. Hueningkai rushed over to him, shaking his shoulders. Taehyun moved with the action limply, eyes glazed with fear. He had gone pale, and was shaking.

“Beomgyu…” he whispered, voice thin and wobbly. A tear spilled from the corner of his eye. “Beomgyu…”

It was only a single tear, but Hueningkai’s eyes widened. The Taehyun he knew was calm, and the Taehyun he knew was collected: but this Taehyun was crying. This Taehyun looked so scared and vulnerable that Hueningkai felt like crying himself.

Yeonjun also came up to them, putting his arm around Taehyun. “It’s okay, Taehyun,” he said softly. “It’s okay. It’ll be okay.”

Hueningkai nodded, handing Taehyun a handkerchief. “Things will be okay. They will.”

Taehyun smiled shakily, and the Aruyeonans smiled back.

“Yeah,” he whispered. “Things will be okay.”

All of them knew that things would not be okay, but no one wanted to admit it out loud.

“You’re okay, Taehyun, right?” Hueningkai asked, concerned.

Taehyun looked up and nodded weakly, smiling a weak smile. The smile on Taehyun’s face worried Hueningkai, because it spoke volumes about how decidedly not okay Taehyun was, but he decided not to push, talking to Yeonjun instead so that Taehyun could gather himself.

“Hey Yeonjun, why were you so mad at Soobin’s sister?”

“Oh, that.” Yeonjun sighed, clenching his fists. “Just thinking about it makes me so mad. Soobin’s sister is impersonating Queen Erajin.”

Hueningkai gaped at Yeonjun. “What?”

“Yeah. That’s why Soobin was going on and on about ‘transforming’, because his sister has transformed into Queen Erajin.”

Hueningkai blinked, mouth hanging open. “Wow. I can’t believe it.” He paused, furrowing his brows. “Actually, I can. That’s why your missions became weirder and weirder.”

“Yeah. I thought it was weird why she made me burn half of Barumin’s crops last year.”

Hueningkai blinked thoughtfully, arm still around Taehyun. Taehyun stared blankly at the floor, leaning against Hueningkai. When the spy began to jostle around, gesturing with his arms as he spoke, Taehyun’s body also moved with the action, the vizier’s expression blank and listless.

“But they can’t have killed Queen Erajin, could they?” Hueningkai asked. “That would have been too suspicious. They have to be keeping her captive somewhere. I don’t know much about the transforming ability, but the thing you are impersonating needs to be nearby, or at least alive, right? So if Soobin’s sister is simply dethroned, Queen Erajin can come back, can’t she?” Hueningkai’s eyes widened as he realised what he just said. Yeonjun stared back, eyes equally as wide.

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Hueningkai said.

“I think I am,” Yeonjun said, grinning.

Hueningkai grinned back, and stood up onto his feet. With the sudden loss of his support, Taehyun almost fell onto his face, and Hueningkai quickly crouched back down before the vizier fell over. “Oh, Taehyun, sorry. Here.” He offered his hand to Taehyun, and was surprised when the vizier actually took it.

Once Taehyun was on his feet, Hueningkai placed his hands on his shoulders, trying to bring Taehyun back to the present. “Hey, Taehyun, do you think you’ll be okay getting back to your room yourself?”

“Hmm?” With some difficulty, Taehyun’s gaze focused on Hueningkai, and he nodded slowly. “Yeah. I’ll be fine.”

“That’s good. Yeonjun and I need to plan something so we can’t take you back to your room, if that’s okay.”

Taehyun gave a smile, properly engaged in the conversation now. “I’ll be fine,” he said, even though he still looked rather pale. “But what are you planning?”

“We’re going to get back our Kingdom,” Yeonjun said cryptically. “You’ll be fine, right?” he checked.

“Yeah, I will. You go on then.”

Hueningkai nodded, and followed Yeonjun out of the chamber’s door. Taehyun stood there in the middle of the room for a moment longer, staring at the steel wall opposite him.

Hueningkai popped his head into the chamber, tilting his head. “Taehyun? You coming?”

Taehyun snapped out of his trance, brushing away his tears. “Yeah, I’m coming. I’m coming.”

He stared down at his hands, with their barely healed scratches, before walking out of the room.

taglist: @my-moarmy-heart​ @arohabangtan​ @a-fragmented-world​

[brennenscolby]

Father Todd, Mother (Y/n) (One Shot)

Word count: 2,288

A/N: Contains Fluff/Comfort. Nothing explicit, but, if you feel like this may offend you in some way,-since it regards religion-, feel free to exit and read something a little more suitable for you;)

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They were fucked.

Unbelievably fucked.

At least that's what Tim thought.

He was the one who created the earth-traveling device anyways. After working day and night, and going through a few dozen cups of black coffee or so, he created something he believed had the power to transport him to a different planet, -or dimension-, if he pleased. Bruce had been the one to reprimand him about using it, but, he later reluctantly accepted it after seeing Tim's test pass with complete success. Right now, the bat-fam was on a mission. A few heroes were stranded on Earth-15, and Bruce had sent Tim, Damian, and Dick to save them and bring them back. However, as easy as it seemed, things didn't go as planned.

The device had managed to go through some technological failure after sending the stranded heroes back to Earth-51, leaving Tim and the rest behind.

And there they were, stranded on Earth-15. The fact that none of them had any useful knowledge about the planet further put them on edge. They all hid a for a few minutes, clearly anxious about their situation.

Dick was the first to stand from his crouching position.

It seemed they had been transported to a random area, located behind an abandoned cathedral.

Or one that seemed abandoned.

He scanned his surroundings, checking every corner on high alert, before relaxing his shoulders and nodding towards his younger brothers,

"It's clear"

Tim and Damian stood from their positions, the youngest brother clearly not trusting his siblings as he stayed on guard, slowly trailing behind. As soon as they made in front of the cathedral, they stopped, opting to discuss a new plan. Dick watched as his brother in red and black attire went through his gadgets, eyes narrowed in concentration,

"So, What do we do? Just stand here like a bunch of imbeciles?", Damian questioned, emerald eyes gleaming with a small hint of desperation. Dick sighed, acknowledging the brave face he put on. He didn't know if anyone would ever spot the hint of vulnerability in Damian, but he sure as hell could being the brother, -and detective-, he was,

"Well, First we help Tim fix his device."

A sudden voice spoke up, a sweet very familiar timbre caressing their ears,

"I may be able to provide some assistance",

Instantly, they all turned their heads, eyes locking with a pair of gleaming (e/c) ones. Dick tilted his head in pure confusion, sharing a look with Tim as Damian sported a mild expression. It was you they were staring at. Except, you were wearing white and black, resembling that of a nun. Of course, each of the brothers were aware that doppelgängers were on every planet, but, they couldn't help but feel very surprised to find you. If they were being honest, being a nun kinda suited your sweet, considerate personality. You flashed a sweet smile, brows softening with empathy,

"Hello, excuse me for suddenly interfering. I couldn't help but notice you children."

Tim gave a weary smile, crossing his arms. Of course, they found it a bit humiliating to be called children, but, nonetheless, they allowed it to slide. Because it was your doppelgänger saying it, and because you were a nun. It would only be expected from the knowledge they had about that,

"I am Mother (Y/n), this is my cathedral. You must be from another earth I am guessing, yes? Follow me. I must provide you with as much as I can in the name of the lord"

They all gawked are each other, silently following your flowy, almost glowing form. Damian stomped his feet into place, his eyes narrowed his annoyance at the two elders ahead of him,

"Are you two insane? Why are you following? We don't know anything about her. She may prove to be dangerous",

Dick walked over, settling his hand on his brother's shoulder, before quickly having it slapped off by the young brat,

"Hands off, Richard"

He chuckled, face quickly growing serious,

"C'mon Damian. You have any better ideas? Plus, don't you like (y/n)?"

"Tt", he uttered, crossing his arms before begrudgingly following along. Tim examined his utility belt, a few lights going off to signal something,

"My gadget is picking up on two human presences. Whoever the other is, they're probably in the cathedral."

Dick looked down at his escrima sticks, which happened to glow a faint blue,

"Same here. From what I'm getting, it doesn't seem like they're evil."

After trailing behind you for what seemed like a few minutes, Tim was the first to speak up, hoping to ease the unnerving tension around them,

"Thanks for helping us. My name is Tim, and these are my brothers Dick and Damian"

Damian scowled as his identity was revealed. You glanced at them from your peripheral, chuckling at the way they began to bicker,

"It is alright children. Don't worry, I won't reveal your identities"

You opened the cathedral doors. They watched as your eyes aimlessly looked around,

"Father Todd! Father Todd?", you bellowed, hearing nothing but the echo of your voice. You turned back to the boys, watching as their expressions became hysterical once more. Tim and dick could barely believe it. Jason was here too? and he was a priest?! Settling your hands on your hips you arched a brow, crossing your arms,

"Are you children really Alright? You're looking at me like I've lost my mind." Before you could continue, two slender hands settled on each of your shoulders, spooking you to the core,

"I would look at you the same if I were them, Mother (Y/n). After all, you do have a unique way of being", you felt your cheeks burn as you craned your neck up, eyes meeting with amused cerulean ones. Black messy hair, a few strands of white, there stood Jason. Damian refused to believe at first, but, actually seeing Jason dressed as a priest with a cross around his neck was very, very perplexing. What the hell was going on here?? Fully spinning around, you looked up at Father Todd, eyes displaying adoration,

"F-father Todd! U-uh I was just looking for you. I wanted to introduce you to these children.", you pointed at each of them, presenting them to the priest, who seemed just a bit more interested in you than them. Dick and Tim watched your interaction with the Jason, amusement on their faces. It seemed even on another Earth, you both were still completely infatuated with each other.

However, Damian was quick to cut the interaction off, grumbling as a scowl crossed his face,

"Cmon you too. We do not have all day. Especially you, Father Todd", he spat, fuming with impatience and irritation by simply seeing Jason, -or what looked like-, Jason. The priest simply turned to him with a slightly baffled expression before releasing a slight chuckle, smiling brightly nonetheless,

"I see you have a...rather eager one. Please, settle down with me. It would be rude of me not to welcome you in the house of God"

Damian frowned in confusion. How was it possible that Jason could actually be somewhat nice to him?? Even if it was just his doppelgänger, it made his head hurt when he thought about it. They all followed, teasing and clearly enjoying Damian's reaction as you walked ahead with Jason. He pulled out a few chairs from the table next to the alter, gesturing for each to sit,

"May I ask how you children arrived on this planet? Mother (y/n) and I may be able to help"

"We meant to transport to Earth-51, but, it seems like my gadget wasn't working as well as I thought ", Tim scratched the side of his head, smiling bashfully. Father Todd nodded in understanding, hands folding on the table,

"I may just have the thing for this", he winked, standing up and walking over to the other side of the room. Upon pushing some buttons on a keyboard, everything lit up, displaying technological equipment of all sorts. Jason smiled upon seeing Tim's look of atonishment. He quickly walked over to the other side, immediately asking the priest questions and whether or not he had some coffee somewhere. You chuckled at them, steering your gaze over to Dick and Damian who sat directly infront of you,

"Now that I understand the circumstances you've been put under, you may stay as long as you'd like", you announced, handing Dick a cup of tea since he asked for it. He watched you with a neutral expression, clearly curious,

"Wait, you're actually okay with this?"

Jason, who had been helping Tim set up his gadget on the other side, came back, settling to stand behind you. He nodded with you after hearing his statement, offering another smile,

"Of course. I am a Gotham priest and she is a Gotham nun after all"

You grinned, features relaxing,

"We've seen stranger things"

——————————————————————————

With the help of his brothers and father todd, Tim had managed to fix his gadget. Dick smiled in triumph, watching everything quickly fall into place.

Your reassurance and kindness surely brought his heart to ease. He understood that all doppelgängers weren't exactly the same, but something about you, on this planet, clearly radiated your vibe and personality.

Nonetheless, the more time he spent seeing you, the more he was starting to feel homesick. The others couldn't really feel it, but, he missed his baby sister. His confident, blunt but kind adoptive-sibling, who had always managed to offer him solace. You turned back to Damian and Dick, a look of sympathy crossing your face as you met eyes with Dick,

"Are you alright, Dick? The gadget will be ready for use in just a little longer"

He smiled softly, nodding his head,

"Im fine. It's just, you remind us of someone we know on our Earth", you nodded, a flash of sadness in your eyes. You didn't know why, but you just sympathized deeply with them. Must've been your connection to your other counterpart. Standing up, you placed a hand on Dick's, offering comfort as his azure orbs met yours,

"Whoever this person may be, I am determined to get you home to them. I really hope you get the chance to greet them"

Dick smiled softly, placing his hand over yours,

"I hope so too"

———————————————————————————

After a few hours of preparing and installing some new pieces, the gadget was fully ready. Tim, Damian, and Tim waved goodbye to you and Jason before pressing the device and going through a portal.

——————————————————————————

Tim took his hands off the device, looking around with his brothers in hopes of finally achieving the bat-cave. All they saw was your figure alongside Jason's, standing next each other as you faced the bat computers. Upon hearing one of them take a step, you and Jason turned, your eyes sparkling as you smiled at your brothers. When you saw your oldest brother you jumped, running directly into his arms, "Dick! I missed you". He smiled, leaning his chin down on your head, "I missed you too, sis. So much." You were quickly interrupted by the rest, the voice of Damian making its way to your ears,

"Hmpf. I cannot believe you forgot about us for this ass." You chuckled, making your way over Tim and Damian as you opened your arms, hugging them tightly into a group hug,

"How could I forget the most phenomenal robin of all", he smiled as the rest rolled their eyes, clearly disagreeing with your statement. You released a sigh of relief after pulling away, jogging back to your position and punching a rather distressed Jason,

"See! I told you they'd make it home just fine",

You stuck your hand out in front of him, a cocky smirk on your face,

"Now pay me what you owe me"

"God dammit", the tall male grunted, sighing as he pulled his wallet out, placing a crumpled $20 dollar bill in your hand. You smiled in triumph, feeling even better at seeing Jason's defeated expression.

You both crossed your arms, examining your brothers in anticipation,

"So, did you still finish the mission even tho you got kinda stuck somewhere?"

You and Jason had known about the incident regarding the three, receiving the signal through your communicators. They all nodded, a bit perplexed as they had just seen you a few moments ago,

"Stop staring at me. It's unnerving as hell", Jason spoke, running a hand through his hair to get the strands out of his eyes,

"It's just, when we were stranded in Earth-15, we saw both of you guys... but, you were a priest and (Y/n) was a nun"

You both turned and looked at each other, clearly not believing a single word. Jason chuckled as you laughed hard, clutching your stomach. After what seemed like a few minutes, you calmed down, wiping your eyes,

"What a knee slapper. That was funny. Ok, now stop fucking around and go out there and help Bruce. Jay and I have to take care of some thugs"

"We're not lying!"

"Sure you're not you clowns", Jason rolled his eyes, walking away as you chuckled lightly. Tim and Dick looked at each other, shrugging their shoulders before parting ways. Damian turned, walking in the direction of the stairs that led back to the mansion,

"Seeing Todd again, makes me wish he actually was a Priest."

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[itsbenedict]

Two-Faced Jewel: Session 2

Zero and @eternalfarnham are Looseleaf and Saelhen du Fishercrown, a mothfolk animist and a half-elf conwoman. A botched heist forces Saelhen to keep up her fake identity and embark on a quest to places unknown, with Looseleaf to keep a watchful compound eye on her. This time, they prepare to set out for the jungle city of Thunderbrush.

[Campaign log]

It's less than a week after the incident with the pit under Yoshimimoto Plaza. Looseleaf returns to school with Saelhen in tow, and Looseleaf's roommate Oyobi spends some time training them up in basic monster self-defense- the two of them are now level 2! Saelhen gains a Cunning Action, and Looseleaf embarks on the Path of the Mutable Spirit. (There's no combat this session, so more on that later.)

In spending some time with Looseleaf's roommate, Saelhen picks up on... certain nuances.

looseleaf: what you know about your roommate is that she is very friendly and outgoing. the reason she's barely home most of the time is that she's always out partying or fighting or otherwise living it up on campus, and she's pretty well-known and popular amongst the student body. she's technically Martial Arts but takes a few Natural Arts classes, including your archaeology class. she wants to be an adventurer and join the Deathseekers' Guild, and she's taking multiple periods of Severe Zoology to learn to fight monsters. she thinks you in particular are adorable and has probably invited you to various social gatherings. she seems kind of spacey and unreliable, though, and doesn't seem to take you seriously.

saelhen, what you know about looseleaf's roommate is that she a freak nobody else seems to pick up on this, since there's not a lot of other elves at Blacksky, but you can tell from the way she wears her clothes and how she interacts with strangers to the uninformed observer, her fashion sense is sort of rugged and sporty and normal to an elf, her usual outfits are the equivalent of going around dressed in torn booty shorts, a spiked choker, and an ahegao t-shirt she is very obviously making a statement, and that statement is "i can do whatever i want, and if you have a problem with that you can [insert grossly offensive euphemism here]" her super-smiley friendly attitude is clearly part of this- she is breaking every single rule in the elf book, going right for the friendship throat in every social interaction and ignoring every single nicety that's supposed to precede friendly contact she acts a little different around you- like, she expects you to be in on the joke she's playing on everyone around her. she'll say something seemingly innocuous that's a actually a horrendous boundary violation in Kanzentokai, and then look at you with an expectant smile, to see if you appreciated the hilarious prank she just pulled. being around her is like being in the studio audience for a cringe comedy sitcom

Why are we learning so much about Oyobi? Well, partially because I can't help but overthink every single bit character, but also for reasons that'll become clear shortly.

After a few days, Saelhen and Looseleaf are invited to the Provost's office, up at the top of Blacksky Tower. (Ominous sort of place, for a faculty building- hewn out of a single chunk of sparkling black stone, oldest building on campus.) They are not invited to sit- the office contains no chairs.

Provost Hamori Los has good news for them! The people she's had secretly monitoring Saelhen for the past few days- did she forget to mention that?- have determined, by triangulation, that the arrow on Saelhen's bracer is currently pointing in the direction of Thunderbrush, deep in the giant-spider-infested jungle. So that where they'll be going, on a fun field trip!

Looseleaf could not be happier about this. Or less happy. She's really got precisely the amount of unhappiness that she's obligated to feel about giant spiders, being a giant moth.

Luckily, they won't have to trek through the jungle- Hamori has arranged for transportation via the ferry at the town of Cauterdale, which should allow them to bypass a treacherous trek into the depths of the Remoline Rainforest. They'll each be provided 100gp as funding for this academic enterprise- and Headmaster Goodcrest of Thunderbrush Metropolitan University has agreed to provide lodging for them on arrival. Everything is handled for them- so there shouldn't be any problems!

There is one more thing, though- all the different schools want in on this trip, so one school doesn't get all the credit. They're required to bring along a representative from the School of Arcane Arts and the School of Martial Arts, on top of Looseleaf from Natural Arts. And on top of... the representative from the School of Restricted Arts.

This dude is named Vayen, and he's not much for conversation. Or explaining what he's even doing here. Or doing anything besides skulking a careful distance away from the party, staring and listening. What does the School of Restricted Arts even study, again?

Anyway, Looseleaf has someone in mind from Martial Arts, so she leads the party to the School of Arcane Arts to do some recruiting! After being chewed out by Two-Brains for trying to post notices outside the official student notice board, she puts up her ad:

It's not long before she gets a bite!

Orluthe Chokorov is a cleric-in-training, under Diamode, the Goddess of Family. He's been enrolled in Arcane Arts at the insistence of his family... but he seems to think he's a "fake", and is desperate to go somewhere, anywhere, as long as it means he passes his classes without having to actually... be able to do whatever it is he's taking classes in. He says he can fight, though- in fact, he's eager to fight! He once beat Bud Chestplate, did you know?

There are perhaps less delinquent candidates they could go with, but there's something nice about a party member with secrets Saelhen could use as blackmail.

Saelhen du Fishercrown: "...rest assured that I shall be the soul of discretion. As will Looseleaf." "Though I fear that deception of this sort does not come easily to me..." Looseleaf: "Noeru, if he doesn't want to get into it, he doesn't have to- oh my god."

Having recruited Orluthe, the party heads back to Looseleaf's dorm to ask Oyobi about the Martial Arts students- maybe she has some idea as to who would make a good candidate for the trip!

(This isn't me foisting her on the players, though I did suggest it- after the party of two squishies got wiped in the first encounter, I offered them the chance to put together two NPCs who they'd get to control in combat. Their character sheets were more or less created by the players, and I matched their mechanical requirements to NPCs. We may end up having multiple characters per PC, later- this is sort of a trial run.)

With a cleric(?) and a ranger on the team, plus whatever Vayen is that he won't tell them, they're feeling ready to hit the road- right after a shopping trip.

Saelhen buys...

1x bag of 1000 ball bearings

1x traveler's clothes

1x hooded lantern

15x doses of insect repellent salve (much to Looseleaf's great offense)

2x uses of sealing wax

1x tinderbox

fuck it, 4x more bags of 1000 ball bearings

Zero: 'what are you going to do with five thousand ball bearings' 'when the time comes, i'll know'

Looseleaf buys...

1x pint of oil

1x bag of 1000 ball bearings also

5x healer's kits, to distribute to the party

1x pouch of various plant seeds

1x map

Notably absent is any food, since they have Oyobi in their party- she's a ranger with the Goodberry spell. (I've reflavored it to just mean she's good at foraging and always has rations on hand, because holy crap, Goodberry rules-as-written is totally worldbreaking- why would farms exist?)

During their shopping trip, Saelhen manages to get Oyobi alone, without the rest of the party. Oyobi's shtick has been fun, for her, as someone with very little regard for elven rules of politeness, but... it's still a little much. She asks Oyobi to tone it down.

Oyobi Yamatake: "I mean, I thought you had to no-sell it to keep up the fake noble act- I didn't think it was actually getting you!" "That's priceless, oh my god." "What's there to take a 'break' from, anyway? What's wrong with just living?" Saelhen du Fishercrown: "Primarily, the fact that I really need not to twitch in front of the Provost's silent murder goon." Saelhen jerks a thumb over her shoulder, then belatedly checks to make sure that Vayen is not in fact literally right behind her. Benedict I. (GM): Make a Perception roll? Saelhen du Fishercrown: aw, hell, he definitely is, isn't he

She rolls a 13, and no one in particular rolls a 17. So, everything is fine. They keep their voices down, anyway.

Oyobi Yamatake: "I mean, is it really a problem? Can you really not keep a straight face?" Saelhen du Fishercrown: "I mean, I can." Saelhen sweeps a hand over her face and is the picture of serenity. "Why should the lady Noeru de la Surplus concern herself with small lapses such as these?" "Surely someone shall find it in their hearts to forgive all trespasses." Oyobi Yamatake: She snorts. "Okay, I get your point." "But really, don't you think it's weirder for an elven noblewoman not to react?" "You don't think he thinks it's suspicious that you take it all in stride?" Saelhen du Fishercrown: "The character is admittedly kind of a freak. I'm making allowances. I mean, this is fun and all, but if no one sees through the bit at all and I'm stuck in it long-term, which it seems like I am, it's like..." "Just being back in Kanzentokai, except worse, because no one is making me." "And drow catch a lot of crap anyway. They don't need me to teach them that elves can be assholes." Oyobi Yamatake: She frowns. "You can't make me try to keep up with the rules, y'know. I'm not going to put up with that garbage ever again." "But I can tone it down with the..." "Y'know, the stuff I'm going out of my way to do, if that helps." Saelhen du Fishercrown: "The wink-and-nudge, yeah. That would help." Oyobi Yamatake: She sighs. She seems a little put out by all this, but pretty quickly puts her happy face back on.

Meanwhile, Looseleaf and Orluthe seem to have lost track of Vayen. It doesn't take them long to find out where he went (well, after Looseleaf rolls a nat 1 on investigation and accidentally pisses off an old lady she mistook for Vayen). Turns out... he's hiding behind a statue of Ccorde, spying on Saelhen and Oyobi.

Looseleaf doesn't buy his crappy excuses, but also... she isn't altogether opposed to the concept of spying on "Lady Noeru de la Surplus", who really ought to have someone keeping an eye on her. So, she just hands him a medical kit- a kit she happens to have used her animist class feature Soul Link on, so she knows where it is at all times. (She's done the same to the bracer.)

Now, with the shopping done, it's time to hit the road! They have a couple options: go on foot, or requisition some giraffes.

(In this world, they domesticated giraffes instead of horses. Why? Because it's a fantasy world and why not?)

The city's main giraffe rental is run by the Ecumene of Understanding, based out of the Temple of Andra. You can rent giraffes for free, as long as you're willing to serve as a courier for the Ecumene- their convoluted legal system requires them to send mail between cities frequently, and they've only got so many clerics on hand. So, anyone wanting to travel the roads can receive a delivery quest from the Ecumene, and rent mounts for free in exchange!

They meet with the Bishop of Understanding of Oyashio, Sarat Aerens.

Aerens has a simple request for them: in addition to visiting Thunderbrush's Temple of Andra with a mail delivery, they're to bring back a report from said temple on the whereabouts of the Siren's Arraignment, a ship that departed from Oyashio and never arrived at its next destination, Snowhold. There's suspicion that the Siren's Arraignment never departed from its supposed origin of Thunderbrush to begin with, either- so the Ecumene put some clerics on the job to investigate, and the party's job is just to relay their message.

With that, they're given giraffe passes, and directed down to the stables, where they find the stablehand, Updraft, having some difficulties.

Benedict I. (GM):There's no one at the pickup window, but there's a sparrow aarakocra just behind, trying to get a giraffe several times her height to get up and out of the damn water trough. Updraft: "...not a bath, ye stubborn git!" "Ye drink from that, lackbrains!" "Y'really want t'be tastin' yer arse?" Looseleaf: OH I CAN HELP WITH THIS FINALLY, A PLACE WHERE I CAN APPLY MY ADVANTAGE ON ANIMAL HANDLING

Looseleaf uses her Soul Read ability to tune in to the giraffe's feelings and recent history, and discovers that someone fed it a hot pepper and it's in, um, anal distress.

Orluthe volunteers to do some healing to the giraffe, with his Lay On Hands ability. Is... that a cleric thing? Do clerics do that? Probably. In this world, clerics perform magic by inviting their god directly into their mind to borrow their brainpower and work miracles directly, and it sure looks like he does that when he does his healing. He channels a god, for sure!

Benedict I. (GM): As he touches the giraffe, you see his body begin to glow, and his facial features are overlaid with another face. "...A giraffe?" "A waste, I suppose, but... perhaps it'll win us some favor." The voice he speaks in sounds more feminine, somehow.

Some religion checks reveal that this doesn't seem quite right for a cleric of Diamode, the goddess of Family. But hey, healing's healing, right?

With that, they're able to get their giraffes no problem- and next time, they'll be on the road to Thunderbrush!

[luvdsc]

Hihi Cat! I've come to deliver some good news! (This is pretty long huhu ToT)

MY ERB HAS BEEN APPROVED AND I CAN PROCEED TO RECRUIT PARTICIPANTS!! Ahh it's been such a blessing to be able to proceed immediately! I've actually hit my target amount of participants in less than a day (IT'S CRAZY) but I'm gonna collect more responses cuz the more the better! (Would you wanna check the questionnaire out? I can PM you the link!! :3)

Also also I PASSED THAT FINALS! The one I took a day after my vaccination (1st dose) ToT GAHH I'm so happy I won't even ask for more, it's enough :3

I've been writing my thesis during this sem break but it's progressing pretty slowly cuz I've been so drained from last semester and the vaccine itself. Huhu but I've written a brief rundown for my proposal so there's a rough idea there, just needa rly assemble it into a clear narrative. And yes I agree! Psychology studies are a beautiful fusion of science & human essence imo, and its fascinating learning more abt ourselves and how we as the human species progress in life ya know? 😌

I got my second dose exactly a week ago and got the same side effects - headache, arm soreness, hunger, fatigue; I felt like a fusion of psyduck & snorlax HAHAHAHA 😂 - it wasn't anything serious so yay I'm fully vaccinated! (in a few weeks time keke I'll be)

HAHAHAHA my vaccination appointments were pretty eventful. The nurses and volunteers were all so warm and friendly! I'm the type of person who feels whatever's being injected into me, it's not the pain that I wanna distract myself from (it wasn't pain tbh) but that sluggish discomfort I get from the needle ejaculation >//< sooo as they showed me the vile and syringe before injecting me, I prepped my Yangyang photocard in my hand. During my second dose, the nurse thought I had some fancy way of taking a video when in actual fact I was just looking at my Yangyang photocard hehe UwU she asked me whether I wanted to see the needle going in (smtg I can't look at tbh) and I was like HELL NAH ToT

And also some recap from the previous ask!

There's no need to apologise for the delayed response okie!! UwU my sem break is ending this week, but I've spent my time completing my academic research trainee tasks (transcribing audio clips), I've also created the content & design for my uni's newsletter, did some thesis writing, and I took a course on financial planning on Coursera to prep myself for the adulting life ToT

And idm sharing my back up / failed topics! I didn't have a lot of cards in my hands, but here are some of em!

1) time perspective and meaning in life 2) anticipatory nostalgia 3) not a topic but a variable! fragility of happiness / happiness aversion

what ideas did you settle on for yr art pieces? If you dm sharing, I'd love to hear abt it! 💖💖💖

Tbh I can't think of a fav ice cream flavor hmm 🤔 i rly didn't think it'd be so hard thinking of a fav ice cream flavor but the first that comes to mind is green tea! I like them milky flavored ice cream😍 though my fav from this ice cream place I go to is thai milk tea, it's so fragrant and milky!! 🥺💖 I just got myself a tub of milk & biscoff gelato keke UwU what's yr fav ice cream flavor? :3

For my course structure:

We have 2 long sems (Jan - Apr, & Aug - Dec, 16 weeks) & a short sem (May - July, 9 weeks)! Our sem breaks are only around a month then it's back to sleepless nights ToT AND YES those weeks were the most stressful weeks ever 🥺😭 I'm glad I'm graduating soon for that reason 😂(though idk what awaits in the working world ToT that is another fear I have :/)

Thank you for being part of this journey and being open to listening to my lil adventures! 🥺🙆🏻‍♀️💖😭 esp w the amount of responses and ppl helping me, I feel a lil more motivated to work and excel in this pregnancy (thesis, I call it pregnancy cuz it's around 9 months too HEHE) Since the pandemic, it's been pretty hard separating studies & hobbies :/ I've learnt it the hard way from my period cramps last sem (mine's the severe type where you can faint ToT), and it was also on my last paper for finals !! Very traumatizing ._. but I'll continue to manage myself better! :3

Huhu Cat since you're working now, I also wanna ask abt yr experience in job seeking! Cuz unemployment is a real deal here esp. w everything that's going on :') I don't have working experience either (only had 1 through internship) and it literally feels like I'm going into the unknown ToT I've been running over some case studies and assessments just to better prep myself for this. Do you have any advice as someone who's already working? UwU

Take care and stay lovely as always!! 💖💖💖

hi, sweetpea !!!! 🌸 omg major congratulations for getting your ERB approved, honey bee !!!!! 🥳🥳🥳 that’s absolutely amazing, and I’m uber proud of you 🥺💗💗 also, it’s wonderful that you hit the required number of participants so quickly !!!!! (And I would love to participate if the questionnaire is still open 🤧)

AND HECK YEAAA CONGRATS ON PASSING THE FINAL TOO 🤩🤩🤩🤩 big congrats to you all around, miss smarty pants 💓💓💓

Oh gosh, I hope you got to rest during your semester break too ): you’re working so hard, please remember to take care of yourself !! 💕 your mental health is more important 🤍 have you finalized your proposal now? And omg yes exactly !!! It’s so interesting to see the thought process behind an action and how it can be manipulated or influenced by various stimulants or there’s also the argument between nature versus nurture too and how that affects psychology and it’s just all so cool to learn about 🤩

Omg you had so many symptoms, I’m so sorry to hear that 😭 I only had a sore arm, but that’s what happens when I get any shot 🤧 I hope you’re feeling better now 💘💘

I’m really glad to hear that the nurses and volunteers were kind and friendly !! it’s always comforting to have nice people as doctors, especially when you’re trusting them to stick a needle in you bshdjdjdkd omg yangyang to the rescue !!!! 💞💞 we’re not allowed to record record any medical appointments, like I think the nurse thought the person in front of me in line was recording when they were getting their vaccine and said they weren’t allowed to do that 😅 and aaaaa I always have to look when they inject me, I don’t like being taken by surprise 🤧

oh my gosh you were so productive over your semester break !!!! :o and oooo you do content & design for your school’s newsletter? Do you do stuff like graphic designing and write articles? 💓 and how was the financial planning course !! Did you learn a lot? Did you like the studies? :’)

aaaaa those topics sound so cool ??? 🤩🤩 I would definitely be down to read about those omg 💛

for my 3D design class, I decided to do lightbulbs and flowers as my overarching theme for my art pieces !! I included a couple pictures below under the cut at the bottom 💓 the first one is a soft sculpture made out of newspaper, and there’s a pencil next to it for size reference, the second one is made of wires that I shaped myself, and the third one is made of foam boards that I cut and assembled myself as well 💕 and I included a picture of my final painting project! it’s a triptych and I believe the size was like 18 x 24 for each one? If you click on the picture, it should be better quality!

omg I love green tea ice cream too !!!!! 🍵🍦 I like going to somi somi for their matcha and milk swirl ice cream with red bean taiyaki 💚 I only had thai milk tea ice cream once, but it was phenomenal 🤩 I wish they sold it near me too !! milk and biscoff :o I’ve never tried that flavor! I’ll have to see if it’s sold around here :’) green tea is my favorite, but I also really like everything but the... from Ben and Jerry’s !! 💛 also alcoholic ice cream.... like there’s this one kind where it was a breakfast esque type with vanilla, corn flakes, and bourbon, and it was delicious 😋

omg what 😭😭 you’re basically going to school year round with no break bahsjdjdjdkd when I was in uni, i had a month off for winter break (usually something like dec 9 - jan 9) and then mid june to mid September off, so around three months of summer vacation? Your school schedule sounds absolutely brutal 💀💀

and omg of course !!! Thank you for letting me be a part of the journey 🥺💗 bdjdjddj pregnancy omg that’s such an interesting way of seeing it :o sending you all my love and support for a successful delivery of your thesis baby 🥰🥰 oh yeah, it’s definitely been a struggle to separate everything, especially when the lines between home and workspace blur with online school or working from home. And oh my god ???? Are you okay ?? Did you go see a doctor or take any medication? I hope you’re feeling better now !! Please take care of yourself 😭

ah, I got my job through my internship, so I’m not sure how helpful I will be 😅 but during the process of interviewing for internships, there were several rounds for each company that range from a group interview, a one on one interview, video interview where they give you random questions that you have to answer on the spot (some of mine were discuss the stock market, give a sales pitch on something you’re interested in, etc), a test, etc. I think it’s different depending on the job you’re going for, but that’s what I had to do in the business field! It’s important to study and prep for all of this!! It’s like taking an verbal exam for one of your classes. And also make sure to study the company’s website and familiarize yourself with what they do/sell.

My one piece of overall advice would be about interviews! Interviews are important in which the person interviewing you is seeing if you’ll be a good fit with the company, not in terms of skill, but personality. They already know you’re qualified and have good skills - that’s how you got the interview. With the interview, they’re essentially trying to see how personable you are and if you will work well with their team. Some people are so intent on proving their skills that they kinda just rattle off all their achievements and whatnot, and it’s like... the interviewer already knows this, it’s all on the resume they reviewed when they decided to give the interview offer. Be friendly, open, maybe make a little small talk at the beginning (“hey, how are you? any weekend plans / how was your weekend?” This is what I did for all my business interviews, and I got an offer back from every one 🤧💗), make appropriate jokes / be a little funny, just show that you’d be a fun person to have in the office whom people will want on their team, but that you will also be dedicated to the job and work hard 💘

And thank you so much, honey bee!!! 💞 I hope you’re doing well and having a good week , and please take care as well 🌷🌷

[tshykims]

NIMBUS - Kim Namjoon AU

Song suggestion:

https://youtu.be/-TXtyYZIiWc

.

You saw him sitting on the park bench, he almost looked unreal with that long white coat and turquoise beret. People would definitely believe if he said he's sort of messenger from the clouds, even you almost convinced myself about it, but the only thing made you believe that he was a human was that messed up burrito he had in his hands, struggling to eat.

“God made burritos as a punishment.” he said.

You didn't realize if he was talking to you, but you went beside him anyways, his aura was too welcoming and you just felt the push to walk towards him as like he was calling you.

“I'd like to disagree.” you said, as you sat beside him on the bench.

He threw his look at you, dragon eyes. Carried the disappointment about your reply.

“Maybe because you have nice and big mouth, I barely get to take the stuffings with the bread.”

“your problem.” you look at him. He was still looking at you, his eyes gradually softened and you you saw how a dragon turned into a crescent. He smiled. You didn't flinch but got struck by the smile, it's so beautiful that it left you smiling back.

“when was the last time you ate?” he asked you, left you weirded out a little bit. But maybe you managed to look very pale that's why it made him ask that, so you take a chill pill.

“yesterday at lunch, am I looking that dead tho?”

He smiled again, actually laughed, it carried the same energy to make you laugh back at him, you feel really weird how this guy is making you smile and laugh with just existing by your side, he's just like the sky. Doing nothing, going with the flow but creating little waves in your soul.

“your lips are so dry that anyone would understand that nothing went in your mouth for hours.” he pointed at your lips while saying so then took off his beret.

Silver hair, white attire, definitely not a human.

“do you plan on being so attractive everyday?”

He went so confused and furrowed his eye brows for a moment.

“yes I have a daily routine on impressing people, I've a dress up chart and it says order a burrito and struggle to death until a beautiful girl shows up and then take off your beret right after 3 minutes and 21 seconds while into the conversation.” he spoke so fast it almost sounded like rap and he said it so dramatically that it left you burst out laughing.

.

“you love yourself so much I see.”

“yes, it's not true if it ain't love, nothing is true if it's not love.” he looked in your eyes and shot the words.

“how is there love in vio:lence, it's a true shit right?” you were so much in defense. You just failed to go with the thought that the self harm you do has love in it.

“how's there love in self ha:rm? Bs.”

He turned fully at your direction, putting the eyes on you, which were powerfully soft, knows about what it's about to say.

“the people who choose vio:lence are exactly the ones who love vio:lence. They love it. That's why it's true. Not all kind of love is nice, but all kind of love is true. You do harm to yourself because you think it'll make you feel better, why'd you care about your own feelings if you hate yourself so much? You love you, somewhere inside, you are dyi::ng to love you.”

He did not just say the words like that, piercing each words into your soul like ice. It felt so obvious at the moment. You just kept looking at him, he's so much like an open book, it legit felt like a crime to hear his opinion for free.

People can think that way? Even if they can, how is it possible to word them just like that? Words flow through his mouth just like that?

.

“I will start to think you are in love if you don't stop staring at me like that.” he smiled again and his eyes went crescent just like it happened before.

“When I saw you here today I thought you were some angel or something like that from they sky, if you keep talking soul piercing words like this, I might believe it.” you said to him, everytime he smiled softly it was so gentle that it might convince anyone that this person controls himself so perfectly, like when to smile, how much to smile, when to talk, how much gentleness will he use to talk, felt like he have everything measured beautifully. He exists?

“People see other people according to what they crave, if you crave for sky, your mind will automatically compare me with sky, if you crave books and povs, you'll see me as a book. It's like, so simple. I crave love, seeing you feels like love. You have so much to give, I hope you find you soon.”

“your definition of love is fcked up I must say.” you said it like you didn't care about the comment he made about you but you knew how much love you always wanted to give people, you're really somehow trapped in the devil's maze.

“I need that remedy to find me.”

“Love doesn't have a definition, 7 billion people defines it in 7 billion ways, if mine is fcked up, it's mine anyways. Same goes for the remedy, no one can provide it, you provide yours, another people's remedy might not suit you, you might end up blaming about it, I'll just hope your remedy suits your pain perfectly. It's kind of important. Also no, I'm not from the show TedTalk.” he put his hand up in defense and laughed.

You couldn't stop looking at his eyes, hair, dimples he had. Everything, he felt like sky so far, suddenly he felt like love. Your own definition of love. Not real, not real.

.

“I've to go. See you around.” he stood up with beret and gave his hand to shake.

“It Was nice to meet you.” he smiled again. Maybe it's his trait. Or maybe he knows he owns a beautiful smile and loves to show it. Either way, it melted and gave heartaches anyways. He walked away.

You stood there, he was so magical, you forgot to ask his name. Also where to find him next. He said see you around. You thought he must live here, nearby.

.

Hell you were dead wrong. You waited almost every day on that bench for that burrito struggler. He never showed up, never showed up around.

He said that day that we always look up at the sky to seek comfort, sky does nothing but it comforts us anyway. You the more you think about it the more you see him. He must be around, watching quietly, who knows.

.

People say a lot of useless things like you look at the sky when you lost something on earth, here you look at the sky to search something on earth. Him.

[locksmithhhh]

47 of those Stars

For stars are just specks of dust in this galaxy of yours but stains of life in this universe of mine. A star that you use for nursery rhymes, a star, which you know lights up the dark night, a star you see but don't recognize a minute later.

Those stars of yours that you point at in the night sky, 47 of those are mine.

Joshua the heart rob- you always had a lot of things in you to admire but you're dancing is the one that makes you the joshua I know. Keep doing what you're good at. Also, thank you for being such a responsible classmate.

Cj the giant-I don't know how but our small fights will always remain in this memory of mine, you're a silent thinker and I'm a loud kid soooo we just won't survive together. Still one thing I like about you is your height.

Andrew Einstein- I never expected such a mind to exist in my sea of people, you are a wonder I always and will always admire. Such talents you posses doesn't deserve to go unnoticed. I believe you'll go further in life, stay humble.

Kenneth the humorist- for how many years we've been together you never lost a drop of humor. Since in Solana you were always the funny yet smart one, the loud but reserved man. So keep on making people laugh at your random jokes, it can save someones day.

Ronnie our very own Secretary- you're the only one..the only secretary that comes more than an hour late yet I still believe you're more responsible than that hahaha. Goodluck through the next years of school!

Laurence the unfiltered- you tend to speak your mind and throw words at anyone you want but remember to know respecting someone is not a weakness. I believe you're hiding a part of you that's not for us to see but gold isn't gold without you.

Freidrich the smarty- I've known you since elementary yet I'm still amazed everytime you prove how smart you are. Stay positive and cheerfull.

Karlos the silent- I don't know how you stay so consistent in not making noise at all, there are even days I don't hear any word from you though we're in the same room yet you manage to get along all good.

Aaron- you're silent yet full of ideas, share something sometimes. Humble yourself down.

Daryll the friend of all- you tend to always smile and be cheerful making everyone your friend and having them trusting you with little things. Keep smilling.

Harvey the artist- mah frienddd thank you for sharing and trusting me with things I know is important to you don't worry I got your back stay like this and don't waste your talent.

Ryan the heart rob II- everyone knows how much of a naughty and stubborn boy or friend you are(in a good way). You're smart I can see, plus other says you're handsome(not me). Goodluck in a lot of things. Stay passionate.

Emil the girl-magnet- I've been with you since elem and I didn't expect you'd change this much, that was too fast. Let's stay this way. Thank you for being a friend of mine.

Jonard the player- not any kind of player, a volleyball player. I'm amazed how high you can jump though. We're friends right? We were friends hahaha. Stay faithful.

John Roe the faithful- you're faith is greater than the heavens, please stay humble and kind like always but please talk to me sometimes I won't eat you let's be friends.

Whesley my frenemy- we fight a lot. That's all. Please change your not so likeable personality, just stay friendly but know your limitations.

Felmar the EIC- you're oh so 'makata' brain never failed to make me think about how bad I am in our own language. Stay the way you are, the humble and always happy felmar.

Timi the President- isn't it such a hard job to look after a bunch of lost kids? Thank you for being such a responsible dad hahaha. Stay like this and we'll stay as friends.

Nary the Model- you're warm hugs is pleasant 'to others'. You've always been open to us, I hope someday you'll take the risk to follow your passion and trust me I won't be surprised at all.

Darylle thing 1- we don't talk a lot, you don't talk much but I know you have a cheerful personality based from what I can see when you're around your friends. Stay positive.

Kryssha the mistress- oo kabit ka lang ni jungkook. So you dance well, you look good, you have a good personality, plus I'm your friend! All kill hahaha I wish to stay friends with you until we finally find our own jungkooks.

Judee the shameless- hi judee. You amaze me on how you deal with different situations, you always speak your mind and don't care about what people can say goodluck on your studies and thank you for being a friend.

Janae the lover- you tend to fall easily. Just keep your head up and continue what makes you happy, know that not all things will go the way you want it. Keep loving, love wins hahaha.

Buena! bitch- we just made up that 'bitch' thing awhile ago and I just lack ideas on how to address you so deal with it. You might not know, but I really really want to be your friend, I just see you as an open person, a happy and free girl so let's be friends.

Angelica the beauty- you get called pretty a lot right lyka? So that's enough compliment for you all I want to say is that you're a friend to me and that will never change so let's stay the same.

Karen thing 2- you always get bullied-maybe not- by our classmates and sorry for laughing sometimes but seriously, the way you take proves how open minded you are. Stay the same positive Karen.

Julia the dancer- I never expected such talent for a small(like me)girl like you. Keep dancing and showing others what you got.

Angelica the cards Queen- your laugh could light up the whole class so don't stop being happy hahaha. I'll miss it.

Salve the singer- We're here always. Stay a little bit longer in this fight. Let's be happy.

Christelle the writer- don't let your talent go to waste, a lot of people believes in you just stay positive and don't let people pull you down. I will cheer for you down here hahaha

Kristel the actress- docy, you always laugh at my jokes, thank you. I hope someday you'll be able to create a humorous enough entry. Congratulations on your growing acting career 😂.

Jeff- I honestly don't know what to say to you since I don't want to be too formal. All I know is that the moment we talked to each other we just clicked like a perfect pair in a puzzle. You and I, we're just known to destroy things but i personally think we can survive in an island together, we just tend to find a way-a not so appropriate way in everything we do together. Don't be a stranger. Let's stay like this. Feel ko kasi mamimiss kita. Oo namimiss kita.

Jeanelle our saviour our hope our light- thank God soooo much for such a responsible student like you. I really hope you'll still be my seatmate till I graduate. I'll miss you shaneee.

Edithaaa- ohhh this fearless little kid, I hope you get what you want-height. We've been friends for a while now, just stay close. I'll miss everything we do. Sa personal nalang iba bain.

Grace our grace- such rich kids nowadays, thank you for the free food, drinks, asnwers and all the things. I hope to still be this close to you or even closer through the next years. I'm just thankful grace hahaha.

Mica another beauty- this is a secret I'll share, I'll trade anything for a body like yours, and height. Stay pretty and smart.

Karissa the farceur- you always make the mood light and I'm thankful for that. If I was given the chance to be your close friend I'd take it instantly but time isn't on our side. Just stay positive, things happen for a reason. Smile lang.

Niña the loud kid in the block- I don't know why but when you shout, I tend to always look from where it comes from, either from my back, right or left, I just wanted to share hahaha

Abcd- I don't want to write anything emotionally linked about you since you won't even take time to read but here we go. Jungkook's mine. But yes I admit, you're nice sometimes.

Kath the smallest version of snow white- I still am jealous of how fair your skin color is plus you're good at math, the two things I lack. Be thankful hahaha

Shany my pal- it was too short-the friendship we had yet I'm thankful for I got to see a part of you many people might never experience.

Precious thing 3- you, thing 1 and thing 2 are the most inseprable people in our class, I hope you stay friends for a long time. And also I can see how smart you are, don't hide it.

Ayra the witty- your humor is at its highest all the time you always make us laugh in embarrasing ways. Please continue, you make our day complete sometimes.

Kezia the quiet- maybe they see you as a quiet girl, but I don't so feel free to continue getting wasted with me hahaha let's party longer.

Jemarie another artist- you're good at other subjects, like good-above average but I suggest you pursue drawing. I think you can achieve more that way.

Kat the bullied- hi kaaaat!Sorry if I tend not to laugh at your jokes just admit it, it's not anywhere near funny. Just kidding, thank you for being a good friend to me though. You're a great person.

Joanna Mae!-our vice president, grow up-like literally, if there's anyway to help let me know hahaha joke lang just stay like this, you're fine this way.

Now I've described each of them. You might or might not be that lucky to actually stay under their unfading light but these stars beside me are the reasons my sky isn't as dark as it used to be.